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Joined in Mind and Body

Chapter 3

Tyrin looked at Kelia as they left Andrew's apartment. "Do you think he'll be okay on the ship?" he asked his mate. "He clearly has no idea about it."

"Without an official evaluation, there's no definite answer," Kelia replied. "It's very nice but obviously has caused him some discomfort already. We should probably get a P.P.D.U. just in case."

They walked down the hall and Tyrin considered. "Would that draw attention? I don't think any of the humans know about it at all. The official evaluation is going to omit it also."

Kelia shook her head. "Plenty of humans wear them. Snake oil. But it gives cover no problem. He might not need it anyway."

Tyrin nodded. "I'll head to the supplier and get one. And I'll get one of those fake human ones, so we can swap out the strap. That should work. How long do you think he'll be asleep?"

Kelia considered. "I'd say about two hours, maybe three at most. He took the information transfer very well."

"Sounds like he'll almost invariably need the P.P.D.U. then. Should we tell the humans?"

"I wouldn't suggest it," Kelia said, watching a human walking further down the hall. "They don't react well to surprises at..." Her words were cut off as the human was about to round a corner but almost got bowled over by what was apparently a young Kathari. The Kat was only as tall as the human, but her lowbody mass made her much heavier and her velocity left the human staggering as she rushed by, crying.

Tyrin and Kelia flattened themselves against the wall of the hallway as the small Kathari rushed by them, paying them no heed in her distress. Kelia looked down the hall at the human who was cussing the retreating little Kat out roundly. "See? Perfect example. Bad at surprises."

Tyrin frowned as he watched the little Kat round another corner. "That was Serina? She's leaking horribly. Poor little thing."

Kelia put her hand on her pairmate's shoulder. "If you bothered to read any of the leakage, it's obvious why she's so upset. What a sad situation."

Tyrin nodded, ears laid back as something niggled at the back of his mind. The forming thought was hazy, but it slowly began to take shape. His pairmate looked at him sharply as she caught the thought from his mind.

"That would be unprecedented... but it might just work," she said, gazing at him. "You go get the P.P.D.U. I'll see what I can find out about Serina's situation. A bit of scheming might be called for."

Tyrin grinned. "You caught my thought before I could even grasp it, love. I figure if he's going to be popular with Kathari, put that to good use. Strikes me as a win-win situation. Meet you at home!" He gave her a hug and turned to head towards the supply section while she headed in the direction of Administration. Their tasks did not take them long, and they soon met back at their own quarters to finalize information and then celebrate.

---

Andrew slept as the information was rapidly processed by his mind. Ship maps, details, who's who, where interesting things were, all being indexed and categorized into new knowledge.

His sleep was filled with dreams as his mind processed things. Nebulous haze at times, but more often than not, Kathari were present. Kathari snuggling, Kathari playing games, Kathari grooming each other... Kathari engaged in passionate mating... In fact, it was this last item that finally became too much.

Andrew rolled fitfully in his sleep as he experienced a dream of Tyrin and Kelia finishing their foreplay and going further. Strong forepaws grasped a lowwaist as Tyrin mounted up onto his pairmate. Below her body, his paws clasped at her own shaft as he prodded her rump with his, finding his aim. A quick thrust of his hips and he was sunken deep into her body, eliciting a mrowl of pleasure from her. Their mating was swift and hot, culminating explosively.

Now, dreaming of this alone was not the issue. The fact that the dream was so realistic was much more of an issue. Andrew swore it felt like his own flesh sliding into Kelia, and at the same time, as if he was Kelia, with the flesh sliding into her. Sweat beaded on his sleeping form as the two Kats moved in rhythm. And he cried out in his own ecstasy, waking himself up in surprise as the Kathari met their peak.

Andrew lay panting as the room sensed his awake state and brought the lights up slowly. His own flesh throbbed in aftereffect, a new mess gracing the inside of his pants. His whole mind was a haze of fragmented thoughts again, like when he was coming to the ship. He knew everything clearly from the transfer right now, but everything he knew was equally fuzzy.

