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Kita'thalla

By: Bowoodstock



Authors Note: Wow, been a long time since I posted last. This is the first part of a story I'm working on. It's a work in progress, and it's going to be of considerable length. As such, most of the erotic action will be happening quite later, and it'll be a bit before it's up. So if you're looking for a quick read that cuts straight to the action, this may not be the story for you. This is my first attempt at a story of this length, so hopefully it'll turn out well.

Lt. Eric Connor pulled himself from the wreckage of the transport craft, wincing as he realized that various parts of his uniform were caught on the jagged metal. Working carefully, he managed to extract himself from the remains of the crash harness he had been strapped into with little more than cuts and bruises. Looking around, it took a moment for him to comprehend what he was seeing.

He was the only one left.

The marines, who only minutes ago had been poking fun at the "non-combatant" and joking about how they'd call if they needed a band-aid or have a splinter removed, were all dead. After being tagged by enemy fire in orbit, the transport had the misfortune of crashing into a rocky outcropping, and the entire front portion of the vessel was a mess of twisted steel and frayed wiring. A growing pool of blood beneath the compacted compartment where the marines would have been sitting was telling evidence of their fate. 

Earth fleet protocol stated that all medics on military transports were to ride in the back compartment where each transport ship had a small medical bay. This was the safest part of the ship in an accident, so if there were wounded that needed to be attended to, the medic would have the greatest chance of being able to do so. Of course, that was assuming there were actually wounded that were still alive to treat. 

He looked up at the sky. Even in daylight, the bright flashes of the battle occurring in the space around the planet could still be seen. Earth had been fighting the Ketrali for several years now. A warrior race of feline humanoids, relations between them and earth had deteriorated almost as soon as they had begun. They saw humans as soft and weak, just another race to be crushed and dominated. However, humanity had proven its will to survive, and its ingenuity when it came to warfare.

The one thing that gave humans the ability to stand on an even footing with the Ketrali had been their weapons technology. The Ketrali had been able to easily dominate the other races they had crushed because they used advanced energy weapons, and had shields strong enough to stop even their own arms. So it had been a real shock to them when the first earth battleship opened up with heavy rail gun batteries, smashing through shields designed to stop energy weapons and utterly destroying the Ketral cruiser. Since physical projectile weapons on a large scale had long ago been dismissed as being outdated, they had absolutely no defense against this high tech version of an ancient weapon. Early victories bolstered the spirit of humanity, and they had rallied to fight back. The result was a war on a galactic scale, with battles all along the boundary between human and Ketrali space.

Seeing nothing that suggested human life, Eric looked around the crash site. Luckily, when the pilot realized they were hopelessly out of luck, he had jettisoned the fuel tanks, so the wreck hadn't caught fire. However, everything forward of the bulkhead that had protected him from the crash was obliterated, so he turned to where he had been sitting. Most of the small med bay was a mess. Even if it hadn't there wasn't really much that would be of any use to him anyways. His patients were all dead! 

Still, just because it made him feel better, and because he had no idea what he'd run into, he managed to pry open the armored locker next to his crash harness. Inside was his complete combat medic gear. The light body armor that gave protection without sacrificing mobility was on in a matter of seconds. It contained several built in features to aid him in his work. A basic light exoskeleton was built into it, giving him an increase in strength and stamina. This was useful if a wounded soldier had to be moved and there was no one else around to help. A small scanner was built into each palm, meaning that all he had to do was touch someone and he would have a basic idea of what was wrong with them. The helmet headpiece had several built in features, such as magnifying lenses that would aid him in delicate procedures, a small work light, and sensors to detect body heat and other life signs. 

The latter function was also helpful in situations not involving treating the wounded. While he was a non-combatant, he was permitted to defend himself and his patients under urgent circumstances, though in all honesty he hated guns. Still, because he had no idea what he'd run into, he took out the pair of small gauss pistols and strapped them to their proper location at his hips. With that done, he pulled the last item out. The combat backpack issued to medics was almost like a small infirmary designed to be carried on one's back. Among other things, it had a collapsible hover stretcher, crutches, a defibrillator, various types of antidotes, analgesics, and a small kit for basic battlefield surgery. While it was obviously preferable to wait for better conditions, in a pinch he was able to operate to set bones, repair battlefield trauma, and even stop internal bleeding until more adequate care was available. 

With his full gear on, he took one last look around the crash site for anything that might be useful, and then left. While he doubted that the crashed transport would be of any importance to the battle up in orbit, he didn't want to stick around. If enemy forces did for some reason track the crash, he didn't want to be around when they came down looking. With that thought in mind, he took off into the forest in search of cover.

While the circumstances of his arriving here could have been a lot better, he had to admit that it could be a lot worse. The planet was at least somewhat close to earth climate, although slightly warmer and a little more humid. It reminded him of the forests found in the part of the old United States known as Florida. After an hour or so of walking, he spotted a place that looked promising. He'd reached the edge of this particular forest, and was now looking at the side of a cliff about 50 feet in height. A small cave was located at the base. It was shallow enough that he could see the back of it, so he was sure it wasn't in use by any fauna that might inhabit this planet, but it was also deep enough that it would probably provide adequate shelter from the elements. Entering, he took off his back pack, and then walked out into the forest. It wouldn't be hard to find fuel for a fire.

Returning with the firewood, he dug through his survival pack, finally finding his ration kit. He figured that if he played things right, they'd last him about a month. Hopefully by then, he'd be able to get some kind of message up to the fleet above and be rescued. While he did have a distress beacon as part of the survival kit, he didn't dare activate it right now while the fleet was still engaged in battle. Not so much that it would distract them, but that they wouldn't be the only one who could pick it up. Being captured by the Ketrals was not very high on his list of things to do. 

While setting up the fire, a high pitched whining noise caught his ear. He stopped what he was doing. While it didn't sound like any kind of wildlife he'd ever encountered, it was still very worrying. The fact that it was getting louder didn't help either. He turned towards the cave entrance. Whatever it was, it was getting closer. A few seconds ago it had been so faint he had to strain to hear it. Now, it finally escalated into a roar that made him cover his ears.

He jumped against the back of the cave when a burning object the size of a small car crashed down about 20 feet away from the entrance to his cave. It smashed into the wall next to the cave entrance, leaving a trail of singed vegetation in its wake. A few moments later, a massive impact shook the ground, causing chips of rock to fall from the roof of his shelter. He quickly gathered up his gear, stuffing the partially opened ration pack back into his pack. He didn't want to hang around if the roof was going to collapse.

Leaving the cave, the first thing that he noticed was the remains of what looked like an atmospheric flight engine at the base of the cliff. The engine was still smoking, and he could smell the odor of some kind of fuel hanging in the air. Since he didn't know if there was enough fuel left in the thing to make it explode, he backed away from it, and then looked up. At first he didn't see anything, but as the wind shifted to blow over the edge of the cliff, a cloud of black smoke became visible. It was obvious that whatever this engine had come from had crashed on top of the cliff. Looking back at the engine, he frowned. While he was no expert on mechanics or anything like that, it didn't look anything like the engines that had been on his landing craft. Of course, it was considerably deformed from its sudden interaction with the ground and cliff face, but still...it made him uneasy.

Moving along the cliff face, he found a part that wasn't quite as steep as the rest of it. There were plenty of handholds along the jagged cliff face, so it was relatively easy to climb up to the top. A part of his mind nagged that it was probably smarter to get as far away from here as possible, but he was curious. And besides, if indeed it had been a transport ship such as the one he was on, there might be injured soldiers to be cared for.

A short walk through the forest led him to the crash site. A gash the length of a football field had been torn through the forest as the vessel had plowed through the dense tree growth. Picking his way along the edge of the trail of destruction, he saw a large column of smoke as he approached the wreck. Even from here he could tell it was considerably larger than the one he'd been on, or rather, had been. Most of the wreck was on fire, and he realized that until the flames died down, he probably wouldn't be able to get close. Finally reaching the vessel, he stopped. The smoke was so thick he could barely make out the form of the craft. Reaching up to his headset, he switched to thermal vision and pushed the eyepiece down over his face. Bright white patches on his goggles showed where the fire was burning. The craft was completely engulfed. No way he'd be able to go near there. He was however able to make out the outline of the craft. He stopped.

It was a Ketral assault transport. He'd seen images of it in his briefing, and had seen them out of viewing ports while the fleet was in combat. Designed to carry up to 100 of their warriors in boarding actions, these ships could spell disaster for a ship of the fleet if they managed to break in. Looking at the burning wreck, he could see a massive gaping hole in one side of the ship, characteristic of the damage caused by a heavy rail gun slug. A part of him cringed at how many must be burning to death in the wreck, but he realized that survivors would be a threat to his life. He sighed, and turned away from the wreck, pushing the eyepiece of his helmet back up.

And then stopped. Right before he pushed the goggles up, he had sworn that he'd seen a moving heat signature in the foliage next to the wreck, but it wasn't the burning white heat of something on fire. He turned back to the spot he'd seen it at. No smoke. Frowning, he pushed his goggles back down over his face. There, something low to the ground in the bushes. Warm, but not hot. "What in the..." he said to himself, and then turned white. He saw the outline of pointed ears and a tail rising up as the now humanoid silhouette crouched down preparing to lunge.

"Oh shit!"

A high pitched roar, similar to the scream of a mountain lion split the air as the ketral burst out of the underbrush, at first on all four limbs but then sprinting on its back legs as a human would. Eric yelped and turned to run in the direction he'd come from. His mind told him there was no point in this, that there was nowhere to run to, but at this point he was only responding to his base instinct to live, which meant getting away from the ketral in any way possible. As he ran through the forest, he could hear the alien tearing through the woods behind him. The pounding leaps and bounds behind told him that the creature was almost breathing down his neck. As distracted as he was with that, he barely missed a low hanging tree branch, only just ducking. The alien however, did not. He heard the branch smack against the helmet the creature wore and a roar of fury followed by a thump as the creature was knocked off its feet by the branch. He continued running away from the scrambling alien, thinking that might be his chance to get away and..

"Whoa!" he barely stopped in time. He had burst from the edge of the forest. Unfortunately, that edge was about twenty feet away from the cliff edge he had climbed to get up to here. "Dead end..." he thought, and then heard a low rumbling behind him. He forced himself to turn towards the ketral crouched on all fours at the edge of the forest. 

It was wearing soot-blackened metal armor plates strapped to its body, with gaps occurring at the joints to allow mobility. The helmet encased the entire head except for the chin, which displayed a snarling mouth of sharp white teeth. Pointed ears poked through gaps in the sides of the helmet, and a long leonine tail swished in the air behind the growling alien. Even crouched, he could tell it was at least six feet tall. And by the way it was eyeing him, he guessed that the traditional red cross medic insignia on his armband that labeled him as a non-combatant meant absolutely nothing to the creature.

Despite the fact that he was scared out of his wits, Eric was still coherent enough to realize something wasn't quite right. He'd seen other ketrals on battlefields while treating fallen soldiers, and this one looked somewhat different from those he'd seen. A thick long braid of sand colored hair with spiked bands holding it together ran from behind the creatures head, draping over the muscled shoulders. All the ones he'd seen had hair that was relatively short, the longest only just long enough to tie back at the neck. There were also several reports of ketrals using their fangs in close combat. And that wasn't surprising, as some troops had taken to calling them "sabers" because of the resemblance of their teeth to that of the long extinct earth cat. Looking at this one however, he could tell that the fangs, in particular the sharp canines, were a magnitude shorter than any he'd ever seen.

His thoughts were interrupted when the alien lunged at him. Even from 20 feet away, there was no doubt that the powerful leap would reach him. Without thinking, he fell to one side, drawing one of the pistols he had forgotten about during the forest chase, firing as he fell. A sound like a whip-crack echoed throughout the forest. 

Sheer dumb luck saved his life. The recoil of the gauss pistol made him drop it, but one shot was all that was needed. An armor plate covering the thigh of the creature shattered as the hypersonic round hit it, and the impact of the shot threw it off balance as it flew through the air. Instead of landing on top of him, the creature crashed onto the ground next to him with a thud and then tumbled over the edge of the cliff. He heard metal hit stone several times before a final crash at the bottom.

Eric was too stunned to do anything for a moment. He just lay there while the fact that he was still alive worked its way into his head. "Well..." he thought. That was one to tell his friends about, if he ever returned to the fleet. Then a high pitched roar echoed through the air. The thing was still alive!? He scrambled to his feet and peered over the edge of the cliff. From here he could see the ketral sprawled across the ground on its back. From here, it didn't look like it was moving. Tentatively, he got to his feet. If the thing was still alive, he was still in danger. Once it decided to move from where it was, it would easily pick up his scent, and then keep tracking him. Trembling, he looked at the pistol he had dropped. As much as he hated it, he knew what he had to do.

He had worked his way to the bottom of the cliff, using the same rocky section that he'd used to ascend. Pistol drawn, he edged along the base of the cliff, hoping for and yet dreading the possibility that the ketral would be gone by the time he got there. But no...there it was, lying at the base of the cliff, right where it had been before. He held the pistol out in front of him, shakily pointed at the alien as he approached it. The tumble down the cliff had caused it to lose about half of the armor plating it was wearing. Up this close, he could now see it was breathing heavily. It was definitely still alive. He saw the leg that he had managed to hit when the alien had attacked him. Most of the armor had been ripped off, either a result of the fall down the rocky cliff or from the shot he'd made. Either way, with the armor gone, it was very obvious that either the fall or the pistol round had broken the creature's leg. And then he noticed something else about the armor the alien was wearing.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" He jumped. It had spoken. Very slowly, the creature removed its helmet, and then turned to look at him. Predatory yellow eyes stared straight back at him. "Right here," it said through gritted teeth, obviously in a lot of pain. It tapped a finger in the center of its forehead. "Make it a clean death."

He blinked. If the curved form of the chest plate the alien was wearing hadn't confirmed it, the voice did. He was looking at a female ketral. To his knowledge, a female had never been seen in combat, or anywhere for that matter. The only reason they knew there was a female to the species was due to autopsies on dead ketrali soldiers, all of which were clearly male. It occurred to him that the long saber shaped canines must be unique to the male gender, explaining his earlier observation. He had no doubt however, that this made her any less dangerous. He could tell that underneath the armor, she was six feet of pure muscle. Her body shape was for the most part humanoid, but the feline curves and the yellow eyes of a predator left no question that he was looking at a hunter.

"What are you waiting for? End it." she growled at him. He looked at her face, and then the broken leg. His mind realized that it was highly immoral for him as a medic to leave a creature suffering like this. Bringing the gun up, his hand still trembling, he sighted down the barrel at her forehead. Those yellow eyes stared back at him, defiant, and yet...there was something else. He holstered the gun, and then walked towards her. This was possibly the stupidest thing he'd ever done, but he just couldn't pull the trigger. Besides, didn't the oath say this was the right thing to do? Her expression of defiance changed to one of confusion. "You...what are you doing!" she yelled at him as he knelt down by her leg, the broken one. "Stay back!" she tried to move but then grimaced as her motion jarred the bad leg. 

"Hold still!" he yelled back at her, taking the pack off of his back and pulling the eyepiece of his headset over his face. Adjusting the setting on it, he placed his hands on her leg, activating the scanning sensors in them. His eyepiece displayed an X-ray of the limb, clearly showing the clean fracture of the tibia and fibula. "If you move, you're going to make it worse" he told her. "Don't make me have to sedate you." Taking several items out of his kit, he made sure to grab one of the special pre-loaded syringes marked in red and set it aside, and then turned to the alien. Beneath the armor plates, she was wearing some kind of black body stocking or jumpsuit, and a slightly thicker fabric was wrapped around the ankle and foot, leaving the heel and toes exposed. Taking a pair of scissors, he started to cut away the fabric directly below her knee. Bending over to do this however, he put himself within her reach. His eyes registered a quick movement followed by a snarl before a piercing pain blazed into his shoulder. 


Kita'thalla Ch. 02



Seated at the entrance of the cave he'd found, he gazed up at the sky. He had taken most of his armor off, now only wearing his fatigue pants, insulated undershirt, and combat boots. Nighttime made the battle above even more visible. From here, the raging battle looked almost like a fireworks display. A few very distinctive blue-white flashes had caught his eye. Warp distortions. That meant that either side was receiving reinforcements. The battle for this planetary system was getting a lot larger than he'd thought it would. He turned back to the crackling fire, and the still unconscious alien lying across from him. Once her leg was set, he had managed to get her back to the cave with the assistance of the hover stretcher and the exoskeleton in his armor. He sat back, leaning on his pack where he'd laid it along with the heavier parts of his armor. With her completely unconscious like this, he was better able to appreciate her form. 

It really was interesting, the perfect merging of feline and humanoid traits in one body. Her ears, while in the same location they would be on a human, were elongated and pointed back with small tufts of hair at the tips, similar to those on the ears of a lynx. Her face itself was also reminiscent of that of a cat, as her nose was smaller than that of a typical human, and her upper lip, which while not completely split, did have a crease right down the middle. Also, as he'd found out the hard way, instead of nails at the tip of each finger and toe there were retractable claws. He also noticed that based on her foot structure, she probably walked mostly on the balls of her feet. As for her human traits...his eyes were drawn to the chest piece she wore. Only two of those as opposed to the six in earth cats, but where there was a lacking in quantity, there was an abundance of quality. They were just the right size, not so large that they were awkward, but by no means flat-chested either. A perfect handful.

At that point, he mentally slapped himself as he realized what he was doing. Checking out an alien who just hours ago had tried to kill him! What was wrong with him? Granted, on the starships of the Earth fleet there wasn't much room for romantic relationships in the middle of a war, and it had been a while since he'd gotten any action, but to be looking at a hostile alien like that was just stupid, no matter how attractive she might be. He shook his head and looked at the standard issue timepiece on his wrist. It had been several hours, and the sedative was probably going to be wearing off soon. Wary of a repeat performance of earlier, he pulled one of the pistols from the holster that was lying next to his pack and put it within easy reach. While he abhorred taking life, he wasn't too keen on losing his own.

Sure enough, a few minutes later she had started to stir from her forced sleep. He watched the yellow eyes open, unfocused at first as the sedative wore off. She pushed herself into a sitting position with one arm, looking around at the cave in a confused manner. Her expression registered something clicking together in her mind as she noticed her bound leg, and finally turning to see him across the fire, her eyes narrowed as recognition dawned on her. Aside from the obvious hatred, he was unable to read the glare she was giving him. Keeping his expression as blank as he could manage, he reached for the water canteen next to his pack, took a swig, and then after recapping it, slid it across the cave floor to her. Her eyes followed it, and then resumed the glare she'd held before. He shrugged and turned toward the entrance of the cave, looking up at the raging battle. A slight smirk curled at the side of his mouth as he heard her remove the canteen lid before drinking what was left. After a few more moments of silence, she finally spoke.

"Why?" she asked. He turned back to her.

"Why what?" he replied.

"Why did you not shoot. Why are you helping me?"

He thought for a moment, and then pointed to the red cross insignia on his armor lying next to the pack. "This symbol here means that I'm a medic. My job is to preserve life, not take it."

Her eyes narrowed and a slight growl rumbled in her throat. "But I am the enemy! I attacked you, and I would have killed you if not for stupid luck on your side! And you had no problem with shooting me earlier!"

He shrugged. "I treat wounded soldiers, regardless of which flag they fly. You might be my enemy, but you are also my patient now. When we enter medical school, one of the first things we learn is the Hippocratic oath. A summary of it would be 'Do no harm, through action or inaction.' And as I said before, my job is to preserve life. That includes my own. I am permitted to defend myself if I have no choice otherwise."

"And how do you know that I won't just kill you the first chance I get?"

"I don't. But I follow the oath that I have sworn, which means that I may find myself in dangerous situations such as this one. That comes with the job. However, I would make an educated guess that since you're currently not in much condition to survive on your own, you're currently dependent on me for your survival, and that means that for a while, you're going to have a fairly good incentive to keep me alive."

He ducked as the canteen flew over his head with enough force to be dented as it bounced off the cave wall behind him. "There is no way I am dependent on a weakling who is too soft to kill an enemy before him when he has the chance!" she screamed at him. "If you value your life you'd better sleep with one eye open while I'm still alive!" She noticed him turn away from her to his medic kit. "Don't ignore me! If you think..." she trailed off as she saw him turn back holding a syringe filled with something.

He held it up in the air. "You've already experienced this before. You know what it does. In your current condition, I can move a lot faster than you can, and while you might be able to get one shot in at me, this'll be in you before you can do anything more. Now, it's highly recommended to us medics that we don't issue back to back doses of it. It's really intended to be used in emergency battlefield conditions to stabilize a wounded soldier quickly until more adequate care can be given. It's very powerful stuff, and has some side effects that get even worse if used too much. Don't make me use it again. Now, as a medical expert, I'm going to recommend that you get some rest. Stressing yourself out is only going to make your recovery harder."

The look on her face was pure venom as she took in what he was saying. For a moment it looked like she was about to try something. But then she let out a scream of frustration before rolling to face away from him, her tail twitching in agitation. With her turned away like that, he allowed himself a small smile. That had gone better than he'd hoped. Returning the syringe to his medic kit, he finally laid back and stared at the fire until he fell asleep.

She opened her eyes, suddenly very wide awake. Based on the light entering the cave, she guessed it was well past morning. Turning over, she saw the human, still asleep. Now was her chance! The idiot was completely unguarded, and she could be rid of him. She eyed the pistol belt at his waist, but then decided there was too much of a chance that he'd wake up. Besides, it had been too long since she'd tasted the blood of an enemy. She moved into a low crouch, taking a step forward...and then gave a yelp as her bad leg refused to bear the weight, unbalancing her and causing her to fall flat on her face. She scrambled back to her original position, very glad that he hadn't been awake to see that one. What was wrong with her? While she knew she was injured, she shouldn't have completely lost all sense of balance. She then noticed that despite the fact that she had broken the leg only yesterday, she barely felt any pain, and the broken leg wasn't responding as it should. Actually, as a whole she felt uncoordinated, like something was messing with her sense of balance and muscle control. Wait, what was that he had said last night...side effects? She cursed. Not only was she halfway crippled, she could barely move without keeling over.

She glared over at him. She still couldn't believe the events of yesterday. At first, being the only survivor of the crashed transport had seemed like the greatest thing ever to happen. Serves them all right, she thought. And then she ran into him. Originally she had thought he was a soldier, but after seeing the way he ran, she had quickly ruled that out. Still, he was the enemy, and for all she knew there were others that he might warn. And being captured by humans was the last thing she wanted to happen. She stopped mid-thought, and then realized that was exactly what had happened. She growled to herself. Not only had she gone and crippled herself, but she had been captured by a human too cowardly to fight and too spineless to finish her off. Insult to injury in the most literal way possible. If only he had had the guts to pull the trigger back there...she stopped.

If he had...the thought was saddening. After going through everything back on Ketra, finally getting accepted into the military, and then being the only survivor of a crash, it would have all meant absolutely nothing. At first it seemed that death would have been better than capture, but now...she realized she was grateful to be alive. Grateful to a human. Glad that he hadn't pulled the trigger. She recalled that moment when she was looking down the wrong end of the pistol, and realized even then a part of her didn't want to go just yet. Also...for a captured prisoner, she was being treated very well. Even after everything, when she'd tried to kill him twice, he still insisted on helping her. For all that she had done to him, he was treating her just like any other patient. In fact...

"Good morning"

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice. She turned and saw him with an amused smirk on his face. She glared at him, annoyed that she'd let him startle her. "You finally decided to wake up.". 

He shrugged and said in an amused tone "Well, do recall, you had a lot more sleep yesterday than I did."

She gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to lose her temper. "Don't remind me. So, how long are you planning on keeping me here? I'm sure your sarge or whatever you call them is wondering why you're out playing doctor with enemy soldiers.

He shrugged again while setting up another fire on the embers of the one from the previous night. "Oh, he probably isn't wondering anything right now. He's dead."

She blinked. "What?"

He turned from his work. "What, I never mentioned it? The transport that landed me on this planet is currently in about the same condition as the one you came down in. And I," he pointed to himself. "am the only one left who has a pulse."

She stared at him blankly for a moment. "So...that means..."

"We are currently the only sentient life on this planet," He said with a slight hint of chagrin. "unless there's some hidden ancient civilization that we don't know about. Yeah, that just about sums it up." He leaned back from the small fire which was now flickering into life, reaching for more kindling wood and adding it to the growing flame. Satisfied that it wasn't going to go out on him, he then turned back to his medical kit, rummaging around for something. She felt her stomach drop as he pulled out a very familiar looking syringe along with a few other medical supplies. He turned to her, holding up the syringe. "I need to examine your leg. Do I have to use this? Or are you going to cooperate?"

She looked at the syringe and then rolled her eyes in exasperation. "As if I have a choice" she said, lying back on the cave floor. "Just get it over with."

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as he donned the gloves from his armor along with the headset, and allowed herself a small smirk. Without the rest of his armor on, the somewhat bulky headset and gloves looked ridiculous. He reached out with both hands and set them on her injured leg. Behind the eyepieces of his helmet, she could see his eyes alternately looking at the display and glancing down at her leg. After a few more moments she grew a little impatient. What was taking him so long?

"Are you nearly done?" she asked.

"Almost" he said. "It's healing very well actually. You'd almost be able to walk on it in a week or two, although that'd be with assistance." He looked at her. "Do all of your kind have such a fast healing rate?"

She sighed. "You could say that." So her splicing had finally kicked in, she thought. That meant that she'd be up and about soon enough...but there was a cost. 

"Alright, I'm done" he said, removing the headpiece. "Not much else that can be done except for some pain killers if it starts bothering you."

She looked at him sharply. "Don't even think about coming near me with one of those needles. I'd rather deal with the pain."

He shook his head. "It wouldn't be one of those injections. Just pills. Anyways, as I told you before, I'd prefer not to give back to back doses of the knockout needle."

She glared at him. "I'll pass."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself." After putting away his supplies, he searched around the cave floor until he found the water canteen that had been thrown at him the previous night. While dented, it was still watertight. He stood up and looked at her. "I'll be right back. I found a small river last night that seems to be running clean. No need for us to die dehydration." Standing up, he took a moment to adjust the holster belt with his pistols around his waist before leaving the cave, leaving her alone.

She laid there for a moment, contemplating what he'd said earlier. So they were the only ones left. And figuring what he'd said, even with her splicing she'd be out of comission for a few days. As much as she hated to admit it, he had a point. In her current state, she had almost no hope of surviving on her own. He was her only means of getting food or water, and she had no idea what kind of hostile life might be on this planet. And there was also her leg. While she figgured her own body was going to be able to repair itself well enough, injuries like this had a way of going from bad to worse if something unexpected happened.. Well...it could be worse. At first she'd feared he might be part of an armed group who would capture her. This seemed less likely now, so that wasn't a worry for the time being. All she had to do was put up with him until she could survive on her own, and then find a way of getting rid of him. In a straight up fight, she'd kill him in seconds once she'd recovered, but if he managed to pull a gun on her or one of those blasted needles, she'd be in trouble.

She worked to prop herself up into a sitting position against the cave wall, grimacing as sore spots became evident on her back. She realized that as she was lying down for so long, parts of her damaged armor had been digging into her back. Looking down at where he'd cut her body sleeve away to bind her leg, and then seeing where armor plates were missing in other places, she rolled her eyes. To hell with it. She began to remove the sections of armor she wore, undoing the clips and straps that held it in place. Not like it was doing her much good now. And in all honesty, the body glove was starting to feel a little uncomfortable as well. It had been what, almost 2 days since she'd put it on? She shuddered. And it had been even longer since she'd last had a chance to bathe. Well, better to air things out now rather than let them get worse, she decided, reaching for the seam at her waist.

As he filled the canteen, Eric ran his thumb over the indent on the side of the canteen. It was a good thing he'd ducked last night, or the dent might have been in his skull rather than the canteen. While he had the advantage in the state she currently was, he decided he'd still try not to get her angry. There would be no telling what she'd do if she lost her temper and somehow gained the upper hand. He took a momment to clean off his face, and caught a glimpse of his reflection in the water. Grey eyes stared back at him. His regulation short brown hair hadn't started to get out of hand yet, though he had a feeling that wasn't going to last long. He also saw new stubble, the beginnings of a new beard. He'd probably look like a wild man by the time anyone picked him up. He grinned at that thought as he stood and headed back. A wild man with a wild beast as his patient. His patient would take quite a bit of explaining to his superiors. He actually wasn't even sure what would happen, or if that day would come. For now, the best course of action was to deal with it day by day, and keep his guard up. If he was lucky, he might be able to find a way where he and the alien wouldn't wind up killing each other. 

He turned into the cave and was about to say something to her, when he noticed something that made him almost drop the canteen. She was wearing considerably less than when he'd left. The remains of her armor lay in a pile next to where she was sitting by the cave wall, alongside the discarded jumpsuit. Aside from the foot wraps, she was only wearing something which approximated a black sports bra and very tight shorts. He dimly registered the fact that the short downy fur covering her body was a slightly lighter shade of brown on her stomach than on the rest of her body as he stared at the curves of her muscled hips and the swell of her chest. He finally managed to bring his eyes up to her face, seeing a strange look on her face. 

"What?" she asked. "Is there a problem?"

"Uh, no..." he said. "No, nothing is wrong, I'm back with the water, that is, I have the um, water that I went out to get with I uh..."

In all honesty, she was doing everything she could to stop herself from bursting out laughing. Her sensitive hearing picked up the sudden change in his rate of breathing, and her acute sense of smell caught a scent which, although alien to her, was unmistakably familiar. Even without the assistance of those, she had seen when his eyes had lingered on her rear end, and the way he had lowered the canteen to shield the region right below his belt from her view. She had turned him on! At first she had been disgusted, but when she thought about it...it was funny beyond reason. 

While she knew that she was at the peak of physical fitness, and took very good care of herself, it was absurd that someone could be thinking thoughts of that nature about someone who not only was a different species, but had also tried to kill them several times. Humans are so easy to toy around with, she thought. She realized that she was actually enjoying this. Teasing him with something he'd never have. What was that she'd heard in her intelligence briefings about earth culture... something about human males having a fascination with the mammary glands of females. She lifted her arms up and arched her back, stretching out her tense shoulder muscles. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him turn slightly red and gulp as the motion caused her assets to thrust forward. Ah hah. For once intelligence was right about something. She logged that one away in the back of her head. The thought of seducing a human was distasteful, but any weapon she had to get him to drop his guard would be useful when she was finally able to fight back.

"Umm..." he finally managed to stutter, His gaze now intently focused on some random spot on the cave floor off to the side. "Are you, um, hungry?" Every now and then his eyes would flick back towards her as his will to look away faltered. 

She suddenly became aware of the empty pit in her stomach. She leaned back against the cave wall, trying to look indifferent. "I suppose I could use something," She said. Mentally she perked up. He had food supplies with him! That solved the one problem. Now she only had to wait till she was well enough to get water by herself.




Kita'thalla Ch. 02



"Great" he responded, grateful for the distraction. He rummaged through his pack, finally finding two of the self heating packs, and handed one to her. "Press there" he indicated a small circular area on the pack. "Open it with that tab when it turns red. There's a spoon attached to the other side." She did so, and after a few minutes she opened the pack when it indicated, sniffing at it apprehensively. "What exactly is this?" she asked, poking at the contents with the spoon.

He looked at her from his meal. "That one would be tuna casserole, although in actuality it's nutrient-dense enriched soy protein. Looks and tastes pretty close to the real thing though, even if the texture is slightly off."

She frowned at the meal "It better taste better than it looks"

"Oh just eat it already. I only have two weeks worth of those and I'm not letting them go to waste."

She sniffed it again before taking a tentative bite. She paused for a moment before chewing and swallowing. "What exactly is...tuna casserole?" she asked.

"It's a dish made with tuna fish and a type of boiled dough called noodles."

"Tuna fish and noodles."

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"No. I'll eat it if that's what you're worried about"

She continued to eat, taking her time. Finally after finishing, she threw the empty package next to the humans backpack where he'd set his own. She laid back, allowing her stomach to settle from the meal, and made a mental note that if she ever got off this planet alive, she'd capture a human who knew how to make real tuna casserole. If the fake stuff was that good, then the real food...that was one spoil of war she was looking forward to.

Still savoring the taste, she looked over at the human, who was staring off into the woods at the mouth of the cave, looking deep in thought. Strange creatures, she thought. They had no claws, their teeth were blunt, they were for the most part physically weak, and aside from the hair on their head, they were mostly bald. From what she'd seen in the past, even their senses of sight, smell, and hearing were comparatively weak. How in the world did such a creature become the dominant species on a planet? And why are we having such a difficult time grinding them into dust like all the other races we've conquered? While they certainly were ingenious when it came to inventing weapons technologies, aside from that they seemed like nothing. What do they have that we don't?

As she pondered this, her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden feeling of fullness in her lower abdomen that made her stomach sink. As if she hadn't suffered enough indignities already... Maybe... "Uh" she started, trying to catch the human's attention without letting on how nervous she was.

He turned at her voice. "Yes?"

"That water that you brought. Where did you get it from?"

He looked at her, a little confused. "There's a small river a short walk away with clean water in it. Why?"

"I want to wash up" she said, hoping that it would work. "I mean, after eating and everything. And anyways, it's getting a little uncomfortable just sitting here on the rocky floor." She tried a slight smile, hoping that it might sway his opinion.

In reality the view of her sharp canines wasn't terribly reassuring to Eric, but he couldn't see any harm in it. It's not like she's going to be going anywhere, he decided.

"Allright." He said. "Actually, before that, one quick thing I need to check." He stood up and held out a hand to her. She stared at it blankly. After a few moments he rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to help you get up. I'm sorry if this injures your pride, but if the side effects of that needle I used are still present, you might wind up injuring something else."

She grimaced, and realized that accepting his help would be far less embarrassing than a repeat of what she'd tried earlier. She grabbed his and, allowing him to assist her in standing on her good leg. Almost immediately the world spun and she nearly toppled over on top of him. So much for her dignity...

"Whoa, careful" he readjusted his stance to keep her from hitting the cave floor. "Yeah, that's what I thought. The drugs are still affecting your balance. One moment..." He eased her back down into a sitting position. Unfortunately, the hover stretcher was all but drained of power, so he retrieved the pair of crutches from his pack, telescoping them out to the appropriate length before setting one of them against the cave wall for easy access. "Okay, we're going to try that again, as soon as you're up I'll hand you the first one. Use that to stabilize yourself."

"Fine...just...hurry" she said, sounding a little pained.

This time around, with one arm using the crutch and the other supported by his shoulder, she was able to at least remain standing. With the other crutch in place, she was able to stand, although she still felt a little unstable. Looking at him, she realized she was actually slightly taller than him. "Alright..." she said, thinking optimistically. Maybe she wasn't so reliant on him. "I think I can make it like this. 

Which way did you say the river was?"

"It's only a short distance off. That way" he pointed. "You start going, I'll stand beside you. Don't worry, I'll catch you if you start to fall." he said, dashing her hopes of being able to attend to things alone.

As they started out, she found that she was actually slightly better off than she had been in the morning. While balancing on one foot was out of the question for now, with 3 points of support she was fairly stable. Small comfort right now, as the human wasn't letting her out of his sight, and things were getting more and more desperate by the second. Finally she stopped. 

"What is it?" he asked. "Is there a problem?"

"Uh, actually...right now, I think I'm fine. You can head back to the cave."

He frowned at her. "I know I'm not the best company, but with the state you're in right now you'd be in trouble if something happened to you."

