{All characters depicted in this work of fiction are of legal age of consent.}

1
We were well on our way back to Prosperity. Things on Aiad had wrapped up nicely. The planet was under new management and Mistress was happy to have helped… happy to monopolise Aiad trade routes, anyway.

I was on the bridge with Terp, filling out the last of our reports and running in-flight slipspace checklists past Evony. My Sangheili compatriot had stumbled in only a few minutes ago and he was still breathing hard with exertion. He looked, and sounded, like he’d been in the gym.

Though I knew full well he’d slipped away from my mother to finish up his report.

Speaking of Captain Natalie Wolfe, she showed up not long after. I heard the door swish open, then made the mistake of looking over my shoulder.

Mom was framed there for a moment, walking in with an ostentatious sway of her curvy hips. Her head was tipped back a little, dark hair clinging wet to the sweat dappling her forehead. She was gulping down mouthfuls of water, the plastic bottle crinkling between her leather sheathed fingers while the long crop dangled in her opposite hand, red lips wrapped firmly around the neck of the bottle.

She was dressed… to a fashion. Thigh high boots with stiletto heels and elbow length leather gloves. A leather thong matched the midnight black coset she wore, that at least covered her breasts as much as it plumped them up. but that was a lot of my mother’s cleavage I really could have gone without seeing.

“Oh, God, no! No thank you!” I couldn’t spin back around fast enough.

Natalie ignored me and walked right up to Terp, practically draping herself over him. “I was wondering where you got off to. I’m not done with you just yet.”

“I just needed a moment, my love. Just sending the last bits of my report.” Terp hit a few more keys, probably adding a few shoddy final remarks to his report before he hit ‘send.’ “There, all done.”

“Good. Now, get back to my quarters. Be naked and erect when I get back.”

“Yes, mistress,” Terp called and he rushed off the bridge to do as commanded.

Mom didn’t follow him out immediately. Instead, she sat in Terp’s place beside me. She kept her usual, perfect posture and crossed her legs, the leather of her thigh-highs creaking as she did.

“We should talk.” 

I was looking out into space so consciously that I couldn’t see her expression, but her tone of voice was unusually gentle.

“What’s there to talk about?” I said. “You have a new boyfriend, who happens to be my friend. It’s weird, but you’re a grown up. So is he. You can do whatever you want, anywhere you want… though preferably out of my line of sight.”

“I appreciate you being an adult about it,” she said. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted… I hoped we’d be able to catch up more now we’re assigned closer together. Maybe make up for lost time.”

“I’m sure you had the right intentions, mom. But it seems you’re more interested in fucking Terp.”

In the corner of my eye I saw her swivel her chair to give space outside a sheepish look. “True. Then again, I get the impression you’re never in the talking mood.”

I scoffed, then without any regard for my eyes swivelled around to face her. “You wanna talk? Let’s talk about how you’re years too late for any mother-son bonding. I grew up alone. You can blame that on dad leaving, I get it. But you didn’t exactly stick around either. I was abandoned to military academies pretty much the moment I could hold a rifle. Which is surprisingly young, as it turns out.”

Keeping my eyes off mom’s impressively fit, leather clad body was easy. Because her face was doing something it’d never seen before. The corners of her red lips were a little lower than usual. And her eyes glistened, a little more watery than they normally were.

“That’s what you think? That I abandoned you?”

No. I wanted to say no. I knew ‘abandoned’ was far too strong a word to use, but I was mad, damn it. Allow a man his tantrum.

“I haven’t been completely absent,” she said.

“Evidence to the contrary. I never got so much as a birthday card all throughout the war. I could have died, mom! Smeared over an alien battlefield, and you never would have known. God knows, I came close a few times!”

“I know your job is dangerous. I didn’t want to pander to you from the safety of my office. I did care… I do care, Timber.”