Sitting up, he held his head and tried to clear his mind. He got up and stripped out of his sticky pants, stumbling to the cleaner to deposit them inside. As an afterthought, he removed his wrist com and pulled off his shirt as well. All of his clothing was deposited in the cleaner, and he headed for the shower.

He looked warily at the shower made for Kathari, and was glad to note that a human shower existed as well as a dry field cleaner. 200 years of advancement in instant body cleaning, and a lot of people still preferred the feel of a regular water-based shower and soap. Andrew was no exception. The soap provided was very basic, but the shower was refreshing. Wouldn't get his head completely clear though.

The cleaner was still processing his clothes when he finished getting dried off, so he checked the closets. Sure enough, basic clothing like he'd expect to find supplied on a military vessel. Comfortable, utilitarian, and bland. He sighed and got dressed.

His mind went back to the dream he had just before he woke up. That definitely wasn't normal. Should he tell the Kats about it? It was about them though... that was somewhat embarrassing. But they did say to let them know if anything odd or unusual happened. He battled with this in his mind for a while, then finally put his wrist com back on and punched in to contact them.

After a short wait, Tyrin's face came on the screen. "Good morning, sleepyhead. Have a good nap?" Then the Kat noticed the expression on the man's face. "We'll be right over," Tyrin exclaimed, and cut the connection.

Andrew flopped on the couch to wait, but was shocked that his door opened to admit the pair of Kats in only a few seconds. "How did you...? Where did you...? I mean, that fast?"

"We live right next door to you," Kelia explained as both Kats swiftly flopped in front of the distressed human. She took his hands in hers. "What's wrong, Andrew?" He found himself lost in her concerned gaze for a moment, the haze in his head growing louder before he shook his head to try to clear it.

"I have this... buzzing in my head.... When I was asleep, I had dreams. Of Kats... And you two... Um... Of you two..." He couldn't get it out, but his face definitely turned red.

"Of us mating?" Kelia asked him candidly. He couldn't do anything but nod as his face turned redder.

"Here... Put this on," Tyrin told him, handing him a small wrist unit. Andrew accepted the watch-like unit and strapped it onto his wrist. Kelia frowned slightly and took his hand, then slipped a claw tip into the depressed button on the unit and it activated.

Andrew felt a wash of energy over himself, very faint. As it reached his head, the fuzz and static suddenly stopped, leaving him breathing a sigh of relief. He stared at the wrist unit for a moment. "What is this?"

"That is a Personal Psionic Dampening Unit, or P.P.D.U.," Tyrin told him. "Some humans are more sensitive to the psionic background noise from Kathari. It is kind of like their mind is stuck in the constant noise of a crowded restaurant, but with thousands of conversations at full volume in the background. The P.P.D.U. acts as a psionic shield. It's something that Kathari can do for themselves, but humans are not psionic, so they can't shield themselves even if they are sensitive to it."

Kelia smiled at him. "All minds are more receptive when asleep, so you made a bit more sense of the psionic leakage during that time, and it presented itself like dreams. This will block out all the background noise and allow you to have your own dreams instead of the experiences of Kathari throughout the ship."

Andrew stared at the device some more before he looked up at the two Kats. "Thank you," he said with a smile, but then his face went white. "Wait, you mean that the dream I had was because you were actually...? And so I was getting the real thing in... psionic... leakage...? Holy shit, I'm sorry!" He felt like a peeping tom, even though he was an unwitting participant in the issue.

Kelia looked at him sternly, "Only one thing you need to tell us, or else." Andrew swallowed noisily, feeling her eyes burning into him. Then she grinned widely, showing off huge teeth. "Did you like it?"

Andrew's face went from bone white to beet red in an instant and both Kathari burst out laughing merrily. "From the looks of his reaction, dear, I'll bet he creamed his pants again in his sleep," Tyrin teased. The Kat did a double take as the human's face managed to turn even redder. "He DID! Andrew, Kats aren't the only ones who can leak loud thoughts."

Andrew thought he was going to die from embarrassment, but Kelia slipped her arms around him and drew him against herself, purring strongly. He discovered again that nothing soothes like a purring Kathari, and he quickly began to relax from his embarrassment.

