Pekin cleared his throat. “Right… well Chuck, have you selected a name for the ship?”
Chuck nodded. “I have. I wish to call it Carpe Aeternum.”
Pekin tapped on his datapad. “Human cultural reference?”
“Something like that. Everything sounds fancier in Latin.”
“Latin?” Pekin’s ears soon dropped back in mild frustration. “I’m going to need you to enter the name. The translator does not seem to recognize it.” He handed the device to Chuck.
“It’s a long dead language. Some humans still use it when they want to pretend to be intelligent.”
Pekin tilted his head. “Pretend?” He raised a paw and shook his head. “Wait, no, I don’t want to know.”
Chuck handed the device back, chuckling deeply.
Pekin performed a few more actions on his pad before stowing it. “Alright Chuck, why don’t I show you how to operate the… Carpe Aeternum?” He struggled to pronounce the Latin tongue.
“Lead on. Oh, and Ronovin?” Chuck turned to the subject of his query, who’s ears perked in response. “Do you wish to join us, again?”
Ronovin couldn’t hide his shock. “Again?”
Chuck merely smiled. Gotta keep him on his toes.
“No… you go on ahead.” Ronovin replied sheepishly.
a few minutes prior
Whitecrest Encalve, Wi Kao, Gao
Thalias
Ring
Ring
Thalias answered the phone.
“Keeda’s hairy nutsack Thalias, what did you tell the Ironclaws?”
“Wha… Who is this?”
“Ronovin, ya know, Chuck’s protector. The Gaoian who is supposed to know what is Fyu’s name is going on? Instead I’m here at Ironclaw’s hangar to drop Chuck off at a ship that was supposed to come pick him up yesterday. Not only that, I also have more than twenty Ironclaws waiting for me when I got here. I was then told, they are here because of your orders. Any of that sound familiar?”
Thalias sighed. “There was a leak.”
“Ya don’t say?”
Thalias paused. “An Ironclaw Father contacted me yesterday. He swore-”
“Yes, yes, he swore them to silence, and has demanded compensation.”
“… Why are you calling me if you already know this?”
“A few reasons. First, to voice my displeasure of having to discover this from alternate sources, and secondly, to tell you exactly what your Father wants in compensation.”
“My Father?”
“Your problem, whatever.”
“How do you know what he wants?”
“Chuck.”
“He wants Chuck?”
Ronovin sighed. “I thought you were smarter than this. Pay attention. Ironclaw wants the Hunter vessel. I see no easy way around it.”
Thalias stopped to think. Well, the vessel had been stopped by a patrol, and its passing had been registered. It was possible that they could have found it.
Ronovin continued. “We do have some options, however, most of them involve losing the ship, Have your techs learned everything they need from the hardware?”
“Yes… I believe so.”
“Good, finish that up, then replace any sensitive components with whatever you have lying around; Hunters are known to repurpose foreign hardware. See anything sensitive and non-critical that you can’t replace? Blast it a few times until it stops being useful.”
“Okay…”
“Then offer to invite a few Ironclaw techs over to study the ship as compensation. If that doesn’t work, you can always escalate to giving them the ship, or something else in between those two. Alright, that’s all I have time for right now. Oh and Thalias?”
“… Yes?”
“The next time you come upon information critical to my mission, please do remember to inform me.” Ronovin sighed. “… Thank you, Thalias.”
“You’re… welcome?”
Click.
Thalis sat for a moment before again picking up the phone.
“Hello, Sermil?”… Oh right, he’s… busy. “Who’s in charge of the Hunter vessel team?… Yes, let me speak with him…”
1y11m BV
Hangar, Ironclaw assembly facility, Gao
Hiron
It took him a few minutes, but he finally managed to drag Sermil and Brrtklklk away from the Silver Sailor. Brrtklklk seemed rather excited by the changes; At least, excited by the standards of his species. He seemed particularly happy that his shop-to-Sol time was cut from a month and a half to under two weeks; Still not exceptionally fast, but a marked improvement nevertheless.
The three of them entered the hangar to see Ronovin standing with a pawful of Ironclaw Brothers. The rest of them must have left.
“Ronovin, where is Chuck?” Hiron asked.
