The Captain's Heart CH 78

“Of all the fangless, egg-sucking, insect for a brain—” “Gral?” He ignored Jeremy’s call as he stormed to the door, but it served as a remin

“Of all the fangless, egg-sucking, insect for a brain—”

“Gral?”

He ignored Jeremy’s call as he stormed to the door, but it served as a reminder that he wasn’t alone in the apartment.

“Gral, what’s wrong?”

“Later,” he snapped, his anger utterly misdirected. He was in the hall, the door closed before Jeremy replied, and he could hear how badly he’d hurt him.

 Later, once he’d dealt with this needless change to a plan the leaf-eating admiral had imposed on him, he’d explain, ask for forgiveness, and seek to make it up to him.

The fucking admiral had been the one forcing him to travel to the Federation station, and now he demanded that Gralgiran stopped to inspect an incarceration center and pickup those scheduled for release.

It was due, the message said, and the Bane was the closest ship available.

Gralgiran had no trouble imagining the cackling the admiral let out while writing the order. Because, of course, the male hadn’t told him those face to face. He’d sent the orders in writing. Saved himself being screamed at.

Saved Gralgiran from giving the leadership a reason to order him to Kelser.

“I’ll thank whichever one of you Meddled to place such a coward in that position,” he grumbled. “When I’m able to do it without cursing the lot of you in the process.”

The only reason the Bane was so close to the center was because he’d been forced to head to the Federation station to be accused by those Earthers. There had been no reason for the leadership to just give into them. They weren’t a Federation species. They should have been told to go through the standard process.

Like the Earthers could have received permission to travel through Kelsirian territory from anyone other than the leadership.

Plenty of time, the message said.

Like the admiral had any idea what inspecting one of those places was like. He never refused to do it. It was part of the duties any combat-ready ship took on. But he never looked forward to them.

“Alter course,” he ordered as he stepped onto the bridge. “Set for Garaginerikar.”

“Alpha,” the beta standing in the center of the bridge said. “There isn’t—” He closed his muzzle and looked ahead at the glare Gralgiran gave him. Another undeserving recipient of his anger.

“Course set,” the pilot said. “Speed?”

“Whichever gets us there before I woke up hours ago,” he snapped. He headed to his office before anyone else gave him an excuse to unload his anger on them. With the door closed, he snarled and didn’t bother being polite in the thing he called the admiral.

He threw his tablet on the desk as he sat, then saw the message notification from his Heart. The trepidation dampened his anger, but he tapped it.

I can tell things are bad, but please talk to me? You aren’t alone. I love you.

He didn’t deserve someone this understanding.

I’m pissed at the leadership’s machinations, he wrote. I’m sorry I snapped at you. You do not deserve that. It’s going to take me some time to calm down, but I’ll explain what they did when I return to you.

I understand.

Fuck, he didn’t deserve him.

Instead of stewing in his anger, Gralgiran brought up the files on the incarceration center, its previous inspection report, as well as the released prisoners he would be taking on. Getting as much as he could ready now meant he’d be out of there faster.

Once he was done with the work, most of the anger was gone. He apologized to the pilot and beta as he left, and headed home to his Heart.

    *

The shuttle shook violently, and the pilot cursed the gods and Engineer who’d designed the terraforming tech used on the planet.

“Garaginerikar Center,” she called when the shuttled had stabilized. “This is the Bane, on approach to take on End of Sentence prisoners.”

Gralgiran didn’t hear the reply, but her tone told him they were being as difficult as any of the previous time he’d been here.

“This was scheduled by the leadership, Center. Those are the orders we’re following, so you are going to get those hangar doors open for me, or I am going to blast them, and you can deal with this fucking storm in your halls.”

She laughed. “Oh, you just go and test me and see if I lack the claws.”

“This should be interesting,” the beta on the other side of the cockpit access said. “Considering the shuttle isn’t armed.”

“Never, ever, think a pilot can’t turn something into a weapon,” the beta next to her said. “Those folks are utterly insane.”

“I can hear you, Hunter, you know.”

“It’s Beta to you, Pilot. Remember whose pack you’re in.”

“And remember who’s at the controls of this thing. Unless you want to walk back to the ship in this mess, they’re calling an atmosphere.”

“Told you,” the Beta said, smirking. “Utterly insane.”

“Are they going to open the hangar for us?” Gralgiran asked. While it was a good way to help the pilot relieve the stress they were under, he didn’t want this to escalate to the point he’d have to interpose himself.

She snorted. “Those groundsiders couldn’t stand up to a breeze back on Kelser. They’re chittering at me to not damage their precious hull. We’ll be out of this in no time.”

