Project X
All Rights Reserved
© 2015 Luna Black
~*~
"Isn't this exciting?!" Kelly gushed, raising her hands over her head as she stretched her muscles.
Alexa laughed and shrugged. "I think it's cool they're letting us train with them." She reached down to her toes, groaning as her knees cracked and straightened her back to continue talking to Kelly.
"You're so lucky," she sighed, leaning her weight on her left foot as she arched her body to the left.
She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because," Kelly laughed, "Xander is a Lieutenant, you're probably going to go with him so that he can train you and he'll most likely treat you like his princess."
Alexa frowned and shook her head, "He won't."
"Alexa," she deadpanned, "the guy likes you; he's not going to push you like he would push the other men."
"Well, yeah," she mumbled, "we're not men; we're females."
Kelly rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. It's cool though because if Chandler was a Lieutenant or something, I'd want him to train me and treat me like a princess too."
Before she could answer, Xander walked up to her, still looking as handsome as he did that morning when he walked into her room to wake her up and said, "Hey."
She grinned at him, feeling butterflies erupt in her stomach and said, "Hey."
"Did you elect the squadrons you want to be in yet?"
"Nope," they spoke in unison.
He nodded and kissed Alexa's forehead gently. "I advise you choose one before they draft you, I will see you soon?"
She nodded, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly and waved him goodbye. Kelly wiggled her eyebrows at her suggestively and sighed, "If Chandler wasn't my hottie, I'd be so jealous of you right now."
Alexa laughed, shaking her head and said, "Come on, let's choose a squadron."
They walked up to the table with the names and randomly chose a leader. After she made sure that it wasn't Xander, she walked to the group of women that were waiting for "Lieutenant D."
The day was beautiful. The sun was out shining brightly, but the occasional cool wind balanced it out to give the day a wonderful type of weather. Most of the men had already been running drills.
According to Xander, they divided the days into different specialties they needed to focus on. Mondays were running days and she knew that there was another reason added to her list of hating Mondays.
Alexa wasn't a big fan of running, but she didn't hate it completely. It just reminded her of her dad and he wasn't the nicest man in the world. There were certain memories that she did not want to remember. Nonetheless, she could feel the adrenaline pumping through her as she waited along with the other ten women for their leader.
As if it had been rehearsed, the Lieutenants began to walk up to their group members and introduce themselves. She was kind of disappointed that Kelly wasn't in her group, but she didn't want to be with Xander and Kelly had coincidentally been in his group.
She didn't have a good enough reason to not want to be in his group except the fear of not being treated like the others. She didn't want him to give her special treatment just because they lived in the same house and shared delicious kisses.
A tall man with dark brown hair stood before them. His scars were so protruded that she could see them through his black shirt and his arms were crossed over his chest to add to his intimidation. She automatically received bad vibes from him.
"Good," he glanced at their feet, "you are all wearing sneakers."
The girls nodded.
"My name is of no importance to you; you may address me as Lieutenant D." A girl beside Alexa snorted, but he was too busy trying to intimidate them to notice, "You all now belong to my squadron and I expect each and every one of you to get here on time from now on. I will not say what the consequences to being late are because I know none of you will be late. Since we have no questions, we can start jogging towards the field."
A couple of girls gave him estranged looks for his speech, but began jogging behind him nonetheless. Alexa didn't want to push herself so hard so she stayed in the middle of the group, not in the front but not last; just perfect.
As Xander watched her run by him, he frowned. He'd figure she'd go with him, but he wouldn't put too much thought on it. It was probably a misunderstanding and he'd be able to fix it once he was done training the new members to his squadron.
Fifteen minutes of running sounded like hell. But running for almost two hours straight was like sitting right under Satan's sweaty balls.
Alexa thought she was going to pass out. They had been running non-stop for what seemed to be forever. Her legs wanted to give out and she swore she was beginning to lose all feeling in her toes. She had no problem for running for hours, but she hadn't run in a long time and the Lieutenant seemed to get a kick out of the women looking like death themselves.
Some slowed down their sprints to quick jogs to try and keep up, but others passed out from all the running. She was surprised that he had chosen such a rigorous length to run for their first training ever.
