Children of Steel (4 page)

"Well I'm worrying." I sighed, “So tell."

He shrugged. "Ok, we came on together sure,
but I was a transfer and already had over a year in grade. He was a
total newb like you. Great pilot, lousy person. He was a little too
clever with his hands, if you know what I mean, and for some crazy
reason decided that Tigers were put here for his personal
amusement."

"Oh."

"That's right, they really simmer a long time
before they blow, not like some species who would have hauled him
down to the gym and mopped the place with him."

"You wouldn't mean Leopards would you?" I
asked with a forced look of innocence.

"Who else? Everybody knows you guys are
wacko."

"Really? I'm hurt,” I grinned.

"Listen who's telling this anyway? So, as I
was saying it built up for about six months and all the time the
Tigers are getting real pissed about it. Then just before we hit
earth the Chief tries to set the idiot straight, he's the Tiger
clan head on ship and he knows what's brewing. Tells him to lay low
or else."

"Didn't work?"

"Well, it did for a few weeks but when we hit
earth everybody was really frustrated about all the restrictions on
us. Well a bunch of us went down to the small animen quarter in
town and were tying on a good one when he shows up. Now there was a
Tiger, who will go unnamed, with us. Of course Bill, the Raccoon,
started in with him. This was not a good move as he is one of the
crew’s truly mean bad boys. We brought him along in case we got in
trouble, because everybody knows he's tough."

"Well, one thing led to another and Bill just
kept on riding him, and suddenly Bam, he grabbed Bill by the face
and threw him through the window."

"And his neck got broken when he was
grabbed?"

"No, his neck got broken when he landed in
the garden six stories below."

"Ouch, I take it nobody remembered they were
in a tall building?"

"Well, that was the claim, but I'm not so
sure. The Tiger Clan came down pretty tough on the one who did it.
They got him on some heavy restrictions, and such."

"What about the Raccoon clan? Why didn't they
stop this joker before he got out of line?"

"You are slow aren't you? Haven't you noticed
that there aren't any Raccoons on board?"

"Hey I’ve barely been onboard a full week
yet, so far I’ve only seen this area, the gym, and my bunk. So what
do you really think? Was it intentional, or an accident?"

"I think that he intended to really hurt him
bad, maybe even kill him, but I honestly don't know that he meant
to throw him through the window. He really looked surprised when it
broke."

"Does the Captain know who did it?"

"Nope, just the few of us who were there, and
on Earth the police don't come to animen accidents unless a human
insists. So it's pretty much been covered over. If you're smart
you'll shut up about it now too. He did have it coming anyway."

"Well, thanks for letting me know. I was
beginning to worry about this type of thing being all too
common."

"Oh, it happens more than anyone would like.
It seems that when some get out of the highly structured life of
the crèche, they kind of go off the deep end. Lots of them buy it
in stupid accidents and such. A few end up like Bill there, they
just can't deal with all the different species."

"Think I'll do okay?" I asked looking at
him.

"I wouldn't be wasting my time with you if I
thought you wouldn't make it. Just remember to listen to your Clan.
You been invited in yet?"

"Tonight, it's going to be strange being in a
clan that isn't full of my brothers and sisters."

"You were the 'Clan head' of your crèche
group, weren't you?"

"Yeah, one of them, how'd you guess?"

"I talked to Balizar, your Clan head, to see
how you were doing. He told me that you were pretty respectful, and
didn't seem like a problem child."

"Well, after Herza threw me across the gym
during a sparing session I figured I better behave!"

"She is a tough one, cute though."

"Chasing cats now? I thought you were after
human game!"

"Hey, have you noticed how many female Foxes
are on this bucket? Not nearly enough! And us foxes have a strong
libido. I'll take anything that'll sit still long enough!"

"Remind me not to stand in front of you
anymore!" I laughed.

"Ah, you're too ugly. So have you checked out
all the other Leopards on the crew yet?"

"Pretty much, it only took about two
days."

"Two days!" He laughed, "You sure didn't
waste anytime!"

