Chapter One

The Captain of the Dangerous Toys moved carefully to the station. It was a big deal to take on a human Engineer but his ship was falling behind the competition and his investors had finally come up with the cash. He had read extensively and had been tapping his fellow Captains for advice on the move but many refused to discuss humans, simply saying that ‘He would have to find out himself.’ They broadly and repeatedly emphasised that boredom was the first and most important consideration. All the written material was full of similar claims. His complimentary package of ‘Human Altered’ stickers had arrived as well as a very, very long list of terms and conditions. He had signed his ship up and hoped he was doing this right.

Engineer Patricia O’Neill was a little nervous. She had been assured that this was an excellent first posting, with a clean ship on a solid trade route. Apparently being the first human Engineer onboard was regarded as a true test of her skills, with many of her friends reminding her to spend some time getting a clean before-and-after of the systems before changing anything. At least she wasn’t completely alone.

Dangerous Toys was a big ship, bigger than the HDF Frigates that she had trained on and with a dead AI. That would have to change. She watched it dock, appalled by the clunky manoeuvres as it pulled in. Even a quick assessment of the exterior told her volumes about what was happening inside. Part of her relaxed as she could already see ways to prove her value. The rest of her wondered how they would take to a small human, standing at five-foot-one in her boots. Not exactly the hulking heavy-worlder humans were reputed to be.

The Captain sent word that he was ready to bring her aboard and would meet her in his Quarters as soon as the First officer had settled her and her equipment in. Her stomach lurched a little as she ascended the lift, holding tightly to the leash for comfort.

First Officer Wippene was waiting as the Engineer arrived. He had advised the Captain to do this, insisting that unless they got the Ship into shape, they were going to lose out to every other Trader on the route. He was used to mediating between the Captain and the more vocal species of the Galaxy. Scent-based communication was not as rare as the Silicon species were but it was unusual in a ship's Captain. Privately he felt that it spoke well of the brain behind that nose that he was still able to run the ship so well. Then the lift doors opened and then he ran for his life.

Patricia sighed and kneeled down to comfort Loki as her lurcher wagged his tail. ‘It’s okay boy. They probably didn’t get the memo. I’ll talk to them. The long nose of her dog pressed close to her ‘/New Friends Angry?/’ chirped her translator. She smiled, “No boy, just a little confused. Leave it to me. I guess I can find my way around by myself.” She had memorised the layout of the ship as soon as she had taken the job. She headed to the Engineering deck and her new quarters. She took off the lead and let Loki walk beside her down the oddly quiet corridors.

The Captain could smell something wrong from his office. He didn’t believe in doors between him and his crew, preferring to follow their progress through his nose. They would probably be appalled to learn all the little secrets they gave away through their scent. Who was doing what with who, who was having a hard time or being overstressed? It was all in the air if you could read it. He let his First Officer sort out the inane vocal communications as much as he could and concentrated on reading between the lines.

Now he could feel a wave of distress moving from the ship’s entry. Something had terrified his First Officer. He concentrated...the Human had arrived. It was female and calm. He couldn’t smell any of the noxious battle drugs that they produced under intense stress. There was another creature with her. Another mammal. With a shock, he realised that the creature was another scent-based species. It was primitive but it smelled of ‘Protect/Curious/Wary’ as well as clean fur and ...meat protein. Carnivor for sure. All entrancing but what in the Seven Hells was it doing on his ship? Time to meet this unlikely pair before his First Officer got to the weapons cabinet.

He quickly traced them moving towards his Engineering deck. He laughed as the scents of his crew washed by in confusion. Apparently, his First Officer had made an impression. He moved faster.

Patrica found her quarters easily enough. The ship had been issued with a standard checklist of requirements when she had signed the contract and it all looked pretty good. At least it was new. She began unpacking her personal gear, unfolding Loki’s blanket and laying it at the bottom of her bed. Loki hadn’t spent much time in space but he knew what that meant, ‘/Home?/’ She scratched under his chin, “Yes boy, a new home for both of us.”

The Captain knocked on the Engineer's door. The room smelled odd, all the fresh human equipment tasting strange to him. He waited for the human...Patrica to open the door. He hoped his translator was up to this because he had a lot of questions.

