Halden Ravan's life aboard the SS Shishaldin was generally spent in dark access tunnels and hard-to-reach areas of the Dennieran battleship’s interior. He was a nondescript member of the crew who fulfilled his duties of repair and maintenance as given, but was rarely ever recognized for his accomplishments, and usually thought of only in passing.

He was a quiet member who kept to himself with hobbies of music and botany, though he loved to sit in and listen to others’ conversations. He got along well with those whom he worked with, though had not formed any close relationships. Those familiar with him knew him as reliable and pleasant, and a good worker who never complained about the tasks given him, but otherwise no one knew much about him.

The desert fennec fox seemed to enjoy the assignments that took him solo into the heart of the ship’s systems. His short stature and sensitive night sight made him perfect for many tasks of that nature. No one had ever asked him if he minded the jobs that normally fell to him.

The Shishaldin was a Dennieran battleship assigned to patrol the asteroid belt that occupied the orbit between the rival worlds of Mainor and Dennier. The two planets had coexisted peacefully for the past three centuries, but a dispute over mineral rights concerning newly discovered resources among the rubble had set the two worlds against one another.

The dispute had been confined mostly to interstellar arguments and name-calling, but it had since escalated into an actual conflict when small mining vessels from both sides had been discovered working covertly among the bodies of spatial debris with enough mass to retain a thin atmosphere left over from the original planet's demise.

Although neither side of the conflict wanted open war, hit-and-run tactics to harass interlopers from the disputed region had resulted in some bloodshed. Pirates and other small-time  For the most part, the ships of the 36^th Spatial Flight Squadron from Dennier were tasked

Hal emerged out of a small access tube that had led to a faulty air circulation unit. The repair had been simple, but the crawl had been a long one. He was rather tired, and his large, sail-like ears twitched as soon as he stood up in the open air. He felt glad to stretch his limbs and yawned widely with a curled tongue. With smooth movements, he resealed the tube and bundled up his tool kit.

The light was dim in the service way between the ship’s double hulls, but he had no trouble finding his way back to the main corridor. It was only a few moments more until he had returned to the Chief Engineer’s office and reported his work completed.

Roman Jinx looked up and nodded silently, but as the desert fox turned to go stow his tool kit, the panda said, "By the way, Hal, Clark wants to see you"

"The Captain?" Hal asked. "Wants me?"

"That’s right. Get cleaned up and be on the bridge by seventeen hundred hours."

"Aye, sir."

Hal put away his gear and headed for his quarters. He was highly curious why the captain wanted to see him. As far as he knew, he had not done anything wrong, and had not even been up to the bridge to repair anything in months. His fur needed a good grooming and he figured a fresh uniform would be a good idea before facing the unknown.

* * *

WHOOM!

The rumble sounded violently in the confines of the small cockpit of the Khatamu–class fighter, causing the ears of the occupants to ring for a moment.

"What did you say?" Carl asked as he maneuvered the craft into a sharp negative dive along the z-axis to dodge a mid-size asteroid in the disputed field occupying the orbit between Mainor and Dennier.

"I said," the red fox behind him repeated undaunted, "He was firing at us!"

Carl Morse withheld comment as twin bursts of violet fire passed soundlessly beyond his canopy bubble. He went through evasive actions again, trying to buy time.

"Reese! Where the blazes are you?" he growled into his headset mike. His attention darted suddenly to an explosive flash far in the distance.

"Okay, I’m now free," the black wolf’s voice crackled in the receiver. "On my way!"

"Better hurry," Carl replied. "I can’t seem to shake this one!" Then he said to his copilot, "Any damage from that last hit?"

Iago Ingram was silent a moment and then reported, "The only damage the diagnostic computer picks up is a missing access panel near the rear sensor package. I think we were fortunate that time."

"Too close," the canine agreed as he fought to avoid the seemingly endless fire from the long-range Mainoran Katoi-class fighter. The farther the Shishaldin got away from the primary traffic patterns of Dennier into the disputed asteroid field, Mainoran activity seemed to be on the rise.

