FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

based on a concept by Field T. Mouse

-*-

The shuttle wasn't that big. Of course not, it was a shuttle. Wamai still managed to sequester himself into a corner as the shuttle closed up and lifted off, which allowed him plenty of time to try and wrestle with his unjustified annoyance. The cheetah had enough self awareness to realize that but for the methods, his goals had largely been achieved. That was due to the teamwork of that mouse and her crew. He'd glanced over there, watching them interact. They said they were Navy, right? How long had they been together, to have such camaraderie? He terminated that line of thinking before it could go other places and settled on being annoyed when that mouse plopped herself down beside him. "Ready?" she asked, leaning forward and smiling a little at him.

He made sure his tail didn't lash and congratulated himself on his success. "Are you? Do you even have a plan?"

"Of course I do. The plan is to take out the slaver complex when we find it."

"That is not a plan. That's an aspiration."

"I've begun with less." She settled back against the seat, lifting her paws behind her head. "It'll be about an hour before we break orbit, anyway, and then you can bring us up to speed. Speaking of, Cip sent me some areas the shuttles you mentioned might be able to get to? Hang on, lemme..." The mouse pulled out her data pad, then opened a map. Centered was Batacar, surrounded by some orbiting satellites, Batacar's moon, the solar system's welcome station, and--

"There. This area, here," Wamai said, pointing to the mining outpost.

"What makes that one more likely than the others?"

"Storage space. They're going to plan to have a lot of furs in a single building in a place where most furs won't expect others to be enslaved. It's remote, and accessible with less than a day's shuttle flight."

"Yeah, but that place got vented years ago..." The mouse began, frowning. "Which is probably why they took it over, isn't it."

"Exactly. It doesn't take much to make something habitable again. Besides, if they're slaving, they mostly need open space."

"So what about the smaller office building nearby, why this asteroid warehouse place?"

"The warehouse is the most likely of the two but I can't be sure yet. I wanted to get more intelligence, but you and your crew took out the on-planet pirate den before I could get it."

"Oh. Oops?" Izel shrugged.

"Yeah, oops. At this point the only way we can get the intelligence we need without being detected is if we were on whatever brought you out here, if this shuttle is any indication."

"They're not coming."

"Why the hell not?!"

"Because this is our hunt." Which was an amazing statement, even more so the way she said it.

"This is no time to get pissy about territory," Wamai growled. "There are slaves that need help."

"Which is exactly why I don't want to bring in the Infineon. Because they're going to get pissy about territory since this is technically their mission. And then it's gonna be about putting down pirates and not rescuing the slaves."

She might be right about that, depending on the captain. Still: "Regardless, they have equipment that we need."

"No they don't," the mouse said, turning. "Kiyara! Need you to run a scan on the mining outpost Cip found earlier, outside the mining outpost's likely range."

"From here? Now?"

"As far out as you can get it."

The vixen considered for a moment, then nodded. She got up and tapped Yuki on the shoulder. "Stop the shuttle when we're a couple hours out from the mining outpost," she told the deer.

"Taken care of," Izel said, turning back to Wamai.

Wamai glanced at Kiyara, who grinned. "You have immense faith in your crew's talents," he told the captain.

"I know them. And I've been through a lot with most of them."

The cheetah chewed on that for a moment, before looking at Izel again. "Most of them? How long have you been a captain, anyway? What ship class did you say earlier? Wabash-class?"

The mouse had settled into her seat again. "Technically, my ship hasn't launched yet." And after a pause that he'd been about to fill, she went on. "I'm the captain of the FNSC Umbra."

The name hit Wamai harder than he'd expected. "They gave you the Umbra?"

Izel grinned a little bit, looking at the cheetah sidelong. "You know, it's funny, Captain. My main objective in coming out here is to bring you back."

Wamai gave a strangled laugh, looking incredulously at her. "You're telling me that some admiral sent you to bring me back? For... for what? I know how I left, and there's zero chance any admiral anywhere is going to let me be a captain again."

Izel seemed to concede this with a little shrug. "Position of captain on the Umbra is filled. Obviously," she said, indicating herself.

"So what do you want me for?"

"I so happen to have a slot for first commander open on the Umbra."

The cheetah's hackles raised further. "You want me to be first commander of my old ship?"

Izel's smile faded, then she looked towards the opposite porthole. Wamai didn't prod the mouse to continue, just kept staring until he got tired of that and looked in the same direction. The two of them sat in silence while soft small talk came from the rest of the cabin. Outside, the stars twinkled in the black, and Wamai began to calm in the contemplation of the infinite expanse. Eventually, even the cheetah's tail tip stopped lashing.

"You know what I want, more than anything else?" the mouse said, abruptly. Wamai glanced at her, but she was staring in the middle distance. "I want the Furry Federation to live up to it's billing. You've been to the Academy, so you remember the motto: 'All Paws Raised to Our Defense.' All paws raised. And somehow, they had exclusively predator captains and admirals until very recently. It's like they didn't think us prey wanted to lead while we defend ourselves."

"There were—" Wamai stopped, having not intended to make the admission. But Izel only glanced at him, patiently, until he finished the thought. "There were a few prey in my old crew that... they could have been captains."

"What happened to them?"

Wamai looked at the mouse, who had turned her head toward him. He turned back to the window. "I left the service before I could see any of them promoted."

"Ah. Pity."

"That doesn't answer my main question, though, captain. Why me?"

Izel smirked a little. "The Board of Directors of the Furry Federation Navy wants me to have a predator commander. They gave me the commission, I must pick one of them to be the first officer. So I picked you." She looked into his eyes, then, and the gaze was challenging. "I read your service record, including the nasty things some of the admirals put in there after you left, probably to prevent you from ever coming back. But I also found all of the things that your subordinates said. What you did for them, the prey included and perhaps especially. Why they followed you, in their own words, including some furs from other ships that transferred in. That's the kinda officer I want on my ship, the one that can inspire others, prey and predator alike, to work together, and all of us protect our home." She folded one leg over the other, crossing her arms. "So? It doesn't have to be you. But I want it to be. The Federation Navy is changing and they're giving another prey a chance at being captain. Are you in?"

A part of him he thought was burned beyond all recognition cried out. He forced himself to look away, pushing into the seat. "Don't know yet." It was a coward's answer.

She didn't call him on it. "So think about it. In the meantime, though, we're gonna execute the assault on that base."

"With what plan?"

"You can help me come up with it."

-*-

Izel wanted to be impressed. But the dynamic, principled former captain of the Umbra from reports, was not this detail obsessive, borderline scared cheetah before her. But she saw flashes, given how he'd accepted Kiyara's scans of the facility, complimented her on getting that data out of the long range passives, and had spent some time studying the schematics themselves before even calling the meeting. "The facility has a water track around the building. It's most likely to accommodate the otter that is running the place. Goes by the name Killer, but real name Timpani. A typical operation like this would try to cut the lights, maybe life support. But unless we're waiting for the Infineon...?" Wamai looked to her, and she shook her head. If the Infineon got involved, it would become their mission. It was probably selfish of her to think of it in those terms, but she knew that and discarded that. She believed in her crew and wanted them to get the credit. Wamai accepted the brush off with nothing more than a twitch of his eyebrows. "Then we would benefit more from a direct approach."

