Brinus paced back and forth in the living room while chewing his nails. His vape pen sat on the kitchen counter, charging. However, he did not pace because of nicotine cravings. His prize money from both Kabochi matches on earth, the Battle of the Caliver System, and his illegal business had been confiscated. He was going to order alcohol and get shitfaced, but his credit card was denied. Realizing that part of his punishment was to have food and drink deliveries suspended for the duration of his sentence, he cussed, kicked his couch with his bare foot, and howled in pain. he thought as he tended to his stubbed toe with the first aid kit under the sink.

  There was a knock on his door ten minutes later. He ran and answered it. The person who knocked was Commander Tom. The cold air of the hallway tickled Brinus’s bare chest and back.

  “The system detected that you tried to buy 10 cases of alcohol on delivery.” Commander Tom pushed past Brinus and then the living room and sat on the couch. “Care to talk about it?”

  Brinus took a deep breath and sat down, taking the beer. “Am I the problem?”

  “Let’s take a look. You have an unmanageable nicotine addiction, you’re mouthy, and you’re a rebel.”

  Brinus looked at his mentor with hardened eyes and a curled left lip. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “That’s a bit harsh, ain’t it?”

  “You’re also loyal to a fault, hardworking, and highly intelligent, and if I were in a crisis situation, I would rather have you under my command than half of my men and women. We all have things we need to work on. Where’s your husband?”

  Brinus was shaking his leg and biting his nails on the loveseat across from Commander Tom. “He’s on a hazing ritual for newly promoted lieutenants and takes command of robotics in a week.”

  “I heard. He just completed his lieutenant’s exam? You didn’t go to his graduation?”

  “It wasn’t work, school, or home, so I wasn’t allowed to go to his graduation.”

  Commander Tom whistled and stood, putting his hands behind his back and looking outside of Brinus’s window. “You have two choices at this point. You can continue on the path you’re going and end up in prison. I’m sure the syndicate will murder you to make an example. Or you could take this as a learning experience and improve your behavior.”

  “More than likely. I made them look bad by betraying them in my last job. Although I don’t know how they plan on imprisoning a dark fire mage.”

  Tom winked and slapped Brinus on his bare, as he laughed cynically. “Food for thought next time you engage in criminal behavior.”

  Brinus put his hands to his face as he howled in hysterics. “I thought I would get to explore new planets and travel the galaxy.”

  Commander Tom laughed and slapped Brinus on the shoulder, “Maybe if you stop being such a rebel, you will get to see the galaxy, ha ha! Being a rebel is okay when you’re a captain or an admiral. Not when you’re a lower-ranking officer. You need to remember the malicious compliance lessons you’ve been getting on the weekends.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Part of being a rebel is knowing when to follow orders and when to speak up.”

  Brinus rolled his eyes. “But, sir, I am being punished because of a meltdown at the pharmacy.”

  Commander Tom laughed for several seconds and then sat next to Brinus, putting his arm around his bare shoulders. “You’re being punished because of the embarrassment to the service and ’cuz your nic fit went viral. If no one had recorded you, nothing would have happened. From what I understand, that type of outburst is routine..”

  “I need my vape…but it’s charging.”

  Commander Tom ruffled Brinus’s hair and slapped him on the back. “You know the Navy isn’t going to let you vape now. They will force you off nicotine or drastically cut your nic rations. I know in the past you have had difficulty quitting, so they are going to work with you, but you need to meet them halfway. I have to oversee the calibration of the ship’s plasma cannons on the gun decks. We’re shipping out now. I have to go and think about what I said.”

  The commander walked out of Brinus’s quarters. A chill came over him, and he could feel the hairs prickling at the back of his neck. He stood up as he walked over to the kitchen and saw his medical pen was halfway charged, so he disconnected it, took a few puffs, inhaling a big white cloud and blowing out, feeling the comfort of AA nicotine course through his system. He then went to a cabinet counter, and inside he found what appeared to be about a pound of white powder with the consistency of sugar. For a moment, he thought about what the dealer he bought it from said:

  “Just put some on a mirror, use a razor blade to make a line, and then snort it.”

  Brinus had experienced bliss addiction when he was a teenager and wondered if energy powder was worth it. He grabbed the bag and put it in the replicator. Staring at it, he had one last thought — was it worth it? Was life in prison worth a few hours of an orgasmic high? He pressed the button for the replicator, and it disappeared in a flurry of bright purple light.