Kelia leaned her head down to lick his ear. "Andrew, you are unique in ways that Kathari can see, and so you will be very popular amongst us. As a human, you are truly a Friend of Kathari," she murmured to him. "Already Andrew-l'es to us, which means 'special friend'. Andrew-k'is to all the other Kats who have meet you so far, which means 'Friend of Kathari'."

Andrew had doubts. "How can you tell without getting to know me?"

Kelia fuzzled his hair and chuckled warmly, her purr making the laugh sound more interesting. "We're Kathari. We're all psionic. It's impossible for us to not know anybody to a relatively deep degree just from touch. Kats shield themselves for privacy, but humans can't without psionics. You all are like big detailed signs to us, impossible to not read."

"I guess that does make it hard to not get to know a person," Andrew conceded.

"And trust us," Tyrin said, patting the human's back. "There are plenty of humans out there that every Kat wishes they couldn't read." Andrew realized he felt comfortable, and that he knew the Kathari spoke the truth. They did really like him. It was kind of a nice feeling.

Kelia released him once he felt a lot better, but he willingly stayed against the huge furred feline for a moment longer. He sat back on the couch with a sigh. "That information transfer thing is really weird though. And now that I know the details of the problem, I find it even odder." He thought about the work ahead of him. "Okay, so there are failures in the actual ENEGMIS area of the ISABEN system, and these failures are affecting the whole system. The few techs qualified on ship to even attempt to look at this part of the ISABEN have been scared away by a side effect of the failures... basically, the computer AI has taken a lust for techs into its mind, and is sexually molesting them. And after a Multi-galaxy search, they decided that I am the singly most qualified person to attempt to correct the issue, based on my technical history."

He was counting off the points on his fingers as he went. "So I get to go into the ENEGMIS section and try to locate and correct the problem while fighting off advances and possible sexual molestation by a computer that could atomize me in a heartbeat if it so chose." He flopped back in the couch. "Sounds wonderful. Guess I'd better get to it so the ship can get back to its normal operation before this major battle we are heading to. Which sounds even more wonderful.

"I will admit though, that mental knowledge transfer thing helped a lot," Andrew said, sitting up again. "Last I heard, it couldn't be done for humans. So I guess my information was out of date. I'm glad it works now."

"Doesn't work for very many though," Kelia murmured, but refrained from citing the actual all-time number of successes as singular, as of two hours ago. "Would you like a ride to the ENEGMIS core?"

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to impose..." Andrew began, but Tyrin cut him off.

"Hardly an imposition," the Kathari insisted. "Besides the fact that helping you is our entire task right now, it is fun for us, we get to show you off, and you get to show off and enjoy it too. And it's about 15 minutes faster."

Andrew considered as he stood up. "Well... okay. I'd love a ride. It is pretty fuuuuUUUHN!" He found himself scooped up by Kelia before he finished his sentence. He was plopped onto Tyrin's back and grabbed onto the Kat's waist for a moment to stabilize himself. Catching his breath, he chuckled shakily. "Don't surprise me with it though." He released the waist and situated himself more comfortably, again marveling at the muscles between his thighs. He kept getting picked up as if he weighed nothing. Definitely not a race to tick off.

After a quick walk down the halls and out, they headed back to the ground level of the indoor 'city'. Andrew took a lot more interest in looking around now that he actually knew what everything was. It was odd in a way. He had never been here before, but after the knowledge transfer, he felt as if he had lived here for years.

Along with all of the housing quarters, there were plenty of civilian-run retail establishments, and of course a full range of military-run retail. The military locations were good, but if you wanted to splurge away a paycheck in short order, some of the civilian shops would upstage them quite well in quality.

Andrew watched the scattered groups of humans and Kathari. It wasn't too crowded right now, since it was the middle of the day shift on ship cycle. With his heightened vantage point, he was able to see everything much better. He saw storefronts, cafes, bars, game locations, all sorts of things. It was quite an enjoyable trip. And his keeps were right. His riding status did attract a bit of attention and smiles from Kats and humans alike.