I clenched my teeth, then felt my eyes falter. I made the mistake of glancing down. I wanted to look down on the deck. Instead I got an eyeful of her scant leather bra, panties and thigh-highs. Fuck!

The swivel of my seat almost broke as I whirled it around sharply to look back out into space.

“Look at me, Timber,” mom said almost pleadingly.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer not to.”

Out the corner of my eye I saw her glance down and remember what she was wearing before she sighed. “Fine. If you won’t look at me, look at this.”

She leaned forward like a teacher coyly showing off her cleavage o the cute boy in the front row. She certainly had the mature look to pull it off, and now the attire to boot. She touched several control panels and pulled up her access to the troop rosters. 

It wasn’t anything unusual. All throughout the war officers had access to troop rosters, to see what battlegroups suffered what kind of casualties. It could be filtered down to the individual if needed be, and their status would come up if known.

“This was on my desk, every single day,” she promised, pointing at her troop roster.

I shrugged. “So? All officers have a login for that.”

“Look at the personalisation.”

I threw her an uncertain glance, then leaned closer to the screen. It was personalised, as she pointed out. Near the top were the status readouts for her active operatives out in the galaxy doing God only knew what for her.

But they weren’t all the way at the top. At the very top, the first thing she would read every day, was a filtered and pinned line. It was filtered out specifically for a ‘Sergeant Wolfe, Timber – V8E 2228187.’

My rank, the new one anyway, name and service number, followed by the green text reading ‘ACTIVE.’

“I would check this screen on the hour, every day. I still do, which is why the filter is still set up.” Mom paused to cover up a small crack in her voice. I still caught it though and slowly panned to look her in the eye again. A small black streak of mascara had leaked down to her cheek and smudged where she wiped it. “I worried about you all the time. Whether I showed it or not. I’m your mother, after all.”

There was a long silence between us. I stared at her. And she looked right back.

“Are we having a genuine mother-son heartfelt moment here?” I finally asked.

“Of course we are. I think we’ve had lots of these moments. Not as frequent as they should have been, I’ll admit. You’re my son, Timber. Seeing you in action lately as reminded me why I’m proud of you.”

“You… you’re what?”

“I’m proud of you, Timber. I always have been.” The tears had passed, and she was back to looking like an imperious officer on the verge of chewing me out. Her stoicism could rival that of a SPARTAN. But even so, she reached over and with maternal tenderness set her hand over mine. “But more than that, I love you.”

I stared a beat, then glanced from the face of a BDSM mistress down to her attire. “You couldn’t have waited to put on some normal clothes before saying that?”

She sighed. “I’ve said what I needed to say. I’ll see you later, Timber.” Pulling back, she neatly hopped to her feet and with the click-clack of her stiletto boot-heels moved to leave the bridge.

“Wait, mom!” I suddenly swivelled in my seat. She had stopped at the door, and one hand resting on the frame she looked over her shoulder. “I love you too.”

The way her lips moved, it was painfully obvious she was making an effort to withhold a smile. But eventually, her austere aspect of stone couldn’t take the strain anymore and cracked. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen her smile and suddenly I felt like a little kid again.

Before I could jump up and hug her though, we both remembered she was pretty much in her underwear and quickly looked away.

“I’m serious about dressing though,” I told her sternly. “Next time you wanna have this sort of conversation with me can you dress a little more appropriately?”

Her smile turned to more of a friendly grin now as she struck a disturbingly provocative pose in the doorway. She gathered up her hair in one hand, the same elbow resting on the doorframe as her free hand fell on her shapely hip, while at the same time cocking one leg to show off all her sexy assets.

“Why? Don’t you think I look good for my age? Terp certainly hasn’t had any complaints. It’s why I like to be on top, after all. Not just to be in control, but’s an incredible workout. Every squeeze exercises the kegels, the lower back, rear and thighs are worked as I squat and ride. Even the belly gets some good work. Most girls just ride up and down, but I like to gyrate. I bet your lovely Sangheili lady-friend does the same for you, though I bet I’m better at it than most young ladies these days…”

I clamped my hands over my ears, swivelling away so I wouldn’t have to look at my half-dressed mother talking about how she liked to fuck. “Lalalalalala! Stop! Fucking stop! I take it all back! I hate you! I hate you forever, devil-woman!”

