“Nice to see you, Sergeant.”

Jason glanced up in surprise at the voice. While he’d been examining his mug, a pair of ornately dressed Shil’vati had walked over to their table. They were a rather striking pair. Both were decked out in fancy purple jumpsuits that had gold filigree running up the arms.

“Is this the one? The hardass?” the second of the pair asked.

The initial speaker nodded. “This is her. Though she’s fallen in rank a bit.”

Voice two laughed. “It’s the militia, anyway. Not like it actually counts for anything.”

Truth be told, Jason didn’t know much about the Shil’vati militia. Hell, the only thing that he knew about it was that Nuiy used to be in it. He’d assumed it was either something like the reserves, or perhaps some kind of volunteer civilian force.

He knew Nuiy took pride in her time there though, and he didn’t miss the way the older woman’s hand tightened around her drink.

“Taranse, I see you’re still the same punk kid I remember,” Nuiy said, sounding more tired than irritated. “Are you still shaking down kids for credits out the back of the markets?”

The first speaker, Taranse apparently, just smiled.

“Not anymore, Sarge,” she laughed. “You set me straight on that front.” She leaned forward, placing both hands on the table. “I've moved on to bigger and better things these days.”

“I’m not a sergeant anymore, Taranse. Just a recruit these days.”

Taranse nodded. “I heard from my old friends back on Shil. You’re in the Marines now, right?”

Nuiy nodded.

The other woman waited, clearly expecting more. When no other information was forthcoming, she changed tacks, looking at Jason for the first time since she’d arrived.

“Well, you must be doing well if you’re out here with this cutie,” she said, leaning toward Jason, giving him a very obvious glimpse of the deep cleavage displayed by her partially unzipped jumpsuit. “Why don’t you introduce me to your friend?”

Nuiy rolled her eyes, but obliged. “Jason, Taranse. Taranse, Jason.” She glanced at the other Shil’vati. “I’d introduce her friend, but I don’t know them.”

“Hylk,” the second woman said simply, clearly eying Jason.

“She’s a friend from my training cadre down at the Interior academy,” Taranse said as she stood up once more.

“You’re part of the Interior?” Nuiy asked, displaying the first bit of genuine interest since this conversation began.

Which was finally enough for Jason to jump in. He’d been happy enough to remain silent until he could get a bead on the conversation, but he was getting kind of tired of being out of the loop.

“The Interior?” he prompted.

Taranse looked over at him as if surprised he had spoken. The surprise lasted for only a moment though before the smugness that she’d been displaying since she arrived reasserted itself. “I suppose it was silly of me to have expected a human to know about it. Even if they are part of the Imperium now.”

The last sentence wasn’t quite delivered as a barb – but it was close. Jason took offense all the same. Fortunately, Nuiy was quick to jump in before he said something that might have been unwise given that he had no idea who he was dealing with.

“Back during ancient times, the Empress’s Legions weren’t allowed to come within ten miles of the capital,” she said. “To avoid any of her general’s being tempted to stage a coup. Of course, she couldn’t leave the capital completely without soldiers, so-”

“She formed the Legion of the Interior,” Taranse interrupted. “Formed from the noble daughters of her most loyal supporters. An elite unit that acted as enforcers of her law within the city and as her voice to the legions and the greater empire beyond.”

Jason took a moment to process that. To him it sounded like the dumping ground of the rich and spoiled. Probably wasn’t a good idea to say that though.

“So, you’re sort of like a mixture of cops and bodyguards?”

He had to use the English word for ‘police’ because he didn’t know the Shil’vati equivalent. Which was a bit of an oversight now that he thought about it. He’d never much considered the notion of Shil’vati police, given that Earth was still under occupation, and thus the law there was upheld by a mixture of the pre-existing human police and the Shil’vati military.

“More of the former than the latter these days,” Nuiy said while Taranse looked puzzled. “The military is more or less trusted not to attempt to overthrow the Empress, so the Legion of the Interior is more concerned with upholding the law.”

“I don’t know what a cop is, but what Nuiy said is essentially correct,” Taranse said, recovering her equilibrium. “The Interior is formed from the Imperium’s elite and concerns itself with ensuring security within the Imperium rather than protecting against outside threats.”

Well, he supposed that was interesting enough. It also might have gone some way to explain why Nuiy hadn’t already said ‘piss off.’ She’d clearly been building toward it when her old ‘comrade’ had initially shown up. It was clear she didn’t like the younger woman and Jason couldn’t exactly say he was a fan, either.

“Well it was a pleasure to meet you, Taranse,” Jason lied. “Nuiy and I were just enjoying a drink before we headed back to the hotel for the evening.”