With a nod and a warning glare at the betas, he settled in to wait.

    *

The lack of his released prisoners waiting didn’t surprise him. Nor did the fact the guards looked no more respectable than the previous people he’d taken away from here, or delivered. This was where the pirates were headed unless the gods Meddled like none had before during their judgment case.

“There on their way,” the Administrator assured him. “I’m sorry about this, Captain, but—”

“Alpha,” Gralgiran corrected. He’d let many people get away with calling him Captain in a similar situation, but not someone who was purposely making his life difficult. “And the transfer was authorized months ago, with you acknowledging it. The people being released should have been transferred to the center’s detention then.”

“Yes, well, you see. As automated as the terraforming process is, there is still a need for labor on the ground and we’ve had to spread them thin as the process has expanded and—”

“When will they be here?”

“A few hours at most.”

He’d have to convince Alix to let him push the engines as much as the reactor could take since adding the backup wouldn’t add enough if he wanted to ensure Jeremy could enjoy a tour of the station before the farce started.

“Beta Heramstofesh, you are staying with the shuttle. The rest go to the transport’s dock and take control of the prisoners as soon as they are here. Bring them to the shuttle and secure them.”

“What about you, Alpha?” the Beta asked.

“I’ll be fine. The Administrator is simply taking me to his office so I can go over the records, and then show me whatever I feel needs to be inspected, since we will be here for a few hours.” Let that be a lesson for the next time they were inspected. The longer an Alpha had to remain, the more time they had to find any of the multiple ways the Administrator was manipulating the system in their favor.

And the male’s sudden nervousness spoke loudly to his lack of foresight.

“If you will, Administrator?” he motioned for the male to lead him.

The halls were uncomfortably narrow. Not to an Earther level, with barely four of them across fitting, but still narrower than should be allowed, in his opinion. He expected there were reasons. Almost certainly financial, maybe even enacted by one of the previous Administrator as a way to put more money in their accounts for once they were released from this service.

Because no one assigned to one of the few planets in the process of terraforming, which doubled as incarceration centers, had any illusion as to why they were privilege enough to be there. Without a need for their specialized skills, they would almost certainly be part of those incarcerated.

Gralgiran had been part of a pack escorting his Alpha when the female had thrown that Administrator into the transport heading back to the work-dome for them to experience the criminal level of negligence with which they had set up that system. He hoped not to have to do that here. His Alpha had complained for the rest of the trip to Kelser about all the formalities she’d had to report on because of it.

One of the guards, on the other hand, wouldn’t need so many reports filed. And the utter dislike they glared at him led him to think some might try to let a representative of those they felt responsible for being stuck here know how they felt.

He welcomed the attempt. Like them, he too had some anger to unleash.

There was a sense of age to the control center that made it feel older than the nearly thirty years the file said since it had been constructed. Only so much could be blamed on the hostile environment. The rest was negligence, born of a lack of care for the work the Administrator had been entrusted with.

That he’d been willing or not.

“You’ll see that everything is in good order, Alpha,” the male said as they entered the office.

It wasn’t opulent, so the Administrator climbed in his opinion, but he doubted the rest of those working at the center had plants and a humidifying system that made the air feel like they were close to the equator. Getting those here would cost, but not so much it had to mean they were skimming the system.

The male hesitated, then sat on the guest side of the desk, ceding authority to him. Gralgiran sat and was pleased when the files came up at his request. Administrators forcing him to fight for each detail for his inspection were too common.

Of course, some who had been too open had ended up hiding the most.

He smiled. As much as he despised being here, clawing through the files for all the ways the Administrator stole from the leadership was something he delighted in.

    *

Gralgiran watched the Administrator squirm as he instructed the guards he’d co-opted to move the storage cabinets and reveal the hidden stash of food. From the looks the guard gave the male, he might be more worried about what they’d do than what Gralgiran would.

What he planned on doing was filing his report and let others decide. From his point of view, the corruption he’d uncovered here was no worse than the other centers. Less, since he hadn’t found any evidence of outright suffering inflicted. Some Administrators started believing that they were the highest power under the gods, being so far from Kelser and the leadership there. And he had read reports of the little kingdom they had turned their center into until they could no longer keep that hidden from the inspecting Alpha.

“Return all of that to the Quartermaster,” he instructed the guards. He read the message on his tablet and let the Beta know he was on his way. “Administrator, the transport has arrived. I’ll leave you to supervise their work.”

“I think I should escort you,” the male said, hurrying after him. “Maybe you can deliver me to Kelser? To be judged?”

