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. Two requests for a meeting but they had gone to the First Officer 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 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/ sniffed. 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’ seal 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 Captains lap. Of course his /Longnose/ was 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 Captains 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 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, 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 any 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 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 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 Engineers anger. He shook his head. He would be reading that story in the air for days to come. There were suddenly many things to 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 with the speed of the Captains 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.

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