The ship captain sighs loudly as he checks a couple of files that weren’t accessible for him a couple of weeks ago when he was still the first mate of the ship and wasn’t in charge of the whole operation. The feline rubs his forehead as he sees the routes as well as the military transmissions keeping everyone updated on where have they encountered pirate activity and grumbles as they are now in territory marked on orange alert, ironic that it was on blue/clear status “Free of piracy activity, tsk. How unreliable, I wonder from where they pull their information” He stops in front of his office and uses his card to unlock it “From previous attacks I suppose instead of predictions” He sits down in front of his desk to rest a bit before pulling out some information.
Gabriel Hoffman fixes his tie before looking at himself on a mirror, he smiles at himself before arranging some stuff from the desk, everything was arranged in a messy way odd for a military man with experience yet in the chaos everything is just on reach and easy to access. He picks a wooden frame and stares at it, he sees 3 pictures in the frame a young looking fox sitting down with a vulpine pair that probably is related to the younger one holding a diploma and seemingly proud of himself, the next one is a middle aged fox receiving a condecoration for his services in the Federation fleet and the last one is the late teen fox sitting on the wing of a fighter labelled -The youth flying militia- all of them were labeled and even if the person in question was the very same fox the dates show that they are from his first, second and third cycles in the proper order.
The black cat remembers when the fox went to his high school to impart a speech about picking your vocation and how sometimes you find it in unexpected ways. Now he was a captain in his very first cycle, handpicked by the fox himself and approved by the Federation, quite a feat… Speaking of the fox “Where is the little devil?” He asks musing to himself as he opens the console “He has been too quiet lately” He starts to type something in the machine “Very very quiet” He sees Raphiel Serizehs’ access card. The last time that the card was activated was at the engine room, he remembers how he had to drag the fox out of the room by the shoulder but after it the card has not been activating at all, he must have tailgated behind someone but who?” He is about to pick the comm device to speak with security before hearing a squeaky voice “What are you doing now?” Asks to himself before leaving the room.
A young child the only one in the ship, he sighs as he rubs his head as he hears the voice once again “Check the pattern on the screen number 2, yes, please inform me about any static activity no matter if it seems natural, Ross check the transmit logs when you are able to do so to see any update”. The black cat relaxes -As long as he is not doing any harm- thinks opting to leave the kid to its own devices, that is just standart stuff and its good to be on the careful side for the time being “Nancy go back to manual for 5 minutes and hold steady” The ship shakes really gently once and only once “Ross re-calculate the route and ping just to be sure that we are still on the correct route”. A chill goes through the cat’s spine as he walks into the room with a firm body language “Everyone but the pilot stand and salute” Everyone but the fox who is running some commands in the console and the husky who is now piloting the ship stands, the fox does so and salutes too once he finishes.
Raphiel was wearing a pair of black pants and a white polo shirt, he is going to have to buy some things that fit at the port, his glasses had been badly cut and reshappen by the medical assistant of the ship, his hair is unkempt and his fur a bit fussy. The cat growls and stands in front of the child “Cadet! What in the heavens are you doing?!” Asks before looking down at the boy, he feels his heart pounding he is quite nervous “Hurry up cadet!”.
The young fox bows slightly before sending the information from his pad to one of the big screens “I am running some simple tests on the systems” Speaks in a confident way “I just wanted to be sure that everything is up and running after the emergency FTL jump (Faster Than Light jump)” He bites the inner side of his lip while the cat looks at him “That command tend to damage the vessels even more when it has a parasite clinging on it” He looks down and starts to fidget as he starts to realize what he was doing “Since I ordered the jump while the mosquito was inserted in our command room I felt responsible about it s-sir?” He takes a deep breath before getting straight again and smirks with a cocky smile trying to appear confident but some of the more attentive can see him shaking “So I was testing the equipment to see that it is working properly aside of some analisis to check if we can use another jump if the need arrives, I was going to ask to Nancy to run a flight performance and adjustments report after five minutes have passed”
The cat closes his eyes “Nancy, return the ship to the automatic flight mode, run the report and then go to manual assisted flight before running another one, Ross, calculate our relative position with each ping with that we will if there is a malfunction that is interfering with the systems”
The fox nods “Good job Gabriel, not everyone understands why some of the old school commanders ask for a positioning ping while running maintenance and” He shuts up when the feline stomps the floor lightly
The cat looks at the boy “Cadet! You forgot the sir” His expression softens “Raphiel you know that you cannot be in the bridge nor in the engines room, please take this as some early vacations, stay in the lounge, study, do something but please understand. I am the captain now. If I ever request your assistance I will go to you and ask you personally. Understood?”
The fox’s ears splay “Yes sir, I understand” Starts to walk towards the exit door. Less than 40 hours ago he was the captain, he was the boss, the leader, the chief. After requesting an emergency maneuver he ended up quite hurt, so badly hurt that he had to be regressed. How humiliating, his first regression was caused by old age, the second one was provoked by battle and while he was in the principal front. The last one was mostly an accident, some debris falling on his body after a hard impact thanks to the FTL jump. Now he went all the way from captain to cadet, stuck in the ship until it finishes with all the circuit and all the stops thanks to the contract and bound to end up in the military academy since no one will claim his custody, no wife, no parents anymore.
