Vanguard Word Update

2k words

***

“I think…” Samiha trailed off, looking at the three humans pointedly. Her gaze lingered on Cadell’s a little longer than the others, but that was probably just the fumes dulling his senses. “I think that I need something to eat. Where is Jim?”

As though summoned, a pair of waiters came up to the table, setting down platters of foods and snacks. The team had elected to just order a bit of everything and share it all around.

Kurtis ordered another round of drinks, and the five of them got stuck in. Jokes and laughter rose in volume as the night progressed and more alien herb was smoked. Some of their neighbouring tables had got up to leave, shooting the group of friends annoyed glances, but Jim never once came over to ask them to settle down. Their ever-increasing pile of empty glasses was probably a major factor in this, but what was money compared to a fun night out with friends?

Last night, Cadell corrected, or one of the last ones, if we’re lucky.

This dark thought was not to say he wasn’t enjoying himself, but the realisation of today’s events was finally registering in his mind. The five of them had lived together all these months, been through everything the Hub could through at them, and the only way left now was to war. He’d come to appreciate the strange way of living on the station, the sights of the galaxy above his head, the gentle curvature of every floor, the smell of recycled ozone, and the sounds of air-scrubbers that provided an undercurrent so persistent he could no longer pick it out unless he concentrated. The Hub would be the last shred of civilian life he’d take part of, before he was deployed to the front.

Samiha glanced at him from her side of the booth, waited for Hunter to start off another of his bad jokes before saying: “Cadell, what is wrong? You look troubled.”

“I’m just thinkin’… this is it, y’know?” he replied. He was slurring his words a little on account of all the drinks. “We’re gonna be in our first combat op a couple weeks from now. No sims or holograms, the real deal.”

Samiha could sense what he was getting at. She slid across the cushions to lounge beside him, propping one giant arm onto the backrest.

“We are ready,” she insisted. “Marek says so, Shaliyya too, and all the Commanders who have staged this counterattack for us. They all would not send us out if they knew we could not prevail.”

“I know…” Cadell muttered, downing the rest of his drink. He could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

“We have trained for this moment,” Samiha insisted. “Didn’t start off so well, admittedly – the failed simulation, you and I always fighting… but now we have hit our stride, have we not? As long as we bring these skills to the battle, we will succeed.”

“Pretty sure I’m the one supposed to be handin’ out the pep-talks,” Cadell chuckled wearily.

“That’s because you need to placate your thoughts,” Samiha replied. “And that human drink isn’t going to cut it on its own.”

She lifted her flute to her beak, furthering her insinuation by taking a deep breath of the fumes. She exhaled, the vapours swirling out of her nostrils and the corners of her mouth.

“Look around you,” she said with a wave of her hand. “The coming fight is on all our minds, but do you see anyone else worrying?”

He couldn’t. Hunter was trying his best to make bad puns work, while Kurtis looked on the verge of sleep. Kazlu was full of energy, and she was keeping the mood alive with her positivity.

“No…”

“I do not want to force you,” Samiha assured. “but I’ve been in your position before, Cadell, and stress is an enemy far worse than any alien. Besides, the herb does not seem to have any adverse effects to humans.”

Considering Samiha had been part of a mass exodus from a colony, she was probably onto something. Cadell shrugged, and Samiha read this as a sign of relent, her beak curling into a smile.

“Screw it,” he said. “Might be our last day on the station, gotta make the most of it.”

“There is the spirit,” Samiha laughed, the sound oddly musical, like a tropical bird calling out its song. She refilled the flute, then passed it over. She was already beside him, but she slid closer still, as though eager to see his reaction.

He did his best to replicate how the others had used the flute, pursing his lips over the nozzle and taking a shallow, long breath. He held it in his lungs for a heartbeat, then coughed it all out, Samiha chuckling at him.

“What is that swill?” he asked, handing the flute back.

“An’kelu leaf,” Samiha replied, taking his question seriously. “You covered too many plugs, Cadell. Try again, but only seal one of them.” She took another draw, then handed it back, watching him expectantly until he followed suit.

He followed her advice, and this time managed to keep his faculties under control, Samiha grinning down at him. “That’s it, good boy,” she murmured.

In the past, whenever she’d called him a boy, it had been derogatory, an insult to his youth, but this time it was different, the way she breathed the word out making his chest flutter.

“So, bet you’re eager to get some payback,” Cadell said, taking another puff of the weighty herb. “This’ll be your first shot at goin’ toe-to-toe with some Feds, right?”

“Yes. They caught us off-guard on the colony, but times have changed. We have the weapons, the supplies, and we have integrated the human ways of warfare into our Clan. This time, it is us who will do the hunting.”

“First the shipyard, then Dur’shala,” Cadell said. “Alliance Admiralty’s gotta have somethin’ planned to take back that planet. Might not happen anytime soon, but it’ll happen one day.”

“I will hold that to you, Kith’sla,” Samiha replied, raising her glass like she was raising a toast. They downed their drinks in unison, Samiha clicking her beak like a human would smack their lips. “Destroying the Confederates wherever we find them will be satisfying enough, but I lost everyone I cared for on Dur’shala, and I aim to be a part of its rightful liberation.”

“You’ve got people who care about you now,” Cadell insisted, laying a hand on her arm.

“I know,” she said. “I was talking about my family… my poor Takeela. Only when the colony is reclaimed will she finally be avenged.”

