The Captain's Heart CH 87

“And, as an update to a previous report,” the male voice said. “Maybe we should give new listeners a rundown of what happened first, Harry?”

“And, as an update to a previous report,” the male voice said.

“Maybe we should give new listeners a rundown of what happened first, Harry?” the female said.

The male chuckled. “Do you really think we have enough of those who haven’t listened to our previous reports, Alice?”

“Well, considering what the Earth government did to someone so admired, I’m thinking more people are going to want a different point of view than the government approved one.”

Gralgiran paused the recording.

Despite the seriousness of what they often reported, and this specific story, there was an air of camaraderie between the voices he associated with packmates on the frontline, after days and weeks of combat. You had to find lightness in the darkness if you wanted to keep your sanity.

“Any luck finding out where they broadcast from?” he asked the beta seated on the other side of his desk.

Batrix sel Gezbil shook his head. “They are being bounced by too many ships and stations picking up the signal to pinpoint them easily. We’re looking into the delays of each signal we receive to work out where they came from and that might help us narrow the origin point. Although I’m not sure what that will achieve. They aren’t breaking Federation laws, and I doubt the Earthers will hunt them down here.”

“They came after Jeremy.” Keeping the anger from mounting was still difficult. A week and three sessions with the Psychologists wasn’t enough to make him accept he’d done all he could.

“Yes, but…with all do respect to these Earthers and the work they do in letting any of their people who sought refuge within the Federation. He is you Heart, while they…” he shrugged. “I don’t see the Earther government caring that much about what people outside their territory hear.”

Gralgiran nodded. “It’s curiosity on my part. Who are they? What kind of people are they? Are they doing this seeking some sort of fame among their people?” he sighed. “I haven’t met many good examples of Earthers, and I’d like to be able to confirm they don’t act in self interest.”

The beta chuckled. “We aren’t all like you, Alpha. Most of us like to make sure we are seen to before the rest of our people.”

Gralgiran snorted. “I’m as self-interested as you, or any of the hunters who dedicate themselves to keeping our people safe.”

“Then I think you can accept they can be like us. Looking for something for themselves in putting out those broadcasts, while also wanting to help as many as possible.”

He nodded and started the replay.

“Eight days ago, now,” the male, Harry, said, “a group of humans infiltrated Ashgoran Station and kidnapped Technician Jeremy Bradshaw. Those who have been with us for a while now will recognize his name as that of the Kelsirian Hunter Captain Gralgiran sel Helrarvnir’s Heart. The captain rescued him from Einstein station, where he was one of their top researchers, until arrested for the crime of loving another man.”

“As you all know, I’m certain,” Alice took over. “The Earth government is adamant in stating that no human is capable of having so deep feelings for someone of the same sex. And while many of us prove them wrong and found asylum here, within the Federation. We were anonymous enough the government didn’t notice us.”

“Technician Jeremy Bradshaw, on the other and,” Harry continues, “was an already known name within the anti-matter research community, not only for some of his discoveries, but because of his bravery in the face of danger. Working at the forefront of anti-matter has more than once put the station in danger, as scientific experiments had unforeseen results. The technician, one of the two lead researchers on Einstein, was pivotal in keeping the station safe in many of those cases without care for his own safety.”

“He had earned the nickname of Little Warrior well before it was given to him by his Heart,” Alice said with a chuckle.

A tilted ear returned a shake of the head from the beta. They still had no idea where they’d gotten that piece of information. Like the others the broadcasters had mentioned, it wasn’t sensitive information, but it pointed to them having a source of information aboard the Bane.

“Technician Jeremy Bradshaw was rescued by his Heart and a pack of hunters,” Harry said. “But not before he was subjected to a recent piece of technology that is purported to cure the sickness the Earth government claims loving someone of the same gender is.”

“While the rescue took place before the process was finished,” Alice continued, “damage was done. The technician was taken to the station’s medical bay where a Ridoshi mentalist diagnosed his condition.”

“It is grim,” Harry said. “But there is hope. The machine gave the technician an irrational—”

He stopped it, not needing to hear this again.

“There is more, Alpha, which I think you will want to hear.”

“Then advance it to there.” He breathed. Along with reminding him not everything that happened was his fault, or that failure didn’t always fall on his shoulders, the Psychologist had reminded him of breathing exercises he’d been taught when he became a hunter. Ways of regaining control of himself he’d forgotten because, as he’d become more skilled, he had lost control less.

“If you’re ready, Alpha.”

He nodded, and the beta started the replay.

