Chapter 5

The Goliaths were not the only ones to get in a fight, as CJ can soon attest. While the fight was eventful enough for CJ, the way that the fight concludes sparks something unexpected for him.

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Chapter 5

It had been a few days since CJ was first taken away for his interrogation. Everyone else seemed to get their turn, including Ash. As it turned out, CJ was the only one who fully remembered what happened. Some of the others did remember bits and pieces of what happened, but they sounded like they were talking about a dream they barely recalled when they spoke. CJ decided to hold back on saying he remembered everything, in case someone less trustworthy chose to betray him to their captors for their own benefit. That caused him to wonder if others were doing the same thing, but there was no way to figure that out at the time.

CJ felt bad about not being able to fully trust Ash. He seemed like a nice enough guy. Heck, even if he turned out to be collaborating with pirates in the present, he might have been a genuinely good guy when he was a teenager. That was what really sucked about this situation. Nobody knew what each other was like. They did not even know themselves as a person. Bad people could have gone good, good people could have gone bad, or maybe their paths could have already been set.

Coming up with a plan of escape would be hard when he could not trust anyone. He was going to need to gather more information somehow. That was going to be very difficult to do from a prison cell. It was their alien captors that decided to help him out with that issue. One day, after everyone had been interrogated at least once, a red orb appeared from the ceiling. A quick glance at the Goliaths told CJ The same thing was happening to them.

CJ did not like the look of the orb, and he liked it even less when it emitted a sound designed to inflict pain. He could shrug off the effect since he had been ready for something like that. It had the feel of a crowd-control weapon to him. That was something he had already been trained to deal with. Poor Ash was on his knees and covering his ears. He looked like he might have been screaming in pain, but CJ could not hear him over the noise.

Then the noise stopped, and a voice said, “Fallen Ones, exit your cells and follow directions to the trams waiting for you.”

“Fallen Ones,” CJ said with an eyebrow cocked questioningly.

When the shields for the cells were deactivated, only a few people hesitantly stepped out of their cells. CJ and Ash were not among them. Then, the sound from the orb came again, more intense this time. When it stopped, Ash said, “Okay, I guess they are referring to all of us when they say Fallen Ones.”

“It would be nice to find out the story behind that one,” CJ said as he stepped out of the cell.

Ash laughed, “Feel free to ask the guards about it. They seem like such the cooperative types.”

There were some directional lights outside the cells. CJ was not surprised to see there were trams in the prison. Facilities made for humans and Goliaths tended to have alternate transport for humans. It was the only way for humans to get around at anything close to the same speed as the Goliaths. Almost all of them had a walking speed that well exceeded a feral cheetah’s sprinting speed. Their sprinting speed was definitely no joke. The friends of CJ’s father had demonstrated they could easily break the sound barrier if they wanted to. So, a building that might take the Goliath a few minutes to get around in might take a human hours without the proper transport or getting a ride from a Goliath.

When they arrived at the trams, CJ saw more people than could have been around the cell with their Goliaths. It looked like they were being joined by others from different cell blocks. Like the people from their block, there seemed to be a mixture of people. Quite a few of them looked like the type you did not want to run into in a dark alley.

The more respectable-looking people split off from the others. It was not like those CJ suspected to be pirates did not try to get in the same trams as the others, but people he thought were military intervened and made sure they got on their own trams. Tensions were already high between the two groups, and it seemed like a fight would break out at any moment. That fight did break out somewhere. It was far enough away that CJ could not see what was happening through the crowd, but he heard it. CJ had spotted more of those red orbs in the area and was not surprised when they were used as crowd control.

After that settled everyone down, they finished boarding the trams with some grumbling among a few people. They traveled in silence at first, CJ noting that they were heading down at a slight decline. Conversation sparked up eventually as some people introduced themselves. They seemed like an alright group, but CJ could tell everyone had the same doubts about everyone else and sometimes themselves.

The trip only lasted a few minutes, but it was a high-speed tram. Getting back on foot would take a while if the aliens made them do that. CJ would not put that past them. The aliens did not seem to like humans very much. But, a set of very large doors opened. Only moments later, the scent of vegetation hit his nose. CJ looked out the doorway to see some colossal fauna like would be native to a Goliath world.