His words were perfectly pleasant, but there was no missing the undercurrent of ‘go away’ his voice implied. Not unlike a young woman – or man in a Shil’vati’s case – who was having her date interrupted and was none too happy about it.

It helped that his words were pretty much true. Sure, neither he nor Nuiy had said as much, and Jason didn’t want to assume anything… but if Nuiy had proved amenable, he wouldn’t have minded blowing off some steam with the woman. His rendezvous with Adrilla had been nearly a week ago after all, and he found his desire for more of the same had only grown after the encounter.

Predictably, Nuiy perked up at his comment, but Taranse scowled. Her friend did nothing, the woman’s face remaining as impassive as it had been since she showed up. Still, Taranse didn’t let the scowl remain on her face for long.

“Oh, are you sure you want to leave so soon? If you stick around, you might find some more…interesting ways to spend your evening,” she said, leaning forward, hand almost unconsciously tugging on the zipper of her bodysuit. “All due respect to my old sergeant, of course, it’s just that as a young man you probably want to see some of the more exciting places in the city, right? I could show you. My father’s connections mean I have a standing invitation for the VIP section of Flux.”

Then why the hell wasn’t she there now? he wanted to ask.

Instead, he just smiled. “Thanks, but no thanks. Fun is fun, but I find that nothing quite compares to the taste of an older woman. I can assure you, Nuiy has me well in hand.”

That did it. Something ugly flashed through Taranse’s eyes as she stood back up with a grunt.

“Suit yourself,” she said, dusting off her suit as she turned and marched away. Her companion stared unnervingly at him for a few more moments, before following her.

Jason exhaled a sigh of relief, happy to once more bathe in the companionable silence.

For about a second.

“Did you mean it?” Nuiy asked, not quite ruining the moment. “About the hotel?”

If the woman had been one of those werewolf things from earlier, he could well imagine her tail wagging as she leaned forward in her seat, intense gaze boring into him.

Still, he couldn’t help the small smile that came to his lips at the excitement in the woman’s voice. It wasn’t the all-consuming excitement of Raisha, or the uncontrolled desire of Adrilla, but it was clear interest all the same. Akin to a quiet need that bubbled just beneath the surface of the woman’s skin. Intense, but controlled, like a flame tempered by experience and maturity.

He smiled back at her as he reclined in his seat, bringing his drink up to his lips. “I suppose that depends how enjoyable the next few drinks are.”

Nuiy stared at him for a few more moments before smiling back.

“Waitress, a pair of Red-Grains this time, thanks!”

-----------------

Jason would admit to some small disappointment as he stared at where Nuiy had passed out.

It had been quite the sight. The woman’s head had practically slammed into the table as she went down and with her, his plans for a bit of fun that evening. He glanced at the drink in his hand. He didn’t think it was that strong. He’d certainly been matching her drink for drink, yet all he had was a nice buzz going on.

Did Shil’vati have less tolerance for alcohol than humans? He didn’t think so. He certainly hadn’t heard anything to that effect from anyone back on Earth - and given the size difference, the massive aliens should logically have had a better tolerance.

He put his drink down. He’d think about all that later. Right now, he needed a piss.

The Interior pair was still there in their own back corner. Jason barely gave them any thought. Since they’d been shot down they’d been quiet, content to nurse their wounded pride.

He stepped into the toilets and was momentarily surprised to note there were no urinals. Honestly, the place just looked like they’d taken the female toilets and walled off a stall.

As Jason set about unzipping his fly and letting loose, he wondered how he would be getting Nuiy back to the hotel? He sure as shit couldn’t shift seven feet of passed out alien. He’d need to call a cab.

Did the Shil’vati even have cabs? Actually, scratch that. How would he even call one? He didn’t have a phone. Did they have payphones around here? He assumed that if they existed, they’d accept credit chits. He’d never actually seen Shil’vati cash, so he assumed they’d done away with that.

It was actually kind of funny. The Shil’vati could be quite advanced as a culture in some areas compared to humanity, but in others they lagged woefully behind. Sure, the notion of cultural advancement was kind of subjective, but the existence of a noble ruling caste was pretty backwards no matter how you looked at it.

Representative democracy? What was that, did it taste good?

He chuckled humorlessly to himself, aware that he was just distracting himself from his more immediate problem by ruminating on things he held literally no sway over. Unlike the passed out alien in the other room, which he definitely could do something about.

The question was what?

Even as he considered it, he found some small irritation at Nuiy flaring up. At himself and her. The current situation was proof that, no matter how much it galled him, he did actually need some help getting around in an alien city.