Mom giggled before skipping off. And while I now had some vivid images of her riding an alien pole attached to my friend stuck in my head, at least our dynamic had warmed. She felt less like a commanding officer and more like my mother now she’d finally aired out her feelings, and I had to admit it felt kind of good.

Okay, perhaps ‘feeling good’ is a poor choice of words considering mom’s activities with Terp. But despite all the kinky sex going on just down the hall, this was a step up from the detached coldness that existed between us before.



2
Sneaking up behind a Sangheili warrior woman and jumping on her back doesn’t sound like a great idea on paper. But I wanted to surprise her.

I found Sniperess on her way from the barracks to report for her duties. And without much forethought grabbed her by the shoulders from behind.

In hindsight, the only thing that stopped her from whipping around and breaking my face was my voice whispering in Sangheili tongue.

“Hello, girlfriend.”

She clearly recognised my voice and whipped around, almost smacking me with her bright red ponytail. Her helmet slipped from her fingers with shock and clattered to the ground as she eyed me in disbelief, mandibles so slack she could barely form a reply.

“Love-toy!? You can speak!”

I laughed. “Of course I can speak. I always could, now I just spe-… wait. What did you just call me?”

She scooped me into a hug, laughing as she babbled far too quickly for me to translate. Terp had done a bang up job to teach me how to speak passable Sangheili, but I wasn’t that good yet.

“Slow down. I’m still learning,” I wheezed before she realised she was crushing my arms down my sides and quickly put me down.

“I said: this is wonderful. There are so many things I wish to speak with you about.”

“Like?”

She held up a hand and pointed at one of her fingers. “Wedding band.”

That caught me off guard. “Whoa now, slow your roll.”

“You must travel with me to Sanghelios and meet my family.”

“That sounds like suicide.”

“We must also discuss how we are to produce offspring.”

I choked and coughed. “Getting a little ahead of ourselves now!”

Pausing for a breath, Sniperess beamed brightly. “I know. I am just excited. There’s so much I want to say to you.” Narrowing her eyes seductively she lowered her voice to a whisper and added, “So many things I want to do now that I can explain them properly.”

She wasn’t the only one excited. Now I understood what she was saying, she had more of a voice other than the clicks and snarls that was Sangheili language. I could hear the subtle stuff in my subconscious. The excited squeals and babbles of an alien waifu, that I really hoped would translate to her bedroom moans (though those were beautiful to listen to already). But being totally honest, I thought Sniperess would make a pretty suitable voice actress if they ever translated anime into Sangheili.

As excited as I was for the future now, something she said caused me pause. “Speaking of your family. Do, uh… do they know about me?”

“All my sisters know I am engaged to the Wolf of Verdun and all of them are very jealous,” she assured with a preening smile. It faded though as she continued looking a little sheepish. “The adults however… it is complicated.”

‘Complicated’ did not bode well. But it wasn’t end-of-the-world stuff. “One step at a time. we’ll figure it out. We always do, right?”

“Right.” She beamed again. “I have some duties to attend. We will speak more later?”

“You bet.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she brought her face down to mine, brushing her mandibles on my cheek affectionately. “And we’ll do other things too.”

“Looking forward to it,” I chuckled.

Gosh, I knew she was a lech, but now I actually understood her it was worse than I ever could have imagined… fucking awesome.

I suddenly froze, realising something. “Wait, did you just say we are engaged?”

She wasn’t that far away, but she didn’t answer, clearly pretending not to hear. That little sneak. I had to remember to spank her later.

As the thought bought a smirk to my face, I turned around only to come face to face with Captain Tasha Locke.