Patricia straightened up as she heard the knock. Hopefully, the First Officer had calmed down a little. If he upset Loki there would be hell to pay. If he upset her that could cause different issues. Loki was a good boy.

Whatever she expected when she opened the door it wasn’t the Captain. She had read what was available about his species but that had frankly taken ten minutes. Humanity had blind spots about species that never went to war and created artworks and literature out of smells. Apparently, they made excellent perfumes but little else of interest. It was one of the reasons she had taken the contract since she hoped to get the first-contact bonus.

“Sir! Come in. I’m afraid something happened to upset your crew, I mean the First Officer.”

That was as far as she got before Loki leapt from the bed and ran to the Captain, his tail wagging furiously as he barked an enthusiastic welcome, his long nose poking directly into the Captain's face. ‘/Happy/Welcome/Longnose/Loki Friend/New Home?/’

Patrica felt her life pass in front of her as her dog attacked her new Captain. She wouldn’t even need to unpack. Then the weirdness continued as the Captain got down on his knees and stuck his nose all over Loki. If he had a tail then it would have been wagging too. Her translator struggled to tell her what the hell was going on except that they were very happy to meet each other. She seemed to have been forgotten.

The Captain seemed to recover and spoke directly to Loki, ‘/Happy Encounter/Welcome/ New Home/ My Home/Rest/’ Loki gave out a few woofs and jumped back on the bed, his ears perked up and his tail still whipping about.

The Captain shook himself. Remarkable. He saw the expression on his new Engineer but his mood was too good to be upset. “Please Engineer, Loki has introduced himself beautifully. What an absolutely remarkable species. I was unaware that humans had a symbiote, it’s not in any of the literature I studied. May I sit?”

Patricia nodded as the Captain made his way to the only chair in the room. She sat beside Loki and absently began scratching his head. “Sir, I’m sure the Canine Alliance protocols were attached to the contract. I know it’s new but I’m sure I didn’t forget. The only reason I took a job in space is that we are now permitted to take our dogs with us!

They can survive any environments that humans can and provide a huge amount of companionship and support.”

The Captain laughed, “Loki tells me that you are his pack leader. I suspect they do more than bark at threats to humans. Remarkable! Are they fully carnivores? How did your species even begin to bond with them?”

Patrica felt her worries fade away. Any excuse to tell people about her dog. “Captain, we bonded with dogs long ago in our prehistory. Where there are humans you will find dogs. There are many different types and many breeds. Loki was bred to be a sight-hunter and outrun small game. He has an incredible turn of speed but is lazy as a brick otherwise. He won’t be any trouble on board. His intelligence is equal to a small human child and we forbid any augmentation except for lifespan.” She looked fondly at Loki,

“He will last as long as I will. A dog is for life.”

They were then rudely interrupted by the First Officer bashing in the door while carrying something that looked like a Nerf gun that had mated with a power drill. “Captain, stand back! Look at the creature, it’s a predator.!”

Loki suddenly sounded a lot less friendly, growling ‘/Threat/Intruder/Attack?/’ It was the Captain that responded to Loki first,’ /Idiot Pack Mate/ Misunderstanding/ Pack Leader will Discipline/’ Loki continued to grumble, ‘/Pack Leader?/You?/’ The Captain affirmed that he was. “Wippene put down that ridiculous weapon. I thought you had read the contract we signed with the Engineer. How do you expect to progress if you miss something as important as the Canine Alliance Protocols? This is the Human Symbiote species that they refer to as ‘Dogs’. This fine example is called Loki.” His tone darkened, “You will go and research them. In fact, you can re-read the entire human contract and check that you haven’t missed anything else important. Dismissed.”

The three of them waited until the First Officer had huffed back out the door and closed it.