The computer had brought up a wireframe schematic of the building, and he spun it before touching a spot. "A lot of these mining outposts were pre-fabs. This one isn't an exception, but for the additional water track running through the building that came after. Still, this area is the most likely area where they keep the slaves. If the pirates are smart, then they have a dedicated power and life support for the cells nearby, since it's valuable merchandise that needs to be kept alive. If they're dumb... then it's all gonna be mixed in with the rest of the power, likely here since that would match the prefab design. The addition of the water track could mean other alterations, though, so keep that in mind. Regardless, our plan in broad strokes should be to cut as much power to the building as we can to prevent them from knowing where we are, then free the slaves, arm them, and then take care of the pirates."

"Question," said Jabril, raising a paw. "If this facility is the... warehouse, since it stores the... the merchandise."

"Yes, it stores the slaves."

Jabril's ears remained back. "I find it distasteful that we're discussing thinking, feeling beings in such terms but regardless. How do we know that this Killer is here, instead of in the smaller, more administrative building?"

"Two reasons. I refer you back to the water track that got installed. That indicates that Killer here is a more paws-on leader: otters are comfortable swimmers in general and enjoy being near water, and having it traverse ways he would travel regularly is more comfortable for him. Thing two... I have heard rumors that he likes to sample the merchandise."

There were sounds of disgust, which Izel let go on for a bit before she intervened. "So what do you have in mind?"

Wamai didn't say anything for a short while, then spun the wire-frame again. "Armory is likely to be here, here, or here," he said, pointing to some places. "If we can raid the armory and free the slaves, that will improve our odds significantly. We can overwhelm the guards, capture them, and then use those numbers to take the admin building."

"Sounds like a good plan, then," Izel said.

"It's a foundation." The cheetah's eyes flicked from the building frame to Cipriano. "You. What's your name, rank? Specialty?"

"Cipriano. Crewfur."

"Stop." Wamai's ears were back, and he pointed at the capybara's tablet. "What was that."

"Cip speaks through his tablet," Vennie said.

"That's going to be a major problem. We are going to need to speak quick and fast, we can't have someone typing when seconds matter."

"It's fine," Kiyara said, leaning forward. "He types fast. Also, he's our hacker, so he's probably going to be hanging back regardless."

"A hacker." The cheetah looked from the vixen back to the capybara. "Can you get into the warehouse's systems?"

"So long as there are repeaters in system, I have an opportunity to get in from anywhere," Cipriano said through his tablet. "I have already begun testing their security."

"At least you're proactive. Alright, so who was responsible for the explosives?"

"That would be me," Mingo said, raising a paw.

"Are explosives your specialty, then?"

"One of 'em. I'm slated to be Chief of Engineering on the Umbra, so my talents are broader than just explosions."

A small beep. Izel looked down at her tablet, saw a new message from Cipriano. She raised an eyebrow at the capybara, who nodded back to her tablet, so she opened the message: "Some fur has installed a backdoor into the warehouse system." Frowning, she looked to Cipriano again, who shrugged.

"Am I boring you, captain?"

Izel looked up at Wamai, who looked annoyed. She glanced to Cipriano, who again nodded to her tablet. Waiting on the tablet was the message "I trust you." So she looked to Wamai again. "Cipriano has discovered that the building's security systems have a hole in them already."

The cheetah's annoyance shifted to concern. "Crewfur, can you expand at all?"

"At the moment, no," Cipriano said. "However, I am seeing if I can trace any possible signal from this backdoor while determining if using it will set off some signal. It will take some time."

"There's no telling what tripping that signal will bring so don't bother. Surprise right now is our best and biggest weapon." The cheetah sighed. "Do any of you have any combat training? Can you at least use a phase pistol with some accuracy?"

Most of the paws went up, except for Cipriano. "Myself, Mingo, and Vennie are civil war vets," said Kiyara. "Jabril's a sniper. I didn't know Yuki could fire a phase pistol until just now, and I wouldn't trust Izel to hit anything she fires at."

"I swear on my grandfather, I was not that bad!" This again?

"She was consistently the worst at target practice during the war," Kiyara said with a grin, resting her chin in a paw. "Even Cip was a better shot."

"I had decent scores in the Academy!" the grasshopper mouse protested.

"Speaking of the Academy, I need to know what skills you developed, captain."

Ah, shit. "Oh, you know us command types. Jacks of all trades." The facade lasted all of a few seconds before Izel dropped it. "Honestly, I didn't get a chance to chase interests before the war broke out. I suppose I'm a decent pilot but the crew's the one with the skills. I'm just good at putting it all together."

The cheetah sighed, rubbing the side of his head below an ear. "The slaves could probably use an authority figure to give commands. Captain, if you're insisting on not calling the Infineon for the strike, can you at least call them for after? We do not have the capacity on our shuttle to accommodate much more than the eight of us."

"I can do that."

"Mingo, just in case, can you rig an emergency beacon so the Infineon can locate us?"

"Aye aye."

Wamai sighed again. "Sniper, hacker, pilot, medic, sensor tech, explosives. Not a bad spread, considering everything."

-*-

The shuttle came in swiftly, silently. Cip and Yuki were able to time it so that the door opening to let them in was passed off like a random, automated test, and Kiyara's scans from earlier indicated this bay had been empty before Cip manipulated the cameras. And since they didn't have the station aware that they were docking, Yuki had to mate the hatches manually. Considering that could have breached the shuttles armor, it was a small miracle that she did so without damaging anything, though the shuttle itself shook as it slammed into the bay. Cip was able to hide it so that the airlock cycle was logged as an automated test, which allowed Jabril to enter, place Mingo's device on the panel, and override the airlock so that it was fully in the hacker's control. "Green is good, right?" the wolverine asked, whispering through his ear piece.

Izel was next to enter the air lock, and the two of them waited for it to cycle before the door opened, finally, to the station. The grasshopper mouse wrinkled her nose at the foreign air before checking the up and down the hall. "We're clear, send the rest through."

It was an interminable few minutes while the airlock flashed red again, but soon it was green and Mingo marched through, unshouldering his pack while the rest of the squad, Kiyara with Wamai bringing up the rear, came through. "System check," Wamai said.

"Reading you loud and clear," Cipriano said through the local network.

Wamai nodded, then tapped his earpiece to put it on standby. Communication was important but risky, and it could possibly be eavesdropped on if they used it at the wrong moment. Personally, Izel thought that was overly paranoid, but they were also decidedly hostile area with very little in the way of back up. Izel shook herself, then suppressed a desire to howl out to her prey. Ancestors, but she was coming for them.

"Remember, stunning them now to get that information is the way to go. Do not kill anyone unless you absolutely have to. Let's move out." They fell in, Wamai taking point with Kiyara behind him, and Jabril bringing up the rear.

It was probably just as well that it was the four of them. Cipriano was hacking the cameras on a constant basis, massaging them to hide their passage. That would probably take up a lot of his focus. Mingo's job was to secure the airlock and hatch by whatever means necessary; once they secured the place he'd have additional duties. It made no sense to have the medic along, so Vennie stayed behind and Yuki was the shuttle pilot as well as keeping the shuttle warm in case they had to leave quick. The rest of the squad... they were all hunters by species. So they stuck to the route devised earlier, with Kiyara keeping them all on track. She'd grabbed a motion detector, snapped it into some kind of passive mode that wouldn't get picked up by other sensors. They were about as prepared as they were going to get.

