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Chapter 12: An unfortunate event.
Robert looked at Major Anderhall with a curious glance. "What sort of problem?" Anderhall shook his head. "Not here. Too many people. Colonel Steuben's office tomorrow morning, 0700 sharp. Both of you." Shannon pressed the issue. "Sirs, what is this about?" Steuben look at her and said in his boyish way, "Shannon, I'd appreciate it if you did press this issue. Let's just say that there's a personell issue that we are attempting to gather information on." Shannon turned beet red and said nothing further except a quiet, "Sorry sir." Ted had been scribbling on a sheet of paper the whole time, as if h were taking notes on the matter. He spoke without looking up. "So Robert, what are you having to drink tonight?" "Cola sir. The last time I had booze, it did not go well with me." Jackson looked up at him and grinned. "Sure? They do have honey beer here that I've been told is pretty good." As if to drive the point home, he winked at Robert. Robert shook his head. "especially not honey beer. Not tonight anyway. I might tomorrow after the de-brief, though." Jackson shrugged. "Your loss." He went back to the paper he was working on, and the two wandered around the bar a bit more. For the most part, they were both tired, so they made the rounds one last time and went back down to their cabin. Locking the door and activiating the privacy field, they both read through their mail on ship's message system and finally they both went to sleep.
IT was 2 in the morning, and Major Bill "Billy" Butler was leading the three others along the darkened corridor from his cabin over to the cabin where Majors Corlo and Ortiz resided. They were all slightly drunk, but one was full of anger: Captain Andrew Hicks. He was angry at being passed up for promotion, angry at being forced out of the bunk he had claimed for the last 18 months, all for some upstart 'spic whoc was there for all of 2 months as an Ell Tee before being promoted to Captain, and then up to Major four days ago ahead of him. Hicks was also the only on in the group that was armed, albeit with a length of scrap steel conduit he had grabbed out of the junk bin in the repair shop. Screw the regs, he was going to teach the bastard a lesson about why you let your betters go first.
Arriving at the door, they found it locked. Hicks said he knew an auxillary code that would let him in, and he punched the code into the door, which clunked softly. THey quietly opened the door and stepped in. Closing the door behind them, Reamer turned on the red light so they could find the privacy field. Discovering that it was already on, they formulated their plan: Reamer and Ortega would grab Ortiz and hold her while Hicks and Butler gave Corlo his 'lesson'. Reamer and Ortega stepped in and got the shock of their life: Shannon was there, but Corlo was nowhere to be found. Shannon was curled up against a large brown bear, however. Ortega gasped loudly and took a step back. This was a mistake, as the Bear woke up. He grunted loudly in alarm, and Shannon woke up. Hicks yelled "DO IT!" and Reamer made a grab for Shannon.
Shannon flung the covers off and tried to run past them, but halted when Ortega blocked the exit. She waited until the two were close enough, and spun in a roundhouse kick which
connected with both of their heads, knocking them cold. She grabbed the tshirt that was on the floor and bolted out the door before butler and hicks could react. "Let her go. We've got what we came for, I think." Hick raised the steel pipe as the Bear eyed them coldly. "An ass-licker, a 'spic, and a fucking were! That must explain it!" Hicks said. Robert sensed their intent and shifted to Dire form, causing the bedfram to bend due to his increased weight. Hicks tensed up and took a swing at the massive creature even as Butler started to attack as well.
Shannon had bolted into the hallway wearing absolutely nothing, but holding her t-shirt. She crossed the hallway into a small niche, and put the shirt on. She then ran up to a comm panel and started making calls to several people. They were not happy to be woken up, but once she explained what was going on thanked her and came on down. The lift doors opened a minute later and disgorged Jackson, Stromson, Ch'Mee, and the head of Security, who was armed with a stunner. They entered the cabin to find no movement, even when they turned the overhead lights on. Butler lay on the ground unconsious next to Ortega and Reamer. There was a giant brown bear lying half on a mangled bed, with a nastly looking gash on his head. He too, was out cold. They saw that the bear's front right corner was lying on Hicks, who has moaining in pain. Ch'Mee went to the comm in the room and called the two Tigerean medics, dispite the fact that there were two humans on duty. They came down a minute later, and administered healing to the bear and to Hicks, who had a broken leg and arm.
