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Zynnis put his head down on the table and groaned, Trip's voice was in the background and it was driving him absolutely crazy. Even when things are supposed to be cut and dry, said and done, the wolf always found something to nitpick about. This time, it was about the perfectly good deal that he almost had fully finished with the equally bothersome dragon.

"I'm telling you, this contract is tipped to our favor, quite heavily actually," The wolf should have just been happy about the deal the way it had already been drawn up, but for some reason, he wasn't, "An uneven contract cause loyalty issues, and we don't need to be second guessing everything that Kinster does because he's unhappy with the terms."

"How are you running the numbers then? You've got to remember, it's cheaper for us to find all the data that he would be supplying on our own than buy it from him." Zynnis had been awake for just under an hour and the wolf already caused him to start drinking.

"My numbers are solid, we're making a heavy profit if you can compare the intelligence with their credit value." Trip's ear was twitching now, and Zynnis could that the wolf was very worried about starting a contract unfairly.

"Good, now drop it. The fact that Kinster is happy with our arrangements should be more than enough to make you happy. You're making a simple thing quite complicated, and over thinking things. You don't think he has already run the numbers, the same as you?" Zynnis slouched in his chair, poking a finger at his screen, while quickly downing what was now his fourth drink of the morning. "I've been scanning this document for the last fifteen minutes, and I still can't find the part about you leaving me the fuck alone about my personal choices for the next ten years."

The much larger wolf slammed his paws down on the desk in front of Zynnis and glared at his partner, "You're not taking this seriously boss." Trip had starting calling him boss again lately, probably because he had been working harder than usual to irritate the wolf.

"You're probably right, this is your area of expertise, not mine," Zynnis was staring the wolf back down, "I'm here to sign the damn thing as well as make sure nothing puts my men, ship, or company in danger," The door opened and Zynnis saw a shirtless Styrr enter, "there he is, ask him yourself, compare notes and numbers if you must. Just stop bitching already, I've already got a headache."

The dragon stopped immediately in his tracks and looked at the two somewhat confused, "Ask me what?"

Zynnis looked at Trip quickly, "Well, answer him, there isn't a cat here that would have your tongue, I haven't been awake enough long enough to have rendered you speechless."

Trip shot Zynnis the evilest glare that he had seen in a while, then quickly turned back to Styrr, "You know, these terms aren't quite on the level. This contracts pits the ARMC in favor of Kyna group by quite a lot actually. Please have a seat, we need to go through it again."

Zynnis sighed and started to drink more of his beer, "Can you please explain to him that the manpower costs and the price of lives costs more than the price of words and numbers on a computer screen. No offense."

Styrr nodded as he sat down and looked up to Trip, "He's right you know, I'm also adding in the luxury factor on my end. You don't understand the price value that I put on the unnecessary pleasures that your fine vessel has to offer. I put quite a high credit value on such things, as should you and your people. Your numbers are probably perfectly correct."

Zynnis clapped his hands quickly and happily, slamming his hands on the table with a triumphant smile, "Fantastic, now get this contract out so we can sign it and I can get the hell on with my life!"

The large wolf was barely controlling his anger, and barely choked back the growl that was growing from his belly and instead bared his fangs angrily, "And where the fuck do you think you need to be? You have no assignments, no meetings, and quite literally, nothing to do!" The wolf put his paws on the desk and looked into the Hybrid's eyes dangerously, "So fucking tell me, where do you have to go today. I've grounded you and your team until you are fully healed. So there is nothing, literally nothing, that you have to do today other than nothing."

The slightest of frowns flashed over Zynnis' face and just as quickly disappeared, "I'm not going to argue that point, I really don't care to be here that long in this office arguing with you about how this is all mine, and I tend to do what I like," He quickly grinned and nodded, "But yes, I do have plans today."

Styrr laughed loudly but the covered his maw quickly with his paw as Trip shot him an angry look, "And what the hell do you think is so funny Mr. Kinster. I find this to actually be one of the more irritating conversations that I've had this week, and that's saying something, because this week has been absolutely terrible."

The dragon buried his face in his paws, shaking lightly, and trying to force himself to be quiet, "Because I'm pretty sure I know what his plans are for the day, as should you."

Trip glared at Zynnis, "Then enlighten me, of these plans Commander," Trip really had no idea, and couldn't think of anything that Zynnis would even remotely need to do today, and it was frustrating, because he knew that Zynnis didn't make plans, and even when he did, the Hybrid never followed through. It was unnerving at best, and frustrating to the point that Trip just wanted to beat his head against the desk in front of him.

"I'm going to go find myself a nice quiet place, drink heavily, and look at all the eye candy we have around here," The Hybrid dropped his jaw in a toothy smile, "You of course, are not welcome to join me, unless you want to be said eye candy."

