FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The little raccoon's ragged breathing reverberated ominously in his spacesuit. His fur was becomming matted with sweat. Shaking in fear, he glided behind a large piece of debris in the massive field he was in.

His trepidation did not come from the perils of spacewalking. On the contrary, he found the quiet, vast darkness somewhat serene. Nor was his fear due to the ion torpedoes he was disarming in a veritable sea of explosives. He had scavenged dangerous items too often before to be very nervous over a bit of active ordinance.

The raccoon's source of terror was the glow of a craft's engines, hastily approaching. Carefully peeking from behind his weightless cover, he utilized the zooming function of his visor and confirmed his fears. The speeding craft at the edge of the debris field had the starburst symbol of the Terran Conglomorate emblazoned on the side.

Humanity had claimed ownership of this system at the conclusion of the galactic war spanning the entirety of the Milky Way, just 2 short years ago. The war itself lasted at least 300 standard years, making it almost the only thing that any sentient creature had ever known. This system was officially named for its binary pair, Achilles and Hector, but was better known colloquially by Anthromorphs as "The Capital Crypt" for the incredible number of capital class hulks strewn into a system-wide ring around the stars.

These battlecruisers made for excellent salvage; the weapons, supplies, and rare materials fetched quite an impressive price in every market. However, the Terran Conglomorate was not about to share any of their claim. Although the depleted human fleets had no realistic way to begin 'cleaning up,' they fiercely guarded the system from any encroachment. The raccoon knew if he was apprehended, he would be given a quick trial, and then execution. The trial was optional.

The spacewalking Anthromorph disengaged his zoom and hid again, turning towards his vessel, the Marco Polo. It definitely was not a 'pretty' ship, having been constructed by the raccoon over years from scrap parts. A single large rotating engine stuck straight out of the starboard side, while two smaller rotating engines jutted in an offset manner from the port side. The flat 'squarish' stern served as the cargo hold. The middle 'body' of the ship from where the engines were attached had a somewhat round shape, and held the reactor core and virtual intelligence. The neck of the ship held crew quarters and small mess, and led to the coned cockpit. While the _Marco_was not going to win any beauty contests, the raccoon sighed at the sight of the silhouette highlighted against the binary stars. The_Marco_meant much more than beauty to the spacewalker, it represented safety.

Having calmed himself for the most part with the view of his ship, he briskly switched on his communicator.

"Karus? Kar? Are you there?" he asked in a barely audible whisper, "I do believe the jig is up, good sir. We should depart this system with all due haste!"

Within the cockpit of the Marco, a golden brown wolf groaned, his breath escaping as frost. The ship was running on reserve batteries so as to keep a low profile. Without the reactor running, amenities such as gravity and heat were offline.

The wolf had been tracking the craft since it had entered his sight, long before the scavenger had noticed the tell-tale glow of engines. He knew it to be a Terran patrol craft, decently armed and well-shielded. More than that he couldn't tell at this point, not without sensors up. He had not informed his captain of the discovery because he knew exactly how nervous he would get. Taking his dark brown lupine eyes from the craft for just a moment, he located the raccoon amongst the wreckage, and clicked the comms to respond.

"WHY ARE YOU WHISPERING!?!?" Karus shouted as loudly as he could. A devilish grin spread across his muzzle as he could see the raccoon jolt. He chuckled a few frosty laughs as he turned his attention back towards the approaching craft. "Our comms are hardlined, Percy. Not broadcast. Wired straight into the air-hose. Unlike those holo-vids, sound don't travel that well in space."

The raccoon took a moment to stop his fearful twitches and replied angrily, "I knowthat, Karus. It's a matter of ambiance in this setting. You, my dear gentleman, have the safety of the _Marco_while I am a bit exposed."

"At least ya get to keep warm, Percy," the wolf complained, shuddering a bit. "Don't think I'm all that safe here either. If that guy out there fired a few torps with our deflectors down...well, I'd be lucky to hear the 'thumps' before I 'sploded."

A yawning, mackarel-striped kitten wreathed in thermal blankets pushed off her footpaws to glide into the cockpit.

"I don't know about any 'thumps,' but I could hear your yapping in my bunk," she said, "the least you could do is let me sleep if you won't let me have any heat."

"Ahh, crap, now I've done it," Karus said jokingly, leaving the comms open, " I woke up the princess. Now I'll get it from both of ya."

"While I don't mind being addressed as royalty," the kitten said matter of factly, "I prefer 'your highness,' and _not_in a sarcastic fashion. Or of course, you could use my name, mutt..."

The wolf sat back in the pilot's seat, propping footpaws up on the controls. "Ts'Sai just doesn't roll off the tongue, y'know? I like princess, duchess, hairball...those sorta names."

The flustered raccoon spoke in an exacerbated manner, "Pardon me for interrupting your banter but...APPROACHING PATROL CRAFT!! Danger! Alert! Alarm!" His greatest fear from this scenario was that the Terran Hegemony had an extremely long, powerful reach. If they were positively identified, they could be hunted across the Milky Way.

"Relax, Percival," Karus said, finally using his proper name, "that guy isn't really looking for us. Guarantee they'll fly right by."

Ts'Sai came to rest with her blankets on a flatter portion of the controls, and her hazel eyes regarded the canine pilot quizzically. "Why would a patrol craft be patrolling, if it wasn't to find intruders?"

"The velocity is all wrong. Too fast for Terran patrol parameters. Going about.... three times as fast as he should be to get any decent sensor scans. With the _Marco_powered down, we'll just fade in the background radiation."

"But Karas...look how _close_it's getting," Percival said anxiously, "They'll surely notice our blip at that distance."

"At the speed he's goin', he's getting dozens of 'blips' every few seconds. The _Marco_won't stand out. Besides, not to diss the ship, it handles great, but...unless you already knew the _Marco_worked, how would you tell it from any other hunk of metal out here?" The wolf said, in his most diplomatic tone.

The raccoon knew exactly what Karus was saying, as he was not oblivious to how trashy the _Marco Polo_appeared. However, he was fiercely proud of it, and would not stand to hear it demeaned. He scoffed, "Ahem, the _Marco Polo_is an aesthetically pleasing ship, as well as functional. The off-set port wings complement the starboar.."

The pilot cut him off, "Look, forget I said it. Just trust me alright?" He chuckled a bit, "Hey, I'm willing to bet _my_life on it, doesn't that count for something?"

Still chattering from the cold, Ts'Sai decided to respond, "No, it doesn't count when you are risking _us_as well, stupid dog."

Karus didn't want to mention that powering up now would be useless. The reactor couldn't start in time, and in doing so, would set off a flare for the Terrans to find. They may have had a shot when he first noticed the craft, he thought privately, but now, waiting it out was the safest bet. Besides, pulling out immediately and not scavenging any goodies would have left them in pretty dire straights financially. Good jobs were few and far between, and a decent haul here could at least ensure both the crew and the ship could be fed.

The patrolling craft was headed right towards them now, from a 'higher' position relative to the system's general orbit. It was speeding forward at a relatively quick speed. The spacewalker clung tightly to his scrap cover and held his breath. The young kitten did the same underneath her several blankets. Despite Karus's confidence, he felt himself do the same as he leaned forward studying the trajectory intently. Then, just as the wolf had predicted, the Terran patrol zipped by overhead, continuing on its course further into the debris field.

"AAAARRRRROOOOOOO!!!!!!" Karus howled, jumping from his seat, to the extreme startling of both the kitten and the captain. "Karus is vindicated...I'll accept apologies in writing, publically broadcast, e-mai..."

"_CONFOUND_it, you blaster-head! Stop doing that," Percival said, with an annoyed tone, although he could not help but sound relieved, "My heart cannot take much more of this stress."

Ts'Sai recovered from her little jolt as well, and added, "Well _excuse_me for not understanding patrolling procedures for humans. How were you so sure he wouldn't notice us?"

"No worries, kiddo," Karus said, ruffling the kitten's headfur as he floated above her, "I've been around. You get to see how different pilots handle different situations. That guy...it seems like he's rushing to hit certain nav points on his patrol, then get the heck outta here. Sorta rushing a job just to say it was done. Like I do when Percival gives me waste duty."

"I heard that, hound. You are being a terrible example to our newest crewmate."

Karus shrugged mockingly to the kitten's amusement, who began to sit up now that the danger had passed.

She suspected that there was more to the canine than he let on. However, she also knew it was out of bounds to ask. Despite her youth, she was not entirely without insight. She noticed the small things. Karus was incredibly knowledgeable regarding things like this, how various pilots across numerous species operated, the makes and models of all sorts of craft, and expertly maneuvered the Marco. It was not uncommon for the pilot to add flashy maneuvers to entertain the kitten while she was watching from the co-pilot's chair.

However...questions regarding _how_Karus acquired these skills were unclear. While he never outright got defensive about his past, there were little clues she picked up on. An anxious twitch of the ear, averted eyes, a near but not quite curling of the tail...she could tell something pained him. The name-calling in jest was taken in stride, but she learned quickly to avoid pressing him on uneasy subjects.

