Pinwheel

"Are you 47?" She asked, leering over me in her blue jumpsuit, clearly enjoying my pained expression.

"I suppose I am..." I replied.

"Looks like we get to be roomies, tree climber."

I scowled at her, I wanted to maintain an open mind, in the spirit of the program, and learn to live and work with the Borealans but there was no reason for her to act the way she did, and it was getting under my skin. This was a military installation, not a damned highschool. Reluctantly I walked into our shared room, and she followed me in, closing the door behind her. One of the bunks was much larger, clearly intended for her tall frame. I packed my gear away in the bedside locker, feeling her eyes on my back. I mustered up some courage, and turned to face her.

"Raz, can I call you that? My name is Stanley, maybe we got off on the wrong foot when we met earlier, I just want you to know that this program is very important to me, I worked hard to be here, and I hope you and I can make the most of our time here on the Pinwheel."

I extended a hand in greeting. Raz grinned, her tail flicking back and forth, and did not reciprocate the gesture, she instead placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head at me, aloof. She watched me, smirking, until I lowered my hand. I gave her the benefit of the doubt, and assumed she might not know what a handshake was.

"It's a gesture of friendship, it's called a handshake." I said.

"I know that."

I was beginning to get annoyed, and decided to confront her. "Why exactly are you being so unfriendly Raz? Have I done something to offend you? From the moment you saw me at the pool you've been out for my blood." The smile faltered, and she glared at me.

"Borealis command has lost their minds, how can they expect us to work with humans? Look at you!" She gestured at me with a wave of her clawed hand, "You're the size of a Borealan kitten, you're half the weight of a Krell, you have no claws, no teeth, no natural defenses, your reaction times are a joke, the space stations and starships you're so fond of showing off," she sneered, gesturing to the window on the far wall that overlooked the Pinwheel's habitat, "won't help you planetside, which is why we're all here, to perfect our ground unit tactics."

My face reddened, angry at her rude rebuttal of my peace gesture.

"My people are warriors, the Krell are warriors, I could cut you in half using nothing but my claws and you'd be dead before you had even seen me move. I don't want to fight in a squad with humans, you're a liability! You should stay in your comfy bridge chairs where you belong and leave the ground pounding to more capable species."

I was fuming, how dare she make such generalizations, I was without a doubt the first human she had ever had a conversation with, I knew nothing about Borealis besides that it was a star system allied with the Coalition, but I wasn't going to let her get away with insulting my race, I knew for a fact that UNN marines had made significant gains on the front, I had seen the recordings on the news casts.

"What gives you the right to talk to me like that?" I demanded, "I earned my place here just the same as you, we all did, we're the same rank, undergoing the same training, we're equals here if you like it or not and I won't let you insult me to my face."

She looked angry, and I was afraid for a moment, then her expression softened into another smarmy grin. She reached out a finger and pushed my forehead, I fell backwards onto my bed.

"No tail, you can barely even stand. At least you have some fight in you, little monkey."

"I am NOT a monkey." I exclaimed. She grinned again, I had given her the reaction she wanted, and she seemed satisfied for now. I was angry, I wanted to throw something at her, but I knew better, if I towed the line and followed orders, I would remain in the program and graduate as a marine, and if the officers caught wind of her childish behavior, she would be sent back to Borealis. I lay down on my bed and faced the wall with my back to Raz, this was not the way I had envisioned life at a military academy. I heard her pack away her gear in her locker, then her bedsprings creaked and she muttered some complaint in her own language, probably about the quality of the bunk. The light from the window dimmed as the great lamps that lined the roof of the Pinwheel decreased their luminosity to simulate night, and, still fuming, I went to sleep.

