“Are you decrepit, recruit? No? Then straighten the fuck up!” the DI roared as she strode across the firing range. “And wipe that dopey expression off your face.”

From the corner of his eye, Jason watched as Adrilla did so, the startled woman shifting into the proper firing position. He couldn’t help but notice a slight…hesitancy when she moved her legs though.

Now Jason wasn’t a particularly prideful guy, he couldn’t really afford to be, given his current circumstances. Still, he couldn’t deny that he felt a certain amount of pride in the fact that he’d given one of the high and mighty Shil’vati ‘jelly legs.’

“If you were hoping to hide the fact that you and Adrilla did something last night, you’re both failing miserably,” Tarcil said from one lane over, eyes pointedly aimed down his carbine’s sights.

A little alarmed, Jason found himself glancing around. Sure enough, eyes were on him from all over the range. Smirks and knowing grins abounded. Raisha in particular looked like she was trying to bore into his head through the sheer intensity of her gaze. Of course, that was the moment that three DI’s practically leapt on her because her gun’s barrel had shifted away from the range. A fairly pointless fear, given that the weapons settings were low enough to basically be a laser pointer, but military life was all about instilling good habits.

“That obvious?” he asked.

“You’re both practically glowing,” Tarcil responded as he slowly squeezed the trigger, firing an invisible beam of ultraviolet light down range. “Nor was it missed that both of you disappeared at the same time yesterday.” He paused. “Not that it matters. The moment Adrilla gets a chance to speak to someone she’s going to be bragging until her jaw falls off.”

Jason quirked an eyebrow, before quickly returning to looking down his sights as the DI started moving back in his direction.

“I thought she might want to, you know, keep it a secret? Guard the resource, as it were?”

Not that he’d intended to allow that to happen. Now that his resolve had finally crumbled, he fully intended to sample all the delights his new circumstances had to offer.

“As if she’d think that far ahead.” Tarcil scoffed. “Girls brag after scoring a guy. It’s practically a ritual.” Jason couldn’t help but notice some bitterness in his friend’s voice and wondered if there was a story there. “Being the first recruit in the cadre to nail the human? She’s going to be singing that from the mountaintops.”

“Am I going to have to worry about jealousy?”

Tarcil laughed mirthlessly. “From the others? No. Shil’vati are used to the notion of sharing. Your problem is going to be that by having sex with Adrilla, you’ve basically rang the dinner gong. They know you’re down for it now. They’re all going to be redoubling their efforts so they can be next in line.”

His bit evidently said, the alien returned to focusing on his shooting. Jason stared for a moment before doing the same. His grouping was just a little to the left of his intended target. Slowly, he adjusted his aim. As he did, he pondered Tarcil’s words. Did it bother him that Adrilla was going to be telling everyone that might listen that she’d finally managed to sleep with him?

Not really.

Hell, some part of his soul practically crowed at the prospect. Like a guy hearing his girlfriend touting his sexual prowess to her friends. Not that Adrilla was his girlfriend. He’d made that abundantly clear. It had been a booty call. Nothing else.

Though part of him wondered if she would accept that. She’d said so at the time, but she’d just had, in her own words, ‘the best sex of her life.’ A guy would agree to just about anything after a good fucking, and he couldn’t help but wonder if Shil’vati were any different.

Tarcil’s earlier words about Shil’vati girls getting…clingy came back to him as he fired again, his shots finding their mark.

“Good shooting, human. Very good,” the DI said, startling him from his thoughts. “You used a gun before?”

“My father was big on hunting, Drill Instructor,” Jason said. “Used to take me with him from about the time I could walk.”

And wasn’t that a complicated set of memories, ones he deliberately ignored, focusing on the here and now rather than the distant past.

“Hunting, huh?” the DI murmured. “If I recall correctly, you guys were still using kinetic weapons before we showed up, right?”