Carl cut starboard and tried to squeeze every bit of power from the screaming engines of the Khatamu. The distant bulk of the Shishaldin came into view, closer than he would have liked at these speeds.

"Hang on, Morse!" Dayton Reese’s voice came across the headset "I’m almost in firing range of the Katoi."

Iago leaned forward in his seat so that his nose was close to Carl’s flattened ears. "Y’know," he said in a nonchalant tone, "if he shoots this one down, he’ll be one up on you today, and his shift has just started..."

Carl snorted. "If the rear guns hadn’t locked up, you could have dispatched the Katoi already," he countered. He saw one of Iago’s ears droop in the station monitor.

"That wasn't my fault," the red fox yipped back. "The mechanics should have checked it on its last maintenance."

The Shishaldin loomed closer as Captain Clark’s voice cut into the conversation. "Morse! You’re supposed to take the fighting away from the ship!"

The sudden appearance of Reese’s fighter startled Carl a brief heartbeat as it shot past his canopy from out of nowhere to disappear somewhere behind him.

"Here we go!" Reese’s voice sounded out in glee.

* * *

Experimental floating robots were sometimes used on military and exploration vessels, mainly engaged as mobile sensors to monitor systems when personnel numbers were down. However, as they were usually thrown together with spare parts, their functions were quirky and often more trouble than they were worth. The Shishaldin employed four of the basketball-sized flobots, and the crew tended to ignore them as best they could.

Flobot-003, nicknamed "Tonka" by someone in the crew, moved silently along a small service way that would be cramped for most crew members, but there was ample room for the spherical device. As it navigated along the narrow passage, it passed an excited power transfer unit and paused to scan its output.

* * *

Iago watched in open-mouthed disbelief as his monitor showed several chunks of shorn debris from the damaged Katoi drift directly into a sensor array of the Shishaldin, its inertia only slightly slower than the speed of the Mainoran fighter that had escaped with only partial injury. Fortunately, the damage to the Shishaldin was minimal; the debris hit at a glancing blow. There was a small flash of light upon impact from discharged energy.

‘Whoops" the red fox whispered.

* * *

Tonka turned on its internal axis to resume its self-chosen course. The power transfer unit was arcing across a relay, but the energy active in the seldom-used unit was so minimal that the flobot merely made a note of it to report later. However, an unexpected flash of energy surged through the power transfer unit and a stray tendril lashed out at the flobot.

Tonka dropped to the floor of the service way and bounced twice. Disrupted for only a few microseconds, the flobot rose again and floated aimlessly into a wall. It made a few internal whirring noises and the stabilized itself. Satisfied it was still functional, Tonka moved toward an open access door and drifted out into a main corridor. The flobot moved to a shadowed spot near the ceiling and simply hovered in place as security subroutines became active.

* * *

In the hangar bay, the helmsman of the Shishaldin met Carl and Iago as they disembarked their Khatamu, having finished their patrol after repelling the surprise Mainoran attack. Reese Dayton had just begun his shift, so he was still out among the stars.

"Why the glum face, Sinclair?" Iago asked as they left the fighter in the care of the flight deck crew.

The young grey wolf grimaced. "Is it that obvious?" he asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his flight jacket. He looked at the red fox and then answered, "The Captain has clipped my wings. I’m grounded."

"Huh?" Carl looked at the wolf suddenly. He had only been half listening to the conversation, but now took interest. "What was that?"

Merlin Sinclair nodded. "When Olive jumped ship and eloped during our shore-leave last week, she left me without a copilot. Captain Clark is giving my Rustbucket to another flying team since I can’t fly solo missions in it myself." He shrugged his shoulders as they passed beneath Tonka, who floated near the ceiling. The flobot's sensors registered the trio below and it began to move.

"Isn’t there anyone else you can team up with?" Iago wanted to know.

"I asked the captain the same thing, but we’re kinda short-handed right now," the wolf replied. "He says I can devote more time on the bridge at the helm and maybe go on some of the ground parties."

Carl put a hand on Sinclair’s shoulder and chuckled. "What about Karla? You two work side by side on the bridge fairly well."

