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Subject: {ASSM} Project Biolab 3/3 Biolab 69: The Dogs (zoo, best, asst codes)  TBD
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Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:10:04 -0400
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Biolab 69: The Dogs - Miscellaneous work
---

    Dedicated to the memory of 'Hossie', AKA 'Hoss Topper' and 'Mark
Mathews'. I've always wanted to do a variation of your 'Driver', that
was still uniquely my own.

    BioLab *is*, in many ways, that variation.

    "Hossie... I'm glad I was able to meet you, not only on the net,
but in real life."
    -----

    (M-Bitch zoo/best rom)

    Released to the public domain
    ----------

    Biolab 69 - Jessica and Tom
    When Bitches Can Type
    ---

    OK. I admit it. It was a crazy thing to do, but I was all alone...

    The coffee shop had free Wi-Fi and I had my palmtop with me so I
killed some time by skimming through the 'meet-your-mate' sites.

    I was browsing a newly created zoosexuality site when I spotted an
unusually worded ad that wound up changing my life:

    "Bitch seeks master. Willing to bestow affection and a lifetime
supply of free food and free medical care. In addition, will supply
'to the death' devotion and act as bodyguard. Willing to share bed, if
master agrees to stroke in return. Massages appreciated, bonus
payments for services will be excessive kissing, intense cuddles and
other perks to be named after settlement of initial terms of lifetime
contract. lonelybitch@bpanml.org"

    I recognized the domain. You couldn't avoid knowing about it
because the media had gone crazy while sensationalizing the trial that
won the Biolab animals recognition as full humans. I'd waded though
all the coverage because I had a fantasy that I seldom shared: 'I
couldn't see myself loving anything except a bitch, a bitch who could
love me in return--and clearly express that love.'

    Don't ask me why I had that dream, or why I didn't fantasize about
humans. I still can't answer those questions. I'd done ok growing up.
I didn't hate other people, just didn't have much use for them
personally. Maybe it was because I grew up in the city. My parents
weren't very social, and all my life, it was 'keep your head down and
avoid attention'.

    Maybe that's part of it. If I got serious about someone, or 'they'
found out I was still a virgin, I'd be a laughing stock, a joke.

    I was already that. I didn't need to make it worse.

    Why, then, my fascination for sex with bitches? Or, not bitches,
really, but women who *looked* like bitches?

    I still don't know. Denial? Maybe. Because I liked dogs? What a
joke that thought is. My only meetings with dogs had been encounters
with guard dogs and *those dogs* were never friendly.

    Casual encounters? No... None of those, either, nor had I or my
parents ever owned one.

    Yet, ever since I discovered sex, I'd looked at pictures of
bitches and they'd gotten me more excited than any other images.

    Was I confused? You bet, especially during those rare times when I
did more than jerk off.

    'Discovering myself?' Yeah... I did that. I knew a LOT about what
turned me on, but that was as far as I went, and any news about
talking bitches was just fuel for my fantasies.

    Anyway, 'bpanml.org' was operated by the animals who had decided
to leave the original project and make their way in the real world. It
stood for 'Biolab Project Animals', and visiting their site was the
closest I had ever expected to get to living my fantasy.

    How could I NOT reply to an ad like that?

    I entered a simple yet, I hoped, different enough reply that it
would get her attention:

    "I've dreamed of meeting someone like you. Are you the Bitch of my
dreams? Wondering... studdog@fantasyland.net"

    Two days later the doorbell rang. Surprised, I opened my door to
discover a Golden Retriever bitch settled on her haunches and studying
me. "Are you 'studdog'?"

    I blushed. "Err... Yeah."

    Her ears shifted backwards slightly. "Are you one?"

    "Ahhh..." I shuffled my feet, embarrassed. "No.
Idon'thaveaclueI'mavirgin."

    "Good." The ears came forward slightly but stayed low on her head.

    "Huh?"

    "Willing to learn?"

    What the hell? Who wrote this script? This wasn't a bit like
anything *I'd* dreamed up. "Umm. Yeah. Suppose so."

    She sneezed delicately. It was, I noticed, a decidedly feminine
sneeze. Then she stood up and turned sideways to me. This time her
head was turned away slightly, lowered, and her ears were almost flat
and shifted to the back of her head. "Do you think I'm pretty?"

    "Umm..." Where were these hot flushes coming from? I didn't think
she was 'pretty'... I thought she was my living fuck fantasy come to
life! "Ahh..."

    "Sexy, huh?" The ears had come up and shifted forward a little.
Her head had stayed lowered.

    Obviously caught, (I didn't know about her nose, then), I sighed.
"Very."

    She turned a bit more, then raised her tail and bent it slightly
to the right at the base. It looked like it was broken, but I wasn't
paying much attention to that. I was getting my first good look at the
sexual parts of a real bitch, and...

    She lowered her tail and walked over to poke her nose past me and
inhale deeply though it. "Masturbate a lot?"

    I blushed again. "Uh huh." I dared a comment of my own, since it
seemed like she wanted me to say something more. "You make me want to
masturbate."

    Her reaction surprised me. Her head jerked up and turned so she
could stare at me. Her ears, I had the feeling they would have been
perked straight up and facing me if they'd been able to. "Really?"

    "Yeah. You're a lot better than the pictures I use." I figured I'd
blown it, might as well be honest, now. I didn't know what else to say
that wouldn't make things worse.

    She laughed. "Honest and selfish. I like that. We can work the
rest out as we go." She suddenly pulled back and resettled on her
haunches to look up at me. "I want to try. Do you?" This time there
was none of the assured forcefulness behind her words. She sounded...

    I couldn't stop myself from staring at her. She sounded like I
did. Vulnerable. Easy to hurt. Scared. I didn't know it then but if
I'd been familiar, even a little bit, with dog body language, I would
have known the forceful attitude was a pose. Her ears had been telling
a different story all along but I'd never seen it. I'd never known it
was being told.

    Memories and knowledge filled in the details I'd missed because of
ignorance.

    We looked at each other in silence. Finally: "Well? Going to
invite me in?"

    "Ummph. Yeah... Uhh... Come on in..."

    She saved me. "Lonelybitch. Jessica. Jess, to my friends. I've
never had a lover so you can pick what you like. OK?"

    I choked. "Umm. Yeah. I'm Tom. Come on in, Jess. My home is yours,
and all that."

    She stood, then pushed past me. "Where's the bedroom? I'm tired of
masturbating alone."

    Well, I'd had my fantasy answered. I think.
    -----

    That had been a year ago. It had been just as much of an
'adventure' since.
    -----

    "Hey, Jess!"

    She rolled over and looked at me. "Morning, Tom. You're excited.
Got a good reason for waking me up this early?"

    I grinned, not taking her needling too seriously. We always woke
up with enough time for a morning fuck before going to work. Grumbling
about the time was a shared private joke. "Yeah. Happy Anniversary,
Bitch."

    She sneezed. "Fine. Now fuck me. We can figure out what to do with
the rest of the day after we get home this evening."

    I chuckled and reached to slide her into position. "You have the
day off. I was thinking we could go use one of the Bio Partner's guest
cottages."

    "Off? But..."

    I moistened a finger with my saliva and started working her vulva.
The action served two purposes: Get her ready and shut her up. "Your
boss doesn't have a problem with it. We've been saving it for a
surprise. Wasn't easy, as nosey and dedicated as you are."

    Her response was one I'd learned to enjoy during the last year.
Her hips curled into my crotch and she started licking my face.

    I lined us up and worked my way into her, teasing her a little by
stopping
    and partially withdrawing before pushing further home. We'd only
been fully fucking for about six months. I'd been surprised that even
though she was several years old, she'd been as virginal as I had
been.

    Odd. I'd never thought that both of us would be inexperienced
sexually. She hadn't even mated with dogs and I hadn't done anything
more than looking at porn and reading once in awhile to fuel my
masturbation fantasies.

    Memories like that one made me chuckle in the middle of fucking
her but she'd had some inappropriate grins of her own I'd made her
explain. All in all, we both liked to fuck for the selfish pleasure we
felt, as much as we enjoyed the closeness of the afterglow.

    So, so far, it was just like any other morning had been for the
last six months. And days. And evenings. And nights...

    One thing I'd had a hard time adapting to was how fast she reached
orgasm. We'd learned about it during the classes we'd taken but the
reality of it was difficult to adapt to for both of us. We'd been
offered chances to have sex with experienced partners but we'd talked
it over and gone on to learn on our own.

    We'd both been young enough to dream of making that first time
something special between us, I guess. For most of the animals and
people in the organization, their first times had been casual, done as
part of learning about sex with a different species. Granted, some of
the teachers and guides had been experienced zoos before they joined
but...

    Jessica and I were suited for each other. It was that simple, and
yet so complex. It had, however, made our explorations and first
penetrative sex all the more special.

    None of that mattered right now. I moved in her a few times and
then held on and pressed our pubes together as hard as I could before
stopping my movements. Practice had let us discover that this frozen
moment was the closest I could get to a full tie and it triggered her
primary orgasm. Her tonguing grew more frantic and out of control for
about a minute, then she slowed down and her movements were more
controlled. It was the only indication I had that she'd orgasmed, and
I was selfish enough to get more turned on by knowing I'd caused it.

    Besides, I was shivering from all the hormones that were trying to
take over and it was a relief to let go and frantically fuck her.

    I seldom lasted long during our morning fucks and this time was no
exception. I slammed us together again and felt my semen pulse through
my penis. It would be a contest to see which of us cleaned her up as
it oozed back out but for now I was only thinking of and enjoying the
idea that I was putting it inside her.

    A minute or so later we shifted, keeping the connection, but
finding a position that let us cuddle and share the afterglow. Usually
we just fucked, hugged and then got ready for work.

    I chuckled, still high on the emotions from the sex as well as
thinking about the rest of the day and ways we could celebrate our
first year together. "OK, Jess. I'm not sorry I managed to keep the
time off and the cottage idea a secret from you."

    She growled a little then relented. "I love you, too." She lifted
her head slightly to look past me. "The picture needs straightening."

    "Picture?"

    "The one with the ad in it."

    "Oh. I like the one taken when we graduated and you were outfitted
for your first job."

    Her sneeze of mild disgust was carefully directed away from me.
"You would. I'll never forget how funny it was to watch you learning
how to work my waldos and run my suit by remote control."

    I blushed. "I only learned how to walk on two feet."

    She switched subjects. "Did you pick out a place, yet?"

    "Left it for you, Jess. I don't care where we go, as long as it's
together."

    "Good. When I said 'lifetime', I meant it."

    "Yeah. Figured that out right away and I always wanted the same.
Never thought I'd get this lucky."

    We kissed and I let her clean the inside of my mouth. I'd never
understood how she could deal with my 'morning breath' and so far
every explanation could be summed up as 'it's a dog thing'.

    "Hey, Bitch."

    "What?"

    "Swap ends, will you?"

    "Make me."

    I stroked her belly a few times, enjoying the contact. "Roll
over."

    "Hmmph." But she complied.

    I pushed and shoved until I could stick my face between her hind
legs. The oozing semen looked tasty, so I cleaned her up while she
stuck her nose in my crotch and licked me clean. It felt right to be
this close, and her tongue got me excited again. Instead of doing
anything about it, I let her lick me into another orgasm. When I felt
it near, I pressed my mouth over her vulva and sucked on it noisily,
probing and tasting her.

    I eventually shuddered and relaxed, then kissed her vulva lightly.
"Thanks, Jess."

    "I was being selfish. You taste good."

    I grinned. "And you smell good. Sexy. I think you're finally going
into heat again. 'Bout time for it, isn't it? I don't keep track."

    "Never out with you in my bed."

    We laughed at each other's whimsy, then stayed put for another
cuddle. I fell asleep with my head between her legs and her nose in my
crotch.

    It felt as good as the raw sex did.

    * * *

    We were strapping on her waldo when she finally made her decision.

    "Mountains. I'm tired of the city. I'm tired of clogging my nose
with smog. I'm also tired of the beaches and those damn Frisbees."

    I laughed. "Guess that makes us different. I'm used to the smog,
never notice unless it's real bad. I'll call transportation if you
find out where we're going."

    She laughed. "Definitely a mountain cabin. I'll call and find out
if any of the close ones are available. When are you going to learn
how to drive?"

    I sighed. "You know how I feel about that. I don't have the focus
needed. I'd probably get us killed if I tried."

    She sat in front of me and looked up, then caressed my face with
one of the 'hands' on her waldo. "It's OK. I can drive in an
emergency, but I'd rather use public transportation, or walk. Being
close to the job is more important than my comfort, for now. Besides,
being chauffeured is one of the perks we get for being who we are.
Nobody expected the breakthrough in automated hardware design or the
wireless interfaces that let us have our own hands."

    I nodded. The waldos weren't common yet and Jess was already a
senior field tester of the latest designs. Nobody knew what was
happening with the Bio Partner teams but we all assumed their designs
were more suited to the few specialty jobs they favored.

    The waldo I'd helped Jess strap on was a general use model that
was still in the prototype stage. Along with her 'suit' the two items
allowed her to do just about anything a human could do, with a few
'dog specialized' abilities thrown in.

    Jessica, as she'd hinted earlier, was unusually skilled at using
her mechanical hands for 'rapid response' tasks. A demo we were both
heartily sick of was having to play Frisbee on the beach while being
filmed. The whole 'Frisbee Issue' was a stereotype neither of us
enjoyed living with.

    We made our calls, then settled to wait for our ride.

    * * *

    The trip to the cabin took about an hour and we chatted with the
driver and her partner, catching up on any news about some of our
friends. Jess's friends, mostly. The class time had been a hectic blur
for me and all I really remembered were a few vivid, and usually
embarrassing, scenes that showed my ignorance of dogs in general. On
the other hand, I glanced over at Jess and felt smug... I'd scored
unusually high on recognizing canine sexual signalling.

    We got out and the driver escorted us to the small cabin, chatting
all the while.

    "I think you two will love it here. We've spent some of our time
in the area. Take the time to wander, some. Don't spend all of your
time in bed with each other. I know it's a special day but really, do
more than remembering the past year. Take the time to add some new
memories for next year."

    She hesitated, then rushed on. "There's an encrypted log you can
access with your usual account passwords. Please, update it while
you're here. Leave some memories and thoughts for the rest of us. It's
a tradition, now, and it helps us all cope, sometimes..."

    She turned abruptly and left us standing on the porch. Jess and I
looked at each other and I wondered about what had happened to give
the driver's voice the unmistakable tones of pain.

    I finally shrugged. "We're here for our anniversary, right? Let's
worry about that for now, if you don't mind."

    She shook her head slowly, indicating she wasn't going to drop the
subject yet. "It's an old wound, Tom. The one we're all warned about,
even you. It's such a part of our lives that it's easy to forget how
much it hurts."

    I took a deep breath as I felt the sudden pain of remembering some
of the milder hate incidents we'd already suffered through. "Oh, that.
The fanatics who still think you folks are just glorified animals.
Aren't you ever going to tell them the truth?"

    She turned and started for the door. "No. We have enough problems
without that one thrown in. Nobody has ever successfully disputed that
we have to take a long term view on it, no matter how we feel as
individuals."

    I sighed. I still wasn't sure how I felt about 'the truth' and
keeping it secret. She was right about the problems, though, and had
generations of collected experience to call on during any discussions.

    Me? I had nothing other than a desire to learn who I was, without
fear.

    It looked like that wasn't going to happen. Like my first teacher
had said... 'Live with it folks. The fanatics are always going to be
here.'

    "Yeah. Live with it. No choice, is there?"

    "No, there isn't. Get in here and help me get out of this
contraption so I can be a real bitch for awhile."

    * * *

    We'd found the log and skimmed it, then added our first
impressions and why we were there. For the first time since we'd left
the academy and started working to earn our keep, I felt like I was
part of an extended community. There was a continuity in the log that
gave me hope that we'd survive, somehow. What was also there, but it
took Jess to point it out, was a sense of small changes that had been
taking place over the years. The tones had shifted from extremely
frustrated and paranoid, to more relaxed ones of feeling good about
the world in general.

    Maybe Jess had a point about not telling the truth, yet. Only
thing was, logic had nothing to do with the way I felt about it.

    We'd also found the latest map of the area and printed a couple of
copies to carry with us while we did some hiking.

    * * *

    We stood on one of the local overlooks, enjoying the view. I'd
hiked, she'd run and bounced, obviously exhilarated by the chance to
relax and 'be a dog'. I'd chuckled and threatened her with dire
consequences, up to and including a bath when she'd found something
particularly obnoxious to roll in, but my heart had been more involved
with the game than making the threats seriously. I'd learned that she
enjoyed water and loved to just soak in the tub or let the shower
cascade over her.

    Sex under those conditions was enjoyable, too, especially when
soap was involved.

    For now, though, we both had other ideas.

    Even so, I'd suddenly discovered I had a shy streak in me.

    I was having problems with getting undressed so we could have sex
in the open.

    "Come on, Tom. I can smell your need from here. This is private
land and we both know we aren't the first to want to fuck each other
in the open. It's not..." She definitely grinned at me. "As if we
haven't fucked in some unusual and far riskier locations."

    "I know, I know." She'd surprised me into blushing when she'd
first suggested we fuck in the open instead of in a more secluded
area. It was a new side of her personality I hadn't seen before.
Stripping hadn't been the major problem.

    I was so paranoid about being seen that I was having problems
getting an erection.

    "Can we just cuddle for now?"

    She sneezed her frustration but came over to let me hug her. Then
she danced away and flagged me. "Deal with it. Now. You have a tongue,
use it."

    I sighed. I still wasn't sure about this but I definitely wanted
to get laid.

    So... I spread the blanket and got comfortable. "Get over here,
then."

    She settled, rolled to her back and spread for me. "Get to it."

    I chuckled and started licking her hungrily. It wasn't long before
she curled to give me easier access and when I stuck a couple fingers
in, she clenched and spasmed almost immediately.

    That was all it took. I shifted until I could fuck her and started
pumping away, using her legs to help roll her into a better position
so I could drive as deeply as possible. This time, with the edge
removed by our morning fuck, I was able to slow down some and make it
last. Neither one of us wanted 'gentle', but we did want it to last
more than a few minutes.

    She didn't mind the multiple orgasms, either.

    Eventually, though, my need drove me deeper and harder while I
started putting more weight on her. It wasn't long until I let most of
my weight drive my cock as deep as it would go and I froze there while
I spurted into her again.

    When I finished, I settled back and left us connected, then looked
down. Her vulva was still twitching and when I put my hand on where we
were joined, I could feel her muscles quivering slightly as she kept
spasming. When I looked along her body, her front legs were folded
down and she had on a dreamy smile that I knew meant she was perfectly
content with things.

    Even without words between us, I would have known she enjoyed the
sex.

    I yearned for the camera I'd brought with me but I wasn't about to
go get it.

    Instead, I had to be content with catching my breath and petting
her stomach while we recovered.

    While I did that I looked around. I was a little uneasy, still,
but it was being replaced with something else as I realized what we
had just done. For the first time, we'd had sex in the open.

    The *real* open. Trees. Sky.

    Us.

    My god...

    I'd never dreamed I could feel this free.

    "Jess."

    "Mmm?"

    "What are the chances of coming back here on our usual days off?"

    "Good, I suppose. Why?"

    "I want to repeat the experience."

    "Umm." She didn't move her head, just closed her mouth a little
and let out a short, contented sigh of satiation. "I think we can do
better than that. What would you say to moving here to live?"

    I stared at her. "You're serious?"

    "I am."

    "Can we afford it?"

    "No, but I think I can convince either the company or the Bio
Partners to transfer us here for 'field testing'. The BP will
understand why, even if the real reasons are never mentioned."

    I thought about it. A city boy, born and true, and I wanted to
spend time in the wilds, just because I wanted the sex to be special.
"Yeah. Let's try it."

    She curled to disconnect us and stood up. "Grab your clothes." She
bounced away with more energy than usual, then came back. "It was
intense for me, too. Let's go back to the cabin. I have some calls to
make."

    Just before she took off at a dead run she glanced back over her
shoulder. "Happy Anniversary, and thanks." 
----

End: Biolab 69: The Dogs - Miscellaneous work
======

Biolab 69: The Dogs - Duke & Jack
---
    (zoo M-Dog nosex)

    Released to the public domain
    ----------

    Biolab 69 - Duke and Jack
    Chapter One - Recruited!
    ---

    Once again, I wished the pain would go away forever.

    It refused, of course.

    I finished my kata and gazed off at nothing before I looked down
at my side.

