A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 56

"Deal," she smiled.

"What about Ronkahh?" he asked and Jerrthi grinned, "Why do you think I'm so eager to accept your offer? I've actually been sleeping alone, the only person in a building made to house eighty people since the night of the party. Ronkahh has been sleeping in a different place every night. She refuses to sleep in that barracks. We spent one night there before she left and we slept together and believe me, it wasn't fun for either of us. We hung onto each other because we didn't feel safe.

I think she's going to be sleeping with the crew of Mud Six from now on, since they seem to have accepted her -- and she's been to bed with them all already, I guess."

Xhan smiled, "That little pack is shared between Doona and Arshan, with Doona as number one. That's just how it works for them. I ought to put a stop to it, but we're not on a Xer base, so nobody cares. Besides, they're one of the top crews."

He looked over at Jerrthi, "You're sleeping with me then," he said, but then he realized what he'd said, "I mean --"

"I'm sleeping with you then," she grinned, "and thank you."

Xhan actually dropped his fork then, stunned by what he'd heard. His mind raced to try to think of the polite way to address the situation and he did all that he could think to do, being the young officer and well-bred Xer that he was.

He lowered his head to Jerrthi and told her that he felt honor from her words, since it was the truth.

They took a walk after dinner and went to the barracks, where Xhan agreed that the showers were filthy and decrepit, so they grabbed all of Jerrthi's gear and walked to his quarters.

"There is something that you must know," Xhan began a little uncomfortably as they walked to the little house where he was quartered. It was only a single- bedroom sort of affair, but it was the smallest place on a quiet street in the section reserved for married Merren officers. As such, it was a little plain, but at least he didn't have to care for the grounds.

He'd found the child of a Merren officer -- a boy of about fifteen who, although he found the Xer to be a little fascinating and stood a little in awe of Xhan, his slight fear and mistrust of the large male didn't get in the way of his want to earn a little gold, so he took care of the lawn and weeded the tiny flower beds fastidiously for Xhan.

Xhan sighed a little, "As you said, we might not even get there, Jerrthi but there are issues to, ... well even being the girlfriend of one of us."

"I'm aware of several," she smiled, "I know that Xer are often either very free or very possessive of the ones they care for. I was only suggesting that since we like each other and everything, that we give it a try -- within the confines of what you and I would feel comfortable with.

I sure don't want your mark on me -- not at this early stage anyway, and for a few good reasons. By the way, thank you for not hurting my ear in the shower. I know that Xer males often want to hang onto something of a female's at that time, so you were very considerate to me."

"There's something else," he said.

"It might embarrass you to be seen with me as a non-Xer in front of your family?" she asked, "We're not anywhere near that point, are we? I thought we'd just figure that out if and when we got there -- if we do."

"No," he said, "it's not that at all, though I suppose that it might be an issue at some point -- if we get there, as you say. But I know the way that I feel right now. It used to be so important to me once, but it's not at all anymore.

If I ever meet my famous uncle again, I know that he'd take one look at you and grin at me. I can almost see it in my mind. He'd smile at you and bow very politely and then he'd clap his hand onto my shoulder and say something like -- 'Well, Xhan, I see that you have finally learned what is what, what counts and what is unimportant.' And then he'd want to know how you ever learned to put up with me."

"Well that would be an easy thing," Jerrthi said, "You're well-mannered, polite, HANDSOME, and great to be with. There's nothing tough about it. I was thinking more about your parents and how they might feel."

"My father died in the service," Xhan replied, "I come from an old and high family. My mother would probably faint from shock, but then she'd recover and get over it in a few moments. She's a stuffy socialite, but it's only because she has to be in some respects. You could win her over more easily than you did me, and if any of her snotty friends made a sound after that, well, she'd probably pin their ears back for them. If she found that she could like you and she could see that we were happy -- "

"If we get that far," she reminded him with a little grin and he nodded.

"But that's not the thing. It probably won't even happen, but, well, we live by the unit doctrine and in that huge and thick tome somewhere, it states that if a group of Death hounds find themselves in a situation where they're stuck in a place and cannot return to Xer, then there are measures to be taken to maximize the probability of their survival.

