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2593-15

Eric didn't get his wish. Robert's shouting didn't resolve anything. He didn't listen to anything William said, only shouting over him. Eric couldn't blame him, he had almost died because of what William had done.

Situations like these were why he was happy his emotions were dampened. He could easily see past the immediate conflict and put it behind him. He did consider making that change to the wolf's personality, since he had full rights now, but only for a moment. He liked William as he was, and wanted to change him as little as possible.

So, he had to work at reestablishing the crew's camaraderie. For the next month, he had to seek out the guys to have sex with them, except Gerald. The fennec fox hadn't had time to become close with any of them yet, so the incident didn't affect him as deeply. He didn't feel the sense of betrayal Brick and Brack felt at Eric handling this without them. Or the outrage from the others that Eric still treated William as one of the crew.

None of them refused him when he sought them out, so there was that, but Eric did get a sense they had sex with him because he could fire them if they didn't.

By the time they reached Titan Station, things weren't quite back to where they were before the explosion, but the crew had warmed back to him again. Robert was a bit rough when they fucked, but at least the hyena was now the one throwing Eric on the bed to pound his ass. Brick and Brack were the coolest one of the crew toward him.

"Puller Z3F89M7," came the neutral voice of the station operator, "Please come to a full stop while we scan you. You are registering an anomaly."

"Station," Mark replied, "Please consult the updated ship's history, we had an explosion aboard the array, and lost six pods on route."

"One moment."

Eric counted the seconds; thirty-three.

"Yes, we have the information. We still need to scan your before assigning you to a clamp. We need to make sure the repairs you indicated making will withstand the shocks."

"Understood."

"Do they really think I'd alloy inferior repairs?" Eric asked to no one in particular.

"We're only here once a year." Jeff commented. "You can't expect them to remember that the Orr name means high quality work."

"But not judgment," Mark grumbled, softly enough Eric didn't think he'd meant to be overheard.

Eric shook his head to Jeff who looked at the communication officer, about to reply. The situation with William had rekindled Mark's discomfort at having infants on the ship. Eric would give him until they were back to Earth for the monkey to resolve that permanently. If he couldn't they would part ways.

"Six drones are approaching," Mark said.

Eric tapped into the ship's sensors and watched them move in formation from back to front. It took them close to thirty minutes to scan the entirety of the ship. Five minutes after that, the station contacted them.

"Puller Z3F89M7, you're clear for clamp, but this array is not authorized to be reloaded until the repairs have been inspected and approved."

Eric nodded.

"Understood station."

They were assigned a clamp and Jeff guided the array to it. Eric went back to his office, where he informed the fertility clinic of his arrival, then went over the forms William had signed again, and attacked it to the list of changes he required done.

The clinic replied to let him know his six sons were ready for him to pick up or have brought to the ship when he wanted. He would pick them up himself. He would be the one to bring them home, not some strangers.

When Jeff let him know they were detached from the array and heading to their assign dock, Eric went to William's room.

The wolf was a mess. His fur was matted and lackluster. He'd lost close to twenty kilos, he hardly ate during meals, and the only times he washed, as far as Eric could tell was when the tiger forced him in the shower before they had sex.

"We're here," Eric said.

The wolf nodded, but didn't move.

"Do you want to go ever the changes?"

William shook his head. Eric had wanted to discuss them with him. Yes, it was a form of punishment, but he didn't want to inflict it on his friend. He couldn't force him to look at them either.

"Come on, you need to shower."

William shed so much under the water that Eric heard the grinder in the drain start up. The wolf was so stressed Eric couldn't even get him to get an erection. He'd though they could have sex before leaving for the station hospital, but in the state the wolf was in right now, Eric felt too much like he'd be taking advantage of him.

At least William dressed himself once he was clean and dried. He'd put on a pair of white work pants, the heavy material was stiff from lack of use. And a shirt, also white. Eric didn't let him wear the belt since it would be without supervision during his hospital stay.

