Madde looked down at her pad, a device with a touch screen and just big enough to need both hands to hold it comfortably. She scanned through the report she had just finished. Her drone had done all the hard work for her, all the rebel FEM were marked clearly in 3D map rendering, showing the realtime playback of last week’s battle. Captain Solvigsonn will need this, she thought, the FEM seemed to be getting bolder by the day, and this was the most clear view of their tactics especially in this high number. He had told her as much when the FEM’s base on the edge of town was raided following the attacks on the EDA patrols last week. The Captain had asked her to compile the data her drone had collected and give it to him as a report.

  She walked down the steps from the pavilion she had been sitting at, an open space with imported grass and trees from off-world. She had seen similar while on patrols, but these reminded her of home. Their light brown trunks and long thin green needles. She walked along the pathway along the main road cutting the base nearly down the middle. She heard some far off speaker playing Eckzahn marching music, and unknowingly matching her steps to the beat. The hum of AVs flying overhead drowned out most of the background noise, only broken up by multiple ground vehicles that passed up and down the road. Mostly large trucks hauling construction materials.

  The base still had a ton of construction ongoing, even after 3 years since its foundation. Tall thin cranes marked the skyline, while drones buzzed around them. The essentials were already in place; spaceports, barracks, armory, fuel silos, hangers for atmospheric craft and AVs, and the command HQ. She saw it rising above the closer buildings, its central location and tower allowed anyone to quickly orient themselves. It was a big fortified control center for the entire 4th Tokulsa Atsokn division, stationed here in the middle of nowhere, some place the humans called “Colorado”.

  It was a long building with a wide base angling in as it went up nearly to a point, the sharp edges of each section dividing into easily recognizable parts. The flat armored outsides were an earthy brown, with panels and wires connecting different components.

  Flocks of small swarm drones, buzzers, and larger freight drones carrying cargo to and fro dotted the sky lanes. The lanes were defined by their navigation systems, and were noticeable as they queued to enter.

  When she got near, she could see the captain outside, his face quite recognizable (what was left of it, that is). Standing next to a crate of ammunition that’s being stored at the depot on the other side of the road. He was talking to another officer, no doubt in preparation for the upcoming debrief later today. She crossed the street after waiting for a pair of small cargo vehicles offloading the fresh shipment.

  When he saw her he smiled, “Sergeant!” His demeanor changed from just moments ago, from an etiquetted aloof gentleman, to that of a kindhearted uncle seeing his niece.

  The other wolf officer excuses himself, taking a pad of his own back with him.

  She smiles back, before quickly composing herself, saluting. She handed him her pad, then stood at attention “My DR, Sir.”

  Captain Solvigsonn took the pad from her, giving her the slightest of smiles.

  He quickly looked through her report, slightly nodding, satisfied. His beard, two braided lengths of fur, dangled on his chin.

  “Well done, Sergeant.” he smiled. “Seems like FEM still haven’t figured out how to shield themselves against EM sig rec, and were still using unmasked radio comms. We could see every single one of them.” He looks up at her, still leaning at her on the crate, “Helps that they never saw your drone anyways.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  He sifted through her report and replayed the footage the drones captured, his mood slowly changed. His subtle smile turned into a flat line as he scrolled more, his brow furrowing. He stood up more, his arm resting on the crate, ”What’s this about you getting friendly with an EDA aux?”

  “Sir?” She blurted, blindsided by the question.

  He glared at her. Madde felt his eyes pierce her soul, both his natural grey-blue one, and the unnatural black and white cybernetic pupil in the middle of pink scarred flesh. “I’ve been hearing things about you spending a lot of time with one particular human.” He said it as a statement this time, not a question.

  “Uhh..” she stalled, trying to think of the most unincriminating answer she could. “Our patrols often overlap, and he- they know the land and people better. It’s best to get to know them to avoid ... uh miscommunications and understand how humans think.”

  She stared past him, still standing at attention. They stood in silence, the Captain’s flesh and cybernetic eye still glaring blankly at her. Madde hasn’t been counting how many times he’s blinked but it could not have been that many.

