Sheila awoke at the morning alarm with a bad taste on her tongue, dryness clinging to the roof of her mouth. She sat up with a hunch like an elderly woman, and feeling just as aged, the sheets slipping off her body slowly.

It had happened all night. A dream that went into a dream, and then another dream. All of them hot, sticky and weird—and so utterly alien. Sheila had to say that it was the first wet dream, well series of them, that she had ever experienced that involved an alien, and it was only familiar in the way of it being a man whose name she didn't know.

That only made her feel dirtier. Dammit. What was his name? Did she even really want to know? Sheila groaned aloud as she folded her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Her head smacked the railing of the top bunk and she cursed.

"You alright?" Emilee was the late riser as always, and peered down at her curiously, "That had to hurt."

"It did. Yeah." Sheila shook her head, her hand falling away from the knot on her scalp. It was going to be one of those days, wasn't it?

The next few minutes she spent hurriedly getting cleaned up and dressed. She had an important meeting in the medical office this morning. Tardiness was a serious offense in the corps no matter the rank. It was also very disrespectful, so Sheila kept schedules as more of a sense of decorum than anything else, although the punishment in the way of running for hours or doing seventy jumping jacks also helped. She had enough trouble in the training room as it was. Even medics were expected to have skills for battle, they had to defined themselves and preserve the lives of their charges.

The marines were one big family she supposed. Sheila started down the hallway and the sangheili came to mind. These sangheili were the only aliens on board, which she was glad for. It wasn't because of them specifically that she felt this way, it was just that she wasn't fond of others like the jiralhanae or kig-yar. Most of the kig-yar were pirates and she knew a friend from high school who had lost her parents to a raid once. Currently kig-yar and human pirate and rebel groups were what the marines were fighting after the Human-Covenant War ended.

Jiralhanae were just terrifying to her. All the marines had been forced to see footage from past war scenes and in one a Jiralhanae male had literally tore a man apart. That was the one time she had vomited from a film. It had been particularly gory.

Sheila saluted an officer who passed her on her left side as she started down another corridor towards the elevator. Once she stood in front of it, she rounded on the panel where the arrows were located and pressed the down arrow and stepped back quickly as the doors opened. One step forward was misdirected as she was pushed back by her own surprise as something big moved forward.

She couldn't help but exhale sharply as she stumbled backwards, her butt slamming into the wall across from the elevator, looking up with wide green eyes at the sangheili male who looked at her with something akin to amusement in his expression.

This sangheili was huge. She was certain she had seen him once before, yesterday during the skirmish in the cafeteria. One of the large group rallying behind the challenger sangheili.

What was with her and running into aliens?

He was heavily muscled, probably even more so than the brash sangheili from the day before. What really set him apart from the others though was his skin. He was mottled and marred entirely with scars. Dark and pale gray lines ran down from one eye with more scar tissue knotted up above his brow on the right side. Jagged scars that looked as if they were made from claws were like lightning bolts down his neck to curve around a bony clavicle that peered out in the wide neck of his uniform.

He grunted lightly, twisting an arm in its socket as he stretched it overhead. He looked down at her. His fangs caught the light as his mandibles extended in what she determined was a smirk, "Did I frighten you, girl?"

Immediately she bristled in response, straightening her spine as she regarded him. Her drunken father used to berate her and called her 'girl' all the time, so she didn't respond well to being called one by title. She was certainly mature enough at age 25 to be referred to as a woman, acknowledgement of her rank would be even better.

"Petty officer Sheila Cast." She corrected him, "And no, I'm fine." She surprised herself by how clinical and firm her voice sounded. Although the sangheili was intimidating, she felt no fear. Perhaps it was because she had been dreaming about one all night?

Thinking about the dreams again made her feel embarrassed, especially as the sangheili began to silently scrutinize her with his golden eyes. Sheila looked away from those bright orbs, and stared at the sharp fangs protruding from his mandibles instead. Suddenly they flared open and this movement startled her and she side stepped away from him.

The sangheili laughed. Sheila swallowed, the sound making her feel nervous. It wasn't a playful sort of laughter, it sounded almost mocking.

"What's so funny?" She asked him, feeling brave after a moment.

He stopped laughing and his golden eyes gleamed down at her as he stepped forward. Sheila stepped back in response, trying to keep her face a calm mask. "You're so much smaller than your males." The sangheili said, "Shouldn't you be at home tending your brood?"