When the unit is formed, there are assignments made. It's not much more than a cursory look at the traits and characteristics of each member. If there is no known pairing for a person, then one is made. They're only on a list in a database somewhere and don't mean a thing unless it happens that the unit finds itself separated with no means to get home.

But if it does happen, then the pairings are to be used as a starting point so that we have our family orders and can begin to um, proliferate wherever we find ourselves then. There are certain skill groupings which lend themselves to this.

That's why the crews of the attack craft are the way that they are, for example. Where there is a natural attraction, they do this anyway.

"I see," Jerrthi said, "so does the unit commander here have such a pairing as well?"

He looked over, wondering a little why she seemed to think that it was a little entertaining, somehow.

Nodding, he said, "I do. It was assigned when I arrived. There was a female communications specialist who was drawn into the unit at the same time. Her section suffered losses in its last venture and so it was assigned to a rear area for refit and retraining while it was brought up to strength again.

She knew nothing of this assignment or even much about us, but she was assigned to us because she didn't want to spend a long time while all of that was going on, so she put in for re-assignment and could meet the minimum standards for what we are. I think that I'd have done the same thing in her situation.

Anyway, she's in my command and we've met a couple of times in the course of our duties, that's all. She's rather pretty and young, much the same to my mind as Troxi, but a lot less, ... uh, .... "

"Bubbly?" Jerrthi asked and he nodded, "Close enough, I guess.

Her craft was shot down and she was the sole uninjured person. She tended to the injured as she could, but when they were found by enemy units, she defended everyone until they were rescued. She has some issues, such as being prone to being startled if one approaches her that she is not aware of, but she is very good in her role.

It's unfortunate, but she's a little hard of hearing in her right ear. She received cursory training in the normal weapons, but she was on board a landing shuttle, taking a section of fighters into the fight when they were hit and crashed. When it came time to act, all that she found around her were guns called megs which belonged to the dead and the wounded. She couldn't find her own weapons.

So she fought off the attackers very bravely, using only megs, one after another as she shot through their magazines. She could find no headsets and so the hearing in her right ear suffered from the noise levels. She was wounded several times, but from what I saw, she has recovered and the scarring from the procedures is minimal, the fur having grown back nicely."

"Is there an emotional attachment between you?" Jerrthi asked and he shook his head, "None, though we can admire each other, I guess. I hold her in high regard and she thinks that I am a high-born whelp who is privileged and wet behind the ears, though we are the same age.

I only mention it so that you know that I am being honest. If we are deployed, there is still nothing changed. Cerrith is a true trooper and goes by the book. She comes from a low background and has a chip on her shoulder from it. In the normal state of affairs, she has few friends and is more of a loner, not having really had the time to fit in yet.

As I was saying, if we are deployed, she is still only a crew member to me and I am her commander. It only changes if we are lost or have no way to contact Xer or return to it. Then she becomes my ... well I suppose that we would need to see what might be made of it, but on paper at least, we would be paired."

They walked on for a bit until they came to where Xhan was staying. As they went inside, He asked Jerrthi if there wasn't some sort of comment that she had to make.

She shrugged, "I don't think it changes anything for me, Xhan. It's only a procedure to be followed in the worst case, from what you've said, though the fact that somebody in Xer high command even thought of something like that shows me yet again that you are a very interesting people."

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As they made love that night, Jerrthi found that Xhan wasn't always a beast in bed and she loved it no matter how he was. She sighed when she looked up at him and she thought that he had to be the finest male anywhere. As she felt him moving in and out inside of her, she raised her legs and reached for his very fine Xer backside, pulling him with every thrust and feeling the muscle groups under his fur along his side with the fingers of her other hand.

He was slow and very loving to her and Jerrthi appreciated that aspect from him then, going with his motions and rocking him as far as she could. Her orgasms were so very nice to her this time, and she found a want in herself that this really could work for them because she'd never had a lover like Xhan.

