Eli gets let in on Ty’s secret, and attempts are made to counter their alien captors. The results of which help to find out a bit more about the relationship between Eli and CJ.

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Chapter 8

Eli could not believe that Ty actually knew the humans’ language and that he had kept that hidden for this long. Barely anyone actually knew multiple languages anymore. There was no need unless you worked in making translators. And those translators were everywhere, even if you did not have one implanted. And the implants were so miraculous that even those most opposed to implants tended to have them. However, Ty had gone out of his way to learn another language.

“Why,” was all Eli could ask.

“Well, Ash is telling the story, so I guess I can tell you as well,” Ty said. The wolf launched into a story about how a human had come to be adopted into his pack. He related the tale of his time on Adventure Planet and what it had been like to hide from pirates until mercenaries had driven them off the planet.

Eli gestured at the human in the cell with CJ, “So, that human is your little brother?”

“Yeah, my precious little brother, Ash,” Ty looked fondly at Ash.

“And why did you need to learn to speak human? Did he not have a translator?”

“He did,” Ty responded, “But my dad was military, and he knew there was tech that could block translators. He was not going to let someone else take away our pack’s ability to communicate with each other. We even had to learn nonverbal means of communicating.”

That was some useful information. Being able to communicate so clearly with the humans could make for a pleasant surprise for their captors. Eli then asked, “I don’t suppose you have any more surprises up your sleeve?”

“Me? No. I’m just the muscle,” Ty said before he grinned, “But my brother’s a genius. He had a few degrees before my sire let him attend college.”

“Let him go to college?”

“Yeah, we wolves are pack animals, you know,” Ty chuckled. “We usually don’t like letting our pack members wander too far alone. And well, my little brother is very little. My sire and the rest of the pack, including me, wanted to make sure he was protected. So, he had to wait for me to get into college so I could be there for him.”

“Aww, how sweet,” Eli smiled.

Ty smiled back, “You know, I did everything I could to ensure I would get as big as possible. I wanted to be extra big to make up for him being extra small, all so I could protect him better.”

“That sounds adorable,” Eli laughed lightly. “Looks like you did a pretty good job, big brother.”

“I try,” Ty said.

“So, do you think your brother did well in college?”

“Apparently so.”

Eli frowned suspiciously, “What do you mean by that?”

Ty leaned in close to Eli and spoke low enough so that even other Goliaths with the keenest hearing could not tell what he said, “He still has his memories.”

Eli’s eyes widened in astonishment, and she was about to say something, but Ty signaled her for silence. When she calmed down, he continued, “He developed some sort of tech against mind control tech. Don’t ask me how. The explanation he gave me went right over my head.”

“When did he do that,” Eli asked. “And over your head, seriously?”

Ty grinned, “I can’t help myself sometimes. And we had a nice little talk when we thought no one was watching us closely while I held him in the rec room. He even patched into my implants, uploaded something into me that will counter the mind control eventually.”

“No kidding?”

“He already did it to his cellmate. I think he called him CJ. It already prevents new commands from working on him. He says it’s taking a while to affect the commands previously given to him, though,” Ty explained.

“I don’t suppose you could upload a copy of that into me,” Eli asked.

Ty shrugged, “Afraid not. Ash says he hasn’t had the time to perfect the tech yet. He has to make individual adjustments for each person. If I were smart enough, I might be able to make those adjustments myself. Don’t get me wrong. I’m no dummy, but the adjustments he talked about were real smart guy stuff.”

“Do you think you could talk him into it if we ever get to spend time together again,” Eli asked.

“Maybe.”

“Does he have some sort of issue with me?”

Ty said, “Here’s the thing, Eli. Even though my brother has his memories, he’s never heard of the aliens holding us captive. He has no idea who they are or who might be working for them.”

That was a revelation for Eli. So these aliens were an actual unknown. Or at least they were an unknown to the rest of the galaxy. They must have been around long enough to get translators working. Based on the number of pirates being held captive, Eli assumed the aliens had managed to get the information from their ships. Still, that would have taken a while. It felt like these aliens must have been kidnapping pirates and others for at least months. Then again, they might have been doing it for years. If these aliens could control minds, there was no telling how long they could keep themselves hidden.

