Chapter 10: Mars

It had been over forty minutes. The Garja had just finished its leap to Mars. Standing overlooking the small red planet, Mars was as it always had been. The vast canyons that even dwarfed the Grand Canyon on former Earth were dotted with underground cities to be shielded from the harmful radiation from Sol itself. The lights were the visible signs of human activity on the planet. The great gate array fort was seen in the vast distance. Phobos was a tiny spec as it was preparing to head to the other side of the planet.

In space, the assault carrier had two UHN battleships hovering near it. The Magellan class Battleships were smaller than the Garja, but they stood ready. Near the midsection of the warships were the large central hangars. The doors were preparing to launch their shuttles in anticipating the turnover of crews and deploying marines. The Garja herself was dotted with damage. The three holes from the railgun fire could be seen as pits on a moon. The centripetal ring still spun with simplicity and ease.

Inside the assault carrier, Javier was once again inside the crew lounge. The pool where he was imprisoned didn’t feel so confining as it was before as he stood in his uniform. The thoughts of coming back home were welcoming, but he also regretted the future events to come. He knew that he was going to be evaluated and prodded by every doctor and psychologist in the UHN. He had made up his mind of the recent events that transpired as he waited for Shira to arrive. He had free access to the ship and no hindrance. It was evident that the Shal’rein looked at him, but they didn’t seem to hold hatred or malice towards him.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long. Within five minutes of arriving, the door slid open. Shira walked inside with her familiar metal box.

“I am surprised that you asked me here,” Javier commented to her.

Shira seemed to ignore him as she walked up to a panel and began to tap the buttons on it. She turned and walked around to the pool and placed her box by the edge. She then looked down at Javier with her neutral and well-composed face.

She began to do her same set of actions as before in front of him. She began to take her uniform without any care. Javier crossed his arms as he watched the Shal’rein begin to strip herself in front of him. One by one, she took her magnetic wrappings off and pulled the top part of her uniform down. Her large breasts were exposed freely to him that caused him to look at it longer than ever before. Her one eye gazed at him as she kept any sign of emotion still. She swung her tail around as she even played with her violet-colored hair.

“Wow ... like before, eh?” Javier commented. “You really do like your smok...”

Her underwear was exposed to him as she completely took her uniform off. She placed it by the chair by the table. She stopped to look at him once. She continued to say nothing. His eyes could get a clear view of her towering body. He tried to keep talking.

“You can never stop smoking, can you?” he tried to continue.

She simply looked at him and still continued to say nothing.

“What is with you and the lack of words?” Javier tried to pry her. “You are more than capable of talking. Why did you ask to have a pri...”

Shira went and, while facing him, took her the waistband of her underwear and pulled it down. It caused him to stop talking immediately. She pulled it entirely down to reveal a large slit that looked very much like a human vagina. Due to her nature and her being Shal’rein, she lacked any pubic hair.

Javier’s eyes were glued to her crotch. He tried to continue talking, but seeing her completely naked was very distracting. Her large breasts were one thing as it was, but seeing her nether regions was the icing on the cake for him.

She continued to say nothing as she put her feet into the pool. Slowly she stepped into it as she began to relax. For one moment, she lowered herself and used her tail to propel her to one side of the pool and back. She was graceful as her hair got soaked. Her fins made her perfect in swimming all the way. It was mesmerizing for Javier as he watched it. She had almost perfect grace as her tail went back and forth, pushing her entire body. Her shark-like nature made her a natural at the water that Javier had indeed witnessed for the first time.

She pushed herself up as she stood in the pool. Water ran down her long soft grayscale frame. She momentarily opened her jaws as she put her one hand to her right eye. Her hair covered her eye patch entirely, but he could tell that she was wincing in pain as she quietly bared it in front of him.

“Hey ... are you alright?” Javier asked.

She almost seemed to ignore him as the pain seemed to go away. “Yes... , “ she finally said something to him. “I needed that...”

“Pain?”

“No. The water gets into my right eye socket. The eye patch can’t block the water, and it causes severe pain as a result.”

“Why would you hurt yourself like that?”

“I will answer your question with another question. Why do you drink water?” Shira asked.

Javier nodded to her.

She seemed to give a slight sigh to him. “I don’t know what will happen to me if I am going to be executed for my actions or be held in prison. Some things you can plan for far in advance, but...”

“You want to be in the water one last time just in case. You want to feel like you are in the place you are most comfortable.”

“Yes.”

“You swim ... beautifully.”

She almost sat relaxed as she paused. It made her smile briefly. “That is a powerful complement to a Shal’rein.”

“I can imagine that. Being aquatic lovers that you are.”

