“You’ve been holding out on me boss,” Jason murmured as the lights came on.

Stood in the middle of the warehouse floor was an exo. Or at least, most of an exo. An arm was missing, and a number of armor plates had been stripped away, but the bulk of the machine was there.

“It’s nothing really,” Kernathu said, absently rubbing her arm. “Just a… hobby I’ve been working on.”

Jason glanced over to where Yaro was standing, who shook her head. “The skyship’s machinist has spent many a moon laboring over her machine. It is a true labor of love, I believe.”

“Yaro!” Kernathu squeaked, sending her friend a betrayed look.

Jason didn’t get why. This was awesome. Like a guy who refurbished old American muscle cars in his spare time. Only cooler, because this could fly and shoot lasers. Why would any engineer be embarrassed by that?

Kernathu glanced at him. “So, uh, I’ve noticed that Yaro has been following you around a lot lately.”

That wasn’t really how he would have phrased it. He would say that he and Yaro had been hanging out. Though he’d certainly acknowledge that doing so usually involved him picking what they did. It wasn’t intentional on his part, it just seemed to naturally end up that way.

“Was that directed at me or her?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Either?” the other engineer said awkwardly.

“We get along.” He shrugged, seeing that the rRakiri wasn’t going to answer.

He also ignored the way that Yaro smirked at his deliberate understatement. If he’d learned nothing else about the woman over the last week, it was that she had a quiet sense of humor.

Well, that and that she’s a big fan of oral, he thought as he recalled what they’d done last night. Giving and receiving.

“Oh, that’s nice.” Kerthanu rubbed her arm sheepishly as the pair of them walked over to the exo, Yaro contentedly lounging on a nearby crate. “Are you sleeping together?”

Jason nearly tripped over a toolbox.

“How’d you figure that?” he coughed.

While it wasn’t exactly a secret, neither he nor Yaro had gone out of their way to announce their relationship. Because, even if Shil’vati were open about sex and everything related to it, he wasn’t.

Something Yaro either understood or shared, given that she’d told no one about their little ‘rendezvous’ in the forest, or the ones that had followed in the week since. Which was a massive contrast to a Shil’vati, who would have been crowing from the rooftops that they’d gotten laid.

“Well, uh, Rocket mentioned it,” Kernathu said, all but hiding behind a data-slate she was pretending to inspect.

Fucking Rocket, Jason felt like sighing.

“Oh,” he said, keeping his voice deliberately even, “she gives any reason for that theory?”

Unfortunately, he wasn’t the world’s greatest actor, and his superior was a pretty classic introvert - which meant she overanalyzed everything.

Not that said analysis always gave her the right conclusions, given her lackluster social skills, but it was usually enough to let her pick up on when something was off. Which she clearly had just now. He could almost see the gears whirring in her head as she worked out that she’d misstepped, but couldn’t for the life of her figure out how.

“She, uh, noticed that Yaro’s been acting like a lot of Rakiri in town do. You know… when they’ve snagged a st- guy.”

Had a feeling the word she’d been about to use wasn’t guy, but stiffy. The Shil’vati equivalent of ‘slut’ or ‘pussy’. He wasn’t about to take his irritation at Rocket’s potty mouth out on his fellow engineer though. He’d only just managed to get her to start treating him like a fellow engineer rather than some kind of strange and dangerous animal she wasn’t entirely sure what to do with. A single errant word from him could have that state of affairs crumbling like a house of cards.

“Different how?” he asked carefully.

Kernathu shrugged, even as she maintained the fiction that was looking at the slate in front of her – though he didn’t have the heart to tell her it was upside down.

“You know, following you and stuff.”

“That’s it?” he questioned. He’d been kind of worried someone had caught them bonking in one of the supply closets.

“That’s what they do.” Kernathu shrugged again.

Her matter-of-fact manner about it didn’t leave much room for him to doubt her.

So apparently Rakiri women just… follow the guys around?

He still hadn’t seen a Rakiri male yet. Most of his time on Gurathu had been spent in space or on base. A base that had mostly Shil’vati personnel. Sure, it had an above-average number of Rakiri there, but they still rated as a minority amongst the military personnel. More to the point, he was pretty sure all the ones he’d seen were female.

Though he’d also admit that it was possible that some of them were male and he hadn’t been able to tell. A semi-disturbing prospect to be sure. He’d been weirded out enough by the androgynous appearance of Shil’vati men, he wasn’t sure he could handle Rakiri guys packing breasts.