The group came to the first intersection, and Wamai called a halt. He looked back at Kiyara, who shook her head: no movement. Then, Wamai very carefully peeked around the corner. Still looking, he flashed two fingers twice, then held his paw up in a fist, curled fingers toward the wall. Jabril hustled forward but stopped, parallel to Wamai. The cheetah's fingers went up, and Jabril went, hurrying across to the other side of the hallway and behind the next corner. Then Wamai flashed two fingers followed by one, and Izel shuffled closer. Again the fist, then the fingers went up and Izel hurried across the hallway. She glanced briefly down it, and saw one fur, casually smoking with their back turned toward the intersection.

So that's what that smell was.

The captain took her place at the corner, watching the wolf on their apparent smoke break. Jabril had made room for her, and once she was in position, went to check the doors. Kiyara came rushing past, and still the pirate wasn't moving. Izel held up a fist, like Wamai had while she kept her eye on the wolf. Still no movement, aside of the smoking. Were they sleeping? She opened her fist and Wamai came running, phase pistol held low.

The cheetah tapped his earpiece, muttered "Checkpoint one," then put it back on standby.

Checkpoint one. Only twenty more to go.

-*-

By checkpoint 4, she started to feel it.

Checkpoint seven found her feeling it badly.

It got urgent around nine, and she managed to hold on until ten before she had to say something.

"Bathroom," she whispered, as Wamai passed her. The cheetah didn't hear her, so she caught up to him and grabbed his paw. He whirled and looked at her quizzically, so she repeated herself. "Bathroom!"

Wamai didn't snarl, but it was a near thing. Instead he closed his eyes and composed himself before speaking. She didn't blame him. "How bad."

"Extremely."

"Can't you hold it?"

"Been holding it for the last few checkpoints."

The cheetah's ears were plastered to his skull. He turned to the fox. "Kiyara, find the closest bathroom."

Kiyara's ears perked, and she glanced at Izel, who nodded impatiently. Snorting, the vixen spun around the wireframe map she had, then zoomed in, before turning around. "Next hallway to the right, first door on the left."

"Thank the ancestors." Izel took off before Wamai could call it in, as that biological urge intensified at the nearness. They were probably fine. After that single pirate they'd encountered at the beginning, the base seemed deserted. Fine by her.

Dashing into the bathroom she got into a stall, pulled down her pants, and sat down just in time. Relief was sweet, and she loosed a little sigh while her bladder drained itself. Maybe relief was underselling it.

Something flushed, and she assumed it was something automated. It wasn't until she heard the stall opening beside her that Izel realized she wasn't alone in there. Cursing softly, she stood, holding her phase pistol and hastily pulling up her pants. The other fur, whoever it was, walked past her stall. It was when she heard the sink start that she opened her door, took aim, and fired.

The sound of a phase pistol seemed a whole hell of a lot louder in the acoustics of a bathroom, so she was pretty sure her crew heard that. She woke her earpiece, a paw still on the phase pistol pointed at the pirate. "Contact. I have one badger, appears female."

"Copy," Wamai said. "Help inbound."

That was all the warning had before Kiyara burst into the bathroom, phase pistol in front of her. "Stalls," Izel said while she crossed the distance to the downed badger. The fox slipped past her while she kneeled by the downed badger, reaching out to feel for a pulse. Seemed steady, and the grasshopper mouse huffed.

"Clear," Kiyara said, coming back. The vixen scratched at the back of an ear, holstering her weapon. "So now what?"

"Remember the plan? We find a storage room or something and seal it off until we can come back for them."

Kiyara folded her arms as Izel holstered her pistol. "Why don't we just leave her here?"

"Okay, but what happens when some other pirate finds this one knocked out and raises the alarm?"

With an exasperated sigh, the fox rolled her eyes and moved to take one of the badger's arms. Izel took the other, and together the two of them dragged the unconscious badger out of the bathroom. Thankfully, there was a nearby storage room of some kind that was empty, and it was a short piece of work to stuff the badger into it and lock the door.

They started to rejoin rest of the group, but Kiyara put a paw on Izel's shoulder. "Izel."

The mouse stopped, looking over her shoulder. Kiyara's expression was... closed. "Mm?"

"You could smell that too, right? His fear?"

"Well we're all a little scared. Here we are in a hostile situation surrounded by bad furs."

The fox's look was speaking. Izel dropped the act. "Yeah, I know. I don't know why Wamai is so scared but fear is coming off him pretty badly."

"Something is going on with him and I'm not sure I wanna be around when it explodes. I know this is your fur but... are you sure?"

Because Kiyara was old crew, she swallowed her first, flippant response. "Again, I don't know why he's so scared. But while he is, this is his operation with his plans, which you've noticed is a lot more thorough than anything I've come up with."

"Yeah, but we've survived. I trust you."

Izel looked up and grinned at the fox. "And I honor that. But thing is... I'm pretty sure I've just been very, very lucky and also been able to jump us out of the way of a blast right before it hits us. So—"

"You need a fur to cover that weakness."

"Yep. Plus, you see his service record?"

"Mingo or Cip told me about it at some point but I don't remember. He get tossed out for something?"

"He quit. Like Wren did."

Kiyara shook her head. "A lot of this past war comes down to Wren, doesn't it?"

"Maybe. But Wamai quitting? Publicly? Put a lot more hesitation into the entire Navy and did way more to stop the war than anything we ever did."

The fox snorted and resumed walking toward the rest of the group. "I dunno, I think we did pretty well."

"Right, right. But my point is: he made captain before I did, and might have a bone to pick with the Board if they try anything stupid. And, again, he accounted for way more things about this operation than I would have."

"I don't think I would have come up with breaking the facility into checkpoints and checking in with Cip based on that," the fox admitted. "I'm supposed to be the sensor tech."

"You feel poorly utilized?"

"...no," said Kiyara, drawing out the word.

Izel smirked. "Thought so. But don't worry, I'm watching him. If he isn't our fur, then we'll drop him off at Home-world and I'll go through whoever Daler wants me to select."

Kiyara was quiet for a moment. Then: "You tryin' to save him, too?"

Izel missed her next step and almost stumbled. "Ancestors, I guess I am, aren't I?"

The fox didn't answer. When Izel looked up at the taller female, she got a grin in response. By that time, they were rounding the corner and Wamai was staring at them impatiently. "It took you two long enough. Let's move out."

"Aye-aye, sir," said Kiyara for the both of them.

-*-

They got the drop on another bandit a few checkpoints later. A third and a fourth at literally the next checkpoint. Fifth came two checkpoints later, when they discovered that one of the places the armory could be... wasn't. But it did allow for space to store the stunned bodies of pirates while they continued traveling. It was annoying to have to deal with so many slack bodies but it was preferable to encountering phase rifle shots.

Eventually, though, their luck ran out. Kiyara saw one dot rapidly approaching their position, and the voice of the bandit sounded tense. "Yanna! Yanna where the hell are you? Boss is starting to get mad, you didn't check in!"

They were doing check ins. There were pirates that missed check ins.