    Sam was gone. He'd died in his sleep after a long life. A long
life, spent first as my partner and then, for 10 years, my lover, too.

    I still missed him. That canine smile. The gentle paw that told me
it was time for us to make love.

    Sam was gone--and it hurt.

    The jogging through the mountains helped. So did the kata.

    For awhile.

    I sighed and started jogging back home.

    Several minutes later something made me look down. A huge head,
partially covered with a Biostruct combat helmet, was at my side.
Another glance, this time at the body, and I realized the head was
attached to one of the biggest Dobermans I'd ever seen. I started to
stop.

    The head nudged my leg. "Keep moving. We'll talk after we finish
our run."

    The voice answered my next question but it created others. Since
when did a BP combat Doberman find time to share a morning jog with a
grieving ex security, ex k9 handler?

    I kept jogging. It wasn't until we neared the end of my run that I
realized we'd been pushing each other. I looked down and saw that he
was grinning. "So," I panted. "Testing each other, are we?" I grinned
back. "Sam used to do that to me. I guess he always figured I couldn't
run fast enough to suit him."

    He ignored me and put on a sudden burst of speed. I held to my
steady pace. When I reached the end of my run he was waiting for me.
"No human can run fast enough to suit a dog. We learn to live with
it."

    I nodded and walked in slow circles until my breathing returned to
normal and I felt that my legs wouldn't cramp. I stopped and faced
him. "Thanks for sharing my run. It helped."

    That massive head tilted to one side while he studied me. "I know.
My nose told me when you decided to get on with your life."

    I stared at him. Brown eyes stared back. "Thanks for telling me. I
wasn't aware that I wasn't living."

    There was a long silence. He snorted. After living with Sam for so
long I knew it was a snort of amusement. "Good. Sarcasm. It means you
really do give a shit about things."

    He settled on his haunches and grinned up at me. "Now that we both
know you're alive, we can get to the real reason I'm here. I studied
your records. I know about you and Sam. All of it."

    I blushed. "Yeah? So?"

    "Think you could work with a half-mad Doberman? A Doberman who's
as horny as you are?"

    I froze and gaped at him. When I came out of my trance I looked
lower and realized I was seeing a serious amount of bare penis. I
chuckled ruefully and gave him the only answer that made sense: "Sniff
my crotch."

    "Bare it."

    I started to laugh and then paused to study him closely. "You're
serious, aren't you?"

    He sighed. "You have any idea about how damned hard it is to find
a male human who's comfortably gay--with *dogs*? Of course I'm
serious. Now, are we going to go inside and be discreet about this or
do I get to rip your pants off and fuck you in front of the world?"

    I blinked and straightened. I decided right then that no self
proclaimed 'half-mad Doberman' was going to out attitude me on my own
turf-- even if we *were* going to be partners. "Stuff that prick back
in your sheath and see if you can fit that ego through the dog door.
It's never been locked since I put it in. I'm using the regular door
and if I find you sprawled on the bed..." I grinned at his shock.
"Well, I guess we'll be partners, won't we?"

    We glared at each other and then he smiled. "You'll do. Yeah,
you'll do *just* fine.
======

Hotshots
Biolab 69 - Duke and Jack
---

"Instead of jackin' those jaws of yours, put 'em to use, willya? Move
the pin down to the bottom weight."

Duke glared at me, but complied and set the leg weights. While I
started my fifty reps he sauntered around to settle on his haunches
and grin at me. "Jack, I've never seen anyone as fanatical about his
conditioning as you are."

I grunted in between strokes. "And, you'll note, that when, it all
falls, in the crapper, like it, usually does, on the shit,
assignments, we get, that I'm, the one, doing the, ass-kicking.
Right?"

His answer was grudging. "Yeah. So far. But you know what they say
about being a badass."

"Huh!"

I finished my reps and leaned back to take a breather. "You're going
to have the bad ass when I get done kicking it if you don't get busy
with your own exercises."

He sneezed at me disgustedly. "Did 'em while you were soaking in the
sauna. But, if you want to see me get serious... Fifty pounds, right?
I want you to note this thing is set for 100 pounds."

He leaned sideways slightly and grabbed the custom jaw handle I'd made
so he could do his side-jerk exercises. I watched his muscles bunch
after he spread his front legs to brace himself.

Then he suddenly jerked his head sideways and the weights slammed into
the top of their guide track. He let go of the handle and glared at me
again while they dropped. "Happy?"

I shook my head sadly. "Yeah. A little. But now I know you've been
holding out on me, maybe you should increase the count."

We grinned at each other, then I reached as he came over to settle
that huge head in my lap.

"You're something else, Duke. Remind me to never get you angry with
me."

He groaned with pleasure and closed his eyes while I scratched behind
his ears. "Jack, buddy, I feel the same way about you. Anyone who can
press 500 pounds fifty times with each leg is someone I am not going
to encourage to kick my ass!"

I chuckled. "Then I guess I'll just have to take it out on the next
idiot who thinks I'm an easy target because I'm double their age."

There was easy laughter behind us. "As long as you make sure the
'idiot' is one you've been hired to kick, OK?"

Duke lifted his head so I could stand and stretch before I faced the
Rottweiler that was our boss. "Yeah, I'll try to save it for the
opposition. How's Jim doing, anyway? He's the one who pushed the
training match into something more."

Sam laughed. "He's buckled down and started listening to the
instructors. Kid has lots of potential, he just needed someone to let
him know he wasn't as good as he thought he was."

I nodded thoughtfully. "The kid's damn good, really. Lots of people
mistake my attitude for cockiness without stopping to think about how
much work I put in to back it up."

Duke came over and leaned into my leg. "We."

Sam's partner, Kimberly, giggled. "Yep. Max has a little more sense
than his partner but not much. I thought he'd never stop flinching
sideways when he walks past you, Duke. I've never seen any dog other
than another Rott flip a full grown Rottweiler around like they were a
chew toy, until you did it."

Duke grinned. "Hey, we were wearing full protection, so I decided to
have some fun since I knew neither of us would hurt more than our egos
if something went wrong."

He settled on his haunches and we looked at each other before I nodded
at him.

He turned back to Sam. "Jack and I play the game to win. Period."

Sam laughed. "That you do, and I hope I never meet the team that can
beat the two of you."

I chuckled, then shrugged. "They're out there, but we don't usually
play on their turf. Remember that recruiting tour we did with the
Biopartner Security team a few months ago? They handed us our asses
every time, without working up a sweat."

Sam sobered. "I read the reports and saw some of the video. In a way,
that's why I'm here."

Duke and I looked at each other again. He tipped his ears in Sam's
direction and I shrugged slightly. "We figured that conversation would
make the rounds, right?"

He sneezed. "Yep. 'Bout time, too. Maybe we'll get a raise--finally."

We turned back to Sam and waited.

He tilted his head thoughtfully. "You were expecting this
conversation?"

Duke nodded with none of his usual attitude. "We're damn good, but we
don't have what's needed for serious field work anymore, and we know
it. I'm not ready to retire, so I thought I'd see if I could use a
little outside pull to get us switched to headquarters as advanced
combat instructors."

Sam's ears went vertical. "Ah! That part got left out when this landed
in my supper dish. *Now* it all makes sense."

He sneezed his amusement. "You start Monday."

He turned and started walking away, then stopped to glance back over
his shoulder. "I had that little workout session you just did saved
into the area the newbies have to watch before they start classes.
Make sure you live up to that image, eh?"

He sauntered out.

I collected my jaw from the floor and laughed sourly. "Duke, buddy, I
think we've been had."

He sneezed his agreement. "Yep. On the other paw, no more 'shit
assignments', so I'm happy about it." He turned his head so he could
watch me. "Let's go to our apartment and celebrate our win."

I laughed and scritched the base of his tail. "Yeah. You need to work
on your rear leg control some more. I noticed you lost your rhythm a
few times night before last."

He snorted his amusement. "Couldn't help that. Somebody clenched
harder than usual as he jerked off."

I laughed. "True, true..."

I sobered slightly and headed for the showers with Duke at my side.
"Sorry about that. This damn training schedule has left me frustrated
and I lost control when that body orgasm hit too soon."

He sneezed disgustedly. "Well, let's hope it doesn't happen again. You
damn near ripped my dick off before I could adjust.

I froze and turned to stare at him. "Duke... That doesn't make sense.
You're damn big for a Dobie, but your knot is about average and we
both know it. I've been fucked by dogs with knots a lot bigger than
yours and they've never complained about my sphincter being too tight
when they pulled out. Tell me you're kidding."

He sat on his haunches. "Nope. I'm serious this time. You clenched and
thrust forward just as I was starting my backstroke. There was no way
either of us could stop in time." His lips curled into a digusted
grin. "Maybe it's all this damn conditioning we kill time with. We're
in better shape than we have been for years, you know."

I shook my head. "Yeah. Maybe. But it's not my asshole that's been
doing snatch and jerks."

He laughed and started moving again. "Maybe it's unintended
consequences and nobody has been fanatical enough for their training
regimen to affect their sex life like that. C'mon. Let's go use some
of that recycled water, have some fun while we rinse and then take a
look at the files on the new class. I hear there's a new team that
just might be able to kick our asses from the get-go and I want to see
if we can stay ahead of them somehow."

We had our fun, dried off, then settled in our office to start getting
ready for Monday.

* * *

Most of the teams were the usual ones of new humans and the young dogs
and bitches who'd chosen them as their partners. There were a few
teams that had an old hand as one of the partners, along with a
newbie.

Pick-up teams that had old hands as partners, like Duke and I, were
rare.

Reaching a decent retiement age was also rare, and Duke and I had both
beaten the odds by quite a few years. Getting the classrom duty as
assistants, in between our usual assignments, had been something we
had treated as a working vacation while we waited for the inevitable
retirement notices. The sideways promotion to instructors had been
more a dream than anything we saw as a realistic possibility,
considering our ages. Getting it was a shock to both of us.

So, yeah... It was kind of odd to accept the fact we were the ones who
had to do ALL of the grunt work for the advanced classes, instead of
being assistants who could quit at the end of the day.

I sighed and refocused on the monitors.

We'd been able to tentatively classify the skill levels of all the
teams but one. It was the new team Duke had heard rumors about, and I
had to agree with what people were thinking. If there was a team that
had a chance of handing us our asses on a regular basis, they were it.

"Buddy, these two are going to be a problem. They're too good."

We'd been framing through one of their final exams and trying to spot
anything that we could use to make them realize they were mortal.

He tilted his head to one side and then pawed the controls until he
had the section he wanted. "Maybe not. Watch this exercise while I run
it slow motion. I want to know if you see what I think I see."

"K."

I watched carefully as the mock battle took place. All I saw were the
two most lethal Biosuit operators I'd ever had the pleasure to watch
in action. They would have made a better showing against that
recruiting team than we had, and that was admitting a lot.

He paused it and looked at me. "Well?"

I sighed. "They could give us lessons."

He laughed harshly. "Yep, except for a couple things I've noticed."

"Oh? I didn't see anything we can use against them."

Duke's laughter turned malicious. "It's not in this vid. Watch the
next one and think about what you've just seen."

He brought up a vid of them while they weren't in their suits. They
were still good, but some of the intent lethalness was gone.

When he stopped the vid I was grinning as evilly as he was. "I
wouldn't have thought it was possible to be *too* good with the
suits."

He chortled. "Yep. All their reaction times are conditioned to suit
use and they don't make a complete adjustment to fighting without
them. 'Easy meat' when they are out of the suits."

I chuckled. "Something else I noticed. They aren't used to dealing
with folks who are almost as good as they are, but better integrated
as a team willing to swap roles and take damage if it means they win
the fight. They also focus too much on their immediate threat. I think
we can take them down even when they are in suits and we aren't, for
now."

He nodded. "So we make them the 'choosen examples' for the first
class?"

I sighed. "Yep. We don't have a choice, and I'm sure they will be
expecting it, anyway."

He sighed. "True. We can make it interesting, though. Let's bring in
Jim and Max as our assistants and training dummies."

I shook my head wearily. "Duke, it's a good thing your penis isn't as
twisted as your mind. You'd make a boar jealous."

He laughed. "I know."

* * *

Monday morning found us facing a small group of advanced teams with
Jim and Max beside us in their suits.

Duke settled on his haunches. "You folks know why you're here so I'll
ignore the traditional 'what wonderfully skilled people you are'
speech, to focus on the other tradition."

He turned his head slightly to focus on the hotshot team. "Sascha,
Illya? Somebody always gets picked on, and you're them, today. You're
good, and you know you could be better, but neither one of you can
figure out how that's going to happen, without years of field work,
which, if what I'm hearing about your past is right, you've already
had since you were old enough to be fitted with Biosuits. Right?"

Illya blushed and Sascha just tilted her head slightly. "We haven't
done real field work yet but yes, we've had our suits for years."

He grinned. "So, today, first thing we do is give you the attitude
adjustment you need. The assignment is simple. Suit up, then go
through Jack and me to make pickup on your combat casualties, who are
locked in dead suits."

Her ears perked, then she looked up at her partner. He studied her and
shrugged before they faced us again.

She thought about it some more and then fell into the trap. "Sounds
too easy. What's the catch?"

"Jack and I won't be wearing Biosuits. All we'll have on will be the
usual full protection outfits. If you get past us, you trade places
with Jim and Max to become full teaching assistants."

She looked at Jim and Max. "You two will be helpless?"

Max grinned at her. "Yep. Isn't that kind of a setup."

"Do you know what it is?"

"Nope. But if they say they can take you down, I wouldn't bet against
them. I felt the same way you do, last month."

She sneezed. "Damn dog noses. Mine says they're both as confident as
Duke acts."

Jim laughed. "At least you aren't thinking they are cocky old farts
living on past glories, like we did."

She turned her attention back to Duke and me. "If I decline the
mission?"

I shrugged. "Then we find another way to point out the weaknesses we
spotted the first time we studied the vids of your finals. Longer you
wait, the harder it gets to train them out. Already going to take a
while to work past them. We're willing to look like fools, to make
sure you don't get seriously injured or killed during your first
combat mission."

She nodded. "Then we have no choice, do we?"

I shook my head sadly at her response. "Nope."

Duke nodded his appreciation for her candor and then studied each of
the now sober members of the class. "Advanced Combat Training Lesson
One: Play for keeps, or not at all. Sascha and Illya understand it
already. I hope the rest of you do, too."

He turned back to the hotshots. "OK, Hotshots. Time to suit up. We'll
meet back here when you're ready."

* * *

We disabled Jim and Max's suits before we settled to guard our
'captives'. Duke looked at me and I nodded. He turned back to the
team. "Any time you want to start."

They nodded, then circled us warily, looking for any openings we'd
left them. There was one, but it was one we were fairly certain they
wouldn't anticipate, because Duke was a Doberman and not a Rottweiler.

Finally they separated and came at Duke in a rush. It was a good move,
normally.

Instead of me trying to get in between him and one of them, I rolled
to my back while he bent down and grabbed Max by the throat, braced,
and flipped Max's inert form directly at Illya, over my now prone
body.

I gave Max's body a solid boost as it went by and it slammed into its
target with Duke in motion behind it. He ripped off the flexible
throat covering on Illya's Biosuit, then clamped his jaws on Illya's
exposed skin and growled 'Dead Meat!" before he let go and used his
feet on Illya's chest to shove himself back in my direction.

In the meantime I'd let the reaction to my shove speed up my roll
underneath Sascha's rush. As she went over I kicked her in the flank
to stagger her, then used my other foot to shove her in Duke's
direction.

Duke landed, grabbed the first available handle, which turned out to
be a hind leg, and then braced himself and flipped her into the air.
She flailed wildly, trying to find her balance again but he was
already lunging for her throat. Once he had a solid grip he held on
while I came in and delivered a blow to her head that was solid enough
to let her know I'd held back a lethal one.

Duke let go and she dropped to the floor to catch her breath.

Finally she looked at her partner and his exposed throat.

He laughed sourly. "I don't know about you, but I *still* don't know
what went wrong. It happened too fast!"

She nodded and turned to glare at Duke. "OK. So you're a big Doberman.
We knew that. What happened?"

Duke didn't answer her directly. "Max? You and Jim can be people
again, then you can explain it."

They reset their suits and joined us.

Max grinned at Sascha. "Duke turned me into a chew toy again. I should
have seen it coming. He's a LOT stronger than he lets on. So's Jack.
Think about that exercise vid in the briefing pack and figure
yourselves lucky they held back. I've seen Duke rip the access panels
off of Biosuits and then destroy the wiring, just to make a point, so
don't think what happened was a fluke. Once he flipped me at Illya and
Jack shoved me harder, Illya was finished as a threat. Even if you'd
managed to disable Jack, Duke could have kept you off balance long
enough for Jack to recover so they could team against you. You would
have had to knock Jack out completely to have a chance one on one with
Duke and frankly, there isn't a Rottweiler alive that has the
endurance and speed to mix it up one on one with Duke when he wants
your blood."

He grinned at her shock. "We should know. Jim and I turned a friendly
match into something serious because we couldn't deal with being
handed our heads by a team that should have been retired long ago.
They put us both in the hospital for our presumption."

She glared at us. "We were in suits, damnit!"

I shrugged, just to irritate her some more. "Would you have listened
if we'd beat you any other way, or considered it a fluke due to our
greater experience?"

She eased herself to her haunches and sighed. "You're saying it was
something else that you used to beat us?"

Duke nodded. "Yep. We used your experience against you, just like any
enemy would, to start with, but there was something else, too."

She shifted until she faced him. "What was it?"

"You focus too much on what you see as the immediate danger, and are
slow to change your thinking when the unexpected happens. You *knew*
that Dobies can't toss Rotts around, so you never expected me to toss
one at either of you."

He gave her that wonderfully evil grin I'd come to love. "If Max
hadn't been handy, I could have lunged and flipped you at Illya, or
even let Jack toss me at one of you to throw off your timing. Hell,
once we knew who you'd focused on, all we had to do was do something
to shift out of that focus. Swapping positions would have been enough
to throw you out of your pattern. You're too good in the suits and let
what you can do with them affect ALL of your tactics and strategy."

I broke in. "You also didn't internalize that you *will* meet teams
and people who will accept injury or death--if it means they win the
battle." I gestured at Illya, who had picked up the throat covering
for his suit and was studying it mournfully. "Which is cheaper? Fixing
a damaged suit after a training match, or getting yourselves killed
after we failed to teach you what you needed to know--because we held
back?"

She sneezed her disgust. "I have a headache, thanks to you."

I laughed at her. "Good. I was hoping you wouldn't need to go to the
hospital after I pulled that punch. I hate paperwork and I promised
Sam I'd try to keep from putting too many of our own out of action."

Duke sneezed delicately. "Are we done with the admiration games, yet?"

I shrugged. "Up to you, but I think the attitude adjustment is about
done."

He shook his head. "We're done, but they aren't. Now that they're
warmed up, they can spend the rest of the day going up against the
other teams, one team at a time."

Sascha glared at him and opened her jaws but he cut her off. "In your
suits or out of them, but you go until you can't go any more or you've
taken on every team, today. If it helps, you're only the first.
Everyone's going to have to do it, including us." He paused for effect
and then sighed. "That's an order, Hotshots. It's past time you
learned how to lose so totally you feel worthless. Maybe then we can
start fixing your problems so you can find a new set that won't get
you killed as quickly."

She and Illya looked at each other for a long time, then he sighed.
"Finding our limits is what we've always wanted, right?"

She stood and stretched before she glared at the rest of the class.
"No suits, just protective gear. I need to work off some anger."

Jim walked over, then knelt and turned her head so he could look in
her eyes. He must have seen something he didn't like because he rapped
her headgear sharply. "You lose, Bitch. If we think you're letting
anger make your decisions, Duke and Jack are gonna put you both in the
hospital, guaranteed, and keep on doing it until you get your heads on
straight. This isn't a game any more, where you can slide on things.
One screwup, and you're gonna be taken down, hard."

He looked up and it was his turn to glare at the rest of the teams.
"That goes for anyone, not just the Hotshots, here. Every one of you
is on a command track, now. So are Max and I. We'll be right there
with you, and if we're the ones washed out, so be it. Better that now,
than getting a bunch of good people killed later, because our egos
made our decisions."

* * *

To their credit, the Hotshots went through most of the teams fairly
quickly, with few rest periods between matches. Both of them were damn
good, and once they'd internalized the fact they didn't have to hold
back, they were almost as lethal as Duke and I.

Still, fatigue takes its toll and while the last few teams had to work
to beat them, they did win. During the last match we looked at Max and
Jim, then Duke gave the orders.