More startling, the Goliath prisoners were in the same room as the fauna, separated into two groups. CJ quickly spotted the wolf and the wolverine from his cell in one group. That group looked fine. The other, larger group, was a different matter. CJ knew that the vast majority of Goliaths would never knowingly harm a human. But he also knew that they were mixed in with a bunch of ruthless pirates. And that other group looked like the type that would crush a person like a bug simply because they could do it.

“The humans will enter the recreation area. Immediately!”

That pronouncement got all the humans murmuring. Even the rougher-looking crowd did not look eager to go out there. CJ smiled wryly to himself. It would probably serve some of them right if their old pirate buddies tried to kill them because they did not remember them. That smile quickly vanished. Those pirates probably would not distinguish between anyone if they could get their hands on them.

CJ saw that Ash looked especially pale. While he was staring at the group of pirates, his mind seemed to be elsewhere. CJ touched him on the shoulder, causing him to startle. Then CJ asked, “I understand you’re afraid to go out there, but it seems like there’s something more going on.”

“I, uh…it’s just…” Ash’s explanation was interrupted when the noise and pain returned. It looked like the Goliaths were affected, too. When the noise stopped, the dangerous group of Goliaths looked especially surly. That made some people even more reluctant to go through those doors, but the majority of the group was pretty insistent about getting everyone out there. That pain had been worse than before, and the consensus was that they did not want to see how bad it could get.

Being in the same room as those angry Goliaths was not exactly ideal either, not when the smallest one was well over 40 stories tall. CJ knew he had some pretty good augments. If he knew himself well, he had probably gotten some improvements over the years, too. He could lift over 70 tons, but even a light adult Goliath was over 1,000 times that weight. CJ’s augments did allow him to survive getting stepped on by that much weight, but it would hurt. And if a Goliath were to actually stomp him, he would get turned into goo.

Fortunately, the friendlier Goliaths moved to interpose themselves between the humans and the other Goliaths. An argument between the groups began. It was a cacophony of noises to CJ’s ears, but with the way the suspected pirates gestured at the group of humans, it was clear what they wanted. CJ could tell that the group defending them were the better fighters. Just the way they moved made that clear to him. But how many of their skills did they remember?

“The Goliaths are pissed off. They want us to pay for it. I say we give them some sacrifices to get them to leave the rest of us alone,” CJ looked over to see who had just spoken. Unsurprisingly, he saw it was one of the human pirates. He was a big guy with a shaved and tattoed head. The guy had quite a few of those. It was probably for intimidation purposes, but CJ thought he was trying so hard to look intimidating that it spilled over into ridiculous territory.

“I don’t suppose you’re volunteering,” CJ asked.

The pirate snorted, “Don’t be stupid. We’ve obviously been abducted. Only the best of us will be able to devise a plan and get out of this. We just need to survive until then. Softer guys are just going to slow us down and get us killed. The best thing guys like Slim there can do is die for the rest of us.”

Ash looked a bit surprised to have the pirate gesturing at him. He was working his mouth as if trying to come up with something to say. Then CJ laughed derisively, “I like my chances with him over someone that looks like they would stab me in the back just as soon as give me a glass of water.”

It was not long before lines were drawn, just like with the Goliaths. There were a few surprises among the groups. CJ thought that was to be expected. Humans were the most numerous individual race in the galaxy. Being the smallest race in the galaxy meant they could make a lot more use of the space they had. Even in this prison, CJ thought there were at least 30 times as many humans as Goliaths, maybe more. That left room for more surprises.

CJ was looking at one of those surprises between shouting arguments at the others. He looked competent enough of a fighter that CJ hoped he was not faking being on his side. The guy was a little shorter than CJ, leaner too, but still had the build of a fighter. There were also what looked like gang tattoos showing just above his collar and beyond his sleeves. His hairstyle did stand out, though, looking more military than gang member. The guy noticed CJ looking at him and made a placating gesture to CJ, “I screwed up real bad when I was younger. Missed my kid’s birth for being in jail. Promised myself I would do better. Thought I was going into the military before I ended up here.”