Robert came to and heard several male voices talking. He opened his eyes to a brightly lit room. As the world faded back in, he saw three sets of orange fur covered legs, two sets of what looked like humans wearing jumpers, a third wearing black uniform pants with something that looked like the holstered stunner, and the the bottom hem of a faded grey t-shirt in the foreground, and the background was still too blurry to make out. He sniffed his nose, and it confirmed the species, and also told him that the two humans wearing jumpers were Stromson and Jackson. There was also a lot of fear and anger smell in the room. He grunted, and got the attention just about everyone in the room. Looks like I fell in the deep end of the shit pool this time, he thought, and shifted down to hybrid. The legs wearing the black uniform pants turned out to be attached to the Head of Ship Security. Shannon was standing, mainly because the t-shirt she was wearing only covered her if she was standing. The background cleared to reveal the Gang of Four being interrogated by Stromson and Jackson. Hicks was wearing a pained look in his eyes, while Ortega looked scared to death. He looked at Shannon, who was starting at him intently. He quietly thought, Yep, shit pool indeed. Reaching to the bed, he grabbed a blanket and offered it to Shannon, who took it, wrapped it around her, and sat on the ground next to him. The Tigereans finished looking him over and declared him OK. He looked at them and asked them in Primal, "How badly are the four injured?"
Dr. S'ama replied in kind: "Three have minor concussions from head injuries, but they will be fine. Major Butler also has a few scratches and a bruise on his right shoulder. Hicks had a fractured left tibia and a hyperextended elbow. He will be fine in a day or two. You had a moderate gash in your head, but that was almost healed when we attended to it. Shannon has a bruised foot, but will be OK." Robert nodded. He had little to do but wait until he was interrogated.
The whole ordeal took several hours to clean up. Stromson stated that the Four would be kept in holding cells until the morning, at which time the entire thing would be settled. The four were hauled away by the medics, Jackson, and the Head of Security. Stromson and Ch'Mee stayed behind and closed the door, and got Robert and Shannon's version of the events. The problem was that The First Rule had been broken. It had, until now, never been broken, and in any event the club founders had no way to deal with this situation. They discussed the issue for a few minutes until Ted returned, an got into a serious discussion of what should be done with the humans. Ch'Mee wanted to mind-wipe them. Thomas did not. Ted stated that he needed them usable as fighter pilots in any case, so he would bow out of this arguement as he was in favor of punishing them for their military offenses. Robert was uncertain as what to do, as he was relatively unharmed by the ordeal, and that he thought that the Gang of four had paid already in proportion to their injuries. Shannon stated that she would not under any circumstances mind-wipe anyone, as she did not have the proper skill to do so. They argues back and forth for an hour, and finally came to the conclusion that they would decide what needed to be done in the morning as well. Ch'Mee noticed that the bed was damaged, and put in a call to someone. They came down ten minutes later, chanted some strange notes, and the bed reverted to it's undamged condition. They both left shortly afterwards. Thomas and Ted talked further with Robert and Shannon, and informed then that this was the "problem" that Anderhill had warned Ted about.
"He had been monitoring the ship to ship comms while we were out performing the synchronized death blossoms, and found that the Gang of Four were planning on teaching you a lesson via the simple expedient of beating you senseless. We were going to confront them in he morning, but they beat us to it." Ted sighed heavily. "I wish people would just come to me and talk things over instead of this. Now I've got four pilots who are probably not going to fly in a week, A gigantic mess concerning the safety of every club memeber on board, and less sleep the before. Shannon said, "Hey, at least no one saw me streaking out in the hallway." Stromson spoke up. "Actually, the Security people did, and alerted the Head that something was up." Shannon turned beet red all over, and Stromson continued. "Don't worry. The video of the incident has already been placed in a safe, and will be destroyed as soon as this is over. And now, I suspect that you two want to try and get some sleep in what's left of the night, as do we." Thomas and Ted stood up. "Oh, and a tech will be by tomorrow to change out the entire lock assembly on the door. I'll work it so that someone is present when this happens." The bid the couple good night, and left. Shannon got up, discarded the blanket and t-shirt, and walked over to the light control as Robert re-assumed bear form. Turning the lights off, the two slipped back into bed and had an uneasy sleep.
