When it came to learning Squad-based tactics, Rhidi was again used to learning in a classroom with just a little bit of field training. She was, of course, part of a special forces unit, and they got a little more field training than the other soldiers within the Kafya military. This still only amounted to a single day in the field and an overnight stay, and the course they trained on was a very technologically advanced simulation.

  Humans, on the other hand, treated field training exercises like they were a whole event.

  Rhidi, remembering back to that single night out in the forests of red leaves and green boughs, had stayed in a hab-shelter with the rest of her unit, sleeping on ready-racks that folded out of a keeper-locker. The hab unit had heat, climate control systems, a built-in toilet, and a small, foldable data-screen wall so they could learn more while not in a classroom setting. They had arrived via repulsor transport, and left via the same means.

  Today, here, on a balmy “August” day, she was rucking down the road with more gear on her shoulders than she could have ever thought possible. This was called the “bloody-heel ruck”, a proving march to see who had the stamina to make it all the way out to the training site of the field exercise. The road had changed from recrete to gravel a long time ago, and Rhidi could see ahead of her that it was going to change to dirt.

  “Why are we walking so much…” Rhidi sighed out, her shoulders and back aching from all the gear she was having to haul.

  Alias growled in his throat, resettling the rucksack on his shoulders. “Five days in the field, five uniforms, five undershirts, extra boots, ten pairs of socks, shelter half, sleeping system, weapon, magazine, let’s just be thankful they finally gave us webbing.”

  Webbing, also known as a “outer combat ammo webbing”, was a system of pouches attached to a vest-like garment that was worn on the outside of lighter armor used by non-drop pod troopers. A side effect of this webbing was making the chest of any female trooper pop out a little more, and Rhidi was quietly fuming that it still did very little to help out her own image. Recruit Inthur on the other hand kept dragging the eyes of the Kafya and Human males to her, something she kept smirking about while side-eying Rhidi.

  Rhidi found herself to be the one smirking after the first ten miles, in which Inthur was a panting, sopping-wet mess.

  “I bet she wishes she had a few less pounds on that stupid chest of hers…” Rhidi said darkly, looking over her shoulder to the long-suffering blue Kafya.

  Shasta hissed out a laugh, as he was neither bothered by the walking nor the heat. “Take your victoriesss where you can Rhidi, all that mattersss.”

  “You mean like how you are not affected by either the heat or the distance we’ve walked so far?” Alias muttered, reaching back to grab his extra canteen.

  Shasta flared his hood proudly while a few other male and female Lilgara smiled nearby. “Heat isss nothing to we Lilgara, and we train on foot by necesssity. All military training isss held out in the proving fieldsss, walking the entire way to our training base.”

  “We flew in and out of our training fields. What fucking point is there to walking?” Alias said, replacing his canteen back into its holster. “Half of this seems like it is designed to torture us.”

  “It is.” Rhidi panted out with a laugh. “It’s also to test our endurance. You fall out here, it’s an automatic disqualification and you’re sent to a hold-over Company.”

  Alias turned his head, eyebrow raised. “How did you learn about that?”

  “Shaksho overheard the Drill Sergeants talking about it, and he made sure to tell all the Kafya.” Rhidi said with a shrug, remembering the odd little green male Kafya running into the barracks and calling a meeting.

  “Only the Kafya, huh?” Alias said with a glower. “So much for all of us being in on this together. Hey, Toibil.”

  Toibil, a male Pwah with soft gray hair that fought against his patrol cap, turned his head, sweating just as hard as Alias was. “Yeah?”

  “Pass the word along, no one can fall out.” Alias said loudly, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “Kafya figured out that this is a culling-march.”

  Toibil’s face soured. “Hathili Pwah-ja they just now let us know?! We’ve already had- nevermind, I’ll let people know.”

  Rhidi shrugged an apology to Alias; She had assumed they already knew, but was surprised that none of the other Kafya had let word of the ruck slip. More so, it was shocking that even Inthur kept her massive mouth shut.

  As word got around, the non-Human recruits steeled themselves and no one else had fallen out; Sixteen had fallen out due to fatigue or injury, unaware that they were going to get recycled and expecting it to be as all the other rucks.

  Five more miles later, they arrived at the edge of the training grounds; On the outskirts of this training site was a mock city, complete with faux grocery stores, flower shops, and little homes with battered, glassless windows. The Company marched down “Kill Street”, the main thoroughfare through the fake town

  Beyond the town was the camping grounds, a huge expanse of pre-roughed shelter locations surrounding a singular field-tent that was the size of a small, one-story home. Rhidi didn’t have to breathe in too deeply to smell the field latrines, and she made a hard mental note to use them only in the mornings when it was still cool.

  There were many ways to torture a recruit within the UAA Army, and the field latrine rivaled even the gas chamber in terms of suffering; They were not climate controled, and even in this modern era, they were open pits of waste that were sucked dry when required. Along a recrete pad were row upon row of lidless toilets, all leading down to the bleak, manky, stinky abyss.

  When the Company finally came to a halt, they released their waist-belts and dropped their rucksacks. They were broken up into Squads, which Rhidi quickly lumped herself in with Alias and Shasta, and they started setting up their shelters. They were joined by a lovely female Lilgara with soft eyes, a male and female Pwah who both had black hair, and Shaksho, who had been getting an earful from both the Lilgara and the Pwah.