The men that were running alongside them seemed to think it was "too slow" and decided to show off, making most women roll their eyes in anger. At the beginning they all spoke amongst themselves in a friendly manner, but as they ran their umpteenth lap, they couldn't look each other in the eye.
They were tired and growing hungry. Sweat was dripping down their bodies, making their clothing stick to their bodies and their hair to their faces. Luckily for her, Xander had advised she'd wear light colours because the sun would be attracted to darker colours and she'd feel hot.
She wore a pair of knee-length grey leggings and a white T-shirt with a white sports bra underneath. Her sneakers felt comfortable as hell when she first wore them, but as she continued running, she was willing to saw her feet off for the pain they were causing her.
The cool grass seemed inviting and she was close to falling to her knees and catching her breath. Simply thinking about running was going to make her stomach turn over and she'd surely vomit.
Just when she thought they couldn't have enough, the Lieutenant began barking orders to speed up and keep up with his men. It all seemed to be taken out of a horribly scripted military movie. She was just waiting for the director to scream out cut and be finished with the horror movie.
But it never happened.
One of the girls that was running in front of her collapsed and Alexa felt her heart wrenching for her. She slowed down and stopped beside her, thinking that her absence would go unnoticed.
She thought wrong.
"What are you doing?" The Lieutenant barked, standing before her with a glare that could bury her thousands of feet underground.
"She," Alexa huffed, "passed out."
"That is her problem," he snapped, "why did you stop running?"
She frowned. "She can barely breathe! I had to help her."
The girl gasped for air, clutching at her chest desperately as if she were lacking oxygen. Alexa pulled her hands up behind her back and soothingly said, "Shhh, try to control your breathing; this will open up your lungs, come on."
"Let her go," he spat, "she is going to get up and keep running."
"What the hell is your problem?!" Alexa bit out, glaring up at the Lieutenant.
"The issue does not involve you," he sneered.
She rolled her eyes, ignoring his glare and got down on her knees. "Hey," she patted the girl's black hair, "it's okay, just try to breathe." The girl nodded, tears brimming on her eyes as the urge to regurgitate returned and she turned her head away from Alexa abruptly.
Her shoulders shook weakly as she heaved out her stomach's contents and Alexa grabbed her hair whispering soothing words near her ear.
"Get up," The Lieutenant barked, "I knew you Earth women were weak."
"No shït," Alexa muttered, under her breath, "just fück off and go with the rest of the team."
"I do not take orders from you," he hissed, the anger that was radiating off him made the rest of the people circling them cower in fear. "I commanded both of you to stand up and continue running."
"She can't keep running!" She exclaimed, growing irate, "Can't you see? Because I'm sure as hell that your freaky vision lets you see the most miniscule thing there is."
"I'm okay," The girl croaked, wiping the corners of her mouth and tried to stand up. Her legs wobbled and she quickly reached out to hold Alexa's arm for support.
Alexa shook her head, gently placing her on the cool grass and said, "Honey, you are not okay. What's your name?"
"Kai," she mumbled, turning a sickly pale colour. Her eyes widened as her cheeks puffed up and she turned the other way to continue vomiting.
"This is pathetic," The Lieutenant roared, "and it is wasting my time."
"Then, leave," Alexa spat, challenging his glare with her own.
He grabbed her hair, yanking her back and she widened her eyes up at him. The anger that was exploding inside of her was quick and blinding her rational thinking. There was no way she could survive a fight with the burly man, but he was pushing her limits.
"I told Jenks that you women were too incompetent to breed with us," He raised his clenched fist, making Alexa flinch as she waited for the impact to shatter against her skull. She was waiting for him to knock her out with one blow, but he let out a chuckle as he grabbed her wrist. "Your kind is pathetic; I refuse to-"
"Let her go, Dram," Xander stated calmly, yet the rage that he felt was eating him inside. He was running alongside the pasture with his group when he noticed the commotion in Dram's group. He had already been nervous to let Alexa with a group of other men - he didn't need anything else added to his anxious thoughts.
He rolled his eyes, but reluctantly released Alexa's wrist. She hissed, rubbing her throbbing scalp and wrist, as she glared at the assailant. She crawled towards Kai and helped her stand away from her spew.