Sheila froze. What? You can't be serious. "What's that supposed to mean?" She couldn't keep the bite out of her voice.

The male just laughed again, shortly, "Females are worthless on the battlefield. Especially your kind. You're only a distraction." The sangheili stepped forward and she couldn't move as his shadow fell over her, and she felt trapped again in alien eyes. "Or an easy target." His golden eyes had sharp black reptilian arcs that eyed her almost predatory, "But not to worry female, if I see you on the field I'll ensure your life is preserved. Maybe you can thank me by warming by bed."

"Y-you can't be serious." Sheila couldn't and found no need to hide the rage in her voice. Of course there were also sexist aliens, "How dare you."

"You're a fiery little thing." The sangheili barked in laughter, his bottom mandibles tucking as he smirked at her again.

Sheila's eyes burned into him a final time before she shoved by him, her head barely reaching his shoulder as she moved into the open elevator. Her nails dug into her palms as she made fists, trembling slightly, trying to contain her anger as she sought the button on the wall that would take her down.

Her eyes saw the shadow too late and she couldn't help gasping as the alien entered the elevator suddenly, and clapped his large clawed hand over the panel she had been staring at only a moment earlier. The elevator doors closed in seconds.

Sheila twisted her chin towards the sangheili, "What are you doing?" She questioned. Her heart began to pick up pace. The elevator lights bleached them in its light and made his scars shine silver in the light. Alien eyes gleamed as they regarded her.

She froze as he moved forward, his legs pushed up by her sides and a hand reached down to rest on her shoulder. Sheila couldn't look away as he caught her green gaze in his flaming gold.

His words were smooth, dark, rumbling, "You remind me of another female. Her mane is darker than yours. Black. As dark as a Jiralhanae bitch." The sangheili grinned his fangs gleaming in his mouth.

Sheila was shocked and a little afraid, and it was enough that she didn't move as he drew a hand towards her face. She winced as he ran a finger down her cheek, the claw catching slightly on skin as it ran down her face slowly.

"She screamed so energetically when I found her. Hiding in a hole in the ground. I pulled her up into the light and she thrashed in my grip. Like a wild animal." The sangheili's hand dropped to her shoulder and ran down her arm, "We had killed her male companions. She was the only one left."

Sheila's heart beat like an approaching thunder in her ears as he bent down. Soon they were face to face, his mandibles sending his hot breath awash over her face to sting her eyes, "T-here are cameras." She said quickly, unable to restrain her fear at last.

He seemed to pause, his golden eyes regarding her almost curiously. The sangheili laughed again, "I do believe I'm making you nervous. Don't worry girl, I won't hurt you. I'm only making talk."

Sheila stepped back, back meeting a wall of the elevator. Her eyes glanced at the panel on the wall. Why wasn't the elevator moving? "Don't touch me." She all but spat at him as he made like he was going to do just that again. He dropped his hand.

"She was my first human." Sheila realized with horror that he was continuing the story. She read enough narratives to know where this was going, "The covenant allowed no females to partake in war, as it should be, so we took what we could when we felt the need."

Sheila drew in a gasping breath as he stood over her again, the alien stretching out both arms to press at the walls around her, effectively caging her in, "She was eager to please me when she realized it would extend her life. That's the one thing I can complement your kind about." His mandibles flared open again and she heard a sound. Like a soft whistle of air. Was he smelling her?

Sheila then saw the holes at the end of his face, almost blending in with his dark complexion and felt him pick up her hair with his breath as he inhaled slowly. She released a shaky gasp as he bent closer and continued in his narrative, "I was in charge of my own troops and they wouldn't dare inform the so-called prophets of my blasphemous activities. After all…" The sangheili's mandibles curved again, "I don't mind sharing what is mine."

Her heart thundered ceaselessly as he bent down closer, and she could see he was missing a few teeth as his mandibles opened up to her again. She wrinkled her nose reflexively at the stink of his breath, "I kept her in my cabin for the rest of the war. Once the war was over-." He paused as if he had considered something.

Sheila breathed at last as he suddenly stepped away from her, a cool air surrounding her suddenly hot body.

"-She begged me to stay." Sheila froze.

"What?" Sheila looked at him with a mixture of horror and fascination.

The sangheili's mandibles flexed with his rumbling laughter, "Surprised? What female wouldn't want to be mine? I give pleasure as well as I take it."