He was just zipping up his fly when he heard the door behind him swing open and heavy footsteps walking onto the tiles. Sighing, he walked over to the sink and started washing his hands, barely glancing at the trio of Shil’vati that had just walked into the cramped bathroom. As expected, Taranse was in the lead.

“Nope,” he said as he glanced around for a means to dry his hands, and finding none, resorted to wiping them on his pants.

Taranse cocked her head. “Nope?”

Jason nodded as he turned toward them, noting that the waitress had joined their number, looking decidedly nervous. Which didn’t bode well for him. He was also beginning to think that Nuiy’s sudden collapsing act had less to do with her tolerance and more to do with some last-minute additions to her drink.

Which he might have considered sooner if he hadn’t been tipsy as all hell. Which wasn’t the case anymore, as he felt adrenaline start to shoot through his system.

“Nope,” he repeated. “This is just too cliché.”

Taranse seemed amused as she repeated his words again. “Cliché? How so?”

Jason sighed even as he felt his heart beginning to hammer in his chest.

“Everyone warned me about this,” he said. “Be careful, Jason. Don’t be alone, Jason. You need protection, Jason. If you aren’t careful, some Shil’vati might attempt something…untoward, Jason.”

It really was a cliché. His first night out on the town and someone attempts something? Was Shil’vati society really that bad? Or was it the area? Sure, the bar had looked a little rundown, but not…ok, it was pretty seedy. He probably should have suggested somewhere else. Somewhere brightly lit with more witnesses… Did women back on Earth have to worry about this kind of thing? That was kind of depressing.

“Something untoward?” Taranse said with a smile, looming over him. The tight confines of the bathroom served to make her seem even larger than she was. “I don’t think of it that way.”

“I do,” Jason said, looking to slip past her, only for the other one – Hylk? – to move in the way.

“I think you need this,” Taranse continued. “I’ve heard all about you Earth guys. How you’re all gagging for cunt. You’ve got to be if you’re out with a worn out has-been like the sarge.”

Jason sighed, even as he sent a mental thanks and apology to Tarcil.

“Right, well I-” He didn’t finish his sentence as he whipped out the mace from his pocket...

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…only to have it backhanded across the room by Taranse.

“Nice reflexes,” he admitted as he rubbed his hand, staring at where the can had rolled to a stop beneath the toilet. “I’m apparently drunker than I thought.”

Taranse’s smile became slightly more rigid as she took a step forward. “Part of our training at the Interior. Never know when some aggrieved civilian might pull something and go from suspect to active combatant.”

“You’re a credit to your uniform.” Jason finally let a bit of heat come into his voice as he took a step back, feeling his back press against the cool porcelain of the wall.

It was kind of funny, attempting to mace her hadn’t gotten much of a reaction, but that last jab did as Taranse’s infuriating smirk faded entirely.

“I think you’ve said too much,” she grunted. “Let’s see how talkative you are with a mouthful of Shil’vati cunt.”

Jason brought his hands up as he got ready to swing. Still, he could admit that this didn’t look good. Normally he won his spars by tiring out his opponent and then moving in for the kill. There wasn’t any room to maneuver here though – and he was outnumbered three to one.

“I get first dibs on his cock. I want see if- Guh!”

Taranse spun around and Jason looked under her armpit to see someone had barreled into Hylk from behind. He’d half expected it to be Nuiy, but he was totally shocked to see Freyxh laying into the Interior cadet.

The waitress and Taranse looked as surprised as he felt – which cost them as the waitress took a backhanded blow to the jaw and stumbled back. Unfortunately, that was all it did. Life wasn’t like the movies. Sure, a punch could take someone out in one hit via a broken jaw or a concussion. Even kill them. But there was also a pretty decent chance of someone just shrugging it off.

Which was exactly what happened as the previously meek waitress rushed forward with a shout, forcing Freyxh off Hylk and back out into the bar. Hylk for her part lay groaning on the floor.

“Go get that idiot,” Taranse shouted at her downed friend, forcing the other woman back up to her feet before sending her stumbling out into the bar area where sounds of violence were raging.

To be honest, Jason had been kind of stunned up until that moment, but the fact that the alien had her back turned to him jolted him out of it. She’d completely dismissed him as a threat compared to Freyxh.

That pissed him off. Maybe even more than the attempted assault. Which said a few things about either his, or the male, ego.

Fortunately, he was in a great position to act on his newfound frustration.

