Pinwheel Remastered

Eventually, the lights shut off and we were cast into gloom, the only illumination coming from the emergency lighting strips in the floor that led to the exit. I noticed that Raz's reflective, feline eyes were watching me in the glow. I set my tablet computer down on her bedside table and started to get up, but she placed a hand on my chest and gently pushed me back down.

"Wait, monkey," she murmured. The sheets beside me rustled as she leaned closer, her warm breath tickling my ear as she whispered to me. "You like me, right? I've seen the way that you look at me when you think I'm not paying attention..."

My cheeks flushed, and my mind began to swim. I leaned away from her, but her dinner plate-sized hand was still resting on my chest, preventing me from getting up. Her padded fingers crawled slowly up toward my neck, a shiver washing over me as they began to toy with the collar of my uniform.

"We're not like the Krell," she continued, watching me intently with her amber pupils. "We're similar, maybe compatible. Don't you want to find out?"

I kept my eyes focused intently on the far wall, not daring to meet her gaze. I wasn't sure if I was feeling fear, or arousal, I couldn't even tell the difference anymore.

"Neither of us has been with anyone since we arrived on the station," she purred, leaning closer and letting her lips brush my ear. She had teased me before, but she had never attempted to seduce me like this, it wasn't something that I was accustomed to. "I tasted your blood, and I liked it, Stanley."

"Raz...don't," I croaked, feeling her breathing down my neck. My mind was roiling, I couldn't think straight. I felt like my brain had been removed from my skull, and someone was frying it in a pan. "We can't..."

She shuffled closer to me and leaned in, planting a gentle kiss on the nape of my neck. God, her lips were so full and soft. She parted them, chewing softly with her sharp teeth, the sensation sending a bolt of lightning shooting down my spine.

"Why not?" she asked. "There's nobody else here, nobody besides us. I won't tell anyone if you don't..."

This was all happening too fast, I couldn't think. My body was overpowering my better judgment with a surge of hormones and poorly repressed desires. She could be so bewitching when she wanted to be, she could wrap me around her little finger. My own lack of experience was doing me no favors.

"Raz, where is this coming from? This isn't-" I flinched as I felt her pointed incisor pinch my earlobe. "This isn't what friends do."

"I told you, monkey, I'm not your friend. I'm your pack leader, your Alpha."

Her words were like honey dripping into my ear, sweet and sticky. I wanted to shake my head vigorously, to banish the creeping longing that threatened to rise up from within me and seize control of my faculties, but I was rooted to the bed as though I had been paralyzed. I couldn't bring myself to move.

"Back home, Borealans are expected to make themselves...available, to their superiors. I could make it feel good, I could be gentle with you. It's okay if you've never done it before, maybe I could do some tutoring of my own..."

Her fluffy hand wandered down to my pants, her fingers brushing my swelling bulge. I screwed my eyes shut tightly as if that might somehow block out the stimulation. This was bad. I knew that if I gave in now, and oh how badly I wanted to give in, then all of our progress would stop here. I would be forever trapped under the thumb of this girl, the burgeoning friendship that promised to redeem her would just become another one of her manipulations.

"Come on, tree climber," she whispered sweetly. "It won't hurt. Not unless you want it to..."

I wanted this on some level, I always had. It would be so easy to just lie back and let her have me, to surrender to whatever pleasures she had in mind, but I had to stay strong. If I cared about the girl that I had come to know over the last few days even a little, then I had to resist her, for her own sake.

Her advances grew a little more aggressive, and I felt her long, rough tongue slide up my neck. It was so thick and strong, leaving a smear of her warm saliva on my skin, the rough barbs on its surface tickling me. I couldn't help but let slip a whine that seemed only to excite her further. If she kissed me with that monstrous tongue, I'd be finished. I had to put a stop to this before it went any further.

"Raz, not right now," I said firmly. She paused, cocking her head at me. "Not like this. I've never...I want my first time to be with someone that I love."

I had promised myself that I'd never admit that secret to her, but I thought that it might make her back off. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect. A sadistic grin spread across her face, and she pressured me down onto the bed with her hand. I winced as my scars burned beneath her palm.

