FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was the middle of the night as a young Chakat peered through a small telescope. Hir tail twitched back and forth over the grass as shi marveled at what shi could see. The settlements on the moon, the glimmer of Mars, even the star around which Chakona orbited. By far what shi loved to watch most though, was the space station in orbit around hir own little home planet of Earth. Excitedly shi focused the eyepiece as a quick flash signaled the arrival of another star ship. The glow of the warp nacelles slowly dimmed as the long, sleek ship headed for docking.

"Stargazer! What are you still doing out here? You have school tomorrow!" the cub's mother, Chakat Gardenpaw, scolded, hir tail lashing.

"Aww but mom! The Destiny just came back!" shi whined with her ears down and tail curled. Shi knew there was little defense for being out so late.

"I swear I don't know what to do with you sometimes," the large Chakat sighed as she stepped out onto the cool grass. "You need your rest. Come on, I'm sure you'll get to see lots of ships next week on your field trip," shi continued calmly, making Stargazer smile. A trip to the Space museum would be well worth the wait and a little sleep.

"Sleep well sweetie, and don't let me catch you out there again this late. Got it?" Gardenpaw chided once more as the two lay down in a spare bedroom so as not to disturb their other den mates. Stargazer yawned and nodded softly as exhaustion quickly caught up with the young cub. Before long, mother and child were fast asleep.

<hr>

"Starman Starchaser!" Lieutenant Commander, and Chief Engineer, Leon Takac bellowed. A moment later a savannah cat patterned Chakat scrambled up a ladder to answer his call.

"Yes sir!" shi replied, standing at attention.

"We're almost done taking readings of the star. You're sure your numbers are correct? I'll be honest, it's been a long time since the academy for me," the human said as he grinned and rubbed his head.

"I'm sure. The simulations were green all week," shi replied, her tail curling happily as she grinned back.

"Alright, what about the injectors? Has your team checked them all?" he continued, beckoning hir to follow him to the main engineering screen positioned as a large table.

"Yes sir, we just finished when you called. Everything's ready. The captain should be pleased," shi continued, reaching out to press hir fingers expertly across the injector port controls.

"Captain to engineering," the gruff, slightly growling voice of Captain Aryn Ouragan came over the ships intercom.

"Yes sir! Engineering here," Takac replied, letting Starchaser finish the startup of the warp engines.

"Are we ready? We're nearly out of the star's gravity well," the captain asked with an enthusiasm creeping into his voice.

"Ready and waiting sir! Nacelles are purring like a kitten," Starchaser chimed in, smiling at the chief as he shook his head.

"Why is every Chakat that comes on my ship so cheeky?" the captain chuckled back. "Very well! We'll be heading off for our test run in thirty minutes, stand by." The captain informed.

"You're lucky he has a thing for felines," the chief said as he went to check Starchaser's work. Star giggled as shi double-checked the numbers hirself. Hir eyes darted over the schematic of the ship as hir fingers deftly manipulated menu after menu, correcting values and ensuring the computer didn't revert from hir unorthodox warp field calculations. "How did you come up with this warp field solution anyway?" the chief asked, he was quite impressed with the chakat's effort. Shi'd been assigned to the Quicksilver just a month ago after proposing a modification to the warp engines as hir thesis at the academy. After hundreds of simulations and just as many warp field experts rechecking her formulas, all of which found no flaws what-so-ever, shi'd been given a commission and the opportunity to test her thesis. "Starchaser?" the chief persisted when he didn't get an answer. The chakat squeaked softly as shi realized he had addressed hir.

"Wh-what?" shi managed softly, having not heard a single word of his question. "I'm sorry sir."

"Never mind, just take it easy okay? There's nothing more you can do until we begin." Takac replied as he leaned on the table, offering the increasingly frantic chakat another kind smile.

"Yes sir. Thank you," shi replied and looked down at the screen once more. Only now did shi realize hir breath had quickened and shi took a few deep breaths to calm hir nerves.

Time seemed to move incredibly slow until the captain's voice once more came across the intercom. This time though, he addressed the entire ship. "Attention crew of the Quicksilver! We are about to perform an experimental warp jump. We expect no difference from a normal jump but I ask that everyone stay alert. We will be under a yellow alert until the test is concluded." he said before the yellow alert lights flashed to life. Activity in engineering doubled as Starchaser looked over the screen again, this time holding hir breath as the engines began to power up. The chief entered in one final code, telling the bridge crew everything was green and a moment later the ship's nacelles sprang to life. With a flash, the Quicksilver shot off into warp. Starchaser brought up several readouts on the display and began tweaking the numbers. The chief watched but the chakat was so fast that he could hardly keep up with hir corrections.

The engines pulsed and hummed rhythmically, just as Starchaser had intended. A smile crept to hir muzzle as hir experiment gave exactly the results shi expected. After just a short five minutes the hum of the engines began to dim as the warp drive powered down. "This is your captain speaking. This concludes our warp test. Thank you everyone for your work towards this rousing... success." The voice said with pride, but seemed to trail off at the end. Despite the test having concluded, the yellow alert light remained on, hinting something was amiss. Starchaser quickly checked the engines, fearing something might have gone wrong. Every readout came up green though as the engines simply lay idle. "Chief, there's a ship out here. I need an evaluation," the captain's voice came from the Takac's badge. Star blinked as the chief looked at hir before answering and hurrying to a console behind him. Star continued to log and record the data from the test but thanks to the power of the computers on the ship, hir work was quickly completed. Hir curiosity however, was far from slaked. Shi perked hir ears and looked across the table to the chief's screen. On it, was an image of a clearly alien ship. Starchaser's sharp eyes marveled at the elegant design before shi caught the signs of damage pock marking the entire hull. A sadness crept in as shi listened, hir ears focused like radar on the chief.

"It appears adrift. There's no power readings at all; probably why our long range sensors didn't flag it as a vessel. This far out in interstellar space only artificial life would have a chance at surviving unless there were stasis chambers. But we should be able to detect the power for them," the chief reported.

"Thanks Chief. Commander Rezan will be headed over with a security team now. Assemble your own team ASAP. If it's a derelict I want to know whose it is," the captain replied.

"Yes sir," the chief finished and looked once more at the ship on his screen. "You're too quiet Star. I assume you heard that?" he said without looking behind him. Starchaser stiffened and swallowed, afraid maybe shi had eavesdropped on something shi shouldn't have again. The chief turned and gave hir an accusing look accompanied with a smirk. Starchaser didn't move as shi tried to make sense of his look and the emotions shi felt from him. Sure shi'd managed to endear hirself with the chief in the short month she'd been there, but shi'd managed to unintentionally step on quite a few toes as well. "You better grab a PADD, a space suit and whatever else you need. Report to shuttle bay three in thirty minutes." he said calmly as he came back to the table to look at the results of their warp test.

Again the Chakat had failed to breathe and with a sharp gasp shi launched at the chief, wrapping him in a tight Chakat hug! "You mean it? Thank you thank you thank you!" shi squealed, squeezing him tightly. The chief oofed and gasped, locked in a hug that forced the air from his lungs. When shi finally released him he gasped for breath and chuckled.

"Consider it a reward for a successful test. That formula of yours could revolutionize high warp travel." he laughed and reached out to rub the slightly shorter chakat between the ears. Starchaser blushed softly but couldn't help grinning like a kitten with a new toy. "Plus, you have a knack for fixing systems and it looks like the ship might need some work." he added. Star stepped back, gave a crisp salute and scrambled out into the hall just as the yellow lights stopped flashing. The chief shook his head softly before he smoothed his uniform and went to pick the rest of his away team.

