Scribbles and Drabbles

Notebook Drabble 16 B 1

A/N: set in the same universe/ship as NB16, Pax was the Captain of the infected ship and woke up and hid with his kin before the others noticed. Felix has a headache from this. 

"Crap to that bollock. Pax is ours, and we aren't letting go of him again. God knows where he'd end up next time."

"I mean, it wasn't my fault," Pax said, his fingers confidently gliding over the keyboard. Felix's implant let him see how Pax was actively tidying up the files on the dock system while also arranging the new requests that came in. They whizzed through Pax's fingers and disappeared into cyberspace with a speed that only a hacker or a trained data clerk could achieve. 

Felix had never noticed that Pax could do this.  Then again, Gasper did most of the other ship's coding and filing. There was a chance that his men didn't know about this particular skill set. Or maybe they did, but Gasper got protective of his role. A ship captain had a lot of essential roles to fulfil, and the coding wasn't under it. 

"And that makes a blind fucking difference?" the Overseer hissed.

The Dockkin gathered closer around Pax, eyes glaring at Felix. A chuckle came from a nearby vent. Felix wanted to glare at the thing and his spying child. 

"Pax needs to rest, not work," Felix appealed to the Overseer's protective side. The Dockkin were tight-knit and very careful with the more vulnerable among them. "He's recovering from an illness." And they were going to have to do some tests to find out how Pax shook it off so much faster than every other baseliner. 

"We know when he's tired. His left ear twitches, and he starts tapping his foot to stay awake."

"Ear twitches?"

"You need nothing about Pax," the Overseer said, offering his arm as Pax began typing into his gauntlets. Pax was giving assignments. Pax had worked out who was suited to what issue and was delivering standing orders to his troops. 

This was going to cause so many issues. This was such a conflict of interest. 

"Pax," Felix tried appealing to the man himself. "I understand that you are reluctant to return and wish to remain with your kinsmen, but this can't last forever. You haven't sworn fealty yet."

"Sure it can. I never swore the Everlight," Pax shrugged. "But no, you all won't let me retire, will you?" His ear twisted, and the glares around Pax got stronger. Manipulative little bastard, and people thought that the man was a saint. "I'm staying for as long as the sun is emitting solar flares. After that, I'll come back."

"Can't think as to why," Felix pinched the bridge of his nose. "Will you come back if I promise to get you assigned here?"

"After the solar flares."

-x-

"Where is our beloved star?"

"Don't ask," Felix groaned as he settled into bed. Your Commander is a frustrating man." He tried not to move too much as he got settled. The two below respected his desire to sleep in a bed that didn't shake; he could do the same. The dichotomy did land a touch differently. 

They chuckled below, Gasper soft and fond, his voice stuffed with sleep that he hadn't worked off yet. Darius sounded far more amused and awake. Gasper's virus aftereffects were wearing off due to his biology, and his brother proved this. Darius had screwed his biochemistry by training his body to be immune to poisons and standard illnesses. 

"He's awake and active then?"

"He's running the docking and engineering pool's staff allocations and project management." Felix didn't miss that either. Pax wasn't the only dock rate to grow beyond his former caste—Dion had no shame in calling in a friend for help, either. "It is concerning how well connected Pax is within the Order."