CJ nodded in acknowledgment. It would be nice if that was not all a lie. The pirates clearly outnumbered their group. Still, they needed to work up their courage to attack. The group CJ was a part of did not look like the type of easy prey they were probably used to, except for a few people. However, it was not anyone in either of their groups that triggered the fight.

The sound of the Goliaths exchanging blows was impossible to miss. When those massive beings went at it, they started churning the ground up beneath them. It was good that the aliens that built this place seemed to have installed some decent shock absorbers in the floors. If they had not, all the humans would have been getting tossed around by the earthquakes the Goliaths caused by throwing each other around. As it was, they barely even felt a dull rumble. That made it easier for CJ to ignore the fight between the Goliaths and pay attention to the pirates.

It only took a few seconds before one of the Goliaths inadvertently sent a boulder flying in their direction. The thing probably weighed between 5 to 10 tons. That was not that bad for an augmented person, but it would definitely hurt if they were not. Fortunately, it was headed for the pirates, and CJ would not mind if it took out a few of their numbers. They tried to dodge, probably unsure if they were enhanced. The boulder hit a few of them, knocking them over but not turning them into paste. CJ assumed that meant quite a few of the pirates were augmented, which would be annoying in a fight.

If anyone had been hoping that boulder hitting the pirates would knock the fight out of them, then they were wrong. It had the opposite effect. They took it as a signal to attack and charged into CJ’s group. With so many people that were so unfamiliar with each other, things quickly devolved into a brawl. Rather than get too deep into things, CJ chose to hang back and stick close to Ash. It was hard to tell if he would have augments or not. He came off like a scientist. They might have some defensive augments, but the offensive stuff would get in the way of their work. He might be able to last for some time in a fight, but he would definitely lose. If he did turn out to be working with the pirates, CJ just hoped he did not choose this fight to betray him.

It was only a matter of time before some pirates started approaching CJ. There were too many of them for his group to stop. Everyone was fighting multiple opponents, and the only reason they were not completely overrun was because their augments let them take inhuman amounts of punishment. Looking around at the various fights, CJ could tell most of the people had not received any augmented combat training in their youth. There were ways to take down people with augments in one hit, depending on the quality of those augments.

The first couple of pirates that rushed CJ found that out. As long as people got their strength enhancements, that was all that mattered to them. They did not pay attention to how well the defensive augments went. Then again, most people did not know how to take advantage of bad defensive augments. Parts of the head and jaw could take a person out of the fight if struck correctly. Proper augments could help with that, but black market procedures left the vulnerability there. With these being pirates and CJ being a highly trained fighter, that left things heavily in his favor.

The pirates that charged CJ were on the ground as quickly as they could get into striking range of him. A few more who did not notice what had happened made the same mistake. Unfortunately, after that, the pirates waited until they had considerably more numbers available before they came after him again. That proved to be much more problematic. Trying to get in headshots while defending himself and Ash simultaneously took way more effort.

CJ lost track of how many people he was fighting after that. When he knocked someone out, it was like two more took their place. His world became a blur of punches, kicks, and dodges. He thought someone must have bitten him at one point, too. But he could tell the pirates were so worried about him that they ignored Ash right behind him. He was not sure how long they had been going on before a massive shadow fell over them. Some of the pirates made the mistake of glancing up at what had to be a Goliath looming over all of them. CJ made them pay for that mistake with a quick succession of blows that left them sprawling.

It was not that CJ did not care which Goliath was looming over them. If it was one of the hostile ones, then he and all the pirates were dead no matter what. So, CJ did not see the point in contemplating that possibility. If it was a friendly one, well, he still had these pirates to deal with.

CJ took a bit of a gamble and made a few moves meant to put some space between himself and the pirates. They were wild moves, more like something out of an action movie. If he had been fighting someone more well-trained, they would have probably been able to counter them and left him on his ass. CJ smiled to see these were not well-trained fighters. They may have been decent enough street brawlers, but they fell for his bluff and backed up. When they realized their mistake and tried to rush in again, a huge hand was already dropping in their path.

That hand was not coming down to crush anyone. It was on its side, forming a wall nearly as tall as six or seven people. A goliath had chosen to intervene to stop the fight. Or it was about to snatch up CJ and Ash, which he hoped was not the case. When the fingers of that huge hand did not curl up around him, he took that as a good sign.

