The Technician's Fight, Draft 1, CH26

“Okay Jeremy, so the thing you need to keep in mind is that Kersosterans don’t do the ‘till death do us part’ thing. Everything’s very much about the transaction. The contract. So me being…well, married really isn’t the right word here, but it’s the only one I can think of, is for a fixed duration. Once the contract ends, we can renew it, or renegotiate it, or just go our separate ways.”

“On the whole, it’s painless, but like with everything, there are exceptions.”

“Right now, I’m looking at the contract, and maybe renewing it when it ends, but probably not after that. That should give me enough money to buy myself a ship and return to my array. If I take another turn with them, it’s not like the array’s going anywhere.”

“At worse, I’m looking at missing a few years of movies because the array’s buffers overflowed. I can probably arrange to have someone travel to where those movies will be by then and catch them. Going to cost me, but I’m picking up so many things to use in trade that I’m confident I’ll work something out.”

“What about you? You finally run out of men on the ship? Has being one of their hunters turn you into the savages Kersosterans use to scare their kids with? And I’m only slightly exaggerating here. Considering most Kersosteran are larger and stronger, they have a very healthy respect for Kelsirian Hunters. Something about their gods making them to tear and rend, rather than think and trade.”

“Might be slow to respond after this. We’re hitting a station in a day and it’s going to be all hands on deck moving cargo, probably until we leave.”

*

“As the sole Earther on the ship, I don’t think I’ll ever run out of males interested in me. But doing it with strangers has lost some of its luster. I’m down to once a week or two for going to a club. Gral comes with me once in a while, but clubs are pretty much all about finding partners to have sex with, so even when we arrive together, we leave apart. He also gets recognized as the captain when I’m there, and that changes the interactions for him.”

“As for among the males I know?”

*

Jeremy whistled as he approached the shuttle, and Toomerim eyed him. He chuckled. “Sorry, it’s just impressively sleek.”

“The word you’re looking for is small,” his friend replied.

“That must make it hard on you.”

“I think of is as intimate. And once I can fly it, then that will take my mind off that little concern.”

“Which is where you expect me to come in,” Jeremy said, dubious.

Toomerim tapped the panel by the hatch, and it opened. It was a Kelsirian control, welded in place of the Earther one, which would have been there before.

“Yes.”

Jeremy followed him. “I don’t know how to pilot anything. I mean, put me in a hover and I might be able to remember what my dad taught me when I was a kid, but I’ve used transit my entire life.”

His friend stepped quickly to the back. “I prefer private transportation. Lets me pass the time with my friends. But I don’t need you to teach me how to fly it. I can work that out by myself. I need you to get it working. It’s got power. Repair was able to tap into it to set up my lounge, and install a system to run anything I’ll add.” He motioned to the space. Large by Jeremy standards, but definitely cozy by Kelsirian ones. “They can’t touch what’s letting it fly unless it’s to take it out entirely and replace it with a Kelsirian system.”

“Can you fit one of those in something this sleek?” He could see where sections had been cut out to expand what had to be minuscule until then.

Toomerim smiled. “I knew you’d get it.”

“I still can’t help.”

“But you have engineering training.”

“In anti-matter reactor concepts. I can push those into a few of the power adjacent fields and manage something. Which means I might be able to tell you something about how the power’s distributed through the systems, but to get this working, you need someone to look at all of them, including maneuvering, inertial, and certainly others I don’t know.”

“But you said everything’s the same in Earther designs.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Everything’s standardized. Not the same thing. It means our stuff is highly modular, but I can get multiple things happening with the same dozen circuits, depending on how they are connected and the instructions they are given.”

Toomerim smiled at him, running a finger down Jeremy’s shirt. “Will you still look at it, please? I’ll repay you generously.”

“Why did it take so long?” he put his hand through the fur.

His friend leaned in and rubbed his muzzle against Jeremy’s cheek. “I’m not as courageous as you.”

He returned the rub, then nuzzled into the neck. “Then I’ll make sure your courage is properly rewarded.”

*

“Let’s just say that I’m on as short name basis as I can be with nearly all of them now. And yes, that means I have regular sex with them. I like it. I have nothing to compare it with, but it’s nice being able to go to one of them on my break and just ask if they want to. Doesn’t always line up, but mostly does.”

“As for my training? If Kersosterans think Kelsirians are ferocious, I’m worried what they’ll think of Earthers. They gave our hunters trouble when they attempted to kidnap me. I need to read up on how Kersosterans compare with Kelsirians when it comes to stamina. It’s the big advantage Earthers have.”

“The training itself is going well. I’m not ready to be active on the line yet, but I’m getting there. I can hold my own in a fight even against those who’ve practiced going up against someone with my stamina. Which means me. I’m the only one they have access to for that, although they are all getting stamina management training now, and I’ve been adding what my Heart refers to as ‘unorthodox’ training from someone outside the hunters, the Quartermaster. You probably met him while you were here.”

“Let me know how the ‘all hands on deck’ went when you have the time. I need to head off for me ‘becoming a savage’ training.”

