FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The hazy hound awoke to a pounding on the doorway of his bunk.

"Karus? KAR-US!! Are you alright? Has anything happened?" Percival shouted through the latched tight entryway.

Grasping his pounding head, the wolf attempted to collect himself. He had been roused in this manner several times before. First, make sure he had not left any paraphernalia out in open sight. Second, get a bearing on what occurred during the last dose. Both of those were clear, so he checked himself in the cracked mirror to verify his appearance. Matted hair, bloodshot eyes, and a faint odor of night sweats...nothing that was indicative of any more than a terrible night's sleep. It would be safe to respond, but first...the canine checked his wrinkled vest, and extracted the Zephract that he saved for just this purpose. Although dangerous to combine such a stimulant with the extreme depressant Necrosia, it had become something of a combination for him, to jump-start back into activity quickly.

"Coming, Percy! You just caught be about five minutes before my alarm went off," Karus responded, being honest about that at least, as he saw the time set on his visor. He quickly inhaled the dosage through his lupine nostrils, experiencing the now mild jolt as the chemicals began to reanimate his sluggish body.

Before unlatching the hatch, he placed the empty canisters of both drugs into a discarded holster, being careful to not make too much noise, to avoid rousing Percival's suspicion. Karus buried the holster under a few piles of rubbish, hoping that he would remember the placement of them so he could dispose of them through the trash compactor before either Ts'Sai or Percival went through his room.

"Karus! You know I hate it when you lock this door! I respect your priv-"

The door locking mechanism clicked out of place, and Karus swung the door inwards, facing his captain and attempting his best to control his somewhat jittery mannerisms, as well as conceal the fact that his head was pounding. An unfortunate side-effect of being able to sleep was that Necrosia tended to deplete fluids around the brain, and Zephract used up even more fluid from the body as it accelerated the processes within.

"But...I haven't really earned the right to have it, is that what you're gonna say? Sorry, boss, I don't really sleep very often, and if I ever get to, I crash hard."

Percival shrank from the entryway a bit, not from fear of the wolf, but more due to a general fear of confrontation.

"Well, yes...I could hear you snoring almost halfway down the hallway...And please, do not assume that I am thinking less of you, I am just, concerned. There _was_time on that station for you to meet old friends..."

"Well, the reunions were not quite that cheery, if you didn't notice, boss. Had to shoot someone and scare the shit out of another," Karus replied, sassily weary, "It's just...never mind, boss. What's the problem?"

Percival nearly explained the situation, but began to notice how the wolf was carrying himself, oddly off-balance. The raccoon noted how the normally sharp, brown eyes of Karus were focusing poorly, and unlike the 'swagger' that the wolf had, he appeared more like a sickly dog. Similar to how he used to rouse while under the influence of one drug or another...but...he did not want to press the issue.

"Are you alright? Forgive the expression, but you look like hell, Karus. Still having trouble with..?"

"Yeah, not sleeping too great...Prolly just from everything going down at Beatrice's. It'll pass," Karus said, cracking several joints in a stretch, holding his aching head.

"Well, I certainly hope so, friend...Anyways, the _Marco's_VI safety protocols took us out of subspace just a bit early, there's a large storm blocking the path to the trade lane."

"Ah, crap," Karus complained, rubbing his temples as he tried to control his steps towards the galley, "Need to grab a canteen really quick, boss. And I'm not happy...since this is sign number one that this contract is a load of...junk."

He avoided the terminology he would have preferred to use, as he saw Ts'Sai sprawled out across the center squared table of the dining room. Not wanting to shake his head out of pain, Karus merely sighed as he could not understand why the young cat refused to use chairs properly. Acquiring a canteen, the wolf guzzled it quickly, hoping that the fluid would end this miserable feeling.

"What do you mean, Karus?" Percival asked, not understanding his companion's reasoning. He also winced, noticing his friend chug the water so quickly, remembering it being one of the tell-tale signs that the canine had been using something.

"Think about it, for a second," he replied, as Ts'Sai toyed with a stuffed bear, all four paws sticking up in the air, "Why would someone create an artificial jump point?"

"Well...to gain access to systems that one couldn't before, due to being out of normal subspace vectors," Percival said, now taking notice of Ts'Sai, gnawing on the toy, obviously playing out every possible stereotype for attention.

"And?" Karus lead him on, after a heavy breath, finishing the entire canteen in a matter of seconds.

"I don't quite follow, that is their primary purpose," the raccoon replied, gently dragging Ts'Sai around on the table, much to her amusement at finally capturing their interest.

"Okay, sort of...now think, if you're able to place a jump hole, anywhere you want in the galaxy," Karus continued, running his paws through his frazzled golden locks, in a self head rub, "Why would you place it directly in the middle of a storm? It's not like...it just popped up outta nowhere. You can see an electrical disturbance from light years away, _especially_with the kinda galactic surveillance the Terrans have. Makes it difficult to get transmissions out, if the ring needs maintenance, or for people to even _find_the thing..."

"Unless you _want_the jump point to remain hidden...Oh...bugger," Percival said, careful to control his words, especially if Karus could. "This is...looking to be quite the opposite of the legitimate contract I had been hoping for."

Ts'Sai sat up, only having passively listened to the boring conversation to begin with, but focused on the word 'storm.' "We don't need to fly into thunder, do we?" She asked, perking her ears forward in anticipation, ducking her head ever so slightly in the hopes that if she cutely displayed fear, another way around would be taken.

"Thunder, no, little one," Percival said, scratching under her chin, causing the kitten to surrender her adorable display in happiness, "As the sound wouldn't be traveling through space. But lightning, yes."

"Don't worry, champ," Karus said, cracking his neck loudly, causing both Ts'Sai and Percival to twitch in empathetic pain at the sound, "One of the few super-sciency things I actually bothered to read about was that. Me 'n Percy here designed the ship to avoid any complications, from that sorta thing. Heck, most ships are...Still doesn't make it a fun trip, though. Friggin' holonet goes down, sensors go all screwy...it's just an annoyance, not dangerous."

"Well...we might as well go to it, shall we, Karus? We're dangerously close to missing the specified deadline, and the contract says that any breach is-"

"Considered a crime by Terran bas...tooges," he replied, catching himself mid-word and skewing his lupine ears in different directions, with Ts'Sai grinning at the reaction. She had been around him enough to know how hard they both tried to sanitize their behavior, for her sake.

"I've taken the liberty during your rest," Percival spoke carefully, to not hint that he had doubts about what Karus may have done in his quarters, "To place the coordinates in a hard save, so that even once sensors go down, we will have a point of reference inside the storm to travel to."

"Well, then, guess we don't really have much to wait for, do we?" Karus said, arching his back in a stretch, causing the mess of fur to stand up in patches. He ruffled Ts'Sai's headfur, and gave a 'thumbs-up' signal towards the cockpit as he backpedaled towards the passageway. Ts'Sai's ears flopped downwards and she sighed, not eager at all to traverse through a cosmic electrical storm, and she followed with flopping, heavy footsteps and drooped shoulders. Percival took up the rear, as his normal position in engineering would be nearly useless as the disturbance disabled the sensors, and he decided he may as well take in the sights.

Karus sat carefully in front of the controls, beginning to feel the beneficial effects of water added to his system, and not wanting to shake his head up from bouncing around. Outside of the canopy view, a massive cloud of tiny particles buzzed, filled with thousands upon thousands of dancing flashes and bolts.

"Ugh..." Karus grumbled, not entirely eager to be visually assaulted with the bright storm. With nav point highlighted in purple and blue, he eased the impluse thrusters forward into the silent storm, towards their destination.

Ts'Sai eased into the cockpit, her ears folded back in a worried expression. As the _Marco_dove into the cloud, her wide eyes dashed back and forth rapidly, following each new burst of electricity as quickly as her kitten reflexes could allow. Suddenly, she gasped and dove behind Percival as a particularly large, jagged bolt struck their craft just below the plassteel canopy.

"Oh, my poor dear, don't fret. This cloud of particles is bouncing back and forth, bumping into each other millions of times in a matter of moments...and they build up energy, just like...well, you don't really have carpet here," Percival tried to explain to the shuddering kitten as he cradled her in his lap in the co-pilot's seat. He had little static shocks in mind, but realized she most likely had limited experience rubbing her footpaws on carpet.

"They're still too bright, and quick, and spidery-looking, and...I don't care how they show up, they just scare me...a little bit," Ts'Sai said, burying her face away from the view, tightly under Percival's chin.

Karus sighed, rubbing his eyes and steering with his footpaws for a moment, looking away from the canopy to avoid the bright display. "I don't think a science-y explanation is gonna work, boss," Karus commented, stretching out his arms as he leaned back far in his chair. He looked at the kitten, coiled snugly against his friend, and thought back to something that comforted him, from deeply buried memories.

"Say, kiddo...you ever hear about how wolves, I mean, long, looooong ago, used to think about thunder and lightning?"

Ts'Sai peeked from behind her furry cover in Percival, and saw the odd wolf looking at her upside down, leaning back far too much in his chair, with his frazzled headfur flopping around his face and ears. She felt a bit more comfortable, riding out the storm, seeing Karus lead by his nonchalant attitudes. Her slight smile was all that it took to let Karus know to proceed telling the story.

"Alrighty, bud, so...a long time ago, before space travel, blasters, and stuff like that...Wolves used to hear thunder, and see lightning all across their world. It was way before all of the science-y stuff too, and no wolf had any idea why it was happening. Well...in short, one of our shamans...uh, spiritual types," he added, noticing the kitten skew her ears in confusion, "They explained that lightning was the sky's way of talking to us. It let us know about distant weather, in a literal sense...but it was supposed to also foretell important events, inspire pack members to do things they had put off, to bring the clan closer together...that sorta thing. Used to be scared of the sound too, to be honest...after awhile I got kinda used to 'em. Actually, started to sleep better with 'em, to think about it..."

Ts'Sai was wise enough to hide her smile from Karus, covering her tiny mouth with Percival's vest. The wolf rarely opened up in that manner, and she knew that if she was to reveal how touching it was to hear him bare parts of himself, he would close right back up again. She looked out of the canopy view, once she knew she could contain her little grin, and gazed towards the dancing lights, and felt comforted, imagining a young Karus looking at the same display and sleeping soundly.

Percival, however, lacked some of Ts'Sai's nuance and observation. "Well, goodness, Karus," he said, juggling Ts'Sai with a few chuckles, "If I had ever known that, I would certainly have parked the _Marco_on more planets with storm activity!"

Ts'Sai dug her miniature claws into Percival's sides, prompting him to jolt a bit, and he looked at her in confusion. She narrowed her eyes, pinned her ears flat, and gave a small 'no' head shake to him, hoping that his comment would not cause Karus to close in on himself again.

The pilot chuckled along weakly, and gazed for a moment off to the side, and with stifled, saddened eyes, flipped back rightwards towards the controls and took them again. His stance had changed, slouched more in contemplation than laziness. Ts'Sai dug her claws a bit deeper, causing Percival to moan quietly in pain, but the point she was making got across. Still, she held them there for punishment, and thought quickly to try to salvage the moment.

"I like it when you tell me about when you were younger, Karus," she said in her most apologetic, timid tone, "I...I don't know about you, but...I feel like I can relate to you, as an orphan."

Karus could not help but grit his fangs, partially due to regret at bringing the memory up to begin with, but primarily due to admiration of Ts'Sai. She knew _exactly_how to tug at his heartstrings.

"Heh, you're more right than you know, kiddo," he begrudgingly admitted, "I am something of an orphan."

Percival looked at Ts'Sai pleadingly, to remove her tiny, but sharp, claws from his ribs. She relented, but only to hold a finger to her lips, indicating that he should keep his mouth shut. He readily nodded in agreement, as the young kitten obviously had more sway in opening the hound up than he had. Although Percival had always assumed the worst about Karus's past, he had never gotten him to make such an admission.

"Can...can I ask you about your parents? I mean," she thought rapidly, hoping to gain at least a little ground, "You kinda know what happened to mine..."

_Shit, backed yourself into a corner with this one,_Karus thought to himself, nearly considering using the boosters to arrive at the nav point faster. The perfect excuse was just a few thousand kilometers away, the giant ring of the trade lane was starting to stand out amongst the flashing display. Not enough, though, to remain completely silent...

"Well," he said, contemplating how little he could mention before arriving at the destination, "I...uh...Well, it's more like I'm thought to be dead by my parents, if that makes sense."

Percival and Ts'Sai looked at one another, befuddled by the answer. Percival shrugged at her inquisitive look, showing he had no idea what Karus was talking about. Ts'Sai pondered for a moment, not sure how to continue.