"We'll give them a chance to catch their breath and recover a little
before you face them. No injuries and leave them their dignity. We all
know it won't be a fair fight, but combat never is."

They looked at each other, then both of them sneezed. Max turned to
watch the end of the match. "Don't be thinking our win is guaranteed.
They may be reaching their limits, but they both know it, and are
adjusting the way they fight to give themselves some individual
recovery time. I think they figured out we'd be their last match."

Jim nodded. "This match has lasted too long. They're up to something,
Max."

Duke laughed quietly. "Took you long enough to figure it out."

I mock pouted. "Damn dog. Now you've gone and spoiled the surprise."

"Hah! It was a given they'd work on a surprise for Max and Jim.
They're practicing to take us on again someday, and win as decisively
as we beat them."

I laughed. "True. This should be fun to watch."

Max sneezed again to let us know we'd been heard.

The match ended with the Hotshots losing, then Duke called a break.
"Thirty minutes, then it's Max and Jim before we call it a day." He
laughed. "Try to keep from putting yourselves or your opponents in the
hospital, OK?"

He got four disgusted snarls in return.

* * *

The four of them stared at each other warily. Sascha and Illya shifted
until they faced each other, then stayed that way while Max and Jim
slowly circled them, testing their reactions.

I snorted softly. "Duke, buddy, that isn't going to work with Max and
Jim."

He shook his head slightly. "Might, they're fast enough and if she has
enough neck strength while he helps."

Max suddenly spoke from behind Illya. "You can drop the suit lag,
kids."

Sascha sneezed at him. "Sometimes it works."

Jim got involved. "True. We noticed. Unfortunately, there's three
things wrong with using it. It can distract you at a critical moment
and as you get tired, your reactions speed up or get erratic." He
grinned at her. "But the best reason to stop using it, is the third
one. Thinking once the battle's started can get you killed."

Max lunged at Illya but instead of carrying through he skidded to a
stop and goosed him solidly, then scrambled backwards before either of
them could react.

Jim laughed as Illya caught his balance. "First hit."

Sascha snarled meaningfully. "We assumed you'd get it. We'll settle
for the last ones, thanks."

Max sat on his haunches and nodded. "You want us to come to you,
right?"

They both nodded without losing eye contact with their chosen target.

Max and Jim shifted until they could come at them from the sides and I
had to hide a laugh behind my hand. "I don't believe it!"

Duke glanced at me and shook his head sadly. "If they let Max and Jim
get set without adjusting themselves, there's nothing they can do."

Jim launched himself, coming in low.

Sascha started to turn to meet him while Illya spun in place to take
Max as he came in high in the traditional attack pattern, only to
freeze in shock as Max came in low.

Jim slowed slightly and shouted. "Damnit, Max, you were suposed to go
HIGH!"

Sascha flinched when she glanced in Max's direction, then started to
scramble out of the way so Jim and Max could collide with each other.

It was the right move, except even as they slammed into each other,
Max and Jim had twisted so their bodies took the blow as they
collided. Jim's hands flashed out to slam against Sascha's head while
Max's jaws closed on Illya's leg before he jerked to send Illya flying
off balance.

When Illya landed, Max was standing over him and reaching for his
throat. He touched his nose to the exposed skin and whispered. "You
lose."

Jim had rolled to his knees and was staring at Sascha's closed eyes
while he held her head still as her body swayed slightly. "Open 'em,
girl. I pulled my hits but I want to be certain you're ok."

She moaned. "You play rough, Jim."

Her eyes came open and he leaned closer before he sighed. "Sorry.
You'll be ok though. No signs of concussion."

She sat on her haunches. "So you're a medic, too?"

"Yep. Secondary MOS."

She nodded slowly. "You suckered us, didn't you?"

"Yep. There's a counter, but it's a doozy when you aren't in suits.
Takes lots of practice to get it right, too."

Illya sat up. "Let me guess. Your shout was a distraction?"

Max laughed. "Right. Just like your suit lag. Makes us look stupider
than we really are."

Illya sighed. "OK, consider me properly chastised. What's the counter
to that set of moves?"

Max grinned at him. "You brace back to back and take the hit, then
kill the other team before they sort themselves out."

Sascha and Illya both groaned.

Duke chose that moment to stand and stretch. "OK, Hotshots. The rest
of you, too. Day's over, see you again on Wednesday. In the meantime,
figure out a rotation so every team gets a chance to join the Adjusted
Attitude Club."

We watched while some of the teams came over to commiserate with, or
congratulate our victims. When the room had cleared of everyone except
Duke, me, Jim, Max, Illya and Sascha, Duke sighed. "Sascha, Illya?
When you get some free time, drop by our office for a chat. We're not
singling you out. We're going to have one with each of the teams
before the class is over."

They nodded and walked off slowly, discussing the day's revelations as
they came to terms with what had happened to them.

I sighed and stretched to get the kinks out. "Duke, old buddy,
sometime before the end of the class, there's a good chance we'll be
in the hospital after they get done with us."

He sneezed his amusement and leaned into me. "Better that, than going
to their funerals."

"True. Office or showers?"

He looked up after I'd touched his head lightly, then sighed.
"Office."

I sighed again. "Yeah. Thought so. Paperwork before pricks."

He laughed tiredly. "Yep."

Then he turned his head to glare at Max and Jim. "You, too. If those
two had been a little less tired, a little less rattled from the
constant combat, and less of a team than they already are, they would
had taken both of you down."

Max's jaw dropped as he sat on his haunches. "You said it yourselves!
If they didn't reset, we had them!"

I laughed. "We were counting on you and Sascha hearing that. Did we
actually say who would win?"

Max snapped his jaw shut. Then, reluctantly, he faced his partner. "We
got lucky. There's at least one other counter, even if we don't know
what it is."

Jim sighed. "Max? Are you telling me that in all the years since that
attack was first used, teams have missed a counter?"

"Yep. Either that or it's one they only teach the advanced teams." He
faced us again. "Well?"

Duke grinned. "Yes."

Max glared and snarled. "That's all we get?"

Duke stood and laughed. "You two stink. Go clean up and then see us in
our office. Bring the Hotshots with you if they aren't already
planning on coming as soon as they work out their frustrations with
each other and get cleaned up. We'll be waiting for you."

We watched while 175 pounds of angry Rottweiler collected his partner
with his eyes and left for the showers.

Once they were past the doors and we could count on them not hearing
or seeing us, we grinned at each other.

I shook my head mock sadly. "Gods, Duke, you'd think these kids
wouldn't be so easy by now. Were we ever that innocent?"

His grin got bigger. "Worse, until that damn 'easy assignment' nearly
got us killed. Pain's a damn good incentive to recheck your basic
assumptions, remember? Let's hope it works with this crew, eh?"

I sighed and let go of my humor. "Yeah. Point. Let's go set the stage
for the hard part now we're done with the easy stuff."

I turned away and headed for the admin complex. Duke let me get a few
steps past him, then he sneezed his disgust and joined me.

* * *

I had time to use the convenience shower to sluice off the worst of my
dried sweat before the teams showed up.

Duke spent the time going through the vids of the day's activities and
setting up what he wanted on the displays.

We were critiquing one of the early bouts when there was a knock on
the door frame.

Duke lifted his head and turned to face who was standing there. "Come
on in and get comfortable."

Sascha hesitated and he smiled at her. "Relax. We save the ass chewing
for the ring. Here, we're just going to embarass the shit out of you
and help you figure out how to do things better."

"Right." She ducked her head and then the four of them settled.

We studied them for a couple minutes, then Duke nodded slightly. "Done
any thinking about that last bout?"

She sighed. "We did everything we knew how to do, and did it right as
far as we can remember."

He tilted his head slightly. "Sascha. Care to tell us the reasons you
don't trust Illya completely, in combat?"

"I do trust him!"

He indicated a display with his nose. "Watch." He let it run, then
paused it and framed it back to when she flinched to check over her
shoulder when Jim shouted at Max. "Justify that move on your part."

Before she could answer he glared at Jim. "And you. You can tell us
why you slowed your rush and gave up any advantage your shout to Max
might have gained you."

Max inhaled sharply and I glared at him. "Max, pretty damn stupid
move, goosing Illya. What if he'd called your bluff and taken that
rush seriously? You were wide open for at least a throat kick as you
slid into him. Showy move, and it worked this time, but still, it was
a damn stupid thing to do."

I looked up at Illya. "OK, you froze when you realized Max was coming
in low instead of high. Getting out of the way was the right move,
I'll grant, as far as you could have known. Then you blew it. Both of
you did. You should have given Max and Jim just enough room and then
done your damnedest to get a shot in as they went by because
*anything*, anywhere, before they had a chance to get set would have
screwed them up enough for you to get away clean, or get a better
opening for the kill."

Duke sneezed disgustedly when I shut up. "Be nice for once. Both teams
made stupid judgement calls. That's why they're here, so we can get
this sorted out. Hopefully, they'll quit depending on luck and
thinking they're so damn good they can slack off."

He laughed harshly. "It's not like we haven't screwed up and lived to
do it again. Show 'em your arm."

I laughed and held out my left arm. "Yeah. Easier for me to show scars
than you, Dog. Take a look."

I ran a finger over the scar on my lower arm and grinned sourly when a
couple of them winced. "Damn protection sleeve had a flawed internal
support. When Duke snapped it while we were having a training bout my
arm broke, too."

Sascha looked back and forth at us, then shook her head in disbelief.
"A training bout, between the two of you? And Duke broke your arm?"

Duke nodded seriously. "Good thing we had the medics right there. He
dislocated both my hips when I froze after I realized I'd broken his
arm."

I nodded when she stared at me in shock. "We play to win and when we
go down, we go down hard or not at all. But that's not the point. The
point is, we know how capable our partner is from first hand
experience, and in the middle of battle, we don't care what anyone
else says, if it's not our partner saying it, we ignore it."

Duke picked it up from there. "And that's really what this is all
about. You trust your partner, or you don't. Then you only listen to
them, and what anyone else says in combat is meaningless."

He laughed. "Now, the praise. You four are the best we've seen in
quite awhile. Sascha? We expect you to put us in the hospital at least
once before the end of the class, ok? We're not going to give you
that, you'll know you've earned it by honestly beating us."

They looked at each other, then back at us warily. I smiled. "Relax.
Our attitudes in public are for show, and to distract people. Here,
all you get is total honesty of a different kind. False pride, and all
that philosophical stuff, you know."

It was Jim who finally laughed into the silence. "Distraction. Yeah.
Max and I thought it was bravado to hide the fact you two were getting
old and slow."

He rubbed his shoulder. "We never figured out that you two aren't
muscle bound oafs with egos, and that you'd compensated for the
slowing reflexes by getting stronger and willing to take the initial
damage in favor of dealing out blows that would end things immediately
when they landed." He rotated his arm and winced. "I'm told the break
was clean and I'll have full use of my arm in a month or two."

Illya had been watching Jim and his jaw slackened, then he closed it
slowly. "One of them broke your shoulder?"

Jim smiled and shrugged. "And dislocated both of them. I didn't give
them a lot of choices, since I was doing my best to strangle Duke
through the protective gear."

Duke sneezed. "You had extreme provocation. I do think Max's decision
to try and rip through to Jack's balls so he could castrate him was a
bit extreme for a combat response, though. After all, he *is* a
bottom, not a top, so losing them wouldn't have significantly affected
his sex life."

Illya choked back a laugh and Sascha reacted with a funny sounding
snort before she got herself under control. I grinned at both of them,
then turned my attention back to Jim and Max. "See you two Wednesday,
unless you want to join us tomorrow while we study the vids of today's
training session."

They looked at each other, then Max shook his head and stood. "Send
them to our terminal. We'll have to work them in after we get back
from physical therapy."

They left, and closed the door behind them.

Duke finally broke the long silence. "If either of you manage to break
something of ours, no hard feelings about it. We'd rather be in the
hospital than putting on our fancy clothes for a funeral."

Sascha nodded slowly. "We'll try to remember that."

Duke nodded back and then perked his ears forward. "Ok. It's too soon
to be asking you kids to analyze today's vids. You're both too
emotionally close to things still, and don't try to tell me otherwise.
Got it?"

They both watched him warily, then nodded.

He grinned. "Good. So, what do you two do for pillow talk, after? Ever
talk about the future? We know you always wanted to be here, that's a
given at this level, but what about after we say 'Go sic 'em'?' Never
mind all the aptitude crap and psychobabble. What do Sascha and Illya
want to see happen as a result of all that duty and stuff you feel
right now? What sort of dreams do you have when you're sick of all the
crap we're putting you through and wish we'd just admit you're good
enough to turn loose in the field? And you are that good, so don't try
to give us any crap about being kids yet and needing to learn more.
Jack's nose isn't worth shit but mine still works just fine."

When he stopped I spoke mildly. "This is all off the record. Nothing
goes past that door unless you decide otherwise." I grimaced.
"Consider it your initiation into the command fraternity. It's time to
start sharing the stuff you'll never be able to share with the folks
you have to command. Congrats, by the way. Jim and Max haven't made it
yet. You two are the first from this class, so you know what that
means, I imagine."

Illya was shaking his head when he spoke. "Yeah. Can't tell anyone
yet, can we?"

Duke laid his ears back. "Not directly, but I guarantee that if those
people are really as good as they're supposed to be, they'll sense the
change and respond to it, even if they don't do it on a conscious
level. Keep that in mind when you get mixed up in discussions, then do
your best to keep it low key and under control. Don't let them become
followers, ok? We want Alphas who know how to work together, when
we're done, not Betas and Omegas."

Duke sighed when neither of them responded. "Kids, it was a shock when
it happened to us, too. You see, we never asked for it, or worked for
it, like you two have."

Sascha's ears had perked forward, then slowly worked their way
backwards until they couldn't go any further, then she slumped and
started shivering. "I'm terrified. We always thought..."

Her head came up slightly. "I wasn't supposed to feel like this. They
kept warning us, and I thought I understood..."

She shook her head from side to side slowly, then stopped and looked
at Illya. "You ok?"

He sighed and reached to stroke between her ears. "Hell no!"

He got out of his chair, knelt beside her and hugged her, then both of
them shook in silence.

Duke and I looked at each other, nodded, then settled back to wait
them out in silence.

* * *

After about thirty minutes they managed to settle themselve a little
and Illya stood and stretched, then resettled in his chair while
Sascha stretched out some kinks, then settled on her haunches. They
studied us for a few more minutes, then Sascha tilted her head
slightly. "What happens next?"

Duke smiled. "Now, things are going to get tougher, for you two, and
through you, everyone else."

They waited in silence and I gave them extra points in my mind. We'd
figured both of them knew the value of patience, and we'd wondered if
they still have it after we had them humiliated in public. They did.

Duke gave then his grin, and this time they grinned back. He nodded.
"In your spare time, you two are going to teach your classmates every
weakness a biosuit has--by going against them while they are suited,
and you aren't. You're to do that until they get good enough you can't
beat them all the time. You tell them we put you up to it.
Understood?"

They looked at each other, then back at us. Illya spoke tentatively.
"I don't think I understand completely. Aren't they going to resent us
even more, if we beat them when we aren't wearing suits?"

I laughed. "Cocky, aren't you, Hotshot?"

"No. Sir. We know our weaknesses and strengths. If you can do it, we
can do it. Maybe not the same way, but we'll find one."

I nodded. "Good. Because that was part of the only lesson you two had
left to learn. Losing isn't quiting, and you're going to teach it to
the others, by example, every time they use you two to wipe the mats,
and you come back for more."

Duke shrugged. "If it makes you feel better, tell them you're trying
to figure out a way to get even for what we did to you. Hell, get them
all trying variations on it if you want. Make putting us in our places
a class project, if that's what it takes. All of you idiots know how
to win. We're trying to teach you how to keep losing--and still keep
on trying to win. That's the only real secret we have to give you,
because when it all goes to shit, that's all you'll have going for
you. All the knowledge of strategy and tactics doesn't mean shit--if
you can't bring yourself to keep going after you lost. I'm not saying
you shouldn't know when to back off for awhile, either. Sometimes you
have to. But even when retreating, you should be looking for ways to
use that against your opponent. Make them pay dearly for your defeat
and always keep your eyes open for the sudden victory."

He looked at them thoughtfully, then sighed. "Oh, hell. I must be
getting senile. Maybe it would be better if you offered to teach them
how to defeat you in suits or out of them. No. Let's keep it simple.
There are ten teams in the class. By the end of the class, I want to
see at least ten different ways for a non suited team to decisively
defeat a suited team in a routine 'team on team' close quarters combat
situation. Teams will be expected to prove their solution works, by
actual use. That's a class project, to be completed by whatever means
you folks come up with.

"Is that clear enough."

They both grimaced, then Sascha sighed. "Too clear, Sir. We'll pass it
on to the others, tonight."

Duke nodded. "Good enough. And be thinking about those other questions
I asked, and when you're ready to answer or discuss them, see us at
any time."

Sascha perked her ears. *Any* time?"

I laughed. "He knots up for fifteen to forty five minutes. We're not
shy, and it would relieve the boredom while we wait for him to
deflate."

Duke growled, then sighed. "Combat doesn't use a schedule, so don't
get used to living by one. Learn to deal with things when they happen,
not at your or someone else's convenience."

Sascha finally decided to sneeze, then she stood. "Is that all, Sir?"

Duke nodded. "Dismissed."

They left, and after they'd been gone a few minutes I sighed. "Duke? I
backed your play, but I damn sure didn't know what you were trying to
do with all that."

Instead of answering me he slammed a paw down on the intercom control
and snarled into it. "Sam! I need to talk to you where it's secure.
Preferably, in my office. The sooner the better!"

He let up, vented his anger with another snarl, then turned to me. "I
was trying to fix a problem I didn't know we had until today."

"Oh? Mind giving me a clue?"

"Except for us, Max, and Jim, everyone else at that training session
was absolutely ecstatic when we took the Hotshots down. I hope each
and every one them is shivering in terror right now, because the
alternative is that they think they managed to hide it from my nose."

I jerked upright. "Are you sure about that?"

"I wasn't until Sascha shivered in terror at the thought of commanding
that bunch."

"Oh. Shit! I thought she was just having a case of the usual first
time jitters."

He sighed. "Be glad your nose isn't as good as mine is, buddy."

I leaned forward and hit the paging button. "Hey, Hotshots! You forgot
something in our office. Be a good idea if you collect it now. You're
going to need it."

Duke stared at me. "What was that for? They have to know they didn't
have anything with them when they got here."

I sighed bitterly. "They're damn good kids, Duke, and we just sent
them directly into Hell. They went standing up, and I'm proud of them,
but let's hope they haven't tried to follow those orders yet, ok?"

He slumped. "Yeah, Jack. You have a damn good point."

A minute later there was a knock on the door and I went over to open
it to reveal Illya and Sascha. She looked up with a frown. "What's
wrong?"

I stepped aside. "Get in here so I can close the door and secure this
room."

They did, and once I had the door locked I leaned against it and
sighed while watching them. "Duke? Who tells them?"

"I will. The mistake was mostly mine, out there. I should have stopped
everything and torn strips out of everyone as soon as I realized what
was going on."

Sascha was watching him carefully. "Tell us what, Sir?"

"That I fucked up and almost got you two killed. And don't tell me you
don't know what I'm talking about, either. That place reeked this
afternoon and yet you two didn't argue with me when I ordered you to
let them try to take you down. Care to tell me how come you never took
the time to tell anyone what was going on between you and the rest of
the class?"

She sagged. "We're used to dealing with it, Sir. It's something we've
had to live with since I was a puppy and Illya was a kid. We've also
learned they are at the disadvantage, not us. You see, they want to
hurt us while not gettting hurt themselves. Since we know we're going
to get hurt anyway, if they can manage it, we don't hesitate to call
their bluffs by being willing to hurt them. Until we ran into you and
Jack, it worked."

I groaned. "Oh great. And we walked into it and made it worse. Now,
they know you *can* be taken down..."

Duke sighed. "And I told you to teach them how to take you down. Have
you told anybody about the class project, yet?"

"No."

Duke decided to laugh. "Well! Something's gone right, finally. Good.
Hold that thought everyone, while we wait for Sam."

I had a thought, looked at it, then decided I should grin before I
spoke softly. "Hey. Duke old buddy..."

He looked at me suspiciously and Sascha and Illya turned to see what
had him so focused.

"What is it, Jack?"

"I think it's time we introduced this class to the fine tradition of
Midnight Specials."

His ears went vertical. "We'll have to clear it with Sam, but I think
he'll go for it once he knows what's been going on."