Gabriel contemplates his peers, former equals now subordinates, he knows that all of them feel like him in a way or another, somehow the kid still commanded authority.
Raphiel looks at the cat “Don’t get angry and let it slide this once as they acted under my command!” Shouts an order instead of a request out of habit before freezing in place. The fox thinks -I think I went way ahead of myself this time- then salutes as if he was saluting a higher officer “Enjoy your day Sir” Uses his card to open the bridge which reminds to the cat that he still has all the accesses.
The cat rubs his head “From where he keep getting his access cards, I take them away from him and he keep getting more and more from nowhere. I need to speak with him, now team, we are going to make a pit stop in the next port, not only a load and unload. We may stay there for a couple of days, if we get to land. Now everyone knows what to do” Speaks before taking the seat of command.
The situation was stressing for the feline as he knows that the boy is not doing this out of bad intentions, his heart seems to be in the correct place at least and sometimes there is wisdom in his words, intelligence beyond his age since he was not a real child yet the boy cannot expose himself to regress even more without lasting consequences.
On another end of the ship a young fox groans as he tosses a rubber ball to the ceiling before catching it, 2 days have passed since he was scolded in the bridge and in the engine room so naturally he is rather bored out of his mind “Who was going to guess that I would miss my desk job and the routine tasks” Speaks before tossing the ball to the ceiling again “I may be getting hungry” Speaks as he catches the ball and sits down on the bed.
Raphiel looks around and rubs his face, he had been able to keep his room as it would be a hassle to take everything to the common dorm as he brought more things than a regular crewman. He swings his legs as he looks down, he had picked a rather harmless trip in order to return quickly for a seminar and after that a small pirate hunting campaign. Usually the high ranking members of a long distance space flight are from the Federation’s starfleet no matter if they are a civilian ships like a ferrying vessel trip, a transport ship, a mercantile or scientific and exploratory incursions. Even if space traveling is becoming more and more routinary and safe there is always a chance of something going wrong, really really wrong.
The fox opens his pad, there is a note on the desk -Remember to make your placement tests :3- He closes his pad again “Then I don’t have anything to do tonight, I can do it later” He picks his tablet and types something on his watch, feeling ticklish on his tummy before leaping on the floor slowly floating in his room before grabbing one of the keys from his desk and goes out “I guess that he is not angry at me anymore”
Raphiel takes rather long jumps as he almost dashes through the hallways floating to cover quite long distances “Heh this is so fun! I missed this part about having a petite body” Speaks to himself, lately his only company “Oh there and” He does a somersault in front of the chef before bowing in front of her “And what does the audience thinks?”
The fat Husky laughs and pats his head “That you shouldn’t be doing that captain, you can knock someone while you are floating around… Food is not ready yet”
He nods and swaddles back and fro, when he was captain she was taking a really good care of his diet “Sooooo chococake?” Asks for a slice before looking around, he knows that she likes to bake so there are some desserts to spare about all the time “Pleaseeee”
She sits the boy on the table “Not yet but you can lick the spoon” The boy is already licking it as he swings his legs “Katthy” She goes back to the meal preparation “Katthy Ma’am and you are being lucky that I am not making you address me as Ekatherina” Speaks in a gentle yet firm tone
The boy sighs “Yes Ma’am” Sighs as he starts to lick the cake, his very first tasty treat in a while, his previous diet avoided salts and sugars thanks to the medicines and substances he was taking to stay awake now that won’t be an issue at all and he will be able to burn everything faster now “Actually I was quite anxious to finish this trip Ma’am”
The lady perks her ears and looks at the boy “oh?” Asks as she starts to add some spices to the meat “Tell me more”
The fox sticks the spoon in his bout and speaks while at it “I was going to take 1 or 2 years of vacations” He is slapped on the hand “Manners”.
Raphiel groans and slobbers a bit before pulling the spoon out of his mouth “I was going to take some vacations after this, maybe go stay at home or travel a little bit but locally in my home planet” Looks down “Now I don’t know if I want this trip to finish or not”
The husky gets everything in the stove after mixing well the meat and potatoes “And why is that?” Asks before rubbing her tummy.
He twiddles a bit “I don’t have family anymore, my parents right now are really really old to be having kids at their house and I am only child. So they have to regress, I got out of sync with all of my peers they being too young or too old to adopt” He rubs his legs “So it means that I will be sent to the Academy” He grunts “I don’t want to wake up every morning at 5 am and to be on the line all the time… I hate that life. As a young adult I can try to bear it but as a kid… I am not so sure”
She sits down on a chair in front of the boy and rubs his hand “I see boy. You already regressed twice right where were you raised at those cycles?”