"Well...wouldn't you want to let them know, that you're alive still?" she asked, unable to comprehend anything other than a tragic mistake causing a situation like that.

"It's ah..." Karus said, keeping a close eye on the ring they were approaching, "It's a bit more complicated than that. Not really an option anymore."

The wolf was thankful for his companion's naïve nature, and inability to see the double-meaning behind parents 'thinking they were dead.' Before any more questions could be asked, Karus decided to point out their arrival.

"Hey, look, guys. Trade lane's right there, gonna input passcodes now to make the jump. Based on contract's description, should only be a few minutes in subspace before we arrive at planet. Bit of a short jump."

Ts'Sai sighed, knowing that his mention of their current job probably meant he had ceased his moment of revelation. Percival smiled at her, and mouthed, "I'm sorry," so as to not be overheard by Karus. He followed with gestures, and a bit more mouthing to say, "You got more than I ever did."

The_Marco Polo_shimmied to the 'front' of the ring, indicated by giant, flashing green lights. Hundreds of bolts were striking the ring, deflected by huge series of rods along the ring's outer parts. Karus edged the ship within 100 meters of the opening, as only extremely short transmissions could be made with such disturbance, and he sent the codes to activate the artificial jump point.

Percival and Karus had both utilized trade lanes in their travels before, but the concept was an alien one to Ts'Sai. She saw Karus input the code and send off the transmission, and leaned forward eagerly to see what would happen next. The giant four green lights began flashing, and electrical energies began building up along the inner portions of the ring. Space in the center of the ring began to twist and warp, bending the images of the lightning around. Shortly after, the disturbance began to rotate and expand rapidly, extending outwards to encompass the entirety of the empty space inside the ring. Finally, it appeared to 'lock' in place, as the image solidified into a single dark hole edged with a bluish hue.

The_Marco_began to move towards the created singularity, but Ts'Sai noticed Karus's paws were nowhere near the controls. When she looked in confusion at Percival, he answered, "Tractor beams, little one. To ensure the craft that sent the passcode is the one that gets sent through."

Ts'Sai looked on as their ship was taken into the small hole, and the bluish tint engulfed the ship. She, and the rest of the crew, felt the same displacement as they entered subspace, and everything seemed to lurch forward for a moment as the ship was propelled instantly through the hole, the bluish edge now becoming a massive corridor, somewhat like the pathways in natural subspace.

Admittedly, it was more fun for Ts'Sai, as the 'movement' was less boring than normal subspace travel, as various twists and turns gave the impression of going on a very fast ride. Percival noticed the kitten's excitement, being batted by her tail. He thought to explain how the 'turns' were following a series of rings towards their destination, spaced appropriately to facilitate an artificial corridor where none existed naturally. On second thought, though...he decided to just let her enjoy the experience quietly.

Karus stole a quick glance at the pair, and grinned, despite her constant questions. He had to admit that she was incredibly perceptive for her age, and he would have to take greater precautions in the future to not be caught off-guard again. It was not like he enjoyed the mystery, certainly...But this was a good gig, and did not want to risk potentially losing it, if either her or Percival ever had full understanding of what happened, years ago.

Ruminating on the thought, as their ship hurdled through the subspace corridor, Karus hoped that nothing else would cut his facade so close. It was difficult to come up with enough excuses to avoid Lupine space...although Percival usually took any suggestion without too much effort. Things would get difficult as Ts'Sai grew from a kitten, however, especially as her understanding grew. Perhaps, by then...

His thought process was interrupted by the light buzzer that indicated their travel through subspace was ending. He waved to the pair behind him without looking, and pointed at a small flashing red light. A thrum sounded throughout the ship, as their ethereal travel method was ending, and a loud *_CRACK*_boomed as they entered realspace again. The ship's sensors and viewscreens sparked to life, and the view through the canopy was no longer that of spectral forces guiding a pathway, but real points of light in the expansive Milky Way.

The crew looked in unison at one particular viewscreen, depicting the planet that they were instructed to visit by contract. It was a very habitable planet, with expansive, dense greenery, massive oceans, and clearly visible deserts. Active cloud activity suggested a very diverse climate, as well.

None of this, however, was what was running through Ts'Sai's mind. She bounded out of Percival's lap, and skipped towards the screen.

"Are...Are we going here!?" she asked, excitedly.

"Yes, my little lady," Percival answered with a chuckle, "The planet's name is Haven, according to our job description. We are only here to make a pick up, but...we'll see how long we can stay, for you."

"Yay!" the energetic kitten exclaimed, jumping into the air with joy. It had been _so_long, by her standards, to have actually stood on real ground, breathing in natural air...she could not help but hop about the cabin, without another way to expel her energy.

Karus nearly made a comment, about seeing how ugly the Terrans and Syndicate had made the surface...but he did not want to take away this little victory for her. Flying was his element, he knew, but the youthful kitten had no such outlet, and it was understandable how she could view being cooped inside a ship akin to a prison. Truthfully, he hoped this contract was not as sketchy as it appeared, and the his little comrade could enjoy some real sunshine for a change. He engaged cruise engines, and took a relaxed pose in his seat, with footpaws propped up on controls, and their destination locked in automatically.

"Hey, champ, know you're excited to breathe some non-recycled air, but, might wanna get buckled in, once we hit atmo and pick up the planet's gravity-well, artificial grav's gonna cut off in here, and might get a little bumpy," Karus warned Ts'Sai with a smile, keeping his darker thoughts to himself.

"Aww...that stinks," Ts'Sai replied, ceasing her bouncing for a moment. Before settling down, however, she wrapped her arms around Karus's neck and nuzzled his cheek warmly, wanting to show some affection for his brief amount of opening up. She hopped up on Percival again, and as he fastened their seat belt snugly, he could feel her straining to contain herself from leaping up yet again.

As the planet began to take up the entire canopy view, Karus sat up and properly took control again, slowing the cruise engines to take a safe approach. He did not trust auto-piloting to handle a descent through atmosphere, preferring to take manual control of it. Although Percival assured him the algorithms were sound...much like his disdain for targeting computers, he trusted his own instincts much more.

Slight wisps of gasses could be seen riding along the edges of the Marco's wings, only increasing Ts'Sai's anticipation. The crew could feel a slight shift in their bearings, as the artificial gravity cut off in time with them being picked up by the planet's well, as the wolf predicted. Karus flipped on the communicator to a burst transmission, not entirely sure of whom he was requesting to land with, figuring the appropriate authority would respond.

"Transport craft _Marco Polo_to planet Haven, requesting permission to land. Please give coordinates and approach vectors," he said, being on his best behavior, for the moment.

After a few seconds, the sound of rocketing through real atmosphere started to roar through the ship, and the wisps of wind began to burn red hot and zipped by instead as flames. Karus had a tight grasp on the shaking controls as he guided the craft downward, impatiently waiting for a response. He noticed four different blips on the sensor arrays, appearing to be on an intercept course for their position. Escorts of some type were to be expected, although...he wanted an 'all clear' message before feeling safe, and made sure to check the current route for a few escape vectors should the need arise.

Luckily, he did not need to wait long for a reply. Percival, too, was anticipating such a reply, still doubting in his mind the wisdom of taking this job, after Karus had expressed his concerns. Ts'Sai could feel Percival's tensions rising in his tightening thighs as she lightly bounced in eagerness.

"Syndicate landing control to Marco Polo, we read your approach. Standby for a sensor sweep by escorts. Following that, proceed by painted vector to landing zone. A representative will be dispatched upon arrival," a nasally voice spoke in a meticulous manner, over the receiver.

As the Syndicate controller spoke, the comms unit portrayed the approach and destination on a holographic overlay on the canopy view. Karus slightly adjusted the descent of the _Marco_to match the nav buoys lighting up before him, slightly more comfortable with a reply. Still...it was not enough to assuage his doubt. He tapped one of the blips to bring up an enhanced display of the craft on one of the side viewscreens. Naturally, it attracted the attention of both Ts'Sai and Percival.

"I've...never quite seen a ship like that before, have you encountered one like that before, Karus?" Percival asked, not with a tone of apprehension or fear, but of genuine interest. He had never seen such a craft.

"It's vaguely Terran...the aerodynamic wings show that...but the compressed cockpit is something else entirely. Nearly looks like it could be a feline design, with the main body," Karus indicated, zooming in on the image with his right paw, not needing too much attention to keep them on course, "But...I'd say the fit for the pilot must be pretty tight. And these...dang, that's some pretty awful forward firepower. Anyways...no, I've never seen a ship quite like that."

The crew did not need Karus to explain for long, as the quartet of fighter escorts quickly spread out around their ship, featuring along most of their side and rear viewscreens. Ts'Sai looked in curiosity, not understanding how Karus could tell that the 'body' of the ship was feline. She tried to notice the particular aspects of the ship, like he had pointed out to her outside of Beatrice's space station. The dual wings were jutted out, slightly downwards, and bent straight down, at the tips. As Karus had noticed, the wings were covered in a trio of cannons, and connected to two larger cannons along the 'body' of the ship, which was tightly compacted, barely affording any space for what she must assume where the pilot was. However...the majority of the center of the craft appeared to be a single, giant engine, from what the kitten could compare engines to look like, from what she had seen before.

To Percival, a close examination of the craft appeared to be a technical marvel. Obviously, the engines and weapons were tied to a singular power source, in the center fusion reactor of the craft. Maximum speed _and_forward firepower were connected in one, and, with his experience in the field, he could tell the boxy arrangements sticking out of the main body were heat sinks, to avoid overheating such a taxed power supply. What he could not make out was, how they managed to also fit in life support, or redundant systems for the already tightly-fit pilot.

Karus paid little heed to the strict design of the ship, and focused instead on their formation. It was perfect. Almost...too_perfect. Even the most elite of squadrons flying in formation had to deal with pockets of air, slight over or under corrections...but this one appeared to almost anticipate where they would be. For one of the few times it was necessary, he even glanced at the 'pings' the_Marco's sensor arrays were giving him, and the squadron of four fighters were perfectly, mathematically spread equal distances from the ship, only altering in numbers lower than a full meter.

Suddenly, with instantaneous precision, the four fighters spread out, one ahead of the Marco, two to the starboard and port flanks, and one to their rear. Air breaks and boosters both screeched in the now noisy ship, surrounded by real atmosphere. The expertise of their maneuvers unnerved Karus, who had seen some very fantastic aeronautical displays before, and was more than capable of them himself...but something still felt off, about the entire thing. He tested a theory he was forming by very slightly weaving the _Marco_just a few degrees between the nav buoys...and as he expected, the fighters moved in absolute harmony, without any delays whatsoever amongst any of them, almost as if they were predicting his movements before he made them.

Worse, however, was the fact than an alarm, very familiar to both Karus and Percival, began to sound. Along with it was a yellow blinking square in the wolf's holographic 'Heads-Up-Display.'

"Hey there, partner," Karus said into the communicator, beginning in a soft tone, for him, "It's pretty unprofessional to flag someone with a missile lock during a sensor sweep. If you didn't realize, you_can_scan someone without pointing your reticule at them." Although the wolf was attempting to maintain politeness, towards the end of his statement he _did_lay on a fairly bitter tone.

The pilot lifted a paw to indicate confusion to Percival, who responded with an equally puzzled look. Karus was unsure what to do, understanding it would obviously be quite a mistake to begin evasive maneuvers, but...it was instinctual to do so whenever someone was targeting him. Percival was unsure of the protocol as well, because none of this was standard procedure. For one, the fighters had not even identified themselves, or announced that they were beginning a sensor sweep.

Neither Percival nor Karus had long to dwell on the subject, as the slight buzzer stopped, and a blaring alert sounded, as the cockpit's lights dimmed and turned red. Ts'Sai covered her ears from the auditory assault, and Percival held her closer. With lips curling in frustration, baring fangs, Karus slammed the panel to silence the alarm and angrily took the detachable headset for the communication system.

"Now look here, you stupid shit, you've just gone from flagging me to full blown lock, I've got half a mind here to raise shields, blow this first fucker away in front of me, then ram the piss out of the rest of you! Who the fuck are you getting a lock on me!?" Karus shouted, unable to control his anger at the unknown pilots.

The same nasally voice replied, "Oh, pardon me, I must have forgotten. It is our policy to maintain a lock on inbound and outbound visitors, to maintain safety for the personnel here. Apologies for the inconvenience." Despite the 'apology,' the voice was dripping with insincerity.

"Why don't your flyboys speak for themselves, dickweed?" Karus said impetuously, with Percival groaning in the background, hoping the wolf would not instigate yet another conflict.

"Those are drones, good pilot," the faceless voice answered, in a particularly condescending tone.

