Table of Contents

BORN OF HEROES

PART I

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 24

CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 27

CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 29

PART II

CHAPTER 30

CHAPTER 31

CHAPTER 32

CHAPTER 33

CHAPTER 34

CHAPTER 35

CHAPTER 36

CHAPTER 37

CHAPTER 38

CHAPTER 39

CHAPTER 40

CHAPTER 41

CHAPTER 42

CHAPTER 43

PART III

CHAPTER 44

CHAPTER 45

CHAPTER 46

CHAPTER 47

CHAPTER 48

CHAPTER 49

CHAPTER 50

CHAPTER 51

CHAPTER 52

CHAPTER 53

CHAPTER 54

CHAPTER 55

CHAPTER 56

CHAPTER 57

CHAPTER 58

CHAPTER 59

CHAPTER 60

CHAPTER 61

CHAPTER 62

CHAPTER 63

CHAPTER 64

CHAPTER 65

CHAPTER 66

CHAPTER 67

CHAPTER 66

Notes & Miscellaneous Junk

Music while writing BoH:

BORN OF HEROES

by Jeff Karamales

Based upon the Blue Horizon

universe created by

Ted R. Blasingame

PART I

"A Grand Entrance"

CHAPTER 1

“Grandstorm control…This is SPF sloop Scimitar. Requesting permission for landing under emergency conditions,” Warrant Officer II Elias Tivnan said over the Dennier spaceport emergency frequency.

He spoke calmly as he fought the controls of the fast response craft, keeping a flat orientation in relation to the surface of the planet that his ship was rapidly falling towards. Despite trying to show a calm visage for the rest of his crew, his stomach was knotted and one thought kept running through his mind…’We’re going to die’…

“Understood Scimitar,” a female voice said over the comm channel, the visual communication screen showing a black furred vixen. “Traffic has been grounded and you are clear for any convenient approach vector. We have response crews standing by.”

Elias signaled his understanding and focused on the controlling ship’s descent into the increasingly thickening atmosphere. Unlike most other vessels throughout the Planetary Alignment, the SPF Sloop bridge stations could overlap each other as a form of redundant back-up. While sitting at the helm, Elias could call up navigation, communications and weapons. As drag on the small vessel increased, the fox was only interested in actual flight control and the coordinates for the spaceport. Communications were piped directly through his pressure suit’s helmet and he could cycle through what he needed by nudging the controls along the bottom ring that sat above the neck seal with his chin. Toggling the switch he changed from the air traffic frequency to the intercom system on board the sloop.

“We’re cleared for landing,” he grunted out, straining to keep the nose of the craft up and the flight level as the ship began to shake violently. “Make sure everyone is strapped in and small arms are secure.”

The Scimitar usually carried a compliment of eleven individuals, but their recent engagement with a Terran made Carrack class freighter they had been informed was a pirate vessel and known for smuggling illegal weapons and other unsavory cargoes had lowered that number to six. The sloop’s captain, weapons officer, chief medical officer and two recruits, on their apprentice voyage no less, had been killed when the freighter opened fire with non-standard weapons. It wasn’t uncommon for vessels that plied the space lanes to carry armaments, but the ship they had been tracking had severely outgunned the SPF ship by almost 4 to 1 in its pulse cannon array, and even carried a compliment of Talon missiles, weapons that were never permitted on civilian craft.

The Warrant Officer engaged the flaps to the control surfaces of the sloop, something that wasn’t standard on most ships, but as theScimitar spent almost as much time in atmosphere as it did in the hard vacuum of space, it was sensible and made the overall design far more efficient than relying solely on thrusters. But it was also this design feature that suddenly turned the craft into a hurtling death trap.

With a teeth-grating screech and sudden lurch, the port wing pulled away from the ship, ripping a substantial tear in the hull and bounced into the engine pod directly behind its mounting. The impact sheered away armor plating, ripping the fuel lines and ignited the resulting spray. With a shuddering BOOM! the vessel’s aft erupted in flame and black smoke. The loss of power and control dropped the sloop nose first towards the ground and Elias fought hard against gravity and loss of aerodynamic stability as the Scimitar became something more akin to a hurtling meteor on a ballistic arc.

With a growl of frustration, fear and effort, Elias was able to bring the sloop up as he fed more power to the starboard engine. “Grandstorm control,” he grunted still fighting the dying sloop with every ounce of strength and will that he possessed. “Spaceport landing is a no-go. Changing heading to the Arvallian Sea. I’m going put us in the drink. Request a reroute of rescue elements.” To land at the spaceport was insanity. He could no longer control the craft and the danger to innocent lives was far too great. He hoped that the water might be a touch more forgiving than the reinforced concrete tarmac and landing pads. Not to mention buildings and other vessels.

There was a burst of static before the voice of the female Air Traffic Control technician came back, though her voice sounded far away and tinny. “Affirmative, Scimitar. Rerouting now.” There was another pause and moment of static before the voice spoke again, this time subdued and with a tremor. “And good luck…”

Elias Tivnan, Chief Warrant Officer II and seven year combat veteran and pilot didn’t have a chance to reply as they neared the freshwater sea that lay just past the spaceport and city of Grandstorm. “I would have liked to have met that vixen!” the fox thought to himself with an ironic smile just before the Scimitar hit the first wave of the green-blue water.

CHAPTER 2

Emergency sirens normally used for storm warnings blared throughout the city of Grandstorm and the spaceport that served it. While some citizens ran for cover in the shelters that were standard in almost all of the buildings of the city, including private homes, a few individuals simply looked around curiously. The sky was a deep azure with only a few cotton ball clouds that added to the perfection of the spring day with no sign of a storm. Those individuals that were at the spaceport, though, took to the semi-bunker like storm shelters like vermin fleeing bright light as they had seen the flaming, smoking mass that hurtled in their direction like some demonic creature of death and destruction.

All of the Air Traffic Controllers that had occupied the tower at Grandstorm had fled as the SPF sloop came in on a ballistic trajectory aimed directly at the spaceport; save for the small female fox that had been in communication with stricken craft since had first contacted her. Though the first emergency landing request had come just fifteen minutes earlier, it felt to the black furred vulpine that this had been going on for days. She was trembling visibly as she watched the tapered wedge shaped vessel hurtle by less than a hundred feet from the ground and what seemed like a matter of yards from the glassteel windows of the control tower. Save a few scorch points where the paint had burned away from the armored hull of the sloop from weapons fire, the starboard side of the vessel that she saw was untouched. On the other side was a vision of the Hell that she had read about in some religious tome that had originated on Earth. Biting her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, the fox watched with tears standing in her eyes as the sloop continued on over the starport and city to the sea.

***

“…the SPF sloop, Scimitar, had apparently been engaged in an intense space battle with a known pirate vessel. As you can see from this home video footage, the damage was quite severe and It’s miraculous that the pilot was not only able to make it through reentry, but when he realized that it wouldn’t be possible to land, made the decision to set his crippled ship down in the Arvallian Sea.”

The pictures and videos that accompanied the news rehash of Elias’s spectacular crash showed a smoking wreck plummeting overhead and out of sight before switching to scenes of the rescue of the personnel.

“And here is the video that we were able to get from our own helicopter before authorities cleared the airspace around the stricken craft .Several of the ships that were down at the spaceport aided in the rescue effort including one that has home offices right here in Grandstorm,” the feline reporter, a Siamese with deep blue eyes and dressed in a smart looking one-piece jumpsuit of rich gray and purple, was saying. Her image appeared in a small box in the lower right hand corner of the screen and INN anchor Holly Harken appeared in a similar box in the upper left.

“Is there any news about the pilot or the crew, Misha? From the looks of the devastation it really is a wonder that there were any survivors at all. Do we know what their status is?” Holly asked with a crease forming between her eyebrows.

The Siamese female nodded before speaking. “The only casualties from this terrible event were from the actual engagement with the pirates they were trying to apprehend. The rest of the crew, including the pilot were immediately taken by the freighter that you see here to the Grandstorm Spaceport and from there flown directly to the hospital. We know that the pilot of the SPF Scimitar, Chief Warrant Officer Tivnan, a fox from Odeon on Alexandrius, suffered severe lacerations, electrical burns and crash trauma from the event. His status is guarded, but the doctors and SPF expect him to make a full recovery.”

“Thank goodness for that, and thank goodness for people like Warrant Officer Tivnan. We hope that he makes a speedy recovery,”Holly said as the furrow between her brows vanished. “Coming up, the increase of piracy throughout the P.A. and what it means for the rest of us. Stay tuned for more after these commercials.“

***

Someone was standing next to him, and the sound of glass and metal clinking together made Elias open his eyes in response. No. Not both eyes. Just his right one. There was something covering the left eye but Elias didn’t experience too much concern over this. What did concern him was the blinding light that seemed to stab directly into his brain. He squeezed his eye shut at the light and hissed. Then the realization that all of his body felt like it had been battered beyond anything he felt he should live through sunk through his muddled thoughts.

“Hold on a second,” a deep voice said. He heard more clinking. “This will help.” There was a momentary sensation of icy tingling in his arm that had been preceded by a muffled hiss. Almost immediately the pain that wracked his entire being began to lessen the white hot grip it had on him, replaced by a cool euphoria. “Now let me turn down the lights,” the voice said.

Even through his tightly closed eye lid, Elias could tell the bright light had diminished and he braved trying to look again. He was in a medical facility, of that he was certain. If the stale, bland colors that he could finally see didn’t tell him that, the smell would have. Antiseptics, plastics and the lingering scent of sickness that pervaded hospitals across the Planetary Alignment were all the tell-tale verification that he needed. Elias’ vision was blurry, but a few rapid blinks helped to clear most of that away. Standing over his supine form was a wolf in the standard white long coat that doctors and medical types wore throughout known space and on every world he’d ever visited. The gold colored caduceus symbol on the left breast pocket indicated that the gray and buff colored lupine was a doctor. Elias watched as the wolf tapped something into the DataPak he carried on a shoulder sling, then pushed it behind him so that he could examine the fox.

“You’re a fairly lucky individual, Warrant Officer Tivnan,” the doctor said as he took Elias’ pulse while timing it with a wrist watch. He then began an examination of the left side fox’s head.

“What happened?” Elias asked after several attempts to speak, the words coming out being little more than a scarcely audible hoarse whisper and agony caused his throat and neck to spasm.

“Try not to talk. Your larynx was crushed and it is going to be some time before the bruising and swelling go down. Talking will only aggravate the injury.” The wolf finished his examination and pulled up a chair on rollers next to the hospital bed. “First let me tell you of the extent of the injuries you suffered. I’m going to be matter of fact. Your injuries were by far the worst out of your crew. The rest are all fine, and have been released to the SPF barracks here in Grandstorm to await reassignment,” the wolf said seeing the relief in the fox’s good eye with the news that no one else had died.

“Now then, as I said you are very lucky. When your ship hit the water, the entire forward bulkhead collapsed in, and you were caught between the debris, water and aft bulkhead. Your helmet was almost sheared in two by a pane of glassteel, fortunately it also saved your head from being split in half. We were able to save your left eye, but it needs time to heal as well. There is a long laceration that runs from your snout to your left ear. There will be some minor scaring there. Your other injuries were far more traumatic. Apart from the crushed larynx, you have four broken ribs, you suffered a punctured lung, a lacerated liver, internal hemorrhaging, a dislocated left shoulder, hip, knee and wrist. Plus there was a fairly severe concussion. There are also some electrical burns on your left side. All of these have been treated, and as soon as you feel ready we can begin you on a regimen of physical therapy.”

Elias looked at the wolf and knew that by rights he should be dead. As the wolf spoke, Elias’ abused brain dredged up memory flashes of the crash and only confirmed to him that his survival had been achieved by sheerest dumb luck.

“How long?” Elias mouthed slowly so that the wolf would understand the question.

“You’ve been here for a little over two weeks. To be honest you are quite the celebrity and the SPF has had to place guards outside your room. A lot of people want to meet the Hero of Grandstorm.”

“Don’t feel like much of a ‘Hero’,” the fox mouthed with a weak snort.

The doctor smiled. “I can’t help you there. Footage of the crash has been broadcast by the local networks since the incident and even the Interstellar News Network has been following things closely. SPF investigators made it very clear that your ship should have plowed into the ground thirty miles outside of the city. That you were able to get this far, then put your ship down in the Arvallian Sea and not in the middle of downtown has many convinced that you are the greatest pilot ever!” He looked at the white furred fox with an earnest expression. “The Dennieran Council wants to give you a medal for your actions and the planet is all for it according to the polls. But right now I am more concerned about your recovery and well being.”

The wolf stood. “Now then, there has been a certain young lady that has been coming by and staying with you almost every day and is very interested in having you make her acquaintance. If you promise to behave and not talk or chase her around the room, I’ll let her in and go see about getting you something a bit more nourishing than the fluids we’ve been giving you intravenously.”

Elias nodded and the doctor smiled.

He went to the door and said something to a guard that was wearing the gray and crimson trimmed SPF field uniform, but also had on heavy armor and carried a shoulder weapon. The guard, his species unreadable in his riot helmet and mirrored visor nodded in response. Elias watched this out of the corner of his right eye and saw the doctor motion to someone else. Then the wolf stood aside and held the door open for a small figure before departing, letting the door close on a silent return arm.

The figure entered the room, hesitation evident until Elias turned his head slightly, curious as to whom the visitor was.

Stepping into the dim light cast from the glow-tube over the head of the hospital bed was a petite vixen. She had black fur and hair that was caught up in a simple single long braid that draped over her left shoulder. Her eyes were a deep emerald green and sparkled in the low illumination. The vixen smiled beatifically when she saw that Elias was awake and immediately took the roller chair that the doctor had just vacated. She was dressed in a silk blouse of deepest green that left her arms and shoulders bare and an open neck line that gave a tantalizing hint of cleavage. Her skirt was also of the same material and color that ended a good four inches above her knees. Her knee high boots were of very dark brown suede that had buttons of tiger’s eye cabochons on the sides. The young lady’s jewelry was kept to a minimum, consisting of a simple, curiously star shaped necklace that had a single emerald in the center, a thin silver earring in each ear, and silver bracelets and arm bands. She wore a shoulder bag on her left side, and in her right arm was cradled a bouquet of flowers. The flowers were in a crystaplast vase and she set these next to the head of the bed.

The scent from them was subtle and mixed with whatever perfume the vixen was wearing in a very pleasant manner.

“I’m glad to see you awake, Warrant Officer Tivnan,” she said, her voice was like warm honey. She took his right hand tentatively in hers and flashed another smile at him once she was satisfied with the placement of the flowers.

“Please, call me Elias,” the fox croaked, forgetting that he wasn’t supposed to speak, the pain that gripped his throat emphasizing the doctor’s instructions.

The vixen shook her head. “No. No talking. The doctor won’t let me back to see you if you break the rules.”

It took several moments for Elias to recognize the voice, and his right eye widened in pleasant surprise. “You’re the Air Traffic technician,” he formed with his mouth without actually speaking.

The female smiled again. “I’m Cerise. And yes. I wish there was more I could have done, but-“

Elias stopped her with a squeeze of her hand and shake of his head, while not vigorous, was emphatic. He tried to express his gratitude for her with another gentle squeeze of her hand and by his expression, and he thought she got the message because her head dropped a little and she looked at him through thick lashes. He wasn’t sure if she knew the effect that had on him, how alluring she looked, and he smiled as best he could at her.

“Great Maker!” he thought silently still looking at the vixen. “Thank you for letting me live!”

He watched as the other fox’s eyes grew wide. “I almost forgot!” She reached into the shoulder bag that had been slung over her shoulder and withdrew several magazines, a reader pad with large control tabs and a few books. “I wasn’t really sure what you liked, so I tried to get a variety. The reader pad has unlimited access to the local library and video networks. I know it’s for an elderly person, but with your arm in a sling I didn’t think you’d be able to operate a regular pad without problems. I hope that’s all right?”

Elias smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”

She smiled again. “I had to be in the hospital when I was younger and know what it’s like to be out of touch with everything. That and I know the SPF doesn’t often post anyone close to home, so I wasn’t sure if you had anyone that would be stopping by to see you. I know it meant a lot to me when my parents and friends came by, and that was for a three day stay. Just let me know if you need anything, okay?”

Elias nodded again and tried to smile in return, but the deep cut that ran from his muzzle to his ear flared painfully with a feeling like red hot steel was being pushed against his skin and his right eye watered. He brought his right hand up, slowly because it was as fast as he could move, and rubbed gingerly at the eye and bridge of his nose, feeling the thick padding of the bandage that covered half of his face and left eye. Then a strange thought came to him. He hadn’t really considered himself attractive, but the wounds that he’d received would probably make him positively horrid, now. He chuckled at this rather odd turn of thought and Cerise looked at him in puzzlement. He pointed to the reader pad that would also serve for sending messages and letters. She handed it to him and waited patiently as he typed out his thought.

The vixen’s brow furrowed when she read what he finally wrote on the electronic screen and regarded his one blue eye with her two green ones. “You just survived a pirate engagement, three days in a pressure suit, a crash…and you’re worried about attracting a date?” She let him take the pad back and he wrote a single word before handing it back. “You…’Priorities’…are you serious?” she asked with a chuckle.

Elias shrugged with his right shoulder.

Cerise leaned in so close that her nose almost touched his and gave him a very smoldering look. “Some females like attractive males, that’s true. But some of us prefer to see past the outside to the person that’s within.” She gave him a light kiss that lasted for a long moment. “I’m the second kind,” she said after her lips separated from his. “If you find one that’s only interested in what you look like, she isn’t worth your time.”

She stayed with Elias until a nurse came into the room after being cleared by the guards outside the door. The nurse was a marten with dark gray and tan fur and intense brown eyes. She moved around Elias in a brisk and efficient manner, obviously taking her duties to her patients with a seriousness that seemed incongruent with her apparent youth. The marten satisfied herself with her charge’s wellbeing before turning to Cerise. “I’m sorry ma’am, but visiting hours are over in a few minutes and Mister Tivnan needs his rest. You can come back tomorrow.”

Elias wished he could talk so that he could tell the nurse where to go, but his irritation was disarmed by the vixen’s hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right. She’s just doing her job and you do need to rest. I promise that I’ll come by every day to see how you’re doing.” She gave him a gentle nuzzle and left the room with a glance and smile cast back over her shoulder.

Elias let his head sink back into the pillow, his right hand unconsciously touching the side of his face that the petite fox had nuzzled, his thoughts jumbled and his heart beating a little fast. The last was noted by the marten as she took his pulse. She laughed lightly. “If she doesn’t speed up your recovery, then there’s no hope for you, Mister Tivnan.”

The fox gave the nurse a small smile and let her continue about her business.

CHAPTER 3

Cerise was true to her word and stopped by every day either before or after her work shift at the starport or spent all day with him when she wasn’t working. She often accompanied Elias to his rounds in therapy, offering encouragement to push himself in ways that the therapist couldn’t. Cerise also brought fresh flowers every three days, new reading material as he needed it or pushed him out to the rooftop garden for fresh air as he was confined to a wheelchair when not in physical rehabilitation. The friendship that was developing between them grew stronger each visit, and Elias did everything he was capable of to aid his own recovery, motivated by the knowledge that each little triumph pleased Cerise.

And for some reason he really wanted to please her.

It was approaching the end of Elias’s first month in the hospital, and he heard a commotion outside the door. Thinking it was Cerise, the fox sat up a little straighter and had a smile on his face. The smile faltered when a very tall lion whose shoulders were almost as wide as the doorway walked in wearing the Spatial Police Force dress gray uniform with crimson piping and broad blood stripes on the legs of his trousers. His rank tabs had colonel’s insignia on them, and the name tab over his left breast pocket read ‘Brees’.

Elias swallowed hard, wondering what the SPF Special Operations Commander was doing in his room.

The lion was followed by a female cheetah with major’s rank tabs.

“’Morning, Chief,” the lion said in a deep rumbling voice. Without anything more forthcoming, Brees took the chair that Cerise normally sat in and dropped into it, the metal groaning with the unaccustomed mass. Once settled he looked at Elias with an appraising look and nodded at something. “Looks like you’re doing all right, here. Surprised that you aren’t going to be here longer if truth be told, son. Nasty crash you had there. This is one of the reasons that you are of special interest to me.” He leaned back in the chair, propping one leg over the other, his hands linking over his knee as he continued to regard the fox, his orange-gold eyes seeming to penetrate Elias all the way to his soul. “Now then, I know it’s still not easy for you to talk, so I just want you to nod yes or no to my questions, all right?”

Elias nodded slowly, wondering what was going on, his pulse speeding up. For Colonel Sander Brees to come talk to him, he must have royally screwed up somewhere. Brees was the stuff of legends in the Spatial Police Force. He could make an individual’s career or end it spectacularly. He was best known for the latter as the lion didn’t tolerate fools. Elias felt suddenly very nauseous and hoped he didn’t throw up in front of the Colonel.

“Now then, son, have you seen any of the videos of the crash or the rescue immediately following?” Elias nodded slowly, wondering what he’d done wrong for the SPF hatchet man to come see him personally. “There are a lot of people that think you are damn lucky, son. But what I saw wasn’t the result of luck alone. There was a substantial portion of skill involved as well. That’s the kind of skill that I have been looking for.”

Elias wondered where this was going and watched with some curiosity overriding his initial trepidation as the lion took a DataPak from the cheetah and thumbed it to life before tapping a series of commands on it.

“You served two years with the Alexandrian Navy before enlisting in the SPF, served a full tour on the Vanguard before passing your tests for flight officer training. You’ve been with us for what..almost seven years now? Commendation for Valor, citation for meritorious service, cross trained for zero-gee operations, ship to ship boarding…Son, you have way more than luck. You’re exactly the kind of individual I’ve been looking for! Now then,” the lion continued, turning his gaze back to Elias, “what I’m about to tell you is level Blue classification. Absolutely top secret. Do you understand?”

Elias nodded. At this, the cheetah pulled a small device from her thin attaché case and pressed a button. A small LED on the side lit green and she looked at her superior and gave him a slight but firm nod. Elias recognized it as a debugger. It would scramble any listening device within fifty feet.

“I have a project that has been in the works for several years now, and with the resulting problems of the Siilv War, the increase in pirate activity, I’ve finally been given the go ahead from the Planetary Alignment Council. Before I go into details, let me ask you this. Would you like to get a little payback on the ship that knocked you and yours out of the sky?”

“Very much so, Sir,” Elias rasped with almost as much enthusiasm as he had when Cerise was near.

“I told you not to talk, son, and I mean it. Don’t need you undoing all the progress that has been made in putting you back together so far,” Brees said looking up from the DataPak and at the fox and giving the vulpine a look that spoke more clearly than words could have.

“The little project I have in the works is called Operation Sweeper. Essentially its entire purpose is to actively identify, hunt down, and neutralize any and all pirate activity. This includes smugglers and slavers as well. With the way things are in the PA at the moment, this operation would be more cost efficient than letting things sit. There aren’t a lot of freight haulers roaming around right now, and even a single pirate attack on a freighter is having serious, and at times disastrous, results on member worlds. Like it or not, the worlds of the Alignment are interdependent on each other. Just look at what happened with the exports from Nalirra when they were annexed. Four planets couldn’t get the basic materials they needed for products ranging from medical equipment to ship components. And that affects how many others in the long run? Jobs lost, commerce interrupted. Maybe we don’t get what we need for our people to do their job, or a little girl doesn’t get medication that she needs to live another day. All because these parasites are preying on honest freight movers.

“A lot of the larger freight companies and a few of the smaller ones are arming their vessels with point defense weaponry, but rarely anything that can stand up to the kind of firepower the scavengers can muster. More importantly, most of those armed freighters don’t have access to the kind of training needed to defend them, so even the most lethal weaponry becomes ineffectual.”

Brees sat back and looked at Elias and saw that he had the fox’s attention. “What I’m proposing is making a warship look like an average, everyday freighter, or pleasure yacht, or other desirable target that is anything but. Bait and trap all in one enticing package. And crewed by those who have the knowledge and experience to use that equipment. The problem is finding individuals that have the right qualities to do this job. I think you have what I’m looking for, son. Plain and simple.”

Brees stood and regarded Elias. “I don’t want an answer yet. I want you to think about this. And think real hard. It won’t be easy. There won’t be a lot of glory. It will be nasty and you are going to see things that’ll turn your stomach. But the clincher, the point that needs to be made is that at the end of the day, you’ll know that you have made a difference. An important difference.”

Elias looked at the lion with his one good eye. “What position, Sir?” he rasped, ignoring instructions not to talk.

Brees turned and took a few steps to the room’s door. He looked back over his shoulder and gave the fox a lopsided grin as he put the stem of a tobacco pipe in the corner of his mouth. “The position I’m offering is Captain of our first pirate hunter, son. Think on it, will you?”

And with that the lion and cheetah left.

Elias did as suggested and thought long and hard on the Colonel’s proposal.

***

“You seem rather pensive and distracted today,” Cerise commented as they sat in the roof top garden of the hospital looking at the clouds scudding by and casting splotchy shadows on the city around them. “Is everything all right?”

Elias roused himself out of his reverie and nodded, giving the other fox a reassuring smile. “I had an interesting visitor yesterday, is all,” he said with his right hand pressed against the lingering soreness of his throat. Each day he could feel himself getting a little better, a little stronger, but his abused vocal chords and throat still weren’t healed to the point where he could talk for an extended amount of time.

Cerise reached out and took his hand. “If there’s anything that I can do to make you feel better, just let me know.” She was pleased when he squeezed her hand and gave her a smile in response. “Though there is a surprise waiting for you in your room that might make you feel better,” she said looking at her wrist watch, which like the rest of her jewelry was silver. “C’mon. I think you’ll like this!”

He watched as she stood up and admired her outfit of the day. She had a sapphire blue blouse that was tied in a knot at the front leaving her flat belly exposed and pulled tight against the swell of her modest breasts. Her skirt was black and rather abbreviated, exposing her lean legs and when she walked her tail swished back and forth enticingly. She wore simple sandals that laced up her calves. Elias was secretly pleased at the envious looks that were cast his way whenever Cerise was with him and also noted the looks that the vixen got from other females for being able to wear such clothing without a hint of self consciousness. He wondered if she knew that she moved with a grace and pride that was hard to teach, but came with supreme comfort and confidence in her own femininity.

She got behind the wheelchair and pushed the fox to the elevator, and Elias caught her scent as a breeze washed over Cerise and inhaled deeply. He was smiling as she took him back to his room, filling the short journey with the various goings-on in her life. One of the guards opened the door when the pair reached Elias’s room and gave both a smile and wave. “Doin’ all right today, Chief?” the Rottweiler asked casually as Cerise wheeled the fox inside.

“Considering the company that I am blessed with, more than all right, Sergeant!” Elias husked with a grin.

The guard chuckled as the door swung shut. Elias was distracted, however. From a covered tray that rested on the swivel table mounted on the side of his bed came the unmistakable aroma of meat. The fox turned his head to look at the vixen, surprise on his face.

“It’s okay. I got permission from Doctor Cairns,” she said as she wheeled him to the bedside. Cerise was pleased to see that he was able to move better as Elias shifted himself from the wheelchair to the bed with more ease today than previously. He sat with his eyes closed and inhaled deeply.

“This smells wonderful!” the fox rasped, opening his eyes and giving the vixen a look of extreme gratitude.

“It tastes better than it smells. I guarantee you that!” she took the lid off of the dish, revealing a thick steak, perfectly seared, before setting a knife and fork next to the plate followed by a bottle of sparkling fruit juice. “Sorry. The Doctor said no wine yet.” She watched him intently and when he didn’t move, she chuckled, knowing why he hesitated. “Don’t worry. I had mine before I cooked yours!”

Elias smiled. Taking the utensils in hand he cut into the meat which hardly offered any resistance. The meat was savory and tender and seasoned to perfection, and the pleasure of it was beyond description.

When he was done eating, both of them sat next to each other and talking until well past the curfew for visitors had expired.

CHAPTER 4

Elias’ eye had healed to his physician’s satisfaction and the bandaging had been removed. The sutures had already come out almost two and a half weeks prior, and the fox’s fur had already started to fill in. Unlike most members of his species, Elias Tivnan had fur that turned a dark, silvery gray at his forearms, lower legs and ear tips. The rest was white as fresh snow. He was an interesting contrast to Cerise, who only had white on the end of her tail, when the two of them left the hospital together. Despite the thin, visible scar that ran from his nose to left ear, which also had a notch taken out of it and caused the tip to droop forward a little, Cerise told him that the marring meant little and that she found him more than sufficiently attractive.

“The way you look now tells me that you will do whatever you need to in order to keep others safe. That’s far more enticing than looking perfect, silly fox!”

As if to prove the point, the petite vixen took his arm in hers and walked very close to him. Elias had never had a female that seemed so proud to be with him, and she treated him at times like a treasured possession, as if he were something of great value. It was a little unnerving as he’d never been in a situation like this before. He’d been in relationships where his partner had been affectionate and attentive, but not one where he felt as if he was anything special.

In the taxi ride to the Spatial Police Force field office on the other side of the city, she had sat snuggled close to his side and held his hands with hers. It had felt good to have the female next to him and he relished the feel of her close to his side as he slipped an arm around her. The next thing he knew the taxi was pulling to a stop in front of the SPF offices. It was amazing how quickly time seemed to pass as he was holding Cerise.

“I wish you didn’t have to go,” the vixen said with a slight pout as Elias opened the door to get out.

“It’s only for a few days at a time. The Doctor still has me on a very restrictive schedule, and most of that will be taken up by physical rehabilitation. We can still get together and see each other,” he said looking into her deep green eyes. She wore short leg overalls in light khaki with a white muslin shirt underneath. Her hair was held back with a scarf of the same material as her shirt. She never looked anything less than lovely to him, and that was causing Elias some problems as well. He was developing a very strong attachment to Cerise, one that was happening too quickly for comfort. The fox wondered if it was due to the fact that she was the only non-medical or SPF person that he had contact with, or if what he was starting to feel was actual attraction for the vixen herself. To add fuel to the conflicting emotional fire, he was admittedly attracted to her from a purely physical standpoint as well, and he wondered if that were clouding his judgment when coupled with his continued efforts to regain his physical health. Time away from her might do him some good and give him the space he needed to evaluate what was going on within him.

“You know how to contact me if you need to?” Cerise asked as Elias got out meeting the taxi driver at the rear of the vehicle to retrieve his personal bag.

“And you know how to get a hold of me.” Elias set the bag down and gave the driver a Dennieran 20 credit note, waving off the need for change. It was SPF funds anyway, so he felt no guilt at not wanting any change back.

“I’m going to miss you,” Cerise said as she slid her arms around the fox’s neck. She gently pulled his head forward and gave him a lingering kiss that left him breathing a little heavy when they parted.

“I promise, I will call.” Elias slung his bag over his right shoulder as the left arm was still sore and he doubted that he had the strength to carry any more than a few pounds with it for the next few weeks.

With one last quick kiss, he entered the field office leaning heavily on a walking stick.

***

The following weeks were often spent in the company of Colonel Brees as he went over the full operational expectations of Operation Sweeper with Elias. Not only did they confer on the overall plans of the undertaking, Brees wanted the fox’s input on the outfitting of the first of the ten vessels that Brees planned on launching. As such they could often be found at the Okami shipyards a little over a hundred miles from Grandstorm as what Sander Brees called a ‘Q Ship’ was being finished. The primary hull configuration was being built around the company’s H model ship hull. That was the extent of the similarity of this ship and actual Okami H model freighters. As it was, the ‘Q Ship’ was near completion, and workers were simply finishing up minor details or making small modifications according to the results of long discussions between the Colonel and Elias.

One thing that hadn’t changed was the layout of the cabins. While Major Paris, Brees’ aide, had suggested on putting more than one occupant in each suite, Elias had vetoed this idea, with the Colonel’s approval.

“The crew isn’t going to be so big that we need to double up on cabins. Figure no more than twelve or so, myself included. Considering the nature of the operation and function of the ship, those individuals are going to need personal space. Vitally need. It’s not going to be like a standard SPF vessel where we can put in at any SPF facility out there. We have to appear to be common freighter rats, and that means we’re going to be on our own for extended periods of time in order to develop verisimilitude. And no offense, Major,” Elias said looking pointedly at the cheetah, “and with all due respect, I am not going to put my hide or those of my crew out to dry on the recommendations of someone that hasn’t run a deep space mission before. I’ve been out there, and I’m familiar with what works, what doesn’t and what changes should be implemented on every ship in the bloody fleet.”

The cheetah’s eyes flashed angrily for a moment before she relented. “You’re right, Captain. I don’t have your experience, which is why you are Captain of this ship and not me. I apologize.”

Elias felt a moment of sympathy for the cheetah, but he was adamant about not letting someone without the necessary experience tell him what he needed and didn’t need. History was full of military ventures that had been run by committee, and Elias didn’t recall a single one of those ventures that had ever succeeded.

“There’s no need to apologize, Major. You have your rank and position because you are good at a certain job, better than others, myself included, or you wouldn’t have it. That’s how it is with me. But that doesn’t mean I won’t listen to another point of view, and either accept or reject that view based on what I have seen works or doesn’t. In this situation, though, it’s my way, or this doesn’t happen. I will need each and every crew member to be at their best at all times. If a little luxury is what’s needed for me to keep them like that for weeks on end out at the sharp end, then so be it.” The fox crossed his arms, absolutely resolute on this decision and the Major nodded her agreement.

Once that obstacle was overcome work continued with surprising speed. Then again it shouldn’t have been too surprising as the OkamiShip Corporation was noted for not just attention to details, but dependable quality in every ship they turned out.

Elias was able to see Cerise on average once every two days, and finally admitted that his attraction to the petite vixen was genuine. He was still astounded by the intensity of his feelings for her and often found himself simply gazing at her with deep affection.

After one long week of going over various additions to the ship that sat in the high security dry dock in the heart of the Okami yards, Brees released Tivnan for two weeks of leave.

“Apart from your ongoing recovery, you’ve been here or back at the field office going over everything for the fourth or fifth time too often for my tastes. You’re going to burn yourself out before we even get started, son. I’ve already called that little female of yours to come get you and take you away for the duration of your leave. If I see you back here before your leave is up, I’ll shoot you myself. Understand?”

Elias had no other option than to agree with the Colonel, and with a sigh of exasperation at his own obsessive stupidity, he went to his quarters at the SPF offices to pack a bag with the things that he might need for his time away. Anything else he didn’t have he could pick up at any store or shopping kiosk if need be, and waited outside for Cerise. Less than ten minutes had passed before the vixen pulled up to the pedestrian walkway where Elias waited, sitting behind the controls of a small, open-topped ground car. It hummed with the power running to all four electric hub motors mounted in the wheels. She wore a jumper of light gray and had a kerchief tied over her hair and reflective sunglasses on as the rich early summer sun that shown down on the city of Grandstorm was exceedingly clear and bright. Her smile at seeing the male fox was effused with joy and pleasure as she slid out from behind the wheel and grabbed Elias in a surprisingly strong embrace.

With a deep kiss that was just as warm as the summer sun that fell on them, she pulled back and smiled again. “I’ve missed you.”

Elias couldn’t help but respond with the same expression. “I missed you, too,” he said, actually feeling the words instead of replying automatically.

He slung his bag and followed Cerise to the rear of the car to stow his belongings, holding her close to his side.

“You’re using your left arm!” she exclaimed with joy. “And no walking stick!”

Elias gave her a sheepish grin. “Doc says I’m making progress,” he offered by way of an explanation.

Cerise chuckled. “I’ll say you are! This is great!” She gave him another kiss and let him get in the passenger seat before resuming her place behind the controls. “So, the Colonel says you’re all mine for the next two weeks.” She looked before pulling out in traffic, then turned at the next right and then again, taking them towards the outlying suburbs.

“I suppose so. He said he’d shoot me if I showed up at the SPF offices before my leave is up. Strangely I think he really would,” Elias admitted.

“He’s just concerned about you. I think he really respects you, Elias,” she said glancing at the fox. “At least that’s the impression that I get from him whenever we’ve talked.”

Elias looked curiously at the vixen. “Do you two talk often?” he asked, his tone neutral.

She nodded, pointedly scanning the street for a break in the traffic. “At first it was to get my impression of you and how you were coping with your injuries. The last few times was for consulting on some project that I can’t really talk about. He made me sign a contract of secrecy.”

That took Elias aback. What could Cerise know that the Colonel wanted her to consult on? He forced those thoughts away, though. The day was beautiful, he was out with a gorgeous female, and there would be no obligations on him for the next fourteen days.

“So, where are we headed?” he asked over the rush of wind as the vixen drove the car through the last part of the city and into the surrounding suburban area dotted large houses and sprawling parks.

Cerise scanned the road around her before making a right turn up a road that was surrounded by domiciles that Elias could only call estates as the small mansions rested on manicured plots with each one at least five acres in size. “We need to swing by my parents’ house first, then I’m taking you to one of my favorite places.”

Elias felt a twinge of nervousness at the prospect of meeting the vixen’s parents, but tried not to let it show. Some of the older families of Dennier had notions that were a little archaic when compared to the other worlds of the Planetary Alignment. Dennierans were very much into fencing, and if there was anything that equated to a national sport for this world, it was swordplay. Some of those older families still made the suitors fight for the right and privilege to date their daughters. The fights were rarely serious and often stopped once first blood was drawn, or someone yielded. Still, Elias didn’t feel as if he were up to that kind of challenge yet. Never mind that he’d never picked up a real sword, not even a fencing epee, in his entire life.

Cerise seemed to sense the male’s trepidation and smiled. “You won’t get to meet them this time around. Momma and Daddy are off world at the moment, though they both want to meet you, especially after listening to me talk about you. You might meet my sisters, though. I should warn you about Keena, she’s a horrendous…hmmm…flirt and might try to corner you or get you alone. Celia and Gey are still too young to be interested in boys, so you won’t have to worry about them. We won’t be here for too long, so it might not be too bad.”

Before Elias could respond, Cerise turned off of the road onto a wide driveway entrance. Pausing before the huge wrought iron gate, the vixen reached out and tapped a series of numbers on to a small keypad that was hidden by thick, ropy vines of ivy. With a barely audible hum, the gates began to swing open, and as soon as there was a wide enough gap, Cerise drove through. A sensor detected that the car was past and automatically closed the huge gates. The two halves came together with a clang that, to Elias at least, sounded rather ominous.

The vixen maneuvered the ground car up the winding driveway with a practiced hand and soon the house came into view through the dense trees. Elias had to forcibly close his mouth. What Cerise called a house was like calling the most opulent oceanic cruise ship a boat. The house was built of tan and brown rough hewn stone and looked more like an ancient castle. The front double doors were made of varnished wood with bindings and fixtures of polished brass and the bottom floor windows were narrow, but extremely tall and set into recesses in the walls.

“This is home?” Elias asked, his eyes wide.

Cerise giggled. “Daddy was on Tanthe once and fell in love with the idea of having a castle. He figured that Momma deserved it as well, what with having to put up with his absences on a regular basis. So when he retired from the SPF and began working as a consultant and designer for Binfurr arms, he could finally afford what he wanted to have built.”

Elias stopped from moving around to the back of the ground car. “Wait…what? He retired from the SPF?” He watched as the female smiled and nodded. “Cerise, what’s your father’s name?”

“Tambor. Rovi Tambor. Why?” she asked perplexed. She knew her father had been an officer in the Spatial Police Force, but not really what he’d done. The effect of her father’s name seemed to bring Elias up short and his expression made the fox look as if someone had just hit him in the back of the head with a club.

“You father is Rovi Tambor?” he asked in a quiet voice. “’Rovi the Ravager’ is your father?”

Cerise looked confused. “I don’t know about that,” she said earnestly. “I remember that Daddy was gone a lot when I was little and Momma told me it was because of his job. Then when Celia and Gey were born he retired and went to work for the Binfurr Arms branch here on Dennier.”

Elias looked at the vixen with shock and a substantially increased heart rate. “Your father is a legend!” he said with quiet awe. “Best small ship pilot ever and an absolute demon in a fighter. His flying is the bar that the Academy still uses to measure new pilot recruits! And I’m standing here with his daughter.” His hand went to his head which felt like it was spinning. “Oh, boy…”

Cerise stepped forward and took Elias’s hands in hers. “Like I said, I don’t know about any of that, but you are seeing me, not my father, all right?” She made him look into her eyes. “Don’t let the family name distract you or cause any kind of negativity. Aren’t I the same person that you met all those weeks ago? Has the discovery of my family name and who my father is suddenly changed who I am?”

“No. Of course not,” Elias admitted, his ears flattening a little in chagrin and embarrassment.

“All right, then. Grab your bag and come on inside. It’s only going to take me a few minutes to get ready.”

“If you are only going to be a few minutes, why do I need to bring my bag?” Elias asked pausing at the trunk.

Cerise laughed musically. “Because we aren’t going to drive to where I’m taking you!”

Perplexed, he wondered if she intended for them to stay here at her parents’ house, which wasn’t all that bad an idea as far as Elias was concerned. The house was large; there was a pool in the back, a heated whirlpool tub, and a tennis court. And that was just what he could see. He wasn’t sure what else there might be, but it might have been fun to explore the property with Cerise. With a slight shrug he shouldered his bag and followed her inside.

“The bar is over there. Help yourself to anything that you see,” the vixen said before giving him a quick kiss and heading to a flight of wide stairs. Elias watched her go up the sweeping staircase, admiring the view for a moment before heading to the offered refreshments.

To say that the bar was well stocked was an understatement. There were bottles with labels from all over the Planetary Alignment, and several from non-affiliated worlds. It was almost too much of a selection until he ran across a label that he was familiar with and a grin spread across his muzzle. An Academy mate had introduced Elias to the drink that he now poured a small glass of when both were granted shore leave on Earth. The fox’s friend had taken him to his home for a week-long visit. Elias had to admit that there was something charming about Scotland, and the sheer weight of the province’s history was astounding. While there, Elias’ friend, Alistair Gordon, a human that had grown up in the region and was part of one of the largest familial clans in that region’s history, introduced him toCock o’ the North, a single malt scotch liqueur.

With fond memories of his friend and the visit, Elias poured a modest amount into a shot glass, inhaling deep the heady aroma. With a smile, Elias took a sip, enjoying the sweet flavor of the bright amber liquid before swallowing, then relishing the gentle heat that followed. His eyes were closed in sheer bliss when he heard someone clear their throat. He thought it might be Cerise, but when he turned and opened his eyes, he didn’t see the ebony furred young lady. Instead another vixen stood near the doorway opposite the bar. Her coloration was mostly a russet and a smattering of tan with black fur on her forearms, lower legs and ears, and a patch of white that ran from her chin on down to her thighs and the normal white tail tip.

She was dressed in a very skimpy bathing suit that left very little to the imagination and when she spied Elias, she smiled, but it was more predatory than friendly. As she regarded the white male fox, her look was very appraising and Elias felt more like a piece of meat being scrutinized for consumption than anything else.

The vixen walked slowly towards Elias, her hips swaying side to side in an almost exaggerated manner. When she reached the bar, she leaned on the surface, pushing her breasts into a more provocative position. Her pink tongue flicked out to lick her lips and her smile grew wider. “I’m Keena,” she said, her eyes again roving over the male as she seemed to sum him up. “Who might you be?”

“Elias Tivnan,” he replied with a polite tilt of his head, ignoring the hand that the female extended. There was a niggling feeling that touching the vixen’s hand wasn’t the wisest move, so he opted to be more formal. That and while the vixen might have thought that she was being alluring and desirable, advertising her charms in such a flagrant way, Elias was unimpressed. He’d seen too much in his years with the SPF to be attracted to someone so blatant, that and he had to admit he was too smitten with Cerise. What she thought must be enticing only served to demonstrate that her liaisons must not have been with individuals that had much in the way of mental substance. Her ploy would certainly work with less intelligent muscle boys, though.

“So your Cerise’s new toy!” She giggled and leaned closer to him. “She hasn’t been able to do anything but talk about you. I can certainly see why, too.” Keena reached out and laid a hand familiarly on Elias’s upper arm, squeezing slightly. “Hmmm. Nice,” she said with a little growl to her voice and half lidded eyes. “Would you mind getting me a drink, handsome?”

Elias took half a step back. “What would you like, Miss Tambor?”

“No need to be so formal, sweetie. And a glass of what you are having with ice would be quite fine.”

The fox retrieved another glass and dropped a few half moon crescents of ice in the glass before pouring the liqueur, wincing inwardly. Alistair had introduced Elias to the drink, and more common forms of scotch, and had driven home the fact that purists saw the addition of ice as the closest thing possible to religious heresy. Alistair had considered the addition of ice to be anathema.

He extended the glass towards the female and she took it, grabbing his hand as well. “Why don’t you come out to the pool with me and we can talk, Elias. I would love to see what has my sister so excited about you.” She again gave him a look over. “Though I must say the white fur is rather delicious.” She licked her chops again and ignored the other fox’s attempt to free his hand from her surprisingly strong grip.

“Do you always have to try and seduce my friends, Keena” Cerise asked peevishly from the bottom of the staircase, a small bag slung over her shoulder.

“I was doing no such thing, Ceri,” the other female said, disappointment and irritation flickering in her brown eyes.

“Please. You have never met any of my friends that you haven’t tried to bed. Anytime I invite someone over you act like your breeding cycle has started. Go find one of your other playmates and leave Elias alone.”

The look in Keena’s eyes was replaced with anger at her sibling and the general feeling in the room became something less than friendly. Not wanting to see the two females erupt into a squabble, Elias moved towards Cerise. “We really should get going if we want to get there in time,” he said, hoping that the black furred vixen would see the unspoken request in his eyes for the two of them to leave.

Cerise shifted her bag and took Elias’s arm and led him through the room and out the door that opened onto the pool deck. Once outside the fox allowed himself a deep breath of relief. “Is she always like that?”

“Keena? Oh yes.” Cerise sighed. “She doesn’t act that way around my parents, so they really don’t know what she’s like.” She let out a breath that was filled with annoyance. “She’s always been a pain in the tail.”

Cerise led him through a path in the trees that bordered the pool area, passed by dual tennis courts, and then turned abruptly. There were several long moments of silence as the two walked along the path in the shade of imported mimosa trees. Then the vixen spoke in a quiet voice. “You weren’t…interested, were you?”

Cerise was by no means a naïve little girl, but there was no mistaking the tremble in her voice and the tone that said she was concerned about what Elias’s answer would be. He stopped, letting his bag drop on to the mulch of the trail and pulled the petite female towards him, holding her gently by her upper arms.

“I haven’t really been intimate with a lot of females. To be honest I’ve only been with only a few others in my life. I’m one of those odd balls that you here about. If there isn’t some kind of emotional connection, I just can’t get interested. I have to be friends with my partners at the very least. And definitely not with someone like your sister. She really isn’t my type.”

“What is your type?” Cerise asked with a twinkle in her eyes that was hard to mistake.

Elias slid his arms around the vixen and pulled her close. It was the first time that he was the one that initiated affectionate contact. Up until now he’d only ever responded when Cerise was the one that gave blatant signals that it was okay to touch her. Elias kissed her deeply, all too aware of the contact between them, and felt her heart flutter as she pressed herself against his chest. When they parted, Cerise wrapped her arms tightly around Elias and rested her head against him.

“Does that answer your question?” he asked smiling and resting his chin on top of Cerise’s head, again relishing how good it felt to hold her.

“Mmm-hmm.” She sighed happily. “It definitely answers my question.”

They stood like that for long moments before Cerise looked up at him. “We do have to hurry, though. I want to get where we going before it gets dark. Not to mention that I am ready to take a page from my sister’s book and drag you into the woods!” She pulled away, though she did take his hand and waited for Elias to pick up his bag. “C’mon!”

Minutes later they emerged from the woods in a clearing that had a small metal building. Not far from the white structure sat a small corporate model helicopter. It only had room for four individuals, but despite its small size, it had a very lean and powerful look about it. There was a female hyena in what had once been dark blue overalls, but time along with dirt and grease had turned the clothing a shade of mottled light blue, gray and black, sitting at a small wooden desk just inside the building. She smiled when she saw Cerise and Elias approaching.

“She’s been fueled and checked, Honey. I went ahead and uploaded your flight plan and destination, so there shouldn’t be any delays,” the hyena said. “Oh, and recent weather reports have also been downloaded. It looks like clear skies and a right fine day for flying.”

“Thanks, Dona,” Cerise said with a grin. “This is Elias. Elias, meet Dona Briggs. She’s normally the pilot for the Dragonfly, but occasionally let’s me take it out for a spin.”

Elias extended his hand, noticing the odd look that Dona gave him. “Pleasure, Ma’am,” he said with a small smile.

Dona took the hand in a firm grip. “Elias Tivnan? Cerise has told me all about you. That was some impressive flying you did. I don’t know any pilot that would have been able to keep that ship in the air, much less do what you did. Believe me when I say the honor and pleasure are all mine.”

“Thanks,” he said with a self conscious smile. He moved to the left side to stow his bag, his ears twitching when he heard the two females talking, though he wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.

“You didn’t tell me he was that cute!” Dona said with a giggle.

“Shhh! And just because I normally tell you everything doesn’t mean I can’t keep a few things to myself!”

“Just keep Keena away from him. That one’s a keeper. And did you see that a-“

“Dona!” Cerise said, knowing that the hyena had been watching Elias walk around to the other side of the ‘copter.

“I was just looking! I wasn’t going to touch.”

“Keena’s already marked him as a challenge,” the vixen admitted with subdued anger.

“Hey, I have a really big wrench if you want to clock her one.” Dona leaned to the side to look at Elias once more. “And if I had my sights on someone like him, believe me, I’d be swinging away!”

There were other things said, and a great deal of giggling before Cerise stowed her bag and plastic container that Dona had waiting by the aircraft.

“Well, I think that’s everything.” Cerise gave Dona a friendly hug before turning back to the fox. “Ready?”

“Sure.”

They climbed into the ‘copter, Cerise taking the right seat and running through a preflight check after settling a headset over her triangular ears. Elias strapped into the left seat, shut the door and put his own headset on. Then Cerise powered up the engine and threw a quick wave at the hyena, who had retreated to the metal hangar building.

Once the engine had reached its optimal output, the vixen engaged the rotor drive and the huge blades began to turn, slowly at first then with increasing speed until the flexible airfoils were nothing more than a blur. The air outside thrummed deeply as the blades chopped the air and the whole aircraft vibrated with barely reigned in power. With one hand on the control yoke, the other on the cyclic, Cerise increased the bite angle of the rotors while adding power and the little helicopter lifted from the ground with surprising speed.

Still climbing, she turned the aircraft and added forward motion to the craft, and soon the small ‘copter was passing over the main house. Elias was surprised to see just how big the Tambor estate was, and surmised that Rovi Tambor was doing fairly well for himself, indeed. It was also a joy to see that Cerise handled flying so well. She was a natural pilot, it seemed, and the smile that was on her face bespoke volumes of her love of flight.

“So how long have you been flying?” Elias asked over the headset.

“Let’s see…I got my license when I was sixteen, so about eight years now.” She shook her head. “Wow, I didn’t really think it was that long ago. But yeah. A little under a decade.”

“You’re good. Very good! I know several people with more flying time, but they aren’t as smooth as you are. That was a good take off.”

Cerise grinned. “Thanks! I’ve always loved flying. I guess it makes sense that I would work at the starport when you think about it.”

“What about working on getting your ship’s rating? If you like flying that much and as good as you are I would almost expect you to be running interstellar flights. Maybe shuttle runs at the very least.”

Cerise laughed and shook her head. “I brought up the thought of flight school to my father when I was seventeen, just before finishing school. I thought he was going to go through the roof! He said he’d pay for college, but not for his ‘little girl’ to go through flight training. I think he was more than a little scared of what could happen to me out there. Then considering he was SPF, like you, I imagine he saw some pretty awful stuff, so his reaction is understandable.”

Elias looked out of the ‘copter and saw that Cerise had set a northeasterly course, and was heading to a mountain range that looked to be about sixty miles away. “So, where are we headed?” he asked, fishing a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket to cut down on the glare of the sun coming through the cockpit.

Cerise took her hand away from the cyclic to point out the forward windscreen at a section of the distant range. “See that section of the mountains that’s white? That’s where we’re headed.”

“Are those high enough to have snow?” he asked looking at the series of white peaks.

“No. The tallest peak on the range is only six thousand feet. That section of the range is called the Cathedral Mountains. Their comprised of white granite so they always look like that.”

At the speed they were flying, an astonishing one hundred seventy miles per hour, the trip was relatively short. For a while, Cerise kept the ‘copter at a set altitude. Then she looked down and grinned broadly. “Are you all strapped in and your bag is secure?” she asked, her grin getting even broader.

“Yeah. Why? Is there someth-“

Before he could get the words out, Cerise shed almost three hundred feet of altitude in seconds. Elias felt the familiar sensation of freefall, and his eyes grew a little wide before it occurred to him that there wasn’t a malfunction. The vixen continued to trade height for speed, and headed for the opening of a narrow valley. With a ‘Whoop!’ of delight, she began to fly the little ‘copter nap of the earth, following the contours of the land beneath with stomach churning precision.

Elias was caught unaware at first, but being a pilot himself, he knew what a visceral thrill this kind of flying was. He smiled broadly as Cerise flew with deft precision and even laughed out loud a few times. Then when Cerise took a turn at a steep bank that had the helicopter turned almost ninety eight degrees from level, she pulled them out of the ravine they’d been following and shed some speed in a shallow climb.

After a few more minutes, Cerise pointed out the window. “That’s where we’ll be staying,” she said.

Elias looked to where she indicated and saw a small stone and log cabin nestled behind a screen of trees. There was more to the place than what he could see clearly, but the location was very appealing. Not far away was a clear stream with a pool that formed under a short waterfall. The entire location was lush and green and looked like something from a storybook setting. All around the cabin were patches of wildflowers that ran all the colors of the rainbow in vibrant swatches.

Cerise brought the ‘copter in low over a small dirt clearing that had been well packed, and the rotor wash only stirred a little dust and debris. Once firmly settled, the vixen went methodically through the shut down procedure and the engine whine dropped in pitch before going quiet altogether.

“I want to show you inside!” Cerise said with a smile as she opened the door and slid out. “Actually I want you to see everything. This has always been one of my favorite places. My parents used to bring all of us kids up here two or three times a year. Now it seems that I’m the only one that enjoys coming out.”

Elias shouldered his bag and shut the doors, making sure they were latched securely before going to where Cerise was wrestling with the plastic box.

“I got this,” he told her with a grin, then grunted as it proved to be heavier than anticipated. “Whoa. What’s in here? It weighs a ton.”

“Just a few groceries. We’re going to be up here for almost two weeks, so there were some things that I wanted to bring. Most of what we already need is inside. I flew them up here last night after talking to the Colonel. As for other things, I was thinking that we might want to try the river. The fishing is good and I haven’t done that in a long time. There’s nothing like fresh fish cooked over an open fire.”

The vixen led the way to the cabin and Elias saw that he was right about there being more to the place than he could see from the air. In the back was a hot tub that he was looking forward to soaking in. It was surrounded by a wooden deck though the whole set up was surrounded and well shaded by large trees. A screened awning kept the hot tub clear of leaves. The entire place looked too well maintained for being abandoned for extended amounts of time and Elias asked his companion about this.

“There’s a couple that lives further down the mountain that helps keep the place up to par. That and Daddy let’s certain friends come up here to stay when they need time away from the stress of their day to day lives. That and I come up here whenever I can. Sometimes I don’t even use the cabin. I’ll sling a hammock or just use a sleeping bag instead,” Cerise was telling him as she opened the door.

As Elias entered, he noted that the cabin was anything but primitive. There were all of the modern amenities that most individuals enjoyed throughout the PA, but they were cleverly concealed or chosen so that they fit in with the rustic, but comfortable looking, décor. The main room and kitchen opened into each other, and there was a rectangular table that could seat four, possibly as many as six if they were friendly. In the center of the main room was a sunken section that was tiered with piles of cushions upholstered in thick, rick looking cloth of various earth tones and geometric patterns. At the end of the sunken area was a gigantic stone fireplace with polished copper hood. Wood was already laid in it and waiting, with a pile of split logs to the right in a wrought iron rack and a matching carousel with poker, tongs, and brush were on the left. On the plank paneled walls were pictures of Cerise’s family.

Setting the box on one of the counters in the kitchen, Elias tossed his shoulder bag next to the table and turned to help Cerise get things settled. The vixen smiled at the offer but waved him away. “You are supposed to be relaxing. These are just a few things that wouldn’t sit well before we got here,” she said indicating the small crate. Cerise reached into the refrigerator and removed a brown earthenware bottle with wax top. She deftly pulled the wax off of the top before removing an old style cork. “Here,” she said as she handed the fox the bottle, “go soak in the hot tub while I get things situated.”

“But-“

“Now,” Cerise said, her hands resting on her hips and the look she gave Elias indicating that she wouldn’t accept any other response. “I’m not the one who just got out of the hospital.”

Elias knew how to recognize a lost argument, so he did as he was told. As he turned, she popped him playfully on his rump with a flicking backhand and let out a throaty chuckle to send him on his way. The fox flashed a wide grin as he danced out of reach, then headed to the sliding glass door that led out to the back deck. “Leave the door open, but close the screen,” Cerise called with her head in the refrigerator. Elias turned back to look at her, and smiled a little as certain thoughts came to mind seeing little more than her posterior sticking up in the air as she was putting something away, her tail waving back and forth slightly.

He sauntered over to the hot tub and knelt to stick two fingers in the water. It was already heated, and there was a slight metallic tang to the smell of the water. He’d been to a park on Kantus once that had natural hot springs, and the mineral laden water had the same kind of scent to it, so he knew that it wasn’t because the water was stagnant. With the idea of a good soak firmly in mind, Elias realized with chagrin that he hadn’t packed any shorts.

“Um, Cerise? There wouldn’t happen to be an extra pair of shorts lying around somewhere, would there?”

A rather wicked giggle came from inside. “Why would you need shorts?”

He could feel the insides of his ears getting warm and turning pink with embarrassment. He had been raised on Alexandrius in a region that had taken to the concept of wearing clothes rather quickly, and his parents had raised him in an extremely modest way. Basic Training had been a bit of a shock to him, as had the times he’d spent on other worlds where some furs were comfortable with casual nudity. While he’d gotten over his youthful hang-up about exposing himself, there would always be some of his upbringing lurking within him.

“Don’t worry, Elias. There isn’t anyone that will see you!” Cerise called from inside, as if reading his thoughts.

She was right, of course.

Overcoming his initial embarrassment, Elias pulled the shirt he was wearing off, then his soft boots and trousers. The open air felt good ruffling his fur, and he arched his back, hearing several pops from his spine as he stretched, his tail stuck out rigidly. Then he shook vigorously, glad that the action didn’t hurt the way it would have just days before. He was getting better and the physical therapy had helped to start toning the muscles that had been going soft during his recovery.

“Rowf!” Cerise barked from inside the cabin. “The view just got so much better!”

Elias felt his ears redden again.

Before she could make anymore comments, Elias stepped down into the tub, sliding into the water slowly until he was completely submerged, stayed there for as long as he could stand it, then rose so that his head was just sticking out. The heated water was soothing and just on the comfortable side of being hot. He could already feel muscles that had been pushed during his rehabilitation session that morning start to loosen, and sighed contentedly. Then he remembered the bottle that Cerise had given him.

Whatever was in it smelled slightly floral and yeasty at the same time, and he took a tentative sip. The liquid was certainly alcoholic, but what really impressed him was the semi-sweet flavor with undertones of honey and something else he couldn’t identify. Though it was certainly good.

“One of Daddy’s friends makes this. He calls it mead. It’s a wine made from honey and used to be very popular on Old Earth. Daddy loves a lot of the drinks that come from there,” the vixen said as she exited the house. Elias saw that she had her own bottle of the drink and was wearing a terrycloth robe of simple unbleached white. “No two batches ever taste quite the same, which is one of the real appeals of it.”

“It’s amazing,” he admitted.

The vixen smiled at him, and there was a curious look in her eyes that caused Elias’s heart to beat faster. “So, do you mind if I join you?” she asked as she set her bottle down on the edge of the tub.

“Um, not at all…”

Speech wasn’t really something that he was capable of as Cerise let her robe fall open then drop to the deck planks. She didn’t have anything on either. He watched as she stepped daintily into the water, a smile splitting her muzzle, and with only her head above the water, glided directly to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him once she was close enough, a kiss that he returned with enthusiasm. Then they parted and she turned so that her back was against his chest and Cerise pulled his arms around her and held them there with hers.

“You know, this is the first time that I’ve ever been here with someone else other than my family. Or just myself. I have to admit that I like the company that I have this time much better than being alone.”

“Really?” Elias asked before nuzzling the part where her neck met her shoulder. She drew in a deep breath and let it out in a contented sigh with a barely audible low growl.

“Be careful, Mister Tivnan,” she said leaning into the nuzzle. “That is a dangerous thing that you are doing.”

As it was, Elias didn’t push things, instead he simply savored the time spent with this fascinating female that had, for some reason, been drawn to him.

Cerise insisted on spoiling the other fox rotten, and after almost two hours in the hot tub, decided that it had been far too long since they had both last eaten. What Elias hadn’t known was that she had already gotten supper mostly ready, placing a roast in the oven of the kitchen while he had been sitting in the hot tub. The roast, a pork loin cut of meat, along with various sides, had come out perfectly, tender and juicy, and the fox must have been more hungry than he thought as he had consumed half of the dish himself. When it came time to clean up Cerise waved away all of his attempts to help her.

“You’re still recuperating,” she told him. “And because of the regimen that you have been following to get back into shape, your body needs the protein and fuel. And there’s no reason to apologize for having a healthy appetite. Besides, I like cooking, and you are worth any trouble, so will you just shut up, go sit down and relax?” Cerise delivered all of this with a kiss to his muzzle. “If you really want to do something, go light the fire. It might be summer, but nights can get chilly up here. And maybe put some music on. The audio controls are behind the panel to the right of the fireplace.”

Elias smiled and moved to do as he was told, feeling lighter in heart and soul than he had for almost three months. The fire caught readily enough after he was sure that the flue was open, and then moved to the panel that Cerise had pointed out. If she hadn’t told him what to look for, Elias would never have realized that there was a sound system built into the cabin. The sheet of wood, which fit in with the wall so well that a professional burglar could have missed it, opened with a touch on a cleverly devised spring latch. Inside the recess was a top-of-the-line unit, with the music it held being stored on crystal recording sticks that were of the highest quality. He made selections that sounded interesting, relieved that there wasn’t anything that was so popular with younger people lately. This, he lamented, included far too much Pixly Dixly. How that even rated as music he was unsure of.

From several points, the sound focused in the middle of the room, the soft voices of several violins converged, followed moments later by other instruments he couldn’t identify and a female voice that was singing something that he couldn’t understand, but her voice was clear and pure. Then the female’s voice was answered by a male baritone. The music and voices seemed to tell a story in a way where comprehensible words were superfluous. It was a song that seemed to put all of the feelings of what love should be in sweeping tones that spoke on a visceral and emotional level.

Elias was surprised when he realized that the fur around his eyes was damp. Cerise was standing next to him and he saw that she had the same reaction to the music as he did.

“This is my most favorite piece of music.” She listened alongside of the fox, and had taken his hand at some point, and he hadn’t realized it. Then the piece was over, and another composition started. Cerise then described what she felt whenever she heard that particular song and it was all of the things that he had imagined. Put simply, the song was Love.

Without saying anything, Elias took Cerise in his arms and began to dance slowly to the music with her. He hadn’t danced with a female since he was in school, well before joining the Alexandrian Navy and the SPF, though it had been a favorite pastime. They moved with the music, the sounds passing around and through them. Each became so lost in the in the moment that it was a shock to Elias when he realized that they were no longer dancing.

Amid the sweeping sounds that caressed them, they made love in front of the fire, the joining seemingly timeless and as if there was nothing else in the universe except the two of them and the endless moment of NOW. Then it was over after what seemed like forever and at the same time just a fleeting fragment of a second.

Basking in the afterglow, they lay holding one another on the thick burgundy carpeting of the sunken area, simply looking into each other’s eyes. Elias realized that at some point Cerise had let her hair down and it was far longer than he’d originally thought, reaching down to the small of her back in gentle ebony waves. The fire light caught her fur and caused it to shine with red and gold hued highlights. Her silver necklace with its curiously shaped pendant was like a single star against the black of her fur. The fox’s breath caught because the vixen was simply the most beautiful thing that he’d ever seen.

It was Cerise that broke the silence between them.

“Now I can see why my sister acts the way she does towards males,” she said with a smile and half lidded eyes.

Elias tilted his head slightly, unable to fathom what she meant. “What do you mean?”

Cerise kissed him quickly, but with feeling. “I’ve never been with anyone. I dated, but I never met anyone that I wanted to be with before.”

It took several moments for what the vixen was implying to sink in, and Elias felt a sharp pang of consternation for himself for not realizing it sooner.

“If it was your first time, it shouldn’t have been with me,” he said, his brow creasing with concern. “It should have been with someone special.”

He started to sit up, but her small hand on his shoulder pulled him back to her and she buried her face in the crook of his neck and took a long shuddering breath, reveling in the spicy musk scent that spoke to primitive parts of her.

“It was with someone special, Elias. Someone very, very special.”

“No,” he whispered, his frown deepening. “I’m not special. I’m just…well, me.”

Cerise pulled back and gave him a drowsy smile. “That’s why you are special.” She saw the look in his eyes that wanted to argue that point and put a finger to his mouth to keep him quiet. “Not once have you tried to force things. You have always treated me with respect and tenderness. You haven’t lied to get your way, and I know that you never will. You make me happy that I met you, and glad that I’m female. So how is it that you aren’t special?”

He couldn’t voice an argument to counter what she said, which only caused his frustration to grow. She snuggled closer and again buried her head in the junction of his shoulder and neck, the fingers of her hand running through the fur at the back of his head.

“How do I make you feel?” she asked softly.

He took a deep breath before speaking, when words did come out of his mouth, they were bluntly honest. “You make me feel like that song that was on. The first one. It’s…it’s how I feel whenever I see you. It’s really hard to explain.”

“I know what you mean. That’s how I feel, too. But if you can’t tell me, then show me.”

The night that passed was unlike any that Elias had ever known in his entire twenty eight years of life.

CHAPTER 5

Elias explored the area around the cabin with Cerise, let her show him her favorite fishing spots along the river, continued to follow his therapy regimen, and grew stronger each day. Days were filled with experiences that were like new with the vixen, and nights were times of quiet conversation. And each moment that passed made the fox realize that life was so much sweeter, more fulfilling and vibrant in the time spent with the ebony furred female.

He had never really believed the stories that he’d heard as a child, the faerie tales of individuals finding true love after some form of quest or hardship. He had never thought it possible that there could be that kind of life altering feeling for another. This stemmed from never having felt anything but a passing fondness for most of the individuals in his life.

But that was before he met Cerise.

They would be leaving the cabin in two days, and while anticipating a return to duty, Elias was a little subdued at the prospect of leaving Cerise. As he’d told her, the fox had dated others, but looking back over his past dalliances, they were fleeting things and Elias, and those he’d been with, had known that. Now he had discovered something with her that he didn’t want to let go of, and it was causing him something akin to physical pain.

Cerise sensed the other fox’s sour mood as they sat in front of the fireplace and saw the way that he looked at the dancing flames pensively as he wrestled with something that was shutting him off from her. She snuggled closer and gently stroked the fur along the edge of his jaw.

“Elias? What’s wrong? You’ve been a little distant tonight.”

Elias turned to look at her, slipping his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I’ll be leaving for my new assignment soon. I’ll be gone for long periods, and while it’s something that I need to do, part of me doesn’t want to. I’ve even been thinking about resigning my commission.”

The vixen looked at him and saw that he was serious.

“No. You won’t.”

Her tone was so matter of fact that Elias’s eyes grew wide in mild surprise.

“You won’t resign. You will take your new assignment and you will do it to the best of your ability.” This was a new side to Cerise that he had no idea existed. He opened his mouth to speak, but she shook her head. “You can’t quit because quitting isn’t what you do. It certainly wouldn’t be a decision that the one I love would make. You will do this and do it well. Or is everything that I care about a lie?”

Stunned was too light a word for the impact that Cerise’s words had on the fox. “What did you say?”

“That you will do this, or the individual that I thought you were is a lie.”

He shook his head. “Before that.”

Cerise smiled. “Oh. That. I love you.”

Elias looked at her with astonishment, a grin slowly spreading. He took her in his arms and held her tightly to him. She had spoken the words that he’d been reluctant to say and he informed her of as much. “I mean, we’ve only known each other for what? Almost three months. It just seems…sudden.”

With a chuckle, Cerise kissed him and held his face in both of her small hands. “We both come from a species that tends to mate for life. Why should this surprise you?” She kissed him again. “Elias, I’ve been waiting a long time for someone like you, and it doesn’t matter what you do, or where you go. I will always be here for you.”

“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, though,” he pointed out. “It could be weeks, months, maybe even a year or more. That’s a bit of a strain, don’t you think?”

In answer, Cerise slid up onto his lap, wrapping her arms around him tightly. “Then I had better give you a good reason to come back, then, shouldn’t I?” she asked in a husky whisper.

***

They left early the next day, landing temporarily at the starport. Going to a small shop that Cerise knew of, he made a small purchase then both made a quick visit to one other place. Before long, they had retrieved the ‘copter from the starport and Cerise flew it the twelve minutes it took to reach her parents’ house. Other revelations were made after their discussion of the previous night, and while Elias had been set against what he’d been told, Cerise’s counter arguments had mollified him somewhat. Now they were on their way to meet with the coyote’s parents at their estate.

Dona took care of doing the post flight on the ‘copter and squealed with delight when she saw the pair. “Did you have a good time?” the hyena asked, Then she looked again at both of them with greater scrutiny. “Nope. Never mind that question! It’s obvious that you did. Your parents got in four days ago and are up at the house with one of your father’s old comrades. Leave the bags. I’ll bring those up when I’m done with the Dragonfly.”

Cerise thanked the female and walked up the path through the trees with Elias, the pair holding hands. There wasn’t anybody on the pool deck, nor in the room that looked over the swimming area. They heard voices and laughter coming from further in the house and Cerise pulled on Elias’s hand to lead him where she knew the others to be. Swallowing hard and taking a deep breath, the fox followed.

The room that Cerise led him to was a den that was devoted entirely to all things male. The furniture was covered in cracked leather that was worn shiny in some places from use, the deep mahogany dye having faded and returning the soft hide to its original color. There were bottles of liquor on a sideboard with cut crystal glasses. On the walls were numerous weapons, some antique, some very modern, ranging from knives, daggers and swords to black powder muskets and present day caseless autorifles.

Sitting in an overstuffed chair was a fox that could only be Cerise’s father. Elias had seen pictures of Rovi Tambor during his time at the Academy, but the photos had been almost two decades old at that point. Cerise obviously got her coloration from her father who also had glossy black fur, though his muzzle and ear tips were sprinkled with strands of white.

He had been swapping stories with Sander Brees who sat in a chair angled so that he could comfortably face his host. Both males looked up at the young couple’s entrance and went silent.

Elias stopped cold as the two regarded him. One that was his superior and automatically intimidating, the other was his new Father-in-Law. The last prospect was by far the most frightening for the white furred fox.

Cerise crinkled her nose as she let go of Elias’s hand and walked through the cloud of blue tinged pipe and cigar smoke to embrace her father. Rovi accepted the hug perfunctorily, noticing that his daughter and the still unintroduced male wore matching earrings in their left ears, a symbol of marriage from the younger fox’s small home province on Alexandrius.

“What have you done, Cerise?” the older male asked in a quiet voice.

Brees said nothing, but the raised eyebrow spoke louder than words as Elias glanced at him.

“Daddy, this is my husband, Elias Tivnan. I told you about him.”

The black furred male set his glass down, his eyes never leaving Elias’s. “Yes,” he said softly and slowly. “You told me about him, but you didn’t tell me that you were planning on this.” He walked past his daughter and stood before the younger fox and studied him intently for a long moment. “Well, Cerise has never done anything without thinking it through, and if you are half of the person that she says you are, which Sandy also confirms, then the only thing I can do is welcome you to the family.”

The older fox offered his hand, and Elias took it cautiously, also turning his head slightly to the side exposing his neck. The province that Elias came from had several customs that many individuals that hadn’t grown up with found peculiar. Symbols of matrimony were normally matching earrings as it was hard to see a ring through fur most of the time unless it was a huge, gaudy affair, and collars, which were more prevalent on other worlds, were considered to be demeaning. It was also customary to treat the parents of one’s mate as the equivalent of pack Alpha male and female.

Brees had a lopsided grin and raised his glass at the two in way of salute. “Don’t waste time, do you, son?”

Rovi then turned to his daughter. “You know this is going to infuriate your mother. You were going to be the first daughter to be wed, and you’ve gone and spoiled all her fun.”

“Didn’t you two elope?” Cerise asked moving back to take Elias’s hand possessively.

“You know we did. That’s why she was going to make such a fuss over your wedding.” He started to chuckle, and that eventually became an outright laughing fit. As he wiped his eyes, he looked at the young couple. “This is going to wreck Keena’s hunting plans just a little!”

“What?” Cerise said, her eyes going flinty hard.

Her father nodded, still chortling. “She’s been scheming since your mother and I got back on how to get young Mister Tivnan here alone for a while. This puts a serious kink into whatever elaborate plan she’s been working on.”

“You mean you’ve known about Keena’s…um, behavior in the past?” the petite female asked with chagrin.

“Of course!” her father said with a grin. “We always expected you to beat the tar out of her for what she did sometimes. You were the dominant one growing up, and we expected a little more assertiveness when Keena discovered boys, especially the ones you brought home, but you never did. Though I would hazard a guess that things are more than a little different now. Just as long as you don’t cause any permanent damage you have my permission to do whatever you think is right.” He paused and looked at his daughter. “Better yet, nothing that causes bleeding.” He turned to the lion in the other chair. “I think that’s fair, don’t you, Sander?”

“My people were from Kantus and some still believe in prides. I’m not really the one to ask.”

“There will be no pride!” Cerise said with mock ferocity. “Elias is mine and I’ll be damned if I’m going to share him with my tramp of a sister!”

“Watch your mouth, young lady,” another female voice said from the doorway.

Elias and Cerise turned to see an older vixen enter the room with a tray of sandwiches and cold cut meats. While Cerise got her coloration from her father, it was easy to see that her beauty came from her mother. The older female had coloration more like her other daughter, though with a bit more dark gray and a touch of silver in her hair.

“My daughters don’t go around calling each other those kinds of names.” Then the female put the tray down and turned to greet Cerise and Elias. She stopped and looked at her daughter, then the white fox, and back again. Her mouth fell open.

“Momma, this is Elias. Elias, my mother, Sharan.” Cerise tried to smile warmly but it was too late.

Elias didn’t have a chance to greet his new mother-in-law as Sharan pushed him aside as she grabbed hold of Cerise and began to cry noisily. “Why didn’t you tell me?” the older vixen wailed clutching her daughter to her.

“Actually this is a story that I’d like to hear as well,” Brees said grinning broadly. “Son, aren’t you content to contain the wreckage you cause to just ships?” he asked and began to chuckle himself while Sharan continued to cry.

***

It was almost midnight and no one seemed to be tired. Sander Brees had been convinced to stay and help celebrate the joining of Elias and Cerise. While Sharan sat near Cerise and began laying plans for a formal ceremony at a later date, the males sat and talked over glasses of the scotch liqueur that Elias, and Rovi both enjoyed so much.

The younger fox discovered aspects to the two males that helped put them into a different light and Elias quietly assimilated what he was learning.

When the other two males had joined the Spatial Police Force, the PA sanctioned agency was still a relatively young organization. They had been much like Elias himself, full of youthful exuberance with high ideals for the group that policed every system of the Planetary Alignment. Rovi had turned out to be a natural pilot, a trait that he’d obviously passed on to Cerise. As such he’d earned a reputation of being a terror when in the cockpit of anything that flew.

As far as Brees was concerned, he had specialized in zero gravity combat, boarding operations and after a run in with a hostile force of ships early on in his career had developed a very pragmatic, some would say brutal, outlook regarding the necessity of training and professionalism in all aspects. It didn’t mean that he was a cold hearted monster, but a firm believer in that those that volunteered for the SPF had better do their jobs to the best of their ability to serve the citizenry of the PA, regardless of where they came from or what that job was. He carried this same set of standards into the Department of Investigations, then Special Operations when he became too old for spaceborne service.

From the conversation it became very apparent that Rovi Tambor was the co-conspirator of the idea of outfitting civilian ships as pirate hunters. As the talk progressed, both males turned more frequently to Elias for an opinion.

“The problem as far as I see it is that there is simply too much space to patrol. The volume is staggering, even around a single planet,” Elias was saying. “The reason that I think this has a chance of working is that the Colonel has developed a means that will save time and resources by making the pirates and privateers come to the trap. It’s far more efficient than sending battle capable ships out in an active search. It’s far too easy to tell what’s a cargo vessel and what’s a warship even with the most rudimentary sensors available.

“Prohibiting the sale and possession of point defense weapons only makes the freighter crews easier targets, and it certainly won’t stop brigands from outfitting their vessels with whatever they can get their hands on. So that tack is also nonviable. But seeding the space lanes with these…what did you call them again, Colonel?”

“Q-ships,” the lion said sipping from his glass.

“Thank you. Q-ships. Seeding the lanes with these Q-ships draws those we want to capture much more easily than a reactive presence would hunting them down after the fact. And with the Okami H model hull that’s being fitted now, it can carry the shielding, armor, firepower and speed to take on anything but a naval Ship of the Line. What pirate would be able to resist a target as juicy as an Okami? They’re common, they pack a lot of cargo, even the ship is easy to sell off either whole or as parts…it’s too rich a prize. No one will suspect it’s a combat vessel. Then to do the same with other freighters and luxury craft? Absolute brilliance!” Elias was leaning forward now. He was a firm believer in Operation Sweeper and had been since Brees had asked him to join the program so many weeks ago in the hospital. “That each one would also be equipped with an interceptor, there are very few pirates that would be able to stand up to that kind of combination.”

Rovi leaned back in his chair and regarded the other two, his eyes finally settling on Brees. “This is what our conversations so long ago created, Sandy?”

The lion nodded. “Things have changed out there, Rovi. The Siilv War threw everything out of whack. Sure, freighters, even the more expensive cruise liners are starting to ship more goods and commerce is picking up, but not like it was. Each shipment, no matter what it is, whether electronics or lingerie is the cargo, they’re all vital for the worlds they are coming from and going to. And with the economic ramifications, even the SPF has had to make budget cuts. If we can demonstrate the difference a single Q-ship can make, it’ll be worth it. After a while, the pirates will either curtail their own attacks because they don’t know what’s a legitimate freighter or combat vessel. Or they’ll find less risky means of obtaining their gains, which would mean legitimate endeavors. But we all know that’ll never happen. There will always be those that prey on others, quick rewards for minimum risk. And we’ll be out there waiting for them.”

The older fox looked at Elias then. “You know this is going to put a strain on the relationship you have with Cerise, don’t you?”

Elias nodded. “We talked it over, Sir. We know that it won’t be easy at all, but she knows that I can’t give this up. I’m not going to tell you what her reaction was when I brought up the idea of resigning my commission.”

“Don’t do that, son. I need you too badly,” Brees said with a growl. “Besides, day after tomorrow you’ll be meeting your crew and doing a final inspection of the ship.”

“It’s ready?” Elias asked in amazement. “I thought there was still about three weeks of work to do!”

The lion shook his head. “The crews at Okami really burned the candles to get this done. They’ve had workers going ‘round the clock to finish outfitting the ship. Which reminds me, I need to know what you want to name her and if there are any special colors you want the hull painted? Nothing military like, mind you.”

The fox looked over at Cerise deep in conversation with her mother on the other side of the room and nodded. He quietly told them what he wanted and why. Brees and Rovi both nodded, somewhat pleased.

“Makes sense. The Maker knows I’d have done the same if she were the first thing that I’d seen waking up in a hospital,” the lion said with another lopsided grin.

Rovi agreed. “I named my fighter after her mother. She never let me down, that’s for sure.”

Elias was pleased that they concurred with his choice of name for the ship. Then, curiosity getting the better of him, Elias asked a question that had been burning in his head all night.

“Sirs, if you don’t mind my asking, how did the two of you meet? One was shipboard operations and the other a pilot, I haven’t really seen that much camaraderie between the two sections.”

Brees laughed and Rovi smiled. “It all started on the first day I arrived at the Academy. All of us were nervous and scared with the instructors yelling at us constantly and ordering us to do things that made absolutely no sense to brand new cadets,” the elder fox’s eyes had taken that far away look to them that said he was reliving a memory that hadn’t been dusted off in quite some time. “Drop for push-ups, run to such and such thing and back, giving out nicknames because there must have been two hundred of us and that’s too many names to actually remember. And here comes this mangy lion that isn’t old enough to have a full mane yet, staggering out of the shuttle where he’d fallen asleep. And the first thing he asks is ‘when do we eat’? I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. The instructors had a field day with us then, I’m here to tell you! We were dorm mates and became close friends afterwards.”

Brees laughed. “I couldn’t help it. I had just been on the worst three week run of my life to get to the Academy and hadn’t been able to get breakfast. I was hungry!”

“Sandy, you are always hungry,” the black furred fox said. “I could have fed my entire family for an extra week with what you ate tonight.”

Brees looked at Elias. “High metabolism,” he said with a shrug.

CHAPTER 6

Two days later, Elias stood underneath the gantry and work cradle where his ship rested.

His ship.

He would be meeting the crew the next day, but he wanted to see the vessel. He watched as an Okami technician put the final touches on the name of the ship in flowing silver script to the port and starboard of the bridge viewports.

“She’s a beauty, all right,” a gruff voice said from behind Elias.

The fox turned to find a short but powerful looking badger looking up at the vessel while absently wiping grease from his hands. He had a stick of dried meat poking from the corner of his mouth and worried at it with little nibbles. There was a proud gleam in the badger’s eyes as he regarded the freighter that was anything but. “The Colonel asked me to give you a tour of her, Captain, so if you’d like we can start now.”

“Sure,” Elias said. Then he looked at the badger. He wasn’t wearing the uniform overalls of the Okami shipyard personnel. “Um, and you are?”

“Stram Molson. I’ll be your engineer, Sir.” The badger stuck out a hand that had the claws worn to small hard nubs, and the pads of his fingers and palms were calloused from years of hard and dirty work.

“Just call me Elias. Or Captain, if you feel you need to. We aren’t going to be typical SPF, so I’m chucking the regulation books.” Colonel Brees had told Elias of the badger and that he had been with the Okami Corporation naval architects and working with them on the ship from the start on detached service from the SPF, but not that he would be his engineer.

“Fair enough, Cap’n. Now then, let me show you the hull first. Then we’ll go and check out the wonders of the inside.”

The fox smiled. “Lead the way.”

The pair walked beneath the cradle and Stram was pointing out various spots to the fox.

“Up here in the bow you’ve got four Mark III pulse cannon. Granted they aren’t as powerful as, oh say the Mark IV’s or V’s and some of the more recent variants, but that’ll give you a higher firing cycle between each gun. They’ll chew through the shields of anything short of a heavy cruiser, and I’d be more than willing to lay good credits that they’d even give one of those beasties a good wallopin’ before all was said and done. And if you look there to the port and starboard just a hair below the lateral line. See that?” Elias saw two sections that weren’t quite congruous with the rest of the hull plating. “Those would be the forward torpedo tubes. Terran made Arch Angel class, pee wee nukes. There are four torpedoes per unit with a third tube located between the engines. There are only three torpedoes for that unit, but if we have to use them we’ll be in a serious scrap, guaranteed.”

The badger then led the way to the center ventral area, just forward of the huge landing jacks with their dual caterpillar track pads. “This whole area here is actually a retractable turret,” Stram said, describing a circular area with his right hand. “There’s a matching turret on the dorsal surface as well. Kinda cuts down on the available space for the recreation deck, but only by six or seven feet, so not by much. Each turret holds two mercury vapor lasers with 200 gigawatt output, but the reflectors in each unit are solid Siilv units, so the actual output is more along the lines of 600 plus gigawatts. The engines can certainly handle that, and each laser is capable of a constant 1000 hour rated work load, so we don’t have to worry about getting the reflectors relined every couple of months.”

The walk around led to the port side ventral area just to the outside of the port landing jack. “Now here beneath this panel, and one just like it on the starboard ventral area, is a five round rack of Talon missiles. I know you’ve had experience with those, so you know what they’re capable of. These have the latest intelligence upgrades and can actually work in tandem with each other if need be. Around the entire lateral line are shock tread emitters for very close point defense. Now then, if you’ll follow me?”

Elias walked slightly behind the badger to the aft of the ship. “You can’t tell from here, but the engines are actually three times larger than even the advanced H Model Okami freighter. To be honest, they’re even larger than the engines that the ship had I was last posted on, and that was a Gnasher class frigate. Not a small ship by any stretch of the imagination. So not only will we have ample power for the weapons and shields, but we’ll bloody well be able to outrun just about anything that isn’t in warp space. Various countermeasures are scattered all over the hull and include the standard chaff, flares and aerosol dispersants and some seriously amped up shields. Electronic countermeasures are handled at the weapons and communications stations on the bridge, though any terminal onboard can be used for that in a pinch.”

The fox whistled low in appreciation. “She’s an impressive piece of work, Stram.”

The badger chuckled. “You haven’t seen half of it yet, Cap’n. Let’s go onboard and I’ll show you the rest.”

There was indeed more to see. The first thing that Elias noticed as he entered through the personnel airlock was that the hull was almost a full four feet thick. The entire hull was plated in overlapping armor of several different materials.

“The outer layer is standard hull alloy,” Stram was pointing out, “maybe three inches thick. Under that is a full three and a half feet of boron latticed ceramics. That was actually cast around the ribs and cross members of the base structure. Backing that is aligned crystal carborundum. The entire inner surface is titanium. And we can’t forget that in between each layer is jelly-seal. Any punctures up to a foot or so in diameter will self seal. There’s the same substance between all of the glassteel panes as well, and each pane is almost four inches thick with three panes per viewport.”

The cargo bay lights came on automatically and the first thing that Elias saw was a sleek stub winged Raptor class interceptor. It was anchored to the deck by magnetic and mechanical clamps. Support equipment and consumables storage for the trans-atmospheric fighter was stored along the aft bulkhead. The fox also noticed that the cargo bay was much shorter than normal.

“It’s to accommodate the larger engines,” Stram said, still chewing vigorously on the stick of meat. “More than enough room for our needs, though. Now then, the cargo master’s cubicle there is not only armored and the primary security point for this area, it also doubles as the control station for fighter operations.”

It was definitely a security point. Concealed, but by no means totally hidden was an infantry support light pulse gun. “That can be operated either manually or by remote from the cubicle,” Stram said resting a hand on the main body of the weapon and grinned. “With what we’re goin’ to be doin’ you can’t be lax about home security.”

The badger led Elias through the engine room, and the fox was amazed that the ship was able to hold the bulk of the oversized propulsion units. With that done, Stram pointed out the access panels that would allow movement to any part of the ship if the lift was rendered inoperable. Each hatch was concealed with a security panel and would accommodate a single individual in only the most basic of pressure suits. Then they entered the lift and went to the second deck.

The vessel had the standard number three-room cabin suites that all H model freighters incorporated. The last cabins at the aft of the corridor functioning as holding cells. The deck carpeting was forest green and sapphire blue with the bulkheads painted a soft pearl gray. The oblong ellipsoid design of the H model ship was mirrored in the layout of the corridor, and Elias followed it around to the hatch that was painted blue with a stylized gold ship’s wheel on it. The doors parted with a slight hiss from pneumatic actuators and he looked in on the bridge. It was almost identical to the layout in the simulator that he’d been logging hours on prior to going on leave with Cerise, and he noted each station. Helm was directly ahead. To the right of that was the navigation position. Behind the helm, to the left and right respectively were the weapons station and communications. The consoles for each position were fairly standard and could, as was the case with all SPF vessels, overlap their functions, but never really as well as the actual station that was meant to handle a specific task. The forward viewport was equipped with incredibly delicate circuitry that was virtually invisible, but could be used to display anything that might be needed better than any heads-up-display projection. It could even double as a vidscreen for recorded or transmitted data, like the viewports on the recreation deck.

The seats were auto adjusting to fit the physiologies of the various member species of the Planetary Alignment and would help cushion and protect the user from shocks and sudden acceleration or deceleration. The safety straps were all standard five point units that had quick release latches in case of an emergency.

Relative to the hatch, the aft port bulkhead had a lavatory, and the starboard held a small office for the ship’s captain that led not only to the corridor, but also to the cabin that was closest to the bridge. Elias’ cabin. Opposite in the other direction was the infirmary, then the crew’s quarters.

With the realization of what was happening, the fox walked to the pilot’s chair, resting his hand on the backrest. Stram, sensing something from his new Captain, departed without a word, leaving the fox to himself. The sobering thought that he would be in command of this vessel, responsible for the lives of those that crewed it ran through his mind. Elias wasn’t treating the realization lightly, either. He would have the responsibility of not only maintaining their safety as well as he could, but the lives of any and all that they would encounter. It was daunting to say the least. Anyone that thought all a captain had to do was give orders and let others do the dirty work onboard a ship was a fool.

He felt the weight of said responsibility seemingly settle on his shoulders as he slid into the seat. After leaving the Alexandrian military and joining the Spatial Police Force, he had taken an oath to protect the lives of the citizenry of the Planetary Alignment, regardless of homeworld, species, gender or station. That oath also meant that the lives of those he served with, over, and under.

It was an oath that he took seriously.

Elias’ hand rested lightly on the control yokes of the pilot’s position, two inverted ‘L’ shaped grips, though they were not the standard controls that could be found on nearly all Okami built vessels. The number of switches, buttons and the four triggers were silent testament that there was more to this ship than was at first apparent. It was a ship of war, with the potential to end life. But it could also be used to protect life. As his hand and fingers traced the contours of the controls, Elias closed his eyes.

“I have never been overly religious, but if You are out there, all I ask is that you let me bring my people back safe. Let me protect those out there that need protecting. Let me do what I need to do to make things a little safer out there,” he thought silently, casting those thoughts to the heavens. For some reason, he felt a little better about his new role.

“Not interrupting, am I?” the deep voice of Colonel Sander Brees asked from the hatch.

Elias turned around in the seat. “Not at all, Sir.”

The lion walked forward and took the navigators seat. “I never was that good a pilot. I can steer a ship and normally avoid hitting anything, but I’ll be the first to admit I’m no pilot. Now Rovi, he could fly! Watching him at the stick was like watching an artist. He made the most complicated maneuvers look easy. You and he share a lot of the same qualities. I think it’s because you and he have a better grasp of three dimensional relations. Or so I’ve been told. I function better under tactical conditions.” The lion looked over at the young male appraisingly. “I guess that it’s started to sink in then, right? The responsibility, the burden of command?”

Elias nodded silently.

“To be honest, if you didn’t feel it, I would yank you out of that chair so fast it would take you a year to grow your fur back. That’s how I know you are the right one for the job. I can tell you this, and I’m going to be honest. You never get comfortable with it, and it never gets easier. It will always be there. And the older you get, the heavier it becomes. But you will get used to it.”

Elias looked at the lion who suddenly seemed to bow with the weight he talked about and the fox realized that Brees looked older than he really was. He wondered if he was just now noticing it, or if it had been the change in him as he accepted his own portion of responsibility that enabled him to see it.

“I think I’m getting too old for this,” the lion said as if he read Elias’ thoughts. “I think the worst of it is sending young folk like yourself out there where I can’t go anymore.” The lion sighed and looked out of the forward viewport, but saw nothing in particular.

Elias looked at the lion, caught off balance by this admission. Brees seemed like such a solid individual, as timeless as a stone edifice. That he hated not being able to share in the risk of the subordinates he passed orders on to was sobering and astounding at the same time. The fox wondered if he would be like that one day.

“Sir? All I ask is that you let me take a swing at it.”

Sander Brees came back to himself, turned his head to look at the younger officer and gave him a friendly smile. “And that’ll be the last time that you call me ‘Sir’, pup. Call me Sandy. See, while you are part of the family, you and yours are going to be like the children that we never talk about. You will hold your rank, same pay grade, but as of now, you are no longer SPF.”

Elias was taken back. Not a part of the SPF? The thought rankled him, struck a chord in him that was…frightening. He’d been a part of the Spatial Police Force for most of his adult life. Now to be cast aside? Again it was as if Brees could read his mind.

“No one is safe from spying, son. There are only going to be a few of us that know who and what you are, but the rest of the Force? They mustn’t know. It’s too easy for the wrong thing to be said in passing, and for that information to get to the wrong people. Don’t worry, son. You’re still part of us, just not in an official capacity.”

Elias thought about that, and saw the necessity for it. It would be too easy if a pirate got away to take personal retribution on the families of any one of them. That thought led to Cerise. Secrecy was key to this whole operation, but because of the press coverage from his exploits over Dennier, his name was known, if not his image. That could lead a vindictive reprisal against his new wife and her family. He unconsciously whispered, “Cerise.”

Brees coughed. “About that, I think we have come up with an answer.” He swiveled the seat to face Elias and had a slightly embarrassed look. “The one thing that this crew was lacking was a dedicated sensors and communications officer. We were able to find one.”

Before the fox could say anything, Sander motioned to the hatch with his left hand. Turning around, Elias saw Cerise standing in the open hatch wearing a nondescript gray jumpsuit. Her expression was serious and she looked at her mate with a level and cool gaze.

Elias’s eyes went flinty and he spoke a single word with more conviction than he’d ever mustered before.

“No.”

CHAPTER 7

The argument between Elias and Cerise raged for almost a full hour and moved from the bridge, through the second deck, down to the cargo bay and finally culminated with an angry, silent staring contest outside of the ship.

It was Cerise that broke the stalemate. “I’m not some delicate female that needs protection, Elias. You aren’t going to be able to find a tech with my qualifications that can get here before you lift. I’ve talked to my father, and both of us have spoken with the Colonel,” she said pointing at the lion. “I know what I’m getting into.”

“You aren’t SPF,” the white fox said. “I can’t condone a civilian serving on what is, for all intents and purposes a military vessel!”

The vixen let out an exasperated breath. “Colonel, will you inform my husband of my status, please?”

Brees coughed and looked at Elias. “Her instatement with the SPF came in two hours ago per my request. Rank of Ensign. She has a degree in communication with cross-training in electronics, programming and repair. She has all of the qualifications the ship needs and is willing.”

The glare that Elias leveled at the lion bespoke volumes of the level of his anger. As the captain of the ship, he had quite a bit of say regarding his crew, but in the end the entire endeavor was under Sander Brees jurisdiction.

Cerise had had enough. “Elias, I love you, but you are being stubborn beyond all reason. Our vows were made as equals, which means the decision to join is mine. I said I wanted to share your life. All of it. That means the good and the bad, and to expect me to sit at home like a nice docile female raising kits while you are out doing your job isn’t something I’m willing to accept. I will follow your orders on the ship, just as you would expect any junior officer to do, but you won’t dictate to me what I will and will not do outside of that.”

The vixen’s words were like a slap in the face, and the hot anger that had filled Elias suddenly ran cold. “I can’t afford to have one of the crew protect you all the time,” he said flatly. “It’s going to be dangerous, and many of the individuals that we will be encountering are not really known for their stellar manners and treatment of others.”

“You’re worried about my safety. I can understand that. Well, let’s put that to rest now. Would you pick out one of the lights on the gantry, please?” she asked Elias.

“What?” he managed, trying to shift mental gears to keep up with his petite mate.

“Elias. Pick out a light on the gantry, please,” she repeated slowly, trying to keep her own frustration in check.

The fox did as requested and looked up, finding one that was on the end of the third tier scaffolding and pointed at it. “That one. Third level at the end. But wh-“

His question was cut off by a sharp crack. The light vanished in a shower of sparks and the few Okami technicians that were working on the ship dropped flat. Elias turned to see Cerise calmly holding a small pistol one-handed. Before he could do anything other than jump away, the vixen fired three more times in rapid succession, separating the metal shield of the defunct lamp from the rest of the assembly. Before it hit the ground, she had put three neat holes in close proximity to each other with a fourth a little less than an inch from the grouping though the thin sheet steel.

Slipping the pistol back into a holster under her jumpsuit, Cerise leveled a gaze at the fox. “Think who my father is. Do you think that he wouldn’t teach his daughters how to protect themselves?” She then turned to the workers. “Sorry!” she yelled up at them. To Brees she asked, “Do you think you could smooth things over with the dock foreman?”

Elias was still stunned and regarded his wife, even as his ears rang with the discharges from her weapon, his mouth agape.

Colonel Brees wasn’t helping the situation as he moved off to calm any rough feelings at the pointed demonstration laughing so hard that his eyes became moist.

***

Despite some lingering misgivings, Elias officially accepted Cerise as his Electronics Officer. Not that there was much choice after her demonstration. Then again, logic and emotions had rarely ever found common ground.

Later that night, after a sumptuous dinner with Rovi and Sharan at a fairly exclusive restaurant in Grandstorm, Elias and Cerise lay in bed, both looking over material for the ship. Elias was going over the files for his crew, who would be assembled for him to meet in the morning on a DataPak. His wife was looking over the technical specifications for the ship’s sensors and communications suite. Until lift off, they were nominally living at the vixen’s parents’ house, and they shared the room that Cerise had grown up in. Fortunately she didn’t hold on to the trends and fads of her youth, and the décor was comfortable.

Most of the furniture was made of stained wood that had something of a rustic look to it. The floor was thickly carpeted in a cerulean color. Cerise had matching sheets and comforter on her large bed, which was convenient as she was sharing it now, and the pictures around the room were of family members and friends, many of the pictures having been taken by the vixen herself. The one exception to the pictures were those on Cerise’s desk of various ships from the starport.

“The ship really has some impressive electronics. I wonder how they were able to cram this kind of sensor array into a hull that was already packed full,” Cerise said, obviously impressed. “At least I know why Uncle Sandy wanted my input.” Shaking her head, the vixen shut off her own DataPak, placed it on the nightstand next to her side of the bed, then rolled over and looked at Elias, her head propped up on her hand. “So, where did you get the name for the ship?” she asked with a mischievous grin. “Guiding Angel? It seems a little…pretentious, don’t you think?”

Elias set aside his own DataPak. “Does it?” he asked, looking at her. “Let me try to explain it, then.” He gently stroked the side of her face as he rolled onto his side to face her. “How did we meet? Not in person.”

“When you were trying to bring in the Scimitar.”

The fox nodded. “You did everything you could to help us. My first thought when I saw you on the vidscreen was that I would do anything if I could meet you. My own guiding angel. Then when I woke up in the hospital, there you were. You made all of the pain and struggle of rehabilitation therapy bearable. You gave me hope. So when this assignment came, I wanted to name the ship after something that I knew would always bring me home.”

Elias watched as her eyes grew soft and luminous as he spoke and took her in his arms as she snuggled closer, feeling the contact and warmth between them and relishing the intoxicating feeling of her being close.

“Are you still angry with me?” she asked quietly.

“No, I’m not. It…it’s just that it caught me completely unaware. The thought of you being in danger, or maybe even getting hurt because of a decision that I have made…it makes me ill. It tears at my insides, Cerise. But you were right. We bonded as equals, and I have to accept your choices. I was out of line today, but I promise you that from now on, unless there are some very dire circumstances involved, that if you do something that I am not comfortable with, I will talk to you about it. And I want you to tell me if something that I do doesn’t sit well. I might be the Captain, but it doesn’t mean that I won’t make mistakes. That’s why I need a crew that knows their jobs. Mine is to keep everyone alive at the end of the day.”

Cerise sighed, and Elias felt a certain amount of tension flow out of her. “I feel the same way with the thought of you going out into space where I can’t follow. I don’t want to be one of those wives that waits for you to either come home, or to get a flash-message saying you’ve…saying something has happened. If you are going to go out and stare danger down, I want to be at your side when you do it.”

Her fingers had unconsciously gripped the fur of his chest where her hands had lay against him as a myriad of ‘what-if’s’ ran through her mind. “I vowed to stay by your side no matter what because I love you. Don’t stop me from keeping to those vows.”

He held her closer and brushed the back of her head and long hair with his fingers trying to sooth her nerves. “I won’t.” Elias reached down and lifted her head so that she had to look at him and he saw the fur around her eyes was damp. “You know that you really are my Guiding Angel, though?”

She smiled and he kissed her with gentle passion. They held each other close through the dark hours of the night.

***

Cerise sat off to the side as the members of the crew for the Guiding Angel filed through one at a time to speak to their future Captain and Colonel Brees. The first was a jaguar named Saul Reese. He was twenty six years old and had served as a junior officer on two SPF fast couriers, the Hermes and the Marathon. Apart from being a very capable navigator and stunningly adept at calculating warp space coordinates without the use of either computer or calculator, he was a highly skilled small ship pilot and would be the secondary for operating the Raptor interceptor in the hold of the freighter.

The vixen thought he was a likable individual, but had more than his share of military bearing. He was just a little too proper and the creases of his uniform were sharp enough to cut with.

”Lieutenant Junior Grade Reese reporting as ordered, Sirs,” the jaguar said as he snapped to rigid attention before Elias and Sander.

Brees was pouring over a DataPak and didn’t look up, leaving Elias to conduct the interview.

“Relax, Saul,” Elias said and motioned a chair to the large feline’s side. “Have a seat. What I’d like to hear from you is what you think you’ll be doing and what you expect, then we’ll tell you what is really going to happen.” The fox gave a smile at the jaguar’s flash of irritation at the ‘civilian’s’ impudence.

Sitting very erect in the chair, seeming to still be at attention, Saul cleared his throat and began to say what he thought the mission that he was going on would be like.

“From the information that was sent to me, I am to be the First Officer on a clandestine vessel for covert operations regarding the interdiction and nullification of hostile elements that threaten interstellar commerce,” the jaguar said with a flat delivery. Then added, very reluctantly, “Sir.”

“Mister Reese,” Brees began, lowering his DataPak and looking up at the other feline with undisguised irritation in his eyes and voice, “do you have a problem serving under Captain Tivnan that I need to know about?”

Saul’s whiskers twitched. “I am curious as to why I am being put subordinate to a civilian, Sir. I’m sure that he is a fair officer for a freighter, but serving on a cargo hauler isn’t what I joined the Spatial Police Force for, Sir.”

“Hmmm,” Brees rumbled deeply. “It seems that you are sadly mistaken about a few things, Mister Reese. Let’s see if I can clarify them for you.” He slid the DataPak he’d been looking over across the desk and motioned for the other to read it.

Saul read the contents of the screen, and Cerise hid a grin behind her hand as she watched the jaguar seem to shrink into himself. His ears flashed deep pink before flattening in chagrin. He laid the DataPak on the desk and looked at Elias for a moment before his head dropped.

“Begging your pardon, Captain. I made a very hasty judgment, and a very big mistake, Sir.”

“First off, I’m going to tell you that that is something that we cannot afford to do,” Elias said in a stern tone, though Cerise saw that he was fighting against smiling as well. “This mission is dangerous enough, and assumptions will get people hurt or killed. We are going to be in a situation where decisions are made with as much full knowledge of the facts as we can get.” The jaguar nodded slightly in understanding.

“Second, we’re going to be covert, which means that you’re going to have to drop all of this ‘Yessir, Nosir’ business. We’ll be posing as common freight haulers, that means we are not supposed to be snapping to attention, saluting and behaving in anything resembling a proper military fashion. We are salt of the earth folk just trying to make our way.

“Third, address me as Captain, Elias or some other way that seems fitting as long as it’s done with respect. Freighter crews are far more familiar with each other than SPF personnel are, and one of the keys to our survival is going to be convincing others that all of us are one-big-happy-family just trying to make a living. As for the rest, you are correct. We will be intercepting pirates by making ourselves look like a tempting target and putting them out of business in as nonlethal, expedient way as possible with the loss of our lives and well being the cost of failure. You get me, Mister Reese?”

The jaguar looked up with some hope in his amber eyes. “You mean I’m still eligible for the position, Sir…I mean Captain?”

Elias smiled, though it lacked any real warmth or friendliness. “You are. Unless you would prefer otherwise.”

“No, Sir! I mean Captain. I mean, I would very much like to serve as your First Officer.”

Elias leaned forward and extended his hand. “Relax, Saul. You got the job.” The jaguar nodded and took the proffered hand, with the beginnings of a smile forming. “One thing, though,” the fox said and the burgeoning smile vanished from the feline’s face. “Lose the uniform. I want to see you in civvies from here on out. And go do something that’ll get you a little dirty. You are far too clean to be working on a freighter. And please, loosen up. Okay?”

The jaguar’s smile returned. “Aye Captain. I can do that.”

He stood and left the room and the three of them looked at each other before bursting out laughing. “I really hope the others aren’t that uptight,” Cerise said holding her stomach with one hand.

Brees rubbed the bridge of his nose, still chuckling. “He’s worse than some wet-tail kay-det! Fortunately he’s the only one that would have been the biggest problem with all of this. Reports on him from his former superiors say that Saul Reese is very by the book and stickler to regulations. I think this assignment will help him gain a little perspective. At least I hope it does. Too many like him as late, all wound up and the first ones to pop like a too tight fiddle string when the stress gets bad. Waste of good officers.”

Elias nodded in agreement. “That’s the truth. Now then,” he said as he looked at a small slip of paper, “next on the list is…Melise Rains? Are you kidding me?”

“Is something wrong?” Cerise asked, concerned at her husband’s reaction.

“No,” Brees said. “Something is very right.”

Elias smiled at his wife. “Melise was one of my shipmates on the Scimitar. Apart from being great in a scrap, she’s one of the best cooks that I’ve ever seen. She could work in any fine dining establishment you care to name! By the Maker we’re all going to get fat on this run.”

“Don’t count on it, Elias,” a soft voice said from the doorway. Cerise looked up to see a female panda walk in with a huge grin. “You know that whatever I cook for you I’ll be happy to run off of you on the mattresses.”

Elias stood and moved around the desk and caught the panda in a fierce embrace. They parted, though not soon enough for Cerise, who experienced an irrational and sharp pang of jealousy, and Melise sat easily in the chair before the desk as Elias resumed his seat. The fox looked at his mate and saw her giving him an arch look as she mouthed the word ‘mattresses?’

“Mel’s an expert at hand to hand combat with her favorite tool being a good knife. She was often put in charge of keeping the rest of theScimitar’s crew in shape. Normally by chucking us around on the exercise mats. Or into the nearest bulkhead. She really is good.” Elias knew that he would have to tell Cerise more, but that would be later and in private.

“All I knew was that you and the others made it all right out of the crash, but that was it. How have you been?” Elias asked with interest.

The panda shrugged. “All of the rest were sent back to Joplin for evaluation and reassignment, except for me. I got a flash message from the Colonel here to hang around, and told I was on leave until he called for me.” She looked at the lion with an amused look. “He didn’t say a thing about wanting me for something like this, though.”

Brees smiled. “I figured that your new Captain would like someone that he’d worked with before. Besides, I thought you might be useful to him.”

Melise laughed. “I suppose he could use me. It’s better than the alternative! I don’t think I could handle a training slot at the Academy. I’d rather be out doing than teaching others so they can go out and do. You want to drive me crazy? Put me in a training cadre slot. I’m not cut out for coddling recruits and wiping noses on wet-tails.”

“You’re more than welcome on this ship, Mel. Glad to have you aboard,” Elias said, extending his hand.

The panda smiled, happy for the posting. Then she looked at the fox, then Cerise. “Oh, blood. Dear, did this scalawag convince you to marry him?” Melise asked the vixen. “You and I are going to have to go out so I can tell you some stories about Elias. If they don’t make you run away, then it’ll have to be true love!”

Cerise wasn’t sure if the panda was serious or joking, but Elias only laughed which caused the vixen to smile nervously. “Cripes, Mel! Not the story about the ‘Rose in Bloom’ again? Are you ever going to let that one lie?”

The panda leered at her friend. “Not in this lifetime!”

Brees looked at the panda quizzically. “I think I might want to hear about this one, as well. Go ahead and spill it, Sergeant,” he ordered.

Melise took her seat again, and looked at Cerise. “It all started when Elias and I were first assigned to the Scimitar about, oh, what was it? Two years ago?” she asked turning to her friend.

“About that,” Elias said softly, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

“So there we were, just coming off of a good solid month on patrol, and except for watches we were all given a week of leave. Now mind you, this had been a stressful run. Two aid calls and one rescue of a ship that had a hull breach, so we were all fairly strung out. So our first night on leave, we’re on Fyn, and cruising the city of Chatham. Our First Officer at the time, a human from the North American continent, decides that Elias has been burning the candle at both ends, and that the best way he can think to get Elias here to loosen up a little is with the help of a little beverage called bourbon.

“It seems that our white fox doesn’t have much of an ability to hold his liquor, but really likes the drink that he’s just been introduced to. As it turns out a lot of the bars on Fyn have a certain drink limit, and Elias hasn’t had nearly enough, so he starts bar crawling on the quest for more bourbon. I wasn’t interested at first, but when he started singing, I knew I had to tag along and see what happened next. Of course, listening to Elias make up lyrics to popular songs was almost too funny to believe. You should hear his rendition of Pixly Dixly’s ‘Gimme a Chance’.”

While Cerise and Sander Brees were grinning and chuckling, Elias sat sullenly in his chair, arms crossed and the inside of his ears turning deep pink.

“Our travels took us to one…establishment that catered in the more, hmm, amorous needs of its clientele, but Elias was oblivious to this. He thought he was being exceedingly charming with the attention that he was getting from some of the girls. Fortunately he was too far gone to realize that he was being propositioned for some rather interesting sounding activities. Well, this went on for so long that the owner of the establishment was getting rather upset that this intoxicated fox was being so recalcitrant against giving his money in exchange for very willing companionship, thus cheating her of her percentage.

“When the owner, a rather lusty looking mink with her obvious charms on blatant display, came to talk to him, curious if his preferences lay in another direction, a very bleary eyed Elias made it exceedingly clear of what he thought of her shrill interrogation.”

“What did he do?” Cerise asked after Melise paused for a long moment in her story, and the vixen was anxious to hear what happened next.

“Perhaps the most effective way I’ve ever seen to get kicked out of a bar or pleasure house. He threw up right down the center of her cleavage.”

Everyone was laughing, much to Elias’s discomfort.

“Which is why, to this day I will not touch or even go near bourbon. That is pure Evil in liquid form,” the fox said with a frown.

“Don’t worry, dear,” the panda said to Cerise. “I have many, many more stories. Remind me to tell you about the time that he was chased by the daughter of the Academy’s commandant.”

Elias looked at the panda with an expression that was part feigned irritation and half petulant pout. “I hate you, Mel.”

The panda simply blew the white fox a kiss. “If that’s all, I need to go get some more civilian outfits before we ship out.”

Brees nodded and smiled. “First simulator runs are 0900 tomorrow, Sergeant. And welcome aboard.”

Cerise finally got her laughing under control and looked at Elias. “So who’s the next candidate?”

The fox pulled his list out again.” Major Lemuel Anders. Tiger born on Kantus, forty twostandard years old. Hmm. Doctor. Qualified for trauma surgery, veteran SPF officer. So we get a full blown surgeon?” Elias said turning to Sander Brees, his ears returning to their normal color.

“I thought it would be prudent considering the chances are you’ll normally be operating well away from support and decent medical facilities. The Doctor has extensive experience with some of the injuries that might be encountered on this exercise. Blunt trauma, stab wounds, gunshots, vacuum exposure, you name it, he’s probably treated it.”

The interview with the Doctor went well, and they went through the rest of the individuals that the lion had chosen for the first ship of the Sweeper program. After the doctor was a wolf with gray and tan fur and Elias was surprised to find that he’d been one of the SPF Academy’s top combat instructors. From his own time as a cadet, the instructors had all seemed to enjoy yelling and making life as miserable as possible, though he knew it was to create individuals that could react to a situation quickly and instinctively through training. Randal Mercks was quiet and soft spoken with a relaxed demeanor and half smile on his muzzle. When asked about this the wolf said it was disarming and helped keep various tense situations a little more manageable and had become habit.

Ensign Lena Vanir was met with after the wolf. The rabbit was twenty four years old and had stunning marks in small ship piloting. She would be the primary pilot for the interceptor and could also cover some bridge operations such as navigation and communications plus was a fair hand at the weapons systems that the Guiding Angel was equipped with. She had black and silver coloration and deep dark eyes that always had a merry twinkle to them. While up-beat and positive, she had a firm grasp of things around her. One couldn’t help but like her positive attitude and her instructors at the Academy had said she had been a boost to the morale of her training squadron, though her flying was, oddly enough, very predatory and aggressive.

A zero gravity and spaceborne specialist was also part of the crew in the form of Corporal Sonja Enan, a twenty three year old cocker spaniel female. When she entered the room, she looked speculatively at Elias in a manner that made Cerise silently bristle. Then the look became one that the vixen knew to be dangerous as the Corporal viewed her mate with undisguised interest. The interview was satisfactory, and Elias seemed to be unaware of the motivations of the female canine.

“She knows her business. High marks in zee-gee operations, ship-to-ship boarding techniques, small arms proficiency. The only thing that concerns me is her continuous promotion and then demotion. She should be a noncommissioned officer by now, or even on the fast track for warrant officer,” Elias said with a frown.

Brees nodded. “She was an orphan that the Nalirran Ambassador from Kantus adopted. When the annexation of Nalirra prevented her return, she became a full citizen of Kantus through her adopted parents. She has a habit of getting into fights with others who think that she’s a spoiled little rich girl. I’m hoping that apart from proving useful to you, this might help her grow up. She could be a fine SPF officer if she could just loose that chip on her shoulder.”

“I don’t like her,” Cerise said bluntly.

Elias turned to look at his wife. “Why? She might have issues with authority, but her skills could come in right handy on this mission.”

The vixen looked at Elias, then the lion, and back to her mate. “It…it’s sort of personal, but valid,” Cerise said dropping her head to regard the carpet on the room’s floor.

“That’s as important as other concerns, Love,” Elias said with a frown. “We’re going to be out for weeks at a time, possibly longer. If there are going to be problems between you two, I need to take care of them now. If needs be, I’ll veto her from the crew.”

“You two talk this over. I’m going to get us some coffee,” Brees said as a way to excuse himself from the pending discussion.

Once he left, Cerise shifted her chair so that she sat closer to Elias. “Didn’t you see how she was looking at you?” the vixen asked. “Elias, she was all but fawning over you!” What she had seen had caused no small amount of irritation, but the point that really set her hackles up was when the other female had looked at her and with the blink of an eye had dismissed Cerise as inconsequential to what she saw as someone desirable, a conquest. It made the black furred fox feel threatened, and was a challenge to her and what was, essentially, her territory.

Elias saw how much this was vexing the petite female, and while he hadn’t noticed what Cerise had, trusted her and what she said. He took her hand and looked her in the eyes with open honesty. “Cerise, say the word, and she’s gone. I not only need to keep the crew’s morale up, I need for things between us to be honest as well. We need to support each other because this isn’t going to be easy. So just tell me what you want. That’s why you are in here with me listening to these interviews.

Cerise knew that if she said, Elias would keep the spaniel tramp off of the roster, but she also knew that her mate needed to have individuals that knew their jobs and would do them. His safety depended on the crew as much as theirs depended on him. She thought about it for several moments and came to a decision.

“You need her on the crew. But I swear to you right now, Elias, the first time she tries to lure you into her bed she is going to get the thrashing of her life,” Cerise said with earnest conviction.

The fox realized this could be a potential problem, but he also knew that Cerise really could take care of herself and wouldn’t consciously cause a problem. He trusted his mate and what she said as nothing but the truth. “Then she stays for now. We’ll inform her that while her skills are vital, her past behavior is an issue and that she is on probation. Is that acceptable?”

Cerise nodded, then before he could react, the coyote grabbed the front of the blue tunic he wore and pulled him forward for a brief, but very intense kiss.

Brees returned after several minutes with cups of coffee for everyone and the interviews resumed with the last candidates.

Stram Molson was already familiar to everyone, and the badger got along well with all of them so his interview was simply for the sake of official reasons. His assistant, Technical Sergeant Rutger Fallon was the badger’s own recommendation for the crew. Sergeant Fallon was a twenty two year old cat with black and white fur, a lean build and savvy with all aspects of his duties as an engineer that bordered on genius. He was also well versed at maintaining shipboard weapons systems and, while a little socially awkward, was friendly and outgoing.

Treena Kefflin was next in the room. The twenty five year old ocelot was a Lieutenant in the Spatial Police Force Intelligence and Recon Corps as a field operative. The information group, called IROC for short, was a fairly new division of the SPF, and Treena had high marks for obtaining information that had led to the arrests and incarceration of several individuals for illegal trade in not only weapons, but also slavery. The small female was rather interesting in that she exuded an aura of sensuality that even Elias and Cerise felt. Both had no doubt that the feline could use that as a far more effective weapon than most could a firearm. The plus side was that Treena was actually looking forward to the mission and saw it as a way of furthering her effectiveness as an SPF officer. Some of her other skills that were listed in her file included lock breaking, both mechanical and electronic, computer programming and an astounding proficiency in what Brees called ‘general spookery’. She was also a qualified field medic and if necessary would assist the ship’s Doctor.

Last through the door was Odette Daniker, a twenty six year old black bear from Pomen. The Gunnery Sergeant was a specialist in heavy weapons and would be the ship’s primary weapons technician. She was very easy going and relaxed during her time in front of the others, and she and Cerise began an almost instant friendship with just a few words. Odette was well spoken and Cerise had been surprised to learn the female had been with the SPF since she’d turned seventeen.

The interviews had taken all of the morning and most of the afternoon. Looking at his wrist watch, Elias saw that it was nearing dinnertime. A fact that his stomach agreed with by growling loudly. He stood and got all of the files stacked neatly and put them in a thin leather bound case, took Cerise’s hand and turned to the Colonel. “Would you care to join us for dinner, Sir?” the fox asked.

The lion shook his head no. “Sorry, Elias, Cerise. You aren’t the only ones that have plans for tonight,” Brees said with a smile and a wink. “My wife is arriving at the starport tonight and I promised her a night out as we haven’t seen each other in almost two months. We will, however, be dining with you and your parents this weekend. Now then, Captain,” Brees said getting his own materials together and put away, “if you think you can handle the next couple of days without me and get everyone through a few cycles of the simulators over at the Okami yards, I’m going to take a few days of personal time.”

The pair smiled at the lion and Cerise stood on tiptoes to give the grizzled old officer a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Uncle Sandy. Give Meri my love and tell her that I’ll see her soon.”

“Go on you two. Shoo! Go have some fun,” the lion said.

Cerise gave him a salacious look. “Is that an order, Sir?” she asked archly.

CHAPTER 8

The simulator runs with the fresh crew went rather well as far as Elias was concerned, with everyone performing well. Cerise had surprised her mate by catching what seemed to be an anomaly during the second simulator run with her at the sensor station directly behind and to the left of the navigation console. Though it seemed to be an anomaly it had, in actuality, been a program subroutine added by the SPF technical team that had been working on the training programs that Elias’ crew had been put through. What the rest of the crew had thought to be a hiccup in the program had been a simulation of a pirate vessel running dark and cold, showing up as a bit of space debris. Cerise had, from her experience and time as a spaceport traffic technician, properly identified as a small shuttle that relied solely on batteries and chemical rockets for power. It could have been a problem if Cerise hadn’t spotted it, and as such everyone was prepared when the ‘debris’ had attacked once they had passed by it.

Needless to say, the others that missed it would not be likely to do so again. It was a point of pride for Elias that it had been his wife that had first detected the ‘threat’.

The weekend came, and with it something of a big day for Elias. He woke to find that the sun had not yet risen and Cerise had already gotten up. He was surprised that her getting out of bed hadn’t disturbed him. Then as if thinking about his wife had summoned her, she came through the door into the bedroom they shared with a tray that had two steaming mugs and some breakfast pastries. The smell of the coffee coming from her burden was rich and enticing.

“Good morning, sleepy head,” she said with a radiant smile. Her hair was down and she wore a short, creamy colored silk nightgown that clung to her body and its curves provocatively.

“Good morning, Love. And what have I done to warrant getting breakfast in bed before the sun’s even up?”

She set the tray down and slid back under the covers to sit next to him before retrieving one of the cups and handing it to the other fox. “I can do things just because I love you. It’s written in the rules somewhere.”

“Oh. Well, if it’s written in the rules, who am I to argue?” He sat up and accepted the cup and took a sip. It was good rich coffee with cream and a hint of sugar, his preferred way of drinking it and he smiled at her in thanks followed by a kiss. “You are too good to me. You know that, don’t you?”

She took the cup from him and set it back on the tray, then turned back around and wrapped her arms around him. “No more so than you are to me. Are you ready for today?”

Elias chuckled. “I’ve actually been looking forward to it.” He held her tightly to him, then relaxed and pulled back to look Cerise in the eyes, the smile fading.“We should have waited so that I could have married you properly and not have to do this make-up ceremony,” the he said seriously.

Cerise shook her head. “No. The first time was for us and that’s all that mattered. This is for Momma. She wanted me to have things in my life that she didn’t get to have, and that included a fancy wedding. So all we have to do is get up there and look pretty for a little while. But we still get to have all of the fun that goes with it beforehand, though.”

Elias pulled a surprised expression. “We do? But I thought that was against the rules to do that before we get married!” he exclaimed in shocked sarcasm.

Cerise leaned forward so that Elias was forced to lay back before kissing him with passion. “That is not in the rules!” she said and kissed him again.

“How do you know?”

“Who do you think gets to write the rules?” she asked as she nuzzled his neck.

***

The day was clear and the sun cast dappled shadows through the mimosa trees as Elias waited on a little dais that sat under a vine and flower bedecked arch for Cerise to join him. He had opted to not wear his SPF dress uniform, choosing instead formal attire that would complement the vixen’s gown. His outfit consisted of a white silk tunic with a lace-up ‘V’ neck and abbreviated collar, a vest that was left open in the front and hung to just below his knees of a deep royal blue, black silk trousers and black, knee high soft boots. Around his waist was a deep, rich green sash that held an elegant, but functional baselard style sword. A heavy necklace of silver hung around his neck finished the ensemble.

Next to him in the traditional position of his second, was Sander Brees, dressed similarly, but in golds and browns. He, too, wore a sword in accordance with the particular ceremony that had been chosen. In ancient days, he would have acted as the bodyguard for the couple getting married, but the position had become less inclined to violence, and was considered a great honor.

On the other side of Elias stood a priestess of the Unified Light. They followed no specific tenants, but borrowed from a myriad of religious beliefs across the Planetary Alignment, feeling that there was credibility and lessons for all to learn in the teachings they collected. The Unified Light borrowed heavily from both mono- and polytheistic beliefs with a healthy dose of naturalistic shamanism. The priestess also happened to be Sander’s wife, and Cerise and her family had been thrilled when she accepted the invitation to officiate the ceremony. Meri wore a simple long pearl gray robe that was unadorned, but the stole she wore made up for that with writing and symbols that Elias had never seen, stitched into the slate colored fabric in silver and gold thread.

Beyond the trees in the great yard that opened behind the house were the guests. Apart from one or two individuals, Elias really didn’t know anyone, and was a little nervous at having over three hundred sets of eyes looking at him. He tried to stand as serenely as possible, and smile in a friendly manner, but inside he was all in knots. He hadn’t known that Sharan planned for this many people, but it attested to this being something of an ‘Event’ in the local social circles as the assembled guests had come on such short notice.

“Elias, if you don’t relax you are going to pass out. Don’t lock your knees,” Brees said in a low voice that didn’t carry past the dais.

“That’s easy for you to say, Sandy,” the fox replied, finally getting used to calling the lion in a familiar manner by his name. “You aren’t the one that has to worry about goofing this up.”

The lion smiled and looked at his wife. “Tell him he’ll be fine, Dear.”

Meri smiled and put a reassuring hand on the fox’s arm. “It really will be fine, Elias. Honestly, how can you do what you do, facing pirates, putting your life on the line, and be so terrified now?”

“Ma’am, if you were me would you want to ruin something as important as this is to Sharan and Rovi?”

Both lion and lioness chuckled. “Still intimidated by Rovi?” Meri asked smiling.

“No, Ma’am,” Elias replied. “Sharan.”

“He’s wiser than I thought,” Brees said chuckling anew.

Before anymore could be said, music flooded the yard from a hidden sound system. It was with a pleasant jolt that Elias recognized it as the sweeping melody that he’d first heard with Cerise while at her family’s cabin, and found that as the notes swept around and through him that he began to calm and the knots in his stomach loosened considerably. Then at the far end of the assembled crowd, Cerise appeared with her father and mother at her sides, her youngest sisters preceding her and spreading petals of fragrant flowers before their older sibling. Behind her was Keena with a tall male fox with unwholesome looking citrine yellow eyes that Elias didn’t know and took an irrational and instant dislike to.

He didn’t really pay attention to anyone else other than his mate, though. She looked radiant in a silk gown of sapphire blue that left her shoulders bare. It fell in pleated folds all the way to her feet and moved delicately with each step. Around her slender waist and tied in a complex looking knot was a sash of emerald green that matched the shade of her eyes perfectly. Her hair was caught in an intricate braid with green and blue ribbons woven into the dark mass, and around her head was a circlet of beaten silver that formed a point that rested above her brow and held a sheer silk veil that trailed along behind her head in the breeze of her passing. In her hands she carried a small bouquet of white and lavender wild flowers and an elegant silver chalice.

Elias couldn’t help but beam at Cerise as she drew closer while she gave him a warm smile and smoldering look through her thick lashes.

The procession stopped at the dais with Cerise’s younger sisters, Celia and Gey moving off to the left and right with their duty discharged. Meri took a single step forward.

“Who approaches the Temple?” she asked in a clear voice that rang with as much authority as her husband’s did while lowering a silver topped black staff to bar the way onto the dais.

“I, Rovi Augustus Tambor, approach,” the black fox said in a voice that was just as clear. He spared a quick glance at Elias and gave him a brief smile.

“And why do you approach the Temple, Rovi Tambor?” the lioness asked.

“I would give my daughter, Cerise Tambor, to the one named Elias Tivnan to be his mate and wife. To let them join each other in wedded union from this day on. I attest that she is of marriageable age and good standing and does also consent to this pairing.”

Meri didn’t waver her heavy looking staff an inch as she followed the ritual that had been chosen. “And does the mother of Cerise also agree to this union?”

Sharan nodded. “I, Sharan Kyla Tambor, agree to this union with my blessing,” Cerise’s mother said, trying very hard to hold back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.

Meri then looked out over the crowd. “And who will speak for Elias Tivnan?”

“I will speak for Elias,” the Colonel said. “I attest to his honor, faithfulness and valor and support his right to be bonded to this vixen.”

Meri then turned to the white fox and spoke to him. “Do you, Elias, agree to this pairing and accept Cerise to be your mate and wife?”

Elias swallowed and spoke, softly at first but with growing confidence. “I do accept Cerise as my mate and wife, lovingly, willingly and joyfully,” he proclaimed with a broad smile.

The lioness then turned to the vixen. “Do you, Cerise, agree to this pairing and accept Elias to be your mate and husband?”

Cerise nodded. “I do accept Elias as my mate and husband, lovingly, willfully and joyfully,” she said in a voice that was filled with emotion and pleasure.

Meri nodded and lowered her staff. “Then come forward, Cerise.” All watched as the vixen stepped daintily up onto the dais. “Please face each other and speak your vows to one another before these assembled witnesses.”

Cerise and Elias faced one another. Elias went first, carefully drawing the sword that he wore at his side. Holding the hilt in his right hand and taking the sharpened blade carefully in his left, the fox knelt and laid the blade at the foot of Cerise’s dress symbolizing that he would always be her protector. Then he took her hand in his and looked up into her eyes. This was the only part that they hadn’t really rehearsed as the words were supposed to come from the heart.

“Cerise, I am not the best of individuals, nor am I the wealthiest. I am simply the one that loves you and would give his life for you. I can’t guarantee that life will always be joyful, or that we will always have the means for comfort and luxury. What I can guarantee is that I will love you until the end of my days and beyond. There is no joy without you, no warmth, and life would be empty were it not for you. I will never raise my hand to you, and will ever place myself between you and danger. There is no one else for me but you and I ask that you accept my humble words and heart as forever yours.”

With the fur of her eyes growing moist, the vixen smiled. His words might not have been the most poetic, but she could see in his eyes that he meant what he said, just as he had during their civil union at the Grandstorm courthouse.

She pulled on his hand so that he stood. Looking deep into his blue eyes she spoke in words that had only the slightest quaver to them.

“Elias, it was a sad event that brought you into my life, but one I thank the Maker for. Never in my life have I felt in my heart what I feel for you. Each beat, every breath is for you and you alone. I am your mate with all that the word implies. I will ever be by your side to care and support you, to be friend, confidant and lover. I want to be the mother of your children. I want to see out the rest of my life with you and strive to give you in return the joy that you have brought to me. I feel that fate has brought us together. I have loved you since the first day that I saw you. My heart and life are now, and ever, yours.” She then raised the chalice to Elias’ mouth and let him sip to symbolize that she would always care for and support him.

Both had spoken their vows in quiet, intimate tones, but they had been heartfelt and as they looked into each other’s eyes, they missed the first part of what Meri had quietly spoken to them.

“…blessed union. The words that you have spoken to each other have been come from the heart and are true. May the Devine smile upon you both as you re-enter the world as two that have joined, for two are stronger than one. Let neither dominate the other, but always treat each other as equals, for on the day that you cease being equals shall the joining be torn asunder.” The lioness then raised her voice so that it would carry. “As a wedded and mated pair, I entreat you to signify your bonding.”