Ronovin threw his snout towards the ship. “He’s with Pekin in the Carpe Aeternum.” Ronovin struggled with the pronunciation of that name.
“Carpe Ae…” Hiron gave up. “What is that?”
“Apparently, that’s the new name of the ship. I guess it means something to him.”
Brrtklklk spoke up. “I have witnessed ‘carpe’ mentioned in my studies. I believe that is in reference to ‘carpe di’. The word ‘di’ has no immediate translation, but, taken as a whole, that phrase roughly translates to ‘take all that exists’.”
They stood silent for a few moments.
Hiron spoke. “That sounds… ominous.”
“What does ‘carpe’ alone mean?” Ronovin asked.
“That, I believe, is ‘take’.”
“So ‘take’ followed by something that probably isn’t ‘everything’. I’m not seeing the problem here.”
They were interrupted by Chuck and Pekin leaving the ship.
Chuck was speaking. “… you set it up so that I can see through the ship from the bridge? Three hundred sixty degree views projected onto a headset, or something.”
Pekin and Chuck stopped a short distance away, oblivious to the new arrivals.
“A headset? Please don’t insult me, there is no need to use a headset. The hologram emitters for the heads-up displays can easily handle that request.”
“Well, can you do it?”
“Of course! The hardware on the ship is more than capable of meeting your request, it’ll simply require a software update, one you can perform in the field.”
“Really? Sweet.”
“I simply don’t understand why you would need a system like that.”
“Why wouldn’t I want perfect spacial awareness?”
“I suppose…”
“Ya know, I wouldn’t even even thought about this if it were not for the egregious lack of windows on the ship.”
Pekin paused, then his ears perked excitedly. “That’s right, you haven’t seen it yet. Come, Chuck, I want to be there when you see this.”
Chuck studied the Gaoian briefly, before following him back up the ramp. He called back as he ascended. “Hiron, Bart, why don’t you join us? We’ll all be in here together for a while.”
Hiron scurried to catch up with Brrtklklk following closely behind.
The four of them worked their way to the fore of the ship’s upper deck.
Pekin waited for them to gather around before opening the door in a grand reveal.
Chuck was awed. Even Hiron had to admit the room before him was impressive.
Nearly a full third of the ship’s upper deck stood before them.
“This is the ships quarters.” He tapped a few controls. Privacy fields descended, dividing the area into individual rooms. “Crew quarters can be re-defined in the field, allowing you at adjust room sizes without remodeling.” Some of the walls shifted as he played with the controls. He then turned the system off.
Chuck approached the slightly convex front wall of the ship.
“This enough windows for you Chuck?”
Hiron looked around. Huge windows stretched the full width of the craft, and continued down both flanks of the room.
Pekin joined Chuck. He tapped the human’s shoulder and pointed upwards. Sure enough, those large front windows extended several feet past the walls onto the ceiling.
Pekin studied the human’s expression, chittering. “I thought you’d like that.”
Hiron nuzzled Pekin to get his attention. “Why have I not seen these reconfigurable rooms before?”
“You can thank your cubs for that. They believe this is the way of the future. I’d call it a gimmick. Not many ships actually require the ability to change configuration in the field. ”
Chuck pointed to a window on the side of the craft. “Why does this one look different?”
Pekin flattened his ears in disapproval. “You can thank the Whitecrest cubs for that too. That’s the defenestration window.”
“…Why?”
Pekin merely shrugged in response.
Hiron declined to comment on the rudimentary autodefenstrationatory system that was easily identifiable, now that he knew what he was looking at. The most underutilized minds that Whitecrest had to offer had spent days filling this contraption with whatever diabolical machinations they could image. What other devious devices could this ship contain?
They spent a few more minutes studying the room before Pekin led them back outside.
Chuck addressed the group “It has been an honor, gentlebeings, but I believe that it is time for us to depart.”
He then traveled from Gaoian to Gaoian, sharing a quick laugh or pat on the shoulder. He grabbed his pack, turned and re-entered the ship.
Hiron threw a quick wave at the assembled group, hoisted his pack and joined Chuck.
1y11m BV
Silver Sailor, Orbit, Gao
Brrtklklk
Brrtklklk was happy to finally be getting back to his shop. Sure, there was another stop at The Desolate Oasis to drop off the Gaoian, but with the upgrades to his ship, he would still get home sooner than expected.