He nods “At my parents house and then I tend enlist in the refresher training regime. Honestly I am a pilot by necessity, in reality I started as an engineer before then became a soldier” Speaks before holding her hand, she made him feel both like a child but like an adult at the same time.
They speak for long hours for a time before all these regulations as they experienced a different world on their childhood after all there were children pre rebellion and post rebellion era. Maybe if the rebellion hadn’t happened in first place space flight wouldn't be so controlled and militarized.
The rest of the noon was quite lazy and uneventful as he waited for the meal to be cooked. He didn’t think about bringing an entertainment device as he used his pad to entertain himself browsing in his office or room at idle times, not he didn’t have anything to do all day, he had been trying to stay out of the cat’s view and he didn’t know why, he liked the cat, he is quite nice after all and bright, he doesn’t know why Gabriel provokes anger or resent in hi. The first sparks of discord start to fly more at meal time.
The room was half full as everyone who is not in a post that has to be manned all the time are eating the afternoon meal. The feline was sitting at the top of the room in the proper table yet as the fox steps in the room carrying his special meal everyone stands up and salutes the boy who walk in a dignified way to the specialists table where he politely asks for a space and the weapons and turbine engineers make some space for him to sit. As soon as he sits on the table everyone returns to their places back to their meals.
The feline looks at the boy as he taps his foot, no one in the higher ups table had saluted the boy, many of them were loyal to him but they feel that this could cause division among the crew as many were more loyal to the mission and the old captain over the new one.
A silver raccoon rubs his his temples just above his blue mask “You don’t think that he will undermine your authority right?” Asks still a bit frustrated that he wasn't picked as the captain being the one with more credentials but knowing why, he was too good at his job so delegating it to someone else would be a mistake or at least that is what he was told by the fox when deciding and drafting the command tree in the private room.
The brown rat just closes his eyes to judge, when they were drafting everything it was just a mind and chess game, of who would be better where and who can do what activity better. They didn’t expected a war hero to fall so early in the trip and there weren’t other crew members with quite so much appeal or fame to contest with the fox. “They are saluting him out of habit, go back to your meal”
The cat takes a couple of sips of his soup “I am not too sure about it Fernois but let me pretend that I believe that” Keeps his composure while he looks at the young fox chatting with the engineering crew almost feeling at home.
The situation didn’t escalate further from the salute yet the fox’s expertise on the engineering area knowing a lot about all processes as he mastered flight physics and automation on his 2nd and 3rd life cycles the engines chief was pondering if its a good idea to keep the boy out of their room as he could be a great asset even if he doesn’t touch any machine and just commands the group from afar. Not knowing it the little fox was already causing trouble… Again and without meaning to… Again.
The swinging balance
The black cat stretches a little bit as he feels his blood pumping from doing some exercise, after staying on his chair for about 10 hours and only taking 2 short bathroom breaks it feels quite nice to have some activity. He rubs his forehead to clean his sweat “Ok let's check. Regenerative exercise program, active male user, 40 years old, completion 70%, running 3 kilometers complete” A light comes from his watch and a screen appears on the air, the feline is instructed to do some light yoga in order to finish the regime leaving the room full of exercise machines and walking into a room full of matts.
The captain can see some people doing stretching, exercises in place and combat training or well the latter category is distracted by the runty fox as he kicks the large wolf several times as the wolf blocks over and over. He sits on one of the chairs on a corner to keep studying them he notices that he got some salutes from the people noticing him but they are entranced by the canine pair. Suddenly the wolf attacks hitting the boy on the side “Be mindful of my attacks! You are getting distracted and are slowing down” Scolds the boy who slowly gets his guard up again. The fox pants and nods “Sorry Jake” He gets his defense up again before going on the offense again panting as bouncing on his place is burning a lot of energy. The wolf keeps blocking kicks and punches before kicking again, the fox was able to block once more “Good! You are still missing the battle cries” Scolds him once more as he fox nods no with his head. The fox cleans his forehead before trying to catch his breath “No thanks, I am fine like this, you are making me bounce like a bunny already you won’t make me cry” Speaks in a defiant tone before taking some steps away, he breathes deeply before sitting down “You are dismissed. I cannot keep with this anymore” Plops on the floor “I hate to be little”. The wolf nods a couple of times “You did great Sir, I understand your issue, this is my second cycle and I can confirm that is hard to adapt to a new body with lesser capabilities”.
The cat bites his inner lip and stands up “Cadet! You cannot decide when the class is dismissed, that is for your instructor to say! Not taking on account that these classes of self defense are clearly not authorized and surely your instructor is not even on break in order to train with you” The wolf gets firm and stares at the feline waiting for orders “How much of the training regime or the class progress has been completed?”. The wolf bites his lower lip “About 70% sir!” He looks at the young fox with an apologetic look. The black cat nods “And how is your student performing?”. The wolf closes his eyes and thinks “Sir. My student has been underperforming in many areas yet performing better than the average in others, he has the correct technique but is having a couple of slips mostly due laziness than or simplifying the technique in order to burn less energy in the exercices”. The fox wheezes “Traitor” complains in an almost inaudible whine.
