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2593-31

"I thought I'd find you here," Elliot said, entering the kitchen. "Where's dad?"

"He took off a couple of hours ago, he said he had to go to Reno to pickup supplies." Eric went back to shoving cereal in his mouth.

Elliot shook his head. "I can't believe after all these years he still doesn't trust his suppliers to send him the material he asked for."

"Dad's a hands on kind of guy, you know that."

Elliot filled a cup with coffee. "He's an everything on kind of guy. You two had sex till the wee hours of the morning I'm guessing." He pointed to the almost empty bowl in front of Eric.

"No, we stopped around eleven, I think. My body's still not fully back to normal, so I went back to sleep after he left. Got up fifteen minutes ago. What brings you here on a work day?"

"I thought you'd like an update on the investigation into your kidnapping."

"He said who hired him?"

"Claims he doesn't know. He got paid in gems and precious metals, as well as come pieces of tech."

"Did we get that? It could tell us who hired him."

Elliot sat opposite Eric. "No, he sent that home as soon as he got it. The only tech we got was that portable quarantine device. The preliminary report says it didn't have any component we can conclusively trace to any specific corporation."

"How about the holographic tech he used?"

"Soromis wouldn't let us get that. Says it's on corporate land and we only claim to want it so we can steal the genes for their wheat."

"Why do they think we're not happy with our own version?"

"For the same reason our belts self-destroy if they're tempered with. It's their tech and they won't let anyone look at it. We're all like that."

Eric shrugged and tipped the bowl to his mouth to drink the rest of the milk. "How about the kangaroo then, found out anything about him?"

"Calls himself Paco, won't give his last name. He's wanted by Vanguard and Halibury for various crimes, mostly for theft, but Marcel said they suspect him in at least two murder."

"You and Halibury's leader still fuck?"

"Yeah, but only when we both on the Corporate meeting hall. Visiting each other in our home has been making the other corporation nervous, they're worried we might merge."

"Really? We'd do that?"

"Of course not, but can you imagine what Vanguard might do if they think it's a serious possibility? The old broad isn't quite sane, it wouldn't take much to have her go to war. Anyway, we're handing Paco to SolGov so everyone who had a legal claim to him can make their case."

"So, he might not pay for kidnapping me." Eric's tone darkened.

"He'll pay. Unless Vanguard ends up with him, I'll make sure who ever prosecutes him keeps in mind what he did to you. Which bring me to this; how come you never mentioned your phobia. We could have helped."

Eric shrugged. "Why do you sometime lose your temper over a misfiled document, and other times you don't? I can give you the reasons I told myself to keep it a secret, but the truth is, it made me different from the rest of you, and I was afraid dad would reject me for it. Then it became part of who I am so much I couldn't think of removing it. I was afraid I wouldn't be me anymore."

"Do you really think dad would have done that?"

"No, not really. But just like I know the gravity can't suddenly change here, it didn't help. The fear was there, and as a kid the idea dad might not want me terrified me."

"I wish I'd known, I'd have tried to help."

"I know."

"Look, there's something else we need to talk about. You can't go back to space."

"What are you talking about Elli? I am not staying down here. My life is in space."

"Eric, think about it. There's been three attacks on you over the last few years. The last time there's been an attack on one of us was Sebastian, when he was exploring one of the islands in the pacific. Vanguard blew up his shuttle with him in it. They've never even attempted it on those of us who stay in our territory."

"You leave it."

"Only on official business and only to go to the meeting hall. Vanguard isn't stupid enough to try to kill me when I'm on Corporate business. But you, you're always away. In space, anyone can attack you, and with you escaping their grasp, they're bound to be more aggressive."

"Fine, put weapons on my ship, reinforce the hull. I'll hire a few more bruisers. You're not grounding me Elli."

"What about your sons. Eric?"

"What about them?"

"Are you really going to put them in danger like that? They're the next generations of Orrs. Don't you think they might be a target? And even if they aren't. Are you willing to leave them fatherless, just so you can be in space?"

"That isn't fair, Elli."

"You think I'm going to play fair when it comes to keeping you and them safe? Eric, you're my brother, they're my nephews. I'm going to do anything I have to keep you alive. Look, I know how you feel about it, so how about you stay down here until your sons are old enough to decide if they want to travel with you or stay with us? Then you can get back to space with any of them who want it."

Eric sighed. "What happens to my ship in the meantime?"

"Mister Fenian can captain it."

"The investigation board has already rendered its decision?"

"There was never any investigation. He saved your life. I don't care what laws he had to break to do it, I owe him. I'll protect him from any lawsuit. I had him think there was one because I wanted a full accounting of what happened. The rest of your crew spoke well of him, but I needed to know how he'd behaved so I could decide if I was letting him have the ship."

Eric nodded. "You were never letting me get back to space, were you."

"I'm not going to force you to do anything, you know that."

Eric snorted. "Come on, Elli, emotional blackmail isn't exactly right."

"Just tell me no. I won't stop you."

"Fuck, you know I can't. You're right, I'm being selfish in putting them in danger."

Elliot smiled.

"Don't be so damn smug, Elli, it doesn't look good on you. Have you told Will yet?"

"No."

"Okay, I will. I need to head back there to grab my stuff."

"I can have someone get it for you."

"Elli, I'm not going to steal the ship and fly off. My family's down here. I'm just going to pass the news along, say good bye, and grab mine and the children's things, nothing more."

"So, you'll need most of a day then? One last fuck with each of them?"

"Well, I hope it won't be the last time I fuck them, but yeah I'll give them a proper send off."

"Alright. I'll let you deal with the transition then."