\n I wrote this story for Pawpet megaplex and since the con is over I decided to post it up. Please guys tell me what you like about it or didn't.

\n Captain's Orders

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\n His eyes blinked opened as he tried to gain his composure. 'The ship's inertia dampers should have compensated for the jump', the old wolf thought as he looked around seeing some of the ship's electrical wires and metal panels broken and bent.

\n "SOMEONE GIVE ME A STATUS REPORT" The old wolf yelled out as he tried to pick himself up.

\n "Yes Sir" a faint voice coughed in the background "Life support is at 50%, shields are off line, haul integrity at 100%." The older wolf smiled recognizing the voice of his commander and security officer.

\n "Yes, Yes but where are we, did the infernal contraption work?"

\n "Checking coordinates, Alpha" The gruff security officer responded as he tried to navigate though the half working controls. "If these calculations are correct...we're 300 million miles from where we started." The younger wolf was silent for a bit as he turned to his elder. "We did it Ryan, we traveled faster than light!" The wolf said with a big smile not realizing that he called his superior by his first name.

\n "There will be more time for celebration later...Robert, that is good news. Well, let's get to work helping the rest of our crew" The captain said as he began walking around the bridge, leaning over to tend fallen comrades.

\n "Yes Alpha! Right away Alpha" The young wolf said with a little excitement as he turned to exit out the bridge.

\n ******

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\n Everyone was sitting around a table, their voices echoed a mix of enthusiasm and despair as each tried to remember the friends that they knew amongst the success of the mission. The door swung open quickly as young slender, red vixen stepped into the room, her eyes were distant and tired. Stan, a young wolf with a security shield displayed on his chest, quickly got up and rushed around the table. The vixen eyes lit up as she caught sight of the wolf, both wrapped in each other embrace as they both gave subtle licks to each others muzzle.

\n "I was worried about you dear" The wolf said to her, his voice seemed broken. The vixen smiled and looked into his eyes.

\n "You shouldn't worry too much" The vixen said coping a smile.

\n "Aherm" A voice broke the silence of the warm moment.

\n "Captain...Alpha, My apologies" The wolf said as he turned to stare at the stern face of his superior calmly sitting at the head of the table. The fox and the wolf both followed each other as they took their place around the table.

\n "Stan, what's the status report" bellowed the captain. The younger wolf sat up straight and addressed each member of the crew.

\n "Everything is secure, there are no haul breaches and the neutron plating is holding at a steady ninety five percent capacity, give or takes about a point zero five to fluctuation."

\n "That seems stable enough" Remarked a brown wolf sitting at the table with his hands crossed as he eyed the Security officer. The Captain smiled as he switched his attention to the outspoken volunteer. "And what about you, are the telemetry systems working at an efficient capacity so that we can fly this thing?" The captain said forcefully. The red wolf just turned to face his commander staring at him and sitting straight up.

\n "Everything seems to be working, some discrepancy in the special recognition scanner but nothing that I can't account for" The wolf said with his tail raised and his ears perked.

\n "Very good" The captain said with a smile, then he calmly faced the vixen and clasped his hand together. "And you Sheri"

\n "We've had two casualties in total. A few bruises on what remains of the crew here but nothing that can't be fixed" the vixen spoke up.

\n "Captain" A multicolored canine whose ears lay flat on his head raised his voiced.

\n "Ah Doug I was getting to you" The Wolf said calmly.

\n "I know but I want to speak to you privately after the meeting if at all possible" the mutt said as he looks around the room. The old wolf saw the look in Doug's eyes, he knew something was on the mutt's mind and that worried him if he wanted to speak to him privately. The Captain took a deep breadth.

\n "Actually let's do it now. We shall adjourn for fifteen minutes. At that time we can finish the full report." The captain said as he got up from his chair. Quickly he motioned for the mutt to follow him as he exited out of the meeting room down a short hallway into the captain quarters. The captain closed the door behind Doug as he reached into his pocket to grab a cigar, figuring that he would need it regardless of regulations.

\n "So Doug how I may help you" The captain said with some hesitation.

\n "It's the dampers sir" Doug's voice was shaking. "We only have enough power in the coils to compensate for only four individuals."

\n "But we have five individuals on the ship" The captain said rhetorically.

\n "I know captain, I've run the number over and over again hoping I made some mistake but the fact remains" The captain just held his cigar as he stood there in silence. "I didn't want to cause a panic, so I wanted to tell you privately" The canine said as his voice trailed off.

\n "Well" The captain said as he placed the unlit cigar back in his pocket. "It seems we have a bit of a dilemma."

