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Something I wanted to submit for the Ursa Major Awards, but I decided that it had too little appeal for a niche genre. Instead I think I'll submit it here as a monthly serial, despite taking up over a year of my life.

_**Ein Wolf in der Falz

Chapter I - Love Aboard the Lucy**_

_ 2010 by Eldyran _

_May 2, 1915

The Atlantic Ocean_

Konrad Wagner looked up to the pristine blue Atlantic sky, and with a short sigh, leaned more on the deck rail. As his fireman's kit flapped in the sharp salty breeze blowing off the stern, it ruffled parts of his exposed black fur. The adolescence wolf stared off into the featureless horizon in the far distance. Light from the blinding midday sun overhead bounced off the rolling ocean crests, which swirled past in the ship's wake.

Konrad turned his yellow eyes down to the blue green waters churning near the propellers, as if his gaze grew heavy. He felt himself pulled inward from the hypnotic sight. A large feline paw clamped around the fifteen year old's broadening shoulder, concerned.

"What's wrong lad?" Captain Turner asked Konrad, before he too, leaned against the deck railing.

"Ahw, its nothing Captain ..." the young wolf shrugged, before looking up into the elder feline's white under muzzle, "I just expected ..."

"Something more exciting?" Captain Turner laughed. The wolf smiled up at him as the experienced sailor patted him reassuringly on the back. They both looked out to the endless sea for a moment. "I know what its like the first time crossing the Atlantic as part of a crew. Everyone seems to know more than you. The shifts down below decks next to the boilers can get long and hot."

"Its more than just ..."

"I'll let you in a little secret, lad." The feline captain gave the boy another warm smile. "I was thirteen when I first left port. You'll do me and this ship proud." That seemed to cheer up Konrad somewhat until the first mate waved Captain Turner over to socialize with a group of first class passengers.

"Bloody Hell." The captain sighed before patting the railing. "Time to rub elbows. Just between you and me, the upper crust gets more stale with each voyage."

Turner winked at him before leaving the wolf to contemplate another grueling eight hour shift shoveling coal into one of the ship's almost two hundred furnaces. Even with six of the twenty five scotch boilers turned off to conserve coal for the war effort, it got blistering hot below decks, and the engineering crew often kept some of the portholes open as a matter of comfort.

The ship made a course correction, undetectable by most of those on deck, but with the slight acceleration the stern gave a slight shudder. A skittish looking coyote around the same age standing next to Konrad gripped the deck railing harder, a mild look of panic washing over his smaller muzzle. He had a thin build, his fur gray with white and black streaks.

"You okay?" Konrad asked, turning his head and perking one of his lupine ears to the other boy.

"Um ... yeah ..." the other boy looked over to him, smoothing out his child's vest with clammy, slender paws. From his tailor made attire, Konrad could tell this boy's father must be one of the first class passengers that his captain now greeted. "The rattle in the rail ... something isn't right ..."

Konrad just shrugged and propped his right hind foot on the mid rung of the deck rail, before leaning back against it. The salty wind ruffled the thinner undergarments of his coal shoveler's kit.

"That's just the Lucy, she's always been like that. So says the lead fireman anyway. He said they completely gutted the decks right below us to brace the cross beams after her sea trial."

"It feels like they didn't rivet the braces. Just spot welded them. Were they trying to save time?" the other boy asked. Konrad cocked his head and smiled. He didn't expect the frailer looking canid to know anything about naval engineering. Considering that they were both so young, it struck a instant harmonious cord between them.

"Well ... yeah. The shipwrights were about a month behind by that time. How do you know so much about ships anyway?"

"My uncle is president of a shipyard back in the States. I spend a lot of the time hanging around it." The adolescent coyote grinned with beaming pride before climbing up on halfway on the deck rail. His hind feet hooked on the middle rail, knees bracing on the top one. He opened his arms to the Atlantic, his over jacket flapping in the gusts behind him. After a while the coyote looked down to the wolf's outfit.

"So your a fireman?"

"Yeah. I wanna be an engineer's apprentice. But everyone says you have to work the fire line first." The wolf looked up to his new friend.

"What's it like down there, when the engines are running full bore?"

"Its hot. I have a hard time hearing anything over the roar of the boilers. Over near the turbines its a lot cooler."

"You think you can show me them sometime?" The coyote hopped down from the rail, his green eyes gleaming with excitement. Konrad smiled back.

"Yeah. Maybe tomorrow? Noonish?"

"Sure! I'll meet you over by that luggage crane ..."

They both turned to where the coyote had pointed, past the small troupe of celebrities and industrialists now facing Captain Turner. While the Captain had their rapt attention explaining the prestige of the ship, a stranger stepped out from a mechanical alcove just behind the crane in question. The yellow cougar dressed in fine gray business attire blinked up to the brilliant blue sky. One of his weathered paws leaned a bit on an exquisite ebony walking cane.

He pulled out a golden pocket watch from a vest pocket and opened it. Once satisfied at its reading, he nodded to himself and put it back away. He limped to the back of the crowd without anyone noticing. Both boys frowned in confusion. That mechanical alcove was a dead end, and Konrad, with his back against the railing, hadn't noticed him before. It was like he stepped out of nowhere.

The really weird thing was that his soggy trouser cuffs dripped with fresh seawater.

After they recovered from the peculiar moment, they shrugged at each other before realizing they hadn't formally introduced each other. Konrad stuck out a calloused paw and the coyote accepted it. His slender paw had seen a much less brutal life, the soft paw pads delighting Konrad's touch.

"Name's Konrad. What's yours?"

"William."

"Well, William ..." the coyote thought he saw a cute blush behind the wolf's gregarious smile, "Tomorrow at noon then ..."

The two canids parted ways, unaware that the strange cougar in the back of the crowd had quietly observed them. The fifty something feline with dull streaks coursing through his yellow fur seemed pleased that he arrived when he did.

And in his eyes ... just in time.

May 3, 1915

The next morning after brunch William sat with his uncle in the first class lounge, listening to a British supplier drone on and on about the war. The coyote played with the leftover food on his porcelain plate, one claw idly circling the remains of a buttered crumpet. His uncle, Albert Hopkins, didn't seem all that interested in the conversation either, but for whatever reason felt it bad form to excuse himself or his nephew.

"Well it seems like you Brits have gotten yourselves into one of your proverbial sticky wickets." The elder coyote sipped his tea, then closed his eyes and leaned back in his posh high backed chair.

"Thats what the Germans would like those back in the States to think." the malamute scoffed, turning another page in his newspaper. "Ever since they skipped through Belgium instead of occupying it, their propaganda machine has run in full force I say."

Albert sipped once more, failing to notice his nephew's acute boredom. The dry goods supplier gaffed as he turned another page to an ominous advertisement.