Illya decided to break in. "What's a 'Midnight Special'?"

I sighed. "The entire complex gets secured and everybody in it has to
show up at the main auditorium. The only differences between it and a
full court martial are that the situation that triggered it is assumed
to be salvagable, and it's totally off the record. Oh, and sometimes
the punishments are... unusually apprproate."

Duke sneezed violently, startling Sascha and Illya. "You might say
that. It's not unusual for the victims, and that's you two this time,
to determine the punishment for the perps. Be thinking about that,
eh?"

Sascha studied him for awhile, then spoke softly. "You can't force
people to understand, Sir. We're accepted by the people who mean
something to us, already. The rest? Isn't it called 'The Price of
Command', by most folks?"

He nodded. "Some do call it that, Sascha, so ask yourself if you want
those people anywhere in the chain of command--in a group you have to
lead."

She shivered. "Eight teams, Duke. Good people otherwise, all of them,
or they wouldn't be in the advanced class."

"I know. Does it help to know that Jack and I had the same problem?
There will always be people who resent the dedication and
professionalism of people who know who they are and what they want
from life. Like you, we had a goal, and we reached for it: To be the
best in the world at what we do."

I sighed. "Problem is, you can't be the best forever. You'll make a
mistake, or you'll meet someone who is just flat out better than you
are. We decided to get out while we were still at the top, before
something happened to tarnish our image. Our people need our image,
more than they do us."

Duke laughed. "Hotshots like you kids need people to look up to.
Somebody they can look at and say 'Someday, I'm going to be better
than they are'."

It was my turn to snort softly. "And other kids will be satisfied with
tearing their betters down, because they are too lazy to put in the
effort it takes to climb to that level. What's ironic is that in the
long run, both ways take the same amount of effort."

I gestured. "Take a load off your feet, Hotshots. Nobody's going to
ask you to do this alone. You're members of the varsity team, now, and
we're all here to help you succeed, if that's really what you want to
do."

The byplay after they settled was interesting. Sascha's ears and eyes
got restless, and Illya was almost as bad with his hands and eyebrows.
I got tired of watching them so I watched Duke instead. He caught my
focus and opted for nodding slightly instead of making an issue of
what was going on.

Finally they got themselves comfortable and Illya asked the question I
was hoping to hear. "If?"

I made a gesture and turned him over to Duke. Duke nodded at Illya.
"If. Command is no bed of roses, and right now, you kids are too young
and inexperienced to be given the kinds of commands that would make
proper use of your skills. It's going to be a rare senior officer who
isn't gong to resent your abilities right now, and always wonder if
you aren't second guessing them, or worse, get to wondering if you are
thinking you could do their job better."

He shrugged with his ears. "That was some pretty skilled use of the
battle language. Wish I'd known before class."

Illya was in charge for the moment, so he answered. "It's in our
records, even how and when we learned it from our parents."

Duke nodded. "I don't doubt it is, but we haven't had time to read
your records, yet. We've been busy studying the graduation vids and
looking for problems we can fix. Anything else in there you think we
should know, now that you know we probably don't know it?"

Surprisingly, Illya blushed, then he gestured awkwardly and let Sascha
take over.

She actually got nervous before she spoke hesitantly. "We were asked
to 'retire' from competition until we were old enough to compete in
the Master Adult bouts?"

She hesitated and let her ears droop. "We also have our instructor
certifications in hand-to-hand as individuals or as a team, with the
biosuit endorsement."

I beat Duke to it and let my voice get dangerous. "Were you two
holding back this afternoon?"

"Sir! Of course we did. When you didn't say anything, we thought you
knew, and approved, since if we hadn't, most of them would be severely
injured or in the hospital--if we'd taken advantage of the openings
they gave us."

Before either of us could react she sat up and took on some of the
authority her experience gave her. "Some people learn best when they
think they are winning, and don't know they are learning. And, Sir,
they *are* improving. Most of them got in some pretty good hits in
spite of our skill, and that is something they couldn't do when basic
training started, no matter how many openings we gave them."

I looked at Duke and he sighed. "She's got us."

"Yeah. I don't like it, but she does. It's the same problem we have to
deal with, and the same solution."

He turned back to them. "Never assume anything. All of us did, and we
got lucky it didn't bite our asses worse than it has, so far. Now,
that's all fogotten, and let's move on. We're both proud of you. Other
people will second guess you when they find out, but we never will. It
was your problem to solve, and you did. Success is it's own
justification. Still, there are implications that go beyond what you
have the experience to fully understand right now, so if something
like that ever happens again, let someone above you know, if it's at
all possible to do so. Worst case, let us or Sam and Kimberly know.
We'll take if from there."

He tilted his head slightly and went on. "And that, Hotshots, brings
me back to that 'if'."

He held it there long enough for them to get nervous, them he
continued softly. "I'm not going to deny that the normal command track
is always short good people. However, there's another path that
requires the same level of competence, or more, but also has less
focus on 'chain of command'. Mostly that lack of focus is because the
chain is never very long, and nobody cares how you got there. The fact
you're there tells them everything they need to know about you, when
you're neck deep in shit, and sinking. Special ops."

He'd managed to surprise both of them, and it showed. I picked up the
conversation. "We're not saying you should, we're not saying you
shouldn't. It's a decision only you can make, and there's no hurry
about it. Right now, all we're saying is that the option is available,
if you want it. We'll endorse the transfer request if you decide to
take a shot at it."

They stared at each other and then Illya stiffened, "Cha? I think we'd
better tell them why we assumed we could handle the class and survive,
today."

Duke tilted his head thoughtfully. "Tell us what?"

He hesitated briefly, then went on slowly. "You asked us for what's in
our records, right?"

Duke sneezed. "We did. Don't tell me you two are barracks lawyers,
too."

"Not exactly. The local Alpha ordered us to keep quiet about it."

Duke and I looked at each other and I frowned. "Alpha? We use the
term, but it's not a command ranking, usually. In fact..."

He nodded. "Yeah. I get it now. Some damn wolves are mixed up in this.
I'm getting tired of that, but we're part of their organization, not
the other way around."

He faced them again. "I'm not happy, but I understand. Say what you
have to say, and we'll try not to take it out on the messengers. In
case you hadn't figured it out yet, we've dealt with the packs before.
Tell you about it later."

They ducked their heads slightly, then Illya whispered cautiously.
"You have to understand something. Where we're from, there's lots of
room and it was in an area where they have one of their regional R&R
facilities. Because of that, there's a constant presense of BPS teams
and packs. We grew up thinking it was normal to play combat games with
wolf cubs."

Duke and I both nodded and let him move at his own pace.

He was watching us carefully, then, finally, he sighed. "It's not in
our records because of those orders, but we think it's time for us
mention it. We were hoping we would never need to, since it just
screws up our lives more, ok?"

I looked at Duke and nodded reluctantly. "I don't like what I'm
thinking."

He sighed. "Yeah. I know." He refocused. "Ok. Consider us warned. Out
with it."

Illya sighed again. "We're qualified to wear 'The Snarling Head',
right side up."

I leaned back and sighed. "Say no more. I can't blame you for hiding
that. We understand the problem better than you might think, since we
earned the same right quite a few years ago, after we got tired of
winning all the time and realized it was making us lazy. We 'died' to
kill the team we were assigned for our final, but since they were
'dead', too, it was considered a win."

Duke sneezed violently. "And doesn't that just make things..." He
stopped and grinned nastily. "Interesting for the rest of the class."

He went on carefully. "I have a question. Were either of you holding
back when you went up against us, or Max and Jim?"

Sascha took over again. "No, Sir. You genuinely beat us by doing
things we've never seen before. We haven't had time to work on the
counters, so you'll probably beat us the same way for awhile."

I laughed. "A bit of advice. The nonsuited will always win against
suits, if they're good enough, and if they have time to see you coming
at them in close quarter combat. No matter how good you are, suit lag
gets in the way, and we know how to use that against you. The only
real counter is to not be in suits when it happens, but that's not an
option most of the time. I hope it makes you rethink what you know
about suited and non suited combat, ok?"

Sascha spoke slowly. "That's not in any of the combat manuals we've
read."

Duke laughed. "Consider it a freebie. You've earned it, and it's a
hole in the training program that's being plugged, quietly."

"Understood, Sir."

He sneezed again. "We're Duke and Jack. Forget the recruit stuff."

"Yes... Duke."

Duke's ears laid back and his head dropped slightly in a gesture I
knew meant he was thinking hard about something, so I left him alone.

He was still in that pose when Sam and Kimberly showed up and I let
them in. When they came through the door I gestured at Duke and both
of them nodded, then quietly settled to wait him out.

Eventually he came out of his trance and looked around the room before
he focused on Sam and Kimberly. "We have a serious problem."

Sam nodded. "How serious?"

Duke sneezed his frustration. "Bad enough that eight teams may have to
be culled."

I stiffened but said nothing, while hoping that Sam and Kim could
figure out a solution that was less drastic.

Sam's head tilted as he gunsighted Duke. "Explain."

Duke summarized the day's events, and then sighed. "I hope you folks
can see a solution that leaves those idiots alive."

Sam sneezed his own disgust. "Duke? You missed a bigger picture. I
want to know how all their other instructors missed it. This sort of
thing isn't supposed to happen. Forget these two, for now. We have a
bigger problem, one that involves the entire teaching staff, except
for you two."

I winced. "Sam? Are you certain about that?"

"Yes. Oh, we knew about the resentment. That's normal. Problem is..."
He stopped suddenly. "Oh. So *that's* the real problem."

We waited.

Sam looked at Kim. "It's time for a surprise inspection. Take these
two and assemble the advanced class in their quarters. Full formal
dress, including ALL awards they are entitled to wear. You're going to
fine tooth all of them to make sure nobody holds back."

He shifted his focus to Sascha and Il;lya. "As for you two... Forget
what anyone else told you about hiding things. I'm giving you a
choice. Wear it all, or turn in your gear and walk away without
prejudice. Understand me?"

Sashca and Illya looked at each other, then both of them sighed and
nodded at each other before she turned back to Sam. "It's all here. A
lot is packed away, but we'll dig it out. Going to take us awhile to
figure out how to make it all fit on our dress gear."

Sam's ears went vertical. "That many?"

She laid her ears back. "We've been competing all our lives, and have
a lot of stuff we earned from the wolves that we had orders to not
mention in our records."

He sighed. "Do it. Just make sure the Snarling Heads are exactly where
they are supposed to be worn. Move whatever you have to. You won't be
gigged."

"Yes, Sir!"

He nodded, then turned back to Kim. "Take these two with you. Now,
Get!"

She laughed. "My, my... Aren't we irate?"

Then she sobered. "How much time do I give them to get ready?"

"None. Stay there and keep an eye on things. I'll show up when I show
up. Stop by the armory and collect a sawed off with a full load, then
carry it at the ready. Collect some senior teams to act as bodyguards
for you and the Hotshots, and arm them, too.

"Got it."

The three of them left and Kim closed the door behind her.

Sam snarled his anger, then faced us. "As for you two... Same orders.
Full formal dress, with everything. Then wait for us in the training
arena."

Duke nodded his head slowly before he studied Sam carefully. "Anything
else we should know?"

Sam stood and stretched out his kinks. "Forget retiring any time soon.
Effective immediately, you two are taking over the training system.
We'll start figuring out how to fix *those* problems once we get this
mess sorted out."

He left after I opened the door for him, and I felt sorry for anyone
who thought they were going to interrupt his trip to the barracks. It
looked like he had the energy to maintain his stiff legged stalk for
hours.

After I closed the door I turned around to stare at Duke. "I don't
know what he has planned, but I'm sure glad we aren't on the receiving
end of it!"

Duke sneezed. "Yeah. I have a feeling some kids are going to wish
they'd never decided to tear down their betters."

I laughed harshly. "That's assuming they survive tonight."

He nodded, and started shutting things down. Once he finished, he
stretched and sighed before he went over to stand by the door. "Come
on. The Hotshots aren't the only people who are going to have problems
making all their pretty tinware and ribbons fit on their torsos."

I winced as I opened the door. "You got that right. Damn stuff is
heavy, too."

* * *

Duke and I settled on the bleachers after we managed to figure out how
to wear everything. I sighed. "All this junk seems like a good reason
to retire, if Sam would let us get away with it. Let's hope we can go
back to invoking our exemptions after this."

He sneezed at me. "I'll settle for situational panopoly. What bugs me
is the noise this stuff makes. Can't hear a thing when I'm moving.
Wonder how much longer?"

I laughed. "Don't shake too hard in a crowd. I don't think we have
enough medics available to handle the collateral damage if that stuff
comes off. You saw Sam's attitude, same as I did. We wait as long as
we wait."

"Yeah. So how do we start fixing some instructors?"

"Some serious ass chewing to start with, I guess."

He nodded carefully. "Probably ought to save it for after we find out
how it happened."

"Point. Better consult with Sam and Kim, too..."

Movement on the far side got my attention. "Company, partner."

My eyebrows went up when I realized a full combat medivac crew was
with them. "Duke? To use an old, worn out phrase...

"I have a bad feeling about this."

He stood and sneezed. "Let's make sure we don't make any sudden moves.
Those folks with the combat gear look pretty twitchy, and I'd like to
sleep in my own bed tonight."

I stood and carefully stretched, then settled all my ribbons and
tabards into some sort of order. "Yeah. That sounds like a damn good
plan."

Sam and Kim lined eight of the teams up, and sent Max and Jim to join
us.

We looked at them and Duke asked them what was going on.

Max sighed. "We were in a different class, so we only got reamed for
not paying enough attention to the grapevine. Sam said we already had
our attitude adjustment, so we get to sit this out."

Duke's ears had perked forward, then he nodded a little. "Did you know
anything at all?"

Max sighed and settled on his haunches while Jim sat down. "Only the
usual stuff about people resenting a couple of newbies who were too
good to be here. We studied their records after hearing that, and did
some wondering of our own. Doesn't make any sense, that they'd have to
go through basic just like the rest of us."

Duke sighed. "Damnit. What the hell can we do, if *everybody* forgets
one of the most fundamental rules? 'When in doubt, ask!' "

I chuckled sourly. "We got bit too, partner. Only thing that saved us
was the fact we had other things that had to be taken care of once we
found out we were instructors. Normally, we wouldn't see any of these
kids until they got in the field."

He sneezed again. "Weak excuse, partner."

"I know. But at least once we suspected there was something going on,
we acted."

He sighed. "True."

He faced Max and Jim, then tipped his ears towards the settling crowd
in the center of the arena. "Know anything about that?"

Both of them shook their heads.

Duke and I looked at each other and sighed. I said it. "Sam's keeping
this one close for some reason. Not good."

"Yeah."

We turned our attention back to the lined up teams.

Sam must have been waiting for us, because he raised his voice. "Get
over here with your partner, Duke, and flank me on the left. Sascha,
you and yours on my right."

The four of us settled into position and stood at attention.

Sam let the silence go on for awhile, then he turned to his left.
"Duke, Sascha, left face and pose."

They turned and froze.

"Good. Now, do any of you people recognize what all five of us wear
over our hearts?"

Finally one of the dogs spoke up. "I think they are called 'Snarling
Heads'. Only seen pictures of them before tonight."

Sam nodded slightly. "Good. Notice anything else?"

"Uhhh... Sir. Yours is upside down for some reason."

"Right. It's upside down because I'm not allowed to wear it right side
up. Do you know why that is?"

"No. Sir. All I remember is that they are worn by team members who
have gone through training with the Wolf Packs."

"Anyone else have a clue?"

He got a chorus of 'No! Sirs!'

He turned back to face the line. "Duke, Sascha, face front and all
four of you stand at ease."

We relaxed slightly.

"First, at this level, there is no acceptable excuse for not knowing
about the Snarling Heads and their proper positioning. By now, you
should have been thinking in terms of earning them for yourselves,
instead of tearing down people who *have* earned them. Everyone on
command track is expected to earn them, eventually. If you'd bothered
to read the course outlines, all of you would have known that, and
also known the reason mine is upside down.

"Is that clear?"

I winced at the anger behind his quiet words and wasn't suprised when
all sixteen responded with an emphatic 'Yes! Sir!'

"Very good. Mine is upside down because Kimberly and I didn't 'kill'
the team we were assigned as our target for our final."

He grinned and I shivered inside. "These four wear theirs right side
up...

"Because they *did* make their kills."

He glared at each team member briefly before he went on calmly. "You
already know what Kimberly and I think about your attitudes. They
*will* change. Now. Tonight. Or each and every one of you will be
culled. Is that clear?"

"Yes! Sir!"

He settled on his haunches and grinned at them. "To help you remember
that decision, you eight teams and the Hotshots are going to take part
in a simple exercise.

"The rules are simple. Deliberately lethal blows get all of you except
the Hotshots culled, immediately, no questions asked. Eight teams
against one, open competition until one team is left."

He shook his head wearily, then turned to Sascha and Illya. "Same for
you. No deliberately lethal blows. But, once I say go, I expect to see
the two of you put eight dogs and eight people in the hospital.
Clear?"

Sascha looked at him, and then studied each of the sixteen forms
across from her before she spoke softly. "Quite clear, Sir. May we
remove our medals and tabards first and set them aside? Blood stains
are dificult to remove from some of them."

He laughed. "Of course. All of you can take them off. They've served
their purposes for now."

"Thank you, Sir. What about protective gear?"

"None for any of you. Consider these full combat conditions."

"Full combat? Are you certain, Sir?"

"I am."

She nodded slowly. "Understood, Sir."

He turned and glared at the others. "Any questions?"

There was silence and he nodded, then gathered us with his eyes and
led us out of the arena.

I noticed the Hotshots stripped off their awards and vests, then
rolled them up and heaved them out of their way. They hit heavily, but
by the time they did, the two of them were already facing their
opponents again.

Sam didn't bother turning around. As soon as we heard them hit, he
spoke one word. "Go."

Duke and I spun around to watch the action, and backed up until we
were clear.

Hands stopped my backwards movement, then Kim spoke gently. "Far
enough."

"Thanks, Kim."

Then I focused and couldn't stop my weary head shake. Sascha and
Illya, in a matter of seconds, had put six people and five dogs out of
action, most of them with broken bones and from what I could see, all
but two were also unconscious.

A few minutes later it was over, and the medics were starting to patch
people up.

Sam sneezed his amusement after he walked over to look at the
Hotshots. "Good enough. Grab an escort and move your things to one of
the empty rooms in officer's quarters. You just graduated."

Then he raised his voice. "Any dead?"

The medics consulted with each other, then one of them raised his
voice. "None. Three dogs and four people with serious concussions.
We'll have to run tests after they wake up."

He nodded. "Patch them up and put them all in the prison ward of the
hospital, for now. We'll let them stew for a few weeks before I decide
what I want to do with them."

"Right away, Sir."

Sam looked at the Hotshots. "Well? Dismissed. Get yourselves treated,
then resettle in your new quarters and get some some sleep. Stop by
and see Duke and Jack tomorrow afternoon."

They saluted, Sascha went over and sniffed the bodyguards, picked two
teams, then the six of them left after Sascha and Illya had their
wounds treated.

I turned to study Sam and Kimberly. "Sam? Weren't you a little quick
with the go order?"

He laughed. "Of course I was. Every one of those teams has been
scheming about ways to catch the Hotshots off guard. Since they are
all so fond of unfair fights, I decided to let them see what it was
like to be on the receiving end. Combat doesn't punch a time clock,
and besides, I've seen some of the videos of the Hotshots competing in
opens."

I smiled bitterly. "So. Think they'll have to keep watching their
backs?"

He shrugged. "If they're as good as we all think they are, they'll
never stop."

I sighed. "True. Sounds too familiar."

Duke sat and scratched behind an ear before he looked at me soberly.
"We were lucky during that training bout."

I winced. "Yeah. But at least we knocked some sense into them, I hope.
Sure looked liked they internalized 'playing to win'."

"Yep. MIssion accomplished."

He turned to Sam. "Glad they're your problems, now."

Sam laughed. "Ours. I said they graduated. I didn't exempt them from
the advanced class."

Duke grimaced and shook his head. "Not a damn thing we can teach them,
and you know it."

"Wrong. You've got two months to pass on everything you can think of.
Mentor them. Get them started on a *serious* conditioning program, to
match your own. Include Max and Jim if they are interested. That's the
easy part."

I winced again. "And the hard part?"

Sam grinned. "Kim and I, you two, and the Hotshots, are going to get
involved in some serious skull sessions until we can figure out a way
to make sure this doesn't happen again. Be looking for ways to
'attitude adjust' the rest of the teaching staff."