Then Eli thought of something else. Ty’s little brother had devised a defense against the mind control tech being used by the pirates and was getting ready to supervise its release to the military forces. Before that could be done, his ship had been ambushed, and he had been captured by forces using mind control tech. That could have been a coincidence, or Ty’s brother could have been set up. Based on what Eli could tell, she was in the military, and what Ash’s scent told her about him was that she was probably one of his bodyguards.

Eli thought she would not have betrayed Ash. But she had no way of knowing who she was in the present. And when mind control was a possibility, there was no way Eli could be sure she had not been forced to be a traitor. If she could not be sure of herself, there was no way Ash could be.

“This whole mind control stuff is really frustrating,” Eli sounded frustrated.

Ty smiled knowingly, “I know what you mean. But we will have to take some chances if we want to escape from this situation. I’ll talk Ash into helping you out. He already risked helping CJ, and that has not backfired yet.”

“Thanks, Ty.”

The wolf shrugged, “But if you do turn out to be a traitor…”

“That’ll be a surprise to me too. I’d prefer not to fight things out with you,” Eli said.

Ty chuckled, easing the mood, “Neither do I. Getting maimed when we’re surrounded by pirates and unknown hostile aliens does not seem like it will help.”

“These aliens don’t seem like the type to give us proper medical attention afterward either,” Eli said.

As the days passed, Eli decided she really did not want to fight Ty. As a wolverine, she did not feel that much fear, but that did not mean she had no common sense. Ty’s memories were returning to him, and how he moved changed. All those years of experience he had lost contained a good deal of combat experience. Every memory he got back looked like it made him a little more deadly. Before, Eli thought they were about evenly matched. She might be able to hurt him, but she thought the wolf could take her now.

Ty’s memories were coming back more quickly than CJ’s. Eli had been told CJ had been triggered by something she did. It helped him regain some of his memories. Now Ash was helping Ty do the same. Since the human had all his memories of their time spent together, he was able to remind his brother of everything he could. That turned out to be a big success. While Ty still had a lot of gaps in his memory, he had also regained a few years of memories.

They did try to keep it a secret that Ty and Ash were talking with each other. Eli helped by talking with Ty while the actual conversation was happening between the brothers. The results were pretty positive, and Eli hoped it would work out for her, too.

Besides that, the routine from before continued. The aliens took people away to be interrogated. No one had their memories of it except for Ty, CJ, and Ash. They let her know the questions being asked. It sounded like they were interested in tracking down the pirates’ base of operations. Eli did not think it was a coincidence that one faction with mind control tech was interested in tracking down the other with the same tech.

One day, while listening to Ty talk to his brother, Eli had a thought, “Hey, Ty.”

“Yeah,” he said to her. She did not usually interrupt his talks with Ash unless she was helping to fake a conversation. He looked at her curiously, wondering what prompted her to speak up.

“The pirates have managed to avoid the military tracking down their main base of operations for nearly three decades now,” Eli stated. “That’s weird. Numerous pirates have been caught and interrogated, but none of them ever had information on their base, or they chose to never give the information up.”

“Yeah, that is weird. The ones keeping us company here don’t seem like the most loyal lot. But maybe they’ve forgotten about a charismatic or intimidating leader that inspired more loyalty in them,” Ty said.

Eli said, “I think they might have forgotten more than that. If these aliens can make us forget our memories, then maybe the pirates have been wiping the memories of their grunts.”

“I didn’t even think of that. But it sounds possible, no, likely.”

“If that’s true, then does your brother think the aliens can…overcome one mind control command with another?”

Ty relayed the question to his brother and told Eli the reply, “It’s a possibility, but he thinks it would take time. The new commands would have to overpower the old commands.”

“Shit,” was all Eli could say to that.

Ty cocked his head at her before realization hit him. Then he turned to Ash and asked, “Think hard about how much time you think we have, little brother. Once our captors start getting answers, we become useless to them. And they don’t seem to like any of us that much.”

Eli looked at Ash as he responded. She did not understand a single word he said, but she could pick up on his uncertain tone. When Ash was finished, Ty translated, “More than days, less than a year. That’s the best guess he can give. So, we could have weeks, or we could have months.”

That was about what Eli had been expecting. She hoped they had weeks. They spent days at a time in their cells. And the aliens only took people out of the cells in small enough numbers that they were not a threat. They had only allowed them out of their cells in any significant numbers that one time they had been allowed in the rec room. While they were not watched as closely as they should have been, Eli had no doubts that a bunch of armed guards were waiting to deal with them if they tried to escape. Still, having everyone gathered together like that could be helpful. Eli only hoped their captors would allow that to happen again.