Trip could only sit next to Styrr and put his head into his paws, shaking his head miserably, "I'm not even going to give you the satisfaction of getting a response to that." The wolf sighed and reached for a folder sitting on the desk in front of Zynnis, pushing it over towards the still laughing Styrr, who was barely keeping himself from falling from his chair. "Read it, sign it, then pass it to the ignorant bastard sitting across from you, then he will sign it, and I will witness it."

The dragon took the folder from the desk and forced himself to take two deep breaths, regaining his composure. He opened the folder and read the contract carefully, nodding in agreement as he sat it back on the desk and pulled a pen from a pocket in his pants, "Have you read this commander?"

They Hybrid shrugged the question off as he opened another beer, one of which neither of the two in font of him had witnessed him acquire, "No, and I don't really plan to. I've just spent the last hour of my life arguing about it, so I'm pretty well filled in." He took a short drink from his bottle and pulled a cigarette from out of the desk and placed it behind his ear. He had read it actually, three times already. He knew how businessmen liked to play their games, and he was not planning on being a victim, not one of Trips, and most certainly not one of Styrr's, "I also have the utmost faith and trust in my partner, so I'm not too worried about it."

As soon as the dragon had signed, Trip pushed the contract at Zynnis, who picked up his own pen and looked at Trip, who nodded once. The hybrid signed it quickly, then pushed it towards Trip, who nodded again happily. The wolf quickly added his signature to the page and closed the folder. He looked to Styrr, who was smiling, then to Zynnis, who's attention was more focused on the drink in front of him than the deal that had been just signed and laying on the table. The wolf just shook his head again, the look of disappointment quite apparent to the Hybrid sitting in front of him.

"What?" Zynnis gave Trip a curious look.

"This company would be bankrupt with you fully in charge, you do realize this don't you?" Trip sighed heavily, he wasn't really surprised with Zynnis' attitude, but then again, he wasn't really made either. Zynnis was having an incredibly bad week.

"Actually, it'd be running fine. I would have stayed a commando if you hadn't wanted to take on the responsibilities. In hindsight, refusing that promotion would have made my life a hell of a lot easier, and definitely less stressful," He smiled at the wolf, then finished his beer slowly, "that would have been a lot more of being told what to do than doing the telling. I prefer it that way, it's much simpler."

Trip rolled his eyes and stood up, nodding to Styrr politely, "I have the observation deck reserved for the evening, we would have been there sooner, but due to the fact that the Commander decided that it was in his best interests to sleep all day, we may be a bit delayed. I have a short meeting to attend, but as soon as I have that out of the way, I will join the two of you there." The wolf looked at Zynnis, "That means no slinking off to the bar, we have a lot to discuss tonight, and you're already getting drunk."

Zynnis looked at the wolf innocently, "I would never do such a thing. A bar, such a horrible place to show my face." He laughed and then winked at the wolf, who responded by giving him the middle finger and walking out of the room without another word.

The dragon chuckled and looked to Zynnis, "Why do you torment him the way you do?"

Zynnis raised a brow and tilted his head curiously, "And when did that become your business?"

"It's not, I'm just curious, is there some sort of secret battle going on here that I'm not aware of? Or is this just everyday?"

Zynnis sighed and stood, his bare, rippling, scarred chest, still bare. It seemed that he never wore a shirt, but that was alright with the dragon, "It's part of our lives. Maybe some day you'll understand. Doubtful, but maybe. Shall we head to the observation deck? The view is spectacular."

The dragon stood, Zynnis eying him carefully, still not quite sure of what to make of the dragon, "Yes, let's. I think that's one of the few places I have yet to see."

Zynnis nodded and smiled, walking towards the door, not looking to see if Styrr was following, he walked out of the door and down the corridor at a brisk pace and felt the dragon move closer to him, as if wanting to start a conversation so Zynnis initiated one of his own, "I noticed that the part of the deal that included you handing over some data has not been fulfilled yet. I believe that you owe me a disk."

The dragon took a moment to think the words over, and sighed before reaching into a pocket, and pulling out a small memory disk, putting it in the waiting paw of the hybrid, "So you did read it then."

"Of course I did, I'm not an idiot. I may not have had an overabundance of schooling like others, but I can still read." The hybrid scowled and quickly pulled his PDA from his pocket, inserting the disk into it's slot, starting the data download, "I thought we had this conversation last night. Must I reiterate?"

The dragon chuckled, shaking his head, "No, no you don't. I'm quite interested in learning more about you and Legacy, you both have this air of secrecy about you, and by this time tomorrow, your files should be mostly open for me to access."