  Just after Brinus disposed of the powder, a red alert was called, and the ship stalled. The lights went out, and his emergency lights came on.

  Brinus changed his pants, put on his socks, boots, and uniform shirt, and ran out of the quarters. He noticed how dark it was, so he conjured a fireball to illuminate the passage. , Brinus thought, as his pupils dilated in fear and his hands shook. The cold sweat stuck to his uniform, and he shivered as he navigated the dark corridors. He’d been afraid of the dark for as long as he could remember, and right now, he hated life. His triquarter was disabled as he looked at the screen. .

  The jeffery’s tubes were shrouded in shadowy darkness, with his blinding torch illuminating the pathway. They were eerily silent, and the deafening stillness was overwhelming. Brinus began singing his favorite gangster rap song to break the creaking of the emergency tubes. . Julia was the temple spirit of the fire temple at Kabola. He filled the dim, claustrophobic space to the brim, and being on the icy cold metal made his heart pound in his ears. He remembered his box breathing and paused occasionally in order to slow his heart.

  He made it to engineering by using the jeffery’s tubes and exited right at the control panel. The engineer had glow sticks on the computer panel while cussing.

  “Sir, Brinus Helios is reporting for duty.” He stood yelling out after spending a few moments getting control of himself so he wouldn’t panic.

  The engineer in charge of the warp core was glad to see Brinus, but the Chief engineer was not. “Midshipman Helios! What the fuck? You’re supposed to be under house arrest!”

  Brinus rolled his eyes, and then Commander Theodore noticed the plasma ball in his hands.

  “Can you conjure a mini star in the warp core?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Well, fucking do it! Now!”

  “Sir, yes, sir!”

  Brinus walked over to the warp core entrance and waved his right hand. The door popped open by itself. He closed the first door after walking into the decontamination chamber and opened the second one again. He entered the warp core, where it was silent and secluded but warm and pleaseant. The radiation levels and the heat were perfect. For the first time since he had been on the ship, he was comfortable. He smiled with pleasure and said out loud, “Thank you, Julia.”

  He moved the fireball into the center of the core and pointed his left hand at the plasma; it began forming layers as a mini star formed slowly. He used the meditation technique the Magi taught him to form his mini star. One layer at a time was added. The crushing need for nicotine slowed his progress and made it difficult to focus, but he was able to push through.

  Commander Theodore noticed the power meter had reactivated. It showed 20% in ten minutes.

  “Active emergency power!”

  The tech pressed the red button, and the lights came on.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Sir! How is that midshipman alive?!”

  Commander Theodore looked at the warp core temperature and saw that it was at 120,000 Celsius with radiation levels at 5 billion rads.

  He pressed the comms button for the warp core. “Hey, Brinus, are you still alive?”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Sir, power is at 60%!” yelled one of the power techs.

  “Activate auxiliary power and call battle stations!”

  Captain Plato’s voice broke over comms. “What the fuck?! How did we get hit with an ion weapon and have 60% power in 10 minutes?”

  “Sir, Midshipman Helios is making a miniature star in the warp core, sir!”

  Captain Plato closed his eyes, thanked the temple spirits, opened them, and then yelled, “This is one time where I am glad he’s a rebel! Make sure he gets his share of the prize money from the battle. I am also putting him up for commendation.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  Ten more minutes passed, and then one of the techs shouted, “Sir! The enemy ships are five minutes away; we have 70% power! Most of the crew and officers are at battle stations!”

  “Well, I’ll have to make do.” Commander Theodore pressed the intercom button, “Brinus, get to your battle station now! That is an order!”

  “Sir! If I don’t finish the chromosphere of the mini star, it won’t hold.”

  “You have five minutes!”

  There were a few moments of silence, and then Brinus said, “Sorry, sir. It won’t be finished in five minutes. I need ten minutes!”

  “You have five minutes.”

  “Well then, sir, we’re fucked.” Comms were cut.

  Commander Theodore opened comms with the bridge. “Sir, Midshipman Helios won’t be finished with the mini star for another 10 minutes.”

  Captain Plato slammed his hands on the captain’s command console and let out a cat howl. “I thought this might happen. Captain Plato turned to his chief science officer. “Any systems with life we can hide in?”

  “Yes, sir! Stellaris! It is three minutes by warp travel.”

  “Helmsman! Punch a course for Stellaris!”

  The helmsman had a wide-eyed look, and his mouth was open. “Sir, what about Brinus?”

  “He knew the risks when entering the warp core. Punch a course! Now! That’s an order!”

