Author's Note:  Hey guys, welcome to the first chapter!  I just wanted to clear a few things up before you read.

1) This is not a complete story.  It's not even a complete episode.  I just decided this was a good point to stop and publish part one, because if I waited until the entire episode was done it would A) Take forever, and B) Be unrealistically long.

2) I haven't decided what to title this episode yet.  Once it's complete, I'll probably go back and change the chapter title.

3) You'll notice that the characters in this chapter get very unequal amounts of screen time.  Some get long narrated sections, others don't even have a single speaking line.  In this book, characters are going to get uneven focus for most of the individual episodes, but it should be roughly equal in total.  Characters that didn't get much focus in this chapter will get more later.

4) Hope you enjoy the read!  As always, all  comments are appreciated.

Tags:  x_Quack_x, O-N-Y-X--P-Y-L-O-N, InDia2446, Cosmicdustpuppy8, pauchnotok, irenesagw, WolfRaider56, Colourshock, ichbinconfusion_2734, jimmyandthebadge4eva

"GODDAMMIT!"

Aligea dropped her spork onto the table with a clatter, and cringed. If Lieutenant Jial was using earth swears this early in the morning, it couldn't be a good sign.

Maybe she won't notice I'm here.

"ALIGEA!"

Oh well.

With one last wistful glance at her hot plate of breakfast, Aligea climbed to her feet, and ducked under the mess of open wires into the bowels of the ship. "What seems to be the problem, Lieutenant Jial?"

Eliyja stood up from the wiring she was inspecting, scales covered in engine grease from her forearms down. "The real problem is I have told upwards of 17 times to just call me Eliyja, not Lieutenant Jial, but that conversation can wait. What the hell have you done to these power couplings?"

Aligea stared at the wires. "Uh, plugged them in?"

"Yes, I can see that. Did you give any particular thought to where you plugged in each wire, or were you just trying to match them in pretty color combinations?"

At this Aligea felt a twinge of annoyance—she'd been under the impression she'd matched the wires rather well. Certainly nobody had complained about it when she'd finished a week ago. "I followed the instructions in the diagram you gave me. Why, is there a problem somewhere?"

Eliyja stood up and sighed. "The bulkhead on deck twelve keeps randomly exploding."

Aligea blinked. "What, again?"

"I know, right? It wouldn't be half as bad if I could just isolate where the problem is, but if there's a power imbalance anywhere along this entire section, it might not be having consequences until they all connect in the bulkhead. I swear, we never should have outsourced the electrics to the Dreygans..."

Aligea leaned over and inspected one of the open pannels in the wall. Nothing seemed amiss. "Do you think you can fix it by this afternoon?"

Eliyja grimmaced. "Well, I have to, don't I? Can't have a big fancy maiden voyage ceremony if the bulkhead keeps exploding. All I can say is, the overtime pay had better be good."

Technically speaking, the ship should have been operational a month in advance of the crew's arrival, but Aligea was experienced enough as an engineer that she knew the only thing a deadline like that meant was a good laugh. The Odysseus's construction was well over two weeks behind schedule. The crew and captain were arriving to the ship this very afternoon, and the engineering team was still frantically patching up her exploding bulkheads.

Eliyja shook her head. "Anyways, this probably isn't your fault. Six hours from now I'll find someone's lunch rotting in a fuse box somewhere and gumming up the works. You go finish your breakfast. One of us should get a break."

"Yeah, sure, I'll go kick my feet up and eat while you slave away down here," laughed Aligea. "No thanks. Move over and let me have a look at those wires."

Eliyja hesitated, but then laughed, and the pair of them got to work.

*

"It's not going to fall over," said Earendil.

"Did you know that winds in the upper stratosphere can get up to 300 miles an hour on this planet?" asked Rafi.

"Have you really never used a space elevator before?"

"I like my planetary shuttles to be either firmly on the ground or firmly in orbit," grumbled Rafi, glancing out the glass windows at the planet's surface, which was gradually getting furthur and furthur away. "Not both."

Strictly speaking, there was nothing even remotely new or exciting about a space elevator, Rafi just... never got around to using one. There weren't any near where she'd lived on earth, and most of the planets she'd visited afterwards weren't central enough to need their own.