What she did know, was that Karus and Percival had met a few years ago on Scrap XIV, a 'dumping' planet that's surface was entirely covered in the refuse of the galaxy's residents. It was unknown why Karus was there, but Percival had spoken his reasons quite clearly:

"Because, my dear lady, species across the galaxy are WASTEFUL. The _Marco Polo_is entirely constructed from working parts discarded by governments, corporations, and so on....that have the _gall_to raid entire systems for resources when they already have the necessary components! It is truly disgusting that planets exist as dumping grounds, new worlds are defiled and plundered for resources, and the entire process is unnecessary! The galaxy already has plenty!" Percivial had explained passionately.

Ts'Sai also remembered Karus's response at the time: "What he's neglecting to mention on that soapbox is that he was kicked out by his well-off parents, and didn't know where to go. Didn't realize a dump also attracts something of an underground element, and he stands out like a sore tail among criminals, addicts, and the like."

She was curious about their situation now, however. Most of their missions were some sort of delivery, this was slightly unusual. They did not usually 'freeform' jobs.

"Um...just wondering, since I guess I'm too low in rank to be let in on the 'mission briefings' so...may I ask why we're in this creepy place?"

"Ahem," Percival started to reply, "Jobs have been...lacking the past few weeks. I'm certain it's just something of a dry spell...but we've been getting dangerously low on several vital supplies."

Karus cut in, "Plus, if I eat anymore protein concentrate, I'm going insane. We need a big haul so I can afford a massive rack of ribs, slathered in sweet 'n spicy barbecue..." He nearly drooled at the thought. "And as for you, darlin', I'm finally gonna get you some seafood. None of that imitation half-synth stuff, I mean real. Salmon, tuna, cooked, in sushi rolls...all of it." Ts'Sai smiled eagerly.

"Ahem," Percival repeated, "We do need funds, and they shouldn't be spent wastefully. Although, something slightly higher-end than protein provisions would be welcomed."

"Anyways boss, tell us 'bout the goodies! Wanna know if breaking 'n entering into the Capital Crypt has been worth it or not."

Pervical perked up at the chance to list his accomplishments on this job. "Well now, despite my initial hesitance to enter a restricted system..." he glanced over in the direction the patrol craft sped to, "this has been quite a profitable trip. I've found several full canisters of Xenon which of course, will be very useful for our ship."

Karus chuckled, "Sure as hell wasn't too useful for those guys, heh."

Ts'Sai looked puzzled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Take it, boss," the wolf said, knowing Percival's excitement to impart his scientific knowledge on Ts'Sai.

"Well, little one, Xenon is the military-grade gas used for deflectors, our shields, essentially. It is kept in a state-control field that takes the damage instead of the hull from weapon fire. For blasters, the gas is super-heated and lost, and for ballistic fire, the gas repels the striking force as it is released. Our...'intrepid' pilot was joking that obviously, finding full canisters implies that the gas did _not_work for the unfortunates whom were destroyed here. A bit dark for humor, Karus."

Karus shrugged at Ts'Sai's judgmental look as Percival continued. "This is good for us, as to this point, we've been using hydrogen. While abundant and easy to replenish, it is a bit'thinner,' for lack of a better word, in state-control fields. The ordinance I've found here is what will REALLY make our profit-margins, however."

"Woo!" Karus exclaimed excitedly, "that's what I'm talkin' about! Let's get the word on booty!"

Percival himself could not judge the mercenary attitude of Karus, he was quite happy with the finds himself. "Well, at the moment I am finishing the disarming process of six ion torpedoes. Quite a simple procedure really, despite their primer being considered unsafe. I merely have to avoid sparking the electron disper..."

Karus coughed loudly into the comm to keep Percival on topic.

"Harumph. I enjoy a good puzzle. Anyways...This ordinance is rarely produced nowadays, due to many production facilities being targeted in the war. This is a set of six, a mere two, if fired on target, can destroy some of the largest battleships and stations across the galaxy."

"Good, good, should catch a pretty sweet price. Everyone loves boom-y stuff. What else?"

"I've already sent these up the tether, but it was a full salvo of twelve concussion missiles. Now, the destructive potential of those will not impress anyone, but the rarity of their targeting systems will intrigue dealers. They are _image-recognition_missiles. They integrate with most standard targeting protocols, and as a target is kept within a ship's 'sights', the computer memorizes the structural facets of the target. Once the image is entirely downloaded to the missile's tracker, the missile can then be fired and it tracks the exact image it has, allowing for very specific and precise strikes."

Karus smiled widely, reminiscing, "Funny you mention 'specific and precise' boss, I've got a funny story about IR missiles."

"Karus, somehow I highly doubt that any tale involving explosive, deadly ordinance can be 'funny'."

"Aww....Ts'Sai will like it, it involves a feline pilot I met once," he said, looking for the kitten's approval to go ahead with it. Her eyes lighting up and ears perking forward were all the permission he needed.

Percival half-listened as he continued to work on his salvage, sending the disarmed torpedoes up the mag-tether to the Marco's hold. It was a relatively simple story Karus was telling, one of a an over-eager bobcat who launched IR missiles at his opponent...forgetting that they were both flying the same model of ship. When his adversary broke the missile lock, the weapon circled to re-acquire its target, and locked onto the firing ship. The bobcat survived, obviously, or else the story could not be relayed. He ejected safely before impact and was brought in by friendly forces.

The story itself was not particularly important, but Percival smiled to himself listening to the wolf's enthusiasm and embellishments. Ts'Sai too, he assumed, was bright-eyed and excited to hear the story. It reaffirmed to the scavenging 'coon that it was a good decision to bring Ts'Sai along as the newest member of their team, despite his initial doubts. The effect the little kitten had on the often-bitter Karus was worth it.

It took Percy's mind back to how they found Ts'Sai, about 10 months ago. He and Karus were transporting some construction materials for an easy job, when he noticed an abnormality on a sensor sweep. After electing to dangerously descend to a frozen, stormy world, they found little Ts'Sai, the sole survivor of a colony transport. Karus had ripped the black box out of the ship before their hasty departure with the kitten, and they learned that the ship had been hit by pirates, who weren't willing to follow their prey to such a hazardous world. The survivors of the crash had activated their faint emergency beacon, and spent their final, frigid days attempting to save their young. Ts'Sai was the last of the litter.

Percival initially wanted to take Ts'Sai to an orphanage, find a surrogate home, anything but take her along. He had no dislike of her, but... life aboard the _Marco Polo_was not necessarily a safe one. Karus insisted, however. His specific argument, as Percival recalled, was, "You wanna save the freakin' galaxy but can't be bothered to just save her!?" That outburst wasn't quite enough to convince him otherwise, but over the weeks, he saw how Karus adapted to having her onboard. He took her on as a younger sister, started showing her how the ship worked, told her old stories. The experienced wolf was never very specific about where his stories or experience came from, but nevertheless, Karus was far more stable, and clearly happy, with Ts'Sai around. That was the final sell for Percival.

The torpedoes fully transferred, the raccoon listened in to hear Ts'Sai's giggles at Karus's re-enactment of past encounters. Looking for his next bit of salvage, he caught a glimpse of a glow in his peripheral vision. Turning to see it, and once again zooming in as much as possible, his heart jumped again into his throat. He spoke, over a dry mouth, "K-k-Karus? Sorry to interrupt...Our 'friend' is coming back...at quite an increased speed."

Karus groaned frostily, ending his presentations for Ts'Sai. Looking at the numerous sensor-cams, he noticed the Terran patrol again. It was moving faster this time. _Much_faster. The glow that caught Percival's attention was the craft engaging it's booster engines, for a sustained amount of time. To Karus's annoyance, Percival was whispering over the comms again, "Do you think he has seen us?"

"Stop whispering," the wolf said, analyzing the craft's movements. "If he didn't see us at a few kilometers, he didn't see us at over twenty-thousand. And that speed...full sustained boosters? You don't do that unless you're chasing someone in sight...or running from something."

Karus considered the trajectory the craft was travelling away from, and figured the appropriate sensor-cam. "Marco," he said, addressing the ship's V.I., "Drop all cams except aft gamma-3. Re-route available power to it and set for max zoom."

The array of cameras flickered, and went dead. Then one lit back up and shot forward in its picture, enhancing with more battery power available. It settled on an image of an immensely vast ship just outside the ring. It would be indistinguishable from the scattered hulks of the ring, as it was worn, torn, with numerous hull breaches and leaking a plethora of dark-colored gasses. This ship however, was fully powered, and moving along the ring to the _Marco's_position. Karus brushed his weightless, unkempt mane from his eyes to make sure he was really seeing what he thought.

"Oh,shit!" Karus exclaimed, pulling himself to the control panel. He became a blur of motion, pulling various levers and flipping switches, to quickly start-up the Marco.

"Wh--What is that?" Ts'Sai asked nervously.

