Splashdown Remastered and Housecat

His erection was beating like a second heart, jumping almost imperceptibly in the air as a strand of that same goo dangled from it, a bruise forming on his right hip where she must have thrust against him especially hard.

Afterglow warmed him, as if he was kneeling beside a space heater, and he realized that he too was drenched in sweat. Zhari's feline eyes opened, and she gazed up at him drunkenly, as if she was only half aware of his presence. Before he could utter so much as a word, she reached out with her furry hands and grabbed him. His stomach lurched as she pulled him to the carpet, trapping him in a bear hug and pressing him against her body. She was so warm, so wet, one of her legs hooking around him as his still rigid member pressed against her slick belly. She placed a hand in his hair and pushed his face between her breasts, her flesh smooth against his warm cheeks.

"Did you really mean it when you marked me?" She mumbled, her breath blowing his hair.

"I know what it means," he replied, his voice muffled by her cleavage. That seemed to please her, and she squeezed him even more tightly, forcing the air out of his lungs as she compressed his chest. She realized that she was crushing him, and relented, settling in as she shifted her weight and rested her nose on the top of his head.

The carpet was as good a place to sleep as any, he supposed, using one of her cushiony breasts as a pillow and relaxing. Apparently she wanted to sleep on the floor, and he couldn't deny her the request. Who knew, maybe her people slept on pelts under normal circumstances, and beds were alien to her.

They basked in their shared euphoria, letting exhaustion and satisfaction overcome them as they drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER 12: SUB SANDWICH

"I want...tuna," Zhari said, pointing at the menu beside the window with one of her curved claws.

They had decided to eat out today and stretch their legs on the station's torus. She was wearing her usual Navy blue uniform. Even if the maid outfit wasn't currently going through a much needed wash cycle, McGregor would not have made her wear it outside.

There were all kinds of cafes and restaurants in the tourist quarter, and it was a popular destination for the ever ravenous aliens. This sandwich shop especially was a hit with the Pinwheel's Borealan denizens, serving subs and sandwiches of monumental sizes. While Borealans were certainly a niche demographic, the store no doubt made up the difference in the sheer quantity of food that they sold to each customer. It was built into the station's wall, as were all of the stores and buildings on the torus, this one quite small and designed to resemble something that one might find on a beach-front promenade.

McGregor swiped his credit card, and the man staffing the counter handed his eager partner her foot-long tuna sandwich, Zhari wasting no time taking a huge bite out of it. Her people were very fond of fish, not just because they so resembles the cat species of Earth, but because their societies were built around the life-giving lakes of Elysia where the micro-climate created by the surrounding jungles shielded them from the desert heat.

She ate happily as they made their way through the throngs of people, the station so crowded that it was hard to go five feet without running into another person. There was privacy in a crowd however, there were so many people and there was so much noise that eavesdropping on a conversation was practically impossible. Everyone had somewhere to be, something to do, and so nobody paid attention to the masses that surrounded them.

The pair stopped at a bench situated beside some planters, sitting together as the leafy saplings provided them with some measure of cover from the ever present lamps that were embedded in the painted ceiling. It was a human-sized bench, and so Zhari had to sit somewhat awkwardly, but she was too consumed with eating her tuna sub to complain.

It was refreshing in a way, she had such simple tastes and she was so easy to please. His last girlfriend...God, how long had it been since he had shared a bed with a fellow human? Her tastes had been extravagant, she had demanded candlelit dinners in the most exclusive restaurants, elaborate and expensive gifts that had cost him a small fortune. He never had to bribe Zhari to get her into bed, never had to coerce her into spending time with him, and it wasn't merely because of her submissive position. He observed the same behavior in the more dominant Borealans too. Their kind just had a laissez-faire attitude towards relationships that was a breath of fresh air to the comparatively stuffy humans.

"I gave it some thought," Zhari said, finishing up her sandwich as she sat beside him.

"Oh?" McGregor asked, surmising that she must be talking about their conversation concerning her future in the military the day prior.

"I think you were right. Maybe the military life isn't for me. My entire life I've been doing what others expected of me, what I thought that I was supposed to do, not what I really wanted to do. I wanted to be Alpha, but I was letting outside factors dictate my behavior. That isn't what an Alpha does, not really. I might have been the master of my pack, but their expectations were my master and I didn't even know it."

McGregor was taken a little off-guard, that was some impressive introspection coming from the usually tight-lipped alien.

"Yes!" He exclaimed. "Sometimes taking charge can mean saying no, it can mean swimming against the current and doing your own thing, even if other people don't like it."

"I will do as you suggested," she continued, "I will become my own master and make my living through my own means."

"And...you're ok with not being part of a pack? I know that's a pretty big deal for Borealans."