"Yeah, I know, but...look, could you just go back to the cave? I'll be fine on my own. Really. It's not like I'm going to be able to run off, I'll come right back." She was starting to sound a little panicked now.

He looked at her strangely. "Are you okay? If you want to stop and rest for a moment..."

"No, I'm fine! Just... there's something I need to take care of alone. Can you just go back to the cave?!"

"What do you mean you need to..."

"I NEED TO RELIEVE MYSELF!" she finally yelled at him, her patience snapping. "I DON'T KNOW HOW IT IS FOR YOU HUMANS, BUT FOR US, PISSING IS NOT A COMMUNAL ACTIVITY!" she stood there looking at him with a pained expression, breathing heavily before taking a quieter tone. "Just...after everything else that I've had to put up with, allow me this one last shred of dignity"

He stared at her for a moment, taken aback by the sudden outburst as what she said registered in his mind. He looked around the area for a moment, then back at her. "I'll go back to the cave" he said. I'll be back in 15 minutes. Yell if you need anything." She watched as he disappeared into the forest, her thoughts momentarily distracting her from her discomfort.



Kita'thalla Ch. 03



I want to thank everyone who's been reading and voting. It's very encouraging, especially with the feedback provided by those who decided to drop a comment. You know what they say, it's much more fun when you know someone is watching and enjoying the show.

*

The human was sitting at the entrance of the cave when she returned, staring up at the sky. He glanced at her as she hobbled over to sit at her usual spot by the wall, setting the crutches down next to her. She stared at the ground for a moment before speaking. "Umm..." 

"Yes?"

"I..." she stopped as she realized she didn't know his name. "Uh, what do you call yourself?"

He blinked. "What?"

"Your name. What is your name?"

"My name?"

"Yeah. You do have a name, don't you?"

"Yes, I have a name."

"Well then what is it?"

He looked at her for a moment before responding. "Eric. Eric Connor."

She looked at him, surprised. "That's it?"

"What do you mean by 'that's it?'"

"I mean, is that all? Are all human names so short?"

"What do you mean by short?"

She rolled her eyes. "Two words, each made of only two sounds. That's what I mean by short. How can a name like that mean anything?"

"Well, it's the name that I was given. Connor is my family name, and Eric is my name as an individual that I was given at birth."

"And your name doesn't change as you do?"

He looked at her completely confused. "Wait, what?"

She sighed. "Look...are you the same person now as when you were born?"

"Well...no..."

She threw her hands in the air. "Then why would you be called the same thing as when you were born? It makes no sense!"

He shrugged. "Well, I know that back on Earth, there are some cultures with names that change, but for the most part, humans don't change their names.

She shook her head. "I still say it doesn't make any sense."

"Oh really? Then what's yours?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You want to know my name?"

"I just gave you mine. On my planet it's polite to give someone your name if they've just given you theirs."

"Is that how it is?"

"Yeah, that's how it is."

She looked at him. "All right. I'll tell you my name. My name is Kita'thalla Oretho Carotho Shas'elo a ko Ketrali."

There was a moment of silence in the cave before Eric spoke. "Uh...wow. That sounds kind of impressive."

"It's meant to be. A ketral's name is a reflection of their achievements in life." 

He looked at the cave floor. "Sounds like you've been through a lot"

"You have no idea."

He looked back up at her. "What do you mean?"

She remained stone silent. Eric stared at her for a moment before speaking again. "Okay...um, by the way, why the sudden interest in my name?"

She closed her eyes for a moment before looking at the ground. "It is because I want to thank you."

"Thank...me?" he said, taken somewhat aback. "Why?"

"Because you have been kind to me. Because, despite who I am and what I am, you still treat me like you would any other patient."

He shrugged "It's nothing. I'm just doing my job"

She shook her head. "No. It means everything. I have tried to kill you three times since running into you. Even though common sense says that you should shoot me as I sit here knowing what I am and what I have done, you stay and tend to my wounds, and are doing everything you can to see that I recover. You stand by your oath to treat anyone, to 'do no harm', as you said." She paused, then looked right at him. "You show more honor in that than many Ketrals that I know. That is worthy of thanks."

Looking into her eyes, he realized that she was being quite serious. He blinked before finally saying "Well...you're welcome then." He thought for a moment before saying "By the way...your name. No offense, but it's a little long for common use. Is there a shortened version that others usually call you by?"

She sighed, pushing her tail out of the way before lying back and thinking for a moment. "No. Not really. Actually, it's been a long time since anyone ever called me by name. Ever since I joined the military, I've always been called by rank."

Eric looked out the cave into the woods. "I see. Then do you mind if I call you...Kita?" He heard a sharp breath of air. If he had been looking at her, he would have seen the look of shock on her face before she rolled over to face away from him. He turned at the sound of movement. "Is something wrong with that name?" he asked.

"I suppose..." she said slowly, without turning around. "I should call you Eric, then?"

"Yeah. Eric is fine."

"Then Kita is fine."She replied, still not looking at him.

"Okay." He looked at her, concerned. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes...I'm okay. I'm just tired. I think I'm going to rest for a while. Maybe it's another side effect or something like that. I'll be okay"

"Alright. Let me know if you need anything."

He saw the back of her head nod. "Thank you...Eric." 

Facing the wall of the cave, she was glad that he hadn't come over to check on her. She mentally berated herself. It was just a name. After all these years of war, of blood and violence, it shouldn't affect a soldier of her caliber, she told herself. So why then was she lying on the floor of a cave opposite from some human, hiding the tear streaks running down her face like some wounded cub?

She slept until the next morning. Waking up, she saw Eric sitting at the mouth of the cave, looking up at the sky. Testing her bad leg, she found that she was now stable enough to crawl on it. He glanced at her as she moved over to where he was sitting, before resuming his gaze up at the sky. "Good morning" he said.

She followed his line of sight up to the sky. "What's so interesting up there?" she asked, before noticing the flashes of light in the early morning sky. "Is that..."

"Yeah." He replied. "Seems like this system is looking to be a lot more important than it looks. Some of the warp flashes I've been seeing were large enough to belong to heavy capital ships...maybe even a few dreadnoughts."

She looked at him. "Dreadnought? Never heard of those before."

"It's what we call a ship whose sole purpose is to carry the heaviest guns in the fleet. The name means 'fears nothing'." He heard a snort and looked over at her. "What? Is something wrong with that?"

"No" she shook her head, looking mildly amused. "It's just funny that your ships have names that mean something, but your personal names don't."

He frowned at her. "Don't get started on that again. Besides, if it's so important that it means something, why don't you tell me what yours means?" He stopped as he saw her looking at the ground, no longer amused. "I'm...sorry, did I say something wrong?"

She shook her head. "I can tell you about the first part, but the rest..." she paused and he thought he saw anger cross her face for a moment. "The rest is complicated. You wouldn't understand it."

He shrugged. "I'm okay with that. So by the first part you mean..."

"Kita'thalla." She said. "It's more or less the name I was given at birth. Rather, at birth I was called Kitatha."

"Kitatha... "

"Yes." She nodded. It became Kita'tha when I reached maturity."

"Kit... wait, isn't that the same?"

She shook her head. "No. Pay attention. Kita'THA. There's a separation. Female ketrals split their given name when they reach maturity. It represents..." she stopped in mid sentence, suddenly looking a little embarrassed.

"What?" he asked.

She closed her eyes and then opened them before responding. "It represents...the 'split' that occurs down the center of the female body, which becomes more obvious at maturity." Looking over at him and still seeing confusion, she closed her eyes and sighed. "Watch." She said.

She placed a finger on her forehead. She drew it down between her eyes, across the slight split in her upper lip, down her chin and the hollow of her throat. He gulped as the finger moved down to her cleavage and across the top she wore. It continued down the center of her abdominal muscles until she reached the waistband of the shorts she wore. She looked at him. "Do I need to go further?"

He shook his head. "No, I see what you mean." He looked off to the side for a moment before asking. "So...what does it mean? Your name I mean."

She looked at the sky. "On my home world, there were at one time vast regions of open plains. Grasslands. Our ancestors began their life there as a hunter society. In the summer the tall grass turns a vibrant golden color. My name is based off of the word for that color."

"I see." Eric said, and then looked at her. "It suits you."

She looked at him out the side of her eye. "What makes you say that?"

He shrugged. "What you've described sounds similar to a place on Earth. The African Savannah it's called. The grass there turns a golden color as well. A color that..." he paused before reaching out and bringing a finger about an inch away from her arm. "Is very close to this one right here, isn't it?"

She glanced down at his hand, wondering if he was actually going to touch her. She had no idea why it would mean anything after everything thus far, but for some reason...it would matter. A mental sigh of relief came as he dropped the hand, before she registered the question. She closed her eyes and nodded. "It is."

There was a silence before he spoke up again. "So...the last part of your name. Wasn't there... "He stopped his question as anger flashed across her face and she growled softly in the back of her throat. 

"I'm sorry." He said tentatively. "Is that one of those...complicated things?"

Her expression softened. "In a way, it is." She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth before looking at him again. "I will tell you this. The last sound at the end is the part of my name that I earned when I became a warrior. That is all I will say about it."

He shrugged. "I won't pressure the matter if it will cause problems. Anyways...on a more important matter. When I said that I had two weeks of those food packs, I said that without the fact in mind that there are two of us eating."

She raised an eyebrow. "Which means?"

"Which means that we're only going to be eating once per day for it to last two weeks. Not the best news I know, but I figured I should let you know ahead of time."

She grimaced as her stomach rolled over slightly. "Well... at the very least we have water. Speaking of which..." she pushed the canteen across the cave floor towards him. It made a hollow skittering sound.

He glanced down at it. "Ah...Should probably go fill that up again." He grabbed it, stood up, and was about to leave the cave when he heard a soft metal clack and turned around. Kita had grabbed the crutches and had them braced in the position they had used the previous day for her to get up. She looked at him and shrugged. He stared at her for a moment, trying to find words in his mouth before relenting and holding out a hand to assist her. As she stood up he could have sworn he heard her mutter something that sounded like "thank you".

The walk through the forest, though relatively short, was awkwardly silent for the first few minutes before Eric spoke up. "So, I didn't get a chance to check your injury this morning. How does it feel? It seemed like it was healing unbelievably fast the last time I checked"

"Eh...actually" she replied. "I could almost put weight on it now"

He stopped and looked at her skeptically. "Stand on it? Only two days after the injury? I highly doubt that."

She sighed. Might as well tell him, he was going to figure it out in another day or so. "We Ketrals have an ability to regenerate. To heal injuries much faster than what most would consider normal. It may seem unlikely, but you'll see what I mean in a few days."

He blinked. "Well...it may not be that improbable. There are some creatures on my planet that can regenerate injuries as severe as lost limbs, but this rapidly? I've never heard of it occurring naturally." He turned to her and stopped when he saw the grim look on her face. "It's...not natural?"

She shook her head. "No. It isn't. About half a century ago, my people started experimenting with gene splicing. Some experiments were more successful than others, some were complete failures."

"The healing ability was one of the successes then."

She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. "Yes. I suppose from your point of view it would be."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that success isn't always a simple matter of yes or no. Now, are we almost to the river yet?" Sensing that that particular conversation was over, he shook his head. "A little further....about 10 minutes"

"Minute... that's a measure of time, isn't it? 

"Yes, it is"

"Well we've been walking for a while now. How long is a minute?"

"Its...well, not that long. Here, look at this" he showed her the timepiece on his wrist. "Each tick is one second, and a minute is made of 60 seconds"

She snorted. "Sixty? Who picked that number? Does anything you humans do make sense?"

"Oh don't get started on that again..."

By the time they got to the river, Eric was having a hard time thinking straight himself as Kita argued on the stupidity of using the shoe size of some long dead king as a measurement. When he pointed out they'd switched mainly to metric a century ago, and she asked what that was, he changed the subject by pointing out where they were.

She breathed a sigh of relief "It's about time! And you said this was a short distance?"

"Well...relatively speaking, and besides, aren't you the one who wanted to come along?"

"And what if I was? I still don't see how it's my fault if you didn't define 'short'"

"You never asked!"

"Right." she waved him off and looked at the stream. There was a small inlet off the side of the river, where the current was largely absent. She hobbled over and looked into the clear water. Not seeing anything that would try to make a meal out of her, she glanced back at Eric, who was refilling the canteen from the moving water a short distance down. She waited for him to stand before speaking.

"Eric"

He paused in his steps. "Yeah?"

"...Could you leave for a bit?"

He raised an eyebrow. "...Is this like before?"

She turned red at that memory. "Not quite. It's just...it's been a while since I've had clean water to wash in."

He realized what she was asking and frowned. "Ah...are you sure you'll be okay by yourself? This is a little different, now that we're dealing with water. I don't know how well you'd be able to swim as you are right now."

She gritted her teeth. Of course he wasn't going to simply say yes. "Look, the water in here isn't moving like the rest, and it's shallow enough that I can get back if there's a problem."

He looked at where she was standing, and thought about it for a moment. "I guess...alright. But I'm staying within ear shot in case there's a problem."

Ugh, better than nothing, she thought. "Fine, just go" she waved him off like she was swatting at an insect.

Watching him go off into the woods, she made sure he was well out of sight before reaching to undo the clasp behind her back.

Eric trudged through the underbrush, picking up deadwood while picking through his thoughts. If she'd been a human patient, things would be different. Both with the...issue yesterday, as well as this now. He was a medical expert, he'd seen everything before, that's what he'd always told patients who got bashful about their bodies. But he'd never before had a patient who could literally claw his face off if she got angry! He only let her have these allowances so that she'd be less inclined to kill him when she recovered, he told himself. But even if she was the enemy, he still didn't know if anything dangerous lived on this planet, and he knew he'd never forgive himself if something happened to her. She was possibly one of the most interesting women that he'd ever met and...

He stopped. Now THAT was a dangerous line of thought. Keep it professional, he reminded himself. But even as he tried to keep his mind in check, he looked around the clearing, seeing nothing but forest all around him. Every now and then something chirped or buzzed, the general kind of sounds that the smaller fauna on a planet made, but aside from that, it was dead silent. Suddenly, Eric felt very alone. He realized he'd probably have started to lose his mind by now if there hadn't been anyone to talk to, to keep company with. Even if most conversation was bickering and argumentative, he realized he was actually growing fond of their verbal duels. 

His thoughts were interrupted by a faint yelp and splash behind him that made his stomach sink. He spun around. "Kita?!" he yelled, but there was no response. Shit. Shit. Shit. He realized that he'd dropped the wood and started running back in the direction of the river without even thinking about it. Despite dense undergrowth and protruding roots he was somehow running faster than he could recall without tripping on anything. As he burst through the edge of the forest he dimly wondered if the knife or pistols he carried would be able to do anything to a creature that could take down a ketral, but he wasn't just going to stand by and do nothing. He ran up to the edge of the short sloping embankment that bordered the river, stopping dead as what he saw made his heart skip a beat and his jaw drop open wordlessly.



Kita'thalla Ch. 04



Breaking the surface of the water, Kita'thalla wiped water out of her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief as the coolness cascaded down her body. After setting the crutches and her clothing down on a nearby slab of rock, she had been able to ease herself into the shallow pool with just her arms and good leg. After going so long without a bath, it had been extremely satisfying to submerge herself all at once, cleaning off several days of sweat and grime. With the water supporting part of her weight it was easy to move around, even with the bad leg. 

She took a few moments to massage the knots out of her arms and back, smiling with pleasure as she still felt taut, well toned muscle beneath her skin. Even if she was in a weaker state right now, it was a pleasant reminder that she still had a body to die for. That being said, she didn't waste time as she washed herself. There was no telling how long the human would give her. She could hear him tramping around in the forest, even at this distance. She smirked. He'd be a terrible hunter, she realized. Thankfully, with the food supplies he had, they'd be able to last until she was up and mobile. By then, regardless of if she decided to kill him or not, she wouldn't starve.

She stopped as she realized something was wrong with that previous thought. If. When she'd first met him, there was no question that she wanted nothing more than to taste his blood as he took his final breath. But now...just two days later, she realized that she was debating on whether or not to take him out. As annoying as he was, compared to others of her own species that she knew, she realized he was actually fairly decent company. It was actually a little refreshing to talk to someone else, outside of the bounds of military protocol, and without any of the social norms of ketral society.

These thoughts were still going through her head as she wrung out the long braid of hair behind her head, absentmindedly moving to leave the water without remembering just exactly what condition she was in. Her bad leg refused to bear weight and keep balance as she stepped on an algae covered rock obscured by the water's surface. Her legs went flying out from beneath her as she came crashing down into the shallow water, a yell escaping her throat as she lost her footing.

She quickly surfaced, spluttering and spitting out a mouthful of water filled with silt that her fall had churned up. She dimly thought she heard her name being called, but at that point in time she was just focusing on getting out of the water. If there was one thing she didn't want right now, it was for Eric to see her in such an undignified position. She turned around to pull herself up with her arms out of the water to sit on the slab of rock with her clothes on it. She had just managed to get her behind onto the edge when a noise caused her to look up.

Eric stood wordlessly as his eyes locked with those of a very wet and very naked Kita. She was safe, he dimly thought in the back of his head as he fought a losing battle not to stare at the perfectly shaped golden mounds and dark areolae, the wonderfully taut stomach leading right down to...

The world seemed to move in slow motion for both of them as a loose part of the embankment Eric stood upon gave out under his weight. Before he had a chance to recover, he was sliding down the bank. His feet hit a rock at the bottom, causing him to trip and go flying head first across the shallow pool, arms flailing, before landing on his face right at her feet. She was frozen in utter surprise as he brought his head up, choking on a mouthful of water.

Any previous efforts not to stare were completely wasted when Eric's eyes finally came to focus. In the half sitting position she was in, it was impossible not to follow her well toned thighs up to their final point of joining. Light pink folds protruded slightly from the cleft between her legs, contrasting with the light tan of the short velvety fur that adorned the outer lips. He briefly registered the small nub at the top of the inner folds before tearing his eyes away, forcing himself to look past her breasts and the valley between them. Her teeth were bared, and he realized that she was trembling.

"You..." she growled through gritted teeth.

His mind snapped back to reality and he stumbled backwards into the water, falling several more times along the way as he scrambled to dry land. He stammered out an apology before turning and running back in the direction of the cave. She held herself there shaking, watching him retreat noisily through the woods, almost tripping again on an upturned root. Only when she was absolutely certain that he was out of earshot did she allow herself to fall back on the rock, laughing harder than she ever had in memory. 

When she returned some time later, Eric was in the process of cleaning out one of the pistols he wore. She saw the other weapon lying in pieces at his side. Based on the fact that he was still wearing the same soaked muddy clothing as earlier, she surmised that he was making sure that the river water didn't have any adverse effects on his sidearms. As she got closer, he finally noticed her, although he pretended not to. The growing redness in his face as she approached betrayed the feigned ignorance however, and she fought back a grin, instead keeping her face as emotionless as possible. She hobbled over to her usual spot opposite him in the cave, glancing at the disassembled firearm. 

"Gun problems?" she asked. Steady Kita'thalla, she reminded her self as she smothered a laugh, as the sudden question had caused him to flinch.

"Yeah. While they're designed to operate even in heavy rain, they don't take too well to being entirely submerged in murky water."

She nodded conversationally. "Yes, well that's the case with just about any kind of firearm."

"Right"

She noticed that he was shivering slightly. "You know, you're going to get cold if you keep those wet clothes on"

He didn't look up from his work. "It would be inappropriate for me to undress in front of you" he replied.

She raised an eyebrow. "Well it's not like I'm wearing much at all"

That one caused him to sharply glance over at her, as for a split second, the comment had made him wonder if she'd come back in the same state as she'd been bathing. But no, she was indeed wearing the usual shorts and top as before. Upon looking at her, he realized that she didn't seem all that intent on ripping his head off in retaliation for his earlier blunder, which lessened his nerves a little. It still didn't quell the huge embarrassment he felt for his none-too-deft entrance into the pool, but at least there didn't seem to be hard feelings. Now that he was thinking clearer though, he did realize she had a point. He'd probably turn hypothermic if he didn't remove some of the soaked clothing.

He shrugged and pulled off the sleeveless undershirt he'd been wearing. Soon it was followed by his combat boots which squelched even without being worn, along with the completely inundated socks. Finally, he reached for the belt holding up his fatigue pants. If there was one bright side to this situation, he thought as he undid the buckle, it was that the cold water removed almost any chance of him getting excited. Still, he was slightly self conscious of the fact that the water did nothing to help obscure the bulge in his undershorts. After laying his clothes to dry, he resumed his work on the firearms without looking back at her.

Through out his undressing, she had watched, keeping the same blank expression. In reality, she was actually somewhat curious. The only time she had really encountered humans was on the battlefield, most of them wearing full battle gear of a much heavier variety than Eric wore, and so she didn't have a terribly good idea of what human anatomy was like. She was surprised that despite his obviously alien appearance and lack of fur, there wasn't a huge difference between human and ketral biology. The bulge in front of his shorts was a little odd, but as she'd initially surmised that she was looking at a male due to the lack of developed mammary glands, it wasn't totally unexpected. There was a light covering of hair across his chest, similar to the stuff growing on his arms and legs, but it hardly seemed functional in any way. The muscles of his chest and abdomen weren't as clearly defined as those in male ketrals, but she couldn't tell if this was due to a lack of hard exercise or a difference in species, as he was hardly what one could call flabby. The obvious lack of a tail was unusual, as was the structure of his feet, although she guessed that was to facilitate the manner in which he walked.

After he had finished stripping off the wet garments, she continued to study him for a bit longer before glancing at his clothes. She couldn't resist a jab.

"You know, most would take their clothes off before jumping in the water, rather than after."

Eric cursed as the comment made him lose concentration and fumble the components of the pistol. He looked at her with pursed lips. "Look, I heard a splash and a yell, and I was worried that something had gotten you."

She scoffed. "As if. It was a slippery rock under the surface, it could have happened to anyone."

"That still doesn't change anything! You could have made your injury worse with a fall like that."

"Well at least I wasn't sent skidding through the mud to land flat on my face" she replied, a smirk making its way onto her face.

Eric opened his mouth to retort, but was distracted by the twitch at the side of her mouth as she tried not to smile. The silent opening and closing of his mouth was too much for her. She finally broke down laughing as he stared wordlessly, not really sure what to say.

"The...the way you fell...and after..." she gasped. "You looked like an idiot that had too much kalab wine to drink!"

As she continued to unintelligibly describe his floundering through fits of laughter, through his disbelief he couldn't help but notice that her laugh, although far from the giggle of a smaller woman, did have a somewhat musical tone to it as it echoed off the cave walls. It occurred to him that aside from his inadvertent examination of her intimates, when thinking back to what had happened it actually was pretty funny. Her laughter soon proved to be infectious, and he himself was soon chuckling as an instant replay of the fall went through his mind.

As they finally managed to calm down, he looked at her and saw that she was still smiling as she looked out of the cave. She was a beautiful creature, he realized, especially when she wasn't snarling or yelling at him. Her eyes glinted a vibrant golden color in the sunlight, adding to the exotic beauty that the pleasant expression on her face only enhanced. 

"So...you do know how to laugh then." he said, breaking the silence.

She snorted, though the smile didn't fade entirely. "Of course I do. Who doesn't?"

He shrugged. "Well, you didn't seem all that humorous when I first met you, although I suppose that isn't terribly surprising"

"As a soldier, you have to keep a sense of humor" she said grimly. "Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps your mind intact."

Eric thought back to the marines that had been joking and poking fun at him back on the transport. The years of war had already numbed him to the deaths that occurred right in front of him, and he had gone immediately into survivor mode after the crash. "I know what you mean." he replied. "It serves to distract from a reality that isn't always pretty to look at."

She nodded, although something he'd said earlier had suddenly popped into her head. Was that just a choice of words or...? She contemplated on whether or not she wanted to pursue that idea, and finally gave in as she realized it would bug her until she resolved it.

"Eric..."

"Yeah?" He sensed a slight change in the tone of her voice.

"You said you were...worried?"

The question caused his thoughts to grind to a screeching halt. Had he said that? And more importantly did he mean it? "Well..." he stammered to fill the awkward silence. "It would have been really bad if as a medic, I allowed harm to come to you as my patient."

"Ah, I see" she said. 

Did she sound disappointed? His mind was staggering as he tried to sort out the truth of what he really had felt. In the panicked run through the forest, had he been merely thinking of her as a patient he was responsible for? Or had he been...did he consider her a...the thought solidified and he realized the truth of it.

"Although, that being said..." he started, realizing that she was staring at him. He looked at the ground, unable to meet her gaze. "If...something had happened to you, it would be...very lonely. And well..." he paused, searching for the right words.

She blinked, not really sure why she was so interested in what he was saying, but she remained silent and allowed him to continue.

"Despite how things started off, I do not regret meeting you." he said, finally getting the nerve to look back up at her. "I am happy that you are here, alive, and I am glad to know you. So yes, I was worried" he finished.

There was a tense silence as he wondered if he'd just made a bigger fool of himself than at the river. He looked away as he mentally cursed himself before he realized that she'd said his name.

"Eric." she repeated again. He looked back at her and saw her take a breath before she continued. 

"I...do not regret meeting you, either. While I can't say I've ever had the chance to meet one of your kind on friendly terms...for a human, you are interesting, and I am happy to know you. I am glad that my previous efforts to kill you had failed."

"I..." he stammered, trying to think of something to say. Finally, he settled on "Thank you." as he realized that anything else was unnecessary. He watched as she returned his smile before lying back, exhausted from her trek back from the river. Returning to cleaning his firearms, he marveled at the turn of events. From foe to friend in the space of two days...it sounded so unlikely, like something out of a cheesy movie. He almost wondered if she was just trying to get him to drop his guard. But thinking back to their recent conversation, he was convinced that she was sincere. 

And there was something else. In his conversations with her, he'd realized that there was more to her than her tough outer facade. When they'd first met, she acted as if he was beneath her and that she was just putting up with him. He remembered the previous day when they were eating, he noticed that her body language and the way she scraped the sides of the ration tin had said she'd enjoyed the meal far more than she'd let on. However, even beyond that he was starting to notice something else beneath. Even over the course of just two days, he could sense that a wall was being taken down brick by brick, and she was speaking to him more freely. And then of course, there was her sense of humor, and the more sensitive side she had revealed to him today. Was this a glimpse of what Kita had been prior to becoming a soldier?

Finishing his work on the last pistol, he returned them to their holsters. Glancing at the now snoozing Kita across the cave, he realized that the pile of firewood he'd gathered the previous day was getting small, and that he'd dropped everything to go running when she'd fallen. Deciding now was as good a time as ever, he reached for his pants but found them still wet. He sat for a moment, balking at the prospect of going to gather firewood wearing so little, before laughing at himself as he realized there wasn't anyone else who'd care, and headed out as he was.

Kita'thalla woke to the smell of the campfire. The wood he'd gathered had a particularly nice fragrant smell to it, not an unpleasant way to wake up. It was dark by now, maybe a few hours after sun down she guessed. She looked at the still ongoing flashes of battle in the night sky, offhandedly wondering how she could fall asleep so easily when a war was going on above them, before glancing over to Eric, now wearing his fatigue pants and undershirt, and noticing that he was focused on something on the floor of the cave in front of him. Scooting over, noticing her leg was feeling more responsive now, she returned his silent nod of greeting and accepted the canteen from him before examining the focus of his attention.

"What exactly are you doing?" she asked after a few minutes, completely confused. In front of him were several stacks of what appeared to be wafers of thin plastic. On each one was drawn several symbols, mostly in red or black, though she did notice one or two with more elaborate designs on them. As she had watched, he would occasionally move one from one stack to another, sometimes flipping them in the process. 

"Oh this?" he replied. "It's a game called solitaire. I'd initially forgotten about it, but our survival kits come with a deck of playing cards. It's meant to keep the mind active if one is stranded alone."

She reached out and picked one up, examining it. "That's it? Someone came up with cards just to play a game alone?"

"Well, not quite" he said, plucking the card from her fingers and replacing it. "The standard deck of cards was invented several centuries ago on earth. I think there are almost as many games as there are stars that can be played with a normal deck. Some of them are meant to be played solo, others are intended for two players or more"

"Really" she said, picking up another one, a small grin making its way onto her face. "And does each card mean something different? They look similar, but they're not all the same."

"Well of course they're not the same." he said, once more retrieving the stolen card and putting it back in its place. "The cards are organized into four suits, and each suit has thirteen cards in it. And would you stop doing that!" he yelled as the ten of spades was abducted

"What, am I in the way?" she asked, trying to put on as innocent of a face as she could. She had discovered the previous day that it was fun to fluster Eric, and her disruption of his little game was producing very amusing results. 

Eric was dumbstruck for a moment before snatching the card back and looking down. If she'd been a juvenile, the kitten eyes she'd just given him would have had the desired effect, but with her being a grown woman of her species...the effect was a very conspicuous reddening in his face and a stirring in his loins that he hoped wouldn't produce any noticeable effects. He shook his head as he tried to clear it, but couldn't remember where the ten had been sitting. He rolled his eyes in exasperation and dropped the card. "Alright, you have my attention, are you happy now?" 

"Maybe" she said, giving him another impish look before picking another card (ace of spades) and looking at it. His expression of annoyance had made this even more fun. "You said you were playing a game for when you're alone. You're not alone now, are you?"

"Well I..." he stuttered. Those golden eyes were making it hard for him to concentrate. Finally he sighed and said "I guess not."

"Right. So teach me"

"What?"

"You said there's games for two players. You have any better ideas?" she said in a playful voice, moving closer so her face was only a few inches from him. 

"Uh, okay" he replied, grateful for anything to distract her from looking down. The glow of her eyes in the fire, her voice, and the expression she wore had gotten his attention in more ways than one. He picked up the cards from his original game, combining them back together into the full deck. Wait, almost full. He looked at Kita in mild annoyance, holding out a hand expectantly. "I need that one back as well." He nearly dropped the deck when Kita actually giggled before handing back the missing ace. What had gotten into her tonight? He breathed a sigh of relief as she moved back to give him more room as he shuffled the deck.




Kita'thalla Ch. 04



"So..." she said, still using that same playful tone. "What do each of the cards mean?"

He gulped before finding his voice. "Well, it depends on the game you're playing. As I said before, there are four suits...here." He pulled a few out of the deck to show here. "The four suits are spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts. Within each suit, there are thirteen cards."

"What about these fancy ones?" she asked, tapping on the jack of clubs.

"I was getting to that. There are number cards and face cards. The number cards are the two through ten of the suit, indicated by the number of symbols on the card. The face cards are the Jack, Queen, and King, indicated both by the picture and the symbol in the corner." As he explained, he found the appropriate cards to show her.

"What's a Jack?"

"Uh...well in some games he's known as the knave...I think he's supposed to represent a high ranking member of the royal household, but he's not actually part of the royal family."

"That's strange" she said. "He looks a lot like the king" 

"Well, you have to pay attention to the letter in the corner. A J stands for the Jack, a K stands for the King"

"Is that what those are? We never figured out how to read human writing..." she said, sounding a little giddy.

Despite the fact that she was acting so strangely, Eric was thinking clearly enough for a sudden thought to enter his mind. How did she know how to speak English? He was about to ask, but another question from her interrupted his thoughts

"So what about the one? You didn't say it was a number or a face card"

"The one...oh you mean the ace. Well, depending on the game being played, it's considered a number or a face, or sometimes both"

"That's confusing."

"Well, you only have to know what it does in the game being played."

"Oh, okay. So what are we playing?" she drawled, looking right into his eyes.

Eric was about to answer that he hadn't decided yet, when he noticed that her pupils were very dilated, and her breathing had changed. Something was up with her.

"Kita, actually..." he said, his mind racing as he tried to figure out what was going on. "I was about to go to sleep so...maybe we should save it for tomorrow?"

"That's no fun..." she whined, shifting her legs and leaning over towards him. "Well, if you're not going to play, let me then..." she said, reaching out for the cards.

Eric yelped as she inadvertently extended the claws on the reaching hand, lifting his arms out of the way and leaning back. The end result was Kita losing her balance and falling over so her head was right in his lap only inches away from...

"Not fair..." she mumbled, curling up but leaving her head where it was, using his thigh as a pillow.

Eric breathed a sigh of relief as the claws retracted. He tried to move but she made some unintelligible noise and actually hugged the leg with one arm, again unconsciously extending the claws. On second thought, might be best to leave her where she is. He sat for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened. Looking around, he managed to reach his armor and medical kit without moving, taking one of the palm scanners and the helmet with displays on it. 

Her system showed her heartbeat returning to normal from a high, at least compared to what she'd had when he first examined her leg, but other than that, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her. He rubbed his eyes, trying to think. While she was a mammal just like humans, his unfamiliarity with her species meant that he couldn't make any educated guesses. In addition, the presence of her face just inches from his groin was very distracting, and even the smoke from the campfire seemed to be interfering with...

The smoke.

He looked at the pile of firewood he'd gathered, and with a little stretching he managed to retrieve a piece. He remembered finding a fallen tree when he was out earlier. With the wood already dead, it had been easy to break off easily carried pieces, so much of the wood in the pile came from the dead fall. Placing his palm on it, he activated the function normally used to scan food for contamination, or to determine if foraged food on alien worlds was safe to eat.

At the top of the readout was a list of significant compounds found in the wood. One of them caught his eye. Nepetalactone. The computer listed it as having a mild sedative effect on humans, and in high concentrations it was capable of inducing vomiting. But the name...he'd heard it before. He scrolled down the entry on the compound to gain more information. Organic compound derived from isoprene...name derived from the plant of it's original discovery, Nepeta cataria, common name...

Eric's jaw dropped open. Nepeta cataria. CATNIP?!

Eric stared at the completely stoned alien sleeping in his lap. Apparently her appearance wasn't the only thing feline about her. He set down his medical equipment and moved the long braid of hair so that the spiked bands were a little further away from him. His heart jumped into his throat as she unconsciously brushed her cheek against his hand and...was that snoring or purring? He looked at her in wonderment as she resettled her head and her tail twitched lazily in contentment. He was dealing with an oversized kitty in his lap!

Eric realized he'd started to reflexively stroke her hair. The sandy blond color was lighter than the short fur covering the rest of her body, aside from...certain locations, but it had the same silky soft consistency he'd felt on her cheek. He laughed softly as he realized how ridiculous the situation was. As he felt himself getting tired and drifting off to sleep, he wondered if she'd remember anything that had happened. Either way, he decided he'd try to avoid that particular species of tree when gathering firewood. If she somehow got angry while high, the end results might not be pretty. And he wondered how she'd react once she found out what had happened.

It was this question that thrust its way into Eric's mind when he suddenly woke up the next morning to some one trying to get one of his pistols out of its holster, and a furry hand clamped itself over his mouth.



Kita'thalla Ch. 05



Whew...that one took a little longer than the last few. Some parts just didn't want to flow smoothly at first. In any case, I want to thank you all again for your support that you've left in the form of votes and comments. I hope you enjoy this next installment. 

++++++++++++++++

Eric tried to yell, but it caused her to clamp down on his mouth even tighter. Out of the corner of his face he saw Kita with her fangs bared. He frantically tried to pry her hand away as she lowered her head down to his face. He felt her hair brush over his face, and for a fleeting moment thought he was going to die before he heard her speak.

"Quiet!" she hissed into his ear. 