Percival began to panic seeing the guide lights start up all over his craft. "Karus! What the devil do you think you're doing?! The blasted patrol will see us!"

Over Percival's complaining and Ts'Sai's constant questioning, Karus continued in the start-up sequence silently. The hum of the reactor filled the ship, and a creaking noise echoed in the hull as the turbines started up. Karus swiftly grasped his holo-visor, and clasped it to his left ear. He tapped it to activate, and an opaque cyan rectangle covered his eye, giving him vital statistics of the ship and relevant sensor information.

"The Terrans won't be stopping for us, Percival," Karus said in a serious, foreboding tone. Almost simultaneously, the Terran ship sailed past without a moment's hesitation, travelling at speeds far too dangerous for a hazardous environment like this.

"What exactly did you see?" he asked tenatively.

"Vultures. Dreadnaught. Closing." Karus said brokenly, initiating the final sequence as the reactor clambered to life.

The panic that had taken the raccoon earlier was now replaced. Strangely enough, it almost seemed to calm him. Whereas the previous threat was one of legality and fear of getting caught, the danger posed by Vultures was merely one between life and death. The simplicity of the situation made it easier to stay collected, the only priority was getting out, immediately. "Pull me in, pilot. Prepare for immediate evasive action and departure from the system."

"That's the plan, boss," Karus answered.

Ts'Sai finally had enough. She could not take being ignored any longer. "PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!" She shouted, pawing at Karus's shoulder, "What are Vultures?! Why is everyone freaking out!?"

The canine half turned towards her and leaned to the comm system, "Pulling you in now, Percy. Leaving grav off 'till the haul is stowed," and then he completed his turn towards the flustered kitten.

"The War affected everyone in the galaxy, kiddo. And typically not for the better. 'Vulture' is the common name most of the 'civil' galactic community has given to raiders from Veratek, a planet hit hard with bio-weapons about twenty years ago." He glanced out the canopy to see Percival being reeled in as panels flickered to life around him, creating an eerie glow to Ts'Sai given his demeanor. "It was an Avian-owned planet. Most of the population died right then and there...but about a fifth of 'em didn't. And they went berserk. Totally freakin' insane. No one knows if it's from the effects of the virus, or 'cause they saw their planet turned into a hellhole around them."

Ts'Sai backed away a bit, frightened by the pilot's dark tone, as well as the fact that she had never seen anything that got him so serious before. She curled into the co-pilot's chair and pulled her blankets even tighter as Karus continued. "You can always tell a Vulture ship. They don't build new ones anymore, they're either the original ones they left with or ones they...'acquire.' They don't particularly care for safety or repairs," he said, gesturing towards the image of the titanic dreadnaught, and pointing out their hull breaches, "and they almost always are leaking volatile gases and radiation. Couple 'a days aboard a Vulture ship would kill anyone...Except a Vulture."

Percival's weightless form sped towards the ship as fast as the wench would allow, overhearing the entire speech. He certainly didn't enjoy being reminded of the threat...but understood that Ts'Sai needed to know the danger they were in now. Luckily, he could not see the ship on the horizon of the debris ring, meaning they still had time to escape.

A large clanking rattled through the _Marco_as the V.I. 'flexed' the rotary engines and adjusted the exhaust ports. Ts'Sai was startled, but Karus continued with the description. "Vultures like to take their prey alive, though. So dying from rad sickness would be a blessing. When Vultures get a hold of a sentient creature alive...They'll torture them, rape them, skin them, and eat them," he said, as the kitten began shaking in fear, "And as crazy as it sounds...they'll do those in any order."

The wide-eyed Ts'Sai looked again, shivering from both cold and fear as she looked again at the frightening image of the approaching warship. She was on the verge of tears thinking about the horrors of capture. Karus moved to console her as her eyes began to water.

"Hey...hey now..." Karus said, brushing her cheek with his forepaw. He lightly bumped his head with hers, looking at her directly eye-to-eye. "You're flyin' with me, right buddy? Ain't nothin' in the entire 'Way that's gonna take us down. I promise. Now...gonna be a bit chilly for a sec, but we gotta strap you in, alright?"

Karus gently took the blankets from Ts'Sai, and sat her upright in the chair. She shivered, but choked back the tears a bit as Karus pulled the safety harness and secured it tightly around her midsection. He rubbed her shoulders a bit, then said, "I'd tuck the blankets back in, but I'll be runnin' the _Marco_pretty hot. You'll warm up in no time." He then floated over to a side panel to direct the ventilation systems to flow a bit of heat from the center of the ship to the various outlying sections.

There was a faint buzzing in Percival's ear, along with a bit of increased pressure, as he passed through the air shield in the aft section of the Marco. The wench continued to pull him towards the center of the hold, where he disconnected the hose. He quickly removed his helmet only to be greeted with the frigid air of the ship, sending a chill throughout his suit, which was amplified due to his sweat-soaked fur. With no wasted motion, he kicked off to shut the bay door, which noisily began to descend. Using the same push from the lever, he floated towards the weapons and began stocking them in safe tubes. Percival thought to himself how he had never intended the _Marco Polo_to be a warship, and thus never installed firing torpedo tubes. These racks for ordinance storage were added later, when Karus complained that they could not sell scavenged weapons, as they could not even carry them. He also complained about not firing them, which at the moment, Percival wished they could. They'd have to make due with the only forward facing blaster cannon, which currently had enough weapon battery power for a single shot. He looked to the Xenon-shield gas as he secured it, lamenting that they did not have the time to flush the system to install it. They would just have to make due with what they had.

Karus was just finishing securing himself at the helm as the ship's V.I. sounded over the speakers. _Reactor...online. Engines...online. Sensors...online. All systems nominal._Karus immediately fired up the engines and took them on a course away from the Vulture ship. "Ready for grav yet, boss? Not crazy about flying with my junk floating around."

The rushing Percival was floating up shafts to his position at systems control, taking off pieces of his spacesuit and leaving them floating between decks. Finally removing his boots, he pushed his footpaws off the ceiling to come to rest in the seat before the Marco's systems console in his still-wet jumpsuit. Shuddering, he clasped his headset on and responded, "_Yes,_Karus. Go ahead and engage it. I will arrange for maximum shield rotation, just in case."

Karus reached to hit a far away console, starting the ship's artificial gravity field. All three of them could feel themselves sink into their respective seats. Karus had to flip his messy mane out of his eyes once again. Ts'Sai had to cope with a bit of nausea, as she was not entirely used to the rapid change between weightlessness and gravity. Percival was rapidly shifting through systems, ignoring the change, preparing their defenses.

A hissing noise could be heard through various pipelines in the hull, filling the state-control field composing the shields. The rapid rotation of the hydrogen would not overcome the gas's inherent 'thinness' on a molecular level, but it was more efficient for the shielding rather than being a 'flat' surface for any impacts or blasts.

Karus bobbed and weaved through the debris effortlessly. He kept one eye on on the obstacles before them, and the other darted over the sensor information given through his visor. Considering their options, he decided to question Percival about a potential course of action.

"Hey boss, considering that the proverbial pooch has been screwed already...Think we should break out the Bloodhound?"

"Is it entirely wise to broadcast our position even louder right now?"

The canine considered the risks, but continued to think it was the best option. "With the sensor array I'm sure that thing has, they've already got our exact position and'll be trackin' us. Might as well confuse 'em too while we're at it. Plus, maybe you'll spot somethin' I can't with our eyes wide open."

Percival thought on it as well, and agreed with his pilot. He punched in the command to bring the Bloodhound array online. "Starting it up now, let's hope _something_useful can be spotted in this precarious situation."

Shifting metal plates clanged together and apart in the outer areas of the upper hull. A slightly concave dish was being formed atop the middle portion of the Marco, right above Percival's station at the systems console. Bloodhound sensor array online, the ship's V.I. reported as the dish noisily locked into place.

The Bloodhound was the one part of the ship Percival and Karus worked together to complete. It was an enhanced sensor array, focusing some of the ship's auxiliary power to vastly increase their scanning range. It did however, come with a downside. It also increased the energy signature of the ship, essentially highlighting their position to anyone looking. Easier to see, but easier to be seen.

Defensively though, the increased energy signature could occasionally work to their advantage. At least once, Percival had deployed the Bloodhound effectively to frighten off would-be raiders, as they were fooled by the 'size' of the ship they had picked up on a sensor sweep. Karus, at the time, was not pleased, as he was insistent that he could have handled them.

With their eyes opened wider, Karus kept track of the Vulture ship in extreme detail, down to number of powered turrets on each facing, projected firing arcs, shield strength, and so on. Percival began sifting through every available piece of information coming from the debris ring: spectrograph readings, radiation, suspected active ordinance...anything that might give them an edge.

Threading through the graveyard of ship hulls with the greatest of ease, Karus nearly reached out to fire their boosters. He considered however, that they only had a limited supply of fuel. Not nearly as short as their one-shot offensive cannon, but they could not indefinitely speed away. Using sustained boosters now would mean limited maneuverability should they need it in the near future. _Not_using the boosters would be equally undesirable if the dreadnaught came close enough to bear down with its turrets. Before the wolf could make a decision, however, a white flashing antenna icon appeared in the corner of his visor.

