Chapter 12: General's Adjutant

I walked into the large room and ignored the hiss from several officers. I was in civilian clothes and civilians were not allowed in this room. I crossed to the small group of senior officers and general Peters. He turned and came to attention with the other admirals before saluting me. I sighed as I returned their salutes, “Reporting as ordered Sir.”

He grinned, “Sorry to pull you away from your first real vacation captain but my adjutant had an emergency.”

I shrugged, “It happens sir.”

He turned to the admirals, “We were discussing Zanax.”

I nodded and stepped back as they went back to their talk. A half hour later I was walking beside him towards the senior officers quarters. He glanced at me, “Your bags were sent ahead. I had them placed in your quarters. Get with Senior Sergeant Penelope and look at our schedule. We will be leaving in a couple of days.”

I nodded, “yes sir.”

This was going to be a long boring tour of duty. Senior Sergeant Penelope was a grisled older man with a sense of humor. I spent the next two days arranging appointments for the general and making sure everything he needed was taken care of. Mostly I wore my Class C uniform so I would be comfortable. Of course most junior captains do not have ten combat strips or nine wound strips.

We left three days later on a civilian transport heading to Zanax and the alien alliance council. I spent the trip learning my duties and helping the general with the brief he was to give. Zanax was one of the few worlds where many alien cultures blended together. No armed warships were allowed in the system, that did not mean none were there. Almost every race had a ship cruising around just outside.

The general had been adamant about me wearing my dress uniform. Penelope had quite a few shoot me awards so I did not feel to bad. I was wearing my Swift in the small of my back and carrying spare magazines as well as a new jewel hilted force knife on my left thigh, (a gift from my trainees when they graduated).

I followed the general into the huge building called the Alliance Reception Hall. The huge room almost swirled with color and life. Penelope slipped away as the general began making rounds and greeting people. I followed and stayed at his shoulder the whole time. Mostly the aliens ignored me but a few stared after their adjutant whispered something to them.

A large lizard being from Denta stepped in front of me and smiled. I calmly looked at all the shark’s teeth and waited. It shifted and growled, “exalted warrior, my clan welcomes you and invites you to battle for mates with us.”

I grinned, showing my teeth, “Worthy warrior I thank you for your offer but your males are not for such as I. Perhaps we can arrange a private battle for other stakes?”

The general chuckled and turned back to the ambassador he was talking to. The warrior growled and then slapped my shoulder, “Come to Changa’s arena after the tenth hour. If you best my warriors I will have a new assault weapon made for you.”

The general turned and I saw his interest. I bowed my head, “I will come.”

It grinned again and nodded before stalking off. The general murmured something to the ambassador before stepping back, “I hope you know what you are doing.”

I smiled as I glanced around, “I grew up with scientist parents. My teacher in unarmed combat was the mother of twelve girls.”

I looked at the general, “She was Dentian. They were there because the mate she won was a very good and well known scientist.”

He grinned and then laughed, “sounds like old home week.”

I laughed as another ambassador stopped to talk. The arena was almost crowded with a lot of males in the stands watching. I wore a battle dress uniform with no weapons. Every female turned as I entered and walked straight to the center of what they called the battlefield. That was like shouting, “I am the best and will take any that wish to face me.”

There were growls as several started for me. I bowed to the first as she stopped, “thank you for the honor.”

She shifted and growled. She was not wearing her translator but I understood and smiled before shifting and changing my stance. She lunged quickly and my left hand struck across my body to slap her clawed hand to the side. I spun and kicked back and down into her thigh above the knee.

When I returned to face her, she was rolling back to her feet. I grinned and stretched, “I really miss Momma Trasel.”

The warrior grinned before rushing me. I let her come and the went straight back and flipped her using my feet. I used the momentum to roll back to my feet and turned to face her. She was coming to her feet again as another female growled and came closer, “Me now!”

It was a growl that the other female almost ignored. For two hours I slipped, twisted, threw, hit, kicked and finally the females stopped offering combat. I straightened and bowed, “thank you worthy warriors.”

The thick warrior from the reception moved through the other females. She smiled, “Trasel said you would still be very good.”

I smiled, “I miss her, she taught me well even if I am a soft skin.”

She nodded, “She just won another mate and is planning a third hatching.”

I grinned, “give her my affection when next you see her.”

She smiled and looked at the other females, “This worthless soft skin the others look up to is my clan sib by adoption.”

The females around us growled and I laughed, “Did you think a soft skin not trained by one of your best, could face you?”