Gabriel looks down at the fox “Cadet stand up and finish what you started! Now on self defense classes are going to be introduced to your activity schedule with him as your instructor!” Scolds the fox as he expects to spring up as a soldier or a cadet should.
Raphiel whines loudly and complains sourfully before sluggishly standing up “Yes yes, going on your Excellency” The remark is quite rude but technically he is allowed to address the cat in that way as he rubs his sore muscles “I expected you to finish your placement test by now but I see that it is still on pending status, we need to fix that soon enough, understood!?”. The young fox nods “Yes your excellency” Answers before getting in front of the wolf “Lets continue then. I am sorry as I told you I only wanted a refresher…. Not actual lessons”. The wolf nods “I understand sir, now I want you to keep your hands up and to cry whenever you kick and punch or it is not going to count towards the total”
The cat goes to one of the matts “And while you are in class you must address him as Cadet, understood Jake? You are going to be as strict and disciplined with him as you would be with any other student, I want you to write a report of his performance and improvement. Luckily for you it will be part of your job so you can impart the classes and file the report within work hours, we are going to send them to the Academy along with the placement tests” He starts to ignore the pair as he begins with his Yoga exercising.
The young fox goes back to the practice actually hitting harder than he should for his body, he may experience aches later and he is reminded about it by the soldier now turned into an instructor but he just keep hitting him hard over and over again, he had good strength for a 6 years old kid, maybe 7 or 8, he still needs to get a full evaluation done by the doctor but they had to wait until his body stabilized to run the tests and get the samples. The fox gets winded out quickly but he only needs to look at the cat before getting fuelled again and go back to punching and kicking.
Gabriel can feel the foul stare, somehow the fox’s stare is quite heavy and it can be felt full of negative emotions and intentions. The feline checks his progress and doesn’t address the behavior feeling a bit intimidated, the young cadet was a kid but he can feel the imposing presence of the 40something years old captain.
Another good 30 minutes pass and the wolf cleans his face “Well I think that you are free to go. I will wait for you at the same time”. Raphiel nods a couple of times before bowing a little “Yes sir” He sighs deeply and clenches his fists as he turns around and starts to walk towards the door almost stomping as he saw the cat once more, he had been observing after he finished his exercises.
The wolf places his hand on the boy’s head “Hey hey sprout” Raphiel clenches his eyes and fists even more his dark orange fur was turning almost red on his forehead “Yes sir?” Asks as his fur gets all frisky. Jake ruffles Raphiel’s hair before picking him up and sets him on his shoulders giving him a piggyback ride “I think it's time to get a good shower and then we can get some flavored juice or milk as you may need to replenish liquids, we did a lot of workout today for a little tyke”. The blue eyed boy’s tail lashes in the air “Call me Tyke or sprout again and I swear that I” Sighs loudly before leaning on his head “Ewww sweat… You know what, do whatever you want, I cannot care less anymore” His voice sounds defeated as he sighs loudly.
The green eyed cat stares at the floor, maybe he needs to shower too but he doesn’t want to go to the bathroom, he believed that they were going to be able to go there and chat a bit but he managed to feel what the young child is feeling towards him “Sir I am only doing my job” Mutters in a whisper for himself as he walks towards his private room “A job imposed to me by you”. The cat uses a towel to clean his fur now in his private chambers and drops on his bed before staring at the ceiling, he still had 4 hours to do whatever he wants before going to sleep in order to replenish his energies. The cat opens a drawer next to his bed and moves his hand around looking for something without seeing, then pulls out a small medal made out of platinum and examines, the same medal that the fox set on his chest about 20 years ago.
The cat hears the door being knocked then a soft spoken yet firm voice speaks from the other side “May I walk in Captain?”. Gabriel rubs his head before getting on sitting position “Permission granted”. A brown rat, one of the few civilians traveling in the ship walks in before placing his hand on a chair and makes a gesture by patting it, the cat nods a couple of times allowing the rat to sit. Fernoi the 3rd cycle 32 years old rat “Are you feeling alright?” Asks as he looks at the cat curiously “Don’t even try to lie to me, you know that I can smell lies from 1 kilometer away and even more if they are your lies”. Gabriel nods a couple of times “Yes I am feeling well Sir”. The Rat nods his head no “That won’t do it, call me by my last name at least or Puff while we are in private”.
The cat just looks down, the rat is younger than him right now in biological age but he knows how old he is for real and he is one of his father’s friends. He met a senile rat when he was about 4 and he got to spend a couple of sleepovers when the rat was being watched over by his mother once he regressed to 6 and he being 10 at the moment, Fernois looks at the cat “It's never good to get happy about other people’s misfortune but you should be happier. You used to tell me how much you wanted this, to travel across space and even maybe someday to lead one”
Fernois talks down to the cat “The ex-captain Raphiel is going to be angry at the situation but you cannot blame him, he is only a child now, he doesn’t know how to handle his emotions anymore, you will understand when it happens to you”.
