Intersexed

Angela almost challengingly held Tank's eyes as she dropped her Gi to the floor. Tank ignored his desire to admire the beautiful actress' gorgeous assets and kept his eyes on hers. That is, until Julie glared at him, put her hands on her hips, raised onto her toes, and dropped. Her regenerated breasts delectably bounced when nothing else did. Julie was as leanly muscled and beautifully toned as any woman Tank had ever seen.

"Look, damn it," she snarled. "You keep ignoring my flirting and treat me like I'm your favourite sister. I'm a gorgeous woman standing before a handsome man, and, Gawddammit, I want him to look!"

Tank took two steps forward and swept the stunningly beautiful movie star into his arms. Placing his right hand on Julie's divinely shaped ass, Tank ground his cock against Julie's toned midriff as he leant her back. Their lips locked as Julie lifted her right leg and rubbed her inner thigh up and down Tank's outer leg.

"Let's take this to a bed," Julie growled huskily.

"Ahem," Tenerife interrupted from the changeroom door. "Ms Angelina, if you wish to fuck Tank's newly created vagina with your new cock, then that is okay. However, if you want him to fuck your improved pussy, you run the risk of an unwanted pregnancy and a mutant child. Personally, I'd prefer you avoided sexual relations with each other until we're sure the changes your bodies are undergoing are completed."

"But it's okay to have sexual intercourse with your staff?" Julie snarled.

"I trust them to put the 'appropriate Tab A into Slot B'," Tenerife stated. "Not the other way around. Plus, my staff aren't receiving mutagenic chemicals, so the only risk of producing mutant or defective offspring lies with you. If you decide to take that risk and can find a willing partner, good luck to you. Hopefully, finding a willing partner will prove difficult."

"Major Tenerife, what the fuck do you want?" Tank growled. "Haven't you tortured us enough?"

"The Brass want a demonstration," Tenerife said indifferently. He handed Tank another Gi, in white, this time. "Put this on and follow me."

Tank looked at Julie and shrugged. He removed his jumpsuit, put on the Gi, and followed the major from the room.

Tenerife led him down several corridors headed with doors whose signs read 'Military personnel only'. Eventually, Major Tenerife opened another door and bade Tank to enter. Tank walked into what could only be described as a miniature parade ground.

The ground was surrounded by a ring of seats, most occupied by human-like beings who appeared as 'fuzzy' as Tenerife did. Tank examined the 'fuzzy' looking Providians and compared them to the few who looked solid and appeared to be human. 'Clones,' Tank surmised.

In the observer ring surrounding Tank, a block of seats faced him. These seats were filled with members of 'The Brass' of the Providian army. He saw several three and four-star generals and numerous other ranks, including Colonel Tangran.

Major Tenerife marched to a spot before the 'VIP' seats and saluted. "Generals and other esteemed officers, I present you, Tank Zaffra. As you will recall from my briefings, Tank was selected from the nearly eight billion humans because he had what our computers predicted was the right combination of Providian, human, and Neanderthal genes to ensure the success of our mutagen chemicals. Having watched Mister Zaffra in action and reviewed the tests done by Researcher Anan, I believe he is the first of what I am calling 'Super Soldiers--soldiers who can stand toe-to-toe with an Aridian Slaver."

A three-star general stood. "Lieutenants Genet and Margraine disagree with your assessment, Major. They believe he is an undisciplined rogue element and already displaying undue discipline and aggression problems due to the mutagenic chemicals."

"They're wrong," Major Tenerife stated adamantly. "The two lieutenants you mentioned appear to have a personal grievance with Mister Zaffra and have tried to bait him into actions that will allow Lieutenant Margraine to use lethal force to stop them."

"You're saying this specimen is superior to our Providian forces?" Another three-star general asked.

"Mister Zaffra has convincingly defeated Lieutenant Genet one-on-one, twice. The first unarmed, the second using wooden staves."

"It says here that Lieutenant Genet won their first fight when she struck the Earthling in the mouth, splitting his lips open," yet another three-star general piped in as he read from the official report.

"All who saw the fight, including Lieutenant Genet, if she's honest, know that Mister Zaffra pulled his block and allowed her to hit him," Major Tenerife defended. "His assessment was that Lieutenant Genet was out of control and allowing her victory was the only safe way to end their battle."