The crew jumped the pirate and stuffed him into a closet, but Izel spoke. "We can't keep doing this. We're gonna run out of closets if the pirates don't find us first."

Wamai shook his head. "We stick to the plan. I've accounted for this."

"Yeah, but the pirates are paranoid now. We're running into... a lot, so this place may be more staffed than we thought. I think we're gonna need the slaves sooner than later."

"What do you mean, there is an inherent risk to bringing in non-combatants!"

"I'm with the captain," Kiyara said. "If they're already jumping at shadows, why not give them more shadows to jump at?"

Glancing at Jabril, the big wolverine shrugged. And... it made some sense. Wamai tapped a finger on a leg before activating his earpiece. "Change of plans. Moving to checkpoint 19, then 20." He got the acknowledgment response, a double tap, and then nodded to the rest of the crew. "Let's move out, double time."

-*-

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Mingo looked up and grinned, then kicked a box toward the group. "Here, set those on the control panels in front of the doors."

Izel cast a glance at the angry and flustered cheetah, then picked up the box and tugged Jabril with her. "C'mon, let's get started."

As she had guessed, the argument had started up in earnest. Wamai, going by what she heard in snippets, was rather upset that his plan was breaking down. Given that, she was rather impressed that he still maintained some cool and didn't break the communications silence he'd imposed to prevent the pirates from picking them up. If she was honest, she'd have broken it by now, and by the time she got to the top level, the situation gave her more reason to recruit Wamai for her crew. Ancestors, but he was rigid, but he planned and planned thoroughly. Hopefully that would mesh well with the rest of her crew.

The captain gave a few of the charges to Jabril, who looked at them with confusion. Wise to how Mingo usually worked, she gave the wolverine a quick rundown as to the raccoon's preferences, then sent him to work the other end until they met in the middle.

"You another pirate gang?" asked a rasping voice.

Izel stopped and peeked into the cell. Inside was an older kangaroo rat, slumped against the wall with a thick, garish orange collar on his neck. "No, actually. I'm a Navy officer. Name's Izel. I'm here to free you."

"Free, eh? Well. At least we won't be under some other pirate's claws for a while." He sighed, and sat up a little. "You need me to do anything?"

"Uh, not yet! But I'm guessing we're gonna need some volunteers to fight back once we free you all."

"You got weapons?"

"Not for you all, not yet. But we're gonna hit the pirate armory next. So that'd be the best chance to get something to fight back with." Izel stopped fiddling with the explosive, then pressed down on the bottom of it, making sure it was secure.

The old timer was quiet for a little bit. "So who's in charge of this operation? Is it the cheetah?"

"Well, he's leading this mission. But I'm the captain of the ship."

This is what spurred the kangaroo rat to actually look at her. "You? You're the captain?"

"Yep. FNSC Umbra. Look it up when you get outta here."

"They really gave prey another ship?"

Izel glanced over, saw the way he was looking at her. Disbelief. Reverence, maybe. She smirked. "I know, right? But I showed them the value of prey as leaders. So when I rejoined the Federation Navy, they asked me to be a captain."

"Rejoined?"

"I was a rebel. Was. Because I fought for prey."

Again, silence from the old timer, while Izel finished up the explosive. "Are you gonna be like Captain Wren?" he said finally.

"No," Izel said, brushing off her paws. "I'm gonna be better."

She left the kangaroo rat with that thought as she went to the next cell. This one's occupant didn't seem to be up for much of a conversation, but the grasshopper mouse waved at them anyway while she wired up the explosive.

Most of the rest of the occupants weren't as talkative. They were, at least, alert and present and seemingly ambulatory. The less they had to carry the better, but she'd have them all do it if necessary. After catching a signal from Jabril, she went to the railing and waved to Mingo. "Okay, we're good up here. Hit it!"

"Stand back, we're blowing the doors!" the wolverine said to the prisoners. "Ears down!"

"Here we go!" cried Mingo. "Doors going in three! Two! One!"

At first there was nothing. Then some hissing, and a series of popping explosions. The lights flickered, before the doors opened slightly. Perking, Izel hopped over to the doors, opening the closest one wide and waving to the old kangaroo rat. "Alright, let's go!"

There was some smoke, and coughing, but soon all the slaves emerged from their cells, on both floors. Izel looked over the railing again. "Mingo! Can we get these collars off them?"

"I think I got some heavy duty cutters in my pack. Hang on a sec."

Izel directed all the furs from the top floor to the bottom one, and Jabril herded them all down. All told there were about twenty furs, all prey species, and Mingo soon rigged up a cutter to get off all those ugly collars from their necks. And while the raccoon was busy with that, she had an idea.

-*-

"I have a proposal for you."

Wamai didn't answer immediately. He knew his tail was lashing, and he knew how powerfully that communicated his annoyance. He was hoping that the former slaves weren't getting the wrong idea from his dour expression, but at the same time, none of them were out of the woods yet. But at the same time, the cheetah's plans were almost entirely in shambles, with them having the slaves but without any guns, and though the pirates hadn't discovered them yet, enough of them were roused that they were more paranoid than Wamai would have liked.

And yet.

The mouse's ideas weren't terrible. And her ideas and quick thinking were assets. Getting the slaves and getting those collars off was a good idea, too. So why did it bother him so much? Glancing to the side, Izel was still there, both eyebrows raised. "You ready for it?"

The cheetah closed his eyes, then exhaled. "Whatever. It's your crew, isn't it?"

"You're the mission lead. But I do have a suggestion."

He knew what she was doing. And since she was doing it, she could probably tell that he knew. "Fine. What is it?"

"I wanna take as many of these furs as wanna come with me to the armory, get them some phase pistols or whatever's in there, and go after the head honcho. You said he's in that control center or whatever, right? If we draw them out, we can hit them from both sides. Take 'em out pretty easily, right?"

"I don't think it's wise to do a pincer maneuver in a hallway. Assuming I was right about where Killer is holed up. Assuming he's even here."

Izel blinked. "Oh right. Well. Still, I think it's a good idea to arm the former slaves now. It's basically your original plan, right?"

"I know." Wamai sighed, ears flicking back before he forced them forward. "Why aren't you ordering me around?"

"Well. It's your show. And I know you've been pretty exacting with these plans, and they've gotten us this far. But do you have a plan for what we do from right now?"

"I... I would need a moment."

"Think it would get better than leading the captives over now?"

"It... would help to have more numbers. We still don't know what we're up against." Wamai's ears couldn't help but flick backward again, and go back to brooding. He noticed, however, that Izel hadn't left, and was in fact watching him expectantly. "You're still here?"

"You didn't give me orders, Wamai."

The cheetah rolled his eyes and huffed. "Go. You should take Jabril with you."

"I think I should take Kiyara."

"I think you should take Jabril. He's the most capable in a fight and you may run into a lot of pirates. Also, the intimidation factor."

The captain was faced away from Jabril, so it was just as well that the wolverine wouldn't have seen her wince. "He's clingy."

"Maybe he's devoted to you, captain. You seem to inspire that."

"Ha ha." She sighed, scratching at the back of one dishy ear. "Alright, fine. I guess I can get directions from Kiyara before we leave."

"Use the checkpoint system."

"Aye-aye, sir," the mouse said, tossing a lazy salute before calling Kiyara over as she walked toward Jabril.

