**Government Issue**
by Renee Carter Hall
Terren struggled to concentrate on the vidscreen console before him. As the flashing triangles approached, he gripped the weapon's controls, aimed the laser sight, and fired. It was the required daily test of speed, accuracy, and coordination--and today's score was the worst he'd gotten since he'd been enlisted.
He was definitely alert--cinnamon haunches tense, long ears and whiskers twitching--but the teasing scent of a female at a neighboring console had stolen his attention. Now he shifted from one position to another in the hard, molded seat, trying to ignore the tightening fabric of his dark green shorts.
He glanced at her. She had just finished her exercise--probably cracking a new code; all females worked in tech-intelligence--and was now pushing the console's controls away from her chair.
In form, she was like everyone else in the room, including himself: bipedal rabbit, descended from engineered hybrids. She wore the same shorts as he, with the tantalizing addition of a matching strip of cloth worn tied over her breasts. The dark color made her white fur glow... Did she even know what she was doing to him? He looked back at the screen and winced: he'd missed a dozen targets.
He managed to take down a few more targets before he looked back at her console. It was empty, but her scent was stronger than ever--
"Hi."
He turned in his chair and saw her standing behind him, her blue-gray eyes glinting with laughter.
She leaned over his shoulder and looked at the screen. "You're not doing too well."
Terren blew out a breath and tried to stay focused. "My score's usually a little higher than this."
"So what's different?"
He hesitated. "You are."
She slid her hands down his shoulders and leaned to whisper in his ear. "Want to go do something about it?"
He swallowed, throat suddenly dry, the exercise forgotten. Command encouraged all privates--all mature personnel, in fact--to be as sexually active as possible, but he'd never found any doe who seemed receptive. Now, though...
He pushed the weapon controls away, automatically stopping the exercise. A short menu appeared asking for the reason, and he paused, reading the list of possibilities--order from superior, official emergency, personal illness...
She reached forward and touched the last one: temporary reproductive leave.
Terren stood, extremely aware of the stiff bulge in his shorts. "Where should we go?"
"My bunk. There's nobody there this time of day."
He followed her through the sterile hallways to the females' wing. Each slow sway of her hips throbbed in him, and each time she passed under the cold overhead lights, her fur shimmered from white to pale gray to shining silver. They passed a few other privates on the way, but none were headed to the same wing.
She was right. Row after row of spartan double bunks filled the room, each with its green blanket neatly tucked, all of them empty. He was surprised at how similar the bunks looked to the ones in the males' quarters.
He sat on the edge of her bed, unsure what to do next. "Um... what's your name?"
"Leida," she said, casually untying the cloth around her breasts. "And you're Terren, right?"
"How'd you..." He trailed off as she dropped the cloth to the floor, then slid her shorts from her hips. "How'd you know?"
"I'm in tech-intel, remember?" She flashed a smile that was both mischievous and seductive. "I make it a point to find out about guys I'm attracted to."
He chuckled nervously. "What'd you find out?"
She sat down beside him, moved closer, and kissed him slowly. After several moments, she pulled back, just enough that he could feel her breath on his face. "Not as much as I want to know."
She leaned him back onto the bed, laid on top of him, began a kiss that he continued. He couldn't stop running his hands over her sleek curves, couldn't believe how daring and alive and wonderful she was--and she wanted *him*!
She tugged at his shorts. "Let's get these off..."
He stood and let her pull the shorts down to his ankles, and he breathed a sigh of relief and desire as his erection stood free of the tight cloth.
She stopped. Looked up. Stared.
Terren swallowed, wanting to cup his hands over it, to pull the blanket over him, to know why she was looking at him like that.
"Is..." Terren coughed, his voice squeaking. "Is something... um..."
Leida stood. "Boy, somebody sure got the deep end of the gene pool."
His erection slackened. "What's... wrong with it?"
"Wrong? Nothing." She laughed and ran one finger along its length; he shuddered and stiffened again. "I just meant I haven't seen one this big in a long time, and..." She faltered. "Not attached to someone I liked this well. I know we don't really know each other, but..."
