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   Enough. Now it was time to put into practice what he had gleaned from the movie…or rather, to try and forget what he had seen in favor of Jhuun showing him a few things.

   He grasped Jhuun's head between his hands, bringing his face level with his own. "Now I'd like you to show me a few things," Gabriel said. "Show me…show me how to make you come."

   The look in Jhuun's eyes could have melted titanium.

   Grasping Gabriel's hand, he brought it down to the tight-fitting waistband of his shorts. Taking the hint, Gabriel hooked his fingers in the material and slid it down Jhuun's long legs.

   He was now standing in front of Jhuun, his new alien lover, now completely naked. Gabriel's eyes were drawn to Jhuun's lower abdomen. He, too, had the horizontal slit, like the Eunnoians from the movie. Now that he stood closer, Gabriel could see the tiny ridges of skin surrounding it, much like the supple skin around the vestigial gills. Anxious to see Jhuun's reaction, he reached out to gently stroke at it with his fingertips.

   Jhuun's reaction did not disappoint, he shivered all over and moaned breathily.

   "In the movie," Gabriel said, still stroking the soft skin. "I noticed they were touching this area a lot before…"

   "Yes," Jhuun gasped. "There is no analogous function in Humans, I believe. The stimulation is necessary to achieve
jhera—t
he closest translation would be
before-orgasm—w
hich in turn is necessary for…"

   He didn't seem comfortable stating the terms out loud, and instead made his point by squeezing Gabriel's hard cock.

   "I get it." Now it was Gabriel's turn to gasp.

   "Here. You wanted me to show you…then I will show you…"

   He took Gabriel's right hand with his left, pulling Gabriel against his side. It was a more comfortable angle as Jhuun, his sweetly uncertain fingers wrapped around Gabriel's, guided their hands over the soft, alien skin of his abdomen, until they stopped at the slit on his pelvis. There he led Gabriel to touch him, gently at first, then with more pressure.

   "Like this," Jhuun said, his Eunnoian accent coming out stronger as he shivered with arousal. "Touch here. It…it is…"

   "Good?" Gabriel murmured, laying his cheek against Jhuun's shoulder and pressing a kiss there as he looked down to their joined hands, rubbing at the sensitive area. It was exciting to see it up close, to touch it with his own hand. The skin was warm, supple and fluttered with the odd, but familiar pulse. "You like this?"

   Jhuun only moaned in response, his head lolling back as his chest heaved with desperate breaths. Gabriel slipped his free hand around Jhuun's waist, holding him tight as he grew bold, stroking, rubbing, exploring the slit with his fingertips.

   Evidently, he was a quick learner. After a few moments, Jhuun's hand fell away from his, allowing him free range, and Gabriel rubbed a little faster, a little harder, pressing his fingertips in and out. He began to feel the tremors in Jhuun's body seconds before he whimpered something in Eunnoian, then said, "Now…now…I will—"

   The orgasm, or rather the
before-orgasm
, struck like a bolt as Jhuun made a long keening sound and undulated within Gabriel's grasp. Before Gabriel knew it, his fingers were wrapped around a hot, hard organ and he sighed in pleasure against Jhuun's shoulder.

   Unsure if he should try stimulating the organ right away or wait a bit, he opted to wait, wrapping his arms around Jhuun so that the alien's back was plastered against his chest. Jhuun was still gasping, laying his shaking fingers on top of Gabriel's as they stood in the near-quiet of the workshop, enjoying the moment.

   Gabriel closed his eyes contently. He could certainly get used to this, the feel of Jhuun's warm body against his own, the excitement of watching him twist and turn in the throes of orgasm.

   He'd been worried that he would find it difficult to find Jhuun sexually desirable, but God, was he ever wrong. Pleasuring his new lover had been a profoundly erotic experience.

   For a glorious moment, he had even forgotten all about the war…

   …and Marcus' death…

   …And Gabriel's eyes shot open as he stiffened

against Jhuun's body. Though he tried to help it, his eyes immediately fell on the M-Alpha and he swore he could feel the thing's threatening presence in his mind. Flashes of memory, of attacking Maedrom ships, of ominous amber beams, of fire and death and destruction, suddenly crowded all thoughts of peace and lust out of his mind.

   
Fuck.
He couldn't do this. As much as he wanted to, thirsted for it, he couldn't take this any further.

   "We need to stop," he said, sliding his arms away from the alien's body.

   "Apologies?" Jhuun said, still on the verge of breathlessness. "I found your touch enjoyable. I wished to do the same for you." He reached out to stroke Gabriel's throat.

   Gabriel caught the fingers before they could make contact, utterly heartsick at the hurt, confused expression in Jhuun's eyes. "It's not you," Gabriel said quickly. "You…you didn't do anything wrong."

   "Then why must we stop?"

   "We…we just…" Gabriel sighed, reaching down for his shirt. Jhuun followed his lead, retrieving his shorts and pulling them rather awkwardly over his still-aroused body. "Look. I had a really hard time deciding if I wanted to approach you or not. Not because I didn't like you, but…"

   "Because your heart belongs to your former lover," Jhuun said, his eyes downcast. "I understand."

   "It's not that," Gabriel said, pressing his palm to his sweaty forehead. Why did it seem so stifling in here again? "It's not
quite
that. Losing Marcus was the worst thing I ever went through. I don't want to go through that again—falling in love with someone and then hearing a broadcast, or being told that the Maedrom attacked, that a ship was destroyed…"

   "So you fear death?"