"Really. Their gall is astonishing, even with their High Seas Fleet breakout of the North Sea blockage. By George, look at what they've printed here ..." The malumute folded his paper and pushed it in front of the two coyotes.

_ NOTICE! _

TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travelers sailing in the war zone on the ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.

IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY,

Washington, D.C. 22 April 1915

The elder coyote seemed to pale at that, much to William's confusion. He stopped playing with the food on his plate and started to pay attention. His uncle pushed away the paper like it was a farce, but he still look haunted by something he had left behind in America.

"The Kaiser would never resort to such barbarism. His troop's restraint in Belgium is testimony to that."

"Is that so?" The malamute folded his arms with high brow contempt. "It would seem to follow with the company he keeps in his cabinet. Perhaps they don't have the stomach for this Great War, him and his hundred and seventy fivers all buggering each other around Liebenberg's Round Table."

Willam's ears perked at that, the hot flush of taboo turning the smooth skin under the fur red now. He looked away, suddenly uncomfortable with the conversation and its vulgar homosexual slurs. While it was true that the young coyote spent a lot of time milling about his uncle's shipyard, it wasn't just the hard steel keels he found impressive.

In the past year he had discovered a fondness for seaman as well.

No one in his family knew of course. He'd often just sit for hours and watch the shipwrights labor away, their sweat glistened bodies bathed in the sparks of their welding torches. While trying to distract his mind from the sudden flush of arousal, William's gaze came to rest on a familiar patron sitting at one of the nearby tables. The coyote blinked when he realized it was the same strange cougar from yesterday. The old feline seemed to be leafing through a ledger of some type, with odd water stains discoloring its naval blue leather binding.

"Uncle," William asked offhandedly, his curious green eyes still locked on the book, "May I be excused to the loo?"

"Yes yes ... go on then ..." The elder coyote waved a dismissive paw, paying more attention to the malamutes brutish approximation of German Imperial high society. He turned back to the dog. "Regardless, this is not a Mongol's war. And in all truth, it is an European war. Wilson has his ear to the American people, and they wish no part of it ..."

William slid from his seat and made his cautious way through the small tables dotting the lounge. The gentle murmur of polite conversation and clink of expensive porcelain filled the busy lounge. Wait staff hovered like worker bees around the clumps of couches and high profile clientèle. It took William by surprise when the cougar addressed him without looking away from his reading, and if he was an old acquaintance. Given that the plush carpeting softened his footsteps, the coyote didn't think the feline heard him approach.

"Good morning, Will. I would offer you something to drink, but I'm afraid Egypt has no Chamomile for us today. Not with the Italian blockade of the Mediterranean anyway." William blinked, confused to how the stranger knew his favorite flavor, and why he addressed him as he did. No one had ever called him that before. Aware of the young coyote's hesitation, the cougar continued, but never took his eyes from the ledger. "Have a seat."

William slid into the adjoining chair, hushed into awe stuck silence at the stranger's voice. While slow and deliberate with age, its deep rumble was commanding and yet almost sinister in a way. The accent was undeniably British, but with an inflection that seemed informal and out of place somehow. William's great grand cousins might have said that the mature cougar with short cropped head fur sounded a lot like Malcolm McDowell.

The coyote realized his awkward adolescent stare and dropped it down to peer at the the odd writing glimpsed between those water stained leather covers. A cold shiver ran up his spine when he realized the majority of the book contained German cypher. He bent his neck a bit to squint at its front cover, which read simply: Signalbuch der Kaiserlichen Marine.

"Is is interesting how two misplaced books might turn the course of an entire world war." The cougar remarked with a contemplative rumble. His brittle claw traced the symbols of the naval codex, as if appreciating a treasure more valuable than its weight in gold. William just sat there, not sure what the feline meant. He watched the cougar turn another page, and noticed for the first time the black armband around his right bicep sleeve. The material looked odd, almost like a metallic fabric.

"I realize what questions you may be asking yourself. Why someone would travel on a British liner with a German military code book in a time of war." The cougar finally turned to him, his calm amber eyes unconcerned. "The Queen herself might consider it an act of of treason. Be mindful of that, and the company you keep, Will. Especially with your new friend."

"What queen?" William stammered, "And how do you know who I am?" The coyote's blood chilled as the cougar looked at him. A look that seemed to know more about him than even his own uncle.

"Oh I know a great deal about your family. As well as Konrad." The cougar closed his eyes for a moment, as if weary. William wondered how he knew the younger wolf's name, as they were too far away from the influential crowd to be overhead. The stranger pulled out the same pocket watch from his vest and opened it with a sharp click. He opened his eyes to glance at its time, then smiled back at the adolescent coyote. "Speaking of which, aren't you going to be late for something?"

The coyote's eyes opened a bit in panic. Konrad. He glanced up at a grandfather clock and watched the small and large arms of its golden face line up to noon. It's clockwork guts turned, then bonged in deep succession, echoing about in the busy lounge. William turned back to the cougar, who snapped shut his timepiece with a knowing half smile. He closed the blue book before sliding it next to its twin safely inside a large interior coat pocket.

William hesitated for a moment, but then ran back to his table. He couldn't afford another moment, or Konrad might think he had forgotten all together. He pulled on his uncle's sleeve, still busy debating the course of the war. It didn't take much prompting for the elder coyote to dismiss his bothersome, insistent nephew.

William rushed off through the obstacle course of deck hands and second class passengers to the top deck. He found Konrad sitting on the crane mount, flicking off a bit of dried grease around one of the joints with a jittery claw. His bushy black tail swished about on the hardwood deck behind him.

"You're late." Konrad said with a relieved smile. The wolf wiped off the grease onto the thick layers of leather guarding his legs and got up.

"Um ... yeah. I ... wanted to make sure I was ready." The coyote flashed him an uneasy grin, and the wolf poked about his well pressed clothes.

"Well, I hope you weren't too attached to these. These are going to get smudged to Hell. Come on!"

Konrad led William down a thin service stairway, the clink of his heavy boots on the wrought iron steps echoing up from the darkness below. They circled lower and lower into the bowels of the ship, past second class, past even steerage. Here in the aft part of the lower decks, Konrad led William through parts of engineering. A few engineers looked at them as they walked through, but didn't say anything before going back to their checklists and gauges.

The whine of the steam turbines deafened the two, so much that the coyote had trouble making out what his friend said. William still got the jist of what Konrad pointed to, and felt the turbines' colossal power vibrate the deck grating up through his hind feet. Even his teeth rattled. The fresh smell of fire retardant paint hung in the thick air, making it hard to breath. Instead of yelling back to the coyote, the other boy just grabbed his paw and led him.

William gave a light shudder at Konrad's strong touch.

Konrad let him forward to the forth boiler room. William's coat stuck to his fur in the humid, hot air, but at least he could hear the wolf now. Konrad pointed up to the huge hissing pipes around them.

"Each set of boilers feed a single Parsons turbine, supplying almost 20,000 horsepower each." Willam's jaw dropped at his friend's pride.