(1854/1667)
Robert looked at Major Anderhall with a curious glance. "What sort of problem?" Anderhall shook his head. "Not here. Too many people. Colonel Steuben's office tomorrow morning, 0700 sharp. Both of you." Shannon pressed the issue. "Sirs, what is this about?" Steuben look at her and said in his boyish way, "Shannon, I'd appreciate it if you did press this issue. Let's just say that there's a personell issue that we are attempting to gather information on." Shannon turned beet red and said nothing further except a quiet, "Sorry sir." Ted had been scribbling on a sheet of paper the whole time, as if h were taking notes on the matter. He spoke without looking up. "So Robert, what are you having to drink tonight?" "Cola sir. The last time I had booze, it did not go well with me." Jackson looked up at him and grinned. "Sure? They do have honey beer here that I've been told is pretty good." As if to drive the point home, he winked at Robert. Robert shook his head. "especially not honey beer. Not tonight anyway. I might tomorrow after the de-brief, though." Jackson shrugged. "Your loss." He went back to the paper he was working on, and the two wandered around the bar a bit more. For the most part, they were both tired, so they made the rounds one last time and went back down to their cabin. Locking the door and activiating the privacy field, they both read through their mail on ship's message system and finally they both went to sleep.
IT was 2 in the morning, and Major Bill "Billy" Butler was leading the three others along the darkened corridor from his cabin over to the cabin where Majors Corlo and Ortiz resided. They were all slightly drunk, but one was full of anger: Captain Andrew Hicks. He was angry at being passed up for promotion, angry at being forced out of the bunk he had claimed for the last 18 months, all for some upstart 'spic whoc was there for all of 2 months as an Ell Tee before being promoted to Captain, and then up to Major four days ago ahead of him. Hicks was also the only on in the group that was armed, albeit with a length of scrap steel conduit he had grabbed out of the junk bin in the repair shop. Screw the regs, he was going to teach the bastard a lesson about why you let your betters go first.
Arriving at the door, they found it locked. Hicks said he knew an auxillary code that would let him in, and he punched the code into the door, which clunked softly. THey quietly opened the door and stepped in. Closing the door behind them, Reamer turned on the red light so they could find the privacy field. Discovering that it was already on, they formulated their plan: Reamer and Ortega would grab Ortiz and hold her while Hicks and Butler gave Corlo his 'lesson'. Reamer and Ortega stepped in and got the shock of their life: Shannon was there, but Corlo was nowhere to be found. Shannon was curled up against a large brown bear, however. Ortega gasped loudly and took a step back. This was a mistake, as the Bear woke up. He grunted loudly in alarm, and Shannon woke up. Hicks yelled "DO IT!" and Reamer made a grab for Shannon.
Shannon flung the covers off and tried to run past them, but halted when Ortega blocked the exit. She waited until the two were close enough, and spun in a roundhouse kick which
connected with both of their heads, knocking them cold. She grabbed the tshirt that was on the floor and bolted out the door before butler and hicks could react. "Let her go. We've got what we came for, I think." Hick raised the steel pipe as the Bear eyed them coldly. "An ass-licker, a 'spic, and a fucking were! That must explain it!" Hicks said. Robert sensed their intent and shifted to Dire form, causing the bedfram to bend due to his increased weight. Hicks tensed up and took a swing at the massive creature even as Butler started to attack as well.
Shannon had bolted into the hallway wearing absolutely nothing, but holding her t-shirt. She crossed the hallway into a small niche, and put the shirt on. She then ran up to a comm panel and started making calls to several people. They were not happy to be woken up, but once she explained what was going on thanked her and came on down. The lift doors opened a minute later and disgorged Jackson, Stromson, Ch'Mee, and the head of Security, who was armed with a stunner. They entered the cabin to find no movement, even when they turned the overhead lights on. Butler lay on the ground unconsious next to Ortega and Reamer. There was a giant brown bear lying half on a mangled bed, with a nastly looking gash on his head. He too, was out cold. They saw that the bear's front right corner was lying on Hicks, who has moaining in pain. Ch'Mee went to the comm in the room and called the two Tigerean medics, dispite the fact that there were two humans on duty. They came down a minute later, and administered healing to the bear and to Hicks, who had a broken leg and arm.
