FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was ‘night hours’ aboard HCS Solstice.

The heavy cruiser (the largest type of ship in the High Command; crew complement: 161) was on mid-range patrol in the Uncharted Territories, monitoring the regions around Redwing Station.

“Am I in trouble?” Dover asked worriedly, laying on a bio-bed. The short, tawny ‘hazel dormouse’ raised a paw to shield his sensitive eyes from the sickbay’s bright overhead lights, his ropy, furred tail curling at random.

“Relax, Ensign.”

Doctor Colby blocked the light as she leaned over him. Caught in her umbra, the rodent’s eyes dilated.

The red panda’s red-and-white face, with her black nose and triangular, fuzzy-white ears, was a mask of experience as she ran a scanner over his twitchy figure.

She wasn’t in her duty uniform, though. ‘Casual’ attire. A navy-blue t-shirt with ‘Solstice’ in big letters along with the ship’s outline and registry number. And form-fitting shorts.

“How can I relax?” Dover asked. “Relaxing is what made this happen in the first place!”

“You were just sleepwalking.”

“Naked!” Dover squeaked, flushing with embarrassment.

“You’re not the only one who sleeps ‘in the fur’.” She was the same way. “But you are lucky Ensign Larsen found you before you got into that lift. Could’ve ended up on the bridge!”

The dormouse fought the urge to curl into a cozy ball.

The red panda chuckled (she knew she should’ve maintained a ‘professional demeanor’; but it was late, and she was off duty, so fuck it).

Larsen, a young snow rabbit security officer, had been leaving Colby’s quarters (after a late-night canoodle; their age-gap fling had been going on for weeks, now; he was 22, the youngest officer on the ship, and she was 35) when he’d discovered Dover aimlessly wandering around with a glazed, glassy-eyed expression.

“Did anyone see besides you two?” he asked.

“Don’t think so,” the Doctor said distractedly, stepping back to check her readings.

“Mm.” A pause. “Are you gonna tell the Captain?” The dormouse tried to sit up.

Colby pushed him back down. “Stop wriggling.”

“Why?”

“Cause you’re being too adorable. It’s distracting.”

“You didn’t have to take me to sickbay yourself,” Dover continued, nervousness not abating. He tugged at his ‘garment,’ a standard ‘medical gown’ Colby had dressed him in. “It’s almost midnight.”

“Eight minutes after,” she corrected, checking the chronometer.

“Oh.”

“So. Have you sleepwalked before?” she continued.

He nodded. “It’s always been a problem. Had to use bottom bunks at the Academy because I’d always fall from the top and hurt myself.” A frown. “My roommates accused me of ‘faking’ to get the choice beds.”

“Easier to sneak friendly figures beneath the sheets after hours when you’ve got the lower mattress, eh?” Colby said with a wink. (In fact, that’s how she and Captain Advance had met, leading to a close, lifelong friendship.)

“I wouldn’t know. I just used it for sleeping.”

“Really, now?”

“Yes … ”

“And how about on Solstice?”

“I don’t have a bunkbed. I’m in my own quarters,” he said stubbornly, folding his paws on his belly.

“You know what I mean,” she prodded.

“I … I have my duties to attend to.”

“Sounds like an excuse to me.”

Dover didn’t say anything further.

“There’s plenty of people on this ship who’d go for a cutie like you.”

The dormouse blushed.

Him?

A cutie?

Really?

No …

Also, was the Doctor normally this casual with her patients?

This was the longest interaction Dover had ever had with her (even his last physical hadn’t taken this long).

“You said you have sleepwalked before. Details, Ensign,” Colby prodded. “Let’s get to the bottom of this.”

“Dormice are known for being heavy sleepers. I had to fight the urge to hibernate at the Academy!” he exclaimed, again going back to his school days. (At 24, he’d only graduated a few years ago.) “I needed stimulants to stay awake.”

He’d gone to the ‘main branch’ on Tundrune, the snow rabbit home-world, where the winters were dark, snowy, and fierce. It made the cool, cloudy summers seem tropical in comparison.

He’d considered transferring to a satellite campus on another (warmer) HC world, but knew the prestige of graduating from the founding campus would get him a choice assignment like Solstice.

Colby waited for more. Dover was the first dormouse she’d served with, so she was genuinely interested in this.

“We have very active dreams, you see, and sometimes that results in doing things without being awake.”

“Things? Like what?” the red panda pressed.

“Like … like I don’t know. Walking, obviously.” He shrugged. “I just suddenly wake up and realize I’m not in bed.”

“And this is normally triggered by a powerful dream?”

The dormouse confirmed, “Yes. They’re very vivid.”

“And what were you dreaming about this time?”

“It’s … it’s hard to remember,” he stammered.

“I’m your doctor. You don’t need to be embarrassed. You can tell me anything.”

“It’s nothing like that!” Dover promised.

And good thing, too.

Imagine if he’d been caught sleepwalking and erect?

He might’ve died.

And, if he hadn’t, he would’ve had to transfer off the ship. Or turn in his commission and go into hiding on some backwater planet somewhere.

“Damn. And I was hoping for tales of late-night ribaldry!” Colby said sarcastically, adding, “Seriously. Tell me.”

“It’s just … I feel silly talking about my dreams. They don’t mean anything.”

“Not true. Dreams can reveal a lot about mental health. Now, come on, Ensign. Out with it. Don’t … don’t make me—” The Doctor yawned widely, not bothering to hide it or apologize. “Order you.” Ugh. If she didn’t get back to her quarters soon, she was just going to plonk herself on a bio-bed and turn out the lights.

Dover, distracted by the red panda’s teeth (he hadn’t realized they were so sharp! She wasn’t a predator, was she?), said, “I, uh … I was lost. On a ship.”

“Solstice?”

“No. No, it wasn’t Solstice.” He was sure of that. “Or any High Command ship I recognized.” The more he concentrated, the more he could remember. “I’d never seen it before? It was dark. And cold. I was alone, walking the halls—”

“You were doing that in the waking world,” Colby noted.

“And I could … I could hear noises. Creaking, maybe? And voices. Yeah! Voices. I could feel them, somehow. They were crying for help! They were desperate. I could feel their fear, and it was … I was scared, too. I was looking for them, but I couldn’t see them.”

The dormouse got terrible shivers just thinking about it.

“Oh, it felt so real,” he whispered, hugging himself. “The desperation. Time running out and—”

“You said it yourself: your species has unusually vivid dreams. Was this different, somehow?”

The sickbay doors whooshed open.

A snow rabbit doe walked in, gingerly holding her wrist. She made eye contact with Dover, who blushed.

“Go on, Ensign? Did you find the source of the voices … ?”

“Hmm? Oh, uh, no … no, Larsen shook me awake? Yeah. Before I could. And brought me to you, and, uh, you brought me here,” he quickly blurted.

“Honestly? Sounds more like a nightmare than a dream.” The Doctor scanned him again. She frowned. “A bad one, too.”

