Gabatrix: The Shira Maneuver

"It is true that I have the Jian Seng under my command now," Anaya replied. "Hmm....an old Fu Yi class Military Transport commanded by Lieutenant Commander Lifen. Yes, I know it. It was recently pulled out of mothball status from Titan over a month ago. Does it matter what ship you would be assigned to?"

"No. It does not matter to me," Shira replied.

"Ugh.....I'm not too keen on this idea. I would lose an advisor."

"There would be numerous reasons as to why this is the case. The first reason is to remove me from the base and onto a place where there would be less knowledge of my identity. The second reason is to remove me from a place that could result in further violence against me or cause more destruction of property to the base. The third reason is because of the recent events made to you and to me. Regardless of my actions in self-defense, I have disobeyed an order that you made to me."

"I admit that I'm not too pleased about it," Anaya commented.

"All the more reason for me to not be here. I believe it would be in your best interests to have me reassigned. This will essentially discourage further individuals from conspiring against you to bring harm to me. It will also lessen the political impact that others may have towards you in commissioning me as a UHN member months ago. Even with the benefits that it may curtail, your opponents would still use me against you. Having me moved would help silence that opposition."

"Spoken almost as a true politician....."

"You wanted me as an advisor. The politics in the Shal'rein clan are not much different than the UWA. I would not have become an Adjunct at my age without that knowledge and experience."

"True."

"I do have to voice some opposition to this," Javier interjected. "I.....I apologize for interrupting, Fleet Admiral."

"You may speak, Lieutenant."

"Shira, I can't agree with this idea. You would be removed from this base. I....can't....no."

"You are letting your emotion cloud your judgment," Shira told him as she turned her pointed snout at him. Her one eye gazed at him until she turned to look back at Anaya. "However, I believe that it would also be in the best interests to have Lieutenant Javier assigned to the ship as well."

"What?" Javier asked in surprise.

"Why?" Anaya asked.

"For simple reason. You need a person to watch and ensure that I am not committing misdeeds or maleficent actions on the UHN that could lead back to you. Javier would be the perfect person that could do that."

Both of the women looked at Javier as he sighed. He practically facepalmed as he felt that he was led into a perfect trap that Shira established. Anaya seemed to think about it carefully but decided to agree on the idea.

"Very well," Anaya agreed. "It is in my best decision that I should have you removed as soon as possible. I will assign you to the Jian Seng. Javier, you will join her. According to the ship, they do need additional officers as well."

"I.....ah.....aye, Ma'am," Javier stumbled a little bit in his words before accepting his fate. He knew he couldn't argue with the orders of the fleet admiral.

"Don't worry about it either, Lieutenant," Shira added. "There will be somebody else that will take up your position on this base too."

"All too soon, I am afraid....." Javier practically grumbled. He tried to keep a calm composure as he could see Shira momentarily give a very brief grin to him.

"Unfortunately, I can't let you take your gun," Anaya told Shira. "The right to bear arms depend more so on the location. It also depends on the Captain of a ship more than anything else. It will be confiscated."

"I understand, Fleet Admiral," Shira replied. "Make sure not to destroy it."

"No promises," the fleet admiral almost scuffed her.

"Might I also offer one last suggestion towards the four that tried to attack me?"

"Go ahead."

"It might be in your best interest to have the four assigned to repair the damages to the passageway rather than necessarily have them tossed into the brig indefinitely. They can also repair any other faulty converters to make sure that no.....freak accident like mine would occur again."

"You know more?" Anaya asked.

"Two other converters are faulty."

"You are asking that their punishment be light then?"

"Not so much, Ma'am," Shira affirmed her. "You have the right to do as you please to them, but the more extreme the punishment gets, the more it is likely to attract further attention as to why the four personnel on this base have been arrested. Something that would lead back to you. I also believe that the marine Landen is due for better combat training. He tried to shoot at me but missed the moment the blast occurred."

"He tried to kill you, though," Javier argued.

"That is still inexcusable. The enemy will not have that argument in turn."