"You're lying." Sheila accused, standing up from straight from where she had been leaning against the wall, "No one would allow it." The very idea was madness.

"That is where you are wrong." The sangheili's posture straightened and his mandibles grinned widely at her. Sheila felt confused as he laughed again, and a little afraid, "Once our treaty was signed there was nothing that could be done. Part of the treaty was an acknowledgement that cultural laws would be upheld by both sides."

Sheila could only stare numbly as he continued. "A Sangheili swordsman cannot marry in his lifetime, under no circumstances, but he is allowed to collect a harem. Those woman can only belong to him, and can never marry. They exist only for pleasure, and most are from family lines derived from honor less bastards. They consider themselves valuable because a male of high renown, like myself, give them value."

The sangheili turned from her then and she watched as he suddenly pressed his palm on the elevator panel. She felt dizzy as the floor shuddered slightly under her feet as the elevator began to move, "So at the end of the great lie that was the covenant, I began my harem with the human Darena Sue Lancaster."

He turned to face her, golden eyes capturing her in their glow, "I saw the way Raju looked at you. He can see what I see." She found she couldn't move as his hand found the side of her face, and the side of his palm caressed her face lightly like a slight brush by the wind, "I don't tell this story to every little female that intrigues me."

He brought his head down again, his too-sharp fangs shining wet in his mouth as he fanned her brow with his hot breath, eyes capturing her own, "I'm quite picky." She swallowed as he drew back to full height. Too tall. She felt pathetic, less, and as nervous as a hare in the shadow of a fox.

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open, but Sheila wasn't moving, wasn't looking at the doors. She was staring with bated breath at the sangheili who had moved towards them but was still very much keeping her gaze with his own.

"So, Sheila Cast. If you decide you want to try a male of a more alien persuasion." He grinned at her with his mandibled fangs glinting cruelly sharp in the light, "Come find me."

He left and with him an oppressing shadow, his words still running through her head. Sheila didn't stop herself as she fell against the wall of the elevator and didn't move as the doors closed on her floor. Slowly she slid against the wall until she was sitting on the ground.

00oo00oo00oo00

"What do you mean?" Sheila couldn't suppress her outrage, and her voice reverberated with it.

"Nado 'Deone is untouchable. He's broken no laws, at least pertaining to his own people, and he didn't cause you physical harm." Beretta's voice and face betrayed perfect calm, a demeanor that conflicted dramatically with Sheila's own rising frustration.

"He touched me." Sheila choked, "Didn't you watch the video feed?"

Beretta sighed behind her desk, running a hand over the short spiky hair on her scalp, "Yes, but he didn't grope you."

"You're joking." Sheila laughed shortly, but it wasn't a humorous laugh. It was a sound on the verge of tears or hysteria, "Whose side? Because that bullshit sounds totally alien to me!"

"Sit down Cast, I can see why you're upset," The other woman said, "But we can't revise the treaty as we've only been in it for a few decades. We need the sangheili, it's a slippery relationship at times, but they're powerful allies. The covenant is split into small groups but these leftover covies still have some major pieces of foreunner technology, not to mention these blasted pirates. The bastards are trying to pick us clean." Beretta drew in a long breath, leaning back in her chair. "Damn vultures." Sheila knew she referred to the kig-yar specifically. Rumor had it that she absolutely detested the race, though no one knew the full details as to why.

"So he can get away with holding a woman hostage and assaulting her for how long then?" Sheila asked exasperated, "Doesn't she have rights?"

Beretta gave her a no nonsense sort of look and tucked her arms onto her desk. She released a drawn out sigh. "Documentation by professionals' show she consented to her situation, and by Sangheili customs, she is in an official relationship with Deone. People in these situations are actually granted status in the Sangheili community." Beretta casually began flipping through papers on her desk, and this did nothing to alleviate Sheila's growing anxiety, "She is pretty much capable of sharing his name, and on the planet she cannot be harmed or publically attacked because of his influence. There are laws that protect citizens, and Darena Sue Lancaster-'Deone' is considered one of their own citizenry."

"This." Sheila's breathe cut free from her lips in a sharp exhale, "This isn't right. Did you hear what he said about her? He had to have brainwashed the woman or something…maybe she was scared—"

The woman jumped a bit as Beretta smacked her palm against her desktop with a resounding thud, a slip of paper falling to the floor. Beretta shook her hand, wincing, then gave Sheila a stern look, "Listen, he goaded you. I get it. He's a womanizing manipulative alien with some weird human fetish, but that's not the point. Cast, you cannot, will not, pursue this. Leave it alone, just stay out of Deone's way."