Merlin looked sideways at him slowly. "I don’t think she would fit in a Khatamu cockpit very well," he said with a lopsided smile. "The size of her chest would prevent her from seeing half the instruments…"

"True," Iago agreed. "Anyway, if you…" His voice trailed off as his gaze moved to a spot above the wolf s ears. "We have a visitor." The trio looked up and saw Tonka hovering directly over the helm officer’s head. Merlin stepped to the side a few paces, but the flobot moved with him, retaining its constant position above him.

"What the—?" Sinclair tried again, but the flobot maintained its attitude. "What is it, Tonka?" the wolf asked. The flobot merely looked back at him with its sensor eye, but made no effort to communicate.

"Ignore it and maybe it'll go away," Iago suggested.

"That won’t work," Carl countered. "Once a security flobot attaches itself to someone, there's no getting rid of it."

"That sounds like the voice of experience," Merlin muttered. "How did you get rid of it?"

Carl smiled, showing all his teeth. "A large hammer," he replied. "I wouldn't suggest it, however. Those things are expensive, and the captain took it out of my pay."

"What about a memory flush?" Iago asked.

"Have you ever rebuilt a tanyon memory core?" the canine replied. "Those things are so complex that you can't just simply reload its software."

Iago draped an arm across Merlin's shoulder and waggled his eyebrows at him. "Looks like you're going to have a constant companion!"

Sinclair shook his head slowly and decided the eccentricities of the unit did not warrant his attention for the moment. "I'm not going to worry about that right now," he muttered.

The wolf stuck his hands into the pockets of his flight jacket and continued walking. The others followed, though Iago was amused at how Tonka floated right along above the wolf's head.

"Flying patrols may not seem exciting to most folk," Sinclair said, "but I enjoyed getting away from the Shishaldin out into the stars on occasion."

"Are there any Vargs available?" Carl asked. "They don’t require a copilot like the Khatamu." They entered a lift to take them to the upper levels. Tonka stayed with the wolf, who had already forgotten its presence.

"The only ones without pilots are those scrapped for spare parts. Right now, nothing is available for me to fly, except the Shishaldin itself." Merlin looked down at Iago, who was a good five inches shorter, and noted the amused expression on the red fox’s face.

"What are you smirking at?" he asked.

Iago grinned widely and replied, "You’re still being followed..."

Sinclair looked up with a frown at Tonka’s hovering form. Carl crossed his arms and said, "Maybe it’s decided you’re its mother."

"Mama! Mama!" Iago quipped in a childlike voice.

"All right, cut it out, you two," Merlin snapped as the lift doors opened on the Crew Quarters level. He started to walk out, but Carl and Iago remained on the lift. "You two coming?" he asked.

Carl pointed upward. "We just got back, remember? We have to debrief with the Captain."

"We'll see you and your lil' rain cloud later," Iago laughed.

Sinclair glared at the flobot as the lift doors closed. "Go away," he said. When the unit stayed with him, he repeated his order more harshly. "Go away, Tonka!" The sphere merely studied him with its single eye lens, remaining above him like a personal sentry.

The wolf growled to himself and moved down the corridor toward his quarters, acutely aware of the soft hum above him. He was not appreciative of the flobot's company at the moment, especially since he was not in the best of moods anyway. He had finished stowing Olive’s belongings in the cargo storage just before he had been informed of Captain Clark’s decision. He sighed as he reached his door. Olive had been a good partner and roommate, even though they had never formed ties beyond friendship. When he stepped inside, he thought the room looked awfully lonely.

* * *

"Carl, do you have a report on the latest security sweeps?" Captain Ben Clark said to the canine from his command chair.

The security chief left the ring of monitors at his station and walked toward the jackal. Iago kept his place where he had been idly watching over his friend’s shoulder and gazed lazily at the multiple security screens. Without an active assignment, he had been bored for the past hour and was looking for anything to give him some excitement.

He was not disappointed, though it had taken a while. As he studied the images displayed, Iago caught sight of one that made his eyes widen delightfully. A wicked smile crossed his features as he reached toward Carl’s terminal. He played his fingers across the keys and entered a few commands. When he had finished, nothing looked out of place, only seconds before Carl returned to his station.