"I'll consider it.....Petty Officer Shira," Anaya said. "The situation that happened on my base was a sign of mistakes on everyone's part. In the end, it is my responsibility for taking you in. As you would tell me..... 'the leader bears the responsibility for their actions.'" She calmed down more and more. "In the end, I was the one that took those actions that got all of you here. I hate to have to put you on some obscure ship." The fleet admiral stood up as and crossed her arms. "I feel that by putting you on such a ship.....it degrades you."

"I admit, it is not exactly the most desirable of choices," Shira commented. "However, I must move on."

"I see. Very well. Both of you will report to the hangar bay with your belongings. Both of you ship out at 0900. Dismissed."

With that, both of the two stood up and saluted the Fleet Admiral. Anaya responded in kind as she saluted them in return. Both Javier and Shira proceeded to leave the stateroom. Javier's mind was ablaze by the thoughts of what had just happened. A part of him was concerned with Shira, and the other part was the fact of the reassignment. The door slid open as Shira was the first to exit with him close behind her. As they reached the passageway and the door slid closed, Javier decided to unleash his feelings onto Shira.

"What the hell?" he told her.

"You are distressed. You don't need to be," Shira replied to him. They slowly walked together as they got further and further away. They walked side by side as he looked up at her.

"Distressed? You practically had people try to kill you, and you think it was nothing?"

"Nobody was seriously hurt. I made sure of that."

"No....of course....you shake it off like you always do."

"You don't have to worry about me, Javier," Shira calmly tried to calm him down. "It is a waste of energy."

"Hey....." Javier put his hand to her arm. It caused her to come to a stop as her working left eye looked down at him. "I want to make sure that you are alright, ok?"

"I assure you. You have nothing to be worried about."

"Hmmm.....I still can't believe that you managed to get away with all of that."

"What do you mean?"

"You virtually got away with making your own gun and blowing a wall in the base like it was nothing."

"It is the responsibility for myself to utilize my terrain before combat. Allowing everyone else to have a firearm beside myself only places me at a larger disadvantage. Don't forget of my past previous life prior to coming here."

"How could I forget?" Javier seriously countered her. "Look...." He waved his hands at her. "I just don't want you to get hurt, that is all. Next time you suspect that there are individuals that plan on attacking you and hurting you, go and report it to the authorities instead."

"With what proof?" Shira countered. "I considered that option, but I would have to explain the reason as to why further spreading my identity throughout the base. In the end, however, it is important for the prey to sometimes bite the predator in the nose. It makes the predator hesitate in trying to attack the prey in return."

Javier was well aware of what she meant by that. It reminded him of the attack on her ship a while back and having to try to overpower a Shal'rein woman far stronger than he was. On the other hand, Shira was used to living a different life that consisted more of strength and brute force to advance. Of course, with her, she relied on pure cunning and shrewdness to get what she needed.

"I suppose....." Javier replied. "Still....you do realize what you have done to me, right?"

"I do not understand the question," Shira said.

"Just like that......you get in trouble and decide to get yourself resigned to a new ship. Then, you drag me along with it."

"Why would you be upset with that? I ensured that you would be with me."

"That......" he paused momentarily. "That isn't what I mean. Yes, I want to be with you."

"It is always the goal of two mated individuals to remain together in whatever environment that exists," Shira explained to him as they reached a crossway. They both stopped as they looked at each other. "I was simply making sure that would be the case for the both of us."

"That isn't what I'm complaining about. I am just.....upset to be removed from this base."

"You have been removed from this base before. The end result was that I am now with you."

"Forcibly removed," Javier remarked with a frown. "My point is that I prefer to be here and not some ship."

Shira tilted her head slightly before she gave the nod to him. "I see.....you feel that you should be in a more comfortable environment than a ship."

"Yeah," Javier said.

"You also prefer to, as the humans would say, 'Play it safe.'"

"Eh.....um......yes. Being on a ship is more dangerous than on the ground." He raised his finger up at her. "And don't try to call me a coward either. I fought down here when your troops came raining at our doors. I just prefer to be away from the shooting."

Shira's left brow raised a little bit. "That would not be possible. Any location is not truly safe. Even with your own argument, I have proven that even on the ground of this world is not completely ideal for security. If anything, the crews on those ships that reside in our defense fleet have seen less bloodshed than here."

