"Don't be a pussy. All you have to do is boop the snoot before running away. It's easy."

"Then why don't you do it?"

"Hey, I already did the blep challenge, thanks to you, so now it's your turn!"

At these words, the two human men directed their attention to the alien in question. In some ways, she looked like a hybrid of a python and a cobra, albeit at over seven feet tall. Her physique was very amazonian with her two muscular arms. She also had a similarly strong tail that came complete with slick, shiny, and glossy scales that shone like individual jewels, such as her hard amber-brown ones. Softer tan scales coated her exposed face and throat, which were some of the only areas not protected by armor as she went through the routine of calibrating her plasma rifle within the outdoor firing range.

Meanwhile, one of the men resumed speaking...

"...I don't know, man. Isn't her species from one of those feral worlds? I'd rather not get killed over a joke. You saw the vids of what happened to some people trying to pull stunts like that, right?"

"So what you're saying is that you're a pussy."

The soldier groaned at these words and rubbed his blue eyes.

"Just do it, Leon. What could possibly go wrong?"

"That's like the worst question you could ask!" answered Leon with a sigh, "She might end up biting or constricting me if I get caught. Her biology freaks me out too."

"Is it the snake tits?"

Leon shook his head before forming a sly smile. "Good one, but no. Reptiles just kind of freak me out in general, man. I have no idea why she has something that looks like breasts, either… maybe they're like venom sacs or something?"

The other man shrugged. "Who cares. You gonna do it or not?"

"Eh… I don't know." replied Leon as he scratched the back of his head.

"Remember that you owe me one." The man paused as he pulled out a smartphone. "Hell, drinks can be on me tonight too if you provide me with some quality entertainment."

In return, Leon rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll do it. Ugh… God help us all."

"That's the spirit! I'll be rooting for you from here."

With that, Leon walked away while the other man prepared to record him with his smartphone. As for the alien, she slithered to a nearby table and placed her plasma rifle on it, rendering her empty-handed. She turned to face the human approaching her, who was waving with a free hand.

"Hey there!" said Leon with a smile. He noticed that much like himself, the woman had some sort of earpiece acting as a translation device. Hers partially looked like an implant, however, and small orange lights graced it alongside her heavy armor. His own earpiece activated once the woman began hissing, and a deep yet feminine voice emitted from it.

"Greetings, human. Why must you be bothering me?"

"It's nice to meet you too!" said the human as they came face to face. "My name is Leon, and I'm here for one simple reason."

The woman gestured at herself with a free hand. "And I am known as Jissa. What might your reason be?"

The man-made a devious smile as he thrust a pointed finger towards her snout and said a single word...

"BOOP!"

Before his finger came into contact with her nose, Jissa grabbed his wrist with a clawed hand. From there, she held it in a vice grip. She gave him a menacing look that seemed to stare into his soul as the pupils of her fiery orange eyes narrowed. A crooked frown then graced Jissa's snout as she slightly stuck out her serpentine tongue complete with exposing a few fangs, and the woman would have looked somewhat cute if she wasn't looking at Leon in a way befitting an angry apex predator.

"Boo… Boop?" muttered the human.

Her only response came in the form of an incomprehensible and venomous hiss, making Leon's eyes widen. "Wait… WAIT! IT WAS JUST A PRANK!"

The other human man laughed like a mad man as he recorded Jissa gradually coiling around Leon. She yanked his hand, forcing him to stumble towards her, and his face turned bright red once he came into contact with her upper chest. During this process, her tail tightened around him like a noose and began constricting him like a steel cable. Afterward, she rested her hands on his shoulders before hissing once more.

"I… am not amused."

These words made Leon shudder. "No, shit."

"And I'm assuming this was part of that stupid challenge." she continued. "You do know that the nose is one of the most sensitive parts of a syme's body, correct?"

He shook his head. "I did not."

"Then refrain from ever touching it. You humans are either brave, stupid, or both for doing so. It's infuriating. Your kind forced my people to bow before them, but now you amuse yourselves by taunting us with these immature antics."

