Kaleidoscope VI

Matter of Time

---

University Commons, Academia Arcanum

North Wing, New Horizons Academy, Vapor Furnace Prime

Tethered to Winchester Space Elevator, Vasily (YG-4)

10:20, 35/3/1

---

"There you are." Elliot walked over to Artemis before he could rejoin his table of friends and placed an elegantly designed, laquered box in the panthott's paws. "Paprika wanted me to deliver this while her paws were tied up in something. Now if you'll excuse me I've got work to get back to."

"Ah, my dad's gun. That was fast." Arty examined the wooden case with a smirk, then placed it on the table beside his coffee. "You can't stay for a drink? It's on me."

Elliot took a breath and then walked back to the nearby transit hub. "Every minute I'm not working, my kids are sitting around without a mother. Nope, I'm off. Thanks though."

"Oh. Well take care then." Arty helped Vixellyn into her own seat on their shared bench before slipping next to her. "Sorry. What'd we miss?"

"Me, apparently. My dad's not doing much better, either." Glacier slumped in a lone chair to the side of the tables, apparently not bothering with coffee by way of her blindness. "I heard you guys were going to Yangurrar and couldn't pass up the research opportunity. Would you mind if--?"

"Yangurrar? What now?" Vydr furled his brow for a moment, then gazed into Evelyn's glowing eyes anticipating an explanation. "This related to what you were going to ask us?"

"Yes, actually. UNEO has an official request thrown out in the ether, but Carbon and I are a tad partial and wanted to ask you guys directly." Eve leaned back in her seat as she considered her wording. "As it turns out, the Yangurraa have a bit of a fungal rot issue that's gotten out of hand. They sent an urgent request for some supplies to help but that was before they went dark for their night cycle, and in doing so went on the far side of the moon where their communications died out." She rarely showed nervous quirks, but Eve's hands were meshing each other constantly. "The Furnace has another colony to help and can't break schedule, but since you guys have a freighter with a dive system you could catch up later. I figure we shouldn't let the Yangurraa suffer longer than needed, especially since we're the ones that introduced the fungus to their moon..."

"Eve, it's fine. It's rare I get any UNEO jobs and the fed pays out great for this sort of thing. I'd accept even if it weren't a slight emergency." Void turned to his other crewmates and held out a paw. "I can't speak for other engagements, however. I know school starts up again tomorrow and this likely will take two days to complete. I'll pass this to the next guy if you're hard set on going to your classes."

"I've got an extra day before flight school classes because of some maintenance on the building. Pretty sure the Academy can wait a day too." Arty nudged Vix. "I just want to get Vix on a few wizards' radars first, if you can wait a bit for a final answer."

"Aye, Arty. Just try to be quick about it."

"I'll go wherever Art goes," Vix confirmed.

"And I think I know why." Glitch giggled as she fluttered back into view. "Sorry. I got a bit distracted and spied on you two a little in the process."

"Ugh. Is there some kind of bell I can put on you?" Arty tensed on his bench, even more so when Vix noticed and lended a gloved paw to assist. "O-Okay then. All set on our end. Any objections?"

"You know I'm alright for a little trip, but I think I want an explanation first." Nadiya nudged the back of Arty's bench accidentally and braced his shoulder to stay upright. "First, you weren't going to consult us at all?"

"Ah, hey. Well there was time until I got Vix set up here so I figured we'd have a moment to find you two first." Arty smiled for Qesis as she approached, then forced his eyes up from the chest of her sheer Egyptian dress upon remembering Nadi was probably seeing through his vision. "Hey, Qes. So, what's the next question?"

"Uh... This one's a bit more private, mind you, but..." Nadi sniffed the panthott's stronger scent and started blushing faintly. "I can sort of read the answer already... but did you and... you know...?"

"Is it that obvious? Crap." Arty dropped his voice to below a whisper and pulled Nadi's large, near-deaf fox ears closer as if it would help. "What you're probably thinking is true, yeah. We're still figuring out the details, but... I think Vix and I might have something."

Qes perked her head, her human ears not quite picking up the private comment. "Hm? What was that? Asking anything important?"

"Nothing, honey. Just a personal question."

"W-Wow..." Ilaria sat up straight beside Void, the silent observer gleaning a tad too much information with her mental powers. "Sorry. I can't help it. I'll keep your secret, Arty."

"Okay, now I'm curious." Eve leaned forward, her elbows supporting her head on the table. "What exactly are we talking about? It's obviously not the aid mission."

"Forget it. It's not important right now." Arty grunted as the gauntlet over his paw clamped down. "Ah... Not yet, anyway."

"Secrets? Really? That just--" Leannan shared a stern look with Evelyn and immediately chose to retract her negative comment, diverting her attention to her SMG to fiddle with the sights. "I just want to check out that moon. Dad goes there all the time but never takes us along."

"I'm not against it. It's a simple cargo job in essence and Vydr here is a good pilot." Eve turned to Caitlyn and rested a hand atop her head. "How about you? Want to tag along with your big sister? I'll explain to your mum and dad on your behalf."

"Um... Yeah, that sounds like fun."

"Alright. Let's head back and get your things ready for the trip." Eve ruffled the girl's pink hair and looked over to Void. "Mind saving us a trip on the people-mover? We'll take the transit hub back to your ship ourselves."