The urgency of her tone made him stop struggling long enough to realize that she hadn't harmed him in any way, and he noticed that she kept glancing out towards the entrance of the cave. When she realized that he wasn't going to yell, she removed the hand and allowed him to get up, although she was still holding the pistol she'd taken from him. He looked at her questioningly, indicating the pistol she held with his gaze and giving her the best "what the hell?" look he could manage.

"Listen..." she whispered, looking away and focusing intently on the forest outside.

Eric did as she asked, confused. He couldn't hear anything, and was about so say so when he realized what she was getting at.

The forest outside was dead silent. None of the smaller creatures he'd heard on outings from the cave were making a sound. He tried to follow her stare, but that didn't yield any more information. He did however follow her lead, and drew the other pistol from its holster. He shifted into a kneeling position next to where she had crouched down, noticing that she was actually bearing weight on the injured leg. He'd have to examine that later. For now, there seemed to be something more important going on.

"The silence..." he said as quietly as he could. "that's not good, is it?"

She shook her head. "Something big is around. Most likely bigger than us. And probably not friendly." Suddenly her eyes went wide and she brought the pistol up. "There..."

Eric followed her gaze and at first didn't see anything other than a fallen tree trunk and...

The tree trunk moved. He suddenly realized it hadn't been there the day before, and as he watched a long pink tongue snaked out and swept the ground in front of it. As soon as he realized what he was looking at his mouth went dry as his eyes worked out the form of the creature.

It appeared to be reptilian in nature, covered in knobbly grayish-brown scales that gave the illusion of rotting bark. What at first had looked like gnarled branches along it's length were actually legs. He counted eight pairs. They were pushing it slowly across the ground on its belly which explained how it had gradually appeared without them noticing. Behind it dragged a tail, also mimicking deadwood. Spikes that resembled twigs covered sections of the creatures body, giving it the illusion of something similar to a pine tree that had fallen. And of course, the business end of the creature was not at all reassuring. Eric worked out the shape of a four foot long maw, based on the location of four stone gray eyes that peered from the creature's jagged face. He could also see several ridges around where the creatures neck would have to be. Altogether, the creature had to be at least five feet wide at the shoulders, and a good 40 feet long. 

He watched as the creature once more pulled itself forward slowly, again sweeping its tongue across the ground in front of it. He looked at Kita, and saw she was studying the creature intently.

"So.." he whispered. "What now? Do you think it knows we're here?"

She glanced at him before returning her attention to the creature. "If it doesn't, it will soon. You see it's tongue? It's probably tasting the ground for our scent. You notice it's following the path we took from the river?"

Eric looked and saw she was right. He realized they'd been incredibly lucky not to run into one sooner. It was obviously an ambush predator, based on its camouflage, and they could have walked right past one without noticing it until it was too late. This one however must have been hungry enough to take a more active pursuit.

"Well then" he replied. "If I had to guess, it doesn't look like it has the greatest eyesight or hearing, There are creatures on Earth that use something similar to track prey. Some of them are actually deaf, and their vision is only geared towards detecting movement."

She nodded. "Which is why it hasn't done anything yet. But we're going to have to do something soon. Unless we move it's going to run right into us." she glanced down at the pistol she had taken from him. "Is this going to do anything to it?"

Eric looked at his own weapon. The gauss pistol, while powerful, only fired anti-personnel rounds. The magnetically accelerated 2mm fero-tungsten slugs were effective against most types of body armor, but against a creature with what appeared to be very thick scaled plates, he wasn't sure how it would fare. What he wouldn't give to have one of the gauss rifles usually issued to marines. The high caliber penetrator rounds they fired would be very welcome right now.

"I'm not sure" he replied after his evaluation. "With those scales I'd be afraid of glancing hits that would just piss the thing off. And even then, we don't know how thick they are."

She rolled her eyes. "This is why we stopped using projectile weapons ages ago."

"You think one of your pistols would do any better?" he asked. He'd seen some of the energy weapons that ketrals carried. Tests carried out had shown they were of relatively equal power to the kinetic energy delivered by a solid projectile from a weapon of the same size.

"Of course! You don't have to worry about things like glancing hits!" she hissed back at him.

"Right, but is now really the time to argue about this?" he said as he noticed the creature was only a stones throw away by now. "You think you can use that well enough?" he nodded at the pistol.

"If something painful comes out of the end when the trigger is pulled, then yes I can use it! Now get ready, I'm going to run out and draw it into the trees. I doubt the thing can climb well"

Eric was about to protest, but before he could say anything she leaped out of the cave. He watched in amazement as she proved her claim of not only bearing weight on it, but running, albeit with a slight wobble to her gait. A deep roar quickly snapped his attention away from her as he realized that his earlier guess about the creatures eyesight proved correct, as it now surged forward towards Kita. The thing was faster than it looked, its powerful legs now lifting its belly from the forest floor to charge straight towards the fleeing alien. 

Eric ran out after the beast and gasped when he saw Kita stumble up ahead. Without thinking or aiming for any spot in particular, he fired off a shot into the creature. It was so large it was almost impossible to miss, but he groaned as he saw the shot did little more than break off a large scale. The creature wasn't even bleeding!

The shot did however have the earlier predicted effect of making the creature angry. It stopped in its pursuit of Kita and rounded on him. He saw the body was actually fairly flexible at certain locations of the body as it managed to wind itself around a tree in a U-turn to face him. He suddenly realized with a yelp that it was now his turn to run as it wound itself around and went after him.

As he ran, he recalled the speed with which it had chased Kita when she'd first run, and realized he'd be lunch before the thing got tired if he kept running in a straight line. With this in mind, he changed course suddenly, watching over his shoulder as the creature followed. There, just because of the length of the creature, part of it was still moving in the previous direction, blocked by a tree midway down the length of the creature. He was on to something, and despite the adrenaline of fear he grinned and changed course again. The creature yet again followed, and after one or two changes in direction, he had it following a winding course, its rough scales catching on trees and slowing its pursuit. 

Eric laughed in spite of the situation. He was at least managing to evade it, but when it came to taking it down, he hoped Kita would take the initiative. Right on cue the whip-crack of a gauss pistol echoed, followed by a roar of anger. He turned, and saw the creature had turned away from him. Another shot rang out and he saw scales on the creature's face shatter. She wasn't a bad shot, the last one had almost taken an eye from the beast. Unfortunately this only served to make it even angrier, and it surged forward, snapping one of the trees that it was caught on. Eric followed its course of attack and finally found Kita, crouching in a tree on a branch about 20 feet off the ground. That...was impressive, he had to admit. 

His admiration gave way to horror as the beast reached the tree and lifted the front of its body up, grabbing the tree with the first pair of limbs and pulling itself up. So much for being bad at climbing! Kita managed to get one more shot off before having to steady herself as the tree shook. It didn't seem to have any effect, as the creature continued to pull itself up. As Kita hoisted herself up to the branch above her, Eric realized that even if it couldn't climb high enough to reach her, the tree would eventually collapse under the weight. 

Eric stood frozen for a moment, desperately trying to think of a course of action, before something caught his eye. Ignoring the part of his mind that told him he was dead if he was wrong, Eric ran right up to the creature and leaped up on its back. The craggy scales were rough and he knew he'd have a few scrapes after wards, but they also provided a fairly stable grip. He just hoped that if Kita decided to try anything again, her aim was good enough not to hit him!

He pulled himself up the creatures back, noticing that his presence distracted it, at least for the moment, halting its climb upwards. But for now he concentrated on searching for the weak point he thought he'd seen earlier. There! Behind one of the ridges on its neck, a flash of pale white skin, uncovered by scales. Barely hanging on as it tried to shake him off, Eric brought the pistol to bear on the gap in its armor and pulled the trigger. 

The next thing he knew he was flying through the air as the back of the creature rippled, bucking him off. He landed hard in the underbrush, gasping as the wind was knocked out of him. Ears ringing from the impact, he pushed himself up as the beast thrashed around, a splatter of black blood spurting from the newly inflicted wound. His stomach sank as an empty feeling in his right hand made him realize that he'd dropped the pistol during his impromptu flight. Frantically he scanned the ground, finally spotting dull gray metal just a few feet away from clawed feet. He staggered to his feet, wondering if it would be suicidal to try and retrieve it, but a quick movement above the beast interrupted his thoughts. With a feral scream, Kita leaped from her perch, landing on the creature's back and quickly leveling the pistol at the same spot he'd fired upon. 

As another gunshot caused the creature to thrash away from him as it tried to buck Kita, Eric decided to take his chances. Dashing forward, he scooped up the pistol and snapped off a shot into the creatures face. He whooped as he realized the shot had taken out one of the creatures eyes, but was forced to leap back as he saw Kita go flying in a similar manner that he had. Despite the three heavily bleeding wounds it had sustained, the creature didn't seem to be affected in any way, nor did it show any signs of retreating. It rounded on Eric, opening its maw to display rows of sharp saw-bladed teeth. Eric turned to run, but was nearly yanked off his feet as something leathery grabbed the hand holding the pistol.

The tongue of the creature, much longer than it appeared, had snaked out across the distance between him and the razor sharp teeth. Worse yet, the angle at which his hand had been immobilized meant that he couldn't fire into the creature's mouth as he dug his feet in to prevent it from reeling him in. As the pull increased, Eric tried to get his hand loose before remembering the knife he carried. Pulling it from his belt with his free hand, he slashed wildly, trying to break its grip. 

The sudden attack, although not causing much damage, caused the creature to loosen its hold, allowing him to pry his hand free. The action did however have the effect of him losing grip of the pistol. Reflexively, the tongue retracted like a rubber band, taking the pistol with it right into the maw of the beast. Eric stumbled backwards at the sudden release, falling back into the underbrush. Images of his own death flashed through his mind as the creature chomped down on his sidearm, moving in to finish him off and...

The face of the creature exploded in a burst of scales, blood, and white fire. Eric covered his face from the rain of rough chitin and gore as the creature crashed to the forest floor just inches from him, twitching but obviously no more. His mind reeled at the sudden turn of events before he dimly realized what must have happened. While he was no engineer, he knew the basics of how a gauss weapon worked. They were basically miniaturized versions of the rail guns used on vehicles and ships, using a powerful electromagnetic field to accelerate a projectile to several times the speed of sound. This requires a lot of energy. 

The weapons on vehicles and star ships were of course fired with energy from their power plant, and the rifles carried by marines were powered by the micro-fusion reactor that also drove their heavy power armor. In order to reduce size however, pistols were forced to use a small steady state fusion cell that unlike a reactor, could not be powered down, and if subjected to extreme forces they could become volatile. It was assumed that anything capable of exerting enough force to breach a fusion cell would also be fatal to the carrier of the weapon, so this risk was deemed acceptable by the military brass.

If a cell did explode, it had approximately the same effects as a fusion demolition charge going off. The results were obvious as Eric finally uncovered his face and stared at the smoking crater where the creature's face had been. He realized that he was actually incredibly lucky that it was so tough. If not for most of the blast being absorbed by the armored scales, he would easily have been caught in the fireball. He'd seen the kind of burns that an explosion like that produced, and the memory of hardened soldiers screaming as they begged medics to just end their lives was enough to make anyone feel faint.

He was still sitting in awe, staring at the slain beast when Kita found him. Thankfully she hadn't been seriously injured in her fall from the creature's back, but her arms and legs were covered in numerous scratches and cuts from the rough scales. She glanced in amazement at the the aftermath of the explosion she'd heard before turning back to Eric.

"What happened?" she asked, helping him to his feet.

Eric groaned as he became aware of new bruises. "It ate my gun...and well..." he just waved a hand at the remains.

"What?!" she yelled. "How did you let that happen?"

"Grabbed my wrist with it's tongue..." he replied, still a little dazed from the whole experience. "Took the pistol when I broke free." He looked at the smoking corpse and shrugged. "It's dead now"

"Right, but now we only have one weapon!" she said, completely exasperated.

Eric shrugged again. "Still have a knife..." he said, holding up the blade.

Kita stared at him before allowing a small laugh to escape her lips. The bewildered voice, the lame weapon, and the overall image of him standing there in shock covered in bits of the creature was amusing in a morbid kind of way. She shook her head. "You're a mess"

Eric finally snapped out of his stupor and looked down at himself. His chest and arms were black with the blood and burnt flesh of the creature, and he could feel something sticky in his hair as well. Fighting back the urge to throw up, Eric quickly looked up and down Kita, noticing a few lacerations that were bleeding, including one particularly nasty looking cut on her left thigh, but thankfully nothing urgent. He shook his head to clear his thoughts before looking at the fallen predator.

"Did that just happen?"

She gave him a funny look. "What do you mean, of course it happened!"

He shook his head. "Sorry, still in disbelief that I'm not dead right now. In any case...I think I should go get cleaned up or I'm going to reek for days."

She nodded. "Right, but I'm coming with you"

He was about to protest before he remembered they only had one gun left now, and they had no idea if they'd run into anything else on the way. Wordlessly he nodded and they started off towards the river.

+++++++++++

Despite them warily avoiding anything that resembled a fallen tree trunk, this visit to the river was fast and uneventful. Kneeling at the edge, Eric was able to get the gore and blood off of him before it dried, and was able to get his undershirt relatively clean, although there would always be a black stain on it. The entire walk back however, his mind was occupied with other thoughts as he watched Kita. He had to remind himself to focus at one point as his eyes were drawn to her swaying hips and tail, causing him to almost trip and earning a backward glance from her. But it was still incredible, the fact that she had been able to run, climb, and everything else when they were fighting. And now as he watched, she seemed to have no problem with walking without assistance. 

As they finally reached their shelter, Kita handed him back his pistol before moving to sit in her normal spot across from him, resting against the wall with her legs folded up to her chest. Eric immediately started to unpack a few things from his med kit, as he'd noticed the cut on her thigh earlier and wanted to look at it to make sure it didn't get infected. He was about to ask her to move closer so that he could attend to it, when it occurred to him that she had been very quiet on the walk back. He glanced over at her and saw that she was looking away from him, purposefully not meeting his eyes. Something was up. But for now, he had a job to do.

"Kita" he said, frowning when she still didn't turn to look at him. "Kita. I need to look at your leg"

"No, you don't"

Eric opened his mouth to speak, but the response had caught him completely off guard, causing him to fumble the words in his head. He gathered his thoughts before trying again.

"I saw the cut on your leg, it could get infected if I don't treat it. In addiction, I haven't had a chance to examine the fracture yet. I need to make sure that all that running didn't make it worse"

She sighed and covered her face with one hand. "It didn't make it any worse. Trust me."

Eric stared at her, trying to figure out what was going on when something caught his eye. The multitude of cuts and scrapes that she'd acquired during the fight were almost gone. None of them were bleeding, several had even disappeared entirely, the only evidence of their existence a small amount of dried blood that even as he watched, was flaking off.

"Kita, what's going on?"

Her mind was frantic as she sat, trying to figure out a way to make him leave her alone. She'd known that eventually he'd see evidence of her abilities, but for it to happen this fast, it was bad in more ways than one. Several things had lined up perfectly to make the situation happen as it had, and now she realized with resignation that there was no way that she could hide it from him. Now she just had to figure out how to explain it without giving too much away. There was no way he, or anyone else outside of her own kind could understand the whole story. She finally looked at him, wondering where to begin. Unable to find the words to start, she simply unfolded her legs and turned so that the large cut on her left thigh was visible to him. 




Kita'thalla Ch. 05



Eric stared wordlessly as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. The laceration had shrunk by nearly half, and even as he watched, he could see it slowly knitting together, almost as if he was watching a time-lapse video. Give it another 10-15 minutes, and it would barely be visible. He looked up at her in amazement.

"Is this...the healing ability you spoke of yesterday?" he asked. Her only response was a simple nod. Eric looked back at the rapidly healing wound for a moment before quickly grabbing his scanner and headset. She didn't move as he examined the fracture in her leg, and he gasped as the X-ray showed the break to be almost completely healed, with only scarring on the bone showing evidence of the injury. He double checked to make sure he hadn't been seeing things, before removing the headset and staring at her. "Kita, this is incredible."

She was silent for a moment before speaking. "Everything has a cost."

He blinked. "What do you mean?"


"I told you before, right? This ability isn't natural"

He nodded. "You said that it was a result of gene therapy or something like that."

"Right. Well, as someone who I'd hope has studied medicine extensively, you should know that whenever you do something to treat an illness or injury, there's almost always side effects."

Comprehension dawned on him as he started to understand what she was getting at. "I see. So the gene therapy wasn't perfect."

She laughed halfheartedly. "I guess you could say that, although it would be an understatement of the fact."

He raised an eyebrow. "That bad?"

She nodded grimly. "Our scientists had a word for it...I believe the closest translation to your language would be 'Backlash'"

"Backlash? In what way?"

She paused, thinking carefully about her next words before replying. "When the healing ability is activated by an injury, it refocuses the body's energy towards repairing the damage. The backlash is what we called the effects of this refocusing."

"I see. What are the effects?"

"The first and most obvious one is extreme fatigue and tiredness." she looked down at the ground. "I'm sure you've noticed that I've been sleeping a lot. That's not normal."

Eric thought about this for replying. "Well, that does make sense. Maybe I'm not understanding something here, but is that part a serious problem? Treatment for most injuries involves a lot of bed rest so that the body can heal."

Kita shook her head. "That's not the worst of it. The real problem is that it interferes with the ability of our muscular system to use energy."

"That...does sound like a problem." he said tentatively. "How bad are the effects?"

Kita held up a hand and looked at it. "Bad. Right now I have maybe a quarter of the strength I normally do. Oh, I'm sure that I'd still be considered strong by human standards" she said as she glanced at him. "But compared to others of my kind, right now I'm a weakling."

Eric mulled this over. He knew humanity used gene therapy, but only as far as the treatment of genetically inherited diseases. This kind of enhancement was never attempted. He looked back at her. 

"How long are you going to be like this?" he asked. "I mean, your injuries have healed, so shouldn't you return to normal?"

She shook her head. "Its not that simple. The backlash can vary depending on what happens after the injury. Certain things can cause it to last longer than the actual healing time of the injury."


"Certain things?"

She looked at his medical equipment. "Well, the severity of the injury causing the backlash is a major factor, but anything that produces favorable conditions for healing, or extra energy to the body for repairs will cause the healing ability to speed up. While this does shorten healing time, it increases the severity of the backlash."

Eric suddenly thought back to the past few days as what she said made sense. The hours she'd spent knocked out from the syringe were almost like an induced healing coma, he realized, and proper treatment of a fracture would speed up repair even without any kind of special healing ability. And of course, the ration packs that they'd been eating were designed to deliver nutrients and energy to the body in a form that was easily digested and used. He looked at the steadily closing wound on her thigh. 

"How long do you think it'll be?" he asked.

She shook her head glumly. "I don't know. But the fact that you can actually watch injuries healing means that my healing ability has been accelerated greatly. I'd guess the backlash won't be gone any time soon. Several days at least, if not longer"

Eric looked at her, concerned at the negative undertones in her voice. "Are you going to be okay? I mean, all you have to do is wait it out then, you'll return to full strength after wards, right? It isn't permanent, so why is there so much worry?"

She snorted. "Oh I'll return to normal in time, but until then...I suppose it's difficult for you to understand, isn't it?"

"Difficult to understand what?"

She sighed and then looked at him. "In Ketral society, there is no room for under performers. It dates back to our hunter ancestors, where an individual who couldn't pull their own weight was a liability to the survival of the cadre. Weaklings," she said scornfully as she looked down at herself "are not tolerated, and are judged as a waste of time and resources"

Eric looked at the scratches and bruises he had acquired during the fight in the forest, comparatively little when one looked at the odds. He looked back at Kita and said "It may not mean much coming from a human but...I don't think you're a weakling, or a waste. Without you I'd have stood no chance against that thing." Without thinking, he reached out and placed a hand over hers. "The only thing I can judge you for is managing to survive despite your hindered condition, and as far as I'm concerned, the fact that we are both alive means you pulled your own weight, and then some."

Kita was silent at first, leaving Eric wondering if he was just making the situation worse. He suddenly realized where his hand was sitting and was about to pull it back when Kita turned her palm over and grasped his hand, squeezing it gently.

"Coming from any other human..." she said slowly, her eyes meeting his again. "It wouldn't mean much. But from you..." the words were left hanging in mid air as she swallowed, as for some reason she couldn't find the nerve to complete the sentence. A few days earlier and she would have killed anyone who suggested that she'd take comfort in the words of a human. But some how, Eric's words had put a damper on the insecurity she felt from being in her weakened condition. Maybe it was his logic, or the sincerity in his voice, she tried to tell herself, but she couldn't drop the nagging feeling that there was something else. She watched as he smiled, understanding despite her inability to finish what she was saying. Mentally she breathed a sigh of relief, as she realized she had been dangerously close to losing control of her emotions. Now she just had to pull herself together before...

"Kita, it's okay, I understand"

The words hit her like a thunderbolt. Something about the tone of his voice, and the way he'd said her name brought memories flooding back, and emotions she'd buried a long time ago made themselves known again. Ever since the second day when he'd used that name, she'd mentally steeled herself to prevent another show of weakness. However, with her as emotionally unstable as she was now, the walls she'd put up in her mind shattered. Quickly she looked away and covered her eyes with her other hand, but was unable to suppress the shuddering sob that escaped her throat.

Eric was dumbfounded as he saw that his words had caused the complete opposite effect that he'd been aiming for. "Kita, I..., I didn't mean to..." he stuttered as he frantically tried to figure out what to say or do, anything to stop the streaks of moisture that were now escaping beneath the fingers covering her face. Coming up with nothing, he was unable to do anything but watch, feeling utterly helpless as the sounds of her weeping echoed in the cave.

It was several minutes before she managed to bring herself under control. Eric waited for her to rub her eyes clear before speaking again.

"Kita, I...I'm sorry. I don't know what I said wrong but..."

She shook her head, causing him to pause. 

"You didn't say anything wrong. Its..." her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. "It's not your fault. If anyone is at fault here, it's me ."

Eric looked at her, confused. "How is this your fault?"

"I'm the one here who can't control my emotions. Showing weakness like that is unacceptable for a soldier"

"Emotions are what makes us..." Eric started, but then realized what he was about to say.

"Makes us what?" she asked, somewhat skeptically.

Eric bit his lip, realizing he'd just gotten into an awkward situation. "I was about to say that emotions are what makes us human."


She gave him a sharp glance. "What's that supposed to mean? Even if I was human, I don't really see the point of it."

Eric thought for a few moments before answering, suddenly grateful that he'd paid attention during the philosophy class that was required as a gen ed during med school. "My people have always placed great importance on the meaning of being human. Throughout our history, the definition and values that it stresses has varied. Obviously we can look at ourselves, and see that we have a body that fits the biological definitions of the human species, but that's only our physical self. Our minds, our spirit, everything that makes us what we are, both good and bad, we evaluate them and attempt to better ourselves. This includes our emotions. Joy, sorrow, anger, fear, the ability to feel hate or compassion, to ignore any of those is to ignore part of what makes us who we are."

"Hmph" she sniffed, eyes still a little bleary from crying. "We are taught that compassion is a sign of weakness, something that holds you back from taking the actions necessary for victory." Despite this, Eric noticed that she was still listening to him, and there was an edge of doubt in her voice. Eric shook his head and continued.

"Not necessarily. Compassion can also be a source of great strength. If you have something that you value and treasure, more often than not you will fight to protect it at any cost if it is threatened. For example, even the most docile beast will become aggressive and fight if its young are in danger.

At this point, Kita breathed heavily and for a moment Eric thought she was going to break down again, but she instead looked up and said "It's...ironic, although maybe fitting, that you should use the example of a parent and its young."

Eric blinked in surprise. "How so?"

Kita swallowed the rising bile in her throat before continuing. "Earlier, when you said my name... this sounds stupid I know, but..." she paused as her voice cracked again. Finally getting up the nerve to continue, she looked at him. "The last time I was called by that name, it was by my parents."

"Kita, I didn't mean...oh jeez" he fumbled as realization dawned on him. "If I'd known it was that significant all this time I wouldn't have..." he stopped as she shook her head.

"The way that you have treated me...it is something I have not felt in a long time. The last ones who showed such kindness and...well, compassion, were also the last ones to call me by that name. Because of that...I do not mind if you still call me Kita. It serves their memory well"

Eric tentatively nodded. "Okay...Kita." he looked at her as he digested the new information. The cave was silent for a few moments before Eric spoke again. "You miss them, don't you?"

Kita closed her eyes before giving a small nod. "Pathetic, aren't I? Breaking down like a cub over missing parents"

"I wouldn't say that. I'd argue that it's evidence of the strength of the emotion, rather than any weakness on your part. I still think of my parents on Earth often. I always worry that something will happen and I'll never have a chance to see them one last time."

Kita looked away from him and was silent for a moment before saying in a monotone voice "So your parents are still alive then."

Eric opened his mouth as he realized his blunder, then shut it as he realized he didn't know what to say to that. A long awkward silence settled between them before Eric finally broke it.

"Kita, I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "Oh, you're not the one who should be sorry. Nor will you be." Any trace of sadness was gone from her voice by now, replaced by a cold undertone that made the hair on Eric's neck stand on end. Kita turned back to him, and while the evidence of her earlier breakdown was still present in the tear streaks matting the fur on her cheeks, her body language told a different story. She stared at him for a moment before speaking. 

"I know what you're thinking, so I'll answer the question. My parents were murdered. The ones responsible have yet to pay for it, but they will one day. You say that strength to fight can come from compassion." She smiled grimly at him. "After listening to you, I think I finally understand why you humans fight so fiercely, why you resist with every part of your being. Maybe one day, I will draw strength from the compassion shown to me by my parents, but rather than to protect, it will be for vengeance." 

She stopped and looked at Eric, who had remained silent throughout her monologue. Realizing he was clearly unsettled, she sighed. "Forgive me. That was probably way more than you wanted to know"

Eric shook his head, finally finding his voice. "No, it's fine. It ah...actually helps, understanding everything."

Kita slowly nodded. "Understanding does help. I never was able to figure out how your kind was able to fight back on an even footing. It was frustrating, that we could be held at bay by a race that seemed so weak. But now I think I have some idea. Humans are a lot stronger than they appear, and your people may be the most worthy opponent we have ever faced."

It was not lost on Eric that coming from a soldier like her, this was a complement of immense proportions. He tried to think of something appropriately graceful to say in return, but was only able to manage an awkward "...thank you."

It was at this point both of them noticed that throughout the entire exchange, Eric had not moved his hand, and Kita had not released it. Both of them blankly stared at their linked hands before hastily pulling their respective hands away, and scooted apart to add a few more feet between them. Eric searched his mind for something to say, hoping that Kita wouldn't notice the reddening he could feel creeping up his face. The events of the previous night popped into his mind, and he mulled the idea over before speaking.

"Kita, were you...ah, were you still interested in the cards? I know that things were a little weird when you asked but..."

Kita was grateful he hadn't said anything about the way her tail was twitching nervously after their...moment, or whatever it was. Thinking back to the previous night upon his mention of the cards though, she realized something had happened after she'd seen him and his game, although she wasn't sure what. All she knew is that she had woken up that morning in a very embarrassing position, but their unwelcome visitor had put that question at the back of her mind till now.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Yes I am...but what exactly happened? I don't remember everything."

Eric gritted his teeth. He'd been dreading that question. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before explaining how she'd started to act strangely, stealing the cards, and how she'd insisted on him teaching her how to play before passing out. He also told her what he'd discovered about the firewood, although he omitted the details about her actions after she'd fallen into his lap.

Kita was silent during his explanation, showing no real reaction to any part of it. When he'd finished, she nodded. "Alright then."

Eric looked at her, surprised that she'd taken it so well. He nodded in return and opened up his pack, finding the deck of cards. He was just starting to shuffle when Kita spoke again.

"Eric?"

He looked up from the cards. "Yes?"

"If I ever find that kind of firewood in the pile again," she said, very calmly. "I'm going to make you eat it." 

Eric gulped. "Hah...okay." he laughed nervously, before dealing out a few cards and explaining the rules of "Go Fish."



Kita'thalla Ch. 06



"Aces?" Eric asked

"Nope, go fish!"

Eric rolled his eyes as he grabbed another card from the pool. They'd been playing for the past half hour, and it was starting to get a little weary. Not just because "go fish" was a game played when one was bored, since with two it was only one step above boring, but because somehow, she kept managing to win! Sure it was a simple game that was easy to pick up, but there was something just a little demeaning about being beaten constantly by someone who had never touched a deck of cards in her life till now. And of course, she was enjoying it way too much entirely.

"Fives?"

Dang it. Eric watched as she snatched the card from his fingers and created a quad. Looking down, he realized that she had seven sets of four, making that her winning book. He sighed with a defeated gin and dropped the cards he still had. "That makes it your win again"

"You really need to rethink your strategy" she said with a toothy grin, her eyes glinting with a taunt. 

"Hey, it's luck you know, you can't do anything if you don't get the right draw"

"Uh huh. That's your excuse. So, you said there were other games played with these cards? Maybe you'd have better luck with one of them"

Eric chuckled. "Maybe, although there's not a whole lot you can do with just two. Only ones I can really think of are better played with a group."

"Like what?"

"Well, lets see. Black Jack, Poker, Rummy..."

"Poker?" Kita interrupted. "I don't know if that sounds enjoyable. Besides," she held up a hand and displayed her claws "I don't think you'd do very well if it's what it sounds like."

"Heh..." Eric laughed nervously at the sharp digits. "No, it has nothing to do with poking each other. The point of the game is to try and make the best five card hand possible. The rarer the combination of cards, the more valuable it is. You have to make a decision on whether or not you think your hand is more valuable than your opponent's, and then either challenge them or bow out. It's a game of chance, bluffing, and also a little strategy depending on how it's played"

"Sounds interesting." she said, casually flicking a card across the pile towards him.

"Yes, well, it's also normally a betting game. It's hard to play with no gambling, since without something to motivate you, there's no point in taking a risk on bluffs. Without something at stake, players would just fold until luck gave them a good hand, and the game would go no where."

"Wait" she said, frowning. "So people would actually risk items of real value on just a card game?"

Eric nodded. "It seems a little stupid really, but some people get a thrill out of gambling on a simple card game, both due to the risk that they take, and the possibility that they might actually win."

Kita shook her head in wonderment. "We'd never do anything like that. Yes, we would take chances on things that mattered...whether it was our ancestors on deciding to move to new hunting grounds, or our current battle strategy, but we'd never trust anything of importance to such an insignificant game."

"Well," Eric continued. "It's also a very social experience if you're playing with friends. Yes, there are those who would bet extremely high amounts of money on these games, but it's not always for that. Often it was for a very small amount of money, maybe an hours salary just to keep things interesting, or we'd wager on who'd buy the next round of drinks."

Kita mulled this over. "I guess I can see that. So, you said that strategy depended on how the game was played. You mean there's more than one way?"

Eric nodded. "The general rules such as what the hand values are remain, but it can vary greatly, from the way that hands are made, the number of cards used, to the actual nature of how betting is done. The game is sometimes just played elimination style, with losers bowing out till only one is left. Sometimes tokens are used to make a longer game, with the winner being the one who manages to win all the chips from the other players, and thus the prize they represent. There's even a version where..." he trailed off, suddenly turning slightly red.

"A version where what?" Kita asked, a corner of her mouth curling into a smile as she saw the change in his complexion. She'd learned that the reddening of human faces was typically indicative of embarrassment. Her victories over him in the card game had put her in a playful mood, and besides, it was so much fun to see him squirm.

Eric pursed his lips. He recognized the tone in Kita's voice, knowing she wasn't going to let him rest until he answered her. "There's...even a version, strip poker, where players bet items of their clothing in each hand. In this case, one's modesty is at stake, rather than any monetary value."

Kita looked at him sideways before laughing. "Seriously? Your people actually invented a game like that?"

Eric shrugged. "I didn't say we played it often. Usually alcohol is involved, or it's played by adolescents desperate to get a peek at the opposite genders body."

"Ah hah" she said with a smirk. "So this is what your people do when there's not a convenient unstable river bank next to the place of bathing."

Eric's face reddened even more, if it was possible. "Hey, we've been over this before, I thought something had happened, and it was an accident.

"Right..." she said teasingly, standing up. "I'm sure that's what you tell yourself. In any case, you can tell me more about this 'Poker' game when I get back." she turned to leave the cave, swishing her tail lazily so that the tuft on the end nearly flicked Eric in the face.

Eric flinched. "Hey, watch where you're swinging that thing!"

"I don't know what you're talking about" she retorted innocently, talking over her shoulder so he wouldn't see the smug look she knew was on her face.

Eric stared at her wordlessly, and double checked the wood pile. Nope, no catnip wood had been put into the fire, which was down to embers anyways. She'd been in tears an hour ago before explaining to him the significance of her name and the nature of her parents death, but now she was poking fun at him, and being downright playful! It was as if the revelations had opened her up completely, and the woman that he'd seen mere hints of before was now uncovered. It was amazing, and actually...it was kind of cute. 

Eric froze as a line of thought that he'd squashed before made its way back into his mind. No, he told himself. You're just imagining things. She's a Ketral, for heavens sake! It didn't matter if she had a sense of humor, or if her body had a certain exotic beauty to it, or if...Eric stopped as he realized he wasn't helping the situation. This could be a problem, he realized, as at the very least he might wind up making a fool of himself if Kita found out or...

He stopped as he realized the subject of his thoughts had left the cave and was sauntering off into the woods. "Hey!" he yelled, getting to his feet. "Where are you going?"

She turned. "I have to...well, that water doesn't just disappear into no where, right?" she looked at him expectantly, hoping he'd get the gist of it.

"Okay, but wait up." Eric said, quickly grabbing the cantine from the cave.

Kita raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh, you remember what I said? Not a communal activity?"

Eric sighed. "Right, but...look. Three things. One, we only have one weapon, and now that we know that we're not alone, we can't separate. Two, I need to go fill this up anyways, and Three, I have to go as well!" As she gave him an irritated look, he rolled his eyes. "Look, it's not like I'm going to be sitting there watching you, but we need to stay close together."

Kita made a small irritated sound. While she knew that losing one of their weapons was going to cause problems, it was proving more annoying than she'd thought. "Fine" she said, and continued onwards as soon as he'd caught up.

They walked for a few minutes, not saying anything before Kita stopped. Eric looked at her questioningly. "Something wrong?"

She gave him a funny look. "Did you forget why I was coming out here in the first place?"

"No, but...well..." Eric couldn't really think of anything to follow up with. There was an awkward silence as they both just looked at each other, before Eric spoke up again. "Pick a tree, I'll wait here?"

She silently nodded and disappeared behind a cluster of bushes next to a large tree. Eric waited silently, trying his best to focus on the noise of the forest. After a few minutes, he looked around and seeing that she still hadn't reappeared, he started to get a little worried. "Kita?" he asked.

"What?" he heard her reply, sounding a little irritated.

"Is...everything okay?"

"Yeah, just...stop talking, you're making me nervous here"

"Ah, stage fright..." he laughed softly.

"What's that supposed to mean? And what did I say about being quiet?!"

"Sorry..."

Eric stood silently for a bit before realizing that he was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable himself. Looking around and not seeing anything that looked like a fallen trunk, he walked over to a tree opposite the one Kita was hiding behind, still keeping her out of sight.

Behind the tree, Kita's ear twitched as she heard the sound of his belt being undone. "What are you doing over there?"

"I got tired of waiting"

"Waiting for..." and then her face fell as she heard what he was doing. "Oh for the...you couldn't move further?"

Eric glanced back in her direction. "Staying close, remember?"