Finally, with no one left to fight, CJ could take a breather. Almost immediately, he noticed something familiar about the leathery palm he was staring at. His head started to feel a little funny. Slowly, he looked around to see who that hand belonged to as he was greeted by the concerned face of the wolverine he shared his space with. Suddenly, a memory tried to burst forth within his mind. Something tried to fight back against it, but the memory would not be ignored. It hit with such force that he cried out in pain before falling back into the wolverine’s warm hand.

***Fort Gundor, Planet Starfall – 6 Years Ago***

CJ stood at attention in the open cockpit of his training mech as the drill sergeant walked up and down the line of other recruits. The drill sergeant was not just inspecting humans, but other Goliath recruits also standing in line with the mechs. He was also a Goliath, a grizzly bear that was every bit as big and thick as his species tended to be. There was only one Goliath on the base that CJ had seen that was bigger than he was, and that was a female wolverine recruit a few places down the line.

“I know many of you think you are good fighters,” Drill Sergeant Mahc’Shan said as he walked the line, “But I know most of you have not fought many races outside of your own. I know that goes especially for you humans, unless you had the spare cash to afford a combat mech. And I doubt many of you Goliaths have been fighting mechs, either. I know some of you may think you’re hot stuff, but this will be an experience for many of you. Now, would any of you like to volunteer to take me on as a demonstration.”

CJ raised his hand, but in case the huge bear did not notice, he yelled, “I would like to volunteer, drill sergeant.”

This was actually a trap. CJ was fully aware of that. This was supposed to be a way of humbling some of the more arrogant recruits. Under normal circumstances, he would have let someone else volunteer to be humbled. Drill Sergeant Mahc’Shan was one serious-looking fighter. Even though CJ had been trained for most of his life, he knew the drill sergeant was also very experienced by this point. However, apparently, Mahc and Uncle Berry knew each other. Uncle Berry had made CJ promise to take on Mahc if he turned out to be his drill sergeant, which turned out to be the case.

Frankly, Drill Sergeant Mahc looked like he could take CJ on. But Uncle Berry had instructed him on precisely how to take down Mahc. He still remembered Uncle Berry saying, “That Mahc has always underestimated the speed a good mech pilot can get out of those things. And they’ll probably have you in those new Typhon Mark IVs. They’re faster than ever, even if rookies tend to fall flat on their faces starting out. So, if Mahc thinks you’re just some rookie, you’ll get one opening. I’ll teach you some moves to take advantage of that.”

Drill Sergeant Mahc evaluated CJ with those big eyes of his before nodding to a training square that had been set up. He was trying to look serious, but CJ knew how to read a grizzly bear’s body language enough to know he was amused, no matter how subtle he was trying to be. As CJ piloted his Typhon Mark IV mech into the training square, he tried to throw in a stumble and look natural about it. The gleam in the bear’s eyes practically shouted, “This recruit doesn’t know what he’s gotten himself into.”

CJ sighed. He hoped to prove the bear wrong. But he sure looked strong. And even though the Typhon was not a lousy mech, it was still a standard off-the-line mech. Meaning it was a piece of crap as far as he or his father were concerned. They liked modding them to their own specifications.

After squaring off for a couple seconds, one of the other trainers signaled for the match to begin. Mahc moved so fast that it would have caught most people off guard. How fast something as bulky as a grizzly bear could move was almost unfair. But CJ was prepared for that. CJ stopped faking his awkwardness a fraction of a moment before the drill sergeant could reach him. Even with that little time to react, Mahc looked like he noticed something was wrong. He tried to tighten his own defenses, but the Typhon was too fast for him.

In what seemed like a flash, CJ had Mahc flat on his back and in a submission hold. CJ heard a few oohs and ahs from the other recruits. Even a couple of the trainers looked surprised. It probably looked like that had been easy to the other recruits, but it was nerve-wracking for CJ. A lot of things had happened in that flash, and Mahc had nearly managed to worm his way out of the hold. If that had happened, CJ knew he would not get another opening against the bear.

