Admiral Stonefist seethed.

Kinnit glanced over at him. They were in their office, working. Grimthorn hadn't said anything, but the way he was pounding the keys on his console made his mood clear.

"What's wrong, sir? More fallout from the inspection?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. I just got a message from CenCom."

"Oh." Kinnit understood that Grimthorn was powerfully annoyed by the Naval top brass. She found it hard to relate, since the last message she'd gotten from CenCom had been so nice. "What do they have to say?"

"Nothing important." He turned away from her.

She set her hands on her hips, facing him.

"Grimthorn," she said warningly.

"Agh," he said, running his hands through his hair. "It's stupid. Just more bureaucracy."

"CenCom has new bureaucracy all the time. What's got you upset? Why don't you want to tell me?"

Grimthorn sighed.

"Fine. I got this message: 'Central Command is reviewing its policies regarding Subject Species in the Imperial Navy. As you have a Subject Species reporting directly to you, please prepare reports regarding their responsibilities and activities.'"

Kinnit shrugged.

"So they want more reports. What's the big deal?"

"This kind of message is usually a preliminary. They're planning something, laying the groundwork for some kind of shakeup. I don't even want to know what kind of stupid new policy they're going to come up with for dealing with SSes." He gazed worriedly at the slim golden collar fused to the flesh of her neck.

"I think you're being too sensitive, sir. I'm sure it's just bureaucrats in the Navy making more work for everyone else, as usual."

"I hope so," he said quietly. His eyes stayed fixed on her collar.

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Later that evening, Kinnit sat in mess, sipping a cup of Navy coffee, which was like real coffee, only crunchier. It was comforting, though, and Kinnit had developed a taste for it.

Lucy the server sat across from her, taking a break. Her long, spidery limbs held her own cup of coffee.

"So what's new with you, hon? Anything exciting?"

"Not really. We've been focused on these inspections. The inspections have been going... well, they've been enlightening."

"Oh?"

"I don't want to say anything bad about anyone specific. But some of our ships are not in good shape."

"Mmhmm." Lucy drank some of her coffee. "I've heard the Admiral has been lighting things up."

"He is, but he's not just being mean." She ground her teeth. "People should take pride in their work. They're in the legendary Ninth Fleet! They should act like it!"

"I hear you, hon. Speaking of, how is our Admiral treating you? Have you two worked things out? He's not still being weird around you, is he?"

Kinnit flushed, and an uncertain grin crept across her face. She looked down at the table and fiddled with her coffee mug.

"Oh... oh no. We're... working together well, now."

Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"How well?"

Kinnit's head came up.

"Um. You know, like good work colleagues. An effective team."

Lucy smiled slyly.

"Oh? Just work colleagues? There's not a little something spicier there?"

Kinnit blanched.

"O-of course not! That would be illegal! And wrong!"

Lucy laughed.

"Hon, nobody on board cares about that kind of thing. Terrans will be Terrans."

"It's not funny, Lucy! There are still real consequences, all the way up to CenCom! Grimthorn can't afford to get embroiled in a, a scandal. Even the rumor of an inappropriate relationship--" Kinnit's face flamed scarlet. "Not that there is one! But they'd drag him into an investigation and cause all kinds of problems." Kinnit sagged. "He's already got to deal with so much."

Lucy patted her hand.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"Don't worry, hon, I won't spread rumors." Lucy sipped some more coffee. "I don't think anybody on board would mind, though. It would be a smart pairing. Anyway, if something like that were going on--" she laughed and held up a hand as Kinnit opened her mouth in a panic. "--not that I'm saying there is! But people aren't blind. They'd figure it out pretty quick."

Kinnit stared blindly into her cup of coffee, her mind wheeling.

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Later that evening, Kinnit was snuggled with Grimthorn in his hidey-hole. Their hidey-hole now, she supposed. The long, low nook was still warm and comforting, but she'd brought in a few touches: a small flower vase for the table, and a few prints for the walls. Mostly sweeping, dramatic prints of nebulae or galaxies.

Grimthorn sat on the sofa reading a physical copy of "Origin of the Imperium" open in his left hand. Kinnit was snuggled under his right arm, spinning through some technical specs on the ships of the Navy.

They'd been making a habit of meeting here in the evenings to spend time together. It was more private than anywhere else on board and more intimate than the office.

She snuggled closer into him, rocking her shoulders back and forth. She let out a long, satisfied sigh. It had been a long time since she had been in the embrace of the Clamber, the close pile of Kobolds that shared warmth, contact, and communication. She tried a little of the touch-language of the Kobolds on him.

"Ehehe," he said, not looking up from his book. "That tickles."

She smiled. He didn't understand, but it was fine. She rested her head on his chest.

"Grimthorn?"

"Mmmhmm?"

"Maybe you could come visit my homeworld sometime."

He raised his eyebrows and laid his book aside.

"Oh? Yes, I suppose that makes sense. It would be good for me to learn more about your people."

