The Neko's Tail - 28. The Colonel

The room on the other side of the door was a display of organised chaos. Xanar hurried back and forth through the open space, clustering in groups, sitting against the walls.

Elias walked through it all, shoulders hunched between Reinard and Artemis. He hated everything about this room, the noise, the commotion, the people in it. It was only Artemis’ firm hand on his shoulder that kept the neko from running.

“Don’t worry kitten. You are safe with us,” Artemis said quietly.

They approached a Xanar seated behind a desk, a harried look on their face.

“Excuse me, we need to see Fleet command,” Artemis said.

“You and everyone else in the room,” the Xanar muttered.

“It is a matter of utmost importance-”

“And the fate of the Alliance hinges on your ability to see the General right away. Look, just take a number and we’ll be with you as soon as we can.”

The tiger took the paper he was handed, muttering under his breath in Egaro. Elias couldn’t understand most of the words, but he was sure at least one of them was a curse.

“223? Fuck, we might as well come back tomorrow,” Artemis snapped.

They sat against a wall, the tiger grumbling.

“You’d think for an advanced species they would have a better system,” Reinard said.

“I guess some things just never change…”

Elias closed his eyes, listening to the tiger and the fox talk. He tuned them out, head tilting onto Artemis’ shoulder.

Artemis smiled as the neko’s head rested against him.

“He’s so cute when he’s sleeping,” he sighed.

The neko grumbled tiredly.

“Sorry, when he’s resting,” the tiger amended.

“You say that like he isn’t cute all the time,” Reinard chuckled.

Elias drew into himself at Reinard’s words, and the Faro frowned.

“Elias, if you’re upset about earlier, don’t be. That was all my fault.”

A speaker spared the neko from answering.

“223!”

Sighing with relief, the three stood, Artemis leading them to the General’s door.

“Enter!” a gruff voice called, and Reinard opened the door, letting the cats pass through before him.

He and Artemis saluted the Xanar seated on the other side of the desk, Elias copying them a moment later.

“A Faro and an Egaro together? And forgive me, but I am not familiar with your species…”

“Elias here is a neko from an unknown world, General,” Artemis explained.

The Xanar nodded.

“What do you three need?”

“General, I have reason to believe someone is trying to restart the war between the Faro and the Dalmar.”

“Really? Do you have proof? I can’t just send forces fifteen lightyears for a fantasy.”

“Yes General,” Artemis said, placing his tablet on the desk. “Reinard, can you explain the situation in Oyhaf? I am not that familiar with it.”

“I’m not very knowledgeable either, General, but if you recall, the Alliance stopped the war between my people and the Dalmar around six years ago. One of the stipulations of the treaty was that the Faro would deliver a certain amount of water to the Dalmar every month. For the past two months, the shipments have gone missing.”

The Xanar frowned at the fox’s words.

“This is the first I have heard of this. In fact, this is the first I have had any news from Oyhaf in nearly three months. That isn’t strange in and of itself; Oyhaf is a system of little traffic, save for the military. This is concerning to say the least. If Oyhaf devolves into a civil war again, the Alliance will lose some of its best engineers and builders.”

“The situation is a little better now. I was pressed into service by General Steila to deliver five tankers to the Dalmar as an intermediary. He was afraid the tankers had been diverted by a dissenting captain. However, it seems pirates were drawing the tankers off course and attacking them. I was able to outmaneuver them and deliver four of the tankers,” Artemis said.

“Really? How did you manage that?”

“I cut power and drifted for as long as we had oxygen. I feel that would have been enough to lose the pirates, but I also honked the system, hoping to draw Alliance vessels to the spot of the attack. It worked, however, the pirates were killed, not captured.”

“Forgive my ignorance, but you… honked the system?”

Artemis nodded.

“It refers to an exploration technique that is not exactly by the books. You load your sensors and unleash a burst that pings the entire system over the course of an hour or two. It can tell a pilot how many bodies there are in a system. There isn’t much use spending a month to explore an empty system.”

“Ah. And General Steila did not take the pirates alive?”

“I am unsure of the orders, General. By the time I was debriefed by General Aro on the Dalmar home planet, I was informed that the pirates were dead. If I may speak frankly, I found the news slightly disturbing.”

“I agree. Were you able to identify the pirates at all?”

“I was briefly in communication with the pirates. They claimed to be a Dalmar guard and warned us to adopt a path that would have put us into deep space. I ignored them and ordered my force to go dark for an hour. I believe one of my ships failed to account for time and suffocated before they could get the ship powered again.”

“How do you know that wasn’t an actual guard?”

“I didn’t. However, they said something about an exclusion zone, and as far as I know, there is no exclusion zone in the Oyhaf system. They fired on my ship when I refused to reply, and immediately took out my comms.”

“Standard procedure in that situation would be to shoot the engines and use the gravity of your ship to slow the vessel,” the Xanar frowned. “You would not want to destroy your ability to communicate with the vessel. You believe then that you were attacked by Dalmar pirates?”

“Yes General.”

“But why would the Dalmar want to deny their own planet water, even to start a war?”

“There’s more to it than that. I met Cadet Reinard here during my stay in Oyhaf. He expressed interest in testing into the fleets and I took him to be tested. During the process, a Faro asked me for an autograph, and I believe his pen was poisoned. If it weren’t for Cadet Reinard and Cadet Elias, I doubt I would be here.”

The Xanar scowled.

“If the poisoning took place in a government building… By a Faro, you say? Are you certain it was not revenge for delivering the water? I doubt relations between the two species are more than cordial at this time.”

