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"So," Corwin said as they walked across the docking bay floor, "where'd you learn to fight like that? Were you in the military?"

"Nah. When I was growing up, some of my friends were learning martial arts for competitions, and I wanted to learn just for the sake of learning, because I thought it was interesting. Never had any desire to do it competitively, though." Kolya shrugged. "I only managed to get some of the basics down. After I started hitchhiking on starships, I gradually picked things up here and there. I ended up learning more street fighting than anything else - no fancy moves, just whatever it takes to put your opponent down."

"Ah. Get into a lot of bar fights and whatnot?" He grinned.

"A few, yeah. And sometimes in other places, as well. Usually because of my habit of finding trouble and poking it with a stick." She pointed at a one hundred-twenty meter long spacecraft parked near the middle of the wall to their left. "That's where I'm headed - the Mae Jemison."

Corwin gave the ship a quick looking-over as they approached. "Sweet ride. Looks new."

"From what I was told, it's actually a really old ship, but a massive refit was finished just a few weeks ago." Kolya smiled and let her gaze sweep slowly from one end of the almost completely rebuilt ship to the other. Its general shape reminded her of the old SR-71 jet she'd read about in history class, but sleeker and curvier. The hull was light gray with the usual markings - serial numbers, warning signs on the parts that weren't safe to stand near, and the name in huge block letters along the side - but had other colors added here and there, and a large portrait behind the cockpit section of the astronaut for whom the ship was named. The paint job was custom, since the ship was privately owned.

"Hmm. Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing ships like this one somewhere." Corwin glanced at her. "In high school, I think. Science or history or something like that."

Kolya nodded. "It was on the news recently, too. It was one of the original Tyson-class research and exploration ships, and was eventually decommissioned. It was left in the boneyard section of the Io starship construction facility until a synth came along and bought it. She had the ship upgraded and spent the better part of a decade hustling her ass off doing odd jobs to pay back the loan. The ship vanished over a century ago, then reappeared a few months back. The owner and her passengers made a small fortune doing interviews and there'll probably be multiple books and vids made which'll bring 'em even more money. They used a lot of it to pay for the refit."

"Oh, yeah, I remember hearing some friends talking about that. Wasn't paying much attention to the news around that time - had a lot of other things on my mind." He raised an eyebrow. "I do remember bits and pieces I picked up here and there. Something about multiple ship disappearances over the last hundred-plus years."

"Yep. The Jemison was the first one to actually reappear, as far as I know." Kolya grinned and rubbed her hands together. "Until now. Another long-lost ship has reappeared, and the Jemison's ferrying a science team and their gear to its location. I got hired on as a general helper - sort of a jill-of-all-trades. Pilot, driver, mechanic, scout, that sort of thing. Whatever might come up that the team or the crew aren't prepared to deal with."

"Ah. You must've spent a lot of time in training, then."

"Nope. I pick it up as I go." She grinned as they reached the ship. "That's part of the fun."

A mildly bewildered look crossed his face, but Kolya walked on over to the group standing at the bottom of the cargo ramp before he could ask any more questions. She glanced around and took them all in. Two shonari, one mekharan, and two Terrans, a female human and a male minotaur. All except the mekharan wore casual T-shirts and cargo pants or shorts. Being a giant snake with four arms, the mekharan had a custom-designed shirt and what might be called a cargo skirt due to the absence of legs on his species.

Adult mekharans averaged from twenty to twenty-five feet in length, but at first glance this one looked around sixteen to eighteen feet. Kolya guessed he was in his mid teens, and was probably a lab assistant or maybe one of those kids who started college around the same time puberty kicked in.

One of the shonari glanced up as Kolya and Corwin reached them. She smiled, clopped over, and held out her right hand.

"Hello. You must be Kolya Mason. I'm Ralissa Thorana, lead scientist."

"Good to meet you. I'm ... well, whatever you need me to be on the mission." Kolya shook the alien woman's hand and grinned. She hadn't run into any aliens before starting her long journey, and their hands in particular had always struck her as rather curious. All the alien species she'd encountered so far had hands with three digits, while only humans and some of their synths and anthros had five. Aside from being the new kids on the block, Terrans seemed to have a few other traits that set them apart from everyone else, though admittedly those traits appeared to be superficial.