"Ah...boss? We're getting a hail from the Vultures. Should we...answer it?"

"I see it too...Not sure. If anything, I suppose it could buy us a few moments if they're talking instead of shooting."

"I dunno...I can't imagine anything useful coming out of trying to talk to 'em. They're just gonna try to freak us out."

Weighing the options, Percival decided to open comms to the immense ship. On the viewscreen for both the cockpit and his station, the 'captain' of the vessel appeared. The bridge was lit by a sinister dark green light, and thin layer of fog, most likely noxious fumes, emanated from the bulkheads. Behind the figure was a grotesque display of heads, some bleached white skulls, others were rotted husks of bone and flesh. The center of the screen however, was filled by an imposing figure, a giant scarred hawk, with a filmy and cut right eye. The ragged attire of the hawk was adorned with various body parts from a variety of species, sewn crudely into the fabric.

Appraising the two members of the _Marco_he could see, Percival and Karus, he began speaking in a screechy, cruel, high-pitched tone. "I have a very..._special_offer for your little transport. If you power down and surrender without resisting...we _promise_to slit your throats before we begin eating." The hawk oozed spiteful sarcasm with every word.

"Ah..." Percival began to respond, taken aback by the image and message, "Well, I'm afraid to say that we have all grown quite attached to_living_, and any proper negation should probably begin with that as the bottom-lin.."

The gruesome hawk continued his squawking, as if Percival had not even been speaking. "Our sensor sweep shows three lifeforms aboard...I only see the two of you...the other one is small. Are they young?" he asked, licking the sides of his beak, "Young meat is always the most tender...."

Karus glanced briefly while continuing on his course, to see Ts'Sai shaking uncontrollably, her wide eyes tearing up. She was trying to curl into a ball, but the safety harness kept her from doing so. A swelling anger rose up in the canine pilot, furious that this bastard was terrifying the little cat so. Knowing how much trouble he was about to get into, he decided to chime in on the 'negotiations.'

He knocked on the camera next to the control set and waved. "Heya there!" he said, with a painfully fake smile, "I've got a counter-offer for ya there, buddy."

"Oh dear God..." Percival said, burying his muzzle in his paws. He knew_precisely_what his pilot was about to do.

"You don't get to barter with Arh'rek! Wing commander of the Vultures!" the hawk shrieked, pluming out his feathers, and puffing his chest to show the abominable collection of victims.

"It's a goooood offer...You'll like it, I promise," Karus continued, shifting back and forth from his canopy view and the camera, "YOU power down, and surrender without resistance, and I'll board your ship and give you a few slurps on my little...fuzzy...ass."

Arh'rek let out a hideous war-cry, and roared at the defiant pilot, "I WILL MOUNT YOUR HEAD ON MY BRIDGE!!!"

"Oh, you silly goose," Karus replied in a sickeningly sarcastic, flirtatious tone, "If you're gonna 'mount my head' anywhere you're gonna have to pick a more romantic location than that."

The frothing hawk again let out a piercing, furious scream. Karus extended the middle digit of his forepaw to the camera and blew a kiss as the transmission cut out. Then the pilot resumed his attentive stance at the controls.

The entire crew of the _Marco_was silent for a moment, considering what had just transpired, and what was about to happen. Only the sound of the engines and blips on sensors served as any sort of background noise.

"Well, that was the least cordial parley I have ever taken part in," Percival remarked, finally breaking the silence.

Karus was about to chuckle at the captain's understatement when the Marco's warning klaxons sounded fiercely. The ship's lighting darkened into a dim red, indicating a threat. Ts'Sai, still incredulous that Karus would insult such a fearsome foe, gasped when she looked into the sensor-cam focused on the dreadnaught.

Dozens and dozens of missiles flowed in salvos from the fore sections of the ship. Their side-winding fiery smoke trails gave the capital ship the appearance of a massive dragon unloading its breath on an unfortunate victim.

"Wow, that guy is pissed." Karus said in a bemused manner.

"What did you expect?! You insul...never mind. No time to argue. Missiles within striking distance in thirty seconds! There's _forty_total."

Karus glanced for just a moment at the missile specs provided to him via the Bloodhound array. The missile had a coned warhead coming to a point, at the base of the cone it had a series of serrated 'teeth,' then a shaft leading to more teeth and the propulsion.

"Scorpion mk. II's. Old weapon. Energy signature-seeking. Low explosive high-shrapnel effect."

Both Percival and Ts'Sai briefly wondered how the pilot was able to quickly identify the weapon, but it was no time to be asking questions.

"Lose as many as you can, Karus. I'm looking for a fix," Percival said, sifting through information.

"Roger that, boss. No prob," he replied confidently.

The klaxons growing louder and sounding faster, Karus began waving his left forepaw in font of his eye, appearing to pick objects from the air or fling them away. He was actually interfacing with the holo-visor, attempting to find the nearest highly concentrated area of debris to head towards. Finding a wickedly dense field of destroyed fighters, he grinned. Welp, time to go to it!

The_Marco_dove quickly and fired its full booster engines. Ts'Sai dug her claws hard into her seat, looking at the area Karus was approaching. There was nearly no open space to be seen, the dead fighters hanging about looked similar to a metal hive of insects.

Cutting off the boosters upon entry of the field, Karus took the _Marco_through a series of dips, dives, and climbs, just as the missiles caught up to striking distance. Karus grinned even wider seeing some of the ordinance turn to silent blooms of fire behind them. Ts'Sai covered her eyes with her paws, peeking through slightly. She found herself getting dizzy as Karus spun the craft rapidly to avoid the tightly packed craft. Erratically firing the boosters, a few more missiles struck the wrong targets as they had trouble keeping up with the random, twitchy signature of their quarry.

Exiting the field Karus once again fired full boosters, heading towards a cavernous battleship which must have been the victim of a tremendous internal explosion. Climbing into a hull breach, he quickly punched the light amplification command, due to the complete inability to see otherwise. Boosting in quickly, he noticed several of the mechanized pursuers disappearing into the side of the hull of his cover, incapable of adjusting their trajectory to follow through the breach. Inverting the craft, he 'dove' out a smaller breach on the opposite side of the ship, while the few missiles that could follow into the battleship collided in a flash at the exit.

Meanwhile, Percival was flying through dozens of different sensor readings. They needed some sort of trick...He found nothing useful from energy readings...or physical cover...Aha!, he thought to himself, as he started to fiddle with the settings on the sensor array.

Unfortunately, Karus was running out of options quickly. The booster engines could not overcome the speed of the missiles, and the latter salvos were quickly approaching. There was no longer a dense field of fighters to dive into, nor a ship large and empty enough to guide the _Marco_through. The last remaining option was to hug the frames of the lifeless ships and hope the tight curves would lose a few. It would work...but only for awhile.

"Straighten the _Marco_out, Karus. Let the missiles get a bit closer," Percival said with confidence.

"CLOSER!?" Karus barked increduously. "Missiles and _closeness_are a ba-"

"JUST DO IT!" Percival shouted, uncharacteristically demanding.

Karus ripped hard to port on the controls, and then tugged back to give the ship a straight flight path. "This should be good," Karus muttered under his breath.

Anxiously watching their aft viewscreen, Karus and Ts'Sai observed the remaining volleys closing in. The alarms of the _Marco_were increasing their tempo steadily, adding to the intensity of the moment. Both waited with baited breath as the first trio of missiles appeared to overtake them...and then a 'pinging' sound erupted in the hull. The streaking warheads burst as fireworks in a deadly display behind them. The remaining salvos exploded as well, similarly caused after 'pings.'

"I merely had to re-route some auxiliary power through the Bloodhound, thereby intensifying our energy signature for a brief 'ping' time to trick their detonation mechanism to falsely think they were within an acceptable error-ratio. Not a terribly difficult procedure once I had studied their tracking frequency," Percival said matter-of-factly over the comms.

Karus and Ts'Sai looked at one another and simultaneously sighed in relief. "Next time boss," Karus said with exasperation, "tell us what's in store before either of us make a mess in the cockpit." Ts'Sai nodded in agreement.

"I shall make a note of it, however..," Percival noticed a set of six previously unnoticed blips, now highlighted due to extended sensors. "Um, did you happen to notice that our friends in the Dreadnaught happened to launch six fighters towards us?"

Karus waved and gestured quickly in front of his visor to 'fling' the specs for the fighters to one of the cockpit's monitors. Both he and Ts'Sai saw the graphics brought up in detail. The appearance of the craft was reminiscent of a three-clawed talon. Three swept forward wings appeared as the claws, leading into the body of the craft, with a powerful engine affixed to the aft. Beyond the specs of the fighters, Karus paid close attention to the formation they were flying in. Broken, scattered, and random. Little coherence in formation, he figured, meant little in terms of communication between the pilots. They would be flying as individuals, not as a pack.

