FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Note from the author: I'm back, after an extended, extended absence, and I do mean that in a literal sense. I returned to the US less than a month ago, and have finally been able to get back into writing! I hope that any returning fans (lol, yeah right) will forgive me for my prolonged break, and forgive me for not continuing my previous story series. Over the time I was gone, I must have started on a sequel to "The Thief" at least two dozen times, but I ended up deleting it each time. After a while I realized I had written myself into a corner, and I just couldn't see where the story would take me anymore. However, I still liked the main characters I had created, and I wanted to explore more with them. Before I knew it, they ended up in space, in the far future. So, without further ado, here is my new series, a sci-fi tale known as "Among the Stars". Enjoy!

"This place really is a dump," Sighed Dawn.

"Hey, it sounded like pretty good info when I got it..." Matt replied meekly, scratching the back of his head.

"Wasn't blaming you Matt, just bemoaning the general state of our industry." Dawn checked another sigh, and kicked a corroded piece of metal with her boot. "Have to try every lead, gotta stay one step ahead of everyone else, right?"

"Yea," Matt said, obviously still blaming himself.

"Umm, hey, you guys? Anyone else getting a...creepy feeling from this place...?" Ken said, coming up behind them. "I can feel my fur standing on end."

"Oh come on Ken, I never pegged you as one to jump at shadows. You saw the readings Jeanne got, this place is devoid of life." Dawn chuckled, shaking her head in mock disappointment. "Are you a wolf or a pup?"

"Oh, hah hah, so funny. I'm telling you, this place is bad news."

"Well, I wouldn't take a vacation here, for sure. Also, as I was saying, the place is pretty much a dump, so let's just take a little more of a look around, then we'll give it up as a bad job. Keep your comm's on and your eyes open. Split up."

"Aye, Captain." Ken and Matt nodded, then each took a branching hallway out of the room they were in.

Dawn nodded to the empty room, let out the sigh she had been holding in, and checked her blades. Finding them securely where she had strapped them to her thighs, she set off down a third hallway. She didn't tell the other two, but she was really hoping to find at least something of value here. Costs to keep her ship running weren't going anywhere, and without salvage to sell from this place, they would be to the wire soon.

"Ow! Damnit!" She cursed as she jerked her knee away from the canister she had run it into. This time she sighed at herself, for forgetting one of her cardinal rules. Always pay attention. One of the important things she had learned from her old captain, and by far the one that changed her life the most. She had seen the consequences of ignoring that rule firsthand, when the late captain had literally stumbled into the lair of a very unhappy carbon worm. She and the rest of the crew made it out alive, but it was already too late for the captain. She left that wreck with some life lessons, a newly inherited ship, and a very healthy respect for carbon worms.

As the first mate of the ship, she graduated to captain, and decided to stay in the same industry. Salvaging wasn't the most glorious of professions, but it kept them fed, alive, and relatively happy. Wrecks, abandoned mining colonies, space stations, and ruins many times held a wealth of equipment and materials for those with a cargo ship and a sense of adventure. Dawn and her crew had become quite adept at salvaging, and it certainly was easier than back breaking labor, or safer than risking your life as a mercenary (as long as you avoided carbon worms).

As she moved down the cluttered hallway, she saw the same scene in every door she checked; uselessly corroded equipment and tools, and many rooms that were simply empty. She was running out of places to look, by her best estimates, she was already most of the way to the other side of the station.

Stopping for a moment, she hit her comm.

"Anyone find anything?"

"Nope."

"Nothing yet."

"I found something, but it's a toss-up whether it's actually worth anything." Dawn wasn't surprised that Vivian would be the one to find something, she went in from the bottom decks of the station, where the corrosion seemed to be lessened.

Shining her light down a couple of the hallways at the cross road she had come to, Dawn keyed her mic. "Might as well bring it along Viv, not like we're hurting for cargo space."

"Understood. I'll grab the stuff and head back to the ship, at a dead end anyways."

Starting to move down the cleanest looking of the hallways, Dawn paused, glancing at the scanner in her hand.

"Matt, Ken, could you come to where I am? I'm getting some weird readings on my scanner that we should check."

"Roger."

"On the way."

After a few minutes, the wolf and tiger joined Dawn at the crossroad.

"What'd you find captain?" Matt asked.

"Look at this," She said, showing them the scanner. "Life signs straight ahead."

"Hah, told you." Ken said, shining his light down the hallway. "Readings on a station like this aren't completely thorough."

"Yea, and I know what you mean about this place feeling off. I'm getting the feeling that something is watching me." Dawn shuddered very slightly. "Let's check this out, and then get back to the ship."

They started down the hallway only for Matt to stop them with an upraised paw.

"Wait, something's moving."

The three of them tensed, and raised their lights to point down the hallway. Dawn involuntarily jumped when the light hit something polished white. Clinging to the frame of a door way was a figure in a bulky spacesuit, obviously on the verge of collapsing. It looked up when the light hit it, showing a deep blue full face visor, making it impossible to tell the species of the figure, except that it was bipedal.

Hardly daring to breathe, Dawn could hear the being mumbling.

"...there's...too much...noise..." The figure gave something like a sigh, then collapsed to the floor.

Dawn glanced at her two companions, then motioned them forward.

"Careful, guys." she said softly, receiving two nods.

As they drew close, they could make out more detail of the figure. It was bipedal, and humanoid, lacking a tail. It was lying perfectly still, but all three of them kept their paws on their weapons, unnerved by the whole scene. As they drew up next to it, Dawn relaxed a bit.

"Whatever it is, it's unconscious. Ken, stay on guard. Matt, check where it came from. I'll scan it, and see what we're dealing with here."

Matt moved down the hallway the being had come from, disappearing around a corner, and Ken moved to a position where he could keep an eye on both the downed figure, and the rest of the hallway as well. Dawn knelt next to the fallen being, and moved her scanner closer, to make sure it could penetrate the bulky suit of the figure. The scanner took a few seconds, then beeped its completion.

"Well, that's surprising." Dawn said, tapping the scanner thoughtfully.

"What's it say?" Ken asked, a little apprehensive sounding.

"It's just a human. Male, fully grown, healthy but unconscious. How in the name of the gods did he get out here?"

Before Ken could answer, Matt's voice drifted down the hallway.

"Captain? You're gonna want to see this."

Dawn stored her scanner away and motioned to the human.

"Keep an eye on him Ken, I'll be right back."

She moved quickly after where Matt had gone, her curiosity piqued. After turning the corner, she saw Matt beckoning to her from a doorway. Entering after him, she blinked a couple times, trying to adjust her eyes to the suddenly bright light. Looking around, the room looked brand new, with surgically clean white walls, a vast contrast to the corroded, dirty walls of the rest of the station.

"What is this place? Why is it so clean in here?" She asked Matt, looking around.

"I think it was sealed shut until a little while ago, no corrosion anywhere. As for what it is, honestly, it looks like a science lab of some sort, except there's no equipment anywhere. Otherwise it looks like a-"

"Cell of some kind. Or some kind of hellish mix of the two." Dawn finished, eying the surgical-looking table in the middle of the room. "Come on, we're leaving. Now."

"No arguments here." Matt replied, looking relieved.

As they walked back to where Ken was waiting, Dawn stopped, and glanced back at the doorway to the room, wondering. Did the human they found come from the room? Was he a prisoner, or a patient? And why had that room alone on the station escaped the corrosion that had spread throughout the rest of the area? She shook her head, focusing once more on the present.

"Ship to away team, can you hear me? Come in, Dawn!"

Dawn immediately opened the comm channel to her ship, motioning for her comrades to do the same.

"Talk to me Jeanne, what's wrong?" She could hear a note of panic in Jeanne's voice. That was never a good sign, as the human ship doctor was normally pretty unshakable.

"Something has started moving in the far corner of the station. I've never seen biometrics like this before, I have no idea what it is. I think it's coming towards you...you need to get out of there!"

Dawn quickly glanced at her two companions to make sure they heard. They both looked back at her with wide eyes.

"Let's move! Each of you, grab one of his arms, I'll get his legs, we need to get out of here!"

"We're taking him with us? Are you sure?" Matt looked confused, Ken surprised.

"Whatever is coming, I doubt it's friendly. I won't leave a living being to their death if I can help it."

"Roger." They each grabbed an arm as Dawn grabbed the human's legs.

"Oof, holy crap he's heavy." Ken grunted in surprised.

"You can bitch later, LET'S GO!" Dawn shouted; she could hear something moving a bit off, and it didn't sound good.

They started to run back down the hallway they came from, impeded by the debris littering the halls. The three furs moved as fast as they could carry the awkward load, but they weren't making good time. Dawn keyed her mic again.

"Jeanne, get the ship ready to depart immediately, tell Samantha to get the engines warmed up. We're going to have make a quick exit."

"Understood, startup sequence is already underway. Viv is back on board as well, we're ready to move as soon as you get here."

As they moved through another hallway, Dawn heard a strange sound coming from behind her. She glanced back down the way they came, her head lamp shined down the dark hallway. For some reason, the corridor didn't light up. She couldn't figure out why, until she heard the hissing, and the eyes appeared in the darkness.

"By the gods..." Dawn breathed, her eyes widening. She could feel her chest tighten. Whatever it was, it was crawling rapidly down the hallway, on the walls, floor, and ceiling. It looked like darkness itself was chasing them.