As they turned around a corner to head to the runway, he glanced into an unattended self-service bar. Surprised, he did a double-take, but his view was obstructed already by the wall. "I thought there weren't any young Kathari aboard this ship," he said. "It's a military ship, and so all the Kathari avoid conception for safety reasons. At least, that's the information you gave me."

"You must have just seen Serin," Kelia told him. "Shi is very small for a Kathari, though shi is fully grown. Shi's somewhat of a friend of ours."

"Wow..." Andrew murmured. "Yeah, shi was small. Shi was about the height of the humans near hir." Something about the grouping back there and look of things he had seen niggled at him though. He thought about it for a moment, and realized that the humans had been surrounding the little Kat in an odd manner. "Wait... Stop..." he said suddenly, turning his upper body around to look back.

Tyrin pulled to a stop and Kelia looked at him as she swung her body around. "What? Is something wrong?" She could hear the concern in the human's voice.

Andrew didn't answer. He realized that nobody else was in the area of that bar when they had passed by, and there had been a human standing at the door looking suspiciously... watchful. Though he might regret it, he suddenly swung his leg over Tyrin's flank and slip to the ground. His ankles survived the drop, and he took off at a sprint back up the street.

He ignored the questioning calls of Tyrin and Kelia, though they took up a belated chase after him. Rounding the corner that the bar was on, he again noticed that nobody was around, and the bar door was closed with all the lights inside turned off. Frowning, he peered in through the clear door and saw a flickering flash of energy from behind one of the tables.

"Shit..." he spat, toggling several items on his wrist com. "Security emergency at the self service bar at sixteen by fifteen twenty-three ninety; possible weapon discharge, send some help please!" He realized that the knowledge transfer had been extremely useful in this case, as it allowed him to be very precise and accurate in his report.

Apparently the tone of his report convinced the other end that he knew what he was talking about as well, as the com returned, "Acknowledged, security team dispatched."

Andrew examined the door more closely, finding the control panel on the outside of it. A soft glow from inside the bar caught his attention, and a sudden burst of light that was a definite weapon discharge backlit at least seven humans in the gloom.

"What's going on?" Tyrin demanded as he and Kelia caught up. They had overheard the com reply of security.

"I think some humans are attacking Serin!" Andrew said shortly, concentrating on the door's locking mechanism. Damn, security could take too long! He had to get in! He pried at the electronic seal around the thing. It had a panel field holding it in place, for quick access with the right tools. Tools which he lacked at the moment. If he could get it off, he could access the control system and open the door. Just inside the door should be a panic button... Stasis field generator, in case of drunken brawls.

Cursing as his fingernails bent, he tried to envision the form of the locking field on the panel based on the shape and components. When he realized that Tyrin was watching avidly over his shoulder as Kelia tried to look inside, he grabbed the large Kat's hand and pressed on a finger to extend a claw, which he slipped behind what should be the weak point in the panel's field. "PULL!" he barked, tugging on the claw himself and trying to even just will the field to fail.

There was a small whine from the panel's securing field, and miraculously it faltered. The panel came open with a snap of energy and a small crackle of ozone. Andrew pounced on the components inside and in a heartbeat and a small shower of sparks, the panel was bypassed and the door slid open with a hiss.

The inside lights came on automatically as the door opened, and a good dozen humans in a mix of off-duty military and civilian clothes between them looked up from where they surrounded a very frightened small Kathari behind the table. The number of weapons and unpleasant devices on their persons was unsettling.

"What the FUCK?!" one of them snapped at another. "You said we were in the clear on this! Shit, get them too!" Several guns leveled in the direction of the door with the humans and two Kats there as Andrew leaped in and looked frantically for the panic button. There it was! He made a dive for it on the wall, Kelia close behind him. He felt an odd tingle of energy in the air around him and winced as he heard the whine of energy weapons going off. Several black, smoking holes appeared in the wall opposite him from the humans, but somehow he was not hit. Hoping desperately that none of them had nullifiers on them, he slapped the button, prepared to be caught in the stasis field. With the perpetrators until security arrived.

