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Covert Operations

I awoke with a start, the only thing that kept me from leaping out of the bed was a pair of fuzzy arms wrapped around my chest.

“What happened, dear?" Rit whispered, nuzzling her nose against my neck. She was still half-asleep, her eyes were gently shut.

Looking around, I saw my apartment bedroom. Everything seemed normal. The furniture was all the same as it was when I left it, but I couldn't help but feel something was off.

“We were..." I tried to think but my mind was empty, “...It must have been a bad dream."

“Mmm," she licked my cheek, “Bad dreams. I only have good ones ever since we got married."

“Married?"

“It was the best decision I ever made. I love you, Nate," she pulled me close, forcing me to stare into her gorgeous, amber eyes, “I don't even mind sharing you."

“What?"

A heavy hand slapped my ass and this time I really did leap out of my bed, Rit's claws raking my chest, though it did not hurt. I found Horith standing in the doorway, naked save for his snow-white fur which covered up his entire body, save for his wet, black nose and his thick, red penis. He had a can of beer in his left paw, which he chugged and then tossed across the room. I didn't hear the can clang or hit anything.

“She means me, who else?"

Paralyzed with shock, I fired back, “What the hell is going on here!?"

Horith's face went still and his voice lowered, “Nate, you're at your final exam and you didn't study." Despite the sudden change in personality, he got onto the bed, forcing me and Rit to scoot to the side; and spooned me, one of his paws carefully resting its pads on my penis.

Gasping, I looked at the end of the bed and found that the Duke was right. My entire fourth year Network Administration class was staring back at me as if I was the weirdest student in college. Considering I brought a bed and two aliens to class, and none of us were wearing any clothes, I suppose they would have been right.

I covered up my face as their laughter echoed through my head.

I awoke with a start, nearly leaping out of the chair and only being held down by two pairs of hairy arms, one black and slender, and the other white and heavy.

Trashing about blindly, I tried to break free.

“Hey, Nate, it's okay," Horith's voice whispered, a hand rubbing at my back.

“Please, calm down," Rit's voice also whispered, from my other side.

They were both holding me down from both sides, but we were not in a bed, nor were any of us naked. Looking past the furry faces on both my sides, I saw scenery passing us by, buildings, trees, light-posts.

Slurrrrrp.

I looked in front of me. Thankfully, instead of a lecture hall, I saw a familiar black Vulpeculan dressed in an equally dark military uniform and sitting on a seat facing us on the other end of the limousine. His muzzle was buried in a white, porcelain tea cup. His yellow eyes looked up at me and he put the cup down on a saucer with a clink. He licked his lips and smiled.

It was the member of the Claw who interviewed me! The one whom I feared so much but found that he was an alright guy! And just like then, he looked like a fox who had bathed in an oil slick.

“Hey!" I smiled, shaking off Horith and Rit's grip.“It's great to see you again!"

Horth growled, swinging his gaze from me to the Vulpeculan and back, “What the hell did you do to him?"

The black Vulpeculan shrugged, twiddling two claws together, “Standard procedures after interrogation. It helps to make sure the subject doesn't leave with, let's say, hurt feelings. It's better for him to remember it this way and I couldn't reverse it even if I wanted to."

That sounded awfully manipulative-sounding, but I knew the black Vulpy well-enough to know that he had good intentions, so I didn't press him on it.

“Too bad you can't use that on the whole planet, hm?" Rit teased.

“No, but there are services such as that for obstinate slaves. Care to get acquainted with them?"

“Enough, Agent," Horith said, leaving my side and taking a seat on the row by the windows. “Remember the deal we made with her."

“The Claw remembers," the Agent said, taking a tiny sip of tea. “Perhaps it would be best to brief our human guest?"

He had a good point. Rit and Horith were leaving me in the dark and more importantly…

“Why?" I turned to Rit, who was resting her head against my shoulder.

She lifted her head, looking at the Agent who replied with a silent nod.

Sighing, she explained, “I'm sorry, Nate. I was sent to your place to keep an eye on you. We had reason to believe that you had some connections to a rebel group and we wanted to make sure you had nothing to do with Litho's death. If I found nothing, I would have been your slave indefinitely and if I found evidence of a conspiracy that led to it getting uncovered..."

“What?"

“...Freedom. And a pension."

This hurt. Although my relationship with hers was, all things considered, unequal, I began to really care for her. In some way, I always knew that it was impossible to have a real relationship with her. There was always the chance that she came to care for me, but I didn't want to ask her for fear to hearing otherwise, so I stuck to business, if only to distract from the heart-ache.

“What led you to believe I had anything..."

“The company you keep," Horith said.

“What do you…?"

“Nate, your apartment is bugged. Someone broke in and tapped it," Rit said, pausing, “Last night, when I told you that I smelled the suspect on you, you told me it was Argus's slave, whom is living with his master in the penthouse of your building while on Earth. This, along with what you told me about his argument with Lorgan, and that hack that occurred..."