<hr>

Starchaser nearly ran into the door as shi reached hir quarters. Shi hurried to hir work station and grabbed hir PADD, which was already blinking with a plethora of readings and scans. Shi took a moment to look them over before shi stopped at an image of the ship. Shi could barely contain hir excitement as shi stared at the screen. Shi could only recall one previous moment in her career when shi'd been this excited. When shi'd been granted a post on the Quicksilver, the newest class and design of starship there was. Shi'd been granted access to top secret schematics of the ship which shi spent every waking moment studying for two full months! Ever since shi was a kitten shi'd been obsessed with starships. Their design, operation and mechanics, all of it utterly fascinated hir. The chance to study a ship completely unknown to anyone was more than shi could have ever hoped for! After a long moment hir gaze drifted to the time, making hir squeak again. Shi set the PADD on hir bed and hurried to grab the space suit from the compartment on the wall. A large and cumbersome piece of equipment for a chakat, shi scrambled to put it on before shi hurried to gather a few more instruments into the pockets on the suit. With only a minute to spare shi managed to trot into shuttle bay three. Inside was a circus of people scrambling about. One of the few calm figures was a starwalker stellar foxtaur, a fellow engineer from another shift, strapped into a shuttle and reading a book. With hir two hearts fit to burst from hir body, Starchaser figured the Stellar did have the right idea staying out of the way. The felitaur found hir way to an adjacent seat and strapped in next to the foxtaur. As shi situated hirself the Stellar shut hir book and looked to the Chakat. "Hello Starchaser, nice to finally meet you. My name is Starwalker Luna, Child of Nova and Hyperdrive," shi said cheerfully, offering a paw in lieu of a greeting hug since they were both seated.

"Pleasure to meet you Luna! My name is Chakat Starchaser, child of Gardenpaw and Airrider," shi replied enthusiastically, despite Luna already knowing hir name.

"Likewise. I thought you'd be older to be honest. That formula of yours was a stroke of genius." Luna complimented, making Star's tail curl shyly around hir haunches.

"Thank you. It just jumped out at me one day in class. My warp mechanics professor said I should apply for a commission and make it my thesis," shi answered as shi wiggled a little. Shi was quite modest about hir odd talent for numbers. When shi had joined Star Fleet Academy shi had no intention of pursuing such an intensive course, but in three years shi had skipped several engineering courses and leapt ahead of hir peers in the field of warp mechanics, by the end of hir sixth year shi was presenting hir thesis for approval.

The foxtaur giggled softly. "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you. You've been the talk of engineering for the past few days. Quite a few people are jealous of you, but most of us are quite impressed," shi said with a warm smile, melting the Chakat's embarrassment as shi smiled back.

"Thank you Luna. I've caught a lot of those feelings flying around engineering. It's nice to know I haven't stepped on everyone's toes at least," shi answered as Takac entered the room.

"Alright everyone listen up! This is an alien ship. Security is over there now. As soon as we get the word we'll be taking off." Takac informed. Moments later the two shuttles all sealed their hatches and the last of the crew strapped into their seats. Star gripped hir PADD tightly as anticipation overwhelmed hir. With no windows shi wouldn't even be able to see when they were near the ship, so every second felt like an eternity. Perhaps halfway through the short flight Star stiffened as something landed on hir tail. Looking back, she saw Luna's own suited tail had landed on it. It wasn't the foxtaur who was having trouble controlling their appendage though... Starchaser's tail twitched and squirmed in anticipation despite not being consciously commanded to do so!

"I'm sorry," Starchaser whispered to hir new friend, a blush tinting hir cheeks.

"No trouble," Luna replied with a foxy, knowing grin. Star's blush only deepened as shi realized shi'd been projecting some of hir emotions to the shuttle with hir empathic talent. Hir ears lay back shyly as a few snickers echoed through the hold. Luna's eyes darted to the amused humans opposite the two taurs before returning to Star. "So what do you think we'll find?" shi began, hoping to at least pass the time and cheer up the embarrassed Chakat.

<hr>

"We are in proximity to the alien vessel. Everyone suit up and we'll open the hatch," the pilot said to the team in the rear of the shuttle. The occupants hurried to put on their helmets and ready themselves for weightlessness. When all were ready, the hold vented and the hatch began to open, slowly revealing the alien ship sitting a mere meter and a half from the rear of the shuttle.

Once more Starchaser marveled at the architecture of the ship. Hir eyes sparkled with wonder as shi came to the edge of the hold and switched off hir mag boots. With a slight hunker, the Chakat pushed off from the shuttle towards the ship.

Unfortunately, it had been some time since shi'd had zero G training at the academy. Starchaser squirmed and tensed as shi tried to use the in suit jets to maneuver into a suitable landing position. "You coming?" Star heard Luna's voice from the comm just as a large taur figure drifted past hir and slipped gracefully through the opening the crew was using to enter the ship. Star blinked, amazed at how good Luna was at space walking. A moment later shi held out hir fore paws and switched on her mag boots to clamp down. With hir breath quickened in excitement shi smiled as shi looked down the length of the massive alien vessel. Clomping closer to the entry hole shi made sure to grab the edge before turning hir boots off again to slip inside.

Starchaser drifted down towards a well-lit square of paneling. Once more shi switched on hir mag boots to anchor hirself. Looking around shi could see everyone was absolutely abuzz with this mystery. The arrival point opened into the largest room, which occupied 50% of the ship from what the scans told, but the Starfleet teams landed on a large observation deck. Towards the bow of the ship, laid out in front of the gawking engineers, was a massive construction facility! Giant rings, some of which were still in the process of being constructed, hung from the ceiling in a row. Underneath the rings was a similar line of platforms in various stages of construction. "What in heaven's name?" Takac muttered as he stared in awe. Starchaser clomped over to the rail for a better look, marveling at the extremely efficient design of it all. "Alright people, don't try to activate anything yet. Document and explore only. I don't want anything blowing up or attacking us," the chief instructed. That was the only prompt that Luna needed to propel hirself over the railing to have a closer look at the rings. The starwalker foxtaur was perfectly at home in zero G, but hir quivering tail belied the concentration shi had to exert to contain hir excitement. Starchaser was a little saddened as she left her new friend to her work. The Chakat clumsily clomped along in her mag boots to try and find a consol.

<hr>

For an engineering major more versed in theory and math the ship was turning out to be somewhat of a letdown. Even more so for a suited Chakat! Though elegant on the exterior the ship was clearly designed for function, not comfort. The pathways were cramped for the humans and most were nigh impossible for a Chakat to get through. Not to mention the lack of power to any system on the ship. Reluctantly Starchaser decided to explore and document the massive ring room rather than get stuck in another narrow pass.

Thankfully, the lack of gravity made the task of scanning the ring room quite simple. At least it would have been, if Star had been any good in zero G training!