God, I hope that’s not the case, he thought.

Almost pleadingly, he sent a questioning look Yaro’s way.

“Kernathu’s summation is correct, if reductive.” Yaro said casually, though even with her light words, the Engineer across from him cringed. “The male is the center of the pack. The individual around which the females operate.”

He’d actually been hoping to know if Rakiri guys had breasts, but he supposed he couldn’t fault Yaro for assuming the pack dynamics thing had been his actual question.

“The top banana, eh?” he chuckled, even as his mind raced to find a tactful way to ask if any of the ‘women’ on-base were packing bananas and peaches in addition to melons.

“I did not say that.” Yaro corrected. “In common parlance, the male is the heart, but the alpha is the brain. The females may be content to follow the heart, but it is oft overruled by the brain.”

So the men were indulged, but the head woman held the real power.

“You seem happy enough to follow me around,” he pointed out.

Yaro shrugged. “I said what is typical. This is not a typical relationship though. You are a human, and I acknowledge that. From what little I have seen of you, attempting to have you follow me would be seen as smothering.”

Well, he couldn’t argue that. She was totally correct.

“That’s not the case for Rakiri males?” he asked.

Yaro shook her head. “They are not as you. Or even Rakiri women.”

Well, that was suitably enigmatic. Still the mystery of Rakiri males aside, he was more interested in something else.

“Yet you’re following me?” he prompted. “You might not be telling me what to do, but being followed at all hours might still be irritating for a human guy.”

Thus far he hadn’t had a problem with it, but to be honest he hadn’t even really noticed that she was doing it. Would it bother him now that he was aware of it?

“A compromise.” Yaro smiled. “I am still Rakiri after all, even if I am going against the instinct to act as our small pack’s alpha.”

They were also apparently a pack now? He didn’t know what to think of that. To be honest. It sounded a little more permanent than he’d intended when they’d hooked up in the woods. It was just supposed to be a little fun between them.

Something he thought had been mutually agreed upon.

“Sounds heavy,” he said tentatively.

Yaro just chuffed.

“Do not fear,” she laughed. “While I call it a pack, for that is what it is, it is not some ironclad contract between us. Merely the appellation that I feel is most apt.”

Well that was a relief. Not that he could really see an issue with being in a real relationship with Yaro. It was just that his personal relationships were already a mess, and while he understood it intellectually, the whole notion of polygamy and dating multiple women still seemed slightly queer from his human viewpoint.

Still, none of that really mattered right now. Yaro expected nothing from him and he expected nothing from her. They were just enjoying each other’s company. The thought had him grinning, an action soon echoed by the wolf woman.

“So, uh, I guess it’s true then?”

Nearly jumped out of his skin as Kernathu reminded him of her existence. The engineer had at some point figured out her data-slate was upside down, but she was still practically hiding behind it as she observed them both.

“It is,” Jason coughed, embarrassed at his oversight. “Though I’d prefer if it weren’t spread around.”

The engineer stared at him for a few more seconds, before she tentatively lowered the slate, revealing an almost impish smile.

“My lips are sealed.”

Jason might have noted the similarity between that phrase and the one on earth, but for the most part, he was just happy for the woman’s understanding. If it had been Assisse – or god forbid Rocket – he doubted they would have so easily agreed to be quite so circumspect.

“Thanks, boss.”

Of course, that brief moment of confidence totally disappeared as his words reached her and the engineer flushed blue right to the tips of her ears.

“I’m not really your boss,” she murmured, once more using her slate as a shield.

Jason laughed as he stepped over to once more look at the exo. “The org chart begs to differ.”

“I guess…” the female murmured, looking uncomfortable with the situation.

Jason could only stare at her. No matter how much he saw it, he could never quite get over just how un-Shil’vati the Shil’vati was.

“So why’d you bring me in here?” he said, changing the topic of conversation away from his love life. “Given how embarrassed you were, I’m guessing it wasn’t just to show off your cool mech?”

Which was a shame, because it was awesome and very much worth showing off. Whatever task she’d brought him in for was worth the price of admission just for that.

“I was actually hoping to get some help with it?” Kernathu admitted sheepishly, rubbing her elbow.

Now Jason had no issue with that – quite the opposite - but these were technically work hours. Sure, a crew in port had little to do with the Whisker in space with the B-crew, but they still technically needed to be doing something. A lot of it was general maintenance around the base and clerical stuff, but those were the kicks.

Working on a personal project was most definitely not covered.

“I thought you said this was your hobby?” he asked.