  “Mmmhmm” The Captain seemed disappointed. He sighed before he spoke plainly: “Humans know no other loyalty, than to themselves.” He mumbled almost to himself, with the tone of a disappointed father. Her eyes finally met his for a moment that seemed to stretch into infinity. She was scared to think how much he actually knows, maybe someone had just told him about getting that drink with him, or gods forbid, what happened in the field hospital. She hoped the chill she felt running down her spine wasn’t visible. She tried deciphering that square, lifeless pupil staring into her to no avail.

  For a moment she thought about speaking up, remembering Aaron laying on the bed. She’d had to hook up the blood transfusion tube herself, and administered stims just to keep him from bleeding out. The doctors didn’t even try to help. She couldn’t, he’d never acted like this to her. Sure, maybe to the new private who put his pants on backwards, but never to her.

  He put the pad down on the crate next to him, and pointed to the left side of his face. He didn’t need to say anything more. Half his face was vacant of fur. Burn scars from chemical scarring revealed bare flesh, the puckered pink contrasted his remaining gray and black fur. His pure white cybernetic eye looked directly into hers. He’d told the story many times, and not just to her.

  “Dismissed”, the Captain said softly. She saluted him again and turned. She walked away swiftly, grateful to be away from his accusatory glare.

  Madde arrived early back near the HQ building, her time having been spent mulling over the captain's words… and Aaron. His medical leave should have soon been coming to an end, and he should be coming to this debriefing. She hadn’t checked up on him since she brought him to the base’s hospital, her unit was in the field chasing the fleeing FEM.

  She stood near the door, and scanned the horizon. Occasionally getting distracted by AVs landing at the depot, the bright blue flame firing out each of their four articulating engines still visible against the dull blue sky. Her attention was so locked in looking for grey EDA uniforms, she didn't see her green camo’d squad leader walk past her, “Debrief starts in 5, Sergeant”.

  She looked back to see him scan his biochip and walk in. She considered following him in, but hesitated when she heard a shout behind her.

  “Madde!” Aaron broke from a small group of EDA entering the HQ with their wolf officer.

  Madde stepped forward and grabbed Aaron around the shoulders in a hug, her taller stature making her bend over slightly. His skin was soft, not rough like her paw pads. When his cheek touched hers it gave her chills, a sensation she had never felt before. She leaned back but did not let go. She opened her mouth intending to give him an affectionate bite, but noticed they had already caught glances. Hesitating, she let go of him. “Quick, late!” Madde said to Aaron in her broken English, not bothering to use her translator. Stunlocked, Aaron was grabbed by the wrist.

  Madde put her hand on the biochip scanner, and the reinforced sliding door opened and shut behind her as she walked into the security scanner’s zone, marked by holographic lines with the text “STOP HERE” on the far sideside. Hearing the chime, she walked through the far holographic plane as it disappeared. A moment later it reappeared behind her.

  The two guards glanced at her as she waited. After a short pause, the door opened, revealing Aaron as he walked into the security scanner. She heard a chime, signaling that he was clear.

  As the door closed with a short gust of air, the sound of the outside base changed abruptly to a blend of voices and the chimes of doors opening. A flat voice followed a short bell’s noise played over the speaker, “3rd Atsokn Battalion, 1st EDA platoon debrief, 1st hall, begins in 2 minutes” The speaker then went back to softly playing Eckzahn folk music, the Kalfa just barely audible over the mulling of voices and hubbub of people carrying out their business.

  The firm rubber floors gripped her paws, allowed her to walk briskly through the halls of the HQ and turn tight corners without slipping. The layout was a grid with long straight halls interspersed with signs above doorways and lines on the ground for guidance. Angled beams turning the hallways nearly into a triangle, with subtle engravings of knots separated intersections.

  They squeezed by groups of EDA and Eckzahn army troopers bustling in every direction, everyone seemingly on a mission of their own. It was busier than normal, the recent FEM activity must be forcing a response. Madde looked into the passing doors as they slid open, an admittance room, a couple meeting rooms, and a small DFAC.

  They reached the center of the building, the Eckzahn St?nder symbol, a plain red square within a white one, engraved into the floor. To the left, Madde could see inside the main control room, the soft glow of blue and yellow light emanating from the embodying dark room. They followed a small group of regular Eckzahn army troopers through the automatic sliding doors into a small long hall.