“At the technician’s insistence—”

Harry interrupted Alice. “That is such an understatement.”

“—he returned to the Viper’s bane.”

Gralgiran smiled as he heard the glare in the tone.

“Where he has been assigned to one of the luxury apartment normally reserved for dignitaries.”

He straightened. Who on the ship had access to that specific information? He’d made sure where Jeremy’s apartment was wasn’t public knowledge because he wanted to minimize the odds the civilians would show solidarity with him by visiting. They’d been told he was afraid of all of them, but civilians didn’t always understand that togetherness wasn’t always the way to help.

“Our source has told us that he has settled into the large apartment and is enjoying freshly brewed coffee while working on his recovery.”

The beta stopped the replay. “There is nothing relevant to him after this.”

“Only a few hunters know where his apartment is. And there’s only one person I can think of who’d know Jeremy has real coffee.”

“It could be an expression, the way we’ll have just heated hershawto even when we print it.”

“Jeremy went over all the ways freshly brewed is different from printed coffee. He wanted me to come have one on the station, but I don’t care for it. Earthers don’t use the term lightly.”

“The Quartermaster delivered the required items to make it personally, so he knows where your Heart resides.”

“And he knows something like this would annoy me.”

“I can have him—”

“No. I will deal with him myself.” He stood. “If I don’t, he’ll just find a way to escalate until he gets me down there so he can enjoy my anger.”

“Indulging a halan is asking for trouble, Alpha.”

He snorted. “Not indulging this one a little is asking for his namesake to notice me in a way I’d rather no god did.”

    *

He breathed to settle himself, then entered the quartermaster’s domain.

The male wasn’t in sight, which anywhere else he’d consider a bad sign, but the Quartermaster took his duties seriously, and he might—

The moan was definitely sexual.

The annoyed growl escaped him.

The head popped up, then the Quartermaster stood without his vest on, or anything else, he expected.

“Captain.” He did something with his hands below the counter, then looked down. “Stop that,” he whispered. “The captain’s here.”

Gralgiran narrowed his eyes.

“How can I help you, Captain?”

What game was the male playing? No smirking at being caught in inappropriate behavior, as if he’d planned it that way? No continuing, or implying Gralgiran could join them, knowing quite well he wouldn’t have sex with a male like him even without Jeremy there?

Was that the game? With Jeremy not in his quarters, he thought that he could convince Gralgiran he could be respectable enough to be bedded?

He forced the suspicions away. If that was the male’s game, the best thing he could do was not act like he knew, and if it wasn’t…he’d find out soon enough.

“Are you familiar with the Earther broadcast within Federation space?”

“I have heard of it.”

“And that is all you’ve done?”

“I don’t care what Earthers talk about, Captain.”

“How about how well they’d pay for information?”

The male looked—acted—perplexed. “I don’t have anything they’d be interested in.”

Gralgiran took his tablet out and played the passage he’d prepared for this denial. “Our source has told us that he has settled into the large apartment and is enjoying freshly brewed coffee while working on his recovery.”

“You know where his apartments are. You know he has coffee to brew, Quartermaster.”

“I didn’t—”

He got in the male’s face and got too much of the sex filled scents. “Do not lie to me, Quartermaster, not this time.”

“I’m not, Captain. I swear on my namesake that I would never do something like that to Jeremy.”

The use of the shortened name startled Gralgiran and he almost snarl as the audacity, but he remembered Jeremy calling the Quartermaster without his title. That they were friends.

Not that he could trust the expression on a halan, not when sex covered any scent that might reveal his duplicity.

“I’m warning you, Quartermaster,” he said in as level a voice as he could. “Do not use my Heart in your games. Your name sake will not protect you if you do.”

“Captain Gralgiran sel Helrarvnir. I play no game where he’s involved. I value his friendship more than my namesake’s love.”

“Liar,” Gralgiran said before he could stop himself.

The male shrugged. “You can’t expect that much honesty out of me, Captain. What will my namesake think of me?” His expression turned serious. “But I care for your Heart, Captain. I value him as a friend and yes, if he’d let me, I’d bed him. But that will be his decision, not mine.”

Gralgiran searched the face, ears, and the eyes. In the end, he had to take him at his word. He’d given his warning. If the male chose to ignore it, he could give his reasons to his namesake when Xeniila’haran met him in the Forest.

    *

He entered the workshop without announcing himself.

He’d barely slept, waking each time he placed an arm over Jeremy and didn’t encounter him.

Builder Atarikna Drogdromar looked up from the item she was welding.

“Did you find out anything new?”

