“They told us to get ready for patrols into the mountains. That’s where Captain Solvigsonn believes that’s where the main Colorado FEM contingent is hiding.” Aaron mumbled, as low as he could. He wasn’t sure to what degree the Eckzahn were watching private residences. Spartacus assured him that they didn’t bother setting up hidden mics or cameras unless they had a reason to suspect someone. And he mumbled so lowly, he could hardly hear himself. Either way, he practiced caution.
He went to the tiny bathroom, turned the shower on full force, and gave his sitrep while sitting on the toilet.
“Hm. Do you know the exact route? North? South?”
“ No, I’m not sure about much more than that, units involved, schedules, anything. And I doubt we’ll be spoonfed more than what is absolutely necessary.”
“Not to worry. I will endeavour to acquire another gadget for you from my… friends; a tiny transmitter. Should be invisible to Eckzahn sensors, but we would be able to pick it up. If we detect you, our boys will know to stay well away. And we will be able to perfectly map out their new patrol routes.”
Aaron sighed. Another fucking alien gadget… another source of anxiety whenever a fellow EDA trooper or Eckzahn looked at him a bit too long. He briefly wondered how much booze he still had left. Maybe it was time for a refill.
“There’s one more thing. It’s probably nothing, but I think the Union regulars are supposed to be receiving fresh supplies sometime next month. I overheard a couple of the wolf LTs talking about it. One was really excited about receiving a certain cutting edge blaster rifle he ordered from his homeworld, he went into too much detail I couldn’t understand it all. The other was complaining that most of the shipment to our base will just be old body armor equipment, which would be wasted on the ‘useless human grunts’. Good thing I’ve been keeping up on my Siglunes.” Aaron said with a small degree of pride.
“A supply drop?” Spartacus asked with more interest than Aaron expected.
“Yeah. What about it? Aren’t they regular?”
“Not as regular as you would think.” Spartacus answered. “Large space freighters that would be necessary to steadily provision a garrison as large as the Eckzahn’s Earth occupation force cannot enter a planet’s orbit. Not if they ever want to leave the atmosphere again, that is. Cargo is brought down to the planet via smaller, specialized ships. But if the infrastructure is not set up, which on Earth it is absolutely not, it is a very slow process that can take weeks.”
“Lemme guess; you wanna hit the supply ships?”
“The AVs, to be exact. The larger ships land in a dedicated spaceport, and it gets distributed from there.” Spartacus explained. “For our region, the main shipment will land at their New York spaceport, as it’s the only distribution center they have in North America so far. From there, it’s AVs to all major Eckzahn and EDA bases throughout the continent.”
“So, a big resupply like this is something that only happens once in a blue moon?”
“Exactly. That is of very high importance, Aaron. Keep as close an eye on that as you can without arousing suspicion.”
“Sure…” Aaron answered dryly. It was a good thing he had another day’s leave after this. It had only been a week since Spartacus had hooked him up with the… whatever the hell that ear bead thing was. And already, he felt the pressure tenfold.
He had to collect himself. They didn’t suspect him; not yet, at least. He’d seen a few of his fellow EDA troopers get the boot just for listening in on Eckzahn lunch conversation. If they had even caught a whiff of him possibly being a spy, he wouldn’t have been spared. Which meant he was doing a good job.
He just wasn’t sure if it was more down to some subterfuge skill he had never known of until now, or just pure dumb luck. It felt like the latter. And it felt like it was running out.
“Aaron?” Spartacus spoke. His all business tone was gone now. He sounded concerned, soothing. “How are you doing?”
“Well, I’m still a Corporal. Still leading a four man fireteam. They don’t seem to suspect-”
“No, I meant you, personally. How are you doing emotionally?”
Aaron was about to give an angry, biting reply, then sighed. Spartacus sounded like he genuinely cared. He didn’t deserve his ire.
“I… it’s certainly overwhelming. I can’t shake the feeling that they know, on some level, no matter how wrong it is.”
“You’re doing great, Aaron. You’ve proven yourself to be a reliable, capable operative.” Spartacus said soothingly. “Your efforts have allowed us to expand our operations at breakneck speeds. Others like you are doing the same in other regions. You just have to hold on, and remember that it will all be worth it someday.”