Even with Mahc in a submission hold, the bear was not giving up. Even worse, CJ was getting some bad readings from various sensors in his mech. The drill sergeant was strong, strong enough that he was starting to overpower the mech. Various joints indicated that they were under extreme stress. If the bear could keep this up for much longer, he might be able to pull the mech apart with brute strength. That was why CJ did not like these standard mechs. They were only made to handle standard Goliaths, not the big ones like the drill sergeant.

CJ sighed and decided to try one more thing. He lowered the volume on the mech’s external speakers so, hopefully, only Mahc could hear him. Then he said, “Drill Sergeant Mach, Uncle Berry says high.”

“What,” Mahc said, his gaze snapping to CJ in the mech’s cockpit. The bear was confused for the briefest moments, and CJ used that moment to tighten his hold. It was just enough to keep Mahc from tearing his mech apart, and he eventually tapped out. CJ let the drill sergeant up as cheers went up from the other recruits, while some of the other trainers had faint smiles. A stern gaze from Mahc silenced the recruits while CJ stood at attention.

“Excellent work, recruit,” Mahc said before leaning in and talking more conspiratorially with CJ, “So you’re the one Beher’Shan warned me about. You just lost me a bet with my cousin, recruit.”

“Sorry, sir,” CJ replied.

“Don’t be, recruit,” Mahc said with an amused smile, “We’ve got another bet about you. Plus, Beher says this is what you get for getting Uncle Berry to stick as a nickname.”

CJ wondered what he meant until Mahc turned to the other trainers, “My implants are telling me that the recruit’s mech joints are damaged. Looks like we’ll need to find him a spare for the rest of the day.”

“We don’t have any more Typhons available for training,” one of the other trainers said, sounding amused.

“I’m sure we’ll find him something,” Mahc smiled.

“Thanks, Uncle Berry,” CJ muttered to himself about 15 minutes later when he found himself in a military cargo loader mech. The thing was only around half the size of the other mechs and the Goliaths. It was better armored than a civilian loader and marginally faster, too, but that was about it. A couple of Goliaths and one other human had tried to take on Mahc in that time. Things had not gone as well for them.

“Glad to have you back, recruit,” Mahc said with a grin to CJ. “That mech is a little…unconventional, but I think this is better for everyone. Someone of your skill might be a danger to the other recruits in an actual battle mech.”

CJ thought it was going to be a long day. At least they started him out against some of the other humans. They had all been training in their mechs for a couple of weeks. A few had piloted mechs before, some for jobs and some because they lived on mixed-race colonies with Goliaths. Still, most had never used them for combat purposes. And the ones that had only had a few months of experience. CJ was able to blow through them without much effort.

When they started putting him against Goliaths, things got a little trickier. Of course, the Goliaths were used to their own bodies. CJ knew they could toss him around like a rag doll if they could get a hold of his mech. It was a good thing they could not get their hands on him. Some of them were brawlers, a few were trained in more competitive martial arts, and then there were the predators, who all had at least a little natural talent for fighting. However, they all fell short of the very experienced and successful mercs who had trained CJ.

CJ was unsure who started it, but after his first victory against a Goliath in the loader, someone started calling him David. By his fifth straight victory, the name was sticking. It appeared that someone had realized why humans had called the other races Goliaths. Still, he could not help but cringe a little at the nickname. He did not want someone else’s name for his nickname. That would get confusing.

The seventh and final match of the day was something special. Mahc even let everyone else stop for the day so the rest of the recruits could watch. They were not taking it easy on him anymore. It was going to be him versus the top Goliath recruit. Like CJ, she was undefeated for the day. He had seen her a few times, and she had easily won her matches. From what he could tell, she knew what she was doing, even if she was more of a street brawler. It was that giant wolverine woman.

Giant was the right word to use. Wolverines were typically a head or two shorter than she was. But that was the way it was with Goliaths. While various races came in typical size ranges, some abnormalities did show up in small percentages of the population. You could get bears that were as small as Goliaths could get, and you could get mice that were even larger than the wolverine. Well, they could not get much larger than her. The largest Goliaths ever recorded were not even three percent taller than she was, except ones with abnormally long legs or necks. CJs mech was only the size of one of her legs.