* * *

Hours later, Merlin felt silly. He sat at the helm of the Shishaldin's primary bridge, fully aware of the whispers and quiet chuckles he knew to be associated with his predicament. He had endured such all through his shift, which was graciously nearing its end. There he was... helmsman of a mighty battleship… pilot of a great vessel... with a round metal ball hovering over his head.

He glanced up at the irritating sphere as he had done dozens of times already and sighed in resignation. Before his shift had begun, Merlin had suffered the humility of taking a shower and grooming under the flobot’s watchful lens. He had sincerely hoped some of the water had somehow gotten inside and would either short out or at least rust out the annoying little ball.

He was startled when a small hand came to rest on his right shoulder. He looked over into the bemused eyes of Aileen, the cute Border collie who was to relieve him of his watch.

"Tag, you’re it!" she laughed, tapping him on the end of his nose.

Sinclair smiled and did a quick check to make sure his controls were locked into position before vacating the seat. "All yours," he said as he got to his feet a moment later. He gave her a quick report on their status and then turned to leave.

"Merlin?" Aileen asked.

"Yes?"

"You’re being followed..."

Merlin groaned and closed his eyes, wishing that the flobot would simply go away. With a low growl beneath his breath, he headed away from his station.

From his center seat, Captain Clark quietly watched the wolf depart the bridge, spherical companion in tow. He allowed himself a slight smile and returned his attention to the operation of his ship.

* * *

The tired wolf had just collapsed onto his bunk when a knock sounded on his door. He opened his eyes wearily and saw the flobot’s curved surface above him. The knock came again.

"Tonka, answer the door," he said hopefully. When the unit did not move, he sat up and called, "Come on in, it's open."

The door opened slowly and he saw a short desert fox enter beneath a pair of large ears. His fur was a light tan, with a fluff of white at the base of his throat. The newcomer wore the standard crew uniform, but the wolf immediately noted the mechanic’s insignia.

"I’m looking for Merlin Sinclair," the stranger said with a light accent.

"You’ve found him," the wolf said. He sat up on the edge of his bunk. "What can I do for you? I don’t recall putting in a repair work-order, unless Olive did for something before she left…"

"I’m not here to fix anything. My name is Halden Ravan," he said as he stood in the doorway. "Most just call me Hal."

"Okay, Hal, what can I do for you?"

"I’m your new copilot," he answered.

Merlin was startled. "Copilot?"

The desert fox’s large eyes sparkled as he noticed the hovering flobot overhead. He shrugged and said, "Captain Clark found a little-known entry in my personnel file where I’d had prior flying experience when I served on the dreadnaught, Novarupta. It was his decision to pair me up with you."

The wolf sat silent for a moment and then grinned when he realized he was no longer grounded. He waved a hand at the other empty bunk in the room and said, "Come on in and make yourself at home, partner."

Hal leaned back out into the corridor and then hefted a duffel strap onto his shoulder. He shut the door behind him and once again glanced at the flobot.

"Hello, Tonka," he said.

"You know this thing?" Sinclair asked in a surprised tone. He stood up to shake hands with his new roommate and noted the desert fox was about a foot shorter than he was, though the large ears made up for the rest of the height.

"Yeah," Hal replied. "I see it sometimes while I’m working in the out-of-the-way access service ways throughout the ship. Annoying little bugger, isn’t it?"

"Very. I thought the ferret brothers were the ones who went into the hard-to-reach areas of the Shishaldin for repair work."

"They are," Hal replied, "but this is a big ship and I help out when I can, which is usually always."

Sinclair sneered at the flobot and shook his head. "This thing has apparently become infatuated with me; it’s been hovering above my ears like this all day."

"Hmm…"  Hal mused.

"Did the captain tell you what your assignment was with me?" the wolf asked. He retrieved his flight jacket from the foot of the fennec's new bunk and tossed it over the back of the single chair beneath a small desk.

"Standard patrol duty, from what I could tell. He said something about a rusty container, though."

