Fallen From Glory
chapter 2
As stated in the last chapter, this story contains some characters that aren’t mine, and as such expect some changes to some scenes as I get more info and more of a grip on how some characters would act/react, that is if the owners would care to fill me in on said things =p.
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The warp jump went textbook and soon the Gun Singer found itself resting on the outskirts of the third planet of the Vermay star system. Enjoying a good old fashion cup of joe in the captains chair, sits Cornelius Rikket looking down to a young red fox pup wearing a pair of black trousers and a gray shirt covered by a white apron holding a small platter behind his back, the fur making up the his hair on his head neatly brushed and bright blue eyes looking up at the captain to see if he enjoyed the coffee. Reaching down and patting the boys ears the big cat says looking at the pup,
“This is very good, good job.”
His eyes lighting up like it was christmas day, the boy says,
“You really think so?? Because I made the coffee this morning and some of the crew said it was to strong.”
The cat leans back in his chair and laughs a little saying,
“Don’t worry Spencer, its all about a persons own taste, quite frankly I prefer my coffee strong.”
Grinning ear to ear the pup starts rubbing the side of his muzzle as he basks in the praise from the captain, then looking up as the cat says,
“Thanks for the coffee my boy, now please run along, we have things we have to get on with.”
The boy nods then turns and nearly trips over his own feet, quickly caught by the cats large tail, the captain in question saying,
“Easy pup, don’t hurt yourself now.”
The young fox nods then carefully walks off the bridge but looking back for a moment as Rikket says,
“Oh, before I forget, the we’re talking on two VIP’s in a short while, please inform your father that they are mostly vegetarian but will eat fish from time to time strangely, ask him to plan out a few dishes for their shake if you would. Oh and make sure you thank him for me.”
The boy nods unseen by the cat but then heads back to the mess as the crew referred to it, as the cook of which kept the kitchen spotless however left the dining room largely unkempt and Nine times out of ten it was up to the young fox in question to clean that part of the mess hall. But back to business as usual Rikket asks after talking another long draft from his cup of coffee,
“What’s our current status?”
The young panda girl sitting at the helm says as she goes about her work,
“We’ll be at the station orbiting the planet in just a few minutes captain.”
He nods then saying as he stands up from his chair,
“Very good, keep on course for the station, and request docking permissions with a cargo dock, engineering and the armory have requested a chance to restock on a few essentials so we’ll be taking on heavy cargo. Regardless I need to get ready to get our VIPs so you’ve got the bridge miss Maiyumi”
The young girl nods toward her captain then can be heard saying as Rikket gets ready to leave the bridge, obviously speaking to the station controller,
“Vermay station, this is the M.B.C. Gun Singer requesting cargo bay docking permissions.”
Leaving the bridge behind before he heard the end of her little conversation with the controller, the large cat first makes his way to the mess finally downing his coffee, and after a few short minutes of walking walks into the mess through a pair of double doors. Inside the young fox pup from before dashes over to him taking his cup from him with a smile before returning to the back of the kitchen to resume his dishes from the recent breakfast meals. As the boy does so from the back comes a large burly human, the man with white tanned skin pulled very taught over his large arms, which are thicker then the doors to his kitchen, wearing a very old fashion cooks uniform complete with tote and for some reason a very large fishhook strapped to his back. His charcoal black hair and short but bushy beard, a little greasy and sweaty from working the stove during breakfast, sways a little bit as he approaches the captain and asks with a deep and rich tone of voice,
“What the fucking hell kind of vegetarian eats fish then goes back to veggies, I’ve never heard of such a bullshit type of thing before?”
Unsurprised by the salty old cooks crass way of talking, Rikket responds before shaking the mans firm hand,
“What can I say Nick is a strange bird.”
After shaking the captains hand, he then shrugs his shoulders then asks,
“Well then looks like I’ll have to plan a few different things out, by they eat fish are we talking only fish or is all seafood on the menu?”
Rikket smiles saying,
“Well Rayne last I heard they’d eat most seafood but lately they been hitting vegetarian up more and more.”
The salty old cook grimaces a little before saying as he returns to his kitchen,
“We’ll see how long that fucking bullshit last, I dare anyone to eat my fathers recipe for clam chowder and not fall in love with fish.”
Walking back into the kitchen, he then stops and pokes his head back out the door and says,
“I’ll fucking punch him, VIP or not if he saying anything bad about my fathers clam chowder I’ll be making fried fucking chicken for dinner tomorrow.”
