"Alright Sunny, you ready?"

Sunny shrugged her shoulders and flexed her hands. The metallic frame on her back was actually pretty light, and she could still move her arms. On the Captain's urging, she backed up under the cargo lift.

"Damn." Someone said, "You guys really do this to yourselves for war?" Sunny craned her neck up at the human standing above her.

"Of course, wouldn't you?" The human shook his head in astonishment but kept working.

The humans were speaking of the body modifications the Drev underwent to be better for war. Sunny had undergone two such procedures. One hand modified her upper right forearm carapace specifically to attach a modified weapon, so she wouldn't have to worry about dropping it during battle. Her second procedure had cut two rails down her posterior shell on either side of her spine; they had originally been used to carry containers for extra ammunition. Yes, the procedures had both been very painful. Once the humans had asked about them, she had been pleased to explain, and even more pleased when the humans had come up with an idea.

Behind her there was the soft slither of steel on carapace, and then the mount clicked into place.

Captain Vir put a hand on her arm and looked up, "You ok Sunny, that's about half weight."

"I'm good."

The captain gave a go to the team, and the full weight bore down on her shoulders. It wasn't too bad. The humans came forward and began strapping her into place.

Captain Vir stepped back and looked up, "That's what I'm talking about, now Sunny, you'll have an extra 200 + pounds if someone is going to operate that thing, do you think you're ready?" Sunny nodded her head vigorously excited.

"Alright," The Captain said, "hopping up on the box behind Sunny, "Get ready." She braced herself against the floor with a wide triangle stance, as one foot, and then the other came down on the metal frame strapped over her back. The weight grew and then evened out.

"Still good Sunny." When she nodded, the Captain seemed pleased, "Try to walk around."

It took her a moment to gain momentum, but once she was walking it wasn't that bad. The rest of the crew oohed and ahhed as she trotted around the room. It was just then that Krill came around the corner paused and then let off an exasperated sigh, "Hi Krill, do you like it?" The captain teased

The look on Krill's face almost reached reproachful, "Is that a machine gun?"

"Yes my friend, that's exactly what it is."

"So you mounted a machine gun on the back of a Drev, and now you are riding her like a war pony of death."

He patted Sunny on the shoulder and grinned moving the mounted weapon so it was pointing up at the ceiling. "Hell yeah, Alright Sunny, you can back it up." She did as told returning to the cargo lift. Vir Stepped off the "Buddy pegs." He hopped down to where Krill waited, "So my four legged friend, what's up?"

The little creature scrolled down on his holographic clipboard, "You received a transmission, from your brother. He's engaged, and they are setting a date for six months from now."

Vir broke out in a wide grin, "David? Yeah, thought so. It's about damn time!"

"Engaged?" Sunny wondered as the battle reference for the word didn't seem to fit in context.

Vir glanced at her, "It's when two humans become a 'mating pair' as you aliens would say. Usually involves a lot of that sort of ritualistic stuff, a big party and what not." He grinned some more, "Getting married, well good for them. They've been dancing around each other for almost four years now. Was almost worried they wouldn't make it."

Sunny watched in interest, she didn't really know anything about human mating rituals. She didn't even know that humans paired off. From what she understood they sort of just.... Went for it, but apparently there was a difference between a fling and actual mating, which had totally never occurred to her.

As a Drev things were a little different. Since their species culture was based entirely around war, it had become customary to include a ritual that showed your prowess in battle. It was imperative that a Drev pair off with someone equally as accomplished in battle as they were, and the only way to figure that out was to fight each other. Once an attachment was established, and those involved wished to act upon it, a day was set aside for the big fight. The terms of the fight could be set differently depending on how high status or how high profile the pairing was. You could fight, to the death, or to surrender. However, if you were to pick to the death but then surrender, you were immediately shunned and shamed; if you agreed to die, than you were expected to do it without complaining. The mating ritual was successful if both of you survived without surrender, or neither of you could gain the upper hand leading to a stalemate that lasted over a 1/25 cycle. The fight could occur at any time, and after that you were open to become a pair at any time, or, deciding otherwise, to pair with someone else. Generally, those who did successfully complete the ritual and then decide to be together often fought side by side in, what Sunny considered, the greatest example of trust and romance that one could hope for.

She sighed longingly thinking about it, at this point in her life, she had no real hope for something like that. Though she was still young, she hadn't seen any of her own kind for some time, and even considering that, no one had ever shown interest in her beforehand.

