[b]additions[/b] "Captain," the com called, as Jeremy was going through the procurement requests. He knew he had to keep an eye on them, Xenial loved sneaking extra stuff in. He didn't want to stop everything, but there were some things he didn't want to see on his ship. "Captain?" the com called again. Jeremy me frowned. Why wasn't he answering them? "Gra . . ." His call died as he looked at the unoccupied desk. He needed a moment to be able to breath again. "I'm here," he finally answered the com. "We have someone who's interested in being our Antimatter Engineer." "Already?" He'd only posted the availability a few hours ago. "Alright, send me the information, I'll go over it." "Actually, sir, he's at the access." Jeremy considered it. It wasn't customary to just show up, but it did show initiative, and a confidence he could respect. "I'm on my way," he finally said. He could use a break. * * * * * Jeremy stepped off the ship and looked around. Further down, at the cargo bay, supplies were being taken in. In the other direction, was a male standing around, his back to him. He was wearing colorful pants, and no vest, his golden fur broken up by black stripes. He looked familiar to Jeremy, even before he turned. "Alix?" Jeremy exclaimed, before hugging the male and nuzzling him. "What are you doing here?" Alix nuzzled him back. "I'm here because you need a good engineer." "How did you find out? The posting is still fresh." "I knew you'd need me the moment I learned about Gralgiranselhelrarvnir. I knew he'd leave you the ship, and you're not such a great male that you can be both the captain and engineer." "The position's yours," Jeremy said. "What have you been up to? How did your hunt go? You never let us know how you were going, once you left the crew." "The hunt wasn't successful." Jeremy hugged him. "Don't give up, you'll find your Heart eventually." "I know, but I did find myself a mate in the process, so I'm comfortable putting the hunt aside for the time being." "Congratulation. Male or female?" "Female, and we have a cub." "Are they coming with you?" "Why? You want me all to yourself?" Jeremy slapped Alix's shoulder playfully. "You were the one after me, remember?" "No, I clearly remember you sneaking into my office and hoping to have your way with me." Jeremy barked a laugh. "Right, because I wasn't already scared enough of loosing Gral back then." Jeremy sobered up. Alix looked at him, and hugged him. "I'm sorry for stirring up memories." "Thanks, but it's okay. I have to learn to manage it. So, are they coming?" "Yes, they're coming, actually, there she is." Alix pointed to an approaching female, an the headed toward her. Jeremy paused for a moment, and then ran to her "Illsone!" he hugged her tightly. "Jeremy!" she replied. "It's great seeing you again." "You two know each other?" Alix asked. "She kept me out of the brig once." Illsone glared at Alix. "You didn't tell me you were going to be working on the Viper's Bane." "I didn't realize it mattered," Alix replied, defensively, "you said you didn't care what ship I worked on." "I don't, but if I'd known, I would have told you I knew it's captain." "You never mentioned you knew anyone from my old crew." Alix said. "That's true," she replied. "I didn't want you to think I was interested in you because you knew them." She nuzzled him. "I love you for you, and I worried you might not believe me, if you heard me gushing over how I'd met Jeremy and saved him." "Gushing?" Jeremy asked, "really?" "Of course," she replied. "You're the star of your very own romance Vid, remember?" Jeremy grinned. "Alix mentioned you had a cub. Any chance I can meet him or her?" "Her," Illsone led them to a small sitting area, where and older female was rocking a bundled cub in her arms. "My mother is looking after her." "Will she be coming with you?" Jeremy asked. "Oh no," the older female answered. "This is as far into space as I go. I leave the exploring for the young ones." She handed the cub to Alix. "I just wanted to see them off." "I'll take good care of them," Jeremy promised. "I have no doubt." She nuzzled Illsone and Alix. "Remember, I want you two to have a whole litter by the time you come back. Now I have to go catch my shuttle back down." She left without giving them time to reply. "How are you going to continue your advising work from the ship?" Jeremy asked as they headed back. "I no longer do on site advising. I got tired of always being on the move, and never being able to meet anyone. I now do the advising remotely. Much quieter work. And with being on your ship, it just means it's going to be easier for me to keep you out of the bring the next time." * * * * * "Admiral," Jeremy