The Neko's Tail - 22. Water for Dalmar

“Captain Artemis!”

Artemis turned his head, spotting a cream Faro hurrying toward him. The tiger let out a sigh. He already had to spend a day away from Elias to check on their ship. With another interruption, he might have to spend another night in port.

The Faro saluted crisply, his striped black bracer showing his rank of private.

“Fleet Command requests your presence, urgent.”

“Fleet Command?” Artemis frowned.

It was strange for him to be singled out. He was IEFL, not military. Still, if the Fleet Command wanted him, he couldn’t really ignore the summon.

“Lead the way,” he said.

The Faro spun on his heel and hurried toward the main building of the port. Artemis kept up with the fox easily, wondering if Reinard would look as cute as this Faro if he were to run with his shorter legs.

The port was almost empty, the tiger and the fox seemingly the only ones in the area. Now that he thought about it, the port had been empty when Artemis and Elias had arrived almost three weeks ago.

Thankfully the snow had melted. Artemis hated the stuff, the way it soaked into everything. He had seen more than enough of the frozen water to last him the rest of his life. This planet was cold. Not as cold as some of the planets he had been on, but there was a definite chill to the air, even up north.

“Right through this door,” the Faro said, pointing toward another small building.

“Thank you,” Artemis said, returning another salute.

He stepped through the door and was immediately approached by a Dalmar.

“Captain Artemis, thank you for coming.”

There was no marker on the Dalmar, and the tiger assumed he was not in any of the fleets.

“General Steila is waiting for you through that door.”

The tiger frowned but refrained from questioning the Dalmar. He walked to the second door and rapped sharply against it.

“Enter!”

Stepping into the room beyond. Artemis found a grizzled looking brown Faro sitting in a chair.

“Captain Artemis of the IEFL reporting as ordered,” the tiger said, throwing a salute.

“At ease. Have a seat Captain.”

The Faro let out a sigh as Artemis sat on the other side of the desk.

“You are no doubt wondering why I asked you here. I have a problem Captain, and I’m praying that you are the solution.”

Artemis remained silent, still wondering.

“What is the largest ship you are rated for Captain?”

The tiger blinked.

“Uh… it’s been a few years, but I’ve flown a 20,000-tonne freighter as a training mission,” he said.

“Perfect. You have no doubt heard of the issues between my planet and the Dalmar. They are on a desert world and their water is not reaching them. Now, this isn’t the worst problem we could have; they have survived for centuries without our water. But as per the Alliance treaty, we are required to provide the Dalmar with no less than fifty thousand tonnes of water every month.

“Needless to say, our inability to comply is a danger to this entire system. Neither planet can afford another war. Many of our most prominent families were devastated in the last war. We do not know what has caused our shipments to quite literally vanish, but we cannot rule out foul play. There is a chance the pilots of the previous shipments mutinied and took the tankers elsewhere. We need an independent party. That is where you come in.”

Artemis frowned.

“Shouldn’t this mission go to the IMFL?”

The general shook his head.

“Unfortunately there are no IMFL pilots capable of flying a tanker of the necessary size. All of our pilots are combing the system, trying to find a trace of the lost tankers at the moment. You are the only Fleet member capable of flying at the moment.”

Artemis chewed on his bottom lip. This was a shit assignment, one he should not be given.

“I am giving you a field promotion of Commander. There are five tankers waiting, each with a Faro crew. You will take command of the rear guard and ensure their arrival on Oyhaf 2b. You leave within the hour. Dismissed.”

 

A warm ball was pressing against Elias’ stomach, quiet yips filling the air. The neko woke to a kick in his stomach and he gasped, opening his eyes.

A fox was curled up beside him, legs kicking in sleep. His sand-coloured fur reminded Elias of Reinard and the Faro’s clothes spread across the bed made the neko frown. The neko’s hand dropped cautiously, ghosting over the fox’s back. His next pass touched the fox’s fur.

The fox’s eyes opened with a start and he looked around frantically.

“You’re okay,” Elias whispered to the animal, gently stroking his head. “You’re safe little guy.”

Or should he call the fox Reinard? He didn’t know if the Faro was a shapeshifter, but it made sense.