Aaron remained silent. He wasn’t sure about that last part. Even if some external force that possessed technological parity with the Eckzahn helped the FEM, liberation was a pipe dream. The FEM were brave, capable fighters, no doubt. But the EU’s hold on Earth was growing each moment. Every day, Earth’s cities looked less like they did just two years ago, replaced more and more with the towering, brutalist, oppressive architecture of the wolves. People were growing accustomed to Eckzahn rule. Little expressions of discontent and protests were growing uncommon to near non-existent. Humans were afraid of losing the little freedom their new masters granted them.
Human children grew up learning the propagandized version of Earth’s history the Eckzahn had carefully crafted. Within a generation or two, new born Earthlings would know nothing of their history except being an Eckzahn colony.
“Goodnight, Spartacus.” Aaron said, mentally breaking the connection. He turned the shower off, sighing deeply and covering his head in his hands.
Hope, hope, hope… that was what kept the FEM fighters going. It was what had kept humanity going through plague, famine and tyranny. But never before had they faced a foe such as this. Such an utterly overwhelming, hopelessly powerful force.
They weren’t fighting the occupation of a foreign nation or a conventional empire. The Eckzahn were galactic. To them, Earth was just some far off colonized city. Less than that, perhaps, a village. Barely a dot on the map.
Spartacus knew that far better than him. He’d been born in a society for whom FTL travel was commonplace. He knew of the Eckzahn’s capabilities far better than any earthling. And yet, he fought. No matter how unlikely their victory, no matter how egregious the oppression, no matter how daunting their task, no matter how insignificant they were before their adversaries, they gave it their all. Because that’s what humans did.
If that was the criteria, then Spartacus was far, far more human than he was.
His dark retrospection was interrupted by the doorbell. His heart jumped, as he couldn’t think of who it could be. Only his Sergeant, for unscheduled patrols, but never on his days off. He checked his reflection, running a hand through his hair. He didn’t look his best, but it would have to do. He checked his ear again, to make sure the bead was not visible.
He walked out into the tiny living room. His leave had probably been cancelled, given Captain Solvigsonn’s desire to comb through all of Colorado’s forests, he thought moodily.
When he opened the door, he could have cried out. It was Madde! Her hair and fur was impeccable as ever. She held a large pizza box and wore more casual clothes; she still wore her camo fatigue pants, but only the plain grey Eckzahn military undershirt. Her twinkling sky blue eyes looked down at him with joy, but also worry.
“Uh… h-hi, Madde.” He said awkwardly. “What uh…” He stopped himself. ‘What are you doing here?’ sounded like he wasn’t happy for her to be here. But he was. He was ecstatic. He hadn’t had a proper conversation with her in days. Just cold, casual greetings. He realized he’d subconsciously avoided her. It wasn’t just the anxiety that she may notice something amiss, but… he felt ashamed. He felt like he was betraying her. Regardless of how noble or justified his motive, it was a guilt he could not shake around her.
“Hello, ?rahn.” She said, smiling down at him. “Can I uh…”
“Sure, sure!” he said quickly, ushering her in. He rushed to pick up some discarded clothes and trash some old boxes of takeout. Really, the whole place needed a good tidying up and vacuuming, but there was no time for that now.
She placed the box on the tiny kitchenette’s counter. Only now did he realize how good the pie smelled. His growling stomach reminded him of the fact that he hadn’t eaten a thing all day.
“I uh… ehh…” She grasped for words. It was strange seeing her like this. He didn’t think he’d ever heard her stutter. She was normally so sure of herself, so forward. “I wanted… to see how you were doing.”
“Well…” he shrugged. “I’m doing fine.”
“No, ?rahn. You are not fine.” She shook her canine head. He felt his heart skipping a beat.
“W-what, are you talking-”
“You’re distant. You don’t… don’t talk to me like you did before. You barely talk to anyone. You… stare off into infinity when you think no one is looking.” Her massive, soft hands gripped his shoulders. Her intense blue eyes looked down at him. He thought he saw them turn watery.