Cerise handed the chalice to her father who still stood beside the dais. They took each other in their arms, and with the sound of applause, kissed warmly and lingeringly in the sunlight that had moved from behind the trees to fall on them in full glory.

“If you would please face the audience,” Meri instructed once they concluded the kiss. Cerise and Elias did, though they still held each other. “Honored guests, family and friends! I have the joy of introducing to you Elias and Cerise Tivnan. Health and long life!”

“Health and long life!” the crowd shouted back.

Linking hands, Elias and Cerise joined her family where Elias received a blessing from Rovi and Sharan as he was accepted into the family, then the couple made their way down the aisle between the two sections of guests to the large pavilion that held settings for the wedding party and assembled guests so that they could partake of a grand banquet.

Elias and Cerise sat where everyone could see them and tried to eat between bouts of the guests clinking their wine glasses for the couple to kiss again, not that either half of the pair was complaining, but it would have been nice to get more than a few bites down of the sumptuous dinner before it got cold.

Once the desserts had been delivered, much to the joy of some of the younger attendees, the dance floor was opened and after the obligatory first dance, Elias and Cerise sat back down to receive the personal greetings of well wishers.

An insistent tug on his sleeve drew Elias’s attention to his right and he turned to find Celia and Gey looking at him, their little faces very serious. Elias smiled and leaned forward to put himself more at eye level with the two six year olds.

“What can I do for you, Gey?” the fox asked looking at the closest girl.

The girl studied the older fox for a long moment before speaking. “Daddy says that you are taking our sister with you when you leave. Is that true?”

Elias knew that Rovi was too sly to have let slip what his oldest daughter would be doing and decided that he would try to answer the girls’ questions as best and as honestly as he could. He was their older brother now, after all. “Yes I am. Does this upset you?”

The girls gave him a very sour look. “Yes. Cerise has always been nice to us. She plays with us and takes us to places and now you’re taking her away. We thought you were nice, ‘Lias!” Celia said with a scowl and pout.

Elias smiled at the girls. He held out his arms and despite their pique, both let him scoop them up onto his lap. “I’ll tell you what,” he said taking a moment to look at both of the girls, “Cerise and I will always visit when we can, I promise you that. My job takes me to a lot of different places, but this will always be home, and we love both of you too much to stay away for too long. But you know what the best part of going to other worlds is?” He waited for both of them to shake their heads, curiosity replacing the irritation of the nearly identical girls. “It means more places to buy really neat presents that no one else you know has!”

This had both of the girls’ attention now, and their eyes were wide with the thought of loot from other planets. “True?” Celia asked earnestly.

Elias nodded. “Absolutely.”

“How come you can tell us apart?” Gey asked. “No one else can.”

Elias nodded at the two girls. The kits were very similar with coppery colored coats, black forelimbs, ears and white tail tips. The telling point, for anyone that cared to look, was fairly obvious for the white fox. Gey had a shorter patch of white muzzle fur under her chin, and Celia’s black ear coloration spread so that it came out a little above her brows. “That’s easy,” Elias said. “You are two different individuals. It’s plain to see. At least for me. Now then, are you still mad at me?”

The girls leaned forward, each still sitting on the leg that he had put them on and whispered to each other, Elias pretending not to hear what they said. Then they nodded and Gey spoke. “Not no more. You just have to promise to visit a lot.”

“Yeah. And not forget our presents,” Celia amended with a serious expression.

Elias struck a very serious pose and looked at each of them. “I promise we will visit every chance we get. And I promise not to forget presents. Okay?”

The girls smiled. “Okay,” Celia said. Then she looked at the fox with wide eyes. “Is it true you are our brother now? We’ve never had a brother before.”

“That’s right. Because I married your sister, I’m part of the family and your brother, of sorts.”

This was all the girls needed to hear. They threw their arms around his neck and gave him hugs, one on either side, then giggling they scampered down and ran off into the crowd somewhere. Elias smiled after them and sat back.

“You handled that rather well, my Love,” Cerise said with a grin as she leaned against his arm.

Elias nodded. “Had to. They outnumber me.” He then looked at his wife and smiled. “You know, I think I might like being a Daddy one day.”

Cerise smiled warmly. “I think you’d make a wonderful father.”

“So do I,” Rovi said approaching the couple, wine glass in hand and a smile on his face. “If you can handle those two without losing your wits, then you are certainly going to raise a fine family. Those scamps interrogated me for almost two hours when they found out Cerise was leaving. Which is something I need to talk about.” Rovi turned to his daughter, “Do you mind if I steal a few moments of your husband’s time?”

“Not at all, Daddy.” She stood and gave her father a fierce embrace. “And thank you for today. It was wonderful.”

Elias saw Rovi’s eyes fill with love for his daughter as he returned the hug. “It was an honor and a pleasure, Dearest.”

When they separated, the older fox motioned for Elias to follow and led the way into the house. “You took us all by surprise, Elias. Here Sharan and I get back from a working vacation and find our daughter is married. There was potential for great disaster there, but fortunately you agreed to a public ceremony as well. That did wonders to mollify Cerise’s mother. Don’t get me wrong. I love the woman dearly, and the things that she dealt with before I retired from the SPF…she’s far stronger than she appears. But she was so looking forward to having a big ceremony for Cerise. Especially when you consider Keena’s… proclivities. I despair of her ever settling down.”

They entered a room that Elias hadn’t been in yet adjacent to the elder fox’s den, and by the décor, the younger male knew that this room was off limits to most individuals. Along the walls were pictures of a younger Rovi and various friends, including several of him with Sander Brees. In many of those shots Sander hadn’t quite developed the full mane that he had now. It was interesting to see such an imposing figure as a gangling youth. Some of the pictures had little black ribbons attached to them denoting friends that had died in service.

“I’m sorry, Elias. I’m rambling, but we old folk are wont to do that sometime,” Rovi said with a grin, which the younger fox returned. “The whole reason that I asked you here was two-fold. The first is to say that I don’t think Cerise could have chosen a better mate. You are all that I could hope for, though I’m sure that Sharan would have preferred it if you were in a different line of work, but then from the stories I told, Cerise has always respected the SPF and those individuals that serve.

“The second is something of a personal nature. Would you draw that sword please?” the black fox asked pointing at the blade on his son-in-law’s hip. Elias did as instructed as Rovi watched, a strange look on his face. “That sword has been handed down from father to son for the past four generations. You know us Dennierans and our love of edged weapons. Anyway, my father gave it to me on the day that I wed Sharan, just as his father gave it to him on the day he married my mother, and so on.

“I didn’t have a son until today, and in keeping with tradition, I now pass it on to you. As you will pass it on to your son. At least I hope so.”

Elias stared at the baselard, then at Rovi. “I don’t know what to say.” He looked down at the blade, the tapering double edge, the polished bronze hilt fittings, the hourglass shaped handle of some exotic wood that was as glossy black as glass and matched the wooden scabbard. “It would be my honor and pleasure to carry the family sword, Sire,” Elias said with a formal bow.

Rovi again had a soft expression in his eyes. “No, Elias. Believe me when I say the honor is mine.”

The colder fox poured two glasses from a bottle on a sideboard and handed one to the younger male after he returned the sword to its scabbard. “The only other thing that I ask, Son, is that you keep my daughter safe.” His eyes were moist and he looked at Elias imploringly.

“On my life, Sire.”

***

The celebration went on for some hours and it was quite late when Elias and Cerise decided to retire for the evening to the hoots, whistles and good natured ribbing from many of the guests that were still there.

Once safely in their room, Elias looked at his wife and smiled. “You were beautiful today,” he told her, pulling her into his arms. He couldn’t help but continue looking at her and how radiant she appeared.

Cerise threw her head back and laughed throatily. “And you were most handsome, my husband.” She “Today was better than anything I ever dreamed of as a girl!” She stepped back, dancing out of his reach and twirled twice, flaring the hem of her gown. “But there is one more gift I want to give you.”

Elias tilted his head to the side slightly, wondering what it was that she could have for him. “You don’t need to give me any gifts, Cerise. I have all that I want right here and now.”

The vixen sat down on the edge of the bed and scooted back slightly, reclining against the pile of pillows at the head board, stretching her arms across the top. “Mmm. You’ll like this present. Maybe as much as you’ll like unwrapping it,” she said with a challenging grin.

CHAPTER 9

Elias was looking over his DataPak as he sipped a cup of coffee. Cerise and her mother had already for the day, purchasing things for the newlyweds that they would need onboard the Guiding Angel. Rovi was also gone for the day to his office at the local branch of Binfurr Arms Corporation, and Celia and Gey were at school.

The fox wanted one more cup of coffee before he left for the Okami shipyards to supervise the preliminary stocking of munitions and supplies. He was only paying marginal attention to what he was doing as he poured over the lists on the small computer screen of his hand-held unit. He added cream and a fraction of a spoon of sugar, stirred, and took a sip. He set the cup down to make a note on the DataPak, which saved Elias from having to clean up a broken cup and spilled beverage as the base of his tail was pinched.

He spun around expecting to see Cerise, but was met with the grinning face of her sister, Keena. “What are you doing?” he asked in irritation. The russet vixen had been watching him since the ceremony and it was starting to bother him. As it was he thought that she had already left for the day as well.

“No need to play hard to get, Elias. My sister isn’t here so we have plenty of time to play.” She stepped closer and put her fingertips against his chest. “Don’t you want to play with me?” she asked in a winsome voice with an arch look. “I’m far more interesting than some silly computer, aren’t I?”

“No, Keena. I don’t want to play. Can’t you get it through your head that I’m paired with Cerise? Don’t you understand that I do not, or have ever wanted you? What’s it going to take for you to get the message?” Elias felt his anger start to rise. He moved towards the small table in the kitchen to put something between him and the insistent vixen.

“I like it when you play hard to get. It makes everything so much more delicious and exciting.” She walked around the table and Elias tried to keep the distance between them.

“Go find someone else, Keena. I have work to do,” he growled, sitting down and focusing on the DataPak.

The vixen giggled. “Or what? Are you going to get rough? I like rough. I like lots of things. Maybe I can show you some of them.”

Keena walked up behind Elias and nuzzled the back of his neck before nipping at him playfully. That was the last straw. Elias slammed the DataPak on to the table so hard that the screen cracked. He stood while pushing the female away at the same time.

“Enough!” he roared. “Leave me alone! Leave Cerise alone! Don’t come near us, don’t talk to us! Just leave!”

“Yes. Just leave, Keena,” came a voice from the doorway.

Standing just past the threshold of the door was Sharan, a look of cold anger in her eyes.

“Your father and I have put up with your foolish behavior long enough. It’s time for you to go,” the older vixen said, her voice icy.

Keena flicked her hair aside as she assumed an indifferent attitude. “Fine. I’ll go. There are more interesting places to be with more interesting and fun people.”

Sharan shook her head. “I think you misunderstand, daughter. I want you to leave the house. For good. Maybe you can come back someday when you’ve grown up, but for now I want you out.”

Keena stopped dead in her tracks and stared at her mother in disbelief. “You can’t be serious?”

The older vixen held her ground, her look and expression not changing in the slightest. “I’m very serious. You know that your sister and Elias are a married and mated pair, and for you to behave like this is beyond reprehensible. Your father and I have let your actions go unchecked for far too long, but we had hoped that at the very least you would comprehend that all choices have consequences. This apparently hasn’t been the case, so this will be a hard lesson. I don’t want to do this, but you have left me no option. You have an hour.”

Keena stared at her mother for several long moments more, then her eyes narrowing and going hard, spun and left the room, her anger rolling off of her in near palpable waves.

Sharan sighed with her eyes closed, then opened them and looked at Elias sadly. “I’m sorry for that, Elias. In the end the ones to blame are Rovi and I.”

The white fox moved towards his mother-in-law and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and tried to give her a comforting smile. “You did your best, but she has to make her own choices, and, as she has just found out, accept the repercussions to those choices.”

“You’re too kind, Elias,” Sharan said.

They heard the front door open accompanied by Cerise singing softly to herself, and both moved to go help the young female with her packages. At almost the same time, Keena came down the stairs that led to the upper floors, a medium sized bag slung over her shoulder. She paused and said something that Elias and Sharan couldn’t make out, but the tone dripped with unmistakable malice and venom. Cerise went rigid for a moment, then let the bags she was carrying slip from her hands to the floor. Elias and Sharan watched the scene unfold as if watching a video in slow motion. Cerise’s right hand curled into a fist and opened, her shoulder dropped, then she brought her arm up in a wide arc that ended with an open handed slap that rocked Keena’s head back.

Cerise waited for her sister to react to the blow, but nothing happened. Keena, her head lowered submissively, adjusted her bag and left through the door that Cerise had just come in. Minutes later there was the sound of a ground car leaving.

Elias let out the breath he was holding as Sharan went to her daughter. When he saw that Cerise’s shoulders were shaking, he felt chagrin at her distress and moved to comfort her. When she turned around, though, the fox saw that Cerise was chuckling.

“I know it’s wrong of me to say it, but it felt really good to do that!”

Sharan was looking at Cerise with astonishment, then both females burst out laughing.

“She did have it coming to her,” the older vixen said, a sad look replacing the smile. “Come along, Dear. Elias has some fresh coffee made and I think we could both use a cup.”

As Sharan went into the kitchen, Cerise glided gracefully into the circle of Elias’s arms. “Did she really try to seduce you?”

The white fox nodded. “I wanted to deck her myself. She just doesn’t understand how I feel about you does she?”

Cerise shook her head. “She spends time around individuals that are simply looking for a good time, and that has narrowed her view that that’s all anyone wants or is good for. Maybe someday she’ll learn differently. Maybe.”

They went into the kitchen and Cerise noticed the damaged DataPak. She gave Elias a questioning look. He shrugged. “It was either that or her when she put her hands on me.”

“We only have a few more days before we lift,” Cerise said, “and you won’t have to worry about Keena during that time.” Then her eyes brightened. “That reminds me! I have something for you.” She got up from the table and went out to the front room where her packages lay and came back in with a long garment bag. “I had this made especially for you. It was supposed to be a wedding present, but it wasn’t ready until this morning.” She held the parcel out to Elias.

He took it and unzipped the front. Whatever lay inside was heavy and smelled of new leather. Sliding the bag off, Elias revealed a long leather coat in glossy black with shoulder and elbow patches trimmed out in deep green, as was the satin liner. Each button was made out of silver and embossed with a depiction of an Okami model H freighter and the name Guiding Angel printed along the inner ridge. With an astonished expression, he slid into the coat and rolled his shoulders to settle it.

It wasn’t nearly as heavy wearing it as it had seemed, and there were vents cunningly hidden in all the right places so that there was good airflow and even in the relatively comfortable temperature of the house the coat didn’t cause overheating.

“Cerise…I don’t know what to say,” Elias told her, a pleased smile on his face.

“There’s more,” she said standing up. “The coat is a little loose here and here so that you can go armed and it won’t be noticeable. Plus there is ballistic mesh between the outer leather and liner. It won’t do much against heavy caliber weapons, but should provide good protection against pistols and blades.” She then eyed him up and down appraisingly. “A ship’s Captain should have something that sets him apart from the crew. Besides, it makes you look rather dashing!”

***

The preliminary trials on the Guiding Angel went better than expected, and Elias and crew were looking forward to getting the ship out into space. The technicians at Okami moved the ship to the starport once the weapons testing was complete and the expendable munitions were loaded. Brees stood at the observation deck rail with Elias, Cerise and Saul Reese as the ship was deftly maneuvered to landing pad 27. The ship’s new color scheme glinted in the early afternoon sun, the overall metallic green seeming to scintillate and the great silver wings that were painted along the sides catching the sunlight beautifully.

“She is a lovely ship,” the lion said, his large hands resting on the rail as he regarded the ellipsoid vessel with envy and a hint of pride. “I wish I was going with you.”

Elias chuckled. “Sandy, we have a decent spare cabin. Anytime you get tired of flying behind a desk, you let me know. We’ll bring you on as a Commodore.”

Brees shook his head ruefully. “No, son. This is a young person’s game and I am getting to be well past my prime. As they say, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is another story.”

The lion was dressed in a business suit that looked very expensive and tailored for Sander’s large frame. He waited until the transfer pilot had set the vessel down and straightened. “What’s say we go down there so that you can take possession of your new ship?”

An electric jitney ferried the quartet out to the pad where the Guiding Angel rested. While the huge vessel had three landing jacks, the weight of the engines more than balanced the ship on the rear units giving an observer the impression of a great bird getting ready to launch into the air.

Elias accepted the access codes from the transfer pilot, a female raccoon, as her crew of three exited through the personnel airlock. “You have a fine ship there, Captain. I hope she serves you well.”

Elias smiled. “I’m sure she will. Thank you.” He then moved to the airlock and went inside the main hold. Cargo pod simulators that swung down from the ceiling hid the Raptor interceptor from casual observation. Once everyone was inside, Elias turned to his jaguar First Officer. “Saul, go ahead and call in the supply trucks and issue the summons for the rest of the crew. Until everyone gets here, keep her buttoned up. We don’t need anyone curious getting too close a look inside. Then when you’re done with that, go ahead and pick a cabin and get settled in. We lift at 0400 in the morning and I want everyone settled and supplies stowed.”

“Yes, Sir. I’ll get right on it,” the jaguar said and turned to go.

“Saul,” Elias said with a shake of his head. “Casual and nonmilitary, okay?”

The feline flashed his Captain a slightly embarrassed grin. “Right, Boss. Sorry,” he said with a self deprecating shrug.

The fox then turned to Cerise. “Let’s go ahead and get our stuff stowed. We have a few hours before the supply trucks get here, and about that long before the rest of the crew starts arriving.” He turned to Brees who was looking around the cargo bay as the petite vixen went back out through the airlock to start bringing in their bags and personal belongings. “Everything all right?”

Brees smiled. “Just really wishing I was younger. And worried.” Elias looked at him squarely with a raised eyebrow prompting the lion to continue. “I hate sending all of you out there without sharing the risk with you. It’s hard to accept. I was always the one that jumped in to do a job, now I have to send others out to do it for me.”

The fox nodded. “I can understand that. And I’m not going to say something along the lines of you having done your share, because we both know that’s a load of scat. All I can say is that I and my crew will do our best to make you proud, Sandy.”

Sander Brees nodded and smiled. “I know you will.” He stuck out his hand, which Elias took and shook with strength and, he hoped, reassurance. “Cerise has all of the comm data necessary to reach me on encrypted channels, so keep in touch.”

“I will. You take care of yourself, Sir.”

The lion left, and Elias stood in the hold for a moment before also going out of the airlock. He and Cerise had mostly clothes to bring in, though there were a few other items, and it only took ten minutes to transfer everything into the lift and get it up to the second deck. Clothing went immediately into the built in wardrobe and Elias left Cerise to place photos and other small effects around the cabin. The one picture, with a self adhesive frame, that had to go up first was the image of him and Cerise taken right after their formal marriage ceremony. Around that were pictures of the couple with family and a few friends. Giving his wife a quick kiss, Elias went to the bridge to go over the various checklists. He could have let Saul do it, or others where it dealt with what would be their area of expertise, but Elias had always been a firm believer in redundancy for ship operations. It was too easy for a single individual to miss something that might have seemed inconsequential, but would later turn out to be vital.

Elias also wanted to make sure that a particular reservation was still being held for him and his crew. Once satisfied with certain preparations that had nothing to do with the Guiding Angel herself, he went back to his task. Cerise eventually entered the bridge and took her station at the communications and sensor console, running through her own series of tests and checklists. While everything was brand new from the Okami yards, there was always the chance of something going wrong through either a rushed installation job, or manufacturing error that was missed. Elias figured they wouldn’t be totally bug or glitch free for about six months. All ships, regardless of who built them had kinks that needed to be worked out and that often took half a year before a ship was properly seasoned. Then there was the crew, which was normally the most troublesome variable in a shakedown cruise.

Elias finished his checklist and turned around to see Cerise still hard at work running tests and diagnostics on the communications and sensor equipment. He didn’t want to disturb her, so he stood quietly and left the bridge to perform a quick walk through of the ship and encountered Randal Mercks.

“I didn’t expect to see you here so soon,” Elias told the wolf.

Randal gave his Captain a quizzical look. “I rode over with the transfer crew. I’ve been going over the security points in the access tubes. Oh, and I have the inventory of all the weapons lockers. I’ve already forwarded a copy to your terminal, and here’s the hard copy.” The soft spoken combat specialist gave a sheaf of papers to the fox. “I’ve also taken an accounting of ammunition count and type, and security codes. They can be tied into any of the three VIP 25 units if you want, or we can keep them separate.”

“Let’s go ahead and keep them separate,” Elias suggested. “I don’t want to have to access arms in a rush and be thwarted by a possible glitch with conflicting lock codes.”

Randal nodded. “That was going to be my suggestion. They are all set with an alarm, though, that will notify you, Mister Reese, and myself of any access as well.”

“Good. So, have you found any problems? Or have any suggestions you might want to make?” Elias asked, thumbing through the hard copy.

“Not really. We’re pretty well stocked. Most of the weapons are fairly standard light small arms. All Binfurr produced, so they are dependable and effective. There are four lockers on this deck, two on the recreation deck, and two down in the cargo hold. The cargo lockers have the heavier items. Most of the firearms are 7 millimeter pistols, 10 millimeter sub machineguns, and 12 gage Close Assault Weapon Systems, or CAWS. I have two 14 millimeter heavy rifles in the lower lockers and there are stun, flash and gas grenades in each locker as well.”

Elias nodded. “Serious hardware,” he commented.

The wolf gave a lopsided grin. “We’re on a serious mission, Captain.”

The fox nodded and returned the smile. “That we are.” He flipped to the last page. “Go ahead and issue the body armor when the rest of the crew gets settled in. I don’t want to have it all in one location in case something unforeseen happens. Same with pressure suits. Make sure each station has the required number of emergency units for the crew stationed there plus a couple of extras. And get with Stram on safety procedures. You two will be in charge of that area.”

“Roger that, Captain. Oh, I hope you don’t mind. I claimed the cabin second closest to the lift, though I will most likely be spending most of my time either in the hold, or on the rec deck.”

“That’s fine. Who is getting the closer cabin? And why the rec deck?” Elias asked.

“I figured that it would be smarter to have that bunny pilot…”

“Lena.”

“Lena,” the wolf said with a nod. “I figured it would be prudent to have Lena closer to the lift in case she has to launch quickly. As for the rec deck, I’ve already been asked to give hand-to-hand instruction by a few of the crew. When duties allow, of course.”

The fox nodded. “I might take you up on that myself. I’m still not fully up to par after the crash and I am feeling decidedly rusty.”

“You just let me know when it’s good for you and we’ll set it up. Actually the more we have at any given time, the better. It adds to the teaching of flexibility as no two individuals fight the same.”

Elias gave his permission to Randal to set things up as he saw fit, and figured between the wolf and his old comrade Melise, the two would be able to keep the crew in good shape and prepared for unexpected events.

The rest of the crew arrived well short of the two hours that Elias had expected, and everyone chipped in when the supply vehicles arrived at the landing pad. Not only were foodstuffs unloaded and stowed quickly and methodically, but there was a sizeable shipment of entertainment materials such as books, videos, games and the like. Until something happened to advance the ability of ships to travel interstellar distances more rapidly, transit times would remain almost constant and range from a week to six months on average, depending on where Elias took the ship to and from where. The crew had also been encouraged to purchase whatever hobby items they wanted while they were getting their civilian gear.

Elias, and the rest of the crew, save Cerise, knew that serving on a ship, specifically SPF vessels, was normally a cycle of weeks of tedious routine with fleeting moments of fear and adrenaline thrown in. It could wear on an individual rapidly, which was why they would often take a week of downtime for every three they were in space. It wasn’t the best solution, but it would help cut down on interpersonal frictions.

Before the sun set, everyone on the crew had a cabin and most of their belongings properly stored. Supplies were put away and Elias ordered the ship sealed and assembled everyone to the recreation deck. It didn’t take long for the others to gather, and the fox stood in front of the aft viewports that could also serve as the vidscreen for entertainment videos or debriefings. He waited while everyone sat or stood according to preference, with Saul standing beside him. When everything was more or less quieted down, he spoke without preamble.

“We lift at 0400 in the morning. I want preflight checks for all departments completed by 0330 hours. Yes, that means that tomorrow is going to start early, but that can’t be helped. It was the best time to get a clear area around Dennier and its moon so that we can get out and run through some space trials before we head to our first destination. Save one individual, none of you are rookies. You all know what’s involved in this mission so I am expecting nothing short of absolute professionalism. While this isn’t a standard SPF vessel, it is nonetheless a warship. That means that while we are functioning in a clandestine manner and posing as honest freight movers, I will tolerate zero insubordination. My orders are law. Period. I have been authorized to mete out any discipline action that I see fit for indiscretions.

“I don’t want to have to do that. All of you were chosen for this because you are within the top five percent or better in your respective specialties. As such I have high standards for all of you to meet.”

Elias looked at each individual as he spoke and saw that many either returned his look or nodded in agreement.

“My only real hard and fast rule is that you don’t gum up the works. You people know what this means. You can do what you want when you are off duty. You can sleep when you want, eat when you want, or even pair off. It’s going to happen. Just don’t let it affect the performance of the ship. And when it comes to pairing off, I really don’t care who or what you do. We’ve all been on deep space runs and we all know it happens. Just be advised that myself and Cerise are an exclusive pair and to be considered off limits. Period. Normally I wouldn’t say anything like this, but something happened recently and I want to get that in the clear right off the bat.

“As for the only other things that I won’t tolerate, in fact I will probably shoot you myself if I find out it’s a problem, is drinking on or immediately before duty or the use of…other intoxicants. There is no exception to this rule. And if you don’t believe me that I’ll be hell incarnate on a person for breaking this rule, ask Melise about it.”

Elias relaxed. He had had numerous Captains that had given similar pre-cruise briefings and made it clear what was acceptable, expected and what would get an individual a quick slot in the brig. His next action was one that no Captain he’d ever had did for any of the crews he was on.

“Now then, if you would all be so kind as to make sure that you have you identification cards, and that would be your civilian ones, and meet me outside in fifteen minutes, it would be greatly appreciated. Dismissed.”

He watched as the crew filed out, though Cerise, Saul, Melise and the ship’s Doctor, Lemuel Anders remained behind.

“Fairly standard prelaunch pep talk, El,” Melise said, stretching and cracking her back. “I don’t ever remember any of our previous captains claiming someone as off limits because of marriage, though.”

“That’s because none of our previous captains had their wives or husbands onboard with us,” Elias said in a sarcastic manner with a smile.

“Don’t be snarky,” the panda told him with a chuckle. “Let me guess, one of the other females made eyes at you already?”

Elias shrugged. “Yeah. Something like that. I just want to make sure things are clear.”

Lemuel was chuckling. “The only way you could have made the point any more direct is if you had drawn down on the others with your sidearm while talking. I think the message got through, though.”

“So, where are we going, Boss?” Saul asked. “I wouldn’t mind getting a bite to eat and logging some rack time.”

“It’s a surprise, Saul. We’ll meet you all outside. Ten minutes,” Elias said tapping his watch. Taking Cerise’s arm, he entered the lift with her and took it all the way to the cargo bay.

Lena and Randal were already outside the ship, standing in the rosy light of the setting sun on the tarmac in front of the Guiding Angel. Lena had caught Elias off guard when he saw her on the rec deck. Gone was her long hair and black and silver-gray fur. She wore shorts, sandals and a sleeveless blouse over a tube top. Where her arms and legs were exposed she had strange designs bleached in her fur and dyed electric blue, as was her now spiky hair, save a single braid that trailed down her back. For his part, Randal looked like an advertisement for camping wear. His khaki cargo pants and olive green shirt with rolled up sleeves made him look like a model for an outdoor outfitter. He was almost a polar opposite from the rabbit.

“I don’t think I would ever be brave enough to try something like that,” Cerise said with some envy at the doe’s new style.

Lena smiled in response to the comment. “I remember someone telling me that we were to try and look non-military,” she said in a low voice that was supposed to sound like an exaggerated conspiratorial whisper, adding a wink to the statement that made Cerise laugh. “I figured that this was about as non-military as I could get. That and I’ve always wanted to try this. So…viola!”

“It looks amazing!” Cerise said, stepping away from Elias to look the rabbit over. “Is the dye job one of those permanent ones?”

“Oh, no,” Lena said with a chuckle. “I’ll have to redo it every month or so. I couldn’t justify the cost of doing a permanent dye job. This was pricey enough as it was!”

“You even dyed your tail?” Cerise asked stunned by the audacity of the thought.

“Sure! What better way to advertise one’s assets, if you’ll pardon the pun,” Lena said with a shake of her rump.

Randal turned to Elias with a smile a little larger than the half expression he normally wore. “I think the bunny may be a corrupting factor in regards to your mate, Captain.”

Elias chuckled. “If she wants to try it, she’s welcome to.” Then he gave the thought a little more attention and added a subdued, “I think.”

Cerise looked at her husband with a mischievous smile. “I might.”

Elias looked around the starport and spied a ship that looked familiar a little further down the line of freighters and private craft that sat along the length of the tarmac and tried to put his mental finger on where he’d seen the ship before while Cerise and Lena engrossed themselves in conversation. The rest of the crew began to file out of the airlock, but it wasn’t until Melise emerged, telling a bawdy joke that was one of her favorites to the ship’s engineer, Stram, that he recalled why the ship was familiar.

“Cerise? Do you think that you can get everyone to the…um, where we were taking them? I need to take care of something real quick. I’ll meet you there in half an hour.”

The petite vixen nodded and smiled. “Sure. The van’s here anyway. We’ll see you there in a bit.”

Elias gave her a kiss and trotted off to the starport terminal while the others piled into a limousine van. Entering the starport terminal, Elias made his way through the crowd that was omnipresent at such facilities, either individuals that worked there, travelers heading to or coming from one destination or another, or freighter crews taking a break from duties or resting prior to lift off. After searching, the fox found a store that had what he wanted. Rovi had introduced him to something called champagne during the formal wedding ceremony, and Elias wanted a couple of bottles. Starports were one of the best places to find imported goods that would otherwise be sold at a specialty shop, and also had the benefit of being duty free.

The clerk, a ringtail lemur with bright orange eyes helped him find what he was looking for and rang up the purchase. Elias figured that two bottles of something called Bollinger would be sufficient for the crew of the ship and its Captain. Then the total came up and the fox gulped loudly. The two bottles of wine could have been a down payment on a brand new ship! Slightly stupefied by the price, Elias handed the ringtail a credcard. The funds were set up through a third party escrow group from the Spatial Police Force funding and would be nigh impossible to trace back to the interstellar organization, and had been established specifically for Elias and his ship.

As Elias accepted the sack with the wrapped bottles, he knew that there was a good chance that Brees would have him thrown into the brig for the amount that he’d just spent, but the crew of that ship earned a special treat and token of gratitude.

Elias approached the other freighter and noted that while there was no one outside, the airlock was open. He looked up and saw the vessel’s name. Blue Horizon. It was a name that he would never forget. He walked up the ramp and stopped a few feet away from the actual opening and called out.

“Hello the Blue Horizon! Any about?”

There was a sound from inside that sounded like metal hitting metal and a young German Sheppard with ice blue eyes came to the hatch. He was in slightly grungy overalls and had obviously been working on something in the ship, as the large wrench he held attested to.

“Can I help you?” the youth asked with a friendly smile.

Elias automatically appraised the lad and noted that while lean, the boy had some serious muscle. “I hate to take you away from your work, but can you tell me who the Captain of this vessel is?”

The German Sheppard’s smile vanished to be replaced by a look of suspicion. “Maybe when I know who’s asking?” the boy said as his grip on the wrench tightened.

“Max!” A female voice called from inside the hold called out. “What are you doing?”

“We have a visitor,” the youth, obviously named Max, called over his shoulder, his eyes never leaving Elias.

“Um, I have this for your Captain. He did me and mine a favor a while back and I just wanted to say thanks.” He held up the sack containing the champagne.

A fetching female Border collie came up behind the young Sheppard, and saw Elias. “Can I help y…you!”

Max misunderstood the collie’s tone and thought that the fox was a threat and started to raise his large wrench. With a yelp, the female stopped him. “No, Max! It’s all right. This person is a friend.” She slid past the young mechanic. “Sorry. We’ve had some trouble in the past and it’s better to be a little suspicious, Warrant Officer Tivnan.” The collie smiled and extended her hand. “It’s good to see you up and about.”

Elias smiled. “Thank you, Ma’am. It was a bit of a long road. And it’s not Warrant Officer anymore. I’m…um, not with the SPF anymore. I guess you can call me ‘Captain’, though I’d really rather prefer if you just called me Elias.”

Max had finally put name to face and his mouth dropped in astonishment. “Yeah! We helped get your crew off that ship that crashed into the Arvallian a few months ago. Glad to see you made it. You had all of us worried there for a while.”

“It was a little touchy for a while, but I made it, thank you. Actually thanks to you, Ma’am,” Elias said.

She laughed. “It’s our Captain you want to thank, Merlin Sinclair. Merlin’s not here right now, but he should be back tomorrow morning.” Then as if she realized something, the collie smacked her head lightly. “I forgot! You really weren’t in any condition to remember us. I’m Samantha. This is our junior mechanic, Max. Did you want to meet with Merlin? I can make sure he has some free time tomorrow?”

Elias shook his head. “I don’t think that will be possible. My ship lifts at 0400. But I would appreciate it if you would give him this to share with all of you as a way of appreciation.”

Samantha accepted the sack, then slid out one of the bottles and her eyes went wide. “Are you sure about this, Elias? This is a very extravagant gift!”

“And I can’t think of anyone else that deserves it more. Not only did you save my life and those of my crew, you made it possible for me to have met my wife.” He smiled and gave a formal bow. “Would you please convey to Captain Sinclair that if he ever needs, the Captain and crew of the Guiding Angel are at his service?” He handed her a card with his contact information, but nothing else on it.

Samantha nodded. “I know that he’ll be very pleased to hear that you are doing well. And he will certainly appreciate your gift. Likewise, if there is anything that we can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you, Samantha. I have to go now, but it was an honor and pleasure to meet you. And you, Max.”

Samantha held out her hand, as did the youth. Elias shook both then turned and walked back down the ramp, summoning a taxi on his personal DataCom as he left the Blue Horizon. The name had sounded familiar, then it was with a start that he recalled that was the name of the vessel that made the Silloni run after star SDC-971 went nova and cut off that far away world from the rest of the Planetary Alignment. If he remembered the newscasts correctly, Holly Harken was in contact with a member of that ship’s crew named Samantha. That ship had been a different, earlier model Okami G, though.

Interesting events to say the least.

The taxi arrived within a few minutes at the gate that kept unauthorized personnel from entering the landing area and Elias slid in, giving directions to the driver as to where he wanted to go, and sat back. Before long the small car deposited him in front of the Grand Cobalt Hotel, a very posh resort that lay in the heart of Grandstorm. He made his way to the dining room of the Azure restaurant to find his crew, Rovi and Sharan Tambor, Colonel Sander Brees and his mate Meri waiting for him.

“It’s about time, son,” the Colonel said, cocktail glass in hand. “I’m starving and you’re making me wait for my supper!”

Elias smiled, went to his wife, accepted a glass from her, and joined the others in a dinner celebrating the launch of the Guiding Angelon her maiden voyage.

CHAPTER 10

“Affirmative Grandstorm,” Cerise said into the thin boom mike of her headset. “We have received lift off clearance. Thank you.”

Elias sat in the pilot’s seat and craned his head to look at his wife when she burst out with a laugh at something only she could hear.

“Jarvis, maybe if you’d given me that pay raise I wanted I wouldn’t be out here on the other end of the line. I will. Thank you.” She clicked off the transmitter and gave a nod to her husband. “We’re clear for launch.”

Elias nodded and turned back around. “All hands, all hands, ready for lift in five…four…three…”

“Engines are go. Thrusters are go,” Saul said from navigation, duplicating some of the readouts from the fox’s position.

“Two…one.” Elias added vertical lift to the ship in gentle increments. The engines and maneuvering thrusters were far more powerful than anything that any standard Okami hull was equipped with, and if the fox wasn’t careful he’d give away one of the Guiding Angel’smost vital secret assets. That and he really wasn’t sure that the inertial dampeners would be able to compensate for the amount of thrust the vessel was capable of. “We have lift off. Saul, plot a course once we’ve hit the terminus of our exit vector for open space away from prying eyes.”

“Affirmative,” the jaguar said and began plying the navigational computer with queries that were compared to listed ship routes. Even as he worked out a set of coordinates, he activated other systems. “Shields online. Artificial gravity is go.” After a few more seconds, the zone of space that Saul found that was clear of registered flights was sent to the pilot’s console and displayed on the forward viewport. “That looks to be the best. It’s about four astronomical units out. Once we are clear of Dennier, we can make it in thirteen minutes with the light drive.”

“Excellent. Thanks, Saul.” Elias then switched to intercom. “We’ll be leaving the atmosphere in less than a minute. Give it two minutes and you can all unstrap and move about.”

Apart from Elias, Saul and Cerise on the bridge, the weapons station was crewed by Odette Daniker. She watched the proceedings with a critical eye and could find no fault with her new Captain’s skill. She hadn’t really felt it when the ship had left the ground, a sign of a fairly good pilot. The real test would be a landing, but that would have to wait. All in all she found the fox to be fairly likeable, but it would still take time for her to really get a good feel for him. Though she had to admit that she liked the vixen that was her Captain’s mate. The female knew her business when it came to the sensors and communications array, and had already taught Odette several things that the bear hadn’t known about, such as being able to slave the communications system, or any other system for that matter, to personal DataComs so that one could be alerted to transmissions as they happened, or even sensor anomalies.

It seemed that hardly any time had passed at all before the ship was at the coordinates that Saul had determined was far enough away from other traffic. Elias shut down the Liquid Crystal drive’s super-luminary actuators, dropping the ship back into normal space. “Sensors?” the fox asked.

Cerise did a full sweep of almost a 3000 mile sphere around the ship. “No traffic and no anomalies on passive. Would you like an active sweep?”

Elias thought about that for a moment. An active sweep with sensors would be like flashing a bright light in a very dark room and pinpoint their location. But they weren’t attempting to be stealthy, and an active sweep would give a more accurate reading of what was around them. “Yeah. Go ahead and run an active sweep. Most commercialships run with low level active sensors anyway,so will we. But feel free to do a high gain sweep as well.”

Cerise did as was requested of her and set the sensors for continuous low gain scanning, and ran a high gain active scan as well. “We’re still clear, Captain.”

“Thank you, Cerise. All hands, we’re going to be running some pretty intense maneuvers that will include rather extreme acceleration and deceleration and other stomach churning twists. All departments monitor your sections and inform the bridge immediately of any problems. Engineering, are you ready?”

A chuckle sounded over the intercom “I’ll lay a month’s pay that you don’t have any problems with her, Captain. And we are very ready!”

The fox smiled. “I might take you up on that if we made the same pay. But as it is I think you’re right, Stram. All right, folks, here we go.”

Without hesitation, Elias pushed the throttles past their gates, and was rewarded with a kick in the chest that pushed him well back into his seat. The acceleration was phenomenal, and the dampeners had a difficult time compensating. Then, even as the ship blasted through space, Elias banked hard before bringing the Guiding Angel around 180 degrees.He gave his navigator a quick look and saw that the jaguar was wearing a very wide grin.

Cutting power to the engines, Elias flipped the ship relative to its lateral axis so that they were flying backwards and inverted, they continued this way for several minutes before Elias rotated the ship and had them again facing in the direction of travel. A series of flips, spins, rolls and rotations followed before the fox dropped speed and looked at his First Officer.

“That was fun,” Elias said with a grin to match that of Saul’s.

The jaguar nodded. “Impressive. I wonder how she would handle a full power lift?”

Elias’s grin only grew wider. He then activated the intercom. “I hope everyone still has their insides where they belong,” he began, then heard retching behind him. He turned to see Cerise with her muzzle in a bag. “Send me a status report when you are done inspecting your sections. Bridge out.” He then unstrapped and went to Cerise’s side. “Are you all right?” Elias asked, concern in his eyes.

The vixen finished and sealed the bag. “I just wasn’t expecting that, is all.” She smiled wanly at the other fox. “I’m too used to atmospheric flight. You did things I’ve never thought of, but then there’s no air, so flight characteristics change.”

“That they do.” He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder before turning to the navigation station. “Saul, lay in a course for the Faya system and Quet. There’s normally some interesting activity out in that area, and it’s not well patrolled. They want us to hunt, so let’s go to the best watering hole.”

“Aye, Captain. Quet. Should take about nine days.” The jaguar bent to his console, then transferred the data to the forward viewport. “Well, eight days, four hours and so on.”

“Sounds good. Saul, you have the con. I want to go inspect the ship and see how everyone fared.” Elias was pleased with the way theGuiding Angel handled. It was more nimble than some of the fast couriers and fighters he’d piloted during his career and her speed was thrilling.

His first stop was the infirmary where the Doctor was finishing up the requested status check. None of his stores had shifted during the wild maneuvers, but he was a thorough individual. “How are things looking, Lem?” Elias asked, using the more familiar form of address that the tiger had requested.

“Quite well. In fact I have just had my first patient,” the Doctor said with a quirked smile.

“Who?”

“Treena Kefflin. Apparently she doesn’t handle sudden maneuvering changes very well. I gave her an injection for nausea. It’s nothing serious. She will either adapt, or she won’t, but it’s nothing to worry too much about.”

The fox nodded. “Cerise didn’t react to well either. She might be in to see you, but I doubt it. She was already recovering when I left the bridge.”

“Then I wouldn’t worry too much about it. A speedy recovery is normally a good sign.” The tiger pulled a pressure injector from a drawer and removed the cap that covered the nozzle. “Now then, Captain, if you wouldn’t mind rolling up your sleeve.”

“What’s this?” Elias asked, doing as he was requested.

“Inoculation boosters. Plus some vitamin supplements that the crew could use. I figure that you’ll be setting a course to an area known for pirate activity, and that only leaves one viable star system. We’ll either be headed to Brandt or Quet, and while Brandt isn’t too bad, Quet is. It isn’t called the Dump for nothing.”

“Not bad, Lem. A very good deduction.” There was a slight hiss from the injector and it was over. There wasn’t even a tingle at the injection site.

“Not really. I’ve been with the SPF long enough to know that certain options are better than others. Now then, if you wouldn’t mind some company, I’ll go with you on your rounds and give the crew their jabbies.” He strapped on the small bag he always had with him that contained numerous small, but vital items that he found would be useful in an emergency.

“Not at all. I’ll wait here while you go give the bridge crew theirs first.”

It was only a few minutes before the fox and tiger were walking down the corridor to the first patient after the bridge crew. “I already gave Treena her booster. Next should be Melise.”

“You might be in for a fight. I recall Mel being very skittish with shots.”

“No one ever refuses me. You’ll see.”

After pushing the call button, the hatch to Melise’s cabin slid open and she saw Elias and the Doctor standing outside. “All right. Make it fast. I need to go start breakfast,” the panda said as she extended her arm.

Lemuel gave her the injection and turned to leave, but Elias stopped him. He then turned to his friend. “What the hell? Last time we were in port you threatened to put the doctor there in his own infirmary. You just let him jab you with whatever?” he asked hooking a thumb towards the tiger.

“If you remember correctly, we’d just gotten off of a patrol run and had already had our inoculation boosters. What that hack wanted to give was prebiotics for social diseases. Which, if you recall where we were, was absolutely asinine. The fool failed to realize that the Kessler colony was a religious retreat with the adherents of that particular faith sworn to chastity.” She smiled without humor. “We’re going to be spending a lot of time out on the raggedy edge, and I’m not going to be the one to irritate the only doctor that we can trust for the Maker knows how many light years.”

Lemuel gave Elias a smug look. “See? I told you so?”

The fox shook his head and they continued their circuit.

All of the various sections of the ship handled the short trial well, and Elias was pleased that they hadn’t really put that much of a draw on the engines.

“I told you she’d hold,” Stram said. They were in the engine room and the badger was sitting with his feet up on the integral desk that was built into the bulkhead as the Doctor gave him a booster shot. “Those RP 12 power plants are about as solid and dependable as they come.”

“No structural issues?” Elias asked, leaning against a tool box with his arms folded.

“No, Sir. The casting layer has sensor fibers all through it so that if there is any kind of torque beyond tolerance levels, we’ll be alerted here and up on the bridge.”

The fox scratched absently at his scarred left ear. “I’m satisfied, then. They really did build this ship to take some punishment, didn’t they?”

Stram nodded. “Those Okami people know their business. Their combat ships have one of the highest survivability ratings than any other yard in the PA. And they follow the same principals with their civilian ships, that’s why they’re all over the place.”

Satisfied with the condition of his crew and the status of the ship, Elias made his way back to the bridge. There would be more trials that he would schedule, but those would come in time. Right now he wanted to get on to the task at hand.

***

Melise Rains was in the galley on the third deck and putting the final touches on several dishes that could be reheated as the duty shifts of the crew precluded everyone eating at the same time. It was old hat for the panda, and she had a varied enough knowledge of the diets of the denizens of the PA that she could easily prepare dishes that everyone could eat, though she wasn’t opposed to the idea of making special foods upon request.

Treena Kefflin sat at the short serving bar that looked into the galley and sipped a cup of tea that Melise had made for her. The ocelot really didn’t handle extreme flight maneuvers very well and was still recovering from what the Doctor called ‘Spatial Reactive Distortion’. Apparently this was when the body’s ability to judge balance and the like conflicted with the artificial gravity and inertial compensators used during space flight. Melise had seen it before and knew that eventually the feline would get used to it.

“You know, you really should get something in your stomach. That will help get rid of the rest of the nausea,” the panda suggested with a sympathetic look.

Treena gave the other female a bleary eyed look. “Is it laced with poison? I’ll give you everything I own if you’ll poison me. Dead has to feel better than this.”

Melise reached into a storage cabinet. “Sorry. No poison. But I promise that this will help.” She slid a small blue and gold item toward the feline.

“What’s this? This will make me feel better? I still think poison would be better.” She picked up the item to get a better look. “Or drain cleaner. That would do me in, I’m sure”

“Maybe,” the panda said with a chuckle, ‘but this will taste better.”

The ocelot’s eyes widened significantly. “This is Eros chocolate! Where did you get this?”

The panda smiled. “I like to keep a small stash in case of emergencies. A well hidden stash, I might add.” The last was added with a look that promised extreme pain to anyone that got into the panda’s chocolates.

Treena unwrapped the treat and looked at the dark brown square that had the universal symbols for male and female interlinked. “Is it really better than…um…you know?”

Melise laughed. “Treena, nothing is better than that! But this is a fairly close second. Don’t chew it. Just put it on your tongue and let it melt slowly. I can guarantee that it’ll make your nausea go away.”

Doing as she was instructed, Treena put the chocolate on her tongue, the rush of flavor immediately tantalizing her senses. Not only that, but the aroma filled her nostrils and the result was absolute bliss. Slowly the chocolate began to melt, and each time she swiped her tongue over the diminishing little block, Treena was rewarded with another wave of flavor. Then she recalled some of the ads for the chocolate, males and females of all species throughout the PA using the confection as a prelude to amorous activities and her eyes popped open. “This isn’t going to make me, ah, well, affectionate? Is it?”

Melise laughed again. “That’s just really good advertising! I’ve never had that happen to me, then again I’ve never really needed help in that regard. But no. It’s just a really good ad campaign. They have to have good ads when you consider that you just had a 10 credit piece of candy! At that price, people will only buy it if it might help them have a potentially great date.”

Treena found that the chocolate wasn’t even half melted and her nausea and discomfort were little more than an uncomfortable memory. The ocelot’s expression said it all.

“I told you so,” the panda remarked, pulling a long tray from one of the three induction ovens the galley was equipped with.

“That’s amazing! I really do feel better.” Then she looked at the other female as she continued her preparation of several dishes. “Are you sure it won’t have any other effects?”

The panda gave the feline an exasperated look. “No, it won’t. Though if you do feel that way, why don’t you just drag our esteemed First Officer back to your cabin. It’s fairly clear that’s how you feel about him anyway, especially with some of the looks that you’ve been giving him.”

Treena’s expression was one of scandalized embarrassment. “I do not look at him that way!”

Melise leaned on her side of the counter with both hands, raised one eye brow, and looked down on the much shorter female. “I might be just a grunt, Treena, but that doesn’t make me either dense or blind. You were all but drooling when he walked past you. Not that I blame you. He does have a nice rump,” Melise said with a wicked smile.

Treena continued to stare at the panda, then her look of incredulousness was replaced by a mischievous look and she giggled wickedly. “Yes he does!” Then her smile faltered. Melise noticed the sudden change in the other female.

“What?”

The ocelot shook her head. “I can’t think like that. Our job is too important for me to sleep with crew members.”

“How many ship tours have you been on?” Melise asked, sensing that there was something else that was subduing the feline’s previous light mood.

“This is my first extended run. Why?”

Melise pulled off her oven mitts, grabbed a juice bottle and came around to the other side of the counter and took a seat. “This will mark my sixth year on ships. I can tell you honestly that people tend to pair up on these runs. It’s going to happen. Elias knows it as well, that’s why he gave his spoken permission before we lifted. You can’t cram a mixed crew together in this small a space without it happening. The situation is worse on single gender crews. That’s when tensions run high and there’s a lot of fighting regardless if it is an all male crew, or all female. Besides, Elias has his wife onboard. He can’t do that and expect the rest of the crew to act like cloistered monks or nuns! Like he said, as long as it doesn’t fiddle with the operation of the ship, he’s okay with it.”

Treena didn’t look convinced, though. She changed the subject. “You know the Captain from your previous posting, right? What’s he like? As an officer, I mean?”

“He’s fair,” Melise said taking a swig from her bottle. “He’s not the kind that issues orders arbitrarily. He’s normally the first to roll up his sleeves and get dirt on his hands if the situation calls for it, and he’ll never ask someone to do something that he won’t do, or hasn’t already done, himself.” She looked at nothing in particular. “His marriage to Cerise caught me off guard, though.”

The ocelot cocked her head. “Really? Why’s that?”

“The last I saw him, before the Scimitar incident, he was content to play with me and one of the other females on board, but I never really thought of him as the kind for a serious relationship, much less getting hitched.”

Treena choked on her tea and it was a few moments before she could speak. “You and the Captain? You shared a bunk?”

The panda shrugged. “Often. He’s one of those types that won’t play around unless his partner is at least a friend, but, yeah. There was one other that he spent time with on our old ship as well, but it wasn’t ever anything serious. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun and pleasant, but nothing lasting. And I really like Cerise. She’s a great person. They really are a great pairing.”

The feline gave Melise a speculative look. “So, was he good?”

The panda laughed. “The only drawback with Elias is he isn’t a bear.”

***

Randal Mercks completed his entry in his personal terminal in what would have been the load master’s cubicle in the cargo hold of theGuiding Angel, but was nominally his station as the ship’s de facto security officer. He had decided to run another inventory of the stock of small arms of the ship, and checked each locker once a day. Now that the ship was in warp space, he had plenty of time between duty shifts on the bridge, which everyone shared in, as was only fair. It would ensure that each crew member wasn’t over-taxed and remained alert in case something happened.

With a nod, he looked over the procedures that he’d come up with for crew safety when it came to shore leave or other excursions off of the ship earlier that shift and sent a copy to the Captain’s terminal. He then went to work on a training schedule for the rest of the crew.

While he was comfortable with the crew’s level of competency with small arms, a few of the individuals were less than experienced in hand-to-hand combat. He and the panda, Melise he recalled, working on getting used to using first names and not just rank and possibly last names, was working with some of the less experienced crew members while he was teaching more advanced fighting techniques.

The wolf looked at the time display on the computer and stretched, saved his schedule, and got up. It was time to begin the second class in advanced combat, and he wanted to make sure that the recreation deck was ready, which meant putting mats down and gathering the crate of training aids that he had brought with him as a matter of course and stored in his cabin.

By the time Randal was done getting things ready, the first of his students exited the lift. He nodded at the Captain and, oddly enough, the ship’s Doctor. While the wolf wasn’t overly surprised that Elias was experienced at fighting, Lemuel Anders’ level of skill was something of a shock. For all his size, the tiger was very agile and extremely quick. The only other individual that they were waiting on for this session was the ocelot, Treena.

“So, what are we going to be working on today, Randy?” Elias asked as he started stretching and warm-up exercises.

“We’ll be continuing where we left off from the previous class,” the wolf said as he started pulling pads and practice weapons out of the crate. “Too many individuals fail to realize that in close quarters like a ship, a blade can sometimes be more effective than a firearm. That, and I figure that we’ll be visiting unsavory places that attract the wrong sort of hoodlums, and they normally prefer blades to ply their trade as they are cheap and easy to replace. A blade is also silent, doesn’t need to be reloaded and requires far less care than a pistol.”

Lemuel nodded at this assessment. “It makes sense when you consider it’s one of the oldest tools and weapons that sentients ever developed. The overall design and use hasn’t really changed in millennia.”

“Agreed,” Randal said. “It’s very effective, and people still react to them with more fear than they do with firearms for the most part.” He tossed a set of protective pads to Elias. “You’re up first, Captain.”

Elias slid the pads on, adjusted the straps and accepted a flexible training blade that was shaped like a common military issue knife. The edge and point were spongy and had a colored chalk embedded in the material so that hits could be verified and noted for the purpose of the exercise.

“Same rules as before?” Elias asked as he took his place on the mat.

Randal nodded. “Same rules. Whenever you’re ready.”

Elias held his blade up so that he could throw strikes out in parabolic arcs, leading with the edge of the blade as he’d been shown, his left arm was held loose so that he could counter a strike from the wolf. One of the things that the wolf had pointed out was that regardless of how good one was with a knife it was a good idea to enter a fight knowing one was going to get cut, but it was better to let your arm get cut than something more vital.

The two circled each other for a moment, and Elias thought that the wolf was getting ready to strike when the alarm went off with a mind numbing buzzing shriek.

“All hands to stations, all hands to stations. We have a distress contact bearing 15 degrees port, 34 degrees axial declination at 3675 miles and closing, Captain. We’re already out of light drive. Estimated time of contact is 3 minutes,” Saul’s voice said over the intercom.

Elias was already at the communication pad mounted in the bulkhead. “Affirmative. On my way.”

The fox was a blur of white fur and gray clothing as the lift paused at the second deck and he bolted for the bridge. He hadn’t needed to tell the others to go to their duty stations, and heard Lemuel heading to the infirmary while Randal continued on to the cargo deck, pausing the lift just long enough for a very wet, and naked Lena to dive in with a wadded up flight suit and boots in her hands.

Even as he entered the bridge, Saul was getting out of the pilot’s seat and relocating to navigation, leaving Elias little choice but to take the pilot’s position. Cerise was at her station and calling out information, duplicating aspects via the micro circuitry imbedded in the forward viewports.

“The signal is really weak, but confirmed as a distress call. We would have missed it if we weren’t running active sensors and communications scans,” Cerise said working the various controls of her console. “Bringing up relevant data from the gazetteer.”

The PA gazetteer that resided within the core of the bridge’s VIP 25 computer was a listing of registered ships in the Alignment, and would give make, size, crew capacity, passenger capacity, and function of the vessel along with flight plan information if available. It was updated automatically whenever the Guiding Angel passed by any world with a starport or near an SPF station.

“Here it is,” the vixen said as she flashed a readout and wireframe mockup on the viewport. “SS Mintaka. PA registry 74842 out of Promontory on Hestra. It’s a Hestran made vessel out of the Calagor ship yards. It’s an inexpensive passenger ship, almost steerage class. Flight plan through the SPF has it listed as missing on a run from Hestra and Fyn to Brandt, then Earth. 18 crew, 37 passengers. She’s been overdue for almost two weeks.” Cerise continued to look at the sensor information that was scrolling across her screen. “It looks like there’s some power, but not a lot. There’s also something causing a little distortion on the scans. Looks like it might be signal dispersal from debris.”

“Got it,” Elias said tersely. “Odette, power up the weapons, I have the pulse cannon.” He then triggered the intercom and relayed what Cerise had informed him to the rest of the ship before toggling communications to Randal’s section.

“Randy,” the fox said using the familiar form of his name as the wolf had requested, “prepare to launch the Raptor. I want Lena on overwatch.”

“Copy that, Captain,” the wolf replied. “Launching Raptor in forty five seconds.”

The powerful atmospheric pumps in the cargo hold cleared the air in the chamber in less than a minute. From his position in the sealed armored cubicle, Randal Mercks cycled the cargo hatch open. Beyond the light from the overhead illumination panels was the cold black of space scattered with stars that glittered coldly like jewels on dark velvet. He watched as the rabbit in the cockpit of the interceptor gave him the universal ‘thumbs-up’ gesture, her features hidden behind the reflective faceplate of her flight suit’s helmet, and returned the gesture even as he toggled the headset he wore that was tuned to her channel.

“Okay, Lena. Unlocking in 3…2…1. You’re free to launch. Be safe out there,” he told her.

As soon as the magnetic clamps were disengaged, the rabbit nudged the attitude thrusters to carry her and her fighter out of the cargo bay before activating the small craft’s main engines. “Affirmative, Randy. Keep the home fires burning.”

On the bridge, Elias and Saul saw the fighter slide out from beneath them before the main drives flared to life a safe distance away from the Guiding Angel, as bright as two blue stars. They could hear Cerise talking to the rabbit who began a long arcing sweep where she could assist her crew if need be, or prevent any potential hostiles from causing her shipmates harm.

“Guiding Angel, this is Cherub. I have visual on you and the target. Beginning a fly-by approach. Will update a visual when I get to the other side of the Mintaka,” Lena said over the comm. She rolled the fighter almost ninety degrees so she could see the Hestran made vessel a little more easily while still keeping an eye on her own sensors and threat board that would notify her of potential danger.

The speed of the interceptor was much greater than that of the freighter turned pirate hunter, and she passed the target vessel like a rifle shot, onboard sensors and cameras getting more details than she could with her own eyes.

“Guiding Angel, this is Cherub. No visitors at the back door. Looks like there’s a lot of particulate debris around the hull. Um, hold one. Coming about.” Lena throttled back and activated a braking thrust as she flipped the fighter end for end with a twist, secretly relishing the feeling of being in control of the agile little ship and deriving great satisfaction from the way conflicting forces pulled and pushed at her body. It was like being on the best roller coaster in the universe. One with no track that was at her command.

She swept past the crippled derelict again, a little closer than before at a slower velocity.

“You should be getting images now. It looks like the ship took some damage to the starboard engine pod. Probably some breeches in the hull as well. That would explain the debris cloud, though a lot of it looks like it was jettisoned. There’s lights from some of the forward viewports, but they’re really faint. If there are survivors, it looks like they’ll be in those forward areas.”

“Copy, Cherub,” came the voice of the black fox over the radio. “Maintain overwatch. Captain says we’re going to proceed with a dock and search for survivors. Guiding Angel out.”

Lena programmed the fighter to make large orbits around the vessels as she watched the Okami freighter move in so that it could dock with the other vessel and cast a silent prayer that there was someone that could be saved.

On the bridge, Elias slid out of the pilot’s seat. “Saul, take the con. Get us in position for docking with the tunnel. Odette, remain at weaps. I want you ready in case we have unwelcome visitors.” The fox then toggled the intercom. “Boarding party to cargo bay. Full suit up and weapons. Infirmary prepare for casualties.” He the removed his headset and turned to leave the bridge.

Before he passed, he stopped next to Cerise and gave her a quick kiss. “Slug an encrypted transmission to the nearest SPF base and inform them of what we found and to dispatch a rescue ship. There might be more here than we can handle. And if not, they can perform a more thorough inspection and investigation than we can.”

Cerise nodded, but said softly, “Be careful, Darling.”

Elias gave her a reassuring smile. “I will, Love.”

Then he was gone.

In the cargo area, now sealed and pressurized, Randal Mercks was distributing small arms to the other members of the boarding party. Melise and Sonja were already in their armored pressure suits, though their faceplates were raised. Elias began to don his even as the others were securing weapons, then checking each other over to make sure that all of the fittings were properly mated and sealed. The wolf inspected Elias’ job of suiting up, then handed his Captain a stubby barreled Binfurr PD-19 sub machinegun. The weapon fired a 10 millimeter caseless round and was built in a bull-pup configured design so the magazine loaded into a well in the stock. It made the firearm far more maneuverable in confined spaces like ship corridors, and while the round had effective stopping power, it was designed not to penetrate even the thinnest of ship hulls. It had a number of additions incorporated such as a high-output LED flashlight, laser and low-light capable reflex scope that worked like a laser pointer, but kept the targeting dot within the confines of the scope itself.

The wolf himself carried a Binfurr 12 gage semiautomatic shotgun, also equipped with a reflex scope. That was also a preferred weapon for shipboard operations. The smoothbore had a folding stock and dual tube magazines that gave the weapon a ten round capacity. More than enough for anything they might encounter on the other ship, though Elias was praying that they didn’t need them.

Randal stepped in front of the others. “All right, when dock is made I’ll go first. Melise, you’re second. Captain, you’ll be following third, and Sonja you have the tail position. I don’t want us to split up, but at the same time I want two or three meter separation. If one of us runs into someone that is less than friendly it will enable the others to provide support and cover fire, but it will also cut down on the chances of more than one individual getting hurt because of a grenade or worse.

“We sweep and clear as we go, but be careful about what you open as Lena said she saw what looks like hull breeches. We don’t want to vent whatever atmosphere there might be in case there are survivors. Any questions?”

No one had any and Elias looked at the noncommissioned officer that had led more than one dicey ship boarding operation in his career. “Let’s go.”

With a nod, Randal led the way to the docking tunnel and using controls that were slightly oversized to accommodate hands that were encased in armored gauntlets, extended the tunnel until it touched the hull of the Mintaka. Once contact was made, the ring that made up the far terminus magnetized itself to the hull plating to provide an anchor and then a collapsible seal would deploy. Within moments there was nominal air pressure in the tunnel and Randal opened the outer airlock hatch after he and the others sealed their helmets and began to drift across the tunnel to the other ships’ airlock. Pulling a small package from a thigh pocket, the wolf plugged leads into two receptacles in the airlock’s security pad. He punched a few commands and the thick metal panels of the hatch slid apart into the sides of the hull.

Before the panels had even an inch wide crack in them, the wolf had his shotgun up and ready. Nothing on the other side waited for them, and Randal proceeded forward at a cautious pace. On the other side of the airlock was a bulkhead. Randal looked quickly fore and then aft, seeing no immediate threat, entered the ship proper.

“Emergency lights are running, but it doesn’t look like much else is,” Elias said, his right hand gripping the handle of the sub machinegun tightly, his finger lying alongside to trigger guard so he wouldn’t accidently discharge the weapon. “Melise, take a reading on the internal atmosphere.”

The panda entered the ship and moved a few feet to the aft, taking up a covering position as Sonja entered last, facing forward so that two members of the party each faced one direction. She did as requested and passed on the information. “It’s a little thin and cold, but breathable. Ambient temp is around thirty one degrees Fahrenheit. Artificial gravity is point two five standard.”

“The lack of heat wouldn’t bother a fur too much, but it might wear on a human after a while,” Sonja commented.

“Which would make more sense for survivors to confine themselves to a smaller area, and the bow of this class ship has the thickest insulation and best protection.” Elias nodded to himself. “Let’s head that way and see if there is anyone that we can help.”

They made the first cabin and Randal stopped. “This hatch has been forced.” He pointed at the edges of the door and the scorch marks and carbonization of the paint and steel beneath. “Looks like therma-gel. Not the most sophisticated method, but it’s effective.”

The wolf entered with his shotgun leading the way and gave the cabin a quick sweep. He turned on the lamps attached to his helmet and the light affixed to the fore of his weapon.

“This was a berthing for a family. Looks like parents and three children.” Randal held up a picture that had the image of two felines, a yellow and orange striped male and gray and white female with three kittens that was lying on top of a pile of debris. “I hate to say it, Captain, but I’m getting a really bad feeling about this.”

“So am I,” the fox said. “Let’s hurry up and get forward.”

The group increased their speed, giving the cabins only a passing inspection until they reached a sealed hatch that barred further progress. The others covered the wolf as he tried the hatch.

“It’s locked tight on their side,” Randal said after trying the actuator button, then the mechanical override and manual opening system. “I’m not too keen on scaring these people anymore than I have to.”

“Do you have an induction speaker?” Elias asked. The wolf nodded and pulled a small, flat black box out of another cargo pocket. “Let’s announce ourselves, then.”

Randal placed the small device against the solid metal of the hatch and plugged a small lead that came from one end into a jack on the side of his helmet. He hit a switch that turned the device’s power on.

“Attention, attention. This is the crew from the SS Guiding Angel, PA registry 77187. Is there anyone that needs assistance. We mean no harm and are here to offer rescue.”

Several minutes passed with the wolf issuing the call twice more. The device had powerful magnets to secure it that turned the steel of the hatch into an impromptu speaker tympani. There was a clanging from the other side. “Please acknowledge vocally. We’ll be able to hear you,” Randal said as the clanging became more frantic.

“We…we welded the door shut when they attacked. We can’t get it open! You have to help us! We haven’t had any food for six days and our water is running out. Please get us out of here!” a voice from the other side said. There was no way to tell if the speaker was male or female, but the desperation in the voice was clear.

“We have a crew coming to open the hatch. Please remain calm and everything will be fine. We’ll have you out of there in just a little bit,” Randal said.

Even as the wolf was trying to calm the person on the other side of the sealed hatch, Elias was on the comm with instructions for his engineering team to get across and to their position with cutting tools, and for Treena and Lemuel to also follow with medical supplies and as many blankets as possible. He made sure they knew to wear cold weather gear.

It took almost half an hour for Stram and Rutger to cut through the hatch. While they were engaged in that endeavor, Elias had Melise and Sonja swept the rest of the ship for potential threats with Randal leading. Treena and the Doctor arrived a few minutes after the badger and his assistant, decked out in cold weather clothing so that they could withstand the frigid temperatures of the ship, and waited with blankets ready and medical supplies in case there were any injuries requiring immediate treatment.

The door finally came free and Elias saw some of the sorriest looking individuals he’d ever encountered in his life. The first through was a male cat, the orange striped feline from the picture that Randal had found. His fur was matted and the tom looked gaunt. His clothing was torn and filthy and there was dried blood on the tatters of the left sleeve. A crusted over cut that looked infected could be seen under the shreds of fabric.

He was a little wild eyed, and the lights from Elias’s suit and work lamps that Stram and Rutger had set up made him sneeze with their intensity. He flinched back when he saw Elias in his armored space suit, his right arm going up instinctively to fend off an attack. “Y-you’re not going to hurt us, are you?” he asked fearfully.

“Not at all. Some of us are actually former members of the Spatial Police Force,” Treena said in a calm voice as she moved forward with a med pack. “We’re here to help you. It’s all right. We want to get you to our ship.”

It was too much for the feline male and he began to sob and sagged. If not for the speed of Lemuel and Stram, the tom would have fallen into the still glowing edge where the hatch had been cut away. “Treena, get an IV started, please. He’s suffering extreme dehydration and malnutrition.” The tiger was pulling a pressure syringe from his med pack and looked at the label to verify its contents before twisting the dosage dial on it and giving the supine form an injection of antibiotics and painkillers that hissed softly.

It took a short amount of time for the crew of the Guiding Angel to get the survivors, seven in all, to the freighter and in the open cabin and one of the holding cells where they were brought food and water and the Doctor could treat them without the infirmary being so crowded that they would hamper their own treatment.

The rest of the Mintaka was clear, with no sign of the other ship’s 18 crew or 31 passengers. One of the survivors was a female ferret that had been left by the pirates and it was she that had sealed the bulkhead hatch to protect the remaining passengers. At the moment she was sedated and in the infirmary under watch. Her condition had been the worst of any of the other individuals that had been rescued, including a fractured arm that hadn’t been set along with severe blunt trauma injuries and bruising accompanied by minor lacerations.

Elias sat on the darkened bridge, the ship underway again under orders from Colonel Brees on Joplin. The heavy cruiser Solari Magnificat was en route to the derelict to conduct a detailed investigation. The Guiding Angel was in warp space and would meet with another SPF vessel, the Mother’s Arms, a former Terran pocket battleship that had been converted into a hospital ship, on the outer edge of the Faya system as the hunters continued on to Quet and Brandt.

The fox had volunteered to take the bridge watch alone so that the others could either take care of the rescued individuals and see to their immediate needs or catch some much needed rest. It was with some surprise that Elias heard the bridge hatch open. Turning in the pilot’s seat, he saw the form of the Doctor standing in the doorway, backlit by the bright corridor illumination. Lemuel entered and made his way to the navigator’s console. Handing a cup of coffee to his Captain, the big cat took the navigator’s chair.

“Thought you could use that,” Lemuel said before taking a sip from his own mug.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks,” Elias said lifting his mug slightly to emphasize his appreciation. He felt better after taking a sip and turned so that he could regard the tiger. “Don’t normally see you up here, Lem. What’s up? Problems with our guests?”

Lemuel rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. “No. I’ve treated their physical ailments for the moment. The psychological aspect will have to be handled by someone better suited for that than me. Most of them have been fed and cleaned up, using whatever clean clothing the rest of the crew could spare. It seems that most of them, my guest in the infirmary included, gave up their rations for Mistress Priam and her kittens, which wasn’t a lot to begin with.” He sighed and seemed to sink in on himself, a weariness that was both physical and spiritual sapping the usually robust tiger of his normal vitality. “She’s the reason that I came to see you, the girl in medical I mean.”

“Is she causing trouble? We’ll be free of her once we meet up with Mother’s Arms,” Elias told his ship mate.

“I really don’t know how to talk to you about this. There are some things that I have to be careful about because of patient confidentiality, but at the same time there are things that you need to made aware of regarding her…hmmm, dispensation.”

Elias’s eyes went a little hard though his face was devoid of emotion. “Lem, I admire your dedication to your profession, but she’s a pirate, or was at least on a vessel that is a known marauder and will have to stand trial, even if we never catch her cohorts.”

“That’s one of the things that I need you talk to you about. She can’t go on trial. She isn’t eighteen, she’s only sixteen. According to the laws of the Planetary Alignment she’s not an adult yet. That and consideration needs to be made for her actions regarding the lives that she protected on the Mintaka.” The Doctor took a sip from his coffee and looked very pointedly at the fox. “She wasn’t really a member of the crew. Elias, she was the onboard entertainment.”

Elias blinked twice, the flintiness in his eyes vanishing and a look of disgust turning the corners of his mouth down. “I think you’d better tell me everything, Lem. If it will help you, I’ll make that an order.”

The last sentence seemed to take a great weight off of the tiger’s shoulders. “While I was treating her arm fracture, I gave her some fairly potent painkillers. Normally I wouldn’t use something that strong for someone so young, but she really needed it. What I used also has the side effect of loosening certain inhibitions and makes most individuals rather talkative and incapable of lying.

“From what she told me, she was sold to the crew of the ship she was on about 4 years ago. At first she simply did the drudge work that the rest of her crew didn’t want to do, and let me tell you that a lot of it was fairly vile. About a year ago, someone on the ship noticed that she wasn’t really a child anymore, and they started to employ her for…other tasks.”

“You’re not serious?” Elias asked, the look of disgust being punctuated with nausea at the thought of that kind of abuse.

“Very serious,” The tiger said with a sad shake of his head. “I’ve already dosed her with a series of antibiotics for a number of social diseases. She has been thoroughly abused. There are signs of physical abuse and mistreatment, though those words are rather inadequate to describe what she’s been through. I think the worst of it all is that she’ll never be able to have kits of her own. Sometime within the past few months she had an abortion. Whatever butcher did the procedure has wrecked any chance of her ever carrying a child to term, if she can even conceive at all. I don’t think her former associates were too worried about that.

“She doesn’t know if she has any family. All she knows is that she was passed from one owner to another on Quet before being sold to her former Captain.” Lemuel pulled a small data stick from one of the pockets on his medical smock. “By the way, this has the name of the ship that attacked the Mintaka and the names of the captain, ship’s engineer and a couple of others. It’s an old Sakura built ship. A 40 year old Swift class courier and light freighter. It didn’t have any weapons, but would lure other ships in by transmitting false distress maydays and taking them when they docked to render assistance. The damage to the Mintaka was done with mining charges so the pirates could get to the aft cargo deck.

“Jenna says that their normal home ports are Stonefall on Quet and Trent’s Down on Brandt.”

“Jenna?” Elias asked.

“The girl’s name is Jenna. She doesn’t know what her last name is, and probably never will.” Lemuel stood up and rolled his shoulders, trying vainly to reduce some of the knots he felt in his neck and back. “It’s all on the data stick. Now then, if you’ll pardon me, I have had a long day and want to do one more round on our guests before I retire.”

Elias nodded. “Go get some rest, Lem. You’ve earned it. I’ll review this and let you know where I stand tomorrow,” he said, tapping the data stick. “You have my word that I’ll try to be as impartial as possible. And if you want, we can all have a sit down with her.”

“Thank you, Captain. All I want for her is a fair chance.”

“She’ll have as fair a chance as I can give her. I promise you that,” Elias said, wrapping his fingers around the data stick. “As for truly fair? I don’t think that the universe really knows what fair is. But that’s why we’re out here. To change the odds, right?”

The tiger left the bridge, feeling better and standing a little straighter as Elias turned back to his console. Long years of experience had enabled him to glance across the myriad of readouts and indicators to get a general sense of what his ship’s condition and status were. Satisfied, the fox slipped the data stick into a port on his console that would bring up its contents without accessing the actual computer linked to helm and bridge controls. The lessons learned a couple of years back with the Cold Fire virus was the reason for that particular safety redundancy. The computer virus had had the potential of destroying the entire PA infrastructure. The fox then sat back with the coffee that Lemuel had brought him and reviewed the information that came up.

The ferret had been on a ship called The Lucky Star. It was indeed an older class Sakura. It wouldn’t be hard to find the vessel as it was painted in orange and gold, though the paint was faded, scorched and with large patches of rust. No, it shouldn’t be too hard to find at all. That its captain tended to stay in the Faya system attested to why the ship had never been interdicted before. The presence of the Spatial Police Force was fairly thin in this sector, and then with the SPF using ships that were easy to identify and, thus, easy to avoid it was no wonder that the Lucky Star was still on the prowl.

The Captain of The Lucky Star was a hyena by the name of Anya Garand. According to what the girl had told Lemuel, she was a citizen of Brandt, and would carry any cargo anyone was willing to pay for, no matter what it was, up to and including abduction victims for the slave trade. That was the reason for the deception that had been used to bait the Mintaka. Easy pickings for the pirates and rich plunder in the form of bodies and whatever material goods that were onboard the vessel.

It was enough for Elias. He brought up the information on their present course and verified that they were on course for Quet, the only near-by world that the abductees from the Mintaka could be sold quickly without any questions. Slavery was allowed by law on the wretched planet, and Elias wasn’t the only one that wished fervently that the SPF could intervene. But the Planetary Alignment Charter forbade that. There was a reason that most sentients in the PA called the horrid little world The Dump.

It would be two more days before they rendezvoused with the Mother’s Arms, and five more until they would be landing on the planet and could then intervene. While slavery might be legal, kidnapping and abduction were not, and that was all that the fox needed. He slugged an encrypted burst transmission to Colonel Brees’ office informing him of his intentions and if the lion could reroute a ship to assist them.

The only thing that Elias could do then was what he found the hardest. He had to wait.

CHAPTER 11

Jenna was still in the medical bed in the infirmary of the ship that had responded to the distress call that she and the remaining passengers of the Mintaka had been able to set up. With her arm in the cast, she found it a little difficult to take care of herself, and while appreciative of the assistance of the tiger, who was an actual doctor, the kindness that was shown to her was more than a little disconcerting. She knew how to handle an individual that was angry, aggressive, drunk or otherwise intoxicated. She knew that when males looked at her a certain way what would come next, and there were times that it wasn’t too unpleasant. Normally if she complied with what her former crew mates had wanted of her things were over quickly and she could get away sometimes with just a sharp backhand, occasionally without being hit at all.

This, however, was something she was unaccustomed to. She didn’t know how to reply when the Doctor asked how she was feeling, or the kind manner that some of the crew of this ship showed towards her. It was beyond the realm of her experience.

Then there was the food.

She didn’t have to wait until others were done eating before she could scrape together enough leftovers to abate the gnawing feeling in her belly. Here she could eat as much as she wanted, and was encouraged to do so several times a day. To top it all off, she was given access to the infirmary computer and the different things that it could access. There were videos, books, all manner of things that Jenna had never seen. Most of it was useless to her, though, as no one had ever taught her how to read.

At the moment she was engrossed in a movie about a former soldier that had found himself in a town that was plagued by bandits and galvanized the locals to take back what they had worked for. That the soldier had fallen in love with one of the town’s most attractive females and influenced his decision to help them make a stand was confusing.

Then again, Jenna knew little of love.

The infirmary hatch slid open and the striking white fox that was the ship’s Captain came in with a male raccoon at his side. The raccoon wore the gray and crimson trimmed jumpsuit duty uniform of the Spatial Police Force. Jenna felt a moment of apprehension. Her former crew had hated and feared the SPF, and their prejudiced stories had unconsciously ingrained in Jenna her own fear of the interstellar law enforcement agency. She took note of the holstered side arms on both individuals and wondered what they were planning on doing to her. She shrank back against the upraised portion of the bed in sudden fear.

“It’s all right, Jenna,” the white fox, Captain Elias she remembered, said, giving her a gentle smile. He had been very kind in the couple of times that he’d come to talk to her, asking all sorts of questions about her former Captain and ship. Sometimes he just stopped by to see how she was doing. It was all very odd. “This is Commander Horace Nokes. He’s the Captain of the ship that you’ll be moved to with the others from the Mintaka. He’s going to be transporting you to Joplin, the SPF headquarters world, and from there to your new home.”

“N-new home?” Jenna asked. “I…I don’t understand.”

The raccoon, Commander Nokes stepped a little closer to her bed. He had dark gray colored fur, except for his throat and chin which were white with a pronounced black mask around his eyes. He smiled at her and when he spoke, his voice was peasant and warm.

“That’s right. You are not going to be charged with any crimes as you were a prisoner of the crew of The Lucky Star. There is an individual that has taken an interest in your case and is willing to foster you and ensure that you get an education and a chance to live a normal life.” Nokes looked at her with a tilt to his head. “Does this sound like something you might like?”

Jenna thought about it, wondering what would be required of her.

“W-w-what would I h-have to do?” she asked, nervously pulling at a lock of her long gold colored hair, unable to meet the eyes of the two in front of her.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Jenna,” Elias said. “You are going to live with a friend of mine, Sander Brees. He’s a lion and a Colonel in the SPF and one of the best people I know. He and his wife, Meri, who happens to be a priestess with the Unified Light, want you to be part of their family. He will see to it that you are taken care of and get the schooling that you need to do whatever you want in life.”

She sat up a little. The fox hadn’t lied to her once, and had been the most kind to her next to the Doctor. “School? I can go to school?” It was more than she could ever have hoped for, and the fact that it was something unexpected made her nervous. The two males seemed to sense this.

“You will get to do more than go to school,” Commander Nokes said. “You’ll get to learn things that you want to, to choose a career that you want, all of the things that others get to do that were denied to you. And all you have to do is try to do the best that you can. That’s it.”

Elias nodded. “You have a second chance, Jenna. A lot of decisions that should have been yours to make were taken from you. We’re trying to help make things right and give you some of those chances and decisions back. And you’ll be free. You won’t be a slave to anyone else ever again.”

It took a while for the two officers to convince her of what they said, and in the end, all that the girl was told was confirmed by the Doctor. Most of the crew was on hand as she transferred from the Guiding Angel to the SPF hospital ship. Elias watched as the airlock hatch slid closed, his arm around Cerise’s waist, wondering what the girl would be like after a year in the care of Sandy and Meri.

When they were back in their cabin, Cerise looked up at her husband questioningly. “Why is Uncle Sandy adopting her? I know that he would have made sure that Jenna would have wound up in a good home, but he’s adopting her. Why?”

Elias sat down next to the coyote on the bed and pulled her close to him. “Because I asked him to. He said his children are grown up and gone, living their own lives. Torvi is off at the Alexandrius Science Academy in Alucara, Senna is married now, and Tara is attending the Copenhagen University on Earth. He and Meri told me that the house seemed too empty. So when I talked to him about Jenna, I recommended that he adopt the girl. Can you think of anyone that can help her learn to stand on her own better than those two?”

Cerise thought about it for several moments then shook her head. “No. You’re right. She will be well taken care of. And I have to agree with you that she’ll be a different person in a year.”

“I’ll bet any amount that you care to name that we won’t recognize her. Well, she might look the same, but as far as what she’ll be then in comparison to the shattered soul she is now? No, I think the difference will be amazing.”

***

The rest of the journey towards the Faya system was uneventful, and Elias found himself feeling restless, as was normal for him in the quiet time after an engagement. Granted, there hadn’t been any fighting, of which he was thankful for, but it was always a hard adjustment to go from the adrenaline rush of action to the more mundane aspect of travel.

Like he did while he was on the Scimitar, and the Manticore and Argent Star before that, Elias took to wandering through the ship. Enough time had been spent on the bridge, or in his cabin, despite the pleasant company of Cerise, and sitting down to watch a movie or read only added to the anxious stillness that he was trying to readjust to. He had taken the lift to the cargo bay turned flight deck for theRaptor class interceptor that Lena had named the Cherub. As soon as the hatch slid open, haunting notes and music enveloped the fox. He stepped out onto the deck and saw Randal sitting on a crate just outside the armored cubicle of the cargo master’s office, a small keyboard on the wolf’s lap and his fingers moving back and forth in precise strokes on the keys. The wolf had his eyes closed and rocked back and forth slowly with the music he was making.

At first Elias was surprised to find the huge wolf playing such a delicate instrument. Then he was astounded by the quality of music that the laconic former combat instructor wove in the air of the hold. The fox stood transfixed as notes blended and complimented each other in the space of the large chamber, spinning out as fine as spider’s silk and pure as thin glass. It was several seconds after Randal finished playing, and the last notes faded before the wolf realized that he was not alone.

“Sorry, Captain. I didn’t see you there.”

Elias shook his head, still mesmerized by the music. “Don’t apologize. That was amazing.”

Randal grinned self-consciously. “It’s only because of the acoustics of the cargo bay. It allows me to tie notes together in a way that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”

The fox walked over and sat down on a crate that was magnetically clamped to the deck. “As I have no musical talent, I’ll have to take your word for it. I have to admit that I’m surprised by this, though.”

“You wouldn’t expect someone like me to play music?” the wolf asked with a grin.

“It seems a little incongruous,” Elias admitted.

Randal chuckled. “Not at all. Kantus and Earth both have cultures where warriors were also artists. The Cassemer of the Fourth Dynasty of the Kanthian Prefecture, the Samurai of feudal Japan on Earth. It was believed by many that a warrior that also explored artistic pursuits was better for exhibiting and training both aspects. And for the Silloni, art and war are intertwined, inseparable.”

Elias laughed. “My crew keeps on catching me off guard with hidden talents. Melise could be a chef at any resort you care to name, Sonja is a very talented seamstress, the Doctor is a master brewer, and now I find out that you’re a talented musician. I think I’m the only one without any hidden abilities.”

“And you are quite the dancer to hear Cerise tell it,” The wolf said, still grinning. “Believe me, as one who was lucky to be able to walk without tripping over his own feet as an adolescent, that’s no small accomplishment.”

“Feh. It’s not that big of a deal,” Elias said in dismissal.

“You think so?” Randal asked, looking at his Captain with a sardonic expression. “The only reason that I’m not clumsy anymore is through years of martial arts and practice. From what your mate says, you out dance her, and she studied dance. It’s one of those talents, like playing music, that you either have, or don’t have. Let me ask you this, did you have any trouble when it came to zee-gee training?”

“Not really,” Elias admitted. “I thought it was rather fun. Like….dancing, but without the constraint of gravity.” The fox began to realize the direction that the wolf was taking.

“Exactly. It was like something that you already were familiar with, but less constraints. I had to go through the course three times. Melise twice. The only other one on the ship who was able to ace the course her first time was Lena, but then her being born in space might have something to do with that.”

“Talk about an odd talent. I’ve never seen anyone else that could handle a fighter like her,” Elias said with a shake of his head.

“When she gets into the cockpit, she is very aggressive,” Randal agreed. “She reminds me of a predator. She wants to sink her teeth into something.” Then he looked at his Captain. “So, what really brought you down here, Captain? I doubt it was my playing.”

The fox shrugged. “I’m always antsy after an encounter. I used to walk the decks of my old ship after an encounter, no matter what it was. I guess it comes from all the adrenaline and tension, even if it was something as simple as an aid call. It takes a few days for me to come down off the rush sometimes. Like now. I feel like I’ve been away from the routine for too long.”

Randal nodded in agreement. “All of us have our own little ways of dealing with it. Mine is getting lost in music. Sonja exercises until she’s almost ready to drop. Stram finds something to take apart and reassemble and Rutger plays computer games. Lena soaks for hours on end in a bath.” The wolf put his keyboard in a rigid leather case and secured the latches before turning back to his Captain. “As for the routine, you spent a lot of time in recovery after the loss of the Scimitar. I’d say give it a month and you should be fine.”

The two talked for a long while, and it was rather late when Elias realized that Cerise was probably asleep, as he should be also. He stood and stretched, not realizing that sitting on the crate had made his legs go numb until he got up. He stretched and smiled. “Thanks for the talk.”

“We have to be here for each other, Elias. It’s what makes a solid crew and a functioning ship. That means that we’re here for you as well.”

Elias nodded his thanks and made his way to the lift, wincing as feeling began to return to his legs, the muscles tingling with a pins and needles sensation as blood flow increased.

The second deck was quiet as he made his way to the cabin that he and Cerise shared. There was enough ambient light in the cabin for him to see the still form of the vixen curled up on her side of the bed, clutching one of the pillows he used to her body and the way that she was breathing, deep and regular, told him that she was sound asleep. He left the lights off and undressed quietly, putting his clothes in a small hamper next to the hatch that led to the suite’s facilities, and gently slid onto the bed and under the covers.

It seemed as soon as Cerise sensed the warmth of his body she released the pillow and shifted closer to him, rousing to a half awake state and pulled his arm over her before sighing contentedly.

“I was wondering when you were coming to bed,” she murmured drowsily, snuggling closer to her mate.

“I just needed to walk off some tension. It happens after any kind of action. Then I got into a conversation with Randy. Sorry I took so long.” He nuzzled her neck and settled into a comfortable position.

“Randy’s a good individual. You should talk to him more.”

“You think so?” Elias asked, his eyes feeling heavy and grainy, a sure indication that he was more tired than he realized.

“You know,” Cerise began and rolled so that she was facing her husband, “I know a great way to relieve stress.” Before Elias had a chance to respond, she nuzzled his throat before kissing him, her arms slipping around his neck.

The fatigue that Elias had been feeling was replaced with something more urgent and primal than a need for sleep, but afterwards he had to admit that it had done wonders to lift the burden of tension that had lingered.

CHAPTER 12

“Atmosphere in five….four…three…two…one,” Elias called out from the pilot’s seat. The ship shuddered slightly with mild buffeting as it encountered the beginnings of the thin layer of toxic air that enveloped Quet. The view beyond the glassteel panels of the bridge became red-tinged as the vessel’s shielding dispersed the heat of friction with the thickening air.

“Shields holding steady,” Saul said, his eyes scanning the array of instruments on his console.

“We’re cleared for a landing at Stonefall,” Cerise informed the Captain and rest of the bridge crew from her station at communications and sensors. “Pad six.” She sounded irritated as she spoke.

“What’s wrong?” Elias asked, turning his head to glance at his wife.

The black vixen had her arms crossed and a frown of disgust on her face. “Totally unprofessional,” she said, glaring at her console. “It took over twenty minutes for me to raise someone, then when they finally answered it was like I was interrupting something more important than their job. If I had a tech that behaved like that back at Grandstorm I would have had them fired on the spot!”

Elias and Saul looked at each other and grinned.

“Welcome to the backside of the PA,” Saul quipped. “Most of the individuals on this world are fairly selfish. It’s what you sort of expect from a world that allows slavery. If it weren’t for the Micronite that’s mined here, the planet would be abandoned save for the scum of the Alignment.”

Elias followed the course given by Saul through the information that was relayed from Stonefall Air Traffic Control. Within minutes the starport was visible in the distance, a series of dim, sporadically placed lights not far from the gaping maw of an open pit mining operation that, even as the sun set, was throwing plumes of dust into the hot, still air. The lack of illumination for the landing pads was mute testament that the starport personnel had other priorities than proper maintenance of their facilities. Fortunately Elias could compensate for the lack of guide lamps by using the circuitry imbedded in the viewports to provide an enhanced image of the port proper.

With a confidence born of years flying large ships, Elias brought the freighter in over the starport proper and cut forward thrust, using deft touches to the attitude thruster controls, spun the Guiding Angel on its axis and set the ship down. Odette had been watching the process and was caught by surprise when her Captain and Saul began shutting down various systems. She hadn’t felt even the slightest bump as the huge vessel settled on the thick concrete pad marked with a large number six in fading and chipped luminescent orange paint.

“I think we’ll forego purging the tanks while we’re here,” Elias said as he unstrapped from the pilot’s chair and stood. “I know the filters would be able to handle the toxins in the atmosphere, but I’d rather not carry the stench of this place with us until our next plantefall.”

Saul nodded, also unfastening his restraints. “I couldn’t agree more.” The jaguar then called the rest of the crew for debriefing on the recreation deck. “So, I’m going to make the assumption that we’re going to begin searching for the Lucky Star while we’re here?”

“Definitely. I want to find the rest of the passengers and crew of the Mintaka. It’ll take all of us to do that.” Elias said as he paused next to Cerise’s station. “Do you think that you can access the ATC net from here and possibly track down where the Lucky Star might be docked?” he asked the vixen.

Cerise snorted with disdain and pointed at her display screen. “This first alphanumeric sequence tells me what net we’re in contact with. See…Stonefall, which is attached to the four main air traffic control hubs for the northern hemisphere. This sequence tells me that their primary ATC computer is a Mardu Cybernetics model, specifically an old MC 323 Pinnacle. State of the art…35 years ago. If I can’t direct access it, I should be able to hack in to the system.”

The fox smiled. “That’s my girl. Just don’t leave any tracks that lead back to us.”

“If I can’t get out clean, I’ll just make it look like the system was breeched by every terminal on the planet.” Cerise beamed with warmth at her mate. “Did you want me to join the rest of the crew, or should I go ahead and get started?”

“Go ahead and get started. The sooner we can locate the Lucky Star, the better our chances are of getting everyone back from theMintaka.” Elias gave his wife a quick kiss before exiting the bridge, letting the petite female work without distraction.

After a quick stop at the cabin he shared with Cerise, Elias made his way to the lift and the third deck. The only ones that weren’t present yet were Stram and Rutger, which was understandable as there were still things that the pair needed to do in engineering. Melise was following true to form and just like she had done on the SPF Scimitar there was a pot of coffee waiting for the crew upon touch-down. Next to the stainless steel urn was a carousel of mugs in forest green with the ship’s logo beneath outstretched wings embossed in silver. It was tradition for all ships that Elias had served on to have customized mugs, and he saw no reason not to continue the tradition. Even now there was a shelf in his and his wife’s cabin that had a mug from every ship that he’d ever served on.

Elias made his way to the aft view ports that doubled as large vidscreens and sipped at the steaming beverage held in his left hand. He openly wore his sidearm to emphasize that while they might not be in uniform, they were on the clock and things were about to become very, possibly even deadly, serious.

Even as the lift opened to reveal the badger and his assistant, the intercom chimed and Cerise’s voice came from the speaker. “I have the information you wanted, Eli-umm, Captain.”

With a surprised look, Elias stepped to the intercom and thumbed the microphone button. “Go ahead and give it to me. The others can hear, and it will save me the time of having to repeat the information.”

“The Lucky Star is landing here in about three hours according to the ATC computer net. They’re coming in from an extended run from the direction that we found the Mintaka. Looks like we beat them here. Anyway, fortune is smiling upon us. The ship is going to be putting down on pad seven. I’ve already got a link to their communications frequencies and I’m recording all of their communications.”

“Thank you, Cerise. Continue monitoring and keep me informed.” Elias switched off the intercom and turned to the rest of the crew. “Well, boarding just became easier. Randy, I want you and Mel to suit up. Marked battledress and armor. Same with you, Sonja,” the white fox said looking at the spaniel female. “Back up team is myself, Treena and Odette. Once things are secure, Randal’s team will board and secure the crew. Randy, get out into to town and see if you can rent something large and dark colored. We’ll need to transfer the prisoners away from the starport. We can’t do a direct transfer to our brig. There are too many prying eyes here despite the lack of floodlights.

“Saul, you’ll be piloting the other ship. Find us a rendezvous location that is out of the way. We’ll fly both ships out and get the hostages onboard away from possible witnesses, then lock the other ship down for an SPF salvage and recovery team. Any questions?”

The boarding team simply nodded, but it was the Doctor that indicated he had a few. He waited until Elias nodded for him to speak.

“I suppose that I’ll have to wait until we meet at the rendezvous before I can ascertain the condition of the captives?”

‘Unfortunately,” Elias told the tiger. “The Lucky Star and her crew are about to go missing, and it would be highly suspicious if we had crew running back and forth from our ship to theirs. The assault team will be going with Randal to get the transport, wearing civvies and their gear in duffle bags. They’ll change before heading back.” Elias then thought of something. “Saul, you’ll be going with them. As soon as you have the crew in custody, go ahead and lift. If there are any questions, use your SPF authority, but be subtle. That should quell any stink that ATC might raise. And I want helmets and visors. Anonymity is frightening and a valuable psychological weapon. Until the entire crew of the Lucky Star is secured, I want everyone in body armor at the very least and armed. Stunners are the primary weapons, but everyone will also have standard firearms. Got it?”

Everyone nodded or spoke softly in agreement.

“Let’s get to it, then,” Elias said. “We have less than three hours. And remember, you’re all professionals. I expect this to be nothing but by the numbers.”

“By the numbers but not the book?” Lena quipped, trying to bring a little levity to the sudden tense air surrounding the Captain and crew.

Randal looked down at her and gave her a wide smile. “Bunny, we’re writing the book as we go,” he said, chucking her lightly on the chin.

“Which begs the question as to where you want me?” Lena asked. “I don’t think the Cherub will be much help this time around.”

Elias nodded. “You’ve had the same basic training as the rest of us, so you’ll be with Odette and me on the back up team until we lift for rendezvous. When Saul lifts with the Lucky Star you’ll be his navigator.” He looked around. “Anything else?” The crew was silent and serious but knew what was to be expected of them. “All right. Let’s get to it.”

Less than an hour later, Randal, Sonja, Melise and Saul sat in a large nondescript cargo truck outside the rusted and sagging fence that surrounded the main landing area of the starport proper. Elias, Odette, Treena and Lena sat in the cargo hold of the Guiding Angel, the hatches shut, but the communications devices in their helmets linked with all of the others through Cerise’s terminal on the bridge. Stram and Rutger were also in the cargo hold, armored and armed as a precaution. Like Lena, the feline engineer assistant was ready to bolt to the other ship if his presence was required.

Elias had checked his sub machinegun twice, and had a stunner on a hip holster with his Binfurr pistol resting in a shoulder rig. He sat quietly on a short equipment locker that rested between the main cargo hatch and the personnel airlock, both of which were closed. Odette also waited quietly, but Lena was pacing back and forth nervously. Elias could tell that she was uncomfortable with this kind of operation, being far more at ease with flying than possible one-on-one conflict.

The rabbit was on her twelfth circuit of her pacing between the port and starboard bulkheads, tugging at the collar of her heavy body armor where it was pulling at the fur of her throat and causing chafing to the skin underneath. Elias was about to tell her that pulling and tugging at the neck guard would only make the situation worse when Odette stood up and intercepted the other female.

“You’re going to cause more irritation by tugging on it,” the bear admonished gently. “Here,” she said pulling a swatch of cloth from the back pocket of her gray fatigues, “try this.” She took the square of slick fabric and tied it into a neckerchief and tucked it down the front of Lena’s throat. “You also have the closures to tight here, and not tight enough here.”

Odette released some of the tension on the neck closures of the rabbit’s armor, and took in the slack along the sides under Lena’s arms and above her hips. “How’s that?”

The rabbit moved a few times, twisting her neck and then at the waist. “Much better. Thank you!”

Odette shrugged. “I’ve done this a time or two. You learn the tricks of getting the armor to sit comfortably. Or as much as possible. I don’t think that the company that makes the armor really takes us girls in mind when they design these things.” She gestured to her fairly ample chest with a grin.

Lena looked at the larger female. “It is a little constricting, isn’t it?”

“It is. But it’s better to have it just in case than not.” Odette said. “Trust me on that.”

Elias only half listened to the interchange between Odette and Lena as he was getting updates provided by Cerise to his earpiece.

“You just promise me to be careful, Darling,” the vixen said in his ear.

“Not over the open line, Cerise!” Elias whispered into the small microphone next to his muzzle, feeling his ears grow hot.

“Nobody can hear this except you, Love,” she said with a nervous giggle. “What kind of comtech would I be if I couldn’t isolate specific receivers.”

“Oh,” he said. “That’s different then.”

Then his ears were filled with all of the things that Cerise had in mind for him once all of this was over. Elias was very glad that no one else could hear what he was being told.

Everyone went silent after a while. Elias had seen it happen before when he had been on other operations. Each individual was going over things in their minds, what their jobs were, why they were doing it, what would happen if things went sour, and an entire inventory of ‘what ifs’. Then Cerise’s voice broke into the thoughts of the rest of the crew.

“The Lucky Star has just entered the atmosphere. It should be landing in less than 30 minutes. I’ll keep you all posted.”

“Acknowledged,” Elias said into his communicator, then went back to his thoughts.

Six minutes after his wife’s alert, the lift doors opened and Lemuel exited. He wore body armor that was marked clearly with a reflective red cross on the front and back and gold caduceus on each shoulder. On his belt he was carrying a stunner in a hip holster that was out of the way as he pushed a wheeled trauma cart with a wide variety of medical devices, drugs, bandages, a portable defibrillator kit and other items that the Doctor might need. He gave the others in the cargo bay a somber look before pushing the cart to next to the cubicle that Randal normally occupied. This position would enable him to get to potential casualties while staying clear of the others until he was needed.

Elias was silently pleased. It would be easier for the Doctor to treat any injuries as they happened rather than getting a victim up to the infirmary. Elias stood and readied himself for action, settling his visored helmet over his head and lowered the faceplate so that his face was obscured by the reflective material. Not only would the helmet conceal most of his features, the inner surface also had a small Heads-up-Display that would be able to provide various bits of information, the unit was also capable of low-light and thermal imaging while protecting his eyes from any sudden bright light sources.

“Five minutes until touch-down,” Cerise said, her voice sounding far away and tinny to Elias.

“Captain, we’re starting our approach,” came Randy’s voice over the comm channel. He sounded calm and confident. “The lack of floodlights should enable us to get within easy striking distance of their main airlock and cargo hatch.”

Elias toggled the switch to his radio with his chin. “Understood, Randy. Good luck.” Without waiting for a reply, he then switched to an all unit channel. “This is it, boys and girls. Get ready.”

The few minutes it took for the Lucky Star to land seemed to last forever to the fox. He shut down all of the interior illumination to the cargo bay and hit the switch to cycle the airlock hatch open before taking a step back with his sub machinegun at the ready on a tactical sling and his stunner pistol in a two-handed grip. Through the light enhancing capabilities of his helmet, he could make out the van that Randal drove in varying shades of green. The light enhancing display tended to rob what he saw of any depth, but it wasn’t the first time that Elias had used amplification equipment and he knew how to compensate for the flat, monochrome world he now saw.

Figures in rigid armor with the Spatial Police Force Star and Sword shield emblazoned on the breastplate caught the faint light from around the ships and starport and glinted as the four individuals of his crew made their way towards the Lucky Star.

A sudden wash of illumination outside accompanied by a faintly audible hiss-clank! Indicated that the crew of the Lucky Star had opened their airlock and there were a few words spoken that Elias couldn’t make out followed by a rough laugh then the snarlingzzzraappp! of a military grade stunner being discharged. As if that were the signal he had been waiting for, Elias and the others with him poured out of the airlock to cover their comrades a scant fifteen meters away.

***

Randal trotted towards the antiquated Sakura freighter in a half crouch, a Binfurr PDSC-7 stunner carbine at his shoulder, and a 10 millimeter sub machinegun slung across his back in case he needed something more powerful. He was less than forty feet away from the ramp that led to the ship’s personnel airlock when it cycled open. His visor immediately compensated for the sudden illumination coming from within the vessel, saving his eyes from being dazzled. There was a figure silhouetted against the light coming from within the ship. The figure traded words with someone that was out of sight inside the ship and laughed brayingly before turning. He was still laughing when he turned and saw something moving towards him from the darkness.

Without hesitating, Randy’s finger took in the slack on his weapon’s trigger and sent a beam from the stunner’s muzzle at the figure with an angry sounding zzrraaappp!, the silvery colored discharge catching the figure in the chest. Before the target began to fall, Randal was up the gangplank and shouldering the unconscious but still standing individual aside, sweeping the cargo bay with eyes and weapon moving as one. There were two others in the cargo bay, both easily within the arc of the wolf’s carbine.

“SPF! Stand down and surrender!” Randy barked, his voice sounding mechanical and ominous as it issued from his helmet’s external speaker.

The two individuals, one of them a female hyena, the other a canine of mixed parentage, stood gaping at the armored figure that was suddenly before them, unable to move.

Randy felt rather than saw Melise and Sonja enter behind him, taking up covering positions. It left him free to focus his attention on the two pirates.

“Are you Anya Garand?” the wolf asked, his weapon not wavering in the slightest. There was no answer from the hyena, but she winced visibly when her name was spoken and Randal knew that he was looking at the Lucky Star’s Captain over the sights of his weapon. “Anya Garand you and your crew are under arrest for the crimes of piracy, abduction, reckless endangerment, attempted murder, illegal seizure and crimes against a minor. Your ship and captaincy are revoked under Planetary Alignment Articles of Interstellar Law, Section 12, Subsection 6 of the PA and Spatial Police Force Charter until a Planetary Alignment Tribunal ascertains your dispensation.

“Be advised that all you say and do are being recorded. As such, you have the right to remain silent. Under the PA Interstellar Law and the pertinent SPF sanction, you will be provided with legal counsel, quartering, medical services and sundries as required until innocence or guilt are ascertained. Do you understand?”

The hyena shook herself out of her shock and spat vile epithets at Randal and made to draw the pistol that she wore on her right hip.

Without hesitation Randy shot her before she cleared her sidearm from its holster then swung the barrel to cover her companion.

“Stand down!” the wolf yelled again, leaning forward so that the muzzle of his carbine was closer to the canine.

“N-n-no problem! Don’t shoot! I surrender!” the canine said, his hands jerking into the air even as he dropped to his knees.

Melise had restrained the first body with flex-ties and dragged the unconscious form of the mastiff into the hold. She then moved forward and bound the canine before securing the hyena female. Melise then resumed covering the cargo bay with Sonja as Randal moved forward, his carbine still at the ready.

Randy leaned close to the dog. “Where is the rest of the crew and how many are there?”

The dog whimpered a little, doing his best not to lose control of his bladder which felt exceedingly full all of a sudden. “F-four! Th-they’re on the b-b-bridge deck and q-quar-quarter-rs. Pleasedon’thurt mepleaseplease!”

Randal felt a wave of disgust as he looked at the dog. The restrained canine seemed to personify the typical bully mentality that the wolf had seen too much of during his tenure with the SPF. He would be brave and intimidating when there were smaller, weaker individuals around, but when confronted by someone that wouldn’t give in to threats, all of the bravado became inconsequential bluster and posing.

Randy stepped back and toggled his radio. “We have the cargo bay, Captain. Three in custody and four on another deck. Can you spare two individuals to cover here while we sweep and clear?”

“On the way, Randy. Are the crew and passengers from the Mintaka onboard?” Elias replied.

Randy asked the dog and relayed it back. “That’s an affirmative, Captain. They haven’t made arrangements with any of the local slave buyers.”

Less than a minute had passed before the airlock hissed open under Sonja’s hand, and Elias and Lena entered the cargo bay.

“We’ve got things here,” the fox said with a nod at the boarding trio. Behind them came Saul, also armored and stunner in hand.

Randy motioned to the rest of his team and they moved further into the ship.

In the space of fifteen minutes the rest of the Lucky Star’s crew was bound and in the cargo bay and the crew and passengers of the SS Mintaka had been located, though the presence of the personnel from the Guiding Angel was kept secret. Too much was happening to add confused and angry captives into the mix. Saul had already gone up to the bridge and was powering up the engines for a short jaunt a little over a hundred miles away.

“We’ll see you at the rendezvous point,” Elias said before leaving through the airlock to get back to their ship. Odette would also be staying on the Lucky Star to assist with security.

“Copy that, Captain. See you in 20 minutes,” Randal said. He and the others kept an eye on the captives as the heavy panels of the airlock slid shut.

There weren’t any problems as Elias and his crew transferred the pirates to the first of two cabin suites that were set aside as holding cells. The six that saw their Captain unconscious prudently decided that it was futile to resist and complied with the orders to enter the cabin. A stock of very basic, and fairly tasteless, field rations were available to them. Water was accessible through the converted cabin’s facilities. Bunks were bolted to the bulkheads four high, and there was more than enough space for the seven prisoners. There was no means for opening the hatch from the inside, and there were measures in place to prevent escape by overpowering whoever opened the holding cells in the form of one-way mirrored windows and small cameras shielded in glassteel bubbles.

Saul had lifted the Lucky Star 12 minutes after Elias left the starport in the Guiding Angel. Cerise had slugged an encrypted burst transmission to the SPF Mother’s Arms as soon as it was confirmed that the passengers and crew of the SS Mintaka were onboard and would meet them a few hours out from Quet and away from the more common traffic lanes for the planet.

It had been decided at the last moment that the presence of the Guiding Angel would be kept quiet and the released crew and passengers of the Mintaka would remain on the Sakura class vessel once it was determined that there were no injuries to treat and that the former captives were well fed and in fairly decent condition. The worst of their dilemma was that all of them were in dire need of bathing and clean clothes, which could be handled better on the Mother’s Arms.

The exception to this course of action were the three individuals that now sat at the galley table with Elias, nursing either mugs of coffee or tea, regarding their host with appreciation and admiration. Captain Rafe Black was a Hestran male, and owned the SS Mintaka. His first officer, also Hestran, was a vixen named Callie Parsons. The third individual was an older human, balding and what little hair he had left was a silver colored fringe that circled half of his head named Chuck Palance. Despite this, Chuck was an imposing figure and like the fox, Rafe, still bore bruising and other marks testifying their attempts to fend off the pirates that had taken them prisoner.

Orbit had been achieved ten minutes prior then the course set for rendezvous with the SPF ship, and with Melise on the bridge, Elias had taken leave to go speak with the trio. It would be another seven hours before they could meet up with the Mother’s Arms, and Elias wanted to talk to the former captives.

“I’m happy to hear that you found the others, Captain Elias,” Rafe was saying, the Hestran male was much relieved that the other passengers had been rescued. “What concerns me is that girl the pirates had with them. She took an awful big chance doing what she did. I know that she got hurt before the rest of her crew pulled out.”

Elias held up a hand. “Don’t worry. Her name is Jenna and she’s well. She isn’t going to be charged, and even has a foster waiting to take her under care when you all reach Joplin. It was because of her that we were able to intercept the Lucky Star, to be honest. You’ll probably see her when you are transferred to the Mother’s Arms.”

“I’m going to hazard a guess and say that’s also one of the reasons that you wanted to talk to us here,” the human said with a thick drawl. “I don’t recall the SPF ever running regular stock freighters, and with the amount of armor that you have this girl wrapped in…what kind of operation are you folk running?”

Elias leaned back in his chair. “The idea actually came from historical studies from Earth, Sir,” the white fox said. “Back during one of your wars, surface vessels were suffering horrible attrition rates to submarine and warship attacks until someone had the bright idea of making a warship look like a common cargo vessel called a Q-ship.”

Chuck slapped the table and burst out laughing. “Brilliant! Don’t know why no one thought of that before? Considering all of the problems since the Siilv War and all of the pirates springing up it sure makes a lot of sense!”

Elias nodded then noticed the confused looks on the faces of the two Hestrans. “A Q-ship is a warship that’s disguised to look like a common vessel, normally a cargo ship. When the pirates get near…well, they aren’t really ready for what they thought to be easy pickings to suddenly sprout thorns. We are a fully capable combat ship and crew. Which is why the decision was made to keep the rest of your crew and passengers in the dark. The fewer that know what we are, the less chance of it getting out that the SPF is taking operations against piracy to a whole new level. Secrecy is our best weapon right now.”

Rafe rubbed his chin and nodded as he ruminated over this new bit of information. “Makes sense,” he finally said.

“But…well, won’t that make this ship something of a target? I mean, Okami freighters this size normally have tempting cargoes for a lot of the privateers out there,” Callie said with furrowed brows.

“That’s the idea, honey,” Chuck told the vixen. “Picture it. There’s mister pirate…or miss pirate in our case. They’re looking for a nice plum to pick, as Cap’n Elias said, and then ‘whamo’! What they thought would be quick money puts the squeeze on them. I’m going to assume you have some fairly heavy firepower available?”

“What were you before you became a helpless civilian captive, Sir?” Elias asked, regarding the human shrewdly.

“Heh. Twenty-one years in the Terran Navy. Mostly fighters and the like before I got kicked to a desk. Sure wish I had something like the little lady you’ve got in your hold when I was flying. Wonder if the SPF would take an old spacer like me to help out on something like this!” Chuck said with a glint in his eyes. “Sure be nice to get back out among the stars as something more than a passenger on a liner!”

Elias nodded, filing that bit of information away. “You’re right, though. We need to approach the growing problem with piracy and privateering at a different angle. That’s why we’re here. But it also requires that we operate clandestinely. As such, I’m going to have to hold you all to secrecy contracts, which the Captain of the Mother’s Arms will also require. Needless to say, breach of this contract means that you will have all assets, pilot and crew ratings revoked, and a sentence of no less than five years on a Spatial Police Force penal world.”

“Callie and I will keep quiet about this,” Rafe said somberly. “Truth be told, I’ll sleep much easier at night knowing that your ship is out here.”

The vixen nodded emphatically. “After this, so will I. No fear of me talking, Captain Elias.”

Elias turned and looked at the human who only smiled. “One of the problems in growing old and looking even older is that anything you say is dismissed as approaching dementia, lad. No one would believe me even if I told them. But you don’t have to worry about me, either.”

Each was handed a dedicated DataPad with the terms of the contract, and each of them read it then signed their names before adding a thumbprint on the small scanner attached to the thin devices while Elias sipped his coffee. They then slid the contracts back to Elias who took them in hand and placed them in a pocket.

“That’s it, then. You’re all free to remain up here on the rec deck. There’s a selection of movies, reading material and the galley is open for you to pick through. Though if you run across a stash of chocolate, I’d advise you to leave it alone or my boarding team’s second will become rather irate, and I can tell you from past experience it’s unpleasant to make her angry, to say the least.” He stood and deposited his cup in a receptacle for soiled dishes. “There is also an open cabin if you wanted to catch some rack time. Unfortunately there’s only one cabin and one bed, but it’s available.”

The others stood and thanked Elias before he left. He wasn’t halfway down the corridor on the second deck before he heard the rapid pattering of someone exiting the lift and running to catch up to him. Elias turned to find the vixen first officer of the Mintaka approaching. Before he could say anything, the red furred female threw her arms around Elias’s neck and kissed him soundly.

“I couldn’t make the offer up there, but I’m very grateful for you rescuing us,” she said in a low voice. “Very, very grateful,” she repeated with soft eyes.

Elias went rigid and tried to pull away, but things happened too quickly for him to stop her, and the vixen also had the superior strength that all Hestrans are born with, coming from a high gravity world. A snarl from further down the corridor caused both foxes to look up. Callie with curiosity, Elias with dread.

Cerise stood in the middle of the passageway, her eyes hard and teeth bared, the fur around her neck standing straight out and her ears laid back.

Callie looked at Cerise, then at Elias, her confused expression falling away to one of dawning horror as she noted the matching silver earrings. She leapt away from Elias as if she’d been burned and dropped her head. “I am so very sorry!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t even think that you were paired. I shouldn’t have been so forward. I’m so sorry!”

Cerise approached and saw that the other female’s apology was sincere and let her hackles drop. “Apology accepted, Miss Parsons,” she said in a terse voice. Then the tension left her posture. “I guess I can’t really blame you after what you’ve just been through.”

The vixen shook her head. “No. You can blame me. I’ve seen other pairs with similar earrings and should have remembered what it meant. I am such a fool!”

Cerise put a reassuring hand on Callie’s arm. “It’s all right. I forgive you. Come on. I was going to go get a cup of tea. We can talk about it there.” She added a smile as the other female looked up at her and gave a tentative smile back.

Elias watched as the two females turned to head back the way he’d just come and tried to get his heartbeat back to something more akin to normal. Then he saw his mate stop and turn to look at him archly. “You, however, are not off the hook. We’ll talk about this after we rendezvous with Mother’s Arms.” She gave a tilt of her head and added icily, “Captain.”

Elias went to his office with a sense of dread and tried to lose himself in the writing of his report to Colonel Brees with little success. The chime that notified him that someone was at the hatch requesting entry was both a welcome distraction and a bit of in irritation. “Enter!” he replied testily.

It was the human, Chuck Palance that entered.

“Bad timing, Captain?” he asked before his face split into a smile. “Or would it have something to do with the conversation that Callie was having with your mate?”

Elias sighed. “You are very observant, Mister Palance.”

“Nah,” the human said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I’ve just spent a lot of time traveling the PA since I retired. I like visiting other worlds and meeting others. Didn’t get to do that much when I was a Navy man. We stuck around the Sol system for the most part.”

Elias shut down his terminal after saving the beginnings of his report. “So what can I help you with, Mister Palance?” he asked motioning to one of the chairs that sat before his desk.

“First off I would prefer it if you just called me Chuck. I’m not in the Navy anymore, and I never liked to be called ‘Sir’, and my father wasMister Palance,” he said with a smile.

“Then call me Elias,” the fox replied, relaxing a little.

“Fair enough, Elias.” The human sat in the chair closest to the desk and looked at the other with intense brown eyes. “I’ll get right to the point. Do you think that there’s anything that you can do, maybe put in a word with your superiors, to let me help out? Retirement is killing me, Elias. And I think that this little project of yours has some serious merit. I know that I’m a little old, but that doesn’t mean useless.”

“How old are you, Chuck? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Forty four, Terran. Thirty-nine going by the Kantus and Dennieran years.The lack of hair, and silver color of what I do have left throws most people off.”

“That’s it? You’re well within the acceptable range for the SPF. With prior service you wouldn’t even have to do much in the way of Academy time, if at all, provided you can pass the physical requirements.” Elias was surprised that the human wasn’t as old as he appeared.

Chuck nodded. “I know. I’ve already looked into it. But you and I both know that it always helps if you know someone in the organization you’re trying to get into. I know that the SPF is supposed to be egalitarian, but what something is supposed to be, and what it is in reality are often two different things.”

Elias silently agreed, recalling how quickly Brees was able to get Cerise commissioned without her having to do any Academy time at all. He cocked his head and regarded the man across from him. “Why do you really want to join?”

Chuck sighed. “I never made time for family, and I’m not really close to any of my kith or kin. I suppose you could say that I’m expendable. But…and this may sound odd, but I want to make a difference out here. There are those out here that need help, and people like me that want to provide that help. It’s a cold universe, and if you furs, and us monkeys don’t work together, the savages are going to eat us all alive.”

It caught Elias off guard to here the human refer to himself and his species in the manner that many bigoted furs used to refer to humans.

“If I’d been smart, I’d have joined the SPF when I was younger,” Chuck continued. “Instead I went Terran Navy, just like my pop, and his pop before him. Too much tradition if you ask me, and not enough gumption. Now here I am on this side of retirement and I feel that there’s a lot more that I could do. A lot more that I’m capable of.”

The reasons that the man spoke of were similar to Elias’s own reasons for joining the SPF. He thought for a few moments before speaking. “I’ll draft a letter for you. When you get to Joplin, ask to see a Colonel Sander Brees. He’s a lion from Kantus. It’ll be his call on this, but I’ll do what I can to make sure you get to talk to him.”

Chuck grinned and stood, offering his hand to the fox. “Thanks, Elias. That’s more than I could ask for or could expect.”

Elias took the proffered hand and shook it. “You’re welcome, Chuck. Now then, I hate to be a bad host, but I really do have to get to my report.”

The human laughed with commiseration. “So, if I get in, I see that the SPF is as bad for their reports and paperwork as the Navy was…or any other group, for that matter.”

“Oh, yeah. That, I’m sure, is the one true constant of the universe,” Elias said with a short laugh.

CHAPTER 13

A little under seven hours later, the Lucky Star and Guiding Angel were both docked with the converted Terran built battleship that had been sold to the SPF and was now named the Mother’s Arms and served as a hospital and rescue ship. The crew and passengers had been transferred to the large vessel, believing that their salvation from slavers had come at the hands of a brave and decent freighter crew. The exceptions to that were the Captain and his First Officer of the Hestran liner that had been plundered, and a human that bore a smile and letter. Elias saw them off at the air lock as the rest of his crew returned onboard.

“Thank you again, Captain Elias,” Rafe Black, the Captain of the Hestran ship said, shaking hands with the white furred fox.

“Not a problem. The Captain of the Mother’s Arms will keep your ship docked and transport it back to Joplin with you, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get her back into space worthy condition,” Elias told the other fox.

“We’ll see. Right now I’m giving serious thought to selling her as salvage and buying a fishing boat!”

Both laughed and then parted.

The human, Chuck Palance, was next at the airlock. “Hopefully I’ll be seeing you again soon, Captain.”

Elias shook his hand and nodded. “You may very well. Good luck.”

“You too, Captain.” Then the human was gone.

Last to leave was the First Officer of the SS Mintaka. Callie Parsons was deep in subdued conversation with Cerise and the two embraced quickly, both smiling. She stopped before Elias and gave him a warm smile that was tinged with a touch of sadness. “Take care of yourself, Captain, and again, thank you for everything.”

“Good luck, Callie. We’re glad we were able to help.”

With a nod, the vixen left. An SPF officer stepped across briefly to hand Elias a data stick, saluted and retreated back aboard the other vessel.

“Alright,” Elias called to Randal who was back at his station in the armored cubicle. “Seal it and disconnect and let’s get back to work.”

Once on the bridge, Elias slid into the pilot’s seat and gave his displays a quick glance. Saul was in the navigator’s position, and the rest of the bridge crew, Odette and Cerise were in their positions. Uncoupling from the huge battleship was done quickly and efficiently. Seeming to fall away, Elias spun the vessel on its axis before engaging the drives and setting a course back in the general direction of the Faya system’s sun.

“Go ahead and set a course for Brandt by way of Quet, Saul,” the fox said, crossing his arms and looking out of the forward viewports.

The jaguar looked over at his Captain. “Something up?” he asked, his brows knitting together.

Elias shook his head. “Nothing in particular. This system is known for brigands, though. While we’re here, we might as well go trawling to see if anything pops up.”

“Shouldn’t take me more than a few minutes,” Saul told him as he bent over his console. “Hmmm. We could run a wide elliptical through the system. It’ll take us about three days to get to Brandt doing that, but it’s also through areas that have reported heavy pirate activity and it’ll make it look like we’re pulling the most economical course to save fuel.”

“Do it,” Elias said with a nod. “You have first watch, unless you feel too tired.”

Saul shook his head. “I’m good, Captain. I’m still zinging after that. Too much adrenaline.”

“’Zinging?’” Elias asked with an amused smile.

The jaguar shrugged. “It’s the best word I could come up with. I feel like I’m vibrating!”

“I suppose that description fits as well. Call me if you feel you’re getting too tired, though. And let the rest of the crew know that they are on stand down for now, but normal duty shifts will resume in three hours.”

“Copy that, Cap’n.”

Elias stood up and rubbed the top of his head. His scalp felt tight with the beginnings of a headache. He paused by Cerise’s station and waited for her to set the controls for the sensors and communications to automatic, making sure that it was tied in to her DataCom and the other stations of the bridge and yawned.

“Busy day,” she commented dryly.

“That’s for sure,” Elias agreed. Then he leaned forward and whispered just loud enough for her to hear him. “Did you want to talk to me about something?” he asked.

The look that she directed up to him was fairly hard and he cringed a little. “Wait for me in the cabin. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Nodding, the fox went to the cabin he shared and while waiting, decided that he was in dire need of a shower. It wasn’t a long affair, and once finished rinsing the soap out of his fur under the blast of hot water from the shower cubicle’s three nozzles, he stepped under the dryer unit that blew the moisture out of his coat with multiple jets of hot air. Not sure what was going to happen, Elias lay on the bed to wait for his mate. The hours that had passed had been long, and he unintentionally dozed off.

Despite being in a rather deep sleep, Elias’s eyes snapped open at the sound of the hatch to the cabin opening. Even as he blinked his eyes clear and sat up, he caught the smell of steaks and seafood. As he turned his head he saw Cerise carrying in a tray. He forgot all about the smells that teased his nose as he saw her, though.

His wife was dressed in a diaphanous silk gown and chemise in pearl gray. It was possible to see the very feminine, and extremely scanty, apparel that she wore underneath. Her hair was down and fell over her left shoulder in a cascade of soft curls and ringlets. On her feet were simple slip-on open toe high heels that gave her a few more inches of height and made her legs look long and lean.

Put simply, she was a stunning sight and Elias realized that he was actually holding his breath.

Cerise moved slowly in to the cabin, her hips and tail swaying enticingly with each step, knowing what effect it had on Elias, and smiled to herself. She placed the tray next her side of the bed and climbed up, still moving slowly. The look in her emerald green eyes was soft and affectionate, but there was also a predatory gleam in them as well. It almost seemed as if she was stalking Elias, and she growled with pleasure as she saw his throat work in an involuntary swallow.

With surprising strength, she pushed her mate down so that he had to look up at her.

“I can’t say that I’m too thrilled to have seen you kissing another female,” she whispered huskily. Elias tried to speak but she put her hand over his mouth. “I know that you had nothing to do with it, but it was still something that didn’t sit well with me, and it still rankles a bit. So I am here to claim what is mine.” She nipped playfully at his nose. “And if you ever do it again…”

She let the threat hang in the air.

***

The Guiding Angel was only a day out from the rendezvous with the SPF hospital ship when the alarm on the sensor proximity alarm went off, the alert being repeated on the DataComs that Elias, Cerise, Saul and Odette carried.

Elias was on bridge watch along with Cerise and they were already at their stations. Treena was covering the weapons station for her duty cycle as Saul and Odette had been off duty, and the jaguar leapt onto the bridge deck as soon as the hatch cycled open, making it to the navigation position within two bounds and slid into the seat. His fur was rumpled on the left side of his head and he wore a pair of wrinkled pajama bottoms, though his chest was bare.

Odette was wearing far less as the bear took her place at weapons, replacing Treena who used the reprieve to ogle the ship’s First Officer.

“Contact is coming up from below aft,” Cerise said, pasting the data onto the forward viewport. “183 degrees from axial, 17 degrees declination at 8023 miles and closing fast. Intercept in approximately 13 minutes,” she continued to read out. With a few touches of the controls at her station, Cerise narrowed the sensor’s target area to get more information from her tools. “Looks like a Maelstrom class patrol boat. No IFF signal and the markings are not of any recognized government or agency.”

“That’s a fairly expensive ship,” Saul said, locking the incoming vessel’s position and course into navigation.

“Roughly, 1.2 million credits for a stripped down hull. It’s still a fairly impressive ship, though. Four OPU 95 engines in port and starboard clusters makes her fast,” Elias said, slipping the safety restraints of his seat over his shoulders and buckling them together. “Can you get anything else, Cerise?”

It was a moment before she answered. “They’re powering up weapons,” she said, her voice seemingly flat, though her husband could hear the tense brittleness under her words.“Looks like pulse cannon, total of three. No other indications of armaments.”

“Got it,” Elias said with a sense of resolution stealing over him. He toggled his headset and ran through the various departments after issuing a general call to stations. Then he called to the stations that he needed the most.

“Engineering,” Rutger’s voice said over his headset.

“What’s our status down there?” Elias asked, looking at the small display picture that came up on the forward viewports of the approaching ship.

“Shield output is 100 percent, Captain,” the feline said. “Engines are running smooth and true with plenty of spare power for whatever you need. Stram is double checking all of the systems down here as well to make sure you have what you need and we’re already suited up for damage control.”

Elias allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction. “Copy that, Rutger. Bridge out.” The fox then toggled over to the cargo bay channel. “What’s your status, Randy?”

“We’re suited and ready, Captain The boarding team is a go and the Cherub is ready for launch and Lena is raring to go.”

“Good. We’ll keep you in the loop. Bridge out.”

The last to report his readiness was Doctor Anders. He informed the bridge that he was well and ready to receive casualties, though he was hoping otherwise.

Elias signaled his acknowledgement and turned to the task at hand. It would be the crew’s first actual spaceborne engagement together, but the fox had faith in all of the individuals under his command. Cerise had already switched the rest of the ship’s sections over so that they could hear what was going on and get visual feeds from her station. It was something that Elias’s last Captain had done, and the fox had found that it helped the crew of the Scimitar to function better if everyone knew what was going on.

“Cerise, jam their communications once they’re within 500 miles. Odette, keep the weapons on stand-by until we know they’re hostile. I don’t want to have to chase them if we scare them off,” Elias instructed. Both females signaled understanding with clipped ‘ayes’.

As soon as the incoming ship was within the 500 mile sphere, Cerise activated the electronic countermeasures that would jam the other vessel’s interstellar and long range communication capabilities, save very short range line-of-sight radio, though it wouldn’t know that it was being jammed unless they performed a looping ping that would contact the nearest navigation satellite and return the signal, something very few individuals knew how to do, and even fewer ever did. With the capabilities of Cerise’s sophisticated equipment, any communication wave they tried to send would show up as simple white noise to anything beyond a three hundred mile sphere. The coyote could have even used her console to melt the other ship’s antennae if she’d wanted.

“Incoming transmission, Captain,” Cerise said, already transferring it to the bridge’s speakers so everyone could hear it.

“Put it on,” her mate said.

“Okami freighter, this is the Incubus. Stand to and prepare to be boarded and no one will get hurt. You have one minute to comply.Incubus out,” a rich baritone voice said. There was no visual accompanying the transmission.

“Not really giving us a lot of time are they?” Odette said with some surprise.

“They’re still five minutes away from being able to dock. Normally a warning is enough to make most freighter captains comply. Makes stealing their cargoes a lot easier,” Elias said as he toggled his headset to broadcast to the other vessel. “Incubus, this is the SS Guiding Angel. We are armed and will defend ourselves if attacked. I say again, hostile actions will be met with retaliatory force. Do you understand?”

The entire encounter was being recorded, and if there ever came a time when the actions of Elias and his crew came under legal scrutiny, the declaration of meeting a hostile action with force would release them from legal culpability if there was any loss of life involved in the incident.

Laughter sounded over the speaker as the voice from the Maelstrom class vessel replied. “Is this the Captain of the Okami that I am speaking to?”

“I am Captain Tivnan of the Guiding Angel,” Elias replied.

“Captain Tivnan, I am Captain Nolan Rackam of the Incubus. Please don’t make this anymore difficult for you than it has to be. This is a warship that is more than a match for your little H model freighter. Do us all a favor and stand –to.”

“I refuse to stand-to, Captain Rackam,” Elias said. “And I say again that I will fire upon you if you persist to act in a hostile manner.”

“So be it, Captain Tivnan,” the voice said over the speaker, all hints of anything remotely resembling humor or good nature gone from the words that were transmitted. “On your head be it!”

“They’re firing!” Cerise said, her voice shrill and brittle.

Even as the words left her mouth, the aft ventral shields coruscated with dispersed energy as they absorbed and dissipated the green white pulse cannon blast.

Elias’s mouth set into a stony frown. “Weapons free, Odette.” Then with hardly a moment’s hesitation to switch to intercom, “Launch, launch, launch,” he called down to the cargo bay.

The Raptor class fighter shot out of the cargo bay like a bullet and was just outside the safe area when its engines flared to life. Almost as soon as the fighter was loosed, Elias brought the Guiding Angel about, altering attitude as he did so that his ship faced the other head on. “I have pulse cannon and shock threads,” he called out loud. He lined the other ship up in the targeting reticule of the forward viewports and triggered a blast as soon as the other vessel, magnified by the hair fine circuitry of the glassteel panels, glowed with a blue nimbus.

In sequence, four green-white bolts of silent, sizzling energy spat forth from the concealed weapon muzzles, splashing across the bow shields of the oncoming ship, the energy playing out over the vessel in brilliant lightening-like arcs. Then as if to add punctuation to the heavy firepower that already soaked the Maelstrom class vessel, Odette triggered two sustained beams from the dorsal laser turret. The white hot fingers of light played over the nose of the patrol ship turned marauder, further degrading the protective energy shell that encapsulated the alloyed hull.

Even as the Incubus returned fire with all three of its own pulse cannon, the bolts being harmlessly absorbed by the Okami freighter’s modified shields, Elias triggered another series of bolts. The first erupted in an even greater light show than the previous volley, the second bolt ‘shattered’ the attacking ship’s shields in a electric storm that caused the viewports on the Guiding Angel to darken automatically, saving the vision of the entire bridge crew from being temporarily blinded. The last two bolts vaporized huge divots of hull alloy from the bow section, leaving glowing craters in the hull almost two feet wide and as deep.

