Chapter 126: She Does Not Smile
“Here.”
Joseph blinked out of his daze, accepting the glass from Robert before the man took a seat next to him. Night had fallen, and true to his initial suggestion, most everyone had stopped by the building they were assigned to for drinks. It was supposed to be a ‘finally, all this is over’ kind of event, but after everything that had happened, he was just using it as an excuse to dull his mind.
There was no chance of him keeping up with the events if he let himself think too hard.
Which led him to taking refuge outside on the stump, his current company much more welcome than the night before. He shifted over on the stump as his brother got comfortable.
“You doing okay?”
Joseph nodded, staring into the cup. How long has it been since he had something from Sol? A quick sniff told him it was mixed—something fruity and sweet, but just as strong as he was used to. He drank it back in one shot, letting the burning sensation wash over him. Rob produced a bottle from his blazer and refilled the drink.
“See, the nod says yes, but the chugging says no.”
“Just trying to...” He let his words stall as he failed to phrase it in any meaningful way. “I don’t know, Rob. Every time I think I’m getting a handle on things, more shit pops up.”
His brother chuckled dryly into his glass. “If today was any indication, then I can see why you’re so on edge. Not every day that someone gets back-to-back promotions like that.”
“Right, promotions...”
At this point, he wasn’t really sure what he was anymore. From a random nobody, to a...Blademaster? Grand Hunter? More? Things hadn’t really been explained to him after Trill dropped that bomb of a declaration on the congressional, and he hadn’t gone looking for answers. If anything, he had taken the first opportunity to hide away from it and let the moon stare down at him as it peeked between the clouds.
At least that never changed.
“So, now what?” Robert asked, topping up his drink. Joseph cycled a long breath, staring at the silver light from above as it transitioned into strange colours through the atmosphere.
“I’m open to suggestions.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
The Grand Hunter lowered his gaze back to his brother. “You’re going to need to be more specific.”
Rob shrugged. “There’s a lot to choose from. Take your pick. We got whatever’s going on with the First Claw, Trill, Jax, Violet, Tel, the settlement...us.”
He stiffened at the emphasis put on his slip. During a heated moment, he had accidentally brought up the topic he wasn’t quite ready to broach with his brother. Then again, when would he ever be? With everything else happening so quickly, it was tossed back into the ‘do not touch’ pile and he was happy to leave it there.
“We can start with your sudden increase in property tax,” the Martian suggested playfully, his smirk sinking a bit when Joseph continued staring into his booze. “Look, Joe. I know things are stressful, but you need to talk to me—to somebody—or else you’re just going to dig yourself into a mental hole that you’re never getting out of. It doesn’t have to be about today, or the Lilhuns, or Atmo... Just...talk with me, okay?”
His grip tightened on his cup as he went through whatever the hell happened instead.
The First Claw wore widened eyes, a dropped jaw, and too many emotions to pick any single one out. She had simply reiterated her dismissal while glaring at her brother with betrayal in her eyes. Thanks to that, the black-furred male excused himself the moment they returned and went to bed with the excuse of just being tired, though no one bought it. Still, they wanted to give him his space, so they did. Jax could join everyone else whenever he was ready.
As for why Joseph was outside alone, that was a bit more direct of an answer. Put simply, he wasn’t going to put a damper on everyone’s mood just because he was feeling overwhelmed. Tel was inside with the rest answering questions and coming to terms with her new position of power as she dealt with Daisy being glued to her side. Sil was getting the paperwork for whatever deal ‘Horizon’ was going to make. Scarlet and Volta were apparently in charge of making snacks, and the Atmo were hanging out together with the human security—which seemed to be a welcome addition to the men’s otherwise boring stay.
Daisy and Cobalt were sent to them while Sunny stopped back to her building to do something, so the Grand...High Huntress should be by soon.
“Pick something, Rob,” he conceded, wryly smiling as much as he could. “I can’t right now.”
The Martian nodded, swirling around the dregs of his drink before polishing it off and refilling it. “Then... Okay, how about Sunundra? What happens with her now?”