  The helmsman nodded and began calculating a course to Stellaris.

  After 60 seconds, the ship jumped to warp and, after three minutes, entered Stellaris. At near-relativistic speeds, the ship positioned itself to hide in the magnetosphere.

  A few minutes later, the enemy battle cruisers entered the Stellaris system along with four heavy cruisers.

  The comms officer shouted, “Sir, Stellaris is hailing us!”

  “On screen.”

  The representative of Stellaris was a humanoid woman with red hair, green eyes, and green skin. She had a frown on her face and hardened eyes. She started screaming into the comms device, “We demand you leave at once! HOW DARE YOU USE OUR PLANET AS A SHIELD! WHERE IS YOUR ADMIRAL!?”

  “Petty officer, cut comms and block transmissions from that planet.”

  The screen cut off before the woman could say another word.

  As the enemy ships searched for the comms officer yelled out again. “Sir, cent comm is hailing us!”

  Captain Plato rolled his eyes and made a cat hiss. “On screen.”

  The view screen showed Brinus’s mother in a suit sitting at her desk in the Admiralty. She looked blank, but her eyes burned with the rage of a thousand stars.

  “What is this about you using a planet of a neutral world as a shield?”

  “Ma’am, we are currently recharging the warp after being hit with an ion weapon. We still have three minutes until it is fully charged.”

  Marci let loose a string of profane verbal abuse that Captain Plato didn’t know a duchess was capable of. The number of F-bombs dropped over the next 3 minutes made even the most hardened naval personnel blush. She ended the verbal tirade with a warning to never do something like that again, or he would be court-martialed and demoted to midshipman. She then terminated the call.

  There was a moment of total silence, during which time only the low hum of computer consoles could be heard. Finally, an engineer spoke, “Sir, the miniature star is complete.”

  Once they left the system, Brinus reported to his battle station on the gun deck. He installed time fuses on proton torpedoes and percussion caps on concussion missiles. He glistened in a layer of cold sweat and could taste the acridity of chemicals from the fuse box as he donned his PPE. The equipment was humid and heavy, and he needed two people to help him with it.

  The ship turned a full 90 degrees and let loose a barrage of plasma bolts on the enemy ships. Then, one after the other, ten thousand fighter craft and fighter-bombers flew out of the main hangar bay.

  The plasma bolts impacted the shields, creating a blue ripple on the invisible bubble. However, the next barrage overwhelmed two of the heavy cruiser’s shields. They made holes with orange edges around them. Forty fiery bolts hit the hull of the lead cruiser, sending grungy metal shrapnel floating in all directions. The cruiser responded by launching four tricobalt torpedoes in a sparking flash of red and orange light at from her bow.

  They impacted the fourth gun deck, but the new armor plating absorbed most of the damage, sending white-hot metal splinters in all directions into the gun deck. One of the turbo cannons exploded in a fiery explosion, burning the gun crew to a crisp.

  Brinus caught some shrapnel in the arm, with a large piece of metal sticking out of his left shoulder and a smaller piece in his right arm. A medic ran to him and pulled him to the side where the casualties were. She pulled out quick-clot bandages and soaked them in 100% ethanol. She put the pad over the wound and wrapped surgical tape around the bandage. After a shot of Demerol and another shot of antibiotic nanites, Brinus finally stopped screaming and relaxed.

  Some field medics took him to the medical bay.

  Meanwhile, as the battle raged, let loose waves of plasma bolts and sent them flying into the squadron. The enemy attempted to warp off the battlefield as the Starcraft pounded away at their thrusters; however, their engines sustained too much damage. Plasma bolts, missiles, and torpedoes rushed in all directions.

  Admiral Nelson entered the bridge as the battle progressed and hailed the squadron’s commodore. “What do you want? You goddamn furry?”

  “I am going to turn around and pretend you did not call me a furry.” Admiral Nelson turned in a circle while flicking his tail rapidly, and his fur became poofy. He then addressed the enemy officer. “Now, on behalf of the Confederate Navy, I wish to extend an offer of surrender.”

  “Are you surrendering to me, furry?”

  “No, you surrender to me, pattabanist.”

  The commodore screamed, “How dare you call me a pattabanist!”

  Admiral Nelson made a cat howl and hissed with his ears down to his head, “How dare you call me a fucking furry! Are you going to surrender to me or not?!”

  The commodore suddenly fell dead to the ground. He was shot by his captain of the fleet and three other members of the bridge crew. The captain took over the comms.

