Captain Demarin stared at Jessie and for a second he looked as if he were daring her to come after him. Then, he disappeared around the corner and joined up with another group of Sarceastian ground forces nearby. Jessie wasn’t going to give up so easily, and neither was I. We ran around the corner, only to face a group of eight Sarceastians, each of them armed with a laser cannon and Demarin, still wielding his energy pack.

“You don’t seem to be in a good spot now,” Demarin hissed at us.

“It’s not over yet,” Jessie hissed back.

“I have to say, I admire your spirit, Earthling. If I thought I could convince you to join me, I would. It’s too bad I shall have to end your life instead. Then, of course, you would fetch a high price as a slave,” Demarin mused.

Jessie was staring daggers at him. She stood wielding her energy beam that was burning with a bright orange glow. I thought for a second she was going to attack him despite the threat of the laser cannons pointed at us, but she refrained.

“Ok, my fellow fighters. When I give the word, we stun them. I could fetch a high price for both of them,” Demarin said as he looked side to side at the other Sarceastians.

Suddenly a hover copter came up from behind the building and opened fire on the armed Sarceastians. Demarin ducked down and ran until he was in an abandoned warehouse. The hover copter passed over the building several times and then finally flew off.

“Come on. You take the front door and I’ll take the back,” Jessie said, with a fierce determination. I could really tell how personal this was for her at that moment.

I crept up through the back door. It was quite dark, but my Karkastian vision helped me see fairly well. I couldn't see Demarin, so I closed my eyes and tried to sense his energy, which was another gift that we Karkastians possessed. I could feel him nearby. In fact, I was shocked to find that he was hiding behind a post that was only ten or so feet from me. As Jessie entered the warehouse from the opposite side, she crept along slowly in my direction. Demarin could see her, but she couldn't see him. I decided to take action before he could try anything. I came up right behind him and put my laser cannon right up to his temple.

“Time to stop this barbaric invasion and pay for your crimes,” I stated. Suddenly, he elbowed me in the stomach and grabbed my laser cannon. Jessie saw this and ran to my aid, firing her laser cannon and charging her energy beam. Demarin hid behind the post again, keeping my gun aimed at me. I had my arms in the air.

“That’s enough! Put down the gun if you hope to see your Karkastian lover alive, ever again,” Demarin said, coming out from behind the post, holding me with the other hand.

“Let him go, leave him out of this. Let’s settle this just you and me!” Jessie scowled. Her eyes looked like a sinister cat, poised to attack its prey. I had never seen her quite like that before.

“Jessie no, don’t do this!” I pleaded, fearing what Demarin might do to her.

“I’m sorry, Yahn, but my mind is made up. Put down the laser cannon, Demarin and let’s finish this the old fashioned way.”

Demarin did something I almost never saw a Sarceastian do. He took off his hood to reveal a gray, sickly complexion, long, pointed ears, an almost skull-like face, and two hideous red eyes, glowing brighter than ever.

"You look better with the hood on, Demarin." Jessie was now trying to provoke Demarin, and it worked. He came towards her full force, swinging his energy beam like a giant mace and shooting the beams directly at her. Jessie responded by ducking, rolling and hiding behind another post. All of sudden, she came at him whirling her energy beam around in a circle, creating an orb of energy that she projected at him with one large beam. He jumped out of the way just in time, and the beam took out one of the posts. The building began to sag a little bit. I looked at the laser cannon strapped to Demarin's side and was tempted to try and grab it from its holster. I crept closer, but Demarin turned around to face me.

“Don’t try anything, Karkastian. If you think you’re going to get my laser cannon, you’re fooling yourself!” He threatened.

I backed off just as Jessie came at him again. She was chopping with the energy beam up and down and back and forth as energy pulses came at Demarin from four different sides. One of the beams came into contact with him, burning his side.

“Ah! You’ll pay for that!” he yelled, coming at Jessie in full speed. His energy beam was moving so fast and all I could see was a blinding flash of energy. Jessie passed through his legs suddenly and turned to thrust her energy beam at him. However, he anticipated this move and came down on her with a sudden energy burst.

"Ouch!" she screamed, clutching her arm. She jumped backwards and dropped her energy beam, which fell at her side. Demarin took advantage of this opportunity and came at her again. She jumped to the side, rolled again and went behind the nearest post.

“Ahhhh!” She screamed like a mad woman, coming at him with such a fierce rage, I thought she might erupt into flames. Demarin jumped right over her beam, got behind her and made contact with her arm again.