As she spoke, the pressure around Leon's body increased. He could feel many powerful muscles flexing within her tail as she continued to constrain him, and breathing slowly became a struggle. "That… that all happened before I was even born!"

Jissa blew air from her nostrils and hissed as if she was sneering. "I'm not angry about what humans did to my species. No. In this cold and uncaring universe, the strong devour the weak, and that's just the natural order of things. What angers me is that a creature that could be my prey under different circumstances would have fondled me if he could have gotten away with it."

Leon tried to squirm, but it did little to loosen the scaly coils tightening around him. "Your prey?! For the last time, I'm sorry, and I'll never do something like that again!"

"Perhaps I should elaborate..." replied Jissa as she cocked her head slightly, sending a shiver down his spine. "I'm a carnivore, while you're both predator and prey... but easily potential prey nonetheless. Maybe that's why I find humans so confusing. I respect how humanity can dance with death from a safe distance, but without that, they wouldn't be much of a threat with their lack of natural weapons and defenses. The song of your species is also incredibly odd. It's very twisted. Exotic. Maybe even synthetic in a sense, but words cannot properly describe it."

"What the hell are you even talking about?!" exclaimed Leon as he gasped for breath, "Let me go!"

Jissa did a mix of rolling her eyes and flicking her tongue. "What I'm saying is that even if I still don't understand odd creatures such as yourself, you shouldn't mess with those at the top of the food chain…" She stopped hissing to start squeezing him in earnest and sank her claws into his back. Leon's heart raced as he began suffocating. Multiple sensations resulted in a primal joy flickering in her wild eyes as they went wide, and a catlike smile formed on her face. "...Because it would be oh so easy for someone like me to break you."

Ultimately, Leon found himself in no position to respond as all of the air was squeezed from his lungs, but another deep and masculine voice soon filled his ears.

"WHAT IN GOD'S NAME ARE YOU DOING TO MY ARMSMAN, CORPORAL BOOPLESNOOTS?"

The alien's smile immediately vanished as she stopped what she was doing. Consequently, the human was no longer being constricted, and he gasped like a fish as fresh air filled his lungs. His cheeks turned red. Meanwhile, a middle-aged human man bearing a sergeant's rank approached their position, and the other human scattered off with his smartphone in tow. Ignoring this, the sergeant grit his teeth. "Speak when spoken to, GOD DAMN IT! You better have a good reason for trying to kill one of my men!"

"...This one attempted to do what you humans call booping the snoot." finally answered Jissa as she broke eye contact with the two.

"Christ, not again..." said the sergeant as both his gaze and fury focused on Leon. "We've already had more than enough of these… diplomatic incidents… with our new auxiliaries. I'm not sure what you think is so funny about screwing with them you mickey mouse motherfucker, BUT CUT IT OUT!"

As Leon stumbled away from the alien snake, he eventually made eye contact with the sergeant. "Yes… YES, SERGEANT!"

"And where the hell is your laser rifle, armsman?"

Leon looked at the ground. "I haven't been issued a laser rifle yet, sergeant!"

Naturally, the sergeant growled at his answer. "How the hell do those paper shuffling pansies expect me to get anything done if my men haven't been issued their standard equipment yet?"

"I don't know, sarge."

"ARMSMAN! You can only call me sarge if I like you. I'll give you a second chance once training begins in earnest, then we can pretend that I never met your sorry ass. Report to the armory and retrieve a laser rifle. DISMISSED."

"YES, SERGEANT!" said Leon before giving a salute.

"Oh, and as you were, Corporal Booplesnoots."

Jissa nodded at his words. Afterward, she gave Leon another death stare and went back to maintaining the assortment of weapons. Her gaze let the man know a straightforward thing where words didn't need to be exchanged...

I don't like you.

As Leon walked away from her, he knew things were far from over as he prepared to train alongside angry aliens for the first time.