As soon as the shields of the patrol boat dropped, Lena made a strafing run in the Cherub, her blasts aimed at the port engine cluster. While still powerful, the smaller weapons systems of the interceptor only caused minor damage and dropped the efficiency of the cluster by a fraction, but it was still a help. The rabbit shot past before the other ship could target her, then Lena began her braking and turn to bring her back around for another pass.

Without thinking, Elias nudged the throttles forward and charged the other vessel, veering slightly at the last moment and fired the shock thread emitters as Odette used both laser turrets to shear away substantial portions of the Incubus’s port engine pods, continuing the work her ship mate in the fighter had begun. The shock threads lashed out, their discharges overloading the power systems of theMaelstrom class vessel, turning the ship into a lump of inert mass. Even as electrical discharges played over the hull, their flashing dampened by a thin cloud of vaporized hull metal from the previous hits that floated in the vacuum around the hull in small, perfectly polished spheroids, the running lights and internal illumination from the ports flickered and failed.

Slowing drastically enough so that the crew felt the lurch despite the inertial dampeners, Elias swung the Guiding Angel around to link up with the stricken Incubus.

“Boarding team, get ready for docking,” the fox instructed over the intercom, his blue eyes intent on the readings as he lined up for hard seal to the Maelstrom patrol boat.

Using the video feeds from the receptors scattered all over the hull, Elias watched as the armored boarding tube, unlike the flimsy tube on most freighters, extended from his ship and latched on to the pirate vessel, the magnetic seal ensuring that the two vessels wouldn’t drift apart. There was a muffled clang, transmitted through the Guiding Angel’s hull.

“We’re locked, Captain,” Randy’s voice said in Elias’s headset and over the bridge speakers.

Cerise controlled all communications, and seemed to instinctively know what to broadcast to the rest of the crew and when.

Elias toggled his headset. “Affirmative, Randy. I’m on my way.” Elias knew that his boarding team was capable of capturing the crew of the Incubus, but something within him refused to let him sit safely on the bridge when the individuals under his command had something dangerous to do. He hit the release on his safety harness and stood, all in one motion, and started for the bridge hatch. “Saul, you have the con. Keep Lena in overwatch and let me know if anything pops.”

Saul nodded even as he took the pilot’s seat. “I’m on it, Boss. Watch your tail.”

Elias bolted past Cerise’s station, their fingers touching for a moment as he passed, all the sign of love and affection that they could spare until the capture of the enemy ship and crew were complete.

As the lift doors parted, Elias strode out, catching the thick vest of battledress armor that Sonja tossed him, slipping it on and closing the fastener strips even as Melise held out a stunner carbine and sub machinegun. He checked both with precision and no wasted movements even as Odette, who had taken the lift with her Captain, suited up and checked her own weapons.

“We have positive air pressure, Captain,” Randal said as he looked over the gauges of the console that controlled the boarding tube and airlock. “Ready when you are.”

Elias saw that Odette had swung the small infantry pulse gun into position and was covering the airlock and that Sonja, Melise and Randal had the solid look of being prepared for the task at hand and he nodded, moving to the side of the armored hatch. “Pop the seal.”

With a hiss, the thick panel of the airlock cycled open, recessing in several inches before disappearing into the hull. The boarding tube was well lit, and on the other side was the airlock hatch of the Incubus, the red and black paint scratched and scarred with pitting and abrasions from the abuse the ship had just received. Randal moved into the tube first, taking the small flat box of his induction speaker and placing it on the thick metal. He dropped into a crouch even as Sonja moved in on the other side of the tube, her carbine at the ready and Melise covered him from above and behind.

“This is the Spatial Police Force. Stand down and prepare to be boarded!” the large wolf said, the induction speaker ensuring that his commands would be heard by the entire crew of the pirate ship. The device would use the ship’s own internal structure to carry his words to the interior compartment. There was no indication that the pirates were going to comply, and Randal motioned Sonja forward to override the airlock controls.

It took the spaniel female a few moments to open the access plate, then get at the internal circuitry. She attached several leads from a small device that she removed from a pocket, activated it, then let it hang from its wires before stepping back and raising her weapon.

They all waited for several tense moments before there was a loud thunk! from the Incubus’s side of the airlock, then it began to open accompanied by the high pitched whine of electric servos. There was no light on the other side of the thick hatch, and Randy, Melise and Sonja activated the small but extremely powerful, lights in the fore grips of their carbines.

Even as the three veteran SPF officers hit their lights, the stuttering sound of sub machinegun sounded from inside the pirate ship and several rounds sparked and whanged! off the interior structure of the boarding tube. Without hesitating, and dropping a little lower, both canines answered with rapid discharges from their stunners. Firing one handed, Randal removed a small red cylinder from his battle harness and thumbed the top before tossing it into the black maw of the other ship.

“Fire in the hole!” the wolf yelled, even as the object left his hand.

There was a tiny Clang! as it bounced off the deck plates inside the Incubus before bursting in a flash of brilliant white illumination and thunderous clap that caused Elias’ ears to ring slightly despite the protection of his helmet.

No sooner had the stun grenade detonated then Randal and Sonja were moving rapidly into the other ship in a crouch with Melise covering them from the edge of the airlock hatch. Elias followed and reached the threshold of the airlock in time to see each of the others fire their stunners at targets that the fox couldn’t see.

“Clear!” Sonja called, answered by Randy’s “Clear!” a moment later.

The trio fanned out, each one tossing a glo-stick into different areas. The chemical filled tubes would stay illuminated for several hours, providing as much light as a small lantern. The sticks provided enough illumination to make sure there were no other individuals hiding in the airlock/cargo area.

“These ships only have two decks,” Elias said, identifying the hatch that would lead to the engineering section and most of the crew’s cabins. “The typical crew compliment for one of these is fourteen, but I’d feel better if we anticipated more.” He looked at the two supine forms on the deck. “The layout is fairly linear, so the sweep should be fairly easy in and of itself, but the cabin layout is what provides the challenge.”

“What do you mean?” Sonja asked, her eyes bright with adrenaline.

Her designs on her Captain had been put to rest fairly quickly, and the spaniel had integrated herself into the crew with ease. She had even taken to hanging out with Cerise and Lena on her off hours and the trio could often be found sitting together on the rec deck in a knot, trading stories and laughing wickedly.

“Each of the eight hatches for the cabins on this deck are laid out in a chevron pattern so that each can function as a firing position. It makes the entire deck fairly defensible,” Elias told the others.

“Let’s get Stram over here. I have an idea,” Randy said, pulling another cylinder from his harness.

Elias and the others clearly saw the dual green and red bands that denoted this grenade as a gas weapon. The fox smiled at the resourcefulness of the large wolf.

***

“There’ll be no overriding this,” the gruff badger said as he crawled out from underneath the primary air recycler and wiped his hands reflexively on his smeared and stained jumpsuit. “I think three, nah, let’s make it four, of those stink bombs of yours will do the trick for the volume of atmosphere on board. Then within…oh, say ten minutes or so, and it’ll have hit everyone.”

Randal pulled the recommended number of gas grenades from various places on his harness and pockets, and added one more to the small pile of green and red tagged devices with a chuckle. Then he, Elias, Stram, Melise and Sonja pulled gas masks on and sealed them. The grenades contained a concoction of tearing agents and regurgitants that were very potent. The grenades were so potent that not even the police forces of some worlds carried them as part of their arsenals.

The idea was to detonate the grenades in the primary air recycler so that the gas would be pumped to all sections of the ship.

Once everyone had their masks on, and Elias verified that the boarding tube hatch was sealed, he looked at his chief engineer and smiled cruelly, though the expression was concealed by his gas mask.

“Do it, Stram,” the fox said.

The five grenades went off with little pops that sounded small, no worse than children’s noise makers, though a little bit of white smoke escaped the intake for the recycler in a thin, wispy tendril. Stram monitored the progress of the gas from the engineering station and chuckled.

“They’re trying to shut down the air flow from the bridge,” the badger said. He was playing with gold plated electrical connectors in his left hand. “I don’t think they’ll have much luck without these,” he said rattling the connectors for emphasis.

It was less than five minutes when the ship’s intercom sounded. Between fits of coughing from several individuals and the sounds of violent retching, the boarding party heard a thick, phlegmy voice say, “We surrender!”

There was a collective sigh of relief from Elias and his team. All of them, save Stram, had been on enough boarding operations to know that the whole thing could have gone badly. As it was, the fox clapped Randal on the shoulder, to which the wolf nodded and shrugged in response.

“We had to board a Utopia class colony ship once. It was almost a mile long and the thought of having to check every cabin was daunting when you consider the passengers were from the Ganlin Legion. So we decided to gas the entire ship. I think it saved a lot of individuals on both sides that day.”

Sonja looked at Randal with astonishment. “The Ganlin Legion? Really?”

Randal nodded, though Stram had a puzzled look on his face. “I’ve heard of them,” he said, absently scratching and ear. “Aren’t they some sorta group of crazy isolationists?”

“They’re more than that,” Elias said, slinging his carbine. “They’re anarchists of the worst sort. They hate humans, established governments of any kind, and take a perverse joy out of killing SPF personnel. That all of them are militant and believe that rule of strength is the natural order of things, well, let’s just say if it were me, I would have been tempted to have fired a spread of torpedoes and called it done.”

Randal nodded slowly. “That thought had occurred to us as well. Fortunately we had an alternative.”

It didn’t take the team long to round up the crew of the Incubus. There were ten individuals in all, and between rubbing at eyes and still suffering bouts of vomiting they were easy to subdue. The Incubus’s Captain, Nolan Rackam, was just as bad off as the rest of his crew. His clothing was a sodden mess, and looked at the white fox with an expression of extreme misery.

“Good play, Gents and Ladies. Indeed, I wasn’t expecting…Wait. You’re SPF?” the bedraggled feline asked in a harsh voice.

Nolan Rackam was a ginger colored tom with bronze colored eyes and was dressed in black leather boots and pants with a red silk shirt and darker red sash. He would have been rather distinguished looking at any other time, dressing as he thought a swashbuckler should, cutting a dashing figure, and giving Elias the impression that the cat was a vain creature. Now he looked far worse for the wear, with the remnants of his last meal drying on his shirt and leather pants, his whiskers dropping and raw looking eyes.

Elias gave a mocking bow to the cat. “Captain Elias Tivnan of the SPF vessel Guiding Angel at your service, Captain Rackam.” The title was given in a sarcastic tone that spoke volumes of Elias’s contempt for the pirate. “Oh, and you’re under arrest, old boy. Hate to rain all over your day and all.”

Nolan gave Elias a pleading look. “Please, Captain. You’ve won the day. There’s no reason to be so damnably trite about all of this.”

“Oh, but there is,” Elias said with a growl. “I can’t stand pirates, you see. You’re a parasite and make your way preying on the honest work of others who are just trying to make ends meet in a job that’s already hazardous. You put innocent lives at risk. And I’ve lost too many friends to your kind. If I had my way, I’d space you right now. Not for being a pirate, mind you. That is something that I can deal with. No, what really irks me is the fact that you are treating this as some kind of game.”

Elias’s hand dropped to his holster and his fingers twitched involuntarily as the fox seemed to struggle with the urge to draw his sidearm. Randal and Sonja saw this as they watched over the rest of the crew as they were being treated for residual effects from the gas grenades by Lemuel Anders with Melise covering the Doctor. Each moved closer to their Captain to intervene if necessary while still monitoring their prisoners.

The impression that Elias had of Nolan Rackam was emphasized by the trappings of the feline’s cabin, which was well stocked on the exploits of other pirates, including something that was almost a shrine to the late Sagan, one of the most bloodthirsty and vile of brigands ever known on almost twenty worlds. Then there were the stacks of books and volumes on piratical exploits, both recent and historical accounts. Nolan even took his surname from a famous pirate from Earth’s ancient history, during the time of tall ships and sails. It was obvious that the cat had a certain point of view regarding freebooting, and didn’t see it for the crime it was.

“Doctor!” Elias barked, seeing that his words were falling on deaf ears.

“Yes?” the tiger said looking up from the third prisoner he was treating.

“They will recover on their own, will they not?” The fox’s eyes didn’t waver from those of the ginger colored tom.

“Yes, of course. But I don-“

“Then that’s exactly what they can do. Randy, lock them up as they are. They can thank their Captain for lack of treatment.”

The others moved to do as Elias commanded. There was a surprising lack of protest from the prisoners, mostly due to the stunners that were pointed their way, though there were some dark looks from the crew of the Incubus for their former Captain. In fact, the only one that actually protested was Nolan Rackam. He whined, shouted, cajoled and whined some more of his rights, and that withholding treatment wasn’t fair. At that point Randal and Sonja hustled the feline away before Elias really did shoot him.

Elias was still putting his gear away and just finished unfastening the side latches of his body armor when Randal reappeared next to him. There was concern in the wolf’s eyes as he regarded his Captain.

“Sir? May I speak candidly?”

Elias paused and looked at the large wolf. “Sure. What’s up?”

“I don’t know how to put this diplomatically, so I’ll be frank. Are you all right? You were fairly harsh to our prisoners. I didn’t know you felt that strongly about pirates.”

Elias’s reaction was far from what Randal was expecting. He laughed.

“Sorry about that. Mister Nolan Rackam is the son of a fairly wealthy family from Fyn. His real name is Norbert Douglas, of Douglas Industries. He used his inheritance from his grandfather to purchase the Incubus to pursue what he thought was an interesting lifestyle. I wanted him to know that his choices have certain ramifications.”

“Then your behavior wasn’t…serious?” Randal asked, slightly perplexed.

“Oh, no. I really can’t stand pirates, but I wasn’t going to shoot him, if that’s what you are asking. Though the thought has certain appeal. Cerise was able to identify him through the SPF database, and informed me of his actual identity just after they surrendered. He has squandered away almost ten years of his life, dropping out of school, going from one endeavor to another and never finishing anything. He has gotten out of more scrapes than I care to list and it’s high time that he realizes there are certain things that carry a price that his family can’t help him with.” Elias removed his armor with a sigh and scratched at his chest with certain relish.

“By the Maker it feels good to get that off. Anyway, Cerise has already begun downloading the core of the Incubus and cataloguing the ships that they have plundered and other activities. Treena has found some other interesting information in his cabin that’s going to double the number of charges against him, and it looks as if we might be able to use that to also track down other privateers.” The fox stowed the armor before divesting his armaments into the cargo bay weapons locker after removing the magazines and ensuring there were no live rounds chambered or the possibility of accidental discharge. When Elias turned around, Randal had a full grin on his face instead of his usual half smile.

“You are a devious individual, Captain,” the wolf said and started to chuckle.

Elias began grinning himself. “I have to admit that I enjoyed the look on Mister Nolan ‘Rackam’s’ face when he thought I really would shoot him. His family can’t bail him out of this, and I have a feeling that a very long stint in a penal colony is in the future of our dashing, swashbuckler tom.”

CHAPTER 14

Saul sat on the bridge looking over the status of the Guiding Angel, alone on the darkened deck and rather enjoying the solitude when the aft hatch hissed open. He turned to see a figure silhouetted against the brighter corridor lighting, and it was a moment before he realized that the form was that of Treena. The hatch hissed closed via pneumatic actuators and she walked forward in the dim light.

“I thought you were off duty,” the jaguar said as she drew near.

It had been a busy day, and Saul was pleased with their accomplishments, though he would be happier when they could finally divest themselves of the prisoners from the Incubus. They had left the hull of the Maelstrom class patrol boat floating behind them almost six hours previous after ransacking it for information and intelligence data, and placed a passive beacon on its hull for an SPF salvage team to locate. The beacon would go active once it received the proper code from the salvage team.

Treena drew close and held out something in her hand and it took Saul a moment to realize that it was a mug of steaming coffee. The ocelot took a seat at the navigator’s console with her own mug in her hands.

“I thought you could use something to help you keep awake. That and I couldn’t sleep, so I thought you might also like a bit of company.” Treena looked tired, but not sleepy, having spent the better part of four hours helping Cerise download the pirate vessel’s computer data and scrounging for physical evidence. “Rackam really is a piece of work isn’t he?”

Saul didn’t catch the question at first as he was too elated at being on the bridge alone with this ravishing female, but shook his head to clear his thoughts and turned his attention to Treena’s question.

“The boy has definitely been watching too many space operas, of that you can be sure. Did you really think the Captain was going to shoot him?”

Treena nodded. “He had this…look. It was frightening. I tell you, I’ve seen some good acting, and that was an award performance. Does the Captain really hate pirates that much?”

Saul leaned back with his cup and took a sip before answering. “Did you read the material that Colonel Brees gave you?” He watched as Treena nodded. “There you have it. He really doesn’t like pirates. But he won’t take the law into his own hands. I think what happened to him on the Scimitar has changed him. He wants to put as big a kink as he can in the tails of any pirate or slaver he comes across. He’s driven.”

The two sat in silence for a while, looking at the elongated streaks of stars that scintillated in all the colors of the rainbow due to the Doppler effect of warp space. Saul kept on stealing glances at the ocelot, wishing he could muster the courage to tell her that he was attracted to her. It was silly, the jaguar thought. He could charge into a battle, fly a ship through an asteroid field, or jump into a firefight, but he couldn’t tell Treena that he was attracted to her.

His musings were cut short when an alert sounded from the communications console. Sitting up-right and almost spilling the contents of his cup on himself, Saul brought the information up on the pilot’s board and whistled softly.

He toggled it microphone of his headset as he slipped it on. “Guiding Angel. Hold one, Sir, while I summon him.” There were words that Treena couldn’t hear and watched as Saul nodded before responding. “He’s in his rack, Sir. No, he’ll want to hear this from you. Let me reroute to his cabin.”

Saul typed in a command and sent the signal to Elias’s cabin and disconnected his headset from the conversation that would soon be taking place.

“What’s going on?” Treena asked, her ears standing up in obvious curiosity.

Saul looked at her. “I don’t know, though the Captain will tell us if it’s important.”

***

Elias was curled against his wife’s back, holding her in his arms and sleeping quite soundly when the terminal in their shared cabin beeped annoyingly for his attention. At first the sound was incorporated into the dream he was having of his and Cerise’s time at her family’s cabin. Then the sound pulled him into a state of waking. By the third chime, he was up and out of bed. He clipped his toes on the frame of the bed and began swearing darkly under his breath even as he sat down and activated the terminal.

Sander Brees looked at him from the screen that came to life, flooding the cabin with subdued blue and gray light with a slight wash of gold.

“I hope you’re not talking to me like that, son?” the lion asked with a raised eyebrow.

Though he couldn’t see himself, Elias looked, fittingly, as if he’d just woken up. The fur on the left side of his face was askew and his eyes were red looking. All in all, thought the individual that watched him from the terminal, many light years away, he looked like hell.

“No, Sandy. Sorry. What’s up?” the fox asked becoming more alert with each passing moment.

“Oh, nothing. I just came across a bit of information that I knew you’d want. Sorry if it’s a bad time.”

The fox shook his head. “Just catching some rack time.”

Sander Brees nodded in understanding. “Sorry about waking you, then, son. Rack time is a sacred thing, but I knew you’d want this as soon as possible. Are you secure on your end?”

Elias ran a check and saw that they were indeed ‘alone’ and that none of the crew was listening in, though if it was something important, Elias would wind up filling them in anyway. Privacy was simply good manners on a ship this size. “We’re clear, Sandy.”

“Good. We got word of a ship that was seen in the Lia-Noa system. Elias, it was the Shiva. It hit a supply ship loaded with medical supplies and repair parts. Needless to say with this season’s storms on Crescentis, those supplies were needed.”

The fox took a deep breath, fully awake now. “When did this happen? How long ago?”

“Two days. You can’t make it there in time to interdict her,” the lion said flatly.

“Not there. What kind of medical supplies? You can beam me a full list later, I want to know what the basic components were.”

Sander Brees looked at a sheaf of papers that were next to his elbow. “Apart from basic medications, analgesics and the like, there was a supply of pan-biotics, a large supply of anesthetics and three diagnostic units.”

“The diagnostic units. Those are the big ticket items. They can’t get rid of those anywhere in known space except small unregistered colonies or Brandt. They’re too pricey and big for a simple fence operation. I’m not far from Brandt right now. We can try to linger at the systems nadir point and intercept there. If that doesn’t work we’ll have to make intercept on the ground.”

“It’s your call, Elias,” Brees said. “I’ll have you some help en route in three hours from now. They’ll get there well before the Shiva can possibly make it. It’ll be a ship called the Luna Duchess. Her Captain is Galina Carver. She has a few things for you and your crew, plus she’ll be taking your prisoners from the Incubus.”

“The Luna Duchess? I don’t recall a ship of that name in the SPF registry. What is she?” Elias asked.

“Same as you, son. Q-ship hidden in the hull of a Star Hopper interstellar yacht. She’s about the same tonnage as your ship, but with different weapons layout and a heavier interceptor. Her Captain and crew just finished up with space trials earlier this week. And with you going up against the Shiva, I’d feel a lot better if you had back up.”

Elias gaped a little. “You already have the next Q-ship up and running? I didn’t think she’d be ready for another month!”

Brees smiled. “You aren’t the only one that’s been busy. Like I said, they have some things for you that you might need. Captain Carver has your codes, so I expect her to contact you shortly.”

“I’ll go ahead and set a course and get the crew up to speed, then. Thanks, Sandy.”

The lion gave Elias a long look. “Be careful, son. You of all people know that the Shiva isn’t a ship to engage with on a lark.”

The fox’s hand involuntarily touched the scar that ran from his nose and up to where the notch in his left ear was. “I do, Sandy. Very much so.”

The two made their farewells and Elias shut the terminal down and sat back.

A small sound brought Elias out of his ruminations and he turned his head to see Cerise sitting up in bed. She had the thick comforter pulled up to her throat. It was a moment before he noticed the dampness under her eyes that glinted in the illumination from the computer screen that was lit with a blue field in stand-by mode.

“Don’t go after them, Elias,” the vixen said softly.

He stood up and went to the bed, gently enfolding his wife in his arms. “It’s all right, Cerise. It’ll be all right.”

Cerise laid her head against his chest and clung to Elias, sudden fear gripping her heart. “Not the Shiva, Elias. Not them. Not again.”

He did what he could to calm his mate, but the feeling of dread persisted in Cerise’s very soul. She tried to put on a brave face for him, and let Elias get back to being the Captain that he needed to be, and not a husband with a frightened wife. He gave word to Saul to set a course back for the Faya system and to call the crew together on the rec deck. Throwing clothes on and running a brush through his facial fur, Elias cast a look at Cerise. None of her attempts to calm her emotions worked, though, and to make it worse she was developing a headache and felt her stomach cramping

“We’ll have help this time and we know what to expect, Cerise. I can’t let them go. Not if I can help it. No one on that freighter lived. They killed all of the crew and now they have to answer for their crimes.”

For the first time since they met, Cerise felt selfish and couldn’t help it. “Why you?” she asked hotly. “The SPF has ships and crews aplenty. Why does it have to be you?” She pulled away when Elias reached for her and gave him an angry glare. “Chase them down with a warship! There are others that can do this! The last time you took on the Shiva you almost got killed. Why does it have to be you?”

Elias let his arms fall to his sides. “Because it’s what I do and what I am, Cerise. You know this. You knew this before we got married and argued the same point, yourself.”

With a sad look, Elias left the cabin.

The hatch slid closed and Cerise collapsed in on herself, sobbing. Then with a suddenness that caught her unaware, her stomach roiled and she bolted for the lavatory to retch noisily for several long minutes. When the nausea passed, she splashed herself with cold water before deciding to step into the shower. As the jets of hot water blasted her from three different directions, she calmed herself enough to wonder what was wrong with her. She felt as if her emotions were out of control. He was right. She knew what Elias was before she married him, and had come with him knowing full well what it was that they would be facing. Why was she behaving like this now?Her thoughts and feelings warred back and forth as she sank down and huddled at the bottom of the shower stall and began to weep anew.

***

“The Shiva was certainly packing heavier weapons than she should have. Not just the pulse cannon. Almost anyone can get those if they have the available credits,” Elias told the assembled crew who were rubbing red eyes with the occasional yawn thrown in. “The Talonmissiles were totally unexpected, though. Nothing indicated that they were carrying military grade weaponry, and when the time comes, I don’t want to underestimate them again. At the same time, I don’t want this ship to get away.

“As it is, we’ll be joined by the latest Q-ship pirate hunter. The Luna Duchess is built around a Star Hopper hull. She’s about the same size as us, but her layout is a little different, and that has altered her weapons array. She’s also equipped with an interceptor, but instead of a Raptor she carries a Crossbow heavy fighter. We’ll be meeting our sister ship at the nadir of the Faya system next week and they’ll be transferring some material to us. In the meantime, I want every system of this ship gone over with a fine-toothed comb. I don’t want to leave anything to chance because we’ve been lax on anything.

“Unfortunately this means that all of us, myself included, are going to be pulling extra hours. So with that bit of good news, I want everyone to go over my report on the Shiva again as well, and if you have any input, let me know. I want a different outcome when we encounter her this time. Any questions?”

No one moved or said anything, and Elias saw that Melise had a particularly hard look in her eyes. Like him, the panda felt that she had something of a personal score to settle. Eventually it was Randy that cleared his throat and spoke.

“So, the big question I have, is are we going to try to capture and board her, or are we just going blast the Shiva into glowing dust?”

Elias was a little taken back by the question, but checked himself and gave the inquiry a moment of thought before responding.

“Randal, I won’t lie. Not to you or anyone else on this crew. I really would like nothing more than to obliterate the Shiva and every individual on her. But that’s not why we’re here. We’ll try and take her and her crew. But if it looks like we’re in trouble, I will hit that ship with everything we have. I’m not going to risk your lives or those of the Luna Duchess’ crew by trying to take her as a prize. We’ll try to board her, but if that doesn’t prove to be viable I will cut that ship to pieces. Fair?”

The wolf nodded. “Very. I know that you and Melise might feel that you have a score to settle, but they were responsible for the deaths of fellow SPF officers, and the rest of us kind of take that a little personally as well.”

Elias nodded. “Understood. Well, let’s get to work. Stram? You and Rutger come up with a list of areas you need help with. I want the primary bridge crew to go over their specific areas and equipment. While we’re at it, make sure emergency equipment and stores in each location are set and topped. I don’t want anyone getting caught without the necessary equipment and supplies if something happens to break. And until further notice, everyone wears a sidearm at all times. That’s it. Let’s get to it.”

The next eight days were a fury of activity aboard the Guiding Angel as all systems were checked and re-checked, cleaned and maintained. There was a surprisingly little amount of work that actually had to be done as the engineering pair tended to keep up on things before minor glitches became major issues. Both the badger and tuxedo tom wormed their way through the bowels of the ship, often more dirty than not, and getting far less sleep and downtime than the rest of the crew until Elias ordered them to take a minimum of twelve hours off for rest.

All of the crew assisted Lena and Randal with the Cherub, helping the doe check all of the systems on the small craft. Even though the rabbit’s demeanor seemed light and her bantering tone helped keep nerves from fraying too much, it was very evident that she was taking the coming encounter with the seriousness it deserved.

When everything was inspected, adjusted and tweaked to the satisfaction of all, the entire crew save Elias met in the galley for a lavish supper that Melise had cooked. While the others protested at the amount of trouble the panda went through, making a dish she said was popular on Earth called Beef Wellington, and one of the most extravagant meals many of the others had ever had, she told them that her preferred method of dealing with her own anxiety was cooking. Many of the others joked that if she kept up such exercises in culinary pampering they were all going to get too fat to pass basic physical endurance tests. For Lena, the only vegetarian on board, the panda had put together a salad of fresh greens and a platter of exotic fruits.

The conversation around the table was fairly light, until Treena posed a question to Melise, the two having become fast friends since the launch of their ship.

“Melise? What happened on the Scimitar? Not just what the Captain gave us to look over. I want to hear it from you.”

Melise set her fork down, and her eyes took on a slightly glassy look.

“We received word through an informant on Ganis that there was a ship that had taken on a load of stolen electronics and was supposed to be delivering them to another ship in the Kennia system. Our Captain took that info and ordered an intercept. We were on the tail-end of our patrol run, but he couldn’t ignore this tip. We’d heard rumblings here and there that apart from piracy, the Shiva was running slaves as well, and he wanted to put paid to their ticket.”

The panda paused and took a sip from her mug that held a tea that she found relaxing and appealing before continuing. Everyone else was silent and waited patiently for her to continue.

“We high tailed it after her, and ran into her a ways out from Dennier. It took a day of long distance scanning, but we found two ships that were just lingering about mid-way between Dennier and what’s left of Mainor. One of the ships was an old Mauler class heavy cruiser. And nestled up alongside was the Shiva. We followed standard practice and ordered the ship to stand down for boarding and inspection, and that’s when all hell broke loose.

“They waited until we got within range after radioing that they would comply, then the Shiva opened fire. Her pulse cannon were heavy units, probably Mark V or better. The first salvo dropped our shields down to fifteen percent power and blew most of the breakers for our subsystems. I tell you, if it weren’t for Elias’ piloting, they would have blasted us into sub atomic particles. Once our shields were down, theShiva fired a spread of Talons at us. Those things were made to be ship-killers anyway, so we knew that our little sloop really didn’t stand much of a chance. Maybe if we had full shields, but not like we were.

“The first one hit and was almost stopped by what little shielding we had left. The second exploded before hitting us, the debris from the first one causing fratricide. It was enough, though. The shrapnel and plasma from the detonation opened the ship up for almost eight meters on the port side. That’s when we lost our Captain, First Officer, Doctor and the recruits that were assigned to boarding operations. Fortunately we were all in armored vac-suits at the time.

“Elias traded shots with the Shiva to try and buy us some time and an exit vector, and we took a couple of more hits, most of them glancing because of his flying more than anything else. That and the debris that was sucked out when we lost hull integrity. Debris and bodies…”

Melise shook her head and took another sip from her mug. “We were goners. We all knew it. But Elias performed a quick warp before the LC drive folded. Fortunately it didn’t catch fire or explode, but that was only because we had no atmosphere. We mostly coasted to Dennier on inertia to save what we had and lived in suits for almost the whole time it took to get us there. Elias and I repaired the antennae for communications and were able to contact Grandstorm air traffic control shortly before hitting atmosphere.

“The rest you know.”

There was silence at the table, and no one could meet the eyes of another.

After several long moments, Melise picked up her telling of her and Elias’s previous encounter with the Shiva.

“The others and I were strapped into the crash couches in the section behind the bridge when we hit the water. I could actually see the bulkheads ripple and fold as we hit, and I thought that it was over, that my ticket had been punched. Then the ship settled and it was amazing! I was still alive! We tried to get to Elias, but the hatch had torqued so badly we might as well have been trying to pry open the hull itself. I didn’t think that there was any way for Elias to have survived that. He was my closest friend on board, and I’d just lost him. But I was alive.”

The panda went quiet and huge, silent tears fell from her glazed eyes as she was transported back to the moment by her own voice. “We were sinking and I remember thinking that it was a hell of a note that I survived the crash only to drown. Bright sunlight was streaming through the rip in the hull, and I looked up at that glorious light, wondering if it would be the last thing I ever saw. Then this huge bird came into view. I don’t know what they’re called, but they’re white with blue and purple markings and just…beautiful. It sat there hovering above the ship. Then it looked at me with the most intense black eyes I’ve ever seen and let go with a cry that was so pure and joyful. Seeing it, I really didn’t worry about what was coming next. Next thing I knew the sun was gone and this huge shadow just engulfed everything.

“I didn’t know it was one of the freighters from the starport. Then there was this raccoon in coveralls hanging upside down from the hole in hull asking me if I’m all right. I guess I wasn’t because I passed out at that point. Next thing I knew I was in the hospital.”

It was Cerise’s voice that spoke next, and all eyes turned to her. “Wave Singers. The bird you saw is a Wave Singer. You don’t ever see them that close to the city. They like to fly further out to sea and can stay aloft for days on end in a good breeze. Some on Dennier believe that they are angels that are sent to protect others when they show up like that.”

Melise smiled, as she batted away the tears in her fur. “Maybe it was.” Then the panda looked at the other female. “I know that as far as the rest of us on the Scimitar were concerned, our angels were the one on the bridge, and the one that helped talk him in.”

Cerise dropped her head slightly in embarrassment until Melise reached out and took her hand.

The petite vixen wondered then if everything really was going to be all right.

CHAPTER 15

The Luna Duchess was an elegant looking ship that was tricked out in reflective silver paint with crimson and gold trim. It looked opulent, and even as the Captain of a Q-ship himself, Elias would have been amazed at what she actually was if he hadn’t known beforehand. It’s smooth, almost organic, lines formed a lifting body design, though it had more view ports than he thought was prudent. Docking was simple, the pilot of the other ship was smooth and confident, and the meeting of the two crews was something of an event.

Because of the material and equipment transfer that was going to take place, the Star Hopper class yacht had docked with the Guiding Angel’s cargo hatch. No sooner had the heavy hatch cycled open then Elias was met by stunning golden furred she-wolf who stood in a way that radiated a casual comfort with who and what she was that seemed completely natural.

“Permission to come aboard, Captain?” the she-wolf asked.

Elias smiled. “Permission granted. Welcome aboard the Guiding Angel. I’m Elias.”

The gold colored wolf took his hand and shook it with firmness giving him a huge smile. “I know who you are, Captain. I’m Galina Carver. It’s a pleasure to meet the Great Pioneer!”

Elias gave her a quizzical look and she laughed musically.

“It’s what the rest of us are calling you. You got to be the first so that the rest of us pirate hunting captains could learn from you. Sandy’s told all of us about you and made sure that we know the only two bosses any of us have are him, and you.”

“Um, thanks. I think?” Elias said.

Before anything else could be said in exchange, Randal came out from around the Cherub and broke into a true smile.

“Galina? Is that really you?” the large wolf asked.

“Randy? Wow! Nobody told me you were on the Angel!”

Elias was forgotten as the two wolves embraced even as they insulted each other with fervor, but there was an underlying warmth that was confusing to say the least. The insults died off with final exchanges of ‘Flea bitten cur’ and ‘Inbred mongrel’. When they parted, the two saw the confused expressions on Elias’s face, mirrored by others of both crews.

“Sorry, Captain,” Randal said with reddening ears. “This is my cousin Galina. Galina, you’ve met my Captain, Elias Tivnan.”

The she-wolf laughed again. “Yeah. Just did. You’ll have to forgive us, Elias. We’ve been doing that since we were kids. It used to drive our parents nuts! They always thought we were going to break into a fight because of it, which of course made our little contests that much more fun!”

“And it also helped me to learn what every brand of soap in the known universe tastes like,” Randy added with an expression of revulsion accompanied by a shudder. “Or paddled. You know, you used to start these little things, how come you never got paddled?”

Galina smiled. “Girls have more delicate posteriors.” She then turned to fox still staring at them with a perplexed look. “Sorry. I haven’t seen Randy for about four years. Now then, what do we do first? Prisoner transfer, tour each others’ ships, or cargo?”

Elias shook himself, seeing a side of his combat leader that, like the music, he was unaware of. “I suppose we should get the cargo first, then a tour each others’ ship. That way it’ll be easier to get the prisoners moved without having to ask for directions.”

“Mmmm. Decisive. I like that in a male,” Galina said with a smile.

“No dice, cousin. He’s spoken for,” Randal said with a raised eyebrow.

Galina frowned. “Well, poop. Your mate doesn’t like sharing, does she?”

“No. She doesn’t.” Cerise walked forward with a DataPad in her hand. “Sorry. I’m one of those possessive types.” The ebony vixen extended a hand and the she-wolf shook it. “I’m Cerise. Pleasure to meet you, Captain.”

“Please, call me Galina. It’s really my pleasure to meet all of you.” She looked back at Elias. “And double poop. I don’t suppose there are any brothers, are there?”

Elias shook his head. “Only child. Sorry.”

“Triple poop. Well, I guess there’s nothing else to do except getting your special delivery over. Randy? Do you want to go give my First Officer a hand? I’m sure that he’d appreciate the help.”

“No problem. What are we moving?” the gray wolf asked his cousin.

“Oh, no. I’m not going to ruin the surprise for you. Elias, you and your mate want to come and see? I think you’ll really like this!”

Elias took Cerise’s hand and with Randy, followed the she-wolf to the cargo bay of the other vessel. He couldn’t help but take a look around to see how this ship compared to his. The hull armor looked to be as thick, but what systems he could see appeared to be comparable to what he had on the Guiding Angel. Their cargo bay was much smaller, though, and he wondered where they were storing their interceptor and asked about it.

“The Crossbow fighter, our pilot named it the Coin Toss, is kept in a special bay between the port and starboard engines. There used to be a dining salon and sauna where it is now, but we told the Colonel that we could do without those if he really insisted on our taking a fighter along.” Galina was speaking in an accent and manner that Elias and Cerise had heard some of the upper class families of Dennier speak with, and it was rather amusing. The she-wolf continued in a vapid tone, “But I told him we absolutely had to have our own staterooms, don’t you know.”

They all laughed and Galina motioned a human over. He was fairly tall with a lean build though his shoulders were quite broad. He had long brown hair that was caught in an intricate looking braid and ran down his back to sit between his shoulder blades.

“Elias, this is my first officer Aiden Haskell. Aiden, this is Captain Elias and his mate Cerise. That mutt over there is my cousin Randy.”

“It’s a real honor, Captain Tivnan. I’ve been wanting to meet you for a while now.” He turned to Cerise, and spoke to her in very precise Dennieran before bowing formally, then continued in Standard. “I’m hoping we can talk once I get your cargo moved over.” He then turned to Randal. “Randy, if you want to follow me?”

“I don’t know if I should be excited or worried. The last surprise that Gali had for me was an exploding birthday cake,” Randal said as he followed the human.

“Piffle! That was funny!” Galina said as the two males moved off.

“Fun for you, maybe. I was cleaning icing out of my fur for three days.”

“What’s he griping about. I had to clean the house!” Galina complained to Elias and Cerise.”Did you know that icing stains wall paint? You can never get rid of it and have to repaint.” Then she dropped her voice so that only her fellow Captain and his mate could hear her. “It was worth it, though. Before we break dock I’ll show you the pictures.”

The cargo that was being transferred were five large armorplast crates that were easily seven feet tall and four feet each side and two smaller ones that measured two feet by two feet by five. Each crate rested on a lift pallet and Aiden powered the first one up. It moved easily across the deck, though its mass made it unwieldy, requiring the wolf and human to shift it cautiously. It only took a few minutes before two more followed and the combined crews stood looking at the last two large crates.

“Tell you what, why don’t you go ahead and crack the next one before you move it,” Galina suggested, a smile on her face. “I really want to see your expression when you find out what these are.”

Randal gave his cousin a wary look, but said nothing before unsealing the latches and opening the front of the crate. As the panel slid away, Randal whistled low using his tongue against his teeth, Elias gaped, Cerise gasped while Galina and her first officer simply grinned.

Light from the overhead light panels gleamed dully on the grey armor plating of what looked at first glance to be a standard armored environmental suit, though after closer inspection the unit within resembled a standard armored suit the way a spacesuit resembled a tuxedo.

The joints were larger than standard, and the incorporated helmet gleamed blackly. The overall color was a gray so dark that it was only a shade or two from being black itself. The whole unit was covered in armored plates and the joints were protected by smaller overlapping lames. There was a selection of weapons secured along the bottom of the crate, with more in the two smaller units, all standard looking Binfurr weapons, that would obviously mount to various points on the forearms of the armor.

“Randy, you’re drooling,” Galina said, still grinning.

“Yeah, I probably am. They finally got them working.”

“Got what working?” Cerise asked. “What is that thing?”

It was Elias that spoke. “You’ve seen cargo handler exo-suits around the starport, right? This is an amped up version. It‘s designed for extremely hazardous spaceborne and boarding operations. Binfurr Arms has been working on the designs for years, trying to incorporate rigid armor and exo-suits that are completely self-contained.” Elias was just as appreciative of the new equipment as Randy was, and his eyes never left their inspection of the hulking monstrosity.

“It reminds me of those monsters in that movie we saw that bled acid,” Cerise said with a shudder. “It’s creepy looking.”

Elias began to chuckle and gave Cerise’s hand a squeeze while the others looked at him in confusion. “Even better! If it has the same effect on pirates it’ll just make our jobs easier!”

The rest of the group chuckled as well.

“All right, Randy. Get in and power it up,” Elias instructed.

“Unless you want to throw some training wheels on, first,” Galina added.

Randal shot his cousin a dark look and with the human’s help finished dismantling the crate and inspected the unit.

“Looks fairly straight forward,” he said quietly. “Hmm. Hinged backplate. Let’s see what we’ve got here.” He was talking to himself as he went over the suit then tripped the releases for the suit’s access through the back. The entire rear section of the main body opened upwards, and the wolf inspected everything before stepping into the suit. “Power, water, rations and oxygen stores. Not bad.”

Aiden, unable to contain himself, stepped up and began pointing out certain features.

“Yeah. See? These are all standard cartridge units, and you can quick-change them without having to break seal,” he said pointing with a finger at the features.

The gray wolf nodded. “I like that. Makes sense for extended operations. Hmm. Even has waste receptacles. They thought of everything, didn’t they?” he asked the human.

Aiden nodded. “They did everything but make it so that it can scratch your back, though you can always do what I did.”

“You show me how to scratch my back after being locked in one of these things for a few hours and I’ll name my first born after you,” Randy said with a look of profound respect.

“No he won’t because he’ll never get married,” Galina commented.

“Shut up, Gali.”

Aiden laughed. “It’s really simple. Come here. You have to see it to understand.” The human led the way to a cubicle that lit up when the human approached and had an armored suit identical to the one that had just been uncrated, though there was a large cartoonish heart with a detailed illustration female skunk in the middle of the red symbol on the right pauldron and the words ‘Cleo’s Pet’ in metallic gold script underneath. He unlatched the backplate and showed the wolf his solution to an itchy back.

Randy laughed until his eyes started to water. “Why didn’t I ever think of doing that?”

“Necessary ingenuity?” Aiden offered with a smile. “I was assigned to the testing team when we got the first units. While I was running field trials with one of the prototypes, a latch got torqued and I was stuck in the thing until the engineers could run out with a can opener. Of course, that also prompted the um, sanitary facilities as well. I should have known not to have that last cup of coffee. But there you have it.”

The others crowded close and saw that the human’s answer to the problem of an itch was simple and brilliant. Velcroed to the smooth padded lining of the backplate was a section of rough outdoor carpet that one would normally find around a swimming pool.

Without any further hesitation, but a very wide grin on his face, the gray wolf went back to the armored suit and slid in, he activated the power up switch with his chin and closed the backplate. It sealed with a hiss and everyone took a step back as Randal got situated.

“Ah. Here we go. Can you hear me?” the wolf asked, his voice sounding out over an external speaker that made his voice sound mechanical and cold.

“Loud and clear,” Elias said, giving the wolf a thumbs-up gesture.

“The controls are fairly standard compared to the suits that we’re all used to. There are a couple of icons that are different…oh. I see. They’re for the weapons systems. Hmmm. Full Heads-Up-Display. Magnetic and programmable compass. Decent emergency equipment..strobes, flares.. All right, here goes.”

They all watched as Randy took a step, then another. It wasn’t as clunky as Cerise expected, and realized that the wolf had probably logged hundreds of hours in spacesuits, even though this was a powered unit.

“It’s really no different than wearing a standard armored environmental suit,” the wolf said over the speaker. “I have to admit that it’s a little strange not to be supporting the weight myself, though. I feel as flexible as I would be if I weren’t wearing it.”

“Go ahead and move the other crate and the accompanying munitions over to the Guiding Angel,” Elias told the wolf. “That should give you a better feel for it. Later this duty shift you can run some tests outside. Maybe we’ll even see if Aiden can go out and play with you.”

The human looked at his Captain and gave her a pleading look. “Can I please, mother?” he asked in a childlike manner.

Galina patted his cheek. “Only if all your chores are done and you finish your supper, dear.”

Galina took the others through the two decks of her ship, and Elias had to admit that the Luna Duchess was far better suited for holding the prisoners from the Incubus than his ship was. The cells were located under the bay that held the Crossbow heavy fighter with only one access point instead of being on the same level as the crew’s quarters.

As far as the cabins that the personnel of the Luna Duchess had, the fox had to admit his crew had much more room. The only concession to luxury was the small hot tub in the salon that served as the rec deck for the new ship and crew. Even while Lena was talking to her counterpart on the Luna Duchess, a snow leopard with intense blue eyes by the name of Elgin Faulkner, her gaze kept drifting back to the hot tub with a longing look that one normally reserved for a lover. Elias had to stifle a laugh as the rabbit casually edged her way towards the tub, then nonchalantly dipped a couple of fingers into the water to check the temperature. Cerise was engaged with Galina, discussing ways the golden furred she-wolf could boost her sensor range and sensitivity, so Elias stepped over to the rabbit.

“Would you like to see if you can get a transfer, Lena?” Elias asked just behind the rabbit, making her jump.

“Oh, no, Captain. I was just, you know…” Her ears dropped in chagrin.

“Yeah. I know. And before you ask I’m not going to have Stram put one on the Guiding Angel. I’d never be able to get you out of the thing.”

“I’m not that bad, Captain!” she protested.

Elias laughed. “Yes you are! Who was it that streaked from her cabin naked and wet when we encountered the Mintaka?”

“Yes…but…you…”

“Naked and wet?” Elgin asked with a raised eyebrow and grin. “Captain Tivnan? Can I transfer to your ship instead? As a backup pilot?”

Elias laughed because the crossed arms and pout didn’t help Lena’s defense in the slightest.

Aiden eventually joined the rest of the mingling crews with another of the Luna Duchess’ members, a female skunk that no one had met yet. Elias noticed that they had their arms around each others’ waists in a very affectionate, but completely unconscious manner. Aiden made the introductions to the crew of the Guiding Angel for her. Finally he brought her to where Elias, Cerise and Galina were standing.

“Captain Tivnan, Cerise, may I introduce our Weapons Officer, Cleo Cassini? Cleo, this is Elias Tivnan and his mate, Cerise.”

“I’m happy to meet you,” the skunkette said in a soft voice with a smile that reached her lavender eyes.

The females fell into immediate conversation, and Elias stole a glance at the human. He could see in the man’s eyes that there was genuine affection for the female he’d introduced and after a few moments, motioned Aiden to the side feigning the need for a refill of his drink. He poured a generous amount of soda into his glass of half melted ice before speaking.

“This really isn’t any of my business, Aiden, so stop me if I’m crossing the line, but-“

“But what is a human doing with a fur?” Aiden chuckled. “It’s a valid question, Sir.”

“Call me by name, Aiden. I may be a Captain, but that doesn’t make me a better individual. I am curious, though. I’ve heard of humans that have paired up with furs, but I’ve never seen it myself. Despite what we tell ourselves, there’s more than a bit of prejudice. On both sides.”

Aiden rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to tell me, Elias. My family refuses to acknowledge my existence because of mine and Cleo’s marriage.”

The fox was totally caught off guard by that. “You’re married?”

The human nodded. “It’s rare. We’re one of the few fur and human marriages.” Aiden took a sip of his drink and looked to where the skunk was laughing along with Cerise and the gold colored she-wolf, his eyes soft. “I grew up in a family that moved from world to world, and while there were other humans, I never met one that really impressed me. The girls that I encountered were busy with status, garnering prestige, I suppose those are all of the normal trappings of teenage life, regardless of species. But I never really cared about any of that. Of course my mother was constantly setting me up on dates with the daughters of friends and acquaintances, but those were awkward at best and traumatizing at worst.

“I made the break from my family as soon as I turned eighteen, and enlisted in the Academy. My grades had always been good, and I was pegged for Officer School before basic training was over. That’s where I met Cleo. We hit it off immediately. You could always find us together on off time doing everything we could. Then, just two nights before our first postings, we got into a rather heated discussion about an otter that had been making eyes at her and I told her that he was bragging that he would ‘bag’ her before we all shipped. She informed me that it was really none of my business and I had to go out and blurt that I was in love with her.” Aiden laughed at the memory, “I don’t think that I could have stunned her more if I’d hit her in the head with a rock! Then she told me that she felt the same way.

“We kept in touch the entire time that we were apart and the feelings we had for each other grew over time. We were able to get a posting together after a year and a half apart, and as soon as we could, we got married. I love her family and they have always treated me wonderfully, but mine had the exact opposite reaction. Our visit to my parent’s home on Earth was less than cordial.

“I think the thing that both of us have learned from our pairing is that love is a wonderful thing, and with two souls that actually care for each other, it really doesn’t matter what the outside looks like. It’s what’s in the heart that matters. Space is cold, Elias, and if you find warmth and affection, treasure it.”

Elias smiled. “You know, Colonel Brees told me the same thing once. It makes as much sense now as it did then.”

Aiden nodded. “That and I hate the cold. My early years were spent in Alaska on Earth, and I have never forgotten how wretched it is to lie in a cold bed with wind and snow howling outside the window. I never have to worry about that with Cleo,” he said with an impish grin.

“So what happens when the two of you settle down and decide you want children?” the fox asked, truly curious.

“Oh, we’ve talked about that. We’ve decided that adoption is the way we want to build our family. There are more than enough children out there that just need good, loving parents and a safe home. There won’t be any shortage of that from Cleo and I.”

Elias listened and admitted to himself that he liked this human, and hoped that he and his mate would have a long life together filled with the joy it had now.

The two then returned to the others and the conversation that had the trio of females laughing so hard.

After several hours of getting to know each other, the two Captains decided it was time to get back to work. The prisoner transfer went smoothly. While Nolan Rackam complained and whined at the thought of being transferred to another ship, his protestations were suddenly silenced at the appearance of the Luna Duchess’s combat team leader. Alice Toomy was the most intimidating female that Elias had ever seen. The six and a half foot tall mountain lion was curvaceous and attractive, but her gold colored eyes flashed dangerously when the former pirate captain’s whining became too much for her to bear. She cracked her knuckles loudly then pulled a nastily curved dagger from her belt that was adorned with a bone handle. The blade was polished to a mirror finish and began to clean her nails with the tip.

“You know, I can save the various tax payers that fund this little party of ours a lot credits real quick, if you’d prefer.” The look Alice gave the smaller tom was one of a butcher appraising a side of meat to be rendered into more manageable pieces. “It’ll be a shame about the mess it’ll make, but I don’t mind a little mopping. I haven’t had to swab a deck in a long time. Might be nostalgic.” She reached for the feline male, her blade flashing.

Nolan cringed back but was blessedly silent after that and did as he was told, though once he was locked into the cells with the rest of his crew, his whining increased until the primary hatch that led to the holding cells hissed shut and silence descended upon the corridor.

“Not bad. I was simply thinking about shooting him,” Elias said with a smile.

Alice gave the fox a look that had no emotion to it at all. “Too much noise in this small a space. And the propellants smell.” She then turned and retreated back to wherever it was that duty station as Elias wondered if her attitude was all a show, or for real. Then he decided that he really didn’t want to know.

The crews of the two ships got to know one another, then each returned to their respective vessels before the ships uncoupled. Elias and Galina would be on a rotating course that would have both ships cruising between the entry nadir of the Faya system and Brandt, though not so far apart that they couldn’t assist each other when the Shiva appeared.

After two weeks of no activity, it was fairly certain that the Shiva was going to be a no-show, and Elias had to fight down his frustration. Cerise was able to access the air traffic nets of both Brandt and Quet, and verified that their quarry hadn’t landed on either planet.

Trying hard not to swear, Elias informed the Captain of the Luna Duchess that he was setting course out system for shore leave.

It was time for the crew to get a break from the routine that had been going for a little over a month and a half, and he needed to give his people a break. Galina agreed that it was a wise course of action and promised to keep the fox informed of her situation.

With irritation gnawing at him, Elias told the crew to vote on a location for shore leave, then he had Saul plot a course, though they would be on duty during transit and until they made planetfall, the relief from the crew was almost a palpable thing.

In the end, the popular choice was Crescentis, oddly enough the last known location of the Shiva. Elias couldn’t argue and it was as good a place for downtime as any other. And one never knew what one might encounter in the vastness of space.

CHAPTER 16

“Roger, Crescentis Authority. We have the beacon and are beginning our descent. Guiding Angel out,” Cerise said and posted the trajectory data sent from the Crescentis ATC to the forward viewports. “We’re clear for landing at the Windward spaceport, pad number nine.”

“Thanks, Cerise,” Elias said and altered course slightly to follow the beacon signal that would guide them in. “Saul, as soon as we hit fifteen thousand feet, begin the purge of our internal tanks. We’ve been out a long time and the air is getting a little stale.”

“Got it, Boss,” the jaguar said.

The Guiding Angel hit the atmosphere of the mostly oceanic world and began to glow with an angry red-orange nimbus as the ship’s shields dissipated the heat from entry into the thickening atmosphere. From the surface of the world it looked like a particularly bright meteorite leaving a fading ruby hued track. From the bridge, the crew watched as they slipped deeper into the night of the planet beneath them, then moved far and fast enough to catch up with the sunset, watching the sky lighten before the sun rose in reverse over the western horizon in a riot of soft pastels and washed out colors save for the clouds, which were lit a dazzling magenta and deep purple.

Before long the ship swung in over the large island of Windward, a patch of land surrounded by deep blue water that was given over more to tourism and vacationers than the primary industry of fishing.That’s not to say that there weren’t fishing vessels in the little sheltered harbors of the island, but most of those boats, large and small, were given to charter boats for sport fishing and day sailing.

Elias set the Okami H model freighter down on the assigned landing pad with hardly a jolt, and quickly shut down all but the essential systems of the ship. The white fox then turned to his First Officer.

“Saul, you get to handle the safety brief. Everyone is to have a sidearm, stunner and their DataComs at all times. No exceptions. Pass out the credcards when you’re done. I’ll ping everyone two days before we lift. Think you can handle it?”

“No problem. I’ll seal the ship when I’m done and set up security protocols with Randy,” the jaguar told his Captain as he finished shutting down his own console. “So what do you plan to do while we’re here?”

The fox smiled, “As little as possible, though that’ll probably be quite a bit.” He stood and stretched, eliciting several pops from his spine. He and Cerise had already talked about spending two or three days at the spa of the resort they had already booked a suite at and Elias was anticipating spending as much time as possible under the ministrations of a professional masseuse. “What about you?”

Saul gave his superior a wide grin. “Randy and I are taking Treena and Lena on a fishing trip. Randy’s father ran a fishing boat on Dennier and our combat leader is suffering water withdraw. Seeing as how I’ve never been fishing, I think it’ll be fun.”

“Um, you do know that means diving into the water to catch the fish, which also means the fish has an even chance of catching you, right?” Cerise asked. “The kind of fish that they catch on Dennier are kind of large with lots of teeth. I’ve heard the ones here on Crescentis are even bigger.”

The jaguar’s grin faded and his eyes grew large. “What?”

Cerise let him worry for a few moments before laughing. “Just kidding, Saul. I really don’t know what they have here. And the biggest fish on Dennier is a Black Wally that really isn’t very good for eating at all.”

“Captain,” Saul said looking at the fox, “your wife has a bit of a cruel streak.”

Elias grinned. “Or I just have a gullible First Officer. You have a good shore leave.”

Elias and Cerise went to their cabin and threw a couple of bags together and had just cracked the airlock only to find a serious looking wolf at the foot of the ramp. He was gray with a broad white streak that split his face. He wore a leather flight jacket and had, of all things a captain’s hat crammed on to his head between his ears and cast at a jaunty angle.

“Captain Tivnan?” the wolf asked.

Elias’ hand twitched toward the holstered sidearm he wore under his vest, but refrained from actually touching the weapon. “Yes?”

The wolf smiled and took a couple of steps up the ramp while extending his hand. “I’m Merlin Sinclair, Captain of the Blue Horizon.”

Elias relaxed immediately and answered the smile with one of his own. “I’m glad to finally meet you, Captain,” he said as he shook hands with the wolf.

“Call me Merlin, please.” He stepped back down to let Elias and Cerise on to the tarmac. “It might be a little forward of me, but my ship and crew are going to be here for a few more days on shore leave and I was wondering if you and your mate,” he nodded towards Cerise,” would like to join me and a friend, for dinner this evening?”

“I think that is a lovely idea,” the vixen said before her husband could answer.

“I know this is short notice, but I saw your ship when it came in. When Samantha gave me the gift you dropped off back on Dennier and said that you had wanted to meet, well, I thought dinner tonight would be as good a time as any.”

“It would be my honor, Merlin. We need to check into the Fair Winds Resort first, then we can meet you wherever you’d like,” Elias told the other Captain.

Merlin chuckled. “Then you’re in luck as that’s where Sam and I are staying. May I offer you a ride?”

“As long as it’s no trouble,” Elias told him.

“Not at all!”

The wolf took Cerise’s bag for her and led the way to the small four person ground car that was parked just outside the terminal fence and security point and helped stow the pair’s bags in the trunk. As soon as they got in and fastened their safety belts, Merlin activated the flywheel motor and guided the softly whining vehicle out of the starport parking area and into the coastal city streets.

“Have you ever stayed at the Fair Winds before?” Merlin asked as he deftly steered through the light traffic, mostly bicycles and small electric jitneys, they encountered.

“No,” Cerise said. “I’ve never even been on Crescentis.”

Elias shook his head no. “The few times I’ve been on this world were spent at the SPF barracks in less than luxurious accommodations.”

Merlin laughed. “And here half of my crew thinks that your people have it made.”

Elias also laughed. “Maybe if they’re assigned to a field office on a rich world and big city. Most of us are just old space trash berthed in aging ships, to be honest.”

“That reminds me. Samantha said that you weren’t with the SPF anymore. Is that true?” the wolf asked as he made a turn towards the shoreline.

“Not anymore,” Elias told the other male.

“Pity. The SPF is shorthanded as it is. I thought they’d do everything they could to keep an individual like you. Especially after theScimitar incident.” Merlin pulled the car up to the front of a large hotel that was constructed of marble and half concealed in leafy tropical plants that were contained in planter boxes that gave the impression that the resort lay in the middle of a garden gone wild or barely tamed jungle.

“I felt that my abilities could be put to better use in other endeavors,” Elias said vaguely.

Merlin handed the keys to the car to an awaiting valet attendant after Elias and Cerise retrieved their bags. “Sam and I will be out on the mezzanine that looks out over the water when you get settled and want to join us. So, I suppose we’ll see you in a little bit?”

“Give us about half an hour,” Elias said with a small smile.

“Take your time. You’re supposed to be on leave, remember?” Merlin said with a mock salute he turned into a wave.

Elias and Cerise checked in and were shown to their rooms without any delay. Elias tipped the bellhop, a young otter who beamed at them after realizing that he had just gotten a 20 credit gratuity, and quickly withdrew after ensuring that the couple didn’t need anything further.

“I’m going to take a quick shower before we join Merlin and, what was her name, Samantha?” Cerise informed her mate, who nodded letting her know that she got the female’s name right. “Would you like to join me?” she asked archly.

“I would love to,” Elias said taking his wife in his arms. “But, if I were to that it wouldn’t be a quick shower at all, and we shouldn’t keep Merlin and Samantha waiting too long.”

Cerise sighed theatrically. “I suppose your right. But you belong to me later, fox.” She kissed him, then grabbed fresh clothing out of her bag and sauntered into the bathroom.

Elias discovered that there were two bathrooms, and each was equipped with tub, shower, and dryers, so while his mate was getting clean, he also took a quick shower, then stepped into the dryer unit so the warm air could remove the vestiges of water from his fur. Once dry, he threw on a pair of loose brown colored trousers and a light tan shirt that Cerise had gotten him back on Dennier. His normal choice of soft suede boots dyed black finished the basics. Elias then added the shoulder rig with pistol, and his stunner in a belt holster at the small of his back. A clean vest of dark gray went on to conceal the weapons.

Less than fifteen minutes had passed and Elias stepped out of the bathroom to find his wife putting on a pair of sandals. She was dressed in a simple sleeveless sundress of deep red that was belted at the waist with a gold colored chain. She pulled the chain of a matching hand bag over her shoulder and gave her mate a smile.

“I hope this is all right?”

Elias looked at her and was reminded yet again how beautiful she was. Her hair flowed freely save for one lock that was caught with a simple gold ring that had three small wine colored garnets dangling from the end and smiled.

“You could look nothing less than stunning,” he told her as he took her hands.

She dropped her head demurely, though he noticed the smug little smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“Come on. Let’s go find Merlin and Samantha. I think I already like them and I haven’t even met them yet. Not to mention that I’m famished.”

Elias held out his arm for her and led her out of the room to meet with the wolf and his friend.

***

“Sagan…now there’s a name that I would just as soon forget,” Merlin said over his after dinner coffee, a growl adding a distasteful flavor to his use of the name.

Samantha and Cerise were deep in conversation and left the males to their own conversation, oblivious to the weighty matter that the wolf and fox were discussing.

“I lost my best friend to him, and came close to losing my First Officer,” the wolf said after taking a sip from his cup. “He’s the whole reason that I armed the first Blue Horizon.”

“The first?” Elias asked, his after dinner coffee was doctored with a rich brandy that was not only pleasant in aroma but also very smooth and well aged.

Merlin nodded. “He had it out for me, and my crew, something fierce. When he hit us it was almost the end. We wound up crashing on this very planet. In fact if you want to see where we hit, just fly an hour east of here. Look for the island with the trench that runs through the fishing town there. There are probably still parts of the ship washing up on the beach.”

Elias could tell that this was still a painful memory for the wolf, and decided to change the topic.

“Merlin, with your record, your credentials, how is it that you never wound up in the SPF? Talk about needing good pilots and dependable officers! You fit the bill perfectly. I know if they were to throw you on a recruiting poster the number of female applicants would triple!”

Merlin laughed and sipped his coffee. “I had enough of combat flying for the Dennieran military during the war with Mainor.And more than enough time in uniform. I don’t lament my time with the fleet, but I’ve always wanted to be out on my own. Running a freighter let’s me do that. To be on my own, to see the worlds and people of the Alignment. It’s not just the sense of freedom, it’s making it or not because of my own merits and skill.”

“I think I can understand,” Elias offered.

“So why do you run a freighter, Elias? I know it’s not the same for everyone. I know some captains that think it’s easy money, but don’t realize the amount of work involved, which is why they’re suffering so much. Mismanagement will ground a freighter as quick as anything else. But why did you choose this life?”

Elias chuckled. “It’s a little more complicated than I can really divulge. I’m certainly waiting for business to pick up fairly shortly, though.”

“Maybe I can help out with that. I’ve got more cargo than I can handle at the moment, even with three ships running all over the PA. I can send some runs your way if you want. It certainly won’t hurt my income to pass a couple of runs your way.”

Elias looked at the wolf appraisingly. Then as if something told him that Merlin Sinclair was trustworthy he nodded to himself. “Do you think I could steal some of your time tomorrow? You might indeed be able to help me with something.”

“Let me check. Sam? Can you do without me for a while tomorrow?”

The Border collie looked up from her conversation with the vixen. “Sure. It’ll give Cerise and I a chance to do a little shopping,” she said with a smile.

Merlin smiled back. “There you go. What time is good for you, Elias?”

“Not until after breakfast I think. Does that sound all right?”

The wolf nodded. “That will be just fine.”

CHAPTER 17

“You have to be kidding me?” Merlin said as he looked at the interceptor in the Guiding Angel’s cargo bay before running a hand along the fuselage. “Pirate hunters?”

Elias shrugged. “We have to keep it quiet for obvious reasons, but, yes. We’re all SPF, despite what I told Samantha and your assistant engineer, Max. We’re the first of several vessels that are specifically charged to actively seek and neutralize piratical activity in the Planetary Alignment.”

“There’s more of you?” Merlin asked, a gleam coming to his eyes.

“One other ship at the moment with others that are being outfitted even as we speak,” the fox said.

“You know, I have always had respect for the Spatial Police Force, but that esteem has just gone up several degrees. What prompted this?” Merlin asked, obviously interested.

“After the Siilv War, trade dropped drastically. If the economy of the PA is to remain intact, and the Alignment member worlds to continue supporting each other, we have to do something about the interference with interstellar commerce. Someone finally came up with the numbers that prove this is more economical than letting ships get taken by freebooters.” Elias leaned against the side of the Raptor class fighter. “What I need to do, though, is find the pirates. That’s where you come in.”

“No wonder you were reluctant when I offered you some cargo jobs!” Merlin said with a laugh.

Elias smiled. “Can you imagine me trying to deliver a cargo with this in my bay?” the fox asked as he hooked a thumb over his shoulder. He pushed away from the fighter and led the wolf to the lift and the bridge. “What I really need is information on pirate activity as soon as it happens. I get regular updates from SPF headquarters on Joplin, but a lot of the time those reports are old and stale. I need updates on the fly. The best way I can think of to get the information on the activity that I need is from individuals like yourself, Merlin.”

The wolf nodded with a serious expression. “Bring up your charts and I can point out where the Blue Horizon and the other two ships in my company have seen the most trouble.”

The two moved to the navigation station and Elias brought up a star chart of the worlds of the Planetary Alignment, burgeoning colony worlds, and some installations that the wolf shouldn’t have seen. In his enthusiasm, Elias forgot to filter the information and swore under his breath for his own oversight.

“Don’t worry,” Merlin said and put a hand on the fox’s shoulder. “I can keep a secret. And I won’t use what I just saw for personal gain. To be honest, I have enough on my plate right now with just the basic worlds of the PA without having to worry about colony supply. If you want you can swear me to a secrecy contract.”

Elias looked at the wolf with the beginnings of a smile. “No. I really don’t think that’s necessary.”

The two bent over the display and Merlin Sinclair pointed out the areas that he or his other two ships had had encounters with pirates and raiders, and also informed Elias of rumors of some sectors that he’d heard were becoming more hazardous. Elias noted everything on his DataCom, including some of the sources of information that Merlin thought might be of help.

“If these individuals are reluctant to talk to you, just tell them I sent you. I’ve met a lot of others after doing this for so many years, and I’ve found some of the information they pass on to be valuable.” Merlin rubbed the side of his face in thought, and turned back to the screen. “You really want to consider these two areas,” he said pointing at the Van Connor Nebula that lay between Centaurus and Sol, then an area around Tanthe. “The nebula has always been a favorite spot for pirates because of sensor interference. Activity around Tanthe has picked up because of a recent surge in dependable and more efficient electronics they’re producing. They’re not too expensive as individual components, but when you have ships moving tons at a time, it gets fairly costly to lose that cargo.

“Then there is always the Sol Asteroid Belt. As a lot of belters have discovered it’s easy pickings to hit the independent prospectors and little operations, better paying and the risks are actually less than sinking mines into some of the larger rocks out there. I know the Terran Navy is trying to curb the activity, but their fleet is spread very, very thin. They just don’t have enough ships to cover that amount of space.”

Elias nodded. “I’ve noticed that. The Faya system used to be bursting with pirates and the like, but it seems that they’re packing up and moving elsewhere. I didn’t know about the belt, though. The SPF hasn’t gotten much in the way of information about that area.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Merlin told the other. “The humans there often feel that they can handle most of their problems on their own, and are pretty stingy about news that might tarnish their reputation.”

It looked as if Merlin wanted to say more, and the furrow that formed between the wolf’s brows indicated that there was more that he wanted to say, but was unsure how to go about it.

“Merlin, anything you tell me will be held in the strictest confidence. I won’t divulge your name at all should anything you tell me result in a capture, or in the curtailing of raider activity,” Elias told the wolf.

Merlin shook his head slowly. “I’m not sure that I should say this, because I’m not sure how much of what I am feeling is my own prejudice.” He sighed before continuing. “There’s a human that I’ve dealt with before. He was the one that I bought the arms for my first ship from, and it wasn’t exactly…legal. I know he has dealings with questionable suppliers, but I was desperate to protect my ship and crew.” He saw that the fox was nodding in understanding. “Now, I’ll readily admit that for the most part I trust very few humans, but that stems from past experiences. This fellow, though…call it intuition, or a gut feeling, but I don’t like him, and I certainly don’t trust him. He’s into more than just black market goods, I promise you that. But you’ll be hard-pressed to prove it. I actually have an employee on one of my other ships that’ll attest to carrying certain, hmmm, illicit goods for the man, back when he had his own vessel. As long as he is certain that he won’t be charged with anything.”

“Who are we talking about, Merlin? I swear that no one will ever know that you gave me this name.”

The wolf looked squarely in to the fox’s eyes and took a deep breath before answering.

“Victor Faltane.”

CHAPTER 18

Elias sat down in the pilot’s chair and assimilated what Captain Sinclair had just told him. It was a bit of a shock, but in a way it made a great deal of sense. It was also a very complicated and messy situation to consider.

“I know you’re familiar with him, and that this is a rather touchy subject…” Merlin began.

“Heh!” Elias snorted wryly. “It’s more than a little touchy. Especially when you consider that Mister Faltane has made it clear he has political aspirations. There isn’t a world or high profile organization he’s not associated with.” The fox shook his head before looking up at Merlin. “You’re sure about this? You could have made this easier by claiming the Alignment Under Secretary was planning on resurrecting the Hammerdine Project! But, Faltane? This is rather serious, Merlin.”

The wolf nodded somberly. “It is. Just do yourself a favor. If you do find that Victor Faltane is involved in anything you encounter, be very careful. The man is dangerous beyond measure. I just wish I had more to give you than just my say so.”

“It’s a place to start,” Elias said. “I might not like it, but I will check him out should the opportunity arise.”

The two were silent for several long seconds when the DataComs each carried chimed almost simultaneously. They both looked at the messages, then each other.

“It looks as if the ladies want to meet us for lunch,” Merlin said with a smile tugging the corners of his mouth.

“And they are being rather firm in their dress-code requirements,” Elias responded. “It seems that in our present mode we’d be overdressed.”

Merlin nodded. “Which, tells me that they must have been successful with their shopping expedition and want to show off a little for us?”

Elias chuckled. “I don’t know how things stand between you and Samantha, but I tend to follow Cerise’s little instructions when I can.”

“The foundation of a good marriage!” Merlin answered with a laugh.

“It is,” the fox said with an emphatic nod. “That and the fact that she can shoot better than I can tends to make me listen.”

The two went back to the resort, changed clothing and met Cerise and Samantha at the requested place and looked at each other with pleasant surprise. Sitting in lounge chairs on the aft deck of a sleek boat were the Border collie and vixen. The boat, Wayward Dream, was a modern looking cruiser with elegant lines and had the air that it was used to catering to well-to-do clients. The boat’s Captain and First Mate, both mice, were decked out in khaki shorts and sport shirts with the boat’s logo on the back, were busy making preparations for launch. A third mouse, maybe twelve or thirteen years old, appeared from below with a tray of drinks for the ladies, his gaze lingering on the two sunbathing forms he served. This didn’t go unnoticed by the Captain and as soon as the last of the trio retreated back into the cabin, Elias and Merlin clearly saw the youth sternly admonished, including a pinch to the ear to make sure proper attention was paid to the lecture.

The two males stopped at the gangplank and waited for the disciplinary action to conclude before calling out, “Permission to come aboard!”

The eldest of the mice, his light gray fur looked more silver in the bright sunlight, stepped out of the cabin and beamed at the two males. “You must be Captains Sinclair and Tivnan! Please, welcome aboard the Wayward Dream.”

“Call us Merlin and Elias,” the wolf said gesturing to each of them so that the mouse knew who was who. “A vessel, no matter what, only ever has one Captain, and that isn’t us!”

The mouse laughed richly and motioned the two canines on to the deck. “Well, it’s true that I’m the Dream’s Captain, but I’d prefer it if you called me Therin. My sons are my mates onboard.” He pointed to the next oldest mouse, maybe a lad of nineteen, “That would be Orin, my First Mate, and Tolly my youngest is down below.”

The ladies joined the group, and it was all Elias could do to keep his eyes off of his wife.

“Now then,” Therin said as he rubbed his hands together. “If you would like to make yourselves comfortable, we’ll be casting off soon. Once we’re out past the jetty I’ll have drinks brought out and then Orin’ll breakout the tackle. This is a bit different than most charter boats as what you catch will be cooked and served here onboard, and I’ve never disappointed a party by either bad fishing or bad cuisine! And anytime you want, you are more than welcome to join me up on the flying bridge. It’s truly a spectacular day, and there’s nothing like putting out to sea on a day like this!”

The mouse’s enthusiastic nature was contagious, and the four did as suggested and gathered on the flying bridge. Following Cerise up the ladder gave Elias a chance to admire his wife’s newest outfit and he had to admit that he liked what he saw.

Cerise had purchased a swimsuit that was a one-piece in concept, but did little to conceal her form. If anything it accentuated her body, and while she might not be as endowed as some females, she was lithe and curvaceous. The outfit was ‘V’ shaped, with the fabric being held in place by thin spaghetti straps that wrapped around her sides and hips. The cerulean color went well with her black fur, and the base of her tail was caught in a coil of silver wire that matched the one that held a lock of her lustrous hair close to her scalp. Around her waist was a sheer sarong of the same shade of blue as her swimsuit that flowed in the breeze but also clung to her hips and legs fetchingly when she walked.

The effect was astonishing and enticing to say the least.

Samantha wore a two-piece bathing suit of burgundy and gold print, also with matching sarong, and Elias wondered if he had the same silly look on his face that the wolf did when he looked at his companion.

The trip was as good as the Captain promised. All four of the party got to reel in fish that were surprisingly strong. With silver scales on the bottom and a riot of colors on their backs, the mouse’s son told them what they were and how he would prepare them. Orin proved to be quite the chef. He prepared what they caught in the small but well stocked galley of the cruiser, seasoning the fish that were brought to him delicately and enhancing the unique flavor of each one the passengers pulled out of the water. Therin made sure that the outing was enjoyable, then kept them out on the water so the party could enjoy the spectacular kind of sunset that one can only see near, or on, the ocean, and the stars were well up when they made dock.

Elias realized that the outing had enabled him to relax and really enjoy himself in a way that he hadn’t since he and the others had lifted from Dennier at the beginning of their cruise. Much of his enjoyment had to do with the company of Cerise, the confident Merlin Sinclair, and the engaging and warm demeanor of Samantha Holden.

The dock was only a short walk from the hotel, and the quartet made their way back after thanking Captain Therin and his sons for a most enjoyable day, and promises that if they ever had the chance, they would certainly call upon him again. Then the two couples made their way along the beach to the resort they were staying at.

“I would like to thank you all for a truly excellent day,” Elias said as they all walked barefoot in the soft, white sand.

“It was rather good, wasn’t it?” Merlin asked.

“I know that the scenery was quite remarkable!” the fox exclaimed with an exaggerated leer for both females.

Cerise dropped her head and giggled in embarrassment considering they were in mixed company, while Samantha seemed to stand a little taller and tossed her head so that her hair flowed in the breeze fetchingly. “Yes, we were,” the collie agreed. She and the vixen had been admiring the males earlier when both had shucked their shirts while they fished, enjoying the sun that warmed their fur.

The ladies had admitted that seeing their males so dressed had been a bit of a turn on, and were pleased that both seemed so genuinely fond of each other. The females already knew that they were friends and that their relationship would only get better each time they met, and were happy that Elias and Merlin had found in each other kindred souls.

They all bantered with each other as they ambled to their lodgings. Then, in the dim light from the resort that cast dappled shadows on the sand, they all stopped.

“Unfortunately this is where we have to leave you,” Merlin said to Cerise and Elias. “I have to get ready for launch and gather my crew for an early lift.” He turned to the fox and put forth his hand. “It has been a real pleasure and honor to meet you, Elias. I hope we can get together often in the future.”

Elias took the hand and found the grip to be friendly and warm. “I feel the same, Merlin.” Then his expression grew more sober and he looked at the wolf with growing intensity. “You know, I not only have you to thank for saving my life, and that of my crew from the Scimitar, it’s because of you I met Cerise.” He took his mate’s hand unconsciously as he spoke. “I will never be able to thank you enough. I have a great debt that I owe you.”

The wolf shook his head. “It’s what you and the others in the SPF do every day,” Merlin said. “And you all have pulled our tails out of the fire on more than one occasion. It’s us that owe you. You’ve already made us the offer, but I’ll return it in kind. If you ever need anything that’s within my ability, just let me know.”

They were silent for a few moments before Elias spoke. “You know, moments like this are rather awkward because I don’t really know what to say.”

“That’s easy,” Samantha said. “Don’t say anything. You two are already friends, and friends don’t always need to speak what they feel, do they?”

“Samantha has a point,” Cerise said. “Just let things be as they are. Why muddy the waters with words?”

Wolf and fox broke out laughing at the same time.

“Our ladies are most pragmatic tonight, are they not?” Merlin said.

“Indeed. I think we should simply say goodnight and retire for the evening.”

Merlin nodded. “Safe journey, Elias.”

“Fair winds, Merlin.”

The females embraced with promises of keeping in touch, then two couples went their different ways, Merlin and Samantha into the hotel, and Elias and Cerise further along the beach.

They walked down to the edge of the water and stood looking at the stars for a long while. In the distance came the rumble of a ship lifting from the starport, and on the horizon they saw what could have been a shooting star or another ship coming in.

Cerise snuggled her way under Elias’s arm, and smiled as she felt him tighten his hold around her.

“So, did you enjoy today?” the vixen asked quietly.

Elias smiled and looked down at the petite female. “Very much so. Thank you. Today was wonderful.”

“And did you like my new swimsuit?” she asked whimsically.

Elias coughed slightly. “Oh, yes. You are absolutely stunning. I think young Tolly was also admiring you and Samantha today, as well.”

“He was,” Cerise said nonchalantly. “He’ll have to find a girl of his own, though. Sam and I are very much spoken for,” she said and wrapped her arms around his waist under his shirt and rested her head against his chest.

“I didn’t think that Merlin and Sam were married?”

“Not yet, but it’ll happen. Trust me on this.”

They held each other for a long time before Cerise pulled away, tugging on Elias’s hand. “C’mon!”

“Where are we going?” the fox said, perplexed by this sudden burst of enthusiasm.

“To fulfill a fantasy,” she told him with a giggle.

Elias didn’t have a chance to reply as he followed his mate to a series of weather worn rocks that stuck up out of the sand about a quarter of a mile from the hotel. She pulled him behind the shelter of the largest and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately.

Elias, taken off guard, was slow to respond, but eventually returned the fervor his wife demonstrated.

“What’s this about a fantasy?” he asked, his eyes closing in pleasure as she nuzzled his neck.

“You’ve seen some of the covers on romance books, right?”

“Um, yeah. But what does-“

“You’ve seen the ones with couples frolicking on a beach?” she asked huskily.

“Oh.” Then she pulled Elias down onto the sand still warm with the day’s sun.

“Oh!” he exclaimed once more.

CHAPTER 19

“It’s not our fault that no one’s coming to the party,” Randal said as he hefted his scuba tank over the transom of the boat. He pulled off the diving mask and hung it on the valve of the tank. As he swung his legs over and planted his feet on the gently swaying deck, he twisted to give the others a hand up out of the water.

Treena was first, then Saul. Lena was content, floating in the warm water a few feet off from the dive platform attached to the aft of the watercraft.

“It’s still bloody frustrating!” Saul said. “With all of the reports that we hear about, you think we’d be running into pirates, raiders and brigands in every star system we hit.”

“Patience, Saul,” the wolf said. “Despite the number of reports, you have to consider the number of ships that are plying the trade lanes, the number of star systems, and then consider the actual encounters with pirates and raiders. There are enough out there to cause issues, but they’re going to be fairly elusive. That and we only really hit the Faya system so far, and two ships down is nothing to turn your nose up at. We must be patient.”

The jaguar flopped down onto a padded bench along the gunwale and sighed. “You’re right. I don’t like it, but you’re right.”

“I’ve been thinking about this,” Treena said as she wrung the water from her hair. “We’ve been lax on something that we should all have thought of. And when I tell you what it is, you’re going to feel as stupid as I did.”

Saul was only half listening to her as he watched the svelte ocelot move around the aft deck in her pale green swimsuit. He hadn’t had a chance to talk to her since they had shared a cup of coffee on the bridge what seemed so long ago, and he was distracted by his increasing feelings and attraction for the female.

“What’s that?” Randall asked as he turned and took Lena’s scuba tank in one hand and lifted her up onto the diving platform with the other.

Treena gave the wolf a sardonic smile. “We haven’t listed any cargo manifests.”

The other three furs looked at her, then one by one started to laugh.

“I’m sure that there are individuals with the port authorities, even in the SPF, that are more than willing to let little bits of information slip out,” the ocelot continued as she toweled her hair and fur dry. “A few credits to find out what ships are listed for arrival and departure, a few more ticks on a credcard for manifest information. Sure, it seems harmless enough at first, and let’s be honest, there are very few individuals that can’t use extra funds. Especially as depressed as the PA economy is right now. And isn’t piracy all about economics anyway? Greatest gain with least amount of risk? And what is the one thing that we haven’t done since we launched? Submitted a cargo manifest. The SPF is fairly stringent on having a list of cargoes filed for every ship, just in case of an emergency.

“Then there are the companies that are hiring the freighters to haul their goods. A disgruntled employee would be a great target to get information from, a careless delivery driver that’s had too much after-work liquid relaxation. Then there are the substandard computer security precautions that a lot of businesses utilize because they are either unable to obtain good security, or ignorant of the problem of having easily accessed files. Look how easily Cerise hacked the Quet Air Traffic Control network.”

Saul was the one that nodded and looked thoughtful despite the sun glasses that he wore. “You’re right, Treena. I do feel stupid at the moment because one of my first duty postings was as a cargo inspector. We always had a copy of the manifest before boarding a ship.”

Randy sat against the transom of the boat, and Lena, never one to be concerned about what others thought about her or her proclivities, sat down between his knees and leaned against the wolf’s broad chest as she closed her eyes and let the sunshine dry her fur.

“All things considered, it might look a little weird to have us bouncing all over known space without filing a cargo manifest. That might have raised some red flags right there,” the rabbit offered the group. Randal tried to shift position, but Lena smacked his knee playfully. “Stop squirming. I’m comfortable.”

The wolf’s expression was slightly chagrined, but he looked down at the doe with a soft expression, letting one hand rest on her shoulder while he absently stroked her ear with the other.

Silence descended on the group before Saul and Treena eventually went into the cabin, wanting to get away from the other pair for their own comfort and each had the idea of fixing a light lunch for everyone.

“I should have put money on them pairing up!” Treena whispered, trying hard not to laugh out loud.

“Really? I would never have guessed it,” Saul admitted.

“Hmm. Maybe it’s because I spend a little more time around the others.” The ocelot was slicing up a loaf of dark bread into perfect half inch thick slabs. “After something Melise told me, I’ve been paying more attention to the rest of the crew. They’ve been a pair for almost the past month”

Saul stopped stacking slices of meat and cheese to look at Treena. “A month? And I missed something this big?”He pulled a variety of cheeses and other ingredients from a small refrigerator before turning to look at the ocelot. “Something Melise told you? What was that?”

Treena ignored him for a moment, smiling mischievously to herself before answering. Finally, once the loaf was completely, and thoroughly cut up did she speak. “Oh, that she and the Captain had shared a bunk back before all of this started,” she said in an offhand manner. “I suppose that it’s no real secret. I mean, Cerise knows. So I guess it’s all right.”

Saul was stunned by this and managed only a simple and fairly inarticulate, “Huh!”

Treena began to assemble the sandwiches with the jaguar’s help. But when their hands touched momentarily, Saul jerked away like he’d been burned. Tired of the tension that was between them, the ocelot turned and looked at him squarely.

“Saul? I know you’ve been wanting to ask me something, and I’m right here. There isn’t anyone else with us. So, for both of our sakes, would you just spit it out?”

The jaguar was caught off guard and looked at Treena with surprise and a hint of panic in his gold eyes. “Um…well, I just wanted you to know…that..um…”

Treena smiled and shook her head then began to chuckle. “Ah. So that’s what you wanted to tell me. I didn’t think that you’d be so eloquent about it.” She moved closer, but a swell caught the boat and threw her the last few inches.

Without thinking, Saul caught her and tried to help her stand on her own, but couldn’t seem to move her. It took several moments before he realized that it was because she had her arms around him and hadn’t let go yet. Without hesitation, she stood on her tip toes and kissed him soundly.

“Is that the answer you were waiting for?”

The jaguar simply looked at his shipmate with a dumbfounded expression that eventually melted into a broad grin. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you for weeks,” he admitted.

“So what stopped you?” she asked, her eyes large and round.

“It just never seemed to be the right time,” the larger feline said weakly.

“It never does, Saul,” the ocelot said, kissing him again. “But sometimes we have to make the best with what we have, anyway.”

“So you knew that I was attracted to you?”

Treena threw her head back and laughed. “Are you kidding? What kind of investigator would I be if I didn’t? I know that you like it when I wear that purple and black outfit to work out in.” Saul sputtered in weak denial, which only made the ocelot laugh harder. “C’mon, Saul! You didn’tblink your eyes for almost my entire workout! And how many reps with the weights did you actually get through?”

With the insides of his ears turning bright pink in embarrassment, Saul also began to chuckle. “Guilty as charged.”

“That’s all right. I forgive you. In fact, I’ll show you just how forgiving I can really be.” She took his hand and started to lead him to the forward cabins.

“But what about the others?” he asked, his ears growing even hotter and brighter, and his heart hammered in his chest.

Treena shot a sultry look over her shoulder. “They’re all grown up. They can get their own lunch!”

***

Lena sighed as Randal began to massage her shoulders. Between his ministrations and the sun beating down on her, the delicious fatigue in her muscles from the dive, she felt completely at peace and let everything flow over her as she drifted into a half doze.

She had been a little nervous at first when Randal suggested the dive with scuba tanks. She’d always loved bathing and swimming, but it was her first experience with something like that. The wolf promised her that it wasn’t all that different from a space walk, but some of the rules were reversed. With a little instruction, and the promise that he’d be right with her the whole time, Lena agreed. And she was so very happy that she did.

It was like another universe under the water, and the rich oceans of Crescentis teemed with life that was strange and beautiful. The colors were clear and vibrant as she and the others moved through the warm waters, a feeling of freedom that was similar to what she felt when she flew her fighter swept over her, and she was surprised when the wolf tapped her shoulder, pointed at his watch, then at the surface.

Lena promised to listen to all of his instructions, but there was no way an hour had already passed! She didn’t believe that they had stayed down that long until they broke the surface and the doe saw that the sun had definitely moved further along on its westward track.

That was inconsequential now, though. Randy knew just where to knead the muscles of her shoulders and back, and she relished the feel of her lover’s strong hands on her. He lulled her into a totally relaxed state, and she felt safe and secure with him. As she sat there, she let her mind wander. She hadn’t expected to form any romantic liaisons while she was on the Guiding Angel that was more than the occasional tryst, and her feelings for the wolf had caught her off guard. She’d dated males of her own and other species. They had been pleasant distractions at the time, but nothing earthshaking.

When she’d first met Randal, she hadn’t really noted anything about him that made him stand out to her. Granted, he was fairly handsome, and certainly brave. But he seemed so quiet and aloof. Then late one ship’s period she couldn’t sleep and decided to run her next duty shift’s planned diagnostic of her fighter. The lift doors parted and she had taken a single step from the elevator when she stopped dead. Music the likes of which the doe had never heard flowed around her from everywhere in the converted cargo bay. Notes pure and electrical washed over her with emotions bold and subtle. She hadn’t realized when the music stopped she was so transfixed. Next thing Lena was aware of was Randy standing in front of her, a strange shaped case hanging from one hand.

“Are you all right, Lena?” the wolf asked with deep concern on his face.

He reached out a large hand and gently brushed the moisture of tears from her eyes. She hadn’t known that she’d been crying.

“I’m fine,” she told him. Then with a sniff and supreme effort of will, she regained her senses. “Was that you?” she asked simply.

“The music? Yes. I like to play when there’s no one else around.” He lifted the case he carried as if to emphasize his words.

“Would you play something for me?”

He smiled and nodded, taking her hand in his and leading her into the middle of the bay. The gesture was simple and unconscious, but it amazed Lena how so large and strong an individual, one whose life centered around physical combat, could be so tender and gentle. He let go of her hand to move a crate over so that she could sit down, then opened the case and pulled out his keyboard. It looked so tiny and fragile as he held it. Randal looked at her for a moment then nodded, set the instrument on his lap, made a few adjustments and began to play.

The notes were so soft and subtle that Lena had to strain to hear them, then as he began the tune in earnest, the beginning notes came back, and the entire sound was altered in to something surreal. She watched transfixed, as lost in the music as he was in playing it. Lena felt as if it were taking her somewhere beyond the gray bulkheads around her, beyond the ship, beyond anything she had ever known. Then he was done, and Lena was certain that there would never be another individual in the universe that could make her feel as she did right then.

Acting on impulse and emotion, Lena went to the wolf, throwing herself into his arms and kissing him deeply.

When she finally relented her grip around his neck, she found that Randy was holding her up. He lowered her gently to the deck and looked at her quizzically.

“What was that about, Lena?”

They had spent the next several hours talking, and the few after that in his cabin. The rest, as is often said, is history.

They kept their pairing quiet and discreet, though they wouldn’t hide it either. Melise had known almost immediately, but had kept the knowledge to herself. “It’s nobody else’s business,” the panda had told them gruffly, though Lena suspected that the other combat non-com was happy for them.

Now they sat together, no duty shifts, nothing being required of them but to simply enjoy the moment, and Lena had to admit that she felt more content than she ever had at any other time in her life.

“I wonder what happened to lunch?” Randy asked after several long minutes.

Lena opened her eyes and looked into the area that had the galley and saw that it was empty. “It’s about time!” she exclaimed with a smile.

“What’s about…oh.Never mind,” the wolf said with a chuckle. “Maybe they’ll both stop moping around the ship with their melancholy expressions when they’re not on duty.”

Lena got up, reluctantly, and finished the work the other two had started, bringing a tray of sandwiches out along with a couple of bottles. She handed the wolf a sandwich and bottle after opening it. “They have been rather mopish, haven’t they?”

“’Mopish’? Is that a word?” Randal asked with a grin.

“It is now. I just made it up.” She grabbed her own food and drink before she resumed her original position with a sigh of contentment. She retrieved her beer and took a long swallow, enjoying the strong wheat flavor tinged with honey. It was a little warm, but utterly refreshing.

The drink was also potent, and she felt the effects even as she finished the bottle despite the food.

“Wow. If I’m not careful, I’m going to get tipsy enough to let you take advantage of me,” Lena said and leaned further back against Randal. “That or I might try to seduce you.”

The wolf chuckled, a deep, rich sound. “You can’t seduce the willing.”

“Oooo. Then you can take advantage of me. It’ll be less work.”

“Lena, there are times you are incorrigible.”

She tilted her head back and smiled. “I know. It’s one of my better qualities!”

***

Rutger returned to the ship a day ahead of schedule. He had systems that he wanted to check out before the Guiding Angel lifted again. Besides, Stram was always telling him that the best way to get promoted was to show initiative instead of waiting to be told to do something. So he was following that advice.

Besides, the pair of lovely and intoxicating Persian females he’d met had left the day before, but not before giving the tuxedo tom a very memorable farewell. He smiled as he thought of them, and the memory of the way their soft white fur felt against him. With a shake of his head and another smile, he focused on the task at hand.

During their entry into the Crescentis atmosphere Rutger thought he’d felt a change in the vibration of the deck. He’d kept a close eye on his gauges at his station in the engine room, but nothing had shown that would have caused alarm. Still, it was his job to stay on top of things, and while it might be the fittings for the engine mounts settling in, he wanted to make sure. He and Stram were no less responsible for the other lives of those onboard than the Captain, or anyone else was.

And as far as that went, Rutger wanted very much to please Elias Tivnan.

There was a quality about the fox that instantly garnered respect and a desire to please. The best way for that to happen was for the cat to do his job the best he knew how. Elias had a way of making a person want to be better than he was, and Rutger planned to do just that.

After shucking on a set of work overalls, he strapped his tool belt on and slung a diagnostic pack over his shoulder and shimmied into the port engine access way. He moved around the huge drive unit, plugging the equipment into various ports for machine-to-machine interface, then double checked the readings himself. It was almost an hour before he found the first loose coupling for the primary mounting brackets.

The large fasteners were meant to absorb and dampen vibrations along with the brackets from the huge power and propulsion plants. The problem was that the mounting bolts were a little loose, and while still doing their job, they wouldn’t be as efficient and the resulting vibrations would eventually shear through the huge bolts. He tightened those down, making sure that the setting on the power-torque was set to the specifications Okami had established. Rutger then moved to the others in sequence. The last one, however was more of a problem than just loose bracket bolts. The vibration collar, a material that was flexible and nearly indestructible when cast into a three inch thick, eight inch diameter ring, was slightly scored and crystallized.

No wonder he’d felt a change in the deck plates. If this had been left alone for too long, it could have actually caused other problems, like generating stress fractures in the hull around the unit, or even damaged the rib members and keel. With a sigh, Rutger slid around so that he could retrieve a replacement ring and bolts. He wouldn’t know if the bolts were fractured until he removed them, and it was better to have them on him instead of continuously crawling in and out of the engine compartment.

It didn’t take long for him to find the necessary stores, and within fifteen minutes was back to the affected mounting bracket. As he set to work, he let a fraction of his mind that wasn’t bent to the task at hand roam.

Rutger was still ecstatic to have been selected for service on the Guiding Angel. The first of a whole line of pirate hunters! It was like a dream come true for him. Granted, the engineers on any vessel were never given the credit they deserved, but they knew that their job was as vital as any other on a ship. More so, even. It was they, the grimy wrench-turners that kept everything, EVERYTHING, running on a ship. From the engines, weapons and life support, to things like reading lamps, terminals, and even the plumbing. All of the items on a ship were vital, and it was those like him that ensured the others could do their jobs.

And it didn’t hurt to have a superior like Stram to work under either. The badger was easy going, and his demeanor was as calm and cool as one could want. He was a thorough professional, and Rutger was learning things that he’d never thought about. Like the Captain, the grizzled old badger made you want to do your best.

As he slipped the new ring into place, and then inspected the bolts with a spectral imager for fractures, Rutger recalled how Stram had welcomed him onto the crew. After the party that Elias had thrown, the badger had taken the cat to one of his favorite bars, complete with some of the most exotic dancing girls the cat had ever seen, and explained how their ship was like a fine Lady. You didn’t force her to do anything. One had to talk to her, and listen when she talked back. She would have her good days, and her bad ones, but first and foremost, she needed to be treated with respect.

Stram had even gone so far as to prove to the cat that at the end, when all was said and done, it was the engineers that got the best girls to go out with them. Not the pilots or navigators, or even the captains. It was the wrench-turners. Why? Because they knew how to treat a Lady with the respect and affection she deserved. Just to prove the point, Stram had coaxed six of the girls away from the other male patrons. And no matter how those same patrons tried to wheedle or coerce the girls to pay attention to them, no matter how much money they flashed, none of them would leave Stram and Rutger’s table. They left the bar, the badger with five of the girls surrounding him and all having a grand time dancing and cavorting down the street. The one that stayed with the cat had done so because she thought he was just the cutest thing ever, and had said so repeatedly.

It was a lesson well demonstrated, and Rutger had taken what he’d learned. Thus his most enjoyable shore leave with Charlotte and Simone. While not related, the two felines could have easily been mistaken for sisters. He had done something that all of the males that had tried to warm up to them had failed to do. He talked to them and shown them respect instead of just treating them as a couple of insipid pretties.

Satisfied that the fitting was secure, and pocketing the bolts that had proven sound in a pocket, Rutger finished his inspection and satisfied himself that all was right with the engines and their mountings. After crawling out of the access, he went ahead and began a full diagnostic of the engines, a process that even the dedicated VIP 25 computer would need a couple of hours on and set about inspecting other areas before grabbing an engineering DataPak to check the systems of the Raptor class interceptor after setting the two other computer cores on diagnostic cycles for the rest of the ship.

The cat was literally curled up in the forward landing strut bay when he heard the personnel airlock cycle open. As per Captain Elias’s standing orders, he carried both a stunner and 7 millimeter semiautomatic sidearm. Opting for the stunner, even though he had been trained extensively with the pistol, he dropped out from underneath the fighter, hanging upside down, but his weapon pointed in the right direction in a two-handed grip. At the last moment, he realized that it was Elias and his mate, Cerise, and immediately pulled the weapon up.

“Sorry, Captain! I wasn’t expecting anyone back yet,” the cat said feeling his ears turning red, and not just with the blood that was rushing to his head.

“Don’t apologize, Rutger,” Elias said. “You are doing what you are supposed to do.”

Rutger grinned at the fox. “Thanks, Captain. If you can give me a few minutes, I can go ahead and get full power going to the upper decks.”

“Not if you’re in the middle of something. Finish what you’re doing. I can get that set up.” Instead of moving to the lift, which was drawing its power from the cargo deck circuits, the fox set his bag down and knelt so that he could observe what the tom was doing. “How’s she checking out?” he asked.

“Oh, she’s just fine, Sir. I wanted to do a basic service diagnostic before we launch tomorrow. I’m also running a diagnostic on the engines, so if you need to access anything from that core it might be a little sluggish. The other cores are defragging.” Rutger adjusted the fitting on a hydraulic line so that it was more to his satisfaction. “I did find a problem with one of the port engine mounting brackets. Some of the fittings were a little loose, and one of the vibration rings had some scoring and had crystallized. I replaced it and checked all of the others on both engines. It didn’t come from anything in the housing well. From what I could tell, the surge occurred when we took on theIncubus, and some of the backlash energy from the shields arced through the hull plating and insulation to the nearest ground point. I ran a test on the shield emitters for the aft quarter and found that one was a little off and the frequency wasn’t quite in sync with the others.”

“You’ve been busy, Rutger. When did you get back?” Elias asked, nodding appreciatively.

“About 0500 this morning, Captain. My company left yesterday, so I figured I’d get a jump on things instead of having them get worse and needing to fix them while we were in the air.” The cat put the spanner he’d been using into the loop it normally rested in and dropped from the strut well. “Oh, and I went ahead and cleaned the filters and purge assembly. I know you had Mister Reese do that when we hit atmosphere, but there was some condensation that I wanted to get rid of before it fouled the internal air. I didn’t think that you and the rest would like the ship stinking of mildew.”

Elias smiled and clapped the young cat on the shoulder. “Rutger, when everyone else is getting ready for launch tomorrow, I want you to enjoy sleeping in. Those are my orders, considering you have seen to it that Stram won’t have anything to really do!”

“He’ll have plenty to do, Sir! I can’t let him work alone,” the feline protested.

“What? You don’t think I can handle this Lady on my own, boy?” asked a gruff voice from the airlock.

Elias and Rutger turned and saw a smiling Stram standing in the cargo bay in a horrid red and floral shirt and white shorts with sandals. A straw hat was crammed on top of his head and looked as if it had seen better days.

“Not at all!” Rutger said, swallowing. “It’s just that there’s going to be a lot to get done and-“

“And not nearly so much with everything you’ve already taken care of. I have to agree with the Cap’n,” the badger said still smiling. “Sleep in tomorrow, lad. You’ve earned it.”

As soon as Stram got closer, Elias’ nose wrinkled as a wave of overpowering perfume hit him with enough intensity to make his eyes water. “By the Maker! Did you fall into a vat of cheap perfume, or wallow in a spill at the local cosmetics shoppe?” Elias asked as he put his hand over his nose.

“Wallowed, Cap’n. But with’n those that wear it,” he said with an impish grin.

Elias stepped away from the badger. “Blood, Stram! Shower. Now. That’s an order.” The badger laughed as he walked to the lift. “And burn those clothes! Plus shots from the Doc when he gets back!” Elias yelled as the lift doors shut.

The fox turned when he heard Cerise laughing and saw that Rutger was grinning broadly as well. “You know, there are some traits of your beloved mentor that you really don’t need to emulate.”

Laughter rang through the cargo bay.

CHAPTER 20

Before lift-off, Saul asked the rest of the crew to discuss the point that Treena had brought up and their failure to register any kind of cargo manifest. He nodded at the looks from Elias and the rest of the officers as they realized the blunder made.

“I certainly feel foolish,” the fox said. “There is no excuse for us, for me, really, to have overlooked something as simple as that.”

“Actually, Captain, it is excusable,” the jaguar said. “You were busy ensuring each of a hundred things were ready for our first launch. It’s our failing as your staff that we didn’t think about this.”

Elias shook his head. “Well, there’s no help for it at this point. I’ll contact the local SPF field office and log a manifest to them. I figured we’d set a course for Earth via Mars as our next stop. From there we’ll make a run to the Centaurus system and Van Connor nebula, back through Sol, and then onto the Anya star system. From each one we’ll have preset manifests.”

“Um, I, uh, already did that, Captain,” Saul said.

Elias looked at his second and the jaguar dropped his head a little. “We’d already talked about heading to Earth and Mars with time spent in the Sol Belt, so I logged a manifest that would explain our lingering in that region of space for a while.”

“Elias crooked a half smile at his First Officer. “Good show, Saul,” he said, and noted the large feline’s reaction to the praise by standing a little taller with his head up. “So what are we supposed to be carrying?”

“Earth tends to be fairly self sufficient, but the humans there love luxury items and things they consider exotic, while Mars and the belt are always in the need of the basics, so I logged our cargo as cybernetic components for Mars and the Belt along with stable demolitions materials, and urka wood from Pomen and twenty bales of Ganisian tobacco for Earth and the Mercury and Gemini settlements of Earth’s moon.”

“It’s all stuff that the Sol system could use or want, and all have high value, Captain,” Treena said.

Elias regarded the ocelot, noticing that there seemed to be something different about her. She seemed more…comfortable around the rest of the crew instead of her normal stand-offish air, like she was actually part of the crew now.

“Excellent. Good work everyone. We haven’t really run into much, but what I’ve seen from all of you has been impressive, very professional, and I think it’s only proper that all of your hard work is properly recognized.” Elias sat on the table surface that he’d been standing in front of and put his hands on the edge, looking at each of the members of his crew one by one. “Should any of you ever decide to return to regular SPF duty, you will find commendations in each of your record files.” He saw the surprised looks on their faces and smiled to himself. “There’s more, though. Because of the nature of this operation, each of you is also receiving a percentage of the salvage from captured prizes and recovered cargos. It might not seem like much at first, but Colonel Brees informed me that at the moment, all of you have garnered 13,500 credits each from the recovery of the Incubus and the Lucky Star. There has also been a payout from the Captain of the SS Mintaka for the crew that rescued him to the sum of 85,000 credits to be divided amongst all of you, and that comes to 8500 credits apiece.”

Randal, standing behind the rest of the crew and nearest the hatch to the lift, raised his hand. “Begging your pardon, Captain. But that’s only ten shares and there are twelve of us on this ship. I guess what I’m asking is what about your and Cerise’s shares? You earned it as much as we did.”

Elias shook his head. “Cerise and I opted not to take any of the reward. We discussed this and determined that we really didn’t need it, and that the rest of you more than earned it.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to disagree, Captain,” Sonja said, standing and supporting the wolf. “You are just as much at risk as the rest of us.” The Spaniel had really surprised Elias and the rest of the officers on the Guiding Angel with her change since she had come on board. She didn’t have to prove herself to anyone here, and it had helped to alleviate the planet sized chip she had been known to carry. “If you aren’t accepting a share, I can’t take mine.”

“Ditto on that, Cap’n,” Stram said as he worked a bit of greasy grit from under a fingernail with a screwdriver. “If you aren’t takin’ a share I don’t want mine either.”

The rest of the crew agreed, and Elias felt a surge of pride for the crew that he had. They were really acting like a crew and not just a batch of random individuals thrown together.

As the vocalization of refusing to take the reward if it wasn’t shared out equally to all of them rose in volume, Elias held up his hands for silence. “All right, all right. I get the picture. Then, as all of you seem so adamant about this, what if we were to take the money and establish a ship’s fund? I know we have funding for this operation from Joplin, but if this becomes something of a standard occurrence, we could use monies of this nature to become more self sufficient. I know the Colonel would appreciate that with the budget issues the SPF is suffering from at the moment, and it would show the bean counters in Central Headquarters that operations like ours can take care of themselves if given time.”

The crew batted this about and finally agreed that it would be acceptable. No one individual would get more than the rest and it would help sustain a mission that they all believed in.

“Is it all settled, then?” Elias asked and nodded once everyone signaled agreement. The fox used a remote to drop the lights and brought up a display on the viewport turned vidscreen. “All right. Now then, as already mentioned, our next few ports of call are in the Sol system. We’re going to be taking a round-about course as if we were coming in at the most economical approach that will take us to the Europa colony, the Sol Asteroid Belt, Mars and eventually Earth’s moon and the planet itself. There has been some activity in the Belt region with raiders hitting small independent mining operations and taking everything that’s not bolted down. The Terran Navy is having a hard time protecting these areas, especially the independent Belters because they are so spread out. They’re a hard breed and very self-reliant, but they also tend to be the most friendly when help arrives. They won’t ask for it, but they do appreciate a helping hand when it shows up. They are also the most tolerant of other species, so some of their trading posts have amenities established specifically for furs. Our course will bring us in just past Saturn here…”

***

It was four days since the Guiding Angel lifted from Crescentis, and Cerise sat in the infirmary as Lemuel ran several tests. She had been working at a letter to her family on the terminal in the cabin she and Elias shared when the unit locked up. Instead of re-initializing, she had flown into a fit of fury and put the bottom of her boot through the screen.

She had never before suffered feeling of such anger before and to lash out like she had was so out of character that it frightened her. Then there was the incident of irrational fear when Elias had decided to pursue the Shiva. The vixen was losing control over her emotions, and it frightened her. What was wrong with her? To top it all off, she was starting to forget things, and that was something that had never happened before along with feeling rundown and lethargic.

Suppressing a shiver, Cerise hugged herself as she sat on the edge of the medical bed and waited for the tiger to return.

An uncomfortable tightness developed low in her stomach, and Cerise patiently sat through it and it vanished after a few moments. It must be nerves, she told herself. Then the tightness returned, and quickly turned into a sharp, burning pain that doubled her over. She fell off the bed, gripping her belly, tears of pain oozing past her tightly clenched eyes and a sad whimper escaped her throat.

There was a brief moment of relief, then the agony returned tenfold. Cerise gasped for breath, her entire torso seizing up, her muscles cramping with a fierceness that curled her into an even tighter ball.

“Doctor!” she managed to whimper through her strangled throat.

Hearing her plea, Lemuel Anders darted into the primary examination room to find the tiny female in distress. “Where’s the pain?” he asked, then yelled, trying to get through to her, so great was her agony. He got her into a sitting position and saw that while she couldn’t speak, she was clutching her lower stomach, trying to get enough breath into her lungs so that she could speak, but that effort only yielded enough air for her to whimper again.

With a combination of speed and surprising gentleness, he scooped the female up in his arms and placed her back on the bed instead of letting her lie on the cold deck. Even as he raised the safety rail, his other hand shot out and opened a drawer in the medical cabinet next to the bed. He quickly retrieved a pressure syringe and ampoule of medication, loading it and dialing in the dosage as efficiently as others onboard would load a pistol. Lemuel then placed the nozzle at the juncture of Cerise’s neck and activated the unit, a tiny hiss delivering a strong sedative and painkiller to the vixen’s blood stream.

He waited a few moments for it to take effect, speaking soothingly until her eyes fluttered closed. As soon as Cerise was out he took her pulse and hooked her up to a monitor. The tiger retrieved a thick blanket and placed it over her as the machine began to beep softly with the petite female’s rapid pulse and shallow breathing, Lem tripped the intercom to the bridge.

“Bridge, here,” came the voice of Saul Reese.

“Saul? It’s Lem. Turn us to the nearest world with at least class two medical facilities. Now. Time is vital.”

“Roger that. Closest would be Pomen from here. Travel time is fourteen hours,” the jaguar said. “What’s wrong, Doc? Who’s hurt?” The worry was clear in the First Officer’s voice.

“Don’t worry about that right now. Just get us there. As in yesterday. Understand?”

“Got it. I can shave off a few hours by declaring a medical emergency. We can be there in about ten hours.”

“I would prefer it to be sooner, but that’ll have to do. Infirmary out.”

Instead of calling for Elias over the intercom, the tiger pinged a message to the fox’s DataCom. It was less than five minutes before Elias arrived at the hatch to the medical section.

“Is something wrong, Lem?” the Captain of the Guiding Angel asked. Then his eyes fell upon the supine and unconscious form of Cerise, and he let out a cry as he rushed to the bed. He took her hand and brushed the hair from her face. The pain of seeing his mate like this clear in his blue eyes.

“What’s wrong with her, Lemuel?” Elias whispered, his eyes never leaving Cerise’s unconscious form.

The tiger took a seat and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed for a moment. “She came to me this morning after she had…an accident. She told me that she was suffering extreme discomfort and emotional swings and wanted an examination. Do you know how long she’s been suffering these mood variations?”

“The only time I saw her act out of character was back when we were waiting for the Shiva. She was almost irrational. That’s the only time that I remember. What does it mean?”

“I thought it might have been something routine,” the tiger said picking up a dedicated medical DataPak, and brought up a file. “By routine I mean pregnancy as vixens and other canine species tend to get a little high-strung during the first few phases. Instead I found this.” Lemuel slid the small pad so that Elias could see it. “See this. And here? These are like cysts, but it’s actually deteriorating matter. It’s affecting her glands, her reproductive organs, liver, and the digestive tract. It’s causing them to go septic and it’s killing her.”

Elias looked horrified. “Cancer?”

“No. This is far more insidious,” the tiger said, looking his Captain squarely in the eyes. “Elias, Cerise has been poisoned.” He took the DataPak back and shut it off. “I’m waiting for the tests to finish. There are a few toxins that will do this, but they take a really long time to cause this much damage.”

“How long?” the fox asked, anger beginning to mix with the dread and fear within him.

“Months. Almost all poisons of this nature are heavy metal based. Most require constant dosing to do damage, otherwise the body discharges it in the normal manner it does all wastes. This stuff, though…That’s why we are en route to Pomen. Fortunately that world has the best hospitals in the entire Planetary Alignment. This has been in her system for a while, but we have a little time. Just a little, but we’re headed to the world with the best facilities and staff to take care of this.”

***

The Guiding Angel was given immediate landing clearance, more to Elias sending an SPF override code than the fact they had a life-threatening medical emergency onboard. Before the ship was even fully shut down, Elias was in the cargo bay with the Doctor, Randal, and Melise wheeling Cerise, still unconscious, on the medical bed outside so that she could be loaded on the air ambulance that was waiting for them. Elias and Randal accompanied the vixen to the hospital along with Lemuel Anders, and it wasn’t long before she was undergoing treatment to leach the toxins from her body.

During her induced coma state to slow the onslaught of the poison, Cerise had noticeably lost weight, and looked thin and fragile as she lay under an oxygen tent, various machines circulating her blood through special cleansing processes while others added nutrients she was in dire need of, or keeping her hydrated while still another introduced therapeutic stem cells to help repair and rebuild the damage that was done.

Through it all, Elias never left her room, and even openly wore his sidearm. No one would harm his mate if he had any say in the matter. The rest of the crew took turns staying outside the room, concern and worry evident on their faces. At first the hospital security force tried to refuse Elias’ entry into the hospital with his wife, but soon found themselves facing a number of armed and angry individuals. When the local police were called in, an extremely tense situation was disarmed by Randal, who quietly, and with accompanying secrecy contract, informed the officer of the watch, and his superior, of the nature of their mission, and the reasons for their behavior. The entire crew was then given some leeway, but with the understanding that planetary authorities wouldn’t tolerate an abuse of their trust.

The poison was identified as seditarol, a substance that was common on Dennier for the control and elimination of vermin, and almost exclusive to that world. As they hadn’t been anywhere near Tanthe, the only other planet that used the same substance for the same reasons, it narrowed the field of investigation substantially.

On the third day, Cerise opened her eyes to find a very tired and wore out Elias sitting next to her bed. He had dozed off, but she could tell that he was at the end of his reserves. His normally white fur looked slightly yellow and was matted on both sides of his face. She reached out a weak and trembling hand, clumsily brushing the tear stained fur along his right cheek, the motion hampered by the intravenous tubes that was attached to the back of her hand and in her arm.

“’Lias?” she said, her voice a harsh and raspy whisper. “What’s going on?”

The fox jerked awake at her touch, his eyes red and puffy and feeling as if sand were crammed underneath the lids. He didn’t answer at first. He simply grasped her hand and kissed her palm, fresh tears flowing freely from his eyes. She tried to smile, but the expression was weak and seemed to take more energy than she couldn’t spare.

“I thought I lost you, Love,” he said and put her hand against his face.

“What happened?” she whispered, already starting to fade out.

“Worry about that later. Just rest right now, okay?”

Cerise nodded, the action barely perceptible, but all that the vixen could muster. With a sigh she drifted off while her mate sobbed with relief.

Later, Lemuel and the doctor that was her primary physician at the hospital, a large grizzly named Paul Halstead with a gray shot muzzle, let Elias know that her waking was the sign that they had been waiting for. “It’ll be a few weeks before she starts to get back to her normal weight and activity level, but she’s out of danger,” he said. “We’ll continue the leeching and stem cell therapy. It looks as if things are healing well, and continuing this process for a few days will ensure that all of the toxins are removed. I expect her to be awake on a regular schedule within the next 24 hours, and hollering for food each time.”

Elias nodded and moved to shake the bear’s hand. “Thank you, Doctor. And you, Lem. Thank you both very much.” He would have said more, but he began to sag with exhaustion and was caught by the tiger.

Doctor Halstead looked at the fox, then gave him a cursory exam.

“Mister Tivnan, you are at the end of your reserves. Let the rest of your people keep an eye on things here. Go get some rest. You’re of no use to anyone here, and you’ll just be a burden if you pass out and crack your head on something. Go on. Get a shower, get some sleep, get some food. Just get it somewhere other than here.”

Lemuel guided his Captain out of the room and passed him off to the seemingly ever present Randal and Melise. “Take him to the hotel and get him cleaned and into bed. Cerise is going to be fine, but I have enough on my plate taking care of her right now. I’d rather not have to explain to her why he’s in a bed next to her.”

“No problem, Doc,” Melise said, slipping an arm under her friend to support him. “Randy can help me get Elias to the hotel then come back. Treena and Sonja are on their way back with sandwiches and coffee, so if you need them they’ll be close by and you have Stram to keep an eye out here.”

The tiger only nodded before returning to the room where Cerise slept while Elias was taken to the hotel that the crew had checked into and rented a couple of rooms. It was only a couple of blocks to from there to the hospital, but Randal had already rented a car for their use and helped the panda pour their wrung out companion into the back.

“I’m tired,” the fox said as he leaned back against the rear seat and Melise slid in next to him.

The wolf took the driver’s position and deftly guided the car to the main entrance of the hotel. It wasn’t long before they had Elias in one of the rooms set aside for their use while in the city.

“I’ve got him from here if you want to head back to the hospital,” Melise informed the wolf.

“Thanks. I don’t want to leave either of them unguarded until we figure out just what’s going on. Lemuel said he had some information for me as well, and I’m curious as to what it is. Do you want this?” Randal asked, opening his jacket enough to show the butt of a sub machinegun under his baggy leather jacket.

Melise smiled and held her long coat open to reveal the grips of two pistols and the pommels of several blades. “I think I’m covered,” she said with a grin.

Randy nodded and left, making sure he locked the door on the way out.

“Come on, Elias. Let’s get you out of that stuff you’re wearing. You smell.” Melise moved to help the fox disrobe, but her hands were batted away feebly.

“I can get this,” he said irritably, then stumbled and would have fallen had he not caught the back of a thickly upholstered chair and been caught likewise by his friend.

“Yeah. Like hell you can. You’re burned out and haven’t eaten or slept for almost four, now five, days. Don’t argue.”

The fox blinked. “Has it been that long?”

“Yes, you dolt. Let’s go.”

Melise got him undressed and under a hot shower before depositing his clothing in a receptacle, unsure whether she should have it cleaned or burned, eventually opting for the former. When he almost slipped in the shower, the panda also undressed and stepped in behind the fox.

“Gods, El. You’re a mess. Gimme that,” she demanded, taking a bottle of liquid soap from Elias’s numb fingers. She squeezed out a generous portion and began to lather the herbal scented green soap into his fur. “Well, it’s been a while since we did this, hasn’t it?”

Elias said nothing as she scrubbed him down and then rinsed the soap from his fur, his exhaustion causing his mind to float in a detached state. He and Melise had been intimate in the past, and one of his favorite activities with her had been to bathe together. While he no longer had those kinds of feelings for her, Elias was terribly fond of the panda. She was just as lean and svelte as ever, her long white hair fell free and he recalled the times that he held her close to him in either his or her bunk what seemed a lifetime ago. Now, though, he felt the passion that had been a part of their past relationship as a deep and affectionate friendship. He reached out and touched her cheek.

“Thanks for being there for me, Mel. You’re a better friend than I think I deserve sometimes.”

She finished rinsing the soap from his legs, stood and pulled the fox into a warm embrace. “I always will be, Elias. I always will be.” She pulled away. “Now then. Let’s get you dry and into bed.”

“But I’m married,” he said in a sarcastic tone and chuckled weakly.

Melise smiled and gave a small laugh of her own. “Don’t be flippant. You’re in no condition to protect yourself right now and I might have to thump you.”

The dryer was effective and Elias was feeling warm and barely aware of his surroundings as his friend led him to the bed. She gave his fur a cursory brushing before pushing him back and covering him up. “Get some sleep, El. I’ll be right here if you need me.”

Elias nodded once and even as his eyes closed was deep asleep. Once she was sure that he wasn’t going to wake up, the panda again made sure that all of the locks on the door were secure, including a portable latch that added to the difficulty of getting the door open from the hallway. Until they determined what exactly had happened and how Cerise had gotten dosed with the poison, none of them were taking any chances and treating the event as a very direct attack on all of them.

Laying her portable arsenal on the nightstand, Melise took a chair and sat watching her friend and Captain for several minutes, unconscious of the fact that she was still nude. While a small part of her was regretful that Elias was off limits as a playmate, she was happy for him and the vixen he’d married, and was fond of both of them more than she could articulate. A single tear escaped her eye as she realized just how much she loved these two, and how rich her life was from knowing them. If someone had ever told her during her childhood on Brandt that she could feel this way for others, she would have either laughed in their face, or laid them flat, either reaction having had equal chances of happening.

Almost an hour had passed unnoticed as Melise sat there in her state of reverie when Elias sat bolt upright, a look of deep fear in his eyes as he woke from a nightmare.

Cerise!” he shouted as the blankets fell away from his shoulders.

“She’s fine, Elias. She’s being taken care of by the others. She’s all right. I promise you. Randy and Lemuel are with her,” the panda said, moving to the edge of the bed and soothing her friend.

It was several moments before the fox calmed enough to lie back down. “By the Maker! I’m strung out,” he said.

“Just a little,” Melise agreed. Then on impulse, she sent a message to ping her if any of the others needed her via DataCom, but to stay away while Elias rested so as not to disturb him from his much needed sleep. Once that was done, she lifted the covers and slid underneath, pulling Elias close and feeling his arms slide around her as well, needing the emotional support. It was so similar to all the times they had been intimate and at the same time so very different. He was her friend and required comfort, despite the steadfast demeanor he exhibited to others, he had the same needs as any other person, more so because there were so few he could turn to and depend on for support when his main source of strength lay in a hospital bed almost a mile away.

She felt his breathing deepen and become more regular and steady even as he spoke drowsily. “Thanks again, Mel.”

“It’s what friends are for,” the panda replied. She wasn’t sure he heard her as he was asleep almost as soon as he took his next breath. “It’s because I love you,” she whispered in his ear.

A single tear rolled off and onto the pillow as she lay there with her arms around the only decent individual she’d ever really known before signing up for this assignment.

CHAPTER 21

“As far as the seditarol goes, it’s not harmful if the contact is physical, er, external. Once it’s ingested, though, it becomes an entirely different matter,” Lemuel was saying as he and Randal sat outside the door to the room that Cerise was in sipping cups of something that was coffee only in name. “It attacks certain areas, essentially shutting various organs down. After a while the poison builds up turning them into pulp. With most of the vermin it’s used to control it simply makes them sterile and incapable of breeding. In others, it attacks more than the reproductive areas and causes more insidious damage. Another day and we’d have been having a funeral instead of talking here in a hospital.”

The wolf nodded. “So it isn’t harmful to touch?”

The tiger shook his head. “As long as you don’t have large quantities on your hands then handle food or ingest it, you should be fine.”

“And how long does this stuff, this seditarol, how long does it linger? Can it leave detectable traces?”

“Externally? It can be there for months, even up to a year.” Lem was looking at his cohort with a strange expression. “It depends on if the substance is exposed to skin or fur, but it tends to wind up all over a person that handles it. It’s like a super fine powder and eventually gets into the pores and hair follicles,” he said, his eyes suddenly starting to widen.

“Which means it can be tested for,” the wolf said.

“All you need is an ultraviolet lamp. The stuff would light up like a city at night,” the Doctor said.

Instead of acknowledging that bit of information, Randal spun around and caught a ringtail orderly by the arm. “Where’s the nearest communications terminal?” he asked with his huge paw around the staffer’s upper arm.

“The lemur cringed at the look in the large lupine’s eyes, and shrank in on himself. “D-d-d-d-down th-th hall. Th-th-third d-d-door on the l-left!” he squeaked.

Randal looked at the staffer’s nametag. “Thank you, Brett.” Then he took off with a very determined gait in the direction of the communication terminal.

“You’ll have to forgive my rather intense friend,” the tiger said with a smile. “He tends to be very direct and he’s had a stressful week.”

“Then I’d hate to see him irritated!” the lemur responded and scampered off.

“So would I, little friend,” the Doctor chuckled. “So would I.”

***

“I’ll let Cerise’s parents know and have the investigation team dispatched within an hour,” Sander Brees said from the terminal. The vidscreen image was grainy and distorted as a result of the small encryption unit that Randal had attached to the terminal. “How is she doing?” the lion asked, concern in his voice and in his eyes evident despite the poor picture.

“She’s out of danger and recovering, Sir. All I know is it’s a good thing that we were near Pomen. They have some really top class doctors here. Just to be on the safe side, we’ve all been tested and swept the ship. Only Elias has shown traces of any of the poison, but it was a small amount and already being disposed of naturally. All he really had was residual stuff. Cerise got the majority of it, which makes me think that she was the specific target. Do you have any idea of who might have done this?” Randal took the safety of his crewmates very seriously, and wished he were in a position to handle this more directly.

The lion looked thoughtful. “Not a one. Is Elias holding up all right?”

“He’s finally resting. This has hit him pretty hard, Sir. I’m not sure how wise it was to let a married couple run this, but it’s still your call. I will give Elias credit, though. He’s a fine officer and a real professional.”

Sander Brees nodded his huge head. “That he is. You continue doing what you are and keep me posted. While you’re on the line, is there anything you need from home?”

Randal shook his head then smiled. “The last care package that you sent was rather nice and I’m having fun with it as are the others. If you can think of any more toys you might have lying around, don’t hesitate to send them our way.”

“We’ll see what we have,” the Colonel replied with a short laugh. “Take care of my kids, Randy,” he added with a tone of serious concern.

“Like they were my litter mates, Sir.”

The lion nodded once more and broke the connection. Randy disconnected the portable scrambler and left the terminal cubicle, heading back to the room where Cerise was recuperating and the company of Lemuel Anders. He admired all of the individuals that he was serving with. The wolf had had his doubts as to the some of the choices for this operation, but it was all working out fairly well.

It had been a bit of a shock when a senior cadet at the Academy had presented him with a sealed envelope during one of his combat classes, and even more of a jolt when he opened the note to find his presence requested immediately by the head of the Special Operations offices. Handing the class over to a junior instructor, Sergeant First Class Randal Mercks had high-tailed it to the specific office he was told to report to, straightening his uniform even as he stepped up to the reception desk occupied by a grizzled looking hyena with enough service hash marks on his sleeve that very little of the uniform material underneath was visible.

“Go on in, Sergeant. The Colonel’s waiting for you,” the canine had said without looking up in a rasping voice that was reminiscent of a file on metal.

He entered the office that was adorned with pictures on every wall and a huge vidscreen on the back wall that flickered through a series of pictures that the wolf realized were from the halls of the Academy. Ignoring the live-streaming video, Colonel Sander Brees sat at his desk, working through a pile of papers and folders with a frown and occasional snarl of frustration.

“Sit down Mercks,” the lion had said perfunctorily.

The wolf complied and sat quietly until the Colonel deemed him worthy of attention. After several long minutes he looked up to the young noncommissioned officer who’d not moved for over twelve minutes. His eyes dropping back to his work, Brees spoke. “How do you like your position, Sergeant?” he asked gruffly.

“Fine, Sir. This batch of recruits is shaping up rather well, but they aren’t quite ready for duty yet.”

“I asked how you liked your position as head Instructor, Mercks. Not the status of your kay-dets,” the lion said with a slight growl.

Randal took a deep breath. “It’s nothing that another instructor can’t handle, Sir. I’d rather be out in the field where I can make a difference and not stuck in the training cadre, Sir.”

“That’s better. I ask a question, I want a straight answer. I get enough people blowing pixie dust and starshine up my nethers around here.” He closed the folder he was working on and looked at the wolf with a level and penetrating gaze. “How would you like an assignment on a rather...sensitive operation that I’m running? Now, before you answer, I want you to know that it’s going to be dangerous. There won’t be any official recognition for a long while, if ever. The hours will be lousy, you’ll be out for extended periods. It’s going to be dirty, but vital. What says you?”

Randal swallowed and smiled slowly. “In the field? Out of cadre?” He saw the Colonel nod and his smile grew bigger. “Where do I sign, Sir?”

Once his signature was on the form of transfer, Randy was told that he would be the combat team leader for the first of a series of pirate hunter ships. The wolf was overjoyed and showed it with a large, toothy grin.

After meeting the others that would be serving on the hunter, Brees pulled Randal aside and told him what his priority, regardless of everything else that happened was. To keep the crew safe, especially it’s Captain and his mate.

Randal had agreed and found that the mission, one he believed in upon learning the details, was a pleasant challenge and a viable use of his skills and talents. He planned on staying with the program until he was either killed, the project was terminated, or they ran out of pirates.

He was, until Cerise’s illness, having the time of his life knowing that he was in the place where he could do the most good. She was fighting for her very survival against something that he was incapable of combating and it left him feeling more than a little helpless.

Cerise had been friendly, warm and welcoming to everyone on the ship, making each one feel special and unique. That was her gift, and Randal looked upon the petite vixen as he would a little sister. Which, of course, extended certain amiable feelings to Elias. The fox had spent as much time in the SPF as he, and the Alexandrian Fleet before that, but Elias was the center to Cerise’s world, and the wolf felt a certain kindred relation to both and held their well being as paramount.

He returned to door of the vixen’s room, looked in on her and gave the space a quick scan to ensure there wasn’t anything, or anyone, out of place and all was as it should be. Resuming his seat in the chair on the other side of the corridor from the door, Randy began another long vigil until Sonja came to relieve him for the next watch.

***

Elias woke up curled around a warm back and realized immediately that it wasn’t Cerise. He opened his eyes, and through the early morning sunlight streaming past the drapes to the hotel’s large windows, saw that it was Melise. He knew that nothing had happened, and as he lay there, bits of memory came flooding back of her helping him clean up, then holding him and lending the fox her strength.

With a sigh, and throbbing in his head that told him he’d spent too much time awake, then too much time asleep, with nothing to sustain him save a couple of bags of vending machine snacks and vile dispenser machine coffee, he rolled out from under the covers and rested his feet on the floor. Melise stirred as soon as he moved, and was instantly on her feet. He waved away her offers to get him something and took a deep breath. With a grunt, he stood and stretched, several vertebrae popping loudly in the stillness of the room.

“I feel like hell,” he growled, staggering around the bed towards the bathroom.

Melise smiled. “At least you don’t look, or smell like it anymore.”

“True,” he agreed and shut the door before relieving himself. He flushed the toilet, then moved to the sink and washed his face with cold water and towel dried before staggering back out to find clean clothes. Someone had brought some of his things from the ship and put them in this room, and he selected a pair of loose khaki trousers, a billowy cotton shirt in deep blue, and a pair of dark brown soft boots.

The panda was almost dressed when he exited the bathroom, and had finished dressing and secreting her weaponry in various places before he was even halfway ready. He felt no self consciousness at being nude around his friend. They had been intimate for almost two years, and had seen each other at their best and worst. As far as Melise was concerned, he knew that she really didn’t have any hang ups about nudity from her youth on Brandt.

Elias finished pulling his boots on and grabbed his gun belt, fastened it, then checked his pistol. He slid it home once he was satisfied there was nothing amiss with it and it would work properly. He found Melise looking at him with an indecipherable look in her eyes that passed.

“Let’s go get you some breakfast before we go to the hospital,” she told him.

The mention of breakfast made his stomach growl achingly, and he nodded, still not quite together and followed the panda. It didn’t take long to get their food, and Elias consumed half a dozen eggs and a breakfast steak, washing it down with two cups of coffee.

They walked to the hospital, more to get Elias more awake and his blood flowing than anything else, so by the time they reached the room that Cerise was in he was in full control of his faculties. Randal and Sonja nodded and smiled at the fox as he stepped past them and into his wife’s room, letting the door shut behind him.

“Was he much trouble?” Randal asked in concern.

Melise shook her head. “No. Just exhausted. Now that she’s starting to wake up I think he’ll be fine.” She leaned against the wall and looked at the others. “Has she woken up again yet?”

“No. She stirred a little during the night, but nothing that I’d call awake. Her breathing and heart rate are more steady and getting stronger every hour. The Doctors, Lemuel and that Halstead fellow, think that she’ll be able to check out in the next couple of days,” the wolf informed her.

“That’s a relief,” Sonja said with a tired sigh.

“Agreed,” Melise said, with Randy nodding once in agreement.

