Chapter 3: Partnered Part 2

The following morning consisted of vague dreams and the monotony of everyday life. The marine was parked by the beach, not far from the precinct, in his small electric police car. The car was nothing extravagant to look at. It had the same colors as most of the Oshun police officers’ uniforms, with black being a dominant color. It had enough room for a person, a passenger, and an enclosed barrier back seat for arrested individuals.

The day was beautiful as it always was. Blue sky, white clouds, and a bright sun almost disguised the fact that this was not Earth at all. By now, even Stone was used to this type of environment. The crowds of surfers, beachgoers, humans, and the occasional Itrean aliens were coming and going. The great ocean was beautiful to look at, and in the vast distance, Stone could see one of the cruise liners that was sailing the waters.

Not far from the beach was a small dock for ships and vessels. With his extraordinary vision, the marine could scan the entire area to the smallest of details. His car was parked along a row of other cars. Technically, only those with special permits could park in this area, but he was also in a police car, which exempted him from those rules. This was official police business, and working for the Oshun police department had its advantages.

From here, even Stone would feel that Oshun was an illusion of itself. From this spot, one would think that the planet was lavished with luxury. Even the tourists wore bikinis, swimwear, and other attire that was relatively hard to create and obtain. This wasn’t just typical everyday swimwear but things that cost thousands of mard to make. The ships and vessels that were coming and going consisted of luxury yachts that only the rich could afford. Not far from the beach was a casino and high-star hotels. He knew, though, that the factories were struggling to keep up with financial troubles beyond those high-class buildings. The further one got from the beach, the more reality set in.

For the Itreans, Stone knew that they came from different backgrounds. Some were soldiers who were part of the local assigned defense forces to help protect the planet. Their attire was obvious, consisting of the green and black semi-tight uniforms. Others were vacationers, potential or existing wives to the men and occasional women of the planet. Their background was a mystery for many, but the worlds were apparently similar and beautiful. By now, most of the population was fully aware of the Itrean existence. The idea of a race of nothing but reptilian or shark-like women appeased most human bachelors. Even if not all of them were aesthetically pleasing to the eye, the fact that more human men were single and looking for a woman was more than they could ever desire. In so many cases, the Itreans were compatible with humans and held a generally similar personality trait. The loss of the Itrean male population due to a dreaded disease naturally drove the T’rintar clan to ally with the humans in hopes of acquiring bachelors. Human genes introduced resistance to the disease, allowing male Itrean children to be born again.

Of course, the concept naturally disgusted Stone to some degree. Even with a seemingly perfect alliance, it wasn’t one without question. The Itreans were prone to violence and engaged in genocidal wars with one another. Even with similar personality troupes to humans, that alone put the marine in a state of unease. If they were similar to human beings, the Itreans would be just as guilty of performing crimes and misdemeanors as anybody else. Was the alliance just a farce where the Itreans would turn their claws and blades on their husbands the following day? Only time was the true answer to that question, and at the moment, it seemed unlikely that the T’rintar clan were lying. Pregnant Itreans were a sign to many skeptics that the alliance was here to stay and validated the noble claims. The marine was fully aware of this as well, but the idea of having a partner sat in his stomach like the mild hangover that he was undergoing. The one thing he did was clean the boots of the blood he had gathered the previous day.

It was not that far after breakfast. The marine sat in the driver’s seat with a mild annoyance. The music of Oshun was the only hint of him trying to keep himself composed as it played in the car. Most of the piece consisted of former African themes, but mixed with modern-day aspects. This would often create hybridized instrumentals, with some being rock, electro, dance, or even slow country styles to fit every person’s desire palettes. It clearly reflected that in the tourist industry, even if some famous Martian and Cebravin music naturally worked its way into the radio stations.

Stone could internally control his augmented eye’s vision at will. It showed as he scanned the ocean surface. The splashing waves would come to and fro. The eye was trying to go further in its sight. The red outlines would only appear if they were beyond the visual spectrum of the average human eye. Just below the surface of the crashing waves, the marine could even see some of the fish-like marine wildlife that swam around, but it wasn’t enough to see the bottom either.