"But—"

"Aye, listen!" Beretta snapped this time, in the voice she used when they ran drills. Sheila quieted immediately by reflex, eyes cast down to her feet, "If he walks down the hall, walk the other way. If he tries to talk to you, report it to another officer or come to me. You're going to pretend this alien is as far out of your radar as he can possibly get, do we have an understanding?"

"Yes ma'am." Sheila said clearly but her eyes were fogged with indecision. She bit at her lip as Beretta looked her over with narrowed eyed. She hadn't expected her morning to end like this. It was disheartening and aggravating. She had barely been able to communicate with the doctors at the meeting and had jabbed a patient twice because she had been distracted enough to miss his vein during a blood sample.

"You're excused." Beretta moved to collect the paper that had fallen from her desk.

Sheila stood there for a moment before quietly leaving the room, feeling like a puppy with its tail tucked low. She didn't care that her subconscious seemed to have sexual alien preferences. This sangheili had altered her perceptions of his kind dramatically, and she would not make the mistake of interacting with one of them again. She remembered the sangheili from the cafeteria and his smoldering eyes, his assertiveness with her.

She would not let it happen again.

00oo00oo00oo00

Unfortunately for her, the aliens were very much a part of their crew and later that day, after lunch where Sheila kept her back and eyes to every sangheili she could, there was an announcement.

"Meet up in the blue room. AI team simulations. If you're late you get the shitty equipment, so late arrivals are already six feet under." Beretta stood off to the side of the doors and ushered them out of the cafeteria.

Emilee and Sheila moved swiftly through the crowd that moved down the corridor like a sea flush with fish. She casually bumped arms and legs in the crowd as was to be expected with her fellow humans, but was very aware of a sangheili only five feet away from her and kept up a speedy pace to avoid him. Emilee had to hold onto her arm to not be separated from her suddenly impatient friend, but luckily didn't seem to notice her sudden xenophobic attitude.

"Looking forward to the sim?" Emilee asked as they turned down another corridor past the rows of doors leading to the male dormitories.

Sheila was and told her yes. Simulations weren't dangerous, and she really felt like shooting someone today. Which was probably not a good thing for a medic to want. She was supposed to heal people after all, not cause them harm.

Those people however, were her own. Sheila wasn't sure what she would do with an injured sangheili. She wasn't as confident with their anatomy and had shied away from the guides her fellow medic in office, Evelin Gracie, had shown her. Sheila knew that because of the Sangheilios and Earth alliance formed after the war that she would be expected to eventually learn about their bodies, but for now, she had had more than enough of naked aliens.

Now every sangheili she saw seemed to wear an evil smirk in their mandibles and they all seemed to have the same intensity in their eyes as Nado 'Deone. Sheila gritted her teeth when she recalled that specific sangheili. She hadn't been so thoroughly disgusted in a long time. She hoped this simulation was a free for all, because she knew exactly who she would be placing in her crosshairs…

Not so much fortune as she thought. Sheila sighed as they lined up, already aware of the telltale signs that they were probably going to be split up into groups to combat simulations of pirates.

Commander Beretta and Major Evan Merico crossed the room to stand in front of the lines of marines as everyone lined up in an orderly fashion which became a swifter endeavor at a sharp clap from Beretta, "Move people, straighten up that formation. Front facing me!"

Their commander clasped her hands together, feet apart, and spine straight. Her pale blue eyes drew over their formation for a long moment before she spoke, "Good, alright soldiers, we have a jungle environment today. Kig-yar pirates. There will be sniper units and cannons so keep your eyes peeled. Environmental factors will be included. Don't fall into any sand pits or you will have penalties."

Major Merico stepped forward, "I will be grading your performance today, but I'm also a team leader. Commander Beretta and I will be monitoring your progress, and we will both represent two individual teams between us. We will not take part, but will merely observe."
Beretta smiled wryly, "Like mascots out of costume. But if my team disappoints me, I'm not going to be cheerful about it."