But now what? "I need more time," Wamai muttered to himself, his tail starting to lash. They didn't have the weapons, but they had more furs. But those furs were recently enslaved, and it was a crapshoot as to whether or not they were ready for a fight. Glancing at them, most of them seemed... okay. There didn't seem to be any pressing medical issues, which was a sigh of relief because they did not need to add another non-combatant with Vennie the medic. Though allegedly the skunk could use a phase pistol. Ugh. The worst thing that could happen now was--

The alarm was sudden and loud, a screaming klaxon that made every fur jump and look up at the flashing lights. "Red alert! The base has been invaded by unknown assailants! Find them! Kill them!"

"No!" Wamai cried out, then cursed. And then... and then... Somehow, all his planning fell out of his head. The cheetah stood there, looking up, helplessly.

Something grabbed his arm and tugged him a few meters forward. Wamai looked at his arm, then to the mouse grabbing him. Who didn't let go. "Do you care about how you look right now?"

"W-what?"

"If I take command, are you gonna care?"

"No. No I don't care I just... I need to get us out of this."

Izel shook him, and when he looked into the captain's face, he found her gaze fierce. "Stop that. You are part of a crew. This is your crew now. The offer to be the first officer of the Umbra is still open, but first we gotta get out of this. Us. All of us. Together." Wamai's eyes started to drift but she spoke again. "Hey! Look at me. We are gonna do this, you know why? Because we all have our skills. You went to the Academy, what's yours?"

"What?"

"What did you excel at in the Academy?"

The cheetah frowned harder. "I was... I was good at strategy."

"So you are a plan maker. Alright, your plan's shot, now what? What do we need? What can we deny the pirates?"

"... I can think of a few things." Could he? "I think."

"Well? You can fall apart later, but right now your crew needs direction, Wamai. What are your orders?"

The mouse's gaze was still fierce. But it was also steady. And in the face of that, he remembered his training. How long ago was it? It didn't matter. What mattered was that he wasn't alone anymore. What did matter was—"Weapons. We still need those weapons. Grab Jabril and as many able bodied furs... no, take half the former slaves, take the armory. Whatever it takes. Anything you can't seize, you destroy. Or seal off the chamber. Go!" Izel went, and the cheetah started muttering to himself. "I need... I need Mingo and Kiyara with me. Cipriano. Cipriano!" He tapped awake his earpiece. "Cipriano, have the pirates figured out that you have the cameras?"

A slight pause, then "They have determined that there is something wrong with their cameras, but not that there is a malicious actor yet."

"Can you cover a group of... at least ten furs heading to the armory? Quickly?"

"Affirmative."

"Okay. Do that. Do that in... two minutes. You're gonna need to guide Izel there. Communications blackout is down because we need to talk more than we need to make sure they don't hear us." Jabril and Izel started to run past him, but he grabbed the mouse's forearm, turning her. She clasped his forearm back. "Survive out there."

"Gotta come back for my first officer."

"I haven't agreed to anything yet."

The mouse just smirked at that, then swept off out the door, bringing up the rear from the ten furs that went with her. Half the group. Which left... "Mingo. Can you rig up anything to, ah, deter the pirates from attacking this position?"

The engineer scratched the back of his head. "How much time do I have?"

"Need it done ASAP. Mostly defensive. Anything you got."

"I..." He trailed off, glancing toward the former slaves. "Tini! You got quick fingers?"

A raccoon among the milling furs perked up. "Uh, I think so."

Mingo looked back at the cheetah. "Gimme a half hour, I can rig something up."

"You got 15 minutes. Go."

"Tini! Grab another fur!" The other raccoon grabbed a mouse and they ran after Mingo.

Wamai went to Kiyara, who looked up from talking with some of the former slaves. "Do you think you can pick up if anybody is coming to this position? What's the range on that?"

The vixen blinked, picking up her sensor. "It can cover about 50 meters. I can probably interpose it onto the map Cip gave us."

"Do that. The more information we have, the better. After you do that, join me with Mingo, we're gonna secure as much of this place as we can."

-*-

Izel hated waiting. She understood the value of it, especially when there was something she couldn't do, where she had to rely on others. But she hated the actual waiting, the anxiety, knowing there wasn't anything that she could do indirectly or directly to help things along. So here she was, behind a makeshift barricade right in front of the pirate's armory.

Thankfully, her group had encountered the pirates trying to get into the armory to pull weapons before they could get them, but also before they'd entered the access codes. Also unfortunately, the freed former slaves were feeling extremely vengeful, so instead of live pirates they could coerce into opening the armory for them, they had corpses and Cipriano trying to get into the system remotely.

That wasn't entirely an issue, because the capybara was the most skilled hacker Izel had ever known, though the grasshopper mouse hadn't known many before him. But he'd come highly recommended in the war, quirks and all, and his effectiveness during the war drove her to personally recruit him to the Navy, though he didn't want to become an officer at all. And when they accepted her, she was pretty sure they wouldn't bat an eye at him.

Still, hacking took time, and annoyingly the armory's security system was different from the one allowing him access to the cameras, and the pirates being on high alert meant the capybara was "reduced to brute forcing things" in his words. Which meant they were outside the armory, somewhat hidden behind the barriers they'd made of bits and pieces dragged from nearby rooms, and Jabril was sniping any pirate that peeked a head around the corner.

As for Izel? She was bored. Terribly bored. Ancestors, but she was bored.

The former slaves were probably just as bored, and they'd already given her some abbreviated life stories while they waited for Cip. There wasn't much for them to do except occasionally run out and drag the unconscious body of a pirate the wolverine had taken down so that no other pirates suspected anything was amiss. Until the inevitable check in. Which, thankfully, hadn't happened yet.

"Ah crap!"

The grasshopper mouse jumped as something thunked open, and suddenly she could smell water. She walked over to the wall, where one of the former slaves, an okapi with an impressive set of spiraled horns, had touched... something. "Every fur okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. Just... I was playing with this latch and suddenly this opened. What is it?"

"I don't know. Why is there water running through a... oh. Oh wait." She tapped open the comm channel. "Cip."

"I do not have any updates for you, captain."

"No no, bring up the map of the place. They had... they had water track around the building, remember? I think we found an opening."

Silence from the other end. Then: "There is another opening in the water track in the armory in the next room."

"Is it as guarded as the door you can't get into now?"

Another pause. "No. It has a latch."

"That's it?"

"According to the scans."

When she joined the wider Federation, Izel always ended up a little surprised that she had been physically shorter than a significant portion of furs she'd come across, especially when she joined the Naval Academy. Surrounded by giants, usually, she found herself looking at the hatch, and how big it was. She was bigger than most mice but... still not too big for this.

"Jabril!"

"Ma'am?"

"I'm going to get into the armory!"

"Huh? How?"

"Don't worry about it. Just keep watch over the civvies."

"What do you mean by—shit." By the time she heard the phase rifle fire, Izel had slipped into the water and allowed it to carry her away.

It had been a long time since she'd done any swimming. Part of the physical requirements for graduating the Academy had been learning how to swim, and Izel remembered enjoying it. It was part of the thing she had been looking for when she joined up, something different in service of something greater. Her world had been too small, and the village she grew up knew it when they let her go. It had been an adjustment, but Izel liked the wider galaxy. And now she was trying to protect it.

