Rhidi felt the glow of the celebration fade away from her face as Yiwa ca panting into the Platoon office, her chest heaving as she held her hand to her chest.
“Yiwa, what’s wrong?” Imridit asked, the cup of ale slowly lowering away from her lips.
“Benning!” Yiwa gasped out, leaning back and trying to catch her breath after having sprinted through the entire ship. “Benning was attacked!”
The room erupted into shouts of alarm and outrage, heads spinning around as Kafya of all colors, Humans, Skalathir, and Pwah reacted to the shouting voice of Yiwa.
“Attacked? Was there an active shooter or sothing?” Lieutenant Brightberry asked loudly, the room’s volu cutting down to a murmur around him as he strode through the crowd, a cup of ale in each hand. “Speak slowly Private, what are you talking about?”
Yiwa took a cup of ale from Har, the black furred Kafya’s furry brows raised in worry at how hard the little green fur was breathing. She chugged it in loud gulps, so spilling down her furry chin in a long trail of foam.
Yiwa coughed, then held up a hand. “Benning was attacked from the outside! They’re saying a whole Squad of Kafya attacked a gym!”
“That is absurd!” Quinnit guffawed, gesturing with her cup. “Who the fuck is mad enough to attack Earth directly?! Let alone a military base!”
Rhidi looked at the other yellow fur, their eyes speaking between each other without words. Every yellow fur had rubbed shoulders in one way or another with the higher classes of society at one point, and everyone knew the rule: You do not upset Humans, and you certainly don’t go toe-to-toe with them in the open field.
It had been a quiet joke for so ti after the war concluded, that the only way to beat a Human was while they slept, with gravity rods, at least ten Kafya to a Human, and pray you got them before they woke up.
“It’s true!” Yiwa pleaded, pointing behind her down the hallway. “The Void Squids were talking about it after it just ca in through the communication channels! It happened, like, a day or sothing ago, but it happened!”
“Jacob!” Lieutenant Brightberry barked, handing his two cups to a Pwah and Human nearby.
Sergeant First Class Bloodmourne arrived as if he had suddenly stepped out of the shadows, draining his cup and handing it to the sa Pwah that had taken Lieutenant Brightberry’s. “Let’s go then.”
“Why are they rushing off so quickly?” Inthur asked, her half chewed slice of pizza having paused halfway to her greasy lips. “It’s probably just a mistake or sothing, or maybe so out of towner that looks like us was stupid enough to attack the base.”
Rhidi glanced at Oin, and she set her face into a grim line. She had been enjoying the little celebration of her receiving her promotion to Corporal, as well as being able to choose the mbers of her own Fire Team.
She had made the female Kafya draw straws, as they were to be considered her honor guard as Kholihl, and was pleased that Oin, Imridit, and Anfilid had drawn their place beside her. Inthur drawing a straw had been a surprise, not one that Rhidi was particularly happy about, but Inthur did not bother hiding her smile as she taunted a livid Saffi about her new position.
The new upgraded pods on board had also been changed for five Droppers per side, which ant that Rhidi was going to be entering the battlefield with her little honor guard beside her.
“It’s going to be a huge deal, for one major reason.” Rhidi said quietly, all the Kafya in the room turning to look at her as the other races looked down the hallway, noticing that Officers from the other Platoons were sprinting down the gangway. “Right now, us serving in the UAA Army has been nothing more than an annoying point of contention. We are rogue elents that are no longer aligned with the Kafyan Elder Councils, that much is obvious.”
Anfilid snorted. “Not like we could ever go back to those planets anyway, they’d be worried about us becoming warlords.”
Rhidi chuckled along with the others, then let out a sigh.
“There is also the issue of, if, the Kafyan Elder Councils launched an attack against the Humans, that ans there will be a security issue with we Kafya in the UAA Army.” Rhidi said with warning, nodding to Oin, her now number one.
As everyone began asking Rhidi what the hell she was talking about, Oin stepped forward and snapped her fingers.
At the mont, she culturally outranked every Kafya in the room being the second to a Kholihl with a superior rank, and every Kafya fell silent.
“Exactly.” Oin snapped, giving her fingers a few more snaps to make her point. “As much as we are a part of the UAA Army, we still adhere to Kafyan customs. They are going to be an integral part of our lives and will likely impart onto our children, as it cos with what we are. We are not as free wheeling as Humans, and we have an innate understanding of our instincts in why we do what we do. If an Elder Council Hod’ruzgull commanded you with the full force of their authority, would it cause you to pause or would you resist?”
The male and female Kafya looked at each other with unsure glances, while others looked down into their cups of ale, reluctant to know the answer to the question themselves.
“There is only one here that we know… that we know who could.” Yiwa said quietly, Rhidi’s pale eyes snapping to her worried reds. “The reason why… well… why a lot of us asked to co to this unit. Right?”
The newer male and female Kafya glowered at Yiwa as she let out the quiet secret amongst them, but they looked up at Rhidi all the sa.