"I can hear you!" she yelled. "Are all humans so vulgar?"

"Look, it's a fact of nature that it happens. And what was that about you saying not to talk? You're breaking the code here!" he said, suppressing a laugh.

"What code?" 

"Never mind that. You almost done over there?"

Kita was about to snap back at him before she realized that the distraction had released some of the tension, allowing her to finally attain relief. She rolled her eyes and finished up, coming out to find him waiting with a smirk on his face. "That wasn't funny!"

Eric shrugged. "But it worked didn't it?"

"That's beside the point! It was still...not appropriate!"

"It's really that big of a deal?" he asked.

"Yes! Doing that while others can hear, it's something you just don't do! And besides, didn't you say it was breaking some sort of code anyways?"

Eric laughed. "Oh that. It's nothing formal, just a sort of joke about restroom etiquette among men. We're used to being in a situation where...well, when you gotta go, you gotta go, and if you're with a bunch of guys, you don't always have the luxury of finding some place solitary. And besides, it's just more convenient."

Kita looked at him incredulously. "Wait, you're saying that for human males it IS communal?"

"I never said that. We just do what's convenient based on the situation. If anything, I'd say it's more of a communal activity for our females, they're the ones who are always disappearing into the lav in groups."

"They what?! And what exactly are they..." she stopped and shook her head. "You know what? Never mind, I just don't want to know." and with that, she headed in the direction of the river, with Eric following laughing softly to himself.

+++++++

Eric knelt at the side of the bank, filling the cantine from the river. It was one of the most important parts of his survival kit in actuality, and he was glad that Kita hadn't actually broken it when she'd used it as ammunition that first night. The metal alloy it was made of had anti-microbial properties, eliminating the need for water purification tablets or boiling, as had been required in ages past. Capping it, he glanced over at Kita, who'd taken a seat on one of the flat rocks surrounding the small inlet.

"Do I need to give you time to yourself again here as well?" he asked.

"Oh, I bet you'd like that wouldn't you, just looking for another opportunity to spy on me, right?" she said accusingly, although her eyes said she was merely joking.

"You're never going to let that drop, are you?"

"Probably not, although in all seriousness, you might be the one who's in need of a bath, you don't exactly smell like a Kari blossom yourself."

"Hah. Now who's the one looking for an excuse to spy?"

She snorted. "As if, why would I want to see you naked?" Privately, she admitted to herself that she was getting curious about what a human really looked like, although she couldn't really figure out why. It wasn't as if she wanted to mate with him, she told herself. That bulge she'd seen in his shorts the other day had not been reassuring. "I doubt you've got anything of interest to me"

"Ouch, that was harsh" Eric replied, his voice filled with exaggerated hurt. In reality though, a part of him was kind of discouraged. Which was...worrying. He was about to reply when a sudden gust of wind nearly made him lose his balance, threatening a repeat of the previous day. Using a hand to steady himself, he got back to his feet. "That would have been less than graceful..." he laughed nervously.

Kita nodded, a smile hidden behind one hand. She wouldn't have been able to contain herself if he'd fallen in again. She was about to make another prod at him when something very disturbing caught her eye. "Eric..." she said, not really sure what she was seeing. "Look at the trees."

Eric followed her gaze and saw that several of the trees down the river appeared to be suddenly shedding their leaves, leaving bare branches. But...aside from the fact that they had all previously been a verdant healthy green, he couldn't see any falling leaves either. "That's...odd."

The two of them watched as the next tree closest to them suddenly became barren, then the next. It was as if it something was traveling in a wave towards them, erasing the green from each tree to leave only gray bark remaining. The strange phenomena finally reached the branches of the trees next to them, and two things became very obvious.

The first was a sudden wave of cold air that made both of them gasp for breath as the wind picked up almost immediately. The second was that the leaves weren't falling, rather, they were actually folding up and retracting into their limbs! The only green left after this wave was that of a few coniferous appearing trees here and there that had needles rather than leaves.

"What the hell?!" Eric yelled, shivering as the wind continued to increase in severity. "Have you ever..." He turned back to Kita and saw her eyes wide in disbelief, looking not at the trees but over them. He followed her gaze and his stomach dropped as he saw rolling iron-gray clouds approaching faster than he knew was possible. He was mesmerized as he saw flashes of lightning, before the crash of thunder seconds later broke him out of his trance.

"Kita, back to the cave now!"

She nodded dimly, already having leaped to her feet. They both turned to run, but only managed to make it a few steps before what seemed like a solid wall of water engulfed them. The rain fell in heavy fat drops that pelted them mercilessly, causing both of them to trip as the deluge impaired their vision. Eric clipped the cantine to his belt and used one hand to shield his eyes while using the other to help Kita up as he got to his feet. Even with this, the wind, the near-freezing temperature, and the assault of water made it almost impossible to see. Half-blind, they stumbled through the forest back towards their shelter.

+++++++++

The trip back to the cave was a blur, and Eric was amazed that they hadn't gotten lost. Thankfully the ground seemed to be absorbing the heavy rainfall, as he realized they'd be in deep trouble if there had been flooding. Both of them were breathing heavily as they entered their shelter, absolutely exhausted. Eric cursed as he realized that the parts of his uniform he hadn't been wearing were close enough to the cave entrance to be just as soaked as the ones he was wearing. Worse yet, he noticed as he shoved them to the back of the cave, the fire had gone out. Luckily, the wood pile was still dry, so Eric quickly started a new fire further back as Kita wrung a stream of water out her hair. She was in the same situation as he was, with the remains of her armor and jumpsuit being inundated as well. She stared at it for a moment before kicking the wet jumpsuit to the back of the cave in frustration.

While the cave sheltered them from the worst of it, there was still a constant draft that intensified each time the wind gusted, so Eric propped up the powerless hover stretcher to shield the fire. Reasonably sure that it wasn't going to go out on him, Eric quickly opened his survival kit, taking out two thin plastic packages from it. Turning to Kita, who had slumped back against the cave wall across from him, he tossed her one of them. She wearily looked at him, her body language clearly indicating a question.

"Survival blanket" he said, pulling off his soaked shirt. "There's two sides to it. The shiny side is waterproof, the soft side is an insulator. Strip, use the waterproof side to scrape the water off yourself, and then wrap yourself in it, shiny side out." As he explained, he was rapidly peeling off everything he wore.

Kita blankly stared at the one he'd handed her. "Wait...strip?" she said, about to protest but going silent when he turned away from her and shucked off his shorts.

"Just do it." he said, unfolding the blanket. "If your military has any kind of survival training as part of the program, you know just as well as I do that you can't stay warm if you're wearing wet clothes, especially with it as cold as it is right now."

Realizing he was right, Kita reached behind herself. Wordlessly she peeled off her top before reaching back down behind her. Her cold fingers fumbled at the clasp at the back of her waistband that held shut the gap in her shorts for her tail. Finally she managed to undo it, sliding them down before following his instructions to dry herself. Finally uncliping the the cold spiked bands out of her hair, she wrapped the blanket around herself, huddling down as close as she could to the fire. Eric had already finished by this point, but she was so intent on getting warm that she didn't care if he'd seen her. It took her a moment to realize that he was speaking to her and holding out one of the ration packs.

"Eat, warm food is going to help."

She nodded, shivering slightly. "Thank you."

The two of them ate in silence, staying as close to the warmth of the flames as they could without burning themselves. Finishing, Eric glanced out of the cave, letting out an exasperated sigh as he realized that the heavy rain had turned to hail. "I'm really starting to hate this place."

Kita followed his gaze, rolling her eyes when she saw the change in weather. "I think this place is starting to hate us."

"Hah. You might be right. At least we managed to get back before that hit. I just hope that it doesn't get worse."

Thunder crashed outside, making both of them jump nervously. Eric looked back at Kita sheepishly. "Just...a little thunder..."

She glared at him. "Stop right there, and don't give it any ideas." she pulled the blanket tighter around herself, still shaking.

Eric laughed nervously. "Yeah, don't wanna jinx it. Seriously though, I've seen it worse than this a few times before, even before I joined as a medic."

"Oh?" Kita looked at him questioningly.

"Yeah...back on Earth even...I lived in a place called Kansas...the storms there often produced tornadoes."

"Tornado?" she asked, somewhat shakily. "I don't know that word, but it doesn't sound good"

Eric shook his head. "It's not. A tornado is a violent spinning column of air. They vary in strength. The smallest ones are maybe able to pull tiles off roofs, strip leaves off of trees, they're more of a general nuisance than anything. But the largest ones...they can flatten anything in their path. They've wiped entire towns off the map before."




Kita'thalla Ch. 06



Kita shuddered. "Never seen anything like that before, hope I never do. I've seen worse than this as well," she nodded her head towards the storm outside "several times, but, ah, we always had the appropriate survival gear as part of our armor. I came here wearing ship to ship combat gear, and of course I really...really didn't have time to grab anything... wreck on fire." she stuttered as her body started to quiver.

That last sentence caused alarm bells to go off in Eric's head. By this point he'd managed to warm up, feeling returning to his fingers and toes that had gone numb during their trip through the storm. Looking at Kita, she was still shivering heavily. "Kita, are you okay?" he asked, although he had a growing suspicion of what was happening.

"Y-yeah..." she replied. "I'm just...K-Ketra n-never gets this cold..."

Eric cursed. The drafts of wind that made their way into the cave were getting colder. She wasn't getting warmer either, and worse yet, the survival kit he had wasn't optimal for the situation. When the fleet first surveyed the planet, they'd seen a tropical environment just like the one he'd observed on the first day. So of course, most of his supplies were for the hazards of warmer environments, things like a mosquito net, sunscreen, and sunglasses. If they'd known the planet was capable of producing wild weather patterns like this, he probably would have been provided with cold weather gear as well. 

Eric moved around the fire to get a closer look. Just as he suspected, she was starting to breathe rapidly, and her lips, normally a deep brown color, were taking on a darker tone that in a human, would have been bluish in color. She looked away from him, telling evidence that she knew what was going on.

"Kita, you're not okay."

She shuddered and nodded. "M-My kind...we...we c-can s-survive many things. G-go weeks w-with low food,...b-but c-cold..." she shook her head. "N-not good..."

Eric looked out of the cave mouth, seeing no evidence of improvement, then looked back at the shivering Kita. Realization of what they had to do worked its way into his head, and he just hoped that she'd understand. At best this would be awkward, at worst, it would be deadly for her if she didn't follow. Moving back slightly, he took a deep breath before speaking. "Kita, I need you to lie down here next to the fire."

Kita looked at him, uncertain of where he was going with this. "W-what?"

"I'm going to lie next to you" he continued, doing his best not to show the nervousness in his voice "and we're going to wrap both of ourselves up in both blankets. I'm going to wrap my arms around you, you need to do the same to me, and we need as much skin to skin contact as possible."

Kita was speechless for a moment as she comprehended what he'd just asked. "Y-you want me to do what?" she stuttered. She'd heard him perfectly fine, but the idea of getting that close to a human, no less a naked one...

"Look" he said. "If we do this, we can share body heat, and there will be also less surface to lose warmth from. Right now you're still shivering, which means you haven't gone and done any damage to yourself yet, but we need to do this now, or you're going to get worse and it'll be harder to turn things around."

Kita registered something wrong in her mind. It wasn't what he was saying, it actually made perfect sense. She realized that she was agreeing with him way to easily. The thought of lying naked with a human, ordinarily repulsive...when she thought about him, the idea wasn't as daunting. No time to think about that now though, he was right. She was going to be in trouble if she didn't do something about the cold.

Eric held his breath as Kita eyed him, still shivering. Slowly she shifted her weight and moved to lie down next to him. Trembling as he laid himself next to her, Eric grabbed the edge of his blanket. Doing his best not to let precious heat escape, he enveloped the edge of his blanket over hers before slipping an arm inside to find her shoulder. With a bit of shifting, he was able to make it so both of them were wrapped up in the pair of blankets. He carefully moved his left arm under her neck while his right encircled her waist, and he lifted himself so that she could get her arm under him before pulling her close into an embrace. He tried to ignore the two soft mounds pressing into his chest as he brought her body against his, quivering as he made contact with her cool skin. 

The short fur covering her, while not soaking wet, was still a little damp, but the material on the inside of the survival blanket was designed to wick moisture away from the body, so he hoped that would help. He felt her tail snake over his thigh to wrap itself around his knee as she pulled him closer, and he shivered as he felt her bury her face between his shoulder and neck. Her hair smelled of the rain, and a pointed ear twitched as a stray breath from him tickled the tuft of hair at the end. Eric hooked his chin over her shoulder and settled in what he hoped would be a comfortable position for the both of them.

+++++++++

They laid there in silence for what seemed like an hour before she stopped shivering and Eric finally spoke. "You feeling better?"

He felt her nod. "I can feel my fingers again."

"Well...that's good" he replied. He was still having a hard time believing the situation he was in. Three days earlier she'd been trying to kill him, and now the two of them were lying together naked, pressed up against each other. The silence was starting to wear on him, but he couldn't think of anything to say in the current situation.

"What?" Kita asked. 

Eric realized he must have made some indication of his frustration. "Uh, nothing" he said. "Really, it's just...well, what does one talk about when they're lying next to someone in a cave without a stitch of clothing on either of them?"

"Heh, I was actually thinking the same thing." she replied. The silence aside from the raging weather outside was a little unnerving, but she was having no luck in coming up with anything to say. It didn't help that she was also a little distracted. Any doubt in her mind that Eric was a male of his species was fading fast as she tried to ignore whatever it was that was poking her in the stomach just below her navel. Trying to take her mind off of that, she pulled her arm out from under him and propped herself up on one elbow, glancing over at the pile of clothes they'd kicked to the back of the cave earlier. "Are those still wet?"

Eric gulped as the motion brought the upper curves of her breasts into sight. As close as he was to her, he didn't want to make the situation any more awkward by reacting to that. He turned to the pile and reached out to check their garments. Squelch. "Yeah, they're still soaked. We're probably going to have to wait till the storm stops and set them out somewhere to dry."

"Ah..." she said. "So, we're stuck like this for a while then."

Eric nodded slowly. "Yeah. And we should probably stay close still. I don't know how long that storm will last, but if it lasts to the point where we're falling asleep, we need to conserve as much warmth as we can." Eric took this opportunity to grab another piece of wood from the pile and threw it onto the dimming fire. Turning back to her, he wrapped his arm back around her waist and tried his best to focus on her face rather than the cleavage that was now exposed in the corner of his vision. "Are you comfortable?" he asked. 

She nodded. "I'm okay like this. Although..." she grimaced. "There's a stiff spot in my back from lying in the same position for so long. One moment."

She tried to reach behind her with her left arm over the top of her shoulder. This had the very noticeable effect of causing the entirety of her left breast to pop into view from under the blankets. Eric was stunned for a moment by the sight just inches away from him before hearing Kita groan.

"Thak cha..." she cursed in her own tongue, oblivious to the focus of Eric's attention. Eric closed his eyes to gather himself for a moment, as he was close to losing control of things down south. She finally gave up and pulled the covers back up.

"Where's the problem?" he asked, the question coming automatically before he realized what he was saying. In the back of his mind his voice of reason was setting off alarms, but he wasn't listening.

"You know that spot right between your shoulders that you can't really reach?" Kita replied, shifting herself around a little.

"Right here?" he asked, shifting the arm that had been around her waist upwards. A part of him was still yelling that this was a bad idea, but somehow he couldn't stop himself.

Kita froze as she felt his hand on her back move upwards. Yes, she'd just been in very close contact with him for most of the time since they'd sheltered themselves from the storm, but the way his hand had moved right up her spine sent chills racing back all the way down to the end of her tail. She nodded as he found the spot, her eyes flicking to meet his for a moment before looking away. "Yes, right..."

She drew a deep breath as he pressed in a slow rubbing motion. The part of her mind that had been yelling at her ever since she'd realized she didn't want to kill him was throwing a fit. It didn't matter that he'd helped heal her injury. It didn't matter that he'd treated her well. It didn't matter that he'd helped her survive both the inhabitants and the weather on a hostile planet. It didn't matter that she actually was really enjoying his company. He was a human, and she shouldn't be letting him get this close, much less touch her. There was only one problem, one that silenced all these complaints in a single instant.

It felt really, really good.

She tried to hold her breath as his hand moved away from the now gone tightness, wondering if that would be it. But no, he continued to rub several sore spots she didn't even realize were present across her shoulder blades, and finally letting go she was unable to prevent the exhaled breath from catching her vocal cords that reflexively tightened in pleasure.

Eric stopped as he heard something. Did she just growl at him? "Sorry, should I stop?" he asked.

Kita was silent for several seconds before she shook her head and mumbled something. 

Eric blinked, uncertain on what she'd said. "What was that?"

Golden eyes fixed on his gaze for a moment before she leaned in close and whispered two words into his ear.

"Don't stop"

Eric felt her grip on him tighten as he resumed his massage of her shoulder blades. He was probably lining himself up for major disappointment, that part of his mind told him, but at this moment he was focused on nothing but the beautiful creature clinging to him. He moved his right hand up past her shoulders and lightly ran his nails from behind her ear to the nape of her neck. He heard her inhale sharply as he ran his fingers through her fur, and suddenly his ear was filled with that rumbling sound he'd heard earlier when she exhaled. She wasn't growling. She was purring.

His left hand, joined the right, scratching her gently around her neck and ears. The intensity of her breathing and the volume of the purring increased as she pressed her face into his neck. The sound was intoxicating. A thought occurred to him, thinking back to his parent's cat at home. Dare he...? Before he could answer, his right arm was already moving down her back, and he felt the muscles beneath the skin ripple as he stroked the short silky fur covering her body. Slowly his right hand made its way down to her waist. Pausing for a moment as his mind made one last ditch effort to stop him, he continued downward to stop just above the swell of her shapely rear end.

Kita gasped as he gently scratched and massaged the base of her tail, right where it joined with her back. Her back arched and her top leg wrapped around his as she trembled at the sensations he was giving her. Eric became aware of warm soft folds pressing against his thigh, a feeling that made him quiver as he felt a certain part of himself rise to full mast. Heart pounding, he pulled away from her and looked at her face. Her eyes were wild with excitement, her lips slightly parted as she continued to breath and purr heavily. Gently cupping her head with one hand, he brought his face forward, brushing her nose with his and...

A bolt of lightning struck so close to the entrance of their cave that they felt the shock wave as thunder crashed, the sound causing both of them to clamp hands over their ears as it reverberated through the cave. Both of them stared out into the storm, breathing heavily both from their passion and the shock of the sudden blast that had interrupted it. Finally calming down as the ringing in their ears died, they looked at each other as they both comprehended what had almost happened.

Eric swallowed before speaking. "That was...wow, I'm glad we have the cave." he said, quickly deciding not to say anything about their...interaction.

Kita nodded warily. "Staying here would probably be the best idea"

Eric laughed nervously. "Tell me something I don't know..."

"What?" she asked, lying back down and pulling the blanket up around her as she realized her chest was exposed.

Eric shook his head. "Never mind. Just an expression" He looked around, making sure that nothing else was amiss. Seeing nothing, he threw another log on the fire before laying back. He found Kita staring at him wordlessly, although it looked like there was a lot she had to say. Personally, the sudden interruption had caused his mind to regain control. Eric looked away for a moment before looking back at her. "I uh...sorry. Did things get out of hand there?"

Kita's shook her head. "I...I don't know."

Well that didn't tell him much. He watched her ear twitching slightly, and remembered the thunderclap. "...you okay?" he asked. "That was...really loud."

Kita nodded. "Just startled me really." She yawned and closed her eyes. "Suddenly I'm really tired again."

"Backlash?" Eric asked. Kita nodded sleepily. "Okay then. You get some rest" he said.

Eric watched her get comfortable, at the same time constantly replaying the events of the past few minutes in his mind. He'd been so close to...well, he'd been close to doing a lot more than just that. The worry that had been growing in his mind the past few days was starting to become more than just that. But...she didn't seem to fight it. She had asked him not to stop so...didn't that make it okay?Tentatively he searched under the blanket until he found one of her hands. He smiled when she returned the squeeze he gave it. For now, everything was okay, he could sort it out tomorrow. He made himself comfortable. It would be a while before he was tired enough to sleep, but he was content stay, occasionally glancing out at the storm but mainly watching the sleeping alien woman next to him. 

Drifting off to sleep, Kita was still deep in thought about the recent event. She had no idea why she'd let him get that far. She recalled the moment when he'd brought his face close to hers, the feeling of his hand cupping her head. Everything he'd done up that point was...she'd never let anyone touch her like that before, much less a human. But that one moment. After wards, when he'd asked her if things had gotten out of hand, she was still sorting through her mind as to the answer. But now, she knew the truth of it. It had definitely gotten out of hand.

But she'd liked it. A lot. 



Kita'thalla Ch. 07



Sorry about the wait guys. A combination of Spring Break plus a week or two of hell at school put me behind track. On top of that, had the worst case of writers block as certain paragraphs and scenes just didn't want to sit on the page right. There's a few spots in here that I think are still a little rough, but I think I got it as good as it's ever going to be. Enjoy. 

+++++++++++

Kita awoke to natural light filtering into the cave. Either the storm had passed, or she'd slept all the way through the night, she wasn't sure. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and moved to stand, when the blanket slid off her shoulder, suddenly reminding her of her state of dress, or lack thereof. The events of the previous night solidified in her mind and she turned to see Eric fast asleep next to her. She watched as he yawned in his sleep and reflexively pulled the blanket closer to his body as her movement caused it to slide. Over and over, the previous night replayed itself in her mind as she stared at the alien face that had been mere inches away from hers, the fingers lacking claws that had given her so much pleasure the previous night. She still couldn't get it through her head that she'd let him do that. Never in her entire life had she let anyone get that close, not even other Ketrals.

Especially not any males.

But even as she told herself that it had been wrong, she couldn't silence the part of her mind that reminded her how it had felt. She quivered as she remembered the hand that had traveled down her back, right to her tail and...she had no idea how he'd known about that spot. And while she had no idea how human mating rituals worked, the way he'd drawn her face close to his and brushed his nose across hers, there was something unmistakably intimate about it. And even as she'd writhed under his touch, she remembered feeling something pressing into her stomach, just below her navel, very close to her...well, if that didn't indicate what she suspected, she didn't know what would. Although, it did occur to her, she still hadn't seen what he looked like completely naked. Yes, she was pretty sure she'd felt evidence of his manhood the previous day, but was there any comparison between humans and Ketrals? For all she knew, things might work completely differently and his biology might not be compatible with hers and...

By the First Hunters, what the hell was she thinking?

She looked away from the sleeping human trying to put the thought out of her mind. Mating...she'd tried to avoid it at all cost back home. Everyone knew what happened then. And yet suddenly she was sitting here wondering if a human she'd spent a few days with would be able to...it just wasn't right! And yet she couldn't stop her eyes from being drawn back to him, the blanket hiding everything that she was curious about. She wasn't sure whether or not she was grateful for that fact. A nagging part of her curiosity suggested that since he was asleep, she could probably sneak a look, but she quickly dismissed that. It would be embarrassing beyond all reason if he woke up to find her peeking.

Looking over him, she saw the pile of discarded clothes that had been kicked to the back of the cave. She was about to try and reach for them before realizing that any effort to do so would bring her into contact with him. Not only would it possibly wake him up, but he'd probably open his eyes to a very close view of her cleavage, something she guessed would be a little too interesting for him, based on her earlier observations. Well, he was asleep now, so what was he going to see? With that in mind, she slid out from under the blankets, doing her best not to shift them too much. The air was back up to it's normal tropical temperature, something she was very grateful for. She stepped around the sleeping human, crouching down to examine the discarded garments. To her dismay, they were still very damp, not at all in any state to be worn. Mentally she cursed, her tail reflexively flicking in irritation as she suppressed a growl. Her annoyance quickly shifted to a sinking feeling in her stomach as she felt the end of her tail brush up against something, followed by a groan.

+++++++

Eric grunted, muttering and swatting at his face as something brushed across his nose. Feeling nothing, he decided it must have just been a bug of some kind, and since it didn't seem to have stung or bitten him, it wasn't a problem. Opening his eyes, he blinked a few times from the sunlight, noticing that Kita wasn't lying next to him anymore. Huh, that was odd. Maybe she'd left to take care of the call of nature, he thought groggily. That wasn't good, what if she was attacked by something? He grabbed the pistol sitting next to the campfire embers before slowly getting to his feet, the blanket slipping off of him as he stood. Wandering to the entrance of the cave, he looked out into the forest, searching for her, before realizing that despite the warm air temperature, it felt a little...drafty. He looked down at himself. Oh right. No clothes. The memories of the previous night came to him, and he realized that it would be really awkward if she returned with him standing here exposing himself to the forest. Well, he couldn't see her now, so he probably had time to get dressed. Turning back to the cave, he looked towards the pile of clothes they'd discarded the night before and...

Kita. Naked Kita. Eric dropped the pistol in shock, unable to move as he made out her form against the back of the cave. Even in the dim light, it was easy to make out the shape of her body, the soft curves of her breasts contrasting with the toned athletic firmness of her abdomen. He suddenly noticed where her golden eyes were focused on. While he was a doctor and was used to the sight of a naked body, in this case it took all his self control not to react as his mind wondered if there was any way that this could have been more awkward.

++++++++

Kita wondered if this could have gone any worse. When she'd had realized he was stirring, she'd plastered herself to the back wall of the cave, holding her breath. Maybe if she was quiet, he'd just go back to sleep and she could resume her previous position under the blankets. At least he'd be expecting that. That of course, hadn't happened. She found herself unable to move as he stood and walked to the cave entrance, clearly only half awake. Move, she told herself, she could grab one of the blankets and cover herself. But her body hadn't listened, and now she found herself once again exposed to him, although this time her attention was quickly grabbed by something else.

Definitely a male. Absolutely no question about it. The member sprouted from a thick growth of hair at his groin, hanging limp between his legs. It appeared to be covered by a sheath of some kind, and behind it she could clearly see the fleshy sack that most likely carried his seed. Proportionally, it was about the same size as what she knew Ketral males had, but...it still looked very different from what she knew of her own kind. And on top of that, though she couldn't be sure, it seemed to be entirely outside of his body, which meant that either he was unable to retract it or...

Stopping that thought before it got out of control, she forced her eyes to look up at his face, seeing a wide eyed expression of utter surprise and shock. Their eyes finally locked and it seemed like an eternity before he spoke.

"...I uh...thought you'd left." he said, somewhat shakily.

She gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. "No, I'm still here."

He gave a slight nod. "Good. It would have been bad if you'd run into something...out there."

She returned the nod. "Yes. It would have."

There was another awkward pause before he spoke again. "Are those dry yet?" he waved towards the heap of clothes on the ground.

She shook her head. "No. They're still wet."

He nodded. "I see." He finally managed to break his eyes away from hers, and looked off to the side. "We should probably find somewhere to set them out. Let the sun dry them."

"The rocks by the river...they'd work. Out of the shade."

"Yes, they would." he nodded very matter-of-factly. He looked back at her, then down to the cave floor, forcing his eyes not to linger on her chest or the light fur that drew attention to the secrets between her legs. "At least the blankets are dry" he said.

His mention of the blankets snapped her out of the tension that had kept her from moving. Trying not to look too desperate, she quickly knelt down and grabbed one of the blankets, turning around to wrap herself in it. Behind her, she heard Eric move across the cave to grab the other. Turning after she'd finished, she saw that he'd made some kind of makeshift cloak out of the blanket, and was now looking considerably less tense than he had before. They stared at each other for a moment before he tried to speak again. 

"Sorry, that was just a little uh..." 

She shook her head, cutting him off. "Lets just get this stuff dry"

+++++++++ 

The journey to the river was thankfully uneventful, aside from the fact that they kept having to slow down whenever they reached a rough part of the forest floor. Kita saw that her earlier observation about his feet had proved correct, although it was clear his kind was not well adapted to rough terrain without the foot coverings they wore. The comparatively large, flat feet that he possessed were vulnerable to sticks, thorns, rocks, anything sharp. With that being said, she did notice it afforded him a better sense of balance than a ketral as it gave him a larger base to stand on. Several times he was balanced on one foot trying to find a safe spot to place his next step, without the assistance of a tail to counter-balance no less, something that would be difficult for a ketral.

Upon reaching the usual spot, they laid their still wet garments out on the flat rocks surrounding the small inlet. Kita looked down the river, noticing that despite the clear blue skies they were seeing now, the storm had still left it's mark. The weather from the previous day had knocked down several trees along the riverbank, including one that had been of an impressive height before the bank had given out beneath it. It had fallen clear across the river, with its gnarled roots protruding from the bank on one side and its skeletal canopy a tangled mess on the other. The river itself was also at a somewhat higher level, still swollen from the heavy downpour the previous day. Glancing over at Eric, she could see he was also taking in the changes to their surroundings.

"And you said that you'd seen worse on your home planet?" she asked, indicating the new bridge across the river with a nod of her head as she sat next to the drying garments.

Eric nodded grimly, taking a seat next to her. "Oh yes. Still, even in my book yesterday was bad."

"What's a book?"

Eric laughed. There were even humans who'd ask that question. "It's an ancient method of storing information before the time of computers. But anyways, it's just a saying. As for the weather, I'm just glad it only lasted a day. We're going to have to keep an eye out though, if the weather can change that rapidly."

She nodded, glancing nervously at the still clear horizon. "Even with the trees changing, it didn't give much warning. At least for now it's passed."

"Yeah, looking at the sky you wouldn't know what happened. I think it's actually warmer than it has been the past few days."

"It is. This is actually a lot closer to what I'm used to on Ketra."

"Oh really?" he looked over at her. "You did mention that it doesn't get very cold on your planet. Is it always warm there?"

"Well, it does get cooler in the nights, but only just, there isn't a great range between day and night. Even during the cold half of our planet's cycle, it never gets so cold that water becomes solid, even near the poles, except in the highest mountains. During the warm part of the cycle, when Ketra comes closer to our Sun, it gets much warmer than this. Even when it rains, it stays warm. In fact, in the past, the heavy rains of the hot season were always a sign of good hunting for our ancestors, as prey would be abundant near lakes in the grasslands."

"Sounds like a nice enough place to live." Eric said, listening intently.

"Well...I didn't say it was perfect." Kita replied. "It wasn't easy for the first hunters. A failed hunt meant starvation not just for the hunters, but for everyone that depended on them. There were also territory wars between cadres, the dry seasons, and great sicknesses. And as we saw a few days ago, no matter how much of a predator you are, there's always something bigger. We weren't the only ones out there. Thankfully we didn't taste good to the raktos or pachans that shared the grasslands with us, but they were often at odds with us for prey, and once the prime rakto of a pack declared a kill his, there wasn't really much that the hunters could do. Worse yet, they always marked their food with their scent, scaring off any other prey for a great distance, so not only would our ancestors have lost the kill, they also had to travel in search of a new hunt."

"Interesting." Eric replied. He looked at her intently. "You speak of all this as if it happened just yesterday, the history of your people. I take it they're important to your kind?"

Kita sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "I suppose you could say that."

Eric blinked. He'd run into another wall with her. "That wasn't a clear yes or no." he said, deciding to see if he could get just a little more out of her.

Kita looked like she was mulling something over in her mind for a moment before speaking. "Traditionally, we place great importance on our ancestors, both those in the far past, as well as those that can be traced through each family line. It's because of their strength that we exist today, and we honor them for what they accomplished, and also draw faith from the strength that they passed on to us today. There are some families that can trace their line all the way back to a specific hunter from a cadre back in the old times. It's not common, but some of them even have remains from the hunters back then."

"You keep mentioning 'cadres'. Is that some kind of grouping?" Eric asked.

Kita nodded. "A cadre is a group of maybe ten to twenty family houses that would cooperate when hunting, as well as share land. The structure also serves to control and keep track of matings, to prevent inbreeding. So a ketral belongs to both to a cadre, as well as to a family house. The cadre itself is ruled by the elders of each house, although some have greater influence based on the success of warriors from their house."

"Wait..." Eric looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "A lot of what you just said was present tense. You mean that this structure is still in place?"

"...after a fashion. Eventually, cadres started working together as our population grew and land disputes became more common. I won't go into the details, but over the course of many, many generations of war, cadre unions formed, dissolved, some rose to great power, others were conquered, and throughout all the wars, our technology increased as each cadre sought to outdo the other. By the time we got tired of fighting each other, it only took a few generations for us to achieve space travel once the unions decided to work together instead of killing each other. Once that happened, Ketra came under the ruling of a single body, run by the leaders of each of the cadre unions. Since we're no longer a hunter society, a lot of the old traditions are no longer practiced obviously...but the old structure remains."

As she had been explaining all of this, Eric noticed that her voice had gone near monotone again, the way she'd been in previous days when under stress, and her eyes had focused on a random spot at her feet. One hand had also worked its way out from under her blanket to subconsciously fiddle with the long braid of hair that was currently draped over one shoulder in front of her. It was of a very impressive length, he noticed, past her waist when she was standing, and was much less threatening without the spiked bands in it. Returning his concentration to her face and their conversation, he realized he was treading on thin ice again, although he wasn't sure why.

"Kita, is something wrong? You didn't seem too keen on answering that last question."

Kita looked back at him. "Up to this point, no, nothing is wrong. I'm afraid however, that's all that I can tell you."

"You mean...you'd rather talk about something else."

She nodded. "Yes, if you don't mind."

Eric realized he'd probably reached his limit on that subject. Her body language and speech were very similar to when he'd asked her what her name meant, suggesting that this was one of those "complicated" things. "No, I don't mind" he replied, deciding he wouldn't press his luck.

"Thank you. So, tell me, what is your world like? You said yesterday was bad, but you'd seen worse? Is your planet hostile?"

Eric laughed. "Well, for a while it was. Early modern humans weren't very conscious of the effect they had on the planet. After a few centuries of industry, our planet had actually warmed up due to the various gases and chemicals that accumulated in the air. Warmer air meant more violent weather. It wasn't until someone cracked the secret of the sustained fusion reaction that we finally got things under control. Clean energy from water with only helium as the end result allowed us to stop burning what remained of our fuel reserves, and the planet has only just returned to what might have been it's natural state."

Kita nodded. "During our wars, we made a similar mistake. Much of Ketra was scarred, and today only a few areas remain as they were in the days of the hunters. The rest has been taken by our cities, and most of our food production actually comes from other worlds we have settled on."

"Sounds just like us, even if for different reasons." he replied. "In any case...Terra is a very mixed planet. It's tilted on its axis, so as it orbits our sun, the orientation changes throughout the cycle. As a result, while there is a very warm band around the center of the planet that is always closest to the sun, near the poles even ocean water is frozen. And in between, you've got just about every climate imaginable. Terra also has large oceans, and when you throw in the uneven heating of land and water by the sun, the weather becomes near unpredictable more than ten days in advance due to the air currents. Depending on where you are, this can mean anything from a breezy day or light rain, all the way up to thunderstorms, snowstorms, or tornadoes."

Kita looked at him in amazement. "How do humans live with that kind of weather?"

Eric shrugged. "Well, the truly dangerous weather isn't an every day occurrence thankfully. During the warmest parts of the year in Kansas, while it does produce storms and tornadoes, it's usually something closer to what we have right now, although it's not as humid. On my days off back home I'd be hoping for weather like this so I could go out and unwind, maybe play a game of golf or take a swim in the lake."

Kita looked at him sideways. "I know what swimming is, but golf? What kind of game is that?"

