"Oh, you poor thing," The woman who had sat next to Khan said while placing a hand on his shoulder. "It must have been awful to lose your girlfriend after going through so much. Those Niqols must have no understanding of feelings. Luckily you are back among humans now."
"Clara is right," The woman sitting in front of Khan exclaimed. "Interspecies couples rarely last due to the many differences in the customs, but don't worry. You are among friends now."
"A broken heart can be the deadliest of the injuries," Another woman sitting in front of Felix announced. "Maybe talking about it can help. We should go for a walk one of these days. This area is quite barren, but there is a beautiful lake just past the plain."
"Hope, don't bother him already," The second woman scolded. "You can't expect him to forget about the alien so soon."
"Julia, you shouldn't scold others because they have asked what you are too timid to say," Clara scoffed, and Julia lowered her gaze as her cheeks reddened in embarrassment.
'Lieutenant Kintea has just become my archenemy,' Khan cursed in his mind as he tried to ignore the situation. 'Now I understand what George has said about the women in the army.'
The report depicted Khan as a magnificent man. He wasn't only an incredible soldier and a talented ambassador. He was also faithful and capable of deep feelings. His good looks only added positive features to the great image that Lieutenant Kintea had created for him.
Ecoruta was a battlefield where death could arrive abruptly, especially for a platoon made of foot soldiers. That unique situation had made both men and women inside the moving camp disregard normal ideas about decorum to prioritize a straightforward approach.
Every day could be their last, so they had to make the best out of them. Those soldiers' behavior resembled the Niqols for some aspects, but Khan could sense the lack of honesty in their gestures. The women who had approached him didn't know anything about him. They were only going after the image that Lieutenant Kintea had created in the hope of finding a perfect partner.
Of course, those intentions didn't apply to everyone, but it was clear that both men and women in that platoon had developed a deep interest in Khan. After all, the report depicted him as a hero who could love without caring about the physical differences that could afflict two species.
"You can always bring me for a walk," Felix stated in an excited tone before changing his approach when he saw the glares flying in his direction. "Khan needs to know everyone sooner or later. It's only proper to go out as a group."
Felix patten Khan's shoulder in a desperate attempt to show how close he had gotten with him. Still, that gesture didn't prove much since Khan didn't play along and only inspected his surroundings in the hope that the meal would arrive soon.
Khan would usually voice a few smart words and leave in that situation, but he was starving, and the strict schedule inside the moving camp didn't grant him much freedom when it came to meals. He had to endure those ignorant comments about his situation and the Niqols before coming up with a plan to escape.
'I miss Snow,' Khan sighed in his mind when he felt caged in a situation that he couldn't avoid. 'What does Clara even want? She must be at least ten years older than me.'
Everyone in the platoon was relatively young. Most soldiers barely appeared to be past twenty, but a few exceptions existed, and Clara was one of them. She was cute, and her face didn't have any wrinkle, but Khan could feel the age gap in her gestures. She resembled a poor imitation of Yeza, who failed to read the situation and use her beauty correctly.
"The Niqols feel more than humans," Khan eventually explained when he couldn't endure those comments anymore. "They experience life differently and have respect for what's truly important. Humans have a lot to learn from them."
The sudden comment and the meanings that it carried left the four soldiers around Khan and those listening to him stunned. They didn't expect him to defend the Niqols so firmly after what he had gone through on Nitis.
"Well, it's still unfair how they treated you after everything you have done for them," Clara complained, trying to save her face from her last comment.
"They had to take care of their species as a whole," Khan continued to defend the Niqols. "They gave her a choice, and she chose to remain."
Silence fell again among the group. The report didn't mention that detail, but Khan's story only grew sadder after hearing it. Luckily for him, clunking noises started to come out of the table until a spot under him slid open to reveal a tray with food.
"I told you that these seats were goo-," Felix tried to brag, but he fell silent when he saw Khan diving into his food.
Khan had grown used to every kind of food after living in the Slums and on Nitis. He could understand that the quality of the meals on Ecoruta wasn't great, but he had tasted worse in his life, so he devoured everything before the trays stopped coming out of the tables.
No menus appeared on the table after he finished eating his meal. Khan could only accept that the camp wouldn't give him the chance of ordering another round, so he prepared himself to leave. Yet, Clara noticed his dissatisfaction and didn't hesitate to use it.
"You can take part of my rice if you want," Clara declared. "These portions are too big for me anyway."
"You can also have mine," Julia exclaimed. "Have this egg too. I can't really handle it when I can't recognize its species."
"Same here," Hope sighed. "Also, the life in the trenches is often sedentary. I'm afraid I might get fat if I keep eating so much."
Getting fat while carrying heavy guns and practicing with mana was virtually impossible. Khan was also certain that the soldiers in the trenches would often skip meals due to the nature of the conflict, but he didn't mind where that conversation was leading. He lifted his tray and let the three women throw food inside it before resuming his meal.