She laughed a little.

"I meant that you could meet my family and stuff," she said. "Come be part of the Clamber for a while."

"Oh!" He looked very thoughtful for a long moment. "That's a good idea. Maybe after the Oryndrax operation."

She smiled and snuggled into him more. Her mood grew somber.

"Do you think we'll be okay?"

"Oh, certainly. The Oryndrax won't be expecting us at all."

"No, I mean... us. What if people find out? What would happen to us?"

Grimthorn paused even longer.

"Honestly, I don't know," he said quietly. "I only know that I will stand beside you, regardless of what happens." He squeezed her. "I am yours, and I will do anything to be with you. Anything. Quit the Navy, run to the far corners of the galaxy, if we have to."

Kinnit laid her head back on his chest, listening to his breathing.

"Don't talk like that," she said. "I love the Imperium, and I love you. I want both." She rubbed her head on him. "I know it's selfish, but I want both."

She drifted off to sleep. He sat thinking for a long time, staring at the cover of his book.

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"Alright people, eyes up," Grimthorn said. He stood on the captain's dais of the ISS Swordheart, addressing the Ninth Fleet. "We have the element of surprise, but we're going to be sealing off a whole system. The bugs will not be happy once they figure out what we're up to. Be prepared for heavy resistance."

"Intel suggests that most of their fleet should be docked. I want cruisers hitting those docks hard and fast. Every ship that's locked to a damaged dock is one we don't have to shoot down."

"Recon ships with fighter escorts will enter first and scan the system. Next will be cruisers. Recon will comm the dock locations to the cruisers. While the cruisers are knocking out their docks, destroyers will enter and start hitting their defenses. Be prepared for lots of fighters."

"We'll be streaming in from six jumpholes simultaneously. Thank you, Kinnit, for your work on that nav plan." He smiled indulgently at her. "Hopefully, we'll be hitting them from too many directions too fast for them to mount a coherent defense."

"Once the entire fleet is in the system, torpedo shuttles will fire quantum disruptors, closing all the jumpholes down except for the last one, the one we'll escape from. The shuttles will be coordinating with torpedo shuttles on the other end to make sure those jumpholes are closed for good."

"We can't transmit through jumpholes, so I want constant comm pods back and forth through the jumpholes. Keep the rest of the fleet informed."

"Remember that our goal is not to destroy the Oryndrax fleet. We're only running cover so the shuttles can close those jumpholes. Stay in contact with your squadron, constant coordination. With any luck, it will only take a couple hours. May the Emperor's grace smile on us. All hail the Imperium!"

"All hail!" Came the throaty cry from a thousand other ships.

The Ninth Fleet turned and began streaming to their places for the operation.

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"Operation is a go," came the voice from comms.

Commander Atria Duey nodded. "Acknowledged. ISS Starsight, all ahead full. Get the sensors hot and let's get this done."

The ISS Starsight tipped into the final jumphole to begin the Oryndrax operation. Starsight was a medium patrol craft, designed for fast recon operations. The sensors were already warmed up for when they came out of jumpspace. Its crew of 22 were already tense, even before entering the jumphole.

The crew gritted their teeth as they endured the journey through jumpspace. In spite of the latest Naval technology to buffer the impact, jumpspace travel was a harrowing affair for all biologicals.

Something about entering a dimension where space and time didn't exist did terrible things to the sentient mind.

Fortunately, most jumphole traversals only took a few minutes.

Commander Atria Duey gripped the grab bar on the small bridge of the ship, inasmuch as she could do so when the concept of a grab bar, or hands, or even self were meaningless in this unspace.

The Oryndrax operation should be straightforward. They'd scan, get the info to the cruisers, and hang back, scanning for useful information for the fleet.

They hit the exit jumphole and popped back out into real space.

The planet Oryndrax was dull and dingy brown-yellow, faintly warmed by a fat, red star. It was circled by dozens of small, irregularly-shaped moons.

All as expected. What wasn't expected was the array of Oryndrax ships aimed at her.

"Evade!" she screamed. "Evade, evade!"

Three ion shells detonated within a half a klick of the Starsight. Lights on the ship flickered and went out.

"Get a comms pod to the fleet!" she yelled. "The Oryndrax know we're coming! They're waiting for us!"

With horror she realized she was yelling into a dead console.

"What do we have?"

A young Lieutenant on the bridge slapped ineffectually at his console.

"I-- I don't know, ma'am! Everything's down! I can't get any reports!"

"Lieutenant, run to Engineering. Tell them the only priority is to get a comms pod out immediately."

"But ma'am, the shields?"

Hollow booming resounded through the ship as the Oryndrax closed in enough to begin using their blasters.

"It's too late for that. The only thing we can do now is warn the rest of the fleet. Now run!"

The Lieutenant bolted. Commander Duey saluted those remaining on the bridge.

"All hail the Imperium!" she cried.

"All hail!" they cried.