Eric chuckled, shaking his head. "You know, if I told you, you'd probably think I was crazy. In any case, I just might take up your suggestion from yesterday, best to take a swim while the weather holds out. And what's so funny?" he asked, seeing a smile appear on Kita's face.

"What's funny is that normally I'm the one asking for time alone. Now it's reversed. I suppose you want me to leave you alone? But wait," she indicated the half full holster sitting next to the drying clothes with an exaggerated sweep of her hand. "Because someone went and fed one of the weapons to a tree monster, we only have one pistol, and need to stay together."




Kita'thalla Ch. 07



Eric was silent for a moment, glancing at the weapon before looking back at Kita. "Actually..." he said, getting to his feet. "I was just thinking...after this morning, and particularly after yesterday, it seems a little silly to be caring about that any more. Especially with us having only one weapon left."

Kita barely heard the second half of what he said. She'd been wondering if he'd remembered what had happened during the storm, and her mind had stopped dead upon his mention of it. Now that it was clear that he had remembered, the situation was a little more uncertain. While this morning had clearly been an accident, yesterday...she clearly remembered telling him not to stop, and she had no idea what he'd have to say about it. Or what she'd say in return if they did talk about it. And would it---

She was interrupted by a spray of water cascading over her. Absorbed in her thoughts, she hadn't seen the wicked grin that crossed Eric's face as he saw that the water level in the small inlet was considerably higher than the previous days, making the center several feet deep. Nor had she noticed him drop his covering and leap, tucking his arms and legs into a perfect cannonball. While the waterproof survival blanket did keep most of her dry, her face and hair were not so protected. Wiping water out of her eyes, she glared at him as he surfaced, the stupid grin still on his face.

"Rragh'cha...What was that for?!" she yelled, water still dripping from her hair into her eyes.

"You looked to serious. I had to do something to lighten up the mood." he replied, lazily drifting away from her, the water coming up to just under his armpits. 

She gave him an incredulous look. "Am I missing something? How is getting me wet going to lighten the mood?"

"What, you never got into a water fight before when you were young?" Eric asked.

"When I...how does acting like a cub have anything to do with this?"

Eric shrugged. "If we're stuck down here, we're not part of the fighting going on up there" he indicated the sky. "Might as well take advantage of it. It's been ages since I had the chance to just relax, and maybe that means being a little silly. The opportunity for a surprise cannonball was just too good to pass up."

"Cannon...wait, what?" she asked, clearly confused.

"Ancient sailing warships on Terra had cannons that fired ball shaped shot. This was before exploding shells were invented." he explained. "And of course, you can imagine the results if a shot missed and hit water instead of the target. Now, if you jump into the water with your arms and legs tucked in, the results are similar. So we call it a cannonball."

Kita stared at him wordlessly for a moment before shaking her head. "I swear...only humans would come up with a name for something so pointless."

"Hey..." he interjected. "It's not pointless. Water fights remember?"

"I fail to see your point."

Eric rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I give up. Sorry for trying to lighten the mood"

Kita shook her head again, grabbing the pistol from its holster before standing up. "Humans..."

"Hey, where you going?" 

"I have a personal matter to attend to, and with you in the water there's no risk of you speaking to me and causing 'stage fright' as you put it last time."

"Is it really necessary for you to take the gun?" he called after her.

"Oh be quiet, it's your fault we only have one left. Besides, I have better hearing than you, I'll stay close enough to hear anything that tries to come after you."

"Fine, just...be careful!" Eric yelled as she disappeared, suddenly feeling somewhat vulnerable as the only answer was the sounds of the forest and the running river. The crash of a tree branch falling made him jump. Maybe he was the one that needed to be careful...

++++++++++++++++

Kita only had to walk a short distance before finding a suitable place out of sight from the river. She could still hear him splashing around as she dug a hole deep enough for her needs. Crouching down, she was still amazed at how noisy he was, even when he wasn't talking. When their food ran out, she'd have to teach him how to move silently. She'd actually heard and seen evidence of prey several times, but with him tramping around she'd never actually caught sight of it. She heard him slip and make an even larger splash before coming up, spitting out water. Maybe she'd have to teach him sooner...

Finishing up and filling in the hole with the earth she'd excavated earlier, Kita stood and wrapped herself in the blanket which she'd hung on a nearby branch. The gauss pistol was also right where she'd left it on the ground within easy reach. Picking it up, she took a moment to examine the weapon. It was very different to the sidearms carried by her military, although that wasn't surprising, as her kind used a form of projected plasma energy system, while his species used a solid projectile. She recalled using it a few days earlier against the tree monster, and thinking back to it she was actually fairly impressed. 

While it did have a kickback that took some getting used to, for such a small weapon it did pack a punch. The high speed projectile, faster than the shot from one of her weapons, still left a trail as it ignited the atmosphere, but it wasn't as traceable as a bolt from a plasma weapon, giving more of an advantage in surprise attacks. The only issue was that it required a supply of ammo, although the small bore of the weapon suggested that a good number of shots could probably fit in the magazine before reloading. For now, she just hoped they'd never run into enough problems to run out of ammunition before they found another means of defense.

Turning back towards the river, a scent caught her attention. Not at all unpleasant, in fact it was quite the opposite. She stopped in her tracks, turning her head as she tried to determine its source. Off to her right, she followed it to a tree with low hanging branches. It was rich in dark green spear shaped leaves, apparently the source of the aroma. There was something familiar about it, she couldn't quite put her finger on it as she approached closer, but she was drawn to it, though she couldn't figure out why. Coming within an arms reach of the lowest branches, she reached out, feeling the leaves between her fingers. Nothing particularly unusual, aside from the very pleasant scent that issued from them. Breaking off a handful, she brought them to her face, chills racing down her spine as the aroma flooded her nostrils.

+++++++++

Sitting on a convenient submerged rock near the edge of the inlet, Eric once again scanned the forest for any sign of Kita. She'd been gone for several minutes now, and hadn't responded to her name. This was starting to get a little worrying. He was considering leaving the water to search for her when a quick movement at the edge of the forest caught his eye.

"Kita?" He asked tentatively. The only response was something thrown out of the underbrush. It looked like the survival blanket, balled up. Eric stared at it, confused. Either she was in a very strange mood, or something had gotten her and was taunting him. Looking back to the place in the forest where it had come from, he squinted, trying to make out anything that might give a hint on what was going on. Nothing. Glancing back at the blanket, he noticed it was wrapped around something. Just as he was about to pull himself up on to the bank, a sound behind him made him turn to see something in a blur leaping off the bank from the other side of the inlet towards him.



Kita'thalla Ch. 08



My apologies, yet again, for being absent so long. Don't worry, I fully intend to finish this story, I'm not gonna leave you guys hanging. Final exams were crazy for me, summer got busy, and one or two paragraphs just didn't look right until being re-written about a hundred times. In any case....enjoy

+++++

Eric had only a second to register Kita flying through the air, completely naked with her knees tucked to her chest, braid trailing behind her, before she hit the water's surface, blinding him with a torrent of water. Wiping his eyes and snorting to clear his nose, he turned in bewilderment to the bubbling that indicated where she'd impacted the surface. And she'd gotten angry at him for doing that to her? Granted, he was already wet, but still, after the argument about acting like a kid...wait, where was she? The bubbling had subsided, and there was no sign of her. Eric looked around, searching for any hint at where she'd surfaced. How long could she hold her breath anyways? If she didn't come up any time soon...

Four very light pinpricks on the side of his neck immediately caught his attention, freezing him instantly.

"It would be so easy..." he heard a low predatory voice whisper into his ear "To just slit your throat. You'd be dead from loss of blood within, as you'd say, minutes."

Eric gulped nervously as the claws tightened ever so slightly. "Uh...Kita? What...are you doing?"

"Or..." she said softly, suddenly moving the hand up to the side of his chin, her other hand on the back of his head as she pulled him against her. "I could snap your fragile little neck. Leave you here to drown, unable to move anything below your chin."

"Hah...right..." he stammered, unable to move a muscle. He could feel her warm breath on his ear, her soft breasts pressed up against his back. However, there were other more pressing matters at hand! Had he really gotten her that angry with his cannonball stunt?

"So many different ways to kill you..." she drawled. Eric winced as she leaned forward and lightly nipped the base of his neck with her fangs, not hard enough to draw blood but still making the message very clear. "I've lost track of just how many I've ended this way...Never even seeing the face of the one that took their life. Not that it would matter, a kill is a kill..."

"Kita, you're uh...scaring me here," he managed to say, frantically trying to figure a way out of her death grip.

"Oh don't worry...it will all be over soon." She purred into his ear, and his stomach dropped as he felt her inhale and...

Give him a very wet sloppy lick across his ear.

Eric clapped his hand to the side of his face to wipe off his ear, cursing before he realized that Kita had released him and was now leaning against the bank laughing uncontrollably. Eric stared at her, flabbergasted as his mind fought between indignant anger and utter confusion, his heart still racing from her death grip on him.

"You...you should have heard the way your heart was beating!" she finally managed, calming down. "I really had you there!"

"Kita!" he finally found the words to speak. "That wasn't funny! I thought you were actually angry with me and were going to...well..."

"What, you never got into a play fight when you were young" she replied, mimicking his tone from earlier and giving him that kitten eyes look again.

"No, well, I mean, I..." he stuttered. Why was she able to pull off that look so easily, especially after everything she'd done moments earlier? Those golden eyes were way too effective to belong to a killer. Especially when they were wide and dilated like that...wait. He suddenly recalled the last time he'd seen those eyes, a night involving some very unusual fire wood. This coupled with the strange playful tone in her voice made an almost audible click in Eric's mind as he realized what was going on.

"Oh you have got to be joking!" the words inadvertently escaped his lips.

"Of course!" she replied, moving towards him. "You don't think I'd actually have done any of that to you." Eric bumped up against the bank at the other side of the inlet, realizing that unconsciously he'd been backing away from her. She stopped just a foot short of him. "You see" she continued with a mischievous smile "I like you."

Eric blinked. "Hah...Really?" was the only response he could manage in the current situation. She'd already shown just how unpredictable she could be when she was hopped up on catnip, and he had no idea where she was going now. On top of that, those eyes, the smile, the dripping wet hair framing her face, her breasts rising into view as she stepped into shallow water, it was all very, very, distracting.

"Of course..." she purred, then feigned a look of sympathy. "Oh, what's wrong, still shaken?" she suddenly placed her hands on the bank behind him, ducking down to put her ear right up to his chest. Eric drew a sharp breath as her hair brushed across his skin. "Yes, you are! Still a little too much excitement for you?" she inquired playfully, turning her head to look right up at him.

You have no idea, he thought.

"Well then..." she continued, rising up so that her eyes were level with his, their noses almost touching. "Maybe we should...what was it you said, 'lighten the mood'?"

"What...exactly did you have in mind?" he asked unsteadily. Eric was grateful that throughout this, she hadn't pressed up against his body. Not even the cold water was putting a damper on his "excitement", something that thankfully remained hidden as the water level was just a little higher than his navel at the moment. Somehow she'd managed to make him go from being scared out of his wits to being just as aroused as he'd been the previous night in the space of a few minutes.

"Oh I'm sure you can guess at what I have in mind..." she said, backing up slightly but moving her hands from the bank behind him to the sides of his face. Time seemed to stand still for him as he stared at her, the water droplets in her hair glistening in the sunlight as she smiled at him, a true vision of beauty. Abruptly time resumed as he suddenly found himself underwater, the victim of a very rapid and effective dunking.

Spitting out a mouthful of water as he surfaced, Eric yet again cleared his eyes of water as the sound of Kita giggling reached his ears. He turned towards her and brought his arm up just in time to shield his eyes from another spray of water. Kita lazily floated away from him, shoulders low in the water and a devilish look on her face. He stared at her incredulously. Even though he knew why she was acting like this, it was still just such a departure from the normal that he was having trouble comprehending it.

"What's the matter?" she taunted, suddenly stopping and lobbing another scooped handful of water at him. "Weren't you the one who was asking for a water fight?"

"I..." he started, caught off guard. He HAD been the one that started this, in a left handed sort of way. The only nagging question at the back of his mind was what exactly would happen if things got out of control? Although, she had already indicated that she didn't want to hurt him, even after getting him into a very vulnerable position, and besides...Another splash of water caught him off guard.

Oh to hell with it.

Extending one arm out with his palm flat, fingers closed, Eric swept it across the surface of the inlet like an oar, sending a cascade of water towards Kita, eliciting a peal of laughter from her. The next few minutes were a blur of splashing and laughing as the two exchanged salvos of water, playing a game of cat and mouse as they switched between guarding themselves and soaking the other.

Suddenly Kita threw her hands up and yelled "Wait! Wait!" turning around. "Water in my eyes!" she said, gasping for air as she tried to stop laughing, clearing water and hair out of her face with one hand.

Eric folded his arms, grinning, his earlier scare with her completely forgotten. "Had enough?"

Kita's responded by straightening her legs, popping her shapely rear end out of the water to flick water at him with her tail. Eric laughed, covering his eyes. "Hey, no fair! That's fighting dirty!"

Kita stopped flicking water at him, settling back down in the water with her back still turned to him. "No, but THIS IS!" she stood and whirled around, and Eric barely had time to turn his head and close his eyes as a mud ball smacked into the side of his head, knocking him off balance into the water.

Kita giggled at first, seeing the bubbles where he'd gone under, but then stopped when he didn't come up. "Eric?" she said aloud, never mind the fact that there was no way he'd hear her under there. A swirl of water around her knees made her grin as she remembered her earlier trick. So he thought he could sneak up on her? She spun around, preparing to catch him...

Only to hear a splash of water behind her as he surfaced and circled her waist with his arms. Eric grinned over her shoulder as he saw that his feint had worked. Kita laughed, grabbing his wrists, her tail snaking around his waist. "Very clever, but what now?" She knew she was taller and heavier than he was, so what did he expect to do from this position?

For a second he appeared to let go. What was he...

"EEEEE! NO! NOT FAIR!!! HAHAHA!!!" Kita yelled as he dug his fingertips into her sides, tickling without mercy as she squirmed and tried to get out of his grip. The awkward angle made it near impossible, and she finally lost her footing and fell backwards on top of him, still gasping for breath as she flailed around. The two fell into a heap in the water, floundering for a moment before making it to a more shallow part of the inlet. Kita pulled herself up against the bank, gasping for breath before turning around to find Eric just inches away, his hands on the bank on either side of her shoulders.

Kita blinked. Somehow he'd put her into the same situation that she'd inflicted on him earlier. He stared right into her eyes, his breathing heavy with exertion, a wild grin on his face. She smiled back at him slyly, slipping her hands under his armpits to grab his shoulders from behind. "Oh, so you caught me again? Well if you take me down, you're going under with me!" To emphasize the point, she pulled him closer.

He only just managed to stop himself from falling on top of her. Their noses brushed as he regained his balance, causing them both to freeze as their eyes locked. He'd been in this position once before the previous night, the sudden interruption that had stolen the opportunity from him. And now he found himself here again. Dare he...?

Their noses brushed again. Was he imagining things, or did she pull him closer? The sounds of the river and the forest faded into nothingness as he listened to her breathing, still just as heavy as his. She still had her hands on his back, still hadn't pushed him away. His heart skipped a beat as he felt pressure on his back, drawing him close so that they were touching again. Tentatively he brushed her lips with his own, waiting for her to finally push him away, yell at him, or worse. No...her hands were still on his back, still holding him there. It was now or never. Closing his eyes, he took one last deep breath before going for it.

She didn't react to the first kiss. Later it would occur to him that she probably had no idea what was going on, but since she hadn't freaked out on him, he pressed on anyways. The second one however...his heart leaped as she pulled him closer, her intensity making up for the clumsiness as she tried to mimic his kiss. He groaned as he felt her breasts flattened against his chest, the soft velvety fur covering her body, her perfectly toned abdomen pressing his engorged shaft against his own stomach.

And then it was over. She suddenly broke the kiss and pushed him away, the suddenness of it causing him to stumble back, nearly winding up underwater again as he worked to regain his footing. Finally stabilizing himself, he looked back to see a look somewhere between shock and confusion on her face, her eyes wide...and no longer wild and dilated as she stared back at him.

Oh shit

 "Kita...I uh..." he tried to find the words as she blinked a few times, the same look still on her face. "I can explain..."

"What...just happened?" she asked, unsteadily.

That's it. I'm dead. He thought, trying to figure out if there was any way he could talk himself out of this, or escape her. But how the hell was he going to manage that? He'd just taken advantage of a deadly alien while she was under the influence of some kind of psychoactive substance, and now she'd come to! Never mind the moral implications, this was the kind of thing that earned people a Darwin award!

"The last thing..." he jumped as he realized she was speaking again. "The last thing I remember, I was walking back, and there was something that caught my attention." she said, not really looking at him anymore. "I don't remember what it was though..." she said, shaking her head.

"Was it..." he said in a very high pitched voice before clearing his throat and starting again. "Was it...a tree of some kind?"

She blinked. "Yes. It was." she was staring back at him again. "How did you know?"

"When you got back, you were acting .kind of like you were that one night. With the cards." Eric managed to stammer out, his heart about to explode as he waited for her reaction.

"It was the scent that caught my attention..." she said slowly, then looked at him sharply. "Wait...was it THAT kind of tree?"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault this time!" he held his hands up defensively. "I took out all of that wood from our pile, you're the one who walked into it!"

She nodded slowly. "Yes. I did. I guess...I'll just have to watch out for it from now on." Turning around, she pulled herself up the bank, water streaming off her lithe body as she got to her feet. "The clothes are probably dry by now" she said over her shoulder. "I'm going to lie down for a bit to dry off. Let me know when you're done."

Eric was too dumbfounded to really appreciate the figure she posed as she walked away. Had he really just gotten away with that? He sat in the water for another fifteen minutes, the recent events playing through his mind over and over again as he tried to figure out how he'd escaped that one, and why she hadn't commented on the awkward circumstances she'd apparently awakened to.

++++

Not looking back at the human still in the water, Kita bent down to retrieve the survival blanket that was wrapped around the pistol. Placing the weapon next to the blanket and the pile of clothes belonging to Eric, she grabbed her own garments before walking a short distance to a large slab of rock next to the river bank, spreading out the blanket and lying down to let the sunlight dry her. She stared blankly at a fluffy white cloud overhead, far more innocent than the ones that had assaulted them the previous day.

She remembered everything

Yes, she'd been acting strange for a while. The leaves from the tree had done something to her, made her act like...well, like a cub. However, they hadn't had as strong of an effect as the smoke from the fire, and she not only remembered everything, but actually had some control over what she was doing. The flying "cannonball" as he'd called it, had seemed the most appropriate revenge in return for what he'd done to her, especially when he had no idea what was going on. And her play stalking of him after wards....it still seemed kind of funny in retrospect, even if she had been threatening him with fatal consequences.

She knew she was being provocative when she followed him into the shallows by the bank. The water only came up to her stomach and she'd already learned how much human males liked the chest of a female. She didn't need to put her ear to his chest to hear his heartbeat, but she'd done it anyways, not just to make him squirm, but also to satisfy the curiosity of touching him again. It was odd, the way he had only a sparse covering of hair across his body, but his skin...the texture was definitely alien, but it was soft, and not at all unpleasant to the touch. And while he wasn't as developed as a ketral male, she could feel the musculature beneath, obviously developed by his training in his own military.

From that point onward, she'd slowly regained her senses. He'd rapidly figured out earlier what she'd run into while she was out attending to business. Maybe she'd still been a little loopy, but she had decided to keep playing along, seeing where it would lead. Because as much as she hated to admit it, it was fun. It had been how long, since she'd really been able to just enjoy something like that? She couldn't remember. It would have to have been before she'd even reached maturity. When she was, indeed, just a cub. She had enjoyed it.

And when she'd resorted to fighting dirty, and he'd responded by tickling her. She didn't know why, but it was endearing. It wasn't a particularly affectionate gesture, but it definitely wasn't hostile either. It was downright cheeky. And it had made her laugh, yet again. After all these years of never laughing, partly due to not having anything to laugh about, in the space of a few days with this human she'd found her sense of humor again. She'd spoken to him without worrying about the protocol of family, house, rank...they just talked. She'd let him in on parts of her past she'd never spoken to anyone about. Parts that were sometimes painful to bear alone.

She remembered when he'd cornered her. She hadn't noticed it before, but his eyes were almost the exact same color as the storm clouds that had assaulted them the day prior. Very different from the gold or brown color that was common to her people. Rarely her kind had blue or even green colored eyes, but never the iron gray color she saw in his. It was exotic. That voice in the back of her mind had also been acting up again, yelling at her and asking why she was this close to him, but she had been unable to pull away. She remembered the previous night in the cave, the first time when he'd gotten this close. She'd recalled what he'd done to her then, how things had gotten way out of hand and yet...she'd liked it. She had wanted to know more. What would happen if she didn't push him back? If she let him continue?

He'd seemed to want something, but also seemed uncertain. Like he'd pull away at any moment. She'd meant to just hold him there, to make sure he didn't, but she'd accidentally almost pulled him on top of her. The moment they touched, it was just like the previous night. Except this time, there was no interruption. At first, she'd been confused, and maybe just a little disgusted. Mouth to mouth contact? With a human? It was appalling. It was gross. It was....

Incredible. It was incredible. Something about it...it sent shivers down her spine, all the way to the end of her tail. She pulled him closer, trying to imitate what he was doing. She wanted more. The position was unusual, as Ketrals usually did....well, they were usually in a different position for mating. But she could feel his organ pressed against her stomach, and it sent shivers through her body, culminating in a spot just below her navel. Wait, had it really been that big when she'd last seen it? That was interesting... and worrying at the same time.

And then that voice of common sense in the back of her mind finally got through. She'd pushed him back, the implications of what she'd just done sinking in. She'd realized just how awkward this situation was as he stared at her, so she'd tried the first bluff she could think off. Thankfully, it had worked. She was used to having to improvise actions on the spot, but this was the first time she'd had to lie like this. She'd been afraid that her acting wouldn't be good enough to convince him that she'd been blank the whole time. He'd gone along with it though, and as far as he knew, she didn't remember a thing past when she'd encountered the strange tree.




Kita'thalla Ch. 08



But she remembered everything.

A splash off to the side caught her attention. He had pulled himself out of the water and was drying himself off. Quickly deciding she'd had enough excitement for one day, she quickly scraped off the remaining water from her body with the blanket before getting dressed. She waited for him to pull on his fatigues before heading over to him. He said nothing as she approached, suddenly making himself busy by adjusting the belt carrying his weapon. She stared at him for a moment, noticing the redness in his face, before simply heading off in the direction of the cave, pausing for a moment as she made sure he was following her.

So, what now? She asked herself as she walked. She'd discovered more about the way humans showed affection, that was for sure. And...while she was still having a little trouble getting over the level of intimacy involved (Swapping saliva? Yuck.), she had liked it...and she wanted more. But...he was a human! That was impossible to ignore. And if she did somehow communicate that she did remember, and actually did like what happened...ugh, she'd made things more difficult by acting clueless! And even if she did figure that part out...would he want to do more than just... to go all the way? And aside from that... It would mean admitting the way she felt about him, both to herself and to Eric. Wait, admitting what?! Did she really...RRAGH'CHA!!! What had she gotten herself into?

"Kita, is...everything okay?" Eric asked at little shakily. She realized that last curse had come out loud.

"I..." she searched for something to say, anything other than what was on her mind. That was the LAST thing she needed, to blurt out anything else that would make this worse. A flicker of movement suddenly caught her attention off to the side. A welcome distraction, but what was it? Did that tree trunk just move?

" Eric, don't move, hand me the pistol" she said, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible .

"Wait, what?" he asked, absolutely clueless, his mind still going over what had happened at the river, and just how he was going to talk to Kita again without it being awkward.

"Just do it!" she hissed at him. When he still didn't move, she lunged for the holster, grabbing the weapon and trying to draw it. Eric yelped, turning awkwardly, and she fumbled, almost dropping it as she finally got it out. Turning towards the place she'd last seen the movement, she caught a fleeting glimpse of hoofed feet disappearing into the woods. Thankfully not something predatory, in fact....possibly prey.

" Kita, what the hell was that for!?" The sound of Eric yelling snapped her attention back to him.

"I saw something. At first it looked like one of those things that attacked us" she said. "I tried to tell you, but you were somewhere else!"

Eric let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, fine, but that was still dangerous! What if you'd pulled the trigger when it was pointed at me!?" Even as he said this, he knew the chances of that were unlikely. Gauss pistols and the belt they were carried in had a redundant safety system built into them. Even if a gun was holstered with the safety turned off, a set of sensors and electronic locks in the weapon and belt made it impossible for the pistol to be fired until it was completely clear of its holster, even if the trigger was pulled. So there had been little risk of her accidentally shooting him, but still, it had been very unnerving.

She looked at him condescendingly. "I'm better trained than that. At least I didn't lose the other one!"

"Back to that again..." Eric rolled his eyes. "Look. It happened, and there's nothing we can do about it now. In any case, what about you? If you hadn't run into me, you weren't carrying anything other than your teeth and claws!"

Kita opened her mouth, about to point out that if he hadn't been lucky, teeth and claws would have been more than enough to deal with him, but then thought better of it.

"Well..." she replied, reigning in her temper "I wasn't keen on burning to death at the time, so I didn't grab anything from the wreck. But now that you mention it..." a look of sudden realization crossed her face.

Eric saw it and cottoned on. "Is...there any chance that anything on your craft survived the crash?"

"It's possible" she said. "Gun lockers are fairly durable, they have to be when you're storing plasma weapons. And of course...as long as they didn't get warped by the heat, some of the blades might be usable as well."

Eric shrugged. "So, lets take a look after we eat? I've seen that you're well enough to climb, it's not that far from here."

Kita nodded. "Yes, I think we should. It might mean we can finally stop having to worry about swapping the pistol around. Of course..." she said, giving him an impish look. "I'm still not going to let you forget about losing the other one"



Kita'thalla Ch. 09



Here it is. Got this one up much faster than the last one,I hope you enjoy.

++++++++

"Dammit, I don't remember it being this high!"

"Hah, getting tired?"

"No, just...climbing back down is not going to be fun"

"Oh stop complaining. At least you had the chance to climb last time. You made me take the fast route last time"

"Hey, you were asking for it. Now could you please give me a hand here!"

Kita crouched at the edge, looking down at Eric in amusement. He was about an arms length from the top of the cliff, and wasn't really in any danger of falling. He had his feet on a stable ledge, and if not for erosion from the past night's downpour, the climb would have been easier. Mind you, it had been almost child's play for her, in part because of her experience with this kind of thing, as well as her physique. Also, and this is what made the situation funny, she was taller than him. It was this small difference in height that was making his last handhold difficult to reach. Finally she took pity, reaching down to help him pull himself up.

Eric flopped down on the ground next to her, taking a moment to catch his breath. "Okay..." he said wearily. "If we find something useful, I hope it doesn't take more than one trip. I don't want to have to do that again."

"With all this complaining, I'm surprised you made it up here the first time." she replied, looking down at him condescendingly.

"Well, the first time I wasn't already worn out, and I had assistance from my armor, so it was easier."

"So why aren't you wearing it this time?"

"I..." he started, and stopped, completely at loss for words. Kita turned away, covering her mouth with one hand to smother a laugh. The "I just forgot something obvious" look on his face was almost too much.

"Okay then" she said, failing to hide the amused tone in her voice. "Well, lets get going. Unless..." she said, hauling him to his feet and gesturing to the edge with a nudge. "you'd like to go back and get it? There's a short cut I can help you along on, I know from personal experience how fast it is. It'll only take a few seconds to get to the bottom"

Eric laughed nervously "Ah, I think I'll take the scenic route after we're done up here."

"Ah, well maybe some other time" she replied teasingly.

"Yeah... no. Lets get going, follow me"

++++

They didn't speak much on the short walk. While the revelation of salvaging her wreck, the quick meal, and the climb had provided somewhat of a distraction, Eric still couldn't get the earlier events of the day out of his head. Did she seriously not remember anything? On one hand, if that was true...it meant that she wasn't going to bite his head off for taking advantage of her. And yet, he felt disappointed at the same time. If she didn't remember it, then it was as if the moment of closeness had never happened. Then again...she's a Ketral! That in itself makes it as if the moment had never happened! What must she be thinking of the whole situation? While there was that moment during the storm the night before, aside from that she hadn't really shown any kind of interest in him except when she was high on catnip!

He was so occupied by his thinking he almost tripped. Realizing the sun seemed brighter, he looked around and realized they had reached the scar in the forest. The ground was littered with the splintered remains of the trees that had been razed by the crash, and the absence of a canopy was unusual after spending days under the cover of the forest. Also, he could smell the very faint aroma of burnt fuel on the wind. He turned to Kita, who was staring silently down the length of the scar to the shadowy wreckage that could just barely be seen over the ragged stumps. "You alright?" he asked.

She nodded and kept moving. Ever since they'd ascended the cliff, she'd known where the wreck was. The scent of burnt fuel and wood mingling together was unmistakable. But as they'd gotten closer, she'd picked up on another scent. She was a soldier, she'd been in countless battles, so the smell of burning fur and flesh was not at all foreign to her. She'd seen the burnt remains of her enemies so many times, it was hardly an issue. And it wasn't as if she grieved for the loss of those on the transport. But there was always something unnerving about dealing with the charred remains of one's own species. As they approached the transport, her stomach did a slight flip-flop as she saw the first bones.

He'd almost made it out. The skeleton was halfway out of the escape hatch, still clad in the half melted scraps of his armor. From the position of the remains, it looked like he'd succumbed to the fumes or the heat, as he'd fallen down forwards into the ashy ground, never to stand again. Forcing her eyes away from the remains, she surveyed the rest of the wreck. Most of it was intact, although it was obviously heavily warped from the heat of the fire. The rear section, where they'd been hit in orbit, was completely smashed. Pressure doors had slammed shut, sealing the front of the transport from the breach in the rear. Half of their warriors had been lost, although they might have been the lucky ones. Being obliterated in an instant by a round from a naval gun was immensely preferable to dying in a blazing wreck. 

Eric had noticed the remains too. While his sense of smell wasn't as sensitive as hers, even he could pick up the scent of death at this range. He paused, staring at the skeleton before looking over at Kita.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?"

She nodded. "I'm used to death."

"This isn't like...grave robbing or anything like that?" he asked, glancing once more at the alien skeleton.

She shook her head. "A dead warrior has no further need of weapons. In fact, the only time a warrior is truly allowed to lay down their arms is when they reach their final rest. We do not leave weapons in the hands of our dead, as it would make their spirit feel as though they still had unfinished duty to fulfill, and it would hinder their passing on. This is especially true for those who have died on the battlefield or hunting for the cadre, as they have achieved a worthy death, and they above anyone else deserve to rest after a life of nothing but struggle."

He looked back at her, surprised at the long answer. While she'd talked about some of her traditions earlier in the day, this was the first time he'd heard anything of a spiritual nature. There was something odd about her demeanor though. She spoke very matter-of-factly, as if she was delivering a report, and not standing in front of a fresh war grave. She didn't have a disrespectful tone, but...even the hardest marines he'd ever spoken to showed some evidence of emotion when speaking of his dead comrades, even if it was just being as deadpan as possible to avoid breaking down. This was especially true when he considered that they were looking at the remains of her own unit. He was a medic, usually attached to a unit before the battle, so he never really got attached to any of those he accompanied. But all the marines he'd met had been very close to the other members of their squads. Kita on the other hand...it almost looked like she just flat out didn't care.

Wordlessly, Kita moved to the escape hatch, gingerly stepping over the cadaver. The inside of the wreck reeked of burnt flesh, but she pressed onward. She heard Eric cough behind her, retching as the odor hit him. He paused as his eyes adjusted to the low light, squinting as he tried to take in his surroundings. His heartbeat jumped up a few notches as he finally made out the shape of at least two dozen more dead ketrals in the compartment. Most were still strapped into their crash harnesses, some frozen in the pose of struggling to undo them, while others were slumped forward, clearly knocked out from the impact. A handful were sprawled out across the deck, claws stretched out as they tried to find the exit. Eerily enough, not all of them were burnt to the point of skeletons, and Eric could make out the rictus masks of pain on the ones that still had intact faces.

Kita was further in, scanning the compartment for anything useful. The small storage space beneath each seat usually had a warriors personal arms, but since they weren't sealed in any way, she didn't bother searching them. The weapons had probably been ruined by the heat, and indeed she noticed a few corpses whose legs were missing from the knees down as the contents of the storage space had exploded. Instead, she made her way to the back, near the pressure door, where a heavy locker was bolted to the bulkhead. Spare sidearms were usually kept in these, mainly for the defense of the crew, but also in the rare situation that a warrior had trouble with or lost their own weapon. The locker seemed intact, although the fact that the lock was partially melted wasn't a terribly good sign. 

Eric coughed again behind her. "Kita, what are we looking for?"

"Lockers, like this one." she replied, searching around for something to try and pry it open. Noticing a dull shine in the dim light, she knelt down, pushing aside the feet of the corpse next to her to reach into the storage space. 

"Are there any more on here?" he asked, watching as she pulled out what looked like a blade of some kind.

"Yes," she replied, examining weapon. The edge was still good, but it was somewhat useless as it was right now. This particular kind was designed to be strapped to a forearm, providing a blocking surface as well as a cutting edge that didn't take up a hand. The straps had been burned away, but for now, it possibly had another use. She glanced back at Eric, who was grimly surveying the remains. "I'm going to see if I can get this one open." She indicated a ladder with a nod. "There's another one in the upper compartment, and a smaller one in the pilots area, you start looking up there."

Eric nodded, picking his way across the deck, doing his best not to step on anyone. Climbing up the ladder, Eric nearly lost his grip as a saber-toothed skull stared back at him as his eyes reached the level of the upper deck. Carefully dismounting from the ladder so he didn't step on the corpse, he tested the floor, reaching out to give it a quick tap with the toe of his boot. Feeling no give, he stepped forward, and deciding it was stable enough, he glanced around, taking in his surroundings.

There were about the same number of dead up here, although they weren't in as bad shape as the ones on the lower deck. It was also lighter, as a large gash had been opened in the side of the hull, letting more sunlight in. The allowed him a better look at the doomed passengers of the transport, and he was starting to notice a few things. The most obvious was that every single one he could see was clearly male, as they all had the large dagger shaped fangs in a slightly longer snout that Kita lacked. 

This brought up a question that had entered his mind a few days prior. Why was Kita the only female that anyone had seen before? Was it just unusual for females to serve in their military? While he knew that in ages past, women had been banned from serving in various branches of Earth's military, once those restrictions had been lifted, there had been a relatively significant influx of women into the military. To have only ever seen one, that was unusual.

Another thing he noticed was that a few of the corpses were wearing necklaces of some kind. He took a step closer to one to examine it, then withdrew in surprise. Strung across a thick leather cord were ten very familiar looking claws just a little under two inches long. Subconsciously grabbing the shoulder that Kita had clawed the first day, he stared at the hand of the cadaver for a moment before remembering why he was up here. Moving towards the back bulkhead, he spotted the locker, identical to the one Kita had been working on below him. At first glance it seemed intact, but then he noticed it looked swollen, like it was about to burst.

A curse from down below made him turn, and after a few moments, Kita appeared at the ladder. "No luck?" he asked.

Kita gave a mild look of annoyance as she stepped over the corpse. "The fire cooked everything inside the locker, all the circuits in the weapons were ruined. The blades were warped beyond use as well. You find anything?"

