BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

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 the Scimitar’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 two  standard 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.

— NEXT CHAPTER —

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