"Actually... I probably shouldn't." Void looked around the larger area suspiciously. "The Grand Witch or whatever she calls herself now doesn't like me fooling around on her territory. She'd find me in an instant if I so much as thought of blinking nearby."

Arty leaned against the table at that statement. "Sparks? What's she got against that? She generally seems in favor of magic and stuff like it."

"Well she has issues with the manner she first found me using it. Let's just say she had to use a few spells of her own to get something back from me." Vydr sighed as he concentrated on Sparks' private chambers, then a split second later a pair of lacy, purple panties appeared in his paw. "I was a bit younger back then. Now she spews something more science-y to justify keeping me at bay."

"You little shit." Sparks walked through a portal out of a pocket dimension of her creation, practically snorting steam in anger. "I told you not to use those quirky nanite mægicka on my campus. Ever. Give back whatever you stole and get out of my ward, Vydr."

"I was just proving a point. The others were wondering why I can't blink around these parts." The otter placed the frilly panties in Sparks' paw, a fresh Arctic wolf scent still emanating from the fabric. "Might want to find somewhere private before replacing those. Cheers, love."

"You--!" Suddenly Sparks realized she was bare beneath her robes and clammed up her whole body. "Get. Out."

"Hey, it was my fault. I doubted him and he proved me wrong." Arty stood and placed his paws on Sparks' shoulders. "He was following your rules until I provoked him. Blame me, not Void."

"...Fine. Just this once I'll let you off the hook, Vydr." The wolfess shoved her panties into a pocket on her robes and blindly pointed threateningly at the area just beside Void's face, having lost her sense of position in her flustered state. "But if you ever rip apart time and space on my grounds again, I'll rip you out of here and into your own infinite void of a prison until I deem you safe again. Understand me?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Wait, safe? Those blinks aren't safe for us?" Arty looked at Void, then over to Vix, and then finally to Quill. "We recently had a mishap with one of his blinks. We found another--"

"You went to another reality. Interesting." Sparks slowly walked past Arty and surveyed the area between Quill, Vix, and Glitch. "I might be blind as a bat to this reality, but the entropy that powers our magic isn't from our own universe. It's usually pretty faint, but this is practically blinding. Who are these three people?"

"Three? Oh... you can see Glitch then?" Arty created a ball of lightning and hovered it near each person, hoping Sparks could follow his magic. "This is Quill. She's an alien we found stranded in that odd space. We'd very much like to get her home, if you or the other wizards can help."

"We'll see what we can do, but no promises. Interuniversal travel isn't the focus of most wizards. Your sisters, Michelle and Mikhaila, are pretty damn good at that though." Sparks shook her head, some sort of complex logic firing off in her mind. "And the next?"

"Glitch. She's... Well, we're calling her a 'Figment' for lack of a better term. Apparently she's like a muse, but also lives between dimensions or something..."

"An elemental. I've only heard rumors that they exist." Sparks nodded to the Figment out of respect. "If we have time, I'd like to ask you a few questions later. May I?"

"She... won't be able to hear me. I'll accept though." Glitch grinned as she shrank down and sat on the edge of the table. "That could be fun. She looks a lot more playful than her counterparts."

"Yeah, she's cool with that. Oh, right... You can't hear her and all, so--"

Sparks nodded for a moment, then nudged her snout toward Vix. "I can see that. Hopefully that's not the case with this other elemental though."

"An elemental? No, Vix is flesh and blood. She's a fox." Arty's eyes lunged toward Vix momentarily. "I mean... um, the species and not... I-I mean, not that she's not pretty--!"

"Shush, idiot." Vix placed a finger flat along Arty's mouth and nose. "So why do you think I'm one of those elementals? You mean a Figment like Glitch?"

"No... not at all." The wolfess took a deep breath as she scanned the details of the vixen's glowing silhouette. "Your aura is stronger than anything or anyone I've ever witnessed. It's so blinding I can't even determine its color, so to say. That usually determines one's alignment, yet you... No, pardon me; the mana you wield bears no such limitation whatsoever. This commands further inquiry."

"I don't... What does that mean, for me?"

Arty took a sip of his coffee and hinted he'd be willing to help Vix with hers. "It means you have potential as a magic user, that's for sure. I don't know what you do with people lacking an alignment though."

"Neither do I. This is unprecedented, Artemis." Sparks crossed her arms in thought, then held up a single finger to her temple. "You bring a wake of problems with you, Arty. I believe I'll have to keep Miss Vix in my sight for her own safety, just like I'm doing with you. You have to admit that our practice is helping with control, correct?"

"Yeah, it is. I won't argue that." Arty paused to lift Vix's coffee to her mouth, a slight spill showing his mind was partially elsewhere. "Well we have a little delivery to make, Sparks. If you could plan for the other Masters to check Vix out in a few days when we're back, that might be a good start. Could you help her out, please?"

"No." Sparks shook her head slowly side to side, her head receding into her shoulders as she came to a decision. "No, I can't agree to those terms. You were a ticking time bomb, but we had time to defuse you. Miss Vix is an unstable stick of dynamite. I'm making sure she's kept safe until we find a way to neutralize the well of mana she's stockpiled. I'm coming with you."