The chakat stood at the railing for a moment, watching Luna poke around at the connections between two incomplete ring segments. After convincing herself it wasn't as hard as shi remembered shi reached back to her haunch and flicked the mag switch once more. While still holding on to the railing shi started to drift upwards. Trying to plan what shi wanted to do she brought hir forepaws to grab the rail and finally crouched all four of hir lower paws in a line. "Okay... just push off and..." Shi said to herself and launched forward, more than a little too fast... "Oh noooo!" Star yowled as shi stretched out hir forepaws and hir arms. Shi'd been aiming at the floor but was headed to the ceiling. A problem that wound up being hir salvation. With flailing limbs and tail shi somehow managed to rotate enough to grab one of the many rails and pipes that littered the ceiling. Hir momentum nearly yanked hir right fore shoulder out of socket. Shi whined, knowing that leg would be sore for a day or two. Shakily shi looked around to see if shi was anywhere close to where shi wanted to be. "You should be more careful, that could have been much worse for you," Luna's voice suddenly sounded in hir ears.

Star's ears burned in embarrassment as shi realized Luca was watching. "You saw that huh?" shi replied sheepishly, and shi could swear shi saw the foxtaur's pearly whites shine from her black muzzle. As Luna turned back to hir work Star got back to hir own. Shi clipped a small device to a bar and pushed a button. A red light began to blink indicating standby mode. Star nodded then looked to the ground below. Shi swallowed hard knowing shi had to jump again. This time though shi learned from before. With a deep breath shi relaxed and gingerly pushed off with hir hind legs.

Even with a light push shi was headed towards the deck at a decent pace. Favoring hir uninjured leg shi landed and swiftly switched hir boots back on. After that the chakat clomped along towards the near wall of the ship. Shi resisted the urge to look back at Luna. She could tell from her empathic sense the foxtaur had continued to watch in amusement. Yet for the first time in a long time, shi found shi didn't mind. Unlike the feelings shi got from many of the other crewmen, Luna's sensations held no malice or distaste. It was for that reason Star couldn't help the smile that crept to hir lips and the warmth that spread in hir chest.

<hr>

The ship had no power whatsoever left in reserve. Even when a power source was hooked to a console, nothing wanted to charge. The ships power system seemed to want to distribute any power to the engines and when a console was disconnected it seemed to have no system to operate on its own. "Without finding the main processor we can't do much of anything," Takac reported to the Quicksilver after two hours of trying.

"A science vessel is on the way now. Star Fleet has assigned us to assist for the time being. Continue to map out the vessel as best you can," the captain replied.

<hr>

"Alright Luna! I'm about to set off the scan. Unless you want to be part of the schematic I'd suggest you come back here for a minute or two." Starchaser teased from the arrival point on the observation deck. Luna rolled her eyes but smirked before shi gracefully flipped in midair and pushed from the fully completed ring device shi'd been studying. Without even looking where shi was going the foxtaur softly came to a stop on the ceiling above Starchaser. The starwalker was still engrossed in the readings shi'd taken of the rings.

With the press of a button Starchaser brought all of hir tiny mapping emitters to life. The chakat smiled in glee as hundreds of tiny red laser lines mapped every nanometer of the massive bay. A few other crewmen were watching as well, chuckling at Star's tail twitching like shi were ready to chase each line that zipped by. In a matter of mere minutes, the PADD in Star's hand was done compiling the map and set to transferring it to the Quicksilver's database.

<hr>

"Good work everyone. Away teams, please return to the Quicksilver for a well-deserved rest. The science vessel will be here in two days. Until then we will have regular exploration teams until we've mapped the entire ship," the captain proclaimed soon after Star had managed to collect the last of hir emitters. Shi gave a disappointed sigh as shi flicked through the model on her PADD. With everyone else's data they had a preliminary map of nearly the entire ship. Two thirds of which was the huge room Star had scanned hirself.

"Chief? Would it be possible to transport one of the rings to the cargo bay for study? They seem to be separate, manufactured units. If we could charge one maybe we could figure out something more about the ship," Luna queried through the com as shi drifted down beside Starchaser.

"We don't want to bring anything hazardous aboard the ship just yet. Once we've had a chance to review everything we can look into it," the chief replied. Luna's ears lowered in disappointment within hir suit.

"Guess we'll have to volunteer more time here hmm? The whole ship isn't mapped and you have to shop for more toys," Star giggled as shi elbowed Luna. The foxtaur gave a sly grin, knowing shi'd been caught showing the same impatience the Chakat had earlier.

<hr>

Over the course of the next few days Starchaser became an integral part of the engineering team analyzing the alien ship. As shi had suspected, there was absolutely no wasted space. Every nook and cranny seemed to house some tube or conduit necessary for the overall function of the ship. As for determining what purpose the ship might have, Luna had stumbled onto a clue. The rings were made of a superconducting compound and powered by an as of yet undetermined source. Indications seemed to point to Zero Point energy, a form of power that had yet eluded modern scientists. Much to the disbelief of even Starchaser, Luna theorized the rings were wormhole generators and receivers!

"Star that's the only explanation... The amount of power that can be shot through that ring is staggering. We could blow this ship apart with the energy it must use to make an event horizon," Luna contested from across the table.

"If that's the case aren't those rings just weapons?" Starchaser replied skeptically.

"That's what I thought at first but there's thirty symbols lining the ring. The program I've been able to extract seems to require seven of these symbols to activate. Even then, there's sub routines that enable eight or even nine symbol combinations to be used. The catch is each additional symbol needs exponentially more power," Luna continued excitedly.

"Mhmm... Sounding more and more like a weapon to me," Star persisted with a teasing tone.

"No no no. Why would you have so many possible combinations to activate a weapon?" Luna argued again. Shi blinked as Star raised an eyebrow and smirked. With an exasperated sigh shi continued, "Yeah I got it... detonation codes, but I'm telling you it's not a weapon. Or at least it's not intended to be. See, look. The ring rotates beneath the platform. It creates an event horizon within the ring, I'm sure of it," Starchaser just smiled and shook hir head but at least looked over the PADD Luna was scribbling on.

"So let's say you are right, and it's a wormhole generator. Where's it go? Much less, how can you prove it? I mean, something like that would require a singularity wouldn't it?" Star queried, but Luna just smiled.

"See that's just it. One this small might not require a singularity, especially if it's only kept open for a short amount of time. Say on the scale of a half hour maximum. If that's the case these things might be used to jump from planet to planet. Maybe even to other galaxies!" Luna continued. "I'm only guessing but you know how our computers calculate warp jumps and calibrate orientation once we exit warp? They take six reference points in space. From that the computer can calculate exactly where the ship is. What if these rings use something like that to connect to one another?" Shi finished excitedly and set down her stylus.

Starchaser stared at the PADD with figures and pictures scribbled on it. "Well... I can't disprove it, and it would better explain why a ship whose hull metal dates back a million years is floating around in empty space," Starchaser conceded as shi eased back onto her haunches. "What has me stumped is why it ran out of power. If it can make those power supplies for the rings how can it possibly just run out of fuel?" The chakat mussed, hoping to get a little friendly feedback on hir troubles as well.

"No luck on getting a console running?" Luna asked.

"Not at all. It keeps funneling all power to what we think are the engines. The computer on that thing has a one track mind."

"Get to where it's going, right? Even more reason to support that it's an exploration vessel."

"Yeah, but there's no one aboard. There's not even any missing escape pods as far as we can tell. It's as if this thing was really meant to be autonomous," Star mused, letting hir mind wander at the possibilities.

"Well, it wasn't too long ago humans thought the best way to explore the universe would be to use self-replicating robots. Maybe this ship does something akin to that. It sends the rings to worlds with resources, then the builders can come and go as they please," Luna suggested.

