Brinus was clad only in a pair of gym shorts and sat on the countertop. He had a vape between his lips. Simmie had just come into the kitchen to get his morning coffee. Brinus took a pull from the vape, tilted his head back, and blew out a large cloud of white vapor. He smiled with pleasure as the AA nicotine salts hit differently in the vapes than the cigarettes.

  Simmie sighed as he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit the other end after brewing his morning coffee. “Are you vaping now?”

  Brinus’s pupils were dilated, and he stumbled slightly as he jumped down from the counter. “Dr. Calnori recommended a navy-issue medical vape. She said I should avoid earth vapes ’cuz of the metals and only use replicated formulas.”

  Simmie nodded and leaned onto the counter next to Brinus. “What shop did you go to?”

  “Proctor Vapes.” He laughed, tilted his head back, took a long puff, and blew vapor out of his lungs.

  “That’s a proper pharmacy!”

  Brinus kissed Simmie on the cheek, almost hitting his neck from the dizziness. He hadn’t smoked in a week except for a few smokes here and there, so he wasn’t used to the AA nicotine rush. “I gotta get ready. Today is my turn in the robotics lab.”

  Brinus kissed Simmie on the lips after kissing him on the neck, and then Simmie opened his mouth after a moment and licked the inside of Brinus’s mouth.

  He jumped back and yelled out a couple of cuss words. “What the fuck!?”

  “I like the taste. What is it?”

  Brinus gagged. “In the name of the spirits! Your breath tastes like a cig!” He walked over to the fridge and grabbed a soda. “The flavor is Earth bubble gum and cotton candy. Don’t ever do that again without my permission!”

  He took a deep breath and then closed his eyes for three seconds. He kept his hnds by his side, staring daggers at Simmie. He opened the soda, swished out his mouth, and left the kitchen with a stiff body posture and dilated pupils.

  He walked out of the kitchen and thought, Brinus took a deep, calming breath and went into his bedroom.

  Tenwty later, he was dressed in his day-to-day uniform. It had a midshipman’s rank ribbon, as well as ribbons from the Battle of Alpha Centauri and the Battle of the Caliver System and a Sector 22 campaign ribbon.

  He approached Simmie, who was sitting on the couch in only gym shorts. He read a datapad titled “Advanced Robotic AI Theory.”

  “See ya’ later, hon,” said Brinus, kissing him on the head.

  “Bye, love. See ya tonight.”

  An hour later, Brinus worked in the robotics lab on shielding a walker leg from radiation. He melted a tungsten, titanium, and rhenium alloy plate and welded it with a TIG welding torch and a metal patch.

  He wore his welding equipment and had a pair of steel-toed boots and leather shin guards. He also listened to gangster rap from the Saffron City Planetary Prison as part of their music program. Music programs in prisons were designed to help prisoners earn money and build a following so after release they would have something to fall back on. The music was loud enough to fill the room but not be obnoxious. He sang and danced to it when his commanding officer walked into the room.

  Brinus said, “Alex! Cut music!”

  Brinus removed his welding gloves and mask. “May I help you, ma’am?”

  She smirked and crossed her arms. Something was off about her body posture. “Tell me, do you think this is funny?”

  Brinus scrunched up his nose and eyes.

  “You know what you did. Don’t try to act innocent.” She pulled out her TriQuarter and began recording him. “Confess.”

  Brinus took a pull from his vape and just started her, blowing the white vapor into Aura’s face. He thought.

  “Confess, and I won’t go to the commander. We can keep it within the robotics department.”

  Brinus scoffed and crossed his arms in front. “And yet you’ve gotta phone in my face recording me.”

  She laughed nervously. “Confess!”

  Brinus took a second pull from his vape, blowing another massive white cloud into Aura’s face as she coughed. He put the welder down to the side and stated an assertive military voice that was loud, deep, and raspy from years of heavy smoking. “Lieutenant, ma’am! Wouldn’t it be a shame if I had to go to the first officer ‘cuz you were targetin’ me for dismissal? Ya’ know? Cuz of my felony status? I wonder what would happen to you?” He gave his classic screw-you smile.

  Aura put her hands on her hips and snapped, “Are you threatening me, Smokestack?”

  Brinus smiled. “Alex! Read the email transcript sent by Lieutenant Smog on star date 22.6.32.”

  “Alex! Cut recording!”

  Aura crossed her arms and went into Brinus’s face. “Why the hell is Lieutenant Smog sending you my private messages?”

  Brinus gave another screw-you smile and adjusted his welder’s apron. “He didn’t. I became friends with the Ship’s AI; his name is Fish. He’s very nice but a bit free. He knew what you were doing and sent me a full copy of the messages. I've got the unedited DMs with timestamps. I have a voice recording. Fish was offended by your behavior, you naughty girl.” Brinus shook his finger and laughed for a moment as if teasing her.

  She went so close to Brinus that he could smell her vanilla cream perfume on her uniform over the stale smoke in his workshop. “This violates privacy laws. I demand you delete those messages with an apology!” she steamed, putting her hands in her pockets.