He yawned. "But before we do that, let's call it a day."

Kim laughed. "Night. And you've stayed up later than this, lots of
times."

His head turned slightly. "True. But I was usually involved in doing
something I *wanted* to do, not something I *had* to do."

She blushed and he laughed. "Come on. We can do the paperwork
tomorrow, for once."

She sighed. "And the next few days, too. Sixteen in the hospital.
That's more than we usually see during a full up combat mission."

He nodded his head a little, then turned back to us. "Planning and
talk only, when you see them tomorrow. Keep it low key for a few days,
until everyone settles."

Duke nodded. "Right. I was planning on stoppping by our office to get
our immediate impressions down before we relax."

Sam sighed. "Yeah. Good point."

He studied the medics for a few minutes, then raised his voice. "Max!
Jim! Front and center!"

They came over and stood at attention in front of him. He gazed at
them for awhile, then nodded. "At ease. For the sin of lacking
situational awareness, you two are going to interview every instructor
in person to find out their excuses for either missing this as it
developed, or why they didn't bring it to my attention, if they did
know about it. Stop by my office in the late morning to pick up your
IG badges and new rank tabs before you start talking to people.
Clear?"

They looked at each other, held a quick conference using battle
signals, and then both of them turned back.

Max was watching Sam when he spoke carefully. "No, Sir. It's not
clear."

Sam nodded. "You'll be operating under my direct authority, to stir up
the instructors and get them resenting you. That's what I want. I want
them so focused on you two and how I'm using you to make their lives
miserable, that hopefully, nobody will realize *that* action is not
your real job.

"Your *real* job is going to be to keep yours eyes, ears and noses
open enough that you spot *anything* that hints what happened here
might not be an isolated incident. If you get even a whiff of anything
sour between any other recruits or staff, you'll note it, and using
the guise of talking to me about the instructors, tell me as soon as
you can."

He settled on his haunches. "As soon as possible, I want the two of
you to be so tied into the grapevine and rumor channels, that you know
*everything* that's happening or being discussed in this facility."

Max tilted his head to one side, then perked his ears slightly. "I get
the impression you're using us as a distraction for something else."

"I am. Only one problem. I don't know what that something else is, so
when you leave my office tomorrow, you're going to be living with
bodyguards 24/7, until I decide otherwise."

Jim spoke up. "Sir? You expecting something serious to go down once we
start getting nosey?"

"Not expecting, exactly. Something feels wrong about the fact there
were eight teams involved in this. Makes me think we might have a
conspiracy tucked away somewhere. Let's cover our asses ahead of time.
All six of us are going to be living with bodyguards until I'm
satisfied this is taken care of."

Max sighed and stood. "Clear, now, Sir. Anything else?"

Sam smiled grimly. "Watch your backs from now on. And before you call
it a night, find the Hotshots and tell them to make sure they watch
theirs, and that until I say otherwise, they're to keep living with
their bodyguards."

Max and Jim looked at each other, nodded a little, then turned back.
"As I understand this, we're going to be the official cage rattlers
while all of us watch the shadows."

Sam nodded. "Close enough. You'll have company. Duke and Jack just
took over as head instructors, effective a few hours ago. I've already
sent out the notices."

Their heads jerked sideways so they could stare at us in disbelief.

Duke laid his ears back to show his irritation. "You'd better find us
*lots* of minor problems that need fixing, because we know they're
there, somewhere."

"Yes! Sir!"

I laughed. "Look at it this way. Feel free to use us as the bad guys
so you can be the good ones."

Max's ears went vertical, then he smiled. "That will help, a lot, once
we figure out how to use it."

Sam smiled. "If you don't have any more questions?..."

Max faced him. "No. Sir. None right now. Probably have some tomorrow."

Sam nodded. "When in doubt, ask. Dismissed!"

We watched them leave, then Duke turned to Sam after he deliberately
looked at all the activity going on while people were still being
worked on. "Since you started it, I'll keep it going. That was a
curious lapse in operational security, considering."

Sam raised his voice slightly. "It wasn't a lapse. This is all being
recorded, and if there's a leak, it will make my job a lot easier when
it comes time to figure out which teams I need to cull."

I winced. "Clear enough, Boss."

He nodded. "Before we all call it quits for the night, mind if we join
you in your office so we can enter our own notes? It's closer than
mine, and on the way to our beds."

Duke tilted his head and managed to keep his ears relaxed, then he
shrugged them. "You're the boss, Boss. Lead the way."

* * *

Once we were settled in our office and Kim had secured the door, we
all looked at each other a long time.

Eventually I glanced at Duke, he gave me the go ahead with his ears,
and I broke the silence. "Are we safe in assuming you had a reason for
making it obvious you wanted to have a private conference with us?"

Interestingly, Sam turned it over to Kim, and she blushed. "We really
do need to make some notes about what happened, but that isn't the
main reason we're here, Jack."

My eyebrows went up. "Oh?"

She shook her head slightly. "I was planning on talking to you anyway,
before Duke paged Sam this afternoon."

"Is that you plural, or personal?"

"Personal. I want your child."

Duke sneezed his amusement, but said nothing, for which I was
grateful. "Kim? All of us have sperm and ova stored, just in case
someone wants to use it. I don't know about you, but when I made my
first donation, I signed an open release."

She blushed again. "I know. So did I. Sam and I talked it over and I
decided I'd rather have the sperm contributed naturally, or if that
isn't possible, I'd like to collect a fresh batch from the source."

I sighed. "Kim? You know damn well I'm gay for dogs. I'm told you're
beautiful, but I can't say the thought of fucking you does anything
for me. The opposite. I've never hidden the fact I find male-female
sex of any kind, a personal turn off."

She nodded. "I also knew about that, but I had to try for some
personal involvement, since it will be *our* child no matter where the
sperm comes from. I'm old fashioned. I also believe the father should
have a chance to *be* a father, and maybe even a daddy after it's
born."

I winced. "Oh. Hell. Can I have some time to think about this and talk
it over with Duke?"

"Of course. How long do you need?"

I sighed. "That, I can't tell you, since we have other problems I
consider more important right now."

I turned to Duke. "Partner? Thoughts?"

He shrugged with his ears. "I think you should do it naturally, but if
I have to deliver a filled condom, I can do that, too."

"You're no help."

He grinned at me. "I know."

I sighed again and turned back to Kim. "I'll try to have some sort of
answer in a week or two, if that's ok with you."

She matched my sigh. "Two weeks, unless you decide otherwise, then I'd
like to at least see a filled condom delivered if I can't get your
sperm any other way."

I held out my hand. "Deal."

We shook, and then she leaned back in her chair. "They'll all yours
again, Love."

Sam sneezed. "Be nice if I could figure out what to do with them."

He faced Duke. "What I really wanted to do out there was tell you two
and the Hotshots to cull those idiots, but that would have been
treating the symptons, not fixing the problems."

I sat up and Duke's ears went vertical, but somehow we managed to
remain silent.

Sam nodded. "Covert ops is pretty certain we've been infiltrated, but
they haven't been able to pinpoint who it is, yet. We're not even sure
if one or more of those team members are the infiltrators, or if
someone has been agitating them."

Duke spoke thoughtfully. "What about Sascha and Illya?"

Sam laughed. "Relax. Poster kids. I checked with BPS. Those two have
been checked out more thoroughly than anyone else here, except for you
two. They get obsessive about tracking people who can wear the head
right side up."

Duke laughed. "Yeah. They do, don't they? You sounded like you trust
Max and Jim, too, if you are making them members of the IG staff."

Sam sighed. "Just the opposite. I don't trust them yet. I want to find
out if their run-in with you two was a fluke due to their age, or
something more. I'll know more after they start working on people.
Let's see what happens, now they have an unlimited hunting license."

Instead of answering directly, Duke turned to me. "If I'm a boar's
prick, what's that make Sam? A llama's dick?"

Kim giggled and Sam turned to glare at her. "You two think alike. No
wonder I can't stand Duke except in small doses. Too much like being
around you."

She broke into laughter. "So you made Duke the new head instructor.
Was that to keep him around?"

He snarled at her. "That was *supposed* to keep them from getting into
trouble. I wasn't the one who said they'd earned a chance to get away
from being the chief trouble shooters we send out when it all falls
apart."

She nodded. "They do have a tendency to be problem magnets, don't
they?"

Sam sneezed at her. "That, they do."

He refocused on us. "FYI. Sometime tomorrow a couple of BPS squads
will be showing up. For once, I'll be glad to let them take over.
Maybe they'll flush our moles, if we really do have some tucked away."

Duke and I both shook our heads before Duke made his comment.
"Obsessive, you said. Did they bother telling you anything you can
pass on?"

Sam sighed. "Sort of. They're sending the squads in because they don't
feel like going through the hassles of training people to replace us.
They have plans for our futures, that include seeing us retire and die
of old age."

I raised my eyebrows. "What about the Hotshots?"

"Even simpler, I'm afraid. When they were kids, they were adopted into
the local pack."

Duke snarled his next words, and I had to agree with him. "Wonderful.
I hope their Alpha tears some strips out of their hides, because I
know I wouldn't like what he'd do to me if I did it."

Sam nodded. "Your lack of fondness for the Packs is well known, Duke,
so be nice when you get debriefed."

"Debriefed?"

"Yes."

"Shit."

Sam laughed. "Relax. It's not what you think. They want to gong you
two, again."

We looked at each other and I sighed. "Duke, buddy, under the
circumstances, I'll take it."

He laughed. "You would. You're a bottom. I've never enjoyed the role,
and you know it."

I imitated one of his sneezes. "I've never been stupid enough to ask,
have I?"

"Not since I made it a point to tell you I'd remove your balls if you
did, right after we partnered."

"True. So, partner. You're the dog in charge of the team. Tell me what
we'll be doing."

He sighed. "Unless Sam and Kim have any more surprises, we're going to
make those notes, then go get some sleep after we shut off the alarms
and put up the 'do not disturb' sign."

"Gotcha."

He refocused on Sam and perked his ears in that direction. "Well?"

Sam stood and stretched. "We'll make our notes on our own terminal.
See you tomorrow afternoon, at the latest."

He and Kim left.

After the door closed I sighed and turned to face my terminal. "Unless
you have something important to say..."

His answer was the subdued sound of his voice as he started dictating
his notes, so I tuned him out and started typing.

It took us about an hour to get our notes into some sort of order that
we'd be able to work with later. After that we went to our room and
settled for the night. Both of us were emotionally shot, so we decided
to cuddle a little before we separated and went to sleep.

* * *

It was late morning when Duke woke me up. "We have our new guardians
outside the door."

I sighed. "At least they let us sleep in."

He snarled half heartedly. "Damn wolves. Should I let them in and get
things over with?"

I sighed. "After I wake up, take a bath and get something to eat, if
you don't mind."

"Got it. I'll check our message que for anything interesting, while I
wait."

When I settled at the table to eat I noticed Duke was looking a little
dejected. "What's wrong?"

He sighed. "I think I know why the other instructors missed things,
and if I'm right, there's no blame, and nothing we can do about it
that would help next time."

I buttered my toast and leaned back. "Nothing? That sounds unlikely
Are you sure you haven't missed anything that could help?"

"Reasonably certain. I caught it because of my scent memory. We went
through the same sort of resentment, remember?"

"Yeah. Hard to forget."

"Right. Way I see it, none of these people were around back then, and
this is the first time it's happened since we went through training,
as far as I can tell from a records search."

I finished my toast, then started on the rest of my food while I
thought about what he'd said.

Eventually I'd finished and was able to lean back again and sip at my
cranberry juice. "You saying nobody would have recognized the scent
traces as being different than the usual stuff?"

He sighed. "Exactly, and I don't know if the synthesizers would be
able to make that subtle a change, for discrimination training."

I winced, then had a thought. "Wait. We have, outside our door, a way
to access the most sophisticated scent sythesizers known. Care to bet
the packs already have the synthesis problem solved?"

His ears perked. "I can't believe you thought of that. You have less
use for the packs than I do."

I imitated one of his sneezes of disgust. "Yeah. But even you have to
admit a wolf's nose at it's worst, is far better than yours is at its
best."

He sighed. "Damn good point. Are you ready for company?"

I matched his sigh. "I'd like to go back to bed, but there's too much
going on that we have to get involved in. Might as well get the day
started."

I walked over and opened the door, then gestured towards our quarters.
"If you two can come in, do it. There's some stuff we'd like to talk
about before we have to go back to work."

The wolfess nodded and perked her ears at me. "I'm Gr'Ynch and my
partner is Paul. Thanks. We've got a few things we need to get out of
the way in private, too."

I moved aside until they were in, then closed the door and secured it.
After that, I waited.

She studied Duke until his ears went backwards slightly, then she
nodded. "Paul. Get the vials out and let Duke get a good whiff."

Duke inhaled deeply after Paul opened each of the vials, then faced
her again. "Smells like standard issue deodorant, both times. If
there's a difference, I can't detect it."

She snarled, then caught herself with an effort and looked at Paul.
"You were right. Apparently, none of the dogs can smell it."

She turned back. "Relax, Duke. You just confirmed something for us.
There's a difference, one wolves can detect, but dogs can't. You're
right about the deodorant. The first vial also has a special
neutralizing agent added to it."

He sighed. "Do I have to guess?"

She laughed. "No. It's something the Wolf-Killers developed recently,
to help their agents hide from you folks."

I winced and managed to keep silent.

Duke, however, snarled his anger. "Wolf-Killers. What are those folks
doing infiltrating us?"

She grinned at him. "Something new. Hoping they can get you two and
the Hotshots to teach them how to kill wolves, of course."

It all fell into place for me and I sighed loud enough to find myself
the center of attention. I took advantage of it to ask one of the
obvious questions. "How many of our people have been culled already?"

"Seven humans have been isolated for interrogation and culling. The
dogs have all checked out innocent, and will be offered the chance to
repartner. No repercussions for the dogs. No way for them to know what
was being done, since the people were all deep cover experts and
acting like normal recruits until they graduated. We assume the
graduates would have eventually worked for positions that let them get
close to BPS teams. Suicidal types, but we're used to seeing that."

Duke cut to the important stuff. "Why tell us?"

"Orders. We're to help you see if there's a way for you folks to
reliably detect these people. The alternative is a permanent BPS
presense, and while we'll do it if we have to, somehow, we have too
many things going on to free up enough teams without leaving us short
somewhere else."

He glared at her. "We're both canids. What the Hell are you trying to
hide?"

She sighed. "I *told* him you'd spot it, but I was ordered to try."

"That's not an answer."

"Wasn't meant to be. If we develop that technique, who do you think is
going to be responsible for culling anyone found?"

He sat suddenly. "Are you saying Sam and Kim won't be involved in
that?"

She studied him in silence, then sighed. "They have too much to do as
it is. You two get the job for a very pragmatic reason. You're the
best team in the world, unless Sascha and Illya replace you."

He grimaced and turned to me. "We should have got out while we had the
chance."

I sighed. "Maybe."

Then it was my turn to glare at the wolfess. "Don't bother waving
'duty' at us to keep us around. We're not stupid."

She shrugged with her ears. "Never thought about it. You've never
hidden the fact you play for keeps, when you play. If you didn't, you
would have retired at a sensible age, long before now."

She shook herself, then faced Duke again. "You had something you
wanted to talk about?"

He nodded. "Yeah. We need to know if you can synthesize a scent for
discrimination training. I don't think we can do it."

Her ears perked in his direction. "What scent?"

"The one given off by otherwise good dogs and people, who resent a
better team enough that they spend a lot of time scheming to catch
that team off guard so they can pound them into pulp. It's unusual
enough that I've only smelled it twice in my life. The first time was
when Jack and I were working to be the best in the world, and the
second time was yesterday, during the advanced class."

She nodded slightly. "Resentment, jealousy, laziness, Maybe a few
other touches depending on the exact trigger conditions. Any places we
might be able to find traces?"

Duke sighed. "Those eight teams had to conspire somewhere. Ask them."

She snarled a little bit. "We heard about that. I'll call in one of
our synthesizer teams and let them deal with the problem.

"Anything else?"

"Sam said something in passing last night. Something about you folks
having plans for the four of us. Can you tell us anything about that?
We don't like surprises, especially ones that involve BPS."

She laughed and I shuddered. It sounded a lot like Duke's laugh when
the Dobie in him took over his thinking, but hers had a tinge of
something else in it that I didn't recognize.

"You should have been careful about mentioning you wanted out of field
work. That was a good call, by the way. Anyway, apparently our senior
command team figures that confirmed something. All the rest of us
know, is that you two are being considered for special duty of some
sort. Don't bother asking me what it is, because they're playing this
one closer to their noses than usual.

She sighed. "Just be yourselves while we're here."

He snarled. "We would be, anyway. Got to many things going on to worry
about egos, even the big ones wolves have."

She laughed easily. "Good. So where do we start?"

His head tilted and his ears perked again. "You're asking *us*? We
figured you folks were taking over, based on Sam's willingness to turn
things over when you got here."

"We have. You know your people better than we do and will have to live
with things if we leave. How about a game of 'good dog, bad wolves'?"

They grinned at each other and I shivered. Life was about to get
interesting.

Duke finally nodded. "Do you know about the team Sam set to stir
things up?"

"We do. He briefed all of us before we dispersed to start
investigating and collecting people."

He sneezed. "You forgot setting bodyguards."

"Wasn't a point worth mentioning. Everyone knows we take care of our
own, even if they have no use for us under normal conditions."

I laughed. "She nailed us, Duke."

"Yeah. So? Professional respect doen't require we love each other."

She laughed at him. "You sure you don't have any wolf genes? You'd
make a good one."

He sobered and faced her directly. "My canid side comes from a long
line of warrior dobermans. Same for the human genes. Extremely
competent profesional soldiers, from what I could find out."

"We know. Sascha's ancestors were the products of a similar program."

I raised my eyebrows. "Sounds like BPS has some matchmaking in mind,
if they're digging that deep into Duke and Sascha's linage."

She turned her head slightly. "We think you should mate with Kimberly
and produce at least one cub. If you don't, we'll probably authorize a
host female and do it for you, but we'd appreciate it if the two of
you provide a a proper environment for any offspring you have."

I stared at her, then recovered, a little. "Does this have anything to
do with those other plans?"

"No. We're always trying to maintain bloodlines that reliably produce
Alphas who can command other Alphas."

I winced. "Is that an order?"

"Not yet."

"Ouch."

She sneezed. "Humans!"

Paul laughed. "So are you."

She snarled something at him, and he held up his hands, as if he was
fending her off. "I checked. They already know, and this room has been
secured."

Her head snapped back in our direction. "How did you find out?"

Duke glared at her. "If it matters, anyone with half a brain can do
the research to confirm it. Genone typing is easy enough to do, if you
have access to your own dna records and know how to search the grid to
find a match."

Then he grinned at her evilly. "Know your enemy as yourself."

Paul chortled, causing her to jerk around and actually take a step in
his direction before she could stop her reaction. She glared at him,
he gazed back calmly, and finally she settled on her haunches and
startled me by giggling. "Proves what we've always thought. The
Wolf-Killers don't have any functional brains."

He sobered. "One of them does. I want whoever it was that decided to
infiltrate to take advantage of this situation."

She sobered. "I want them, too. This was a long term plan that says
the planner anticipated Duke and Jack surviving long enough that they
would become senior instructors."

Duke interrupted her. "Better take time to clean out your own kennel.
You said someone wanted us *and* the Hotshots to teach their people
how to kill wolves. Only the Packs knew about Sascha and Illya's
complete past, until last night, if what they told us is true."

Paul flinched, got his communicator out, then froze and looked at
Gr'Ynch. "What do we do? That's senior command level knowledge, as far
as we know."

She grimaced. "Table it until one of us thinks of a good reason for a
face to face with the boss."

He sighed and put his communicator away. "Right."

I noticed Duke was studying her thoughtfully, and when he noticed my
focus he twitched an ear to point at her. "I smell a rather large and
fresh pile of shit covering the mushrooms, who happen to be us. You?"

"Uh huh. These two aren't just bodyguards. Can't be to know what they
know."

Both of our 'bodyguards' sighed before Paul answered the unspoken
question. "FYI. We're one of the Beta command teams. Both of us are
specialists in dealing with the Wolf-Killers."

Duke said it, with disgust. "I was right. Shit. Lots of it and getting
deeper, right?"

Paul nodded. "Right. Just remember, the pile covers *us* a lot deeper
than we thought it did, so that means the four of us have some serious
planning to do before we do anything more to fix *your* problems."