"Must be a shining jewel of a planet if ya gotta point a friggin' missile at everyone coming or going there, chief," he continued, growing more bitter by the moment at such a 'reception.'

"Please, if you would, just follow the buoys precisely and there will be no issues, we will happily greet you at the landing pad," the controller replied, somewhat hinting with the inflection of his voice a threat, should the _Marco_leave the designated approach for any reason.

"Roger that, pal," Karus answered, getting the idea for a bit of mischief. It was his suspicion that these fighters were remotely controlled, and he wanted to put them to the test. He muted the headset, and cocked his head to the side to speak to Percival. "Hey, you guys are latched in, nice and tight, right?"

Percival could already tell what Karus had in mind, and wanted no part of it. "Karus, please, we already know this is an undesirable situation, there's no need to escalate it..."

Not hearing the answer he wanted, the wily wolf decided another approach. The topography of the planet was in full view, complete with dense jungles, mountains, and oceans. "Ts'Sai, would you like a better view of this planet, and have a bit more fun on the way down? If so, just make sure the belt is buckled snugly."

Ts'Sai perked up, even as Percival was attempting to tell her 'no.' She tested the tightness of the lap belt around both her and the raccoon, but just in case Karus would pull something _really_fun, she also quickly latched the shoulder strap over Percival's protests.

"Ready for a ride, Karus!" The giddy kitten happily yelled over the captain's softer-spoken complaints.

With a devilish smile, Karus suddenly inverted the Marco, and the began flying upside down. Because the artificial gravity was off, everything within the ship experienced a flip in weight towards the planet. Headfur from Karus and Ts'Sai flopped around, and Percival reacted with exceptionally quick reflexes to catch his cap as it fell from his head towards the now upside-down canopy. Slight jostling could be heard down in the ship, particularly from Karus's quarters where nothing was secured.

Ts'Sai clapped her paws in excitement, even as the belt dug into her from both her own, and Percival's weight. The view was tremendous, as their ship banked through wispy clouds, she gazed with awe at the beautiful green expanses, mountains reaching 'downward' towards the skies, and oceans gently stroking the edges of land with their waves. Holding her hair out of her eyes with her paws now, she imagined the feel of real earth beneath her toes and nearly 'squeed' with anticipation.

Percival, fixing the cap much tighter on his brow, was not _quite_as happy with his pilot's decision. Clearly, Karus wanted to push the limits of what 'following the buoys' meant, and he wanted to chastise him...but with Ts'Sai pressed tightly into him, bursting at the seams with happiness...it was difficult to find the motivation for reprimand. Perhaps just a little bit of shenanigans would be worth it, to maintain morale. At least, he told himself that, to avoid fussing over the possible reception they would be getting soon.

Karus, on the other hand, cracked his knuckles, eager for a chance to compete with these automated pilots. Although they did not invert themselves as he had, they were still locked in a tight formation, mirroring every move towards the landing zone he made, within the holographic flight path. He wanted to play with them a bit, while_technically_abiding by instructions...so he began to rock the Marco, upwards and downwards, side-to-side, and barely clip the outermost portions of the projected path, alternating in whatever random pattern suited him. Several sudden changes of momentum occurred, rattling the craft even more, and causing quite a bit a g-forces on the crew, but the thrill of the ride caused Ts'Sai to giggle with glee, encouraging the hound to continute.

A heavy sigh sounded on the communicator, over the whooshing winds outside. "Please, pilot, do not-"

Karus pumped the air breaks, causing the rushing air to turn into a high-pitched roar, effectively cutting off the sound of the Syndicate controller. With ease, Karus maneuvered their ship to perform an aerial power-slide, almost sideways through the next few buoys. He also made sure to leave the channel open, just so the snide controller would hear exactly what was happening.

"Sorry? What was that? I couldn't quite make you out," Karus replied with a voice comprised of false concern. He left off the air breaks, straightened the craft, and continued his bobbing game with the drones.

"I_said_, pilot, please do not-" the voice attempted to say again, before Karus pumped the air breaks in time to screech the atmosphere once more.

"Oh, my bad, seems like the signal must be breaking up, or something. Oh well, sure you can tell us about it when we land, right? See ya soon, friend!" the wolf said, still bitterly sarcastic as ever.

Percival tried to rest his face in the palm of his paw, finding it a bit difficult with the inversion of gravity. "Karus...I know this contract had been agreed upon in less than desirable circumstances...And the legitimacy of it can easily be questioned...But is it _absolutely_necessary to cause further problems? I, for one, was hoping for something nice, quiet, and simple, hopefully clearing our names, and getting a large sum of credits."

"Hey, boss, these guys started it with the whole locking-on thing. Besides, I'm not really breaking any of their instructions," he said, attempting to sound as innocent as possible, "Just having a little fun with their RC toys, that's all."

Despite having a bit of fun at the controller's expense...Karus was, however, experiencing a bit of a problem he did not want to show openly. These drones had not_slipped up, in the slightest. True, he was confined to maneuvers within the confines of the nav buoys, but...he would have expected average machines to have made some sort of calculation error, after numerous high-G pitches and shifts. Ts'Sai was gleeful at the turbulent ride, and Percival looked as if he might lose his protein-paste breakfast, but these drones...they were _improving, if that were possible, occasionally making proper bearing adjustments before they could possibly know that he was going to. Begrudgingly, he began to fly a bit more conservatively, even re-orienting the craft properly, once again tumbling everything not fastened tightly around in the back of the ship.

"Aww," Ts'Sai bemoaned, saddened that the thrilling ride had come to an end. Percival, however, was immensely grateful.

"So, what prompted you to stop playing games? I'm certain it wasn't my persuasion," the raccoon commented, seeing Karus with a glint of frustration in his face after glancing at the sensor arrays.

The wolf pitched the ship slightly, just to give Ts'Sai a clear view. Vast greenery turned to desert towards the equator of the planet, and the quickly descending nav buoys indicated that they would be landing there. Karus mused for a moment before responding.

"Those drones are freaking me out, to be honest," Karus said, being entirely candid about the situation, "I think they are learning, by watching me...getting better at tracking my vector changes. I don't like it. Certainly not planning on a problem with our 'benefactors,' but...I don't like flying with things better at blowing crap up than me."

That observation upset Percival, but for different reasons. While Karus may be concerned with their potential escape from a bad situation, Percival thought to the historical, and scientific impact such a possibility may mean.

"Karus...that comes dangerously close to breaching the line between a Virtual Intelligence and Artificial, if what you say is indeed true. Creating a learning program, especially an armed one...If they also possess independent communication, we may be dealing with one of the biggest breaches of interstellar law since the bio-attack on Veratek!"

"Well, boss...looks like a settlement is coming up, and figure that's where we're going to be landing," Karus said, almost in a bemused fashion due to Percival's reasoning, "So...guessing ya may wanna keep eyes peeled and glean anything ya possibly can, before touching down."

The pilot pitched the 'nose' of the craft downward a bit, and reluctantly followed the suggestions on the nav buoys to drop to a recommended speed. Originally, he had wanted to test the drones' capability for a high-speed breaking maneuver...but did not want to reveal his own craft's capabilities anymore. By lowering the canopy somewhat, the view was clear to everyone of the crew.

Amidst the vast desert, a great golden plateau stood upwards. Along the rocky outcroppings of the stone giant, clear signs of construction could be seen. Starkly, a giant, silvery, turreted wall could be seen, with other large metallic militaristic buildings within, their armored walls hinted at such. Outside of the heavily fortified complex, much smaller and organically-built dwellings spotted the landscape.

Karus slowed the craft to nearly a hover...slower than the speeds recommended, but he wanted to catch a glimpse, and to give the others a chance to view the scene as well.

"Look! Cats!" Ts'Sai shouted, excited to see many of her kind in the outer areas, moving in between the mud and thatched huts. Her observation was correct, many feline Anthromorphs were amongst the crowd assembled outside of the walls. There was a smattering of other species, as well, but clearly, the predominant species here was feline.

However...Percival was noticing the dress, and status of the Anthros. Many were adorned in what appeared to be very meager dress, certainly below what was available to a power that was able to construct such a protected installation nearby. The various huts were in obvious disrepair, and the movement of the inhabitants...appeared cautious, and fearful, to the raccoon's eyes. Already, he greatly regretted the decision to take this contract.

"Oh...wonderful. Apparently ethnographically similar species are being overseen by an overwhelmingly militaristic force...Nothing could _possibly_be wrong here," Percival noted, with obvious sarcasm.

Karus immediately understood what Percival was seeing, and could not agree more. He wanted to turn away, but...knew it would probably result in them being shot down. The wolf took close note of the armed guards, and figured he could already identify most of the buildings within the high walls. A barracks, armory, control tower, HQ...it was a textbook Terran forward operating post.

Ts'Sai, however, did not understand the looks of disdain Percival and Karus were giving the place.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked with genuine innocence.

"Just making a terribly obvious social commentary," Percival responded quietly, "I'm afraid it will certainly get clearer as we touch down."

Still not comprehending, she shrugged and continued to look outwards. She could see rows of Anthros proceeding to a tunnel in the plateau, assuming that some sort of digging work was going on inside. Her companions surmised as much, too, but with a different perspective of what was really happening.

Hovering over the landing pad, a simple text-based message appeared in the comms unit giving them permission to land. Contemptuously, Karus flashed the engines much more than necessary, kicking up a large amount of dust around the landing site, and directed the exhaust of the engines to stir up the debris towards the barracks and armory areas. Even Percival kept his mouth shut, already having a hatred of the setting.

Finally, Karus set the _Marco_down, although the hovering drone fighters remained. It was only until he initiated the shut-down sequence of the reactor, that they apparently lost interest, and split their formation, jetting off into varying directions. He assumed that the fighters had a regular patrol, and only stopped their vigilance to see them entirely downward.

"Well...let's try to get this bullshit over as quickly as possible, right boss? Not looking to be a hero, we have a job, let's get it done with, and if anything is _really_screwy here, we can report it to more proper authorities later," Karus said, unbuckling himself and heading towards his quarters to retrieve his boots.

"Unfortunately...I have to agree. Clearly, we are not equipped to fix this...injustice, but...hopefully things are not quite as bad as they appear on the surface," Percival decided, his heart heavy at the prospect of being an accomplice to the situation.

As Percival unlatched himself and Ts'Sai from their seats to head out as well, Ts'Sai fixed her headfur, still quite confused by the attitudes of her companions.

"What happened to staying? Getting fresh air, and offa this dang ship for awhile?" Ts'Sai asked, stamping her little foot down, upset at not seeing what the two others could tell. She reluctantly followed the two, as they apparently were holding to their decision, and trying to move as quickly as possible.

The crew stopped outside of Karus's quarters, as the hound made a brief spot check inside to ensure his contraband had not slipped out into sight, before opening the hatch wider.

Inside, he found his boots amongst the topsy-turvy piles of junk, and began strapping them on.

"Well!?" Ts'Sai asked impatiently, demanding an answer for their sudden change of plans.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my dear, it's just," Percival struggled to find the words in his head to explain to her. The concept of abject slavery was one that he had not expected to explain to her. "I don't think that the cats are here by choice, Ts'Sai. Or any of the other Anthromorphs. This place...appears to be a forced labor camp."

Ts'Sai gasped, and then her eyes began to well, slightly. "Y-you mean?...All those other cats out there?" she began to inquire, before emotions of the dire situation began to fill her up.

"It's...it's what it looks like, dear. I'm so sorry," Percival said, attempting to console her.

"And," suddenly the kitten's hazel eyes filled with a flame, "Those bastards in the contract want us to work for them!?"

Percival slouched, not even wanting to reprimand her for the use of inappropriate language. He felt just as guilty, and ashamed of the idea. "Yes...I'm afraid that is the case."

"B-but...We can't! These jerks have to be stopped!" she cried, balling up her small paws into fists.

"Problem is," Karus answered, standing up with gritted teeth, "They've got at least four different drones that could fry our asses, and I'm gonna call it, we're gonna be 'escorted' by at nearly a dozen armed guards, that nosy Syndicate douche is gonna end up being a weasel or something, and they're gonna shuffle us to deliver some shady package."

The wolf tromped off heavily towards the cargo bay exit. Percival followed dejectedly, having to agree with his pilot's assessment. Ts'Sai, still caught in a loop of anger and confusion, followed only to try to get more answers.

"But...we gotta do something! Call the police, let the Terran authorities know! Just...forcing people to be slaves can't be right!"

"It's not right, but..." Percival wanted to try to explain, both for his sake, and hers, how impossible it would be to intervene. He just could not find the appropriate words.