“If you like seeing me swim, then you should see the Shal’rein Gl’yns. They are synchronized swimming in the water. Sometimes it can consist of twenty to even hundreds of individuals. There are even religious groups that do it all completely naked. The water is your clothing. You celebrate nature itself and the ocean that you are a part of.”

“Are you a part of that religious group?” Javier asked.

“No, but my mother’s mother was. She was an excellent swimmer.”

Javier watched as she went to her metal box and pulled out a cigarette. She then took her laser lighter and brought it near her mouth. She pressed the button, but nothing happened. She then took her hand and smacked the lighter.

“Damn lighter,” she calmly remarked.

She tried again as it finally worked. The end of the cigarette began to heat up as she put the lighter away. She then sat comfortably with her back to the pool. She closed her eye as she enjoyed the cigarette.

“Care to join me?” she asked him as she held her hand near him.

“Ummm ... sure, why not?” he hesitated a little bit.

Javier went and began to take his uniform off. He took his boots off as he paused.

“Ummm ... do we have to worry about others getting in here?” he asked.

“I locked the door. Of course, if you don’t feel comfortable on that, I can unlock...”

“N ... no, it is alright,” Javier interjected. He felt his other boot slip off as he began to take off the topper of his uniform. He carefully placed it by the chair as he took off his shirt next.

He turned to look at Shira that was propped up to the pool’s wall. Her arms were stretched out as she seemed to enjoy her smoking.

He stood shirtless as he began to take his pants off. A part of himself questioned why he was doing it, but nothing had been normal recently. He quickly shook it off as he pulled down his pants.

He was about to think about getting into the pool as he stood in his underwear. It had dried, but he was thinking of entering the pool with it again.

“Ugh ... I don’t want to get my underwear wet,” he remarked.

“Be naked or not. The choice is yours,” she replied.

“I guess I am trying to make sense when you are naked. Fine... , “ he replied as he took his underwear off.

The underwear slipped off to reveal his manhood. Javier was not the most endowed of individuals. He was not big or small. A small amount of dark pubic hair lined his crouch. He placed the underwear near his uniform as he walked to the pool’s edge. He climbed in feeling the warmth of the water once again. He sat in the same spot as he did in the past, but this time he felt like he wanted to be there. He pressed his back to the wall of the pool as he almost closed his eyes. He could see that Shira hadn’t moved.

“How long before the marines arrive?” Javier asked.

“About thirty minutes,” Shira replied. “The ones that are still loyal to the Shal’rein clan will be ferried off first.”

“I see.”

“You know. I wanted to ask you something. Since we are now at Mars, and I plan on turning myself in, I wanted to give you an opportunity.”

“What is that?”

“Girsha’lar, is one of those that are loyal to the Shal’rein clan. She surrendered the moment the rifles were aimed at her. I wanted to present an offer. I can have her executed if you wish.”

Javier gave a rough look at her. Her one eye had opened as she put the cigarette to her mouth and took a big whiff of it.

“I ... don’t know,” Javier replied.

“The choice is entirely up to you. She attacked you and hurt you. She remains loyal to the Shal’rein clan. As the last act, I can even give you a weapon, and you may execute her yourself. Perhaps you would give her an honorable death or a death of vengeance. It doesn’t matter to me. It is up to you.”

Javier sighed as he looked at the water. “No ... I don’t want that. She should be imprisoned like the others.”

“I am curious as to why you feel that way?”

“I can easily say that ... maybe I can forgive.”

She turned her body as she tapped her cigarette ashes into her ashtray before turning back. “You had hinted to me before that you don’t want to forgive me. Why the change?”

“I ... So much has happened. Good people died at Aphadus. They believed in fighting for the UHN. I felt ready to die with them. I fired at Girsha’lar because I knew that I was going to die. It ... didn’t happen obviously. I was angry at everything. I held anger at you and even my own chain of command for the decisions they made. I don’t ... I think I will be fine. I will make sure to write the history of this battle well. I am a historian, after all.”

“You had experienced the event first hand. It should be an easy report to make. There are other reasons why you don’t want Girsha’lar dead. Do you know, or do you want me to tell you?”

“What do you think?”

Her eye opened up as she answered the question. “A warrior cannot learn from their mistakes if they are dead. By killing the soldier, they won’t gain knowledge. Perhaps your decision was an act of wisdom rather than emotion. It is that in itself that I respect. In times of battle, it is important that you separate emotion from logic and wisdom.”

“But we are not in a battle...”

“We are always in a struggle, Javier. It is something that isn’t easily mastered, including myself. It is the struggle in itself that is the goal. We are at war with ourselves, the environment, and others around us. We are weaker than the scenarios we face. It is up to us to make it a better place. Maybe in the process, it will help others in turn. This was not an easy decision on my part. It was the logical and smart decision, but was it the right one? In the end, I am a traitor to my own clan. I am like my mother now.”

