Children of Steel Read online

"Now get your sorry butt down to the doctor, you look like hell," he said dropping the edge to his voice. "Raj, your going after the other guy was the wrong thing to do. At least not publically like that, you have to remember that as a Leopard you already have one strike against you. You don't need a reputation for uncontrollable behavior as well." I was surprised by what he was saying.

  "I've seen your records Raj, you've got a real classic Leopard's temper. If you don't control it, you're going to end up in real bad trouble and I'd hate to see that happen to someone as talented as you."

  "I'm sorry sir, but that fight really set me off. It took everything I had to win, and I just sort of lost it for a while there." I admitted painfully.

  "Well, I guess I can kind of understand that. I hope everybody else will. But you're still going to be punished; I have to do something to make an impression on your thick skull. As for winning the fight, I must admit I was surprised you could beat up Marcus, He's a pretty tough character. I have to praise you for that one," he admitted. "Herza told me you were a great fighter, but I really didn't believe her."

  I was a little surprised by the last, "Unn, thank you sir." I said quietly.

  "Now get down to the doctor and then stay in your quarters until I send for you."

  I said yes sir and went down to the sick bay. The Doc took care of the broken ribs, I had three, plus two more were cracked. Closed all the cuts and even gave me something for all the aches and my bruised head. By the time I had cleaned up and gotten to bed, the medicine was taking effect and I fell right into a deep sleep.

  15

  I woke up early the next morning to Banner knocking on my door.

  "Come on in," I told him.

  "Balizar sent me to get you," he told me as I got dressed, "I'm to bring you to his office."

  "Any idea what's going to happen to me?" I asked quietly.

  "Oh, don't worry too much Raj, nobody's filed any complaints against you," he opened the door and I followed him out. "Balizar just wants to make sure you learned your lesson, and show the other Clans that he won't take any excuses for that kind of behavior either."

  "Yeah, I guess I did kind of push it, didn't I?"

  "Yep, you did," he turned and smiled at me. "But if it's any consolation, the other two are being punished by their Clans a lot worse than you probably will be. Everybody knows that if you had brought it to the Captain, heads would have rolled."

  That made me worry a second, "Does the Captain know?"

  "Probably not yet, and by the time he does it'll be pretty watered down."

  We walked up to the door then and Banner knocked twice, opened it, and showed me in. I walked in and looked around; it was just Balizar, which made me a lot happier. I would have really felt bad if this had to happen in front of everybody.

  "Good morning Raj," he said from behind his desk.

  "Good morning Sir."

  "Banner you're excused now."

  Banner just nodded and left.

  "You know the reason you're here, so let me start off by saying that I talked with both of the other Clans involved and after hearing their information, I then talked with the senior members of our Clan and we decided on a punishment.

  "As to the fight with Marcus, you were attacked and acted in self defense, so there was nothing wrong with that. The Tiger Clan was grateful that you did not choose to make an issue of it, as it would surely have cost him dearly. They are still going to discipline him of course, this is not the first time he has been involved in this sort of behavior."

  I felt a little better about that; I didn't think I had been out of line for that one.

  "As for your beating of Silestri however, we all feel, and I think you'll agree now, it was uncalled for. The Wolverine Clan will not make an issue of it as he has admitted to his compliance. Tempers are short right now onboard the ship, so I'm not too surprised that he decided to go after you for breaking up a fight he was winning, it is always easier to despise an officer anyway.

  "But that is all really beside the point. You should have known better than to confront him at that time. You should have either settled it later, in private when you were calmer, or you should have brought it to his Clan head. Basically what you did was an unprovoked attack. As for his running Raj, what did you expect? You were madder than hell, and out weighed him by a good ninety pounds. Not to mention that you were covered in blood."

  "Yes sir," I said quietly, and stared at the floor. I hadn't thought about that at the time, but then I hadn't been thinking at all really.