Merico's cool expression didn't alter, his mouth still in its usual thin line. He reminded Sheila of a professor she once had in high school. Stern never smiling. Mr. Stevens, biology 101. Beretta was more like her coach in volleyball. Loud, sarcastic, and sometimes pleasantly light hearted. The two seemed to balance one another out.

"Because there are so many of you, there will be sub groups of a much larger group." Beretta continued, holding up a pda, "On the walls to the right of the room are lists that label the groups. Find your name on the list and meet at the designated area to find your groups. No dallying about, get it done."

With that they were released to crowd over to the lists on the wall. People went up to the papers spread out in a neat line on the wall and quickly scanned the sheet for their name and then dispersed to find their team.

Soon Sheila had pushed through the crowd and walked alongside the wall, eyes quickly looking through the many names until she found her own at the bottom of the third slip.

Amanda Bagby, Scottie Davidson, Palo—

Sheila stiffened when her eyes scanned the very alien name at the bottom of the column. Palo Hanee.

Of course. The day she swore of contact with aliens she just happened to be stuck in a group with one. Sheila crossed her arms as she made her way through the crowd, unable to avoid scanning the people around her, eyes lingering on the sangheili there. She wondered which one was to be her team member.

She remembered her team designation: Black 3. At the far end of the room were a series of doors labelled with colors and numbers. It was here that they would be hooked up into the simulation. Behind these doors was an incredibly dark room. Her first time in simulation the chill and darkness had intimidated her. She had felt certain that dark space had been held within it and that soon she would suffocate in the void and lose all of herself in that oblivion.

The very first simulations were known to be stressful so it hadn't been surprising to hear about people having panic attacks or hurling after trying out the pre-environments. Once the loading stage was down with however, it was magical to see a huge world suddenly open up to you.

Sheila remembered her first simulation. A forest thick with fog, with trees that reached so high they blocked the sky. Rebel forces. A sniper had managed to nick her shoulder and she had perished to a trip mine that had been positioned at a cave entrance. Simulations often felt very real, so it was both exciting and terrifying. She could honestly say she had died twelve times now. Still, dying never got old. There was enough pain to make it feel real enough but it was the thought of it that was really scary. Death snuck up on you, and it was sobering to realize that in real life, it would be one slip up…one trap, and no more second chances.

Fifteen doors stretched out across the wide wall, and she moved to the black one with the large letter 3 stretched over its entirety. There was already a woman there, this Amanda Bagby she had yet to be acquainted with. They met eye to eye, and the woman smiled and she returned it on a reflex, "Hello, Sheila cast?" The woman's voice was light and airy, positive, her unusually pale blue eyes reflecting the same lightness.

"That's me." Sheila held out a hand and they shook.

Hearing foot pads they turned to see the last two members of their group walk over. Sheila breathed in deeply at the sight of the huge alien striding in equal measure with the human male who obviously was doing his best to walk fast enough to keep at the alien's side.

Her breath froze in her lungs when the sangheili was in front of them. Her heart picked up pace. She felt dizzy. There was something very familiar about this alien. It was startling, this sudden realization. She had seen him before…but where? The cafeteria?

When Sheila stared at his mandibles for a moment, it suddenly hit her like a shock of electricity. Oh shit.

His skin was less bleached out in this light, not like it had been in the bathroom, but yes, it was that sangheili. The one who had been stimulating Nancy with his dick.

Fuck me. Out of all the aliens here, it had to be that one. Sheila felt horrified and knew they were all looking at her, confused at her silence and the gaping of her mouth as she stared at the sangheili in front of her.

"Are you alright?" Scottie asked, "You look like you're ready to vomit. Is this your first sim?"

Sheila shook away her daze with a quick drop of her chin, unable to look at the sangheili any longer. This was absolutely mortifying, though she quickly told her teammates she was alright with a false too-sweet smile on her face, doing her best to keep from making eye contact with Palo who she felt was drilling holes in the back of her head with his stare.

This would not end well. Sheila faintly wondered if a sniper would kill her or if she would just slip off the edge of a cliff and pretend she had slipped.

00oo00oo00oo00

They were instructed to step single file into the dark room after applying the sensory pads on their heads, shoulders, chests, hips. Pretty much on all the major bones of the body. Then came the secondary stickers which were placed over large muscle groups. Finally they swallowed a pill to help the process start smoothly, suppressing any major panic attacks or nausea and the door was closed behind them, and they were trapped in the inky all compressing darkness of the room.