"Hmm...Kr'ithka light fighters flying an especially bad formation. Heh, they're prolly out here to corral us back to the 'naught," Karus said, cracking the knuckles on his forepaws, "Now we can have some _real_fun. Go ahead 'n drop the extended sensors, chief. Might need the shields. Not much, though, these guys look like some serious chumps."

He took the _Marco_on a course away from the fighters to show them his tail. Percival re-arranged the power to it's normal 'red alert' settings. He also warned Karus, "I'm not certain why you're looking forward to this. You've got enough weapons battery for a single shot. There are _six_of them."

"Exactly, those poor bastards don't stand a chance."

The fighters appeared in weapons range, opening up with their blaster cannons. Hundreds of fiery orange bolts erupted from the squadron's wings, quickly tracing the path of the _Marco_in a bright light. Knowing the little one in the cockpit couldn't assess the situation, Karus explained to her casually, "They've modified their cannons for a pulse setting. Looks flashier, looks scarier, but typically less effective than just firing a standard cannon. Those fighters can only scratch the shields on a ship like this."

"Scratching is bad when you cannot respond! What's your plan!?" Percival said worriedly. The fighters would not be fooled by sensor hi-jinks like the missiles, and thus worried Percival that much more.

"Time for an oldie but goodie, the 'engine flip'," Karus replied.

Karus waited until the fighters were at a reasonably close distance, and then fired full boosters. He took the Marco_straight on a collision course with the broadside of a massive battleship. The fighters pursued swiftly, still firing wildly. Many of the small bolts struck the _Marco, sending a crackling sound through the ship as portions of the shields evaporated. Ts'Sai shuddered, despite the wolf's reassurance, seeing a faint shimmer outside of the canopy as the state control field shifted gases to maintain Percival's settings.

Then she noticed the battleship taking up a larger and larger profile dead-ahead. "Um...Karus? There's a....a...big thing there....getting closer..."

Karus was playing a dangerous game of 'chicken' with the fighters. He wasn't even looking forward, he was checking the aft sensor cams. The fighters had not yet engaged their booster engines, and they were falling behind. "Wait for it..." he spoke softly to Ts'Sai.

THERE IT IS!_Karus thought excitedly. Three of the pursuing craft had their aft section light up, engaging their boosters to close. They accelerated quickly, exactly as Karus has hoped. The other three craft began to back off and pull up. _Hmm...so they're not all stupid.

The capital ship was taking up nearly all of the canopy's view. Karus cut all engines and continued drifting at a high rate of speed towards a collision with the dead battleship. With the fighters closing once again, continuing to fire, Karus's paws hovered near a side panel...

Just when Ts'Sai was certain that Karus was going to ram into the ship to their doom, he quickly pulled a few levers, and she could hear the engines moving. Looking to the cams that overlooked the wings of the_Marco_, she saw the engines turn around, facing in reverse. The instant they locked in place, Karus fired everything the engine and boosters could give him.

It was not an instant change of direction, the _Marco_had built up tremendous velocity towards the hulk. Power couplings and bolts began to sizzle and bust respectively, as the sudden change of thrust put enormous strain on the frame of the ship. While Karus casually turned off the hull stress alarms, Ts'Sai felt her heart was about explode, as it seemed she could reach out and touch the side of the ship before them at the apex of the directional change. The _Marco_began travelling away from the broadside, as the fighters sailed towards it.

The pursuing Vultures had pursued too close, and too fast. Without adjustable engines, they were unable to stop in time, or cut their acceleration fast enough. Two of the craft tried to veer away, only to impact on the side in a blossom of silent gases, scrap, and fire. The final craft cut all engines and attempted to pull a 180-degree flip, but was unable to reverse in time. It, too, erupted in a fireball against the hull.

Karus dove the craft in reverse to face the remaining trio, flipping the engines forward again. He fired up to face them head-on. "Percy! Drop aft shield, super-charge port side, and make it flat for me!"

Percival was still recovering from the near-crash. Karus had pulled that stunt before, but never that close. He began to protest about Karus's current demands, "But max rotation is efficient, and all facings shou-"

"PERCIVAL!!" Karus shouted, indicating there was no time to argue.

Considering the track record Karus had with handling nasty situations, Percival decided to work quickly on the pilot's crazy request.

"There! Are you happy!?" Percival retorted over the comm. He racked his mind why the pilot would make such an absurd demand. Shield rotation increased the effectiveness of shields against incoming fire. Flat shields were terribly inefficient, and burned up quickly under fire.Flat shields are really only effective against a broad, large impac...oh no, Percival thought to himself.

The_Marco_charged the fighters head-on, engaging in a second game of chicken. The cannon of the Marco_was still offline, drawing the fighters to believe the transport was essentially a sitting duck acting bravely. Karus flipped on the solar shade to avoid being blinded by the incoming fire. Ts'Sai tried to push herself deeper into the seat, seeing a veritable wall of blaster cannon fire incoming. Karus altered the course by few a few degrees constantly, to avoid the worst of it, but dozens of small bolts were striking the forward facing of the _Marco, causing shimmering flashes and crackles of gasses dissipating. There was a hissing sound emanating from the inner areas of the ship, attempting to replace the lost concentration of gas for the shielding.

"Time for a 'love tap!'" Karus shouted out, "Brace yourselves!"

Just as their craft met the Vulture formation, Karus took a split-second dive before climbing, and took the craft into a tight spin. The upper of the two port-side engines struck the leftmost fighter heavily on the aft. The impact rocked the Marco Polo, and violently shook the entire crew. Lights flashed on and off, and the collision alarm blared. Ts'Sai was rocked heavily against her restraints, the belts bruising her chest. Percival was thrown as well, avoiding smashing his muzzle against the console only by slamming into it with his forepaws. Karus nearly lost control of the craft, but managed to pull up in time to avoid collision with a nearby frigate that has been shorn in half.

For as violent as the collision was for the Marco_and crew, the fighter fared much worse. It tumbled end over end, thrown much harder due to the _Marco's greater mass. Karus pointed to a cam for Ts'Sai to justify his course of action. The fighter spun out of control for a bit longer, before being impaled on a large, exposed support beam in the superstructure of a carrier, from canopy to engine.

"Alrighty Percy, you can balance out the shields again. I got 'em," Karus said in a self-satisfied tone.

Percival rubbed his nearly sprained wrists. "Yes, you did. And...after re-balancing...we only have 37.5% shield strength on each facing. Two fighters left, and a single shot. Hardly a positive situation."

"Don't sweat it, I've got a plan for the fifth dodo too. Just gonna need help from my co-pilot," Karus said, turning briefly to wink at Ts'Sai.

She whimpered, not used to extended combat like this. It brought up uncomfortable memories of the pirate attack on her family.

"Don't worry kiddo. You're gonna help me pull off a pretty advanced maneuver, one I can only manage with a kitty as tough as you. I call it 'the tailgaters de-light.' First step, I'm gonna fake out the buzzards."

He began pumping the boosters, and waving the course around strangely. He continued to explain the steps of the plan, as a measure to calm Ts'Sai. "See...this is exactly what a craft looks like when the booster fuel is empty. It fires sporadically, getting the last few gasps of fuel, usually surprising the pilot and making it difficult to maintain control. Guessing these two pilots are more experienced, since they're still alive and all...so they've seen this sorta thing before."

He gestured again to their aft camera array, as the two fighters were looping back around to get on their tail. "If they're what I expect, they'll think we're out of maneuvering options. They'll slow up a bit, and try to tail us closely, assuming there's no way for us to lose 'em. Which is exactly where I want 'em," Karus explained, anticipating the move eagerly. Ts'Sai was fascinated to find the fighters following the predictions of Karus exactly, firing their blaster bolts silently, but impacting with crackling energy on the_Marco_'s backside.

"Now, darlin', is where you come in. I'm gonna be working on the sell of a desperate little transport helplessly trying to evade. You will be watching this cam, third from top," he said, pointing at a row of cameras, "and lemme know when one of those fighters are just below the very middle of the screen. Say 'NOW!' when they're right there. And when ya see what happens, don't worry. All part of the show."

She looked at the appropriate screen, and knew it was a view just over the starboard large engine. The fighters buzzed frantically, firing rapidly on them, their flame-orange bolts erupting across the weakening shields. Ts'Sai was nervous, but felt emboldened by the Karus's accurate predictions and his capability so far.

"Okay!" she said enthusiastically, "I've got this!"

Karus smiled at hearing the confident kitten. He adjusted the flaps of the_Marco_'s booster exhaust to fire forward instead of their typical setting. It was not exactly what they were designed for, and it definitely could lead to heat damage along them, but was the only way to emulate a maneuver similar to 'break-checking.' Besides, he was fairly confident in Percival's ship being able to handle him pushing it.

"Up...no, too far....now a bit right...I mean, your left..." Ts'Sai reported to Karus.

"Time is of the essence Karus! Aft shield strength below twenty-five percent!" Percival shouted over the comms.

