Seamus Zelazny Harper sat behind a stack of storage containers in one of the ships holds, he drew his knees in closer-it wasn’t the warmest of places to take a sabbatical. In fact his butt was already numb with cold, still better that than the alternative, the young engineer sighed as he rested him chin on his knees.

The large Nietzschean warrior stalked the corridors of the Andromeda ascendant,
“Where the hell is that skinny shrimp Harper!” He growled and then vented his frustration at the absent and unhelpful Rommie who was tactfully refusing to reveal the wareabouts of the young human.
“ You will tell me where the boy is hiding! Now!” Tyr bellowed. He received no answer and had to content himself with thoughts of what he intended to do to Harper when he found him.

On the bridge of his command center Captain Dylan Hunt listened absently as the holographic human form of Rommie in formed him that Tyr Anasazi was on the rampage again and that a certain young engineer was in danger of serious bodily harm if the warrior found him. It was only when Harper’s name was mentioned that his head snapped up,
“ You didn’t tell him where Mr Harper is?” He said with a worried frown, recalling the last time that he’d had to mediate between the two crewmembers.
“ No Captain” Rommie replied
“Do we know what Harper’s done this time?”
“ I believe Harper melted down one of Tyr’s ceremonial daggers” Rommie added helpfully.
“ What is wrong with that boy, does he have a death wish?” Dylan sighed before asking, “ Where’s Harper now?”

Dylan kept a wary eye out for the Nietzschean as he made directly for Harper’s hiding place. Although Rommie had already informed him that Tyr was in another part of the ship he still twitched his head from side to side-just to be safe. He really would have to have a serious talk with young Mr Harper!

When a large hand swooped down and snagged him by one forearm Harper nearly wet himself in fright.
“Help, Murder!!” He yelled loudly as he waited for an angry Nietzschean face to confront him. When his head wasn’t immediately ripped from his shoulders he bravely glanced up and heaved a sigh of relief.
“Hey Captain, good to see ya, what d’ya need?”
Dylan ignored the babbling and lifted the slight, younger man right off his feet until they were eye level to one another,
“I think Tyr wants a little chat with you about a missing dagger, Mr Harper”
“Me?” Harper replied innocently.
Dylan saw not point in arguing so dropped Harper back to the ground and began to haul him out of the storage hold. Harper’s sense of self-preservation kicked into overdrive, “ didn’t know it was his-honest Boss, just found it lying about.”
“ It had his name engraved on it!” Dylan said in exasperation and then asked Rommie to have Tyr meet then in the command center. At this turn of events Harper tried to squirm out of his Captain’s grasp, but Dylan’s grip just tightened even more-he had no intention of chasing the boy all over the ship! Harper began to panic.
“ What did you wanna do that for…Tyr’s gonna kill me!”
Dylan ignored the outburst and continued to lead the now very reluctant engineer along the corridor toward their destination.