Robert came to and heard several male voices talking. He opened his eyes to a brightly lit room. As the world faded back in, he saw three sets of orange fur covered legs, two sets of what looked like humans wearing jumpers, a third wearing black uniform pants with something that looked like the holstered stunner, and the the bottom hem of a faded grey t-shirt in the foreground, and the background was still too blurry to make out. He sniffed his nose, and it confirmed the species, and also told him that the two humans wearing jumpers were Stromson and Jackson. There was also a lot of fear and anger smell in the room. He grunted, and got the attention just about everyone in the room. Looks like I fell in the deep end of the shit pool this time, he thought, and shifted down to hybrid. The legs wearing the black uniform pants turned out to be attached to the Head of Ship Security. Shannon was standing, mainly because the t-shirt she was wearing only covered her if she was standing. The background cleared to reveal the Gang of Four being interrogated by Stromson and Jackson. Hicks was wearing a pained look in his eyes, while Ortega looked scared to death. He looked at Shannon, who was starting at him intently. He quietly thought, Yep, shit pool indeed. Reaching to the bed, he grabbed a blanket and offered it to Shannon, who took it, wrapped it around her, and sat on the ground next to him. The Tigereans finished looking him over and declared him OK. He looked at them and asked them in Primal, "How badly are the four injured?"
Dr. S'ama replied in kind: "Three have minor concussions from head injuries, but they will be fine. Major Butler also has a few scratches and a bruise on his right shoulder. Hicks had a fractured left tibia and a hyperextended elbow. He will be fine in a day or two. You had a moderate gash in your head, but that was almost healed when we attended to it. Shannon has a bruised foot, but will be OK." Robert nodded. He had little to do but wait until he was interrogated.
The whole ordeal took several hours to clean up. Stromson stated that the Four would be kept in holding cells until the morning, at which time the entire thing would be settled. The four were hauled away by the medics, Jackson, and the Head of Security. Stromson and Ch'Mee stayed behind and closed the door, and got Robert and Shannon's version of the events. The problem was that The First Rule had been broken. It had, until now, never been broken, and in any event the club founders had no way to deal with this situation. They discussed the issue for a few minutes until Ted returned, an got into a serious discussion of what should be done with the humans. Ch'Mee wanted to mind-wipe them. Thomas did not. Ted stated that he needed them usable as fighter pilots in any case, so he would bow out of this arguement as he was in favor of punishing them for their military offenses. Robert was uncertain as what to do, as he was relatively unharmed by the ordeal, and that he thought that the Gang of four had paid already in proportion to their injuries. Shannon stated that she would not under any circumstances mind-wipe anyone, as she did not have the proper skill to do so. They argues back and forth for an hour, and finally came to the conclusion that they would decide what needed to be done in the morning as well. Ch'Mee noticed that the bed was damaged, and put in a call to someone. They came down ten minutes later, chanted some strange notes, and the bed reverted to it's undamged condition. They both left shortly afterwards. Thomas and Ted talked further with Robert and Shannon, and informed then that this was the "problem" that Anderhill had warned Ted about.
"He had been monitoring the ship to ship comms while we were out performing the synchronized death blossoms, and found that the Gang of Four were planning on teaching you a lesson via the simple expedient of beating you senseless. We were going to confront them in he morning, but they beat us to it." Ted sighed heavily. "I wish people would just come to me and talk things over instead of this. Now I've got four pilots who are probably not going to fly in a week, A gigantic mess concerning the safety of every club memeber on board, and less sleep the before. Shannon said, "Hey, at least no one saw me streaking out in the hallway." Stromson spoke up. "Actually, the Security people did, and alerted the Head that something was up." Shannon turned beet red all over, and Stromson continued. "Don't worry. The video of the incident has already been placed in a safe, and will be destroyed as soon as this is over. And now, I suspect that you two want to try and get some sleep in what's left of the night, as do we." Thomas and Ted stood up. "Oh, and a tech will be by tomorrow to change out the entire lock assembly on the door. I'll work it so that someone is present when this happens." The bid the couple good night, and left. Shannon got up, discarded the blanket and t-shirt, and walked over to the light control as Robert re-assumed bear form. Turning the lights off, the two slipped back into bed and had an uneasy sleep.
(1854/1667)