After that, the routine continued. Both Ty and Eli were taken away to be interrogated. The big difference this time was that Ty remembered his interrogation. That did not help provide much useful information, but confirming that the mind control did not start working on him again was nice. Eli did not fight back as much, either. She kind of felt bad for the Goliath guards. It was clear that whatever sort of mind control was at work, it worked even better on them. Those Goliath guards were no more than slaves, and Eli had no desire to cause any more harm than necessary to people who had no control over their own actions.

Fortunately, the same routine did include a return to the rec room. It came after the same interval of days as the first. Eli thought that interval may have been a week from wherever they were from. If so, they might be allowed to gather at the end of every week. She hoped to be able to work that to their advantage.

The pirates did not make them waste time fighting again, but the groups still remained wary of each other. Eli thought about telling the pirates what they knew. It would have been nice if they could work together. But their captors were trying to find the pirates for a reason. That reason most likely had to do with the mind control tech Ash believed they were in possession of. If the pirates figured that out and they knew Ash had knowledge of it, they would probably let their captors know in a second if it meant their own freedom.

Eli also brought up the subject with Ty to get his point of view. To say he did not like the idea of letting the pirates know would have been an understatement. His hackles raised the second she brought up the subject. It was almost like he was ready to attack her over it. When Eli told him she did not plan on doing it and was just getting his opinion, that calmed him down. It was clear he wanted no part of working with the pirates. Considering what had happened with Ty and his little brother, it was no wonder why.

Humans and Goliaths gathered to exchange information again, but not much had changed from the last time. Getting Ash aside for some private time with him and his brother was a little more complicated, but they managed to do it. Talking Ash into helping her was not difficult. Not only did she have Ty supporting her, but CJ was also for the idea. CJ did not know the current status of their relationship, but he thought there was still one there.

While Ash was working on her, Ty started to walk away, saying, “I’m going to find a few others for my brother to work on. You should put CJ down and let him pick out some humans, too. We don’t necessarily need to let them know what’s happening, but we need to work on getting more allies in top condition since we’re on a timer.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Eli agreed. Ash said something she did not understand, but she thought he was agreeing with what his brother said. Eli had taken the opportunity to carry CJ around as soon as possible, but she put him back down once Ash finished relaying the plan to him. While Ty and CJ were away, Ash finished working on her. There was a slight sting from her implants that she had been warned about. And that was it. Eli felt no different, but this had worked on the others. She only wished that there was some way to confirm it had worked.

Since they were trying to keep it a secret that Ash had his memories, asking questions around him while he worked on everyone else was not easy. Fortunately, people were buying the story they had given about him. They said he was a hacker in his youth and was seeing if he could find any information about them from their implants. Ash made that easier to believe since he could at least find the rank of the people he was working on. It was also nice that they could confirm who actually was in the military. Once word of that got out, they had a steady stream of volunteers wanting to meet with Ash. There was no way Ash could see everyone in the time they had, but if this experiment worked out, it would speed things up in the future.

While Ash was between people, Eli asked Ty, “Do you think your brother knows anything about me?”

Ty relayed the question to Ash. After getting a response, Ty said, “Huh.”

“What does that mean?”

“He didn’t know much. You were one of his bodyguards,” Ty explained. “But you were about to take some leave. You were only going with us until we reached the naval blockade. You were supposed to meet another soldier there.”

“Who?”

“Ash didn’t know the name, but he knew the purpose. You were picking up a fellow soldier and heading home. Ash said you sounded really lovey-dovey whenever you spoke of him.”

“What,” was all Eli could say before the memories came flooding back.

***Kirelzum – 1 Year Ago***

Eli inhaled deeply. Familiar, comforting scents filled her nose as she stepped off the landing shuttle. It was nice to be home. And this was the first time those scents were mixed in with another delightful scent. Eli was careful when she moved her head so she could look at the tiny human standing on her shoulder, almost lost in her fur. She probably did not need to be that careful. He was in a harness designed to allow humans to safely ride a Goliath. She asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to rent a mech while we’re here, CJ?”

“Nah, your fur is more comfortable than a mech’s chair. Plus, this is an excuse to spend more time with you,” CJ replied.

