Page 39 of Dirty December

“Marcus, spare me the lecture. What are you saying?”

“I’m not a doctor of reproductive science. I’m a medical officer with a new hobby, thanks to this terrible disease we’ve lived through. I’ll do my part and research the most expedient method of conception between a human female and a Leonid male. That’s how I can help. Ifyouwant to help the Leonid population, you’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. Mate the girl every day for a month, or thereabouts.”

“We’ll be docking in two weeks! We’re picking up a new crew at Leonid-One!”

“It’s a simple enough matter to get word to the crew you’ve hired that they’ll still be paid and they’ll have two weeks initial leave. I can assign them tasks. We have an entire bay that’s unfilled. Set them to acquiring cargo. Besides... if the outbreak aboard that Sirius vesselisa mutation of Queen Fever, all ports except designated survival ports will be closed for a month or two.”

Ru hung his head in frustration, a growling groan echoing in the large, domed captain’s quarters. “That a Leonid should lower himself...”

“Maybe humans aren’t the intellectual planetoids you think they are. I spoke to the cargo today and found her competent.”

“Thecargo. The fact that they ship themselves as cargo and not passengers—”

“Because they’re poor, Rupex. Their planets are longer established and more decimated by war and want, yet most stubbornly refuse to even leave Sapien-One, the original Earth.” Marcus’ nose twitched, and his tail did a nervous pit-pat on his ankle.

Marcus had been with Rupex for the last seven years. The grizzled old lion had been the only one to stay with him through the Grounding when all starcraft were only allowed to dock on their original home worlds or their designated survival ports. This wasn’t necessarily by choice—medical officers were in critically short supply and every ship was now required by law to have one or have their ship’s registry rejected. Ru didn’t always enjoy Marcus’ company, and the ship was large enough to allow them to avoid one another on most occasions. Still, Ru knew him well enough to recognize the signs of impending bad news.

“What is it?”

“What’s what?” Marcus avoided his eyes.

“Your tail isfluttering. Don’t tell me. The mutation has been confirmed to be Queen Fever?”

“Oh. No. I haven’t heard one way or the other. It’ll probably be a day before they send a new bulletin. No, it’s about the cargo. The girl.”

“Girl? A cub!”

“No, no. A woman. A young lady named Layla. She wasn’t intending to go to Lynx-Nineteen.”

“I hope not. They’d eat her. That’s an almost entirely primal backwater.”

“She was sold. As in, someone sold her. She didn’t negotiate her contract.”

Ru’s mane bristled out and his claws unsheathed in rage. “What?What!?”

“Calm down.”

“I will not! You volunteered to take over the cargo assignments while I was down with the post-vaccination reaction! I leave you in charge for two days and you take on a trafficked human? Manes and tails, Marcus! We’re going to be permanently grounded for this!”

“I picked the cargo up from a vessel that wasn’t going to the outer reaches of the Felix Orbus. I didn’t know she wasn’t moving of her own volition, Rupex. She was asleep, which is standard for most humans on a galaxy jump. Nothing twigged my suspicions, and I hope you won’t pretend she would have aroused yours, either. You’ve been on autopilot since—”

“Quiet. That’s an order.”

Silence filled the deck. They both knew what Marcus would have said. Rupex had been on autopilot, functioning automatically since he lost his sisters and the Queens of theComet Stalker. He took on skeleton crews and long-haul freights that would keep him on his ship for as long as possible. Planets within the Felix Orbus Galaxy seemed permanently touched by death and sadness, with a dearth of cubs and Queens, and many citizens (especially on the smaller and more distant planets) were claiming they should either remain in isolation or revert to feral states to cope with the new reality.

“The stars feel familiar.” Rupex double-checked the navigation settings and the alerts before stalking away.

“Ru... We’re not going to rebuild without change. Do you want to stay stuck in the past, where we were helpless? Or do something to fix it?”

Rupex had to get away from Marcus before he clawed him. He could feel the dagger-like tips of his claws passing through the soft sheath of his paws. There was no fixing this.

But maybe the older Leonid has a point.

Somehow, someway, he would have to move forward. TheComet Stalkercould jump galaxies, but it couldn’t travel back in time.

Chapter Three

Layla felt smug. And worried. And irritated. Whatever that emotional blend was, she wanted to patent it and sell it.

---