Jason couldn’t help the small amount of irritation that came over him at that, the almost unconscious disdain the Shil’vati had for the concept. As if they were still using bows and arrows or something. Nor did he much like her use of the past-tense. As if humans were naturally all going to be using Shil’vati energy weapons now that they were part of the Imperium.

He swallowed it all down though. “That we were.”

“I thought as much.” To his surprise, she came up behind him, long arms wrapping around his as she shifted his posture slightly. “I can see it in how you fire. You’re bracing for a kick that doesn’t come and it’s throwing off your aim. Energy-weapons don’t have any recoil worth a damn. There’s not any appreciable difference between full auto and single fire, excepting heat build-up and ammo count.”

Jason nodded to show he was following along, even if part of him was slightly distracted by the sensation of her breasts pressing into his back. Even through something like three layers of material, he could feel the softness.

“You don’t have to squeeze it so tight,” she said, breath tickling his ear. “Just like with the trigger. A gentle squeeze. Smooth. When it finally fires, it should be a surprise.”

Jason did so, resisting the urge to point out that he already knew that. The hiss of an energy discharge rang out as he hit his target pretty much dead on.

“See?” the DI said, the older woman releasing him and stepping back. “You don’t need to tense for a recoil that’s not going to come. It was throwing off your aim.”

Jason murmured his thanks as the woman strode off, moving to correct another recruit. His eyes tracked her. Was she hitting on him? Or was he reading way too much into it?

…Probably the latter.

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

“You wanted to see me, Drill Instructor?”

It was still weird to him that he wasn’t supposed to use their names. Hell, he didn’t even know their names. They were just the Drill Instructors.

He was also more than a little worried that he’d been called into the Watch Office. In the short time he’d been here he’d quickly learned that nothing good came from being singled out. The military did not provide praise, only punishments. If you were being noticed, it was for a failing.

The room itself was nothing special. A few chairs, desks, and computers. No paperwork that he could see, but that was probably mostly down to the fact that the Shil’vati digitized everything. For all that the Watch Office was something of a mystery to recruits, the reality was downright boring.

“Take a seat, recruit,” the only DI present in the office said, not looking up from her omni-pad. The woman was far older than most of the other DI’s, tiny hints of silver running through her short black hair. He and the other recruits had come to the conclusion that she was career enlisted and had seniority given that the other DI’s seemed to defer to her.

She was also scarier to him than all the others combined, given that he’d seen her the least, and he’d never seen her raise her voice. The other DI’s were intimidating to be sure, but at least they were a known quantity.

He knew next to nothing about the woman across from him.

Now even more worried, Jason did as he was asked. The chair was a little uncomfortable for him, sized as it was for a Shil’vati. He felt more than a little like a little kid sitting in his father’s chair. A feeling only emphasized by the inevitable ass-chewing he was sure was heading his way.

What for, he had no idea. Just that he’d clearly done something.

The woman across from him continued to tap away at her pad, the sound of her fingers clacking against the machine’s screen the only sound present in the oppressively quiet room. If it was a deliberate tactic to rack up the tension, it was working. Finally, after what felt like forever, but was probably barely more than thirty seconds, the woman put down her pad and turned to face him.

“I understand you’ve been intimate with one of your fellow recruits?”

Jason froze.

“Wipe the shocked look off your face, recruit,” the woman continued, entirely businesslike. “Nothing that goes on in this facility is a secret to us. Least of all two recruits fucking in the toilets.”

Jason flushed despite himself, feeling both embarrassed and a little angry. Of course, he was smart enough to clamp down on both.

The woman leaned back in her seat. “Especially when one of those recruits is amongst the first of his race to become a part of the Imperial Military. My people and I have tried our best to treat you no differently than any other recruit, but make no mistake, many eyes have been on you since the moment you arrived here.”

“Amongst, Drill Instructor?” He couldn’t help but ask.

