AN: Thank you all for the feedback thus far, as always please feel free to let me know what you like, what you want to see more of, and any other questions or criticism you may have with the story.

Watch your Back

0958 Hours, Early Fall 7th, 1994 (Local Time) Corneria City, CDSS

Logan rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned for the third time that morning.

World Studies was certainly more interesting to him than the human equivalent, as Miss Cunningham detailed the various cultural differences between worlds in the Lylat System which were all new to the human exchange student. If last night hadn't gone on as long as it had he wouldn't be quite so tired.

Putting his hand up to answer a question about Papetoon's canine population, the wolfess teacher gave him a smile that forgave the drowsiness her most unusual student was trying to hide.

Watching Fara take the next question, he mused idly about the group of friends he'd been roped into. It was a little surprising how quickly he was able to forget the alien aspect of their species and just see the animal traits as another part of their personality, but perhaps that was because they were easier to relate to than the Covenant.

The Covenant...

Even now, memory of those darker days seemed somewhat unreal, like an old wound he'd been trying to forget. Jones scratched out some crosshatching on the page his stylus was highlighting.

Even disregarding the way he was from spending so much time moving around on starships, Logan struggled in connecting with his peers. Other humans of his generation were mostly of a similar disposition due to the circumstances of the great war, but over here in Lylat, there was a sort of peaceful normalcy that he intrinsically lacked.

He might say he was jealous, in a way. That they were whole and part of him was broken.

It was a thirst he felt to belong, that he never knew he had until Miyu and the others extended their friendship. There was no home for him back on Tribute, no longer a war to dedicate himself to with the UNSC. The fledgling partnership with the Cornerians offered some unique opportunities for humans now, if the rumors of war were to be believed, then the Lylat System was going to be the next frontline.

Jones palmed his stylus and relaxed to the sound of Miss Cunningham's voice.

They all had different skill sets; Fox and Falco the ace pilots, Miyu and Fay aiming for Interceptor roles, Slippy a brilliant Engineer, and Fara, Katt, and Bill excellent pilots in their own right, evidently. He was from soldier's stock, a ground fighter. Whatever was coming, he'd be there to keep them safe in his own way.

The bell rang, and blinking, Logan gathered up his things as he walked with the girls to the next period.

"So you actually own a scratching post?"

"Well yeah hun," Katt's chemistry vials were attentively filled with multicolored liquids as she answered her partner for the lesson, "It's a great stress reliever, and I use it in between manicures on my claws."

"Makes sense I guess," the human boy muttered as he took an offered vial and watched her mix the others.

"Have a good time last night sugar?" The pink feline spared a glance to smirk.

"Just because you and Miyu clean house in cards doesn't mean you have to rub it in, Monroe."

"Whatever you say hun, you should step up your game."

"Card sharks..."

She laughed, and as the vials turned a smokey green with an acidic odor, they started filling out the results on their tablets.

"What are you up to tonight?" Katt asked.

Jones shrugged as he began safely pouring out the chemistry lesson's vials. "Miyu wanted to swing by the VR training pods with Fox and Falco, and I promised to start showing them some rifle work later down at the range."

"Ohh, sounds fun. I was always more of a blaster girl myself."

"Come on by if you've got some time, maybe you can show me up."

The pink cat smirked again, "Something tells me you like us girls pushing you around."

Logan paused in his clean up and straightened up to stare Katt in the eye, his face an inch from her muzzle.

"You really want to find out kitten?" He asked huskily.

They stared each other down in mock seriousness before breaking down in laughter, and earning a glare from the chem teacher.

Lunchtime found Logan waiting in line through the cafeteria, taking a plate of what looked like Cornerian goulash(or some kind of more edible dog food) and some warm buns of quikbread, a mainstay in the easily produced spacing food industry.

He thought it strange at first, there being a fair amount of the sort of long shelf life food usually found on starships here in a school cafeteria, but it did make sense that the companies might sponsor the student meals for the advertising. Most of those same students would be serving amongst their biggest customers, and at least they tasted better than UNSC MREs. He'd never forget the misery of a lukewarm veggie omlette. Never.

He was just filling a glass with some milk when someone walked up to him.

"You're the new guy from human space, right?"

Jones turned to look at who was addressing him, and with mild surprise recognized the lupine Cornerian he was talking about yesterday with Fay.

"That's me, can I help you?"

The grey-furred teenager had the same jacket on as last time, and a borderline hostile look slapped on his muzzle. Logan regarded the flint chips of the teen's eyes with wariness, he looked like he could take care of himself well enough.

"You know anything about when they're opening up citizenship?"

Then, the hard look in the lupine's eye made sense, and Logan recognized another life touched by war. He resisted the inclination to ask why, out of courtesy.

"No exact date, but I don't mind answering a few questions if you've got them. C'mon."

The pair walked away from the lunch line with their trays, and the human was aware of a few whispers. Evidently the grey teen's reputation was frightening.