"You are well aware that a Providian soldier is expected to fight to the death, Major Tenerife," a smoothly voiced, four-star general interjected.

"An edict that has cost us more lives than we can afford," another officer said. "I keep trying to explain that an occasional strategic withdrawal is necessary in war to ensure we have enough soldiers to regroup and fight again."

"Perhaps a demonstration is in order," the only five-star general in the room, and the man Tank assumed was the leader of the Providian forces said. "Is your subject prepared to demonstrate his abilities? If we can observe his skill, perhaps that will give us a reason to continue with your experiments."

"Tank?" Tenerife asked before whispering, "They'll send four of the best to beat you to a pulp to prove I'm wasting resources on this project. Are you able to show what we're doing works? If you can't, you and Ms Angelina are dead." Tank nodded, and Major Tenerife stated, "Mister Zaffra is prepared to demonstrate the efficacy of my drugs and experiments."

"Of course he is," the five-star general drawled. "He knows we'll execute him right here if he doesn't." The general looked at the gathered soldiers and said, "Genet, Alban, Roque, and Envet, you're up."

"The best of the best. Don't kill any of them," Tenerife whisperingly warned before he crossed to the 'VIP' seats and took his position.

Tank backed up until he was in the centre of the parade ground. The four soldiers the general had selected moved from their seats to circle him. Genet, of course, he recognised. The rest were new faces, and therefore unknown quantities. However, Tenerife had confirmed that Genet had never lost a fight, including against the other three, Tank surmised. Meaning they should be lesser fighters than she.

Tank shifted continuously, trying to keep all four fighters before him. He watched their movements, measuring their skill and assessing their danger. He waited until he felt Genet, who had slipped his gaze and slid up behind him, attack. Then, moving faster than the viewers could believe, Tank pounced on the man directly before him.

Three swift punches to the fighter's throat, solar plexus, and nuts had him out of the fight. Tank then swung around, deflected Genet's kick, grabbed her overextended leg, and threw her at another of the other soldiers. He sped after the thrown Genet, but suddenly, he stepped to his right and swept the legs out from under the fighter on that side. Tank 'hammer struck' the downed soldier's chest, knocking the breath from him and leaving him disabled.

Throwing himself backward, Tank ducked another flying kick from Genet. As she sailed over his prone body, Tank thrust his feet up, contacting Genet and sending her flying into the shocked onlookers. With a shriek of rage, Genet leapt to her feet and launched back into the fray.

Before she could reach Tank, he'd stalked and despatched the fourth fighter. A faked punch from Tank, followed by a roundhouse kick to the head, was that Providian's demise.

He turned to face Genet. "You never hit me even once," Tank taunted, using Genet's words.

"I'm about to fuck you up!" Genet screamed as she attacked ferociously.

Tank didn't toy with her this time. As soon as she was close enough, he blocked a punch/kick combination, grabbed her right wrist and spun her so she faced away from him. Then, wrapping his right arm around Genet's neck with her chin in his bent elbow, Tank exerted pressure on Genet's spine.

"Yield," he demanded.

"Providian soldiers never yield," Genet gasped through her occluded throat.

Exerting more pressure on Genet's neck, Tank growled, "Then die." He let her struggle before saying, "Or worse, I could break your neck here," he twisted Genet's head, "and leave you a quadriplegic," he bent her head another way, "or here and leave you a paraplegic. What will it be?"

"You've proven your point, Mister Zaffra. You may release the lieutenant," said the general who had spoken after the smoothly-spoken one. "Lieutenant Genet," he added. "You will stand down when Mister Zaffra releases you."

Tank obeyed the general's directive by releasing Genet and standing back. "One of these days, we'll have to skip the foreplay and get to the lovemaking," Tank teased.

"Never in this lifetime," Genet snarled as she stalked back to her seat.

Tank called after her, "So, there is a lifetime you will do it?"

"May I question your subject?" the interceding general asked Tenerife.

"Of course, General Zaha," Tenerife agreed.

Tank examined the Providian general, 'More solid than all but the five-star general,' Tank observed. 'Either an original or a very early clone. That would make him thousands of years old, at least, yet he looks no older than me. Or how I looked before being taken, anyway.'

General Zaha asking, "Weapons?" brought Tank's attention back to the room.

"Nunchaku, staves, and swords," Tank confirmed.

"What about military weapons?"