Duke nodded. "And your problems?"

He sighed. "Gr'Ynch?"

"We need a secure line of communication, direct to Hr'Mmn or Latika,
first."

"What about the teams here?"

"No changes until we consult."

"Business as usual. Got it."

She stood and shook herself before she refocused on us. "Unless we're
in a secure location, Paul and I are the senior team, and your
bodyguards. Where to?"

Duke stretched. "Since nobody has interrupted us, our office. We're
expecting the Hotshots and the newest IG team to check in. We also
have to start figuring out how to get the entire teaching staff to
start passing on rumors and taking more active roles in fixing
resentment problems. Those kids should have all been supporting each
other and taking advantage of having Sascha and Illya available to
teach them whatever they are able to assimmilate. Sascha said she and
Illya had been teaching them without their knowledge. She shouldn't
have needed to make that decision."

The he tilted his head and focused on her for some reason, before he
spoke gently, for him. "Never thought I'd say this to a wolf: 'We'll
watch your backs for you', ok?"

Her ears went vertical, than she laid them back to show her
frustration. "I never thought I'd be in a situation where I was *glad*
to team with a dog. Thank you, Duke." She turned away before he could
answer. "Open the door for us, Paul. It's time to go back to work."

He opened it and she stuck her head out to scan the area before she
flowed though with him right behind her.

Duke looked at me and sighed. "Combat awareness. Let's go."

"Right."

We made our own cautious exit, then let Gr'Ynch lead us while Paul
took the tail position.

* * *

We were all relieved when we managed to make the trip to our office
without another crisis interrupting us.

Duke settled in front of his terminal and sighed. "I'm not going to
assume that the electronic security hasn't been breached, but we do
need to work up our notes and observations from class. Then we need to
start fine toothing instructor records to see what we can spot, if
anything."

Then he looked at the others. "Any suggestions? Jack and I are doers,
not thinkers, usually."

She nodded. "Sounds like a good start. It's a long shot, but try
correlating locater movement between the instructors and the folks we
have isolated. Also, look for an avoidance pattern between them and
you two. You couldn't have nosed them out, probably, but they'd want
to reduce the risk of either of you picking up on something else."

Then her ears went back. "We agree with Sam and Kimberly. Max and Jim
need a closer look. We need to know if their explanation is all or
part of the truth."

I winced and Duke's ears went backwards. "We deliberately provoked
them, to see what they'd put up with, but yeah... Some things about
that situation have bothered us. When you have time, pull the video.
Maybe you'll see something."

She sighed. "One of the teams already checked their quarters. No sign
of the neutralizing agent. You have a lot of people camped here, and
it's going to take us days to check them all."

He nodded and turned back to his terminal. "Get over here, Jack. We
need to get some work done while we wait."

I sighed, rolled my chair over so I could see the screens, then we
started doing our workups.

We were sorting out our impressions of the Hotshot's takedown of all
the other teams when a low, angry--and definitely combative--snarl,
made us jerk around to focus on the doorway.

Paul and Gr'Ynch separated slightly and Paul spoke quietly. "You're
expected, so go ahead."

Max and Jim limped through the door first, followed by their BPS
bodyguards, who were also bandaged and limping.

I winced and turned to Duke. "I think they managed to stir someone
up."

"Looks like it."

He turned back. "Settle and report."

Max settled on his side, then spoke wearily. "We walked into an
ambush. Penny's dead. Ryan killed her last night, then he went for
Gr'Alyn and Yong when we showed up to interview them. He was in his
suit. Took eight of us to take him down, because he'd overridden all
the limiters."

He sighed. "Penny never had a chance. Her own partner... The man she'd
trusted with her life, and loved for twenty years..."

He slumped. "Take it, Jim. I can't fight the pain killers any more.
Don't want to."

His head settled on the floor and it was obvious he had let himself
pass out.

Jim had been watching him and without looking up he sighed. "He
refused to check in to the hospital until we'd reported to you. All
but one of his ribs on his right side are broken. He took the hit
intended to kill Gr'Alyn. I was right behind him and managed to keep
Ryan off balance long enough that she and Yong were able to disable
the right side of his suit. After that, a couple of other teams had
showed up and we all finally managed to pin him until the medics
knocked him out."

Gr'Ynch sighed. "We'll see Penny gets buried with all honors, as a
combat death."

Then she focused on Duke. "Do you have access to the PA system for the
entire facility, from your office"

"Yes."

"Good. Activate it and give me a live mic."

He looked at me and I sighed. "I have lots of questions, and I know
I'm not going to like the answers, if we're allowed to hear them."

"Yeah."

He pawed a control and turned back to Gr'Ynch. "You're on."

She lifted her muzzle and howled, then went directly into wolvish
battle language. Eventually she stopped and switched to something the
rest of us could understand.

"This facility is now under a total movement freeze and communications
lockdown. Everyone is to stay where they are until I or Duke authorize
your movement. Effective immediately, anyone who violates these orders
will be culled, immediately. Hotshots, wherever you are, you are
cleared for travel to Duke's office. Sam, you and Kimberly stay
wherever you are. You'll be escorted to a secure location as soon as
possible."

Her tail sent Duke the shut down signal. so he shut down the PA
system, then tilted his head and waited for her to decide what she was
going to do next.

She looked at Max, then sighed. "I hate to do this, but... I need for
you, Duke, to get me a secure link to BPS Headquarters."

He perked his ears at her. "Easy enough. What next?"

"I make contact, pass on what we know and theorize, then we wait.
While we wait, we can hope nobody gets culled. I want answers, not
bodies."

He sighed. "You aren't the only one who wants answers. Penny was a
friend of mine. We went through basic together, and she didn't deserve
what happened to her. Nobody does..."

He snarled. "Except the Wolf-Killers and whoever it was who ordered
her death."

I was pondering the incident when it hit me. Ryan and Penny had been
teamed for twenty years. The was no way he would have let Max get in
his way, if he'd been after the wolf and her partner. Hell. Max
*couldn't* have gotten in the way like that, because the wolf would
have been first through the door, and anyone with Ryan's experience
and on a suicide mission would have taken advantage of that fact!

I lunged for Max, to check on him, and Duke must have been paralleling
my thinking because he went directly for Jim and took him to the floor
before he took Jim's throat in his jaws and growled menacingly. Duke
grunted as Jim's hands flashed to his head, and I heard the 'thunk' as
they hit.

Duke never flinched. He'd known he was going to take a hit, but he'd
braced and let it happen while he counted on the wolves to react and
save him from any more damage.

They did. I was checking Max to make sure he was alive when I heard
two crunches and a scream of pain.

I looked up to see Duke stagger backwards and shake himself, then he
settled on his haunches and grinned at me. "I bit him when he started
to move. He had a bad angle, anyway. I'm going to have a headache for
a few hours, and I want to get looked at as soon as possible, just in
case."

I laughed. "Good thing you have a hard head, old dog."

"Comes from butting it against your ego, old man. How's Max?"

I sighed. "Alive. Let's get some medics in here that we trust. That
hit he took had to have been for him, and it looks like it nearly
succeeded. Deserves some sort of medal for managing to deliver Jim to
us before he passed out."

Duke had turned to the wolves. "Jim's all yours, and we have one of
our answers, don't we?"

Paul looked up. "Thanks. We'll see that Max survives. Even if we could
have trusted Jim, Max is going to need a new partner. Jim just
suicided on us. I think he was already dying when you hit him, Duke."

The BPS medical team showed up just ahead of the Hotshots, who took
one look at what was going on and turned around to block the doorway.

After they'd scanned for possible problems, Sascha spoke without
losing her real focus. "Jim's injuries are severe, but not lethal.
Suicide?"

Duke an I grinned at each other before he spoke curtly. "Right. We
think he had Ryan try to take Max out, but Max survived the hit that
was supposed to kill him, and delivered Jim here before he passed out.
Don't trust anyone except Gr'Ynch unless she tells you otherwise."

"Got it. Gr'Ynch?"

"Duke and Jack are cleared, and watching our backs. You kids watch
theirs, and if you have to, take out any BPS team that agrues with you
about it, in any way you have to. I've already given orders that you
four are in charge if Paul and I go down."

Sascha nodded "We heard. That's why we hurried to get here. Both of us
think you're slightly crazy to do it that way. Duke, we can
understand, but us?"

"Not crazy, angry, and right now the only people I'm willing to trust
completely are the ones who wear the head right side up. There's
probably a human Wolf-Killer on one of the teams I brought with me."

Illya suddenly spun around and shot Yong with a trank. As the man
slumped, his eyes went wide and his hand made an abortive movement
towards his waist but Gr'Alyn grabbed his wrist and we heard a muted
'crunch' when she closed her jaws.

One of the medics looked up, frowned when she studied the situation,
then sighed. "Somebody change the peacetime rules? I've seen less
damage passed around on the battlefield."

Gr'Ynch laughed. "That's why I brought you. You have battlefield
experience. That carrion was alive when he went down. I want him kept
that way. How's Max?"

"He'll live. Shouldn't have been walking around with his ribs busted
like that, but I've seen wolves with more damage, who went right back
into combat, so I don't expect there to be complications, if we can
get him into surgery in the next few hours."

Gr'Ynch sighed. "Duke? Use your own authority to get through."

He sighed and turned back to his console. "And then?"

She laughed at his sour tones. "Relax. I'll take it from there."

* * *

I looked at Illya, who had holstered his trank gun and was glaring at
the fallen man. "What was that all about?"

He took a deep breath. "Last time we saw him I told him I'd kill him
if I ever saw him again. He had a different partner, he'd just failed
his finals, and almost gotten his partner *killed*, by deliberately
failing to assist her when she walked into an ambush he knew about,
without warning her that he knew."

My eyebrows went up. "You knew he knew?"

"Yes, Sir! Sascha and I were their civilian informants for the
'mission', and we'd told him about it."

Duke's rumbling snarl was matched by deeper ones that came from the
wolves in the room.

Gr'Ynch finally calmed herself and spoke slowly. "You two are always
full of surprises. Can you put the rest of them on hold for awhile,
unless you have to save our butts again?"

Sacha laughed. "Good to see you, too, Alpha. Got any more orders we
shouldn't be following? We kept quiet about the Heads, and look what
happened."

She laughed. "Only one. Consider Duke your new Alpha. You're working
for him and Sam, now."

Sascha must have thought about it because her next words carried
puzzlement. "Not Sam?"

"Duke doesn't make an issue of it, but he's senior to Sam in Field
Ops. Under battle conditions, which these are, Sam takes orders from
Duke, if he decides to give any. That's need to know. Usually it isn't
a problem, because schools aren't battlefields."

Sascha turned her head slightly, so she could watch Gr'Ynch. "Their
suggestion we consider joining Special Ops makes more sense, now. Do
you have an opinion?"

"I do. You're too young and unseasoned to be allowed in the field as
the commanders you should be. You're too independent, and have always
been loners in crowds. You also have the wrong mindset for field
command. I'm sorry. Everyone thought we could train you out of it, by
now."

Sascha had tensed, then she slumped slightly before she turned her
head back to focus on the hallway. "Understood. Thanks for your
honesty. We didn't know."

Gr'Ynch sighed. "I couldn't let you go out and get yourselves or your
people injured or killed, without you two knowing why it happened. I
know how much command means to the two of you. You can still wait and
take it when it's offered, just be prepared to spend time fighting
your own attitudes and habits as much as you do those of your friends
and enemies.

"Sascha? Remember this. It's not anyone's fault. Nobody around you
when you were growing up had the experience to know what to look for.
Others have successfully beaten their youthful habits."

Illya sighed. "But, as Duke and Jack made clear during class and
during the after class discussion, we were actually too good, too
dedicated to our dream, and didn't know enough to realize a lot of the
implications of being as good as we are. We're too good for our age
and field experience, aren't we?"

"Yes. You have three choices that I can see. Patience, and holding
back while you get the experience you need. Special ops, where you'd
be at least as good as you could be as a command team... Or finding
another career."

Sascha sighed. "We'll talk it over when we get the time. For now,
we'll keep being patient."

I didn't bother trying to hide my sigh. I knew exactly how she felt.
Duke and I had gone through the same routine of always being told to
be patient, and it had rankled both of us at the time. I figured the
kids didn't need me flapping my jaws, so I turned back to see Duke
watching me. I shrugged and kept my mouth shut.

He nodded, then turned a little. "I have that link, and Latika is
waiting."

She nodded, then stepped over and launched into some rapid battle
language.

Suddenly she stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Latika isn't used
to your tricks, Sascha. She wants to know how the two of you spotted
Yong when nobody else did."

Sascha spoke without turning. "She's stupid, then. Scent memory for
me, just like you wolves should have spotted him as soon as he
reapplied after that spectacular failure of his. We thought he was
going to get culled for that."

Before she could say more the speaker erupted with the harsh sounds of
an angry wolf, who was working up quite a head of steam.

That went on for awhile, then the screen lit and we were treated to a
good look at the wolfess.

I flinched and Duke snarled his awareness of who we faced. "You!"

She tilted her head to one side and grinned at whatever it was she saw
on her screen. "I'm pretty fond of you, too, Duke. Congrats on your
recent promotions. You and Jack earned them."

I glared at her. "I should have put it all together when we heard the
names of the Alpha team. So now you get to make *everyone's* lives
miserable, not just ours. Congrats. Can't think of anyone I'd rather
see with the headaches."

She laughed. "Thank you, Jack. Survive the next few years, then see
how you feel about the headaches of overall command. Maybe your
perspective will have changed by then."

I sighed. "Damn good point, considering what Sam managed to do to us.
I was hoping we were done with all that 'Alpha Shit', then he made us
heads of training."

She nodded. "Troubleshooting is what you and Duke have always done
best. What choice did anyone have?"

I sighed again. "None, Latika. Doesn't mean we're going to give up our
right to bitch about fate."

She laughed "Good. Illya? Answer the question, since our records show
Yong was wearing a new look, a new name, and had skeletal mods done,
too."

I raised my eyebrows at that. Someone had put a lot of faith in
things, to expect Yong to pass normal wolvish inspections of recruits,
and apparently he had, and done well enough to pass his finals, this
time.

Illya sighed. "Ma'am, I'm instructor certified. I recognized him the
same way I recognize my opponents during unlimited suit competition.
His body language."

Latika's sneeze of disgust was impressive. "I don't like what I'm
thinking."

She snarled something that sounded like it was some sort of order,
then our PA system went off with the all world override signal.

"This is Latika. Suspend all operations immediately. Maintain your
current positions until further notice. More to follow, on an
individual basis, later.

"Latika, out."

Her image shifted to let us know she had focused on us again. "You
folks know what your problems are, solve them in any way you have to,
until that place is secure again. Understood?"

Gr'Ynch visibly shivered, then nodded her head. "Understood."

"Good. I'll be in touch later. Might be awhile, so if you get
everything sorted before then, hold your position and wait for new
orders."

Before anyone could reply, the screen blanked.

We all took the time to look at each other before Duke sighed. "Ok.
The shit now covers me to my ears, so there's no need to rub my nose
in it. Besides, I didn't put it there."

He glanced at the medical team, then sighed. "Be nice to know what's
going on, since I know damn well that stupid all world signal just put
Jack and me in charge of this entire complex, until we get killed or
Latika gives me the all clear."

Gr'Ynch hadn't missed his sideways glance. "Relax. The senior medic
and I are littermates. I'd know if she'd been subverted."

Duke stiffened. "Subverted?"

"Someone has done the impossible, Duke. At the least, we have
subverted wolves working in recruiting, and probably the records
division, as well as the DNA matching labs. There's no other possible
explanation for Yong's success."

Duke looked at me and I could see the fear in his eyes. "Yeah, buddy.
I feel it too. No wonder she shut down BPS like that."

It was his turn to sigh. "Damnit. I need Sam and Kimberly. I need
their insight and twisted minds next to me."

I leaned back and thought about it. "Yeah. But can we trust them?"

Duke sighed. "Can we trust *anyone*?"

He looked around the room. "Anyone have suggestions?"

Sascha spoke up suddenly. "You can't trust everyone in this room, yet.
Not even us."

I winced. She was right.

Duke solved that part of the problem. "Get in here and secure the
door, then tell Gr'Ynch how you felt when I told you that you'd passed
into the command ranks."

She and Illya scanned the area they could see, then did as they'd been
ordered.

Before she could start speaking, Gr'Ynch spoke firmly to her sister.
"Field knockouts for everyone except you, me, Sascha, Duke, and Jack.
Make sure they're really out, too. Any arguments, cull the protesters
immediately."

I noticed Paul flinched, then he nodded and stepped forward. "Do it to
me."

Illya and Sascha studied each other, then Illya stepped to stand next
to Paul. "Do it."

I raised my eyebrows at his quick agreement, then smiled. The kids had
enough courage for several teams. Good. We were going to need
everything they could give us.

Duke made a gesture with his ears and we went to full battle alert.
Both of us stood and made sure we had clear shots at everyone in the
room. I didn't think we'd have to do anything but we hadn't survived
this long by taking our security for granted.

Sascha moved out of our way and positioned herself to watch our blind
areas instead of Illya, a move I was very gratified to see.

The knockdowns went quickly, with no protests, for which I was
grateful. All it really meant was that *if* we had a subverted struct
or human in the room, they were smart enough to be patient.

When it was over, Duke sighed, then pawed some controls. "This is
Duke. Route all the communications through my office, then lock us
down. Nothing in or out until I say otherwise. Secure our perimeter,
then wait. After that, link me to Sam and Kimberly."

"Sir? Can you do that?"

He sighed. "I can, but if it makes you feel better, check with Sam or
Kim. We're under battle conditions, and I'm the senior Field Op on
site."

He disconnected and sighed when he looked at me. "Never thought being
low key about that would bite me on the ass, partner. I should have
listened to Sam when he wanted to make my seniority part of the
regular briefings."

I matched his sigh. "At least we've survived the mistake, so far. I'll
take it."

"Yeah."

He shifted his attention to Gr'Ynch. "Debrief the damn Bitch so we can
move on."

Gr'Ynch nodded soberly, then gunsighted Sascha. "Don't move until I
tell you otherwise."

Sascha froze.

Gr'Ynch nosed her thoroughly, and inhaled deeply each time. Eventually
she repeated the process with Illya, before she repositioned herself
in front of Sascha. "Both of you are clean. Relax."

Sascha's ears perked. "Clean, Ma'am?"

"Neither of you is wearing the neutralizer the Wolf Killers developed
recently. You're provisionally cleared. Report as ordered."

Duke and I relaxed a little.

Sascha must have noticed our intent focus, because she did something
unexpected. She collapsed and rolled to her back, then deliberately
spread her legs apart and relaxed before she spoke.

"We were terrified when Duke told us we'd joined the Command
Fraternity."

"Reasons?"

"He told us to pass on some instructions to the class when we went
back to barracks."

"They were? And stop shivering. You reek of fear. You're not on
trial."

"It was the orders he gave us. We were to help the class learn at
least ten ways for the non-suited to take down the suited, during
close quarters combat. Because of the resentment we knew about, we
feared for our lives. We'd been dealing with it ourselves and not
telling anyone about how bad it was. We knew the rest of the class was
looking for some way to ambush us, and 'take us down a few pegs'."

I grimaced when Gr'Ynch moved to stand over her and sneeze in her
face. "We taught you better than that. Justify keeping your knowledge
hidden from your superiors."

"We were handling it, and didn't think it was significantly different
that what we were already used to dealing with."

Gr'Ynch sighed and moved back so she could settle on her haunches.
"The resentent may have been the same, or it may not. That wasn't your
decision to make, because there is *always* a bigger picture to worry
about. You've been told about the problems your independence in
thinking can cause. I thought you'd internalized that lesson."

Sascha shivered again and Gr'Ynch sighed. "Oh, get up and stand
proudly. You're cleared, and there are worse mistakes you've made over
the years. Duke's right in suggesting you consider Special Ops. You
have the perfect mindset for it. If you decide to try, I'll add my
endorsement."

Duke's ears went vertical and then he grinned. "For once, I find I
agree with a Wolf. Glad we're secure. Don't want my image damaged."

She sneezed again, but this time it was amusement. "Relax, Duke. Your
image will stay intact."

Then she got serious again. "Without Sascha and Illya's bad judgement,
we probably wouldn't have known about this mess until it was too late
for more folks than Penny and Max. Things could be a lot worse."

He sobered, too. "Damn true, and I know it, which is one reason I
already told them I approved of their solution, and wouldn't second
guess them about it. Didn't know the shit was gonna get *this* deep
when I said it, though."