"Glad to have you on the team. Our specialties are kind of narrow, so I thought it would be good to have someone with a more well-rounded skillset on hand." Ralissa motioned at the rest of her team and introduced them. The other shonari woman was Zadra Loseen, the snake-like alien was Lorkis Azanar, the minotaur was Peter Gonzales, and the human was Mila Gerson. Kolya smiled and shook hands with each of them.

Lorkis flashed a charming smile as he clasped Kolya's hand. "_Very_pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Same here." She smiled back. Lorkis kept his hold on her hand for a few more seconds, and she waited it out.

Mila gave his shoulder a push and muttered, "Put it back in your pants."

Lorkis's scaly but nearly human face turned a darker shade of brown as he slithered away.

"And this is Corwin McAllister," Kolya said with a nod to her right after she finished greeting everyone.

Corwin flashed that brilliant smile and waved at the science team. "Nice to meet you."

"A pleasure." Ralissa smiled and glanced at Kolya. "Brought someone to help out?"

"Actually, we just met a couple minutes ago and he tagged along."

"Are you leaving soon?" Corwin turned to Kolya and added, "I was hoping we'd have time for lunch."

"We'll be taking off as soon as the last of our gear is loaded up." Ralphie motioned at a stack of crates and cases behind her. "I have no objection to any additional help, but that has to be up to the ship's owner."

"Corwin probably has his own stuff to handle here." Kolya shrugged. "Maybe another time, if we run into each other again."

"Actually, all this sounds really interesting. I'd like to hang around if it's okay with the crew." Corwin grinned again. "Is this a long-duration job?"

"The transit time will be a few days. Once we're there, we're expecting it to take anywhere from a few days to a month, depending on how things go." Ralissa shrugged. "Then a few more days to return."

"Well, my stuff will still be here when I get back, then." Corwin turned back to Kolya and beamed again. "If it's okay with the crew, we can still have that lunch date."

Kolya arched an eyebrow. Either he really does want to spend time with me - and the odds on that aren't good - or he's desperate to get away from this station. She assumed he'd never actually find her attractive and shifted into her poking-trouble-with-a-stick mode. Finding out what he was running from - or to - might be an interesting little side-project.

"Okay. If the Jemison's crew has no problem with it, I have no problem with it."

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"Welcome aboard." As the cargo ramp closed, a gunmetal-colored robot dressed in loose jeans, a Star Wars T-shirt, boots, and a long duster walked over to Kolya and the new arrivals. She smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Cora Engstrom, the ship's owner, captain, and pilot."

Everyone took turns shaking her hand and introducing themselves. Lorkis gave her the same smile he'd used on Kolya as he greeted her.

"Well, hello there."

"Hi." Cora smiled, disengaged her hand smoothly, and moved on to the others. She cocked her head when she got to Corwin.

"I'm kind of with her." He nodded at Kolya. "I mean, if it's okay with you. I don't want to impose or cause any problems with provisions or whatever."

"Oh, we've got more than enough. Real food, too, not just MREs." Cora grinned and turned to watch several of her crew finish securing the scientists' equipment and a pair of all-terrain rovers. "Never know when we might need an extra hand."

"Thank you, Captain." Corwin turned to grin at Kolya. "So I guess we're on for lunch, then?"

She chuckled. "Okay, you've twisted my arm into it." She gave him a playful whap on the shoulder just to see how he'd react. Still smiling, he gave her shoulder an equally playful shove. She swayed, regained her balance, and laughed.

Huh. Maybe he actually likes me. Probably not, but ... maybe.

"You're welcome," the synth said. "And it's just Cora."

"Okay." He swept his grin across the line of people in front of him. "So, where are we headed? Or is that classified?"

"We'll brief everyone once we're under way," Ralissa said.

"Alrighty."

The crew members - all of them alien except one, Kolya noted, and all female except the same one - finished locking the crates and cases down and walked over to join the group. Kolya looked each of them over quickly. The human appeared to be a teenager with shoulder-length brown hair and an easygoing way of carrying himself, quite unlike the boasting, aggressive, borderline-clinically-insane-thanks-to-raging-hormones boys she'd known in school. He wore black cargo pants, ankle-high sneakers, and a T-shirt with the caffeine molecule on the front.

