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"Boys! Gods, boys! W-Wait...!" Adrian stumbled over his own toes as he sprinted forward, requiring almost twice as many strides to cover the same distance as his larger sons. "Ouch. I'm out."

Phoebe reversed time on himself to fall in place with his fallen father and offer a paw. "C'mon, dad. A little exercise isn't a bad thing."

"It is when you're a runt." Dee took that paw and pulled himself to his hindpaws. "Thanks."

"Well you're not a runt, just a 'normal' otter. No complaining, Adri." Iolvin chuckled as he turned around and nudged his snout toward the others. "Em, think you can still rewind as far as your brother?"

"I don't have Jeeves helping, but I can try." The otter went transparent for a moment, then backtracked through his progression to just slightly ahead of his brother's exit point. "Damn. I got close."

"That's about ten seconds worth. You're getting better." Rose walked over to give each of her husbands a kiss on the cheek. "I'm proud of you two."

"Stealing my lines ~and~ my boys. You're a hell of a woman." Yoyo found a nearby crate and sat atop it for a breather. "It's good for them to have a motivation like you in their lives, Rose. We should probably take a break before we cramp up though."

"Are you getting tired too? Damn, I thought ~I~ used to be the weakest runner." Rose playfully hopped into her father-inLaw's lap and leaned back into his chest. "I guess we ~can~ take a breather if I've got such a ~comfy chair~."

"See, that's what I think I like about you. You've got more balls than I think I did when I was your age."

Rose giggled at the compliment. "My super-secret age is in the triple digits, dad."

"I think we're past literal age when my boys aren't even a year old." Dee walked over and gave both his daughter-inLaw and husband a quick kiss. "You two look cute as hell like this, though."

Yoyo cooed and returned the kiss. "I might prefer a title that's a bit more adult, honestly."

"Dad... We talked about that." Pho gave his wife a deeper kiss below her breathing mask, which his twin brother soon duplicated. "You know she's not used to all of our ways. ~We~ barely are. That's part of why we started our own tribe."

"Yeah, she'll only share herself if and when she's up for it." Em lifted Rose and placed her on her feet so he could better hug her. "So until then... How about we go for another few laps? Clear our heads a little?"

"You know... I've been thinking about it." Rose broke out of the embrace and nodded as she confirmed the direction they would run. "It's been a long week, and I'm... uncertain how I feel. I just know that I want our tribes to mix well, for each of your sakes."

Yoyo grinned and perked up. "So there's yet hope of us still bumping ends?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure. That's... part of being the chieftains' wife though... Let me think about it." Rose started jogging ahead of the boys, but quickly slowed to a halt when she bumped into Buck and Fleur. "Oh! Sorry, guys!"

Buck cleared to the side and offered the path. "It's alright, ah... Flower Power. Here you are."

"Bouk, please... If you do not remembelr 'er name it iz oukay." Fleur bopped her man and roped him closer, hugging his blue-painted shoulder. "He 'as a lout on 'is mind already. Bouk was given ze blessings. See?"

Rose nodded as she passed, yet still held off on her run for the moment. "I sure do. He didn't decide to dress the part?"

"Them there rags an' my big ol' ass don't play nice together. Not to say I didn't try it on a while..." Buck straightened his posture as he masked his mild embarrassment. "I just changed out of it's all."

"And I made 'im ~pay~ for it. Mon chevalier looked so handsoume in ze wraps... but also ~out~ of zhem..."

"Ah, I think I get the bigger picture now." Rose beckoned to the boys and they finally started moving. "Congratulations, Buck."

Pho gave the moose a slap on the back as he passed. "Yeah, welcome to the tribal life, Buck."

"Always fun to bring more to the party. Congrats, man." Em followed his brother and brought up the rear of the jogging group. "We'll just be a bit longer if you wanna grab a bite after this."

"That sounds good, guys." Buck watched the three run away, then shouted as he remembered something. "Sorry, Rose!"

The Yangurra spun around and waved off the infraction. "Think nothing of it, big guy!"

Phoebe nudged his snout in the direction they were moving. "Hey Rose, heads up..."

"Huh--?" To the snickering of the twins Rose bumped into Viola as she purposefully blocked the group's path. "Vi? Sorry, honey. Just being uncharacteristically clumsy today."

"Actually, I believe that was our fault. I had a bit of a conflict with my priestess." Siamun made his control known through the flamboyant gesticulation of his speech with his paws. "Might I command your mates for a while in training? We missed our chance earlier due to... female issues."

"I bet you wish that wasn't part of the package, huh?" Themis slowed behind his brother and addressed the African wild dog. "If Vi's feeling good enough for it, I'm down. What about you guys?"

"You already know my answer." Pho took a breath to settle his rising heart rate while they decided. "Rose, you mind? We can do some defense training while you run if you don't want to just sit around."

