"Caine: The Abel Factor"

[Kansas 0]

06.02.09

ISS Agincourt NCC-81762

“Caine: The Abel Factor”

 

Commander Kansas JoNs rolled over in her bunk and sighed contentedly, taking a quick look at the digital chronometer set on the glass top of the silver faux plasti-steel frame nightstand; the bright red time display read just after two AM, and she was due planet side site for the morning shift in just a few hours.

 

The current ongoing mission to the Avaros colony world was going about as well as expected. The on site sciences and engineering teams still hadn’t gotten a handle on what was causing the planet to practically shake itself apart, but the Caitian Ex Oh was pretty sure the two respective department leads would have some answers very soon … mainly because Colonel Harper and JoNs had both threatened the senior line officers.

 

Command staff motivation was a wonderful thing when in motion.

 

Otherwise, both the Security department and the Marine detachment were having fun causing chaos, in a manner of speaking. A local militia group had gotten it into their thick skulls to use the rolling Avaros quakes to their advantage, looting the city stores, and ranting about their cause against the Empire, and the ‘Court teams had been set on them. Putting aside the fact that the militant colonists were looting locations on their own home world and had also shot several of the other colonists in the process, the group had achieved what they wanted – the attention of the Agincourt. So, their Sharks and Squids had been unleashed on a joint “sweep and strike” op to contain the local upstart group. JoNs expected that the eventual confrontations would be swift justice and not very pretty.

 

A tawny colored paw suddenly reached around her midsection from behind her and began to rub in gentle circles on her white furred belly, while a warm body melded and pressed close up against her own naked body. Now this was a much more pleasant matter to attend to …

 

Kansas purred contentedly and stretched her muscles, her voice coming out low and husky. “You know, if we don’t get some sleep, the two of us will be half dead on shift tomorrow.”

 

He whispered into her slightly rounded ear. “This is why caffeine was invented, and I’m a light sleeper.”

 

Said paw belonged to Lieutenant Commander Sarritt, and the tiger like male was a feline of the Kzinti species. At one time, the Caitians and Kzinti had had a bloody history of confrontation with one another, but the last couple hundred years had seen the two cultures and species come to an understanding of sorts. The tribal wars were no more, and both species as a whole had moved on. Now, inter-species relations and marriages were a common occurrence between the Kzin and Caitian blood lines, let along crossing paths on the mercenary job circuit since both feline factions had a strong - and formidable - presence within that line of work.

 

Unlike Kansas, who was born and bred into the Caitian mercenary life, the big Kzin officer had come from a family with a military background. He had transferred to the Agincourt some six months ago, and while it hadn’t been love at first sight or anything romantically epic or gag me sappy of that nature, JoNs had been immediately attracted to the male felinoid cat. Having two felines serving on the same ship was a rare occurrence, what with only about two hundred felinoids total serving throughout the Imperial Starfleet. The attraction had been mutual, and the two of them had entered into a relationship with one another.

 

Honestly, Kansas had been on the rebound at the time, and jumping head first into yet another relationship had probably not been the brightest of ideas. Senior Grade Lieutenant Conrad Zimm - her Human male lover - and Kansas had had a parting of the ways so to speak just prior to Sarritt’s arrival on the ship, and the former relationship had been shot out the proverbial torpedo tube to shatter in the cold of space; this would be considered a rather corny metaphoric description, but very accurate all the same.

 

Zimm was a twenty plus year veteran of both the marine and naval Starfleet, and had been more then ready for an early retirement. And, even though they had both discussed that they’d muster out together and start out on their own in some sort of mercenary line of work, when the time came Kansas had realized that she did not wish to leave her posting to the ‘Court or her career in the Starfleet.