I froze. I saw where she was going with this, I wasn't dense, but it felt shocking to actually hear it.

I looked at the Agent.

“The signal hi-jacking occurred using the exact same method as the one during the King's assassination," the Agent said, making strange motions with his hands while explaining, “After that first attack, we left the exploit in the system but continued to monitor it in hopes of getting more information should they strike again. We do know that the interception came from North America and with your testimony about your time last night, we think it's extremely likely that Argus is either working with or in contact with a rebel cell."

There it was. I suppose I could have mentioned that the second person Rit smelled on me was actually a rebel member, but that would have gotten me, at the very least, sent to a labor mine and if I was really lucky, it'd still be on Earth. Still, as decent as Argus had been to me in the past, his behavior was getting suspicious when all these things added up. I suppose the Captain being there at the same time as Argus was also unusual too.

And then it also came down to whether I really disagreed with what he was doing, if he was doing it. There were plenty of rebel groups who were completely deranged but there were plenty of more moderate ones and unless you were a die-hard Xenophile, everyone had even a small desire for independence, it was only natural.

Then again, I suppose I didn't have any choice in the matter now that I was on the Claw's radar, but I still wanted to know the full details. They clearly wanted me to do something for them and I wanted to make sure I was on the right side or not. I didn't have a choice, but if I was going to be batting for the greater evil, I wanted to know now rather than later. It'd help me live with it.

So I asked an important question:

“Does this have anything to do with the Lupiad-Sirian Empire?"

Everyone was silent and stared at me as if I just loudly told an inappropriate joke at a fancy dinner party.

“Nate, you'd best not repeat those words in public, it might..." Horith carefully explained before he was stopped.

“No need to keep him in the dark about this. It might be important for his mission," the Agent said, smirking. I trusted him, but there was something unnerving about that smile, “The Lupiad-Sirian Empire was a union between the Lupiad and Sirian planetary governments. They both made first contact with each other and were so surprised by their similarities and the fact that they were able to interbreed that it was seen as, well, like fate that they should meet. A union was proposed and agreed upon almost instantly, with a Lupiad military and a Sirian bureaucracy, all under two elected Emperors, one of each species, whom were expected to share an intimate bond.

The Sirians were born diplomats and businessment and the Lupiads great warriors, and both were prolific. They expanded across the galaxy and claimed many worlds, until they came across a backwards planet that was populated by a smaller, more slender race, but one that they felt resembled them."

“Beta Vulpeculae." I said.

“Correct. And arriving at around the same time, in another great, cosmic coincidence, was the Regulian Exploration Fleet, whom laid claim to the planet. The Regulians destroyed the Lupiad-Sirian fleet there and Beta Vulpeculae surrendered unconditionally to the Regulians. This began a long, long war, too long for me to go into detail, but it ended with the surrender and integration of the Sirians and Lupiads into the Regulian Empire.

Some Sirians and Lupiads are a little nostalgic for this period, so to speak. We are not sure if Argus is one of them, but if he has ties to the rebels, he is most likely using them in some way towards this goal. We want you to find out exactly what he's doing and if you find anything, bring back proof."

I sighed, “I'm not a spy. I don't..."

“If you're feeling the slightest bit of sympathy for the rebels or the Lupiad-Sirians, it's an ill-advised line of thought. We know that your kind tends to have a higher degree of empathy for them, and my species for that matter, than the Regulians. Man's best friend and whatnot." The Agent snorted derisively, “Right or wrong, if they're allowed to gain a foothold here, the Emperor will authorize an orbital bombardment and none of us want that. The rebellion will lose, it's only a matter of how much life you want lost. We have our own motives, of course, but we value human life, even if only for serving our purposes."

“They must be promising the human rebels something though, they wouldn't just..."

“Nate," Horith interrupted firmly, “Argus is backing me for King and I'm engaged to his daughter. If he has some ulterior motive behind it, I need to know now. If you bring back proof, my nomination will be finished, but if I become King and it turns out my sponsor is using me in some scheme for rebellion, my head will be on the chopping block once the Regulians or the..."

“Shh!" The Agent hissed, holding a claw up, “He's not authorized to know."

“But it's important for him to know!" Rit pleaded.

“He's not cleared to know and you're not cleared to tell him." The Agent took a sip from his cup, “Neither slaves nor Dukes are above the Claw."

A brief thought flashed in my head, something about so much for “No need to keep him in the dark" but the Agent was a good guy and had good intentions, so I let it drop, “What do you want me to do, exactly?"

“We want you to go to his place, seduce him, fuck him, whatever it takes to let his guard down and find some evidence."

“What the fuck!?"

“Strange," the Agent muttered, “The conditioning shouldn't allow you to make such outbursts towards me. Very strange." He cleared his throat, “And I was under the impression that you had a slight crush on him, no?"

“Nate doesn't swing that way," Horith explained, “But Argus definitely is attracted to him."