  "Now you're young and inexperienced, but I've seen your records and you do have a history of fighting. At least you haven't made a habit of starting fights since you came onboard and technically we could put this second one in the same category, but I'm not going to. You're at a crucial stage in your development Raj, and I feel that if we don't nip this is the bud and do something to teach you to get a tighter rein on your temper, you're going to get into even worse trouble.

  "So it is our decision that you be confined to your shipboard quarters, when you are off duty, for one month."

  My head came up at that! One month, that meant I wouldn't be able to get any leave on New Johannesburg. I had really been looking forward to getting out of the ship, even if it had meant staying mostly on the company grounds. "Yes sir, I understand," I replied to his look, but I couldn't help but be upset.

  Balizar looked at me a moment longer, "No Raj, I don't think you do. I've seen animen go berserk, and I've seen what happens to them. I don't want that to happen to you, ever. I think this will make you think before you act next time. You may go now."

  I turned and left the room, thinking about what he said on the way back to my quarters. I still had a half hour before I was on duty and I guess I had to spend it there. I decided not to go get breakfast; I really didn't feel like eating anyhow.

  Back at my room I got ready for my shift, we were still a week from reaching orbit. I looked at myself in the mirror, the side of my face was swollen but the cuts and gashes were hidden by my fur at least. The uniform would hide the more serious wounds, as for the broken ribs, they'd be better by the day after tomorrow. I just hope I didn't get pulled off duty too.

  I showed up for duty on time and everybody congratulated me on winning the fight with Marcus. They teased me about it a little and joked about the whole thing, it was easy to see that they were impressed. As for the second incident, nobody mentioned it; it was as if it had never happened. I really appreciated that.

  My shift went as normal though I lost pretty big at poker, I wasn't really in a card playing mood. Actually I felt pretty bad about the whole affair, I felt the punishment was a little extreme and I was ashamed by my behavior. It would have been nice if I could have blamed somebody else, but there wasn't anybody else to blame.

  About half way through the shift, I went down to the shuttle bay to run some checks. Rudy, Gabe, and Dave showed up shortly afterwards.

  "Why so down Raj?" asked Gabe, "You won the fight, and impressed the hell out of a lot of people. I wouldn't be surprised if you found some of those female Tigers hanging around your quarters soon!" He smiled at the last part.

  "No, it's not that. It's what happened afterwards," I admitted.

  "What that part about beating up that Wolverine? Hell Raj, everybody figures he deserved it."

  "Not everybody," I grimaced. "My Clan thinks I went a little too far with him."

  "So what are they going to do?"

  I looked at the three of them, "I've been confined to quarters when I'm off duty, for a month."

  "Bummer," said Dave. "That really isn't going to let you do very much dirtside."

  "I'm not going, I've been confined to my shipboard quarters." I said embarrassed.

  "Isn't that a bit extreme?" Said Gabe, "I mean you've been cooped up here just as long as the rest of us. Probably part of the reason you got in trouble in the first place."

  I looked around to make sure it was still just the three
of us. "Well Balizar seems to feel that this might be the start of a trend, and wants to 'Nip it in the bud'." Gabe snorted at that, "I don't know Gabe, he's been around a lot longer than I have, he may be right."

  "Ah come on, you didn't do anything that bad. You just pounded on somebody a little bit."

  I had to smile at Gabe's stalwart defense; it's nice to have friends. "I'm sorry Gabe, but looking back on it, even I think I went a little too far. Why don't you ask Dave and Rudy here what they think?"

  He turned to them, "Well, what do you guy's think? You've both been pretty quiet."

  Dave spoke up first, "I don't know Gabe, I can understand Balizar being really upset, it just wasn't the smartest thing to do. But given the fight he just went through though I really can't blame him."

  "What about you Rudy?" Gabe said turning to him. Rudy looked at me and then Gabe, and didn't look too happy about it.

  "Go ahead and say it Rudy," I put in, "I've already admitted I was wrong, so I won't get upset if you agree."