He felt it, too--that sense of rightness, the way he felt when she spoke, as if they were meeting for the hundredth time.
But more than that feeling was the heightening heat of her scent, the sweet musk that blocked out everything else, blocked out the stale scent of the bunk's rough blanket, the low whirr of the air recycling... Everything was fading fast except for her body, his, and the need they both knew.
And then she pulled away. "Just a second," she said, getting up. Terren frowned--was she losing interest?--then saw her searching under her mattress.
She tossed a small packet onto his chest. "Here--put this on."
"What?" He picked it up and squinted at it. "Where did you--" He stopped and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Where did you get this?"
She got back into bed and pulled the blanket over them. "I have my sources. Don't ask. Put it on."
"But if somebody--"
"Shhh." She took it from him, tore open the foil, and slipped the condom's sheath over him. "I'll explain later."
He felt odd wearing something there, and he glanced around to make sure no one had entered the room. Still, delicious shivers coursed through him as he lay on top of her.
"First time?" she murmured.
"Yes..."
"My favorite." She took his hand and guided it between her legs. "Yes... right--oh--right there."
She was already wet, and his fingers slid easily over and inside her labia. Her soft gasps urged him to her clitoris, and he rubbed it lightly as he closed his mouth over one of her nipples.
"Terren," she breathed, "inside..."
Heart pounding, Terren let her guide him inside, forcing himself to go slowly. How right it felt, he thought, right and wonderful and complete, with every sensitive inch of him surrounded by her--this was nothing like the stories he had heard, nothing like the crude jokes his bunkmates swapped, full of suggestive boasts and lewd gestures, this was above all of that, above it and so far beyond it, their bodies fitting together so perfectly...
She eased him into different positions until he found one that made her gasp with pleasure as well. That was how he wanted it--he wanted her to feel it, too, this rising sense of joy and peace and surrender... He buried his nose in her fur and inhaled that scent that had first drawn him to her, then groaned and realized he was about to come, that he couldn't stop it, couldn't hold back, but she was breathing harder too, and he could feel that she had her hand where they were joined, moving in the same rhythm.
"Yes," she breathed, even faster now, "yes, *yes*--"
"Leida--" His body tensed and released, and bright lights exploded behind his closed eyes. When the height finally passed, he was left shaken, emptied of years spent alone, all of it poured into their connection. He looked to her, and when her satisfied gaze met his, he knew she felt the same way. He sighed from a mixture of exhaustion and wonder, and then they both were still.
He felt as if he should say something, but he couldn't find any of the right words, so he just kissed her lightly.
She showed him how to withdraw while carefully holding the condom in place. As they rested next to each other, the second cycle chimes began, and when they finished, Leida began to count softly. Puzzled, Terren watched as she counted to twenty, then took the condom from him, got up, and dropped it into a refuse chute on the wall.
"The cameras are off," she said. "We've got about ten minutes to talk before they'll hunt down the glitch."
"Cameras?"
"You didn't know?" Leida climbed back into bed. "All off-duty areas are scanned every second. Except now."
"How did you--"
"Don't ask. Believe me, it'd take a lot longer than ten minutes to explain." She reached under the mattress and held up another condom. "Do you know why we can't have these?"
"They're illegal."
"Not for everybody. Humans buy them all the time. Boxes of them, cheap."
He frowned. "Then why can't we?"
"Because they want us to be good little productive breeders. The more sex they encourage, the more fresh new soldiers they get for their damned war."
"That can't be true."
"Still wet behind those ears, huh? Look, you're going to be on the front lines, of course they don't tell you. Can't risk losing your loyalty--especially not when you're armed."
Terren thought back to what little history he'd learned in training. He knew they'd been bred to be quick, alert in battle, fast on their feet, fast reflexes. He also knew, however hard he tried not to think about it, that the few who survived combat were deafened from the noise, shellshocked into insanity, or missing at least one limb. Still...
"Think about it," said Leida. "You're a scientist researching genetic hybrid possibilities for a high-casualty, economy-draining war. What animal do you choose? One that's perfectly suited for combat, or one that breeds quickly and abundantly? It's not that hard a decision."