And free you from the consequences of your actions? “That isn’t something I’m authorized to do. I’ll file my report, and those higher than me within the leadership will decide what’s to be your punishment.”

“But with what I’ve taken from the government, they’re sure to want to—”

Gralgiran snorted. “I’ve seen worse be ignored. And when one of you did something so bad it needed to be dealt with, the Alpha doing the inspection dealt with it on site.” He smiled at the male. “You don’t want that to happen.”

“The prisoners are secured, Alpha.”

“Thank you, Beta.” He turned to the Administrator. “My duties here are done. I leave you to do your work.”

He stepped into the shuttle, went to the back, where his eleven new passengers were restrained to their seats. Only Kelsirians, this time. So that was one less complication. Other than the grime-matted fur and threadbare clothing, little differentiated them from the guards in the center. There had been enough anomalies within the personnel files, he was certain many of the guards had arrived destined for the work-domes, but that was among the most minor of infraction he, or the leadership, cared about.

“Your incarceration ends once you are released on Kelser,” he told them. “So, you will not be allowed among the civilian populations. You will have apartments among the Hunters. You will be allowed free movement among the Hunter decks. You will be issued an identity bracelet with funds, spend those with care unless you can find paying work among those you will live with. If you cause trouble, you will be dealt with immediately and you will spend the rest of what will be a long trip in a cell. This will be the only warning you get. Do not count on the gods to Meddle.”

As expected, the looks he got didn’t contain gratefulness.

Turning planets in the process of being terraformed into incarceration centers was a mistake, as far as he was concerned. Criminals couldn’t learn to be among society in such a harsh environment, even before taking into account the corruption that seeped into those places. And those who survived to be released were a different level of danger.

But those decisions were made by others. All he could do was offer them an environment where the survival instinct they’d gained in the hostile environment wouldn’t get them immediately in trouble, and hope the transit time would let them remember they were people and not animals.

The rest was in the hands of the gods.

Outline section 

Gral doesn’t particularly like penal colonies. He’s not against them, and fully believes there are crimes deserving of them. But there is always something in the atmosphere that feels... off about the guards. Maybe it’s fear of an inspecting captain tossing them into their own prison for violations, which has only happened on three occasions and only once wasn’t deserved, but they often felt a lot like the prisoners they supervise... dangerous.

He’s a hunter, he doesn’t shurk from danger. But he shouldn’t be feeling it from another kelsirian on a mortal level... political... well that’s politics.

The commander of the prison is at least polite. He’ll lead Gral himself to the command center while select Alphas go along with other guards to inspect the prison facilities. Literally plural in this case; this prison is constructed on a world undergoing the slow terraforming process. There were some sealed habitatte domes on the surface of the world before the process began, with five expected to be sturdy enough to survive the process but only one being mission critical to the terraforming. When the other domes started to become ghost towns, the government bought out most of the remaining citizens and converted the place into a prison.

That does mean the chaotic wasteland down below will eventually become a verdant green world, but that is still several hundred years away. Gral does hope they have the foresight to stop sending prisons here before that day comes; the relocation of so many prisoners to different prisons would be a knightmare.

Which brings us to the reason Gral is in the command center. The prisoners to be released have all been retrieved and are waiting in processing. It’s a large batch, but only by comparison to what is normal from a released penal colony. Six pirates from a crew of twenty and two smugglers from a raid of forty. Gral understands the need for death for people like this, but he still feels uneasy being around the kelsirians’ whose job it is to just stand and watch it happen.

Knowing how many prisoners he’s transporting, he’ll signal the ship on how large of a guard force he’ll need. Then it’s paperwork and getting the all clear from his Alphas on the inspections. By the time he’s able to leave, Gral is ready for a long night with his heart, but he knows it won’t be coming just yet. He still needs to make sure their new passengers are settled in.

Addition 

Make this a ‘last minute change to the trip from the leadership’ won’t delay them, but pissed Gral off since he could have dropped of his prisoners at the same time, instead of handing them off to one of the military ships if he’d known. Also, what’s the point of picking up released prisoners if he won’t be taking them to Kelser directly?

I didn’t really ‘follow’ the outline. A lot of what I wrote is based more on my memory of how draft 0 felt like, with Gralgiran throwing in his own thoughts. I had no plans on the prisoners being allows freedom at all, as far as I was concerned, they were going to be in cells the entire trip.

I won’t say that having them among the hunters will change anything…by there is now this sense of possibility bouncing in my head.

I do know that Jeremy will be feeling the effect of them being on the ship, somehow.