Sheila shivered in the cool of it, still feeling as if her feet could drop out from under her at any moment, jettisoned in the cold unforgiving deepness of space. The feeling of vertigo was overwhelming, and she did her best to take in slow even breaths, trying to ignore the sangheili she knew was standing at her side.

Suddenly in the silence it was like a shot in the air. A sudden explosion of color. Like fireworks, the world burst into life all around them, drawing them in like a suddenly living canvas. Air drew around them, the sun warmed their skin…the air was alive with the buzzing of insects.

They were now standing in a jungle, lush green twisting trees, vines draped over massive branches thick with a heavy covering of moss. Long fingers of light made spots on the floor of the tropical forest.

Sheila stepped forward and heard the moist crunch of vegetation and twigs under her boot. It always felt so real. It only made it all the scarier.

It was also quiet. There was not a bird or monkey screeching into the air. Not a flutter of movement in the trees.

Still. Too still.

They were also suddenly in light armor, their faces open, a camo patterned cap over their heads. Amusingly enough, their faces were also painted, all except for their sangheili partner who seemed to have entered the simulation in alien armor of a darker color than what he had been wearing. This time however, a sleekly curved helm sat atop his head.

They each felt a weight on their backs and felt behind them and pulled their weapons to the front to examine them. Rifles. Holstered at their hips were also pistols. The sangheili held his rifle up to the light.

"I suppose this will do." The sangheili spoke and Sheila looked at him in surprise, though she knew it shouldn't have been one. They were teammates and were going to have to communicate regardless of her personal issues.

Maybe he would be different. Whatever his personality, what was really making her shy about working him was the bathroom scene she had been privy to last night. Sheila couldn't help her eyes drifting to his pelvis. His endowment had been quite large, and she imagined it hiding behind the seam of his groin, wet and ready.

Sheila felt her face flush when she thought of his cock again. She hadn't felt his embarrassed and stupid since she was a teenager. Her first time with a boy. Ugh. So awkward. She really hated herself right now for thinking this way.

"Okay." Scottie's voice dragged her back to reality and their situation, "Keep your senses alert, they could be hiding in the trees, or even in the underbrush. We got this."

He seemed to think he was designated team leader so he began walking and we followed. No one seemed to question it, or care. Sheila certainly didn't feel capable of playing a leadership role at the moment. She felt too unstable. The sangheili, Palo, merely followed quietly, and Sheila was very aware of every crisp sound his large feet made on the earth behind her.

The jungle trees stretched around them, and massive green roots cut the ground up into irregular knots of earth that forced them to climb over a few, wet leaves sticking to the front of their outfits as they continued onward.

So far they hadn't encountered any enemies and Sheila was feeling almost bored until she heard a cracking sound and there was a scattering of dust on a root near her foot. She glanced the hole the shot had made in the bark before she rolled onto the ground, her team doing the same.

Suddenly the jungle erupted in shots. Sniper trained.

There was a frenzied panic and Amanda ran off in one direction while Scottie fell backwards over a tree root with a cry. Palo rolled gracefully near where Sheila lay, and she watched the muscles of his thick legs stretch and move like a coiled machine as he crouched only to burst forward, firing volleys into a grove of shorter trees nearby.

There was a guttural alien cry as a kig-yar burst from the trees, holding a shoulder that was gushing thick blue blood, moving to lift his gun up with his uninjured gun while moving away from them in a zig-zagging run.

Sheila quickly reached her feet and fired off a shot towards the fleeing pirate and grinned as her shot smacked the alien in the thigh, grounding him.

Amanda was quick to finish the job, running up brazenly with a pistol shot into the alien's skull.

So far so good.

"There was more than one." Scottie said suddenly and Sheila looked to him just as another shot broke the silence. She looked at her companion, horrified, as a sudden spread of dark wetness soiled his front. He had stumbled back in response to the force of it and now was looking down at his chest in horror. Sheila watched, cursing, as Scottie's eyes rolled back into his head and he 'died' from his wound, his body disappearing in front of their eyes.

"Oh shit." Amanda said as shots sprayed the ground around them, "Go!"

Their team quickly rolled over roots and sprinted through the trees, hearing the enemy in pursuit behind them. Sheila knew the sound of their feet well. Too fast, too crisp.

Skirmishers. Deadly, fast, far too accurate. If they didn't gain ground fast, it would all be over far too soon.