Topical. He drew a breath and rolled his eyes in thought. “Well, from what happened with Mi’low, all I can really say is that not a whole lot changes. She’ll still have her pack, settlement, and whatnot, but if I decide something pertaining to it, then it’s decided. Sure, she can state her case against it and shit, but at the end of the day, it’s my call. Now, just because I can doesn’t mean I will, but that’s the short of it.”
“Doesn’t Mi’low stay with you though?”
He tilted his head. “Yeah, but she can go set up and run her own place if she wanted to. It’d be the same arrangement, just that it makes a bit more sense for us to stick together right now. She has the freedom to do whatever, and her pack still listens to her, so there’s not much incentive to fuck off and set up when everything is fine as is.”
Robert hummed his acknowledgement, offering more alcohol when Joseph’s glass ran dry. “Fair enough, I suppose. So what about Trill?”
“What about him?”
“Well, you own Avalon now—sort of—and that would put his settlement under your command, right?”
He gripped the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “Yeah, I guess. Should be roughly the same thing, but I’m not sure how he fits into everything. I’m sure Tel knows, or maybe Trill might stop by at some point to explain it, but for now? I’m not sure.”
“You don’t seem as pissed off with him.”
“The guy gave me the continent as a wedding gift, Rob. As far as that goes, I can’t really put the effort into hating him.”
“But you still don’t like him.”
“Nope.”
Robert leaned back, supporting his weight on one hand as he joined his brother in staring at the moon. “Fair enough. I guess it means that you can’t argue for what you want from them though.”
Joseph raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
“Well, Trill signed an agreement for Avalon, and now you represent it. The contract goes into effect in the morning, so by the time we sit back down, you—the representative for Avalon—will have already had a contract binding you.”
“...Fuck off...”
Rob shrugged. “To be fair, he gave you everything you wanted—as far as I could tell, anyway. The UM can’t attack or move against you, can’t get in the way of how you run things, can’t conscript your packs... Really, all you need to do is ‘not bother them’ while they’re here, and that’s pretty easy to do when the closest base or city is an ocean away.” The Martian tipped his cup towards Joseph. “All you’re required to do is ‘consider’ any requests for assassins, and get paid if you give them out. It’s the peace and autonomy you wanted, and the biggest drawback is that you’re a Blademaster-slash-guild-master.”
Robert chuckled. “And it means that he’s fine with Pan too, since I doubt he doesn’t know about her. Wasn’t that one of the things you were worried about?”
Joseph stared at his brother before taking a deep drink. The man had a point, as much as he hated to think about it. It was exactly what he wanted going into the meeting, but he couldn’t help but feel like there was something else itching at the back of his mind. He gave Rob a side-eyed glance.
“So...Horizon?”
The Martian sighed, scratching at his jaw as he thought it over. “A couple species have people who figured out what the Union was up to—all ‘corrupted,’ of course—and found each other. No one could openly make any moves, since it would just be the fast-track to being wrote off by everyone else. A few years passed, and we were contacted to represent our own people at the table. We’ve been keeping track of what was going on in the background, but there’s only so much we can watch or stop without giving everything away.”
“Thus asking the UM to work with you.”
“Exactly.” He sat up, leaning forward to brace his arms on his knees and slowly tip the liquid in his drink, playing with the alcohol without spilling it. “It’s pretty much as you put it; we can’t do anything overt without the Union switching from being subtle. It’s a long list of political games and covert subterfuge across twenty-nine species, and no one quite knows whose playing which side. A few are even pretty determined to stay out of it entirely, so that makes doing...well, anything risky. Toss in the variety of opinions and ‘corruption’ within even the species we do have on our side, and it’s pretty obvious that we need a player with no chips in the game, so to speak.”
“So it’s down to Horizon, the Atmo, and...I guess me, assuming they’ll treat the shift in management as a second chance to ‘renegotiate.’”
“I don’t see the Atmo being a difficult decision,” Rob admitted, taking another sip. “Though they technically fall under you entirely now, they’re still a different species, so the UM might ask to have some as a part of their force.”