CHAPTER 2

I awoke to Raz's loud grunting, annoyed, I rubbed my crusty eyes and rolled over to complain. She was stood between our beds, stretching her limbs and doing some manner of meditation exercises like yoga, each stretch or position punctuated by a grunt. I opened my mouth to protest, but my eyes lingered on her body. She was wearing skintight shorts and a tube top that almost failed to encapsulate her considerable chest. I hadn't paid too much attention yesterday, but now her lean, svelte figure leapt out at me. Her arms and shoulders were lightly muscled, her orange patterned hair fell about her shoulders as she moved, her boobs, by human standards very large but appropriate on her giant frame, bounced slightly, and below, her exposed belly flexed and twisted, twin lines of toned abdominal muscle leading down to a navel like one would find on a human. She had wide hips, the visible pelvic mound protruding enticingly under her shorts, and her butt and thighs were those of a weight lifter, I could almost hear her clothing creaking under the strain of containing her. There was no visible fur on her body besides on her head, while her shoulders, back and thighs were tinted orange and ported the same patterns, they were not furry, it seemed to be pigmentation in her skin. I watched for a few moments, mesmerized by her graceful movements, then noticed one of her round, furry ears was swiveled in my direction.

"Hey, do you mind? You woke me up!" I stammered, hoping she hadn't noticed my peeping.

"I don't mind." She replied sarcastically. Annoyed, I flopped out of bed and got dressed.

"You know you could do that in the gym, and then you wouldn't wake me up." I complained. She continued without faltering, stretching her arm back over her head, she was remarkably flexible.

"This is what I do in the morning, I need to stay in peak physical condition, if you don't like it request a different roommate."

"You know that isn't an option..."

She smirked, and stretched her other arm over her head, letting out a loud grunt.

"If your squad gets attacked while you're asleep, will you complain that they're too loud and stumble around in a stupor like this? How long does it take your feeble human brain to wake up?"

I didn't rise to her insults, and merely left the room to find the bathroom. Eventually I ended up in the mess hall and ate some breakfast, shared with a couple of humans and a Krell, the Borealans were all grouped around one table again, shunning the other species and being antisocial. Why were they even here? They didn't even seem to want to learn or interact with anyone else. After some time Raz emerged and joined them, her hair looked wet, she must have showered or taken a swim in the gym, and she was sporting her blue jumpsuit again, it seemed that no matter where she was in the room, at least one of her ears was swiveled in my direction, it was disconcerting. The mess hall filled, and then emptied, I left the barracks with a mixed group of humans and Krell, leaving some stragglers to finish their meals. There was no work to do today, no classes or drills, we had been told that today we were free to explore our environment and adjust to our new settings.

We wandered the Pinwheel, staying within our designated quadrant, and admired the technological wonder we had found ourselves inhabiting. The humans craned their necks and marveled at the artificial sky, while the Krell seemed more interested in the structural qualities of the starbase. There were no windows to space on the donut, it must have been heavily fortified in order to protect against space debris and possibly enemy attack, so there was no evidence of the spinning motion besides the inertia keeping our feet to the floor, which felt like wholly natural gravity. Wherever we looked there was activity, support staff and crew hurrying back and forth performing innumerable jobs and tasks, some drove down the central street in what looked like little golf carts or airport shuttles. They were almost all human, but the occasional alien could be seen commuting, their large frames standing out between the scurrying earthlings. After some time wandering and exploring, our little group found itself in the recreation center, which was a long, flat building where crew and soldiers could relax in what free time they were allotted. I felt a little guilty, seeking out games and recreation on my very first day, boot camp had given me the expectation that I would be up at the crack of dawn with a drill sergeant's spittle on my face before I had even had breakfast, but I guessed if we had been advanced to this program at all, it meant they trusted us to have mastered the basics, and while I felt proud of my achievement, that expectation weighed on my mind. My train of thought was broken as I watched two Krell play some kind of ball game with their tails, and the humans crowded around to hoot and laugh.

After a few hours of cultural exchange, which took the form of trying to teach the Krell how to play poker and a swapping of alien curse words, among other things, I decided it was time to head back to the barracks. I bid my friends good night, they were now attempting to teach the Krell to play pool without them eating the chalk, and made my way out of the building. The massive lamps on the roof had grown dimmer to simulate dusk, and the "street" was becoming less populated, with only the night shift crew emerging to start their duties. The air was cool on my face, and I marveled at the idea that I could be almost completely alone on a space station with a population the size of a small city, the station was truly massive, and most of the serious work must take place in the central hub where the command center, control tower and most of the base staff were housed.