"Follow me." Palo commanded suddenly, and he veered off the path and into a thicker knotting of trees. They followed his lead like scared sheep, all too aware of the foot pads of approaching predators that were far better equipped naturally than they were.

It was hard keeping up with the longer legged alien, and the way he drew his legs over large roots and obstructions in their path was almost supernatural. He had this, well, alien grace to him.

Sheila also couldn't help but notice how tight but also nicely rounded his ass was.

Get your mind out of the gutter! Sheila couldn't understand how she could hate this race one moment and then be ogling them another. It was exhausting. Perplexing.

Suddenly Palo stopped and Sheila stopped just in time to avoid running into his back with the full of her face. The sangheili turned on her, "Where is Bagby?" He questioned.

They looked around, unable to find Amanda. Suddenly Sheila turned behind them at the sound of girlish scream sounding off not too distantly, and the cackling sound of a kig-yar cry of victory

The sangheili suddenly seized her shoulder in his warm leathery grip and spun her around, and Sheila blinked rapidly in surprise as his dark eyes peered into her own.

"We must go." Palo said in that smooth tilting accent of his. He released her and turned to stride quickly through the underbrush, obviously expecting her to follow. Sheila quickly followed his lead.

00oo00oo00oo00

Soon they were resting in a thick grove of jungle trees blossoming with bright yellow flowers that permeated the air with a sticky sweet scent. Sheila rested on a rock near the roots of one while her sangheili companion merely leaned his weight against a tree, the low hanging canopy falling over one shoulder like a mantle.

"We are safe here, for now." The sangheili, Palo, told her. The hum of his voice betraying his pleasure, "If these simulations are as true to life as they should be, the kig-yar pirates will not find us here."

"Why?" Sheila asked, because although she was still shy around the sangheili, she was also very curious.

"These flowers." The alien reached to his shoulder and slipped his long fingers around a bunch of blossoms with a gentleness that surprised her, "The scent is strong. Too fragrant. Kig-yar have a great sense of smell. They will not be able to follow us by it here."

Sheila released a whoosh of air in relief. That did sound good. She was awfully tired of running. This simulation was always too real. She never ceased to ache after even a twenty-minute session. She wasn't even sure how long they had been in this jungle. The trees were like the forest simulation she had participated in long ago. You couldn't see the sky the canopies reached so high and spread so thickly…

"You are Sheila Cast?" Palo started suddenly, "A medic?"

She turned to him, feeling wary, "Yes." She said slowly, "What about it?"

Palo looked thoughtful, quiet for a moment before speaking again, "Do you work on my kind?"

Sheila turned clinical at that moment, feeling a rush of action from her eyes and her mind as she scanned the sangheili in front of her. It was always the same, any instance, even an idea of a wound and she was looking at the person, searching for evidence of one. He seemed fine.

"Yes, I am." She said, "Are you hurt?"

The alien watched her with dark eyes, "No, I was merely curious. Forgive me for prying."

Sheila was surprised at the apology. This alien kept on surprising her. She supposed not all sangheili were the same? This one seemed much quieter in his manners than the others. He lacked that intensity in his motions that tense, warrior stance. He seemed almost relaxed and she watched as he admired a bloom resting on a lower mandible from the bough at his shoulder, his sharp claws sweeping over a petal and around it…very gentle, unwilling to tear a single petal.

"You are Nancy's friend?"

The question brought her out of her thoughts in a jolt. Sheila eyes moved only to be caught up in her companion's dark gaze, his eyes shining in what little light they had like dark stones in a river caught in a scattering glow.

"Yes." Sheila answered honestly. She wasn't sure where this was going, but she felt a sense of uneasiness.

The sangheili seemed to lean into the tree more, and there was a slight creaking sound as he displaced his weight, "She is a lovely woman." He said.

Sheila wondered where this was going and could not find a reply to his comment. What was she supposed to say to that? All she could think of was the bathroom scene again. Maybe she could just come out and say it: I saw your penis. I'm super awkward around you because of it.

Ugh.

"She's a good friend." Sheila said instead.

Palo tilted his head at her once, bottom mandibles splaying open slowly, "Yes she is." He agreed, "She has many good traits."

I'm sure she does. Sheila once again tried to think about anything other than the scene out of interspecies porn, but failed.

"You seem uncomfortable." Palo said suddenly, and Sheila turned her head at him with wide eyes.