  The length of the hall was separated down the middle by a long table topped with a screen displaying a detailed mat displaying the base and surrounding area, with seating stacked on either side. The location of various Eckzahn units and potential FEM strongholds both marked. Screens above provided more detailed information, regular drone scouting routes, planned maneuvers and resupplies to fielded Eckzahn Units.

  Aaron picked up a set of headphones as the two separated without a word, just a quick glance. Aaron went to sit with what remained of his squad and various other EDA members on the left side of the hall. Madde sat on the right side, the Eckzahn section. she squeezed by a few of her comrades to sit right across from Aaron.

  The meeting began with the wolf officer in command of Aaron’s EDA platoon recounting their original mission, and what happened in the city. The screens zoomed in on the city layout, showing known Eckzahn and EDA units with playback of the attacks repeating.

  Madde occasionally glanced over at Aaron to see him squirming in his seat. Aaron fiddled with the headphones that he used to listen to the translated word of his CO.

  Did he not want to relive the ambush through his CO’s perspective, Madde wondered.

  A couple more EDA officers gave their testimonials about being ambushed at nearly the same time. Their stories got repetitive, a patrol would be walking down a street or riding in vehicles, when a great volume of small arms fire and RPGs took them by surprise. A regular Eckzahn Officer wrapped up the recounting by analyzing the coordination by the rebels, how they’ve changed from previous attacks, and giving their opinion on how they got past patrols and detection. The FEM were targeting the weak EDA patrols far from Eczkahn help, to provoke a big response, just to get out of dodge before the real forces could come to help.

  Captain Solvigsonn stood up and walked down right past Madde. She hadn’t even seen him in the room until then. She instinctively sat up, correcting her posture. Captain Solvigsonn went over the subsequent Eckzahn reaction to the insurgent attacks. “The unprecedented scale and location of the ambushes made finding the staging location a high priority, to ensure such human operations will not continue. But due to certain… restrictions, we were unprepared to properly respond”.

  Madde frowned. The slight detail of him saying “human” instead of “FEM” gave her an uncomfortable pit in her stomach.

  He then went into detail about how he inferred the rebels conducted their ambush, based on data gathered from other such incidents. He concluded from the FEM base they did find, via tracking the fleeing insurgents, that this series of attacks was a large operation conducted by multiple cells. The base was nowhere large enough to support the numbers reported by ambushed units, and that most terrorists got away.

  “The base itself was little more than a farmhouse. Zero air protection, we had complete surveillance, and they were none the wiser.” He then described the base’s temporary nature, “There was no evidence that they had been there for more than a few days; almost no provisions, fortifications or munition stores. Nothing for more than a few days' battle, It’s obvious that they have many more similar locations which they move back and forth from.”

  Madde’s attention wavered. She’d heard this speech before, nothing was different this time… except Aaron. Her focus shifted to him. He listened intently now, his hand pressed on his headphones so he could hear the live translation better. Why was he so interested all of a sudden?

  “Seargant Arisdottr”? Madde’s ears perk up and she locked eyes with the Captain, he repeated his question “Your drones, they went unimpeded, would that not apply to scout drones, potentially following FEM back to their real base”?

  “The only real threat would be from small arms. So, if they stay a sufficient distance from the target, there would be no substantial danger to the drone.” Madde said. That was one of her notes she put in her report, and now she looked like an idiot for not paying attention.

  The captain glanced towards the top of the hall, where the senior officers sat, before he continued. Concluding his assessment the captain suggested more direct action be taken to counter the terrorists’ growing boldness; “If we do not snip them in the bud, there will be a large bed of thorns we will have to go through to destroy it.”

  Captain Solvigsonn looked back behind him at the EDA’s wolf officer. The officer stood up and shouted at his soldiers “Platoon, attention!" in his poor English. Aaron got up, along with the rest of the EDA attending.

  “Dismissed.” he says less harshly, they deposited the headphones they had been listening with and left the room.

  As soon as they all left the room, Captain Solvigsonn in a disgusted tone said “We cannot trust the EDA to fight this threat alone. There are too many variables to worry about. They lack quality training and equipment, half their vehicles are the same primitive vehicles and armor the FEM use, and they have basically zero drone capabilities. But most of all, we cannot ensure their loyalty. They have no reason to fight other than for personal interests, and the security that comes with collaboration. If that system breaks down, so will the EDA’s loyalty.” Captain Solvigsonn paused.