Merlin laughed aloud. "You mean the Rustbucket. That’s the nickname I gave the Khatamu-class fighter we’ll be flying."

"Ah."  Hal began removing items from his duffel as he tried to picture a highly corroded ship attempting to take off. "Is it safe to fly?"

Merlin flashed the desert fox a wide grin. "Of course it is! We can go out for a quick spin if you wish."

"Is there room in the cockpit for Tonka, as well?"

The wolf frowned. "Maybe I can eject it into deep space while we’re out there…" he replied wishfully.

Hal sat on his bunk and stared up at the flobot. "I bet you’d like to string up the guy who brought this one on board," he quipped. "I’ve wanted to many times, myself." Merlin Sinclair merely nodded toward his new copilot. "May I be of help?" Hal asked, pulling an odd-looking pistol with a thick barrel from his duffel; he aimed it at Tonka.

"No!" the wolf exclaimed. "As much as I’d like to blow it to smithereens, Captain Clark thinks they’re useful, despite everyone else's opinions."

"Relax," Hal said. "This will only disrupt its power source a few moments, long enough for you to lock it up in a closet somewhere."

Merlin smiled. He liked this guy already.

* * *

"So this is the Rustbucket, eh?" Hal said as he stood beside the battered fighter craft. There was nothing uniform about the two-seater's paint job, as its exterior had seen many repairs in the course of its service. The canopy was scuffed and scratched in places, and the desert fox briefly wondered if it had taken a spin through trees somewhere.

"Well, it’s not a beauty," Sinclair replied, leaning against the leading edge of the plane's starboard atmospheric wing, "but Poppi has a hand in keeping it running for me. If she can't fix it, no one can."

"Poppi?"

"She's the resident expert mechanic on Khatamu fighters. She's a short little mouse with a lot of moxie and even greater skill."

Hal gave the plane another once-over. "Is it very reliable?"

The wolf smiled wanly and said after only the barest of hesitation, "Usually."

The desert fox hopped up onto the recessed footholds and climbed up to the cockpit. He took his seat and studied the instrument panel as Merlin followed up after him. Hal placed the headset around his ears and adjusted its fit.

"It has been a while since I’ve been in a Khatamu," Hal said. "I’m more familiar with the Lupe-class two-seater."

Sinclair grunted. "We never got any of those new models on board the Shishaldin," he replied. "It would have been nice to have something updated to work with." He patted the console before him and added, "But, an old friend is always more comfortable."

"One of these days, I want to serve on board an exploration vessel heading toward unexplored space," Hal said wistfully, "rather than on a battleship out looking for trouble."

The wolf glanced back at his companion. "You would be surprised how many pirates live out in that unexplored space. They don't want to be discovered and will even attack exploration vessels to keep it that way. Without firing a shot, though, a battleship can help keep the peace just by its presence."

He stopped his chatter for a moment to check in with the deck master to okay an unscheduled flight. As he awaited a reply, Merlin caught a glimpse of Iago on the opposite end of the hangar bay. The red fox appeared to be hawking some kind of paper to the other mechanics and pilots in the area, but he could not tell what it was from this distance. When Iago turned and saw him, he smiled widely and disappeared behind a Varg-class, single-seat fighter.

Merlin frowned. He suddenly felt a nameless dread. Whenever Iago smiled like that, it always meant trouble for someone. He was about to hop out of the Rustbucket to investigate, but the deck master signaled the flight was cleared by Ops. He growled lowly beneath his breath and began the start-up sequence after acknowledging the message.

Moments later, the Rustbucket eased out into space and took a trajectory parallel to the huge bulk of the Shishaldin. Merlin took the fighter through maneuvers and worked with Hal for over an hour in mock scenarios to let the two of them get used to working together as a team. The desert fox’s experience was reawakened in the practice and their efforts became coordinated rather easily. More time together would be needed to fine-tune the working relationship, but at least now they knew they should not hamper each other during a real crisis.

Merlin eased the Rustbucket level and brought the speed down to standard cruising to keep up with the Shishaldin. In his headset, he heard the labored breathing of his copilot. He chuckled and said, "I didn’t scare you on that last loop, did I?"