"You do have a point... but how do you propose to prove those rings aren't weapons? Without a way to activate one there's no proof," Star sighed as shi stretched and gazed out at the stars. Luna's ears dipped as shi nodded hir agreement and took a sip of hir drink.

"So will you volunteer for more exploration there?" Luna asked as shi drained the last of hir tea.

"Oh hell yes!" Starchaser beamed with a grin. "I want a look at those engines! What about you?"

"Of course. I have to prove those rings aren't weapons don't I?" The Stellar smiled kindly back. "It was very nice getting to know you Chakat Starchaser. I believe I'll be seeing you a lot more. Tail high!" Luna added as shi stood and stretched a little before heading off with a smile and a wave.

"Tail high! And please... call me Star," the Chakat replied cheerfully. Indeed, her tail was high as shi watched hir new friend leave. In fact, she smiled happily all the way back to her quarters with the thought that shi'd finally made a real friend on the ship.

<hr>

Almost immediately after the door had slid closed Starchaser had shed hir uniform. Shi ruffled hir fur and purred at the freedom as shi strode through the room towards the desk in the corner. A normal Chakat in many ways, Star was however slightly embarrassed by one of hir features. Hir breasts were fairly modest for hir species. Idly shi cupped them in hir hands as shi smoothed hir fur. Much to hir disappointment, they hadn't seemed to grow at all. Sure shi wasn't a mother yet, and shi was fairly young for Star Fleet, but she was 25, plenty old enough to be fully grown. With a bit of a sigh shi stretched hir arms and back as shi peeked at the console embedded in the desk. The incomplete, yet still growing, schematic of the ship was displayed next to an extremely detailed exterior scan. Star's eyes traced the elegant lines of the ships main design before they began focusing on the square jagged details. The design was reminiscent of a style referred to as steam punk. A mix of steam powered technology with ancient Victorian era design. It was the first time the Chakat had seen a ship made in such a style. There were the incredibly boxy and massive ships of the Faleshkarti, and the sleek streamlined technology laden ships of the Starfleet, and many more between the Voxxans and the Huang, let alone all the commercial ships, but this gem... was unique.

Star found herself purring as shi manipulated the schematic on hir screen, admiring and taking in every detail. Sure shi had a talent for numbers, formulas, and programs but this was hir favorite hobby, the infinitely imaginative field of starship design. Here shi had a one of a kind example of a culture with priorities far different than those shi'd seen before. Shi wondered what they might be like. From the way this ship was it seemed they were more human shaped and sized. A taur would have far too much trouble getting around in the ship to build it, much less maintain it and a Rakshani would undoubtedly be hitting their head a lot. Star's mind wandered as shi zoomed out once more to look at the support struts along the length of the ship. Shi wondered what their other ships might look like. If this one were purely functional and built to last without maintenance, a ship made for occupation must be profoundly beautiful! The thought made Star smile wider before shi swapped to the interior schematic. The front two thirds of the ship were already mapped with unerring accuracy. Since then, the second wave of away teams had added many corridors and accesses. Only a few spots remained scattered between the paths that couldn't be reached by laser scans, those were being filled in with directed sweeps from the main sensors of the Quicksilver, though they would never be as detailed as the laser mapping. Star idly wished shi weren't so tired so shi could return to that ship, but a yawn forced hir to tear hirself from the screen. Shi was off duty yes, but shi had to focus on the data from the day's test. The science ship would be arriving soon and the chief had been kind enough to give hir the opportunity to continue researching the alien ship, so long as shi was able to finish hir report on the warp drive modifications by the end of the week.

"Starchaser, time to wake up... Starchaser, time to wake up..." a motherly voice repeated over the intercom in Star's room. With a groan the Chakat stiffly roused from hir sleep.

"Computer... Time," shi groaned, slowly and sorely getting to all fours. Shi'd fallen asleep at hir console, halfway through writing hir warp drive report. A position that was less than ideal for a Chakat's elongated body and spine despite how flexible they could be.

"6:30AM Ship Time," the computer replied in its default voice.

"What!?" Star exclaimed as shi bolted up with protesting tired eyes bugging from hir head.

"6:30AM Ship Time," the computer answered again.

"I heard you the... Ugh!" Star grumbled as shi hurried to the shower to clean up.

<hr>

"Star there you are," Takac commented as the Chakat entered engineering while still putting her damp brown hair up in a ponytail.

"Sorry Sir. I was up late last night," shi answered as shi began looking over the controls to the engines. When in standby mode though there was little to do but review data and monitor power to the ship, a task that was easily managed by the ships computer.

"Oh? Spending time with Luna?" He queried innocently.

"What!? No! I-I mean we were talking about the ship in the lounge but..." Shi protested, hir weary mind jumping to conclusions and inadvertently making hir defensive.

"Ha! Relax Star. I didn't mean anything by it, but I think you might be protesting a little too much," the chief retorted with an accusing grin. Star's ears pinned to hir head as shi felt a flush come to hir cheeks. Still shi couldn't help but smile back at him. "So did you hear about the away team's finds yet?" He continued as he joined hir at the desk-like computer. He quickly pulled up a display and enlarged images taken from the alien ship. Starchaser's eyes widened in fascination at the picture of a sprawling room of engine machinery.

"It must be the whole width of the ship!" Shi commented.

"Indeed, it's sectional but the whole rear has a strip of engines the likes of which we've never seen."

"Where's the power core?" She asked, noting the largely unused space behind the actual engines.

"We think that's what these things actually are. See these conduits though?" The chief replied, zooming in on what appeared to be large and solidly built pipes leading into the floor. "They lead to mechanisms lined up on the bottom of the ship. They appear to be collectors of some kind."

"What would they possibly collect? Do they lead to the ring room too?" Star pondered.

"No. Straight to the reactors," the chief answered, a hint of amusement creeping into his voice. Star's ear twitched at the tone and shi looked up at him with a glare.

"You know what they're for, don't you Sir?" Shi growled with a touch of playfulness, hir tail twitching in excitement. Once more he laughed.

"I can do you one better. I can show you. The Meson arrived an hour ago. We're about to attempt transferring power to the ship," the chief beamed and whisked away the image of the ship to bring up his own controls. Star watched in astonished silence for a moment before shi hurried to find what he was talking about. Sure enough... power had been steadily building in the weapon arrays.

"Ready Chief?" The captain's voice came over the coms.

"And waiting Sir," the chief replied. "Star, I need to you monitor output to absorption. You're quick with numbers, we don't want to overload the thing,"

"Sure thing!" Star answered without looking. Shi already had the arrays up and the power flow controls standing by on hir display. With a few more quick touches shi had sensor readings focused on the alien ship's collectors as well.

"Quicksilver to Science Vessel Meson. We are ready to begin the transfer on your mark," the Captain's voice echoed through engineering.

"Thank you captain. Firing in three, two, one, Zero!" The science ship's chief engineer replied and both ships fired a bright flare of plasma at the collectors.

Starchaser quickly began monitoring the readings but nothing seemed to be happening. "What is the intent here Chief?" Star questioned, wondering why the emitters were set at such an odd setting of energy output. It was hardly the most efficient transfer of energy.

"We believe the collectors are meant to collect solar material from flares in a flyby around a star. What kind of star we don't know," the chief replied, dialing the settings to mimic a blue super giant's flares instead of a white dwarf.

"Wait what's that?" Starchaser said as shi scanned the readings. "There's an absorption peak!"