“You seem to be picking up her language quickly,” Tasha said plainly. She almost looked to be looking through me, despite staring my right in the eye.

I recovered from the surprise and quickly stood to attention. “Yes, ma’am. Terp is teaching me.”

“Great. It would be good to have a reliable interpreter around here.”

“Terp is reliable, ma’am.”

“Hmmm.” She wasn’t looking at me now, engrossed with something on her tablet. “You filed an interesting mission report about the Aiad situation, sergeant. Care to go through it?”

I frowned. “Right now? Our debrief is tonight.”

She threw me a serious look and I immediately stiffened back to attention.

“I mean; our debrief is tonight, ma’am.”

“It’s been cancelled,” she clarified. “Command doesn’t find the Art Loko situation to be of any consequence. However, I do.”

Glancing sideways down the corridor, she beckoned me to follow. “Walk with me, sergeant.” I did and she asked. 

“What’s your read on the man? Art Loko, I mean.”

“Megalomaniac,” I responded without missing a beat. “His tactics involve the complete subjugation of his enemies through various extreme methods. Rape, torture, military action and rape to name a few.”

“You said ‘rape’ twice.”

“He seems to like rape.” I paused as we turned a corner. “May I ask why command thinks Loko is inconsequential?”

“Who knows?” Tasha said with a shrug. “They’re a bunch of powerful men. They probably agree with Loko’s methods and ideology in secret.”

I laughed. The idea that Tasha was capable of sussing out what someone was thinking just based on what they looked like sounded like the punch-line of a crass joke. But when I glanced over to see her watching me sternly, the drawn-out laugh catching in my throat with a high-pitched croak.

“Hang on… wait, are you serious?” 

She stared, but I managed to shake it off. whatever. it wasn’t important. The important part was how command regarded Art Loko.

“Ma’am, Loko’s a clear-cut psycho. Normal men don’t think his way. Trust me, I’m equipped to know.”

“You’d be surprised,” Tasha said, stopping in place. Facing me properly now she clasped her tablet behind her back and watched me, the sternness never leaving her hard eyes. Changing the subject so fast it gave me whiplash, she asked, “Do you have a date for the party tonight?”

I sighed internally. Tasha’s inauguration party, I’d almost entirely forgotten that was still a thing that was going to happen. Honestly I’d hoped the dumb event would have blown over while I was on Aiad. But in keeping with my streak of bad luck as of late, that was clearly not the case.

If I was being forced to go, however, at least I had a date ready to go. Who other than Sniperess was I going to bring?

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Cancel it,” Tasha snapped, sounding slightly more irate than usual. “I wasn’t able to get a date in time, so you’ll be on my arm.”

Without even waiting for a response she briskly turned on her heel and walked off, making me scoff.

“That an order, ma’am!?”

She didn’t even look back as she answered, but I could tell there was a devious little smile hidden behind her lips. “The fact you have to ask, Timber, makes it one.”



3
To say Tasha was on my arm for the evening was perhaps over stating it. We went to the party together, which was being held on the same leisure deck I’d met Zara in her bikini (and seen Sniperess in hers for the first time). but we hadn’t arrived together. She was there early to meet up with several prominent diplomats who’d flown out from Sanghelios specially for the occasion.

I arrived a little later, decked out in my ODST tailored dress blacks. I was honestly glad they still fitted, I hadn’t worn them since I graduated jump school.

The swimming pool wasn’t just covered over. It was gone. I was wondering if the deck had some sort of modular design when several important looking aliens swished over making me pucker pretty hard.

There was no escape. A pair of Sangheili diplomats, well dressed and well fed by the looks of one of them, were making their way over to me.

At least one of them was an official diplomat. He wore the robes of one. He was a short fellow, not much taller than me, but definitely wider. I’d never seen a fat Sangeheili before. This guy was my first. Also the first time I’d seen a drunk alien.