   "Yes! Well, no, not mine. But don't you see? The Maedrom really cou
ld
attack us any time. You saw what they did to Section 26, we didn't have a warning. What if we're next? I could die. Or worse, you could die. I can't face that again. That's why we need to stop. We can't pursue this."

   "No…" Jhuun waved his hand in front of his face, his fingers trembling. "Don't you see? That is exactly why we can't ignore this. Gabriel, I've not felt for a Human, even for Thoara, what I feel for you. If we must die tomorrow, then so be it, but why must we die with our arms empty?"

   "I can't," Gabriel said. "I'm so sorry, but I can't. Even if—"

   "I understand," Jhuun interrupted tersely, his eyes dark and unreadable. "It is late. We should rest for tomorrow. I will inform Xhani and Bianca of our progress with the M-Alpha in the morning."

   "Yeah," Gabriel murmured. "Okay."

   He watched Jhuun turn and leave, wrenching the locking mechanism on the door with more force than was strictly necessary.

   A feeling of guilt, of dread, was gnawing at the pit of Gabriel's stomach. He had to believe this was for the best. Had to. Nothing to lose, no regrets. Everything would be easier if he didn't fall in love again. It had to be.

   For the first time since his arrival on Section 27, Gabriel felt cold. He wrapped his arms around himself, missing the warmth of Jhuun's body.

   The night that followed was completely restless. Gabriel dreaded returning to the workshop for the next shift, fearing he had angered Jhuun and ruined their relationship beyond all repair. To his marginal relief, Bianca was in the workshop when he entered, staring at the modified Fnorn cannon with rapt interest as Jhuun leaned over her, explaining something about the controls.

   Jhuun looked up as Gabriel entered, giving him a long, sad look. "Hello, Gabriel."

   "Gabriel!" Bianca said, absolutely beaming, oblivious to the tension as she rose to her feet and walked over to give Gabriel a brief hug. "Jhuun explained to me how the two of you reached a breakthrough yesterday. So the M-Alpha is Glispex technology! This is exciting!"

   "Thank you," Gabriel said, forcing a smile.

   "He invited me here to assist with the

modifications of this marvelous device," Bianca said. "I hope that's all right with you, too?"

   Gabriel nodded. Of course Jhuun had asked her here. At least they'd be able to actually focus on the weapon instead of getting sidetracked with drama and thoughts of the previous day. Almost immediately, Gabriel had to chase away a memory from the previous evening, of the way Jhuun had keened inside his arms.

   And now the alien kneeled by the Fnorn proton cannon, casting him the occasional glance, but nothing more.

   Gabriel sighed. Well, maybe it was for the best. He went to the M-Alpha, giving it the usual inspection before they could begin any new testing.

   As the morning dragged on, Gabriel had to admit that Bianca's presence was extremely useful, and not only as a buffer. She had valuable experience with proton-beam weapons, and within hours, she had become more of an expert on the Fnorn device than Jhuun or himself.

   They'd tried two more tests on the M-Alpha, firing different bursts from the kappaproton spectrum. With every test, they got closer, to the point that Gabriel had had to replace the power generator on the M-Alpha and make a quick repair before they could start the next test.

   "Okay, there we go," Bianca said. She was sitting cross-legged in front of the cannon, a hydraulic screwdriver stuck in her thick graying hair. Xhani had joined them shortly after the second test and was now leaning against the console close to Gabriel and observing silently. "I think this is as precise as we're going to get it."

   "Good enough for me," Gabriel said. To say he was grateful for the women's presence would be an understatement. Jhuun was perfectly kind and civil to him, though gone was the camaraderie, the easy conversation, the breathy laughter.

   Bianca rose from the floor and went to stand by Jhuun at the console. From across the workshop, Jhuun nodded at Gabriel.

   "Activating the M-Alpha," Gabriel said, flicking the switch. The new power generator began to hum and again the M-Alpha flared to life.

   "And now activating the refined kappaproton beam," Jhuun said. The four corners of the Fnorn cannon glowed and then the beam connected all along its seams. As always the beam of kappaprotons was invisible.

   This time, the result was nearly instantaneous. With a noise that sounded satisfyingly like a death rattle, the M-Alpha sputtered and sparked and powered down completely. From start to finish the test had barely lasted five seconds.

   Bianca was already laughing joyfully, grabbing Jhuun's arm in triumph as Gabriel confirmed the readings on the console. "The M-Alpha has been completely deactivated. The circuitry is completely fried. It worked!"

   "Ma
shara kha!" X
hani cried.

   For the first time Gabriel actually saw a look of joy on her austere features.

   "You have succeeded!"

   Gabriel smiled broadly, nearly leaping over his console to get a closer look at the M-Alpha, Jhuun did the same and both simultaneously peered into the open panels.

   "Repair would be possible," Jhuun said, inspecting the damaged circuitry. "But it would take several hours."

   "If we hit the Maedrom with this, then they lose their advantage," Gabriel said. "More than enough time for our forces to fight back and destroy them."

   "We got them!" Bianca cheered.

   "I will contact Section 54," Xhani said, wasting no time as she headed toward the main office. "They will advise us on how to proceed from here. No doubt we will need to run further tests, then determine how to create larger-scale versions of this cannon."

   Gabriel nodded politely in Xhani's direction as she exited the workshop. He felt so happy, so relieved, he nearly reached over to hug, pat, make some kind of contact with his companion to celebrate their victory. Jhuun's eyes met his and the smile faded a bit from his wide lips, no doubt he was thinking the same thing.

   Oblivious to the parallel situation in the room, Bianca took Gabriel in her arms and hugged him tightly. "Well done, both of you. It was a blessing