The rough, creaking grumbling that had always been present on his ship had been replaced by a pleasant hum. Even the air seemed fresher.
Chuck offered to host Brrtklklk on his new ship. Even with the improvements to his own ship, Brrtklklk was still happy to oblige.
He carefully nudged the craft towards the deck on top of the Carpe Aeternum. The tell tale acoustic response of atmospheric contact greeted him as he gently made contact with the landing surface and engaged the magnetic clasps. Soon after, the Carpe Aeternum’s much more robust force field latches secured his ship.
He opened the door of his ship and hesitantly stepped out. It was… unnerving seeing the void of space all around him. Only a few extended rails stood to stop him from flying towards oblivion. Well that and the inertial dampeners.
Behind him, Chuck and Hiron approached, exiting the elevator. The three of them stared off into the void.
“Well, isn’t that something to behold.” Chuck sighed contentedly. “I bet this view is pretty mundane to you guys by now.”
“No… I certainly have never traveled aboard a vessel that can do this.” Hiron spoke in response.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Chuck added.
Brrtklklk nodded in agreement. It certainly was. Gao stretched across much of the sky, hanging in the air, with nothing but a few ripples in space separating the three from the view above.
They stood in silence for several minutes, before Chuck finally turned back towards the elevator. He and Hiron followed shortly after. They departed towards The Desolate Oasis.
1y10m3w5d BV
Father Busani’s office, Whitecrest Clan Enclave, Wi Kao, Gao
Ronovin
“So, can we trust him?”
Ronovin stared disinterestedly at Father Busani. “We?”
“Yes, we, Whitecrest. Can Whitecrest trust him?”
Ronovin thought for a moment. “No.”
Busani perked his ear, interested. “Why not?”
“Chuck is not the kind of sapient that would trust a faceless organization. I believe the question you should have asked is can I trust him.”
The Father avoided the bait. “But he makes full use of Whitenet! The human analysts have progressed more in the past two weeks than they had in the previous six months!”
“True. But that is not trust, that is a transaction. As long as Whitecrest is of use to Chuck, Whitecrest will benefit. But I have no reason to believe that Chuck will go out of his way to save our clan if it begins to falter.”
Busani ducked his head. “That is not what I had hoped to hear.”
Ronovin chittered. “Only because you ask the wrong questions. Chuck owes no loyalty to the clan, but he is loyal to certain individual clan members. Some more than others.”
“Will that be enough for Whitecrest to trust him?”
“It certainly will!” He grinned. “For me at least.”
Busani tilted his head in confusion. “What can you possibly mean by that?” After a moment, the Father raised his ears in shock. “Dear Fyu, you mean to stage a coup!”
Ronovin perked his ears in surprise. “What? No…” He regained his calm, accenting it with a slightly sinister grin. “But you’d be surprised how close I could come to pulling that off.”
“… Is that a threat?”
“No, it is merely an observation.” Busani still wore the same shocked expression. “You are not the only Father that requests my services, you are simply the one I choose to put up with.” The Father’s face was priceless. Keeda damn these human argument strategies were fun! “You have nothing to fear from me if you do as I say.”
“And now you threaten a Father of Whitecrest?” Busani was livid.
“Not directly, no.”
Busani flattened his ears, and spoke in a low, deadly calm voice. “I’ll have you clawed apart.”
“For what? Valuable advice? Warning of impending peril? I’m not sure how kindly the other Fathers would react.”
Busani leapt out of his chair, baring his claws. “You threatened me!”
“No. I’m fairly certain I did not. Check the recording if you do not trust me.”
Busani glanced at his lamp.
“Yeah, I know.” Ronovin chittered. “I got one here too.” He patted his belt. “Now, are you going to ask the right question, or am I going to have to take over this debriefing?”
Busani hesitated, then took a seat, muttered to himself.
“Careful, Father, unlike you, I have a recording of a threat on my life. I can give you a minute if you need it to calm down.” He grinned provocatively as he spoke.
Busani dug his claws into his desk in rage.
Ronovin chitterd gleefully. So much fun getting under someone’s pelt! “You chose me for this mission for a reason, Father. I am the best. Don’t act surprised when the best gets the better than you.”
