With the war between the Germanic Star-Empire and the Dvrakian Consortium now a thing of the past, Erich found that he had an exceptional amount of free time on his hands. When he was not training new pilots like S'aleth, he usually spent time in the mess hall socializing with the other crewman of the Carrier.

Despite the trouble she had caused him, S'aleth did not appear capable of staying away from Erich, and thus, she almost always met up with him in the Mess Hall whenever he was there. How she was able to so expertly track his movements, when he did not operate on a fixed schedule, he did not know, but she had succeeded in doing this over and over again.

After discussing his paranoia with another one of the recruits he was training, the man looked at Erich with an odd expression before explaining what was going on, however; he did so in a hushed voice as if what he was about to say absolutely could not be overheard by outsiders.

"This might sound like a weird question, but were the two of you physically intimate with each other in any way that would have exchanged body fluids?"

Erich was immediately taken aback by this question. He looked around to see if anyone was listening in on his conversation before responding in an equally hushed tone.

"Well, I mean, she kissed me..."

The Dvrakian recruit seemed to have come to a certain understanding as he nodded his head, as if the answer was obvious from the start. Upon seeing that Erich was still confused, the man sighed and shook his head before responding.

"Our species evolved to mate for life. And though some Dvrakians choose not to do so, it is still tradition. If bodily fluids are exchanged between two Dvrakians, whether it's a kiss, or something more intense, they will be able to sniff out that other person and their whereabouts so long as they are within a certain distance of one another, and it's a pretty large distance...

I'm actually quite surprised by this news... You may not be aware of this, but it is a major taboo for a Dvrakian to be physically intimate with someone from another species. To put it in simple terms, by kissing you, S'aleth has essentially made it impossible for her to ever mate with another Dvrakian, especially if news of this were to ever get out.

I won't say a word about this to anyone, but yeah, that's why she is able to find you so easily. As long as the two of you are on the same ship, she will instinctively know where you are at all times of the day."

This news had shocked Erich to the core of his being. It took him several moments to process what he had heard before he finally asked the immediate question on his mind.

"Are you saying that S'aleth wants to... mate with me?"

The Dvrakian recruit looked at Erich as if the man was as dense as a neutron star while he slowly nodded his head before responding in confirmation.

"Obviously! She would not have kissed you if that was not her intention. Even if she did it instinctively in a moment of great excitement, there is only one reason a member of our species would be so physically intimate with someone else. Though good luck ever getting into such a relationship with her. From what I hear, your species has actually made it a capital offense to engage in interspecies relations. Even I think that's a bit harsh... But every civilization has a reason for its rules and traditions, so I'm not going to judge...."

Despite saying this, there was a very clear look of disdain in the trainee's eyes, as if Erich's entire existence disgusted him. Perhaps it was partially out of jealousy, as well as cultural taboos. After all, S'aleth was an exceptionally attractive member of her species, and for her to be taken by a foreigner, it was truly an intolerable offense to most Dvrakians.

Naturally Erich did not take offense to such an expression, because it was the same one which his entire species had looked at him with since the day he was born. He was more than used to being hated by people simply for existing, and thus he did not let it get to him.

---

At lunch on the next day, S'aleth naturally found her way to the mess hall, and sat in front of Erich with a wide smile on her pretty face. She had not said a thing about their kiss since it had happened. Until now, that is.

"I'm glad to see you didn't get into trouble because of me. I know how serious your race treats incidents like that, and the last thing I wanted to do was cause any trouble for you... Can you please forgive me?"

Just when Erich was about to say that there was nothing to forgive, he saw the figure of a man he was not expecting to see enter into the mess hall. An enormous smile appeared across Erich's face as he entirely ignored S'aleth, and her apology, before rushing over to the entrance to the mess hall. Erich wrapped his arms around the man's back and hugged him tightly before screaming in excitement.

"Karl! What the hell are you doing here? It's been too long. How have you been?"

Karl immediately smiled and shook Erich around, as he expressed his joy at seeing his old friend.

"Haha, you magnificent bastard! I knew you were still alive! Fredrik and Dolph owe me ten thousand creds each! As for why I am on board your ship, I have been transferred. I will spare you the details, but let's just say my CO got extremely pissed at me for something that was completely out of my control, and so he transferred me."

This sudden news shocked Erich, though he was happy he would not be able to regularly interact with one of his few friends in this unforgiving universe, he was more shocked that Karl was surprised to see that he was still alive and was quick to interrogate the man on that subject..

"I'm sorry what? What do you mean? Why wouldn't I be alive?"

Karl looked at Erich funny, before expressing his thoughts more clearly. His lighthearted nature seemed to have shifted to a more grim tone as he did so.

"Well, you know that not everyone who died in the war came back, right? I mean, there were times where our fleets were pushed beyond the borders of our data ships. Because of this, some of the guys who died were not cloned. After all, they did not receive the signals which were supposed to inform the cloning facilities to revive them.