Kernathu shook her head, glancing at Yaro, a little defiance in the upturn of the Shil’vati’s chin. “That’s what she said. The mech belongs to me, but he’s registered with the Whisker as an onboard assault exo. Or at least, he will be when he’s working. As it stands, the military is subsidizing some of the repair cost.”

Jason stared at the machine, mentally reclassifying it in his mind from something ‘cool’ to something that they might actually need to use.

“Does the Whisker need an onboard assault exo?” he asked.

Despite what his training might have implied about the Whisker’s role, Assisse had assured him that if he ever did board another ship, it was probably to perform a routine contraband check. Which had left him feeling both disappointed and relieved as he realized his chances of seeing actual combat were essentially nil. Apparently, the Whisker had never actually seen combat, and despite its role as a picket ship, acted more often as a form of customs checkpoint.

It wasn’t necessarily that he wanted to risk his life, or hurt anyone, but he couldn’t deny that after months of honing a particular set of skills, there was a desire in him to actually put those skills to use.

To vindicate the effort put into learning them.

“Practically no,” Kernathu admitted, distracting him from his thoughts as she perked up for her second statement. “Theoretically it could though, and that’s good enough for requisitions.”

Jason thought it over and nodded. He could see that, the Imperial military had deep pockets after all. Which wasn’t all that surprising given that they were an Imperialist expansionist empire. He had no idea how much of the state’s national budget went on military spending, but he would wager it was significant.

It was all irrelevant to him though. His immediate superior had asked him to do something. By all appearances it was a lawful order. He’d get on with it. Besides, it wasn’t like he’d really had an issue with the task to begin with. If the choice was between scrubbing the already spotless APC pool for the hundredth time or working on an alien death mecha, he was going to pick the death mecha.

“So what’s its name?” he asked as he inspected the thrusters dotted across the back. “And don’t say it doesn’t have a name.”

All engineers named their stuff, and a project like this would definitely have garnered a name.

“His name’s Jisuus.”

Jisuus? It was a bit odd he supposed, but presumably it meant something to her. A boy she liked? Or perhaps a mythological figure? An animal?

Wait...

“Did you mean ‘Jesus’?” he asked, a hint of hoarseness in his voice.

“Jeezus?” Kernathu repeated, looking up from the toolbox she’d just begun bringing over. “Oh, have I been saying it wrong?”

Yes, but that isn’t the main problem here, Jason thought as he stared at the alien.

“Why would you name it Jesus?”

“I… ah… thought it sounded cool?” Kernathu said, deliberately looking over his shoulder at some spot in the middle distance. “You know, to name my mech after a human war god?”

Jason didn’t even need to ask why she’d picked a human god. They were the ‘in’ thing right now after all. He also had a sneaking suspicion that what had originally drawn the alien to the notion of Christ was the popular depiction of the son of God. Impaled on a cross. In a state of undress. Typically looking kind of ripped.

Fucking Shil’vati, he thought. Even the goddamn shy ones.

“Jesus is not a war god,” Jason said slowly. “In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s the exact opposite of a war god.”

While most of the religion was open to interpretation, the generally pacifist vibe of the New Testament was pretty goddamn hard to misinterpret.

“He’s not?” Kernathu asked, finally beginning to flush. “I thought he flooded the world once.”

Jason frowned. “That was God.”

“I thought he was God? Which is a weird name for a god.” the woman said, genuinely confused.

He shook his head. “He’s the son of…”

He trailed off as he realized he was going to have to explain the notion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as one entity. Something he himself only vaguely understood.

From what little he remembered of her, his mother had been big on that stuff, but after her death, the very notion of religion had taken a swift downturn in the Linford household. Nor was it something he’d been inclined to resuscitate once he escaped.

“That was a different god,” he finally settled on, not really seeing the point of debating theology with an alien that was just looking for a cool and ‘exotic’ name for her mech.

“Oh,” Kernathu said finally. “I guess I’ll have to think of a different name then…”

Jason sighed, even as he congratulated himself on dissuading his crewmate from performing a small blasphemy against one of Earth’s primary religions, and more importantly, good taste.

“If you want a human war god, there are others to pick from,” he said. “Ares. Mars. Thor…”

“You ready to go?”

Jason glanced up from readjusting his ‘formal’ wear for the hundredth time. Given that he hadn’t exactly been on planet long, the closest thing he had to formal wear was his parade uniform, which meant he was clad in the same ridiculous brass breastplate ensemble that he’d lamented during his graduation.