"No, I'm staying right here." Rose placed a hand on Viola's shoulder as she diverted the group to the next bulkhead with the training equipment. "I don't really understand mammals and their heats, Vi, but--no offense--I don't trust what I don't know."

"Acting the mate. I get it." Viola surfaced and more gently consoled the alien. "We're just doing some basics so they don't get rusty. I think I can hold off my urges for half an hour at least."

"At least you're more level-headed in heat than some of my friends back home. Okay." Rose lifted her face mask and gave each of her mates a kiss. "I'll trust my mates here. And as a reward for keeping loyal... I'll be taking a long shower in about half an hour and I won't mind getting a little ~dirty~ before I get clean..."

Em reseated his wife's mask carefully. "Damn. Sexy as ever."

"We'll definitely take you up on that, Rosey." Pho caressed his wife's jaw before he parted ways. "Alright, Siamun. Dodging or dancing?"

Siamun took over Vi's body once more and pranced into the next area. "Dancing sounds good for today. You've been skimping on your acrobatics..."

"Looks like repairs are going well here too. Oh, we're not alone?" Ilaria walked by the three in passing through cargo holds and tailed by Carbon and Sydney. "They're leaving you all alone? Poor thing."

"Oh, not at all. When I get to be double-stuffed afterward it isn't--" Rose shut her mouth and flushed dark green as she heard her own words. "I mean... It'll be worth it."

"No need to be embarrassed, hon. Sex is an open topic in this family, and especially so since you're a tribe elder."

"Yeah, you'll get used to it. It's fun if you embrace it." Carbon smiled when she saw the others in the room, leading her to almost present Sydney dead and center. "Speaking of sex, sort of... Would you like the honors, dear?"

"S-Sure, darling..." Cid took a few breaths to settle herself down, then took another moment to distract herself with straightening her sirat. "I'm pregnant."

"Wow! Good for you, ladies." Iolvin hopped onto his hindpaws and nearly tackled the meerkat with a towering hug. "Always nice to see the family grow. I like the sirat, by the way."

"Yeah, it's... well, now that I know you're a woman I think... uh..." Adrian swallowed his words and tried again with a cheerful demeanor. "You look nice. Cute, even."

"The C word..." Sydney groaned a bit, but suppressed her odd mix of embarrassment and negativity in favor of the news. "Anyway... We lost contact with Cait a few hours before we were married and Ellie confirmed it a few minutes ago."

"We're making the rounds with the good news--at least, for those that know Sydney's a girl anyway."

"Actually, Carbon... I don't mind." Cid smiled as she looked down at her exposed tummy. "It's about time I stopped that façade. We're going to new worlds with new ideals..."

Ari interjected, "And you're in a tribe that values women very, very fully."

"Yeah. I don't have a reason to hide myself other than petty, selfish ones." Sydney stood tall, hoping it would help her figure actually look womanly. "I want our little kittens to know me for who I am. That and I don't want this idiot taking all the glory when I pop the next one out."

"Sorry about that, meerkitten."

"It's fine. I still love you, otter... especially for suffering my screaming and clawing like a champ."

Ari grinned as she turned away and continued into the next bulkhead in a blatantly awkward manner. "You missed Yoyo trying to ~skitter away~ when he heard your yelling."

"Hey, I've heard when women are giving birth they can just chew your arm right off." Yoyo held up his false arm in jest and chuckled until he noticed his twin sister's mood soured and she gained a scowl. "Lulu? You alright? I was just joking. I didn't mean your arm or anything."

"That's not it. Fucking... Damnit , girls!" Ari grit her teeth and stomped into the dark of the connected, damaged bulkhead. In moments she pulled Ceylon into the light by his 'ears'. "Yoyo, you have a phone or something? Get my fucking girls here."

"Uh... Sure, but..." Yoyo pulled out his phone and typed out a message. "So... Hey, Earl Grey. Deciding to stow away?"

«That is not my intent, no, but--»

A portal opened and the girls poked their heads through, only to have their mother yank them out by their tiny ears. "Girls, what did I say!? We don't just take people with us like they belong to us! We aren't slavers, for fuck's sake!"

<Wait, what!?>

«Quiet, please!» Ceylon stood on his hind legs and stretched out his other four limbs. «Do not blame your children, Ilaria. I chose this path myself. I have no home and no family... but all of you still cared for me. And personally, you saved my life. I owe you a debt, Ilaria.» Once the room had gone silent the Versa fell to his hands and bowed his head. «My supplies ran out a short while ago. I did not expect this voyage to last quite so long. My plan was to inform you of my presence at our new destination, but...»

Michelle broke out of her mother's grasp and ran to Ceylon's side. <We couldn't let him starve, mom. He wished to stay hidden and we could make food with our nanite foundry, so... We helped someone in need like you taught us.>

Yoyo walked over and pat his niece between the ears. "You did good, Michey."