“I told you it felt real.”

“Well, your cortisol levels spiked just recounting it. Big time.”

“What are those?”

“Stress hormones.”

“Is that bad?”

“It’s certainly not good,” the red panda said. “But not enough to keep you here. Let me give you a calming sedative before I let you go. Wait here.”

Padding to the medical replicator, Colby noticed the injured rabbit. Kiana, a member of the engineering department. “Evening, Lieutenant. Or is it morning now?”

“I didn’t expect you to be on duty so late, Doctor,” Kiana said, noticing the red panda was dressed for recreation.

“I’m just swell and neighborly that way,” Colby replied. “What can I do for you? The night duty nurse was called to the bridge.” (Another ‘weird’ incident with the night shift. What was the deal with them, anyway?)

“I injured my wrist.” Kiana gingerly held out her white-furred arm, fighting the urge to wince. “The pain is preventing me from using my right paw.”

Colby ran a quick scan. “Grade Two sprain. Ouch. What were you doing?”

“I was finishing a double shift in engineering. I suppose my fatigue go the best of me, as I slipped while descending an intra-level ladder. I prevented a complete fall by grabbing to a metal rung with a single paw, but, of course, the direction my lower half was moving combined with the weight distribution—”

“Yeah, yeah. I get the idea.” The red panda pointed at the bio-beds. “Take a number. I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Kiana nodded.

Dover pleaded with the universe for Kiana not to sit on the bed next to him.

So, of course, that’s what she did.

“Ensign Dover,” she greeted.

“Y-yes,” he stammered, sitting upright on the side of the bed. His foot-paws not quite reaching the floor. (The rabbit was taller than him.) “That’s me.”

“I see you in the mess hall every day. We take our meal breaks at the same time.”

“I … yeah, I know,” he said. He was quite aware of that, though they’d never eaten together.

“You enjoy sandwiches with hazelnut spread and blackberry jam.”

“That’s right.” He was amazed she knew that! She must’ve been observing him closely. “And you like … um, spring wine?”

A nod. “My family makes cool-climate fruit wines. My siblings stayed home to take over the business, which freed me up to enter the service.”

“Oh, wow.”

“I could give you a taste?” she offered. “There are several varieties. I am sure one would be to your liking.”

Dover, not answering, looked down at his foot-paws, curling his white-clawed toes.

He’d had a crush on Kiana since he’d joined the ship. She was, what, 26 or 27? A few years older.

She was pretty, yes, but also crazy smart and dedicated. Caring and attentive. He saw how she treated everyone she talked to and worked with.

Even if I weren’t cripplingly shy, I have no ‘game.’ She’s a freaking snow rabbit. A crystalline sex goddess! What could I possibly offer her that someone else couldn’t?

I’m not even a ‘normal’ mouse.

A dormouse had so many extra quirks. Like the sleeping habits and furred tail and—

“Are you injured, as well?” Kiana suddenly asked, tilting her tall-eared head.

“No. Thankfully. Just, uh … some sleep troubles,” he said, trying to downplay his issues.

“I hope you can resolve them. It is important to get a proper amount of rest."

Dover looked away.

After a moment, she said, “In the mess hall—”

“Yes?” He looked back to her.

“I notice you always eat alone.”

He nodded, unable to think of a good excuse.

“Is this by habit or by choice?”

“Well. I just, uh … just get very focused on my meals, I guess.”

“I see.” The snow rabbit paused, cradling her injured paw. “In future, you are most welcome to join—”

“Here you go, Ensign,” Doctor Colby said, returning with a hypo. She pressed it to the rodent’s neck. He squeezed his eyes shut as it injected him (and hissed). “This should calm your nerves for the next twenty-four hours and help you get right back to sleep. Though I might suggest locking your door?”

“Right. Okay! Thanks. Bye,” the dormouse blurted, scurrying for the door.

“You can return the gown tomorrow!” Colby called after him.

The doors were already whooshing shut.

“Poor guy.”

Lieutenant Kiana asked, “Why was he in such a hurry?”

Colby, a ‘worldly’ sort, said, “I think it’s less what he’s scurrying to than from.” She winked at the pristine rabbit (who blinked back) and said, “Follow me, please. Place your paw in the regenerator. And try not to move.”

“You should’ve seen him, Advance. He’s the poster critter for ‘all work and no play’. I normally don’t recommend ‘getting laid’ as a genuine medical treatment, but it would do wonders for this kid.”

“You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?” Colby asked, chomping into a flaky croissant (that she’d loaded with butter and strawberry jam).

“Calling people ‘kids’.” The kangaroo rat sprinkled sugar on his grapefruit, having just finished his granola cereal. “Ever since you hooked up with Larsen, everyone younger than you is a ‘kid’. You’re not that old.”

“I’m as old as you.”

“Exactly.”

The Captain and Doctor were in Advance’s ‘Ready Room’ just off the bridge, having a shared breakfast (a frequent habit) before their duty shifts.

The red panda grinned, licking jam off her lips and declaring, “We’re like the ‘mom and dad’ of Solstice!”

“Is that supposed to be kinky?”

“Do you want it to be?” she purred.

“If we were near an airlock right now—"

“Don’t worry, you still got ‘hop’ to your step,” Colby promised the kangaroo rat. “Or you still did last week, anyway.” That was the last time they’d fucked.

“Heh. Good to know,” Advance said, sipping some ginger tea.

“I was thinking, though … mmf. Mm.” Colby swallowed, licking the jam off her claws before telling the kangaroo rat, “You’re a ‘not really a mouse’ mouse … faux mouse?” She shrugged. “And so is he. So, you have something in common. Maybe you can give him a pep talk?”

“About what?”

“You never needed an excuse to blab, so figure it out.”

“Funny.”

“I’m feeling my oats, today.” She fanned herself with her huge, bushy tail. “Larsen brought me to a supernova last night.”

“If you’re trying to make me jealous, it won’t work.”

“But you’re so cute when you’re jealous!”

Advance, staying on topic, said, “Ensign Dover seems the type who’d curl into a ball if his Captain treated him like ‘one of the boys.’ I don’t want to freak him out. He’s a good officer. Wasilla oversees shipboard Ops, and he’s one of her favorites. If he’s not hurting, why can’t we leave him alone?”

Taking a swig of coffee, Colby said (a little more evenly), “But he is hurting. He just … channels it all into his dreams.”

“You’re a great doctor, you know. I don’t care what they say about you.”

“Ha, ha,” she said dryly, adding, “That was a good breakfast, though. You’ll take care of the mess?”

“I always do.”

She stood and did an over-performative bow. “Thank you, sir.”

Advance waves his paw in a ‘royal’ response. “Any time, madam.”

“Later!” The red panda left his desk (and Ready Room) with a tail swish, off to her duty shift in sickbay.

Mid-morning, Dover (more tired than he cared to admit) was assigned to help Chief Engineer Antioch’s team. They were preparing a bevy of probes to launch into the star system Solstice had just entered.