A clang sounded through the ship as the dock clamps locked it in place, and Eric escorted William off the ship. Robert watched them leave, his expression conflicted. Eric knew the hyena was still angry at William, but over the last weeks he'd caught Robert looking at William with concern.

Walking though the station, Eric felt like he was escorting a prisoner to his execution, and he supposed that with the full access William had granted him, the wolf might feel this is that it was. He'd tried to reassure him he had no plan to give him a new personality, but William hadn't listened to him.

As they reached the hospital, William squared his shoulders, and stood straight. His steps weren't light, but he walked with determination, instead of shambling along. Eric glanced at him, trying to understand what he was doing, for a moment he though William might bolt, but he wasn't looking around, his gaze was fixed on the entrance.

Eric followed the direction his implant gave him until he reached the door to the psychology department. It opened without him having to request entry.

The room on the other side was large and in calm blues and greens. Soft tones sounded through it, not via his implant, but his ears. A rabbit walked out for an adjacent room and smiled at them. She was wearing pale green slacked and vest, barely darker then the walls.

"You must be Captain Orr, and this is our patient. If you'll come this way." She led them back to the room she'd arrived from, this one was almost white, Eric couldn't tell what tint it was, but it wasn't stark white. It had a bed and a console next to it. That would be where the work would be done.

Standing before the bed Eric noticed William wasn't next to him. He was in the doorway, looking at the bed. Eric saw the wolf's hands shake.

The rabbit saw him there and said. "If you want, I can get someone to force him to the bed."

"That won't be needed." Eric stood before the wolf. "Will, you agreed to this."

William looked at him, fear in his eyes. "I'm sorry for what I did, Eric. I wish I could undo it."

"I know, but you can't. It's going to be okay." He took William's hand and guided him to the bed. After a moment of hesitation, William lied down, but he didn't let go if Eric's hand.

"I'm afraid, Eric."

"I know, but I'll be here when you wake up, I promise." He placed Williams hand on the bed, and extricated his fingers from the wolf's.

"I'm confused," the doctor said. "I didn't get a court order with the appointment. Isn't he here of his own free will?"

Eric sent her the authorization form. "He agreed to it."

She took a moment to review it. "Full access?" She looked at the wolf. "What happened?"

"That isn't important." He sent her his list of requirements.

She looked them over, frowned and then escorted Eric out of the room, closing the door behind them. "You do realize that what you're asking for his delicate work?"

"Are there any dangers?"

"If I rush the work, yes."

"Then don't rush it."

"Sir, this isn't like overlapping one of our stock personality on his brain. You're asking me to leave his personality almost entirely intact."

"Are you saying you aren't capable of doing the work?"

"No, of course not, but it's going to take time."

"How long."

"Two days,

"That's fine."

"And it's going to be expensive."

"I don't care."

"Alright, then I'll contact you once I'm done."

"Doctor, don't wake him when you're done. Wait until I'm here."

She nodded and went back in the room.

He hesitated for a moment, considering going back in, to be there for William as he became unconscious, but that wouldn't help anything. He sent a message to the fertility clinic, letting them know he was on his way.

* * * * *

Eric figured he looked like he was coming back from purchasing equipment, pushing the cart with the six plain boxes on it, stacked three high and two aside, but he didn't care.

He'd held his sons at the clinic, breathed in their scents. Two had nibbled on his fingers as he rocked them and whispered to them. They had all cried for a moment as he took them out of their cribs, but then quieted when in his arms, as if they knew they were safe with him. He had cried himself, and not only a little. He bawled his eyes out holding them. He'd wondered, no doubted, if he'd be able to feel love for his sons, but he'd been overwhelmed by the intensity of the emotions.

He'd had no doubt he loved them as he'd place the last one back in his crib. He washed up while the attendant turned on the sleep inducer and placed each crib in a transport box.

Back on the ship Eric was grateful the cart the clinic provided could adjust its own gravity since he hadn't considered how the shift in the dock access would affect it. Once that was past, he found himself having to deal with Brick, Brack and Robert, who wanted to welcome the new crew members.