<He isn't hurting anything, mom.> Mikhaila joined her sister and hugged Ceylon's arm. <Please don't be mad at him.>

Ari slumped to the ground, crossing her legs as she sat in defeat. <We can't exactly toss him out the airlock. He doesn't belong here either, though. Girls... he's a bit large for space travel. He'd be better off if he stayed home.>

"Lulu, you're not getting it. He came on his own. He's stuck with us." Yoyo gave the alien a hard pat and a rub on his side. "But she's right. You can't possibly be comfortable living down here."

<We thought... maybe if we practiced enough, we could open a big enough portal...>

Chelle Linked with her sister and helped her with her wording. <We wanted to move Ceylon to our barge and take care of him there. One of the construction bays would make a great bedroom, and the whole ship has huge corridors. We just didn't want to disrespect his wish to stay hidden.>

Carbon walked over and pulled the girls into a hug. <Good thing I came in a large shuttle, then.>

<You know what this means, girls? You'll be responsible for his safety and wellbeing.> Ari offered her paws and her girls ran over to hug her as well. <That's the burden of being captains. Everyone relies on you. Are you ready for that?>

The twins silently nodded for their mother.

<Then make me proud.> Ari nodded respectfully for the stowaway. "Ceylon, it's good to have you here. I have nothing against you but it isn't alright to live on my ship, not for my crew's safety or your health. Do you understand?"

«Yes. My actions were brash and for that I deeply apologize. I do not care to endanger your vessel or crew.»

"That's all I have to hear. I trust you after our little adventure." Ari gave her kids another hug and slowly stood. <Girls, make Ceylon a priority. Carbon will transport him when she's done here. Please get your guest's quarters prepared before then.>

<Yeah.>

<Sure, mom.>

«You have my gratitude in addition to my servitude, Ilaria. I will protect your spawn until further notice.»

Ilaria sighed as she contemplated those words. "You don't owe me anything, Ceylon."

«Nonsense. I owe you my life, or the rest of my time I now may spend living it at least.» Ceylon watched in amazement as the girls ported out of the cargo hold of one ship and into the other. «Until I repay that debt, I'll watch over you and your great family. I'll give my own borrowed life if I must.»

"Great, just what I need..."

Iolvin burst out laughing as he slapped his sister on the back. "Ha! The curse has passed from me to you! I'm finally free!"

Ilaria held her paw to her face. "Gods damnit."

---

"Damn... I think that ~might~ be potatoes?" Phoebe tapped his spork against Rose's tray. "I think you're okay with that, right? You eat roots?"

"Tubers..." Rose shoved her tray away and groaned in dissatisfaction. "No, I don't eat the fleshy bits; I like grains and fruits though."

"Sorry, Rosey. I had them backwards there."

Buck munched on a wad of meat from his own stew as he commented, "You know... it's technically not a potato. It's not much o' anything, really."

"He has a point there, Rosey. At least we know what to expect after a month of floating around the black." Themis tried his own beef-ish stew and gave into the temptation despite his wife watching. "It's pretty good compared to most stuff out of the printer. If you ever wanted to have a taste without guilt... well..."

"I'm not sure..." Rose checked the opposite end of the table and spied her 'evil' twin prodding her own food ponderously. "Maybe... just a taste."

"Oui? Zhiz I 'ave to see." Fleur set down her tray of food and let it cool while she locked eyes on Rose's plate. "Expeeree... Experimenting iz good for ze soul, Rose. Maybe not ze body..."

"Well I've always wondered... I mean, it's not like I can't eat vegetables..." Rose brought her spork to her mouth, then gagged with her split jaw stretched wide open at the taste. "That's awful!"

"I guess the taste reaction is mentally conditioned or something." Pho rubbed his wife's back soothingly as Em cleaned her mouth. "It's okay, Rosey. You have every right to argue against it."

"I'll go see if Jannie cooked a more ~carnivorous~ option today." Em stood and headed for the serving counter, pleasantly bumping into a bulging Cid and a conga line of children. "Oh, still on babysitting duty, Sydney? Need a paw?"

"Nah. I'm licensed to handle volatile ordinance, so I'm good here." Cid snickered as she reached the counter. "So what does everyone want?"

"For you to sit down, you crazy preggers woman. I'll get the pups their food if you settle them down."

"Thanks, Themis. I hate to admit it, but my back ~is~ killing me." The meerkat found two empty tables and shoved them closer together before sitting. "Alright, kiddos. Fall in line. Tails on seats, now."

"Damn. You start early with the drill sergeant stuff." Rose joined the kids and helped the smaller ones onto the benches. "I'm sure Vasily would appreciate that. Apparently Ari and Yoyo had it strict."

"And they turned out amazing with the Volk's wisdom. Figure that might be good here too." Sydney gave Leannan a pat between the ears when she sat up straight. "Isn't that right, my good little girl?"

"Yeah!"

"What's that? Yeah who?"

Lea shook her head and smiled, knowing the military stuff was actually more of a game. "Yes ma'am."

"Thank you, Lea."