"I 'am' part of a pack," she replied, reaching over and ruffling his hair with her massive hand. "One does not commonly get the opportunity to choose their own Alpha, and I couldn't imagine a better one. Once I've finished my tour, I'll send in my resignation and get my honorable discharge. With the money I have, I can afford a small store on the station, and the Borealan apartments are never occupied."

"Yeah, they built way too many of them after first contact. Your people aren't really the tourism types."

"We'll be able to spend more time together too," she added. "No more waiting weeks and months, hoping that our shore leave will coincide. If I'm self-employed, I can take time off whenever you have leave, and we can hang out."

McGregor hadn't thought of that, and his heart swelled at the prospect. He had never really worried about her all that much when she was on deployment. She was a capable soldier and there weren't very many things in the galaxy that could kill a Borealan shock trooper, but it would be a load off his mind to know that she wouldn't be put in harm's way anymore. Finally she could pursue her passion, a talent that she had kept hidden for fear of being ridiculed by her peers, and as a bonus they would be able to see each other far more frequently.

"I worried that I might be pressuring you," he said, "I thought that you might take it as an order rather than as a suggestion."

"No, you just helped to clarify something that had been bothering me for a long time. Living on Borealis, I never really had an opportunity to see that there were different ways of living, different ways of going about things. The more time I spent with humans, the more I started to ask myself why I was adhering so strictly to the old ways. You put it into words, and I guess I kind of...couldn't keep it suppressed any longer."

"Well I'm glad," he replied, patting her thigh affectionately. "I'm proud of you, I know that honor and duty are a huge part of your culture. It must have been a hard decision to make."

"I've done my duty thrice over," she said as she licked a blob of residual mayonnaise from her furry finger with her rough tongue. "Oh, I have something for you."

"Something for me?" McGregor asked, watching curiously as she delved into one of her pockets.

"Yeah, I made it this morning, while you were asleep."

"You do get up early..."

She passed him a small, oval-shaped object that was attached to a length of string. He took it from her furry hand, holding it up to examine it. It looked like a wooden kitchen spoon with the handle shaved away. No, she had left a small stub of handle, and she had made a hole in it through which the string was threaded. Upon the concave surface of the spoon she had carved an intricate relief, turning the cooking implement into a finely detailed work of art that resembled a locket without the lid. It was a little large by human standards, but he hadn't been awake in order for her to take a measurement, and rousing him would have ruined the surprise.

There was what looked like a rune or a series of scratch marks in the center, raised from the wood below where she had removed layers of the material, and the strange symbol was framed by what looked like intricately carved foliage that reminded him of a tropical jungle. It was very ornate, she had managed to pack so much detail and texture into the tiny amount of space that the spoon afforded her.

She leaned closer and pointed to the carving with her claw.

"See, this is the Borealan symbol for 'marked', so that others of my kind know that you're spoken for. I can't mark you in the usual way, I might injure you, and so I thought a pendant might do the job. If you meet any Borealans while you're working and they come on too strong, just flash this at them and they should back off."

"And what about the leaves?"

"That's the jungle, where we met. Do you like it?" She asked, a little hesitantly.

"Damn straight," he replied enthusiastically, throwing the wooden pendant around his neck. "Nobody has ever made me anything by hand before, it's beautiful. Dress code be damned, I'm not taking it off."

She beamed at him, her cheeks flushing pink.

"What about you?" Zhari asked, with a sarcastic smile. "Any hidden talents that I need to convince you to pursue?"

"Nope," he replied, "I'm a Navy pilot through and through. Fortunately for me, crash landing on alien planets isn't something that happens very frequently. You done with your sandwich?"

She nodded her head.

"You want anything else while we're here?"

This time she shook it, McGregor suppressing a smirk. She was so large and dangerous, but she often behaved like an oversized child.

"Let's get back to the apartment then. We've still got plenty of shore leave left, and lots of movies to watch."

"I want romance," she said, as they both stood up from their seats on the bench.

"Oh no, not again. I don't know how many more scenes of two people kissing accompanied by swells of emotional music I can take. Don't you want to watch more war movies?"

"Nope. You said I could pick."

"I know, I know," he said as he waved his hands dismissively. "How about we watch Casablanca? That's kind of both genres. We'll go back through the tourist quarter and pick up some more salted popcorn, you went through a supply that was supposed to last us for our entire stay in about four days."

"It's good," she replied with a shrug.

"I know it's good, but pace yourself."

They walked side by side, the crowds of smaller humans parting to let the giant alien pass. Zhari kept glancing down at the pendant that was bobbing about his chest, smiling warmly.

"The other Borealans will make fun of me for wearing this, won't they?" McGregor asked, examining the wooden carving again.

"Probably. Remind them that you're mated to a shock trooper that can probably slice their faces off if they give you a hard time."

"Former shock trooper," he added, nudging her thigh.

"Hey, I've not sent in my resignation yet. According to the books I'm still a ground pounding Mad Cat."