A yellow male nad Bomark, a rather lithe fellow that seed to refuse to properly grow muscle and learned the ‘queen’s english’, took a long drink from his cup before setting it down on the nearby pizza box laden table. “There had been rumblings of such a worry, especially in Kafya serving with the EUC. The UAA has so of the most fervent hardliners, but the EUC has their own Kohlil… one that many say is still loyal to the Elder Councils.”
“Second lieutenant Tamryn.” Another male Kafya nad Poploi muttered with malice in his voice, his brown furred hand clutching his cup so strongly that the plastic crackled. “They made her an officer just to make sure she outranked any and all Kafya in the EUC, then she goes around running her mouth saying how Kafya are only loyal to Kafya-kind.”
“The Humans in the EUC are keeping a loose hand on her, as they’re not sure what to do about it since both the UAA and the EUC are keeping a light touch on the cultures of their off-world troopers.” A newer red female Private nad Sar'rah said, stepping forward with the slice of pizza she had never had the chance to eat since Yiwa’s arrival. “I don’t know if you first arrivals were tracking it or not, but… well. Kafya are joining up with the UAA and EUC for their own reasons.”
“What reasons would that be?” Rhidi asked, her voice even but the note of command open on the air.
Sar'rah nodded her head, stepping further forward towards Rhidi. “We all joined the UAA because of what Bomark said. The hardliners co here to seek our own life and freedom, going full steam ahead into the Human way of life. Others… they join the EUC because they are given the ability to fence sit, collecting a paycheck and knowledge while still being able to possibly go ho if things go south.”
“As if the Elder Councils would take them back.” Pobilo spat, slamming her empty cup into a nearby trashcan. “Do they think they can just crawl back into the laps of the Elder Councils like good little purring pups?! They would be executed for treason, just like the rest of us!”
Poploi raised a finger. “Not quite. Second lieutenant Tamryn is the daughter of an extrely powerful oligarch, and she has been rather open about saying how she has a direct line of safety when it cos to getting back into the good graces of the Elder Councils.”
“Rumors abound, but the EUC has been slowly regretting letting her speak so freely.” Bomark said, looking down into his cup as he swirled the ale. “Instead of a seamless integration, like here, there is a definite wall between the EUC Kafya and their Human compatriots. I would go as far as to say there is a thin veil of animosity and distrust between the two. Not even the Pwah or Lilgara trust the Kafya around them.”
Sar'rah rapidly nodded her red head again, her long ears bobbing up and down. “Yeah yeah, and they are cliquey! They eat at their own tables, and don’t interact much with the other races besides during work hours!”
“How do you know about this?” Rhidi asked, actually curious. She had not made much effort to speak with the Kafya outside the Army, more to the fact that she rarely had the ti to while managing the ones in the Army. “Is there so kind of welco booklet you lot peruse through to see which side you want to join?”
“A booklet? Of course not.” Bromark snorted, pulling up his data-slate. “There’s a website.”
Sar'rah shrugged. “An entire forum, actually. I myself spent nearly a week combing through the news and regulations before deciding to follow you here, Rhidi.”
“Corporal.” Oin corrected, her ears coming back in annoyance.
“C-... Corporal.” Sar'rah stamred, her ears flattening.
Rhidi rolled her eyes around to Oin, raising her brows in a way that made Oin swallow and avoid her gaze. “All of you can call Rhidi when we are off the clock, which I would consider a pizza party as such. However, as Private Oin said, you are to call ‘Corporal’ while on duty, sa way you would address Flores as ‘Sergeant’.”
“Okay!” Sar'rah chirped happily, bouncing on her heels as she smiled at Rhidi. “Thank you, Rhidi!”
“Mmhm…” Rhidi murmured, taking a slow sip of her ale while wiggling her outstretched fingers at Bomark.
Bomark understood at once what she wanted and trotted over, handing her his data-slate.
Rhidi glanced at the screen and the multiple forum threads, setting her cup down on her seat as she stood up. “So you all researched the two Human factions and chose the one you thought was best?”
All the new Privates nodded, quickly trotting up to stand in front of Rhidi as Shaksho ca around to stand beside her.
“Do you think this is going to be an issue?” Shaksho asked, looking down at the tablet as well.
Rhidi pressed her lips together, then turned and smiled at Morris as he replaced her old cup with a fresh one.
The new Privates all blinked and watched Rhidi’s tail wag back and forth, their eyes wide and questioning until a snap of the fingers from Inthur made them all look back up at her face.
“It may co to a head if this attack on Benning is true.” Rhidi mused, tapping open a few threads and skimming through the Kafya-hi. “What do you think?”
“I think it would not surprise if the Elder Councils placed a yellow furred mole in the EUC.” Shaksho muttered, crossing his arms as he read along with Rhidi. “All it takes is one outspoken, high ranked Anili to start making cracks in the trust of the Kafya, it’s just lucky that the UAA has you and I to keep things level.”
Rhidi grinned at that, and felt more powerful still with Morris standing just behind her shoulder, drinking ale as if nothing was amiss. “I find it amusing that these forums refer to us as ‘the true hardliners’, isn’t it?”