I walked slowly, taking in the cool breeze and the green, leafy plants that lined this section of the street obscuring the buildings from view, carefully curated trees and hedges that looked as if they would be more at home on some European estate than a military base. They had really gone all out on the décor, but then again if thousands of people had to live here semi-permanently it made sense, little touches like this would stave off the cabin fever, it was not for the benefit of the trainees, we were only passing through. There would be no shore leave on an orbital station, there was nowhere for it to dock.

I heard a rustling, and snapped back into reality. I stopped to looked around, but didn't see anyone, was it the artificial wind blowing the leaves maybe? I started walking again, but more rustling made me halt. It definitely sounded like something large moving in the undergrowth, but I couldn't see any signs of movement in the brush. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, was it Raz trying to fuck with me again? Surely she had better things to do than stalk me as a prank? Wait...

Was I scared of Raz? The notion that I would let her childish bullying get to me was absurd, and yet, the idea of her lurking in the bushes watching me like some kind of man-eating tiger filled me with dread. She was a lot stronger than me, she clearly had problems socializing and she hadn't hesitated to get physical with me, even infront of our superiors. I took off walking, a little faster now, not a frightened run but a healthy power-walk, I wanted to be away from these bushes and into full view of the barracks as quickly as possible. A chill slid down my spine like a melting ice cube as I heard a twig snap, and then my ancient fight or flight instincts kicked in and I bolted. As if I were running in slow motion, an orange blur left the bushes in an explosion of leaves and covered the distance between us in a second, it slammed into my back and sent me sprawling across the ground. I wanted to cry out but the wind had been knocked out of me. I rolled onto my back, intending to get up and face my attacker, but the thing was on me faster than I could blink, an iron grip around my wrists pinned my arms to the floor and I felt a weight mounting me, I tried to wriggle and struggle free but its thighs held me in a vice, yellow eyes glared down in the twilight. The face moved in, dangling hair tickling my cheek, and my body tensed as I felt pointed fangs prick against my neck. I closed my eyes, and to my shame a low whimper escaped my lips, I had been shot at with live ammunition in basic, but this was an animal attack, I was not trained for this, I had not prepared for this, and I was afraid. It held its fangs there for a few seconds, pressing them into my skin, not enough to draw blood but enough for it to be uncomfortable, I felt hot breath on my neck, then it drew back.

"You die again, monkey boy."

"R-Raz? I knew it was you! You bitch!"

She released me and got up, laughing at me, I shuffled backwards away from her on the ground, before thinking better of it and picking myself up, brushing dirt off my front and nursing a skinned palm that I had fallen on.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I demanded, checking myself for cuts and scrapes, "you're out of line, are you fucking crazy? What is your fucking problem?"

My heart was racing, but she just stood with her hands on her hips again, smiling at me, both ears tracking me, probably savoring my complaints and protests.

"Just another notch on my belt, tree climber. I thought you guys were the apex predators on your planet? Yet you ran away like a prey animal, you didn't even run fast! Then you whimpered like a kitten when I caught you." She was smug, as if she had won an argument or proven some kind of point. I didn't understand the game she was playing, I was hurt and angry.

"You think this is a game? Is this fun for you? You could have really hurt me!"

"Yeah you're pretty fragile." She crooned. I was livid, a broken bone or a skinned knee might not be fatal and could be repaired easily with a properly equipped medical bay, which this station surely had, but... she was breaking the social contract, she had no respect for me, my personal space, my health, her behavior was baffling, inexcusable, was she legitimately insane? A sociopath?

"You can't do this, it's..."

"What?" She demanded, leaning down to eye level with me, her hands still placed smugly on her hips. "You gonna report me? Gonna go crying to the C.O?"

"Maybe I will!" I countered, backing up a little, and she took a step forward.

"Go on then monkey, report me, it won't do you any good. My father is fleet admiral Elysiedde of Borealis, if your UNN sent me home it would sour relations."

"So you're only here because they want to appease your father?"