 

Discussions had ensued. Words had been exchanged, heated words, over a period of a few weeks. It was amazing that the two of them had not gotten into real trouble due to the unrest that had blown up between them, and the few instances their anger and frustration with one another’s actions and non-actions had manifested during on shift hours. Zimm and JoNs, both hurt by the other equally, eventually went their separate ways: Kansas stayed on the Agincourt, and Conrad had indeed resigned his commission and gotten an honorable discharge to continue his new non military life elsewhere.

 

JoNs had loved the man, she admitted that, but she couldn’t change what had happened in the past and hindsight can be a stark and telling thing with regard to a present situation. The current relationship with Sarritt was actually much more convenient and beneficial once you got past the logistics. And then again, maybe she should have known better and stayed within her own species in the first place.

 

At forty one years of age, Sarritt had ten years on her and was a couple years older then even Zimm had been. The fact that JoNs held a commander rank and posting as ships Executive Officer and Sarritt held a Lieutenant Commander rank and had come on board as the Chief Helm and Shuttle Officer was merely a difference between her aggressive career drives and his more passive aggressive career drive.

 

Sarritt was very good at what he did, was a more then competent shift leader, and willingly went where that next duty or posting took him, but had no real desire to command his own ship. If anything, once he marked the Commander ranks, he’d probably take on a CAG posting or even a Second Officer or Executive Officer spot, but was adamant about going any further up the ranks and assignments.

 

Kansas believed him for the most part, but she also knew that beings and situations could change as time went on, and no one could really know or predict what the future held for them with any sort of certainty. What the Cait feline did know was that she was on the command fast track … and she liked it that way.

 

Sarritt had also briefly touched on the issue of Kansas phasing out of her reserve piloting status and opting for full time active stick jock advanced training, and transferring over to the piloting ranks permanently. The Kzinti had his paw, so to speak, on some internal Fleet Intelligence information from his own contact support network, and supposedly the Fleet was planning on expanding the Starfleet Starfighter Corps program. If the expansion went through, there would be big time advancement opportunities for any senior officers with any sort of past piloting experience or training who enrolled in the program.

 

Kansas normally operated by the seat of her pants to the point that she was downright dangerous, but the female Cait had actually hemmed and hawed and offered no definite yes or no answer to his full time piloting career suggestion; she had a good gig going here on the Agincourt, and she was content to play it out for a while longer.

 

In contrast, there had been no discussion between the two cats about “where the relationship goes from here”, and both cats were just enjoying the moment. Literally.

 

Kansas moved from her reclining position and pushed Sarritt down on his back. The golden furred leonine Cait straddled the tawny-orange furred Kzinti tiger, her knees placed to either side of his hips while she leaned down to press her muzzle to his and her body the length of his torso; she rested her paws to either side of his head to give herself more purchase. He in turn returned her kiss and his large paws began to rub and grope at her back with deep caresses.

 

A beep sounded from the hibernating wrist communicator resting on the night stand chime sounded in her quarters, indicating that she had an incoming call. The signal was a lower pitched tone, indicating that there was an incoming call on her personal channel, and the caller was either possibly the Colonel or one of Kansas’s retainers.

 

“Dammit.”

 

“You should probably answer that, you think?”

 

“Well, dammit. Dammit!”

 

JoNs reluctantly disengaged from Sarritt and rolled off of him and over onto her stomach to fully activate the wrist comm by her voice print and personal code. “JoNs 411 here. Go ahead.” Her professionalism automatically kicked in, and any trace of her anger that she felt at the interruption was erased and replaced with her neutral purred tone.

 

The Kzinti feline merely repositioned himself on his side, propping himself on an elbow and holding his head up on one big paw and using his other paw to rub at Kansas’s lower back. His tail swished across the rumpled bed sheets.

 

“Commander, Lieutenant Mical here. Apologies for the late call, but I have some hits on that digital trail you set me on and you had said you wanted to be informed ASAP Sir.”

 

The blue skinned Andorian female was JoNs’s chief bodyguard and Kansas could forgive the interruption, since Mical would definitely fall under the retainer category. The Lieutenant had originally been in the Security department when the Cait had been in charge, and had since transferred out of the department, eventually taking on full time aide duties to the ships feline XO as well.