Jessie clutched her arm, which had a large, blackened wound in her bicep. Luckily, it was cauterized by the high temperature of the beam. Her arm seemed too weak to hold up the beam directing device. Demarin came and stood over her, putting the beam down at his side for a second.

“A pity to have to kill you rather than profit from your capture. Still, I can’t let you get away with thinking you can harm me, Earthling!” he teased.

Jessie reached for the beam director with her uninjured hand, but Demarin was quicker and shot one at her. She rolled onto her back and then sprang to her feet. I looked at the weak state she was in and decided that I was going to try to transfer energy to her to strengthen her. I closed my eyes and thought of how much I loved her and relived the happier moments we had shared. I compiled the positive energy of those moments into a single beam and sent it to Jessie. Her eyes glowed with an electric blue energy and her stature seemed to increase. Demarin was coming at her with another attack, whirling his energy beam into a maelstrom of light again. Jessie came at him with a sudden burst of energy that knocked him backwards and threw his energy pack off of him. He lay on the ground cowering in front of her. She stood over him and put her energy beam back at her side. The room was beginning to fill with allied soldiers that had heard the noise of the fight. They crowded around Demarin and bound his hands.

“Are you alright, miss?” a young soldier said.

“I’m fine,” she answered. I ran over to her and put my arms around her.

“I couldn’t have done it without your love,” she whispered in my ear.

“Go on and kill me. I don’t wish to suffer the judgments of you inferior beings!” Demarin hissed, defiantly.

“More than likely, that will be what happens in time, Demarin,” Jessie said, giving Demarin one more threatening stare before they took him away.

“There’s certainly a part of me that wishes I had killed him,” she reflected.

I put my arms around her shoulders and led her out of the building. We looked around us and saw mostly allied troops that were doing their best to round up what was left of the Sarceastian forces. We were taken to a military facility so that Jessie could have her arm treated. While we sat waiting to receive some treatment, an important-looking official came in to talk to us.

“Good afternoon Private Jessie and Yahn of Karkast. I’m Sergeant Warner. I’m in charge of this unit of the United Army. I also want to add, that I’m most pleased to see that the two of you made it out, relatively unscathed. You don’t know how much of a debt of gratitude we owe the two of you.” He shook both of our hands.

“Just doing what I can to protect my homeland,” Jessie said, smiling.

"Well, without the destruction of those Sarceastian cruisers, we would still be fighting a bloody battle on the ground. My sources now tell me that we have either killed or rounded up almost all of the remaining Sarceastian fighters. If you hadn't destroyed those cruisers, they'd still be spitting out fighting ships with more troops. Now, the war is all but over. Thank you so much!"

“I’m just pleased to hear that they’ve been defeated,” Jessie said, humbly.

“Oh, I’m sure the general and the president of the United Earth Alliance Assembly will have a huge reward in mind. For starters, you can forget the whole bit about considered traitors. Your records will be expunged and your reputation will be restored.”

“That is good to know, Sergeant. We do appreciate it!” I said. Many more soldiers and other personnel came over to talk to us, thank us, and shake our hands. I could tell that Jessie was tired and ready for us to be alone. The doctor came and bandaged up the wound.

"Those energy beams do cauterize their wounds well. Good thing he didn't hit you harder or it would have been completely severed," The doctor said with a smile. Soon we were allowed to go to our bedroom, which was a small barracks with not a lot of room. We were just both glad to have some time to rest and be alone after everything that had happened.

I sat down beside Jessie on the bed and began to massage her shoulders. "I am so proud of you, my love. All this time, I had no idea what a great fighting soldier you were. I knew you were strong, but you were so ferocious, I could feel the fire coming from you."

She smiled and put my hand on her chest. "This is where the real fire is burning right now. For now, I know that the two of us will be able to leave behind the life of fighting and running. We will now be able to settle down and concentrate on building a life together, finally. All this time, that was the only thing that I ever desired. Now we can make that happen."

“Yes, my love. That is all I ever wanted. Somehow, I always knew that we would have that peaceful life together. As I said, I’ve always known. I just had to have the patience to wait for it.”

Jessie leaned over and kissed me for a very long time. I wanted to live in that moment when our hands were intertwined and our lips locked together. I could die at that moment and I would be perfectly content. After we opened our eyes, we fell down together onto the bed and made love, slowly, pausing to give one another tender kisses and caresses. I was beginning to think that human sex was better than the Karkastian method, although it could have been my partner that made it so special. The method did not matter because it was always a loving, intimate exchange when we became as one body, experiencing pleasure as one mind.