“I regret not sending my complaint to the UHN command yet,” Stone said to himself in a quiet, angered tone. “Make me the fucking babysitter...”

His words were interrupted as he could see the outline near the dock. The T’rintar clan attack submarine, which was similar to shuttles, including size, could operate at extreme depths. The cylindrical silhouette appeared in his vision as it moved near the surface with perfect precision. It produced no wake to them and had a hydrodynamic drive and pump-jet configuration. It moved surprisingly fast, like a shuttlecraft, but only coming up from the surface. Stone could even see a Shal’rein soldier outline that was part of the patrol as it was coming up to the surface. The aquatic race could easily breathe in and out of the water without any problem. It was apparent that this soldier was a part of the patrol unit.

The submarine reached the dock as it surfaced. The greenish hull poked its head out of the water. A bridge in the center was the first thing that could be seen, but a top bow-mounted light railgun turret appeared, not including the torpedo tubes that adorned the bow section. The Itreans were used to war, and fighting on all terrains was paramount. A few onlookers even had a chance to remark upon the aesthetic beauty of the ship.

It didn’t take very long as the water ran off the metallic organic hull of the vessel. Once that happened, a hatch behind the submarine opened up. A small elevator rose from the inside carrying a single passenger. From a distance, Stone could see her perfectly. The Itrean woman looked at the dock and leaped off the submarine onto the slab of concrete. Even with her small belongings, it didn’t impede her progress in moving around. Nor did the dock need to extend a platform to the vessel.

Ioren appeared to be, at first glance, an Aksren with feathers, but that was with a quick scan. Even Stone’s eyes widened as he scowled.

“An Aksren?” he said as he gripped his hands hard to the steering wheel. “They’re assigning an Aksren to me? The same people who conquered Cipra? I’ll have more to add to the complaint now...” his scowl came to a stop, though. “Odd ... for an Aksren, she doesn’t have the same features...”

Suddenly, the marine had a mild regret in not reading the profile of his future partner the day prior. Instead, he continued to note her looks and appearances. This, Ioren, should have been Aksren but looked more and more like a Yutilian now. The Aksren typically had the prominent cranial head crest or nose crest that covered the top section of the snout. This ridge would protrude upward, giving a look that followed the ancient descendants of oviraptors. Ioren did have a similar ridge on her nose, but it was shorter. Her snout was slightly longer but didn’t end in the sharp downward beak that most Aksren had. Her appearances also had a Yutilian-like appeal. She had feathers like the Yutilian that covered her top head just past the crest that went down the back of her head. They also existed on her arms and tail. Most of them were a myriad of green and red. She even carried a similar Yutilian light-scale feather pattern as well. Generally, she was a brownish color. She wore human-style civilian clothes, as if she were prepared to be out in the open environment. This consisted of a black and red shirt that covered her breasts and green and blue shorts with a neatly cut hole for her tail to wave around freely.

Her talon feet neatly scraped the concrete dock as she walked forward. Her reptilian eyes were scanning the landscape. She had a bag that consisted of her belongings. It wasn’t much, and even Stone’s augmented eye could tell that she only had so much.

“Damn. I’ll have to help her find shit too...” Stone said to himself as he shook his head. “Although ... I do spot something that I won’t have to get for her.”

In her belongings was an outline of a gun that he recognized. For a partner, she already had her own sidearm. This alone appeased the marine and impressed him. It only made sense as she was part of the military unit. Sidearms were allowed on Oshun but regulated to concealed carry only in public. That was, of course, excluding the police and the military. He also recognized other gear that might prove beneficial in the worst of conditions.

There was no sense of anxiety or fear in how she walked. She walked with a stride, but the marine was studying her inflections to the best that he could. Her reptilian eyes naturally scanned the area looking for him. Her eyes would slant slightly in the way she looked, but perhaps this was caused by the bright sunlight. She wasn’t that far from his car now.

The submarine began to dive again as the hatch closed up. It was going in complete reverse as it was heading back into the water. Meanwhile, Stone knew that it was time for him to tell her that he was there.