He got them to help unpack the cradles and install them in his room. Robert couldn't carry them, since his leg wasn't fully rebuilt. The hyena had decided to do a full walk through the array once it was pressurized again, and over the eight hours of walking he'd caused stress fracture in the new bone. So, he setup the connection from the cradles to the monitoring and changing table. They were gentle, and with the help the inducers, his sons slept through it.

"That's Tony," Eric whispered, "This is Tyson, Tucker, Terrence, Thomas and Trevor."

"Cool," Brick whispered.

The display on the table indicated his sons still had three hours of sleep before they needed to be fed, so Eric led everyone out.

"Are we all going to be helping taking care of them?" Robert asked.

"If you want, but they are my responsibility, not yours, you don't need to feel obligated."

"I'd like to," Brack said, "but I've never taken cared of a baby."

"There's plenty of manuals in the ship's library."

He sent everyone to do their things while he made sure he had enough supplies for his sons for the trip. They weren't going to lack for anything on this ship.

When feeding time rolled by, everyone was back on the ship and offering to help. Eric hadn't considered he'd get this much help, so he hadn't setup extra chairs. No one bothered getting any, sitting on the floor as Eric handed them one of his sons, showed them how to hold them and then handed them a bottle.

Brack was the least comfortable holding Tucker, under Brick's supervision. The tiger was minuscule in the donkey's arm. And Brack behaved as if the slightest motion might crush him. Eric wasn't worried, he knew neither donkeys would let anything happen.

Jeff got Tony, and he already knew how to proceed. Robert got Thomas, Marc, Tyson, Gerald, Trevor, and Eric held Terrence, seated in his chair.

"Hey, little one," Eric whispered, as his son suckled on his bottle. "Welcome to your home." He looked up from his bundle at the others, and smiled. "I think you and your brothers are going to make this crew a family again."

Terrence's muzzle slipped off the nipple and he mewed in distress. Eric resettled himself and his son went back to feeding. When he was done, Eric rocked him for a moment then draped him over his shoulder. Gerald showed Brack and Robert what to do. One after the others, his sons burped and those holding them had various disgusted reaction as they felt some of the formula run down their shoulder.

At the table Eric cleaned and changed his sons, then put them back to sleep. They mewed for a moment, then settled in, and the display on the table indicated they would sleep for three hours and then need to be fed again.

Eric and the others go into the large shower by the lounge and washed each other in silence. There was an air of reverence to what they were doing, and even the sex afterward was quiet and felt more sensual than the usual orgies.

* * * * *

Eric hadn't planned for how his sons would affect his schedule. Having to be up every three hours to feed them wasn't quite the pleasure it had been that first time, after two days of it. Eric had no problem waking up in the middle of the night for some sex, but that didn't involve getting out of bed. Sex was something he could do in his sleep.

The others had offered to take over for him after the first night, so he could sleep through it, but Eric wanted to go through the entire fatherhood experience, as horrible as it might feel like right now, yawning his way to the hospital.

The doctor had contacted him, letting him know she was done with William at the end of the second day, but his sons were due to be fed within the hour, and by the time he would be done, she wouldn't be available, and she wouldn't let William wake without her supervision.

So, it was on the morning of the third day after William lied down on the bed that Eric entered the hospital again. He'd taken a stimulant on the way so he would be alert. He wasn't a fan of chems, but this was basically compressed caffeine, so he didn't mind taking it once in a while, although he was now drinking a lot more coffee than four days ago.

"Everything is done to your specification," the rabbit said, a moment later Eric received the file describing what she had done.

He covered a yawn and nodded. She quirked a smile at him.

"I'm a new father," Eric explained. "Getting used to waking up every three hours. The Stim I took hasn't kicked in yet."

"You have to have gotten a good cradle and baby table, you have the money for that."

"I do, but I don't want to let it handle the feeding. A baby needs to be held, he needs to feel the warmth of his father against him, to hear his heart beating, the sound of his voice."

