Betrayal on Aztiko

The cleric had given the old warrior the answer he was expecting, under no circumstances were the unfaithful to be attacked unless there was no doubt they were planning to attack first and violate the terms of of them being on Aztiko. The old warrior relayed this to the untested warrior and it still did not dissuade his mania, so the old warrior resorted to physically reprimanding him, as it was the only option left, and it seemed to have worked.

"I will speak no more of the subject, Sir." The untested warrior fought the urge to use a wing to wipe away the blood dripping from his face. He took a few tentative steps backwards as the old warrior threw his head back and let out a dismissive laugh.

"You are not only stupid, but you are weak." The laugh gave way to a snarl filled with disgust. "Immediately cowed by a single strike from talons alone. How would you react to gunfire coming towards you? Live rounds and energy beams? Imagine if you saw an unfaithful's armored vehicle or aircraft?"

The untested warrior shook with rage and humiliation. His feathers stood on end as it took all of his will not to lash out in indignation either with words or his own talons.

"Well don't worry. You won't see any combat. I'll be sure of that."

The old warrior turned around and made ready to glide over to the communications console. Only when he was facing away did he realize the mistake he'd just made, and by then it was too late as the untested warrior set upon him from behind and vicously dug into his back with his talons, tearing and slashing away at him.

The old warrior collapsed to the ground, screeching in agony from the surprise attack. When the assault had ceased he was near death, weak from blood loss and nearly unconscious.

"You are stupid, old man. You are complacent and have allowed yourself to lapse into degeneracy just as the rest of our leadership has."

A final slash with his talons and the young warrior, no longer untested, tore out the throat of his elder, and thus began his plans to set the men stationed at the outpost on the correct path.

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CHAPTER 3:

The process of paying all the cadets was a repetitive but very simple one, which was perfect for Jacob because in his fatigued state repetitive and simple was all he could manage. Nobody stayed for very long after being paid, as food wasn't being served yet and most of them had more important things to do like going to the shooting range or working out in the gym, and what little leisure time they were given was usually spent in the barracks with things they brought from home as most of the civilian wings (which would have been the most "fun") of the academy had yet to finish construction.

Any time he started to nod off his shoulder was given a rough shake by Jazz, who had gotten herself a drink to keep herself somewhat occupied. A non alcoholic beverage called an entoslurry or "Bug Juice" that was universally loved by hellbenders, but not many others.

The last cadet that got her salary was Corporal Samantha Telly, the one Jazz had mentioned to him earlier. She was about an inch taller than Jacob crewcut included, and her facial expressions were either a default intense stare or a smile that barely concealed the malice behind it. He had also noticed that her knuckles had been tattooed with the words "TIME" on the left and "BOMB" on the right. Fitting considering that her expertise was in demolitions. Besides occasionally tossing a few toxic glances at Jazz, she didn't cause much of an issue during the payment process.

With one final keystroke from his now shaky fingers, the last transmission of funds was complete, and Samantha had her salary. Jacob's job was done, but the short burst of satisfaction at having finally completed his work was tempered as he remembered that he was still stuck on Aztiko.

Still, he was trying to see things on the bright side. At least now he could look for some place to just pass out for a couple of hours. Or 12 hours. He felt like he'd be fine with going into a week long coma.

Plus Jazz was there, and as draining as she could be she was still his best friend.

"Are you feeling okay right now, Mister Calwdell?"

Jacob smiled weakly.

"I think I'll feel a lot better after some sleep, Jazz."

Jazz held up her hand and shook her head, but Samantha had heard him.

"Hold on. what did he call you? 'Jazz?'"

"Damn it, Jacob."

Jacob looked to Samantha then to Jazz, visibly confused.

"What did I do?"

A cocky grin appeared on Samantha's face.

"You're that guy she mentioned a while back, aren't you?"

"What guy? What are you talking about?"

Jazz firmly interrupted them.

"That's not your concern, Corporal Telly. Return to your quarters."

