Love knows no side

Walking through the jungle of this world, dressed in a jumpsuit that looked much like a uniform, she kept all her senses aler.

And those senses were better than those of an average human, as she was a hybrid, half a feline species, even though, at first sight, nobody would notice that. Not right now, anyway.

Clad with a cooling jumpsuit and a poncho-like cloak, her head covered with a soft helmet that contained a com-unit, and her face hidden under a layer of camouflage cream, she was clearly judged human. Even her hands were stuck in gloves.

Only if one came close enough to look into her eyes would they have discovered she wasn’t human, not completely anyway.

Her eyes were a deep purple, and the iris was slit like that of a lion, but it was hardly visible due to the dark colour of her eyes.

Moving with catlike, noiseless steps and grace, she searched her path through the jungle. Being part of the rebel command base, some miles from where she was now, she took her patrols very seriously. Even though she wasn’t a normal rebel trooper, she was a survival instructor.

Yet that didn’t stop her from taking her fair share of patrols. Her colleagues admired her sense of fairness and her knowledge, but she had no close friends.

She was only part of the rebels because she had nowhere else to go. And because of something, she had never told anyone, but it wasn’t designed to let her become friends with the imperial troops.

Stopping, she lifted her head; her fine ears, which were slightly pointy, had picked up a noise, an unfamiliar noise. Leaping into the next tree, moving fast and still noiseless, she was gone within two seconds, and the place she had stood on lay as if she had never been there.

Now she moved along the trees, used the branches and leaves as cover, and headed slowly but steadily towards the noise, stopping now and again to take a deep breath, taking in the scent of her surroundings.

A grim expression showed on her face. A human was around, a male most likely, but she wasn’t certain about this, and that irritated her.

Coming closer to the human, she stopped more often and slowed even more, her motions now of a deadly elegance, showing the feline part of her. She was the hunter, ready to come down upon her prey.

He moved, compared to her, with the noise and grace of a Bantha through the jungle, cursing now and again. And it was the cursing that she had picked up.

His clothing was similar to hers; only the pattern and colour were different, really. His jumpsuit regulated his body heat and was designed to stop him from overheating and, therefore, from needing too much water.

He also wore a poncho-like cloak; it served as rain protection and could be used as a blanket.

Obviously, he wasn’t used to the jungle, and just as obvious, everything on him, starting with his boots and ending with his accurate haircut, screamed:

Imperial Officer

He was an intelligence officer who tried to prove his point.

Data he had gathered had shown that this planet had to contain a rebel base, where certain operations against the empire had started. To prove this point was his ambition, because even though he was high-ranking, there was always one who had a higher rank.

And this person had told him to bring proof for his theory.

The equipment he carried was standard, as were his weapons. Just carrying a light blaster and two vibro-blades, he was actually a little underarmed.

As he passed through underneath her, she strained not to hiss.

An Imp!

Here!

That could not mean anything good. Pondering for a moment whether or not to kill him right away, she decided to follow him first, to see if he just walked around or actually knew where he went.

To gather as much information as she could possibly get, it would be worth it to wait. In the end, she would kill him anyway. She was no ruthless killer, but if it came down to it, it would be him or her and her friends, and she knew where her priorities lay.

So she let him pass and move out of sight; she had his scent. Dropping near enough noiseless to the ground, she reached for her blaster rifle and followed him.

He continued to search his path when a tickle in the back of his neck warned him. It was a feeling of something being off, dangerous even. Twirling around, he brought his blaster up and fired before he saw what he was shooting at.

At the same time, he cursed at himself, twirl, look, aim, fire.

That was the right sequence, not to blast half the jungle away. But he had no time to really think about it, as his shot was answered immediately, and he leaped behind a tree for cover.

Biting his lip, he gritted his teeth as he suppressed a very painful groan. Damn, he was hit; the other was a better shot than him.

He would die now; he had no illusions about that. The man never heard the footsteps; he just saw someone appear before his fading gaze. He tried to move but could not, and blackness surrounded him.

Kneeling down beside him, after kicking his leg slightly, she sighed and took the helmet off, revealing silvery white short fur. Like velvet, it covered her head and her entire body.

Stripping him of his weapons and other visible devices, she thought for a moment about his useless death and changed her mind.

Reaching for his medkit, as she wouldn’t know when she needed hers, she removed half of his clothing to tend his wound. It was a deep graze on his left side.

Without treatment, he would bleed to death or die of shock.

Shaking her head again, she bandaged him, bound his hands, and left him where he was. He wouldn’t go anywhere, not in the state he was in.

Curious about what he may look like, she wiped the camouflage paint out of his face.

Surprised by his youth and, if she was honest to herself, by his looks, she studied his face for a while before she rose again and took off to the creek that ran by, only a few yards into the jungle.

She felt strangely attracted to that young face.

From her experience with other humans, she guessed him to be her age, maybe a little younger, though she wasn’t certain.

She liked his looks; he was well-built for an imp, and the feline always had a weak spot for tall, broad-built men, and this officer was just her type.

But he was also the enemy, and she forbade herself every thought about him.

Stripping off completely, she waded into the cool water and enjoyed the feeling of it playing around her slim and firm body. The soft touch of the murmuring water against her skin and fur, as it started to wash the disguising paint off her, let her drift into a small daydream.

It was her personal luxury to imagine she was far away. Away from the war, away from this world, and away from that prisoner, whose life she had spared. Even though she acted out of instinct on that without knowing why.

Her hands moved over her body in slow, caressing gestures, and she massaged the paint out of her fur. She hated the paint, but it was necessary. Her features seemed to make it necessary, because even among the rebels, there were those who preferred the company of humans only. And with enough paint on her face, her feline features just disappeared.

The time passed by, and he woke up, confused and irritated, as to why he was alive, or did eternity look and smell like a jungle? And why were his hands painfully tied if he was dead? That would mean he was alive, but where and who was the stranger who shot and captured him?

He tried moving, bit his lip again to avoid a groan, and turned his head some, trying to figure out where his captor was.

Blinking, he shook his head slightly; he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. So he turned his head some more and tried, yet again, to move without causing a noise.

Indeed, there was a creek, and ... Was he hallucinating? Or did he see a stunning female shape that washed itself? He could not help but stare at her; she seemed grey-skinned from what he saw, but her body was, well, wow.

Way too long had he been in the company of men only, not to admire a female body when he saw one, but this?

It was like a dream.

It must have been; there was no other explanation for it, and so he tried to watch her without making a noise for as long as she would be there.