The Neko's Tail (Book 2 of Astara)

Test Flight

The tiger stood before General Aro, heart pounding loudly in his chest.
“You lost five Faro and a tanker in transit. To Dalmar pirates. And you have no idea why Dalmar pirates would be working to deny their planet water.”
“General, I believe they were paid to attack us. Someone wants the Faro and the Dalmar to go to war again.”
“Well they won’t be attacking anyone ever again,” the Xanar said. “Thanks to your burst, we were able to pinpoint their location and destroy the ship in under ten minutes.”
Artemis frowned. With the pirates dead, there was no way to tell who had sent them.
“There is a military vessel waiting to take you back to your ship. Thank you for your assistance Captain.”
Artemis nodded and left the room. A Dalmar stopped the tiger just outside the building.
“Captain Artemis?” she asked, throwing a salute that revealed the orange bracer of a lieutenant.
“That’s me,” Artemis said, returning the salute.
“I’m Lieutenant Asara. I’m your ride to Oyhaf B3. If you’re ready to leave, we can get off this rock.”
“It’s not that bad of a planet. I’ve been on worse.”
The Dalmar snorted.
“Forgive me for saying so, Captain, but that is a horrible criteria for not a bad planet. I was born here and every chance I get, I go off-planet.”
Artemis chuckled.
“You sound like me. Why did you join Military?”
“Tradition. Dalmar are warriors. At the time I just wanted to join the Fleets. I didn’t think about the IEFL.”
Asara smiled as she pointed to a ship.
“Still, I get to fly this beauty, so I don’t mind.”
The ship was smaller than Artemis’ old vessel; a sleek ship made for dogfighting. He had no doubt it could perform just as well in the atmosphere as it could in the vacuum of space. It was not a design he had seen before, and Artemis guessed it was a Dalmar ship, not Alliance.
“Your people really seem to know their ships,” he said.
Asara shrugged.
“We really weren’t that far behind the Alliance in tech. But the Faro had more ships than we did, and all the tech in the world wasn’t going to save us. Their pilots weren’t as good as ours though,” she chuckled.
“I found them to be a little abrasive myself,” Artemis said, thinking back to the comms officer. “Though that may have been my fault.”
Asara hit the side of the ship and a ladder descended from the hull. She made her way up the ladder and into a cockpit, followed closely by Artemis.
They sat in the twin seats of the ship, and the Dalmar fired up the engines.
“Do you mind if I take a nap?” Artemis yawned.
“Go ahead,” Asara smiled, angling the ship in the sky. “We’ll be at our destination in five hours.”

Elias sat in bed, studying his tablet. His eyes still hurt when he read, but when he was watching the sign language pictures, his eyes didn’t hurt as much.
He couldn’t sleep. Reinard was in his own room, and Elias knew if he fell asleep he would have nightmares. It wasn’t the first time he had gone without sleep, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.
The pictures helped him stay awake. The neko was excited to show Artemis what he had learned. It was strange; the tiger had kidnapped him, but he was also the first person to really care about Elias, Reinard being the second.
The neko moved his hands, practising the gestures that said what he wanted to say. Hello Artemis. I missed you.
Because he did. Elias wasn’t scared of the tiger; not any more. But he still didn’t like talking. He had been silent for so long speaking felt weird. The neko did it because no one could understand him otherwise. But he still preferred to be silent.
Light streamed through his window, shining down on the neko. Elias stretched, setting the tablet aside. He wanted to soak up the sunlight as much as he could. Eventually, he would be back on a ship, with no sun to curl up in, and little warmth.
A chime sounded through the house and the neko ignored it. He had heard the sound often enough. Most likely Neistar had a friend over. Curling up, Elias sighed as he felt the warmth of the sun on his body.
The ringing of the communicator startled the neko, and he stared at the device, uncertain of what to do. It was loud, and Elias folded his ears, trying to block out the sound. After a minute, the ringing stopped, and Elias let out a sigh of relief.
A knock came at the door, and the neko grumbled quietly, standing up. He had been so warm and comfortable…
Opening the door, he found Reinard on the other side, the fox looking like he had just gotten out of bed.
“Artemis is back,” Reinard yawned. “I’m not sure why he didn’t just come upstairs, but Eigal says he needs to talk with both of us.”
Elias frowned but followed Reinard downstairs. They found Artemis waiting by the door with a cup in his hands.
“Hey, sorry I took so long,” the tiger said. “Something came up and long story short, it would probably be best if I got out of the system for a while.”
“But you’re a hero to the system,” Reinard objected.
“Not to some.”
Artemis sipped at his drink as Ceirel and Neistar came down the stairs.
“Welcome back Captain,” Ceirel smiled.
“Thank you. Unfortunately, I can’t stay long. Our ship is almost ready; they just need to install a fuel scoop and then we can take it for a test flight.”
Ceirel’s smile turned into a frown.
“Oh…”
His arm wrapped around Reinard almost protectively.
“I want to invite both of you on the test flight with us. You have done so much for us, and I am very grateful,” Artemis said.
“We would be honoured Captain,” Neistar smiled.