"Laws get a little bit fuzzy, especially the further you find yourself from civilization, proper," Karus said, in a snarl that was clearly not directed towards the question, but in anger at even being here. "Bigger and better guns usually make you right, out here. Trust me, though, if there's a way to bite these guys in the ass...we're gonna do it, pal. Have my word on that."

He finished his promise with a determined nod towards Ts'Sai, who could at least take some solace in that. Karus bumped the cargo-bay controls with his fist, and stood with crossed arms awaiting their opening. Ts'Sai nudged into Percival, who protectively took her in his arms to face the expected problems.

As the clambering doors opened to the dusty surface, the crew was surprised to see a figure in waiting that was...not what they expected. A cheetah boy, perhaps in his late teens, sat eagerly on his haunches, appearing as if he would burst with excitement. He was wearing incredibly worn and shredded green shorts, not quite falling apart due to battle scars as Karus's outfit...but sheer age. The feline's upper body was bare, exposing a very lean, toned musculature. Atop his head was a green and black beanie, pulled snugly down his head.

Immediately after spotting the crew of the Marco, the exuberant cheetah exploded upwards in a gigantic leap.

"Yay! Visitors!" He exclaimed, still hopping rapidly back and forth, "Come on down guys! I won't bite, sillies!"

Karus raised his un-visored eyebrow and stole a glance back at Percival, who merely returned a befuddled expression. Ts'Sai found herself clutching a bit more at Percival's side...feeling a slightly strange feeling in her stomach, not understanding why she was so drawn to looking at the chiseled cheetah.

The hound uncrossed his arms, and strode down the ramp, not intending to be rude to the boy, but clearly looking right over him and even adjusting his visor sights to attempt to catch sight of anyone else approaching. Percival gave something of a half-hearted wave before proceeding, to which the boundless cat responded with a vigorous wave of both paws, still doing something of a little jig.

Upon reaching the bottom, and still not quite paying much attention to the energetic feline, Karus was immediately beset by the youth. The cheetah 'chirped' in elation, and grasped the waist of the wolf in an extremely tight hug. Karus was completely surprised by the embrace, but luckily caught himself before any reflexes set in. Instead, he merely tightened up in a clearly uncomfortable manner.

"Erh....umm...hey there, buddy. Guess you were expecting us?" Karus asked, unsure of what exactly was happening.

"Yep, yep!" the cheetah responded, smiling brightly and practically shaking with energy. "My name's Kenson Shimobe! I greet people that come here, or send messages back and forth, or whatever! I do alotta things!"

His speech was very quickly paced, and far more energetic than the wolf was used to. With as much finesse as Karus could muster, he pushed Kenson's arms down like a loop and stepped out of the hug. Kenson immediately returned to a state of excited waiting, and, as before, pounced Percival in a similar manner as soon as he stepped off of the ramp. If Ts'Sai were not clutching to his side, the fervent greeting may have knocked him to the ground.

"Gah! Oh, my...you are certainly a friendly one, aren't you?" Percival said in a pleasantly surprised tone, to which the cheetah answered with a vigorous nod against his chest. "Well, then, ahem, I'm Percival B. Ringwald, captain of the Marco Polo, and-"

Kenson cut him off in a flurry, hopping back away and gesturing wildly at the ship. "You mean, that's _your_ship? That...is...so..._AWESOME!_It's so cool like ya built it outta so many random parts and it was like, _VVVVRRRROOOOWWWSSHHH_coming down and like, _SSSHHHRRREEEEEOOOO_making dust go everywhere, and....AWESOME!"

Percival could not help but be a little flattered at the observation, however inexperienced it might be. No one else had ever appreciated the _Marco_in such a way, typically comparing the silhouette of the craft to a 'franken-ship' or suggesting that a garbage scow come pick her up. With pseudo modesty, Percival tucked a forepaw into his vest, and posed in a satisfied manner. "Why yes, Mr. Shimobe, it _is_quite a fine ship, isn't it? Now, you've already met my pilot, Karus," Percival continued, and Karus gave a slight nod, before continuing to look outward for more individuals coming, "And this here is our little stowaway, Ts'Sa-"

Percival was cut off yet again, as Kenson looked, and got the happiest expression at seeing Ts'Sai, who was trying to hide entirely behind her raccoon friend, uncharacteristically shy.

"OH...MY...GOSH!!! ANOTHER KITTY!" Kenson chirped loudly. He instantly dropped to her level, and began to gently headbutt her, in an extremely feral feline greeting mannerism. "You are _sooo_cute, too! What's your name!?"

The cheetah had ceased his playful greeting, and took the little kitten in a tight, but gentle hug. Ts'Sai, however, was completely befuddled. Her arms locked to her sides in something akin to paralysis, not entirely sure what to do with them. Inside her head, too, she was entirely lost. What exactly was her name? How was she so confused by the question? Why was this cheetah so...intoxicating, to her sensibilities?

Karus finally looked back, figuring any more greeters would make themselves known on her own. Despite his own removal from such emotions...he could immediately tell what was causing Ts'Sai's brain lock, and briefly grinned at her predicament. Eventually...one of them was going to have to explain to her what those butterflies in the gut meant. However...Percival would likely break out an anatomy book and completely ruin the point of such a speech, and honestly...Karus doubted he would be any better at such an explanation. He had ceased experiencing, or seeking out those feelings years ago. In spite of this, he knew he could at least come to her rescue this time.

"Hey, kiddo," the wolf said to Kenson, "She's a bit shy...hasn't really had a whole 'lotta exposure to the galaxy besides us two. Give her just a little time to warm up, first."

Kenson immediately released the breathless kitten, and gently patted her raven-colored headfur. All the while she could not stop staring at the shapely abdomen of the cheetah. "Aww, hope I didn't scare ya, kitty-cat! Just so happy to see another fuzzy face!" he apologized, before once again chirping in happiness, "So ah, what is your name?"

Having a bit of time to collect herself, she quickly glanced at Karus and gave a subdued nod to the rescue. The hound batted his right ear a few times to show he got the message, and still viewed partially outwards to analyze their surroundings. She swallowed hard, and fanned herself somewhat to lighten the heat she could feel building in her cheeks. "T-Ts'Sai...my name's Ts'Sai," she answered timidly.

The cheetah once again hopped back and forth with glee, exclaiming, "Gah! Such a cute name too! Glad to have ya come down!"

Despite the cheetah's prior flattery, and clear excitement at seeing them...Percival was growing a bit restless and wanted to move forward, in attempting to understand exactly what was going on. "Alright, introductions are all over," he said, still friendly but in an urgent tone, "And...I must confess that we did not expect to be greeted by yourself. Over the communicator, we were speaking to someone from the Osten-Wallenz Syndicate."

Kenson paused for his first time, and barely indicated a bit of resentment at the name being said out loud. "Oh, yeah..._those_guys...They sent me over here, saying they were gonna take just a little while longer. Happy though, that I get to be the welcoming com-kitty for ya!" He posed flamboyantly, with arms spread wide, smiling at his own little pun.

"You're uh...definitely a happy feller there," Karus said, getting at the question he knew Percival would want to get at, "Say..._really_happy for the setting, if you catch my drift. I'm guessing you live on the other side of the wall, right?"

This was the first time that the energetic cheetah showed signs of slowing down. Clearly, he understood exactly what the wolf was getting at. "Uhm...yeah...I do..."

"And I'm also guessing that you come to work here...and not exactly because of the splendid salary, am I right?" Karus asked, hoping to get to the bottom of things quickly, "And, to be honest, the eagerness is a bit hard for us to understand."

The formerly animated feline dropped heavily on his haunches, stirring up a small poof of dust, and stretched his bare footpaws outwards. "Yeah...You're right...It's not really great here, but...I try to stay cheerful, for everyone else y'know? Plus...I've always got my faith in Papa. I know He won't let things stay so rough forever...and knowing He's on my side, it's a lot easier to pick myself up and stay strong for all my friends and family."

"Who is this...Papa?" Percival asked, curious as to whom could inspire such loyal faith in one so young.

"Oh, you know, God," Kenson said, almost as if he could not comprehend someone asking such a question.

Reactions from the crew of the _Marco_varied. Percival understood immediately, and his furred face lit up with approval. The raccoon was fascinated with studying the social customs, religions, and sociology of the many different cultures in the Milky Way. Although he had never studied a culture that referred to a deity as 'Papa,' he could now connect the dots to understand how the boy could remain upbeat. Ts'Sai was intrigued, as she was not familiar with such concepts beyond references in Holonet programs or Percival's studies. Karus turned sideways to avoid showing his expression. He had no intention of offending anyone, and was at least concerned enough to avoid eye-rolling at the cheetah.

"Ah! Well, there's a good lad, always keep a stiff upper lip...We...apologize if there's not much more that we can do, other than offer morale support. Despite the capabilities of our ship...it is not particularly capable of planetary liberation," Percival said, extending a friendly paw to help Kenson back up.

"Well...I certainly hope it doesn't take fighting, but still...I always do get a little hopeful, seeing a new ship come by...You're the first other Anthros I've seen since the first ship landed here. Every other ship just has more soldiers, it seems," the cheetah revealed as he hopped back up with the raccoon's help.

"What was this first ship, if you do not mind my inquiry?" Percival asked on, insatiably curious about how this planet's situation formulated.

"That was my ship! Well, ours, really," Kenson answered, gesturing towards a few other laborers far in the distance. "We all came in one hyyyyyooooogggeee ship, most of us were from catty planets, but we picked up alotta other scaly, fuzzy, and all sorta types! It was years and years ago, back when I was just a' itty-bitty cub! But...alotta people wanted to get away from fights going on, and move out to a spot where no one hated each other, so....packed everything up onto a ship, and moved out here! Started building for awhile, but...eventually these guys came and relocated most of us here. Said it was to help make good homes faster, and, well..._I_was excited to get out to the desert, since it's a lot like my old home, but..."

Kenson's green eyes began to flutter a bit, recalling memories. Percival rested a consoling paw on his shoulder, and Ts'Sai felt like bursting in empathy-filled tears. She wanted to cry out how she was aboard such a ship too, but feared choking on her words again like before. Karus gritted his fangs, however, finally spotting what he was looking for in the distance.

"Heads-up, y'all. Think I'm spotting the bastard from the comms before," he warned, now causing Kenson to cringe as he felt uncomfortable with harsh language, "Bringing along six goons. Was a bit off in my earlier guess, then."

Kenson backed away slightly, carefully looking in the direction Karus was glaring in, and standing up in a much more forced, and proper pose. He whispered quietly, "Sorry, I can't be seen getting as friendly as I normally am. Really, really sorry. I hope we can talk more later..."

Percival noticed the approaching posse now as well...but had one more burning question to ask, before they were interrupted. He had noticed a thin ringed collar around the cheetah's neck, and needed to know the purpose. "Kenson, before they get here, I am terribly sorry to intrude but...what is that device around your..?" he asked in a hushed voice, gesturing towards his neck with his paw low, to avoid any spotting from a distance.

Kenson shook his head, indicating it was not a question he was supposed to answer. He merely stood incredibly stiff, as if at attention, waiting for the Syndicate representative to take over the proceedings. His eyes, however, pleaded forgiveness at needing to remain so uptight.

As the Syndicate group closed in, a thin, snakey figure lead the formation. It was clearly an Anthromorph, dressed in fashionable cybernetic business attire. Adorning the figure was a holographic watch and eye glasses, projected from small emitters along the suit. Flanking the business Anthro were human guards wearing thick-plated armor, closed helms with small, octagonal eyes, and bearing clearly dangerous blaster rifles that pulsated a dark crimson from their power supplies.

"My apologies for the delay, Captain Ringwald, however, we were expecting you just a few minutes earlier, and needed to readjust our already tight schedule to accommodate. I hope that our replacement welcoming boy was not a bother...as he can be quite...rambunctious," the figure spoke, a ferret with a very nasal-heavy voice.

Karus could not contain it any longer. It was a cheap trick to accuse the contracted party of lateness, in order to try to have an upper-hand from that point forward in any sort of confrontation. That and...despite Karus's seemingly unmoved response to Kenson, he despised these people for their abuse of refugees.

"Oh, don't blame the captain for lateness there, nosy," he cut in with his aggressively sarcastic tone, "That was my bad. First, I had some trouble locating a trade ring in the middle of a giant electrical storm. Not that there's anything shady about putting it there, nah...Was gonna make up for it on time by making a pretty sweet approach to landing site, but, kinda got held up by drones locking onto us that _clearly_aren't running on AI, right?"

The ferret narrowed his beady eyes behind his faux eye glasses which were radiating a light orange hue. "I suppose there are a few things we should clear up, immediately. This ruffian is your pilot, I presume?" he asked, refusing to address the wolf directly.

