they got, because it was a _safe_ job.

After a bit of lecture after the presentations, Professor Ailan glanced at the clock on the far wall and gave a little start. "Good grief, I'm holding you guys over," he announced. "I hope nobody has any classes ten minutes after our class ends, cause you'll be late. "He clapped his hands. "That's all, people. Read chapter nine and do the scenario questions for tomorrow. Remember, we have a test on Thursday. See you tomorrow."

The room was filled with the low buzz of chatter as the students picked up their panel displays and other assorted equipment and started stowing it in packs. Jason had to close up his spiral and stow that, for he was the only person in the class that took notes on paper in addition to the notes he typed on his panel. He preferred writing it down, because writing it helped him commit it to memory much better than simply typing it out on a computer. He finished packing everything up as Ailan started disassembling the projects they did, his hands moving quickly and surely as he unannealed the components from their metal backing, using a little device that caused molecular structures of two different objects to mingle along the border, in effect "welding" them together. He was using the "separation" mode, which caused to disparate materials to unfuse, sliding it along the base junction where the components were annealed to the backing with a quick and steady hand. He watched for just a moment, then slung his pack over his shoulder and filed out the door.

"Not so fast."

Jason froze at the sound of that voice, for it was the redheaded Marine! He whirled around and saw her leaning with her back against the wall near the door, the sole of her left boot flat against the wall, her arms crossed below her breastplate and her head slightly bowed. Her rifle and helmet were missing, probably being held by that other platinum blonde Marine who wasn't around.

He was busted. He wasn't going to run away like a coward, but he wasn't going to blubber like a little girl either. He drew himself up erect and looked over at her with a neutral expression.

"You thought that was funny, didn't you?" she asked, then she chuckled. "Well, so did I. You have more backbone than most of these sheep. But you got it wrong."

"What?"

"We tan, just like you do," she told him with a strange smile. "I'm much lighter than that."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said carefully, then he took a step back.

"Don't even," she said quickly, coming off the wall. "Just because I thought it was funny doesn't mean you're getting away with it.

"There's nothing in the laws against picturing a Marine naked," he said bluntly.

"True, that's why I'm not hauling your happy ass down to the barracks," she told him. "You put me in a pair of boots, so I'm going to put you in a pair of high heels. For real," she told him with a wicked little smile.

Jason got very defensive at that point, his eyes going flat. "Try it," he said dangerously.

"Oh, you think you can take me?" she asked with a laugh, then he felt her brush against his mind. He focused his thoughts behind a mask of utter blankness, a wall of nothing that would not allow her to find its edges and slip inside. His sudden defense made her eyes go wide, then she gave him a sudden respectful look. "That's quite a trick there, human," she told him. "That's how you got away from us before. How do you do that?"

"Practice," he answered honestly.

"Well, that's fairly impressive," she admitted. "It's going to make this a little more difficult, but that's alright. I live for challenges."

"The only way you're going to get me out of my clothes is over my dead body," he warned in an ugly tone as several students passed by, giving him wild looks.

"And not let you enjoy the experience? I think not," she winked. She _winked_ at him! "I might have to knock you out, but I'll make sure you wake up to enjoy it."

Immediately, Jason balled up his fists.

She laughed. "Well, I tell you what, human. I'll actually take you on hand to hand. I won't even cheat. If you can beat me, I'll leave you alone. If you lose, you walk home wearing nothing but high heels."

Jason sized up this Faey. The armor hid her body, but he knew from experience that Faey soldiers were deceptively strong. But it was their speed that one had to watch. They were lithe, graceful, and very fast. The soldiers were extensively trained for combat, and that included hand to hand. They were solid opponents, and he had to respect both her speed and her training. She was expecting him to be like any other human of his size, rather strong, maybe well coordinated, but without any kind of basic training in self defense. And since she couldn't probe him, she couldn't find out that he was in fact _very_ well versed in self defense. He knew what to expect from her, but she had no idea what to expect from him... or more to the point, she would draw the wrong conclusion. That gave him all the advantage he needed.

He could take her.

"You have a deal," he said confidently.

"Come on then," she told him with an eager smile.

