Commissioner Gert 2 (Patreon)

Did someone request more of this one? I felt like someone did.

Commissioner Gert 1

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Captain Gidi waited by the krakun-sized hatch as the shuttle bay pressurized. The commissioner had specifically requested an oxygen atmosphere, and that could only mean one thing—he intended to inspect portions of the ship without even reading the ship’s report first. That was bad news. It meant the old lizard suspected something and was determined to find it.

The bay finished pressurizing, and the hatch swung open, so Gidi strode purposefully forward to wait beside the shuttle’s ramp. But Commissioner Sarsuk didn’t come shuffling down the ramp. Instead, an unsuited geroo emerged from the ship.

“Uh, where’s Commissioner Sarsuk?” called Captain Gidi.

“Dead,” said the geroo as he walked carefully down the ramp. When he reached the bottom, he gave her a smile before explaining, “Apparently the company had him executed for treason.”

Gidi blinked in surprise. She’d never liked the gigantic reptile, but couldn’t imagine him committing a capital crime—as being the sort interesting enough to commit treason. “Okay…” she said slowly. “So, then who are you?”

He smiled again. He was a pretty handsome guy. Young, tall, buff, and big chunks of cream, brown, and ruddy fur splotched his pelt. “I’m his replacement, Commissioner Gert.”

The captain stared at him a long while, waiting for him to say more. When he didn’t, she asked, “Is this some sort of joke?”

Gert started walking and Gidi rushed to catch up. “If it is,” he sighed, “I’d love to know why the company is picking on me. You have your ship’s report?”

“Uh… Sure…” she said, flicking the file from her strand toward his. “But seriously, I need you to explain this. How does a geroo get a company shuttle and fly between gateships?”

“Computer error, I guess,” said Gert. “Captain Ateri thought we should ignore my promotion. He said that no one would ever punish me for neglecting to inspect the fleet, but I’m not so sure. I figure there’s less chance they’ll punish me for following ridiculous orders than ignoring them.”

“This is insane,” she said. “You can’t be serious.”

“That’s what I keep saying, but I’ve been at this a week, inspecting ships and submitting my reports.” Gert chuckled. “I keep getting these little checkmarks on my task list, so I suppose I’m doing it right. No one has called me up and told me to stop.”

She stared at him a long while. He smiled and shrugged.

“But a geroo? Given all the authority of a commissioner?”

“Yeah, it’s weird,” Gert agreed. “I even got my paycheck. Not sure what I’m supposed to do with a bunch of golds. It’s not like you can convert them to credits.”

He stopped and leaned in close like he wanted to share a secret. Gert whispered, “But then I found out that commissioners can just issue credits! So, I paid myself what felt like a fair wage. Dunno if I should have done that, but rent is due in a week…”

“But you could do anything!” said Gidi.

“I guess. Not real sure what I should do though,” he explained. “I could fly down to Krakuntec, but that’s not real appealing. Visiting all these ships is pretty neat though.”

The captain’s ears hung low in a frown. “Is it hard work?”

“Not really, no,” said Gert. “Sarsuk was managing twenty-seven ships and visiting each every two weeks. That’s less than three-a-day, and I’m only expected to read a report from each, big deal. I summarize my thoughts on each. It doesn’t take much time.”

“Really?”

“Sometimes, you can tell that someone is hiding something,” he explained. “Like this one ship sounded really evasive about the agriculture deck, so I just went down there and asked the guys growing the plants. They didn’t mind telling me the truth, cause I’m just a geroo like them.”

“Yeah?” Her ears perked.

“Oh yeah, those farmers aren’t getting paid enough. We’ll need to work on that.”

“Huh,” she said. “Is there anything that actually is hard?”

“Nah,” Gert started to say, but then corrected himself. “Okay, technically one thing. Captain Kaku refused to believe that I was the new commissioner, and she was downright disrespectful. I’m trying to do this job right. She was treating me like an inferior, even though she works for me.”

“Oh yeah?” asked Captain Gidi. “What did you do?”

“Well, according to the commissioner’s manual, what I’m supposed to do is immediately squish the captain and promote her first officer to take her place.” He rolled his eyes. “Lovely, huh?”

“Yeah, no kidding,” said Gidi, “but of course, you can’t exactly squish a geroo, you not being a krakun and all.”

His ears blushed a furious red, and he turned away. She put a paw to his arm. “Uh, Gert? I mean, Commissioner Gert? What’s wrong?”

“I dunno,” he sighed. “The power dynamic, perhaps? It’s very confusing. I think everyone wants something from me. Anyhow, I did try to squish her. I put my full weight down on top of her.”

“Wha…?”

With a sheepish look, he whispered, “She moaned, but did not ‘squish’.”

She stared at him with jaw agape and slapped his shoulder. “Gert!” He just giggled like a twenty-year-old cub.

Males.

They reached the market at the middle of the deck. Gert bought a soda, and the two took a secluded table at the market’s edge. He was kinda sweet and innocent, despite the position of power he found himself in.

She gave him a sly look. “I can’t believe you slept with Captain Kaku,” she said quietly. “Isn’t that sexual harassment or something?”

Setting his drink aside, Gert quickly explained. “Yeah, I kinda panicked about that and looked it up after I got back to the shuttle. Turns out there are all sorts of rules where commissioners aren’t allowed to get into sexual relationships with other employees. But it turns out, by ‘employees’ all the rules were actually talking about other krakuns.” He took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Fortunately for me, there aren’t actually any rules about a commissioner sleeping with a geroo.”

Gidi covered her muzzle and tried not to laugh, but she couldn’t help it. “No, I suppose there wouldn’t be much point in prohibiting a commissioner from sleeping with his slaves!”

“Oh no, I wouldn’t go that far,” said Gert. “There are actually rules where we can’t sleep with ringel slaves. Just nothing about sleeping with geroo.”

The captain cocked an ear. “Huh. That’s an odd thing to single out.”

“Yeah, I thought so too,” said Gert.

# # #

Captain Gidi rested her cheek on Gert’s furry chest, and listened to how his heart raced. For a moment, she fought to keep her eyelids open, but then let them rest. “Well, that was really something,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” said Gert, still panting hard, trying to catch his breath.

“I should be disrespectful more often,” she teased. “I like it when you try to squish me.”

At that, he covered his face with his paws.

She chuckled and shook her head. “So, this is what you do now? Fly from ship to ship, sleeping with all the captains, like some pollinating insect?”

At that, he sat up a bit. “No!” he protested. “Well, not … all of them.”

She turned her body and rested one arm across his stomach so she could face him. “Well, good,” she said with a grin. “Because my father happens to be the captain of the Morning Starrise IV, and—”

“Captain Tukon?” he nearly squeaked. “Yeah, that was … a mistake.”

She blinked and stared at him a long while, waiting for him to admit that it had been a joke. He didn’t.

“You slept…” she whispered, “with my father?”

“I said it was a mistake, okay?”

She covered her eyes with both paws, unable to face him.

“He’s not a very … generous lover,” Gert whispered.

But she quickly raised both of her palms and waved them urgently, trying to stop him. “I don’t… I don’t wanna…”

Now, Gert looked distressed. He held her paws and explained, “Not like you—”

“Don’t!” she said, raising her voice slightly. “Please don’t compare how I have sex with how my father does—”

“But—”

“Not even favorably,” she clarified. “Just… Just don’t do it, okay?”

“Okay,” he whispered, letting his ears hang low.

———

Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16f3Csyurrn-D7uM2bwn63vrYWkb9OWxbcyihTWhn0zw/edit?usp=sharing

Thoughts?