CHAPTER 22

Four days later Cerise was released from the hospital, and while Elias and the rest of the crew still had suites in the hotel, she wanted to return to the ship. Elias tried to dissuade her, but she looked at him somberly. “Elias, you’re there, our friends are there, and for better or worse it’s our home. And after what I’ve just been through, I really want to go home.”

He couldn’t find it within himself to argue with her and capitulated to his wife’s wishes.

While looking better, Cerise was still weak from her ordeal, and spent an hour each day with Lemuel getting further treatments to leech the remaining poison from her body, and rehabilitative stem cell therapy that was already helping to reverse the worse ravages of the poison to her body. Between her therapy and sleeping long hours at a stretch she ate almost twice her normal amount.

To help out with morale after the incident, Elias granted Melise and the others access to their reward funds to restock the galley with anything they wanted and to replace the recreational materials and personal sundries.

With nothing really holding them back, and Cerise’s continued recovery being handled by the ship’s Doctor, the Guiding Angel lifted and again and set course for the Sol system.

The spirits of the crew began to climb as the routine of duty shifts, time spent working out, or just socializing were resumed. All of the crew made it a point to visit with the petite vixen, each one realizing just what the little female meant to all of them and how she made each one feel like they were unique and mattered.

The one that had taken the illness of the ebony fox the worst was Sonja. The spaniel female was also the one that tried to make Cerise’s return as welcome as possible, throwing a welcome back party on the recreation deck, complete with streamers, balloons and a cake that must have put a substantial dent in Sonja’s personal account.

Music of all different sorts was piped through the ship’s sound system, and Stram, out of them all, was the life of the party, flirting good naturedly with all of the females and getting them to dance, even though many of the steps he demonstrated were almost twenty years out of date. During a particularly slow song, while the badger was leading Odette around in a slow circle, a rather comical sight considering their disparate sizes, Sonja made her way to where Cerise sat. Elias had excused himself to take a shift on the bridge so that Saul could spend some time at the party with Treena, leaving his wife in the care of the rest of the crew.

“You know that we’re all very happy and relieved to have you back,” Sonja said as she took the chair next to the vixen.

Cerise smiled. “Yes,” she said and smiled at the canine. “Thank you, Sonja. This really makes me feel better.” Cerise reached out and took the other female’s hand. The physical contact helped to convey the gratitude that she felt.

After several long moments, Sonja pulled her hand away and dropped her eyes. “I still feel bad about when we first met. The way that I acted was inexcusable. I don’t know if I can ever make it up to you and Elias.” She looked into the other female’s emerald green eyes. “Can you ever forgive me for being such a…well, I’d say bitch, but that would be kind of literal, don’t you think?”

Cerise chuckled and Sonja gave the other a half smile.

“It’s in the past,” Cerise told her. “Don’t pay it any mind.”

“No. I think you should know the reason that I acted that way. Do you mind?”

Cerise shook her head and gestured for her to continue.

“It’s no secret that I’m the adopted daughter of the Kantus Ambassador to Nalirra. Enan is my surname now, but before all of that there wasn’t one. That’s because my mother was…well, she was a pleasure girl. I guess courtesan would be a more delicate way of putting it, but it’s not accurate. We came from the southern hemisphere of the planet, and in the specific region my mother and I came from, females are essentially property. I was more of a bother to her than anything else, and a drain on her time and what little income she made.

“I ran away as soon as I was old enough to know that if I didn’t escape that I would wind up being the same thing as her. I was caught by the Kantus embassy Marines one night after raiding their kitchens, and was brought before Ambassador Dael Enan. I’d never been so scared in my life! When he asked about me through official channels, I wasn’t on record at all. It turns out that the bastard offspring of a prostitute wasn’t a real priority for the Nalirrans to look into, so Poppa, sorry, Dael Enan, used his political clout to get me papers and status on Kantus and took me with him and Momma when they left.

“I had a hard time adjusting, and to be honest, a lot of my perspectives on life and how I should behave were skewed by my birth mother. She couldn’t afford to have someone watch me while she…worked. I grew up knowing more about that kind of thing than most adults knew. Then later, I found it was wrong, but the whole thing continued to taint my outlook on life and dealing with others. It’s amazing how many doors will open that would otherwise stay closed if a girl will simply say yes.

“Flash forward a few years, then along comes this assignment. I originally thought that it was punishment for my last posting. One of the officers attached to our field office made a comment that irritated me and I slugged him. Knocked him right out. So when I was interviewed with the Colonel, Elias and you, and found out that Elias was going to be my superior, I thought I could make the experience a little better for me by making myself available for the Captain’s bed. At the time I didn’t really know the two of you were a pairing because I’d never seen the matched earrings before. I’ve seen rings, and collars, but never that. If I had known, I never would have acted like such a slu-“

“Sonja,” Cerise interrupted, “I told you, it’s in the past. Gone. You have proven to me time and again that you’re better than that, that it’s not who you really are. I’m really glad to have you as a friend,” Cerise admitted to the spaniel.

“Really? Not many people have ever really called me that,” the dark blond canine admitted.

“It’s true. You have shown me that you’re a decent individual, and I’m thankful you’re part of the crew.”

Sonja raised her head and sat a little straighter with the praise, and gave the vixen a sincere smile of gratitude.

“The one thing I really want to know, though, is what that officer said to make you hit him?”

Sonja laid her ears back and her hackles rose slightly as she recalled the incident. “My squad and I were sent to arrest a smuggler from Alexandrius. He was trafficking illegal software that was questionable at the least, and harmful at the worst. A lot of the stuff he was moving was virtual reality programs that were falling into the hands of kids and contained gratuitous violence and adult oriented material that even I found revolting, and I’ve seen some pretty exotic stuff. Any way, he slipped past us and we lost him. Well, more like he slipped past me and my partner at the terminal we were watching and the guy caught a shuttle to a passenger liner bound out-system. The officer in charge of our squad blamed me and suggested if I couldn’t do something as simple as arresting a smuggler that maybe I should find a way to make a living with my backside because that’s what I was born for by one that was so proficient at it.”

Cerise looked horrified. “No! He really said that?” Sonja just nodded. “Then good for you! If it had been me I’d have probably shot him! Please tell me he got nailed for that remark.”

“His phrasing was a lot more vulgar. He’s now serving out the rest of his tenure with the SPF on the penal world of Darkfall. It’s a vile little rock that orbits a red dwarf star and from what I’ve heard, even the guards have it rough. Most are assigned to one of the four space stations around the planet, but the officers that are real screw-ups are assigned to one of the four corresponding facilities on the planet itself.”

***

The voyage to the Sol system, with the first stop being the independent colonies on Europa, Io, and Ganymede, saw Cerise training others on the sensors and communications. She was likewise taught other stations like weapons. By far, the most adept at learning nuances that the vixen had come by almost naturally was Odette. However, it was Treena at the sensor station with Cerise sitting next to her when the distress call came over several frequencies.

“Move,” the ebony fox told her friend, sliding into the seat almost before Treena vacated it. Even before she was settled, Cerise boosted the ship’s communications array gain to get better reception, while sending telemetry data to Saul and Elias at the same time. Without missing a beat, she threw the transmission up on the bridge speaker and piped it to the rest of the ship.

”See Cue Dee! See Cue Dee! This is the SS Virtue of Satori. We are under attack and requesting immediate assistance! I say again that we are under attack and request assistance! Three ships are firing on us and we ha -<static>- its. Our Captain has been killed with most of the crew. Requ -<static>- osing atmosphere! Please help!”

“Verified,” Cerise said. “The Virtue of Satori is a diplomatic vessel out of Fyn.” She was silent for a moment before throwing information up for the others to see via the micro-circuitry embedded in the forward viewport glassteel. “I can’t be sure at this range, but there are definitely two ships. One at 10,000 tonnes and one at 75,000 tonnes with intermittent contacts between them.”

Elias added thrust to the Guiding Angel. “Saul, how far out are we?”

The jaguar was already double checking his figures. “Thirty seconds of warp then full power burn will get us there in four minutes, Captain.”

“Copy that.” Elias triggered the intercom. “All crew to stations. All crew to stations. Lena, get the Cherub ready for flight. We’re going to be popping in hot and weapons ready. Cherub to launch as soon as we’re out of warp. Bridge out.”

As soon as Saul signaled he was ready and the coordinates locked, Elias triggered the LC drive. The Siilv enhanced faster-than-light motor engaged smoothly, and as soon as the time mark was achieved, the converted Okami freighter dropped back into real space. A little more than two hundred miles ahead a battle was raging between the smaller Fynian diplomatic ship and another vessel.

“Scan and identify the attacker,” the fox said even as he lined the larger ship up in the targeting reticule.

“No IFF,” Cerise said, looking over her console intently, feeling her stomach tighten in apprehension with the thought of going into combat, but secure in the knowledge that this was a common feeling in the rest of the crew after her talks with the other females onboard. “Gazetteer lists it as a Star Burner class light frigate of Ganisian manufacture, AstorCraft shipyards built.”

“Those things are pretty tough, Boss,” Saul said after emitting a low whistle.

Before anyone else could speak, Cerise called out. “Two more contacts confirmed! Wyvern class strike fighters.”

“Got it,” Elias said, his voice calm and flat. “Lena, you are clear. Launch and engage the fighters!”

A chuckle came from the intercom. “Wyverns? My Grammy can move better than those things. Great in a straight line, but no agility.”

“Nothing fancy!” Elias ordered even as the Raptor class interceptor shot out from underneath the forward viewports. “Neutralize and assist with the frigate when you can.”

Even as the rabbit kicked in the engines of her wedge shaped fighter, Cerise was broadcasting orders for the aggressing frigate to stand down. The other ship’s response was to fire a volley of pulse cannon blasts at the approaching freighter even as it continued to fire on the Fynian ship. The bolts of energy were enough to cause some surface arcing on the hull of the Guiding Angel and Elias saw from the readout on his console that forward shields had just dropped by twenty three percent. The deck plates vibrated slightly.

“Odette, weapons free!” the fox shouted, even as he cut thrust and spun the ship on its lateral axis, the vector he executed placing theGuiding Angel between the warship and Fynian vessel. As he guided the ship so that the bow was pointed at the frigate, Elias triggered a continuous stream of energy from his own forward cannon.

Green-white streams of energy flashed silently through the vacuum of space, detonating with brilliant flashes of light and coruscating discharges of lightening playing over the hull plates of the other vessel. As if to punctuate the initial barrage, Odette slewed the dorsal and ventral laser turrets a fraction of a second behind her Captain’s withering fire, the combination of pulse cannon and mercury lasers overloading the buffers of the frigate’s shields. The protective screens eroded with a flash as the expanding energy wave engulfed both the Fynian vessel and the Guiding Angel. The resulting circuit between the three ships and caused a catastrophic surge of backlash energy.

Sparks erupted from various points throughout the bridge as the resultant surge overloaded circuits and breaker units, causing components to burn and pop energetically.

“Captain! We’ve lost all shields!” Stram’s voice said over the intercom, his words muddled as static burst over the speakers. “Engine output is down to fifty percent and life support is fried!”

Elias signaled that he heard and understood, but his attention was still riveted to the frigate. Tapping the controls, the fox kept their bow pointed at the larger vessel and he triggered another series of blasts from his weapons. “Their shields are down, too! Don’t let up until we get a surrender. Cerise! Order them to stand down or tell them we’ll blast them into atoms!” He snarled his instructions out through bared teeth, his expression one of sheer predatory focus. He had his fangs in the prey and wasn’t about to let go now.

***

Lena wasn’t paying attention to the battle raging between her home ship and the Ganisian built frigate. Her focus was solely on the two fighters that were harassing the Fynian vessel, Virtue of Satori. With a sense of elation and wild abandon that she always felt in the cockpit, the doe pushed the throttle controls through their gates and grunted as she was pushed back into her seat with the acceleration. The Raptor class interceptor didn’t have the level of inertial dampeners like larger ships were equipped with.

Flying was a combination of sensors, visual input, and sensation as far as Lena was concerned, and all of it combined to keep the rabbit in touch with what was going on around her. She exulted in the positive and negative gees, the alternating feel of acceleration induced gravity and freefall. With all of this going on, she felt more in control, more connected to her craft. Together they were one entity. A passage from some religious tome that she’d looked through from Earth came to mind and she grinned as she recalled the words.

“And I saw the one that sat upon the horse. And his name was Death…”

She wouldn’t kill unless she had no other option, but she could understand the sentiments of that sentence.

She fell in behind the nearest Wyvern class fighter, its pilot so intent on taking random shots at the diplomatic vessel that he was unaware that Lena was on his tail. Fighters carried shields, but were nominally meant to reduce the heat from entry into planetary atmosphere. While the Wyvern fighter had the tell-tale shimmer close to its fuselage that indicated shielding, Lena knew that it would be ineffectual against the firepower that the Cherub carried. So it was that she lined up her shot with care.

The glowing aperture of the fighter’s port engine was bright enough to negate the illuminated reticule of her cockpit HUD, but not that of the one that was linked to her helmet’s visor. The faceplate polarized automatically to save Lena’s vision, her own targeting pip showing up in a deep red that was reminiscent of the color of blood, and began blinking before turning bright blue as her weapons locked on to the chosen point of attack.

The trigger clicked as her finger tightened down, sending a signal through the small craft’s computer, and initiating a reaction of energy that was as hot and bright as the center of star in the bowels of her fighter’s cannon breeches. The green-white fire that erupted from the muzzles of her fighter’s guns streaked out and lanced at the engine pod that she had selected, the rapid burst of high energy pulses splashing on the protective screen of the Wyvern before they punched through. Her own shields flared briefly as she flew through the debris that her weapons had generated. Small globules of molten material erupted from the engine pod, atomized metal and plastics that reformed and coagulated in seconds in the cold, hard vacuum of space.

The loss of the engine pod, and resulting chaos within the other fighter’s sensitive electronics, caused an imbalance in the small ship’s flight, making to veer slightly to the right in a long arc without the countering thrust from the other unit that was strewing itself across space before the Wyvern’s onboard computer automatically shut the starboard power unit down before a malfunction occurred that could destroy the small ship.

With that fighter out of action, Lena turned her attention to the other Wyvern heavy fighter. It was almost seven miles away at the end of an arc that would let the small craft’s pilot line up a shot on the slightly smaller Raptor. With a grin of superior confidence, Lena cut thrust and initiated a maneuver that was a combination of a spin and roll, flipping the Cherub around so that her fighter’s nose was pointed at the aggressor. Not even waiting for a lock, she triggered another salvo of pulse cannon fire from her forward weapons. The rabbit grinned as she saw three out of eight rounds discharged strike true and the resulting loss of the heavier ship’s shielding. Even as the pirate craft lost its primary layer of protection, the enemy pilot launched a pair of missiles at the Raptor. Lena saw the flares of the motors ignite before she heard the warning, and ‘Tsked!’ in derision. She did several things seemingly at once. Activating the ventral maneuvering thrusters, Lena moved her fighter ‘up’ before jerking the nose of her craft in the direction of travel, initiated a half-thrust burn from her engines and discharged a series of anti-missile countermeasures. The Wyvern class fighter was fairly tough, but its lack of agility and weapons limited the fairly inexpensive craft. The particular missiles this one carried were very short range, and while only marginally more maneuverable and faster than the craft that carried them, they were thirty years out of date.

The counter measures did what they were supposed to, and as the missiles approached, the defensive units detonated with subdued winks of light that were dimmer than the background stars. The explosions sent a wave of small pyramid shaped projectiles outward that shredded the missiles into so much random space trash, the action so violent and sudden that the warheads on the missiles didn’t have time to arm and detonate.

As this was taking place, Lena used her ship’s greater speed to line up her next shot and pushed her throttles to full power, charging at the other fighter with weapons blazing. All of her shots hit true, and she flashed past the other small craft even as the forward fuselage separated from the inert aft and sputtering engine nacelles.

The entire engagement with the two Wyvern fighters took less than five minutes. As usual, Lena was amazed that so little time had passed. With a shake of her head within her helmet, she brought the Cherub about in time to see the shields of the frigate cascade and engulf the Guiding Angel and Fynian ship.

The converted freighter that was her home unleashed a torrent of hellfire on the larger vessel, and took several hits itself. Her teeth grinding as she set her jaw in determination, Lena pushed her engine throttles past the gates. Without even waiting for her computer to lock, the rabbit depressed the trigger for her own pulse cannon, walking the shots from stem to stern and adding her own missiles as punctuation a split second before her computer registered a lock on the primary dorsal weapons turret.

The rounded blister that contained the primary ventral weapons suite on the frigate vanished in a blinding flash as the missiles punched through armor eroded by her pulse cannon, causing solid shot ammunition and the liquid propellants to gang-fire in the loading tubes. Even as the conflagration dissipated, where the turret had been there was only a section that looked as if it had been scooped out of the hull of the frigate by a spoon, the edges of the hull and supporting structure glowed an angry, bright orange that was rapidly fading to red.

“Fire on my friends? I’ll show you sons of bitches!” Lena snarled as she began to come about for another pass at the frigate’s belly.

***

Elias saw the ventral turret vanish in a ball of white fire as Lena attacked the frigate and let a smile spread across his face that was more of a bearing of teeth and had no mirth or joy. The fox added power to the lateral maneuvering thrusters and pushed the Guiding Angelfurther along the length of the frigate, triggering the shock thread emitters as he went. The close-in defense system hit the hull plating of the Ganisian built warship and sent tendrils of blue lightening arcing over the hull. While the frigate was more than half again the size of theGuiding Angel, there was no way that it could withstand the disrupting energy of the shock threads without its shields to help dissipate the energy that coursed through it.

The electrical surge that shock threads emitted was designed to overload and shut down a starship as a means of non lethal defense, enabling confiscation of the ship and capture of the crew. Even as he prepared to fire the linked pulse cannon of his ship, Elias saw the frigate’s engines sputter and fail. At nearly the same moment, Cerise received the surrender of the raider.

“They give up, Elias! They’ve surrendered!” she shouted loudly, relief flooding through her and unaware that she was yelling.

“All hands, stand-by. They’ve surrendered, but I don’t want them to catch us napping.” He switched from intercom to another channel. “Lena. What’s your status?”

“Both Wyverns are down and out with the pilots needing rescue. I see the frigate’s out of it as well. What are your orders, Sir?”

Even though the rabbit’s voice was robbed of most of its texture over the communications equipment of her helmet, Elias detected a hint of elation and satisfaction and the corners of his mouth quirked in a partial smile. “Maintain overwatch. We’re going to render aid to the Fynian ship first, then deal with the frigate. If they look like they’re powering up, shellac ‘em.”

“Copy that, Sir,” she replied.

“And good work, Lena. That was great flying.” Elias relaxed his grip on the control yokes and began to move the ship in closer to theVirtue of Satori.

Lemuel Anders was already prepared for potential medical emergencies and had a trauma cart set up for rapid deployment so that by the time the Guiding Angel made hard dock with the Fynian vessel, he and the combat team were standing near the airlock. Even though the diplomatic vessel was the victim in this engagement, the crew was taking no chances. Randal, Melise, Sonja and Treena were in full battledress and armed with Binfurr sub machineguns and pistols, with stunners holstered as backup armaments.

The indicator on the airlock control panel glowed green indicating that the seal with the diplomatic cruiser was secure and pressurized. As soon as the heavy armored panels of the airlock opened, flood lights flared to life, intended to temporarily blind and disorient any potential threats. There were no hostiles, though, just a pair of frazzled looking crew members in the livery of the Fynian Diplomatic Corps.

“SPF! Show me your hands!” Randal shouted, his weapon pointed between the two felines without so much as a quiver.

The Fynians, a short haired tom with all gray fur save for a small patch of white at his throat and a long haired calico female did as instructed, throwing their hands up while flinching away from the harsh glare from the floodlights.

“Don’t shoot!” the tom cried out. “We’re unarmed!”

Motioning to the others, Randal directed the combat team through the airlock and into the reception bay of the other vessel. Sonja and Melise fanned out, one going left and the other taking the right, respectively, covering the opposite wall in crossed firing arcs. Randal followed and went to the two cats. He took their identicards and ran them through a scanner, looking at the results and nodding as he saw the information that came up on the small wrist reader that was tied to one of the Guiding Angel’s three VIP computer units.

“Sorry. We can’t afford to take chances. I’m Sergeant Mercks of the SPF. We have a medical and engineering team standing by.”

The tom swallowed and relaxed visibly, though he was still wide-eyed and frazzled looking from the engagement. “The ambassador’s injuries are slight, but we have others that need tending,” he told the wolf even as he moved toward a hatch that led further into the ship. “Our main drives are down, and everything is running off of the secondary power and batteries. We’ve sealed the sections with the hull breach, but I think we’re still losing air pressure.”

“How many are onboard?” Randal asked as he let his sub machinegun hang from the tactical sling it was attached to.

It was the long haired calico that spoke up as she hustled to catch up to the others. “There is Ambassador Ballan, his wife and daughter four of us staff members and the four left from the crew, so eleven of us all told, Sergeant.”

Randal relayed this to the bridge of the Guiding Angel, then followed the tom into the ship’s main corridor. When the calico, following a little too close, bumped into him, he turned suddenly, looming over the smaller female. It was such a sudden and unexpected movement that she hissed in fear and surprise.

“Sorry,” Randal said. “Today’s been rather tense, don’t you think? We’re all a little on edge. Please don’t follow so close. I don’t want to do something out of reaction.”

The calico closed her mouth so quickly it made a ‘clopping’ sound, and looked at the armored wolf with wide eyes and nodded mutely.

Taking a moment for a deep breath, Randal forced himself to relax a little, and put his left hand on the shoulder of the female. “Miya, isn’t it?” he asked, recalling the calico’s name from her identicard. She nodded silently. “It’s all right, now. There is nothing to be afraid of. We aren’t going to let anything happen to you and we’re here to help. You have my promise that you’re safe now. Understand?”

Miya nodded, but Randal saw that the stress of all that had happened to her was more than she could bear and looked as if she were in the beginning stages of shock. Turning his head, he clicked the radio in his helmet to a private channel and spoke softly. A few minutes later, Treena and Melise appeared and took the calico with them so that Randy could finish his survey of the ship while the others worked.

Less than half an hour later, he was certain that the Ambassador and family, staff and remaining crew would have to abandon ship.

“There are stress fractures all through the hull, and there’s no way that we can begin patching up the damage short of hauling her into dry dock, Captain.” Randy was looking at the bulkheads using a portable scanner and could hear whistling air as it escaped through the myriad of cracks in the hull. Even if the Fynians moved to unaffected areas, there wouldn’t be enough air for all of them as the life support unit was in even worse shape than the one on the Guiding Angel. “The entire recycler unit is little more than slag and the carbon filters are ash, and I’m not sure, but I think their might even be a coolant leak from the LC core.”

“Copy that, Randy,” Elias replied over the communications equipment in the wolf’s helmet. “Rutger has found other problems as well. The worst is that the Micronite shielding around the drive core is shot. The radiation that’s leaking out isn’t dangerous, yet, but I want the survivors on the Angel within the next fifteen minutes. A Terran destroyer and SPF cruiser are on route, but we can have them all on Ganymede before they get here. If anyone gives you any gruff, the Fynian government agrees with me.”

“Understood, Captain. I’ll pass word for the survivors to pack up necessities and clothing for a few days and get them over ASAP.”

“Good, Randy. Because we still have to deal with the frigate. Elias out.”

With the help of the rest of the boarding team, the survivors of the Virtue of Satori were relocated to cabins on the Guiding Angel, and most were surprised at the size of the suites. Crew members had doubled up to make room for the refugees. Despite this some of the staff and crew had to double and triple up in the available accommodations, though no one was complaining.

The boarding of the frigate, which the crew of the Guiding Angel discovered was named the Dagger of the Patriarch, was far easier. There were only six pirates as most of the vessel was automated. The retrieval of the two Wyvern pilots made eight. Their names were logged and each was incarcerated within the freighter’s holding cells. As per standard operating procedure, the frigate was tagged with a beacon for SPF retrieval and salvage.

The Captain of the frigate proved to be a surprise for Elias and the rest. Sporting a patch over her right eye and a glossy coating of spray-skin over most of her chest and right arm, the black and rust colored Kastan regarded Elias and company with an unreadable expression before speaking.

“Who is the Captain of this ship?” she asked imperiously.

“I am,” Elias replied maintaining the spot where he stood on the cargo deck.

The female Kastan regarded him coolly. “I am Pala Lon. A rather interesting ship you have, Captain. No ordinary freighter, this.” She looked around the bay before her all black eyes fell again upon the fox. She continued after a moment’s pause and deep breath. “As is customary among my clan, you have bested me in combat, which makes you my Lord. I know that your Planetary Alignment doesn’t allow the owning of slaves, but nonetheless, my life is yours. You fought well against what should have been the superior vessel, and you won. As such, it is you that holds my blood. Do with me as you will.”

The rest of the crew looked confused or startled. Elias simply regarded the female calmly. “You’re right. The owning of slaves is frowned upon, and the notion, though you might find it strange, is abhorrent to me. I respect you’re tradition, but you will have to serve out whatever sentence is deemed appropriate by a Judge of the Planetary Judicial Council.”

The Kastan gave a small smile. “Do you really think one of my kind will see a fair trial? I think not, Captain. Most of your Planetary Alignment still thirsts for the blood of my race. More so after the event you call the Siilv War.” She shook her head. “No. I think my…dispensation will be quiet. Quiet and discreet. A shame for one to be disposed of so ignominiously.”

Pala Lon started to move off with the rest of her crew to the lift for transfer to the holding cell without another word.

Elias stared after her long after the lift doors closed.

She was right, of course. There were some sore feelings after the Siilv War, and even the most fair and impartial judge of the PA would most likely condemn the Kastan to death. If she even made it to trial. Elias waited for the lift to return and then made his way back to the bridge. The fox had enough on his plate at the moment, and the future fate of one individual was shunted aside for the moment as he focused on getting the Guiding Angel back on her feet and to the nearest available port.

Repairs on the life support system took nine hours with Stram and Rutger scrounging necessary parts, mostly conversion filters and control circuitry from the other two ships along with tanks of pure oxygen from the frigate. The two engineers would work on the shield system during the run to Galileo’s Founding on the small Jovian moon of Ganymede.

“It’s more of a problem with the relays and breakers for the shield network,” the badger was telling his Captain as he chewed furiously at a meat stick and leaned against the edge of the piloting console. “I can use the emitters that weren’t fried to compensate, but if we push them too hard and far, all that’ll be ‘tween us and danger is the hull, and I don’t have to tell you what a few grams of matter moving at high velocity’ll do to us even with our armor.”

“No,” Elias agreed. “I know full well what that would do to us. Fortunately Galileo Founding is all but vacuum, so that shouldn’t be a problem. How long do you think it will take to replace the damaged emitters?”

Stram scratched at his ear, closing one eye as he made a rough estimate in his head. “So long’s the docking bay is pressurized, maybe a week. A lot of the power conduits got fried with the emitters. Two weeks if’n Rutger and I gotta do it in suits.”

Elias rubbed the point between his eyes tiredly and sighed. There was no help for it, and it would take as long as it took. “All right, Stram. We’ll take it easy. Anything else?”

The badger looked at his Captain and gave an impish grin. “Didn’t you know that two ships that close and pummellin’ away with cannon could cause a backlash cascade when one or the others shields overloaded? It’s called the Koslowski Effect.”

The fox sighed. “I do now. I’ve never heard of it before, but I can promise you it’s a lesson I’ll not soon forget.”

“I could explain about sympathetic energy fields, frequency meshing, but that would probably put you to sleep,” the badger said with a lopsided smile. “At least it didn’t melt the hull.”

“Melt the hull?” Elias asked with a pang of nausea.

Stram nodded. “That kind of energy output generates a plasma reaction that would burn as hot as a star. Don’t worry, Cap’n. If it’d happened, we wouldn’t have felt a thing.”

The fox watched as his head engineer exited the bridge through the aft hatch. He had heard stories of ships getting too close during an exchange of fire and the shields ‘rupturing’ catastrophically, but he didn’t know that something like the badger had just described was possible. He made a silent vow to never endanger his ship or crew like that again.

CHAPTER 23

The run to Galileo Founding on Ganymede took two days. During that period, Elias Tivnan wrestled with a difficult decision. He had consulted with Sander Brees a few hours before, and the lion had agreed with Pala Lon’s assessment of how she would be treated.

“If there was a planet and race that was hated more thoroughly than the PA feels about Kastan, I’ve never heard about it,” the lion told Elias over the vidscreen communication. “Too many planets are still hot that they’re sitting on the richest Siilv deposits in known space, and won’t share. Then when you consider that there’s not many that didn’t lose someone or know someone that died during the debacle, not to mention that they pasted Mainor…I can’t really say that I wouldn’t consider putting a bullet or twenty into her myself, son.”

Elias sighed. “Sandy, I can’t hand her over to the authorities if I have the slightest doubt about her being treated fairly. That’s not what we’re about! We’re the ones that are supposed to be setting the example, setting the standard and up holding it up for the rest of the PA!” He lapsed into a fury of swearing that was vehement enough to cause Sander Brees to flinch.

“You’ve been hanging around Stram waaaay too much.”

Elias slumped in his chair and looked sullenly at his superior. “I can’t hand her over, Sandy. Not unless I have a guarantee that Pala will be treated fairly.”

After a long moment, the lion shook his head. “You know I can’t make that guarantee, son. Once you turn her over, it’s out of both our hands.” The lion looked at Elias with a hard stare. “This is one of those command decisions that I was telling you about, son. It’s never easy, and never will be. But you’re the Captain, and your word is final on that ship.”

“That’s not really a big help,” the fox complained.

“No. It’s not. But you will choose what to do, and I’ll support you because I trust you. Does that help?”

“I suppose it will have to do.” Elias signed off and sat back in his chair.

“Captain, we’re on final for Galileo Founding. Thought you might want to know,” Saul’s voice said over the intercom in the fox’s cabin.-

Looking at his wrist watch, Elias realized he’d been mulling over his decision for almost two hours. With a firm set to his jaw, he pushed away from the deactivated console and headed to the bridge. As soon as he approached, the jaguar started to get up from the pilot’s position, but Elias put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, then slid into the navigator’s seat.

“You have the con, Saul. Take us in,” the fox ordered his First Officer. Without waiting for a reply, Elias transferred landing coordinates to the pilot’s console and copied them onto the forward viewport.

Without the slightest hesitation, Saul took the Guiding Angel in for a landing. A pressurized docking bay had been available and Saul took the Guiding Angel into the protected berth with deft, smooth precision. There was a slight jolt as the ship settled on its caterpillar tracked landing struts in the cavernous bay, and the jaguar, grinning to himself, began to shut down the necessary systems. Before he could unbuckle his restraints, Elias turned to his second.

“Saul,” he said in a quiet voice, “call the rest of the crew to the rec deck. I’ll see everyone there in fifteen minutes.”

It was standard for his Captain to give a post landing debriefing to the crew, but there was something troubled in the fox’s manner that Saul sensed. He wasn’t about to bring it up, though, knowing better by now. Whatever it was that was eating at the Captain would be revealed soon enough. Despite the raised eyebrow, Saul nodded. “Aye, Boss.”

Even as he made his way to the lift, Elias knew what his decision was regarding the Kastan Pala Lon. As soon as the lift panels parted, he stepped onto the rec deck and headed for the coffee urn that was gurgling merrily in the final phases of brewing. His oldest friend was in the galley tending to something, looking up for a moment to give Elias a smile before turning back to her work.

“You look like hell, Elias,” the panda said with her head in an induction oven. She pulled out a tray of pastries and set them on a cooling rack before taking off her oven mitts. “Why do I get the feeling you are going to be dropping the boom on us?”

“Because I’m getting ready to drop the boom on all of you,” Elias said flatly as he stirred cream and sugar into his coffee mug.

Melise simply grunted an inarticulate ‘Hmmm,” and went back to puttering around her galley as the others of the crew came up to the deck in ones and twos.

Elias waited patiently for everyone to get something to drink, filch a pastry, then find a spot to sit or stand before he spoke.

“Why did you join the SPF?” he asked the assembled crew. Elias was met with quizzical looks, confusion and bafflement. “Answer me. Why did you all join the SPF?”

Various answers were muttered that fell along the lines of ‘serving others’, ‘to help’, ‘being part of something that mattered’, and the like.

“To uphold the law and protect life,” Sonja said, softly at first, then with greater volume. “I joined to protect life,” the spaniel said with conviction in her voice.

“You can phrase it different ways,” Randal said, nodding to the female canine, “but that sums it up. Folk out there need us to protect them against the dangers that lurk in the dark between the stars.”

“Nicely put, Randy,” Lena said giving the wolf a one armed hug and smile.

Elias simply looked at the wolf and the others. “Law. Order. Grand concepts, and something we all believe in. We believe in it with all of our being, or we wouldn’t be here, would we.” It was a statement and not a question. All of the crew nodded or voiced agreement. “So what if we knew that something might happen, something that was a violation of the law we swore…swore an oath on…to uphold. A conflict of orders, written or unwritten, that went against everything that we stand for. What should we do?” Again Elias looked at each of them. “Do we follow orders, or do we side with the law?”

“Law,” Melise and Sonja said at the same time.

Stram nodded. “Orders be hanged, Cap’n. If it’s going to be a violation of the law or what we know to be right, we do what’s right. Now, mind tellin’ us what in the twelve hells is goin’ on?”

Elias sighed and his head dropped for a moment before he straightened and regarded the assembled crew. “Pala Lon will not get a fair trial. Not with the PA Judicial Council. All of you know this. There is far too much enmity against her people. I, and each of you, know that this is a violation of Planetary Alignment law. It violates the very charter of the SPF. So what do we do? Do we follow our mandate and turn her over? Mind you, doing so is as good as a death sentence, no matter what happens during her trial, if she even makes it that far. It’ll be the same as if each one of us put a bullet in her head. Or do we do what we know is right, and violate orders, which could cost all of you your commissions within the SPF, possibly a year or so in a penal colony, and get me either locked away, or shot for sedition against the PA Council.”

“But…but she’s a pirate!” Rutger exclaimed.

Elias nodded. “Yes. She is. Of that I agree. And pirates receive zero tolerance. But I’m out here, and so are all of you, on the sharp end to bring justice to those that prey on the members of the PA, not to arbitrarily hand out execution orders. I cannot, in good conscious or faith, turn her in, knowing what will happen to her.”

“So let her stay on the ship,” Cerise said.

The rest of the crew looked at the vixen as if she’d just slapped all of them.

“What?” Treena asked in disbelief. “Stay on the ship? Are you out of your mind? Her species is insane! They’re all psychotic!”

“And that’s how a judge and jury would see her, and nothing else,” Lemuel said, the tiger mulling over the situation. “I can see your problem, Captain,” the Doctor said to Elias. “She needs to be protected and punished at the same time. Protected from those we protect…punished for her crimes.” He shook his head. “Keeping her on the ship would enable her to help out with our mission, but I would say that that is quite a risky proposition.”

“More than risky,” Odette said, the bear crossing her arms and frowning. “It’s bloody dangerous.” She growled in frustration as she considered the alternative and became displeased with her own conclusions. “Damn! Why does the hard stuff always fall on us? Just once I’d like something simple and easy.”

“If it were easy, we wouldn’t be here,” Sonja told the bear, looking just as unhappy.

“Heh! That’s the truth,” Saul added.

“I will not make this choice without input from all of you,” Elias told them, not looking away from the sour looks that were cast his way. “This isn’t a democracy. You all know that. But this is more than just shipboard business. This affects all of your lives. From now until your last breath. So here we are, walking on the razor’s edge. On one side is doing what we were sent out to do, though there may be aspects that aren’t as clear as any of us thought. On the other is doing what is right, with all of the disastrous possibilities that option holds.

“I will give all of you the next couple of hours to think about this, and let me know whether she stays or goes. I don’t want to know who chose what or why. So here’s what we’re going to do. I will leave a container here. Put your answer on a piece of paper and leave it in the container.” Elias grabbed a pitcher from the galley stores and set it in the middle of the main table. “A simple yes or no, or if you don’t want to write down your answer put a red or green mark on it. Red she goes, green she stays.”

Elias took a deep breath and stood up straight. “I want your answers at the end of that two hours. Crew dismissed.”

The fox watched as everyone filed out, silent and locked in their own thoughts and not discussing the choice in front of them. Cerise gave her mate a compassionate look, but followed the others into the lift. Once the deck was cleared, Elias sank in on himself. He already knew what his choice was, and wasn’t sure if it was what he should be doing. Not with so many other lives in the balance. Making his way to a chair, he sank down into it and buried his face in his hands.

He had killed in combat, during the heat of the moment when facing those that would kill him if they could. It was the nature of the course he’d chosen for his life. This, however, was entirely different. The choice he made would send a sentient being, insane or not, psychotic or not, to certain death. Kastans in the Planetary Alignment didn’t stand a chance of impartial treatment, and wouldn’t for many years to come.

If ever.

Elias wouldn’t take the easy route and follow orders, even though it might cost him everything.

He could always find work as a ship’s captain, navigator or pilot with his credentials and experience. What he wouldn’t be able to do, though, was tolerate the stain that he felt would be on his very soul if he chose wrong.

The fox grabbed a roll of engineer’s tape and sealed the opening of the pitcher with several strips before cutting a small slit in the top with the knife that he always carried now. It had been a small gift from Cerise, and its curved blade was meant more for work than fighting, though it would serve well in that regard as well. The fine edge cut the tape almost effortlessly, and Elias took a small piece of paper and put a single word on it before slipping it into the cut he’d made in the jury-rigged ballot box. As it fluttered to the bottom, he felt as if a weight had been taken from him. In that moment, he knew that his choice was the right one, and he nodded silently to himself before leaving the recreation deck and headed to his cabin to wait the allotted two hours out.

***

The rest of the crew lounged around the deck, avoiding each other’s eyes as Elias opened the pitcher cum ballot box. He looked at each of the pieces of paper, counting each answer on the small slips. When he was finished, the fox leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed the left side of his head to try and alleviate the headache that was threatening to make the rest of his day as miserable as possible. His fingers felt the raised ridge of scar tissue under the fur as if to remind him of the hazardous nature of his decision.

“So it’s unanimous. Pala Lon stays,” Elias said, not looking up. “Randy, Sonja. Get your team together and transfer the others prisoners to the SPF office here. Make it seem as if we had to shoot the Kastan and jettison her body. Melise, you’re with me. Once the others are gone, we’ll inform Pala of the new situation.” The fox noted the feeling of relief that permeated the Recreation deck and nodded. “Let’s get to it, people.”

The Ganymede SPF field office had a total of six officers, and all of them were on hand to assist with the prisoner transfer then helped get the Fynian Ambassador situated in quarters within Galileo Founding. The Ambassador paused at the edge of the airlock and turned to face Elias. The mackerel striped short haired feline smiled as he looked up at the fox. “Again, I thank you for coming to our rescue, Captain Tivnan,” Ambassador Thomas Ballan said as he took the fox’s hand. “I’ve made sure that my entire staff and the crew of theVirtue of Satori signed the confidentiality contracts, and have given them to your charming wife. Would you and she do me the honor of joining me later this evening for supper?”

Elias smiled back, his mood far lighter than it had been earlier. “It would be my honor, Excellency. And I’m sure that Cerise would be thrilled. She has become very fond of your daughter. I believe I heard them making plans to assault the shopping district sometime in the next couple of days.”

Ambassador Ballan groaned theatrically, placing a hand over his heart. “Thus the destruction of my credit account. It’s been a stressful enough trip without hearing that news!” Chuckling, the feline straightened. “Until tonight then, Captain.”

The diplomatic entourage exited the ship, save the Ambassador’s daughter, who had to give Cerise one last hug. Porsha Ballan was fairly unique in that she had striped orange and gold fur, a coloration normally seen on males and very, very rarely females, with large bronze colored eyes she was fair and lovely. She gave Elias a small wave, but the look she directed at Saul Reese was anything but charmingly innocent, and Elias chuckled to see his Second swallow hard and develop a sudden nervous twitch to his right ear.

“I think she’s sweet on you,” the fox said as the airlock cycled closed.

“Yeah, about that…I think I’ll be spending a fair amount of time on the ship, Captain,” Saul said.

“That might not be a good idea, Saul,” Cerise said, slipping her arm around her husband’s waist. “There really isn’t anywhere to run to and hide.”

“True,” the jaguar agreed. “But I can lock myself in my cabin with my stunner.”

Treena joined them, her look that she directed at the airlock challenging and hard. “Besides, this is my kitty,” the ocelot said as she took Saul’s hand. She then turned the same look up at the First Officer. “Right?”

Saul nuzzled her ear. “Yes, sweetling. Very much so.”

Elias smiled before becoming serious. “All right. Now that our guests are gone, let’s go talk to the newest addition to the crew.”

CHAPTER 24

Pala Lon sat in the cabin that she’d been led to when her crew had been brought on board. The white furred fox had kept her separate from her people, and though isolated, she couldn’t complain about her treatment. It was more than what her people would have done had the roles been reversed. The Kastan people saw the races of the Planetary Alignment as weak for the most part, and little more than semi-intelligent animals.

For her part, Pala had been almost an apostate. She liked the various worlds and members of the PA. Unfortunately she made these thoughts known, which had alienated her from her own species. Then during the Siilv War, she had gone so far as to rescue a small contingent of fleet personnel from a destroyed Pomen signals ship, hiding them in her parent’s home when their lifeboat had landed near-by before smuggling them off of Kastan. She’d had to kill several of her own kind during the escape, and now she was marked for immediate death should she ever return to her own homeworld. With no other choice available, she had decided to make her way among the varied worlds of the PA.

Being a Kastan, though, had netted her little more than animosity, abuse and general hostility. The only jobs that she was offered normally involved contract killing, something she was loathe to engage in. While as skilled as any other of her people in the combat arts, she really didn’t like killing. So it was that she eventually found herself on the privateer Feral Self Embraced. With no money or prospects for gainful employment, and her growling stomach which ached from being neglected for days on end, Pala Lon accepted the offer to serve on the corsair ship.

She lost herself during that time. The easy loot, the prestige she garnered from the rest of the crew, it was too much for one separated from contact with others, even if they weren’t her people. It was almost intoxicating, going to bed with a full belly, a partner to hold and pleasure her when she wished, and if not respect and affection, the fear and subservience of those around her was an adequate and heady substitute. Plus there was the added bonus of being able to obtain strawberries whenever the mood struck her.

Then after a four month long run of misfortune, she challenged Jin Terek for the captaincy of the Feral. The wolverine had been enraged at her boldness, and he might have actually hurt her if he hadn’t been so fuddled with Black Weed that he was seeing double. As it was, the fight was over quickly and she took command of the frigate, which she renamed Dagger of the Patriarch in honor of her father, dead for so many years now and decided that it was time to expand their operation.

The purchase of the two Wyvern fighters had been easy with the contacts the former Captain had had on Brandt. Then it was just a matter of finding viable targets.

The first had been an ore hauler that gave up readily enough. The capture of that ship and the transfer of micronite ore had gone without a hitch. No one had been harmed and the credits had been a welcome boost to dwindling coffers. The second had been a small, but very valuable, haul of platinum and iridium ingots destined for Alexandrius.

The third had been the Virtue of Satori. It hadn’t been Pala’s intention for anyone to get hurt, but the ransom of an ambassador was just too good to turn away from. They had been getting ready for boarding when this ship, the Guiding Angel, intervened. She was caught totally off guard at not just the firepower the freighter carried, but the ferocity its Captain and crew demonstrated. Even as her ship was shot to pieces and eventually neutralized, Pala felt something stirring in her that she hadn’t felt for almost two years.

Respect for another.

It was so strange. Pala had been dealing with the likes of her crew, the dregs of PA society, contacts on Brandt and Quet that would sell their own children, and had, for a profit, for so long that she realized not a single individual she’d met deserved respect. Not so with this ship and crew. They had thrown themselves against her with fervor! They had been dedicated to stopping her at all costs. Even as her ship was blasted by the upstart little freighter and its single fighter, she smiled at the audacity of it all, the zeal that they exhibited!

Pala felt no anger or hatred at being bested, and gave her surrender to a Captain that was worthy. Oh! If only she’d met these people two years ago!

The hatch to her cabin slid open with a hiss of pneumatic actuators, and she looked up from where she’d been sitting in silent contemplation of her situation. She saw the deep blue eyes of the white furred fox that commanded this ship and actually smiled. Behind him was the female panda in armor and armed, a couple of other underlings, all with weapons, all with serious expressions, and she knew what was to come next. It caused her no dismay. It had all been worth it just to see and meet individuals that showed such admirable traits, that had fought with an almost holy dedication and honor.

“Ah. It must be time,” Pala said, smiling at the fox, though she remained sitting with her legs folded over each other in a meditative position in the middle of the bed. “I know that it may be too much to ask, but did you perchance find two long cases when you searched my private cabin aboard the Dagger of the Patriarch? About this long covered in blue velvet?” She held her hands apart a little over two and a half feet.

Elias looked at her quizzically with a slight tilt to his head. “We did. They’re down in the cargo hold at the moment. May I ask why?”

“I would prefer to die with a modicum of honor, if I may. Those were my Father’s blades. I would like my death to be by a good clean stroke of the blade. Please keep them when you are done. It’s only right that they should go to you, Captain Tivnan. And my hide. I think it would be a fitting trophy for you.” She said all of this while smiling, as if Elias were an old friend she were giving a treasured tea service to.

“Um, we’re not here to execute you,” Elias said. He turned and looked out of the open hatch, made a dismissive gesture and shut the hatch. “May I sit?”

Pala’s smile fell as this was not what she was expecting. “By all means, Captain Tivnan.”

Elias took the chair that sat in front of the deactivated computer terminal and moved it so that he could look at the Kastan female. She spoke before he could.

“I take it I am to be handed over to the authorities then? Ah, well. It won’t be honorable, but the result will be the same,” she said with a hint of sadness coloring her tone.

Elias shook his head. “No. I’m not handing you over to the authorities, either. I know that you wouldn’t receive decent treatment or a fair trial. I have decided that I will not be party to arbitrary executions. That’s not what I do. You will have to pay for your crimes, however. As such, I am going to take you up on your offer.”

Elias never thought that he would ever see shock on a Kastan’s face.

“You defeated me in combat. It is only proper that you take me as your slave.”

Again the fox shook his head. “Nope, not as a slave, either. You will be a member of this crew. You see, our charge is to hunt and eliminate pirates, raiders, slavers, you name it. For that I need dedicated individuals, and after looking over the records on your ship’s computer, I found out that you never killed if it was avoidable. You never ran slaves. You treated the crews of the ships that you took better than they would have fared under another. As such, you are something of a valuable asset that I can use. You know things that I don’t…who sells and buys stolen cargos, the locations of other pirates, fencing operations, black market ties.”

Pala chuckled. “A member of your crew? I doubt the others onboard would support this concept, no matter how altruistic your motives. And I am more than certain your vaunted Spatial Police Force would do a little more than frown upon this proposal.” She began to laugh in earnest and it was several moments before she got herself under control. “You would take a known pirate onto your crew to hunt other pirates? And the people of the Planetary Alignment call my race insane? The Spatial Police Force will eventually catch you and see to it that you are lost on some little prison planet as far from the light of a civilized star as possible for the rest of your life!”

“It’s not as insane as you think. The entire crew has decided to give you a chance. Who better to catch a pirate than a pirate?” Elias said with an answering grin of his own. “As for the SPF, we really don’t need to worry about them.” Elias drew an identicard from the inside pocket of his vest and handed it to the Kastan. “You see, we’re already here.”

Pala took the card, looked at it for several seconds before collapsing with deep, throaty laughter.

“It seems this has been ordained by the Lady of Fate,” Pala said as she handed the identicard back to the fox. “This is an odd request, but may I have your blade for a moment, Captain? I swear that I will not use it to harm you in the slightest.”

Elias looked at the Kastan for a moment, her all black eyes were unreadable, but there was something…some feeling he had that was indefinable that made him feel that he could trust her. Without further hesitation, he drew the curved single-edged blade from the sheath on the right side of his belt and handed it handle first to Pala.

No sooner did the Kastan take the blade then she drew the keen edge across the top of her forearm, wiped the steel on the fabric of her trews before handing the blade back.

“By blood I am bound to you, Captain Tivnan. By blood am I sworn to serve. By blood is my life given to you and your line. Ever shall this be until by blood the oath is broken.”

Elias took the knife back and slid it into its black leather sheath. “Um, that was a little drastic. I need to know, however, what you mean when you say ‘until by blood the oath is broken’? I don’t quite get that.”

Pala smiled. “It means that you have to kill me to get rid of me. I’m sworn to you, your family, your children, your entire bloodline.” She placed her finger over the cut where blood welled up then reached out and drew a crimson line under Elias’s left eye then took his right hand and drew a glyph on the pad of his palm. “This is to signify that I have pledged everything that I am to you. I didn’t think that you’d want to follow the standard tradition of branding me.”

Elias was astonished and looked at Pala. “This is fairly serious, Pala. Are you sure about this?”

The Kastan rocked back into her previous position, unconsciously adjusting her tail before she sat on it. “How can I not? The only other options are to hand me over to your superiors to let me die or kill me yourself. This way I get to live. My race is generally held as being rather…unstable, mentally that is. Despite that, I can assure you that I would really prefer to continue living. This is the best way, and it is in the service of one that I feel is worthy.”

Elias simply looked at her, wondering how it would all turn out with a new Kastan body guard. Pala didn’t say anything else, having closed her black eyes and resumed a meditative posture, all but ignoring the fox’s presence. Silently he stood and left her alone, making sure that the locks were disengaged on the cabin’s hatch so that she could come and go as she pleased.

As Elias made his way to the bridge he wondered if his life could get any more complicated.

***

“I wasn’t even aware that the Planetary Alignment was funding something like this,” Ambassador Thomas Ballan said as he set his wine glass down and looked at Elias, leaning forward with obvious interest.

Dinner had been composed of several courses that featured dishes from all over the Alignment, and while not overly decadent, the selection had been astounding. There were meat dishes from Kantus, soups from Dennier and Tanthe, rich pastries and breads from Earth and seafoods from Crescentis and salads from Fyn and Pomen. Dessert had been cheesecake, apparently from the Terran city of New York. Now Elias, Cerise, the Ambassador, his wife, Selari, and daughter sat at the table enjoying a round of after dinner wine and brandy.

Cerise was talking to the other females and there was quite a bit of giggling and laughter involved. Elias smiled at the little coterie and turned back to the Fynian diplomat. “Well, secrecy is our greatest strength, thus the reason that I had to have everyone agree to nondisclosure contracts.”

“No need to apologize,” Ballan said with a wave of his hand. “But I would think that making it known that the SPF is using such a tactic would be beneficial as well. Not releasing information on the ships that are being used, or information on the crews, but letting the general populace know that such a program exists could help, I’d think. It might give some of the brigands pause to reconsider their actions.”

“Oh, word will get around,” the fox said, declining a refill of his brandy by a staff member. “The pirates will talk amongst themselves. That talk will in turn will make its way to the elements that profit from and distribute the plunder. Word will spread. Unfortunately no organization is immune to spying. Only a select few within the Spatial Police Force even know of our mission.”

Thomas Ballan smiled. “You are a brave individual, Elias. Very brave, indeed. To actively search out these parasites. You have my respect, young one.” Elias looked embarrassed at the praise, but said nothing. “So, I have to ask, being the overly inquisitive fool that I am, how many ships have you engaged with?”

“We’ve captured three ships and performed one rescue, Sir. Two recues if I include your vessel.”

The feline’s eyes were bright and inquisitive. “And you’ve been doing this for how long?”

Elias scratched at his left ear, absently touching the notch that was missing. “A little over three months, Excellency.”

“All of that in three months! Most impressive.” Ambassador Ballan raised his glass and gestured to Elias. “Then here’s to you and your fine crew, Captain.”

For his part, the fox was a little embarrassed, but accepted the accolades with as much grace as he could muster.

***

The repairs on the Guiding Angel took a little over a week, with Stram and Rutger pressing the rest of the crew into service on repairing the shield emitters, save Pala Lon. While the rest of the members onboard the Okami crawled over the hull replacing or realigning emitter units, the Kastan worked within ensuring that the units functioned properly. She was assisted by Cerise and Sonja, for her part the vixen found the felinoid to be a fascinating individual.

“You know, you aren’t at all like the stories I’ve heard regarding your species,” Cerise said as both of them checked the circuitry underneath the weapons station console where most of the overload damage on the bridge had occurred.

“I’m fairly sure that most of the stories that you’ve heard are fairly close to the mark,” Pala said as she checked a reading on a portable tester. “My people tend to be very intense. Tradition is something that we adhere to almost fanatically. Mix that with strong emotions and general blood thirstiness, a visceral thrill when it comes to fighting and you aren’t too far from what most people believe about my species. Could you hand me a small coupler?”

Cerise passed over the small tube that would attach to the ends of the wires and seal itself. “But you don’t seem to be like that at all.”

Pala chuckled and crimped the ends of the coupler to the strands of the two conductive lines. There was a momentary curl of acrid smoke as the small tube fused the ends of the wire together. “That’s because I’m…I guess you’d say an aberration. I like the various races of the Planetary Alignment. I like their worlds, their cultures. If it hadn’t been for the Siilv War I would have probably gone on to the Diplomatic Service, maybe traveled to the many universities that are scattered across the Alignment.” The Kastan female began to prepare the next set of wires for splicing.

Cerise was replacing a circuit board when the communications console chimed with the alert for an incoming message from Colonel Brees at the SPF headquarters on Joplin.

“I got it,” Elias said, having just entered the bridge and before his wife could slide out from below. He routed the call to the pilot’s station and slid on his headset. “Insane asylum, head inmate speaking.”

“Are you trying to be funny, son?” the lion growled.

Elias could see that his commanding officer was looking a little rough around the edges. “Sorry, Sandy. You look like hell. What’s wrong?”

“The investigation team was able to track down the individual that poisoned Cerise.”

“Who?” he snarled the question. “Who did it, Sandy? I want to know.” The fox felt his hackles rising, but there was little he could do to control the automatic response that was ingrained into his genetic code.

The lion shook his head and rubbed at red eyes. “You and the crew of the Guiding Angel are ordered to return to Dennier so that you can all testify in a closed court session. We’re trying to keep this as quiet as possible, so there won’t be any reporters or cameras. It’s also being held by the SPF Judge Advocate’s office and full quorum. Just get back as soon as repairs are made. With all due speed, Elias. No side trips and hunting is hereby suspended.”

Elias swore vehemently before regaining a modicum of composure. “Who did it, Sandy? With this kind of treatment it must be someone with connections.”

“If only that were the case. The individual we arrested was a known acquaintance of Keena and Cerise’s. One Marin Pizer. You should remember him. He was Keena’s date for your wedding ceremony. Needless to say that Rovi and Sharan are beside themselves on this one. This could very easily carry a death sentence if Keena is implicated, Elias. Attacks of this nature are very, very serious on Dennier. That Cerise is SPF now only complicates the whole stinking mess.”

Elias sat still for a moment, letting the information sink in before he spoke. “We’ll be in the air the moment we’re finished with repairs. Figure sometime within the next fourteen hours.”

“I wish this reunion were happening under better circumstances, son. We’ll see you when you get here.”

The comm unit automatically disconnected when Sander Brees logged off. Elias pulled the headset off and hung it on the small hook close to the flight controls and sat back in the seat. He jerked upright when he felt hands begin to knead the suddenly taught muscles of his shoulders. He turned to find Cerise looking at him with her deep green eyes large with concern. “What’s wrong, Love? What was that call about?”

Elias saw that Pala was also standing, quiet and still, but making no show of giving the pair a moment alone. There wasn’t really any point in trying to hide what he’d heard from the Kastan as he would have to tell the crew where they were headed next and why. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he took his mate’s hands in his.

“Sandy and his team found out who poisoned you. They have him in custody and need us to set course for Dennier to testify for the trial and sentencing.”

“He did?” the vixen asked. “’Him’ who? Who is it?”

The fox sighed. “It was a friend of Keena’s, Love. His name’s Marin Pizer. They have him in custody on Dennier and are wanting us to return as witnesses for the trial.”

Elias noticed past his mate that the Kastan was baring her teeth in an expression that there was no mistaking for a smile.

Cerise had a Strange look on her face.

“What is it?” Elias asked as he turned in the seat and took her hands.

“Marin was a friend of mine in school, as well. We went on a couple of dates, but he really wasn’t my type. He told me after we graduated that he was in love with me and was furious when I told him that I didn’t feel the same. Since then he’s hated me, blaming me for all of his failures and shortcomings. I can’t believe that he’d do something like this, though.”

There wasn’t really anything Elias could say to Cerise to help her overcome her shock. Though he did issue the orders that they had to lift within the next half day.

CHAPTER 25

Repairs took less than the fourteen hours that Elias had informed his superior of. The Guiding Angel was back in hard vacuum and speeding towards Dennier in seven, and Elias had already informed the crew of the reason for the return. Apart from Cerise and Elias, the only other one that it seemed would really need to testify to the seriousness of the vixen’s condition before treatment was Lemuel Anders. He had already transmitted copies of his records on the sorry event to Sander Brees office, and the findings by the doctors on Pomen.

It was unlikely that the crew would need to testify, but they would also attend as one never knew who the quorum would call upon to serve witness. Everyone stood around the front antechamber of the courtroom, each one dressed in semiprofessional attire. Uniforms were out of the question as Elias, Cerise and the others were still under strict orders to maintain a low profile and the section of the Citadel, the Dennieran court in the heart of Grandstorm, was off limits to the public and justice officials alike just in case. They stood with Rovi and Sharan just to the left of the heavy wooden door with the rest of the crew a short distance from them, save Pala. It was almost impossible for the two foxes to get any real distance from their self-appointed guardian, fortunately her nature was concealed with a tasteful hooded cloak in a muted slate-blue that, while not common, wasn’t too out of place in a city that saw so much interstellar traffic.

While their initial reunion had been brief and tense due to the circumstances, the small family group took comfort and strength in each other’s presence. Elias was able to steal a moment with Rovi as Cerise and Sharan conversed quietly for a few moments.

“How sure is Sandy about this?” the fox asked his father-in-law.

The black male shook his head. “Very. He compared the poison that was in Cerise’s blood with the samples that were retrieved from Marin’s fur. It’s a complete match. One hundred percent. Once he was confronted with the evidence, Marin confessed. All of this is merely a formality. What worries me is if he did this on his own or if Keena had anything to do with it.”

“No. I don’t think so. Keena might be a player, but I don’t think this is something that she would condone. Attempted murder is just a little extreme for a case of sibling rivalry,” Elias said with a low growl to his voice.

“That may be so. I don’t have a very good feeling about any of this, though.” The other fox had aged visibly since Elias had last seen him, and the fox could tell that the situation with Keena was causing his wife’s father no end of sorrow and pain. “Do you hate Keena for any of the things she did, Elias?”

The white furred fox was silent for several moments and adjusted the uncomfortably tight collar on his shirt. “No. I don’t hate her. I’m still a bit miffed, but I don’t hate her.”

Before Rovi could respond a large mastiff in Spatial Police Force dress regalia opened the door to the courtroom. While the uniform was dressy and the creases sharp enough that Elias was sure he could slice meat with them, there was no mistaking the fact that his vest was top of the line body armor, or that the gleaming sidearm wasn’t merely for show. The mastiff looked at the assembled individuals and spoke with a deep voice. “You may now enter the court.”

They all filed in and took their seats on hard, heavily polished wood pews that were made for individuals to sit and had little in the way of further comfort. Elias and Cerise sat with her parents, Pala taking a seat behind them. The rest of the crew found places around their Captain and Cerise and waited for what seemed an hour before the Judges Quorum filed in. There were five in all, each one wearing full dress uniforms with enough ribbons and service decorations that little of the gray fabric showed. Each also wore a cape with cowl that hid their faces. The only way to tell that three of the judges were furkind with two humans was by their exposed hands.

“All rise!” the mastiff commanded, with everyone in attendance standing in unison.

The Judges took seats behind a large wall that sat on a raised dais so that they had to look down to see the individuals in the court room. Once they were seated the mastiff gave the instruction to sit in the same unyielding tone. Once they had all settled down, a pair of SPF officers, one wolverine and the other a serval, led Marin Pizer in from a side chamber.

The rangy male fox looked subdued wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit with large ‘P’ on the front and back and the word ‘Prisoner’ in several languages on the sleeves and legs. His hands were bound with alloy manacles and there was a collar around his neck that held a battery that would deliver a stunning jolt if he tried to escape. Marin looked up once and saw Cerise, his expression flat and soulless. When he saw Elias, though, there was nothing there but insane hatred.

The shackled fox was led to the table where his Defense counselor waited, a brown furred mouse in an SPF dress uniform. Elias noted some of the commendation ribbons that the Counselor wore on his uniform and nodded slightly to himself. He might be a lawyer now, but the mouse had seen some fairly serious action at some time in the past.

The trial then got underway without preamble. Everyone knew why they were here and there was no reason for the Judges to repeat the cause.

“Marin Fel Pizer, you stand before this Quorum with the charge of attempted murder directed at a citizen of Dennier, poisoning an officer of the Spatial Police Force, malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit murder. By your own words on record you have confessed to this crime. Do you have anything to say on your behalf before we hear the recording of your confession and review the evidence?” a Judge asked, one of the two humans present.

Marin looked at the Judges with dead eyes, keeping silent. Then he turned around and looked at Cerise, his lips curling up in a baring of teeth. “I loved you! You should have been mine!” He spat towards Elias and the SPF guards rushed in and subdued him with a couple of jolts from high power stun batons.

One of the Judges rapped a white baton on the top of the stand. “Order! Guards! Restrain the accused!” The judge waited until the guards had the mad fox bolted to his chair before pointing at Marin. “You will refrain from addressing the rest of individuals in attendance in this room.” The cowled head turned slightly. “Prosecution will now provide the material and recorded evidence with provision for cross examination by the Defense. Once that has been dealt with, we shall hear the statements of witnesses if it is deemed necessary.”

The prosecuting officer that entered was Major Talia Paris, Sander Brees’ chief aide. Her uniform was crisp and pressed and the cheetah was immaculately groomed. She carried a rich brown leather clad briefcase and DataPak, which seemed incongruous with the well worn pistol that she wore in a holster on her hip. She set her belongings down, activated her DataPak and looked at it for a few moments before typing in a command. Several vidscreens throughout the courtroom flared to life. On each one was a copy of the medical reports from Pomen, each with the signature of Cerise’s attending physician.

“As you can see by these reports,” Major Paris began without preamble, “the toxicity levels that Ensign Cerise Tambor…excuse me, Ensign Cerise Tivnan suffered from were more than hazardous. They were very much life threatening. In his write up of the case, Doctor Paul Halstead, a member of the Pomen University’s Medical College, and eighteen year practitioner, states that the levels of seditarol found in Ensign Tivnan’s blood and body were above what is considered dangerous and lethal, and the situation was salvaged only because of Doctor Lemuel Ander’s quick reaction and the proximity of Ensign Tivnan to proper medical facilities.

“ Seditarol is a toxin normally used to control vermin on Dennier and one or two other worlds. In small doses it causes sterility in said vermin. Small doses in sentient beings normally causes general fatigue, minor headaches and some discomfort.” The cheetah brought up pictures of pathological records, grisly images of what the poison did along with images of Cerise’s internal damage. “Larger concentrations are lethal and cause death by destroying the tissues of internal organs, targeting the digestive, reproductive systems and destroying liver and kidney functions. While normally not toxic to touch, ingesting the substance can have detrimental or hazardous results, up to and including death.

“Furthermore, the tests run by Major Lemuel Anders, an accredited SPF doctor and trauma specialist, confirm these findings and support the report from Pomen. It was only through sheer luck that the poison was detected in time and that adequate medical facilities were within reach.” Major Paris changed the picture on the vidscreens from picture evidence of seditarol poisoning to Marin’s arrest photos before continuing.

“As per orders from Colonel Sander Brees, Commander of the Special Investigations Division, Spatial Police Force Headquarters on Joplin, an investigation was headed up and eventually led to the discovery of Marin Pizer as the poisoner.” The cheetah replaced the picture of Marin’s arrest with one of him standing in the nude under an ultraviolet lamp with his hands and upper arms glowing brightly under the ultraviolet light and other areas of his fur showing lower levels of contamination. “Upon testing, chemical analysis proved that the substance found in Ensign Cerise Tivnan’s blood was a match with the seditarol found on the fur and under the nails of Marin Pizer. When confronted with this information, Mister Pizer readily confessed to the crime.”

A recording of Marin sitting in a blank walled interrogation room appeared with a timestamp from sixteen days previous and the arresting officer’s name and serial number. He sat in a chair with his head down, but his voice was clear and she responded to the questions of an unseen SPF officer. “I slipped the powder into Cerise’s food and drink whenever I could,” Marin’s recorded self stated.”Some went into her toiletries, toothpaste, things like that. It was at her wedding that I was able to give her the most, though. It wasn’t right that he married her. It wasn’t his place. She was mine!”

“Who are you referring to?” the interrogator asked in a flat voice.

“That white fox she married. He was so arrogant, so perfect seeming.Everyone just accepted him and I h-hated them both for it. A perfect stranger. He is nothing! NOTHING! I was the one that was always there for her, not him. I should have been the one she married!”

“So you sought to poison them? Both of them? Don’t you think that was a little rash? Maybe a bit irrational?”

Marin looked up and his expression was haunted and full of pain. “Do you know what it’s like to be in love? Not just infatuation, but so much in love that it hurts? I used to watch her. Whenever she left her house. Then when she was finished with the University I would follow her to the starport. I love her! She should be with me!”The fox rubbed his eyes and wiped at his nose with the back of his hand.“Y-yes. It was imm-mature. B-b-but I didn’t care! If I couldn’t have her, he wouldn’t either. See, that’s the beauty of seditarol. It makes you sterile, then it kills. No, there won’t be any children for them. Then she’ll die. And he won’t have her.”

The voice of the questioning officer spoke again, and there was a hint of pity, but that was overshadowed by the level of contempt he had for the fox. “So that was the reasoning for the seditarol? What did you hope to gain? You wanted to kill them both?”

“No! Just her! I wanted him to have to live without her. Just like I had to!” Marin screamed, flecks of foam spraying from his mouth as he yelled and snarled, fighting against his restraints.

The court watched as Marin finally collapsed onto the table he sat at and cried with heart rending grief interrupted by howls of frustration and hatred. Major Paris stopped the recording on an image of a tortured Marin. Elias stole a glance at Cerise and saw that the fur under her eyes was soaked and she was trembling.

“Does the defense wish to cross examine the evidence just given?” one of the Judges asked.

The mouse that had been sitting at the end of the table stood. He straightened his uniform tunic before speaking. “Against my advisement, the Defendant has waived his right to have evidence and witnesses cross examined and maintains his plea of guilty, you Honors.”

“So be it. This court is in recess while we deliberate the sentence,” another of the female Judges said.

Before the Judge could rap the table with her baton, Cerise stood up, with Elias following suit as soon as he detected his wife’s intention.

“Your honor? If I may address the court?” the ebony vixen asked.

“Ensign Tambor,” one of the male judges, a human, said, leaning forward slightly. “Do you have something to add to the evidence?”

Cerise shook her head. “No, your Honors. I would like to plead with you on Marin’s behalf, though.”

“Oh?” another of the Judges asked with some surprise. “You have our leave. Please continue, Ensign.”

Looking at her former friend for a long moment, Cerise gave the red fox a long look before turning to the assembled Quorum. “What he did is despicable and vile. But it’s also obvious that he is profoundly disturbed as well. I ask for leniency in regards to your judgment.”

“Ensign Tambor, you almost died at the defendant’s hands, and he has admitted this much. Under the laws of Dennier, not to mention those of the Planetary Alignment regarding attacks on PA representatives, as you yourself are, there must be accountability,” the Judge on the far left endsaid. “Would you have us allow an individual that is dangerous back amongst the population?”

Cerise drew herself up and looked at the Judge that had just spoken, her eyes hardening slightly. “No! Of course not, your Honors. I agree that there must be accountability. There was once a time when Marin Pizer was a good friend. And while he has feelings for me that I can’t reciprocate, I feel I do owe it to him for the sake of the friendship we once had to ask for consideration on his behalf.”

“While we admire your dedication to your…friend, think about what you are asking,” the middlemost Judge said, her voice firm and calm. “Marin Pizer has committed a vile crime with ill intent and there must be punishment. Attacks on the citizenry of members of the Planetary Alignment, nor representatives of the Planetary Alignment Council or affiliated agencies will not be tolerated.”

The rap of the baton was as sudden and loud as a gunshot.

***

“All rise,” the mastiff barked out as the Judges filed back in.

Everyone stood, and waited. The tension in the courtroom was an almost palpable thing, and only grew as the mastiff instructed everyone to take their seats. The Judges sat impassively for several moments before the one in the center spoke.

“It has been the duty of judges throughout history to mete out justice to those that stood against the laws of society, to review the evidence and make an impartial choice based on knowledge of facts. While the facts in this case are evident, there are factors that have nothing to do with impartiality, nor facts.

“Marin Pizer,” the judge said, gesturing to the still restrained fox whose citrine eyes burned with a livid hatred, “you willingly committed a crime, a heinous attack via subterfuge in a manner that bespeaks cowardice and loathsome intent, an act that you readily admit to. That would be the poisoning of one that even now pleads for your life. Had things happened differently, this would be a trial for murder. Regardless of your reasons, what you did was reprehensible. You endangered an Officer of the Spatial Police Force, the life of someone that even now uses a past friendship to try and help you. Were it up to me alone, I would have you sent to the executioner this very moment. As it stands, our conclusion and ruling is that you will be sent to a prison world as far from the Planetary Alignment as possible for the rest of your natural life, to an existence where basic survival alone is a constant labor.

“I have no doubt that Ensign Tivnan, indeed, cares for your welfare, as undeserving as you might be. Despite precedents of the accused normally being executed for such crimes on this world, it is this Quorum’s decision to commute a sentence of death. Your punishment has been meticulously discussed and decided upon. Tomorrow you will be placed on an SPF ship and deposited on the lunar prison of Kharthan in the RBB-694 star system to serve a sentence of no less than life.

“Do you understand what I have just told you?”

Marin Pizer looked at the judges before he spat in their direction, though restrained in his sitting position the gesture was futile.

One of the other Judges rapped the table with a baton. “Then let the records show the ruling of this Quorum and its decision. Court dismissed.”

“All rise!” the mastiff bellowed.

The Judges filed out as somberly and silent as they had entered.

Cerise stood and looked at the male fox with a hint of sadness. She was answered with a glare of purest malice.

“You bitch! I curse you and the bastard kits you have with him! If you still can! I hate you! I hate you all!”

The guards moved in quickly and silenced Marin with a muzzle before unbolting him from the chair that he’d been sitting in and started to drag him off. The look in his eyes as he was dragged off convinced the others that there was little in the way of sanity in Marin Pizer’s eyes.

Elias slid his arm over his wife’s shoulders, feeling the tremble that wracked her small frame and pulled her close. She clung to his arm almost frantically.

“Come. Let’s go home,” Rovi said, starting to lead the way from the bench and towards the doors.

Elias passed Cerise off to her mother. “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

Rovi gave him a quizzical look. “Where are you going?”

“I want to let my crew know that they’re on leave until I call them. This will only take a second.”

The older fox snorted. “Have them stay at the house! We have more than enough room. It’s as good a place for them as any hotel, and less expensive. They’re more than welcome, my boy.”

“I don’t want to be disagreeable, but that would be a little much at once, don’t you think?” Elias agreed that it would be more economical for him at least, but the strain on an already frazzled Sharan might be a bit much.

“Dear, if I could handle over fifty guests for your wedding at the last moment, I can certainly handle a dozen.” Sharan’s voice indicated that she would accept no other answer besides ‘yes’. “Besides, I want to meet the crew my children are serving with.”

“I really wouldn’t argue with her,” Rovi sagely advised.

Elias shrugged and went to tell his crew of the change in plans.

CHAPTER 26

Elias sat at the large den window looking out at the sere grass and bare trees. Winter had set in since he and Cerise had set off with the crew of the Guiding Angel, and the garden outside was leached of color, though the sky was a crisp blue with pure sunlight streaming through the denuded mimosas. A fire burned merrily in the huge stone fireplace, the cedar wood giving off a rich scent while it crackled and blazed merrily with tongues of yellow-orange flame.

Rovi moved from the side board and handed the white fox a glass half filled with an amber liquid. He handed the other tumbler in his hand to Randal, then returned to the decanter to fill drinks for Lemuel Anders and Stram.

“It’s not often that I have the company of males lately. I’m rather happy that the ladies took Sharan out with them. I know I could use the break.” Rovi smiled as he passed out the last two glasses and then poured one for himself. He carried it back to his favorite leather chair, still just as worn as it had been so many months earlier when Rovi and Elias had sat together having a last drink before the Guiding Angellaunched.

Randal nodded to the older fox after taking a sip. “Most excellent, Mister Tambor. Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it. I just wish your visit were under better circumstances. And I would prefer it if you addressed me and Sharan by our names,” the ebony fox said as he leaned back and took a swallow of his own drink.

“No offense and all, but if you’d be so inclined as to make the next one a beer, I’d be more than appreciative,” Stram said as his breath caught in his throat from the fiery liquid and his eyes watered.

“And here I thought that with all of the solvents and fumes you breathe in the engine room you’d be immune to spirits,” Elias said as he turned from the window.

“Not me, Cap’n,” the badger said shaking his head. “Never really acquired the taste for the hard stuff.”

Randal smiled. “Your loss, my gain.”

Rovi looked at the way the amber liquid in his tumbler caught the light from the fire. “So, Doctor, is my daughter recovered from the poisoning?”

“It would seem,” the tiger said. “All of the tests that I’ve run haven’t shown any traces with the treatments that she’s been under. We’ve been monitoring her blood once a week. She’s completely recovered.”

“What about…having children?” the fox asked, concern furrowing his brows.

Lemuel chuckled. “Elias asked the same thing about a week ago. She is fully capable of carrying children to term, Rovi.”

“Thank the Maker,” Rovi said, some of the tension vanishing from his shoulders. All were silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts. It was the elder fox that broke the silence. “I never cared for Marin. Granted it’s been a few years since I’d last seen him, even with Keena going out with the bastard, but even as a youth there was something that just didn’t seem right. We caught him hiding in the shrubbery and staring at Cerise a couple of times when she and her friends would use the pool or tennis court.

“Sharan didn’t really pursue the matter, saying it was simply teenage hormones and sexual angst, but it was more than that. If he’d been my child I would have sent him for psychological evaluation long ago.” Rovi seemed to mentally shake himself, and sat up a little straighter. “At least he’s a threat that we really don’t have to worry about anymore.”

“There’s no doubt about his intelligence, even if his perceptions of things are warped. He was able to poison Cerise for a number of weeks without anyone being the wiser. He has skill, no matter how much we want to deny it,” Elias mused darkly. “He could have made a decent operative.”

“Sure he would have!” exclaimed Stram. “If he weren’t stark raving, fornicating-with-almonds bonkers!”

“Fornicating with almonds?” Lemuel asked with a perplexed expression.

The badger nodded. “Yep. Bleepin’ nuts.”

The room burst into laughter, which helped to finally break the spell of tension from the events earlier in the day. Before Elias could fully recover from his amusement at Stram’s description, the front door of the house slammed loudly. The patter of small feet beat a rhythmic tattoo all the way to the door of the den, then was replaced by the squeals of Celia and Gey.

They burst into the room and launched themselves first at their father who gave them their usual round of hugs and kisses. That only slowed the pair of copper furred kits for a moment as they launched themselves from their father’s lap and flew at Elias. They impacted with him so forcefully that they almost dumped him over, chair and all.

“I think that they’re happy to see you,” Randal commented with a smile.

With the kits latched firmly around his neck and chuckling, Elias tried to nod. “I think you may be right!”

“Elias! You’re back! Is sissy with you? Did you bring us presents? How long are you going to be here”

“Can we fly in your ship? Can you go to the park with us? We told all our friends that you’re our new brother! Can we have our presents now?”

“Girls!” Rovi barked sharply, but the seeming harshness of his tone was nullified by the smile that split his muzzle. “Elias is going to be with us for a few weeks. Now behave. You know that this isn’t how you’re supposed to behave around guests.”

The twins clambered down with muted apologies and their heads lowered. “Sorry, ‘Lias,” Celia said with a small curtsey. Elias wasn’t fooled for a moment as both had mischievous twinkles in their eyes.

“Sorry,” Gey also said, emulating her sister’s gesture.

They turned to the rest of the room and made apologies before going back to stand in front of their father. “Now that’s better. So, how were your lessons today?”

“Fine, Daddy,” the girls said together and launched into recital of the events of their day.

“Good. Why don’t you go put some play clothes on and get outside for a while. I think Dona was looking for a little help in the hangar. She said something about paying whoever helped her with some cookies that she made last night.”

The girls’ eyes lit up, and they made their good-byes to everyone before leaving the room in almost the same fashion that they’d entered.

“Absolutely adorable!” Lemuel commented with a grin after the girls left.

“If you think so you are more than welcome to take them with you when you lift again,” Rovi said. “They never do anything in half measures. Especially when they are excited about something.” He turned and looked at his son-in-law. “You and Cerise are going to be strung out by the time you leave. I’m doubting you’ll be getting much in the way of relaxation while you’re here.”

“Compared to some of the situations we’ve already run into, Celia and Gey will be a welcome distraction,” the fox said smiling.

Rovi nodded. “Look, I know that it’s all classified, but how are things going out there? And why, may I ask, do you have a Kastan following you and Cerise around?”

Elias was thoughtful for a moment, then realized that Rovi still had a clearance with the SPF, and that his job with Binfurr also required a high security rating, shrugged and began to relate everything that had happened since they left. Fortunately the others were able to fill in parts as well. It all must have sounded better to Rovi than it had to Elias because the other fox was truly impressed when they finished their stories.

“You’ve seen and done more in your few months out than I did my entire first year! And the Kastan, Pala? She swore her life to you?” the older fox asked with shock.

Elias nodded and told his father-in-law what had prompted his decision.

“Then you chose rightly,” the black furred male said. “There are a lot of sour feelings over the Siilv War, and outright bigotry and hatred from a lot of individuals when it comes to the Kastans. Things have changed since I retired, and I think your assessment that she wouldn’t receive a fair trial is accurate. I can’t say that I would have done what you did, but then I was just a fighter jock and not a ship’s captain.”

“If Pala can help keep my people safe, you’ll hear no arguments from me,” a deep voice said from the doorway to the den.

“Huh. This is turning out to be quite the reunion, now,” Elias said as he got up from the chair to greet the unexpected visit by Sander Brees.

The two shook hands warmly. When they parted the fox reclaimed his chair while the lion went to the sideboard and poured himself a drink, opting for a simple club soda and vermouth. “I was already here for the trial. Other duties prevented me from acting as the prosecuting officer, which is why I sent Talia, instead.” Sander dropped a couple of pieces of ice into the glass and drank it down in a single gulp before refilling it. “And you won’t have to worry about Pizer. He spared us the cost of transport and incarceration.”

“What happened?” Elias asked, noticing that Rovi also sat forward in interest.

“As he was being led back to his cell, ranting and slavering worse than he had during the hearing, he attacked one of the guards and was able to do some damage. The other guard had no other option but to use deadly force. Took a full eight rounds to finally stop him,” the lion said shaking his head. “According to the guards he was totally insane at that point.”

“I feel safer now, but I can’t say that I’m thrilled with the outcome,” Elias said. “Insanity really isn’t a choice one makes to be.”

“Son, if you have a dangerous animal that can’t be rehabbed, it’s more of a mercy to put it down,” Brees said as he made a third glass and added a generous splash of gin. “I can’t say I’m thrilled either, but in the end it might just be the best thing for all involved. At least Corporal Lanis is going to recover. He’ll have to have some cosmetic work done once he’s healed up enough, but he’ll be fine.”

“Which one was Lanis?” Randal asked.

“The wolverine. Pizer actually chewed on him. Damnably disturbing if you ask me. He’ll have a few scars, but he’ll be back on duty within a few weeks.” Sander sipped at his drink, and looked at Elias and the crew that was with him. “On a happier note, I would like to discuss your evaluation.” Then noticing a particular absence, the lion waved at Elias with his glass. “Where’s Saul? I thought he’d be here with you?”

“He and Treena are moving the Guiding Angel to the Okami yards for a good check-up,” the fox said.

“Huh. Not a bad idea seeing you’re all going to be here for a bit,” Sander said.

Fox and crew were surprised that they had been so scrutinized, but it should have been expected that their actions were being monitored and weighed.

“Evaluation gives me hope,” Elias commented, leaning back in his chair. “It sounds a lot better than reassignment!”

The lion smiled. “Indeed, it should. Initial projections for the Sweeper program had you pulling a pirate crew out of action every month and a half, standard. To say that you’ve exceeded that is an understatement. Your plan for funding your ship with the salvage from the captured ships is actually netting the SPF extra credits, even after deducting the cost for your ship’s operation, and sizeable bonuses and bounties for all of the crew, to the point where after initial start-up costs, you are in the black for continued operation for the next two years.”

Stram whistled in surprise. “Two years? That’s almost half a million credits! What with food, miscellaneous consumables, fuel…” He trailed of as he did some fast calculating. “Plus crew bonuses? Just how much have we netted in salvage?”

Sander chuckled. “With the addition of the Dagger of the Patriarch, your total captured tonnage value is roughly five and a half million credits. As it is, the fourth ship will be launching in the next three weeks. The Crown and Thistle lifted this week from Mars. She’s an old Silloni Terehdan class personnel transport that we had totally rebuilt from the frame out. Her Captain is a human named Alistair Gordon. A fair pilot and he jumped at the offer quicker than you did, son,” the lion told Elias.

The fox laughed. “You got Alistair into this? I’m surprised that he didn’t find out about this on his own and approach you!”

“He was a bit miffed that you got the first ship,” Sander admitted with a grin. “He did want me to give you this, though,” the lion said taking a data stick out of the breast pocket of his tunic. “Said it was just a personal message, but he’s looking forward to meeting up with you eventually.”

“I bet he’s already chasing his first target down even as we speak,” Elias quipped as he took the recording device. “Alistair’s a great pilot. And cunning. Fortunately we have a head start on him.”

Sander cocked a sideways glance at the fox with one eyebrow raised. “You turning this into some kind of competition, son?”

Elias laughed. “No, that’ll happen all on its own! Alistair likes to be the best at everything he does, and this will be no different.”

The gathering lapsed into small talk, when Lemuel aimed a question at the Colonel. “Sander, if you don’t mind my asking, how is Jenna doing? I’ve been wondering about her since she left our company.”

“Yes,” Elias said, as if suddenly remembering the ferret that helped save innocent civilians from their first encounter. “I’ve been wondering that myself.”

The lion let a contented smile settle on his face. “She’s doing very well. Meri and I are overjoyed to have a youngster in the house again. Not only is she soaking up her studies like a dry sponge to water, she is helpful and courteous and an absolute joy to be around.”

“We’re glad to hear that she’s doing well,” Randal said nodding his head.

“It was a little tricky at first. Her language was atrocious in the beginning. Meri, bless her, was very patient but tenacious. She should be starting classes at the university soon and has even made it clear that she plans on joining the SPF as soon as she can.”

“No surprise there,” Elias said.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with light conversation as they all waited until it was time to meet the ladies for supper.

CHAPTER 27

“Oooo! What about this one?” Lena said as she held up a short hemmed dress in teal.

Cerise smiled as the doe held it against her front and twisted around trying to get an idea of what it would look like. “If you could find it in a color that matches your dye job, I’d say go for it!”

“Don’t you think it’s a trifle short, dear?” Sharan asked. “You’d be showing an awful lot of leg, don’t you think?”

The rabbit gave Cerise and her mother a wicked grin. “That’s sort of the idea! I want every male that sees Randy with me to be so envious they’ll be chewing on their livers in jealousy for the next six months!”

Sharan gaped at Lena in astonishment before laughing. “You are a wicked young lady!”

Lena only leered back. “I know. Horrible, isn’t it?”

The group burst out laughing, enjoying themselves immensely.

Cerise was thankful that her mother, Lena, Melise, Sonja and Odette had decided to take her shopping. It was a welcome relief after the trial, and helped take her mind off of the whole sorry affair. Even Pala was having a good time as she absently touched articles of clothing she found, though maintained a watch on Cerise and Sharan. Melise and Odette had already found outfits for later that evening when they would meet the males for supper. Her father had booked an entire room at the Azure, one of the most raved about restaurants in Grandstorm. It was a testament to her father’s sway and influence in that Rovi had no problem calling a few hours ahead and getting an entire room.

With a giggle of excitement, Lena ran off to the dressing room to try the dress on, leaving Cerise with her mother and the other four females to continue looking for something that would have the desired effect on Elias. Before she’d gotten through a quarter of the garments in front of her, Cerise saw the doe return, and she had to admit that the teal actually went with her new dye job fairly well.

The dress fastened at the neck and plunged down, crossing over her breasts then wrapping around her hips and covering her rump while leaving her small puff of a tail free. The front ended a few inches above her knees, and at mid calf in the back. Her back was bare, exposing the swirling design the rabbit had on her back.

“Oh, that’s perfect!” Cerise said with a smile.

“Really? Do you think that Randy will like it?” the doe asked hopefully.

Cerise nodded. “Oh, yeah.”

Lena ran her hands over the fabric, relishing the feel of the silk on the soft pads of her hands. “Too bad there’s not enough fabric to conceal my pistol,” she said with a slight pout.

“Heavens, Lena!” Sharan said with shock. “You won’t be carrying a firearm, will you?”

All of the females nodded. “Orders. Even on a well policed planet like Dennier, we carry at all times,” Melise said, shifting her left arm and bags out and showing the older vixen the butt of her sidearm and two blades. “It’s like the Starfarer Credit Card commercial. ‘Never go anywhere without it!’”

Sharan looked at her daughter. “You too?” she asked with a slightly sickened expression.

Cerise nodded. “I have to, Momma. It’s like carrying prophylactics. I’d rather have and not need, than need and not have.” She put her hand on her mother’s shoulder, “It’s just the way it has to be. I know you don’t like it, but you need to accept it. Now help me find something like Lena’s dress, but I think I’d like it in red.”

“I might be able to help with that, if you’d let me,” a female voice said quietly a little way from the group.

They all turned, but it was Cerise that reacted first. With a cry, she leaped forward to catch the newcomer in a fierce hug, the other female flinched slightly, then relaxed as the black fox’s arms wrapped around her.

“I’m so glad to see you, Keena!” Cerise cried.

Sharan moved closer and gave her other daughter a small smile, keeping her guard up until she was sure that the russet furred vixen wasn’t going to do anything rash.

Keena melted into her sister’s embrace, a tear squeezing past her tightly closed eyes. She whisperedto her sister, but it was clearly audible to the rest of the group.

“I’m so sorry for the way I acted, Ceri. I treated you so badly. And poor Elias. Gods! I am so sorry! Can you ever forgive me?”

Cerise pulled back and looked at her sister with a genuine smile and all of the warmth she had in her heart for her sibling. “Of course I do. You’re my sister!”

Both younger vixens reached out and drew their mother into an embrace. It was several moments before they loosened their holds on each other, and Keena composed herself quickly. “Now then, You have always looked great in reds and greens, so come over here and I’ll show you what we have.” As she led her sister away to another section, she turned to Lena. “If you give me a few minutes, I have a dress similar to that one that matches the dye color of your fur.”

“That would be great!” Lena exclaimed with a grin.

“How do you know where everything is in here?” Cerise asked as she was led to another rack of dresses.

“I, um, started working here two days after I last saw you. I moved in with Valentina, and she informed me that even though we were friends that I would have to pull my own weight. I’ve even started to learn cooking!” Keena seemed proud of her accomplishments, and Cerise was actually impressed.

“So what time do you get off of work? We’re all meeting at the Azure tonight for dinner, and the rest of the crew will be there. You can tell me all about what you’ve been doing.” Despite the sore feelings when they had their last parting, Cerise was elated to see her sister and had missed her terribly.

Keena waffled on her answer. “I really don’t want to intrude.”

“Nonsense! You’re my sister! You wouldn’t be intruding. I want you there. Really.”

The red colored fox smiled. “If you’re sure…”

“Of course I am!” Then she paused as a realization struck her, and Cerise took her sister’s hands and led her a few feet away from the selection of clothing she’d been about to show her. “Um, I don’t really know how to ask this, so I’ll be blunt, and hope that you don’t get mad.” She swallowed hard and calmed herself before driving on. “You’re not seeing Marin Pizer are you?”

Keena made a sour face. “Oh, Gods no!” She shuddered involuntarily. “I knew he had feelings for you, which was one of the reasons that I had him as my date for the weeding. We kind of played around afterwards for about a week or so, but his…um…tastes, well, he was mean, Cerise. He likes to hurt others.”

“He didn’t hurt you did he?” Cerise asked. When her sister didn’t answer immediately and looked away, she squeezed Keena’s hands. “Did he?”

Keena looked at her sibling, then away again and nodded. “He’s…crazy. I mean frighteningly so.”

“You don’t have to worry about him ever again. No one does,” Cerise said flatly.

“He tried getting a hold of me several times, but I was able to avoid him. He is obsessed with you, you know. He really is sick.”

“That’s one of the reasons that I’m here. You can’t tell anyone else about this,” Cerise whispered. “I mean it. Not another soul. The reason that we’re back was to attend his trial for attempted murder.”

Keena looked as if she’d just been hit in the back of the head with a club. “Murder? Are you serious?!? Who?”

Cerise looked at Keena, her expression unflinching. “Me.”

Keena seemed like she was going to speak, but Cerise stopped her.

“There will be time for you to hear what happened later. Help me find something to wear first.”

Together under far better circumstances than they parted, the little knot of family and friends continued their shopping foray, and while the day had been one of less than happy circumstances, the next few hours held the potential of healing a family.

***

“Tonight was a good night, don’t you think?” Rovi asked Sharan as he slid under the blankets and next to his mate. “I’m happy that Keena’s back. And she and Cerise seemed to have made amends.”

Sharan snuggled closer to her husband and lay her head on his chest. “Well, at least I have both daughters back for a little while. I don’t know why Keena didn’t want to move back in, though.”

Rovi chuckled. “For the first time in her life, she’s standing on her own. She isn’t relying on others for her keep, she’s earning it. That does something to some. She has really grown up.”

He was surprised to feel Sharan’s shoulders shaking and looked down to see that she was silently crying. “What’s wrong, Dearest? Why are you crying? You should be happy. Tell me.” He wrapped his arms around his wife and held her tight to him trying to sooth her.

“I feel like I’ve been given one daughter back just so I can lose the other!” she whispered, her voice betraying the level of emotional anguish she felt inside. “I know what they’re going through out there, her and Elias and all the others. They have to carry guns with them even here! Aren’t they ever safe?”

“Sharan, Cerise is with a fine crew. As fine, if not better, than any I served with for over twenty years. Yes, what they do is dangerous. I won’t lie about that. But Elias and the others won’t let anything happen to her. Even if it means they have to sacrifice their lives.”

“But why do they have to do it? They’re such a wonderful group of young people. So young and alive! Why does it have to be them?”

Rovi sighed. “I have tried to explain this before, but unless you’ve been out there, you will never really understand.” He felt Sharan stiffen in his arms, and continued before this turned into something akin to their arguments of years ago when they were first married. “There are four types of individuals, Dearest. Those that ignore what happens around them, those that want to help but do nothing because they are afraid to get involved. And then there those that roll up their sleeves and do what needs to be done. Cerise, Elias and the rest are that third group. They have to do this because it is part and parcel of who and what they are. They could no more not do it than you or I could will our hearts to stop.”

“What about the fourth? What are they?”

Rovi’s eyes hardened, though she couldn’t see them. “They are the ones our daughter and son protect the rest of us from.”

***

Sitting next to the small fire pit that was located a dozen yards from the pool deck, another conversation was taking place. Sitting close to the crackling fire fueled with split logs of aromatic cedar was a pair that had surprised the rest of the party. Sitting close to Keena, his coat over her shoulders to ward of the chill of the evening was Lemuel Anders. The vixen had been drawn to him for some strange reason, though instead of reacting to the quiet and reserved tiger in what would have been her normal fashion just a few months prior, Keena had approached him almost demurely. She found him to be a fascinating individual.

“Was my sister really that sick?” Keena asked, her eyes and expression more than a little haunted.

The tiger nodded slowly. “If things had been the slightest bit different, we would have lost her. Fortunately we were close to Pomen and a very talented doctor.”

Keena looked at the tiger. “From what I’ve been told, she owes her life to you, Lemuel. You saved her.”

“I had a hand in it, but that’s about all. But tell me why are you crying?”

She batted away the tears that welled in her eyes self consciously. “Because when I left, just before she took off in your ship, I…it could have been the last time that I’d seen her and we were so angry at each other! I love my s-sister! The thought that my last words to her were so hateful…it’s tearing me up inside! And then with the way I treated her husband…”

Despite what his head told him, Lemuel followed the advice of his heart and pulled the small vixen to him and held her close, letting her cry herself out with nothing more than his silent support. He didn’t speak again until her emotions had run their course.

“We never know when a good-bye will be the last. We have to make the moments that we have with the people we love matter and treat them like the gift and blessing they are.”

“You’ve heard stories about me, haven’t you.” It was a statement and not a question, and Keena looked up into the deep amber eyes that seemed to take on the light from the fire.

He nodded. “I have. But we can change, so as far as I’m concerned, you don’t need to worry. You have a clean slate with me.”

Without knowing why, Keena related her time with Marin to the tiger, telling him everything that had happened. And while a great deal of what had been done to her made her feel dirty, unclean and that she should be loathed, it seemed to give her strength at the same time, like leeching the pus from an abscess so that it could heal. She hadn’t realized just how toxic the fox had been to her, how he twisted things so much that she had felt the beatings, and worse, were her fault, that she deserved them. She’d been seeing a therapist for over two months, and told Lemuel as much, though talking to him, sharing the darkest parts of herself to the tiger, made her feel better than her ongoing regimen of psychiatric hygiene ever had.

Finally she wound down, and sat there silently.

“You know that you will never have to worry about him again, right?”

Keena nodded. “Cerise told me that he’s on his way to some penal colony.”

Lemuel shook his head. “No. In point of fact he is not. Mister Pizer attacked a guard shortly after his trial. The guards had no option but to shoot him. He won’t trouble you ever, ever again.”

It was with some surprise that Lemuel realized that at some point his arms had slid around the small female and that he held her close enough to feel the heat from her body. With a pang of chagrin, he moved so that he could put some space between them. Keena caught his hand. “No. Please don’t. I…I know this may be forward, but I really want to be held right now. And I’m very glad it’s you.”

“You’re not trying to seduce me, are you?” the tiger asked with a grin, but realized too late that it wasn’t the most diplomatic thing to say.

Keena stiffened. Was she? Was she acting the way she used to? He was handsome, and available. Was she trying to seduce him? Horror welled up in her and she started to rise.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “That really wasn’t the best thing for me to say. I really was just teasing.”

Tears had begun to flow again. “I…I don’t know if I was or wasn’t,” she admitted. “Gods, Lemuel! I’m so screwed up that I can’t tell!”

He gently pulled her back to her seat and wrapped his arms around the trembling female. “No, little one. You aren’t screwed up. Just hurt. Very, very hurt. Granted, a little of it is self inflicted, but most was not your fault. Come here.” He held her to him, placing Keena’s head against his chest. “You are a good person, Keena. Sure, you’ve made some choices that weren’t the best, but that doesn’t make you bad, or terribly screwed up. And if you ever have any doubts, just come ask me. Okay?”

He felt her nod, then he did as she’d asked and simply held her.

Being a Doctor meant that at times you helped heal more than just the physical hurts.

CHAPTER 28

Cerise was enjoying a cup of coffee with Elias at the kitchen table, looking out at the bright morning that lit the frost on the ground and made it glow when Keena entered.

“’Morning, Kee,” Cerise said brightly. “Join us for coffee?”

Keena smiled. “As long as I’m not intruding, I’d love a cup.” She watched as her sister poured a cup and slid it to her.

“You still take it black, right?”

Keena nodded. “I don’t know how you can wreck a good cup of coffee by putting all that stuff in it.” She stuck her tongue out and made a face, which caused the other two to chuckle.

Keena had been sincere in her apologies to Elias and her sister the previous night, and while cautious, the white fox felt that she had been truly sorry.

“We can’t always be sure that we’re actually getting coffee at some of the places we have to visit, so adding cream and sugar at least makes it drinkable,” Elias said.

The dark colored coyote closed her eyes with relish as she sipped the hot beverage, then looked at her sister. “You wouldn’t happen to know if the cabin needs anything in the way of supplies would you?”

“As far as I know, all you’d need to take are a few fresh groceries. Why?” Cerise asked with a raised eyebrow.

Keena dropped her eyes before speaking, looking into the depths of her cup. “Um, I was thinking about heading up there wi…uh, for a few days. It’s been a while since I was up there last.”

Looking at her sibling shrewdly, Cerise just nodded. “Fresh meats and vegetables, maybe other things that don’t sit well for long periods like breads. Everything else is either frozen, dried or just happens to last forever. You want me to ask Dona to fly you up there when you’re ready?”

Keena gave her sister a grateful look. “Would you? It’ll give me a chance to get other things together that we’ll…um, I’ll need.”

Cerise’s eyes narrowed. “Just remember to pack warm clothes. It’s cold up there, now. The Parkers will have everything else supplied like firewood.” She continued to look at her sister, then couldn’t contain herself anymore. “So, who are you taking up there, Keena. C’mon. Spill it.”

Keena’s head dropped a little lower. “Um, I was going to take Lemuel up there for a few days.” She looked at her sister, then Elias. “If that’s okay?” she asked suddenly. It was clear in her eyes that she hoped they wouldn’t say no.

“Lem’s an adult. He can make his own choices. I’m his Captain, not his father. That and he’s off duty until Okami is done going over our ship. You two can do whatever you want.”

Impulsively, Keena stood and threw her arms around the fox’s neck. “Thank you, Elias!” Then realizing what she was doing, and the nature of their last encounter, quickly let go and stepped back. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Do you still want to bed Elias?” Cerise asked, her eyes flat and unreadable.

Keena shook her head emphatically. “No. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m not that person anymore. I’m really not. I guess….well, I guess I’ve grown up. I still have a long way to go, but…”

Cerise stood and pulled her sister into a hug. “Then it’s all right. You really have changed, haven’t you?”

The other vixen nodded slightly. “I really didn’t have much of a choice, Ceri. I ran into some old… friends about a month or so ago, and it was weird. I wasn’t interested in them at all. To be honest they kind of disgusted me. Was I like that?” Before her sister could answer, Keena continued. “Of course I was. I was horrible, wasn’t I?”

Cerise smiled. “Moderately so, yes. I’m glad to see that you’ve changed for the better, though.”

They stood there for several moments before the red furred female smiled. “I need to go get some things and pack! And groceries! Do you know what Lemuel likes?”

“Just about anything,” Elias said sitting back with his cup. “Though he’s a fiend for red meat and seafoods. He’s not too hot on poultry, though, but he’ll go through a lot of eggs for breakfast.”

Keena flashed a grateful smile. “Thank you! Both of you!” She gave another round of hugs and left to make preparations, leaving the other two alone again.

“Well, who would’ve thunk it?” Elias said.

“I don’t know,” Cerise said. “This could either be really good for her, or really bad for Lem. I’m a little concerned.”

“Don’t be.” Elias reached across the table and took his mate’s hand. “Lem told me that they spent most of the night together last night,” Cerise jerked and looked at her husband with a shocked expression. “It wasn’t like that. They sat out by the fire pit most of the night and talked. Apparently she told him a lot of what happened between her and Marin and her seeing a therapist. He thinks that because he won’t be around long, Keena will open up to him. It’s what she needs, and he’s great for getting people to talk.”

“Really?” Cerise still had misgivings. “What if it’s more? I love Keena, but her record is against her this time.”

“So what if it is? Like I said, they’re both adults. And he knows what she was like. I think that it’ll be good for her.” Elias finished off his coffee and set the cup down. “And I’m really glad I didn’t make it a money wager.”

“Make what a money wager?”

“When I said that I doubted that she could ever change. I would have lost.”

Cerise chuckled. “And here I could have made easy credits!” She looked out the window for several moments, still holding Elias’s hand, absently making love play with her fingers and his. “It’s odd. I was the one that hoped she would change, and you doubted. Now I am the one that doubts and you are confident in this.”

Elias really didn’t have a reply.

***

“You just give me a call when you’re ready to come back,” Dona said.

The hyena helped unload the pair’s bags and sundries. She closed the cargo compartments and made sure the doors were sealed, not because she didn’t trust the others, but she was nothing if not thorough.

Keena stepped up to the other female and smiled. “Thanks Dona. I owe you one for this. Maybe I can get Daddy to let you give me flying lessons someday.”

The hyena was unsure how to take the change that had come over Keena Tambor. While hoping it was genuine, Dona remembered her as being a spoiled little brat for the seven years that she’d worked as Rovi’s pilot and mechanic. She would have said no to flying the fox and tiger up here if it hadn’t been for Cerise asking her to do so. As it was, Keena was actually pleasant to be around now, and she hoped that this change in the youngster was permanent.

“If you turn out to be anything like Cerise, you’ll get your license in no time,” Dona said with a smile and friendly hand on the vixen’s shoulder. “You two have a good time. I’ll have the Dragonfly ready to go should you need anything.”

“Thanks. Be safe getting home,” the vixen said and stepped back as the hyena climbed into the pilot’s seat.

The engine was still warm and start-up was easy, unlike the warm-up that had been required before flying out. Dona slipped on her headset and notified Air Traffic Control that she would be returning. Then as the engine reached optimal power output, she angled the rotor blades and lifted the helicopter gently, making sure that she was at a safe height before turning and heading back towards Grandstorm.

Keena and Lemuel watched the little ‘copter leave before picking up their belongings and supplies and moving them into the cabin. Once groceries were put away, following almost the same routine that Cerise and Elias had months before the pair et about getting situated. It stemmed from coming up as a family when Rovi would bring them out for family vacations when Keena and Cerise were still kits, well before the births of Celia and Gey. Their father always made sure that supplies were put away before anything else. Once the perishables were properly stored, they picked up their personal belongings.

“I think you’ll like this room,” Keena said as she led the tiger to the large bedroom that she and Cerise had shared as children. “The sun doesn’t come in until the afternoon. If you need more blankets, they’re in this closet. It can get a bit chilly. You get settled in and I’ll go get the fire going before starting dinner.”

Keena felt more at peace than she had in a long time. She had forgotten just how relaxing it was up here in the woods. It took almost three months of talking to her therapist to realize the reason that she had acted the way she had was because she had been running from the things that she didn’t like about herself. The night life, the continuous stream of bed partners was all distraction, noise and flash to keep at bay the thought of really taking a long look at herself.

These thoughts ran through her mind as she stood in the doorway leading back out to the main room of the cabin, Keena was so wrapped up in them that she jumped when Lem gently touched her shoulder.

“Are you all right?” the tiger asked with slight concern furrowing his brow.

She smiled. “Yeah. Just thinking about what my therapist told me, about running from the things about myself that I didn’t want to face. It’s so quiet up here I can’t help but face things that I’d denied for a long time. There isn’t any noise, any bright lights and loud music to distract me.”

Lemuel nodded. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll get the fire going, or start supper, but I’m not going to let you do everything.”

“Well, I haven’t been cooking that long. It took weeks for me not to burn water. I didn’t know you could burn water.”

Lemuel chuckled. “You should talk to Melise. She could get the head chef position almost anywhere she wanted. I’m sure if you ask her that she’d be willing to teach you a few things.”

The vixen looked thoughtful. “I might do that. Sometimes it’s still hit or miss. The last two times I tried to make a roast the first one was burnt and dry, the second was cold and still frozen in the center.” He expression was one of sulky frustration.

“Why don’t I cook, then. You get the fire going,” the tiger suggested.

“You don’t trust me?”

Lem smiled. “It’s not that. I just want you getting over stressed by trying to cook and impress me. That and as chilly as it’s getting, I’m thinking a nice soup. It’s easy and filling and the weather is perfect for it.”

Keena laughed. “Okay. It’s a deal!”

As both set to their tasks, Keena got the fire going. The seasoned wood caught readily, and she stepped back and watched the fire for a few moments before turning to go help the tiger in the kitchen. Then she stopped and looked at an arrangement of pillows that rested on the sunken tier that faced the fireplace.

Lemuel looked out and saw her standing there with an odd expression. Curious, he asked her what she was thinking.

“I just occurred to me that this is where Elias proposed to my sister,” she said, bemused. “I know I didn’t act it at the time, but I’m so happy for her. I wonder if I’ll ever meet someone that will look at me the way he looks at her.”

The tiger smiled broadly. “You never know, Keena. You just never know.”

CHAPTER 29

Almost two weeks had passed since Captain and crew made planetfall and Elias, Cerise, Sander, Stram and Rovi sat or lounged on the bridge of the Guiding Angel as it sat in dry dock at the Okami yard she had been birthed from. A Wolf with dark brown and black fur, his muzzle shot with white was smiling as he talked.

“To be honest, there really wasn’t much we had to do the old girl. Even after all of the action that she’s seen, you and yours have been taking very good care of her.”

“We’ve been trying, Mister Macklin,” Stram said around one of his ever present sticks of meat jerky. “I think the major factor is that you and your people built a right fine ship for us.”

“We tried Mister Molson. We did go over the systems that you mentioned in your reports. Captain Elias, if you’d look on page three of your folder? The first was the small problem with the engine mounting bracket? We discovered an area where the insulation was a little thin, completely our fault, mind you. That caused some minor arcing from the energy dissipation from the shields and over the hull. We’ve taken care of that and scanned the rest of the interior of the hull and found no other problems.

“We’ve made some adjustments to the elevation and traverse servos of the laser turrets. You should see greater response and sensitivity to them from now on.” He flipped a page on the folder he carried, one that everyone else had copies of. The wolf ran a finger down the list of things that his engineering team had provided, serviced, and gleaned from Stram Molson and the rest of the crew of theGuiding Angel.

The wolf’s finger stopped and he looked up at Cerise. “Mistress Tivnan, you made some modifications to the sensor and communications suite, and enhanced some of the programming with the help of…hmm, let’s see, a Miss Kefflin. We would like permission to utilize these modifications on new ships being built, if we may. You, of course, will get a two percent royalty from this modification to any ships built, and a point five percent royalty on all refits. This is average for non Okami Industries persons that contribute to our product line. Would this be acceptable to you?”

Cerise was caught off guard, and looked to Elias who could only shrug, but when she turned her head to look at her father and Sander, she saw both of them nod. She looked up at the wolf. “I think that would be fine, Mister Macklin. When did you want to handle the paperwork?”

“We can meet tomorrow for lunch if that’s all right. We’ll set the details when we’re done here. Now then. The failure of the shields. Unfortunately even the units that we build have limits. One can only push certain things so far before they give out. We have installed breakers with higher tolerances, but that’s about all we can do. Is there anything else that we need to address?”

Sander stood. “I think that about covers it, Jak” the lion said. “That the Guiding Angel has done so well is a testament not only to her crew and Captain, but to the work you and your team have put into her.”

“Thank you,” the wolf said with a slight bow. He gathered up his papers and slid them into an expensive looking leather briefcase. “As we have maintenance facilities on almost every world of the PA, if you run into any problems, don’t hesitate to put in at them. The ship’s registry number is on file as priority status. Which also reminds me. We’ll be adding a few new items to the Guiding Angel’s onboard inventory in the way of three FloBots. They’re tasked for security and maintenance protocols. They’re also becoming standard inclusions on all Okami built vessels.”

“Aw, crud!” Stram groused. “Not that they aren’t handy, Mister Macklin, but they do have a tendency of gettin’ in the way.”

The wolf chuckled. “I’ve heard that from a number of others, Mister Molson, and it is something that our engineers have taken into consideration. As it is, unless specifically tasked with a job, the units will nominally stay out of the way of the crew. Each of the units is also equipped with voice recognition programs, so they will respond to limited vocal commands from each of the crew. If need be, they can be deactivated at any time through any of the ship’s computer terminals. Once deactivated, the units will return to their charging stations until either reactivated, or if an emergency arises. Does that make you feel better about having them onboard?” he asked the badger.

“Well, since you put it that way!” Stram smiled. “I’ve had a few of them go berserk on some of the ships I was on before, and the only way to shut them down was with a very large hammer.”

Jak laughed. “That was one of the complaints we’d heard as well. There are also hard-wired program circuits that will send the FloBots to their charging stations if their operational programming is in any way compromised, corrupted or damaged. Plus we’ve given the units greater operation capability and range for functions outside of the ship.”

“It couldn’t hurt to have them able to patrol the perimeter while we’re on the ground,” Elias mused. “An extra set of eyes is always helpful.”

“That was our thinking as well. Chances are with your mission parameters you’ll be landing in unsafe areas fairly frequently. And programming custom protocols is much easier now. And these are nothing compared to the designs that we’d like to implement if we can get design permission from a rather brilliant engineer that sent us his schematics. Mister Jared Porter is an absolute genius. I just hope we can persuade him to sell us his design before a competitor gets them.”

“Porter? Jared Porter?” Elias asked with a grin.

“Yes. Do you know him, Captain?” Jak asked.

“We’ve met a time or two. Talented individual,” Elias smirked. “Saved some of my crew’s lives in the Scimitar incident. Nothing major.”

Jak Macklin shook his head. “You certainly have a flair for meeting interesting people, Captain Tivnan.”

“I’m lucky that way,” Elias said as he slid his arm around his wife’s shoulders.

***

The crew had reassembled at the Okami ship building facilities and had finished prelaunch checks of all the systems. A total of sixteen days had passed since they had arrived on Dennier, and each of them was anxious to get back into space. They had a farewell party with Cerise’s family, and the Tambors had come to see them off one last time.

Sharan had come to care about all of the crew of the Guiding Angel, and looked at each as if they were extended family. She made sure that each individual had something from her and Rovi to take with them, with promises that there would always be a place for them at the estate. She and her husband stood at the foot of the ramp to the personnel airlock with their daughter and son-in-law.

“If you can’t manage to get back here for another visit, let us know and we’ll try to meet you,” the elder vixen said, trying very hard not to get emotional.

“Dear, you know that might not be possible,” Rovi informed her with a shake of his head.

Cerise took her mother’s hands. “Momma, we’ll visit when we can. I promise. Daddy’s right, though. Some of the places we’ll be…well, that’s just not possible.”

Sharan nodded. She knew her husband and daughter were right, but she didn’t have to like it.

Not far away, Keena stood near Lemuel, the two of them talking quietly.

Elias wasn’t about to try and eavesdrop, though he was curious as to what they were saying. He watched as the tiger looked earnestly at the russet vixen, talking quietly, saying something that caused Keena to smile at and nod agreement to. When Lemuel turned to head towards the ramp, Keena stopped him, turning him around to give him a hug and kiss on the side of his huge head.

“Just promise that you’ll be careful out there,” she said as they drew near the others.

“I will. And you take care as well. I’m very pleased to have met you, Keena.”

“And I you. Goodbye, Lemuel,” the young fox said.

The tiger smiled, then strode up the ramp and into the ship without looking back.

“It’s time we got onboard as well,” Elias said.

Cerise gave each of her parents a long hug then stepped back. Elias shook Rovi’s hand, accepted a quick kiss on the side of his face from Sharan and joined Cerise. Keena held back, then darted forward to her sister.

“I have to agree with Momma. Comeback as soon as you can.”

“I’ll try, Sis. It was good to see you.”

Keena smiled. “You, too. I…I love you, Cerise.”

The black furred vixen felt tears welling up in her eyes. “I love you, too, Kee. Take care of Celia and Gey for me.”

The other nodded, not trusting herself to speak as tears also started to well in her eyes.

“Let’s go, Love. The others are waiting,” Elias said.

They waved once before the airlock closed, then made their way to the lift and then the bridge. Elias slid into the pilot’s seat while Cerise took her position at the communications and sensors console, automatically strapping in even as she ran a check of her equipment.

“How are we looking, Saul?” Elias said as he looked over his instruments.

“Clear sky, and fine weather, Captain. All stations have reported ready for launch and we are go!”

The fox looked to his right at the jaguar. “You’re awfully chipper today.”

“Just ready to get back to it. Shore leave is fine, but I want to get out there and get back to work. Or maybe I’m just nuts,” Saul said with a grin.

“Then that makes two of us. I feel the same way. Cerise, are we clear around the ship?”

There was a pause as the vixen did a quick scan around the dock with instruments and cameras both. “Affirmative. Bay is clear and all personnel have evacuated. Okami control says skies are clear and clearance from Dennier ATC has given us permission to launch.”

Elias grinned wickedly. “Love, do you think your father’s watching the launch?” he asked as he craned his head around to look at his mate.

Cerise gave him a look that indicated that she thought the question was rather foolish. “What do you think? He’d be up here with us given half a chance!”

The white fox’s grin grew even broader. “That’s what I thought.” He turned to his navigator. “I think it’s time for that full power take off we were talking about.”

Saul’s smile was every bit as large and mischievous as his Captain’s. “Affirmative!” The jaguar toggled his headset to intercom. “Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is the First Officer speaking. We’d like to thank you for choosing Pirate Smasher space lines. We’re setting up for our lift off in just a few minutes and I would like to ask all of you to please buckle up and return your trays to their upright and secured positions. Today’s lift is going to be a full power take off, so some of you may want to cinch your belts a little tighter. Should you lose your stomach, our good Doctor will be more than happy to put it back in once we’ve hit our cruising vector. That means you, Treena. Bridge out!”

Elias was chuckling as he cracked his knuckles before taking a hold of the control yokes. “You’re a bad person, Saul. A really bad person.”

The answering grin from the jaguar was toothy and wide. “I know!”

“Engine’s are in the green,” Elias said. “Five…four…three…”

“Shields up. Inertial dampeners on line, internal pressure is go,” Saul said as Elias counted down.

Two…one…”

Pushing the maneuvering thrusters to full, Elias took the Guiding Angel up out of the bay, and once clear from the confines of the sunken facility, pulled back on the yokes, standing the freighter on its tail. It hung there for a split second, sunlight glinting from the green body and silver wings. Then the fox pushed the throttles for the main engines all the way forward and past their gates. The whole ship shuddered for a moment before lurching skyward.

“Whoooooohooooo!” howled Saul as the ship climbed, shrugging gravity off as the engines poured out more thrust than ever.

It was exhilarating, and Elias grinned the entire time, though his focus was on the sky before them and the readings from his instruments. In a quarter of the time it would take another vessel, the Guiding Angel passed the last vestiges of Dennier’s atmosphere and glided smoothly into the hard vacuum of space. Still accelerating, Elias threw the ship into a spinning roll as they headed into the dark between the stars.

PART II

"Upping the Ante"

CHAPTER 30

Randal Mercks, Sergeant First class with the interstellar law enforcement Spatial Police Force, leaned around the edge of the bulkhead and depressed the trigger of the Binfurr sub machinegun, sending three 10 millimeter rounds down the corridor before pulling back under cover. Answering fire spanged off of the metal plating behind him leaving trails of sparks as the slavers returned fire and refused to stand down.

“I think they want us off their ship!” Elias Tivnan, captain of the covert pirate hunter SS Guiding Angel, official PA registry 77187, shouted over the din of gunfire.

“Ya think?” growled Sergeant Melise Rains, who crouched next to her Captain. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I’ve had about enough of this!” The panda pulled out her protective mask and slipped it on one-handed as she retrieved a trap-launch grenade from a pouch at the small of her back.

Seeing what she was doing, the rest of the team with her followed suit and donned masks as she slid the rear of the grenade over the muzzle of her weapon. Elias had barely gotten his on when the panda slid her own sub machinegun around the corner where she took cover and fired a single round. The specially designed grenade took the kinetic energy of the heavy shot fired and converted it to forward momentum. With a whiizzzz! the grenade sailed down the forty feet of corridor before detonating with a muffled pop!. Almost instantly the small space was saturated with chemical agents that caused almost debilitating nausea and vomiting while burning the eyes of an exposed target to cause uncontrollable tearing.

Five of the six slavers dropped their weapons and began retching on the deck plating, though one refused to surrender and continued to fire, the staccato discharges of the weapon sounding overly loud in the confines of the passageway.

“That fool is going to do more damage than we would!” Sonja Enan said as a stray round creased the shoulder guard of her armor.

Almost simultaneously Elias and Randal slid their stunner pistols from hip holsters and loosed a barrage of non-lethal fire at the assailants. The stunners wouldn’t kill, even at close range, though the after effects were certainly far from being what most citizens of the Planetary Alignment would consider benign. Muscle fatigue and headaches that could last up to a week were common side effects. Not unlike having a persistent, and very bad, hangover.

Neither Elias nor Randal knew who hit the shooter, but the firing suddenly went quiet. There was a great deal of moaning at the end of the corridor with continued vomiting. Risking a look, Elias stuck his head around the corner. The party of six was down for the count. Two continued to empty their stomachs of their previous meal while four lay unconscious on the deck plates.

“No more,” panted a raccoon, holding a hand up in supplication. “We surrender, please no more!”

Randal shouldered his weapon after returning his stunner in its holster. “Slide your weapons towards us! NOW!” the wolf bellowed.

The raccoon, barely functioning, and pausing every few seconds to retch noisily, did as ordered. One by one he slid the various firearms towards the crew of pirate hunters. Finally at the end of his endurance, the raccoon fell on his side alternately moaning and whimpering.

The team moved in cautiously, Elias leading the way. The white furred fox stepped carefully to avoid the mess on the metal of the deck. Not because he was squeamish about getting any of the vile gunk on his boots, but because a slip could have disastrous results.

Not to mention being very embarrassing.

“Mel, Sonja. Go ahead and bind ‘em. Tell the Doc to get ready for casualties. He can administer the counter agents at the airlock,” the fox said. “I don’t want another mess in the holding cells like we had last time. That was a lesson that was well learned and I really don’t want to repeat it.”

Sonja Enan, a blond cocker spaniel female with mahogany colored ears chuckled, sounding strange with her mask still on. “It took us what? Three weeks to get that smell out of there? And it even seeped into the nearest cabins!”

Elias nodded. “Exactly.” He then turned to the large gray colored wolf. “Come on, Randy. Let’s go ahead and begin our sweep. There might be more of them lurking around and I don’t want anyone caught off guard. And there are still citizens to rescue. I want to make sure it’s safe before we transfer them to the Angel.”

“Got it, Boss. Want me to lead?” the wolf asked.

“That’s what you get paid the big credits for,” Elias quipped, his smile hid by the protective mask.

The Vagabond Soul was an old Swallowtail class transport with only one deck and limited cargo capacity, having been designed and built as an interstellar shuttle. It was the standard for inexpensive passenger transport, built by PanStar Aeronautics some sixty years prior. The company had long since been merged with AstorCraft on Fyn. While aged, the Swallowtail class shuttle was still popular with small tour groups and some specialized courier companies.

This particular vessel had been modified for the transport of individuals for the slave markets of Quet and other places that purchased bound sentients from all over the Planetary Alignment.

“So, forward to the bridge and crew quarters, or aft?” the wolf asked.

“Let’s start with the bridge and crew quarters. Any intel that we might get will be forward.”

“Which means the greater possibility of resistance if anyone is left,” the wolf said with a nod.

The pair moved methodically towards the bridge, pausing at each cabin to open it, verify there was no one lying in wait to ambush them then moved on. The infirmary was almost completely devoid of equipment and supplies, a foolish move for any vessel that plied the space lanes. The only opulent cabin that they found was the one that belonged to the ship’s captain, and was decorated in a garish combination of purple and gold.

“Ah! By the Maker! I think I’ve gone blind,” Elias said as he scanned the cabin, his eyes searching out potential hiding places.

“Huh. I’m going to hazard a guess that the lynx that was wearing the indigo silk shirt was the captain of this tub,” the wolf said as his head rocked back in revulsion to the decoration scheme.

“I should shoot him for his tastes alone,” Elias said, a sardonic tone coloring his words. “No sane individual would choose something like this.”

“No sane individual would be a slaver, either,” Randal said seriously.

“True. C’mon. Let’s get to the bridge.”

The flight deck was a simple layout that also provided no hiding places. While there had only been six cabins that showed signs of occupation, it wasn’t enough evidence to disprove that there might be more slavers onboard.

“Let me run a quick check on their core before we head aft,” Elias said, stepping in front of one of the consoles.

The fox typed a few commands into the navigation console, then began to swear furiously.

“What’s wrong, Captain?”

There was more swearing that Elias’s mask muffled, then he slammed a fist down on the edge of the unit. “The rotten trash wiped their core!”

Randal sagged a little in frustrated defeat. “So no telling where they’ve been or were going. Great.”

“Yeah. It would have made things easier and would have helped further crimp slaving operations, but there’s no help for it now. The Brass back at Joplin can interrogate them and see if they get anything useful. Let’s head aft.”

As they passed through the hatch that led out into the central corridor, Elias’s radio beeped before his wife’s voice came over the link.

“Elias, the SPF Persistent is en route and should be here within the next six hours. They said they would have been here sooner but the Van Connor Nebula garbled our flash message to them.”

Elias snorted. “Well, better late than never, I suppose. At least it’ll keep us from having to stow the crew and any others we find.” He shifted the sling on his Binfurr weapon before continuing. “Do you think that you and Treena can salvage any information on a wiped core?”

There was a slight pause before the vixen’s voice came back over the radio. “Depends on what type of unit they have. We might be able to. Let me guess, full data wipe?”

“You got it in one, Love. I’ll have Sonja set off a can of a neutralizer for the gas and in a few minutes it should be safe for you two to come over and check it out. Sound all right to you?”

“Can do, Honey. You be careful. I love you.”

“Love you, too. See you soon.”

When they first began this endeavor, Elias had been reluctant to show affection towards his mate in the presence of the rest of the crew. That had vanished, though, as he realized that while their mission was serious, it didn’t affect the rest of the crew in the slightest. He didn’t give the petite vixen preferential treatment when it came to the operation of the Guiding Angel, nor when it came to the various duty details onboard. They were a mated pair, and the crew knew that they would behave as such at times. It was the wolf that was with Elias now that had pointed this out.

“You said yourself that we aren’t a typical SPF vessel. So why are you sticking to regulations that really don’t apply to us?” he’d asked his captain after their third month out. “You don’t gripe about the liaisons amongst the crew, we don’t gripe about your mate being onboard. Stop worrying so much.”

Since then, Elias had been more open and up front about the love he had for his wife. She simply made his life better, and he hoped that he did the same for her.

The aft section was separated from the rest of the ship by a hatch that used mechanical closures instead of the more common actuator equipped units on more modern vessels.

“I suppose this would be easier to secure. All you need is a belt or stout length of rope,” the wolf said. “Pity there isn’t a view port. I’d really like to know what’s on the other side before I open it.”

“You cover, I’ll open,” the fox said.

Randal nodded and brought his weapon up before nodding to the fox. Elias disengaged the latches that secured the hatch to the surrounding frame, then grasped the central dogging bar. It came free with a tug, a grating screech of metal that had rusted to the point a fair bit of oil would have been a good idea. Another tug swung it open a few inches, giving the wolf a fair view what lay beyond.

“Holding cells. Looks like they’re occupied,” Randal informed his Captain.

“No hostiles?”

The wolf shook his helmeted head. “Doesn’t look like it.” He placed his head closer to the opening before yelling. “SPF! Stand down and we will hold fire!”

“There’s n-n-no c-crew in here,” a raspy high pitched voice said from the other side of the hatch. “Please get us out.”

Elias looked at his companion, who nodded, then swung the door open. They stepped into the section which was divided into small holding cells, four on a side. They were secured with perforated panels of glassteel. Each cell had four bunks, a small toilet, a water dispenser, and little else save the individuals that were in them.

There were fifteen prisoners in all. Five foxes, two wolves, three raccoons, a red panda, a black bear, and two ringtails. Three of the foxes, the red panda, one wolf, both ringtails and one raccoon were female. They were all adolescents.

It was the red panda that had spoken. She was in the nearest cell holding the head of a female mouse that had dried blood on her scalp on her lap. The unconscious mouse was breathing rapidly and very shallow.

Randal saw the control panel for the cells on the bulkhead just inside of the hatch. He tripped the release even as he called the ship for Lemuel Anders, they’re resident doctor and surgeon. Elias entered the cell, slinging his weapon and reaching for the first aid kit on his belt at the same time.

“What happened to her?” the fox asked as he began to empty the contents of the pouch.

“Her name’s Katerina. She wouldn’t go with the Captain and he hit her,” There were dried tear stains under the female’s eyes and on her face. “She fell backward and hit the edge of the door with her head. She was bleeding for a really long time.”

Elias sprayed antibiotic on the wound and gingerly put a bandage over the laceration. “We have a doctor coming. And another ship to get you soon. Everything will be all right now.”

The girl looked up into the blue eyes of the fox. “Are you for real? Are you really real? And SPF?”

Elias slid his mask off and gave the girl a smile. “I’m really here. My name’s Elias. What’s yours?”

The red panda hiccupped a little sob. “Shayla. Do you really have a doctor? She’s been like this for a couple of days now. We were both heading home from school when a raccoon and someone else grabbed us. They sprayed us with something that made us fall asleep. When we woke up we were here. I just wanna go home!”

Elias laid a tender hand on the side of the girl’s face. “You will, honey. I promise. Even if I have to take you there myself, okay?”

The red panda nodded.

“How are the others, Randy?”

“A little hungry, a lot scared, and ready to get the hell out of here. No other injuries, thank the Maker.”

The fox nodded. He needed information, but more important was reassuring the girl that everything would be all right. “So, Shayla, where are you from? I need to try and get a message to your family and let them know that you’re safe and will be with them soon.”

“Alexandrius.”

“No kidding,” the fox said with a small smile. “Me too. What part?”

“Cybria. On the edge of the Dark Cairn Forest. Do you know where that is?”

Elias chuckled. “I’m from Odeon outside of Geller’s Pass.”

The red panda’s eyes grew wider. “That’s just twenty miles from where I live!”

“Small universe, huh?” the fox said. “What’s your last name?”

“Fargo. My father works with the Alexandrius Department of Forests. He’s a Ranger with the parks.”

Elias nodded. “Are all of you from Alexandrius?”

“Everybody here is from my school. They said they were taking us to our new owner,” Shayla said with a shudder. “I really wanna go home, Elias.”

“You will, sweetie. I promise.”

Lemuel made it into the holding area with Sonja and Melise escorting him. He took one look at the mouse and knelt, opening his medical case. He examined the girl for several moments, then used a small but bright light to check her eyes before looking up at his Captain. “Concussion, deep scalp laceration, possibly some cerebral swelling. I’ll know better when I get her to the infirmary. Which needs to be now,” he said in a soft but urgent tone.

Elias nodded. “All right. If I can have everyone’s attention. We’re going to head over to our ship now. Melise will make sure you are fed and the rest of my crew will get you set up so you can take showers and get cleaned up. Randy, can you handle being a chaperone?”

“No problem!” the wolf exclaimed with a smile. He took the hands of the two youngest and led them out of the holding area while Melise and Sonja helped herd the others.

Satisfied that moving her wouldn’t cause anymore damage, the tiger scooped Katerina up in his arms and followed the others, leaving Elias with Shayla.

“Come on,” he said, holding out his hand to her. “You’re safe now and I won’t let anything happen to you. It’s time you got some food and rest. Then I’ll take you home.”

The girl took his hand and did as she was told.

***

“Son, you aren’t running a ferry service. The Persistent could’ve taken those kids home.” Sander said from the other side of the communications terminal.

“Sorry, Sandy. They’ve been through enough, don’t you think? The Persistent has already rendezvoused with the slaver’s ship and taken the crew into custody. The least I can do is make sure these youngsters get home. It’ll also give me a chance to talk to them and see what we can find out about who was taking them, where and why.”

The lion looked at his subordinate with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure that you’re being objective about this?”

“Of course I’m not!” Elias exclaimed a little hotly. “Alexandrius is one of the best policed worlds in the PA. It was home. Then again, I’d be acting the same way if it were Pomen, or Fyn, or Kantus or Dennier! They’re kids, Sandy! Children! I’m going to find out who is doing this and I will stop them.”

Colonel Brees sighed. “It’s your call son. Just be careful. I’ll put the garrisons there on stand-by in case you need them.”

Elias calmed himself. “Thanks. I have the feeling we’ll definitely need them. I’ll keep you posted.”

The lion nodded and Elias closed the link. With a sigh he got up from the desk in his office and made his way to the lift. When the hatch opened to the third deck, he was assaulted by the sound of laughing and spirited conversation. With the exception of Saul, who was on bridge watch and Lemuel who was with the mouse that had the head injury in the infirmary, the rest of the crew were moving amongst the youngsters with food and drinks. He was pleased to see that all of them had been cleaned up and were wearing clothing donated by the crew instead of the filthy garments they’d been found in.

There was some clapping and hooting from those closest to the lift when they saw Elias emerge. The others saw the white fox and the applause spread with greater enthusiasm. He stood there for a few moments in shock, though the youngsters didn’t relent, a few of them saying his name which became almost a chant for the rest. He held up his hands to signal for them to settle down, but there was no abatement in the raucous noise.

“Knock it off!” Melise bellowed from the galley. The sudden and very commanding shout silenced the youths almost immediately. Elias looked at her and was answered with a wide grin from the panda. “What do you expect? I have three younger brothers. I’m used to taking control.”

“Um, yeah. Thanks,” Elias said with a wry grin. He turned to the crowd spread out on the rec deck. “So here’s the scoop. We are on our way back to Alexandrius,” to which there was more clapping, though the rescued children calmed down as soon as he put up his hands. “It’ll be about a week and a half before we can get you home, but we are on the way. Once everyone has eaten and gotten some rest, we’re going to get your information so we can send word to your parents. This way they can be at the starport waiting for each of you. We’d also like to listen and record anything you can tell us about the individuals that took you.” He smiled at each of the children. “That’s all. Carry on!”