Ts'Sai felt slightly uncomfortable being put on the spot, even unintentionally, by Percival. She swallowed her nerves, and continued to guide Karus to getting the fighter lined up. "Turn slightly starboard....climb...hold it...NOW!" the young Ts'Sai signaled.

Karus quickly fired the boosters, and in their reversed flap position, slowed the ship to a standstill. The fighter closed rapidly as Karus set the flaps back to normal. Just a split-second before impact on the engine, Karus fired full boosters away. The firestorm of exhaust from the engines permeated the shielding of the fighter, igniting the gases that composed them as the _Marco_sped away.

The Vulture craft was wreathed in bright blue flames. The fire itself would cause only superficial damage to the fighter, being created to withstand much more extreme temperatures, but it caused the response the Karus expected. The pilot panicked, being unable to see through their canopy, and swung the craft wildly. It careened and ricocheted off of several metal chunks before an internal, mostly contained explosion in the craft brought it to rest among the other dead hunks.

"Now...gonna finish this quickly," Karus said with determination, seeing indicators on his holo-visor warning of waning shield strength. "Bring up the cannon, boss."

Percival typed in commands bringing the up the Marco's one offensive weapon. An electrical charge emanated deep in the hull, increasing in octaves before the weapons light switched to ready.

The robotic voice of the Marco's VI sounded again. Weapons are online. Warning: The primary targetting computer has been disconnected. Please re-connect for optimal performance.

"Karus! I specifically told you to stop doing that! Do not refer to me as 'boss' if you refuse to follow my orders!" Percival yelled furiously.

"I'm sorry, Percy," Karus said sincerely, "but I can't use the things. I _need_to be able to aim manually, if ya wanna 'optimal performance' outta me."

"We'll discuss it later, please deal with the remaining foe," Percival replied sternly.

The last fighter began to back off a bit after his last wingman ignited, and especially after it sensed the weapons system of its target powering up. Precisely the distance Karus wanted. He cut the engines and went into a speedy drift. Quickly rotating the two port engines 180 degrees, so that they would face forward. He then gave a quick blast from the boosters, sending the craft into a tight spin while maintaining the same bearing. During the spin, he flipped the starboard engine in the same manner, so that all engines would be facing the front. As the fighter came to the center of the canopy's view, Karus restarted the engines, flying the _Marco_in reverse.

With a quick gesture before his eye, his visor turned from cyan to dark crimson, and he spoke softly, "Betchya didn't see that one coming..."

He tracked the target with his visor giving its best prediction of how to lead, and analyzed the fighter's movements and attempts to bob and weave. The Vulture pilot had a semi-random pattern of attempting to dive, climb, or arc away from the Marco's cannon, but would return to a firing position about two to two and a half seconds later. Finally comfortable with the pattern, Karus brought the firing sight of the cannon to match the fighter on its next attempt.

A charging noise quickly increased in pitch throughout the hull of the_Marco_. *_ FRRRRZZZZHHHTTTT _*_Everyone held their breath, waiting.... * TTTTHHHHHUUUUMMMMM * A bright teal beam flashed from the cannon on the _Marco Polo's 'neck,' lancing straight out towards the fighter. It penetrated directly through the Vulture's cockpit, causing the ship to burst in a brilliant display of lights.

"Oh, the shot is good, crowd goes wild! Aaahh.....aaahhh..... Thank you, thank you, I'll be doing autographs after the show," Karus exclaimed proudly, admiring the view before flipping the _Marco_into flying forward again. He gestured again to return his visor to its normal shade.

"Despite your insubordination....I _am_pleased with the results," Percival said, with a sigh of relief.

Ts'Sai relaxed in her seat, happy at least THAT ordeal was over. "What about their big ship?" she asked, hoping it was going to be over soon.

"Well, something that big can't follow us in this field, so we're just gonna guide out all easy-like, engage cruise engines on the other side of the ring, and head towards the jump point. Easy-peasy," Karus replied.

"And none too soon, either. We're out of shield gasses, with only nineteen percent on each facing. Cannot afford another engagement," Percival said.

"This umm....might be a dumb question," Ts'Sai asked quietly, "But why do different ships fire different colored lasers?"

"Blasters, honey," Karus said in an understanding tone, "Lasers are for surgery and ship-construction. It's so you can tell when good guys or bad guys are shooting."

"Karus, don't fill the little one's head with nonsense. It's due to the various ionized gasses used in weapon batt-"

"Hey, can science class wait? I'm tired. Let's get outta here first," Karus interrupted. He took their ship on an easy course leading out of the ring.

_Subspace rupture detected. Terran vessel approaching, the T.C.N. Triumphant,_the V.I. reported.

"OH COME ON!!" Karus shouted, cursing their luck.

"Hmm...it appears the patrol craft from earlier went ahead to get reinforcements..," Percival noted.

"Yeah...a battleship. And...I hate to admit this Percival, but I'm out of options," Karus said reluctantly, "I'm good, but I'm not _that_good. There's no way I can avoid the turrets from either the Vultures or the humans, and each one is blocking the access to the jump points..."

Karus circled idly in the debris ring and Percival tore through dozens of displays, looking for anything they could use to escape. Efforts were fruitless, as nearly every possible escape route was covered by the massive firing arcs of the two giant warships. Ts'Sai nervously wrung her tail when she saw the communication unit light up. "Umm," she timidly said, trying to get the wolf's attention. Karus clicked the unit to receive the message, still not looking away from his canopy view.

Ts'Sai saw a pale human male appear on the viewscreen, adorned in black and gold naval garb. "This is the T.C.N. Triumphant, hailing cargo transport, Marco Polo. You are in violation of Terran Conglomorate space, and your vessel is to be impounded. We are aware of a pirate presence in the area, and will be moving to deal with them shortly. You are to move to these coordinates," he said mechanically, pointing to holo-displays appearing on the screen, "and await the boarding of your ship. Any other action will result in being fired upon. You will be given a military tribunal to determine your crimes, with a minimum sentence of 5 years hard labor, to a maximum sentence of death. Cooperation will be-"

"Piss off," Karus said brashly, finally turning to the camera, and turned off the comm unit.

"I really wish you hadn't done that," Percival said, "Surrender is looking...oh, drat. Appears the Vultures are hailing us again as well."

Karus impatiently clicked the unit on a second time, and not waiting for a response said, "What the hell do you want chicken-shit?!"

The grim war-hawk Arh'rek cackled and said, "Seems you are caught between a rock and a hard place, puppy. Will it end with a quick execution by the Terrans or as our dinner guest? I can at least promise to preserve your corpse better than the Terrans, who'll surely dump it out an airlock."

"How 'bout you and the humans go blow each other...up," Karus said, pausing for emphasis, "And we'll show ourselves out. Besides, I just done frying six of your turkeys, that'll last for awhile."

The pilot clicked off the comms unit again, before the enraged monster could list all of his threats.

"Must you antagonize our enemies, Karus? I'd rather not have them after us with a vengeance. Especially when we appear to have no escape route," Percival said despondently.

"Well...I think I just thought of something, boss. Wanna run it by ya," Karus said, a sly grin appearing across his muzzle, "How 'bout we try threading the eye of the needle?"

Karus tapped a screen to send Percival the image of the binary pair in the center of the system.

"Are you suggesting...that we attempt to fly in-between Achilles and Hector?" Percival asked, stunned from the proposition.

"Yuuuuup," the pilot replied, "Too big for those warships, and there's no way for their auto-targetting to follow us so close to that much heat 'n radiation. They'll have to take the long way around, and by then, we'll be long gone out the jump point."

"Well, yes, but...You _do_realize those coronas are much hotter than the stars themselves. We would have absolutely no margin for error...."

Ts'Sai looked at the sensor display, and noted the two large red objects on a course for their position in the ring. "Um, guys? Could you make up your minds? 'Cause I think those two big red thingys are coming for the little green thingy."

"Boss?" Karus asked impatiently, tapping his footpaw on the floor.

Percival's paws flew, typing in a few dozen calculations...And saw that their odds of surviving such a course were slightly below twenty-five percent. Marginally better than their odds of attempting to outrun them on cruise engines, or attempting to slip through their firing arcs. "Take us out, Karus," Percival said, still nervous about the idea, "Going to paint the trajectory you'll need to follow to avoid melting us."

Karus smiled, and turned to wink as Ts'Sai. "Ready for one of the dumbest maneuvers you've ever seen?"

She looked at him wide-eyed and confused, unable to comprehend the wolf's excitement at the incredibly dangerous task.

Karus turned the throttle to the max, and took a dead-set course for the middle of the binary pair. Debris sailed by quickly as Ts'Sai continued to wring her tail nervously at each near-collision. The pilot gestured emphatically with his off-paw before his visor to bring up a feasible corridor between the hulks, the holo-images swiftly changing along the displays of the canopy. Then, the displays turned green as an exit course was found.

"Got it! Cruise engines in three...two-" Karus said excitedly.

"Wait! Cruise engines drop our shields and we're not out of the ri-" Percival tried to cut in.