The four had to watch as Khan wolfed his second meal in no time. They almost remained speechless in front of the amount of food that he could put in his stomach, but they didn't say anything about that until he finished eating.
"You must be in your growing phase to be so hungry," Clara commented.
"That made you sound incredibly old," Hope chuckled.
"Who did you call old?!" Clara almost shouted.
"Ladies, you are all young and beautiful," Felix said while trying to put an end to that argument.
"That sounded creepy," Julia whispered in a timid tone.
Khan ended up revealing a smile at those funny interactions, but he didn't forget the main reason behind his arrival on Ecoruta. He had to get stronger, and that required training. Establishing friendly relationships with women who only cared about his fame wasn't on his list.
"Where are you going?" Felix asked when he saw Khan standing up.
"I'll meditate on my bed," Khan responded without adding other details, and he moved toward the exit of the dining hall without giving anyone the chance to stop him.
A series of gazes followed his departure, but he ignored them. Khan went straight for the dormitory and sat on his bed before immersing himself in the meditative state.
Time moved quickly while Khan forced his mana to intensify its effects on his body. Training after becoming a first-level warrior felt incredibly slow since he had to rely on the passive influence of that energy. Still, Khan had a plan to accelerate the process. The only problem was that he lacked the ability to deploy it.
Figures moved past Khan, and voices reached his ears as the other soldiers filled the dormitory and lay on their beds. Very few of them decided to train. Most directly slept or waited for everyone to fall asleep so that they could reach their partners or leave the room with them.
Everything was silent by the time Khan opened his eyes. It was barely midnight, but the strict schedule in the moving camp had made most soldiers decide to rest. He could hear faint voices echoing through the corridor outside the dormitory, but they were too vague to understand what they said.
Normally, Khan would decide to pull an all-nighter to complete his training schedule, but he didn't know Ecoruta enough to feel confident in getting tired before a possible battle. Lieutenant Pouille could send the platoon on another trench the very next day, and he wanted to be at his peak.
However, a problem appeared after Khan lay down to sleep. Ecoruta's temperature was similar to Earth's, so he could deal with that warmer environment. Still, the dormitory contained almost thirty soldiers, and the cramped space made their presence impossible to miss. The environment inevitably grew hot to the point that he felt unable to sleep.
Khan didn't expect that problem to arrive, especially after living in the Slums for so long, but it seemed that his body rejected those warm temperatures now. He couldn't relax enough to sleep, leading him to give up on his initial plan after spending ten minutes wide awake.
Khan jumped off his bed silently and left the dormitory to approach the camp's exit. He passed in front of the hall with the praying mats, but he only saw a couple flirting in the corner that he didn't hesitate to ignore.
The exit slid open when Khan approached it, and a cold breeze swept him, immediately bringing comfort to his mind. Part of him already decided that he would sleep outside that night, but that only if he completed his training quickly enough.
Ecoruta was similar to Earth at night, except for the two moons high in the dark sky. The lack of artificial illumination in the area also added vibes experienced only on Nitis. Still, he quickly disregarded them when he noticed a group of four soldiers laughing and chatting right past the corner of the moving camp.
Khan initially planned to let the soldiers be, but his gaze inevitably fell on the metal flask that they were passing around while blowing the smoke of their cigarettes. Smoking seemed quite common on Ecoruta, but he barely noticed that at the sight of such a familiar situation.
The four soldiers fixed their gazes on Khan when they saw him walking toward their group. Some frowned as they tried to understand his intentions, but he quickly explained himself through a soft voice. "Do you mind sharing that drink with me?"
The request surprised the soldiers, but they eventually exploded into a laugh that they suppressed as soon as they recalled about the late hour. The woman with the drink then handed the flask to Khan, and he took a short sip before passing it to the man to his left.
"Do you want one?" The man asked while showing the pack of cigarettes, but Khan shook his head as he sat on the ground and laid his back on the camp's spiked wheel.
"I didn't expect you to be the drinking type," The woman commented. "Though I would also drink after having dinner with those three."
"I learnt on Nitis," Khan revealed while accepting the flask handed by the second woman.
"That planet must have been messier than the report said," The second man stated.
"I couldn't help but overhear what you said during dinner," The first woman uttered. "Why did she decide to remain on Nitis?"
"Her species needed her," Khan half-lied to avoid giving more explanations. "Why is everyone so interested in her?"
"We can't do much down here," The first man exclaimed. "Gossips make everything easier to endure."
Khan revealed a smile since those words made him think about Azni, but he suddenly sensed a powerful figure approaching the camp. He turned toward the trench, and the soldiers did the same before seeing Lieutenant Pouille marching forward while muttering vague words.
"You should be sleeping," Lieutenant Pouille scolded as he approached the entrance.
"We'll go soon, sir," The first woman chuckled while showing a radiant smile.
"No, I meant it as an actual suggestion," Lieutenant Pouille replied. "Our victory has created a flaw in the enemy defenses. We have orders to take over a settlement tomorrow."
****
Author's notes: I'm back.