said as he appeared on the screen. "Captain. I'm happy I caught you before you left." "I can't go anywhere until you assign us a patrol route. What can I do for you Admiral Oturslgirnal." "I need a favor." Jeremy's datapad beeped. "You know I'll help in any way I can." "I'd like you to take an extra crew member. I know you've filled all the positions you had available, but I think this male can learn from you." Jeremy quickly went through the file he'd received. The male had good academy scores, had served on quite a few ships. "I don't see anything here that requires you asking for a favor, he could just have applied for one of the positions." "Check the name." He did so. "You can't be serious. You want me to take him on my ship? After the extent his mother went through to try to take it away from us?" "Yes. I've looked over his career, and from what I can see, he isn't a bad male. From what I can gather, the obsession with your ship is his mothers, not his." Jeremy shook his head. "What do you want me to do with him?" "I want you to make him a captain. If he doesn't have the temperament for it, find him a place he can be productive." "Alright, I'll do it." "Thank you, captain." * * * * * Jeremy observed the male as he walked up the ramp. His fur was mostly black, with brown and gray patches. He was close to Jeremy's height, and more muscular. He was wearing a vest and pants, both of which were utilitarian, rather than ornate. The male didn't know it, but he was already making a better impression than what Jeremy had expected. He had a bag over his shoulder, containing his personal belongings. The male stopped on seeing Jeremy. "You're . . ." "The captain," Jeremy finished for him. He straightened. "Yes, sir." "And you are mister Yankorfasbernipol. How do you prefer being called?" "Korfas, sir. My father's Yankor." Jeremy nodded, and turned to head deeper in the ship. Korfas followed him. "What position within the crew would you prefer?" Korfas shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me, sir." "What do you mean?" "Just tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it." Jeremy stopped and turned to face him. He'd been afraid of this, based on what he'd read in his file. "We need to clarify a few things right now, otherwise, neither one of us is going to enjoy your stay on my ship. I went through your file. You served on nine ship in the sixteen years since you left the academy. None of the captains you served under had anything bad to say about you, but they didn't have anything good to say about you either. From what I was able to hunt down, you did the minimum required of you, and nothing else." "Sure." "Why do you think you're here, Korfas?" "I'm here to pass the time until I get my own ship," he answered, exasperation in his voice. "And what are you going to do, once you get your own ship?" Korfas shrugged. "Do you know what it takes to run a ship like this?" Another shrug. "Do you even want your own ship?" "Does it matter?" "Okay. Here's something you need to know. Your mother isn't the one who assigned you on my ship." "What do you mean?" "I mean, that you aren't here to pass the time. You've been assigned to my ship so you can learn something. When I return you to Kelser, you are either going to be qualified to captain your own ship, or you are going to know what you'd rather do instead." [b]family matters[/b] Jeremy groaned as Toom nibbled on the back of his neck. They had just gotten into bed, and were settling in for some tender times. "Can I ask what you intend to do about Korfas?" Toom asked, between licks along Jeremy's ear. Jeremy shivered, and had trouble getting his mouth to work. "Do you really have to bring him up now?" Toom stopped moving, pressed against Jeremy's back. He rested his head on Jeremy's shoulder. "I think I should." "It must be really important, because your body is telling me you'd rather do something else." He sighed. "What do you mean?" "Are you planing on leaving him the ship?" Toom said, after a moment of silence. "What? No, of course not. Once I'm done training him, I'm dropping him off on Kelser, and he can get a ship on his own. Are you worried you won't be getting the ship?" "Gods no. I'm a pilot, not a captain. Don't even think of giving it to me, but . . ." "Yes?" "Tamirik was worried." Jeremy turned to he face his mate. "She was? Why? She never gave any indications she was interested in getting it." Toom rubbed his cheek. "She'd been thinking of taking command courses." "What? She never told me about that, I can teach her what she needs to know. She doesn't have to go to the academy." Toom smiled, and nuzzled Jeremy. "She'll be happy to know