"Oh, monkey...aren't you just precious," she groaned. "I can't stand it, you're so soft and sensitive, you flinch whenever I touch you. You're completely different from a Borealan, you couldn't resist me, even if you wanted to." She loomed over me now, practically drooling. This was it, I had let her take things too far. As her excitement mounted, I felt my own will to defy her waning.

"Your skin is so smooth and clear," she whined, using her claws to drag down the zipper on my uniform. She tore open the shirt beneath, and I felt her breath on my chest, the alien swinging a leg over me as she straddled me. "Your body is...it's..."

She had stopped dead, and through the haze of my arousal, I looked down to see that she was staring at my exposed torso. Four ugly lines of pink, knitting tissue ran from my collar to my navel, the scars standing out against my white skin. Raz looked momentarily horrified. She got off me and let me up, and in the low light, I could have sworn that I saw the glint of a tear in her eye.

"Stanley, I...I did that to you," she stammered. "You were so smooth and soft, and..." She wiped her eyes with the back of her furry hand. "I defaced you."
I didn't know how to react, I had never encountered an upset Borealan before. I sat up, my head still spinning, and I reached over to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she sat on the edge of the bunk.

"Hey now, it's not all that. I'm going to be a Marine, you know. I'll probably get all kinds of fucked up scars before my tours are over."

Raz refused to be consoled, a steady stream of tears dripping from her eyes as she tried in vain to stem them with her fists.

"Am I really such a monster, Stanley? Am I so cruel that I would disfigure you like that? You're so fragile, you haven't healed. In the moment, I wasn't thinking, I just...I treated you like you were a Borealan. All you've done is be kind toward me, and I..."

I didn't know what to say to her. Yes, she had been horrible to me. Yes, she had scarred me. But she had made so much progress, the fact that she was even feeling remorse right now was testament to that fact.

"Want to know how you can make it up to me?" I asked. Raz lowered her hands for a moment, her silky fur damp with tears, and nodded her head. "Make me your first friend."

She sniffed loudly, wiping her eyes on her forearm.

"W-we can be friends," she replied.

I shuffled closer and wrapped my arms around her massive frame as best I could manage, hugging her as she buried her wet face in my hair, tears rolling down her cheeks. We stayed like that for a few minutes, until finally, the tears stopped coming.

CHAPTER 5: LAST STRAW

The next morning, for the first time since arriving on the Pinwheel, I was awoken by my alarm rather than by Raz's loud exercising. I sat up in bed, rubbing my eyes as I looked over to see that her bunk was empty. Maybe she had actually gone to exercise in the gym like I had originally asked her to.

I made my way to the mess hall in search of breakfast, and encountered Raz on the way. She was returning from the gym, sporting her distracting tube top and shorts combo. She looked wet, she must have been for a morning swim, too.

The previous night's encounter had rattled me. There had always been a vague background radiation of attraction between the two of us, but I hadn't realized how strongly she felt about me until she had made her feelings so abundantly clear. Now I felt awkward, almost ashamed, as if we had been caught doing something that we shouldn't. I was afraid of her on some level, no longer fearing her bullying or her abuse, but rather a budding romance that might prove to be even more dangerous.

"Morning, Raz," I said as I greeted her in the hallway. "Thanks for not waking me up today."

She nodded, joining me as I continued toward the mess hall. I poured myself a bowl of cereal, and she selected her usual cut of meat, then we made our way toward one of the tables. I figured that I owed Raz a favor for going to the gym to exercise, and so I motioned to the taller Borealan table, which was presently unoccupied.

I climbed up onto the exaggerated bench, feeling like a toddler sitting in a booster seat as my feet dangled off the floor, much to Raz's amusement. She seemed to appreciate the gesture, able to eat at the table normally rather than having to sit on the deck. It wasn't too much of an inconvenience for me, the table was a little higher than was comfortable, but I could reach.

We ate in silence, but it wasn't an awkward one. Raz and I seemed to have reached some kind of new equilibrium, a mutual understanding that could be left unspoken.

When I was most of the way through my bowl of cereal, I noticed that Raz's ears were swiveling toward the door, her feline pupils dilating as the Borealan pack entered the room. They headed straight for our table, grouping up together, practically walking in formation. As they drew closer, Raz's ears flattened against her head, her eyes firmly fixed on what I assumed to be the new pack leader who had succeeded her.