Antioch briefed an assembled team in ‘main engineering,’ the warp core glowing in the background.

“This system is a navigational hazard. And that’s putting it kindly.” The marmot (a thickly set ground squirrel) activated a display screen, tapping with a claw. “The sheer number of planets and moons combined with binary stars?”

“Gravimetric distortions are all over the place. And, because of that, grav shear. Makes navigation extremely tricky, and if you’re not careful, you can slowly slide into the wrong spot and … well, you can use your imaginations.”

He tapped at his controls and the animation changed, showing an HC Class-7 probe.

“We’re gonna launch fourteen of these babies. They’re gonna help us map the entire system! Not just what we can see, but what we can’t. We’ll identify the size and location of the distortions and pass along the info to Redwing Station before leaving warning buoys for passing ships.

“My engineering team will work on bolstering the shielding for the probes, as well as reinforcing structural integrity. Then I have some folks from Ops here—” Antioch gestured to Dover and four others. “And they’re gonna be programming and testing the probes’ ‘sensitive equipment.’ Making sure data gathering and communications—and their fail safes—are working. Don’t want to launch these things and find out we’ve got duds.

“Any questions?”

No one had any.

Antioch clapped his paws together and ordered them to ‘get to it.’

“I admire your writing.”

Twenty minutes later, in a nook on main engineering’s ‘upper deck.’

“Hmm?” Dover looked up. He was at a station with Kiana, working on one of the probes. (It was much smaller than he’d thought. He’d expected something the size of a shuttle-pod!)

The work pairings had been completely random, or so Antioch had ‘claimed’ before handing them out.

Like he knows I have feelings for her?

He probably doesn’t even remember my name.

“The daily mission reports,” Kiana explained. A slight head-tilt. “Those are your doing, correct?”

“Oh! Oh, uh … yeah.” The dormouse blushed. “I didn’t know anyone other than Advance and Wasilla read those.”

“And the Admirals back home,” Kiana added.

“Yeahhh. I try not to think about that … ”

“I like to keep up with what is going on in other departments,” the engineer said. “It is too easy to get stuck in one’s own ‘bubble’.”

Dover compiled the individual departmental reports (collected at the end of each day by Wasilla, who skimmed them before passing them to the dormouse) and spliced them into something broadly informative (and, ideally, not deadly boring if nothing happened that day).

Once the Captain and Commander signed off on it, it was entered as the ‘official ship’s log,’ documented history for all to see, with copies sent back to the brass, the Council chairs on ‘fleet activities,’ and so on.

“You do our missions justice,” Kiana said, grabbing a micro-welder. She’d discovered some near-invisible fractures in the metal casing of their probe. Enough to be a risk its integrity in ultra-high gravity. “Documenting the ship’s daily actions is an important task.”

“It’s strange, though.”

“How so?”

“Reading about all these interesting things happening to the rest of the crew. Or heroic things they did. While I just … I haven’t really left the ship since we set out for the UT.” Using a scanner, the dormouse sent the probe’s internal computer ‘stock data’ to compute and send back. “Maybe twice?”

“Five times for me. Though one of them was a spacewalk to fix the deflector dish.”

“Your job is more important than mine,” Dover told her. “You fix things. Make things work. Paws-on, you know? Involved in the nitty-gritty.” He skipped a beat. “I’m all numbers and reports. Boring stuff.”

“That ‘stuff’ is just as necessary to our mission as anything else.” She borrowed the dormouse’s scanner to be sure she’d repaired all the fractures.

“You’re too polite.”

“Should I be mean, instead?” Kiana posed, with that faintest hint of ‘jocularity.’ Snow rabbits had emotions, but they were subtle. Subdued. Remnants of a harsh, icy evolution.

“That’s not what I meant. I, uh … I mean, you’re so—”

She returned his scanner.

Their paws bumped as she did so. Fingers brushed. Hers covered in soft, white fur. Night-black claws. His pink and furless.

Dover held his breath.

Kiana gave the faintest of smiles, like a cool, gentle breeze.

That wasn’t an accidental touch, was it?

“I … I’ll go, uh, tell the team we’re ready.” His eyes widened. “For the next probe, I mean! If you’re satisfied we’re done with this one?”

“An engineer is never fully satisfied,” she assured, almost whispering it.

Are my ears on fire?

His cheeks certainly were!

Dover stood and shuffled back, pointing with his furry tail. “I’ll … but, still, I’ll just go. And, uh—”

He squeaked and scurried off.

Why did you leave her?

What are you scared of?

He didn’t answer that, just rounded the corner and—

The swirling hum-thrum of the warp core was swallowed up by an unintelligible chorus. One easily could’ve mistaken it for music, but upon closer listen—

It was chanting.

But what were they saying?

Dover listened.

He couldn’t make it out!

It didn’t matter how much he focused, it sounded like gibberish.

But he knew it was important.

He turned around to get Chief Antioch, but engineering was—

Gone!

He wasn’t on Solstice anymore.

Where am I?

Dover’s pulse quickened.

Wait.

It’s my dream.

The exact same dream from last night. The one that had caused him to sleepwalk.

But how?

I wasn’t asleep! I was tired, yeah, but—

The dormouse was in that now-familiar corridor. The lights were flickering on and off in irregular, spooky patterns, and the air? It was even colder and thinner than the last time. He felt me might suffocate.

This isn’t real.

This isn’t real …

Breaths shaking, he padded toward a door at the far end.

Everything was leading to the door.

It had a gravity to it, pulling him closer and closer.

What was behind it?

Something he needed to see.

Something they wanted him to see.

They?

Who’s they_?_

The deck vibrated with metallic groans and creaks.

Reaching the door, his paw shook as he reached out to trigger the ‘open’ mechanism.

He hesitated.

What are you afraid of?

This is just a dream, remember?

Just a—

Thump!

The snow rabbit’s tall, soot-tipped ears twiddled.

“Dover?” Kiana called.

What was taking him so long? And what had that noise been? She felt the need to investigate. Getting up, she walked around the corner—

And found the dormouse on the floor.

Unconscious.

His ears pale.

Kiana immediately slapped her badge. “Engineering to sickbay. Medical emergency.” She dropped to her knees and felt for a pulse. “It’s Ensign Dover.”

“I’m so, so sorry, Captain … I know you’re busy, and the last thing I want to do was to involve—”

“Ensign,” Advance said gently, in sickbay. He put a paw on the younger rodent’s chest. “It’s fine. I always have time for the well-being of my crew.”

Dover nodded weakly, whiskers twitching.

Pulling his paw back, Advance continued, “Colby tells me you had hypotension and hypothermia.”

“I did?”

“Is he going to be okay?” Kiana asked.

Dover turned his head. He hadn’t realized the snow rabbit was in the room! In truth, she hadn’t left sickbay since the dormouse had been brought in.

“That’s Colby’s territory,” Advance said, looking to the red panda. “Well?”