  While Rhidi was unrolling her oil-cloth shelter half, she looked at Shasta, then over to the female Lilgara, Private Acici. “Hey, Shasta.”

  “Hmm?” Shasta hummed, looking up from his little pile of poles he was screwing together.

  “Are all Lilgara brown and white?” Rhidi asked, noticing that, quite literally, all Lilgara seemed to have the same skin, scale, and eye color.

  Acici let out a polite laugh, flapping her shelter half to loosen it up. “Yesss, we were all created in the eyesss of the Ancient One; We have their flesh and scalesss, as well as the eyesss of a fiery nebula. We are one of all, and all of one, bound in the arms of stardust and sky.”

  “All Lilgara ssshare the same traitsss, binding uss’sall in the eye of the Ancient One.” Shasta said, expanding his clawed hands and touching the tips of his thumbs together.

  Acici did the same, and both Lilgara flared their hoods.

  “That is all very nice and well, but you are all the same color due to the planet you lot come from.” Private Marides said, and Rhidi noticed she had a Pwah “imdat” above the last letter of her name, showing it was a long-s instead of the shorter one. “Can’t be too surprised that a bunch of space lizards from a desert planet all look brown.”

  Acici and Shasta looked at the female Pwah with a sour look, flaring their hoods in annoyance.

  “What?” Marides said, holding up her hands. “Nothing I said was wrong!”

  “Pwah.” Acici hissed out, glowering at Marides as she aligned her shelter half with Rhidi’s. “Everything mussst have an answer for them.”

  Rhidi shrugged, looking over to Shaksho who gave her his own look; The Kafya had left religion and most faith systems behind a long time ago, and very few knew the ancient histories of the Kafya peoples.

  “Well.” Rhidi said, clipping the shelter halves into place and then starting the weatherproof acto-zipper. “Everyone has their own way of going about things.”

  Acici tilted her head, keeping the zipper-folds out of Rhidi’s way with the tips of her claws. “Is that why the Kafya stopped their religious practices? Did you all find more solace in technology, science, and color-castes?”

  “It’s our only option, at this point.” Shaksho said, sitting down onto the grass and crossing his legs as he started twisting rods together. “The elder councils decided it was best for all Kafya to look forward instead of over our shoulders. If you want to know about the old ways, you have to leave the major cities and try to find some random town that may have an elder known in the old ways. Even then, there are officials of the elder council that are snuffing them out, one by one.”

  Shasta started handing Alias the now put-together poles. “It ssseems to be a hard contrassst to the Humansss. They are asss intertwined with their religion asss they are their future.”

  “That’s because their religion rallied them from oblivion.” Alias replied, shoving the poles into little pockets they were supposed to rest within. “Humans survived by their old religions, old weapons of war, and even older armor. There were Humans wearing full plate suits of armor looted from museums, and even suits of chainmail, all crafted from hand-hammered steel and iron. They wielded rifles and pistols from their entire age, wearing suits of armor worn by warriors of old, and were bolstered by religions once thought extinct. To call their religion into question is to question Humanity itself, and every one of you would do wise to not meddle in their ways.”

  This odd bit of warning was off color for Alias, leaving Rhidi and everyone else a little stunned by his words.

  Alias sniffed, pulling out the coils of paracord that would help give their little shelter halves structure. “We all know, well, Lilgara aside, that it’s a bunch of bullshit, but this stuff is ingrained in them. Unlike the Kafya, they know their entire history going back to the first time they picked up a stick to kill each other. Unlike the Pwah, they are iron clad in their beliefs, and even believe their Gods walk amongst them. The Lilgara have more in common with Humans than we ever will.”

  “Well put.” Marides said, attaching her shelter half to Rhidi’s and Acici’s as she brushed her thick black hair over her slightly pointed ears. “It would be smart to point out that despite how advanced we are, it was the religious, mindful Humans who dug us out of our graves.”

  “Agreed.” Shaksho sighed out, still fiddling with the poles. “Though I question why our leaders decided to send us here to ‘learn’. All we have done is get tortured.”

  Everyone chuckled a bit, even Rhidi.

  The shelter halves, like most things, were designed to offer very little in comfort. For the first time in her life, Rhidi was going to be sleeping outside and partially exposed to the elements; The shelter halves only provided top cover, the rest of the shelter left exposed to the grass below. While they may have been modern and highly advanced, they were still nothing more than a way to make a tent in the middle of wherever you may be.

  Rhidi felt rather… rustic as she put the thing together with Acici and Marides. The canvas was well treated and slightly grippy to the fingers, and the zippers allowed each shelter half to be combined together. Normally the tents would make a single A-frame tent, but when combined, it allowed the tents to take on more of a hexagonal shape. After staking in their posts and making sure their paracord tension lines were tight, two tents were set up for the males and females, since the Pwah could comfortably fill the same space as a normal trooper.

  A nearby Drill Sergeant was pleased to see their progress, and instructed them to dig a fire hole. While Shasta and Shaksho took to the ground with shovels, the rest of their little camping group took off to source rocks; There was a small, dried up river bed nearby, and there were plenty of rocks to build a ring.

  While Rhidi loaded rocks into her fast-pack, she looked over to Alias. “Didn’t Shasta say there was a pacifist religion though? Budists or whatever they were called.”