The three females were what looked like a ten-foot-tall, wingless dragon - a geltharan - a muscular zorai with a pair of scars on her face, and another mekharan. The geltharan wore a simple pair of shorts and what appeared to be the top part of a muscle shirt that barely covered her small but prominent breasts, both of which must've been custom-made to fit her.

And what an odd thought that was - a reptile with breasts. The ones created in the genetics labs back on Earth were that way because of the horny geeks who'd designed them, but she didn't see how any naturally-occurring reptilian species would evolve that particular feature.

But then, the geltharans were alien, so they wouldn't necessarily be direct analogues of any species found on Earth.

The zorai wore olive drab cargo pants and a tight-fitting black shirt that showed off every impressive bulge of her muscular frame. She appeared to have barely any fat on her at all, and thus her chest looked almost masculine, yet she still had curves and a way of moving that made her femininity clear at first glance. Her waist-length red hair contrasted nicely with her dark green skin, and was tied into a ponytail with a pair of thick locks hanging past the sides of her face, almost like any number of anime characters Kolya had seen in vids while growing up.

The mekharan wore only a burgundy tube-top across each pair of breasts and matching short-shorts with the divider removed from the middle so it could fit around her serpentine body.

Lorkis zipped up to her and she reared back slightly. He smiled and held a hand out. "Well, hello there. My name is Lorkis Azanar. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The female appeared to stifle a sigh as she shook his hand and released it quickly. She waved another hand at the others and said, "I'm Nishara. Nishara Engstrom. And that's Dylan Engstrom, Grishnag Engstrom, and Ayastal Engstrom."

"A - ah." Lorkis deflated visibly, but force a smile back on a split-second later. "Glad to meet you all."

Ayastal laughed and tried to cover it up by clearing her throat.

Corwin glanced around at them and raised an eyebrow. Cora chuckled.

"I didn't actually have a last name, originally, so I just took Dylan's when we got married, and the others did the same."

Corwin gaped at Dylan. "You're banging all these women?"

"Yep."

"Lucky bastard."

Dylan smirked and nodded slowly. "I am." He shrugged. "It probably seems weird to you two, but, uh ..."

"Actually, not really." Kolya laughed softly. "One of my aunts has four husbands and three wives. Several of my friends have dated synths, anthros, and aliens. And most of the guys I knew in junior high went out and had zorai hookers demolish their virginity as soon as they could scrape up enough money. So none of this is exactly a foreign concept for me."

"That's a relief." Dylan sighed. "I keep forgetting where I am and expecting people to be a little squicked-out."

Kolya shrugged. "Eh, the weirder things get, the more interesting they are. We experience 'normal' almost every moment of every day, and that gets boring after a while."

Cora grinned. "I think we're going to get along famously." She headed for a hatch in the far wall. "We're got everything prepped ahead of time, but our scheduled launch isn't for another half hour. So we'll introduce you to the rest of the crew and get you settled into your quarters."

"Sounds good." Ralissa smiled. "Lead the way."

Everyone followed her through the corridors to a hexagonal hub area with a hatch in each of the walls. The first thing Kolya noticed was that the walls were lined with wood paneling - probably artificial, but quite easy on the eyes. The only bits of metal were around the edges where panels connected and joined with the ceiling and floor, and pieces that framed monitors and touchscreen consoles.

"The upgrades this ship has just gotten include four of these crew and passenger quarters sections. One hub is reserved for the crew, one room for each of us." Cora's grin turned a bit saucy. "And one room for all of us. The other three are for any passengers we might be hired to transport." She turned to the science team and added, "We've also got the latest in lab upgrades and several observation decks that offer awe-inspiring views."

"I like it already." Ralissa smiled and the glow of her yellow eyes brightened. "I've always loved looking out into space when I'm far enough away from any light source. The few stars you see from a planet's surface are nothing compared to what you see when you're way out between star systems."

Cora nodded. "I do the same every chance I get. There are simply no words to describe how majestic the universe is."

"That's why I'm out here," Kolya said to Corwin. "To see things I could never see back home."

"I've never traveled far from Earth, and never really set aside the time to just take in the sights. I'm looking forward to giving it a try."