The cat presses the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index “But he hates me… I just… I was very happy when I was appointed second mate and then captain but I made him hate me” Speaks as he presses a bit harder.
The brown furred man nods a couple of times “And you did what you had to do, it's not going to be easy but you have to continue. He is a child, you cannot let him get spoiled by special treatment and you cannot let him to trample all over you or you will turn into a dumb puppet performing a fool’s act in front of everyone” Scolds the captain.
The cat tries to reply but the rat interrupts him “Do you remember when you used to give me nuggies way before you knew I was an adult?” Asks to the cat who blushes and is about to speak then he is interrupted once more “Don’t talk, just listen. One of those days I had enough of you and your bratty act so I went to your mother and told him and I quote -I fucking hate when he does that, I am going to kick him on the shins if he does that once more-”
The black furred feline nods as he starts to feel bad about that “I am not saying this to guilt trip you I want you to hear so look at me. Nancy frowned and I believed that she was going to give you a stern talk, instead she grabbed me by the ear then pulled me to the bathroom. Next she grabbed the bar of soap and gave the the worst mouth washing of all my 3 childhoods I still remember the sour flavor of that purple bar stinking my mouth like lavender making me gag and almost puke out all my meal. You know what? I kind of deserved it, I knew how much your mother hates swearing and I still did it and she did punished me and I don’t hate her. I cannot hate the wife of my best friend, I cannot hate my friend as she is a very good friend too but I can tell you that I was angry at her, very very angry at Wesley the next time that he made me stay at your house while he stayed at work for extra time or when he had any kind of social event with no children allowed real or regressed, but It was forgotten less than a month after the incident and when I regained my maturity I could see that I was very very wrong. I know that you are going to complain that she is my friend and the fox doesn’t have a single idea of who are you and it may be partially truth but he had certain appreciation for you and even if he doesn’t you still have to put your foot down and set limits or the next time you will find a 5 years old, maybe an infant of 4 or 3 just because he got into an accident while doing something dangerous”
He pulls out his pad out, he thinks that he had driven his point and exposed it to the feline yet he thinks that he has to make things more clear “Or maybe he is plainly going to die, I am in charge of most legal things and here it says that if he goes to a regressive critical state where he regresses so young that he may lost his memory he wishes to not get a life refreshal, he wishes to end his life over getting a memory wipe” The cat looks at the rat “So if you won't do it for you do it for him so he doesn’t end up getting an apple flavored poke on his arm”
He stands up getting ready to leave “That is all what I needed to say. If you ever need any help or advice don’t hesitate about coming to me. I may not know anything about flying a ship or the military but I am way older than most of the people in the ship so at least I can give you other kind of advice. Now if you allow me, I am going to get some papers ready so his payroll can be modified” With this he stands up and gets ready to go out “Well it felt like a couple of minute but it looks like we lost quite a lot of time”.
The cat nods “Puff, thank you for recommending me for this trip, thanks for speaking to the captain about me when you were picking the tripulation, thank you for convincing him to make me first mate”.
The rat negates with the head “I only recommended you to be a high ranking officer for this trip, he picked you as a first mate. You may need to ask him or Saila why they picked you specifically for this position” The rat leaves the room as he goes to his quarters to work some more before finishing for the day.
Meanwhile the fox was being set on a special chair at the bathroom as the wolf didn’t want him to slip “Here we are shorty” The fox is teased by the wolf as he undresses himself. Raphiel moodily swings his legs back and fro before sighing “Ok” He shivers as he is hit by the cold water “Please… Can you address my by my name at least?” Asks as he starts to wash his fur still sitting on the chair “And can I stand I am not crippled”. The wolf gets under the stream of water “I am going to be closely watched little rascal. I don’t want to address you as cadet but I may if you'd rather have me doing that”. The orange furred boy nods no with his head “And the standing while showering?”. The wolf bops the vulpine nose playfully “Now I will ignore the crippled remark this time but better speak respectfully about people in less than ideal circumstances”.
The fox groans as he hears his new teacher talking down to him, he had grown used to be the one in charge and providing the discipline and advice even if he was way too lax while at it “Yes yes yes Sir” crosses his legs as he holds his breath before getting in the stream of water again to hide the tears coming from his eyes then comes out for a big gasp of air.
The wolf covers his mouth about to cry loudly in frustration “Procedure! Procedure procedure procedure” Speaks as he looks at the boy “And you know it” He rubs his face “You want me to speak to you like a man? Then I will give you a brief man to man talk shorty now that no one is watching!”
Raphiel feels quite intimidated by the wolf’s response and almost shrinks in his seat as he listens.
“I think that you are being unfair with me, more than that you are being a little asshole” He plainly claims as he holds the boy’s chin and pulls his face up “You can shower while standing up if we were still, you know that while you are in a ship with movement your little pawpads can make you slip and fall down, you can hit your head which can lead to drowning!”