"You make a hell of a mother." Carmine tapped Sydney's shoulder in passing to get some food of his own. "Maybe more hell than mother, but still..."

"Car, no need to be rude." Ginivieve broke from her similar path and headed straight for the table next to Fleur. "Do something nice to make up for it. Get me a plate."

"Just a joke, Gin."

"I see how you do zhis, clevelr girl." Fleur cleared the area Gin now occupied and turned to sigh at Cid. "I ou-wish I was having ze... ze little one inside me... Ah, zhis word..."

Buck finished his meal and cleaned his face with a napkin, then focused on one-armHugging his love. "You wanna get knocked up? I'm more than happy to oblige, ma belle."

"He means 'get pregnant', Fleur." Elliot perked up from his corner full of medical notes long enough to correct Fleur's brutal English lesson before it became set in stone. "You two should be close enough genetically. I'd say give it a shot if you're really up for that."

"Oui. Bouk and I 'ave been trying."

"Yeah, no need to remind me." Car set down Gin's tray and then placed himself across from her with his own food. "If there's one thing I definitely have enough of in my life, it's cervine pawing material. Or 'clopping'. Whatever."

"Ze kettle calling ze pot black?" Fleur snaked her hand between Gin's thighs and smirked when it returned damper than the civet could justify. "Zhat shower you wanted was ~velry~ lonely, non?"

Gin shut her legs and instinctively scooted a bit away from the invasion of privacy. "Ah... I just needed to blow off some steam. I'm good at ninja shower shlicking."

"That ain't what... what I been smelling." Buck grabbed his head for a moment as he remembered to focus, his view inadvertently drooping to the massive bulge contained in his pants. "Ah, right. Now I know why my little soldier's been at attention. Smelled bunny bitch when you strut in here."

"Well don't expect me to take care of it. And don't call me a bitch... or a bunny, actually."

Fleur held back no reservations, dropping her dress pants and rolling down her frilly panties only to then sit in her man's lap. "I can offer a distraction, mon chevalier. Ze getting pregnant won't happen all alone..."

"Maybe not with the kids here?" Sydney specifically locked her gaze to the spice girls and Lea as they craned their necks to watch. "I know this tribe's got an open policy on sex and the ship's almost there as well, but they're still bloody young..."

Closer to an nine- or ten-yearOld in development now, Salt sat up straight and calmly reached into her pants to wrestle her own developing phallus. "But I wanna watch, miss Cid. Our mommies let us watch."

Sydney groaned in defeat. "Just be quiet and polite. If... If someone's having sex it's their moment and not yours. Never ruin that for them."

Ellie cooed, "Getting into the tribe spirit?"

"At least I'm in the tribe. You should think about it with the Ashes, too. It'd be nice for your bro--sister."

"Already did. My Ashe is going through a... self-discovery phase at the moment. Being the ship cum dump for too long does that to you, I can assume." Ellie gasped at Buck as he stood and unbuckled his pants, revealing his massive moose cock. "Speaking of being in things--are you crazy , Fleur? That guys's way too hung for you."

"He iz pelrfect. You'll see." The elk stood in turn and presented her rear to her moose. "Ravage me, Bouk. I want your foal."

The group watched in amazement as Fleur hissed in approval of being slowly and completely filled, but Pepper had a different take. "Em... is he h-hurting her?"

"Nah. It might hurt some, but it looks like Fleur wants it that way." Themis gave the the pup his tray of food and nudged him over to Cid's table. "Sometimes a little pain can be a good thing. Now go eat your lunch before it gets cold."

"Hey now. You obviously haven't had one ~that~ big in you before." Carmine nonchalantly started eating his stew, completely desensitized to the effects of the primal actions happening before him. "Adem wasn't quite so large, but unless I was in heat I sure as hell had that pain in the front of my mind."

Phoebe shrugged his paws upward at a revelation. "Oh, you go into heat? I guess we have pussies and we do... That never crossed my mind you worked the same."

"Yeah, pretty regularly. Well, it used to be anyway. Not sure how all of that works." Car took another spork of his stew and nearly catapulted it into the wall behind him as a very familiar and distinct Tongue slithered down the front of his pants beneath the cover of the table. "I-I haven't had it too badf-for a while though. Might've just gone ah~unnoticed with these two in my head so m-much."

"Wait, your plumbing works down there? You've never told me this." Ellie stood and walked over to the hare, starting an inspection but pausing to shoot Gin a knowing glance at the sight of her tail. "I've seen plenty of strange things from this crew, but none that had an on/off heat cycle. And it does look like you've gained some weight..."

"What... What are you saying? If you stop going into heat, do you get fat? ~Please~ tell me that's not why women are obsessed with their weight."

"The two aren't directly correlated, no no." Ellie smiled after confirming a lump in the hare's belly, then pointed to Sydney. "Not having a heat for a while usually does mean one thing though: you'll gain a lot of weight made out of pure happiness that thankfully you get to purge a while down the road."