"Yes, Karus is," Percival answered, and for once, not particularly displeased with Karus for taking his stereotypically aggressive stance. He felt emboldened by the canine's confidence, and wanted to keep it up in the face of these criminals against decency. "However, he speaks for my crew as well as I do. We are going to require a great deal of clarification before we are able to continue cooperatively, as I am appalled by what I have witnessed, thus far."

"Oh, I do believe you are _far_too quick to judge," the ferret replied in a manner eerily similar to Percival, only more cruelly-intended, and toned through the nose, "But first, let me introduce myself. I am Margrave Reginald III, representative of the Osten-Wallenz Syndicate. I humbly welcome you to Haven."

"Charmed," Percival replied flatly. Ts'Sai could see in Kenson's eyes utter surprise at the manner in which Karus and Percival were addressing this individual. For a brief moment, they practically had a silent conversation between each other, enabled by the expressiveness of both felines with just their muzzle expressions and eyes.

_Are you okay? Is something wrong happening?_Ts'Sai asked with flittering eyes.

_This is CRAZY! No one talks to them like this!_Kenson replied by very controlled head nods, and eye direction.

She hoped to convey sympathy, and the cheetah answered with gratefulness, as they both waited with baited breath to watch the rest of the confrontation.

"Yes...Well, I suppose you need to have these issues cleared up before continuing," Margrave went on as Karus began to pace while rudely examining his entourage, "However, I believe it to be counter-productive to have such discussions amongst laborers and scoundrels. We should discuss this as creatures of reason." The wolf mockingly fanned his cheeks as if he were flattered to be considered a scoundrel by Margrave.

"And, by my reasoning, if it is something that needs to be said, my crew has every right to hear it as well. Furthermore, if you do _not_mistreat the denizens here, as I am certain you will claim, then our discussion has no need to be kept confidential from our greeter, here," Percival countered, fully ready to engage this adversary in verbal combat.

"If you insist, good captain. However, I fear the nuances of the explanation will be lost on your crude companion," the ferret said while glinting angrily at the hound, "The denizens of this planet are trespassers. By all legal rights, the Terran Consortium has the authority to deport, imprison, or...Well, I am certain you can grasp the situation, kind sir. Despite this planet existing in uncommonly traveled space, it is still _technically_owned by the Terrans, even if never populated. Once discovered by Terran authorities, a suitable compromise was made, and the Syndicate played the role of a neutral third party. In exchange for their labor, the refugees here will eventually buy back the planet they squatted on. The Syndicate is acquiring rare materials from the operation, and sharing the profit with the Terran Consortium, in a manner that benefits us all. So, do not be so quick to judge a situation based on appearances alone. This is not a...'labor camp,' by any means...this is a fair, freely agreed upon exchange in order to avoid unnecessary conflict."

Percival considered the explanation, but did not buy a bit of it. Clearly, his pilot did not either, blatantly rolling his eyes in clear view of the guards in a taunting manner. "If,if, this is true," Percival emphasized, "It is certainly not necessary to maintain such low standards of living for the labor force, and certainly not necessary to run an entire military installation, complete with...dubious, at best, drones, to oversee production."

Margrave's appearance sombered, but...even for the typically trusting Percival, something appeared insincere about it. "I'm afraid...Well, this really is not a topic for discussion among young ones, but...Not every inhabitant of this planet was willing to cooperate. Unfortunately, a small percentage of the population has receded into the jungles, like feral animals, to resist peaceful attempts at a solution. They are a threat to themselves, to our freely cooperating laborers, and to us. Such drastic measures are essential to providing security to those seeking a peaceful resolution. As for the drones, they exist to provide early detection for any ill-intentioned plots, as they can patrol entire regions of the planet indefinitely, without risking the lives of any soldiers. Although they appear quite intelligent, that is merely an effect of excellent programming, and certainly does not break interstellar laws against A.I. construction."

Percival lowered his head slightly, considering the defense this ferret had offered. It was obvious that he had every base covered, and attempted to even try to gain the moral high ground. However...it still did not feel right, and everything still screamed out to Percival that they were still roped into working for villains.

"I must inquire further, however, about the device around this young cheetah's neck. If this is indeed a true agreement amongst consenting parties, I must know if..." he trailed off, the question being obvious.

For a brief moment, one could see the ferret clench his paws. "More security measures were necessary, once it had been observed that certain...'cooperating' laborers, were, in fact, offering support for this underground rebellion. It is a...behavior adjusting device, meant to deliver corporal punish-"

"It's a fucking shock collar, quit beating around the bush you slimy bastard," Karus said, cutting him off in anger over hearing excuses for slavery, "And yeah, you're gonna say that they're technically legal according to Terran law, especially for P.O.W.'s, which I'm guessing is how y'all cover this shit up in the paperwork. Doesn't make you any less of a monster."

Margrave crossed his arms and shook his head, feigning regret. "Regardless of your pilot's brashness, you _are_legally bound by contract to complete the duties assigned to you," he continued, still refusing to acknowledge the wolf's commentary, "My description of the scenario here is only for your benefit, to attempt to make the work more palatable for what it may seem on the surface. In reality, it does not matter _what_goes on here, you _have_to do this, by the contract."

"Just lift your tail for a moment, and I can show ya where to stick that contract, pal. Got it printed on sandpaper just for such an occasion," Karus said, stepping towards the ferret and guards aggressively, prompting them to shift their weapons to a more ready position.

"That would be an unwise move, dog," Margrave said in his adenoidal tone, clearly insulting the lupine heritage as well, "As these are Terran naval forces, meant to keep the keep the peace from delinquents like you."

Karus laughed in a bitter, sarcastic fashion, and continued to swagger towards the well-to-do ferret. With a derisive index finger, he wagged it as he shook his dirty golden head dramatically. "Ah-ah-ah, you wealthy weasel, you...Don't ya know you can't bullshit a bullshitter?" the wolf taunted.

"Unit insignias," the canine explained, "I happen to be intimately familiar with these, actually." Like a stalking predator, Karus inched ever closer to the armored sentries. "These two are from Cunningham's Corsairs...got their asses handed to them on a platter in the Donegal System. This fella is a member of the Brotherhood of Buccaneers...lost count of how many of _them_I fried trying to edge in on Beatrice's place. Oh! Adorable guy right here hails from Tikanov, right? With the Onyx Aces...got to personally see an entire Draconian task force engage those scrubs over Boeotia...just like a firework display. Finally, this lovely couple is affiliated with Corsican Corsairs...Not even gonna bother to explain, just gonna mention..._Garstedt_system."

As the hound circled the guards, it was apparent how digging these insults were. Several clutched their weapons close, and one was visibly shaking with restraint to engage the contemptuous canine. All the while, Karus maintained a confident sway to both his voice and steps, before bowing in a provocative manner in front of Margrave and Kenson. No one outside of Karus and the guards had a particular reaction, as they had no idea what the wolf was mentioning. Margrave was merely annoyed at the monologue, Kenson was continually astounded at the audacity of this crew, and Percival just made more notes of how incredibly well-traveled his pilot was. Little Ts'Sai was partially frightened by seeing the outnumbered Karus clearly taunting these people...but also a bit happy to see these villains cut to size.

"And? Please cut to the chase if you will, brigand," the ferret asked with crossed arms and a scathing look.

Karus looked at Margrave in a dumbfounded manner, as if he was asking him the most ignorant question ever. "These are _not_Terran military, asshat," he replied with typical decorum, "They're all mercs. Not _just_mercs, of course...But all human companies, too. Each one with a pretty nasty reputation towards Anthros, in fact. I'm surprised they're following around a meat-sock like you, but I figure credits overcome all prejudices, don't they?"

Margrave shook his head and rubbed his temples through the holographic spectacles, unable to keep some of his fur from rising in anger. "Clearly, you are not familiar with the Terran act of deputizing, in which Terran Navy officers are able to-"

"Oh, I'm perfectly aware of Terran laws, thank you, and don't insult my intelligence again," Karus snarled with a threatening gesture towards Margrave, "It _technically_gives them the same authority of real officials. But anyone who knows how these things work understands...You don't hire a bunch of anti-Anthro thugs if this is such a _legitimate_operation, do you?"

The ferret dusted some imperceptible dust from his suit, as if even being motioned at by Karus got him dirty somehow. "If you feel that anything in particular is wrong with the way things are run here, go ahead and submit a formal complaint to Colonel Orhus. If not, we really must be going. I do not have the time or patience to attempt to get into a moral debate."

"I'll do more than sub-..," Karus caught himself mid-sentence and stopped. From the angle he was standing at, only the guards, Margrave, and Kenson could see his face. The young cheetah was surprised by what he saw, and could not help but pout in in empathy after seeing the shock on the wolf's face. He looked as if someone had suddenly kicked the wind out of his lungs.

"S-Say...say that name again," Karus asked, this time, in a much quieter voice.

"Oh!" Margrave exclaimed with glee, "That_is what will shut you up. I forgot that his name would not have been on the contract...Yes, you heard correctly, mongrel. Colonel _Orhus."

Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic... Karus continually ran this over in his mind, but it was impossible. There was no way to mask the utter shock. His fur stuck up in poofs as if static electricity was coursing through him. Balance was lost, and were it not for the youthful Kenson still standing stoically, Karus may have stumbled entirely to the ground. He clutched the cheetah's shoulder as he tried to collect his thoughts.

"Are..are you alright, sir?" Kenson asked as he felt the wolf leaning heavily on him. From behind, Percival and Ts'Sai grew fearful as well. They both saw something that neither of them would have ever expected to see. Karus's tail, despite him clearly fighting it, began to instinctively curl.

"Oh, this is grand," the ferret began to mock, amongst the guards mechanized speaker chortles, "I take it you must have known someone in the Lupine Defense Force."

Karus turned for a moment back towards Percival and Ts'Sai. His motions were jerky, like an uncontrollable amount of chills were rattling him. His left paw twitched by his holster as if he were about to draw his weapon reflexively, but his eyes looked to nearly be bursting with tears. "I-I...I think I should stay with the ship, Percival," he said, his voice soft and cracking. The raccoon knew something must be horribly wrong, apart from the uncharacteristic nature of Karus, now he was addressing him properly.

"Oh, no, I must _insist_upon you _all_being briefed by our Terran beneficiaries," Margrave taunted, now that the tables had been turned, "After all, we cannot have our contracted pilot miss out on any important information, now can we?"

Karus's paw clasped tighter on the cheetah's shoulder, not causing Kenson pain, but sending the clear message that the wolf was in an undue amount of distress. "Uh, um...sir? Are you alright?" Kenson asked timidly, hoping that the question was not over the line in front of the Syndicate and guards.

"Do_not_speak, errand boy," the cruel ferret warned, flipping a small device from his chest pocket, which caused the young cat's neck to twitch in pained anticipation. "As much as it would be an amusement to force this hooligan to stew some more...we _are_on a deadline. Please, if you would, errand boy, lead on to the Headquarters Ready Room."

Kenson was unable to move, still held fast by the stunned wolf. Karus had moved his off-paw to his gut instead of his holster, clasping it as well, appearing terribly ill. Percival moved forward, in between his friend and the posse of guards, and looked up with concern. Never before had he seen such an expression. This wolf, who had just two days before dropped his trousers in defiance of a massive Vulture dreadnought, was stopped cold by the mention of a name.

"Karus? Is...something wrong? Who is this Orhus fellow?" Percival asked, doing his best to ask in a contained manner, hoping to bring the pilot out of his daze and not to exacerbate the problem any more.

Margrave sighed loudly to interrupt them. "Boy? I do believe I told you to_get moving_. Unless our formerly rude guest wants to draw the personal attention of the colonel, he will get moving as well."

Kenson whined softly to avoid the ferret's ears, but was unsure of what to do. He was amazed by the canine's display of confidence...or arrogance, but still...It was a rush to see someone finally fight back against these oppressors. But, now...the wolf looked wounded, as much as anyone the cheetah had ever seen. With his naturally big heart, Kenson wanted desperately to try to help, but under observation...there was little that could be done.

"M-Mr. Karus? I think we have to go...I don't want anyone to get in trouble," he said, pleading with his wide eyes to attract the attention in the hazy-eyed hound.

Karus shook his clouded head for a moment, and did his best to catch his breath. He was forced to hold it for lengths at a time, trying rather unsuccessfully to mask how hard that name had shook him. "Y-yes," he answered, his voice squeaking and making him even more conscious of his terror, "Let's get going."

Kenson turned slowly, allowing the wolf to still balance himself against his shoulder. As he began moving slowly to not lose his frightened follower, the cheetah could feel the canine's erratic movements behind him. If only Margrave and his guards were not here...the young feline ached to comfort his clearly upset acquaintance.