Raphiel is about to speak but then gets quiet as he almost can hear his father scolding him trough the man “Yes sir”
The wolf nods before going back to shower “So are you going to be a little rascal or are you going to be a cadet?”
The fox nods a couple of times “I am sorry Jake” Speaks as he whines when the man starts to scrub behind his ears, he clenches his fists and freezes in place “Deal Jake” speaks as he is trying to tolerate the fact that he is being touched like that by someone else.
Jake keeps washing the boy on the hard to reach spots “You need to smell nice and clean for the rest of the day. We can drink something nice and maybe we can play a board game or a videogame before your bedtime”
The fox tilts his head “Bed time?” Asks as he swings his legs again, the wolf notices that the boy is rather shy yet hyperactive at the same time, he will need one or 2 days to completely figure him out.
The gray furred wolf nods “Yes, I bet that you will fall on your bed and then get unconscious and tomorrow you will hurt like hell so we better get you some painkillers tiny”
The child stays quiet “Yes Jake” Mutters something to himself and the wolf decides to ignore him. They get dressed in some relaxing informal clothes as the wolf’s shift finished while they were getting showered and the young fox doesn’t have anything that is not a white t-shirt and black pants and shorts for now.
The afternoon is quite uneventful as they play some rounds of an strategy board game that includes cards and tokens, then they play some racing games. The wolf notices that the kid starts to get worse and worse at playing, more unfocused and distracted then he just falls asleep on the couch.
After some troubles trying to scan the boy’s card so the wolf can have access to its room he lays him down and looks around “Oh such a mess” He tucks the boy down and as he tries to get out he feels how he is stopped by the boy’s claws stuck on his clothes. He releases the boy’s nails but his arm is trapped by an embrace.
Jake pulls out his paddle and starts to compose a short e-mail in it before sending it to his commander and lays down next of the boy, he finds himself trapped in and embrace and he sighs before turning off the lights “This is what I get for helping him” he grabs his tablet to browse for some time before going to sleep.
A broken pedestal
The young boy sets his hand on his mouth, the captain and the silver raccoon were standing just behind him while he and the chief of engineers were examining a piece “It is completely jammed” Declares one of the mechanics. The fox rolls his eyes “Oh you don’t say”
He and the chief growl almost in unison “Its not the fact that is jammed right now what is worrisome, is the fact that we are checking the logs and running the troubleshooting and everything seems fine… Have you tested?” The fox asks as he turns to the stripped feline.
The tiger faceplams “Oh such a wonderful idea, it never crossed my mind” then pulls out a screen on his pad before sending the data to the fox “Its very unreliable but it is working perfectly fine, yet I see the jam right here right now
Raphiel taps the floor with his foot “Smartass” He rubs his hair “Your excellency” bows to the cat “And sir” Addresses the raccoon “It looks like we are going to fly with one railgun down… Or we can” He walks to the gun and presses somewhere, he feels that it is quite hot despite being powered down “Get down!” Yells before grabbing a wrench and hits as hard as he can over an area, the machine reloads alone, shoots one round and then jams once more “That’s it! I knew it!”
The boy’s tail wags back and fro as he turns back to everyone “This is an easy fix, we can leave it up and running with some adjustments, we can even do it in flight, we should have spare parts and even if we don’t we can leave a coilgun down and get this ready instead, they share many of the pieces with each other… At least these models do”
Everyone was in a panicked state except for the engineer chief and the raccoon who had seen this kind of percussive test before “I knew that I have heard that sound plenty of times before, it looks like even if they upgrade and develop new models these fuckers still have the very same issues that they had 70 years ago”
The tiger gets an electric screwdriver then starts to set the laser pointing to the head of the screws as he kneels “I see, this doesn’t comes in the manuals, did you had any involvement into the development of the weaponry”
The fox gets near as the panel is open and starts to check “Not at all but we used to have some models that had the same issue, these parts of the machine are pretty much the same issue back then, actually it is the parent model of these, the pretty same technology without as much potency and precision, actually there are a lot of fixes that we used to improvise even” The young kit stops as he feels a hand on his shoulder.
The cat is just recovering from the shock “Why did you do that?” Asks as he looks at the young fox before gripping his shoulder harder.
The kid rubs his shoulder and tries to get the cat’s hand out of his shoulder “You are hurting me” Speaks as he tries to move “I did it because that is the way how we used to check it that way, it is the best way to check that kind of error” He tries to move away.
The captain bites his lower lip “Chief engineer. How necessary was this procedure?”
The tiger groans as he tries to think hard “I don’t know, it looks like a pretty regular jam, the only other way for us to find this error is to disassemble and ensemble the cannon back and I don’t know if it would have fixed the issue”
The vulpine kit starts to squirm as it is too much “It would have repaired the machine but it would have jammed again at some point. Move you big bully!” He squirms some more
The feline leaves the boy’s shoulder and grabs him by the ear “Shush adults are speaking! Now tell me, how dangerous was that procedure?”