"Really? Where? We can increase that range," the chief replied.

"Hmm... This would be. Chief, tune it to the output of the star we just left," Star advised. A moment later the adjustments were made and the collectors on the bottom of the alien vessel began to glow.

"Meson to Quicksilver. Are you seeing this?" A truly astounded voice came over the coms. Looking to the visual of the alien ship on their desk station both Star and the Chief engineer marveled as the ship seemed to come alive. Lights flickered to life across the hull and a shield quickly went up.

"Engineering cut the transfer!" The captain's voice suddenly barked over the speaker. With sheer reactive speed the Chief cut the emitters.

"It's moving!" Star exclaimed, smiling as shi watched the ancient vessel groan to life as soon as the energy transfer had been halted.

"Yes, but where too and can we still study it?" The chief said worriedly.

"It looks like it's only making slight course corrections. It's increasing speed towards the system we just left. Chief, the output of that sun matches closely the absorbance bands we recorded. It'd be safe to assume that's the type of star the ship needs to recharge with," Star commented, making a few adjustments to the settings in preparation and saving them away. It would be a safe bet they wouldn't be attempting another recharge any time soon.

"Chief, prepare another away team. A team from the Meson will be joining you as well," the captain's voice came through the chief's badge.

"Yes Sir," the chief replied. He looked up from the screen to see the widely grinning face of his Chakat prodigy. "Get ready..." He said with a smile and a defeated shake of his head. Starchaser squealed softly and put her fore paws on the console to lean over and hug the chief in her glee. He simply laughed at the affection as she released him just as quickly. Star eagerly began collecting instruments as the Chief selected the rest of the team. "Takac to Lieutenant Luna, I'll need you for an away team..." Star's ears perked and she couldn't help smiling wider as she almost pranced out of engineering to get her space suit.

"Back again I see," Luna's voice accompanied a classic vulpine smile as Star entered the transporter room. Star's own smile beamed as shi went right up and gave the Stellar a greeting hug.

"This is so exciting! It actually has power! It works after all this time!" Star exclaimed, feeling as giddy as a kitten on Christmas.

Though shi seemed more composed, as shi gave only a chuckle, Luna's tail betrayed hir excitement as the tip twitched quickly back and forth. "I know. I can hardly wait to check the rings again," shi answered back. The two eagerly awaited their trip and soon enough they were aboard the alien ship once more. Starfleet and Star Corp personnel bustled everywhere they looked. Links had just been established with the ancient systems and data was being streamed back to the pursuing ships. Mag boots were no longer needed as the ship's gravity plating had begun to function, much to Starchaser's glee and Luna's dismay. Spacesuits on the other hand, still had to be used. The life support functions hadn't managed to restore an atmosphere.

Luna once more stood by the railing of the observation deck, awestruck at what was occurring. Already several personnel were on the factory floor, but all watched in wonder as the ship carried out what seemed to be its primary function, building the rings. Three new rings now hung near the front of the ship with the other completed pieces, and still more parts were being brought up by robotic arms to be assembled.

"Where are they coming from?" Star asked idly as she came up beside Luna to watch.

"Somewhere else in the ship... Stores or collectors maybe?" the foxtaur mused before taking a deep breath. "Alright! Off to work. Am I right?" shi added with a foxy grin before trotting over to a staircase at the side of the platform. Star smiled back and nodded before hurrying off. Hir task this time was the engine room. With such a strange method of recharging the ship the Chief had given priority to determining how the ship was powered. Star was there in a matter of minutes after finding a suitable path for a Chakat's size. Already several engineering personnel were documenting everything. But it was a sight to behold the inner workings of those engines. "They're massive fusion generators..." Star gawked, hir ears buzzing with the loud hum of the huge machines.

"Good to know you know your history. Now could you help us with these readings or are you going to try and improve these too?" a human male named Aric asked as he looked back at her with resentment in his eyes. Star's ears lowered, this was what her empathic senses had been picking up ever since she was assigned to the Quicksilver. Shi hurried to his side and began to assist in gathering readings. She could feel the pride emanating from the man next to her as he seemed to delight in her submission to his jeer...

<hr>

"How's it going chief?" the captain asked of Takac once they had managed to establish communications through the ancient vessel.

"Very well. Systems have started up all over. Life support isn't working yet. It seems the ship is trying but the systems are in disrepair. I've got a group taking a look at the engines. Preliminary reports say it's a collection of fusion generators."

"Fusion? That's a little archaic and ineffective for a star ship isn't it?" the captain butted in.

"I won't argue with you there sir but you must admit... a ship that can refuel autonomously using the most abundant fuel source in the universe is quite ingenious," Takac replied.

"Fair enough. How much longer do you need? We're due at Fortec Station in three days. We can only spare another day and that's thanks to Starchaser's modifications," the captain continued, grinning with a flick of his tail showing on screen at the thought of how fast his ship could go.

"We'll have to be done by then, but we could spend a week here and still find new things to study," the chief engineer answered with disappointment.

"Relax chief, Star Corp can handle it from here."

"I suppose you're right. In that case I'll have all Quicksilver crew set to short term projects," The chief answered a little glumly before they closed their link. The chief sighed as he began looking over the personnel list he had on board the alien ship. He knew none of them would want to leave considering their projects but they all knew their role as star fleet. Once the scene was considered safe Star Fleet had no reason to be there. "Attention everyone. We will be attempting to transfer more power to the ship in a few minutes. I want everyone to stay alert. If anything seems wrong, activate your emergency transport beacon," the chief spoke through the comms. The personnel around him nodded before everyone went back to their tasks.

<hr>

Starchaser hurried to complete her assessment of the fusion array. The group she was with had deduced that the array was only working at a fraction of its capacity due to the limited "fuel" it had been given. Another burst should allow the ship to truly show its colors. The team exploring the computer system had managed to dial back the shield strength so that the transporter relay beacon could be easily picked up. However, as an extra precaution they had set the modulation to a single frequency. For some reason though, Starchaser couldn't help feeling a bit of nervous unease as the final word was given to initiate another power transfer.

<hr>

Luna was having the time of hir career analyzing the rings. One of the last steps in manufacturing was the insertion of a crystal that seemed to contain the operating system for the device. Already a completed ring, a disassembled ring, a ring without a crystal, and a separate crystal had been transported back to the Quicksilver for continued analysis. The foxtaur was one of the first to be brought back aboard the Starfleet vessel to study the devices. From hir terminal in engineering shi studied the operating system as the ship's computer used a good deal of memory in an attempt to translate. So far, the only thing shi had managed to confirm was that it was some form of targeting system. Six symbols designated a point in space, with a seventh as a point of reference. The part shi was having trouble with was that there were recognition formulas for eight and even nine symbol sequences...

"All hands red alert!" the captain's voice growled over the intercoms as the flashing red lights lit up. Luna's ears perked and shi jolted to attention. "Man your stations, we are in pursuit of the alien vessel," his voice continued, bringing a murmur of confusion around engineering. The warp cells hummed and throbbed to life an instant later, pulsing with Starchaser's warp solution as the Quicksilver sped off in pursuit of her prey.

Luna looked around, her fears and suspicions correct. Star and the Chief were nowhere to be seen. "Look alive! Man your stations and check those injectors! You! Make sure the ship doesn't modify Starchaser's design!" Luna barked with authority as several crewman stood contemplating the announcement.