It would have been nice if the wolverine looked smug or overconfident. CJ would have been able to work with arrogance. That was not the case. Perhaps CJ’s undefeated reputation had preceded him, or she was just the serious type. The wolverine was standing at her full height, fur standing on end, and lips peeled back just enough to reveal some very impressive chompers but not so much to indicate she had lost control of herself. That was a threat display if he had ever seen one, and he felt very threatened in his little loader mech.

CJ thought he would have had a pretty good chance of taking her on in a combat mech, but she would have still been tough. In a loader mech, well, he was sending up a few prayers and hoping someone liked him. When the signal for the fight began, the wolverine did not waste any time. She came at CJ like she intended to crush his mech like a tin can, and he was very confident she could do that.

There was only one plan CJ could think of that he hoped even gave him the slightest chance of winning. Chances were that he would lose another mech, but it was the last fight of the day, so why not go all out. As it turned out, there was one more feature military loader mechs had that civilian ones did not have. Very few people knew of it, and CJ had been holding back from using it in case he needed a surprise. And he thought he needed it. He could tell by the way the wolverine moved that she was on a different level from the other recruits. She was not just huge. While most predators had a little natural talent for fight, she clearly had a lot of natural talent.

However, the wolverine was not as well trained as she could be. Given some time, the military could turn her into an absolute monster. But she was not there just yet. And that meant she could still be surprised. So, CJ positioned his mech just right and activated the jump jets he hoped she did not know about. The jump jets were a feature that was supposed to help extract mechs from dangerous situations, but CJ tried to use them as a weapon. He was not jumping away from her but right at her.

The wolverine was definitely surprised to have the mech hurtling at her legs. She tried to twist out of the way but only ended up tripping over herself a little before CJ hit her, making things much worse for her. The impact was jarring for CJ, too, but he thought the wolverine was going down. And then, he felt a much more jarring impact that made him struggle to control his flight path. Amazingly, the wolverine had managed to kick him on her way down. And it was no light blow. Status indicators showed the mech’s right arm was in the red. She had completely disabled it, even in her surprise.

CJ sighed. He was happy he did not need that arm for his plans. If the wolverine could do that when she was taken off guard, he knew she could have peeled his mech open like a banana if he took her on in a straight fight. And that was why he had no intention of giving her a straight fight.

CJ got control of his mech as quickly as possible. He did not have much time to waste. There was a lamp post nearby that he used to rapidly halt his momentum. And by halt his momentum, he meant a relatively controlled crash that probably damaged the post a bit, because he did get some warnings that his mech had suffered some minor damage. If CJ was not augmented, that probably would have killed him, but he would probably get out of it with only some minor bruising.

Then CJ launched his mech up the length of the pole, making sure his momentum would slow down near the top of the pole. He could see the wolverine already starting to stand up and knew he was running out of time. CJ hurriedly vaulted off against the pole. If this had been a combat mech, there was no way this would have worked. The pole would not have been able to handle a combat mech’s weight. But it was just barely able to deal with the loader. Once the mech was falling in the wolverine’s direction, he activated his jump jets again.

This time, CJ was not aiming for her legs. He was going for her head. This mech may have only been the size of her legs, but it was still a solid piece of metal headed at her like a guided missile. And with it aimed at the back of her head, she did not even know she needed to dodge. Then CJ saw a massive arm swinging in the direction of his mech. He cursed to himself. She really had great instincts. CJ had no more time to dodge than she did. They would both have to take the hit and see how it worked out.

CJ felt his mech hit the wolverine and collide with the back of her head as she was still trying to turn toward him just before her elbow hit his mech. Both hits were solid. CJ’s mech was sent hurtling away as alarm sirens started blaring. The hit was so strong that it transmitted into his cockpit with enough force to cause his vision to blur. He struggled to stay conscious as his mech rolled away. Exterior cameras died, and CJ was left in the dark.

CJ rushed to try and get the mech on its feet, which was no easy task without the ability to see the outside world. And that was about all the mech had left in it before the mech died. One kick and one elbow were all the mech had been able to take from the wolverine. All he could do was grab a laser rifle he kept in the cockpit, which had somehow snapped in two during the tumble. A human-sized laser rifle would not have meant much to the wolverine, but it would have been better than nothing as he engaged the emergency cockpit release.