Ts'Sai and Percival shared a moment of concern together, as they stepped forward, with the Syndicate and mercenary escort flanking to their rear. They watched their pilot step weakly along with Kenson, taking note of how Karus's knees appeared to lose all strength, buckling and re-catching themselves. It was a very disconcerting sight, as neither could truly comprehend something that would cause their friend to lose his composure in such a way.

Percival had an even deeper grasp of how dire things must be. After working with Karus for quite a while, it was clear that the wolf had a menagerie of emotional baggage, regrets, and history. However, his methods of 'handling' it usually revolved around ignoring it, attacking it, or burying it under a narcotic haze. Never, not even in their worst situations, had the raccoon seen pure, abject fear manifest itself in his companion.

The small crowd walked at a measured pace deeper into the complex, towards a larger central building obviously used as the headquarters due to the amount of traffic and comm equipment emerging from it. Normally at this time, Karus would be taking note of buildings, weaponry and position of guards and patrols, possible choke points or escape routes...but his mind was too awash in memories and terrors stirred. He managed to release Kenson's shoulder, however, he still followed in a daze with his arms not quite crossed, but grasping his stomach in a tight self hug as he kept his gaze locked to the ground.

How could _ he be here?...Will he recognize me?...Are Percival and Ts'Sai going to find out?...What job could we possibly be doing?...Why can't I just...not... be _...anymore...

Hundreds of thoughts ran rampant through the wolf's mind, completely unhinged from any sort of self-control. Colonel Orhus...only a captain when he and Karus...met. A fateful engagement that...forever changed what sort of creature Karus could call himself.

The entrance of the HQ was guarded to excessive standards. At least a dozen power-armored guards stood at entrenched posts along the entryway, along with two robotic behemoth-like walkers, standing almost four times as tall as Karus, on dual digitigrade legs as wide as him as well. Percival drew Ts'Sai closer to him, counting the many barrels protruding from the conical 'face' of the machine. It also distressed him to note the barrels were tracking their movement as they approached the entrance.

Margrave gestured impatiently for the guards to allow them to pass. The guard standing near the control pad for the blast doors responded with a stiff nod in his mechanized suit, and keyed in the combination to open them. An ominous 'hiss' sounded as the thickly-plated doors shifted their bulk inwards, allowing entry.

Kenson led slowly, always nervous about being inside of this place. Anthromorphs of any sort beyond Margrave were not typically allowed inside, except for 'administrative action' regarding discipline. And, as it was expected, those brought in for such 'actions' were never seen again. Timidly he stepped forward with the group in tow, with the hallway before them thankfully empty.

Step by step, Karus began to calm himself down slowly. _I look pretty different than I did years ago...Orhus has a history with wolves in general, that should be enough to explain my reaction...This is more of an operation for the Syndicate...maybe he's just loosely involved..._His brain overclocked itself attempting to rationalize the situation into being a less terrifying one. Unfortunately, all of that internal effort was entirely overwritten as they passed an entry to their right.

Karus's eyes locked onto the figure in the center of the room, ironically right after he felt safe enough to look upwards. Immediately upon recognizing the figure, the hound froze dead in his tracks, and quickly snatched up the nearest thing he could to hold onto, that being of course, Kenson's paw. A barely perceptible whine escaped his muzzle before the wind was taken entirely out of his lungs from pure shock.

The cheetah nearly jumped in surprised, not expecting such an interruption after traveling in silence for a good bit. He opened his feline muzzle to question what was wrong with him, but he recognized the look of utter shock, and instead tracked the wolf's vision to the center of the open room. Inside, he could see easily what was causing his terror, although, he had no idea how the wolf would have known such a human.

Percival and Ts'Sai overtook the pair taking point, and nearly bumped into them. Ts'Sai saw the horrific realization on Karus's face, and likewise with Kenson and Percival, followed his eyes to the center of the room. Within it, a human man stood, adorned in the traditional black and gold Terran military manner. Many ribbons and medals were pinned against his heart. Standing at a small podium with a holographic display, he apparently was directing the multitude of operators at various consoles. His jaw nearly appeared carved of stone, hair cut precisely in Terran regulatory manner, even sitting on his scalp in what appeared to be too precise to be true. These features only aided the eerie perception of him, as every movement was...more measured, or...artificial, than what one would expect in such a duty.

The most shocking feature was revealed, however, as he turned upwards from his direction, as if the man could feel the many eyes on his side. His eyes were blue, but...not just a natural blue. They practically glowed brightly, as if inner light was shining through them. Cold, calculating, vividly bright eyes. And they immediately locked onto Karus, without the slightest hint of expression crossing the man's face.

Karus choked back a gasp roughly, and flipped his messy headfur over his face, and stepped briskly, and shuddering, past the entryway, dragging Kenson along with him. Kenson was surprised, and nearly chirped out in surprise, but did not want to draw any more attention to the wolf who clearly did not want it.

Margrave and his escort reached the point of the entryway, and looked in to see what had spooked their contractor so much. The ferret grinned devilishly at seeing the Terran with the glowing blue eyes. Percival wanted to smack the daylights out of the creature, as he knew he was about to take another dig at his friend. Unfortunately, he had no idea what the connection between Karus and any of these people even_was._

"So...you apparently know our Major McDowell, as well, do you? My, my...seems like you must be quite a well-traveled wolf, to know them by sight...I'm certain that none of your kind ever survived encounters with them during the war...Perhaps you were a Terran collaborator?" The sniveling ferret teased.

Karus stopped mid-stride, for just a moment, by Kenson's side. The cheetah stopped as well, and caught a side glance at the darkened figure. His face was shaded from direct view partially by his low-hanging headfur, but the young cat could see a hint of wetness along the hound's cheeks. He brought his rage-shaking paw to briefly dab at his eyes before continuing on, deliberate in his pace to get away from the taunting, keeping his eyes to the ground. Kenson took the lead again, feeling agonized empathetically with the wolf.

Certain that they were out of earshot of the control room, Percival decided to confront the aggravating businessman. "Will you stop it, you miserable, rotten bastard!? You have lost all pretenses of being here professionally, and continue to berate my pilot! How can you even pretend this is a legitimate operation when you have done nothing but attempt to goad my comrade into an altercation!?"

Margrave chuckled, walking past him to the front of the group as Karus and Kenson waited near the entrance to a locked entryway, presumably the briefing room. "_I_am just returning the favor this ruffian presented to all of these sentries," he said, gesturing to the armored brutes in tow, as he keyed in a passcode on a small panel to open the doors, "And for your information, _I_am _not_pleased with you being here at all. In fact, I hope you fail in our assignment for you. It was the Terrans who insisted on bringing in outside contractors. _I_wanted this to be handled in-house...alas, we are operating here in Terran-controlled space...so I must acquiesce to their wishes. Still...I hope for your miserable failure."

The doors opened, leading into a small room with a circular table around a holo-display, lined with chairs. "Here is your destination," Margrave informed with a sweeping gesture indicating that they should file in. Karus went in first, quickly, turning quickly to the right of the entrance to avoid hearing more of the ferret's taunts. Percival and Ts'Sai followed, with the raccoon giving the evilest of eyes to the smarmy creature as he passed. Kenson stood absolutely still, confused about what to do, now that his task of escorting the visitors to their destination was over.

"You too, boy," Margrave commanded disdainfully. "We unfortunately have not been able to attach similar collars to our...contracted help," he said as if choking on the term, "But as long as they stick with you...we'll know where they are. And believe me...you have _no_comprehension of the consequences should any of them leave your sight, 'till they leave the planet. Understood?"

Kenson shook his head affirmatively, keeping his face stern, although secretly he was happy he would be able to accompany his new acquaintances a bit longer. He quickly hurried into the room, hoping that this jerk would leave them alone for just a bit before the briefing was started.

Luckily, Kenson would get his wish. Margrave waved off the guards to return to their regular posts. When one sentry cocked his armored head to the side, curious of the wisdom of that decision, Margrave wove him off again. "No, I am certain even our ruffian here will remain well-behaved, considering his reaction to the leadership here. I, unfortunately, will not get to see the dog's reunion with the Terrans, as their lateness has pushed me precipitously close to missing an important status update with Syndicate HQ. I will, however, confine them to this room."

Shrugging his oversized shoulder-guards, the sentry turned with the others and proceeded back the way they came to their original posts. Their heavy footsteps could be heard thumping even in the briefing room.

Standing in the entryway, Margrave turned to address the crew one last time. "As I presume you heard, I must be off, since you _were_late, despite your pilot's prote-"

As the last guard passed out of sight behind Margrave, Karus's left paw shot out to everyone's surprise, but most of all, Margrave's. It tightly grasped his throat, immediately cutting off his air, and any way to call for help. Karus lifted the ferret with one arm, bringing him close to his face. Ts'Sai gasped, and Percival whined quietly, knowing full-well the rage that must have built in his friend, but not knowing what to do about it. Kenson shrunk behind a chair, fearing retribution from Margrave.

Karus whispered quietly into his ear, so that only he could hear him. "You are safe from me, for now, only because of my friends being here with me. Despite being a scoundrel, I _do_have some honor left, and insinuating that I ever was a collaborator with the Terran Consortium is an insult to it. You get a free pass on this one, but if it ever happens again, you _will_pay for it. Now, I'm going to let you go, you lock us in this room, and let business get done. If all goes right, we'll never see each other again. But _never_make that mistake again, or there will be no corner of the galaxy you can hide in that I won't find you."

Karus then stretched his arm out again, gingerly setting the ferret down, and releasing his vice-like grip on his throat. The others in the room waited with baited breath, hoping that the wolf had not doomed them. Margrave gasped for breath, and looked with rage at the menacing hound.

"You...should...not," he coughed, gulping in more air, "Have...done that. Under different circumstances, I would have you and all your companions killed for threatening me. However...you _are_right, that we should be fortunate enough to never cross paths again. I hope that you fail quickly, so that the Consortium is able to proceed on without any more delays."

He quickly keyed in another code, causing the door to quickly snap shut between him and Karus.

Percival heaved a sigh of relief that Karus had not instigated another conflict, but his emotions quickly turned to frustration. "Damnit, Karus! I am attempting to be sympathetic to your plight here, but you could have gotten us killed! We are in_ NO _position to be making threats here!"

The rogue looked downward again, with headfur obscuring his eyes, and calmly strode to the far corner of the room. "I'm sorry, Percival...Really, I didn't want to, but...that last insult was one step over the line. No one can call me a 'collaborator' and get away with it."

Percival groaned, falling heavily into a chair opposite his friend. Ts'Sai timidly took a seat beside him, and Kenson plopped up on his haunches in a seat, not particularly familiar with more 'polite' ways of using chairs. His awkwardness with the rotating seat brought a small smile to Ts'Sai's face, after so much tension and danger.

"Well, Karus...would you care to at least explain why that is such a tremendous insult to you? Or your apparent connection with the Terrans here? I understand you dislike topics of the past...but this_might_be essential information for us," Percival asked, not holding back with his tone anymore.

Despite being separated from the antagonizing presence of both Margrave and the Terran officers for a moment, Karus still acted in a strange manner for him. He was hiding, as much as possible, in this open room. The wolf pressed his back into the corner, and looked low at the floor to hide his eyes. With crossed arms, it appeared less like his typical defiant stance and more like he was trying to hold himself in one piece.

"Percival," he said with a cracking voice, "There's a lot I haven't talked 'bout. And...Right now, I would admit to all of it. Every. Ugly. Bit. But...these...humans...I just...there's no way to..."

Karus wrestled internally with his myriad of emotions, although the struggle was visible. One paw drifted to his headfur and grasped it, like he was attempting to pull it out by the root. He swayed from side to side against the corner of the wall, causing Ts'Sai and Kenson to lock eyes in a moment of shared sympathy for the wolf.

The pathetic display did move Percival to calm his anger at his pilot's outburst, but still. He needed answers. "Please, Karus. You do not need to explain the entire situation...but could we at _least_learn something about the people we are dealing with? For our own safety? Could your experience help Ts'Sai, Kenson, and I at all?"

Karus abruptly stopped in his erratic actions, frozen for a moment. His arms crossed in a tight hug again, but he looked upwards for the first time, directly at Percival. One eye was obscured by his cyan visor, but the other was bloodshot, and wet. The intensity of his look frightened the others profusely.

"Yes, Percival. I can say something. You've seen, just recently at Beatrice's station, the kind of company I used to keep. For all of their backstabbing, for all of their debauchery, for all of their crimes...If one of them shot you...and you were there, lying on the deck...or stuck dead in space...withering helplessly...they would have the common courtesy to finish the job. Hell...Vultures are even kind enough so that their rad poisoning will kill you aboard their ships, if you're ever taken alive. These people...they don't. They_won't_finish the job. Not outta any sort of regret, or mercy, no...they won't finish the deed because...it's less entertaining than letting you suffer."

