Two Hats
© 2021 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by  Major Matt Mason



First Minister Mo glowered across the desk at the older wolfess. “You drive a hard bargain.”

Mira Fikset, now dressed in her company’s bottle-green jumpsuit, smiled. “Yes, but a fair one.” She leaned forward and put her elbows on the desk. “Do we have a deal?”

The bull glowered again before placing his thumb on the desk. The spot glowed and transferred his thumbprint to the document. “There. The Colonies will refit the Fikset Company’s ships to current standards to repay you and the Company for joining us.” He cocked a brow at her. “Does that satisfy you, Mira?”

Fikset smiled. “Of course it does, Zulfikar. But I do have one more request.”

“A request.”

“Yes.”

“How much will it cost us?”

“Nothing at all,” the wolfess replied.

Both eyebrows went up. “Nothing?”

“Nope.” She sat back, paws shaping the air as she said, “Felix is now one head shorter, thanks to the Kashlani, and the kitten’s going to be taking a few years to grow up. Terra’s been knocked back, hard, and don’t think for a minute that they’ll forget we had a paw in that. If it’s okay with you and the incoming government, I’d like to keep the Admiral’s position open just in case we need to do this again.”

“Hold the position, as well as CEO of Fikset?”

“Yes.”

Mo thought for a moment. “That makes sense. Part of the reason we’re having the new parliament on a mobile base is we don’t want Terra sneak-hitting us again.” He nodded. “I’ll talk to the others about it, Mira.” He extended a paw. “Thank you again for your help.”

She reached across the desk and took the paw in a firm grip. “We got lucky.”

“We did, yes.”