Strangely enough, one thing did not happen as he expected, and a second thing did not happen as he hoped. The thing that he did not expect was for there to be no apparent jump in time for him as his hand fell away from the button. When a stasis field hit, the occupants were effectively frozen in time until released, and so a jump in surroundings was the effect for them. Had the field failed?!

Andrew spun around and looked across the room, noting that Kelia was directly beside him. He took in everything quickly. The vast majority of the humans were frozen in stasis, but three of them on one side of the group were not, and looking relatively annoyed. Tyrin was also trapped in stasis, but he and Kelia were also spared the field's effects. Everything was surreally quiet. That was another side effect of the stasis field. The AIR within it also stopped moving, and could not carry sound.

He looked up at Kelia, whose tail was bushed to around three times its normal size as she glared at the scene. One of the humans aimed his gun and fired again. Weapon energy and photons were something that the stasis field couldn't catch. But though his aim was unerringly directed at Andrew's chest, the deadly beam of energy never struck. It fizzled out in midair a few good feet from him. All three humans looked visibly shaken, and one of them grabbed the other two, pulling them close so their field nullifiers were overlapping and they could talk. His words were quick. The two he spoke to turned to run while he leveled his energy weapon at the stasis-frozen little Kathari.

Andrew raised his hand angrily and cried out. He didn't want these bastards to get away, and especially not to hurt Serin, but he didn't have anything he could do. Then he heard a guttural snarl from Kelia. He gasped as a bright flash came from above her right shoulder and three rapid shots lanced out in turn from the psionic weapon she had just created. He had heard of these, and they were, in fact, the main weaponry of any Kathari-based warship, but he had never seen one in person before. It made his hair stand on end.

The humans who were targeted were exceptionally lucky. Their sub-atomic structure was not ripped to shreds by psionic energy. The beam was very low powered. However their nervous systems were put into serious shock, and they dropped as if pole axed. With the knowledge that Andrew had from the transfer, he knew that they would not be moving again until some major medical work was done to repair blasted neurons.

Andrew stood in shock at what he had just witnessed. He couldn't believe that anybody on this ship could be as callous as these humans were acting. He thought for a moment to go check on Serin, but realized that the stasis field was still up, and he had no idea how it was not affecting him or Kelia. Kelia was slowly calming down, a low growl rumbling from her as she began to fall from hunter focus and take in more of the surroundings.

"How come we're not trapped in stasis?" he finally asked.

"I'm shielding us from it," Kelia answered. "The stasis field is a manipulation of energy, so any Kat who can shield energy can shield from the stasis field too. I had the shield up to protect you from their shots when you were going for the panic button, so it worked against the stasis field also. Tyrin didn't have any shields up when you hit the button, so he's caught in it. Best to leave him that way so there's less paperwork."

Andrew looked behind himself at the charred holes in the wall, realizing that there was one more there now than before he had hit the button. It was obviously the shot that would have hit him in the chest. "How did...?" He couldn't formulate his question, and he motioned in the direction of the humans, and then pointed at the damaged wall.

Kelia understood though. "Because it needed a quick reaction, I used a slip shield. That is a kind of psionic shield that simply makes the place that we shield be not-there to the energy we target with the shield. The energy flows around the shield itself in psionic form, and continues instantly and uninterrupted on the other side."

"Oh..." Andrew said. He realized that he knew about this now, and about the other kinds of things Kats could do, but since he had never experienced it first hand before, it had not registered. "Wow... You... saved my life..." he murmured, shaken more as his adrenaline rush began to fade.

His knees became wobbly, but Kelia moved beside him and supporting hand on his back, pulling him to lean against her side. "And your actions saved Serin. You noticed a problem that we would have missed. You went well above and beyond your call to help hir, Andrew, and in a way that we couldn't. When this becomes known to other Kats..." She grinned, "...which will take about five minutes to become known to them shipwide once the report is finalized, you will be an extremely popular human amongst all of us. Andrew-k'is indeed!"