"How much coal does she use a day?"

"About a 1,000 tons a day, if we run all the furnaces."

"Where do you store that much?" William looked forward, peeking around a crooked conduit. His sweaty paw pads left wet smudges on the warm pipes.

"In bins below this deck. No one ever goes down there though. Its where we keep all the cargo." Konrad moved on through a hatch after waiting for some mechanics to pass by, their paws full of grimy toolboxes. He tugged on William's paw. "Come on. I wanna show you what I do."

The roar of the furnaces greeted them as they neared the second boiler. It was sweltering now, beads of sweat trickled down William's under shirt and boxer drawers. The coyote couldn't imagine what it was like for the wolf in his work overalls and leather guards. Konrad opened up another hatch, and past it, lines of furnaces blazed with tongues of orange flame. Their maws lapped at the lines of fireman feeding their ravenous appetite. Konrad chummed up to some of the other fireman.

"Hey Konrad, you found yerself another wee little paddy!" One of the fireman for second shift bellowed out. The red stag barely looked eighteen himself, but everyone else on the fire line burst out in laughter with the comfortable ribbing. Konrad smirked and elbowed his close friend in the ribs.

"Get off it Miles, this is my new friend William. He's spent more time in a shipyard back in the States than you did latched on to your mother's teat. I figure that's what? Eight years?" The fickle boom of laughter turned against the stag just as quickly, several slaps falling across his back. Miles seemed to take it in stride, a wide smile beaming at the wolf's carousing.

"Yeah? Lets see 'em prove it." Miles agreed to let the well dressed coyote take a shot at their job and handed William a shovel. The coyote almost dropped it. It must have weighed a ton. Some of the other Irish laborers took good natured bets on how quickly he'd pass out from the heat.

Undeterred, William used all of his weight to shove the blade deep into the black pile sitting in its grimy coal dust covered hopper. With a growl he lurched forward toward the furnace and tossed the contents into the flames. He had to back up almost immediately, for fear that his thin clothing would burst into flame from the immense heat. At least now he understood why Konrad had so much leather on now.

The adult fireman roared with applause, the Irish among them offering to sneak the coyote a bit of dry stout for his efforts later. Konrad smiled at his friend and clasped him on the back. William smiled back despite his deep pants, his fur matted down with sweat now in most spots. When he looked down to the black smudges smeared across his fancy clothes, he cursed.

"My uncle's going to brain me once he sees me like this ..." William fretted.

"Oh don't get your knickers in a twist," Konrad laughed and dragged his friend back to his bunk.

He let the coyote wash off in one of the crew showers before taking a hose to his clothing. William felt self conscious in the communal shower, watching all the older males lather themselves up with lye. He tried to shove down the disappointment that Konrad didn't join him.

Konrad on the other paw kept thinking about William and what he was doing. As the wolf hosed down the coyote's coal smudged clothes, all he could think about was watching the slender canid peel off his sweat matted layers, one at a time. He didn't know if it was right feeling that way about him, but as long as he kept it a secret, he didn't see any harm in it.

It was three o'clock by the time William and Konrad climbed back up to the top deck. A few of the first class passengers gave them a odd look as they hugged warmly in goodbye. It was an unspoken rule that the ships crew wasn't supposed to mingle with the upper class. They smiled at each other before parting.

"Wanna hang out again sometime?" Konrad offered.

"Sure!" William agreed, before squeezing some more water out of his sleeves. "We've got a few more days before we make it to Liverpool. I'm staying in room A-34. Just knock. My uncle is usually off somewhere."

"Alright." Konrad nodded. "I usually work at 4 o'clock, but maybe I can convince my lead to let me off early tomorrow and work later the next night."

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" William gave a cute blush that he hoped Konrad wouldn't take the wrong way.

"Absolutely."

Konrad hesitated a moment, before begrudgingly making his way down to his next shift. William lingered a moment until the wolf left before letting the butterflies that had been fluttering around near the pit of his stomach free. He floated back to his room, exhausted and still wet, but delirious with happiness.

May 4th, 1915

"Is that is the same wolf who ruined your jacket? If so I don't want you playing with him again." Uncle Albert fussed while trimming some of his whiskers in a oval mirror. He whisked some shaving soap out of a nearby cup and dappled it about his muzzle. He was already late for the dinner party as it was.

"It wasn't his fault Uncle. I forgot to put on something else." William called back, digging through his three bags of luggage for something that wouldn't attract so much attention when worn around Konrad.

"I don't think you are understanding me young man. That jacket cost my sister fifteen dollars. She'll ring both our necks if you come back looking like a vagrant."

"But Uncle, I thought you said you weren't coming back." William peered back at the elder coyote, whose muzzle seemed to pale in the mirror. He seemed to grow nervous for a moment, before taking a straight razor from the sink and sliding the blade across the underside of his muzzle, grooming.

"Thats not the issue. I forbid you to see this wolf. He's ship crew."

"I don't care! You cant tell me what to do. You're not my father!" William tugged on a simple cotton shirt before slamming the luggage case shut. He ran out of the luxurious cabin before his uncle could stop him.

A few hours later William laid on the top of the quarter deck, looking down at the second class promenade. The sun lay low on the western horizon; a half orange semicircle that seemed to catch the white caps behind the ship on fire. A light breeze blew back from the aft, the open ocean air ruffling the coyote's dressed down clothes. With no one else up here, it seemed like freedom. Even if it was just temporary.

When Konrad plopped down beside him, William gave a slight startle. The wolf smiled down at the surprised coyote.

"There you are. I was wondering where you skipped off to."

"How ... did you find me?" William asked, watching the wind ripple Konrad's black fur in fascination.

"Well I went to go knock on your cabin, but no one was there. As I turned to leave a cougar with a black cane mentioned that he saw you make your way up here." Konrad looked back to the setting sun, and failed to notice the coyote's unsettled frown.

"Do you know him?"

"Who?"

"The yellow cougar with a black cane."

"No. I've never seen him before. Unless he was the same cougar we saw over by the starboard loading crane a few days ago. I wasn't really paying attention." William thought for a moment, and was debating whether or not to tell Konrad about the eerie stranger when the wolf ended the silence.

"So why are you all the way up here?" Konrad looked down to the lower deck, watching the second class appreciating the view. He looked around behind him. They were almost completely alone up here, aside from a few first class passengers looking back from near the fourth funnel, admiring the sunset.

"Ahw. My uncle and I had a fight. He said he didn't want us to be seen together." William glanced at Konrad, who gave a worried look back. They each thought it had to do with their stations rather than their secret attraction to each other.

"I'm sorry if I got you in trouble." Konrad blurted out, and without thinking, reached out to grasp the coyote's paw.