Korfas isn't getting it." He pressed himself against his mate, but Jeremy turned and got out of bed. "Where are you going?" "I'm going to go talk with her." Jeremy put on his pants. "Now? But we were just getting started." Jeremy leaned over the bed, and groped him, making Toom grunt. "You shouldn't have brought up my daughter, if you wanted to have sex." "But I'm your mate," Toom made eyes at him. "I'm a father first." He nuzzled Toom. "If you haven't gone to find someone else to have sex with by the time I'm back, we can pickup from here." "I make no promises," Toom smiled at him. "Good," he smiled back, and nuzzled him again, before heading out of the room. Jeremy considered grabbing a shower first, but figured it wouldn't be the first time he's walked the halls smelling of sex, and the humans wouldn't notice the scent. He grabbed his com from the table. "Connect to Tamirik," he said as he left his quarters. The com gave him the chirp that indicated it had connected to her com. "Tamirik?" "Yes, Pa?" she answered after a moment. "Are you busy? I'd like to talk with you." "I'm not. Me, Xernial, and Rostol are just watching a vid." "I'll be there in a moment." "The door's unlocked." A few minutes later he entered her quarters, it was a family unit, since her and Rostol were mated. The three of them were on the couch, watching a vid, as she'd said. Rostol and Tamirik were seated next to one another, leaning against each other. They were rubbing each other's legs. With the three of them being naked he could tell Rostol was quite enjoying it. As was Xernial, who was stretched on the other half of the couch, his head on Tamirik's lap, and she was running her claws in his chest fur. "Do you mind if I steal my daughter?" Jeremy asked. "No at all, Jeremy," Rostol said. "Sure thing, captain," echoed Xernial, who lifted his head, and then scooted back, so his head was on the other male's lap. Rostol proceeded to rub his chest and stomach. Jeremy indicated the bedroom, and Tamirik preceded him there. "Why didn't you tell me you were interested in becoming a captain?" He asked softly, once the door was closed. His daughter's ears turned red, and folded back. "I've been thinking about it for a while, but I wasn't really sure until recently." "Toom told me you were worried I was grooming Korfas to take over. I'm not. I'm just training him as a favor for a friend." Her face lit up. "Why didn't you ask me directly?" "It wasn't my place. I'm just a communication officer." "Silly cub." Jeremy messed up her head fur. "You're my daughter, you can always ask me anything. When ever you're ready, I can start training you too." She shook her head. "I want to go through the academy?" "Why? I'm perfectly able to train you." "You're my Pa." She smiled. "I don't want you to worry about being to harsh with me." "Okay. If you had approached me with this while we were on Kelser, we could have made the arrangements for you to start immediately." "No, I couldn't have started then. It would have felt like I was abandoning you right after dad died." He hugged her. "Thanks." And then held her by the shoulders. "Don't you think Xernial is a little old for the two of you?" She snorted. "He isn't old, he's experienced. You've had sex with him. You know how good he is. He's going to show us some things." He couldn't argue with her. They went back to join the other two. Rostol's hand had moved further down in their absence. Jeremy leaned against the back of the couch while Tamirik took back her position between the two males. He looked down at Xernial, once they had settled back in. "Don't think you'll be getting special treatment, just because you're getting close to my daughter." "Wouldn't think of it, captain." "Good," He leaned down to nuzzle him. "Go easy on them, okay, they're not as experienced as the rest of us." "I promise, your daughter has nothing to fear from me." "What about me?" Rostol asked. "I make no promises about you," Xernial replied. With a chuckle Jeremy left them to their evening of fun, and went to find out if his mate had gone out to find his own relief. [b]transporting[/b] Korfas let out an exasperated yell and threw the datapad on the desk. "Why do I have to read all those?" Jeremy looked through his screen at the male seated at his old desk. Jeremy was at Gral's desk. It hadn't been easy for him to move to that desk, he hadn't wanted to. If he hadn't agreed to train Korfas, he'd have left this desk untouched, but life had required he moved on. "You need to know what's going on." "What do I care if six gunners are sick, or if some of the food has gone bad?" "What are you going to do if you get in a firefight with some pirates, and only