“Second lieutenant Tamryn is a standard infantryman, and only holds her rank as Kholihl due to her father’s power, her fur color, and the rank the EUC gave her.” Shaksho said with narrowed eyes. “You and I took our ranks through toil. I can only imagine what she has to say about a green like being Hohrlil.”
A blue male Private held up his hand, and Shaksho nodded to him.
Private Rew smiled brightly with sparkling eyes, sothing that was not helping his slowly centing, Human-given nickna of ‘Twinker Bell’. “She refers to you as ‘The Green Stain’, Horhlil!”
Shaksho narrowed his eyes again at the new information, which seed to bounce off and away from Private Rew as he wagged his blue tail rapidly.
Rew was quickly becoming renowned for his infallible “golden retriever energy”, as the Humans put it, and the female Void Marines had already given him a huge head with their attentions.
“What does she call Rhidi?” Inthur asked, smiling to herself as she awaited to hear the answer.
Sar'rah winced, and slowly raised her hand, in which Rhidi nodded towards her with raised brows.
“She.. uh…” Sar'rah murmured, folding her hands behind her back. “You are usually referred to… as… uh… the…”
Rhidi let out a sigh through her nose as Morris quietly chuckled behind her. “It’s alright, Private, just say it.”
“... The Huntsman’s Bed Bitch.” Sar'rah said quietly, her eyes darting up to Morris’s and then snapping them back to the deck.
Inthur let out a startlingly loud bark of laughter, actually clutching at her chest as she turned away and then bent at the waist, letting out great gouts of laughter that nearly ca close to a wheezing squeal.
“Fuck’s sakes…” Anfilid growled, rubbing at her temples with both pawed hands as Oin drew in a deep breath, obviously finding the slight to her Kholihl beyond reproach.
Imridit on the other hand was confused, pink eyebrows furrowed in thought before turning to Oin. “Who is the ‘Huntsman’? Is he soone in the UAA Army?”
“She is referring to Morris, Imridit.” Oin growled through clenched teeth, Imridit letting out a small giggle as the dots were connected.
“Oh! Goodness…” Imridit giggled again as Anfilid and Oin looked as if their muscles were going shred through their own fur with the growing cortisol levels. “Well that’s just rude!”
Inthur let out another gale of shrieking laughter, though Rhidi just leaned backwards, looking up at her beaux.
“Well, I guess your mother’s title for feels a lot less impactful now.” Rhidi purred, grinning up at Morris as he chuckled down at her.
“I suppose that will have to sit pretty up on the podium for the ti being.” Morris agreed, then let out a rough giggle of his own as Inthur cackled again, almost having to drop to her knees.
—
Lirya blinked open her eyes, her vision blurry and her head feeling as if she were trying to think through mud and molasses.
She sniffed, slling disinfectant, fresh cotton, blood, and the soft heat of electronics.
“A hospital…” Lirya murmured, causing Tyllia and Mohki to snap to their feet from their chairs.
“Lirya!” Mohki shouted, a looming, brown shadow in Lirya’s vision. Her hands ca down and held the white fur’s cheeks, and her face slowly ca into focus as she leaned down. “Are you in there?! Are you feeling okay?”
A golden blur appeared at Mohki’s shoulder, the arms obviously set upon her hips.
“Fuck’s sakes Mohki, let go of her face! You’re going to crease her bandages!” Tyllia chided, lightly pulling on the far more muscular brown fur’s arms. “The doctors already said you had to stop constantly staring at her and making sure her chest was moving!”
Lirya smiled to herself as she felt Mohki’s hands leave her face, her hair falling down around her eyes as she continued to watch the two blurs above her.
“How is that my fault? I’m telling you, she didn’t breathe for a whole five seconds! Five!”
“She is hooked up to more electronics than a starship and you think you are going to tell if she’s breathing better than that? I know the Kafya in your clan are simple about technology but really?”
“Five seconds! Any longer and she could have gone into brain failure!”
“She’s not going to go into brain death because of five seconds without breathing. It sure as hell doesn’t an you can run out, grab a doctor, and drag them into the room at two in the morning! You’re lucky they even let you back in here…”
The two continued to bicker above her as Lirya’s eyes slowly ca into focus; Mohki had a huge bandage poking out from under her tank top, which was curiously lacking a bra at the mont and showed that it wrapped completely around her chest. She had other bandages as well, small cuts and slices from tal if Lirya had to guess.
Tyllia was sporting her own smaller bandages, though she had been smart and kept her nose out of combat. Lirya couldn’t fault her on it, as it was a rather low chance that a fashionista would have picked up a rifle and duked it out with special forces operators.
As Lirya beca more and more awake, the machines hooked up to her began to beep and click, registering that her brain was finally awakening from her dication induced slumber.
This also alerted her nurse.
“Excuse , ladies.”
Mohki and Tyllia’s heads turned to the Human woman as she walked into the room, her dical uniform as crisp and white as ever.
Soldiers who worked in Human hospitals wore their own service uniform, which wasn’t unlike the standard one worn by other ground forces in the UAA Army. Where it differed was in part due to the color, as they were bright white with red accents, denoting the trooper as being a part of hospital staff and not a dic.