Eric shrugged. "I don't know, haven't opened it yet. It doesn't look right."

Kita looked over his shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Looks like one of them exploded. Maybe the impact or the heat. Don't waste your time with that one either."

"Well," he said. "There's still the cockpit. I'm assuming it's over there?" he indicated a hatch located towards the front of the craft.

"Yeah..." she said, kicking a scrap of armor across the deck in frustration. Turning to follow him, something caught her eye. Not hearing her follow as he reached the door, Eric turned to find her staring at an empty seat, a strange look on her face.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"No. It's nothing." she said, turning to follow him. She paused as he disappeared into the hatch, glancing back at the seat, then at the sprawled out warrior by the ladder before shaking her head and continuing through the hatch.

The cockpit was almost as much of a mess as the rest of the craft. It was obvious how the two pilots died; One of them had broken his neck from the shock of the impact, his head flopped over at a sickening angle. The other had been even more unfortunate. A tree had smashed through the windshield, a long limb impaling him through his chest. Eric turned away from the two casualties, his stomach lurching again. Looking to where Kita was working on a small locker, he noticed another seat in the room, this one slightly raised above the others, next to the hatch on the opposite side. It was empty, the restraints hanging undone. Whoever had been there had survived long enough at least to leave the cockpit, as he could only see two dead ketrals. A thought suddenly occurred to him, one that made him turn white.

"Kita...is there any chance that, well, that you weren't the only one?"

Kita stopped what she was doing, and was motionless for a moment before speaking. "I don't think that's likely."

"You're certain?" he asked.

Kita went back to work on the lock with the blade she'd found. This one hadn't been damaged as badly, it was just a matter of bending it back into shape. "I'm fairly sure. What makes you ask that now?"

"Well...this seat over here is empty. And while there were uh...ones who didn't make it that were out of their seats back there, I don't see a third body in here."

"That's because that one escaped."she said with a slight grin, finally getting the locker open with a click. Levering it open with the blade, she took a moment to appraise the contents before pulling out two pistol sized weapons. 

"Any good?" he asked.

"I think so" she replied, turning one over in her hands. "These don't seem anywhere near as badly damaged as the others. I'm going to clean them out and check them before trying to fire them, but we might have found what we're looking for." 

"Good. This place is giving me the creeps" he replied.

++++

As they exited the wreck, Eric turned back to look at it one more time.

"Would it be appropriate to uh,.do anything for them?" he asked.

Kita shook her head, picking her way through the debris back towards the cliff. "No. I looked, none of them had anything that would bind them to their duty. They had their death on the battlefield, which is enough to lay them to rest." 

There it was again. That completely conversational tone, as if they hadn't just been visiting a charnel house. In fact, for the most part, she had seemed unfazed the entire time they were in there. The strongest emotion she had shown was frustration when the first two weapon lockers didn't turn out.

"I find it interesting..." she said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts as he followed her. "that you care for the dead of your enemy enough to mention it twice."

The question caught him completely off guard. Truth be told, he'd never thought about it until now. He'd seen dead ketrals before, both on the battlefield and in laboratories. He hadn't given them a second thought. But now...

"I don't know" he replied, still thinking. "It just seemed right." 

"How so?" she asked.

"I guess it's because you're here."

She stopped, looking back over her shoulder at him, raising an eyebrow. "You wouldn't show such respect if I wasn't standing next to you?"

"It's not that. I mean that after spending these days with you, it's harder to ignore the lives of your kind."

She stood motionless, still staring at him. Eric felt himself turning red. 

"I mean...wait, that came out wrong." he said, trying to recover. "What I mean is...well, prior to meeting you, your kind was just the enemy. None of you had names that we knew, no personalities, no culture or beliefs to consider. All I saw was an alien race attacking humanity, trying to kill us, so it was just survival to fight back. I'm not saying I disrespected the dead, but...being respectful to the dead never occurred to me because the only place I really ever encountered your kind was on the battlefield when you were shooting at me, and your people were...well, just aliens. After meeting you though...I can't really see things the same way anymore"

Kita turned away and continued walking. Eric watched her jump over a fallen branch before realizing he was getting left behind and running to follow her. She said nothing until they reached the end of the scar. She suddenly stopped, causing Eric to almost bump into her.

"Just aliens." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"...Sorry?" he asked unsteadily. She was still facing away from him, so he couldn't tell what was going on in her mind.

Kita shook her head. "That's what we said, when we first encountered humans. Just aliens."

Eric stayed silent, not really sure if he should speak or not.

"It was easy to believe. Even when the Van Tok'ir was lost, we wrote it off as luck. Maybe there'd been an accident of some kind. It was an old cruiser, due for retirement soon."

"The...Vantoker?" Eric asked, not really sure what she was referring to.

"Van Tok'ir" she corrected, although not forcefully. She still wasn't looking at him. "The first loss on our side. You'd think though, that we'd learn. The Van Tok'ir was only the first to fall. Yes, we learned how to fight against your fleet, but we were never dominant as we had been in the past. Even after one of our flagships was destroyed, the council still said "just aliens" to be destroyed like all the others. And we believed it. Even I made myself believe it, if only to hide the frustration of an enemy that we couldn't defeat, even as I saw us struggling." she turned to look at Eric as she sat down on a fallen log, suddenly looking very tired. "I think a part of me still believed it when I first met you."

Eric laughed halfheartedly. "Not too far from here actually." he nodded to the forest.

Kita followed his gaze to where the edge of the cliff could faintly be seen through the trees. "Hah, you're right."she said before looking at him again. "It's strange, to think that you could wake me up in just a few days, after all these years."

Eric shrugged. "You did the same for me. I think we were both guilty of that one prior to now. And I guess it's better late than never."

Kita closed her eyes. "I don't know. It might be too late."

"Why do you say that?"

Kita looked like she was contemplating something before she looked right at him."Be honest. How long can your people keep fighting?"

Eric was taken aback a little. "I honestly couldn't say." he replied. "I'm just a medic. I don't know that kind of information."

"I suppose you wouldn't. Well, regardless of that, I can almost guarantee that this war will not last much longer."




Kita'thalla Ch. 09



Eric blinked. "What do you mean?"

Kita sighed, looking off into the woods. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but the battles between your people and mine have been getting larger. More desperate. More and more of the Ketrali fleet is being used, drawn away from protecting Ketra and other core worlds of our empire. It has been a long time since we've won a solid victory against your kind. We've driven you back, or maybe even taken a small system. But we've always lost more ships than we've destroyed. The places where we have won, your kind was either outnumbered or on the ground. But of course, a ground battle means nothing if you don't control the space around it. We've gotten our selves into a war that's slowly killing us. Even if we somehow destroyed your entire fleet and took your home world, we've taken so much damage it almost wouldn't matter."

"So...why do you keep fighting?" Eric asked. "If the war is bad for your people, why not withdraw?"

"It's not that simple. There's matters that make it...well, complicated." she said, shaking her head before glancing up at him. "I'm surprised you aren't happier about all of this."

"I guess I'm just shocked that you're telling me all of this." he said, taking a seat next to her. "I don't know if I'd be so forward with that kind of information, especially with..." he trailed off as he realized what he was about to say.

"With an enemy soldier?" she asked.

"Well, yeah. Although" he quickly added. "That's not to say I still think of you an enemy." Especially not after this morning at the river, he privately thought to himself.

"It is hard for me to think of you as the enemy anymore, either." Kita replied. "More importantly however, you are the only one I've ever known that would listen."

"Why wouldn't anyone else listen?" Eric asked, a little surprised. "Hasn't anyone gone over the logic of the situation?"

Kita shook her head. "The few who know the truth, they're either blinded by pride, or unwilling to speak up"

"Wait, you're telling me that not everyone knows this?"

Kita closed her eyes. "If you were a commander and you knew you were losing the war, would you really be able to say anything? Morale would crash in the lower ranks once word got out, and your career would be over, assuming the war council doesn't just kill you right there."

"So no one with the power to stop this cares enough to stop the killing?"

Kita shook her head glumly. "No one that matters."

Eric sighed. "I'm sorry."

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "What for?"

"I can see that you care about your people, even if you didn't show it back there. And I wish there was something I could say to help but...I don't really know what I could, when we're talking about something this serious. So, I'm sorry that I can't be of any help."

Kita was silent for a moment before shaking her head again. "No. You have been helpful. It is a welcome change, to have someone that will actually listen, even if they can't do much."

Eric took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Well, at least I can do that much. Don't hesitate if you want to talk again, about anything. It definitely beats being stuck on this planet alone."

The corner of Kita's mouth curled up slightly. That it did. "Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." She then wrinkled her nose. The wind had shifted for a moment, bringing with it the scent of burnt flesh. "I think we've sat here long enough." she said, standing and pulling Eric back to his feet from his seat. "Think you can manage the climb back down?"

He nodded. "Going down is easier than up"

"Good, because I wasn't planning on carrying you."

++++++

Yet again declining Kita's offer to show him the fast way down, Eric did manage to reach the bottom of the cliff without any problems, although it took him almost twice as long as Kita, something she made sure he was aware of the entire time they were walking to the cave. 

"Look, it's better safe than sorry, okay? Besides, you really don't want to have to be the one treating me instead of the other way around." Eric said, taking his usual seat on one side of their shelter.

"Oh? Why's that?" she asked, taking her own spot opposite him.

Eric grinned. "Because doctors are the worst patients. Trust me, I've had to treat others before, and I know just how annoying we can be."

"Hmm." she said, glancing at his medical equipment. "Looks like I might have to show you what it's like to be on the receiving end of one of your needles."

"Hey, that's for use by medically trained personnel only!"

"How hard can it be?" she asked, an evil glint in her eyes. "Pointy end goes into you, you fall asleep"

"And then I'll snore so badly you'll wish I was awake!" he countered.

Kita waved him off, chuckling softly as she examined their finds from the wreckage. The pistols were mostly undamaged from what she could see, save a little scorching. The magnetic fields were still indicating full strength, and none of the warning lights were active. Still, when dealing with something like these, you really had to be careful. It was possible to intentionally overload them for use as an explosive device, but enough damage could cause it to happen unintentionally. If only they'd found some of the larger weapons intact! They were generally more robust, less prone to accidental damage that could cause them to become unstable. Detaching the plasma cell from the pistol, Kita quickly examined the gun, making sure the accelerators were still aligned, the circuitry was still intact, and most importantly, the thermal cooling system was still operational. Satisfied that everything was as it should be, Kita reassembled the weapon. "This one is good." she said in answer to Eric's questioning look.

"Well, that solves a lot of problems" he said. "What about the other one?"

"I'll deal with that when I get back."

"Wait, back from where?"

"We finished off the water when we ate." reaching across the cave floor, she grabbed the empty cantine. "I'm going to go fill this, I'll be back shortly."

"You don't want any company?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well..." she said, wondering if she should be nice, but then decided it would be more fun to just flat out say it. "I've been hearing and seeing signs of prey around here. But I haven't been able to really find out what they are, because you're so noisy when you're trampling around through the woods."

"Ouch..." Eric feigned hurt, though he knew she was only being honest. "Am I really that bad?" 

"The storm was more subtle than you are." she teased. "Anyways, I want to find out what options we have for when your food runs out. I'll teach you later, if you're interested, but for now I want to do a little searching on my own."

He shrugged. "Fair enough. Let me know what you find."

She nodded, and in the space of a few seconds, she disappeared into the forest. Eric listened carefully, but she'd left no sign of her passage. Well, she'd be back soon, he figured. Noticing the weapon she'd left behind, he pulled out his own and began his own inspection. He hadn't checked it after the torrential downpour the previous day, and while he was pretty sure it would be fine, it gave him something to do while she was gone.

+++++

A short distance into the forest, Kita paused, taking a moment to take in her surroundings. Without Eric around, she was able to concentrate, and she was quickly spotting things that she'd missed earlier. There was a bush that had recently been fed on, and the imprints of hooves similar to the ones she'd caught a fleeting glimpse of this morning confirmed what she'd suspected. There was something herbivorous living around here, and while that didn't necessarily mean it was edible, it was definitely more likely to be a food source than something predatory. She sniffed the air, trying to gather any clue as to which direction it had gone. The wind shifted and yet again Kita caught the scent of burnt flesh from the wreck. Ugh, sometimes she hated having such an acute sense of smell. But...wait, why hadn't she smelled it before? And also...

Kita froze. The wind wasn't blowing from the ridge. On top of that, there was another scent, just beneath that of the seared flesh and fur. It was...no, that wasn't possible, was it? If that was true then...Kita spun around, pistol at the ready.

"You're looking well Chas'kaa...or is it Keetah now?" a mocking voice said from the shadows, and Kita's stomach dropped as the speaker stepped into view, even as she lined up the sights on her weapon.

++++++

Ehehehee....cliffhanger. I'm mean, aren't I?



Kita'thalla Ch. 10



Answering a few questions I've gotten.





Kita'thalla Ch. 10



Eric frantically scanned the ground, looking for the glint of metal that might be his sidearm. Nothing! Realizing his opponent was coming after him again, he drew his knife, wearily taking a stance as he tried to ignore the stabbing pain each time he inhaled. The ketral paused for a moment, evaluating the weapon before throwing his head back and laughing, yelling something in ketrali before lunging. Eric thrust forward, attempting to block the swipe aimed at his left side with his free hand as he jammed the knife into the side of the charging alien. Even as he felt the blade penetrate, searing pain blazed across the left side of his face as the weight of the clawed strike proved too much to block. His left leg went numb as the alien kicked it out from under him, smashing him to the ground with its shoulder.

Lying on the ground completely stunned, Eric dimly heard the alien laughing before he found himself in the air again, suspended by his neck from one massive fist before he was slammed back into a tree, stars dancing across his vision. Hanging limp, he was unable to move or speak as the ketral leered at him, flexing his other clawed fist.

"Weak...human." The alien taunted him in broken English, its foul breath washing over Eric's face as it casually removed the knife from its stomach, the wound gushing blood for a moment before beginning to heal up. "Brave...yes...but weak. Stupid." He tossed the knife aside and drew a single claw in a circle over Eric's chest. "Now, you die. Watch as eat heart. Best when fresh..." the alien laughed cruelly, drawing his open fist back, claws fully extended for the final fatal strike. Time seemed to slow as Eric could do nothing but stare back at the savage face. No...this couldn't be it, could it? He still had to save Kita. There was no way in hell he'd let her be taken by this monster. Move Eric. He tried move his arm, lift his hand and pry the claws around his neck away, but his arms hung limp at his sides, somehow useless as the alien prepared to finish him. The Ketral laughed at his weak struggling as he plunged his claws forward and...

Eric's vision exploded into a sea of red. Eric slumped to the ground against the tree, utterly confused as he felt the alien keel over, nearly falling on top of him. As his vision cleared, he saw that the alien's head was missing. What in the...? Eric stared at the body before realizing his ears were ringing with the echo of a very loud noise. Slowly turning his gaze away from the corpse, he finally caught sight of Kita lying prone some 20 feet away, his pistol clenched tight in her shaking hands. Her gaze locked with his, and he gave a weak grin before a wave of pain washed over him, his adrenaline rush finally dying down and unable to block out his injuries. Dimly he registered his name being yelled before his eyes rolled back and he blacked out.   

+++++

For the twentieth time since returning to the cave, Kita checked again to see that Eric was still breathing. Yes, he was still alive. He'd moved a few times, but hadn't given any indication of coming to. Tearing her gaze from his limp body, she once again searched the medical supplies scattered around his backpack for anything else she could do for him. Some of the things in there had been very obvious in their purpose, and she'd used them to the best of her abilities, but the drugs and the surgical tools...she only had a basic knowledge of ketral physiology, so attempting to do anything of that nature on a human was way out of her reach. Thankfully, with the exception of his face, he didn't seem to have any other severe injuries, but...without the regeneration ability she possessed, she had no idea how he'd handle that even. And what if there was something she'd missed?

Realizing she was panicking again, she took a moment to calm herself down, watching the rising and falling of his chest for a moment before yet again berating herself, her mind a jumble of thoughts. She had been so stupid. After running into Turvan in the forest, she'd completely pushed Eric out of her mind. It was her fight, she had to deal with it her way, and leave him out of it. Eric had been mentioned once or twice, but still, it had never occurred to her what would happen to him if she'd lost. Never mind what would happen if he'd gotten involved on his own accord. Which he had, and then he'd nearly gotten himself killed and it was her fault and she'd never be able to tell him how she felt if he died and...

He'd saved her. In more ways than one.

Most of the fight was an incoherent blur, right up to the point where Eric had found them. Even then, she could only remember parts of it. She'd heard the gunshot, stopping Turvan from.... Eric had fired again, but then she'd heard him yell, meaning he'd clearly missed. Somehow, his weapon had appeared on the ground near her. She didn't remember how it had wound up in her hands. The next thing she knew, Eric was in trouble, pinned to the tree, and she'd seen Turvan's ugly face sighted along the barrel of the pistol, and without thinking she'd pulled the trigger. And then she saw Eric's face, completely covered in blood and gore, smiling at her for a moment before passing out. She might have been yelling at that point, she wasn't sure. Thankfully, the damage Turvan had inflicted on her was more painful than it was debilitating, and with her regeneration taking care of most of it she'd been able to carry Eric back.

At first she was beside herself. He was covered in blood, and wasn't moving at all. Midway through tearing apart his medical kit, she'd calmed down enough to realize that much of the gore was from Turvan's skull, and she finally started thinking clearly enough to do something worthwhile. She'd run faster than she could ever remember to the river, almost forgetting to retrieve the canteen from the fight scene on her way there. Returning, she'd managed to clean off most of the blood, and was finally able to see the true extent of his injuries, which were worse than she'd hoped but better than she'd feared. She'd done the best that she could without the help of his advanced knowledge, cleaning out the wounds and stopping most of the bleeding but...the end results weren't going to be pretty.

"Oww..."

She jumped, startled by the groan before she realized he was coming to. Sure enough, he opened his eyes, if only slightly, his eyes flicking around before finally focusing on her.

"...you okay?" he mumbled, still looking at her.

She was only able to nod, overwhelmed with mixed emotions.

"S'good." he replied, swallowing to clear his mouth. His eyes flicked downward for a moment before returning to her face. "Why are you naked?"

Kita couldn't help but start laughing, even as tears started pouring down her face. Of all the things for him to bring up in a situation like this. But it meant that he was alert, and that was a good sign. He watched her for a moment, letting her get herself under control before he spoke again.

"How bad is it?"

That put a damper on things. Kita looked down at the ground, unable to meet his gaze. She'd been dreading that question. "I..." she finally spoke, her voice uneasy. "I tried to do what I could. He got you pretty badly."

"Is that why the left side of my face hurts like hell?" he asked, wincing as spoke. He vaguely remembered the fight, it seemed like an eternity ago.

She nodded.

"In my survival kit, there's a mirror." he told her, indicating his pack with a slight move of his head. "I need to see."

Kita found the mirror after a few seconds of searching, handing it to Eric when he reached out, the first real movement since waking up. Eric held it up in his right hand, pulling back the gauze pad she'd affixed to cover the wound with his left and surveyed the damage.

Four parallel gashes ran diagonally down the side of his face towards his chin. Two of them had mangled his left ear. All things considered, he was actually lucky. A little lower and the lowest claw would have sliced open his jugular, and he was incredibly lucky none of them had taken his left eye or punctured his oral cavity either. Kita had cleaned off most of the blood, and had used the elastic adhesive strips from his med pack to close the lacerations. Clearly the work of an amateur, he'd have nasty scarring, but she seemed to have done a well enough job that he wasn't going to risk taking them off to reapply them. There was also the risk of nerve damage, and he didn't want to mess around with that in the field and possibly make it worse. They could be regrown with treatment anyways, so there wasn't really much else he could do here.

Placing the mirror down at his side and replacing the gauze, he looked back at her. "Not a bad job. It'll heal eventually so..." he shrugged, but then winced again as he felt a spike of pain in his side. Oh, that's right, he'd done something to his ribs. He allowed Kita to help him into a sitting position, cringing as the motion jarred not only his side, but also his left leg. He rolled his eyes as he recalled the kick that had decked him. Being careful not to make any sudden movements that would worsen anything, he slowly rolled up the left leg of his pants, exposing a very large bruise covering most of his calf. Eric stared at it for a moment before looking back at Kita. "I need to figure out how bad this is. Can you hand me my scanners?"

It only took him a few more minutes to asses the damage. The leg was actually the least serious of his worries. The muscle was badly bruised, but it would heal on its own. As he'd suspected, 2 of his ribs were cracked, but thankfully there were no bone fragments that could cause damage to his lungs. Also, based on the throbbing headache, he guessed that he had a minor concussion. Throughout the self-exam, Kita had sat quietly, handing him anything he'd needed. Finally, after tossing back a dose of painkillers, he turned back to her, a storm of questions on his mind.

"Kita...before we talk any more, is there anything you need, while we have all this stuff..." he turned and finally noticed the disaster area around his med kit. "...out." he glanced back at Kita,who was now wearing a very sheepish look.

"I...think I'm okay." she replied, hastily attempting to restore some order to the scattered medical supplies. Eric had to stifle a laugh as she scrambled to clean up the mess, in part because it hurt too much to laugh with his busted ribs. "Worry about that later..." he finally said as she almost dropped something in a glass bottle. "Just...oh I don't know where to begin." he said, shaking his head. An awkward silence hung in the air

"I'm sorry." she finally said.

Eric sighed, looking out into the forest before turning back to her. "Don't worry. From the looks of it you were in trouble when I arrived. If I hadn't missed, he never would have gotten me, so I don't think it's really anybody's fault."

Kita shook her head. "I had a chance to kill him. But...I failed, and now you're hurt because of it." she said, looking at the ground completely ashamed, a far cry from her normal self. "You never should have had to get involved."

"If I didn't, things would be way worse than they are now for the both of us." he replied. "Just...who was that? I can't understand your language, but it was obvious that you two knew each other."

Kita was silent for a moment before looking back up at him. "Turvan. Turvan Kentalla Bakkal Ral Ketrali."

"What did he want with you? Other than the obvious I mean."

Kita shook her head. "The obvious is all he wanted. He was...or rather, he thought himself a potential mate."

"Is that really all?" Eric asked. "There's something you're not telling me."

Kita closed her eyes. "As you put it, I don't know where to begin. He's only part of a much larger picture."

"I see. I'm assuming the way he was taunting you means that there's more history between you two than just him being a potential suitor. Or him being one of your subordinates."

Kita was taken aback. "How, did you know he was...?"

Eric smiled grimly. "Back in your transport you pretty much told me you'd been sitting in that empty seat in the cockpit. It clearly didn't serve any function in piloting the craft, and it wasn't in the back with the rest of the soldiers. I didn't think of it at the time, but doesn't that position generally belong to a commanding officer?"

Kita opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. If he'd figured that out then...

"And on top of that..." Eric continued. "Our conversation on the war as a whole. I think I was the one who said it, that I was just a medic so I wouldn't know much of how things were going on my side, and you agreed. You then told me that you had a very clear view on how the big picture was going on your side. You also speak my language almost perfectly."

Kita simply nodded.

"Finally..." Eric finished. "Turvan was saying something to you over and over again. Chaska, I think it was? I've heard that name before." He stared at her for a few moments, his look unreadable. "Just who are you?"

Kita didn't say anything at first. She sat back against the wall opposite him, her nakedness completely forgotten by both of them as she thought about what she was going to say. Finally she met his gaze.

"I still don't really know where to begin, but I suppose this is as good a point as any to start. It will make the whole story easier to understand. You remember when I told you my name? It is a reflection of who I am and what I have been through, as I said. So it is part of the story. Chas'kaa however...is not part of my name. It's actually my rank."

Eric's eyes went wide. Kita gave a halfhearted laugh upon seeing this. "I see you've made the connection. Yes, that one." She took a deep breath before looking at him dead in the eye.

"I am Chas'kaa Kita'thalla Oretho Carotho Shas'elo a ko Ketrali. Translated, I am the rogue warrior Kita'tha, once of the Oreth cadre, Spine of the Caro, First daughter of former Prime Matriarch Shas'el, once of the Ko Cadre Union, the former Prime Union of Ketra. My rank is Commander of the 6th Ketrali Legion and leader of the Night Claws."



Kita'thalla Ch. 11



My apologies for the wait. School decided to kick me a few times, but as I've said before, don't worry, I fully intend on finishing this. I appreciate all the support you've given me in your comments on my previous chapter. On a related note, there was one comment regarding the science of the universe. I do appreciate the advice, but I have to make a few story teller allowances, so bear with me. Anyways, here's chapter 11. Enjoy. 

++++

Ten Human Years Earlier (Approx. 22 ket) 

Child's play. Neither guard had a chance to even draw their weapons. Not that it would have mattered. She knew they'd stopped training with them over 20 ket prior. The ceremonial hunting weapons were considered outdated now. The plasma rifles they did carry at the ready weren't much help either, as it was nearly suicidal to fire one at melee ranges due to the back blast that larger plasma weapons produced. Ironic really, that the "primitive" blades would have been their best chance to stop her.

Well, she'd been in a good mood all day, so she'd left them alive. They'd wake up in the morning with a monster of a headache, stiff necks, and a few other little parting gifts. Not enough to trigger their healing splicing, but more than enough to make walking painful for a few days.

She glanced at the curved blades strapped to their backs, considering whether or not to take one, but decided against it. It would only weigh her down, and in any case, for this to work she had to go unnoticed, which meant anything potentially messy could sound an alarm sooner. Checking one last time that no one had seen her, she sprinted down the tunnel. By her estimate, she still had plenty of time, but for her plan to work, timing was everything. 

She didn't run into any more guards. Shoddy work on their part, although, she honestly didn't expect any better. Against the other races of the galaxy, a Ketral was more than a match, even with the poor quality warriors the new regime was producing. They'd gotten lazy fighting other alien races, nothing more than pushovers. So they stood no chance against another Ketral who'd spent the last 20 ket training for this moment. Well, not just this moment. This was only a step in achieving retribution for everything that had been done. 

She could hear the sound of roaring from somewhere, and she gritted her teeth. The ceremony had started, she'd better hurry. There, the ladder she knew would take her up to the roof. She made no sound as she climbed up several stories, finally reaching the level that had access to the rafters in the grand council chamber. Still wary of being discovered, she crept forward towards the door, easing it open slowly before peering in.

The grand council chamber was packed. The main floor, about 100 strides across was ringed by rows of tiered benches, and every available seat was taken up by lesser elders, dignitaries, and honored warriors from each cadre of the planet. Creeping along one of the rafters supporting the lighting globes that illuminated the chamber, she worked her way into the position she knew would be ideal. On one side of the chamber, the podium on which the rows of the silver maned War council sat overshadowed the entire room. The floor in front of it was clear, save for a single figure in full ceremonial war dress, a ceremonial war blade similar to those carried by the guards outside strapped across his back. Her timing was almost perfect, just a few more moments and the ceremony would be at the opportune time for her to move. Glancing at the completely filled seating sections, she noted the locations of several recorders broadcasting the ceremony. Almost everyone on Ketra would be watching. Perfect. What she was about to do would make that much more of an impact. Still keeping an eye on the progress, she wrapped the grapple line from her waist around a rafter, clipping it back to itself to secure the loop, solidly anchoring herself. 

Taking a moment to calm herself, she took a deep breath, willing her racing heartbeat to slow down. It had been so long. So many ket of living under a false name and pretending to be weak, learning the ancient arts of warfare in secret, and hiding from the new regime. The time for hiding was done now though. Finally, she would have her chance to make house Kental pay for what they had done. Not just to her, no. She fought for all the ketrals that had suffered under their rule. For house Tekal. For her Father.

For her Mother.

The sound of roaring brought her back to reality and she tightened her grip on the line as listened to the speaker down below.

++++++++

"And so, we the War Council of Ketra Prime declare this warrior, Turvan Kentalla of the Bakkal cadre, worthy of the title Executor of Ketra. If there are any who doubt this declaration, and wish to challenge the wisdom of the council and the might of this warrior, let them come forth now!" the Prime Elder of the council beckoned to the crowd with both hands. 

Prime Elder Duran Kentalla couldn't help the massive grin that crossed his face. Today his son would secure even more power for their house, and their cadre. Ever since the coup, they'd continuously had a hard time weeding out loyalists to the old ruling council. It had been a while since they'd been able to specifically pin the blame on anyone, and he still heard rumors of dissatisfaction despite their overwhelming victories against other alien races. This newest one they'd encountered...hoomans, was it? They'd only just declared hostilities against the pathetic bald skinned race, and he figured they'd quickly die like the rest of them, and that would increase his power even more. But this bestowal upon his son would make even greater strides in making their power absolute. With his position as prime elder, and his son holding the title of Executor, the voices doubting their authority would disappear very quickly, one way or another. If it was possible, his grin widened even more. No one could stand in their way now. 

A gasp from the audience suddenly brought his reverie to an end.

+++++++

The shadowsuit-clad figure landed deftly in the middle of the chamber, just a few strides length away from the other stunned Ketral whom everyone's attention had been focused on just moments ago. Detaching the grapple line from her belt, she allowed it to retract back into the ceiling. There was no reason to have an escape line. Either she'd succeed or fail, fleeing was not an option. Standing tall, she took what she hoped was a suitably defiant looking stance.

"I challenge this nomination!" she called out, the natural acoustics of the chamber amplifying her voice so that all present were able to hear. The crowd became a sea of furious whispering and muttering as she pulled off the hood that had concealed her features. Her shoulder length mane was tied back into a warriors topknot, and she had applied charcoal to her face in the traditional markings of a warrior about to enter battle.

The noise from the crowd escalated as the Prime elder stood wordlessly, a combination of anger and utter confusion crossing his features. Finally he waved his arms for silence, and when that didn't work he roared, finally bringing the audience under control.

"And just who are you?!" he bellowed down at her. "I don't recall inviting any weaklings to this ceremony!"

She gave a grim smile, ignoring the insult. "You imply that I required an invitation. One typically does not need an invitation into their own home to enter"

The Prime Elder gritted his fangs. "You dare...this is MY council chamber, and it is I who control..."

"IT IS NOT YOURS!" she snarled back at him. "It was never yours to begin with! You may stand in the position of Prime Elder, but you stand there in a pool of blood! THE BLOOD OF MATRIARCH SHAS'EL!" she turned to face the crowd. "I am Kita'tha Tekal Oreth Shas'el Ko Ketrali, and once again, I challenge this nomination!" Turning back to face the Prime Elder, she matched his glare. 

"Your.." he stammered before finding his voice again, " You haven't earned your warriors name! And your house was deposed! You have no right to..."

"As long as one of a house stands alive and free, they are entitled the right to challenge, regardless of title!" she cut him off. "This is, and always has been our way! Either meet this challenge, or if you'd prefer..." she said, a wicked grin spreading across her face, "you may refuse the challenge of this nameless warrior, as is your right. In front of everyone here...and across Ketra!" she gestured to one of the recording stations, still diligently broadcasting the turn of events across the planet.

The council chamber was dead silent as the Prime Elder seethed, completely lost for words. Why hadn't he ordered the recorders shut off at the first notice of trouble?! Now that the little whelp had made a scene in front of everyone...he felt the blood drain from his face as he realized the implications of refusing the challenge. To refuse the challenge of a nameless warrior, one who had not earned that title...it would imply that they feared their champion would lose to someone who was by all intents and purposes an absolute nobody! And a female at that! He'd already have enough unrest to deal with after her little reminder of the coup that had secured house Bakkal its seat of power.

"What are your terms?" A voice from the floor suddenly spoke out.

Turvan had taken a step towards the intruder, and was eying her with a very peculiar look on his face.

"Turvan, what are you..." the Prime Elder hissed, but Turvan cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"Before a challenge can be accepted or refused, the challenger must state the terms." he said very casually. "This is, and always has been our way," he said, echoing Kita'tha's earlier words.

Kita'tha leveled her gaze at the new speaker in surprise. She hadn't heard much about the first son of house Kental, but what little she did know was very troubling. He was a dangerous ketral in more ways than one. So why was he playing along?"

"Well? We're waiting here." he cocked his head and crossed his arms, giving her a very odd grin.

"My terms..." she said, finding the words again. "First, upon victory of the challenger in an honor duel of claw and fang, the nomination will be considered null and void, and the challenger will be considered for the title!" she called out, working to keep her voice steady.

"Yes, that goes without saying" Turvan replied. "But what else? Surely you didn't sneak in here just for that, it hardly seems worth the risk, seeing how many laws you've just broken..." he said, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Kita'tha felt her hearbeat racing again. Yes, she'd broken several laws. Oppressive laws made by the new regime, headed by the father of the ketral she now sought to challenge. He'd brought this up, and yet was still listening to her? Something wasn't right.

"Once a challenge has been issued, it must be heard and honored" she shot back.

"Yes, so get on with it already." he gave a gesture of mock irritation, the smile on his face getting even wider.

She took a deep breath. "Also..." she continued. "upon victory of the challenger, Elder Jatal Tekalla Oreth Zeran Shas'el Ko Ketrali shall be released from prison. These are my terms. Does the defender have any objections?"

"I have only one objection." Turvan said, looking her up and down in a manner that sent chills down her spine right to the end of her tail. "An honor duel of claw and fang is, of course, fought unarmed. Thus, it is also the norm that neither fighter is attired in a manner that could conceal any hidden weapon. Especially..." he grinned. "in the case of those who have yet to prove their honor as a warrior. There's about a half dozen places you could be hiding a blade in that shadowsuit of yours. I demand proof that you stand unarmed."

She stared at him, stomach dropping as she realized what he was insinuating. Opening her mouth at first to protest, she quickly shut it as she realized there wasn't really any way out of this one. "You will have your proof." she said, somewhat shakily, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the all-male crowd gathered. Reaching behind her, she fumbled with the zip for a moment as her fingers trembled before getting hold of it. In a few seconds the garment was on the ground, and she did her best to retain a dignified pose as she stood in her breast band and shorts, chills running up her spine as her bare feet settled once more on the cold stone floor. "I stand unarmed, as you can see." she said in as strong a voice as she could manage, despite the way her heart was pounding.

"Ah, but you're not done." Turvan said, a cruel glint in his eyes. "There are still a number of places I can think of that you'd be hiding a weapon. You said I would have my proof that you are unarmed. Until that happens, I'm afraid we can't discuss this 'challenge' any further." he folded his arms, a viciously smug look on his face as he enjoyed the look of outrage that appeared on her face.

"You can't seriously mean..." she looked at him aghast, suddenly very self conscious of the recorders that she'd earlier been counting on to transmit her actions across the planet. 

"What, you protest?" he said in mock offense. "You do realize that any refusal on this could indicate that you are indeed hiding something, in which case the challenge would be null and void..."

Ancestors curse him, she thought. This was getting way out of hand, not at all as she'd planned it. But with so much at stake... was she going to let her modesty get in the way of everything she was fighting for? She could still accomplish everything she needed to, and if that demanded more sacrifice on her part, so be it. It would be even more humiliating for him if he lost, anyways, after demanding so much of her.

"No, there is no protest." she said, suddenly a lot calmer. "As I said, you will have your proof that I am unarmed. If this small request is all the defender requires for the duel, then the challenger shall meet the demands." With that, she quickly pulled her breast band over her head. A few moments later, her shorts had also been kicked aside. Standing completely naked, she ignored the way his eyes lingered on the cleft between her legs as she stared him down. "The challenger has met your objections. Now, do you hear my terms?"