The general glanced at Reinard as if looking for an answer.

“Until recently, I was held as a slave of a Dalmar. When my case was reviewed, it was determined I was still a prisoner of war, but we kept it quiet because my family does not want to resume hostilities with the Dalmar,” Reinard said. “We may not like the Dalmar, but neither planet can afford another conflict. It could drive one of us extinct.”

“Then this could be a strike against the Alliance itself. If we lose the Oyhaf shipyards… Captain Artemis, it sounds like you are a hero to the Dalmar. With Cadet Reinard at your side, you might be able to hold off hostilities. If this is a plot, chances are someone will try to kill you. We can give you a guard. If we can capture someone, maybe we can get to the bottom of this.”

Artemis’ breath caught in his throat.

“You… you want me to go back?” he asked.

The general nodded.

“Yes. We have a ship that was scheduled to fly to Oyhaf tomorrow. You can dock with them and hitch a ride. Make sure your presence is noticed. Other than that, listen to what Colonel Atharo says.”

“I know them,” Reinard said, trotting beside Artemis on their way back to the ship. “I met them on Ius. The seemed nice, if a little busy. But it can’t be easy trying to negotiate a peace between two planets.”

“I don’t like it,” Artemis muttered. “Many of the Xanar we've run into have been unpleasant.”

“From what I’ve seen, Colonel Atharo is not. They just do their job.”

As the ship came into view, Elias ran ahead of the other two. His hand slid over the ship’s hull, trying to find the lock.

“Settle down kitten. We’ll be gone soon enough,” Artemis said, stepping up behind him.

The tiger unlocked the ship, lowering the ramp, and Elias vanished into the bowels of the vessel.

“I love him,” Reinard sighed, watching the neko’s tail vanish up the ramp.

“So do I. If nothing else, at least he will come out of this safely, with both of us protecting him.”

“Yes he will,” the Faro agreed firmly.

The two made their way into the cockpit, Artemis powering up the ship. A beep sounded a moment after the ship’s engines started, and the tiger sighed.

“Someone at the door?” Reinard asked.

Artemis nodded, standing. Walking back to the ramp, the tiger lowered the ramp, finding a Xanar waiting below the ship. Reinard recognized the alien as the Colonel themself, though it seemed age was catching up to them.

“Captain Artemis?” Atharo questioned.

“That’s me-”

The Xanar lunged at the cat, a gun held below the tiger’s jaw, and Reinard yelped.

“You’re dead,” Atharo said calmly.

They took a step back, holstering their weapon.

“From now on, you do not open doors yourself.”

“Um, yes Colonel…” Artemis stammered, his eyes crossing as he tried to track the Xanar’s hands.

“Permission to come aboard Captain?”

“Granted,” the tiger said nervously.

The Xanar smiled slightly.

“I would say relax, but that would be counterproductive. I am Colonel Atharo.”

It was hard to make out the silver bracer on the Xanar’s middle left arm, their grey skin all but camouflaging the sign of their rank.

“If I may take control of your vessel for the time being, I can have us on my ship in under an hour.”

Artemis frowned, but nodded, leading Atharo through the ship.

“This is a nice ship. Is exploring that lucrative of a career?” the Xanar asked.

“Actually, my Mara paid for the ship,” Reinard said, following the two.

“Oh?”

“He wanted me to be safe. It was his way of protecting me, I guess.”

“What is a science cadet doing on an exploration ship?”

“Er… I’ve only been a cadet for two days,” Reinard said.

“Oh? Congratulations,” Atharo smiled, sitting in the pilot’s seat. “Do you know what branch you want to go down?”

“Medicine,” the fox replied. “Artemis, I’m going to check on Elias.”

His door opened and the neko flattened himself, trying to hide in the bed. He really did not want to talk right now, try to explain what had happened.

“Elias? Are you in here?”

Why couldn’t people just let him be miserable alone? Wasn’t it bad enough he had been forced to take a shower and be around a bunch of Xanar? Now Reinard wanted him to what, have sex with him again? It didn’t work last time, it wasn’t going to work now.

A hand slid up the pole beside the bed, the Faro’s face following a moment later.

“There you are. What are you doing in there?”

Elias ignored the question.

“We’re out of the station,” Reinard continued. “The colonel says we should be at their ship in an hour.”

More silence.

“Look, you can’t just hide in here forever.”

Elias could certainly try though. The neko burrowed deeper under his blanket, staring unblinkingly at the fox. He would not be moved.

“I guess Artemis and I will eat the rest of the algaer ourselves,” Reinard sighed, sliding down the pole.

Algaer? Elias’ ears perked up in interest, his tail flicking back and forth under the blanket. Maybe he could get out of bed if there were pastries involved.

Crawling out from his shelter, the neko wrapped his legs around the pole and slid to the ground. Reinard smiled at the neko, holding out his hand. Elias ignored the unspoken offer, squeezing past the Faro on his way out of the room.

“Elias, what’s wrong? Are you mad at me?”

The neko shrugged. He really wasn’t mad at Reinard. He was just angry in general and he didn’t know why.

“I love you, Elias. That’s never going to change, even if we never have sex again. I do not want to hurt you.”

The Faro grabbed Elias, wrapping his arms around the neko. Elias stiffened under his touch, frowning. He was beginning to suspect there wasn’t any algaer. That thought only fueled his inner rage.

Pulling himself out of Reinard’s arms, the neko walked to the kitchen, growling as it became apparent the Faro had lied.

Fuck this. He was going back to bed.