Percival nervously adjusted his jacket, being caught off-guard by the seriousness in Karus's voice. It was so strange to see him in this state, and even without understanding, the fear started to spill over. Ts'Sai, also, began to shrink under the table. Kenson flinched in a startled fashion as well, after the wolf snapped his attention in his direction.

"I am so, so sorry..," Karus said to him, unable to comprehend the horrible fate of _living_under these officers.

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence, as they all anticipated the meeting coming ever closer. Percival almost wanted to keep questioning, trying to understand exactly what his friend's fear originated from...but decided it may be better to research the subject on his own, as it was clear that Karus was nearing the breaking point. Shuddering beside him, Ts'Sai pleaded internally for their visit to abruptly end so she could reach the safety of the_Marco Polo_again. Kenson eased his tensing a bit as Karus turned his gaze to the floor again, but still prayed silently for some relief for these new friends.

Suddenly, a slight 'pop' emanated from the ceiling, breaking the stillness in the room. Karus reflexively went to draw his blasters, but stopped at grasping the holsters, realizing an attack on them would most likely come from the front door. Everyone's eyes popped straight up, scanning the ceiling for the cause of the disturbance. The wolf paced along the back wall of the room, stopping before a vent that was beginning to incline inwards.

As the vent inclined completely sideways, making very little noise, it slipped up into the dark recesses of the air filtration system. Karus braced for a surprise, keeping his paws on his holsters in case it was a threat. He peered upwards, with his visor kicking in light amplification. All he could make out was a fuzzy top of an Anthromorph's head, and a pair of eyes glowing green in the light amp, reflecting what they were glinting from the room. The others held their breath for the surprise visit.

Karus jolted as the voyeur popped out of the vent all at once, hanging upside-down. The sudden visitor was a fox, with the most elegant, royal blue coat the canine had ever seen. His bellyfur to muzzle was a soft, warm baby-blue, revealed as the fox wore no top, much like Kenson, his only coverings were a hip-hugging pair of black shorts, frayed but fixed with all sorts of electronic and holographic equipment. Looking down the slender form, Karus was surprised by his eyes. They were bright blue. However...unlike Major McDowell's cold, unsettling glow...these were bright, inviting, and happy eyes.

The fox made a slight 'squee' of delight, and quickly grasped around both ears of Karus, who was too surprised to have a reaction. He drew the wolf in, and eagerly kissed him. A slight muffle of protest escaped Karus's covered muzzle...but he quickly surrendered. Strangely, to him, the effect was rather calming.

It was at that time Karus realized that it had been years_since he even _thought_of anything remotely resembling intimacy. The playful Ts'Sai was the last creature to have attempted to touch Karus. _Well, he thought, without also trying to kill me. Amidst the flurry of fear, anguish, and regret that was assailing the wolf, it was...alien, to him, to be embracing emotions left untouched for so long.

Karus had but a moment to close his eyes and enjoy the fox's muzzle pressed tightly against his, and his head held firmly but gently by this interloper, before the fox relinquished his grasp, and fell from the ventilation shaft in an agile spin to his feet. The wolf stood there, dumbfounded at himself, for wishing that the moment would not end, so that he would not have to reopen his eyes to reality.

"Duffin!" Kenson exclaimed, finally recognizing the frisky fox, "What are you doing here?! How did you get out?"

"All in good time," the fox said, turning quickly to face the trio behind him, and brushing his tail intentionally over Karus's midsection, "But first, I want to greet our help!"

He grabbed around Karus again, lightly hopping with exuberance. The wolf stood still as a rock, unsure of what to do, and even more unsure of the feelings within him. From the table, Ts'Sai smiled to herself knowingly, certain that her friend was just now caught with the same feeling she felt herself when she had seen Kenson up close.

"I'm so glad you're here!" Duffin said, in hushed excitement. He let go of Karus, who almost had to catch himself after the hug. The fox greeted Ts'Sai with a smile, and gently bumped his head on hers. Finally, he enthusiastically shook Percival's paw so happily the raccoon bounced in his seat. "That means at least the first part of my plan worked!"

"Plan? Wait, wait...Please, explain slowly," Percival said, in a tired tone, "We've been exposed to so many things so quickly..."

"Sorry, good captain, but I only have a brief time to explain everything before the colonel arrives," Duffin replied with empathy.

"Wait...how did you know I was the captain of the-" Percival started to question.

"Marco Polo," Duffin said, cutting him off for the sake of time, rather than rudeness, "I decided to stop by HQ security on my way out of my cell, once I knew you were coming. By the way, they're bugging your ship right now. I took the liberty of copying down the locations they're planting them on this drive, for when you depart."

Duffin handed Percival a small holodrive, which the raccoon took with something of a befuddled look. Percival was about to ask who this fox even was, but, anticipating the question, Duffin spoke up first.

"I, am Duffin Caprous. Former captain of Radiant Horizon, a vessel meant to deliver trade goods and necessary aid to outlying colonies seeking refuge from the War. We were downed on this planet by Colonel Orhus and his minions several standard months ago. Due to my technical skills, I have been kept here, and forced to co-operate with their plotting, or else my surviving crew will...I think you understand, without going into graphic details."

Percival nodded knowingly, however...he grew a bit more nervous as well, realizing that this was an escaped prisoner, and feared an untimely arrival by the colonel. He fearfully glanced towards the entryway as he secured the data drive, to which Duffin raised his eyebrows, indicating he understood and wished to continue quickly.

"Don't worry too much, I've been planning for your arrival for awhile. My cell is looping footage of myself in there, and my tracking tags still register 'contained,'" he explained, setting Percival's mind a bit easier, as well as letting Kenson know how he got out, "Now...This planet is valuable, because of a rare crystal formation housed within the plateau you must have seen adjacent to this base. It's what they are mining out of the plateau, Khayduran crystals. I know that some feline planets use such jewelry for royal garb, but...those are small pebbles compared to what has been found here. Almost that entire formation is composed of nothing but this. I would explain what they do, but...it's far easier to show you."

Duffin rifled through one of the small pockets on his shorts, and withdrew a small lead box. He set it on the table quickly, and opened it towards Karus. The wolf broke from his daze to find that his visor was out of control, giving all sorts of strange readings. Apparently, the temperature in the room exceeded 900 degrees kelvin, his vital signs were failing, and he was being fired upon. Percival, Ts'Sai and Kenson noticed the wolf jump at the sudden alarms being transmitted to his eyes.

"As you can see, the strange energy signature that emanates from these crystals impairs sensors quite a bit," he said, closing the box so that Karus would not be so distracted, "And that alone, is a bad thing. The stone in this container is larger than the size of almost everything found in feline space...imagine a chunk the size of this room. Right now, the Syndicate has enough in their possession to disable entire planetary defense systems."

Duffin paused for a moment, and strolled back to Karus, who looked with a pleading expression. The hound did _not_want to turn this into a major confrontation with the Terrans. Facing the entire group from the side of the room, Duffin continued his explanation.

"This, however, is not even the _full_of it. There are two distinct and separate factions here. There is the Syndicate, who I assume you met with that weaselly bastard, Margrave. They are here for one thing only, profit. Then, there is the official Terran officers and their small enclave. While they may appear to have similar goals...the Terrans have something up their sleeve. I just can't be sure of what it is."

As the fox continued, he paced confidently, often looking at Karus. It was as if two different conversations were being had at once. The obvious one, being spoken aloud, and one spoken with body language between himself and the rogue-ish pilot. Duffin _had_heard the wolf 'explain' his past experiences with these humans, and he wanted to instill in the canine that they were, indeed, able to overcome them.

"Now...as for your supposed_mission...The Osten-Wallenz Syndicate is claiming to be sending a peace offering to Wulfric von Benzen, their biggest competitor. Of course...this is bullshit. The Syndicate _thinks_they are sending impure crystals to Benzen Industries, which, if he were stupid enough to follow the lead,would set back their research and development quite a bit with rare energy signatures. However...the Terrans are installing a device of their own...they forced me to work on pieces of it, although, I was never able to truly get a full understanding of it. I know it will react with proximity to Neutronium...and considering Wulfric's station is orbiting a Neutronium star, that's bad. _Really_bad when you consider, the end triggers for the device are supposed to do..._something...with a massive amount of dark matter. I can't really say for sure, I need to brush up on my Astrophysics. Either way, I have included in that drive a holo-recording on how to disable the device. It is _very_important to do that, since...the device is also going to detect any delays, or deviations from the course they plot for you. If it does, there will be very explosive results."

He stopped for a moment, to let the information sink in to the crew's collective heads. Percival soaked it in, while most of it flew over Ts'Sai's understanding. Karus, meanwhile, was just mesmerized by a flush of emotions still bottled inside.

"So...essentially...The Syndicate is sending what they think is a mere corporate ploy to Wulfric, while the Terrans are sneaking in something much more drastic and unknown. Why are they using us? Why not use in-house transports?"

"Ah, I'm glad you asked. That was my doing!" Duffin answered, moderately bragging, "Due to my technical work, sometimes under a great deal of subterfuge with the Syndicate, I have often had the colonel in close proximity. Over time, I've been making...observations, to him, to plant the seeds of distrust between him and the Osten-Wallenz Syndicate. He must have been convinced that, with proper Syndicate transportation, they would have noticed the device, perhaps run off with the bounty, or their alliance may be broken once the device works. Even more...I doubt the colonel here is working with other Terran officials. By that, I mean, he has most likely gone rogue. This operation is _not_officially sanctioned by the Terran Conglomerate. If you can't trust your co-conspirators...nor trust your own government...outside help is needed. That is why I have 'suggested' the idea of bringing in a temporary contractor who _must_cooperate, like one attempting to get out of a bounty."

The fox winked at Karus, correctly assuming that the wolf was familiar with such contracts. Karus weakly smiled back, still internally conflicted.

"That way, Orhus can claim whatever happens was your fault while still retaining the trust of the Syndicate. Along with the knowledge that any random contractor taking this job would never have been able to locate or disable the safeties to the device."

"Alright, then...so, we essentially need to disable this device en route to Benzen Industries...and then what?" Percival questioned.

"Well, I would hope that Wulfric would be concerned about the Syndicate and Terrans attempting to ship him a dangerous device that could potentially kill him and destroy his headquarters. Once there, the device itself should be all the evidence you need to launch an investigation of this planet, hopefully getting us the aid we need in getting rid of these assholes."

The raccoon nodded in agreement. Ts'Sai felt a little bit warmer, realizing there was a plan to fight back against the jerks that would make slaves out of an entire planet. Kenson felt that too, a rising hope tight in his gut. Karus still seemed uncertain. He feared what opposing Orhus would mean. Duffin could clearly see this doubt on his face.

Unfortunately, before the fox could attempt to pick up the wolf any more, heavy footsteps could be heard down the hallway. Duffin rushed beneath the vent, in front of Karus. He grasped the sides of his head again, and tugged him down so he could whisper to him.

"I know you've got a past with these monsters...Don't be afraid, we can take them down together, alright?"

Karus shook his head affirmatively, wishing that the fox would not have to let go, as he trembled for the looming meeting with the colonel. Duffin gave him a quick, understanding embrace, and then hopped upwards using the wolf's shoulders for a point to hold onto. He briefly stood on them to hop up into the vent, and set it gently in place before skittering off to his cell. The wolf stood there, clenching his paws, wishing he had just a little bit more time. Somehow...the fox's experience with the villains here, coupled with his confidence...set his mind at ease more than he had felt in a long time.

The steps outside rumbled closer, coming to a stop before the entrance. Karus began trembling slightly, and swiftly moved to join his friends. He took a seat beside Ts'Sai, facing his back towards the door. While this went against his instincts of always keeping line of sight to potential danger vectors, in his mind, perhaps the slight delay in seeing the colonel would help him collect himself, and remain unrecognized. Ts'Sai extended her paw slowly to his, in an offering of comfort, and to her surprise, Karus took it eagerly and squeezed tightly.

With a foreboding hiss, the door opened. Luckily for Percival, he was able to catch himself before gasping at the sight. Standing outside of the door was the most massive human he had ever seen, Karus would have only come up to this man's chest, standing fully erect. The large man's body was covered in mostly ceremonial, but still quite functional, formal Terran armor. Behind him flowed a silky, black cape, bearing the starburst symbol of the Consortium in shining gold. His head was uncovered, a squarish appearance, with a silver flattop hairstyle. Coupled with his enormous size, unnatural for a human, was an intimidating look of pure disdain for all of those in the room.