Busani dropped into a much more dangerous, sinister calm. “Perhaps I underestimated you, operative. But I think it’s time you learn your place.”
Ronovin flopped down on a chair. “Mmm, nah. You don’t scare me. If you kill me, the other Fathers will gut you. If you don’t, well, I wouldn’t count on winning that fight. You’d be amazed at how much practice I’ve had against strong opponents recently.” He chittered mockingly. “Now, I’m not without gratitude. If it weren’t for you, I would have never met Chuck!” He turned to address the Father. “Now can we get past the antagonism? You have no ability to harm me, and I have no desire to harm you.”
Busani stared at Ronovin for a moment, ears flattened, then finally sat back. “Fine.”
“Great! Now do you have a question you want to ask?”
Busani stopped and thought for a moment. “Who can trust Chuck?”
Ronovin grinned. “I’m glad you asked. First, me. No surprise there. Second, Officer Hiron. He was not as close to Chuck as me, at his own volition. Yet he was Chuck’s first, and only, Gaoian contact for more than a week.” Ronovin stopped to ponder a moment. “He’s also smarter than he thinks he is. Keep an eye on that one.” Ronovin returned from his thoughts. “Now where was I? Ah, yes. Third, Milt, of all Gaoians. You made a good choice there.”
“Seriously? Milt?” Busani drummed his digits on the wounded desk.
“Yep. I doubt Thalias even mentioned him. Hell, I bet that oaf failed to even notice that Chuck’s propensity to associate with individuals rather than organizations.”
“Speaking of Thalias…”
“Respect? Probably. Trust? Hmm. Maybe. Thalias did not spend any effort to connect with Chuck.”
Busani chittered. “Your information is incomplete, Ronovin. He most certainly did. They shared their love of weapons and vehicles with each other.”
Ronovin cocked an ear in feigned intrigue. “That so?”
“It’s what Thalias told me.”
Ronovin tilted his head. “I’m leaving him as maybe, based on my own information. Upgrade that in your own reports, if you wish.” It was about as diplomatic a dismissal as he could manage. “Now, there is one other Gaoian that Chuck trusts. An Ironclaw.”
“What? He was not supposed to meet any of the Ironclaws!”
“I made a judgement call, one I do not regret.”
“Tell me who this is!” Busani pounded a paw on his desk.
“No.” Ronovin flattened his ears.
“We must handle the leak!”
“Of course, which is why I’ve already handled it myself.” Ronovin grunted. “I’m not going to let you kill him, Father. Chuck knows of our relationship with this contact. If he dies, our rapport with Chuck is done. Hell, that’s probably the one of the best ways to sabotage the future of our clan.”
Busani stared blankly for a moment, then shook his head. “Why do I put up with you?”
“Because I get things done. Correctly.”
Busani stopped for a moment, then sat back, grumbling. “Okay, so that’s you, Hiron, …Milt, Tha…” Busani cleared his throat. “You, Hiron, Milt, and one of the Ironclaws.”
“And possibly another one of my contacts.”
Busani dropped his chin to the desk in exasperation. “Who is this now?” Busani waved his paw in the air, mockingly begging Ronovin to continue.
“Nope. Personal contact. Only including him as a gesture of good faith. I trust him.”
A single ear perked. “Good faith?”
Ronovin chittered. “Yep, fun little human concept. It means I didn’t have to tell you, but I did to make you feel better.”
“How… thoughtful.”
“You’d be surprised how much a simple gesture like that can help smooth conversations. That, by the way, was another one.”
Busani lifted himself off the desk and sat back, confused.
“A gift of a tool, dear Father. One that I’m sure you’ll make good use of.”
“Yes…” Busani shook his head to clear it. “So… of the contacts that Chuck… trusts, who is it that he trusts the most?”
“Me, no question.” Ronovin responded, amusedly.
“And who do we have that understands best how to manipulate him?”
“Me again.” Ronovin grinned. “What a coincidence. It’s almost as if I planned it that way.”
Busani sighed. “And you trust him?”
“I do.” He paused for effect. “I do because I studied him. Repeatedly and mercilessly. Whenever he was at his weakest, I challenged him. And he never. Fucking. Wavered. Not once.”
