A/N: Another MK fill. General Partinax is the property of BioWare. He doesn't appear in the Mass Effect games (yet?), but rather is a prominent figure in the ongoing turian warfare on Taetrus in the Cerberus Daily News updates put out by BioWare. He first appears in the 06/02/2185 CDN update. Click on the "Taetrus" tag on that entry and start at the beginning if you want the full context for this ficlet.

Enjoy! Reviews are much appreciated.

The first shot knocked Kihilix Tanus off his feet, and the second snuffed out his life, but the General kept firing until his weapon overheated. Just to make sure.

If the shouting duel observers gave him any pause, it did not show. When the dead rebel's retinue attempted to storm the barricade, he did not flinch. He merely turned and walked off the field. His face was impassive as he was escorted by his forces back to his armored motorcade. Green eyes clear and focused, mandibles firmly held at his jawline but not clenched, posture straight. On the shuttle to his flagship, high above the duel site, he did not look out the window. After some minutes, the vid screen in front of him flared to life.

"General Partinax, sir. Congratulations on your victory. What are your orders?"

He inclined his head briefly, acknowledging his subordinate. "Give our people and the separatists thirty minutes to get back to their positions. Then resume bombardment, unless they happen to surrender." The last phrase was delivered wryly; although the duel between himself and the separatist leader had purportedly been to avoid further bloodshed, all but the most naive had understood beforehand that the rebels would not concede. They would force the matter out of pride and obstinacy, and more turians would die until one side or the other suffered too many casualties to continue. And that side would be the separatist side, eventually. They didn't have numbers on their side. But...the duel had been worth a try, anyway, and the outcome would be an asset for the Hierarchy's public relations efforts.

"Understood, sir."

"Dismissed." The vid screen powered down just as the shuttle docked. His guards-spirits, he hated having to be escorted everywhere like some kind of starlet-whisked him to his private quarters, transferring "custody" to the security detail at his door. Still, he thanked them, saluted them. Ever since Tanus had first called him out, making him a target for the galactic media and crackpots everywhere, they had worked tirelessly to prevent his untimely assassination.

General Partinax turned and walked through the door, savoring the moment it hissed shut behind him, locking out the rest of the world.

"My love," said his mate, turning from the window to face him. Her mandibles drew down and away in a smile that was at once sympathetic and mischievous. "Welcome back."

"It is done," he said simply, making his way to her side.

She took his hand in hers, once again looking out at the stars. "They will keep fighting."

"Yes."

She knew the way of it. She was as much a soldier as he, though her forces were not currently deployed on Taetrus. They would be brought in if Partinax's troops were badly depleted, a thought neither of them relished. She was here ahead of her fleet, granted dispensation to be present for his duel. And to collect his dead body, if he had lost.

"Well," she said, interrupting his thought. "We will discuss strategy later. I believe I made you a promise. Another sort of duel, as you'll recall." Her amber eyes glinted as she drifted further into his space and caressed the side of his neck with her palm.

He bent close, flicking gently at her mandibles with his own. "Indeed you did."

The only good thing about spending so much time apart from his mate was rediscovering her each time they reunited. How her fluttering mandible kisses tickled and teased. How beautiful her spidery white colony marks were against her dark bronze face. How formidable she was when put to any challenge at all, martial or personal. She drew him over to the bedcushions in the middle of the room and they undressed, snapping apart the closures on each others' dress uniforms. A brush of the carapace on newly bared flesh here, a graze of the talons across fringes and collars there. When their clothes lay on the floor, he ducked to the side of her face and rasped his tongue along her neck, causing her to groan.

"Lie down, love," she soothed, pressing him down into the cushions and settling next to him. He stroked her lovely notched hips and her strong thighs as they nuzzled, and felt her hands running along the plate ridges of his back. She shifted and resettled herself, and he shuddered as she began to rub him, one finger on each side of the slot from which his shaft would soon emerge, the pad of her thumb working just below it. He could feel his sensitive tip pushing through now, glistening in the light and hardening in response to her touch.