Kind of heartbreaking.... Watching everyone else fighting alongside a companion when no one had ever even looked at her in that way. She doubted anyone here understood that. The only other nonhuman on the ship, Krill, wouldn't understand these feelings. His species had no need for romance, everyone was just so logical that they simply mated to keep the population stable.

Meal slid away from carapace, and she rolled her shoulders, the captain stepped down from the box, his metal leg whirring slightly. He looked up at her, "Hey, why the long face?"

Sunny was always surprised to find the human understood her facial expressions. Humans were very good at that sort of thing, krill told her that the humans had a special place in their brain for that, it was called the Fusiform Face area in the temporal lobe, and apparently its knowledge could be expanded to include alien facial expressions.

"Come on, lighten up Sunny, you and I reining death and destruction, a killing machine, come on you like that sort of thing."

She shook off her blues and nodded. She did enjoy war, and she very much like it when they could make her more deadly than she already was, so that was something. Captain Vir motioned Krill over, and too the clipboard from him looking over the message as he did. He was wearing only one boot today, just for his real leg, the prosthetic foot was clear from under his pants. He said it was easier to move when the foot was bare.

That was the first and only time Sunny had ever felt a twinge of guilt for something she had done during war. To her war was war it was impersonal, it was distant, but to the humans it was very personal, and from what she knew, though humans could survive great physical stress, and come out completely fine, they often received mental damage from war. The mental damage often being worse than the physical damage.

What she had done to Vir had likely left him mentally crippled for much longer than it had taken his leg to heal. She knew that, depending on lighting, or their interaction, or if she accidentally caught him off guard, she could still trigger old wounds. She had done that to him, after all. Yet even despite all of that he had made the decision to accept her aboard his ship, and even manage to enjoy her company, at least she thought so.

"You have siblings." She wondered.

The captain nodded, "Yep, three older brothers and one older sister."

Sunny tapped her foot on the floor, "So, you are not born in litters?"

He barked a laugh handing the clipboard back to krill, "Not generally. It is possible for a human mother to have up to eight at once, but that is super rare. It's more likely to have one to two at the same time, more often one though."

This was all very interesting, "And how far are you through your lifespan?"

He shrugged, "About a quarter, or less than if I'm lucky."

"And how many offspring do you have?" She wondered

He barked a laugh, and nearby crew laughed with him as they walked past.

He looked up at her, "None Sunny, not a single one. I'd have to get a date first, and I'm kind of inexperienced in that department. I try not to let it bother me though, otherwise I wouldn't go back home. My sister has been married for a while, David is getting married, Jeremy has a steady girlfriend and I think Thomas is single right now, but he tends to jump around, so I sort of expected that. How about you?"

She shook her head, "I have one brother, he is much older than me, and was paired when I was born. I just reached adulthood when the war began, and I have many years left, but I have no children. Drev consider a few things in mating, the color of your armor, your fighting prowess, and, I think this is shallow but it's true, height. I am very short."

He raised an eyebrow at that, "Sunny, you're like seven and a half feet tall."

She nodded, "Yes, and my brother is nine and a half feet tall. No one pays much attention to someone who still looks like a child."

He shook his head, "Well Sunny, I promise your battle prowess is more than acceptable, and if blinding metallic blue isn't attractive to your species, than I don't know what would be."

She nodded to him thankful for the complement.

Captain Vir turned to Krill, "Set a course for earth so we can be there a week before six months from now. I should probably set up something with the admiral to get the crew shore leave. We'd have been out long enough by then." He looked down at Krill, "What do you think, ready to go back to earth?"

The little alien looked a little hesitant, "During winter?'

The captain waved a hand, "No, who the hell would want their wedding in winter where I live? You'd have at least a fifty percent chance of having to cancel the wedding because all the guests got snowed in."

Krill sighed, "If I must, Captain."

"Oh come on, you had fun the last time we were there."

He gave the Captain an incredulous look, "ok, yes maybe, but I was also stressed and terrified the entire time. If I do that to much, I will die of a stroke. I might just go ahead and die of a stroke while we are there because I am sure you will all come up with something horrifying to do while we are there."

The Captain rolled his eyes and crossed his arms turning to look at sunny, "What do you think Sunny, what to come with us to a death world, and then maybe then I won't be stuck with the party-pooper."

Earth? Wow... now that was something she wanted to see.

Sunny was ready to go to Earth.