His wife was a good head taller than even he was. A skinny frame. Not at all athletic like some of the other Sangeheili women in my life, this lady was clearly skinny for the pure aesthetic of it. That wasn’t to say she was so limber she was unattractive. She was a little flat chested, but had curves where it counted and her crimson hair turned mostly white to indicate she was one of those ‘silver vixen’ types. Cool to know Sangheili had attractive matures like humans could.

“This must be him,” the Sangheili diplomat called with a lolly laugh. “I’d know a human anywhere. The Wolf of Verdun.”

I gave a polite smile, showing plenty of teeth. Sangheilli apparently liked it that way. “Yes, sir. That’s me. Corpo-… err. Sergeant Wolfe.”

“I knew it would be you. The Alpha Wolf in the flesh! I never thought I’d have the pleasure.” He laughed again and hugged his wife tighter, who seemed as intrigued as he was.

Though her way of showing intrigue was the familiar bedroom gaze Sniperess always gave me when she was feeling needy.

The diplomat went on, babbling with a bit of a tipsy drawl. “It’s a fascinating saga you’ve been on, Wolf of Verdun. Tell me, how ever did you know the Blade Mistress’ heirloom was a fake planted by the wicked prophet?”

I looked genuinely confused. Heirloom? Blade mistress? Wicket prophet; what th fuck was this old-timer talking about? Was he drunk?

His wife gave a feminine laugh, planting a delicate hand on her man’s chest. “Oh, darling they’re only stories, silly. The character is only based on him.”

Honestly her comment left me even more confused. Though the fuck-me eyes she shot my direction again should have left me aroused. But something strange and uncomfortable was happening. Over the course of a week I’d heard several references to ‘stories’ about ‘me.’ Ossoona, even Art Loko had mentioned this. Even the Sangheili rebel leader on Aiad. Why the fuck was I as famous as this? All I did was tuck in some Covvie loyalists for the forever-sleep. Nothing really beyond what any other marines or Sangheili warriors were doing on a daily basis.

I was going o ask when the wife’s glance shot over my shoulder and she gave a look she was highly impressed. I followed her gaze and saw Sniperess.

And my heart stopped. Though that’s all that stopped, because regardless of that my dick very much tried jumping out of my pants.

Sniperess wore a dress that could be described in short as ‘holy shit!’

In long, it was a silver coloured ensemble that clung to her body like a second skin, while the tails of the skirt rippled in the wake of her stride like mercury. The skirt itself was long enough to drag her heels at the back, but short at the front that I could see all the way up to her mid-thigh. Knee high boots made of some kind of felt material clicked with ever step, her shapely hips swaying with the rhythm of her stride. The top of the dress was barely that. Completely backless, two straps covering her breasts connected with a choker wrapped around her slender throat. The only deviation from the silver was a strip of black lace, the strap of her panties pulled high over the left thigh. By accident or on purpose, I couldn’t tell. But she looked happy to have my undivided attention as she walked over.

“Good evening, lover,” she whispered with a smile. “Do you like my new dress?”

What else could I say, apart from: “By the power of Greyskull.”

It took some explaining that the statement did in fact mean a resounding ‘yes.’ After which Sniperess chatted with the ambassador and his wife a bit, before she mercifully guided me away from the smattering so of high society conversation. I didn’t know what was being said around us, because my eyes were very much fixed on Sniperess the entire time. I just nodded and answered yes or no whenever a question came my way.

At the buffet table she explained Zara had helped her dress for tonight. And it showed, no offense to Sniperess. She was more of a pragmatic gal. but I hoped she was taking notes from Zara, because if she showed up to more functions dressed like ‘that’ I would commit treason in order to stay on her arm for the night.

Still, as hard as it was not to sidle up behind her and start fondling her through the soft layers of her new attire, I had a question.

I asked her about all this talk of stories about me. How everybody somehow knew I was romantically involved with a Sangheili woman, how my exploits both public and private were reaching out as far as Aiad, and maybe even beyond.