"Wolf O'Donnel," the Cornerian said when they sat down across from each other, "If you hadn't already heard."

Like yesterday, the lupine's rebellious attitude was apparent, and he certainly came off as abrasive enough you wouldn't make small talk. Of all the Cornerians he'd met thus far, except perhaps James, Logan recognized the wolf had seen his own share of violence and come out hardened by it.

"Logan Jones," replied the human teen neutrally.

"Hm." Satisfied he wasn't going to pointlessly probe or gossip, the wolf nodded, "So where in human space are you from?"

"The planet Tribute, it's part of what we call the Inner Colonies, a number of planets arranged close to our homeworld Earth. The further settlements are across planets in what we call the Outer Colonies. What exactly did you want to know?"

Wolf's poker face was excellent, while Logan might guess there was some history of war there, he couldn't figure anything else from the impassive lupine face.

"Its a new frontier for us, couple years and both sides of the galaxy are going to want someone from the other side as negotiators, consultants, mercs, you name it. I'm just getting started early."

Logan's eyebrows rose, "Smart enough, might be a lot of money in that kind of move if you make it earlier than most."

"You're here on some exchange, your group planning on throwing any of us their way?"

"Not that I know of yet, but its going to happen fairly soon." Jones ate a spoonful of the warm Cornerian goulash/kibble, and finding it nice and meaty despite the filler swallowed down some more with a torn corner of a bun, "I'm not important enough to have any say, but if they ask for volunteers I can pass your name along."

O'Donnel's muzzle relaxed just the slightest tad, and he nodded in affirmation. Logan got the impression he wasn't a person who asked anybody anything very often. The lupine dug into his own meal, and the two ate quietly with scattered conversation.

"You're from military roots, huh?"

"Brother is, stationed with some other advisors at the CDF HQ."

"Pilot? Soldier? POG?"

Logan snorted, "Okay, you heard that one from us for sure. No, he's a ground pounder."

Wolf bared a small toothy smirk, "Your lingo's pretty popular with the CDF lately, you'd think some of the boots around here came off the shuttle with you they spout it off so much."

"Some things never change, green guys over on our end do that too. Everyone thinks they're an expert." He stated with finger quotes.

O'Donnel made a dismissive snort, "Feh, that'll change when they end up on a two way range. Real quick."

Logan paused, and swirled the milk in his cup, staring into nothing.

"Yeah...it does..."

The pair were quiet then. It was unsaid, but both knew somewhat that the other had seen things. Neither saw the need to bring it up.

"What do you think of Venom planning an offensive in a few years?" Logan asked offhandedly.

The lupine kept eating, "Andross is cracked, but the people there are desperate enough to fall for whatever he sells them."

"How so?"

He snorted and pointed his fork at the human, "During the Macbeth civil war Venom was strip mined as part of the arms race between the powers involved, a proxy war, get it? After the hostilities they dumped their toxic waste material on the planet, only problem was there were a heck of a lot of displaced lizards living there. The surrounding region's sparsely populated but all together its a big number of nomad tribes who reproduce fast. Monkeys too."

Jones nodded, following along, "So it's a desperate situation because some higher ups neglected the details getting rid of radioactive trash. Figures."

"And now half the galaxy's leaning towards war. Makes no difference to me, a job's a job."

"No ties here, huh?"

Wolf shook his head, eyeing his plate.

"Hey there Lo."

The human and the lupine both looked up to find Miyu standing there with a bottle of soda in her paw and a guarded expression aimed at O'Donnel.

"Everything alright?"

"Psh," Wolf gathered up his tray and rose from the table, "Yeah, I'm outta here."

Miyu looked to Logan curiously, but he waved off her unspoken question. There was something personal in Wolf's interest to leave the system, and the human teen knew better than most those from a broken background don't share easily.

"Let's get going too, lunch is over."

That afternoon found Logan on the school's firing range, helping out like he'd promised to the gang.

"Building up muscle memory for the basic functions on your weapons is important because you'll still be able to go through your drills even when you're sleep deprived, or in a stress situation." The teenager was calmly explaining as the group of friends stood clustered at their own end of the line, other students scattered across the booths and the class's range officer watching the proceedings carefully. The sound of gunshots and laser fire made a staccato beat while the range-hot light burned red overhead.

Visually inspecting a loaded magazine, Logan slapped it into the magwell of an MA5C and shouldered the rifle.

"You can practice with one unloaded too, slowly. Once your body adapts to instictively carrying out the motions, keep practicing them occasionally, it's a perishable skill."

"Got that right," Fox muttered. The quip brought a chuckle out of them.

"As for the mechanics of good shooting, your body's position and hold on the weapon, as well as breathing and trigger control are all going to be the majority of how well your groupings stack up on target."

A single shot rang out, followed in sequence by two more.

"The further away your target is those small details will amplify how far you stray. While human weapon systems take ballistics into account, the nature of laser weaponry from what I've been told so far concerns the effective range of the beam before it's power decays."