“And that’s not a ‘difficult decision?’”
Robert pointed at him with his glass. “Nope. Like I said: they fall under you. Just say that they belong to Avalon—which is technically true—and you can treat it like you can for the Blades; everything needs to be signed off by you before a single person leaves. Believe it or not, you have the most say at the table right now.”
“Assuming that they don’t start a fight over it,” he sighed, letting himself fall back. He jolted his eyes open when he didn’t land on the stump like he expected, but instead was caught by paws. Sunundra smiled down at him.
“I knew that humans were prone to poor coordination when imbibing, but I had pictured it as requiring more to achieve.”
“Hey, Sunshine. Kind of you to join the pity party.” He let her help him back into something resembling a proper sitting posture. “I’m not drunk, just frustrated.”
The grey and yellow-furred female shook her head, taking a seat between the brothers when they made room for her. Rob faltered when he went to offer her a drink, realizing that he didn’t bring any extra cups out. Sunundra was quick to reassure him that she could get her own later.
“Am I interrupting?” she asked, noticing the somewhat drab mood between the two of them. Joseph waved a hand dismissively.
“No, just trying to figure out what happened today and how tomorrow is going to go.”
“That is understandable. I apologize for my abrupt request of you.”
He sighed, patting her on the knee. “It’s fine.”
Robert raised a finger. “Why is she speaking English?”
A blink was shared by the other two, Sunundra tapping her muzzle like it was new and interesting. She tried out a few sounds in the language, shifting into random words that came out somewhat unnaturally. A wince would form whenever she needed to attempt something that didn’t have an approximation in her own language, but she managed to figure those out fairly quickly.
“I dislike the...” She paused as she dug through the foreign tongue for a word that fit.
Knowing what he did, Joseph was aware that there were a few concepts that didn’t quite translate properly. His pack had gotten used to finding something close enough to work, so he was ready for whatever nonsense Sunny might spout. Though unfortunate for his amusement, she managed to sort it out without issue.
“I dislike the sibilance,” she decided with a nod, earning a burst of laughter from them.
Rob recovered from his chuckling first. “Yeah, you guys growl more when you talk. A lot less ‘hissing’ than I expected, to be honest.”
The three of them carried on for a while, Sunundra allowing them to move from the stressful topics as she tried to tell them about her pack and how things were going back at her settlement. Eventually, Robert broached the topic Joseph had been hoping wouldn’t come up.
“Hey, Joe?”
“Hmm?”
“You said the Union did something to ‘us.’ I have a feeling you weren’t talking about humanity as a whole.”
Joseph paused mid-drink, choking down what was in his mouth. The smile from hearing about a singing duet of Atmo and Lilhun faded from his face as he coughed, glancing at Sunny for a distraction. He was met with her own morose expression, her eyes asking why he hadn’t already brought it up. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I guess I let that slip, huh?” His brother’s stare awaited answers, earning a sigh in return. “I, uh...”
“Joseph,” Sunundra warned softly. “You must.”
He gave her an annoyed frown, but accepted that she was right. Slowly, he looked at Rob, the man’s suspicious eyes flicking between them. “Dad didn’t go to work at a construction company.”
“I— I was talking to him before he left, Joe,” Robert refuted, turning and adjusting his posture to sit facing them. “I was the one who vetted the company out.”
“It was a bait-and-switch. He ended up...” The words caught in his throat, a pale-furred paw covering his hand with a gentle grip. He gave Sunundra a weak smile upon seeing her own. “Dad was a part of the Lilhun testing with humans.”
The Martian blinked heavily. “From the reports? Joe, that place was blown to hell by...” His eyes widened as they turned to the female. “By a defect Lilhun. Right, you mentioned that she...”
Sunundra nodded, choosing to stare at the grass instead of meeting his gaze. “I acquired many of their records before escaping, and memorized as many names as I could in the event that we found his people. Your blood-father’s name was among them. He perished with many others.”
Rob stared at them blankly before finishing his drink and standing, fixing his coat as he turned away. “We’re going to be busy tomorrow. I’ll head off first.”