Vydr raised a finger to butt into the conversation. "Uh, we don't have much spare room on my ship right--"

"Don't even start with me, panty snatcher. You're riding a thin line as it stands." Sparks felt an empty chair and sat herself down with a huff. "I have other obligations, so this isn't my first choice either. Until we know how Miss Vix should vent her latent mægicka she'll become my new priority. I'll sleep in the hallways if need be. Deal?"

"That's a bit much. I'll..." Void sighed at the concept, but threw out an idea anyway. "I'll let you share my room with Ria and sleep in the common area. Could you deal with that, Ria?"

"I..." Ilaria fought with her boyfriend's emotions for a moment, giving him a cuddling hug in return. "Huh, you really want that? Okay, I'll give it a try. Can't argue with chivalry."

"Well that," the otter mentioned as his paw hinted toward the area between Sparks' uncrossed legs, "and I'd like to avoid having that image in my head for your sake."

"Huh?" Ria's eyes shot open as she shared Void's sexual stimulation, leading her eventually to notice the erotic display beneath the table. She leapt from her seat and shut the blind wolf's thighs for her. "Dear gods, Void. Say something sooner."

The Hermes

Custom Freight Frigate

Mid-Dive from Yangurraar (YG-4-1)

01:01, 35/3/2

---

"How can you be so tired you can't sleep?" Vixellyn flopped onto the makeshift bed on the floor of her room then lifted the covers to snuggle the panthott beneath. "My arms hurt a bit, but nothing like that."

"Well it's a thing. Hard to doze off when you're sore all over." Artemis tossed an arm over Vix and played the big spoon, enjoying their new level of closeness to its fullest. "Keep in mind I was the one in the spacesuit hauling stuff in almost double standard gravity."

"Okay, you win there. All hail the engineer that figured out gravity regulators."

"Never." Arty snickered at the comment, elaborating, "My cousins invented them--the twins, that is. Hell, they probably installed the ones on this ship themselves."

"They made this ship?" Glacier sat upright in bed, borrowing the furnishing from Vix for the trip. "They physically built it? Or did they design it? Or both?"

"My dad mentioned it once, so don't quote me here. It sounded like my aunt Robyn designed it with the twins, then they built it on their own." Arty flopped his head onto his pillow and pulled Vix's warm body closer. "I think Void got ahold of it because it wasn't officially commissioned. Robyn probably never gave the green light, so it never went through the proper channels... all that."

"So this is an unregistered ship. Intriguing." Glacier nodded a few times as she came to an understanding on the topic, then fell backward to attempt nodding off herself. "That explains some of the other cargo on the manifest. Good to know in case we get snagged by UNEO scouts."

"Considering the pull my aunts have with them, I'm sure Void's gotten quite a few free passes he never knew about."

"And he's getting UNEO jobs, so they must have some way to legally list his ship." Vix cuddled against Arty, then pulled his paws to hug around her and rest on her small chest. "I don't really care if it pays the bills. I'm just glad to be safe with good company."

"It's nice to have a family of sorts. Well I guess most of the crew is actual family, but you know what I mean." Arty wiggled a bit to allow his thicker tail around his leg, entwining with Vix's own thick plume. "For the first time in a long while, I feel like I'm home. Now we just need to get these binds off and everyone can be happy."

"I'm not so sure it's that simple." Glacier huffed a sigh as her nose winked a few times. "I'm getting in the way, aren't I? If you two want to be alone for a while, I can go find something to--"

"You can tell, huh?" Arty noticed his bulges nudging into the base of Vix's tail and realized they were probably scent-blind to their own passions. "Glacier, it's late and sleep is more important. Don't worry about it."

"Nm..." Vix sighed silently to herself in annoyance and meekly agreed, "Yeah. We all need some serious sleep."

"Well I can tell I'm bothering you by being here." Glacier rolled over and grunted. "Sorry for--"

"You're here because I asked for you to be." Arty raised his voice and made himself confidently clear while propping up by an arm. "Qesis already has her hands full with Nadiya and I wasn't about to let my brother pool all the blind people in one small room with only Ria to watch them. I'm used to taking care of someone already, so... It's my pleasure. Now relax and rest, Glacier. You're not intruding."

"Then what about Quill? You shoved her out the door pretty quickly."

"Because Quill likes to give us space. She's following us around like a puppy on a leash and we could all use time to ourselves." Arty yipped as he was pulled back into spooning position by one of his bulges. "Ouch... Besides, I think Quill is used to sleeping in harder conditions, or maybe just by herself. In any case it's not because we wanted her gone. Cher is still here, right?"

"In her container, sure. Can she sense us?"

"I think she can only see us normally, but if the lid is unlocked she's basically here with us like normal." Vix reached for Cherenkov's chem-lamp and cuddled it in her bosom, darkening half the room in the process. "Even if we were intimate, I think I'd be fine with her being around. I mean, that's not helping the point but... it's true."

"Everything is more complex than we first observe." Glacier flipped around to face the others and presented a vague smile. "Okay, I think I get it. My mind just wanders a lot into possibilities and hypotheses. You really wanted to look after me?"

"Sure did, Glacier."

Vix clamped down on the other bulge. "Yeah, especially when he walked in on you changing."