\n ******

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\n The room suddenly fell silent as the captain walked backed in and took his place at the table, Doug walked in as well. The old wolf looked at everyone's faces and felt an odd feeling that began to wash over him as he sighed.

\n "I don't like the look you have captain" Stan said as his eyes met his Alpha's. The Captain just smiled as he looked at everyone again, and then calmly glanced back at Stan.

\n "Your right Stan, I have some rather grave news." The wolf became silent as he then took a deep breath. "It has been brought to my attention" He began but his voice lacked luster "that the inertia dampers only have enough to power the coils and compensate for four individual." The captain could hear a few gasp, some whispers, but mostly silence. There was an unnerving and irritating silence and the captain was afraid to break it.

\n "Are you telling me, one of us is not going to make it home?" Robert yelled out as he slammed his fist on the table. "What about stasis, or reroute power!" The tan wolf continued to yell.

\n "You know the coils don't work like that Robert..." Doug began.

\n "Shut up Dog! I won't let some mutt tell me what I SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT KNOW!" Roberts raised his voice as he quickly stood up in his chair.

\n "ROBERT PLEASE CALM DOWN" The Captain yelled in response. The wolf breathed heavy as his eyes glared at the dog as he slowly turned his head to face the grey wolf. "Yes Sir" Robert said through gritted teeth as he then sat down.

\n "Look I know this is difficult but let's think about this. Well all know that the energy being funneled through the power coils are filtered in a specific way and we can't re route power, so I need contingency plans."

\n "Contingency Sir?" Sheri spoke up.

\n "Yes Sheri, Contingency, a plan or method you can think of, if any to get us home or a plan for alternatives" The wolf said with a deep sigh.

\n "You mean sacrifice, committing suicide" Stan said with his ears folded back, his tail tucked.

\n "Why can't we just try it with the five" Robert raised his voice.

\n "Because we run the risk of everyone dying" Doug responded.

\n "Why you" The brown wolf turned to the mutt as his eyes narrowed.

\n "Robert, Doug enough! Like it or not we may have to make a decision none of us wants to make but the decision needs to be made" The captain said as he got up from his seat. He hesitated, he didn't want to but he looked at each of them, he could smell uncertainty, maybe fear. It was very unnerving.

\n "I will need those reports at twenty-one hundred hours, that is all"

\n ******

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\n The Captain sat in his quarters alone as he tried to understand the gravity of the situation. Peering down he was analyzing each members own personnel file. Then the wolf just brought his hands to his head and began to rub his eyes. 'What am I doing', he thought, 'I'm looking at all my crew like a piece of meat.' He then placed his hand into his inside coat pocket as he pulled out his cigar as he suddenly heard three knocks echo behind his door. The old wolf growled a bit as he placed the cigar back into his coat pocket.

\n "Come in" He yelled. The door swung wide open with clang as metal vibrated against the metal of the walls.

\n "Captain, its Stan and Robert. They're fighting on the bridge," The vixen said loudly as the Captain jumped out of his seat and rushed forward into the hallway. It didn't take him long as he navigated the halls and passageways. Quickly he plugging in his security code and opened the door to the bridge to see Stan with a bloody noise looking down at the brown wolf who laid there half conscious on the floor.

\n "There BETTER be a GOOD explanation of this" The Captain growled as he stepped into the room. The security officer just turned and stood at attention as he gave a quick salute. The beaten tan and brown wolf staggered to get up as he tried to mimic his aggressor and comrade. The vixen came into the bridge with her medical kit hanging by her side. She kept looking at the captain waiting for her chance to jump in.

\n "Lieutenant McConnoly and I had a bit of a disagreement, Sir" Stan said in as much formality as he could muster. The captain's eye narrowed as he gave a long cold stare at each of them.

\n "A DISAGREEMENT? A SNARL AND A STARE CONTEST IS A DISAGREEMENT, THIS IS DESCION IN THE RANK AND IN MY PACK!" The Captain yelled and growled, ears laid flat against his head and his tail standing straight.

\n "I..I was only giving a suggestion sir" Robert said, the blood was dripping out of his nose onto his fur.

\n "More like bigoted commen..." Stan began to say.

\n "Enough" The captain said as he held out his paw. "Now Stan, what did our pilot say that warranted such action from you"

\n "He was wanting to volunteer Doug, sir" Stan commented. The brown wolf snarled a bit. "He wanted to volunteer him because he is a dog, sir"

\n "I see" The Captain said as the old wolf then looked over at his pilot and stared him down. "So what do you have to say for yourself Robert"

\n "S-Sir that's not the whole truth, you understand that it was his calculation that got us out here in the first pla..."