A tongue ran over the back of his hand and the neko giggled at the feeling.

“Did you have a bad dream?”

Elias scooped the fox into his arms, hugging him. He didn’t know what it was about the fox, but the neko wanted to protect him. And the words came so easily around him too.

A gentle nip convinced the neko to release the fox. The animal grabbed Reinard’s pants in his jaws and dragged them under the bed. A moment later, Elias felt the bed bounce and shake.

Reinard rolled out from under the bed and stood up, his bare chest covered in dust.

“Um, thanks,” the Faro said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry I shifted on you.”

Elias shrugged it off. He liked the fox.

Reinard pulled his shirt over his head.

“I... I need to go…”

Elias frowned slightly.

“Do you want to go out later? To the garden maybe?”

“I’d like that,” Elias smiled.

 

Artemis shuddered as he took in the tanker he was supposed to fly. The tiger had serious doubts the ship would even get off the planet.

Twenty Faro stood in front of the tanker, watching the tiger’s approach. He forced back another shiver at their stares, hurrying toward them.

As one, the Faro threw salutes, and Artemis returned the gesture. Fuck, what was he supposed to say? Something bolstering? Just send them on their way?

“Before we get off the ground, I want to speak to the ones in charge of communication,” he said.

Five Faro stepped forward, a muted rainbow of blacks, browns, and creams.

“The rest of you are dismissed. Do your jobs well and we will be done quickly. Dismissed.”

Artemis motioned for the five Faro to approach.

“I want you five to patch into channel 151 to be used exclusively for talking between the flagship and yourself. The regular channel is to remain open and I want you to be loose with the chatter. Understood?”

There were murmurs of “Yes Commander.” Satisfied, Artemis sent the Faro back to their ships. Not bad for his first command. Now he just had to do it again. And again.

The tiger boarded his tanker, giving a nod to the pilot. The ship started up, and soon they were lifting off from the planet.

 

Reinard rocked the swing slowly with his foot, relaxing in a rare patch of sunlight. Across from him, he saw Elias enjoying the same sun. He shivered at the memory of the neko’s hands on his body, the touch intimate in a way Elias didn’t realize.

“No one has ever touched me like that,” he said suddenly.

Elias watched him silently, almost drinking in the sight of the Faro.

“Not even Mara.”

“Did I hurt you?” Elias asked quietly.

Reinard shook his head.

“No. I… I liked it. But Faro don’t touch each other like that unless they’re bonded.”

“Like… mated?”

Reinard nodded.

“I’m sorry…” Elias whispered, looking at his lap.

“Don’t be. You didn’t know, and I was the one who shifted. And… I don’t think I’d mind if you did it again…”

Elias frowned, his ears flattening.

“If you don’t want to I understand,” Reinard said quickly. “I just… I wanted you to know.”

The bench wobbled as Elias shifted his weight.

“I don’t think I can do that…” he whispered. “I can’t be that person for you.”

“Oh…”

The fox felt the ghost of Elias’ hand running down his back, a firm pressure that had been nearly orgasmic. He wanted that again, but…

“I understand,” he said. “I hope we can still be friends though.”

Elias smiled, his hand resting over one of Reinard’s hands.

“I hope so too.”

 

Artemis settled back into the commander’s chair with a quiet sigh. Why were tankers so slow?

The question was purely rhetorical, even in the tiger’s mind. They couldn’t speed the ships without causing strain on the retrorockets when slowing near their destination. As it was, the tankers would have to do a loop around the planet to burn off speed, adding an extra two hours to the run.

“Commander, we have an unknown ship on the radar.”

Shaken out of his thoughts, Artemis stood up, walking over to the radar.

“Send a hail to identify,” he said, watching the ship moving to intercept the tankers. “Then order the tankers to increase speed.”

“Unknown vessel, this is an Alliance fleet. Identify yourself.”

There was a brief pause, then a voice came over the communicator, barking in Dalmar.

“Alliance fleet, this is the Dalmar Planetary Guard. You are entering a no-fly zone. You are ordered to move your trajectory to sector 235, or you will be fired upon.”

Artemis frowned. There weren’t any exclusion zones in the system.

“Send a message on the fleet broadcast. All tankers are to cut all power for an hour and float. I don’t like that ship.”