  "It was stupid," he said quietly, "real stupid. I know that guy had been busting on you ever since you broke up that fight, but it was still a dumb thing to do. A lot of people are going to wonder about you for a while now Raj. It doesn't matter that he may have set you up, or that you were upset after a real tough fight. You should have showed more restraint, that you did it in front of witnesses just goes to prove that it was dumb."

  "So people are going to be afraid of me now?" I asked concerned.

  "Let's just say that now's a good time to lay low and stay out of sight. It is not the people who know you that you have to worry about, it’s those who don't."

  "So you think my being confined to quarters is a good idea then?" I had to admit what he said made some sense, but I still wondered about the shipboard part.

  "It is a good idea alright, especially the shipboard part." Rudy said with a lopsided grin.

  "How in the hell is being stuck up here a good idea?" interjected Gabe.

  "Yeah, explain that part to me too. I can't seem to figure it out either." I replied.

  "Easy, not only does the Clan get to make both a lasting impression on you and a good impression on everybody else for keeping their people in line. But let's face it Raj, if there was ever a place where you were going to get in trouble, its New Johannesburg.

  "Anyway, do any of you think we're going to stay there longer than we absolutely have to? I bet the Captain gets us out of there as quick as possible. Our next stop will probably be someplace where we can all take leave and relax, the Captain's no idiot, I bet he wants a break himself."

  We all sat there and thought about that a while, it made a lot of sense even to me. Suddenly I didn't feel too bad about missing out on going down to the planet, if I lost my temper while I was down there, I really would be in trouble. I guess Balizar and the others really were worried about me. I decided then and there that I wasn't going to let my temper get the better of me again. Sure it was good during a fight, but I had to learn to put it away afterwards.

  "Rudy, I'm glad I've got such a smart WSO," I said with a smile, "I wouldn't have figured out even half of that. Thanks."

  "Hey, we Possum's didn't survive this long by being dumb!" He laughed, something I hadn't seen him do much, "We don't have the strength or speed of the rest of you, it’s brains that keep us alive."

  "Now don't go blowing your own horn to loud," Gabe grumbled. "Somebody else might just get tired of the music."

  We all laughed at that, and headed back up to the flight room, and the poker game. I didn't play anymore that day though; I spent the time looking through the ship's information banks to see what I could learn about controlling one's temper. There turned out to be quite a lot, guess I wasn't the only one with this problem.

  As our shift ended I got my gear stowed and had started to leave when the Chief called me into his office, he hadn't been playing cards today with the rest of us either.

  "Yes Sir?" I asked as I entered his office, closing the door behind me.

  "I just wanted to let you know that the Tiger Clan is grateful that you didn't file a formal complaint against Marcus," he said with a sigh, "even though that idiot probably deserves it. He's been in more trouble than everybody else we've got combined. I also want to say that I'm sorry I didn't stop you before you left here yesterday. I should have known better myself, but after your trashing Marcus so thoroughly, I didn't think you had anything left." He gave me a smile then, "I know about your punishment and I have to agree with your Clan on that one, I'd hate to see you turn out to be like Marcus, that's for sure!"

  "Thank you sir," I answered. "But don't blame yourself, it was my own fault."

  "Be that as it may, as the Chief of Shuttle Ops and head of my own Clan, I'm supposed to know about such things. Oh, by the way, I have to admit that I'm impressed that you were able to beat him. Marcus is a pretty damn good fighter, there aren't that many onboard who could."

  "I just hope I don't have to do a rematch any time soon Sir." I said with a slight smile.

  "Don't worry, he's not interested in one either. He's got a lot of respect for you now." he smiled again as he said that. "Okay Raj, that's all. Dismissed!"

  I saluted and left the flight area. I stopped and got dinner then, bringing it to back to my room. I thought I'd take Rudy's advice to heart and keep as low a profile as possible. I then went back to my studies on the ship's computer, using my desk terminal.