"If only it were that simple, Ellie." Sydney rubbed the bulge of her own tummy and smiled back for the confused hare. "The goofball really means to say you're pregnant."

"Unconfirmed, but... it's likely a baby, yes yes." Ellie casually returned to his table and resumed his work. "Make sure to come by Medical later tonight. I'd like to confirm something happy and not a tumor or whatever."

"Y-Yeah..." Carmine looked down at his stomach ponderously. "Pregnant? Don't you need to have sex with a guy for that to happen?"

"I'm assuming you're sexually active of course, due to... ~reasons~." The otter settled back into his notes and waved off the question until later. "I don't care who the father is, just that you and the baby are healthy. I won't leak any info on who you've banged, if you're worried. Out of curiosity though, how long ago since you last noticed a heat?"

"Uh... Good question." Car counted to himself with his fingers, wincing back to verbal action when Tongue went back to work. "Oh! Um... maybe a bit before we reached that first planet, Yomi? Adem was making fun of me because--"

The whole room went quiet as glances were exchanged. Elliot finally spoke up absentmindedly with a comment as he flipped through some charts. "He's a good candidate then. Yoyo and DeeDee mentioned one of them spotting you going at it in a vent of something. Hell, they might have watched the kid's conception. We'll figure out the timing table later."

Again the room fell to relative silence, only broken by Fleur's cooing. "I want ze foals, Bouk. Gods damn, I need zhem now."

"'Bout to grant that wish, darlin'." The moose unbelievably slammed his hips flush with Fleur's and practically bellowed a throaty groan. "Oh!... I'm cummin', girl! Shi-it!"

Fleur collapsed forward onto the table, though Pho blinked himself forward to thoughtfully cushion her fall. "Ah... Zh-Zhank you, mon ami." She eased herself out of Pho's helping hold and felt with a hand as a river of white leaked down her legs and tummy. "Souch a messy lovelr..."

"An' mostly considerate. I'm guessin' if'n you let me fill you up yer also a loose sorta gal?" Buck pulled himself back until his tip barely came free even as it still pulsed, then raised his cock a bit and shoved half of his length into elk ass. "Don' even need lube. Ready fer round two, sugar? You look like you like to party in the backyard."

Fleur gasped wordlessly like a fish out of water, then as Pho started to get angry and take action she held him back. "B-Bouk...? Zhis 'urts..."

"Oh, first timer? Shit, an' I wanted to go fast. Jus' my luck I get the new girl today."

"Bouk... Non!" Fleur stiffened up as the entire remainder of Buck's manhood filled her virgin rear. "Bouk, who... who am I?"

"Never got yer name, sweetie. Sorry 'bout that." The moose twitched his neck a bit then leaned forward for better leverage. "Damn, I'm getting winded. Wanna... take a breather while we... get to know... each...?"

Buck suddenly collapsed atop Fleur, painfully driving her to both physical and mental anguish. "Bouk!? Somebody... help us!"

"Clear away!" Ellie rushed over and checked the moose, making sure he couldn't hurt himself by way of a pen in his mouth. "Just a seizure. Looks like it's light and... dying down, thank the gods. Uh... yes yes, doesn't seem like a stroke."

"A stroke!? Non, it cannot be so!"

Elliot verified his diagnosis, then reached and shoved so that Buck no longer invaded Fleur's ass. "It's alright. This sort of thing is expected. You don't get off the hook without issues when your hippocampus is damaged." The otter sighed at the mess left in the aftermath and offered his lab coat to cover Fleur. "Someone call in Ari's girls to move the big guy. I'll keep him under inspection for a few hours to make sure his epilepsy isn't getting worse."

"Zhan--" Fleur shook her head, forcing herself to generate a proper reply. "Thank you, d-doctor."

"Wait, Buck's got epilepsy?" Phoebe helped Elliot roll Buck onto his side to ride out the dwindling seizure. "When did this happen?"

"After... Well, after he kicked you out of that airlock." Ellie sighed and checked that his patient was breathing properly. "His hippocampus, medula oblongata... basically his whole brain stem took damage from the oxygen deprivation. He's doing pretty good all things considered, but the long term prognosis is..."

"That's why you want a child..." Rose started tearing up as she approached her friend. "Fleur, I'm so sorry..."

"Well shit. That's what I've been feeling then, that desperation." Carmine donned his head and shoved away his food, his appetite ruined by the event and the emotions passing through the room and himself in turn. "I won't complain. If that's your goal, have all the sex you want."

Rose shot the hare a gleaming, laser-focused stare. "Car! Timing, please?"

"Non... 'E iz correct." Fleur spun around and sat upright, numbly pulling her clothing back into place beneath the coat. "I know ze truzth. Bouk may be wizh me for decades, but also perhaps only years... monzhs... He wanted ze children, so while we still can..." The elk nodded respectfully to the hare. "Zhank you for ze suppourt."