As he and Tarcil had been taught, it didn’t matter how big someone was, getting kicked in the back of the knee would bring them down. You didn’t need to be an engineer or a martial artist to know that. Which was exactly what he did as he delivered all the force he could bring to bear on the back of the woman’s leg.

Taranse went down with a surprised and pained grunt.

Of course, she was just down. Not out. The moment she got back up, he’d still be locked in tight confines with a pissed off Shil’vati. He couldn’t exactly rely on Freyxh to save him a second time. Based on the sounds coming from the bar, she currently had her hands full.

Not that Jason needed – or wanted - to be saved. A second time. Nor did he intend to get into a fist fight with a foe who held all the advantages. No, he’d do what humans had done since the beginning of time when faced with a bigger opponent.

He’d use a tool.

Giving the downed woman an almost negligent kick in the head as he jumped over her, he scrambled over to the toilet.

“Come here,” Taranse hissed from behind him as she clambered to her feet. “You little pinky stiff-”

It was almost comical, how she trailed off and her eyes widened as he scooped up the aerosol can and aimed it in her direction.

Jason depressed the trigger – and learned a few things in the next few moments.

Mace really was effective at deterring attackers.

Just because you are the person aiming it does not mean you are free from the effects.

…The effects are made worse by being in a poorly ventilated tiny bathroom stall.

Stepping over the shrieking and fallen form of Taranse as she clutched at her eyes, Jason coughed and pulled his t-shirt over his mouth as he wiped tears from his own eyes. Still, impeded or not, he managed to reach the bathroom doorway.

Once there, he blurrily made out the form of Freyxh brawling with the other two Shil’vati. He idly noted that Nuiy was still unconscious at the table, which pretty much confirmed that she’d been slipped something. Everyone else was gone. Either shooed out by the waitress, or by the start of violence.

Freyxh was doing pretty well considering she was fighting two people at once. He even recognized some of the stuff they’d been learning in the sparring ring. Still, better or not, two people would still be two people. One had even armed herself with a shattered chair leg, further shifting the odds.

Well, it was time for him to shift them again.

“Freyxh, close your eyes!” Jason shouted as he advanced, determinedly keeping his stinging eyes open as he aimed.

He didn’t wait to see if the surly recruit complied, because his shout had caused the other two to turn to stare at him. Just as he wanted. He shifted his spray across both of them, inwardly impressed by the distance the orange powder within could travel.

The two went down with a shriek.

Unfortunately, so did Freyxh - though she’d only caught the edge of the spray. Satisfied both of the attackers weren’t going anywhere, he ran over to her.

“I told you to close your eyes,” he grunted as he directed her to a chair.

“Who the fuck would do that?” she hissed, rubbing at her streaming eyes. “Especially in the middle of a fight?”

Jason had to concede she had a point.

“What the fuck is that anyway?”

“Gre… Something spray,” Jason said, unable to remember the name. “Tarcil gave it to me.”

“Of course, he fucking did.” Freyxh laughed humorlessly. “Little shit pretends to be all demure, but he can be a spiteful little ass.”

“Right,” he said, not wanting to comment on that. “Should we, uh, tie them up or something?”

Freyxh shook her head. “If that’s Grinshaw spray, they ain’t going anywhere for at least twenty minutes. Assuming you got them both good. You did get them good, right?”

Jason found he was utterly unsurprised that Freyxh was familiar with Grinshaw spray, and he doubted that experience came from being on the user side of that equation.

“I got them good,” he said, a small amount of vindictive glee coming to light in his chest.

Freyxh nodded, a feral grin on her own face despite the fact her eyes were streaming. “Give me a minute to get sorted, then we’ll grab Nuiy and get the fuck out of here.”

Jason looked up in surprise. “Get out of here? We aren’t waiting for the cops?”

Freyxh reached over to pour a nearby drink over his face – which didn’t seem wise to him, but what did he know about getting maced?

“I’ve no idea what the fuck a cop is, but I heard you’re little conversation with idiot one and two over there.”

“You were here?” he interrupted.

Freyxh might have rolled her eyes if they weren’t currently in too much pain to do anything. “Yes, this is the only decent bar around here. Or it was. I counted myself lucky that you and the old woman didn’t see me when you walked in. Which was dumb. This ain’t a nice place.”

Jason ignored that as Freyxh got back on point.

“Point is, they’re both Interior - even if they’re only cadets. You think the cunts in purple are going to side with us over them? Especially without witnesses? Those three will claim whatever the fuck they want and the cunts in purple will make it so.”