When his own release came, Jerrthi begged him to lie on her a little lower. When he did, she wrapped her legs around him tightly and held on to him with her face buried in the thick fur of his neck while he held her ear in his teeth again and once more, she felt his gentle bite there and the way that if felt to her just heightened everything for her.

They lay there looking at each other and kissing softly as he moved just enough to assure that Jerrthi would get more from him and she sighed and smiled through every one.

"Good?" she smiled up at him and he nodded before he asked her. Jerrthi stretched and sighed, unknowingly giving Xhan a thrill for the way that she looked right then and she told him that she was very happy with what they'd found.

"I know that you can have another way to look," she said in a whisper, "but I didn't see any pictures where I was looking. What's it like? I read that your fur becomes harder then and sharp."

He nodded, "But I can soften it as well."

"Can we do it that way sometime?" she asked, "I think it sounds really ... "

"Primitive," he said.

"I was gonna say nice," she smiled and she listened as he explained it to her a little doubtfully.

"You're not putting me off with that, you know," she said, "I guess that we need to get a lot farther along before we try it, that's all."

He looked uncomfortable and she kissed his nose before she whispered, "I know that if it happens, that's when you'll bite me to make me yours and I'll have the scars then. I'm a little nervous about it, Xhan, but I'm not put off. We'll just have to see."

"Jerrthi," he said, "I would probably tell you that you are insane to want that."

He smiled then and sighed as he felt her tongue slip into his mouth playfully for a moment. "But the more time that I spend with you, I can see that you are more amazing to me every moment, every time that I look at you. Maybe we can do it."

Afterward, she thought about it as she looked out of the window from the vantage point of the bed.

She'd gotten the video segments that Jayne had sent her and she felt better about Bronn. That had begun her lonely slide, however.

Now she had somebody who was totally different, but she knew that she could probably be happy with him. She found herself looking forward and not back, and so with a single tear, she said goodbye to Bronn. When she reached up to wipe her eyes, she found that Xhan had been looking at her. He didn't need to say it.

Jerrthi told him and he pulled her to him and held her until she drifted off to sleep in his arms.

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The next morning, Xhan woke Jerrthi up early. "Sorry to have to do this to you, but I should have mentioned that there are more exercises on for today. The attack craft will stay here, but we will be landing and offloading fighters and then picking them up again. You can stay here in bed if you wish, or you can come along. It's your choice, Jerrthi."

She was out of the bed like a shot and reaching for her flightsuit, "I'm gonna really need to wash this poor thing soon. I just need to pee and find my deodorant and I'll be ready."

He smiled at her, "I admire the way that you jump right up, but ... do you have a hairbrush?"

She looked at him, "Well, yeah, but ... "

He pointed to the mirror on the wall and she was laughing at the way that she looked then.

"'Kay, I need to brush my hair a little. It's a little too obvious what I was doing last night, I guess."

As it turned out, they had time for a brief shower each and even had time to brush their teeth as well, but as they stepped outside for the ride to the flight line, that was when the looks began, and it started with the Merren neighbors.

Jerrthi was checking her camera battery status as they rode, but she did manage to get Xhan's ear to ask him quietly what was wrong.

"Hmm? He asked as he looked over, "Nothing. I think that the rumors start now. Will you be alright with that?"

Jerrthi didn't much care and she said so. "Where am I going to be for this?"

"You're on the command ship with me. You can be anywhere you want for a time, but I don't want you near to the weapons areas once we're in action. The engineering and drive spaces are out too, I'm afraid. You've got a camera. Stay near me if you have any doubt."

He smiled and spoke to his master leader, the Xer who was there to advise him and act as the unit's Sergeant Major -- if it was a human unit in the present time.

"Isn't that right, Ter'l?"

The Xer looked back with the smallest smile as he nodded to Jerrthi, "Correct, Section Officer," To Jerrthi, he growled, "We try to keep Xhan from hurting anything too much."

She stared for a moment and then she laughed as his smile widened, "I served under Xhan's uncle, Arrax a time ago. Xhan's alright and he'll do fine. I'm just here to guide him a little if he needs it."