"Har-har. I'm still sorry about that, by the way. I forgot you couldn't find the door lock without help." Arty retaliated with a squeezing grope to both of Vix's breasts. "Maybe Vix should have stayed with you like I asked."

"Don't bicker, you two. I don't mind, especially when Arty's seen my pretty close to nude anyway." Glacier held out a paw suddenly to give herself a chance for clarification. "Oh! We were living together then, just before he moved here with you. He just walked in on me about to take a shower once, when Cookie wasn't around to stop him."

"Cookie?" Arty quirked his head to that name. "Who's that? She was gone while I was staying over?"

"He, actually. Dad isn't around much and we don't have a mom, so Cookie and Creme have looked after Blizz and I since we were little. How do you think Blizz learned to cook?" Glacier pulled her covers into a wad near her chest. "They rarely take vacation time but they knew you were there for us for a while. Thanks for looking after us in their stead, Arty. Still, I wish Cookie could have come along with--"

The Hermes suddenly jerked side to side, then the gravity cut out for a split second. Arty hissed as one of the Tyet gauntlets pinched him into the floor, then shot to his hindpaws to check on the less secured of the two girls. "Jesus. Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah." Vix lifted herself with her binds and offered her arm cuff as stabilization when the ship started rocking with turbulence. "That feels like when we landed on Yangurrar. Did we have to turn around?"

Glacier rubbed a spot she'd bumped on her head. "No, that moon has a thinner upper atmosphere. We're buffeting on thicker air."

"One way to verify that." Arty concentrated on the digital filters for a large porthole in the outer wall of the room, commanding it to slowly remove layers of protection and reveal the flames around the hull. "Yep. We're all gonna die."

Vixellyn latched around Artemis for dear life. "D-Don't--"

"Damn. I'm sorry, Vix. Bad joke." Arty pulled on his new anchor until she got the hint and started moving toward the hallway. "This ship can take these kinds of things. Let's go find out why in God's name we're being subject to them just to be sure."

"Uh... Uh-h-huh..."

Glacier found one of her proximity bracelets and scrambled to follow the two. "Are you alright, Vixellyn? You weren't hurt?"

"She's been in total wreck scenario before. We're far from that point though, Vix. You'll see." Arty rushed the vixen as quickly as he could prompt from her, soon finding the rest of the crew surrounding the pilot's seat near the front. "Void, what'd you do? Why are we landing?"

"I didn'twant to land. I pulled us out of a multiplex route to let the FTL drive cool off and we ended up in a receding orbit." The otter somehow managed to work the controls rapidly even though Mime remained a safe blob beside his chair. "Fuck, right. Words. We exited a dive and a fucking planet came out of nowhere. There's not even supposed to be a planet here at all."

Nadiya rubbed a sore elbow idly. "Well that's what you get for taking shortcuts using unsafe routes all the time, Vyd--"

"No, you don't get it. This is the exact same route the Vapor Furnace took. We just found an unmapped planet or something."

"Well we can upload it to the UNEO maps later. Focus." Arty tossed an arm around the shivering fox clinging to him. "Can you fix this, bro? Do we need to hold onto something?"

"What? Bollocks to that. We just appeared too close with much too little speed." Vydr reached across himself to a physical lever on his disabled side, the landing gear deploying soon thereafter. "No fighting momentum. We can touch down, check for damage, and take off fresh. No big fuss, at least not since I was sleeping in my chair."

"I'd say I could have handled it, but..." Kino popped her head up from the front seats as she pulled another two levers. "Honestly, that's about the extent of my piloting knowledge. Secondary buffer panels are retracted, by the by."

"And now Hermes isn't a flying brick. Good on ya', Kino." Void grabbed a small six-degree controller puck on his arm rest and started manually flying the ship down. "Okay, maybe this won't be so easy. The terrain's rocky and... Kino, are those villages on the thermal?"

"It sure looks that way."

Void skewed the flight path to avoid a patch of lights resembling a town. "Fuck. Please don't let this be a pirate base. That's the last thing we need."

"There's a lot of light, but that looks about the size of Luxor." Arty took a few steps forward and peered over the lip of the main windscreen. "I don't see ships or landing zones..."

"That doesn't make sense--" Void quickly tapped a hologram and then snapped his paw back to his controls, allowing the whole ship to lurch in the uncontrolled gap. "See that? Kino, would you kindly plot a landing vector? The wind's a tad heavy."

"On it, Captain." The android whizzed her paws over a series of holograms and a moment later a landing path overlaid the windscreen. "You're all set. Gust prediction updates every two seconds, Captain."

"You're a lifesaver, love."

"Oh, eh..." Arty found a sensor array was underpowered and placed a paw on a console to help connect to it. He linked up his Sense to the internal systems to visualize the issue, making a re-route of power easy to connect. In moments the calculated path on screen shifted to the right enough that Void's correction unsettled a few stomachs. "Oh, nevermind."

Glitch sat her diminutive form on the panthott's shoulder and held onto his fur. "You really are fun to observe, Artist."

"What's she so happy about?" Sparks carefully stepped up to the party last, oddly shielding her useless eyes with a paw. "Does it have anything to do with this big, glowing ball of doom we're approaching?"

"You can see that? I was under the impression you only saw magic. Okay, that's got me spooked now." Vydr eased the Hermes into the landing zone and a hologram of the ship and its surroundings appeared before the pilot's chair. "Looks like we didn't lose any of our vertical thrusters. Jolly good. You lot may want to find your beds since this looks like it'll be a rough one."