 

Propped on one elbow, JoNs ran her free paw quickly through the mussed pixie cut of her copper colored mane, smoothing the fur down a bit. “What did you find Lieutenant?”

 

“Any classified options on Caine’s records are out of my level of security clearance. Even if I were to bypass and access with your clearance, I might set off some trips with a deeper probe. The Lieutenants Fleet profile is very clean, almost spotless, completely by the book.”

 

Well, there are always illegal and off the record search options to be employed as well. Kansas would look into those particular options herself at a later date if the action were to be required. She glanced over her shoulder at Sarritt and the big feline flipped a silent ear back and quirked a whisker to indicate his own interest in the situation, but he wisely kept his tongue on standby while Kansas continued with the vocal wireless conversation. “… almost spotless you say?”

 

“Aye Commander. You were right about the Aldebaran sector posting; whatever happened back then put a kink in her career, and she did continue to move up the ranks like any other Fleet officer, but it was of course a much slower pace.”

 

“You’re a student of military history Mical, what’s your take on Caine? I’m gathering that if it wasn’t for the Draconis assignment, she might say be at the Lieutenant Commander rank by now? Maybe even Commander? Taking her age into account as well?”

 

“It’s really hard to say Sir, you know as well as I do that each officer’s individual service and situation is different, but yes, if I were the betting sort, I’d say that. Sir, is this Caine someone that you know?”

 

“The situation is …ack!”

 

Sarritt chose that moment to give her rear end a slap, causing Kansas to yelp mid-point through her sentence, followed by a muffled and exasperated sounding off comm you son of a b*tch! That she directed at the big cat. She laid her ears back and glared at Sarritt, but he merely shook his head from side to side and indicated that she remain silent on that particular matter.

 

Kansas’s ears popped back up, and she gave him a quick nod of understanding as her temper abated as quickly as it had flared. She knew that Sarritt was just taking his so called silent partner status seriously. Mical might be her chief bodyguard and privy to most of feline Execs professional activities, but for right now, it would be best to keep the fact that Caine and JoNs had a personal connection on the down low. And sometimes it was best to listen to the counsel from those of a fellow feline species, depending on circumstances.

 

“… I’m sorry, Ma’am? What was that?”

 

“Never mind Mical, my fault … I got, erm, distracted. I wasn’t directly involved, but I know of what transpired at the base thanks to personal contacts.”

 

And if I understand my somewhat limited Earth religious knowledge, I do not intend to become a murdered Abel to Lieutenant Caine, in any capacity, the feline Cait added silently to herself.

 

“Aye sir. Should I have Darjhan and maybe one or two of the security boys keep an eye on her?”

 

As a full Lieutenant, Mical had gained enough rank to have her own small but growing contact and “go to people” list set throughout the crew. Networking was a wonderful thing, indeed.

 

“No need to bring Darjhan in on the matter, at least not yet …” Darjhan was Kansas’s second most senior bodyguard, formerly of Security as well. JoNs liked to keep the male Zaldan retainer guard in reserve for the heavy stuff, and the Caine situation hadn’t gone into the ballistic territory as of yet, “… have your boys do a low level shadow surveillance on her for now, ‘cause I really don’t need to or care to know what she eats for lunch everyday. Good job and get yourself some sleep. JoNs out.”

 

Now that the so called conference call had been taken care of, Kansas rose up onto her knees and turned her mildly irate attention onto her lover, her animated tail switching back and forth in accordance with her current mood. “You know, Sarritt, you are so not subtle; you could have just waved a paw through the air to, you know, to get my attention like normal beings.”

 

His muzzle twisted into a playfully feral grin, exposing his formidable canine fangs. “Now Kansas, we both know that you sometimes require more, shall we say, direct reinforcement.”

 

She hauled off and whacked him with one of the bed pillows.