“So Patrica, Loki has given you an excellent reference but I cannot allow him in Engineering. Do you understand? I hate to think of him getting entangled down there. Will he be happy to wait for you here?” She nodded, “ Of course.” Then a sudden thought struck her, “Captain, there is a concept we call ‘Walkies’. I think it might interest you…”

The ship had left port a week ago and the Engineer was hard at work, doing what humans do. In fact, since she was so busy the Captain felt that he might go and invite Loki to tour his ship again. There were still so many scents he hadn’t shown him. He was a good boy…--------------------

Patrica was elbow-deep in the forward transporters when she was summoned to the Captain's Quarters. She checked the time and then the readouts. The ship was where it was supposed to be and nothing was flashing. Her comms told her that Loki was fine, still sound asleep in her cabin so it wasn’t him. She had already explained that Loki hadn’t known that some people had tails around here and it was just a misunderstanding. Loki had apologised. She put down her tools and sealed the room.

The Captain met her with First Officer Wippene. Despite her best efforts he hadn’t given up his suspicion of Loki and now seemed to distrust Humans as well. The Captain had turned out to be a genuine friend. Loki had given him the name ‘/Longnose/’ and regarded him as a pack-mate. “Sir, what’s up? Anything I should be worried about?”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The Captain seemed a little subdued, “Engineer O’Neill, I’m afraid I need to apologise to you. I had been asked by my government to keep them informed of our interactions. We often suffer from problems working with verbal species and that has prevented the development of our worlds. In a sense, this was a test for us.” He paused.

Patrica had been tasked with the same thing, she figured everyone was. “Of course, Sir. I’m also expected to update my people if there’s a problem, or if we have found friendlies out here. It’s in my contract.” She shot a glance at the First Officer, who seemed to have memorised it. “Is there an issue?”

The Captain sighed, “Wippene, please go and bring Loki here. It will make things easier.”

The First Officer stiffened. “Sir, perhaps the Engineer could fetch the creature…”

The Captain simply waved him out the door. “I suspect you had better get used to Canines around here.”

“Patrica, what I need to apologise for is that I neglected to fulfil that request. I so enjoyed my time with Loki and our little walks about the ship that I filled my reports with those events. In my defence, my people have now become obsessed with your dog. Loki is quite a star right now. Currently, he is more popular than our leadership and my little recordings are the most popular media in the system. Our government has requested a diplomatic visit to Earth to discuss obtaining dogs for ourselves.”

He waved his hands in the air, “I never thought Loki would attract this much interest! But you must understand, our people are lonely in this Galaxy of trillions of noisy creatures and you have brought us one that we can talk to! Your XCC is waiting to speak to you about the whole thing.”

Loki came bounding into the room ‘/Mine/Longnose/Walkies/treats?/’ and Patrica had to laugh. “Captain, I can’t blame you for falling for our furry friends. What can I do to help?”

The Captain seemed surprised, “You do not object? You have bred these animals for millennia. They have served you, walked with you into space and you would share that with others?”

“As you say Captain we have walked with them every step of the way. We will guard them as fiercely as you can imagine. Ill-treatment, neglect or abuse will be answered with outrage as has always been true on Earth but they have a voice in this. It’s a Canine Alliance remember.” She rubbed Lokis head fondly, “If they will bond with you and you follow the rules I see no reason why your people can’t join in.”

She looked at Loki, ‘/Puppies for Longnose?/New pack?/’

Loki sniffed, /Longnoses/big pack/’

She smiled at the Captain, “I think he agrees.”

The Director ended the call with Engineer Patrica O’Neill. He was still grinning when he checked the box for ‘First-contact bonus’ on his paperwork. She had just created a brand new trade and that carried an entirely different kind of bonus. It hadn’t occurred to anyone that the Galaxy didn’t have dogs, not like Earth did. Already a horde of trainers, breeders and animal-welfare experts were rushing to meet this new species. She had welded this race as an ally of humanity in a single day. There would be others. He thought about that for a moment and asked the AI, “I need to know if we have anyone out there that would like a cat?”

The Library ship had been heading that way anyway and was happy to help. It hailed the Dangerous Toys and asked for a short visit. The Captain was surprised, although he knew that the humans had become the major source of ships and crew for the Libraries. Indeed it was a human that met them at the entry port.

The human smiled, “Captain /Longnose?/ I have been asked to give you this. I believe you have someone on-board that can help. With the compliments of the XCC.” He handed the Captain the cage and returned to his ship.