"I guess it's possible," said Terren, feeling suddenly uneasy. "But haven't you ever thought--I mean, don't you want...?"
"To be a mother? Maybe someday, but by my choice, not theirs. And..." She sighed. "If they were male, they'd die in the war. If they were female, they'd have the same life I do. No way. Anybody deserves better than that."
She propped herself up on one elbow, shadows spilling over her breasts. "The condoms--they're the ultimate protest. We get what we want, and they don't."
Leida got up, checked the chronometer on the far wall, and pulled on her shorts. "Forty-five seconds. Any last questions?"
Terren blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "When can I see you again?"
She smiled and tied the cloth around her breasts. "Eager, aren't we?"
"It's--I didn't mean I wanted to--I mean, I *would* want to, but--"
"I'll be around." With that, she tossed Terren his shorts and left.
\* \* \*
He didn't see her again for a couple of weeks, until they were teamed up for a training exercise. She smiled at him as she slipped on the comm headset, and then he stepped into the adjoining room and the simulation began.
He stood before a field of rough, churned soil. The dark sky was lit only by the laser sights of weapons and distant explosions.
He was alone. That was how it always was in the simulations. He'd heard stories of the confusion in battle and wondered why they didn't prepare him for it. Probably it would be too costly to train them together or program other soldiers.
The goal: to reach the safe-trench on the far side of the field, with the aid of his tech-intel, who--although she couldn't see him--had a computerized vantage point of both his location and the enemy's.
*"Acknowledge transmit."* Leida's voice in his ear. Once males were grown, they all received audio implants for communication.
Terren checked his weapon and set it to full power. "Transmit acknowledged. Powered and ready."
*"First target, ten o'clock."*
Terren aimed and fired, dodging the target's blast. The program rewarded him with a hollow-voiced "Target destroyed."
*"Head up the left side--it looks clear."*
He did--and ducked just in time to avoid a laser-guided bullet. "You're supposed to tell me about those!"
*"Sorry."* She sounded like she meant it--but after all, this was her training, too, and she'd want to do well.
He kept going, trying to depend on his own senses instead of her commands. In the field there'd be very few situations where he'd have a tech-intel watching his back. Most of the time he'd be on his own.
*"Target--seven o'clock!"*
He had already turned. "Got it."
Cautiously he zig-zagged his way toward the protected trench. *"Dropping the field,"* said Leida. *"Looks like you're home fr--wait--run!"*
He hesitated an instant, then ran and dove into the trench just ahead of the explosion. Somehow she managed to get the force field back up in time to protect him.
"That," Terren panted, "was close." And the battlefield faded around him.
There was the usual debriefing with the expected comments: she should think ahead and be less impulsive to give the all-clear, and he should trust her commands without hesitation. That instant's pause could have meant his life, and often did in the war.
Once they were both dismissed for the morning's free period, she caught up with him on the way out. "Sorry about all of that," she said, gesturing back at the training room.
"If it hadn't been a simulation, that first shot would've at least taken off my ear."
"One of your more expendable parts." She smiled. "We work pretty well together, don't you think?"
"Yeah." He couldn't keep from grinning. "I think we do."
"I thought so." With that, she shoved him against the closest wall and kissed him, exploring his mouth for several heated moments. Terren wasn't sure what turned him on more--the kiss or her daring intensity.
Finally she released. "Your bunk, or mine?"
\* \* \*
From then on, they met as often as they could. Usually they made love, but only if they were alone or if everyone else was asleep. Occasionally they talked about their training or the war that constituted their entire world. And sometimes they would just lie next to each other, each snuggled into the other's fur, just for the safety and comfort of being close.
One morning, Terren's vidscreen held only a single message. Typically the vidscreen showed the day's orders, summaries of the training, even the menu for the evening meal. Curious, he scanned the text.
TO: PRIVATE, MALE, SERIAL NUMBER 538141
FROM: NORTHAM ARMY, LAG COMMAND
RE: REPRODUCTIVE ACTIVITY
It has come to our attention that, although you have been engaged in frequent intercourse with PRIVATE, FEMALE, SERIAL NUMBER 532716, she has not yet reported for prenatal testing and care.
