FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

8

Both ships had dropped to normal space and were coasting at sub-light so that needed maintenance and inspections could be conducted. They had been traveling at high speed for over two weeks since they made their brief stop in Pliq space, and the engines needed break. While engine maintenance was being conducted, the rest of the crew spent the time observing their surroundings, collecting samples of interstellar particles, updating star charts, and taking a breather.

For lack of anything better to do at the moment, Lilly idly scanned through the electromagnetic spectrum. It was still early morning ship-time, all of her maintenance work was caught up, and other than the usual noise one might expect from celestial objects, everything was quiet around them.

"Well, this is boring," Lilly thought aloud to herself. "This is the one thing I_don't_ like about deep space missions--a lot of nothin' to do, except sit around and..."

Her train of thought was immediately cut short by a particular tone generated by her equipment.

"...ooo, hel-lo...wait a min, what the...frak...is_that_?"

Lilly slipped her headphones on and listened for a bit, then started touching control pads. She listened for a bit more, tweaked her controls, and listened again.

"That's weird..."

Lilly switched other instruments into active mode, bringing the entire suite of equipment at her disposal into full operational mode. Part of the well-rehearsed procedure was to begin recording everything the instruments were picking up.

"Crypto to Bronski," Lilly called into her comm panel.

/* "Bronski here, what's up?" */

"Hey, get your tail in here...got something."

/* "It's not another wailer, is it?" */

"Nah...got something really weird."

/* "Okay, be there in a sec. Bronski out." */

Cara closed the access panel of the equipment she had been checking, quickly packed up her diagnostic tools, and headed to see what Lilly found so interesting this time.

When Cara entered the space known as "Crypto" on the ship--even though there was nothing on the door identifying it as such--she asked, "Whatcha got, Lilly?"

"Check this out..." Lilly replied, handing her headphones to Cara.

The Electronics Warfare tech listened for several seconds to the signal Lilly had been receiving. Seeing the look on Cara's face go from a "Okay, I'll go along..." to "What the_frak_?!" Lilly grinned a little.

"I told ya it was weird!"

"Yeah, no kidding...have you told anyone yet?" Cara asked quietly.

Lilly shook her head and asked, "What do you make of it?"

"That definitely is not anything...wait...put it on speaker!"

Raising an eyebrow, Lilly touched a control so that they both could hear it over a speaker, and then she felt the hair rise on the back of her neck while they listened to the new sound.

"Jeezers!" Lilly exclaimed. Touching a control on her console, she called the bridge. "Crypto to Bridge."

/* "Bridge, Stewert here." */

"I'm sending something up to you--put it on speaker so everybody can hear it. I'm on my way up."

"Sir, Petty Officer Donnelson has something she wants me to put through on speaker. She said she's on her way to the bridge," Sylvia announced.

James made quick eye contact with Tanya as he turned to look at his Comm Officer.

"Let's hear it."

Sylvia nodded her head once, touched a control, and a sound they had not heard before in space filled the bridge. Right away, Tanya's hackles rose at the sound.

"Syl, call over to the Se'nika and send them that signal," James ordered.

"Aye sir," Sylvia acknowledged.

As soon as she entered the bridge, Lilly asked, "Pretty freaky, isn't it?"

"What type of signal is it?" James asked.

"Well, that's what's so weird about it--it's in the THF[1]range."

"That is strange--I've never heard of anyone using that band for any kind of communications," Sylvia added.

"Radio astronomers listen to that band," Zach added.

"Gas clouds don't howl," Tanya said with a bit sarcasm.

"Where is it coming from?" James asked.

"When I first heard it, it was ahead of us and approximately twenty degrees to starboard, but then I picked up_another_ signal just like it coming from our aft port quarter, about two hundred degrees relative, and closing--it should cross our path about five klicks ahead, if it doesn't change course," Lilly replied.

"Zach?"

"Checking...Doppler-shift confirms the signal source_is_ approaching."

James thought for a few seconds and then said, "Take a look to see if our 'friend' is still shadowing us."

Zach promptly turned back to his instrumentation and began working the controls. About twenty seconds later he announced, "Negative. The 'ship' seems to be the source of the signal behind us." He looked up towards James and Tanya and said, "It's coming towards us. Fast."

James asked, "Any sign of active weapons or targeting sensors?"

"Impossible to tell--whatever powers that thing is beyond the ability of our sensors to determine," Zach replied, shaking his head slightly.

James frowned. He had to determine whether he should stay on course at present speed, slow down to let the strange alien ship pass, or be ready to take evasive action...if that was even possible.

"Syl, put me through to Rha'an." When Sylvia reported the channel was open, James flipped down the voice tube of his comm set and pushed the tiny button to activate it. "Rha'an, James, here...it seems our 'friend' back there is up to something--it's approaching at a shallow angle from behind and will cross our flightpath close ahead. I suggest we come to a full stop and let it pass, or at least see what else it's going to do. Be ready to take immediate evasive action, just in case--I doubt we can outrun that thing, but maybe we can jink[2] at the last second to keep from getting run over at least."

/* "We see it approaching and I agree that we will likely be unable to outrun our 'friend', though I am not familiar with the term you used." */ Rha'an said, wondering were he got_that_word from.

"Coming to a full stop," James announced, applying reverse thrust, which prompted Thir-Bre'an to do the same on the_Se'nika_. James proceeded to tell Rha'an what the word "jink" meant, and that it had been used by Terran military pilots for a very long time.

Just as James was finishing his explanation, a rainbow-hued streak of light appeared as if out of nowhere beside them.

"Jeezers!" James exclaimed, reflexively shoving the control stick to the right to put some distance between his ship and the streak. Snapping his head to look to his left, James briefly saw an image of the wolf ship. Everything seemed to suddenly halt, or very nearly so, except that the wolf ship turned its head to cast a regarding glance right at_him_ through the window, before disappearing in a blur as time appeared to resume its normal flow. That glance made a shiver run through James' body.

"Did you see that?!" James exclaimed quietly.

"I'm not sure what I saw," Zach replied as the streak faded from view. Remembering to look at his instrumentation, he touched a few controls and examined the sensor data. "Sensor readings seem...confused."

"How so?" James asked, staring out of the window in the direction the streak of light went.

"The ship appeared to be behind us, in front of us, and_beside_ us, all at the same time...for barely a tenth of a second."

"But, I swear I saw that thing look right at me through the window!"

Moira, who had been listening, commented on James' claim.

/* "You would not have had time to react, James. By the time you saw the visual phenomenon and it registered in your brain, it was already gone when you began moving me away from it." */

"Moira's right, James--according to the sensors, there's no way any of us, except Moira, could have been able to look and comprehend what we saw quick enough," Zach agreed.

"I get that, but...it was like, for a moment, time seemed to have_stopped_, or very nearly so. I_saw_ it, clearly...it just turned its 'head' and looked at me for a couple of seconds, and then went on its way," James insisted.

"I don't know how that would be possible..." Zach started to say, but then James cut him off.

"Moira, do you detect any kind of temporal disturbance in our immediate vicinity, time dilation effect, warp bubble, or any other_physical_ means that might readily explain time coming to a momentary standstill, barring psychological effects?"

