R&r
Morning, if it could be called that, was always the most dreaded part of the day for anyone aboard Platform 157-934: Aries. More than most, the members of the SIC (Scout Infiltration Corp) Squad Delta, had the most to despise.
For seven months they had been stationed on a cylindrical orbital station with nothing to look forward to but another suicide mission. The four remaining members had earned a bit of respect among the civilians and officers alike, but that couldn't save them from their job.
The same thing that woke him every morning greeted Yallen; a rapidly flickering light, due to die any day now, started to hum overhead casting the metallic walls with a pulse of dull flashes. To his extremely sensitive hearing the hum was like an alarm clock's buzzer, only without anything to shut it off. It was just something he had to deal with.
Sitting up and stretching the once handsome mountain lion let out a rumbling yawn, discovering in the process that his body still hurt as badly as it had the day before, only now a few more bruises could be seen. When he tossed his sheet aside he remembered how badly his life had gone since he was drafted.
His feet ended in the normal round-toed paws of his species, only in place of the retractable claws felines were known for he had four curved, metal razors that were permanently grafted into battle position. When he had received the weapon graft they had wrapped his skeletal structure in a titanium alloy, but that was one of the lesser modifications that he had undergone. His left ear was now a sort of sphere peppered with sensors that enhanced the hearing on that side sevenfold.
The day his ear had been seared away he had lost the eye on the same side, and had to deal with the change the medical staff forced upon him. Instead of his old, brilliantly colored emerald iris the ring on his left eye was jet-black. It did give him a rather distinct appearance while granting him a built-in scope, but it had done quite a lot by intimidating the women away from him.
There were few things natural left of him anymore. His brain sat in a metal case that could be interfaced with weapons, computers, and even others with the same attribute to give him a level of accelerated learning concerning battle plans and accuracy in a fire fight. His muscles had been enhanced to keep their sleek size while gifting the strength of three cougars of his size.
Still, without many natural parts left he had no luck with women. Not that he had much before.
Dragging himself out of bed Yallen began the daily routine he had gone through for the last seventeen years. First it was to the steam-shower.
Set into the corner of the bathroom a curving glass door would seal tight enough to stop water from being pressed through when the shower was turned on. Bracing himself Yallen gripped the handles set on either solid wall. "On." Immediately shutting his jaws blasts of steam, really warm water shot out of pressurized nozzles, hit him from above and the sides. It took only thirty seconds for the jets to blast his fur clean of sweat and other grime gathered from the previous day and night. Then the nozzles switched from hot water to cool air that quickly flung the water from his tawny coat.
With that portion done he stepped out into the warmer air of his quarters. Grabbing a wire brush from a hook on the wall he gave his coat a quick once-over to make sure all moisture had been knocked off his body before getting dressed.
His uniform was little more than a synthetic, spandex-like material that clung to his form like a second skin. Any out of place fur and he would deal with it chaffing all day. Set on the shoulders, crotch, knees, chest, and thighs were plates that would help him stay on the ground in the station's low gravity. Due to his claws the bodysuit ended at the ankles and rose to his jaw. Yallen hated that uniform so much.
Grabbing his belt from a table near the door he headed out into the sterile corridors of the special-ops quarters. Hospital-white walls were slashed at even intervals with doors marked with the id number of the one who lived there.
Being the leader it was always up to the cougar to make sure the others were awake. Grabbing the bar which ran the length of the walkway, a full ten feet from the tiled floor, he pulled himself along in the quarter-grav environment. Giving a solid kick to the door across from his and the two adjacent he waited. It took several minutes, but they all appeared.
Shot, the largest of the group, came out first. He looked every part the Kodiak he was. Because of
the handle that most used to pull themselves along the hall he had to slouch, and even squeeze his shoulders to fit out the door. Shot was known for his amazing accuracy with the DH-Shotgun. The bear had hit targets twice as distant as any normal soldier could with the needle-firing weapon, thus his nickname. His left hand had a metal glove that would send a stunning burst of electricity through in close combat, making him the heavy assault of the four-man squad.
Anarius was the next to appear. That he was a rat anyone could tell, or quickly learn to, since he was their demolitions expert and had a sore spot for those that couldn't' tell a mouse from a rat. Of the four he was the most modified. Because of accidents in the past his fur and skin had been patched over in places that took the most force in an explosion; arms, chest, and head mostly. His brain had been pumped full of schematics of the various bombs their enemies were known to use which left him even more lacking in personality than Yallen.