“… fornication?”
“Human word, very versatile, add anywhere for emphasis.”
A single, hesitant ear perked up briefly.
“Chuck is more resolute than anyone else I have seen. Time and time again I tried to frustrate him feral. Aside from perfectly justifiable retaliation, he never once even threatened to spill blood, let alone tried to kill anyone.” Ronovin sighed. “I can’t tell you what happens when he is pushed past his limit, because I have been completely unable to find it. Fyu knows I’ve tried.”
Busani finally saw a place he could contribute. “We have ways…”
“Nope. I’m stopping you right there. You will not do anything to harm the trust of my contact. Even accounting for the lost opportunities, the last thing I want is a belligerent human wrecking havoc. For Fyu’s sake! Did you hear about what happened to the Hunters? If Officer Hiron is to be believed, that is what Chuck is capable of when he is angry. And, for the record, I believe that Officer.”
Busani sat silent for a while. “So, all you have done, every action you have taken in the company of the human, it was all merely a test of his composure?”
Ronovin lifted an ear in confusion. “Come now, Father, you are smarter than that. I see no reason to ever act with only a single purpose. I learned a lot while in Chuck’s company. To be honest, I’ve learned more from him than I’ve ever learned from you.”
Busani sat stunned.
Ronovin dropped his ears in submission. He had taken it too far. “I… still make mistakes… like that for instance.” He timidly tapped his paws together. “It isn’t a fair comparison. Chuck is a human. The only one I’ve met. It may be better stated that I’ve learned more from humans than from you. I think that, at least, is a fair assessment.”
Busani nodded, disappointed.
“Look, you’ve helped me ple…”
“Yeah, yeah, I found you your human.”
Ronovin stopped to think… what had Busani done for him? Surely he could think of something to say. “You were there when I needed you. I would not be who I am, if not for your guidance.” It was a statement that meant nothing. But it was the best he could come up with on such short notice.
Busani grunted. “So what now? You throw me out and find someone better?”
“Father, I distinctly remember saying at the beginning of this conversation that I would not be doing any such thing. Believe it or not, you are the Gaoian who’s council I trust the most.”
“Gaoian?” Busani lifted an ear slightly, feigning intrigue.
“Do not read too far into that.” Ronovin deadpanned.
Busani stopped a moment to think, before taking Ronovin’s advice and moving on. “Well, does the human have any weaknesses?”
Ronovin grunted. “He does not tolerate cruelty.”
“…Is that really a weakness?”
“That depends on your intentions, Father. If you intend to make use of him, then yes, probably. In our line of work, just… tread carefully Father.”
“Any other useful weaknesses?”
“You seek to confront him?” Ronovin paused for a moment. “I have none to report.”
Busani grunted in disapproval.
“What, Father, are you surprised that a Deathworlder tends to avoid weakness?”
Busani sighed. “Alright. What else has this human done to us?”
“He gave us a Hunter ship. He’s helped us decode significant portions of our human databanks, albeit without his direct knowledge. He has taught me many interesting… techniques. He also had a few interesting tools.”
Busani finally rose from his self-pity session. “Ah yes. I’m surprised you haven’t yet jumped at the opportunity to extend your arsenal.”
Ronovin grinned. “Don’t you worry, as soon as those tools are available to me, I will have them.”
Busani sat up, amused. “… You already acquired a set.”
“Now Father, I make a point of ensuing that no being knows the full extent of my arsenal. I won’t even tell you how many orbital weapons I have at my paws.”
“More than one?”
Ronovin shrugged, grinning.
Busani shook his head. “Sometimes I forget how Keeda damned terrifying you can be.”
“And I work for you.”
Busani stopped a moment, then conceded the point. “So, what next? No… let me guess, you are already arranging your next assignment yourself.”
“Only if I need to. Assign me to clean up the human’s trails, then continue following his dealings. After that, have me prepare Whitecrest for the humans’ ascent. We need to be sure that when they finally show up, Whitecrest is the clan they work with.”
“… Do I have a choice in the matter?”
“Wanna find out?”
Busani blinked. “Fine, do as you must.”
Ronovin grinned. “Good boy.”
Busani perked an ear in confusion.
“Human phrase of affection.” Ronovin chittered quietly to himself.