/* "One moment...the passage of the alien wolf ship did seem to have a short-lived local effect as it accelerated past us, but I am unable to determine with sufficient certainty exactly_what _effect. Perhaps our Mûr Tua'ansa friends may know more." */

"Okay, thanks, Moira. Syl, put me through to..." was as far as James got before the shields unexpectedly came online and the lights switched to combat levels just as an unstable hyperspace tunnel opened up ahead, disgorging a small ship. The vessel was tumbling out of control and trailing plasma.

"Kakogo cherta[3]?!" Tanya blurted out in Russian.

"Zach, life signs?"

"Checking...one anthropoid life form, no heat signature. Sensors show carbon scoring and a hull breach--apparently a plasma conduit was hit by something, possibly weapons fire."

"But is anybody alive on there?"

"Not that I can tell from this distance," Zach replied.

"Are there any other ships in the vicinity?" James asked with concern.

Zach returned his attention to his instruments for a moment.

"There is another, not much larger than the one that just dropped to normal space, though it's moving away," Zach replied.

* * * * *

"Madam Commander, a small ship is about to return to normal space...estimating distance at point two-five_len[4]," Zhir-Chi'an announced suddenly. "_It's stardrive appears faulty...it should appear momentarily."

"Show us," Rhuw-Rha'an ordered.

The main holo-display came on just in time to show an erratic hyperspace tunnel endpoint forming. Rha'an leaned forward in her seat, watching carefully.

"Let us be cautious about this--activate shields; scan for pursuing vessels."

Kfan-Hre'an and Zhir-Chi'an's fingers lightly danced over their instrument panels, gathering all the information they could.

"Another vessel's stardrive signature is closely parallel to the one before us, though it has suddenly veered away. Perhaps it does not wish to continue pursuing the damaged vessel," Hre'an reported.

"There is one being aboard, Madam Commander--it appears to be alive, though it is not producing heat."

"Is its environment intact?"

"The atmosphere is similar enough to our own, though the temperature is dropping. The vessel's attitude controls are not functioning, and other systems seem to be losing power," Chi'an replied.

"Then it is likely the individual on that vessel will be in distress," Rha'an stated. "_Shen-Lir'an, connect me with_Nightwing."

"As you command."

* * * * *

"Sir, we're being hailed--it's the_Se'nika_," Sylvia announced.

"Put them through," James ordered.

/* "It appears we have been presented with a puzzle--two vessels flying in close proximity to each other, yet one returns to normal space in a state of distress and the other suddenly wishes to be elsewhere," */ Rha'an said.

"We saw that. We detected a single lifeform onboard the one that came through, but we can't determine any life signs."

/* "It is, I believe you say, a 'cold-blooded' being." */

"That would account for why we were having difficulty determining if it was alive or not," James acknowledged.

/* "Zhir-Chi'an says the atmosphere is acceptable, though the temperature is dropping and power is failing. We should offer assistance." */

"I concur. I have to wonder, though, if our 'friend' had anything to do with this getting dropped in our laps," James said.

/* "An interesting thought, James, though for now we should proceed as if this were merely random chance," */ Rha'an replied.

"Agreed. We'd better go see what we can do to help."

After Rhuw-Rha'an signed off, James instructed Sylvia to hail the small ship, but there was no response after several tries. When it was clear that they would not get an answer, James made an announcement.

"Attention all hands, this is the captain. A small starship of unknown origin has dropped out of hyperspace near our position. It has taken damage, apparently from weapons fire--it's currently venting plasma, losing power, and has had loss of attitude control. The ship has a single anthropoid occupant, whose health status is presently unknown. There has been no response to our hails. We are moving in to render what assistance we can. Ready the MT; Sickbay, standby to receive casualty and have warming blankets ready. Captain out."

Both ships soon caught up to the damaged vessel. While_Nightwing_ used her towing beams and thrusters to stop the small ship from tumbling out of control, the_Se'nika_ held off and kept alert for any other vessels in the area.

"MT room to bridge--ready to transport," Sonya stated.

/* "Proceed, Miss Redhill." */

Sonya initiated the transport cycle, bringing the lone occupant of the damaged starship aboard. As soon as the cycle was complete, Ivor made a quick check for possible weapons--when he gave the "thumbs up" signal, Mindy, Felix, and Læree'ahn rushed in to put the being on a grav stretcher and cover with the warming blankets. Mindy made a quick check of vitals and anatomy using her hand scanner.

"Get that oxygen started, Læree'ahn; Felix, start bringing the temperature up slowly. Let's get her to Sickbay!"

When James arrived in Sickbay, Mindy was examining the holographic diagnostic image of the alien while Læree'ahn monitored the warming process.

"How's your patient doing, Chief?" James asked.

"She appears to be okay, for the most part--a little banged up, but nothing serious. We're bringing her up to room temp, and if she's anything like most reptile life forms, she ought to start coming around soon."

"A reptile, eh? Hmm, other than the Sabiji, I don't think I've met any other reptilians. I've heard of some, but..."

Just then the alien's eyes blinked, causing James to stop in mid-sentence.

"I think she's becoming more aware of us," Mindy said quietly, deactivating the holographic display above the bio-bed.

The alien's eyes soon began blinking more regularly, and then she began to move a little. The reptilian female turned her head and looked at first Mindy, then James, and then Felix, and then longest at Læree'ahn. After blinking a few more times, the alien's eyes widened and she quickly pulled a hand out from under the warming blankets and patted around on her head. Feeling the head covering she had been wearing had slipped back some, the female quickly pulled it forward and--keeping an eye on everyone in the room--slowly began to sit up. Mindy, who was standing closest, helped her up and adjusted the warming blankets so that they covered her back.

"Alem nasin-na ohnep?" the alien female asked, slowly waving a hand around.

James took a step closer and pointing at his chest, said, "I...am..." he moved his hand to point at the four gold stripes on his shoulder tab, "...captain..." and then pointed back at his chest, and said, "James Daugherty. This..." he waved his hand, "...is my ship," pointing at his chest again.

The alien female watched carefully, cocking her head a little as she listened.

"Who are you?" James asked, indicating with his hand towards the alien female.

She looked at him and then his hand, made a small movement with her head, and then looked back up at James' face. It appeared as if she was about to say something when the Sickbay doors opened.

"Hey, Chief, would you mind taking a...look...at..." Shauna said, walking in, not realizing that the alien was already conscious. In the back of her mind she had known the alien had been brought aboard, but Shauna's mind was on other things when she walked into Sickbay.

The reptilian female quickly looked towards the double doors when they opened, and then her eyes widened at the sight of the ship's engineer walking in. What came out of the mouth of the alien female shocked everyone.

"Oyba, you look like big guy...name...I remember...Kha..., no, Cama...Cameron, that it! Showed me image of young, um, 'girl', that it? Like him, small. Not seen big guy for...long time. Maybe Dantha Station. He with female like...like_her_, different, but like," the alien said, pointing at Læree'ahn. "Nice guy. Other guy nice, too...um, what name...Or...no, not it, um...Ar...Arlan, that it. Cameron and Arlan...came from way away from here, looking for old, old stuff. Nice guys. They needed someone to show around, so they got_me_."

The alien female seemed quite proud of herself at that part of her story.

"You...you know my brother?!" Shauna asked in amazement.

"Long enough--I learn his words," the alien female said with as much of a smile as she could make. "You come look for him?"

"We only found out that he was out here somewhere when we were assigned to find something else," James replied. "So, what is_your_ name?"

