Gabatrix: The Silver Rain

"You got one too, dumb ass!"

Felix waved his hand as he walked away.

"Pussy!" Zalika taunted him. Her head turned back to look at him. A few people shook their heads at the scene.

"Hey, Zalika," Karine said, grabbing her shoulder. "How about we trade watches? I think they fucked up that they are giving you this watch for tonight. I have a watch in two days."

"That seems reasonable," Bekra said with her unusual mixed accent. The marines had been used to Bekra's presence by now. Even as her diverse accents that ranged from French, Spanish, and Japanese would fluctuate, it never seemed to drive a snicker from the other UHN soldiers.

Zalika once again looked at Bekra as she shrugged her shoulders. "Fine....I have to assume that the Major is a little too busy trying to make himself look nice with the Itreans to notice that I had a watch and be babysitter the next day."

Karine went and grabbed Zalika's beer and downed it. "Then I have to go to sleep. I have watch tonight. You know the watch bill. My watch is....."

"0100...." Zalika answered. "Yeah, I know. Shit! Wait a minute. You have the twelve-hour watch!"

"Promises are promises, Zalika," Karina said with a laugh. Others seemed to have heard it and pointed and laughed at Zalika.

"Fuck!" Zalika snapped a little bit as she smacked her head to the table. "Ugh.....well.....I guess I can't argue with it. Come on, Bekra."

With that, the rest of the crowd began to disburse from the table. Others went to have chats with other individuals. All in all, there were about forty marines that were in the lounge. Zalika went and tossed the bayonet down onto the table. She and Bekra then stood up as they pushed their chairs in.

"I don't think you should drink anymore for tonight," Bekra told her as Zalika was heading towards the lounge refrigerator. Her tail seemed to swing a little bit more than usual.

"I don't give a fuck...." Zalika tried to say. There was a little bit of hesitation in her speech.

"You are getting drunk. I don't think the Master Sergeant will be happy. He was the one that brought the beers in for us to enjoy but not get carried away."

"The Master Sergeant can kiss my ass," Zalika replied as she grabbed the handle of the refrigerator. She opened up the door as she saw the beer bottles in it. She went and grabbed a bottle, and was about to open it up. There was more hesitation as she looked at the bottle. The label had written "Cebravis Grand Hops" on it.

"Eh......maybe not," Zalika said as she placed the bottle back in. "Maybe you are right. He got us a shitty brand of beer."

"We got a full schedule tomorrow," Bekra said, seemingly satisfied as she watched Zalika close the refrigerator door. "I want to see the test flight that is going to take place."

"Yeah, that.....ummm....." Zalika was beginning to notice that she was tipsy. "That robot woman thingy......" she paused as she snapped her fingers. "Miranda?"

"Minerva," Bekra corrected her. "Now, I know you are a little bit intoxicated."

"Minerva? Man, all this time, I kept thinking it was Miranda. Now I know I have some people laughing at me. I have been calling her that all day."

There was a chirping laugh from Bekra. They began to walk away from the refrigerator together as they saw two men that were talking to each other.

"Ugh.....I got a new guy to show around," Zalika said. "Why do I have to be the fucking babysitter for the rookie?"

"Hey!" Bekra said as she used her tail to smack Zalika's leg. "I will be there with you. I don't mind helping out."

"Yeah....." Zalika said with a sigh. "I guess it also because I was just promoted to Corporal a month ago. Master Sergeant wants to make sure that I have more....'responsibility.'"

"We have had really nothing to do here on Eutera besides drill and party. We need to do other things."

"Yeah, I suppose you Itreans do more than just drill and play."

"We do everything we can to prepare for the next Aksren or Shal'rein clan attack. All responsibilities fall on us."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Zalika almost cut her off as she looked at the TV display. A few of the dispersed individuals walked and had a seat to watch whatever was on. "That rookie.....he is supposed to be from Batrice, right?"

"Yes," Bekra said as she crossed her arms.

"Ugh.....a Batrician. Seems like lately, I am hearing nothing but problems from them. I wonder how long till we are at war with them."

"I don't think it will lead to that."

"No, it won't. I don't give much of a shit anyway. Just looking forward to some action. Maybe we have been stuck on this world for too long."

"You and I have only been here for a few months."

"Yeah, it is true. We got here after the T'rintar clan released everyone from captivity."