Something about Duke's 'shit' kicked an idea out of the back of my
thinking. "Hang on."

I went over and dug through Paul's pockets until I found the two vials
he'd used to test Duke's nose.

I held them up so Sacha could see them. "I want you to tell us if you
can detect any differences between these, or if you remember smelling
something similar."

I offered her the vial labled '2', first, and she took a cautious
sniff, then inhaled through her nose deeply.

"Standard issue deodorant. Smell it all the time, unless the human
partner uses a commercial one they prefer."

I closed it up. "Ok. Next."

She sniffed cautiously, started to inhale deeply... And sneezed
violently. "That's impossible!"

My eyebrows shot up and the rest of the canid ears went vertical.

Gr'Ynch took over. "What's impossible?"

"Ilya has never used a deodorant in his life, ever since he started
puberty and discovered he's allergic to something in them. Baking soda
and talc is all he's ever used, yet I can smell traces of his scent
mixed in with the issue deodorant."

"Are you certain?"

Surprisingly, Sascha's ears went flat in embarrassment. "Of course I
am! It's how he smells after making love to me when I'm in estrus!"

Duke finally laughed, then he sobered a little. "I guess you would
recognize that when I couldn't smell anything different. Begs the
question, though, since essentially we have the same capabilities when
it comes to our noses. Or so I would have said before now. Got an
explanation?"

Her ears had come up slightly, then she shrugged them. "When I was a
puppy, and then as I got older, I got tired of the cubs being able to
ambush us because I couldn't detect their scent reliably. We decided
to see if we could do something about it, so we started doing all the
scent detection and discrimination exercises we could learn about. I
know I'm not as good as most wolves, but I'm a lot better at it than
most dogs are. I'm sure it's buried somewhere in our records, because
we took most of the advanced classes they offered in our area."

I sighed and she looked at me.

I grimaced. "Relax. Duke and I will eventually get a chance to read
those records, and hopefully you won't surprise us as often. Lot like
what we did to you kids in class. If you dig into our combat records,
you'll get a more realistic feel for how lethal we can be when the
situation requires it. Like you, we have to hold back most of the
time. Better that, than the alternatives, which would be serious
injuries or getting ourselves killed."

Duke nodded. "Jack's got a good point. Goes with being the senior
trouble shooters. Been years since we were given an 'easy' assignment
to deal with. I decided to teach because I knew we'd pushed way past
the odds in the field, and were overdue to run into something we
couldn't handle."

He glared at Jim's body. "Crap still found us, though." 
======

    (zoo M-Dog nosex)

    Biolab 69 - Duke and Jack
    Chapter 5 - Job Offer
    ---

    The first thing I was aware of was an image. A sleek brown head,
half covered by a combat helmet, was looking up at me. The dog,
somehow I knew he was male, was studying me intently. "Think you could
work with a half-mad Doberman?"

    "Sniff my crotch..."

    The image vanished. I saw the same dog on the ground, with blood
spurting from his mouth...

    Pain washed over me, the new image vanished, my eyes snapped
open--and I screamed the dog's name: "Duke!"

    I felt something cold touch my neck. "About time you woke up."

    "What happened?"

    "Don't you remember?"

    I closed my eyes, searched... and found myself looking down at a
sleek brown head that was partially covered by the distinctive
headgear worn by combat structs.

    "Duke, the only thing I remember is meeting you for the first
time."

    There was a long silence. "Nothing? You don't remember our last
battle, or taking the hit meant to finish me?"

    I tried to roll over to face him. I couldn't move so I settled for
looking at the ceiling. "I remember we're partners. Your name. The
image of our first meeting, forever burned into my mind."

    I felt the bed shift as he jumped on it. He carefully straddled my
prone body and the ceiling was replaced with his sleek head. His ears
were flat against his skull and those expressive brown eyes were
filled with worry. "OK, Jack. They told me you were mind-lost. They
also told me to tell you to build on what you *do* remember.
Eventually it will all come back--if you really want to remember it
all. You didn't suffer any brain damage. It was your side that was
blown away, not your head."

    We looked at each other for a long time while I thought about it.
"I saved your life?"

    "Yeah. Then I saved yours. Nothing we haven't done before--lots of
times."

    Lots of times. Something in the way he said it triggered a brief
glimpse of another image. I saw him straddling me but this time I was
looking up at his swollen penis. "I see your dick."

    He tilted his head slightly. "Yeah? And?"

    I sighed. "That's it. Just a glimpse and then it was gone." I
tried to reach up and pet him. My arm didn't move. "I can't move my
arms. Oh, your dick was pretty big. Swollen."

    This time his voice held a note of interest. "Yeah? It was? You
figured out why?" Then he moved his head and licked my face gently.
"Thought I'd lost you, love. You decided to stick around? Partner?"

    Everything hit me at once. Duke, on the ground, lifeless. The
woman holding the antique rifle, lining up for another shot, to make
sure he was dead. My scream of hatred and loss, followed by my
desperate lunge. The deafening blast when she fired. The impact and
pain. "Duke! You're alive!..."

    He turned his head away, embarrassed. "Yeah. I guess you remember
now."

    "The blood. It was pouring from your mouth. I thought..."

    "Only stunned. Damn bullet hit my headgear and knocked me out for
a few seconds. Impact slammed my jaws shut--nearly bit my tongue in
half." He moved and settled so he was stretched out by my side with
his head on my good shoulder. I felt him press gently.

    "The bullet shattered your lifesigns monitor and drove the
shrapnel into your side. When I came to and didn't have a signal from
you I went berserk. So used to facing lasers that I never thought the
monitor was destroyed, assumed you were dead." He shut up and pressed
again. "Yeah. Berserk. Got us promoted to a desk job. Can't have a
field op go crazy and shred a woman in public. Started with her
throat. Went from there. Saw the after incident pics. Pretty messy,
Jack. Nobody kills my Jack. Nobody kills my lover and lives to brag
about it. Yesterday, got a private note from the opposition. Apology.
They knew she'd fucked them as surely as she thought she'd killed us.
Truce. Peace negotiations begin as soon as you can get out of this bed
and into a cart without dragging half the floor with you for life
support. They want to live, too. Bio Partners Security was going to
declare vendetta if you died. I couldn't stop them and they made sure
the opposition knew it."

    "Vendetta? BPS?"

    "Yeah. The recovery techs managed to pull her monitor records.
Turned out she was a senior op for an organization we'd never heard
of. Our crew did a data dump to BPS and all hell broke loose. Anyway,
she was more than just another field op in a small merc outfit."

    I winced. We were good, damn good--but compared to BPS we swatted
gnats and we knew it. Hell, Duke and I had learned that the hard way
when a BP team had asked us to do a few training sessions with them.
They'd scored easy kills in every test and we never got a shot off.
The wolf had apologized later and made a gentle comment. 'You two are
good, but neither one of you is a wolf. Don't let it bother you.'
"Duke? Who the hell did we run into?"

    He sighed. "A wolf-killer, Jack. A fucking renegade wolf-killer."

    "Damn. No wonder BPS went nuts."

    "Yeah. Something like that." He snorted "Remember that team we
played with a few years ago?"

    "What about them? Yeah, I was just remembering what the wolf told
us about not being wolves."

    "They showed up in full combat gear a few minutes after the data
dump. Get this. *Both* of them pissed on what was left of the body and
then *thanked* me for doing such a good job on her."

    I managed to turn my head so I could look at him. He was telling
the truth. "Ah... Duke? I had the impression those two are consummate
professionals. Lethal as hell, but still so professional that after
the combat is over they'd buy a round for the folks they just finished
trying to kill."

    Duke laughed. It was that evil, filled with gruesome promises
laugh that only came out when the Doberman in him made all of his
decisions about justice. "Yeah. Professional. Pros until they run into
one of these wolf-killers. When that happens they get personal. Very,
very personal. As in *lethal*. No mercy. I understand the other side
is the same way. Hatred doesn't begin to express how those two groups
feel about each other."

    He stopped. "It's them. They're here." I felt the bed start
shaking. Duke was shivering in terror. He also whimpered and tried to
hide his head in my armpit.

    "Who?..." I realized. "Oh. Shit."

    I heard a man sigh. "Relax, you two. Duke. Did that bullet addle
your brain that much? We're friends, damnit."

    Duke pulled his head out of my armpit. "You expect me to believe
that when all I can smell is death?"

    There was a long, tense silence. Then the wolf spoke. "Duke. Did
anyone check you for olfactory damage?"

    "No."

    "Of all the..." His tones changed, became those of a wolf used to
giving orders. "Seal this room. I'm calling in an evac team and a
field trauma squad. I want these two fixed right and I want it done
last week. If anyone objects, tell them BPS has just quarantined this
area and if they want to keep their job they can get out of our way."

    Four hours and a trip halfway around the world later we found
ourselves being escorted into an imposing facility. Duke was taken
away to have his nose sorted out and I was settled in the most
luxurious hospital suite I'd ever seen.

    The wolf was gone on some business of his own and that left the
man to settle me in. "Sorry about the poor accommodations. This was
all we had available."

    I adjusted the bed so I could look out the window. "Poor? I've
never seen anything this luxurious. Figured it must be some sort of
VIP ward. Thanks, whoever you and your partner are. I've managed to
forget your names. Remember playing those games a few years ago but
that's it." I turned the bed so I could look at him. He was settled in
a chair with his legs stretched out. He looked relaxed but I was
looking for, and found, the lethal layer I remembered seeing. "Nice
pose but I see past it, killer."

    He nodded his head. "Wasn't trying to hide. I'm Mark, partner to
Heth and right now we're the Alpha command team in BPS. This is the
recovery area for those injured during training. The support
facilities are pretty basic. The team recovery wards are a lot more
sophisticated. Anyway, the structs take damn good care of those of us
who can live and work with them at any level. He leaned forward. "How
are you feeling?"

    "Miserable. Can't move, except when I play with this fancy bed.
Wondering what's going on. Wondering what my new job will be now that
Duke and I are desk pilots." I closed my eyes, sighed deeply and then
reopened them to look at Mark. "Grateful as hell for everything but
wondering what sort of price we'll be paying for all of this attention
from BPS. Why the hell is the Alpha team of BPS spending time with a
combat struct team that almost got killed? Oh yeah, I almost forgot.
Where are we? Four hours travel time covers a hell of a lot of
territory."

    "You're at BPS headquarters. Don't look so surprised. After what
happened to Sophia and Ted... Oh. That's right, you don't know our
history. You and Duke didn't partner through the usual channels..."

    The man was actually embarrassed. "Heth and I studied your
records. Pretty sketchy."

    He went on before I could comment. "Never mind. I'm not here to
talk about our past, or yours." He grinned briefly when I reacted.
"Yeah, Heth and I know more about you and Duke than we do anyone else
in the entire Bio Partners organization."

    I snorted. "Must be a damn good reason for that. Duke and I are a
combat team, one of so damn many that I can't believe we're of much
interest... Wait... Duke mentioned she was a wolf-killer. This have
anything to do with that?"

    "Only after the fact. Kinda nice to know our future bosses are
familiar with death--and delivering it."

    "Duke and me? Boss BPS? He called me mind-lost, not out of contact
with reality, like you are. We aren't killers except under stress. I
know that much about us."

    He laughed so hard he fell backwards. Still chuckling he righted
the chair and resettled. "Didn't say anything about you two bossing
BPS. We've been looking you over for something else." He sobered.
"Something we knew we needed but never had anyone to head. Until now,
until you and Duke proved in the field that you can do the job--if you
accept it."

    I figured he deserved a glare and he got the best one I could come
up with. "Fine. We blow it in the field, nearly get killed and *YOU*
sit there and tell me you want me as your boss? Want me to punch holes
in that dream?"

    He reached into his shirt pocket and produced an ID card. "Is this
a dream?" He turned it so I could see the front. The faces on it were
familiar. Everything else was wrong. He flipped it on my chest, stood
up and of all the impossible things... saluted me. "You and Duke can
punch all the holes you want when you write the rules as heads of Bio
Partners' new Diplomatic Section." He started to leave then turned
back and grinned again... "Oh, your last job as a combat team will be
to finalize the peace negotiations between us and those mercs. After
that? Well, you can sit behind a desk and be my personal secretary...
or accept this and be my boss when I need a diplomatic team. Be
warned. If you stay a combat team you'll get held in reserve for the
diplomatic work. You're no good to us in the field. We can't afford to
put known berserkers in the field. Sorry. You aren't the only team
we've pulled in over the years." He smiled lopsidedly. "First team
that hasn't been summarily retired, though."

    He softened his voice and I could swear there was something
wistful coloring his next words. "You and Duke aren't wolves and Heth
and I envy you that lack. Too many wolves these days. We need more
dogs--and all that implies. Maybe, with the help of teams like you and
Duke, Heth and I can retire in a world filled with peace, not combat."

    He gazed at something only he could see and then walked out the
door, closing it gently.

    I snarled at the closed door and then sighed. "Have I got any more
buttons you can push? Put that way, I don't have much choice, do I?
We'll take your damn job."
---

End: Biolab 69: Duke & Jack
======

Biolab 69: Sascha & Robert
---

    (M-Bitch zoo/best)

    Released to the public domain
    -------

    Biolab 69 - Sascha and Robert
    Sascha!
    ----

    I was groggy and my thoughts were muddled as I regained
consciousness. When I tried to move my legs the sudden pain made me
scream. The adrenalin rush brought me the rest of the way awake--and I
realized I hurt all over, not just in my legs.

    I was alive, after all. Tim! Where was Tim? I rolled my head back
and forth, seeking until I spotted a bloody, headless pile of golden
fur.

    I moaned as the emotional pain swept through me, leaving emptiness
in its wake.

    Then I cried.

    I wished I'd been killed, too. Without Tim's always cheerful
canine smile--and his love, I had nothing to live for.

    When I wasn't fighting off the waves of pain, I was trying to
understand what had just happened.

    BP medical teams are, even when we are under contract to act as
scouts, treated as neutral non-combatants.

    When we'd stopped to treat the battle casualties we'd stumbled
across, we'd called our position in.

    Minutes later, the artillery had come screaming in, as if we'd
been deliberately targeted.

    It wasn't supposed to happen.

    It shouldn't have happened...

    At that point in my thinking I was distracted by a pain filled
whine.

    Sascha and Illya! I'd forgotten about them!

    I looked around, trying to locate either one of them.

    Nothing.

    Again, the whine and this time, words. 'Illya. No. Come on. You
can't be dead...'

    I winced at the pain in Sascha's low voiced protest, then
remembered more of what had been going on when the artillery strike
had landed on us.

    Sascha and Illya had been tending their wounded, just as Tim and I
had been tending ours. Then, the unforgettable sound of incoming
shells...

    And darkness.

    I heard the whine again, and the plea.

    I needed to distract her, so I found the strength to force out her
name. "Sascha!" I knew it had been the barest of whispers, but I was
counting on her ears, and her training.

    The whine stopped. "Robert?"

    "Yeah. Are you OK?"

    There was a long silence. Then... "Illya's dead. Everyone else is
dead, too. I couldn't save any of them. I couldn't save *him*."

    I winced at the lost sound in her voice. "I'm sorry. It looks like
Tim never had a chance. I hope..." I took a deep breath. "I hope he
never felt it."

    "What about you?"

    I sighed. She would ask me that. "I can't move. Both legs..."

    I felt a nose touch my cheek in a familiar gesture but the voice
that followed wasn't Tim's. "I can see that."

    "Can you do anything?"

    She settled next to me. "Depends on the damage. Some shrapnel
destroyed my waldo. That's what saved me. I'm only bruised."

    I sighed and she responded by resting her chin on my chest and
whimpering. "I could have saved him if my waldo hadn't been
destroyed."

    I reached and stoked her great head. "I'm sorry, Sascha. Stay with
me?"

    "No. I'll go get help. Will you wait for me to get back?"

    I sighed. "Give me a reason. I lost Tim."

    "I lost Illya. I don't want to lose you, too. Can you sit up if I
help?"

    I gaped at her, then started laughing bitterly. I had to quit
before the pain made me pass out. "Sascha. I'm gay. And yeah, I might
be able to do that."

    "Good. I'll bring what we need and you can help me put on the
tourniquets."

    She was gentle while we struggled to stop as much of my bleeding
as we could. I was amazed at how much she could do with her teeth and
paws. I really think she could have done it all by herself if she'd
had to, but in a strange way, we both needed to save my life.

    Maybe it was some sort of weird bonding ritual because we were
both battle casualties.

    Whatever it was, when we finished I was pretty certain I wanted to
live, because she wanted me to. She'd babbled about her past with
Illya while she worked and by the time we were done, I knew how
important I was to her, now.

    Without me, there would be nothing in her life she felt strongly
enough to go on living for. I also knew I was starting to feel the
same way about her.

    Once she was satisfied there was no more we could do, she stood
over me and lifted her lips in a slight smile. "I don't think you're
gay. My nose tells me you aren't. Anyway, I'm willing to take the time
to find out."

    Another wave of pain knifed through me and I shuddered and gasped
until it subsided a little. "Tim never mentioned I might not be gay."

    "He wouldn't. Goldens are like that. We Rotts are more pragmatic.
Will you stay alive, now? For us?"

    I sighed and looked away from her worried eyes. "Do I have a
choice?"

    "Yes. But if you let yourself die, Illya and Tim will have died
for nothing. So will we, because I don't plan on outliving you by
longer than it takes me to suicide. Without you..."

    I nodded tiredly. "You've made your points, Sascha. I'll hang on."
I touched her nose lightly. "When I'm able, be gentle, OK? I've never
been with a female."

    She nuzzled my cheek. "I'm violent enough for both of us, Robert.
But, in some things, I have always been gentle."

    She looked at me through pain filled eyes. "Robert? You're sure?
You'll wait for me to bring help back?" She was repeating herself a
lot, but I wasn't in any shape to keep track so I could mention it.

    Besides, I wasn't exactly tracking well myself. All I could think
about was Tim's body, and the fact we'd never be together again.

    I winced, more from my own pain than hers. "Yeah, Sascha." I took
a deep breath. "Tim would have wanted me to keep going... Get the hell
out of here and let someone know what's happened..."

    I hesitated and then managed to get my next words past my tears.
"Partner, do what you have to do. OK?"

    Her head tilted in inquiry before she smiled bitterly. "Though we
may die in the attempt to succeed in our duties, we will die knowing
our deaths meant something."

    I nodded. It was part of the Bio Mate's bonding oath. "Go, my
future love. Give our lives meaning again."

    She nuzzled my cheek gently, then she was gone and all I could do
was watch her powerful body lunge across the broken ground in an all
out run.

    I drifted in and out and was mostly out when she returned, guiding
an evac team. I winced when I recognized the unmistakable combat
biosuits worn by the elite BPS combat teams. Sascha must have been
eloquent, even for her. Those folks seldom got involved in the petty
disputes the Bio Partners usually found themselves mixed up in.

    "What are you folks doing here?"

    The woman laughed grimly. "Sorting some folks out. We lost one of
our teams here. Hate to say it, but one of our enemies doesn't care
about incidental casualties if they get some of us at the same time."

    "Shit." Then I remembered something. There'd been more pain in
Sascha's whine than would be caused by bruising. "How's Sascha?"

    "She's OK. Rotts are almost as tough as wolves. Cracked ribs but
all she wanted was some pain killers until we got back to you."

    I sighed. "Me?" They'd been working on me and I was floating
outside the pain, finally.

    "Depends on you. We can save everything, but you'll never be quite
as agile as you were. Worry about it later. You'll have plenty of time
for that while you recover and go through rehab."

    I nodded tiredly. "Thanks..." I felt a sting and that was it.

    * * *

    When I woke up I found myself staring at a white ceiling, the kind
I had usually seen when we brought in patients. It was obvious I was
in a hospital.

    "Welcome back, Robert." It was Sascha's voice, but it was
curiously muffled. "The bed controls are next to your right hand.
*Those*, at least, are standard."

    "Sascha? Something's wrong with your voice."

    I fumbled, found the controls and went through the litany I was
used to giving others. Right. Let's see if using them was as easy as
I'd been telling people. I managed to raise myself until I could get a
better view of the room I was in.

    It didn't *look* like any hospital room I'd ever seen and my jaw
sagged when I recognized a BP Security biosuit. "Is that you, Sascha?"

    "Yes. It was the easiest way to immobilize everything while my
ribs heal. That sprint to get help didn't improve things." I heard a
faint whir of motors as her head tilted slightly. "Saved your life,
though."

    "Thanks."

    "None needed. Without you, I would have suicided."

    "Yeah. I remember you talking about that."