  “Now we’ve given them equipment and training, and an intimate knowledge of our military structure and operations.” He let that sit for a while. “Either we solve the problem slowly in joint-EDA operations, giving them the experience to eventually take over, or we solve the problem by ourselves right now.” He sat back down.

  Captain Solvigsonn got up and dismissed Madde’s platoon. She got up, gently brushing past her comrades. She swiftly walked out of the room and into the hallway. She walked past the IMS kiosks in the great square atrium, before she did a double take; Aaron was in it. He stood in front of it with the door open. She paused, and looked at him curiously. Why was he at the kiosk? Who was he sending a message to? As far as she knew, Aaron didn’t know anyone on a different planet.

  She walked up behind him, and put her hand on his shoulder “?rahn?”

  He jumped, far more startled than a man in his position ought to be. “Madde!?” first shocked, then relieved.

  She turned on her translator, “What are you doing here?” she asked. “The IMS is for sending interstellar messages, do you know someone off-world?”

  “Oh, uh… My friend got transferred to another EDA unit in Europe, and I have to use these because they haven’t given me access to use the new MISAT comms yet.” Aaron said while looking around at passing Eckzahn troopers. Madde tried to find what he was looking for, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

  She turned around to see Aaron inside the kiosk and she went up to the still open glass door. Aaron scanned the biochip in his wrist, and started to look through the menus of the interface, having to decipher the Siglunes symbols. It tested his knowledge of the language he’d had to quickly learn.

  “What’s his name? You never said you had a friend get transferred.” Madde asked.

  “Uh… Gordon”, Aaron said, taking a second before answering. He looked back at the interface quickly, avoiding eye contact. After struggling to find the right buttons to press, Madde spoke up. “Do you need help? You can search by unit on the left there.” she pointed with her claw.

  “Thanks”, Aaron began to type the characters, having to translate their phonetic sounds to match the name. Madde knew thought this might be a good learning experience for him, so did not intervene.

  Madde looked back, seeing Aaron making progress, and met the gaze of a coyote AV pilot who held his helmet under his arm. It looked like he was just returning from a mission. He looked at the human occupying the IMS with an annoyed expression.

  Madde peeked back into the Kiosk to see Aaron had found his friend in the system. It was a picture of a woman. She was hardly an expert on human names, but ‘Gordon’ did not sound like a woman’s name. Aaron pressed the record button on the screen, and he closed the door by pushing the button on the panel on the outside of the kiosk.

  She saw Aaron talk, but with the soundproofing she couldn’t hear a word he was saying, and her basic knowledge of English couldn’t help her read lips.

  Madde stood awkwardly for several slow minutes. The other IMS kiosk was broken, leaving the one occupied by Aaron as the sole operational one. He finally walked out, but his head was stuck looking at the kiosk. The Coyote entered the kiosk, set his helmet down on the bench, and closed the door.

  Madde started to leave, but noticed Aaron was not following her. She looked over at the human to see him looking around nervously. She returned and asked “Are you okay?”

  Before he could answer, someone dropped their pad on the other side of the small atrium. It created an abnormally loud bang as it crashed into a cart being pushed by an EDA trooper carrying several snacks and food, spilling its contents all over the ground.

  Aaron crouched down and leaned into the wall, his hands coming together as if he was holding a blaster. The EDA trooper pushing the cart started to clean up the mess immediately, while the Eckzahn sergeant picked up his pad and kept walking. Madde recognized what Aaron was doing, having seen her father do the same behavior before.

  With a sympathetic smile, she got down on his level and softly spoke to him. “It’s okay, it was just some spilled food. Everything is fine.” As Madde rubbed Aaron's arm and encouraged him to stand up, a regular Eckzahn officer got into line at the Kiosk. He looked on as Madde got Aaron to stand. She propped him up against the wall and quickly made her way over to a drink dispenser nearby, quickly scanning her biochip, while looking back at Aaron who was again looking in the kiosk at the coyote.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  She retrieved the glass of water, and rushed back to Aaron, handing the drink over. He took it from her, taking a small sip. Madde caught the glance of the wolf officer. She had seen him before but never spoken to him. He was in charge of her sister platoon. He looked at her with a ‘is this one yours look’, silently telling her to take him somewhere else.

