Decisions 4

The deck was vast, larger than Don could hope to completely explore in his weakened state, but it looked to be mostly featureless.

"I thought there would be something more exciting out here."

It really was barren. Without the pretty lights outside the canopy, it hosted a bland color palette. There weren't even the stars to gaze up at.

"At least Mercedes seems happy." Diana tried looking on the bright side, not that there was a dark side to this moon. This was a hellishly neutral paradise.

Here they were perfectly safe, and perfectly bored. Conversations can entertain, but they can only last for so long without topics to talk about. They had run out of all but the embarrassing, touchy, and otherwise diplomatically verboten subjects almost the instant they left the Noah.

They were fairly certain that no one besides the Captain and Scholar could understand them, but who was to say that a crew member they weren't aware of would remember the sounds and repeat it to them? It wasn't out of the question.

"Sooooo, do you like dogs?" Don was at least trying.

"Very much so. I always wanted to have a golden retriever puppy that I could train as I pleased, but I don't think that's much of an option any more."

"You won't be helping me with Mercedes?"

"I will, but I think we'll need to emphasize some more 'diplomatic' tendencies rather than reinforcing silly commands like 'spin' and 'play dead'. I don't want to imagine a scenario where she ruins some fabric or furniture because we focused on a silly little trick."

Don had never considered those as options. "Why would you do something like that in the first place?"

"Teach dogs how to do tricks? Because its fun of course. We get a laugh at them doing a silly little dance and they get enthusiasm and treats. Plus, its super duper cute." She really loved dogs. "What were your plans for her?"

"What was in the training booklet mostly. I also thought about teaching her how to attack, but I have no idea how to even start with that."

"You want to make her into an attack dog?"

"More like a defense dog. Like, say, if uh, uuuuuh, like if I got into a fight in the cafeteria of a carrier! I fly alone, so having another man in the fight so to speak would be a big help."

Diana felt shocked. Was that really something that happened in the navy? "Don, you know that their bites CAN kill people if they get a hold of the neck right?"

"Cant they now." A surge of blood to Don's head. "I wasn't aware of that."

"Did, didn't you ever get a look at her teeth? Doesn't she gnaw at or nibble you sometimes?"

"A little when its time for food, but it never broke skin."

"Of course not! That was play biting, if she ever decided to bite down for real you might lose a finger!"

Don snuck a look at the panting puppy. On second thought, her teeth DID look a little pointy...

"Let's put aside her combat training for now Don, hopefully forever, and focus her attention more towards not being a menace. She absolutely has to be trained to know when to go to the bathroom, do you have any commands for that?"

"Not at the moment."

"Then we'll focus on that first." The gravity of where they were very suddenly dawned on Diana when she looked at Mercedes' posture. "Oh god."

"What is it?"

"She's peeing on the deck..."

- - - - - - - - - -

Diana was in bow so deep her forehead was practically on the floor.

"I am so so so so so sorry!"

In front of her was a bemused Captain accompanied by an intrigued Scholar, as well as a crew member equipped with what looked to be a mop and bucket. Those were utensils that did not come standard with rest of the Noah.

"Its fine Diana, this isn't much of an issue compared to some of the other objects that find their way onto the deck. Isn't that right deckhand?" The Captain directed this last part to the man with the mop.

"I consider myself blessed it only required a few sweeps with a mop. The last time a rock hit the deck I was polishing the spot for hours."

"Don't take it too harshly, we understand that it is in an animal's instinct to release themselves when most opportune. Do you think this is the only time an incident like this has occurred?" The Captain tried to make it sound like they had expected a situation like this to manifest itself, which was true, but he wanted to do it in a way that would minimize stress.

"That doesn't make it excusable! We should have made sure she properly relieved herself aboard the Noah." Diana was adamant in apologizing, perhaps going too far with it. Donovan was off to the side keeping the furball restrained and not making a fuss.

"Diana, I feel you should know that there is no carpet on the deck because this is the place where something like this is supposed to happen." The Scholar chimed in with his more reasoned approach. "When new civilizations are greeted, a show of some of their more exotic fauna is stored on the deck. We expect them to go so far as defecate and bleed on the platform. I would go so far as to say that it is the deck's purpose to act as an earthen region in the absence of an actual landscape."

"Then we should have asked permission!"

"DIANA!" Donovan shouted at her. "They said it was fine."

"Yes bu-"

"Did they reprimand you?"

"No..."

"Then I don't see the issue. I'm more of a soldier than a bureaucrat, but I imagine they get sick of constant and incessant apologies just as much as I do. Calm down." Don had taken note of Diana's tense demeanor in the short time he had been with her, and it seemed to be making her extra jittery when they did something wrong.

"... Thank you." She took a deep breath, turning to face their stunned hosts. "We apologize for the mess. We will try not to make the same mistake in the future." She made a slight curtsy.

"Once again, we have no issue with it. Should you happen to be free, would you care to join me in the meal hall? I would like to discuss some matters with the both of you"