She canted her head at him. "That sounds rather antiquated to me."

Eric shrugged. "You can wake Will up," he said, standing next to the bed. She stood behind the console and a moment later William's eyes fluttered open. He looked around, then settled his gaze on Eric before closing hi eyes again.

"No," the wolf whispered, tears starting to fall.

"Will-"

"How could you do this?"

Eric took the wolf's hand in his, but he pulled it away.

"It's going to be okay."

"Okay!" William glared at him. "How is this ever going to be okay! I'm still me!"

"Will, calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down! You know what I wanted you to do. That's why I gave you full access!"

"Will, this isn't the place to talk about this." Eric glanced at the doctor, who looked uncomfortable behind the console. Seeing him look at her she stepped out from behind it.

"I'm going to give you some privacy, take as long as you need, this room isn't needed today." She quickly left the room.

William shoved Eric out of the way and got off the bed, almost tripping, but refusing the tiger's helping hand. Once he was steady, William looked at his hands, closed them in to fist and paced.

"How can you even stand to have me like this?"

"How else would I want you?" Eric closed his eyes. The room was small and watching William quickly walk back and forth was giving him a headache.

"Want me? I nearly killed Robert!"

"Will, sit down, please." Eric had his implant sample the caffeine level in his blood. Yeah, that was too high. He needed to lower his intake.

"How can you even stand to look at me?" Will asked, still pacing back and forth.

Eric pulled the chair from behind the console. "William, I order you to sit down."

The wolf sat down, a surprised expression on his face. He went to stand but Eric held him down.

"Please don't make me order you to stay seated." Once Eric was sure William would stay in his seat he leaned against the wall in front of him.

"What did they do to me?" William asked, looking at the chair he was sitting on.

"For one thing, you have to obey any direct order I give you."

The wolf looked up at him. "Why? Why do that and not just make me someone else who'd obey you?"

"You're my friend, Will. If I was going to give you an entirely new personality, it would have been cheaper for me to just have you sent to prison. I don't want a new crew member. I was one I can trust."

"What else?"

"Obvious stuff. You can't do anything that would hurt me, the crew or the corporation. You also can't let those things happen."

"So, I'm your bitch," William said, defeated.

"Come on Will, don't be so melodramatic. You wouldn't do those things anyway. This is just a safeguard to prevent you from being tricked into doing it."

The wolf winced as if the words were painful.

"And the order thing? You can get me to bend over anytime you want with that."

Eric's ears straightened. "Really? I need to give an order for that to happen?"

William shrugged. "Why then?"

"Primarily, it's a second safeguard, in case someone finds a way to bypass your loyalty. I don't plan on advertising that one, not even to my family, and since you can't talk about it, I don't expect anyone will have a reason to expect it."

"I can't tell people I have-" he tried to get the words out. Eric watched him struggle to do it. He was shaking by the time he gave up, but his muzzle hadn't formed the next word.

"I can't have you telling it under duress."

"They'll be able to tell. All they have to do is scan my brain."

"No. That's why it took longer than normal. The work was done in such a way that it can't be detected."

William nodded. "You said primarily, what's the second reason?"

"You can be a stubborn asshole, Will. Right now, I'm worried that you might attempt something drastic. I want to be sure I can stop you."

"I'd never do anything to hurt you."

"That isn't what I'm worried about."

William frowned, then looked at his hands. "You're afraid I'll try to kill myself."

"You came here expecting to be erased. You didn't get that. Suicide is the next best thing."

"Are you going to order me not to do it?"

"I'd rather not. We have some good psychologist programs on the ship. I'd prefer you use one of them."

William frowned. "How come I was able to ask if you were going to order me about, if I can't tell people I have to-" He struggled for a moment then closed his muzzle.

Eric shrugged. "You can ask that question of anyone. You're not revealing anything."

The wolf nodded, looking at his hands again. Eric thought he could see the gears grinding in his head. William was smart, he was probably thinking about ways to get what he wanted to happen, whatever that was.