“Rob, wait—“
“—No, Joe,” his brother returned coldly. “I heard you, believe you, and I’m not going off to sulk. I already did my mourning.”
“Then...”
“Why am I heading off?” Joseph nodded. “Because I’m done playing by other people’s rules, just like you are. I’ll need to speak with someone to figure out how to break them.”
Sunundra got up as well, resting a paw on Robert’s shoulder. “Then I will guide you to Trill. Few share his drive in such matters.”
A firm expression overtook the man’s face. “Joe, you stay here. Sorry to say, but the—“
“—less I know, the easier it’ll be. Yeah, I know. I trust you.” The Grand Hunter chewed his cheek, the moon once again becoming the target of his focus. “I should probably keep my head on things I can actually do something about.”
Rob smiled apologetically. “It’s more than you think, Joe.”
His brother walked off after Sunny, the two disappearing from sight around the building. A quick whistle drew out the two Wraiths from the building, Scarlet bowing deeper than she ever had.
“Yes, Blademaster?”
He raised a brow at the formal tone, but Tel’s more casual shake of her head told him not to worry about it. It worked for him—he wasn’t really in the mood to go over that old argument anyway.
“Scarlet, Sunny and Rob are gone to see Trill about something. Make sure nothing happens to them.”
“Permission to use lethal force, sir?”
It took a moment for him to nod. “Last resort, but yes.”
She was gone before he had the chance to properly look at her, leaving him alone with his grey-furred fiancee again. Tel looked like she was debating something, and taking enough time to decide that it was wearing on his nerves.
“What, Tel?” he prodded, keeping his voice gentle.
“I am aware that you typically wish to keep our private matters undisturbed, but I believe such will become something you will regret this time.”
Joseph looked down at his drink, finding it empty. He tipped it up to grab the last drop anyway. “It’s rare for you to show an interest in it. Who are we talking about?”
“Jax.”
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He bobbed his head to the side. “If it’s about an argument with his sister, I can probably—“
“—His blood-father is ill, and he is refusing to accompany her to see him before his passing.”
He choked down his saliva, deciding that a few more drinks are going to be needed. “Think I should try to convince him?”
Tel shook her head. “His mind is trapped around his scars; he sees the injuries as only the beginning of his penance.”
“I’ve told him that—“
“—And yet he remains steadfast in his conclusion,” she interjected firmly. Her expression softened after seeing his jaw clench in guilt. “I speak with you not because I believe he will listen to reason, but because he will not. His sibling has perished, his blood believes him departed, and his defence of you has caused a rift between him and his kin. Anything you can say to him will only strengthen his resolve.”
“So she saw the damage and decided that I’m some sort of evil bastard,” he surmised. “That tracks.”
It was something he suspected, considering how hard it was to hide when two of the male’s critical senses were crippled like they were. They had talked about it on and off since everything happened, but each time, Jax would just smile a little more, as if Joseph’s compassion only vindicated the idea that he deserved the outcome. His argument remained the same, no matter how many times they spoke; Joseph was a saint for stopping when he did, and so the male should carry his wounds as a reminder of that.
It was something the Grand Hunter reluctantly put aside before, but that was when there was nothing they could do about it. It was one thing to talk about ‘what ifs,’ but it was another for it to lead towards shitty decisions.
Joseph’s face tightened as he made up his mind.
The grey-furred female claimed his wrist with her tail, taking a seat at his side and leaning into him. “Has my love come to a conclusion?”
He rested his head on hers, soaking in the feeling of her fur, and the ear that flicked at him for the disturbance. “Really enjoying saying that, huh?”
“I could stop. Shall I don my equipment?”
“One, absolutely not, you’re adorable when you say it, and two...no. I need to do this at the right time. Too early, and the UM might take it as a chance to do something.”
Tel giggled sweetly, her paw touching against his chest before tracing up to his jaw. She pulled him in for a deep kiss, only letting him go when his mind had clouded and his air had run dry. Her half-lidded gaze burrowed into him, her passion restrained only by location and circumstance. “You become a male of more worth with each passing sun, my love.”