"KEEP GOING!" she yelled, and Matt and Ken, having also glanced back, needed no further encouragement. She glanced back again, watching the shadows gain on them. They weren't going to make it.

"You guys take him, I'm going to try something to slow them down!"

They grunted their acknowledgment, and started to drag the human along by his arms, as Dawn grabbed a disposable light from her belt.

"If they look like shadows, I bet they don't like light then." She muttered to herself. Bending the small stick shaped light until she heard it pop, and started to glow a light blue. The otter then tossed it back into the oncoming shadow creatures.

She heard them hiss again, and glanced back down the hallway at them. The creatures slowed as they approached it, and paused for the briefest of moments. Then they surged over it and smothered the light. The blue glow abruptly vanished with a fizzling noise.

"Oh crap." She said weakly, and hastened to catch back up to her companions.

"The ship is just ahead, we'll make it...!" Panted Matt.

"And what happens when that shit climbs...onto our ship, huh? We're still...screwed!" Replied Ken, chest heaving.

"Leave that to me, I have an idea. Just make sure to close the hatch as soon as I get in." Dawn Said grimly.

As they entered the last open room where their ship was docked, Ken and Matt made a beeline towards the hatch. Dawn slowed, and turned back towards the hallway. The shadows were getting closer to them; she could see hundreds of small glowing eyes among the dark shapes. She fancied she could see the hunger in their eyes. She grabbed all the disposable lights left in her belt, bending as many of them as she could in her paws. Most of them lit up, and she flung them all at the oncoming shadows. As she turned and started sprinting towards the airlock, she heard a terrible low keening sound. Crossing the entrance of her ship, she glanced back. The shadow creatures seemed to be drawing back from the lights, massing along the floor into a large mass. Ken slammed his paw into the door closing button, dropping the human's arm. As the door slid closed, Dawn saw the shadows starting to surge forward towards the lights. She keyed her mic with a shaking paw.

"GET US OUT OF HERE, NOW!"

As the door hissed closed, the entire ship seemed to jump sideways, slamming all of them into the closed door.

"Sorry about that, Captain." Rang Samantha's cheerful voice over the ship's intercom. "I vented a couple of our emergency side thrusters to get us away from the station faster."

"It's okay Sam, just please tell me none of those...whatever's...got on our ship." Dawn said, surprised at how level her own voice was.

"Ummmm," The squirrel's voice was blotted out by the sound of the tapping of buttons for a few seconds. "Nope, exterior cameras all look clear."

Dawn let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, and sank to the floor. She looked at her crew members. Ken was laughing shakily and leaning against the far wall. Matt was standing motionless in the middle of the airlock, looking up at the ceiling. Dawn could see his paws shake.

"Good job guys. We're all okay. Somehow." She said feeling her legs tremble.

"Yea, let's never do that again, okay?" Ken laughed, also sinking down to the floor.

"Let's add shadow-creature-thing-whatever's to my contract as a reason I can refuse to salvage something, okay?" Matt said solemnly, now looking down at the deck.

"Hah, will do." Dawn smirked as Ken burst out laughing again.

* * *

After the three of them recovered somewhat, Dawn, Matt, and Ken pulled the still unconscious human through the second door of the airlock and into the ship. They found Jeanne waiting for them. She immediately moved up and embraced Ken, a hug which the wolf tenderly returned. Dawn leaned back against the door, an affectionate smirk on her face. Jeanne was one of the original crew that served under their late captain. She was also a close friend of Dawn, one of the few she really felt she could get advice from. The human was close to, if not a full-fledged genius, a certified surgeon, doctor, and psychologist. Dawn often wondered why Jeanne stayed with the ship, when she could have easily made a comfier living just about anywhere. Whenever she asked though, the doctor would just reply with something along the lines of "it's more interesting". Dawn supposed that Ken had something to do with it. Ken loved the life of a salvager, and Jeanne loved Ken. Whatever the reason, the otter was just glad they both were part of her crew.

As the two finished their embrace, Dawn cleared her throat.

"I'm guessing you were watching via mission recorders?"

"Of course. Let's get him," She indicated the unconscious human with her foot, "down into the med bay, in one of the quarantine beds."

Ken and Matt moved again to pick up the arms of the human, and Dawn grabbed his feet. They moved him onto the nearby lift and Jeanne hit the button to take them to the bottom deck of the ship. As the lift started to move down, Dawn noticed the doctor staring closely at the human's suit, as if trying to divine what was inside.

They reached the med bay, and the three furs carried the suited figure over to one of the beds. As soon as they got him lying down properly, Jeanne flipped a switch on the bottom of the bed, and a simmering field was projected over the entire mattress and its occupant. After hitting a few commands into the console at the head of the bed, she turned to her fellow crew mates.

"Okay, first things first." Jeanne immediately said with matter-of-fact tone. Dawn and Matt exchanged glances; that was Jeanne's way of starting a lecture. Jeanne noticed the looks, and her eyes sparkled a bit with amusement as she continued. "I agree with your decision to bring him with us, as I'm almost 100% sure contact with those creatures would have resulted in his death."

Dawn breathed a small sigh of relief. It was nice to know that there was someone who agreed with her reasoning for potentially endangering her crew.

"Also," Jeanne continued, "we have no reason to think that there will be negative effects from bringing him on board, but just in case, he is confined to this" she indicated the shimmering field next to her "until we decide what to do."

Turning towards the human, she swept a hand over his suited form. "What do you guys think when you look at his suit? I mean, take a couple moments and a closer look."

Dawn and the others clustered around the bed.

"I didn't notice it in the station, but it's a pretty heavily armored suit. Moreso than even zero G construction suits." Said Matt after a few seconds, and Ken nodded in agreement.

"Exactly." Replied Jeanne. "It is heavier armor than I have seen. If I had to guess I'd say it was some kind of radiation shielding, or possibly an extreme haz-mat suit. So from this, we can deduce that this is no ordinary civilian. I saw the mission recorders of the lab you two looked in. I agree with your conclusion that it was probably both a science lab and a prison cell." She nodded towards Dawn.

"Doesn't that make him more dangerous?" Asked the otter, concerned. "We don't know what they did to him, and if it makes him a threat by just being here. I certainly wouldn't be happy if someone was holding me in a cell to experiment on."

"That may be true, but remember, we aren't the ones who imprisoned him, or held him. If anything I would think it cause him to be more receptive to peace."

"That's assuming that he wasn't imprisoned for some kinda crime or a valid reason." Murmured Ken, staring down at the armor still.

"That is a risk, but there is good news;" Jeanne flashed a sudden smile. "If you take a look at his suit, it has no weapons, or weapon systems on it."

The three glanced back at the suit, and sure enough, Dawn saw no blades, blade holsters, or charge points on his armor.

"So he isn't a fighter or soldier obviously."

"I believe that is correct," said Jeanne, now fiddling with the console attached to the bed again. "And, the medical readings are finished. Huh." She frowned at the screen.

"What's wrong?" asked Ken.

"Well, watching the recording of the first time you all saw him, I would have said he collapsed from shock. However, looking at these readings, there's no physical trauma, and the brainwave readings are minimal. I'm not sure why he collapsed." She tapped her finger on her chin a couple of times. "Regardless, I'm seeing no health problems with him, seems like he's a healthy 20-25 year old human male. He should be safe to wake up. Well, safe enough. We won't all catch some sort of disease. Also, I see no signs of mental degradation or disease."

Matt turned to Dawn.

"What do you say captain? Should we wake him up?"

The otter looked down at the figure, wishing she could see inside the human's head, and read his thoughts. Humans were by far the most variable creatures in known space. She had seen both saints and devils come from their race in her life. Whereas you could get a good idea of what an individual would be like by their race for most furs (with exceptions of course), humans were wild cards. Dawn looked at the faces of her crew, gathered around the human, waiting for her decision. Finally settling her gaze on Jeanne, she nodded slowly.

"Let's wake him up. He'll be up sooner or later, unless you keep him in a medical coma, and that seems a bit too cruel. I'd rather deal with this now."

"Alright." Said Jeanne briskly, "I'll turn off the containment field, but keep the bindings on his feet, waist, and hands. Help me get his helmet off."

As she tapped a couple controls on the console, the shimmering field faded away, replaced by bands of soft green light over the human's waist, ankles, and wrists. Ken moved up to help Jeanne with the helmet while Matt positioned himself by the figure's arms just in case.

"Come on," Muttered Ken, struggling with the helmet, "There has got to be...some sort of...release... here...? Ah, there we go!"

He slid the helmet off the human's head, and everyone craned their heads to get a good look at him. Dawn was surprised how...normal he looked. He wasn't what anyone would call handsome. His cheeks were gaunt, his eyes slightly shadowed and sunken, and although he was fairly young for a human, his black hair was already flecked with gray and silver. For a brief moment, he seemed to radiate a strange feeling of calm, but the impression was gone as fleetingly as it had come.

"I thought you said he was young?" Matt asked, glancing back at Jeanne.

"He is," Said Jeanne absently, still studying the human's face. "I'm guessing his appearance is due to whatever medical procedures or tests they did on him in that station."

She brought out a small syringe from the medical kit attached to the bed, and skillfully slid it into the human's neck.