“I… I know what you feel, ?rahn. I know that… that day will probably never leave you. You almost got killed.” Her voice began to break slightly.
Aaron blinked. He could have sighed in relief. She confused his anxiety and subterfuge for PTSD from that convoy ambush. But truth be told… she was half right. Hardly an hour passed that he didn’t think about it. Sometimes he was afraid of going to sleep, knowing a nightmare awaited him in dreamland. He sometimes flinched from the clap of blaster fire in live fire drills, reminded of the desperate last stand of his EDA comrades. And every now and then, he saw that woman, grinning like a demon, approaching him, bloody bayonet pointed right at him…
Her hands moved down, until she was hugging him. Her fluffy chin rested on top of his hair, and one of her hands rubbed his back comfortingly.
“Seeing you on that bed… bleeding… all the machines hooked up to you beeping and screaming that you were dying… and nobody would help!” She snarled that last sentence, her grip on him tightening.
“I had to watch the doctors mill around, treating Eckzahn troopers with mere flesh wounds, who still walked and talked and smoked… while you were there, dying! I had to keep you alive myself. I had to look for stims, and connect the blood transfusion tubes, unsure if it was even the right human blood type… when I wasn’t even supposed to be there!” She rubbed her chin against his head, hands gripping him tighter like she was afraid he would otherwise disappear.
Aaron felt the breath catch in his throat. He’d always known that the Eckzahn doctors treated him and other EDA with the lowest priority. There were a handful of EDA corpsmen, but they had little in terms of training or proper equipment, and almost zero support or guidance from their Eckzahn counterparts. Nearly half of all EDA deaths the day of the convoy ambush could have been prevented with actual Eckzahn triage, which they had not been offered. But to hear that Madde kept him alive…
He pulled back from the hug slightly, looking up at her. He smiled, patting her fuzzy cheek. It was slightly wet. She smiled back, and she visibly relaxed. The paw rubbing his back felt electric, like warm lightning bolts across his skin.
“Well… I’m here now. It’s gonna take more than some old ass slug gun to put me down! Sorry, you ain’t getting rid of me that easy!” He grinned, but she looked horrified and confused.
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“W-what do you mean?”
Shit, he forgot just how poorly human sayings often translated into the Eckzahn tongue.
“It’s… it’s a joke. It means uh… it’s a humorous way of saying that you won’t leave someone you care about.”
“I find the human sense of humor very morbid!” she said dryly. He smiled awkwardly, grasping for something to change the subject to.
“Well… we think joking about morbid stuff helps us move on… or something…” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “So uh… you wanna watch some movies while we eat that pizza or something?”
“Oh yes!” She perked up immediately, nodding her head excitedly. “I love human movies! They help me learn language! Last week I watch movie about ground vehicle racing! ‘Cars’ you call them? We don’t do much of that back home. Closest I can think of is speeder racing around spaceports.
Anyway, I forgot name of movie, but it was very exciting! One of the human men in it was strange… he spoke weird and he had no fur… not even on his head, I mean.”
Aaron was silent for a long moment, then his face went pale with horrific realization.
“Oh, good Lord,” he muttered, rubbing his face, then chuckling.
“?rahn? What is it?”
“Nothing, nothing.” but he couldn’t stop his chuckle. “God, I hope it was one of the earlier ones, at least.” he thought.
“Right, I’ll find us a movie.” Aaron said. He turned towards the sleek, black box set beneath the TV. The Skepte Sokkr, literally just meaning “Entertainment box” in Siglunes, was a ‘gift’ offered to all human citizens within Eckzahn-controlled urban settlements. Ostensibly, it was an all in one entertainment system meant to streamline media access. It worked by streaming whatever movie, series, video, song, etc, the user wanted. Except that unlike streaming services of old, it worked with any piece of media, from old songs to video games. (so long as it was approved by the Eckzahn administration, naturally). Furthermore, it had no ads, no load times, and pristine quality.