While not as physically imposing as Raz, she was far bigger and more intimidating than any human could have hoped to be. She stopped by our table, glancing back and forth between the two of us, perhaps unsure of who she should be addressing. Unlike Raz, who was making great strides in the field of human social interaction, the other aliens were still rooted firmly in their pack mentality. Eventually, the tall alien chose to address me, rather than her old Alpha.

"This our table, human," she said in the same rolling accent as Raz. "Please leave."

I stopped chewing, setting down my spoon. Her tone wasn't insulting or disrespectful, but she was being bizarrely dismissive of human social norms.

"I'm sorry, but we were here first," I replied. I gestured to the adjacent benches, which were vacant. "You're welcome to eat with us, though."

The Borealan pack bristled, the lower ranked members looking to their leader for guidance, uncertainty etched onto their faces. The new Alpha seemed to take my comment as an affront, rather than as a compromise. Her lips pulled back to expose her teeth, her clawed fingers flexing as if she was anticipating sinking them into my flesh. Even when Raz had been at her most arrogant, she had not been this confrontational. It made me think that this new leader was overcompensating, either because she was unsure of herself, or because she was still afraid of Raz.

She turned her attention to my companion instead, hissing something in their native tongue. The look of displeasure on her face gave me the impression that she didn't even deem Raz worth talking to.

"He said no, Xhe," Raz replied. She made a point of speaking English, which seemed to further annoy the pack.

The leader, or Xhe as Raz had referred to her, seemed to take this as an insult. Based on my ever-expanding knowledge of Borealan customs, Raz had challenged her by addressing a higher ranking pack member in such a flippant manner. Xhe slammed her fists down on the table, making me jump in surprise, the milk from my cereal sloshing around in the bowl.

Raz remained motionless, which might be a sign of either submission or defiance, I couldn't be sure.

"You submit to humans now, Raz?" Xhe spat. I could see the contempt in her yellow eyes.

"I submit to no one," Raz replied.

You could have cut the tension in the air with a knife. The few trainees who were eating their breakfast had either quietly filed out of the room, or were watching with concern. A couple of Krell were halfway out of their seats, they looked like they were gearing up to intervene.

Xhe didn't seem to know how to respond. She looked to her pack for reassurance, but didn't find any, then she turned back to face Raz.

"How can you function in a pack if you do not submit? Have you gone completely rogue?"

Raz rose from her seat abruptly, Xhe flinching back as she stepped away from the bench and stood before her defiantly.

"I no longer require submission, I have made friends."

"You're insane," Xhe shot back, her sharp teeth bared. Whatever signal the Borealans had been waiting for, it had been given, and they began to encircle the table. This was getting too dangerous for the likes of me, I didn't fancy being caught in the middle of a Borealan catfight, and I didn't fancy the odds of Raz taking on the whole pack and winning. If it were that simple, she would have done it in the first place. She could probably take two of them, maybe three, but the pack was five strong with Raz making the sixth Borealan on the Pinwheel. I didn't know why they had elected to send such a small contingent compared to the other species, perhaps it had something to do with the probationary nature of the Borealan allegiance to the Coalition.

Raz became a spitting demon, the fur on her tail puffing up like a feather duster as it whipped through the air. Her eyes were wide, and her pupils were dilated into large, dark circles. She bared her fangs and flexed her claws, her ears pressed flat against her head as she squared off with her former pack. They seemed afraid of her, wary of getting too close. Xhe barked orders at them in their native language, and they held their ground.

I didn't know what to do. If the claws started flying, then I would be torn to shreds, but I wasn't about to let my hard-won friend get dogpiled. If there was a serious fight, then the M.Ps would show up and haul everyone off to the brig. Would they get here in time to prevent anyone from being seriously injured, and would a group of military police armed with batons and stun guns even be able to take down half a dozen pissed off Borealans?

Oh well, it was partly my fault that Raz was in this situation to begin with. Guess we're doing this, I thought to myself as I climbed up onto the table, drawing confused glares from the angry aliens.

"Alright, you pussies, who's first?"