  “Buddhists.” Alias corrected, picking up a well-rounded rock that had signs of fire burns on it. “Was there a fire here? Anyway, they are not pacifists, they just take a little more pushing in order to react with violence. Their followers wear a necklace that has a pair of hands holding a broken crescent on it, backed by some kind of flower. They are just as dangerous as the Humans with the beads and the cloaks, so don’t bug them. I went off to see what they were about as soon as we were allowed, and their temple is nothing more than a sparring ring with some giant Human looking over them.”

  Rhidi hummed to herself, hefting her pack onto her shoulders. “Did you learn anything else about them? I’ll have to read about them when we get back to the barracks.”

  “Not much, just that they are confined cannons of destruction that hide among the other religions.” Alias replied, picking up his own fast-pack. “Remember the bald-headed, black skinned Human who killed that Ur landing Captain with a metal pipe?”

  Rhidi did a double take at Alias, as she had been sure that Human had been a Templar. “Wait, you mean the Human who beat a landing Captain to death with a metal pipe was one of them?”

  “Mmmhm.” Alias said with a sideways nod.

  Rhidi grimaced. “Fuck’s sakes…”

  “I alwaysss liked that ssstory.” Acici said with a smile, walking past Rhidi and Alias with her own pack of rocks to share with the other camps. “The Ur didn’t touch the Human once during their duel, and his armor isss on display within that planet’sss museum. He had been rather graceful with handing it over.”

  Rhidi ducked out of the way of Acici’s tail, then shrugged. “I guess the Humans really can’t be pacifists, then.”

  “They won’t ever be.” Alias said with a nod to Rhidi, clambering back up the sides of the dried up river bed. “They won’t allow it, not again.”

  Rhidi and Alias walked beside Acici as they travelled back towards camp, and Rhidi had a small glimmer of happiness seeing that Inthur was still as useless as ever. She couldn’t hear much of it, but apparently Inthur was tasked with putting the poles together, as she had already messed up the zipper of two different shelter halves. The blue Kafya was pouting with her little pile of tent poles, slowly screwing them together as her eyes shimmered with put-upon tears.

  Acici saw Rhidi grinning at Inthur, and the Lilgara let out a quiet, amused hiss before speaking. “You mussst not like her much, eh?”

  “She is a dumb bimbo.” Rhidi said, flicking her hand at Acici. “Good for nothing else besides decorating an arm or bed.”

  “Bimbo?” Acici asked, looking down at Alias. “What isss a bimbo?”

  Alias let out a chuckle. “Well, in the Human tongue it means an attractive, yet incredibly dim female. Rhidi has been having to find other words to throw at Inthur as an insult.”

  “Not just her.” Rhidi said flatly. “Every blue I’ve ever met has been as smart as a wall decoration.”

  Acici stuck her tongue out in thought, then turned to Rhidi. “Then how iss’she here? You were special forcesss, Aliasss wasss a field technician, I wasss a combat specialissst… what iss’she then?”

  “A clerk.” Rhidi said with an edge of distaste to her voice. “A popular clerk that made male Kafya feel important and strong. Her father is likely a higher ranking administrative General, only reason why she and the other Blues are even here.”

  Acici blinked at Rhidi, then looked ahead towards their collection of tents. “Hm. Alrighty then, all the more sssurprising that not a sssingle blue furred Kafya has dropped out yet… perhapsss they have more heart than you are aware of.”

  “Ugh.” Rhidi said, her lips curling in disgust as she rolled her eyes. “Don’t say that, it’s just going to give them hope.”

  All Acici said in return was more polite, hissing laughter as they rejoined their fellow recruits, placing the rocks around the fire hole that had been dug. With their little camp set up, they then started doling out any extra rocks they had, though Rhidi steered her group away from Inthur. Instead, Rhidi brokered a tentative peace deal with a nearby Squad of Humans, offering them their spare rocks in order to gain some kind of information on what was coming next.

  “The penguins have come to barter, Drake.” One of the Humans had said, eliciting a lot of laughter for something Rhidi didn’t understand.

  This field exercise, otherwise known as “The Dirty Five”, was an older aspect of pre-invasion training that had been expanded on. Instead of a mere two days in the field, they were going to spend five days getting disgusting, learning to field craft, set up a patrol base, navigate an in-depth obstacle course, a lot more training under fire, and finishing with the “Warrior’s Drop”.

  What stung Rhidi the worst was that they were going to be living off field rations, something she hated more than life itself at this point; Human field rations were rectangular, metal boxes filled with numerous packets of gels, protein bars, self-heating meals, and more powders than a Pwah could shake a talwori rod at.

  These little cans were compact, dense in calories, and tasted okay by most tongue standards.

  Rhidi’s first meal was lunch, since they marched here on a single meal bar and left so early in the morning, Rhidi didn’t even hear any birds when she stepped outside. The nighthawks were of course there, weaving around the lights and snapping up insects, but they didn’t make much noise really.

  Field rations were shipped in crates, broken open with a pry-bar, and their contents were unknown, just a neat, thick stack of gleaming metal boxes. Humans had perfected field meals, making all of them palatable and unique in their own right. If a species or person was vegetarian, there were rations painted light green, denoting them from the rest.

  Rhidi wanted meat, however, and snatched up a random can.

  Sitting at her shared tent, she popped the pull tab on top of the can and pulled the lid back, popping the seal with a soft hiss. The damned things were airtight, and could last twenty years in a cool, dry place away from the sun.