discover half your gunners are in the medical bay when you can't shoot back at them? Or that you're running out of food, because it spoiled, when you're weeks away from the nearest station?" "That isn't my job," Korfas growled. "It's the Chiefs jobs to make sure everything's running correctly." Jeremy sighed. That's what came of putting someone on ships he didn't care to be on, with captains who didn't care to have him there. Years in space, and he didn't even know the basics of running a ship. "Being a captain isn't all about standing proud on the bridge, making threats to your enemies, and giving orders. If that's what you're looking for, become a vid actor. The Chiefs don't decide where the ship goes, the captain does. They update you on how things are going in their department, so you can decide what the ship needs to do. I don't like doing management and more than you do. I'd rather be buried in the generator, than sitting here, but I'm the captain, so I put my ass in this chair and read data. If you are serious about being a captain, this is something you need to learn to enjoy, or at least tolerate. If you don't think you can, you might want to consider doing something else." Korfas grumbled under his breath. "Tell me something. Who is after my ship. You or your mother?" The male looked up at him, "What?" "Your mother, then." Jeremy nodded to himself. "Do you actually want to be a captain?" "Of course I do. It's just that no one's ever told me any of this was involved in it." "Didn't you take the Command Courses at the academy?" Korfas shook his head. "Mother didn't feel it would be worthwhile, she felt the best way to learn was to be assigned to a ship." "Sounds like the captains you were assigned to didn't particularly want you around. What did they have you do?" "Relay orders, fetch drinks, watch over the shoulders of each boards." Jeremy stared at him. "Sixteen years of playing gofer? And you never questioned it?" "I asked mother about it, but she said it was fine, that I'd get my ship eventually." "She meant you'd get *my* ship. I don't know why, but she's obsessed with giving it to you. You're not getting it, by the way. I'm not saying that to discourage you. It's just that by time I'll be passing my ship on to its next captain, I'm hoping you'll have been captain of your own ship for a long time already. If you end up decide that the captainship isn't for you, that's fine too, what ever your mother might think. Your academy records show that you're good in combat, so I can put you with one of the hunter teams, and you could probably rise to leader." "As captain, wouldn't I lead all of them?" "If that's how you decide to do it, yes. My Heart lead them, I don't. I'm a good hunter, but I leave that side of the leadership to someone who is better at it than I. Just remember, this is your life. Make sure you're going to be happy with it, because you're the one who will have to live it, not your mother." Korfas nodded, made a face as he looked at the datapad, but picked it up again. "Captain?" the com asked. "Here." "We're in range." "I'm on my way." He shut down his computer. "You want to stay with the reports, or shadow me?" Korfas looked at his pad, and then to Jeremy. "What do you want me to do?" "I told you a few times now, you have to make your decisions yourself. You're not here to pass the time. You're here to learn how to lead a ship." He kept his gaze on the male. Korfas was silent for moment. "Will it count against me if I decide to shadow you?" "No. So long as you go through those reports in a timely manner, and write a summary of them, with your opinion as to what needs to be done about them, I'll be happy." Korfas put the pad down and stood. * * * * * "On screen," Jeremy said, as he entered, and took position in the center of the bridge. On the main screen, a station appeared. It was toroid shaped, with spokes connecting a central cylinder. Jeremy smiled. It had been decade since he'd seen it. He hadn't thought he'd ever be back here. Even without considering the ban on kelsirian ships within human territory, Jeremy had never planned on coming back here, where he'd spend his last fifteen years within human space. "You said you're familiar with the boards?" Jeremy asked Korfas in a low tone. "Yes sir," he replied. "Look them over and give me your report." Korfas left his side. "Have they hailed us?" Jeremy asked, in a normal voice. "No, sir," Tamirik answered. "Alright. Initiate contact with the station." Tamirik nodded to indicate she'd done it. "Station, this is the Viper's Bane, please respond." Korfas rejoined him. "The station's weapons are powered down, their sensors are going full strength, no