"Now?"

"Sure," she answered, walking past him, towards the outer doors. "There's plenty of room outside."

That suited him just fine.

The students on campus realized something was going on when the Faey came out of the building, her partner standing by the door with her helmet and rifle, then backed out onto the grass and crooked a finger tauntingly at a human that came out behind her. Jason dropped his pack by the sidewalk and ventured out onto the grass, cracking his knuckles and fixing the Faey with a cool stare. "Want me to take off my armor?" she asked with a teasing smile.

"No," he answered in a calm, almost serene manner. "You'll need it."

That made the Faey laugh delightedly. "I'm really going to enjoy walking you home, human," she promised. She spread her feet and raised her hands in a guard stance. "Come on then, Rambo," she taunted. "Show the big bad Faey what you're made of."

It had to end fast, before she realized he was much more dangerous than he looked, and he knew exactly how to approach her to make that happen. He skittered in with his fists raised in a boxing stance, then flicked a few ineffective and intentionally clumsy jabs at her unprotected face, baiting her. She laughed mockingly as she danced back a few steps, evading his erratic blows, then whipped her hand out to grab his arm as it came at her.

Which was exactly what he wanted.

With lightning speed, Jason opened his fist and snapped his arm outwards, grabbing her by the wrist. He stepped in towards her and levered that arm in an Aikido lock, forcing her to move the way he wanted her to move or risk getting a broken arm or dislocated shoulder. Her armor would _not_ protect her against that. He jerked her to and fro for several seconds as she gasped in pain and tried to disengage herself from his grip on her even as she surrendered to his force and moved where he bade her. He got her off balance by making her weave back and forth in ever-widening circuits, until she was all but stumbling around as he moved backwards and to each side, forcing her to come along with him or get her arm broken. Just as she dipped down to follow a sudden yank on her arm, Jason pivoted and let go of her, spun in a complete circle, and then delivered a wicked spinning roundhouse kick squarely to the side of her pretty little head just as she was rising up from his pull, completely unaware of the incoming attack. The outside of his foot went satisfyingly numb as it impacted her skull, and the raw power of the blow swept her right out from in front of him. His foot swung down easily to again stand on the earth, and the Faey Marine crashed to the ground in a boneless heap.

Jason stood there for a long moment to utter, complete, stunned silence from the growing crowd that came over to see what was going on. He watched for several seconds, until she groaned and rolled over on her stomach, then shakily started pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. He thought about saying something to rub it in, but it was best not to tempt fate. He beat her, he beat her fairly, and something told him that he'd better pick up his pack and be somewhere else by the time she got her senses back. He turned his back on her without a word, then paced over and picked up his pack. The blonde--what was her name? Maya? Maya, that was it. Maya gave him a look of profound surprise, then she gave him the strangest smile, all cheeky and amused. She put her free hand to her upper chest and gave him a little bow, some kind of weird Faey custom, he supposed. He put his hand in his pocket, held onto the strap of his pack with the other, then strolled away as if nothing had happened.

But as soon as he turned the corner, he ran like hell.

                                        * * *

He knew that there were going to be repercussion for what happened. He was sure of it. A human had kicked the piss out of a Faey, and not just any Faey. A _Marine_. It worried him enough to make it hard to study, and that was a _very_ bad thing.

He leaned back from the desk in his tiny room, putting his hands over his face. It was a truly spartan affair, with a narrow bed that wasn't long enough for him in the corner, and a tiny stand with a small television sitting in the other corner. A small window facing the brick building across the alley was set in the middle of the wall, by the television. His desk was a the head of his bed, which left just enough room to open the door, which banged up against the bookshelf on the opposite wall, behind the desk, which was why he had little more than a walkway in the middle of his room. His panel was sitting on the desk on a stand so he could read the screen, like a monitor, displaying video it had taken of his calculus class he took after the fight, a class he didn't even remember. At least he had the wherewithal to set the panel to record the class, because he was completely distracted.