  It was tough for the next week, I was on for twelve hours then off for twelve, during which I was supposed to stay in my quarters. Of course it ended up being more like ten hours, Balizar let me continue to exercise and practice with Herza, as long as it was in private however.

  Herza was both happy and mad. Happy that I was able to win the fight, mad that I acted like 'a complete ass' afterwards. She did come to my quarters the night before she went down to the surface, which was nice. The girls were pretty much leaving me alone right now, Balizar hadn't told them to, but he had dropped some hints about this being 'punishment', Herza decided to risk it just that once though.

  Unloading took two whole weeks. I spent a lot of time working in the holds doing physical labor, at the shift's end most of the work force went down to the surface. I was stuck up here alone of course. It wasn't too bad, and from what I heard most people couldn't wait to leave.

  Some of the other fallout from my fight with Marcus turned out to be rather interesting indeed. I found that many of the Tigers on board were a lot more friendly, especially a few of the females. I suspect it was a combination of respect and curiosity; I was after all larger than the average Leopard, closer to a Jaguar actually, so I found myself gaining a few more friends. Rasha was the name of a fairly cute 'little' female Tiger who became extremely close, she was about six foot two, and weighed around two hundred pounds. She was little by Tiger standards, but I must admit it was a different experience to be with a female nearly as large as myself.

  I didn't see Marcus or his 'friend' for the entire time though; I guess they were being restricted like myself. Rasha did tell me that he wasn't really mad or holding a grudge against me, I was glad to hear that. Fortunately most Tigers aren't into holding grudges.

  I did get to fly a sortie down to the surface; I think the Chief just wanted to give me a little slack. I didn't spend more than an hour on the planet, just long enough to unload. But it did a lot for my morale to look at the open sky. I avoided talking to the locals as much as possible, the one time I had to I could tell the regular company types from the homegrowns with out even looking at their uniform. They were pretty obnoxious, at least to animen.

  After it was all unpacked they gave everybody a three day break, fortunately for me, I was assigned bridge watch and some other duties that still had to be taken care of. If I had had to stay in my room for those three days I probably would have ripped the place to shreds.

  They started the reloading right after that. They only loaded up three of the modules, detached two
and left the last empty. That took another week and at the end of that time my confinement ended, but by then we had shuttled most of the people back up and my duties kept me here, with the rest of the shuttle and work crews. So except for that one brief trip during the unloading, I never got down to the planet again.

  The trip back up to jump took only a week this time, we were carrying a lot less weight now and it showed. Once in jump, the word was passed that we would only be on jump drive for a month, and that we would be getting at least one week's leave at our next stop, Lyceum.

  As for my studies during my punishment, I came across several different approaches, but none of them really seemed to be anything that I could use. One thing which I found mentioned fairly often was meditation, I really didn't see how it could work as it was something you did in quiet by yourself. But a lot of the different books said it helped so I figured I'd try it and see, I didn't see how it could hurt.

  At the Clan meeting that took place after we had entered jump, I mentioned it to Balizar, to see what his opinion was. He was surprised that I had decided on that approach, but thought it was a good idea and was happy that I was trying to improve myself.

  My sixteenth birthday came later the next week and as there weren’t any special duties going on, they even threw me a small party. It was fun, my last birthday being a pretty lonely affair as everybody had already shipped out. I was also surprised to get a present from Balizar, he had gotten me a set of throwing stars, and promised to start teaching me to use them.

  I found the throwing stars to be extremely interesting. I already knew how to throw a knife of course, having learned in advanced combat school, and I was pretty good too. I had heard about throwing stars before, but had never seen any. I could see where they would be easier to carry than a knife, they were a lot smaller and you could carry quite a few in a pouch. Also you didn't have such problems as to whether to throw from the blade or the handle.

  Balizar was true to his word, and started teaching me how to use them the next day. By the time we had reached breakout, I had become fairly proficient. Further practice I knew, would allow me to draw and throw as quickly as Balizar did. He was able to place three into a moving target in about a second, it was pretty impressive to watch.