military ships within sensor range. No unusual chatter on the com." "Opinion?" "They didn't know we were coming?" "They knew. If we had surprised them, their weapons would be hot. Remember, if not for our orders, we'd be breaking the ban." "Viper's Bane, this is Newton's Station. State your purpose here." "As per the relocation order, we're here to pickup two hundred and twenty-three humans. You guys must be pretty crowded right now." "Yeah, we are. We're going to be happy to get rid of those perverts." Jeremy kept his mouth shut, even with the look of dismay Korfas was making. Arguing wouldn't resolve anything, and just delay their departure. He wanted to be out of here as soon as possible. "Where do you want us to dock?" "Dock? No one told me anything about you docking." "How do you expect the passengers to board my ship, walk?" "That works for me. They might even be able to hold their breath that far." "Look, are you, or are you not, going to assign me a dock?" "Like I said, no one gave me any indications that you're allowed to dock." Jeremy sighed. "Bring the weapons online." The weapons board lit up, and Shoriden moved to it. "What are you doing?" the station asked. Korfas was eying him suspiciously. "I'm pointing out that I have the superior fire power. And indicating that I have very little patience for human stupidity. Now, I'm here under federation orders, so you are going to assign me a dock, or I'm going shoot the doors off one and storm the station." He motioned for Tamirik to disconnect, and the voice was cut in mid protest. "Toom, give them five minutes. If they haven't assigned us one by then, pick one and head for it." "Is this wise?" Korfas asked, "sir?" "We're here under orders, they know it, they're just being difficult because they can. And don't worry, as much as I'm tempted to do so, I'm not going to open fire on them." He paused. "At least, not until all the Leafers are on board." * * * * * Docking had been uneventful. They were at the dock that had been assigned to them. Jeremy was standing in front of the access, waiting for the Leafers to arrive. A group walked toward them, but they weren't Leafers, he recognized the human leading them. Jeremy's smile took on a vicious tint. "Commander O'neil," he said, walking toward them, hand extended, he had to remind himself of how humans greeted each others. "It's such a pleasure to see you after all these years." He indicated Korfas, "this is Korfas, I'm afraid he doesn't speak English." The human glared at him, at the offered hand, and ignored Korfas. "What the hell are you doing here?" "When the exodus was announced, and my ship drafted, I requested to be the one to come here. I have to say, I would have expected you to have been promoted out of this hole after all these years? Still paying for letting me go, I see." The human was livid, which only made Jeremy smile wider. "Get the fuck off my station." "I'll be happy to do so, as soon as all the Leafers have boarded. Are the armed guards really needed?" He turned to Korfas, and said, in kelsirian. "Go in, and get me some hunters, armed. Don't worry about armor. Aim to match the humans one for one." Korfas nodded and left. "What did you tell him." "I told him that it would be dishonorable for us not to match your honor guard. He's gone to fetch some, after all, we wouldn't want any kind of misunderstanding to happen, would we? Although I have to wonder, which will look worse on your file. A firefight? Which you'll lose, or letting all those Leafers escape human control?" The jab actually made the commander smile. "Oh, you don't have to worry, I have no intention on preventing them from leaving. I want them to settle on their pervert world, what's in called, of yeah, Paradise. Let them settle there, and reap what they sowed." If Jeremy didn't know what he knew, that would have worried him greatly. Armed kelsirians formed a corridor from the ship's access to the a third of the distance to the cargo bay's entrance, where people were starting to file in. Jeremy looked at them, males and females, of a wide range of age. Fear and worries on their face. Hopefully, his human crew would be able to calm and comfort them. His ship was going to be crowded for the six month it would take to reach paradise. [b]Complications[/b] "Him and his furball of a boyfriend tried to rape me!" the human said, hands on the desk and glaring at Jeremy. "Why is that cat sitting here instead of being in prison!" Jeremy looked at the human, flatly. "Mister Diamond, why don't you sit down." "I don't want to sit down. I want to know why you haven't taken cared of that!" He pointed to the kelsirian seated before the desk. His fur was