  “As captain of the fleet, I accept your offer of surrender.”

  “Order the fleet to stand down, and I will withdraw my spacecraft. Do you have any wounded crew we can treat?”

  “No, sir. We can manage our casualties.”

  Three days later, Brinus was in his quarters later after being discharged from the medical bay. He had some nerve replacement surgery and a bionic hand, which was camouflaged to look like a real one. He saw the letter that was hand-delivered to him and read it. Simmie was in the bed next to him, asleep. Unable to sleep because of nightmares, Brinus started reading it:

  ,

  There was a knock on the door, so Brinus came up from the bed. He was still sore after two days of regeneration therapy in the orthopedic unit of the medical wing and having a new prosthetic right hand. He groaned and moved slowly. The door opened after Brinus flicked his wrist, and it was Commander Tom at three a.m. Brinus stood at attention and saluted.

  “May I come in?” Asked Commander Tom, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, grinning ear to ear.

  Tom entered Brinus’s quarters upon invitation and removed his dress shoes and socks, tucking them onto the shoe rack by the door. “I understand you have physical therapy tomorrow.”

  Brinus sighed and sat down on the couch. “Yes, sir. I also start ketamine therapy next week.”

  “What is that going to be like?”

  Brinus looked at his commander blankly. He had no idea. The truth was that he didn’t know what to expect. His research showed that it was an Earthdrug made as a horse tranquilizer during the pre-collapse era. It was a popular club drug from the 2000s to the 2010s on Earth. The confederacy found that it was useful for moderate to severe depression and PTSD. It was shown to rewire the brain and allow humans to reprocess the trauma around memories. Simmie would sit through his sessions and Calnori would help him process the trauma and memories afterwards.

  “I don’t know, sir.”

  Commander Tom shrugged his shoulders. “Fair answer. Got any beer?”

  “There’s a 12-pack in the fridge. Just grab one.”

  Commander Tom walked to the fridge and ground after opening it. “You have Earth IPA.”

  Commander Tom tossed Brinus a beer, who dropped it and yelled out in pain.

  He closed the door after grabbing his beer. “Let’s just get to the point ...why did you do it?”

  “Cuz it was the right thing to do, sir.” Brinus gave his screw-you smile, and his eyes flashed with irritation.

  Commander Tom laughed for a moment and then popped his beer, taking a swig. “Nerfshit! People like us don’t do things because it’s the right thing to do. I’ll ask again… and you’d better tell the goddamn truth.”

  Brinus sighed and sat down. He dropped the act and then massaged his prosthetic, “Because I love my husband. And I wanted to protect my friends.”

  “We’re getting warmer…but that isn’t all of it. What is it?“

  Brinus stood and went nose to nose with the commander. “It’ll be a cold day in hell if any of my friends and family are killed by pattabanist criminals!!”

  Commander Tom crushed the can on his head, sending beer everywhere, and then grinned. “And there it is. You love your husband, don’t you? And you have a close friendship with Godfrick? I know he comes by your quarters every Friday. He told his professor the other day that he enjoys gaming with you.”

  “Me and him have a lot of common interests. He even was a white hat hacker before joining the navy, and I was a pentester.”

  “I saw he visited you in the medical ward.”

  “We were talking about the new Marco-book graphics chip. My husband was there as well. We just spent a few hours discussing computer parts.”

  “You would kill to protect your husband, wouldn’t you?”

  Brinus made an evil smile and rubbed his hands together, creating sparks. “You saw the lengths I went to save the ship to protect him.”

  Commander Tom whistled and then crossed his arms and legs in a defensive posture. “At least you’re on our side. I regret the day the Federation tried to hurt Simmie.”

  “The day some pattabanist lays a finger on Simmie will be their last day in this galaxy.”

  Tom walked over to the fridge and tossed Brinus another beer, which popped open on the floor and sprayed everywhere. “Take a beer. You earned it.”

  They both laughed it off as trolling each other was what they did.

  “Why are you awake anyway?”

  Brinus smiled as he put his vape in the charger, turned, and faced the commander. “Why are awake?”

  “I’ve got to oversee the repairs to the gun deck. We lost eight canons, and deck four received a lot of torpedo damage so that I won’t be sleeping for a week. I heard you were discharged from the medical ward, and I knew you wouldn’t be sleeping, so I thought I’d check on you.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “No problem, kid.”

  They tapped their beer bottles against each other and spent a while enjoying a drink together.