Regally attired humans gyrated wildly to the beat of the latest pop tune. A few stumbled about with drunken abandon, others laid out on the floor, their faces locked in rigor mortis expressions of drug-induced bliss. Humans fight hard, party harder. With total victory over the Tacherins in our grasp, the rowdiness of the celebrants did not surprise me in the least.There were relatively few Vingin present. They tended to cluster in groups, forming little islands of calm amid the clamor of human excess.I thanked my Vingin greeters and ventured into the vast room.“Commander First Tier!” A voice rang out.I turned to see my second-in-command—former second-in-command—standing behind me.Kelte’s rock-featured face was softened by a wry smile. I didn’t know if that smile came from the potent ale sloshing around in the glass he held in his right hand, or from the buxom red-haired beauty he clutched with his left.“Kelte, I see you’ve found a partner for the night.” I nodded to the woman who I recognized as Lt. Ima Jiran, 3rd Demolition Group.Jiran returned the nod with an inviting smile. “He’s arranged for an intimate encounter with three others. You’re welcome to join us,” she offered.I wrenched my gaze away from Jiran’s appealing cleavage to catch sight of a tall woman in the crowd. She wore a shimmering red gown that captured every sensual contour of her flawless body. The contrast between the fabric’s fiery red and the cool, dark brown of her skin tone was more intoxicating than any mind altering brew available to this gathering.“I…appreciate the offer, Ima, but Kelte’s going to have to go it alone. I’ve already got a partner picked out, and with her I definitely don’t want any distractions.”Kelte followed my gaze across the room.My interest was making her way toward us.The lines in Kelte’s forehead crinkled in mock indignation. “Always leaving me to the hard tasks. The higher your rank the more you abuse it.”“A shame isn’t it?” I replied, taking a glass of ale from a passing Vingin with a serving tray.“I thought after your meeting with the general I’d be addressing you as Private,” Kelte stated seriously. “Lucky bastard…sir.”“Lucky?” I let out a bitter snort. “I suppose in the sense that it takes me out of action for the rest of this war. Unfortunately, that means that my replacement might turn out to be a slavish enforcer of DefenseCommand’s directives. I fear for your well being if that’s the case.”“Don’t fear for me, Lev. I’ll be damned if I get killed on account of some squeeze-ass, know nothing stiff.”Jiran arched a brow up at her intensely outspoken companion. “It sounds like you’re going to miss him.”Kelte’s fierce grimace melted to a warm grin. “I suppose I will. But I meant what I said about squeeze-asses!”By that time, the woman who so captivated me, appeared at my side. She wrapped a finely muscled arm around my waist.Her name was Tione Herlik, Unit Leader, TAT Special Missions. During the last operation, she went by another name: Dagger One.“We’ve got a new name for you, Tione,” said Kelte.Tione drew me close, planting a moist kiss on my lips, before focusing midnight dark eyes on Kelte. “And what name would that be?”“Tacherin-killer.”Tione cast an amused look my way. A black lock of braided hair dangled in front of her forehead. “Isn’t that what they’re calling you?”I took a sip of minty ale, and then ran my hand from the small of her back down the well rounded curve of her buttocks. “Well, I gave the order, but you led the teams that detonated the charges.”“Yes, but Jiran increased the yield in the charges.”While Jiran tried to repel the credit cast her way, I noticed General Ternal moving toward a dais that had been set up in the middle of the room. Accompanying him was a Vingin with blue-green membranes draping from his body. That coloring marked this particular Vingin as a person of distinction. In Vingin society, the color of membranes was an indicator of where one stood in their strictly hierarchical social structure.Ternal stepped on the dais and instantly the music ceased.The revelers were immediately drawn to the general’s presence, ushering in an all encompassing quiet that drifted over the hall. I saw more than a few inebriated humans swaying on their feet, their expressions rigidly attentive.Dour looking as all ways, Ternal spoke, his voice projected by hidden amplifiers. “Humans and Vingin, I bring wonderful news. Yinter has been liberated from the murderous yoke of Tacherin occupation.”Cheers exploded from humans.Vingin wagged their heads in their own native expressions of joy.Yinter was among the first Vingin planets to be conquered.“You think there are any Vingin left alive?” Tione asked as she clapped at the news.Her grim sentiment reflected my own. I went a step further, wondering if Yinter still had its original ecosystem.“Our forces continue to inflict catastrophic losses upon the enemy,” Ternal continued. “At the beginning of the year, DefenseCommand projected complete victory to be two, three standard years at the most. As we approached the midway point, and we discovered the enemy to be in a far weaker position than we anticipated, we changed our projections to a matter of weeks.”Another round of cheering.Much as I disliked the general, I couldn’t refrain from giving an enthusiastic yelp.Ternal raised a hand to still the happy commotion. “A moment of silence for those who died in our most recent, and successful effort to eradicate the Tacherin infestation.”Every head in the room bowed.I shut my eyes. I shouldn’t have done that. I saw too many dead comrades.The moment passed. I downed the last of my ale as if it were water.“Simply defeating the Tacherin will not be enough,” said Ternal in a tone that seemed to convey the barest hint of regret. “The threat that even one Tacherin represents to the well being of civilized species is a most dire one indeed. One Tacherin left alive is one Tacherin too many.”The implication in that statement was clear as a glass to me. I’m sure it was equally as transparent to everyone else.“And now, it is my privilege and an honor to introduce Utal er Con, Grand Spokesmaster of the Vingin Supreme Council.”Tione and I exchanged surprised glances. I knew this Vingin was important, but a representative of the Vingin’s highest governing body? Here?Utal er Con took Ternal’s spot on the dais amid human applause.I noticed the Vingin in the crowd bending their ephemeral bodies forward in a collective bow.The Spokesmaster waited for the applause to fade. When he spoke, his high pitch voice carried across the room like the graceful sound of a flute.