"I hear your terms..." Turvan said, then looking beyond her and to the rest of the chamber. "Now hear mine. Technically, you should not even be allowed to issue your challenge. If you've been paying attention to laws passed recently, you should know that it is illegal for females to travel the path of the warrior now. This is due to recently found weaknesses as fighters, and they are now required to ensure the continuation of the Ketrali race in these times of war by providing offspring for our people." 

"One does not have to travel the path of the warrior to issue a challenge!" she retorted, feeling the anger rise inside her. After making her shed all traces of modesty in the name of the duel, what was he trying to pull? "This has not and never will change, unless you would give our ancestors cause to curse us!"

"We've already established that." he waved his hand at her. "But it has also never changed that one must be a warrior in order to enter the grand council chamber. So again, technically you should not be here. However..." he turned back to her, making no effort to hide the way his eyes traveled across her body. "I will accept your challenge, provided that this honor duel will also be considered as your Last Hunt!" he gave a wicked grin before turning back to the Prime Elder. "These are my terms!"

Prime Elder Duran had been silent since Turvan had spoken, and in the short amount of time that had passed his mood had improved considerably. His son had not only humiliated the little brat, but had also found a way to turn the situation around! A union between the first daughter of the late Matriarch Shas'el, and the first son of the Prime elder...if anything would seal his place as ruler of Ketra, that would certainly do it! Also, as was made clear by her state of dress, or lack thereof, she was a magnificent female specimen of the Ketral race, and any offspring she would produce would be of excellent breeding.

"The council hears the challenge. As a direct blood relative of the defender I am unable to serve as arbitrator in this duel. Thus, I call forth others in my stead." he announced, not entirely masking the pleasure in his voice as he thought of the much brighter future ahead of him. A pity he couldn't judge the duel himself, but he had to make sure there was no way others could imply he'd show favoritism towards his son. That didn't mean he couldn't tilt things in his favor though.

Turning to the war council behind him, he surveyed the elders present. They were a combination of those who had assisted him in his rise to power, and those who had been from the previous war council and had submitted to the authority of the new Prime Elder. The latter of course held much less power than before the coup. As a matter of fact they were little more than puppets, only kept around to maintain the illusion that some of the old council had a say in things. The imprisonment of several key house members also ensured that they stayed in line. This helped placate those in the populace who still had feelings of loyalty to the old regime. That didn't mean he could trust them though, so the Elders that would serve as arbitrators would be drawn from those he knew to be loyal, and would favor his son in the duel. Receiving eye contact and silent nods from several of them, he turned back to the assembly.

"The duel shall be judged by Elders Niko, of the Bakkal, Salluk, of the Oran, Riggel, of the Telu, Farral, of the Votha, and Mirvak, of the Pakka." he announced, knowing that each elder behind him stood as their name was called before making their way down to the floor. "The duel will commence upon the readiness of the challenger and defender, provided there are no further objections." he said, leering down at the unclothed female standing across from his son.

Kita'tha's gaze flicked between the Prime Elder and Turvan as she wrestled with the terms he'd set forth. If she won, yes, she'd get everything she came here for. If she lost...she'd come completely prepared to die when she started out. But now, it was different. If she lost now, she'd be stuck in what would amount to a life of near-slavery. One of those few things she had heard about Turvan was that he was reputed to be very rough on the females he'd mated with. It was rumored that some had even resorted to taking their own lives. As high profile as she was though, she doubted he'd let her have that chance.

Well. It wasn't as if she'd come here with the intention of losing anyways.

"I have no objections." she replied. "I stand ready for the challenge, and await the defender."

Turvan gave her a strange look. "What do you mean, you await the defender? I'm right here."

She smirked, mirroring the look he'd worn just moments earlier. "You are indeed present for the honor duel, but you are not ready. An honor duel is fought with both combatants armed and armored equally." She raised an eyebrow expectantly as he took a step backwards, taken completely aback. "Didn't think that one all the way through, did you?" she said in a very low voice so that only he could hear it. If he was going to embarrass her, she'd drag him down with her.

Turvan opened his mouth to say something, but upon glancing at the stern looks of the five silver-maned elders now in position at the edge of the floor, he thought better of it. Shrugging as he pretended to not care, he threw his war blade to the side, a clatter echoing across the chamber as the venerable weapon was roughly discarded. Quickly stripping himself of the ornate ceremonial war gear, he threw each piece off to the side of the ring with little regard, and soon he too was standing naked before all. His mating organs were retracted into his body, so he was not nearly as exposed as she was, but she still caught herself examining him. Had he been anyone else, she actually might have been attracted to him. Even through the dark tan fur covering his body, she could see the well defined musculature. He was undoubtedly stronger than she was, and the long fangs he possessed were a weapon that she did not have. She had to admit he was a very striking example of a ketral male. 




Kita'thalla Ch. 11



Enough of that though. The arbitrators had signaled their readiness, and the large crowd present was completely silent. Turning to her opponent, she saluted, noting that his cocky attitude had resurfaced as he returned it rather short. Assuming a neutral fighting stance with claws still sheathed, she waited for the signal to begin, taking a moment to focus as she mentally prepared for the fight ahead of her.

"Begin!" the five arbitrators yelled as one.

Looking across the ring, she saw that Turvan hadn't even taken up a stance. He crossed his arms, a smug grin on his face as he walked a wide circle around her. She eyed him warily, shifting so that he was never out of her gaze.

"Kita'tha" he mused, shaking his head condescendingly as he continued to pace. "I don't know why you had to go and pull a stunt like this. Was it really worth it? To come out here just to be stripped, beaten and humilated? And what for?" he said, his voice low so that it could only be clearly heard by her. 

She didn't reply, still watching his movements carefully. 

"So serious..." he laughed softly after a few more moments of silence. "So, it's all about your father is it? Well, I'll make you a deal." he said, stopping suddenly. "I can make this much easier for you. Oh, we obviously have to make this look convincing. But you know the traditions of Last Hunt. Make things easy for me, and I promise not to...overdo my part in things. And just to show my appreciation for your cooperation..." he drawled, once again allowing his eyes to roam the hard curves of her body. "I could arrange for the release of your father. Oh yes." he said, softly laughing again as her eyes went wide. "It's within my power. Or rather, will be once I'm Executor. Think of it as a betrothal gift. It would be a shame for our offspring to miss out on the wisdom of a warrior such as Jatal."

"Do not speak his name so casually." she replied, her voice low and dangerous.

"My apologies.." he said offhandedly. "So, what will it be?"

"Less talk. Don't forget what we're here for." she said, a slight smile curving at the side of her mouth.

"Heh...suit yourself." Turvan scoffed. Suddenly he lunged, throwing his entire body weight behind his fist as he wound up for a knockout punch. A blur of movement and a resounding crack echoed across the chamber, eliciting gasps from the crowd.

Turvan spun completely around mid-air before crashing to the floor. Struggling to his knees, he clutched the side of his face as his vision danced. Finally coming to focus, he wondered why it was so quiet before realizing the ringing in his ears was drowning out the sound of the crowd. Turning, he saw Kita'tha, still balanced on one foot after the vicious kick that had caught him clear across the side of his face, her other leg still in a high knee block. 

"You...you..." he stammered, unstable as he staggered to his feet. "How did..."

The next thing he knew he had the wind knocked out of him as she moved faster than he thought possible, delivering an elbow to his stomach. The heel of her palm snapped his head back as it connected with his lower jaw, a sweep of her leg knocked his feet out from under him, and she helped him back to the floor with another elbow downward into his chest.

Kita'tha took a few steps back, still in a combat stance. She hadn't unsheathed her claws, and he was already in trouble. Steady, she told herself, getting cocky would only have her winding up like Turvan was now. Honestly, she wanted to pummel him until he stopped moving, but she had to let him recover before striking again. There had to be no doubt by anyone watching that she'd beaten him. Attacking him while he was on the ground like this would be considered somewhat underhanded, and would call doubt upon her ability as a fighter if she had to resort to hitting her opponent while he was down. Looking around the chamber, she fought back a grin as she saw the look on Duran's face. Now THAT made this worth it. The arbitrators however, in contrast to the noisy crowd, were all stony silent. None of them had intervened.

The etiquette of a duel was somewhat complicated. Among other rules (which she'd studied intensely so as not to break any) there was the practice of escalation. Regardless of what weapons were used, the fighters always started bare-handed with claws sheathed, as they were regarded as weapons in their own way. It was considered a crushing defeat if a competitor was disabled before even these had been exposed. Yet, at the same time, it was considered an admission of weakness to be the first to unsheathe a weapon, whether it be claw or blade. So there was a balance to be had. In many cases a gracious fighter would unsheathe their claws even as they were winning, and allow their opponent to do the same, if only to save them the shame of losing to a bare handed opponent. That being said...she wasn't in a gracious mood right now.

In all likely hood though, the arbitrators were waiting for him to draw his "weapons", as this would force her to use her own. It hadn't surprised her at all that the Prime Elder had selected others that were part of his coup as arbitrators. If they had to declare her the victor, they'd probably delay it until the fight became armed, and save him the shame of a bare handed loss. She suspected she'd have to beat him into the dust before they'd call a win on her part. She'd have to be careful though, once he did start using his claws and fangs that would make the fight much more dangerous.

There, he was standing up again. This time it appeared that he'd taken the time to focus himself while he was down, as he was much more stable on his feet. The look he shot across the floor at her was one of utter rage as he sized her up again. 

"You...you bitch..." he growled at her. "You're going to pay for that."

This time he actually guarded himself as he attacked. Had he attacked like this from the start, the heavy kick she'd opened with never would have been feasible. Of course, she had plenty of other ways to get the job done. He was stronger than her, but not by much, not enough to gain an advantage over her. On top of that, she was far quicker. She took a moment to analyze his attacks as she evaded or parried every strike against her. He was by no means an amateur fighter, but was clearly out of practice. She imagined he was used to his strength being enough to get the job done. 

But here it was his downfall. As he grew more and more infuriated as each blow failed to connect, he was becoming reckless again. Ducking under a particularly heavy punch she grabbed his wrist, and using his momentum she pulled him off balance, sending him stumbling. Regaining his balance, he spun around. The next thing he knew, he had a split second view of her foot arcing toward his face before his vision exploded into multi-colored stars, and he yet again found himself on the ground.

Standing back a few paces, she watched as he yet again struggled to his feet, clutching his left eye. She smirked, knowing that it would probably be turning a very interesting color by tomorrow. Even if she did enough damage to activate his healing splicing, there would be enough bleeding inside for a very nice bruise to form. As he finally faced her, blinking profusely as he tried to make the injured eye focus, he let out a snarl before baring his claws and once again going on the attack.

She'd bared her own by the time he reached her. This of course was an entirely different duel now. Blocks and parries had to be stronger and more precise, dodges had to be quicker, as even glancing blows could cause injury. Unlike a blade, which increased both offensive and defensive capability, claws increased reach and damage potential, but there was no significant increase in defense. Also, the use of claws also meant that fangs were fair game now, a weapon that he naturally had an advantage with. So it was imperative that she never gave him a chance to use them. 

She danced away from the first few swipes, keeping her distance to avoid being grappled. This also put her out of upper claw range, which would force him to kick if he wanted to hit her. And when that happened....there. Ducking under a round kick aimed at her face, she darted forward, jabbing the claws on her left hand into his side, drawing a grunt of pain from him as blood spurted out of the four puncture wounds. The claws on her other hand drew out four bloody tracks as she raked them across his abdomen. Using her momentum, she spun around, her left leg hooking around in an arc towards his face, claws outstretched to slash across his....

"HOLD!"

The sudden shout nearly caused her to topple off balance as she halted the swing of her leg, bringing it down to regain her balance. The five arbitrators were now advancing toward the center of the ring, ceremonial war blades drawn. Either they had reached a decision, or some rule had been broken. A hush descended across the crowd as the five elders stopped, surrounding the duo. After what seemed like an eternity, one of them stepped forward, placing himself directly in front of her. Icy blue eyes regarded her for a few moments before he lifted his blade and held it out before him, one hand on the grip, the other supporting its length midway.

"N..No..." she heard a sputtering voice behind her. Still at a loss for words, she turned to see Turvan clutching the wound on his side, his mouth grasping for words as he comprehended what was going on.

"Our decision has been made." the one with the icy eyes said in a calm clear voice that was audible to everyone in the chamber, the weapon still held out to her. "As five may come together to form a fist that strikes judgment, we five have come together to make ours. I am Elder Niko, and I declare the challenger the victor."

"I am Elder Salluk" said the next elder, a massive old warrior with a scar crossing the left side of his face. "And I declare the challenger the victor"

One by one, the remaining three stepped forward, all making the same proclamation.

"On what grounds!" a shout came from outside of the ring. Kita'tha looked up to see the Prime Elder fuming, his claws digging into the wood of the lectern in front of him "The fight has barely begun!".

The icy blue eyes of Elder Niko shifted upwards to meet his glare. "Surely, you should be grateful we made our decision so fast. Had we delayed, the defender might have lost more than his title."

"Indeed" Elder Salluk rumbled, stepping forward. "It is our judgment that a fatal blow was imminent, and as the terms of the challenge issued did not state death as a demand, the duel had to be called. Besides, I believe your son's ass was damaging our council chamber floor." He grinned at the look of outrage crossing the Prime Elder's face. "It pained me to see it treated so."

Kita'tha blinked. That last kick...she glanced at the way Turvan was clutching his side. If he'd dropped his guard after that wound, the claws on her foot would have been destined for his neck. Even the healing splicing couldn't save someone whose main neck artery had been severed.

"You...you can't seriously..." everyone's attention shifted back to Turvan, whose mannerisms suggested his mind had been unhinged. His gaze flicked between Kita'tha, the elders, and the weapon that Niko held out to her. "That's my blade..." he stepped forward, reaching out with his other hand to the weapon. In a blur of movement, the blades of the three remaining elders were suddenly in front of him, blocking his advance towards her and Elder Niko. Turvan stopped, blinking at the razor sharp metal crossed in front of him before sensing a large presence behind him. Turning around, he balked as the immense form of Elder Salluk loomed over him.

"Not any more it isn't" Salluk growled, displaying fangs the size of daggers. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was bestowed as an honor for the Executor of Ketra. Seeing as you no longer deserve that title, it is clear you no longer deserve the blade."

"It's a cadre heirloom..." Turvan started to whine, but immediately went silent as Salluk tightened his grip on his own weapon. 

"After the way you have disrespected it, I dare say it would long for a new home" the cold voice of Niko pierced the air, matching his glare. Turvan quailed, taking one last glance at the hard metal surrounding him before dashing away from the gathering, almost running into Salluk in his haste. Shaking his head in disappointment and turning his gaze back to Kita'tha, Niko tilted his head towards her, beckoning that she take the weapon.

Kita'tha stared at it, suddenly realizing that Niko still wore his own blade on his back, and the weapon held before her was the one Turvan had so callously discarded. Hands trembling, she reached out to take the mighty two handed weapon. While it had the same shape as a normal war blade, there was no comparison to the ceremonial weapons carried by guards. The curved blade had a bluish sheen to it, proof of the quality of it's forging, and fine etchings ran along the entire length of the blade. Despite its weight, it was perfectly balanced as she held it in one hand. 

Elder Niko spoke again. "Before all present, and in the rights given to me as an Elder of our people, I declare that this Ketral has proven her worthiness as a warrior. Henceforth, she has earned the right to be known as Kita'tha Tekalla Oreth Shas'el Ko Ketrali!" Drawing his own weapon, he spun it in a full circle in front of him before planting it tip first on the ground with both hands on the pommel, a salute to the victor. One after the other, the remaining elders mirrored his gesture. A few nervous roars of salute came from the audience, though most were shocked into silence.

She'd won. Despite the circle of Elders saluting her, the stunned crowd, the weapon in her hands, she was having a hard time believing it. Over 20 ket of training, and it was over that quickly? It was unreal. And the arbitrators, they'd supported her. That was something she hadn't counted on. Especially Niko, a member of Turvan's own cadre! Hadn't these been the same Ketrals that had supported the current Prime Elder, assisted in the coup that had resulted in her mother's death? And also, the Prime Elder had been silent this entire time. An uneasy feeling crept up her back as she noticed Turvan up on the Elder podium, whispering to his father. The look of seething rage on the face of the Prime Elder was being replaced by a very cruel look of vengeance. He was still angry enough, however, to backhand Turvan across the face hard enough to send him sprawling down the stairs of the podium

"ENOUGH!" he yelled, slamming his fist on the lectern, surveying the scene on the chamber floor. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw guards rushing to finally turn off the blasted recorders. About time. Someone was going to pay for letting them go that long. For now though, his rage was centered on the still naked female standing in the center of the floor.

"So...you've won." he growled down at her. "Congratulations, I suppose. But this doesn't change the fact that you are a criminal."

Suddenly Kita'tha found her voice again. "The challenge was heard!" she yelled back at him. "The terms must be met!" Privately she suddenly struggled to contain her stomach. She had a bad feeling about this.

"They will be met, yes." he replied, an evil grin crossing his face. "So, by the power invested in me as Prime Elder, I bestow the title of Executor up on you. And, your father, he will be released from prison."

She blinked in surprise. That had been too easy. Why was he glowering like that?

"Now, as to the matter of your crimes..." he continued. "First, you have committed trespass on the venerated ground of the War Council prior to earning your warrior's name. Second, proceeding this trespass, you have earned your warriors name, which as you know, is now forbidden to those of the female gender. And third..." he smirked maliciously, "Treason. The support of a known dissenter, one Elder Jatal who would seek to topple the current lawful government."

Kita'tha trembled, a combination of rage and fear rushing through her. The ancestors would roll in their graves if they'd witnessed this bastardized twisting of Ketrali law. A challenger was ordinarily entitled to demand anything, even the release of a prisoner, no matter the crime committed. And the first two charges... The outrage of the hypocrisy showed on the faces of the five elders surrounding her, and even a few members of the crowd were making their disagreement known. And yet, a sinking feeling in her stomach told her there wasn't much she could do as the majority of the Elders sitting on the podium remained resigned in silence. On top of that, more guards were now filing into the chamber, weapons at the ready. 

"With the crimes thus laid out" he announced, gleefully noting the scores of loyal guards that were now present. "it is my declaration that you are lacking in the honor necessary for the position of Executor, thus I motion that this title be stripped from the offender. The council will now vote on the matter." 

Turning to those seated behind him, he watched as a unanimous agreement was made throughout the remaining elders, ignoring the five opposing votes from the chamber floor. He'd deal with them later. He imagined there were a few more loyalists to the old Matriarch present as well, but they would make themselves known in time.

"The council has made it's decision." he called out, turning back to the crowd. "We hereby decree that the title of Executor be stripped from the offender. It is also my judgment that additional measures must be taken in this matter seeing as a multitude of crimes have been committed. As such..."

"I shall deliver the sentence" the voice of Elder Niko came from the floor.

Duran's gaze snapped to to the defiant elder. "You are in no position to pass sentence, you traitorous cur!"

Strangely enough, Niko smiled, an odd look for someone as grim as he was. "Ironic coming from one such as you. But if you recall, our ancient laws allow the arbitrator of an honor duel to pass sentence on a challenger who has been found unworthy due to transgressions that have taken place in the process of the duel, as the dishonor occurred during the jurisdiction of said judge. I believe there can be no dispute that this has occurred, as you have already proclaimed the crimes to be."

Duran was only able to glare at the offending elder. His takeover of the government had relied on the support of many of the Elders behind him. The vote just moments ago had shown that despite the five upstarts on the floor below, he still had much of that support, and was still the one in power. He wasn't above bending the rules and laws of Ketra to gain what he wanted either. However, a blatant breach of ancient law could easily lose him that power in the eyes of several behind him, enough to tip the balance of power. Still, there was something that Niko had failed to mention. 

"That may be true..." he growled back, "But the ancient laws also say that such a sentencing may only be that of the maximum penalty, in order to prevent favoritism from impeding the delivery of justice." 

In all honesty Duran wasn't sure what was going on. After such a show of defiance, why was Niko suddenly taking this course of action? The blue eyed elder was well enough versed in Ketrali law that he couldn't have forgotten that part of the law. And the other four elders on the floor didn't seem to show any shock either. Well...who was he to argue? If this was the case, it would remove the annoying little slut permanently. 

"I am aware of that." Niko replied. "And I am prepared to give this sentence."

Kita'tha had been silent as she watched the play of politics before her. The battle taking place on the council floor was of an entirely different kind, not one that she had prepared for, and most of the verbal sparring had left her speechless. She was surprised that she had been able to speak the few times it had been required. Upon hearing Niko's declaration of sentencing however, it was impossible for her not to react.




Kita'thalla Ch. 11



"Ni...I mean, Elder!" she yelled, staring at him wide eyed as he turned his icy gaze back to her. "What are you doing?!" She was utterly confused. Just who was he supporting here? It made no sense for him to shame the son of the Prime Elder, make a stance against him, but then turn around and sentence her to...

"Silence." the word echoed firmly across the chamber as Niko gave her a stern look. Even without yelling he had commanded the attention of everyone present. Seeing that he wasn't going to be interrupted, Niko gave an almost imperceptible nod before speaking again.

"In accordance with ancient law, and the power vested in me as an elder of our people, I sentence the challenger, Kita'tha Tekalla Oreth Shas'el Ko Ketrali, to death by the path of the rogue. Henceforth she shall be an outcast of our kind, fighting and dying for us, but never with us, no longer of a house and a mere shadow of what she once was, and will hereby be known as Kita'thalla Oretho Shas'elo a ko Ketrali."

The chamber was completely silent as his proclamation echoed in the minds of everyone present. Niko suddenly looked very tired, and much older than he had just moments ago. "I am sorry, Kita'thalla." he said, his voice almost a whisper as he closed his eyes. "It was the only way."

She simply nodded, glancing at the other elders surrounding her before reaching up and undoing her topknot. All of them shared the same tired look, as if a heavy burden rested upon their shoulders. The sentence that had been delivered was harsh, but it would give her a chance at achieving her goals, if she survived long enough to do so. She was surprised however, that she had been helped by them in this way. Prior to today she would have gladly killed any of them in retaliation for the coup.

"NIKO!" Duran's voice cut across the silence.

Clearly, she was not the only one surprised as such.

"After supporting me, you would dare betray me, a member of your own cadre like this?!" he yelled, still in disbelief at the turn of events. As a rogue, she was untouchable by him, since she was technically no longer a part of ketral society. It was likely she'd die in the course of duty, that was true, but it was no longer guaranteed, and he hated losing control.

Suddenly, the tired look was gone from Niko's face. His gaze snapped back to the Prime Elder. "I supported you because I believed you had the right idea on how to make Ketra strong. I believed you would bring honor and respect to our race." he retorted, his strong voice piercing the air of the council chamber. "You however, have turned the military of our home world into your plaything, and have made us into nothing more than bullies of the galaxy. Where powerful allies could have been found, you instead conquered and smashed anything that could have been of worth. You weaken us."

Duran growled deep in his throat. "You will pay for this mistake, Niko"

Niko actually gave a short laugh. "Yes, I will. And also for many others." Reaching up to the back of his head, he undid the binding that held his long silver mane into a warrior's topknot, allowing it to flow freely down his back. Ignoring the gasps of the crowd, he pulled it together in one hand, deftly flicking the razor sharp warblade in his other hand behind him to sever the mane at shoulder length. Beside him, the other four elders on the floor had mirrored his actions. Gesturing for Kita'thalla to step up along side him and the other rogues, they faced the podium and bowed down on one knee as the guards finally entered the floor to surround them all.

"I am Nikola, and I am ready to die for Ketra"

"I am Sallukla, and I am ready to die for Ketra"

"I am Riggella, and I am ready to die for Ketra"

"I am Farralla, and I am ready to die for Ketra"

"I am Mirvakla, and I am ready to die for Ketra"

"And I am Kita'thalla, and I am ready to die for Ketra."



Kita'thalla Ch. 12



Finally. I know I know, this thing is over half a year overdue, but school just wouldn't give me a rest. Anyone who tells you summer school is easier than the regular fall/winter terms is lying. Hope you enjoy.



"...What happened next...I almost couldn't believe. All of them, even Elder Niko...they joined me. Or rather, they tried to."

"Tried to?" Eric asked.

Kita nodded, pulling her knees closer to her chest. Strangely enough, the telling of her past had calmed her down considerably from when he'd first woken up. "The Prime Elder made sure that I was very alone. While they voluntarily went on the path of the rogue, and there was nothing he could do about that. But he was more than able to make sure they couldn't assist me in any way."

Eric frowned before wincing in pain as the motion stressed the injured side of his face. "Ow... okay, well maybe I'm not understanding what you mean by the path of the rogue. Didn't you say it was something like exile? If you're an outcast from your people, how can they tell you what to do, and why are you still serving in the military?

Kita sighed. "It's not quite like that. You see...our ancestors, back in the days of the first hunters, life was harsh. The struggle to get food, fights against neighboring cadres...I already explained that much to you. With things as they were, another strong back and a set of sharp claws was very valuable, even if they belonged to one who had lost all honor, through their crimes or any other means. We couldn't afford to have a death penalty in the traditional sense, just killing off an able body like that was wasteful. So, the ultimate punishment was death by the path of the rogue. They were outcast, yes. They didn't live with the rest of the cadre, in fact they were typically forbidden from coming within a certain distance of the settlement. But they were still in service of the cadre. They would hunt for new prey alone, as movement of many hunters could alert the herds. In cases of war with other cadres, they were the forward scouts, and would sometimes be used as infiltrators if need be. They would also be the ones to alert the cadre of any surprise attacks, and would fight off any rogues that might be in service to the other cadres. In essence, they were given the most hazardous jobs required, jobs that likely would result in their death. But they would die in service to the cadre, so their death would not be wasted."

"That makes sense..." Eric nodded "But, why would a rogue do all this, wouldn't they hold a grudge? What ensured that they would do everything asked of them?"

"Some didn't" Kita replied. "But...most would, for two main reasons. First of all, loyalty to their cadre or house. If you had family in the cadre, and by your actions you could help their survival even if you were exiled, you'd do it wouldn't you? Second..." Kita reached behind her head, pulling her long braided mane over her shoulder. "It was possible to be forgiven, if you survived long enough. When a ketral becomes rogue, they cut their mane if it is longer than shoulder length. If they then survived long enough for their mane to reach the end of their tail, then they would be deemed to be too valuable to risk death during exile, and could rejoin the cadre."

"They would be accepted back in, just like that?" Eric asked.

"Well actually, they would almost be revered." Kita said. "To survive that long as a rogue is very VERY rare. Those who did, it was like they'd passed the ultimate test of survival. It obviously depended on the individual as to whether or not people trusted them anymore after this time, but they almost always had a sway on the council of Elders, as they were bound to have gained a great amount of knowledge and skill in their time of exile. And of course, no one could ever doubt their ability as a warrior."

"So that's why you wear yours long?"

Kita nodded. "As you might guess, having a long mane is usually a disadvantage in a fight. Gives opponents something to grab, it can get caught on things, so most warriors wear theirs short. A long mane is typically only worn by elders or mated females, those who do not fight anymore. For rogues attempting to serve their sentence though, this obviously isn't an option. To keep it out of the way, rogues braid their mane, and many take measures to discourage an opponent from grabbing it." She nodded to the spiked metal bands lying against the wall. "And as for the reason you haven't seen any others...like many traditions, the path of the rogue is not very common any more. As our empire expanded and we became more prolific, we eventually did adopt the traditional death penalty as done by other races. But the old laws were never removed, so it is still an option, either as a sentence or as self imposed exile. And as I said, it's rare for a rogue to survive for long, so very few actually manage to grow theirs out to any noticeable length."

Eric glanced at the braid snaking over her shoulder as she said this, the length of her mane suddenly becoming much more impressive as he digested the new information. "So that means you...well...you're pretty good, aren't you?" 

"You recognized my name, didn't you?" she asked, a shadow of her normal confidence returning to her expression."

Yes, he certainly had. Upon learning just who she was, he'd pushed that little fact to the side of his mind when she was telling her story. It was unreal though. Even as he thought about it now, he was having the hardest time in the world trying to convince himself that one of the most infamous ketrals known to man was sitting across from him in a cave. The fact that Chaska kitathala had turned out to be a "her" made it even more unbelievable! The past week also seemed impossible, as his mind just didn't want to connect the "Kita" he'd come to know with the ruthless assassin that had never left any survivors to tell the tale. It really wasn't something that he wanted to think about.

"I guess I did" he said, trying think of a way to move the conversation away from her supposedly murderous true nature. "So...you've managed to grow it out that long. How much longer do you think it will take? It doesn't look like you have long to go."

"Really?" she asked, thinking about it for a second before giving a small laugh. "I haven't looked in a while. Never seemed much point in constantly measuring." She seemed to contemplate something for a moment, looking at Eric out of the corner of her eye before doing something that made Eric forget about every single one of his injuries.

++++++

From her hunched sitting position, Kita gracefully uncoiled her body, rising to her feet. Flickering shadows danced across her naked body as she rose to her feet, the forest canopy outside the cave filtering the afternoon light into a gentle illuminating glow. Kita could almost feel the way his eyes roamed across her body, his eyes following the curves of her breasts, the lighter fur trailing down her body past her navel to the small cleft barely visible between her thighs. Swallowing and trying to ignore the pounding of her heart, she turned around to face away from him, watching him out of the corner of her eye over one shoulder.

"To measure properly..." she said, her voice snapping Eric's eyes away from their examination of her rear end, "Requires assistance. Another reason I've never really done it much. The reason being, the mane is measured when the head is held level. Even with a mirror, you can't see behind you and keep your head straight"

Eric dimly nodded, his mouth still hanging half open in shock.

"So then..." she continued, taking a few steps backwards until she was standing right in front of him. "Where is it?" she turned her head away, looking straight ahead. It took all of her self control to hold her tail straight towards the ground, as she was already having a hard enough time stopping her self from trembling with nervousness.

An eternity seemed to pass before she finally heard him speak. "It's...um...just a little past your tail."

"The top?" she asked.

She heard him swallow. "Yeah uh...maybe, like...mid-cheek?"

"Mid-cheek?" she gave a nervous laugh. That was a funny way of describing it. The length of her mane however, wasn't the most prominent thing on her mind right now. Ever since she'd stood up, she'd been paying attention to his body language. The way he watched her, the way his eyes followed the shape of her body. Even as she had turned to look away from him, she was still observing with her other senses. Her ears picked up his rate of breathing, the tone of his voice, and her nose picked up the subtle changes in his scent. Glancing at him over her shoulder again, she saw his eyes were again riveted on her hindquarters. 

"Right. About there." he replied, his voice quavering a little. "So...you have to hold your tail down like that?"

"Yes." she nodded, her heartbeat racing as her next move made its way into her mind. Without giving herself the chance to get cold feet, she faced the wall before reaching behind with both hands, one grabbing her mane, the other reaching for the end of her tail. "As you can see..." she arched her back slightly, bringing the two ends together, "It's not that difficult to make the ends meet this way."

Even without hearing the sharp intake of breath from Eric, Kita knew exactly what she was showing him. The cool draft of air between her legs left no doubt on how visible her sex was to anyone sitting directly behind her. His breathing was shallow, but not in a way that suggested distress. No, quite the opposite, based on the alien but unmistakable way his scent had changed, just as it had a few days back when she'd taken off her body glove. The feeling of him watching, the evidence of his arousal, it all sent shivers down her spine, and she was also conscious of a strange warmth building in the area just beneath her navel that was slowly spreading downwards. She'd never felt anything like...wait, no, she had. That morning at the river, when he'd pulled her in and...whatever it was that he'd done. It had made her heartbeat quicken just as it was now, in a way that she had previously only experienced on the field of battle. It was exhilarating.

And yet, she was more scared than she had ever been on any battlefield. Despite all the signs that suggested he was still...well, interested, she still couldn't bring herself to ask anything that would confirm it. Sooner or later, everything about her, who she was, the things she had done, all of it would finally sink in and she had no idea what he would do then. Hell, even without all of that, she was still a Ketral! The wall in front of her wavered, and she suddenly realized that she had been holding her breath. Letting go with both hands, she took a few steps back to her side of the cave, leaning against the wall for a moment to recover her senses. Finally daring to turn back, she found Eric still staring slack jawed at her. Was that reassuring? Then why didn't she feel any better?! Maybe he...ARGH! Had she just made an idiot out of herself? Glancing down at the cave floor, she made sure that the pistol was within Eric's reach before sprinting out into the forest without another word.

+++++++++

Well.

That was...

That was...

He didn't know what it was. One minute Kita had been standing in front of him in all her natural glory, the next she was gone. What exactly had been the point of that conversation again? Something about measuring her mane. But...okay, maybe she was just making a point. There was no way that she'd shown him her...everything on purpose, right? But then, why had she taken off like that, and where was she going? A crashing sound from outside the cave made him jump. Warily scanning the forest, his hand reflexively reached for the pistol on the ground, but he paused as he was unable to find the source. Must have been a loose tree branch or something of that nature. His eyes lingered though, searching for any sign of Kita. A seed of worry planted itself in his mind. She didn't have a weapon with her and she clearly wasn't thinking straight in one way or another. Wait, why was he worrying about her? He was the injured one here, it's not like he was going to be much help in his current condition! Besides, if she really is who she says she is...crap. Back to this again. 

Her identity complicated things greatly. Yes, she'd said that she didn't want to kill him. But...if they ever got off this planet, would it stay that way? If they were found by Ketrals...well, he was gone anyways if that happened. If they were found by his people...how was he going to explain her to them? He had no doubt that most of the earth forces would want to shoot her on sight, if only for the notoriety of being the one to take down such an infamous enemy soldier. And even supposing they didn't just open fire, how would she react? Would she go peacefully or try to go out fighting? 

What if they didn't know who she was? A light bulb went off in the back of his mind, though it was quickly dimmed. Hiding the identity of a known wanted enemy officer, how many regulations did that break? But she hadn't told him who she was at the start so...maybe they'd buy it that he'd never found out who she was? He'd been shocked as it was that this beautiful alien woman was a legendary assassin. Maybe it would be just as unbelievable to everyone else. But if they found out...ugh, it was giving him a headache, all the ways it could go wrong. Looking over to the disarray of his medical kit he let out an exasperated sigh. Another 2 hours to wait before he was allowed to take another painkiller. Well, in the mean time, he could clean up the mess she'd made. Testing the strength of his injured leg, he found it painful but bearable. Wincing as he was again reminded of his cracked ribs, he moved himself across the cave floor over to his supplies and set to the task of figuring out just exactly where everything had been.

++++++

Grinding to a halt, Kita stared at the river in frustration. At a time where she wanted to do nothing but run, why did something like this have to get in the way? Yes, she could swim across but...argh! It was too late, she'd stopped and now she had to deal with herself. Slumping to the ground, she tried to clear her mind but it just wouldn't shut up. Even the weather was throwing her off. The bright sunny afternoon just didn't belong with all the ugliness that had happened. And of all the places for her to arrive on the river, it was the inlet, the same place that earlier that day they'd had their water fight and...she touched her lips with one hand before screaming and slamming both fists into the ground. Squeezing her eyes shut to block out the scenery, she tried to make sense of the conflict in her mind.

It was just too much. She'd never felt the mating urge before. Not before today. And when she did, it was towards a human. It seemed wrong, after everything she'd learned about them, how they were weak, unworthy. It should have been towards a member of her own species, a warrior of some kind! 

And yet on the same day she'd been beaten and nearly taken by one of her own race. The rites of last hunt even said that it was proper that she take him as her mate, as he'd technically proven his worthiness by beating her. But the thought of being with him, it wasn't just a lack of the mating urge, she was flat out disgusted, and at the moment he had been about to take her...she didn't want to think about it.