“If I said, no, would you stop me from going?” he asked Tisi, who was standing in the entrance of his quarters.

“In a heartbeat,” his captain said. “Because if you’re a prime example of your race and gender, then human guys are totally defenseless.” She rapped a knuckle against the wood of his door. “Case in point, you left the door unlocked. Anyone could have walked in on you changing.”

Jason tightened a strap. “I’ll keep that in mind, ma’am. I’d hate to be seen in the nude.”

Because it wasn’t like it happened every other day while he’d been at the Crucible. Something Tisi was all too aware of as she snorted at his not quite sarcasm. Which was a bit of relief for him, because he was still getting accustomed to the idea of Tisi being a person he could engage in a little subtle sarcasm with. The relaxed relationship the officer had with the crew of the Whisker was a delicate one, and something he was still testing the boundaries of.

Fortunately, it seemed that in this case, his CO had decided his subtle act of disrespect was fine within the confines of his personal quarters.

“So, are you going to back out?” the woman asked. “No shame in it. I can call Hela to tell her the deals off. She’ll probably be pissed, but we could probably still negotiate a cash deal for sending that message.”

Jason shook his head. “If attending a party full of aristocrats is all Hela needs from me in order to get my message sent, I’ll consider it a small price to pay.”

The cost was low in theory, but he wasn’t blind to the notion that Hela might try to push the envelope to get him to engage in something ‘more’.

He doubted it though.

He was going to a high society party after all, not a dive bar. They’d be in the public eye surrounded by the merchants’ peers. In that situation, the worst the woman could reasonably do was get handsy or try to apply a bit of social pressure. Neither of which were really issues in his mind.

“If you’re sure.” Tisi frowned. “I don’t like people messing with my crew like this.”

He smiled up at her as he stepped past out into the hall. “She’s hardly messing with me, ma’am. Or if she is, it’s in an incredibly weak fashion from my point of view.”

Again, he supposed it might be different if the gender roles were reversed. A young female private getting pressured into a date with a rich businessman, with the woman’s CO powerless to interfere? Yeah, he could see why Tisi had an issue with it.

“Maybe, but I don’t like it.” The woman followed after him, her long strides quickly catching up with his own. Her eyes roamed over him. “Still, if nothing else positive comes from this evening, at least I can say I got to see you in your dress uniform.”

“Very professional ma’am.” Jason intoned dryly as he stepped out into the cold.

The sight that greeted him was still a surprise, even if part of him had been expecting it.

“Hela…” Tisi sighed from behind him. “Show a little subtlety.”

Jason couldn’t help but agree. The monstrosity of a vehicle waiting at the barrack’s entrance was anything but subtle. Superficially, it had something in common with the basic shape of a stretch Hummer, but no Hummer Jason had ever seen sported that much gold inlay.

Nor did they typically have what looked to be an entire militia security detail posted around them. The women looked more than a little chilled while standing out in the cold, nonetheless stood straight as his gaze panned over them. They were all clad in the grey and green colors of the Helrune Dynasty and while the costumes looked flashy, he doubted they were in any way practical.

Nothing with that much frill could ever be practical.

“Private Jason,” the militia-sergeant in charge said as she stepped up to him. “Lady Hela has told us to convey to you that she is delighted that you will be joining her this evening. In accordance, she has sent us to act as your security team, as well as her personal motor vehicle to collect you and convey you to her.” She pulled open the car door. “If you would please step into the vehicle, we would be honored to chaperone you to where she is waiting.”

Jason glanced over at Tisi, who just sighed, before pinning the militia woman with a steely-eyed glare. “I am leaving my crewman in your care, Sergeant. When I left him with you he was in perfect condition.” She leaned forward. “Should he not be returned to this barracks in perfect condition I will track you down. Not Hela. Not the governess. You.” She leaned back. “Am I clear?”

Despite the freezing cold weather, Jason could have sworn he saw a bead of sweat form on the militia woman’s temple. “Crystal, ma’am.”

“Good,” Tisi turned to him. “My contact details are in your data-slate. Contact me if anything goes wrong.”

Jason nearly rolled his eyes and gave his captain a ‘yes mum’, but held it in. His captain was just looking out for one of her crew, and even if she was going about it in a manner that felt totally unbearable to him, he still had to appreciate that she was looking out for him.

“I doubt I’ll need it, but will do, ma’am.” He stepped forward, allowing the Sergeant to direct him into the heated and surprisingly comfortable interior of the car.