“He’s stable for now. But long term? I can’t be certain yet.” The Doctor sighed with frustration. “Look at this.” She pulled the Captain and Kiana aside, showing them holo-images. “This is his normal brain scan. From his last physical. This is his scan now.”

“Why are all those areas lit up?” Kiana inquired.

“They’re being hyper-stimulated.”

“Can you give him something for that? Calm him down?” Advance asked.

“That’s the thing,” Colby said. “I gave him something last night! It was a day’s dosage. It should still be working.” She paused and glanced at her patient, whose ears were swiveling, doing his best to eavesdrop on their conversation. “I can only surmise this isn’t an internal problem. Unless he’s spontaneously defying medicine.”

“Any ideas what might be causing it?”

“Aren’t we in a system with all sorts of crazy shenanigans? Shadows and valleys?”

“If you mean the binary stars, the gravitational distortions … ” Advance trailed off and spread his paws. “Why isn’t anybody else onboard showing ill effects?”

“Dormice have an extremely active subconscious due to their deep sleep cycles. Whatever is happening, energy-wise, must be on the same wavelength as his brainwaves.”

“The dreams are real,” Dover insisted.

He knew that now.

He felt it deep down.

The trio returned to the dormouse.

Advance exchanged a glance with Colby before saying, “I’m sure they feel real, Ensign. But, believe me, you haven’t let Solstice the entire time.”

“But I felt it … I felt them.”

“Who?” the kangaroo rat asked.

“I don’t … I don’t know. I was opening the door. I was just about to see who they were when—”

“When your bio-signatures cratered?” Colby reminded. “If Kiana hadn’t found you, you might’ve died.”

Dover’s whiskers twitched. “I need to see what’s behind that door.”

“Impossible.”

Dover looked past Colby to Advance. “Sir … ”

“How do you plan on doing that?” the Captain asked.

“Induce a deep sleep,” Kiana suggested.

The two higher-ranking officers looked to the lieutenant.

“The deepest possible,” the snow rabbit suggested. “Enough to guarantee he won’t wake up before it’s finished.”

“You mean put him in a coma? That’s riskier than it sounds, and it already sounds pretty risky, especially with his unique brain chemistry,” Colby said incredulously. She scoffed, spreading her black arms. “Advance, I’m not going to give him potential brain damage so he can finish a fucking dream!”

“Language, Doctor.”

“Oh, please. Don’t ‘Doctor’ me.”

“Why are you advocating for this, Lieutenant?” Advance asked Kiana (after giving Colby a ‘not in front of the junior officers’ face). The kangaroo rat wasn’t privy to anything, but he had picked up on ‘something’ (possibly?) going on between the engineer and the dormouse. “You realize there’s a possibility he might not wake up?”

“For a species whose existence is so enmeshed with their dreams … to live in total fear of them? Would be torture. The only way for him to conquer it is to face it head on.”

Advance smiled and nodded. “Logically put. I’d expect nothing less from a snow rabbit.”

Kiana bowed her head.

Colby shook her hers, laughing darkly. “First off, I’m not doing anything without the patient’s consent, and second—”

“I’ll do it,” Dover said. He took a deep breath and repeated, more confidently, “I want to do it. I need to.”

Doctor Colby rubbed her face with her paws. “Overruled in my own sickbay.”

“You can handle this, Doctor?”

“Yes, Captain,” she said acerbically. “I can.”

“Good.” A terse pause. “Keep me informed. I’ll be on the bridge,” the kangaroo rat said.

“Advance, wait … ” The red panda reached for her friend before he could hop away, gently grabbing his fluff-tipped tail. She was the only one onboard who could get away with doing that in public. “I’m sorry.”

He pivoted, clenched jaw giving way to a slow, bucktoothed grin. “Like I could ever stay mad with you?”

Colby smiled with relief.

When the Captain left, Colby took a few deep breaths and then said, “Alright, fine, let’s do this.”

“You made it sound like it was unsafe?” Kiana said.

“Oh, it is. But … whatever, you know? I have my orders.” Colby fished around for some equipment. “Ah. Here it is.”

She brushed past Kiana, her tail ‘pillowing’ the snow rabbit in the face. Kiana swatted it away.

“I’m going to attach a cortical node to your neck,” Colby told the dormouse.

“Ouch!”

“Oh, sorry. It might hurt a bit. No, don’t scratch at it! It’s going to monitor your vitals. We’ll know everything that’s happening in your critter cranium.”

“Everything?”

The red panda smirked, and while the snow rabbit stepped out of earshot (talking to Chief Antioch over the comms, updating him on the situation), told Dover, “Lieutenant Kiana was quite concerned about you.”

“She’d be concerned about any fellow offi—"

“Here’s a tip from a colorful ringtail who’s been around the block: confidence is sexy. I mean, look at me and Advance,” she said, of the Captain.

“Weren’t you just fighting?” Dover pointed out.

“Yeah, but the makeup sex later? Might put me in a coma.”

Should I be hearing this?

“He’s confident as hell. And, now, Larsen? The buck wasn’t even on my radar, and now we’re—” The red panda stopped short. “Well. I’m sure you can guess. Along with half of C-Deck, apparently.”

“Those noise complaints were about you?”

He’d skimmed them in yesterday’s departmental reports. As a rule, he didn’t put ‘sexcapades’ in his final documents. Yeah, starships were pent-up, ‘happening’ places, but the brass didn’t need to be privy to that.

“We aren’t called ‘wahs’ for nothing,” Colby added with a wink.

Dover’s purple eyes darted.

“Heh.” As she prepared a dosage to put the dormouse in a controlled coma, Colby got serious as she said, “I’ll have no way of knowing when to wake you. How long do you think you’ll need?”

“Dream time and ‘real time’ don’t exactly exist in synch. It’s hard to say.”

“How about twenty minutes?”

“Better make it thirty,” Dover said.

“I’m pulling you out after half an hour, then. No later. I’m humoring you—and Advance—with this attempt; there will not be another. A second attempt would double the strain on your body. It’d be even more dangerous.”

“I understand.” Dover’s whiskers twitched. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“Eh, don’t mention it.”

Kiana returned and said, “I will stay with you when you are under. Perhaps my presence will give you something to wake up for.”

Dover blushed.

For a snow rabbit, that was practically a proposition!

Pressing the hypo in his neck that was going to knock him out, Colby whispered into one of his ears, “Or maybe don’t listen to me. Maybe she just likes shy, sweet guys?”

The red panda injected her patient.

Dover’s eyes fluttered shut and he fell into a deep, sleepy abyss.

“Begin the ‘dream clock’,” Colby told Kiana. “Thirty minutes descending.”

Kiana asked, “Don’t you have a nurse?”

“They’re still on their lunch hour. Or something?” Colby looked around and shrugged. “Who knows. Looks like you’ve been conscripted, Lieutenant!”

“Bats?!”

“Where? How?”

“Is it a Syndicate plot? I knew they were up to something!”