Distracted? More like mindlessly worried. Professor Zalda, his aged female Faey calculus teacher, seemed amused by his state, and hadn't pressed him during class. He couldn't remember getting there. He couldn't remember a single word spoken during the class. Hell, he didn't even remember leaving and walking back to his room, which was two blocks from the campus in a dorm built for the students. It was all a jumbled blur of worry over what had happened. In a way, he started thinking that maybe he _should_ have let that Marine strip him and make him walk home naked. At least then, he wouldn't be eaten up with an almost panicked fear of what the Marines were going to do to him in payback.

He knew all about that. His father had been in the Air Force, so he knew all about how they were going to gang up to pay him back for what he did to one of their own.

He blew out his breath and looked at the wall over his desk, under the shelf that was mounted to the wall, where a picture of his father was pinned. He'd been dead for five years now, and in a way, he was glad he didn't live to see the subjugation. His father would have invaded a base, stolen a fighter, and got himself killed, or ran off into the forest with the other squatters who were out there now. He died of cancer, and after he died, a seventeen year old Jason Fox found himself alone in the world. But instead of going into a foster home, he got emancipation and just kept going, like his father would have wanted him to. He sold his family house and moved into a dorm when he got a scholarship to play football at the University of Michigan. He played for two years as a third-string free safety and special teams cover player, never making it to the starting lineup, but he really didn't care. He was there on scholarship, and he used that scholarship to get a free education... which was what he was after. He majored in electrical engineering, focusing on digital electronics. He hoped to get a job designing computer hardware somewhere after college, working for a place like Motorola or IBM. But then the Faey came, and all his plans were tossed out the window. Because he was in college, he wasn't shipped off to a farm, allowed to remain in school and continue with his classes until he was tested.

Not that he did much schooling in that year between their arrival and the day they tested him. He was stuck in a holding pattern, as was everyone in school, just waiting and going through the motions. It was a very nervous time, and it gave them enough time to find out from others just what happened in the testing, and what happened if one did poorly. They tested him, then shipped him to Boston for a year of preliminary--what they called remedial--education, then he had his first semester of plasma courses. He did so well that they shipped him down here to New Orleans a few months ago to start the semester at Tulane, and so far, he'd been doing rather well.

Jason chuckled humorlessly as his father's green eyes laughed from the photograph. His father had always been so jovial, so light-hearted, so much different from his sober and serious son. But they did look something alike. Jason has his father's straight blond hair, his piercing green eyes, and the same tall frame. His father was but a half an inch from being too tall to be a fighter pilot.

There was a knock at his door, which startled him nearly out of his chair. "Yo, Jason!" a man called, and he sighed in relief when he realized it was Tim. Tim was one of his students in his only extra-curricular activity, an Aikido class he taught on campus. He had nine pupils, and so far, they all seemed to be doing rather well. Jason taught them Aikido and Tai Chi, exercise for the body and the mind to help them deal with the tremendous stress that school put on them.

"It's open," he called, and the door opened immediately. Tim came in wearing a tank top and a pair of running shorts, and he was coated in sweat. Tim was a tall, dark-haired, rather handsome broad-shouldered young man that at twenty-two was a year younger than him, but was in the same semester as he was. They only shared one class, their Physics class, and that was enough for them to strike up a friendship. It was Tim that talked him into starting an Aikido club, and was one of his most eager pupils.

"You look like shit," Tim told him as he came in, unable to close the door because Jason was blocking his entrance into the room.

"I feel like it," he grunted, leaning back in the chair and looking up at the ceiling.

"You realize that you missed the meeting," he said. "Since you weren't there, we just threw each other around for a while then went home."

Jason chuckled ruefully. "Sorry about that, but I'm a little distracted. I've had a bad day."

"We heard. Heard that a student kicked the shit out of a blueskin, and everyone in the club knew it was you when you didn't show up," he said with a sudden laugh, using the rather derogatory term humans had of the Faey. "What happened?"

"It's a bit involved," he answered, then he related the tale to him, telling about how his image of the Faey ultimately led to the challenge, and the short fight afterward.

Tim laughed. "I'll bet she's kicking herself for not wearing her helmet," he surmised.

"Probably," Jason agreed. "She never thought I could be any kind of threat."