“They’ll need artisans to repair the damage,” Cadell said. “Maybe you’ll get a shot at getting your old life back… maybe find someone to start a new family with someone.”

Samiha shook her head. “War is a wound not even the most advanced technology can heal, and I’ve seen so much of it that I cannot unsee it. I doubt any bachelor would be willing, or able, to deal with that kind of emotion.”

“C’mon, surely there’re some young birds out there lookin’ for an experienced woman,” Cadell said.

“You must remember that from where I come from, males are mostly shielded from violence and battle, innocent. Believe me, I’d like to have someone who understands what it’s like, but I doubt such a male exists. At least, within my species...”

She turned onto her side, stretching her long legs out beneath the table, exposing her curvy profile as she faced him. She leaned her arm on the cushions beside his head, posing like she was on the cover of a swimsuit magazine, the rounded curves of her hips and chest more pronounced at this angle.

“What about you, Cadell?” she asked, the question focusing his eyes, which had started to wander. “Is there a mate waiting for you back on Manildra?”

“Nah,” he replied. “Weren’t many visitors to the farmstead, and there were no women in boot camp.”

“How strange,” Samiha commented. “You are young, well-built, and now an official Alliance trooper. Do human females not desire these qualities?”

“It’s not that, I’ve just not really had the opportunity to go datin’ or meet someone. You’d know that more than anyone.”

“If this were a Balokarid installation, I doubt you’d have the same problem,” Samiha chuckled. “Particularly if our pilots were out and about.”

“They do seem like a thirsty bunch, judgin’ by what Kazlu said before,” Cadell admitted.

“Do you disapprove?”

“I ain’t sayin’ that,” he replied. “If they think we’re cute or what not, that’s their prerogative. To each his or her own, as they say.”

“Cute,” Samiha echoed. “Your accent, now that is cute. I have met a fair few humans before, but none with the same inflections like yours.”

“That’s just how we Manildrans go about it,” he replied.

“You know what we think about your species. But, I wonder,” she added, taking another smoke from her herb. “Do you find anything… cute… about us Balokarids?”

He caught onto the fact she wasn’t quite referring to the Balokarid pilots anymore, and was asking for his opinion specifically.

“Well, I can’t speak for everyone,” he began. “but you’re pretty easy on the eyes, and your feathers add this kind of… exotic-ness to you, if that’s even a real word. Doesn’t really surprise me that humans and Balokarids have been gettin’ along like that.”

“Do you think you could ever see… yourself, in such a position?” Samiha pressed.

Cadell might not have had too many love interests in recent years, but he had enough experience under his belt to know exactly where this was leading.

“It’d depend on the Balokarid,” he said, feigning disinterest with a pointed shrug, but deep down his heart was starting to quicken. “If we really knew each other very well, and we liked spending time together… yeah. And she’s got to have red feathers,” he added wryly. “Nice deep ones, like the colour of a warm sunset or somethin’.”

Samiha’s amber eyes stretched, her feathery headdress puffing up. “I...” She scooted across the couch a little, exhaling warm breath on his neck. “I am shocked, Cadell,” she murmured. “I treated you so poorly before, I did not we would reach this point in a hundred rotations.”

“Me neither,” he admitted. “but I’ve gotten to know you better since, and even though you were prickly on the outside at first, I liked who I found on the inside. I… maybe I shouldn’t have said that,” he stammered, but despite his words the confession kept tumbling out. “I’m technically your superior in all this, I don’t want to complicate things by adding my feelings into it.”

“It will only be complicated if you let it be complicated,” Samiha replied. “We’ve spent much time together, us more than the others,” she added, sparing a glance at their friends, lowering her voice to a whisper as she continued. “It is only natural that we should start to be attracted to one another. Are you attracted to me?”

“Y-Yes,” he replied stiffly, taken back by her boldness. “but, I’m supposed to be responsible for you, how can we make something like… this… work?”

“I do not know, truly,” she said, an embarrassed chuckle slipping from her beak. “But what I do know, is that if is to be my last day before we ship out to war, I want to take things further between us than mere friendship. If you’re against that, then tell me now and I will speak no more of it.”

She fixed her eyes to his, waiting, perhaps even dreading, his response. Cadell’s hesitation was there, but her words fought through and made it very brief, and he raised his hand toward her face. He would have cupped her chin in that moment were she human, but instead, he held her from below the beak, hearing Samiha draw in a breath as she let him feel the cool, scaly texture of her jaw.

“Let’s figure it out as we go then,” he said.

Samiha’s rusty feathers preened to their fullest lengths, her eyes burning into his as she was left speechless for a moment. One of her hands came to rest on his knee, her touch like an electric bolt coursing up his leg. She traced his skin through his fatigues with her avian nails, the alien swallowing as she built up the courage to speak.

“You are too good for me,” she cooed, her voice straining as she glanced away. “When we were on our first space-walk, you helped me despite the insults I put your way. I disobeyed you in the simulation, and yet you still tried to work alongside me. I shamed you when I built your coilgun without teaching you properly, and still you persisted in keeping me along. I’ve wronged you on so many accounts, Cadell, I don’t… I’m not worthy of your affection.”

“You’re wrong. You’ve lost so much, Samiha, you of all people deserve to be happy.”

Samiha smiled, and he saw both sadness and gratitude in that smile, his heart melting the more he looked at it. Cadell leaned closer, but Samiha did not reciprocate the movement, but she allowed him to draw her in by her beak, her expression shifting to one of confusion as his lips brushed the end of her beak.