Hal coughed lightly. "No, but I am having a little difficulty breathing."

The wolf continued smiling. He had often executed maneuvers that had made Olive queasy with the whirling visage of stars and was confident his current copilot had suffered the same. His smile faded shortly, however, when his own breathing became labored. He glanced toward his instrument panel and noted with alarm that the life support system was venting their oxygen!

Merlin slapped his hand over the control switch and stopped the action. He was certain he had not operated that function, and nothing in the cockpit could have jostled against it to activate the system. As he puzzled over the mystery, he tried to compensate by recharging the cabin air.

He growled in sudden agitation when he realized that nothing was left in the reserve tanks with which to recharge. Breathing became increasingly more difficult, but he had to warn his copilot.

"Hal," he wheezed, "Breathe as shallow as you can. Something is wrong with system. We’re losing air and the backup's gone." The wolf veered the fighter craft into a tight arc, back toward the battleship, and then poured on the speed. He did not want to use up precious air to call in, so he thumbed the emergency beacon to let the Shishaldin know he was coming in hot.

* * *

"Captain!" Karla exclaimed, "Sinclair has just activated his emergency beacon!"

"What reason?"

"There’s been no communication from him, sir, but he’s returning at top speed."

Captain Clark thought for a split second and then ordered, "Clear the landing bay! That bucket of bolts he’s flying has malfunctioned again, I’d wager."

"Aye, sir."

Though he dare not respond verbally, Merlin heard Karla’s voice in his headset reply that hangar deck three had been cleared for his emergency landing. He acknowledged by switching his emergency beacon off and then back on again a moment later.

From the copilot’s seat, Hal gasped lightly. The air was getting thinner too quickly and he seemed on the edge of unconsciousness. His thoughts moved wildly as he fought to breathe, but there was nothing he could do.

Merlin gulped and gasped as the open bay doors loomed ahead. He tried to maintain a perfect incline course, but he was having trouble focusing his eyes. Karla said something in his headset, but it sounded garbled to him.

The bay came at him in a blur and he managed to fly inside. By a stroke of luck, he remembered to fire braking thrusters, but that was the last thing he remembered before feeling a powerful jolt into unconsciousness.

* * *

Hal coughed twice and inhaled deeply from the oxygen mask placed over his snout He grabbed it with both hands and breathed in desperately. A few moments later, he was able to resume normal respiration.

He opened his eyes and saw Lauren Velvet standing over him. He still sat in the cockpit of the Rustbucket. The Siberian husky smiled at him and he nodded to the curvaceous nurse to indicate he would be all right

Dr. Naomi Rockwell was administering the same treatment to Sinclair in the seat before him. The desert fox looked around the cockpit and hit the console lightly with a fist.

"Rusty scrap heap!" he breathed in annoyance. When he noticed that Merlin was conscious and alert, he spoke into his headset microphone.

"Sinclair," he said, "I’m going to have Captain Clark scrap this flying deathtrap and request that he transfer me back to maintenance!"

Merlin’s head was splitting with a headache and he said nothing to Hal’s statement. At the moment, the proposal sounded fine.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Merlin ambled down the corridor toward his quarters. It had not been a good day. He passed by a clustered group of gunners and noticed they stared at him with sly smiles. They continued to watch him as he left them behind.

"Now what?" he muttered to himself. He rounded another corner and nearly ran into Dayton Reese.

"Heyo!" Reese quipped. "Nice shot!" The black wolf winked and trotted away. Merlin narrowed his eyes and sighed, wondering at his statement.

A moment later, he approached his quarters and stopped abruptly. He noted a glossy color photograph taped to the panel. He gulped and snatched it down before stalking inside.

His door still open behind him, he studied the photo with a growl. It was a shot of him in the shower in all his glory. From the angle of the view, it could only have been taken by Tonka.

Thoughts of the flobot made him angry and he remembered stowing the thing in his closet. He jumped to the storage room and whipped open the panel. With a frenzied scream of its tiny engine, Tonka shot from the closet and out of his quarters through the open door. It bounced off the opposite wall and blazed away through the hall at top speed. Before the wolf could react, he heard it kick in its rotating vane and accelerate away in a high-whine burst of speed.