*

Jeremy moves cautiously along the corridor, listening for motion, gun active. His Beta finally considered him skilled enough to train with live scenario, instead of with static targets and he didn’t know how he felt about it.

He froze, as something ahead clattered, and forced his heartbeat to slow. He needed to hear his surroundings, not that. Were there rooms or only hallways and corridors? All he’d been told was that the rest of his pack was somewhere within the training area and he was to take them down. He hadn’t even thought of asking something as simple as if he could get a map.

And he normally prided himself on being prepared.

He reached the intersection, listened, and thought he heard ragged breathing. Someone had been in a fight? Was it him against the rest of the pack? Or each Hunter for themselves? Something else he hadn’t thought to ask, and the information wouldn’t have been volunteered.

It’s a hunter’s responsibility to acquire all the tools they’ll need for the hunt.

What he knew, well, strongly suspected was that there were no civilians for this training. Something else he’d forgotten to ask about.

He settled his breathing, rushed around the corner, acquired his target, lined the shot and fired. They went down, and Jeremy returned to cover.

No return fire, so he peeked.

They were still down.

He approached cautiously, eyes on the hand with the gun still in it, his own already pointed. If they twitched, he fired. He took the gun out of her hand, looking at the red light on her chest.

“I forgot to ask, are we all hunting each other, or am I the only prey?”

“Only the seers get messages from the dead,” Skaram replied, but she nodded to the other end of the hallway.

Pocketing the gun, he cautiously followed the wall to it. He peeks around the corner. Trose was leaning against the wall, reading on her tablet, red light on her chest. Further away, another body was face down on the floor, unmoving.

Trose nodded to him as he edged past, then he continued to the other end, identifying Urum as another one dead. Three down meant three left, four if their Beta was part of the training. Something else he’d forgotten to ask. But he had said Jeremy’s pack, and the Beta was part of it, so he—

The low intensity electricity made him twitch, then the light on his chest turned from blue to red. He turn and a grinning Urum waved, getting to his feet, blue light on his chest.

*

“What was your mistake?” his Beta asked in his usual calm tone. No matter stupid it had been, Thur always manage to maintain a serious, let’s learn from this, attitude during the after training debrief. And Jeremy knew his mistake hadn’t been the worse one.

“I took for granted that because Urum was on the ground, he was dead.” Even with having dealt with tech quick to come up with excuses for their mistakes in his time on Einstein, and knowing how utterly pointless that was, he still had to shutdown the urge to add an excuse of his own.

On the line, the mistake would have killed him and there would have been no excuses to give.

“Why?” again, the tone was calm, none of the reproach Jeremy knew he’d used when he’d dealt with techs.

“Too set on the next target. I was thinking ahead instead of in the present.”

“Good. Natriloagorama, where did you make your mistake?”

Jeremy looked at the lone survivor of the training in surprise.

“I over managed my stamina. I’d already decided it would be me against Jeremy. When Urum dropped on me, I didn’t fight as hard as I should have. I took too long to kill him because I didn’t to risk not having the energy for the final fight. I made the same mistake Jeremy did. I was hunting in the future.”

“Plans are for preparation,” their Beta said. “Not expectations. Don’t limit yourselves to one plan. Think them all, and discard them as they become useless.”

Yamilk snorted. “Someone thinks his hunters are seers.”

“I think my hunters can be the best pack on this ship,” he replied. “And I will not let any of you keep that from happening.”

“Yes, Beta,” they replied in unison.

“Hit the showers, shift’s over.”

*

Jeremy sipped his juice, watching his Heart across from him, his plate of meats barely touched. He was reading on his tablet. Not a rare thing, especially when they were on a hunt, which he’d picked up from the talk among the other hunters while changing in and out of training. On the scent of a pirate was what he’d gathered. But this didn’t feel entirely like him being engrossed in a report.

“Gral?”

His Heart nodded.

“Oh, my Heart? Care to acknowledge my existence?” he smiled when Gral looked up in surprise.

“Sorry.”

“Important report, I take it?”

Another nod, but Gral pushed the tablet away. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it with me.”

“Anything you can tell me?” As only a hunter, Jeremy didn’t get to ask for all the details. But as Gral’s Heart, he could pry.

He glanced at the tablet. “The contact I made while at the station came through.”

“That pirate ship we hunting. Hunters talk,” he added, and Gral chuckled.

“I remember. And unless my contact is wrong, it’ll only appear to be a pirate ship.”

“Which means?”

“They’ll be Earthers, Jer. Passing themselves as pirates while they conduct a hunt of their own.”

He ground his teeth. “For me.”

“I don’t think so. Not this time, at least. I think they’re hunting for Spreading Branch.”

“Why would Earther military bother with them? All they’re doing is telling the Earthers out here, within the Federation, about what’s taking place on Earth. Giving them news of what their loved one may be going through.”

“They’re also telling our story.”

“We’re not that important.”

“But broadcasts carry.”

“And in a few centuries, maybe half a millennia, it’ll reach Earth. Not that they’ll care anymore by then. Bob collects movies from Ancient Earth, remember? That’s the kind of timescale he estimates they’re from.”