"Don't be a pussy. All you have to do is boop the snoot before running away. It's easy."

"Then why don't you do it?"

"Hey, I already did the blep challenge, thanks to you, so now it's your turn!"

At these words, the two human men directed their attention to the alien in question. In some ways, she looked like a hybrid of a python and a cobra, albeit at over seven feet tall. Her physique was very amazonian with her two muscular arms. She also had a similarly strong tail that came complete with slick, shiny, and glossy scales that shone like individual jewels, such as her hard amber-brown ones. Softer tan scales coated her exposed face and throat, which were some of the only areas not protected by armor as she went through the routine of calibrating her plasma rifle within the outdoor firing range.

Meanwhile, one of the men resumed speaking...

"...I don't know, man. Isn't her species from one of those feral worlds? I'd rather not get killed over a joke. You saw the vids of what happened to some people trying to pull stunts like that, right?"

"So what you're saying is that you're a pussy."

The soldier groaned at these words and rubbed his blue eyes.

"Just do it, Leon. What could possibly go wrong?"

"That's like the worst question you could ask!" answered Leon with a sigh, "She might end up biting or constricting me if I get caught. Her biology freaks me out too."

"Is it the snake tits?"

Leon shook his head before forming a sly smile. "Good one, but no. Reptiles just kind of freak me out in general, man. I have no idea why she has something that looks like breasts, either… maybe they're like venom sacs or something?"

The other man shrugged. "Who cares. You gonna do it or not?"

"Eh… I don't know." replied Leon as he scratched the back of his head.

"Remember that you owe me one." The man paused as he pulled out a smartphone. "Hell, drinks can be on me tonight too if you provide me with some quality entertainment."

In return, Leon rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll do it. Ugh… God help us all."

"That's the spirit! I'll be rooting for you from here."

With that, Leon walked away while the other man prepared to record him with his smartphone. As for the alien, she slithered to a nearby table and placed her plasma rifle on it, rendering her empty-handed. She turned to face the human approaching her, who was waving with a free hand.

"Hey there!" said Leon with a smile. He noticed that much like himself, the woman had some sort of earpiece acting as a translation device. Hers partially looked like an implant, however, and small orange lights graced it alongside her heavy armor. His own earpiece activated once the woman began hissing, and a deep yet feminine voice emitted from it.

"Greetings, human. Why must you be bothering me?"

"It's nice to meet you too!" said the human as they came face to face. "My name is Leon, and I'm here for one simple reason."

The woman gestured at herself with a free hand. "And I am known as Jissa. What might your reason be?"

The man-made a devious smile as he thrust a pointed finger towards her snout and said a single word...

"BOOP!"

Before his finger came into contact with her nose, Jissa grabbed his wrist with a clawed hand. From there, she held it in a vice grip. She gave him a menacing look that seemed to stare into his soul as the pupils of her fiery orange eyes narrowed. A crooked frown then graced Jissa's snout as she slightly stuck out her serpentine tongue complete with exposing a few fangs, and the woman would have looked somewhat cute if she wasn't looking at Leon in a way befitting an angry apex predator.

"Boo… Boop?" muttered the human.

Her only response came in the form of an incomprehensible and venomous hiss, making Leon's eyes widen. "Wait… WAIT! IT WAS JUST A PRANK!"

The other human man laughed like a mad man as he recorded Jissa gradually coiling around Leon. She yanked his hand, forcing him to stumble towards her, and his face turned bright red once he came into contact with her upper chest. During this process, her tail tightened around him like a noose and began constricting him like a steel cable. Afterward, she rested her hands on his shoulders before hissing once more.

"I… am not amused."

These words made Leon shudder. "No, shit."

"And I'm assuming this was part of that stupid challenge." she continued. "You do know that the nose is one of the most sensitive parts of a syme's body, correct?"

He shook his head. "I did not."

"Then refrain from ever touching it. You humans are either brave, stupid, or both for doing so. It's infuriating. Your kind forced my people to bow before them, but now you amuse yourselves by taunting us with these immature antics."