  The coyote pilot finished his message, then left the kiosk. Aaron stood up straighter, as if alert to something. Madde tried to step around him, getting in between Aaron and the Kiosk. As she did, Aaron tripped over her foot and he spilled the water. It got all over the floor, and onto the wolf Lieutenant’s foot, his fur soaked from the liquid. Aaron fell flat on his face, the impact disorienting him for a second.

  The Lieutenant recoiled, stepping out of the way of Aaron, looking down with a combination of confusion and pity. Aaron was now on his hands and knees and started wiping up the mess with his sleeves. The officer’s lips curled as he looked at Madde, her disposition unchanged from the shock that had just embroiled her.

  “I'm so sorry sir” Madde said, attempting to remain professional, “He was in that ambush last week and he’s still pretty shaken. It was an accident, sir”.

  Aaron tried to apologize in Siglunes, gesticulating wildly to emphasise his remorse. His arm brushed the inside of the kiosk. Had he grabbed something?

  She didn’t see it, it was covered by his hand, and he went right back to mopping up his mess. At which point the officer growled slightly and made a kicking motion, shooing Aaron away. He fell back onto his bottom, then got up, quickly moving away from the Kiosk. The lieutenant went inside, shooting Madde a hostile glance.

  Before she knew it, Aaron left without her. Madde only realized it when she looked around for him, but didn’t find him. She saw him walking swiftly away, back towards the entrance. She caught up to him, easily catching up with her longer stride. He was focused and barely looked at her when he saw her next to him.

  She knew she shouldn’t be pushing him at that moment. The last thing someone in his position needed was to question everything they did, but something guttural ate at her.

  ‘Humans know no other loyalty, than to themselves’, Captain Solvigsonn’s words echoed in her mind. Aaron wasn’t like other humans though. He was nice to her, treated her as an equal rather than someone to impress or fear. He didn’t harbor a grudge against her, despite having every right to. The invasion destroyed his life.

  It had destroyed every human’s life, in some way. No matter how justified she knew it was, there was no avoiding that fact.

  They exited the building, the bright summer sun and noise of land and air vehicles appearing suddenly. “I have to go to muster. They’re reorganizing our platoon today.” Aaron shifted his weight, ready to take off as soon as Madde said something.

  “Alright…” Madde breathed, not putting her voice into it.

  Aaron stayed a second more to make sure she wouldn’t say anything else, then quickly waved and walked away.

  A few days had passed. Aaron's EDA platoon had been reorganized and given fresh recruits, mostly cut from the same cloth. The dregs of society, just smart enough to sign a contract, point a gun the right direction, and not piss off the Eckzahn too much.

  But he got a promotion out of it, Corporal. It was at least some recognition for what he had done. Though he would have certainly taken proper medical care over a bar on his shoulder.

  A couple of days later, as he was doing his city patrols with his four man squad, a jogger slammed into him and knocked him on his ass.

  “Oh, shit! V-very sorry, sirs!” the blonde man said as Aaron’s squad aimed blasters at him. “You okay, officer-dude? It was an accident, I swear!” The jogger, a young man of about 25, stretched out a lean, tattooed hand for Aaron. One of Aaron’s underlings shoved him roughly with his blaster.

  “Don’t fuckin’ touch him, hippie!” the EDA brute snarled. Another one began caressing the butt of his shock-baton eagerly.

  “Leave him be,” Aaron ordered as he got up. “Accident. Right?” he said smiling. The sinewy jogger smiled back.

  “Get lost, dipshit!” One of Aaron’s men snarled, his shock baton flaring lightning bolts with a ZAP! sound. With a yelp, the young man ran more than jogged away.

  “Went too fuckin’ soft on him, boss.” Baton man muttered as he sheathed his weapon disappointedly.

  Aaron said nothing. He only stuffed the note that had been deposited into his pockets deeper.

  As before, he entered his apartment, covered the windows, and retrieved the note. As before, it was blank first, then some sort of invisible ink activated.

  “SAME TIME AND PLACE- TWO DAYS” it read.