"This should wake him up in no time..."

Dawn hovered over the unconscious human's figure, until she realized she was holding her breath. Forcing herself to breath she took a small circuit around the room, stretching from her claws to her tail. Walking back over to the bedside, she noticed Ken stifling a yawn, and Matt swaying slightly on his paws. She wondered if she made a mistake on waking up the human before they could get some rest, and if her own judgment had been effected by fatigue.

"As if I coulda slept with this all hanging over my head." She muttered to herself as she rejoined the others at the bed.

"He's coming around!" Matt said, motioning to the human's head.

After a couple moans and groans, he opened his eyes and sleepily looked around.

"Where am I...?"

"You're safe now, and on my ship." Dawn said, in the best captain voice she could muster. "Now, please tell me your name, and just how you ended up on that station."

The human seemed to consider this for a second, then slowly spoke.

"What station...? I don't...my name is...is..." His eyes widened, and he started thrashing against his bindings. "Oh gods...what is my name? Where am I? What's going on? WHO AM I?"

He was nearly shouting at this point, and Dawn glanced at Jeanne, who subtly nodded at her. Dawn reached down and pinned the human by his shoulders, leaning over him and looking directly into his eyes. His eyes were brown, and strangely arresting, even while widened by panic.

"Calm down. You're okay and safe. Just relax, and try to think."

The look in his eyes reminded her of a trapped animal, but he slowly relaxed his shoulders and nodded. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"There's nothing." He said after a little while.

"What do you mean?" Asked Jeanne, sidling up to the head of the bed.

"I mean, there is nothing but black. I have no memories." His voice had a curious mix of despondency and...was that...hope?

"Take a few minutes to try to think." Dawn told him, subtly motioning her crew over to the nearby console.

The human closed his eyes again, and started to take deep breaths, while the four of them clustered around the console.

"What the hell was that?" Ken asked Jeanne, obviously bewildered.

"Retrograde amnesia, possibly from trauma, or maybe dissociative amnesia. It's fascinating, obviously his speech center is intact, as are his motor functions. It could be due to trauma, or maybe some sort of surgery? I wonder if his social norms are still there, or perhaps we could-"

"How should we handle this? And what does all that mean anyways?" Dawn cut in, knowing that Jeanne could easily ramble for a half hour if she got going, and they would all likely only understand the first five minutes of it.

"Oh, sorry," Jeanne said sheepishly, "It means, probably due to some sort of injury, surgery, or trauma, he lost all his memory. It's obviously not complete brain damage, as he can still speak and obviously has language capabilities. The things we don't know are if he still has social norms, you know, like manners and etiquette, or if he can retain any new memories he makes."

"I see." Said Dawn, feeling a bit intimidated. She could tell both Ken and Matt were feeling similar, judging by the looks on their faces.

"So what do we do?"

"Well," Jeanne said, looking pensive, "I'd recommend starting to give him a new identity."

"Wait, what?" Asked Matt, looking even more confused.

"I think I get it," Ken said slowly. "He has no memories, so he has probably almost no personality, and...he'll start making a new one based on the memories he makes now?"

"That's pretty much it," replied Jeanne, grabbing Ken's paw and giving it a small squeeze. "He'll start to make a new personality based on his surroundings. It will pretty much be like a rapid form of a baby, or cub, growing up. Instead of a few years, it will take a few days."

"And it's just that easy?" Dawn asked shortly.

"I honestly can't say, Captain. There's very little research done on the subject, so we're sailing in uncharted waters here, to use a bit of an archaic phrase." Jeanne shrugged, looking apologetic.

Dawn took a deep breath.

"No choices then, huh? Okay, then let's get this started."

She walked back over to the human, followed by her crew.

"Could you remember anything?" she asked as he opened his eyes.

"Nothing." He said shortly, staring straight up at the ceiling. "I feel...empty."

"I see. Well, you are on my ship, the Dust Strider, and I am the captain, Dawn, and this is some of my crew; Matt, Ken, and Jeanne." She motioned towards each of them as she named them. "We found you inside an abandoned station we were salvaging, which had no other survivors on it."

"No...survivors?" The human asked softly.

"Yes. After we found you on the station, we were attacked by some sort of shadow creatures, and we barely made it out ourselves. I have no doubt the creatures were hostile and dangerous, so if anyone else was on the station at one time, they are most likely dead."

"I see."

"This is a small ship," Dawn continued, "with a small crew. We work together on salvaging abandoned stations and ship wrecks to make a living. It seems like you have nowhere to go back to, so I can offer you at least temporary stay on this ship. However, you will have to help out with our work if you want to get fed."

"I...uh, okay." He said slowly, obviously struggling to understand everything.

"Okay, good," Dawn said, her voice softening, "but first you need a name of some kind. Hmmm...hey Ken, what are the three closest systems to us right now?"

"Oh, uhhh..." Ken said, a little caught off guard by the sudden question. "I believe Eridis, Artemicia, and Juno."

"Shoot, all of those names are the wrong gender."

"How about Jae?" Matt asked. "Just use the first letter of each."

"Yea, that could work." Dawn said. She turned back to the human. "Would Jae work for you?"

"I...I guess. One name is as good as another?" He said, sounding slightly confused.

"Good. One last thing before we release you, then. I know you just woke up, and are probably feeling a bit confused, but I need to say one more thing to you. This is my ship, and I will not tolerate anything that will endanger my ship or my crew. I need to know that you will follow my orders and do your best to cooperate with everyone. Otherwise, I hate to say it, but you'll spend the rest of your trip in the hold. Do you understand?"

The human paused for a long moment with his eyes closed.

"...Yes, I will do the best I can."

"Okay then Jae, welcome aboard." She nodded to Jeanne, who disabled the restraints on him. "You look pretty rough. I'll have Matt show you to the guest room, and you can get some sleep, how's that?

Jae nodded wordlessly, and Dawn motioned to Matt.

"Put him in the port side guest room, and make sure he has what he needs, okay?"

"Aye aye, captain." Matt said, helping the human to his feet. He walked a little shakily, but by the time he got to the elevator, he seemed to be stable enough. As soon as the door slid closed, Dawn collapsed into a nearby chair.

"By the gods I could do with some R and R."

"That was good captain," Said Jeanne, laughing a bit. "I think you started him off on the right track." Ken nodded in agreement.

"I hope I did the right thing. Part of me says we should have just jettisoned him into space." She yawned. "You're sure he actually has amnesia, right? He's not just faking and going to murder us all as we sleep?"

"I am almost completely sure." Said Jeanne, glancing back at the readings still on the screen. "The low brainwave activity before we woke him up is consistent with amnesia, though I didn't recognize it at the time. As I said before, his new personality is going to depend a lot on his surroundings, but I'm not too worried. As long as we don't start lying, cheating, and murdering around him, he shouldn't turn out too badly."

"It's like the ultimate nature versus nurture experiment, huh? I thought I was done with all that after I got out of school." She yawned again. "I need to hit the sack. Can you tell Samantha and Vivian about Jae please, Jeanne? I would, but I'm beat."

"No problem Dawn, I'll let them know. You deserve a rest after this. You all do." She said, looking at Ken.

"Thanks." She muttered, walking to the elevator. She hit the up button, stumbled inside, and leaned against the side as the doors closed.

* * *

"So, what do you think?"

"About what?"

Jeanne swatted Ken lightly on the nose, chuckling.

"About Jae, and what happened today, of course."

Ken shuffled the blankets of their bed around, trying to find a better way to sit on his tail.

"Honestly, I don't even know what to think at this point." Ken said softly. "I feel bad for him honestly. Having no memories, and waking up somewhere like that...it can't be an easy thing to live through. I just hope it doesn't have any negative effects on him, you know?"

"That's a pretty sympathetic stance for someone you don't know anything about." Jeanne teased. "I doubt we'll be seeing him for that long, though."

Ken looked up at the change in her tone.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, and don't tell anyone about this, but our finances aren't so secure that we could take on a free-loader, or even just a laborer. You know, someone without any special skills."

"I'm not surprised. We really haven't gotten any great hauls lately. I guess that's why the Captain's been taking a couple more risks on salvaging locations."

"I'm just glad you all got back okay." Jeanne said somberly, wrapping her arms around Ken.

"Hah, are you kidding? It's going to take more than some weird darkness-monster-things to keep me from coming back to you." Ken laughed.

"Ooohhh, good answer." She said, leaning in to kiss him. He returned her kiss deeply until she leaned back and continued. "I'll have to reward you for such a good answer, I think." She moved in to kiss him again, as she slid a hand down to rest on his hardening member.

"Hmmm, seems like old 'cervix-puncher' is ready to go." She giggled.

"Oh come on, that was one time! And I didn't even mean to!" Ken protested.

"Relax, puppy, I'm just teasing you." She whispered into his ear, rolling over so she was straddling him. "I'm just glad you're still alive to tease." Her voice choked up a bit with badly hidden emotion.

"I told you." He said, lifting her nightgown over her head. "As long as I'm still breathing, I'll be fighting my way back to you. Don't worry about that."

"I know." Jeanne sighed, slipping her panties off in one motion, as Ken steadied her balance. "And that's one of the reasons I love you." She kissed him again as she slid herself down onto his waiting shaft.