  Brinus’s screw-you smile became an evil smirk. He stepped back a couple of steps and laughed like a cartoon villain for a moment. “No, I won’t, and if you take this further, I’ll go directly to the first officer. You see, according to section 10 of the Data Privacy Act, unless you wrote the messages on your custom-built computer on an app you designed, the data is not yours but belongs to the company. In this case, the data belongs to the Navy, Fish is Navy property. Therefore, your data belongs to Fish, so your data is not yours.”

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  “No, it doesn’t! You’re Lying! Delete those messages!” shrieked Lieutenant Aura as she lunged toward Brinus.

  He stepped aside and she lost her footing, crashing into the floor. “I can send you a copy of the law if you want?” Brinus flashed a smug, toothy grin and pushed Aura back as she tried to grab the data pad in his hand. he thought.

  “The commander will hear about this!”

  Brinus pulled up a datapad and handed it to Aura. “Commander Norrington’ll be receiving this email here. This here data pad is a copy of the entire Data Privacy Act as well as relevant court cases and rulings from judges that pertain to my actions today, if you're curious. Alex! Attach the file two-two-five-seven and send it to all the listed email addresses in the email files. Command code smokestack four-five-four-six.”

  “Command accepted. Email sent!”

  “What the fuck did you just do!” Aura threw the datapad at the door, cracking it. She began crying hysterically.

  “I just ended your career. Now get lost.” Brinus made a shooing motion with his hand. “Alex, activate music from the previous playlist!” He returned to welding while Lieutenant Aura begged him with tears in her eyes to unsend the email.

  One hour later, Commander Theodore met with Brinus. He had an annoyed look on his face but wasn’t upset at Brinus for a change. “Do you wish to escalate this? You have a legitimate case for discrimination.”

  Brinus shook his head and looked his commander in the eye. “No, sir. I don’t want to be a bitch boy. If she continues, I’ll escalate it. Fer now, I don’t want to be a snitch.”

  “I’ll let the record show you’re filing a report but no charges. Just to let you know, you have two years to file charges should you choose to. Send in the Lieutenant.”

  “Sir.” Brinus saluted and left.

  Lieutenant Aura entered the office.

  She stood at attention and saluted. Commander Theodore stood behind his desk and shouted in a military voice. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

  She said nothing.

  “Damn you! I am going to remove you from active duty and recommend your transfer to the front lines. Pack up your things! You will ship out by the end of the week. Oh, and you’re at the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer with a ban on further promotion for five years. Give me both of your lieutenant’s ribbons! Now!”

  She handed him her ribbons, saluted, and left.

  Theodore knew it must have gotten bad between them if Brinus had done something like this. He never complained. It was one of the things he admired about him. Even though he had his objections at first, Brinus was a valued team member. He and Simmie were unstoppable during a fleet battle.

  After military tactics class, Brinus waited for the class to clear out. Once the class cleared out, he approached Professor John and saluted.

  Professor John shuffled some data pads on his desk and then looked at Brinus. “Do you need something?”

  “I wanted to talk to you about something that happened today, sir.”

  Professor John rolled his eyes, sighed, and then snapped his briefcase closed. “Really? Shouldn’t you discuss it with your mentor?”

  “How did you know, sir?”

  “Come on, Brinus. Everyone knows. That officer had it coming for a long time. Did anyone tell you how she ended up in the robotics department?”

  Brinus shook his head.

  “She was a commander and first officer under Captain Saz and would’ve been a captain in six months of a light cruiser, which is a very good first command for a new captain. She threw her captain under the bus during the Third Pirate War and was demoted to lieutenant commander after lying under oath in a court martial. After being reassigned to Excalibur, that woman was caught yet again discriminating against catpeople because ‘I hate those furries.’ She couldn’t articulate a valid reason and was put on medical leave and given counseling. She had three more postings until she was finally demoted to Commissioned Lieutenant for repeated incidents involving cat people. Now, you became a target because of your felon status, and she lost her commission. I doubt she will ever be promoted again after this.”

  Brinus looked down at his feet, mumbled something incoherent, and then looked his professor in the eye. “I still snitched. I should have dealt with this on my own.”

  Professor John sighed and rolled his eyes as they approached his office. “This isn’t the syndicate anymore, kid. Some people don’t want to be captains and will do anything to sabotage their careers. She was a good officer with a promising career and could’ve retired at the rank of commodore with an admiral’s pension. She refused help at every opportunity, and now she will be cashiered at the rank of master chief petty officer.”

  Brinus shuffled out of the room with his head lowered and his posture slouched. he thought, shuffling down the hall, looking at his feet.

  Professor John watched Brinus leave his office, looking defeated.

  Brinus made his way to the promenade, where he went into a bar/cafe. Across the bar to his left, Commander Norrington and Captain Plato reviewed personnel records of commissioned officers and came up to Lieutenant Aurua; Brinus ordered a double whisky and decided to listen in.