  Her main course for lunch appeared to be something called “Mother’s Memory”, so with a shrug she set the can on a rock and pulled the heating cord. The can gave a hiss, spat out a gout of steam, and slowly started warming itself up.

  As her main course warmed, she pulled out a sleeve of… something and opened it, finding it to be a stack of butter cookies. She popped one into her mouth and pulled out one of her canteens, one of six for that matter, and grabbed one of the powder mixes.

  All of these powders were based off of an older formula designed to hydrate the Human body, and may as well have been a waterfall to any other race that ingested them. Rhidi’s nose told her the flavor was going to be a berry of some kind, but her eyes saw the color was turning white instead of red, or blue. To avoid turning into a crusty, dried out beetle, Rhidi downed the canteen along with her cookies, enjoying the sugar high while it was there. With that out of the way, she pulled out a sleeve of shiny, tightly packed crackers and peeled them open; The art of cracker cheese application was a learned skill, as wasting a single smear of the yellow stuff could mean the difference between hunger, and lasting until the next meal.

  Cheese was an eyebrow raiser the first time Rhidi saw the odd stuff, but no Kafya could resist its pull now. How Humans figured out how to make the stuff was a mystery, but there was nothing else like it amongst the stars. The Pwah found cheese to be horrifying, and those who needed a quick solution to a Pwah infestation only needed to throw a single slice of cheddar into a room, much like a grenade.

  Rhidi had lucked out, getting jalapeno cheese spread, and greedily cracked open the small, round metal can. As she feasted on spreadable cheese and vegetable crackers, all of which were crammed with infused micro nutrients, her padded fingers fished around in the can for the real triumph: The alcohol ration.

  In all the earlier weeks, the Drill Sergeants had confiscated their alcohol rations and pawned them off on the infantry barracks down the road. Here, today, on this week of White Phase, it appeared the Drill Sergeants didn’t bother.

  Not that Rhidi was complaining; Human alcohol was a tasty little treat. The little thumb-sized bottle had been wrapped in a soft cloth, which in turn was supposed to be used to clean the face, hands, and… wherever else the trooper wanted to wash last. These were intended to take the edge off the day, but abuse of the little bottles was highly punished.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Drunks, it seemed, were not welcome in the UAA military. Rhidi had been present at a flogging during Red Phase, as to show that no one was harder on a UAA trooper than the UAA military itself. The offending trooper had been caught drunk multiple times, and was deemed “abusing libations” by the military court.

  This in turn led to his flogging, to remind both himself and the other troopers that discipline should always be exercised, in all things.

  Rhidi remembered the man’s screams as his NCO whipped him with a wooden rod, the action alone causing some of her fellow Inner Dolcir Coalition compatriots to quit training on the spot.

  The memory didn’t stop her from cracking the cap on her thumb sized bottle of brandy though, enjoying it with one of her last butter cookies.

  Alias, Marides, and Shasta went straight for their alcohol ration, while Acici busied herself with perusing the sweet treats that came in her own ration. By the time Rhidi had finished most of her auxiliary foods, including something called a “jam bar” which stuck to her teeth like glue, her main course was heated.

  The can itself was filled with a white gravy-like broth, slices of beef meat, carrots, peas, and potatoes. It smelled okay, so Rhidi picked up her formidable ration spoon and got to eating.

  It wasn’t the worst thing she had eaten, and it was palatable enough with the rest of her broken crackers, so she polished it off with ease.

  Tea was another thing she wasn’t used to, as it required the trooper to clean out their main course tin to heat water. Rhidi figured she’d try it out, running over to a washing station near the latrine and using the running water there to clean out her tin.

  The rank coming out from the latrine stung at her nose like an angry insect, and she washed her tin as fast as she possibly could.

  As she was walking back, a female Human recruit was walking towards the same spigot with her own ration can.

  “Ah, looking to make some tea are you?” She asked, Rhidi glancing at her name tape and reading ‘Greenday’. “Make sure you save that jam bar, it helps flavor the tea.”

  Rhidi reflexively licked at her teeth, as the damn jam bar was still stuck in them even now. “You don’t eat it?”

  “No!” Recruit Greenday said with an airy laugh. “My God, if you eat the bar, it won’t come out of your teeth for days! Plus it’s gonna stain your tongue.”

  Rhidi kept her mouth shut, nodding her thanks before setting off back towards her camp.

  Despite the bungling of her jam bar, she still had enough creaming-sugar to make the tea taste good. Humans liked their tea many ways, and this one appeared to be some malted variety. With the creaming-sugar, it felt more like dessert than a beverage. Rhidi sat in the hot sun, drinking her hot tea, and felt oddly… bucolic.

  The thought made her look around her slowly; Her fellow troopers were sitting outside tents, not hab units. They were eating out of packets and cans around a fire ring, shaking canteens to mix their powders. Soft Georgia wind blew through Rhidi’s fur, carrying with it the scent of warm grass, flowers, and the ever present smell of the loblolly pine trees.

  Rhidi closed her eyes, breathing in deep through her nose as the hot tea caused her paws to sweat; She was suffering… but she wasn’t minding it so much anymore. She was hot, the sun was hot, the air was hot… she should have been angry, panting, wishing she were dead as all the other times.