“I don’t understand … ”

Captain Advance held up his pink paws, indicating for silence in the conference room (where the senior staff was gathered), promising, “It’ll make sense in a minute.” He looked to Doctor Colby and Ensign Dover, who had filled him in before the others had arrived.

“Right,” Colby said, taking a deep breath. She activated a holo-display in the middle of the table. “From what Dover has told me of his dreams, as well as the brain scans I’ve taken? I—we—now believe he’s been receiving telepathic messages. Yes, from bats.”

“Bats are, indeed, telepathic. Dormice are distinctly not,” science officer Ayla, a snow rabbit, calmly pointed out.

“True,” the red panda acknowledged, raising a finger. “Which is why he can’t receive or register their messages when he’s fully awake. But asleep? Or ‘sleepwalking?’ Dormice have a very strong subconscious.” She showed the staff a 3D animation. “Their ‘dream state’ just so happens to reside on the same wavelength as bat psionic signals. They’re able to communicate with him while he’s in that ‘realm’.”

She paused and added, “More or less. It’s not a direct, one-on-one experience. It’s filtered through your usual dream-level pretzel logic and symbolism.”

“Are we being shadowed by a Syndicate wingship?” Jinx, chief of security, pressed. The skunk was always trying to get ahead of potential threats. “Are they using Dover to learn about Solstice, maybe even gain access codes?”

“I thought we were allies with the Syndicate?” Noorvik, the snow rabbit pilot, replied.

“It’s a ‘marriage of convenience.’ You can’t trust them, Vik. They’re shady as

“It’s not like that.” Colby shook her head at the skunk, then put a paw on Dover’s shoulder. Giving it a squeeze, she encouraged him to speak. “Tell ‘em! We’re only here because of you, kid.”

Advance rolled his eyes at the ‘kid.’

Dover took a deep breath and told his story.

“It’s not the Syndicate,” he confirmed.

“How can you be sure?” Wasilla asked. The chipmunk (first officer) was seated next to Advance.

“I just am. I … they—” Dover stopped, getting flustered. Not only had he never been in a senior staff meeting, but they were all looking at him. Like he was important or something.

“Tell them about the dream,” Colby urged.

The dormouse nodded. “I was, uh … it was a ship? I was on a ship. In a corridor. It was dark, cold … hard to breathe. There was a door at the end. The first few times I had the dream, I was too scared to open it, or I woke up before I could. But I knew the answers were there.

“When Doctor Colby put me under, I finally opened it. I saw … the lights? In a cargo hold. They were blue. Pink. Shapeless. At first, I didn’t know what they were, but they slowly coalesced into forms. Figures, of a sort. With wings. They were bats.

“More precisely, they’re dissidents,” Dover explained.

“Dissidents?”

“Political refugees?”

“They believe the Syndicate has gone ‘too far’ in wielding their powers over non-telepaths. People fear the Syndicate, but fear doesn’t equal respect. This splinter group advocates for a softer, more trusting approach.

“They launched a half-dozen different ships, all coming from different places in the UT, headed toward a ‘secret’ planet a few days away. They’re going to start a new colony, with hopes of one day rivaling the Syndicate’s power.”

“They can’t keep a secret like that from the Syndicate,” Jinx said cynically. “They have ‘eyes and ears’ everywhere. What makes them think they won’t be ‘dealt with’?”

Ayla reasoned, “A thousand bats with the same mental powers as them? It would be a stalemate. Not to mention attacking them may engender the dissident movement with more sympathy and publicity. The Syndicate is arrogant. They likely believe their way is so much better that alternatives will flame out on their own.”

“Back on track, guys. We don’t need a history lesson,” Advance reminded.

Dover took a breath and explained, “This one—this ship—had no idea about the gravity distortions in this system. Their sensors aren’t as advanced as ours.

“They tried everything to escape when they realized what they’d flown into, but it was like being caught in quicksand. The more they struggled, the deeper they were pulled.

“They’ve lost all life support other than in the cargo bay. They’re all huddled in there, over a hundred of them. Sir, there … there are families and pups … ”

Dover twitched, feeling the weight of their situation as if it was his.

“With all remaining power rerouted to the cargo bay to keep them alive, they have no comms. They’ve been using their combined telepathic powers to send out a mental distress call.

“I’m … they’re just lucky I was here to pick it up. I’m the only one aboard who can. If I hadn’t been—” The dormouse twitched. “We have to help them!”

Doctor Colby rubbed Dover’s back.

“We will,” Advance promised, looking to the rest of his staff. “Right! How do we rescue the bats without getting pulled in ourselves?”

“First, we must know which distortion they are caught in,” Ayla said. “Not all of them are the same intensity. If we are lucky, they got caught in a weaker one.”

“They gave me the coordinates,” Dover said.

Jinx said, “We could ‘float’ undetonated torpedoes into the distortion … program them to detonate when they’re behind the bats. They’ll get some bumps and bruises, especially with no shields, but the shockwave should push their ship several thousand meters closer to the entrance. Temporarily. We’ll only have a few minutes before the gravity pulls them back in again.”

“A tight window. We’ll only have one chance to get it right,” Wasilla said, the chipmunk’s stripey tail fluttering to attention.

“I would not recommend flying into a gravimetric distortion, even with Solstice’s engine power,” Vik said.

“Don’t forget, Ensign. We also have your piloting skills,” Advance said.

The snow rabbit bowed his head. “I am flattered by your confidence, sir. But our size makes us less nimble. Also, when we use our tractor beam to pull the bats out, their ‘gravity’ will be pulling back at us. It will result in a net power loss. It may hinder us enough to pull us in with them. The warp field will not form in a distortion. We can rely on thrusters and impulse only.”

“Can we compensate?”

Chief Antioch, speaking for the first time, nodded. “We’d planned on sending out probes, as you know. To map the distortions. We’ve been reinforcing their hulls and shielding to handle extra pressures. We also equipped them with tractor emitters.”

“Fortuitous,” Ayla said.

“They aren’t as powerful as our shipboard emitter, obviously. They were meant to move simple debris. With gravity pulling things every which way, we didn’t want them to get blasted by a wayward space rock.”

“How many probes are we talking about?”

“Fourteen.”

“Can we send them into the distortion to collectively pull up the bats … close enough to get in safe range of our tractor beam?”

“Theoretically, yes. But they weren’t designed for that. Some of them will blow. And if we lose enough, well … we lose the bats. Unless you want to risk Solstice going into the distortion, which would lessen the distance the probes would need to pull.”

Advance sighed. They had to rescue the bats. No question about that. But if they failed to save them and got themselves all killed in the process? There was no moral victory in that.

At the Academy, they’d always stressed: A Captain’s first duty is to their ship.

The kangaroo rat decided, “We’ll play it by instinct. But I want this ready in an hour.”

“It might take longer than that to get all the probes ready for launch. But I’ll do what I can,” Antioch promised.

“Great. Good job, everyone.” Advance sat up straighter. “Dismissed.”