Going back to his work Rikket can only laugh as instantly the salty old chief instantaneously changes his tone and starts singing an old sea shanty, followed up by his adopted son, the fox pup still cleaning the dishes. Leaving the mess behind the Captain finds Rugger, the old snapping turtle with about six people an uneven mix of humans and anthros, one human in particular, a young man wearing a bright red shirt and a pair of light brown cargo pants reinforced at the knee with iron plates, and a pair low tech goggles resting over his forehead just under the bangs of his bushy brown hair shooting the turtle in question an ‘I hate you’ glare, Rikket can’t help but ask the young man,
“Jonny, what’s wrong? you seem a little peeved.”
The human in question stops and says, the same tone of voice heard over the com not but a few hours ago,
“Snappy here won’t leave me in charge of engineering while he picks up supplies, instead he’s forcing me to go with him like I was some kind of brat”
The old turtle says snapping at his assistant,
“You are a brat! I wouldn’t trust you alone with my engines if it was to save my life, now get moving those supplies aren’t going to pick themselves up”
Suppressing a laugh, Rikket couldn’t help but remember the day when Rugger asked him to hire the very boy he was currently lecturing and arguing with, claiming that he had the best potential with engineering he’d ever seen in one so young, and insisted he be made his assistant above a stack of other potentials two to three times older then him. Looking at the two going back and forth arguing with each other, he couldn’t help but think of a father trying to build up his son by being the asshole for him to show up and indeed it was working, Jonny’s skill in engineering had jumped by leaps and bounds during his years working on the ship do to the fact that he was always so determined to make the old turtle eat his words. In truth whenever he and his old friend were alone, the brat as Rugger constantly referred to him as, was all he’d talk about. Watching them pass Rikket then ask waving to his first officer, the White Tiger currently wearing a much fancier uniform then he had worn earlier,
“Hey, ready to go pick up our VIPs?”
The younger cat quickly nods and says as he joins the captain toward the airlock,
“So any ideas why mister Nevermore would hire an armed battle cruiser, over a luxury passenger ship?”
Shaking his head no Rikket says as they reach the airlock where both the engineers and several members of the ships combat teams where gathered,
“No clue, but I trust Nick will let us in on that detail after we get him on board.”
Half a minute later, the young helmsmen’s voice rang out over the com channels, the panda girl saying,
“Docking is just about complete I’ll open up the airlock after the passage way pressurizes.”
The ship shakes only slightly as the large connecting cargo bay connector connects to the ships cargo bay, then again as the gangway connected to the airlock, and after a moment the steel doors open and slowly but surely the large group of people leave the ship to do whatever it was that they needed to get done while on station. Once separating from the engineers and the combat troops, Rikket and Tyler head toward the more civilian areas of the station to meet up with Nickolas and his daughter.
~Around lunch time, an hour and a half later~
Having decided to get a bite to eat, Rikket and Tyler had stopped at the food court and were enjoying some hamburgers, something they didn’t get to eat often enough, till a young sing song voice called out,
“Uncle Ricky!”
Turning around he is quickly hugged by the young raven girl in question, quickly rustling the dark blue feathers on her head around as he said,
“Missy my girl its so good to see you again, its been so long since I’ve seen you.”
The young raven girl currently wearing a rather gothic looking white dress, and matching buckle shoes kisses his cheek and smiling like a goof, the large cat quickly plants a kiss on her forehead, right between her jade green eyes, before standing up and saying expecting to meet Nickolas hand,
“Nick my old friend, how’s the trading biz treating ya?”
However upon standing, its not the girls father his hand meets, but rather that of one of their butlers, the man quickly shaking his hand then saying,
“My apologies captain Rikket, but I’m afraid there was a last minute change of plans, my master sends his deepest regrets however it seems that you’ll only be taking our young lady aboard your ship.”
There is a slight sadness to the young birds eyes for only a moment till the butler says,
“My lady, didn’t your father give you something he told you to give to the good captain?”
Quickly holding up one of her feathered fingers with a ‘oh’ look on her face, she quickly begins digging though her small bag slung over her shoulder, then handing Rikket a sealed envelope, the young girl saying,
“Daddy told me not to open it, he said it was important the waxy seal was intact when you got it.”
He nods pocketing the letter, Rikket then looking up to the butler, saying,
“I’ll take her from here, don’t worry my good man she’s in the safest of hands.”
The butler nods, then gives the young bird a goodbye kiss on the forehead and then quickly leaving to catch the next shuttle back home. Having taken his eyes off her for a moment he looks down and finds her gone, however a humming of happiness is heard behind him as the young bird quickly helps herself to his fries. Looking to his first officer he then says,
“Alright lets get back to the ship, the crews should be finished loading the supplies by now.”