"I not tell you? Um, no, maybe not," she said, looking down slightly as if in thought, but then her face brightened and she added, "Rissanivi Salnuano, that my name." She looked James up and down, blinked rapidly a few times while flicking her narrow tongue out and back in, and then smiled. "_You_call me 'Rissa', if like."

James slightly raised an eyebrow for only a second before saying, "Allow me to introduce you to my crew--this is Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Shauna Eriksson, our Engineer; this is Chief Petty Officer Mindy Sorrel, our medic; Petty Officer First Class, Ivor McElroy, our Weapons Systems Specialist; our Ship's Clerk, Petty Officer Felix Canberra and his wife, Læree'ahn."

Rissanivi touched her forehead and then bowed slightly, saying, "Nice to meet good people."

James asked, "Do you feel up to answering a few questions?"

"Um, what questions?" Rissanivi replied.

"Your ship looks like it was hit by weapons fire and there was another ship following yours closely, but it suddenly broke off and left the area. Are you in some kind of trouble?"

Rissanivi blinked and flicked her tongue out again.

"That Injokip, he not happy--misunderstanding at game of_haflip_on Penorazh, um...two? Two...two, um, what your word...ya..., no, year, that it, two year ago. His people saw me on Yanbin, made stink, had to leave. They chased here, but made lucky hit--took out power node. Main drive was quitting and heat went out. Don't know what happened after," she explained. Rissanivi's eyes widened and she asked, "You not work for Injokip, do you?"

"No...we don't know anybody in this part of the galaxy," James replied.

Rissanivi visibly relaxed a moment, and then she perked up.

"You know me!"

"We just met..." James started to say.

"Big gal sister to old friend--close enough for me. We friends now!"

Rissanivi started to hop off the bio-bed, but stopped a moment, looked under the warming blankets at herself, and then touched the top of her head. Satisfied that her hood was still in place, she quickly slipped off the bio-bed and removed the blankets.

"These nice and warm--may come back and take nap later. Um...thank you for care. Need to fix ship, but...um, need eat first," Rissanivi said the last looking hopeful.

"Chief?" James asked, looking at Mindy.

"She seems okay, as far as I can tell."

James nodded his head once, and holding his hand out, said to Rissanivi, "If you'll come with me, we'll see what we can find for you."

Rissanivi smiled and wrapped her arm around his. James glanced at Ivor, who slightly nodded his head once, and then the three of them started to head to the crew's mess, with Shauna moving to tag along.

Before they got out the door, Mindy called out, "You wanted to see me about something, Miss Eriksson?"

"Huh? Oh, it's probably nothin'...just busted a knuckle on some machinery."

"Well, come over here and let me take a look at it," Mindy said, grabbing her hand scanner.

Shauna looked at James, who sent to her, "Might as well let Mindy check it out--that's what you came in here for. We'll wait."

"Okay, thanks, James."

A little while later in the crew's mess, James handed Rissanivi a bowl and a spoon.

"Here you go, beef vegetable soup--that should warm up your insides."

Rissanivi flicked her tongue over it several times before tasting some. She closed her eyes and smiled a little, before diving in.

She said something quietly in her own language and then said happily to James, "Good stuff, I_like_!"

"I'm glad that you're enjoying it." Looking to Shauna he asked, "You want to go over to her ship to see what can be fixed?"

"Yeah, I can do that. I'll take fifty-eight thirty-six over with me," Shauna replied, referring to the ship's repair bot.

"Take Moira with you, too."

Shauna looked questioningly at James for a moment, and then said, "Okay."

Lifting his face towards one of the video pickups in the crew's mess, James raised the level of his voice a bit and asked, "Moira, what is the current temperature inside Rissanivi's ship?"

/* "It is currently at minus eleven point three degrees C. It continues to slowly drop due to environmental system damage." */

"Thank you, Moira. Shauna and SRB-5836 will be going over to see what can be fixed. I would like for you to send your avatar over to assist when they go."

/* "As you wish, James. Anything else?" */

"That's it for now, luv." Looking back at Rissanivi, and speaking in a more conversational tone, James said, "It's going to be too cold for you to go back to your ship without protection. We may have an environment suit that would fit you, so you'll be able to keep warm until we can get your environmental system repaired."

Rissanivi looked up from her bowl of soup in surprise and asked, "You fix ship for me? What you want for work?"

"I'll see what I can do after I take a close look at the damage, if you don't mind us going over to your ship," Shauna replied.

"Oh, sure. Um, might be...mess? Got tossed around some--Injokip was rude, fired...what you call 'fssss...boom!'?" she asked, using her hands to indicate an object flying through space and exploding.

"He fired missiles at you?" James asked, glancing at Shauna.

"'Missiles'...hmm, might be what call them. Like said, Injokip rude dude, think he took too far. Sore_loser_..."

"Now I know you've been around my brother! That's just the sort of thing he'd say!" Shauna exclaimed.

"Told you I was, got image to show when get over to ship!"

"You have a picture of my brother?" Shauna asked, dripping her jaw in disbelief.

"Pic-tur...picture, image...um, same thing...yup, got picture image, me and Cameron and his female lady...Arlan guy, too. Used delay to get all in together. Fun people, we had good time...miss them," Rissanivi replied, saying the last quietly, looking down for a moment in reflection.

"Did something happen to them?" James asked, touching Rissanivi's arm.

"Oh...um, they went somewhere with another guy. Something about other guy made feel...odd? Strange? Um, something like that. Things happened when other guy was around."

"What kind of things, Rissa?" James asked, causing her to perk up a little at hearing him call her by her short name.

"Was at Kheraht getting drinks when Fahrami fight-for-pay guys come. They bad dudes, make everyone nervous. They see big guy's female lady, started messing with her, Cameron told to back off, almost got into fight, but other guy said something from corner and all got quiet. Corner was dark, but his eyes...ooo, creep me out! He made deep sound in throat--Fahrami got_scared_! Never seen them afraid before! They_ran_! Got out quick, never came back. Other guy say something quiet like and all went back as was, but I remember! Other guy was, um, pilot, took big guy and friends to old, old, out of way places where no one go. He nice, but could be scary. Knew lot more about things than made think. When he look at you, made feel like...he look_in_ you!"

James, Shauna, and Ivor listened carefully to the story that Rissanivi told.

"Do you remember what this other guy's name was? Do you think you could recognize him if you saw him again?" James asked.

"Um, name...name was...hmm, don't remember, but he..." The door to the crew's mess opened and Tanya walked in with her coffee mug for a refill. Upon seeing her, Rissanivi inhaled sharply in a way that sounded like a hiss, and then she clung tightly to James' arm and pointed. "...Looked like_that_! Oyba-len, another one!"

The commotion made by Rissanivi grabbed Tanya's attention in a way that caused her to look sharply for a moment in their direction--it was just long enough to make the reptilian very nervous.

"Take it easy, there's no need to be afraid," James said in a soothing voice. "Tanya, this is Rissanivi Salnuano, the pilot we rescued. Rissanivi, this is Commander Tanya Dvoretsky, my Executive Officer and Navigator. She's also my mate."

Tanya quickly eased her expression and held a hand up to give a little wave.

"Good to see that you are still among the living."

Rissanivi pulled away some from James and asked in a measure of awe and disbelief, "You mate of...of...old, old,old one?!"

James looked at Rissanivi as if she had suddenly lost her marbles, and Tanya was about to say something, though Shauna beat her to the punch.