“Because I’m an idiot?”
She nipped at him, working from his lips to his neck, then to his collar. “Because it was not so long ago that receiving Mi’low’s pack was too much responsibility for you.”
He closed an eye, desperate to ignore her attention. “I’m just trying to work with what I’m given.”
“And you are stronger for it.” Her paw lowered to his knee, claws delicately traversing upwards over his clothing. “More confident. More commanding.”
Her touch stopped just short of its intended goal, her words a breathy heat in his ear.
“This one awaits for our return to the den, my love, for she will give more than adequate reward. Do give me more reason to yearn for your touch, yes?”
With that, she slipped from the stump, leaving with her tail spinning figure eights in her wake. It took a few seconds for him to reign in his reaction and fight through the haze. He hated how effective she was at that, almost as much as he enjoyed her doing it.
A sigh escaped his lips. It should be simple, right? Just work out something with another species that won’t blow up in his face?
The self-deprecating laugh that spilled forth surprised him, but he supposed the alcohol was loosening him up by now. The only reason he wasn’t freaking out about everything was that he had people with him who were doing their best to make sure shit didn’t go south. Violet was there to advocate for the Atmo, Sil and Rob would help him as much as they could, and there wasn’t anyone else to contest his territory now.
Hell, thanks to Trill, there wasn’t a way they could contest it; not without pissing the guy off, and the confidence he had suggested there were still more cards up his sleeve that he was all too happy to use.
Joseph got up, stretching out as he mused if anyone inside had more to drink. He could tackle the issues at the meeting. He just needed to put his trust in his friends and family, and hope that nothing went too horribly ‘tits up.’ With a firm step towards the building, and a smile forming on his face, he wondered what kind of trouble his daughter was getting up to, if Volta had loosened up enough to interact with the others now that Scarlet was preoccupied, and if Jax was light enough to drag out of the room.
Well, they did have the Atmo...
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The constant whir and beeps from the machinery in the room had long since faded into the background, but Harrow kept an ear out for them. Vital monitors and dialysis machines made for either a soothing ambience, or the most stressful thing in existence. As for which it counted as? Well, that depended on how tired she was.
Yet again, she sighed, pouring over the technical schematics on the terminal screen. Thankfully, the fabric medical tent was modular enough to accommodate her presence without interrupting the natural function of the structure, not that there had been much need for it. One of the pack would come in to have a cut or something equally minor tended to every so often, but those were mostly due to absent minds and general small accidents. From the look on those Lilhun’s faces, Sahari and Pan were giving them quite the talking to for taking away from the doctors that Harrow had access to.
Those doctors didn’t mind—since it also gave them more information to use with every scratch or puncture—but it was best to make sure everyone was appropriately cautious anyway.
If they advertised that injuries would help their Grand Hunter’s goals, then Harrow worried that half the pack would ‘accidentally’ be shot or stabbed within the sun. It was comforting to know how far they would go for him, but he wouldn’t be so ecstatic to see everyone back in bandages so quickly.
The slight squeak of Bratik’s mobile chair preceded his entrance into the room, the ash-coloured male extending his arms to part the fabric wall for his mate pushing him. Harrow turned her head to confirm that it was just them, as well as do a cursory check of the male’s progress.
He was healing well, from what she was told and her own observations. His leg was sealed within a cast, and his arm could move more-or-less as it had, save for the odd wince upon reaching at awkward angles. There was some recovery time to be expected, but he should be able to walk and run soon enough. It was something that the pair were infinitely grateful for, and they had made a habit of stopping by every so often to make sure she was doing alright.
“Head Harrow!” Bratik greeted enthusiastically, his broad smile only losing to Sorren’s at seeing his mate so cheerful. “How has the sun treated you? Well?”
“Hey, Bratik, Sorren” she returned, fighting back the yawn. Truthfully, she had no idea if it was light or dark out, and hadn’t since everything kicked off and Joseph left. If she paid attention to the passage of time, then she started worrying about the two fathers of her kits being so far away. It set her tail into anxious flicking as it sought those she cared for. With a paw to carefully adjust it for comfort, her gaze returned to the documents that had eaten up so much of her life over the past few suns. “I’ve been treated well enough. Yourself?”