lack luster, eyes bloodshot, and he looked like he was going to be sick any moment. "Mister Diamond, you've just spoken three phrases, and manged to insult me and my people in each one of them. So I recommend that you sit down, before I sit you down myself." "You?" the surprise on the human's face was genuine. "I didn't insult . . ." "Sit down!" he didn't want to have to deal with this right now. Only one month in the trip and he already had plenty of other troubles around the ship. He was regretting agreeing to ferrying those humans. Mister Diamond was seated. "Good. Now, don't let the fact that I look like a human mislead you. I am kelsirian. I'm intervening, because you are accusing one of my people of attempted rape, something I won't stand for, but I'm not your ally. Do you have anything to add?" The human shook his head. Jeremy looked at the kelsirian. "How are you feeling, Dalfin?" He kept his tone neutral, even if he was hurting at seeing him in such a bad state. "I'm managing, I'm doing better than Ullallar, but I'm to go back to the medical bay after this." Jeremy nodded. "Tell me what happened." He raised a hand to prevent the human from speaking, and looked at him. "If you disagree about what he says, you can interject, otherwise, I want you to remain silent, understood?" The human nodded. "We met George at the mess. He has a large collection of human vids, and you know how I am about Vids. He invited us back to his quarters so he could show some of them to us. The one we were watching was amusing, but somewhere during it, I don't really remember when, I started feeling, well, amorous. I started nuzzling him, Ullallar must have felt the same, because he had his hands roaming over his body. I don't know why we didn't stop, I swear to you captain, I don't. If Ullallar hadn't fallen over, sick, we would have forced ourselves on him." He put his head in his hands. "Gods, we would have forced him to have sex with us." He looked even more sick. Jeremy waited for him to continue, but he didn't. He looked at George. "Do you disagree with what he said." He opened his mouth, but seemed to think better of saying whatever he had planned on. He shook his head. Jeremy nodded. "I have some questions." He'd read the preliminary report on Ullallar, and he knew they had omitted something. "Did you eat or drink anything while in George's room?" "We had a few beers," George said, "you know, the regular for watching a movie." "How many did each of you have?" "I had one bottle," Dalfin said, "I'd opened a second, but I didn't drink any before . . ." He looked at his feet for a moment, and then back up. "Ullallar finished at least two of them. He might have been partially through a third bottle. Jeremy looked at George. "I had two. What does that have to do with what they tried to do to me?" At least he kept his tone civil. "What kind of beer?" "It's called High Crown. My cousin makes it." "What's the alcohol content?" Just a few bottles didn't explain the readings that was in the report. "Twelve percent," George said. "What?" Dalfin exclaimed, pushing the chair back as he stood, and then had to lean on the desk to avoid falling over. "What?" George asked, surprised at the reaction. "It's beer what did you expect? It said it right on the bottle." "This explains one thing," Jeremy said. "We don't have strong alcohol. At most our drinks have one percent alcohol in them. Consequently, we don't have any tolerance for it. That's why Dalfin and his mate lost control." "They should have said something," George said, defensively, "it was written on the bottle." "Do you read kelsirian?" Jeremy asked him. "What? Of course not." "Then why are you expecting them to read English?" "They speak it." "But they don't read it. I'm the only one who's capable of reading English here. Now, are you willing to let this go as a loss of control do to an accidental over consumption of alcohol? Or do you want to push this further?" George looked at Dalfin, then at his feet, and back at Dalfin. "Yeah, I'm okay with this being an accident. I'm really sorry, I didn't know you didn't drink alcohol, or that you'd have such a back reaction to it." "It isn't because of the alcohol that they're sick. The hops in the beer poisoned them." George looked at him, eyes wide, mouth open. "You had no way of knowing, so I'm not accusing you of anything. This is the first time we've been exposed to it, so it's also an accident. Dalfin, go back to the med bay. George, you're free to go, but I don't want you to offer your beer to anyone of my crew, is that understood? If you do, I won't be kind." George nodded before helping Dalfin out. Jeremy looked behind him, at Korfas, who