There was a moment of rapid conversation before the clapping and name chanting began again. Trying his best to remain calm and cool, Elias made his way to the coffee urn and poured a mug, adding cream and sugar to it. With a smile, he made his way to the lift, pausing the hatch from shutting momentarily as Cerise darted in.

“Still want children?” she asked with a winsome smile.

“Sure,” he replied taking a sip from his coffee to hide his own grin. “Just a more manageable number.”

The vixen looked up at her mate as she slid her arms around his waist. “You’ll also have the benefit of raising them from the start and being their pack leader.”

“That’s a rather enticing concept,” the fox said, holding his mate with one arm and his cup in the other.

“They really are enamored with you. They have a real hero to look up to.”

Elias shook his head. “Not me. I’m no hero.”

The vixen chuckled. “If you don’t believe me you should talk to them,” she said with a tilt of her head to the deck above. The lift opened and they sauntered out into the second deck corridor. “So where are you headed to?”

“I wanted to see how Katerina was doing and then I was going to spell Saul on bridge duty.”

Cerise squeezed his waist as they continued to walk along the corridor towards the infirmary. “Then I’ll meet you on the bridge in a little bit.” She gave him a kiss and headed to their cabin.

Feeling a little lightheaded and with a bemused look on his face, Elias made his way to the infirmary.

“You’re looking fairly happy,” Lemuel Anders said as the fox entered the medical section.

“Cerise has that effect on me,” the fox said. He angled his path to the bed that Katerina still lay in. Monitoring equipment and machines beeped and hummed regularly as they measured and noted the female mouse’s vitals. “And are you feeling any better today, Katerina?”

The adolescent smiled weakly. “Doctor Anders says I’ll be fine and can get up in a few days. He says that there’s nothing really bad wrong and I’ll just have a headache for a little while.”

“That’s good to hear,” the fox said. “Do you need anything? Do want someone to bring you anything?”

The mouse shook her head slightly. “I’m fine, Captain. I’m just really sleepy.”

Elias smiled again. “Then you get some rest and I’ll see how you’re doing later, okay?”

Katerina nodded with a half smile even as her eyes fluttered shut.

Elias left her bedside, and took a seat on the stool next to Lemuel’s desk. “She’s certainly looking better than she did when we first found her. How is she doing?”

The tiger leaned back in his chair and rubbed the spot between his eyes. “Her prognosis is good. The swelling around the scalp laceration is going down and the imaging from her cranial scans shows clear even though she does have a concussion. Apart from needing fluids and some vitamin shots, she’ll be fine. Katerina is young and resilient.”

“Count yourself lucky that you’re down here. The rest of the kids have taken over the rec deck with a vengeance. It’s a good thing that we don’t have far to go to get to Alexandrius. As it is Melise will be churning out unholy amounts of cash to restock the galley.” Elias chuckled. “Do all teenagers eat that much? No wonder my parents were happy when I left for the Fleet.”

“I know the argument that they are still growing doesn’t really cover it. I don’t think that I have ever seen a youngster that didn’t try to eat twice their body weight per day,” the tiger said with his own grin.

“If you need anything, give me a call. I’m going to go spell Saul on bridge watch,” Elias said as he stood. “If you can be available next duty shift, we’re going to interview the children to see if there is anything that they can tell us, maybe something they overheard.”

Lemuel nodded. “Hmm. Good thinking. Count me in.”

Elias bid the Doctor good night and took the last few feet to the bridge, the green painted hatch with the gold colored ship’s wheel parting as soon as he neared it. He saw that Saul had the illumination level turned down, and the bridge glowed softly from the various instruments of the station consoles. The jaguar looked up as his Captain entered.

“Everything all right up stairs?” the navigator and First Officer asked.

“If you consider our food stocks vanishing at an alarming rate as ‘all right’, then yes.” Elias took the seat at the navigator’s normal position. “After what I just saw, I think it’s a good thing that our employment is steady. It’ll take most of what we make to just cover groceries.”

Saul laughed. “It could be worse. My sister and her husband are working on their third litter with only four years separating all of them. That makes seven kits in all. And if you think feeding is hard, consider what’s going to happen when it comes time to send them all to college.”

“Saul, you are really beginning to scare me.”

CHAPTER 31

Talking with the children, Elias and crew were able to discern that the younglings had been abducted for an individual known simply as Reicher. There had been no other name forthcoming, but it was something that could be filed away for future reference.

As the trip neared its conclusion, Elias realized that not letting the SPF Persistent transport the children might have been a mistake. He covered that when the entire crew, save Lena and Randal, who were covering the bridge watch, gathered for supper a few days before making planetfall. He’d discussed the plan with the rest of the crew and they agreed that what their Captain had in mind. As they were all sitting around, watching the children shovel spoon after spoon of the casserole that Melise had made up, Saul began the first maneuver in the plan to misdirect the children.

“So, Captain. Do you think the Spatial Police Force will have another run for us to make? I like working for them better than I do hauling freight.”

Elias shrugged and Treena backed what the jaguar had started. “A lot better than hauling freight,” the ocelot added. “Especially when it gets us landed more quickly.”

Some of the children looked confused, others skeptical. It was Shayla that was the most perplexed. “But I thought you were SPF?” she said with wide eyes.

Elias looked at her and saw a faint glint of hurt. He hated misdirecting her and the others, but it had to be done. He shook his head, refusing to give anything away. “No. Not really. I mean, we do work for them from time to time, and they let us do things that others can’t, but we’re not officially SPF.”

“You lied to me?” the red panda asked.

It was Cerise, sitting closest to the girl that spoke. “We really didn’t lie, Shayla. My uncle is high in the SPF and has us help sometimes. Normally with running supplies or personnel. Then other times it’s a little more than hauling freight, occasionally a little less. You can write and ask him if you want. His name is Colonel Sander Brees. You can get him through his office on Joplin.”

Elias hated seeing the crestfallen look on the faces of the youngsters, but there was no help for it. Eventually it was done, and he retired for the night. While the children still had respect for all of them, it had diminished somewhat. It rankled him that he couldn’t tell any of them the truth.

Then the day came that Alexandrius hove into view.

Needless to say the children were anxious to be home with their families, and vice versa. As per Elias’s request, the SPF offices had established a secure location for the Guiding Angel to land that would be blessedly clear of reporters for the sake of all involved.

Elias was at the helm and a clear entry vector about seventy miles from the town of Cybria, and only fifty from Geller’s Pass. They had launched Lena in the Cherub before hitting atmosphere and would rendezvous with her later. She was landing the interceptor at the same section of the starport that served this section of Alexandrius, but the fighter wouldn’t be returned to its berth in the Guiding Angel for a few days, and then only under the cover of darkness.

The true function of Elias’s ship was concealed so that the children would be none the wiser as they exited through the personnel airlock in the cargo hold. There would also be no reunions inside the ship.

Once down Elias began shutting down the unnecessary systems, noting that before the engines were completely shut down, two buses were rolling across the concrete of the tarmac towards them. He toggled the headset to the cargo bay intercom. “Looks like the parents are on their way, Randy. We’ll get everyone down to the cargo bay before we crack the airlock.”

“Copy that, Boss. You need a hand herding the kids?”

“I think we can handle it. Is everything out of sight down there?”

“Yeah. Just keep them away from the port and starboard storage cubicles. I’ve got the suits hidden, but the only thing I could find to cover them were some old tarps. We might want to give thought to getting a hold of some old shipping crates for this sort of thing,” the wolf chuckled.

“I don’t think so,” the fox said with a frown Randal couldn’t see. “If I can avoid it this will be the last time that we haul live cargo.”

“Affirmative. Can’t say I blame you for that call, Captain.”

Elias signed off and tripped the ship wide address. “We’re down. If everyone will gather at the lift, we’ll get all of you back with your families as quickly as possible. Put simply, you’re home, kids!”

Even through the closed bridge hatch they could hear the exultant screaming coming from the children.

It took about fifteen minutes to get the gaggle of youngsters off the ship and to their parents, who were overjoyed to have their sons and daughters returned to them. There were plenty of uniformed officers, both Alexandrian and SPF to help keep things in order and running smoothly. During the confusion, Elias slipped the local Spatial Police Force Officer in Command, a weasel with major’s insignia on his rank tabs, two recording sticks that they could use and share with local law enforcement officials about the details of the abductions. He wasn’t sure how much it would help, but any information was better than none. The parents that showed up to claim their missing family members took a few moments out of their celebrations to thank Elias and crew for their efforts, then almost as fast as the whole scenario started, it was over.

The last bus pulled out and the crew of the Guiding Angel was left alone on the wind-swept tarmac with the SPF Major.

The weasel looked at Elias and smiled ruefully. “You’re a better person than I, Captain Tivnan. I don’t know how you do what you do.”

Elias was still looking in the direction that the buses had taken, though all that was left was a rapidly dissipating dust cloud that swirled in the weak evening sunlight. “It’s what we do, Major Briggs. It’s what we do.”

“Please, call me Stephan. And it would be my pleasure if you and yours would join me for dinner and drinks,” the weasel said.

“Only if you call me Elias. And I think I’ll take you up on that.”

The crew ambled towards the transports that the Major had waiting after ensuring that the ship was sealed and locked with new security codes. Lena had unobtrusively joined the others during the furor of the reuniting of the families, and walked with Randal holding his hand. She laughed, but there was little mirth in it. “The ship’s going to be a lot quieter now,” she observed.

“This is true,” the Doctor said. “But I for one will be glad of that. My infirmary was seeing a little too much traffic with all of her friends coming to see young Katerina. As it is, it’ll take a week to recalibrate some of my equipment from all of the jostling and bumping around.”

“That reminds me,” Odette said with a smirk and sideways glance at the tiger, “how did you get them to stop coming into medical all the time? Melise and I could have used it to help us keep them out of the galley.”

“No, my dear, you couldn’t. Chef’s don’t threaten others with booster shots,” Lemuel said with a grin.

“But all you have are the pressure units,” Saul said in confusion. “Those don’t hurt at all!”

The tiger reached into his ever present bag and pulled out the largest syringe that any of them had ever seen. The needle looked more like a sharpened steel drinking straw than anything used on individuals for giving shots. “It helps if you have props!”

The major looked at the implement and shuddered. “Cripes, Doctor! Put that away before I arrest you for carrying an illegal weapon! Do you actually use that on people?”

“Not at all,” Lemuel said laughing. “It’s actually for taking extract samples from plants. See, the end is made so that it can be hit with a mallet. But it does help get my point across.”

The assembled group moaned at the bad pun and continued on.

Well after dinner with the Major and the promised drinks, Elias and Cerise prepared to turn in for the night in the hotel room that Briggs had booked them all into. Elias was letting the blower next to the shower blast the last of the water from his fur and shook vigorously when it was done. He padded into the main room brushing out his fur, his mind on other things, not noticing when his mate snuck up and wrapped her arms around him from behind. “I think the Major is right. You are a good person,” she said, resting her head on the fur of his back, feeling the muscles move against her cheek.

“Maybe,” he replied absently.

“What was that envelope that you handed Shayla?”

“You saw that?” Elias asked with surprise. “I didn’t think anyone noticed.”

“You told her the truth, didn’t you?”

The fox sighed and turned around so that he could hold his wife. “Yes.” He released Cerise and sat down on the bed with a sigh. “I don’t know why, but it felt important for her to know the truth. The look in her eyes when I lied about what we were…it was like a knife sticking in me, seeing the trust she had just…shatter.” He ran his fingers through the fur on top of his head. “I just felt the need for her to know what we really do. Foolish of me, wasn’t it?”

Cerise climbed onto the bed and began to rub his shoulders with surprising strength in her small hands. “No. Not at all. Sure, Uncle Sandy would blow up like a volcano if he knew, but I won’t tell him. It’s just further proof that you are a decent person. That’s one of the reasons that I married you,” she said brightly, nibbling his notched left ear playfully.

“One of the reasons?”

“One of them,” the vixen said teasingly.

“What are the others?’ the fox asked, turning around to look at his mate.

Despite all that they had been through for the past eight months, he always seemed surprised at how beautiful his wife was and how deep his feelings for the petite female ran within him. She leaned in and gave him a tender kiss, pressing herself to him provocatively before pulling away just as quickly.

“Nope. Only one answer a day. It’s written in the rules.”

Elias smiled. It was a game they played often. “You know, one of these days I’m going to find that rule book of yours and make some changes.”

“Good luck with that! You’ll never find it!” Cerise said as she slid back against the pillows and made to slide under the covers.

“You aren’t going to tell me where you hide it?” the fox asked archly.

“Nope.”

“I have ways of finding out things,” he said with mock sternness.

“Hah! I’m immune to your threats!” the vixen proclaimed, though she was smiling broadly.

“I wish you would tell me. I’d hate for this to get…ugly.”

Cerise stuck her tongue out. “Do your worst, cad. It’ll take more than idle threats to get me to talk!”

Instead of responding verbally, Elias slid a hand under the covers and poked her behind the knee. Cerise yipped in surprise, her eyes going wide.

“Don’t you dare!” she exclaimed.

“Dearest, you should know better than to defy someone that knows all your ticklish spots.” He poked her just above her hip and she jumped and squealed loudly. “Very, very foolish.”

Cerise laughed so hard from Elias’s attacks that they both wound up on the floor with her thrashing to try and protect all of the places that he’d discovered were sensitive. They lay there for several moments trying to catch their breath, holding each other while the ebony vixen still had fits of giggling. Once under control, Cerise propped herself up looked down at the male fox that had captured her heart, her hair falling like a curtain of sheer blackness around his snow white head.

“I do so love you,” she whispered, the feelings for him evident in her eyes.

“And I love you,” he whispered, stunned by the sheer weight of the emotion.

They would have stayed there longer, but there really was no reason to forego the presence of such a soft and large bed while it was available.

CHAPTER 32

Before returning to the ship, Elias rented a small lifter to make a side trip. It wasn’t something that he wanted to do, but at the same time he couldn’t avoid it. It had been years since he’d gone to visit his parents, and as he was so close, there was no reason not to.

He was quiet as he and Cerise, who insisted on coming along, climbed into the small aircraft. Unlike a standard helicopter, the lifter used three ducted fans to provide lift and thrust, the two fans mounted on the ends of the stubby wings would rotate forward once the desired altitude was reached. Elias sat in the pilot’s seat, bringing the engines up to speed while his mate looked at him.

The vixen was curious as to her husband’s silence during the entire morning, and the dark feelings that hung over him like a cloud. It was something that she hadn’t seen from Elias before. He was normally very lively and positive. She didn’t like the change, and even though he’d given her the option of staying behind with the rest of the crew, the vixen had insisted on coming along to support her husband.

“Do you think your parents will approve of me?” she’d asked innocently enough.

Elias turned and looked at his wife, his eyes unreadable behind the reflective lenses of the sunglasses he wore. When he did answer, his voice was low and soft.

“We’ll see,” was all he said in response.

The flight to the small town of Odeon that Elias had been born in was a fifteen minute flight from the starport. There really wasn’t anyplace to land, and it might have been easier to have taken a ground car, but the fox found a field on the edge of the little village and set down there. Elias shut the engines down almost as soon as the landing skids touched the green-gold grass of the field. He took a deep breath and sat for a moment, collecting his thoughts as Cerise watched him pensively, not speaking, but wondering why this side trip was affecting him so much.

A knock on the window of the vixen’s door made her jump.

“You can’t land that here!” a gray fox shouted from the outside. He wasn’t hostile, but he was insistent.

Elias released his safety harness and opened the door on his side of the lifter, taking of his sunglasses and dropping them on the seat. “We’ll be gone shortly, Mister Corbin. I just wanted to visit my parents for a little bit.”

The gray fox took a step back, his yellow eyes going wide. “Elias? Elias Tivnan?” he asked softly.

Elias nodded and smiled. “Yes, Sir. We’ll be going before too long. There’s just no other place to put down at.”

The gray fox bustled around the front of the lifter and took the other fox’s hand in his, pumping it vigorously. “I’m sorry, Elias! If I’d known it was you I wouldn’t have said anything at all! How have you been, lad?”

Elias gave the older tod a wan smile. “I’m doing all right, Mister Corbin. I’d like for you to meet my wife, Cerise. Cerise, this is Mister Anthony Corbin. He’s sort of the mayor here.”

The gray fox turned and looked at Cerise before giving her a somewhat stiff and clumsy little bow. “Oh my. Elias. She’s lovely! Pleased to meet you, young lady!”

Cerise smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister Corbin,” the vixen said with a smile.

“You know, we heard about that crash you were in last year. Had the entire town worked up. Right glad that you made it through that! So are you still with the SPF?” the older fox asked. “Folk ‘round here won’t believe that your back!”

Elias shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mister Corbin. I’m not going to be able to stay long. I have to get back to my ship and crew. And no. I’m running a freighter now. We had to drop off some…cargo. Over near Cybria. We’ll be lifting tomorrow.”

“Isn’t that where those kids were taken from? Heard that the SPF got ‘em back on the news the other night. Good group, there. Don’t know why you left ‘em?” Corbin said.

“It was time. I hate to be in a rush, but I need to get this taken care of. I would stay and talk longer if I could…”

The gray fox gave the younger one a small smile. “You’re right, of course. And here I am just babbling on. Well, if you find you do have time, come on over to Shelly’s. I’ll buy you lunch.”

“If I have time. Thank you,” Elias said.

The gray fox nodded and tottered off towards the center of the small town, leaving Elias and Cerise alone by the aircraft.

“Let’s get this over with,” Elias said.

Cerise stepped up beside her mate and took his hand, baffled by Elias’ continued lack of vitality. Instead of leading her to one of the small but neat houses that surrounded the town, Elias followed a narrow, worn path through the damp grass that was still laden with morning dew. They entered a little area that was surrounded by a well tended, knee-high stone wall and stopped.

Elias knelt down and Cerise wondered why, until she looked down and saw the small head stone resting in the grass, wilted flowers and dried leaves scattered around it.

No wonder Elias had been so reluctant to make this trip. She put her hand on his shoulder in quiet support as she read the inscription.

Ellis Lloyd Tivnan

Father, Husband

Carol Dena Tivnan

Mother, Wife

As in life, so it is beyond

In slightly smaller script beneath it read;

What the caterpillar calls the end of the World

The Master calls a butterfly.

Cerise stared. She had no idea that Elias had no family left. She knew that he’d been an only child, but that had been all. She realized that his shoulder was trembling as he was wracked by silent sobs. With tears welling up in her eyes, she sank down onto the sodden grass next to her mate and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head against his shoulder.

It was a while before Elias could speak, and when he did, his voice was soft and tremulous. “I was on my first space run with the Navy when my Father died. He was at work when he got dizzy and took a spill. At the hospital, the doctor that examined him said that he’d discovered multiple tumors that were causing his balance issues.

“I didn’t get the letter from my Mother telling me about it for almost a month. By then it was too late. I was given leave to come home to help bury Dad, but I was too late. Mom just couldn’t make it without Dad being there for her.”

Elias looked at his wife, and his eyes were filled with pain and anger and regret the likes of which she hadn’t known he carried.

“I wasn’t there for them when they died. Some great son I turned out to be, huh? Everyone in town told me how proud they were of me, how Dad would go to the diner and brag about me being in the Navy, how I was going to be something someday.” He swallowed hard and wiped the moisture from around his eyes, though the gesture was useless as tears continued to fall.

“The message was late because of a clerical error and it got transmitted to the wrong ship. I never got to say good-bye.”

Cerise saw so much more to Elias than she had before as she held him and let him cry out all of the pain that still festered in his heart and soul. Like a flash of intuition, she knew why he brought the kids they’d rescued home himself, why he had gone to great pains to reunite families. It was because of the loss of his parents, of not being able to see them one last time that had left a wound in the fox that had never healed. He carried a knot of guilt and regret deep inside, and it seemed to her that many of the things that he’d done had been so that no one else would have to endure what he did.

Her heart swelled with feeling for this complex individual, making her hug him all the tighter.

“Where did you get the idea for that inscription?” she asked softly, reaching down to trace the letters with one finger. “It’s beautiful.”

“After I got back to my ship, a friend gave me a copy of a book to read. It was about a human that lived centuries ago on Earth that told of meeting a messiah of sorts. He learned that he was also a messiah, so was every other soul alive, and that nothing in the universe is really as it seems. I took that from the book because it seemed…fitting.” He wiped his eyes again. “You know, they would have loved you. Mom always wanted a daughter so badly, but was never able to have any more kits after me. Look here,” he said, pointing slightly to his right.

There was another small headstone of the same material that Elias’ parents had. There were three names on it;

Van Tivnan

Renee Tivnan

Neria Tivnan

You are no less loved

No less missed.

“They were my littermates. They didn’t live very long. I think it took a lot out of Mom. She loved me, but I don’t think I remember her ever really being happy.”

The vixen tried to give her mate all of the support she could, just letting him know that she was there and that she loved him. There was so much sadness in her mate’s past.

They knelt there for almost half an hour, the moisture on the grass soaking through their clothes and footwear before Elias shook himself, his tears shed. Cerise stood with him, her hand slipping into his.

“Let’s find some flowers for them, she suggested.

“There’s no florist in Odeon, Love.”

“Then we’ll find some on our own,” she said simply.

The little cemetery was on the edge of the forest that dominated this part of Alexandrius, and she and Elias walked into the gloom of the woods.

There was nothing oppressive about these woods. Despite the deep shadows and damp air, the forest felt alive, with the scents and sounds of life all around them. It wasn’t long before they found a small but thriving patch of flowers in a small clearing. The blooms were curious, with crinkled looking petals of light blue and deep indigo centers. Their aroma was subtle and sweet, and made Cerise feel light in heart and soul. The vixen noticed that even Elias smiled slightly as he took in their fragrance.

“They’re called Evening Blooms. They only grow in the depths of the woods around here. My Mother loved them.”

Cerise smiled at him. “Then they’re perfect.”

Instead of picking the blooms, Elias took his knife from its sheath and carefully extracted three clumps of the flowers. Once they returned to the headstones, the fox again drew his knife and made small holes in the ground, placing the root balls deep enough that they wouldn’t be exposed to the air and elements and could take hold in their new place, placing two next to the marker for his parents, the third at the apex of the stone for his siblings.

They both stood, and Elias slipped his arm around the petite vixen’s waist. “I think they would like this.”

“I wish I had known them,” Cerise said.

“Like I said, they would have loved you. And you and Dad would have gotten along great. He loved fishing almost as much as you do.” He stood there for a moment, past and present seeming to meet within him, and for some reason that he couldn’t understand or explain, he felt the guilt that he’d carried and suffered with for so long begin to lift, like a fog that is driven away by the rising sun.

“Come on, Love of mine. Let’s go home,” Elias said to his mate.

She looked up at him and smiled before giving him a kiss on the side of his muzzle and let him lead her back to the lifter.

***

The Guiding Angel headed back towards the Van Connor Nebula after less than a week on Alexandrius. The crew wasn’t ready for shore leave yet, and most were simply relaxed enough without a dozen-plus hormonal teenagers running rampant through the ship. Lena was perhaps the most relieved at the lack of youngsters.

“Do you know what it’s like to sit in a bath, music playing and trying to have a good soak only to realize there are four sets of eyes ogling you?” the rabbit had asked the others over breakfast while they had still been at the hotel. “Flippin’ disturbing is what is!”

“You never complain when I ogle you,” Randal observed.

It was the first time that Elias had ever seen a breakfast pastry used as a weapon.

Long range imaging showed the nebula as a swirl of gaseous clouds floating in the vastness of space, a riot of colors running the entire spectrum of the rainbow, with interior discharges of energy providing eerily beautiful illumination. Elias wished that it wasn’t such a hot bed for raider activity. It would be a great sight for travelers to witness, and the amount of research that could be gleaned would last lifetimes.

At the Guiding Angel’s relatively slow cruising velocity, they were still well over an hour away from the celestial body when the fox, taking his shift at bridge watch, thought he saw something that wasn’t quite right. Leaning forward, he entered commands on his console for the ship’s sensors to enhance the image, pushing the equipment to its limits. Elias stared at the image for several long seconds, refusing to blink so he wouldn’t miss what he believed he saw, ignoring the tears that formed as his eyes succumbed to the cool dry air circulating around the bridge.

Then what he was looking for hove into view, passing between tendrils of luminescent gas. The extreme magnification left no doubt. He hadn’t just been seeing things.

In one quick motion, he slung the straps of the seat restraints over his shoulders as his other hand slapped the alarm actuator.

“All hands! All hands! Prepare for battle! To your stations now!”

As he made the call for general quarters, Elias was able to fasten his safety restraints and began adding power to the engines. Cerise was already at the communications console and had nearly jumped out of her seat when her mate tripped the alarm klaxon.

“What is it, Elias?” she almost screamed, her heart racing achingly fast in her chest.

He didn’t even turn around as he answered, locking all of the Guiding Angel’s sensors onto the object he’d found.

“It’s the Shiva!” he snarled, his teeth bared and an almost feral glint in his eyes.

Saul burst through the hatch from the corridor, undressed save for a pair of thin shorts, the spicy scent he exuded attesting to his having been working out when the alarm was hit. “What have we got, Captain?” he asked as he began bringing up data at his station before fully sitting down.

Elias was too focused on keeping the other vessel in sight, leaving Cerise to answer the First Officer.

“He has a lock on the Shiva,” she said, her voice thin with apprehension, though it didn’t keep her from using all of her talents to better tune the equipment that was her specialty and track the other ship.

Saul swore under his breath as he fastened his restraints and began preparing for battle. “Engineering crew ready. Infirmary is standing by,” the jaguar said as the various stations checked in with him.

Odette had quietly slipped in to her seat at weapons, brought up her station and called out. “Weapons ready. Pulse cannon and missiles at your command, Captain.”

“Affirmative,” Elias growled.

The bridge crew all spared a glance at the white fox. None of them had ever seen him like this before, so focused, so cold seeming. Odette threw a quick look at Cerise and tried to reassure the vixen with a smile. It didn’t help Cerise in the slightest.

They had been getting reports of the Shiva’s predations from all over the PA for the past four months, and it seemed that each bit of news was worse than the one before. A freighter, the Iron Maggie was able to squeak out a distress call before it was silenced. A patrol boat from the Kantus Defense Force found the freighter a week later with no survivors as the interior, and everyone on board, had been incinerated. Weeks later it had struck an asteroid mining operation in the Anya system, using its cannon to hole the main habitat and vent its atmosphere into hard vacuum before ransacking the outpost for stockpiles of raw materials.

A Planetary Alignment emergency response ship had been ransacked the previous month. Again no survivors. And most recent at three weeks earlier a liner with Astarte Iridani Space Lines had been attacked. The Shiva’s crew hadn’t even attempted to board to plunder the ship and passengers for loot. They had simply destroyed the vessels drives and left, leaving almost three hundred crew and passengers floating in space. That event had actually ended on a high note as the ship was found by a Tanthean battleship which had been able to rescue the castaways.

Not a single encounter had varied in their description of the marauding vessel; a black colored Terran made Carrack class ship with bright red designs.

“Boarding team is standing by and the Cherub is ready for launch, Elias. We’re ready,” Saul said, trying to swallow with a mouth gone suddenly dry.

“Copy,” Elias said, his face still locked in a feral grin of teeth. “Distance to target?”

Cerise consulted her board. “Over one hundred thousand kilometers. At present speed and course, we should intercept in eight minutes. I don’t think they’ve seen us yet. They’re too close to the nebula. It should render them blind to our presence.”

“At forty seconds out, broadcast an order to stand down,” Elias ordered. “Odette,” he continued, “at the first sign of resistance you are weapons free. Understand?”

“Aye, Captain,” the bear said. She activated the dorsal and ventral turrets and set the other systems on stand-by.

The tension on the bridge was palpable, and Cerise felt all of the muscles in her back tighten and knot with the stress she was experiencing. With an eye on the relative distance between the two ships, she toggled the communications board, sending her words out on multiple frequencies simultaneously. “Attention, attention, attention. This is the Spatial Police Force. Heave to and prepare to be boarded. Refusal or hostile action will be met with force. Do you comply?” She repeated the order, even as Elias gave his own order.

“Lena! Launch now, now, now! You are weapons free at the first sign of hostile intent. Copy?”

“Understood, Captain,” The rabbit replied. “Good luck!”

While the Guiding Angel had been in dry dock months earlier, the ship yard crews had installed a magnetic accelerator and exhaust baffles so that the fighter could perform a hot launch from the converted cargo bay without fear that it would damage the interior or put the converted freighter at risk. It had enabled the Raptor class interceptor to be deployed even faster than before, and Elias noted with approval the greater speed of the operation as the small craft took off like it had been fired from a cannon.

Cerise had been monitoring the enemy vessel and as soon as she detected variations in her instrument readings, she relayed it to the rest of the crew. “I’m detecting increased power signatures! Looks to be pulse cannon and magnetic launchers warming up!”

“Got it,” Elias said coolly, almost emotionlessly.

Captain and crew watched as the black and red vessel turned to meet them head on, the enemy maintaining radio silence. As soon as its bow was pointed in the direction of the Guiding Angel, miniature green-white suns erupted from the Shiva’s forward weapons. The rounds were easily soaked up by the freighter’s shields.

“That’s it! Weapons free! Take ‘em down!” Elias yelled, depressing the triggers on his control yokes even as he spoke.

The Okami freighter-turned-warship had weapons with a higher firing cycle than the units the Shiva sported, and while lacking the punch, the rapid bursts had greater effect in reducing the energy shields of the pirate vessel. Odette added to the conflagration by firing the dorsal and ventral turrets in an alternating pattern. The brilliant white beams of the mercury vapor lasers clearly visible despite the luminescent bolts that crossed back and forth between the two ships.

The Guiding Angel and the Shiva passed by each other at tremendous velocity, the raider momentarily losing initiative as the ellipsoid shaped ship moved beyond its forward firing arc. Not so with the clandestine SPF vessel. Odette kept the lasers firing at the other craft, though with less effect as the beams of light were dissipated by the untouched flank and aft shields.

With a snarl, Elias flipped the Guiding Angel over, using the large power plants of his ship to slow and tracked the enemy, again triggering a series of blasts from the pulse cannon at his command. Even as the freighter began a rapid deceleration and brake before lurching after the pirate, the fox watched as Lena in the Cherub strafed the Shiva and let go with a salvo of Sparrow missiles. The small projectiles were modeled on antipersonnel rockets, their warheads actually comprising dozens of sub-munitions that would disperse meters from a target and saturate the shields with miniature explosions, further eroding them and dropping their potency substantially.

Even as Elias drew within firing range, he saw the marauder execute its own flip so that it was traveling backwards. He instinctively knew what was coming next.

“Talon missile signatures!” Cerise almost screamed. “Eight in all!”

“Give me a distance count!” the fox ordered, his eyes darting from what he saw outside the viewports to his instruments.

“Four thousand!” Cerise called out. “Three-point-five thousand! Three thousand! Two-point-five thousand! Two thousand!”

Nodding his head, Elias cut forward thrust, slewed the ship ninety degrees on its axial plane before initiating a roll and triggering the shock thread emitters. The missiles, while equipped with small semi-intelligent computer processors, didn’t understand the threat. The projectiles continued to head for the target they’d been launched at, the need instilled in their programs to impact with the target sending them unerringly on towards the Okami starship.

And into the energized lines of the shock threads.

The power that coursed through the missiles slagged processors, triggers and controls. The munitions bounced harmlessly off of theGuiding Angel’s shields as random, inert debris.

With the same fluid grace that had sent the freighter into a wild and uncontrolled seeming maneuver, Elias brought his vessel back on track with the Shiva.

The raider had not gone unpunished as Lena continued her assault of the larger vessel, harassing it with pulse cannon fire and two more shield consuming Sparrows.

In an attempt to save itself from the unexpected firepower the freighter had, the pilot of the pirate ship tried to run. Lining up on it, the greater output of his engines closing the distance in a matter of seconds, Elias set his sights on the port engine cluster. He squeezed the trigger sending bolt after bolt from his pulse cannon into the shields around the primary power plants. Odette, realizing what her captain was doing added the lasers to the effort. The pummeling was finally too much for the other vessel and the engines exploded silently in the vacuum of space. The debris trail consisted of congealed metal, plastics, fragments of ceramics and fuel as the forward part of theCarrack class vessel continued its established vector on inertia alone. It was canted at an odd angle in relation to its flight path, but Elias sighed as the pirate vessel that had caused so much trouble was finally neutralized and no longer a theat.

“Boarding team, prepare for action. Randal, ready the powersuits. I’ll be down momentarily. Elias out.”

The fox seemed to shrink in on himself slightly as the adrenaline that was coursing through his blood began to thin out. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before sucking in another.

The ship that had plagued waking and sleep, the thing that haunted his nightmares for so long, that had been the death of friends, was now so much space junk.

The moment felt surreal, as if Elias were watching things from another’s perspective. He shook his head and started to reach for the release of his restraints when Lena’s voice burst over the communication channel.

“I really need a little help out here!”

“What’s wrong, Lena?” Elias said with concern.

Before the rabbit could answer, Cerise informed him and everyone else of the problem, her voice heavy with disbelief. “It’s…it’s anotherS

***

Lena looked on from the cockpit of the Raptor class interceptor as the Captain put ‘Paid’ to the Carrack class vessel. She watched in awe as the engine cluster turned to slag and molten junk from the withering fire that erupted from the ship she’d called home for almost eight months. Surprising herself, she ‘Yipped!’ with glee as the pirate vessel was knocked out of commission with enough damage that even a year in dry dock wouldn’t be able to repair what her Captain and friends had done to it, ending a reign of terror and predation that spanned the entire PA.

She continued orbiting the two ships, monitoring the progress far enough away from both that the two vessels resembled stars themselves. The rabbit could hear what was happening on the Guiding Angel through the communications link that Cerise set up for her.

A sudden and insistent beeping sounded in her ears, and Lena looked at her instruments in reflex and swore vehemently. Even as she pushed the throttle controls forward, first missile detonated too close to her ship, impacting with the automatic countermeasure that the computer on the fighter had deployed.

Another alarm sounded as she watched her shield indicators go from green to red, feeling the impacts against the hull as shrapnel and debris rained against the armored skin.

“I really need a little help out here!” she screamed over her helmet’s comm channel, urging her small craft away from the new threat as fast as possible.

The interceptor felt sluggish as Lena fought the controls, noting that the Cherub’s speed was substantially reduced. She craned her neck around and saw something that was completely unexpected. The first was that the rear portion of the cockpit canopy was missing. The second was the gaping hole in the hull directly behind the compartment. Fuel was jetting into the hard vacuum of space, catching the light from the nebula. A small part of her mind that wasn’t in shock or terrified noted that the small semi-fluid globules were rather pretty. Then that same part of her mind screamed as a bright bolt from a pulse cannon passed so close to the crippled fighter that it singed and bubbled the paint of her starboard wing.

***

“Odette! Target that ship and fire missiles! Elias hollered, reacting instinctively as he pushed the Guiding Angel towards the new threat to save Lena.

The bear did as ordered and within the space of a few frantic heartbeats had the latest arrival locked on. She activated the launchers and two sleek, tadpole shaped projectiles belched forth from the port and starboard missile racks. “Positive lock! Odette called out. “Impact in five…four…three…”

“Blanket signal coming from the new contact!” Cerise informed the bridge. “They’re trying to jam!”

“…Two…One. Hits are good!” the weapons officer exclaimed. “Jamming signal had no effect!”

Through the forward viewport, Elias saw that the missiles had indeed hit the new Shiva. Before he could get closer, he saw stuttering streams of fire burst from the Carrack class ship, bright tracers lancing through space to repeatedly punch through the badly damaged interceptor as autocannon spat out round after round.

Swearing furiously, the fox added even more power to the engines, and lined up on the second Shiva. Not even waiting for the targeting reticule superimposed over the enemy ship to indicate a lock, Elias squeezed the triggers on his controls sending two more missiles streaking away and hosing the other ship with continuous fire from the Guiding Angel’s pulse cannon.

The concentrated fire ate through the other ship’s hull like hot water through ice. Still Elias didn’t relent. He was almost maniacal in his need to destroy the other ship so that he and the crew could rescue Lena. Unable to withstand the punishment of the high energy discharges anymore, the second Shiva silently exploded into an expanding ball glowing gas as the containment units for its engines failed catastrophically.

“Randy!” Elias called on the intercom. “Lena’s disabled. Clear the deck and open the cargo hatch for rescue.” He switched to another line. “Lem, get ready to head to the cargo bay. Do not enter the lift until ordered. Bridge out.”

Both individuals signaled their response. A quick glance behind ensured the fox that his mate was scrutinizing the space around them as far out as the sensors could reach and would inform him if another threat appeared. Elias then turned his attention to rescuing the interceptor and his missing crew member.

Reducing thrust drastically enough so that the entire ship lurched, Elias used the Guiding Angel’s inertia to approach the stricken fighter. Though only seconds had passed, it seemed to the fox that the process was taking hours. He willed himself to be calm, though, as it would do no good to retrieve the rabbit, only to destroy the ship and kill them all because he got impatient and rushed the operation. It was one of the hardest things that he’d ever done in his life.

With deft movements, and a gentle touch to the maneuvering thruster controls, Elias watched as the fighter slid out of sight below the bridge. There was clanging that came from the deck below the bridge, followed by a loud, vibrating thud.

“We have her, Captain!” Randal cried out over the intercom. “Get the Doc down here! Lena’s hurt!”

The intercom sounded with static for a moment before it clicked off. Lemuel was already on his way down with Treena. Hoping that the doe was all right, Elias turned the ship to intercept the first vessel that was still drifting away from the area. He had a lock on the wreckage, then winced as the crippled ship was engulfed in the fire of a nuclear detonation.

“Twelve Hells!” Saul swore “They scuttled rather than let themselves be captured. And what was with the other ship? Two of them? What’s going on?”

Elias shook his head. “I haven’t a clue.” He checked his readings and inquired with engineering on their status.

“We’re good down here, Captain,” Stram’s voice said. “A little warm with all of the action, but we’re one hundred percent.”

“Copy that, Stram. Good work,” Elias said. He clicked off, removed the headset and turned to his First Officer. “Lay in a course for Joplin. We need to refit. And Sandy will be interested in this little turn of events.”

“Roger that.” The jaguar entered a few commands before he stood up. “I have the con if you want to go check on Lena,” he said.

Elias gave the navigator an appreciative smile. “Thanks, Saul. You have the con.”

Elias made it down to the cargo bay, and stopped so suddenly his boots slid on the nonskid surfacing. The Raptor was little more than a pile of junk that had only the faintest resemblance to the fighter it once was. The smell of leaking chemicals and fuel assaulted his nose, along with the reek of burnt carbons and synthetic materials. He spotted the ship’s Doctor and Treena off to the side near the armored cubicle that on a normal freighter would have been the loadmaster’s office and domain. They were bent over a supine form on the deck, with Randal kneeling next to them, his armored suit open and standing lifeless near the pile of junk that used to be the Cherub.

Running the few steps needed, the fox paused as he looked down at his subordinate and friend.

Lena had burns on her hands and wrists that had scalded away the fur. The pink skin underneath was exposed with angry red cracks that the tiger was treating with a spray that would not only clean the wounds, but had powerful anesthetics in it as well. Randal was stroking her head, unabashedly shedding tears, though he smiled reassuringly at the doe. Her eyes were red with burst blood vessels, what was called petechia, and normally looked worse than it actually was. There was also some bleeding from her ears. All of it signs that she had been exposed to hard vacuum.

As if in mute testimony, there were several spots of her flight suit that had swatches of engineer’s tape plastered against the insulated material.

Elias knelt down as well. “How are you doing, Lena?” he asked in a gentle tone.

The rabbit chuckled hoarsely. “Not bad, Captain. Learning the hard way that you can’t breathe space. It really doesn’t work well at all.” She cast a look over at the ruins of her interceptor. “Sorry about the Cherub. It was a good little ship. Think the brass’ll make me pay for it?”

Elias shook his head and smiled. “Nah. We can send the pirates’ a bill.”

She nodded as Lemuel and Treena continued to address what seemed to be the worst of her injuries. “I was a little out of it. Did we get them?”

“Yeah. We got them. I would have preferred it, however, if you hadn’t tried to make a target of yourself.” Elias smiled and shook his head. “Not the best tactics, though you might have been trying something that I’m not familiar with.”

“Hardly,” Lena said sourly. “I wasn’t paying attention. Let that other ship catch me with my britches down.”

The fox shook his head. “Hardly,” he said copying the rabbit. “That nebula could hide an entire solar system. There was no way that you could have known it was out there.”

“Maybe,” Lena said, looking unconvinced and with a shake of her head. “Maybe.”

“All right. Let’s get you to the infirmary so I can cut you out of that flight suit,” Lemuel said, putting away his materials and equipment.

“Wow, Doc. I didn’t know you were interested,” the rabbit said with a smile.

“Only in the gross bits. I leave the naughty parts to Randy, here.”

Lena stuck out her tongue. “Gee, you really know how to sweet-talk a girl.”

Randal followed the Doctor and others to the infirmary, the worry in his eyes clear. Elias stayed in the cargo bay and continued his inspection of the Cherub. It had taken some devastating damage behind the cockpit, and there were perforations all over the fuselage. That Lena had made it back was nothing short of a miracle. As he looked over the pilot’s compartment the fox saw numerous through penetrations in the armored shell that was supposed to protect the pilot.

Elias called for Stram and Rutger over his DataCom as he continued to inspect the craft. The fox was crawling around the starboard engine, surprised that the Cherub hadn’t exploded with the amount of damage that he found when the badger and tuxedo tom appeared next to him. Rutger whistled through his teeth when he saw the condition the Raptor was in, while Stram simply looked at the wreckage with wide eyes and disbelief.

“I’ve been an engineer for nigh on twenty six years. I’ve patched up battle wagons, shuttles, fighters and everything in between. I ain’t never seen nothin’ like this where the pilot walked away,” the badger said, removing the ever present stick of jerky from the corner of his mouth.

“Captain, you aren’t thinking of trying to have us fix this are you?” the cat asked seriously.

Elias looked at him for a moment. He burst out laughing, even Stram guffawed. “No, Rutger. What I do want is for you to document the damage. Once you’re done with that, pull the computer, set charges and jettison the hulk. We’ll get a replacement interceptor at Joplin. The Cherub has had it, but it served well.”

“I always found it sad to say good-bye to a ship that’s been good to the people I care about,” Stram said. “Foolish, but I’m old ‘nough to get away with it.”

“Let me know when you’re ready to jettison and we’ll drop into real-space. I’ll be on the bridge.” With that, Elias left the two engineers to do what was needed.

Before returning to the bridge deck, Elias stopped by the infirmary. Lemuel was working on the minor injuries that Lena had, with Randal staying close to the rabbit. Making his way up to the small group unobtrusively, Elias looked at his primary fighter pilot.

“Still doing all right, Lena?” he asked with a slight smile.

The doe giggled a little. “Doc haz got some rilleee fine stuffff in me,” Lena said, slurring her words. “I don’t feel anything at all.” She scratched at her nose, went cross eyed looking at her finger as she did it again, and then shrugged. “I can’t ev’n feel m’ noze.” She started giggling and repeating, “Nozenozenoze,” in a sing-song voice.

Elias looked at the tiger. “Doped her, huh?”

Lemuel chuckled. “You think this is bad? She got a quarter of the dose I’d normally give someone her size. Apparently Lena has a very low tolerance,” he informed his Captain as he wrapped her hand in bandages specifically meant for treating burns.

“A quarter of a dose? And she’s this far gone?” Elias asked with amazement as the doe continued singing about her nose.

“That’s all. Fortunately her injuries are fairly minor. Some burns, as you can see here, but the bio-gel will take care of that. She should get the fur back in a couple of weeks or so. The vacuum injuries are minor as well. Some petechia in the eyes and light bleeding from the ears and nasal passages, but nothing debilitating. She will be on bed rest orders for the next week, though.”

Elias smiled as he watched Lena become interested in her other hand, staring at the bandages before moving her hand and watching the action with wide, dilated eyes. “Oooooo.”

“Doc, I think I’ll be fine with her taking it easy until we get back to Joplin. And much more sober.” He stood straighter and put a hand on the rabbit’s shoulder. “Get some rest and take it easy, all right? I need my number one pilot back.”

Lena forgot about her hand and looked up at Elias with unfocused, dilated eyes. “Aw, you’re so sweet, Cap’n. You know, Cerise iz rilllyyy lucky to haf you.”

“Um, yeah. You just get some rest, okay?” the fox told her, his ears turning pink with embarrassment. “When she’s done here, why don’t you put her to bed, Randy,” the fox suggested.

“Yayyy! Snugs and nookies with my woof!” Lena sang happily.

Randal gave his friend and Captain an apologetic look. “Can do.”

Elias fled the infirmary before he burst out laughing.

The others on the bridge looked at Elias as he entered. He took a spot next to Saul, leaning against the forward console, letting the jaguar maintain his position in the pilot’s seat. “Lena is going to be fine,” he said trying to suppress a chuckle. “Lem has her medicated and is taking care of the last of her injuries. The bad news is the Cherub is toast. As soon as Stram calls up, drop out of warp so he can jettison it.” He turned to Saul. Think you can handle things up here for a while. I’m not ashamed to admit that right now I’m feeling a little washed out.”

“Go ahead, Boss. I’ve got things here. Go get some down time. It’s not like you’re going to be too far away if something pops,” the jaguar said.

Elias dropped a hand on his First Officer’s shoulder. “Thanks, Saul. When we get to Joplin, the first five rounds are on me.”

***

As the Guiding Angel turned and departed the area around the periphery of the Van Connor Nebula, small, dark colored spheroid tracked it, the iris of a recording lens expanding and contracting as it enhanced focus and documented all aspects of the departing vessel. It’s program complete, the object shutdown all functions, save those needed to maintain the integrity of the recordings and the timer that was built into it. Once the timer reached zero, it would automatically broadcast a request for retrieval in a specific direction and patiently wait.

CHAPTER 33

Elias exited the lift as the doors opened on the rec deck, typing in commands on the small computer and sending the electronic data to the terminal that sat next to a cloth covered recliner at the far end of the large space, near the aft viewports. Before sitting down to review the data he’d been working on, the fox retrieved a cup from the carousel that sat next to a large, stainless steel coffee urn. Doctoring the dark liquid with cream and sugar, he took a sip, then grabbed a pastry from the ever present plate of snacks that his friend and comrade, Melise, made sure was available at all times.

Thus fortified, he ensconced himself in the recliner and began going over the data that he’d collected. The encounter with the Shiva, both of them, saw his ship and crew the victors, but there had been something about the battle that had bothered him. It wasn’t until a few hours later, as he lay sound asleep next to his wife, that he snapped awake to figure out what it was that was nagging at the back of his mind. Sitting bolt up-right, Elias rolled out of bed and flopped down in front of the computer terminal in his and Cerise’s cabin, silently cursing the sluggishness of the machine as it booted and connected with the primary core of the Guiding Angel.

He set the machine to collect all available data on his first engagement with the Carrack class vessel, then the recent encounter, and compile all video data. As the machine churned away at the request, Elias got dressed, telling his mate to go back to sleep when she murmured something at him, then headed for the rec deck.

It was late enough in duty rotations that he doubted he’d run into another of the crew. The need to work through an idea that would not let him go or fall back to sleep was too strong. The terminal beeped at him, letting him know that all of the data that the fox had requested was ready. Taking another sip of steaming coffee, Elias typed in more commands and let the machine percolate his request.

Looking up at the far bulkhead, as he normally did when on the third deck, Elias saw that someone had added another silhouette to what the rest of the crew jokingly called the ‘Wall of Glory’. Each of the silhouettes depicted the class of ship that they had encountered, the name of the vessel, date and location and the pirates, raiders, or slavers that had been neutralized.

In bold red script was the name Shiva under the latest, followed by a large number 2.

At first Elias had wanted the wall repainted, but the crew had voiced their opposition to this idea.

“I’m tired of just having the names of our people plastered on to the Wall of the Fallen back on Joplin. It’s time we kept our own tally. It reminds us that we really are making a difference out her, El,” Melise had told him.

Sandy had seen the wall on one of his infrequent visits and smiled when his eyes fell upon the documentation. “You know, this is a far better summation up what you and the others have done than a file full of reports, son,” the lion said.

Because of all of the vocal input, Elias let the ‘Wall of Glory’ stay.

There were fifteen ships on there that they had captured, put out of action and stopped. All in the space of eight months. Fifteen pirate crews, slavers, smugglers and brigands that were serving out sentences on one of the five penal worlds that the SPF used. Some of the criminals apprehended were transferred to Planetary Alignment worlds where there were outstanding warrants for crimes that took precedence over the charges that the Spatial Police Force leveled at them, but they were still out of the game.

It had taken a while, but Elias was now pleased when he looked at the decorated wall that tallied their successes. Cerise, Odette and Melise had even started a scrapbook of sorts that listed all of the places that they had been, complete with pictures, including some of the fox himself, and he didn’t remember them being taken. The vixen’s argument for making the book was to show their children what they had done, not to mention her father, a retired SPF officer himself, enjoyed looking over their exploits.

The computer beeped a signal informing Elias that it had finished the task he had set it to, and decided to put his research on the aft viewport that doubled as a vidscreen. Near invisible circuitry imbedded in the transparent glassteel material provided an extremely high definition picture and Elias was able to study the images in relative comfort.

In sequence were images of the two ships that they had fought just days previous. The last was the Shiva that had been the reason for the destruction of his previous vessel that he’d been posted on, the SPF Scimitar. The Scimitar had been a patrol sloop, with what should have been adequate protection and firepower to handle the Earth made vessel turned pirate. That had certainly not been the case, and Elias and five others had been lucky to make it to Dennier alive. The encounter had cost the lives of several crew members, including the Captain of the sloop, an individual that Elias had very much admired.

Captain Karl Ivanovo had been an inspiring man and had taught Elias many lessons about what it meant to command a ship. The human male had been fair, and taught the fox that a captain might be in command of the ship and crew, but it didn’t preclude that same said officer from having to work with the individuals below him. A captain had to be many different things at once, and while it might be rewarding at times, it was never, ever easy. Command required that one had to be firm, but compassionate, strong, but never lose sight of what the crew was going through. While there were times that a commanding officer had to act as a judge, sometimes delivering harsh punishment, the crew had to be molded into a family of sorts. Their lives depended on each other and it was paramount that they all trusted one another, with their captain being both mother and father.

They were lessons that Elias had tried his best to copy. As it was, he had a crew that not only got along, they performed their tasks admirably. He was proud of the individuals under his command, with his ship, and the life he led with his wife.

Taking a long sip from his mug, Elias continued to study the images. There had been something different between these last two ships and the first Shiva, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t hear the lift doors open, and when Lena spoke he started.

“Whatcha lookin’ at, Cap’n?”

Jerking upright, Elias spilt half of his coffee on his legs and crotch, closing his eyes momentarily against the pain, then took a deep breath.

“Oh no! ‘m sorry, Cap’n!” she exclaimed.

Biting back a few choice swear words, Elias set his mug down and got up to retrieve a towel from the counter that looked into the galley. “It’s all right, Lena,” he told her gently. He did what he could to salvage his trousers, but it was no use. “What are you doing up?”

“Couldn’ sleep. ‘m hurting a little, but didn’ wanna take another pain pill. They make my head all fuzzy.”

Elias gave her a smile remembering what she had been like in the infirmary. “I can understand that. Doc has some pretty potent stuff in that bag of his. Do you want me to get you something?”

The rabbit shook her head with a frown. “Not gonna have you wait on me, ‘Lias. It isn’t right.”

The fox chuckled. “And how, pray tell, are you going to get anything with your hands wrapped up like that? Come on. What would you like?”

“A soda, if you don’ mind.”

He smiled at the doe. “Coming right up.”

Melise kept certain things close to the entry into the galley, knowing that it was better to do that than have the rest of the crew getting into certain supplies and had a refrigeration unit stocked with accessible snacks and drinks specifically for raiding. Grabbing a sparkling fruit flavored drink that Elias knew the rabbit liked, he returned to find her staring at the pictures on the screen intently with her wretched looking eyes.

“These two are the same. This one on the end is differ’nt. It’s bigger,” she said as he drew alongside.

“What?” Elias asked with a frown.

“The third one. It’s bigger. Look,” she said, trying to point with her bandaged right hand. “See this part of the hull? On the other two the first set of portholes are closer to the bow. On the third they’re further back. Same with the sensor blister here. The last one is a bigger ship.”

“Here you go,” Elias said as he held out the soda.

As soon as Lena wrapped her hands around the bottle, Elias moved to the computer terminal and typed in several commands, then turned to the screen to look at the results.

All three ships were rendered into wire frame designs, and the computer used relevant data and the specifications for Carrack class vessels stored in its memory banks to generate a size comparison. The first two ships were identical in all aspects and differed very little to the stock vessels that were manufactured on Earth in Australia. The third, though, was substantially larger. There were also areas of the hull on the third vessel that didn’t correspond with the other two. Elias sat back, feeling a sudden chill run up his spine.

“Wha’s it mean, Cap’n?” Lena asked .

The fox continued staring at the images. “It means the Shiva is still out there.”

CHAPTER 34

Joplin was the headquarters for the Spatial Police Force, lying almost dead center of the Planetary Alignment. The planet itself was a barren rock with no real atmosphere to speak of, and the facilities that the SPF called home were built either beneath the surface, or enclosed in bunker-like constructs that could withstand almost anything short of a direct nuclear strike.

The bay that the Guiding Angel was directed to dock in was built into the side of a crater that was almost three miles wide and nearly a mile deep, produced when an asteroid had hit the planet eons before. The docking bay had huge armored doors that sealed it from the near vacuum outside, then the bay was filled with breathable atmosphere.

The crew could use the billets within the facility if they wanted, though all of them elected to stay on the ship itself. There was no reason that any of them felt they should give up their beds for the military cots and Spartan quarters that they would be assigned if they took lodgings within the facility itself.

Colonel Sander Brees, in full dress uniform with Major Talia Paris at his side, and another familiar face greeted the fox and his people as soon as the pressure had been brought up in the bay. The third individual was in a plain duty uniform of unadorned gray coveralls with crimson trim, Captain’s tabs on his collar. Elias grinned as he saw Chuck Palance looking sharp and more vibrant than when the fox had last seen him.

“You’re looking well,” Elias told the human as the two shook hands.

“And feeling even better!” Chuck said with a laugh. “Seems the Colonel had some use for an old spacer like me after all!”

“And a Captain, at that,” the fox said indicating the other’s rank tabs. “Not even half a year and you equal me.”

“Ha! This is just temporary until the next hunter is ready. The Colonel’s going to let me take a swing at running my own ship. We’ve been going over crew potentials all week.”

Elias grinned. “You must have impressed the old lion!”

Sander stepped forward. “There are those of us that are old, and there are those that are bold. But there’s not a lot that are old and bold. You just watch yourself pup. I know a thing or two that’ll take you down a notch!” He shook the fox’s hand, then accepted a hug and kiss from Cerise. “So, how have you been, son?”

The smile on Elias’ face faltered. “I’m afraid I’ve got some news that you’re not going to like at all.”

“The Shiva thing?” Sander asked.

“You got it in one.”

The lion growled softly. “You and your crew get situated first. We’ll have some dinner in a bit and go over it. All of us. I’ll have the meeting beamed to the other ships and crews at a later time. The more people we have in the know in our branch of the family the better.” The colonel rubbed his chin in thought for a moment and looked as if he were about to say something, but a large clang and the sound of a very heavy set of armored doors opening caused him to pause. “First things first, though.”

The loud warning beep and rumbling of a tractor drew the attention of all. Once the large armored doors that led further into the base opened, a puller that was normally used to move ships around entered the bay pulling a small craft behind it.

“Considering what happened, I thought you might need this!” the lion yelled over the din the tractor was making.

Lena gasped and moved so that she could look at the new fighter being hauled into the bay, but well out of the hazard area around the puller and its burden. Her eyes had cleared quite a bit as the blood that had pooled on the surface after being exposed to vacuum had begun to vanish. She still looked a little rough, but the rabbit was not only moving better and speaking more clearly, she was returning to her normal up-beat demeanor.

The tractor stopped and the motors dropped to idle then cut off as the driver, a sergeant with smeared work overalls climbed out. “Here she is, Colonel. I’ll get her loaded in the bay of the ship when ya’ll clear out. Figured I’d let her pilot look over her first,” the non-com, a koala, said with a knowing smile.

“That’ll be fine, Hollister. Give it about an hour,” the lion said. “Go grab a coffee and some lunch.”

The sergeant nodded and gave a relaxed salute before exiting the bay.

Lena, unable to contain herself, approached the new arrival and ran a hand along the nose, letting her bandaged fingers trail along the smooth, armored fuselage. She went over every inch of the exterior, mumbling to herself the whole time. When the doe reached the nose again, Brees called over to her.

“Not disappointed, are you Lena?” He chuckled. “Unfortunately we’re fresh out of Raptors at the moment. I didn’t think you’d mind aKestrel.”

Lena looked at the Colonel with awe and surprise. “I couldn’t have asked for better, Sir,” she said with surprise and pleasure in her voice. “She’s beautiful!”

“Well, I was thinking that you all might want a bit of supper, but if you’d rather that I leave you two alone…” the lion said trailing off.

The rabbit simply nodded and went back to admiring the fighter.

Where the Raptor had an organic wedge shaped body with short wings and the engine pods bulging from the rear of the fuselage. TheKestrel differed in that it was slightly smaller with an angular appearance, though the engines were a little larger with greater power. The expendable munitions were contained in internal bays and not only had the standard dual pulse cannon, but also sported three 20 millimeter mass accelerator guns that could churn out an astounding twelve hundred rounds per minute each with two thousand rounds per gun. Better layout for the maneuvering thrusters and more efficient motors meant that it was even more agile than her beloved Raptor had been. There were also hardpoints for external munitions on the wings and main body.

The others filed out of the docking bay, following the Colonel deeper into the station. “Call me crazy,” the lion said with a smile, “but I think she likes her new toy.”

Randal assumed a look of consternation. “I don’t know why, but for some reason I’m feeling a little jealous.” The others gave him a strange look until he cracked a wide grin.

As the group continued down the corridor, Elias fell in step with Chuck, now Captain, Palance. Glancing at the human, he saw that the other walked with a little more pride and even seemed younger than when the fox had last seen him.

“What? I don’t have a spot on my uniform, do I?” Chuck asked, scrutinizing his clothing.

Elias smiled. “Not at all. I was just noticing that you seem, well, more alive than the last time we met. You’re standing tall, your coloration is better. It’s a surprising change, is all.”

“I think it was the whole retirement thing. It really was killing me. I have purpose again, now. It’s kind of hard to explain, but I haven’t felt this good in a long time.”

“It shows,” Elias replied. “I can see how you’d feel that way. I don’t even want to consider what it’ll be like for me. If I even reach retirement age.”

“Don’t talk like that, Elias. When you start thinking like that, you have given the scum out there odds against you. Why invite disaster if you don’t have to?” The human gave the younger individual a serious look. “I knew pilots when I with the Terran Navy that said things like that. Not a one made it to retirement age. I want to keep the friends that I have now around.”

Elias nodded, not wanting to cause the man any grief. “So, you get to have your own ship? Do you know what type yet?”

Chuck smiled. “I sure do. She’s another Okami H model, like yours. She’s named the Rona. I’m having her painted in white and blue. I’d like to show her to you, but they’re still finishing up the little details at the Dennier yard. Sandy and I will be heading there in two weeks to take possession of her with the crew we’re putting together.”

Elias was smiling. “I can tell you from experience that she’ll treat you right.”

“Don’t I know that! I’ve been going over your reports and when Sandy offered me the choice of the last two ships, I took the Okami. You just can’t beat ‘em. Especially with what I’ve read about and what you and your crew has gone through. I was just surprised that the Colonel gave me the choice.”

“How did you swing that? I don’t think he’s given any of the other Captains their pick of ships.”

The human shrugged. “He said it had something to do with what he saw in my files from the Terran Navy. I’m not sure.”

There was quite a bit that the human wasn’t saying, but Elias wasn’t going to push. He genuinely liked Chuck and didn’t want to jeopardize that friendship. Especially when he considered that there was a very real possibility that the well being of his ship and crew might depend on the latest of the Q-ship captains.

Sander had a lavish meal waiting, and everyone had made it through the first course when Lena decided to rejoin the group.

“Sorry. I had to get acquainted with Penance,” the rabbit said as she sat down next to Randal.

“Penance?” Sander Brees asked. “Who is Penance?”

Lena looked at the lion and smiled. “You just delivered her to me!”

Sander shook his head. “I never understood why you flyers always had to name your ships. But who am I to argue with tradition.”

“It’s bad luck not to,” Lena said, doing her best to dish herself out a bowl of salad with her bandaged hands. “Beside’s our ships have personalities, just like everyone else.”

The last was said with firm conviction and caused the lion to look at Elias with consternation.

“I’m going to shut up now. If I say something she doesn’t like about her new toy, she might try to hurt me,” Sander said with a straight face.

The banter around the table was light, though there was an underlying sense of stress. When they were all finished the stewards, cadets from the Academy pressed into service, cleared away the odd oval table they all sat at and vacated the chamber once all in attendance had something to drink.

Craning his head around to make sure they were alone, the lion tapped a button on a small pad that rested on the right side of his place at the table. A large series of vidscreens dropped from the ceiling. With the touch of another button, everyone heard the locks to the two doors that led into the chamber click loudly as they were engaged.

“Show me what you have, Elias,” Brees said, leaning back in his chair with a mug in hand.

Elias activated a DataPak, using the unit to transfer the data from one of the ship’s three computers to the screens suspended from the chamber.

“Lena was the one that pointed out the differences that I was missing,” the fox said easily. “These are the two ships that we encountered and engaged with on the edge of the Van Connor.” Pictures of the identical ships, compiled from the data recordings of both the Guiding Angel and the Cherub, flashed onto the screens. The images were replaced with wireframe diagrams then compared with the stock model of the same freighter being turned out from Earth. “This is the Shiva from the first encounter that claimed the Scimitar and the life of Captain Ivanovo. You can see in these comparisons that the vessel has been modified beyond the original specs, by almost fifty feet in length, fifteen feet in the beam, and another fifteen in height.” He touched the screen of his DP with the claw of his right index finger. “When the diagrams are overlaid, you can also see that there have been extensive modifications to the engine housings, and these protrusions here, here and here house the weapons that were in my report. Talon missile racks and Mark V or better pulse cannon.” He indicated blisters that were raised from the hull, his touch on the screen illuminating the illustrations that the others saw.

“Apart from physical differences, the paint and color schemes have all been identical.” Elias set his DataPak down and let the others look over his presented materials.

“There are two less, now,” Brees growled in approval. “There’s something going on in the nebula, I think.” The lion scratched his chin in thought. Seeming to make up his mind about something, Sander nodded to himself. “I want Alistair to head to Earth. I’ll have him sniff around Canberra Space Industries. He’s got a way of making others want to talk to him. If they’re making modifications to ships for marauders, I want to know. With that kind of evidence, the Terran Government won’t have any choice but to intervene.

“I want to start shifting the rest of the Q-fleet towards the Van Connor. Our new facility near the Ceres asteroid is on line in the Sol Belt. Make your way there for the time being. I want this nebula scoured, and that’s going to require some specialized gear. This will also put Galina and Theo in place to assist you and Alistair, if the two of you need it.”

“You’re expecting something big to pop, aren’t you, Uncle,” Cerise asked with a sour look.

The lion nodded. “I am. This just doesn’t feel right.”

“I have a friend that settled on Earth,” Treena said. “She can find out just about anything. If there’s some way for her to cobble information together, she’ll find it.”

“What’s her name?” Sander asked. “And is she trustworthy?”

The ocelot shrugged. “You might call her an investigator for hire. She’s more than that, but she’s also very talented. Her name is Ellie Howell. It doesn’t matter if it’s a computer she’s trying to gather intel from or a person. As for trustworthy, she has a different kind of moral code than others. If you pay her to find something out, she keeps what she finds to herself and her clients. She’ll never tell another soul. Once bought she stays bought.”

“That’s not too reassuring,” Randal said as he leaned back in his chair.

Treena gave him a shrug. “I trust her.”

“That’s good enough for me, then,” Elias said. He looked at Brees. “It might cost you, though.”

“We have some extra funds thanks to all of you. I think we can afford her rates.” He looked at the ocelot. “Maybe throw in the promise of a favor. Nothing major, and only if you need…hmmm, enticement.”

Treena nodded and went back to sipping her tea.

Sander regarded the crew around him. “I think that about covers it. We’ll have you rearmed and resupplied by tomorrow. My recommendations are to sit back and relax in the meantime.”

CHAPTER 35

Cerise sat in the chair opposite of Lemuel’s desk, her eyes wide. “You’re joking, right?” she asked in disbelief.

The tiger smiled and shook his head, sliding a hard copy towards her. “Here’s the results if you want to look at them yourself.”

The vixen did just that. She lifted her head, her expression still one of surprise. “How could this happen?”

The tiger snorted. “Well, I’m hoping you were there for it. If you want I can try to explain the process again, though I was hoping that you would have known the mechanics of it by now. However, there is no doubt that you, my dear, are definitely pregnant.”

A smile began to spread across her face. “Do you know how many?”

“Two,” Lemuel said happily. “It’s still too early to tell their gender, though.

Cerise grinned even wider, then the grin faltered. “How will I tell Elias?” she asked. Almost as soon as those words were uttered, another thought struck her, robbing her expression of all joy. “I’ll have to leave the ship and crew…”

“You still have a few months before you’re due, four to be a little more accurate, but yes. You’ll have to be taken off the crew,” he agreed. He saw that the prospect of having to leave her husband as well as the Angel was almost painful to the young female. “You…you aren’t contemplating aborting are you?”

“What?” Cerise asked in surprise. “No! Not at all!”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “I had to ask, Cerise. I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right. I understand. I want to give him children. It’s just…I really want to stay with Elias and you and the others, too,” she said sadly. “I’ve come to love you all and…you’re all just like my family.”

“We love you, too, Cerise,” Lemuel said. “You do need to tell Elias before we launch, though. The Colonel can make sure that you get transport back to Dennier. If he doesn’t take you back himself.”

“He would do that, wouldn’t he?” she asked with a smile.

“Cerise, the way Sander dotes on you, if you asked he’d send half of the SPF fleet with you,” the tiger said with a chuckle.

She absently put her hand over her belly, contemplating the new life…the two new lives, growing inside her. “Do you think that you can keep this a secret? I want Elias to find out before the others.”

“Absolutely.”

“What about helping me plan a special dinner for two? I think I’d like to do something romantic when I tell him.”

Lemuel leaned forward as he rubbed his hands together with a wide conspiratorial smile. “Tell me what you need.”

***

Elias sat back on the couch in the cabin that he shared with Cerise feeling content after the dinner that his wife had waiting. She’d surprised him by nixing his plans to have dinner with the rest of the crew and had one of his favorite dishes of Beef Wellington waiting for him along with a variety of seafoods and side dishes. Almost as surprising was the outfit that she wore of a deep green teddy and sheer, transparent lounging robe in the same color. Needless to say, dessert had been a very enjoyable affair as well. They now sat curled up in each other’s arms on the couch.

“Why do I think that you went to a great deal of trouble to plan this?” the fox asked his mate with a smile, stroking her long hair with his hand as she lay against him, her head on his chest.

“I can do things like this because I love you, you’re my husband, and I want to. It’s written in the rules,” she replied softly.

“I really need to find that rule book. Just so I don’t break any of them, of course,” Elias said with a smile.

She looked up, and he was surprised to see a tear in her eye, but it wasn’t a completely sad expression that she wore.

“I…I have to stay here. I can’t go with you when you lift tomorrow.”

He tilted his head to the side, confused by what Cerise said. “Of course you’re leaving with us. Why would you say that?”

She smiled, even as another tear joined the first. “Because I need to go home so I can make things ready for our family,” she told him, sliding his hand so that it rested over her stomach. “Elias, you’re a father now.”

Like other sentient males all across time and space, regardless of species, the fox broke into a silly grin at the news his wife gave him. “I’m…I’m going to be a father?”

Cerise nodded, grinning herself. “I just found out today. I wanted you to be the first to know.”

He pulled her around so he could hold her, laughing richly. “I’m going to be a father!”

Cerise melted into his embrace. “I know. I was there, remember?” she joked, also laughing. She pulled back far enough so that she could kiss him. “That’s why I wanted tonight to be memorable for you.” She whispered in his ear as she hugged him.

“I will always remember tonight,” he said.

Cerise slid out of his arms and took his hand pulling him towards the bed they shared. She gave him a mischievous smile and the same smoldering look when they had first met. “Tonight’s not over yet, Love.”

***

The crew celebrated raucously when they heard the news of Cerise’s pregnancy, even the normally reserved Pala joining in on the festivities. While they were all going to miss the vixen, each of the crew knew that it was best that she and the coming litter of two would be far better off at her family’s house on Dennier.

The party had gone on for a long while when Pala excused herself.

“Where are you headed to?” Elias asked, smiling with an unlit cigar clenched in his teeth that had come from Sander, who was smiling almost as much as the soon-to-be parents were.

“I have to pack my belongings,” the Kastan said with a look as if she were talking patiently to a person that was a little on the slow side. “Who do you think will be taking care of Cerise and the children until you come home?”

Elias stood and went to Pala, taking one of her hands in both of his. “Thank you,” he said simply. “You know we’ll miss you, too.”

“Feh. It’ll be easier for you without your pet Kastan around. You won’t have to hide me anymore,” she said with a smile. “Besides, I’m looking forward to helping out with the little ones. Chidren are a joy to watch and hold,” she said with a soft expression.

“Careful, Pala!” Cerise said. “You’ll ruin all of those misconceptions about your people. And our kits will already have enough extended relatives to spoil them.”

“It is the duty of relatives, both blood and extended, to spoil children. Besides, this will give me a chance to start shopping for the blades they’ll get on their fifth birthday,” the Kastan said happily.

“Wow. Wish I had relatives like that when I was a kid,” Melise said.

“Can we at least wait for them to be born and start walking before we begin buying them the really good toys?” Elias said with a chuckle.

“Elias, you aren’t Kastan, or Dennieran,” Pala told him with a toss of her long hair. “You wouldn’t understand. Of course I’ll have to teach them how to use them…” the felinoid almost cooed as she left the chamber they’d had their original meeting with Sander in.

It was a little strange to see the room that had been so utilitarian before decked in bunting, balloons, banners and streamers congratulating the parents-to-be, though there was no denying that it was a festive occasion.

“I don’t think that your kits will ever have to worry about playground bullies,” Brees said with a shake of his head.

“You be nice to her, Uncle!” Cerise chided. “Pala has proven herself a real friend several times over. Not only do I trust her, I like her. She’s a sweet person.”

***

The time arrived for the Guiding Angel to depart, and Sander stood next to Cerise and Pala as the rest of the crew said good-bye. There were hugs and no few tears, especially from the other females. Elias watched as the people filed onboard before turning to the trio that stood on the deck of docking bay. The fox surprised Pala by pulling her into a hug which the Kastan returned with some trepidation.

“I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’ll be watching over Cerise,” the fox said. “At least I’ll know one of us is safe.”

“I swore my life to you and your family, Elias. No one will harm your wife or children,” the felinoid said. “You have my oath on it.” He wasn’t sure, but he thought that he felt a number of lethal objects on Pala, including her father’s swords.

Elias then stepped to the lion and clasped hands. “Until next time, Sandy.”

“Stay sharp, son. We’ll keep the home hearth lit until you come home again.”

Then it was time to actually say good-bye to Cerise. He took her hands in his and looked into her emerald eyes. “Marrying you was the best thing I’ve ever done,” he told her with a catch in his voice. “When we first started out on this, I didn’t want you onboard because it scared me to think that something might happen to you. Now I’m going to have to get used to you not being here with me.” He pulled her into his arms and held her as if he would never see her again. “I don’t know how I’ll get along without you.”

Cerise leaned back, not breaking the embrace. “The same way you always do,” she said softly, her eyes warm and soft. “You’ll go and do what you are meant to do, Love. It’s who you are. That’s why I’m so proud of you and proud to be your wife.”

Both of them shed tears and shared a long kiss.

“Go on,” the vixen said with a chuckle. “If you don’t leave now I’m going to break down right here. I don’t want that to be the last thing you see as you head back out.”

Elias kissed her one more time before turning to the ramp and into the ship. He paused once more to look at his mate, but all he caught was the sight of her back as she fled the docking bay, a strangled sob echoing in the vast space, Pala close behind. He tossed a wave at Sandy, who nodded in return and turned to exit as well.

With a sigh, Elias closed the airlock and stood there for a moment, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. It wouldn’t do for the crew to see him like he was. With a heavy sigh and a heart that felt like lead, he pulled his DC from his belt and keyed the bridge.

“Bring up power, Saul. Lay in a course for Earth. I want to find out what Alistair has discovered.”

“I’m on it, Boss. We’re ready when you are.” The jaguar said.

As he walked to the lift, Elias heard the hum of the engines build up. The ship felt colder, empty to him, though he squared his shoulders and entered the lift. Despite heading out without the female that had become the center to his universe, Elias still had a job to do.

Though he felt that maybe the time was fast approaching for him to finally tender his resignation. He’d be damned if the kits that his wife carried were going to grow up without both parents.

CHAPTER 36

The Guiding Angel came roaring in over the Cascade Mountain Range to the east of the city of Seattle, appearing to the humans that looked up at the huge freighter to be one of the mountains themselves flying over with its green and silver winged color scheme. Still shedding speed from reentry, the ship dropped below mach speed as Elias adjusted course so that they were pointed slightly south to the huge metropolis, heading to the starport that was nestled in a wide valley.

“Welcome to Seattle, Guiding Angel, we hope you enjoy your time down,” the voice from the comm said cheerfully.

“Thank you, Seattle Control,” Treena said from her new position as the sensors and communications officer. ”Guiding Angel out.” The ocelot had already transferred the coordinates to Elias and Saul and watched as her commanding officer brought the ship in and set her down with a flaring of thrusters.

As seemed to be the case whenever Elias flew, there was hardly a bump as the huge freighter settled on its caterpillar landing jacks.

“I don’t know what your friend was talking about, Treena,” Elias said as he shut down the various systems of his console. “It looks like a right beautiful day out there to me.”

The ocelot shrugged. “Ellie said that I should be ready for rain. To hear her tell it, it seems to pour four and a half out of seven days.”

Elias and Saul both craned their heads as they looked out of the forward viewports. The jaguar turned to his Captain. “There isn’t another Seattle on this planet, is there?”

“This is the only one,” the fox said. He unfastened his straps and stood. “When did Alistair say he’d meet us?”

“Twenty hundred hours, local time. Some place called the Space Needle,” Treena said. “It’s a local landmark that apparently has a really good restaurant in it.”

Elias looked at his wrist watch, one of the many gifts that Cerise had given him over almost a year of knowing each other. “It’s ten thirty five hours now. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I plan on doing some sightseeing while I’m here,” the fox said.

“And shop for some goodies for Cerise and your kids,” Lena said as she entered the bridge.

“You bet I am,” Elias said with a half smile.

The crew had discovered that the quickest way to get Elias to smile was to remind him that he was going to be a father. The fox had been rather melancholy with having to leave his petite mate behind, and the crew had all done what they could to keep his spirits up. Most of them had already planned various excursions while they were down to shop for the coming children and parents-to-be, feeling that they had something of a vested interest in the growing family.

“Would you like to come with Sonja, Melise, Randy and me?” the rabbit asked. “He found a place called Westlake that is supposed to have some great stores and there’s a restaurant on the way that Randy wants to stop by. Apparently they make a hamburger that is so large, if you can eat the whole thing it’s free.”

“You know, that sounds like a good plan,” Elias said with a nod. “I’m still running on the Joplin clock and it is way past dinner time.”

Lena perked up. “I’ll let the others know,” she said and disappeared into the corridor.

“Glad to see she’s feeling better,” Saul said, satisfied with the display readouts on his console. “I’ll go ahead and set up security for the ship. It’ll give the parasites something to do besides irritate us.”

The jaguar was referring to the three new flobots that Okami had equipped the Guiding Angel with after a time in dry dock following damage during the battle that had gained them the company of Pala Lon. Stram Molson, their chief engineer had named the three automatons Flea, Tick and Mite, though the rest of the crew admitted that the protocols the little ‘bots followed was a big help in maintaining ship’s security. The favorite general term for the disk shaped devices had quickly become ‘the parasites’.

“Treena and I will also stay on board for the first few hours. I really need to get a little more rack time.”

“If you feel you’re up to it. Security at this starport is pretty serious. Setting the lockdown codes should be enough. We’ll have to show identification as we leave and enter, though,” Elias said.

“Can do. I’ll issue that order right now. And I assume that we’re following standard procedure about sidearms?” the jaguar inquired.

“You better believe it. And the smallest group will be pairs,” the fox said. “Now then, if you will excuse me, I want to go get my wife something extremely nice.”

“I’d like something extremely nice,” Treena said, batting her eyes at the fox.

Elias laughed and pointed at his First Officer. “You aren’t married to me. That’s his job!”

“I’ll marry you if it gets me something extremely nice!” the ocelot said with a grin. “Then you could have a harem!”

“Not for me,” Elias said backing through the bridge hatch with his hands raised. “One is plenty for me, though I do appreciate the offer.”

As he turned to head into his cabin for a few items before leaving the ship, Elias heard Saul mutter, “Traitorous wench!” That was quickly followed by the jaguar yelping and adding, “I give up! Stopstopstop!”

It never did pay to let one’s lover know that one had very ticklish ears.

***

The citizens of Seattle were accustomed to seeing nonhumans in their midst, especially with such a busy starport so close by, though the quintet that stood around a small coffee kiosk would make almost anyone take a second look. The first individual that stood out was the large wolf with the rabbit hanging off his arm. Elias, however, was the one that drew the most stares. The first point that people noticed was his white fur that seemed to glow of its own accord. Then they noticed the panda and cocker spaniel females that had hold of each of his arms.

The group didn’t mind the scrutiny, though, and seemed to be having such a good time that those that passed by couldn’t help but smile at the groups exuberance.

As the five made their way to the Westlake shopping area having eaten and watching the wolf with them consume the largest burger any of them had ever seen, Elias happened to glance to the right and stopped dead. “Sorry. We are making a slight course change right here,” the fox said and entered the establishment. He was wearing the leather long coat that Cerise had given him as a wedding present, and it must have looked suitably impressive to the staff of the jewelry store he’d entered. No sooner had Elias stepped over the threshold than he had the manager fawning on him and those he believed to be his entourage.

“Good morning, Sir,” a tall, thin human with graying hair and pencil thin mustache said with a polite incline of his head. “How may we serve you today? Something to adorn one of these fine young ladies, perhaps? Hmm?”

It was too good an opportunity to pass up, and Elias turned to Randal and gave him a wink as he spoke. “This man seems to be willing to help you, Highness. Should I go ahead and bring the car around for your purchases?”

The wolf only paused for a second. “Not yet. Let’s see if he actually has any baubles that would be worthy of the Heir of the Throne of Tanthe.”

Elias turned and shrugged, watching the other man pale noticeably. “Good luck pleasing his Highness. He tends to be very particular about what he buys and from whom.”

The human stepped closer. “He’s Tanthean royalty?” the man whispered to Elias. “I would have expected…better…clothes.”

“You’ll have to forgive the Heir’s appearance. It gives him the illusion of fitting in with…normal citizenry. But we both know that’s impossible for one of royal upbringing. All I ask is that you don’t point this out. He does so love his little charade.”

“Oh. Of course! We shall be very discreet. Though, if I may ask, who are all of these females?”

“Ah, they’re his preferred concubines. The first one that bears royal offspring will be elevated above the others,” Elias said trying not to snicker. “And he will most likely wish to find something suitable for them, not to mention the Queen mother.”

“I see,” the human said. “I will take care of his needs immediately.” The man turned and snapped his fingers at two other sales associates and motioned them over with a curt wave of his hand. Elias had to stifle a laugh. The human had no idea that the different fur species of the PA, unless their base genetics were the same, couldn’t interbreed, and wouldn’t know Tanthean Royalty if they bit him.

Blissfully left in peace, Elias was able to browse the selections of jewelry without having a salesman breathing down his neck the entire time, though when he glanced at the others, he saw Randal’s glare and had to again fight from laughing out loud. He would pay for this later, but it was worth it at the moment.

In the second case, Elias saw a curious necklace that comprised three silver rings with two diamonds surrounding a star emerald. He’d heard of the rare stones, though he’d never seen one before. The smooth surface of the gem had a many pointed star of silvery grey that appeared to be floating in it. There was a slight young woman behind the counter, and Elias motioned her over. He pointed at the necklace.

“I would like that one, please. And a set of matching earrings, or the closest you can find to it.”

“Oh,” the human said. “I’d love to help, but I’m just a junior sales associate. Mister Winnifried would have to help you with that,” she said looking at the floor.

Elias smiled. She reminded him of Sandy’s ward, Jenna. “But Mister Winnifried is busy. And you just said you are a sales associate.”

“I can sell jewelry as long as it’s below the three hundred credit mark,” she explained with a slightly frustrated look.

He looked at her name tag and smiled. “Phoebe. That’s a nice name. Let me explain this, Phoebe. My wife is expecting our first litter, and I really want to get her that necklace and a pair of earrings to go with it. If Mister Winnifried were here, would he sell me that piece, or would he try to get me interested in another, more expensive piece?”

“Umm...he…he would try to get you interested in another item that was more expensive,” she admitted.

“There you go,” Elias said smiling. “You’re very honest. I like that. This means a lot to me because she and I have to be apart right now and I want to get her something as lovely as she is. Are you sure you can’t help me?”

“That…that has to be one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard,” the girl said, smiling dreamily. “I wish more human men were like you.” She slid the necklace out and set it in front of the fox. “It’s pure silver, and the emerald came from the private mines of the Pruitt family in North Carolina. They’re the only ones really pulling good quality emeralds out of the ground anymore. The diamonds were recently discovered in the Three Sisters mine on Mars. They have incredible color and clarity.” She looked in the display case for a moment. “As for earrings, I think these go well with the necklace.”

Phoebe pulled out a small box that had a series of interlocked silver rings with brilliant cut emeralds mounted at the ends. Elias smiled again. “Perfect,” he told her and watched the girl beam with the praise. “If you can find a tasteful bracelet and anklet, you will have made my day.”

The girl was able to comply and all but bounced on her feet when Elias nodded. “Wrap them up and I’ll take them all.”

“Sir, that’s over…let’s see…at the present exchange rate…” her voice trailed off as she typed in the figures on a small calculator. Her eyes grew wide. “That’s going to be three thousand eight hundred thirty three credits.”

The fox slid his credicard across the counter without blinking and eye. “I hope you get a decent commission from this,” Elias said.

“Oh, yes, Sir,” she said nodding vigorously. “This will pay for my rent for six months!”

“Then I’m even happier that you are the one helping me.”

The credicard was approved, and she handed it back to Elias before packaging the items. “Your wife is very lucky to have met someone like you, Sir,” Phoebe said as Elias put the package in his inside coat pocket and sealed it.

“I’ve heard others say that,” he told her with a nod. Elias then leaned close to the girl. “I’ll tell you the truth, though. I’m the lucky one.”

“If there is ever anything I can do to help you again, Sir, please let me know,” she said.

At that point, the man named Winnifried, frustrated by Randal’s waffling on what he wanted saw his junior associate talking to Elias. He walked over, failing to keep the irritation off of his face. “Phoebe, are you bothering this gentleman?” he asked in a snide tone.

“Actually, Mister Winnifried, she was assisting me with my purchase. If not for her assistance I would have left this junk shop long ago.”

“Junk shop?” the human said in a tone of shock. “How dare-“

Elias clapped his hands cutting the man off. “That will be all, Randal. Take the girls and wait outside,” he said, making a vague dismissive gesture. He then turned back to the human. “As if my bodyguard could actually pass as even Gentry, much less Royalty,” Elias said with a huff. “This is the only observant person you have in this entire shop. Why, if I owned it, I would make Phoebe the manager and send you back to cleaning floors and wiping down the glass.” Elias turned to the girl, giving her a wink, much as he’d done his friend upon entering the shop. Without hesitating, Elias took her hand and pressed his lips against her knuckles as flamboyantly as possible. “You have been far too kind, my dear. If you ever want to leave this dreary city, just contact the embassy and we shall arrange for your move back to my home. I will always have need of knowledgeable jewelers.”

Elias turned to leave, cast one more disdainful look at the human that managed the store, snorted, turned his nose up in the air and exited. He joined the others and waited until they were around the corner before he burst out laughing.

“Just what the hell was that about?” Melise asked.

“Sorry,” Elias said as he regained control of himself, though he still grinned widely. “I never could stand people that took themselves too seriously, plus I just served that pompous twit a healthy dose of humility. I couldn’t help it. The girl was helpful, and if what I heard on the way out was any indication, she just got a well deserved and long overdue promotion.”

He told the others all of the details, and they were all laughing by the time they arrived at the Westlake district. Everyone found the story amusing until Lena let out a high pitched squeal and bolted from the rest of the group, leaving her companions in stunned confusion.

“Oh…no,” Randal said shaking his head as the doe slid to a stop in front of a large window that was filled with bright colors.

It was several moments before the others realized that the rabbit was standing in front of the mother of all candy shops.

“If I’d known this was here, I would have kept her at the ship,” the wolf said.

“I didn’t know she was that addicted to sugar,” Sonja said with a smile.

“She’ll be bouncing all over the ship for the next three days,” Randal said morosely. “And that’s not even the worse of it.”

“What do you mean?” Melise asked, looking at her shipmate in confusion.

“Aww, crud. She saw them.”

“Saw what?” Elias asked, as perplexed as his other two crew members.

“Jelly beans. She’s crazy for them. Especially the red and green ones. They could be any flavor, as long as they’re red and green. She likes those because they make her…” Randal paused and looked at the others, the insides of his ears turning red.

“Make her what, Randal?” Elias asked sternly.

“Umm…they make her...affectionate. I mean really affectionate. Last time she had some jelly beans I thought she was going to put me in the infirmary.”

“Wow,” Elias said flatly. “Now there was something I really didn’t need to know. In fact, I could’ve gone the rest of my life without knowing that.”

Melise began to chuckle in a very evil manner. “At least I know what to get her for her birthday next year.”

Randal gave her a very pained look. “Please, if you have a shred of decency in you, don’t.”

Melise laughed and went to join the doe.

“Elias? Would you shoot me now?” the wolf asked staring in shock at the panda. “It really will be a mercy.”

“Which ones have the greater effect?” Sonja asked. “The red or the green?”

“You’re not helping,” the wolf growled.

Like the panda, Sonja laughed and went to join the other females.

Elias simply shook his head and walked away laughing as well.

***

My Dearest Cerise,

I can’t begin to tell you how much I miss you and wish that you were here. Too many times at night I reach for you and find that you aren’t next to me. The ship just isn’t the same without you. Lately I’ve been giving serious thought to resigning my commission so I can be with you and our children. I know that you will disagree, but I’m getting tired of all of this. I know you will try to talk me out of this, but it’s something I’ve been thinking very long and hard about. I also wish fervently that I could just see you via the Net, but every time I try to get a hold of you, you’re either out or resting, and I don’t want to disturb you. I know that you aren’t delicate, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t worry.

We had word from Treena’s friend. She’s going to look into that business that we wanted to hire her for. It looks like all of our efforts were for nothing, though. Alistair has experienced similar problems so it looks like we’ll have to follow through with Uncle’s original thought of getting together with the others for a major housecleaning.

Everyone here misses you. We all feel your absence.

I wish I could write more, but things are picking up out here. I’ll send another message as soon as I can. Just know that I love you more with every passing day and we’ll hopefully see each other soon.

With all of my heart,

Elias

***

My Love,

I wish I was there with you. Even though I’m surrounded by my family, my days seem lonely because you aren’t here with me. While I miss the others, it is you my heart aches for. One of the few things that has helped is seeing Merlin and Samantha frequently. Sam is over almost every day and has been a big help in getting things ready for our kits. We have a full nursery and the birthing den is almost ready as well. I’ve met her sister-in-law, Shannon. She and her husband, Bill, already have their own brood and they have been very helpful in making recommendations. Between them, Sam, Shannon and Bill have saved us quite a bit of trouble. I can’t wait for you to meet them.

I know that we both made our feelings clear about your present job, but maybe it is time that we talked about a…change. I don’t want you to ever compromise your beliefs for me, but I will admit that I would be thrilled to have you home with me.

The doctor that I’m seeing is pleased with my progress, though I have just started showing recently. I told her that I don’t want to know what we’re having until they are born. Doctor Briggs has assured me that everything is going quite well and has even agreed that Sam and Shannon would be good midwives when the time comes. She is also looking forward to meeting you.

I know it must be hard for you, with so much distance between us. I just want to be held by you and miss feeling your arms around me. You have always made me feel safe and warm.

Just know that you are in my thoughts and that I love you more and more every day.

Come home soon.

Your loving wife,

Cerise

CHAPTER 37

Cerise sat at the table in the kitchen of her parents’ house drinking a cup of herbal tea, her hand absently rubbing her belly. Four months had gone by since she discovered she was carrying Elias’ children, and while she missed her mate terribly, the vixen felt a certain level of serene contentment. She was still a few weeks away from her delivery date, but even now the children within her womb were active and had been all night.

“I didn’t think that I was big enough for them to play chase,” Cerise said tiredly to her friend across the table, though she was smiling. “I even gave up coffee but it hasn’t slowed them down in the slightest!”

Samantha, now with the surname of Sinclair, laughed. “Shannon says that it’s a good sign if they’re active at this point. It’s just one more thing for me to look forward to with Merlin.”

“Then they’re going to be a handful later. I just wish they’d wait until they were born before being this rambunctious. I don’t think I got more than an hour of solid sleep last night,” Cerise said, her hand still on her stomach.

“Maybe their father could talk them into settling down a little?” a familiar voice said from the doorway.

Cerise whipped her head around, a grin splitting her muzzle as she looked into the blue eyes of her mate. “Elias!” she cried, jumping up and throwing herself into the white fox’s arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her eyes closed as she rocked back and forth. “I’ve missed you so much!” she exclaimed, her voice muffled as her face was pressed against his chest.

The fox held his wife, amazed at how much he had missed her and felt a tear roll down his cheek. “I’ve missed you, too. So very, very much,” he said softly.

Cerise pulled back and gave him a deep kiss, oblivious to everything around her except her mate. “When did you get in?” the vixen asked when they parted.

“About forty minutes ago. The others will be along shortly once they’ve secured the ship. I was told in no small way to get my tail to you as quick as possible or the others would mutiny,” Elias said with a grin.

“I’ll have to make sure the others get a nice gift, then,” the vixen replied with a grin.

“I can’t believe you’d condone that kind of behavior!” Elias exclaimed in a mocking tone. He looked up and smiled at the Border collie. “Hey, Sam. Thank you for being here,” he told her sincerely.

“It’s what friends are for, Elias. I know Merlin will be glad to see you,” Samantha said with a wide smile.

“Go ahead and call him!” Cerise said, still holding on to her husband. “I feel like celebrating!”

Samantha nodded and picked up one of the house phones and made a call to her husband, leaving the room while Cerise and Elias continued their reunion. Sitting back down on her chair, Cerise smiled as Elias knelt next to her and placed his head on her swollen stomach.

“I know we really haven’t met yet, but I’m your father. I just want you to know that I can’t wait to meet you and that I love you very much.” He said more, but Cerise couldn’t make out what it was.

She did notice, however, that the activity level dropped almost immediately as the little ones inside her responded to the sound of their father’s voice.

“That’s the stillest they’ve been in days,” she said with a certain amount of relief.

“They were just telling you that they knew I was on my way home,” Elias told his wife with a grin. He looked up at her and his eyes grew wide and soft. “I really have missed you,” he told her with a catch in his throat.

“Don’t you dare start crying, Elias Tivnan! If you do I’ll start,” Cerise admonished feeling her eyes well up.

“Can’t help it, Love,” he said as he slid his arms around her waist and rested his head on her breast.

There was a flash from the other side of the room and Elias and Cerise looked up to see Pala with a camera. She had a gentle smile on her face. “That is a moment I want to capture forever,” the Kastan said.

“How have you been, Pala?” Elias asked.

“Quite well. Better now that you are home. Now I won’t be the only one having to go out to find foods to satisfy midnight cravings,” she replied with a laugh.

Samantha reentered the kitchen area. “Merlin will be over as soon as he closes up the office,” she informed the others.

Despite having her mate back and luxuriating in his presence, Cerise couldn’t help but yawn widely, her tongue curling over itself. “I’m sorry. The babies kept me up last night,” she apologized.

Elias smiled. “You know you don’t have to apologize. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up after you’ve had a nap. I promise I won’t go anywhere.”

The vixen laid a hand on the side of her mate’s face. “I feel so bad about it. You just got in and I want to spend time with you-“

Elias put a finger over her lips. “And there will be plenty of time. I’m not leaving until the children are born. Besides, we have to get Saul ready to take his new command, give Stram his retirement party and welcome our new First Officer and Engineer.”

“You don’t mind?”

Elias scooped his wife up in his arms, eliciting a yelp and giggle from Cerise. “Not at all. Your needs are everything to me. There will be plenty of time for us later. And after you get up from your nap everyone else will be here. They want to see you very much.”

“Just as long as they know you belong to me for the next couple of days. I feel like being a little selfish,” Cerise told him, putting her arms around his neck as he carried her to their room.

“I’m always yours, Love.”

***

Cerise was still sleeping when Merlin arrived. Elias and the wolf gave each other a comradely embrace.

“You are looking decidedly well!” Elias said as the wolf took a seat next to Samantha. “I never thought I’d see you in a suit, though, much less without you captain’s hat.”

Merlin laughed. “I tell you, it wasn’t an easy choice, Elias, but I can’t say that I miss the Blue Horizon too much. I know she’s in good hands with Taro. Besides, I’m having fun running everything from here. It’s enough to keep me occupied.”

“From freighter Captain to pillar of the community,” Elias said with a smile. “I’m really glad that you’re doing well. You and Sam both. I like seeing my friends succeed.”

Merlin accepted a cup of coffee from the fox and sipped it appreciatively. “From what I’ve heard, your endeavor is going fairly well. You’re up to how many pirates now? Eighteen?”

“Twenty. We put ‘paid’ to two more a couple of weeks ago,” Elias said, his smile dropping a little. “Last one was a slaver. We were only able to rescue half of the abductees. Special Operations is trying to track down the other half.”

Merlin leaned forward. “Don’t berate yourself, Elias. If it weren’t for you, the half that you rescued would have wound up who knows where. It’s a win no matter how you cut it.”

Sam put an affectionate hand on the fox’s arm. “Merlin’s right. You have to look at all the good you’ve done.”

“Sorry,” Elias said, his smile vanishing all together. “I guess it’s starting to wear on me. We’ve been at this for a little over a year now, I’ve got my family to think of…I guess I’m starting to get tired of it.”

“No one can fault you if you decide to walk away,” Merlin said as he set his cup down. “You’ve done far more than any other individual I know of. To be honest I’m surprised you didn’t walk away after the Scimitar incident. And it’s not like you can’t get a well paying position somewhere else. I’d jump at the chance to get a pilot with your qualifications.”

“Are you offering me a job, Merlin?” Elias asked, giving his friend a sideways glance and grin.

The wolf returned the grin. “I don’t want it to sound like a charity offer, but you’ve got the skills that I would want in a captain and then some. Granted, flying an actual freighter isn’t nearly as glamorous as commanding a pirate hunter…”

There was a faint and distant rumble of thunder and the three looked out the windows.

“I don’t remember the Grandstorm networks saying there was going to be a storm today. I know it’s spring time, but today’s supposed to be clear,” Sam said with a slight frown.

A half moment later, Elias’ DataCom beeped with an incoming message. He pulled the unit from his pocket. “Go.”

“Elias! We just lost the Angel! Someone put an anti-tank missile through the open cargo hatch!” Randal was yelling over the din of secondary explosions, the roar of the burning ship and the blaring of emergency sirens.

“Did we lose anyone?” Elias yelled into the device, standing up so fast that he knocked his chair over.

“We can’t find Stram, Rutger and Melise. Everyone else was outside. We’re withdrawing to the SPF barracks in Grandstorm.” There was a burst of static followed by the blare of another siren. “Elias, get out of there! Whoever did this…they know who we are! They knowwhere we are!”

“Got it. I’m authorizing any necessary force, Randy. Protocol Savage. Understand?”

“Understood. Protocol Savage. Rendezvous?” the wolf asked.

“Rendezvous Sanctuary soonest.”

“Understood. Sanctuary. Out!”

Elias looked at the others. “Get out of here, Merlin! Get out now! They know where my crew and I are at!” The fox didn’t wait, fleeing the kitchen and heading to his and Cerise’s room and taking the stairs two at a time. “Pala! Get Cerise’s things packed. Go light. We’re outta here in ten minutes. Get her to the Dragonfly as fast as you can! MOVE!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Elias contacted Rovi and let him know what was happening and told him the house wasn’t safe and about the loss of the Guiding Angel. Rovi understood and agreed with the rendezvous at their predetermined haven before signing off. As he leapt down the stairs and turned to head back to the kitchen, Elias encountered Keena entering the house through the front door.

“Hey, Elias!” she said in surprise with a wide smile.

The fox looked at her, saw movement behind his sister-in-law and drew his pistol. “Keena! Down!”

The female gave him a wide eyed look, but dropped as she was ordered. Not hesitating in the slightest, Elias fired two rounds at the figure that was the closest to Keena. The 7 millimeter rounds were specifically designed to be as lethal and efficient as possible for the small bore weapon. The two rounds hit the approaching mountain lion in the chest and dropped him. He then swung on the other assailant who had started to raise a sub machinegun.

There was no time to take careful aim, and Elias simply pointed with the pistol and squeezed the trigger repeatedly. Four rounds struck the other, a lynx, sending him in a crumpling spin, the sub machinegun flying off into the grass.

Pausing by the door and looking out, Elias spoke to the frightened vixen. “Get inside and find your sister!”

Keena did as she was told, frightened tears flowing freely as she scrabbled across the stone tiled floor, vainly trying to get purchase and traction, her actions clumsy and jerky with fear and adrenaline.

Seeing no one else outside, Elias made his way to the first intruder. He pocketed the mountain lion’s pistol and spare magazines, finding a sub machinegun under the dead feline’s coat as well. He slung this over his own shoulder and moved to the next one. Elias likewise collected the weapons from the lynx and retreated back into the house, closing and locking the door once inside.

The easiest way out through the back of the house was through the main room and bar that overlooked the pool deck. Elias scanned the area through the large glass doors. While he didn’t see anything amiss or any movement, he waited for the others before proceeding.

“Elias? What’s happening?” Cerise asked, her eyes wide and her left hand held protectively over her bulging belly. In her right hand was her favorite Binfurr pistol, a small semiautomatic that she was deadly accurate with.

The fox tossed one of the confiscated pistols and automatics to Pala. The Kastan caught both easily and checked them before pocketing the pistol.

“The Angel has been attacked. We don’t know where Melise, Stram and Rutger are. The rest of the crew is scattering and will meet us at the cabin as soon as they can,” Elias told her. “Right now, I want you, Keena and Pala to get to the Dragonfly and get out of here.”

“What about you?” Cerise asked shrilly.

“We’ll get him out to you,” Merlin said entering the room. “By the way, do you have another pistol?” He saw the look that Elias was giving him and shook his head. “Sorry. I don’t jump ship on my friends.”

“Take these,” Pala said. “I have my own.” The Kastan handed the wolf the weapons that Elias had given her and pulled her father’s swords out from beneath her long vest with a deadly serious expression. “I’ll go first. Give me a count of twenty then follow.”

They watched as the Kastan exited out onto the pool deck, then moved into the trees, essentially vanishing among the vegetation. Elias counted to the indicated twenty. “All right. Let’s go.”

The others followed, Cerise right behind her mate. There was no one on the trail that led to the hangar where Rovi’s small helicopter was kept. Dona was at her usual spot sitting at the desk just inside the hangar when the others came out of the woods.

“What’s going on?” she asked, her eyes slightly wide at the variety of deadly hardware that was being carried openly.

“Dona, get Cerise, Keena and Pala out to the cabin. Don’t stop for anything or anyone. When you get out there, if you see any strangers, drop them. Do not hesitate. Understand?” Elias asked, waiting for the hyena to nod. “I’ll be out as soon as I can. So will Rovi, Sharan and the girls.”

“I’m not leaving you!” Cerise said, tears in her eyes and her lower lip trembling.

“Love, there’s no one I would rather have at my side than you. But you have to look after our kits. That is the only thing I want you to worry about right now. Just take care of our babies.”

Cerise whimpered softly and gave Elias a quick embrace and kiss. “You better come back to me!” she sobbed.

“I will, Lover. I promise you I will.” He turned her to the helicopter that the hyena was already bringing online. “Now go. Please, go.”

Elias waited until everyone was loaded, and watched as Dona did something that was unexpected. With deft touches to the stick and cyclic, she lifted the little ‘copter a few inches off the floor and flew the few yards out of the building before adding power and climbing into the deep blue sky.

Cerise kept her eyes locked on him the entire time until the small craft disappeared over the trees.

“I don’t think that the two I put down out front knew I was here. I want to grab their identicards on our way out,” the fox said.

“So where are we headed?” Merlin asked, his expression angry and deadly cold.

“You two are getting out of here. Seriously, Merlin, I know you can handle yourself, and I know Sam’s well versed in Silloni martial arts, but this is a little different. This is what I do and it’s me they want.” He saw the wolf and Border collie were about to protest until he held up his hand. “Please. I have enough on my plate worrying about Cerise and whatever’s left of my crew. I want you two to get out of here now.”

Merlin hesitated. He wasn’t the type of individual that left those he cared about in a lurch.

“If you are my friend,” Elias began, “if you have ever had the slightest feeling for me and Cerise, take Sam and run.”

The wolf looked at his friend with a scowl. “Damn you, Elias,” he muttered darkly.

“I know. It’s a cheap shot, but I mean it. Run. I’ll get a hold of you when this is over.” He didn’t wait for an answer and bolted back into the house.

Elias hated leaving his friends, but he also knew that the wolf was a fiercely loyal individual. And while he may have been a veteran of military service, accepting the offer of help wasn’t something that Elias could bring himself to do. He knew what his odds were of making it out, and if there were others around, they would decrease his chances of survival and he theirs. It was cold, possibly a little heartless, though he comforted himself with the realization that Merlin and Sam were safer away from him.

The garage attached to the house had a number of vehicles from open topped sports cars and utility vehicles to the latest in personal transport. Right now, Elias wanted something with speed. Sitting at the end of the line of vehicles was a pair of new monocycles that Elias had purchased his last time on Dennier for Cerise and himself.

The small one-wheeled electric cycles had a built-in gyroscope for stability, and were far more maneuverable and much faster than two wheeled variants. He jumped on the nearest, one that was a glossy black with blue and silver trim and graphics, and disconnected the power feed while sliding a helmet on. He then punched in the activation code, feeling the safety interlocks disengage while the little vehicle began humming and vibrating with the stored charge. Elias tripped the control for the automatic door.

His captured sub machinegun was on a sling that allowed it to hang down between his right arm and body, putting it close at hand if need be. He had his hand on the grip, his finger resting lightly on the trigger as the door opened. There were no targets, though. The only thing he saw was the back of Merlin and Sam’s car vanishing down the driveway. Elias let the weapon drop back down and gave the monocycle enough power to roll it out of the garage.

He set the brake and moved quickly to the bodies, riffling through the pockets of both intruders, grabbing cash and identicards and stuffing them into his coat pockets before trotting back to the cycle, his eyes continuously looking around for other threats. Elias had just swung his leg over the saddle when he heard the sound of squealing tires and what sounded like gunshots.

Swearing furiously, he released the brake and twisted the accelerator, leaving a black mark on the cement in front of the garage before he shot off after Merlin and Sam. Elias passed the gate and leaned heavily to his right, taking the turn at the end of the driveway almost too fast, the bottom of his leather coat dragging on the ground while the tire squealed on the pavement. Less than a quarter mile ahead he saw a small groundcar hot on his friends’ tail. Someone in the passenger seat was leaning out of the window taking shots with a pistol.

Righting the cycle, Elias increased the amount of power from the batteries to the electric motor. With an almost wide open throttle and a quick juke to the left, the fox brought himself up to the back left corner of the trailing car. His hand found the grip of the slung SMG, and with the range so close, and the target so near he didn’t bother with sighting. Elias’ finger squeezed the trigger and he felt the weapon jump in his hand as rounds spat from the barrel in short staccato claps and tore into the rear tire and body of the car.

The tire was made of foam filled synthetic rubber, but it hadn’t been designed to withstand the punishment of the small copper jacketed projectiles that chewed into it. It flung chunks of rubber casing and foam core, the process aggravated by centrifugal force before catastrophic failure threw the ring of material under the car and dropped the bare rim and hub motor on to the paving in a shower of sparks.

Likewise, the thin panels that comprised the body of the car weren’t meant to act as armor and the sub machinegun punched neat little holes in the green plastic. Elias continued to squeeze the trigger as he moved forward. He watched as the cheetah in the driver’s seat flinched and jerked as bullets passed through the car door and into his body.

Even as the cheetah died, a final spasm of his muscles depressed his foot on the accelerator of the car as he leaned to the right. The combination of speed, sudden course change and the damage to the rear wheel surpassed the limits of what the car was designed for. With a screech of rubber and metal, the car slewed sideways before Newtonian physics took over and caused the vehicle to flip and roll, slinging debris in several directions at once.

Without waiting to see what happened next, Elias let the weapon drop back to his side and sped forward. He drew up alongside Merlin and Sam and saw that both were shaken but all right. Merlin looked angry, but gave the fox a vicious grin and nod. The fox returned the nod and gave a mock salute. Dropping his hand back to the handlebar, he added more power and pulled away, topping almost one hundred miles per hour before he’d gotten three blocks.

CHAPTER 38

The cargo bay of the Guiding Angel was little more than a burned out cavern and memories as Elias walked across the tarmac of the Grandstorm spaceport. A cordon around the dead ship had been setup by SPF officers and members of the Dennieran Home Guard and Grandstorm Police. A Spatial Police Force officer in battledress and carbine held across her chest moved to intercept the fox as he drew close to the taped off boundary.

Reporters had already come and gone, though there were still a few curious on-lookers gathered at the fence and on the observation deck of the terminal building. This didn’t concern Elias. The ones that had attacked his ship and crew already knew who he and the others were. If any of them were in the crowds, they would have already spotted him. He didn’t slow his pace as he drew close to the cordon.

“Sorry, citizen. This area is off limits,” the SPO said, a coyote with sergeant’s stripes on the pauldrons of her armor, the Sword and Star shield of the SPF on her breastplate. She held up her left hand, the right tightened on the grip of her carbine.

“Major Elias Tivnan, Special Operations. SPF number 3587-87-7482,” Elias said as he held out his SPF identicard.

The coyote looked at the card and jerked to attention. “Sorry, Sir!” she said, though she maintained the hold of her carbine. “Is there anything that I can help you with?”

Elias looked over her shoulder at the medical response team as they shifted a body bag. He felt a lump in his throat as he saw it was occupied, one of his crew…one of his friends, inside it, and set it on the reinforced concrete of the tarmac. One of the medics treated the body as if it were little more than a burden of wood, and even at this distance, Elias heard the sound of the body hitting the ground.

Elias moved past the Sergeant, a growl forming in his throat and his teeth bared. He ducked slightly as he reached the perimeter tape, his left arm sweeping the bright red ribbon the rest of the way over him and continued stalking towards the medic.

“Be careful!” the second medic said angrily, a golden lab, turning to the remaining two body bags on the ramp of the destroyed freighter.

“Why?” the first one, a frustrated looking dalmation, said in a casual tone. “They’re just meat. They aren’t going to feel it. We were already supposed to be off duty when this call came in. It was bad enough we had to pry them out of the lift, so let’s just get them tagged and loaded so we can go home, okay?”

Elias didn’t slow in the slightest as he closed in on the medic, his left hand darting out and grabbing the paramedic by the throat and pushing him back until their momentum was stopped by the edge of the ramp. He already had his pistol out and ground the barrel into the forehead of the offending dalmation.

“You will treat my crew with respect, or I will splatter what little there is in your head over the side of my ship, understand?” Elias asked in a flat, quiet voice. “Each one of those bags has an individual that was not just a friend, but an honest to gods Hero. Am I making myself absolutely clear?”

The dalmation nodded vigorously, unable to speak.

Elias released the medic and let him proceed with his task. As he slid his pistol home, he turned to the wide eyed coyote female that had followed on his heels. “Do you have your DataCom, Sergeant?”

“Yes, Sir,” she said, stepping forward.

Elias unzipped the body bag and looked at the individual inside. “Positive identification, Fallon, Rutger James,” he said softly. He resealed the bag and laid his hand on the chest of the cat and muttered a few words. The medics set down another black plastic sack. Elias turned to it and pulled on the zipper. “Positive identification, Molson, Stramberg.” He closed the bag and mumbled the same words he had for the tom.

The third bag was set down on the concrete and the medics backed away. Elias took a deep breath and steeled himself as best he could. It was no use, though. As soon as he opened the bag, a small sob escaped his throat and tears began to flow freely down Elias’ face. “Positive identification, Rains, Melise Colleen.” He wiped at his eyes before kissing the ends of his fingers and placing them on the panda’s lips. “Identification by Tivnan, Elias. Spatial Police Force number 3587-87-7482, Major, Special Operations Division. Also make a note that each died in the line of duty, please.”

The Sergeant stopped entering the information she was given and looked up. “They were SPF, Sir?” she asked in shock.

Elias nodded his head. “They were. See to it….” He sobbed again, “See to it they’re taken well care of, Sergeant.”

“Yes, Sir!” the coyote said crisply. She turned to a small knot of other SPF officers and whistled shrilly, waving her fellows over and speaking with them at length. The small group of SPF officers reverently picked up the bodies and moved them away from the wreckage of the Guiding Angel and posted two guards over the concealed forms of their fallen comrades. Each of the SPO’s stood at rigid attention.

“Is there anything else you need assistance with, Sir?” the coyote asked.

“I need to get some things from my cabin if I can go onboard,” Elias told the officer.

“Sir, if this was an SPF vessel, you are the ranking officer. I can’t stop you, but I can bloody well make sure I keep the Dennierans off of her. They were already talking about the salvage rights,” she said, her eyes bright.

“Yes, it’s an SPF ship. They have no claim. Flash a message to Sander Brees, Special Operations Commandant, on what’s happened and keep everyone else out of her. I’ll only be a few minutes.” Elias turned to walk up the ramp and into the interior before he paused and turned back to his uniformed counterpart. “Sergeant, if you could also summon a personal lifter for me, it would be greatly appreciated.”

The SPO was already pulling out her DC again. “You mean Colonel Sander Brees, Sir?” she asked swallowing hard. Elias nodded. She seemed to shake herself and activated the little unit “Right. I’m on it, Sir! And I’ll have your lifter here ASAP!”

Elias nodded again and entered the remains of his ship.

The cargo bay was scorched a uniform black, though a majority of the damage he saw came from the engineering section. In the corners of the deck were small mounds of fire retardant foam and the deck stank of chemicals and burned synthetics. He looked at what he saw, and could almost envision what had happened.

The cargo hatch had been open when the missile was fired, that much was obvious. The projectile had missed the Kestrel interceptor that Lena had named Penance, and continued back until it struck the aft bulkhead leading into the engine compartment.

Walking slowly aft, Elias could see where the missile had impacted against the thick plating separating the cargo bay from the engine room. There was a small crater in the bulkhead plating, with a neat, smooth pencil thin hole in the center. Warheads of that nature were meant to penetrate the armor of tanks and other heavily armored vehicles. They carried a shaped charge warhead that turned a thin copper plate and the explosive material into a thin jet of plasma that burned its way through armor.

With the hatch to the engine room open, the jet of superhot copper gas had ignited materials that really weren’t meant to burn, flashed other substances that were volatile into an aerosol before igniting the entire mess into an unimaginable shockwave and fiery maelstrom. That Stram, Rutger and Melise hadn’t been incinerated was because they’d been in the lift. Their lungs had cooked with the hot air, and their insides jellied from the concussion wave, but their bodies were intact.

If they hadn’t been on the lift…if they could have stayed on the second deck just a few more minute his three friends would still be alive.

The resultant damage had carbonized the cargo bay and engineering section.

Elias found an access panel that had warped slightly under the heat and blast, and fought to get it open, the aching remorse and loss that settled into his chest rapidly turning into fury and anger, pumping him full of adrenaline and giving him the strength he needed. With a howling snarl of rage, he pulled the panel free and threw it across the bay.

He reached the second deck, the panel there offering hardly any resistance at all. He climbed out into the laundry cabin and after manually opening the hatch to the corridor, paused for a moment. The second deck was virtually untouched. The worst he saw was that some of the deck plates had buckled slightly, and it was a little warm with residual heat from the explosion and fire, but that was all. The force of the blast in the cargo bay had vented through the large open hatch saving the upper decks.

There was little doubt that the ship was as dead as his three friends outside. There were no lights save the emergency glow strips along the juncture of the deck and bulkheads with other markers around cabin hatches. There was no hum or vibration from a vessel that was sleeping but ready to go at an instant’s notice. The Guiding Angel was well, and truly finished.

Without any side trips, Elias headed straight to the cabin he and his wife had shared for almost a year, opening the hatch via the manual override. Moving with rapid precision, he located a duffle bag and began to put a few articles in it. The first was the picture of them on the day of their wedding. This was followed by the collection of mugs from other ships that Elias had served on. One from the Argent had a small chip in it while, oddly enough, the mug from the Scimitar was completely unharmed. He wrapped the mugs in some clothing and put them in the bag with the picture and frame. His hand found the scrapbook that Cerise had been working on and crammed it into the bag as well. The last item he grabbed was the Tambor Family Sword.

He exited the cabin and headed to the bridge.

Having to again use the manual override for the hatch, Elias didn’t pause to wax nostalgic. He went to the weapons locker and methodically began to load several pistols, four sub machineguns, two stunner carbines and ammunition into the bag. He hesitated for a moment before filling the pockets of his leather coat with grenades of all types.

Replacing the sub machinegun he’d taken from the intruder at the house with one of the ones from the locker, he loaded the weapon, charged it and let it fall under his arm before snagging several more magazines. He also added two sets of body armor to his burden, putting a third one on as quickly as he could.

The duffle bag he was using wasn’t made to withstand that kind of weight, but it held, despite the creaking of the straps as the material was pushed to its limits, and grunted as he hauled it over his shoulder and made his way back to the access panel. Fortunately it was easier to get down than it was to get up. He exited the ship to find the SPF detachment loading the bodies of his crew into a waiting ambulance. The coyote in battledress approached him at a trot when she saw Elias emerge.

“Arrangements have been made for you crew, Sir,” she told him. “I’ve seen to it myself. They’ll be taken care of at our field office here before transport to Joplin.”

“That’ll do well, Sergeant, unless they had special requests in their dossiers. Just keep them safe for me,” Elias said.

“Affirmative, Sir. And your lifter should be here in approximately ten minutes.”

“Thank you,” the white fox replied automatically.

Elias noticed that the coyote still remained close, and he turned to her.

“Is there something else, Sergeant?”

She hesitated, unable to look her superior in the eye. “I was…I was wondering if you could use a hand with whatever it is you’re planning, Sir. I know that they were your crew, but they were also SPF. I…we…need to stick together, Sir.”

Elias shook his head. “I can understand the sentiment, Sergeant. I really can. But this isn’t SPF business anymore. This is personal.”

“I might not have served with them, or you, Sir, but they were teammates. They wore the grey and crimson like I do,” the female protested.

“Sergeant, I really do understand, but you have a job to do, and by the Maker you will do it.” He looked at her name tag affixed to her badge. “Understand, Chori?” He pulled the identicards from his pocket and gave them to the Sergeant to scan into her DC before taking them back and told her of the two individuals that he’d killed at the Tambor house. “Get Brees to run a check on them as well as the ones in the groundcar,” he ordered, filling in details on the attackers that had gone after Merlin and Sam.

The coyote nodded. “Yes, Sir,” she replied in a slightly sullen tone.

Further conversation was put off by the whine of an approaching aircraft, and Elias looked up to see a nondescript four-fan lifter coming in low. The pilot flared the ducted fans and settled the small aircraft well beyond the cordon, the landing being guided by another SPF officer with glo-wands.

As soon as the pilot, a ferret in the standard SPF jumpsuit duty uniform climbed out of the cockpit, Elias tossed his bag in to the cargo compartment and started to slide into the pilot’s seat.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” the ferret asked, his hand dropping down to the holster on his belt.

The coyote put her hand on her comrade’s shoulder. “It’s all right, Lieutenant. He’s one of ours! SPF, Special Operations Division. He’s cleared,” she told him, pushing the other officer’s hand away from his sidearm.

“But I signed that out! I need a receipt!”

Pulling the officer away from the aircraft, the Sergeant said something to the pilot that Elias couldn’t hear as he shut the door, clipped the restraining belts, and fed power to the fans. The wash from the ducted thrust units forced the others to turn away and Elias lifted into the darkening sky while talking to Grandstorm Air Traffic Control.

“This is an SPF override, Wendigo Ay four four one Actual. Erase all flight data regarding this aircraft. How copy, over,” the fox said as he turned to the west, beginning a wide circle that would eventually take him towards the Tambor cabin near the Cathedral Mountains.

“Affirmative, Wendigo Actual. Setting automatic scrub on your flight. Grandstorm ATC, out.”

It was a relatively short flight, and Elias kept the aircraft as low to the ground as possible. Whoever had initiated the attacks might have orbital assets that could track him, but if that were the case, nothing he did would help anyway. He might not be able to evade orbit-to-surface tracking, but he could confound ground radar.

He neared the cabin, seeing the Dragonfly on the small packed dirt landing pad, and small VTOL jet with the Binfurr arms logo on the tail sitting next to the small ‘copter via the windscreen’s light enhancing abilities. He swung the rear of the lifter around so that the nose was pointing back in the direction of Grandstorm and shut down the fans and other systems. Before the multi-bladed fans could drop from a muffled roar to a dull whine he was out of the cockpit and jogging towards the cabin.

Even in the dim light he could pick out Cerise’s form and dropped the duffle once he reached her so that he could hold her to him. The were quiet for several long minutes, reassuring each other that their mate was indeed alive and well by simple contact. It was within the warmth of his mate’s arms that Elias finally felt able to unleash the anguish he felt in the core of his soul.

“Elias?” Cerise asked in alarm as she felt him tremble. “What’s wrong?” She pulled back and looked up at her husband, seeing the tears falling from his eyes.

“Melise, Stram and Rutger are dead,” he told her softly.

Cerise stared at him uncomprehending. It was several seconds before the words he’d spoken sank through the fear and uncertainty of the day. He mouth fell open. “No…” she whispered, her eyes going wide. “No,” Cerise repeated, her own tears welling in her eyes. “Oh, Elias.” She rested her head against her mate’s chest and wept.

CHAPTER 39

“Where’s Pala?” Elias asked as Cerise and her father led the white fox inside the cabin.

“She’s running perimeter watch with a couple friends from Binfurr,” Rovi told his son-in-law, getting the young male to the table and pouring him a stiff drink of scotch whiskey. “Tisane Binfurr has a few notable individuals in his employ. Erwin Hammer is from Earth, former soldier and Special Forces type. Aran Deurman used to be with the Kantus 8th Expeditionary Marine Division. They both owe me favors, so I brought them along.” The older fox set the glass down in from of Elias. “Now, drink that.”

“I really don’t want a drink,” the younger male protested quietly.

“Elias, you’re wrung out, you’re grieving and you’re in shock. There are others here you can depend on, so do yourself a favor, have the damn drink, and go lay down for a bit with Cerise.” Rovi’s tone was strong and commanding, and it was the first time that Elias had ever heard his father-in-law swear. The black fox was right, though. “We’ve got this watch.”

Picking up the glass, Elias tossed it back in one gulp, his eyes squinting against the burning across his raw, dry tongue and throat. He felt the whiskey hit his stomach followed by a warming sensation radiating outward from his belly.

Elias stood, reaching for his wife. “I guess you’ll let me know if anything happens,” he said, letting Cerise take him into the back.

“You can count on it. Now go get some rest,” Rovi said. “Sharan and Keena will have food ready in a little while. I’ll get you up then.”

The fox nodded before entering one of the larger rooms and shutting the door. They didn’t turn on any of the lights, keeping the room dark. Shucking his coat and body armor off and setting a pistol on the nightstand that was barely visible, and the SMG on the floor next to the bed, Elias lay down next to his wife who was already curled up on top of the covers. His arms automatically sought her warmth before he was even settled.

“I can’t believe Melise and the others are…gone,” Cerise whispered in the dark.

“I know,” he answered quietly. “It doesn’t seem real.”

The vixen rolled over within the circle of her mate’s embrace. “I was hoping to come back out here soon, but not like this.”

“Especially with our anniversary coming up,” Elias said, stroking her long hair.

“I forgot about that,” she admitted meekly.

The fox chuckled weakly. “I thought it was the male’s job to forget those kinds of things,” he said, trying valiantly to stave off the sadness within him.

“There’s just been so much going on…then today…” Cerise’s voice trailed off and she was silent for several moments, simply thankful that she and Elias were still alive. She was sad about her friends, but at the same time she couldn’t help but be thankful she and her mate were together and safe. Feeling relieved also brought about a certain level of guilt.

A sudden jolt low in her belly caused her to jump.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in sudden alarm as he felt her jerk in reaction.

Cerise sighed. “I don’t think our babies like all of the excitement. Or maybe they do like it, and are trying to stir things up again now that it’s quiet.”

Elias placed his hand over her belly. “Settle down in there,” he admonished the unborn kits gently. One of the kits kicked where his hand lay. “I think their sassing me,” he said with surprise.

“Well, they are your kits,” Cerise said. “What do you expect?”

They lay holding each other for a long while before Cerise jerked again.

“Oh, hell,” she muttered. “Elias, go out and get my mother, please.”

“Why, he asked, his eyes snapping open. “Is something wrong?”

“No. Nothing at all, Dear. It’s just that my water broke and I’m going to need her and Keena in a few minutes.”

“WHAT?” Elias yelped, suddenly nervous and not sure what to do.

Cerise’s hand found his shirt and she grabbed hold of it, clenching the fabric and fur underneath as the first contractions set in. “This isn’t the time to lose it, Lover. Please…go…get my…mother.” She had begun panting, and rolled up into a sitting position with her knees apart, supporting her upper body with her arms stiffly stuck out behind her.

Elias hastily kissed his wife before rolling out of bed and rushing back into the main section of the cabin. He saw Sharan stirring something in a big pot on the stove. Walking up to her, he tentatively touched her shoulder.

“Um…Sharan…Cerise needs you,” he said, his eyes wide.

“Is she all right?” the older female asked, her ears perking up in concern.

Elias was almost at his wit’s end and all he could do for a moment was point. “Cerise. Her water broke. Kits.”

“Oh.” Then Sharan dropped the spoon she was stirring with. “Oh! All right. Keena, I need clean towels, please, and bring the first aid box. Rovi,” she called to her husband, “keep Elias out of the way, please.” The red furred vixen wiped her hands on a dish towel and calmly walked back to the bedroom her daughter was in, leaving the expectant father standing in the kitchen with a vacant look on his face.

Keena moved to do as she was told, smiling widely as Rovi walked up and took his son-in-law’s arm.

“Come on, lad. Let’s go outside and get some air,” the other fox said gently.

Before they got out the door, Keena emerged from the room with Elias’ arsenal in her arms. “Momma said she didn’t want her grandchildren born in an armory,” the female said with a chuckle. She deposited the pistol and SMG on the table and went back to the room.

Elias turned as if he were going back into the room when the other male interceded. “Nope. Outside. Come on. That is the domain of the ladies. You go in there their instincts will take over and they’ll claw you to bits.”

Elias let himself be led outside, knowing that his wife was in good hands, but worried nonetheless. Rovi guided him into the thick grass out front, making sure he was between the fox and the door, though his ears were twisted so that he could almost hear what was happening inside.

Movement near the Dragonfly caught Elias’ attention, and before he knew it, he’d dropped to a kneeling position with his stunner out as his pistol was still inside. The figure that flitted between the shadows was huge and held the rifle he was carrying up in one hand, the other empty and in the air.

“Hold your fire. I’m a friend,” the figure said.

Rovi put his hand on the fox’s arm. “It’s Aran, Elias. It’s okay.”

Elias lowered his weapon, though he didn’t put it away. The figure stepped closer and proved to be a lion that could have been a younger version of Sandy Brees, though the coloration was slightly different with his mane looking more yellow in the dim light from the house instead of Sander’s dark brown. “Not bad, laddy-o. Good reflexes,” the lion said with a grin. He shifted the huge rifle to his left hand and held out his right. “You must be Elias. It’s a pleasure to meet you, though I could wish for better circumstances.”

Elias holstered the stunner and took the offered hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Sir.”

Aran laughed. “Ain’t no ‘Sirs’ here, boyo. Just call me Aran.” He turned to Rovi. “Little high strung, isn’t he?” the lion said with another grin.

“Cerise has just gone into labor. His behavior is excusable after the day he’s had,” Rovi said quietly.

Aran nodded. “That’s an understatement. Erwin has the entire area covered, and that Kastan is about. I don’t know where you found her, but she’s good. You may want to let her know if you have any people coming in overland. She’ll have ‘em diced and sliced before they know they’re in trouble.” The lion shook his head. “Wish’t I had some like her when I was in the Marines.”

The front door opened and Celia and Gey exited the cabin, both rubbing their eyes. Celia had a wolf plushie that she dragged by the arm while Gey carried a soft blanket with her. They shuffled to their father in their pajamas.

“What are you two doing out of bed?” Rovi asked as he picked both of the girls up.

“Cerise was yelling and it woke us up,” Gey said. “Is she gonna be okay?”

“Her babies are coming, that’s all,” the older fox told his daughters with a half smile.

“How do they get out?” Celia asked innocently.

“Normally the same way they got in,” Aran said with a grin as he glanced at Elias.

The twins looked at the assorted males, not understanding. They did look at Elias and gave him sleepy smiles and little waves. “You’re a daddy, too, now, ‘Lias,” Gey said with a nod. “You’ll be a good daddy.”

“I hope so, sweetling,” the fox said with a tired smile. “I hope so.”

Rovi set the girls down and gave them both a kiss. “Go on back to bed, now. And stay there. When you get up in the morning we’ll let you see Cerise and the new babies.”

The girls nodded and trudged back into the cabin, shutting the door on their way. “I think I’m going to need a contractor to have an addition built on to the cabin. It’s getting a lot smaller now,” Rovi said with ashake of his head.

A sound came from the house through the now open window to the room that Elias and Cerise shared, and both males reached out and took one Elias’ arms firmly. Half a second later they all heard Cerise let out a cry of pain. It was followed a moment later by the yipping cry of a kit

“There’s one,” Rovi said with a smile.

They heard Cerise yell out again.

The crying went silent for a moment, and the three males heard a female voice saying something, though they couldn’t make out the words. Cerise let out a strangled cry once more and if not for the two males holding him back, the younger male would have gone through the wall to get to his wife. It was followed by the crying of a second baby, and Elias felt the struggle go out of his body as he sagged, physically and emotionally spent from the events of the day. Rovi and Aran went from holding the young tod back to holding him up.

“That’s two,” Rovi said with relief and pride.

It was several minutes before Sharan stepped out of the cabin. She looked around in the darkness, finally seeing where her husband and son-in-law were. She walked forward, wiping her hands on an apron that had some slight blood smears on it. As soon as she was close enough, she threw her arms around Elias’ neck and kissed his cheek.

“You have two beautiful and healthy children, Elias. Give Cerise a moment, then go meet your newest additions,” Sharan said, her eyes sparkling even in the low illumination. She let the white fox go before embracing her husband, smiling widely.

Aran clapped Elias on the shoulder by means of congratulations. The fox waited as long as he could stand it before entering the cabin. He walked past the table, not even glancing at the weaponry that lay there, into the hallway, and paused at the door, knocking softly. Keena opened it, giving her sister’s mate a smile before exiting wordlessly, leaving the two new parents alone.

Cerise looked tired, but her eyes were open and bright as she cradled the tiny kits to her breasts. Each was wrapped in a small blanket. “Look,” the vixen crooned to the kits she held, “here’s your Daddy.” She gave her mate a smile that was filled with pleasure and pride at what the two of them had created.

Elias entered the room and sat on the edge of the bed. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he looked first at his mate, then the infants. He reached out a slightly trembling hand then pulled back, afraid to disturb his children.

“You aren’t going to break them, silly fox,” Cerise said with a chuckle, her voice tinged with exhaustion. “A son and a daughter. And both are beautiful.”

He took the closest kit gently in his hands, amazed at the tiny being was that stirred in the swaddling, noticing that it had white fur with black ear tips and paws. The paws were tucked up under the furry little chin and it opened its mouth and yawned before settling.

“That’s your daughter. I wanted to name her Dena Renee,” the vixen said softly. “And this one Ellis Van,” she told him, indicating their son with identical coloration to the miniature vixen kit.

He looked up at his mate and saw that she was crying as well, her smile bittersweet and hopeful. “I…I think those are f-fine names,” Elias whispered, pleased that she had used an amalgam of his parents’ and two of his siblings’ names.

***

“We’re about five miles out, Elias,” Randal informed his Captain over the secure DataCom that all of the crew members carried. “Tell whoever is on lookout not to shoot us, please.”