In reality, however, it was another form of control. The Eckzahn had endeavoured to confiscate all other media storage or playback platforms, from hard drives to 1980s VHS players. It wasn’t completely effective, especially once people noticed the pattern and hid what they could, but it had worked well enough in the larger cities. The population could only watch what the Eckzahn deemed acceptable; naturally, no sci-fi movies of humans fighting aliens. Others were also disappearing. Any movie featuring a plucky band of rebels overthrowing a tyrannical regime seemed to slowly but surely be destined for the chopping block. And Aaron was fairly certain all the Skeptes were all bugged. At least, they’d be fools not to bug them.
“Right…” Aaron threw some clothes off the sofa and turned the machine on. A generic, overly cheery tune played as the screen showed the symbol of the Union, before turning to the list of movies.
Madde sat down next to him, eagerly popping open the massive pizza box. As expected, it was a meatlovers. Stomach growling, Aaron gingerly bucked a slice and took a bite. Madde grabbed one and popped it wholesale into her large mouth, which she did shockingly gingerly, even as her fangs tore the bread and meat apart.
“You know, a movie is like two hours long,” Aaron said smiling, trying not to blush. “Eating all your snacks in the first ten minutes is a rookie mistake.”
Pouting, Madde dropped her second slice. To compensate, Aaron took out a pair of beers from his fridge, a bounty she gladly accepted.
Aaron scrolled through the endless list of recommended movies, unsure of what to pick. Really, he wasn’t feeling like watching a movie. Being with Madde was good enough. The sofa was too small for her, obliging her to slide up against him. He was somewhat crowded, her longer and slightly larger body offering him complete warmth.
She was close enough that he could feel her scent. It wasn’t perfume, Aaron was pretty sure it wasn’t a thing in wolf culture. It was a clean, subtle smell, like a park on a cool spring day. Suddenly, he realized that what movie they watched didn’t matter at all. He pressed the remote’s button on a random selection.
It was a 1960s Western, one he hadn’t watched before. But the cover looked promising enough. It featured the lead actor, revolvers akimbo, taking cover behind a slab of red rock, as a villainous bandito shot at him with a rifle.
Madde gripped one bottle and easily removed the cap with a claw, doing the same with Aaron’s. She held up the bottle, a little unsurely.
“Like this?” She asked.
With a smile, Aaron clinked his bottle against hers. “Yeah. Like that. And you always drink after a clink.” He gulped down a few mouthfuls. She aimed the bottom for the ceiling, before seeing that Aaron was looking at her.
“Oh, right! Save for the movie!” She chuckled sheepishly, setting the bottle on the coffee table. There was only a drop at the bottom left. Smiling, Aaron brought the last of his beer from the fridge.
The intro included the typical 60s Western lineup of whistling choirs, flutes and soft guitars. She seemed mesmerized by the song, even forgetting to eat, the slice hovering near her mouth the entire intro.
“Oh, I so love this human music!” She muttered. “It like battle hymns! Get you pumped up! But why put it in a movie? You only sit down! Get you excited for nothing. This is better music for training, fighting! It spoil it’s meaning.”
Aaron shrugged his shoulders. “Well, It’s for the movie… it helps you get immersed. Gets you… in the mood, y’know?” Aaron was hardly a film buff, he couldn’t quite find the words for how every piece of a movie fell together, other than that it felt good. She seemed to accept the explanation well enough, however.
The movie turned out to be a fairly standard Western plot; the protagonist was a Civil War veteran who ran a homestead with his family. His idyllic life is shattered when a greedy railway tycoon sets his sights on his land, wishing to expand his railway through it. When he refuses to sell, the tycoon predictably sends his banditos to raze the place, killing the man’s eldest son and kidnapping his wife. From there, the hero recovers from a seemingly fatal bullet wound, dusts off his old guns, and goes off to rescue his wife and avenge his family, one bandito at a time, until he reaches the architect of his misery. On the way, he picks up a young bounty hunter, whom he rescues from the gang’s clutches.
As far as plots went, it didn’t get much simpler. But for Madde, it was all new. Aaron found himself obliged to pause the movie multiple times and explain basic aspects of human history with his scant knowledge; the Gold Rush, the industrialization of America, what a ‘saloon’ was, how a single action revolver worked… she was quite the curious and eager student.