Sniperess giggled. “Oh, that’s because I’ve been writing a series of erotic novels with you as the main character of course. Weren’t you told?”

I gaped, for I had not. I had questions, so many questions, and they all came out at onc,e making Sniperess laugh. But in a concerned way, since she was under the impression, at least she’d been told, that I’d been briefed on the situation.

“Zara has been helping me with it. She made the suggestion some time ago, before she needed you to assist in the Lady Zestous situation.” Sniperess cocked her head. “She didn’t tell you?”

“It may have slipped her mind,” I grumbled through gritted teeth. Why does nobody tell me stuff? Being the subject of a whole series of erotic alien stories is the kind of information a guy needs to know!

We grabbed drinks and found an empty table to sit and talk. I needed more information. And Sniperess offloaded quite a lot… quite enthusiastically too. She never struck me as the authorial type, but seeing the passion glow in her eyes as she rattled off the whole universe she’d created, I was left quite dumbstruck. But mostly proud.

Just when I thought Sniperess couldn’t get more awesome. Go figure.

The series, yes series, was called ‘The Blade Mistress and the Alpha Wolf.’ An erotic novel title if I’ve ever heard one. It followed the tale of a brave Sangheili adventurer, seeking to restore her family keep’s honour. When along the way she falls in love with a human warrior she thought unworthy, though he quickly proves his worth in the fires of combat.

And in her bed. Because of course he did.

Three guesses as to who the ‘Alpha Wolf’ in the story and the ‘Blade Mistress’ were supposed to represent. But I bet you’ll get it in one.

“How many books?” I asked.

“Seven.”

“Seven!?” Several glances were thrown in my direction and I quickly lowered by voice. “Seven books?”

“Well, to be honest they’re more like novellas. Each is approximately forty-thousand words.”

“Even still. That a full-on series. We’ve only be together like… four? Five months?”

“Twelve months,” Sniperess corrected brightly. “I, um… I actually started the early drafts of the first few books shortly after we met, when you were first assigned to my team. You could say your mere presence inspired me.”

So she’d been a secret admirer well before I even realised she was a girl Sangheili. That was just a little weird… flattering, but weird… and strangely adorable.

As surprised as I was to learn about all this, I was more shocked as to how damn popular this shit turned out to be. erotic literature wasn’t exactly mainstream stuff back on Earth. Probably less so among the pious aliens. But Sniperess had an explanation for that too.

The reason Zara encouraged the publication of Sniperess’ stories was part of a promotion of friendship between the races. In the wake of the war, there were suddenly whole generations of young Sangheili women looking for excitement and adventure, and Sangheili men with no real battles to fight. With everyone focusing on rebuilding their society, the demand for escapism was suddenly high.

And curiosity about humans rose with it. Except it rose slightly in an obscure way, with Sangheili men and women suddenly eager to meet humans who are apparently as skilled and honourable in battle as they are in bed.

Sniperess wasn’t the only author in the programme. There were a couple of other Sangheili scholars working on some stuff, and a few human writers too.

Lately things had really ramped up. Sniperess had, unbeknownst to me, been transferred to Zara’s command. Her ‘duties’ as she put it earlier, was working on this erotic literature project in a full-time, and official capacity.

So you’re probably thinking I could sus out Sniperess name at this point, right? Grab myself a copy of her stories and read out the author’s name?

No dice. She used a pseudonym. Foiled again!

We were interrupted by Tasha. She swooped in out of nowhere, apologised to Sniperess in the few Sangheili words she knew and whisked me away to dance. It was about as unromantic as it sounds. Forget the other couples, marines, officers and Sangheili couples alike all slow dancing in each others’ embrace. I even spotted mother nearby, literally draped all over Terp as they swayed gently under the stars twinkling over head. But the way Tasha slapped my hand on her hip and grasped my other felt official. Sterile.

I hadn’t been asked to dance. I’d been ordered.