The Faro sent the message and Artemis stopped the pilot from shutting off the ship.

“Divert all power to comms.”

“Commander?”

Both the pilot and the comms officer frowned at the tiger.

“We’re going to honk the system.”

“Aye Commander.”

Artemis took a deep breath, consciously forcing his body to relax. They were the biggest target right now. If that ship was going to attack, he would take the brunt of it. The comms burst was their only hope. It would alert all vessels in the system to their location and with luck, Alliance vessels would be at their location soon enough.

“Fleet has gone dark.”

“Good. Send a burst on the main fleet frequency.”

“Burst sent.”

Artemis watched as a dozen blips appeared on the edges of the radar. He toyed with his bracelet, turning on a low powered light in preparation for his next command.

“Comms are down.”

They had been fired upon, and their attacker was good at what they were doing, knocking out any chance they had of calling for help.

“Shut off all systems now!” Artemis said sharply. “Keep your finger on the ignition. We’ll need it.”

The ship powered down with a groan, gliding forward through the darkness at speed. They would coast for an hour, unobservable by any radar. Unfortunately, their oxygen would last barely an hour. If they weren’t powered up by then, they would be dead.

 

“Captain Artemis should be back by now, shouldn’t he?” Reinard asked at the dinner table.

Eigal was serving them again, the dinner surprisingly formal. It wasn’t often that the clan ate together, Neistar and Ceirel often too busy with their work.

“I don’t see why he would take more than two days at the port unless something was wrong with the ship,” Neistar said.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Ceirel said with a look at Elias.

The neko hadn’t touched his dinner, distracted both by Artemis’ absence and by Reinard. Eigal moved to pour the neko a glass of wine and Reinard held up his hand.

“Do you want wine Elias?”

The neko nodded slowly. Maybe the spinning feelings from the alcohol would help his mood.

Neistar cleared his throat as Eigal finished pouring the wine.

“Anyway, Segal, Reinard, I have an announcement. I’ve gotten a job translating for the Alliance. They want me to help translate documents into Faro.”

“Congratulations Neistar!” Reinard beamed.

“I’m proud of you,” Ceirel smiled at his eldest kit.

Elias smiled quietly at the Faro, before turning back to his full plate. He took a sip of wine before taking a bite of food. Artemis would want him to eat with the alcohol.

The best thing about being a quiet person was no one expected him to join in the conversation. Elias was free to just listen as the alcohol went to work.

Not that the Faro ignored him. Reinard seemed particularly interested in giving the neko a chance to speak if he wanted to.

“Mara, can Elias and I go to the port tomorrow and see the new ship?” Reinard asked.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Not without Artemis at least,” Ceirel denied.

“I can show you my tablet,” Elias said, staring at Reinard. “Artemis wants me to learn sign language.”

“Cool, maybe we can learn together,” Reinard grinned, encouraging the neko.

Elias’ head already had the spinning feeling, and he smiled at Reinard. Such a cute fox…

The neko shook his head, reaching for a piece of bread on his plate. The last thing he needed was to confuse the Faro. If he was careful, he could get through dinner and get to bed. And hopefully, when he woke, Artemis would be back.

 

All was silent. All was still. The only thing that convinced Artemis he was still alive was the narrow beam of light emitting from his bracelet.

A sudden crash made the tiger jump, the whimpers of a Faro destroying the silence. Artemis swept his light around, finding the fallen fox curled against the wall. He hurried toward the Faro, a soothing hand on the fox’s shoulder.

“Breathe,” he said. “You are okay. Everything is okay.”

The pilot of the ship approached the two.

“Commander, if I may?”

Artemis nodded, stepping back. The Faro knelt beside his comrade, taking the shivering fox’s hand.

“Golaski be with you kit. Though the world is dark and full of terror, may the light of the blue be with you in your troubles.”

“Blue fox be with us all…”

Artemis left the Faro to their prayers, finding the ship’s ignition with his light. He closed his eyes, the act bringing no change in lighting.

They had only been floating for five minutes and already the tanker’s crew was breaking. This wasn’t a fleet trained crew; these were just simple Faro trying to earn an honest living. And they were thrown into a combat situation with a captain that barely knew what he was doing.