"I trained for a month with the Australian SAS before filming The Expendables Five with Sylvester Stallone," Tank explained. "But I've only fired a live weapon in training and only fired blanks in mock combat."

"You've never been to war?"

"No," Tank admitted. "There's been no major conflicts on Earth since the Vietnam War, and that was over well before I was old enough to fight."

"Do you think you can win a fight against an Aridian slaver?"

"I have no idea," Tank equivocated. "I've never even seen an Aridian."

"You're dismissed," General Zaha stated. "Major Tenerife, you will escort the earthling to his room and return here. I'll need to see your plans for discovering more of these Earthlings with the Neanderthal gene and how you'll bring them to our ship for altering and training."

Tenerife guided Tank out the door as voices both for and against General Zaha's proposal broke out. "I think your survival chances just increased markedly," Tenerife said as he and Tank walked.

"Mine, yes," Tank agreed. "What about Julie's?"

"If Ms Angelina proves to be a Breeder, as I suspect she is, her life is guaranteed," Tenerife assured him.

"You lied to me again about why we're not to have sex," Tank pointed out. "Plus, you're still lying to me about how you breed and how many non-cloned Providian people you have."

"Yes, I did, and I am," Tenerife admitted unashamedly. "You're still not in the 'need to know' group. But I'm sure General Zaha will ask you to train and, later, lead our forces, so you'll be in the correct group at some stage."

"I don't know anything about war," Tank protested. "You need experienced combatants, not a sixty-year-old actor!"

"Yeah, but I'm betting our future on you and praying to our few Providian Gods that my faith is not misplaced."

"Then, you're an idiot," Tank said exasperatedly. "Once I've knocked some sense into Genet and separated her from Margraine, she's the logical person to lead your forces. You Providians are the most hard-headed, arrogant bastards I've ever met, and there's no way they'll follow orders from a 'lesser Earthling' no matter how many of their asses I kick." He walked another few steps before adding, "And I don't get it! You've had your asses handed to you by these Aridians for millennia. You say you're forced to flee every time they find where you're hiding. So what gives you the right to be so Gawddamned arrogant?"

Tank grabbed Tenerife's arm and turned him to face him. "And you're lying to me about Julie. If she bears viable children, you will force multiple pregnancies with several foetuses on her until she's barren, and then you'll kill her. You will place her children into suspended animation and use them to make your cloned soldiers."

Tenerife fumed, "Soldiers we hope will be at least as smart as you and she are. Soldiers with your physical and fighting abilities who can stand face-to-face with an Aridian slaver and defeat them. Soldiers that will allow us to invade the Aridian home world and get our people back!"

"And there it is, finally," Tank said exasperatedly. "Why didn't you just start with that? That's a cause I, and I'd guess, most humans can relate to and want to help."

"You will help us recruit others?"

"If you are genuinely recruiting them and not kidnapping them against their will as you did with Julie and me, yes."

"Do you know anyone who is suitable?"

"Of course," Tank said dryly. "I know the gene and DNA make up of all my friends."

"Sarcasm?" Tenerife asked.

"That or facetiousness," Tank replied. "Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference."

"May I tell the General?"

"You may," Tank replied as he opened the door and walked into his room.

For two days, Tank and Julie were left alone. After waking, they'd meet in the cafeteria for breakfast, go for a walk around the corridors, and then change into their Gis and enter the Dojo. Tank would work Julie through her Tai Chi exercises, and add another Karate Kata for her to learn and practice. They'd return to their rooms to shower and change before meeting in the cafeteria again. At Tank's request, Tenerife had given them electronic devices with access to the ship's libraries. They sat together reading the history of the Providian people and their long flight and fight for freedom from oppression and slavery by the Aridians. Together, they discussed the ramifications of what they'd learned.

In the afternoons, Tank and Julie would either use the small gym in Anan's research lab or return to the dojo to practice some more. After a leisurely dinner, they'd read together again before retiring to their beds. No tents were moved into their hospital rooms, no gases were forced into their lungs, and no tests were run on their altered bodies. Their mutual attraction continued to grow but remained unrequited.

Tank hadn't seen Melinta since he'd explored the corridor he'd found Margraine and Genet in, and she'd suggested he visit her. He wasn't sure if the two events were related because he hadn't seen Anan, Margraine, or Genet either. That was because, even though Tank and Julie were unaware of it, debate raged between two factions throughout the ship. One faction, led by Colonel Tangran, wanted the two Earthlings terminated immediately and to leave this space quadrant without delay. The other faction, headed by Major Tenerife, saw the potential for their salvation in the altered physical attributes of Tank Zaffra and, to a lesser extent, Julie Angelina.