Eli folded her ears down so CJ could not see them turning red as she blushed. Of course, he knew what the folded ears meant. His smile let her know that. But she could not help herself. Some humans found it demeaning to be carried around by Goliaths. Hearing that CJ liked to be carried around by her made her insides flutter whenever he said it. CJ did have an advantage over a lot of other humans. He was still way ahead of the Goliath he was riding in wins from their sparing matches. CJ had nothing to prove.

Eli went to pick up their luggage. It was not much trouble for her. CJ’s stuff weighed less than the smallest of her items. After picking up their luggage, Eli went to find their ride. Being the size she was, Eli stood out even among most other Goliaths, well, besides things like dinosaurs and whales. So it was no surprise when her ride spotted her before she spotted them.

“Elilline,” a familiar voice called out, “there’s my delicate little flower.”

The person talking to Eli was not even shoulder tall compared to her. He was not short. If anything, he was slightly above average for a wolverine. Another wolverine stood next to him, beaming affectionately at Eli. She approached them, returning the smile, “Hi dad, mom.”

The two smaller wolverines rushed in to hug Eli, but she warded them off, saying, “Careful, you two, I have a passenger.”

They had to look up at CJ. Even on her shoulder, he was above eye level for them. Eli’s parents gave CJ a smile as her mother said, “Don’t think we haven’t noticed the man who finally stole our little flower’s heart. It’s about time you brought him home to meet us.”

From there, Eli’s parents gave CJ some polite sniffs as they hugged their daughter. It only lasted long enough for them to get familiar with his scent. Then her father took her luggage and put it in his vehicle. He may have been smaller than her, but he was still a bundle of predatory muscle. And it was not like Eli packed that heavily. A few years in the military had taught her to pack the necessities.

The ride home was filled with conversation. Eli and her parents caught up on their lives while they also asked CJ so many questions that Eli started to feel embarrassed. CJ seemed to be alright with it, so Eli let it go. Still, it was a relief when they finally pulled up to her home, and the questions were brought to an end. However, there was something strange waiting at Eli’s home. Sitting off to one side of the house was what looked like a drop pod. It was not a standard military one, more like a modified merc droppod.

“What in the world is that,” Eli asked, pointing at the strange object.

Eli’s father had a mischievous smile, saying, “Well, when we found out you were bringing your boyfriend to meet us, we got to talking with his parents.”

“I already told you we didn’t need a mech. CJ’s riding with me while we’re here,” despite her best efforts, Eli knew she sounded like she was pouting. She was a grown woman, but being around your parents could just bring that out in anyone.

“Oh, don’t worry, Elilline,” Eli’s mom said, “We aren’t trying to keep you two lovers apart. That’s not the type of mech we got them to send us.”

“It’s my combat mech I used to train in,” CJ sighed.

“Don’t tell me your parents are just as bad as mine,” Eli asked.

“Hey now,” Eli’s dad said. “After saying he keeps beating you in a fight, we had to see it for ourselves.”

“We’re your parents, and we just want to make sure our precious little flower is properly protected,” Eli’s mother said. She tried to look serious, but her voice cracked a few times, and her lips kept trying to turn up in a smile.

Eli frowned at them, “Well, I didn’t come here to fight my boyfriend again.”

“We didn’t mean for you two to fight,” Eli’s mom said.

Eli’s father smiled, “Yeah, we meant for him to fight us.”

Those words must have been a signal. Numerous other family members started to flood out of her parent’s home. That left Eli’s jaws agape. Wolverines were not typically that social. She had not seen many of those family members in years, especially her father’s other mates. But they had all shown up for this impromptu family event. It looked like enjoying a good brawl ran in the family, even if they did not stick that close together.

“Do you really want him to fight everyone,” Eli asked, a little exasperated. For wolverines, her family was a little above average in size. Eli was the largest by a considerable margin, though. Just about all of her family members were brawlers. That was something pretty much all wolverines had in common. It came with not being afraid of getting into a fight.

“Oh no, you two can work together. We want to see how well the two of you mix,” Eli’s father said.

CJ chuckled, “Your family reminds me of you.”

“Dear gods, please don’t say that again, CJ,” Eli sighed.

CJ laughed, asking, “Do you think we can take them?”

“Mom and Dad made me beat them before they’d let me sign up. I think we can take a few others.”

“That’s my girl,” CJ said.