She was taken aback by my remark, and her brow furrowed. She took another step forward, and I took another step back.

"Don't imply I don't deserve to be here, I'm a better warrior than any of you scrawny little tree climbers, I don't know why my father wants this alliance with you humans." She sneered, "everyone back home is so impressed with your shiny fleet and your wormhole drives, but you can't fight, ten of you at once couldn't take on a single unarmed Borealis warrior."

"So you're a spoiled daddy's girl with an inferiority complex from a primitive backwater without superlight technology? Now it all makes sense!" I jeered, she recoiled, hurt by my obviously correct evaluation of her. "And we don't climb trees!" I shouted. Emboldened, I lurched forward and punched her in the gut, immediately regretting my decision as my fist crumpled against her steely abdominal muscles. She stood for a moment, watching me dance and wave my injured hand, then she casually reached out and pushed me off balance, and I fell unceremoniously into a bush.

"Like I said, you can't fight." She stated, then wandered back into the darkness as I struggled to free myself from the foliage.

The next time I saw her was in the mess hall shortly before lights out, I was eating some expertly crafted French onion soup at a table with some human friends, and I saw her enter the room and navigate to the preferred table of the Borealans. I had cooled down now, I was still mad at her for her immaturity and disrespect, but I worried I might have really hurt her feelings, I had jammed a proverbial fork in her eye as soon as I had seen an opening, maybe it had been wrong to play off her insecurities like that, I still had to live with her for the next several months. She didn't deserve my pity, but I should try and make up with her, for my own sake. I noticed one of her ears was still tracking me, at least she wasn't mad enough to ignore me entirely. I decided it would be better to talk to her now, rather than to wait until we were in our room and my apology might come off as forced, or worse, her retribution would be out of view of the other trainees and staff.

Gingerly, I got up from my seat and approached her table, orange striped heads turning to track me. The whole table was staring at me as I approached from behind Raz as she continued to eat nonchalantly, one ear facing backwards.

"Hey Raz, can we um, can we talk about what happened earlier today?" Her ear flicked, amusement? Annoyance? She continued to face forward and chewed a bloody steak.

"What's wrong monkey, you back for a rematch?" She chided, her mouth full of meat.

I cocked an eyebrow, confused.

"A rematch?"

"Yeah I told my pack how you challenged me to a fight earlier and got trounced."

My face reddened and I began to get angry again.

"I challenged 'you' to a fight? That's not how I remember it, I came here to make peace and you're telling people lies about me?"

"No need to be a sore loser, you thought you could take me and you failed, maybe now you'll respect Borealan fighting prowess."

I couldn't believe her audacity, and I couldn't believe I had felt sorry for her. I stormed away back to my soup as Raz and her cohorts laughed and spat what must have been insults in their feline language. I hadn't told anyone about the incident and my friends were confused, I didn't need word getting around about my feud with Raz, I had worked my ass off to get here and my future was on the line, she was a pampered brat with family in high places serving only as a token to appease her father, I had nothing to gain by confiding in anyone. I would keep this under my hat, and either deal with it myself or hope she slipped up in a way the officers couldn't ignore. I spooned soup into my mouth, no longer appreciating the flavor.

Not long after, Vasiliev called for us to make our way to our bunks over the P.A system, the few people still left in the mess hall filed out, chatting amongst themselves, save for the Borealans who stayed in their "pack" as Raz had called it, they must be very tribal creatures, which might help explain their shitty attitudes. As I neared room 47 I realized most of my courage was just bluster, and I was afraid of being shut in a room with Raz. I didn't believe she would seriously injure me, but her bullying was wearing on my nerves and wondering what she would get up to next was making me anxious. This was absurd, I should be focusing on my training, not worrying about what she might be doing or where she might be lying in wait for me, I considered seriously lodging a complaint with Vasiliev about her attitude, but again came to the conclusion that it would only make me look bad, there was little evidence of her mistreatment besides hearsay and the incident at the pool, and even then, what would be my complaint? That she was "being mean to me"? It was a sure way to draw unwanted scrutiny and potentially the ire of the officers who would see it as a sign of weakness.