Please report to building 3J for reproductive screening. Failure to report within twenty-four hours will be considered disobedience of a direct order.
END MESSAGE
\* \* \*
He got the screening over with as soon as he could. The tests were all normal: normal body temperature, normal sperm count, normal testosterone levels. He wondered if she were reporting to some other building, if she were being tested, too, her footpaws in stirrups, and some doctor probing her...
He'd been reminded that he could ask for more time off-duty, preferably to coincide with her most fertile periods.
He hoped Leida's supply of condoms would hold out.
That evening, Terren cuddled closer to her, her back against his chest, listening to the low rhythms of his snoring bunkmates. Though his muscles ached from the day's training, he was perfectly aware of her sleek body next to his, and the things they might do once everyone was asleep.
He'd been wanting to ask the question ever since she'd come to his bunk more than an hour before. Finally he kissed the base of her neck, then whispered, "Leida... I got an order this morning... Did they examine you?"
"Very much so." She stretched and rolled onto her back. "Everything's in perfect working order."
She sounded pleased, and when Terren frowned, she added, "Well, it's not much of a protest unless we'd be able to have children."
"Is that all you think about?"
"No. Sometimes I think about you."
"Thanks." He listened for a moment, then kissed her again. "I think they're all out. These guys can sleep through anything."
"My stock's kind of low," she said as his fingers wandered through her fur, "so I thought we'd try something different."
"Different?" He stroked his tongue over her dark nipples.
"Mmm-hmm." She reached up to fondle his ears. "I was thinking oral."
He pulled back. "But--"
"Don't tell me you believe it's perverted and degenerate."
"No... not exactly, but--isn't it dangerous? I mean--you could get sores, or--"
She laughed and touched a finger to his lips. "I forget you only know what they've told you. Just give it a try."
He glanced at her uncertainly, then relaxed and kissed her mouth, her throat, her breasts, nuzzling his way down her body until he reached her inner thighs. She spread her legs a little more, obviously inviting him, revealing her delicate labia, her swelling clitoris.
He kissed the outer lips lightly, hesitantly: she was warm, almost feverishly so, and the skin felt smooth under his lips. She murmured wordlessly and reached fingers down to open herself further.
He dipped his tongue inside and received a heady gasp in reply. He kissed the hardening nub, then took it into his mouth. Every moan intoxicated him, took him farther beyond control.
He grasped her hips, pulled her closer to him, all the time aware of his own growing desire that now throbbed stiffly between his legs. She was panting now, breathing his name again and again. He groaned and buried his muzzle in her damp fur, no longer sure who would come first, and then she bucked hard against him, arching her back, muscles tense, forcing a sudden, intense cry from her throat.
After she relaxed, Terren pulled away, savoring the spicy taste that lingered on his tongue. He rolled onto his back, his erection smoothly vertical, and closed his eyes, remembering that delicious pulsing against his lips--
Warmth enveloped him. "Leida," he breathed, "oh, yes..."
She moved her mouth over him, along him, around him, sometimes suckling steadily only to pull back, then pull him into her mouth again. He felt swollen and sensitive and ready, so ready...
"Wait," he gasped. "Stop--"
She looked up. "What's wrong?"
He felt sheepish saying it out loud. "I'm--I'm going to come."
Her puzzled frown melted into a smile. "But that's what I want." She slid her tongue up, then down again. "I want you to come," she murmured, "nice and hot in my mouth... I want to taste you... I want to drink everything you've got."
Terren clutched helplessly at the sheets, muscles shuddering. "Then," he managed, "you'd better--get ready--"
He gasped hard and released, the first jet hitting her cheek, the rest surging into her mouth. He felt free, alive, feeling her swallow, feeling his body emptying into her for the first time, with nothing between them to hold it back.
And then the bunk was flooded with bright, sharp light. Leida hurriedly pulled away, wiping her cheek. Terren squinted into the glare but could see nothing.