Kai leaned her head against Alexa's shoulder, groaning quietly in pain. Her head was spinning and her throat felt dry from all the vomiting it had gone through.
"Are you here to rescue your useless woman?" His eyes glimmered with malice as he crossed his arms over his chest. It made him look more intimidating and the other women stepped away, along with the soldiers.
Xander took a deep breath, running his fingers through his hair and glanced at Alexa. "Are you alright?"
She nodded, opening her mouth to tell him about Kai, but Dram interrupted her. "I asked you a question. This is my squadron, I do not care how high and mighty you are; the rules are-"
He turned around, grabbing his collar and quietly said, "I know the rules, Dram, but I suggest you stop insulting my-" he cleared his throat, "Alexa. Rules or no rules, we do not disrespect women; I do not want to fight with you about it. They are doing us a favour by being here, you must honour them."
"Honour them?" Dram widened his blue eyes in incredulity, "Honour these things?! Let me tell you a little something about honouring!"
Xander released his collar, stepping away and walked towards Alexa. "Is she alright?"
She shook her head, gently nudging Kai, who wouldn't respond. "She threw up and passed out."
He nodded, leaning down to grab her, but Dram yanked his shoulder to turn him around. "Dram," he hissed through gritted teeth, "I do not wish to fight. I am taking them to the infirmary and will return to speak about your behaviour."
This merely angered him more. Xander was ignoring him as if he were not important. "Stop patronizing me!" He spat, his eyes flickering a black colour, "Just because Jenks gave you my position does not mean that you can treat me like I am below you."
"Then, do not act like it," Xander replied, annoyance flaming in his eyes. "You were too reckless to be the General's second-in-command, he simply found someone who was responsible enough."
"You?" He snorted, "You were responsible enough? You could not even protect Corah-"
"I suggest you stop speaking this very moment, Dram," He growled, making Alexa widen her eyes in fear at the bestiality that rang through his voice. She had never heard him speak that way and it was making the smallest hairs on her body stand in fear. "No one could have protected our women."
Dram gritted his teeth, clenching his fists at his sides and said, "You could have taken them to Griod. Their women were perfectly fine and she could have survived!"
"We do not know that," he snarled, "and you think that the Griods would have taken the Xrionian princess into their homes calmly? They would have killed her at the mere sight of her; there was nothing we could have done."
"At least I would have tried!"
Xander clenched his jaw tightly, making the muscles seem like they would burst and grabbed Alexa's hand as he teleported them to the infirmary. He placed Kai on the empty bed and Dr. Naveer stepped in.
"Xander?" He frowned, glancing down at the girl, "What is the matter?"
"Kai," Alexa croaked, clearing her throat to try again, "her name is Kai. We were running drills with Lieutenant Dram and she felt lightheaded. She stopped running to try and catch her breath, but he forced her to keep going. She, um, started throwing up and well, uh, yeah."
The distraught Lieutenant cleared his throat and quietly spoke in their language. Alexa looked away, feeling like she was being disrespectful by listening into their conversation, even though she couldn't understand and walked towards Kai.
The girl forced a smile, her tan skin returning to her normal colour gradually. "What a first day, huh?"
She shrugged, smiling tight-lipped and said, "How are you feeling?"
"Better," Kai sighed, "I don't know what happened. I used to run in my school's track team and I went to the gym every day before we came here."
"It was probably the length and speed he was making us run at. No matter how good of a runner you are, that was enough to kill anyone. But I'm glad you're feeling better, I was about to kick him in the balls if he kept screaming at you."
She cracked a smile, running her tongue over her lips nervously and said, "Thank you for sticking up for me. I didn't think I was going to get sick, if I had known, I would've stayed home with Zak."
Alexa pulled up a chair, realising that Xander and Dr. Naveer were still engaged in a serious conversation and said, "Is that your partner?"
Her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink and she nodded. "He is."
"What does he do?"
"He's botanist."
"That's cool," she replied.
Kai looked at Xander and then back at Alexa. "Is he your partner?"
Alexa smiled at him, even though he wasn't facing her and nodded. "Yes."
After a couple of seconds of silence, Kai grinned and said, "You like him, don't you?"
She frowned. "Well, I kind of have to like him...he's going to be the father of my future kids..."