Navigating in the water was relatively simple. She guessed that the next intersection would allow her to get into the armory, and when she frantically grabbed into the handles that arrested her motion, she gave herself a few moments to catch her breath. Soon she hooked her footpaws into ladder she felt, using both paws to undo the latch. It opened with absurd ease.

Izel shook herself as she plopped into the armory. And it was the armory, the number of weapons surrounding her as she looked around. She grabbed a particularly powerful phase rifle off the shelf while she made her way up to the door. "Hey Cip."

"Captain." No confusion from the capybara, because she was pretty sure he had guessed what she'd done. Whatever tech was running his voice program could convey emotion pretty well and the capybara was adept at using it.

"You think if I blow off the lock from this side, the door will open?"

"What?" shouted Jabril. "Captain, where are you???"

"I have a better solution," Cipriano said, as if the wolverine hadn't spoken. "The door will have an emergency release that can only be opened from the inside. It will, however, alert the pirates to your specific location."

"Huh." At this point, Izel found the front door, and it didn't take too long for the grasshopper mouse to spy a likely candidate. "Big red handle, right?"

"Correct."

"Captain, before you do that," came Wamai's voice. "We just about finished setting up here. And when we're ready, we can split the pirates' attention to the two sites."

Izel flexed her paw on the switch. "This sounds like a plan."

"We need to flush as many pirates as possible from where they're holed up. Cipriano, can you expose the current state of the slave pens without... anything else?"

"WHERE IS THE CAPTAIN???"

"I can. I will do so on the Captain's signal. Whenever you're ready, Captain."

"Jabril, tell the former slaves to look alive, things are about to go off."

Izel heard faint banging on the door. "Captain? Captain, are you in there?"

She looked out at the rest of the room, stocked pretty well with weapons. It was a bit concerning that the pirates had amassed so many weapons, but they were taking this place down. Assuming they got the pirates. Which probably meant taking out their leader, this... Killer. "Cip. You got directions to pay our host here a visit?"

"Captain! Captain, open the door!" Jabril said, thumping on the door again.

"I can."

"Tap the way," she said, before pulling the emergency handle. Something cracked the door open, and Izel started to hear the former slaves exclaim that the door was open, then work to widen the gap that couldn't quite admit them. Izel backed away after noting that the door would be open soon, grabbed a phase rifle off the shelf and tucked her pistol back into it's holster. At a jog, she hopped back up the ladder to the water track and shoved herself in.

-*-

"I see you, you filthy infiltrators! Who ever you're with, it doesn't matter! You'll never get me and I can kill life support in anywhere that isn't here!"

"Can he do that?" Wamai asked Mingo.

The raccoon shrugged. "Probably a bluff. Probably. We are in a warehouse right now, and a former mining one at that. Still, I don't think he'd want to kill all his merchandise."

"Is there a way you could check?"

"Most of that is gonna be software but uh... hm." The engineer walked over to a nearby control panel, and after a few moments of fiddling he pried it open, flipping the screen down. Wamai watched him pull out some spray and start to wipe down his tools before he lost interest, trusting the raccoon. He had to.

Moving himself to a wall with the lights flashing their emergency signs, the cheetah sighed. He was working with a team again. With other furs. And if he was honest with himself, it felt good. Which made it all the more galling when he froze like that. He... he had to be better than that. None of them were going to survive unless... well. Maybe Izel could pull something out of the aether like she did earlier. It was annoying to have to be jogged into using his mind again and not panicking, but... he could admit to himself that he was thankful she didn't allow him to crumble further. And if the others had seen him, well. Regardless as to what the mouse had said, he wasn't part of their crew. Not yet. Maybe not ever. But, as he glanced towards Mingo, with the engineer having plugged in his tablet to the control panel and sifting through something or other, and at Kiyara talking with the former slaves and keeping their morale up, he had to close his eyes as he felt a frisson of... something. But putting a name to that was scary, especially with the captain's offer having been laid in front of him again, right before she had dashed off to the armory.

Wamai, for the first time in a long time, actually looked at what losing the Umbra had meant to him. It wasn't just that it was his command. But he'd worked to foster an otherwise potentially acrimonious group of furs, tossed together out of random chance, largely, onto a ship and expected to work together. Worse still, they had expected, either through a sense of entitlement or resignation, that the predators would lead, as they always did, regardless of merit. And it might have stayed that way if he hadn't field promoted that badger to Chief of Engineering when the current one, an ocelot, damn near blew the warp core on a stunt.

Wamai had been glad of his rotation through engineering as he came up the ranks, though the rest of the department and most of the ship was surprised the captain himself had come down to help with the repairs. But it did grant him valuable insight, especially when he saw the then-Chief berating the badger, who tried to defend herself before being subjected to more abuse. Working directly with her had shown that she couldn't have possibly done what the Chief had insinuated in his report, and in fact was the one most of the rest of the engineering department looked to. It was an easy call to promote her, though the rest of the senior staff had been surprised at the move.

"You bastards are just lounging around in there, waiting to die???" screamed some voice over a loudspeaker, jarring Wamai from his memories. "You can't take my slaves from me, I'll kill you all! Slaves, you better get back in your cells if you want to live!"

"Is he gonna kill us?" asked a young mole, looking at Kiyara.

"No." Kiyara glanced at Wamai, who stood from the wall to walk to the mole. "He's not gonna get to you. We're going to get you out of here."

"I miss home..." the mole went on, and another former slave embraced him.

"I bet you ugly excuses for pelts can't even get into my stronghold, can you? Ha! I see you, trying to break into the systems! You can't break in, my defenses are impregnable! You'll never get at me and I will hunt you all down! You'll never take down the Killer!"

"He seriously calls himself that, huh." Kiyara said, before making a rude gesture upward.

Wamai ignored the ravings and tapped his earpiece. "Izel, Jabril, status."

"Our guests found a cart and we've loaded it up. We're heading towards your position," the wolverine replied tightly.

"Good. Detour to checkpoint 36. We'll meet up there."

"Aye sir. But...there's something I need to tell you."

"You can tell me in the fur. Move out, Jabril."

"Aye, sir. Jabril out."

It had the feel of something automatic, but the fact that he'd snapped out orders and that Jabril had followed them without a moment of hesitation caused another frisson in Wamai's spine. This wasn't the time, though. He looked at the rest. "Alright furs, we're moving out!"

Kiyara and a few of the remaining able bodied and willing former slaves came with them while Mingo disabled the traps to let them cross. He was to stay behind, so someone could disable the traps if needed. It helped that the former slaves had a representative they could pepper with questions if needed.

It took a lot less time to move through the facility when they were no longer being so cautious. It made the cheetah wonder if they had been too cautious in their initial assault, but it seemed the better when they knew they were outnumbered. Though at this point, Wamai still wasn't sure how many pirates there were, and how many there were left. The only way out was through at this point, because if they didn't take the facility or at least steal another ship, they wouldn't be able to get out with the prisoners.