When she looked over, she saw Xhan sitting with a curious look on his face. "I met Ter'l when I really was a whelp and my uncle brought me to where the First was housed then. I've known him -- or of him for most of my life."

He blinked and then looked at Jerrthi, "This is the first time that I've ever seen him smile."

The hard and wizened fighter nodded, "This is the first time that I like your taste in females, sir."

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Jerrthi found that she really liked Ter'l because he could be many things and play many roles, switching effortlessly between them. To her, he often seemed the perfect older gentleman, or even a little like a friendly uncle as he guided her around and was quick to grab her elbow if he needed to get her away from some hazard that she hadn't seen and couldn't know.

He was kind enough to tell her when they were in an area where she shouldn't be filming and she respected that, but she was astounded at the transformation that she watched before her eyes when he gave the briefing to the fighters before they left.

He seemed to turn into a dragon then and it was obvious that he was both loved and feared at the same time.

But everywhere that Jerrthi looked, she saw the same thing. She had gone from being the journalist and reporter who was along with them and there to report on what she saw to the rumored love interest of the unit's leader.

She was in a little shock at the speed that the word had flown.

"Don't worry about it," Ter'l said gruffly as he brought her a hot cup of something to drink just as they rode over the outer fence of the Merren base, "It's a natural thing. There'll be some rumors out of it, some bad, most good. You shouldn't give it any more than it's worth -- which is nothing."

He sat down in a seat next to her in his section of the command module and listened for a moment to the communications traffic in his earpiece. Satisfied with what he'd heard, he looked at Jerrthi again.

"Shut that camera off and I'll spell it out to you," he said with one of those soft smiles that she was sure never saw the light of day very often.

"Section Officer Xhan is considered by many to be one to watch in his career. He didn't have much of a start, but when he came back here after a stint with the Diplomatic corps, he was slotted in with the First. Family connections, I guess.

Most of the First -- and there are a lot of us -- didn't think much of him, other than he's good-looking to the females, I guess. But he showed his stuff right out of the gate. That's why he was given this command -- to take a small, but strong reactionary force to work a contract to the Merren. It's not lightly done, but he got the nod and we thought we had a soft touch for a leader -- and we were all wrong.

He's not only fit the role of the leader here, but he's got a bunch of tough dogs on his side now and believing in him. You're getting the eye today because we're like any other family, I guess. The rumors would fly no matter what -- since it's Xhan.

But you and your buddy, whatever-her-name-is, -"

"Ronkahh," Jerrthi smiled.

"Sure, "he grinned, "You two are in with the bunch now, like it or not. Everybody's mooning over you and ... "

"Ronkahh," Jerrthi smiled again, even wider.

"Right," Ter'l said, scowling a little, "That girl can almost drink ME under the table, and Arshan's had a hell of a time keeping the lads off of her. I've already had to kick a few tails over it -- which I've got to thank her for, since it was really enjoyable.

There were already a couple of 'arteests' here who wanted to paint some nose-art on a couple of the assault craft -- naughty poses of you two, mostly. It just shows that you've got credibility with them over the Merren range thing and the way that you just fit right in with us.

A lot of these tough-looking shits here would have been filling puke sacks in the back of Mud Six yesterday. Doona can almost make that thing dance if she's got a mind to.

You've earned some respect, and that's bitch--hard to do with us. We even laugh at the Xer press people when they ask to come with us.

By the way," he said, looking at the bottom of his cup, "How close are you to the old ways of the Grottos?"

She looked over at him, wondering what he was talking about now. He'd lost her and she said so.

"Had me a Grotto girl who loved me once," he said, "long time ago now. I wanted to pair with her for the long go, but she had some work to do for her family first. You know what I mean, I guess."

Jerrthi nodded, "But there are hardly any of us around anymore. I'm long out of touch, but I'm not aware that there are any of the working families left at all."

It was her standard answer whenever anyone asked about the subject of what her kind had earned their fame at -- if one could call it that.