"On your feet. Present marks."
Both stood instantly. Finally Terren's eyes adjusted to make out the human commander standing before the bunk.
The man passed a scanner over their right shoulders, then glanced at the attached palmscreen. He looked at Leida. "Get dressed and back to your bunk. Orders at oh-six-hundred hours. Dismissed."
Once she was gone, he turned to Terren. "Dress and report to a vidscreen."
"Yes, sir."
The vidscreen showed him what he expected to see--how oral sex interfered with the war, caused disease, fostered unhealthy desires, led to all kinds of sexual problems... They'd shown this to everyone before, but this time, he didn't believe it so easily. It hadn't been unhealthy, it had been wonderful. He realized it all came back to what Leida had said: if the doe can't get pregnant by it, it's unhealthy.
Or illegal. He hoped they wouldn't find any of Leida's supply. A training vid wasn't much to deal with, but what would they do if they found...?
He wasn't allowed much time to worry. His time off-duty was cut to the allowed minimum, and when he viewed his official communications every morning, the vidscreen's first display was a reminder that all mature males should stay in top shape with healthy intercourse.
The first morning of the next week, though, his vidscreen showed something different when he scanned his mark to log on...
HI, 538141.
INTELLIGENCE TRAINING PAYS, HUH?
DON'T TRY TO REPLY. I'LL COME AS SOON AS I CAN--AND THEN WE CAN BOTH COME. ANY WAY YOU WANT.
I LOVE YOU.
Terren stared at the screen for several minutes, even after the message vanished. Of course it was her--he didn't doubt that. It was that sweet, simple phrase she'd closed with... three words that made him feel both anxious and awed, as if he were holding something extremely fragile and indescribably beautiful. He'd wanted to tell her how he felt so many times, in the passion of sex or the silent peace after...
They had to give him some time off. He had to eat, had to sleep. He couldn't spend every moment training--and that meant they could find some time together.
He checked the time, then quickly logged off and reported for duty.
\* \* \*
"Mmmm..."
"Oh, yes... that's it... oh, you're so *good*..."
Terren pressed his pillow harder against his ears, trying to block out the sounds from a few bunks away. A friend had successfully enticed a very well-endowed female to his bed, and now the two were vocally savoring each thrust and grind of their lovemaking.
Terren tried not to writhe against the bed, even though the pressure felt very, very good. Masturbation, he told himself, was officially discouraged by command, it was absolutely non-productive, it was bad for his health, it would--why wouldn't those two shut *up* already? Then the doe came loudly, her cries bursting into the silence, and after a moment's pause the bedsprings' rhythm started again, and he decided to hell with official discouragement and reached a hand between his legs--
"Having trouble sleeping?"
"Leida." Her name came out as a gasp, half surprise and half need, and then she was climbing into his bed, naked and warm against him.
"I see you've started without me." She kissed him slowly, then whispered, "They're not the only ones around here who can make some noise."
He watched her burrow under the blanket, then felt her lips close around him. He couldn't help moaning as she moved her warm tongue teasingly over his tight length, as her mouth enveloped him again and again. A sweet glow began to build--
She reappeared and grinned at him. "Boy, you're close! Want it slow or fast?"
"What do you *think*?"
"I guess I'll do slow, then. Maybe change the stimulation a bit..." He felt the latex being rolled over him, and then she straddled his hips and eased him inside.
He wished they didn't have to use anything--he wanted to feel her, all of her, wet with need, to fill her with his climax. Still, it was enough to have this, to have her muscles flexing around him, surrounding him with soft, strong warmth.
As she moved on top of him, he thought of all the nights like this one had been, all the nights he'd lain in bed listening to the others making love in their bunks... how he'd rub himself in the midnight darkness, hoping their furious gasps would mask his own. And now, here she was, the tips of her silver-white ears brushing the underside of the top bunk.
Climax came far too soon, but it wasn't as if he could do anything about it. Afterwards, they lay close together under the blanket, and he fondled her gently and slowly until her breath shortened and her body trembled. "Leida," he sighed as she finally relaxed, "I love you, too..."