"Ugh......I was just getting used to relaxing and not having to worry about getting my head blasted off.....that is all."

Shira went and calmly placed her large hand on his shoulder. "Follow me into battle, my mate. I will do everything I can to assure your safety and health. It would be even foolish on my regard to say that I can't do this alone without you."

"That coming from you is at least worthy of some celebration."

"Then I would encourage us to get things ready for tomorrow. Tonight will be our last night on this world."

There was no hint of a smile on her face, but Javier had been with Shira long enough to see some glimmer of happiness buried under the stoic look that she always gave. He couldn't deny her wishes.

"Alright," he replied as he put his hand on hers. They both parted ways for the day to get things wrapped up and preparing for the move.

Chapter 3: Final Night on Aphadus

"I think that should do it," Javier remarked as he Velcro closed his uniform bag. "I went and notified my staff that I am being moved to the Jian Seng. They understood."

"They will adapt," Shira replied as she blew out her smoke from the bed.

He looked over to her. Much like him, she didn't have too many belongings. Most of it was really just allocated to the essential hygiene items and her uniforms. With Shira, Javier knew her well enough. If she wasn't in her uniform, she was naked. She barely had any form of civilian attire in the late hours after the main shift. It didn't matter so much to her because she preferred to be in one place where she could be at the most peace.

He looked at his home that he was well acquainted with on Aphadus. The entire place was spacious, even for a Shal'rein to live in. Most of the items in the household belonged to the UHN itself. This helped the deployment of officers that were coming and going. Even Javier, as much as he hated the concept, always packed lightly and ensured that he never bought too much.

The constant daylight of the tidally-locked planet ensured that it was forever dawn. Instead, the window shudders helped provide the sense of darkness needed to simulate nighttime. While day and night cycles never really bothered Javier, he didn't mind the nighttime establishment concept either. It was something that helped create a romantic setting.

The bed was more than adequate for Shira. It had been much later in the day, and she was busy reading her tilon. The two metal stick-like devices would be pulled out to reveal a tablet-like projection that allowed her to study and ready whatever she wanted. With her, he always knew her as the quiet-reader or one that was listening to music. Sometimes, it would be both. She seemed wholly composed and relaxed, with one hand on her device and the other holding a lit cigarette.

Javier stood with nothing more than his boxer underwear. He went and checked his bags one last time to see that nothing was missing. There was one place he purposely kept away from, however, and it was located in a cabinet. He decided that it was time to go ahead and commit to the idea. He pulled open the cabinet to pull out a small box.

"Shira....." Javier called out to her.

"Yes," she replied as she continued to read from her bed.

He approached her as he admired her a little bit. Even with her attention devoted to her study, her naked form was something that he always enjoyed. Her great fin-like tail flowed over the side of the bed as her back was planted to the bed rest. Her fin-like ear was aimed slightly in his direction as her focus was directed to him and her reading.

"Happy Birthday," Javier remarked with a smile as he held the box to her. The surprise gift was something that caused the alien woman to give a questioning look.

"I don't understand," Shira replied.

"Well.....it is a gift for you. I figured that your birthday was soon, so I wanted to make sure you got it."

"Ah. I understand now. You, humans, have an ancient tradition of providing a gift to a person after the anniversary of one full rotational orbit of a planet of the day of their birth."

"Pretty much."

"It is often a flawed concept to it as few people live on Earth when compared to other worlds of your kind."

"Well, sorta. I agree it is an old custom that suffers from the lack of change, but regardless," Javier handed the box to her. She went and put out her cigarette into her ashtray and put her tilon down. She accepted it and looked at it.

"There is one other flaw in your gift-giving concept," Shira added. "Unfortunately, you are off by thirty-one days. If we were following the same rules of my world as yours, the Shal'rein Yata Time Scale is about 1.58 Earth years for every Shal'rein year. My birthday would not be until that time when I hit the age of twenty-five Earth years."

"Then.....it's an early gift."