What greeted him in the outside world was the wolverine. She was only far enough away to stay out of the way of the cockpit door. Her breathing was pretty ragged, and she was so close that he could feel her inhalations tugging at him. This looked like it was it for him. All she had to do was reach out and grab him, and the match was over. Still, he made one last act of defiance and threw the butt of his laser rifle at her. It hit her on her house-sized nose and bounced off harmlessly. Or at least he thought it was harmlessly, as the wolverine’s eyes suddenly rolled into the back of her head, and she collapsed. The idea that the butt of the rifle knocked her out was ridiculous. It must have taken everything she had left to make it over to the mech before she passed out. However, it made enough of a scene that he heard chants of “David” coming from the other recruits, even the Goliaths, as the trainers declared him the winner. CJ winced. It looked like that nickname was going to stick now. This was probably divine punishment for what he did to Uncle Berry.

After the trainers declared that they were done for the day, others helped the wolverine up and made sure she was alright before they helped carry CJ’s mech back to the docks with him still in the cockpit. Drill Sergeant Mahc helped carry CJ and his mech, but that seemed to be so he could get a private comment in. The bear chuckled, “That’s the most fun I’ve had losing a bet. But I am going to make you pay for all the drinks I owe my cousin now.”

CJ also got a bit of a dressing down from the mechanics for doing that much damage to another mech before they let him leave. But, as he was leaving the docks, a massive hand suddenly blocked his path. CJ knew he was tough for a human, but he was still only a human, with the nearest mech too severely damaged to use. He looked up to see who that hand belonged to, and it was just as he feared. It was the wolverine staring down at him.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, CJ wondering why the trainers had let her get this close to him after all that. He tried to look for a way out of this, but there was no getting around that hand. Then the wolverine said, “Uh…David, is it?”

“It’s Calvin, actually. Everyone normally calls me CJ.”

“Then why do they call you David? That’s an actual human name, not a nickname, right?”

CJ sighed, “Don’t mind them. They’ve all been struck with a terminal case of stupid.”

“Very well…CJ,” the wolverine said before she leaned down close, way too close for comfort. Her muzzle was close enough for CJ to reach out and touch. When next she spoke, he could see gleaming, razor-sharp fangs many times his own size. And her warm breath washed over him as she spoke. The smell of her breath did catch him a little off guard. One kind of expects meat from predators. Apparently, whatever she used to keep her fangs so gleaming white must have come with the scent of strawberries.

“My name is Elilline, but you can call me Eli,” the wolverine continued, “And I want to ask you a question.”

CJ thought this could go many ways. Just about everything he could think of seemed bad. But CJ knew it was never a good thing to show fear to predators like this, so he tried to sound like he was keeping it cool as he said, “Go ahead, shoot.”

“Do you have a girlfriend, CJ?”

That was not any of the many questions he thought she might ask. He was so stunned that he was sure a full three or four seconds passed before he managed to say, “No.”

Massive lips suddenly engulfed the upper half of his body, and a tongue that could have crushed a house licked him with a surprisingly gentle touch. As the lips withdrew, leaving the upper half of CJ’s body slightly moistened, Eli said, “You do now.”

Eli smiled sweetly at him before walking off, leaving a stunned CJ behind as one of the other human recruits approached him and said, “That’s our David. Beat the drill sergeant, the toughest Goliath recruit, and then got the second hottest recruit as a girlfriend all in the same afternoon.”

“Shut up,” was all CJ could manage to say.

***Location Unknown - Present***

“CJ! CJ, are you alright,” Ash shook CJ. He waved Ash off as he recovered from his memory. The wolverine, Eli, was still looking down at him in concern. There were no doubts about her intentions in his mind now, even if that encounter had been years ago. As he leaned against her hand, he felt only safety.

“Elilline,” CJ said, but not in human common. He said it in her language, which looked like it surprised her.

Ash asked, “Do you know her?”

CJ responded, “Yeah, she is, or at least she was, my girlfriend. And I still think I’m in love with her.”