"No," she shook her head, her smile still on her face, "I mean you really like him. It's okay though, because he likes you too."
Her cheeks turned a dark shade of red and Xander turned to them. He walked closer to Alexa as Dr. Naveer pressed some buttons on his clipboard. "Are you feeling better?"
Kai nodded. "Thank you for bringing me here."
"You are welcome; I just called your partner."
The door opened, revealing a tall man, with a lean physique and his eyes quickly snapped to Kai's. "Darling," he walked towards her and Alexa quickly stepped away to leave him some room, "how are you feeling? Are you alright?"
She gave out a girly giggle and nodded, kissing his cheek lightly. "I'm fine, Zak. Thanks to them, at least."
Zak turned to Xander and bowed his head respectfully. "Thank you so much, Lieutenant."
He shrugged and said, "I apologise for speaking to Kai without your permission, but I needed to get her some medical aid."
"No apology needed," he shook his head quickly and glanced at Alexa.
Xander chuckled and said, "This is Alexa, she helped Kai during the drill. Alexa, this is Zak."
"Pleasure to meet you," he bowed his head, taking Kai's hand in his and kissed it gently, "thank you for taking care of my rose; I do not know what I would have done if something happened to her."
"You're welcome," she grinned, liking the way his eyes shimmered with delight whenever he looked down at her. Whether it was love or admiration, he cared for her; it was clearer than a sunny day's sky. I wonder if Xander would ever look at me like that.
Slowly her cheeks began to heat up, the heat of embarrassment starting at her ears until it covered most of her face. Xander raised his eyebrow at her and cleared his throat, "Let me know if she is well, please. Alexa and I will be leaving to give you some privacy now."
Alexa walked towards him, taking a hold of his bicep and took a deep breath, before closing her eyes. He took a step away from her, quietly walking towards the table and began pressing some buttons that were hovering near his face.
The uncomfortable silence that soon followed made her skin itch. She walked towards the kitchen, looking through the cabinets for something to cook and said, "What do you want to eat today?"
"It does not matter," he replied quietly, mostly paying attention to the message he was writing to the General.
She nodded, biting her bottom lip as she continued rummaging through and said, "What about tacos? Would tacos be okay with you?"
"Yes."
"Okay," she whispered, opening the furthest cabinet as she looked for taco shells. "Um," she turned around, looking at Xander, "there are no shells..."
He looked up at her momentarily, before turning his attention back to the task at hand and said, "Would you like to order some food? That way you do not have to cook. I am sure you are tired after today's training."
"Oh," she trailed off and nodded, looking down at her fingers, "sure, that would be okay with me. Where do I order?"
"Just tell me what you would like to eat and I will order it," he replied.
Alexa pursed her lips, not liking his strange attitude but nodded and said, "I guess some Chinese take-out."
"Done," he mumbled, furiously pressing some buttons and returned to his deathly silence.
She sighed, biting her bottom lip to keep back all the words she wanted to say and decided to take a shower. The hot water helped to relax her muscles and she momentarily forgot about the repugnant Lieutenant.
The anger that he made her feel was worse than whenever she fought with Seth. She was willing to stab him if need be. Seth had never laid a hand on her with the intention of hurting her, but that idiot had tried to yank her hair out and she wanted to castrate him.
Xander's reaction to it all surprised her. She didn't know if she was angry that he didn't beat him to the pulp [because she sure as hell wanted to] or if she was satisfied that he had handled the situation so conscientiously.
After she was done, she got dressed in her comfortable clothes and headed out towards the kitchen, rubbing her head gently. The slight ache of her hair being pulled was returning and she felt her head beginning to pound painfully.
At the sight of Xander dividing the Chinese take-out quietly, she sighed. She didn't like whatever was happening between them. It was like an invisible friction curtain was standing in between them and she didn't know what to do about it.
"Here you go," He handed her a plate and sat down across from her, quietly.
Minutes went by as they ate in silence until she couldn't take it anymore. The noise of the fork scraping against the plate and the swallowing of the food was going to drive her insane.
"Are you okay?"
Xander took a sip of his water and looked up at her with emotionless blue eyes. "Yes; why?"