And even still, there was something different about Tasha. The captain looked at me differently. Not as hard as she always did. 

The look was almost regretful.

“I’m sorry about tonight,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to steal you away from your alien friend…”

“Girlfriend,” I corrected. I’d hit full ‘fuck it’ at this point. What the hell else could Sniperess be other than my girlfriend? Life was complicated enough. And I didn’t want what was between me and her to be any more complicated than it had to be.

“Sure,” Tasha snorted and gave a small smile of amusement. Hadn’t seen that in a while, and like when I’d seen my mother smile, I couldn’t help feel a little freaked out. “Anyway, I know I can’t be easy to get along with. But it’s difficult for a woman to get very high in the UNSC ranks.”

My turn to snort. That was her excuse for being difficult to get along with?

“Admiral Margaret Parangoski,” I mentioned plainly. A woman of ONI infamy and a living legend.

“A cold hearted bitch,” Tasha added. “That’s how she got where she is now.”

“So you’re emulating. What about my mom? She did fine.”

“And how did she get to where she is?” Tasha smirked. Her face actually changed to reveal her facial muscles hadn’t degenerated from decades of disuse, letting the right corner of her mouth rise a little higher than it had any right to be.

“By being cold and heartless.” I grimaced. I hated when Tasha was right and I was wrong.

“Do y remember when I was promoted to major after that shitstorm on Eridani Four?”

“I remember you ordered me to your quarters to celebrate a job well done, same as ever.”

She chuckled. “Yeah. But that night I started out on top to set the pace. Remember?”

I remembered a long night of slow and sensual sex. Unlike the roughhousing of usual where she demanded I fuck her with every ounce of my strength, I remembered easing on top of her and enjoying her long, drawn out moans almost all night long.

I just nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”

“I kind of wished we could have been like that all the time. I never realised until now, until I see you and Sniperess, that I’m missing… well… I’m missing ‘that’ in my life. What we had that night.”

“You feeling old, or just nostalgic, cap?”

She shrugged. “Just putting stuff into perspective lately. And concerning myself for the future. Listen, Timber. I know it’s too late for us to have anything anymore. You have someone else, and I’m way out of your league now.”

“Fuck you,” I muttered as she smirked smugly.

“But,” she continued seriously. “I hope you’ll stick around instead of filing for transfer off Prosperity. I know you weren’t exactly excited to learn I’d be hanging around here. But I’d like to have you around. I need people I can trust.”

It was actually a no-brainer. Sniperess was a fixture on Prosperity, so therefore I would be too. But I understood what she was getting at and appreciated the fact she trusted me. So I nodded.

“Don’t worry, ma’am. I’ll stick around.”

Standing on her tippy-toes, she planted a tender kiss on my cheek. “Thanks, Timber.”

We didn’t have to say anything else and enjoyed the rest of the night.



4
Tasha was mingling with various alien diplomats, doing her job. Sniperess was with her girlfriends, a mixture of Sangheili and human women giggling and speaking in hushed whispers. I had no doubt they were helping scheme about what Sniperess would do to me in the bedroom next.

A beer in each hand, I worked my way to the edge of the room where a familiar figure sat alone. Terp hadn’t moved form his seat all night. His date was – have you guessed it – my mom. Because of course. But she didn’t stay long. Work called and she had to swish off.

I didn’t care. The less I had to see of my mother in that slinky, plunging, backless dress the better. But poor Terp was relegated to the sidelines.

His mandibles pulled into a smile as I walked over and sat with him.

“Sergeant. Wonderful party, no?”

“And it’s about to get better. Here.” I slid a beer in front of him.

He held the bottle up and peered through it with a critical eye, appraising it against the light. “What is this beverage?”

“Beer. It’s liquid bread. It’s good for you,” I told him.

He sniffed at the bottle a moment, then with a shrug tipped it up and glugged down a few mouthfuls.