Nodding, the other cat quickly finishes his meal then joins the captain in heading back to the ship. The trek only takes five minutes from the food court that they picked Missy up in, however upon arrival he is stopped by a man wearing a station security uniform and a badge, the human in question asking,
“Are you captain Rikket?”
The cat nods asking the man,
“That I am, is something wrong?”
He shakes his head no then says,
“No, no nothing like that, just some paper work, some of the items your crew has loaded onto your ship is of military grade, just going to need to see your permits and for you to sign my hololog saying your not a pirate and your not going to use this stations goods to harm people so on so forth blah blah blah.”
Rikket nods, pulling out his own hololog from his jacket pocket, and pulling up his license and permits up, quickly sending them over to the security officer who checks them out then says,
“Alright, everything is on the up and up, and permits are up to date, everything is good here.”
Handing his log to Rikket he says,
“Alright please sign on the bottom line sir.”
Quickly glancing at the sheet on the log, it was your typical form with the regular sign off stuff on it, he had to sign one every time he loaded up on military grade goods, and quickly signing he hands it back to the officer who says,
“Alright, thank you captain, please have a pleasant day.”
With that the officer leaves to go inspect other ships currently loading cargo.
Once on board Rikket quickly gives the young girl a tour of the ship much to her delight, being slightly sheltered by her parents she’d never seen an actual ship let alone a warship. Its about dinner time when they finally make their way to the kitchen, Rikket saying as he held the door open for the young bird,
“And this is the mess, this is where the crew and myself eat, from hear on out if you get hungry come here and mister Rayne will take care of you alright my dear?”
The young bird nods then starts smelling the food cooking, however hearing his called, the salty cook pokes his head out of the kitchen and says,
“Someone call my name?”
Nodding Rikket says,
“Ah perfect timing, Rayne, this is our VIP, she’ll be joining us on the ship for a little while.”
Nodding the old cook walks out of the kitchen leaving the young pup to watch the food, the large man saying as he extended his hand,
“Nice you meet you little lady, my name is Rayne Irving, and back in the kitchen is my son Spencer, Spencer get out here boy.”
The young pup asks poking his head out the door,
“But what about the food dad?”
He says sternly causing the young bird to take cover behind Rikket,
“Damn it boy get out here and say hello, it’ll only be a moment.”
The young pup nods then quickly hurries over, Rikket laughing as he says Missy hiding behind his left leg,
“I think you scared her Rayne.”
The cook looks over then laughs as well easing the young girl a little and allowing her to come out where she shakes Spencer’s hand the pup saying,
“Hi, its nice to meet you, my name is Spencer, what’s yours?”
The young girl says with a smile as the pup lets go of her hand,
“My name is Melissa, but everyone calls me Missy.”
The boy nods then says,
“Well its nice meet you Missy, but I’ve got to get back to the food now.”
She nods watching the pup walk back to then despairing into the kitchen, a very slight shade of red in her cheeks, all to obvious to the two adults, however putting it aside, Rayne asks coming down to one knee,
“So you hungry little miss?”
She nods after a moment of thinking about it, he then says,
“Well then come with me, I’ve got something I bet you’ll like.”
She looks up to Rikket who nods with a smile, then taking the large mans hand she asks,
“What is this thing you think I’ll like?”
With a big grin on his face he says leading her to a seat,
“It’s an old family recipe that my father taught me to cook with I was but a boy, clam chowder.”
All to cutely the young girl says, kicking her feet lightly under the table as she watched him go to the kitchen to get a bowl,
“Clam chowder? But that doesn’t sound like a vegetarian dish.”
The old cook laughs as he goes back into the kitchen to dish her up a bowl, however its at this moment Rikket takes this opportunity to open the letter he was given from her father, inside a letter written on paper, It’d been years since he got an old fashion letter like this, but also inside there was a small memory chip. The letter reads,
‘Rick, enclosed with this letter is a memory chip with a recorded message, please watch it only with those on your ship you trust absolutely and don‘t tell my daughter I don’t want to worry her, sincerely,
Nickolas Nevermore.’
Looking at the memory chip in his hand, he then looks up as he hears Missy say aloud,
“Wow! That’s really good.”
Looking up to the girl and the salty old cook, he sees the young bird happily eating away at a bowl of chowder. As she goes about eating her meal he says to Rayne,
“Can I leave her with you for now? There is something I have to check.”