"Don't lie to me," she tightened her hold on the fork until her knuckles turned white, "I know something's up. What is it?"
He sighed. "Alexa, nothing is wrong."
She narrowed her eyes, placing the fork on her plate. "Really? Because you haven't had a decent conversation with me since we came back from the field. You literally just zapped us here and started working on your stupid table computer thing."
His Adam's apple bobbled up and down as he swallowed again and he took a deep breath. "My mind is just perturbed."
"Then, tell me what's wrong," she softened her voice, "I want to help."
He looked at her, his blue eyes moving slowly as he searched for something on her face. Once he was satisfied with whatever he saw, he breathed in deeply. "What Dram said," he said, "it has been bothering me."
"The Corah thing?" She frowned, "Xander-"
"Yes," he sighed, dejectedly, "what if we could have saved our women if we simply avoided the war with the Griods? They were the only planet that was not affected by the virus. The scientists believed it was transmitted by food and they were the only planet that did not trade with us."
Alexa bit her bottom lip and stood up, walking towards him and gave him a warm hug. She took his cheeks in her hands and whispered, "Xander, you can't live your life with "what ifs" haunting you. I am really sorry about the deaths of your women and I can't say I can relate, but you can't blame yourself for that."
He nodded, placing his hand over hers and said, "It just torments me. For nights I could not sleep, just thinking about that. I always wondered if Queen Clarida ever had visions about the deaths and if she did, could she have had stopped them. But she was the first woman to be killed by it."
"Please don't agonise yourself over it anymore," she kissed the scar on his chin lightly and whispered, "I don't like seeing you so distraught."
Xander smiled at her, caressing her cheek gently and said, "I will try. Tomorrow we can do something, so I can make it up to you, if you would like."
"I can't," she frowned, "I have training."
He dropped his hand from her cheek and stared at her, amusedly. "You are still going to train with Dram after what happened today?"
"Well, yeah," she nodded, frowning at his sudden change of mood, "I'm part of his squadron."
"Alexa," he began, "Dram tried to hurt you. I will not be there to protect you from his turpitudes."
She narrowed her eyes. "He did hurt me; he pulled my freaking hair and wrapped his freaking fingers super tight around my wrist. But I am not going to give him the satisfaction of quitting. I am going to go back and show him that I am not a "useless" woman."
"I would prefer it if you did not go," His voice came out disgruntled and careful, as if he was trying not to say the wrong words. "I do not trust Dram; he will jeopardise your health."
"I'm going," she finalised, stepping away from him as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Xander clenched his jaw and said, "I just do not want you to get hurt."
Alexa rolled her eyes at him and said, "My father was in the army, Xander. He was ruthless and psychotic and I lived. Whatever that idiot throws my way, I'm sure I can handle it."
"Why did you not come with me? I could have easily trained you the same way he would have," he spoke quietly.
"Because you were going to treat me differently," she bit out, "I wanted to get the full experience; I didn't want you to be lenient with me because I'm your partner."
"I," he frowned, "I would not have done that. I do not play favouritism with my soldiers; they are all the same."
She huffed, "Xander, you wouldn't have treated me the same! You think I'm fragile and I'm sure as hell that you would've thought I couldn't handle the pain. Let me tell you, when I was younger, my father made me run with him seven miles every morning. I can handle the pain; I'm not completely breakable."
"You are human," he cleared his throat, "our bodies function differently. I would not have treated you with favouritism, but I would not have forced you to run as quickly as my warriors. It was the first day; you had to be eased into the training. Your body might not hurt now but you will feel it tomorrow."
Her lips pursed in annoyance and she said, "Just because I am human doesn't make me a weakling. I can take it and I am going tomorrow; whether you like it or not." She walked towards her side of the table and angrily picked up her plate, "I'm not even hungry anymore." She placed the food in the fridge and covered it with aluminium foil.
"Alexa," Xander stood up, as he ran his fingers through his hair tiredly.
"This conversation is over," she snapped, slamming her room door behind her.
~*~
Xrion - Sri-on. Anyla - Ah-nee-la. Nandrix - Nan-dricks. Krete - Kre-tte. Entyo - En-tee-oh. Faixa - Fa-ee-xah. Griod - Gree-od. Onyx - Oh-neex.