Still, they were alive. Artemis figured he was doing okay.

They needed a distraction, something to fill the time and take their minds off their situation.

“Have any of you been to the other universe?” he asked suddenly.

No one spoke; a complete breach of protocol, but the tiger didn’t care.

“It is a beautiful place. I once found a system with eight suns there. One of them pulsed with a purple light. Of course, I couldn’t look directly at it, but the effect it had on the space around it was incredible. And the planets in that system… Most of them were barren, but there was this one, it was filled with plants and the air was as wet as an ocean.”

For the next thirty minutes, the tiger spoke, filling the Faros’ minds with his discoveries, the places they might one day see for themselves. And when he knew the ship had to restart if they were to survive, the sudden brightness of the ship came almost unwelcome to the crew.

Almost.

 

Elias stumbled as he stood from the table, nearly falling to the ground.

“Hey, slow down,” Reinard said, taking the neko’s arm.

The neko picked up his plate and took a step toward the kitchen. He tripped over his feet and Reinard darted forward, catching him before he fell. The plate wasn’t as lucky.

“Are you okay Elias?” Ceirel asked.

The neko nodded, kneeling to gather the shattered pieces of the plate.

“Ser, I can take care of that,” Eigal said, stooping beside him.

“I’m sorry,” Elias slurred, nearly falling again into Reinard’s arms.

“Reiny, I think you should get him to bed,” Neistar said.

The sandy Faro nodded, lifting Elias’ arm over his shoulders.

“Come on. One step at a time,” he whispered, walking the neko out of the dining room.

Elias ran a finger over Reinard’s ear, and the fox shook his head, trying to get rid of the strange tickle. The neko giggled as they half walked half fell up the stairs.

“I like touching you,” he said as they reached his room.

The door swung open and Reinard helped him to the bed.

“I like you touching me when you aren’t drunk,” the Faro said, prying Elias’ hands off him.

Elias frowned.

“But you wanted me to touch you this morning…”

“But not right now. Right now I want you to sleep,” Reinard said, gently pushing Elias flat on the bed.

He pulled back the covers and slid Elias’ feet under them.

“Reinard, will you sleep with me? I have nightmares when I’m alone.”

Elias looked at the Faro with wide innocent eyes and Reinard’s heart melted.

“Scoot over,” he said, removing his shirt.

He crawled under the covers, Elias’ arm falling over his body. Settling close to the neko, the Faro let out a happy sigh at the warmth of Elias’ body.

“I like seeing this side of you,” he murmured. “I just wish you didn’t have to be drunk to show it.”

“Talking doesn’t feel as scary when I’m like this. And I like spinning my head around.”

The two were silent for a minute. Then Elias spoke again.

“Reinard, if I kissed you, would you try to have sex with me?”

“Not unless you wanted me to.”

“I kissed Artemis once and he did. But he said he was sorry after.”

Reinard rolled over, facing Elias.

“Did he make you?”

“I thought he was going to. That's what they always did before.”

“The werewolves?”

Elias frowned.

“No, the people at the inn. Quarian and Danuva never tried to sleep with me, not even after Danuva bought me.”

“You were a slave?”

That explained his silence.

“Artemis said I’m not any more.”

“And people bought you for sex?”

The neko nodded. He looked so small laying in bed, covers up to his chin. Reinard reached out, cupping Elias’ cheek.

“Is that why you don’t want to be with me? Sex doesn’t have to be like… whatever they did to you.”

This was all kinds of wrong. Reinard was grateful he had been spared the same treatment by the Dalmar. The Faro wasn’t sure he would have survived.

Elias’ tail slapped Reinard’s leg, curling around it.

“I do want to be with you. But I’m scared,” he breathed.

“You don’t ever have to be scared with me,” Reinard promised.

The Faro moved his head slowly, his lips gently meeting the neko’s. They pulled apart, both staring at each other, and Reinard smiled.

“Was that okay?” he asked.

Elias nodded silently.

“Good. That’s all we have to do until you’re ready for more. And if you want to stop, just tell me. Okay?”

Another nod.

The Faro smiled again, stroking Elias’ head.

“Get some sleep. We can talk more in the morning.”