"Chief! Answer me!" Captain Aryn barked from the console behind the Luna.

"Sorry captain. He's not here," Luna answered back with a tap of a button, flashing the view screen up.

"What do you mean he's not there? Damn! It must have been too fast for the transporter," the captain growled again and slammed his fist on his chair. "Alright Lieutenant here's the situation. We're pursuing the alien ship. Its shields reset just before it shot into warp. Navigation says it's heading towards the star we just left. I want a solution to get our people off that ship the second we drop out of warp. You hear me?" the captain demanded. Without flinching Luna nodded and saluted. The captain gave an approving nod in return and the screen went dark.

Luna sighed in relief as hir whole body released the tension of the moment. Without missing a beat shi spun about to the console desk. After pulling up the crew profiles of the away teams and having the computer check who had made it aboard the ship she contacted the foremost experts available regarding shields, warp, and transporters. The whole time, Starchaser's profile image sat smiling back at hir from the corner of the screen...

<hr>

"This is Quicksilver's chief engineer, can anyone tell me what's going on?" Takac grumbled after a strange phase shift of the ship.

"Sorry Chief, most of the systems shut down. We can't get the consoles up again."

"The reactors are diverting all power to the ships warp cells. Without access to the consoles we can't divert it."

"Chief we're at trans warp speeds! Even with my modifications the Quicksilver won't be able to stay in range of us for very long!" Starchaser said worriedly over the com.

"Thank you for the reports. Those of you in the engine room. Try to slow the ship down but let's try not blow us across the galaxy hmm? Everyone else, keep trying to gain control of those systems. Coordinate at the console cluster near the transport balcony. I'm on my way," the chief replied as he walked through the tight corridors.

<hr>

Starchaser lowered her ears in dismay. They had already tried just about everything they could think of to shut down the reactors. But as before, the ship seemed to have a one track mind.

"Why did you feel the need to tell the chief that?" Aric said angrily.

"He should know the urgency of..."

"He is under enough stress right now! Don't you think he knows we're stranded? He doesn't need you causing a panic!" He yelled in hir face. With his being nearly a foot taller than hir, and despite the added bulk of her taur form, Star found hirself crouched from his tirade. With a grunt the man turned and left but Star still found herself shaken as she stood straight again. Picking up hir PADD she began running the numbers again. Her eyes tore through the data as she scrolled faster than what would seem possible for someone to read and comprehend.

<hr>

The alien ship dropped out of warp as it hit the edge of the system the Quicksilver had just left.

"Captain! Analysis of the vessel's flight path puts it passing dangerously close to the gas giant planet," navigation reported, putting a simulation up on the main view screen. "What's worse, if the ship doesn't correct its course it will skim the Class M planet and continue on a collision course to the star!"

"Have we got communications with the alien ship?" The captain growled sharply. He wasn't happy that such an ancient ship had nearly outpaced what was now the fastest ship in Starfleet.

"No sir. The shields are scrambling our signals and the alien ship has shut down all other systems except for gravity, life support and the engines."

"Can we fire on the engines? Damage them enough to stop the ship?" The captain queried as he sat back down to study the estimated trajectories.

"No sir. Any weapons fire on the ship could destabilize the entire vessel. You could say that ship is rickety at best."

"A tractor beam, road block, anything! What can we do to stop that ship?" The captain demanded. The bridge fell silent; no one had an answer...

<hr>

"So what does this mean?" Takac questioned as he looked over the dimly lit display of the alien ship. Another engineering crewman worked the archaic controls, manipulating the information with varying degrees of success.

"Well... If this display is correct, I think it's the system we just left. This path, seems to be the flight trajectory of the alien ship and these seem to be the system's planets and star respectively," the crewman replied as he gestured.

"And what is the scale here? How close is this ship planning on flying to that star?" The chief continued with a growing worry. The small screen and unfamiliar characters seemed to be indicating the ship would fly deep into the outer atmosphere of the star. The only consolation he had was that the projected flight path continued on out the other side of the system.

"I-I don't know chief. Based on what we know of the system and the size of that gas giant; I'd say well within the upper atmosphere."

"I figured as much... We need to find a way off this ship. If you can't alter the shields is there a weak point? Maybe an emitter we could sabotage?" The chief continued to probe as the ship drifted towards the enormous gas giant now looming over the ship.

<hr>

"For the last time Chakat... We want to stop the ship, not blow it to space dust. Increasing engine output would more than likely bounce us off the planet's atmosphere. The shock could rip the ship apart," an exasperated Aric grumbled about Starchaser's latest suggestion. Star fell silent once again as she began to flip through hir PADD. With a sneer the crewman snatched the device from hir grasp.

"Hey!" Shi chirped as she grabbed for it but it was too late.

"Would you just forget it! There's nothing we can do here!" Aric yelled as he tossed the thing to the ground where it clattered across the metal plated floor. "Sheesh, some genius. Doesn't even know when to give up." he sighed, smirking inwardly as the chakat hurried after the discarded PADD.

"That was a bit harsh Aric. Shi's still young and just as scared as the rest of us." A human woman by the name of Verna said as shi watched Star run after the PADD. The group of five others around them seemed to agree.

"Aww whatever. The Captain will get us off this thing and it's her fault we're even in this mess." Aric griped back. There were murmurs around the group but no one seemed to disagree.

Starchaser swallowed hard as shi picked up the PADD. Luckily, the things were quite durable, so nothing was truly damaged, though there was a large gouge in the casing that was otherwise smooth polished metal. Hir ears and tail drooped as shi ran her fingers over the mark before quickly straightening and putting it away. Trying to force back the tears in hir eyes shi turned and headed for the exit of the engine room.

"Where are you goin? Chief said to stay put," Aric grumbled at hir again.

"Well obviously I can't do anything more here and there are still some sections that haven't been fully scanned yet," shi replied without turning. Shi could feel the adrenaline beginning to course through hir body.

"Whatever... Try not to get killed cat." he answered, but with hir empathic sense shi could tell he meant just the opposite... That alone stabbed like a knife at hir hearts.

"You're such an ass." Verna snapped at the man as she rose to her feet.

"Where're you going?" Aric grunted.

"To make sure shi's alright and that shi doesn't try anything that might blow us to smithereens." Verna sneered back before following Starchaser.

<hr>

Star cursed at hir space suit as shi tried to wipe at hir eyes. Shi couldn't stop hirself from crying after feeling how deeply Aric seemed to hate hir. As the tensions had risen the longer they were stranded shi had become more and more aware of it. Unfortunately, hir kind nature only made hir try harder to resolve the situation in hopes of endearing hirself with him. Something that shi realized far too late had absolutely no chance of happening.

As shi wandered the corridors, not even bothering to pay attention to where shi was going, it wasn't long before shi found hirself standing before a large set of double doors. Ornate depictions covered the large metal structure, showing skinny humanoid figures pointing to a detailed array of rings, dots and other depictions. Shi quickly recognized the doors as being those leading to the main bridge. They had been a highlight of the initial report of the ship. The linguistics team had used some of the depiction as a guide for translating the language of the ship but it was agreed the entirety of the mural was telling the purpose of why the ship was built in the first place. That purpose was thought to be as simple as exploring and colonizing the stars. Starchaser ran hir fingers idly over the etched star systems, wondering where they might actually exist. In a neighboring galaxy? Or perhaps these were stars who's light had yet to even reach earth?