"Shit, you *are* that guy. aren't you? You're the one I heard Chief Omeci talking about when she was-"

"Corporal Telly, you're already on thin fucking ice, return to your barracks now or not only will I have you thrown in a holding cell, I'll write a recommendation that you be refused leave again next month and have your current pay docked."

She glared and got up from the table, adjusted her uniform and left the mess hall in a huff.

"If she wasn't so good at blowing things up I'd have her shipped back to the frontlines. I have no idea what the hell her problem is."

"What was she talking about, though?"

"Hmm?"

Jazz feigning ignorance would have been a lot funnier if he wasn't so damn tired.

"No, I'm serious. You mentioned me before? To who? What did you talk about?"

"Look, I wasn't making fun of you or anything... alright maybe a little bit, but it's not that big of a deal. Let's see if we can find you a place to get some sleep, you look like shit."

He let out a deep sigh that made her cringe.

"Come on, Jazz. Don't be like that."

She threw up her hands in surrender.

"Alright, fine. You win."

She fiddled a bit with her helmet as it lay on the table before answering.

"I have some off and on conversations with the Headmistress Kotsell Zeidt." She noticed his confusion and explained further. "She's from the Lunar Sisters, she gives direct orders to the troops garrisoned here doles out various 'judgements' to a Sister cadet if one of them fucks up, but she hasn't had to do it so far, they never cause any problems."

He nodded and she continued.

"Anyway, she asked how well humans and hellbenders get along. You know, how we managed to keep this thing from faling apart despite being so different."

As if to put some emphasis on the differences between them, she pointed to and then took a drink from her cup, the blended mixture of various insects from many different worlds would probably send Jacob into a fit of gagging convulsions if he tried to consume it.

"I mentioned how both of us started out as slaves after getting abducted centuries ago, you know the thing with you guys and the ark and us with our home planet. I explained the special kinship our species have specifically because we put aside our differences and stopped hating each other. Instead we started hating the pricks that enslaved us more and now here we are."

"Okay but that doesn't specifically have anything to do with me."

"I'm getting there, chill out."

After finishing the rest of her drink, she continued.

"She was also curious about *other* kind of interspecies relationships, seeing as right now we've got a human and a Sister here who are romantically involved. I told her it wasn't too crazy, we do it all the time in the Enclaves. Humans and Hellbenders can hook up and nobody thinks anything of it."

He thought for a second, then just became even more confused.

"That's all true but... we were just friends."

She threw her head back and groaned.

"You gotta be shitting me. Did you not once ever realize that I probably wanted to be more than that? I mean I did bring up that kiss earlier."

"I thought that kiss was just to fuck with me, Jazz. You're always fucking with me, remember? It's really hard to take half of the stuff you say seriously, you know."

"Yeah well... did you ever..."

She cut herself off. Usually it was her that never had any trouble talking and him getting frustrated to the point of stutters.

"Jazz, why didn't you just tell me? You never have any issues saying what's on your mind."

"Yeah, that's how I ended up in this job... anyway, I also explained how there's still differences between a lot of us but as individuals, you know? I mean to put it bluntly, you've always been a nerd and I was more of a jock. Even when *we* stopped hating each other we never became more than friends because the circles we hung out in were always so different."

She looked away from him and gazed off into space, clearly regretting not bringing this up all those years prior.

"I mean we were just stupid kids... actually, no, *I* was the one who was stupid. I was worried about how my friends would treat you and how'd they'd treat me. I know most of the outright bullying stops way before we get to university but my buddies were still assholes."

She passed the cup from one hand to another and looked into his eyes again.

"So I explained to her that even though we get along there's still a lot of stupid shit that causes problems between us... like me being embarrassed that I was into the nerdy guy I picked on when we were little kids."

Jacob stared back at her with a blank expression as he processed the information.

"Were you eventually gonna tell me all this when you got the chance? Maybe while I was stuck here?"

She shrugged.

"Probably. It would have come up at some point, I just wanted to wait until you weren't completely exhausted so you could think it over with a clear head."

Jacob reached up to rub his temples and sighed.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to think about this again when I'm not on the verge of just collapsing on the floor but... I don't know how to say this but you weren't the only one who had those kinds of feelings sometimes, Jazz."