Another series of shots rang out, and Logan hit the mag release and opened the bolt, visually inspecting the empty chamber. Setting the rifle down, he hit the results toggle for his target, displaying a small grouping center chest.

"It just takes long hours of practice, you'll become better shooters practicing these fundamentals rather than any fancy tactical courses. That isn't to say specialized training doesn't have its place, just that your base level of competence is what you fall to in a stress situation like a gun fight."

The others took turns in their booths firing off with both the human weaponry and the familiar Cornerian laser equivalents. Logan took the time to correct small errors and habits where he could.

"You know I was always more of a submachine gun girl myself," Miyu shouted over the din of Falco magdumping the BR55 Battle Rifle.

"Oh yeah? You prefer 'em compact for CQB?" Logan asked as he stood next to her.

The lynx smirked and elbowed him lightly in the side, "Actually I prefer them big."

Jones looked her in the eye dryly.

"Right."

Ignoring the sniggering kitty next to him, Logan looked over to Fay who was snapping off shots with an M6C slowly and methodically.

"Nice shooting Fay, try not to lock your elbows."

The white canine smiled brightly as she went through her unload drill, "Thanks Lo, these guns aren't so bad if you don't mind the smell and noise."

"I figure it'd be worse for you guys with the better senses."

"Well I'm not a pathfinder or anything, but my ears always were good. Part of why I'm still thinking about going into the music business, there was a talent scout that once said I've got the right voice for it, so-"

Logan smiled absently as the bubbly collie went on and on. It was kind of soothing actually, listening to her talk. After all that time on starships, hearing other people was a welcome change.

"Yeesh, we get it whitey, put a sock in it, will ya?"

Evidently Falco didn't agree.

Ignoring the clang of Fay attempting to brain Lombardi with a chair and the ensuing commotion from the RO, Logan moved over to Fox, who had alternated back to a heavy blaster and was getting some tight groupings.

"Great as usual McCloud," Logan admired the snap shot accuracy the vulpine had with his weapon, "You're a better shot than me."

Fox shook his head and humbly deferred, "Maybe with a sidearm, but you've got me beat with long rifles. I've also been practicing with one of these 'long as I can remember."

"Your dad, right?"

McCloud nodded, "Pays to have a merc in the family, you all learn how to shoot. My mother's actually better than most with a shotgun."

That brought a laugh out of Jones, "I bet your parents don't argue much if that's the case."

Patting Fox on the shoulder, he moved along to bring Slippy's elbow closer to his body in a corrective measure, and then found Fara at the far end of their spot on the line.

Quietly going through rounds on both the BR55 and a Cornerian designed marksman rifle, she'd improved a lot since they started their impromptu lesson, although the fennec was already an adequate shooter to begin with.

"Looking good Fara," the human said, "you're handling the recoil on our guns a lot better than the others."

"Thanks."

"Hey, you alright?"

The fennec sighed, and placing her empty weapon down, slumped.

"Just tired, things aren't going so great with my dad and the family business."

Logan's brow creased, and folded his arms over his chest as he listened to her.

"We're one of the companies that supplied made the ships that got hit recently, and while rumor has its Andross, competitors are taking the opportunity to say it was pirates and faulty equipment. Dad hasn't taken it well."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I don't think you need me to tell you, but everyone's here for you if you need us, alright?"

Fara looked up at him and smiled wanly, flicking one of her oversized ears.

"You should take your own advice, Logan."

Jones looked away.

"...yeah."

The light overhead changed to safe, and the range went safe. All along the firing line students began unloading and stowing their weapons, returning them to the racks under lock.

Still somber, both Logan and Fara were filing along behind the group, when Miyu hopped up behind them and hooked her arms around their necks.

"Cheer up you guys, we got something special planned tonight."

"Oh yeah?"

"MmmHmm, somekitten might have gotten a hold of some booze, and we were gonna head down to the quarry by my place for a fire and some good times. Sound good?"

"Getting liquored up for the weekend?" Fara asked unimpressed.

"C'mon girl, you need to loosen up. Else that lovely fur of yours will be grey before your time!"

"Why not," the two glanced at Logan who shrugged, "might be fun. You look like you could use some time off anyway, Phoenix."

"Fine," The fennec rolled her eyes with dramatic struggle, "But we better not wake up in a stolen hovercar again."

The human teen raised a brow at the smirking Lynx marching them along, "Dare I ask?"

"We work hard and we play hard dude," Miyu stuck out her tongue at him with a wink, "Just keep your pants on and don't let Slippy barf on you."

"What am I getting myself into?" both Logan and Fara mumbled in concert.

Laughing together, the friends walked off to their lockers, chatting about their day.

Had one of them glanced back, they might have seen a chimpanzee leaning against one of the open classroom doors, checking a pad that had a familiar face on it.

"Yeah that's him alright."

Snapping a discreet photo of the group from behind, the ape filtered off through the crowd of students being dismissed for the end of the day.