Angrily, Merlin clutched the photo and slammed the door to his quarters.

* * *

Iago was pleased with himself. In the past hour the red fox had sold ten copies of Merlin’s photograph at a price no one seemed to mind paying. He placed the photos into a large envelope and proceeded to drum up more business.

* * *

Hal entered the room he shared with Sinclair and blinked. The lights were out, but three candles near the wolf's bunk burned in dim yellow illumination. Merlin lay flat on the mattress as he played a soft tune on a reed pipe.

The music stopped as the desert fox dropped onto his own bed. "Well?" Merlin asked dryly. "What time is the Rustbucket’s execution?"

Silence settled on the room a moment before Hal spoke. "Captain Clark refused both my requests," he replied with a sigh. "The Rustbucket is to be repaired and put back into service as usual."

"Hal?"

"What?"

"I know the Rustbucket isn’t the best plane we have on board, and it could bear having a number of systems replaced, but for now it’s all we have." Merlin put his pipe away and sat up. "If you and I put in some extra time during our off duty hours, we should be able to do enough maintenance over what the mechanics do to get it in better working order."

Hal thought about it and replied, "Well, seeing as how I really don’t have a career choice, I suppose we could do that."

"Are we partners again?" the wolf asked with a friendly smile.

Hal cocked his head to the left slightly and crooked the corner of his mouth into a smirk. "On one condition," he said. "Can I hang a pair of fuzzy dice in the cockpit?"

* * *

Merlin walked onto the primary bridge of the Shishaldin. His shift was about to begin and he noted he was the last to arrive. He walked to his station to relieve Tana Agora from her watch and tapped the young coyote on the shoulder.

"Hullo, Sinclair," Tana said with a wide smile.

"My turn to steer," the wolf replied as the other secured the station.

The tawny coyote stood up, but a sheet of paper fell from her uniform pocket at Merlin’s feet. The wolf began to bend over to pick it up, but Tana snatched it with lightning reflexes and then scampered away quickly. Tana disappeared from the bridge with a mischievous smirk.

Merlin stared after her in puzzlement a moment before taking his seat with a shrug of his shoulders.

He studied his panel displays to orient himself for his duty at the helm. After a few moments, he felt an odd sensation and looked up. Nearly everyone on the bridge had been looking at him, but as soon as his eyes lifted up to scan the room, they averted their gazes back to their duties.

The wolf frowned, but said nothing. He turned and noticed Karla smiling openly at him. He smiled back weakly and the skunk tried hard to suppress a chuckle. She shifted her eyes back to her terminal. Merlin glanced above him, but Tonka was not there. Why was everyone acting goofy around him lately, he wondered. He cleared his throat in annoyance and settled into his job, clearly worried.

* * *

Hours had passed and the wolf eventually found his way to the galley for lunch. He set his tray on a vacant table next to a pile of old magazines.

After his meal was finished, he sat back contentedly in his seat and sipped his drink. Idly, he picked up one of the magazines and began to thumb through it. As the pages fanned, a small sheet of paper dropped loose to the floor.

He bent down and snared the stray subscription form, but before he sat back up in his chair, he noticed something else on the floor at his feet.

A photo. His photo.

Slowly, Merlin picked up the color glossy photograph with silent rage. As embarrassment raised his blood pressure, he correctly deduced that copies of the picture had been distributed throughout the ship.

No wonder everyone’s been staring at me, he thought to himself grimly. He tore the picture into pieces and piled them onto his meal tray. He stood up with a determined frown and quickly left the galley.

* * *

Merlin glanced at the luminous display of his watch and frowned. He was supposed to have met Hal to work on the Rustbucket ten minutes ago. He had not wanted to anger his partner any more than necessary, but he had to find out who was responsible for the distribution of his nude photograph around the ship.

The wolf was hiding in the shadows of a side corridor near the main thoroughfare of the Shishaldin, hoping to glimpse the culprit.