She moaned slightly as more and more of him filled her up. He leaned down and nipped at her neck, as came to rest against his knot. Jeanne started to rock back and forth in a slow rhythm, as Ken moved one paw to her perky breasts, and one to grip her tight ass. Moving his head downward, his mouth found her other breast. Running his tongue over the nipple, he then used the very edge of his teeth to slowly pinch the nipple, and was rewarded with a moan from his partner.

"Ahhhh, oh puppy, you know how much I love it when you do that." She murmured into the top of his head, running her hands through the thick fur around his neck.

"Well," Ken muttered back, around the nipple still in his mouth. "I know how proud you are of your boobs, babe."

Jeanne giggled slightly.

"Well, I may have the smallest breasts on the ship, but that doesn't stop them from being the best. Nice and perky for my big, bad wolf."

"You're ridiculous sometimes, you know that?" He chuckled, lightly running his claws down her side, which made her arch her back in pleasure.

Jeanne started to move up and down at a brisk pace, her desires fanned by Ken's ministrations.

"That's...because...I know...you love me...for it." She panted in between thrusts.

Ken closed his eyes, starting to pant as well, and matching up his upward thrusts to her downward ones. Words were lost between them as they each lost themselves in the other. Their hands roaming, their lips constantly meeting. As Jeanne continued to move, she focused herself on trying to take more and more of her lover inside herself with each thrust. Listening to his breaths getting sharper and sharper as she got farther down his knot, she prepared herself for one last thrust. Pushing herself down with as much strength as she could muster, she cried out as the combination of pain and pleasure pushed her over the edge, and she engulfed her partner's entire knot, her hips coming to rest against his. The feeling of Jeanne slamming down over his knot, combined with her cries into his ear, pushed Ken over the edge as well, and he blasted his cum deep inside of her. She cooed softly as she felt his hot semen inside of her, deep in her womb. Collapsing against the wolf, she just lay there, as they both panted. After a few minutes of this calm embrace, Ken broke the silence. "Of course, now we're stuck together again."

Jeanne chuckled and swatted him weakly on the nose again.

"I can think of much worse things."

Ken shifted them to a laying down position, away of the tugging on his knot, and careful to keep Jeanne close.

"Me too, love."

He gave her an affectionate kiss on the forehead, as he pulled the blankets over them. They lay there, drifting off to sleep together. Right before sleep took him, Ken murmured:

"I'm just glad these walls are sound proof."

He got a slight giggle in response, before sleep claimed both of them.

* * *

"Still nothing from him." Dawn sighed.

"I told you, you have to give it time." Jeanne replied, not looking up from her datapad. "When I said a few days, that was an inexact guess. Could take a couple weeks even."

"Ugh, like I didn't have enough to deal with right now." Dawn said, dramatically throwing her head down onto the table. "This is just more crap I don't need to think about."

"Oh come on, don't be so mellow-dramatic," Giggled Samantha. "I know it must be sooo tough dealing with him." The squirrel continued, patting Dawn's shoulder in mock-sympathy.

"It's not like he's done anything bad. Without the whole 'not having any emotions thing', he'd be an ideal crew member." Added Jeanne in a monotone, still only half paying attention to the conversation.

"Yes, because that's such a small draw back." Returned Dawn, shifting her head to glare playfully at Jeanne, who winked back without looking up from her research.

"It's true. He acts like a robot. I feel bad for him, but it's a bit eerie." Samantha said, looking around the empty mess hall, as if she expected Jae to jump out from behind a table.

"Well, think about it," Jeanne said, looking up from her datapad finally, "think of how tough it was to grow up and go through puberty, emotionally that is. Now imagine going through all of that in less than a week. He's likely emotionally paralyzed at the moment. If you think about it, it's actually a pretty admirable reaction. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had been moody, and lashed out at people, or been extremely erratic. He's just internalizing everything I believe."

"Well, if you put it that way, I guess it could be worse," Sighed Dawn. "I just wish there was something we could do to help him."

"We need to give him time, I think." Samantha said, as Jeanne nodded. "It seems like it mostly comes down to Jae solving the problem on his own."

"Yea." Dawn paused for a moment, then sat up straight again, looking at her friends. "We have probably two more salvage stops before we get to a hub-station. I hope he sorts himself out by then, I'd hate to leave him there without any memories or personality. Seems like it would be a death sentence for him. However, I just can't afford to keep him on as a laborer, not with the expenses we already have. I just feel like such a terrible person."

"I know it's rough," Jeanne said softly, "but you have to think of the crew. It would be unfair to cut your crew's supplies, or even dismiss one of them, just because you found a helpless survivor on an abandoned station. It may sound terrible, but think of it this way: his chances of survival are way higher than if you had left him in that cell."

"True, but it doesn't make me feel like any less of a bitch." Dawn sighed. "Anyways, we should start getting ready for the salvage stop coming up, we'll be there within this wake cycle."

The three girls got up from the table, bringing their empty plates to the dish receptacle, and then moving towards the door. Dawn was the last one to leave the room, looking back and sighing once more into the room before flicking out the lights.

"This isn't what I signed up for."

* * *

Jae hoisted the crate onto his shoulder.

"This one, correct?"

"Yea, that's right," Ken nodded, "I think that about wraps it up for this room."

Jae and Ken both started moving towards the door of the room, the wolf clapping the human on the back.

"Now this is my kind of salvage mission! Hah!"

Jae adjusted the crate he was carrying, and swayed slightly under the force of Ken's gesture.

"It does seem quite easy. Is this how expeditions usually go?" Jae asked.

"I wish it was, we would be living a lot more comfortable." Ken chuckled. "Hauls like this only come around maybe once a yearly cycle. A recently abandoned observation post that hasn't been salvaged by any other teams? Jackpot. Equipment galore, in good condition too."

"I see. That is good." Jae replied flatly.

As they reached the door, Ken turned and engaged the closing mechanism. He then used a small device in his suit's glove to spray some paint on the door in an "X" symbol. "...and that marks it as salvaged." He muttered to himself. "Come on Jae, let's get this stuff back to the hangar."

They walked back through the hallways of the observation post, which were still lit and well-maintained. The salvage mission itself was a windfall for Dawn's crew. She had heard about how a certain planetary mapping company, Galactic Inquiries, had just gone bankrupt, and was losing most of its assets. Alongside her knowledge of where this outpost was from a previous emergency repair stop, she put her ship in position to pounce as soon as the company vacated the outpost. It was the ideal expedition for a salvage crew.

As Jae and Ken entered the hangar again, Dawn looked up from the datapad she was taking inventory on and beckoned them over.

"Is that the last of the stuff from Crew Storage?" She asked, glancing over the crate Jae was holding.

"Yes ma'am, survival and comfort gear, all unused." Ken said, grinning.

"Excellent. You can put it down with the other stuff over here, Jae."

Jae nodded and stacked the crate with the pile of scavenged gear from the station.

Samantha walked lightly down the ramp of the Dust Strider, awide smile on her face.

"We've still got plenty of room, cargo bay two is set to receive salvage."

"Man, this place is in such great condition too, great find Dawn." Ken added. "Hope we can pick up everything we want from here."

"Me too. All the equipment here is in great shape, even the machinery that runs the station. I wonder...maybe we could even salvage the reactor."

"You're joking right?" Matt asked, coming back into the hangar with an armful of computer parts. "Please don't tell me you're serious."

"Oh come on," Dawn giggled. "We could maybe make it out in time."

"That's like saying those shadow creatures are actually soft and cuddly. It could be true, but I wouldn't want to be the one to find out." Came a deadpan from next to the salvage pile.

Everyone spun around to see Jae, standing there with a slight smirk on his face. The crew members exchanged incredulous glances, then burst out laughing.

"Okay, true enough," Said Dawn, smiling, both about the salvage and this newest victory she had won this day. "I didn't know you watched the video logs of that expedition, Jae."

"Yea, I was hoping to find some kind of clue or something that would spark my memory, but nothing really helped." He replied, still smiling just slightly. "I'm not really sure whether I'm happy about that or not."

Ken and Matt started heading back into the station to grab more salvage, still chuckling, as Dawn moved over to start marking the cargo with Jae.

"What do you mean by that, Jae?"

"Well, I'm not quite sure how to articulate it," Jae answered, looking pensive. "I basically have a clean slate now. Who knows who I was before? I talked with Jeanne briefly about it, and she told me I was essentially creating a new personality and identity. It's hard for me to wrap my head around, honestly. What if I don't like who I used to be? Is that possible? Am I really becoming someone else? I think I'd like to have my memories, but I can't say for sure."

He stopped and sighed.

"I can feel myself changing into a new person, but it's hard to say how. All I know is that when I think back four cycles ago, I don't recognize that person." He glanced over at Dawn. "My apologies if that didn't make sense."

"No, it's fine." She returned quickly. "It's just, as you said, it is a bit hard for me to wrap my head around. I can't imagine what it must be like going through for you."

"I couldn't tell you," he laughed, "but I'll let you know when I can."

Dawn smiled and nodded, turning her full attention to the salvaging.

A few hours later, two of the cargo holds of the Dusk Strider were full of equipment and supplies ready to be sold off at the next hub-station they landed at, and the crew was just finishing up the final take off preparations.

"Excellent job guys, I'm proud of all of you." Dawn said, beaming at her crew.