Bekra did a few quick nods. "I admit, I miss the lack of combat but enjoy this place. It is very peaceful."

"Not several months ago. I missed all the action. Hell, I fucking missed the Battle at Oshun. My own fucking home planet, and I miss the fight there!"

"It was a battle in space," Bekra commented. "You didn't miss anything."

"I know, I know. Still......I could have had a chance to fight those big ass sharks. That would have been fun."

Bekra's eyes seemed to widen. "Fight Shal'rein? No.....no.....don't want to fight them. Ground combat against Shal'rein is very bad. Remember Aphadus? That was over a month ago."

Zalika seemed to nod. "Yeah, you are right. Fuck.....the marines got wiped out in that fight."

"You just need more marines. Forty marines on this planet are not enough. We can't provide all the soldiers for your defenses. We need more, and that is why you must help ensure that the new person is given a good place here."

Zalika simply shrugged. She seemed to agree with her, but the thoughts of the Battle of Aphadus weighed a little bit in her head. She instead focused her attention on the display.

The display showed a live feed from the UWAN of the news network. It displayed a man with long blond hair as he sat behind the desk. He was a news anchorman that was telling the current news around the UWA. Zalika and Bekra couldn't hear from the display screen since the volume was low and drowned out by the conversations inside the lounge and barracks. Zalika could see what was being displayed on the ticker tape that was running by it.

"Speaking of Batrice....." Zalika said as she pointed to the screen for Bekra to notice.

The ticker tape that was moving displayed the words that reported that protests were going on in the great space station of Fort Batrice. The massive pill-shaped battle station was depicted as the anchorman reported the current events in the Trappist system. The report continued as it mentioned that another diplomatic mission was being sent to the system to carry on public relations.

"Doesn't beat Oshun," Zalika commented. "What do we have? Corruption? Riots? All that shit."

"Things will get better," Bekra replied. "You have the T'rintar clan to help you out."

"Ugh....no offense, but there are some things we need to take care of ourselves. Argh....." Zalika was waving at the screen. "Hey! Turn something on other than that news shit!"

"Yeah, man," Cruz called out. "I am getting tired of the media bullshit! I want to watch some Cebravin football."

"Seriously?" another person called out. "Fine! Fuck!" The woman lifted up her hand and turned on a control screen. A digital screen was displayed from her augmented hand. She interfaced with the display from where she sat. The channel switched away from the media as they could see the sports channel feed kick in. They could see two men kicking a ball as it flew through the air. Zalika seemed uninterested in the feed.

"Hey, turn it up, Cassidy!" another man called out. "I can't hear shit!"

"Ugh...." The woman replied as she used her digital interface. She slid her other finger on the screen's volume slider as they could hear the screen's volume go up. There were nods as the other people sitting behind their seats seemed to agree in approval. The woman then closed up her hand as the digital interface projection faded away.

Zalika was briefly reminded of her augmented arm. It was no different than her other arm, at least by appearance-wise. The perfection of the technology was apparent. Mechanical limbs and organs were commonplace in society, and most people were augmented to some degree to survive in their environment. It was no different than Bekra was with her bioengineering.

Bekra seemed bored as she gestured Zalika to follow her. She went and grabbed her left arm, and started to guide her away from the lounge.

"What?" Zalika asked her.

"Just wanted to head to our barracks room," Bekra told her. "I want to make sure that you are alright."

"Hmmm....." Zalika huffed. "Fine. I don't think you are what I think you are planning?"

"There is too much going on," Bekra said, shaking her head. "You don't seem to be in the mood for it right now."

"Good....I don't want to anyway."

"That is what I wanted to talk about," she said as they headed away from the lounge and the long hallway." It consisted of a series of rooms arranged like a dorm. There were a man and woman that were busy talking to each other in the far end of the hallway. They didn't even notice the woman from Oshun and the T'rintar clan woman walking together down the hall.

"Looks like Darshit and Ruby are hitting it off again," Zalika remarked to Bekra as she was looking at the couple down the hall. "I bet they are going to have some fun tonight. Poor Cruz will have to stay out of his own room." She then raised her voice at them. "Hey! Go get a hotel room!"

Darshit gave a middle finger to Zalika as Ruby smiled. Bekra simply shook her head as her reptilian eyes looked at Zalika. Darshit and Ruby then focused their attention on each other and resumed their conversation.