  “Well, that’s gonna be a problem, Spartacus,” Aaron thought. “I’m on duty then.”

  But as it turned out, he wasn’t. The next day, he was given an unexpected day’s leave as “recognition for exceptional duty.” It seemed he wasn’t the only mole inside the EDA.

  Before the meeting with Spartacus, he thought about visiting Madde. But she was no doubt at the drone storage, repairing and maintaining buzzers and other small drones. Besides, he wasn’t sure he could have faced up to her. He felt the pressure mounting. Every glance a fellow EDA trooper gave, every summon to his CO’s office, every moment he was in the HQ, the thought “have they found me out?” crossed his mind. He was doing a decent job of hiding it, or at least, so he thought. He looked normal enough when he looked in the mirror.

  Just tired… so very tired.

  The pressure of it all was getting to him. He felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, which, he realized with a humorless chuckle, he did, in a way.

  He left the base, signed out at the gate, and retrieved his car from the nearby run down parking lot. He took the short drive to the highway, where Dory’s Diner had once been.

  He arrived at the McDonald’s, about an hour before the agreed time. Nothing had changed, still the same ruin. There was perhaps a little more dust on the collapsed half-M, that was it. He got out, instinctively locking the door to his Civic, then laughing painfully; who the hell was left to steal it?

  Aaron walked inside, glass and debris crunching beneath his boots. Somehow, the air still smelled of old oil and grease. Dory’s Diner used to have the decor of an 80s diner, mostly because that’s when it was opened. The seats were baby blue and pink, warm neons offering a faint, yet cozy glow at night time. The edges of the counter were silver chrome, like an old Cadillac's front grille.

  When McD took over, they actually kept most of the decor for a bit. Then, sometime in the early 2020s, when every corporation decided that boring, blocky and gray was the new hot thing, the last vestiges of Dory’s soul had left.

  Really, the Eckzahn’s brutalist architecture that they used for their bases, and was popping up all over the main cities, wasn’t that much different. It was as if in the final few years, the world had been preparing itself for Eckzahn occupation, Aaron thought grimly.

  He sat down at a table, wiping off the dust and debris that coated the seat. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the memories he had had before the invasion. Before the entire world was turned upside down. Before this was a godforsaken McDonald’s.

  He tried remembering the 80s tunes that played from the jukebox. He tried remembering the savory, mouth-watering scent of fresh grill coming from the kitchen. He tried remembering Marius, Laura, and him talking about school, sports, what video game they were all playing at the time. For a moment, it worked. Laura laughed melodically as she talked about what new mediocre Netflix show she was binging. Marius was giving a point by point retelling of his latest college ball game, gesticulating with his massive, tattooed arms.

  Aaron laughed, for a moment seeing his friends, seeing the world that had been taken away from him.

  Then, flashes and noise interrupted all of it. Screams that weren’t supposed to be there deafened the jukebox. The clap of blaster fire and the louder, harsher boom of the more primitive ‘slugthrowers’. His comrade looking at him as half his neck disappeared in a red, gory spray beneath the rebel’s bayonet.

  Almost without his will, he reached for his flask, and took a swig. Then another, and another. He didn’t even notice the clicking footsteps approaching him until Spartacus was right up to him. Aaron flinched, instinctively reaching, but quickly realized who it was and stopped short.

  “Been a long week huh?” Spartacus’ hand patted the back of Aaron’s shoulder sympathetically. The rough padding and fingernail-like “hooves” felt strange against his skin. He sat down opposite Aaron.

  The anthro deer wore the same outfit as before: old school overcoat over combat webbing and shirt. The almost elegant article of clothing clashed with the military pouches, as well as the short rifle he kept slung at his side, just visible under his subtly blue coat.

  A woman sat down next to the deer. She barely reached Spartacus’s chest, but given how much of a beanpole the deer was, that put her on the taller side. Her ginger hair was cut short, and she looked at Aaron with small, cheerful green eyes. She wore a patched up carhartt jacket and similar webbing to Spartacus. Both of them wore blue armbands, the international identifier of FEM fighters.

  “Did it work?” Aaron asked flatly.