"Yea, yea, just thank us with our pay checks." Ken laughed, elbowing her lightly.

"Careful now, or I'll dock your pay for insolence." Dawn replied, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Well, regardless of how well we did, it was a good haul." Vivian added, looking around at the remains of the parts they decided not to take.

"If only they could all be so easy." Matt sighed, smiling wearily.

"If they were, everyone and their mother would be salvagers." Samantha said, as Jae nodded in agreement.

"If you guys are all ready, we should get going." Called Jeanne from the entrance of the ship. "The faster we move on, the sooner we all get paid."

"Hah, no arguments there, honey." Ken said, starting to move into their ship. "Let's go guys."

* * *

Another explosion blared across the speakers, and the crew gave an appreciative gasp. The lounge was full of snacks and bodies, as the crew lounged about, celebrating the good haul earlier. Dawn sighed happily, enjoying the break after a long day of salvaging. She glanced around at her crew. Ken and Jeanne were snuggled together on one of the couches, looking sappy and happy. Matt was dozing on the other couch, stretched out and taking up the entire sofa by himself. Vivian was in the other armchair, alternating between watching the movie and chatting with some of her friends over the galaxnet. Samantha was amusing herself by flicking popcorn kernels at Matt, seeing how long it would take to wake him. Jae was sitting in front of the screen, watching intently as if he was trying to memorize the entire movie. It was probably because it was the first one he had ever seen, she thought.

She sighed softly to herself as she continued to watch him. As bad as she felt about it, she was still going to have to let him go when they got to the hub-station. It was a shame; as the haul had continued, he had become more and more animated and talkative. It was as if she could watch his personality growing right before her eyes. Yet, that still wasn't enough to justify keeping him on her crew. She had been playing with the idea of hiring a new crew member, but they had to be someone with experience and talent. Jae was a just a crew hand, an unskilled laborer.

As the movie came to a close, Dawn stood up and started a new one playing, this time a drama. She made a show of looking around the lounge then asked:

"Hey, can someone come with me to grab more snacks? Ken...? No, don't get up, you look way too comfortable. Jae, can you come help me?"

"Can do, Captain." He said, pushing himself to his feet. Jeanne threw Dawn a very short sympathetic glance, to which Dawn nodded very subtly.

As they moved to the kitchen of the ship, Dawn stopped Jae right outside the door.

"Jae I have to tell you something, and it's not great news." She waited for him to respond, but he just nodded shortly. "After our next salvage stop, we're going to be heading to a nearby hub-station. Once we're there, I'm going to have to let you go. It's not that you did anything wrong, it's just that I can't afford to keep you as a crew member. We've got lots of operating costs, and we aren't exactly rolling in profits. I hate to do this to you, especially considering your current situation, but I have no choice. I'll give you some supplies and a few credits, but I really can't spare much. I'm sorry."

Jae was quiet for almost two minutes, just digesting this news. Dawn could see his eyes cloud over with sadness, and felt her gut wrench.

"I understand, Captain." He said quietly, the despair clearing from his eyes. "I can tell you aren't just making this choice lightly. Thank you."

"I wish it were different, or that I could wait longer before doing so, but-"

"You don't need to justify it to me, Captain. As I said, I know it's a hard choice." Jae returned with a tired smile.

"I hope for the best for you, Jae. Come on, let's get the snacks, then finish that movie."

* * *

The next few wake cycles passed uneventfully for Dawn, and the rest of the crew. They slept, maintained the ship, organized the cargo, and generally just killed time while they traveled to the next salvage spot. Dawn made sure to keep an eye on Jae, to see how he took the news about having to leave the ship at the next hub-station, but he seemed to be unchanged by his impending departure. If anything, his personality continued to grow, evolving into a calm, collected person, with a very dry wit. Overall he was pleasant to be around and dependable. He started to spend more time with Dawn and the crew, which was welcomed by them, but worried her at the same time. It made it harder and harder to stick to her decision. Still, despite her doubts, she reminded herself that she had no choice in the matter.

The wake cycles seemed to blur, until they were approaching their next destination, an abandoned mining facility.

"Ok guys, here is our next target, an abandoned mining facility, dug into the side of asteroid orbiting a small ice planet." Dawn informed her crew, who were gathered around the large table in the middle of the conference room on the ship. "All intel I have points to either the facility running out of material to mine, or the company running out of funds and withdrawing."

"Is it run by a major company?" Matt asked.

"From what I can tell, it's either a small private trust, or a front for a larger mining corporation to avoid taxes." Jeanne replied. "I couldn't get that much info on it though."

"I don't foresee any problems, as the long range scans we have of it point to it being lifeless, but with power still running. It's likely that whoever was there abandoned it, and left the reactor running until it overloads and erases the evidence." Dawn said, pointing to the screen next to her at the front of the room. It showed a slightly blurry image of the facility. Blue lines ran through it, indicating power, but there were no red shapes that would represent life forms. Brows furrowed and heads nodded around the room.

"Although I don't think there will be a problem, our recent stops have shown us that you can never be too careful, so we'll be sending in a scout party first, before we bring the ship into a hangar and get everyone out. Matt, Ken, Jae, you're all coming in on the scout party with me."

"Got it."

"Will do."

"Aye Captain."

"The rest of you will stand-by in the ship, until we can verify the relative safety of the facility, understood?"

"Okay."

"Understood."

"Yes."

"All right guys, we're about 20 minutes out, so everyone get suited up and prepared."

The crew moved out of the conference room and to the preparation room to put on their survival suits. Dawn, Ken and Matt, couldn't help but throwing some furtive glances over at Jae. Though they had all seen it, his space suit was still an oddity to them, and even to Jae himself. In their spare time over the past couple wake cycles; they had all examined it, trying to make sense of it. They still could find no weapon systems on the suit, and Jae hadn't been able to make it do anything different, so they just assumed that it was some kind of protective haz-mat suit.

As they all finished suiting up, Samantha's voice came over the ship's intercom.

"We're arriving in three minutes, everyone all suited up?"

"Roger that Sam. Do you have our suits synched to the ship?" Replied Dawn.

"All four of you are green across the board."

"Sounds good, let's kick some ass!" Ken exclaimed, slamming his fist into his palm.

"Feeling a bit excited?" Matt asked, smiling at Ken's enthusiasm.

"Damn right I am, I feel like I could take on the galaxy and win right now!"

"Let's not rush anything, right?" Jae injected, standing calmly next to the door.

"Awww, come on, don't be such a spoil sport." Ken teased.

"Enthusiasm is good, but Jae is right too. Hot spirit, cool head." Dawn had to struggle to keep the smile off her face.

"If you say so, Captain." Said Ken, bursting into raucous laughter.

Dawn just smirked and shook her head at the wolf, before turning her attention back to the airlock. The light above the door changed from red to green, and a soft "ding" sounded, signaling that the ship had linked up to an airlock door on the other side.

"We good to go Sam?" Dawn asked, keying her microphone.

"Yes ma'am, door is opening." She replied, as they heard her voice shift to the speakers in their suits.

The three furs and the human stepped out into the station. It was well lit and clean, some kind of hallway that led from the airlock. Dawn looked around the entrance way until she found what she was looking for. Tapping the small button twice, she watched as the lights in the hallway turned off, then on again.

"Systems seem to still be online in the facility" She said, looking at her comrades. "Let's start moving in deeper."

The four of them moved down the hallway, alert, but relaxed. After reaching the door at the far end, it noiselessly slid open on a motion sensor. They continued down a staircase, made a left turn through another door, and moved out into a wide open room.

"Looks like the central command room." Matt said, pointing to two lines of tiered control panels, all glowing softly."

"Nice view too." Ken whistled softy, looking above the control panels to a massive plate glass window above the consoles, looking back out at the airlock port hallways, which extended perpendicular from the station. They could see the Dust Strider locked onto the one on the left.

"This must be a camouflaged window, I don't remember seeing this coming in from the airlock hallway, and those were lined with viewports." said Jae slowly.

"You're right, I remember looking at the middle of the facility and seeing only a normal piece of plating." Added Matt.

"Maybe they were looking to protect company secrets, or something similar." Dawn said matter-of-factually. "Matt, can you get on one of those computers and find us some intel on what happened here? I'd really like to have a status update on the reactor if you can, too."

"Yes ma'am, I'm on it."

"Good. Everyone else, standard procedure. Secure the area." Dawn barked out the order.

Dawn, Ken, and Jae started to look around the room while Matt moved to the computer consoles and started one up. The only sounds in the room were the echoing footsteps of the crew, and the soft tapping of Matt on the computer panel. As Dawn looked around, she started to feel unsettled. The facility was immaculately clean. There was no garbage, almost no wear and tear on the floors, and not even any dust on the surfaces of the various furniture. On a hunch, she flipped the visor of her helmet up and sniffed the air. It smelled stale and artificial, with a hint of cleaning products, with nothing else. It seemed unnatural. The fur on the back of her neck rose.

"Can anyone hear that?" Came a soft call from Jae.

Everyone froze, and listened. For a few moments, no one else could hear anything. Then Ken said slowly:

"That clanking, yea I can hear it now."