"All we can do now is pray things get better. Might as well add in hope for a new family while we're at it." Ellie nodded to Themis as he finished typing on a wall panel to call the girls. "His seizure seems to be over. Let's get the big guy taken care of for now. I'm sure he's got a few more decades of willpower in him, especially with eternal love fueling it all."

"Thank you, doctor."

The intercom suddenly fizzled into life as the Starbreeze began a slow roll, soon followed by Ilaria's cheerful voice. "Attention sightseers. If you'll all look to the port side of the ship, you should see this system's star. The larger dot to the right and low is our destination, Vauxhaul. We're one small dive away, so be prepared... in the next few hours. No, go girls. Oh, uh..."

"Gods, she couldn't have picked a worse time." Ellie grimaced at the timetable he was now given to prepare Medical for emergencies, but smiled in relief when the twins walked through a portal as Ari clicked off the intercom. "Perfect. Can you two girls help me move this oaf? We need to be gentle with him."

The girls nodded as one signed a more complex answer. <Not our first ambulance job, especially for him.>

"What's that they said?"

Rose hesitated for a bit, then shook her head. "Something about doing this before."

"Oh? Don't like being my personal EMR team?" The girls shook their heads with smiles as they opened another portal to slide Buck onto a patient bed. "That's what I thought. Thank you, girls."

The two opened a portal for themselves and Ellie to use next, but Fleur stood with a hand held out. "Thank you."

Ellie shook his head and grabbed that hand with his paw. "Come on, Fleur. Might as well get that poor ass of yours checked out while we're at it before it gets worse."

"My... My derrière iz perlfect, zhank you."

Rose followed behind, making sure to catch as much white-hot love leaking from said backside as possible. "Don't get all high and mighty when you're sloppy as a tart in a back alley. Let's get you cleaned up so Buck has something nice and pretty to wake up to.--something that'll help you two make babies, hopefully."

"Oui, zhat plan iz good."

---

Literally everything in the Starbreeze fell to the ground, Ilaria included, as she preemptively landed out of a subspace drop. "Ah, shit! What the hell was that, Trick?"

"Keeping everyone on their toes." Alex unfastened her safety harness and hopped out of her pilot's seat. "The visuals didn't match up with the timing we estimated. I went on gut feeling to be safe and put the floor under us again. Not bad, eh?"

"You could have said something. I bent my tail."

"Well that's what you get for thinking those tethers of yours are all you need. Wear a harness, Ari." Alex checked out the front windows and smiled at her perfect landing into orbit. "This one's too good for even me. I think we're decaying slightly, but still..."

"Yeah... damn, that's good luck at the very least." Ari peered out at the massive planet below, taking in every detail of the ice giant until Trick rolled the ship's sensors to face it. "Let's try to scan what we can and maybe even tap the local comms networks. Rose One and Rose Two, that means you."

"Sure. I'll tackle data lines if my ~Number Two~ cares to do communications." Rose Prime placed a conductive vine on Carmine's station, as well as a hand on his soft paw. "Glad you're back to work, by the way. Could you...?"

The hare took a breath and then threw up an enlargement of his main screen. "Scanning for radio and optical signals already. It'll take a minute."

"Let me know what you find and we'll look for a way to sneak Carbon in there." Ari looked over to Carbon once her planetary view completely hid from sight. "Carbon, what's the social status here? Anything you can give us will help."

"Eve says Vauxhaul should be Sect owned. It's supposed to be a trade city or something." The hybrid played with her otter tail nervously in her paws. "She's not doing so good. I can't get anything else from her right now."

"Oh..." Ari walked over and stopped Carbon before she manually shed all the hair from her tail. "Take your time. They aren't expecting us, and Rose's intel says most planets won't have sensors that break atmo. We'll go at your pace."

"Actually, Ari... we have a potential issue." Adrian pulled up his science terminal on the main hologram for the Bridge to see. "They're powering something up on the surface. There's something huge and a lot of smaller points, but that's a ton of heat for an ice planet."

"Wait... That's from the main city..." Carbon found a nearby window and adjusted herself to barely see the spot as it rotated back into place. "Shut off the filters on this window. Oh, and... maybe shut your eyes, too."

Dee did as requested and soon the whole Bridge was squinting as the powerful fringe of the local star bled into the cabin. "Holy crap. You can see through that?"

"And it looks way better than this whole month in a filtered box. You don't know what you're missing." Carbon scanned the planet and sighed upon spotting a flash of low-voltage light. "I was right. Crank up the windows again and... point the optical stack to the right of the main city down there--if it's at twelve look for two o'clock and maybe eighty percent toward the edge."

"I... Oh, I see a node there. Gods, that's barely within our photo-diode's voltage range. Let's try it." Dee keyed the instruments to shift and then pointed to Carmine. "You're up, guys. There's definitely some sort of pulsed signal."

"Tapping in..." Rose Two placed a tendril on the console and closed her eyes. "It's a Link signal. Can you please send back a response signal?"