It wasn’t easy, but Tyr Anasazi controlled his anger remarkably well, all things considered. He continued to glare in Captain Hunt’s direction, “ You can’t hide from me forever brat!” he said menacingly as Harper peeked out from behind the much larger man. “ I really don’t like the way he keeps looking at me boss-you keep him away from me!” the young man said with a trembling voice.
“He is a little thief! And when I get my hands on him I’ll cut his hands off!” Tyr threatened.
Dylan tried to placate the warrior, “ He’ll pay for a replacement, wont you?” Dylan said as he twisted back to look at Harper.
Tyr stood his ground “Not good enough, at the very least I want him punished and I don’t mean cleaning out the mess hall like last time!” the big warrior added.
“Good” Harper murmured, because he considered scrubbing pots a waste of his talents. Harper’s thoughts were interrupted as Dylan jabbed him in the stomach with one elbow,” If you don’t shut up, I swear I’ll hand you over to tyr myself.”
“What did you have in mind?” Dylan directed his question at the warrior.
“Give the boy to me and I’ll teach him to respect other people’s property.” Tyr said mildly, while the look he gave Harper was anything but mild.
“ I don’t think so, I can’t trust you to be objective, and there’s a chance you might get carried away.”
Tyr was well aware that suggestion had been a long shot, so tried plan B.
“ I want him thrashed.”
“No way!” Harper yelped from his position behind Dylan Hunt.
“Deal.” Came the Captain’s response as he instinctively reached behind him and grabbed Harper by a handful of black T-shirt-forestalling any attempt at bolting by the young man in question. Dylan led the protesting Harper over to the Captain’s chair,
“Don’t I get any say in this?” the young man whined as he tried to slow Dylan’s progress by grabbing whatever came within arms reach.
“Sorry, No. It was your choice to take Tyr’s property-now deal with the consequences.” With that Dylan momentarily released his hold and scooped Harper up and carried him the short distance to the chair.
Harper put up quite a struggle although being dangled in mid air and half upside down didn’t lend too much leverage. He then found himself deposited back on solid ground and released. Harper quickly looked around for a means of escape but found himself in between the Captain and a smug looking Tyr-a rock and a hard place was an apt phrase for his predicament.
The Neitzschean stood with his arms folded and waited, “ I want him beaten soundly or the deal is off.” He said with what passed for a smile.
This was not a duty that Dylan was exactly used to performing but he had to admit it had crossed his mind before on numerous occasions that Harper would greatly benefit from a good spanking!
“ Take your pants down and over my knee with you, please.”
“Huh?” Seamus Zelazny Harper grunted because he was sure there was something wrong with his hearing!
Patiently Dylan repeated himself, “ Pants down Seamus and bend over my knee.”
Harper wasn’t sure whether to throw a tantrum or be mature about his situation; he crossed his arms and glared at first Tyr and then Dylan. “ NO” he tried.
“ You’ll obey my orders Mr Harper or I wash my hands of you and Tyr can deal with you as he sees fit.” Dylan demanded firmly.
“ Man, this is SO not fair..What happened to throw him in the brig?” Harper stalled as he bounced from one foot to the other in agitation.
“ Well, what’s it to be?”
“Man, this is so SUCKY!!” Harper whined some more as he slowly began to unfasten his tool belt from around his slender waist. His fingers hesitated at the waistband of his baggy cargo pants, “ I don’t really have to take my pants down do I?” he appealed.
If he was going to placate the angry Nietzschean Dylan knew he had to ignore the puppy dog look of appeal that the boy was shooting across at him.
“ The pants come down, now come here,” he commanded as he held out an open palmed hand to the young man before him. Dylan took Harper by the wrist and with a firm tug the boy was across his knee. He eased the red cargo pants over slim hips and pushed them down past Harper’s knees. Harpers hands shot to his brightly coloured boxer shorts and hung on tight. Dylan avoided looking at Tyr as he took pity on Harper, “ you get to keep them THIS time, now move you hands.” It showed some measure of trust on his part that Harper did as he was asked and wrapped one arm around one of Dylan’s thighs for support. Then Harper waited.
“OW!!” Harper howled as his Captain’s hand landed solidly on his right butt cheek,
“D’ya mind...that hurt! “ Harper gasped in pain and surprise, even though he’s been expecting the blow. Then a second slap landed on the other cheek and Harper yelped some more. Harper soon lost count of how many spanks landed on his bottom but it sure felt like it was on fire.
“Ow! I said I was sorry, can we stop now?” he pleaded in between sobs.
Dylan slowed the rhythm of the spanks he was delivering but didn’t stop, he glanced towards Tyr but the big warrior shook his head. So Dylan landed a particularly hard spank to the small squirming butt trapped across his knees,
“ I need some assurance that you’ll think twice before you help yourself to another person’s property Harper-can you give me that assurance?”
“Yes! OWWW!” the young man howled as his already tender behind received another painful slap, “ I swear I’ll NEVER EVER EVER take something that doesn’t belong to me again. Gimme a break here!” Harper sniffled loudly against his Captains pant leg, which had become rather soggy.
Dylan looked over at Tyr again and was relieved when he received a nod from the warrior and after a final swat to Harper’s butt he brought the spanking to a halt. Harper continued to lay limply in place across Dylan’s knee until he realised the punishment had stopped, then with his Captain’s help he regained an upright position and got his pants back up as fast as his shaking hands would allow. Harper asked Dylan if he’d finished with him and as soon as he was dismissed Harper dodged around Tyr, being careful to avoid any embarrassing eye contact and snatching up his tool belt left the command center.

In his quarters Harper lay face down on his bunk feeling very sore and even more sorry for himself. He was sure it had to have been against High Guard policy to beat its crew members-he made a note to check the data banks first chance he got, not that there was anyone left to put in a complain to! He also slipped a hand under his pillow and slowly drew out a small and very sharp looking dagger. Harper gentle fingered its intricate design, he really would have to sneak back into Tyr’s quarters the first chance he got and put the weapon back before its owner missed it!

The end.