They locked curious gazes before adverting their eyes. When Konrad tried to move his paw away, William groped for it again. They chanced a fleeting glance, each realizing that they wanted to hold paws. Konrad looked behind him again before laying his head back on the coyote's stomach. They each stared up at the streaks of red cast in the violet sky above them from the setting sun, too nervous to speak for a while.

"Don't worry about it." William finally offered, "My family is always upset. My uncle is growing broke. Everyone knows it, but no one talks about it. They are just really concerned about their image."

"And they worry about what you do?"

"Well. Kinda. I think they've been noticing how much time Ive been spending around the shipyard."

"What's wrong with that? Don't they want you to help in the family business?" Konrad turned his head, one of his cheeks laying flush now with William's narrow chest. The coyote looked down at him, unsure of what to say to the other boy.

"To an extent." William remarked, before dodging the question. "So where is your family?"

"I dunno. My mother dropped me off at an orphanage in Cuxhaven. All I know about them is what she left with me; some baby clothes and my name." There was a pause when William recognized the name of the German port and naval station.

"So ... you're German?" William blurted out, an odd chill running down his spine down to the base of his tail. The wind seemed to cut through him now, like a knife. He thought back to the older feline's ominous warning.

"Yeah. As soon as I was old enough I went to work on the sea. This is my first cross Atlantic trip aboard the Lucy." He seemed to grow quiet, the grip on William's paw growing less confident. They lay there for a few minutes in silence, acutely aware of the intangible pull drawing them together. It felt like it was more than just chance, more than just common ground.

It felt like they had met at exactly the right place, at precisely the right time. A gentle squeeze on his paw reassured Konrad.

"Konrad?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you care that I'm holding your paw?"

"Not really."

William seemed to relax a little more at Konrad's confession. He had a feeling that the wolf felt the same way about other boys as he did, but he wasn't sure. A mistaken cue might mean a family scandal if misread, or worse, a bashing. The coyote decided to risk it anyway. There was only a few days left on the voyage. Even if he was wrong no one would believe a fifteen year old coal burner spreading vicious, jealous lies about the nephew of the largest shipbuilder in the United States.

"Konrad, do you like the sea?" William coyly remarked, still looking up to the darkening sky. A couple of stars peaked through the deep purple curtain falling across the heavens.

"Of course. Do you?"

"I like those who work on it more. That's the real reason I spend so much time hanging around my family's shipyard."

As its meaning dawned on the German wolf, the American coyote let the implication hung in the air, broken only by the whistle of the wind. When William felt Konrad's thumb claw scrape the sensitive spaces between his paw pads, his heart skipped a beat.

"So ..." Konrad began, his voice shaking a bit from hopeful nervousness. "Does that mean you like me in the same way?"

"Yeah. Do you mind?" William glanced down now at the wolf now grinning from ear to ear on his stomach back at him.

"Not really." After his smiled faded Konrad shot a peek back to the fourth funnel. The previous onlookers had moved on. William felt Konrad shift around, his canid ears perking in the chilling breeze now sweeping over the quarter deck.

As night fell around them, Konrad pressed his black muzzle lips against William's own. Underneath the starry sky with no one watching, the two canids kissed. Their muzzle lips moved against each other with gentle pressure. During this timeless moment in the middle of the Atlantic two adolescent boys found love for the first time.

While the Great War seemed far away, it approached faster than either of them realized.

May 6th, 1915

William Hopkins looked up to the star filled Atlantic night sky, and with a short sigh, leaned more on the deck rail. He watched the moonlight shimmer over the calm ocean and wished Konrad was with him now. The coyote hadn't seen him since Tuesday night. He knew the wolf had to work later on Wednesday night to make up the time he lost that day. He probably spent most of this morning sleeping off his exhaustion.

The coyote wondered if it had been a good idea to express his feelings for the wolf. They were due in Liverpool by tomorrow night. What would happen after that? He couldn't expect Konrad to give up his new career just on the whim of a single kiss. Even if his family broke apart on either side of the Atlantic, there would be no way they would allow such a thing.

He looked up to the stars and felt alone.

"William. What are you doing out here?" Uncle Albert grasped the railing beside him, looking down both sides of the liner. The muted instrumentals of 'Heart of Oak' drifted from the closed doors of the first class lounge behind them.

Aside from the muted interior lights of the first class lounge, the rest of the ship was dark. Captain Turner had issued a blackout earlier that night as a precaution against wandering German U-boats. The elder coyote's clammy paws gripped the cold rail, thinking about the telegraph he had received prior to boarding. While he had made the proper arrangements without his wife knowing, he really wished his sister hadn't sent her only son with him.

It was the elder coyote's turn to look up to the stars and feel empty. If something were to ever happen to him, his nephew, and the other more than 126 American passengers on board, the United States would surely take action against Germany. American shipbuilding would boom again. His family and its business would be saved, even if he were not.

"Nothing Uncle ... just thinking."

"Well come on inside then. You're going to catch draft out here."

The older coyote fussed with his nephew's best suit, straighting its black bow before ushering William back inside with a gentle paw on his back. Inside the lounge, the Seaman's Charity concert was in full swing now, its small orchestra playing overtones of 'British Tars Rewarded'. Among the rousing song and cheer, the rich dropped pound and dollar alike into collection pots.

William spent another long hour sitting alone at his assigned table, watching his uncle hob-knob within tight social circles. Most of the overhead chandeliers weren't lit, creating wells of light and pools of shadow across the lounge. Some tables sparked with life and conversation while others looked sullen and empty. He contemplated sneaking a sip of some leftover wine. He wondered were Konrad was at.

His answer came when a black wolf's paw squeezed his shoulder gently. William turned his head, his heart thundering now as he realized who had come to join him. Konrad smiled down at him, dressed head to tail in a well pressed tuxedo suit. William's look of disbelief turned into one of ecstatic joy.

"Konrad ... what are you doing here? And where did you get that suit?"

"Well, its a seaman's charity right?" The wolf gave a slight wink. "I'm a seaman in need of a 'bit of charity. And you can blame my Irish mates. They all chipped in for the suit, just to rouse the high brows." William jumped up from his seat and hugged Konrad tight, so hard that the wolf grunted. "Hey now. I cant very well sweep you off your hind feet with busted ribs now can I?"

"No ... I guess you can't." William conceded, still burying his small nose deep into his love's furry cheek.

He dragged the wolf off into a dim corner while the orchestra started in a slow waltz. While others started in on their own dance, William swayed gently with Konrad. As the coyote led, he put his nose close to the wolf's ear.

"You look handsome tonight." The coyote sighed. His head swam, heart swooned as they spun in the corner.

"Thanks. I didn't know if I could have pulled this off without the crew."

The wolf glanced down at the slightly shorter canid, and noticed with some amusement that the coyote had his paw on top of his, leading him. William's confession to him earlier made him think about his own desires. He had served on ships since the orphanage would allow it, slept almost naked next to other males in tight quarters, but he rarely thought twice about it.