The crew filtered out of the room.

“Dover?” Advance said, remaining seated.

Doctor Colby stopped the dormouse and turned him around, nudging him toward the Captain. The red panda mouthed ‘go get ‘em, dad!’ to the kangaroo rat before ducking out of the room.

Ooh, Colby was asking for it, now! He’d make her say daddy to his—

“Sir? I, uh … I can come back?” Dover said, seeing the look on the Captain’s face.

“No, it’s fine, Ensign. She’s been that way since I met her.”

“The Doctor? What way?”

“A certified cheek.” The kangaroo rat grinned. “But I love her anyway.” He took a breath. “Which is what I wanted to talk to you about! I’ll make it brief, given our situation.”

“I don’t love Doctor Colby, sir. I promise!” the dormouse said in a panic.

“Heh. No, no. It’ about Lieutenant Kiana.”

“W-what … what about her, sir?”

“Sit down, Dover,” Advance said, using his big, bare foot-paws to kick a chair out from under the table. “I don’t bite.”

The cherubic dormouse sat in it, paws on his lap.

“We’ve—the crew—have noticed how she ‘dotes’ on you. Surely, you’re aware of it?”

“She’s just very polite. A very … very nice person.”

“You’re not that naïve.” A gentle pause. “Are you?”

Dover shook his head, looking down as he mumbled, “No, sir.”

“I’ve seen the way you look at her, too. If you want my permission, which you never needed, you’ve got it.”

“It’s not about permission … ”

“Then what’s it about?”

The dormouse looked up, taking a deep breath. His whiskers twitched as he said, “My dreams are so intense. As a dormouse. It’s hard for other species to understand. It’s just … and, yes I’ve … I have dreamed about her. About that. I admit it.” He shook his head, cheeks hot. “But there’s just no way reality can live up to the dream.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I’m different in my dreams.”

“She’s not real in there, Ensign. And neither are you. Those are just … fragments of yourselves.”

“Sometimes, I like my dream self better.”

“Putting yourself out there in the ‘real world’ can be … daunting. It’s an act of vulnerability, even faith. It’s a risk,” Advance said frankly. “But the most important thing we can do in life is to connect. To people, ideas, emotions … and when someone comes along who provides all those things?” He paused, saying, “You have to try.”

Dover bit his lip, mulling this over.

“Besides, I’ve known rabbits. All sorts. Snow rabbits included. Don’t string them along, or they’ll hop to someone else.” A pause. “Actually, I’m sure that could apply to any species, but … I wanted to get the ‘hop’ analogy in there. I’m still getting used to being ship dad, ha, ha.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” the kangaroo rat said quickly. He cleared his throat. “Just know that when people care about you, it’s okay to let them in. Even if things don’t go as perfectly as in your dreams. Everything worthwhile is a risk.”

Flustered that is commanding officer should care so much about his well-being, Dover said, “You’re a good Captain, sir."

Advance stood up and beamed. “Like I said earlier: I’m always here for my crew.” He bounced on his big foot-paws. “Now, let’s go find some bats!”

An hour later.

Solstice had arrived at the coordinates Dover had given Noorvik.

“The probes are in position,” Antioch said from engineering. “I’d guess we can lose … four, maybe five before the overall strength of the group fractures for good?”

“Jinx,” Advance said, seated in his Captain’s chair. “Torpedoes?”

“Ready to deploy.”

“Can we get a visual of the ship?” Wasilla asked, from the Commander’s chair to Advance’s right. She tapped at some buttons on her armrest.

“Onscreen,” the skunk said.

The vessel, drifting aimlessly and sliding deeper into the crushing waves of gravity, looked positively homely compared to the fiercely ornate angles of Syndicate wingships.

“Lifesigns? Are they still with us?” Advance asked.

“The distortion is scattering our sensors. Getting a lot of ghost readings. It’s impossible to say.”

“Then let’s not waste any more time. Jinx. Deploy torpedoes,” Advance ordered.

“Aye.”

Solstice released the torpedo casings without ‘firing’ them, sending them into the distortion.

“They’ll be in position in five minutes.”

“Antioch, launch the probes.”

Dover, keeping out of the way, followed the action from the back of the bridge, near Lieutenant Ayla’s science station.

Ayla announced, “When we detonate the torpedoes, in addition to the ‘shockwave’ pushing the bats toward us, we should be prepared to be hit with choppiness ourselves.”

“Noted,” said Noorvik from the helm.

“Launching probe number one. Number two. Three, four,” Antioch said over comms, counting each one.

Kiana, also on comms from engineering, added, “Receiving telemetry from all probes. Aligning them for entry into the distortion.”

“Ease us right up to the edge, Vik,” Advance told the pilot. “Don’t be strangers with it. Muzzle to muzzle. Full reverse thrusters to fight the gravitational pull.”

“Aye, sir,” the snow rabbit confirmed.

Solstice began to shake from the turbulence.

“Structural integrity grid is holding,” Jinx said. “Should I raise shields?”

“No. We need that energy for engines,” Advance said, gripping the armrests of his chair.

A minute passed.

And another.

And, finally, the torpedoes were in place.

“We have to detonate them in the next thirty seconds to get maximum result,” Jinx said.

“Do it.”

“Detonating torpedoes.”

The inside of the distortion rippled, lit up by a cascading ‘fireball’ of exploding energy.

“The bat ship is being hit by the shockwave. They’re taking a beating, but it’s working. They’re being carried closer to us! Closer to the edge of the distortion. Within range of the probes.”

“Antioch. Now.”

From engineering, the marmot confirmed, “Probes locking on with tractor beams. Attempting to pull the ship clear of the distortion.”

An alarm sounded.

Kiana announced, “Overload in Probe Ten. It is—”

A small explosion on the viewer.

“We see it, Lieutenant,” said Wasilla.

“Probe Eight is now approaching overload.”

Another miniature blast.

“How close is the bat ship to the edge? Can we snag it with our beam yet?” Advance asked.

“We need another thirty seconds.”

The kangaroo rat blew out a breath, leaving his chair and hopping to the helm. “Vik, can you get us any closer?”

“Not without being pulled in ourselves, sir.”

“Probe Two is losing containment,” Kiana said.

A small, fiery ‘boom!’

“Fifteen seconds.”

“We can only lose one more before momentum is neutralized,” Ayla warned.

“Come on, come on,” Advance whispered.

“Ten seconds.”

Wasilla blew out a breath.

“Five, four, three—”

“Probe Eleven has ceased to function,” Kiana said.

Simultaneously, it exploded on screen.

“Momentum has stopped. They’re … they’re two seconds from the edge of the distortion, sir,” Ayla said, voice registering her disappointment at not succeeding.

“Can our tractor beam reach it?”

“I’m trying,” Jinx said, activating the beam. A blue, shimmering spotlight. He sighed with frustration. “I can’t get a lock! The distortion is having a scattering effect.”

“Why aren’t the beams from the probes being scattered?” Wasilla asked.