"...one!" Karus shouted, pulling back hard on the lever to engage their full cruising engines.

The debris outside the _Marco_became an indecipherable blur to the little kitten, as she and the others were pulled back into their seats, due to the artificial gravity lagging a bit behind the sudden shift in velocity. Karus carefully guided the craft in wide arcs to follow the nav-squares his visor set up on the canopy display. The squares were becoming narrower and narrower, taking the ship perilously close to many chunks of scrap. Unable to see the danger, Percival found himself holding his breath just looking at the sensor data of how many objects they were sailing by, and how close they were getting. Some of the blips he could see getting within one-hundred meters. To Ts'Sai, the whizzing vortex of inert metal was dizzying, and she had no idea how the wolf was managing. Karus was just having a blast, enjoying the break-neck speeds and chance at showing off.

Just as suddenly as the show began, it ended. The _Marco_sailed swiftly out of the debris ring towards the stars in the center of the system. They were still travelling just as fast, but without the frame of reference of the junk, it was difficult for the observing kitten to tell. What she could ascertain, however, was that they were not within the cover of the scraps anymore, and the two large red blips on the sensor display were moving much more quickly towards their position.

"Ah, Karus? Those red thingys are coming at us even faster now..." she said softly, gesturing at the screen.

Karus's grin began to disappear as he noticed what Ts'Sai was pointing out. "Huh," Karus said nonchalantly, "looks like I pissed those types off more than I thought. They're engaging _their_cruise engines to intercept us...both of 'em..."

He quickly waved through a few displays and brought up both capital ships on opposite displays. After seeing the numbers, his eyes widened as he came to a terrible discovery.

"Uh, boss!? We gotta go faster. Like, a _lot_faster, those ships are going full cruise right here. We gotta hit the outskirts of those coronas before they get here or we're gonna get caught in some pretty wicked cross-fire."

The frustrated Percival was working tirelessly on the calculations for their vector between the stars. Many factors needed to be considered, such as solar flares, the gravitational effects of going towards and away from the gravity wells...He had to plan the approach perfectly or else they would be incinerated from the intense, invisible heat of the stars' coronas or ripped apart by the extreme gravity.

"I'm a bit busy right now, pilot! Planning a course between stars isn't as easy as a simple planetary approach or navigating through a nebula! There are hundreds of fac-"

"None of which matter if we get shot first! Those cap ships are gonna be on us any second!" Karus barked angrily.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO, WOLF!? The reactor is already at 100% output!" Percival shot back, frustrated at the interruptions.

"Overclock the damn thing!" he shouted, preparing to take evasive actions against the approaching capital craft.

The calculating raccoon looked away from his math and saw the incredible velocities of the pursuing vessels. Reluctantly, he concurred with the wolf. They would be caught directly in the middle of the impending broadside if their speed was not increased. He took out a small side console, and with the utmost precision, slid the indicator bar for reactor output into the red. "I've just increased our reactor output to 105%...And we're flying between stars...You know, Karus, there's a very likely chance we are going to cook from both the inside _and_outside."

The pilot intended to answer sarcastically, but was interrupted by a high-pitched screech from Ts'Sai. The Vulture dreadnaught quickly zipped into the canopy's before coming to a very quick stop. The sensor cams showed the Terran battleship appearing right behind their position, both of the massive cruisers preparing to unleash a broadside upon the other, with the _Marco_caught right in the middle.

Karus growled on instinct while taking the craft into an extremely tight barrel-roll, 'corkscrewing' around the dreadnaught just as both of the cruisers opened fire. A torrential firestorm of flame-orange bolts erupted from nearly a hundred points on the Vulture craft, and the Terran's return-fire could be seen on the aft-viewscreens as a literal sea of bright blue blaster cannon fire. The dwarfed transport evaded the fire on its spiraling course, missing a collision with the dreadnaught by a hair. Ts'Sai could actually make out details on the massive ship from the canopy view in the short moments it took to pass the ship. She saw corpses strewn about the hull, cruelly rigged together with various tethers, shredded hull breaches, and noxious gasses escaping.

Karus flipped the _Marco_right-side up and headed towards the narrow pathway between the star's coronas. A series of holo-buoys appeared as green rectangles on the canopy. "This should be the proper course to avoid being incinerated," Percival announced.

He looked to his sensor readings and added, "Entering the periphery of coronas in three...two...one!"

Ts'Sai and Karus saw a thin shimmer around the canopy as they broke through invisible, super-heated gasses. The sensor displays began to grow a bit fuzzier, and the cameras turned to static. Percival's entire sensor reading display shorted out.

Percival spoke again over the comm, "It's to be expected, our proximity to the stars' radiation has temporarily brought our sensor array down. That's why it was so important to plot this trajectory before entering the perimeter of the stars."

Karus nodded to himself, and found the controls to be sticking a bit for him. "Must be within gravity-well of 'em too, pulling us quite a bit. Gonna slingshot us right out the other side of the system...but, uh, boss? Have a question. With our sensors down how do we know if anyone is following us? Or gonna shoot at us?"

"Karus, someone would have to be crazy to follow us, we'll be lucky to make it...and if they did...it would have to be a smaller ship, which would still need to drop their weapons for cruising speed. As well as their sensors being just as screwy...can't imagine anything becoming a threat from behind."

The wolf wiped his sweaty mane out of his eyes, panting slightly as the_Marco_built up extreme heat from the reactor inside, as well as the hull beginning to glow slightly. "I dunno, Percy. You can still fire rocket-based disruptors at cruis...Fuck!"

Almost on cue, a missile shot past just a few meters overhead, exploding in a spark of electrical discharge. Karus dove slightly to hit the exact corner of the next holo-buoy.

"Just fuckin' jinxed us, boss...They're trying to short out our reactor with those disruptor rockets. There's someone on my tail just can't see 'em..." Karus said, frustrated. He kept one paw on the control sticks and unbuckled his safety harness, and began to jiggle out of his flight vest.

Percival's mind raced in the systems control room. "I have an idea, but we're going to need to lower the tractor beam turret and Ts'Sai is going to have to tell us our pursuer's location."

The nervous kitten squirmed in her chair. "M-mm-Me? I..I..."

Karus roughly tossed his flight vest off to the side of the cockpit. He mumbled, "Too damn hot in here anyways....thinking same thing, boss. Getting on it."

As Ts'Sai tried to protest, Karus grabbed a multi-tool under the flight controls. Steering the craft with his left paw, he alternated corners in the buoys randomly in order to be a harder target to hit. A couple more missiles sailed past and exploded in a similarly electric fashion. Snapping the tool out to the right, it extended several feet, and the pilot used the tool to poke Ts'Sai's chest, releasing her harness.

"Wha-What about safety!?" she asked in a panicy tone.

"Kiddo, we're flying between two stars and getting shot at from behind. Safety was boned a long time ago," Karus said bluntly. Taking his holo-visor off, he tossed it over his head into her lap without ever looking away from the path of buoys. "Wear that, get in the tractor bubble, and just look at 'em, ok? Me 'n Percy will get a bead on their position that way. You can do this, buddy, we're countin' on ya."

Ts'Sai gulped, but clasped on the visor and nodded to Karus's back. "Ok...Heading down..."

She ran back out of the cockpit and slid gracefully down the ladder. Dashing through the sloped 'neck' of the Marco, she found the breeze from the quick movement to be a blessing, as it felt like it were over one-hundred degrees, and getting hotter as she approached the engine room. An echoing clatter could be heard from the lower decks of the ship, as Percival dropped the tractor beam turret. The clanging made her pause...but she knew she had to do her part, and pushed on.

Leaping with her feline grace down ladders and stairs, she went to the bottom-most level of the ship, and saw the small opening from the tractor turret. She hesitantly approached, feeling immense heat from the area. Clicking a comm unit to the side she said, "Uh...guys? I'm here but it's REALLY, REALLY hot in that thing..."

Percival responded, "I know, sweetheart. We _are_between two stars, just look at the bogies behind us for a minute or two, and then come out, simple as that."

She stood anxiously over the bubble-turret entrance, and gingerly lowered a single footpaw down into it. She cringed her little pink toes as it felt like lowering herself into an oven. Stepping onto the baking chair, she hissed a bit and decided to get it over with and hop in the rest of the way.

Towards the front of the ship, the bubble-turret was similar to the canopy, being blasted by glowing super-heated gasses. She turned around from that, to see the danger looming behind. Three large fighters scurried in their wake, attempting to acquire their tail. Ts'Sai screamed as the leading fighter ignited a rocket that was coming straight at her position on the underbelly of the Marco.

Karus saw the feed from his visor, and instantly jerked the ship upwards, yet not so far as to miss the next buoy. The missile flew directly underneath the bubble-turret, Ts'Sai could see the smoke trail as she opened her teary hazel eyes.

"Don't worry, champ, doing great. Just keep your eyes on them a bit longer, okay? I think I can get some of these suckers," Karus said encouragingly over the comms.