stood still through all that. "Send a notice to the crew, human alcohol is off limits." "All of it?" "Yes. Humans make alcoholic drink for the mind altering effect. They don't have anything that going to be safe for the crew." "Very well." Korfas continued looking at him. "Yes?" "Do you drink human alcohol?" "No," Jeremy said, "human products are banned, remember?" "Your coffee is a human product," Korfas pointed out. "Yes, but coffee is worth smuggling in. To answer what I think you really meant, yes I do drink the strong stuff. The ridoshi make something I've grown the enjoy. But I rarely drink it, and only in small quantity. When I've had a really bad day." Jeremy looked at the door. "At this rate I'm going to become addicted to the stuff by the time we reach Paradise," he grumbled. * * * * * Jeremy looked at the chiefs sitting around the meeting table. This wasn't how he normally did his meetings, he preferred one on one, but circumstances were calling for something drastic. "Alright, I'm hoping we can make some headway into resolving these problems, because we still have four months to go, and at this rate, I'm starting to worry the ship will fall apart before we get there. Pernic, what's the status of the brig." "We're at capacity, sir. I've had to increase guard duties to be able to keep the peace, I've even had to borrow some of the hunters, to give my people some relief. The humans are constantly causing troubles." "All the humans?" Jeremy asked. "No, our humans are behaving, mostly, I've had to put a few of them in the brig, for getting into fights with the other humans. I don't understand, they're all Leafers, they should be getting along, shouldn't they?" Thuruk glanced at Jeremy, who ignored it. He would be dealing with that later. "Humans can be confrontational, and lets remember that quarters are cramped, that's not going to help keep tempers calm." "I thought humans liked small spaces." "Only if they're alone in them. What's the reasons for the fights?" "Over all, it's the humans over drinking, then getting into arguments, which escalate into fights." "Maybe we should take away the alcohol," Alix commented. "That's going to make them angry," Jeremy replied, "which is just going to make matters worse." "I'd have thought they would have drank all of it by now," Thuruk said. "You'd have thought. Sayane, can we turn one of the cargo bay into holding cells?" "Certainly," she answered, "I can probably double the numbers of cell we have, just by using one of the smaller bays." "Alright. You and Pernic work it out together. Janilan, what is the food status." "If things continue as they are, not good. Food is disappearing, not that we're eating more than expected, someone is stealing it. The refrigerated storage failing is going to make things worse. We are already getting close to having to ration food." "We're working on fixing the storage," Retik piped in. "Janilan, run calculations, and start planing for rationing. Keep in mind that cubs and pregnant females are to be excluded from it. We can't risk their health." Janilan nodded. "Thuruk, get some hunters looking into the theft. I know that would normally be your field Pernic, but your people are already being over worked, and we can't afford for those theft to continue." Both males nodded. "Retik, what caused the storage to fail?" "A power relay exploded." "Exploded?" Jeremy repeated. "How does that happen?" "An energy spike." "I've scanned the whole ship," Alix interjected, "there haven't been any spikes that could have blown out a relay." As he finished talking, the lights dimmed and brightened back to normal. "Can someone cause a specific relay to explode" Thuruk asked. "Not through the system," Retik replied. "How about from outside the system?" Jeremy asked. "Can someone manually cause a relay to overload?" Retik thought for moment. "Yes." "We have what's needed to make that happen?" "In storage." "Xenial, I need you to do a full inventory. Something's going to be missing, I want to know what it is." Xenial nodded. "Alix, have you worked out what's causing the power to fluctuate?" "No, not yet. It shouldn't be happening, the generator is running fine, and not at capacity, but if we don't find the drain, we're going to need the backup to keep up." "No, the backup stays offline," Jeremy stated. "Sir, if we don't find the drain, we will run out." "Then we ration the power, if it gets to that. I don't think it will, but the backup stays offline. That's final. Sayane, how's the ship's structure?" "That's fine. Seems to be the only thing that's not having troubles." "I'm not surprised," Jeremy mumbled to himself, but still drew looks from Korfas, seated to his