Both Zalika and Bekra continued their trek down the hallway until they reached the fourth door on the right. Upon reaching it, Bekra placed her scaly finger on the thumb scanner. The door slid open, and they both walked in.

"Ugh....." Zalika sighed as the door closed. "I wanted more today. Same shit every day."

"That isn't true," Bekra replied. "I enjoy being here. I enjoy being here with you."

The room that belonged to them consisted of two beds that were evenly spaced apart. It had a single slide window that was on the other side of the door. There was a display screen that was shut off in the room. It even had a small restroom and shower stall.

It was just short of being a hotel room, but it had all the comforts of daily living for marines. The room had a slick tileset to it instead of the carpeted hallways. Zalika could hear Bekra's clawed feet tapping and clicking the floors as she walked.

"You need to clip your talons a little bit," Zalika commented. "I can always hear it get louder and louder each that passes."

Bekra looked down. Zalika could see her nose crest protrude towards her as the reptilian woman was scanning her digitigrade legs. "No...." Bekra commented. "I trimmed them last week. I don't need to do it again till next week. You are just tipsy. Any volume given off is louder than it should."

Zalika walked over to her bed as she almost crashed into it. "Well......feels loud to me."

Bekra was looking at Zalika's back. She walked up and leaned down to look at her close companion. Her clawed hand went to her back as Zalika was lying down on her stomach.

"Do you need a back massage?" Bekra asked.

"Mmmm......no.....it is a nice offer, though." Zalika turned her head on the other side of the pillow to look at her. "Nah.....I just need to sleep."

"Alright, my mate," Bekra replied.

"I wish.....you stop using that word. It sounds so stupid to use that word."

"You had never protested to me before when I used that word."

"Ehh......no.....I just.......I prefer closest friend. Like......deepest friend ever."

"Mate is the closest word in the English language. We don't....."

"I know," Zalika interrupted her. "I know you don't use the word, 'husband' or 'wife.' Perhaps.......dearest friend is the best word for it."

"If you are not my mate, then how else can the others know we are not joined together?"

"You never leave my side," Zalika simply replied. "Never......I remember having this conversation before. I might be a little drunk.....but I do remember that night."

Bekra seemed to smile. "I see......you wish to be my mate but have no one use that word?"

"I don't want any man claim you. If Cruz ever makes a move....."

"He.....will not. Do remember what I told you, though."

"Yeah......." Zalika said as she was growing more and more tired. "I do know one thing that you got used to, though."

With that, Zalika moved her head away from her pillow as she brought it close to Bekra's head. It was a gesture that the reptilian woman was familiar with. She leaned her head forward to her as Zalika's lips pressed to hers. Bekra had more of a beak than actual lips, but it was flexible enough that her closest friend could still feel the warmth and smoothness to it. Both of them closed their eyes as they kissed for a few seconds. They broke their kiss as Zalika's head fell back to the pillow again.

"Sleep well, Bekra," Zalika told her. "Tomorrow....."

Bekra did a series of quick nods. "Tomorrow...."

Chapter 2: The Morning After

"Where is that damn shuttle?" Zalika asked in annoyance.

Zalika sat in her truck as the driver as Bekra sat comfortably in the passenger seat. The electric vehicle was powered down and parked not far from the makeshift port. The two had a pleasant view of "Jen," the colony lander ship, as they looked at the other shuttles.

"It's amazing the T'rintar never damaged her," Zalika remarked. "She was a big fat target."

"Our target was the planetary defenses.....nothing else," Bekra replied. She shifted her tail a little bit to make herself more comfortable.

"Sorry about the seats. They weren't thinking about Itrean tails when they built them."

"It is alright," Bekra said with a series of clicks in her voice. "My tail is unhurt."

It was just past 0800 in the colony. All was seemingly quiet as the port was still a few minutes away from the town itself. Zalika had a pleasant view of the center of the colony from a distance. She was on the verge of tapping her augmented arm.

"Good ol UHN," Zalika remarked. "The classic hurry up and stand by routine."

"It will arrive," Bekra said. "Be patient."

"The shuttle was supposed to be here about thirty minutes ago."

Bekra had pulled out what Zalika knew were called tilons. She pulled them out of her pocket and unrolled them. The twin tubes opened up to reveal a computer display screen. She placed it on her lap as her clawed finger began to tap a series of buttons. Information began to be displayed that her reptilian eyes carefully read.