Elith was a different story, however. Space elevators spotted the planet's surface like weeds. There was so much traffic coming on and off of the planet that one of the space stations orbiting it was populated enough to qualify as a major city. Rafi had managed to catch a lift on a friend's shuttle on her way down to visit Trilliance Headquarters, but there was no avoiding taking a space elevator on her way off the planet. Trilliance Headquarters had even funded her ticket. How thoughtful of them.

It was ridiculous, really. Rafi wasn't even remotely scared of heights, or zero gravity, or anything like that. But something about the idea of riding up into orbit in a glorified display case just rubbed her up the wrong way. It wasn't a real space flight unless the acceleration from the liftoff was crunching your bones into the back of your chair.

"There's one concrete benefit to using space elevators over shuttles," said Earendil.

"Oh?"

"Trilliance is paying for it."

Well, he had a point.

From what Rafi remembered of their time serving together, Earendil usually had a point. When Earendil joined the Trilliance military about ten years ago, Rafi had been first mate on the first ship he served on, and the two had stayed in touch after moving on to other ships. Now, a combination of luck, and the mysterious bereaucratic workings of Trilliance's assignments department, had thrown them back onto the same ship again. Fine by Rafi. She couldn't think of anyone else she'd rather have as chief scientist now that she was captaining a ship of her own. Earendil always kept a thoughtful and level head.

Rafi took a look out the elevator's glass window. They were getting up pretty high. She couldn't make out the elevator facility from the buildings surrounding it.

"I just hope we don't have to turn around once we get there," said Rafi, turning away. "General Leiathan called me to say there have been some delays with the construction. They're still putting the finishing touches on this morning."

"That does seem a little last minute," said Earendil.

"As long as she can get out of the shipyard without crashing, I'll take her," said Rafi. She'd been promoted to captain in rank over a year ago, but had spent the time since then jumping from ship to ship and assignment to assignment, filling in where help was needed. That was all fine and good, but it wasn't the same as having a ship of your own.

The Odysseus. It had a good name, at least. Or so she was told. In truth, Rafi had mostly fudged her way through reading that book in the ninth grade. She heard it had something to do with a boat.

Rafi glanced out the window again. Now, she couldn't make out any buildings at all. The sky above them was getting darker and darker, she was starting to see stars appearing. Squinting, she thought she could see the elevator station, way way up in the darkness.

"I still prefer shuttlecraft," Rafi said to Earendil.

*

"The first assignment should be pretty low-key," said Dakrig Craden Grandac, reaching up to touch the screen. "We're just escorting some diplomats through neutral space. Then, we'll be stopping by Torax to refuel and put the final touches on the ship, and I'll take some leave time to visit you."

24 light years away, Taiko Craden Grandac lifted her hand up to her own computer screen, mirroring her husband's. "It'll be good to spend some time together."

Dakrig smiled in agreement. He loved his job, but he loved his wife too, and sometimes it was hard splitting time between them. "After this assignment, we can look into getting a post on one of the family ships they've started making."

"That would be nice," agreed Taiko. "But I want you to enjoy this assignment first. You're the ship's weapons officer, right?"

"That's right," Dakrig said with a grin. Things had been going well for his career lately. First, his recent promotion to Lieutenant-Commander, next, being offered the position of weapons officer on a brand new ship. "I have to say, it's pretty exciting. I'll be on the bridge of the ship almost all the time." As a security officer, Dakrig had only ever been called to the bridge during special occasions, like when the main viewscreen had caught on fire, or when a computer virus had accidentally order the weapons system to fire on itself. It would be interesting to see how the ship's chain of command operated when there wasn't a security emergency going on.

"I'm glad," smiled Taiko. "Give me a call once you're settled in, I'd love to see your quarters."

"I'll give you a grand tour," Dakrig promised, and checked his wristband for the time. "I've got to head out soon if I want to make the shuttle into orbit."

"Don't get distracted by the gift shop on the way over," warned Taiko.

"That happened once!"

"Love you, talk to you soon!"

"I love you too."

*

Zuri was the first to arrive on the bridge.

Frankly, she hadn't prepared for this possibility.

She lingered awkwardly in the doorway. Should she go in? Her instructions had told her to report to the bridge, but she'd assumed the captain would already be there.... She didn't want to seem like she was being presumptuous.