Dawn strained the limits of her hearing, finally hearing a soft rhythmic clanking, sounding like it was coming from the ceiling. She turned in confusion; Jae was over on the far side of the room from her, and Ken was fairly close to the middle of the room. How had Jae heard the sounds first, when Ken's hearing was so much better? She shook the thoughts from her head and listened again. It wasn't her imagination, the clanking was getting closer. Her paws unconsciously crept to the two blades she had strapped to her thighs. Without turning she called out:

"Matt, how's that intel coming?"

"It's...frustrating. There some kind of security program in place, which keeps ghosting whatever I do and undoing it. I don't think I triggered any alarms or security routines though."

"Even if you didn't, something's coming!" Ken called out in warning.

Matt turned and left the console, coming to stand ready with the rest of the crew. Suddenly the clanking stopped. No one dared move or make a sound. Until Jae's arm shot up and pointed out the window.

"Look!"

Dawn turned to the window, and her stomach felt like it dropped to her shoes. Out on the airlock hallway, a silhouette was moving towards the airlock of the Dust Strider.

"Sam, come in, something's moving towards your airlock!"

"What? But Dawn, aren't you all over on...oh shit!"

"Emergency take off, now!" Dawn shouted into her mic.

"I-uh...I can-right, got it!" Samantha stumbled over three different parts of sentences, before they could hear her slamming some of the controls of the ship.

There was a loud grinding noise that reverberated through the facility, then the Dust Strider lurched away from the airlock, visibly venting exhaust out the close side. Once away from the airlock, the ship wobbled a bit, then steadied out as the main engines resumed function.

Dawn keyed her mic once again; "Everything ok out there?"

"Y-Yea...minimal damage to the ship, and everyone is fine. We'll remain in locked orbit on station if you need us." Samantha's voice was shaking.

"Good. I'm beginning to think we might just need to get out of here...something is definitely wrong." Dawn replied.

"Did you guys see that silhouette? What the hell was that?" Ken asked looking around the control room.

"I don't know what it was, but it's gone now." Jae stated flatly.

The three furs spun around to look at the airlock hallway. It was empty and dark, the lights were out.

"Oh shit..." Matt gasped.

"That's it, we're leaving now." Dawn said firmly, hitting her mic once again. "Dust Strider, get ready to meet us at the other airlock, as soon as we get there."

As they turned to head to the other airlock, the speakers in their suits turned on again.

"Guys, there's a problem," Jeanne's calm voice said into their ears. "I was following you on the facilities security cameras, but something just shut me out of the system. I think some kind of lock down procedures just activated."

Ken was the first one over to the doorway leading to the other airlock. He waved in front of the motion sensor, then slammed his paw into the override button.

"Damnit, it's locked."

Dawn was about to reply when she heard something. The clanking had started up again, but it had multiplied tenfold. It sounded like it was surrounding them.

"Ken, get back from the door!" She shouted.

Ken launched himself back just as a form dropped onto where he had been standing.

"What the hell is that thing?" Matt cried.

As the form straightened up, they got a good look at it. It seemed to be a hellish combination between a mining and cleaning robot. It had four long spider-like legs, a heavily reinforced torso and a small head, with a glowing red optical receiver in the middle. On one of its arms was a rotating chainsaw-like mining implement, and the other arm tapered off into three very sharp manipulators. As it started walking towards Ken, its legs made loud clanking on the floor, and a loud whirring emanated from its chainsaw as it started spinning.

"You son of a bitch!" Ken shouted, whipping the two handed blade off his back, slamming the control that started it vibrating, and slashing towards the robot with one smooth motion.

"Ken, don't!" Dawn shouted, but the wolf was already in motion.

Ken brought the blade down on the shoulder of the robot. The blade buzzed angrily, then stopped...about three inches into the robot.

"What...?" Ken just stared at the blade in his hands for about half a second, before throwing himself backwards once more, pulling the sword out of the notch it had created. A fraction of a second later, the robot's chainsaw swiped through the air where Ken's head had been a moment before.

"They're some kind of mining robots; their armor looks too thick for our weapons to pierce!" Dawn yelled, grabbing the wolf's shoulder and yanking him to his feet. Matt took the spear off his back and similarly started it vibrating, as Dawn did the same with her two one-handed blades.

"Well, if we can't fight them, what do we do?" Ken growled, as three more robots dropped from the ceiling in front of them.

"We run!" Dawn yelled, motioning her crew to fall back, deeper into the station. They moved back together. As they approached the door at the back of the room, it surprisingly opened when they drew near. Not stopping to question their good fortune, they moved through the door swiftly. As they continued deeper into the station, five more robots dropped from the ceiling near them.

"Where the hell are they coming from?" Yelled Ken in frustration.

"Worry more about what they're doing!" Jae shot back.

The robots started to follow rapidly, keeping the crew just shy of a full sprint. Dawn took the lead, running through door after door, although she noticed that at intersections, only one of the doors would open.

"We're being herded!" She shouted to her comrades.

"Unless you feel like attacking head on, not much we can do about it now." Matt returned grimly.

Dawn sprinted through a door, then came skidding to a stop. She looked around frantically, but what she feared had come to pass. It was a dead end. Ken, Matt, and Jae entered right behind her, and came to the same conclusion.

"Oh shit." She panted, looking around again, as if a door would suddenly appear that she hadn't seen. The room, however, stayed the same: an empty, round room. Hearing the clanking steps of the robots behind them, all four of them spun around to face the door.

The robots chasing them slowed down as they got to the doorway, as if stalking their now helpless prey. Entering the doorway, the robots spread out, slowly closing in on the human and furs.

"So, what now?" Ken asked, nearly snarling at the machines drawing near.

"Well, flights gone, so I guess it's FIGHT!" Dawn cried, snapping both her blades out of their holsters and jumping at the foremost robot. She slashed it across the torso as hard as she could, twisting her entire body into the strike. Dodging the swing from the chainsaw, she pivoted on her left paw and slashed at the machine's head. As the otter tried to dodge again, the robot's other arm shot forward, striking her hard on the shoulder. Dawn threw herself into a backwards roll, absorbing some of the force of the blow. As she straightened up and looked back at her foe, her shoulders slumped. The two slashes on the torso of the robot had only sunk about an inch into the machine's armor, and the blow to its head had left barely more than a scratch. Matt and Ken had also struck out at different enemies, with similar results. Matt's spear had deflected off the robot's armor, while Ken's slash had a similar effect to his last attack.

"Damnit, what's with these guys?" Ken growled.

"They look like re-purposed mining droids," Matt answered, keeping his eyes on the robot in front of him. "They're heavily armored to withstand mining conditions like heat and shrapnel. Someone must have made them faster and programmed them to kill."

The machines continued their unerring advance on the four crew members. The furs and human continued to back up, keeping distance from the robots. Within moments, they were only feet away from the wall.

"Doesn't look like we'll be sneaking out of this one guys." Dawn said cheerfully, trying and failing to keep her voice from cracking.

"I guess it comes with the territory, right?" Ken sighed, closing his eyes.

"Turn your mics off, guys." Matt said quietly. "The girls back on the ship don't need to hear this."

The other three nodded and turned off their mics, cutting off communications to the ship.

"I'm sorry guys, we shouldn't have come here." Dawn said. "Looks like I wasn't cut out to being a captain."

"Don't blame yourself, Dawn." Ken returned. "We all followed you in here willingly."

"And now look what happened." Dawn said sadly, shaking her head. "I guess this is the end."

"No."

Startled, Dawn turned her head. Jae briefly placed his hand on her shoulder as he walked past her. The visor of his suit had turned an opaque blue, so she couldn't see his face.

"Jae...?"

"This is not the end."

Dawn stared at Jae's back. The human's voice had changed from its usual calm sound, deepened and become rougher, almost a growl. If she didn't know better, the otter would have said the voice came from Ken. It seemed inhuman.

"Stand back."

Jae walked towards the robots calmly, seemingly unafraid. Dawn, however, felt her paws start shaking and her mouth dry out. She wondered where this fear was coming from. It was almost as if it was emanating from Jae. She had to force words out of her mouth.

"Jae, get back! You aren't even armed!"

He paused, and turned his head back slightly.

"No. I finally realize: I've been armed this entire time."

As the last word left his mouth, he dashed forward, straight towards the closest robot. He stopped right in front of the machine. In one blurring motion, Jae stepped in with his right foot, and slamming his right fist into the middle of its torso. The robot collapsed into a heap...over 20 feet away.

The three furs were left speechless.

"...I...wha-" Matt managed to stammer out.

"Jae, watch out!" Dawn yelled.

The enemies on either side of the robot moved, advancing rapidly on the human. The one on the left reached him first, swinging at his head with its chainsaw arm. Jae causally swayed backward and to the right, the saw missing him by mere inches. He then completed the turn, spinning his right heel into the robot's head, sending it sailing away. The machine froze for a split second, then fell into a heap, like a puppet with its strings cut. The other robot reached him, and swung its own chainsaw down at the human. Jae almost lazily snapped his arm up, lining up his forearm to block it. Dawn sucked in a sharp breath, expecting to see his arm be severed by the whirling blades. Her eyes widened in confusion. The blades stopped half an inch from the human's arm, sparking and bouncing off as if it had just hit a reinforced wall.

"But...how?" Dawn breathed.

"Look! Look at his arms and legs!" Ken said excitedly, pointing at Jae.

The air around Jae's forearms, hands, calves, and feet was distorted about half an inch surrounding his limbs. It looked similar to a heat mirage but seemed more substantial.