As she spoke, the pressure around Leon's body increased. He could feel many powerful muscles flexing within her tail as she continued to constrain him, and breathing slowly became a struggle. "That… that all happened before I was even born!"

Jissa blew air from her nostrils and hissed as if she was sneering. "I'm not angry about what humans did to my species. No. In this cold and uncaring universe, the strong devour the weak, and that's just the natural order of things. What angers me is that a creature that could be my prey under different circumstances would have fondled me if he could have gotten away with it."

Leon tried to squirm, but it did little to loosen the scaly coils tightening around him. "Your prey?! For the last time, I'm sorry, and I'll never do something like that again!"

"Perhaps I should elaborate..." replied Jissa as she cocked her head slightly, sending a shiver down his spine. "I'm a carnivore, while you're both predator and prey... but easily potential prey nonetheless. Maybe that's why I find humans so confusing. I respect how humanity can dance with death from a safe distance, but without that, they wouldn't be much of a threat with their lack of natural weapons and defenses. The song of your species is also incredibly odd. It's very twisted. Exotic. Maybe even synthetic in a sense, but words cannot properly describe it."

"What the hell are you even talking about?!" exclaimed Leon as he gasped for breath, "Let me go!"

Jissa did a mix of rolling her eyes and flicking her tongue. "What I'm saying is that even if I still don't understand odd creatures such as yourself, you shouldn't mess with those at the top of the food chain…" She stopped hissing to start squeezing him in earnest and sank her claws into his back. Leon's heart raced as he began suffocating. Multiple sensations resulted in a primal joy flickering in her wild eyes as they went wide, and a catlike smile formed on her face. "...Because it would be oh so easy for someone like me to break you."

Ultimately, Leon found himself in no position to respond as all of the air was squeezed from his lungs, but another deep and masculine voice soon filled his ears.

"WHAT IN GOD'S NAME ARE YOU DOING TO MY ARMSMAN, CORPORAL BOOPLESNOOTS?"

The alien's smile immediately vanished as she stopped what she was doing. Consequently, the human was no longer being constricted, and he gasped like a fish as fresh air filled his lungs. His cheeks turned red. Meanwhile, a middle-aged human man bearing a sergeant's rank approached their position, and the other human scattered off with his smartphone in tow. Ignoring this, the sergeant grit his teeth. "Speak when spoken to, GOD DAMN IT! You better have a good reason for trying to kill one of my men!"

"...This one attempted to do what you humans call booping the snoot." finally answered Jissa as she broke eye contact with the two.

"Christ, not again..." said the sergeant as both his gaze and fury focused on Leon. "We've already had more than enough of these… diplomatic incidents… with our new auxiliaries. I'm not sure what you think is so funny about screwing with them you mickey mouse motherfucker, BUT CUT IT OUT!"

As Leon stumbled away from the alien snake, he eventually made eye contact with the sergeant. "Yes… YES, SERGEANT!"

"And where the hell is your laser rifle, armsman?"

Leon looked at the ground. "I haven't been issued a laser rifle yet, sergeant!"

Naturally, the sergeant growled at his answer. "How the hell do those paper shuffling pansies expect me to get anything done if my men haven't been issued their standard equipment yet?"

"I don't know, sarge."

"ARMSMAN! You can only call me sarge if I like you. I'll give you a second chance once training begins in earnest, then we can pretend that I never met your sorry ass. Report to the armory and retrieve a laser rifle. DISMISSED."

"YES, SERGEANT!" said Leon before giving a salute.

"Oh, and as you were, Corporal Booplesnoots."

Jissa nodded at his words. Afterward, she gave Leon another death stare and went back to maintaining the assortment of weapons. Her gaze let the man know a straightforward thing where words didn't need to be exchanged...

I don't like you.

As Leon walked away from her, he knew things were far from over as he prepared to train alongside angry aliens for the first time.