It didn't matter how many times Jim made his way down the halls of the Naval offices at the capital, it always felt like he was walking to his doom. He didn't have to walk it often, which he was thankful for, but today he did. Not for any particular reason other than everything was too big and too grand and so damn solemn.
And maybe also because the royal palace loomed just over the rooftops like a giant glistening white reminder of exactly how prestigious and important this city was and it starkly contrasted how small and insignificant and worthless he felt most of the time.
He glanced out through the arching banisters at the completely unnecessary courtyard surrounded fully by offices. If it had been all paved it would have made more sense and could have been written off as just another area for soldiers to train, but it was a simple green rectangle of grass with literally nothing else. No flowers, no trees, just a strip of green surrounded by worn gray stones and walls.
The huge mahogany double doors stood as sentinels blocking his path and he raised a hand to knock. He rapped his knuckles twice and waited.
"Come in."
Despite the massive size, the door swung open easily, and Jim approached the desk at the far end of the - again completely unnecessarily - long room. He snapped to attention and saluted to the Leonid sitting behind the desk, but the red-gold maned alien didn't even look up as he came up.
"Mr. Hawkins."
"Admiral Blake."
The Leonid turned his yellow eyes on him now and Jim felt himself flinch. He'd done his best not to get into trouble, but honestly it was part of his nature to be an absolute shit ninety-five percent of the time, so if they were mad at him for that it was really their own fault for accepting his enrollment into the navy in the first place-
"I have an assignment for you."
"Yes, sir."
The admiral swiveled in his seat and pulled a drawer out from his desk. And from it he brought out an ornately carved box. Jim felt his eyebrows raising on their own as he watched the lion alien open the box and reach in. He leaned forward to see.
In Blake's hand was a tiny bronze navigation device. It looked somewhat like Jim's mother's necklace pendant in that it was shaped like a slightly squashed sphere, but that was the end of the similarities. It was blank of any decorations and didn't even have a circlet to hang it from a chain.
"That's it?" the words slipped out before he could stop them and he snapped his mouth shut.
Admiral Blake looked up at him from under his bushy eyebrows with a sour frown.
"Sorry, sir."
His yellow eyes darted back to the box as he put the navigation device on the table. He pulled a letter out next and set it on the table next to the little machine. It was sealed with the queen's stamp. Jim felt the air in the room thicken. Oh…that's…this is pretty important…
"This is a mission of utmost confidentiality," Blake started. He wove his fingers together and set his hands on the table in front of himself, sat up rim-rod straight, and gazed at Jim coolly with one eyebrow slightly raised. "You have been chosen for this assignment because of your navigational skills, ability to form and execute plans under extreme pressure, and unwavering bravery."
Jim felt the words weren't being directed at him . He'd been given medals for a couple of those things, sure, but each one had seemed relatively begrudging. The hostility emanating from Admiral Blake was stifling.
"Thank you, sir…"
"You are expected to memorize the information on this document and then I will promptly destroy it," the lion-man stood now and came around the table with the letter. He offered it to Jim, "The personal navigation device has been encrypted heavily and will only work with the information on the document."
Jim slid his finger under the folded paper and gently pried the wax stamp up. It released with a soft pop and Jim's eyes darted over the calligraphy-level handwriting, damn do they always write like this? I can barely read my OWN handwriting half the time…
He folded the paper again and held it back out, "Ok, I've got it."
Blake's eyebrows rose the tiniest bit. Jim dipped his head, "Photogenic memory, sir."
"Ah. It makes more sense why you were chosen now."
Ouch. I know you don't like me, but damn man, you don't have to be so obvious about it- "I noticed that there the coordinates were incomplete, sir-"
"That is correct," Blake took the letter and stalked to the fireplace. The fire was low, barely even burning anymore, and he tossed it onto the red-hot coals. Instantly the paper curled and blackened at the edges, the perfectly stamped wax melted, and after a few minutes the document was consumed. He turned back to Jim with his hands clasped against the small of his back. He gazed down his nose at the human, "You will now take the navigation device and meet your counterpart on The Eclipse to recover the objective of the mission."
"What…are we recovering?" Jim asked carefully.
"I don't have the clearance to answer that."
Jim stared at him for a moment. He felt his stomach drop. This is REALLY important…
"Unless you have any more questions, you are dismissed. A shuttle will collect you in an hour and take you to where The Eclipse is docked. Launch will be expected promptly upon your arrival."
"Excuse me, sir-" Jim cleared his throat. "What is my position on the ship?"
Blake gave him a withering look, as if he was expected to know without being told, "You are one of the two navigators."
"Two, sir?"
"I said you would have a counterpart."
Jim fought the urge to frown at the Admiral's tone, "Of course, sir. Thank you…"
"You are dismissed. The shuttle leaves on the hour. Don't be late."
"Of course not, sir."
Admiral Blake gave a curt nod and turned away to move back to his desk.
Jim spun on his toes and darted from the room. His fingers traced over the metal device in his pocket absently, "An hour huh? Good thing I don't really have anything to pack…"
With the expansiveness of the navy office grounds and the winding streets back to the dock and where Jim had been provided a room to stay while in the Capital, it still took nearly half an hour to get to the inn. He burst through the door, "Dammit, why's everything gotta be so far apart?! Come on, Morph, we gotta go!"
The pinkish creature zoomed over to him and nuzzled against his neck.