He slept deeply, so much so that he didn't even wake when she slipped out of his bed and left for her own. When the zero-cycle chimes woke him, he buried his nose in the pillow where her fragrance still lingered and sighed happily, then dragged himself out of bed and into his routine.
Exhausted as he was, he rushed through the required grooming, the bland breakfast that never changed--he didn't even notice the taste today; he had to get to his vidscreen. Maybe she had left another message for him, he thought as he scanned his mark and watched the Northam flag appear on the screen, and maybe she could show him how to send messages back, and then they'd have a way to--
Terren stared at the vidscreen, at the only message it displayed. An icy numbness settled into his stomach.
The next morning. 0600 hours. Departure for duty.
Front lines.
He read the message several times, but the words didn't change. The morning's training passed in a haze, each action performed mechanically. With every virtual simulation he entered, he thought about being in the real thing. Just a few months ago, he realized bitterly, he had almost been looking forward to deployment, as the final goal of all his training, the chance to use the skills he'd honed. Now he could only think that he was being sent to die by someone--some high commander, maybe even a computer--that called him by a number, that didn't know he had a name.
He told Leida that evening, going straight to her bunk after the late meal. She was lying on her back, staring aimlessly at the upper bunk.
"They're sending me out tomorrow," he said.
Silence. Finally, "It figures."
Only then did he notice that she looked like she'd been crying. "What is it?"
"Orders from the top. I guess the war isn't going well. Any female who isn't already pregnant... next month they'll be--artificially..." She sighed shakily. "Nobody has a choice, none of us do, never."
He sat down next to her. "What about us? They didn't bring us together. They can't control that."
"That's the only thing," she said. She stood up, raising her voice. "That's the *only* thing! What right do they have to do this to us--impregnate us by order, march us off to die in some war--*breed* us for it in the first place!"
"Leida--"
"Those stupid, arrogant scientists who made us--*made* us!--we'd have been better off if somebody'd bombed the labs. Burned the whole damn place down... Somebody should still do it. This place too." She sat back down and started to sob quietly, her shoulders shaking.
"Leida." He held her. "It's... the way it is."
"I know." She caught her breath. "I know, but--not forever. I'll do what I can. I *will*." She laughed dryly and patted her mattress. "Time I stopped keeping these to myself."
"But if they order it--"
"There are ways. Always have been. But... Terren?"
"Yes?"
She kissed him gently, and they settled into each other's arms.
"I don't want them to do that to me," she said.
"I know." He kissed her again and held her closer, trying to soothe himself as well.
Leida pulled away and looked into his eyes. "I want you."
She untied the cloth around her breasts, then idly stroked her fingers through the thick fur of his chest. "Stay with me tonight," she said softly. "This last night..."
They kissed again, far more slowly, far more deeply. It was amazing, Terren thought, how much one could forget this way, their mouths together and bodies languidly responding, moving toward pleasure.
Finally neither could hold back. Terren sat back on his haunches, fully erect now, and waited for her to slip the condom over him. Instead, she pulled him on top of her.
"But--"
"It's okay," she breathed. "I told you--I don't want them to do that to me. I want it to be you."
She gripped his shoulders as he slid inside. "It's the best time," she said. "I checked, I'm ready, everything's ready... I want them to be yours. To be *ours*. Maybe they won't all die in the war." She angled her hips forward in time with his. "Maybe they'll live. Maybe something of us will live."
Together they thrust their bodies closer, moving toward release, toward that sweet white-light bliss that would give them the mercy of forgetting. "Maybe," she panted, "maybe..."
Even love was a kind of defiance, Terren thought. The one thing they couldn't order, couldn't revoke, couldn't control... No matter what happened tomorrow, he realized, they would have this always, this moment and all the ones before. And maybe, just maybe...
Hope and muscles surged. Terren gasped a breath, thrust as deeply as he could, and came.
(c) 2002 Renee Carter Hall ("Poetigress"). May not be reprinted or redistributed without written permission. This story first appeared in issue \#1 of *Heat*, published by Sofawolf Press.