"Well," I admitted guiltily, "I just wanted
to get it over with. I know I'm the low man, and I was warned about
thrashing anybody. Quite pointedly too. Besides, I think they were
as interested in checking me out as I was them, so it wasn’t like I
had to go looking."

"Well, you don't strike me as the thrashing
type Raj," Gabe laughed again. "Or the type that gets thrashed
either!"

"Well, I thought so until I met Herza and
Banner. They both made it fairly obvious just where the experience
lay, and it sure wasn't with me!"

"I'm just glad I'm not a cat," He grinned,
"you guy's play way too rough for me sometimes! Anyway I gotta get
going, good luck tonight, I'll see you later."

He walked out the door. I looked at the time
and decided I should start getting ready for my date tonight. I
didn't want to show up looking shabby. So I went back to my
quarters, showered, groomed, and put on a clean uniform.

I was looking forward to meeting the clan.
Balizar, the clan head, was thirty years older than I was, and his
lifemate was about as old. The idea of belonging to a clan whose
heads were old enough to be my parents was actually very
attractive, never having had parents myself. The fact that Balizar
was the head of the Ship's security detachment was also pretty
interesting. It placed him pretty high up in the scheme of things.
Security was the biggest group onboard, being about one hundred
strong. Actually nearly all of the ship's complement was combat
trained and belonged to security to some extent or other, or at
least the animen that is. I was a trained combat specialist myself
and would probably have ended up as either a troop with a combat
group or a security detail if I hadn’t earned the opportunity to
become a flyer.

As Balizar was a senior officer, with a
lifemate who was also high ranking, he had fairly large size
quarters, and that was where the clan meeting would be held. I
showed up at the door at eighteen hundred sharp as I had been
told.

I knocked and the door opened, and there
stood Sharazad, a slender, but still tough looking spotted leopard,
she was Balizar's mate.

"Greetings Raj, please come in."

I stepped into the room and looked around,
all ten of the leopards on board the ship where here and I noticed
that they were mostly wearing just shorts, though quite a few were
only in their fur, not much of a big deal when you’re covered in
fur already.

“A bit overdressed, aren’t we?” Balizar who
was also spotted, and fairly well built chuckled, “Well I think we
can remedy that…” and damned if he didn’t trip me onto the pillow’s
strewn about the floor that some of the group were lounging on.
Other than two fold out couches there wasn’t much else in the way
of furniture in the room.

I was mobbed as I hit the floor, mostly by
the younger clan members, though Banner and Herza helped too. It
didn’t take them long to relieve me of my uniform coveralls, I
didn’t really put up a fight, it was kind of fun I had to admit.
I’d missed the close physical and social contact of my siblings and
my own kind for a year now.

“There, that’s better, now you look normal.”
Mist commented.

“And much more relaxed,” Balizar commented.
“So, how do you like your first assignment so far?”

“So far it seems pretty good,” I smiled
sitting up and finding myself a few cushions to get comfortable on.
“Do you do that to everyone new?”

“Just the ones fresh out of the crèche,” He
chuckled. “You all tend to look so stiff and formal the first time
you show up.”

I looked around at the rest of the group, I’d
met most of them already, first was Banner, he was about as big as
Balizar and spotted as well. He was thirty something and a platoon
leader in the security forces, which made him a lieutenant. Herza,
was a very well muscled and attractive black in her late twenties,
a squad leader and a sergeant in rank. The remaining three from
security were Lyle, a spotted male, and Sheen and Mist, both black
females. They were all about nineteen or twenty and fairly well
built as well, the girls both being rather attractive I had to
admit.

The rest were: Franz and Kate, who were also
lifemates like Balizar and Sharazad, they were in their late
thirties. He was a scout, spotted and a little slender. She was a
biologist, black and about the same size as him. Then there was
Katrine, a member of the intel team and a very pretty and petite
black of about twenty two.

I found myself checking out the single
females quite a bit, and noticed that Mist and Katrine were both
checking me out as well. Herza just smiled at me once and then went
back to chatting with Banner. Eventually we all settled down and
Balizar passed out glasses to everyone.