On the next spin Konrad swapped paw positions, the pace of its accompaniment picking up to 70 bars. He twirled with William to its faster beat. Those nearby started to take notice now, most grinning at the socially absurd joke. Some started to whisper among themselves, noticing their close proximity which suggested more than just best male friends.

"I think we're drawing a crowd." William blushed, the faces and muzzle around them blurring as they spun faster.

"Let them see." Konrad grinned straight into William's eyes. "Let them see how much I love you."

They widened at the unexpected proclamation. While his heard thundered at those sincere words, small tears of happiness formed at their corners. He hugged Konrad on the next twirl, a collective gasp following from from the shocked lips around them.

A few reserved older males in well dressed fashion that had stood next to each other throughout the night smiled at their partners. While the crowd around locked their attention on the enamored pair, they discreetly slipped their paws in one another. Some of the more outspoken feminists among the event applauded, slinging their fashionable, sometimes provocative feathered boas over their shoulders. The other attendees turned to the growing commotion.

William's uncle was one of them.

The older coyote almost choked on his wine when he realized what was going on. He stood there in disbelief for a moment, watching his nephew twirl around the lounge with another boy. So many horrible realizations snapped into place at once, so many implications for his family, that the coyote dropped his glass at once and stormed through the crowd. William noticed the commotion just as the waltz ended, eyes growing wide in fear.

"Konrad ... its my uncle!" He pointed, not sure what else to do. The quick thinking wolf tugged him on his paw, leading him through the closest doorway outside.

"This way! I know of a place he'll never find us!"

With the orchestra resuming another patriotic piece the attendees dispersed back to their tables for more fine drink. Mr. Hopkins shoved aside those getting in his way, trying to follow his nephew. A yellow cougar leaning on a black cane shambled in front of him without warning. The direct look in his amber eyes stopped the coyote dead in his tracks.

"Good evening Albert. Did you get the telegram I sent you?" His low grumble spoke of conviction so true that the coyote's blood ran cold.

"Who are ... what are you doing here?" Albert stammered, his ears folded back against his skull.

"You really wouldn't try to break up your nephew's last night of happiness, would you?" The feline stared down the guilty coyote, whose tail tucked at the odd implication. Albert turned with numb slowness and made his way to his table, where he ordered a stiff shot of brandy to steady his nerves and conscience.

"Good boy." The mystery cougar whispered to the coyote with a manipulative smile. He limped out onto the deck and checked his timepiece before looking up to the starry sky. He closed his eyes for a moment, letting the refreshing night air soothe his weary bones. After waiting for exactly fifteen minutes, twenty five seconds, he made his slow way down to the hold.

While the strange cougar stood on deck, Konrad rushed William down a staggered staircase. Their dress shoes made soft clinks on the iron steps as they made their way to the lowest levels of the ship. William's breaths grew short as impenetrable darkness pressed on all sides. He trusted the paw guiding him, Konrad's hind feet having made this journey down by the coal bins more than most of its crew. Soon thick coal dust clogged his nostrils. The distant, rhythmic churn of the ship's quad propellers filled his ears.

"Where are going?" William asked with a hushed whisper as his hind feet left the last step. His curious paw touched the bulkheads next to him. It came away smudged with coarse grit.

"To the cargo hold. No one will find us there."

Konrad slid forward toward the bow, the gentle scrape of his claws against the starboard longitudinal bulkhead guiding him. They passed through a few traverse bulkhead hatches along the way, the moans of their protesting hinges echoed throughout the bottom of the ship. The wolf stopped abruptly and took his paw away. William stood there in pitch black silence, until the tale tell grating sccreeq, sccreeq, sccreeq announced the opening of another hatchway.

This one sounded larger than the rest, and the coyote heard the wolf grunt in labored effort to push it open. The groan of its massive hinges never echoed back from the other side of the doorway. A familiar paw led William through it, and the air felt somehow lighter. The coyote had the distinct feeling of standing in a large submerged metallic cavern. The hatch behind him closed.

"Scheisse! Verdamntes ding ..." Konrad swore as he fumbled with something in his paws. A match ignited without warning, its sulfurous flare mingling with the scent of fresh rubber, oil, metal, and dry goods. The sudden glow of an lantern followed, and the Konrad's illuminated muzzle blew out the match after adjusting the lantern's kerosene wick. He picked up the lantern and smiled back at William.

"What do you think?" Konrad asked, sweeping the lantern over rows of crates and stacks of sacs. In its soft glow they seemed to go on and on forever.

"What's down here?" William asked back, poking at the sacs around him.

"According to the manifest, mostly food, raw materials, and medical supplies. And a lot of cheese."

Konrad moved forward in the hold, motioning William to follow. The light from the lantern crept over shelves and shipping containers, some of their contents marked or stamped out. They came to a massive tarp and stopped. The isle leading up to it from a starboard loading ramp looked suspiciously clear.

"What's this doing here?" Konrad mused, tugging at the tarp and pulling it up. He found a wheel. Curious, the two undid the straps holding the tarp down and uncovered a peculiar half truck with a red cross painted on the side. William knelt down to peer at its plate.

"Model TT chassis | functional prototype." William dragged himself up by the bumper and peered into the rear window. "It's an ambulance." Konrad seemed confused.

"That wasn't on the shipper's manifest." One of the unrefrigerated crates stamped 'Cheese' caught Konrad's attention and he scrounged around for a crowbar. Together the two used their combined weight to pry the suspicious box open. When Konrad swung the lantern over its open lip, metal casings glinted back.

The mislabeled crate contained belts upon belts of .303 machine gun rounds.

Both of them looked around, noticed a few huge shipping boxes of 'Fur'. William's nose scrunched at the odd chemical odor seeping from them, and he peered at the shipping label: Du Pont, Hopewell, Virginia. They pried off its wooden top and found metal containers holding shrapnel cases and powder.

Artillery shell components.

They looked at each other before pushing the lid back in place with a soft scrape of wood. Konrad swung the lantern around, and the two found themselves standing in a labyrinth of such boxes, stacked neatly in the crowded starboard bow hold.

"I don't like this," the coyote said with an uncomfortable shudder, "lets get out of here."

"And risk running into your uncle again?" the wolf grabbed the shorter canid by the shoulders and kissed him lightly. "By this time tomorrow night you're going to shore in Liverpool. This is our last chance to be with each other. No one will bother us here."

William could not deny the awful truth to those words. He looked into Konrad's eyes for a moment before leaning forward, pressing his muzzle lips tight up against the wolf's own. As the wolf set down the lantern, their eyes closed at the wonderful feeling. Free from social scrutiny, their timid paws roamed over each other, exploring the delicious variety in their masculine builds.