"Hmmm, don't feel discontented. I do appreciate what you did regardless. I will accept this gift with pride," she said with an almost emotionless tone.

She used her hand to open the simple box. Her hand reached in to pull out a single large device. She carefully examined it with her one eye. It was disk-shaped and had a black digital display in the center with a couple of buttons on it.

"What is this?" Shira asked him.

"It is a stopwatch that belonged to my family ancestry," Javier explained. "It was made sometime in 1985....I think. I went and spent some time having old tech engineers rebuild and fix it from scratch. It has a permanent battery placed into it, and it has been enlarged so it can fit your hand better. It has been given some major updates to it that allow it to be easily converted to Itrean times or Earth time scale. The buttons start or stop the times and can be set to count down as well."

Shira was quiet at first as she analyzed the remodeled stopwatch. She pressed one of the buttons as the red LED lights appeared on the center rectangular display. She then pressed another button as she played with the different options. Javier was truly wondering about his gift to her. Was she impressed? Was she annoyed by it? For a good minute, she was learning how to operate with it. Finally, a small smile appeared on her face momentarily before it quickly faded.

"I like it," Shira finally told him.

"You do?" Javier asked her.

"Yes. A very fitting gift indeed. You spent resources on something that would benefit both of us."

"Actually, I really meant it to be given to you."

"That isn't what I mean. The ability to track time can be crucial in a battlefield. More so than you will ever believe. This was not just an act of kindness, but one in which you honored me by doing."

Javier smiled as he could see that Shira was happy with the gift. It seemed to keep her in a reasonable tone that pleased himself. He was thankful that his hard work had paid off. He hadn't been keeping track of what she was doing, but he swore that he saw her set a time on it before she clicked another button to shut it off.

"I love you, Shira," Javier told her.

"As my love goes to you," Shira replied in her emotionless state. Even when keeping a tone such as this, there was still a sense of happiness that he felt for her.

He got on the bed as he began to really admire her body. He knew that once they get on a ship, it would all change. Having to depend on artificial gravity and small showers were going to be on the menu.

"Not ready to be in zero gravity again," Javier remarked.

"I am used to it......I admit, it would be great to see it again. Being on the ground of this planet is a slow death for me."

"Yeah, I don't want to lose you. I admit that I was upset to be moved again, but it was smart of you to ask me to come along with you. Even the UHN doesn't always do that."

"While I don't see the logic of that, it is a tradition for the Itreans. We live together, die together, fight together, mate together, everything is shared in responsibility. I would not feel the same being separated from you to be sent to the Jian Seng."

Javier went and placed his hand on Shira's. Her emotional control was always there. Even now, the tiny inflections in her voice were all that he had to go off of. He only knew so much about her childhood. He sometimes forgot that she was blind in one eye because of the constant hair that was in the way. To defect from one's clan was never easy and one that he knew she had to make great strides towards. The actions that she made months ago only further convinced him that he should be by her side.

That part of him was starting to slip away from her as she shifted her back a little bit. Her large breasts shifted some. Being a little bit shorter than the average Shal'rein, Shira made up for it by having larger-sized breasts and being slightly on the stout side. She wasn't fat but was well-built muscle instead.

Shira was a dazzling display of the Shal'rein beauty in her nakedness, at least from Javier's perspective. Even if the Itreans had long originated from ancient Earth, the Itreans were still looked upon as aliens. Even for both races, it was still a minor shock that everyone came from the same planet. Regardless, the sheer size and power of these women were incredible for some. While the Yutilians and Aksren were shorter than the humans, the Shal'rein towered over them. Naturally, the end result was that the women were bigger with everything. Their chests were, ratio-wise, much bigger than the typical human woman. Even with Shira's breasts alone, it measured way past the DD or E range. At the tip of each breast was a dark gray areola that was almost the size of a quarter dollar.

Like many of the Shal'rein, she had a natural gray skin tone, although there were other Shal'rein that had brown or even enriched purple tones. Unlike the Yutilians and the Aksren, there was no soft front side, but simply a completely smooth, warm rubbery like feel to them. Some would have naturally black hair dyed purple or had no hair at all depending on the region or planet.