There was no fighting this. Eli walked CJ over to the drop pod and let him off at one of the entrances. Seconds later, it opened up to reveal the combat mech inside. Eli marveled at the thing. It was a little shorter than she was, but it was still intimidating. She was used to the standard military mechs. CJ had mentioned his personal mech was more highly modified than the military would allow, but seeing it firsthand made her appreciate how deadly the right person could make them. Eli could tear a military mech apart with her bare hands if the pilot was not careful, but she was not sure if she wanted to grapple with that thing without being in her own armor.

Her family was equally impressed with the mech. That did not discourage them from wanting to fight. Getting scared out of a fight was not the wolverine way. Everyone changed into sparing clothes, and then the fight began. Or rather, the fights began. They started out having to fight groups of four. That was not much of a challenge for Eli and CJ. Her family may have been natural fighters, but most were not formally trained. CJ and Eli were. And after going through training together, they meshed very well.

Eli thought CJ could have won against those groups on his own. Seeing that she probably could have done the same surprised her a little. She had barely managed to beat her parents to join the military. What a few years of experience and hard training could do was amazing. Things got more challenging as the group sizes increased, but the rest of Eli’s family was getting worn down from previous losses. When they had to fight everyone at once, things did get dicey. CJ’s crazy mech proved it was worth every credit his family had sunk into it. It held out against some punishment she was sure should have disabled a military mech. In the end, CJ and Eli came out on top.

After all the fighting was done, no one was bitter about the loss. In fact, everyone was congratulating Eli on finding such a good partner. Eli’s parents treated everyone to dinner, and they all returned to their homes. After that, Eli took CJ back to her room so they could shower. As much as she would have liked to shower together, she thought better of it while under her parents’ roof. Fortunately, the house was already set up for human use since Eli used to have human friends over for sleepovers.

A little human-sized shower was available for CJ’s use on a counter next to hers. And there was a privacy screen to ensure no one could peek at each other, even if they wanted, courtesy of Eli’s parents. Still, they were able to chat, and Eli asked, “Why doesn’t the military upgrade all their mechs to be more like yours?”

“They say it’s because some of the mods I use are unsafe, have huge vulnerabilities to hackers, or have not been sufficiently tested in the field.”

“I’m guessing that’s not true.”

“You’d guess right. It’s all BS. The honest answer is, it’s about cost,” CJ said. “With the military getting all those budget cuts thanks to centuries of peace, they had to cut corners somewhere. Unfortunately, there are too many people that actually believe the lies, so we aren’t even allowed to modify our mechs if we offer to pay for the mods ourselves.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, but some of us may or may not have managed to sneak in a few mods we deem essential,” CJ sounded amused.

“Good,” Eli said, “I wouldn’t want my adorable little man getting hurt because of budget concerns.”

When they were finished showering, it was time to prepare for bed. Eli let CJ stay on one of her pillows when he insisted. It was not like he took up much space. Eli was about to turn the lights out when CJ coughed to get her attention. She asked, “What is it?”

CJ asked, “Eli, did you know there is an old human tradition that comes with getting your girlfriend’s parents permission for…something?”

Eli cocked her head quizzically at him, “Never heard of anything like that. What is that something? And I never heard you ask them permission for anything.”

CJ scratched the back of his head awkwardly, “Well, you see, I might have known that family fight was in store for us.”

“Oh, so did we win something,” Eli smiled at CJ’s awkwardness.

“Just so you know, we didn’t actually have to win a fight. We only had to prove we could put up a good enough fight.”

“I think we did much better than that. Now, stop holding out on me. What did we win,” Eli chuckled.

CJ looked more awkward than Eli had ever seen him as he got down on a knee on her pillow. Then he muttered, “There aren’t many good ways of doing this with a Goliath.”

Then he firmed up his resolve and looked directly in the eyes, saying, “We won the right for me to ask you this question. Elilline, will you marry me?”

Eli felt like her heart skipped a beat. She was stunned for a moment. CJ’s expression looked fearful of her response. The moment she recovered, her tongue darted out and bowled CJ over. She excitedly licked him a few more times before snatching him up in one hand and running out of the room. In seconds, she was at her parents’ room and threw open the door. She only hoped she had not broken it in her enthusiasm. Then she proudly held up CJ to her startled parents as she said, “We’re getting married.”

***Unknown Prison – Present***

Ty looked at Eli, “Looks like that triggered something.”

Eli looked at CJ lovingly before she turned back to Ty with a frown, “These little alien bastards are making me miss my wedding!”