Eventually, they found that the sofa was decidedly not large enough for her. She kept trying new positions, finding each as constricting as the last, and each giving poor Aaron less space. (not that he particularly minded)
So, they eventually decided to occupy the bed, which was thankfully already set up towards the screen. While set up for one person, it was a queen sized Eckzahn foam bed. One of the perks of being a good little EDA jackboot. She was just able to stretch to her full height, leaving just enough room for Aaron.
She held him close, mesmerized by the movie’s action and plot. He saw her grit her teeth and holding back tears of rage when the villain destroyed the hero’s life, she smirked at every cannon fodder bad guy shot, and yelled whenever the protagonist killed one of the ringleaders.
Through it all, they cuddled closer and closer. Her soft fur warmed and tickled him. He felt her heartbeat against his shoulder, growing more rapid during high intensity shootouts. His own heart was beating faster and faster, though it had nothing to do with the on-screen excitement.
“?rahn? When… when does this take place?” She asked suddenly.
“Hm?” He paused the movie. It was one of the final action scenes, the hero taking on an entire speeding train of bad guys.
“This movie… it clearly takes place long ago. How long? A thousand years?”
“Oh, no, no, nothing like that,” he chuckled. “This is the Wild West, and post-Civil War. Uh… The American Civil War, that is. So… 1870-ish? 1880? Something like that. Which is about… 150 years ago, give or take.”
That information seemed to have a great effect on her. Her grip on him tightened slightly, her eyes widened.
“A… a hundred and fifty?” She asked, seeming incredulous. She stared at the primitive steam locomotive in fascination. “A hundred and fifty years to build from… that, to what you have now?”
He shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, these things take time. Cities take decades, centuries even to grow their population. After the steam engine, some smartypants had to figure out ignition, then one generation later, another geek figured out more efficient fuel burning, mass production, all that. Decades and centuries.” He throat laughed humorlessly. “Course, I’m sure you guys would have sped through it in no time at all.”
But she wasn’t laughing. She kept looking at the paused still of the chugging locomotive with fascination and growing concern.
“Oh… sorry for pausing again, I was just curious,” She forced a chuckle. “You can play it” she gulped down the last of her third beer.
Aaron frowned. The hell was that about? Why was she so fascinated by the evolution of technology that to her was as primitive as rubbing two sticks to make fire? He decided to leave it in his backpocket for now. The pizza and beer was making him drowsy.
The hero and his plucky sidekick had now reached the villain’s lair, each taking down bandits in the dozens. But both Aaron and Madde were paying less and less attention to the movie, their arms finding each other more and more. He brushed her fuzzy shoulder, moving his arm down her firm bicep. She was so beautiful…
Her arms moved to grip his waist and chest altogether. His breath caught in his throat, realizing he’d gone too far.
“Oh, s-sorry,” he stammered. “I-I, I was being indecent. Sorry, Madde, I-”
Something soft and wet caressed his cheek. The smell of beer and her natural scent filled his nostrils. She.. she had licked him.
She nuzzled him, her wet nose burying itself in the crook of his neck.
She sighed softly, the grip around his torso slackening, yet not letting go. Slow, rhythmic breaths washed down the back of his neck. Her chest swelled and loosed like the waves of the sea.
She had fallen asleep. And she was not letting go anytime soon.
Aaron’s mouth went dry. His face felt like he was on fire, and he was fairly certain his heart would beat right out of his chest. He wanted to wash down the last of his beer, but it was tauntingly just out of reach. He tried for a bit to undo Madde’s grip without waking her, but without success. She only tightened and sleepily cuddled up more to him.
Then he realized, he was perfectly content like this.
He turned towards her. Her ponytail had flopped over her closed eyes. He gently brushed it aside. His hand then found her chin and ears, which he scratched softly.
Leaning forward, he kissed her on the cheek. His lips tingled for a long moment.
“Goodnight,” He muttered, falling asleep in her arms.
The film ended with the hero and his rescued wife upon a horse, slowly riding towards the sunset.