"You almost sound as nice as me," commented Rose.

"Well I ~am~ you."

Carmine groaned at the bickering to either side of him. "Ladies? Here, have a return line."

"Thanks, Car." Both Roses set up connections, but the Prime managed to take the controlling stake in the shared Link. «Hello? Is this a communications relay?»

There was a short pause before a wave of perhaps five minutes worth of warnings hit the girls at once. «Unidentified vessel, send your passage or command codes. If you do not have identification, state your purpose in controlled skies. You will only be warned ten times before we open fire...»

«And that's the eighth loop. Great.» The next loop started immediately and spurred Rose Prime into quick action. «We came across this planet by accident. Our... instruments are damaged and we are off course. Where are we, and what do we need to present exactly?»

«Ah, a response. Greetings. If your story holds true, Vauxhaul will aid your ship and crew for a minimal fee.» A series of memory images flooded the Link to prepare for an explanation. «We will require verification of your registration in the Gardens of Gaia before we can allow you to land. If you do not have valid genetic credentials among your crew or you are discovered to be harboring Sect of Xor dissidents, we will engage you as hostiles.» There was a tense pause coupled with a sharing of nervousness on both sides of the Link. «We can't read your genetic markers. I guess your equipment really must be damaged. Well no worry there, because Vauxhaul is home to both an æti and a prism stone mine, as well as an ætir if you can believe it. We'll rebuild whatever you need once you manually send over your verifications.»

"Well, shit." Rose fluttered her eyes as she went back to normal time and regained her bearings. "Carbon, how old is your intel? This place is crawling with Gaians and they're demanding credentials or 'markers'..."

"Gaians? Well I guess they could have changed over a millennium." Carbon silently conferred with Eve, then she walked over and joined the Link. "Apparently both of us should have proper genetic markers since we can control ætiir directly. Maybe Eve can help?"

"Yeah, Chrysanthemum too." The three rejoined the active Link and let their veilee do the heavy lifting. «There we go... Is this what you need? Did you get our markers?»

«Ah, we have something alright. Two sets... Oh, but you're family. That makes it easier.»

A few seconds passed, then another presence joined the Link. «Gaia bless us, we have a fellow Garden Keeper visiting and I was never told of this? Teeral, grant them passage to the my private hangar. We will assess their her needs over supper.»

Carbon went on the back-burner so Eve could rest, letting Rose do the 'talking'. «That's kind of you, but we should be able to manage on our own. There's, well... not even a need for us to leave our ship, honestly.»

«Nonsense. How could any Gaian pass on a chance to meet a Keeper? As one of those rare elite myself, I ~certainly~ cannot.» The Link slowed for a bit as detailed coordinates and a landing vector pushed up to the Starbreeze. «There. Now should I have the table set for just two, or... Wait, three... And of you are all Garden Keepers? Surely this must be your damaged emission matrix.»

The group shrugged as Rose Two confirmed to the best of her knowledge, «The three of us sent our markers...»

«By Gaia, this is definitely not corrupted. Mother below, we have four Keepers in one corner of the skies. How rare.» A slew of approvals and secondary credentials fed through the Link to ease the border crossing. «You have preliminary clearances for yourselves and your ship alone, as a precaution. We'll expand that once we confirm your status. Still... Three new Keepers, and two of them are family at that!»

«This is a strange thing, I take it? We've... always been in the same area up to now.»

«Why yes! Most Yangurraa can only pray to see one Keeper in their whole lifetime.» There was another pause, but this time emitting a sense of confusion. «Am I understanding this...? The two of you that are family... You're identical? Don't tell me you're ouschee. If you're breaking your exile, I cannot--»

«Is that what you meant by family? No, no...» Rose caught herself before she revealed her alternate's true identity. «I have a twin sister, as well as a sister from another mother. Perhaps that helps?»

«Twins? So you are ouschee.»

«No, no. We're identical, but we definitely aren't ouschee. We're absolutely female.»

«That's unheard of in all of our history. Yangurraar twins are always ouschee.» Another contemplative pause ensued. «We'll continue as expected, with extra security. Please excuse the additional measures, but with the potential to be have our minds devoured...»

«We understand. Ouschee nearly destroyed our kind in the Age of Devouring.»

Carbon jumped back into the mix with a query. «Out of curiosity, why did you think I wasn't related to Rose?»

«You have a different mother--I see this now. Honestly I'm having trouble understanding these markers without help. They're ancient compared to anyone else I've known.»

«Our family is directly descendant to one of the heads of the Great Houses--»

Rose kicked Carbon in the shin to shut him up. "No, Fibre! Don't let him know we're from the house of Ors!"

"But that's gotten us traction so far..."

"Yes, but the way my mom told me... Our house is disgraced, and apparently we're directly tied to the Sect somehow."