"She broke the first rule," Tim said sagely, the first thing Jason taught his students. _Never believe that your opponent can't beat you, because the instant you do believe that, he _will_ beat you. _"So, what happens now?"

"Now, I walk with one eye over my shoulder and ready to run like hell any time I see black armor," he answered honestly. "If she doesn't do something about it, the other Marines will. Military people like that don't let their own get beat up by a _native_. They'll come after me."

"They might," Tim admitted. "But then again, they could just zap you."

"What would that prove?" Jason asked. "No, they'll beat me up the old fashioned way. That way the don't feel inferior."

"How did you do it?" he asked.

"I've seen Faey soldiers move," he answered. "I'm familiar with them, but that Marine had never seen me before, and she just assumed that I was like everyone else, that I had no training. I had the advantage, and she thought that _she_ did. She got cocky, and it cost her."

"And she got her ass kicked," Tim laughed.

"Actually, it was my head," a voice called from outside the door, which made both of them snap their heads to look, even as Jason's stomach sank. He knew that voice. It was the redheaded Marine, and she had tracked him back to his room! She was alone, and much to his surprise, she wasn't wearing her armor. She was wearing a plain old gray tee shirt with a pocket on the left side and a pair of faded blue jeans tucked into dainty black leather boots, very _human_ clothing. The only thing about her that looked out of place was her blue skin, pointed ears, and the plasma pistol holstered on her belt. Even off duty and in civilian clothes, Faey soldiers did not go around unarmed.

Tim turned absolutely white, backing up against the door and giving the redheaded, blue-skinned woman a strangled look.

She stepped up to the door, and Jason couldn't help but stare at her. She was _gorgeous_ out of her armor! Her hair was neat and groomed, still combed over the left side of her face and head, and there was no visible sign that she'd been walloped in the head. No scab, no bruise, no knot. The armor made her look harsh and intimidating, but in a loose-fitting tee and jeans, she was very feminine, and quite pretty.

"Well," she said, glancing at Tim. "I thought for a moment that there was someone else here, but I think I was mistaken. It would be a shame if I turned out to be wrong. After what I thought I heard that other person say, I just might have to do something about his attitude."

Tim hugged the wall as he slipped around her, then he fled down the hall shamelessly. And Jason didn't blame him one bit.

Jason watched her as she strode into the room, then leaned her shoulder against the door. He was totally at a loss here. He had no idea what to say or do, and fear rose up like bile in his stomach as her stormy gray eyes looked down at him without expression.

"Well," she said, with a slow smile creeping into her features. "I don't need the Gift to see that you're quite at a loss. Didn't think I'd come here like this, did you?"

He shook his head mutely, staring at her like she was a cobra about to strike.

"Calm down," she said with a wink. "I'm not here for a rematch, and you don't have to worry about my squad coming down here to give you a party. I got whooped fair and square, and I can respect that. I underestimated you, and I paid for it. And that's that."

"T-Then why are you here?" he managed to stammer out.

"Because you interest me," she said frankly. "I've never met a human male that could beat me in a fight. There's that, and there's also the fact that your mind is closed to me. I can't simply look at you and hear every thought in your head. I don't know how you do it, but you keep your mind closed so it doesn't broadcast your thoughts for us to hear. Only a handful of humans can do that that we know of, humans with highly trained minds. You're a mystery, and Faey women just _love_ mysterious males. They pique our curiosity."

Jason got nervous. He did _not_ like the way this was sounding like it was headed.

"There's that, and there's also how you hid from us," she continued. "I've never heard of _any_ human that could do that. Somehow, you blocked our talent when we searched for you, hid your mind from us in a way that made us miss you. That's pretty remarkable, since you don't have any talent yourself. I want to know how you did it."

"I just presented an empty front," he said quickly. "Meditation, no thought. I learned a while ago that if I'm not thinking, then Faey can't use it to find me."

She pursed her lips, then she laughed. "Well, actually we can, but we don't bother using those approaches when we're looking for humans. It's easy to just look for thoughts, and since I never dreamed that you could hide your thoughts, I never bothered to look for you any other way. That's damned clever." She cocked her head at him curiously. "How do you know how to do that at all?"