"Nothing in them worth a read, I can promise you that," He put his PDA back into his pocket and turned a corner, moving into an elevator and palming the pad, the pushing the button that lead up to the observation decks, "You might just have to figure some things out on your own. It's not in my best interests to make things easy for you."

"You could say it's not in your best interests to make things easy for anyone. You seem to be exceedingly competent in making others miserable," The dragon wasn't sure if his statement would be taken with the levity that he had meant it in, but decided at that point, now that the deal was done and signed, he really didn't care.

"You could say that too." The hybrid was staring straight ahead, a paw idly sitting on one of his pistols, "It makes things interesting to say the least."

The dragon rolled his eyes and sighed, heard the elevator ding, and stepped out of it as soon as the door opened before Zynnis, who he let pass him and continued to follow, "You could say that," The dragon had hoped that their short night out would have alleviated some of the tension between them, but was disheartened slightly to notice that it had not.

"Our room will be the next door on the right. It's smaller than the room that Trip had set for us, but we don't quite need the lounge for three people, and I think there is a party going on tonight, I'd rather leave that for them." Styrr smiled slightly, not wanting the hybrid in front of him to notice, it was always nice to see a leader wanting to make sure their people were being taken care of, "I have a small feeling that you will be seeing less of us now that this contract has been signed, mostly because I don't have to let you follow me around all day every day, which I'm going to like. Less walking, more sitting."

The dragon shook his head with a sigh, "Am I really that much of a burden to you?" It wasn't what he had wanted to say, and most definitely not the way would have wanted to make such a statement. He tried to look at the Commander's face, but couldn't tell if his statement had been taken the way it had been meant or not.

"You tell me. How would you feel about being followed around all day every day and responding to a thousand questions?"

The dragon sighed with relief, maybe Zynnis hadn't noticed, "It doesn't bother me, but I'm no man of action. I prefer to sit behind a desk and do just that." The dragon watched Zynnis palm a door open as they stopped, and they both entered slowly, the view consisted of most of the civilian portion of the ship, and part of the bridge, with a nice view-port of space above it. Styrr whistled in awe and took a moment to take it all in, "You were right, the view is fantastic."

"I usually am. Don't be like Trip, just accept that now." Zynnis sat in one of the four chairs facing the windows, reaching into a fridge that had been built into the base of the table between the four chairs and pulled out a beer, opening and disposing of the cap on the table, "Was their anything good in the data you gave me? Or do I have to dig for it?"

"You could say it's currently in my best interest to make your life harder than it ought to be. But I've not decided if I want to pull a play from your book yet." The dragon chuckled and followed suit, sitting down next to Zynnis, leaning back and setting one of his legs over the other comfortably, pulling himself a beer from the built in fridge, "What time did Legacy say he would meet us?"

"He didn't. Anything you are wanting to ask him you can ask me. I have those answers just as well as him." Zynnis glared at the dragon, knowing there were wheels turning in the dragon's head. "I'm quite adequate at running my business thank you."

The dragon didn't quite agree, there were questions that Zynnis would flat out refuse to answer, but Trip would be more inclined to answer for him, but gave it a go anyways, "Well, I guess I could go ahead and ask where you two met up with each other."

Zynnis laughed, "You're right, you might wait and ask him that question. His version of the story varies from mine, and has less exaggeration in the narration."

As if on queue the wolf stepped through the door and looked at the two curiously, "Anything you narrate is exaggerated, and always has been. What are we talking about?" The large wolf took his seat across from Styrr, preferring not to sit face to face with Zynnis for a while.

"Was just asking about how you two met? I have a feeling that you have an interesting story to tell about that one." The dragon opened his drink and sipped from it slowly, determined not to drink as much as he had the night before, especially with it being as early in the day it was.

"Ah, well that's quite a long story actually, Zyn, pour me a drink please." Trip leaned back and got comfortable as he saw the hybrid stand up and grab a glass from the counter along the far wall, filling it with ice, and then sitting back down to dig through the fridge, "We've known each other for quite some time actually. Since what? We were four or five?"

Zynnis shook his head as he handed Trip a light brown looking drink in a tall glass, "Eight."

Trip took the glass and sipped from it with a happy sigh, "Well, then eight. My family used to work for Zyn's family back on Alcrose. I wouldn't say we were poor, but we weren't as well off as we had needed to be," The wolf closed his eyes and sat back, trying to decide how much he wanted to disclose about their early years, "Needless to say, when things hit rock bottom, instead of sending me off to the military, or letting me starve, my parents left to find what they called a better life."

"I see, so how did you end up here?" The dragon had sat his drink on the table and was leaning forward, now very interested in the tale.

"I uh, for lack of a better word, was sold to the At-Manath family for traveling fare. They didn't want me to go with them, and knew I would have a better life at home with a family that would take care of me."

Zynnis chuckled, "It's not quite fair to put it that way, and you know it."