"I think we'll be getting you off to a good start." Cora stuck her hands into her pockets and leaned against the doorway to the corridor. "We've got a mystery to dig into, possibly some exploration of an alien planet, and a spooky ship to board."

"Perfect." Kolya opened the nearest hatch and took a quick look around. The quarters were about the size of a mid-level hotel room, with mahogany paneling and a soft beige carpet. A bank of small doors on one wall appeared to be storage cupboards set into the walls, and shelves lined the opposite wall. A full-size bed sat at the far end of the room, and a large vid screen was set into the wall beside the door. Underneath it was a desk with a keyboard.

Kolya pulled one of the desk drawers out and found an assortment of interface devices - touch pad, trackball, an old-fashioned mouse, and a range of other gadgets to fit almost any personal preference.

She grinned and placed her bag on the bed. There'd be plenty of time to put her stuff away later.

She returned to the central area and waited for the others to store their belongings. Then Cora led everyone to the flight deck.

From what Kolya remembered of the interviews she'd seen shortly after the_Mae Jemison_'s mysterious reappearance, the original ship had a small cockpit. The refit had enlarged the control center considerably, spacing the various control panels far enough apart to give everyone a comfortable amount of personal space. The forward wall was taken up by a huge window with graphics and data in a heads-up display overlaid on the view of the hangar deck outside. And at the rear of the compartment was a large, circular station with consoles lining the outer edge and a holographic projector in the middle.

Wow. This is one hell of a ship. Kolya grinned as her pulse raced. She turned to Cora as the synth eased herself into the pilot's station.

"Cora, the refit was just finished recently, right?"

"Yes. This will be the Jemison's first flight since we found our way to Sevastapol Station."

Clopping sounds came from behind Kolya, and she glanced over her shoulder. Ah, that must be the rest of the crew. Interesting.

Neither of them were species she had encountered or even seen in photos or vids. Both had digitigrade legs ending in large hooves, but one looked sort of equine with a pair of bull-like horns, and the other was much more humanoid. Kind of fat, with a lovely mane of silver hair contrasting with her obsidian skin, curving horns like those of a ram, and glowing white eyes. Her face was mostly human-like, and was actually quite attractive. Kolya wondered if the girl's species was an offshoot of the shonari, given the similarities.

But then, all of the alien species Terrans had encountered so far had a few basic similarities, one of which was the location of the genitalia. Which, Kolya assumed with a quick chuckle, more than a few people probably considered the most important one.

"You're just in time," Grishnag said. "We'll be lifting off in a few minutes."

"I can't wait!" The obsidian female plopped onto one of the vacant seats, stared out the window, and giggled. "We've been stuck in this giant can for so many months, it'll be good to finally get out there and see more of the sky."

Before anyone could reply, Lorkis slid over to her, smiled, and held a hand out.

"Hello there. My name is Lorkis."

Cora, Grishnag, Dylan, and Nishara exchanged an amused look, and Ayastal simply hung her head and shook it ever so slightly.

"Hello. I'm Syala." The obsidian girl shook his hand and glanced around at the rest of the crew. "Syala Engstrom."

Lorkis's face froze solid for a split second before he recovered. "Ah. N-nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

He kept the smile in place and turned toward the horse-cow woman. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Hello, Lorkis. I am Zilaka ... Engstrom."

Corwin started to snicker, but clamped down on it immediately. He stared at the floor, pressed his lips together for a few seconds, and waited until he could draw a breath before speaking in a whisper.

"Jesus Christ." He turned his back toward them, rubbed a hand over his face, and grinned. "That poor kid."

"I know." Kolya had to suppress her own laugh, but she could easily imagine something similar happening if she tried to ask a guy out. The result would probably be a quickly-concealed wince and a stammered excuse to turn her down.

Dylan leaped to the mekharan's rescue by introducing the rest of the passengers to Zilaka and Syala. Lorkis slithered over to the rear of the compartment and muttered, "Damn it."

Zadra chuckled and reached over to pat his shoulder.

Cora gazed at her console for a few seconds. "And ... we're cleared for departure." She waited for everyone to sit before putting on a cheesy grin and reaching out to the controls. "Prepare for ... a journey into the unknown!"

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