FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 02

Eric stood behind the pilot's chair. he was watching the screen showing Luna Station, ten kilometer away with Earth in the background. The ship had been at a full stop in the staging sector for ten minutes and they were still waiting for station control to acknowledge them.

"Standing there isn't going to make them contact us any faster, captain," Jeff, his pilot, said.

"I know." was all the tiger said as a reply to the jackal. his ears trembled in a mix of annoyance and worry. his hackles were up, not that anything had happened to cause that, not yet anyway. He looked at the monkey seated at the board on his left. "Any indication why they're taking so long?"

Marc shook his head but then straightened. "It's them."

"Puller Z3F89M7," a none-descript voice sounded, "I apologize for the delay. What do you need?"

"Thanks, Station," Marc answered. "I have a full array of ore from the system rim, hooked up at Titan Station, and headed for precessing by Orr Corp. I just need a clamp at their storage ring."

"M7, I read the array as being Epsilon Alpha 3483 Zeta, please confirm."

"That's the one."

"This array is marked as belonging to Vanguard Corporation, not Orr."

"You're going to want to check your information," the monkey said, "we all work for Orr Corp here."

"I've confirmed that it belongs to Vanguard, I'll have a clamp assigned to you in a moment."

"Belay that, station. This isn't going to Vanguard, it's going to Orr."

"Negative, it's Vanguard property."

"Station, just hold. I need to talk with my captain." The monkey didn't wait for a reply, he shut down the channel.

Eric's fists were so tight his claws were digging in his palm. This was what he was worried about, Vanguard pulling this again. The home office was supposed to have done something about this. He connected his command implant to the communication board and all the channels Marc was monitoring became visible.

"I need a free channel," He told him.

The monkey reached in the crowd of small screens floating before him, found one, wiped the codes off and slid it to the side.

Eric was happy his implant hadn't also activated audio when he connected to that board. It looked very busy. He took the screen to the next station over and linked the two. The monitor and the lights on that board came on.

He didn't need to do that, with the channel he could have contacted the office directly through his implant, but he needed to do something with his hands. flipping switches and pressing buttons would have to do for now.

He input Eliot's address, and a tiger in a crisp gray suit appeared on the monitor. "Hi Eric," his brother's image said, "I can't talk right now, I'm in a meeting. What do you need? I can probably get back to you in an hour or two."

Eric disconnected. He didn't have that kind of time, and he realized Eliot wasn't really the one he should be talking to, this wasn't for the Corporate Head to handle. He input a different address.

Another tiger appeared, this one was wearing a cardigan. "Eric," he said, "how can I help you."

"Vanguard's at it again, uncle. I thought we had taken care of their constant interfering with us after the last time? This time they have the array registered as theirs."

The tiger frowned and looked to the side. "Let me check."

"Isn't there a way we can make certain this stops happening?"

"Only two ways I can think of," he replied, still looking to the side. "One, I setup a permanent presence on the station. Elliot would never agree to that."

"So, you don't tell him."

The corner of the tiger's lips curled up. "I'm good, but I'm not that good. Eventually he'd realize what I'm doing and he would yank me out. He'd probably lock me up too."

"He wouldn't do that. You're vital to running the corporation."

"You've never had to deal with him when he's angry. He's very much like your father that way. I don't think he'd care if the corporation crashed down as a consequence."

Eric sighed. "Fine, what's the second?"

"Go to war with them."

Eric shuddered. The corporate war of 2245 was way before his time, but he'd learned about it as part of learning the family history. It had lasted ten years and it had taken a century to fully repair the damage it had caused.

"Right," Eric said, "not an option."

"Not unless they start it."

Eric didn't think it would be worth it even then.

"Okay," the tiger said, "I see what they did. give me a few minutes, ten tops, and I'll clear that out."

"Thanks uncle."

The monitor went blank. he unconnected the channel from the board and handed it back to Marc. Then he went back to stand behind the pilot chair, placing his hands on the Jackal's shoulder.

All he had to look at was the station, two kilometer long of mostly cylinder metal that housed more people than the Vegas Metropolis. And behind it Earth, the place he hadn't been to in three years now, and where he had no plans on going anytime soon. He was a spacer through and through, the only one in the family. And he loved it, except for when he had to deal with crap like this from Vanguard.

They had been enemies from before the war, according to the history. Always trying to steal each other's market share, or even trying to destroy each other. Eric didn't get why Eliot and Margaret Emiolet couldn't just sit down and work things out. There were only five corporations left, the Earth had to be large enough for all of them.

"Captain," Jeff said, "I normally like it when you massage my shoulders, but if you dig your fingers any deeper, you're going to rip something out."

Eric let go of the jackal's shoulders. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I know how stuff like this can stress you. If you want I can suck you off while we wait."

Eric chuckled. "It's my job to see to your need while on the job, not the other way around."

The pilot grinned. "If you don't tell the captain, I won't."

Eric chuckled. "It's tempting, but I don't want to be in the middle of it when my uncle clears things up."

Jeff looked up at him. "You are stressed. That doesn't normally bother you."

Eric shrugged.

"Marc, you think we should tackle him and force him to relax?"