William's slim coyote paws ran across the wolf's broader shoulders before stopping to squeeze the steely biceps forged in the fires of the furnaces above. He wrapped his arms underneath the wolf's pits, hugging him close and sneaking his paws under the tuxedo vest. His claws traced the tight ropes of sinew hidden underneath Konrad's white undershirt, making the wolf shudder in his arms.

Konrad didn't just stand there either. He planted his nose into William's ear, inhaling his light scent. His less conservative paws slid down the front of the coyote's chest, claws raking the sensitive nips underneath his well cut attire. They slid around the coyote's hips, paws cupped to savor their slender shape. They latched on to William's firm glutes and squeezed lightly. It drew a soft 'yip' from the smaller canid, before they grabbed the base of William's bushy tail.

William staggered a bit at the unexpected move, his tail twitching a bit. It curled of its own will. When Konrad's paw tips applied firm pressure to his tail base, the nerves in the base of William's spine lit up like a holiday pine. They kissed again, this time deeper, muzzles open to each other's taste. It felt so good just to press against each other, exploring new horizons without fear of reprisal or admonishment.

When Konrad's paw tips crept underneath William's tail, rubbing in tight circled near the seat of his pants, the coyote pulled back his head and whined on instinct. The sensitive rosebud under the material of his trousers flexed. He returned the exquisite torture by running his paw down the wolf's outer thigh, claws scraping the sleek pants of his suit. The coyote's paw turned inward, before running back up and cupping the wolf's junk in his paw. William squeezed gently, thumb and paw tips evoking a strangled whimper from Konrad.

William closed his paw around the hardness forming in the front of Konrad's slacks. The coyote gave a firm stroke, feeling the wolf bulbous knot already slipping out of its sheath hidden underneath. The shorter canid couldn't resist the temptation, his slim, crafty paws undoing the slack's fly, before slipping in and over Konrad's undergarments.

Konrad almost fell forward when William's exploring paw gripped his bare, glistening length.

The coyote slipped his paw up and down the engorged organ and was rewarded with a small spurt from its tip. Konrad gave a soft rumble of pleasure as William stroked some more, using the wolf's own arousal to slick his sex up even more. After a few moment, Konrad placed a paw down to stop the all too eager coyote.

"Wait ..." the wolf whined. His trembling voice lacked conviction. "Not here. Lets ... climb into the truck."

William hesitated before smiling at the other canid. He slipped his paw out of the wolf's slacks before leading him back to the ambulance. Konrad picked up the lantern along the way, the light swaying with his awkward, now stiff gait. They opened the side door and climbed inside.

Konrad found the padded back seats more comfortable, and he slid back on his tail against the other door, grinning. William crawled after him with a smile playing across his muzzle lips. After setting down the lantern, the wolf unbuttoned his undershirt and shrugged out of it. The coyote lost little time in nuzzling the inside seam of the wolf's slacks and opening his fly with his shaking paws. He hooked his claws into Konrad's slacks and undergarments before pulling them down.

With a impatient tug he liberated the last bit of modesty the wolf had. William dropped the garments off to the side before scooting closer to admire the hard length gutting from its black furred sheath. It glistened in the lantern's glow. He gripped it in a paw, making Konrad throw his back into the window behind him with a soft whimper of need. It didn't take much prompting for the adventurous coyote to lean forward and slip the wolf's tapered tip between his muzzle lips. His tongue danced along its underside, tasting the unique flavor of another male's sex.

He wanted more. So much more.

With a deep drawn out groan Konrad gripped the seat as William's muzzle descended on him. The coyote's muzzle lips slipped over every bump and crevice of the wolf's sex before stopping at his engorged knot. William gagged slightly as Konrad's tip bumped up against the back of his throat. Still, William felt instantly addicted to the exquisite taste and fullness in his muzzle now. He relaxed his throat and gripped Konrad's bare furry ass before taking the wolf all the way down.

The coyote muzzle lips spread to take the wolf's knot in his muzzle, his green eyes watering as the slick length slipped down his throat. Konrad arched his hips, paws gripping William's soft ears now. Once his muzzle lips touched the base of Konrad's sheath, William's ears pinned back with accomplishment. He bobbed his head lightly, relishing in the full feeling inside his maw and throat. The wolf spurted down into his stomach in reflex.

William pulled off to just behind the tapered glans, opening his green eyes and locking gazes with Konrad. The wolf panted hard now, caught up in a desire he could not contain. His claws raked the fur behind the coyote's perked ears. It encouraged William to slip his muzzle down again, just to the knot this time, before dragging the edge of his fangs back across the sides of Konrad's member.

The wolf clutched his scruff, constant spurts of precum flowing onto the coyote's tongue now. William lapped up every drop. He started bobbing his head now, paws cupping the wolf's hard ass, feeling each time the bushy tail thumped hard against the cushions. Konrad felt himself tighten inside, his climax approaching but not quite near. He pushed the coyote's head back, panting hard.

"Are ... you new at this?" Konrad huffed, wiping a light sheen of perspiration from his forehead.

"Not really." William flashed a grin back at him.

Konrad's ears twitched. He half wondered just what William had been doing for all time hanging around his family's shipyard. Maybe the adolescent coyote had a fondness for older males as well as seamen. At the moment, his pent up need overrode any erotic curiosity about the coyote's past. He pulled the coyote forward by his shirt and mashed his muzzle lips against the smaller canid's. As his tongue flickered about the inside of William's muzzle, Konrad's jittery paws undid the coyote's shirt.

Once exposed, Konrad buried his muzzle into William's chest. His fluttering tongue lapped at the coyote's pert nipples. The coyote squeaked, gasping as the thick muscle swirled around one of his most secret and sensitive spots. He whined and tore off his coat and undershirt before dropping it to the truck bed. In an odd move, William turned around and got up on his paws and knees. He looked back at the wolf with a lewd smile, his tail weaving back and forth in the air between them.

Konrad blinked before mustering up a smile of his own. Talking the hint, the wolf reached forward and undid the coyote's pants before yanking them off his ankles. All Konrad could think of now was the sultry look his lover gave him, the seductive pose presented to him, and the maddening tail swishing before him. He buried his nose under that siren's tail, tongue flicking out to lap over that winking pucker before him.

William moaned out, paws flying out to steady himself against the truck's window. His tongue fell out of his muzzle as he panted hard. He rested his forehead against the sill while the wolf behind rimmed him with the tip of his tongue. As Konrad slurped the flexing bud before him, his nose caught the strong whiff of arousal from under the coyote. His paw went down to feel about the back seat and came back from the cushion wet with precum.

The wolf returned the torture from earlier. He ran his paw up and down the dangling length between the coyote's spread hind legs. William barked, bumping into the glass with a reflexive jolt. Konrad tried not to grin as he ate out his new lover's ass, milking his sex like he would a cow. The coyote let out a groan of dismay.

"Konrad ... please ...!" William whined, ears folded back against his slim canid skull.