  Captain Plato shuffled some datapads and looked at her files. “So we are now at Lieutenant Aurua.”

  Commander Norrington sat at attention and then looked the captain in the eye. “She is now a master chief petty officer and is shipping out next week. I believe she tried to get Brinus dismissed over false allegations because he is a felon.”

  Captain Plato laughed until he realized the commander was serious. He leaned forward and crossed his hands on the desk. “Does she not know Brinus is the Duke of District 12 and is the son of the first lady of the admiralty?”

  The commander said nothing. He simply sat at attention.

  Plato let out a cat howl and then screamed, slamming his fist on the table, “I want her discharged out of the service! Today! I want that bitch off of my ship by the high noon watch tomorrow! Clear! I want her discharged under bad conduct at the rank of Chief Petty Officer! No buy out under section 8 of the Civil Rights Act.”

  “Sir, yes, sir!” Commander Norrington asked after shuffling the datapads, “Now, who’s next on the list?”

  “I believe that covers all of the matters on today’s agenda. Dismissed!” Captain Plato made a shooing motion with his hand. There were at least five more items but Plato was too angry to discuss them.

  Commander Norrington saluted and left the bar.

  Captain Plato spotted Brinus and yelled across the restaurant. “What the fuck do you want Helios? MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS!”

  Plato left after paying the bill.

  Brinus came home after stopping at the pharmacy to buy a new vape pen. He wanted a backup when the old one was charging. He stripped down to a pair of gym shorts and walked into the kitchen. Simmie was not cooking supper. A note on the stove that said he would be back in three days after a seventy-two hour training exercise on the planet’s surface. Brinus secretly wondered when he would be invited to a training exercise. He had been to two thus far, but they were paintball exercises in urban training scenarios.

  he thought. Brinus knew what the cause was; he just didn’t like people judging him based on a moment of weakness.

  Someone knocked on the door. After checking his doorbell camera, he walked up to the door and saw that it was Godfrick.

  He opened the door, and they both slapped hands together. Brinus snapped his fingers, and they both laughed. Godfrick embraced him in a bro hug. “Are ya here fer the raid, Godfick?”

  “Sure.”

  Brinus went into the game room up to his console and booted it up. Godfrick removed his shoes and socks at the entrance.

  “I heard your boyfriend is on a mission, and I heard what happened with Lieutenant Aura. I came to check on you and keep you company.”

  Brinus laughed and said, “Yeah. I just found out.”

  Godfrick was jumpy, like an addict needing a fix. “Hey, you got any cigarettes? I forgot mine at home.”

  Brinus shrugged and looked off to the side. “Simmie’s the smoker; I’m a vaper. There is a cig vending machine down the hall to the right.”

  Godfrick left Brinus’s quarters for a few minutes and came back. He put a smoke in his mouth and lit the other end. Brinus’s mouth curled in a slight look of disgust. He was hoping to have a weekend without having smoke in his face, but whatever.

  “You wonna get started on the game? Or do you wonna finish that first?” Brinus pinched the bridge of his nose and curled his left lip. Since he started vaping, cigarette smoke irritated his sinuses if a room was too smoky.

  “Sure! Let’s get started!”

  Brinus walked into the game room and booted up his console. He opened a co-op game he played with Simmie sometimes and started a new game with Godfrick. After an hour of character creation, Godfrick created a lawful-good paladin. After replicating a controller, Brinus went to the main menu. They played the game together for hours. Since he didn’t have a second headset that fit Godfrick, Brinus routed communications and sound through the AI comms.

  Brinus created a chaotic-neutral pirate gunner’s mate, and Godfrick created another lawful-good mage character. Since Godfrick was not a gamer, Brinus showed him various concepts he had mastered by the age of five, such as holding a controller, basic concepts of collision physics, and inventory systems. He also explained side quests and battle passes.

  After what felt like an hour, Brinus looked at the clock on his timer; it was zero six hundred hours, and the Plant’s main sequence star began rising over the east side of the planet.

  Godfrick looked at Brinus and whistled. “Is it really sunrise?”

  Brinus smiled and slapped Godfrick on the back. “I guess we had fun.”

  Godfrick laughed and gave Brinus a bro hug. “Damn, It just felt like three hours.”

  Brinus ruffled Godfrick’s hair, and they both laughed. “To me, it felt like one hour.”

  Brinus walked up to the console and turned it off. “Yep. I need to charge my vape and get ready fer bed. I think we both have the day off today. You wonna do this again next week?”

  Godfrick nodded and then gave Brinus a fist bump. “I never played a game before. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. So next Friday at six?”

  He walked into the kitchen and plugged his vape into the charger. “Sure. Next Friday at Six.”

  He walked into the shower and activated the sonic head. The sound waves melted the dirt and dead skin off of his body, and it felt good. As he basked in the sound, thoughts of how Godfrick came out unsolicited to check on him occupied his mind.