He had to duck his head slightly to fit, as his thick, plated boots clomped inside. "I hope our meeting can proceed without any further...complications," the huge, bulking man said in a voice that matched his bulk. Ts'Sai quivered after just a sideways glance, realizing his chest alone was larger than she was. "Our liaison for the Syndicate tells me one of you has been very uncooperative."

Karus casted a very subdued glance towards Percival, keeping his tangled hair low over his eyes. Percival could infer, correctly, that Karus was keeping his gaze low in order to avoid recognition by this giant. Furthermore, he wished to avoid at all costs, opening his mouth.

"Yes, I do believe it was all a misunderstanding. Am I correct to assume you are the...esteemed, Colonel Orhus?" Percival responded, almost choking on his intended flattery.

The towering hulk nearly answered, but stopped in his stride around the table, bringing his intense, hateful gaze to Kenson, doing his best to remain invisible while still in the open. When the man clenched his fists, a slight grinding of steel could be heard from his black, gold-trimmed greaves. "Get. Off. The. _ SEAT! _" he roared, with a voice that rivaled even that of the dragon, Chudnov. Kenson scrambled away immediately, taking refuge in the far opposite corner of the room, shuddering.

"Everything in this base is for _ PEOPLE _, not _ ANIMALS _...If I see that sorta thing again...You know what to expect," he snarled, bashing the side of the chair with his fist, not causing it to spin, but to bend sideways, out of place. "It's bad enough that we're forced to contract them..."

Percival was taken aback by the blatant insult, but did well to not show it. Ts'Sai and Karus clenched their paws together even tighter, with the little kitten quickly realizing where Karus's fear came from. The giant seated himself on a chair adjacent to the one he just mangled.

"And yes, 'captain'...I am Colonel Orhus," he said, with painfully obvious contempt at using that title for Percival, "But...from what I heard, your runt of a pilot was much more vocal than a mere misunderstanding."

The raccoon thought quickly, to try to sway the conversation away from that, and away from the colonel's attention on Karus. "Well, good sir...Margrave _did_attempt to force a confrontation with him. He also expressed great displeasure at us being here...and questioned your wisdom of using a third party for this contract," Percival answered, hoping to play on the mistrust between the groups Duffin hinted at.

"Heh, that does sound like that fuzzy little shit," Orhus chuckled, leaning back in his chair. The bolts of the seat could be heard straining to contain the mass. "So...I guess your pilot is off the hook. And...it also seems that he's shut up, entirely. Why didn't you speak for yourself, dog?"

Karus gripped Ts'Sai's paw tighter than ever before, it came close to being painful for her, but...she squeezed back, realizing how hard this must be for him. "I felt it more appropriate for my captain to speak to you," Karus spoke, in an incredibly soft, and proper tone for how hard he was clutching Ts'Sai, "It's not my place to speak to one such as yourself."

Percival felt sick to his stomach, with the self-satisfied grin that spread across the colonel's face as he glared at his friend. "Good," Orhus said, "One of your kind that knows your place. Although..."

Orhus paused, and examined the wolf more intently. Even from across the room, Kenson could sense that the eyes of the colonel were stabbing into Karus like knives. Ts'Sai knew exactly, since, he was having trouble keeping his limbs from shaking. The colonel leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands, his dark eyes deep in remembrance.

"Look at me, wolf. Move that moppy mess out of the way," Orhus commanded.

With his shuddering right paw, Karus moved to obey the colonel. Percival noted the stark difference in his friend, now, it was almost as if he were several feet shorter, recoiling in his own body. Timidly, Karus looked upwards at Orhus for the first time, straining harder to keep himself controlled than he would if he were literally fighting.

"You...you look familiar," Orhus observed, obviously to the fear of Karus, but also to everyone else in the room.

"Many Terrans have said that all wolves look alike," Karus said with a trembling voice, attempting to play into the bigoted beliefs he knew the colonel held.

"I think I'd remember a golden-haired wolf, animal. Don't _ ever _attempt to make an excuse to me. Now...did you ever serve in the Lupine Defense Force?"

Karus stared straight at Orhus, although Ts'Sai and Percival could see wetness blurring his eyes. "No, sir. I have never served in the Lupine military, in any fashion."

"Did you have any relatives?" Orhus pressed on with his interrogation.

"I...I have no family," he replied without breaking his eye contact.

"That sounds like a fucking cop out to me. I demand you answer, and I better believe what you tell me," the colonel commanded.

Percival and Ts'Sai, while empathizing immensely with their friend, were also partially curious about how Karus would answer. They had never gotten a true answer about that before, besides a few cryptic clues.

A single tear escaped the wolf, and he felt a great shame at it being visible, both to his friends, and Orhus. "I was abandoned, intentionally, by my family. I prefer to not think about it," Karus answered, his chest feeling like it was about to burst from a lack of regular breathing. He feared the tell-tale sound of sobbing giving him away entirely. Ts'Sai nearly burst into tears along with him, as she could sense that the wolf was not lying with his answer. Suddenly, the hint that his 'parents thought he was dead' made much more sense.

"Hah! I believe that," the cruel, monstrous man exclaimed, slapping his hand against the table, "What can you expect from a bunch of wild critters? I just wanted to know, you look an awful lot like some_thing_, I've seen before. Then again, I don't think any of your kind survived encounters with me before."

Percival's cheeks burned hotly, wanting nothing more than to viciously beat this man into a pulp. It was a strange disparity for the raccoon, to be the one wishing violence while Karus sat their controlled. The blatant disregard for common decency incensed him, and even with his passive nature, the constant attacks on his defenseless friend roused the desire for justice within him. However...for the moment, he needed a purely diplomatic way to break the tension.

"Colonel, if we may proceed with the briefing, we do not wish to take any more of your valuable time," he interjected, hoping to play to the colonel's overblown ego, although saying it in a polite tone felt physically strenuous.

"Hah, that's probably a good thing. I don't want your mutt over there to piss on the floor, I can see him shaking enough as it is...and all of you animals are stinking up my HQ," Orhus complained, with his stereotypical decorum.

"The job is simple enough for anyone to understand, all without fancy graphics or anything. We're putting a crate in your ship, right now. Do you need to know what's in it? No. You don't. The Syndicate is trying to patch things up between them and Benzen Industries. However, they're shipping through _our_space, and we don't want people fucking around with the stuff they're mining here. Which, again, you don't need to know about. We're gonna upload the coordinates to your nav computer, you follow them. Precisely. If you deviate from the flight path, if you take too long, you'll die. Any questions?"

Percival could barely contain his jaw from dropping at this man, as if one could possibly be any cruder at this point. "Well, yes...several questions. Who are we delivering this to, specifically? Are they expecting us? What do we respond with, when they ask what we are bringing?"

Orhus groaned in annoyance. "Just say that you have some of the research materials from the Osten-Wallenz Syndicate. They will grant you passage, guaranteed."

"This...sounds as if the delivery is unexpected," Percival noted. Even if the entire delivery was a trap, as Duffin had indicated, they were not bothering to make it appear very legitimate. "If standard security protocols are carried out, and we are unexpected...that _may_make us late for whatever...deadlines...you are holding us to."

"Are you doubting our intelligence? We're not stupid," the colonel growled, "There will be contained in the package security measures to ensure it is not tampered with, or opened prematurely. And our deadline is strict...but only to ensure you are _only_traveling to Benzen Industries, and nowhere else. We'll know if you reach your destination, or if you are late. You sure as hell aren't going to be told _how_we'll know, understood? Fuck, you don't even _need_to know anything!"

Orhus stood up angrily and slammed the table, causing everyone else in the room to jump in their place. "You just need to do what we _ fucking _say, or I'll claim the bounty on your heads and skin you alive! Understand _ THAT!? _"

Percival cowered, but nodded quickly, just wanting to get out of the room. Ts'Sai and Karus huddled together, and Kenson peeked from between his paws.

"Much better. Now get out. Guards! Take these things back to their ship. The package has been loaded, just follow the nav computer, or die. Pretty simple when you think about it. Nothing else for your simple mind to consider. Now..._ get _," the hulk barked.

Kenson took off like a flash, and dashed out the door on all fours. Karus wasted no time in taking himself and Ts'Sai out the door. Percival quickly followed, nervously grasping the data drive in his pocket, hoping beyond hope that it would offer a way out of this mess. A pair of armored guards moved to intercept the group, and herd them back to the Marco Polo.

The trip back, under escort, was silent. Many questions begged to be answered, but no one wanted to utter a word between armed guards. Stopping before the ramp of the Marco, a voice echoed mechanically from one of the guard's speakers, "Get in, and go."

Kenson finally mustered the inner strength to break the silence, and moved quickly to grab hold of Ts'Sai's free paw. "I hope to see all of you again, safely," the cheetah admitted with a face flush with concern.

Even as bashful as she was, and filled with confusion over the events that just transpired, she turned to face the cheetah boy and gently nuzzled his chest, saying, "I really hope we can meet again, too."

The crew trekked up the ramp together, and as they entered the cargo bay, they passed the crate left that was central to this whole ordeal. Clearly, the container was made of lead, the same as the small box Duffin had used. Alongside the container were many panels and displays...for some unknown purpose. Karus moved right by the crate and tugged the lever to close the cargo bay doors.

Percival followed after, finally having time away from unfriendly ears. "Karus, please...I can tell how trying this all has been...but can you _please_tell us who these Terrans are? Anything we know might be able to help us."

"It won't," Karus muttered simply, as he continued in an unbroken stride towards the cockpit. Percival groaned, and continued on. Ts'Sai stayed back, looking outwards from a plassteel window, to see Kenson, waiting patiently for them to leave, and waving enthusiastically.

"Alright, I will admit, maybe knowledge of past events will _not_aid us in the immediate sense, but maybe it could help you. You admitted more in fear to Orhus than us, your friends, have ever gotten."

Percival followed the pilot all the way into the cockpit, attempting to dig some sort of information from the private hound. "Percy...I didn't become a criminal because the interstellar job market looked ripe for them...and my family didn't abandon me because I was ugly. Those Terrans...they're responsible for...a whole lot. Alright? And I don't want to cross them anymore. Do what you have to do so we can survive this, follow the fox's instructions."

Karus started up the reactor and the ship thrummed to life. As he seated himself in the pilot's chair, he brought up the nav computer readings as Percival was about to complain about his secrecy again.

"Percy, you might wanna get started. Because if I follow this route exactly, we've only got about 12 hours, and I have no idea how crystals, dark matter, or any of that shit works, alright? Once all of this is blown over...you can get a full bio on me. Sound good?"

The raccoon sighed heavily, but unfortunately, realized he may be pressed for time. Breaking security systems without tripping them was a delicate process, and even if Duffin explained them entirely, he knew he would have to carry the procedure out quickly before...something...triggered the device inside.

"Fine, Karus. I will not press you for answers now, but...please remember, we are here for you. It is not right that Orhus can haunt your past, while we are unable to help you overcome it."

Percival departed to begin his work disabling the tracking devices installed, and then to move quickly onto disabling the device inside the container. Ts'Sai waved back to Kenson through the tiny viewport as Karus lifted off, wishing that circumstances would enable them to return, and break the friendly feline from his indentured servitude.

Left alone in the cockpit, Karus enabled auto-pilot, despite his hatred of such systems, as the drones 'escorted' them away from the planet. Finally, he broke into long, sobbing tears, ones that he had been holding in ever since the mention of Orhus's name. He was torn apart inside, by every emotion. Truly, he wanted to believe in the fox, and hope that they could thwart Orhus and McDowell. However...memories of his first encounter with them...they wracked him. Hard.

He wanted to shut them up. Not just the dark memories, but the recent thoughts of hope, and...something else. Something he did not understand from his contact with Duffin. The emotions were buried too deeply, and too confusing for him to process. Checking the nav map, he saw the route...it was relatively simple. Sure, there was a minor detour through an asteroid field, but...it appeared relatively sparse and easy to navigate. Karus snuck back into his quarters while the auto-pilot was still engaged.

The wolf pawed through his sloppy mess of a room, and retrieved some of the Necrosia he had hidden before. This is insane, he thought. You haven't shot up anything and driven since...since you met Percival.

But, the other side of his brain said, You can't handle what's going on right now. Look at yourself. You're a broken, sobbing, coward. Forget the past. And the present. Shut your brain off. At least part of it. Take a small dose, and just ease the ship by. No one will know, and you'll be far more effective than sitting here and crying like a bitch.

Karus wrestled, once again, on the inside, as he took the dose back with him, and sat in the cockpit. Merely the fact that he was once again contemplating taking the dose added to his agony. He hated himself for it. For all of it. And he wanted to forget. Carefully, he injected half of the vial into his neck...