  Spartacus smiled and nodded. “It did. Now, not only can we listen in on most EU and EDA communications in Colorado, but we should be able to shield our own comms better. Our boys already went on a few supply runs. Not a peep of drones or Eckzahn patrols.” The deer paused for a second as he lit his pipe. “You did us an incredible service, Mr. Ludwig. We shan’t easily forget it.”

  Aaron nodded. “I put the… stick you gave me into an IMS terminal.” Aaron rummaged in his pocket and retrieved the stick that Spartacus had given him, dropping it on the table. The deer retrieved it. Aaron sighed in relief, glad to finally be free of that accursed tiny thing. “Took it out after 10 minutes, just like you said. It’s connected directly into their communications system”

  “That was a great decision,” the woman standing next to Spartacus interjected “It bypassed a few security measures in place on other interfaces.” She put her arm on the table, to Aaron’s amazement, there was an Eckzahn Ismount on her wrist; the wrist device that all Eckzahn troops wore. She touched her finger on the screen a couple of times.

  “Amelia has been monitoring Eckzahn communications for a couple of days, ever since you single handedly gave us the biggest breakthrough we’ve had in years.” Spartacus explained.

  Aaron didn’t respond. He knew that he’d done the right thing, but his mind immediately went to Madde. She hadn't really noticed what he was doing right? Well, if she had, she’d have stopped him. But the Eckzahn would have to eventually figure out that their communications were compromised. What if they traced it back to him? Madde couldn't save him then. And worse, that would implicate her too. She’d been the one to vouch for him to join the EDA. And then-

  “Aaron!” Spartacus broke through Aaron’s bubble. His large, hooved hand was again on his shoulder “You’ve done something truly heroic and selfless.” He looked at Aaron with concern. “How much sleep did you get last night?”

  Two hours, tops.

  “Enough.” Aaron answered flatly, taking another swig. He winced from the strong liquor.

  “Since when was that a thing?” Spartacus gestured at the flask.

  “Since forever. We met at a bar, didn’t we?” Aaron felt frustration mounting.

  “You’re not a regular drinker, Aaron,” Spartacus said matter of factly. “You don’t have an alcoholic’s skin or eyes. And that flask is not a week old.”

  Aaron snorted. “Look at this guy; he’s on Earth all of five minutes, finds a trenchcoat, and he thinks he’s Kojak.” he sneered.

  Spartacus smiled sympathetically. “Actually, I’m more of a Holmes or Poirot man myself.”

  Aaron couldn’t help but chuckle in spite of himself. Huh. They had stashed movies and TV shows in FEM camps? He supposed they would make preserving Earth culture a priority. The Eckzahn had banned quite a few pieces of media, from books, to songs, to movies and video games.

  Aaron felt his mood darkening again, and reached for another swig. Spartacus caught his wrist before he could take it to his lips.

  “Aaron… please. Take it easy. Breathe.” The deer gingerly screwed the cap of the flask back on. “Everything is fine. They haven’t caught on. And even if they do, they have no way to trace it back to you. You’re safe.”

  Aaron sighed and reluctantly pocketed the flask.

  “I can’t ask you to do any more right now. Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Spartacus continued. “But… I will give you a way to keep in contact.”

  The towering man-animal took a small container from his coat.

  It was a shiny silver box. It had no visible lock or latch, and it was decorated with a golden circle, with smaller circles around its circumference. Aaron had never seen that symbol before.

  It gave out a small hiss as it opened automatically. It reminded Aaron of the boxes the Eckzahn used, but it was different. It was far less blocky, and it actually had a style to it.

  A dozen tiny black beads, smaller than blueberries, stood in a bed of black foam.

  “This is for you.” Spartacus reached in and carefully plucked out a bead, stretching it to Aaron.

  The human looked at it for a moment. He had not seen anything like it before, not from the EDA or the fancier Eckzahn tech.

  “This will allow us to communicate. Thanks to your handiwork, these will now work even while you’re in their base.”

  “Where is this from? Did you steal it from the Eckzahn?” Aaron asked.

  “No. It’s… a gift from some friends. That’s all you need to know.” Spartacus gave a lopsided smirk.

  “Go ahead and put it in your ear,” Spartacus said. “Shove it deep. Deep enough that it’s impossible to notice, and it’s possible to wear another earphone with it. In time, you’ll hardly feel it’s there.”