"Really?"

He nodded and smiled, looking a little bit bashful.

"Like I said, I need to rest first before I can really tell you how I feel about all of this but I'm not freaked out or anything like that."

She gave him a warm smile and stood up, putting her helmet under one arm and dropped the cup in a trash recepticle that was next to the table before holding out her hand to help him off the seat.

"Right now we don't have a bed for you or anything, but there's these really nice sofas in the waiting area right outside the medical wing. They're probably a lot more comfortable than the gurneys that are actually in the medical wing. I'll try my best to find something else for you for later."

"That'll be fine. I mean I'd take the floor at this point, I don't care."

Chuckling, she motioned for him to follow.

"Alright, couch it is then."

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Molly stared intently at the holofilm that played out before her as she finished the second and final bite of the sandwich that Caleb had given her. She tried to eat it slowly both out of general politeness and to actually try and savor the taste, but it was no bigger than a cookie to someone her size so she couldn't really do much to make it last.

Caleb in turn stared intently at her, trying to judge her reaction to both the holo and the food, but he still wasn't able to quite see how she felt about either of them. What little emotions she showed were usually relegated to a smile she would send his way or a laugh at something he said, generally when he wasn't trying to be funny. Still, getting anything out of her was exciting enough that he didn't mind her being amused at him fumbling something in the Lunar language.

"So, is it any good?"

"The food or the holofilm?"

"Well... both I guess."

As intrigued as Caleb was about her culture, Molly was doubly so interested in his. She was already astounded at the variety in looks between Humans especially. With rare exceptions owed to some kind of albinism, all Hellbenders were a varying shades of bright pink and never managed to exceed five feet in height, but humans came in all shapes and sizes with a multitude of skin, eye and hair colors.

"The food is... interesting. I don't dislike this 'ham and swiss' but I don't think it has nearly enough calories to properly sustain me, but I'd still greatly enjoy finishing what you brought me."

He nodded.

"Well, at least you think it tastes good. But what about the movie?"

"Movie?"

"It's what a lot of people call holofilms."

"Oh! Well, it's certainly very exciting. There's a lot going on."

She leaned slightly to view the hologram from another angle as the hero of the flick opened fire from the hip and wiped out an entire squad of bad guys. Caleb winced slightly as her movement caused him to get squished between her breasts and one of her arms, his breath becoming a little labored.

"I'm confused as to how he's able to to consistently eliminate so much of his opposition with nothing but what looks like a small machine pistol. He also never properly utilizes his surroundings for concealment during a firefight, yet even though his opponents are the only ones in military attire they seem to lack any sense of accuracy whatsoever and never once hit him."

She released him from her tight grasp after he squeezed her bicep, then continued.

"And how does he achieve such consistent accuracy despite never showing signs of being a trained marksman? Is he cybernetically modified in some way? Genetically modified? It seems like he never fires from the shoulder even though he has a stock on his weapon, and your primitive ballistic based weaponry lack the accuracy of-"

"It's not really supposed to be realistic. It's... a fantasy. A power fantasy. You sort of have to stop thinking and just have fun watching the explosions."

"Pulsar society views wanton violence as enjoyable?"

He got slightly defensive.

"When it's fake wanton violence, sure. None of this is real."

She looked intently at the hologram again.

"It just seems... I'm not entirely sure if there's a correct means of describing how I feel using your language. Immature, perhaps?"

"Oh come on, don't act like you're some kind of pacifist. I mean the whole reason you got attracted to me in the first place is because I killed a bunch of Merkeb. You're like a proud warrior race, aren't you?"

If she was any bit as frustrated as he was, she wasn't showing it.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean we seek out conflict, nor do we celebrate it. We are happy after winning battles and joyous after winning wars, but armed confrontation should always be a last resort.

"That's not any different from us!"

He could feel his voice raising in volume and tried to calm himself as she gave him a sideways glance.