"I'm not leaving my post until the array is clamped. The captain would kill me if I did."

"No I wouldn't," Eric said, "I'd just withhold sex for a month."

The monkey groaned. "That's even worse. Station's contacting us."

"M7," the voice said. "Looks like we've had a glitch in our database and support now fixed it. The array is now showing as belonging to Orr Corporation. You've been assigned to clamp one-forty-five."

"That's not ours," Jeff said, before Eric could. He looked at Marc. "Orr clamps are in the two hundred range. Two-twelve to two-seventy-eight."

"Station," Marc said, "Please verify the clamp number. The one you gave us isn't an Orr clamp."

"Sorry for the mistake, M7. Two-forty-five is the correct number."

"Mistake my ass," Eric grumbled.

'I'm looking into it.' Text appeared in a small window in his field of vision. 'If any money was transferred to that tech from Vanguard, we'll have grounds for legal action. Uncle.'

Eric glanced over his shoulder, yep, he could still see the communications screens. He'd forgotten to disconnect from them, otherwise he would have received a notice he had a message waiting. He did that and the screens vanished. It was good to know Uncle was on it, but it wouldn't have anything to do with him from that point on.

"How long until the array is clamped?" he asked Jeff.

"It's going to take about an hour to get there and positioned. Then it usually takes them half an hour to move the clamp in position. so, I'd say we can be unhooked and docked in two and a half hours."

"Okay. I need to go see to Yonto." Eric turned to leave as a zebra entered the bridge.

"Eric, I have the cargo manifest verified."

A notice appeared, informing him Xavier had sent him a file. Eric Accepted it, but he didn't open it. "Thanks, Xav. You didn't have to do that."

"I don't mind. With Yonto locked in his room, I figured I should make sure we didn't lose anything else in transit."

Eric smiled and patted the zebra on the shoulder. "Good thought." He walked away and Xavier followed him.

"You know, I was thinking, now that we're at the station, we should get off the ship, go have lunch in a restaurant, celebrate."

Eric nodded, accessing the file and checking the entries. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Let the others know and we'll all go. Can you pick a place?"

"Err, yeah, sure."

"Thanks. I have to get Yonto to clear up his room, and then start looking for a new cargo master."

"You don't have to do that," Xavier said, "I don't mind doing it. I can probably get the teaching program for cheap."

Eric smiled at him. "You're my structural engineer, Xav. You have enough to do with that. I appreciate that you like to help, but my budget includes paying for a cargo master, so I don't have to burden you with that."

"Oh, okay." Then he brightened. "You want me to help with Yonto?"

"No, thanks. It's best that I handle him alone."

"Oh. Alright. Oh, I like how your fur's coming along."

Eric looked at his arm. It was almost completely white, except for where his stripes were, those were just starting to grow blue. Eric could never decide what color he wanted his fur to be. ever since he'd been eight, he'd been having his DNA retyped to change it. The green fur and purple stripes of last month hadn't worked for him, so he'd retyped for full white, and shaved the color off as soon as he had a centimeter of white. He'd then let it grow for two weeks and had retyped himself for blue stripes. he knew that wouldn't be horrible.

"Thanks. I think I'm going to keep this color for a while."

The zebra ran a hand along Eric's side. "It's too bad you can't get typed so your fur stops growing. It's really nice like that, pale and under the white. It's looks like ice."

Eric looked at it again. "You're right. I wonder if there's a typing equation that could give me fur that goes pale as it grows." he patted Xavier's shoulder. "Thanks for the idea. I'll have to look into that."

"You're welcome," the zebra exclaimed. "You know I love to help out anyway I can."

"And I appreciate it. I have to go deal with the buffalo, let me know where we're having lunch when it's setup."

"Sure!"

The tiger headed down the corridor to Yonto's room. He'd never had to put one of his crew under lock down before, but with the buffalo being violent and striking Eric he couldn't take a chance. Yonto's indulging in mind altering substances, hadn't left him that out of control before. He didn't understand why he resorted to those when there were safer and better options available.

He connected to the door through his implant, and unlocked it. The smell of sweat and dirty clothing blew out of the room as it opened. The buffalo was seated on the bed, in the far corner. He was naked and sporting an erection, which he was stroking.

Eric usually enjoyed horny naked guys, but the mess in the room distracted him. Yonto had an extensive wardrobe, which, by the look, and sell, of it hadn't been washed since he'd been put in lock down a month ago.

He wasn't surprised the buffalo was jerking off, like the rest of the crew, his sex drive was above the norm, by a lot. For the last month he'd been alone here. His only contact with others were Brick and Brack, who brought him his food, but they were under strict orders not to go in the room, and not to have sex with the buffalo.

"We're docking in a couple of hours," Eric said as the door closed behind him. The buffalo looked at him, but continued stroking himself. Eric leaned back against the door and waited him out. Normally he'd prefer joining him, guys should never have to seek relief alone, but the buffalo wasn't part of the crew anymore, as far as Eric was concerned. Five minutes later Yonto grunted and came over his chest.