right. "Brafern, how is medical?" "There's been an increase in minor injuries," the older female answered, "but that's to be expected with the increase in fighting. We had a few theft of medicine, but that's stopped. I think who ever it was discovered that it didn't work as expected with their biology." "Alright. Does anyone have anything to add?" shakes of the head all around. "Then we are done." Everyone but him rose. "Thuruk, please stay." Korfas started sitting again. "I need you to leave," Jeremy told him. "Why? I'm suppose to be learning from you." "I know, but I can't have you here right now." For a moment it looked like Korfas might argue, but then he left. Jeremy leaned back in his chair, and ran a hand over his face. "Gods, I need a scotch." "Already out?" "No. But if I drink one each time I need one, I'm not going to be able to do anything. So, we're both thinking sabotage." Thuruk nodded. "Even crowded like we are, we shouldn't be having failures like this. They are being manufactured. I just don't know how to find out who is doing it, other than catching them in the act." "That's what I want to talk to you about. Among our humans, how many of them would you trust with your life?" "With my life? Maybe a dozen. They're all good people, but those are the only ones I know well enough for that." "Just twelve? I don't know if we'll be able to do this with only twelve." "What are you planing?" "I want to form a human Hunting Squad." Thuruk's ears folded back. "Train humans to be Hunters? I'm not so certain about that." "I'm not thinking full training, just make them into a squad, and have them infiltrate the new humans. We can't get close enough to them to find out who is sabotaging my ship, but humans could." "That's why you want some we can trust." "Yeah." "I have a few squad leaders under me who've gotten close to our humans, they can probably give me more we can trust with this." Thuruk was silent for a moment. "How do you feel about putting cubs into that squad?" Jeremy had an immediate reaction against that idea, but he forced it aside. "What do you mean?" "I've noticed how humans tend to be more open toward cubs, they could help with the infiltration." Jeremy forced himself to consider it. "How old are you thinking?" "Around fourteen. Older than that, and human cubs are sometime treated as adults." "Fourteen," Jeremy whispered. It's wasn't like with their cubs, who at fourteen would already be working on ships, or be in the process of being trained to become hunters. At fourteen, a human cub was still a cub, it would be at least two years before he would even think about doing adult things. "Are you sure? I'm not comfortable with them being that young." "I might be able to find a few who are older, but look young, but I really think that's the best age. I'm not willing to bring in younger cubs." "Okay, and you think you'll be able to find enough of them you can trust?" "With ease. The influx of new humans has caused a lot of frictions between their cubs and ours. Seems one groups thinks it deserves to be treated better, even if they have just arrived." "Alright, but the moment it looks like things might go wrong, you are pulling them out. I don't want them put in immediate danger." "Agreed." "Get to it." Thuruk left, and Jeremy sighed, enjoying the silence. The lights dimmed, and he growled. He left the room, only to find Korfas waiting for him. "You don't trust me, that's why you didn't want me there." Jeremy sighed. He didn't want to deal with him right now. He wanted to go find Toom, pull him from what whatever was occupying him, and go to bed. But Korfas deserved an explanation. "If this had happened four month ago, you would be correct." Jeremy started walking, and Korfas fell in step with him. "To tell you the truth, back then, I didn't think you'd stick with this. I thought you'd realize this isn't for you and focus on something more appropriate." He looked at him. "Now, though, now, I think you're going to make a good captain eventually, and I do trust you. I didn't include you in the discussion to protect you. What we agreed to do in there might not be entirely legal. If you know the details, you could be held accountable." "Shouldn't that have been my decision to make?" "No. A captain's duty is to protect his crew. That doesn't always means keeping them away from danger, sometime, it means keeping them ignorant of what's happening." "I don't agree," Korfas said, "we know what we are embarking upon when we sign up. We're here to support our captain, to help him however we can." Jeremy smiled. "You're going to make a very different captain then I am, Yankorfasbernipol, And that is not a slight on you."