  Aaron shoved the small circular device into his ear canal, as far down as he could, until he felt pain. He felt the device latch onto his flesh.

  “Don’t worry about the Eckzahn finding it, there’s so much noise at that base they won’t be able to distinguish it from their normal high-band comms.” Amelia interjected.

  “So… how do I control this thing?” Aaron asked.

  “Oh, give it a couple of minutes for it to get used to your body.” The red headed girl said. “It will read the vibrations from your vocal chords, and hear what you hear. It needs to get used to your voice and learn what’s normal for you. You can practice when you get home. Ring up ol’ Sparty. He’ll talk your ear off about who he thinks was the best Holmes or Bond.” She grinned up at the herbivore. “By the way, the microphone is sensitive enough to pick up your mumbles, so no risk of being heard. And it will only pick up sounds from you; any white noise or other dialogue is filtered out immediately.” She gave a smirk, brushing a strand of fiery hair from her eyes. “Fancy, huh?”

  “Riiiiiight.” Aaron said. He found the whole thing a bit unnerving. This was clearly alien tech, even if not Eckzahn. Who knew what it would do to him? “Do I need to like… recharge it, or something?”

  “Oh no, it does so automatically.” Spartacus said. “It uses the pulses of your heartbeat to recharge.”

  Right. Definitely creepy.

  “Enjoy the rest of your day, Aaron,” he continued. “Go take a walk in the park, watch an approved movie, whatever. Do something to relax. But once you return to active duty, we’ll need weekly reports. Report all EU and EDA movements, and anything unusual. If something urgent happens, like a planned raid on an FEM base, contact us immediately.”

  Aaron nodded. “What is ‘unusual’?”

  “If an EDA platoon deploys somewhere, we need to know. If the local Eckzahn battalion gets new drones, we need to know. If your CO picks his nose with his left paw instead of his right, we need to know." Spartacus clarified. “Just find a quiet place to talk, and we’ll get the message.

  In time I will contact you, but until then, best lay low.” Spartacus closed the silver box, which sealed automatically with a high pitched whine at a single touch.

  “Amelia, my dear, might you be so kind as to give our new friend a ride home? Drunk driving is still dangerous, even with no other cars on the road.”

  “That’s probably a good idea,” Amelia said. "I'll go start your car, we wanna get going before sunset. Can I get your keys?” She reached her hand out to him. No reason to doubt them at this point. Aaron rummaged in his pocket and pulled out his keys to her. Packing up her tablet, she went for the car outside.

  Aaron slowly got up, the former restaurant spinning slightly. Shit, he must have been drunker than he thought. He had to lean on the table to not lose his footing.

  Spartacus grabbed his arm as he slid out of his seat. “Be careful Aaron.This will be a long war. Do not sacrifice yourself to win a single battle”. Spartacus walked with him to the running car, holding the door open for Aaron.

  “Earth Fights On.” Spartacus said.

  “Earth Fights On.” Aaron replied, surprised at how hopeful his own voice sounded. The human and the deer shook hands before they parted.

  Amelia drove through the same streets he did. At the Eckzahn led checkpoints, she scanned her ID, and Aaron’s biochip, and moved through no problem. Without saying a word, Amelia turned on the street of his apartment. Huh, he hadn’t said where he lived…

  Parking, she got out with Aaron, “He sees a lot in you, you know.”

  “Hmmm?” Aaron turned around, just about to open the door to the abandoned office building-turned apartment block. The unnervingly clean street was empty.

  “Spartacus. He’s talked about how you can totally change our … work in the area, if not more.” Aaron looked back at the door, hand on the handle. “That wolf Sergeant," Aaron paused at those words. “She’s a good asset, don’t get me wrong.” she said. “And like Sparty said, she… doesn’t seem like a bad person. For an Eckzahn jackboot, at least. But… I wouldn’t get too attached. She is the enemy. And nothing will ever change that.”

  Aaron did not respond for a long moment. “Good night, Amelia.” He said, opening the door and walking up the stairs.

  Unlocking the door with his biochip, he entered his small cube apartment and flopped down on the mattress without taking his clothes off.

  He fell to Morpheus almost instantly, Madde’s smiling face lullabying him to a long, restful sleep.