"It looks like the shuttle from the Hawthorne was delayed for thirty-five minutes," Bekra explained. "The freighter was reporting problems with the hangar facility. They fixed it though and continuing with the launch."

"Good...." Zalika said as she shook her head. "Civies.......they never update those JX-15s. I already know the problem the moment that I saw what type of freighter it was coming in from."

"What do you mean?"

"The shuttles and attachment mechanisms are always exposed to space. It always gets riddled with space debris. By the time they launch their shuttles, there is always a delay."

"We do that with some of our shuttles," Bekra commented. "We never had that problem."

"Yeah, but you don't have bioengineering to help regenerate your ships when it gets the occasional pen prick in the hull."

"Why do you design your ships that way?"

"Oh, the JX-15s? Yeah, before I transferred to the marines, I was a civilian engineer. Those JX-15s could be built pretty fast at the time. Deimos shipyards were spitting them out as fast as the economy could build them....but they just suck. We did replace them eventually, even if they are still used today."

Bekra did her quick nods as she closed her tilon, causing the projection display to fade. The two strip-like devices closed up as she stuck it back into her pocket. The two mountains in the distance were the most significant landmarks of the island continent. She observed the environment noting the open beauty of the colony and its location. The truck itself was parked in healthy, thick grass. Euteran grass was not like the ancient grass of former Earth. It formed stalks that split in two as it rose up from the ground. This caused the field of grass to be very thin but ultimately thicker when other grass was growing. The grass stalks grew to heights that approached the doors of the vehicle. She could see the separated trees as they grew out of the ground. A single surface boat was out in the large lake by the colony. All in all, it was a peaceful day.

The truck itself was sleek in design. It was large and black, having six large wheels (two on the forward axle and a four rear wheel axle) for traversing the rougher terrains of planets. It didn't appear to be military in design but perhaps something close to it. It was large enough to have three additional passengers in a backseat.

"Good thing you pulled me away from the alcohol," Zalika commented to breaking Bekra's attention away. "I would have had the most shittiest of hangovers."

Bekra looked up to the sky as she pointed at the gray-like object that was coming down. Zalika looked up and could see it as well.

"There it is," Zalika said. "About damn time."

They could see a shuttlecraft that had flown in from the atmosphere from high above orbit. The sunlight reflected off its surface, making it look like a falling silver bullet. There was a glove compartment where Zalika went and grabbed a pair of high powered binoculars. She turned it on and began to look through them.

"Yep....." Zalika said as she adjusted the settings to display in infrared. She could get a better view now as she could see a red object coming through the atmosphere. She could even see the vectoring thrusters' fire to keep it steady in its descent. "Looks like one of those Mark 11 decommissioned military shuttles that they sell to the civilian market."

The shuttle itself looked like a long silver cylindrical object. It had a series of thrusters that adorned the entire hull. Unlike the military shuttles, this one had more windows for passengers to see out from. The forward section of the hull had a pair of retractable arms for moving cargo in space. All of its guns were stripped from it.

It began to slow down its descent as the two women watched the shuttle get closer and closer to the landing strip of shuttles. The dirt construction was all there was of what would be called a landing area. The shuttle's multiple thrusters were firing to ensure the vessel wouldn't crash to the ground.

Zalika went and put the binoculars away as she sighed and took a deep breath. Bekra went and tapped her clawed hand on her leg.

"Are you going to be alright?" Bekra asked.

"Yeah.....I will be fine," Zalika replied. "Just going to be annoying for the day."

"I am looking forward to it."

"Everything has to happen at once, doesn't it? Poor recruit here is going to feel some of it."

"There isn't much for him to worry about."

"Yeah, but he is assigned to a planet that was attacked not long ago. This planet may get attacked again pretty soon for all we know."

"The Aksren and Shal'rein clans will have to defeat our combined fleets in orbit if they ever wish to hurt us," Bekra tried to assure her. "He will be fine."

"Yeah, and I keep telling myself that. Why do I feel that it won't?"

Zalika remained relaxed as she continued to watch the shuttle come to land. It was nearing the port as they could hear the loud engines working overtime. The ship had slowed down to the point it was hovering. The landing pad's hard dirt was being pushed as the dust was being kicked in the air.