The old cook nods saying as he watched with pride as the young girl gobbled down the chowder then asked for more,
“Sure, not a problem, I’ll send her back to you later, after she’s eaten her fill.”
Nodding he watches as the he takes her bowl with a grin on his face back to the kitchen to get her more chowder, an all to knowing look on his face like he’d just won something. Giving the girl a kiss on the cheek and telling her he’d see her later, she waves him goodbye as she waits for her next bowl. Once out of the room and far out of earshot of the young girl, he picks up his com device and says after connecting to Tyler’s com,
“Tigger, get Jessica and Amy and meet me in my quarters asap.”
The young cat says ok from the other side, he then sets it to standby and pockets the com device then quickly heading to his quarters. A few moments later joined by his first officer and the two women in charge of his combat teams. He says as after they arrive,
“Its time to get some answers, this is a message from Missy’s father.”
Referring to the chip in his hand, he slots it into the display on his wall, the computer reading the chip for a moment before projecting the message from the girls father on the holo-screen. Her father quickly says as the message starts playing,
“I’m sorry for dragging you into this Rick but there wasn’t anyone else I could trust. Several days ago I was attacked by someone in my bedroom, clearly some kind of assassin, why I could only guess, till a short time before I contacted you the other day. Someone is trying to kill me, then take over my guild, who or why I don’t know but they attacked me then I got a message from my wife who was visiting her grandparents on Darnan Four she was also attacked, luckily she wasn’t hurt and the local police were able to kill the attacker, not their intended goal but its what happened in the end. After a long dissection with my wife we agreed that we must get to the bottom of this, and that we must send our daughter away for her protection, you’re the only one I’d trust her safety to. I don’t know how long this will take to sort out but until we find out who is behind this and put a stop to them me and my wife hope that you’ll keep her safe on your ship. Also Rick, should the worst happen and both me and my wife end up dead after this, well we’ve decided, my parents are dead, and her grandparents are to old to care for a child, so we’ve decided to make you Melissa’s god father, if we don’t make it you’ll be given custody of her, the officially signed documents by both me and my wife are included on this memory chip. Please keep them safe as in the event we don’t make it, those documents will be the only things that allow you to claim custody.”
He stops talking for a moment as he wipes a few tears from his eyes before going on,
“Rick, I know this isn’t the job you agreed to, but I beg you, my daughter means the world to me, I don’t care if I lose my money, or my guild and I have to start all over again as a freighter captain, but I can’t lost my daughter, I beg you Rick my old friend, keep her safe.”
Unable to keep himself from crying the bird is seen reaching over and then the video ends, the computer returning to its standby mode. Quickly transferring the custody documents over to his hololog, Rikket then says,
“Well, now we know what we’re up against, someone wants my god daughter dead.”
Unconsciously growling, tears filling his eyes, he suddenly slams his fist into his table forcing a large dent through the steel shouting,
“They’ll go over my dead body to do so!!”
Catching his officers off guard, he then says glancing away from them to hide his tears,
“Dismissed”
Quietly they all leave the cat alone in his room.
~Some time later, after lights out~
Wakening to a buzz from his door, the cat says aloud only half awake,
“huhwhat . . . Come in”
Looking over he sees one of his crewmen, who says,
“Sorry to wake you sir, but I found the little one wandering the corridors crying calling your name, she asked me if I could bring her to you.”
The cat rubbing his eyes a little nods and watches as the young bird in question, dressed in a light blue silken nighty, walk into the room rubbing her eyes and crying a little. He sits up and picks up the distressed young raven, quickly nodding to the crewmen who leaves before Rikket asks,
“What’s wrong Missy? Tell Uncle Ricky what’s the matter.”
The young bird says rubbing her eyes,
“I . . . I . I . .I had a nightmare.”
He asks cuddling her,
“Ah what happened in your nightmare sweetie?”
Holding the young girl close she says,
“Some bad men had attacked my mommy and when I tried to wake her up . . . . She wouldn’t wake up.”
Now crying aloud he holds the young girl close, fearing the worst, he then says rubbing her head a little,
“Tell you what, why don’t you sleep with me in my bed tonight, and if those nasty bad men come back, I’ll be there to beat them silly. Does that sound good?”
The young girl nods wiping her eyes then joins Rikket as he lays down in his bed. She quickly falls asleep secure in the fact the Rikket was right next to her, and slowly but surely, the old captain to falls back to sleep, full well in his thoughts that tomorrow he was going to contact the girls mother to make sure she was still ok.
~end of chapter~