Footsteps brought him out of his reverie. He looked up and saw Lauren pass by. His whiskers twitched of themselves when he caught the husky’s scent and he swallowed hard. He always felt that way whenever she was near, as if she were always in heat. His mind began to drift again with her in his thoughts, but moments later, he heard her returning steps.

He grinned as she walked by, but his heart jumped into his mouth when he saw that she held one of those accused photographs! She studied it with a smile and Merlin had to quell the urge to jump out and take it from her. Instead, he waited until she was gone and then quickly stalked up the corridor where the nurse had just come from.

At the first intersection he came to, the wolf eased his nose around until he could see down the cross passage. Ten steps away was Iago, accepting money from one of the Aryan brothers for the sale of a photo. The ferret saw him and darted away, leaving the confused red fox behind.

Iago saw him and twisted his sideways just as Merlin jumped for him. The wolf stumbled and fell to the deck, but recovered albeit clumsily. Iago sprinted away with laughter and Merlin took chase with a low growl. The red fox managed to stuff the photos back into a large envelope as he ran, but his eyes went wide when Merlin abruptly seized his tail. He jerked to a stop and tried once again to twist away, but the wolf had a tight grip. With no other options, he gave in. He had been caught.

Merlin saw Iago’s submissive expression and relaxed his grip only slightly. He moved forward and grabbed the fox’s arm.

"What is the meaning of exposing me all over the ship?" Sinclair growled angrily.

Iago chuckled and replied, "Just cashing in on an opportunity, Sinclair. Your picture has proven rather profitable."

"Don’t you have the decency to let someone have some privacy?" Merlin asked tightly. "I didn’t want to be the Shishaldin’s monthly pinup!"

"Perhaps not," the red fox agreed, "but others seem to appreciate your pose." He grinned at the wolf and waggled his eyebrows.

Merlin swallowed uncomfortably. "I want those photographs," he demanded suddenly, "and the original file!"

"Nothing would make me happier," Iago replied with a purr to his voice, "but I’m making too much money to just give them up. Want to provide me with other poses? I can have Karla take the pictures, if you like."

"Uh...no." Merlin fell silent a moment. He wanted to argue and take the photos from the red fox’s hands, but it would not do any good without the digital file. He knew how much Iago loved credits.

"Okay, you extortionist," he said in a low voice. "How much for the rest of the photos, and all copies of the file?"

Iago smiled. "I was afraid you would never ask!"

Merlin’s golden eyes dilated when he heard the figure. He coughed and tried to negotiate, but the amount never wavered. The wolf cursed, but finally agreed. Iago was rather pleased with himself, and led the stricken Merlin Sinclair back to his quarters to get the original file to the photograph.

* * *

Merlin stumbled into his quarters, discouraged and tired. It had cost him another bribe to coax a list of the people his photos had been sold to out of the red fox, and he had spent the remainder of the day tracking them down.

He had been forced to buy back all the photos at a higher price, of course. His account was nearly exhausted now, and so was he. Of all those sold, he was unable to retrieve five of them. The owners had refused in spite of increased offers he had suggested.

The wolf took the package of photographs and consigned them to the incinerator. He locked the original file in his small personal vault and considered the ordeal over.

He sat on the edge of his bunk and removed his boots. He did not look up when he heard the door open, but closed his eyes instead.

"Hey, partner," Hal said in a cheery voice. "I’ve fixed that bug that caused Tonka to follow you around!"

Merlin looked up and saw the troublesome sphere floating beside the desert fox. His eyes became dark and he reached under his bunk for a length of iron rod he kept there. With a growl, he leapt toward the flobot and swung hard.

Tonka avoided damage easily and Hal dropped to the deck as the bar passed through the air near where his ears had been. The rod hit the metal wall beside the door and left a sizable dent.

"Hey!" Hal squawked as he scrambled away. The wolf swung again, but his target was not the desert fox, rather on the irritating flobot.

Tonka darted out the door as Merlin smashed one of Hal's ferns from its planter. The wolf charged out the door after the hated sphere. Hal watched his partner vanish around a corner and shook his head.

"Now, I wonder what that was all about?" he muttered.