Ayla answered, “They were specifically tailored to be inside the distortion. Plus, they’re right on top of the target. Less distance to miss.”

“They’re so close!” Wasilla lamented, of the bats.

“Jinx, can we do the torpedo trick again?” Advance asked.

“They have no shields, and their structural integrity is pretty shaky after the first round. They could suffer a hull breach if we try it again.”

“Could,” Advance said. “Dover says they’re sealed in the cargo bay. A breach could happen elsewhere on the ship and they’d be fine.”

“But we can’t control where a breach forms, sir. It’d be a huge gamble.”

The kangaroo rat nodded, twitching with frustration. “Options?”

Kiana announced over comms, “The remaining probes have ceased movement and are holding position. This is producing less strain, but we are still bound to lose another in the next five minutes. If that happens, the ship will begin to slide deeper.”

“Shuttle-pods,” said Dover.

Advance turned and looked to the dormouse, who was still next to Ayla.

The dormouse, all eyes on him, stammered as he suggested, “We … our shuttle-pods have tractor beams, too. They’re not as strong as Solstice’s, but … but the range is similar. Right? Maybe we can’t lock onto them by ourselves. But, as a group, the odds go up, and we could—”

“Advance to shuttlebay!”

Three minutes later, four of Solstice’s six shuttle-pods had been launched (there wasn’t time to find pilots for the other two), approaching the very edge of the distortion.

“They’re awfully close,” Wasilla worried. “Make sure they don’t accidentally get pulled in.”

“They know what they’re doing,” Advance assured.

“Probe One is beginning to fluctuate,” Kiana warned.

“Everyone’s beams on the bats. Now!” Advance ordered.

“We’re still missing them,” Jinx said with barely-controlled frustration.

“Shuttle-Pod One is a miss … Two is a miss … Three—”

“Three has made contact!” Antioch shouted over comms.

“Let’s help them out, Jinx.”

“Locking our tractor beam on Shuttle-pod Three.”

“Full reverse,” Noorvik said, fingers flying over the helm panel.

Solstice pulled the shuttle, which in turn pulled the bat ship, which was still being pulled by the probes. All playing tug of war with the gravity of the distortion.

Antioch said, “Three’s engines are starting to overheat.”

“How much longer?” Wasilla asked.

“They are almost clear,” Ayla said. “In three, two—”

“They’re out! We got ‘em!”

Advance sighed, looked to the ceiling, and grinned. “Let’s pull them a little further from the edge, just to be safe.”

“Aye.”

“Lifesigns?” Wasilla asked.

“Lots. Some sporadic. They may be running out of power.”

“Then we better hurry! This isn’t over yet.”

“Have the shuttle-pods return to the bay once we’re stopped and launch pods five and six with an initial engineering and medical team. Send additional pods back as needed.” Advance looked Dover’s way. “I want you on one of those pods.”

“Me? Sir?” the dormouse asked.

“You’re our point of contact with these folks. You should be there,” the Captain reasoned.

Dover nodded and went to the rear lift.

As it whisked him to the shuttlebay, he remembered, earlier today, telling Kiana how he never left the ship. How he never did anything exciting.

Careful what you wish for!

“We’ll need to stay in EV suits until we get life support working on the rest of the ship. You said the cargo bay was independent from the rest of their power grid?” Antioch asked Dover. The marmot secured the gloves on his suit and snapped on his helmet.

“Um, yes … yes, sir,” Dover stammered, fitting his ropy, furred tail into the heavy-duty thermal tail sock at the back of his suit.

“Kiana, take the Ensign to the bay with Doctor Colby and Nurse Parma. Shore up power there while the others help the survivors. I’ll split the rest of the team between the bridge and engineering. We’ll have this ship back online in an hour.”

“An hour, sir?” Kiana echoed. That seemed ambitious.

“Sometimes, you gotta call your shot, Lieutenant,” the marmot said with a smile.

“Aye, sir,” said the snow rabbit, putting on her helmet. The top of hers was elongated at the top to make room for her ears.

Shuttle-pod five shuddered to a halt as it connected to one of the bat ship’s docking ports.

A green light appeared at the helm, and the pilot gave Antioch a nod.

“Alright, team,” the marmot said, opening the hatch. “Let’s go.”

The walk to the cargo hold was the same as in Dover’s dreams. A long, narrow corridor lined with entryways (presumably to private quarters).

Dark.

Lights flickering.

Scary shadows, dancing to sounds of damage and decay. Sparking circuits. Hissing air vents.

Only, there was no ‘light’ behind the door at the end of the path.

Just grey.

And stillness.

Dover began to shake as he approached the door.

Kiana, seeing his distress, opened a private comm channel to his helmet and said, “You will be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Is this … is this real?” he asked her, wondering if he was losing his sanity. “Do you see this?”

“Yes. Now, take a breath.”

He did so.

“Let it out. Slowly.”

The dormouse exhaled.

“Repeat,” she instructed.

Dover did this a few times.

Hey, it actually works?

He felt calmer.

Their boot-steps echoed in the space as they came to the door, stopping, scanning it. It was sealed from the inside.

Kiana used a portable emitter to set up a forcefield behind them, which would extend the air bubble from the bay into the hall while also stopping it from leaking out into the rest of the ship.

Making her comms public again, Kiana said, “Do you feel them, Dover?”

“Yes … yes, I do,” he said.

“Tell them we are here to help. Have them open the door.” They could force it open from out here, but that would take additional time.

Dover closed his eyes.

Pink.

Blue.

Combining into purple in his head as the bats telepathic powers swirled together in his mind.

Dover began to realize how intimate this experience was. These bats had been in his dreams. His subconscious. And now they were in his conscious mind?

If you can be this close to them, maybe you can be close to other people, too?

Doctor Colby and Nurse Parama readied their medkits.

An alarm sounded and the door began to part. It was thick and clunky. And slow. Air whooshed out and filled the hallway, the forcefield shimmering as it was struck by the invisible molecules.

And Dover saw them for the first time.

The bats.

They weren’t as scary as their Syndicate reputations.

They’re not Syndicate, remember?

All the same, how could anyone not trust faces like these?

They were like winged mice. Colorful angel critters. Dover almost couldn’t believe they were real! They began to chitter and cheer, releasing celebratory echo-bursts, radiating telepathic ripples of thankfulness.

He could feel it.

A wave of warm goodwill washing over him like a welcome tsunami.

He could feel them.

Dover smiled, removing his helmet.

Colby, removing hers, too (wishing she could take off the whole suit; wearing one of these with a red panda tail was not comfortable; the tail sock wasn’t nearly long or big enough! But patients took priority), raised her paws and said, “I’m a doctor! Are any of you injured?”

There were, indeed, many. The blast from the torpedoes had resulted in broken wing-struts, concussions, etc. A few bleeders.

“Parma, take care of that one, I’ll get this one. Colby to Solstice.”

“Go ahead,” Advance answered.