The woman gave the Shil’vati equivalent of a shrug. “In the time that you’ve been here, a number of human recruits have been shipped to training facilities in different parts of Imperial space.” She eyed him. “As I understand it, to mixed results. That’s not what we are here to discuss, however. We are here to discuss your recent entanglement and what it might mean going forward.”

Jason nodded warily.

The woman looked at him before sighing. “As I’m sure you’ve realized over the last few weeks, sex is a rather open topic in Shil’vati society. I understand that in human society, this is not the case. In fact, according to the memos I’ve received from Earth, it’s something of a taboo topic.”

Jason didn’t know if he’d go that far. Calling it taboo seemed a bit much, though it certainly wasn’t something you’d discuss with your employer.

“So, I am asking you here and now to put aside your cultural mores so that I can have a frank discussion with you.” She paused. “Though, to call it a discussion is a misnomer. I am going to dictate terms to you, and you are going to accept them. Is that understood?”

He nodded.

“Good.” She raised a hand. “I want to make it clear here and now that I am not singling you out. After this meeting is complete, Recruit Adrilla will be called in for a variation on this very discussion. It’s a discussion I end up having with just about every recruit that comes through here at some point in time.”

He nodded again.

“Right, let’s finally get down to it,” she said. “As I’m sure your own readings of our Rules and Regulations Handbook has informed you, the Shil’vati military has very few rules regarding fraternization. The official stance of the military is that sex is a perfectly natural behavior as well as an excellent form of stress relief. That is a tradition we have carried on from our ancient predecessors, the Colcari Legions, with pride. The only caveat is that we no longer require that battle-sisters ‘lay together’ to improve unit cohesion.”

Jason nodded along, even as he tried not to think about the images that last statement inevitably conjured.

The woman continued. “The Imperial Military doesn’t care what consenting adults do off duty. However, it does become concerned when those activities affect performance when on duty.” She stared at him. “And as much as my fellow DI was amused to see Recruit Adrilla limping around the oval today, she was also irritated that the girl’s lap-time was slower than it has been since she arrived at the Crucible.”

Jason did flush this time, though if the woman noticed she gave no sign of it.

“Normally I have to deal with the reverse of this situation, instructing female recruits not to ride a male ragged. Apparently, the opposite holds true for you and your magic human dick.” Her voice was completely deadpan as she said it. “Which, as fascinating as it is to me as a woman, is an irritant to me as an instructor. So, I want to reiterate that this will not happen again. Fucking a girl into a puddle is fine, encouraged even given the stress basic training places on a person, just so long as you ensure there’s enough time for you both to recover before you’re back on duty.”

“Yes, Drill Instructor,” Jason not quite croaked.

“I’ll let you both off this once— for the amusement factor, if little else— but the next time this happens, I’ll have you both running laps around the oval until both of you are too exhausted to even think of bumping uglies again. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Drill Instructor.”

“Dismissed,” she said. “Send Recruit Adrilla in when you pass her on your way out.”

“Will do, Drill Instructor,” Jason said as he shot up, glad to be as far away from the woman and this awkward conversation as he could get.

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

“Traitor!” Raisha cried dramatically as soon as he made it back to the dorms.

Jason shared a weary greeting nod with Tarcil as he made his way over to his locker and started pulling off his jumpsuit.

“Hello Raisha,” he said as he placed the garment into his locker. “How is your morning going?”

“Terrible,” the alien said without preamble, utterly uncaring of the audience of her fellows, who were watching the proceedings with amused interest. “I thought we were close, Jason, yet you snuck away to have sex with the freckly bumpkin rather than me.”

“You were watching your sport thingy. I didn’t want to interrupt,” he teased. “Besides, I like Adrilla’s freckles. I’d also note that you’re not far from a bumpkin yourself.”

“He’s got you there, short-stuff,” Vieysha said, her twin nodding alongside her as they changed into their exercise clothes.

“I am not a bumpkin,” Raisha whined, whirling on her fellow females. “I’m from Xehal and she’s from Nifil! We’ve got an orbital station; they don’t even have a proper space port.” She turned back to Jason. “That’s not the point anyway. I thought we were friends.”