"You heard the kid." Sparks held up her arm for Artemis. "Mind giving a lady a paw?"

"Gladly." The hybrid gently clasped the older wolfess' paw with his own, following suit with Vixellyn's in turn. "Let's find somewhere soft to hide."

Darian System

Uncharted Location

Litho-telluric Goldilocks Planet

01:28, 35/3/2

---

"That feels colder than I thought it would." Vydr hopped off the Hermes' loading gate as it lowered into a ramp. "At least we don't need suits. I'd rather a chill to sweating all over myself."

"You don't think you'll need to actually do much work, so you?" Artemis followed his younger brother around the side of the ship for a better view. "I'm no expert, but that looks pretty good. You sure we need to inspect it?"

"First thing they teach you as a pilot: Never take off without checking every little detail. Considering how we landed, I'm inclined to go more than surface deep." Void slapped his brother's shoulder and pointed to an engine pod. "I could use an extra paw. You know anything about hydraulic muscles? Maybe what a proper weld looks like?"

"Uh... I'm okay with electronics but... no, sorry."

"It's fine then. We can manage the flight checks." Void leaned around the rear of the ship and waved to Kino. "I'm on channel 231. You flip the switches and I'll do the checks."

"Got it, Captain."

"What about the rest of us?" Vixellyn made her way over and straddled Arty's arm. "Half of us can't see. I'm guessing we shouldn't go too far from the ship?"

"Exactly my thinking--except for you two, if you're up for it." Void pat his pockets until he found a data chit and tossed it to Arty. "That room without a bed I've been using for storage has a fun new toy I got off a salvager recently. If we're really dealing with pirates we need to confirm that as fact."

Arty Linked to the device in his paw but couldn't make sense of the contents. "So what is this?"

"That's the encryption chit that grants access. I see you wearing that custom Sense all the time so I'm guessing you can actually use it? Apparently it takes custom military grade options to work."

"Yeah, I can figure it out." Knowing the actual use, it took all of ten seconds to properly feed the encryption keys into Arty's Linked Sense. "So what should we do with it? I'm no scout."

"No, but you won't need to be. That bot connected to the chit should perform recon automatically if you tell it. You just need to find a place to keep a good signal so you can relay any findings over the radio." Void scanned around, eventually pointing to a higher ridge of what looked like sharp obsidian. "If you're careful you should be able to get a good vantage from there."

"Maybe. It doesn't look too fun of a climb though." Arty groaned at the thought, looking to the others for potential help. "Maybe we should take Nadiya. She's a tracker, right?"

"She's also good with that crossbow thing of hers. I'm thinking she can protect the others if things go south."

"You really think it'll come to that?"

Void tapped the holster on his brother's leg. "I wouldn't send you out if you couldn't defend yourself. Same applies to letting the others get some fresh air. Besides, you're used to guarding your entourage."

"Quill is sort of a... is 'ranger' the word?" Vix tugged Arty's arm so he'd look at the avian. "Between her and Cher I think we'd have a decent scouting party."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Stay safe, brother." Void hopped up and grabbed a rung on the side of the hull. "Kino, engines first."

Arty took a moment to tune his Sense radios until he found the frequency for channel 231, confirmed by Kino's voice. "...the starboard array. Ready, Captain?"

"Sounds like they've got this. Let's do our part too." Arty rounded the rear of the Hermes to check with the others and nab Quill, but paused upon finding Leannan hoisting a certain experimental black hole cannon with her sister. "Woah, you two. There's no need for that. Gently stow that where you found it, please."

Lea rolled her eyes back in her head and scoffed at the panthott. "You're not in charge. I want to stay safe. I think that means I'll keep this where it is."

"Well this is my home now, and you're holding something that can destroy it in an instant. That gun's already caused enough trouble for one century so let it go." Arty locked eyes with Glitch, and in a purely emotional exchange he had a change of mind. "I've got a job for you anyway. We're climbing that ridge over there to use a recon bot. I figure that rifle of yours might come in handy if we're attacked. Wha'dya say?"

"Hm." Lea eased the cannon down and sighed as her sister struggled to hold her end. "Alright, mate. You got yourself a mercenary. Cait, you stay here where the others can protect you. Good?"

"Lovely." Caitlynn gladly lowered the death machine to the deck and crouched to catch her breath. "Go have fun, sis. I should check the others for injuries after that hard landing anyway."

"That's my caring sissy. Be back in a snap." Lea pulled her SMG from slung around her back and charged the first round. "So where's this recon bot of yours? Mum never lets us check out the SWAT garage at the station and I've been a tad curious."

"Oh, this isn't one of hers. It's a military model apparently. Let's see..." Arty highlighted a spot behind the ship and summoned the robot. After a slight delay, a six-legged dog-sized drone opened the final door with it's dextrous arms and skittered into the marked deployment zone. "Huh. I guess with what Void does for a living an infiltration model makes sense. At least this one's fast on its feet."

"Oh, a Betty. I've heard of these. Mum hates them to death so I thought I'd never see one." Lea scurried to the drone and carefully paced around it for an examination. "It's a Battle Enhanced Tactical Infiltrator, or BETI. Mom fought their big brethren on Yangurrar. I think those were called Rooks at the time."