“We could use a second medical team.”

“Acknowledged.”

While Kiana asked the bats where the cargo bay’s power control systems were (those would need to be shored up; and she could help Antioch coordinate a ship-wide repowering from here), a pink bat came up to Dover.

“You’re the one who saved us!” she said.

“I … well, I had a little help,” the dormouse deferred, without denying the claim.

Two bat pups, one blue and one pink, ran up and hugged his legs with their wing-arms.

Dover melted a bit.

Other bats began to filter to the scene, and he was soon swept up in a chittering, wing-flapping mob. Fangs flashing as they got a good look at him. They’d been in his head already! It was like a long-lost friend had returned.

“Thank you, thank you!”

“I’ve never met a dormouse before!”

“Isn’t he cute?”

“Thank you so much!”

“I hear their tails have fur! Take off the suit so we can see!”

“We had all but lost hope when we sensed you! It took all of us combined to reach out,” the original bat said. “We’re very sorry we had to forcibly invade your personal space like that. Particularly your dreams. We know we put your life at risk. We do not condone such actions. It is why we are breaking from the Syndicate, but—”

“It’s okay,” Dover said, dimples on his smiling cheeks. He patted the pups on the head, looking around to the grateful survivors. “It was for a good cause.”

By the end of the day, the dissident ship was up and running again (contrary to Antioch’s boast, it had taken three hours to fix; once ready, the bats took a clear path out of the system).

After they’d gone, Solstice re-launched its probes to finish fully mapping the distortions, dropping warning buoys across the system so an incident like this wouldn’t happen again.

Kiana, only working a single shift today, invited Dover to her quarters for a ‘celebratory’ dinner.

The dormouse had a good idea what that might entail.

(He turned out to be right.)

After their meal, Kiana stood and gave him an unmistakably erotic stare (she was still hungry) and made a show of removing her uniform shirt.

And pants.

And everything else, too.

Dover marveled at the sight, eyes dilating. “Gosh … ”

She felt mirth at his ‘innocent’ reaction. It was one of the things she found so appealing about him. His ‘virtue.’ However, she had something very unvirtuous planned for dessert.

Naked, she turned and ‘sashayed’ toward the bedroom, bobtail flickering like a black-tipped flame above her shapely, snowy rump.

Dover watched with rapt attention.

She paused and did a half-turn. “Are you not going to reciprocate?”

The dormouse tried to answer, but the words wouldn’t come out.

“You knew this would happen, Dover. It is why I invited you. And, I hope, why you came?” She paused and amended, slyly, “Why you will come.”

If he hadn’t already been getting erect, that line would’ve sealed it.

The dormouse had known, of course.

Or at least hoped.

But for as many times as he’d fantasied and dreamed about this moment? Now that it was actually here?

I feel so—

“This is not something you think about,” she said, pulling him out of his head. “It is something you do.”

She held out a paw.

Dover stood. Swallowed and nodded. Went to her.

And took it.

Captain’s Quarters. On the other side of the deck.

Stars twinkled outside the window like ancient, ever-burning beacons in a dark, velvet void.

And inside?

The red panda gave a loud ‘waahhhhhhh!’

Advance huffed, pointy head tilting back in pleasure. Hazy, slack-jawed expression. On his knees in bed behind her (Colby on all fours), he wore her colorful ringtail around his shoulders like a private scarf.

“God, you’re so noisy,” he said, looking back down at her naked body.

“You … you know you love it,” she panted, rocked forward by his thrusts.

A smirk, not denying it. He wouldn’t have had her personally assigned to his ship if he didn’t enjoy her ‘quirks.’ He was a High Command Captain! He could (and did) get just about anyone.

Yet he kept coming back to her.

And she to him.

They weren’t in romantic love.

At all.

They were just so comfortable with each other.

They could be themselves.

No airs.

Advance slowed his pace (to an actual stop) and asked, “So, who’s your daddy, pandy?” His fluff-tipped tail gave a lazy whip. “Hmm?”

She fought a giggle. “No. I’m not saying it.”

“You started all this.”

“Which I now regret!”

“Come on. Just answer the question.” The rodent slowly withdrew his glistening, dripping cock from her hot, snug vagina. He left in the tip. “Say it, or I’ll pull out.”

It was a bluff, of course. He wasn’t about to blue ball himself.

“Colbs … say it,” Advance teased, scratching her back.

“Fine. Y-y … you are.” She huffed, her need outweighing her pride. “You’re my daddy, Advance.”

“Good girl,” the dominant mouse cooed, reaching beneath her to tease her clit. “Now. Does mommy wanna cum?”

“Yes, yes … please! Hurry up! I was close.”

“How close?”

“Plleeeaase!”

“Mmm, well, since you begged so nicely.”

Stuffing himself back inside her, Advance began to drill her. And he wasn’t going to stop this time. For anything.

Colby’s eyes screwed shut, and she cried out, “Ah, ah … wa—”

“Ah … ah, ahh,” Kiana panted.

The civilized rabbit (having just ridden the dormouse to mutual climax) had been reduced to a messy, feral state. Saliva drooling down her chin and the overflow of Dover’s thick, white seed seeping out of her pussy when she dismounted.

It trickled down her thighs (not to mention his loins) and to the sheets as she flopped down beside him.

Cleanup would be required.

Later.

For now, Kiana decided, “That was delightful.”

“Uh-huh,” the dormouse agreed, practically vibrating. Glowing, too, probably!

Wow.

“Cuddle with me?” she asked.

The dormouse eagerly did so (with a happy shiver). Rolling to face her. Side by side, cheek to cheek. Their noses touched and whiskers brushed, sharing a silent language of delicate nuzzles and tender, little touches.

“Kiana … ”

“Yes, Dover?”

“I … I think I wanna tell you something.”

“You think?”

“I do want to tell you. I know I do.” He collected himself. “I’ve dreamed about whispering it in your ear, and—”

“This is very much real,” she breathed softly. “You understand that?”

“Yes. Of course. That … but that makes it harder to say.”

“After what we just did, there is nothing between us. No secrets. No hidden desires.” She gently kissed his cheek. “Do not be afraid.”

He whispered in her tall ear, voice trembling, “I … I love you.” Pulling back, he looked into her blue eyes. “Kiana, I’ve loved you for—” He faltered, hiding his face against her neck. “Some nights, you’re all I dream about, and … gosh, I hope that doesn’t sound creepy?”

“Hush.” She put a paw on his chest, over his heart. “I love you, too.”

“Are you sure?”

The snow rabbit reached for his chin, tilting it so their muzzles could meet in a smoldering, intimate lip-kiss. After pulling back, she asked, “Does that answer your question?”

The dormouse beamed. “Oh. Well, heh, it’s still a little hazy? Maybe—”

Another kiss.

And another!

Deeper and deeper, each one more convincing than the last.

The newly-minted lovers soon making out, writhing on the sheets.

A prelude to another round of passion that would spawn many more dreams.