 

The ship floated in silence, Artemis scanning the radar nervously.

“There are no ships nearby,” the navigator frowned.

“Give it some time…”

A pair of blips appeared on the radar, each less than five kilometres from the tanker. Artemis frowned, fingers tapping on the edge of the hologram display.

A third blip appeared, and a sigh escaped the tiger’s maw. Four tankers survived. The missing tanker hadn’t been fired upon as far as he knew. They must have missed the cutoff to restart their ship. Five Faro met their end, suffocated as a result of Artemis’ commands.

The tiger sat heavily in his chair, guilt plaguing him.

“Should we try to hail the other tankers?”

Artemis took a breath, nodding. It wouldn’t work with a broken comm, but at least they were doing something.

“We are unable to send a signal. Should we halt for emergency repairs?”

“No.”

“Commander?”

Artemis scowled at the Faro.

“Our mission is to get the water to Oyhaf 2b. If we stop, we could be attacked again and we would be destroyed. Broken comms are easily dealt with. The rest of the fleet will fly in first, then we will follow.”

“Commander, I would like my objection noted in the logs,” the comms officer said.

“As it should be.”

Artemis’ face softened slightly as he let his emotions through.

“I know you’re trying to do your job. But I’m trying to avoid losing more people.”

He turned to the pilot.

“What is our arrival time?”

“Computer reads two hours out at our current speed.”

“Reduce speed by a quarter. I don’t want to loop if we can help it.”

A minute later, the pilot said, “We will arrive in three hours.”

Artemis watched as the other ships slowly pulled ahead of his on the radar. They remained in range, but they would reach the planet first.

Pulling out his tablet, the tiger began working on his report, knowing he would have to explain the deaths of a fifth of his force. It was not a report he was looking forward to.

 

Elias murmured happily, his arms around a warm body. He could stay like this forever.

The body moved and the neko frowned, tightening his grip. He was not letting the warmth go without a fight.

“Good morning…”

Elias grunted, burying his face in Reinard’s neck.

There was a loud ring and the neko startled, sitting up.

“Relax, it’s just the communicator,” Reinard soothed, standing up.

He picked up the ringing device, holding it up to his ear. A moment later he glanced at Elias.

“We’ll be right down.”

The fox set the device back down.

“There’s news about Artemis,” he said, grabbing his shirt.

The two hurried out of the room, Elias following Reinard downstairs. Ceirel glanced at the two strangely, but didn’t say anything, pointing instead to the viewing screen where a large ship was sitting with a Dalmar in front.

“The tankers arrived thirty minutes ago, and water is already being moved from them as we speak. The shipment is less than normal, but given the apparent difficulties of bringing the liquid, the Dalmar are grateful to have what they can. And it is all thanks to this Egaro and his crew of Faro.”

The screen showed a picture of Artemis pushing through a crowd of Dalmar. Elias frowned at the image. Artemis had left them here? He was coming back… right?

“That explains why he isn’t back yet,” Reinard said.

“He’s probably on his way back already. It takes about an hour for the videos to cross between the planets,” Ceirel added, looking at the neko. “Reinard, can I speak to you alone please?”

 

Ceirel crossed his arms, staring at his kit.

“Reinard, I know we never had the chance to talk about things.”

Reinard kicked at the floor.

“Look, Mara, if this is about me and Elias-”

“I get it, he is a cute being. But he’s an alien. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. If you bond with him, you will never have kits of your own.”

“I don’t even know if I want kits,” Reinard said.

“Maybe not, but do you want to take that choice away? If you bond with him, that’s for life.”

“If I bond with him, that is our choice. And it might not even happen. I don’t know.”

The Faro fought to keep his voice low, not wanting to disturb the neko in the other room.

“Look, I know you want what’s best for me, but shouldn’t I be the one who decides that? I mean, I spent ten years of my life basically on my own in a strange land. I think I know myself pretty well.”

Ceirel frowned at his kit, holding his hands up in surrender.

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t be with him. I just want you to be aware of what you are doing.”

“Mara, trust me, I am aware of everything I do around him.”

Ceirel embraced Reinard suddenly.

“Just… be careful, okay?”

“I will Mara,” Reinard promised.