"Well it sounds like you approve of Betty's capabilities. That's good enough for me, soldier girl." Arty shared a stern glance that turned into a set of smiles. Satisfied, he turned to Quill and beckoned with an arm. "Come on, Quill. We could use your help spotting once we get up there.."

Quill nodded in response, then tossed her cloak's hook over her head as she walked.

"Thanks, Quill." Arty commanded the BETI to move on its own and a map overlaid his vision, slowly growing as sensor data piped into his Sense. "Navigation looks good. You up for this too, Cher?"

"No need to complicate things. I'll stay in here for now." The djinn pulsed the glow of her lantern. "You might want to lock me up so you don't damage my lamp. I would very much like to join you on the summit for the view though, Master."

"You got it, Cher. Hold tight." Arty slid the chem light's sheath shut until it locked. "Time to move. You okay with a bit of a climb, Vix?"

The vixen pulled herself up into the air with her Tyet bindings like she was climbing an invisible ladder. "I can probably climb better than you right now. Let's go. That view sounds like a good reward."

"You're making the most of a bad situation. I like it." Arty started hiking at a brisk pace, his panther side craving a bit of movement after being cooped up on a small ship. "So Lea... your mom let you have a gun? And a big one at that."

"Well it's not that big compared to her whole arsenal. She wouldn't give me something I couldn't handle." Lea waved to her sister with a warm smile uncharacteristic of her usual self, then snapped back to task with laser focus. "It only fires .410 shells, and she only supplies me with taser slugs and birdshot too. It's enough to keep us safe, she says."

"To keep 'us' safe, eh? I see now." Vix caught up to the others and nearly put them to shame, not needing to find solid footing every step. "You and your sister are close. It's adorable in its own way."

"Well... don't tell her this but... she wouldn't last long out in the black by herself. She's strong in her own ways, but not... not in a defensive manner." Lea struggled over a ledge near the top, her eyes widening after hopping over a deep crevasse. "Careful here, guys--long way down."

"Well crap. That's deeper than this mountain we're on." Arty hopped the gap and sat on the far ledge, offering his arms to help Quill across. "Here, grab on."

Quill shook her head and leaped higher than looked possible, flapping her 'wings' to gain distance.

"Well isn't that something." Art rose to his hindpaws with a grin and followed the alien with renewed interest. "I always wondered how you handled yourself out here. The others said you went hunting for your own food sometimes and now I think I finally believe it."

"We were talking and... I think I'd like to learn from her. She wants to teach me how to defend myself, you know?" Vix slowed her pace as she came up to a cliff overlooking a large valley of crystalline forest. "Oh, wow... This is... just beautiful."

Lea stood beside the fox with her weapon shouldered high. "Not bad for your third planet, eh?"

"Second, really. Yangurrar is technically a moon." Arty brought up the rear, gawking just before snapping a memory with his Sense. "This really is wonderful, though. Let's see how the map's coming along..."

"Well I think I see a city over that way." Lea sat on the edge of the cliff, fearless to the danger it presented. "It's small, but they seem to have power. I should have grabbed my scope..."

"It's fine. I just gave Betty the coordinates to take a better look." Arty sat down on a crack along the ridge and closed his eyes, concentrating on controlling the drone more directly. "Okay, I'm getting something here... Woah, this thing can cloak itself. Neat."

"And you just uncloaked it. I can see it down there now." Lea looked back with a hint of concern. "Talk to me, Arty."

"Oh, sorry. No, it's supposed to be that way. The cloaking system has to project images from one side through to the other, so it's visible from other angles." The bot shifted position and gained a clear sightline to one of the larger structures. "I'm seeing... humans? You don't think this is another one of those slaver planets some of our favorite plant people had going?"

"Like the Ancient Egyptians? Nah, those were a select group. One of the planties had a thing for humans but none of the rest felt it was worth the effort." Lea shrugged off the slew of stares pointed her way. "What? I was there. My mum and dad helped clean up after the war, too."

"Huh. Well I'll take your word for it. Besides, I'm not seeing anything aside from humans. They look happy, too. How did they get out here to--?" Arty snapped out of his daze suddenly, something disturbing his concentration unexpectedly. "Damn. I lost it."

"You lost the robot?" Vix walked over and sat herself down beside Arty. "What's wrong?"

"No, just lost my direct control. I'll tell Betty to come back to the ship. Actually, we can all go now that we know there aren't any pirates here--Augh!" As Vixellyn shimmied closer, the crack in the rock below Artemis slipped wider. The extra weight broke loose a series of precariously layered stones, which in turn let free the only ground holding the two in place. "Shit! Watch ou--Ah!"

"Ah! Fuck!" Vix landed on a sharp incline, ricocheting harshly but breaking her fall with a much slower stop. "Gah... Ouch..."

"Fucking ouch." Arty picked himself up from a flat slab he'd splayed over, wincing as he pressed against a paw. "I think I sprained my wrist. Damn, busted my Sense too. You alright, Vix? Where are you?"

"Not dead..." Vixellyn finally focused on her surroundings and started shaking. "...but I w-wish I w-was..."