He pressed the car horn, producing an acoustic sound that grabbed Ioren’s attention. He kept his face with a slight scowl.

“Come here!” Stone yelled from his car at her. “I don’t have all day...”

Evidently, the Itrean woman heard him, but she didn’t move at a hurried pace either. Instead, she simply walked to his car. He was studying her reaction carefully. First impressions were important, but only in telling the person’s personality.

The passenger car door slid up to give her entry while she climbed in. Her small stature naturally made getting in and out easier. Her being the average height of a Yutilian or Aksren of four to five feet gave her room to place her belongings down beneath her feet. She only had to adjust her tail as it brushed her side.

“Hmph...” Stone remarked as he looked at her. For him, it was the first time he really spoke to an Itrean face-to-face, but he seemed against the idea. Regardless, he had to say something to her. He didn’t have a choice in this partnership.

Ioren saw the door slide closed as Stone started up the car. The electric motor quietly powered up as the marine muted the radio.

“Ugh ... my name and rank is Master Sergeant Richmond Stone. Your name is?...” He reluctantly questioned her.

The tone of his voice spilled over onto Ioren as she turned her head away. Any form of curiosity was gone from her face. Her eyes even showed a discouraging look. She didn’t say anything and folded up her arms.

“Hey! I told you my name,” Stone raised his voice at her. “What’s your name?”

She gave a mean look at him and remained quiet. It only seemed to aggravate the marine.

“Ugh ... fine ... we’re assigned to be together anyway,” he partially relented. “I’m your new partner. The clan assigned you to the Oshun police precinct. The UHN assigned me to work for the police here, and the T’rintar clan assigned you to be here. So the UHN feels that it’s best for both of us to work together.”

She turned her head a little bit as he noticed his voice gave a very slight, friendly tone to it, but she was trying to tell if he was mocking her. Her head tilted up as her left eye scanned his face closely. She dropped her folded-up arms as Stone could see the clawed fingertips of her four-digit hands. She remained quiet.

“Going to be the strong silent type ... whatever...” Stone remarked. “You won’t gain anything from acting like that in front of me.”

Her head once again tilted a little bit as she was analyzing him. It seemed to have dawned on her what he was doing. It caused her to reach down and pull out a pair of large metal strips from her side pocket. The marine recognized them as the Itrean tilons, the human equivalent of computer tablets. She pulled the two strips apart as a projection screen appeared from the separated pieces.

A digital keyboard appeared on the screen, showing the Itrean alphabet. She was busy typing as the words went downward and then to the right. The complexity of the language baffled humanity. It was so difficult to decipher that it almost didn’t make sense in how it worked. Letters typed would merge into singular, more complex characters somewhat similar to Japanese or Chinese, but the fact that they would also go to the right at the same time was where the similarities ended. The Itrean woman pressed a button on the lower right.

Suddenly, the Itrean words changed in shape. The computer of the tilon was shifting the language into English while translating it almost instantly. The Itrean words were read aloud from the device from which Stone could hear. It was in the form of a computerized reptilian-like voice.

“My name and rank is Lesser Centurion Ioren,” it reported. “Hello, Master Sergeant Richmond Stone. My clan has assigned me to serve with you in joint UHN operations. I am very proficient in English, so I ask that you don’t treat me as an Itrean that doesn’t know the language.”

“Hmph...” Stone noted with skepticism. “For an Itrean that supposedly knows English, you certainly rely on a tilon to do your work.”

Ioren gave a dirty look at him the moment that she heard it. Even her feathers rose up a little bit. For Stone, he didn’t care about her reaction. However, even he knew he had to carry on with the conversation despite it all. So he decided to be nonchalant and start driving. The vehicle began to move forward as it left the parking spot and entered the main driveway. Ioren began to type more words onto her tilon as the marine’s attention was focused away from her. After writing her sentence, she pressed a new button as her device spoke out the translated text.

“Did you find a place for me to live yet?” the tilon stated. It was enough that Stone turned his head slightly to see that the alien woman was looking in his direction. He knew the device was speaking for her.