Last to show up was Laura, the least altered of their group. Where Yallen stood at an even six feet, Shot at ten, and Anarius at five-eight, she stood hardly an inch over five feet. Her golden fur glistened over her delicate, canine features. As a fox most expected her to be the most advanced scout, but that was Yallen. Her task was the electronics expert. She was also the youngest. Yallen was nearing thirty, Shot had already passed fifty but was still a match for anyone physically, and Anarius was in his early forties. Laura was only seventeen. Unlike the rest she had requested to be put into the military and, with skills above and beyond her experience, had quickly been sent to special-ops where she joined Squad Delta.
Males of every kind marveled at her beauty, but Yallen, while he did admit that he wished for a bit more skill with women so he could get to know her better, thought her distracting. Shot had remarked many times over how he wished he could still mate so that he could try his luck with her. Anarius seemed not to care. Nobody on the ship had ever gotten their hands on her, despite the many attempts by civilians and militant alike.
"Alright, today is going to be a bit of a reprieve." Yallen said, his voice weak from a cracked rib. "We have been given a day of R&R. Don't waste it, because tomorrow we head back to the surface for another com-trashing."
Breathing a sigh of relief the three gave him a quick salute before going on their way. Anarius scampered off to his cluttered quarters to tinker with timers and weight out different amount of explosives to be used the next day. Shot drifted off toward the lift that would take him to the firing range.
That left Yallen and Laura alone. The mountain lion gripped the wrist thick bar above him and began to pull himself in the opposite direction Shot had gone. He had gone no more than a dozen feet before he heard Laura's sweet voice behind him. "Where are you headed today, Yal?"
"The pools. I figure that I might as well get used to the water again, since we will... Well, you will find out tomorrow during briefing." He didn't bother looking back. The soft clicking of someone using the bar to follow him was easy enough to catch with his enhanced hearing.
"Will we be crossing another river, or is it an aquatic insertion?" The blonde fox asked.
"Neither... It is a base set in the middle of a lake. Insertion by land, but we will have to enter through the only access hatch, which happens to be thirty or so feet beneath the surface. Other than that I know we are just going to be cracking their encryption and setting up a transmitter that will relay all incoming and outgoing messages to the Aries."
"That sounds like most of what we will be doing."
"Actually, there is supposed to be a second part, which they haven't told me about yet." Yallen swung down another corridor, pushing himself down so that his suit's weight would keep him low enough to walk. "Commander Rash wouldn't tell me what it was. Supposedly it is something simple-"
"But last time they said that we lost Grath and Vosh." Laura cut in.
"Exactly." Yallen sighed. His keen hearing picked up the fox's landing behind him. "And what are you planning on for your R&R?"
"I was thinking about following you around. You always prepare for missions on your days off, so I figure to learn from the best." As Yallen stopped abruptly he felt the fox bump into him. "I say something wrong?"
"No, but I am far from the best. It was luck that I became leader. Don't you have something more important to do than follow around a battered cougar like me?" As much as he wanted her to go some company, and a female at that, was welcome.
"Go swimming?"
Nodding Yallen lead the way through the several decks that would take them to the pools. The room sat at the top of Tower 1, with a clear ceiling that allowed them to look out at the nebula swirling several light years off. Since the gravity on the station was so low the room had been built with a ring that quadrupled the force. The result was a room that was like walking on earth in terms of weight and physics.
They split up, Yallen heading toward the male lockers, Laura toward the females. It took him only a minute to change, but when he got out she was already waiting for him.
Where she got her bikini was a mystery. He had never seen anything of the like worn by anyone, even the civilians. That didn't mean he was complaining.
Laura had a small chest compared to most but her breasts didn't sag and seemed to resist bouncing about as larger females would. The top she wore hardly covered more than a bottle's base would and even that was stretching it. Glistening black material contrasted with her golden fur, which only made him gulp all the more at seeing her in it. There was hardly anything to the bottom half, just a triangular piece that would cover her crotch attached to a few pencil-thick bands that held it up.
Yallen's suit was nothing to be excited about. A pair of shorts, made from the rubber of wet suits, were all that covered him. She could easily see the numerous scars that littered his fur, but almost anyone could see the worst he had.
"How fast are you in here? I know you are supposed to be the scout, but I've seen you in the water before." Laura asked with a giggle, smiling in such a way that he was glad the rubber that made up his shorts was as firm as it was.
"I still hold the record back in Jupiter Falls. Currents distract me, and I am usually looking out for anyone trying to take the head off of the rest of you." Yallen said as he stepped up to one of the slanted diving platforms.
"Bet I can beat you."
Yallen gave her an intrigued look. He was known for a gambling problem. "And what are you going to give me when I beat you?"