The Basset-Hound huffed at him, ‘/New Pack!/Loki?/’ The Captain smiled and inhaled deeply, ‘/Longnose/Loki/New pack/ Love/Welcome/New Forever Home/’

‘/Treats!?/’

------------------

The Captain could smell the rage from halfway across the ship and it was approaching rapidly. He leaned back and waited, running through the recent reports from Engineering in his mind. Two requests for a meeting but they had gone to the First Officer and not to him directly. That may have been a mistake.

Engineer O’Neill was fuming. Once was just a mistake, twice was a problem but three times in a month was sabotage. On the other side of the ship, a dog's nose started to twitch in his sleep. She had tried to follow the chain of command but the Engineer had the right to speak to the Captain directly if she felt the need. In general, the rule was First Officer for the routine workings of the Ship and right to the top for any problems with his Command. It might be her first Ship but she had tried to be nice and that just hadn’t worked.

By the time she reached the Captain’s quarters, he was ready and waiting. She knocked on the open door. “Captain, we need to talk.”

Captain /Longnose/ inhaled and tasted the emotions filling the room. He wished his Engineer had brought Loki with her. He looked quickly at his own puppy /Scentofhappy/ as she slept on her blanket on his chair. What used to be his chair. “Engineer, I can tell you are upset. Please tell me how I can help.”

Patrica was ready to blow and she ran straight to the problem, “Captain I have already asked for two meetings. Someone is pissing about with Engineering and it’s gone from stupid to dangerous. One of your crew had broken the ‘Human Altered’ seals on three systems in the last month. That means I have to recertify each one of those and also try to figure out if it was a deliberate attempt to damage the ship.”

Whatever else the effect on the Captain, it created a scent that woke /Scentofhappy/ instantly. With a yip, she bounced off the chair and ran to the Captain, sniffing loudly ‘/Pack/Problem?/Safe?/’.

Patrica paused before she continued to allow her rage out. She had forgotten about the puppy. /Sorry/Scentofhappy/human/packmate problem/Longnose Packleader/’ The puppy sniffed and jumped up onto the Captain's lap. Of course his /Longnose/ was the pack leader. He was the best person in the universe and gave both walkies and treats. The Captain couldn’t help but smile, regardless of the news. He petted his new friend, ‘/Scentofhappy go to Loki/Walkies later./’ With another yip, she leapt from the Captain's lap and headed out the door to see her friend.

The two of them waited. Once they knew the pup was out of hearing range the Captain did something rarely seen on this ship. He closed his door. “Engineer, why am I hearing about this now? If someone is endangering my ship I expect to hear about it immediately.” Patrica tried not to snarl, “Sir, I followed the regs. I told the First Officer that the matter was important and he seemed to take it seriously, then I found out he was feeding me bullshit. He seems to forget that I have full access to Security and he didn’t put any of the checks that I asked for into place. That was the first time. The second time was the same story except that I had secured Engineering myself. This time someone pried open the aft field generator and bypassed nearly all my checks. That means it's a senior crew member. Whoever did it tried to repair the seal but ‘Human Altered’ stickers are far beyond tampering and it alerted me the minute it was broken.”

The Captain ran his senior crew through his mind. None of them seemed to be hostile and none of them had a grievance with the ship. Of course, the noisy ones could and did lie to each other but to slip beneath his notice? That was beyond most of them. Most, but not all. “Engineer, take whatever action you need to right now. I will summon the First Officer in private and...discuss these events.” he paused, “If you could just put together a report for me and inform security that you have my full authority to deal with this situation as you see fit. And, Patrica, I do mean full authority. If you find a threat to my Ship you may take whatever actions you deem appropriate.”

He waited for her reaction. He could scent the change as some of those noxious human battle chemicals began filling his room. Humans don’t take kindly to threats to the people and things they love. She nodded and left, leaving only a trailing scent of ‘/Threat/AngerWorry/Grimgoodness/’ behind her.