The human shoved against the chainsaw, pushing it off his arm. Fast as lightning, he grabbed the machine's arm, and slammed his other hand into the base of the blades, driving the whole saw into the robot's own torso. It ground against the armor for a second, then pierced through the entire machine. Letting go of the arm, Jae kicked the robot away from him. It staggered for half a second, then collapsed, its blades still grinding up its insides. Turning smoothly towards two of the robots about 15 feet off to his right, he punched his fist towards them in a blur. As he did, a roughly sphere shaped patch of distortion shot out of his fist, and flew into the front machine. It was like it got hit by a speeding cargo truck. The robot's chest plate cracked and caved in as it flew backwards into the machine behind it, both of them falling into a pile of sparks and saw blades.

"Behind you!" Matt shouted suddenly.

Jae didn't even turn, launching himself straight up, as another chainsaw swiped through where he had just been standing. He turned in midair, landing upside-down on the ceiling. Pausing for almost a split second, he pushed off the ceiling hard, flying straight down again. Turning once more, he brought his right foot down hard onto the robot's head with a hammer kick, smashing it down into the machine's torso. It seemed to rock back and forth for a moment, then its legs gave out and the robot fell to the ground.

The three furs watched wide-eyed as Jae dispatched the remaining three robots with a flurry of precise kicks, punches and throws. As the last one crashed to the floor, he turned and walked towards to his comrades.

"Unbelievable..." Ken whispered, staring at the approaching human.

Dawn staggered forward, her legs still a bit unsteady from their sudden reversal of certain death to safe.

"How...what did you...?" She said shakily.

"We don't have time," Matt injected, looking around at the scrapped machines. "We need to keep moving. Who knows how many more of those things might be hanging around here."

"He's right." Jae said. His voice was calmer, but still had a rough edge to it. "I'll tell you all I can later."

"Right." Dawn nodded, adrenalin steadying her once more. She clicked on her mic again. "Come in, Dust Strider. Away team on the way back the airlocks, get ready to dock when we get there."

"Dawn, is that you? It's good to hear you." Samantha's voice came over the speakers, sounding extremely shaky. They could hear sobbing in the background of the transmission.

"Yea, we're all still alive, somehow. We'll talk later."

"Ok, I'll get the ship ready for pick up, ship out."

Dawn turned to her crew, making sure they were all ready to go. Matt and Ken both had hardened expressions on their faces, focused on the task ahead. Jae's visor was still opaque, leaving only his body language. He seemed almost relaxed, but Dawn knew better than to judge him on his past behavior at the moment.

"Time to get out of here guys." Dawn said, receiving three terse nods in reply.

She led the way, only staggering very slightly before catching herself. All three of them ran past the wrecked robots out the door they had come in, moving at a brisk pace.

"Stay alert, I don't want any surprises on the way out of here."

"Yes ma'am" Jae said softly, while the two furs just nodded again.

They kept their weapons, or in Jae's case, his fists, at the ready as they moved back along the path they had been chased by the machines. The station seemed deserted now, and they reached the control room once more without incident.

"Over there." Jae pointed to the other airlock exit. A small figure was hunched in front of it.

"Let's be careful. Matt, watch our backs." Dawn ordered, as Matt turned around to keep a look out.

As they drew near to the figure, they could tell it wasn't a robot. It was a small rat morph, his suit torn and inexpertly repaired, rocking back and forth sitting up in the fetal position. Dawn, noticing he was unarmed, moved closer to him. When they got close enough to him, they could hear him muttering.

"Clean...clean...still need to clean. Who are they? They don't look clean...need to be cleaned. Should I clean? Hee hee hee...all will be clean soon."

"What the..." Matt said, glancing over his shoulder with a mix of disgust and pity on his face.

"Let's see if he knows what's going on here." Dawn suggested, leaning a little closer to the rat. "Hello, my name is Dawn, and this is my crew. Can you tell us what happened here? Why this place is abandoned?"

The rat barely seemed to react, but he started nodding as he rocked, and continued muttering to himself.

"It wants to talk to me...hee hee hee...old Raphael doesn't need them poking around. Hee hee...they want to know what happened...I wonder if they would realize how unclean it was...all of them...walking around, eating, working. They made it so unclean...Raphael needed to clean...was my job to clean...my mission. Found the mining robots...hee hee hee...reprogrammed them...made them better. They helped me clean...cleaned all the others out of this place...took a long time to scrub all the stains they left...hee hee hee...but they can't dirty anything anymore..."

Dawn recoiled in disgust.

"You little monster! You killed your comrades just because they were making things dirty? It's a mining station, of course it's going to get dirty!"

Raphael still didn't react, just kept on nodding and rocking.

"They were messy...didn't understand how important clean is...these things here....they too don't understand...the robots should be here soon...hee hee hee...I'll make them clean in the end...hee hee hee hee..."

"Enough." Ken snarled, driving his sword through the rat's chest. As Dawn looked at Ken, shocked, he just sighed. "He was crazy, Dawn. You just heard him admit to murdering everyone on this station, and trying to kill us too."

"He's right, Captain." Jae added. "He was long gone. It's better this way."

"You're right, I know." Sighed Dawn, looking down at the crumpled form of Raphael. "There's just been a lot of pointless bloodshed on this station."

Ken reached down and rifled through the rat's pockets, triumphantly holding up a key card for the others to see.

"It's the supervisor's key, this should get us out of here."

"About damn time." Matt growled from the back. "I'm really getting sick of this place."

Ken swiped the card into the manual override slot in the door, as Dawn called the ship again, signaling for pick up. As they hurried towards the airlock, Dawn nearly fainted in relief on seeing the airlock open into a familiar room. As the four of them passed the threshold, Matt turned and hit the button to seal the airlock behind them. Dawn slumped to the floor and closed her eyes as the doors slid closed.

* * *

About an hour later, the entire crew was gathered once again in Jeanne's med bay. The away team had changed back into casual ship clothes, after taking hot showers, and were lounging around the med bay, unwinding and laughing.

"How come every other trip we make recently ends up with us running for the airlock?" Laughed Ken. "I think we should all get a raise."

"Hey! It's because I'm trying to get you a raise that we end up running. Higher risk, higher reward right?" Dawn replied, sticking her tongue out at the wolf.

"Not sure it's worth the trade." Matt stated, rolling his eyes. "Why can't we find high rewards with no risk?"

"Tell you what, if you find any, you can tell us and plot the course to it." Samantha teased. "But I doubt that will be happening any time soon."

"Hey, you never know." Returned Matt. "I could have a massive hidden intelligence that you guys just don't know about."

"The only intelligence network I'd believe you having is a restaurant rating service." Ken snickered.

"Oh come on!"

A soft "ding" sound from across the room caught all their attention, and they looked over to the bed where Jae had been laying. He sat up and removed the diodes from his head. Jeanne finished reading the readings from the monitor near the machine, then grabbed a datapad and came over to the group.

"So."

That one word immediately changed the disposition of the crew. Even the air seemed tense.

"I finished the scans on Jae, and got a few results, but I think it would be better to hear it from him first." Jeanne stated.

The entire group turned to look at Jae. He looked down at the ground and scratched the back of head. He closed his eye for a second, then looked straight at the group.

"Well, yea. It's not like I was lying to you guys before, really. It was just...a moment of clarity, I suppose, back in that station." Jae said, still fidgeting a bit.

"Jae, before you go any farther, I just want to say 'thank you' on behalf on the entire crew. You saved us in there. I think none of us would be here if it wasn't for you. Whatever you have to say, we'll listen." Dawn said quietly.

"Thank you, Captain." Jae said, steeling himself to continue. "I guess it was in the station, when we all thought we were going to die. Something snapped in me, and memories came flooding in. I still don't remember much about myself, but I was a fighter. Everything seemed different. I looked at the robots, and I didn't see the 'scary-murder-machines' I had been looking at. I saw slow, clunky machines, with tons of openings. I stopped thinking. I must have been one hell of a soldier or something, because I was just reacting, like I was on autopilot."

"You were quite the fighter, but how?" Ken injected. "Those machines were massive and heavily armored, and you took them out with just your hands and feet! Is it something in your suit?"

"Not quite..." Jae said hesitantly. "It comes from my...powers."

He held up hand left arm, and the air around it started to shimmer again, like a heat mirage. Reaching over to a set of tools, he grabbed a scalpel in his other hand, and before anyone could stop him, stabbed his arm. The blade of the scalpel stopped about half an inch from his arm.

"I wrap my arms and legs in this, and I can punch through steel plating, armor, stop blades with my bare hands and so on."

"But, what is it?" Asked Samantha. "Some sort of super power?"

"In a way." Jeanne cut in. "It's close to the idea of telekinesis, or psychic powers. Basically, he's manifesting his brain waves as a physical force."

"How is that possible?" Vivian asked, looking up. "I've never even heard of something like this."

"Look at this," Jeanne replied, showing the datapad she was holding. "It's a scan of his brain. This whole area at the top is one large tumor-like thing. It's hard to describe, because honestly, it should be fatal."

"So what you're saying is; he's a mutant." Snickered Ken.

Jeanne reached over and lightly smacked Ken.

"Manners, dear. What I'm saying, is it's a one-in-a-billion chance that he is standing here with us. It is undoubtedly the source of his 'powers'."