  Earth was changing her, rather quickly now that she thought about it. Despite the heat and the sun, she smiled to herself.

  “She’s getting it.”

  Rhidi opened her eyes to see a group of Humans looking over at her, and both the males and females gave her a nod.

  “Welcome to the suck, Kafya.” A male said again, smiling at her before leaning back against his rucksack, and setting his patrol cap on his eyes to nap. “Embrace it, or perish.”

  The Humans began to quietly talk about her, recognizing her as the only alien to wield the MG111.

  Rhidi’s ears began to perk as blood rushed to them from embarrassment, so she cleared her throat and busied herself with drinking her tea.

  After lunch, they were schooled on the art of land navigation. Humans, despite all the technology they wielded, still taught their troopers how to traverse terrain via map and compass, something that Rhidi had no idea how to do.

  With their advanced intellect, the Kafya, Pwah, and Lilgara picked it up quickly, the task so rudimentary that not even Inthur could mess it up.

  After a short classroom on how to execute their first mission, they were broken up into groups of ten and sent off into the Georgian pines. Deeper within the woods, more trees came to life, such as the glory maple and river birch, and their shade was deeply appreciated.

  It was still hotter than an engine on re-entry, but at least the sun couldn’t get at them.

  Rhidi was soaked to the skin with sweat when they came out of the woods, having found all their grid points and written down the message that was theirs to find and decipher. Ticks were a new revelation for many, and panic quickly overtook the Kafya and Pwah as they discovered the little insects greedily sucking at their bodies. Like chimpanzees, Humans rolled their eyes and went around camp, helping to pluck the little bugs from their fellow recruits, though the Kafya required two to three Humans to fully eradicate their invasion.

  Rhidi had two female Humans picking at her, pulling ticks from her ears, while Inthur had five male Humans helping her out, the blue Kafya glowing from the attention. Shaksho grumbled as more male Humans picked him over, and they had to make a quick trip to the latrine when Shaksho felt something itching in a more private area…

  Day gave way to night, their dinner rations were dolled out, and Acici had a lot of fun making a fire for them to sit around. All of their rations came with a small sachet of all-weather matches, and Acici appeared to be enamoured with the things. They sat around the fire for an hour or two, just relaxing in the night air, before sleep began to call to them all. There was a firewatch going on here as well, but again, no alien was trusted with the task.

  Rhidi’s stomach gave an ominous growling gurgle, but she had no intention of using that field latrine yet. Instead, she crawled inside her tent and changed into a fresh set of underclothes, stuffing her sweaty uniform and everything else into a laundry sack they were all tasked with packing.

  She supposed that if the river were flowing, she could probably wash her clothes somewhat, but it was bone dry. Rhidi grinned to herself as she opened a packet of wet-wipes, brushing herself down to at least get kinda cleaned off; She could imagine herself washing her clothes in a river, then walking back to camp in the early morning with birds chirping around her.

  “How country that would be…” Rhidi murmured to herself, tossing the wipes into a small trash sack at the corner of their shared multi-shelter. “I’ll be hauling buckets of water to a log cabin next, at this rate.”

  “At what rate?” Acici asked as she ducked inside the multi-shelter from the back, having wiped herself down from the inside of her uniform.

  Rhidi wafted her hand as she turned on a small lamp. “Nothing. I do have a question though.”

  Acici noticed that Rhidi had glanced at her open uniform top, and rolled her nebulan eyes. “Yesss, we have them.”

  “Why though?” Rhidi asked, again miffed that even this lizard woman had larger breasts than her. She really wished it didn’t bother her as much as it did, but they always got so much attention. “Don’t you guys hatch from eggs?”

  Acici, just to annoy Rhidi, took off her uniform top to display her generous curves. “Giving birth isss dangerousss for any female Lilgara. While pregnant, our ssstomach musclesss double in thicknesss to prevent the body from rupturing and sssplitting.”

  “It does what?!” Rhidi nearly cried out, as Lilgara biology was more of a specialty research topic in their schools, and she had instead focused more on battle craft.

  Acici shook her head from side to side. “Dangerousss businesss getting pregnant asss’a Lilgara. We have an entire clutch within usss, ssso many eggs that it ruinsss our bodiesss. Female Lilgara refussse to give birth unlesss our government payss’us, or we get bid on by rich familiesss that wish to continue their genetic linesss.

  “Holy fuck.” Rhidi replied, borrowing the rather fitting Human phrase. “You run the risk of… of exploding?”

  Acici laughed as she pulled out a fresh shirt from her rucksack. “Explode? No, not explode, more like ripping open from our belly buttonsss and spilling gutsss, eggsss, and organsss everywhere. Thossse undergoing the birthing trailsss and unsure of their birthing muscle ssstrength, tend to ssstay bedridden for the entire trial. Easesss the risssk of death.”

  Rhidi blanched; Kafya had engineered themselves via genetic restructuring to have slower births, this in turn providing less trauma upon a female Kafya’s body. “So you… you have to grow a big stomach muscle?”

  “The birthing wall, yesss.” Acici said with a nod, pulling off her old shirt with a soft bounce before putting on the fresh one; Lilgara scales provided more than enough support, leading them to not require bras except for extreme, or odd, circumstances. “After the eggsss are laid, jussst before they hatch, the muscle iss’still there, and disfiguresss the body until death. One female Lilgara, one clutch, and the body cannot sssuffer sssuch a task again. You would think we would remove the old mussscle after birthing, but it isss’seen as unnatural, and carriesss its own risssks.”