If the First Officer had any idea that there was a problem he didn’t show it when he arrived at the Captain’s quarters. “Sir? Is there a problem?” The captain took a deep sniff, ignoring the pointless words and his casual familiarity with the man. There. The creature was hiding something. ‘/guilt/defiance/.../regret?’ He sat back, slightly shaken that he had allowed himself to be so blindsided. “Wippene, you have served this ship well. You have been a loyal and just Officer since you came aboard all those years ago. How many thousands of light-years have we travelled together and worked as a team? And yet here we are.” He stopped, allowing his former First Officer to let that sink in.

Guilt does strange things to the mind. Hidden deeds done in the petty dark are seen clearly when the light appears. Wippene suddenly grasped the full extent to which he had allowed his issues to appear as treason to his Captain and crew. “Sir…”

The Captain scented the man dissolve. His guilt was now beyond question and he could even taste the strange road that has brought him to this ugly end. “She upset you that much? You told me for months to bring aboard a human Engineer and now I find you are sabotaging my ship out of some hidden spite?” That got a reaction. The guilty hate being accused of crimes they hadn’t committed. “Sir, I never...I mean, yes. I ignored the Engineer and her silly complaints. So someone tore her precious stickers! She treats the whole ship like some personal project. And that creature of hers…” On those last words, he managed to shut up.

Even as they came out of his mouth he knew that his time on this ship was over. Some things can’t be forgiven and he knew the Captain well enough. He tried to scrape his dignity back together, “Sir, I regret that I can no longer serve aboard the Dangerous Toys. I hereby give you my resignation.”

The Captain rose from his chair. “No. You will remain under my command until I am convinced that you are not part of some criminal conspiracy against this ship. Three systems attacked and you hide that from me? Because you don’t like dogs! If I find your involvement goes deeper than rank stupidity I will ensure you never travel in a ship again, let alone serve on one. You will confine yourself to quarters and write a full report on your actions. I will inform the crew that you are no longer at liberty and why. Dismissed.” He hesitated, “Wippene, I hope dearly that you haven’t allowed anything to happen here that will cost us all. You know the crew. If there is a traitor here I hope you will put that misguided mind of yours to work on it.”

The Former First Officer straightened up. “Of course, Sir. Anything I can do to help.”

The Captain watched him leave, the scent of despair mixing with the fading echoes of his Engineer's anger. He shook his head. He would be reading that story in the air for days to come. There were suddenly many things that must be done in person so he began a slow walk to the bridge and this time he paid close attention to what the ship had to tell him.

Word travels fast on a ship, even one as large as the Dangerous Toys. The angry human, the closed door and the summoning of the First Officer had gone ahead of the Captain, leaving him many trails to follow. When he arrived at the bridge he nodded to the very obviously disturbed crew. He sat in his Command seat and put himself on ship-wide Comms. “This is the Captain. The First Officer has resigned and will remain in his quarters until we make landfall. He is to be apprehended if found anywhere else.”

That caused a ripple of shock. Crew came and went, even in a happy ship like the one they felt this was. Confinement under arms was unheard of.

The Captain continued, “The human Engineer is currently designated Second in Command until informed otherwise. Someone on our ship has attacked three sealed ships systems and I won’t permit any further attacks. The off-duty crew will remain in their cabins or in the canteen until further notice. I expect all officers and crew to remain vigilant and provide any information they may have on these events. All senior officers are required to attend an immediate briefing with the exception of Engineer O’Neill and any officers that she designates.”

Aware of the dark tone he decided to add a little more, “Men, I hold the responsibility for our lives out here. I will not permit a risk like this to continue. If you were foolish enough to tamper with the human seals and are willing to come forward you will lose a week's wages and nothing more. If this is something darker then I ask you to think hard about what you have heard.”

Patrica heard the news of her unwelcome promotion at the same time as everyone else. So that was what the Captain had meant by ‘full authority’. Still, she was surprised by the speed of the Captain's reaction. It can’t have just been the First Officer or she would be back at work by now. The Captain was telling her that he had been a minor part of the problem or at least he wasn’t sure. She made a command decision and went to fetch Loki. If she was suddenly a target then these Xenos could find out the other reason humans kept dogs.