The uniform also held a sophisticated suite of electronics that quite literally tasted the air; These sensors could tell if soone was intoxicated, high, bleeding out, dying, or a multitude of other issues that would be of use to the nurse or doctor. A secondary system lay in the collar and fed patient info via an earpiece, letting nurses and doctors know what their patients were up to in their rooms.
Hers had alerted that Lirya was awake and “wiggling”, which the nurse had quickly learned was likely Mohki making sure the white furred Kafya was alive.
“Nurse Shugart.” Mohki said with a bow of the head, stepping away from the bed so the nurse wouldn’t grab her by the ear again.
Tyllia smiled brightly at the Human, folding her hands in front of her waist. “Nurse Shugart! Good morning!”
Lirya’s ears twitched and focused in on the woman’s voice as she greeted the two other Kafya, as her vision was still just a bit too blurry. She had a low, thrumming voice that was deeper, but still held its feminine edge, as if she had grown up doing a lot of combat sports.
The face of Nurse Shugart hovered over Lirya, and she felt sothing cold press down onto the fur of her chest.
“Finally awake, are we?” She asked, slowly moving the cold thing around her chest. “How are we feeling now that we have arrived back onto the plane of the living?”
Lirya chuckled weakly, then held a weak hand in front of her face. “My eyes are still a little blurry… and my head feels fuzzy.”
“You were born fuzzy.” Nurse Shugart quipped, taking away the cold thing and then gently checking her bandages. “Plus you had a hell of a sedation pack in you, so I suspect everything is fine. Should wear off here in a few seconds after I clear your system a bit more.”
As if on command, the machines gave a little beep and whirred, filling one of Lirya’s IV’s with a pale blue fluid.
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Her body reacted to the fluid instantly, her eyes snapping into focus like a cara being powered on, and the Human’s face ca into clarity.
Odder still was that her heart gave a startled, fluttering jolt when she got a good look at Nurse Shugart, her black eyes filling with the Human’s.
She was tall, with a face that Lirya had learned was called “elfish” in nature. Her hair was such a dirty blonde that it nearly looked gray, but had eyes that looked like fresh pools of fallen rain. She was strong looking, or at least formidable, but Lirya could tell that she got a lot more of her genetics from her mother, both of whom appearing to have been quite spoiled by mother nature’s bounty.
Despite her uniform, Lirya could see that she had a large chest tattoo that peaked out just past the collar. Lirya thought she saw antlers, but wasn’t sure, so she kept her eyes there out of curiosity.
Human tattoos were fascinating after all, and Lirya had spent many nights looking at pictures of them and reading about their stories.
“Nurse, why is her heart doing that?” Mohki asked in alarm, pointing to the screens as Lirya’s heartrate increased.
“Well that’s weird.” Nurse Shugart murmured, squinting at the screen. “Maybe her sensor got knocked askew when I was checking her lungs, let get it back where it should be.”
As Nurse Shugart leaned over Lirya to check the sensor attached to her neck, Lirya’s eyes widened; There were, in fact, antlers, as well as a lot more tattoo and… other things under her uniform top that Lirya was now staring down into. The Human muttered sothing to herself, and Lirya found herself coated in enough miasmir that she could nearly taste it.
“Holy fuck is she having a heart attack?!” Mohki scread, clutching the screen as if it was attempting to attack Lirya personally. “What the hell is going on?!”
Nurse Shugart shrugged, which caused a slight jiggle down where Lirya’s eyes were locked. “Beats , her sensor is still in place. Could be a side effect of the Quintoxon?”
Tyllia, despite the other two, was staring at Lirya with leveled eyebrows, knowing exactly what was causing the white fur’s heartrate to skyrocket.
“Nurse, why don’t you lean back and give the screen a closer look.” Tyllia said with quirked lips, watching Lirya closely. “Best not leave things like this to squints.”
Nurse Shugart leaned back and away from Lirya to look at the monitor properly, while Mohki clutched it like a drowning man to floating wreckage.
Tyllia slowly raised a brow at Lirya as a drug induced smile lay on her lips, her tail giving a little wag as she stared happily up at the ceiling.
“Huh, it’s going down now. May have just been a reaction to the Quintoxon, it can happen from ti to ti with Kafya.” Nurse Shugart said, though she was clearly confused at the reading and placed her hands on her hips. “I really wish we had a proper dication like this for Kafya, you guys are fussy with ds. Mohki, let go of the screen please, she’s fine.”
“Maybe my sensor is loose again…” Lirya said quietly, and Tyllia nearly snorted when her white tail gave another shuffle of wags under the sheets.
“I’m sure your sensor is fine, Lirya.” Tyllia chided.
“I think it’s loose.”
“It’s not loose.”
“What if it is and I die?”
“You’re not going to die!” Mohki barked out in a panic, leaning over Lirya herself to check the sensor. “I’ll check it, just in case!”
Lirya’s once happy eyebrows ca flat in annoyance, and her smile faded away as Mohki leaned over her, much in the sa way as Nurse Shugart.
Then she actually frowned as Mohki’s chest filled her vision.
Tyllia snorted out a laugh and then snickered as Lirya actually turned her face away towards Tyllia, as if she had been presented with a al she had not asked for.