Her bag of personal effects suddenly seemed awkward, hanging over her shoulder. Should she have dropped it off at her quarters first? What if everyone else had already brought their things to their room? What if that was the reason nobody else had arrived yet?

"Look, are you going in or not?" said a voice behind her.

Zuri jumped and got out of the way as a short-furred Elithian pushed past her onto the bridge. "Sorry," she called. The Elithian just grunted, making a beeline for the navigation console.

They've got a bag of things with them, Zuri noted. Feeling a little reassured, she moved over to the systemmics officer's desk and sat down. It was a little off to the side from the center of the room, allowing the Systemmics Officer the opportunity to focus on their own work while the bridge was busy. The chair also spun around, however, meaning that Zuri would have no trouble participating in discussions when needed.

Zuri looked back up at the Elithian, who had turned on their console, and was scrolling through the various settings. On impulse, she got up, walked over, and stuck her hand out. "I'm Zuri Collins, Systemmics Officer. I don't think we've been introduced?"

With a sigh, the Elithian spun around on their chair to face her. "I'm Marleynoxolevan Weyshun. But I expect you'll be calling me Weysh."

"I... uh, yeah."

"Unsurprising," said Weysh.

Zuri was saved from formulating an answer to that by the sound doors to the bridge sliding open. "Good morning everyone!" said a cheerful voice, and in strode a Toraxan. "Commander Ajax Orak, reporting for duty." He looked around, seeming to notice the emptiness of the bridge for the first time. "Ah, it seems I'm a bit early. Who do I have the honor of meeting?"

"Zuri Collins, Systemmics Officer," said Zuri, sticking out her hand.

Unlike Weysh, Orak actually shook it. "Nice to meet you!" Afterwards, he turned to Weysh, who had gone back to jabbing at the console. "And are you the ship's Navigation Officer?"

"Unfortunately yes. My name is Marleynoxolevan Weyshun."

Orak had stopped listening at 'unfortunately', which was just as well, or he might have noticed the name. "'Unfortunately'? What's unfortunate about that?"

Weysh snorted, and gestured around the bridge. "Well, this isn't exactly a choice assignment, is it?"

"I don't see what you mean," said Orak, in a harder tone of voice.

"Please," said Weysh. "This is a Traveler class ship thrown together from blueprints in less than a year to go do cleanup duty on the least important edges of space. We're not going to be getting any significant assignments here."

Orak's face had transformed fully into a scowl by this point. "We certainly won't be with that attitude."

Weysh spun their chair back away from Orak, and they began inspecting the items on the console once again. "My 'attitude' isn't going to have any effect on where Trilliance Central decides to send us. I'll be requesting a transfer to a different ship as soon as this trial mission is over."

By this point, Zuri had inched away from the console all the way back to her desk, and she sat down in her chair just as the door to the bridge opened again. It was another Toraxan, who introduced herself as Sylvie Hart-Katz, the ship's new Chief of Security. After Hart-Katz's arrivial, people began to arrive more quickly, including the Chief Doctor Tobuk, the Chief Diplomat Froddle, the Weapons Officer Grandac, and the Chief Engineer Jial. As a member of the engineering team, Zuri fell quickly into conversation with Jial.

"You're just not going to get the same kind of thrust from an ion-based engine," Eliyja Jial was saying, with a fair amount of passion. "I don't care what kind of current you're running through it. It's just not compatible with the hull plates they make ships out of these days. They're built to disperse current, not amplify it."

"Not on a military-grade vessel," conceded Zuri. "But I've seen a few homemade type ships where they actually build the hull to amplify the current. They can reach some pretty incredible speeds."

"Hmm," reflected Jial. "I hadn't thought of that. Of course, you'd have to disregard about six miles of workplace safety regulations, but it could definately work."

"Captain on the bridge!" called Orak suddenly. Zuri jumped to her feet.

Rafi was late, actually. The shuttle leading to the shipyard had experienced some 'unexpected delays' on the flight over. Her only option now was to pass it off as a dramatic entrance. "At ease, everyone," she said, though she couldn't help but grin at seeing everyone snap to attention upon her (and Earendil's) arrival.

"For those of you who only skimmed the mission briefing, I am Rafika Rahima, and I will be your captain on this ship until the government orders me removed." Rafi glanced around the room until her eyes settled on a tall Toraxan, with a red stripe on her uniform. "You must be Lieutenant Eliyja Jial? You've been in charge of overseeing the final construction of the ship?"