“A toast to our latest addition! Welcome Raj,
and may your debts ever be dwindling!”

“Hear! Hear!” the rest answered and we all
drank. I was surprised to find it was real champagne.

“Being the head of security makes it easy to
get the good stuff,” Balizar said and winked at me.

I found myself sitting with Mist and Katrine,
which I had to admit I enjoyed quite a bit. For the most part the
clan meeting consisted of just idle talk. Everyone talked a little
about what they were doing, and if they had something to vent about
they did. If they were having a serious problem with someone,
they’d talk it over with Balizar who’d bring the issue up with the
other person’s clan head. Clan heads dealt with most social and
personal disputes, as well as some legal matters, freeing the
ship’s Captain from having to do so.

The other function of the clan was sort of a
mutual support group. None of us had any real family to speak of,
so we had no where to go for advice, or anyone to confide in. The
stress of being alone could be hard for some, especially among the
many different species you had to work with and around. It was
always easier to relax among those most like yourself.

“So how long have you been here?” I asked
Mist.

"I've been here for five years now. This is
my first posting."

"How do you like it?"

"It’s been pretty good actually,” she smiled
at me. “The Captain seems to be okay. The XO isn’t even half bad
and having the top two security heads in the clan sure doesn’t hurt
either.”

I nodded.

“And now with some new talent around things
might even get more interesting,” She teased and winked at me.

"I'm flattered." I laughed.

"You should be, you know you are the largest
leopard I've ever seen. Was everybody in your crèche group so
big?"

"No, I was the biggest. But come on, I'm not
that big."

"Check with Kate, six feet is supposed to be
the genetic max on us. You
sure
there isn't any Jaguar in
there? I'd be happy to look," she grinned.

“Fairly sure, but if you’re bound and
determined to look some time…” I teased back.

Banner came over and sat down then, “Give the
poor kid a break Mist, he’s only been here a week.” He smirked at
her.

“So tell us about yourself Raj”

I shrugged, “What do you want to know?”

“Well, how about the rest of your crèche
family?” He said.

So I told them a little about each of my
brothers and then sisters, finishing with Cassandra.

“In love already?” Kate asked leaning over
interested, I think all of them had actually been following what I
had been saying, which surprised me as I didn’t think it was that
interesting.

I fidgeted a bit, ears splaying a little in
embarrassment, “Well, maybe. We’d been together and close as long
as I can remember, more so than anyone else. I think the
psychologists were bothered by it, they made a point of splitting
us up on our initial assignments.” I sighed at the memory of that.
“Of course if they’d given us the opportunity to stay together I
would have had to skip flight training. So the company also gives
as it takes away I guess.”

Kate nodded, “Well, I’m sure things will work
out for you eventually.”

I nodded, “I hope so. I miss her a lot, we’re
hoping that on our next assignments we’ll be able to work something
out and be together.”

“Planning on lifemating already?” Banner
asked looking a bit surprised.

I shrugged a little nervously and smiled, “I
don’t know, Probably.”

Franz piped in and changed the subject making
me relax a little.

“So tell us Raj, any idea why you’re so big?
Can’t say I’ve ever seen a leopard as big as you.”

“I’m an exercise nut,” I chuckled, “I work
out a lot, started when I was two.”

They looked a bit surprised at that.

“Hey Herza, I think we found your match!”
Banner snickered.

“Oh really?” She said turning from her
conversation with Balizar. “I’ll have to challenge him to a bench
press competition then,” she smiled.

“I’ll be sure to set it up,” Banner grinned
back at Herza and I shook my head smiling.

“Think you can beat me Raj?” she asked still
smiling.

“Definitely,” I smiled back. I’d already seen
what she normally pressed in the gym just before she’d beat me up
in that sparring match. It would be nice to get back a little of my
own.

After that the conversation drifted off to
other things, I had a lot of questions myself for the rest of them,
and managed to ask quite a few of them before we called it a night
and headed off to our rooms. Balizar did take the time to tell me
that he was assigning my personal training to Banner as he didn’t
really feel anyone lower in the ranks would be able to teach me
anything considering my scores in my training classes.