Distracted by the doors, Star's tears slowed and stopped. Shi wished the ship could talk to hir, tell hir all the amazing things it had seen. Looking over at a dismantled box near the door Star's ears lowered. The engineering team that had tried to get into the control room had left the device completely torn apart. Still, there was one thing that proved irresistible to the curious chakat. An interface that had been installed into the pieces of the box was meant to connect to star fleet devices. Hir hand reached for the PADD in hir suit and with a cautious look around shi connected the device to the terminal.

Starchaser nearly leapt out of hir space suit as the ship shuttered and jerked the instant shi hooked up hir PADD to the door mechanism. Fear and worry plagued hir as shi looked around the immediate area wondering if shi had actually been the cause of the quakes now rumbling across the ship or if it were coincidence.

"Verna to Starchaser. Where are you? I just want to talk." the woman's voice came across the coms a moment later. Star quickly unplugged the device from the interface as shi looked around, debating whether to answer. "You didn't do anything to cause that quake did you?"

"Starchaser to Verna... I don't think so and I'm fine. You don't have to..." Star began, only to spot Verna turn a corner down the hall and head towards hir.

"You don't look fine. Don't pay Aric any mind. He's pissed cause you got free reign of the ship for your experiments at such a young age. He's been in fleet for ten years and never made it past Crewman second class." Verna offered as she stood beside the forlorn Chakat.

With the lump in hir throat Star plugged the PADD back into the interface and selected an access feed. "I know. It's the same with a lot of the engineering staff." shi answered as shi watched nonsensical numbers and letters trill across the PADD. Since there had been no translation for the ship's language or computer code as of yet, hir relatively low powered PADD could only show the raw data it was being fed.

"Yeah. A lot of them feel threatened by you I guess, but not all of us are like that... What are you doing anyway?" Verna continued, trying to hold a conversation but finding shi was failing. Star's eyes darted here and there around the display, catching pieces of... something amidst the static of numbers and letters on hir screen. "Starchaser?" Verna persisted worriedly, putting a hand on the chakat's shoulder and shaking hir softly.

Star blinked, snapping hirself from a trance similar to that shi had experienced with hir warp solution epiphany, the chakat's gaze came upon the partially dismantled key pad for the interface. "H-huh?" Shi answered, looking at Verna as if just noticing she was there.

"You alright? You kinda spaced out for a bit." Verna asked with a suspicious eye.

"Y-yeah I just... thought I saw something." Star answered and reached out for the key pad while holding hir PADD in one hand.

"Like what?" Verna persisted, watching the Chakat and the static on hir screen, despite being a bit concerned Star was messing with a piece of the ship.

Twelve buttons surrounded a central thirteenth on the pad in Star's hand. Hir thumb pressed the center button as shi watched the display. At first, nothing jumped out at hir, but another press made something catch hir eye. A blip of consistent code that popped up amidst the background noise. Another press confirmed it, making hir smile softly in excitement. Looking at the other buttons, shi couldn't help hirself and began pressing them one after another. Lost in hir experiment, shi didn't notice as the ship stopped quaking.

"Starchaser...? What are you doing?" Verna asked worriedly, wondering if Star had actually quelled the shaking ship.

"It's alright. It's just a door lock. I think I might be able to open it." Star answered, still only half-aware of Verna's presence.

<hr>

"The screen says we're out of the gas giant's atmosphere chief," the crewman at the console reported.

"Good." he replied and turned. "Attention all hands. We are about to attempt a sabotage of a shield conduit. Please step away from all conduits and consoles," the chief ordered over the comms.

<hr>

Starchaser heard the order and reluctantly set down hir PADD. Shi didn't move away though as shi pondered what shi kept seeing amidst the static. A moment later the dim lights of the ship flickered and hummed. The static on the screen of hir PADD slowed and twitched in time with the flickers before resuming as the light stabilized.

"Qu...k... si...v..r... to... a..." a voice came across the comms. Though broken, one could make out that it was from the Quicksilver!

While most of the away teams were quickly relieved and enthused by the broken communication, Star felt hir pulse rise as shi scooped up the PADD and began working again. Shi knew shi had precious little time to figure out what she was seeing in the static. Shi began quickly pressing combinations into the key pad, watching as the signals came up one by one.

"Starchaser you can stop. Didn't you hear the Quicksilver?" Verna said as shi watched the Chakat nearly pounce on the PADD as soon as the lights returned to normal.

Star grinned as shi figured out with a few more buttons how to tell if shi got something correct! Shi tried another combination, three numbers correct, another, two. Shi cursed as shi realized the combinations must cycle. Shi hurried to try another, and another, the next time shi had five, then seven. Shi could almost see which buttons shi needed next popping up at hir through the static! Eight, then nine, and finally, ten...

<hr>

"Do it, get them back here now," the captain growled as he stood in front of his chair out of nervousness. The shields had weakened but the ship seemed to already be compensating. The transporter operator began retrieving all badge signals from the alien vessel. Two security personnel hurried the retrieved star fleet crew off the pad so another group could be brought back.

<hr>

When star pressed the tenth button in the combination all the buttons lit green. The static on hir PADD seemed to go haywire for a moment as something began to happen. The doors groaned to life, the figures moving as if to point at the now spinning star systems in the mural that seemed to create a rippling illusion where the doors pulled apart. It wasn't long before a large clunk sounded and the doors fell silent in their open position.

"What did...?" Verna asked, staring with wide eyes at the mural as it moved. Fear turned to wonder as shi and Star both staggered forward though the now open doors. Star unplugged hir PADD and gaped as the main control room started to come to life. In a reverent awe the chakat took a few cautious steps into the bridge. Screens flickered to life at various stations and lights illuminated the entire area. On a large screen beside what one could only assume was the captain's chair, there was a reticule positioned on the image of a beautiful planet. Resting hir hands on a rail and leaning carefully on it the chakat gawked at the beauty of the room. The architecture, the artistry, the... rather realistic face staring back at hir... With a quick blink, Star suddenly realized shi was staring at the face of a star fleet security officer.

<hr>

"That's it! That's everyone!" The transporter operator reported to the captain.

"Wh-what? No! I was on the bridge! Maybe we can stop the...!" Star protested before shi realized what shi was saying. Takac was there with a checklist, and as Star spoke he looked up.

"You were on the bridge?" He queried curiously before the red alert sounded again.

"Chief! Get to engineering NOW! The ship just fired something at the class M planet!" The captain bellowed through the chief's com badge.

"Yes sir!" The chief replied, momentarily forgetting Star's comment and hurrying out. Surprised as well, and with hir curiosity overwhelming hir previous disappointment Star hurried after the chief, leaving Verna on the transport pad as she tried to make sense of what she'd seen the odd Chakat do.

<hr>

Luna breathed a sigh of relief as the report came back that all the crew had been retrieved safely. Shi hadn't realized how tense shi had become while working with the shield experts to compensate for the ship's defenses. Shi was just about to turn and congratulate everyone when Takac and Starchaser rushed in and began furiously operating the consoles.

"What's wrong?" Luna asked, hurrying to another station to check the warp core readings.

"The ship fired something at the planet," the chief replied and brought it up on the main console.

"What?" Luna gasped and turned to look for hirself. "Wait. That's one of the rings!" shi exclaimed as shi saw the chemical make up on the scanner's read outs.

"Luna, what was your determination of the devices? Is it a weapon or no?" The chief asked sternly.