"You damn Faey stick your noses in my head all the time," he blurted in irritation before he caught himself. "Every single one I meet tries to probe me with telepathy. They do it to me so often I've even learned how it feels when they do it. That's how I knew when to put that image out where you'd see it," he continued, having no idea why he was telling her, but unable to stop himself. "Why don't they ever leave me alone?"

"It's because we can't hear your thoughts passively," she said after a few seconds of thought. "If you were any other human, I could stand here and hear every thought that crossed your mind without having to actively touch you. But I _can't_ hear what you're thinking, so I'd have to actively reach out and touch your mind. If you're looking for whom to blame for why we always probe you, look in your mirror," she told him with a wink. "Faey women adore mysteries, and a human with a closed mind is the only mystery we have on this rock."

Well, that did explain quite a bit. He rocked back in his chair and pondered on it briefly. If she was right, then he was partially to blame for all those Faey who violated the sanctity of his own mind, if only because his thoughts weren't out where they could hear them.

"So," she said, getting his attention again. "Now that I got the answers to my questions, want to go get some pizza?"

"_What_?" he asked in utter surprise.

"Do you want to go out and get some food?" she repeated. "I haven't had anything since breakfast, and I'm starved. I'm rather fond of pizza. There's this place on the West Bank called Mo's. It has the best pizza in the city."

He was quite honestly startled half out of his wits. She was _asking him out_!

"Well? Don't sit there like an idiot," she grinned. "I know it's a shock that I'm asking you out, but it can't be that much of a shock."

"Oh yes it can," he managed to blurt as he tried to recover his wits. He hadn't expected this. Anger, yes, maybe even spite, but not a _date_. What the hell was he going to do to get out of this without getting her pissed off?

"I, uh, I have too much work to do," he said, motioning at his panel, which was still showing video of the class he'd sort of lost in the haze after their short fight. "I have a test tomorrow in calculus, and I'm not ready. And I have homework in about four different courses, and two tests Friday. And since I've been worrying about what happened between us since it happened, I haven't been able to concentrate on school since then."

She chuckled ruefully. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you like that," she told him. "What's your test in on Friday?"

"Advanced Plasma Fundamentals," he answered immediately.

She made a face. "I hated that class," she said.

He gave her a startled look.

"You think I want to be a Marine forever?" she said in a challenging tone. "I'm just going through the mandatory conscription. Every Faey woman has to do five years in the military. I'm pretty strong in talent and I'm a good shot, so I was put in the Marines. But I've been taking classes to try to get into engineering on one of the starships, as soon as I serve out my two-year initial assignment."

"And if you had money, you could have bought your way into that engineering job," he said with a growl.

"I see you understand the nuances of Faey society rather well," she said in a sarcastic kind of manner. "I'm a commoner. I have to work my way where I want to go. Where did you learn so much about us?"

He pointed at his panel. "They don't censor the old internet, and I'm not restricted from CivNet," he answered, referring to the earth-based Faey computer information network, which was connected to the Faey "internet." "If you know where to look, you can find all sorts of information."

"Ah." She looked at the screen, then stepped up and waved her hand in front of the panel's sensor. That triggered an automatic reaction which caused the device to project out the keyboard. Jason _still_ wasn't used to that thing. It was a holographic projection that had real substance, an illusion that he could touch, and it acted just like any other keyboard. It was customizable, so Jason had set his up to mimic a standard human computer keyboard. She looked at it a moment, then nudged him with her hip to give her space and started typing at the terminal window that popped up over the running video playback.

"What are you doing?" he demanded as she quickly brought up his calendar, which listed all his due assignments.

"Just looking for a place where you can squeeze me in," she answered with a sly smile down at him.

"Did it ever occur to you that I might not want to go out with you?" he asked acidly.

"Why not?"

"You're a Faey," he declared in a blunt manner.

"So? Faey go out with humans all the time. You're actually an attractive race to us, and I know we're attractive to you. Our physiologies are virtually identical, and we're even genetically compatible. Faey and humans are nearly the same race. There's nothing wrong with us going out. It's not like I'm some kind of scaly alien."