  Acici poked at her taught, toned stomach. “It isss hard to give up onesss beauty, sssaddled with the droopy birthing wall until the end of their time. Many female Lilgara make their retirement if they have superb genetics, living in luxury after dropping their clutch.”

  “How does that explain you lizard people have boobies though?” Rhidi said, pointing her index fingers at both of Acici’s breasts. “You hatch from eggs, you said so.”

  Acici let out the soft hiss of a laugh. “We lay anywhere from ten to fifteen eggsss, and they ssstill require a mother’sss milk to survive. Despite what may be common on other planetsss and other animalsss, we Lilgara were made in another’sss image. If, per sssay, three Lilgara drop clutchesss, that isss a lot of mouthsss to feed.”

  “Oh! You’re cross-nursers!” Rhidi said, clapping the tips of her finger pads together a few times in excitement. “How fascinating! Do you all get in a circle and do it together, or?”

  “Oh yesss.” Acici said with a bright smile. “Many gaming groupsss will nurse asss they play.”

  Rhidi tilted her head. “You nurse while playing video games?”

  “What better way to ssspend an hour or two?” Acici said with a shrug. “Not like we can go running asss we do it.”

  Rhidi let out a cheerful laugh, causing Acici to join in with her as well. Marides ducked into the tent next, having bird bathed while wrapped in her woobie blanket.

  “What’s all the laughing in here?” Marides said with a small smile, ducking inside so she could change clothes.

  Rhidi layed down onto her sleeping system, gently blowing into a tube to inflate her head rest. “Just discussing as to why space lizards have boobs.”

  “Ah yeah, I know all about that.” Marides said, pulling on a fresh shirt with a contented sigh. “Did she tell you about how they get mega milkers after they drop a clutch? Could knock a man unconscious if they turn too fast.”

  “They get bigger?!” Rhidi nearly shouted in outrage, twitching her head towards Acici.

  Acici rolled her eyes again, flipping open her own sleeping system. “Yesss, clutch mothers do gain larger breastsss, as they are supposed to help new mothers with feeding.”

  “This whole universe is against me.” Rhidi said in a defeated tone, resting on her elbows as she slapped her sleeping system with the back of her paw-hands. “Nothing is fair anymore.”

  Marides giggled to herself as she pulled out a smuggled fashion magazine. “Don’t be mad just because you were born yellow, all of your color has more lithe figures.”

  “Grab her other ear.” Rhidi said, ambushing Marides as Acici chuckled and grabbed the Pwah’s other ear.

  “Hey! He-stop!” Marides howled, grabbing onto a scalie and furred hand as she hissed. “It’s not my fault Pwah know everything!”

  As the three continued to squabble, Alias, the other male Pwah Dolarmo, and Shasta all looked to each other, making a note to never bunk with a female recruit if they had a choice.

  Sleep did eventually come for them all, with all recruits bundled up in their sleeping systems in whatever manner of dress they chose.

  When morning came, Rhidi found herself acting as “little” spoon for the far shorter Pwah, and looked down to see Marides’s hands wrapped around her hips. Unamused and highly annoyed, Rhidi unwrapped herself from the Pwah’s arms and sat up, only to find that Acici’s tail was looped around her legs.

  Warmth and soft fur always was a strength of the Kafya, but that didn’t mean Rhidi felt a need to let these bums take what they wanted from her.

  Shaking loose of tail and grabbing fingers, Rhidi came to her knees and bent low to avoid the roof of their shelter halves, pulling on a uniform along with her paw boots. Her rousing from sleep had been mostly due to her body crying out in pain, both from a full bladder and the field rations wishing to make a rapid, and violent, exit. Scrabbling for the issued packet of bathroom tissue, Rhidi made a quick sprint across the dew-covered field, kicking up tails of water as she dug in her heels.

  Despite the UAA way of having recruits shower together, latrines were still kept separated by gender, and stalls still had a short door to keep things semi-private as the exchanger sucked foul air outside the building.

  Field latrines were the same, but did not follow such precautions when it came to privacy.

  Rhidi bursted through the s-curve entryway and came face to face with three other female recruits, two Humans and a Lilgara. The smell was better, but still foul, and Rhidi had been hoping for some privacy.

  She had a mere couple of seconds to think about this measure, but her body won out with a subtle, alarming warning.

  Rhidi quickly shuffled as she clamped her buttcheek muscles, finding a clean looking toilet and ripping down her pants. She had scant seconds to sit down and secure her tail before her body purged the evil out of her, and Rhidi let out an annoyed exhale, leaning forward onto her knees.

  “Field rations will get you that way.” Said one of the female Humans, a blonde with a face that spoke of hardship. She had cold gray eyes, and a fine scar along her lower lip. “You need to drink more water, or your colon is going to keep laying bricks on you.”

  Rhidi ran a hand down her face, pulling at her eyes before looking up at the two Humans. They were just staring at each other, pants around their ankles and open to the sight of all. Rhidi saw with a smirk that the gray-eyed woman had rather hairy legs, while the other woman was still keeping hers smooth.

  Her smile faded when she heard a soft crunch, and the more attractive looking Human with brown hair gave a happy hum.