"Hey bud! I missed you too," he laughed at the tickling sensation under his jaw. He batted the shapeshifter away. "We can cuddle all you want after I'm packed, ok?"
Morph gave his adorable little salute and 'helped' Jim by flitting around the room and pointing out any item that hadn't been grabbed yet. Even with one shoulder bag and as few things as he took with him Jim and Morph still found themselves sprinting to get to the dock.
Jim almost expected Admiral Blake to be waiting for him there with a scowl as he watched Jim race up the gangplank exactly one minute late, but he wasn't and he let out a breath when the door closed behind him and the ship started to move.
"What do you think, Morph? Ready to get back on a ship?" he murmured to the blob as he wandered toward the back of the seating area. The creature trilled in response and nuzzled his cheek. It was empty besides them and he shook his head, "What a waste of energy to send a whole shuttle just for us. We could have just taken a longboat…"
He was soon happy that Admiral Blake- or whomever it was organizing this whole expedition- had commissioned the shuttle boat. It took three days of travel from the Capital to finally get to the port The Eclipse was moored in. Three days of trying to find any comfortable position to sleep in the stiff chairs with armrests that couldn't be pushed out of the way. Jim even tried sleeping on the floor, but it was a rough metal grate and dug into his back and cold air came up through the holes, so he resorted to sleeping in short bursts while he crouched against the wall.
And while the crew didn't need to eat- it was a shuttle with pre-programmed destinations- Jim DID, but he only had what was in his bag and his stomach complained loudly and frequently at the pathetic available selections. There was only so much dried purp leather he could handle choking down, but he didn't have any other options since Morph had gotten into the good stuff while he wasn't paying attention.
Jim paused in his millionth time pacing around the perimeter of the seating area and listened. The engine noise had changed. He became aware of the dropping feeling in his gut as the ship descended - probably a little too quickly, but screw it. If he could have a legitimate bed or hammock tonight he didn't care whether they crash landed as long as he got the hell off this shuttle.
"Thank fucking God," he groaned.
But it wasn't over yet.
The captain of course had to meet him and discuss the expedition, even though it was well past midnight when Jim found the dock The Eclipse was moored to.
When he was finally done talking- Jim didn't even remember half of what he said- it was too late to even think of sneaking into the galley for something to eat. He wasn't too upset about it; he'd gotten to the point of hunger where he couldn't tell if it was nausea or not.
Jim stumbled, drunk with exhaustion, down the stairs to the cabins. His was on the right at the very end and he trudged to it. He barely had the sense to kick off his boots and wriggle out of his uniform before falling onto the stiff mattress face-first.
He closed his eyes-
-And opened them again as another weight came down on the bed between his splayed legs. He closed them again. S'too early for this… hands clamped around his wrists, dragged his arms so they were crossed behind his back, and another weight pressed on the mattress by his face.
"Wha'd-ya want?" Jim mumbled into the blanket.
"Mr. Hawkins, you are under arrest by order of the Royal Light Navy."
He cracked one eye to peer over his shoulder at the officer restraining him. A human man with short sandy hair and brown eyes gazed back down at him.
Jim shifted slightly, "What're my crimes?"
"Neglecting to say hello to your best and oldest friend, of course," a smile cracked across the man's face.
"Oh, Officer Delaney, is there anything I could do to convince you to drop the charges and let me go?" Jim asked in a sing-song tone. His face mirrored the other man's smile.
"I'm afraid not."
"Nothing at all?" Jim pursed his lips. "Are you sure about that, William?"
Before William could respond, Jim pulled his knees up and rocked his hips back so his ass was planted squarely against the man's crotch. He wiggled his hips the tiniest bit, "What about this?"
William jumped back off the bed and Jim pushed himself up to sit with a laugh, "Too damn easy…"
"Dammit Jim…" William hid his burning cheeks behind his hand. "You're going to get in trouble someday with how much you throw your body around like that."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Jim grinned as he pulled his clothes on.
Morph floated up off the bed with a soft titter and nuzzled William's still flushed face. The man smiled softly, "Hey Morph, you're still hanging around this loser?"
"Ouch Will! I thought you were supposed to be my best friend!"
William combed his fingers through his hair, "Yeah, well, that was before you didn't say hi when you got here!"
Jim mock-jabbed him in the ribs with a closed fist, "I just didn't want to interrupt your beauty sleep. I know you have to get a minimum of fourteen hours to stay even semi-human looking!"
"Ouch yourself man! You're the one who could use some beauty sleep!"
"I'll just wear a paper bag when I want to get laid, think that'll work?" Jim smirked.
William's blush was renewed ten-fold and he tackled Jim to the bed, where they struggled to wrestle the other onto their back, "You should wear it all the time! You keep torturing everyone with this mug of yours!"
Jim was able to shove William off and they laid side-by-side, "What the hell are you doing here anyway- wait, are you the second navigator?"
"Oh shit, you're the other navigator?!" William's face lit up. He propped up on an elbow, "Damn man, I was wondering why you were here! It's been ages since we got to work together!"
"I mean, normally only one navigator's needed," Jim shrugged. A thought hit him and he smirked, "I'm the better one anyway, that's why I'm always getting moved from ship to ship."
"Uh, sure. More like you're the one that gets in trouble and HAS to be moved to another ship."
"That's true too."
There was a shrill whistle from up on deck and they paused to listen. Jim sighed, "Is it time to launch already?"
"You know it."
"Let's do it then," Jim punched William's arm and led the way to the bridge.