“Wonderfully! We were quite pleased to catch up with the pack. There were many who wished for my mate’s services, and we were delighted to oblige.” His excitement died down a bit as a more solemn expression took hold. “I do wish to extend my condolences for what occurred with Mama, however.”
Harrow stiffened, remembering the sounds on the opposite side of a door she couldn’t open, no matter how hard she tried, and the burning warmth of tears that tried to scar the despair she felt into her very flesh. A shake of her head dismissed the memory as quickly as it arrived.
“Thank you, Bratik. She is within the Hunt Mother’s embrace now.” Her eyes returned to her guests once she figured that not much else would be done with the distractions. Some company would be welcome anyway; she had just been speaking with the medical and engineering staff of Robert’s ship about what needed to be done, so any change in pace should do her some good. “Do you need anything?”
Sorren gazed at her with sympathy before shaking his head, the yellow and black patches of his fur making for an interesting colour in the artificial light. “Bratik wished to inquire on the status of your efforts. I wished to inquire as to your condition.”
She blushed slightly, her eyes falling to the less mobile of the two before continuing to the floor. Minus Jax and Joseph, no one had known about her eventual kits, but that also meant that she had no one to go to with her worries—not including Robert, but he was told during a bit of a breakdown, and he wasn’t here either. Sure, the crew knew, but unless something dire was a possibility, they kept to purely medical questions and the like. Anything more involved than that would be further than they were comfortable addressing without reason.
The priest smiled at her, patting his mate’s arm. “Bratik is aware only because I trust that he will keep it private and I required someone who could provide their expertise.”
Harrow’s ear flicked as she cautiously looked at the pair. Bratik waved his good paw.
“I was a High Hunter. Many had spoken to me about such matters before. We are both willing and able to listen to any concerns you may hold, and have spoken at length with the humans and avians as to what we knew.”
She nodded, glancing over to the quarantined form behind the clear plastic barrier, the purple fur lost amidst the cacophony of devices saturating blood with chemicals and nutrients. “There haven't been any issues. I’m hungry all the time, and spending more time in the restroom, but that’s pretty normal from what I remember.”
“It must be vexing to have it interrupt your work,” Sorren prodded, his slightly furrowed brow making his intentions pretty clear.
“I’m not having second thoughts, Sorren,” she assured him, a paw absently moving to her stomach. “It’s annoying, yes, but I have every intention of raising them happily. Jax and Joe would be pretty angry if I didn’t give them a kit or two to love.”
The doubt on his face settled. “I never thought otherwise, Head Harrow. I merely worry that you are pushing yourself too strenuously.”
“And the Grand Hunter would be just as distraught should anything occur to you,” Bratik added, wheeling himself close enough to grab her other paw. He gently stroked the surface with an equally soft grin. “The Fortress’ care extends to us all, but you are one of those it would hurt most to lose. Do not forget that.”
Her cheeks burned as she politely removed his grip, her ear flicking a few times before she managed to calm it down. She turned back to her terminal to hide her expression.
“I’ll grab something to eat later, don’t worry. There’s just a lot here to translate over and figure out.”
The two males voiced their reluctant understanding, wishing her a pleasant moon before leaving her to her own devices. Once again, her eyes were drawn to the maelstrom of defunct medical apparatuses that were keeping Tech’s body in a chemical coma.
So many, many devices.
After the issues with their initial stock of modern technology, the crew had started dragging out portable and obsolete versions that they had only intended to use if there was a biological incompatibility with properties that the newer items operated on. It turned out to be a rather fortunate decision, since the less complex variants were also easier to repair, assuming they malfunctioned at all. It led to a considerably denser combination of them to achieve the same results, but it worked all the same.
Tech was alive, if only just.
The doctors were less than enthused about dyeing the fur of a random female’s corpse and removing her organs to be replaced by Tech’s nonfunctional variants, but they acquiesced with a bit of passionate persuasion.
