FTL-14...Faster Than Life.

Chapter 14

I can’t help but wonder if we’re being watched?

Command has shown me they’re fond of tests for things and even if this party was one of those military personnel only things and approved escorts and Elle’s people…if we’re being watched as to see just who’s going to say the wrong things. I noticed Elle had glanced at several people in a strange way and I didn’t know those people.

Yes past tense. The party is nearly over I think and we had a good time…I think I have finally gotten that old hand at drinking amusement thing when watching those new to it.

Like Elle…

She had “sampled” a lot of different drinks. And apparently they have alcohol but she’s still new to it and all of our variations of it.

I wonder just how the people watching us will take me holding her hair while she pukes her guts up into the toilet in the ladies room.

Beer, ale, dark ale, rum, dark rum, coconut rum…agave whiskey, mescal….and food all coming up…

Ewww…I must have missed her getting gelatin shots when I was dancing with Patrick.

Thankfully the scent of my skin lotion was combating the smells. That and I keep flushing the foulness away.

Thankfully her being drunk is a good cover for her babbling crying in her native language. It’s sort of this light sounding language with what I’d call lots of vowel sounds in it. It’s still nothing like the languages I’ve studied though.

I get her off the floor and to the sinks and actually pick he up and set her butt on the long counter top and get a pack of wipes out of my purse and I start to wipe off her face and it’s a good thing that she wasn’t wearing any make up I’m not sure that I could do the effects of whatever they’d use.

She’s blinking at me as I’m scrubbing her face. “Erin you are a goooooooood friend.”

“Well we just met Elle but I would like if we could be friends.”

“Yesh! Yesh we is goooood friends I can can not imagine going through all of this space to be at a place like this and to talk to one of you ish jus amazing…”

“Shush…yeah it’s amazing but where did you get your outfit for this because it looks like its local clothing.”

She gets all excited and hyper as only the really new to being really drunk get and she’s also doing the drunken burps thing too and I get her finally cleaned up and then help her off the counter, fix her skirt and we head out of the bathrooms.

Patrick’s looking at me and smiles. “She’s a little hammered.”

“She’s plastered.”

Elle stares at us and squinty scowls. “I don’t get youse…you...you…why are you talking about car…carpentry? (burp) I don’t get you stupid language.”

She starts talking and muttering in what I still think is her language and then she’s tilting to one side as she’s trying to take off her shoes and is almost falling over. “Stoopid heels, can’t walk straight.”

I’m smiling and I help Elle with her shoes and I carry them after she drops them twice and I actually head over to where I have seen what looked like her people mingling with mine. Two of them get up from the far off table they are at and walk to me they’re male and they look like they’re well built but at the same time sort of average? Five ten, one hundred and eighty pounds lean yet muscled. But they move like Patrick they move like fighters.

“Evening I’m afraid some of the local fare and drink didn’t sit too well with Elle, I thought it might be best if I dropped her off to her shipmates.”

They give me a look like they didn’t really understand me but take her and one makes a face and rolls his eyes when she burps in his face. The other one sniffs and makes a face and he nods at me and tries a smile. Oh he’s so do on their diplomatic side of things but I nod and smile back and I head off to find Patrick again.

Hopefully I handled the whole thing alright and without incident.

I head to where I see Patrick talking to a bunch of other Tritons and I just get myself a bottle of gingered ale and watch them. I think they’re his unit. Okay ladies and men if you’re that inclined picture seven hard bodied military men that are the sexy embodiment of the merman myth. I’m enjoying the view. I’m a little curious as one of them is passing them out these nano-gel pill packets and they’re all popping them as they’re talking and drinking beer.

I hold off from going over but get beckoned over to a group of other women. “Yes?”

“You’re Erin right?”

“Yes?”

“Patrick’s steady.”

“Yes.”

“We’re theirs.”

“Oh…” I understand sort of this is like the wives club kind of thing.

“So you and pat have the talk yet?”

“The talk?”

“Yeah about getting serious?”

“No, I’m a cadet still and I’ve got a lot of training to go through and he’s a Triton…he’ll be leaving to go out in the field soon.”

“Tomorrow.”

“What?”

“Tomorrow, they’re going out on a mission hence the shadow-drops.”

“Shadow-drops?”

“The nano pills.”

“Oh…?”

“It’s going to be a night op or something where getting darker will be an advantage.”

“Pardon?”

“The nano-pills have colorizers in them to darken their skin and hair and scales so they get darker and it makes them easier to blend in plus their blockers.”

“Blockers?”

“The nano’s in these drops down pull out until they’re preset time goes off but they actually emit an low level ECM kind of thing that drops them out of thermal, night vision and infrared.”

“How?”

“Dunno but it’s some kind of special forces SOP implant that works with the nano’s.”

“So you can’t see them on sensors?”

“Nope, cloaked out.”

“Wow so what about natural bio-senses that do the same?”

“That’s where their special forces training comes in.”

“Oh…” Okay I knew Patrick did stuff that was like that but there’s knowing and then there’s knowing.

“So are you two parting ways then?”

“Yes….I’m really not sure how to feel about it, he’s my first and my first real relationship too.”

“You go over and take him back to your place and you make love all night then.”

“But he’s with his team mates.”

“No worries girl we’re all going to do the same c’mon.”

With that she shoves herself off the table she was leaning on and we all go over as a group of women talking our men away from their gathering to our private places and to see them off properly.

I’ll make no bones I guess as they say about it. I took Patrick back to our cabana and we made love all night. I cried too and there was this intense desperation to the times when we made love…we barely dozed either in between the times that we made love. I had even done my very best at giving him oral sex though I’m not very skilled at it. It’s not like that’s not a kind of sex that I don’t enjoy either but it’s still sort of intimidating.

But he loves it.

Is there a man that doesn’t?

I’m shaky and crying in the morning as we eat breakfast as the sun comes up and his implants tell him it’s time to go and I go with him to the actual base grounds here and I’m not alone in seeing him off or being all sad and hurting and crying doing so.

I have no idea when or if I’ll ever see him again and that scares and hurts me.

There’s more than just his team leaving too there must be six teams and what looks like some of the combat pilots leaving too and there’s a lot of hurt going around but there’s pride there too because we’re almost all part of the same military here and we all know the risks and the score as they say.

But honestly…flat out this was harder on me than leaving home and getting cut off from my family.

It’s because he told me. “Erin…I love you.” before his last kiss and him watching me as he walked backwards up the ramp for the shuttle.

It’s the hardest thing because he meant it and I think honestly that’s the first time anyone had ever said those words to me and meant them.

I’m just standing here now like the others watching the sky and the slowly fading star shine lights of their thrusters carrying them away to war.