Stakes in Space (Otherwise Untitled)

Story by Moriar on SoFurry

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#150 of Short Stories

Detective Clip and a local macaw lay in wait to observe an illegal salvage.


Trigger warning: Slur that starts with 'f'.

~ Her landing left something of a divot in the field, Alexa Clip having been launched out of the parking lot by the dragon's punch. In the time it took her to scramble upright and not yet find solid footing, the dragon had closed the distance and grabbed her left antler. He pulled her up by it, to address his complaints and demand. ~ "Fight me with what you are, you faggot traitor!", screaming into the jackalope's face before he heaved to ready a breath weapon. The campus police were nowhere to be heard, yet. ~ For her part, Alexa hopped up into something of a crouch before letting her feet find a firm purchase into the dragon's belly. The impact effected all three of her desired outcomes; most dramatically her attacker seemed to be both inhaling and swallowing the fire he'd prepared. ~ Otherwise, her antler broke into pieces amongst his suddenly clenched grip in tempo with her jackrabbit styled leap out from his reach and any more conventional assaults. ~ None of this recollection was shared in such vivid of details to her assigned partner, Detective Clip gently rubbing at the nub of her left antler as she considered his inquiry. ~ "An old injury so it comes in funky, I get it trimmed down every year. It helps me remember something of truth and where I am now." ~ The macaw shrugged his wings to the jackalope, "Ah, okay. I won't pry further.", turning his attentions back to his sandwich and drink. Detective Clip resumed her lunch, as well, with the occasional glance up at the parked ship's instrumentation. All was well; the ship still in covert mode and the sprawling construction of the currently abandoned space station lay some distance away. ~ It was well after lunch and into his second book of the day that Customs Officer Peters shouted for Detective Clip to wake up. ~ "They're here, two days shy of the end of the timeline. They'll still have plenty of time to get back to Westlake Shipyards with the salvage before the season's out and it'd be harder to fence the parts." ~ For her part, Detective Clip yawned and mumbled, "You did a good job with the math on when would be the best times to tear off chunks of this station. Do we have any good read on what ship's arrived for plundering?" ~ Peters was handing the jackalope a coffee with one hand, his other hand flitting about at the controls. "Well.. it's too big and clean, really.. doesn't make much sense? There's no rad leaks along their engine coils, no noise from the gravity systems.. This is a ship that gets regular maintenance." ~ The detective sipped her coffee, letting the macaw get some more readings before inquiring, "So, it's putting on too much effort to look like a legitimate operation to be the typical scavenger offloading to Westlake?" ~ The macaw leaned back into his chair to consider. "Yeah, that's the gist of what's out there. I can tell they're probably taking things like the power filter coils from the distribution system, given where they docked and how the station isn't, ya' know, on fire." ~ Within a couple hours, the illegal salvage operation was completed with the larger ship slipping away and into the darkness. ~ Customs Officer Peters groaned, "I'll get dinner; but this doesn't line up with what I expected.", calling up from the galley, "This seems more up your alley, any ideas?" ~ Detective Clip grinned when the macaw returned with two containers of soup. "As a matter of fact, yes. We should go to Westlake Shipyards, and figure out who just sold those scrappers clean shipping manifests for a batch of power filter coils."