\n "That's not too entirely true!"

\n "But shouldn't he have rechecked the power coil output, ran test..."

\n "Hindsight is 20/20 Lieutenant, most of the calculations were done back at base and many variables were not accounted for after the jump was made, I can not hold Chief Engineer Doug responsible for his action as I could a cub spilling his milk." The Captain then stated as calmly as he could, he could only hear a growl coming from Robert as he turned to face the two of them. "At ease gentlemen" he finally said as he then looked over at the vixen giving her the okay to treat them.

\n "So what's the plan CAPTAIN, draw straws?" Robert said with a sneer and his lips curled as the vixen was beginning to apply the proper medical ointments to his wounds. The captain wanted to say something but didn't know how to respond, he just opened the door and with a deep breath he exited the room. He couldn't really answer the wolf, it seemed like the only fair option. Leaving everything to fate, was that truly what he really wanted? His mind was distance as he made his way to his quarters and sat down in his chair, reaching into his coat pocket wanting the only thing that could calm him down. Then out of nowhere two knocks rang on the metal door as he looked up.

\n "Come in" The wolf said as he as he withdrew his hand, again with an irritated look on his face. A Grey slightly bruised wolf came in and looked over at the captain.

\n "Permission to speak sir?" Stan said at attention trying to be formal as possible.

\n "Stan, you know me, at ease, at ease" The captain said as he waved a paw at him.

\n "To be honest with you, sir, I'm surprised you not puffing away right about now" the wolf said smiling as he tried to find a chair to sit down in.

\n "You know those thing are bad for your health, plus they're against regulation. Damn non smoking laws." The captain said as he leaned forward on his desk.

\n "I have a request sir, something I have given much consideration about" the younger wolf said as his eyes just darted to the floor. The captain ears perked as he tried to look at the wolf's face.

\n "What is it?" The Captain responded.

\n "I want to be the one to stay behind, when everyone is ready to go" is all that the captain heard.

\n The Captain just sat there as he looked at everyone's proposals. It was an interesting read to say the least, Sheri suggested a lottery to try and be fair. Robert the pilot was trying to exact some form of justice or racial superiority, who knows, as he tried to make a convincing argument that Doug is not needed and should stay behind, which made the captain a little queasy. Doug's report listed each crews assets, family life and age and then deriving everything from some sort of odd Mathematical formula. The Captain had to chuckle for a bit. And then there was Stan's proposal. More like a resignation he thought as his paper was filled with every ounce of detail on how he was proud member of the Serenity force, and on a number of occasions he did what he could to save many of his comrades lives, which put the old grey wolf's life into perspective as well. It was then he heard the soft annoying beep from his control panel indicating a communication link. Moving his paw over the panel his finger hovered, hesitating about whether to accept it, though he felt he owed everyone an explanation.

\n "Captain" Stan voice echoed over the intercom. "What are you doing, you need to turn that shuttle around and make your way back and dock with the ship.

\n "I'm afraid I can't do that Stan, It is my duty to watch out for the safety of the entir..." The wolf began to comment as if he had said those line a thousand time before.

\n "ITS YOUR DUTY TO BE WITH THE SHIP, CAPTAIN!" The wolf said as he mustered a yell. "Plus, I was the one who volunteered" The captain swore he herd Stan's voice crack as silence followed the transmission. The captain just sat there and reached into his coat pocket.

\n "I couldn't let you do that Stan. I couldn't let anyone on my crew do that. Each of you has a life to live, mine is running short. It would only stand to reason.."

\n "Sir" Stan tried to interrupt.

\n "First Officer Stan Marshal, this is an order. You are to start the Jump drive and set in your coordinate and MAKE IT BACK HOME!" The wolf yelled not hearing any response from the communicator. "DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!" The captain said in his most commanding voice. It was excruciating as he heard everyone in unison respond.

\n "Yes Sir." He was proud of them; his eyes welled up with tears as he reached over with his paw and silenced the communication. He then turned on the view screen as he saw his ship not more than a mile away. Pulling out the cigar, he reached into his other pocket and pulled out a lighter. He could imagine the hum of the ship, the lights flickering and then he saw it. A beautiful burst of energy emanate from the ship for one second as it achieved a speed to which no one else had accomplished. He was silent as he placed the cigar into his mouth. Then as he held back a tear he lit the cigar up, taking one big puff of smoke.
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