"The sweet boy is not a bad fighter, for a man," Jagda joked as zie clapped Fox on the back.
"Or for someone with no biotech," another put in.
Nara raised hir head out of the medical tank. "I kept telling you that."
"Get back in there," Jagda growled, pushing hir down. "I ain't done yet."
Fox laughed at the back and forth. After the argument with Green, Nara had announced that zie knew exactly what Fox needed. Zie had brought him straight up to the Kurgara camp, and they had spent the rest of the afternoon sparring with members of her squadron.
Their version of sparring was barely a step away from real fighting. He winced at the memory of it. A half an hour ago, he was certain he would be sore for days. Then they brought him back into their bunker, ordered him to strip, and threw him in the medical tank. They'd fixed the obvious damage and amped up his healing. Now he was out and showered, dressed in a pair of boxers, while they treated Nara. He felt good; he had a deep body ache that told him he would sleep soundly tonight, but no pain.
Nara was climbing out now and heading for the shower. "Me next," one of the Kurgara said, casually stripping and climbing in the tank.
Nara was back a few minutes later, still wet from the shower. Zie was dressed in a tight-fitting tank top and tight shorts. Zie sat on the bench next to him and draped hirself across the shoulder. "And now you see."
He did see. He saw that this was exactly what he had needed, to release all that pent-up anger. And he saw a tiny glimpse of what it meant to be Kurgara. He wished momentarily that he had a group of sisters, brothers—people so tightly knit that privacy wasn't an issue.
About a half dozen of them needed at least some treatment. Afterward, they gathered at the small mess area, shoulder to shoulder, and ate. The food was good, the camaraderie better. They stayed well into the night, drinking some local moonshine brew and talking about past missions. It was fascinating and familiar at the same time. The places they talked about were so different but the tone was the same as when he and Klempke had talked about earlier.
It was full dark when he and Nara returned to their dome. They made love, and afterward, he fell asleep instantly, sleeping more soundly than he had in months.
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Shoshone Station: The Galactic Consortium season 2
Science FictionLess than a year ago, they arrived over earth's sky. They call themselves the Galactic Consortium and they are human, or at least, simian - from the same genetic line as humans. They claim to have terraformed this planet centuries ago to serve as a...
