He was tired, smelly, hungry, and sore. That was the short and blunt version of how he felt. The tiny cramped transport could seat twelve but had little in the way of leg-room. It had not been built for comfort or overnight occupation. Though it did have a restroom, it did not have a shower.

Twenty-seven hours had not seemed like a long time at first. But twenty-seven hours with nothing to do had left him with too much time to think. Jathas had tried to distract him, but had given up after the fourth time his mind had wandered to all the things he'd lost because of his stupid father.

He had no friends now.

His mother was going to die of Mate Deprivation soon. Though even if they'd stayed on Larena, his mother's time was nearly up. Vathion had done his best to suppress his adult hormones. But she'd started showing signs. Several times he'd had to take laundry out of the dishwasher and put the cold things in the fridge after she'd put them in the cupboard instead.

Then I'll be an orphan... with Jathas as the last person that stuck with me from my old life. No matter what Mirith promised.

Even if he showed up on the fleet long enough to hand things over to Ma'Gatas, he'd been seen at Ika by the news crews. There was no way he would ever get to have a normal relationship with anyone ever again.

"You sure you don't want to eat anything?" Zandre asked as he took over piloting from the limited AI that ran the ship.

Vathion swallowed and rolled his head to the side as nausea struck again. He had mistakenly nibbled some before the first Jump, and seen it again directly after. Bigger ships had more room for dampening shields. The transport was lucky to have Jump engines at all.

"Vath! Look!" Jathas called from the cockpit.

Leaning to look, Vathion watched as they approached the Xarian. Standing, he leaned over Zandre's shoulder to watch, more fascinated by the actual physical piloting than looking at their destination. The controls really were identical from his game.

"So what happens next?" Vathion asked, flicking his gaze up to look at the shuttlebay as they passed through the force shield. Something that felt almost like static buzzed in the back of his mind for a microsecond.

"You'll probably meet the first shift officers," Zandre said.

"Won't even get time for a shower?" He sighed.

"We're at war and anything could happen at any moment. Getting this settled quickly is best," Zandre explained, setting the shuttle down. "You thought about what you're going to do?"

"I was going to hand it over to Gatas," Vathion said. "I'm sixteen. I don't know anything about running a fleet."

"That's... a good point," Zandre said, but didn't sound convinced.

"What?" Vathion asked, leaning to look at the man's face. "Why does it seem like you don't agree?"

"I do, but..." Zandre dropped his hands to his lap and turned partially to face Vathion. "I don't trust Gatas."

Straightening, Vathion stared down at the man. Don't trust Gatas? Sure the man's a whiner, but... Don't TRUST him?

"I suggest that you not trust him either." Zandre stood, moving past Vathion to get his bags out of the overhead bins.

Disquited by the advise, Vathion grabbed one of the bags and went to the door, impatiently waiting for it to open. He needed out of this shuttle like yesterday. Not waiting for the ramp to fully extend, Vathion jumped off and landed a little heavily in the Xarian's slightly different gravity settings.

Jathas launched after and hit Vathion's back hard enough to make him stagger forward a few steps. Zandre, on the other hand, waited for the ramp to extend fully before he followed and watched with vague, tired amusement.

"Stinker," Vathion accused.

Jathas, cheerful as ever, grinned as he lifted his ears and snuffled in Vathion's ear.

Laughing, the young man dropped his bag to pry the young Hyphokos off. In his efforts, Vathion merely succeeded in getting Jathas latched around his head, covering his eyes.

"Ahem!"

Freezing, the two looked towards the source of the new voice. Vathion peering between his Bond's hands.

Ma'Gatas, three times Vathion's age, walked closer a few more paces. He wore the Natan Fleet uniform, though it hardly suited his body type.

I think I wanna change that, Vathion thought, Maybe as a gift to everyone. Hire a designer to come up with something more comfortable for everyone. Natan may have looked good in leggings...

Ma'Gatas scowled, deepening the wrinkles framing his mouth. His heavy amber eyebrows drew together. "If you're done fooling around, there is a meeting you need to attend. Thank you, Se'Zandre for escorting young Mister Vathion here without permission. You may go."

Never mind. Let him suffer in leggings, Vathion immediately reassessed.

Zandre's salute was crisp, but not friendly. After passing Gatas, Zandre looked back at Vathion with a meaningful flick of his gaze at Gatas.

Jathas dropped to the floor, landing beside Vathion's bag.

"I'd like to at least bathe before meeting the officers," Vathion said, bending to get his bag from the floor. His gaze swept the eerily familiar shuttle bay. It really was identical to Battle Fleet.

"There's no time for that. Leave your things, Kiti will get them." Gatas turned to lead the way back to the lift.

The far wall to the left was shielded to hold air in the bay but allow ships to pass. The doors that normally covered the bay's opening were shutting even now. The floor was painted with markings that designated landing spots for the thirty Ferrets that were housed here, leaving a wide lane down the center for takeoffs and landings. Along the left and right walls were lines of Ferrets ships. Oddly enough, there were no mechanics working, no pilots inspecting, no crew in sight. There should have been someone in here at least ready to receive the transport. In fact, crates were set beside the lift that took cargo between cargo bay four and the shuttle bay.

Deciding to take his bag anyway, Vathion started to follow Gatas when the lift doors opened, revealing a middle-aged woman with silver hair and maroon bondstone. She looked up from the older hyphokos she held.

The Hyphokos in her hands snapped its head up, focusing on Vathion with dark blue-violet eyes. Before Vathion could blink, the sick-looking Hyphokos launched itself from her hands.

"Paymeh!" The woman lunged to catch the mad Hyphokos and missed.