Elias nodded at Rovi who informed his friends that they were expecting the company that was coming up the mountain track. “You’re clear, Randy. Come on up.”

The fox went outside and waited. He heard the vehicles before he saw them. First up was Odette on a standard motorcycle. She stopped not far from the front of the cabin, killed the hydrogen fuel cell engine and took her helmet off, shaking her head in the cool breeze that washed over the mountain retreat. Behind her came an all wheel drive van, and finally a heavy chassis monocycle driven by Sonja.

The rest of the crew looked tired and worn out. All of them were armed and wore body armor. Randal approached his Captain. “I went back to the ship and salvaged what I could. I didn’t know that you had already been there. I had a heck of a time getting past the Sergeant in charge of the guard detail. Apparently Sandy has been in touch with them and made arrangements for the hull to be returned to Okami.”

Elias nodded. “Brees informed me of that just a little while ago. I take it you were able to get enough in the way of personals and weapons?”

“The weapons were my first priority, though I did manage to collect the vital personal items for the others. I…I didn’t get anything from Melise or…or the others’ cabins,” Randal said, dropping his head.

“It’s okay,” Elias said as he put his hand on the wolf’s shoulder. “We can take care of that later. There’s food, hot showers and beds available. Get everyone situated and get some rest.”

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard in a while. We’ve been running kind of ragged. I didn’t want to sit in one place for too long. Do we have any idea who hit us yet?” the wolf asked, waving for the rest of the crew to come forward.

“Not yet. I think Brees is shaking down Dennier and the whole PA down to find out, though. Even INN is reporting a substantial increase in SPF activity through the Alignment over the past two days.” Elias saw that the others had gathered around him and Randal. He turned to face them. “There’s food and beds inside. Some of you might have to triple up in a room or grab some floor space, but we’re secure here. Pala and a couple of other friends that you’ll meet soon are keeping watch on us,” Elias told them, turning to lead the way into the cabin. He stopped and turned back around. “And if your good and clean up and promise not to make too much noise, Cerise and I will let you see the kits,” he added casually.

“You mean she’s had the babies?” Lena asked with a squeal and grin.

“Yeah,” Elias said with a tired smile. “Dena Renee and Ellis Van Tivnan. She named them after my parents and siblings.”

“I can’t wait to see them!” Sonja said, smiling in anticipation, despite her obvious exhaustion.

“You aren’t the only one,” Odette said. “Let’s get this stuff inside. I wanna see the kids.”

Treena didn’t say anything, but gave Elias a hug before entering the cabin. Saul stepped up unable to meet the fox’s eyes.

“I really screwed up, Elias.”

“How’s that?” he asked the jaguar, his head tilted in puzzlement.

“I was the one left in command, I’m the one to blame.”

Elias put a hand on the large cat’s shoulder. “Saul, they had our number, plain and simple. The results would have been the same if I’d still been on the ship. It might have even been worse. This is no one’s fault. Not yours…not Randy’s…no one. We are going to get them back, though. We’re going to find them and we’re going to put paid to their ticket. Understand?”

The feline lifted his eyes. “You got it, Boss,” he said in a subdued voice.

“Go on inside. Go get something to eat and get some sleep. We’ll worry about this later.”

Elias watched the others file into the cabin. It would be crowded with everyone inside, but they could make do. Turning back to look out over the field and mountains beyond, the fox noticed that Lemuel had returned to the van and retrieved the bag that he always carried with him then walked towards his Captain instead of heading directly to the cabin.

“I figure while I’m here, I can give Cerise and the kits a quick exam,” the tiger offered.

Elias smiled. “Thanks, Lem. It’s appreciated.”

He watched as the Doctor turned towards the cabin, his eyes squinting with the smile that split his muzzle a moment before Keena launched herself into Lemuel’s arms. She kissed the tiger warmly, her arms wrapping around the other’s neck in a tight hug as she held herself up by squeezing his sides and hips with her knees.

Keena slid to the ground at the conclusion of the kiss. “I was worried about you,” the russet vixen said by way of explanation.

“I can see that,” the tiger said with a grin. “Come on. You can help me while I look over your sister and the children.”

The female took Lemuel’s hand and led him inside, once again leaving Elias alone with his thoughts.

A message from Brees had informed him that the lion would be arriving within another week and that they were all to stay put. He was coming in on a cruiser that would be transporting all of them to Joplin for their own safety, and that arrangements had already been made for their billeting. Rovi had protested citing his need to return to work, but his arguments had been quickly shot down with orders from the Executives of Binfurr for the older fox to do as the SPF Colonel ordered.

As he looked out over the flowers of the field in front of their refuge, Elias sighed. He hated playing this kind of waiting game and tried not to let it sour his mood. The situation was difficult enough without the fox adding his own peevishness to it all.

“Are you going to stand out here all night?” Cerise asked as she walked up and linked her arm in his and rested her head on his shoulder.

“I thought that Lem was going to give you and the kits an examination?” he asked, silently enjoying the contact with his mate. He always felt better when she was near.

“That was over an hour ago. He’s pleased that we’re all disgustingly healthy. Not even a sniffle to treat.”

Elias blinked. “Has it really been that long?”

The vixen nodded. “Lost in thought, or worry, Love of mine?”

“Both.”

“Like you said before, there’s no help for it right now. Come on inside. Supper’s ready, and I don’t know about you, but I’m famished,” Cerise said, pulling on his arm and gently guiding the fox inside.

“Well, you do have little ones you’re feeding, too,” he said with a smile.

When they entered the cabin, Elias saw that his crew was busy fussing over the kits. Lena held Renee, Elias deciding that name fit her better than her first, and was cooing to her softly while Odette and Treena looked on, making appropriate ‘oohing’ and ‘ahing’ noises. The little white and black kit was sleeping contentedly, unaware of the attention she was getting. Oddly enough, Randal was holding Van. The kit had his little fingers wrapped firmly around the wolf’s facial fur and whiskers and was trying to diligently pull what he had out until Elias intervened.

“He has a good grip,” the wolf said as he rubbed his snout.

Elias smiled. “Van has a habit of grabbing things that cause the most discomfort. He latched on to my ear last night. I thought he was going to pull it off. Fortunately he missed the earring.”

Rovi took his grandson from Elias so the fox could get something to eat, retreating to a corner of the sunken area where he began talking to the kit, saying something that Elias couldn’t hear, but his father-in-law was smiling affectionately.

“Do we have any plans besides waiting?” Randal asked, still rubbing his jowl.

Spooning stew into his mouth, Elias shook his head. “Until more information is forthcoming, it’s the safest thing to do. I hate it, but there’s no other course that we can take at the moment.”

“I don’t know about the rest of you,” Sonja said, holding her own bowl of stew, “but I’m glad to have a place to lay low. Sleeping with one eye open wasn’t fun.” She looked up at Sharan and smiled, “And the food is light years beyond the garbage we were eating. I don’t know how people can live off of fast food.” The spaniel stuck her tongue out to emphasize her point and shuddered.

Sharan reached out and patted the other female’s arm warmly. “I have to make sure that all my children are taken care of, don’t I?”

Cerise sat close to her mate, touching his arm. She was still suffering from the months of separation, and seemed to need to remind herself that the other fox really was there. “I’ll be happier when Uncle Sandy shows up,” she said. “Until we find out who did this and stop them, I don’t think I’ll ever feel safe.”

“We’ll find who it was,” Randal said. “We will most definitely find them.”

Erwin, Rovi’s human associate from Binfurr walked in carrying his rifle. Before anyone could stop them, Randal, Lena and the others had drawn their sidearms and pointed them in the man’s direction. “Pala told me dinner was ready,” the human said without moving, though his expression was fairly light and he had the vestiges of a smile on his face. “I hope this isn’t your way of telling me that I missed out.”

“Put them away,” Elias said. “This is Erwin. He’s been taking most of the night watches.” The fox introduced the man to the rest of his crew.

It was Randal that struck up an immediate conversation by finding a common interest. “That looks like the seventy four model Binfurr Anti-Material Rifle, but not quite,” the wolf said with one raised eyebrow as he holstered his pistol. “I don’t think I’ve seen one of these before.”

“Something Aran and I have been working on,” Erwin said with a smile as he held the rifle much as Elias and Cerise held their children. “It’s based on the mechanics of the BAMSR 74, but instead of firing a 14 millimeter jacketed or armor piercing round, we dropped the size to 12.5 millimeter and use a 5 millimeter osmium dart with teflon sabot. It gives better penetration to sandwiched armor and almost an extra three hundred yards in range with over two hundred feet per second more velocity.”

Erwin unloaded the magazine and cleared the chamber before handing it to the wolf. “It’s a lot lighter than it looks,” Randal said, his eyes widening slightly. “And you designed it to go with the standard Mark 2 smart sights. I like it.”

Erwin nodded. “The Mark 2 is the best sight out there! Why fix something that ain’t broke?” The man walked to the coffee pot and poured a cup before getting another cup with stew and a chunk of bread, consuming the food and drink as he talked. “It still uses the delayed roller locks that the seventy four employs, though it seems to do better with the smaller round. As for the weight, we’re using linear chain polymer synthetics for the stock and furniture, though the breech, bolt and barrel are still Siilv lined Titanium Four alloy and manganese and molybdenum steels. It still has the best heat dissipation to prevent barrel warping.”

Randal looked at Lena with a grin. “Can you get me one for my birthday?”

The doe looked at her lover with a pained expression. “And you have the audacity to gripe about me and my jelly beans?”

The rest of the individuals in the room laughed, breaking the tension that had formed when the human walked in.

Erwin looked at Rovi and Elias. “We got those portable sensors up. If anyone comes within three miles, we’ll get plenty of warning.”

The fox seemed to deflate visibly with the release of tension that he hadn’t known he was suffering from. “That makes me feel a lot better. I think I’ll actually get some sleep tonight without waking up every time I hear a board creak or an insect starts up or goes silent. Thanks Erwin.”

The human nodded and smiled. “You got enough to worry you with them kids. You just leave things to me and Aran. We got yer back.” He gave Cerise a wink and polished off his coffee. “Now, if you will all excuse me, I’m gonna go catch some shut eye before I head back out.” He reclaimed his rifle and inserted the magazine after replacing the round that had been in the chamber. The man then looked at Randal. “I got a spare in the plane if you want to take a turn up on the ridge with me. These are barrel sighted with a laser to absolute zero. As long as you know your personal setting for the Mark 2 scope, you don’t have to sight her in.”

Randal grinned widely. “I might have to take you up on that,” the wolf said leaning forward.

Lena cleared her throat loudly.

“Or not,” Erwin said with a smile, not missing a beat. “I’ll catch you all later,” he said as he walked back out the door.

“You’ve been going for four days and nights on about an hour’s worth of sleep,” the doe admonished Randal once the door to outside closed. “You are bloody well going to get some rest or I’m going to have Lem give you a sedative. Understand?”

The wolf pulled her closer and gave the rabbit a nuzzle. “You do love me,” he said with a smile.

“Of course I do. And if you don’t start taking better care of yourself I’m going to hurt you,” Lena said.

CHAPTER 40

Elias, Rovi, Randal, Saul and Cerise looked at each other as their DataComs all chimed simultaneously. Cerise had linked their units with those of Erwin and Aran so if anything happened they could all be notified at the same time, no matter where they all were, saving precious moments in case anything happened.

“There’s a gunship moving in across the valley,” Erwin said from his vantage point on a ridge a little over a mile away. “Are you expecting guests?”

“No. We aren’t,” Elias said, standing up and moving to the window to peer out. “Are there any identifying marks on it?”

“Negative. It looks like someone went to a lot of trouble to spray paint over the numbers. Hold on…” There was a brief moment of static before the human spoke again. “They’re making a turn towards the cabin. Looks like you got some people very intent on causing serious harm on their way to you. ETA is about ten minutes.”

“If you don’t see anything that identifies them as SPF or Dennieran authorities, you’re free to go hot,” Rovi said as he gave Elias a pointed look.

“Copy that. We’ll know in about two minutes.”

Less than a minute passed when the groups DC’s chimed again. “They aren’t friendly,” Erwin informed the rest of the furs in the cabin.“I’ll see what I can do to slow them down. Get the others to safety.”

Rovi was already moving and hustled to get Sharan, Keena, Dona and Cerise out of the cabin with the kits. “Go to the cave near the waterfall,” the fox told his family as Elias and the others slid their armor on and began checking weapons. Rovi looked at Cerise and Keena. “I’ve taught you what to do,” he said with a nod and approving look. “Watch out for each other. All right?”

Cerise nodded as she holstered her pistol. “You take care of yourself, Daddy. I love you.” She gave her father a quick hug.

Keena followed suit as Cerise kissed Elias.

From the direction of the ridge where Erwin watched the valley below came several loud reports as the human opened fire on the gunship.

“Go! Now!” Elias ordered the females. He then turned and took position near the door.

Pala led the entourage as Cerise and Dona had the kits while Sharan and Keena took charge of Gey and Celia, disappearing out of the sliding glass door and melting into the woods behind the cabin.

Erwin’s fire was joined by Aran and Randal’s. Risking a look, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, Elias opened the door and watched the aircraft move closer towards the cabin as a door gun opened up and hosed the ridge where the human had taken up position. The rounds struck the wooded area causing small explosions, the distance causing the events to appear out of sync with the sounds.

The gunship looked like a large lifter design, though instead of having fan nacelles for lift and thrust, this unit had hydrogen powered turbojets. The aircraft had a long armored body, and as Elias watched, several individuals dropped from the middle compartment to the ground below on tethers.

“You have seven hostiles in the grass,” Erwin said over the open DC channel that linked him the others. “I don’t have a good angle on them. I’m relocating. Back in position in a moment.”

“Worry about that gunship,” Rovi said. “We can handle the others.

The first hostile came around the nose of the Binfurr VTOL, the tiger scanning the area around him before hunching over and sprinting for the cabin.

“Not today,” Elias said, taking aim with his SMG and hitting the tiger with four rounds.

The feline dropped, then stirred and scrambled for cover, letting a stream of suppressing fire rip from his assault rifle.

“Crap! They have armor!” the fox informed the others as stray rounds slammed into the side of the cabin and sent splinters flying.

Rovi and the others opened fire as more hostiles emerged and ducked as return fire chewed into the cabin. The older fox looked at Odette. “Slide that box over here!” he ordered the female bear. He nodded as she pushed a long plastic crate towards him and grabbed the handle, yanking it closer. Staying below the edge of the window, Rovi tripped the latches and pulled out a magazine fed grenade launcher.

The 30 millimeter unit only held five rounds, but it had sufficient capacity for what he had in mind.

“Elias! Where are the bulk of the hostiles?”

The fox took a quick look around the door jamb before pulling back. “Looks like most of them are around the Dragonfly and jet.”

Rovi didn’t use the sights at all as he set the muzzle on the window sill of the section of wall he used for cover and repeatedly squeezed. The stubby barreled weapon chunked! three times followed by three muffled pops that landed around and between the aircraft that were parked next to each other.

“I wish I had something other than gas meant for crowd control,” the black furred fox said.

“Anything’s a help at this point,” Sonja said risking a look outside.

The sound of breaking glass in one of the rooms down the hall sounded between moments of gunfire and Sonja spun, aiming her weapon down to cover that portion of the cabin’s interior. A figure looked out of the doorway that had been occupied by the twins and Sonja fired a sustained burst that dropped the shadowy form. Without hesitating, knowing that their adversaries wore body armor, the spaniel leapt from where she was and rushed down the hallway, bringing the solid stock of her SMG around and catching the cougar that had entered the structure on the side of the head even as feline tried to recover from the impact of the rounds his body armor had stopped.

Even as Sonja took care of the intruder, the rest of the crew became involved in a pitched firefight with the others that remained outside while Erwin, Randal and Aran did what they could to slow the gunship down. Despite the rifles they used, the gunship had been designed to withstand heavy fire and sensitive areas were equipped with heavy armor, including the cockpit.

Randal saw that the hostiles that had dropped from the troop compartment were getting close to the cabin, hardly slowed down by the gas grenades that someone inside had used. He swung his rifle and sighted on the attacker that was trying to make his way around the back of the structure and fired once, seeing the individual crumple a moment after his finger stroked the trigger. He swung his rifle onto another target when he heard a series of high pitched whistles a moment before the ridge above him erupted in fire as the gunship let go a salvo of incendiary rockets into the cover of trees and rocks.

Even at this distance the wolf could feel the heat from the resulting explosions and covered his head as small rocks and bits of burning wood rained down on and all around him. Before debris had finished pelting his hiding place, Randal was up and moving to another location, the tarp that Erwin had provided changing color as he moved, the mimetic fabric reacting to shade and sunlight to provide substantial camouflage.

Before he could get into a new position, fire from the gunship spanged the ground around him, sending chips of rock, plant matter, bits of metal from the bullets and loam in the air. Randal moved faster, running down the slope of the small mountain faster than was safe, though the possibility of breaking something was moot when compared with the prospect of being chewed to pieces with gunfire. The wolf saw a small depression ahead of him and leapt for it when the shockwave of an explosion held him in the air for a moment before throwing him backwards into a tree.

Looking up in shock, Randal saw an expanding fireball where the gunship used to be. Howling through the flame and debris were two fighters with the SPF insignia on the wings and forward fuselage. They continued to streak past the wreckage, their high-pitched howls turning into thunderous roars as the sounds of the engines echoed of the walls of the valley and surrounding mountains.

Following in the wake of the fighters came a light cruiser with the SPF Sword and Star shield painted in gold and silver on the side of the dark grey hull. As soon as the ship moved over relatively flat ground it began to extend gigantic landing tracks. Several panels opened up along the lower section of the hull and officers in full battledress lined up along the edges, dropping to the high grass of the meadow as soon as the vessel settled.

“Drop your weapons and surrender!” a voice said from the ship’s external speaker system. “This is the SPF cruiser Patriarch. All hostiles will stand down and surrender or we will open fire!”

The attackers tried to withdraw to regroup, but a salvo of pulse cannon fire in their direction of retreat halted their progress and boxed them against the advancing contingent of armored SPO’s. Seeing that there was no escape and to fight was futile, the attackers dropped their weapons and held up their hands, letting themselves be taken into custody.

“Rovi, take care of things here,” Elias said as he stood from where he’d been taking cover behind the wall of the cabin. “I’ll go get the others from the cave.”

The black furred fox nodded, pulling out his personal DataCom and sent a message to the cruiser that there were innocents and SPF personnel in the cabin.

Sprinting out of the back door, Elias ran through the woods to the small cave that was hidden behind a waterfall less than a half mile from the cabin, his only thought and concern being to get to his mate and children.

“Cerise!” the fox called out as soon as he drew close enough to see the thin cascade of water. “Cerise! It’s over! Sandy’s here!”

Pala and Cerise slipped out from behind the curtain of water, relief in the vixen’s eyes as she saw her mate approaching. Cerise started to grin a moment before the expression fell from her face. Before she could call out a warning, Elias fell forward.

It felt like he’d been punched in the back and all of the strength seemed to leave his legs. The ground rushed up to meet him as the sound of a gunshot registered in his ears. He tried to roll over, loam and dirt in his mouth and the taste of blood mingled with it, while trying to free his weapon from under his body.

Cerise had her pistol in her hand and fired three times, dropping the lynx that had shot her mate even as Pala emptied half of the magazine of her own SMG into the feline’s body.

“Elias!” she screamed, running to the fox that was writhing weakly on the forest floor. “Elias!” She dropped her pistol as she skidded to a stop in the leaf debris, her hands going to his shoulders to roll her mate over. He looked up at her with slightly dazed eyes and tried to give her a smile, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth and into the fur on the side of his face, while even more foamed from his nose.

Cerise loosened the straps on the body armor he wore, seeing the small hole that was punched through the front panel. Once that was open, she peeled away his shirt underneath, exposing the sodden red fur of his chest. Blood bubbled out of the perforation while bright crimson fluid flowed freely from the exit wound. The vixen hastily put pressure over the wound.

His mate’s efforts were futile as Elias tried vainly to draw in a breath and coughed, the action bringing more of his vital fluid to his mouth. He felt her take one of her hands and slide it underneath him, trying to find the point the bullet had entered his back. “It’s okay, Elias,” Cerise said softly, tears running down her face to fall and mingle with the fox’s blood. “You’re going to be okay. I’m not going to leave you.”

The vixen kept saying the same thing over and over, almost like a mantra, willing her husband to stay alive.

Elias looked up into the green eyes that had never ceased to thrill him and smiled. His vision began to darken around the edges so it seemed as if the female that had so readily ensnared his heart appeared to be the only thing that mattered in the universe, the brightest point of his existence framed by darkness.

Then again, as far as he was concerned, she was the only thing that mattered…this little vixen and the two children she had gifted him. He lifted his arm, struggling as it felt as if the appendage were weighted down with lead, and touched the side of her face.

The past year with her had been a gift the likes of which he felt he hadn’t deserved. Elias had once offered everything he had to whatever gods there were if he could just meet her after seeing her image on a video screen. But more than that had been given to him. They had fallen in love, had been married, and even been blessed with two kits that were the most marvelous things in creation as far as the fox was concerned.

Now it looked as if the time for him to pay had come at last.

His eyes rolled upwards and closed as his hand fell limply to the moss and soil of the forest floor as Cerise let a keening wail loose to the canopy of trees above her.

CHAPTER 41

“Do we know who they are yet?” Rovi asked the lion that had been one of his comrades and closest friends for the past twenty five years. He absently rubbed at a patch on his arm where a stray round had creased the skin during the firefight at the cabin.

Sander Brees sat slumped in a chair in his cabin on the SPF Patriarch, his arms crossed over his chest and a sour expression on his face as if he’d caught the smell of something vile. “Not yet. Randal and Odette are questioning one of the prisoners while Saul and Treena are working on another. We had to forcibly keep Sonja and Pala away from the brig. I don’t trust either of them not to do something rash.” He snorted in derision. “I’m tempted to let them do what they want, though.”

“You can’t do that, Sandy,” Rovi sternly told the other. “The SPF up holds the law. You don’t take it into your own hands as you see fit.” The black fox took the other chair. “Even though I want the same thing,” he admitted with a frustrated sigh. He sat morosely in his chair for several minutes.

“I hate this sitting around!” Rovi suddenly exploded as he stood up again and started pacing.

“There’s no help for it,” the lion shot back testily. He reached for his pipe before he remembered that he’d already wrecked it by crushing the stem in his teeth when they’d brought Elias’ limp body on board and curled his hand into a fist of impotent rage.

The hatch chimed from whoever was on the other side and Brees glared at the armored doors.

“Enter!” he yelled angrily, not at all pleased that his orders to be left alone were being ignored.

Randal entered the room with Odette right behind him. He was rubbing the knuckles of his right hand though there was a satisfied twist to his mouth.

“Well?” the lion asked expectantly.

“Ganlin Legion,” the wolf said. “They’re the ones running the Shiva and a lot of other raids. Looks like they’re getting a bit bolder in their predations. They somehow identified the Guiding Angel and have had combat teams scouring the PA for us.”

Brees slammed his fist on the desk and began to swear with impressive creativity. “Did you get a location out of ‘em?”

Randal nodded slowly. “Right in the middle of the Van Connor. From what the one I…interviewed said, they have a fairly impressive fleet and defensive capabilities.”

“I don’t care if they’ve got a Hammerdine stashed there! We are going to finish this once and for all!” the lion yelled.

***

“Why are you crying?”

Cerise looked up in surprise, then broke into a wide grin as Elias reached out and placed his hand the side of her face. She leaned into his touch, nuzzling his palm as she took his wrist with both of her hands.

“Because I thought I lost you,” she whispered.

“Nah,” the fox said quietly. “Got too much to live for. The most beautiful wife in the universe…two kits that are as beautiful as their mother…” He trailed off, the effort of talking taxing what little he had in the way of energy.

The vixen watched as her mate drifted off into unconsciousness, and spent several minutes looking at the fox’s face and watching his chest rise and fall. He’d been in the surgery theater of the Patriarch for over twelve hours as Lemuel and the ship’s doctor worked feverishly to repair the punctured lung and damage to the aorta from the armor piercing round that Elias had been shot with. It had been a harrowing time for Cerise, and when the medics had finally wheeled her mate into the infirmary’s recovery section, he’d looked as if he were on just this side of death.

Even then, the tiger told her that his recovery was not certain and that the fox’s grasp on life was tenuous at best. Cerise ignored that, knowing that her husband would pull through.

He had to because she couldn’t picture her life without him.

For almost a week now she stayed by her mate’s side unless she had to take care of their kits or grab an hour or two of sleep. She even brought the kits in while Elias lay unconscious, hoping that he would sense their presence, that the bond he had with their children would help pull him through this.

In the quiet hours, she mused about the events that had brought them together.

Cerise had fallen in love with Elias the first time she’d seen him in the hospital just after the crash of the Scimitar. She had visited the white fox until the day that he’d awoken. Then, even as now, she knew that there was no one that she would rather spend her life with. He had unknowing and unaware taken her heart and made it his for the rest of their lives.

Then when he’d been given command of the first pirate hunter…there was no way that she could let him put his life in danger without being there with him. It had been easy to convince her adopted Uncle that she was qualified to join the crew.

She reached out and smoothed the fur on his brow, adjusting the oxygen feed that was attached to his black nose, and knew that it was time for him to walk away from all of this. She wouldn’t tell him how she felt…he would have to come to the decision on his own. But he’d already had thoughts along this line. Now it was just a matter of time.

So lost was the vixen in her musings that she didn’t hear the hatch to the infirmary open, and the hand that was placed on her shoulder made her jump in surprise and automatically reach for her pistol.

“Easy, Cerise,” Lemuel said in his soothing bass voice. He smiled at her before looking at the life support and monitoring equipment.

“He woke up a few minutes ago,” Cerise informed the tiger. “He spoke a little before drifting off.”

“Really?” Lem said with a raised eyebrow and smile. “I wasn’t even hoping for him to do that for another two days. Then again, he does have a lot to live for.”

The vixen smiled tiredly. “That’s what he said.”

“You know, I have always been a firm believer in the healing power of love,” the Doctor said as he adjusted the IV drip and medication it introduced to the white fox. “Other surgeons laugh at the idea, but I’ve seen individuals come through things that should have ended them.”

Cerise nodded and smiled weakly. “Speaking of the healing power of love, how is my sister holding up?”

Lemuel’s ears flattened in embarrassment. “She’s coping with everything rather well.” The tiger looked at his friend and pulled a stool over so that he could face her on a more equal seeming level. “About that…I know that you have some reservations about us…and I never intended for anything like this to happen…”

Cerise reached up and scratched behind the Doctor’s ear. “If you are happy, and Keena is happy, who am I to complain?”

“You can stop that now. You’ll turn me into a hedonist if you aren’t careful.” He gave himself a shake after the vixen stopped and looked at her. “I kind of got the idea that you were against us getting together.”

“I was worried at first, knowing what Keena was like before we began all this. I was worried that she would treat you poorly. I had hoped she would change…that she would grow up. I guess I’m still getting used to the idea that she really has.”

“She so wants to prove to you and Sharan and Rovi that she is a different person, now. She has bouts of depression remembering how she treated you and the rest of your family. That’s why I was so adamant about her continuing her counseling, though I make sure that she keeps her sessions and what she talks about confidential from me. I don’t want to muddy the waters by adding my opinions.”

Cerise smiled and patted the tiger’s hand. “And that’s why I’m okay with the two of you being together, Lem.”

“I’m not missing a good conversation, am I?” Elias said as he cracked his eyes open a fraction of an inch and smiled at his mate and friend.

“Just gushy relationship stuff,” Lemuel said with a grin. “Nothing important.”

“I always miss out on the good gossip…” the fox said with a chuckle before coughing weakly. “Ow. That really does hurt.”

“Elias, that’s because you had a hole put in you,” the Doctor said sarcastically adjusting an IV line. “It tends to mess up the works. Especially when it goes through a lung.”

“That would explain why I feel so terrible,” Elias said. He tried to watch what the tiger was doing but fell back asleep.

“You don’t worry, Captain,” the tiger said with moist eyes. “I’ll fill you in on all the juicy details when your better. You just sleep now, my friend.” He again checked the medical equipment, then turned to Cerise. “And you,” he said sternly, “are also going to go get some rest. You have babies to take care of.” Cerise looked as if she were going to protest, causing Lemuel to cross his arms over his chest as he gave her a hard look. “It’s either that or I sedate you and take you back to your cabin. Which will it be?”

Shaking her head, the vixen stood, leaned over the bed and gave her mate a kiss and a quick hug to the tiger before leaving wordlessly.

Nodding, Lemuel turned back around and began to make notations on the DataPak that hung next to Elias’ bed and smiled to himself.

Maybe things would be all right after all.

CHAPTER 42

Joplin was an unassuming rock orbiting the small dwarf star of the Yanin system, located almost in the precise center of the Planetary Alignment. To a casual observer it would look like nothing overly remarkable. The gathering of ships over the grey surface of the small celestial body indicated that Joplin wasn’t as inconsequential as it looked.

As the SPF Patriarch made a slow approach to one of the sheltered docking berths it passed cruisers, frigates and pocket battleships that were built on almost every world of the PA.

“It looks like the entire SPF fleet is here,” Sonja commented as she and the rest of the crew from the Guiding Angel sat in the forward observation lounge, looking out of the large panels of layered glassteel.

“Everything but a few of the smaller sloops and pinnaces that are still engaged in system patrol,” Brees said with a stern look on his face and crossed arms over his chest. “We still need to maintain a presence in the various systems, but anything heavy is here.”

The lion looked at the surviving crew from the first pirate hunter. He wished the three that had died in the attack on the Guiding Angelwere here, especially Stram, one of his oldest friends along with Rovi. In a way, the gathering of ships in the vacuum around them had been caused by the loss of the badger, Melise Rains and Rutger Fallon.

Each of his primary pirate hunters were dressed in SPF duty uniforms, complete with sidearms and equipment belts. All of them wore their new ranks that each had been brevetted to.

Even Rovi Tambor wore the grey and crimson, his rank tabs of colonel gleaming in the indirect lighting of the observation lounge. The older fox had accepted reinstatement for this operation under emergency provisions that Brees had used.

Lena looked out at the ship that they were pulling in next to, her eyes going wide. “An Eridani class cruiser?” she asked in awe, having heard of the new line of warships that were a joint endeavor by Sillon and Ryu but like the others, she’d never seen one.

Sander Brees nodded. “She’s one of the latest additions to the fleet. Six dual Mark VII pulse cannon turrets, VRF magnetic accelerator guns, torpedoes, missiles and twenty Kestrel interceptors, two rescue shuttles and capable of breech boarding. It only requires a crew of twelve to operate, not counting pilots for the fighters and the engineering team.”

Randal whistled appreciatively. Breech boarding was a modified method of getting onto an enemy vessel by using boarding tubes that burned their way through the hull of an enemy vessel. It was a dangerous proposition, but one where the advantage of being able to quickly swarm a ship was outweighed by the risks. It also meant that it wasn’t necessary to line up on an airlock for the operation and a capture team could be deposited anywhere within the vessel if contact could be made.

There was a slight shudder as the cruiser settled on the solid rock base of the docking berth and a muted clang from somewhere in the ship as the access ways made contact with the three starboard airlocks. Brees turned to the others around him. “I hate to do this, but Sharan, Keena, Pala and Dona, you will be shown to your quarters. There are others that will assist you with the children. The rest of you need to come with me.”

Rovi and Sharan shared a long embrace. They had argued for almost two days when Rovi had told his mate that he was putting his uniform back on for this operation. Sharan had finally surrendered her position that he’d done his duty and that she couldn’t bear to see him put his life in danger again and he pointed out that their family was already a target and that he wouldn’t sit idly by while their children were also in danger. Pointing that out had seemed to deflate the vixen and she had relented.

There was moisture around her eyes as Sharan let her mate go. “You promise me you’ll come back,” she whispered.

“I promise. I’ll always return to you, Dearheart. You know this,” Rovi said with a smile. He then bent down and gave the twins a fierce hug. “You listen to your mother. And this doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do your lessons,” he said sternly.

“Yes, Daddy,” they both said at the same time, still not sure what was happening, but trusting their parents implicitly.

“That’s my girls,” the ebony fox said with a smile, pulling them both back to him.

On the other side of the lounge, Elias and Cerise were holding their children and talking with Pala and Keena.

“It’s a pity that I can’t go with you,” the Kastan said as Elias fought Van from grabbing his whiskers. “It will be a worthy fight.”

Elias still wasn’t able to hold his son for long and he winced as his chest began to ache. Keena saw his discomfort and took the kit from his arms, smiling slightly as the child settled down immediately. “Thanks,” Elias said gratefully. “He really prefers to be held by a female, the little scamp,” the fox said as he absently rubbed his chest under his uniform.

“He’s going to be a heartbreaker,” Keena said with a chuckle.

Elias turned to the Kastan. “Again, I can’t thank you enough. You are a true friend, Pala.”

“We’re clan,” the felinoid said simply. “We’ve shed blood together. Nothing more need be said, Elias.”

Cerise handed Renee to her mate then embraced Pala. “No. We’re family,” she corrected the other female.

“Please, Cerise,” Pala said, still unaccustomed and embarrassed by such public displays of affection. “You’ll wrinkle your uniform.”

Elias rubbed noses with his daughter, the little kit smiling and making a soft yipping noise at the attention before he handed her to the Kastan. “I hate to leave them, but we need to get going.”

Keena nodded, handing Van to Pala, chuckling as she saw both kits settle in the other female’s arms before she deposited both into a small tram. “You two come home safe,” she said, giving her sister and brother-in-law a hug.

“We will,” Cerise said. “And take care of Momma. You know she never did handle things like this well.”

Keena nodded. “I remember.” She turned and saw Lemuel talking to Randal and Lena. “I…I have to say good-bye to someone else.” She looked at her sibling and brother-in-law. “I love you both, you know.”

Cerise smiled warmly while Elias grinned mischievously. “Go on,” he said, jerking his chin in the Doctor’s direction. “And don’t worry. He’ll come back as well. That and I think he’s been wanting to talk to you, anyway.”

Keena gave Elias a smile before turning and heading to the tiger.

Randal saw the russet fox approaching and coughed lightly. “We’ll see you in a few,” the wolf said with a smile as he put his hand on Lena’s back and guided her away from the tiger.

“What? I don’t smell, do I?” Lemuel said as the other two walked away, a perplexed look on his face.

“No. Well, not bad at least. I think you smell rather good,” Keena said as she stepped up to the tiger’s side and took his hand in hers.

Lemuel turned and looked down with a grin.

The vixen looked at him for several long moments before swallowing hard and rubbing at her eyes. “You know, I had this whole poetic speech to tell you today…but I can’t remember a single word of it,” she gave him a sad smile as tears continued to fill her eyes before rolling down her face. “Isn’t that pathetic?”

“Keena, you don’t need speeches or poetry.” The tiger pulled the female closer and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head as she leaned against his broad chest.

“I…I love you, Lemuel,” she whispered as he held her.

Instead of replying, the tiger lifted the vixen’s chin up with a finger so that he could kiss her deeply.

“I will come back,” Lem told the female when they parted. “After all, I kind of have to be there for us to get married, don’t I?”

Keena’s eyes grew wide as the tiger fished a small box out of his pocket and let her open it. Inside was a pair of matched gold earrings. “Elias and Cerise helped me pick them out. I kind of like the earring idea, myself.” Lemuel looked into the female’s eyes and saw the emotion in them. “That is, if you’ll have me.”

A soft, “Yes,” was all Keena could manage to utter as her smile grew wider.

“There’s something I forgot,” the tiger said with a shake of his head. He led the vixen to where her father and mother stood. “Colonel Tambor, Lady Tambor? I know that this is rather sudden and probably not the best time, but I would like to ask for your blessing to marry Keena.”

Both of Keena’s parents looked at the unlikely couple, having known that this was where their relationship was headed for some time now. Rovi looked at both individuals coolly, having already given his blessing to the tiger after talking via the Net almost two months prior. He fought not to smile as Keena almost bounced where she stood in both anticipation and anxiety.

“Do you love my daughter? Will you care for and protect her?” the fox asked.

“Yes, Sire,” Lemuel said with an inclination of his head.

Rovi looked at his daughter. “Do you love him, Keena? Will you support and care for him?”

“Yes, Daddy,” she said, her eyes still moist.

Stretching out the moment, Rovi looked from one to the other before slowly smiling. “Then you have our blessing.”

Keena leapt into her father’s arms, “Thank you, Daddy!” she cried, her voice muffled.

The rest of the group had gathered around and congratulated the pair raucously until a new voice called from the hatch that led to the observation lounge.

“Attention on deck!” Major Talia Paris called as she stood at rigid attention off to the side of the hatchway. The cheetah looked slightly nervous.

A human in full dress uniform with more ribbons than most of the SPF personnel had ever seen entered the lounge. She was an older human with hair that had turned almost a uniform shade of iron grey, though her eyes were bright, intelligent and penetrating, indicating that while she might be up in years, there was nothing wrong with her mind.

“As you were,” the human said.

Elias had never had the privilege of meeting Breth Janes, the High Commander of the Spatial Police Force. The only one that the woman had above her was the Planetary Alignment Legislature. He swallowed hard as the highest ranking SPF officer walked up to him and extended her hand.

“I’m glad to see you up and about, Major Tivnan,” Commander Janes said with a smile. “Are you feeling up to this next mission?”

Elias swallowed again and nodded. “Absolutely, Commander. Though, if I may speak candidly, I’m still unsure as to what my role will be.”

Janes turned and fixed Brees with a raised eyebrow. “You mean the Colonel didn’t tell you what your next command would be?” she said to the fox.

“No, Commander. I was fairly certain that I would be sidelined with my injuries,” Elias admitted.

“Doctor Sidhara assures me that the treatments you’ve been receiving after your surgery will enable you to function well within the capacity I want you in.” Breth Janes looked at Lemuel. “I also believe that Doctor Anders agrees with this evaluation.”

The tiger nodded. “It’s not too dissimilar from the stem cell treatment that Cerise was getting after the poisoning. It works a little faster in repairing the damage than it did with her, but that was because her treatments were having to essentially rebuild the organs that were damaged. It’s already being used in other hospitals across the PA.”

“That explains why I’ve been eating twice my normal amount,” Elias mused. He turned back to the Commander. “If Lem and Doctor Sidhara have cleared me for active duty, then I’ll take whatever you give me, Ma’am.”

“Not so fast, Major,” the Commander said with a chuckle. She turned to Saul. “I know you were slated for your own Q-ship, but would you agree to continue serving as Major Tivnan’s First Officer for a little while longer?”

The jaguar grinned. “Elias hasn’t led me astray yet, Commander. If he wants me, he has me.”

“Sandy and I have been discussing this, and I was thinking that with your exploits over the past year, you have one hell of a crew. I can’t see breaking them up just before the biggest operation in the history of the SPF. As of this moment, your crew is the senior ranking cadre for the ship that you’ll be commanding. That includes all aspects of operations.” Breth Janes crossed her arms as she looked at the fox and his mate. “Sandy will be accompanying you on your ship as overall authority for the mission. Do you accept, Major?”

Elias nodded. “Just point me to my ship, Commander.”

Janes looked at the lion that stood off to the side. “We really do need more like him, don’t we?”

“I’ve been saying that for over a year now,” the lion agreed. “Do you want to tell him about his next command before he explodes?”

“I suppose,” Janes said with a grin. She stepped over to the observation port. “Major Tivnan, think you can handle that?” she asked pointing at the Eridani class ship. “The Righteous has undergone full shakedown and is ready. The only reservation I’ve had is for so many family members being posted to the same vessel at one time, but Sandy has assured me this won’t be a problem.”

Elias was surprised that he was being given command of one of the newest and most powerful ships in the SPF fleet. “I’ll take a swing at it, Ma’am. I don’t know why you’re giving her to me, though. There have to be other captains that are more experienced.”

“It’s more than experience that’s needed when commanding a ship, Major. You’ve gone up against this group a few times now, and you’ve come out on top with the exception of the attack at the starport, through no fault of your own, I might add. You are the right one for the job or I wouldn’t be putting you in the chair.”

Elias went to attention, trying not to wince at the pain in his chest. “Then you’ve got me, Commander.”

“Good. It’s going to be a week before the rest of the fleet comes in from the outer sectors of the PA and other vessels will be joining up with the task force at the periphery of the Van Connor Nebula. Add in three weeks of transit time and you should be ready for whatever happens out there.” Breth Janes continued to look at the fox for a moment before turning her gaze out of the viewport. “Get your people settled and report to the Righteous at oh-five hundred tomorrow. It’s time to cash the Legion out.”

***

Lemuel and Keena had their marriage bonding performed in a small non-denominational chapel deep within the labyrinthine tunnels of Joplin Base with a chaplain that held the rank of Lieutenant. The mouse wore small silver disks on her collar tabs that had a myriad of religious symbols on their border, indicating that she was familiar with many of the beliefs of the various PA member species. Elias stood as the tiger’s second and had to admit that when Keena appeared she looked positively radiant.

As with Elias and Cerise’s ceremony, her family walked with her, though instead of standing off to the side with her parents, Cerise stepped up to her mate and held his hand as they watched the two exchange vows.

When it was finished, Lemuel and Keena had a small dinner with the rest of the group as they all celebrated the bonding. During a lull in the impromptu festivities, Elias made his way to the tiger. “I know that you’ve already inspected the infirmary onboard,” he told his friend. “Why don’t you take the next two days as personal time.”

Lemuel’s brow furrowed. “I can’t do that, Captain,” he protested. “I still have to get all of the records for the crew and go over them, make sure there aren’t any problems I need to know about and-”

“And spend time with your mate, you dozy cat,” Elias said with a grin. “We have three days before launch and a little over three weeks in transit time, which means you can get to the records then. Don’t make me order you to take downtime.”

Keena appeared next to her new husband and whispered something in his ear that made Lem’s eyes grow wide and his long whiskers stick straight out while he swallowed hard. “You’re right,” he finally agreed. “Two days downtime might not be a bad idea.”

Elias gave Keena a wink before joining his mate and the rest of her family.

***

The SPF Righteous was an impressive ship no matter how one looked at it. The hull design was a flattened cylinder with streamlined port and starboard protrusions like sponsons that held the bays for the vessel’s fighter and auxiliary craft compliment. Unlike the bridge of the Guiding Angel and many other vessels, the bridge of the new the new warship was built deep in the center of the ship. Visuals for piloting and navigation were sent to the first and second pilots’ cubicles, fully encapsulated positions that contained not only the flight controls, but would also provide a full sphere of view via holographic screens. The overall layout of the bridge was an elongated horseshoe shape with the seat that Elias would occupy in the direct center. To the sides were the stations for the rest of the bridge crew.

One notable feature was the interior of the vessel was smooth and flowing with far more space than was standard. There were no sharp edges to run into, no corners and the lowest ceiling was eight feet high to accommodate Silloni and Ryujian physiologies. Likewise, accommodations were also what one might call luxurious with bunks that were easily two and a half times the size of bunks on other SPF vessels, and twice as thick.

Elias sat on the bridge with Cerise, Saul, Treena and Odette going over the checklist for the vessel and further acquainting themselves with the different layout. The one benefit that Elias immediately found with the holographic input for piloting and navigation was that he could run simulator programs on the actual bridge equipment and stations without having to use a specially designed and built simulator. They had just finished their third practice exercise when Brees entered the bridge with a young female that looked slightly uncomfortable in her uniform. It was Cerise that realized who the young female was.

“Jenna! You look great!” the vixen exclaimed with a wide smile and a twinkle to her eyes.

The ferret snapped to attention. “Thank you, Ma’am,” she replied curtly, though there was a slight smile that twitched the corners of her mouth, pleased that the crew that had rescued her remembered her.

Elias got up from his chair with a broad grin. “Not bad, cadet,” he told her lightly. Decided to put on the uniform, did you?” The others that had been with Elias when they rescued the young ferret were smiling as well. Her hair was shorter than it had been when the girl had been rescued on their first encounter. It barely brushed the top of her shoulders giving her a slightly older appearance. She’d also filled out some since Elias and the others had seen her and she had a healthy look to her fur and eyes that hadn’t been there before.

“It was the only way I could think to repay the SPF for what they…for what you did, Major. Maybe I can help others the way you did me, Sir.”

The fox shook his head. “That won’t do, Jenna. You’re part of the family. Call me Captain, or Elias when we’re not on duty. I got used to less restrictive procedures on the Angel.” He nodded with approval and regarded Brees. “So, what are you up to, Uncle?” he asked with a lopsided grin.

“Apart from Jenna passing all of her classes, there isn’t anything holding her back from being fully instated save needing to go out on her ‘prentice cruise.” He put a large hand on the ferret’s shoulder in a fatherly manner and couldn’t help but smile proudly. “I felt this would be the best ship for her, son. For some reason I like her Captain and crew and know they’ll keep her safe as possible considering what we’re headed for.”

“Well, Cadet Brees,” Elias said, noting that the female had opted to assume Sander’s family name by her nametag, “I’m fairly sure that your file is somewhere in the computer, but I’d like to get to talk to you about what you’ve been training on. If you would be so kind as to join us for dinner at sixteen hundred, Officer’s Mess Nine, I’ll talk to you then.”

Jenna stood a little taller and straighter. “It would be my honor, Major…er, Captain Tivnan. She saluted, which Elias returned and nodded that she was dismissed.

Once the ferret had exited the bridge, Brees chuckled. “Once she learned how to read there was no stopping her!” he told the others proudly. “By the fourth month with us Jenna had already passed her educational tests and was eligible for the Academy. To say she kept her instructors on their toes would be an understatement! Graduated top of her class three weeks ago.”

“You’ve done wonders with her, Sandy,” Elias said with a laugh. He looked at Cerise. I told you she wouldn’t be the same waif we pulled off the Mintaka!”

“No. She isn’t. And why do I think that she’s also left a string of males in her wake, all soft-eyed and sighing in heartbreak?” the vixen asked rhetorically.

“I talked to her about that…or at least Meri did. She has some pretty high standards for some reason,” the lion said giving the former crew of the Guiding Angel a sideways look. She’s far too familiar with the physical. Jenna is waiting for someone that has character, morals and intelligence. She told us when she finds someone like that then she might consider dating.”

“Good for her!” Cerise exclaimed as she took her mate’s arm in hers. “Good things come to those who wait.”

***

“Affirmative control, we are clear of moorings and are underway,” Cerise said into the microphone of her headset.

“Good hunting, Righteous. Come home safe,” the traffic controller for their sector over Joplin told the ship.

“Captain, we are clear of obstructions and have open space ahead of us,” Saul’s voice said over the speaker system that relayed his voice from the pilot’s cubicle.

Elias sat in his chair, wishing that he could be the one with his hands on the controls of the ship. “Understood, Saul. Lay in a course for the Van Connor Nebula by way of Sol. Colonel Brees,” Elias said looking at the lion who sat at a redundant console that was unoccupied at the moment. “Would you mind accompanying me on an inspection of the ship?”

“If we had bilges I’d volunteer to clean them if it meant that I wouldn’t have to just sit around,” Sander said with a slight growl. First time on a real mission in years and I’m feeling a little anxious.”

The pair exited the bridge and entered the primary corridor that was lined with pressure hatches that could seal off the ship section by section if hull integrity were compromised, passing crew members that stepped to one side or the other and snapped to attention for the senior officers.

Unseen from the inside of the Righteous were sixty three ships of varying size and classification that followed in the heavy cruiser’s wake. From frigates to pocket battleships, they all followed the same course on the same mission.

“The Q-fleet has been making covering runs all around the nebula,” Brees said as they walked along the corridor, his hands linked behind his back. “Alistair and Chuck have been questioning anyone they can about possible goings-on. They’ve seen a lot of traffic heading towards the nebula, but not out. I think the Legion knows that we’re a little irritated with them.”

“Good. Time for them to be afraid,” Elias offered. “I owe them for Melise and the others.”

“Careful, son. A cornered animal is always the most dangerous.”

“Or one that’s hurt and pissed off.”

Sandy nodded slowly. True.”

The pair turned to the right and followed a branching corridor to the port section that housed half of the ship’s fighter compliment. They found Rovi and Lena both inspecting their planes, the rest of the pilots onboard following their example with technicians running to and fro with scanners and diagnostic DataPaks.

Lena was the first to see her friend and Brees step into the pressurized hangar.

“Captain on deck!” she bellowed, surprising the fox with her ability to project her voice. Normally the doe was fairly soft spoken.

Activity stopped for a moment as everyone on the deck halted and went rigidly to attention.

“Carry on! Elias shouted and gave Lena a slight scowl. “You know I hate it when people do that, the fox told his friend.

“C’mon, Elias,” the doe said with a winsome smile as she batted her eyelashes. “I can’t have the rest of the crew not respect our fearless Captain, now could I?” She assumed a coquettish expression that turned mischievous. “Besides, I’ve been wanting to do that for a year now. You can take that gal outta the uniform and all. Now that I’ve gotten it out of my system, what can I do you for?”

Rovi had joined the small group and looked on with amusement. “Sandy and I thought we’d do a quick inspection tour of the ship while Saul minds the shop. How are things shaping up?” the white fox asked.

The rabbit shrugged. “No gripes about the wing or the pilots, and that’s as the Executive Officer for this motley group!” she said brightly. “The techs are pretty top notch. The only issue I have is thata few of them are awfully green. I guess with what we’re headed to they’ll get seasoned right quick. When we drop out of warp outside the Sol System I was thinking about running a scramble drill. I’d like to see how they do if they think we’re popping into something real.”

“I’ll second that recommendation,” Rovi said with a nod. “They know what to do with a standard hot launch drill, and I emphasize drill. Only a few of the pilots have ever done a true combat launch. It would be a good way to evaluate them.”

Elias nodded. That wouldn’t be a bad idea for the whole ship. We’ve run enough simulations so that I’m confident everyone knows their job. It might be time to do a pressure test,” he said quietly.

“Personally I’d like for it to happen while most of the wing is on sleep rotation,” Lena informed her Captain. “No better way to do your pressure test than when they’re shorted rack time.”

“You know,” Brees said with a grin, “for an herbivore you have a rather vicious streak.”

Lena chuckled. “Sorry, Colonel. This bunny has been known to bite.”

“That’s for sure,” Rovi said. “Your munitions officer tried putting the moves on her. I think she’s been hanging around with Randal a little too much. I’ve never seen a bunny bare its teeth before.”

“This isn’t a problem, is it?” Elias asked in concern.

Lena shook her head no. “Not anymore. He may be a rabbit as well, but I’ve got my Randy. When he didn’t get the hint I invited him to spar for the privilege of talking to me. I didn’t warn him of the lessons that Randal and Pala gave me. We were able to come to an understanding and I here he’ll be able to hold a pencil again next week.”

“Try not to do anything permanent to the rest of the crew, Lena,” Elias said rubbing the spot between his eyes. “We need everyone to be able to go at amoment’s notice.”

“As long as no one else pinches my tail they’ll be fine,” she said as she examined the dark blue polish she had on her claw tips.

“Let me know if you need anything else and don’t forget I want your readiness and fitness reports by the end of the week,” Elias said as he and Brees turned to leave the hangar deck.

“I think we need to focus a little more on conduct expectations during recruits’ time in the Academy,” Brees growled sourly. “I don’t like that kind of behavior.”

“Agreed. I’ve met the munitions officer. Lieutenant Hern fancies himself as quite the lady killer. I hear of another incident like that and I’ll slam him in the brig and promote his assistant as a replacement.” Elias tapped the actuator for the hatch that led to the internal bay that contained the gear for the combat team.

As soon as the hatch slid open, it was a repeat of the hangar.

“As you were,” Elias said as Randal approached. The wolf didn’t look comfortable with his new lieutenant’s rank. “How are your people coming along, Randy?” the fox asked, looking at the contingent as they ran tests and maintenance on weapons, body armor, armored vac-suits and powered units.

“We’re ready,” the wolf replied laconically.

“Nothing to report? No problems of any kind?”

The wolf shook his head. “Lena has already handled the only problem I’ve seen so far,” he said with a lopsided grin. “As for my section, all of them are ready and at their peak.”

“Why am I the last person to know about the issue with Hern?” the fox complained.

“There wasn’t any reason to get you involved, Captain. It was a personal matter that got sorted quickly and all of the involved parties have come to an understanding.”

“I’m starting to think I’m not needed,” Elias quipped.

Randal shook his head. “Don’t count on it. You’re needed because you inspire those below you. And I’m sure not going to fly this thing. I have enough on my plate with being an officer now.”

Elias laughed. “You don’t like being a commissioned officer, Randy?”

“Apart from access to the officer’s lounge, the only things I got were a slight bump in pay and a tone more of paperwork,” the wolf said morosely.

The fox laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Welcome to my world,” he said in a contrite tone.

The trio talked for a few more minutes before a sergeant stepped up, but held back a discreet distance. Elias raised an eyebrow when he looked at her. “It looks like you’re needed. At least I don’t have to ask for your status reports. I already know that you’ve sent them to my terminal, haven’t you?”

“About an hour ago,” Randal replied with a grin. He gave a precise salute before turning to see what the non-com wanted him for, leaving Elias and Brees to continue on their tour before the fox returned to the bridge for the ship’s entry into faster-than-light warp.

By the time Elias made it back to his cabin at the end of his duty cycle, he was feeling a little strung out and his chest was aching slightly. He was technically off duty, but being the Captain of the cruiser meant that he could and would be called for anything that a junior officer deemed important. He unfastened his tunic and draped it over the back of the chair that sat in front of his small desk and terminal his cabin was equipped with then kicked off his boots. He wished he could still wear his preferred soft boots, unfortunately they weren’t even close to being regulation.

The tour of the ship to check the various departments had gone well, and it looked as if his appearance had increased the already high morale of the crew. He and Brees had visited them all, from weapons to galley staff, and listened to the individuals from every department. Elias was please that his ship was crewed by such dedicated individuals.

As he unfastened the catches on his trousers he heard someone giggle from the opposite corner of the cabin. He paused and peered into the shadows.

“Don’t stop on my account. I was enjoying the show,” Cerise said, her black fur blending in well with the darkness.

“I hope you aren’t too disappointed if all you get is a show,” Elias said as he finished disrobing. He laid the trousers over the tunic and moved stiffly to the bed, rubbing his shoulder and chest. “I’m fairly whipped at this point.” He sat on the edge of the bed before stretching out on his stomach, his head pillowed by his folded arms.

Elias heard movement from where Cerise had been sitting then felt the mattress sink slightly as she climbed up on the bed. He found it hard to repress a smile when she straddled his thighs after moving his thick brush of a tail out of the way and began to massage his shoulders and back.

“You are far too tense for your own good, Captain,” she said in a light tone.

“I won’t be for much longer if you keep that up,” he murmured drowsily. He grunted when she hit a particularly sore spot.

“Sorry, Love. You really are in knots, aren’t you?”

“I guess I am.” He reached back to pat her thigh affectionately, realizing that she was completely unclothed when all his hand encountered was her leg clad only in her own rich fur. “Huh. For some reason I’m suddenly not all that tired,” he said, turning his head to look at his wife pointedly.

Cerise chuckled and pushed his head back onto his arms. “Wait until I’m done and we’ll see how well you feel.” She began working on his lower back and was surprised that her mate wasn’t taking muscle relaxers and analgesics. “Elias, you’re a mess,” the vixen told him with concern. “Promise me you’ll see Lem tomorrow. Please?

“If it’ll make you fell better.”

“It will. I know you’re the Captain and all, and I’m a junior officer, but I’m still your wife and I worry.” She finished and slid off of his legs and stretched out next to her fox, resting on her side and ran her fingers through the fur of his back and neck, enjoying the way her ebony coloring contrasted with his white and light, silvery grey. “It doesn’t seem like we’ve been married for a year, and at the same time I feel like I’ve known you my whole life,” she told him with a smile.

Elias turned his head so that he could look at his mate and smiled warmly. “I feel the same way. And that brings us to something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. I think this will be my last mission, Cerise. I feel that I’ve done my part. I want this to be over so that I can spend the rest of my life wit you and the kits. I don’t want to lose what we have, and I don’t want to lose you. It’s selfish of me, and I feel a little guilty about it, but that’s where I stand.” He looked at Cerise who regarded him silently and felt a lump begin to form in his throat. “You aren’t angry, are you?”

She remained silent for several seconds before shaking her head. “No. I knew that you were having thoughts along this line and was hoping you’d come to this decision. Like I’ve said before, I don’t want you to compromise what you are for me. I knew that you were in a dangerous job when we met, and I accepted that. You have to do this because it’s what you want and know that whatever you decide I’ll support you in it.”

He slid a hand out from where it rested under his head and wrapped his fingers with hers. “You know that Merlin offered me a job with his freight company, don’t you? It would still be travelling around the Alignment. I know that he’d also be a great person to work for…”

“But it could strain your friendship,” the vixen finished, seeing Elias nod.

“It might, then again it might not. He’s an easy person to get along with and he knows his business. Merlin’s a sharp one, and he has a solid reputation with his clientele. That and we could get a ship that could be almost as well outfitted as the Angel was. Or I can take another job. We don’t have to decide immediately. I have enough saved up for us to get our own house outright and we could live comfortably for a few years before I need to find a job.”

“The money has never been an issue, Love,” Cerise said with a smile. “I just want you happy. Though I have to admit that I like the idea of something that keeps us in space. There are plenty of advantages to it. And it’s not like we can’t ensure Van and Renee get a good education. That and seeing other worlds and how people live throughout the PA would be good for them. And whenever we go back to Dennier they can visit their friends.”

“What friends? They haven’t really met anybody apart from us yet,” Elias replied with a chuckle.

“I guess you haven’t checked your messages, then. Samantha and Merlin are expecting. I don’t think they’ve told anyone on the Blue Horizon yet, and we won’t spoil the surprise for them, but she’s due a little later this year.” Cerise continued to run her fingers through his fur and found it as soothing as he did. “I know that they’ll all get along great.”

“That’s great! Merlin and Sam will be great parents. I bet he’s just busting with pride right now!” Elias enthused. “That reminds me of something. I can’t believe I forgot this! Then again, we were a little busy.” He pushed himself up and reached into the drawer of the stand that was built into the bulkhead of the cabin, tripping the catch to the drawer before sliding it open.

Cerise watched as her husband pulled something out and gave Elias a suspicious look when he rolled to a sitting position, turning to face her with a flat box in his hands.

“I got this for you to celebrate our anniversary. I know it’s late, but it’s my way of saying that you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I would marry you all over again.”

Cerise took the box and flipped the lid open, her eyes widening at the necklace, earrings and other jewelry that rested on black velvet. “Oh, Elias! It’s beautiful!” She traced a finger over the star emerald before looking up at the other fox, a surprised look on her face. Then the smile fell. “I didn’t get you anything…” she said quietly, upset with herself.

Elias chuckled. “Yes you did! You gave me two of the most incredible children in the history of the universe.” He lifted her chin with his finger and looked deep into her eyes. “Renee and Van are more precious than anything you could ever buy, wife of mine. They are part of you and a part of me. That’s more special than anything you can name.”

Cerise set the box aside and wrapped her arms around her mate, clinging to him. “What did I do to deserve you?” she whispered as he slid his arms around her in return.

“I keep asking myself the same thing about you.”

Elias held her for several minutes before leaning his head down and nuzzling her neck, feeling Cerise react to the contact and smiled. He moved so that she had to lay back and looked at her for a moment in the faint illumination of the cabin security light, her hair spread about the pillow beneath her head as she regarded him with eyes that were as green as the emerald he’d given her and filled with all of the emotions that she couldn’t give sufficient voice to.

“I love you, Cerise. And you are all I’ll ever need.”

As was often the case when he was with his mate, he felt more alive than he ever had in twenty nine years of life.

CHAPTER 43

The freighter docked to the port side of the Spatial Police Force cruiser looked out of place with the fleet that surrounded them, its ruby red and gold trimmed paint scheme was a splash of bright color when compared to the dark grey of the myriad warships. Inside the bay that was attached to the docking tube Elias and his senior crew, which was everyone from the Guiding Angel and Colonel Brees, waited as the airlock cycled open. A human in a simple button down shirt, leather vest, boots and kilt paused at the threshold of the inner hatch of the cruiser. “Permission to come aboard, Captain Tivnan?” the man asked, a grin on his clean shaven face.

Elias’ answering grin was just as wide. “Permission granted, Captain Gordon.”

The man stepped aboard and the two friends shared a comradely embrace complete with back slapping.

“You’re looking good, Alistair,” the fox said once they’d greeted each other.

“You’re not looking too bad yourself, Toddy-boy!” The man then turned to the lion. “Pleasure to see you again, Sandy. We have something you might want to see,” Alistair told all of them, his expression slipping into something more serious. “We ran into something on the run back to the Centaurus system. And I mean literally ran into it.”

The human motioned to the rest of his crew, two of them, a red panda and mouse, hauling a black sphere almost a foot and a half in diameter on a cargo pallet. The device had several antennae sticking off of it and several lenses for cameras and digital recorders.

“Surveillance drone,” the Scot said with a frown. “Turns out the entire bleedin’ Van Connor is seeded with the things. We found this one near that area you had that engagement with the two Carrack class pirate ships,” he told Elias. “Nedry here already popped it open and took a gander at the insides. Seems that it’s chock full o’ data,” Alistair said as he motioned to the red panda.

The short engineer nodded and stepped forward. “The only reason that it wasn’t picked up was because of a through penetration of the outer casing, either spatial debris or shrapnel from the destruction of those two ships,” Nedry told the crowd, pointing with a stubby finger at a rough, triangular shaped hole in the black surface. “It took out the recall transmitter but didn’t harm the mem’ry banks. There’s a lot of detailed pics in there of the Guiding Angel.”

“That explains how they knew what ship to look for,” Saul said with a low growl to his voice, the insect-like appearance of the automated drone giving him the creeps. He’d never liked spiders unless they were plastered on the bottom of his boots, and the drone looked like a representative of that species.

“This is exactly how they knew,” Alistair said. “Though I’ve put a serious crimp in their plans for these things,” the human told te others with a wry grin. “Nedry was able to locate the recall signal. We’ve spent over a week picking these things up from all around that particular entry point of the nebula. Fools were using the same frequency for all the snoopers so it was easy to gather ‘em up.”

“How many did you find?” Elias asked his friend curiously.

“About three hundred of them, give or take a few dozen,” the human replied with a shrug. He looked at Brees. “Think the Academy might want ‘em fer target practice?”

“Why do that?” Cerise asked. “It’s a waste. Let’s reprogram them and seed the nebula and let them work for us? It wouldn’t be hard to set it so they transmit on a secure frequency. If you launch them so they travel through the gas cloud, some of them might give us some good visual intelligence that we can use.”

The rest of the group looked at the vixen as Elias and Rovi grinned in pride. Alistair shook his head in appreciation. “Ya told me yer mate was a wonderful lass, but ya didn’ tell me she was as smart as she was pretty!”

Cerise beamed at the unexpected praise and shrugged. “If we can use their own materials against them, why waste our own resources?”

Brees scratched at his chin. “Get with Ensign Tivnan here, and Cadet Brees to coordinate with the Valiant,” he told the human. “Deliver the snoopers to them. It’s a recon ship with the ability to redeploy the satellites. Give them your coordinate data as well. We’ll hang back for a week sso they can go ahead and implement Cerise’s plan.”

“Cadet Brees? Did one of the cubs finally decide to join up?” Alistair asked with a raised eyebrow.

“My adopted daughter. Elias and the rest of the crew from the Guiding Angel rescued her on their maiden cruise,” the lion said with a note of pride.

“Talk about a family business!” the Scot said with a laugh.

“It’s going to take a while for Cadet Brees to initiate a rendezvous,” Elias told his friend. “Think you’re up to having dinner with us?”

“Dinner?” Alistair exclaimed. “I’m still on bloody Fynian time! It’s breakfast for us and we haven’t had the chance to eat yet.”

“Good,” the fox said with a nod. “I just happen to have a good supply of smoked salmon and fresh eggs…”

The human’s eyes grew wide and bright, pleased that his friend remembered his favorite food. He took Cerise’s arm in an exaggerated, roguish manner.” Lead the way, Toddy-boy! With such beauty as this to intrigue me, how can I refuse such an invitation!”

Cerise patted the man’s hand. “I guess I can settle for being escorted by the second best pirate hunter Captain of the fleet,” she said in an offhand manner, deflating the human’s ego efficiently. When Alistair let his arm drop she smoothly took Elias’ hand. “Coming Alistair?”the vixen asked with a backwards glance.

“Bloody hell,” he said stunned, then broke out into a grin. “One day I’ll find me a woman like that!”

They were all laughing as they followed the white fox and his mate to the officer’s mess.

PART III

"End Game"

CHAPTER 44

“Fighters away and weapons are on stand-by,” Ensign Odette Daniker informed the Captain of the SPF Righteous.

“Reliant, Cavalier, and Aldantia awaiting orders,” Ensign Cerise Tivnan followed after the other female. The black furred fox glanced briefly at her mate’s back as he sat in the command chair, his chin between his thumb and forefinger in thought.

“Contact the Legion ships. Order them to heave to and prepare for boarding or they will be fired upon,” Captain Elias Tivnan directed. He turned his head slightly to the left, his eyes never leaving the display screen with the six enemy vessels floating within the luminous clouds of the Van Connor Nebula. “Engineering, status?”

The grizzled human that manned the station glanced at the different displays for various sections of the ship and nodded before replying a moment later. “We’re nominal, Cap’n.” The man’s gravelly voice was calm as he spoke. “Engine output is green, shields are one hundred percent and damage control parties are on stand-by.”

Chief Neil Rollins had been in too many engagements to get overly excited. Either he made it, or he didn’t, but he would do his job to the best of his ability regardless. His unflappable demeanor also had the effect of calming those around him, and he figured that it was just one more way of helping out with a vital aspect of the ship’s systems that couldn’t be fixed with rewiring or a bit of welding and a spritz of lubricant.

As it was, the man reminded Elias of his former engineer, the Late Stram Molson. The two were definitely cut from the same cloth and the fox was sure that the human and Fur would have gotten along well. “Thank you, Mister Rollins.” The fox then spoke to his second officer who was separated from the rest of the bridge, insulated in his pilot’s capsule that also contained a full holographic real-time image of the space around the cruiser and was overlaid with flight data. “You know what to do if it gets hot, Saul. Just remember the Righteous is a little bigger than the Angel.”

Elias was referring to the Q-ship, a warship designed to look like a common freighter, that they had been on for a little over a year that had been destroyed upon their real purpose having been discovered after an engagement with the outlaw group they again faced.

“Aye, Captain,” the jaguar replied.

Elias wished fervently that he were the one behind the controls, but his assignment had been given by Breth Janes herself, the supreme commandant of the Spatial Police Force. His wants had no place in his present position, though he had vowed to do the job he was given to the best of his ability.

The fight was personal for the fox. Not only had the rogue mercenary company known as Ganlin’s Legion attacked his ship the Guiding Angel, causing the deaths of three individuals that were more than just comrades and friends, they had attacked his family. Elias Tivnan would have taken the fight to them even if he’d had to buy a ship of his own and he didn’t plan on stopping until the outlaw mercenaries were forever smashed into oblivion.

His attitude might have been seen by some of the more liberal members of the Planetary Alignment as barbaric and vicious, but the fox knew that until the Legion was dealt with on a permanent basis, no one would be safe.

Strapped into the seat to the left and behind the Captain’s was Colonel Sander Brees, the head of the SPF Special Operations Division and final authority for the mission they were presently on. The lion also looked at the main display with a slight lifting to his lips that revealed the tips of his sharp teeth. “They aren’t moving.”

“No,” Elias said flatly. “The Legion doesn’t know when to quit. That’s why they went rogue.”

The event that had caused the company to flee civilized star systems of the PA for the wilds of the Van Connor Nebula was fairly well known. Years earlier two corporations had simultaneously laid claim to a resource rich world that had phenomenal potential and vast mineral wealth. One of the corporations had been from Earth, the other from the now-dead world of Mainor. As was standard practice at the time, both parties had hired mercenaries to protect their interests. What had started with a minor standoff had turned into a bloodbath as the Ganlin Legion overstepped their contract and used an orbital missile strike to wipe out the Terran company’s assets on the surface. The Legion then sent in their foot troops and massacred the survivors.

The incident had generated extreme tensions between the two planets, which almost led to a shooting war with Earth and Mainor until cooler heads in the PA Legislature had stepped in. The Mainor corporation had to pay reparations to their Terran competitors before both worlds backed down and the Terran corporation was granted full rights to the planet. Ganlin’s Legion was declared outlaw, but before they could be brought to justice, the mercenaries had stolen a number of ships and vanished.

While the Legion would appear every so often to wreak havoc in the PA, no one had been able to locate their center of operations. To survive, the entire group had become bandits, raiders and pirates, often with their depredations succeeding spectacularly as they not only had the weapons and training to pull off stunning raids, they also had nothing to lose.

From that incident, the Legion had sworn eternal animosity against humans in general, and the SPF in particular as the standing orders to all individuals within the interstellar law enforcement group were to hunt the rogue group down with extreme prejudice.

“Energy signatures are increasing!” Cerise called from her station at communications and sensors.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Elias said to no one in particular. He hit the all-call control that would carry his words to the rest of his squadron. “Hold fire until they make the first move, then engage. Take them down and expect no quarter. Righteous out.” He toggled the comm to his own fighter wings. “Colonel, Lieutenant, harass and disable-”

“Missile launch!” Odette informed the bridge. “Incoming pulse cannon fire!”

“All elements,” the fox said switching back to the all-call, “weapons free! I say again weapons free!” Elias winced slightly as the display flared with bright light as pulse cannon blasts splashed against the forward shields of the Righteous, the protective energy field dissipating the coherent energy of the green-white bolts without allowing damage to pass through to the hull underneath.

The huge pulse cannon turrets on the outer hull of the Eridani Class Heavy Cruiser slewed in different directions as gunnery crews targeted various hostile starships with sun-hot bolts of energy erupting from the stubby tubes as soon as acquisition was made and verified. While the larger guns engaged the enemy vessels, the VRF magnetic accelerator gun emplacements, under computer control for the time being, locked onto the smaller missiles that streaked through vacuum.

The smaller weapons used discharges of electromagnetic energy to propel small solid metal projectiles at extreme velocity, the designation VRF indicating very rapid fire. Each gun was similar to the ancient Earth Gatling Gun and used a series of rotating barrels so that after spitting a round, the tube could cool a bit before it was used again. Even with barrels lined with rapid heat dispersing materials, the temperatures soared phenomenally in each tube after a few rounds. The idea behind the weapons were point defense against missiles and other explosive projectiles, and they served their role well filling the distance between the Righteous and the incoming warheads with a flood of solid metal rounds that chewed the enemy warheads into so many bits of inert trash.

The Spatial Police Force vessels spread out and engaged the six ships of the Ganlin Legion while fighters added to the fray by harassing and using their own weapons to further tax shielding. While the Legion had access to high-end computers and equipment through their predations, it looked as if the crews of the hostile ships had actual personnel operating their weapons systems. Reactions were a few seconds too slow as the Legion gunners hesitated between targeting the larger ships or the fighters.

Elias watched the battle as it evolved, both in real-time and via a tactical holographic overlay. “Cavalier! Watch your port flank!” Elias instructed over the communications network that his mate had set up. “There’s another ship emerging from the cloud!”

“Affirmative!” the captain of the frigate replied, her voice strained and brittle sounding. The Cavalier was the smallest and the lightest armed ship in the squadron, though made up for its lack of size and punch in maneuverability and speed. “Engaging!”

No sooner had the Cavalier begun to alter course to engage the hostile than the cloud ‘above’ the latest Ganlin Legion contact erupted with glowing blisters of expanding detonations and withering fire as pulse cannon blasts and missiles tore into the destroyer class ship painted in red and black. The shields failed and Elias watched, distracted from the rest of the battle as the outer hull of the outlaw ship evaporated allowing the weapons fire from the unknown source to claw the internal sections a moment before the vessel exploded silently in the luminous vacuum of the nebula. Out of the cloud slid a battleship with Ganisian markings.

“This is the battleship GNBS War Maiden out of Ganis to Spatial Police Force commander. Sorry we’re late. The Ganis consulate sends their regards and asks if you will accept our offer of assistance?” The face that appeared with the communication was a raccoon with Ganisian Navy Admiral’s rank in silver that contrasted starkly with the burgundy uniform she wore.

“This is Captain Elias Tivnan of the SPF task force. We’ll bloody well take all the help we can get, War Maiden,” Elias said with a hard grin.

The raccoon’s return smile was almost feral. “Admiral Polina Sheehan, Captain. We’ll get together after we wrap this little party up.” The female nodded to someone off screen. Seconds later more ships exited the clouds of the Van Connor. “We brought a few friends that were feeling a little left out as well.”

“Looking forward to it, Admiral. If you don’t mind, we could use an assist to cut off their route of escape,” Elias told the Ganisian suggestively.

“Can do, Captain.”

The comm screen went blank and the fox turned and looked at Sander Brees. “That was unexpected.” He regarded at the tactical display that began listing the latest IFF signatures of the recent arrivals. Apart from War Maiden, there were two fast strike cruisers from Tanthe, a Terran carrier, and pair of Alexandrian destroyers.

Two Martian Yards built System Patrol Boats disengaged from the Earth built carrier and lit after the nearest pirate to their entry vector even as fighters boiled out of the prow of the huge vessel. While the flattened, stretched-disk shaped craft lacked Faster-Than-Light star drives, they made up for it in both heavy armor and firepower, being little more than fast, durable weapon platforms for in-system defense use. They passed on either side of a Carrack Class ship, multiple shock thread emitters firing as the SPB’s passed down the length of the hostile vessel. Then as one they turned and headed off for another target, the ship in their wake floating lifeless as all of its internal systems were overloaded and shut down.

“Nuke signature!” Cerise sang out from her console, her voice tight and clipped.

“Emergency power to shields!” Elias shouted. “Evasive action!”

In the confines of his encapsulated position, Saul increased power output from the engines, slamming the throttle controls to their stops, even as he threw the Righteous into a tight turn to starboard and ‘down’ from its relative position as the other ships of the SPF squadron also began to scatter. The SPF Reliant was breaking off from the ship it was engaged with, though her pilot was a little slower. Elias and the others watched in horror as the nuclear armed missile made it through the interdiction fire of the VRF cannon on a trajectory that carried it past the cruiser and straight to the Reliant.

Tactical information from the Reliant ceased as the small warship and the vessel it had been engaged with were engulfed in a flash of light as bright as a sun. The wave of released energy and plasma from the atomic conflagration washed over the Righteous, eroding the shields to almost nothing while sparks popped as circuit boards surged with the electromagnetic pulse from the warhead. Artificial gravity cut out and the interior of the ship was suddenly thrown into zero gravity.

“Report!” Elias growled as he waved away a tendril of acrid smoke that burned the inside of his nose and made his eyes water.

Rollins had one finger pressed to the earpiece he wore and listened to the reports from the damage control teams throughout the vessel even as he held onto his console with white knuckled fingers. “Artificial gravity is out. Shields at three percent. All other systems are green, Cap’n. Crews are containing a small fire in recreation and stores and are already working on restoring systems.”

“Thank you, Chief,” the fox said with an audible sigh of relief. The shields were the main concern, but he trusted the human to know what the priorities that he needed to focus on were. “Target the ship that fired the nuke,” Elias snarled even as his hand came down on the intercom control that would put him through to the troop contingent. “Randal, prepare your team for breach boarding.”

“Roger that, Sir. We’re ready,” the wolf replied stoically.

Despite the tension of the moment, Elias allowed a small smile to tug at the corners of his mouth. No matter what had happened since the crew of the Guiding Angel had been thrown together, Randal Mercks had been the most stable individual out of all of them. The fox was surprised at how much he’d come to depend on the fur’s calm and unflappable demeanor.

The Righteous came around, the jaguar guiding the cruiser and aiming straight for the belly of the enemy vessel that had fired the nuclear warhead. A hatch in the armored bow opened and recessed into the hull as a strange looking tube extended from the forward section. Heavy fire erupted from the Legion vessel’s defensive batteries, energy and solid shot failing to penetrate the protective field around the Eridani class ship even with her depleted shields.

Gouts of cyan fire flared from thruster apertures as Saul Reese initiated a braking maneuver almost a thousand meters out from the enemy ship. As soon as the end of the breach tube connected with the outer hull of the Legion StarMaster class destroyer, a design that was almost seventy years old but built quite solidly, plasma cutters flared to life, melting through the thick armor plating like a laser through ice.

“We’re through,” Randal informed his Captain via his armored suit’s communication suite.

From his position on the bridge, Elias Tivnan listened in on the boarding operation, his insides knotted with tension even as he kept an eye on the rest of the battle around them.

CHAPTER 45

Lieutenant Randal Mercks triggered three rounds from the 30 millimeter grenade launcher mounted to his armored forearm. The trajectory of the rounds didn’t deviate in the slightest as they sailed down the boarding tube. All three detonated with little pops as they struck the overhead plating of the corridor at the end of the tube, filling the breached section of the enemy destroyer with a potent cocktail that dispersed in a lighter-than-air aerosol. No sooner had the grenades dispersed their contents, a combination of tearing agents and regurgitates then Randy entered the tube, kicking off at the last second so that he floated through and ‘up’ to the other ship. Another tap with his armored foot just before reaching the end changed his direction slightly so that he seemed to pop up and land solidly as the other vessel’s artificial gravity grabbed him.

Thuds on the deck plates informed the wolf that the rest of his team had crossed over as they followed in his wake. He didn’t have to look to know that they were arrayed to cover both directions of attack in the corridor they found themselves in. The other three SPO’s called“Clear!” out in order.

“Primary targets are bridge and engineering,” the wolf ordered. “Stunners where you can, but lethal force is authorized. Beta Team take engineering. Delta, you cover here. Gamma Team has security on the Righteous. Alpha Team on me.”

The two teams split off in different directions as they moved out to carry out their assigned tasks. The thudding of the power armor suits drew some attention, and no sooner did Legion crew members appear to investigate then they were put down by discharges from multiple stunners. The squad only paused long enough to make sure each of the unconscious rogues were properly bound for later retrieval and there were no other hostiles. Where it was impractical to sweep all the areas where hostiles might be hiding, the members of the assault team tossed gas grenades in and sealed those sections.

The boarding operation was fairly easy until Alpha Team reached the junction that would allow them to access the next deck where the bridge was located. From covered positions the mercenary crew let loose a withering rain of fire as soon as they saw the armored SPO’s.

“Well, we know where their combat troops are,” Corporal Delian, a tigress that had been with the SPF for three years said as she checked her weapons. “I don’t think they want us here.”

Randal ignored the monologue. It was a way for her to deal with the stress, and as long as it didn’t distract others and botch the operation, he didn’t mind. “Del, can you cover me for a moment?”

“What do you have in mind, Sir?” the female asked. He could hear the grin in her voice.

“I need to get to the other side of the intersection. I’d prefer to do that with as few holes in me as possible,” the wolf said.

“On three?”

Randal agreed. “On three.”

The tigress put her back to the far bulkhead and held both weapon laden arms pointed forward.

“One.”

Randal lowered his center of gravity.

“Two.”

Leaning forward slightly, the wolf nodded in his helmet, though his counterpart couldn’t see it.

“Three!”

Side hopping, Delian sent streams of return fire from the dual ten millimeter autorifles attached to her armor as her commanding officer leapt forward, hitting the deck and sliding on his breastplate to the other side of the corridor intersection. As he recovered and turned around, he saw the armored form stagger as Del slumped against the bulkhead. In the center of the black faceplate was a hole as big around as his thumb. Even as he brought up her suit’s telemetry on his heads-up-display Randy knew she was dead, the flat indicator lines of her vitals only confirming the obvious.

As the leader for the team, Randal Mercks had items that the others weren’t authorized to carry. He brought a stubby, pistol-gripped tube with three barrels up from where it had been attached to his leg armor. “Fire in the hole!” he snarled angrily. Reaching around the edge of the intersection corner, he discharged all three barrels at once and dropped to his knees.

Two of the blue banded grenades hit the deck before exploding, the third actually struck one of the Ganlin mercenaries in the chest first and detonated a meter off the deck. Concussion grenades were meant to disorient and disable hostiles with a thunderous clap and pressure wave. In the confines of the corridor, the blast was reflected back by the heavy bulkheads and magnified. The overpressure wave contained by blastdoors and heavy hatches became exceedingly lethal like the hammer of God. In the confined space it turned organs into jelly and shattered bone, tossing bodies like a child in a tantrum would throw dolls.

“Form up,” the wolf said, his voice resuming its normal calm monotone, though he felt anything but.

Tyra Delian had been one of his students when he was an instructor at the SPF Academy and the tigress had been a firm believer in the mandate of the SPF. He remembered her as always being positive and never afraid to try and cheer someone up if they were having a rough time. She’d joined the Spatial Police Force because she had too much compassion in her and felt that the best way to make the Alignment a better place was to join an organization that was there to help others.

She’d been his friend, and for a short while after her graduation they’d been lovers. Del had been happy for him and Lena, and it had been a pleasure to serve with her. If they got another Q-ship after this operation, Randal had been thinking seriously of having Del brought on board to take another friend’s position that had died doing her duty. She would’ve been a suitable replacement for Melise Rains.

When Randal rounded the corner, he moved like a force of nature, completely unstoppable, his target the pressure hatch to the next deck. He reloaded the grenade launcher as he walked, his steps vibrating the very deck. The door was sealed and even the manual override was disabled.

“Cabot, open it,” the wolf ordered.

Scrambling to do as he was told, a young human on his second deployment trotted up. He reached into a pouch attached to his thigh armor and removed what looked like a tube of caulking sealer with a squeeze grip and lined the edges of the armored doors with a sickly, green looking paste. As soon as he had a line of the goo all the way around the hatch, he stuck a small silver device on the substance and pushed the large actuator button.

A small blue LED on the box blinked on and off five times, once for each second, then turned red. The paste flared brilliantly and in less time than it took for a heart to beat twice it burned through the metal and ceramic sandwich of the hatch panels.

There was no one on the other side to impede their progress and the boarding team continued. They burned through the hatch leading to the bridge and the doors were helped along in their fall to the deck by Randal’s armored foot. A small caliber round spanged off of his armored shoulder and he triggered a burst from the stunner mounted on his right arm instead of the ten millimeter autorifles. The cheetah that had fired at the wolf fell like a marionette that had its strings cut, clipping the side of his head on the captain’s chair on his way down.

“SPF! STAND DOWN!” the external speaker of Randal’s suit blared.

The rest of the Team piled in behind their leader, their weapons ready as another cheetah, a tabby and cougar threw their hands into the air.

“Cabot, secure the prisoners,” the wolf barked out as he kept an eye on the bridge crew. He toggled his radio to the frequency of the other Teams. “Beta, status report.”

“We’re rounding up the last of the engineering crew. Should be secure in less than two minutes.”

“Copy that. Delta, status check.”

“We had some hostiles try to push past us. They’re all sleeping at the moment. We thought we heard an explosion your way. Everything copacetic, Sir?”

“Negative. One casualty. Send a medical team for Corporal Delian.”

“Yeah. ‘Cause I got a serious headache.”

Randal spun around and saw Del with her personal weapon and light body armor from her ditch kit over her duty overalls. Her head had a long laceration that had matted her blonde hair with blood and some of it had run over her face.

The tigress grinned at her superior officer and friend. “Down but not out, Randy.”

“How…”

“Anti-materiel rifle with armor piercing round. Went through the face plate, nicked me and took out most of the electronics in the back of the integrated helmet.” She seemed as if she was going to say more when she turned her orange and black striped head to her right. “What’s this?”

The wolf turned to see what she was looking at and saw two females, a lioness and skunk hooked to the bulkhead by chains that were attached to collars and neither of them had a stitch of clothing. They cringed as Del approached.

“Hey, it’s okay. We’re here to help,” the tigress said in a soothing tone. She moved forward to the two females, pausing when they flinched back, eyes wide with fear, their postures extremely submissive. “Whoa. It’s okay, girls,” Del said again as she slung her weapon.

It took several minutes of coaxing to get the females to relax enough that the tigress could get any closer. Randy called for an electronics team as well as another detachment of boarding troops to assist in a sweep of the ship before contacting the bridge.

“The ship’s mostly ours, Captain. I’ve got teams scouring the rest of the vessel. We did find…well, I guess they’re slaves,” Randy informed the fox. He then gave details on the state the two furs were in.

“Typical Legion,” Elias replied. “Females aren’t even second class citizens. They’re property. The higher one’s rank, the more females he has… access to. It’s a disgusting method of motivating the more ambitious and the young. If a female actually joins the fighting ranks it’s because she has proven herself ‘worthy’ to be considered male and actually gets to collect females as well. Lem’s on his way to you with a medical team. Treena’s coming with an intel contingent.”

“Copy that, Sir. Mercks out.” He watched as his other two team members marched the bridge crew out into the corridor, Cabot carrying the unconscious jaguar under his left arm like a sack of grain. “You good, Del? Medics are on their way along with the intel team.”

“Yeah. I’ll meet up with you at the boarding tube. I want to see if I can find something to cover them with,” the tigress said.

Randy looked around and saw an emergency locker. Instead of trying to work the latch with his armored gauntlets, he simply pulled the door off with a squeal of rending metal. There were some light but effective blankets inside of an unwholesome yellow and he grabbed two and handed them to the corporal. “These should do. I don’t want to leave anyone alone until we’re positive we got everybody.”

Tyra took the blankets and covered the females but paused before she unhooked the chains. The collars weren’t standard restraints and she took a closer look. As she inspected them, she stifled a small gasp and stepped over to the wolf. “Uh, Randy, I can’t take the collars off. I think I should stay here for the moment.”

“What? Not until we secure every section of the ship,” he countered.

Del shook her head. “The collars have small explosive charges,” she whispered. “If I try to take them off, I might just lose a couple of fingers, but the girls…” She let her sentence hang.

The wolf was silent for several seconds before the external speaker clicked on at its lowest volume setting. “An ordinance engineer is on his way as well. I’ll keep everybody back, but stay here.” He paused and though his face was hidden his next words were fairly thick. “We thought we already lost you once today. I don’t want to go through that again.”

“Don’t let Lena hear you talking like that,” Delian said with a wry smile.

“Hey, she counts you as a friend, too, and would cause me a great deal of pain if I let something happen to you.”

“Yeah. She would. That’s one tough bunny.” She looked over her shoulder at the cringing captives. “Go on. You still have a job to do. Once all this mess is over we’ll have a detail collect my armor.”

Randal agreed and reluctantly rejoined the rest of the team.

CHAPTER 46

While the assault troops were boarding the ship that was later discovered to be named Blood of Our Enemies, the rest of the task force detachment had either destroyed or disabled the remaining Legion vessels. Crews worked for almost two full ship cycles to repair damages that were, after all was said and done, fairly minor, and even ferried over to other ships to assist in repairs. The greatest blow to the task force was the destruction of the SPF Reliant. Everyone on the Righteous had known someone on that ship, with most of the senior officers having been a part of Elias’ initial training group when he’d gone through the Academy.

He sat in his cabin sipping a cup of coffee feeling that the price was far too high for their relatively small victory. He sat with his unbooted feet stretched out and slumped in his chair feeling far older than he was. On top of the loss, there was the fact that he was missing his children badly and wished that he and Cerise were with them. As if the thought had summoned her, the control for the hatch to his suite chimed before opening, the black furred vixen walking in looking as tired as he felt.

Without a word she stepped up to him and began to rub his shoulders, looking down and seeing the small picture he was holding of their children. “I was just thinking of them,” Cerise said. While her voice was soft and full of affection for her family, there was a note of sadness in it as well. “I wonder what they’re doing right now.”

Elias said nothing as he set the picture and his mug down and spun the chair, his arms wrapping around the female’s middle as he pressed his face against her uniform tunic. “By the Maker, I’m tired and want to go home,” he whispered with a shuddering breath.

Cerise clutched her husband to her and bent forward so she could rest her head on his. “I know, Love,” she breathed into his ear. “Today was a rough day.”

“You aren’t kidding.” He sighed and closed his eyes against the burning sensation.

She held him for another minute before straightening and pulled him to his feet. “Come on. Let’s get you out of this uniform so you can get some sleep. The relief crew’s on the bridge, Admiral Sheehan and the rest of the ships are holding picket positions so we can finish repairs, and you need some rest.”

The fox stood there as his wife removed his uniform top, almost too tired to help. He’d been pulling extra duty and it was starting to show. His fur had a slightly dull look, and the whites of his eyes, when they showed, were bloodshot and red. She helped undo his belt and slid his trousers down so he could step out of them.

“Do you want to take a shower?” she asked.

“I think I might fall asleep and drown if I did,” he told her rubbing at the scar on his chest from where he’d taken an armor piercing round that had almost claimed his life. “Right now I just want a little rack time.”

“You’ve earned it,” Cerise said and turned down the thick comforter. “Come on.”

As he sat on the edge of the bed before sliding his feet under the covers, he looked up at his mate. “This isn’t something I ask often and I don’t want to sound…needy or weak…but would you hold me?”

The vixen’s expression softened as she knelt next to the bed and regarded her mate with affectionate eyes and touched his face for a moment in a gentle caress. “Oh, Elias. That doesn’t make you weak to need some comfort. You had friends on the Reliant, you’re missing our kits the same as I am. You can’t be the Captain all the time. It’s okay to ask for comfort.”

He watched as she undressed, his eyes never leaving hers and slid over as the ebony fox moved to the bed.

“It’s just a good thing I’m off duty, too. Whatever would the Captain say if he found out that I was shirking my duty station for some much needed snuggling?”

“I don’t know,” Elias said with the hint of an exhausted smile. “He might have to throw you in the brig.” As soon as Cerise was settled he wrapped his arms around her and laid his head on her breast, listening to the sound of her heartbeat.

With a look of compassion that he couldn’t see, the vixen held one arm around his shoulders and gently stroked his ears. He wouldn’t let it show, but the loss of the Reliant was hurting him more than he could admit. Captain Ilsa Pritchard had been the white fox’s very first lover, and while their relationship had been passionate at first, over time it had evolved into a very affectionate and deep friendship. The red fox vixen would always have a place in Elias’ heart as his first love, and while Cerise didn’t doubt his feelings and devotion for her, it was still a hard blow and she could understand the turmoil he was in.

As it was, Cerise and Ilsa had found common ground from the start, becoming fast friends. Cerise was sad for the loss of the other vixen, but it was a devastating blow to her husband. Ilsa had been as boisterous and full of life as anyone Cerise had ever met and one of those rare individuals that made life better for simply knowing her.

She felt a tremble run through Elias’ body and her heart went out to him. “You know, I’m going to miss her, too. And I know what she meant to you, Love.”

Tears that had been held at bay began to escape and he let out a choked sob. “I’m watching all of my friends die,” he lamented in a raw, husky voice. “First my mates on the Scimitar, then Melise and Stram and Rutger, now Ilsa and Forbes. I can’t help but wonder who’s next? And what really kills me is wondering if I have to lose you, too!”

He squeezed Cerise tight as she continued to try and sooth him. “I’m not going anywhere. And I’m not going to leave you, my Elias. Not ever. This will all end and then we can go home and be a family.” The vixen waited until the worst of the emotional storm was passed before lifting his head and kissing him.

The contact was innocent at first, but the second kiss was much more intense and soon both were touching each other in a way that only lovers can. Cerise slid further down as Elias channeled his grief into another venue. Their lovemaking was frantic, a desperate edge to it as if they tried with all of their might to reaffirm their place among the living. It was something that had been happening since the beginning of time, a way of saying that while they mourned, life had to go on. While almost fully primal in nature, it was also cathartic for both of them.

They both lay back, panting with the exertion, but the act also having the benefit of releasing the knots of tension both were suffering from physically and emotionally. As their breathing returned to something more normal, they held each other close taking and giving comfort as best they could.

“I…I’m sorry if I was rough,” Elias said softly and nuzzled his wife’s cheek.

“You were fine. I think I needed that as much as you did, Elias. I told you that I would always be there to comfort and support you. I meant it when we got married…both times. And I mean it now. Besides there are times a girl likes it that way. Not all the time, but every so often.” She nipped at his neck in affectionate love play.

They were silent for a while, Elias gently stroking the vixen’s soft, glossy black fur as she returned the attention in kind.

“Elias, why didn’t you marry Ilsa?”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I asked her to,” he admitted. “Both of us had just graduated flight school and we’d been dating exclusively for almost a year. I thought that with graduation we could get a joint posting. I thought it would have been perfect. She turned me down flat. I even think she was angry.”

“Why?”

“Ilsa’s family was what you might call traditionalists. Real ultra-conservatives, but it went a lot further than that. She’d been raised in a family that believed females were delicate, to be protected, and should do as they were told. Her father was one of those throwbacks in that he believed the male was in charge, so-on and so-on. When she joined the Academy, it was after being thrown out of her parents’ house for a number of reasons. The first was that she was taking extra classes in school for mathematics and such. Her father blew up over that saying that any daughter of his didn’t need all that schooling to take care of her mate and make kits as was only proper.

“The second reason was that she refused to be a party to the arranged marriage that her father wanted for her. Because she was a virgin at the time, the family that wanted her for their son was willing to pay a substantial sum that would have set her family up for life. Ilsa refused to be bought like a brood mare for someone’s livestock.

“When I asked her to marry me, she got scared and angry, seeing it as a ploy to do exactly what her family wanted to do to her. Ilsa wanted to see the Alignment, to live life on her own terms. She wanted to be her own person. Though it hurt us both, she declined my proposal. Before I could even get back to my dorm room, she’d packed everything up that was hers and was gone. I didn’t see her again until about a year and a half later.

“We went out for a drink, and she eventually told me why she left, and that she was sorry. Ilsa knew that I wasn’t like her father and didn’t want to force her into being nothing but a domestic. She also explained that for the first time in her life she was really free to do what she wanted and could stand or fall by her own choices. We wound up going to my room, but despite how we had felt about each other before, I no longer held that place in her heart. It was fun for a few hours, but that was it.”

“Did she know that you were still in love with her?” Cerise asked sadly, reading more meaning by what her mate didn’t say.

Elias shook his head. “I didn’t tell her. I knew it wouldn’t do any good. She had her direction to take, and I had mine. She didn’t need me to complicate her life anymore than I already had.”

“You know, it’s selfish, but I’m glad she walked away,” Cerise admitted. “If she hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here now.”

Elias smiled and pulled her closer. “No. I think that you and I were always meant to meet and fall in love.”

“You do, do you?”

The fox nodded and kissed the end of her nose. “I do. Out of all the females I could meet, you are the one best suited for me. You enhance my strengths and bolster my weaknesses. You seem to know what is bothering me and help me through the things that I have trouble with. You make me want to be…better. Better than I was, better than I am. You’re gentle when I need that and firm if I’m being stupid about something.

“You were the brightest point of light in my darkest moment. Not to mention that you’re gorgeous and have the cutest hiney on the ship.” He tickled her causing the vixen to yip in surprise before settling down.

“What do you mean, brightest point and darkest moment?” she asked nestling into the crook of his arm.

“When I was on the Scimitar. I just knew I was going to die. But you gave me hope. I saw your face on the comm screen and I knew that I had to live just to meet you. Your voice? Cerise, at that moment I swear that your voice was what heaven, or whatever afterlife you want to believe in sounds like.” Elias looked deep into her eyes. “That’s why I named the Angel what I did.” He traced his finger along the line of her jaw. “You have always been my guiding angel. Always.”

Unable to contain the emotions within her, Cerise initiated their next round of lovemaking. While before it had been desperate, this time was tender and gentle, each focusing on the other instead of themselves. Where the other had been healing, this was uplifting and as intense as their first time in the little cabin in the woods of Dennier that was so far away in both time and space. Again they curled up around each other, the situation they and the rest of the fleet was in forgotten for a moment. As they drifted off, they told each other three of the most powerful words ever spoken.

I love you.

While Cerise and Elias brought comfort and succor to their mate, the same was happening in other places on the ship, and on other vessels.

After all, if love wasn’t worth living and dying for, than nothing was.

***

Sharan Tambor was familiar with the agony of waiting while her husband was on deployment. His time with the Spatial Police Force during the first sixteen years of their marriage had been filled with weeks, and sometimes months, of her being alone while Rovi was on a duty assignment, first suffering through the separation alone, then with their two eldest daughters. Sharan had been strong, the temptations that other females had of seeking comfort in the arms of another never entering her mind. It had actually been easier for her to bear after the births of Cerise and Keena. At least then she had something that was part of both of them to cherish.

There was also no question that Rovi was the only male for her. He’d caught her eye while on Dennier for leave during his first cruise as a fully inducted Spatial Police Officer and she would always remember how dashing he was in his uniform. She had been out with friends at one of the many dance clubs in Grandstorm when she saw the black fox enter with some of his shipmates. Even though she’d only been sixteen, a few days from her seventeenth birthday, at the time Sharan knew that she had just laid eyes on the male that she would be with for the rest of her life.

When Rovi had seen her and made his way to where she sat with her friends he’d seemed so young and full of himself. Of course Sharan had acted cool and indifferent, even as she tried hard not to swoon when he took her hand and begged her for a dance. It had been the most magical night of her young life as she spun and twirled on the dance floor with the young Spatial Police Officer.

He was only in Grandstorm for a few weeks before he had to go back out on assignment, long enough that he could spend her birthday with her. On the night of the party that her parents had thrown her, Rovi presented her with a silver betrothal necklace and as he stumbled over the words of asking her to marry him, she took his hand and with eyes bright and sparkling she’d suggested they get married right then.

Little did she know that years later, her very own daughter and the male Cerise had chosen for a mate would wind up in the very same courthouse and office to exchange their vows just as she and Rovi had. Her parents were livid at first, after all when their daughter had left hours earlier after the party celebrating her majority they didn’t think she was really seeing anyone apart from the occasional casual date. For her to return with the young male in tow, and as an officially bonded pair no less, had been more of a shock than they were prepared for.

Rovi had proven to the young female’s family that he was not only serious about his commitment to their daughter, but very respectful.

Now, though, the long tense days and weeks of waiting were starting to take their toll. Not knowing what was going on was almost like being transported back in time to those days early in their marriage. Unlike then, she also had her daughter, the two males that had married her children, and their friends to worry about. Another similarity with the past was holding the infant in her arms as a whole universe of ‘what if’s’ ran through her mind. The little white furred female with black fox markings looked up at her grandmother, her eyes still blue, not having changed in the slightest while her brother’s had turned green, and seemed to pet the elder vixen’s chin as she made yipping noises with the occasional consonant and soft growling noise thrown in as if she were attempting to talk.

To Sharan it was like Renee was trying to comfort her. She looked down at the kit with a smile even as her eyes filled.

“Momma?” Keena asked as she looked up from feeding the kit’s brother, Van. “Are you alright?”

Sharan nodded. “I will be,” she said softly. “I was never good at the waiting part.”

“They’ll be fine,” the younger vixen said. “I believe Lem when he says they’re the best officers he’s ever served with.” Her tone was filled with confidence in her mate’s reassurances. “I do miss them. Especially Lem. I think that’s the worse part of it for me. We only had a couple of days before he left…” Keena told her mother before her voice trailed off.

“Tcha,” Pala Lon admonished softly. “When you worry about defeat and tragedy, you give it the opening to happen.” The Kastan took Van from the younger vixen and held him high and giving the kit a wide smile which the infant loved and began making a great deal of noise accompanied by a happy flailing of limbs and a substantial amount of drool.

CHAPTER 47

“I had a kid on my last ship that was more competent than you!” Lena bellowed at the mechanic that was running a diagnostic of herKestrel fighter. “If I say the controls aren’t working, it means they aren’t WORKING! I don’t care what the computer says! I’m not going to hang my fluffy butt out there to dry when countermeasures take three seconds to fire or my weapons systems enter reset mode when I’m in a tussle because you say the computer can’t find a problem! Now check it again! And if that doesn’t work, check it again! You get me? I’m not going to lose another one of my pilots because you’re too lazy to do anything more than trust your flaming computer!”

The wolverine technician backed up a step and saluted. “Yes, Ma’am!” he all but screamed in response, his own anger flaring, and hustled off to rerun his diagnostics before running a visual check of the fire control systems.

Lena turned and stalked off the flight deck towards the pilots’ ready room where pre-mission briefings were held. As soon as the hatch shut she began a tantrum to release her anger, hurling her helmet across the breadth of the ready room and following the uncharacteristic outburst with a series of swear words and cursing that should have peeled the paint off the bulkheads. Someone came in behind her and the doe spun ready to light into whoever it was.

Turning to find Rovi Tambor brought her up short.

“Lena, you’re officially off duty. Go get some down time,” the ebony furred fox told her. “Randy’s off duty. How long has it been since the two of you spent any time together?”

“I can’t! Not while-”

“You can and you will. It’s either that or I talk to Lem and have your wings clipped on a medical.”

The rabbit’s eyes hardened for a moment before she deflated, her rage running out. With a whimper she collapsed onto one of the padded chairs and buried her face in her hands. “If my weapons hadn’t malfunctioned I could’ve kept Vik from buying it. I could’ve covered her! Why can’t that rock brained son of a bi-”

“What’s happened can’t be changed, Lena,” the fox said as he took the seat next to her. “We can’t go back in time. You and I both know when your number’s up, that’s it.”

“C’mon, Rovi! We both know that’s a load of scat! I had that cat in my sights and nothing happened when I hit the trigger. Three times my guns refused to fire. Once is odd, second time is coincidence, third time’s incompetence. I could’ve saved her!”

Rovi pulled her into a fatherly embrace. “We can’t save them all. I’ll personally go over the systems with you next duty cycle. For now I want you to go and let off some steam. Preferably not by beating a certain tech into a pulp. Go see Lemuel, get some relaxers. Better yet I’ll tell him to give you a small bottle of something potent. For medicinal purposes, of course. Just get away from here for a few.”

“Is that an order?”

The fox thought about it before nodding. “Yes,” he finally said. “It is. We’re all strung out a little, and it’s not over. Not by a long shot. We’re all going to need you to be frosty for the next one.”

Lena stood and signaled acquiescence. She turned to the hatch that led to the main corridor, her head low.

With a sigh Rovi stood and headed back to the flight deck. He stepped up to Lena’s fighter with the words Pay Back painted in bold red script on the section just forward of the cockpit. The wolverine was staring at the readout on the diagnostic as he approached. “What’s the story, corporal?”

“Everything checks out according to this,” the youthful technician said shaking his head.

“Let me see it,” the ebony fox ordered, holding his hand out. The tech passed over the device and Rovi looked at it, his anger suddenly rising by several degrees. “Do you, in your professional opinion, think this might function better if you switched it from test mode toexternal diagnostic mode? Might that have something to do with your inability to find a problem?”

“What?” the wolverine said, his eyes going wide. “Colonel…I…we’ve been short on sleep and…hey, anybody could’ve made that mistake, Sir!”

“A rookie could have, but you’ve been in how long? This is incompetence of which can’t be ignored. Now tell me what it says about fire control, Technician Third Class,” Rovi said icily as he handed the unit back.

“Third Class? That’s a demotion equal to apprentice, Sir!” the tech complained.

“I believe you’re right. Now what does it say?” he said slowly, his eyes narrowing.

Almost dropping the unit, the wolverine looked at the readout. “Uh…that…well, there’s a short in the primary fire control circuit board, Sir,” he whispered weakly.

“A mistake that got one of my pilots killed, another who’s an emotional wreck because she could’ve prevented it, but instead of admitting that you were wrong, you wanted to argue about it.” Rovi straightened and looked at the SPO on duty for this section of the ship. “Security!” he bellowed. The fox pointed at the technician. “I’m placing him on administrative arrest for dereliction of duty, insubordination and contributing to the death of a fellow Spatial Police Force officer. Get him of my deck before he kills someone else from stupidity.”

The SPO slung his carbine and pulled a pair of binders from his belt, shackling the stunned wolverine’s hands behind his back. The technician complained that it wasn’t fair and continued to argue about the long hours. When that didn’t work he started screaming obscenities until the hatch closed cutting of his voice.

Rovi turned to the rest of the flight deck. “You,” he said pointing at a serval that had been watching the event play out with wide yellow-green eyes, “Go get Chief Rollins. I don’t care if he’s asleep, in the shower or on the head. I want him in my office in fifteen minutes.”

The serval snapped to attention and saluted so briskly that he almost poked himself in the eye before running off to do as he was instructed. Rovi turned for his office, a headache causing the top of his head and back of his neck to throb in time with his elevated pulse. He’d given the human fifteen minutes not because he was being lenient, but because it would take that long to compose himself.

***

Randy ran a brush through the silken fur of Lena’s back, eliciting a sigh from the doe, though he couldn’t tell if it was from the enjoyment of his ministrations or something else. The wolf wished that there was more that he could do to salve the raw emotions of his lover. The battle had been harrowing for all of the fighter pilots, but the rabbit had had difficulties that shouldn’t have been allowed to happen.

He set the brush down on the shelf next to the oversized bunk, designed for Silloni physiology, and stroked the doe’s ear, something that she always enjoyed. “What can I do to cheer you up, Lover?” he asked softly.

Lena turned her head and looked at the wolf. “You can hold me for a while,” she said and sniffed before a single tear formed and rolled down over the fur of her cheek.

“Yeah. I can do that,” he replied and gave her a half smile, holding her small form in his arms.

It still amazed the doe that someone so large and strong could be so gentle with her, and she sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. Despite trying to get over what happened, Lena continued to see the Ganlin Legion fighter line up on Shawna Vik’s ship and the feeling of horror that came over her when she dropped in behind the rogue merc and tried to fire her weapons. She saw again and again the guns of the cat’s fighter as they chewed into Vik’s Kestrel before the marten hit the ejection lever. Her cockpit pod had cleared the wreckage of her fighter like it had been designed to do. Then out of all context of decency and the Laws of War, the Legion pilot had fired on pod.

All she had needed was for her weapons to work and the young pilot officer would still be here. And just before lifting Shawna had been talking about getting married to her longtime partner, another marten from Alexandrius.

So many friends gone.

Not for the first time, Lena thought about resigning. It was drastic, but how long would it be before something like that happened to her? Or to Randy? All she had ever wanted to do was fly, and with her time in the SPF she was qualified to pilot almost any vessel in Known Space. The Maker knew the pay, even with a small company would be better than what she was making now. It would be enough to make owning her own house a reality. The big question would be if Randy would agree with her. If he didn’t resign, neither would she. She wouldn’t chance losing him as well.

“Randy, the first night we spent together, what was that song that you were playing in the cargo hold of the Angel?” She watched his brow furrow as he tried to recall that night.

“Um, I think it was ‘Waltz of Joy’ by an old Earth artist that did a kind of music they called New Age. Her name was Constance Demby. She did a lot of sweeping instrumental pieces I like.” He coughed self consciously. “To be honest, after you kissed me, I don’t recall a lot of what happened before that.”

“Are you saying I caused the Great Randal Mercks to become distracted? Little ol’ me did that?” She smiled half heartedly and batted her thick lashes at him.

“Oh yeah. Until that night you made me very nervous on a regular basis. When you kissed me I thought I was going to have heart failure.”

“Why did I make you nervous?” Lena asked sitting up and putting her hand on his arm, loving the feel of the coarse guard hairs and the soft coat underneath, kind of like the wolf himself. On the outside he was a little rough, tough and gruff, but once you got past the outer part he showed to the universe, he was kind and caring and tender. The only time she’d really glimpsed it prior to them becoming a couple was when she caught him playing his music.

“Because you were so pretty and graceful and I was just a grunt. Girls like you never fall for guys like me, no matter what the space operas and movies depict.” He looked up at her with a look of wonder in his bright yellow eyes.

“Um, I don’t know if I should point this out, but I did fall for you, you big goof.” To prove it she leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss on the end of his muzzle.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think it could happen at the time. Fortunately I know better now.”

“Randy, would you play that song for me again?”

“Now?” he asked to which she nodded silently. “Sure. Hold on a second.”

Lena watched as he got his keyboard out from the locker where they both stored a few things and returned to the bed, sitting with his back to the bulkhead. He switched it on, made some adjustments and cracked his fingers. When he began it was in a different sounding instrument, and there was an electronic sweeping tone that followed each note. As his grey furred fingers danced over the keys, blurring the tones together in a way that seemed magical, Lena felt as if she were transported back to that moment that had happened only a bit over a year before, but at the same time seemed like a lifetime ago.

No sooner had he started the song than she felt her eyes begin to mist as she lay in front of him listening to the music. She felt the same emotions again course through her that she did the first time hearing her lover play. The notes swelled and faded and came back, gently rolling and for a moment all of her pain and frustration evaporated. She hadn’t realized he’d finished until she felt him wipe her tears away, much as he had that first night they spent together.

“Randy? What are your plans? After operation Hammer Blow, I mean? What are you going to do?” the rabbit asked, her stomach in knots at what he might give as an answer.

The wolf set the instrument down and looked at his lover with an earnest expression. “I guess that depends on Elias and Cerise,” he told her.

“What do you mean?”

“Lena, you can’t tell anyone else what I’m going to tell you. Promise me.”

The rabbit nodded. “I promise,” she told him solemnly.

“This is Elias’ last cruise with the SPF. I don’t know what he plans on doing after wards, but I think that he’s been talking to his friend Merlin about possibly flying for him, or maybe even getting his own ship. All I know is that this will be his last mission.”

“Really? You’re not joking me on this?”

Randal slowly shook his huge head. “Serious as can be. He and Cerise are both going to turn in their commissions. If he does, I’m going with him.”

“What?” she exclaimed. “You…you’re serious!”

“I was going to talk to you about it eventually. I…I was hoping you’d come with us…that you’d come with me,” he admitted.

It was the first time that Lena had ever heard him speak in a tone that belied uncertainty and that did more to warm her heart than anything else had in a long time, and the wolf had a made it a habit of melting her heart on almost a daily basis. It told her that he needed her.

“The rest of the old crew have all talked about it. If Elias and Cerise leave, we’re going with him. You were the only one that I haven’t talked to because I know how important flying is to you.”

“Randy, I was thinking about resigning and asking you if you would come with me!” she exclaimed with a look of surprise. “Of course I’d stay with you and the others! All of us on the same ship? It would be just like…old…times…”

The wolf nodded. “Almost. There are a couple of absences that would be felt,” he agreed.

Lena crawled up onto her lover’s lap and wrapped her arms around him relishing the surge of love and affection that filled her. “Count me in. Maybe I can teach you to fly,” she said as she rubbed her nose against his, her mood substantially improved.

“I think I’d like that,” he told her with a grin.

“There is one thing more you can do for me right now, though.”

“What’s that?”

“Hand me my bag of jelly beans. They’re in the top drawer.”

The wolf reached over and found the bag in the front of the drawer, his ears drooping as he looked at the plastic bag. “They’re all red and green,” he said with a slight tremor to his voice.

“I know,” Lena replied with a wicked grin and snatched the bag out of his hand.

CHAPTER 48

Colonel Sander Brees looked at the wolverine technician with enough anger that Elias was surprised the tech’s fur didn’t burst into flame. He understood the lion’s ire, though. The fox sat in the middle of the assembled officers of the Captain’s Mast, Sandy on his right, Saul Reese on his left as Executive Officer. Cerise sat to the side of the group in the position of court recorder.

“While it is quite evident the actions of Spatial Police Officer Edwin Terps contributed to the loss of Pilot Officer Shawna Vik, and the present situation being a combat mission, I would ask the court to suspend the sentence of execution for negligence and dereliction of duty causing the death of a fellow officer and endangering another, even though his crime is severe enough to warrant such a ruling,” Rovi said as the prosecuting officer. “I offer the following as more than adequate:

“That SPO Edwin Terps be discharged from the Spatial Police Force under the heading of Dishonorable and with Extreme Prejudice. That he be sentenced to the maximum of five years on a penal facility of Spatial Police Force Command’s discretion. That he is to have his rating and licensing as a qualified repair technician permanently revoked. Reparations and damages to be paid to the family and survivors of the deceased of no less than twenty thousand credits, and not to exceed two hundred fifty thousand credits.”

Rovi stepped back as the court considered the alternate punishment.

The black furred fox was correct in that the present operation, the SPF charter could very easily support execution, but the officers that sat on the Mast felt that to be far too drastic a measure. It would only serve to demoralize the rest of the crew. Though many of the officer and enlisted ranks knew what had happened, and no few were crying for the wolverine to be jettisoned out of the nearest airlock, sentencing him in a way that would last the rest of his life struck quite a few as fitting.

Elias looked and saw the officers on either side nod perceptibly. It looked as if Saul wanted to up the punishment, though he finally acquiesced. Elias whacked the small disk shaped wooden striker with the white baton that was used in all SPF court cases and trials by the head officer-judge.

“This Mast agrees with the sentencing proposed by Colonel Rovi Agustus Tambor and sentences SPO Edwin Terps thusly.” He motioned to the two guards that Randy had provided for the proceedings. “Before he is taken from our midst, let all insignia and devices that he wears be stripped from him and his uniform rent. He is judged to no longer be worthy of standing as one of us.”

As Elias spoke, the guards systematically removed his rank insignia, the small ribbons for past service, his unit patch on the left shoulder and the SPF Shield from his right. The only thing that was left was Terp’s name tag and the guard on the left pinched it and yanked it off while the second grabbed the back of the prisoner’s tunic and tore it open in the traditional manner. This symbolized the exposure of the stripe of cowardice and was one of the more shameful things that could be done when a Spatial Police Officer was discharged thusly.

“Civilian Edwin Terps is to be held in the brig until such time as rendezvous with the prison ship SPF Rura Pente can be made for the off-loading of prisoners. He is to be given field rations three times a day, no access to any member of the crew, nor other prisoners. His cell is to remain at half light for the duration of ship’s cycles and one hour of supervised exercise every cycle.” Elias stood and made a downward cutting gesture with the baton. “Guards, remove the prisoner from this Mast.”

The two armored SPO’s manacled the wolverine and marched him out of the chamber, tears wetting the fur under the prisoner’s eyes and his ears laid flat with his head bowed in shame.

“I think we should have spaced him,” Saul grumbled as he folded his arms across his chest and looked at the door with a sour expression. “I mean, yeah, a fighter is a complex machine, and missing something is understandable with something that has what, over twenty thousand moving parts? But to forget to switch a D-pad to external instead of internal testing? We’d be doing his species’ gene pool a favor.”

“I don’t like killing, Saul,” Elias told his First Officer. “Even when it’s the bad guys. I’ll do it because I know if I don’t it’s the end of me, but I don’t like it. Besides, this is something that he’ll have to deal with for the rest of his life. If Edwin had paid a little more attention to detail, or put in the amount of energy into his job as he did excuses, we wouldn’t have had to do this and I’d still have two fine crew members on the roster.

“No. This is something that is far, far worse than death sentence. Maybe it’ll even help turn him into a person that can be depended on, but whether that happens or not, he won’t ever be in a position to hurt another through incompetence.”

“I didn’t think you’d want to execute him,” Rovi said as he approached the table. “Thus my recommendation.”

“How’s Lena bearing up?” the fox asked.

“I’ve extended her down time for the next two cycles,” the older vulpine said. “I think Randal is pulling her through this. She should be fine by the time she returns to duty. I can tell you that this has had an effect on the rest of the maintenance crew, and Chief Rollins is making sure that everybody in his department is absolutely squared away.”

“Good,” Sandy said gruffly. “I can’t say that I would have been as lenient, but it’s your ship and your command, son. And after hearing your reasons, I agree with the judgment.” He ran a hand through his mane and growled, something he’d been doing a lot of over the past couple of days. “I’m getting too old for this mess.”

Cerise had continued working while the others talked, making sure that the Mast proceedings were properly recorded and the files compressed so that the encrypted information package could be sent to Joplin and a copy was logged in the ships computer core. She jerked upright when the intercom beeped before her replacement on the bridge spoke.

“Captain Tivnan to the bridge. We have contacts bearing on us at zero seven five degrees relative, twenty three degrees inclination at one thousand three miles. No IFF signature. Preliminary sensor readings indicate several unknown configurations and one Carrack-class vessel matching the dimensions you wanted us to look for.”

“Have they spotted us yet?” the fox asked the intercom.

“Negative, Sir. They’re just…floating in the cloud.”

“Tightbeam the rest of the squadron and tell them battle stations. Red alert, prep fighters and all weapons systems at the ready. I’m on my way.”

“Aye, Sir.”

Elias looked at Rovi. “Good hunting, Dad,” he told the older fox with a grin.

“You too, son,” he said with a smile. As he passed Cerise he gave his daughter’s hand a squeeze before running out of the chamber.

“By the Maker, I pray that it’s the Shiva,” the fox said

No sooner did the small entourage make it to the bridge than all of them took their positions, Elias to his chair in the middle of the bridge, his wife to her communications and sensors console, and Saul to the primary pilot’s capsule.

“Report,” Elias ordered as he looked at the holographic display in front of his position.

It took Cerise a moment to bring up the information she wanted. “No change from the targets. I don’t think they’re aware we’re here yet.”

The fox’s eyes narrowed. It was too good an opportunity to pass up and at the same time he didn’t trust what was happening in the slightest. “Stations call out,” he ordered as he contemplated the situation

Each station called out their status as Elias continued to survey the scene. Once everyone signaled that they were ready, the fox tapped the intercom. “Fighters launch. Rovi hang back a bit. Do not engage until I give the word.”

“Copy that, Captain. Launching.”

“Squadron is ready and awaiting orders, Captain,” Cerise informed her mate.

“Saul, hold course and prepare for evasive,” Elias ordered. “There’s no way that they can’t see us, even with all of the interference in this soup. What are they up to?” He snarled silently in further contemplation. “Well, fortune favors the bold, but punishes the foolish. Saul, take us up to ahead two thirds and bring us into weapons range. Weapons! Targeting solution for the Carrack-class ship, two missiles. Do not fire until my command. Fighter Wing, overwatch positions. As soon as we fire, I want an active sensor sweep from all ships, full power. Keep pinging away until I order you to stop.”

Three agonizingly slow minutes ticked by and the tension on the bridge became a palpable thing as fight-or-flight pheromones flooded the enclosed space. “Open comm,” the fox ordered his wife.

“Open on all channels,” she informed him.

“This is the SPF Righteous. Stand down and surrender or we will open fire.”

“Energy and engine signatures increasing,” Cerise called out. “Incoming fire!”

“Weapons free! Target that damn Carrack!” Elias ordered, leaning forward in his seat.

Everything seemed to happen at once, and the area inside the nebula became a confused maelstrom of energy weapons fire, missiles trails, explosions, ships taking damage, and vessels dying along with their crews.

Saul maneuvered the cruiser with deft precision, his erratic seeming flight sparing the ship damage as he rolled, spun and dodged between high energy discharges from pulse cannon fire. The point defense weapons clawed missile after missile from the area around the ship. The hits that made it through were absorbed or dissipated by the shields, but the sheer volume of fire was taking its toll on theRighteous.

“Shiva in bound!” Cerise informed the bridge.

“Open a channel!” Elias yelled over the din of voices throughout the control center. “Shiva, this is Captain Elias Tivnan. You and I have met before, I believe. I’m going to give you one last chance to surrender. If you do not heave to don’t doubt that I will destroy you.”

The communications screen flared to life and the fox looked upon the individual that had plagued him for so long. The tiger was one of the largest that Elias had ever seen of his species and towered over the rest of his bridge personnel. His white and black fur was immaculately groomed and he was dressed in the blood red leather uniform of the Ganlin Legion.

“Ah! Captain Tivnan now, is it?” the tiger inquired. “From Warrant Officer on a little gnat of a ship to this. I’m impressed. You know, I was always curious as to how you survived your landing on Dennier. Then imagine my surprise to discover that it was you in command of that covert warship. The Guiding Angel was it?” The slightly amused expression on the tiger’s face faded to be replaced with one of hatred and distaste. “You have been quite the thorn in my side, Tivnan. Something I plan to remedy.”

“Missile launch!” Cerise called out. “Nuclear signatures!”

“Counter measures!” Elias ordered, feeling the slight additional vibrations in the deck plating as not only the point defense weapons opened fire, but several interceptor missiles launched as well. “Weapons! Fire torpedoes!”

Fear-scent flooded the bridge a split second before the nukes were chewed to bits by interdiction fire and the interceptor missiles that exploded as soon as they neared the warheads, their primary function similar to a focused mine blast that sent a spread of osmium shot that shredded the enemy projectiles as effectively as a BB gun would aluminum foil.

“Not very sporting, Major Brada,” Elias said, addressing the second highest officer of the Legion by name. “Would it help if I got a bigger ship so as to provide and easier target?”

The tiger snarled at the screen and slammed his hand down on his own controls to terminate the communication link.

“I think I’ve irritated him,” Elias said in an offhand manner. “Weapons, all fire on the Shiva! Saul, you know what to do!”

“Copy that!”

“Brada,” Sandy said with interest, his expression taut. “You sure know how to pick dangerous individuals to tick off.”

“Torpedoes intercepted!” Odette informed her Captain from the weapons station.

“Understood. Ready turrets. All fire to be concentrated on the Shiva!” he ordered. The fox then looked at Sandy. “Brada’s a has-been,” Elias said. “He might have been a sound strategist at one time, but now he’s too used to chewing on soft targets. Let’s see if we can break a few teeth.”

The Shiva came streaking in at the SPF cruiser at top speed, weapons fire erupting from the front batteries and splashing on the larger ship’s shields. Likewise return fire swept over the Carrack-class vessel. As it passed, even the VRF guns opened fire at almost pointblank range.

“Shields down by twenty three percent! Twenty eight percent!” Rollins immediately amended from his post.

“Route secondary power to the shields!” Elias ordered. “Odette, take him out! For Melise, for Stram and for Rutger!”

Mentioning the names of their shipmates that had been killed seemed to galvanize the bear and her hands flew over her controls. Pulse cannon blasts and explosive projectiles smashed into the shields of the Shiva. Her crews were able to keep half of the turrets with their Mk VII pulse cannon trained on the enemy vessel even as Saul brought the Righteous about in a tight turn that traded the aft for the bow in a gut-wrenching slewing turn that not even the inertial dampeners could compensate for.

As they pursued the Legion ship, a virtual rain of energy bolts and missiles swept over the Shiva as the fighters that had been holding back entered the fray. The small ships were too fast for the overtaxed weapons of the modified Carrack to target and shot by the modified ship, their course bringing them below and behind their home cruiser to regroup.

“Sorry, Captain,” Rovi said over the comm channel. “Figured we could add a little bit and for some reason Lena just couldn’t stay out of this one.”

“Gee. Thanks, Colonel. Throw the blame on me,” the doe said on the same channel. “He’s right, though, Captain. We owe these guys!”

“If you’re going to get into it, use hit and fade tactics,” Elias ordered. “No matter what, they’ll get their tickets punched today.”

“Copy that, Captain. Alright children,” Rovi told the two wings of fighters, “let’s get some payback.”

Once regrouped, the fighters came from behind the cruiser, using the heavier firepower of the warship to cover their own advance and let go with everything they had, the combined firepower splashing across the shielding of the vessel’s belly as its own pilot began to bring it around.

“Talon missiles coming our way!” Cerise told the others.

“Got ‘em,” Odette said calmly and used the ship’s weapons including the heavy guns to fill the space between both vessels with so much in the way of firepower that several of the missiles detonated prematurely and caused a fratricidal effect. As soon as the sensors indicated that the incoming missiles were destroyed, the bear triggered her own spread of Talons.

Elias watched intently while still giving orders as the missiles homed in on the Carrack. The first detonated, cracking the modified freighter’s shields while the others systematically slammed into the hull. The fox jerked slightly in surprise as the communications screen flashed to life showing Major Brada, his anger at being defeated making itself apparent with the complete look of insane rage in the tiger’s eyes. The bridge behind him was in shambles with flames and smoke obscuring most of the details. The tiger shouted something, though there was no audio accompanying the transmission, it was fairly easy to deduce what was being said.

They all watched as Brada took his personal blade and plunged it into his chest a fraction of a moment before the ship detonated, denying Elias from being able to claim his death.

The bridge went temporarily silent and Elias sat back, slightly numb. All at once everybody returned to the task at hand and the enclosed chamber filled with voices and orders. “Saul,” the fox said, his voice sounding hollow in his own ears. “Bring us about and let’s finish this.”

“Aye, Captain,” the jaguar said as he altered the vessel’s course.

***

In and around the task force squadron was the wreckage and debris of numerous ships of all types and sizes. In the distance the War Maiden hung back, a gaping hole in her starboard hull that still burned despite the lack of oxygen. The Earth carrier, Trafalgar was still operational and flights of rescue shuttles could be seen landing and relaunching. The Tanthean destroyers were still very much intact and provided cover for the Ganisian and Terran ships while the two Mars built patrol ships had also taken up covering positions while the SPF squadron acted as pickets.

As the Righteous rejoined the squadron, a message came through that surprised the vixen at the communications console.

“Captain! It’s squadrons three, five and six requesting rendezvous coordinates. They made it through the far side!” Cerise exclaimed happily.

Elias nodded. “Tell them it’s good to see them and send us their reports.”

“Captain Tivnan, this is Commander Ladd of the SPF Vigilant. Sir, we’ve found something you may want to see. We’re linking with visual download now,” the officer in charge of the fifth squadron said over the channel.

“Let’s see what he’s got, Cerise,” Elias said.

The visual was far from what the fox or others were expecting. In the middle of an empty pocket of the nebula was a miniscule proto star, and around that orbited a small planetoid. It looked as if it had a thin atmosphere. Data streams began to appear on the side of the video. The planetoid was slightly egg shaped and measured less than six hundred miles across. While it did have a thin atmosphere, it was far from breathable being a noxious mixture of methane, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and ammonia.

“Wonderful vacation spot,” Sandy commented.

“You can keep it. All in all I think I’d prefer Quet,” the fox replied while looking at the image. “Cerise, can you enhance and scrub the image?”

“Aye, Captain,” the vixen said as she set to work.

Details emerged, blurry at first, then with greater detail. Elias squinted until he finally recognized what he was looking at his eyes going wide. “By the Maker! There’s no way we could take that. Not even if we had a hundred times the ships of the task force.”

Even Sandy was stunned. “That explains why the cargoes they took never showed up on various markets. They’ve been using them.”

“And slave labor.” Elias looked at the image again. The entire surface was a network of weapons emplacements. Energy weapons, projectile cannon, kinetic slug throwers and missile launchers. “Cerise, I want the images and detailed files sent to my ready room. Also contact the SPF QuickSilver. I’ll be needing to send a message to Commander Janes and she’s the fastest ship we’ve got. Disperse the fleet to cover any launches from that rock. Nothing gets out of there, nothing gets in. Not even a flea.” Elias tapped one of his chair controls. “Command staff to the ready room.”

Elias stood from his chair as his orders were carried out. He watched as Cadet Brees slid into the secondary pilot’s capsule as soon as that individual took Saul’s position. Elias allowed a small smile to tug at the corners of his mouth at the efficiency of the female ferret and had to admit that the youngster was a credit to her adopted family before turning for his personal debriefing chamber.

With a creased brow, Elias went to the coffee urn and poured a cup, adding his preference of condiments to it as he considered the problem. He waited while everyone made their way to the meeting, Rovi and Lena the last to arrive almost thirty minutes later as they’d had to dock. As it was, both individuals were still in their flight suits.

“What’s the story, Boss?” Lena asked tiredly as she accepted a cup of coffee from Randal and mouthed ‘Thanks, Lover,’ to the wolf with a smile.

“This,” Elias said as he brought up the images of the celestial body. “The home of the Ganlin Legion.” Everybody looked at the pictures. “Primary composition fifty two percent mineral in the form of quartz heavy matrix, thirty six percent iron, and eleven percent nickel with one percent trace elements. More surface emplacements than most civilized worlds have planetary defense bases, and as we all know, even with scattered PDB’s, the odds are always on the defender’s side. Trying to take this would be guaranteed suicide. Even if we were to strip every star system of its available warships our losses would be catastrophic.”

“Standoff,” Rovi said flatly. “We can’t get in, they can’t leave.”

“That’s about the sum of it,” the fox agreed. “And as we don’t know what they have in the way of supplies, it could be a very long wait. We can’t keep the resources we have here tied up indefinitely.”

A DataCom pinged and everyone at the debriefing table looked to Cerise. “The QuickSilver is in range,” she informed her mate.

“Instruct her Captain to dock with us. I’ll hand my request to her myself. Have her Captain brought here once docking is complete.”

“Aye,” the vixen said and sent the order.

“So what are you thinking?” Saul asked, his eyes narrowing.

“That’s the clincher. If I were to go about this the most efficient way, we’d boil away the layers with sustained nuclear bombardment.”

“But there’re civilians on that rock as slave labor…and worse! We know this for a fact!” Lena said, all signs of fatigue vanishing. “We can’t condemn innocents to that!”

Elias raised his hands palms out to calm his friend. “And I agree with you. Killing civilians isn’t why I joined the SPF. We’d need authorization from the PA legislature for something like that anyway and I guarantee once word got out of something like that, the SPF would be disbanded and all of us would be shot. Unfortunately what I have in mind is a whole lot more dicey.”

CHAPTER 49

Four days passed while the task force waited for the SPF QuickSilver to get outside of the confines of the Van Connor Nebula, send the encoded message to Joplin, wait for a reply and then return. Nearly every squadron of the task force engaged small Legion ships that either tried to get back to their base of operations, or ones that attempted to break the blockade to get away.

Elias was on the bridge when the courier contacted the Righteous.

“Incoming transmission from the SPF QuickSilver,” Cerise informed her husband.

“I’ll take it in my ready room,” the fox said noting that Sandy got up to also listen in. Once in his normal chair in the chamber, Elias activated the terminal incorporated into the table. The Captain of the QuickSilver was a fetching Afghan hound that Elias had met on numerous occasions. She wasn’t quite a friend, but they had a good working relationship. “Tell me you have good news, Mina.”