Nurse Shugart kept her eyes on the heartrate monitor, idly tapping at her bottom lip. “Hmm… anything Mohki?”
“No, it looks fine.” Mohki sighed out in relief, leaning back up and placing her hands on her hips victoriously. “There’s nothing to worry about!”
Nurse Shugart shrugged her shoulder, then pulled out her data-slate. “Well, regardless, I’ll make a note of this and check the lines real quick, we’re always happier to be safer than sorry around here.”
As Nurse Shugart bent over to start checking the lines, Lirya’s heartrate once again bounced up to a rapid pace, and Tyllia let out a gasping wheeze.
“Oh, must be a line.” Nurse Shugart murmured, as she had just touched a connector when Lirya’s eyes locked onto the seat of her pants.
“I’ll help!” Mohki called out, quickly sliding down onto her knees and tracing her own hands down the connectors.
“Oh, well thank you Mohki! That lets check the back of the screens.” Nurse Shugart said happily, standing up straight and moving around behind the monitoring screens.
The giggles from Tyllia only grew as Lirya’s heartrate cald again, though the white fur was glaring down at Mohki with hooded eyes.
—
After all the drugs had left her system, Lirya was discharged from the Martin Army Community Hospital and left in the helpful hands of Mohki and Tyllia. Out in the sun, she noticed that Mohki looked different than how she usually did, but her brain couldn’t figure out what it was.
Lirya spent most of the ride from the hospital formulating her own plan to go back, as her attempts to still act hurt and dizzy failed to get past the sensors in Nurse Shugart’s uniform.
The ride back to her shared on-base housing with Tyllia and Mohki was short, as they were being ferried there by the hospital patient van, but Lirya was happy to see her couch after the night of chaos and morning of drug-haze.
The UAA Army had provided her with a house with enough rooms for her, Mohki, Tyllia, and an office, as well as furnishing it. Lirya had gotten used to the Human furniture on the station, but on Earth it was an entirely different ballga when it ca to comfort. While the bed was nice, she had fallen in love with her couch, normally snoozing or lounging on it when she had little else to do.
Mohki helped her sit onto the plush couch and then ran off to get her a drink, while Tyllia moved her tail around to her lap as she sat in a nearby chair.
The yellow fur placed her elbows on the armrests and steepled her fingers as she eyed Lirya, wondering when she could ask about what was going on in the room with Nurse Shugart.
She decided now was better than never.
“So… Nurse Shugart.” Tyllia began, noticing how Lirya stiffened both in posture and ears at her na. “You seed to be a fan.”
With all the drugs out of her system, Lirya beca heavily aware of how her heart pounded at just the woman’s na, as well as how her brain filled itself with her bright blue eyes, her elfish face… and other things.
“Well. Of course!” Lirya said with a false cheeriness. “She took care of , after all!”
“Uh huh…” Tyllia murmured, tapping the pads of her index fingers together. “That’s all, is it?”
“Yup!”
“Then why are your ears so taught?”
Lirya slapped her traitorous ears down to her head with her pawed hands, and they were hot to the touch with the amount of blood flowing into them.
She was saved by the intervention of Mohki walking in with a pot of tea and three mugs, pouring Lirya her own asure of tea while she desperately tried to get the blood out of her ears.
Not that it would help her much, as Tyllia had seen enough.
“Here, Lirya.” Mohki said softly, handing Lirya a mug of warm tea. “Are you still feeling the dication? Your ears seem rather stiff.”
Lirya swallowed up at Mohki, as she could still feel her ears pounding with blood.
“It’s a side effect, it will go away.” Tyllia said cooly as she took an empty mug and poured tea into it. “I assu you are still going to go forward with your plan?”
“Plan?” Lirya asked, bringing the tea to her lips.
It was a rooibos blend, sothing that the Kafya took to with the sa eagerness as cheese.
The races of the stars were still coming to terms with Human food, with strikes and gutterballs here and there. Most amusing were the Pwah and cheese, as while reviled by the Pwah at large in the civilian sector, Pwah under the service of the UAA were considered “cheese broken”.
Calorically dense, cheese was sothing they could not afford to not eat, with many Pwah gaslighting themselves into “enjoying it” though civilian Pwah never believed them.
Stories were still being spread about a Pwah Reg being annoyed at a bunch of civilian Pwah at breakfast, and ate an entire bowl of cottage cheese in front of them by pouring it directly into his mouth… with distance.
They were still trying to find the remnants of the projectile vomit that had seeped into the cracks of the floor.
“Yeah, well.” Mohki started, then stopped, pouring herself a cup of tea and looking down into the dark red liquid. “Do you rember what happened before you were sedated?”
Lirya blinked, confused for a few monts as she sipped her tea… but the more she tried to pick and pluck at the fuzzy mories of the night they were attacked, the clearer the mories beca. She hadn’t been in the hospital for more than a day or two, but it felt as if the gunfight in the gym had happened weeks ago.
Then sothing crawled to the surface of her brain, and she could once again feel the white fur of the dead Kafya under her padded fingers.