"Vix? Crap." Arty noticed a whimpering sob and frantically searched the darkness for the vixen. Instead he found Cherenkov's lantern and immediately pulled it open to bathe the area in dim blue. "Vix, I... Wait, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"N-No, I... I'm..." Vix fell to her side, balled up in fear. "...again. Not ag-gain..."

"Oh no... No, Vix..." Artemis scooped Vixellyn into his arms and cradled her close, the vixen instinctively latching onto him in turn. "We're gonna be fine, Vix. The others are going to look for us. We'll get out of here in no time. Trust me."

"B-But I don't w-want to die..."

Words weren't soothing the fox's soul, so the panthott sought to mend her heart instead. He pulled Vix closer and tenderly pressed his lips to hers, silencing her in befuddlement. "Vix, I'm here. You're not alone."

"Art...?"

"I'm just... making good on a promise now that we're finally alone." Arty pressed his forehead to Vix's and slowly rolled into another kiss. "Just focus on me, Vix. I love you too much to see you like this."

"You... You do?" Vix nearly melted into Arty's arms as her focus shifted. "You finally decided if... if we...?"

"Oh yes, there's a 'we'--if you want me, too."

"Gods, do I ever." The vixen shot herself upward to lock lips once more. "You really want to... make love to me?"

"I want all of you. I want to pound you until it hurts, Vix. You don't even know." Arty slid his paws beneath Vix's cloak and gently slid them up her otherwise nude body. "God damn... You know how much of a tease this is, knowing you're barely covered?"

"I can't... help it?"

"Well neither can I." Arty reached down and fumbled with his zipper, barely managing to pry free his hardening manhoods. "Crap... I shouldn't have given up my last condom..."

"So you..." The life faded a bit from Vix's eyes at that notice. "We're not gonna--?"

"Never said that, foxy." Arty took the smaller of his cocks in paw and lined it up with purpose, gasping at the heat for a moment before he pressed forward. "God... Vix..."

"Ah! You're so... big..."

"You're just saying that. Not that I mind." Arty rocked his hips gently until he nudged his knot with a chuckle. "Okay, maybe part of me is."

"Dummy." The vixen huffed out a ragged yiff as that barbed cock reeled back halfway, then she used her bindings to force it back inside and align her muzzle with her partner's own. "Just... kiss me again? I sort of liked--"

Arty locked his lips with Vix's with gleeful passion, a hearty purring building along with his enthusiasm. He pulled her back to rest atop his lap while he sat on a slab of rock for leverage. In a moment Vix got the hint and used her own magical leverage to guide herself up and down, but Arty made it a bit harder by refusing to end a stream of incessant kisses. He more than made up for the extra flexibility by jamming his cock as deep and hard into that pussy as he could manage.

"Art, I think I'm g-gonna--"

"Shit... I can't take much more either. Hng..." Arty forced himself to stop sucking the life from his lover's lips and took note of his knot. "You want to try tying or--Ah!--should I pull out?"

"Don't you dare. Give me all you've got, kitty." This time Vix engaged a kiss, biting Arty's lip as they parted. "You won't break me. I want all of you."

"Ask and ye shall receive..." Arty bucked his hips upward with everything he had left in him, taking merely two tries to lodge his engorged knot into his lovers delightfully tight confines. "Holy Mother of God..."

"Ah! Art!" Vixellyn threw her head back in bliss, her peak punching through her core like lightning. "G-Gods!"

Artemis mrowled through his throaty purring and bucked his hips, milking every moment as he toppled over the edge. Once his hefty wall crumbled he lunged his muzzle forward, biting down gently on his lover's shoulder. "Murr... Fuck... Jesus, Vix..."

"F-Fuck..." Vix tossed her head forward again expecting another kiss, but wincing at the teeth in her collar. "Ah... Careful, Art."

"Sorry. It's just, that's the first time I've really... tied with someone like that..." Blushing from embarrassment in addition to the act of filling the vixen's nethers with his seed, Arty eased down from his tensions and began grooming the spot he'd bitten. "I guess instinct kicked in pretty hard."

"Well I liked it, so don't hold back on my account." Her breathing still heavy, Vix nudged her lover's snout with hers and lined up a more tender kiss. "Thank you , Art."

The panthott licked his vixen's nose. "Better?"

"Better," she cooed back staring into her partner's eyes.

"Much better." Suddenly both lovers looked to their side, startled until their living light source waved back. "Sorry. You were quite cute together so I just decided to watch quietly."

"No complaints from me, Cher. Though to be honest, I actually might have minded if you did interrupt us back there." Arty gave Vix another kiss, then laid himself back with her atop him. "That first time is something special, but with Vix... I think I've found something I was missing in my life."

"Well I've never liked taking a knot either, but you... you were so gentle." Vix rested her head on the panthott's shoulder. "Thank you, Art."

"That's not right at all. Nope." Arty rested his paw atop the vixen's head and massaged between her ears lovingly. "More like, 'I love you,' no?"

"I love you, Art."

"I love you too, foxy." Arty gazed into Vix's emerald eyes as she opened them wide for once. "You have gorgeous eyes."

"You're just buttering me up now." Vix started to inspect their cramped surroundings and tensed up again. "Though maybe I need that right now."

"The others are looking for us. Technically Betty is headed back to me too, if my Sense didn't get too damaged in the fall anyway. Plenty of help on the way, Foxy."