At least, he tried. A little bit of foam escaped his clenched mandibles, and I swear his eyes grew six sizes bigger with surprise. The fizz caught him completely off-guard.

“The bubbles,” he almost roared with intrigue. “Such an interesting texture. It is refreshing and invigorating. I like this ‘liquid bread’ beverage!”

I laughed, we clinked bottles and downed another few glugs. This time he was prepared and I watched half the bottle disappear down his gullet.

Could Sangheili get shitfaced? I’d never asked myself before then, and I was suddenly eager to find out, so I tipped up my own bottle to keep up with the alien.

“So,” I said conversationally when I returned with a second round. I’d collected bottles for the third and fourth round at the same time, gathering them on our table so I wouldn’t have to get up again. “That last op was a doozey, right? Lots of action.”

“An honourable siege on a dishonourable opponent. Yes.”

“Ah, you agree. Great! So, I’m worthy enough to know your name now, right?”

Terp faltered at that. For all intents and purposes, I should have been right. But he paused, fidgeting with his second beer.

“I… cannot give you my name, Sergeant. You’ve over-taken me with your valiant actions. I’m afraid I cannot even say your name any longer. It would dishonour you.”

I laughed. “Okay, your losin’ me, man. First I have to gain more honour to learn your name! Now I have too much honour? Where’s the damn sweet-spot and how do I get to it?”

“I know, Sergeant. But it’s not your fault. It’s me.”

Ah, the old ‘its not you, it’s me’ argument. This ‘ll be good.

“I come from a family that sided with the Covenant during the schism. As such, the separatists, who would go on to win the war, placed great dishonour upon me.”

“You sided with the Covenant?”

“On the contrary. I sided with the separatists. Which is why my family also places dishonour on me. I have been excommunicated from my family keep. And it is my remaining blood ties that puts me in poor standing with the current Sanghelios council.”

“Oh, c’mon! Fuck that shit. None of this is your fault. You did good. You are doing good. Why should you get punished for shit you can’t control?” Before Terp could answer I waved him off. “You know what, never mind. It’s gotta be a Sangheili thing.”

“That is accurate,” Terp chuckled.

“Tell you what. How about I just give you a new name?”

He chuckled again. “It’s not that simple.”

“Ah, fuck you. I’m gonna do it anyway.” I paused to think a moment, then arched my eyebrows feeling a little stupid. As far as I was concerned, he actually had a name already. “I’ve been calling you ‘Terp’ this whole time. It’s short for interpreter.”

“Pragmatic. It would certainly be suitable.”

“Good, we’ll go with that then. Though, it needs fancy-ing up, given you’re such a fancy guy. Tell you what…” I jumped up and slipped a trusty folding knife that was part of my EDC out of my pocket. Flicking open the blade, I touched it from one shoulder on the confused Sangheili to the other as if knighting him.

“I dub thee, Terp Wolfe. Speaker of Devilish Tongues. The Alpha of the Alphas. Conqueror of Beer. Raider of Cougars.”

“Interesting titles. What do they mean?”

I shrugged, sitting back down. “Nothing sensical, really. But they’ll make for a hell of a story when we get to Earth.”

“We are going to Earth?”

“Hell yeah, dude,” I told him. “You and me, first chance of leave we get. We’ll head to my hometown. You can crash at my place. We’ll do the famous pub crawl, twelve watering holes all across the town. A pint of these bad-boys at every stop.” I swished the beer bottle for a moment then took a swig, Terp mimicking the action curiously.

“This sounds like a rite of passage,” Terp asked.

“Because it is. New name. New life. We gotta get you baptised in fire.”

Terp seemed to understand what that meant and chuckled. “Terp Wolfe,” he said slowly, as if tasting the words. It left a small smile on his mandibles. “I like it. Thank you.”

I raised my bottle in toast. “To new beginnings.”

Terp smiled and met my bottle with a clink against his own. “To beer.”

“Amen, brother.”