A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 11

"There is something that you have on your mind that is not really worth my bothering about, Shaevre?" he asked, "Everything else that I do here falls into the category."

"It is inconsequential," she said, "and not worth your time at all," she nodded without humor, "but there is no way to do this otherwise." She stood up properly changing her shape to the more usual bipedal one to make her request, and his eyebrows rose.

"With much respect," she said, "I wish to be allowed to step down from my duty and return to our homeworld. If it is possible, then I will wait until a suitable replacement can be found and sent to relieve me."

He looked at her for a second longer, "I should tell you," he said, "that I will not even consider setting things into motion until I hear your reasons for wanting to leave a posting such as this and returning home to nothing, since you would be tossed out of the service for this."

Sheavre squirmed a little under his piercing gaze, but she began anyway. "I enjoy the posting, such as it is, and I love Nahl'een. But it is always the same -- even here. I am always reminded of my low caste by the others. I can make no friends, so I am always alone when I am not on duty.

Worse, there are no males here for me, and I am getting to an age where females must choose. I believe that I can do better back home where, if nothing else, I can find a male, breed, and watch them all starve, before I die myself either from being beaten or starving to death myself. At least it would be an end to an unhappy life.

Something must be done anyway," Shaevre shrugged, "all too soon, if I remain here, my heat will overtake me, for none of us can repress it forever. I already feel the beginnings of it. When that happens, if I do not go mad and have to be killed, I will test the patience of everyone with my insubordination and add my final shame to my death."

Arrax looked down and drew a breath for a moment. He looked up again and felt for the female.

"So much is wrong with things," he said shaking his head, "Our entire society is crafted to reward those who have no value to it, other than their high birth while everyone else suffers. I come from such a family, Shaevre, but I am not blind to it."

"Your family is an old one, having many generations of mighty warriors," the female said, "You are known for your deeds yourself, Arrax. This makes it easy for me to defer to you and your family and I do so gladly. It would be my honor to serve under one such as you. But the rest, ..."

He smirked a little to her as he waved a finger, "Careful, ... though we are within the walls of a demon house, this room is considered to be Xerian territory, as any embassy is. The room does have ears, and I would need to make a report of what I know that you are about to say if I heard it. But I understand. The reason that I am in this job is so that I can be away from our world and its troubles as much as possible.

One day, Shaevre, the low-born will rise up and do what must be done. I have no wish to be there then. The only high-born families who would be spared would be ones like mine -- and the worthless bread-dippers would look to us to defend them at the same time. They will be in for a rude shock one day, for we would side with the masses -- in my humble opinion," he smiled looking around them as if the walls really did have ears.

"I assume that you have tried to catch the eye of my nephew?"

She nodded. "Xhan is fine. He is, ... handsome and there is much to please my eye when I look at him. He is intelligent and not really invested in the class system yet, but -- "

"Oh he is," Arrax said gently, "but where once he might have looked on everyone else a little smugly for reasons of his high birth, he now has reasons to doubt. He was in love with a low-born bitch, but I dealt with it -- for reasons other than the one of class, though he has not yet come to realize why. She sought to pair herself with his place, and not with the male. It is my hope that he puts a little of his intelligence to some useful thoughts.

He is young like you. A little brightness when combined with a sense of injustice often leads to the making of idealists who think purely and are given to action -- again, hopefully tempered by that intelligence."

He looked up, "I assume that you tried to catch his eye and were rebuffed?"

She shook her head, "Ignored would be a better word. I gave up before he spoke the words to me that he would have nothing to do with one so low as me. Also, I gave up then so that I didn't feel the need to loosen a few of his teeth for saying the words, the way that I am feeling lately."

Arrax chuckled, "I daresay it might have done him a little good and woken him up to the possibility of having something wonderful with a fine bitch. But that is his loss, Shaevre."

The words caught the young female completely off-guard and her face showed it.

"Oh come on," Arrax laughed out loud, "I am his uncle. I look out for him as I must. But that's not to say that I'll wipe his ass and hold a rag up to his face to wipe away his snot after he blows his nose the wrong way.

His mother and I are in complete agreement. She handed her son over to me so that I might bring her back a male warrior -- as befits our family. He has passed through the academy and it taught him nothing as it teaches all who go. That leaves service off-world to gain his ability.

If he stayed there, he'd have become another fop like all the rest, prancing around like pretend warriors who care more for their offices and titles than their people. Almost all of them would shit themselves at the prospect of actually having to fight and maybe die for the social order which gives them so much for nothing."

"I know that," Shaevre said, with a bit of a snicker, "It gives ones like me such warm thoughts, but I was surprised to hear you call a low-born female like me a fine bitch."

"Why not?" he grinned a little, "It's the truth, Shaevre. You are beautiful, strong, and smart. Have I missed anything? Oh yes, you have served from as soon as it was permitted; training at sixteen, asking for deployment at seventeen and you came back a blooded veteran with more battle honors than any of your superiors, though they made certain that they gave each other commendations so that they'd get their medals.