"Be fair, darling," he murmured, beckoning. "You're having all the fun." She looked up at him and grinned at him the same way she had when they first met. He chuckled as she brought her hips around and positioned her sex above his face. The chuckle abruptly became a gasp as she went back to work on him, this time lapping sweetly, careful not to scrape. The scent of her drove him wild. He fondled her waist and licked at her in response, alternating between dipping his tongue inside and circling it around the edges of her opening, the way he knew she liked it. It never took long for them to make it to the first climax. Soon he bucked, spilling into her hand as he moaned against her slit. She gave a little cry, shivering and curling her toes. And as usual, recovery from the first climax was almost immediate.

She dismounted and sat, legs spread open just for him. "So, my dear. How would you like it next? Anything you want."

"Bend for me," he growled.

She gathered cushions and propped herself up on them, her rear high in the air. He knelt and positioned his slot right against her entrance; this way, his cock would never hit the outside air. It slid straight from his body into hers-a slippery, intimate secret between them. Her heels came up against the backs of his thighs as he thrust into her. Pleasure and contentment welled up through his system.

"Please," she breathed. "Please, that spot."

That spot deep inside her, yes. The one that made her crazy. He couldn't help but smile to himself as crouched a bit and angled for it with his next stroke. She mewled and clenched and bounced against him, begging him with her body to keep going. He held and petted her waist as she thrust back on him.

"Peak for me, my sweet. Let me hear you. Let me feel it, so I can remember it when we're apart," he urged her hoarsely. "And when I remember, I'll write you one of my special messages and tell you all about it." She wailed and ground back against him, teeth bared and gnashing as her insides gripped him. It set him soaring and crashing into his own release, sending a hot gush of his seed into his writhing mate.

They collapsed sideways, and after they caught their breath, she rolled over to face him. They clasped hands and nuzzled for a few minutes, resting, and then she whispered:

"You remember my promise, beloved? How I said I'd make you come once for each year of our marriage, when you returned from your duel?"

The General laughed aloud, the first time he had done so in at least six cycles. "How could I forget such a thing? And I insist on matching your efforts. One for one, at the very least. It is only fair."

She snapped her teeth at him playfully. "I have always loved your sense of justice." Rolling atop him, she asked, "Shall we continue?"

"Yes."

"Or would you like to rest a while longer?"

She was teasing, of course. But just to make certain, he grabbed her wrists and locked his spurs tightly to hers as he gave his answer:

"No."

"...So, I slipped away from the group and ran by his door and took those pictures and then this huge security guard came over and broke my cam, but not before I was able to hit 'send,'" crowed the human. "And that's why they're booting me out of Taetran space. So what do you think? I did good, right? I caught General Partinax leaving his quarters after having an 'overnight.' Looks like a rent boy to me, I dunno. Take a look at the one where I got a full face shot."

There was a long silence as the bureau chief flipped through the pics on his terminal, and then there was an exasperated sigh. "You ass. You ass. No wonder they're fucking sending you home. It's not because you took a picture of anything secret, it's because you're dumb as a stump!"

"Huh? What do you mean? Those are primo! We've got an exclusive on a scandal!"

"You told me you'd studied up on turians, Michael. In particular, the military. You lied to me."

Michael gulped. "I don't get it," he whined.

"No, you clearly don't. Let me help you. Number one: turians don't give a rat's ass what their officials do in their private lives, as long as it doesn't interfere with the quality of their work. He could be on the cover of Fornax doing a daisy chain with men, women, and varren, and it wouldn't matter to the Hierarchy as long as he won his campaign. So, not a hot scoop for us, either. Number two: that other person in the General's quarters? Yeah, I'm looking at that pic right now. That's not a male. You said you were familiar with turians, but you can't even tell their men from their women." The chief was getting more and more worked up.

"But I—"

"Shut up. I'm just getting started. Number three: you said you knew about the turian military, yet you cannot identify the person in this picture with General Partinax. It is, in fact, Admiral Nauda Laedius. She's in her dress uniform. It shows her rank right on her tunic, for fuck's sake!"

"Ooh, having an affair with a superior—"

"She's his WIFE, you imbecile! They've been married for twenty two years!"