Jason frowned, but he could see it happening. It wasn’t like Earth didn’t have similar stories when it came to the thin blue line. He was a bit disappointed to see that a race as advanced as the Shil’vati still had those problems though. Like he had mused back in the bathroom – which felt like hours ago, even if it was barely a few minutes – Shil’vati society seemed to be an eclectic mix of advances and failures.

Which wasn’t all that different from Earth – sans a certain level of technological advantage.

“Right, let’s grab her and get back to the hotel then.” He sighed.

Freyxh seemed relieved at his acquiescence as she unsteadily stood up and started walking over to Nuiy.

“Won’t they say anything?” he asked, gesturing to the downed cops.

“Nah, it’d be bad for us, but it’d be bad for them, too,” Freyxh grunted as she pulled Nuiy’s arm over her shoulder. “They’ll want to bury this as much as us.”

The notion stuck in Jason’s craw something fierce, but what could he do? It wasn’t like Earth didn’t have similar problems. That didn’t stop him from giving a few final kicks to Hylk’s downed form, eliciting a pained grunt from the already whimpering alien. Whatever Tarcil had given him, it was clearly some powerful stuff.

“Right, let’s get out of here then.”

-------------------

“Is she going to be ok?” Jason asked as Freyxh laid Nuiy down on the suite’s massive bed.

“She’ll be fine. Her breathing is steady and so is her pulse,” Freyxh said as she stood back up, moving an errant lock of messy white hair from her eyes. “They probably gave her Nightfel, which means that so long as we put her on her side in case she vomits, she’ll wake up tomorrow like nothing happened.”

Jason sighed in relief as he leaned up against the wall, before giving up and letting himself slide down to the floor.

“The fuck is Nightfel?” he asked.

“It’s a prescription medicine to help people with insomnia. Unfortunately, a few people have taken to using it to spike drinks.”

Jason cocked his head as he watched Freyxh roll Nuiy onto her side with easy practiced movements. “It kind of worries me that you’re familiar with a date-rape drug.”

“I’m going to ignore that,” Freyxh said, sounding more tired than anything else, “considering I just saved your ass.”

The Shil’vati collapsed into a chair, wincing slightly as it jostled what was, presumably, a bruise. “One of my moms was a receptionist at a clinic. Occasionally she’d see guys who were brought in after their drink had been spiked. She taught us all what to look for and made sure that one of us always went out with our brother. He hated it and we didn’t like it much either, but none of us had the tits to cross her.”

Jason felt a little chagrined that he’d doubted the woman after she’d just jumped in to help him. Even if part of him was still irritated that he’d needed help. To be honest, the whole situation still felt surreal to him. He’d almost been raped. His mind seemed to rebel at the very notion. Like it was an attack on his identity. On his masculinity.

He chose to do what he normally did with thoughts like that: Ignore it.

It hadn’t happened. He was fine. That was the end of it.

“Not exactly how I envisioned my first night out on the town ending,” he mused.

That got a weary chuckle of Freyxh. “I don’t know. It wasn’t that bad. A few drinks. A good fight - a real fight at that, not the prissy crap we have to do in the sparring ring. Even got to see two shitheads from the Interior go down. That’s always good.”

“Well, I’m glad you had fun,” he laughed back.

“Hmm,” she hummed with her eyes closed. “I figure this makes us even for things back at the forest.”

“I suppose it does,” he nodded. He hadn’t even thought about it to be honest. It felt like so long ago.

The two sat in companionable silence for a time.

“So, do you want to fuck?”

Freyxh nearly choked on her own spit as her eyes shot open. She pounded her chest as she shot up in her seat, wincing as the movement jostled her again. It was actually kind of cute to see and did a fair bit to do away with the ‘mysterious bad girl persona’ she put on.

“The fuck brought that on?”

“Well, I was originally planning for some fun with the twins. That got cancelled when I decided to go out with Nuiy. Then I planned to bring her back here for some fun, and well, you saw how that ended….”

“Third, no, fourth in line, huh? You sure know how to make a lady feel desirable, human,” Freyxh said, staring off into space, but there was no missing the expectant grin on her face.

She was a Shil’vati after all. And third in line or not, sex was sex.

“Don’t sell yourself short,” he grinned back. “There’s always something to be said for the bad girl aesthetic.”

“I’m glad to know I’m fulfilling a niche for you,” Freyxh said as she stood up, moving over to him. “I always thought the ‘human sex obsession thing’ was bullshit, but I guess every rumor has to start-”

Jason put up a hand to stop her.

“Before we continue, showers first. My face is still on fire, and I doubt either of us will have much fun if any of it rubs off on our fun parts.”

He watched the massive alien wince at the prospect.

“Good idea.”