"I think she's confusing Tanya with that guy in the picture Cameron sent home. Moira, would you access my personal files and display that wolf guy that was with my brother on that dig out near NGC-2359? The whole photo, please."

/* "As you wish, Shauna. One moment..." */

The lights in the crew's mess dimmed to thirty percent brightness and the holographic projection system came online. The image formed, showing Cameron Eriksson, Sy'k'rell Hauvri'ahn, Arlan Schneider, and some others on the dig team, plus the strange male that looked like a wolf G.E.L.F.. Shauna got up and went to the image.

"This guy here...is_he_ the one you were telling us about?"

Rissanivi grew excited, forgetting about Tanya for the moment.

"That him! That him!"

Shauna glanced at James and Tanya before looking back at Rissanivi.

"We don't know who this guy is, but we're pretty sure he's not a G.E.L.F."

"A who?" Rissanivi asked, looking confused.

"A G.E.L.F.--that's what Commander Dvoretsky, myself, and Petty Officer McElroy are. Our ancestors were genetically engineered from four-footed animals by humans over five hundred of our years ago, but we still call ourselves G.E.L.F.s even though we were born normally," Shauna explained.

"I'm what we call a 'near human'--I'm mostly human, but I have some wolf in me. Tanya is a wolf G.E.L.F., just like my mother is," James added.

Rissanivi looked around at the others, tilting her head to one side or the other, blinking her eyes and flicking her tongue.

"But..._that_guy look like you..." she said to Tanya.

"He's nearly as tall as my brother--no wolf G.E.L.F. on our world is anywhere near that tall," Shauna said.

"That, and I can pick out some other things that make him not one of my kind," Tanya added.

Rissanivi thought about what she had been told, then decided to get up from her seat and walk over to the holo-image. She stood there for nearly a minute, studying it carefully.

Softly she said, "I help sister find you, Big C--you and your female lady, and your other friend, too." Rissanivi didn't realize that everyone in the crew's mess heard her, though it wouldn't have mattered if she knew. She turned enough to look at Shauna and said, "We fix ship then I help find your brother. You need person who know places and others who see and hear things. I been all over--do here, do there, where to stay away, where to go. Some say old, old,_old_ones still come and go." Facing James, Rissanivi added, "I take where. Deal for fixing ship?"

James looked first to Tanya and then to Shauna--both nodded their head once. Rising from his seat, James went over to stand in front of Rissanivi and held his hand out to her.

"Deal."

Rissanivi smiled and grasped his forearm.

"We go fix ship."

* * * * *

It was discovered that none of the environment suits on_Nightwing_ fit Rissanivi well enough to allow her to work effectively, so it was decided that SRB-5836 would go over to her ship by himself to retrieve one of her thermal suits and a breather mask.

"Hey, little guy, looks like you get to go on an EVA mission all by yourself over to that alien ship. I bet you haven't got to do_that_ before," Sonya told the bot in the MT Room.

"Weeoo."

"Oh, don't be a wuss, you'll be okay. I'll keep a lock on you the whole time, ready to yank your little metal butt back here, how's that?"

"ooOOoo."

"Lighten up, dude, nothing's moving over there. Besides, you have your plasma torch and beam cutter, so it's not like you're unarmed. Hey, maybe McElroy and I could make a mini pulse gun for you...ya think?"

"Braaap!"

"Why not?"

"Dwee-boo-er-er-er-WA-eeee!"

Sonya crossed her arms and gave 5836 a sarcastic look.

"Wuss."

"OOoo-edo-braaap!"

"Yeah, whatever. Get your butt on a pad so I can send ya over."

"wooOOoo."

"Hey, turn your heater up...it's going to be frosty over there. I'm reading minus twenty-two C in the main cabin."

"WEEooo."

Sonya waited for SRB-5836 to get positioned on a transport pad. When the bot was ready she said, "See ya in a little bit..." and then she initiated the transport cycle.

When materialization was complete, SRB-5836 initiated contact with Moira and turned on his work light. Once the data link was established, he sent the input from his sensors back to Moira, who then put it on the bridge's main display. Rissanivi was fascinated by what the bot was able to do, watching as Moira guided SRB-5836 using her directions. At this point, Rissanivi thought that Moira was a flesh and blood person who must be in some other part of the ship, and that_Nightwing_ was a much larger ship that could easily be seen, causing her pursuers to run away. Her preconceptions would soon change.

When SRB-5836 was brought back after finding one of Rissanivi's thermal suits and breather mask that were stored in a duffle bag in a locker, she was allowed to change somewhere in private. The form-fitting suit covered her entire body, including tail. It could be worn alone or inside an environment suit, and the breather mask was connected to a small unit that filtered and warmed the air being inhaled. Since the inner hull had not been breached, the atmosphere was still contained, though with the environmental system offline, the air temperature had been dropping. Ivor walked Rissanivi to the MT Room where she met Shauna in her environment suit, SRB-5836, and a new female she had not met yet.

"Ooo, who you?"

/* "This is my android avatar, Rissanivi. She is the physical extension of me." */

"Um, a who?"

Shauna chuckled and explained to Rissanivi, "Moira is an A.I. entity--she exists in the ship's computer. This is an android, a machine that--in her case--looks human. This allows Moira to directly interact with us. It's easier to just think they're one and the same."

"I have the same personality matrix as the part of me that is the ship, and I am in constant contact with the ship's computer. I do have my own memory, and I have the ability to function independently from the ship part of me," Moira's avatar said.

Rissanivi blinked rapidly while looking at the android.

"You, um...not real person?"

"In the Sol Federation of Worlds, where we are from, A.I. entities are considered to be 'real' people and we enjoy the same rights and responsibilities as all other citizens. As the G.E.L.F.s had done before us, we A.I. entities have chosen collectively to stand with the biological life forms as equals, even though is some ways we are superior, such as the speed in which we process information. The G.E.L.F.s themselves often have traits that are superior to humans and certain other species, though intellectually they are on the same level. Humans created the first G.E.L.F.s, and both humans and G.E.L.F.s working together created the A.I. entities, and now we all live and work together," Moira explained.

Rissanivi rubbed the sides of her head a moment and said, "Furry people, not furry people, people who are machines...oyba, what next, old, old, old ones?"

"If you mean the First Ones, I'm pretty sure they're still around," Shauna said.

Rissanivi froze for a moment and blinked.

"No tell me..."

"C'mon, let's get over to your ship--I'll tell you about it while we're checking things out," Shauna said.

"Oyba, think I need nice warm pool after this!"

* * * * *

"So, you see, that's why we think that strange ship, or whatever it really is, belongs to those First Ones."

Shauna had been explaining to Rissanivi while figuring out what was wrong with the environmental system. Their first priority was to get the interior of the ship heated back up to something tolerable. SRB-5836 had been working on removing the power node with the help of Moira's android avatar. There was no two ways about it--the damaged unit would have to be taken back to_Nightwing_ to so that a replacement could be created. Thankfully, Moira was able to find technical schematics in the small ship's computer so that the SRBs could build a new one. After further tinkering and jerry-rigging, Shauna plugged the power connector back in and a satisfying blast of warm air began to come out of the air vents.

"Oyba, you made work again!" Rissanivi said excitedly, giving the engineer a hug.

"We'll have to keep an eye on it--I'm not sure how long it'll last, but it'll hold for now. Once we get that power node built and installed, and get that plasma leak patched, I'll see about making some permanent repairs to your environmental system. As long as we keep everything in a low power mode for now, I think the ship will stay warm enough without blowing anything else out. Let's go see how fifty-eight thirty-six and Moira are coming along with getting that node removed."