"Your government conquered my world and made me a slave," he told her in a strong manner, which made her stop typing and look down at him. "My principles won't let me go out with a Faey. You're the enemy."

"Oh, you're one of _those_," she said with a chuckle. "Well, I'm not the government."

"You're a Marine. You very much _are_ the government."

"Hey, I may be a Marine, but that doesn't mean I like what the Empress does," he told him. "I was placed, the same as you. I'm as much a slave as you are, if you want to look at it that way. I just do what I'm told, the same as you, and work to try to improve my lot. You and me, we're insignificant little cogs in the vast machine."

He was surprised that she had such a strong grasp of English. He was equally surprised at her reasoning, and he often forgot that the Imperium treated the _Faey_ the same way it treated the _humans_. She had been placed, just like he had, put in the Marines because that's where they thought she would do best, and she was working to get out of the Marines and move on to something she wanted to do. The only way to do that was to show the Imperium that she could do the job through tests, then wait for a position to come open. Until then, she'd wear her armor and tote around her rifle and play policeman, because she had no other choice.

But still, she was Faey, a member of the conquering race. By principle, he couldn't be friends with her, the same way he kept his distance from Ailan. Because, just like Ailan, this pushy Faey female was starting to grind down his defenses. She was smart, sassy, a little pushy, and she had a sense of humor. Those were attractive qualities in a woman to him.

"Well, this cog doesn't mingle with the other cogs," he told her tartly, pushing her hands away from his keyboard. It was the first time he had ever touched a Faey skin to skin, and in that touch he felt a strange buzzing behind his eyes.

"You _like_ me," she announced with a laugh. "You object to me out of a philosophical position, not personal preference. Well, it's nice to know where I stand."

He glared at her, realizing that she had somehow breached his defenses and had looked inside his mind, violating his privacy in the most grievous manner possible. He jumped to his feet and got nose to nose with her, his anger all over his face, which made her uncertain and nervous. "Stay out of my head, and get the _hell_ out of my room," he said in an ominously low voice.

"Hey, that was _your_ fault," she told him quickly. "You touched me, and I wasn't expecting it. When we touch, it focuses the talent, makes it easier for us to see deeper into a mind. When you touched me, I was inside your mind before I realized it."

"The one thing I know about your talent is that it takes _intent_," he said in a savage hiss. "Now get out!"

"Alright, you got me," she admitted. "When you touched me, I took a peek. But that's because I wanted to see how you really felt about me. If you didn't like me, I would have simply left. But I know that you _do_ like me, Jason Augustus Fox," she said with a slight little smile. "I'm sorry I did that. I didn't know how much you objected to sharing your thoughts, and I won't do it again. So, I'll go and let you calm down, but don't think that you'll never see me again. I'll show up around every corner, and I'll hound you until I get what I want from you."

"You think you will," he growled.

"I know I will," she told him easily, holding up three fingers. "I don't want anything other than three dates, Jason, three chances to get to know you better and solve the mystery of you. And I'll be your worst nightmare until you give in and go out with me," she promised. "Our first will be a real date, where we both dress up in nice clothes and go to a nice restaurant, then we go to an opera or a play, something cultured and classy."

"There's no chance in hell that's going to happen," he declared.

"We'll see," she said with a narrow-eyed smile. "You underestimate my resolve."

"You underestimate mine."

"Well, if you want to make a challenge out of it, then I'll be happy to oblige you," she said brightly, turning and taking the two steps necessary to get out the door. "But I'll warn you right now, Jason. I play to win," she warned, reaching in and grabbing the handle. "Oh, and I cheat," she added with a chuckle, then she closed the door.

Growling several low curses, Jason sat back down in his chair. If she thought she was going to get him to go out with her, she was totally crazy. He might have considered it before she stuck her nose in his mind, violated him in the one way he could not stand to be violated. He spent several minutes trying to compose himself. He looked at the screen, saw that his calendar was still up, and he saw that she had added a few items to it, next Friday:

_16 May 2007, 7:00pm: Go out with Jyslin Shaddale._
_16 May 2007, 11:15pm: Strip naked and wear high heels._
_16 May 2007, 11:20pm: Strip Jyslin naked and