The halls were eerily quiet as Kiyara guided them to the most likely place where Killer and whoever remained would be holed up. And all the while, Wamai kept wondering where the rest of the pirates were. There weren't many defensible positions outside the chamber, as the hallway was pretty much just that, with the door in question at the apex of a T-shape. More to the point, Kiyara was able to detect some bodies in the room, so it fell to Wamai and some volunteers to find and drag something to make a makeshift barricade, which the cheetah was still building when Kiyara detected some other furs approaching their position. Wamai pointed his gun at the approaching figure

"Hey, whoa, friendly!" said Jabril, paws raised while leading the armory volunteers. They'd apparently been quite busy, as all of them were armed and some had some grenades.

"Pass out the w-- wait, they had grenades?" Wamai said, horrified.

"Stuns, but... yeah." The wolverine shrugged. "I do not like that these pirates were so heavily armed."

"Part of what we're here to stop." Then the cheetah frowned. "Where's Izel?"

The anger in wolverine's face doubled. "That's what I had to tell you: she's in the water track somewhere. I think she's trying to assault the room by herself."

"What?"

"Sounds like her," Kiyara said, leading the both of them to look at her. The vixen shrugged. "She's kinda impulsive."

Before anybody could reply to that, Wamai heard some shouting, then a phase rifle going off several times. Wamai lurched toward the door, but he saw the security lock engage before he could get it open. The shouting continued. "Cip! Cipriano! Open the door at my position!"

A slight pause before the capybara's computerized voice was heard. "I have been working on that as we speak. Izel is on the other side and may need assistance. Can't talk. Cipriano out."

Wamai swore, then looked at Kiyara. "We need to find the nearest entrance to the water track."

"I think we're all too big for it. I couldn't fit in there, and neither could any of the others with me."

Wamai winced. Jabril was slightly shorter than him, and even though the mouse was one of the larger mice he'd ever seen, Izel was shorter still than Jabril. "She's in there with no back up."

"Which means I've failed," Jabril stated.

There was more shouting from behind the door, and Wamai distinctly heard a phase rifle go off a few times. He pounded on the door. "Izel! Izel, are you in there?"

The door beeped, and the panel on it turned green. Wamai backpedaled a few steps, drawing his phase pistol in one motion and pointing it at the door.

It opened.

-*-

It took Izel longer than she thought to get to where she thought this Killer would be. Half the reason was she had to stop to breathe every now and then, as riding continuously would have taken someone with bigger lung capacity than she had, or another fur who would hold their breath longer. Like an otter or something. The other reason was the ladder.

It would make sense that a not entirely submersed water track would have difficulty moving from one floor to another. Especially since there was something pushing the water so that it wasn't completely stagnant. Still, she nearly missed the ladder, even with the taps Cipriano and her had instantiated during their time as rebels that warned her it existed. First she had to find it, then she had to make sure she didn't pass it, which was easier said than done. But she clung to it as the current tried to carry her away, got her feetpaws under her, and then looked up at the ladder.

She would have to climb that.

Dammit.

Climbing up the ladder wasn't that onerous but it was tedious and she was wet, still wet, with no way of getting dry anytime soon. The novelty of water had grown thin again.

When she got close to the top, she could hear voices. She was breathing a little hard, but hoped that it wasn't carrying while she adjusted the two weapons she had, bringing the lighter phase pistol to bear. Something she could fire with one paw. A few moments to undo the latch, a few more to center her breathing as she was wedged uncomfortably to keep herself up, and slowly she opened the latch.

Light. But nobody around. Slowly she opened further, climbing out and closing the door as quietly as possible. The wet weight heavily on her but it was quiet as she dropped, and she resisted the urge to shake herself while she crept forward. It was a minor miracle that she got to the door of what apparently was a storage room without shaking or grooming herself.

"Where the hell are they!" came a whiny voice. Some scuffling, then "How the hell can you tell that we're not able to control our cameras but can't get back in? Are what we seeing right now even real? Are those slave stealing fucks building a barricade outside of the doors right now?"

"It looks like it."

"Shit. Shit! Where are the rest of my furs? Why are none of them answering!"

"Boss, it's okay, we're gonna get outta this."

"No, it's NOT okay! I need..." The voice trailed off, and Izel heard footsteps approaching. She held her phase pistol ready, tense.

The door indication flipping from red to green was the only warning, and that happened a second before the door swished into the wall. An otter stopped in, but his tail barely cleared the door when he perked upward, frowning at the water. He turned, the door closed, and Izel had a weird second of the otter's eyes widened in surprise before she shot him, right between the eyes, with her phase pistol.

Izel hoped that was Killer, but she wasn't sure. Holstering her pistol, she brought the phase rifle to bear as she opened the door, pretty sure the very brief struggle was heard. She'd rounded the corner and there were three of the pirates, all of whom had better reaction time than the otter.

"GET HER!" one yelled, and she wasn't sure what setting the phase rifle was on and she didn't have time to check. She ran to the side, firing as she moved. She'd barely gotten a good look at the room, so she wasn't sure where the rest of the pirates were using for cover. She peeked out, ducked after some answering fire, then heard the patter of footpaws running toward her.

Well fine, then. Bursting from cover, she shot them as they came, and a lucky shot managed to peg the one that was behind cover, too. She remained vigilant, checking for any further holes that pirates may have been hiding before she dropped her arms, giving into the searing pain of a phase rifle burn. There were several, and she was lucky that the pirates were worse shots than her. Izel opened the door, and grinned a little at the shocked faces of Wamai and her crew. "I think we got 'em all," she said. "Now I need Vennie. And your safety lecture, Jabril."

-*-

It was over. For the most part.

The decision was made to call in the Infineon. The ship, amazingly, only took a day to get to them, and in that meantime, Kiyara detected a ship approaching, then veering off from the facility. She couldn't ensure that the trajectory was for the facility, but it was noted. And when the Infineon arrived and took them back to the surface, a lot of things became clear.

The former slaves were, thankfully, locals, so it didn't take long for them to drop them off. Local law enforcement, unfortunately, didn't have the capacity to hold a bunch of pirates, Killer included, so they were shipped off with the Infineon back towards Home-world, along with Izel's crew.

Wamai went with them.

He wasn't sure why. Izel just said he was with her, and he didn't say anything to contradict her. He was given a cabin, but felt antsy and couldn't stay in there. Mostly because... he knew there was more to that group. He'd taken down slavers before, had a pretty good idea as to how some of these criminals operated. This was a more sophisticated outfit than just Killer. The ship Kiyara had detected was a clue, but without more information he was adrift. All he had was... the freed slaves, thanking him profusely. Thanking all of them.

Wamai wasn't sure where Izel's crew was gathering, if they were gathering at all. He ended up in the mess because he felt vaguely hungry, but spent far too long scrolling through meals in the processor before just selecting some fish or whatever and making a meal of that. It smelled alright, and that vaguely hungry feeling grew as he put the tray down in front of him. But his mind still raced, especially on something that he kept veering away from.

The cheetah supposed it made sense that Izel would find him then.

She sat down across from him, without preamble and without apology. By this time, the only reason his food wasn't cold was because of the heater under the tray, as he'd taken to scrolling through his tablet.

The grasshopper mouse didn't say anything, just looked at him. He glanced up at her, kept scrolling, then looked at her again. "How come you're not eating?" she asked him, finally.