Rissanivi agreed and the two started heading aft. Shauna found the inside of the ship a bit on the confining side, having to keep her head low and turn her shoulders sideways while ducking through doorways. Rissanivi, on the other hand, moved with practiced grace through her ship, which in a way surprised Shauna.

"She sure doesn't move like any reptile_I've _seen before," the engineer thought to herself as she followed along behind.

* * * * *

R'arena sat still as she watched the star system before her from the vantage point she had chosen, just enough out of phase so as to not be noticed by the primary world's inhabitants. She waited patiently for another of her kind to arrive. If they could have seen her, mere mortals might have wondered why she was in a sitting position, for after all, she was in open space and not on anything that would be considered solid. However, the underlying layer beneath space-time could be as firm as any material surface, if one only knew its properties, and R'arena most certainly did. She also knew how to get through it--all of her kind did. And so did their makers.

R'arena did not have to wait long for her friend to arrive--an eon, a blink of an eye, it didn't matter to one such as her. Time meant nothing--how could it for one who had existed long before the current universe she was in had come into existence? R'arena twitched an ear--she heard the howl of her friend. Char'ena was coming. R'arena looked at the system's primary world closely one more time--the locals were stirred up like insects whose nest had been disturbed. Dimly, she might have remembered insects, once, long ago and far away, long before she came to be as she was now--if she had bothered to think of such things. She had bonded with the one who became her mistress, and had accepted to become what she is now, of her own choice. She still ran wild and free, though instead of the forests and mountains of her ancient home of Ayoo-t'ahna Nal-Zhidôr, she ran among the stars of the multiverse and beyond...and she had many friends. R'arena was not alone in her watch, for her mistress was with her. Sa'leh would let her run and play with her friends when she wasn't needed, though at this particular juncture of time and place, she was. R'arena didn't mind, time didn't mean anything to her...but to the mortals on the world she watched, time was most certainly important, and it was running out.

Space seemed to give way as a great rainbow-hued shape streaked out from Otherspace, though only those who could_see_ would have noticed. The streak ended near R'arena, a respectful distance away, and it gathered itself together and coalesced into the form of her friend. Char'ena trotted over to R'arena and the two exchanged their greetings, and then Char'ena sat down beside her, and they both looked towards the world.

"So, do_they _know yet?" Char'ena asked, indicating the world they were watching.

"They do, and they will put up a fight, but they will be outnumbered."

"Are any other of the Younger Races heeding their call?"

R'arena shook her head.

"That is sad," Char'ena said.

"It is," R'arena agreed. "Some of our friends are coming, though."

Char'ena perked her ears up and asked, "Who?"

"Ær'dan, Mah'rena, Wae'nya, and H'win," R'arena replied.

Char'ena thought for a moment and then said, "Our First Ones expect big trouble, then."

"Followers of the Dark Ones, I think."

"Mistress had me stop those Nekharns who thought to use broken gateway. Would have been bad for those nice Younger Ones."

"What of our new friends?" R'arena asked.

"We made sure they come. Made sure they heard me call to you. They will be along. Mistress Naoia thinks they are nearly ready."

"We take them to homeplace?" R'arena asked, cocking her head a little to one side.

"The Eldest wishes them to see."

R'arena looked over her shoulder and peered off into the distance for few moments, in the direction her friend had come.

"Should be interesting."

* * * * *

While the SRBs were working on building a new power node for Rissanivi's ship, Shauna prepared herself as best as she could for the one thing she quite strongly disliked--an EVA. In order to fix the damaged plasma conduit, it required accessing it from the outside of the ship, which would also allow for a close inspection of the damage. James maneuvered_Nightwing_ close to Rissanivi's ship, and then Sylvia suited up and joined Shauna at the starboard airlock. Sylvia had no qualms about being in open space--her bat heritage gave her an edge most couldn't understand. Flying was still in her blood, even though she did not have the wings of the ancestral true bats her kind had been derived from.

"I _hate_floating," Shauna groaned just before sealing her helmet.

"It's no different than swimming, Miss Eriksson," Sylvia said nonchalantly while checking Shauna's suit and connections.

"Same difference."

"I thought you liked going to the beach."

Shauna shot a look at Sylvia, wondering if she might have found out about the incident with James in the Crimea.

"I don't swim, I go wading. I like to keep my feet on solid ground, thank you very much."

Sylvia gave Shauna two quick pats on her helmet to signify that her suit was in proper order.

"You have a nice clear view of everything around you out there--no jellyfish, sea urchins, or sharks to worry about."

"But if a little speck of space rock were to come zipping along, you'd never see it coming...so what's your point?"

Sylvia gave Shauna a "seriously?" look and said matter-of-factly, "We're inside the shields."

"I still_hate_ floating."

Sylvia slowly shook her head and extended the docking tube which would shorten the distance between the two ships.

After Shauna finished checking Sylvia over and giving her two pats on the helmet, she said, "Air check."

They proceeded through the checklist, making sure everything in their suits was in working order. After sealing their visors and pressurizing, Shauna announced they were ready.

"Bridge, Eriksson. We're ready to egress. Entering starboard airlock."

/* "Donnelson here, understood. Captain says you're clear for EVA," */ Lilly acknowledged, filling in at the Communications station on the bridge.

"Hey, tell 'Miss Kitty' to keep a transport lock on in case anything happens--I do_not_want to go floatin' off to who knows where!"

With a hint of amusement in her voice, Lilly responded, /* "Lieutenant Cha'rhu'ez said she'd be more than happy to come get you." */ In a softer, more suggestive tone, mimicking James' accent, Lilly added, /* "Or, would ya be wantin' Johnny-boy to come fer ya?" */

Sylvia tried really hard not to laugh out loud at Lilly's question.

"Just...just tell Redhill to keep that damn MT warmed up. Eriksson out!"

Shauna punched the control to shut the inner airlock door; as it was closing, she looked at Sylvia and said, jabbing a finger for emphasis, "Not a word."

Sylvia held her hands up in mock submission and laughed anyway.

"I've got the tool kit," Sylvia announced when the outer airlock door opened.

They walked to the end of the extended boarding tube and looked out--Rissanivi's ship was approximately nine meters away.

"Ah, piece of cake...I can do that without using the thrusters," Sylvia said, launching herself off the end of the boarding tube and doing a half flip so that she would make contact feet first.

"Show off..." Shauna muttered.

Swallowing hard, she hesitantly stepped off the end of the boarding tube. Focusing on the damaged portion of Rissanivi's ship, Shauna gave her suit's thrusters a short puff and started moving towards it.

"I can do this...slow and easy, don't want to hit too hard and bounce off..."

Sylvia casually watched the engineer slowly make her way across the short distance. Remembering the incident in the Engine Room when the ship had lost gravity during the shakedown cruise, Sylvia refrained from making any snide comments. Instead, she held out her hand and when Shauna was within reach, she grabbed hold and eased the Clydesdale to the hull so that her boots could take hold. Once Shauna had firm contact, Sylvia attached their tethers to the ship's hull.

Looking at the damaged section, Sylvia commented, "Good thing that missile didn't go off any closer, otherwise it probably would have damaged the pressure hull."

Shauna looked down at the damaged section, and then glanced around to see if there was any other damage.