The wolf pulled his muzzle back, his other paw gliding up and down his own length now. He knew what the coyote wanted. He just wasn't sure exactly how to give it to him. Konrad scooted forward and sat up on his knees, using his free paw to guide his leaking wolf tip. It slipped back and forth a bit against the saliva slicked entrance, but did not find home.

William panted against the glass, fogging it up with his hot breath. A few more tense moments passed as the nervous wolf fumbled behind him. Impatient with need, the coyote reached back between his spread legs and helped guide the slippery tip inside himself. The wolf pushed forward, sinking into the coyote's tight entrance. Both groaned out softly from the feeling, adjusting their positions somewhat as Konrad pushed in all the way right up to his knot.

They both stilled for a moment, savoring the way they fit into each other. William's tail swished across Konrad's chest before the wolf grabbed the coyote's slender hips and withdrew. Once his tapered tip tugged on the inside of William's tight ring, Konrad pushed in slow again. Each time the wolf sank into his warm ass the coyote gave a short pleasured grunt. It didn't take much longer before Konrad built up a steady rhythm, his length disappearing in and out of William's receptive body with quickening pace.

Their flaring body heat built inside the closed cabin with each deepening thrust, sweat seeping into their fur now with the effort. William gasped for air. Konrad's marathon stamina already out paced him. The wolf pushed deep, back arching as his knot pushed against the coyote's tight muscular ring. William whined and pushed back against it, head lowering to watch his own hard shaft swing forward and back each time Konrad bred him.

Konrad bared his fangs and growled on the next thrust before tugging back on Williams hips. He mashed his fleshy orb against the coyote's heat, scrambling now to knot him. Instinct drove him. His heat spurred him. William tensed as his ring stretched wider. He forced himself to relax and after an antagonizing moment felt his tail hole give way.

Konrad's knot popped in, squashing against William's slick insides.

The coyote's ass clenched tight around the invading organ, and the wolf fell forward on top of him. Konrad panted hard against the pinned form under him in a daze of sensation. Sweat dripped their chests and brows freely now. William moaned softly before rocking his hips, feeling Konrad's knot slip and lock against his prostate. It was such a wonderful feeling neither of them wanted to end.

Konrad werfed, arms tight around his lover's slender waist now. With all the coyote's gyrations, he felt like a hot glove milked his his engorged shaft. He righted himself and rocked back and forth on his knees as far as the tie would let him. A throaty groan escaped from William's muzzle as he tilted his head back. The savage way the wolf knot fucked him drove him past the edge. He gave into it, sweaty paws pressed up against the fogged window in support. His prostate tightened.

Willam's cock slapped hard against his belly once, twice, before slinging thick ropes of coyote seed onto the white cushions under him.

Konrad arched and threw his head back in an instinctual lupine howl. His ears flattened against his skull even as he continued to drive into the bucking, spurting form underneath him. His black muzzle lips drew tight against the bones of his jawline, blood boiling. With a last thrust he sank his knot into the coyote under him and dumped his salty load deep inside the smaller canid.

He shot once, twice, before emptying his twitching sacs of their molten seed.

Afterwards they collapsed up against the fogged up windows, their sweat matted bodies still tied at the hips. William shifted under the Konrad's weight for comfort. It was awkward with the tie still holding them close together. In their exhausted afterglow they said little to each other in the sweat hazed and cum spattered cabin.

Konrad gathered up William in his arms, let the coyote sit on him as he nuzzled his black and gray backside. He felt his cum try to seep between the tight seal of his knot and William's tail hole and he squirmed at the odd sensation. William's paw stroked the ones clasped around his chest, and he cranked his head back to nuzzle his love.

"So ..." Konrad broke the long silence with awkward inexperience. "How long before we stop being stuck to each other?"

"You that eager to get rid of me now?" William giggled before wiggling his butt against Konrad's hips. The white tip of the coyote's tail tickled the wolf's sensitive nose. "A while. Best get comfy."

"Its not that ... I just ..." Before Konrad could finish his wolven ears perked up at a distant screech of metal hinges. The two canids looked at each other before realizing someone had come down into the hold.

"The lantern!" Konrad barked. "Turn it off!" He scrambled for it, the weight of the naked coyote and the cumbersome tie made it difficult to reach for the wick control.

"Stop squirming! And be quiet!" William nipped at the wolf with a hoarse whisper.

He leaned over for the lantern but reached too far. The coyote fell forward and took the wolf with him. They tumbled to the cab floor, almost knocking over the lantern in the process. Had the kerosene lamp broke across their discarded clothes, it would have been a disaster for the two. Conard reached around the entangling mess of coyote limbs and carefully turned down the wick, bathing them in darkness. They laid there for several minutes, listening to for any sounds of someone approaching.

They both wondered what would happen if the crew found them tied together like this in an expensive ambulance meant as a gift for the King's troops? Would Captain Turner confine them to quarters? Would William's uncle send them both to the Borstal? An odd rhythmic clink and slide echoed about in the darkness of the hold.

"What is it?" Konrad whispered, hackles raised now.

"Sshhhh! Quiet!" William hushed back.

The coyote peeked his head above the sill of the truck window. He tugged up with light grunts until the wolf got the message to sit up with them. William wiped off the last of the beaded sweat condensing on the window with his paw and peered through the smeared circle. Konrad pushed his muzzle next to the coyote's big ears, trying to see. They waited for their eyes to adjust to the darkness.

"What do you see?" Konrad whispered again. A soft elbow to his ribs reminded him to stay quiet.

The shuffle sounded closer now, the sharp clink alternating with a soft scrape of rubber against the floor. From out of the gloom the outline of a feline appeared. It approached the truck and both occupants ducked down behind cover of its door again. The clink slide neared. Closer. Closer. It paused right by the door, and Konrad and William looked at each other with terrified held breath.

After a long moment the feline moved on, the clink slide scrape growing quieter. Both of them let out a collective relieved exhale. William braved another peak above the sill, dragging Konrad back up with him. It annoyed the wolf. The coyote didn't notice, his green eyes squinting to make out the dim form.

"Its the cougar with the cane!" William whispered out. Konrad pushed the smaller canid to the side and took his own peek.

"What's he doing down here if he's not looking for us?" The wolf mused aloud. Both were pretty confident that the pause next to the truck was intentional.

"I don't know, why don't you ask him?" William followed up with another elbow. Despite the situation Konrad snickered. The coyote, while smaller, certainly had a lot of spirit. He liked that.

The cougar stopped near the crates of cheese and pulled out what looked like a fancy pen. His thumb pad clicked its top and a cone of strange pure white light shot out of its tip. He held it level by his perked right ear like an electric torch and swept it over the stacked crates. Konrad and William looked at each other as he limped to the same crate they had opened earlier and pushed off the loose lid.