The larger cat produces a loud growl while he is thinking “By my calculations not too much, the electric systems are down and this is disconnected, I was rather surprised when the machine recoiled”
Gabriel nods as he pulls the boy’s ear “Do you believe that? There was no trace of danger there? It was a completely safe procedure?” The kit was tiptoeing as his ear is being pulled “OWOOWOWOOW”
Barok looks at the kit “I am sorry captain” Then looks at the other feline “I don’t think that it was a completely safe procedure, since the Railgun reloaded itself it could have discharge a bullet or if not it could have tossed the bullet to the side with a quite weaker yet unknown force… All are conjectures and educated guesses”
The cat pulls the boy to one of the benches before taking a seat “Regarding your question Barok I am considering your proposal” He pulls down the boy’s pants.
Raphiel opens his eyes in shock before thrashing around “No! What are you doing! Stop!” Screams as he desperately tries to pull himself away “No! Don’t even think about it! No!”
The team of mechanics and engineers start to proceed to evacuate as they are stopped by the cat “I want you all to hear what I have to say so hold there and stay firm” he lay the boy on his lap before clearing his throat”
The chief looks at the cat and then at the kit, he almost wants to laugh but he restrains himself successfully “I am listening Captain”
The cat starts to warm up the boy with some spanks on his tights and buttocks mostly getting him used so he doesn’t tense so much “First he is not a captain, he is a Cadet from the academy” The feline then starts to spank harder as the boy keeps thrashing and kicking “I may allow him to spend team with your crew as a supervisor, BUT” He turns down to the boy “Calm down! it doesn’t hurts yet”
The boy’s screams get more pitched and more desperate “Yes it hurts! It hurts a lot! Stop it!” The kid kicks and begs as he is ignored by the cat.
The cat’s tail thrashes around as he feels some pressure on his chest, his hand is aching as he hits the boy’s bottom over and over. He keeps his composure but he wishes to stop and tell to the boy that he is sorry “You are going to keep him under supervision and he is not allowed to touch any of the mounted equipment and nothing related to weapons, nothing that can crush any of his body parts and no electricity” He rubs the boy’s bottom as he starts to breathe more deeply.
The boy’s scream start to deform “Staaaawp! Huuuuuurtssss a lotssss!” He kicks and even bites the cat’s lap as he is hit again and again “Nwaaaaaaahhhh!”
The black furred paw hits the boy’s bottom harder right on the base “Now back to you!” Speaks as he clenches with each spank -Please, no, don’t cry, I am sorry- Thinks to himself as he hits the boy even harder “I had enough of your spoiled brat act!” Speaks as his legs tremble “You were the proud captain of a ship, you were a hero! Act like damn one already!” Scolds the boy as he hits him harder his buttocks getting redder.
The boy kicks and thrashes harder “Sohrryyy Sowhrryyyy Noooo moreee pleashhhh Ahhhhh” He kicks harder and gets even louder “Huuuuurts tooowh muchhhh!” He squirms more, the boy was usually very well behaved as a boy, of course he has never been regressed in an emergency and in a very frustrating way, he still had many plans and everything was dust now.
After rubbing the boy’s bottom for a minute to give him time to cry, vent and break he hits him again “I want you to do your placement test!” He hits hard again “You will call me sir or captain now! No more mocking with your excellency” With the next hit the boy starts to bawl again “I want you to be obedient now on!” He hits the boy 5 more times “I am not asking for much! Just for you to have common sense and stop being a brat who thinks that can do anything he wants in the shit” He cat sighs loudly before hitting him 5 rough spanks “Fail to comply and you will find your way on my lap once”
The foxlet starts to get tired of all the spanks and rubs his eyes as he bawls loudly Nodding more and more “Yesh yesh staaaap nowwwww now noooow!!!! Bwaaaaaah” His throat starts to get rather sore and after 10 more spanks he is set on his feet in front of the captain. He just looks down as he keeps doing his little dance trying to ease the pain.
The cat lets the boy cry, 3 minutes pass, then 5, then 10. The little boy turns into a sobbing mess. The cat hugs the boy “I don’t liked to spank you, I have my reasons for that. Hate me if you want, but I will make sure that you make it thru this trip. It looks like you cannot be left to your own devices so I will make a schedule for you and you will be supervised all the time.
The fox ears drop as he nods no with his head and keeps sobbing while rubbing his eyes cleaning his tear stained face, after feeling a sharp spank on his bottom he nods.
The green eyed feline hugs the boy tightly “I don’t want you to hate anyone else so I will be on charge of this for you” He grabs his silk handkerchief and cleans the boys face “Blow your nose here kid” The boy complies before hugging the cat tightly as he feels how his undies and pants are pulled up “Now sit and think about everything that you have done until now while the ADULTS talk, no interruptions, no opinions until we finish unless is of vital importance AND ask for permission to speak, you are on duty”
The boy pouts as he is set on the bench sitting on his sore bottom and sulks as he nods looking down, he is still sobbing but not a peep comes from him”
The cat sighs “ Now now, there will be time to loosen up, you are a child and your shifts should be shorter accordingly. You will have your chance to be a kid, you need to learn when and were”
The foxlet just stares at the feline and rubs his eyes before grabbing his stuff, old fashioned books and his pad before walking towards the door.