You haven't contacted us in so long that the guys and I made a betting pool. I was the only one who actually betted that you were still kicking! After all, I saw you in that tournament. There was no way these red devils would have been able to kill you!"

It was only now that Karl noticed S'aleth eying Erich with pouty eyes, which he was quick to mention.

"Hey dude... That succubus is eying you right now. Do you want me to tell her to fuck off?"

Succubus was a derogatory term that many of the Germanic soldiers used to refer to the female members of the Dvrakian Republican Guard who were now serving aboard the fleets of the Germanic Star-Empire.

Not every soldier in the Germanic Armed Forces was as open-minded as Erich. In fact, many of them still viewed the Dvrakians as enemies and outsiders. After all, it was not that long ago that they were fighting a war with each other. Karl appeared to be one of these men, which surprised Erich, as he quickly defended S'aleth from his bigotry.

"Hey don't call her that man, S'aleth is.... She's a friend of mine. So don't you dare disrespect her like that!"

Karl took another glance at S'aleth, and the way she was looking at Erich, causing a look of astonishment to overwhelm the man, as he stared at Erich in disbelief before uttering his thoughts aloud.

"No way... There's no fucking way you got lucky with a hot alien babe for a second time!"

Erich immediately stared at Karl and silenced the man. He then looked around to see if anyone had heard him, before reprimanding his friend for nearly causing a misunderstanding.

"It's not like that, you moron! Are you trying to get me killed? We're just friends. That is all there is to it!"

Karl scoffed, clearly not believing a word that Erich had said, before lecturing the man about his bad habits.

"Just like how you were just friends with that Oni babe, right? Not buying it, dude, just look at the way she is looking at you. There's clearly something going on between the two of you! You've got to introduce me. Maybe she has a friend you can hook me up with! Come on, man, I'm dying out here! You may not know the pains of being an eternal virgin, but have some fucking empathy!"

Erich shoved Karl away from him, before reminding the man of the consequences of what he was trying to do.

"Bro, do you have a death wish? You know that such a thing can get you a death sentence, right? Besides, the Dvrakians are almost as strict about that as we are. Even if S'aleth had a friend who is half as hot as she is, it is unlikely that she would ever consider being intimate with you. I don't know if you are aware of this, but Dvrakians mate for life, dude!"historical

Karl looked at Erich with suspicion in his eyes. The fact was that when it came to xenobiology, the Empire only cared to learn the best ways to kill alien species. They did not regard things like mating habits to be worthy of intellectual pursuit. The fact that Erich knew this only increased Karl's certainty that the guy was boning S'aleth. Which he immediately voiced aloud.

"Okay, you're telling me you know something as obscure as Dvrakian mating habits, but you two aren't hooking up? Not buying it, bro!"

Erich truly didn't have a response to this. He didn't even think about the Empire's lack of knowledge on such a subject, and thus he merely averted his gaze, refusing to comment any further. Eventually S'aleth got sick of pouting in silence, and approached Erich, where she immediately requested an answer to her previous question.

"Erich! You left me all alone at our table! And you still haven't answered my question!"

Erich's silver eyes quickly shifted their gaze between his two friends, he had to be careful how he answered this question, or Karl would never be convinced that they were just friends, and thus he sighed heavily before saying the bare minimum that he could get away with.

"You don't need to worry about that, S'aleth, it's fine. Just don't do it again...."

Karl eyed the two love birds with suspicion, before forcefully introducing himself to the Dvrakian beauty.

"I'm Karl, by the way. Erich and I attended the Academy together and are pretty good friends. I hear your name is S'aleth. It is a pleasure to meet you!"

S'aleth had barely heard what Karl had said, because she was too busy pouting over the idea that Erich had told never to be intimate with him again. But that wasn't possible for her. After all, everywhere she went, she could smell the mark she had placed upon him, something that would never wash away. Hell, even when she slept, she could sense his presence, which helped soothe her. This wasn't even taking into account the fact that the two of them were going to be on the same ship together for many years. If she could not further express her feelings properly, then she might actually go mad with lust.

Hell, even at this moment, she wanted nothing more than to kiss Erich, but she was forced to control herself, because if either of their two species witnessed them together, it could only spell trouble for the two of them. She damn nearly got herself exiled, and Erich executed the last time she let her feelings get the better of her, a mistake she refused to ever make again.

As for Erich, he could tell that he had seriously offended the girl with his remark, and thus he blushed over so slightly as he looked away and communicated something that only S'aleth managed to hear.

"Okay... Maybe when we are alone we can do that again... And more...."

At first S'aleth thought that she was mishearing things, as Erich had appeared to have said it in a voice so low that nobody else appeared to have heard it, not even the man who was standing in front of them. But the look on his face confirmed that he had indeed said such a thing.

Naturally, the Dvrakian beauty was unaware that Erich had the ability to communicate his thoughts with this mind, and thus she just assumed that he had indeed said the words, but in a way that only she managed to hear them. As a result, her pouting expression immediately shifted to one of excessive joy. She had to force herself from glomping the man, no matter how much she wanted to do so.