“On behalf of all Vingin, I want to offer my deepest, sincere thanks to humanity for what you have done for us.” Utal er Con’s easy command of human speech was phenomenal. Few Vingin, especially those in the elite, could communicate with humans without the aid of translators. That a Vingin, of Utal er Con’s standing, had taken the time to learn our crude tongue could be considered the highest gesture of respect toward humans.I was personally flattered.“Several millennia ago, when our probes first detected, then ascertained the nature of the Tacherins, we, in consultation with our Ziran allies, considered migration. Our subsequent alliance with humans made that contingency unnecessary. Human resources, human determination and ultimately, human lives, contributed to the victory that we now celebrate. We honor you. We honor your goodness, your nobility…”The Spokesmaster’s lavishing of gratitude went on for nearly half an hour.During that time, I gulped down two more glasses of ale and was beginning to feel the floor moving beneath my feet.Finally, Utal er Con’s speech ended.General Ternal returned to the dais. “Before I permit the evening’s festivities to resume, I want to honor a few of the men and women whose bold leadership, fearlessness and unbreakable will exemplify the warrior spirit that propels our soldiers to victory after victory.”Somehow, Ternal spotted me in the crowd.I knew he couldn’t have been talking about me, although, I immodestly noted, those characteristics he named did apply to me.“Lev Gorlin, Commander First Tier. Please step forward.”Damn.“Must’ve really pained the general to say those nice things about me,” I mused as I moved a soft finger down the middle of Tione’s sweat-glistened back. We were in my quarters aboard a troop transport orbiting Uin. This was the first real R and R either of us had enjoyed in months. So far we hadn’t wasted a second of it.Tione nuzzled closer to me. “You’re thinking about him? Now? I’m beginning to wonder about you.”I tickled her lightly beneath the chin invoking a sweet giggle. Hard to believe this lovely package I was intertwined with was a hardened killing machine. I gave her a long, deep kiss. When our lips parted, her eyes peered longingly into my own. “You still wondering?” I asked playfully.“You still thinking about Ternal?”I shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess I’m a little uncomfortable being publicly celebrated by him even as he privately vilifies me.”Tione sat up, positioning herself to rest her chin on my chest. “Word has it that you’re popular with most of the brass.”“And where are you getting this word?” I scoffed.“I hear things.” She was being coy. “Now, I want you to put the general out of your mind, go to Strategic Planning and do the best job that you can possibly do. In the meantime, I’ve been slated to lead joint operations against Tacherin holdouts on Redeen.”“Joint operations? With who?”“The Zirans, who else?”I frowned, trying to digest this surprise. “The Zirans never did anything jointly with humans. Why now?”Tione looked as puzzled as I did, but I could tell she wasn’t interested in trying to figure this new development out. “Who knows?”She laid flat, her head framed by the pillow it rested on, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. “Right now, I’m thinking beyond that.”“Really. What are you thinking about?”She glanced at me. “Children. I’m thinking I’d like to have children.”“Oh.” I sat up, feeling faintly awkward.There was a reason why the prudish Vingin considered humans to be very promiscuous. It’s because we were. A few human males and females together in a room were almost certain to generate an orgy. Of course we needed to be sexually…open. Our ancestors were only a few hundreds of thousands when we encountered the Vingin. They needed to populate the four worlds the Vingin were kind enough to give us. The only way to do that was to loosen any strictures humans had on sex at the time and breed, breed, breed. The end result was what one would expect when a highly fertile species was allowed to do, well, one of the things it did best.In time, each human planet amassed a population approaching a billion. Now, it could be said that given our impressive population growth, excess promiscuity was no longer a necessity for humans. Wrong. There were three reasons why that was most definitely not the case. 1) millions of humans had died in the Tacherin War and it wasn’t over yet. We needed to replenish the ranks. 2) Old customs, old habits die hard. 3) The most important reason of all: children. There is nothing humans love and cherish more than children, for sentimental and practical reasons.Children are the hope for the continued existence of humanity. Children are our future. It was a matter of urgency that our ancestors conceived as many children as possible. That urgency was considerably less today, but a vestige of it was still present, magnifying our sexual instincts, stoking our little fears of collective extinction. And here I sat, next to the woman I wanted to be with more than any other, trying to think of some way to steer this discussion away from the topic of children.I knew many soldiers who had children. Kelte had five already. At this very moment I was sure he was vigorously working on his sixth, seventh and eighth. Lt. Jiran probably removed her contraceptive implant so she could embark on her second pregnancy.Tione hadn’t removed her implant. I suppose it was because I hadn’t removed mine. I leaned back, kissing her forehead. Then I stroked her braided mane as a way to disguise my guilty fidgeting. I couldn’t promise her children. Not that I didn’t want any. But I still envisioned a career for myself as a hipofran artist. Maybe I could still sire a brood and achieve my dream. Maybe children would be a distraction. I guess I didn’t really know why I felt the the way I did. What I knew for sure was that I wasn’t ready to be a father. “Someday,” I whispered, trying to inject conviction into my voice.Her eyes held mine for a minute or two.I saw disappointment in them, tinged with frustration.“Of course, Lev,” Tione acknowledged flatly. She turned over. “Someday.”
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