"That's... embarrassing. Don't call me that, Art."

Artemis pulled Vix's head against his chest and tossed her cloak's hood up to limit her field of view to just him. "Nope. I like it. You deserve a pet name, cutie."

"You remind me far too much of your father, Master. You know... I don't think I've ever... seen him use someone's... real..." Cheren quirked her head all around, apparently picking up something happening the others couldn't. "Someone's coming. Master, maybe you should... um...?"

"Crap. You're right. Vix, this is going to hurt me a lot more than you I'm guessing, but still..."

"It's okay. I trust you."

"You say that now..." Arty pulled on his cock, then suddenly jerked his hips to free his knot with a bolting pang of pain through his lower spine. "J-Jeez..."

"Art? You okay?"

"Yep. Just managed to somehow kick myself in the balls. I'll be good in a few." Arty groaned as he lifted Vix off him, only to chuckle at a surprise. "Okay, bunch of mistakes being made. I forgot about the other firehose apparently."

"Huh?" Vix looked down at her crotch and understood immediately, the whole backside of her cloak laced in thick ropes of baby blue cum. "Well it just gives us an excuse to take a shower... together."

"I'll have to remember the condoms from now on. That or..." Arty looked over to Cheren as he tucked his cocks away, then retracted his idea for now. "...well, maybe not yet. Cher, any clue where the help's coming from?"

"That's the thing. I can hear someone moving around from deeper in this cavern. I'd expect help to come from above." Cheren perked her ears to one side and pointed to a large rock. "Over there. Whoever or whatever is just behind that stone."

"Maybe the drone found another way in? Good ol' Betty..." Arty eased himself to his hindpaws and faced the slab of obsidian. "We're just in here! Careful with that last wall!"

The rock began to shift, then after a moment it crumbled into pieces with a small explosion. Arty caught a shard of flak in his arm but stood firm, only to relax upon spotting a tall, pitch black jackal woman. "Interesting."

"Oh, good. Did Void call for help?" The jackal passed beside Arty without paying him any mind, causing the panthott to protectively reach for the jackal's shoulder. "She's scared. Leave her to me, okay?"

"Amusing. I've seen you before, somewhere." The jackal grabbed Arty's already injured wrist and twisted it, knowing exactly how to hurt him best. "Ah, that toy gun... Matilda. You're Iolvin's son, that's right."

"Hey, that hurts!" Arty reached for said weapon at the sudden threat and raised it high, only for the surprisingly strong jackal to literally crush his wrist and throw him against a wall. "Gah! Fuck! S-Stay back! Move away from Vix!"

The jackal scoffed at the weapon pointed her way and devoted her attention to Vix. "You can't harm me with that pea shooter, puny mammal. I'm not afraid of a known quantity like you anyway."

"I said get away from her, you bitch!" Arty racked the first of his explosive charges and fired, powering up the laser core for about a full second. He swooped the blade of light across the jackal's paw and lopped off her wrist. "The fuck I can't hurt you! Now get ba--!"

In an instant the jackal crossed the short distance to Arty, grabbed his firing arm, and lifted him up by it. "Maybe the vermin in this universe are more annoying than I thought." She hooked her stump under Arty's shoulder, then in one sharp motion he was on the floor... and his arm stayed in hers. "There, we're even. Oh, though I suppose yours don't grow back. Oops."

"Master!" Cheren lunged over to Arty's position and cupped her paws over his wound, barely able to stop the bleeding. "Why!?"

"A blow for a blow. That's as fair as I've cared to be after what his family did to me. You're no better, genie." Vix locked up in renewed fear as the jackal hovered over her. "Now I have this unknown of an Oel to hunt down, and here I find you. You're new to me too."

"Get away from her!" Cheren took her Master's pistol and readied it for another shot. "I'll take off your head next! Back off!"

"You lot never know when to give up for your own good." The jackal quickly snatched Matilda by the barrel and flipped it around. "Aha. This is a new technology to me. Your universe is definitely unique in a few ways." She pointed the weapon at Cheren and pulled the trigger, but before the laser fired up Arty shoved Cheren aside. He took the laser beam directly to his chest, a charred hole slowly forming in his clothes and flesh. "This was your downfall the last three times. You can't protect them all, boy."

"No!" Cheren huddled over her Master, protecting him with her own body as he wheezed through a punctured lung. "Leave us alone. Please, just..."

"You've both gone too far. Sorry." The jackal aimed her new weapon at the djinn again. "I'd say it's nothing personal, but I'd be dead wrong."

Before the next shot could fire, a series of white needles flew through the jackal and pinned her to a wall. Quill stepped into the small cave and held a slew of the throwing weapons made of her ink, ready to fight.

"You damned Oel!" The jackal ripped her arm free, then pulled out the other needles just as ferociously. "Why can't I kill you!?"

"Go..." Arty gasped just to whisper to Cheren. "Get her... out of here..."

"Master, I'm staying with you until--"

"Not a... request..." Arty pressed weakly against his genie, unable to move her away but getting his point across. "Leave me. Save her. She's... master now..."

"Master..." Cheren slowly stood and nodded to the crumpled hybrid. "Art..."

"...Vix..." Artemis took one last gasping breath, then everything faded to black.