Andrew leaned against her, taking strength from her as he could. He flopped a hand in the direction of the humans again. "What about those three you shot? Should we go remove their dampeners?"

Kelia hissed softly. "They will be staying down. And they can relish the pain coursing through their bodies without the respite of the stasis field. For what they did, I would have been justified in destroying them, but I will deal with the paperwork I get for not doing so. Then I can take heart that they will be tried and punished further for their actions. Enemies of Kathari garner no love from any of us."

Andrew shivered and pulled away as he could feel the heated rage radiating from her, but it toned down as she realized it was affecting him. Forget the pure physical strength. There was an even better reason not to piss off Kathari.

There was a commanding shout behind them and the sounds of both energy weapons powering up and projectile weapons being cocked. "SECURITY! Hands up NOW!" Andrew lifted his hands above his head with all due haste. "Shit, shielded Kat! Call for...!"

The man was interrupted by a voice that was obviously Kathari in origin. "Relax, the Kat is clear. The human is wearing a P.P.D.U. though. The Kat claims he's clear though." There was a moment of silence, and a bit of tension.

Kelia turned her upper torso to Andrew and reached for his wrist. "I'm taking off your P.P.D.U.," she told him. "This will save you a lot of discomfort." Her clawed fingertips released the latch on the wrist device, and it fell to the floor. The sudden rush of background psionic noise made Andrew wince and waver, but it was nothing compared to what happened next.

His body went rigid, out of his control as his mind was seized by the mind of the Kathari on the security team. This was avoiding discomfort?! He panicked and lashed out with fear, and was surprised as the Kathari's mind released his suddenly. "What the...?" the Kat behind him muttered in surprise.

"Relax, Andrew," Kelia hissed urgently, pulling him to her side again to support him physically and mentally.

He felt his mind taken again by the security Kat, but this time not as harshly. He fought back an urge to panic again, and kept his breathing even as he was aware of his recent memories and his view of recent events being read from his mind. It was not an instant process, but not slow either. As it progressed, and the Security Kathari got information on what had happened, the hold on his mind became much more gentle and forgiving. At the end of the reading, only a few seconds later, the contact was broken with a distinctly apologetic feel.

"The human is clear," the Kat announced, "No other active minds in the vicinity." Weapons were lowered, bullets de-chambered, and energy locks activated as the security personnel stood down. Humans with electronic shields against the stasis field began to flow around Andrew and Kelia to inspect the situation at the other side of the room.

Andrew slowly brought his hands down, feeling dizzy from the static. He felt the other Kat step up behind him, and that Kat bent over to retrieve the P.P.D.U. from the ground. "You will probably want this back, Andrew-k'is," the Kat murmured, spinning the dazed human carefully and taking his wrist to reattach the P.P.D.U. The relief was immediate and Andrew's head cleared.

"What's the result, then, Trelin?" asked a human who stepped up beside the Kathari. This man was obviously in charge of the security team.

The security Kat, Trelin, held up his hands and formed a shield between them. Manipulating the energies of the shield, he projected a three-dimensional view within it, using information extracted from both Andrew and Kelia's minds. Several of the other higher-ranking security members came over to watch as the scene began with Andrew's view of the situation inside the bar when they passed.

Andrew watched, astounded. From this second view, it was obvious that something was going on. Some areas of the surroundings were somewhat hazy, but Andrew pulled information about those being places that neither he nor Kelia were aware of at the time. They all watched as Andrew jumped off Tyrin's back and sprinted back down the street, leaving the two shocked Kats to follow a distance behind.

One of the security people looked confused as the scene got to the section where Andrew pried the panel off using Tyrin's claw. "How did he manage that?" the man asked.

The scene paused briefly and Trelin answered, "This man is Andrew-k'is Foster. He is the technician that we picked up at Terra a few hours ago. He's a very skilled technician, and he was able to get a good feel for the weak point in the locking field on the panel, which he exploited. It's a very good thing he did, too."

"Andrukuh-iss?" asked the security officer who was working with his wrist com. "I have his name listed as just Andrew."