“But he has a slave now, one that looks exactly like..."

“Nate, look at me," Horith looked at me, pointing two claws towards his golden eyes, “I've had sex with a lot of slaves and I mean, a lot of slaves! I have the means and wealth to purchase a new one whenever I get bored, to switch species and gender whenever I wish." He paused, clearing his throat. “But one constant feeling always ends up returning and I've talked to a lot of slave owners about this: the desire to seduce a willing, free person. They all get that desire, I had it recently too, and I'm certain Argus has it right now. All you have to do is show up and look nice. You have a scent that no alien can resist, not sure what you use."

I always figured that I smelled like computer dust. Maybe that was appealing to them? No, that would be strange and there was no point even trying to understand with my small, human nose.

“But there's also..." I stopped myself. I was about to explain the little incident with his daughter but realized that might be a bad idea. Horith was a pretty reasonable person, but if he found out that his fiancee was all over me last night, he might very well get angry. It was a double-standard, of course, but it wasn't one I was willing to confirm.

Besides, Larga covered for me by giving me the greeting. My smell being on her then was not unusual and mad or not, she wouldn't be stupid enough to tell her father. It would be fine.

“Look," the Agent said. “You don't really have any choice in the matter. You can help us out and let one Sirian have his way with you or we can ship you off to a prison camp on Beta Vulpeculae and you can be passed around like currency; and believe me, they will not be the nice, domestic Vulpeculans like you're used to. Understand?"

The Agent had a good point. I didn't want to be anally raped by fox-men in a prison on a planet several...hundred? Thousand? Whatever amount of light-years away. Argus was the lesser of two evils in this case.

But as I looked away from the Agent, towards Horith, I felt more apprehensive. Perhaps it was the worry that was visible on his normally carefree face, but I felt less sure about the whole thing.

“Can't you do something about this?" I asked him.

“I don't want to get you involved in this, but things are getting unstable and time is running out. If Argus is getting involved with the rebels, you're the only one who can find out." Horith paused as the limo came to a quiet halt. The black window separating us from the driver rolled down behind the Agent and I caught a glimpse of a similarly black Vulpeculan driver, but what really caught my attention was a white car with black tinted windows two blocks down, just outside my apartment, “And even if we weren't giving you an ultimatum, it looks like someone else has designs on you."

“Who?"

“Duchess Aleesh, we presume. If Argus has your apartment bugged, he wouldn't need a stakeout like this." The Agent said, peering back at the car, “Reports say that she's intent on pinning Litho's death, perhaps the King's as well, on you. It won't take long for her to make her move, evidence or not. Chances are the Emperor won't care when you're delivered to him in chains and Aleesh will be a shoe-in for appointment as Queen. This is not ideal for any of us." He paused, passing his cup and saucer to the driver who placed it out of sight with a light clink. “So when I threaten to banish you to a lifetime of being the prison bicycle to the worst Vulpeculae has to offer, rest assured, it's a pragmatic decision to keep you out of her clutches."

He was saying some pretty horrible things, but I couldn't help but...my mind said to trust him but I was getting such conflicted feelings in my heart. I couldn't say anything and buried my head in my hands.

Rit embraced me tightly and I felt her wet nose nuzzle against my temple. Her musk filled my nostrils, but it tasted less intoxicating, there was something off. I still didn't know how to feel about this, about her. She was trying to help me feel better, but it could have all been an act, just a cold, calculated move to ensure her freedom.

I guess I would have done the same thing.

Distant sirens echoed behind us. I pulled my head up and snapped, “What now!?"

“Our time is up, Nate," the Agent muttered, scooting aside to give me a clear view of the front window. A police cruiser zoomed by, lights flashing red and blue, and parking behind the spy car. “This is the distraction you'll need."

“For what!?"

“To get back into your apartment, get as much gear as you need. Argus might have something hidden on his computers and you might need to break into them."

“I'm not a hacker."

“No, but I understand some of those old, human machines you dabbled in have security flaws and password reset tools exist, no? Surely you have a few."

“I do," I looked outside. A Regulian cop was standing at the driver window of the car, “Christ, there's a lot of them though."

“Get as many as you can and go see Argus. Do whatever it takes." The Agent ordered and tossed me a small, leather kit. He didn't give me enough time to open it. “Hide this in a bag or something. Use it if Argus gives you any trouble." Hissing, he looked out the front window. “Hopefully these guys don't give any trouble."

No trouble broke out and the cop casually strode back to his vehicle. Shortly after, the tinted car slowly puttered away and turned around the next corner.

“Now!"

Rit threw open the door next to her and motioned for me to go. I climbed over her, scrambling to the exit. Just before I left, she said one last thing:

“Nate, when this is over, let's meet and have a talk."

I still didn't know what to say to her, and I was under imminent threat of being deported to her home-world, so I just nodded without having any intended meaning behind it.

I didn't even know if I wanted to see her again.