Dangerous Toys (Part Two)

Patrica was only slightly surprised to find a security guard standing at her door. He was busy playing with /Scentofhappy/, who was happily chasing the guards tail. The man looked up with a guilty flinch, “Sorry Sir, the boss sent me down to check that Loki was secure and then this little bundle turned up. I’m afraid I couldn’t let Loki out without you here.” She smiled as the scaly, scary and no doubt battle-hardened creature began scratching behind the dogs’ ears.

“That’s not a problem. Perhaps you could take her to the Captain? I’m sure he’ll be happy to see her. I’m taking Loki for a walk anyway.” The guard perked up. It was rare that he got to take these odd creatures for what the humans called ‘Walkies’, but he found it immensely satisfying. “ With pleasure, Engineer. You’d better let my boss know where you’re going or he will feel left out.” Patrica nodded, “Don’t worry, that’s where I’m going first. I just wanted to take Loki with me.” Something in her tone struck the security guard and his professional instincts made him stop. "Sir?”

She shook her head, “Nothing important. I’ll meet security and then begin a tour of the systems. If someone is messing about I’ll get to the bottom of it. Probably just someone being a little too curious. I won’t be going anywhere that Loki can’t follow.”

She opened her door to a very unhappy Loki, his whining having been ignored when he could clearly hear the puppy playing outside. If she could have planned a worse torture she couldn’t think of one. Happily, Loki didn’t carry grudges once she let him out and let the flurry of nose, wuffs and licks take place. Once both dogs had established that all was well with the world she spoke ‘/Loki/walkies/guard/no games/’ and then she turned to the puppy, ‘/Scentofhappy/Walkies to Captain/guard/’. She couldn’t imagine anyone would attack the Captain’s dog but certain instincts needed to be trained and now was as good a place to start as any. Loki had been trained long before he had ever seen a Ship.

The guard half-understood what was being said but he got a genuine shock when Loki suddenly stopped playing and went quiet. His nose began sniffing and he took his place to the left of the Engineer. Something suddenly reminded him that they were predators and that humans had had them for a very long time. /Scentofhappy/ yipped a bit until a glare from Loki silenced her and she copied his position beside the guard. Patrica nodded to him and left, Loki matching her pace as he kept his position.

She began her inspections on the way to security. She hadn’t been on board for long enough to deal with much more than half the main systems but she had a bloody good idea of what the rest of them were supposed to look like. She pulled panels while Loki kept a lookout. No one was going to creep up on her while he was there no matter how deep in the tech she was. She hit the first issue with the Comms panel. Someone had hardwired a parallel system independently onto the node. It wasn’t good work but it was enough and it was old, old enough to be from before the ship left the dockyard. She knew it wasn’t on the designs or her engineering notes. Maybe something for the Captain? She doubted it. She decided the easiest way to find out was to disable it and wait for someone to start complaining so she pulled the whole thing and packed it with her toolkit. On to the next.

Two crewmembers were rudely interrupted when their conversation about what to do about the Captain and his bloody Engineer was suddenly cut off.

The next panel that was just plain odd was the lighting. Who needed to mess with lighting? Any crew could hit the switch, and they didn’t even turn on unless the Ship knew someone was about to arrive. It was such an old system, so seamless that most people thought the ship was constantly bright. Again someone had added another independent line. At best they could override the controls and turn the ship dark. Another backup? She shook her head. This was another one off-the-books so she was halfway through tearing it out when Loki let out a quiet growl. She didn’t need a translator for that one, it had been built into humans and dogs for thirty-thousand years. She picked up her plasma-lance, just an engineer holding a tool and not, for example, a weapon that could punch through armour and anyone wearing it.

One of the crew was busy opening the Comms panel she had altered. He had apparently not seen the Engineer or Loki in the alcove that held the lighting systems. Before she had time to think she called out, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

The crewman jumped and turned to see the human. He was torn between ending this problem for good or running. Then he snarled. Humans were soft and she hadn’t found anything important yet, better to end this now. He drew a knife and began to run at her.

Loki didn’t know the why or the who but he knew that something was attacking his pack. If the Captain had been there he could have read the story as something like ‘/threat/attacker/GUARD/ATTACK/’ as Loki began. To Patrica, it was almost slow motion as Loki went from a standing start when he saw the blade to his full speed. From start to finish it was only a matter of seconds before Loki had reached the attacker and hurled himself on the limb that held the weapon, his head biting and shaking the arm with enough force to break it several times over. The crewman was thrown to the ground and Lokis legs spread, braced against the decking as he continued to bite deeper. Patrica turned on the plasma-lance and ran to Loki as the screams began to fill the hallway. ‘/Enough/Loki Good boy Best boy/Guard/’. Loki sniffed at the high praise and stood back, waiting to see if he could do more.

The crewman was a mess. Lokis claws had raked his face on the way to the ground and his arm was broken in several places. He thought it couldn’t get worse until the human held a plasma torch close enough to his wounds to cut off the leakage. He hissed in pain. The human spoke in that odd accent, “Well I was on my way to security anyway. I hope you don’t mind answering a few questions. Incidentally, if you move I will let Loki tear your throat out and eat whatever is left. Are we clear?” Her prisoner simply whimpered since Loki was keeping himself and a surprising number of teeth firmly in view and growling a warning.

Patrica pulled her Comms and called the Captain. He should hear this first was a useful rule of thumb, “Captain I have someone here that thought it would be a good idea to attack me while Loki was watching. He’s going to need a med bay and someone needs to ask him a few questions. I’m at the Comms panel on deck C.”

The Captain had been fervently hoping that this was all a mistake and that he could return his ship to its normal, happy self. The smells on the bridge were of concern, doubt and even a little fear. He had issued extra rations to the canteen as his crew gathered to murmur about what was happening. No doubt they would create their own version of events. When his Comms lit up he was hoping the Engineer had some good news. Instead, he was faced with the worst. He assured Patrica that they were on the way, although she hadn’t sounded worried. After he called his Security Chief and raced to join them, it occurred to him that the Engineer should have been worried. She weighed less than he did, she was unarmed and, if he was to be honest, nobody’s idea of a soldier. What had she done?

The first smell was of Loki triumphant, then the battle-chemicals of his human. Then the blood. He slowed down, trying to endure the assault to his senses. He could see Patrica standing over her fallen attacker holding a plasma-lance while Loki was locked in place and growling.

The scents were mixed,‘/threatwarning/surprise/angeratttack/pain/bloodregret/fear/.../ the event played out as he tasted it from the beginning.

Patrica was glad to see the cavalry arrive as the Captain and his security guards came down the corridor. She guessed that they hadn’t seen the little puppy determinedly following the Captain on her tiny legs. She told Loki, ‘Scentofhappy/puppy/protect/’. Loki sniffed and decided that his pack was safe for now and went to intercept and explain to his friend. With a last growl and a yawn that displayed all his teeth, he ran to meet her.

The Captain saw Lokis ears perk up as the Engineer said something and then the dog turned towards him and began to run. He could see blood on the thin sides of its face as it raced down the corridor. He could smell his own surprise and fear jolted by some primitive instinct as Loki went past him and woofed a /welcome/bravePuppy/ at the little /Scentofhappy/ that had apparently followed him down. The two of them went into a circle of tail-wagging and sniffing as Loki explained, ‘/Lokibrave/AttackPack/Sharpclaw/’ he huffed in pride, ‘/LokiGoodBoyBestBoy/’.