"Sorry... Kathari-specific suffix, don't worry about it. Watch..." Trelin resumed the image replay of Andrew releasing the door, and all the security personnel gathered in to see better as it became obvious that this was the important part. Trelin expanded the energy field in response so the view was bigger.

Several heads were shaken by the security officers as the scene unfolded from there. A gasp came from a young one as the energy weapon discharges were shunted harmlessly into the wall by Kelia before the panic button was activated. Andrew saw that he would have been dead several times over had it not been for her.

All of the security officers fidgeted as it got to the part where the three humans were talking. Tension obviously was running through them as they watched the scene. Several of them made concerned motions of their own as the two turned to run while the third aimed his weapon at the small Kathari. And Andrew could swear that they all wanted to cheer when Kelia beamed them down.

"That is the end of the incident," Trelin announced. "We arrived on scene 247 seconds later. Those three minutes were comprised of these two calming down and a small discussion of the event. Nothing report-worthy."

The security officer who had been working on his wrist com nodded and handed a display pad to the officer in charge. That man looked it over, then looked at Andrew and Kelia. "You both did excellent work here. Mr. Foster, Kass Yartariss, you both deserve high commendations for this." Andrew blinked. Kass? Oh, right... The Kathari equivalent of an honorary, like mister and missus. Yartariss must be Kelia's family name.

"These men comprise the majority of a group of troublemakers that we have been trying to hunt down," the officer in charge continued. "Some of them were simply under suspicion; others had gone into actual hiding on the ship. This catch takes care of all but two, which is very good."

"And Andrew's actions saved the life of a Kathari," Trelin pointed out. "Our ambassadors will be very pleased that a human did this. We expect human failures and fears to cause incidents like this. We also expect those same failures and fears to cause humans to not intervene. Andrew-k'is went way out of his way to help. This will definitely impress the council."

"Excellent!" the officer exclaimed. "I know we love all the good reviews we can get from them." He nodded and took the information-recording officer aside. Andrew heard him say in a hushed voice, "What the hell's this kuh-iss thing? He's said it twice now."

Another one of the security officers nearby also overheard and made his way swiftly over. "Uh, sir? I think it's like a title of honor they use for humans they really like. I've heard them use the same ending when talking about Mr Lee. You know, the civvie who runs that little shop down at the corner of 3 by 13-7-82? The short oriental guy. All the Kats like his shop, and he obviously loves having them around."

The officer in charge stared at this man for a moment before glancing at Andrew. "We picked him up how long ago? He's got a title of honor with them already? Damn. Well, leave it to the Kats to know." He shook his head, amazed, and raised his voice to address the rest of his team. "Set your blocks skin-tight, gentlemen, and put neural inhibitors on these men. Hop to it. I want to be able to bring this stasis field down in less than two minutes." He noticed a few curious faces approaching the door. "Javian, Conkrite, go run crowd control outside and call for prisoner transport. I don't want anybody else wandering into this field."

The security team worked swiftly and efficiently, strapping neural inhibitors to the necks of the ten men who were frozen in the stasis field. Several more Kats were called in to help handle the fact that the victim was a Kat as well, and the stasis field was deactivated.

The criminals dropped onto the floor immediately as the neural inhibitors blocked muscular function, paralyzing them. It didn't stop a few of them from starting to cuss royally, but a few button presses from the security team gave them rude shocks through the collars that shut them up in short order.

Tyrin looked around and took in all of the security officers present, breathing a sigh of relief and going to hug his pairmate. Andrew watched as Serin - Serina he amended as he noted hir current expression being female - was helped up, looking very shaken. He was glad to notice that she didn't seem to be injured, though she looked exhausted.

"Come on, Andrew-l'es," Kelia said, catching his shoulder lightly and turning him towards the door. "You've done a great job here, but we need to get you to the actual job we picked you up to do." She scooped him up and placed him on Tyrin's back again, then grinned and ruffled his hair. "Of course, if you see anything else like that that needs to be done, do stop and do it."

They paused briefly to make sure they were cleared to leave by security, and then resumed their route to the ENEGMIS core for Andrew to do some work he didn't think he would relish.

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