And then Eric, he'd almost been killed. She remembered how frantic she'd been, how afraid she was that she'd never be able to say to him how she felt, and yet now she was too much of a coward to do just that! Even if he did respond favorably...would he then want to...she shuddered. After getting beaten to within an inch of her life and almost forcibly taken, was she just going to turn around and give herself to a human?! What were the chances of him responding that way anyways?! She was Chas'ka Kita'thalla! Standing to run again, she tripped on a tree root and landed roughly on her knees at the waters edge, nearly going face first into the water as she sprawled onto her hands. Cursing loudly and moving to stand again, she caught sight of a reflection in the water.

She didn't recognize herself. 

The uniform was gone. The perfectly groomed, braided mane...it wasn't there. The hard killer's eyes were missing, and the proud posture of a warrior was absent. She was naked. Her mane and parts of her fur were still matted with dirt, dried blood, and bits of debris from the fight. The rogue's braid, a mark of strength and shame was loose, close to coming undone. There were also several scars showing, a result of the fact that even as flesh repaired itself, it took a while for the fur to grow back. Running her fingers through her own mane, she saw the figure in the water mirror the action. It was her...and yet...

Staring for a few more moments, she finally closed her eyes. Reaching behind, she untied the knot holding the braid together. Separating out the plaits, she slowly combed through it with her claws, removing the various twigs and debris that had accumulated during the fight. Standing, she stepped into the water and washed herself, leaving only her scars as evidence of the fight. Finishing, she paused as she considered waiting a while to let her mane dry, but decided against it. In her sudden flight, she'd nearly forgotten about Eric's injuries. Stupid of her really, even if he did have the gun. While he hadn't seemed to think they were overly severe during his self examination, the planet had shown an annoying ability to produce trouble out of no where on an almost daily basis. It was probably best if she returned as soon as possible. Starting out into the forest, she stopped as a scent on the wind hit her. A few memories from the fight surfaced and she changed her course slightly. It was more or less on the way back anyways, 

++++++++

Eric nodded in approval as he placed the last vial into it's proper place. It had taken a little longer than he'd thought it would, but thankfully nothing was missing or broken.

"Are you sure you should be moving around?"

Eric jumped at the voice behind him, though there was no mistaking who it was. A wave of relief washed over him as he turned to see Kita settling into her normal spot. The wave of relief was quickly replaced by a shortness of breath as he realized that not only was she still naked, but she looked different. Her mane was undone, cascading around her in waves after being bound up in the braid for so long. It was then that he registered that she'd asked him a question.

"Oh, uh...yeah, I'm fine" he replied, thankfully finding his voice before he made a fool of himself again. "It obviously would have been a bad idea for me to run after you, but...." he shrugged

Kita simply nodded and dropped something on the cave floor in front of her wrapped in a tattered black cloth. It took a moment for Eric to realize that it was the remains of the top she'd been wearing prior. Unwrapping it, she revealed his combat knife, her plasma pistol, and what appeared to be some kind of necklace. It wasn't until she tied it around her neck that he recognized it as a string of claws. Setting the two weapons aside, she examined the cloth for a moment before shaking her head. "Mind if I borrow this for a moment?" she asked, holding up his knife.

Eric shrugged, though several questions were on his mind. "No, go ahead"

Kita nodded in thanks. Taking the body glove she'd been wearing under her armor on the first day, she set to work with the knife. "Since my other things were completely ruined..." she said by way of explaination as she worked. "This is is all I have left. It's not ideal for this climate."

"I see." replied Eric. Her behavior was confusing the hell out of him. She'd seemed upset about something when she dashed out of the cave. The way she was acting now though, it was as if nothing had happened. As if nothing had happened at all, actually, the way she was talking about the clothing ruined in the fight. 




Kita'thalla Ch. 12



"You're wondering about this" she indicated the necklace as she looped a strip of cloth around her back, knotting it in front of her chest. 

Eric opened his mouth to speak, but lost the words from his mouth as she stood, wrapping a wide length of material around her naked lower half a few times and between her legs, looping it up through the waistband to hang in front of her. Standing there in her breast band and loin cloth with a necklace of claws at her throat, she evoked the savage image of an amazonian. Taking one last thin strip of fabric, she pulled her mane back, tying it off into a simple but very long pony tail before returning his knife to his bag and sitting back down to face Eric.

"Are those what I think they are?" Eric asked, finally finding his voice.

"Maybe" Kita replied. "They are, as you might have guessed, claws from my own kind. These particular ones though, do not belong to Turvan, if that's what you were guessing. At least, they don't anymore. These came from the remains of an ancestor of house Kental. I don't know the specific warrior, but if I ever return to Ketra it will be my responsibility to find out so that I may honor the ancestor properly. As for the why...you remember how I explained that we don't leave weapons in the hands of our dead?"

Eric nodded.

"Claws can be considered a form of weapon." she continued. "We don't take them from all our dead though. It is the strange irony of battle that the greatest warriors will have the most difficult time in achieving an honorable death. To die on your back, when your mane is silver and your fangs are falling out...you are undefeated, a legend on the battlefield, but in the end are cheated of a warriors death. To ease the spirit of a warrior that has been unable to find this death, we remove the very last attachment to their duty that they possess, so that there can be no doubt for the spirit that it is allowed to rest.

"So why was Turvan wearing those?" Eric asked

Kita snorted in contempt. "He shouldn't have been. We wear the claws of fallen heroes not only to remind us of their strength when they lived, and thus draw inspiration, but also to honor them. It also has the side effect that if a warrior wearing them falls in battle, then in a way the ancestor has finally found death on the battlefield, even if it's through the actions of another."

"So...what happened back there didn't count?" he nodded to the necklace. "You left behind several sets on your transport"

Kita shook her head. "No, it most definitely didn't. Turvan took these with him as a status tool, to boast of deeds in the past that were not his. And being killed while attacking an unwilling mate in a state of weakness is not an honorable death on the battlefield. Judging by the age of them, they have returned from the battlefield around the neck of one who still lived several times. These deserve a far better resting place."

Eric nodded. He'd certainly heard of stranger customs followed throughout Earth's history, so it wasn't that difficult to wrap his mind around the idea. There was however, still one nagging question on his mind, but he wasn't sure how to bring it up without sounding like an ass. Especially after she'd suddenly cut and run like that earlier. For now though, it seemed that talk of her traditions had calmed her down even more.

"So...what about your people?" Kita suddenly asked.

Eric blinked, not entirely certain what she was asking. "What about them?"

"You haven't told me anything about your ways...after everything I've told you about my peoples traditions, surely you'd be willing to share something about yours." She replied, settling back against the cave wall.

"Well.." Eric searched his mind, not really sure where or how to start. "What exactly did you want to know about?"

Kita shrugged. "Tell me about your history. How your people started."

Eric thought for a moment. "I don't know if there's a simple answer to that one. Pass me the canteen, this isn't a short story." Nodding in thanks as she slid the mostly full container to him, he took a sip before starting. "The first thing to remember when looking at us is that we're very diverse. Our planet has two major habitable land masses, and those are separated even further by varying climates, terrain, and environments, some of which were very hostile. One way or another, humans managed to spread out across almost the entire planet. Because of the differences in location, however, we had a multitude of separate civilizations develop before we truly had any modern technology. When civilizations finally started running into each other, you had humans that were actually physiologically different from one and other. Still the same species, mind you, but a whole variety of skin colors, statures, and other physical traits had developed. Different beliefs and ways of life too, so conflict was often a result of differing ideas rather than a fight over land or resources.

"So, more or less it was often for very stupid reasons." Kita replied.

Eric nodded grimly. "There's a reason it took us a while to get into space, never mind outside our solar system. I don't think there was a year in our history where a war of some kind wasn't going on. Several were massive, involving almost the entire planet. In the end, it was because we realized that we were running out of natural resources that we had to set aside everything and find common ground, or else we would have been stuck on a dead planet."

"Regardless," Kita gave a faint smile, "Your past stupidity is saving you now."

Eric blinked. "...what?"

Kita closed her eyes, although the smile remained. "Your kind are just as much a race of warriors as mine, although at first glance it's not obvious. Your history of conflict means that your race is no stranger to war. I doubt that we would have underestimated you so easily if you made it as obvious as we do."

"Maybe" he replied "What else did you want to know?" he asked, looking for a change in subject. Talking about how her side was slowly losing the war was somewhat awkward, and he didn't want a repeat of her earlier flight.

"Hmm..." she mulled, a mischievous glint finding its way into her eyes as she waited for him to take another drink. "What about mating?" she asked, and was rewarded with a fountain of water as he nearly inhaled the contents of the canteen.

"W...What?!" Eric gasped as he tried to clear his throat.

"How does it work?" she asked, a look of pure innocence on her face.

"How does...you mean, physically or...?" he stammered.

Kita gave a demure grin. "No, I think I might have some idea on how..." her eyes flicked downward for a moment "things work. I mean how does your kind go about choosing a mate."

Eric stared at her for a few moments, still a little shocked at the sudden turn of subject. Either way, this wasn't the easiest thing to describe. "I guess...it's really just a matter of mutual attraction" he said.

"Based on what?" Kita asked.

Eric shrugged. "Emotional compatibility, shared interests, physical attraction, people uh...mate for so many different reasons I doubt I could list them all. If you're talking about something that will last though, you have to be compatible in more than one way."

"Mmm." Kita made a kind of purring sound that sent a shiver up Eric's spine. "And who usually starts things off? The male or female?"

"I suppose that either can" Eric replied. "Traditionally it was the male who came forward, so that happens slightly more often than the other way around, but there's nothing that says a female can't. Most guys are pretty happy to know that someone uh...likes them, since they don't have to worry about rejection" As he spoke, Eric's heart was thumping heavily in his chest, though he wasn't sure why. "Why do you ask?" the words came out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying.

Kita was silent for a moment, though the same little smile remained. "Curiosity." she finally said. "It is interesting to see how our races are similar, and how they are different."

Eric nodded, his pulse calming down. "I take it that things work differently for your people? Something you said when you were telling me about your first fight with Turvan...there's some kind of ritual isn't there?"

Kita looked off to one side, the smile fading from her face. "Yes...there is." she replied slowly before looking back at him. "I don't know if 'ritual' is the right word though. We call it 'last hunt'. Simply put, the male has to prove himself a worthy mate to the female by defeating her."

"By...wait what?" The look of utter confusion on Eric's face made Kita laugh.

"Not what you were expecting?" she asked, her mood brightened a little. 

"I don't know if I was expecting anything" Eric replied. "But how does that make sense, if it's the females last hunt, but the male has to defeat her?"

"Well, the reason behind it is a little depressing." Kita replied. "The last hunt for many of the ancient hunters was when they became the prey, rather than the predator, if you catch my meaning."

Eric nodded, cringing a little

"Anyways..." Kita continued. "when a female has young, it changes her role in the cadre. In the old days, she was no longer a hunter, but rather charged with defending the young, and everything else in the settlement. While this is still a warrior's job, the role of a hunter is crucial to the survival of a cadre, so we had to be certain that the offspring produced would justify the loss of a hunter. Thus, the males had to prove their prowess, which usually had a direct relationship to the strength of their offspring, by defeating the female they desired."

"So, what would happen if the female didn't feel the same way about the male?" Eric asked.

"Then she'd probably beat the fuzz off of him" Kita replied, a little smirk on her face. "The strength difference between males and females normally isn't enough to make up for the agility advantage a female holds. If a female felt that the male was skilled enough, or if she had desired him prior to the fight, then she would let him win."

"But if she lost..." Eric started, but stopped as he realized that he knew the answer.

Kita simply nodded, a grim expression on her face.

Eric shook his head. So a lot more had been at stake during the fight than he'd realized. His timing had been too close. Still...something didn't make sense.

"Something wrong?" Kita asked.

Eric glanced out the cave. "Turvan was horribly burned back there. I'm surprised that he survived the crash."

Kita nodded. "Those kind of burns would be lethal if not for the healing splicing. Even then, as you saw, burns are difficult to heal, they take longer than almost any kind of injury to heal completely."

"I figured as much." Eric replied. "And he probably would have been in too much pain to move around like that without it, right? There's no way it couldn't have activated."

Kita closed her eyes nodding. "You're wondering why he was able to defeat me, aren't you?"

Eric opened his mouth but nothing came out. She'd nailed it on the head. Honestly, he was shocked, as she'd shown great sensitivity in the past about any weakness on her part. "Well, yes" he finally replied. "You implied that the worse an injury is, the longer backlash takes to fade, but I know from personal experience with patients that burns are one of the most horrific injuries that one can endure. The ones he suffered would take months to heal completely. So just a few days after the crash, how was he as strong as he was?" 

Kita gave him an enigmatic look that he couldn't read. "Turvan wasn't suffering backlash"

Eric stared at her. "How?"

"That is a long story in itself." she replied "One for another time. Now, shouldn't you be getting some rest? I know that you don't heal as fast as I do, you've already worried me enough today."

"Wait, you're the worried one?" Eric shook his head. "Rewind, you're the one who ran out of here without saying a word. Just what happened out there anyways?"

"I gained a new view on...certain things." she replied, a faint smile appearing on her face again.

"A new...what?" That didn't tell him anything at all!

"A new way of seeing things." she said, the smile still on her face. "Now, as I said before, you should rest. Or do I have to be more forceful?" She gave a smug look as one of the red syringes from his med-kit somehow appeared in her hand.

"Hey, how did you...!" Eric started, but then stopped as she raised an eyebrow. Finally giving an exasperated sigh, he laid back, using his pack as a pillow. "Don't forget what I told you about doctors being the worst patients." he grumbled

"As if you'd let me"



Kita'thalla Ch. 13



No, you're not hallucinating. I'm back.  And I have something for you. I know it's been over a year since the last posting of this story. A lot has happened since then, chief among them me getting married and starting a new career. I apologize for being absent for so long, but I meant it when I said I was going to finish this thing.  I hope you enjoy, and I hope you continue to give such wonderful feedback.

Bowoodstock

+++++++



"You sure you you can manage?"

Eric gave Kita an irate look. "For the third time, yes, I'm sure I'm well enough to do this!" 

They were barely 50 feet out of the cave and already she was mothering him to death. In fact, for the past 3 days since the fight she'd been constantly on his back. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the concern, but he was bored out of his mind. While he was stuck recovering, Kita had been exploring to familiarize herself with the local terrain. He understood that she'd never had the chance due to one thing or another, and he couldn't come with as even in an uninjured state he was too noisy, but there were only so many games of solitaire that a guy could play without losing it. 

"I told you, the leg is only bruised, so while it hurts like hell it's not going to cripple me! See?" He lifted up the one crutch he was using as a walking stick. "I barely need this to even..." he winced and put it back on the ground as he tried to take a step.

"Fine then." she shrugged, raising an eyebrow in amusement. "But don't expect me to carry you anywhere."

"I don't need you to carry me" Eric replied, gingerly watching his footing as they started into the the forest. "Just...don't rush ahead, alright? I can't move as fast as normal. And what's so funny?" he asked, spotting the grin on Kita's face before she could turn away.

"This reminds me of something from a few days ago." she looked at him, still unable to get rid of the smile on her face. "I'm sure you remember well enough."

Eric rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know, though you were the one on crutches at the time."

"Mmm, funny how things change isn't it?"

"Ha. I think I see why you may have wanted to kill me so badly at the time."

"At least I haven't shot you, or stabbed you with anything sharp."

"You threatened to though!"

"Yes, and that threat still stands if you want to test me." she retorted, though she turned away and kept walking. From the tone of her voice the smile was still present.  

Cursing under his breath, Eric carefully navigated the forest floor, doing his best to keep up with her at the same time. Ironically, of all his injuries, the least serious was winding up to be the biggest pain in the neck. Facial lacerations always healed quickly with care, he figured he'd be able to remove the adhesives after another couple of days. His concussion had also faded into a dull headache, and his ribs were being taken care of by the bone growth stimulants and painkillers he'd been taking since the fight. 

The severe bruising on his leg however, was the kind that had a very nasty complication if not tended to correctly. An unfortunate side effect of healing accelerators when used to treat a large bruise on a limb was an increased risk of compartment syndrome. In a full medical facility he'd be willing to take the risk, as they'd have the tools necessary to accelerate draining of the injury, but out in the field like this, the prospect of facing an extremely painful and life threatening condition was not a pleasant one. He could treat it if he had to certainly...but it would hurt like hell, and it would mean even more time hobbling around on crutches. And more time under the care of....Kita?

Eric stopped and looked around. She'd disappeared. Damn it...

"Kita?" he called out, warily scanning the forest for any signs of movement. How was she able to do that anyways? It was unnerving. A little bell went off in his mind and he warily glanced around for anything that looked like a fallen tree trunk. He was dead if they ran into one of those again in the state he was in. Realizing his heart rate had picked up a little, he tried to mentally calm himself down. If all the mothering the past few days was any indication, there was no way she was going to leave him alone in a dangerous situation. In fact, it wouldn't surprise him if she was watching him right now, just waiting to get the jump on...

"Hello"

Eric nearly jumped out of his skin as the word was spoken just a few inches from his right ear. Stumbling as he fought to keep his balance, he finally stabilized himself before shooting a glare at Kita, who was busy metaphorically laughing her literal tail off.

"What?" she asked as she finally managed to get herself under control. "You looked too serious, I had to do something to lighten the mood"

Eric's jaw dropped open, the glare immediately disappearing along with the lousy mood he'd been stuck in for the past 3 days. That was his line. The verbal sparring and prodding, the mutual support, it was almost as if neither of them had come close to losing their life just a few days ago. He might have been a little worse for the wear but aside from that, things were back to...normal?

"Heh..." he finally let himself crack a smile. "Yeah, alright, you got me."

"Of course I did" she retorted, tapping him on the forehead. "You never pay attention to your surroundings. Now, are you going to make it to the river, or do I have to help you there?"

"What happened to not carrying me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Being dragged by your ankles doesn't count as being carried does it? Now hurry up already."

+++++++

They made it to the river without Kita having to make good on her threat, though she did continue to tease him as far as his situation. In the days since the storm, the river water level had receded considerably, although it was still higher than when they'd first arrived on planet. Eric gingerly sat himself down on one of the flat slabs of rock surrounding the small cove, breathing a sigh of relief as he was able to take some of the weight off his good leg and the arm he'd been supporting himself with.  Kita in the mean time had approached the waters edge, and was staring into the pool with a pensive look on her face, a sharp contrast to the taunting he'd been enduring a short while ago.

"Something wrong?" he asked

"Mmm?" she glanced over at him, the question taking a moment to register. "Oh. No, nothing's wrong. Just a few things on my mind."

"Mind if I..." Eric started to speak, but trailed off as Kita turned and reached behind her, undoing the knot holding together her improvised top and tossed it aside. The loincloth followed soon after as Kita slowly walked into the water, gingerly testing the temperature as she waded deeper, the fur on her back visibly rippling from the chill.

"Mind if you what?" she asked, stopping as the water just reached the middle of her thighs, the lazy swishing of her tail adding to the ripples on the surface.

"I..." Eric was at a loss for words, although strangely enough, not for the expected reason. Her sudden nakedness was surprising, but as he'd seen her this way before now there wasn't nearly as much of a shock, or even more surprisingly, any kind of reaction below his waistline. Rather, it was that she was so nonchalant about it. She'd just stripped without any emotion, much in the way as some of his patients did when in an exam room. As a matter of fact, he was having a hard time reading her mood at all, as she usually only acted this way when they were talking about something important, and he wasn't really sure if they'd even started talking about anything at all in the first place.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" she suddenly asked, her back still mostly turned as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. It was a serious question, as he couldn't hear any sense of playfulness in her voice.

"...No. You aren't." he replied. "I did say that since we'd kind of...well...then there wasn't much point in being shy."

Kita nodded. "Yes. You did say that." She turned to face him head on. "So this doesn't bother you then."

Eric shook his head. He'd seen her like this three days ago for a moment, before she'd turned to explain the story behind her mane. It was different this time though. It almost seemed like something out of a painting, a figure, alien but unmistakeably female, standing naked knee deep in the water with woods in the background. She made no effort to hide her breasts or the lighter fur highlighting the cleft between her legs, but the pose itself was not at all erotic. Looking back to her face, the expression was serious, though not harsh. "No. Does it bother you?"

"I wouldn't have done this if it did." she replied

"Of course." Eric nodded. He raised an eyebrow as Kita narrowed her eyes. "Is everything okay?"

Kita nodded. "Yes." she tilted her head to the side a little, the curiosity evident. "You're acting very differently from all the other times you've seen this."

Eric shrugged. "All the other times I wasn't expecting it. And as a doctor, I've seen many different bodies, both male and female, I guess to a certain extent one gets used to it after seeing so many."

"I see." she said. "But aren't you just a little bit interested?"

Eric blinked. "Excuse me?"

"If I'm not mistaken, I'm probably the first female Ketral your kind has ever seen. Probably the only living Ketral that's let any of you see this much without trying to kill you." she crossed her arms. "If I know anything about you science types, it's that you're always interested whenever you encounter something different, something you're not used to. I'm guessing I fit that description, right? So what do you see?"

"You mean...compared to a human." Eric asked.

Kita nodded. "Right. A female, if that makes it any easier."

Eric took a breath, a small part in the back of his mind very curious just as to where she was going with this. "Okay." he looked her up and down. "Where should I start?"

Kita shrugged..  "You're the doctor"

"Okay..." he paused, once more trying to read her expression but getting nothing of use.

"Overall...you have a similar body structure. Two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two arms, two legs and standard mammalian characteristics. Most obvious difference is the tail, but humans still have the skeletal remnants of one, though it's completely internal" 

Kita raised an eyebrow. "I fail to see how that's of much use to you. Now, what did you mean by....mahmmayleeyan?"

"Uh....well, we classify species based on traits that suggest evolutionary ancestry" Eric started. "Mammals are defined by having an internal skeleton, being warm blooded, having hair and uh..." he inadvertently paused as his eyes naturally settled on the curves peeking from behind Kita's crossed arms. "the ability for mothers to nurse their young. At least, I assume that's the case for you?"

The corner of Kita's mouth curled into a sly grin .  "Yes, that is their purpose" she dropped her arms and cupped one breast with her hand. "Though I understand your people place more importance on them than just the rearing of young?"

"Ah...yes, you could say that." Eric said carefully. "They...well, they're one of the first signs in humans that a female is approaching childbearing age when they develop so..." he shrugged. "There's an instinctive attraction for males"

"Strange" she replied. "while they are certainly a trait of womanhood for us, it is scent that tells our males when we are approaching that age"

Eric nodded. "Right. Well, since humans don't have noses that are as sensitive as yours, we rely more on vision and hearing.  Our cues to maturity are more focused on those senses."

"Really" Kita asked, smirking a little. "Your ears and eyes aren't much better. I can still sneak up on you easily, and since your kind are always carrying hand held lights, I assume you can't see very well in the dark."

"Hah, right." Eric rolled his eyes and ignored the cheeky look on her face. "The signs are obvious enough. In both genders, there is a deepening in voice pitch, more so in males, along with a significant change in body structure. Both grow taller in a very short amount of time relative to previous growth rates, and the body frame of each develops into their adult shape. Also...when we're young, we really only grow hair on our heads. While it's not as dense as the fur in your species, the rest of our body hair develops as we approach maturity, and men will develop thick facial hair." he stroked the stubble developing on his own chin for emphasis.

"Yes, I was wondering about that." Kita said. "Doesn't seem very useful. Offers little warmth, what's the point of growing hair in just a few places? If I recall, aside from your head there was really only one other place it was growing" her eyes shifted downward for emphasis.

"Well, as I said...it's an obvious sign that the individual is approaching reproductive age so...in that way the location makes sense." he replied, choosing his words carefully. " It also would have provided a measure of protection for what is obviously a very sensitive area, you know, before society decided wearing clothes was the norm."

"Okay, that was then. But what about now? Isn't it uncomfortable having in just a few places? I notice you remove almost all the hair on your face, or at least you did when I first ran into you. Why isn't that the case with everything else?"

"Well..." Eric shrugged. "The beard and the rest of the hair on my head is military standard... men have to be clean shaven and keep their hair short. Women have a little more leeway for social reasons, as traditionally they're allowed to have much longer hair than men. For the rest of the body hair though, It's a matter of personal choice. Some don't care about what others typically don't see, others do remove some or all of their body hair."

"Both males and females?"

"Yes, though... for humans, large amounts of body hair is seen as a masculine, er, male trait, so it's more common for women to remove most if not all of it."

"Even down there?" Kita's eyes again came to rest near his belt.

Eric gave a short laugh. "Yes, even there."

"Hmm" Kita nodded once. "And what about down there?"

Eric's brain screeched to a halt. "What?"

Kita gave him a feigned quizzical look. "Did you forget what we were talking about?" Mentally she had to fight the urge to laugh at the expression on his face.

"No..." Eric shook his head slowly. "I didn't forget. Just...maybe I didn't understand what you were asking?"

"Maybe?" she laughed. "You're the one who said it and you don't know?"

"No" he shook his head again. "I mean that there's more than one way that question could have been understood."

"Really." she gave him an amused skeptical look. "Well, I'll remind you anyways. We were talking about the differences between ketrals and humans. Between a female human and a female ketral, since that's what you've got right in front of you. And if you recall the area of conversation prior to your memory lapse, I'm now asking about the differences there." she finished by smiling ever-so-sweetly. "Do you understand the question now?"

"...well, when you put it that way..." he replied, still a little confused. It wasn't that he didn't know how to answer, but rather that her tone had gone from serious and inquisitive to that playful jabbing tone he'd heard several times when she was making fun of him. He shrugged then nodded. "Yes, I understand"

"Alright. So?" She looked at him expectantly, arms crossed. "Or did you need a closer look again?"

If he'd been drinking at the moment, it would have resulted in another spit-take. That was definitely a targeted shot against him! Never mind that the view he'd seen when he'd fallen in that first day was indelibly burned into his mind. Regardless, she was up to something, although he had no idea what it was. Though there had been that night during the storm, and the drugged make-out session that he was thankful she didn't remember, this was the first time she'd overtly talked about matters of intimate anatomy. "No, I can tell you." he replied, his mind working again. "To be honest...there isn't really much difference that I could see." he raised an eyebrow as a look of momentary surprise crossed Kita's face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothings wrong." Kita shook her head, her composure regained. "I'm just surprised that...well, you were able to tell that from..."

"Well..." Eric shrugged. "Based on your earlier comment, you pretty much know what I saw the day I fell in the water..." he paused as Kita very quickly stiffled a laugh.

She shook her head, her mouth in a thin line but eyes very clearly showing mirth. "Continue."

"Hah, alright." Eric shook his head, amused. Even he admitted that it had been funny in retrospect. He nodded down toward her nether regions. "Externally, there wasn't very much difference from a human. I'd imagine that internally there may be some differences but, on the outside you look very similar to a human female." 

"...I see" she replied pensively. 

"Does that answer your question?" Eric asked.

Kita cocked her head to one side. "Maybe."

Eric snorted. "Oh, now you're starting with the maybes?"

"Yes. Maybe." she replied, staring at him intently.

"What?" he asked, unsure of the look on her face.

"Get undressed."

Eric blinked. "What? Why?"

"Because you're the one who wanted to come out here, and also because you've gone 3 days without a bath, and my nose is more sensitive than yours. So you have two choices; Get undressed, and get out here, or I throw you in and you have to wait for your clothes to dry again."

"Alright, alright..." he replied, pulling his shirt over his head. "Just give me a moment okay?" Gingerly he pulled his fatigues and shorts over the bruising on his leg. Scooting to the edge of the rock ledge, he carefully entered the water, using the crutch to test the depth before sliding in. Admittedly, the cool water did help with the throbbing in his leg, so maybe this wasn't a bad idea after all. Looking back up at Kita, he stopped found her staring downward at his groin.

"Is it always like that?" she asked.

Well that was forward. "Is it always like what?" He didn't have to guess at what "it" was referring to.

"Out." she nodded to his manhood. "When it's not in use, our males are able to retract it into their bodies. Stops it from getting injured in a fight."

Eric shook his head. "Ah...no, we can't." he shrugged. "I guess, just one of those differences between species?"

"I guess." she replied, still staring. "But I assume that it works relatively the same way?"

Eric had to laugh at that one a little. "Um...yeah. We gotta piss just like you do."

"And mating?" She asked, finally looking up, her eyes meeting his.

Eric's pulse quickened just a little. "I'm... assuming that works the same way too." There was a something in her eyes that he was having a hard time interpreting. She looked serious, just as she'd been with all of the questions (save one or two), but there was something else. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was nervous about something.

Kita simply nodded at his answer and turned away, looking out across the river again.

"Is something wrong?" Eric asked. If it wasn't obvious earlier, it was now. She had something on her mind.

"Eric, I need you to answer something for me." she said, her back mostly to him.

"Okay, what is it?" he asked, unsure of the tone of her voice.

"You remember when, well, after you woke up right? After Turvan..." she stopped, and shook her head. "After that. When I ran off."

"Yes, I remember. You came back with some of the things we'd left behind."

"Yes, I did." she nodded, still not looking at him. "But...I didn't go there first. I wound up here. And...I saw something. Something that I'm not really sure I understand, and it lead me to question..." she trailed off.




Kita'thalla Ch. 13



"Lead you to question what?"

She turned to face him, the look on her face almost pleading. "Who am I?" 

"Who..." Eric paused, a little confused. "I'm not quite sure I understand. You told me your name...Kita'thalla Oreth...sorry, I don't remember the rest."

She shook her head "I know what my name is. That's not what I asked." seeing his confusion, she gritted her teeth, a look of frustration crossing her face. "Look" she said, her voice trembling. "You know what my name is. You know what it means. You know what I've done to earn that name. Our people are at war. Every bit of logic says that I should be trying to kill you like I tried when we first got here. Every bit of logic says you should use that pistol to shoot me dead. To shoot me like you should have on that first day."

Eric had taken a few uneasy steps backward by this point, barely managing not to stumble as he bumped into the rock ledge and balanced his weight with the crutch. "But I didn't" he said, finally finding his voice. "And I'm happy that I didn't."

"I KNOW!" she practically yelled at him, almost frantically. "And I'm happy that I failed all the times I tried to end you. But why?!" she stopped for a moment, catching her breath. "If everything I said is true, then why am I happy that I failed? Why are you able to treat me the way you do? If I'm the infamous Chas'kaa Kita'thalla, then why am I not trying to drown you instead of asking you for help? Doesn't that make the last 20 ket meaningless to me? If that's who I am...." she stopped, swallowing to get rid of a lump that suddenly formed in her throat. "Doesn't that mean..." she said shakily, a trace of fear entering her voice. "Doesn't that mean you should be afraid of me? That you should hate me?" 

Eric shook his head slowly. "I don't hate you. And I'm not afraid of you either"

Kita looked straight at him, her golden eyes barely holding back tears. "But...why?"

"Because." Eric replied. "Who you are is not just a simple matter of what you've done as part of your past. People are complex. There's the person we perceive ourselves to be, in addition to the person that everyone around us sees. More often than not, the truth is a combination of both." He met her gaze. "Kita, I know that you're a soldier. You followed orders, which meant doing terrible things sometimes. There are plenty on my side that I knew who did the same things against your people, so I can't hate you for that. I know that for a long time, the military was all you knew, so its a large part of you certainly. But remember...prior to that, you were someone else, right? You weren't always a soldier"

Kita nodded. 

"That part, although it may be a long time ago, is still a part of you. Even your name, the very first part, it was given to you before you became Chas'kaa Kita'thalla. So if things that happened before can be a part of your person, so can things that happen afterward. I'm not afraid, because in the short time I've known you you made the decision to be someone else other than Chas'kaa Kita'thalla. Maybe that someone else is a part of you that always existed, and you just pushed it aside when duty called. At least, that's my perception of you. You can decide just how much of that is part of the real you."

For a few moments, the only audible sound was the running of the river. Kita took a few breaths, visibly calming down a little. "I see" she looked down into the water. Her reflection stared back at her. She nodded. "I think I understand. You still haven't answered my question, though..." she looked back up at him. "perhaps I should ask a slightly different one then."

"Which is?" Eric asked.

"If I'm not Chas'kaa Kita'thalla... then who am I to you?" she asked.

Eric thought for a moment, then shrugged. "To me...you're just Kita, someone who is far more than she appears."

A decision appeared to make itself behind her eyes, and she nodded. Reaching out, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you." she said, though she was still trembling.

Eric smiled. "You're..."

He was cut off short as Kita's other hand came up around the back of his head and pulled him into a deep kiss.





Yes, I can almost hear the audible scream of anguish from that cliffhanger. Trust me when I say that I wish I could give more, but I didn't want to delay anymore, and that was really the only good place for a break. I don't intend to disappear again, so you should hear soon from me. I meant it when I said that I would finish this.

On another matter. I'm absolutely stunned at the support you've given me...the fanart, and even a fake movie trailer. I'm beginning to take the idea of publishing this very seriously. It would be beyond my wildest dreams to get this published as a novel, a manga, or even a movie. The unfortunate thing with that is that I may then have to take down the story here, and if that would mean losing readers, I'm not sure that's what I want to do. So I want to know what you guys would want me to do.

Thank you again for all your support, and hopefully we'll get things rolling again.



Kita'thalla



Pushing up with her left arm, she had managed to sit up and reach his left shoulder. The synthetic spider silk armor he wore was designed to stop bullets and even dampen the blast of energy weapons, but offered almost no protection against the inch long claws that had extended from each fingertip. Dropping the pair of scissors with a gasp, he tried to pry her iron grip from his shoulder, to no luck. His right hand fumbled along the ground, and finally found the syringe he'd grabbed earlier. Her grip tightened, digging the claws in even further as she attempted to pull him down. Trying to ignore the searing pain in his shoulder, he jammed the syringe into her thigh, delivering the entire dose. 

The syringe contained a three drug concoction. The first part was simply a very powerful painkiller, a version of enhanced morphine minus the addictive quantities. The second component of the mix was a nerve suppressant, actually similar to chemical weapons used in the 20th century, although a lot more controlled. It only targeted skeletal muscles, those under voluntary control of the victim while leaving vital organ musculature such as the diaphragm and cardiac muscles untouched, and it wore off after a few days. This was very useful for patients that refused to stay still, aggravating their injuries. If that wasn't enough, the third component was an extremely powerful sedative. The alien's eyes went wide at the sudden stab and just as she was trying to reach for his neck with her other arm, her eyes rolled back and she flopped down unconscious.

He sat there for a moment, staring at her before realizing that his left shoulder was soaked with blood. "Stupid..."he thought as he took off his armor and started to bind the wounds left by her claws. There were times before when he'd had to treat soldiers who were either drunk or just not cooperative, but this really took the cake. He mentally berated himself for dropping his guard like that. Just because her leg was injured did not give any reason that she wouldn't try to resist. She was an enemy combatant! Most people he knew would have taken the shot, or just left her. What was his problem?

The eyes. He stopped, and allowed himself a small chuckle. He'd answered his own rhetorical question. He was starting to lose it. But really, looking down the barrel of the pistol, something in those eyes made him unable to shoot. Along with the defiance, there had been another emotion...sadness, regret. For all her bravado, he could tell she really hadn't wanted to die. With his shoulder treated, he turned back to the sedated alien. Removing the empty syringe, he set back to the task of setting the bones in her leg.