Gracefully leaping atop another platform two down from his Laura began doing the basic stretches taught to anyone who went into an elementary school. Yallen did have a hard time keeping his eyes off of her compact body as she bent herself nearly in half. "A secret. I will tell you one of my most treasured secrets, if I lose. The same holds for you if you lose. Deal?"
Secrets were a dangerous thing when you were forced to work with one of your neighbors. "Deal." He never could back down from a challenge.
"Three, two, one... go." He didn't shout but she managed to take off first. Unfortunatly, he took off farther.
The fox hit the water with hardly a splash, skimming beneath the surface like a fish. Yallen's leap from the starting point carried him a full fifteen feet out, nearly vertical, before he slid under the lukewarm water. By the time he was under he had almost seven feet of lead on her. It helped to have enhanced muscles.
He easily won that race, and the next several after that. Each time they agreed that one ore secret had to come out. Off all she one once, but that was because he slipped in and was too mesmerized by her slim, young form to try and catch up.
An hour later they both stood outside the dressing rooms of their respective gender. "So, where to now?" the golden fox asked.
"I was planning on going to the steam pools for a soak. The water here is good, but the gravity makes it hard to relax."
"Then I think I will join you."
The pools were circular rooms with a ten-foot diameter. The floor around each pool was roughly two feet before dropping three into hundred-degree water. Vents in the ceiling kept the air from growing too hot, but it was still in the nineties when the door was left open.
The pair settled into their seats just below the surface. For a while they both relaxed, letting the heat work its way into their flesh and bones. Laura was the first to break the silence. "Are you going to hold up your end of the bargain?"
For some reason Yallen wasn't surprised. He could almost imagine that she wanted him to discover some secrets. "You owe me eight secrets. I owe you one. Are you going to go first, or I will I start and let you finish?"
"I will... Alright, I have one." Laura took a deep breath to steady herself, but only succeeded in drawing Yallen's eyes to her chest. "Well, I know a lot of the guys on the station want to sleep with me, and some of the females wouldn't mind if I joined them and their playmates."
"That's not a secret," Yallen interrupted, half grinning in wonder of what she would say.
"I was getting to it. Well... I have only mated once before, and that was just before I left for training." Laura caught his frown and tilted her head in confusion. "What?"
Shaking his head Yallen brought a hand up to wave off any more questions. "I was just thinking
that if so many knew you weren't a virgin you would probably have a dozen lonely men fighting to get in your quarters at night."
With a giggle Laura moved to sit uncomfortably close to Yallen. "Well, then I would just go to the best to help me." Strained laughter was Yallen's only response. Seeing that few words would be coming from Yallen Laura continued. "Ok, my one question. And I know what I want to ask."
Crossing his arms Yallen arched a brow and waited.
"You keep talking about all these guys that want to sleep with me, but you never once mention your thoughts. I want to know if you have ever thought like you say they do." Laura's eyes brightened as she finished the question, honest curiosity in her eyes at what his answer would be.
He hated this situation. She would find something out about him he didn't want her to know and in the end would probably wind up breaking their friendship. He wished he could still remember being as innocent as she seemed. "Yes, I have had the same ideas they have. But we work together and it would only make things complicated for us if we-"
Mimicking him from earlier she interrupted, "You are rambling." Her expression was unreadable, brows furrowed as she glared up at her commander. "I'm surprised by you."
Sighing he brought a hand up to rub his eyes. "Why is that?"
"Because you didn't say anything earlier," she said, followed by the sound of her rising.
Moving his hand and looking up he expected to see her leaving, but what he found was something quite different. She stood in front of him, staring down at him with a wide smile. One of her arms was twisted behind her back, which made him wonder...
Falling free of her body the tiny top landed over Yallen's snout, the ends dangling in the water. His eyes drifted across her young frame, admiring it more than he had ever dared with her paying attention.
With a soft whisper of a giggle she knelt and straddled his lap, leaning in slowly to up his cheek with her soft, damp paw. "You should have told me before. I've been wanting to do this for a long time now." Yallen was wide eyed as a doe as her lips came into contact with his. A thousand thousand thoughts ran through his head. Why me? Why a cat who is more machine than flesh? Why here? Now?
Before he realized it his eyes were closed and she was pulling back. His body felt like all the strength had been drained in the time her lips were against his. As his eyes opened she was just leaning back, wresting her hands behind her on his knees and thrusting her small chest out. "Not sure..." he managed from somewhere. Each word sounded groggy to him, like he was just waking up.
His eyes fluttered closed again as a wide, stupidly happy smile spread across his features. Soft splashing caught his attention, and when his eyes opened again she was pulling her top back on.
She noticed his disappointed expression. "My room or yours?"
To be continued