He quirked an eyebrow as he pulled on a pair of exercise shorts. “And that entitles you to sex with me?”

“Yes!” she shouted, before freezing as she realized her mistake. “I mean, no. Sort of… Kind of?”

“The answer you’re looking for is no,” Tarcil put in from his own locker. “Being nice to a guy doesn’t automatically mean you get to have sex with him.”

“Is that all I am to you, Raisha?” Jason feigned hurt as he slipped on a shirt. “A possible booty call?”

From the back of the room he heard someone ask quietly ask what a ‘booty call’ was, and realized that the phrase might not have crossed the species divide. Fortunately, for all that Raisha was pretty oblivious normally, she could be quite sharp when it came to euphemisms for sex.

“No,” Raisha said, belatedly tearing her gaze up from where she’d been staring at his abs.

“So you don’t mind if we never have sex?” he asked, having far too much fun.

“No!” she cried. “I mean yes… I…I mean…don’t know.”

Jason almost felt a little bad as Raisha looked almost like she might cry – or, more likely, punch a hole in a nearby wall - out of frustration, if nothing else.

“Honestly, all you bitches sniffing around,” Adrilla called as she strode into the room, her lecture apparently a lot shorter than his own had been. “For all you know, he’s terrible in the sack.”

The dopey grin that overtook the lanky woman’s pale lilac face gave away the lie for what it was.

“Nice try, Adrilla,” Nuiy said, the oldest member of the cadre pulling her long blue hair into a ponytail. “We all saw you beaming this morning. If that’s not the face of a well-fucked woman, I’m ninety.”

Behind her, the twins nodded in unison, the pair not quite staring at him like a pair of hungry dogs.

“You can’t be too far off,” Freyxh snickered as the muscular silver-haired Shil’vati slammed her locker shut. “I think I can see some grey from here.”

“I’m thirty-two,” the blue haired woman said calmly, not rising to the bait. “Besides,” she said, turning her attention over to Jason, who’d been watching the proceedings with amusement, “a lot of guys like an older woman.”

He couldn’t argue there. Nuiy was a former militia member who’d decided to go pro, so to speak, and the woman definitely had the MILF appeal going on. She even had a kid back on the Shil’vati homeworld, though apparently the teenager spent most of her time with Nuiy’s ex-husband and her other former step-wives.

Still, he wasn’t about to let all this go unchallenged. He’d spent weeks on the back foot as the aliens said whatever they wanted. Now that he’d finally started getting the hang of things, he could finally start hitting back.

“I don’t know, the way you’ve all been talking about me like I’m either not here or an inanimate object has me thinking women might be overrated.” He walked over to where Tarcil was just in the process of changing his shirt, throwing an arm around the smaller male’s purple waist. “Maybe I might try my luck with the softer sex. Someone who appreciates me for more than just my body.”

Damnit, dude, quit blushing, he thought as he glanced over to see that Tarcil was staring wide-eyed at the arm wrapped around him, a faint blue hint to his purple cheeks. If the alien kept blushing it was going to make his little joke awkward. It didn’t help that the guy's skin felt like fine silk.

Did he use some kind of moisturizer or something?

“No!” Raisha cried out, jolting Jason from his thoughts. He also realized that she wasn’t the only one who’d cried out. A good half of the cadre had.

“I’m just joking,” he said as he pulled his arm away. “Sheesh.”

The look of disbelief on another of his audience’s faces was actually painful to see. Did they really think he would? He was straight, damnit!

“Alright, I’m heading out to get ready for PT,” he said, feeling a little offended as he put the last ten seconds from his mind and headed toward the door.

“I’ll come with you,” Raisha cried, still pulling on her shirt, just as Tarcil shouted, “Wait up!”

He sighed, but did wait just outside the door as the two aliens scrambled after him.

Fucking Shil’vati, man.