That is to say, Joseph all but strong-armed them into doing it while Robert was away.
He wasn’t proud of it, but it was the only solution that Mi’low could come up with on such short notice, and they needed to act quickly. Especially with the message that awaited them the moment Harrow’s slap-dash connection was established.
The UM has activated the warp-spike, and will probably try to remove me in the process. If you’re reading this, they did.
Honestly, seeing that within the depths of coding had shocked her into silence. If not for Mi’low taking initiative, then Tech would have actually died, and then they wouldn’t have only burned one body on the pyre.
As it was, the soldier’s form lay vacant, all of her biological needs being tended to by comparatively crude technology of an alien race while her brain swam in a chemical cocktail that Toril concocted. Even now, the male would show up with a minor revision to deepen the effects, or cause less harm on the tissues. Every time he injected it, his smile would fade, and he would administer it with clinical precision that was only earned through decades of combining volatile compounds. Not a drop too little, or too much. That was how fragile her state was.
No heart or liver, no kidneys or lungs, and everything else was slated to be removed as soon as they could safely do so, since keeping them would only cause a system shock once the replacements were installed.
Replacements that had been compiled, reiterated, and designed by the very female they were going into.
It left Harrow with a sense of unease and awe. What do you say to someone who hacked their way into documents that didn’t exist, on technologies that were so new that they were little more than temporary monikers on a particular researcher’s terminal? What could she possibly do but attempt to follow the instructions left behind by someone who didn’t just think that her government was going to kill her, but had verifiable evidence that such was the case?
How could she deny the small request at the bottom of the deluge of files, a single request to whomever would be working on the task, if anyone at all?
Please, I don’t want to lose him.
Her throat dried just reading it, renewing her drive to parse through the schematics again. They were making remarkable progress, considering. Robert’s ship came with a fabricator that was much more developed than anything she had seen before, and it had taken all of her willpower not to tear it apart to figure the damned thing out. It had more important tasks ahead of it than to sate her impulsive urge to understand anything in sight. It was for more than her.
It was for him. That was enough.
“Harrow?”
The orange-furred female jolted in her chair, the unborn within making her stomach roll in discomfort at the unexpected motion. She suppressed it from showing on her face, but she still held them with her paws to hopefully soothe their annoyance.
“Hey, Pan. What’s up?”
The Paw of the pack peeked in, worry in her eyes. Seeing that she wasn’t particularly disrupting anything, she entered, carrying a tray of various foods. There was far more than Harrow might have eaten before, but she found herself snacking pretty much constantly now—as long as a supply was readily available. She had taken to secluding herself with her work so as not to drain the already meagre stores they had, but Pan persisted, dropping off a feast that Harrow inevitably ate her way through as she worked.
Seeing that the last tray remained somewhat discarded off to the side, the white-furred female’s expression brightened, one paw retrieving the soiled object, while the other placed the new one within Harrow’s reach.
“I am relieved to see that you are doing well,” she noted, giggling at Harrow’s disapproving frown. “How goes your task?”
The Head of Technology sighed, her gaze warily lingering on Pan before her paw picked a piece of jerky to supply her ever-growing hunger. “Well, as far as getting it ready for the fabricator? I’m mostly done with getting the languages translated. Measurements and tolerances are a bit trickier since the two systems are so different, but that’s coming along. The biggest challenge is finding suitable replacements for the metals and electronics, but that’s falling on Rob’s engineers to sort out. Last I heard, they had a working prototype for the adrenal gland, and it would only take a few adjustments for them to get something we can actually use with any real confidence.”
Pan nodded along, smiling warmly as Harrow lost herself in her explanation, diving deeper and deeper into the minutia that she understood, as well as the theoretical that she could only offer conjecture on. Still, the defect’s affectionate regard remained, and she was kind enough to only pull Harrow back from the brink when tangents sprouted further tangents.
“—But, that’s assuming we can average the pressure between organic and artificial systems—which is outside of anything I’ve dealt with, but Ryan said he used to work a lot with that sort of thing, so...” She paused, noticing that she had already made decent progress in eating her way through the tray that had been brought in. Pan simply chuckled when Harrow had enough shame to reign in her paw from grabbing more to stuff her face with. “Don’t laugh at me.”
