Gabatrix: The Shira Maneuver

Chapter 4: Departure

"Owww......." Javier remarked as he would roll his shoulder and arm around. "Damn, that bite of yours was rough."

Shira stood next to Javier as they both carried their belongings. He looked up at her as she tilted her head and eye towards him. She gave no indication of emotion to the destruction she had done to his body the night before. Even Javier had a slight amount of embarrassment at the rough sex they had together, but a part of him felt happy to at least hear that Shira was interested in becoming a parent.

The hangar bay of Aphadus's military base dome consisted of four entry points. These doors would almost take up a large portion of the base itself. Essentially, it was shaped like a cross room with several varieties of shuttles, gunships, and planetary fighter craft. Most of the original F-167 Hawk fighters were lost in the previous battle that Shira wiped out, but the base had received a large amount of the newer replacement F-175 Eagles. There were also nine flying wing B-110 Stingray Bomber/Gunships in the hangar facility as well. Most of these crafts were placed in two sections of the giant area to allow room for incoming shuttles and transports. They both stood from entry doors that led into the base. Javier could see some of the hangar crew anticipating the arrival of the transport. There were a couple of magnetic cranes in place. Overhead announcements were constantly being called out for any pending arrivals.

"You have been quiet this morning," Javier told Shira.

"Hmmm....." Shira remarked.

"You get to finally be on a ship again.....although, I know that you don't get to command it."

"The regrettable truth of those words," she calmly mentioned as she looked at her bag of clothing.

Javier looked at his uniform. Unlike the officer's dress uniform, the one that he wore was more like Shira's version. The typical UHN military jumpsuit was fitted to wear by the officer and enlisted alike, with only rank insignias being the apparent difference. It consisted more of the blue color to represent Earth but carried the red outlines representing Mars throughout it.

"I am not used to wearing this jumpsuit," Javier said.

"Weren't you trained to adorn it?" Shira asked him.

"Yes.....but I preferred the fancier officer's attire that I have been wearing. It is way more comfortable."

"You have gotten too comfortable in this environment. It is making you lax."

"Guilty as charged. You can't blame me, though. Ugh.....I am going to be chaffing for days."

Shira seemed more distracted again. She was looking at the hangar bay doors that were closest to the both of them. Javier was used to this, but he continued to try to engage in small talk with her, even if she wanted it or not. He could still feel a tingling pain throughout his body. There was nobody around them, which naturally provided a sense of privacy.

"Man......" he remarked. "Are you sure that you didn't break any bones from last night's encounter?"

"I assure you that I am partially qualified in basic medical procedures," Shira explained as she momentarily looked at him. "The medical tools sealed the puncture wounds adequately. The loss of blood can be replaced in a few days naturally. There is no permanent damage to your wrists and arms."

"Yeah, but my waist......you really bruised it."

"Again, scans showed no damage. As your human doctors would quote, 'You will live.'"