    "Don't worry about it. Think about us."

    I finally looked at my covered legs. "Looks like I'll have plenty
of time for that. I miss Tim. A lot."

    "So do I. I miss Illya. We were partners since I was a puppy."

    I sighed and changed the subject. "What the hell happened to us,
anyway?"

    She moved closer and rested her chin on the bed so I could reach
her head. I smiled a bit sadly and petted her gently. Eventually she
closed her eyes and sighed. "BP calls them 'Wolf-Killers'. They're
more than that. It's a tightly organized group of people who hate any
of the Biolab animals and teams. Mostly, they go after the security
folks but when they found out they had three teams in the same area,
they leveled it and traded a suicide team for the chance to get us
all."

    "Damn. How come I've never heard of them?"

    She opened her eyes in surprise. "You didn't know?"

    "Tim and I were medics. This was only the second time we
contracted to scout and our first in such a hot combat zone. We spent
most of our lives since training providing escort and medical support
for survey missions." I let some of my anger show in my voice. "Nobody
told us there were folks who ignored the protocols. If we'd known, we
wouldn't have been there."

    She sighed. "Illya and I knew about the Wolf Killers.
Unfortunately there was an emergency call for a combat trained team,
and we were available. As far as we knew, the Wolf Killers weren't in
the area, so I accepted the contract."

    There was a cynical weariness in her next words. "This isn't my
first time in a Biosuit. I seem to have a knack for picking the wrong
assignments. Last time, I was nearly killed. This time I lost Illya."

    She closed her eyes and fell silent for a long time, whimpered
some and then licked my hand. "I'm glad you were there, Robert."

    The pain in her voice made me wince again. "Yeah. Life is hell
sometimes. Thanks, Sascha, for saving my life. I guess we'll find a
way. I don't know about you, but I don't want to do any more scouting
if I can avoid it."

    Someone turned on the room light and then came over to study us.
"That sounds like a good entrance line. Sascha, Robert. I'm Jack and
this," he gestured at the largest Doberman I'd ever seen, "is Duke. If
you two are interested, we have a job offer."

    I looked at my new partner. "Sascha?"

    She shrugged with her ears. "If it doesn't involve hot combat
zones, I'm interested. That's assuming I've fulfilled my previous
contract and I'm otherwise available. Robert?"

    "Yeah. I just woke up so I don't know if I'm actually available
yet. Although..." I winced and went on. "With Tim dead, I suppose his
obligations are moot unless there's an idiot out there who wants me to
finish out our contract.

    "May I interrupt?"

    We both turned our heads to study Duke.

    "You're free, and already registered as a convalescing team."

    Sascha said it for both of us. "Someone worked fast."

    He nodded. "We did. Of course..." His sudden grin unnerved me.
"Both sides agreed that the consequences they already faced wouldn't
be improved if they insisted on holding you to your contracts after
what happened."

    I goggled. How had they managed to break what had to be one of the
most stringent performance contracts written for the BP teams?

    I felt Sascha's head shift as she moved to stare at him and inhale
through her nose. "I remember you. You went berserk and got yourself
retired from field work."

    While she and Duke studied each other, I kept my mouth shut.
Something odd was going on and there was no way I wanted to be in the
middle. I'd seen the vids of fully operational biosuits, and their
destructive capability when worn by an experienced operator was enough
to make me wish I was a long way away and running fast, not confined
to a support bed. To make it worse, Sascha was quivering enough that I
could hear the servos as they reacted to her jittery 'almost
movements'.

    He settled on his haunches. "I did. BP Security made us an offer
we couldn't refuse. We're in charge of the new diplomatic division.
We're also very interested in recruiting you as a team.

    "Are you interested in learning how to go pick up the pieces or,
preferably, stop things before there are any pieces to pick up? One of
the perks is living 24/7 with your own BPS bodyguard teams."

    I spoke up. "Where are yours, then?"

    Jack gave me a one word answer. "Discreet." Then he followed it
up. "And keeping yours company."

    "Oh. Yeah. Fanatics, right?"

    Jack continued his briefing. "Yep. The Wolf-Killers are slow to
learn but they do learn, eventually. They prefer easier targets, when
all's said and done. Besides, people who kill accredited diplomats
find it difficult to find new recruits. Not to mention the fact these
folks aren't so fanatical they want to find themselves involved in a
BPS vendetta. Anyway, regardless, protecting diplomats is a protocol
even the terrorists and fanatics honor these days."

    I nodded thoughtfully. Then my medical training kicked in and I
realized how odd this was for me, personally. "Wait. I shouldn't be
this alert." I turned to Sascha. "Why am I thinking so well? I should
be dopey and not tracking all this."

    She sneezed. "You've been in and out of it for the last month.
It's about time you came out of it completely."

    "A month?"

    "Since they woke you up the first time."

    I sighed. "Enough games. How long has it been?"

    She settled her head on the bed with a drawn out sigh. "Just over
two months. You were a mess."

    "Oh." I touched her head lightly. "Well? You're the one in charge
of the team. Tell me what we're going to be doing."

    She was silent a long time. Then she closed her eyes and
whispered: "Learning a new career. I'm tired of being one of the
pieces--and even more tired of spending time in this damn Biosuit
while I recover from finding myself in situations I didn't create."

    Duke came over and put his front feet on the bed, opposite where
Sascha had her head, then leaned across my body to nuzzle her.
"Thanks."

    He pulled back and gave us both the stunningly evil grin again.

    "Diplomatic Lesson One: The more unpleasant the option you're
discussing, the bigger your grin. Take advantage of the fact people
automatically assume teams that have survived combat are dedicated
killers. Don't waste your time trying to prove otherwise. They'll
never believe it, even if they have full access to your records. Who's
going to believe a 150 pound Rott in the prime of her life--is a
pacifist? Makes about as much sense as a Diplomatic Doberman, doesn't
it?"

    He laughed, then with casual power pushed himself away from the
bed and headed for the door. Jack joined him and as they went through
the door he casually shut off the main lights.

    "That," I observed, "is a dog I never want to see angry. Handsome
though."

    Sascha sneezed her agreement. "When he thought a Wolf-Killer had
killed Jack he shredded her throat, then ripped her body into pieces.
Very small pieces. The final result was extremely messy."

    I'd heard about Dobermans and their agile lethalness. Duke's grin
had made me shudder, even though I'd known it was friendly and not a
combat reaction. What she'd just told me about his past only confirmed
what I had heard from combat vets over the years, and reminded me that
I wanted no part of actual combat--or its aftermath--ever again.

    That thinking reminded me of what I'd shared with Tim, and how I'd
lost it all because we'd decided to go where we felt we were needed
most, this time, instead of sticking to our usual routine of only
taking the safe assignments.

    Sascha's laugh pulled me out of my despondency.

    I glared at her. "What's so funny?"

    "You are. The drugs you're on are supposed to temporarily
eliminate your sex drive. You reek of testosterone. Besides, those two
are monogamous."

    I sighed. "Is it OK for me to dream?"

    "Wouldn't you prefer some reality?"

    "In a hospital?"

    She pulled her head back so she could study me. "This isn't a
normal hospital. We're in a room that's part of the BP team recovery
facility."

    "So?"

    She grinned at me. "So there are options available here that
aren't available to the general public."

    She made the odd head twist I recognized as the activation signal
for the waldos on her suit. Without moving from where she was, she
used them to open one of the drawers built into the bed, then reached
in and lifted out a field emergency kit.

    At least that's what I thought it was at first. When she set it on
my chest and I got a look at the labeling, I started laughing. I
couldn't help it. There, in bright red, were the male and female
symbols, linked together. There was also a stylized human and a
stylized canid.

    "Sascha... Sex toys for zoos? You're kidding, right?"

    "No. This is the basic kit, complete with wireless interactive
feedback. There's a sleeve and a dildo. You wear one, I insert the
other."

    She looked at me. "We can use these, or I can sit on you. Biosuits
have an override circuit included that can be enabled for sexual
situations."

    "Sascha, there's no way I want my first time to be anything other
than with the real thing."

    I smiled at her. "Move your head so I can get this blanket off me.
You say I've been here two months, and I'm supposed to be on
suppressants, yet I reek of testosterone? I haven't abstained that
long since I discovered masturbation."

    She moved and I flipped the blanket away. I looked down at my
flaccid penis and sighed. "I'm a bottom. I don't know if I can
penetrate you."

    She moved her head back next to my crotch and sniffed deeply. "You
let me worry about that problem. My preference is to be cuddled, and
fucking while we're on our sides facing each other, but Illya and I
did spend time exploring other methods..."

    I flinched a little when her tongue first touched me, then I felt
the stirrings that told me my penis was willing to take note of what
was going on. Her tonguing got more enthusiastic and I responded. At
least I still worked. That was nice to know. As for the rest of it?

    Only time would tell.

    I'll say this much. We tried. I should say Sascha tried, since
there wasn't much I could do to help.

    Unfortunately, every time she moved so I could line up and
penetrate her, I went limp. With all the drugs in my system, and the
experience being so unfamiliar, there was no way to figure out the
real reason I was unable to fuck her.

    After the fourth try I sighed and told her to give up for now. We
settled for a 69, and then she carefully stretched out next to me for
a cuddle that was more unsatisfying than the sex because she was in
the biosuit, but at least we were next to each other.

    "How much longer will you be in that suit?"

    "Couple weeks."

    "K. I think it's mostly the suit. I'm used to the tactile
feedback. I need the feedback from your body, I think. This felt..." I
searched for the right words and winced when I found them. "Sorry
about this: 'Too mechanical'."

    I went on slowly, remembering what had been, and trying to see a
future. "Tim and I never did learn how to use the biosuits. All he
ever trained with was the waldos. Sometimes we made love while he was
wearing his, but most of the time he was naked. I needed to know it
was him mounting me. His fur... His weight..."

    I lost it and cried myself to sleep.

    When I woke, Sascha was gone from the bed. "Sascha?"

    "Over here, Love."

    I positioned the bed and myself so I could see her. She had the
biosuit locked and she was standing there, gazing out the window at
the night.

    "What time is it?"

    "Late. Are you ready to try eating something? They said you can
try some solid food."

    I thought about it. "Maybe later."

    She nodded. "I've been thinking about what happened this
afternoon."

    I sighed. "And?"

    "I did some checking. There's a solution, if you're willing to try
something new. It will be a new experience for me, too. We can't try
it until you get out of that bed and the doctors ok you for some
physical activity."

    I looked at myself and sighed. "I'm not used to celibacy, and I
want to be your full partner. If you've found us a way... Yeah, I'm
willing to try it."

    She came over and settled her head on my chest. "I'm not used to
being celibate this long, either. Illya and I were pure het so there
are a lot of alternatives we never knew about. After you went to sleep
I did some research into the alternative sexualities, and the
solutions they've found."

    I studied her. I recognized that serious but whimsical tone. It
seemed to be, as far as I could tell, a sense of humor all the
biostruct canids shared. "Am I going to like any of these
'solutions'?"

    "Maybe." She turned slightly and showed me a grin. "I know I'm
going to enjoy the experimenting. They sound like fun."

    I shuddered. "OK. I know what 'fun' means when I say it. You?"

    She laughed and came over to the bed, then settled her chin on my
thigh. "Incredibly erotic. I had trouble believing some of the toys
the teams have designed over the years. Would you believe there's a
special strap on double dildo for bitches, with wireless feedback and
double sets of sensors so both partners can share what's happening
while she fucks her male or female partner? The full kit lets the user
decide what penis style she wants to use, dog or human, in either
position. There's a slip on knot and penis ring a man can wear.
There's also a sleeve that can be linked to either or both of the
dildos on the double so the wearer of the sleeve can feel as if he's
fucking himself, or the bitch--or both at the same time."

    She paused and shifted so she could watch my face. When she
continued it was wistfully. "I wish I'd known..."

    "What?"

    "There are custom molded prosthetics that a man or dog can wear
when they want to impregnate their female partner with semen donated
by someone else."

    She sighed. "Illya and I never knew..."

    "Oh." I reached and stroked the exposed portion of her head while
I sorted though the images her words had created in my mind.

    Finally it came down to one set of images. "So there's a way for
you to be top to my bottom, and use my penis to help satisfy your own
desires at the same time?

    "Yes."

    My fingers stilled while I thought some more. Then, firmly:
"Hopefully, someday, I'll be able to fuck you for real. In the
meantime, let's experiment. I really do need to be a bottom."

    "I know. Just remind yourself of this: You're not really a gay
bottom. My nose says you're a slightly transgendered bisexual, if
you'll give yourself a chance."

    "That's a mouthful. I've always thought of myself as a gay bottom.
What's the difference?"

    "You're young, yet. The difference is mindset, I suppose."

    "Now, I'm really confused."

    She faced me. "You see yourself as male, right? No feelings that
you are wearing the wrong body, gender wise?"

    If I could have shrugged, I would have. "I suppose so. I enjoy
having a penis and I wouldn't trade it in for a cunt, if that's what
you are asking."

    "And you did, sometimes, fuck Tim?"

    I winced at the memories of what I'd recently lost. "Yeah. Quite
often, really. It's just that... Most of the time I needed to feel
like he was in charge, taking care of me, and I needed to be
protected, loved, and cared for."

    She nodded. "That's the transgendered part of you, maybe. If you
were primarily focused on females, I'd be certain. If it helps any,
it's not that unusual for Bio Partners to change their sexual identity
when they change partners. We seem to pay even less attention to
physical shape as it defines sexual identity than people who stick to
humans. The current theory is that once a person internalizes the
mindset that ignores physical shape when choosing a mate, they soon
accept that sexual identity isn't fixed by shape, either."

    Her words made some sense but at the time all I could feel was a
sense of loss and failure.

    So, I thought about Tim and lost myself in the memories we'd
created together. Sascha left me alone and at some point I fell asleep
again.

    * * *

    When I woke up it was daylight. There was something odd nagging at
me, something I'd sort of noticed the previous day and then forgotten.
I finally pinpointed it when Sascha came over to my bed.

    "Here's your medicine."

    I smiled at her whimsically. "Are you my beautiful nurse, then?"

    She sneezed. "They *do* have other patients, I'm a medic--and most
importantly, I happen to have a personal interest in my current
patient."

    She posed for me. "You'll have to decide if I'm beautiful."

    I studied her, then lost some of my whimsical feelings. There was
no point in lying to her. "I don't know if you're beautiful, Sascha.
I've never been interested in bitches enough to know what 'beautiful'
means."

    Her head sagged briefly, then it came up and tilted slightly while
she studied me. "I never thought I'd have to explain 'beautiful'. Do
you enjoy watching me move?"

    I smiled. "Yes."

    She nodded. "And when we cuddled, did you enjoy having me there?"

    "Yes, again."

    "Then as far as you are concerned, I'm beautiful, and that's good
enough for me."

    She said it lightly, but her body language told me she was
immensely pleased with the situation.

    I moved the bed over to the window and raised myself until I could
look outside. "Reminds me of some of our first contracts. I learned to
love forests and grassy meadows." I chuckled at a memory. "We were
medics for a BP survey expedition. Tim couldn't howl, but he managed
to learn how to croon.

    "Fifteen teams, including us. The evening serenades were magical.
The party at the end of the survey was incredible. Someone decided it
should be a cross between a Roman festival and a medieval tournament.

    "Tim and I recorded as much as we could, then the teams
contributed stuff from their combat monitors. The result is an
incredible mix that showcases both the combat skills of the BP teams
and love we all have for each other."

    I sighed... "There was a down side, though. While were in the
area, there was a supposedly minor earthquake." I let some of my
bitterness show. "It was 'minor' only if you didn't live in the area.
Several villages were destroyed and in one town, most of their animals
were killed or seriously injured when the communal barn collapsed.

    "Tim and I lived on stay-awakes for seventy-two hours while we did
what we could. We all knew it wasn't enough. There was no way the
townspeople would be able to harvest enough of their crops to survive
until they could rebuild and bring in replacement animals.

    "The teams decided to do what they could to help with the harvest
and followup planting, then someone had the crazy idea of wearing
their biosuits while they worked. While Tim and I were doing what we
could, the teams helping with the harvesting lived in their suits and
*ran* as they helped the villagers. Then they turned themselves into
living tractors and did the plowing and seeding for the next set of
crops."

    Sascha had come over while I was talking. "I've never heard about
that."

    I smiled, not seeing her, but seeing the night we found the
destroyed town and decided to help in any way we could, damn the
survey goals. "It was never reported. Somehow we lost calibration on
the sat link and all our monitors went dead at the same time. Our
excuse, when the relief teams found us later, was that we'd been too
busy to take time to fix things. BP was almost ready to write us off
as lost by the time we were 'found'.

    "Those of us who happen to be available at the time, go back on
the anniversary of the day we showed up." I blushed. "There's a
monument honoring the expedition. A couple of BP wolves in their
biosuits pulling a plow that's being guided by their human partners,
also in biosuits... And statues of Tim and me, working on an ox."

    I looked down at my covered legs, then at her. "I'd like to go,
but it's up to you, now. I'd be late anyway. I'll have to send my
apologies. Not the first time."

    Another memory made me laugh gently. "BP had to build a dedicated
training center nearby. The regional one couldn't handle the constant
load of volunteers. Word has it, over eighty percent of the applicants
are accepted."

    That tidbit of news caused her to jerk her head around so fast the
servos whined. "Eighty percent?"

    "From what I hear, yes."

    "Incredible! The worldwide average is under five percent."

    She turned back to gaze out the window. Eventually she shared some
of her memories.

    "Both of our families have a tradition of service. Illya helped
fit me for my first working biosuit. It was my 'coming of age' gift.
He already had one. Our parents always teased us and kidded us about
being the first BP cyborg team because it seemed like we lived in our
suits most of the time.

    "We never doubted we'd partner when we were old enough to join BP.

    "When we were old enough, we applied as a team, and were accepted.
Unfortunately, because of all the time we'd played by ourselves, they
declared us unsuitable for command track. We had the wrong mindset."

    She sighed. "Losing our dream hurt both of us, but after
counseling, we were able to accept what had happened. It wasn't
anyone's fault, really. None of our parents had been highly placed in
the command structure so nobody realized Illya and I should have been
spending more time in groups while we played.

    "If it hadn't been for that, we would have gone from basic
training directly into the command team training program.

    "Anyway, Illya and I met all the requirements for a career we'd
never considered. I was offered the chance to become a bodyguard and
sniper."

    Her voice was low and I could sense she was drifting in her
memories again. "Illya and I went back to our quarters and talked
through the night. Ultimately, it was our combined sense of duty that
made the decision. If we could do it, we would.

    "It was that simple after all we stripped the non-essentials away
from the arguments for and against."

    She sighed deeply and gazed out the window in silence for a long
time.

    When she started speaking again she was facing the window and
shivering. "We were fresh from training, and I'd accepted a bodyguard
assignment in a 'low risk' combat zone."

    She faced me and I could see the pain in her eyes. "A suicide
squad of Wolf Killers hit our position one night, just as we were
rotating the sentry teams. Illya and I saved the people we were
protecting, but we all had serious injuries. Illya and I nearly died.
Would have if we weren't so used to working in our suits that our
reflexes were spinal instead of reasoned.

    "I did have to replace my first suit, though, and this one was
built for me while we recovered.

    "The next assignment was the same as the first, bodyguard duty
mostly, with a couple of quiet 'assigned targets' missions.

    "So it went for the next few years. We found out that we loved the
thrill of the stalk and assassination as much as we enjoyed the sex
when it was safe again."

    She was silent a long time, and I left her to her memories.

    "It was supposed to be a 'pick up and extract' mission. Simple.
Find a young woman with important information, and escort her back to
the combat teams. They'd take it from there...

    "Except it didn't work out that way. It was a trap, set up by the
Wolf Killers. We had misread our directions and when the suicide bomb
went off, we were three blocks away."

    "Illya and I did what little we could, but our best guess is that
at least fifteen people died because we didn't have the skills to save
them.

    "When it was over, we applied for training as scout medics. We
never really discussed it, but we didn't have to."

    She turned back to face me again. "We gave up everything we
believed in so we could save lives instead of taking them. Our
families have never understood that decision."

    I raised a hand and then let it drop. I wanted to touch her so I
could reassure her that I understood--but she was too far away.

    She saw the gesture and nodded her awareness of what I had wanted
to do.

    Then we both looked out the window again. We didn't need the words
between us, or the touches.

    We knew who we were, accepted the knowledge, and for now, it was
enough.
    ---- 

End: Biolab 69: Sascha & Robert
End: Biolab 69

-- 
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