“I don’t know. Maybe you will have a good life.”

“Let me tell you something about my past. My family ensures that they continue having generations to pass our knowledge and experiences from child to child. I was ... ready to eventually have a family of my own. I wanted to find the perfect mate that had my abilities and similar knowledge. It was a difficult process. Finding this perfect mate had been a true failure on my part. My duties took over my own thinking, and eventually, I pushed any hope of finding a mate.”

“You wanted to be a mother?”

“Yes. My desires changed once Zilik’s disease struck. All the males were dead, and I wasn’t exactly ready to become an ivon or mate with an ivon. I instead let duty rein my judgment. I was expecting to die without an heir to pass the family history and experiences. I waited for the inevitable.”

“But it all changed, didn’t it?”

She gave a couple of quick nods as she took a big whiff of her cigarette. “A part of me feels like Folar’sha and the other warriors. On the one hand, they regret saying goodbye to their former homes and family, but the moment they knew that we were going to turn, I could see a new sense of hope. Some want to go to Itrea. Some want to go and settle down with a human being and become mothers. Some want to do both. I desire a mate. Going to the humans is the only choice I have. Finding the perfect mate is pointless if the entire male population of my species is gone. In the end, I must take what I can get. It is in my best decision to look at you and ask you to become my mate.”

Javier felt his heartbeat a little bit faster. “Umm...”

She kept her one eye directed at him. “I would, of course, understand if you did not wish to do such a thing. I was your enemy, and perhaps you may think that I still am. I can promise you this. My goal is be here. I know what is out there, and I know more than most women of my former clan.”

“You ... want to ... marry me?” Javier asked her.

“Hmmm ... the term is an odd one. I remember how it works. We don’t have marriages, we just announce our mateship, and it is done. We never leave each other unless there is some severe reason to do so.”

“Why would you want me, though? I know you were talking about originally finding a perfect mate. What would make me a suitable mate for you?”

Her cigarette had burned out as she turned around and put it in the ashtray. She didn’t bother to pull out another cigarette. “You have impressed me greatly in how you perform and act. Not just in combat, but in how you think. You are a person of history, and so am I. It is true that I have not seen an actual male in almost ten years, but I know you well enough.”

Javier began to search for his own feelings. A part of him felt at comfort. “I admit that you are very pretty. I thought that other human women were the only thing that I preferred. There is a level where when I talk to you; I have someone that shares the same interests as I. There is some mystery to you that seems to grab me when I look at you.”

Shira seemed to smile a little bit before it faded away.

Javier scratched the back of his head. He looked at her naked body even through the water, and it was grabbing his focus more and more. He could feel a stir in his loins as he seemed to be rooted in thought. Her eye looked below the waterline as she appeared to look at him in turn.

“Your hink is showing... , “ she commented.

“What?” He looked at his body, and he could tell where her eye was at. He had a growing erection. “Oh.”

Javier scratched the back of his head as Shira went and spread her legs open. She looked forward as she seemed to give the most silent of sighs. “The choice is yours,” she said. “We still have some time left before I may be separated from you by human authorities.”

He could feel a growing desire in himself. He could tell that, deep down, she was attracted to him. She wasn’t the type to go and throw out her feelings to him. She was quiet and preferred to give hints about it. He thought about his past and what his friends would have considered. He knew that if he turned her down now, he might never get that chance again. He had to go with his gut instincts, and they all said yes.

“You win,” he said as he stood up from the pool.

She simply smiled for a brief time again as she kept her hands and arms lying down on the pool’s edge. She took a deep breath as Javier walked in the pool approaching her. He could feel his erection get stiff as he began to really eye her frame. Even though he had seen her topless many times, seeing her naked seemed even more exciting. He indeed eyed and noted every portion of her body. He could see the muscle tone of her arms, the long stretching violet hair that covered her right eye, the fins that protruded from all portions of her body. He looked at her long fin-like tail, her four-digit feet, her pointed snout, her belly button, and her bountiful breasts.

Her shark-like eye peered into his soul as she seemed contempt and relaxed. Javier began to reach his hand to her face. It felt weird at first, but she simply let him touch her. He could feel the smoothness of her skin. The grayscales were very smooth to the touch. It was very similar to the body of a shark in truth. Any water simply made the hand glide more natural on the tissue itself. Her fin-like ears almost seemed to remind him of the novels he read that involved the fairy folk, but he knew that Shira was no fairy. She was a towering anthro aquatic shark. She was the apex evolution of the sharks of former Earth. Long since evolved, the Shal’rein were in all aspects similar to the humans. If anything, she was simply just a bigger human woman in all. Her personality only added to what he was looking for.

He got closer to her as he took her hands and stopped him. Her mighty strength and the water was more than enough to cause Javier to be held in place. She was gentle as her single eye gazed into his.