His ears flicked because he'd been expecting a different question, and he wasn't sure why. He speared a bit of fish and the accompanying greens before chewing them. Izel simply put her chin in a paw propped up by an elbow, watching him. Waiting. Wamai swallowed. "Got caught up reading a thing."

"I came by to get an answer," she went on. The abrupt topic switch felt as inevitable as it was jarring. "You left with us back to Home-world, which could be an answer, but I don't wanna leave it to chance or inertia. Wamai, are you in?"

The cheetah took another bite of his food. He realized, probably after she did, that he was avoiding answering. And her patience... she had enough of it. But the thing that stopped him from taking another bite was him looking into her eyes again. Her gaze was steady, the gray reflecting a sudden steel. But in that gaze was a plea. And if she'd been around predators enough, she'd know that plea would be seen as weakness. Still, she allowed him to see it, and he looked away. "Maybe I need a ride back to Home-world to settle some things."

She sighed. But she didn't give up, either. "When was the last time you worked with other furs?"

"It had been a while."

"And you were gearing up to take down that slaving ring all by yourself?"

"I..." Put that way, it sounded absurd. "...was gonna rely on local law enforcement."

"Do you think they could have handled it if you gave them the details?"

"...probably not." He sighed. "Maybe someone in the Navy was listening when I sent in all those reports."

The mouse reached out and put her paw over his. She gave it a light squeeze. "A fur that wants to take down an entire slaving ring by himself isn't one that lacks ambition. I'm gonna ask again, because I don't want you to be unwilling. You know and I know that this isn't just going to be a commission. It's a commitment, an attempt to change the Navy, one fur and one ship at a time. Until truly all paws are raised."

"'To our defense'," he replied softly. And then he looked up and met her eyes with his own.

She looked into them for a moment, then smirked, patting his paw. "You should check your mail. Bet you'll find a message from an old friend in there." The mouse got up after his shocked expression, and left the mess. Did she...?

But then, what would she know? What could she know? Tugging his tablet over, he logged into his mail, found it overflowing with neglected messages. At the top of his queue, though, was one from a fur he should still be mad at, especially with the deceptively casual tone of the message. "Heard you're back from a mission. Contact me when you get a chance."

Something snapped into place then, and Wamai sighed and built the call. The answer came fairly quickly. "You sent her after me."

Admiral Daler managed a smile. "It's nice to see you too, Wamai."

"Didn't you?"

The wolf looked off to the side, then back at the camera. "I've been keeping tabs on you, as much as I could. But she's the one who found your file, and wanted you for her crew. So I told her where I thought you could be found. And now I know by the initial reports that you've been off trying to take down a slaving ring, by yourself?"

"It passed the time."

"You're gonna kill yourself eventually. You know that, right?"

"We all die someday."

Daler snorted then leaned back. "The Navy doesn't need more corpses. Did she make the offer?"

"Several times."

"And are you going to take it, Wamai?"

"Are you gonna support her? Because she's going to need the support, Daler, you know damn well she will."

The veiled barb didn't go unnoticed, going by Daler's rueful expression. "It's why I put myself into this position, Wamai."

The cheetah let that sit. Then he shook his head, glancing off at the side, at his half-eaten meal. "And I'm guessing you want me there, too."

"It would help. Immensely."

"Yeah." Sighing gustily, Wamai looked back at the camera. "Send me the forms."

She moved immediately, tapping on her own tablet. "They'll hit your mail in a few minutes. And Wamai... thank you."

"Yeah, yeah. Thank me when we've changed the universe."

"It's closer than you think, Wamai. See you when you arrive."

The cheetah made a non-committal noise and the call ended. The logo of the Federation Navy spun, and he swiped the call function closed before leaning against the chair back.

He really was going back to the Navy.

There was some trepidation. The organization still left a bad taste in his mouth from how he left it the first time. But having a paw in changing that course, even if it was for one ship to show the way for the rest? That was something he could get behind.

"Bastards are lucky to have me," he said to himself, before attacking the rest of his fish.

-*-

Gasping, Kiyara's legs clenched together, but she quickly opened them again as the skunk between her legs kept going. They were in Vennie's assigned cabin, because Kiyara had to chase him down to make sure that she collected her winnings. And part of the reason she made the bet was because the skunk could eat, and didn't believe in releasing his pheromones until he had mated with someone.

When it was just fellow soldiers looking to release some tension? Less momentous. And Kiyara had seen the skunk at work.

His tongue flicked upward towards her clit. He fastened his lips around the flushed organ, two fingers pushing into her sex while his tongue lashed and lashed, catching her front and back. The fox's paws gripped harder on Vennie's head, fighting her body's inclination to clench her legs in a futile effort to fight off the rising tide. If only to make it go on a little longer.

The tide broke over her, and her high-pitched yips escaped as if they'd broken from jail. Head pressed against the pillow, Kiyara pushed her hips upward in an effort to... she wasn't sure. Keeping it going longer felt like a fantastic idea, to keep that pleasure coursing through her for another few moments more. But then, also, it was starting to edge into somewhere pain like, where it was too much, like her cup was over full and if another drop of sensation entered her she'd explode...

Vennie seemed to know exactly when to stop, and that devious tongue and clever fingers left her slumped against the bed, panting to catch her breath. The fox felt... spent. Every limb was infused with lassitude, and it was only with some effort that she tugged at the skunk's shirt to beckon him toward her. Eventually he did, and she nuzzled into his neck, loving the smell of herself on him.

The skunk chuckled. "So that pay off the bet?"

"Mmhmhm. Maybe I'll need another twenty minutes of you eating me out to satisfy the bet."

"Now I know you're being greedy." He poked at her nose, and the dampness of the finger along with the blossoming scent told her he hadn't wiped off his fingers yet. "We both know that paid off the bet."

Sighing theatrically, Kiyara rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine, Venerald, you have satisfied the terms of the bet."

Vennie's ears went back. "I told you that in confidence."

"And it'll stay in confidence, Vennie. But don't blame me if I use it every now and then when you annoy me." She stuck her tongue out at him. As she hoped, he did it back, and she took the chance to close the distance, their lips meeting and opening slightly as their tongues met within his mouth. The deeper kisses continued to be lethargic, with her energy still recharging and him being content, seemingly, on the pace of things. Kiyara allowed the kiss to end, and she tucked her muzzle to his neck and nuzzled there. "It won't get out from me."

"And how can I trust you? You're a fox."

"And how can I trust you won't spray me?" she returned. "You're a skunk."

"Mm... I guess we'll have to exercise self-control around each other."

"Assuming it's even in my nature to be devious and underhanded."

"I've seen you do that, though."

The banter was well worn territory, but she enjoyed the remarks all the same. "True," Kiyara said, chuckling softly. Then she sobered. "You know. This time next week we're probably gonna be on the Umbra, shipping out."

"Probably."

"You think we completed our mission?"

"What?"

"Do you think we completed our mission?"

Vennie snorted. "We got him, didn't we? He's coming with us."

"Yeah, but the captain wanted him to be the first officer." Kiyara drew idle designs on Vennie's shirt. "Is he going to?"

"Why, you wanna bet?"

Kiyara looked up at Vennie, who was smirking down at her. "No," she said, before drawing him into another kiss. "But I wanna pay it off," she went on, a hand sliding down to squeeze at his cock.