"That's correct," said Jial. "The final testing was completed this morning. The ship is all ready."

"Excellent," said Rafi. "And who is my systemmics officer?"

"I am," said Zuri, and then added quickly, "Ensign Zuri Collins."

"Ensign Collins, contact General Leiathan, and tell her the Odysseus is ready for departure."

"Yes sir," said Zuri, turning to type at the console. After a moment, she added "We've been given the all clear."

Then let's get the hell out of here, Rafi did not say. "Proceed with departure."

Everyone turned to look forwards as the docking bay doors began slowly to open, revealing a glimpse of the expansive starry sky behind them. Weysh very gently flipped on the ship's engines, and they began to slide forwards, revealing more and more of the stars ahead of them. This is it, thought Rafi, as the ship began to move faster and faster, finally exiting the docking bay. This is really it.

"We've cleared the docking bay," said Weysh.

"Get us out of range, and then take us to hyperspace," ordered Rafi. "Our destination is Argelia."

Rafi strained her ears for the familiar humming sound of a ship about to jump to hyperspace. Was that it? Or was it too soon?

The humming noise increased sharply, suddenly becoming overpowering. The ship's lights dimmed slightly from the drain in power. Then, the stars stretched, winked, and vanished.

*

Aligea pressed her face against the window, watching the streaks of light zap past the ship as they traveled through hyperspace. When she was younger, she'd thought the streaks of light were stars zooming past, but now she understood they were caused by an electrochemical reaction between the ship's engines and hyperspace. Still. They look like stars.

It was by no means Aligea's first time flying through hyperspace, and she had long since grown comfortable and blase with these journeys. But something about today's flight felt... important. Consequential. After all, this was the Odyesseus's first real space flight. And Aligea had helped to build this ship. She was there when it was nothing more than an empty shell and piles of assorted wires, and over the past few weeks, she had seen it come together, bit by bit, into a true working spaceship.

"Enjoying the view?" came a voice, and Aligea turned to see Eliyja climbing down the ladder into the room.

"It's pretty incredible, isn't it?" admitted Aligea, as one of the light streaks zoomed up to the window and fizzed out. "I know it's really just a chemical reaction. But it looks so... alive."

For a moment, Eliyja watched Aligea with a smile. Then she said "Want to see something even more incredible?"

"Alright," said Aligea, climbing to her feet.

"Come on." Eliyja climbed back up the ladder. Aligea followed her down a short corridor, feeling increasingly confused—she knew exactly where they were going. "We've arrived," said Eliyja.

"This is engineering," said Aligea.

They'd arrived at engineering, the center room where Eliyja, Aligea, and the rest of the engineering team were based. In addition to being used as an operational center, the room also connected to the ship's sub-light engine and hyperdrive. The hyperdrive was now vibrantly thrumming with activity, casting a reddish glow, and dominating the back half of the room. Right now the room was busy, but not too busy, several engineers were monitering the hyperspace drive, while others were working on seperate projects in other parts of the room.

"See that console controlling fuel burn rate?" pointed Eliyja. "We built that. We also built all the wires linking it to the engines, and we understand all the systems connecting it together with the ship's computer." Eliyja turned to the back of the room with the hyperspace engine. "That hyperdrive has enough power flowing through it to power a city. It's sending a ship that houses over 300 people through hyperspace at gargantuan speeds. And you know what? We built that too. We pulled all the tools and wires together from scratch, and we created a machine that can power a ship through the folds of spacetime. We did that."

Eliyja smiled to herself, and reached out to touch the wall of the ship. "That's what's really incredible here. Not the folds in spacetime, not the electrochemical reactions happening outside the ship. It's that we pulled together heaps of steel and wires and scrapmetal from all over the galaxay, and we turned it into a living, breathing spaceship. That's what's special here."

Over the past few months, there had been a few times where Aligea felt like Eliyja had some sort of extra sense, or intuition, that she just didn't have. Somehow, Eliyja would just know which crossed wire was the problem, or track down the faulty relay to an obscure part of the crawlspace that Aligea had never even seen on the blueprints. Aligea could do engineering, sure, but Eliyja was an engineer. She had gotten past the point of memorizing electric outputs and toolkits and instruction manuals, and instead she talked directly to the ship.