“The soldiers…” Lirya said slowly, and she felt an emotion she had never felt before.
She felt angry, furious with layers of betrayal, yet horribly depressed and numb, the emotions swimming around in a larger pool of confusion, and horror. Lirya had heard Humans speak of sothing similar, referring to such emotions as being “fire webbed”, or “stove piped”. Both phrases ca from their war with The Pactless, with fire webbed being a horrible weapon used by their alien invaders.
Where the weapon had co from was still anyone’s guess, but when used, it entrapped its victim in a sh netting that slowly heated and burned through skin, muscle, and bone, as if the main point was to cause helplessness and suffering rather than killing outright.
The other, being stove piped, ca from a simple malfunction of their weapons.
When explained by Humans, it was said that when you needed a weapon to function most and it “stove piped”, you would be left angry, furious that the weapon had failed, even betrayed by it, while numb and depressed by the horror that, if facing a more ready enemy, that you were about to die for such a small blunder.
“Lirya,” Mohki began, taking a seat beside the white furred Kafya with her mug in hand, “Do you know who the Shan’Dao are?”
“No.” Lirya answered honestly, looking over to Tyllia. “Do you, Tyllia?”
Tyllia pursed her glossed lips, tapping her perfectly re-manicured nail on her mug a few tis before finally breathing in sharply to speak. “I know… of the na, but only what my father has told .”
Mohki motioned at Tyllia, and she clicked her tongue in annoyance.
“You said you were going to start off.” Tyllia groused, folding one yellow furred leg over the other, then rolled her eyes when Mohki raised her eyebrows. “The Shan’Dao are… what is the best way to put this… they are like a disposable special operations unit for the Elder Councils. They are incredibly small in number, never show their faces, and no one even knows where they are housed when they are not on mission.”
Tyllia mulled over the words in her head, trying to rember all that her father Kohan had told her, then took a sip of her tea as she formulated the words to sound less… crazy.
“People said they had powers, Lirya.” Tyllia said at last, her face scrunched as if she herself didn’t want to taste the words coming past her lips. “Rumors implied they could read minds, find Kafya no matter how hard they hid themselves, or even ‘taste their sins on the air’. They were the hounds of the Elder Councils, and a lot of people went missing due to them.”
Lirya stared blankly at Tyllia with wide eyes, the cup of tea steaming softly in her hands.
Tyllia expected a question or two, but when none ca she continued speaking.
“My father, he believes that they are white furred Kafya.” Tyllia said, taking another sip of her tea before setting it down on the side table next to the chair. “He has rubbed shoulders with a ton of Elder Council mbers and officials, and they always seed really uncomfortable when the Shan’Dao were brought up. He never had any proof though, just a really fuzzy recording he managed to get ahold of from so departnt store, after a raid.”
Mohki, having drained her cup while listening to Tyllia, then turned to Lirya. “My clan, the reason why we are so far out in the fringes of Kafya space is due to what we know. Decades ago, so of our elders had been hired on as rcenaries to raid so station or what not, one we had never heard of before.”
Lirya slowly brought her tea up to her lips, drinking quietly as her mind buzzed with questions.
“They said it wasn’t a station, it was a refuge.” Mohki said quietly, whispering in a way that implied she was afraid of soone hearing, even now. “Over two hundred elder Blackmoon warriors descended upon a refuge, and were shocked to find it was made up of over a hundred white furred Kafya!”
“Over a hundred?!” Lirya gasped out, the number unfathomable to her. “They’re… they’re okay, right?”
Mohki’s face tightened at the edges of her pained eyes, and she looked rather uncomfortable.
“No… no, they’re not okay, Lirya.” Mohki murmured, her ears crestfallen. “Our elders captured the refuge, as they had been paid to do, but weren’t sure what was going on. They were confused and reported what they had found… and that’s when the Shan’Dao arrived.”
Tyllia blinked down at her now empty cup of tea with a face of distaste, standing and striding to the tea pot to pour a fresh asure. “She may as well know all of it, Mohki.”
Mohki grimaced, then looked up into Lirya’s eyes. “They… they killed the adults, Lirya.”
Lirya felt her chest tighten, and her face fell into a complex mix of emotions that she could not configure… perhaps “dread” was the word that fit it best, but she wasn’t sure.
“They… killed them?” Lirya asked, her voice quiet.
Mohki nodded shafully, all while Tyllia opened her mouth and worked her tongue against her teeth in disgust.
“The adults we didn’t manage to get out of there, anyway.” Mohki added in rapidly, trying to tamper down the likely fear she thought Lirya was feeling. “We scooped up I think… four or five, ushered them back onto our drop ships. That’s when the elder rcenaries understood what was going on…”
Tyllia sat back down in her chair, staring into Lirya’s tear-filled black eyes with her own lilac ones. “They were after the children, Lirya. A brief chat with Mohki that night, after we retrieved my father, put all the pieces into place.”
“Kohan!” Lirya scread, her tea sloshing around in her mug. “Is he okay?! Did they co for him too?!”