These factions warred for domination, but it wasn't a 'hot war' of guns and munitions. Instead, it was a psychological war of misinformation and exaggerated conclusions, if not outright lies. Unknown to them, Tank's and Julie's lives hung in the balance.

Their lives were spared by a surprising defection.

Lieutenant Genet, Margraine's willing lover and Colonel Tangran's forced one, marched into General Zaha's office and admitted that Tank had easily bested her twice before their fight at the parade ground. She confessed that Lieutenant Margraine had purloined some of the experimental drugs Major Tenerife was using on the two humans and used them on her (Genet). She stated, "My strength has increased by at least twenty per cent, and my reflexes are fifteen per cent faster, but still, Sir, you saw how quickly and easily Mister Zaffra beat me during our demonstration."

"How long has Lieutenant Margraine been giving you the mutagen drugs?" General Zaha questioned. He didn't bother with warning Genet of the consequences of her accusation, true or false, because he knew the lieutenant would not bring this to him unless it were true.

"Since the day Mister Zaffra and I first fought."

"You asked her for them?"

"No, Sir. Lieutenant Margraine suggested I'd been beaten so comprehensively that taking them was my only chance for redeeming myself before my fellow officers."

"Have you noticed any ill effects?" General Zaha queried.

"Increased libido and aggression, Sir."

"Have you tested your fertility since taking the drugs, Lieutenant?" Zaha asked.

If possible, Genet stood even stiffer at attention. What she was about to say would probably have her removed from the army and confined to less dangerous jobs to ensure she lived. "I'm still a Breeder, Sir," she said firmly.

"Still a Breeder?" The General managed to say calmly despite his sudden anxiety. "What the hell is a Breeder doing in my army? Genet, you know damned well that we need as many naturally born children as possible because the clones are failing!"

"Lieutenant Margraine hid what I was so I could attain my life-long dream of serving my people, Sir."

"And why would she do that?"

"We're lovers and have been since we abandoned Proxima Centauri b. She hid my status so I could join the army."

"My best soldier shouldn't even be in the army," Zaha muttered. He sighed heavily and asked, "Lieutenant Genet, do you know why we chose to come to Earth?"

"I was told it was because we'd sent a seed mission here millennia ago and that we hoped to find a thriving planet with many of our people on it."

"That's the official reason, yes," Zaha agreed. "But we have no knowledge of beyond here. We are at the very outskirts of this galaxy and where we have charted. If we're forced to flee any further, we'll be travelling blind with no idea what, if anything, is out there. We have to make this work, Genet. It has to be making a last stand here, flying into the unknown or turning back and hoping we can slide past the pursuing Aridians without being spotted."

"Tough decisions, Sir," Genet stated, glad she didn't have to make them.

"It gets worse, Lieutenant," the general sighed. "We have reason to believe that the Aridians are already here. Or, if they're not, they know where Earth is. We think they've been using Earth as a slave farm. Returning every two or three hundred years to strip Earth of its inhabitants and take them back to Aridia to enslave."

He looked steadily at the lieutenant. "Our people, Genet. They may have interbred with the local indigenous humanoids to some extent, and they've certainly devolved from what we were, but then, so have we. However, even those like Colonel Tangran who deny it, know these 'Earthlings' are our people." He sighed again. "We have to turn and make a stand at some stage, Lieutenant Genet. I, and the generals with me, believe it has to be here and that it has to start with Mister Zaffra and Ms Angelina."

"Why are you telling me this, General?" Genet asked. "By rights, you should be convening a panel to drum me out of the army and place me in a job that allows me to begin having or siring children."

"Tank Zaffra says you're the one to lead our forces into battle," the general stated cryptically.

"Me, Sir?" Genet disbelievingly asked. "Tank Zaffra hates me."

"He says you're smug and arrogant, but you're a natural leader, a great fighter, and the only one all the troops will listen to when we go into battle," Zaha informed her. He looked at Genet again before saying, "I need you to tell the other generals what you've told me. Leave out anything about being a Breeder. If asked, there has been no change to your fertility since you began taking the drugs."