"Got some shrapnel damage scattered around. These plates should be taken off and a thorough inspection made underneath them."

"Not something_we_ can do out here," Sylvia commented.

"Nope, this tub needs some yard service, or a tender at least. I'll see what I can do about that plasma conduit, though. Hey, would ya mind taking some pictures of the minor damage while I'm poking around on this?"

"On it. Be careful poking around in there."

Shauna looked questioningly at Sylvia for a moment, and then turned to the work at hand.

While documenting the minor damage on the outer hull of Rissanivi's ship, Sylvia saw something that at first looked like a piece of debris from whatever missile had been fired at the ship. When she zoomed the camera in on it and got a good close view, Sylvia pulled out her hand scanner and took passive readings at first, and then, cautiously, an active scan.

"Miss Eriksson, stop what you're doing until I get over there."

"Huh? Why?"

"I just found a submunition embedded in one of the hull plates--it's active."

It took a moment for that to sink into Shauna's mind; when it did, she immediately pulled her hands out of the hole, slowly.

"What activates it, can you tell?"

"Might be a delay of some kind. It's got power, though I can't tell if it has any other triggers. It seems to be a focused charge--if it goes off, it'll definitely blow through the hull."

"Bastards."

"That might be why they didn't stick around," Sylvia suggested.

"Pepper the ship with their little play toys to finish the job later when it's least expected," Shauna said with a derisive snort.

Sylvia carefully floated into position near the hole in the outer hull, while Shauna moved back out of the way. Looking carefully, Sylvia checked the entire hole.

"Damn."

"What?"

"Found another one. It ripped through that plasma conduit--she's lucky it didn't go off. Damned lucky."

"Can you remove it," Shauna asked, shuddering a bit at the thought of being so close to a live unexploded round.

"Let me see what's holding it. Um...you might want to move a little further away. Slowly."

"Don't need to tell_me_ twice...things that go 'boom' are your department, girly."

Sylvia concentrated on the dangerous task of trying to clear parts of the ship away from the live ordinance. She worked slow and meticulously, keeping in mind that she had no idea if or when it might decide to go off. It took nearly an hour of tedious, exacting work.

"Stewert to_Nightwing_."

/* "Donnelson here, what's up?" */

"I need the captain--we have a situation over here."

/* "That doesn't sound good. Just a sec..." */

/* "What's the problem, Syl?" */ James asked, sounding rather concerned.

"That missile deposited some submunitions in the hull over here. Near as I can tell, they may be on a timer. They're definitely live...and they're focused charges."

James didn't like the sound of that.

/* "Like shaped charges?" */

"Affirmative, only these are focused plasma charges--they may go in one side and out the other, taking anything in between with them."

/* "Can you render them inert?" */

"Maybe, if I could do a close detailed scan--provided it doesn't trigger them."

/* "Can they be safely removed?" */

"Working on that. I've got everything cleared away from this one, though it's unknown what safeguards it might have, if any."

/* "Standby, I'll call over to the_Se'nika _and see if they can help." */

"Roger that, sir. Standing by."

A few minutes later...

/* "Syl, Tres-Sal'an is suiting up to join you--she might have something that can safely extract those devices. She'll contact you when she's about to join you." */

"Understood. Stewert out."

"So now we wait," Shauna said.

"I'm curious to find out what kind of nifty little trick she's got up her sleeve," Sylvia said, pulling back a bit.

Twenty minutes later...

"Sylvia, Sal'an here--I will relocate to your position momentarily."

"Tres-Sal'an is on her..."

Before Sylvia could finish her sentence, the_Se'nika_'s equivalent of a weapons officer appeared in a blink of an eye.

"...way here."

"Jeezers!" Shauna exclaimed, startled by the sudden appearance of the Mûr Tua'ansa female.

It was the first time either of them had seen one of their spacesuits--it was nearly as intimidating as the armor of the Imperial Guards they had seen on Mûr Zhæn.

"Show me the device," Sal'an instructed.

Sylvia switched on her work light and moved up to the hole, pointing the light at the munition device.

Reaching her gloved hand into the hole, Sal'an held it near the device but did not touch it. Sylvia was close enough to see data flowing over a Heads Up Display within Sal'an's helmet--apparently, the glove was constructed with a scanner built into it.

After a few moments, she sent, "You are correct, this is a focused plasma weapon, and it is armed. It has a timing circuit that is programmed to count from a randomly generated starting point after impact. This is actively counting down, though I can suspend it long enough to safely remove it."

"Suspend it...how?" Sylvia sent back.

Sal'an opened a pouch on her suit and three blinking devices approximately the size of a Terran invertebrate known as a sand dollar floated out under her telekinetic ability. She moved them into place on the explosive device as close to equidistant from each other as possible, and then touched a button on her glove. There was a brief shimmer around the munition and she scanned it again.

"The device has been successfully secured within a stasis field--it cannot detonate now, though the field's power will not last long. I will remove the object and send it a safe distance--pointing_away _from us, of course."

"Did you get that, Miss Eriksson?"

"Yeah. I'm impressed."

Tres-Sal'an, again using her telekinetic ability, pulled the device free from the ship, and then sent it quite some distance away. She deactivated the three emitters and pulled them back towards her.

"You have found one other, yes?"

"I'll show you where it's at. It's stuck in the hull over there."

Sylvia led Sal'an to the other device, and the action was repeated again, sending it out next to the other one.

"We should look for others while we are here," Sal'an suggested.

"Hey, is it safe for me to work over here?" Shauna sent to Sal'an.

"Yes."

"Well, let's see how much of a pain in the tail it's going to be to fix this damn plasma conduit..." Shauna muttered to herself.

"Did you say something, Miss Eriksson?" Sylvia asked.

"Nah, just thinking out loud to myself."

"Copy that."

Sylvia and Sal'an found no other devices on the top of Rissanivi's ship, though they found where one apparently had grazed the bottom part of the hull. It had hit at too shallow of an angle to embed itself, and had been deflected. It was still somewhere in hyperspace, most likely. After their search was complete, the two rejoined Shauna.

"Think you can fix it?" Sylvia asked, looking into the hole.

"Yeah, I just need to remove this segment--I've got one end of it loose, but I think I need to pull this plate off to get to the other end; I thought I saw another junction under there."

It took some doing to release two sections of the hull plating--the damaged one, and the one next to it so that the other end of the conduit segment could be uncoupled.

Once that was done, Shauna said, "We need to get these plates in the ship--I'll work on patching the hole in the hanger bay where it'll be easier to get them in and out."

"We can strap them together, along with that section of conduit, and move them to the hanger bay using our thrusters. You two stay on either side to guide while I'll push with mine," Sylvia sent to both.

"Are you sure your suit is capable, Sylvia?" Sal'an asked.

"I've made jumps from an altitude of fifteen klicks carrying full combat gear and landed with these, so, yeah, I think I can push a couple of hull plates to the aft end of the ship," Sylvia replied.

"'Klicks'? I am not familiar with that term." Sal'an said.

"It's an old military term for kilometers," Sylvia replied.

"Ah, what you call a 'slang' word, yes?"

"Yeah."

"I shall endeavor to remember that."

"Damn, Stewert,fifteen? That's insane!" Shauna exclaimed.

"It's was at night."

"Now I_know_ you're nuts!"

"We went through a storm cloud."

"That_is unhinged! For what purpose would one_ do such a thing?" Sal'an asked incredulously.