"Do you want to go see my sons?"

William's head snapped up. "You picked them up?"

Eric saw the first sign of excitement in his friend's eyes. "While you were under. They're on the ship, sleeping, for another-" he checked the timer. "-hour. If we leave now, you'll have time to watch them before they wake up."

William stood. "Let's go then."

* * * * *

It took less than thirty minutes to get back, the transit pods were on time and moved at a good click, and William pushed their pace when walking. They entered the ship and were almost to Eric's room when Robert got out of his.

"What's he doing back here?" The hyena studied the wolf. "I thought he was getting punished."

"He is." Eric replied.

"I don't see any restraints on him."

The tiger sighed and sent a message for everyone to meet in the dining room, then indicated Robert and William should follow him there. He was going to have to make it quick, which meant telling them.

Once everyone was in the room, Eric indicated the counter. "Will, can you get the carving knife?"

The wolf looked momentarily confused, he looked at the others, then shrugged and took it out of the drawer.

"William, I order you not to let go of the knife."

The wolf's right hand tightened around the handle. His confusion was back.

"William, I order you to cut your left hand off."

"Eric?" The wolf started, but his words were cut off by his body jerkily turning around to place his left hand on the counter. "Eric, what are you doing?" William's body was shaking as he raised the knife and brought it down. It was slow, stop and go as the wolf fought against the order. "Eric, please, I'm sorry. Please stop this." Centimeter by centimeter the knife moved closed. The fur was matted with sweat on his face. His arm muscles bulged with effort. And the knife continued to get closer. William closed his eyes as the blade pushed through his fur.

"William, stop."

The wolf's arm jerked away, the knife flying across the room to clatter on the floor. William looked at Eric with dread, cradling his arm. Shakily he sat down.

"Now, I hope this makes it clear that William isn't as he was before. He is incapable of refusing a direct order for me."

"Just you? Or can we all order him about?" Brick asked.

"Just me. He isn't a plaything. He's one of the crew."

"Is that supposed to keep us safe?" Brack asked. "Are you going to follow him everywhere? Stop him from attempting anything to sabotage the ship again?"

"No, I don't have to. He can't do anything to harm us, the ship, or the company. He also can't let something like that happen."

"You think that's enough?" Robert asked, harshly. "As far as I can't tell this is barely shoving his nose in the shit he caused."

"I agree," William said before Eric could respond. "This isn't what I wanted."

"Excuse me?" The hyena said.

"I don't want to be here, I should have been punished. Thrown in jail, branded. I gave him full access so he could erase me."

"You wanted what?" Robert asked, angry.

"I wanted Eric to have me remade so you wouldn't have to always worry about what I might do."

Robert stared at William for a moment. "That is bullshit. You wanted to be erased because you didn't what to have to deal with the consequences. You wanted someone to take your place, have to deal with the angry looks and the anger without knowing why we felt that way." He leaned across the table to get in the wolf's space. "The gall of you to forces someone else to live with that, and to never be able to make it up to us because he won't know what he did. You're a fucking coward."

William winced and Robert pushed himself back.

The hyena leveled his gaze on the wolf. "No, I want you here. I want you to have to make us trust you again."

William startled. "You want to trust me?"

"Yes, damn it! I am pissed for what you did to me. At times, I hate you because I jump anything there's a bright flash of light. But when I'm calmer, I remember that you were used. You didn't intend to do this, so yeah, I want you to convince me I can trust you."

"Good," Eric said and everyone looked at him, not all of the pleased with word. He ignored them. "I have to go feed my sons. You keep talking, work this out as best as you can, but I don't want to hear any shouting. If I have to interrupt their feeding to deal with you, you are all going to regret it, am I making myself clear?"

Everyone nodded.

"Captain," Robert said. "Once you're done, I'd like it if you could remove the casing off my leg. I'm going to have to do a walk through on the new array in two days, I don't want to have to lug this thing around."

"I'll do a scan and we'll see how well it's coming along." With that Eric left them to go see to his children.