“I don’t know how you expect me to find out anything your experts haven’t from those scans, Alpha. The actual machine would have been a lot better.”

“If I could have, you’d have that, but the crime took place on the station and they weren’t going to let any of the evidence go. Even the scans are only because someone knew better than to tell me they’d been made while we were still docked. The Federation investigators didn’t want anything about it leaving their control.”

“You think someone from Covert Ops can get into their system and get me what they found out?”

“I am not giving that order, Hunter.”

She smiled. “Understood, Alpha.” She brought up images of…. He had no idea what they were, other than technological. “I sliced those scans along the lines of the components as best as I could, which I’m sure your experts did too. And I have no idea what I’m looking at. This is nothing I’ve studied or tinkered with. I’m not even sure I cut it up properly.” She took an oblong box. “Knowing what it did, I’d say this is a neural interface, but I’m guessing. The tech in there is so tight I can’t understand what I’m seeing. Again. The real thing would have been best. We could have carefully taken it apart and maybe then figured out how the Earther made the thing and workout how to reverse the damage.”

“What was done to Jeremy can be undone. The Ridoshi mentalist said so.”

“But that’s because you pulled him out in time. What about the next time they do this, Alpha? When they know how far we’re willing to go to save your Heart?”

“There will not be a next time,” he growled. He’d already spoken to the people needed, and they’d agreed. As soon as Jeremy was no longer terrified of them, he would receive training.

Outline section 

It’s been an impatient half week with Jeremy getting his recovery to the point where Leiha could continue the treatment, but the go ahead was given last night. All this morning then was spent getting ready to disembark and continue their patrol to Gral can find something to take his aggression out on. Or at least that is what the crew think with how on edge he is; Gral himself thinks he’s above that, through the frustration of being able to do nothing but wait is getting to him.

Undocking is mostly a routine procedure with Gral himself there in case someone tries to pull bureaucratic nonsense. All his times having defend his position against his political enemies has made him an expert in navigating the trivial nonsense of docking procedure. Not that it’s a skill to be proud of, but it gets the ship underway all the faster.

Once they are in the clear, Gral will give the course and then excuse himself.

###

If Gral had to narrow down the most difficult part of the whole ordeal, it would likely be the vastness of his room without someone else there. Jeremy always commented on how vast the rooms felt on the ship, but it’s only after sharing one for such a long time that Gral has felt his own room was cavernous.

Gral knows he could always call Toom, but he also knows the pilot would grit on the encounters being purely as friends. So gral sleep, eats, reviews reports, and when it’s not possible to do any of the above he breaks out a movie.

Gral was quick to run out of the human romances, but he was very surprised to discover there was an entire industry of kelsirian devoted to the genre. As a traditionalist, he was always more interested in reproduction of the classic epics, which actually gave him insight into the films as he noticed how they... borrowed plotlines from those classics. Gral would complain if he had someone to complain to, but instead he just sits enraptured.

###

Another day, another sweep of reports. Nothing really big. Only thing of note was the expected incoming broadcast of the human pirate radio. Gral was very interested in what they’d be saying about kidnapping during the trial, so he made sure to be on the bridge du/ring the expected hour of the broadcast.

His patience is not unrewarded, as not only does the broadcast happen as expected, but he and Jeremy are the headline news. Most of it seems inline for what Gral would expect someone paying federation citizens to relay publicly available federation news and incident reports...

...and then they mention Jeremy’s recovery has progressed to the point he’s back working amongst the kelsiriran’s in the engine room. Even Gral needs to check that information, and yes, Jeremy did start working in the engine room again... three days after they undocked with Multitude.

There are only a few ways Gral can think they could have gotten that information; Gral has something worse than a spy hiding amongst his crew. He has paparazzi.

Addition 

They are on their way to Kelser. Months have to be accounted for in the story telling. Jeremy isn’t cured by the time they there but will be better.

Gralgiran listens in on the pirate broadcast and hears about the attack on Jeremy. It includes details they can only know if someone on the ship is feeding them information. He goes to the most likely source, but the quartermaster is not behind it.

The machine was confiscated by the federation. All the crew has are the scans they were able to make of it before hand.

Toom confronts Gralgiran about him still not having sex with others even with Jeremy not there.

In the end, little of the outline made it in here, and I’ll reuse that since I have time to pass before they reach Kelser.

Of what’s there, I’m pleased with it. The broadcast was planned, as was the meeting with Xenial. I didn’t think I’d get to the ‘tech talk’ in this one, until I realized I still had an hour left to the writing block, so I slipped that in.