Ts'Sai forced herself to look directly at the Vultures, able to even see into their canopies with the enhanced detail of the visors. The ships were shaped like swept-forward, folded pancakes, but rockets were fixed both above and under the wings. In the center sat the cockpit, each with a ferocious-looking avian inside.

Karus bobbed the craft side-to-side, forcing the fighters to follow suit. With each bob he took the craft out a bit wider and wider until he was barely grazing the holo-buoys Percival had set. The fighters, attempting to stay in their 'V' formation matched the movements with small adjustments to try to dumb-fire a rocket into them.

Suddenly, Ts'Sai saw the leftmost fighter begin to combust. The craft seemed to spontaneously erupt in flame, and then quickly extinguish in a silent puff of debris and smoke. She gasped, confused about what she just saw.

"Haha! Dumb bastard!" Karus cheered, "The difference in heat outside of this really narrow corridor is tremendous. Get too close to a star and ya burn up."

The_Marco_was nearly right between the two stars, accelerating as fast as possible because of the gravity pulling them so far. The buoys were coming up much faster now, and getting narrower. "Boss?" Karus asked, "Mind whipping out your trick now? I'm running out of maneuvering space here."

"Yes, please..." Ts'Sai begged, "It's getting too hot to breathe!"

"Just a moment..." Percival responded, his paw twitching above a lever for reactor controls, "I just need our engine to overheat a little bit more..."

He examined the temperature display for the reactor...Just a bit over seven hundred degrees kelvin. Well into the red, but not quite there yet.

The holo-buoys were now zipping by, many of them by the second. The corridor Percival had painted was now almost exactly the size of the ship, giving Karus no room to maneuver at all. Ts'Sai twisted the end of her tail tightly, seeing both of the Vultures line up for one last shot.

Reactor Critical, shutdown imminent, the robotic voice of the ship's A.I. broadcast over the intercom.

"Flushing and venting reactor coolant!" Percival shouted, pulling the lever downward.

Ts'Sai's jaw dropped, as bright bluish-green liquid burst from the rear of all three of the Marco's wings. The wickedly hot cloud of fluid covered the last two fighters, and their hulls instantly began to glow brightly. As expected, the sudden blinding and scalding of their craft surprised their pilots, and both peeled off, to burst in similar fashions to the first. She was so impressed by the sight that she almost forgot about the heat.

Karus smiled wide, pumping a fist in the air. "Hell yeah! Two kills for Percy! Freaking sweet, man!"

Percival leaned back in his chair, sighing heavily. "All I really want is to get out of this system without any more surprises..." He decided then to toggle back the engine output to safer levels.

The_Marco_was being slingshot by the gravity of two stars, travelling far faster than what could normally be achieved, even by a battlecruiser over-cranking their engines. The figures of both stars began to disappear from the sides of the canopy view in a very quick manner. "Well boss, all looks clear. Conference on where to go in the cockpit?"

Ts'Sai eagerly lept out of the turret bubble, but took her time heading back. She was very exhausted, hot, and sweaty. Percival grabbed his engraved cane, and stood up slowly, cracking some of his sore joints. Both headed towards the cockpit, meeting in the middle decks by the reactor. Ts'Sai gave Percival a gentle hug, nuzzling under his chin.

He gently rubbed her shoulders, saying, "There, there...you did a great job. It took great courage to stare down those villains, didn't it?"

"Mmm-hmm..." she said, pressing into his chestfur. "Let's not come back here, okay?"

He chuckled slightly, saying, "I agree, little one. How about we meet with the hound and decide where we are going to go, then?"

They sauntered together to the cockpit, paw-in-paw. Percival lifted Ts'Sai onto his shoulders as he went up the ladder. They came upon a canopy view of the other side of the ring, just emerging from the heated gasses of the coronas. Sensors thrummed back online, and cameras and monitors 'popped' back on again, leaving a view as bright as the mood.

Karus swung around the pilot's chair, still topless. "Oooooohhh yeah!" he exclaimed, flexing his arms and chest. "Friggin' showed those shitheads what's up!"

Percival covered Ts'Sai's ears, scolding the wolf, "Watch your language, Karus! She's still young."

Karus shook his sweaty, curly mess of a mane. "Heh, boss...we just survived an attack from space-pirate rapist-cannibals, and greedy-territorial-vindictive-humans. I think she's gonna grow up fast in an environment like that. Anyways...where we headed?"

Percival sighed, and set Ts'Sai down. "Well... I'm not entirely sure. The Terran vessel _did_identify us..."

"Ah, geez...you're right," Karus considered, "I mean...I'm _assuming_they're gonna beat the Vultures...it's possible they'll guess we broke up between the stars, but..."

"They might assume we got away, and place a bounty on the Marco," Percival said, finishing the wolf's thought.

Karus stood and walked away from the controls, the craft already safely set for a course towards the jump point. He playfully ruffled the headfur of Ts'Sai, knocking her ears askew, as he took back his visor. Clasping it on again, he scrolled through to bring up a map. Checking for the many systems this one could connect to, he got an idea.

"Ah! Perfect, we could head to Beatrice's! She knows me...Runs a distillery out by Saggitarius B. It's not ah, exactly a legal one, so...not likely we'd run into anyone associated with Terran law enforcement."

Percival groaned, and fixed Ts'Sai's ears for her. "By 'not exactly legal' I assume you mean?..," Percival leaned towards him, wanting him to expound on the station.

"Well, you know...A hive of scum and villiany, all that jazz. Paradise for types like me," Karus said, grinning sheepishly, and speaking a phrase Percival himself used to describe the places Karus frequented.

"Look, Karus...We just got done with one harrowing situation, should we really head straight into another one?"

Karus plopped sideways on the pilot's seat again, stretching as his earthen-brown coat bristled. "I know _you_don't like it, Percy...but there's only so many places we can go that don't have some sorta deal with the Terrans. Beatrice likes me, for the most part. She could probably get us into contact with someone who needs a job done, heck, probably even a legit one. Plus, I know Chudnov, the arms merchant there. For all our haul on this trip, he'd prolly give us a decent price too."

"Well...set the course, I suppose. I certainly hope you don't have any..._ulterior_motives, Karus," Percival said with extra emphasis. He knew he was opening a can of worms by even referencing the 'issues' he had with places Karus frequented but...his problem's with Karus's habits had been a serious enough issue in the past to justify the statement.

Ts'Sai was confused at what Percival was implying, and even more confused by the enraged look Karus shot him back. Judging by the expressions the two were giving one another, it appeared that it was not the right time to ask.

"Whatever," Karus said in a frustrated, clippy manner, "Making the jump now."

He lazily tugged on a knob in the corner of a control panel as the _Marco_approached the invisible but all-important jump point. The jump point was a miniature singularity, where if a craft's 'hopping' device was engaged, it was possible to slide into subspace, essentially, the space between space. While in subspace, faster-than-light travel was possible along certain corridors between star-systems, which is what enabled the species of the galaxy to form their empires.

A swirling vortex of light began to expand around the Marco's nose and canopy. The spiraling energies of the 'hopper' combined with the singularity engulfed the vessel, and for a brief moment, the crew experienced a blurring of vision, and a sense of displacement. As their sense of 'here' returned, the canopy's previous view was replaced with great tendrils of light, signaling the subspace corridors open to them.

The wolf entered a few commands into the Nav-Com, making a course for Beatrice's star base.

Ts'Sai, still sensing some animosity between the others, because of Percival's near-accusation, desperately wanted to break the ice again. "Well...that was fun, guys, but...I'm still kinda pooped out," she said with a grin, hoping to cheer things up a bit, "and thirsty. And sweaty. Ugh. How 'bout you all?"

"I agree, I figure it _is_worthwhile to open up a bit more of the water reserve...seeing as how we intend on being resupplied at the next stop...I think we can even afford a quick shower for each of us," Percival said. Ts'Sai's eyes lit up at the suggestion.

She turned to the wolf, whom was still looking away at the paths of light. "Coming, Karus?" she asked timidly.

"Nah...think I'm gonna stay here with my ulterior motives."

She looked back at Percival who gave her a saddened expression, shaking his head. "Best to just leave him alone for a bit," he whispered.

Ts'Sai considered for a moment...but couldn't leave him on a sour note. She bounded over to him, hugging him tightly and nuzzling her cheek against his.

"Thanks for uh...saving us, and everything. You were really great."

Despite the mood Percival got him into...Karus was forced to break down a bit. He gently head-butted the kitten back, saying, "Thanks, kiddo. Means a lot coming from a tough critic like you. Don't worry, I'm fine. Just wanna chill out in the cockpit a bit, alright?"

Satisfied that the hound was not too upset, she skipped playfully back to Percival, and they both headed down the ladder to the crew deck for their first (brief) showers in a while.

Karus continued to look out at the corridors of light, angrily clenching and unclenching his paw. He was furious that Percival would assume that his suggestion of heading to Beatrice's Station was only because he had 'ulterior' motives. The wolf was so upset because...it was true. He _did_have a hidden agenda at the station.