Trip nodded, "You're right, my parents and Zyn's parents had always been friends, our fathers went to school together, fought in the war together, and at one point I think even lived together. So to make it sound like they sold me to get away, or sold me into slavery would be the wrong terms." The wolf smiled and sipped more of his drink, "They actually entered me into a contract that made me the person I am today."

"They did, and I can honestly say he was better off with us than them, with no offense meant." Zynnis had abandoned his beer on the table and was now drinking from his flask, "Mom and Dad put him through the best schools until we all had to be stuck on this ship. I think the fucker had a better education than I did."

Styrr chuckled and nodded, "No we all know that's the truth, there isn't any thinking about it."

Zynnis growled low at the dragon, "I chose a different path, school was never for me."

"Well, to get back to the point, when I hit the age of eighteen, I was given the option to choose my career path. I decided to do what most Alcrosians do, and first went through basic training with the ARMC. I found it wasn't for me, so after training, I dropped that and went into business." Trip cut Zynnis off before the conversation shifted elsewhere, and he would have to tell the story again. "All of this information is basic knowledge though, and I'm not ashamed of it. Never will be actually."

"So, the agreement between your parents, how did that end?" The dragon knew how things usually ended up on Alcrose, there wasn't slavery, but more of a teacher and student system. The one who had been paid for ended up working for the family in the end, but was mostly free to make their own decisions. The fact that he knew that already was only known to Zynnis, and he wanted to keep it that way.

"Eh, it is still in affect actually, but now under Zynnis." Trip scratched his ear and took another drink.

"Oh, just say it outright. He's collared to me, now and forever." Zynnis smiled and saw his beer sitting on the table still half full. He picked it up and continued to drink it, "He had been since we turned fourteen."

The dragon raised an eyebrow, "No shit?"

Trip just shrugged, "It was our choice, and we both stand by it. At least until that one turns his liver into dust," The wolf motioned over to Zynnis, who had stopped drinking mid swig.

"Hey!"

The wolf smiled and him and chuckled, "You know it's true. But anyways, there's a lot more to it than that. Of course the good times, the bad, and all the ones in between."

The dragon nodded, "I understand that one hundred percent."

"But do you? He's not my pet, he's not my slave. To me, he is my equal, and the closest thing I have ever had, or ever will have, to a mate, a brother, or a best friend." Zynnis was serious now, his relationship with Trip was important to him, even more so than the continued existence of his people, "Now, if I had told the story, I would have just told you he was my sex slave who managed to be good at running a business."

Trip glared, "Yes, yes you would have. But enough about us, what about you? I want to know about your military background. We know you have it, but I'm just curious of how much."

The dragon sighed, he knew the question was going to come up, but was still unprepared to answer it, "Lets just leave it at the fact that you know I have that experience. You don't start an intelligence corporation not knowing how to gather that information yourself, or fighting your way out of blown operations when you had to."

For now, Trip was going to accept that answer, but still had more questions, "We can leave it at that for now, but it will come back up, I can assure you that. One more and then I'll let Zynnis and you continue your conversation," Trip wanted to ask a list of questions, but wanted to spend most of the day enjoying himself, "Are you trying to fuck the commander?"

Both Zynnis and Styrr almost fell from their seats, Zynnis almost spitting what was in his mouth all over the table, "What?"

Styrr put his head in his paws and laughed, "Actively, no."

Zynnis shot him a glare, "And what the fuck does that mean."

"It means that if given the chance, in less than a heartbeat." He smiled and winked, not knowing what this conversation was going to open up for him, but trying to hold back his fears that it would close more doors to do just that, "If you don't already know, which you should, we dragons have quite the active sex drive. Doesn't matter what we are doing, thinking, or not doing. So yes, given the opportunity, I would."

Zynnis didn't quite know how to react, and decided that it would be best to simply drink his drink in quiet. It was still early in the day, and there were so many different ways that he could ruin it for himself, or make it better. He had not decided which yet, and by the way his brain was working, probably would not make a decision until he was so drunk he could barely stand, which surprisingly, was his goal for the day, "You know what, I'm actually speechless, and I choose to stay that way." He had decided to say something, to get the focus back off of him and onto other things.

"You're pathetic, you know that?" Trip finished what was left of his drink and stood, shaking his head with disappointment, "and with that, I'm leaving. I, unlike you Zynnis, have work to do today. I'll leave you to your own devices."

The dragon nodded, "Have a good day then Director, I'm sure I'll see you later."

Trip sighed and nodded back, "Don't let this jackass get you into too much trouble today, and definitely don't let him take you out for any drinks."

The dragon could only chuckle as Zynnis rolled his eyes and the large wolf exited the room quickly, wanting no more of the current conversation.