"Yeah, Eve was mentioning that before she had to turtle up. Good call, Rose." Carbon rubbed her leg as she contemplated a response. «Sorry. Our systems went on the fritz again. As I was saying, we're related to one of the original houses. We can't read our own markers well enough to tell which one though--too much degeneration in the code. Our families were killed in battle too, so we're at a dead end for information.»

«Then I'm not alone in being unable to read these. Maybe we can decipher some of it for fun later, after supper?»

«Yeah... Yeah, we can give it a shot. The topic is how a bunch of Keepers are together, after all.»

«Oh, right. Your markers show at least one of you has used your ætir recently. I know I can't use it myself, but I'd be interested in comparing mine with another...»

«Ah, yes. We have one on our ship, and... a little show-and-tell couldn't hurt.» Carbon nodded and grinned to herself as she commented vocally. "He might not be able to use mine, but I need to read his. That's the reason we're here."

"Got it. We'll steer in that direction without drawing attention to it. We'll have to come up with an excuse to hide your fur though." Rose flooded the Link with a warm, happy feeling. «We can't wait to meet you. Our propulsion systems are still in perfect order, so we should be landing... perhaps before the next cycle?»

«Your ship moves that fast? Surely you're all engineering Keepers to achieve that feat. Correct?»

Rose physically groaned as she remembered what she knew of the excessively slow Yangurraar fleet ships. «Yes. Yes, we ~totally~ are.»

«We definitely must see if you can improve our mine ventilation systems then. Maybe we can work out a deal for your repairs.» The Keeper closed most of his end of the Link, signaling his intent to disconnect entirely. «My name is Dallas, acting heir to the house of Veri. I look forward to meeting the three of you soon.»

«Rose, of an unknown house. My twin is... Chrysanthemum, and my other sister is Fibre. Well met. It is an honor to be your guests.»

The trio pulled away from the console and severed their Link, leading to an anticipatory stare-down led by Ilaria. "That was quick. So what's the news?"

"Quick?" Rose Two quirked her head sideways in her confusion. "Oh, I get it. You Terrans don't experience the speed of the Link."

"Yeah, they normally don't." Carbon wrapped her vines around her waist, watching her long braid so it didn't get snagged. "Well we have an interesting day ahead of us. At least we got them to point their guns elsewhere."

Rose did the exact opposite as Carbon and leaned back on her stiffened tendrils like crutches. "Yeah, but why didn't they see the rest of the fleet?"

"They don't have visual or radio sensors, only gravitational distortion detectors in my latest memories. That part thankfully wasn't upgraded much."

Ari stepped between the two and forced her paw into the mix. "Can we go back to the part where they had guns trained on us?"

"They have lots of guns. They pointed them at us." Carbon snickered as she tried to come up with a basic way of explaining the situation. "They're expecting the three of us for dinner, but I don't have ~anything~ to wear."

"You could wear your suit beneath dress garb, just to hide the fur." It took a moment for Number Two to detect the sarcasm Terrans use frequently. "Oh, funny. Use your ætir to make something though, in all seriousness."

"So we're invited down? We won't have issues resupplying and getting that info Eve needs?"

Carbon nodded more sincerely to the captain. "Yes, we've pretty much got port clearance. There's a catch though--they think we're all Yangurraa. Once we prove we don't want trouble, we hope we can sort that out. Until then though... don't let anyone leave the ship."

"And crank up the polarizing filters on the windows," added Rose.

"Strange, but if it gets us some real food in the Galley I'm up fr anything." Ari returned to her captain's chair and sat down with her legs crossed on her console. "So where's the landing zone?"

"We have coordinates, but Yangurraar ports are made for hard-contact landings. We're specialized for gantry docks and liquids."

Adrian offered, "We could scan the surface from an extended orbit first."

"Exactly my thoughts." Carbon walked over to the central hologram monitor and rested her connective paw on the controls. "You should have the location now at the top of the nav-point list. It's in polar coordinates though since the locals use that. Take a look."

"Dee, get on that please." Ari pulled up a personal copy and noticed Prisma and Sprite had already converted the coordinates. "That looks outside that city down there. We might have to send a shuttle if the dock is too small."

"The Yangurraa haven't invented shuttles last I checked. No airlocks either, coincidentally." Carbon looked out a window and grinned. "We do have small cruiser with landing struts though. You think Captain Renault would mind us borrowing the Liberté for a little spin?"

"And stick him with the fuel bill? I'm sure he'd love that." Ari peered out to match the hybrid's gaze and chuckled with her. "That's not a bad idea though. Alex, take us closer so Dee can do his scans. I've got a few calls to make."

Carbon gave Ari a pat on the back as she left the Bridge. "Good luck with that. I hear Jean likes dark chocolate and chartreuse."

"Ah, bribery--the cornerstone of all political favors. I think I can be better than that... though..." Ilaria made her first of many calls to her girls in their cargo bay laboratory. <Can you guys make liqueurs in that forge of yours? Maybe chartreuse...?>