“He is fine, Lirya, as is my mother.” Tyllia replied calmly, though she had been nothing near calm the night she arrived at her father’s ruined, smoking ship covered in bandages. “The ship’s crew is dead to the man, and the ship itself is toast, but they managed to delay the Shan’Dao long enough for the MPs to save my mother and father.”
Mohki let out a sad chuckle. “Seconds. They were seconds away from breaching Kohan’s fallback room…”
Lirya fell back into the couch with a sigh of relief; She had completely forgotten that Kohan was a high value target to the Kafya, and it would have only made sense to attack him at the sa ti as her.
According to Tolt, anyway.
“My father said it only made sense that they would go after the children,” Tyllia said, slurping from her mug and setting it down on her knee, “If they wanted to keep up their numbers within their little secret military unit, you do so by brainwashing children, not attempting to recruit adults.”
“They went for the milkpaws, first.” Mohki agreed with a nod, her voice ringed with sha. “If we had known, if the elder Blackmoon rcenaries had known, we would have never agreed to the job. As our records tell, as soon as they heard the cries of the young ones and their wails, they imdiately switched their mission objectives. Blackmoon warriors are honorable, and they had been deceived.”
Mohki took a long drink of her tea, draining the mug and pouring a fresh asure of warm rooibos.
“They couldn’t get to the milkpaws in ti, the Shan’Dao made off with nearly thirty of them, and with most of the adults already dead, they got their hands on as many kitlings as they could.” Mohki sighed out, looking up towards the ceiling. “The fire fight was brutal, and we lost a few of our warriors, but we stopped them from taking them all. We couldn’t imagine the Elder Councils ever stooping this low, raiding so edge world refuge in the middle of nowhere just to snatch up babies… but, we got as many kitlings away as we could, maybe five or ten. We got the youngest to the fringe worlds, dropping them off in ones and twos to Kafya willing to take them. We tried to keep them ourselves, keep them safe, but the Shan’Dao kept finding us sohow until we deposited them all onto the fringe worlds, all the way out on the edge of Kafyan space.”
“Because of their ‘betrayal’, the Blackmoons weren’t allowed back into Kafyan space properly.” Tyllia added, flexing her pawed toes.
“All of the clan was branded Kuwai.” Mohki added, nodding. “Why we live on neglected moons, stations, or find refuge on the agri-worlds that the Humans colonized. Why we have our piercings, to make sure we can’t be confused for any other brown Kafya. We wear our expulsion as a badge of honor.”
Lirya felt a lump in her throat starting, imagining the feeling of finding refuge… then losing it through violence… but she didn't exactly have to imagine that fear anymore.
She blinked, the welling tears finally breaking over the edges and trickling down her cheeks, then Lirya smiled at Mohki as she finally figured out why she looked so different.
“You cut your hair.” Lirya laughed out awkwardly, wiping at her cheek with the back of her hand.
Mohki was stumped by the question, looking at Lirya as if she had hit her head again.
“What? Oh.” Mohki said, looking up at her now rather short bangs. “Yeah, my hair got a little singed by one of those plasma bolt things and I got it trimd back.”
“It looks good!” Lirya cried softly, sniffing and wiping at her eyes still. “Now the boys c-can finally see your pretty hazel eyes.”
Mohki’s tail gave a few happy wags, but stopped when Tyllia cleared her throat, eyeing the brown furred Kafya with a “Really? Control yourself” look.
“Did Tyllia help you style it? I could s-see her doing that, g-getting in the w-way of the b-b-barber.” Lirya babbled, her voice starting strong but then breaking down with soft, trembling sobs in between the words.
They had stolen white furred babies, brain washed them, and turned them into secret soldiers of the Councils. Lirya figured that there were so few of them that it was highly likely she faced so descendents of the stolen Kafya, or other children stolen away from their loving parents.
The only reason she was still free was because she was but a single white fur child to a green and brown Kafya, flying under the radar.
After all, why would the Elder Councils waste their ti on so ruddy, dirty, poor little white fur child out on the fringe of their territory?
Lirya sniffed wetly as she brought the mug to her lips, drinking with soft sobs that threatened to cause her to choke. She managed a single gulp of tea before fully breaking down into loud, gasping cries, her free hand clutching at the side of her face where her new scars would likely add to her already tattered appearance.
Mohki softly took the cup from Lirya’s hand, now free to clutch at the other side of her face, and the brown fur pulled the white fur into her, wrapping her strong arms around Lirya and allowing her to cry into her chest.
Lirya clutched at Mohki with clawed hands, her shoulders shuddering as she cried; As a little, lonely girl, she had always dread of having friends just like her, or just being around other white furs to enjoy the feeling of being near her own color, being able to enjoy what the other kitlings did when they paled around with their own.
But, the first and only ti she managed to be in the sa room with others of her own fur color… they had been trying to kill her.
They took off Michael’s leg, caused Mohki to nearly die… and she had used a grenade to kill them with her own hand.
“It’s… it’s not f-fair…” Lirya choked out, pressing her cheek into Mohki’s soft, heavy breasts as her tears caused her fur to stick out at odd angles. “I-It’s n-not, fair! Did… d-did any of them s-survive?!”