That's all that they can do, however. Commendations are not battle honors. They might wish to have the battle honors, but they must be earned by being there. The recommendation process causes interviews and no fighters in the ranks will support the fabrications of the same bootlick officers who send them to their deaths while not even stepping into harm's way themselves. Officer's accounts of other officers are largely ignored -- as they should be. They are only taken seriously in the event of a courts-martial -- of another officer."

He slammed his pawed hand down on the desk lightly for emphasis. "You were blooded and a hero at nineteen! You did that in less than three years in two campaigns. There are no serving generals now who can say that. That is singular, my young friend. That is outstanding!"

He laughed, "That reminds me of someone else."

"I didn't know you, Arrax," she said very quietly, "but I heard very early of the exploits of Arrax. You are a living god to the common line fighters in the Expeditionary Brigades where I began. I tried to pattern my career after yours. You were the youngest general in the long history of our forces. I just don't have the high blood of a good birth. There are no wars on now, and so I can go no further. That's why I left to join this service."

"Well to my eye, that all makes you a wonderfully fine bitch, worthy of any male worth his own stones," he nodded, "Your only trouble is that our society has forgotten what we are. If it weren't for that, you'd have it all, wouldn't you?"

"Now who is talking dangerously in Xerian territory?" she smiled. "From anyone else, I would take the remark as sarcasm and snobbishness, but from you, it is high praise. I know that your eye is not caught by beauty alone -- not that I have much of that, but I know that you hold a fighter's ability in high regard."

"As do you," he smiled and she nodded. "That is why," he said with a little grin, "you and I may speak plainly -- as fighters, who have no need to add layers of flowers to our words. We both know what is what.

I'll tell you a little secret," he smiled at her as though he were her own kindly uncle, though they both knew that he was far younger than that, "IF I didn't have my own bitch right now in the demon, and IF I'd never met and had the love of my life in the one whom I shared it with, and IF I was young, and not the age that I am, Shaevre, I couldn't imagine myself not wanting someone such as you.

My first bitch was just the same as you are, though she was not a fighter, and we discovered a very basic truth in each other's arms. The closer that you live your life to what we are, and not what we purport to be, the happier your lives will be.

So," he nodded with a wink, "What you should take from this is that I am in your corner. I have no daughters or nieces who I care to know anyway, but if I had, I'd wish for them to have grown up like you. I have the beginnings of a plan, my girl. I will not reveal all of it to you just yet, because not all of it is clear to me at this point.

But enough of it is clear that I will begin on the parts of it which can be started into motion. For now, I will not turn down your request to step down. I will only pretend that you never made the request in the first place because I need some time. I will also raise your rank."

"Raise my -- "

Arrax nodded, "Unlike most in positions such as mine, I take the time to learn of the backgrounds of the people who serve under me. It leads me to find jewels now and then. Your humble birth seems to have gotten someone in some government office a little confused. I'll start an investigation to find out who it was so that I can help them with their new career choice.

It is a fixed and very hard rule that combat veterans be given due consideration and the rank that it merits. You were not and I want to know why. Since I share the background, I will not permit some bread-dipping, egg-sucking biscuit-eater to accord veterans less than the honor that they deserve. Why do you laugh?"

"It is nothing," Shaevre grinned, "I am in a little awe that you have managed to string three of the line fighter's all-time favorite insults for the worthless in the officer corps into one sentence. To one who does not know you, it would show that you've been there. The only one that you left out - "

"I know," Arrax laughed, "mother fucker. I left that one out. I tend to assume that they're all mother fuckers, those who aren't still virgins. What other bitch would hold her tail aside for them?

As of right now, you are above three of the others here, and they'd better remember that your rank deserves respect. You are the only one in the contingent here who has real combat experience from your time during the campaigns of the Battle of the Three Cities, and the Mornian Expeditions. The rest had better take the lesson to heart, or I'll find a way to make you the lead Xer in the contingent, trust me.

They still won't be able to get their noses out of their own assholes, but that can't be helped. They were born that way. But they WILL now have to speak to you, and I want to hear about it if just one of the ones beneath you forgets to salute you even one time. I'll make the announcement later today, so prepare to have your pretty ass kissed immediately, if I know them.

You do know that the others may try to discredit you, and offer blame for their own failure. Just be prepared for it and request a little one-on-one meeting if you feel that it is necessary. They are larger and heavier, but it's little more than what living a soft life adds. You are the only one who still trains.

I'm sure that you'll have no trouble jarring their memories, and I'll ignore their bruises when they come to me to complain. And that's if I don't revoke their combat worthiness certification on the spot and send them back to the disgrace of a ruined career. If there's one thing that I enjoy in all of this cow shit, it's fucking over somebody who needs it. Are we clear?"

"Y --Yes sir," Shaevre said, snapping him her own salute, and it was letter-perfect -- just as he knew that it would be.

"Now, about the matter of your heart," he smiled, "A change of the landscape around you cannot be a bad thing. It will shake out the echoes and cobwebs of old patterns of thought and give you a fresher view of things. There is much more here that is wrong than the way that a veteran was treated.

Shaevre's eyebrows rose as he began.

He thought she looked as sweet as she must have when she'd only been a very small whelp as he watched her face while he spoke.