And I'm not there yet, thought Aligea with a slight pang. Eliyja was just more older experienced than she was. I will be someday, she promised herself. Someday I'll understand this ship the way she does. It would just take practice.

Eliyja must have guessed some of what Aligea was thinking, because she smiled. "You've done a great job with the construction on this ship. The whole team has. I couldn't be prouder of all of you. You'll be chief engineer of your own ship before long!"

"I don't think I'm quite there yet," laughed Aligea.

"I bet you're closer than you think," said Eliyja. "There's a shortage of engineers with common sense and perception. You've got both." She paused for a moment, and then straightened back up. "I've got some work to do on deck 5. Good work these past few weeks." She gave Aligea a quick pat on the shoulder before walking off.

*

After being dismissed from the bridge, Tika was actually somewhat surprised to find a young human waiting for her in in her office. The plan had been to catch a quick nap on the desk before dealing with all the new-ship paperwork, but clearly that would have to wait.

"This is the diplomatics office," she told the stranger, hoping he was just lost.

"It is? Great! I was afraid I was in the wrong place." He gave a big grin, and stuck out his hand—a common human greeting. "I'm Ensign Ryazil Thorn. I've been assigned as your assistant." Oh ho, Tika was getting an assistant now? Well it was about damn time. "I was told to report here once we jumped to hyperspace for the mission briefing."

Tika took a moment to size Thorn up. How old was he? He couldn't have been more than in his mid-twenties. Frankly, that seemed a little young to be taking such a prominent position on the diplomatics team. "How old are you?" she asked.

"Twenty-eight."

"What ship were you assigned to before this?"

"I actually wasn't assigned to any ship, I did some work for Trilliance Central's diplomatics team on Elith."

"So you've never had any actual experience in diplomatics," said Tika. In her experience, the diplomats who came out of Trilliance Central's mess of bereaucracy knew about as much about real diplomacy as the engineering team knew about meeting a deadline.

Thorn laughed. "I wouldn't say none. You have to be pretty diplomatic with all the sleep-deprived Generals who visit. But I am really excited to get out into the real world."

So, yeah. No practical experience of any kind. Well, with any luck, Thorn would be able to learn more about diplomatics while mostly keeping out of her way. "Alright. Well, nice to meet you. I've got a mission briefing to review before we arrive at Argelia, so I'll need my office for now."

"Can I help at all with the mission briefing?" asked Thorn.

Well, he should be kept informed. "I'll email you a copy," said Tika, settling into the desk's chair, and turning to face the computer.

Thorn took the exit cue, and left Tika alone in the room.

*

All Ajax Orak had to do before the ship's arrival at Argelia was review the mission briefing, so he decided this was the perfect opportunity for an intensive inspection of the ship's dining facilities. You know. Just to make sure everything was up to health and safety codes.

He was surprised to find the welcoming smell of home-made Toraxan cooking already wafting throughout the room. The dining hall was much emptier than it would be during meal times, but several people were already spread throughout the room eating, and the volume was at a comfortably low murmur.

Ajax was alone, so he walked up to the main window and seated himself at the bar. He looked around, scanning for someone to talk with, but the bar was pretty empty in the middle of the day.

"How can I help you?" said a cheerful voice from the window.

"Oh, yeah," said Ajax, snapping back to attention, where a young human woman stood ready to take his order. "Does this place serve food?"

"Oh no," said the human. "You're thinking of the other dining hall."

Ajax blinked. "Wait, really—"

"I'm just teasing you," she laughed. "What would you like to eat?"

"Have you got any Grishelle?"

"It's one of our specialties. One order of Grishelle!" she called into the back of the restaurant. "So, what's your name?"

"Ajax Orak," said Ajax, mentally congratulating himself as he remembered the human custom of shaking hands. "And you are?"

"Provalona Swiss. Orak... so you're the ship's first mate? I saw the duty roster."

"That's right," said Ajax, surprised. "I'm impressed you remember all the names."

"Only the ones with alliteration!" laughed Provalona. "Ajax Axal is pretty easy to remember."

"Huh," said Ajax, as Provalona disappeared into the back of the kitchen to work on the cooking.

Ajax pulled out his tablet, and began scrolling through the mission briefing. It seemed like a pretty routine assignment—they were ferrying some important Meikan and Trilliance diplomats from Argelia to a conference discussing the division of some Jantha territories.