They each wondered how he knew which one had already been pried open. Both of them made sure to square up the cover perfectly, and one could not see the pry bar marks unless they were up close and actively looking. The cougar leaned over and peered inside the crate of machine gun ammo with the light pen. He tapped the benign clip on the pen's side and the tip flashed once. A odd scroll of paper zipped out of a crease in the pen's side. The cougar tucked it in his vest before lumbering to the powder box and repeating.

Once he was done the old feline turned his head to look directly at the truck window. He gave a knowing smirk at the two young lovers watching him, but did not sweep the light over to their risqué sanctuary. With another tap of his thumb pad, the light pen shut off. The cougar left the hold with his tale tell clink scrape slide in no particular hurry.

It left the two hidden lovers questioning the cryptic encounter for five years.

May 7th, 1915

Konrad and William stood on deck the next day, staring over the starboard side railing. Most of the thick fog that lingered about early that morning had already abated. They didn't say much to each other on the final day of the voyage. There wasn't much they could say. Konrad had managed to convince his mates to sneak William into his bunks, just for the night. From the vague rumors spreading on the tops decks, whatever the Irish fireman had put their favorite wolf pup up to for the Seaman's charity had really raised some snooty ire.

While all the ship hands liked Konrad, no one knew his true German heritage. He forged an American last name back in New York seeking work, and with immigration back in the States exploding, few employers had time to confirm birth certificates.

The two young lovers leaned over the deck rail, much like they did that fateful day meeting each other for the first time. A long, dreary silence passed between the two. Each acknowledged the unspeakable. Despite the clamor of last night they could not stop the juggernaut of fate. An unexpected change of orders had prompted Captain Turner to turn the ship towards Queenstown instead of Liverpool, at most an hour away.

What little time remained for them would be cut even shorter.

Konrad sighed and looked back at the upper decks, still hazy with lingering mist. He spotted a few lookouts on diligent watch. With the fog they might run aground on Cape Clear Island if they weren't careful. The wolf turned to the saddened coyote.

"I don't suppose you'd fancy working the sea?" Konrad faked a thin smile.

"Awhh come off it. We both know I'm too thin." William stared straight ahead into the misty distance, and the wolf's smile ran away from his muzzle.

William had dreaded this moment. Ever since he came back up to the top deck to pack his bags he realized the inevitable. His uncle didn't even say anything to him when he entered their cabin. He seemed too preoccupied with his half empty bottle of gin. The elder coyote didn't even change out of his best suit, as if he intended to arrive at his final destination with some personal measure of social accomplishment.

It was Uncle Albert who quizzically suggested that William stay up on deck and enjoy what little time he had left. When William asked if that meant he could be seen with ship crew, the resigned coyote nodded his head and gave his nephew a reconciliatory hug. William felt something was wrong, but didn't want to jinx his changed fortune.

"So ..." the grim wolf turned back to the murky gray sea and frowned "Does this mean its goodbye ... ?"

The coyote turned to him, green eyes misting up like everything else around him. They were filled with anger and hate and love and longing. The wolf turned to look back at him. For the first time he felt the delicate sensibilities of the smaller canid. Did that mean William loved him more? Had the sea changed Konrad? The wolf felt a empty pit form in the bottom of his stomach and waited for the dreaded final words.

But they never came.

Instead Konrad watched William's eyes soften into disbelief. Confusion settled into that terrible pit before the wolf followed the coyote's gaze. He turned to the other side and his blood turned to ice.

The cougar with the black cane stepped up to the railing and looked up to the pale cloudy sky.

"Good afternoon Captain Wagner." The wizened cougar never turned to look at him, but instead pulled out his engraved golden time piece again. William shivered at the sight of it, but not from the chilly fog. The strange feline rambled on. "Or I should say its about to be a bad afternoon, I'm afraid."

"Who are you, and why did you call me Captain?" Konrad growled at the larger feline, feeling his mate's unease.

"Oh, who I am is not of import." The British feline rumbled. "What is important is the here and now." The cougar checked his time piece, which read 14:10. He looked out at the water and his cruel amber eyes narrowed, as if waiting for something.

"What if the United States never entered the Great War?" He mused. William frowned, this time finding his voice.

"But my uncle says President Wilson won't. There is no reason to." The coyote barked. The old feline smiled as his sharp yellow eyes caught the ripple of bubbles climbing to the ocean's surface. One of the lookout noticed it a few moments later, calling out an alarm.

"TORRPEDOOO off the starboard bow!" the sailor fox screamed before climbing down and running from his post to the bridge.

Konrad and William looked at each other in terror. They were under attack by a submarine! They locked paws as the trail of bubbles zipped towards them, realizing what lay just four decks below directly under them. Several tonnes of ammo and powder. Under their very hind paws, a fresh layer of gray paint concealed the Lucy's full name.

Lusitania.

The cougar seemed calm, collected even as he continued to talk. Mostly to himself.

"What if Britain signed a cease fire out of exhaustion, without America to back its mother country up?"

The cougar clicked shut his time piece before putting it back into his inner vest pocket. He brandished the ebony cane out before him, both ends horizontal to the sea. As the torpedo neared the tips cracked with a strange blue electricity. The fur on Konrad and William's coats stood on end. Their heads suddenly spun with a strange vertigo.

"What if ... Germany won ... World War I?"

"We don't have time for this!" Konrad snapped at the lunatic, muzzle lips foaming at his mate's terror. William buried his nose into Konrad's neck as the torpedo zipped under them, right next to lifeboat #5. He squeezed the his mate's paw and sealed his eyes shut, waiting for the explosion that would kill them both.

A hollow ding ran through the hull and up the railing.

Had the coyote not been clutching the rail in terror, he would have never felt the torpedo slam harmlessly into the side of the ship at all. William peeked open his eyes. They were still alive.

A dud? He questioned. Meanwhile Konrad never took his yellow eyes off the adult feline, whose own smoldered back at him. The air around his black armband rippled outward, as is the larger cougar stood in a strange bubble himself.

"No Captain, we do." The cougar drew back his cane, still sizzling at the ends. His sinister yellow eyes narrowed.

"Time is the fire in which we burn."

The cougar spun and limped on even as a crowd of shocked passengers flocked to the starboard side to see the trail of bubbles fading fast. Konrad and William stared on in disbelief.

"Now if you will excuse me I have an appointment to be in Room 40 within the hour. And I am very fond of telegrams."

The cryptic feline turned a corner around the port side of the ship and disappeared. Konrad shook off his paralysis and took off after the cougar with William in tow. When they turned the corner the port side of the ship was completely deserted. The two stood there in the mist, a light breeze ruffling their fur. Their paws tightened in one another, thankful for the sudden change of fate. They couldn't help but wonder what the mystery cougar had meant.

Or if they would ever see him again ...

~ Fin - Chapter I ~

I would like to specifically Wehrwolf for interpreting the German in this upcoming Novel.

There are others who also helped with basic grammar and overall historical bits, who shall be mentioned later.