As they made their way along the torus, McGregor spotted a group of Borealans coming downspin, the curve of the station's floor letting him see over the heads of the crowd in front of him. It was a pack of what looked like younger Borealans, all redheads, from Elysia no doubt. They were probably recruits who had just shipped in and were here to do their integration training. He sensed that Zhari was reacting strangely, her ears tracking her fellow aliens as they drew closer.

"Well well well," McGregor heard, a female Borealan's voice that he didn't recognize rising above the din. "If it isn't Zhari, my number one student."

The pack changed course, moving to intercept them, and the leader of the group came to stand before Zhari. The throngs of station personnel parted to give the aliens space, like water flowing around a stone. She was of a similar size and build to McGregor's lover, sporting the same orange fur and faded tiger stripes that he recognized as Elysian. He wasn't sure if the aliens had distinct races as humans did, but the colors and patterning of their skin and fur certainly denoted which territory they hailed from. She was wearing a blue UNN jumpsuit, her insignia that of an instructor or a drill sergeant.

Zhari seemed deferential, almost embarrassed in the presence of this stranger. The woman looked her up and down, and then turned her piercing, amber eyes on McGregor.

"Oho, and what do we have here? Have you finally come around after all this time, Zhari? Couldn't resist a taste of the forbidden fruit?"

The woman crouched, putting her at head-height to McGregor, and reached out with a clawed hand to examine his pendant as the gaggle of students rubbernecked intently. He wasn't quite sure how to react. He knew enough about Borealans not to bat her hand away and possibly provoke a confrontation, but this stranger was parading around like she owned the station.

"Well isn't this cute. You've got a flair for carving, Zhari. You know that you can scar them, right? They're fragile, but you don't have to treat them like they're made of glass. Stanley's always telling me not to do it above the collar, but it kind of turns me on to know that it makes him self-conscious."

"And you are..?" McGregor asked, a little irked by the invasion of his personal space.

"Raz Elysiedde, at your service," she replied with a mock curtsy.

"This is Raz," Zhari explained, "she was my instructor when I underwent integration training on the Pinwheel."

"Oh, so she's the one who..." McGregor trailed off, remembering Zhari's stories about how her instructor had introduced her to the idea of interspecies relationships as a way to further her training. After being initially repulsed, the idea had slowly germinated in Zhari's mind, culminating in their encounter on EE-4 after the dam had broken and she could no longer repress her desires.

"Zhari," Raz said, putting on an exaggerated pout. "I hope you've not been telling stories about me. Unless they're flattering stories of course."

She leaned down closer to McGregor, lowering her voice so that her students couldn't overhear them.

"Your friend here was my star pupil, but we didn't part ways on the best of terms. She did what was required of her in order to complete the program, she excelled in most areas, but I was worried that she might have some...difficulties dealing with humans down the line. I gave her some advice that had worked for me, but I think that it offended her. Not everyone back on the homeworld has quite gotten their heads around the idea of relationships that cross species lines, if you catch my drift. I'm glad to see that she's doing better."

One of her pupils began to lean over, eager to hear what was being discussed. Raz noticed, rising to her full height and clipping the juvenile Borealan around the ear with a swipe of her clawed hand, alarming McGregor.

"Back in formation, Kutz, or I'm gonna put you on latrine duty."

The youth cowered, returning to the group, the rest of them standing to attention.

"I got places to be, Zhari," she continued. "But since you're back on the station, maybe you and your new buddy would like to join me and Stanley for dinner some time? Call it a double date. You still remember my vidphone number, right?"

Zhari nodded, bowing slightly to her superior.

"Of course, we would be honored."

Raz waved her pack forward, the aliens following her as she moved off in the direction of the military quarter. McGregor waited until she was out of earshot before commenting on the strange encounter.

"Well she was certainly...uh...nice?"

"Raz is...willful," Zhari replied as she watched her old tutor for a few moments longer. "She's the closest thing to a Matriarch that we have here on the Pinwheel, and she's related to the Patriarch of Elysia by blood. Most of the Borealans who are stationed here were trained by her, and they see her as their unofficial leader. Her mate is also a human, he works at the gun range."

"You going to take her up on her offer?"

"It would be rude not to. I suppose I owe her a lot. I was resistant to her advice at the time, I should have listened to her. She was right about humans in the end."

"I'm sure she'll be thrilled to hear it," McGregor grumbled. "How do you think she'll react when you tell her that you're resigning and going into business for yourself?"

"Oddly enough, I think she'd be more ok with that than anyone," she replied. The idea seemed to put her in a good mood, and McGregor could only assume that the approval of the pushy instructor was valuable to her. He reached up and took Zhari's furry hand, her cheeks flushing as he tugged her along behind him.

"Let's get going, that popcorn isn't going to eat itself."

THE END