Eric still felt the urge to go to the man and lick the cum off. He hated to see cum go to waste like that, but he kept it in check. He only involved himself sexually with his crew or his family. Yonto had lost the privilege of being a crew member when he'd let his substance use affect his work.

"Go take a shower," Eric ordered.

"You coming with me?" the buffalo asked in his deep voice.

"No. You're washing off, then I'm giving you your departure medical. After that you're back here to clean this room up."

"You're such a fucking tight ass," Yonto growled, throwing his legs off the side of the bed. "So, I screwed up. You didn't have to lock me up because of it."

"I didn't lock you up because you screwed up. I did it because when Xavier fixed what you'd done, you went for him, and when I put a hand on your arm to stop you, you punched me. You were so jacked up on whatever you took that Brack had to restrain you. I don't let anyone that dangerous loose on my ship."

"I said I was sorry!" The buffalo stomped to the bathroom, stopping at the door when Eric spoke.

"Like you meant it?" Eric glared at the buffalo. "You should consider yourself lucky I don't press charges for the money you cost me. Hell, I'd be justified in getting your personality retyped, for the damage your negligence caused."

"Then, why don't you?"

"Because you aren't worth it," Eric said in exasperation. "You were an okay cargo master, but I don't want to invest the money needed to get you retyped. I don't want to risk keeping you around. Now go shower."

Once the door to the bathroom closed, Eric closed his eyes. Being horny was his natural state, but watching Yonto jerk off was making his hard cock hurt. The mental image of the buffalo naked under the water wasn't helping. Yonto had been a great fuck, it was too bad he used chems to the point it made him dangerous.

When Yonto came out of the bathroom, still damp, he looked at the tiger's crotch and grinned. Eric didn't care that his jeans showed his hard cock, or that he smelled horny. The buffalo came to him, but wisely didn't touch Eric. It was clear he didn't plan on getting dressed, and Eric didn't mind that either. Walking around the ship naked wasn't unusual. He did make sure to grab the belt hanging on the back of a chair before leaving the room.

The medical room was a simple, uncluttered place, the auto-med on the far wall, and the desk next to it. Yonto lied on it without prompting.

Eric placed the belt in the locker with the others before connecting to the auto-med. The displays became visible and he had it scan the buffalo while the DNA typer ran through its startup checks.

Yonto was healthy, if somewhat out of shape. Even before his lock down, the buffalo hadn't been one to use the exercise room. He counted on the sex to exercise. His blood work came back clean, after a month without access to chems, there was no trace of them left in him, but Yonto's brain still showed some lesions.

He studied them for a moment. He'd done some research on chem use and their effects, after Yonto's explosion, and what he was looking at spoke of a lot of years of use. He added it to the rest of the log he'd compiled in case Yonto decided to claim his time on the ship was the cause.

Fortunately, Eric had records from all the medical he'd given the buffalo, including the ones he gave him each time they ended a leg of their trip. Eric had gone over them and they all showed those lesions.

"Can I ask you a question?" Eric asked. The Typer showed it passed all its tests and he set it to scan Yonto's DNA.

"You run the world, so I can't stop you."

Eric rolled his eyes. "Corporations don't run the world." It was something those who weren't willing to put the work into starting up their own company said. If they did that, they'd have a say in how the world went, just like every other business owner. Well, at least within Orr Corp territory.

"The rec room has a dozen different device to create altered brain states, why did you resort to chemicals?"

"Because those things don't work. You barely feel anything. If you're serious about getting jacked, you go chem."

"You know that stuff is causing damage, right?" The graph with the things Eric cared about came up, stamina, immune system, body repair mechanisms, sex drive, refractory period.

Yonto snorted. "That's a myth. Chems are perfectly safe. no one's ever died from them."

"Maybe, but how much did they have to pay to get the repairs done?" He brought back the stamina to where Yonto's file said it had been when he joined the crew, but left the immune and repair system as they were. he hadn't raised them all that much.

"If you're pissed because I used chems instead of your toys, say so instead of spouting junk."

"I just thought you were smarter, that's all." He brought the refractory period back to the norm, but he couldn't get himself to lower the buffalo's sex drive to where it had been. No one should have just a normal sex drive, so he brought it down a few notches only. He wouldn't be locked in one room anymore, so he'd have all the opportunities he wanted to take care of it.

"I'm plenty smart."

With the new settings adjusted, Eric ordered the retyping. A moment later the display told him the process was done. While he hadn't felt anything, Yonto had been injected with nanites that would modify his DNA over the next three weeks. slowly enough to be unnoticeable, except for a less active sex drive.

"okay, all done."

"So, I'm in top shape?"

"Nothing you have can be attributed to your time here, that's all I care about."

"Are you saying I've got damage?"

"I thought chems were safe."

The buffalo sat up. "Well?"

Eric snorted. "I'm not giving you a free readout. You want to know if you've suffered damage from all that chem, go to a clinic and pay for it." He escorted Yonto to his room.

"I'm locking the door. I'll unlock it once we're docked and ready to disembark. Pack your stuff during that time. Anything not packed by the time I'm ready to kick you out stays here."

He locked the door as he said he would and went looking for someone to have sex with. The request for available cargo masters could wait until they were docked.