The female smiled. “Janes got your message and issued a call to the entire legislature using some obscure clause in the charter of the Spatial Police Force. Within an hour of contacting the PA legislature they voted and approved of your plan. I think that’s the fastest that group of hardheads ever passed anything brought to them. Oddly enough the Terran delegation was split. Most of them didn’t like the idea of Earth being so close to something like this, though a couple of their people were against any further action, including Delegate Faltane.”

Elias didn’t say anything about that bit of news. “Thanks, Mina. I owe you a drink.”

The female laughed and brushed her long hair from her face with one hand. “And don’t think I won’t collect on that!”

“I’ll be calling all of the task force captains for a conference in a little under twenty hours. Get some rest. You’ve earned it,” the fox said before ending the transmission.

“Not bad, son,” Sandy said approvingly. “Not bad at all. You’re pretty good at this making stuff up on the fly. I think I might have to nominate you for my job. I’ll finally have someone I can trust not to run the shop into the ground and can think about retirement.”

Elias looked at the lion. “Ah…about that,” he said hesitantly. “You might want to take a seat, Sandy.” He watched as the lion took a chair and faced him with perplexed interest. “Sandy, I really don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just be blunt about it. When we get back from this, I plan on tendering my resignation.”

The look on the lion’s face couldn’t have been anymore surprised if Elias had walked in naked with his fur dyed neon pink. “You aren’t pulling some kind of joke, are you?”

Elias shook his head. “No. I’m deadly serious.” He sighed. “Sandy, I’m tired. If I’d been as smart as everyone thinks I am, I’d have resigned after the loss of the Scimitar. If I had any sense, I’d have left after the Angel got taken out. The only reason that I’ve stayed this long is that the Legion knows who I am. They know about my family. I won’t let anyone threaten them. But once this is over, I’m done. I have a wife and children. I’d like to see the kits grow up. I’d like for them to have both of their parents around to do so and I’d like a shot at growing old with Cerise.”

Sandy slumped in his chair. “I can’t say that I blame you, Elias. Not in the slightest. Some of the best officers I ever knew resigned after near getting killed, and I didn’t blame them. I suppose I can’t blame you either. I’ve seen you get knocked down time and again and get right back up. I suppose everybody has their limits.”

“They do,” Elias agreed, “and I’ve hit mine. I’m sorry, Sandy. I know this isn’t what you want to hear.”

The lion waved a huge paw-like hand in the air. “I was just hoping I had a replacement so I could do the same.” He sighed. “Any idea what you want to do once you’re free and clear?”

“Yeah. Cerise and I want to do something that’ll keep us flying. It would give Renee and Van a chance to learn about the other worlds of the Planetary Alignment first hand. We were thinking of getting our own ship and running specialized freight and courier services and secure transport.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” the lion said with a grin. “You know, Okami has a ship in salvage right now that you can get for a decent price. She’s a little roughed up, might need some new paint, but refitting her wouldn’t be too bad.”

“I don’t know if I could do that, Sandy. There’re too many ghosts in that hull…”

“And she served you well,” the lion pointed out. “At least you know you’d be getting a ship that could take some abuse. Instead of what was lost on her, remember all the good. Jenna and the passengers and crew of the Mintaka, the Fynian ambassador, those kids you returned to Alexandrius. She served well, son. I’d hate to see the Angel rusting out in some salvage yard.”

The fox was silent as he thought about it. “I’ll…I’ll need to talk to the others…”

“What others?” the lion asked sharply.

“Ah, hell. Might as well go ahead and tell you the rest. The others from the Angel are going to resign and come with us,” Elias told his friend.

“You’re taking the best people in the whole force with you!” Sandy said in shock. He then did something that the fox didn’t expect and started laughing. “I guess I’m not too surprised. You’ll be getting a good crew.” He cocked his head and regarded Elias with a sideways glance. “I have no idea how you inspire this kind of loyalty. I wonder if I could clone you?”

“Yeah,” Elias said with a smile. “And you’d violate how many interplanetary laws trying it?.”

“What can I say? People like you don’t happen along every day.”

***

“What are we calling this part of the operation?” Admiral Sheehan asked from her private communication cubicle aboard the War Maiden.

On the large display were the faces of all the commanding officers from the SPF task force and the naval forces that had joined in on the operation. Jenna Brees and Cerise had whipped together a quick presentation of what Elias had in mind, though the fox wanted to address the others personally so that they were clear on his plan.

“I suppose the designation ‘Thunderstorm’ would be appropriate,” Elias said. “While it would be easier to turn the planetoid into a ball of irradiated slag, I refuse to follow that course of action as we have confirmed reports of civilians that have been pressed into slave labor inside there. Deep radar and sensor sweeps indicate that the habitation cavities are well below the surface.”

“Are you proposing storming that monstrosity, Captain?” the human commander of the carrier Trafalgar asked in disbelief.

“Yes I am, Captain Assad,” the fox said, his voice was clear with an underlying hint of steel.

The human looked at the fur with disbelief. “And just how are any ships going to get close enough to make any of the berths with those weapons emplacements? They have enough firepower to hold off the entire collected force of the Planetary Alignment and then some.”

“Simple. While the emplacements would prevent a standard bombardment and be able to rake missiles out of the sky, we’ve come up with the idea of sending in a wave of decoys to draw their attention and overwhelm their capacity for defensive fire followed by a series of precisely placed nuclear strikes. The radiation from resultant blasts wouldn’t penetrate far enough into the planetoid’s surface to present a hazard to the living areas or harm the innocents, but they would destroy the weapons clusters. We wouldn’t even have to scour the surface clear, just a fraction of the surface where weapons could be brought to bear on our elements for their approach.”

As he spoke the presentation that his mate and Jenna had prepared replaced his visual so the other ship commanders could see what he was proposing.

“Conventional weapons can be used to neutralize the weapons around the berths that aren’t taken out from the initial strike and minimize collateral damage for the assault troops. To spearhead the actual assault of the facilities, we’ll deploy the heavy assault powered armor units first with support provided by standard SPO’s in battledress. While we’d be happy to accept any additional support, I want to thank all of you for what you’ve already done. This operation would have been far more difficult without your timely arrival.”

Admiral Sheehan spoke before any of the others. “I have two companies of Ganisian Marines that would be honored to go in with your people, Captain,” the raccoon said with a nod.

“My Liege and cousin, King Aris, would be most put out with me if I didn’t allow our Expeditionary Forces in on this endeavor,” Marquis Nurian of the Tanthean contingent informed the fox. “While our forces only number approximately one hundred effectives, I think you’ll find them to be very professional.”

The other commanders and captains pledged their ship borne troops, and also a number of volunteers from their naval ratings along with any medical personnel they could spare. Captain Assad shook his head with a chuckle, pride goading him to add to the assault force. “My two companies of Fleet Marines are yours. I also have a number of evacuation shuttles that are normally used for space based rescue operations. I’ll attach these to your command for the evacuation of the civilians.”

“Thank you all,” Elias said. “The berth that we’ve been able to identify as the one most likely to remain viable, even if damaged, is this one near the planetoid’s equator…”

***

Using shuttles, repair craft and a variety of auxiliary ships, the task force, under the directions of the crew of the Righteous began hauling debris from the previous battle into place so that it could be launched towards the intended targets at wider end of the planetoid. Simple chemical rockets would send the salvaged materials in at the weapons emplacements at high velocity. The plan called for nuclear warheads to follow the debris. Even defensive fire would aid in the operation as larger pieces would be rendered into smaller debris that would rain down on the surface, and the additional number of objects would further confound targeting computers, sensors and any personnel operating them not to mention the damage that some of the junk itself could do.

It took two days to get the materials in place and as Elias looked at the holographic representation of the egg shaped celestial body, his expression was one of firm resolve. The fox was alone in his ready room and had traded out a standard duty tunic and trousers for a jumpsuit. It would make it easier to climb into a suit of power armor and he felt more comfortable with the change in uniform. As he looked at the grey rock, he heard the hatch open before he felt someone step up beside him.

“I guess I can’t ask you to reconsider going in with the combat troops, can I?” Cerise asked softly.

Elias reached his arm out and drew the petite vixen into the circle of his arm. “I know you’re worried, Love, but I can’t send our people in without sharing in the danger. I’m sorry.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, his pulse increasing as it always did with his female near.

“I know. I guess it’s like I said before. This is who and what you are and I accepted that when I married you.” She sighed and wrapped both arms around him while looking up at the fox with her deep green eyes. “If you feel you have to do this, I won’t stop you or whine about it. So I guess I’ll just have to come with you.”

“But-”

She reached up and put her hand gently on her husband’s muzzle. “I’m qualified for power armor, the same as you, and I’m not going to let my mate go into that den of hate and violence without me at his side. You want to stop me, put me in the brig.”

“I could order you to stay onboard.”

“And I’d disobey and you’d still be forced to put me in the brig. Remember our vows, Lover. Equals and together always.”

“I can’t change your mind?” he asked squeezing her a little tighter.

“Nope. You’re stuck with me. Besides, you’ll need Treena and me to get through whatever protocols they have on their computers.”

“Just don’t take any chances. I want the kits to get both of us back.”

They held each other for several minutes, both staring at the display.

The door to the ready room opened again and Rovi entered with the others that would be taking part in the operation, Sandy and Jenna bringing up the rear. “You know, you do have your cabin that you can retire to if need be,” the older fox commented with a wide smile as he found his daughter and her husband in each other’s arms.

“Fine by me,” Elias said with a chuckle. “You can run this without me.”

Taking a cue from her Captain Lena slipped her arm around Randy. “Seeing as how we’re just chucking the regs out the window,” the rabbit said and pulled the wolf’s head down for a noisy, sloppy kiss.

“Ugh,” Cerise said with an exaggerated cringe. “At least I’m not drooling all over Elias.”

The rabbit stuck her tongue out petulantly at the other female before both started laughing.

Elias turned with his wife still in his arms and looked at those around them, his eyes meeting each of theirs. He noticed that during the exchange between his mate and Lena that Saul and Treena had quietly taken each other’s hands. Even after a year they kept their relationship low key. Odette stood to the side with Lemuel and Sonja Enan, all three quiet but confident looking. Randy wore his normal half smile while Lena grinned openly. Rovi was on the other side and nodded before looking at the rest of the crew with a paternally proud tilt to his chin.

Finally there was Sandy and Jenna. The ferret stood close to the fur that had adopted her into his family.

The lion cleared his throat and stepped forward. “You know, when all of you were brought together, I never thought that what would happen was the birth of a group that would become closer than many of the families that I’ve seen. You’ve seen each other at your best and your worst, and it has strengthened your ties to each other.

“I also know that most of you are resigning when this mission is over.” He paused as most of the group lowered their eyes. “Oh, stop that,” the lion said in feigned irritation. “Don’t be ashamed. In a little over year you’ve done more than a lot of other Spatial Police Force officers have done in twenty. You’ve touched a lot of lives and changed many of them for the better.” He put his hand on Jenna’s shoulder in emphasis. “While I’ll be honest and tell you that I hate to lose any of you, I want to tell each of you how much of a privilege and honor it’s been to know and serve with every single one of you.

“The only other ones that I have ever been as proud of are my children,” Sander continued and gave the ferret’s shoulder a gentle squeeze to show he included her in that statement.

“Does that mean we get to call you ‘Uncle’ too, now?” Lena asked with a wide smile.

“Just don’t call him ‘auntie’ or he’ll chuck us in the brig,” Sonja said with a grin.

“Only when we aren’t on duty,” Sandy cautioned with mock seriousness.

They all stood together in silence, each wanting to say something but unable to bring the words forth. It was almost an uncomfortable silence until the ferret took half a step forward.

“You know, before you found me I didn’t know that there were people like you in the universe,” Jenna told them softly. “Before you rescued me and the other people on the Mintaka I thought that what I saw and how I was treated was how everyone was…or worse. I can’t begin to repay any of you for the difference you made in my life, but I want you to know how much what you considered just doing your jobs really means, especially to people like me.”

The ferret looked at the crew from the ship that had rescued her and smiled a little self-consciously. “What you did gave me a chance that I never even knew existed. You were the first people to ever show me any kind of compassion and treated me like I mattered. The thing that I found so difficult to accept was that you didn’t want anything in return. You made it possible for me to become a better person than I ever dreamed of being.

“There are others like me down there. All I can ask is that you save them so they can go and build their own lives and find their own homes and get the same chances I did.” She wiped at a single tear that formed in her eye. “One day someone will ask me who my hero is. I hope they have time for a long explanation because it’s going to take a while to tell them about all of you and how wonderful you all are.” Despite her best efforts to hold back her tears, they refused to be stemmed and Jenna gave up trying to maintain her composure. “I never got to thank all of you for what you did for me. And I never got the chance to tell Stram, Rutger and Melise thanks either.

“The only way that I can think of to show how much all of you have changed my life is to do the best job I can with the SPF and pick up where all of you have left off. I know I have some pretty high expectations of myself, but I’ve had the best role models I can think of. Let me carry the torch and I promise I’ll make all of you proud of me.”

Jenna turned to Cerise and swallowed hard as she nervously wrung her hands together. “I have a favor to ask of you as well and I really hope you don’t hate me for what I’m about to say. Remember when you asked me a couple of weeks ago if there was anyone special in my life and I told you that there was one person who would always have a special place in my heart. I was wondering if I could give him a kiss? Let’s be honest, after meeting Elias, a guy’s going to have to be pretty special to get my attention or affection.”

Cerise smiled and nodded. “I can’t say I blame you. He’s pretty special, but I’ll admit that I’m biased in that regard. Yes, you may.”

Elias’ eyes went wide. “What?”

“Shut up and do it,” Cerise said with a wink, letting him know she was okay with it, and turned so that she couldn’t see it as the ferret stepped up to her rescuer from so long ago.

The others also turned away.

As Jenna drew close it was easy to see that she was trembling. It was awkward for the fox, but he put a hand on either side of her face and leaned forward. Before he knew what was happening she had thrown her arms around his neck and kissed him quickly but deep. When they parted after a long moment she stepped away knowing that anyone that wanted her heart would have high standards to meet, so high that she might never find anyone. If that were the case, the single kiss from the first person she ever cared about besides herself would possibly have to be a memory that would last her a very long time and would stay with her the rest of her life.

“Before I go, I wanted to tell you that I love you all and thank you for letting me be part of your family,” the young female told them with her voice breaking as she backed towards the hatch. Before anyone could say or do anything she stepped out into the corridor and fled, a small sob escaping her throat and making it to the ears of the others before the hatch closed.

“Why do I see her keeping her word and surpassing anything we’ve ever done?” Lemuel asked, his voice full of emotion. “She’s so completely different from the frightened waif that sat in our infirmary or the shattered soul we rescued.”

“Jenna’s as much your child as she is mine, or even whoever her real parents are,” Sandy said. “Each of you had a hand in helping make her what she is today. She was born of heroes and it shows.” He pulled out his pipe, feeling the need to do something with his hands. When he looked up his eyes were slightly misty. “You’ve all helped turn her into the young adult that Meri and I are so very proud of.”

They all stood there for several minutes, no one knowing what more to say until Elias looked at his watch. “We have twelve hours and twenty three minutes,” he told his friends. “You’re all off duty for the next nine hours. Make the most of it,” he told them before escorting Cerise out into the corridor and towards his cabin.

CHAPTER 50

“Impact in five…four…three…two…one,” Cerise counted down. On the main display of the SPF Righteous and every other ship in the fleet, a magnified view showed weapons fire from the defensive batteries attempting to clear the storm of debris that hurtled towards the planetoid. Impacts spewed gouts of dust and rock in large plumes or balls of flame as ammunition stores were struck along with pulse cannon capacitors.

Immediately behind the debris comprised of ship hulks, bits of hull, engine housings and more than likely a few bodies the rescue crews had been unable to locate came the warheads. Like a rolling wave the atomic conflagration swept over the surface of the celestial body. In its wake of overlapping detonations the surface glowed for a few minutes before cooling, showing the dirt and rock as a slightly dimpled sheet of fused and melted dark glass. Had any observers been closer, they would have seen the occasional recognizable item protruding from the molten surface such as a gun barrel, the wing from a short range trans-atmospheric shuttle, a helmet.

“Scan for emplacements and correlate firing arcs to our approach vector,” Elias instructed as he continued to watch the display, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

The fox wondered idly what the scientists that detonated the first atomic bombs felt. The destructive power of a star unleashed, the devastation and lingering death in the form of radiation that poisoned the very ground over which it was used…how did they feel? Granted, nuclear energy was utilized by every planet in the Alignment. It was the power that enabled them to reach the stars. But despite the benevolent applications, the first uses had been weapons. Did they feel what he did now? Did they experience the feeling of sickened fascination, like watching an accident that you couldn’t stop, and at the same time couldn’t look away from?

“Scans inconclusive, Captain,” Cerise said. “At the moment there’s too much interference from the detonations.”

“Scan at intervals of fifteen minutes and keep me informed,” Elias said and continued to watch the display.

“Aye, Captain,” Cerise said. Even as she ran through different sensors arrays to try and get the information that her mate wanted, the vixen continued to watch the surrounding area around the ship and the nebula in general. A contact that wasn’t part of the fleet showed up and she was able to lock in on it and identify before the computer slaved to the sensors did. “Be advised, the SPF Mother’s Arms and escorts have joined the fleet.”

“About bloody time,” Sandy growled.

“Now, now. That’s a lot of ship to navigate through the nebula,” Elias commented quietly enough so it didn’t carry past where he and the lion sat. Elias didn’t say it, but he was relieved as well. “Cerise, open a channel to Mother’s Arms, please.” The vixen complied and a familiar raccoon appeared in a smaller window on the display. “Good to see you again, Horace,” the fox said with a wide smile.

“Looking good, Elias,” the raccoon replied with his own answering grin. “Though I have to admit it’s a little odd to see you in uniform again.”

“You know how it goes. They put you in a registered ship and the next thing you know you have to get rid of all your comfortable clothing and put on a uniform. As soon as we can get an accurate reading on the surface, we’ll begin the operation. We’re still not sure how many civilians there are, though I would bet my entire month’s salary that they’re going to be in pretty rough shape. Same with any females. The Legion tends to look at them as maybe a hair worse than slaves.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem. We have beds for five or six hundred, depending on their condition. Our medical and psychiatric crews are on stand-by and about an hour or two behind us are two starliners that will also be working as hospital ships. We’d have been here sooner but we encountered some hostiles on the way in. We got a helping hand from a human freighter captain…some ship named the Crown and Thistle. The captain of that vessel seemed to know that I’d be meeting with you and told me to give you his regards.” The last was added with a quick wink.

“I think I know who you’re talking about.” Elias tapped a few commands into the keypad of his chair. “I’m sending you our operational plan. We might need some assistance in shuttling the civilians.”

“Say no more. I’ll go ahead and have the flight crews finish prepping their ships.”

“Thanks, Horace. We’ll keep you updated. Righteous out.”

“I’ve always liked him,” Sander said with a nod. “Good solid officer that takes what he does very seriously.”

“Horace is one of the good guys, that’s for sure,” Elias agreed.

Everyone went back to waiting for a clearer picture of what had happened on the surface and during the wait Elias tried not to indulge in too many cups of coffee. He also fought from pacing or snapping at anybody that approached him, though it was easy to tell that the waiting was starting to wear on his nerves and those of the rest of the crew. He almost jumped out of his seat with an exclamation when Cerise finally spoke out.

“We have a clear reading,” she said and brought up the information before it could be asked for. The weapons emplacements and gun batteries were gone, and it looked as if the electromagnetic pulse had knocked out defensive points further out than they had anticipated. “Power is minimal at the berthing selected for infiltration and defensive batteries are neutralized. We can begin the operation at any time, Captain.”

Elias nodded. The tension that he was suffering from dissipated, though he did feel a certain tautness to the rest of his body as he readied for action. “Roger that. Cerise, give the order to begin. Saul, you have the con.”

The jaguar stepped up and nodded. “I have the con,” he confirmed before putting his hand out. “Good luck, Elias. Get ‘em home safe.”

“I’ll do my best,” the fox said with a smile. He waited while his mate finished sending the call to action and walked with her to the area where the assault troops were preparing their equipment, Brees falling into step with them.

“I might not know what’s going to happen, but at least I’ll know that you’re going to get there in one piece,” Sandy said with a bit more emotion than he normally let show, even in moments where there weren’t others around to hear. “Don’t take any stupid chances, son.”

“You know me better than that, Sandy,” Elias said as he stepped up to the suit of power armor made for the SPF by Binfurr Arms. “Just keep things smooth on this end. We’ll get the civilians and smash the rest of the Legion. In, out, piece of cake.”

“Right. Just the way we planned it,” the lion agreed. He turned to look at Randal Mercks who’d stepped up along with Treena, Odette, Sonja and Lemuel. The doctor was wearing a red environment suit that would also serve as armor and clearly marked on the front, back and both arms with gold caduceus symbols. He also had a backpack that contained more than his usual satchel of medical supplies. “You all keep each other safe.”

“I thought I was still under orders for that,” the wolf said, his expression serious.

“Bloody well right you are,” Sandy told him with a smile.

Randy nodded. “Alright, let’s get you suited up. You both have the standard dual ten millimeter auto rifles on the right forearms and stunner. The left is a combination shotgun and grenade launcher with gas rounds. In the cargo section is the standard ditch kit if the armor’s rendered inoperable with submachine gun, pistol, spare ammo, two concussion and two gas grenades. The kit also includes soft combat armor, radio, light, and first aid pouch and rebreather. The radios are already synched to the net so you won’t have to worry about that.”

Elias nodded. “Let’s do it,” he said pausing to give Cerise a lingering kiss.

“I didn’t know officers could smooch in front of us enlisted,” Tyra Delian said with a wide grin as she stepped up to the small group.

“Captain’s prerogative, Del,” the fox said with a chuckle. “You the one tapped to babysit us?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way, but you’re on my team, Sir,” the tigress said with a laugh.

“Uh-uh. Not this trip. Call me Elias on this run, alright?”

“Shuttles are ready for boarding,” the intercom above them informed the assault troopers. “Boarding teams to the port hangar, boarding teams to the port hangar. Good luck all. Bridge out.”

“Was that Jenna?” Randy asked as he stepped to his suit of armor. As had become the custom to a lot of the SPO’s assigned to the boarding teams using the new armor suits, many had decorated the right pauldrons with personal artwork. The wolf’s had a rather good rendition of Lena in revealing lingerie a la Terran 1940’s pin up style sitting on an old fashioned rocket with the words ‘Hugs and Kisses!”underneath it.

“Yep,” Cerise said. “She’s been taking extra lessons in comm and sensors with me, so she’ll be taking my place on this.”

Randy smiled. “I feel better already.” He looked to the rest of the contingent. “Suit up!” he bellowed to the troop compartment and twenty six furs and humans scrambled to their armor while Elias and Cerise brought the number up to twenty eight.

Elias slid into the suit and brought the systems up, the power feeds from the storage cubicle automatically disconnecting as the back section closed with a hiss. Readouts for power, atmosphere, weapons, and icons denoting the other members of the contingent showed up on his Heads-Up-Display.

Small air bladders inflated around his limbs and torso ensuring he didn’t bounce around inside if things got rough, and would also help minimize impact trauma. Like the others of the group, Elias ran through a series of movements that would test the suit’s actuators and fit. When the status light blinked green he stood straight and waited to follow the others to the landing bay.

“Looking good, Lover,” Cerise’s voice said to him over his radio. He smiled knowing that even while she could monitor all communications from the suit, the vixen could also isolate particular units for private conversation.

“Cerise, be careful. I love you and don’t want you to get hurt,” the fox said twisting so he could look at the suit his wife was in.

“I know. I won’t. And I love you too. You be careful yourself, Lover.”

He flashed her a thumbs-up gesture before turning and following the others.

The shuttles that would deliver the assault teams were similar to the standard trans-atmospheric craft in use all over the Planetary Alignment, though these were equipped with larger engines to compensate for the armor plating and also had limited weapon systems. The fuselage of each one was equipped with large hatches that recessed into the hull when opened and had soft-seal universal docking rings that enabled them to mate with virtually any hatch configuration. One shuttle could even connect to a ship and act as an airlock for another shuttle if they had to cut through a hull or hatch. Security for the shuttle was provided by four armature mounted infantry support pulse cannon that would be operated by the support crew.

The heavy assault troops would go in the first shuttle while the rest of the boarding contingent followed on the second. Rovi and Lena, both in flight suits and opened helmets watched as the heavily armored SPO’s filed in and locked into positions along the sides of the cabin.

“Alright guys, here’s how we’re going to do it. Just before we latch onto the hatch that’s our target, we’re going to blow it,” Lena told the troops. “We can’t be sure of what they have waiting on the other side, and this will be something that they won’t be expecting. Coming in fast and hot should be enough to scramble any resistance they have waiting. We’ll lock on and seal with the port docking ring and hatch open. The door gunners will throw suppression fire down until you start to disembark. After that, you’re going to be on your own for dealing with threats.

“Because they may have civvies here, we’re going to keep our fire high to cut down on the possible danger to non-combatants. There’s going to be some turbulence once the hatch is blown, and there might be some debris, so watch out. Once we do get locked, go EVA as quick as possible as other shuttles will be coming in to dock with us so their personnel can disembark. Now, everyone’s secure and we’re wasting time. All of you be safe, good luck and come back home.”

They all watched as the rabbit stepped up to her wolf lover, planted her fuzzy lips on the faceplate of Randal’s armor before stepping away, her gloved fingers trailing in an unfelt caress. She sealed her own helmet on and entered the flight deck, the hatch closing behind her.

A few moments later there was a vibration that ran the length of the small spacecraft as the engines came on line and the lights in the cabin dimmed slightly. There was the sensation of motion, but it was hard to tell what was happening as there weren’t any windows in the troop compartment. It was easy to tell when they exited the Righteous as there was a moment of null-G before the shuttle’s artificial gravity kicked in. There was no chatter as they ferried over to the docking berth that would be their point of entry.

Sooner than Elias was anticipating the illumination in the cabin switched from standard lighting to red and Lena’s voice came over their internal communications systems.

“Prepare for cabin depressurization. Limpets attached to hatch. Port side docking in five…four…three…” As Lena spoke the atmosphere was removed from the compartment. Seconds later the shuttle was rocked slightly by a mild buffeting. The door slid open and the two flight crew members opened up with their weapons, doing their best to keep their fire high in case there were innocents. “two…one!”

No sooner had the rabbit reached ‘one’ in her countdown than the shuttle snugged up to the coaming around the blown hatch. The ring of the universal seal performed its job as designed, locking the small craft to the alloy surface. Randal and Sonja were the first ones through the hatch and took positions to the left and right, covering the fairly large room as the others boiled out of the shuttle forming overlapping defensive positions. The chamber itself was sixty feet by one hundred and twenty with a heavy, armored pressure hatch on the far end.

“Activate mappers,” Randal ordered. The mapping program would take information that the power armor picked up and turn it into a transparent overlay on the HUD and work in conjunction with the suit’s programmable compass. “Sonja, Del, drop a couple of beepers just in case someone gets turned around.”

“Radiation’s nominal,” Cerise said. “Doesn’t look like this section got saturated like we thought it would be.” She looked at the reading again. “It shouldn’t be too bad for the troops that don’t have environment suits or the civilians as long as the time here is limited.”

“How limited?” Elias asked.

“One, maybe two hours tops.”

The fox nodded. “We’ll see what’s past this corridor. We may be able to use that point for mustering the evacuees.”

One of the other troopers came forward with the carry handle for a blocky case in one gauntlet. He trotted to the end of the room and opened up the case. The lid had a flat display that was integrated into its design. In the main part of the case were the triangular forms of four FloBots specifically designed for the Spatial Police Force for use in rescue operations of derelict spacecraft. They had simple, sturdy bodies with sensors and a camera that could send a feed back to the case/control box. Thermal sensors, simple Geiger counters and chemical sniffers were part of their standard equipment. Most of their bulk was claimed by the armored plastic shells they were encased in.

The trooper, SPO Cabot, activated the four bots, each one hovering at head height, and gave Randal a thumbs up. “Looks like the door is getting power,” Cabot informed the others, “but not enough to trip the actuators. The shellacking on the surface must have tripped a breaker or caused a short in the feed. We’ll have to pry it open.”

Three troopers automatically arranged themselves to face the door while Randy and Sonja stepped to either side and grabbed hold of a panel each and hauled it open. The corridor that was on the other side had been cut out of the material of the planetoid and coated with a liner of plastic sealer. It ran perpendicular to the door. Though there wasn’t anyone on the other side, no one was taking any chances, and Randy and Sonja took alternating peeks around the edges, on high and one low. Both were met with fire.

“I guess they’re home after all!” the spaniel exclaimed as she readied a gas grenade and sent it sailing down the right hand corridor.

While the wolf and cocker spaniel female took care of things at their end, Elias put the call out that any personnel that would be joining on the operation would need protective gas masks before stepping up to SPO Cabot. “Get the bots out there. I want a visual. Make sure there aren’t any civvies with these yay-hoos.”

“Yes, Sir!” Cabot replied and sent the four bots out.

With the FloBots running scout, they had intelligence on the positions the Legion mercs had taken. Portable ballistic shields had been set up and the rogue mercenaries used those for firing positions. The information also indicated that there were no weapons heavy enough to cause anything more than superficial damage to the outer shells of the power armor units.

Elias saw this and stepped up to the door with a snarl. He went out through the door and began firing as he walked steadily to the position on the left while Randal and Sonja had to scramble to catch up to their Captain and other troopers went to the right. The firefight only lasted a few seconds.

“Clear!” Elias called over the suit’s radio and was answered with the same from Randy. “Good. Cabot, get the bots moving to the next intersections at both ends of this corridor. Randy, form a detail to get those shields moved to the next junction. Del, get your people to me and we’ll move these. We’ll set up rally points as we go. Now move! We got evacuees to rescue!”

CHAPTER 51

Cerise triggered a sustained burst from the autorifles attached to her right forearm before switching to the shotgun on her left. She continued to advance forward as she fired until the platoon of Legion mercenaries were neutralized. Elias joined her along with a squad of Ganisian Marines and Tanthean Expeditionary Troops following in their wake.

“Better’n havin’ a tank with us!” one of the Tantheans, Senior Fleet Sergeant Maurice Hughes exclaimed. The bulldog flashed a smile at the SPF officers and chuckled. “Dag! Get that door opened up!” He tugged at the high collar of his body armor and leaned against the wall seeming to relax, though his eyes never stopped moving and his carbine was kept at the ready.

The trooper that moved to the door, Elias and his mate only knew him as Lance Corporal Dag, bypassed the alphanumeric lock and engaged the actuators. “Hey! Hey!” the coyote said in a high pitched voice, “we got civvies in here!”

“Calm down, kid” the bulldog said. “Ya wanna scare ‘em even more?” He slung his carbine and stepped into the room for a quick head count. “Cap’n Tivnan,” he called over his shoulder. “Got twelve in here. Looks like mostly younguns. Oldest are fourteen, maybe sixteen years tops an’ a couple what’re much younger. Looks like they ain’t been fed none too good, either.”

“Roger that, thank you, Sergeant,” Elias said before putting in a call for the team from the Mother’s Arms that was handling the guiding of the civilians to the rescue shuttles. He listened before sending an acknowledgement. “Extraction escorts will be here in about ten minutes. They’re getting the last of the previous group loaded.”

“How many does this make?” Dag asked as he looked at the frightened children.

Elias kept watch on the doors down the corridor while Del moved to peek into the room before joining her Captain. “Nearly eight hundred so far,” the fox answered. He took a sip of the water tube inside his helmet, Maurice thinking the same as he upended his canteen.

“By th’ Maker this place is huge. I’m glad this corridor ends here,” the bulldog said as he felt a tug on the leg of his fatigues and looked down at a young wolf cub. “Hey-la! How ya doin’ kid?”

“Are you here to take us home?” the child asked.

“Well, boyo, that’s th’ plan,” the Sergeant said tousling the child’s head fur.

“What about our moms and dads?”

“You tell me where they are an’ I’ll go get ‘em fer ya,” Maurice said with a smile.

The child took the trooper’s hand and walked towards the hallway, stopping dead when he saw Elias and the others in their power armor, his eyes going wide and trying to back pedal so quickly he landed on his rump with a yelp. Maurice reached down and picked the kid up, giving him a wide grin.

“Hey, now. Don’ you fret none. That there’s Cap’n Elias from the Spatial Police Force. He’s a good guy!” As if to verify what the bulldog said, Elias and the others waved.

“Woooowww,” the cub said softly his eyes wide and muzzle agape. Eventually he pointed to a couple of doors further down. “My mom and dad are in there. I think. Well…my dad is. I don’t know where they took momma.”

“What’dya think, Cap’n?”

“It would be easier to get everyone to the shuttles if they’re with their families. Get him back in the chamber just in case, though,” Elias said already moving to the sets of hatches the child pointed out.

He and Cerise pulled the doors apart shorting out the actuators in a shower of sparks and accompanied by the sound of screeching metal. Inside were adults of various species. All of them looked like they could do with a couple of weeks of good food and showers, but other than that seemed alright. Elias noticed that they were all males and had the others get them out to the rest of the mixed contingent of children as he and Cerise moved to the next room.

Again he and Cerise pried the doors open. What was in this chamber was completely unexpected. The other rooms had been outfitted with only basic amenities like a sink, a couple of universal lavatories and sleeping pads with tattered blankets. This room was lavish in comparison with carpets, padded benches and separate alcoves of thick cloth set up almost like tents. The females of different species all huddled in the center of the room holding on to one another in fear. Elias bit back several swear words as he saw that not one of them had any clothing on and all wore explosive collars.

A calico feline in veils draped and tied around her that did little to conceal her stood near the far wall, a terrified look in her eyes as a lynx ground the barrel of a pistol into her ear and his other arm around her throat.

“Back up!” the lynx shouted causing the calico to flinch and close her eyes tightly. “Back up and get away from the door!”

“So you can go where?” Elias’ voice said over his suit’s external speaker. “Even with a hostage you can’t make it to the docks. And if you somehow manage to get to a ship that functions, you won’t make it past the blockade. So I repeat, go where?”

“Keep him talking, Lover,” Cerise told him over the comm channel from where she still stood in the hallway.

“I’ll kill her! I swear I will if you don’t back out now!” the merc ordered.

“Hold on,” the fox said. “Take a deep breath and think. If you shoot her, that’s what we consider acceptable collateral damage. You, however lose your one bargaining chip because I’ll gun you down before you can aim that pistol at someone else. So, why don’t you just calm down and think this through rationally.”

“Don’t move,” the vixen said in a whisper.

No sooner had she spoken then a neat, round hole appeared in the cat’s forehead. He crumpled as the calico began screaming thinking that the shot that echoed in the room was from the weapon pointed at her and realized after a moment if she were dead she wouldn’t be able to scream. She opened her eyes and turned to see the Legion merc on the floor behind her.

“Nice shot, Lover,” Elias told his mate. She stepped around her armor and gave him a smile as she holstered her little automatic. Since the encounter on Dennier, she never went anywhere without the small pistol.

“Had to learn to shoot,” she said with a shrug, aware of the awed looks that she was getting from the Tanthean and Ganisian troops, some of them quite appreciative. “I failed debate classes in school.”

Elias laughed as she returned to the open back of her armor, making sure her tail swished saucily with every step, the white tip flicking playfully, and climbed back into the suit making every motion seem sensuous.

“Sergeant, get the ladies here back to their families. When the extraction team gets here tell them that these ladies are going to need trauma counseling.”

“Yessir!” the bulldog said as he looked back at Cerise’s power armor unit.

“And Sergeant, stop ogling my wife.”

“Sorry, Sir!”

“You’re so mean!” Cerise said with a laugh over the private communications channel.

“I guess I am,” the white fox admitted with a laugh. “But you were the one shaking her tail for a bunch of wound up Marines!” he told her with a chuckle.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied loftily.

Before the females could be herded out of the room, all of them had surrounded the mercenary’s body and were kicking, clawing and scratching at the nearest representative of all the torment that they had endured. The troops were having trouble dragging the females away and a couple pulled free of their rescuers to resume defiling the cadaver.

“LADIES!” Elias shouted, his external speakers turned up as loud as they could go. It sufficed to get the attention of the females and he dropped the output level before continuing. “You have family members waiting for some of you. There will be a team on the way to escort you to the shuttles that will take you out of here. Please, he’s dead and you’ve had your moment of revenge, but it’s time to leave. Let’s go.”

Some did as they were instructed, others got in another blow before following the others out, and every single one of them spit on the now mangled form of the lynx as they filed out.

As they watched the females make their way to the other two rooms, Del came walking up. “Captain, that’s it for our sections. Randal’s team and some of the Marines have located the primary command center and are trading some heavy fire. According to reports, there aren’t any more civilians and this batch brings the total up to one thousand, four hundred and nine.”

“We figured there’d be more than that,” Elias said.

“Um…there was, Sir,” Delian informed him, her voice sounding even more flat than it normally did over the comm channel. “Some of the other teams…well, they found…they found that the Legion was trying to clean up what they did.”

“What do you mean?” the fox demanded.

“A lot of the Legion slaves were taken to the refuse incinerators…”

Elias listened feeling anger fill him. “How much longer until we get the last of the civvies on the shuttles?”

“At this rate, it’ll take an hour to get the rest of the evacuees off, then another to recall the troops,” the tigress informed him.

“Get word to the other teams to begin their withdrawal and for Odette and her team to begin prepping the demolition charges,” the fox ordered as he turned to head back the way they had come.

“Charges?” Del said weakly.

Elias stopped. “Are you having trouble with what I said? Possible radio malfunction?”

“No, Sir!” the tigress replied.

“Good. I’m on my way to Lieutenant Mercks’ position. Make sure everyone gets the recall order.” With Cerise falling in step behind him, Elias made his way past the civilians and brought up the mapping capability on his HUD. He found Randy four levels up.

“Are you really going to blow the base without trying to take prisoners?” Cerise asked on a private channel.

“Do you think they would have given us a chance to surrender when they attacked on Dennier? What about Melise and the others? Don’t you think the entire PA would rest better knowing that these bastards were dead? Or the families and other refugees?”

Cerise didn’t answer because he was right and knew it. They would have murdered her, her husband, possibly taken their children for slaves if they didn’t also kill them outright. Van would live a short life, working until he finally dropped dead, and Renee…what they would have done to her didn’t bear thinking about it was so nauseating.

“As it is, they will get a chance to surrender. Just one. After that this entire facility will burn and no one will even be able to step foot in these corridors for at least a thousand years.”

***

“What’s the situation, Randy?” Elias asked as he stepped up to the position that Randy and his group held. He had sent Cerise back towards the shuttles with the rest of the troops.

“Stalemate. We can’t storm them and they can’t come out,” the wolf said. “They have enough heavy firepower that it would be suicidal to charge. They’re protected against chemical attacks so gas won’t work.”

“How heavy have our casualties been?”

“Three of our armor units down, nine other SPO’s got their tickets punched. Four of the Ganisian Marines, two Tantheans are dead. The humans from the Trafalgar got chewed up pretty bad. They lost a total of thirteen with eleven more wounded.”

“What’s your estimate of their strength?” Elias asked.

“No estimate. We have an exact count of one hundred six. Cost us three FloBots, but we have an accurate count.”

“We don’t have a lot of time. Odette and the rest of the demo team are setting the nukes,” the fox told his friend.

“I don’t know what you expect us to do. It’s not like we can go in there and pull them out. Personally after the things that they’ve done, I say let them cook. This section was fairly well thought out. It’s highly defensible.”

Elias shook his head, though it was impossible for Randal to see the gesture through the one-way armored faceplate. “No can do, Randy. I have to make the offer.” Before the wolf could protest he switched to his external speaker. “Are you still alive, Colonel Ganlin? You’ve been trying to have me killed long enough. I don’t mind that you came after me, but it was a mistake to involve my family.”

A deep voice called out from inside the command center though Elias couldn’t see the speaker. “Is this the Captain of that rather remarkable freighter that was anything but? Elias, I believe your name is, correct? Elias Tivnan.”

“You’re well informed. So, am I talking to Roric Ganlin?” the fox asked.

“You are,” the disembodied voice growled after a long moment of silence. “I’m quite surprised that you keep on surviving all of the amusing deaths I plan for you, though I think one of my people almost got you on Dennier. I normally don’t allow non-felines in my ranks, but I could see making an exception for you.”

“I think not. I can’t say that your particular views appeal to me.”

“Come now, Elias. Here the strong are rewarded, and you have proven yourself strong, indeed.”

“I’m not here to bandy words about, Ganlin. I’m here to offer you a chance to surrender.”

“I think I’ll decline. For more than thirty years I’ve been a mercenary and I have never surrendered or backed down from a fight. I don’t think I’ll start now,” the deep voice said.

One of the light armored SPF personnel approached at a crouch and deposited a crate with carrying handle at the fox’s feet.

“Are you sure Ganlin? What about those in there with you? We’ll hold fire if anyone surrenders. And I promise a fair trial,” Elias told the Legion commander.

From inside the chamber came a bit of a ruckus followed by weapons fire. Everyone outside dropped into position to return fire, though nothing more happened. “Not bad, Elias. You just helped weed out the ones with…questionable loyalties.”

“I take it that your answer is no, then.”

“You would be correct in that assumption, Elias,” the deep voice told him.

“Very well, Colonel, though I wish you’d reconsider.”

“I think the monkeys that are out there with you have a fitting response to that. Let’s see if I can remember it…ah. Yes. ‘Get bent’.”

Elias shook his head in frustration and motioned the others with him to ready for a charge into the command section. “Colonel! This is your last chance. Don’t make do this the hard way!” the fox shouted.

The only answer from inside the chamber was a burst of gunfire through the door that smacked harmlessly on the floor and wall.

As the group prepared to storm the defended position, a bright flash and deep WHOOMFFF! erupted from the doorway to the command center as a large incendiary device was detonated. Flames licked past the edges of the doorway, and a time or two for the first seconds of the conflagration, Elias thought he saw something moving in the miniature hell that poured out of the open doorway, but that was impossible.

Elias swore vehemently. “Bunker buster!” Disbelief colored his voice and behind the faceplate of his armor the fox’s eyes were wide with shock. “They’d rather all die than be captured!”

“Elias!” Cerise’s tremulous voice said over the comm channel. “I don’t know what’s going on there but the safety protocols for the base’s reactors have just redlined! They’ve been set to blow!”

“Randy! Get everyone to the shuttles now!” the fox ordered grabbing one of the troopers that was next to him and spun the Labrador around and pushed him towards the exit route.

“Yes, Sir!” the wolf replied, still stunned by what he’d witnessed. He’d seen one of the incendiary rounds used once before but being this close to the effects of one was more than he was prepared for.

As Randy passed the word, he thought about it and realized that what just happened wasn’t something Elias would have wanted if given the choice, even though he and his family had been put in danger. The fox had offered surrender. He had offered a different way out. And that he had done so twice after everything that had been done to him was a testament to Elias’ character. In the end all of it was for naught. At least the death stroke had been swift and merciful. The incendiary round was specifically designed to clear out bunkers as quickly and humanely as possible. In less than a second, an individual within the blast radius would have been atomized, reduced to their chemical components and carbon.

Randy turned to see Elias still staring at the flames and wondered how much of his soul it had cost him to see the end one of the greatest threats ever to the Planetary Alignment in general, and to the fox in particular. As the others departed, Randy switched his radio to a private channel to speak to Elias.

“Are you alright?”

It was several seconds before the fox could answer, and inside the armor tears streamed unseen down the fur of his cheeks. He felt dirty, vindicated, relieved and soul-sick all at the same time. “No, Randy. I’m not alright. I don’t know if I’ll ever be alright again.”

The wolf turned him away from the fire that raged just a little over a dozen feet away and in the direction the others had gone. “C’mon. Let’s go home.”

CHAPTER 52

The fleet pulled back a safe distance from the planetoid and every single sensor and camera was aimed at the unassuming rock when the reactors blew, having the secondary effect of detonating the nuclear charges that had been set. From access points and areas where the crust was thinnest, gouts of atomic fire erupted looking like the colorful flames from the fireworks that were so popular with so many children across the Planetary Alignment. The combined forces from twenty two nuclear devices and Siilv enhanced fusion reactors proved too much for the hollowed out rock to contain and cracked the body like the egg it resembled around the entire circumference of its equator.

As the different beings of the fleet looked on, representatives from every world, every culture and species of the Alignment, there was a sense of relief that such a dangerous threat had finally been dealt with. As everyone watched, the venting gasses threw the planetoid into a slightly different orbit around the little proto star. Computer models showed that in a decade or so it would actually collide with the weak little sun, further ensuring that anything remaining of the legacy of Ganlin’s Legion would forever be consumed and their atoms scattered across the universe.

Some beings celebrated, touting Elias as a hero, others simply did their jobs until their next assignment. On the Eridani-class cruiserSPF Righteous, most of the personnel were simply ready to go home save the ship’s Captain who excused himself from duty for a full cycle and thought about what had happened.

As he sat in the dark of his cabin, even going so far as to lock the hatch to prevent his wife from entering, Elias contemplated events. There was no doubt that Roric Ganlin and his rogue mercenaries had to be stopped. Their entire history had been one of excessive violence and predation on others. Their views of the strong should rule the weak ensured that the day of reckoning, when it finally came, would leave no quarter to be asked nor given. They had engaged in piracy, mass murder and atrocities that would take years to fully sort out.

Thinking, Elias was able to determine why what had been done tore at him. Before, whenever he’d been forced to kill, he had always looked the individual in the eyes. He hadn’t even laid eyes on the self proclaimed Colonel, Roric Ganlin. Oh, he’d studied him and his exploits, from his early days in the Mainor Academy of Military Sciences to his discharge from the Mainoran Defense Force for violations of the Laws of War and the establishment of the mercenary group that had grown into one of the most feared and bloodthirsty in Known Space. Elias had read all of it. But not once did he look the lion in the eyes.

It felt to him like a hollow victory and the suddenness of the way things had ended left Elias feeling numb and detached.

Shaking himself mentally, Elias got up and stripped down out of the jumpsuit he’d worn for the mission and dropped it into the garbage chute for incineration. It made him feel a little better. Then he realized that the Legion was truly gone. There would be no more attempts on his family, his wife or his children. The people that he cared the most about were no longer carrying deathmarks, and that helped lighten the emotional burden considerably.

With a sigh he stood and staggered to his shower and let the hot water blast him clean for almost a full hour, and even after that he felt soiled and unclean. The dryer removed the dampness from his fur with a blast of hot air that felt mildly soothing and afterwards he made sure his fur was immaculately groomed. He stepped to his wardrobe and pulled out a fresh dress uniform and put it on, making sure that his tail hung properly from the flap and that his trousers were neatly bloused and tucked into his boots.

When he stepped into the corridor outside of his cabin, several SPO’s stared at him in surprise. Rumors had been floating throughout the ship for several hours that their Captain had possibly snapped, and while the officers did what they could to quash those whisperings, even they wondered if there was some truth to them.

Elias nodded to one of the ratings. “Have a steward bring me my usual coffee to the bridge,” he instructed before turning sharply on his heel and heading to the nerve center of the ship.

No sooner had he entered the ‘U’ shaped deck than Odette Daniker saw him and jumped to her feet at attention.

“Captain on deck!” she bellowed, her words so loud that her own teeth vibrated slightly in her jaw.

Every single person on the bridge jumped up where they stood, also going rigid in the position of attention. “As you were,” the fox said crisply.

He gave Cerise a small wink and smile as he passed seeing the relief manifest itself and the pinched tightness to her eyes and mouth fade. “Status, Mister Reese?” Elias asked crisply as he took the Captain’s chair.

“Nominal for flight, Sir. Awaiting your order to leave the nebula,” the jaguar said as he gave his friend a curious look.

“Make for the quickest exit,” the fox ordered. “Then lay in a course for Joplin.”

“Aye, Captain,” Saul replied. “Cadet Brees! Make for home, all due speed!” he said to the pilot’s cubicle.

“Aye, Sir. Home and all due speed,” the female repeated from the speaker tied into the pilot’s capsule.

While the others on the bridge went back to their tasks, the jaguar stepped up to Elias’ side and leaned a little closer. “Are you alright? We’ve been worried and Cerise has been beside herself.”

“Not yet,” the fox said in not quite a whisper. “In time…maybe. Right now I just want to see my kids.”

Saul put a comradely hand on the other’s shoulder and nodded.

The steward finally arrived with Elias’ coffee and the fox took a long, appreciative sip. “By the Maker that’s good.” He looked at the young tuxedo cat that had served him and did a double take, thinking for a minute it was Rutger Fallon. He shook his head and realized that it wasn’t his second engineer from the Guiding Angel, nor even male. “What’s your name?” he asked the female with a smile.

“Anya Meridia, Sir,” she replied snapping to and saluting.

“Anya, from now until Joplin you are the only one to make my coffee. I don’t know what you’ve done, but this is unbelievable. And just the right amount of cream and sugar, too.”

“Thank you, Sir. I have a third cousin who taught me, Sir.”

“And who is this cousin?”

“Her name’s Ivy Sparks, Sir. Or was. She got married a while back and now she’s Ivy Carlton, Sir.”

“Tell you what, SPO Meridia, if you tell me what the secret is, you can have a two week leave once we reach Joplin with a twelve hour pass at any planet we may stop by,” Elias said as he took another sip, his ears relaxing in pleasure.

The secret was surprisingly simple and Elias made a note of her leave time on his log so that he wouldn’t forget. As the steward exited the bridge, Elias continued to sip the coffee, noting many of the covert looks that he was getting from the crew. He let this continue until he was finished with his beverage and pressed the all call control.

“All hands, all hands. This is the Captain speaking. I’m sure that at the moment there are a number of rumors running through the ship regarding my dispensation and absence from among the crew. The reason for this is quite simple.

“Almost a year and a half ago, I engaged a Legion ship named the Shiva. The very same ship that we encountered, and defeated, eight and a half days ago. My first encounter resulted in the loss of the ship that I was on and many of the crew, including my Captain, a person that I admired greatly. That ship was the SPF Scimitar, a patrol sloop. I’m sure a few of you will recognize the name.

“Since that time, in the mission that I was next assigned to, I and my crew at the time encountered Ganlin’s Legion again and again. The Legion was able to identify my crew and myself from one engagement and sent an assassination team after all of us, their targets also including my wife and our newborn children.

“Yesterday marked the end of over a year of fear and frustration. And it also included the death of many individuals on both sides of the conflict. Because of the manner that Colonel Roric Ganlin and his command staff chose to dispatch themselves, I required some time to myself to fully digest the ramifications of past events and my own actions over the last year. I am not proud of what happened, and there was certainly nothing honorable in it. In the end, I performed a necessary role that will most likely haunt me every day of my life. I have fought and I have killed and watched friends pay the ultimate price. Taking life is something that should never be considered lightly.

“That is not what the Spatial Police Force exists for, and that is not why we serve. I believe, and I’m sure many of you will agree, that the SPF exists to protect the lives of the citizens across the worlds of the Planetary Alignment. For those of you that decide to make this your career, I pray to the Great Maker that you never have to make the same decisions that I did. I would rather that all of you be noted for dedicated service, or performing a miraculous rescue than for your combat prowess.

“However, despite my wishes, there are those out there that would do harm to the people and things that matter most in our little corner of the galaxy. And I know that you will be there to meet it, to put yourself between the danger that threatens others, to protect the faceless masses that you will never meet, that may never even know you exist. Because of that dedication, the service that many of you have exhibited, the long hours and the sacrifices to personal comfort and safety, I am proud to say that I have served with finest crew in the SPF Fleet and have made notations for Commendations of Valor in every individual’s file that is listening to my words.

“Being Captain of this ship, of leading this fine crew, is the culmination of a career of service that began when I was barely of legal age and joined the Alexandrian Space Navy. In that time I have met brigands and pirates, smugglers and slavers. To counter that I have also met some of the finest individuals that have ever existed. A great many of them are right here, right now, perhaps the person you just passed in the corridor, or the next individual you see when you go to mess, even the face in the mirror. One cannot ask for better people to serve with and I hope that you will carry yourself with pride well earned.

“And as I can’t ask for a better assignment after this, upon reaching Joplin I plan on tendering my resignation of commission. Just know that I leave the Spatial Police Force with my head held high and as a far, far better person than I was for having served with all of you.

“This is the Captain. Signing off.”

Elias looked up and saw that every single individual on the bridge was looking at him, some with moist eyes, even Jenna who stood on the seat in the open hatch to the pilot’s cubicle. His attention was then drawn to Saul who stepped forward and turned crisply to face the fox.

“Bridge!” Saul yelled, all of the crew snapping to. “Salute!”

As one entity the hands whipped up as every single crew member rendered an absolutely precise salute.

A lump started to form in Elias’ throat and he gave it a moment to pass before standing, snapping to attention and returning the gesture. As soon as he lowered his arm, so did the personnel around him.

“Bridge! Return to stations!” the jaguar said releasing the individuals around them. He returned to stand by the fox and smiled slightly. “And thus Elias Tivnan goes down in the annals of the SPF history, getting out while his name’s still shiny and his tail’s still intact!” Saul whispered.

“To blazes with history. I want to spend time with my wife and my kits and in far less interesting times,” Elias admitted and wondered if he could get another cup of coffee.

CHAPTER 53

As the Righteous approached Joplin, the other ships of the task force sat along their entry vector to honor the vessel, her Captain and her crew. In a tradition that harkened back to a time when naval vessels were strictly ocean going, a maintenance team had affixed a broom to one of the bow antenna arrays to symbolize that they had swept their particular ‘sea’ clean.

Elias stood before his chair, his chest a little tight as he realized this would be the last time that he put into port at Joplin as a member of the Spatial Police Force. As the other vessels of the task force slid by on the port and starboard, nearly all of the vessels bearing the marks and scars of this last engagement, he questioned his choice for a moment before nodding imperceptibly.

He’d done his duty, had lost friends while following the SPF’s mandate and nearly paid with his life on more than one occasion. It was time to step down. There were others that would carry on where he left off, that would maintain the traditions of service in the protection of the Planetary Alignment.

“We’re cleared for docking,” Cerise called out from her station. “Berth seventy three.”

“Affirmative,” Elias said, turning slightly to give his wife a smile. “Saul, take us in.”

The jaguar acknowledged the order and brought the cruiser in. With deft touches to the piloting controls he spun the large ship on its axis, dropping it with an intentional slowness that gave the slightly battered vessel an air of regality. When the enormous landing jacks touched the solid rock of the landing platform, it was without even the slightest shudder or bump. As the pilot’s capsule slid open, Saul stood and gave his friend a wide grin.

“Excellent, Mister Reese,” the white fox said with his own answering smile. Elias tapped the intercom. “All hands, all hands, secure ship for port. Good job everyone. As soon as debrief has been concluded everyone is on one week leave. Enjoy sleeping in, you’ve earned it. Captain out.”

The bridge crew secured their stations as did the rest of the crew members throughout the Righteous and Elias went to his ready room to gather the few belongings he had there before moving to his cabin. Most of the items that he had were small personal mementos, both 3D pictures and flat images of the people that mattered most in the fox’s life, the most precious being those of his wife and two children.

From there Elias moved to his cabin. There were almost as few things to collect here and he tossed them into the bag he carried, also putting in one uniform, his dress grey being in a garment bag which he slung over his shoulder. The final item that he retrieved was the Tambor family sword and scabbard.

Cerise was waiting in the corridor and gave her mate a weary smile. “The end of a journey,” she said as she slung her own bag on the opposite shoulder so she could take her husband’s hand.

“The beginning of the rest of our lives,” he said softly before kissing her cheek then resting his head against the vixen’s for a moment. “You know there’s probably going to be some kind of formal recognition. By the Maker, speeches will probably go on for hours,” Elias said with a rueful chuckle.

“I think I can handle that so long as they hold it off a day or so. I could use some sleep and woe be to the person that gets between me and my babies!” Cerise declared.

The pair made their way to the hatch, waiting for the crew that was ahead of them to pile out of the hatch and down the gangway. They saw who else was holding back and smiled at their friends, joining them in their own little knot while humans and furs flowed around them. Elias nodded and smiled to the crew members that paused to nod in greeting, a few halting to salute.

SPO Cabot from Randal’s combat team paused as he stepped up to where the command staff stood and snapped to attention, the human relaxing into a precise parade rest after his salute was returned. “Permission to speak candidly, Captain?” the young human belted out.

“Permission granted, Cabot,” Elias replied. “Stand easy, lad,” he told the youth.

“Sir…I…I just wanted to say what an honor it was to serve under you and…and to get a little back for my brother, Jimmy. The letters he sent while on the Scimitar…He said he was with a really great crew, and I can see what he meant. He…he was the reason I signed up,” the human said with a hard swallow, his eyes gleaming brightly with emotion.

Whatever more the young man wanted to say caught in his throat and Elias put his hand on the young trooper’s shoulder. “Jimmy was one of the bravest people I’ve ever known,” the fox said. “When we got hit, he kept his cool and was one of the reasons the others and I were able to make it. You couldn’t convince me it was his ‘prentice cruise and he acted with bravery of an old spacer. He was a professional and he was my friend. I think the same goes for you, Jerry. It’s been my honor to have you on board. Jimmy would be right proud of you.”

Emotion started to get the best of the human until he clamped down on his expression. “Thank you, Sir,” he said in a thick, soft voice. Before he folded completely the young SPO snapped to attention and gave another salute before retreating, saving the others from watching his loss of self control.

“Yep. I think things are going to be in fine and capable hands, indeed,” Elias said with his own eyes growing moist.

***

The small entourage made it down the gangplank after the rest of the crew had left the ship, enjoying the camaraderie with one another. On either side of the tube that led into the depths of the Spatial Police Force facility was an honor guard of four officers in battledress with the carbines they carried at port arms. In the chamber reunions were still going on between the crew and friends while others headed singly, in pairs and small groups to the trams that waited to take them to the barracks section.

At the far end of the chamber, Pala Lon watched over the children while Sharan ran to her mate, Keena a few steps behind her. While the elder vixen’s reunion with her husband was mostly quiet and somewhat dignified, Keena launched herself at her tiger, latching onto his neck and crying softly even as she covered him with kisses and nuzzles.

Elias and Cerise greeted Pala with a hug each before doting on their children, both kits squealing joyfully at the attention they were getting, the sounds echoing in the chamber. “By the Maker!” Elias exclaimed with a laugh as he held his son tightly before lifting him high. “What have they been feeding you? You’re so much bigger!” The kit gurgled happily and began yipping excitedly.

When Elias brought the child back into a hug, Van growled playfully and began tugging on his father’s uniform collar, trying to tussle with his parent, his little tail wagging furiously. The fox laid his head protectively over the child’s and closed his eyes with a deep feeling of joy filling him.

Cerise was getting the same treatment from Renee, the little female just as rambunctious as her brother and she laughed when the kit wormed her way under her mother’s chin and tried to climb even higher.

“You may want to consider nanny tethers,” Pala said, her normally aloof demeanor cracking as she watched the reunion of parents and children and tried to wipe her eyes clear as casually as possible. “They’re already scampering around and should be walking soon, which means five minutes after that they’ll start running. And before you ask I have five entire data sticks with still pictures and videos for you to look over.”

The kits wore themselves out with enthusiastic greetings for their parents and before too long both were asleep in their tram while the group made their way to their quarters. Van and Renee weren’t the only ones that had grown in the few months of the operation and Celia and Gey were also noticeably bigger, though no less excited to have their father and big sister and brothers-by-marriage back.

Sharan greeted her daughter and sons-in-law once the preliminary welcomes were over, then the rest of the contingent, including Jenna in the process, filed out to the residential sections. “I took the liberty of having a welcome home dinner put together for all of you,” the elder vixen said to the others as they boarded a tram that would carry the group further into the facilities and the living areas. “Fortunately all of you have a few days before the official welcoming ceremony and I don’t want to see any uniforms during that time,” she said firmly.

The others simply agreed with chuckles and smiles knowing that it was better to agree than to argue with the strong-willed copper furred female.

***

Breth Janes, the commander of the entire Spatial Police Force officiated the welcome proceedings for the task force herself three days after the return of the fleet. News of the endeavor had leaked out to the rest of the Planetary Alliance and Elias noted with some trepidation that there were reporters from INN with video crews and photographers from other news agencies in the large auditorium that was normally used for the graduation ceremonies of cadets. She looked out across the crowd below the stage where she stood behind a podium and let a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth.

The SPF had started as an idea to assist the different citizens of the Planetary Alignment, a multi-jurisdictional police force that would aid and protect all of the planets of the PA regardless of political standing, species, gender or any one of a hundred differences that made the Alignment such a marvelous thing.

When she had taken command of the law enforcement group it had been understaffed, suffered budget issues, and all of the problems of that resulted with any attempt to bring so many diverse individuals together for a common cause. She had been there during the first growing pains, petitioning for and eventually getting enough autonomy to guide it to what it was now.

So it was with considerable pride and satisfaction that she looked out at the sea of different species, male and female, dressed in the grey and crimson of the organization’s colors, uniforms of both formal dress and duty casuals that sat before her. Her heart swelled that there were so many that were willing to put their own lives on the line for others, to see something far grander than just welfare of a single planet and looked at the larger picture of worlds united for the betterment of all and worked hard to protect such.

The first part of the ceremony was the promotion of the cadets that had gone out with the task force on their apprentice cruises. Janes herself called all fifty three cadets forward and awarded them their rank tabs after taking their cadet insignia from them, also handing citations as warranted. Most of the cadets were enlisted ranks for field personnel, though a few were given commissioned rank. Then the human called Jenna Brees up.

“Cadet Brees, your pips if you please,” Breth Janes said after returning the ferret’s crisp salute. She accepted the pips before pinning the tabs of Warrant Officer on her collar lapels. “As Commander of the Spatial Police Force it is my honor to brevet you to the rank of Warrant Officer, Fourth Class for the successful completion of your apprentice cruise. As per the recommendation of your Captain and other officers of the Spatial Police Force Cruiser Righteous, I also bestow upon you the Star of Merit, with cluster, for your actions duringOperation Hammer Stroke for acting above and beyond the standards of the SPF. For invaluable service regarding other aspects of the mission, I also award you the Sword of Valor medal, with cluster.”

Janes stepped back and snapped a salute which Jenna returned, lowering her arm only when the human did.

“Congratulations, Warrant Officer Brees. You may rejoin your fellow officers as a fully instated and valuable member of the Spatial Police Force,” the Commander said with a smile.

“Thank you, Ma’am!” Jenna said sharply before turning on her heels and stepping crisply off the stage and back to her fellow former cadets. When she rejoined her cohorts there were no shortages of congratulations for the Sword of Valor, one of the more prestigious awards the SPF gave out.

After Jenna, Janes called other SPO’s to the stage. One of those surprised to hear his name was Jerry Cabot. He stepped up to the stage and also went to attention with a salute that had Randal Mercks nodding in satisfaction.

“SPO Gerald R. Cabot, as per request of your commanding officers, I do hereby award you the Star of Merit, complete with two clusters, for your service during Operation Hammer Stroke. I also ask that you accept a second Star of Merit, with clusters, for your brother’s sacrifice aboard the ship SPF Scimitar, and the Order of the Setting Sun, posthumously, on behalf of SPO Cadet James L. Cabot. It is also my pleasure to brevet you to the rank of Corporal.” Janes saluted and watched as the gesture was returned and the young man rejoined the audience.

The commandant returned to her podium and looked out at the audience and nodded, her eyes seeming to touch every single individual that sat before her. Janes took a deep breath. “There is no doubt that Operation Hammer Stroke has been the single greatest undertaking of the Spatial Police Force in its entire, short, history. The task force itself was comprised of ships from almost every planet of the Alignment, members from every world, dedicated males and females from every species of this great organization of worlds.

“While every individual that took part in it is honored, it is with a heavy heart that we now call out the ships that were lost, the individuals that did not return to us. May they find peace in the world that lies beyond this one in accordance to their own beliefs and know that their names shall be carved on the Wall of the Fallen in the Grand Gallery in honor of their ultimate sacrifice so that the rest of us may live safe and free of the danger they confronted.”

From a balcony over the main gallery a veteran SPO called out the names of the nine ships that were lost in the endeavor and the names of the twelve hundred thirty one lives lost. When the reading, which took over two hours, was finished, an old ship’s bell was rung followed by a full minute of silence before being rung once again.

As the final tone of the bell drifted into silence, all of the SPF personnel in attendance dropped their salutes and Janes reclaimed her podium. “Assembly, dismissed,” she called out sharply.

Elias waited while the crowd dispersed. He’d asked not to be called up to the stage and because of his actions during the operation had been granted that his own ceremony would be a private affair. Eventually the crowd thinned enough so that he and the others could exit the auditorium and made their way to the Grand Gallery. The chamber had been carved out of the solid black and grey rock of Joplin. The fox remembered the first time he’d entered the chamber as a recruit and chuckled when he looked to see the latest batch of shave-tailed cadets stepping from the monorail shuttle that brought them from the docking bays.

The others paused with the fox to watch as instructors ran up to the latest batch of cadets, yelling and getting in their faces, many of the recruits shaking in fear, their eyes wide, fur and human alike.

“You think you’re good enough for the SPF?” one sergeant bellowed over the rest, the giant grizzly standing with his hands on his waist and glaring down with malevolent glee at the former civilians trying to comply with conflicting orders from different instructors at the same time. “You all wanna be big heroes? Look at the wall behind me! THOSE are heroes! Each and every one of those names is a real hero! What makes you think any of you are even worthy of reading those names? Don’t you look at that wall, cadet!” the bear bellowed at one unfortunate recruit. “You ain’t worthy of reading those names yet!”

Elias chuckled. “It’s nice to see some things never change.”

“It was the same way when we arrived, wasn’t it, Rovi?” Sandy asked with a wide grin as the sergeant continued to yell, his voice echoing in the huge chamber. He shook his head when the bear dropped every single recruit for push-ups to keep them from looking at the Wall that he’d intentionally pointed out.

“Was it ever. There weren’t as many names on the Wall, then,” the black furred fox agreed with a nostalgic expression. “Did we look as motley when we first got here?”

“I had to run around my entire class when I first got here for laughing,” Lena said with a frown. “I didn’t tell or even listen to a joke for an entire month after that.” She looked at her wolf. “What about you?”

“The same. And push-ups, sit ups…I was a little pudgy when I first got here,” Randal admitted.

“You’re kidding, right?” Cerise asked, glad that she’d been spared the indignity of being a cadet.

“Serious as can be,” the wolf said.

Their ruminations were interrupted by the sergeant yelling at another of the recruits. “Don’t you be eyeballing those officers, little girl! They’re probably wondering why I don’t ship the lot of you right back home! Now, you better be looking real hard at that floor! Go on! Doooown…and up! I said up! UP! Work those weak arms! You better give me a decent push-up or we will stay here all day and work at it until I get tired!”

“Let’s get out of here before we cause a recruit mutiny!” Elias told the others with a laugh.

***

The group had a quick lunch in the mess near their quarters before meeting with Breth Janes in Sandy’s personal auditorium. It was far less formal than the assembly for the cadets and news crews. She looked at the individuals in front of her. “Well, I can’t say that I’m happy about all of you leaving the SPF, but I do want you to know that you’ll always be welcomed back with open arms if you ever change your minds,” the woman said with a shake of her head. “I think we’re lucky that most of you have stuck with us for this long, all things considered.”

“I can’t say I’m sorry, Commander,” Elias told Janes. “I’ve just had too many close ones. I have others to think about.” He lowered his head for a moment before looking the woman in her eyes. “It wasn’t an easy decision. The SPF has been good to me.”

“I understand, Elias. I really do,” the human said. “Just don’t be surprised if you get a call from me out of the blue for something.” She stood and held her hand out to the fox. “We owe you for what you’ve done. If there’s anything you ever need from me, so long as it’s legal, you let me know.”

Elias nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”

Breth Janes stood and sighed. “There’s a ship headed to Dennier in three days. The frigate Chamkata. You’ve already got assigned births on her for all of you. Just remember that you’re all still considered active until you actually make planetfall,” she warned with a smile.

CHAPTER 54

Transit time from Joplin to Dennier lasted a little over three weeks and the group spent another week acclimating to a different way of life. Tisane Binfurr had provided guards to protect the Tambor estate, the two monitoring teams being led by the human Erwin Hammer and Aran Deurman, Rovi’s associates that had helped protect the crew of the Guiding Angel after the attack at the starport.

“I think I owe you some beer. We hit your fridge pretty hard,” Erwin had told the older fox with a grin when the entire group arrived by two air taxis. “And we used the Dragonfly quite a bit. It was a little less obtrusive than the Binfurr VTOL, so we probably owe about as much for fuel.”

“Erwin, you don’t owe anything,” Rovi told the human with an embrace, glad that his friends had continued to help while he’d been away. “I am going to assume you were comfortable here?”

Aran scratched his head through his thick mane and grinned. “Of course. We should probably show you the new security system that Mister Binfurr had installed. He also wanted us to tell you that he’s not looking for you to be back for a couple of weeks still. Something about a proper vacation before getting production started on a large order of those new rifles we were working on for the SPF and a couple of planetary defense forces. Oh, and he said something about a bonus, too.”

“How many orders did we get?” the black fox asked as he helped the others in with their luggage.

“Well, the SPF had ordered twelve thousand of the rifles, and the three planetary armies that have put in requests bring the shipping total up to over four hundred thousand units to ship at the end of the year,” the lion said with a grin.

Rovi shook his head in wonder. “That’s the largest bulk order we’ve ever had at one time from our division.”

“Well, we did kind of leak the information that the rifles were tested in actual combat conditions,” Erwin chuckled. “Which reminds me, Tisane had the cabin restored, and he also put in a security system there, too.” The human then turned to Elias. “A Jak Macklin fromOkami came by. Something about a salvage refit that’s being held for you at the shipyards. Wanted you to call him after you got in and caught a little rest.”

Everyone turned to Elias for an explanation and the fox shrugged as he looked at the others and grinned. “I told Sandy when we were done with the operation that we were looking at going into the courier and specialized transport business. He suggested us keeping theGuiding Angel as it had proven itself and that we could pick it up after it was refit.”

Elias sighed and headed to one of the stools near the bar and sat down with Renee in his arms.

“I was reluctant at first with everything that had happened on the ship, but Sandy pointed out that a lot of good things had happened on board as well. The funding for purchasing, outfitting and registering has been taken out of the ship’s fund that we set up last year. As it is, we have more than enough to get us going and keep us flying for the next three years.”

“We’re in,” Randy said as he and Lena stepped forward, their arms about each other.

Odette and Sonja nodded with wide grins. “You better believe it!” the bear said with a chuckle.

Lemuel looked down at Keena. “Fancy kicking about the alignment with me, darling?”

The russet vixen simply wrapped her arms around her tiger with a grin and squeal of delight.

“Surely you won’t be taking the children?” Sharan asked, her eyes wide and ears drooping in disbelief.

“Absolutely!” Cerise said with a smile. “We want them to learn about the PA. What better than seeing the different worlds and meeting the people there? It’s better than some stuffy book, and they’ll get a lot more out of seeing those places than some video. There are plenty of home schooling programs for us to make sure we get the basics, but the other stuff? You can’t replace being there.”

Saul and Treena stepped up. “I don’t know how to say this, but…well, we won’t be going with you,” the jaguar said looking at the floor. “We…we feel we still have a lot to do with the SPF, and I’m ready for my own command.” He looked up and there was an actual tear in the large cat’s eye. “We’ll be heading out with the Chamkata when she lifts next week.”

“You know you’re going to be missed, right?” Elias said. He’d had an idea that Saul wasn’t going to go with them but hadn’t said anything. “It won’t be the same without you.”

“I didn’t want to let you down,” Saul said softly, his head dropping again. “You took a chance on me and I can’t begin to thank you for everything you’ve done for me, but…I’m just not ready to leave the force yet.”

The fox stepped up to his friend and put his hands on the other fur’s arms. “You haven’t let me down, Saul. Just remember that you and Treena have always got a berth with us when you decide it’s time to do something else.”

The jaguar nodded before the two embraced in a brotherly fashion. You didn’t go through what they had without forming a bond that transcended the normal friendships most people develop with others.

“Thanks, Elias,” Saul said as he wiped at an eye.” You wouldn’t want to do me a favor, would you?”

The fox chuckled, “If I can, you name it and it’s yours.”

“Would…would you stand at my side as my second?” the cat asked hopefully. “I…I asked Treena to be my wife…and…”

“Of course I said yes,” the ocelot said with a grin before being mobbed by the other females, save Pala, though the Kastan smiled from where she was fussing with changing Van’s diaper.

“And of course we’ll have the ceremony here,” Sharan said firmly.

Erwin shook his head. “Considering this group’s universal plunge to matrimony, why don’t all of you go to Kantus and just do a full family bonding to each other?” The man stepped behind the bar and helped himself to a glass of Rovi’s whiskey. “I just hope this marriage thing isn’t catching!” he exclaimed with a shudder before tossing the contents of his glass back.

***

It was a small, informal ceremony for the two felines, surrounded by friends and family. Then it seemed as if the days passed far too quickly and they were gone, heading out with the frigate SPF Chamkata and back to Joplin. As things settled down, it didn’t seem the same without the two that had left, returning to the life that the others had opted to walk away from.

Elias, Cerise, Lena and Randal used the Dragonfly to commute to the Okami shipyards to inspect the refit of the Guiding Angel. On the outside of the hull that was stripped down to the metal alloy of the external plating, workers were moving around with lifts and on scaffolding and applying a primer undercoat base.

“It doesn’t look any different, really,” Randy said as he scrutinized the ship. “Apart from the paint missing, that is.”

All of them were in the office of Jak Macklin which overlooked the repair bay. “To be honest, it is the same ship,” the Okami employed wolf said. “We stripped out the cargo and engine bays, blasted the interior with glass beads to clean the bulkheads and finished putting in the same class engines she had before. Because of the casting of the ceramic composite armor a few of the conduits we replaced are in external tubing.”

The wolf coughed lightly and dropped his voice.

“I received a message from both Colonel Brees and Commander Janes from Joplin. It still has the…ah…original equipment, save live warheads in the missile racks. Everything else is…um, still there. Though there is no secondary craft in the cargo bay.” Macklin scratched his neck in a nervous gesture. “Oh, and we removed the fixtures from the suites that were converted into holding cells and returned them to their original state.”

“Well, we are going to tout ourselves as a protective courier and transport service,” Elias said with a grin. “I don’t think we’ll need a brig. Which reminds me, did you get my message about paint scheme and name?”

“I did,” Macklin said with a nod. “Oh, and I should go ahead and tell you as soon as she was brought in by the recovery vehicle that I was personally with the engineering and inspection teams. The cabins were all sealed by me once it was determined there was no damage to the living quarters. There may still be some…personal effects in certain cabins.”

“Thank you, Mister Macklin,” Elias said with a nod. There was enough time and distance from the event that claimed the lives of their three shipmates that it no longer felt like a knife in the gut of the fox. It might be a different story when they went through the cabins, but for now it didn’t hurt so much anymore, though Elias would always lament the loss of his friends.

“We’re looking at another week and a half of refit, painting and the like. I’ll contact you two days before we get ready to transfer her to Grandstorm Spaceport.” The wolf picked up a DataPak and made a notation. “Is there anything else we can do while she’s in the bay?”

“I think that’ll do it for the time being,” Elias said holding out his hand. “This should give us enough time to put the call out for the positions we need filled.”

“Some of those positions wouldn’t be ship’s engineers, would it?” Macklin inquired with a glance.

Elias nodded. “I’d like one experienced mechanic at least. Two would be better.”

The wolf chuckled. “I have four applications from individuals that would prefer a shipboard posting, but I only have room for two on my crews. Why don’t I forward them to you and you can select the ones that’ll go best with your group, I’ll hire the others. Win-win for all.”

“That sounds like a plan,” the fox conceded. “If you’re letting me have first pick it means that all of them are probably qualified for all of the systems they’ll have to tend to.”

“Oh, yes,” Macklin said with a smile. “They’ll be put in the military section of the yard as it is, so yes. I think they’ll suit you quite well. Look for their information tonight.”

The quartet headed for the small executive landing pad were the helicopter sat and Elias slid into the copilot seat as Cerise took the pilot’s position and brought the engine up to speed before engaging the rotors.

“So who do we need besides mechanics?” Lena asked curiously from the back seat.

Elias turned his head to look at the rabbit. “I was thinking about a dedicated chef. I know I don’t trust my cooking! I’d wind up giving everyone bellyaches and worse!” the fox said with a laugh.

“It would also be nice to have something other than jellybeans,” Randy told his partner with a smile.

“Lay off my jellybeans,” Lena said before leaning over for a kiss. “You didn’t gripe about them last night.”

“So that’s what that noise was!” Cerise interjected as she looked over the instruments and her hands took the stick and cyclic. “I thought someone was beating on a drum while playing a tin whistle. Badly.”

All three of the others turned to look at the doe as the inside of her ears turned a deep pink in embarrassment.

CHAPTER 55

While Elias, Lemuel and Randal were interviewing the prospects for the engineering positions, Cerise, Lena, Odette, Sonja, Pala, and Keena were enjoying a day in downtown Grandstorm shopping for new clothing and the like. Keena took them back to the store that she had been working at when they had run into her months before.

Then Lena saw a salon and squealed in delight. “I’ll catch up with you all later!” she exclaimed.

“What are you going to do?” Keena asked.

The doe grinned. “I’ve got enough in my account with all of the bounties we collected on and almost three months of standard pay so that I can get a permanent bleach design and some spray on dyes. This way I can change the colors whenever I want!” She paused in thought. “I think I’ll even get my ears done, too!”

Cerise looked at the others. “We’ll ping you when we get done so we can meet for lunch.”

“You’re going to do it too?” Sonja asked in surprise.

“Oh, yeah!” the ebony vixen said with a grin. “I’ve been thinking about it ever since I first saw Lena’s dye job before our first launch.”

Pala fell in with the doe and vixen as they walked arm in arm to the salon whispering to each other with a great deal of giggling while the others headed into the clothing store.

Keena shook her head and chuckled. “What have you all done to my sister? She would never have thought of doing something like this a couple of years ago!”

Sonja shrugged before turning to a dress rack, eyeing an asymmetrical dress of deep green and black that would leave her right shoulder bare and had a high slit up the leg. “Don’t look at me. I’m completely innocent.” The Spaniel held the dress up against her front. “Do you think I could pull off these colors?”

“I think so,” Keena said with a tilt to her head. “You’ve got the build to really set it off, too. What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking about hitting a club. I haven’t had any companionship for a while and I’m feeling kind of…needy,” Sonja admitted with a slight frown. “I think I really want someone to hold me for a while. Maybe a few other things as well.”

“You aren’t kidding there,” Odette said with a sigh.

Keena nodded. “C’mon. I have some ideas and I’ll tell you what places you’ll want to avoid.” The vixen began to go through the different selections, looking forward to dressing up her friends for a night out.

***

Elias looked at the waiter as he held up his cup for a coffee refill. “So, what do you two think of the last one?” he asked, nodding when the youthful marten acknowledged him.

“Personally, I still prefer the first two candidates,” Randal said with a shrug. “They have a thorough understanding of all the systems, both are Okami certified so I’m inclined to trust them more, and they were the least…up tight. Not to mention they both have an impressive list of personal and professional references that will be easy to check out.”

Lemuel nodded. “I have to go with the wolf on this one. That last guy…I know that barking knuckles is a hazard with mechanics, but his weren’t just scarred. He has a habit of hitting things which tells me he might have a bit of a temper. The one before him…I didn’t like the way he was leering at the waitresses or the females that came in.”

Elias watched as his cup was refilled, mumbling a thanks before grabbing the cream and sugar. “I know it’s going to sound a little weird, but I like the first guy as well. It just seems right to have a panda onboard. Not the best thing to base a decision on, but it’s how I feel.”

“Go with your gut feeling,” Randy commented as he sipped a cup of tea. “It’s not like we’ll have a problem checking things out on them. I can swing by the regional SPF barracks and do that if you want.”

“Are you sure it’s no problem?” the fox asked as he nibbled on a bit of pastry.

“Not at all. I wanted to swing in and say hello to a couple of individuals there, anyway. I’ll have them ping it to your DC and catch up with you back at the estate.”

The other two watched the wolf get up and leave. “I have some things I want to tend to as well,” Lem said also standing. “I’ll line up a restock of the infirmary and then I want to hit a couple of places for a couple of things for Keena.”

“Shiny goodies to make up for lost time?” Elias asked with a grin that was mostly hidden by his mug.

“Of course!” the tiger chortled. “I have to keep the wife happy.”

“You’re a wise individual indeed, my friend.”

Lem nodded and pulled out a few Dennieran credit notes until Elias waved them away. “My treat, remember?”

“Whatever you say, Captain,” the tiger commented in a sardonic tone.

Elias finished his coffee, left the money for the tab and a decent tip before heading outside. His monocycle was parked at the curb to the pedestrian walk, the single wheeled motorcycle having been returned to the estate by local law enforcement after the attack on theGuiding Angel. He slipped the helmet on and tripped the interlock and felt the hum as current flowed to the motor. With a quick scan for oncoming traffic, Elias twisted the throttle and pulled out into the street before adding a little more speed than was prudent or legal.

It only took a few minutes to get to where he wanted and Elias shut the monocycle down and latched the helmet onto the lock strap behind the saddle and walked into the office he parked in front of. A mouse looked up at the fox and gave him a well practiced, though no less genuine smile.

“Welcome to the offices of Blue Horizon Freight. I’m Cindy. How may I help you?”

“Merlin wouldn’t be around, would he?” Elias asked with a curious and friendly expression.

“Do you have an appointment, Mister…?” the mouse asked with a cautious glance, her hand slipping towards the alarm button under her desk.

“No. Not really. I was Major Tivnan of the SPF. Now I’m just Captain.”

“Elias? Is that you?”

Turning at the sound of his name the fox couldn’t help but break into a wide grin. “How you doing, you old space tramp?”

The wolf dropped the paperwork that had been in his hands on the edge of the desk next to the hallway that led to the back offices. The two canids shared a quick embrace complete with back slapping and laughter before they parted, arms about shoulders, Merlin Sinclair turned the fox towards the reception desk. “Cindy, this is Elias. Elias, my invaluable office manager, Cindy. The rest of the staff’s out getting a late lunch.”

“Pleased to meet you,” the mouse said with her smile growing warmer by several degrees.

“Likewise, ma’am,” the fox said.

“Oh, no! Just Cindy, thank you very much!” the female said with a laugh.

“When did you get in?” Merlin asked still grinning. “I know Sam will be glad to see you and Cerise!”

“Last week. I’ve been spending a lot of time over at Okami,” the fox told the other. “Getting my ship in order, of all things.”

Merlin steered his friend away from the desk. “Pirate hunter?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper and an interested look in his eyes.

“Not this time. I’m out. For good. The Van Connor operation was it for me. Strange thing was when I tendered my resignation almost all of my original crew came with me.” He leaned against the desk. “Cerise and I want to keep flying, so we’re going to be running a specialized secure courier business.” He rubbed at his muzzle scar in a self conscious gesture. “It seems that Okami had a salvaged hull undergoing a refit that would suit us quite nicely for a bargain price.”

Merlin cocked a smile. “You got the Angel back?” he asked in surprise.

“They’re finishing up the details now,” Elias confirmed. “I’ll be renaming her, though,” he said, his smile slightly subdued.

“You know, secured courier wouldn’t be a bad idea,” the wolf commented. “I’m having Taro accept passengers for a little extra income. I know there are some out there that would prefer something over a liner that’s safe. Do you want some assistance in lining up clients? We have a pretty detailed data base now. Not to mention a solid reputation. A few recommendations could help out a lot. There’s no reason that you should have to struggle like I did my first time out. First it was cleaning the G model freighter from the bakery company that owned it, then getting a new computer core, a proper one with updated charts…should I mention the lack of clients?” Merlin asked with a laugh.

“Well, why don’t you and Sam tell us all about it when we take you out for dinner tonight?” Elias suggested. The fox’s expression grew serious. “Merlin, I…I really owe you for what you did that day…I don’t know if I’d dealt well with it if anything had happened to you and Sam…I…”

Merlin shook his head and put his hand on the other male’s shoulder. “Elias, it’s in the past. I can’t tell you how relieved we were to hear that you two were safe. And now you won’t be throwing yourself into danger which means the two of us can breathe easier as well!”

Elias smiled and nodded. He would give his life for any of his friends, and counted Merlin and his wife Samantha in that small group. “Just wait until you see the kits,” he said trying to change the conversation to a lighter topic while he worked on the lump that had formed in his throat. “They’re mobile now and an absolute handful and I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

***

Everyone was thrilled to see Merlin and Samantha, who was showing with the litter she carried, which meant of course all of the females were surrounding her and making quite the fuss while the Border Collie gushed over the twins, leaving the males alone to talk as the group got together for drinks at the estate after Elias and Cerise returned from taking the other couple to a quiet supper between the four of them.

“I’ve already sent word out so when you’re finally ready to launch you should have plenty of clients bidding for your services. My office staff is also willing to help out with an advertising campaign for the services you offer,” Merlin said as he held an after dinner coffee.

“I wouldn’t have expected help from…well, I don’t suppose you’re really a competitor, are you?” Lemuel said.

Merlin laughed. “Are you kidding? The best way to drum up business and keep things flowing smoothly is with competition. Besides, the services that you’re going to be offering are different enough that it isn’t competition at all. I move bulk cargoes, not secure courier work unless it’s a small package or person, and I try to keep that as quiet as possible.”

“And Merlin still has more work than ships,” Elias said as he dunked the ice cube of his soda with a claw tip. “When are you going to expand your fleet?” the fox asked with a grin

“When I can convince you to join the company,” Merlin answered with a grin just as wide.

“At least our cargo can take itself of the ship, for the most part,” Randy commented with a chuckle.

“That’s always helpful,” Merlin agreed.

Eventually the ladies rejoined the rest and Elias had to keep from staring at his wife’s new fur style. She had sweeping shapes that seemed to spiral and flow in her fur in bright purple that went well with her gown, having finally given in to her desire for a bleach and dye job like Lena had when they all shipped out together for the first time. The fox found that as far as he was concerned it accentuated her already substantial beauty. She even had the pattern extend to her lush tail fur and a small design accent under her left eye.

“You know, it would mean a lot if you and Sam could make the christening,” Cerise told the wolf and Border Collie. “She’s getting delivered to the starport day after tomorrow.” The vixen looked to her friend, “If you feel up to it, that is.”

“Are you kidding?” Samantha asked with a wide smile, her eyes sparkling. “I wouldn’t miss it! I’m not so close to my delivery date that I have to worry about going into labor just yet.”

“Have you had cravings for odd, hard to find foods as bad as Cerise did?” Pala inquired with a pleasant expression.

“Boy, has she ever!” Merlin said with a chuckle. “Do you know how hard it is to get green shell Crescentis oysters this time of year? Sam normally hates those, but not lately.”

“You must tell me where you found fresh Crescentis green shells,” Pala purred. “I haven’t had those in far too long!”

***

The night was far better than the last time the friends were together and the visit was extremely enjoyable for all. When Elias and Cerise retired for the evening it was with warm feelings of contentment. Elias had made sure that the twins were indeed asleep and taken care of in the room next door and lay in the bed of Cerise’s old room.

“Poor Sam is going to have her hands absolutely full!” the vixen said as she hung up the gown she’d been wearing and spoke to her husband from the bathroom. “She and Merlin are going to have at least four pups!”

“And I thought we had our hands full with two,” Elias chuckled. “I don’t know if I could handle four. And I’d hate to see the toll more than two would have on you.”

“So would I,” the black fox agreed fervently. She stepped out of the private bathroom and stood in the doorway with her arms up, hands on either side of the frame. She was completely unclothed and looked pointedly at her mate.

“I was wondering how far the pattern went,” Elias said swallowing hard. His eyes bulged as Cerise walked slowly back into the room before doing a pirouette, her tail wrapping around her legs as she spun, her arms over her head. She turned it into a pounce as the vixen launched herself at her mate. To further add to the dyed patterns Cerise had braided a purple ribbon into her long hair.

“I take it you like the new look?” she asked archly, nuzzling her mate’s throat and nipping at him playfully.

“Oh yeah,” he breathed.

Cerise leaned close and put her mouth close to Elias’ ear. “Show me how much,” she whispered before her tongue flicked out to lick the edge, enjoying the flirtatious love play.

It had been a while since the pair could simply be together without other considerations putting pressure on both of them and each enjoyed the night thoroughly.

CHAPTER 56

Naming the ship that all of them had grown so close on had been difficult, and Elias was pleased to have come up with a new name for the Okami H model freighter that not only seemed to fit, but also honored their three friends that had perished onboard. The fox had paid a few of the port’s ground crew to fix a sheet over the name with a long cord, though the rest of the color scheme was easily visible.

Gone was the metallic emerald green and silver wings. Though Elias and the rest had taken pride in the colors, the fox had wanted something a little different. He maintained the sparkling metallic paint, but this time in dark blue and copper colored trim that shimmered in the bright Dennieran sunlight.

The members of Elias’ crew, his in-laws, and friends Merlin and Samantha stood together. The fox accepted a quick kiss from his wife before turning to face the others.

“When I first stepped onto the ship behind me, it was to captain a warship with the sole purpose of making the Alignment a safer place. It was the first of a whole series of vessels that would follow with the same task as ours; find pirates, criminals and others that threatened the worlds and people of the PA and put them out of business.

“We did that.

“We stopped those that would prey on others, stopped slavers, prevented smugglers from spreading not just illegal technology, but drugs and other materials that were specifically targeted to youngsters for nothing more than making criminals rich. We didn’t get all of them, not by a long shot, but I think we did a lot of good. The longer we followed what we were tasked with, the closer we grew. Each one of the individuals on board became friends, and from that they became family.

“I lost three of my crew on this very ship through a cowardly attack. I lost two brothers and a sister, and there’s a hole in my heart and soul that will never be filled where they used to be. I still hurt, but they will always be with me. We found the ones responsible, though, and we stopped them from ever harming another citizen ever again.

“When I made my intentions known of leaving the SPF and following a life on my own terms with my wife, the lady that brought me back to life as much as the doctors that tended wounds I received, and those of you that have come to mean so much to me, I was told that this very ship was available for the life I wanted that would keep us flying together. At first I was reluctant, intimidated by the memories that resided within her. Then I thought about it and realized those same memories were the best way to keep our loved ones with us and alive in our hearts.

“It is because of the sacrifice of Melise, Stram and Rutger that I chose a name that would honor their memories and the place they have within each of us. May they watch over us as we begin adventures of our own in our new lives. To each of you, who have come to mean so much to me, I introduce you to the Ascendant Angel.”

Elias tugged on the cord attached to the sheet and revealed the name and the ship’s symbol of three silver stars in orbit around each other with sweeping copper trim spilling away from the emblem, forming stylized wings further back on the hull that were similar to the original ship’s symbol, but at the same time very different.

The original crew of the Guiding Angel nodded, most of them with moist eyes, though it was Randy that was shedding the most tears. “It’s fitting. You’ve brought our home back to life, Elias.”

“I hope you have enough Champaign for the rest of us, Toddy-boy!” a voice called out across the tarmac.

Elias and the others turned to look at the speaker, a few like Sonja, Randy and Cerise reaching for concealed pistols until they saw who had spoken.

In a knot stood Alistair, Chuck, Galina, and a couple of the other Q-ship captains along with Sandy, who was dressed in civilian clothing, his wife Meri, and Jenna. The lion shrugged as the group was regarded with wide eyed astonishment.

“We couldn’t pass up the chance to celebrate the resurrection of this particular ship,” Sandy said with a smile.

Alistair gave the fox a warm embrace before moving to Cerise and planted a kiss on her cheek as he gave her a squeeze. “I thought you’d wind up keeping his feet on the ground.”

The vixen laughed. “Are you joking? I think I’m more excited about taking off than Elias is, you scoundrel!”

“Always flirting with my wife,” the white fox commented with a shake of his head.

“More like flirting with anything female,” Galina said with a rich laugh and stepped forward to say hello. “He’s made a dozen passes at me on the walk over from the southern landing area and jabbered with nonstop innuendo.”

The greetings and introductions took a while before things settled down. Randal went into the ship to get the bottles of wine including the one that would be used to christen the vessel and even brought out a folding chair for Samantha and a bottle of fruit juice as she declined a glass of Champaign due to her condition.

Sandy was prompted to actually do the christening with the argument that much of what had transpired, a little of it bad, most of it good, and all of it profound and life altering, had been because of the events he’d set in motion. Afterwards Meri gave a blessing to the ship that all who ever stepped onto her decks would be kept safe, their lives prosperous and filled with joy. From there it quickly turned into a rather raucous party that starport security showed up to investigate until most of the individuals in attendance flashed Spatial Police Force identification and the most notable personality turned out to be Elias himself, his exploits still fresh in the memories of many individuals that resided in Grandstorm.

It seemed that everyone came up to wish the fox good fortune, which continued long after Merlin had to take Samantha home to rest. They all promised to stay in touch and get together whenever they were on Dennier and Cerise and Elias bid their good friends a fond farewell.

The fox found Galina’s former First Officer Aiden Haskell, now a Captain of his own hunter, walking around the ship holding his wife’s hand and looking the vessel over. “Apart from the new paint job it looks just like she did when we first met up,” the human said with awe.

“The Okami crews really did a good job,” the skunkette, Cleo, agreed.

“To be honest I’m just glad to have her back,” Elias said looking up at the hull that gleamed in the lights from the port. “I don’t know why I was so worried to come back to her.”

“I think it’s like you said in your speech,” Aiden told the fur. “There’s a lot of memories tied up in her. Good and bad. You’ve finally discovered that no matter what, she’s Home.”

“Do you always have to make so much sense?” Elias asked with a wry grin.

“Isn’t he insufferable?” Cleo asked before giving her human husband a kiss on the cheek. “And right almost all of the time. I think that’s what makes him so smug sometimes.”

“I’ll try to be more humble,” the man said with a straight face.

“Not likely,” the skunk said with a laugh.

Eventually they drifted back to the others and the small group of friends and family. As the hour grew late, well wishes were made again with promises to keep an eye out for the fox and his crew and the others drifted off to return to their own ships. Jenna stood apart from the others looking up at the name on the bow, her dark eyes glittering in the lights on the tarmac that chased away the gloom of night. Cerise slipped up quietly and put an arm around the younger female’s shoulders.

“Looks like you’re having some pretty deep thoughts for what’s supposed to be a party,” the vixen said with a little squeeze.

“I guess I am,” Jenna replied with a slightly embarrassed smile. “This is the ship all of you were on when you rescued me. It’s where my life completely changed and started me down the path to a real family and learning that being a slave or piece of meat for someone else’s pleasure isn’t the only thing out there.” She wiped at her eyes again. “I hope this ship flies forever.” She looked sideways at the vixen and tentatively leaned her head against the other female, enjoying something akin to having a real big sister. “The same with her crew.”

“Well, you never know what we’re going to encounter out there,” Cerise said with a chuckle. “We might wind up showing others there are possibilities besides what you went through. We know you’ll certainly be doing the same.”

“You bet I will,” the ferret agreed with a firm nod.

“C’mon. Let’s go see what Sandy’s talking to the others about,” Cerise suggested.

They walked arm in arm and Jenna leaned over to the other female. “By the way, the dye job is stunning!” she exclaimed quietly. “That’s the only problem with having to follow regs. I can’t do that!”

Cerise grinned. “Actually it’s just a permanent bleach job. I have spray dyes to go with whatever I’m going to wear.”

“I am so jealous!”

Sander Brees was looking at Lena and Randal as he gestured with his wine glass. “…seeing the equipment is still functioning, a few of us chipped in and found a little present to give you…well, to all of you really, considering what your business will be centered around,” the lion was saying. He cocked his head and slowly smiled as the deep chopping sound of a large helicopter’s rotors grew closer. “In fact, that should be it now.”

A Cloud Master heavy lift chopper came into view, lit up with the powerful lights from the starport, the triple rotors beating a deep staccato ThumpThumpThumpThump! as it slowed to hover in front of the sapphire and copper vessel before lowering the burden it carried.

Lena’s eyes grew wide and a smile crept over her face.

“We figured that there wasn’t any reason not to provide protective services in full to your clients,” Sandy said loudly in an offhand manner, “so we found this in a pile of mothballs and figured it had collected enough dust.”

The fighter was an older ThunderBolt, its layout looking more like a squashed, tapered cone, the engine pods and weapons encapsulated within sponsons mounted low on the fuselage. It wasn’t as fast as either the Raptor or Kestrel fighters that the doe had been flying, but it was durable and still in service with a number of worlds and defense forces.

“Of course we can’t let you have missiles, though the internal bays are still…functional,” Sandy said in a low voice covered by a cough followed by a wink. “If we don’t know about them we can’t say anything. She is equipped with four pulse cannon and two thirty millimeter gauss cannon.” The lion scratched his chin thoughtfully. “She’s kind of an elegant lady.”

Lena squealed and jumped at her former superior and hugged him tightly before giving the startled lion a loud kiss to the side of his face.

“Don’t think this excuses you from acting as navigator and relief pilot,” Elias said sternly. “I can’t have my First Officer off gallivanting in her new toy every time I turn around.”

“What?” the doe asked with a surprised look in her eyes. “First Officer? Me?”

“Well…yeah,” Elias said with a grin.

***

Everyone was quite happy and fairly tired by the time they left the Grandstorm Starport, though Lena was noticeably excited still, and Elias and Cerise went to bed while listening to the rabbit talking excitedly with her wolf in the room across the hall with the occasional yip of joy.

“I think you made Lena’s year,” the vixen said with a chuckle as Elias slid between the sheets to hold his mate to him.

“Just a little,” the fox said with a kiss to the back of his wife’s ear. “Maybe I’ll take her with me when I meet the applicant’s for the cook’s position. Feel like going or did you have other plans?”

Cerise snuggled deeper into the hollow of her mate’s body. “Keena and I were going out for supplies tomorrow. The standard stuff; books, movies, games. Lem’s going to finish putting together the infirmary and Odette and Sonja are spending the next couple of days in the city.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” the vixen said softly. “They’re both just, um, wanting a little company.” She sighed and pulled the fox’s arms tighter around her. “Not everyone can be as lucky as me,” Cerise said with a content smile.

CHAPTER 57

The ship’s cook that they had found was a fairly young wolf-Chow mix that had just gotten out of his year’s worth of reserve service to the Dennieran Navy. Olin Murphy had served as a firefighter at the naval yards, never having gotten into space, and had gone to school for culinary arts on the educational incentives for military service. His long black fur, golden brown eyes, quick smile coupled with a calm demeanor ensured Sonja had taken an instant like to the young male.

He’d proven his talents in the galley by producing personal soufflés for the rest of the crew along with flank steaks sautéed in onions and mushrooms and fresh bread, though for Lena he’d produced a salad of greens, complimentary fruits and nuts served in a decorative bowl carved from a melon rind. That he’d whipped up the meal in a little over an hour’s worth of time for the price of a few credits had impressed Elias, though to stock the galley he was given a free hand on the credit account after getting a list of the little things that the rest of the crew enjoyed.

It really hadn’t surprised anyone when Sonja had volunteered to go with Olin to lay in the food supplies. While that was happening the two engineers that had been hired for the Ascendant Angel were moving their personal tool boxes in, the senior of the two, a panda name Baxter Kynes, looked at the ThunderBolt sitting in the middle of the cargo bay with a wide grin while the second mechanic, Sabine Lansing, a red squirrel with long hair caught into a series of braids, cast a quick, nervous glance at the fighter as she wheeled her equipment into the engineering section.

The panda looked at the fighter, walking around and admiring the lines. “Is this what we’re carrying for a client?” Baxter asked with his grin growing wider as Lena sat in the opened cockpit calling off numbers while Randal correlated her readings.

“Nope,” the doe said as she scrutinized her display. “She’s all mine.”

On the nose in her typical flowing script Lena had given the fighter the name Li’l Darlin’. “May I?” Baxter asked.

Randy and Lena both laughed. “You’re going to be helping keep her in tip-top shape, so, yeah,” the doe said with a chuckle.

The panda ran his hand over the hull and down the sculpted strut for the starboard sponson. His visual examination didn’t last long and soon Baxter was lying on his belly on the upper fuselage with Randy going over the different systems. “We’ll tie the diagnostic unit in with the engineering computer for even better calibration. Running through a hundred and forty cycles a minute is better than trying to go through everything ourselves. The question I have is why we’ve got a fighter in our hold? I thought this was just a freighter.”

Wolf and rabbit chuckled. “Um, didn’t we tell you what kind of business this was?” Randy asked with a smile.

“I thought we were just some kind of specialized freight haulers,” Baxter said as he scratched his cheek.

“It’s a little more than that,” Lena said as she set her ship’s systems on stand-by before standing and stretching. “Secure cargoes and personnel. High security stuff. As far as we know, outside the military or SPF, we’re the only ones that’ll be offering these kinds of services. No pirate really stands a chance against this vessel.”

“Is that why there’s so much armor on the hull?” the panda inquired as he slid to the deck, joined by his two shipmates a moment later, noticing that the other two were awfully friendly with each other, though the lass was a bunny which might explain things.

“It’s a little more than that. We’ll explain it to you when we all get together before launch tomorrow morning,” Randy told the other male. “Go ahead and get your stuff stowed, Baxter, then we’ll show you where your cabin is. We should probably go check on Sabine as well. It shouldn’t take her this long to lock her tool box down.”

The trio entered engineering to find Sabine Lansing standing between the two gigantic engines, her hand idly teasing the ruff of fur at her throat, a dreamy expression in her eyes and a smile on her short muzzle.

“RP-12 power plants,” she kept breathing to herself over and over, her tool box completely forgotten.

Lena gave a concerned look to her lover who only shook his head and shrugged. Before they could ask the squirrel if she was alright, the little female stepped to the port engine and put her hands on the outer casing in a gentle caress to the housing assembly.

“You don’t touch me like that,” the wolf said with a feigned note of jealousy.

When Sabine turned around and realized she had an audience she screamed in a pitch high enough to make the other three cringe in pain.

“What the hell was that?” Lena asked, working her finger into her ear to clear the ringing that remained from the shrill noise.

“Sorry, but you scared the dickens out of me!” Sabine said with a hand over her breast as she gulped air and tried to get her heart down to a normal pace.

“Can I make the recommendation of switching to decaf coffee?” Baxter quipped as he massaged his ears then finally noticed the engines as well. “Whoa! RP-12’s! You can move a small moon with these!” His head whipped around and looked at the other two furs. “Why do we have engines this size on a freighter?” His tone was slightly accusatory.

“I see we’re not going to be able to put this off any longer,” Lena said with a chuckle. “You two come with us,” the doe said and led the others to the lift, taking it all the way to the third deck. “Get something to drink and get comfortable.”

Randy and his lover sat at one of the tables and waited for their mechanics, smiling when the panda pointedly kept the other from getting a cup of coffee. As they waited the wolf and rabbit looked at the familiar fixtures on the deck. Virtually nothing had changed and even the Wall of Glory remained with the tally of pirates taken out. Someone had even put up the regimental insignia of the Ganlin Legion with the word ‘PAID” in bold black lettering stamped across it.

“Before starting Angel Secured Transportation, this ship, and all of us with the exception of you two and our chef, Olin, were with the Spatial Police Force. This ship was a covert pirate hunter and-”

“This was a Q-ship?!?” Sabine exclaimed as she cut the rabbit off, her eyes widening so far the whites were visible past her brown irises. “Like the ones they did the story about on INN?”

“Actually this was the first Q-ship,” Randy said with a lopsided grin. “And we were part of the first pirate hunter crew.”

“No!” the squirrel all but shouted, bouncing in her chair. “Really?”

“Wow,” Baxter said. “That sure explains a lot!”

Lena nodded. “This used to be the Guiding Angel. She was hit hard enough to put her in the salvage yard a few months ago on the other end of the tarmac.”

“I remember that. Something about someone attacking a ship here at the port with antitank rockets…” the panda said with a nod.

“Yeah,” Randy said with a slow nod. “That was us.”

“Does that mean we’re with the SPF too, now?” Sabine asked excitedly.

“No. We all resigned our commissions. After taking care of that mercenary group in the Van Connor Nebula we’d all decided we’d had enough and wanted out, but we also wanted to stay together and flying. So Elias came up with the idea of running secure freight and transport,” Lena explained.

It took almost an hour to give the two mechanics a quick rundown and condense their exploits during which the wolf and rabbit answered questions. They also covered how the ship had been repaired and refit for service and they had all chipped in to buy it for themselves.

“You mean that our Captain is the same Elias Tivnan that crashed into the Arvallian Sea?” Baxter inquired. “That guy’s a serious hero! And he commanded the mission that smashed the Legion? And he’s our Captain? I didn’t make the connection during the interview…” The panda shook his head and wiped at his face with a nervous hand. “I’m so glad I’m already sitting down!”

“Why? Aren’t you feeling well?” Elias asked as he stepped from the lift with Cerise, both foxes carrying cardboard boxes. He gave the others a curious look when the panda gulped loudly and began to shake with an uncomfortable expression on his face. “Um…”

“I’m working for a living legend!” Baxter said softly.

Elias’ expression grew quizzical. “What?” He shot a look at Lena and Randal. “What kind of stories are you telling people?”

Baxter gushed on for several minutes and when he finished lauding Elias, the fox and his wife doubled over with laughter. “I’m no legend!” Elias told the panda. “Depending on your perspective I’ve either been at the wrong place at the wrong time, or really lucky to live through a whole mess of seriously screwed up coincidences!”

“I know you’re my hero,” Cerise said with an affectionate look.

“I’ve just been really fortunate to be surrounded by the best friends ever and knew they had my back,” Elias said as he gave Cerise a one armed hug. “That’s the only reason I got out of so many tight spots!”

“He says the sweetest things,” Lena told Cerise.

“And he means them,” Elias said with a grin. “It’s true. I wouldn’t be here if not for the best crew to ever come together and friends and a wife I could only dream of and don’t deserve.” The white fox looked at the two mechanics. “We aren’t going to go look for trouble. Out in space it’ll find us well enough on its own. But you can be assured that whatever happens, as long as every one of us does our jobs, we can trust each other with our lives and to get home safely from each cruise.”

Elias and Cerise began to unpack the boxes, the contents proving to be the mugs for the newly christened ship complete with the new logo. Most were simply ship’s mugs, though there were ones with each crew member’s name on them and they put those on the cup carousel next to the coffee urn.

“As it is, and because of the nature of the clientele that we’ve set our services for, over the next several days all of us will be heading to the SPF barracks to utilize their range. You’ll be running through immersion training in pistol, rifle and shotguns along with stunners while the rest of us re-qualify and get our PA concealed permits,” the fox said as he took his personal mug, gave it a quick rinse and filled it with coffee.

After doctoring it to preference, he took a sip and smiled widely.

“By the Maker it’s good to be home,” Elias said with a thick voice full of emotion and moisture forming in his eyes. He pulled Cerise to him for a languorous kiss before burying his face into the juncture of her neck and shoulder. When he looked up he raised his mug towards the center of the deck. “To Mel, Stram and Rutger.”

The others seconded his sentiments and as their Captain and his wife left the deck, Randal informed the two mechanics of the loss of their friends.

“But why do we have to learn how to shoot?” Sabine asked. “I’ve never touched a gun. I haven’t even seen one except in movies!”

“It’s a tool, Sab,” Lena said with a smile and shortening the squirrel’s name. “Just like anything else. It can be used or misused. It’s nothing to be afraid of. Respected, but not feared.”

Randy nodded in agreement. “As for why, we’ll also be providing transport for high profile targets. That means that we’ll also be partly responsible for their safety and may have to protect them.” The wolf shrugged. “You wouldn’t use a wrench to drive a nail, would you?”

“Of course not!” the squirrel exclaimed, rather offended by the idea.

“That’s right. You’d use a hammer. It’s the right tool for the job. When it comes to protecting others, and ourselves, you need the right tool, and that means a weapon. I’d prefer if you got comfortable with everything that we’ll have on board, but if all you can manage is a stunner, I’ll be happy with that.”

“I…I’ll try,” the squirrel said in a small voice and shrugged herself uncomfortably into her own shoulders.

“That’s all Elias, Lena or I will ever ask of anyone,” Randy said with a reassuring hand on Sabine’s arm.

CHAPTER 58

Sabine finished putting away her clothing and looked around the cabin that she’d been assigned to. The three rooms were larger than the apartment that she’d been living in as she worked at a garage that repaired air and ground cars, barely making minimum wage while scanning the employment ads daily for a mechanic’s position. As she stowed a couple of the books that she had brought with her, a few of her favorite romance novels, she saw something wedged behind the shelf.

Struggling to get a grip on the corner of the thick, glossy paper that was sticking up, she was able to get it out without damaging it and discovered it was a photo of the crew, though there were three individuals that she hadn’t met. Looking at the name of the ship behind them, Sabine concluded that it was the three crew members that had been killed.

The picture must’ve been taken at the beginning of the crew’s endeavor as the only discernible couple was the captain and his wife. It was easy to tell the two that were the group’s engineering team as they were dressed in smudged overalls. The pair of males was smiling broadly, the badger chewing on a stick of jerky while the tuxedo tom had warm and friendly eyes. They could easily have been any of the engineers and mechanics that she’d known during her few years in her chosen career and sniffed at having never known the individuals that everyone else spoke so fondly of.

With a sigh Sabine tucked the picture into the upper corner of the mirror mounted frame and all to the bulkhead, and began shucking her clothing for a shower. Even though she and Baxter hadn’t been expected to start work just yet, she wanted to get familiar with the huge engines, dreaming to one day work with such powerful and sophisticated machinery but never really expecting it to happen. The day had been happily spent in access tunnels and crawl spaces.

Everything she took off went into a hamper and she paused a moment to giver herself a good full body scratching before shaking vigorously and went to the integral dresser to pull out clean clothing, selecting a pair of peach colored panties with little blue and green butterflies and a one piece pajama suit with short legs and sleeves and button up front. Her cabin hatch chimed once before opening and Randal walked in, pausing for a moment and looking at her with wide eyes and a startled expression before swearing and spinning around.

“Sorry,” the wolf said, his tail drooping as his ears plastered themselves to the sides of his head in chagrin. “I didn’t think…um, that was stupid of me…sorry.”

Sabine swallowed loudly and picked up her clothing and a towel, holding in front of her.

“I…um, you’re…here’s a copy of your contract…yeah.”

The squirrel watched as he put it on the dresser, Randy realizing suddenly that he could still see her reflection and swore again.

“Just…just sign and I’ll get it from you later.”

As quickly as he’d come in, Randal left with Sabine being slightly embarrassed at the intrusion. She couldn’t have been too shocked, though. Randy was rather handsome and while surprised, she’d made no immediate move to cover herself when he’d come in. In fact, she’d let him get a long, good look at her. Of course she’d been stealing glances at him all day.

Too bad he was with the rabbit.

It had been a while since she had a boyfriend, and found herself very much attracted to their Safety Officer. As she stepped into the last room of the cabin suite and turned on the water for her shower, Sabine began a running argument with herself in the privacy over her own mind. One voice said that it didn’t seem that there was a permanent arrangement to what he and Lena shared while the other argued that there was no way she was going to intrude on a long term relationship. As hot water blasted grease and grime out of her head hair and fur with the aid of a fruit scented shampoo to remove the rest, she went back and forth, though the only argument that continued to resurface, sounding weaker and weaker each time was that she was rather lonely and had been for some time.

It was with a frustrated sigh that she dried off and redressed in her favorite jammies and slid in between the sheets of her bed, one that was a good three times larger than the one that she’d had in her apartment and far more comfortable.

Why were all the good guys always taken?

***

Olin sat on the bed with Sonja as the movie she’d chosen played on the terminal in her cabin, the plate of nachos that he’d whipped up, with extra jalapenos per the Spaniel female’s request having long since disappeared, though that didn’t stop her from scraping up little blobs of cooled cheese with a claw tip and nibbling or licking it off while looking at him with soft eyes.

She wasn’t remotely interested in the movie, some action flick that was filled with explosions, gun play, chases, narrow escapes and enough bikini clad and nude females to fill six months worth of ‘Galaxy Girls’ adult magazines. Olin would know; he had almost four years worth of the publication, including the quarterly special editions.

Of course, if she’d wanted to, Sonja could easily grace the pages of that magazine. She was lithe and trim and he was wondering how the Spaniel would look in a bikini when she rolled onto her side and focused all of her attention on him, her head propped up on her hand, the other arm resting along her curvy and very attractive flank.

“So, am I going to have to wait all night for you to lean over and kiss me, or should I go ahead and take the initiative?” she asked archly.

While Sonja was, in Olin’s humble opinion, smoking hot, she also scared the living daylights out of him. Not only was she completely comfortable in her femininity, she could also beat him to a pulp, or readily shoot him as she always had a pistol somewhere on her. The blond Spaniel was only a year older than he was, but her experience was far greater as he’d only ever dated one girl that he’d known in school and had never done any more than kiss and maybe a little heavy petting.

“Um…Sonja…I really like you, and you’re really pretty…actually you’re bloody gorgeous! But I’m…well, I’ve never…you know…”

She cracked a wide grin. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re a virgin, Olin?”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “My last girlfriend…she never…she would tease but never let me, um…” He swallowed hard as Sonja reached out her hand and put it on his arm and began to pet the thick fur.

“A good looking guy like you? I find that hard to believe!” she said with a laugh. Sonja really looked at him and tilted her head. “Wow. You really haven’t, have you? You’re as nervous as a cadet at first inspection.” She moved the plate to the stand next to the bed and scooted closer to the wolf-Chow mix. “Hey, it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” she said softly when his ears pressed back against his head. With a gentle touch Sonja ran her fingers through the thick fur behind his ear and neck to relax him. “It’s actually kind of sweet.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. A lot of guys take pride in the fact that they’ve bedded any number of females, and a lot of the ones that I’ve encountered think I’m easy.” The Cocker Spaniel snorted in amusement. “Well, I am sort of, but that’s only because I enjoy it as much as anyone else. But it was never with just anyone. And they had to be nice first.”

Olin leaned into the attention she was lavishing on his ear. “I can’t lie and say I don’t want to,” he admitted, “but it would seem kind of weird. I mean, we’re going to be on the ship together and I don’t want to wind up getting all involved and hurt when we get to port and you see someone better or-”

Sonja put her mouth over his to quiet him, smiling at his expression as she scooted closer so she could kiss the male properly. When they parted she looked into his eyes and smiled. “Olin, I haven’t been with anyone in over a year. Part of it was because we were a little busy, but it was also because of my friends. I saw how happy they were with dedicated relationships and decided I wanted that as well.

“I want to find one person I can just be me with. No lies, no telling stories, or trying to impress…and something a lot more meaningful than a one night stand. I’ve had enough of those. I think I’d like to try something that lasts a lot longer than just until morning. The whole guy in every port, that’s worse than a one night stand. And as for being on the ship together, I think we can be grown up enough to stay friends if it doesn’t work, don’t you?”

“I…I don’t know. I mean I saw Molly everyday in school with other guys and I still talked to her. Even after I found out she was giving it up for everyone but me afterwards…”

Sonja sat up and slowly unbuttoned her loose blouse. “Her loss, my gain,” she said with a gentle smile. “I’m up for trying something long term if you think you are,” she told the male, pausing momentarily. “We just need to be open and remember to talk to each other. All of my friends are happy because of that. Of course it doesn’t hurt that you are incredibly delicious looking right now.”

“Wh-what?” Olin asked in disbelief.

“You are,” she said with a slow nod. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that you’re quite the handsome fellow before?”

“Not…not really.” Olin was thinking about what she said regarding a long term relationship and smiled. “It’s nice to hear. Especially from you.” He tentatively touched the side of her face. “I think…I’d really like to…to try this and I’m willing…if you are.”

Sonja resumed unbuttoning her shirt and slid it slowly from her shoulders before stretching out over the wolf mix. “I think I’d like it very much. And I’d like to make tonight very special for you. How does that sound?”

Olin found that he was incapable of further speech as the beautiful Spaniel loomed over him for another kiss.

***

“I don’t know who said what to our chef to get him to make cheese and berry crepes, but keep it up,” Elias commented as he sat down at the table on the rec deck with his breakfast, inhaling deep the aroma of his food. The fox watched as Olin came out to drop a plate of crisp bacon on the table, pausing for a nuzzle and kiss with Sonja. The fox raised an eyebrow and the female smiled warmly in return.

“What?” the Spaniel asked with her smile turning into a grin, her tail wagging furiously behind her.

Elias chuckled and used the tongs on the plate to grab several slices of the bacon. “Carry on,” he said lightly.

“Yes, Sir!” Sonja answered enthusiastically.

As others filed in for their morning meal, Elias waited for them to get seated before breaking his news on them. “Well, we have our first client and cargo run in four days, so all of you have that long to get out into town to do what you need to do, get things in order and so on.”

“What’s the job and is it passengers or cargo?” Lemuel asked as Keena brought him a plate of crepes to which he gave her a smile and kiss.

“Both. Apparently some of the things that Rovi’s design team were working on, including those new rifles we already got to play with, and one of their engineers, needs to go to Binfurr corporate HQ on Fyn, so we’ll be making a run to the Centaurus system. From there, we have a pending request from Hestra to transport a package and three individuals to Joplin of all places.” Elias took a bite of his breakfast and chewed, his eyes almost rolling back into his head in bliss. “We’re looking at some fairly easy money for these runs as the primary cargo for each is less than two hundred pounds and one or two individuals.”

“That’ll give me a chance to get some things for the kits before we leave,” Cerise said as she fed Renee, Van already having had his breakfast and was crawling around the deck with Randal and Lena. “In our haste to get our stuff we forgot to get seats for them when we take off and land and I want some extra ones to put on the bridge. Sabine’s already working on mounting brackets.”

“They’ll be just like any other reinforced seat on the ship,” the squirrel said watching the kit on the floor and the two adults playing with him, an amused smile on her face. “I’m even making them adjustable so we can swap them out as they get older and bigger.”

“We’ll be ready to go,” Baxter said with a nod. “Sab and I have already gone over all the systems. Now we’re looking in all the cabins and other spaces to make sure all the lights work. Which reminds me, did you want me to activate the FloBots that we found? Diagnostics show they’re ready to go and have been on the charger all this time. They aren’t like any others I’ve ever seen and even have security protocols.”

“Wow,” Lena said from where Van was climbing over the doe, a bit of drool from his grinning mouth marking his ascent of Mount Auntie Bunny as he tried to get at the wolf on the other side who had a toy waiting. “I forgot all about Flea, Tick and Mite!”

Elias nodded. “If they check out go ahead and fire them up.” He munched on a strip of bacon. “That’s pretty much it. Everyone’s free until Friday. We’ll transit over to Binfurr Saturday morning at seven sharp to load our first cargo and passengers.”

***

Rovi and his friends Aran Deurman and Erwin Hammer were on the tarmac when Elias set the Ascendant Angel on the private pad of Binfurr Arms LTD, Dennier Branch. As soon as the cargo hatch opened the fox, lion and human came forward to greet Elias and Cerise. “I think that it’s fitting that we get to be your first clients,” the black furred fox said with a smile for his daughter and son-in-law.

“And we know that we can trust you to get our babies to Fyn,” Aran said with a wide, toothy grin. “Speaking of which, where are your little scamps? I ain’t seen ‘em since the welcome home party!”

“Still asleep,” Cerise told the lion with a scratch to the side of the huge male’s head. “Apparently they love flying! They had their breakfast and went unconscious as soon as the engines were spun up.”

“I wonder where they get that from,” Erwin said with a sidelong look at Elias accompanied with a grin and wink.

“No idea,” the fox said with a completely innocent expression. “We have a secure section for the cargo. Randy will show your people where to put it, and we have the cabin set up for the passenger.”

“That’s appreciated, Captain Tivnan,” a female red wolf with auburn hair and russet fur said. She was dressed in a smart looking pantsuit in black with a dark blue blouse that had a restrictive looking high collar and her hair was pulled back into a severe pony tail. She held her back as straight as if she were tied to a metal pole.

“Just call me Elias, Miss…?”

“Candace Learner. And it’s Ms., thank you.” The she-wolf was rather cold and aloof, and looked at the ship and crew critically. “Are you sure that your people are qualified to transport secure cargoes?”

Before Elias could speak Rovi interrupted. “Most of the crew have served with the SPF and their files are filled with more commendations than I care to list. They have my personal approval, Candace. And I expect them to be treated with all due respect. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Sir,” the she-wolf said before turning back to the white fox. “I think I would like to see my cabin, please.”

“Right this way,” Randal said stepping up and motioning to the cargo ramp, casting a look at his Captain and the others that bespoke volumes.

Once the red wolf was in the ship Aran began to curse, spitting vehemently after he said the female’s name. “I don’t envy you and the rest the four and a half weeks you’ll have with her, but I am going to enjoy her not being here!” the lion said. “Stuck up bit-”

“That’ll do,” Erwin said as he clapped his friend on the shoulder. “Candace is a little on the…abrasive side. Perfectionist and the like.” The human looked at Rovi. “Should we put a non liability clause in the transport contract if they feel the need to jettison her out of the airlock?”

“She’s a top notch materials engineer, but as you can see her social skills are certainly lacking,” Rovi informed his family. “You’ll be getting her to Fyn and her new position in testing new materials much more quickly than if we sent her by starliner. As you’ll be saving the company a substantial amount of credits from the first class accommodations we’d have to get for her, I’ve been authorized to sign off on a voucher for an immediate five thousand credit bonus. Consider it payment for having to deal with her less than stellar personality.”

“I think I’ll divvy this up amongst the crew,” Elias said with a chuckle. “I can at least lock myself on the bridge.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Erwin said with a grin.

“I know you need to prepare for launch,” Rovi said. “I’ll need you to sign the insurance forms first, though.” Elias looked them over and saw they were fairly standard and affixed his signature before handing them back. “We’ll have your rooms at the house waiting for you when you get to come back through,” the older fox said embracing his family again, including Keena who’d joined the little group and shook Lemuel’s hand. “Safe flight.”

“Thanks, Rovi,” Elias said and headed back on board, making sure the cargo was secure after closing the cargo hatch. “Lena, begin checklist,” the fox said as he neared the lift to the upper decks and tripped the intercom.

“Well, this ought to be a fun trip,” Cerise said with a shake of her head.

“Lem, you might want to make sure the analgesics are readily available for the rest of the crew,” the white fox informed the tiger with a chuckle.

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“You didn’t meet our guest. She may be a bit of a problem. She’s a bit stiff and rather demanding apparently,” Elias said as the lift doors opened.

“Captain Tivnan! I would like to know why I’ve been ordered to my cabin already,” the she-wolf demanded imperiously before anyone could step out of the lift. “If it’s all the same to any of you I would like to go to the cafeteria for a cup of tea.”

Elias sighed and realized that he would have to put his foot down now so the red wolf female understood the way things were on his ship. He was tempted to put said foot down on the she-wolf’s neck, though.

“Because we’re about to lift off and it’s standard safety procedure, the galley is off limits during lift off and landing,” Elias said flatly. “MizLearner, I have been contracted to transport you and the cargo in the hold to Fyn, and I plan to do just that, but in accordance with interstellar law and the Articles of Maritime Commerce and Shipping, I am the law on board, my crew, and any passengers we may have, follow the orders I hand down.

“There are things that I will not tolerate. The first is my orders being questioned. Another is any behavior that will put any one on this ship in jeopardy or put my vessel in danger. If any of my crew tells you to do something to keep all of us safe, you will listen and you will do it, or you will get off right now and you can explain to your superiors why you didn’t make your destination on time costing them even more credits because my fees are non-negotiable.

“And while we’re at it, there are certain sections that are off limits and restricted unless I say otherwise and that is the bridge, engineering and the cargo bay. Any violation of these rules, or if I find you in these areas, I will confine you to your cabin for the duration of the time we’re in transit. Also, as the Captain of this vessel, should I see fit to mete out any punishment for infractions, those may include corporal discipline and believe me when I say I will have no problem having the largest individuals on my crew put you over their knees and paddle you thoroughly.

“Now, we’ll be lifting off in a few minutes and that means you will be in your cabin and strapped in or I will have Randy tie you to your launch seat after our ship’s surgeon sedates you. When it’s safe to move around I will make that announcement. Are there any questions?”

Candace Learner apparently wasn’t accustomed to being spoken to in the manner that Elias did. She might be important to Binfurr, run a testing group and direct a small staff of other engineers, but the ship was completely his domain and he would tolerate nothing that put his crew or home in danger. The she-wolf dropped her haughty attitude and lowered her head submissively, her tail pressed against the back of her legs.

“I understand, Captain,” she said before turning back to her cabin and strapping into the launch seat before the hatch cycled closed.

The group looked at each other, their expressions saying more than words could and headed to their stations for launch. Lem and Keena peeled off just before the bridge and headed for the infirmary. Sabine and Baxter were down in engineering, with Randal returning to the refurbished cubicle in the cargo bay.

On the bridge Odette was at her position on weapons, just like when the ship had been a dedicated pirate hunter, though her demeanor was somewhat more relaxed. Her dark brown hair was brushed into a much less severe style and she had a rose tucked behind her right ear with a slight smile on her muzzle. Elias kissed Cerise before she took her place at communications and sensors, immediately striking up a conversation with Dennier air traffic control.

Elias dropped into the pilot’s seat with Lena in Saul’s old position of navigation. “What’s with Odette?” the fox asked his First Officer with a chuckle.

“She’s been getting acquainted with our new engineer,” the doe said as she ran a check over her instruments. “It only took about three nights,” Lena said with a mischievous grin.

“We’re clear all the way to orbit, Lover,” Cerise called out.

“Thanks, Babe,” the rabbit called back unable to help herself and laughed when the vixen blew her an exaggerated kiss.

“Copy that,” Elias called back with a chuckle before tripping the intercom. “This is the Captain. We’ll be lifting in one minute. Please ensure that all of you are strapped down securely and that all loose items are properly stowed. Some of you may experience some disorientation as we transition from planetary gravity to artificial. Should you find yourselves getting nauseous there are pouches on the sides of all launch seats. Doctor Anders will be by to check on all personnel once we’re free of Dennier. Bridge out.”

Lena looked at her board again as her friend and Captain did the same and called out to the fox and rest of the bridge. “Engines are green. Internal pressure is green. Shields are green…”

“Lift off in thirty seconds,” Elias said as he looked over his own console.

“Navigation is green, exit vector is green,” the rabbit continued.

They continued to call off the various sections to each other until Elias took hold of the familiar controls, a smile on his muzzle. “Copy that, Lena, we are go for full burn launch.”

The doe grinned wildly.

“Five…four…three…two…one…”

Elias lifted the ship straight up and felt the thump as the landing struts with their caterpillar tracks retracted into the hull and the armored doors closed. He pulled back, lifting the nose as the maneuvering thrusters held the huge ship off the ground, and stood the Ascendant Angel on its tail before slamming the throttles to their maximum output.

As had happened the only other time Elias had performed a full power launch before, the ship hung for a second then leapt upward like a shot. Even with the inertial dampeners on full everyone was pushed back in their seats. Despite the G’s that were pushing on them, Cerise was talking to Dennier ATC with only the occasional grunt in her conversational tones. “No, Jarvis, your instruments are reading correctly. No, that’s why we verified that our exit vector was clear. Are you kidding? I’m part owner of this ship! You can’t pay me enough to come back! You realize that I’m married now, right? Two kits. He’s a Major in the SPF. Jarvis? Jarvis?!?” Cerise snorted. “The jerk disconnected!”

In the time it took for Cerise’s short conversation, the Ascendant Angel made the hard vacuum of space and Elias reduced throttle. “Lena, go ahead and get us on our transit course for Fyn. I’m going to go and look the ship over.”

“That was fun!” the doe exclaimed. “When are you going to let me do that?”

“I’ll think about it,” the fox said with a grin. “The bunny’s got the bridge,” he said and headed for the hatch pausing to give his wife a deep kiss. “Go ahead and let everyone know they can move about.”

“You got it, Lover,” she said and turned to her console. She knew that her mate was still standing over her, admiring the patterns in her fur that were presently dyed different shades of green to mach her eyes and the outfit of black shorts, green tube top and lighter sheer blouse that was knotted at her midriff and smiled to herself.

The fox’s first stop was the infirmary and he found the tiger tending his wife who had her muzzle in a sick bag.

“A little warning next time, Elias,” Keena asked weakly giving her brother-in-law a look of suffering before retching again.

“You’ll be fine, honey,” Lemuel told the vixen with a gentle pat to her back.

“I know you don’t believe me, but you really will be fine in a few minutes,” the white fox said. He smiled when the female nodded without looking at him, her muzzle still in the bag. “Lem, see if you can find her some chocolate. That worked for Treena the first time.” He left the infirmary and passed Olin on his way to the upper deck with Sonja in tow.

“Hey, Captain!” the wolf-Chow said cheerfully. “Give us about an hour and we’ll have breakfast ready. Coffee’s already done when you want and there’s cookies if you can’t wait.” Sonja waved with a smile and disappeared with the male into the lift.

The next individual that Elias encountered was Candace, the she-wolf looking a little drained but recovering quickly. “Are you feeling well, Ms. Learner?”

“Please, Captain. Just Candace will do. I…I feel I should apologize for my behavior earlier. I know that Rovi Tambor is your father-in-law, but I honestly thought that I was going to be berthed on a tramp freighter with nothing but a bunch of uncivilized brutes. I beg your pardon for the way I acted.”

The fox nodded. “Apology accepted, Candace. Now, as for the beverage you wanted. Feel free to head to the galley on the recreation deck. I believe breakfast should be ready within the hour. I’ll be around the vessel periodically though you may feel free to ask any of the crew or you can contact me on the intercom if you have any questions or concerns.”

“Would…would you mind if I walked with you? I’ve only ever been on liners and cruise ships before. I heard that this was once a warship,” the wolf said with mild interest.