"Yea, something like that." Jae said, looking uncomfortable. "I think that's why they trained me. My memories are still really scrambled; I just remember bits and pieces of training. That's why I was able to punch and kick those robots."

"The only problem is with all this, is that it seems that he's been...modified." Jeanne said quietly.

All around the room, there were sharp intakes of breath and narrowed glances at Jae, who flushed and looked confused.

"Um...yea, I only remember parts of that. Just...burning pain and surgery scars. What's wrong?" He asked, looking around at the crew.

"The problem, Jae," Dawn said gently, "is that the creation of artificially modified fighters and 'super-soldiers' has been outlawed for almost a hundred years now. It is a crime that carries the highest punishment in the Federation." Seeing Jae's confused look, she continued. "About a hundred years ago, a coalition of species founded a colony on a fairly distant planet. Most of them were tired of excessive squabbling and fighting that was taking place in the Federation at the time, and were looking for a way to escape it. At some point they decided that the reason for all the fighting was a lack of strength in the Federation's army. They devoted their brightest scientists to creating a new breed of soldiers, who would live only to fight and win. They succeeded...too well. After making a couple hundred of these soldiers, the super-soldiers broke free and did what they were made to: fight. Less than 300 soldiers killed over 50,000 furs and humans, every last person on the planet. Before they were completely overrun, they manage to destroy all their space worthy crafts. The soldiers were working on making one space worthy again when Federation ships showed up. The super-soldiers were deemed too big a threat to galactic civilization, and the entire planet was bombarded from orbit, until nothing but ash remained. Within two years, a law had been passed that strictly banned the creation of any kind of enhanced soldier."

"I'm that altered?" Jae asked, looking stricken. "Is it really that serious?"

"You have quite a plethora of enhancements, but nothing too drastic." Jeanne said, tapping her finger on the datapad. "Most of your bone marrow has been synthesized with durasteel solution, meaning it will be almost impossible for you to break any bones. Your muscles have nano tension-lines running through them, making them extremely dense and strong compared to normal muscles. Your eyes and ear have been surgical enhanced with micro-processors, making them more efficient and effective as well. Finally, you have a small implant in your brain which I think is a reflex enhancer, but I'm not sure."

"It's not so bad," Said Matt thoughtfully. "It would be almost impossible to tell just from looking at you that you're modified. I just wouldn't go around using your powers in public."

"Will I be punished for just being modified?" Jae asked nervously.

"I believe there is a clause in the law that provides for unwilling recipients of modification, but I wouldn't risk it." Answered Jeanne. "You would likely be put in custody, and poked and prodded for a couple months. They might even put some limiters on you, to make you 'less of a threat to the public'."

"I...I see."

"Can you remember anything else?" Asked Samantha, curious.

"Hmmmm..." Jae paused for a moment. "I don't think so. Everything is still really jumbled. Just images of training, vague memories of people shouting at me, and lingering pain from the operations."

"Well, I guess we know why we found you in that surgical room on that abandoned station." Matt said quietly.

The room became silent as everyone digested what he said.

"I hate to ask this, but it's the only way I can think of." Said Vivian slowly. "Do you still feel the same? Like, no assassin training or killer instincts are coming back?"

Jae considered this for a moment.

"I don't think so." He slowly looked around the room, making eye contact with everyone. "I can't say 100%, not with how confused I feel right now, but it feels more like I just recovered skills instead of part of my personality again. I feel like the same person still. I understand, though, if you guys don't feel comfortable around me." He managed a small smile. "I'm not even sure I trust myself at the moment."

"Hah, shit man." Ken chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "You saved our damn lives. It would be pretty ungrateful for us to lock you up or something. I can't speak for everyone, but I trust you, Jae."

"Well, I can speak for everyone." Laughed Dawn. "And as Captain of this ship I refuse to imprison you for saving our lives." She glanced the clock on a nearby monitor. "Also, we've all had a long day, so to speak, and I think we're overdue for some shut-eye." Various murmurs of agreement sounded, and Dawn continued. "Ok, everyone head to bed."

As the crew filed into the elevator, Dawn made a subtle signal to Jeanne to stay in the lab, and after the lab had emptied out, she turned to the doctor.

"What do you think?"

"About Jae, of course?" Jeanne looked back to the datapad as Dawn nodded. "I think he's telling the truth. I did a quick brainwave scan, and it's consistent with what he displayed before this cycle. I can't imagine he's doing anything but telling the truth."

"And the surgery?"

"I would think he's being truthful about that too." Jeanne paused for a moment. "I can take a guess at how much those procedures would hurt, and no sane person would volunteer for them. I think what happened is that he likely manifested those powers pretty early in his life, or maybe he was even genetically engineered to have them, and was drafted into some overeager military program. What I can't tell you is why we found him in that station."

"Fair enough." Dawn rapped her claws pensively on one of the tables. "Not that I'm accusing you or anything, but why didn't you see any of this when you first scanned him?"

"The brain part is because I was looking for something completely different. I wasn't even thinking about general brain shape at the time." Jeanne admitted. "And the rest of the enhancements are very subtle. Easy to miss if you are particularly looking for them. I'm guessing that's on purpose too."

Dawn considered this for a moment, then nodded.

"I never would have guessed he would end up saving our lives." She said quietly.

"He is quite the fortunate find." Jeanne agreed. "I watched your mission recorder's video of the fight. That was barely even a warm up for him, it seemed. His potential is unreal."

Dawn just silently nodded, then yawned.

"I think I'm going to sleep for about five cycles. I'll see you whenever I wake up, Jeanne."

"The ship is set on course right?" She asked the otter. Dawn just nodded and waved as she made her way to the elevator. "Then I'll see you when you wake up, Dawn."

Dawn nodded again as the elevator doors slid closed behind her.

* * *

"AAHHHH!!"

Dawn sat bolt upright, gasping for air, trying to calm her heart rate after the nightmare. She rubbed her temples, trying to ease the memories from her mind. Her dreams had been full or chainsaws and eerie clanking, the cloying scent of stale bleach and a rat with a gaping hole in his chest.

She shook her head. That had been the third nightmare since trying to go to sleep. Always the feeling of being trapped on that mining station again. Throwing off the blanket covering her, she slipped her ship suit back on, and stood up. She knew she wasn't likely to get much sleep that cycle. Intending to take a walk around the ship to clear her head, Dawn opened her cabin door and walked into the hall of the ship. One of her favorite parts about her ship was the outer hallway. It ringed around the edges of the ship, and had large windows. Usually it was too dangerous to have actual windows on a ship, these windows were actually a thin layer of clear titanium instead. Stable, but easy to see through. Though she knew the previous captain paid quite a sum to have them installed, debt which she inherited with the ship, she thought they were worth it. Especially during faster-than-light travel, when the entire view was tinted blue. She felt like she was swimming in an ocean looking out through them, a feeling which she sorely missed when in space.

She turned a corner to continue walking the other side of the ship and saw Jae standing outside his room, staring out into space. Dawn walked up quietly, the pads on her feet muffling her steps, but Jae turned to look at her before she even got with 30 feet of him. Nodding to him, she moved up to stand next to him.

"Can't sleep Captain?" He asked quietly.

"Yea, I feel like my body is here, but my mind is still back in that station." She glanced at him, but his face was studiously blank. "You having trouble too?"

"My head is just too full of fractured pictures." He said softly, his voice tinged with sadness. "I feel like I'm reliving an entire life, without having actually lived it."

"I can't imagine what it must me like." She said. He seemed about to say something, but then just nodded.

Dawn just stood there for a few minutes, silently watching the stars go by.

"I want to thank you again for earlier. I really thought that we were going to die there." She said softly.

Jae shook his head.

"I want to say 'you're welcome', but I feel like it wouldn't be fair. I honestly can't take credit for it. It was like someone else's body, and I was just following the steps." He sighed in frustration. "I guess I should just thankful that everyone is alive."

Dawn glanced over, and she could see the frustration on his face. She took a deep breath before saying:

"I have something else I want to say to you." He glanced over at her, curious, and she continued, "I'll understand if you just throw this back in my face, but I'd like to offer you a place on my crew." She could feel her skin growing hot in embarrassment, and was grateful for the fact that her fur hid her blush. "I know I said I couldn't keep you, but that wasn't anything personal. As I said, this is a tight budget, and I need every crew member to be able to pull their weight. You proved today, easily, that you can do this. I don't want this come out like I needed you to be worthy but-"

Jae cut her off with an upheld hand.

"It's ok, Captain. I do understand, and I know it wasn't out of personal or maliciousness that you made that decision. I'm just glad I can be useful to someone. I'd be happy to take a place on your crew."

Dawn nodded to him, and looked out the window again, a slight smile on her face.

"Welcome aboard, Jae." She reached up and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm going to try and get a bit more sleep. You should try, too."

She turned and started walking back to her room.

"Thank you. Sleep well, Captain."

When she got back to her room, she kicked off her suit and climbed back into her bed. As she lay there, exhaustion closed in on her. Dawn drifted off to sleep, and she could feel the nightmares closing in on her again. Before she could cry out, a figure of a human clad in armor entered her dream, and smashed the blades and corpses into dust.

A smile touched her face, and she settled into a dreamless sleep.