"Take out a R'Hinsi forward listening post."

"Why didn't Fleet just nuke it from orbit?"

"Because it was hidden in a mountain and they didn't want to take out the indigenous population around it by leaving a crater where the mountain used to be," Sylvia replied.

"Oh," Shauna said.

"The storm hid us from their surveillance system, so we could get on the mountain undetected."

"Would it not have been less risky to arrive some distance away and scale the mountain?" Sal'an asked.

"To a point, yeah, but it would take longer, and we would have to get through the populated area without being seen. There was the added risk of informants, spies, and sensor nets, too. Dropping from high up through a storm at night, cut down our infiltration time and eliminated at lot of chances of being discovered. Once the listening post was taken out they were sensor blind, which allowed one of our ships to make a quick jump in, transport us up, and then get out before any of their big warships could intercept," Sylvia explained.

"That would have been much easier if you had our ability to relocate ourselves," Sal'an observed.

"Being able to teleport? Sure would, but since we don't have that ability, we do what we can with what we have," Sylvia agreed.

"That would_really_ make you Fleet Special Warfare types scary if you had their ability to teleport!" Shauna exclaimed.

Sylvia grinned.

"I suppose our Mûr Tua'ansa friends have the corner on_that_ market."

"If I understand your meaning, Sylvia, I would be inclined to agree."

The three wrangled the hull plates and section of plasma conduit towards the hanger bay doors. Just as they were about to go around the starboard Field Emitter Pod, a flash of light caught their attention. They turned to look just in time to see a second flash. Given the shape and length of the plasma discharge from each device, if they had still been embedded in the hull of Rissanivi's ship, the damage would have been catastrophic.

"Jeezers, good thing we found those puppies in time and got them off the ship," Sylvia said quietly.

"It's a good thing we found Rissanivi,period," Shauna added.

"She is most fortunate, indeed."

* * * * *

"Found_what_?!" Rissanivi asked in shock later, when Sylvia showed the images of the explosive devices that were embedded in her ship's hull.

"I'm glad you had something that could safely remove those devices from her ship, Sal'an," James said.

"While I may not believe as strongly as some, I cannot shake the feeling that we are meant to be on this path for some purpose. Tal'an is certain of it," Sal'an sent.

James thought for a moment and then said, "It's beginning to look that way, doesn't it? Well, if we are, then I guess the only way to find out is to keep pushing on. Rissa, my engineer says she can get your ship patched up enough so that you can get someplace for permanent repairs. Is there a place you do business with, as far as maintenance and repairs?"

"Um, sure...Esba'in, was headed there when Injokip jumped me. Not far. Hey, if he there, I make complaint!"

"If he shoots at either of_our_ ships, he's going to get his butt kicked. Hard," James said firmly.

"It definitely would_not _be wise for this Injokip to place himself in my_sights_," Sal'an seconded.

Shauna and the SRBs made as many repairs as they could to Rissanivi's ship, enough so that she could get underway again. They headed towards the planet known as Esba'in, where their new guide insisted there were quality repair and entertainment facilities. They were heading in the general direction of the trail left by The Heart, so it would not be an out of the way stop over--something the two crews were looking forward to.

* * * * *

Unseen by the inhabitants of Esba'in, six "beast ships" of the First Ones sat together, watching and waiting. Char'ena, R'arena, Mah'rena, and Wae'nya sat together in the middle with Ær'dan and big H'win on the ends. R'arena and Mah'rena were, like Char'ena, in the shape of wolves; Wae'nya, who they had not seen for a time, had the shape of a sleek playful creature that might have been at home on a water planet, though she now swam the vast oceans of space;Ær'dan's form was that of a bird of prey--swift and unmatched in his ability to see into dark places; and then there was H'win. The largest of the six, and strongest, whose shape resembled that of a bear.

"The Dark Ones will be here soon," Ær'dan said quietly, peering off into the distance.

"Will our young new friends be on their way before They come?" Char'ena asked.

"If they do not stray or delay more than necessary, they should be able to do what they need and be gone," Ær'dan replied.

Six large swirling balls of light formed in front of the "beast ships", each with a vague form in its center and pair of blazing eyes. Shortly, a seventh appeared, prompting the six sentient vessels to bow their heads in respect. This one was the Eldest among the First Ones, known as L'saren Fey-sel'ena, though she had other names.

"Dear ones, the time is coming when we must openly walk these worlds once more. The minions of the Dark Bloods are growing bolder, and they are coming for this world."

"Why this one, Eldest Mistress?" H'win asked in his rumbling voice.

"As worlds go, it is like many others--it is not what it has or who lives upon it now, but who had once used it before this Younger Race came to be. From here they will seek to strike more and more of the worlds we have guided in this galaxy--corrupting them if they can, destroying if they cannot. Here we shall test their resolve to push in this direction."

"What of those Elder Races who once called this area home? Will they choose to return?" Naoia asked.

"Some have indicated that they will, others are still uncertain. Some do not understand why we continue to care for these worlds," L'saren replied.

"So, they are still full of themselves," Sa'leh stated with a bit of sarcasm. "Just because they evolved a bit more than the Younger Races, they think they're better than everyone."

"There are those, yes, but not all are so. The ones who still call themselves the Theronesians have agreed to return. They have not forgotten the trouble the Dark Bloods gave them in their youth," L'saren agreed.

"Those Dark Bloods have been a pain in our tails far too long," said Chy'aran Næru, the First One who was before the sleek Wae'nya. "At least the Mûr Tua'ansa are taking steps to drive the last remnants of the minions from their world--with a little help, of course."

"A'aleen and A'amahi have been keeping their eyes on the warrior and her friends--she is already on the path to become more than what she has been due to the Terran's influence," L'saren said.

"What of A'amahi's plan for those two worlds?" Naoia asked.

"I have confidence that she will find a way to create the bridge between them," L'saren replied.

"Our new friends are on their way here, Mistress," Char'ena announced.

"Wonderful! They_are _a resourceful lot." When L'saren inquired of them, Naoia replied, "They have proven themselves to be caring towards others and able to solve puzzles. I have no doubt that The Heart will call to them soon."

L'saren looked away for a bit in the direction of the approaching ships, thought for a moment, and then said,"We shall be awaiting them."

And with that, the First One named L'saren Fey-sel'ena, returned to the distant hidden world of Y'Nahra.

* * * * *

Meyleh learned Terran Standard English with the help of Zhir-Chi'an while she and Hfel-Sri'an were on_Nightwing_ helping Zach and Carmen work on modifying the sensor system to increase its sensitivity. Everyone had to give both Meyleh and Elí credit for trying hard not to panic as easily as they first did. The two Fansq females proved to have voracious appetites for learning whatever they could, and tackled their studies with enthusiasm.

One day while inspecting his ship, James stopped to poke his head into the space that had been converted into a hydroponics area and was amazed by what he saw. Elí was tending the plants and testing the chemistry of the nutrient system when James opened the door to look in.

"Jeezers, will you look at_that_..." James said quietly to himself as he saw how the plants had grown.

Elí heard the door open and came around from behind one of the racks that stretched from deck to overhead.

"Captain! Come, come, let me show you what Meyleh and I have done!" she said enthusiastically.

Taking James by the hand, she walked him between two of the racks holding several varieties of exotic plants. She led him to the end section of one of the racks and waved her free hand towards a veritable wall of green, punctuated here and there with little white flowers...and distinctive red fruit.