“Spreading Branch uses instant broadcast.”

“Which requires special receivers that only specific people have. For anyone on the ship to call someone with it, they go through your comm officer, which means you get to control who hears what.”

“Officially. The Quartermaster has his own system. I know of two civilians who have one as well. I expect that the situation is similar within Earth’s territory.”

“Okay, so people hear about me and you. This Earther, the government tells everyone is deadly sick, and uses my love for you as confirmation of it.”

“How many people do you think know what they have isn’t the sickness the government tells them?”

Jeremy closed his mouth.

The number had to be low, minuscule, even. But the problem with percentages was that as low as it was, when the population was large enough, it still gave you a big number. What was the Earther population across their entire territory? The last number he remembered was in the low trillion. He couldn’t remember how long ago.

“But still, it’s just some illegal, from their point of view, news station. That doesn’t warrant that kind of action.”

“What do you think would?”

What might cause a government to take military action against anyone? The belief they paused a threat. If there was no way they could believe news about him and Gral were really a threat, then what?

“They have instant comms. They have something anyone with the right transmitter can not only listen to, but contact back as well. All they’d need is a set of code language, and they could coordinate actions.” He looked at Gral. “The Earthers think they are masterminding something?”

The look he received said he wasn’t thinking far enough.

“You think they’re doing that too.”

“I strongly suspect they are. I already have confirmation they have a set of code words. It’s how they got Bob to contact them so we would know where to find him. They keep using sets of words at the start and end of their broadcasts. The packs I have analyzing them are confident it’s code.”

“What does it say?”

“I don’t know. I’m not having them break it, confirming my suspicions is enough.”

“Okay, so you’re worried Earthers are operating within the Federation?”

“That’s just about been confirmed with this.”

“So, what are you worried about?”

Gral looked uncertain. “It’s going to be an Earther ship, no matter what it looks like from the outside.”

“Okay, so, tight corridors, targets with high stamina, although they probably aren’t expecting to be going up against Kelsirians.”

“Earther tech.”

Jeremy shook his head, still not understanding why that was a concern.

“An Earther reactor that will have to be neutralized to ensure they can’t escape.”

“Oh.” There was only one reason that would concern his Heart. “Am I ready?”

“That is questionable, and I expect the Leadership will force me to have an answer for them about it after I file my report. But you are the only expert I have, and you are a hunter. My concern is a repeat of what happened with the pirates.”

“They’d basically caused that themselves by mixing and matching the tech.”

Gral chuckled. “I mean them capturing you to sell to the Earthers. Only those will be the Earthers they would have sold you to. There’s no chance they won’t know who you are when you board their ship.”

The idea he could be taken again scared him.

So he looked at the probabilities.

“I’m going to be with my pack.”

“And at least one more. It’s your pack’s first time on the line. You’ll have assistance.”

“Two packs. I have training, they’ll have my back. I’ll have a gun. And you can be sure I’m not going to be afraid to use it.” Which led to Jeremy’s other fear. But he was hunter. “I will kill if I have to, Gral. If that’s what it takes to come back to you, I will do it.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” He smirked. “But just focus on returning to the shuttle when it’s over. I’ll make my way there too.”

Right. His Heart wasn’t a leader who stayed behind.

They wouldn’t be fighting alongside, but they would both be fighting.

Outline section 

Jeremy told Toom there were better qualified technicians to work on his shuttle. And definately better qualified copilots to copilot with him. Toom wasn’t hearing any of it. Jeremy is a human, so there is no one on the ship better qualified to work on his new ship with him. And it was always a ship to Toom, never a shuttle.

Personally Jeremy thought this was just a build up to Toom having sex with him afterwards. Which, fine, cool, but it won’t have the same intensity as a post sparring match would.

So the two of them work on the ship, build up to a flight simulation, and then finally sex... and, yeah, aside from having this moment both showing rather than assuming Toom was working on the ship and having Jeremy be there, not much else is thought of in forthought for this moment.

###

Gun training. Jeremy needs to be qualified in their use if he’s going to be active on a hunt.

Can I come up with something valid to establish the passage of time? The hunt shouldn’t be quite this early.

Later that night, Jeremy and Gral will be having dinner. During dinner, Jeremy will notice Gral is slightly pensive. He’ll draw out enough to know the ship isn’t just on patrol at the moment, they are on a hunt for one of the ships they think are human military masquerading as pirates. This is going to require Jeremy going onto the ship again to secure it’s engineering. Last time it was a fluke things went wrong, but this time... these people are actively against Jeremy. If things go wrong, they’ll go wrong hard.

Jeremy will have to reassure Gral that things won’t be like any of the other times. When this happens he’ll be more trained than before, more armed, and definitely not alone. If something goes wrong he’ll claw his way through whatever is in his way to get back to Gral. [insert tender moment here].

Addition 

Remember to have Bob respond to the message

things got mixed and matched, and added to. I forgot to write this up once I finished the chapter and I don't remember all the thoughts that went into it. the training was mainly to show Jeremy advancing, since there is a mission approaching.