  She was eating.

  She was eating a breakfast bar while sitting in an open toilet latrine.

  The Human saw Rhidi staring, then offered the yellow Kafya the breakfast bar.

  “You can have a bite if you want.” She said, then gave a snort of laughter at Rhidi and the Lilgara’s look of horror. “What? What else am I going to do in here?”

  The Lilgara shook her head. “How you can ssstomach eating at a time like thisss is beyond me.”

  “She’s weird, even for us.” Said the rougher looking woman, and she held out her hand to Rhidi. “Recruit Angel.”

  Hardly. Rhidi thought to herself, and just shook her head as she took the Human’s hand. “Private Rhidi.”

  She was shaking hands with someone on a toilet, while also sitting on a toilet. Rhidi wasn’t sure if this was the highest or lowest point of her life…

  “Thats Recruit Avlov, and she may look cute, but she is a fucking viper.” Angel said, nudging the woman with her elbow.

  Avlov rolled her eyes as she peeled more of the wrapper away. “Why do you always tell people I’m mean? I was just an exterminator.”

  “You once had lunch on a mountain of dead rats!” Angel shouted. “You told me you formed their bodies into a cup holder!”

  Avlov threw out her hands, breakfast bar clutched in her fingers like a cigar. “The ground was uneven! How else was I supposed to not spill my coffee?!”

  Rhidi watched the two bicker, casting a glance towards the Lilgara. The Lilgara, Recruit Zakaki, just closed her eyes and shook her head, as if saying “There is no understanding these people”.

  Despite the two Humans wanting to hang out, Rhidi found herself done and wanting to leave this odd, smelly place. The latrine may have looked rustic and barbaric, but oddly enough it did have a bidet. It was activated by holding onto a handle beside the toilet, which looked a lot like a parking brake, and pushing it forward where you wanted it. With the click of a trigger of all things, it gently sprayed water.

  The water was ice cold, and nearly made Rhidi launch into the air like a half-naked fur rocket.

  She instead let out a startled screech, scaring both the Lilgara and the two female Humans as her fur flared.

  “Ah, we’re the first to use these I think, the heater isn’t on.” Avlov said, then snorted out a giggle again as she wiggled the tips of her boots. “She got the ice geyser!”

  Rhidi didn’t find it nearly as funny, but did make sure she was both clean and dry before pulling up her pants.

  —

  Rhidi had first thought the five days would take forever, but they appeared to race by with little regard. Casualty care training in the field went by with little issue, patrol base operations had been a good bit of fun, and running skirmishes within the false town had been by far the most fun she had had since the start of training. Operating in Squads, they would all take turns defending and assaulting, learning to use cover, foliage, and buildings to their advantage.

  They had been ambushed, ambushed others, and Rhidi had enough welts under her fur to last her for a lifetime. Sim-rounds, while non-deadly, still hurt like a bitch when they caught you.

  Marides still tried to cuddle her at night, and Rhidi went as far as wrapping her in place with paracord within her rucksack. By the third night, Rhidi just gave up and let the stupid little Pwah cuddle up into her fur since she always escaped her bindings. The last bit of training involved close quarter battle training, which was rough on everyone due to the sim-round welts, and field communications.

  On the fifth day’s morning, they broke camp. Rhidi packed away her things, her disgusting sack of laundry, and helped Acici and Marides break down their shelter halves. To their conjoined annoyance, they were then tasked with replacing the rocks back to the dried out river bed.

  “I knew there wasn’t a fire.” Alias snarled, packing the rocks back into their fast-packs. “I just knew they were going to do this shit to us.”

  With the rocks placed back into their natural habitat, they staged their rucksacks and began their final obstacle course. It was easy, of course, since nearly all of the off-worlders were already well trained in their fields, and it was childs play as far as they were concerned. It may have been one of the few times they all did better than the Humans, and were quite smug while waiting for all the Humans to finish.

  Humans were tough, brutal, dangerous things, but they lacked the agility of Kafyan and Lilgaran feet. The Pwah did as best they could, but the tall walls were a challenge for their shorter heights.

  The last bit of the course was the Glory Towers; Using climbing belts made from climbing rope, they had to ascend and descend off the tower at different heights, finally climbing the tallest part of the tower to the top, at which the Warrior’s Drop waited for them.

  Like the obstacle course, Rhidi found this quite easy, and rappelling down the wall was a satisfying transition each time she did it. It was oddly fun bouncing off of her boots when she came into contact with the wall, controlling her own descent with the hand she held behind her back.

  The final challenge was the final ascension, climbing up the tower to the top of it. It was a sixty foot climb, the only safety precaution being Rhidi’s rigged climbing harness and the belay, way down below. She felt a little less confident here, but it helped that the Humans seemed just as distressed as she was as they all climbed. The ascension wall could handle ten troopers at a time, and Rhidi was the fifth of her stick to make it to the top.

  As she came over the edge of the flat-topped tower with a huff of breath, she heaved herself over the edge with a “whoof!”, rolling onto her back and panting hard.

  Drill Sergeant Curahee tilted his brown-round adorned head down at her, smiling as he looped his thumbs through his own rigged up climbing harness. “Long way up, ain’t it?”

  “Air seems thinner, Drill Sergeant.” Rhidi replied, groaning as she got to her feet.