The stranger launched itself from the floor.

As Vathion realized where the stranger was heading, he dropped his bag. Jathas swarmed up Vathion's leg, going for Vathion's Syote Sack.

Neither of them was fast enough. The stranger scrambled beneath Vathion's shirt, shoving Jathas aside as it merged. Vathion caught Jathas, just as a blinding headache struck. A cacophony of noise and confusion sent him to his knees. Curling over Jathas, he braced his arm on the cold floor, nausea and chills overwhelming his senses until he realized that Jathas was screaming.

Focusing his eyes, he looked in his hand.

Jathas' body jerked and spasmed, falling out of Vathion's loose hold, writhing violently on the floor before suddenly going still.

Life faded from Jathas' eyes, leaving a frozen expression of horror and panic on the lizard creature's face.

Vathion breathed once; his vision immediately went black as pain hit. Shivering, he reached for his best friend. He gently pinched one of Jathas’ ears, trying to get his friend to quit playing. This wasn't funny. His voice refused to work. He could barely think at all.

The silver-haired woman collapsed to her knees on the floor beside him, her cool hands grabbing his shoulders. She was saying something, but for his life, Vathion could not understand.

"We don't need this kind of delay! Get up, boy!"

The woman snapped back, "Ma'Gatas, he's gone into shock. He's in no condition to attend a meeting of any sort. Ha'Vathion," she turned towards him, "Focus on my voice," something cold touched his neck and his vision began to clear as the pain in his head receded.

"Jathas..." Vathion whimpered, slowly sitting back, twisting his eyes to look at the woman.

He recognized the pin on the collar of her jacket; she was the ship's doctor. "Kiti, take Ha'Vathion's luggage up to his quarters. Call my assistant to take Ki'Jathas to the morgue."

He didn't want to move, but Gatas had come back. He roughly grabbed Vathion under the arm. With a pinching grip, he pulled Vathion onto his knees. "Get up. Quit this."

"Gatas!" Doctor Savon objected. She took over supporting him from the other side. "Have some care!"

Vathion staggered, leaning heavily on her as Gatas forced them to leave Jathas behind and go to the lift. Things were moving too fast. He could barely see straight.

:Jathas!: he cried, unable to quite believe it.

Gatas hit the button for the officer's deck before the woman could stop him.

"Ma'Gatas!" the woman objected, "He needs to rest! I need to take him to the sickbay! Paymeh may have caused considerable damage!"

Vathion's vision fogged in and out of focus. In his head, he could feel the strange Hyphokos setting up shop; rewiring things he has no right to touch.

:That's Jathas' space, you jerk!: he managed to scream at the invader. Paymeh, as he recalled the woman calling the insane Hyphokos, ignored him.

The lift doors opened again. Gatas pulled him from I'Savon's grip with unexpected force. Hauled by his upper arm, he stumbled down a long, curved hall and into a vaguely familiar room.

I'Savon stormed behind, "Ma'Gatas! I object to this! You have no right to treat him this way! He's having a medical emergency!"

Roughly dumped into a chair, Vathion nearly continued over the other side but caught himself with an elbow on the table. Tingling pain shot up his arm. He latched onto it, using the physical sensation to find his way past the confusion of thoughts that had invaded his mind.

Dimly, Vathion realized there were people in the room. Forcing his eyes to focus, he flicked his feral gaze around the room.

Ma'Gatas griped Vathion's shoulder, pinching painfully. "As you can see, once again, Ha'Natan has left us in a very bad position."

Vathion grit his teeth in pain and rising irritation. Bonds weren't supposed to hurt that much! Then again, Hyphokos usually did not claim a Gilon that was already Bonded. How dare Paymeh. How dare Gatas. Vathion's nails bent as he pressed them into the wooden garden table.

"So, as second in command, I will be taking over."

"On. What. Authority?" Vathion grated from between clenched teeth.

Ma'Gatas snapped his teeth shut. He looked down as Vathion twisted to look up at him. Fear crossed his scarred face. He released Vathion's shoulder and stepped back slightly.

"Dad's will said specifically that the Fleet is mine."

Lifting a shaking hand, Vathion pressed it to his pounding temple and forced himself to sit up. "By law, it is my decision who runs this outfit, and considering that you haven't even introduced yourself, I'm not really inclined to trust you with my socks, let alone my very expensive property. If you insist on this course of action, I will press charges of theft, and considering the amount of money involved, that would be life in prison at the least."

Gatas sucked his lips in, eyes bulging.

Turning his attention to the other people in the room, Vathion belatedly recognized the Xarian's first-shift bridge crew. That sat with arms crossed and a sullen expression. I'Savon stood on his other side, looking at him in concern.

The situation struck him as wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on why.

The headache was easing at least, vision clearing. He shoved his annoying bangs back. The room swayed, or perhaps he did, and Vathion clutched the table.

"Let's address the obvious. Natan is a nutjob," Vathion said. "I've had maybe four meaningful conversations with him in the last year. And including awkward pauses, that's about five minutes of my life I'm not getting back. So I agree, his decision to give the fleet to me is stupid."

Beside him, Ma'Gatas had folded his arms and was nodding. Vathion highly disliked the overly pleased expression the man was wearing.

The ship's doctor, I'Savon shook her head. "Ha'Vathion, I know things are probably a bit confusing to you right now, but that's really no way to talk about him."

Ca'Bibbole tapped his tail on the table where he sat in front of his Gilon Bond, Li'Codas. "Ha'Natan always had reasons for doing the things that he did," he defended. Bibbole's coloring was mostly crimson except for a thin stripe of pale yellow down the center of his back.