I kicked a half-full bowl of cereal at the nearest Borealan, who ducked out of the way of the bowl, but was doused with milk. She yowled and sputtered, shaking corn flakes out of her hair. Xhe snarled an order in their feline language, two of the aliens darting toward Raz. They were so impossibly fast despite their size and weight, the powerful muscles in their thighs rippling beneath their uniforms as they propelled themselves forward, their sharp claws digging furrows in the deck.

Before I could so much as blink, Raz clotheslined one of them, and it dropped like it had been hit by a bus to lie wheezing on the floor. The second swiped at her, but Raz blocked the blow with her forearm, taking advantage of the opening to lean in and slam her fist into her assailant's sternum. The Borealan buckled, crumpling to the ground as her pack looked on. One on one, none of them could touch Raz, she had apparently been deserving of her title of Alpha.

Xhe spat another order, and the rest of the pack piled in. I tried to kick one of them in the head, but it casually brushed me off the table with the back of its hand. It was quite a fall for a human, and I hit hard, cracking a rib.

Raz turned to help me, but in her distraction, she took a swipe to the back. She yowled in pain and anger, spinning around to deliver a brutal uppercut that lifted her attacker clear off the ground. The forces at play were so far beyond human experience, the sound of her fist impacting the other Borealan's chin was like that of someone hitting a side of beef with a sledgehammer. Crimson blood dripped from the four claw marks on her back, leaving round splotches on the white floor. I couldn't tell how bad it was from my prone position.

The Borealans weren't staying down, they were resilient creatures, and the one who had been clotheslined clambered to her feet. She spied me, and made her way around the table toward me, brandishing her claws as her yellow eyes focused on me. It was like being on the wrong side of the fence at a tiger enclosure, and I winced in pain as I tried to scramble backward, one hand clutching my side.

A Krell came barreling in from my left, lifting the Borealan off the floor and carrying her along, using its weight and momentum to slam her into the edge of the table. There was a sickening crunch as she was trapped between the Krell and the metal, the alien howling in pain and surprise.

From the other side of the table, a second Krell charged into the fray, letting loose a bone-chilling roar that gave even the Borealans pause for thought. One of the felines turned to face it, slicing at its scaly underside, but even her wicked claws were no match for the Krell's defenses. Her talons glanced off it, failing to find purchase. She didn't get the opportunity to try a second time, the reptile body-slamming her, sending the Borealan crashing to the deck.

The same reptile then spun around, swinging its massive tail like a wrecking ball, sweeping Xhe's feet out from under her. She went down hard, the metal bench ringing like a gong as her face impacted it. She scrambled to her feet, dazed and unsteady, but the Krell brought down a fist the size of a bowling ball on her head. She fell back to the floor limply, lying motionless, a trickle of blood leaking from her pink nose.

A plucky human snuck up behind one of the remaining Borealans, the alien distracted by the arrival of the Krell, and smacked it over the back of the head with a metal dinner tray. More humans and Krell flooded into the mess hall, word of a fight must have spread quickly, and they were coming to defend their own.

The Borealans that were still on their feet looked conflicted. Their leader was down, unconscious on the floor, and most of the pack was incapacitated. The one that had been steamrolled by the Krell was making a racket, hissing and spitting in either pain or anger as she lay slumped on the table, I couldn't tell which.

Now a dozen humans and half as many Krell were advancing on the beleaguered felines. They were hopelessly outnumbered, and they began to panic, their yellow eyes darting about wildly. Before the brawl could go any further, two dozen M.Ps wearing Marine armor with white helmets and wielding batons came streaming into the room, and they began hitting everything in sight. The humans were battered with strikes and forced toward the walls of the mess, while the Krell shrugged off the blows with little concern, plodding away peacefully to join their friends. Only the injured and the Borealans remained by the table in the middle of the room, the M.Ps rounding up those who could still walk under their own power, calling for stretchers to transport the incapacitated.

I was helped up by a medic and escorted toward the infirmary, wincing as the man draped one of my arms over his shoulder and guided me toward the door, my ribs burning with every step. I looked back to see a medic struggling to drag Xhe's limp body onto a stretcher, being helped by three M.Ps. Two of the Krell had already been conscripted to carry her away. Someone was tending to Raz, but as I was led out of the room, I saw the M.Ps corralling her into a corner of the room with the other Borealans.