Crap. "I'm fine." She said suddenly, almost aggressive in the tone of her voice.

The sangheili took a step forward and startled Sheila as he suddenly crouched over her. The woman quickly straightened up in her seat.

"Are you afraid of me?" Palo asked her, and she couldn't determine the emotion of his vocals.

"No, of course not." Sheila said suddenly, feeling a flush come over her cheeks.

Suddenly the sangheili seemed to have a shine to his expression, his mandibles turning up as he regarded her, "Oh, I understand." He drew his head closer to her and flexed his fanged mandibles again, too sharp, too close. She flinched, "You are merely aroused."

Sheila choked on her own tongue. She felt a flush redder and hotter than anything she felt in a long while come over her neck and face.

What the fuck. How-?

The sangheili backed off, giving her space. Sheila felt that it wasn't enough. This wasn't happening. Did he really just say what she thought he said?

"I apologize." Palo said quickly, mandibles spreading out in an almost helpless way, shrugging, apologetic. Well those were the signs she was getting from his tone alone. "I did not mean to embarrass you. I was merely making an observation."

"What the hell Palo." Sheila all but yelled, though she felt she was on the brink of a scream, "What gave you that idea?"

The sangheili made a slight shrugging motion with his mandibles again, his dark eyes meeting her own, "Your behavior betrayed female interest." He paused, "And your scent was quite strong earlier."

Scent? He can smell—oh fuck me. Sheila wanted to scream in frustration and also cry in laughter. A spill of hysteria. Of all the things to happen to her today…

"Does this interest derive from your spying last night?"

Sheila felt she could die. At that very moment.

"H-how? I don't." She stammered, unable to meet his now very interested gaze.

The sangheili's voice was full of humor now, his words a-bounce, "Did you not see the mirror behind my Nancy? Your eyes were quite vibrant with your interest."

My Nancy? "Stop talking." Sheila snapped, trying to hold ground even as she felt her knees grow weak.

"Does my interest offend you?" He asked innocently.

She gaped at him. Interest? Wait, he's interested?

"What?"

Palo moved closer and she stood just and fell back against the bark of a one of the flowering trees, the boughs of lively green and yellow blossoms falling over her face and shoulders.

The sangheili drew himself around her by full size alone, one of his long digitigrade legs, what looked like his long ankle, drawing up at her thigh. Trapping her in the width of his hips and the full length of his legs. She could smell something like leather and watched the beads of moisture from the jungle air slide down his metal breastplate.

Palo's dark eyes turned their gaze down at her, ensnaring her own in their intensity. That familiar alien intensity that was slowly driving her insane.

He didn't move to touch her, his hands rested at his sides, but in the turn of his shoulders and the position of his legs, he was close enough, "Am I making you uncomfortable, Sheila Cast?"

"I..." Sheila couldn't speak. She didn't know what to say.

Suddenly he drew back, "I apologize for calling you out." She gaped at the sincerity in his voice. She watched as he collected his rifle again, "Come, we must keep moving."

She realized she had slid to a seating position, too distracted to realize she had taken a seat when he had released her from his entrapping presence. He reached down to her with his free hand. His huge hand. Two long alien fingers with two shorter appendages. Leathery, gray, with a warmer brown at the palm. She stared at his offered hand.

Tentatively, she slipped her hand in his own, like an infants in a father's sturdy grip, and he pulled her to her feet.

Once she was on her feet she took in a deep breath, unable to meet the alien's eyes. Palo was not looking at her however, he seemed focused on reloading his gun. Soon though, he looked to her again, "Come, let us find a suitable position in the trees. It is due time to tip the scales."

Sheila could only follow silently as he lead the way through the green twisting bodies of the trees, now more unable than ever to focus on the task at hand, her eyes firmly concentrated on the very well-shaped posterior of Palo Hanee.

Shit.

Hope you kids enjoyed! (By the way if you're kids, get the fuck out, to put that eloquently. Stay sweet...and in school) XP

This chapter took a while to put out…sorry! I had ten pages written for the past month, but I just now added five more pages and worked in the edits. Hope I didn't rush too many scenes. I like to write well while delivering solid content…I try. ^-^

Not much smut in this one…but will be a bunch in the next. Definitely. ;3 There will be different characters of sangheili to enjoy, Palo is our more 'romantic' one. If you enjoyed post a review, I like to hear from my readers. Thanks for reading, stay tuned for the smut train.