The white-furred female shook her head, covering her mouth with her wrist. “Apologies, I am merely taking my enjoyment where I might find it.”
“Sorry for being amusing enough to enjoy.”
Pan walked to grab a mug from a table near the edge of the room, filling it with water from a spigot attached to a plastic drum. The crew had brought it in early on in her coding marathon, though she often forgot it was there and simply chose not to drink much—not that it helped with how much she needed to take care of her bladder.
Harrow accepted the water, once again falling subject to the caring smile that persisted as she drank. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
The Paw blinked, placing a fist to her muzzle in thought. “I am not sure, truthfully. My bond urges me to, and so I do.”
She pouted at the simple explanation. “Joe isn’t here.”
“No,” Pan conceded, her eyes looking elsewhere as a touch of sadness afflicted her. “But his everything is what I cherish. I will move as my bond wishes of me, heart and soul.”
“I’m not sure what I was expect—“
“—Though I believe I can make an accurate guess as to why.”
Harrow frowned, cautiously turning her attention back to her terminal. “Yes, yes. Joe has finally fallen for my and Jax’s allure. We will bed him the moment he returns.”
Paws gently cupped the sides of her face from behind, Pan’s chin resting between orange-furred ears. “My mate cares for few as he does Violet. There is a certain quality to that affection that—although is no lesser in intensity—is different from that which he shares with myself and Tel.”
A soft, motherly kiss was placed atop Harrow’s head before she could quite catch what was being implied.
“They will be as lovely as you. Of that, I am sure. Please do not fret about your needs, I am more than happy to provide.”
Her paw flailed over her, the attempt to brush Pan off failing to achieve much besides a giggle from its target as she separated. Harrow shrunk at being found out so easily, and at wondering how many people already knew. “Pan, you can’t tell anyone.”
“I have not,” Pan assured her, her eyes falling to the floor. “I...suppose I just wished to be a part of that which I may never have. My apologies if I have overstepped.”
“Pan...”
Great, now she had her friend feeling terrible about being happy for her. A groan escaped her throat.
“Fine, fine. I’ll let you do your...meddling whenever you want. Just don’t make it obvious, okay? I don’t want people treating me like I’m made of glass. I need to work on this, and the last thing I need is being told to go rest all the time like I’ll fall apart if I miss a bit of rest.”
The white-furred female’s smile brightened back up as she bolted forward to subject Harrow to a particularly tight hug. Thankfully, she was careful not to go too low with it.
Once the uncomfortably strong show of affection was over, Pan was quick to launch into questions, none of which Harrow had much of an answer for yet. No, she didn’t know how many, nor their sex, nor if they would take after Harrow or Jax’s colours. No, she wasn’t sure how long was left, and no, she didn’t have any plans for more—though it may be a little early to decide that, honestly.
With her barrage of questions getting non-answers that still seemed to satisfy the requirements somehow, Pan giddily left the room, practically skipping after proclaiming that she would start working on clothing samples.
Harrow didn’t have the heart to remind her that the goal was to not be obvious; the white-furred female looked so enraptured by the idea of caring for kits that even trying to voice her complaints hurt Harrow's chest.
Regardless, she had food and water, as well as a mountain of more work to do. Her eyes drifted to the line before the plea for help from a female who sought assistance from even the one she doubted most, for any cost they decided.
It was a quote from a fairly old book that had fallen out of educational circles some time ago, but was still regarded as a fairly important work. It was an interview with a philosopher regarding the growing war, before the Lilhun people united and set aside their quarrels.
The most recent file to be updated—presumably before her condition deteriorated too much to do more than make a simple line of text. Her final thoughts before it became too much.
“The greatest weapon to fall into our enemy’s paws will not be stolen or developed; it will be given to them by us freely, and we will not learn of our mistake until it is too late to regret our actions. Only the Hunt Mother’s mercy will save us then—and she does not smile upon fools.”