The feline crosses his arms “Who allowed you to leave the room cadet? You still have to giv”
“Adjutant” Interrupts the fox before starting to key the long code to let him exit the room, he may not have access to enter the rooms anymore without his special card but he can leave any room whenever he wants
Gabriel stares at the boy “Excuse me cad”
“Adjutant of the engineering department” Interrups before turning around “I may leave now as I already provided my diagnostic and I already issued my orders, if my chief of engineers did not understood the order then that is his problem”
The boy gets out of the door as the cat goes to him “What have gotten into you? Rap”
“Read my contract and learn about hierarchy you uncultured feline I may be a cadet for the organization as a whole but for the trip I am an Adjutant. You may be right btu you are wrong” The fox marches out of the door as it locks then they hear the sound of sobbing and running away.
The cat is quite shocked not knowing what to do, his hero is a child, not only that is a brat and way more flawed than what he believed still he had a lot of experience, way more than most of the tripulants of the ship so box him will be hard.
The silver raccoon places his hand on the cat’s shoulder “Let me speak with him, technically he is right right below me and general Luke and I know him better than you, he will listen to reason but you did the right thing”
The cat clenches his fists “No I will speak with that ungrateful little!”
The captain Saila straightens “I understand your concern Gabriel but you are angry, relationships are going to sour even more, we still have quite a way to go and then the return. You need to set your foot down again and again as many times as necessary. I know he will come back to his senses.
The silver raccoon takes a little detour through the kitchen and the medical ward before going to the boy’s room. He knocks the door a couple of times “Captain Saila Yumako about to walk in” He gives about 5 seconds to the boy before walking in, the boy is standing straight in front of his desk still sobbing, his eyes were red and he was trembling in place.
Saila sits down on a chair in front of the boy and holds his right hand “Don’t move your tiny ace” Speaks as he rubs his hand “Did you blow out all the steam?” Asks as he starts by rubbing and applying pressure on the boy’s hand making him wince and whine.
The young boy only nods as he squirms and whines in place while he feels his hand being pressed on all the wrong spots
The silver furred trash panda keeps rubbing despite the little whiny sounds of protest before applying some ointment and goes back to the masages this produces a more vocal reaction “How many times did you hit the wall? Did you used a pillow at least?”
The boy squirms even more on place “AHHH OWWW OWIEEE” Tries to calm himself as he feels his hand itching and burning aside of the pain “Like 10 maybe more”
` He laughs “Maybe that was not your most intelligent idea ever” Speaks as he picks some bandages and bandages the boy’s hand
The fox nods and rubs his face clearing his tear stained face “No it wasn’t”
Saila hugs the boy tightly and the fox hugs the racoon back he sobs more as he is finishing venting all, then whines and jumps as he feels a hard spank “Now now, you are still in troubles with the captain and I should give you what you deserve but he reserved that privilege for himself, I will have to try to make him revoke that command if you understand”
The boy meeps in place “Not f”
The raccoon sets a finger in front of his mouth “Totally fair and don’t ruin it” Speaks as he pulls a pack of cookies from his bag before sitting the boy on his lap “These are because you were right about something. You are in the engineering department as an advisor. You are not the captain anymore. Just a child in the ship. You are valuable for your knowledge but”
The fox nibbles the cookies as he sobs and pays attention his ears are dropping, usually this would have ended in him running an endless amount of laps for insubordination when he was in the youths militia as a fighter pilot
The boy’s former admiral rubs the kid’s head “You have to understand that you are unstable. Back then you all were a great asset, you were just teens and young adults. You had the experience and knowledge of an adult but the drive of a young man and were as fearless as a stupid teenager but now the situation is different. You need guidance and counsel, way more than in your other 3 childhoods”
The fox looks down and swings his legs back and froo as he is sat on the bed, then the racoon continues “Yes even than your real one because back then you believed that your parents were perfect and were willing to listen no matter if you were a little monster. Now you know how flawed adults are, you miss the power that you used to bear and think that you know everything after going through this thrice”
Raphiel nods and whines as he feels a large paw set on his chest and pushes him before being covered in some blankets “Sleep and think I will override your schedule for today”
The fox hugs his pillow and sulks “I hate it”
The raccoon nods “I would hate it too and you would be on this end telling me the same if I had been the one in the arms room that day. You would be giving me the exact same speech even if this was the start of my 5fth cycle.. Rest well and I want you to be asleep in less than 30 minutes or I will come with a nice shot to help you sleep. Before you ask why not pills? Because I know that you hate shots and I cannot spank you for disobeying… Yet.”
He turns off the lights “Sleep well child” Speaks before liking his pad to the fox’s to know what he does when he leaves before locking the door.
The young fox goes to sleep, surprisingly maybe he needed this nap more than what he believed.