  Drill Sergeant Curahee chuckled, moving Rhidi towards the middle of the tower and unhooking her. “Alright, last part.”

  Drill Sergeant Curahee then stood back, gripped her by the belt, then pointed a bladed hand towards the edge of the flat platform. Rhidi looked at the Human, confused, but poked her head over the edge.

  It was a sheer drop, all the way down towards a giant, deep pool of water. Rhidi felt her blood run cold as she saw troopers sitting beside the pool, wet and drying out in the sun while catching their breath.

  “You want me to jump over the edge into that fucking thing?!” Rhidi barked out, shrinking back from the edge and coming down onto her rump.

  “You want me to jump over the edge into that fucking thing, Drill Sergeant.” Drill Sergeant Curahee corrected as he let go of her belt, and stepped gamely over to the edge of the tower, leaning over the edge as his safety line went taught.

  Just that action alone nearly made Rhidi scream.

  “This is the Warrior’s Drop, Private Rhidi.” Drill Sergeant Curahee said, leaning back from the edge with a face now sternly set. “You wash out here, you wash out for good. Our MOS is to drop from space and land onto the surfaces of other planets. If you can’t muster the courage for sixty feet, you won’t manage the courage for two hundred miles. You gonna wash out on me, Private Rhidi? You want me to call your model mommy and have her send you a shuttle?”

  Rhidi looked up at the Human with wide eyes, her tail tucked between her legs; Sixty feet into water was no joke, and tons of things could go wrong, but she didn’t have time to consider much else before Drill Sergeant Curahee pulled her to her feet by her climbing harness.

  “Step off of the ledge, do not jump-.” Drill Sergeant Curahee began, but Rhidi’s legs gave out from under her, and she came down onto the deck again. Drill Sergeant Curahee rolled his eyes. “Private Rhidi, if you do not jump off of my tower, you will be walking down loser’s lane where everyone will be able to see you wash out.”

  His words were cut short as another recruit came over the edge of the climbing tower, and Drill Sergeant Curahee turned, smiling. “Ah, Private Morris.”

  Rhidi’s heart did another flip as she spun around on her knees to see Morris standing to his feet, and dusting off his hands.

  “This the big drop, Drill Sergeant?” Morris asked, then smiled at Rhidi. “Private Rhidi.”

  “M-Morris.” Rhidi stammered out, and Morris’s face fell. He instantly understood she was scared, and his concern was open in his eyes.

  Drill Sergeant Curahee unhooked Private Morris and led him to the edge. “Don’t mind her, she’s about to wash out.”

  Morris looked over his shoulder, and Rhidi could see that the thought of her washing out caused him a fair bit of disappointment. Humans only hid their emotions when they wanted, and Morris wanted Rhidi to know what he was thinking without saying a word.

  “Point your boot tips.” Drill Sergeant Curahee began, pointing a bladed hand over the edge. “Don’t flail, keep your body straight, and walk off the edge.”

  Morris spared one last look at Rhidi, then smiled. “See you at the bottom, Rhidi.”

  Rhidi scrabbled up to her feet with a scrape of paw-boots as Morris stepped over the edge, disappearing from view with a whip of clothing hitting the wind.

  There was a long pause, then a splash and a distant cheer.

  Drill Sergeant Curahee slowly turned to Rhidi, and he folded his arms as he spoke. “What’s the call, Kafya? Are you scared to tread where Humans show no fear?”

  Rhidi pinned her ears back, a short whine building in her throat as she slowly came up to a hunched, standing position. Morris was down there, and if she took loser’s lane down, he would know she was not brave enough to jump into some stupid water.

  At the same time, Rhidi knew she could not step off; She would shrink back as soon as she saw the edge.

  So, Rhidi closed her eyes and began to run.

  Issue solved.

  “Private! Private wait!” Drill Sergeant Curahee cackled as he ran after Rhidi, but she was already too far ahead, leaping over the edge of the platform.

  Rhidi’s legs were still attempting to tread air, and she didn’t dare open her eyes, her tail flagging out behind her all the way down. She hit the water shins first, and the temperature of the water shocked Rhidi’s eyes open more than the impact.

  She floated for a moment in the grass-strewn water, then started kicking for the offered hand she could see above her.

  It looked like Morris’s, so Rhidi kicked hard towards the hand, reaching out with her own paw-hand. She got close enough to grab onto it, and she was hauled from the water with a swift jerk.

  Right into the grinning, scarred face of Drill Sergeant Almoore.

  “Private, did you just fucking jump off the Warrior’s Drop with your eyes closed at a full run?” Drill Sergeant Almoore asked, her shoulders attempting to not buck with laughter as she hauled Rhidi out of the water like a waterlogged toddler.

  Rhidi let out a long breath of air, sinking down onto her now soaking wet rump, then looked up at Drill Sergeant Almoore. “... I couldn’t do it with them open, Drill Sergeant.”

  Drill Sergeant Almoore let out a howl of laughter, bending over at the waist as Drill Sergeant Curahee leaned over the edge, laughing just as hard.

  “You are crazy as hell, Safetybelt!” Drill Sergeant Curahee yelled out as he guffawed, letting out his own cackle of laughter that echoed down at them.

  Rhidi smiled to herself, then looked over at Private Morris to see he was smiling at her as well.

  Worth it. Rhidi thought to herself, then promptly passed out, her head hitting the wet grass with a muffled smack.