"Is that your top secret mission orders?" asked Provalona, returning with a plate of Grishelle.

"I wouldn't exactly call this 'top secret'," said Ajax. "It's about the conference to discuss the Jantha territories."

"The what?"

"You know. The Jantha territories in the Kythle system."

"The... Kythle system. Got it."

Ajax looked up and laughed. "Don't you listen to the news at all?"

"Look here buster," said Provalona. "When you're working day and night to get your brand new restaurant up to Trilliance code, amidst yet another critical construction delay, you can talk to me about how much time you spend keeping up on current events."

"Alright, sorry," said Ajax. "It's just a little refreshing to know that this hasn't been dominating everyone else's life."

"Tell me about it," said a voice, and Ajax looked up to see Dakrig Grandac, the weapons officer. "I've been hearing about nothing else in staff meetings for weeks. Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all," said Ajax, pulling out a chair.

"What's the problem with the territories, anyways?" asked Provalona.

"Well, ever since the Jantha-Lerwaz pact of 2497—" began Dakrig.

"Nope," said Provalona. "You've already lost me. Explain it like I just came out of 200 year cryogenic sleep."

"In that case, you'll need to pass me that fruit bowl," pointed Ajax. Provalona raised an eyebrow, but slid him the fruit bowl. Ajax picked out an apple, one of the human fruits. "So. For years now, the apple people—that's the Jantha, by the way—have been on the losing side of a series of intergalactic conflicts with all of their fruity neighbors. They've been involved in several drawn-out wars with the orange people—that's the Meikans—and have been in several scuffles with the lemon people, though it never came to actual war. This has taken a toll on the apple people's economy. The apple now has several bruises, and is fairly unappetizing."

"You may be right," said Provalona, squinting at the apple. "I may need to replace this one."

"The apple people are resourceful, however," said Dakrig, pulling up a prior customer's empty dishes. "Recently, they discovered that the dish territories, a seemingly-insignificant collection of plates and bowls, are actually rish in precious elements such as fork-ium and spoon-ium."

"Such a rich supply of utensil-ium would be a massive help for the apple people's supply problems and shattered economy," added Ajax.

"Well good for them," said Provalona. "These are the territories in the Kythle system, right?"

"Exactly," nodded Dakrig. "Problem is, after the apple people announced this discovery, the orange people began claiming that the dish territories should have been ceded to them according to the treaty that concluded the apple-orange war."

"Hang on, but if that were true, why wouldn't the orange people have spoken up sooner?"

"Why indeed," said Ajax. "That was the apple people's reaction. But the treaty is just vague enough about the dish territories that the orange people can make a claim to them. And the orange people have many more resources at their disposal than the apple people do. So last month, they sent a contingent of clementines to the dish territores to begin mining the utensil-ium."

"Without the apple people's permission?!" gasped Provalona.

"Without even notifying them," nodded Dakrig. "There was a misunderstanding when the clementines arrived, and an apple custard would up destroyed. It looked like the start of another apple-orange war. However, the apple people and orange people finally agreed to talk it out at a conference run by a neutral third party, the pear people."

"That's us. The Trilliance."

"Right," said Ajax, picking up his empty plate. "So, the pear people sends a bunch of their ships, including the O-dish-eus to collect diplomats and bring them to the conference. And that's our mission. We're stopping at Argelia to pick up some orange people—uh, some Meikan diplomats that need to be at the conference."

"We should be arriving there pretty soon, actually," said Dakrig, checking his wristband. "Should we head up to the bridge?"

"Might as well." Ajax put the plate back down on the table as he stood up from his stool to leave. "This Grishelle was fantastic, by the way."

"I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it," said Provalona.

And now, a few questions to tailor your future reading experience.  You don't have to answer these, but it would be helpful to me so I can try and write the kind of story you guys want to read.

1) What did you think of the writing style?  What did you like?  What irritated you?  What do you want to see more of in the future?  What should I change?

2) What did you think of the way your character(s) were written?  Is it accurate?  Were there any characters other than yours that you thought were written well/badly?

3) Which characters do you want to see more of in the future?

4) Do you have any problems with my publishing the episodes in shorter segments?

5) Any other suggestions?

Zoinks and away!

-Griffin