Tyllia let out a long exhale, running her fingers through her yellow hair and then along her ears. “No, Lirya. I’m afraid the Humans were as… efficient, as they are known to be. Every Kafya was killed in the room, and they weren’t keen on taking prisoners when they attacked a military installation and tried to murder a person under their direct protections. The attack on my father’s ship was brutal, and the MPs who responded were equally as severe when they saw the slaughtered crew. The Templars are furious…”
“The word I would use is incensed.” Mohki murmured, running her own fingers through Lirya’s hair. “I can only imagine how the politicians are feeling at the current mont.”
Tyllia cracked a wry smile. “Or my sister. She’s up doing a patrol around a station, and a good portion of her Platoon is first-landing Kafya. Kuwai, like you.”
“Oh don’t count yourself out there daqui hass, you’re carrying the sa brand as all of us.” Mohki chuckled out, which drew a dry huff of a laugh from Tyllia.
The short trade of words did what they had intended it to do, and it caused Lirya to let out a sad, wet chuckle.
Three pairs of ears perked up into the air as a knock ca at the front door, and Tyllia quickly set down her mug before she jumped up to answer it.
Lirya sniffed hard and let go of Mohki, allowing the brown fur to quickly fix her face and hair with rapidly moving brown, padded hands.
Tyllia waited for Mohki to give her a thumbs up, then opened the door.
A Human man was standing in the portal way, wearing a smart dress uniform and had the badge of a political liaison.
Normally, political liaisons were officials that worked as an in-between when it ca to normal military staff and higher authorities, but UAA political liaisons were a whole other breed entirely.
Trained to the nines and loaded with technology in their very bones, UAA Army liaisons were forces of nature that rivaled special forces operators, able to hold their own in case negotiations went south.
It was disputed, but many of the other races wagered that a single UAA Army political liaison was worth ten to twenty normal troopers on their own, and even normal UAA troopers gave them a wide, respected berth.
“Good afternoon, Tyllia, I’m Liaison Carmine. Is Lirya available?” He asked, standing just to the side of the door in the shadows and waiting to be invited inside.
“How many brothers do you have?!” Mohki shouted towards the door, latching onto the na like a CIA activation phrase.
The man chuckled, holding up seven fingers. “A few.”
“Lirya?” Tyllia asked over her shoulder, studying the man with her keen eyes. “Would you like to talk to the nice walking weapon?”
Liaison Carmine laughed politely, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Oh please, all those stories are deeply exaggerated, I assure you.”
“Uh huh…” Tyllia replied dryly, as her father had told her stories about Human political liaisons specifically to scare the shit out of her for fun. “Lirya?”
“It’s fine, I’m fine now.” Lirya said, putting on a brave air as she got up and quickly walked towards the door, Mohki hot on her tail behind her. “Hello!”
“Ah, Lirya.” Liaison Carmine said with another kind smile, then raised his eyebrows as Mohki ca into view. “And the formidable Mohki! How good to et you both at last! Did you cut your hair?”
Mohki narrowed her eyes at the man with a partially opened mouth, the surprise unhidable. “How… who…?!”
“It got burned by enemy fire, so I had a barber trim up her bangs.” Tyllia replied, leaning against the door. “What brings you here, Liaison Carmine?”
Carmine reached down and unclipped his data-slate from the belt of his dress uniform. “I’m here to speak with Lirya about her compensation requirents.”
“My what?” Lirya asked flatly, her turn to now squint at the Human in confusion.
Liaison Carmine looked surprised that Lirya didn’t know what he was talking about. “Your compensation. You were attacked by forces on a military installation and we nearly failed to protect you, as well as you and yours sustaining damage.”
“It’s just… scratches.” Lirya replied quietly, holding her hand to her bandaged cheek. “It’s not a big deal, really.”
Liaison Carmine smiled patiently, tilting his head towards Lirya. “Oh, I’m afraid this is quite a larger deal than you may think it is, as we have so… interesting information that you may find useful. Why don’t I step inside and explain so things to you, and we can get started? Hm?”
“Do you know what I’ve learned through my study of Human stories and folklore?” Mohki said aloofly, having to fight the urge to wrap her arms around Lirya protectively.
Liaison Carmine raised his chin, awaiting the answer.
“Only monsters on Earth ask for permission to enter a ho.” Tyllia said with an odd edge to her voice, knowing exactly where Mohki was going.
Mohki cracked a worried smile, while Lirya just tilted her head at Carmine.
Liaison Carmine let out a friendly guffaw that went to his eyes, and he let out a “hooh!” of an exhale as he got his military bearings out from under his funny bone.
“Hah! Well… good thing all the monsters are on your side then, ain’t it?” Carmine laughed, and as he grinned, Mohki’s heart jumped up into her throat, along with Tyllia and Lirya feeling the sa sudden grim surprise.
The Human had been careful to only smile, but as he laughed and grinned in the bright sunlight, the three Kafya could finally see what he had been guarding from view.
Two long, reinforced canines glinted in the sun with micro-steel webbing running underneath the engineered enal, and the three Kafyan won found themselves believing the stories just a little bit more than they had before.
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