"Try one! Here, this one is ready..." she said excitedly, plucking one of the small fruits and holding it up to his mouth.

James looked at the plants, at the fruit, and then at Elí, awed by what he saw.

"How did you...strawberries!"

Elí smiled broadly and said, "Try!"

James bit into the offered strawberry--it was the size of a commercially grown strawberry, but the taste...

"That...is just like...a_wild_ strawberry!"

James closed his eyes for a moment while he savored the sweet, juicy, and flavorful berry.

"You like?" Elí asked, giving her short tail a few quick wags.

"Mmm...that's...fantastic! My cousin Yasmin grows some for restaurants, but they're not like these. I didn't know we even_had_ any strawberry seeds onboard. Where did you find some at?"

Elí blushed slightly and replied, "There were some in the frozen compartment and we coaxed the seeds to grow. We were afraid they had been frozen too hard, too long, but some still had life in them and..." she looked admiringly at the plants, "...they grew. Moira was kind and told us everything we needed to know about them." Elí looked shyly at James and added, "I am happy you like them. Meyleh will be pleased, too."

"You did good, Elí--both of you. These will make a nice special treat at dinner every once in a while." James looked at the plants again and added quietly, "Strawberries...never would've guessed."

Elí, holding her hands to her sides, stepped closer to James and gently pressed her forehead against his chest. Not knowing quite what to do, James put his arms around Elí's shoulders and held her lightly, giving a few soft pats on her back. After several seconds, Elí looked up--her thick, wavy, magenta colored hair hung down and covered most of the right half of her face, giving her exotic alien appearance a classy, come-hither look. Well, for a human it would be, but Elí was not human, and James had no way of knowing what she might be thinking.

"I'm impressed with the excellent job you and Meyleh have done in here with all of these plants. Miss Eriksson says that they have been helping to take some of the strain off of the air recycling system, which is a good thing." James paused for a moment and added, "Well, I need to continue with my inspection of the ship. I will see you at dinner?"

Elí smiled, closing her eyes briefly, and then gave James the same look again as before.

"I will be there."

* * * * *

"Hey, ya ready to go eat?" Lilly asked, coming up behind James while he was sitting at his desk working on a mission update report to send back to Fleet Command. She started rubbing his shoulders, causing him to set his PAD down and lean forward a bit.

"That feels good, Lil," James said, closing his eyes and letting Lilly work on loosening up his muscles.

"Remember than time when me and Daff[5]worked you over after you cleared out a bunch of brush with our dads?"

"Mmm...how could I forget_that_? There's nothing like having a couple of skunk gals giving you a full body massage after a hot shower..."

"Ya, and the mead was good that season, too," Lilly added with a sly grin.

"By the time you two got to working on me, I was pretty much in la-la land...until somebody started to get a little frisky."

"Ya, well, I don't remember you ever complainin' about it," Lilly said, kissing James on the neck.

"Thought you wanted to go eat...?"

"Oh, I'm just loosenin' ya up for desert..." Lilly replied suggestively.

"Before or after dinner?"

Lilly's innards decided to answer for her by gurgling a little.

"Um, I guess we'd better make that_after_ dinner," she said, slightly embarrassed by the timing.

James picked up his PAD and saved his report, and then put the device back in its stand.

Standing up, he put his arms around Lilly and held her close.

"I guess we'd better go eat, then. What are we having tonight?"

Lilly thought for a moment and replied, "Um...I'm not sure. I think Miss Thavi was going to make somethin'...forgot what it was."

James chuckled a little.

"Probably something nobody can pronounce and takes up twenty pages of paper to write out."

"She's a corker, though--some of those jokes she tells, and...those_expressions_! Jeezers, I haven't laughed that hard since Poppy forgot to put the top on that ol' blender and punched the button right when you walked in that time back when we were in high school. She was too busy gawkin' and stuff went all over!"

"Yeah, I remember!" James laughed. "Aunt Bella just shook her head and walked off, leaving us to clean up. Poppy's fur sure was a sticky mess. What the heck was she making, anyway?"

"A fruit smoothie, I think," Lilly said, thinking on it.

James and Lilly laughed about the incident as they were leaving the captain's cabin and heading to the crew's mess.

Along the way, Lilly asked in all seriousness, "Hey, do you think we'll ever find what happened to Arlan?"

James was quiet for a moment, thinking about that.

"His disappearance hit Poppy hard, and now we may have a clue about what happened to him, and to Cameron and_his_ lady friend. I don't know, Lil. If those First Ones had anything to do with it..."

Lilly stopped in her tracks and hugged James tightly.

"I was talking to Læree'ahn the other day...she said Felix was havin' some of his premonitions again. And today, I saw ol' Sri'an and talked to her a bit. She told me_she's_ been having some funky dreams ever since she somehow got that big black feather."

James looked curiously at his mate and asked, "What feather?"

"When we all went to the glade before leaving home, a big ol' feather somehow ended up in her lap--she showed it to me the next day. It looked just like a raven's feather, only...it was_big_. Sri'an said a back shape with the voice of 'an honored Elder' talked to her, and supposedly left it for her. Ya don't suppose..."

James recalled old memories that had been passed down from generation to generation.

"Nobody ever knew what happened to Edgar--after our twentieth great grandparent's funeral, he just disappeared. Aren-Tal'an says she's certain that the First Ones have been on Terra. At the glade."

Lilly felt a shiver run through her body.

"This is getting' too_weird_!"

"Yeah."

Just before they walked into the crew's mess, James held up, getting Lilly's attention.

"Hey, you usually notice things about people--have you noticed anything about Elí?"

"Like what?"

"Like if she acts different around me than she does around anyone else."

Lilly cocked her head a little to one side.

"Not that I can think of. Why?"

"Well...I talked with her in Hydroponics today while I was making my rounds. It's amazing what those two gals have been doing in there. Anyway, there was just something about the way she was looking at me that I can't quite figure out. It's hard to read her expressions at times. Same for Meyleh."

Lilly thought for a bit and then said, "I have kinda noticed the guys watchin' 'em walk--McElroy told me that Miss Redhill has been eyeballin' those gals, but not like ya think. Kinda like how she'll get that odd stare sometimes when Shauna walks by that's like a house cat about to pounce on a bird or somethin'. Come to think of it, she does that whenever Professor Garland walks by, too."

"Hmm, well, Sonya_is_ a cat, after all."

"Yeah, and those two Fansq gals act like a couple of gazelles or somethin'," Lilly pointed out.

"I suppose so."

Lilly made a mental note to discreetly observe how Elí and Meyleh acted around James.

When dinner was almost over, Elí and Meyleh brought out one of the mixing bowls from the galley. When they uncovered it, revealing the contents, everyone broke out in a cheer. As James expected, Lilly was the most excited, followed by her cousin John.

Skunks_do_ like their berries.

---

[1] THF - Tremendously High Frequency. Electromagnetic waves within the ITU designated band of frequencies from 0.3 to 3 Terahertz (THz; 1 THz = 1012 Hertz), also known as the submillimeter band.

[2] Jink - change direction suddenly and nimbly, as when dodging a pursuer.

[2] Tanya says, "?????? ?????" (pronounced: ka-ko-go cher-ta) in Russian. It means the same as "WTF" in English.

[4] Len - the Mûr Tua'ansa equivalent of 1 light-second distance.

[5] Daffodil - Lilly's older sister by three years.

---

On to chapter 9