“You may, but I’m just checking on my crew and the status of the different sections. I don’t know if it will be all that exciting.” Elias was wondering if the female was making a play and flirting, but her demeanor was still far too stiff and aloof. “My first stop is to look in on my children and their nanny.”

“You have children on board?” Candace asked with surprise.

“We do. After our last mission with the SPF I don’t want to be separated from them until they’re old enough to start their own families.”

The she-wolf smiled minutely at that.

The kits were rolling around on the deck of the cabin that was next to Elias and Cerise’s, giggling wildly and tussling with each other while Pala looked on with a content expression. As soon as the hatch opened Renee and Van looked up before trucking after their father as fast as they could move babbling and yipping excitedly. Unable to help himself the fox got down on the carpet and let his children assault him, laughing happily along with the kits.

“They did extremely well during takeoff,” Pala said with an approving tone. “They’re natural spacers, Elias. With your and Cerise’s permission I was thinking of a little zero gravity playtime later on.”

“You know, that wouldn’t be a bad idea at all,” the fox said with a nod, each kit getting a nuzzle and hug from their father before heading to their pile of toys. “I’ll be back by in a little bit, and Olin should have breakfast ready soon.”

“I’ll take the children up as soon as I make sure their diapers are changed. The others will be happy to see them as well. Your children are truly fortunate to have such an extended family.” The Kastan took as much pleasure from tending the children as their parents and doted on them lavishly.

Elias chuckled and continued his rounds after pausing long enough to politely recommend Candace either head for the recreation deck or to her cabin. The red wolf didn’t give any argument and took the lift to the third deck, Elias waiting for it to return before heading to the cargo and engineering sections. Randy waved with a grin as he moved around the ThunderBolt, inspecting the mounting locks for the small craft and the equipment lockers.

“Any more trouble from our…guest?” the wolf asked, clearly having been tempted to use a different term for Ms. Learner.

“I got an apology from her, so that’s something,” the fox said. “I might not have to have her confined to her cabin for the duration after all.”

“That is something,” Randy conceded. The wolf looked up and one ear twitched as he saw a vibrant copper-haired head duck back into the engineering section from the open hatchway. “That’s the third time I’ve caught the squirrel-girl, Sabine, looking at me. It’s a little disconcerting.”

“You haven’t done anything to scare her, have you?” Elias asked with a sardonic grin.

“Um…well, I might have entered her cabin without really thinking and seen her naked,” Randy confessed with profound embarrassment, which meant his ears turned slightly pink.

“Well, there you go. You probably scared the starch out of her,” the fox told his friend with a chuckle before heading into the engineering section.

“Then why am I the one feeling like a target?” the wolf whispered to his self.

CHAPTER 59

Candace Learner had to admit that the Ascendant Angel was a well run ship. Granted the amenities weren’t as luxurious as one of the more reputable starliners that plied the routes between the worlds of the Planetary Alignment, but the crew attempted to make up for that by being friendly and there were quite a few diversions on the recreation deck. One of the more interesting pastimes, when the she-wolf wasn’t running laps around the second deck, were the calisthenics the male wolf, Randal, supervised with the other crew members, or even the hand to hand combat training he and the Kastan taught.

By the beginning of the second week Candace was looking for a distraction of a different nature. At the end of that week she was almost desperate for companionship. Unfortunately it seemed that almost the entire crew was paired off in one way or another limiting her options drastically. Normally her drives weren’t this severe, though it might have had something to do with her medication running out a few days prior. She forgot how empowered being off her medications made her feel. This also led to being far more assertive and allowing base needs and drives to dictate her actions.

The she-wolf’s thoughts became even more fixated on her desires as she finished her eighth lap around the deck for her daily workout, deciding that she’d run enough and headed for her cabin to shower and change of clothes when opportunity seemed to materialize right before her causing a visceral thrill to run through her. Her mundane, unaltered ancestors would recognize the emotion as the same thing when a successful hunt ended in a kill.

“Excuse me,” Candace said, swallowing once and getting her breathing under control, something that was far more difficult without her prescription. “Would you be able to help me with a minor adjustment to the temperature controls on my shower unit?”

The squirrel smiled widely. “Absolutely, ma’am!” Sabine replied brightly, her dark eyes shining. “I didn’t get to your cabin before we lifted, and I’m not sure if Baxter checked it out. I hope it hasn’t been a problem.”

The she-wolf waved the young female in with an overly warm smile, covertly locking the hatch as soon as they were both inside. As Candace watched the squirrel head to the lavatory she retrieved the sash of her lounging robe and concealed it behind her back. “No, I’d just prefer to get the water a little…hotter,” the wolf said in a low voice, almost on the edge of a growl.

“Well, let’s see what we can see,” Sabine replied, she got to her knees to open the access port and inspect the thermal control unit, unaware of the way the vixen looked at her as she knelt to access the plumbing.

The single scream of surprise went unheard by the rest of the individuals on the ship.

***

Nodding in satisfaction, Lena finished running her standard diagnostic on her fighter and was wrapping up the leads from the maintenance DataPak to stow in its locker when a sound caught her attention. Randy was in the cabin they shared, fast asleep having come off a double shift so Elias and Cerise could spend more time with their children and with each other. He’d had enough strength to enter their cabin, undress, giving Lena a warm kiss before falling into bed. No sooner had his head hit the pillow than he was snoring lightly.

No one else should be down in the cargo or engineering section as it was late in the ship’s night cycle and she became concerned when she heard the noise again. It definitely came from the engine section through the open hatch and Lena put the DataPak away before investigating the sound.

Between one of the workbenches and a large toolbox was Sabine. The squirrel was huddled as far back as she could get, her thick brush of a tail pushed up against the bulkhead and draped over her left shoulder, knees drawn up and hid her face in her arms. Lena knelt down and touched her gently.

“Hey, Sab? You okay?”

Thinking she was alone and not having heard the doe enter, Sabine screamed in reaction to the touch which caused Lena to scream as well.

“Geez, Sabine!” the doe exclaimed, plopping onto her bum in the middle of the deck, her hand on her chest.

The squirrel batted at her eyes with balled up fists and tried to compose herself before folding up and crying even harder.

“Hey, now,” Lena said softly. “I didn’t mean to scare you and I’m sorry I yelled.” She tried to sooth the red squirrel and gave the other female a curious look as she huddled tighter in on herself. “Did…did someone say something to upset you? Are you hurt?”

Sabine shook her head and eventually got her tears under control, wiping at her eyes with a rag that she had in a back pocket. When she looked up at the doe she began to cry all over again. “I’m a bad person!” the squirrel wailed and curled back up.

“What? What makes you say that Sab? Did you accidentally break something?” She watched as the other female slowly shook her head. “Is something wrong with the ship?” Another head shake. Lena tried to inject a little humor. “Are we going to blow up? I hate blowing up.”

“No…” the squirrel said weakly. When she lifted her head again the thin line of furless skin around her eyelids was puffy and irritated. “I’m going to get kicked off the ship! Everybody’s gonna hate me!” Sabine whispered.

“Why would we hate you?” Lena asked, genuinely confused. “I don’t hate you. I think you’re one of the coolest furs I’ve ever met. You’re a great mechanic and we’re lucky to have you-”

As she looked at the young mechanic, Lena felt her blood grow cold as the fur on her spine stood on end. On the edge of the squirrel’s right ear were red welts that looked like teeth marks and around her wrists the fur had been pulled away and the skin beneath was red and swollen. The doe swallowed hard and took a deep, calming breath.

“Sabine,” Lena said softly, her voice almost a whisper, “who did this to you?”

The squirrel sobbed harder. “I…I can’t say be-bec-c-cause I-I-I’ll g-get kicked off the sh-ship!”

Slipping her DataCom from her belt, the doe triggered the send control. “Elias, I need you in engineering right now,” she said softly.

“What’s wrong?” the fox’s groggy voice came back after a moment.

“I think…I think someone’s assaulted or…or raped Sabine.”

***

Elias made it to engineering in near record time and found Lena curled up in the little nook between the bulkhead and toolbox holding the weeping squirrel. “Sabine? Hey,” he said softly, his eyes full of concern. “What happened, kiddo? Who did this to you?”

The squirrel closed her eyes tightly and shook her head, rocking back and forth a little, her whimpers making her sound pitiful and wrenching at the white fox’s heart.

“She thinks if she tells us she’ll get kicked off the ship,” Lena told her friend, her eyes flashing dangerously.

“What?” Elias asked, a frown appearing. He knelt down and tried to assume a nonthreatening and caring expression and used a gentle tone when he spoke. “No, sweetie. Not at all. You’re part of my crew and that means you’re part of a very special family. You’re not going to get kicked off the ship. You don’t have to leave until you want to.”

The squirrel looked up and squinted, her raw, ravaged eyes blinking slowly. “Really?” she asked meekly, still trembling.

“Really,” Elias said firmly. “I need my peanut butter stealing mechanic.” The crew had discovered that Sabine was an avid lover of peanut butter, to the point of near addiction, and had a hard time keeping it in stock. He held out his arms to her and Sabine all but flung herself at her Captain, latching on to him in fear and confusion as she mewled pitifully. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “You’re not going to get kicked off the ship. I promise.” He held her and gently stroked her hair as he rocked her. “Let’s get you to the infirmary and have Doc Lem look at you, okay?”

Sabine nodded, curling into a little ball, still sobbing softly as Elias scooped her up and headed to the lift.

***

Lemuel exited the examination room, putting the test kit with the evidence he’d collected in a refrigeration unit and looked at his Captain. Keena was sitting in the room with the squirrel along with Lena and were soothing the young female and demonstrating their support of her.

“All of the injuries are congruent with that kind of…assault, Elias.” The tiger said quietly and shook his head. “She’s been violated.”

“Apart from the obvious, is she going to be okay?” the fox asked.

Lem shrugged. “The physical damage is fairly mild, and there will be some discomfort for a couple of days, but as far as the psychological damage…” he shrugged, “I don’t know. Most of us know that things like this can happen to any of us at any time, but Sabine isn’t as used to the darker side the way we are. I think Keena can help her, and Lena’s using her own experiences to assist. I think if Sabine discovers that she’s not alone, which is the big problem right now, it’ll help quite a bit.”

“Lena’s been through this?” Elias asked, not knowing that about his First Officer.

“It’s not something that she bandies about very often, but yes. She’s been there, and was a lot younger than poor Sabine when it happened.” Lem turned his head and saw the other two females leaning close to the engineer, all three smiling, the squirrel weakly, while Lena brushed the red squirrel’s hair back in an affectionate manner.

Elias shook his head. He never would have guessed at what he’d been told. “Now to figure out what to do about Ms. Learner,” he said, the she-wolf’s name leaving a sour taste in his mouth that made his lip curl, exposing his teeth.

“I know she’ll need to be turned in, but I should let you know that one of the conditions that precipitated the attack is Ms. Learner ran out of her prescription for Keldimide. It’s often prescribed for those that have personality disorders or emotional issues. In her case she’s suffering FRD. Feral Regressive Disorder causes the individual to act more on basic drives and urges instead of behaving in what we would consider a normal, coherent manner. In this case, Candace Learner is acting more like a mundane wolf, and her behavior is dictated by her need to assert herself as a dominant, an Alpha female, and when coupled with her preferences in companionship…it was only a matter of time before she targeted one of the females that she saw as weaker than her.

“I don’t think this would have happened if she hadn’t run out of her medication, though there was always the option of seeing me. I had some in stock…enough to keep her from getting worse, but she’ll need to go under the care of a physician and psychiatrist when we arrive on Fyn.”

“I’ll put it in my log. As it is I’ll have to forward that information to the SPF representative that’ll be meeting us at the starport,” Elias informed his friend. “We have Ms. Learner confined to her cabin for the duration, and I think I’d like it if you had a look at her. If she’s a threat to herself as well, we’ll have to sedate and confine her to the infirmary.”

Lemuel nodded. “You won’t hear me argue.”

The conversation stopped as Lena appeared in the doorway with her arm around Sabine, guiding the other female. “If you need her, Sab will be in mine and Randy’s cabin, okay?”

Elias shrugged, his expression and slight nod of approval telling her, ‘Do what you need to,’ before stepping up to the squirrel. “Don’t forget the rest of us are here for you, too,” he said to the young engineer, giving her a warm smile.

“Thanks, Captain,” Sabine replied softly, the hint of a return smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, though she immediately went back to looking at the carpeted deck. Her smile grew a little more prominent when Elias tousled her hair before the rabbit led her out of the infirmary.

“And here I was thinking that going into business for ourselves would keep us away from this kind of crap,” the fox muttered before heading to the galley for a cup of coffee. As he passed the hatch to Randal and Lena’s cabin before it slid closed, he saw the couple add the squirrel to their hug, the wolf with an oddly protective look for both females.

If there was anyone on board that could make the young mechanic feel safe, it was the wolf and rabbit pair. Elias took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he stepped into the lift. Sonja and Olin were on the deck and the Spaniel looked up with a questioning look when the white fox exited on the third deck.

“Is Sabine okay?” the female asked in genuine concern, her brow furrowed.

“Lena’s taking care of her with Randy’s help, but I think she’ll be alright,” Elias said, impressed with how far Sonja had come since he first interviewed her for a position on his crew so long ago and the concern she showed for the rest of the individuals on the ship. “We’ll have some of Sandy’s people run her through some mental hygiene when we hit Joplin.” He took a step towards the coffee urn before pausing to swear. “Forgot my cup,” he muttered, rubbing at his eyes.

“El, go on back to bed. I can spell you on the bridge,” Sonya said with a hand on her Captain’s shoulder. “There’s enough of us and you’ve already had a full morning.”

“Are you sure?”

The Spaniel smiled widely. “Hey, what are friends for? I know how to read a console as well as you and I don’t have any other duties until tomorrow’s cycle. I got this.”

“The boyfriend won’t mind, will he?” Elias asked with a sardonic expression as he tossed a thumb over his shoulder.

“No. He doesn’t,” Olin said in an exaggerated whisper from right behind the fox, catching his Captain off guard and held out half a cup of coffee with a fresh out of the oven bacon and cheese turnover. “Besides, Sonja was talking about getting me some training on our systems so I can help cover watches,” the wolf-Chow mix informed his employer. “Can’t have too many people knowing what to do if something happens.”

Elias smiled as he accepted the cup and pastry. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I’ve got the best crew in the entire Planetary Alignment.”

CHAPTER 60

Lieutenant Nathan Champ was the Spatial Police Force officer that made contact with the Ascendant Angel to take custody of Candace Learner, the interstellar law enforcement group having jurisdiction as the crime perpetrated against Sabine Lansing was in transit. The human spoke with the senior officers on the freighter as three of his subordinates escorted the wolf to a windowless van, restraint cuffs on her wrists, Candace’s head lowered submissively.

“We’ve received your Doctor’s recommendations, and I think we agree,” Champ said. “Um, we do have a counselor that we use on a regular basis not far from the barracks if you’d like me to set up a quick session for your crew member.”

“That might not be a bad idea,” Elias agreed. “We’ve got three days before we head to Hestra for a package going to Joplin.”

“I know Doctor Surtz helped me out after I went through some stuff,” the human said. “I used to think that seeing a shrink was a sign of weakness. I know better, now.”

“I’ve seen a couple myself,” the white fox agreed. “I don’t think one can ignore help for dealing with things when you’re out on the sharp end for any amount of time.”

The Lieutenant agreed and let Elias know that there were apartments available if the crew wanted time off their ship before joining the rest of the SPO’s to escort Candace Learner to the secure hospital facility she’d be admitted to.

A contingent from Binfurr was also at the starport to take possession of their cargo and waited for the business with the SPF to conclude before coming forward. The fur in the lead of the group that approached Elias and his crew was dressed smartly in a dark blue business suit with a stark white, low collar formal shirt, a gold and opal brooch at her throat. She was surrounded by an entourage and stopped a respectful distance from the white fox, Lena and Randal as the rest of the crew brought the secured crates from the depths of the cargo bay of the Ascendant Angel.

“Captain Elias Tivnan?” the cheetah inquired, removing the lavender tinted glasses she wore.

“Yes?” the fox replied stepping forward, his eyebrow raised slightly.

“Teia Binfurr, Captain. I would like to apologize on behalf of my brother, Tisane, for the incident that happened on board your ship and would like to know if you crew member is alright. Needless to say this is a most embarrassing and deplorable occurrence and we would like to know if there is anything that I…that we can do to help remedy the situation?” The cheetah had a regretful expression and seemed sincere in her apology.

“To be honest, ma’am, I’m not sure if there’s anything save time and treatment that will help. Our crew member is being taken care of as best we can and we’re looking into counseling.” Elias ran his hand through the fur on top of his head. “I just wish we’d been aware of Ms. Learner’s condition beforehand and all of this could have been avoided.”

“Rest assured we will also be taking measures regarding this-” Teia Binfurr began before Elias held up a hand.

“While she’s hurt by what happened, my crew member isn’t pressing charges,” Elias informed the cheetah. “The disorder that Candace suffers from isn’t something that she chose, unlike some individuals that I’ve encountered. It’s a medical condition, and while what happened was regrettable, I’ve been instructed by Sabine Lansing, the female involved, that she doesn’t want to press charges.”

Teia tilted her head quizzically. “That’s a rather magnanimous gesture,” she said softly. “Is she expecting some kind of…incentive?”

“No,” a soft voice said from the bottom of the ramp. “I’m not looking for a payoff.”

Sabine stepped forward and stood next to her Captain, her arms wrapped tight around her upper body.

“Are you the…ah, victim, ma’am?” Teia asked, watching the squirrel nod.

“Candace is sick,” Sabine said quietly. “She needed her medication, but it ran out. It’s not her fault and I don’t want to see her suffer more than she has…or will be when she realizes what she did. I’d be happier knowing that she’s getting the help she needs.” The squirrel shivered a little despite the warm sunlight that bathed the area around the freighter. Lena moved closer and put her arm around the other female for support. “I know if she was on her proper medication that she’d be sorry about what she did and couldn’t help herself and I just want all of this to be over.”

The cheetah’s expression softened a couple of degrees. “That’s very compassionate and understanding of you, ma’am. We’re very appreciative for your…understanding.” The cheetah turned back to Elias. “And despite what has happened, we’re also pleased with the timely delivery of our cargo. Binfurr Arms, Limited would like to apologize and compensate you for what you’ve had to endure and have credited your account accordingly.” Teia Binfurr assumed a chagrined expression. “I know that many businesses prefer to keep instances like this quiet, but my brother and I feel that this is something that could have been avoided had we been more thorough in our screening of Ms. Learner and take full responsibility.

“We…,” the cheetah shook her head, “I can’t tell you how sorry I am.” She lowered her gaze. “I can’t even imagine this being done to someone. That it was done by someone that works for my brother’s company…” She looked up at Sabine and shook her head slowly. “I’m so very sorry…”

Sabine shrugged into herself. “If you are as sorry as you say,” the squirrel began, “then make sure Ms. Learner gets the help she needs so that she doesn’t do what she did to me to another.” With that the young female turned and headed back into the ship, Lena supporting and going with her.

***

“This is Holly Harkin with the ‘Alignment in a Minute’ and a quick rundown of breaking events.

“In a special session of the Planetary Alignment Legislature the events of the Spatial Police Force’s task force that engaged the remnants of the outlaw mercenary group known as Ganlin’s Legion in Operation Hammer Stroke have been commended for exemplary bravery in facing the renegade regiment. Ganlin’s Legion, which had been outlawed after the slaughter of the Trumball’s Downingcolony personnel, has been on the Priority Threat list of the Spatial Police Force and the law enforcement departments and militaries of nearly every planet of the Alignment for over a decade.

“Operation Hammer Stroke has been declared one of the foremost examples of interplanetary cooperation in protecting the citizenry of the Alignment. Commander Breth Janes is to be presented with a special citation along with the top officers that were involved in the mission. Be sure to tune in for our live coverage of the ceremony tomorrow night.

“On a separate note, Teia Binfurr, sister to Tisane Binfurr of Binfurr Arms, Limited has initiated a personal program of establishing refuge shelters for abused individuals and the victims of sexual predation on six of the fifteen worlds of the Planetary Alignment with more facilities scheduled to open in the following months. Miss Binfurr had this to say from Binfurr corporate headquarters on Fyn:

“Because of recent actions committed by one of our very own employees, I was forced to realize the problem that this threat poses. It can strike anywhere at any time and anybody. Too often there is nowhere for the victims of these crimes to turn to or where they can go to for help, safety and protection and to get the treatment and counseling needed. I know that this doesn’t excuse the actions of our employee that attacked and forced her attentions on another, but hopefully this will help others that have found themselves in similar situations.”

“Other services that are offered are free legal representation for victims of a variety of crimes, self defense courses for the public and assistance in counseling and recovery programs from all forms of sexual predation, completely free of charge. Further information can be found at both the INN and Binfurr information sites.

“Coming up next we continue our recent segment on the different cultures and cuisine of the Planetary Alignment with our next stop the world of Sillon, the holiday destination that has no equal! The head chef of the infamous Dragon’s Loft will even show us her favorite quick dinner for the family on the go!”

***

“We’re clear for docking bay seven,” Cerise said from the communications console as she adjusted her headset and scratched gently at her ear. “You know, I can’t say that Joplin is one of my favorite places after seeing some of the other worlds of the Alignment. I just hope we get a job to head to Sillon someday. I’ve always wanted to go there. Olin’s even going to do that dish that we saw on the news.”

“What’s not to love?” Lena asked with a wide grin from the copilot/navigator’s seat. “No air, uniform grey color…it’s an absolute vacation spot!”

“This is SPF headquarters?” Sabine asked from the left side of the bridge where she sat in one of the redundant consoles used for engineering. “It doesn’t look like much,” she said dubiously.

“Just wait, sweetie,” Lena tossed over her shoulder.

The Ascendant Angel passed over the surface of the planetoid before Elias rotated their ship and pulled back on the throttles. “Look there. It’s the sister ship of the Righteous. I think they named her Vindication.”

“Wow!” Sabine said looking out the forward viewports with wide-eyed wonder before bringing up an enhanced image on her engineering console. “She’s beautiful!” Her furry finger traced the lines of the image on her screen. “And you commanded the Righteous? Was she really as fast as I’ve heard?”

“Oh, yeah,” Elias said with a smile. “But just like the Angel here, it was all about the crew.”

The fox guided the freighter past a few of the ships that were just now having the last of the damage received in the Van ConnorHammer Stroke Campaign tended to by space suited work crews and technicians in exo-suits. Elias dropped the ship to a fraction of its full speed, not wanting to exceed port regulations and guided the ship gracefully into the assigned hangar, shutting down the systems as soon as the H model freighter set down on the rock floor.

No sooner did Elias take the engines offline than a vibration ran through the vessel as the bay doors closed, the heavy armored panels shaking the whole of the bay. “We’ll give them a few minutes to get pressure up before we crack the seal on the hatch.” He listened as Cerise called for the crew to assist in getting their cargo ready for offload and informed their passengers that they could debark shortly before standing up from his chair and stretching, causing his back to pop with a sigh of relief. “Pity that Saul and Treena are away in the Lia-Noa system. It would’ve been nice to see them.”

“Heh! I think that might be for the best,” Lena said with a flash of irritation. “I’m a little put out that they didn’t invite us to the formal bonding ceremony they did for their families.”

“I think I’m okay with having missed it,” Odette said with a chuckle. “Why they chose a ceremony where everyone’s nude is beyond me. I have no problem with revealing outfits, but I’m not too big into exhibitionism!”

“I think it’s one of the obscure traditions from Treena’s home area on Fyn,” Elias said as he perched on the back of Cerise’s seat, his hands on her shoulders as he gave her a gentle massage. “I’m kind of glad we missed it as well. At least they got our gifts.”

“We’re ready down here, Elias,” Randal’s voice said over the intercom.

“Copy that. We’ll be down in a few minutes, Randy,” the fox said using the intercom on his wife’s console. “Well, let’s go.”

As soon as the cargo hatch was opened, the crates that they had transported for the SPF and the three individuals that had accompanied them departed with barely a word and disappeared into the depths of the labyrinthine tunnels. Which was just as well as Sander Brees was eager to greet his friends and extended family. What was surprising was the additional presence of Breth Janes.

The lion accepted hugs from Cerise and Keena with a laugh and handshakes from the others, of course, no longer constrained by protocol Lena, Sonja and even Odette joined in on mobbing the lion. “You know, you shouldn’t do things like that when I’m on duty!” Sandy said with an embarrassed laugh.

“We aren’t SPF anymore, so nyaaah!” Lena declared with a wide grin and made a face. “Although I can see why Cerise and Keena like hugging you, Colonel. You’re kinda cuddly.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one of my senior officers, and especially not Sandy, ever referred to as ‘cuddly’. Far less savory terms certainly, but never that,” Breth Janes told the group with a grin.

It was all Elias could do to refrain from snapping to attention, and a glance at the others told him he wasn’t the only one. He held out his hand to the woman as she approached him. “Good to see you again, Ma’am.”

“That’ll be enough of that, Elias,” Janes replied with a chuckle and head shake. “You’re a civilian now. Just call me B.J.” She looked at the freighter appreciatively. “I like the name. She treating you all right?”

“Oh, yeah. Like I told the others, it’s good to have our home back.”

“It’s good knowing that she went to a deserving Captain and crew,” the commandant informed the fox. “And I’m certainly glad that she’s flying again. I might have to ask if you ever decide to decommission her if we can have her. Or buy her back from you. I think I’d like to have the first pirate hunter put in our museum.” Janes seemed like she was going to say more but caught Pala coming down the ramp with the kits.

The fox smiled as one of the most powerful human women in the entire PA picked up his children with a musical laugh.

“I have missed these little scamps, though!” Janes exclaimed with Van in one arm and Renee in the other. Both kits babbled and yipped happily at the human and giggled when she stuck her nose into the fur of their necks and hummed, tickling both children.

Sandy raised an eyebrow giving Lena a curious look when the doe looked at the Commander doting on the kits with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. “What are you thinking?”

“Just wondering what kind of payoff I could get not to take a picture of this and circulate it on the Net,” Lena told the Colonel with a wicked grin.

“It might be a tidy sum,” the lion said. “Then again, do you really want to take the chance on getting thrown in the brig for a year?”

The human chuckled. “Lena, I’m just as susceptible to ooing and ahing over babies as anyone else. Besides, I changed more than a few diapers on these two while you were all out taking care of business. It was nice having children around for a little bit.” Janes’ nose wrinkled a little. “Speaking of diapers…”

“And here I just changed them,” Cerise said with an exasperated shake of her head and a laugh taking the children with Pala helping and heading back into the ship.

“Well, when they come back we’ll head to the Officers’ Lounge,” Janes said. “Before that, would you mind if I asked if you have any other appointments to make? I’d like to contract you for a…special delivery.”

“We don’t have anything on the schedule at the moment,” Elias informed her. “I’m a little curious as to why us? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to use SPF assets already on station?”

“Cheaper? Marginally so, yes,” Janes said with a sly look. “But not nearly as low key. Especially not on Brandt. I’d rather this little delivery stayed relatively quiet.”

“Understandable,” Elias said with a grin. “Seeing the SPF is prohibited on that world.” The fox slid his hands into the pockets of his leather coat. “Just give us the contact’s information and don’t tell me what the cargo is. I don’t think I really want to know.”

“Nothing that could be considered illegal,” the woman said with a laugh. “Routine supplies for a…friend.”

“Forty five thousand, half up front, the rest credited to our account upon confirmation of delivery,” Elias said without batting an eye or hint of hesitation. “Should be a reasonable fee for secure package transfer,” the fox pulled out a dedicated DataPak. “If you could sign here?”

Janes looked at her former subordinate with surprise, the expression becoming one of burgeoning respect. “No haggling, Elias?”

The fox shook his head. “Delivery fee and prices are non-negotiable, though you are getting a substantial discount.” He grinned openly. “A discount I didn’t even give Rovi, I might add.” Elias watched as Breth took the DataPak and looked over the shipping contract before signing and adding her thumbprint. “But I can guarantee delivery. The only way your package won’t get to its recipient is because we’re dead.”

“And as we’re pretty hard to kill…” Cerise added as she rejoined the group, a much happier and far less aromatic pair of kits in her and Pala’s arms.

***

Sabine exited the office of the psychiatric counselor looking far more at ease and relaxed than she had been going in and Lena stood from where she and Randal had patiently waited in the lounge area of the medical offices. “Feeling better?” the doe asked as the red squirrel stepped up to both and hugged them in turn before taking their arms in hers in a gesture that seemed fairly natural after the past few weeks of being around the couple.

Her smile grew wider and Sabine nodded. “I guess what happened is fairly common,” the squirrel told her companions. “We talked about the ‘why’ of what happened, and how it wasn’t my fault.”

The three headed back towards the commerce section, the entire area being little more than a few shops for the SPF personnel to get away from the tedium of duty routines, though there wasn’t a lot that any of the small shops had that any of them needed, though they did pick up a few new videos and small items for the ship. The section was also used as a reward out of the barracks for cadets that had earned it.

“What happened isn’t your fault,” Randy said, shifting position so that he had the females on either arm and couldn’t help but puff his chest out a little at some of the envious looks he was receiving from veteran SPO’s and cadets alike with two girls for company. “I hate to bring this up, but now you can see why I wanted you to learn how to defend yourself.”

“I know,” Sabine said, moving a little closer to the wolf and resting her head on the male’s arm. “At least I do now.” The squirrel looked up and also glanced at Lena. “And thank you. Both of you.”

As the trio made their way silently through the commercial section, then to the ship, Lena gave Randy a quizzical look in regards to an earlier conversation and had used the time that Sabine had been with the therapist to really talk. The wolf shrugged letting the doe make the final decision on the topic that had occupied them.

“I’m going to take Sab to the cabin for a little talk,” Lena told her lover. “Why don’t you come up in a little while,” she suggested.

“Sure. I have a few things I need to take care of anyway.” He gave the doe a quick kiss before stopping and letting the females continue to the lift as he entered his cubicle and sat down at the terminal.

As Sabine stepped into the lift with Lena, the doors closing with a hiss of pneumatic actuators, she seemed to shrink in on herself, sensing that the slightly older female was going to be bringing up a very serious topic that would directly involve her. Before she could bolt, the squirrel was all but dragged to the cabin by the hand and firmly sat down on the edge of the large bed in the cabin.

“Randy and I have been talking quite a bit about what to do with you,” Lena began without preamble, facing the other female before sitting down on the bed and fidgeting for several moments. “Wow. This is more difficult than I thought,” she said with a sigh that bordered exasperation before looking at the squirrel. “We both know how you feel about Randy, and while I was a little irritated at first, I can understand why you’re attracted to him.”

Sabine started to speak until Lena shook her head, closing her eyes to compose herself and relax before continuing.

“I know it won’t be the first time something like this has happened, and there are all types of different…arrangements across the Alignment.” The doe took the younger female’s hand. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m okay with you being part of what Randy and I have.”

“What?” Sabine asked, her dark eyes wide, a look of hope replacing the previous expression of dread.

“I’m willing to share,” Lena said quietly, her eyes turning to the carpeted deck.

Sabine fidgeted, pulling her tail across her lap and began to nervously brush the fur out with her fingers. “Does he mind sharing you as well?”

The doe’s head snapped up and her eyes were wide enough to show white around the edges. “I…I don’t…what?”

Sabine smiled mischievously and gave a little giggle and shrug, the insides of her ears flaring a deep, blushing pink. “I grew up in a family with three mothers. It’s sort of the norm on where I was raised. When you’re in a place where there the female to male ratio is six to one…well, it happens. Nothing like I think you’re thinking, but there will be times when I want to cuddle with both of you, or sometimes just you. It won’t be more than that. I like guys way too much.”

Lena was speechless, and while she wasn’t against any form of relationship, so long as it was between consenting adults, this was something that hadn’t entered her thoughts at all, though looking back on the events of the past few weeks, she shouldn’t be so surprised. It was Lena’s turn to be embarrassed.

Randal gave the females over an hour to talk, having gotten involved in setting up his duty schedules for the coming week, before returning to the cabin he shared with Lena. When the hatch slid open he was perplexed by the dim lighting, not really sure what he’d been expecting to find. While prepared for either the two females to be conversing quietly or the suite to be in shambles from a fight, he wasn’t prepared for the sight of both reclining on the large bed in rather seductive poses and looking slightly amused. Both regarded him with fairly anticipatory, and slightly aggressive, expressions that caused the wolf to consider fleeing.

As it was, Randy didn’t know that both rabbits and squirrels could pounce and he never really stood a chance.

CHAPTER 61

“Why is the SPF banned from Brandt?” Olin asked as he looked out of the forward viewports of the bridge. Most of the landscape was concealed in darkness as it was well after midnight at the starport they were heading for.

Elias snorted. “Brandt’s a haven for less than legal endeavors,” the fox replied over his shoulder, though his eyes never left the enhanced image that was provided by the micro-circuitry of the glassteel panes. “When the Siilv mines dried up, the already lax enforcement of various laws made it perfect for the planet to become a safe haven for smugglers and the like. Criminal activity is about the only thing that keeps the economy here going. As such, anything you can think of save open slavery is available here. Everything’s for sale on Brandt. Having the cops here would put a crimp in profits.”

The wolf-Chow mix looked aghast. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Hardly, lover,” Sonja said from her position next to the weapons console. “There’ve been a lot of times that we wished the PA would step in and clean up both Quet and Brandt but the Alignment charter protects each world’s sovereignty. There a lot that goes on that makes Brandt a dangerous place.”

No sooner did Elias set the Ascendant Angel on the tarmac than some official in a rumpled and dirty facsimile of a uniform of unsavory green was at the cargo hatch demanding a landing fee. The dingo was obviously irritated at his nap being interrupted and having to do his job. The canid became even more irritated when Randy made him affix a signature and thumbprint to a DataPak to show that a landing fee was paid to the port accounts, effectively preventing the crew of the Ascendant Angel from being double charged, and cutting the official out of his potential profit.

“I really don’t want to stay here longer than necessary,” Elias informed the entire crew as they stood around on the cargo deck. “This isn’t one of the safer ports. Baxter, you and Sabine make sure the atmosphere tanks are purged and topped then get us refueled as quickly as possible.

“I also want the parasites doing continuous sweeps. Brandt’s a prime world for picking up strays and the last thing I want onboard are any stowaways.” The fox turned to look at Sonja and Olin. “Go ahead and run into town and get whatever supplies you need, but no side trips. Randy and I will deliver the packages, but I don’t want anyone else to leave the ship. Fortunately our delivery will fit on the back of the monocycles. I’d like to be ready and off this world by tomorrow.”

“No shore leave?” Sabine asked a little disappointed.

“This is one of the last worlds that you would like to play tourist,” Pala told the squirrel. “It isn’t uncommon for less…legitimate vessels to add to their crews by kidnapping personnel from berthed ships, especially engineers.Anyone with mechanical knowledge is almost worth their weight in gold here.” She saw the look that Cerise gave her and shrugged. “Yes. I was known to do that a time or two, myself. That reminds me, I have a little business I’d like to handle. I have a...an associate that owes me a few favors and think that I’d like to get a few things for the ship. With your permission, of course.”

Elias shook his head for the felinoid to be quiet, looking at Sabine. He stepped away with the Kastan and spoke in a low voice. “I don’t think I need to worry about you getting into trouble, just take a DC with you if you. How long will you need?”

The Kastan shrugged. “Maybe a couple of hours. My…contribution to the ship should be here by sometime tomorrow morning if all goes well.”

“I’m not really sure I want to know what you’re up to,” Elias said with a sideways look at the felinoid, “but you know that I trust you. Let’s get those crates on the cycles. We’ll get a little sleep and make the delivery as soon as the sun comes up. Lena, you’ll be in charge until we get back.”

The rabbit put on a maniacal smile and began rubbing her hands together as she regarded the ship. “Acres and acres and it’s all mine!”

***

Elias looked at the address on the building and checked it against the information in his DataCom. “This is the place,” he told the wolf after pulling off his helmet. The fox looked around at the neighborhood they found themselves in. There was something he always found a little sad about the residential neighborhoods that sprang up around industrial sectors. “Real charming,” the fox quipped sarcastically. “I bet the schools here are fantastic.”

Randal took in the faded color of the houses in the burgeoning morning sunlight, all made of preformed permacrete with chipped and fading paint and the haggard appearance of the few individuals on the street, the obviously second and third hand clothes making him feel decidedly uncomfortable and overdressed. “I’ve never understood how places like this could exist within the Alignment,” the wolf replied with a sad expression. “Almost unlimited wealth, interstellar travel, and there are places where people still go hungry.”

The fox had no response, feeling the same way. They both code-locked the monocycles as a precaution against theft and took a crate each before stepping up to the door of the building, making sure that their gun hands and weapons were clear in case trouble should arise. It took Elias a moment to locate the summons button and he pressed it with his thumb then looked at the grime that came away with it before wiping his furless pad on the fabric of his pants.

When the door opened, a wizened human with a small bear cub trailing behind him, his paw firmly gripping the man’s trouser leg, greeted the two canids. “Yes? How may I help you?”

Elias tried to give the other a friendly smile. “We were contracted to deliver some supplies here by Bre…um, B.J.?”

The human looked at the two through a pair of wire rimmed glasses, his hazel eyes crinkling merrily as a smile stretched his thin lips. As Elias looked at the human he was reminded of the zany scientist in the old Earth movie about the misadventures of a time travelling teenager.

“You don’t look like SPF personnel,” the man said with a chuckle. “Most of the couriers that Beej sends my way are so uptight I’d swear they’ve had their fur starched or a steel rod pushed up the wazoo!”

“It’s probably because we aren’t SPF,” the fox said. “At least not anymore.”

“You’ll have to tell me what you mean by that,” the man replied, still smiling. He reached down and picked up the cub in one arm, the youth sliding one hand around the man’s neck while the thumb of the other immediately went into his mouth as he regarded the two strangers with wide-eyed innocence. “Come on in. I think that I set up the coffee pot if I can interest you two in a cup for all your efforts, he told them distractedly as he adjusted his hold on the cub.”

Randal and Elias followed, discovering to their surprise that the building, while looking dilapidated and weather-worn on the outside, was actually well maintained on the inside and semi-decently furnished. In a large room several small children of various species were listening to an older human woman reading them a story while in smaller side rooms and alcoves older children, fur and human alike were busy doing what seemed to be class work on ancient DataPads and computer tablets.

“Um, Sir,” Elias began, a small frown of confusion, “what exactly is this place?”

The old man led the two furs into a large kitchen where even older children and a few that were nearly adults all helped to prepare food for the others of the facility. “Breth felt that she could best help the Alignment by using her military training to aid the various member worlds and I felt that in order to truly make the PA a better place, I needed to stand up for those that have the potential to build a better future than our present. Put simply, I and my staff run this humble orphanage.” He pulled three different and battered mugs down from a cabinet. “My niece does what she can to help us out. That’s what your delivery is. Updated tablets and data sticks and electronically stored school texts.”

“Breth Janes is your niece?” Randal asked with surprise.

“That’s right!” the man exclaimed with a laugh as he lightly struck his forehead with the heel of his hand. “You’ll have to forgive me for being so rude! I’m Bartholomew Janes.” He offered his hand to the two furs with a warm smile.

“Elias Tivnan,” the fox said accepting the greeting. “This is Randal Mercks.”

“Elias Tivnan,” Bartholomew said with raised eyebrows. “Truly! Word of your exploits has even made it out here. It’s an honor!”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Elias said with a bit of embarrassment. “So how many littles do you have here?”

“Oh, not that many. With last week’s adoptions I think we’re down to fifty three,” the man said as he filled the cups, gesturing to a selection of powdered creamer and sugar. “I hope you don’t mind the fake stuff. I try to allow a bit of a treat fund with the budget, but I insist that the needs of the children come first.”

“Where did they all come from?” Elias said, foregoing the offer of cream and sugar to sip on the coffee black.

“Everywhere. We have wee ones from all over the Alignment,” Bartholomew informed them. “Though, most of the children are taken from Quet before they’re sold off as property. Such a horrible practice.”

Elias and Randy looked at each other for a moment as the human was distracted by another one of the children running up with a doll that had suffered grievous injury. As Bartholomew attempted to reattach the arm that had fallen off for the tiny vixen both furs nodded with growing smiles as the wolf stepped away as he fished his DataCom from a pocket.

“So, tell me, Master Janes, do you take donations?” Elias asked with a quizzical look.

“Please, just call me Barty,” the man said distractedly as he tried to fix the doll. “And yes, we accept donations.”

“I’m very glad to hear that,” the fox said with an open grin.

***

Three small cargo trucks pulled up in front of the orphanage a little before sundown and Elias and the rest of the crew began to unload numerous plastic shipping crates. They hardly had the first truck emptied when Bartholomew Janes came bustling out of the building, yet another toddler, a young red panda, clinging to his pants leg. “Good heavens! What is all this?” the man asked in a flabbergasted tone, his eyes wide.

Elias stepped out of the back of the second truck and smiled as he brushed his hands off on his trousers. “Just a few supplies. One hundred DataPads, eight computer terminals, books, clothing, bedding and toys. Tomorrow a grocery delivery vehicle will be arriving with a full restock and you’ll be getting a delivery every seven days after that.”

“I…I don’t know what to say, Master Tivnan,” the man stuttered, his eyes growing damp.

“Just Elias, Barty. And think of it as a gift from those that believe in what you’re doing.” The fox turned to the wolf-Chow mix. “Olin, why don’t you and a couple of the others go ahead and head into the kitchen. I’m pretty sure that you’ll find someone in there to give you a hand finding everything to make dinner.”

Olin nodded and gave a jaunty wave before heading into the building with Sonja and Odette. While that happened Baxter and Sabine strapped on their tool belts. “So, what needs fixing?” the panda asked cheerfully as he rubbed his hands together.

Bartholomew opened and closed his mouth a couple of times and gestured to the inside of the orphanage. “Look for a young cougar named Cika. She’ll let you know about anything that needs tending to.” As soon as the two engineers vanished the way of the temporary kitchen staff the man turned to look at the white fox with appreciation and surprise. “I don’t know what to say, Elias. I…I can’t repay this kindness.”

Elias shook his head. “There’s no reason to repay anything, Bartholomew. Like I said, there are those of us that agree with what you’re doing. Now then, I need you to enter your credit account information on this transfer of funds. It’s not much, but it might help out a little.”

The human looked at the screen and the number indicated, the color draining from his face as his eyes bulged and his eyebrows tried to meet with his receding hairline. “One hundred thousand credits?!? I…I…”

“Consider it an investment in that better future you mentioned.” The fox said with an impish grin. “Oh, and every month or so you’ll be getting visits from others with future deposits of funds every six months. If you need anything at all, just let them know and they’ll take care of it, or you can always contact me directly.”

CHAPTER 62

“We’re clear for descent to Palimar Starport,” Cerise informed the rest of the bridge. “Laxan Robotics has been informed of our arrival and will have their cargo picked up at oh-five twenty tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds good,” Elias said as he reduced velocity, bleeding off even more speed using the atmosphere of the planet below them to further slow down their descent in an economic braking maneuver. Within moments the forward viewports darkened to compensate for the glow of the thickening air heating up around the bubble of the shields of the vessel. “Once they take possession of the cargo I think a little leave is in order. I never really got a chance to explore Tanthe. I hear the resort at Castle Zamor is a rather romantic place.” He cast a look over his shoulder at his wife and saw her smile at him before licking her lips flirtatiously.

“Sounds perfect,” the vixen cooed in a warm voice.

Palimar was in the northern hemisphere of the planet and boasted a town close by that had a wealth of old castles and ruins for the crew to explore, along with several hotels and resorts that were historically themed. Elias smiled as he shut the various systems down once they were on the tarmac and thought about spending time with Cerise and the kits and seeing some of the sights when Lena’s exclamation of surprise caused him to look up and out of the forward viewports.

“Did we tick someone off?” the doe inquired as two military vehicles pulled up in front of the Ascendant Angel and Tanthean Expeditionary troopers began to pile out. Following the armored trucks was a repulsor car that floated silently off the ground, obviously of Alexandrian design, with two very ornate flags flapping from the forward guide posts.

“I don’t think we irritated anyone,” Elias muttered, one ear drooping in curiosity. “I better go see what this is about.”

Sonja started to get up to follow her Captain, automatically checking her pistol when Elias waved her down.

“Let’s all stay calm until we find out what’s going on. At least I know we have enough in our account to post bail in case I get arrested,” the fox said half jokingly as he stepped off the bridge.

Randal was waiting by the personnel airlock and had donned soft body armor that was mostly hidden by his light jacket. He gave the fox a look that Elias drew comfort from as he stepped to the hatch and waited for it to cycle open. If anything happened he knew he could trust the wolf to do the right thing.

The cool air washed over him and he took a moment to calm himself from the adrenaline that was coursing through his body. When Elias stepped out the Marines didn’t point their weapons at him as he was half expecting. Instead they formed two lines on either side of the ramp with the combat rifles at the salute position. At the far end of the ersatz honor guard was Marquis Nurian and his wife, a small grey coyote female, a wide smile on his muzzle.

“Welcome to Tanthe, Captain Tivnan!” the male coyote called out before striding forward.

This was certainly wasn’t what the fox had been expecting and he shifted mental gears, bowing hastily. “Thank you, Your Grace,” Elias replied.

“No, no. That won’t do, my friend! Call me Kessus. We’re comrades-in-arms after all!” the coyote said jovially. “And I hope my little honor guard didn’t startle you too much, but I can’t have the hero of Operation Hammer Stroke coming to visit without showing proper respect, now can I?”

Elias smiled, the knots in his stomach unwinding, and stepped forward to take the other’s hand in greeting, Kessus meeting him half-way. “I don’t know about being a hero,” the fox commented, tilting his head respectfully to the Marquise. “Your Grace.”

“Captain Tivnan,” the small female said with a return nod and a polite half-curtsey. “My husband has been lauding your exploits since his return. I must say that if you are half of the individual he claims, you are remarkable, indeed.”

“Arya has been most anxious to meet your wife since we discovered you were coming to Tanthe,” Kessus informed the fox as they moved slowly towards the Ascendant Angel. “One of the benefits of being attached to the Navy is I get to pry into the records to learn when friends are coming.”

“I was wondering about that,” Elias admitted. “I’m not keeping my movements a secret, but I’m not really advertising them, either.” While he’d been greeting the Marquis, Randal had signaled to the rest of the crew that things were fine and the others started to arrive at the hatch as they completed their duties. “I don’t suppose you’d care for a tour of the Angel, would you?”

Before Kessus could speak, Arya laughed in a high voice. “My dear Captain Tivnan! My husband is a Navy man through and through! It’s all he can do not to charge up the boarding ramp to look over your fine ship!”

“I’m afraid my lovely wife is correct,” the Marquis admitted with a grin. “Especially as I know this used to be one of those fabulous Q-ships! The first of that fleet if I’m not mistaken.”

“You’re very well informed,” Elias said neutrally, though he shouldn’t have been surprised. Tanthean Intelligence Services was one of the more impressive spy groups in the PA and very, very thorough. “I see the TIS is alive and well,” the fox commented dryly.

Kessus had the good grace to look a little chagrined. “My cousin does have a most thorough group for gathering information,” the Marquis conceded. He cleared his throat before they made the hatch of the freighter. “Do you have plans while you’re on Tanthe? Arya and I would be honored if you and your crew were to take your leave with us at Mistwatch Keep.”

“I was going to release my crew for two weeks shore leave,” Elias admitted. “I never really had the chance to spend much time on this world.”

“Oh! Then you must stay with us and let us show you proper Tanthean hospitality!” Arya all but gushed. “Oh, please!”

The Marquis and Marquise were introduced the rest of the crew and Kessus got a full tour of the ship while Arya and Cerise found common ground in the kits as the grey coyote was a new mother herself. While the two mothers struck up an instant friendship, Kessus marveled at the Ascendant Angel, the tour ending on the recreation deck and the Wall of Glory.

“You engaged all of these ships in the span of a year?” the noble asked in admiration as he eyed the names and relevant information.

“A little more than a year,” Elias informed the Marquis. “But that’s essentially our tally sheet.”

Kessus Nurian grinned almost maniacally. “I think I should mention this to my cousin. I’m sure Aris could be persuaded to grant you a title and estate were you to agree to join our Navy!”

“I’ll pass, thanks,” Elias replied with a chuckle. “I’ve spent enough time in uniform, I think.”

Kessus stood and shook his head before glancing appreciatively at the decorated bulkhead again. “Well, it’s getting late. I’ll have an air car here in the morning to convey your family and crew to Mistwatch. I believe I can be as bold as to guarantee a most pleasant stay as my guests. In fact, I have a hunt scheduled in three days. I think you and the other males will enjoy that. Are any of you familiar with saurapine?”

“Aren’t those the things that look like Terran rhinoceros with the meter long quills?” Olin asked with a curious expression. “I’ve cooked some of the better cuts from them, but I always thought they were raised for their meat, not hunted.”

Kessus laughed richly. “You’d need a fortified holding pen if you tried to grow them! Most saurapine grow to be almost half a ton and keeping them penned in is nigh impossible. I’ve never heard of a domesticated one. The hunt I’d like the rest of you to go on is for a smallish animal. Only five hundred pounds, or so.”

“Sounds like fun!” Baxter said with a grin starting to spread across his black muzzle. “After our time at the range I feel I’m a pretty good shot.”

“Oh, we don’t use firearms, unless it’s an emergency,” Kessus said with another laugh. “We hunt these the old fashioned way of spear and sword. Of course you’ll have armor as well. The tusks sometimes grow to almost two feet in length. Don’t worry! We haven’t had a death from a saurapine hunt in almost three years, but someone almost always gets a broken bone or two. It’s all great fun, though!”

***

The group from Laxan Robotics made their pick-up at precisely oh-five-twenty, with the crates containing the latest in cybernetic circuitry loaded onto a secure van and the delivery order signed less than six minutes later. As Elias and Randal stepped back aboard, the air of anticipation from the rest of the crew was almost a palpable thing with everyone looking forward to their invitation to Mistwatch Keep.

“I’m still not sure about this hunt,” Lem said as he and Keena carried bags of clothing and his ever-present medical kit that seemed a little more full than normal to the cargo hatch. “Taking on a quarter ton omnivore isn’t my idea of relaxation.”

“I can’t wait!” Olin exclaimed with a grin as he stood with his arm around Sonja’s waist.

The Spaniel made an indelicate sound and tried to assume a pout. “I just wish they let females on their hunts. I think it would be fun, too, but oh-no, proper females don’t do that kind of thing!”

“Well, you are kind of intimidating,” the wolf-Chow said with a kiss to the side of her head. “And I don’t think it would do for you to up-stage the Marquis. We both know the saurapine wouldn’t stand a chance with you out there.”

Apparently it was the right thing to say as Sonja mellowed a little and snuggled closer to her male. “You always say the sweetest things.” She fussed with the collar of his loose shirt for a moment before looking Olin square in the eyes. “Just do me a favor and be careful. I’d be rather irate if you came back in pieces and there are some parts I’m really rather fond of.”

The canine mix ducked his head as his ears turned a bright pink in embarrassment causing the female to giggle wickedly, though both of their tails were wagging happily.

Elias leaned close to his wife to whisper in her ear. “Were we that bad when we were first married?” he asked her with a smile.

“Probably,” the vixen whispered back with a wink.

The last to join the group was Randal, Lena and Sabine. The three had become incredibly close over the past several weeks, but the arrangement the three had was odd in that the wolf and two females seemed to fit together almost as if they had been a family unit for far longer. As it was the situation hadn’t caused any friction between the trio, and if anything it had caused the red squirrel to work harder to pull what she considered her fair share.

The vehicle that showed up to collect the crew of the Ascendant Angel was a multi-passenger air car with ample room for everyone and all of their belongings. Elias was the last one to board, sealing and code-locking the ship, though the pair of Expeditionary Troopers on duty in front of the hatch, a courtesy from the Marquis, was enough to deter potential intruders. The trip wasn’t that long, lasting maybe twenty minutes or so, and the kits followed what was standard procedure and promptly fell asleep as soon as the vehicle was moving.

“I think it’s because I got pregnant when we were out in space,” Cerise said as she looked at her children with a smile, her head resting against her mate’s shoulder.

“They’re definitely happier when they’re moving,” Keena agreed. “When all of you were away on the operation we had to drive them around Joplin on a tram to quiet them down to sleep. The Maker knows nothing else we tried worked.”

“I didn’t know that,” the white fox said.

Keena laughed. “They wore momma and I to exhaustion more than they did themselves when we tried to play them out. I know I slept well afterwards.”

Conversation turned into anecdotes about the kits for the duration of the trip until Sabine looked up, her mouth falling open as her eyes grew wide. “Is that where we’re going?” the squirrel breathed.

The entire crew looked in the direction Sabine was, the air car body comprised mostly of large panes of glassteel, granting an unobstructed view of the land and sky in all directions.

“Wow!” Lena husked. “I sure hope so! It’s beautiful!”

A mile away nestled on the top of one of the low foothills that loomed over a wide, verdant valley was a castle that looked like it could have been plucked directly from the pages of a fairytale. A high wall surrounded a collection of buildings that continued upwards, forming tall spires and towers, the entire keep having been built out of stone that seemed to glow with a pearlescent sheen. As the air car continued each of them could see the extensive platform and terrace gardens. The land past the moat and beyond that the fields of green that were separated from cultivated fields by thin ribbons of dense trees looked lush and rich.

The morning mist still clung to the hilltop, adding to the overall effect. Between the upper portions of the different structures were little gardens, pools, terraces for lounging and fountains aplenty. Despite the artistic appeal, there was no doubting that the structure had begun its life as a fortification as the walls were almost fifty feet thick with very defensible gates that saw a steady flow of ground traffic coming and going between the keep and the village a few miles away in the crook of the valley.

“Welcome to Mistwatch Keep,” the pilot of the air car said, the dun colored coyote dressed in the Marquis’ livery of pearl grey and purple grinned at her passengers’ reaction. “This is the ancestral home of the Marquis Nurian’s family and is one of the oldest fortifications on the planet. It was in this valley that the Nurian clan stopped the invasion of the northern tribes and cemented the alliance with the Royal Family centuries ago.

“Even among the locals it’s a favorite place to visit, though the areas where the Marquis and Marquise reside are strictly off limits, as are the quarters you’ll be staying in. Despite its age the castle is fully stocked with every imaginable modern convenience.”

As the pilot brought the air car in for a landing, Elias and the others saw Kessus and Arya waiting at the edge of the landing pad, a platoon of servants with them, and the Marquise’s own kits in a tram with their nanny and her assistants. As soon as the vehicle settled and the door opened the servants bustled forward to relieve the passengers of their burdens while Kessus and his wife stepped forward with welcoming smiles.

“I hope the flight over from the starport was comfortable,” the Marquis began. “The servants will show you to your suites in the southern wing and help you with everything you may need. I’d see to your needs personally but I’m afraid that I have duties that I must tend to, though to make up for it I’ve scheduled a late luncheon. Does fourteen hundred suit everyone?”

“That should be fine, Kessus,” Elias said with a grin. “And thank you for having us. This truly is quite the treat.”

The coyote smiled. “Nothing but the best for my friends!” He gestured to the nanny for his own children and her staff. “Now, I know it’s hard to entrust strangers with your young, but Shisa was my own nanny when I was a pup, and you have my word that she’ll take very good care of your children if you’d like to relax until we get together later this afternoon.”

“Would it be alright if I went with them?” Pala inquired with a slight bow. “I’m sure that Shisa would understand one’s need to properly dispense their duty.”

The nanny, an aged German Shepard nodded with a smile. “Indeed I do.”

“Well, that’s settled then,” Kessus said with a smile of his own. “Now, let’s show you to your suites.”

CHAPTER 63

“Now I know why daddy wanted his own castle,” Cerise said as she reclined in the steaming bath, little more than her chin, nose and ears above the surface of the fragrant, steaming water, one of the servants that had been assigned to the couple washed her ebony hair. “I don’t think I’ll be able to make lunch. Give my regards to Kessus and Arya.”

Elias mumbled something from where he lay on a padded table, another attendant giving the white fox a full massage, something he really hadn’t had professionally since his therapy and recovery after the Scimitar incident.

“What was that?” the black vixen inquired with a grin, her eyes closed in bliss.

They had been reluctant to allow the servants to see them in the nude, then to allow the services that they were trained for, but the calm demeanor of the staff and insistence that the Marquis wished them to be well taken care of had quelled the couple’s protestations.

“I said I don’t think I’ll make it either,” Elias said a little more clearly before sighing as muscles that had been knotted for far too long were released under the ministrations of the female jackal that tended to him. “In fact, I don’t think I can get off the table. My bones seem to have vanished.”

After a while they traded positions, Elias soaking in the bath while the Pomeranian attendant assigned to Cerise first gave her a manicure and pedicure before also performing a massage. When the pampering session was done the couple was expertly hustled into the main room of their suite where clothes had been laid out for them.

Elias’ outfit was a light, billowy tunic of silk in stark white followed by a pearl grey doublet and loose trousers of the same shade. While a fairly simple garment, the embroidery of silver thread with small accents in seed pearls made it look far too elegant for the fox’s normal tastes. A pair of suede soft boots in black finished the ensemble.

“You’ll not be forgetting this, Master Tivnan,” one of the other servants, a small fennec male in the house livery said holding out Elias’ pistol and rig. “Normally only the house guards and Arms Masters are allowed to carry weapons, though the Marquis has left firm instructions that you and your crew are permitted weapons as well. It’s truly a sign of the trust and regard His Grace holds you in.”

That caught the white fox by surprise. “The Marquis said that?” he asked accepting the seven millimeter pistol. The doublet came off and he slipped on his shoulder holster, securing the firearm before letting the attendant help him put the doublet back on. “To be honest, with everything that I’ve been through in the past two years I do feel better being armed.”

“That was what His Grace said, Sir,” the fennec informed his charge with a smile. “I was onboard the Marquis’ ship during operationHammer Blow, Sir. I was able to glean certain stories of your exploits, and if you forgive me for saying so, I can understand your reasons.”

Once dressed, the smaller male looked at Elias with a critical eye before nodding in satisfaction. The attendant stepped to a small box made of rich jewel-wood, a local lumber from trees that grew in all the colors of the rainbow and sparkled brilliantly when properly polished. The box would have fetched an impressive price on any other world, even more so due to the intricate carving that adorned the surface of the lid. The fennec lifted a heavy chain out of the velvet lined interior and settled it over Elias’ neck, adjusting the way it hung.

“What’s this? It’s heavy,” Elias said looking at the medallion with the crest of the Marquis on it. While polished it shown with all the colors of the rainbow. “Is this platinum?”

“It’s the symbol of the Marquis’ House, Sir. It’s to let others know that you’re in favor with his grace and a sign that while not related to the bloodline, he considers you a member of his household. As for the metal, it’s iridium, Sir. The master crafters often use the application of fire to get the metal to change colors like you see on yours.”

Elias would have asked more but he was distracted by the entrance of his wife.

Cerise was dressed in a lavender gown of iridescent shimmer-silk, the patterns that had been permanently bleached into her fur colored a matching shade. The cut of the gown left her shoulders bare, enhancing the dyed patters most attractively. Her hair was caught in a silver circlet, the center of which had a small lozenge with the same device as Elias’ medallion, also made out of iridium. Her forearms were clad in the same material as the dress, though instead of being complete gloves, fine silver maille affixed to the cuff covered the back of her hand in a triangle that was connected to a ring that went on her middle finger.

“You look beautiful!” Elias whispered with his eyes wide and his voice an awed whisper.

Cerise smiled and performed a slow pirouette, her arms held out so her mate could admire her. “I know it’s silly, but I feel like a princess from a storybook!” she giggled.

“You look like a princess from a storybook!”

Elias held out his arm for his wife and together they followed the fennec attendant through the maze of hallways to a small antechamber where the rest of the crew was waiting, all of them in different, but no less stunning, outfits of their own.

“I think Lena wants to move here with her own retinue of attendants,” Randy said with a grin as he stood with both the doe and Sabine on his arms. “The Marquis is spoiling the daylights out of my bunny and squirrel.”

“I don’t think I’d go as far as moving here. It would mean giving up flying. But I will let you tend to Sabine and I when it comes to bath time,” Lena said with a dreamy smile, the expression mirrored on Sabine’s face.

While the males were all in different variations of the tunic and doublet that Elias wore, Lena was given a dress that was similar to Cerise’s, though hers was in a deep sapphire blue and Sabine’s was in a rich forest green. Sonja wore a low cut gown of burgundy, and Odette’s more modest gown was in deep purple while Keena pulled off a black and burgundy silk ensemble. What was completely surprising was Pala who was also present in a soft pink dress that was completed with a wreath of tiny pink roses on her head.

“Isn’t this a little fancy for lunch?” Olin asked as he adjusted the collar of his tunic with a finger. “It seems awfully dressy for just eating with the Marquis.”

Elias shrugged. “I’m not up to par with Tanthean traditions, though I do know that they have the ability of taking the most simple things and turning them into quite the show.”

“Well, I think you boys should dress up more often,” Sonja said taking Olin’s hand in hers to calm his fidgeting.

“You’ve got that right!” Keena gushed looking at her tiger husband with a grin.

Before anyone else could say anything a uniformed coyote with tan and dark grey fur entered the alcove. “Ah, good! You’re all here. Now, when your names are called, step out through the curtain, pause for a slow count of five before you continue into the ballroom. Once there you-”

“Ballroom?” Baxter asked, a sick looking expression settling on his black and white face. “What ballroom?”

“Why, for the reception, of course,” the liveried coyote said matter-of-fact. “It’s the only chamber large enough for this kind of gathering. Now, there will be some individuals that will try to corner you, such as Baron Orser, possibly even Countess Melissandra. Whatever happens, don’t let them pressure you into any promises.”

“Who?” Elias asked with a scowl. “We have no idea who those people are. What exactly is going on here?”

Just as the coyote was about to clarify, the sound of trumpets sang out followed by a sharp rapping noise. He shook his head frantically. “No time! Just smile, talk only to the Marquis and Marquise until we sit down for luncheon!”

A loud voice from the other side of the curtain that separated the alcove from the room beyond bellowed out.

“Introducing Master Randal Mercks accompanied by Ladies Lena Vanir and Sabine Lansing!”

Randy and the two females were pushed forward by the attendant, the wolf muttering a scathing epithet prior to exiting the alcove at the shove. The others were called forward as well, eventually leaving Elias and Cerise with the attendant who gave the pair final instructions.

“When you exit and after your pause, proceed directly to the Marquis and kneel so that he may properly knight you, but for the Maker’s sake, don’t rush!” the coyote whispered fervently

“Major Elias Tivnan and his wife, Lady Cerise Tivnan!”

The coyote received a hard look from Elias, but Cerise prevented him from venting his spleen on the attendant, tugging at his arm insistently and whispered quickly to her husband. “There’s no help for it now, Lover. I think the Marquis really wants to honor you and to have kept this as a surprise. Just go with it.”

As with the others, Elias and Cerise were all but shoved into the ballroom. The crowd just past the curtain was in constant motion, each of the individuals in attendance trying to jockey for position and get a look at the fox and his mate or move closer to the front of the crowds on either side. Fortunately the guards that stood on the edge of the carpeted runner kept the crowd from spilling over. At the end of the purple bordered red carpet stood the Marquis, his mate and several functionaries with more house guards behind the high backed chair in polished armor, though throne might have been a better description for the gilt seat.

Kessus was smiling beatifically as the fox and black furred vixen approached. Much to the Marquis’ credit, the noble didn’t let his smile falter in the slightest with the harsh look that Elias shot him.

One of the functionaries next to the Marquis made a gesture to the fox. “Please kneel,” the opulently dressed wolf told him in a soft voice.

Fortunately there was a cushion on the carpeted floor and Elias did as asked, Cerise stepping a little to the side. Kessus accepted a sword from yet another member of the entourage, his livery the same as the one that had told Elias to kneel, in colors of black and red with vibrant gold cloth baldrics that had the device of King Aris and Tanthe on them.

“By order of His Majesty, King Aris of the Tanthean Throne, Defender of the Realm, I do confer upon Elias Tivnan the title of Knight in honor of his deeds against the Ganlin Legion on behalf of our glorious world and the entire Planetary Alignment for bravery upon the field of battle, and adherence to the codes of chivalry and decency he has demonstrated.” The Marquis touched first the fox’s right shoulder then left before laying the flat of the blade on top of Elias’ head. “Rise, Sir Tivnan, Knight of the Order of Pax Tanthea as decreed by our monarch, King Aris.”

As he got to his feet, Kessus handed the sword back to the functionary that still held the sheath and retrieved a heavy chain from one of his own attendants and put it over the fox’s head, adding to the one the fox already wore. Kessus also gave Elias an embrace after helping the fox to his feet.

“Sorry there wasn’t time to warn you,” he whispered. “I only found out about my cousin’s orders an hour ago.”

As Kessus stepped back he held his arms wide to the rest of the assembled crowd.

“Friends and honored guests, in the traditions that originated in the mists of our world’s history, let us retire the banquet that has been laid and give honor to this individual in proper fashion!”Kessus then took his wife’s arm and motioned for Elias and Cerise to follow beside them where they led the rest of the audience to the tables groaning with all manner of dishes and delicacies.

Once the quartet was seated at a table that was elevated above all the others, the rest of the attendees took their places while a bevy of servants descended on the crowd to dispense wine and other drinks while yet even more began to distribute the food.

“I really am sorry for the lack of warning,” the Marquis said to Elias and Cerise, sitting on the coyote noble’s right side. “To be honest I was hoping for something a little less…ostentatious. Unfortunately some of the courtiers and toadies love these little get togethers. I swear, far too many of them have nothing else to do than fight for social prestige!”

The irritation that Elias had been feeling began to dissipate as he realized the knighting hadn’t been planned and the Marquis had been as woefully unprepared for the ceremony as everyone else. “So, now I’m a knight? What does that mean?”

Kessus shrugged. “To be honest, not as much as it once did. I hate to admit this, but knighthood is passed out for almost everything here on Tanthe. It looks impressive on a resume, though!” the last was added with a chuckle. “One of mine and Aris’ distant ancestors even passed out knighthoods for things such as picking up litter, and there’s the story that he even knighted the pet dog of one of the explorers that landed near the capital when contact was reestablished with other worlds.

“Of course, said ancestor was also one of the reasons that the Royal house began to seek strangers from other worlds that were genetically comparable to keep the family tree from becoming the family stick. There was a little too much…hmm, concern about ‘familial purity’ and noble blood in those days.”

Elias had to smile at the shudder that Kessus gave at that bit of information. Just as he was about to ask another question one of the courtiers stood, rapping her wine glass for attention. The female had white fur, though while Elias’ was due to Arctic fox stock in his lineage, the courtier’s was rather dull and the color was from a lack of pigment and her eyes had a distinct pink color to them.

“I would like to propose a toast to Sir Tivnan!” the already tipsy coyote declared. “A more deserving individual of King Aris’ favor I have yet to meet, especially if he’s as gallant as the stories I’ve heard!” She eyed Elias blearily and with undisguised lust. The coyote had obviously already sampled the offerings from the Marquis’ cellars extensively.

“To Sir Tivnan!” the crowd responded.

“You want to watch out for the Countess Melissandra, there,” Kessus warned, his mouth hardly moving as he smiled wanly at the female that called the toast. “If you haven’t been able to tell, there is that distinct lack of branches in her family tree I was talking about earlier. By the Maker, it’s bad enough she and I are both related to Aris, but Meli also has grander aspirations for the throne. Be very careful around her.”

Elias’ eyebrow raised in alarm as the Countess licked her lips in a very suggestive manner. “Uh…yeah.”

The Marquis caught the gesture and snorted. “Yes, my friend. She’s interested in you. But then again, Meli will lift her tail for anything. I won’t tell you some of the stories about her as we have this most excellent feast and I’d feel bad about ruining your appetite.”

“Of course, if she does anything to vex you, feel free to challenge her to a duel,” Arya informed Cerise. “I don’t think anyone would complain too much if Melissandra were put down.” The Marquise shook her head. “She really is quite the embarrassment.”

***

Dancing followed the meal as was traditional, and after a turn on the floor with both the Marquise and his wife, along with a few of the ladies in attendance, Elias was standing with the Marquis pointedly trying to avoid conversations that involved the operation against the Legion and failing miserably when Countess Melissandra wormed her way into the group.

“Oh, don’t you boys have anything more interesting to discuss than battles and fighting?” the pale coyote asked, even more intoxicated than she had been before. She latched onto the fox’s arm possessively to steady her unbalanced state, ignoring the warning look from Kessus and the other members of the group. “Now, if you’d all be a bunch of dears, I have a business proposal for our esteemed guest that I’m hoping he’ll find irresistible!”

From a small knot of females that included Lena and Sabine, Cerise flashed a dangerous and proprietary look at the coyote. The ebony furred vixen walked over, and while she pulled off a rather good imitation of civility, the hostile gleam in her eyes told her husband exactly what her emotional state was.

“Elias? Shall we go look in on the kits?” Cerise asked sweetly as she drew near.

The relief in the fox’s eyes was evident and he nodded politely to the Marquis and other males, pointedly ignoring the Countess as he pulled his arm free. “Bless you,” Elias told his mate in a low voice. “The Countess is enough to make my skin itch!”

“Probably something she picked up while slumming,” Cerise informed her husband. “There’s no shortage of stories about the Countess…or her proclivities. It seems that her appetites are the source of a lot of court gossip. Also, she’s been rather vocal and descriptive about her plans for you.”

“Oh, no! I am very happily married, thank you!” Elias told his mate firmly. Once they were past the doors of the ballroom, Cerise pulled her fox into a small alcove hidden by a tapestry, latching on to his neck before kissing him soundly. “Wh…what is…”

Cerise gave him a smoldering look and smiled before nipping at his neck playfully. “My fox,” she said breathlessly before pulling his head to her for another lingering kiss. “We’ll stay here for a few minutes before returning, but I don’t think I should let you go off on your own while that harlot’s about. From what I’ve heard she’s looking for some excuse and willing partner to help in her aspirations of climbing higher on the social ladder at court.”

Elias settled his arms around his petite mate with a mischievous grin. “So what are we going to do to while away the minutes?”

“We’ll think of something,” Cerise whispered, looking up with a content smile and heavily lidded eyes.

CHAPTER 64

“I feel I should again apologize for the other day, Elias,” Kessus said as they traipsed through the woods a little less than a mile away from the castle.

“For knighting me?” the fox replied with a chuckle, adjusting his hold on the twelve foot hunting spear he carried to keep it from getting hung up on saplings and shrubbery. Far ahead beaters were making noise by calling out, clapping and smacking two flat pieces of wood that were attached by a thin flap of leather together to drive out the saurapine they were after.

“No,” the Marquis said with a chuckle. “For Countess Melissandra! She can be trying at the best of times. What was the business proposal that she wanted to talk to you about? Did you ever find out?”

Elias shook his head. “Fortunately Cerise was able to fend her off. From everything I heard about the Countess, I doubt it would have been strictly legal.”

“You’re more right than you know,” Kessus told the fox. “From what I’ve been able to gather the Countess is dabbling in questionable imports. All of her schemes tend to be get-rich-quick endeavors. It’s the only way that she thinks she can raise her line closer to ascension to the throne. She’ll throw money at anyone if she thinks they can help in that regard.” The coyote snorted in derision. “Not like the rest of the populace will let another inbred on the throne ever again. The time of Geller the Mad was bad enough.”

“I don’t think I’m familiar with that bit of Tanthean history,” Elias told his companion with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, Geller was one of those stellar examples of exceedingly poor breeding that-”

Before the Marquis could divulge the former ruler’s qualities, a saurapine burst from a patch of thick undergrowth. Its sudden appearance and charge bowled Elias over as the creature tossed the coyote with his tusks and elicited yelps of surprise from both males. The fox rolled away like he’d been instructed as the huge animals had a habit of stomping on anything that got in their way, and as this one was far larger than the five hundred pound animal they were supposed to be hunting. Staying out from underfoot seemed like a great idea to Elias at the moment.

He’d almost made it to the dubious protection of a tamtam-fruit tree when the pale citrine eyes of the animal locked in on the white fox. With a snort and mad pawing of the ground the beast let out a bellow before charging, the bull flinging its huge head left and right and slicing the air with the two pairs of tusks that grew almost three feet long on either side of its face and wicked spiraled horn in the center of its head.

As Elias scrambled for cover, his spear all but forgotten, Olin and Baxter both rushed in with Randal right behind them. The movement caught the saurapine’s attention and it reared up on its thick rear legs, the front cloven hooves pawing the air as it bellowed again in anger. When it started to come down, the two males brought their spears up, driving the butts into the ground as they’d been shown.

With its roar of challenge turning into a screech of pain, the saurapine impaled itself on the sharpened steel heads of the weapons, driving the spearheads deep into its body. Almost a thousand pounds of animal bent the shaft of Baxter’s spear, causing the panda to roll to the side as the animal pushed the weapons deeper in an attempt to get at the engineer. The combination of weight and sheer desire to cause harm to the little thing that hurt it snapped the shaft, tearing up the ground enough to dislodge the weapon that Olin still had a hold of, his bright eyes wide in shock and fear.

The speed with which events happened caught the wolf-Chow off guard and as the butt of his spear tore free from where it had been buried in the ground, he was unable to let go. When the shaft sprung loose he was flung several feet into dense undergrowth. As such, after shaking his head to clear it from the ringing noise when his head had glanced off a low branch of a leka tree that was comprised of extremely hard, dense wood, he was unable to see the beast expire and slump to the ground.

Lemuel had immediately rushed to his brother-in-law, though Elias waved him off even as he gasped for breath, thankful the Marquis had insisted on the archaic armor. “Kessus!”

“I’m fine…I think,” the coyote said weakly from the other side of the hulking body of the saurapine.

The Marquis was quicker to recover than Elias and stepped up to the bull, smiling slightly at Randal who was staring at the animal with wide eyes, his spear held at the ready and pointed towards the downed animal.

“No fear, Randy!” the Marquis told the wolf cheerfully. “If it were still alive it would still be fighting.” The coyote looked at the beast and began to grin maniacally. “Splendid! This is the largest bull saurapine I’ve ever seen!”

The others gathered around and looked at the dead animal. Elias had to agree that it was indeed an impressive creature and far larger than he thought at first. “How much does this thing weigh?” he asked in awe.

“I think it’s got to be about twelve hundred pounds,” Randy said softly.

“This might be a record!” Kessus enthused. “The game tenders will weigh it to get an accurate measurement. I think this is one for the record books, though! No one has ever brought down a saurapine this big on these lands!”

“Is it dead?”

The rest of the group turned to look at Olin as he emerged a little dazed from the underbrush, absently picking twigs and bits of leaves from his fur and the joints of his armor. Lem stepped over and began a quick examination.

“How many fingers am I holding up?” the tiger asked with two fingers extended.

“Four, but their awfully squiggly,” Olin commented as he squinted at the tiger’s hands.

Lemuel shook his head. “I think you might have a concussion. We should get you back so I can look at you more thoroughly.”

“I think the tree did it,” the wolf-Chow slurred a little.

“You know, Sonja will be pretty ticked off if we damage him permanently,” Randy commented.

“He’ll be fine,” the tiger said with a grin. “Besides, Olin’s the hero of the hunt, I think. That’ll make her happy.”

“I’m a hero?” Olin asked, trying to focus on the others without much success.

“Indeed you are!” Kessus exclaimed. “Now you can see why we use polymer spear shafts instead of traditional wooden ones. What a story, though! I told you this would be fun!”

***

“No,” Arya told Cerise and the other females as they sipped on tea in the Marquise’ solarium, “I don’t mind Kessus’ little hunts. After he comes home from being in space he tends to become restless for a little while. If I didn’t let him out to play he’d be in the way. This way he gets to have his fun and I maintain my sanity. That and I think there is something in the minds of all males that makes them feel they have to prove themselves…a need for external validation.”

In the middle of the room the children sat amidst a pile of large, soft plastic building blocks, Van and Renee happily engaged in stack-and-crash with the three children of Kessus and Arya’s, all of them babbling happily and interspersed with high pitched yips of glee.

“Of course, Kessus’ little hunting forays keep the kitchen staff busy,” the coyote chuckled. “They never know what he’s going to bring in for them to prepare.”

“I think it’s important for Elias to have interests of his own,” Cerise commented from the plush chair she sat in, her feet underneath her with her tail curled over her knees. “If we both didn’t have our own interests, it would put a terrible strain on things.”

Keena nodded in agreement. “I’m learning that about mine and Lem’s relationship, too.”

Cerise gave her sister a curious look. “No regrets about everything you gave up from the past?”

The russet vixen snorted. “By the Maker, no! I wouldn’t trade what I have now for anything!”

Sabine was looking out of the section of windows that provided a view of the main courtyard. Her curiosity was raised when the hunting party pulled in, the off-road vehicles all stopping at one building followed by a flatbed cargo truck almost three hours before they were supposed to. “Is that what they were hunting?” the squirrel asked with some surprise.

The other females got up to look at the spectacle, many of the expressions ones of surprise and even a little fear at the size of the animal. Arya nodded several times before she was able to speak. “That’s a saurapine, but I’ve never seen one that big before. Heavens…it’s huge!”

“Who’s on the stretcher?” Lena asked, having already spotted Randy as one of the litter bearers.

“Oh…gods!” Sonya cried followed by heated swearing that all but horrified the Marquise. “It’s Olin!” Before anyone else could react, the Spaniel was out of the solarium and rushing down to where the males were.

“We better go see how bad things are,” Cerise said in concern.

“And sternly reprimand them,” Arya added after seeing the sling her husband’s arm was in.

***

“Look what me and Baxter got!” the wolf-Chow said happily, though his words were a little slurred as Sonja burst from the castle and rushed to her lover’s side.

“Yes,” Sonja said frostily before looking at the others. “Very nice. Now what the hell happened?”

“I think I’d like to know this as well,” Arya added coolly as she and the others followed after the Spaniel.

The Marquis tried to relate the story of the saurapine exploding out of the trees, but admitted that for him things were a little hazy at that point as he’d been flying through the air tail first and deferred to Elias. Several sets of less than happy eyes fell on the fox as he tried to fill in what he could, though it was Lemuel and Randy who gave the most details to the collection of distraught and irritated ladies. The story mollified most of them so that they weren’t ready to add to the injuries that had already been sustained.

“Leave it to you to go and find the biggest…thing possible,” Cerise said with a chuckle as she helped Elias remove the armor he wore. “I can see why all this is necessary, though,” the coyote added with a light rap of her knuckles against the breastplate.

“And it is the biggest!” Kessus informed the females with a distinct note of pride. “One thousand six hundred thirteen pounds! Over two hundred pounds heavier than the largest saurapine on record for the planet and it was on my lands! The size has already been documented and it’s been photographed! My yearly revenue will triple with tourists and hunting parties!”

“Is that good?” Randy asked as Lena and Sabine helped the wolf out of his steel cocoon.

“Absolutely! Do you know how much it costs to keep this place up?” the Marquis asked smacking his knee and laughing. “It would be cheaper for me to by a yacht and live out of that!” He grinned at the others. “I told you this was fun!”

“I think I could with a little less of His Grace’s version of fun,” Lemuel whispered to Elias before he went to go check on the wolf-Chow mix. The fox only smiled in return but gave an expression of agreement. As he went into the next room, already opening up his ever-present medical kit, Sonja rejoined the others with a very perturbed expression.

“Now I really wish I’d gone with you guys.” She sighed and looked at the Marquise. “No offense, but I never have been one of those frilly, delicate females.”

“I understand, dear,” Arya said. “You aren’t the first to say that. Maybe my husband will bend the rules and let females on these little trips.” The Marquise looked at her mate with a very shrewd expression. “At least he better give it serious consideration if he doesn’t want to end up sleeping on the couch for a year.” When Kessus tried to open his mouth, Arya shut down his protestations quite readily. “On the other side of the castle,” she added in a chill tone.

The Marquis gulped audibly and tried to give his wife an ingratiating smile. “I…think we can make some kind of…arrangement.”

Arya nodded and left the gathering muttering something darkly under her breath, though all of them heard the bitter emphasis she put on the word ‘traditions!’ before returning to her solarium.

***

Olin’s injuries were mostly bruises and his vision cleared rapidly on the return trip with Lem confirming that there wasn’t a concussion, but the wolf mix would have a spectacular bruise and knot on the back of his head for a few days. As soon as he was showered and changed, the young chef returned downstairs to see how the saurapine would be butchered and began working with the castle’s executive chef on a menu utilizing the best cuts and struck up a fast friendship with the Doberman.

As the initial shock of seeing their males return from the hunt banged up passed, everyone was thoroughly entertained by the story the others told and the different perspectives. Even Arya and Sonja enjoyed the telling, with Sonja leaning against her beau and occasionally looking at him with deep affection.

“Next time I go with you,” the Spaniel said as her fingers wrapped around the wolf-Chow’s. “I really want to keep you around for while.”

Olin proved that despite his relative youth and inexperience he was intelligent and simply agreed, Sonja’s words giving him a pleasant, warm feeling.

Before the end of the two weeks of shore leave were up, Elias and crew received a shipping order for Tanthean manufactured military grade electronics, normally used in drone munitions, slated for delivery to the Sol System and the huge mining consortium within the Sol Asteroid Belt. After consulting with the crew it was determined that no one was against cutting their down time short and grabbing a few days on Earth and Mars as compensation.

When the day of departure arrived, Marquis Nurian and wife accompanied the crew of the Ascendant Angel to the spaceport. “Just promise that whenever you’re near you’ll come for a visit.” Arya said as she embraced Cerise warmly.

“Every chance we get,” the ebony vixen told her newest friend.

As the females bid each other farewell Kessus was talking to Elias as the rest of the crew boarded their ship to prepare for the short transit flight to Nafax Cybernetics on the other side of the planet. “Are you sure that you won’t consider a betrothal promise?” the Marquis asked the fox for the tenth time in two days. “Kelian seems to be very taken with your Renee?”

Elias laughed. “Kessus! The kits aren’t even half a year old! And you know that foxes can’t breed with anything besides another fox.”

“That’s not a problem,” the Marquis countered. “There’s always surrogate partnering. It’s almost a tradition now and-”

“We’ll see how they get along together in a decade or two,” Elias interrupted, “but I’m going to let my children choose their own paths.”

The coyote sighed. “I suppose so,” he admitted. “You know, it isn’t uncommon for families to be united by arranged marriage.”

“Maybe on Tanthe, but I’m not from here, remember?”

“I know,” Kessus said a little sullenly. “More’s the pity. Any other family would jump at the chance. And you really can’t blame me, can you? Renee may be off-world blood, but there’s no denying that she comes from good stock. You’re already a legend here and on Dennier.”

“By the Maker, Kessus,” Elias shook his head in tired amusement, “let’s let them grow up a little first.” He slipped his arm around Cerise as she joined him. “It has been a good time, though I think next time we visit I’d like to forego any hunts if it’s all the same to you.”

The Marquis’ eyes lit with almost youthful glee. “That’s fine! Besides, there’s always the fishing in Nalisport! There’s a fish there that grows almost two tons and is one of the top marine predators in that part of the ocean and-”

“Dear,” Arya interrupted, “do you think that you can find amusements that won’t get you or our friends trampled to death or eaten?”

“Oh…I…I never thought about it like that,” Kessus said.

When Elias and Cerise finally made it to the bridge, Lena already had the preflight checks completed and was going over her console for a second time. “I think I need a vacation from my vacation,” the fox said as he slipped into the pilot’s seat, the chair automatically adjusting to his frame for the most comfort and support.

“Your chum has some pretty scary concepts of what constitutes fun,” the doe admitted with a chuckle. “What was that about fishing? I didn’t catch all of it.”

“Some kind of sea going predator,” the fox commented as he looked over his instruments while adjusting the harness straps. “To hear it, the thing can swallow a small ground car.”

“We’re clear for suborbital transit to the landing field of Nafax Cybernetics,” Cerise informed her mate. “As soon as we land they’ll be ready to load the cargo and our exit vector has been logged.”

“Sounds good,” Elias told his wife with a smile. “Let’s get back to work.”

CHAPTER 65

“Cerise, could you come to the bridge, please?” Odette all but asked over the intercom.

The vixen got up from the deck where she and Elias had been playing with the kits, nuzzled each of her children affectionately before trotting the short distance to the bridge. Even as she stepped onto the flight deck, tapping the controls to bring the information from sensors up on the forward viewports, Elias took a place next to her sensors console. “This is weird,” the vulpine female said with a small frown. “How long has this been showing up?” she asked the ursine at the weapons station.

“I just noticed it three or four minutes ago,” Odette informed her friend. “I didn’t know if it was an echo off our own wake or what, that’s why I called you.”

Cerise adjusted the gain on the sensors and swore under her breath. The vixen rarely swore, and to use the particular epithet that she did now caused her husband’s fur to stand on end along his spine. “Bad?” Elias asked, already feeling the first surge of adrenaline.

“I don’t know,” the Cerise admitted. “It’s definitely a ship and not our echo. Good call, Odette. I know a lot of veteran techies that would have missed this. Whoever it is, they’re trying real hard not to be seen. They aren’t cloaked, but they definitely know how to hide, and their signature is almost lost amid the spatial noise.”

“I’m ready if they try anything,” Odette told the couple. “Thank the Maker Pala was able to get that favor from her friend, though I don’t want to know where a civvie got his hands on that kind of ordinance. Sparrow missiles and some non-nuke torpedoes?”

“I’m glad Sandy and Janes let us keep the missile racks,” Elias said as he made his way to the helm. The fox slipped his seat harness on, the other two doing the same. “Are they getting closer?”

“Yes,” Cerise answered tersely, her expression hard as she continued to look at her board. “But they’re going about it real slow. They don’t want us to know that we’re being followed.” She snarled lightly. “Damn it! I wish I could get more info! I can’t tell what they are or how big or anything helpful!”

As Elias prepared to evade and Odette double-checked her firing solutions, the vessel that was trailing moved out of their wake and a cheerful voice pealed out over the communications equipment. “Tag, Toddy-boy! You’re it!”

“Alistair, you came close to catching a missile in the teeth!” Elias shot back hotly over his headset. “By the Maker!” The fox took in a breath and let the tension that was in his shoulders release.

“So, where ya headed, laddie? We can follow you in and meet up with ya,” the human suggested.

“Ceres Station,” the fox told his friend.

“Excellent! Once you’re available, meet up with us in the Atrium. Drinks are on me,” the Scot told his former comrade.

“That’s not a bad idea. You owe us for that stunt, anyway,” the fox quipped.

***

Alistair Gordon took a sip of his malt whiskey, his eyes on the door to the Atrium, the area of Ceres Station that was filled with green leafy things for the personnel of the station to enjoy along with artificial gravity generators to provide a full G for those that were unused to long periods of low or no gravity. The overall appeal of the lounge was provided with moving wall scenes of woods and forests from all over the Planetary Alignment. When a familiar group entered the facility, the human couldn’t help but grin.

Elias watched as his friend, a person he’d gone through the Spatial Police Force Academy with slid from his barstool and approached, his arms wide and a grin plastered to his face. Alistair was dressed in his normal attire of kilt, boots, simple shirt and leather vest.

“C’mon, the lot of ya!” the Scot cried boisterously. “I got one o’ the private booths set aside, don’t ya know!” When he saw that there was a new female with the fox’s crew the man sidled up and slipped an arm around her shoulder, leaning close. “And maybe later I can show ya the wonders and sights of Ceres, lassie!”

Sabine stiffened at the forward manner of the human, never really interacting with a non-fur before and was caught completely off guard by his overly friendly manner. Fortunately Lena was there to save her.

“Hands off, oh hairless one,” the doe said as she got between Sabine and Alistair with a playful slap to the man’s hands. “She’s with Randy and me.”

“Say it ain’t so!” Alistair lamented looking at the aforementioned wolf. “Two? What have you got that I don’t? Asides yer own fur coat?!?”

Randal shrugged and stepped in smoothly, an arm going about each female’s waist. “Charisma,” he said simply and with a wide grin.

Pala, the only unattached female drew a mischievous smile and took the man’s arm. “I suppose I’ll have to be the one to keep you occupied. Just keep your hands to yourself, though. I’d hate to have to ask Elias and the others to put any of your parts in baggies for reattachment later.”

Cerise snickered. “I think you’re starting to develop a sense of humor!” she exclaimed with surprise at the felinoid.

“Cerise, you know my kind are completely devoid of humor. I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Pala declared, though she did give a covert wink to the vixen. She let the human lead her to the private booth enjoying the way the man seemed stunned at her brazen attitude.

As soon as everyone was seated, the only absences being Lem and Keena who’d stayed on board the Ascendant Angel to watch the kits, Alistair tripped the privacy field, a low level curtain similar in principal to the shields of a starship. It would block not only their conversation but would also obscure the occupants. As soon as it was up the Scot’s expression became quite serious.

“Janes and Brees has had the entire Q-fleet looking for you,” he told Elias, all previous behavior gone and the business side of the fox’s friend coming to the fore.

“Why?” Elias asked, his ears perking up, a feeling of worry filling him.

“One of the prisoner transports that was heading to Darkfall with a batch of Legion mercs failed to make rendezvous. It was found a week and a half ago between Sol and Centaurus. The investigation team was able to determine that the prisoners somehow got free and overwhelmed the crew.

“They did a pretty good job of smashing the computer core, but the techies were able to glean enough information to piece together that it was an inside job, one of the guards was a Legion plant. That ain’t the worse of it, though, Toddy-boy,” Alistair said leaning forward.

“How much worse can it get?” Lena asked, her expression the same as the rest and filled with concern.

“Roric Ganlin was one o’ the prisoners, it seems. There’s a recording of him, and forensics was able to confirm that he was one o’ the prisoners. He was hidin’ in plain sight with the rest o’ his people.” The Scot shook his head. “Yer marked, Elias. All of you are. Janes has already taken precautions fer Rovi and the rest o’ yer family. They want ya ta get to Joplin so they can put ya in protective custody.”

The others looked at Elias when he answered with a firm, “No.”

“Are ya daft, Elias?” Alistair asked in shock. “Ya ain’t got the protection of anonymity no more! Ya hurt th’ bastard and he wants yer blood, boyo! Yers and yer family’s!”

“I’m not running, Alistair. Not now, not ever again,” the fox said. “If I run, I’ll be running for the rest of my life.” He looked at the rest of his friends. “If you all want off the Angel, I’ll understand. I’m not going to give in to Ganlin, though.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Lena said with a scowl. “We’ve faced the best he could throw at us and we’re still here. He wants a fight? Well, he’s got it!”

Randal nodded. “I’m staying.”

“As if there’s any doubt about where my choice lies,” Pala snorted. “I think this Roric Ganlin’s hide would make a suitable trophy.”

Sabine was the only one that looked dubious. “What’s wrong with running?” she asked in a slightly shrill voice, her eyes wide with the first vestiges of fear. “We don’t know where he is or what he’s capable of! I…I’ve heard all of you talk…the stories!”

Randy put his arm around the red squirrel’s shoulders and looked at the young female with sincere eyes that had a hint of hardness to them. “Sab, if we run, we’ll never stop. He’ll hunt all of us down one at a time and kill us. Together we’re more than a match for him.” He gave her a quick hug. “If you want out, though, we’ll understand.”

Sabine didn’t hesitate. “Uh-uh! If you aren’t going, I’m not either! I’m not losing either of you to some stinking cat!”

The look that both Lena and the wolf gave the other third of their little group was full of respect and affection.

“I have to agree,” Cerise said. “I’m tired of running as well. It’s time we ended this.” The vixen too her mates hand in a show of solidarity. “As equals, in good times and bad,” she said with warm eyes and a defiant tilt to her chin.

“Always,” Elias answered, feeling as if he was going to burst with pride and love for the black furred female.

“I think yer all nuts!” Alistair said with a shake of his head. “But I think Janes and Sandy knew that this was how ya were going to react to the news.” He tossed the rest of his drink back. “Make yer way to th’ SPF outpost here in the belt. They ha’ been authorized to re-arm yer ship by Breth Janes herself. There’s a briefin’ packet there fer ya as well with all the information ya be needin’.”

“Thanks, Alistair,” Elias said.

“Now that the bad news is all taken care of, how did ye all detect me ship?” the man asked in curiosity, one eye narrowing. “Ya shouldnae have been able to detect me in yer baffles.”

“Alistair, you can’t beat a fox when it comes to cunning and being clever,” Cerise told the human with a smirk.

CHAPTER 66

The entire crew elected to remain on the Ascendant Angel even after the information that Alistair Gordon delivered, their resolve firm and unshakable. Baxter had seemed the most shocked by the information and had been on the verge of leaving but Sabine’s refusal to leave the others had steeled the panda’s choice.

“Well…nuts. I’ll stay. I’ve spent too much time crawling around the ship making sure everything’s in top notch shape to run away now,” Baxter quipped, earning a hug and kiss from Odette. “I don’t guess it’s any more dangerous than if I was on another ship, and this one has a lot more in the way of protection. So, seeing as how I’m new at this, what do we do now? Just wait, or what?”

“Issue a challenge,” Olin said from where he and Sonja sat near the serving bar to the galley, looking out over the others gathered on the rec deck. “I’ve been listening to all of you talk about the Van Connor thing, and I’ve been reading up on Roric Ganlin. The guy’s a serious egomaniac. I think if you issued a challenge he’d come looking for you. I don’t think he can do otherwise. His pride won’t let him ignore something like that. Just like it won’t let him let you go.”

Randal gave the other male a lopsided grin. “You know, you might have something there.” His expression fell slightly and he looked at Elias. “So, who was it that immolated his self and the rest of his staff back at their base?”

The white fox shrugged. “A lieutenant or some other fanatical underling,” he offered. “You know, one of the things that always bothered me about what happened at the end was that I never looked Ganlin in the eyes. Brada made sure that I saw him when he killed himself before scuttling the Shiva. He and Roric were of the same ilk. He wanted me to see that his death was by his own hand and that he was denying me the kill. I think that’s why that moment, at the end, when they set off the incendiary device has always bothered me.”

“Further proof they’re insane,” Lena added from where she and Sabine lounged with their wolf. “But I think Olin’s got the right idea. Ganlin’s pride won’t let him walk away from you dropping a challenge. The only way you could make it worse would be to slap him while scent marking his boot.”

Sonja pulled away from her lover and rested her elbows on the counter and her chin in her hands while a furrow formed between her brows. “But how do we get the challenge out so that he sees it? He’ll think it’s a trap and stay away. Then we’ll be right back in the same place we are now, wondering when he’s going to try and hit us.”

Elias looked at his wife and an idea struck him. His grin was almost maniacal. “I have an idea.”

Cerise was thinking almost the same thing her mate was and developed a similar expression. “The anniversary and place where it all started,” she said softly.

***

“You want to do what?” Sander Brees asked in disbelief.

“He won’t be able to let it go, Sandy,” Elias told the lion with a shrug. “He’ll tear across the entire breadth of the PA to get at me. It’s a lot better than me waiting around or trying to find him.”

Sandy scowled at the individual on his display. “If you were still part of the family I’d have a psych evaluation done on you! I’m tempted to do that anyway to verify you’re mentally competent to captain your ship!” He snarled and rubbed the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed tightly. “As it is, I think you’re right, which makes me wonder if I haven’t lost my mind as well.”

“Well, if I we’re going to flush out Roric Ganlin, we need to be crazy,” Elias quipped.

***

Roric Ganlin, the leader of what had been one of the most powerful mercenary regiments in Known Space looked at the smoking hole in the display screen and screamed his frustration out. Not long ago he would have been able to vent his spleen in gladiatorial combat with a slave, but that had been taken from him when the Spatial Police Force had appeared at his headquarters within the Van Connor nebula and enough ships to smash his fleet and the fortress world he had had built.

Not only had they found him, the lackeys of the Planetary Alignment had destroyed his fleet, stormed his home, stripped him of all that he had struggled to claim and take as his, the due rewards for his strength and prowess. As if that weren’t humiliating enough, for the past four weeks the face of the one individual he hated above all others mocked him once every hour from every single channel on the Net.

Elias Tivnan.

The fox from Alexandrius was nothing!A cog in the bureaucratic machine that was the SPF. That he had the audacity to publicly challenge him was insufferable! Even with the screen in ruins, acrid smoke pouring from the shattered screen and hole that he’d made with his fist, Roric could see the smug features of the white fox and hear his mocking words!

“Roric, you know me, and you know I bested you time and again. Now it’s time to end this once and for all. I’ll be waiting where it all began on the anniversary of the day my life changed. Come and find me…if you dare.”

Roric Ganlin was unable to ignore the slap in the face and he snarled and gnashed his teeth in impotent fury. All efforts to locate the damnable fox had been thwarted. Even though Tivnan had been running his own business, all transactions were being handled by a third party on Dennier, making getting to the fox and his ship impossible. The hunt for the Ascendant Angel had borne as much in the way of results as had the hunter-killer teams sent after his family. The lion’s assassins hadn’t just failed, they’d disappeared. Not even the mole in the thrice cursed SPF could verify what had happened to them.

Of course, then his mole had vanished as well.

Ganlin didn’t have the personnel to spare for the hunt any more. He barely had enough to run the ship he was on.

From almost ten thousand loyal fighters, the lion was left with a little under two dozen. Soldiers that would have gladly cut their own throats, or slashed those of their very own offspring to please him, were gone. Most perished when his fleet was destroyed and their home that he’d named Gehenna had been split open in the nuclear fire that had been their only haven since forced exile from Mainor.

All because of this demon fox with white fur and his bitch of a mate!

Ganlin stood so quickly that he knocked the chair he’d been sitting in over and clawed at his own face and chest in the throes of frustration anger and hatred that suffused him while screaming his rage at the ruined terminal. Heaving with the deep breaths that he sucked in, Roric Ganlin stomped to the bridge of the Fynian corvette that he and his followers had managed to capture, the silver and blue markings on the hull having been replaced with his own red and black and the name changed from Valorous Son to Black Dagger of Hatred, a name that Roric found most fitting.

Without pausing to acknowledge the obsequious gestures of his remaining crew, Roric stepped up to the navigation console and punched in a series of coordinates after backhanding the younger lion that was attending the position out of the way.

“Make for these coordinates with all due speed,” the large lion snarled.

“But…Milord,” the pilot protested with a submissive bow of his head, “this would put us too close to Dennier. Surely the broadcast is an SPF trick! Wouldn’t it be more prudent to-”

Before the lynx could say anymore, Roric had the cat out of the seat, his feet dangling in the air as the lion’s hand began to tighten on the other’s throat. “Are you challenging my orders?” he whispered, the soft tones dripping with hostile intent and malice.

“N-no m-m-milord!” the lynx croaked, his eyes bulging as his throat was slowly crushed. “W-we’ll make w-w-way at once!”

Roric dropped the cat and regarded him with narrowed eyes. “Inform me when we reach those coordinates. Until then, I am not to be disturbed.”

“Yes, milord!” the lynx wheezed, climbing back into his seat at the helm controls.

The rest of the staff on the bridge pointedly looked away as their master paused at the engineering console and looked down on the cougar that manned that station. He was barely fifteen, if that, and struggled to make sure he performed his duties flawlessly.

No one reacted to his mewls of pain or pleas for help as Roric Ganlin scruffed the youth and dragged him back to his cabin. It was only to be expected as the lion had already gone through their limited number of females.

***

“Anything?” Elias asked as he sat at the controls. The Ascendant Angel was parked in the same position between Dennier and the lifeless mass of Mainor, the point that he had encountered the Shiva two years prior. The fox’s arms were crossed over his chest and he looked pensively out the forward viewports.

Cerise shook her head. “Just background noise. All the regular communication traffic from Dennier and radioactive static from Mainor.”

With a sigh of frustration Elias went back to his silent vigil.

Throughout the rest of the ship the others were standing by at their various posts. Lena waited for something to happen while sitting in the cockpit of the ThunderBolt that rested in the cargo bay. Randal was ready to open the large hatch for the rabbit’s launch, the bay already depressurized and the wolf in an armored spacesuit. In engineering were Baxter and Sabine, both mechanics going over the engines, power systems yet again. They were also in pressure suits, though theirs were stripped down variants so they could still access the various portions of the ship.

Olin Murphy was ready to employ what he’d learned of firefighting should the Okami model freighter require it. Lem and Keena were likewise waiting, the infirmary prepared for nearly any medical emergency.

Odette waited with Sonja in the armored cubicle with Randal, armored and ready to either repel borders or take the offensive should Roric Ganlin actually show and manage to dock with them. Manning the weapons systems was Pala Lon. The Kastan was as calm as she always seemed, the only outward sign of her own anticipation was the fervor that she was buffing her claws with.

“I’ve got something!” Cerise called out after nearly an hour more of sitting at her console. Before Elias could inquire what it was the vixen piped the transmission to the rest of the ship.

“I was wondering if this was a trap. To see that you’re really here and alone is rather astounding,” the voice over the communications channel growled, the menacing thrum beneath the words quite clear.

Elias made sure that his snort of contempt was more than audible. “I tend to keep my word, Roric,” the white fox said with a calm that he didn’t feel. No sooner had the lion’s voice come over the speaker than a spike of adrenaline shot through him. “Unlike some who will let those below him die while their master hides in the shadows.”

Even as he taunted the other, Elias turned to look at his mate who was busy pinpointing the source of the transmission. He knew that his mate that she wouldn’t give anything away by accidentally letting something slip on the transmission link. She worked furiously as the two spoke.

“Pawns, Elias. They have their uses in all games. Their purpose was served.”

Information began to scroll across the forward viewport as Cerise put the information she was able to glean up for her husband. Even though the lion was having the transmission bounced through a relay of satellites, the petite vixen was still able to run a trace of the carrier wave. Her expression was one of contempt. With faster-than-light communications available the smart thing would have been to use the carrier wave to send the signal from out-system before being looped back. Instead the egoist was routing first to the Dennier network before bouncing the signal through the few remaining satellites around Mainor. Cerise printed her findings on all the screens throughout the ship, not just Elias’.

‘He’s approaching from the direction of the sun.’

In the days of early spaceflight and all the way back to when the first sentients had built the first airplanes, a favorite tactic to catch an enemy unaware was to come at them from the sun. While it still worked occasionally, normally it was for prey that wasn’t expecting trouble.

Elias’ fingers tapped out a question even as he spoke to Roric. “I do hope that you plan on sending a visual transmission as well,” the fox said as he waited for his mate’s reply to ‘How far?’ on his screen. “I want to make sure that I kill you this time and not some poor deluded soul. At least Brada had enough guts to look me in the eye before he killed himself like a mewling kitten.”

‘300,000+ Km.’

Elias nodded and turned to give his wife a wink.

“Brada! Brada died gloriously, and denied you the credit for his kill, as was only proper, pup!” There was more to the rant, most of it foul language regarding Elias’ lineage of mouse-pouncers and skulkers in the undergrowth.

As the lion ranted, Elias had Lena exit the cargo bay unpowered before spinning the ship to face the sun that bathed Dennier and the remnants of Mainor in its yellow glow. The fox laughed out loud at the accusations. “Skulking? Who’s skulking? I said I would be here waiting, and so I am. Where as you are pointedly not. Would you rather we take this to some planet so you can slink in the grass, your belly low to the ground where no one will be able to witness you pissing yourself when you realize you’ve met your better?”

The snarl of rage that ripped over the speakers gave Elias a feeling of extreme satisfaction.

“Communications have been disconnected,” Cerise informed her mate. “I think you’ve irritated him.”

“It’s a knack I have,” the white fox commented drily. “Can you patch me through to Lena without anyone else out there hearing it?”

“Already done,” the vixen told her mate. “We set up encryption for all of our communications last week. Unless someone trying to listen in has some serious computers to dedicate to breaking what we’ve got there’s no way they can tap into our transmissions. Even if did tap into or signals it would take them days to unravel it.”

Elias tossed a look of approval over his shoulder even as he toggled the comm circuit for his First Officer. “Lena, stay in our shadow. I’m going to be moving us in at one quarter speed to start, though as soon as we’re in strike range I’ll be pouring on the power.”

“They aren’t going to be worried about me, then. Cerise has got me a good feed with the Angel’s sensors, so you do what you need to. We’ll punch his ticket one way or the other today.”

“You stay safe,” Elias told the doe.

“You, too.”

Cerise pasted the information on the ship that was headed towards them for everyone to see. While the corvette outweighed the freighter by several thousand tones, the advantage was offset by Elias’ experience and the dedication of his friends. Minutes passed as the two vessels hurtled through space at each other, neither ship altering course in the slightest.

As soon as the Ascendant Angel reached the extreme range of the corvette’s weapons, bright bolts of pulse cannon fire flared from the darkness of space. “Lena, I’m getting ready to pour on the speed. Prepare for break-away!”

“Copy that, Elias. Don’t worry about me!”

With a nod that the doe couldn’t see, Elias slammed the throttles to their stops. The oversized propulsion units made it look to Lena as if she were suddenly traveling in the opposite direction from the Okami H model freighter. With the same surprise she always felt at seeing such a large object moving at such incredible velocity the rabbit kicked her own fighter into action, keeping behind the Ascendant Angel, yet out of the plume of superheated gasses that emanated from the huge engines.

Letting the blindingly bright rounds that came at them dissipate harmlessly off the shields, Elias waited until the last possible moment before triggering his own cannon. The fox wasn’t expecting to crack the corvette’s shields immediately, and just when it looked as if they would plow into the blunt prow of the Fynian built vessel, Elias kicked the maneuvering thrusters into action, pushing the Angel under the belly of Roric’s ship before pitching the nose up. He continued to release torrents of hot plasma into the under structure and hull, Pala keeping sustained fingers of white laser light unerringly on target.

Lena followed right on the tail of the freighter adding her own contribution to the sustained fire. The doe was tempted to employ some of the missiles that the ThunderBolt carried, though she refrained, knowing that it was still too soon in the tussle. No sooner did she complete her strafing run than her threat board lit up with a shrill alarm to let her know that she was being acquired for targeting. With a smirk, the rabbit nudged her fighter closer to the corvette as the weapons the warship carried wouldn’t be able to depress far enough to get a clean shot and followed on Elias’ heels.

Cerise watched her console as the corvette started to come about to bring the bulk of its weapons to bear on them, though something didn’t seem quite right and whatever it was the vixen couldn’t put her finger on it. As she pinged away with active sensor scans, new information came up. “I’m getting missile signatures! No launch, but they’re prepped!” she called out. “Sensors indicate non-nuke!”

“Copy that,” Elias called back. “Pala! Ready on countermeasures!”

Before any of the Legion gunners could open fire, the fox had already come about and kept the bow of the Angel pointed at the stern of the corvette, cannon blazing away at the shielding that protected the rear of the ship. This also prevented the Okami from entering the firing arc of the larger ship’s missile racks.

“Their aft shields are failing!” Cerise sang out.

“Fire torpedoes!” Elias barked, too intent on his flying to worry about anything else.

From the forward lateral line, two heavy warheads blasted out on gouts of eye-searing white fire. Even as his hands worked the controls to keep on the tail of the larger ship, furred fingers depressing the triggers for the forward cannon, Elias watched as the Legion pilot finally slung the larger vessel about. The torpedoes slammed into the port hull shields, some of the residual energy making it through the protective field that arced madly as most of the explosive energy was dispersed though the bleed-through boiled away the hastily slathered paint job. As the explosions dissipated, Elias could see where the hull plates had been cooked clean and alloy glinted in the light from the stars around them.

Adding power to the maneuvering thrusters failed to put the Ascendant Angel back on the corvettes aft, and Elias had to roll and pull away as weapons arrays opened up on the freighter. Whoever was piloting might not be the best, but the gunnery crews were on top of their game and round after round of energy and solid shot or explosive projectiles slammed into the protective bubble, dropping the effectiveness incrementally, though the abuse was having an accumulative result. Even as the fox tried to evade the blistering fire from the Legion vessel, Pala kept the ventral and dorsal laser weapons on the larger foe.

“Things are getting hot down here, Captain!” Baxter called out over the intercom. “I don’t think the shields will be able to handle a whole lot more before the breakers pop!”

His lips pulled back from his teeth as he concentrated on flying, Elias nudged the response button. “Can you give us ten more minutes, Bax?”

“We’ll see what we can do, Captain. Sabine’s already in the crawl space working on keeping the primary breakers from going,” the panda said.

“Don’t do anything foolish! We’ll finish this up as quick as we can!”

Deep in the bowels of the Q-ship, the red squirrel was struggling to add superconducting strands to the breaker assemblies. Sabine had had to don an environmental suit to protect her from the unbelievable amount of heat that was pouring off of the circuit breakers for the shield power grid, and even as she bound the breakers, her hands were uncomfortably warm and she was panting in an effort to cool off even though her suit was at its lowest setting.

On the bridge Elias made a decision that would either succeed brilliantly or get all of them killed. “Pala, slave lasers and torpedoes to my target! We’re going to hit them with everything at once! Lena! Prepare for a tandem run! Target their bridge!”

“Copy that, Elias! I’m already on your six high! Pave the way and I’ll follow!” the rabbit confirmed.

The time to run was over, and even as he hauled back on the throttle controls, Elias flipped the Okami with enough force and violence so that everyone was forced down into their seats as the dampeners struggled to compensate. As soon as the ship was once again facing the corvette, the white fox used the micro circuitry embedded in the glassteel viewports to provide an enhanced image window for targeting. With a grimace of determination, the fox fed power to the engines and with expert nudges to the controls lined up his targeting reticule on the corvette’s bridge before opening up with pulse cannon and missiles.

***

“Come about!” Roric Ganlin howled at the pilot, his fingers gripping the armrests of his chair so tightly his claw tips had sunk into the injection molded plastic sheathing over the steel frame. Not for the first time since the battle had been joined, Roric wished he’d taken the time to learn how to fly starships. The lynx at the controls had been recommended by the lion’s right hand, Major Zachary Brada himself.

So far Roric had not been impressed in the slightest.

As the lynx complied, Roric watched his tactical display, his eyes narrowing as the freighter that had been running away slowed drastically before beginning a course change.

“What in the Twelve Hells is that fox doing?” Roric asked no one in particular.

“I believe he’s lining up for an attack, Milord,” the pilot answered, though unaware of it, speaking had earned him a dangerous look from Roric Ganlin.

“Then he is more of a fool than I thought,” the lion sneered with contempt. “All weapons! Prepare to fire! Engineering! What is the status of our shields?”

The young cougar that had worked tirelessly since they had acquired the corvette turned hollow eyes to the lion, his ears still plastered to his head with the shame of what his leader had done to him. “Shields are at seventy percent, Milord,” he answered flatly.

“Then Tivnan is a fool,” Roric said as he turned back to the viewports.

No more so than you, the cougar thought as he slowly placed his hand over the board of his console. Even as the first winklings of illumination from the freighter’s weapons appeared, the cougar disengaged the emitters for the protective energy fields even as he thumbed the safety cap off of the hand grenade he’d surreptitiously pulled from his pocket.

***

No sooner had the first rounds impacted with the corvette’s forward defensive screens than the readings on Cerise’s sensors changed. “They’ve lost shields!” she exclaimed, her voice high and brittle in disbelief. “They’re unprotected!”

“Pala!” Elias all but yelled, “Give ‘em all you got! Lena! Hit with everything you’ve got!”

The weapons on the Ascendant Angel and the small fighter that accompanied it spat hellfire and fury at the Fynian built vessel. Though none of them could see it at this range, the hull of the corvette, despite the reactive armor beneath the outer hull plating, had huge divots blasted from the warship. Pulse cannon vaporized foot wide holes in the alloy sheeting while missiles and torpedoes cracked and shattered the ceramic composite under-armor.

All of them saw when the onslaught finally penetrated and ignited the internal atmosphere, though. Like a blowtorch, the oxygen rich internal atmosphere of the corvette turned into a contrasting blue gout of fire, and still Elias, Pala and Lena added to the conflagration. Pulse cannon bolts tore through bulkheads, missiles made it past the inferno of escaping air to bounce from deck plates before detonating, the resulting blast tearing even further into the bowels of the ship.

Though it was over a dozen yards away from the mortal wound in the bow, the engines of the corvette received more than enough damage from vibrations that sheared bolts and mounting brackets and the resultant feedback surges as power dispersal junctions were turned to slag. Before the three individuals of the Ganlin Legion that functioned as the ship’s engineers could turn for the nearest lifeboats, the Siilv enhanced fusion engines reached critical and as the magnetic containment units failed, began to consume themselves in an uncontrolled reaction.

If Cerise hadn’t called out a timely warning, Elias and Lena would have both flown straight into the expanding cloud of star-hot plasma as the corvette exploded in a nuclear flash. As it was, the doe and her fighter were saved the worst of it by the protection of the Ascendant Angel. The freighter, though, suffered complete shield failure at the initial electromagnetic pulse that is always the result of nuclear detonations. With her aft and belly unprotected, the Angle took substantial damage with one engine shutting down as one of the three onboard computers detected an unsafe balance in starboard unit’s own magnetic containment and automatically shut the engine off before the same thing that had destroyed the corvette occurred again.

When Lena docked with the Ascendant Angel she was greeted warmly by both Randy and Sabine, the trio insulating themselves from the rest of the universe in the circle of their embrace. It was a similar scene with the rest of the crew members while Elias simply sat in the pilot’s chair, his eyes locked on the image that he’d brought up of where the corvette had been. When Cerise touched his shoulder with a gentle hand, he looked up at her with tired eyes before pulling the vixen onto his lap. With arms tight about her body, the white fox buried his face in the soft fur of her neck and sobbed silently with relief.

***

“Grandstorm control, Grandstorm control, this is the Ascendant Angel, PA registry 971969. Requesting priority status for berthing at the Okami shipyards,” Elias called out over the air traffic control frequency. He would have let Cerise handle this aspect, but apart from himself and Lena, everyone else was getting some well deserved sleep.

“Copy, Ascendant Angel,” the on duty controller, a male fox that was assigned to the freighter, said. He sent reentry data to the vessel.“You are cleared for priority landing via SPF status. Do you need to declare an emergency?”

The situation was enough to cause the white fox a moment of déjà vu.

Elias chuckled weekly. “Not this time.” He looked over his readouts and nodded to himself. “We aren’t in the best of shape, but are not in need of emergency status.”

“Affirmative, Ascendant Angel. You are clear for approach to the Okami shipyards. We’ll maintain monitoring and have rescue services on stand-by.”

“Acknowledged, Grandstorm,” Elias quipped. “Ascendant Angel out.” He tossed a look at Lena and cracked a lopsided grin. “If it’s any consolation I really don’t think we’re going to crash.”

The doe laughed, completely relaxed. “I’d trust your crashing over a lot of others just landing. To be honest, I’m just ready for some R and R.”

“That makes two of us.”

CHAPTER 67

Jak Macklin stood under the cradle that held the bulk of the H model freighter the company he worked for had built and looked at the damage with the crew of the ship also gazing up at the vessel. Most of the outer hull around the port engine, the aft ventral section, including the retractable laser turret, and a portion of the flank had boiled away during the release of atomic energy when the Fynian corvette had exploded. Blackened, but still intact, the boron latticed ceramic armor beneath had maintained integrity, oddly enough most of the scoring coming from reentry into Dennier.

“Well, I don’t think it’ll be as bad as when she came in the last time,” the Okami executive said. “It’ll take time to fix her up, but we can do it. Personally, this is one for the books. Anytime I’ve ever seen a ship with as much damage as this, it went straight to the scrap heap.”

Elias smiled. “I told you that she was the best thing I’d ever flown.”

Jak looked up at the ship again and began making notes on his DataPad. “Hmm. We’ll have to cut away some of the remaining hull to refit the plates properly. And then there’s pulling the port engine. If we can reestablish the magnetic bottle, and she checks out after thorough testing, we might remount her.”

“If any engine could withstand what that one did and still function, it’s an RP-12,” Baxter said. The panda gazed at the ship above them with affection. “You know, I’ve been on a lot of ships that I was fond of, but not like this Lady.” He fixed Elias with a serious expression. “Even if I have to work for free, I want to see her up and flying again.”

“She’ll fly again,” a deep voice boomed from the doors behind the group.

Turning as one, Elias and the others saw not just Sander Brees heading towards them, but Breth Janes as well. Both were dressed in Spatial Police Force duty uniforms with Major Talia Paris following.

“Is it over?” Janes asked as she joined the group, looking at the scars that the berthed ship bore.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Elias replied. “The thing is, it was one of his own that ended Roric Ganlin’s reign of terror.

“What?” Sandy asked, his eyes wide with shock.

The white fox turned to his mate and nodded.

“Just before we began our final run, the shields on the ship he’d stolen dropped and there wasn’t any reason for it. When I started going over all of the sensor logs and the visual recordings, I found that there was an explosion, a small one, on the bridge just after their screens dropped. From everything we’ve been able to determine, someone set off a grenade.” The vixen took a deep breath and let it out in a shuddering sigh, still coming to terms that the nightmare was indeed over. “I guess some of his own people hated him as well.”

“Huh,” Janes grunted. “It’s just as well. And good riddance to Ganlin. Maybe things will settle down for a bit.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Elias quipped. “With interstellar traffic picking up, so will attacks on merchant vessels. Everyone’s still reeling from the Siilv War. And I don’t think that we’ll see an end to commercial predation for a while.”

The human woman turned a shrewd eye on the foxes before looking at the rest of the crew. “Which brings us up to our next topic.”

“I’m not rejoining, if that’s what you’re asking,” Elias said, his blue eyes going as hard as glacial ice.

“Why not hear me out, first. It wouldn’t be a full reinstatement, but what I have to offer has been backed by the governments of Alexandruis, Dennier, Pomen and Ganis with the Royal House of Tanthe all but screaming for it,” Janes informed the fox. “Think of it as being more like serving in a…reserve capacity.

“Elias, you have made more of a difference than you know. You have been the most impressive, shining example of what I always hoped the SPF would be. While I want you to enjoy your life, doing what you want to do, I also want to present you with this.” The human held out a roll of actual parchment. “I got the idea from my own world’s history.”

“What is it?” the fox asked suspiciously.

“The easiest way to describe it would be as a Letter of Marque. Put simply it is Legislative and Spatial Police Force permission to engage and neutralize pirates, raiders and the like, same as when you were with us. You’d get the bounties, a portion of salvaged tonnage, and credit. The catch is, you don’t have to be one of us to do so.” Janes pushed the roll of paper even closer, a hopeful look in her eyes.

“So…bounty hunter?” Elias asked with a hint of distaste.

Janes shook her head with a small smile. “No. Essentially it’s permission for you and your crew to engage said elements if you encounter them on your travels. Plus it would enable you to receive SPF support at any port we have an office.” The woman’s look became almost pleading. “Elias, you’re too good at this. If you want, I’ll get on my knees and beg.”

The fox looked at the others, most of them, with the exception of Sabine and Baxter, had neutral expressions. The panda looked nervous while Sabine seemed excited. It was obvious that Randy and Lena were rubbing off on the young mechanic.

“Give us some time to talk it over. I’m only one of the owners of the Angel,” Elias said noncommittally.

“Please don’t take too long,” Janes replied.

With a toss of his head, the white fox called the others to the other side of the huge bay. “Well?” he asked as the others formed a knot around him, Cerise slipping under the circle of his arm.

“As long as it doesn’t put too much of a crimp in our delivery schedule, I’m okay with it,” Lena said.

Randal shrugged. “I wouldn’t feel guilty about some of the stuff that we have onboard then. Think we could get a few power suits?”

Each one voiced their acceptance with Pala being the only one that had no opinion either way. “I’m still an outsider, Elias. That’s simply the way it is. And you know that I will follow without question.”

Elias nodded to himself before striding back to where the three senior SPF officers waited. “We’ll do it,” he told them, seeing the approving looks and let them enjoy it a moment before adding, “but there are some things we want in exchange.”

All of the demands that Elias gave were agreed to, and it was easy to tell that Janes thought that she was getting the better part of the bargain until the fox thoroughly damped her sense of victory.

“I want Pala to get full citizenship here on Dennier. She’s as much a part of this as any of us and has earned her right to be a part of the PA, to receive and enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizen.” Elias crossed his arms stubbornly. “If it wasn’t for her we’d probably not have made it through some of our encounters, and she’s demonstrated time and again that our trust in her is well founded.”

“But…I’m not sure if the Dennieran government will agree with that,” Sandy said, scratching his head, a furrow between his brows.

“If they don’t, then contact Tanthe. If anyone gives you grief, tell them it’s a request from either the Hero of Grandstorm, or if you have to talk to Aris of Tanthe tell him it’s a favor for Sir Tivnan of the Order Of Pax Tanthe. People want to give me accolades and titles? Then I’ll damn well start using them! That’s my price. She becomes a citizen or I walk away.”

The rest of the crew also agreed with their Captain and his sentiments.

When he turned to look at Pala, the fox saw a single large tear roll down her cheek at the support she felt from the individuals that counted her as family.

***

Three weeks later Pala Lon was made an official citizen of Dennier in a small ceremony at the same courthouse that Elias and Cerise had been married at with her friends and adopted family in attendance. After being presented with a Dennieran identification card, citizenship certificate, the Kastan excused herself from the ensuing festivities. After a little less than half an hour, Elias and Cerise went looking for their friend, only to find her in a secluded alcove in the courtyard.

Pala looked up at the approach of the two foxes, tears flowing freely down her cheeks as she held her newly issued identicard. Before the couple could inquire if something was wrong, the felinoid leapt up and pulled both foxes to her, weeping anew as she hugged both with more emotion than she’d demonstrated in almost two years.

“Thank you so very much!”

CHAPTER 66

Graduation from the SPF Academy saw Renee and Van standing in the Grand Gallery with their very odd extended family. All seemed pleased and came up to congratulate the two white foxes with black markings. Their grandparents, Rovi and Sharan beamed with pride, though there was a hint of worry in their grandmother’s eyes. After that were their Aunt Keena and Uncle Lemuel, their own children, an adopted tiger, fox, red panda and mouse still in awe of being in the famous base of the Spatial Police force.

Their Uncle Randy, and Aunts Lena and Sabine also held children, a young rabbit buck and red squirrel pup on nanny tethers as the adults looked on. Next to them were Sonja and Olin, the Spaniel finally starting to show the litter she carried. Baxter and Odette kept their cub from getting too rambunctious with their adopted cousins from Keena and Lem.

Uncle Sandy was also in attendance, though his mane and fur were a little more lackluster and shot with silvery white, as was Aunt Meri. Their cousin Jenna, now a Colonel and taking a lead in Special Operations Division, and her husband Colonel Horace Nokes, were near her adopted parents. All of them looked proudly at the now adults, though would always remember them as the ever happy, if not slightly troublesome kits they once were.

Uncle Merlin and Aunt Samantha stood with the rest, Alexander, Cassandra, Katherine, Marcus and Ramius also with them and smiling at the two foxes with pride and pleasure.

Another recently graduated cadet looked at Renee from across the chamber and gave her a wide smile before turning back to his own family. They’d have a little personal celebration later that evening, something the vixen was looking forward to. With a sigh, Renee Tivnan turned to the Wall of the Fallen and found her parents’ names again, tracing the lettering with her claw tip. Van acknowledged the flirtatious play from a silver fox vixen for a moment before also turning to look at the wall.

Had they really been gone almost six years now? She remembered the day they died so well and it seemed like it only happened yesterday. The Ascendant Angel had received a distress call from a ship that had barely made it to a well traveled region around Pomen when their engines failed then took micrometeorite damage. During the rescue of the eight individuals, the twins’ mother and father had gone over to help, getting the last member of the wrecked ship when the section they were in suffered explosive decompression when a patch in the hull finally gave way.

After everything they’d been through and to die in what seemed an ignominious manner.

Because they had still technically been part of the SPF, they had been granted a joint funeral with full honors, though their past deeds would have also guaranteed that, and gained them a place on the Wall. Renee still recalled her parents being brought back on board after the accident…

“Are you okay, sweetie?” Aunt Lena asked in concern, noting the vixen’s tears.

Renee turned and saw that her brother’s expression was similar to hers, and knew that he wished with all his might that Mom and Dad were there to see them in their new uniforms, their rank insignia of Warrant Officer Fourth Class on their collar tabs.

“Just wishing…j-just wishing they could be here,” Renee choked as another tear fell from her blue eyes.

Van nodded, his own green eyes stinging slightly. “We’re just wondering if they’d be proud of us.”

“You wouldn’t believe how proud they’d be,” Merlin said.

“Don’t ever think that they died in vain, Van,” Lena told the young foxes. “They were doing what they felt was right. It doesn’t matter if it had happened during a rescue, or putting paid to a pirate vessel…what matters is they were doing what they believed in because it was the right thing to do.”

The others agreed, backing up what Merlin and Lena said, though it was Jenna that stepped up to them, and despite being in uniform and the terror of many SPO’s that had discovered the ferret to be as demanding and strict as her adopted father, pulled the two young foxes to her in a warm hug. When she stepped back her dark eyes were also damp. “The three of us will always be bound by what Elias and Cerise were, of what they did for us and how they helped the three of us become who and what we are today. Us…we’re born of Heroes.”

NOTES & MISCELLANEOUS JUNK

When I asked Ted, so long ago it seems, if he’d mind my taking a whack at doing a story in his universe, I was met with an enthusiastic response to go for it. Mind you, I hadn’t really done any sort of lengthy writing since high school, and I really don’t want to get into how long ago that was. I had the premise for my story, but that was about it. In fact, about the only thing that I had firmly in mind at that point was the beginning scene with a small SPF ship crashing on one of the PA worlds.

Holy smokes! I really didn’t know what I was in for, but being the person that I am, I leapt anyway!

To coin something that I once saw somewhere, I’m a ‘proud graduate of the Han Solo School of action without thought’. At least sometimes. By the way, Han Solo belongs to George Lucas, and I’m not trying to steal him in the slightest. Really.

Before I knew it, the first part was done. At the time it was more like a movie playing in my head and I was just putting what I saw down. There were times that not even I knew where it was going and was just as surprised as some of you may have been.

Part two was similar in that I was simply putting things down as they came to me. Probably not the best writing method, but it works in what I do for a living. Then again, my brother has always said I was pretty far from normal. I blame family members for dropping me on my head as a baby. Too bad I wasn’t on warranty.

Now, why the Spatial Police Force?

I’ve always respected those that serve, of course it could be that I’m prejudiced as I was in the Army. I could have gone that route, but to be honest, I was thoroughly intrigued with his concept for the SPF. Here we have not only a police force, but something that encompasses all branches of the military. That led to the question of what kind of person, human or fur, would join? And seeing as how the problem of piracy has become such an issue in our world and in the news on a regular basis, why not take it in another direction.

Thus the idea of Born of Heroes.

But there was more I could play with. One of the big things, apart from the obvious, is what kind of impact would these individuals that did such a dangerous job have on those they met, the pirates notwithstanding. I’ve seen firsthand how a person ‘just doing their job’ can have on others. From the cop that arrives at an accident as a first responder, to the fireman that performs a dramatic rescue of the family pet, to the soldier in a far away land that gives up his rations to some kid that doesn’t even speak the same language, the little things affect the world in small yet incredibly profound ways.

Then throwing them all on a ship that wasn’t what it seemed…

This of course was based on our own history with the use of Q-ships during World War II. If it worked then, why not in space? Oh what fun it was to come up with that!

Then there are the characters. Anyone that has ever served will tell you of the bonds that form between people when they face combat together. When it drops in the pot, the balloon goes up, and all of the other euphemisms, individuals from disparate walks of life will become your family, and the needs of the nation you serve go right out the window as you focus on keeping those on the line with you alive while they do the same for you. Danger binds these individuals together in a way that familial bonds don’t, or can’t. And they stay with you for the rest of your life. It’s truly hard to explain to those who have never been in a situation like that.

Whew. The philosophy of what is written is such an involved thing. While it might start as an attempt to make a story that others will enjoy, I think that for me, much of this has been sort of cathartic, enabling me to vent things that have been bottled up inside for a while.

Of course, real life put a delay on writing. Since starting the story, my business was robbed and I had to start over from scratch, not to mention that most of a year’s worth of income in the form of swords and other cutlery that was in storage were stolen. My adopted mother came down with a rare type of pneumonia virus, one that killed a number of people this year in the Washington, D.C. and was in a coma for three months leaving me to drop everything and take care of my adopted father and their house. Tack on my own bout with pneumonia, and finishing up Part 3 was a challenge. Fortunately I’m stubborn, and as soon as I got a little time to sit down at the computer, Elias and the others were dragging me along with them.

Do I need to mention the little rewrite? I should have remembered that foxes can only breed with other foxes, hence Cerise and the rest of the Tambor clan suddenly becoming vulpine anthros.

The neat thing is that working on the story was fun, a great stress release, and also aided my creativity in the forge I run. If I’m lucky, maybe Ted will let me play in his world some more… ;)

I just hope that I’ve provided an entertaining read.

In the end, I suppose that all of this is my humble way of telling Ted ‘Thanks!’ Thanks for taking us on an adventure, of giving us characters to cheer for, villains to loathe, moments of love and joy to sigh over and letting us in to see the world that you’ve created and dealing with a hurt hand to write more for those of us that so thoroughly enjoy your stories!

And here’s hoping that somewhere out there, the Blue Horizon and the Ascendant Angel fly forever!

Sincerely,

Jeff Karamales

Music while writing BoH:

- Ray Lynch, literally everything!

- Constance Demby, Novus Magnificat, Aeterna, in particular, The Waltz of Joy

- Bond (the string quartet, not the spy!) Born, Remix, Shine and Classified (BTW, check out the Bond piece Strange Paradise on youtube with some awesome Babylon 5 space battle footage!)

- Dark Moor

- Paul Mauriat

- Mannheim Steamroller (non-Christmas stuff)

- Kitaro

- 2002 (the musical duet, not the year)

- Dragonborn (not easy listening in the slightest!)

- Blackmore’s Knight

- Lots and lots of The Hollies

- And a lot of really eclectic stuff.