"Look, the way I see it, it's better that we have excessive violence in stuff like movies and games. Right? That's better than people actually killing each other outside of self defense, isn't it?"

She pondered what he said for a moment, then nodded.

"That's something I have no problem agreeing with. I don't think many among my people would enjoy these 'power fantasies' as you put them, but you're correct in that I really shouldn't have much problem with any of this in a fictional setting. If nobody actually gets hurt, then it wouldn't be right for me to have an issue with it."

He let out a sigh and moved in closer to her.

"Alright, glad we worked that out... I guess that means you don't like the movie, though, huh?"

She took a little while to answer as she looked down to meet his gaze.

"I enjoy how much you enjoy them. Seeing you happy makes me happy as well."

She leaned down and kissed him, one of her hands moving to stroke his cheek. He reciprocated, leaning into her caresses.

Breaking off the kiss, she smiled warmly at him and slid her hand down, grasping his chin.

"I think I have a movie we'll both like."

He reached into one of his bags and took out a small package housing a tiny data cartridge.

"This is a classic. It's a historical drama about the rebellion that created the Pulsar Defense Enclaves. There's war scenes in it, but it's very dialogue heavy as well."

"That does sound quite interesting Caleb. I'd love to watch that with you."

He ejected the cart from his holoplayer and replaced it with the new one.

"Just so you know it's kind of long, so we won't be watching this in one sitting. Also it's old. It came out way before I was born, and the special effects are kind of cheesy."

"What does that mean? 'Cheesy'? Is it something to do with sandwiches?"

Caleb put a hand to his mouth and tried to stifle his laughter.

"Oh, did you find what I said amusing? Are you laughing at me or with me?"

"Hey, you laugh at me sometimes, too!"

She once again took his chin into her hand and pulled his face very close to hers. Immediately his laughter ceased and his breath caught in his throat.

"I'm not laughing now, am I?"

Caleb gulped as his face became red hot, beads of sweat starting to form.

"No Ma'am, you aren't."

"You leave me, and when you return you tease and poke fun at me? If I didn't know any better I would make the assumption that you were trying to antagonize me."

He shook his head - or at least did the best he could with his chin firmly in her grasp severely limiting his movement.

"Absolutely not, Ma'am."

She let go of him but he still had the same look on his face, a mixture of fright and excitement.

"Well regardless of your intentions, you should be making more of an effort to show how glad you are to see me again, especially since we have few opportunities to be alone."

With a swift movement she reached to her neck and slid the zipper of her uniform down to the navel, immediately following up by taking the back of his head into her other hand and pushing him face first into her cleavage.

He peppered her breasts with kisses and struggled to remove his uniform as well, kicking his boots off and leaving them at the side of the oversized (for him) cot, his metal prosthetics clinking as the collided with the edge of it. A small panic rose in him as she pushed his face further in, her warm flesh engulfing his mouth and nose, cutting off all access to air. He responded by trying to get undressed even faster, fumbling some more.

Eventually he managed to remove most of his clothes, now down only to his underwear. This seemed to satisfy Molly and she took her hand off the back of his head and he lurched back, breathing deeply. She softly kissed his forehead before moving to gently push him down by his chest, resting his head on the pillow. Her other hand was unoccupied until she reached between his thighs and grasped the bulge in his underwear, making him whimper.

She laid down beside him and removed the rest of her uniform as well. They helped each other slide off their respective undergarments and then began to cover each other in kisses. Caleb paid extra attention to her neck and upper breasts and tried to thrust into her. She responded by firmly grabbing his cock and holding him still. He grunted in frustration and she shushed him.

"You need to be patient, Caleb."

She moved to lie on her back and motioned for him to follow. He dutifully obliged and slid himself down before rolling himself over her leg, finally positioning himself face first between her thick, powerful thighs.

"Then again, I find your eagerness very endearing."

He glanced upward and saw her prop herself up on her elbows, staring at him from behind her massive tits. Her eyes narrowed at him expectantly. Even lying down she was intimidating - at least from this angle - seven and a half feet of muscle wrapped in dark grey skin and blank white eyes that seemed like they could see everything.