"We couldn't determine, but preliminary examinations of the operating system suggested no. The sequences have terminations and repetitions, suggesting the device was meant to be used multiple times," shi reported diligently.

"Could it endanger the planet in any way?" The chief persisted.

"Aside from impacting like a small asteroid, no," shi answered.

"Chief to the captain. Sir, our assessment is the object is not a weapon. It's one of the ring devices. Recommend monitoring with caution. This could be the vessel's function," the chief reported, hopeful the captain would remain patient.

"Very well. Prepare a team in case the object touches down safely. I want it quarantined immediately, whether it's in one or one million pieces," the captain replied. A moment later, the red alert light switched to yellow.

<hr>

The next few hours were a bluster of activity. Despite hir disappointment at having been transported from the alien bridge, Star had plenty to focus on as shi tracked the ship. Luna and the chief were on the away team examining the ring. It had managed to land in one piece, upright, with minimal impact on the planet, which at least let the quarantine effort proceed smoothly. Scans of the atmosphere reported only minor elemental contamination from the ring's descent.

Starchaser continued to watch the ship on the display, sad that they would never get to examine it again. It was too close to the star now to avoid collision with the limited power it had. The shields were flickering with the radiation and would probably fail all together very soon. Idly shi wondered if shi might have been able to stop the ship from the bridge, but the Captain had been firm about not risking anyone's life in a return attempt. To that end, the Quicksilver remained stationed above the class M planet with the Star Corp Vessel Meson nearby, watching as the alien vessel dipped into the solar corona. The sensors lost track of the vessel before the engulfing fireball faded from the view screen. Star felt a pang of sadness as shi watched. Her questions were far from answered and now any answers seemed utterly out of reach. With nothing more to do, the chakat asked to be relieved and headed off to hir quarters.

<hr>

The door slid quietly closed behind hir as star stripped off hir uniform. Shi smoothed hir fur and murred at the freedom of being completely nude. A shiver ran from hir ears to the tip of hir tail with the sensation that accompanied fluffing fur that had been flattened for far too long. Adding in a long stretch of hir large body shi groaned in relief as shi flopped on the bed. Hir thoughts were a jumble as shi looked at the picture shi'd replicated and hung on the wall. The alien vessel, drifted peacefully through space on an unknown mission. Hir eyes traced the contours, the struts, and even found where the bridge must have been. Before shi knew it she had fallen asleep.

Every fiber of hir being protested getting up as Star's eyes flickered open again hours later. Shi forced hirself to hir feet and over to hir console though. Shi had more than a few reports to write now that shi'd had some rest. As shi began the first report about the alien power systems shi found hir fingers frozen. The memory of Aric ridiculing hir returned, as did the memory of hir empathic sense. Shi clenched hir hands to stop hir fingers from shaking and shook hir head from side to side. Forcing hirself to continue, shi decided to leave out the incident. After all, it would gain hir no favor to be a tattle tail.

Once the alien engine report was finished shi continued on to how shi decoded the lock. Quite frequently shi became stuck trying to put words to what shi had done. It was just like when shi was writing hir thesis. The warp solution had simply arranged itself in hir head, and providing a written proof had been very difficult. This time, shi had somehow managed to predict the shifting patterns in an alien computer as well. With the report only half done, shi wound up growling and laying hir head in hir arms. Shi knew the translation effort would be very interested in anything shi managed to figure out, but without the static in front of hir shi couldn't accurately identify what sequence meant what.

"Computer, is Starwalker Luna aboard the Quicksilver?" Shi queried.

"Lieutenant Luna is not aboard the Quicksilver," the computer replied. Star's ears lowered in disappointment.

"Computer, what about Chief Engineer Takac."

"Chief Engineer Takac is in main engineering," it replied again.

At that, Star pondered for a moment. Perhaps shi could bother the chief for a visit to the lounge.

<hr>

Star walked through the halls of the ship towards Engineering. Shi wondered how long the Chief had been back and hoped he might be about ready to call it a day. Shi could hear an odd bustle of activity though as shi neared the door to engineering.

"Ah! Starchaser, perfect! Come look at this. The ship survived!" The Chief exclaimed as the door slid open for another crewman to exit. Immediately Star's ears shot up and hir tail curled in bewildered excitement.

"What? That's not possible," shi replied as shi hurried to the console. Shi was about to begin touching the controls when shi remembered shi was off duty and, wearing a bra and halter, not in uniform. Still hardly containing hir excitement shi came over next to the chief and looked at the screen. There, in what looked like a literal blaze of glory, the alien vessel had emerged amidst a small solar flare. Star couldn't help but smile, that rickety ship had just flown through a star. Something even Star Fleet vessels would have a tough time doing. There was little doubt in hir mind that the Quicksilver would be pursuing it a little longer.

"Chief are you seeing this?" The captain's voice sounded from the coms.

"I am sir. I'm at as much of a loss as you. The reading show the alien vessel exhibiting 200% of the power we thought it was capable of. Those collectors are a lot more advanced than we anticipated," the chief replied.

Star could tell the chief would be busy for some time yet. He looked up as shi left his side so shi gave him a gesture to suggest shi was getting a drink. He smiled back and nodded to hir before turning back to the screens. As shi walked the halls towards the lounge hir mind was once more occupied with thoughts of the alien ship. Now shi would certainly have a chance to explore that bridge! A smile crept to hir face and a curl into hir tail as shi entered the mess hall and ordered something sweet to drink.

<hr>

Meanwhile, on the planet surface, Luna was busy studying the newly deposited ring device. An abundance of new information was available as the team compared the programming to the other devices under study. This one, had already updated itself with a location combination. To make things even more interesting it seemed as though it had linked to other distant ring devices! Since the device was operating under its own power the teams were able to observe and document, but the directive was still in place not to attempt any use of the device. An order that was extremely frustrating to the foxtaur despite understanding the reason. Never the less, the teams had declared the area free from foreign contamination. So at least the encumbrance of HAZMAT suits was no longer required.

"Attention all Quicksilver personnel. You are to return to the Quicksilver as soon as possible. We will be pursuing the alien vessel in twenty minutes," the order came over the com badges. At first Luna was disappointed, but hir ears shot back up upon hearing of their prey.

"It survived?" Shi muttered with her surprise before shi began to hurry and collect hir instruments. "I leave this thing in your hands Arthos. I hope you'll keep me informed though," Luna said in parting to the Star Corp scientist shi had been working with. The two exchanged nods before Luna boarded the shuttle bound for the Quicksilver.

<hr>

By the time Star awoke for hir next shift on duty the alien vessel had already entered warp. Shi hurried through the doors and to a console where the Chief put hir straight to work. "Starchaser, I need you to check your warp formula again. Fine tune it if you can. We've done our best but it's still a new concept and it seems this will be a lengthy test." he said, looking at hir with a determined excitement.

"Yes sir. What about the ship?" Shi queried even as shi began checking the calculations.

"Once it was far enough from the gravity well it went into warp, just like when we first powered it up. I've got a team working on a way to get through the shields but we can't do that until it drops from warp again. However, we're not sure if it will do that before we reach the edge of fleet territory. To make matters worse, it's still faster than us. It's put the captain in a bit of a sour mood to say the least," the chief replied. "Other than that, plan B is a good old pirate docking with the shuttle craft."

Star gave a chuckle at the chief's eagerness to employ pirate tactics. Hir mind wandered back to the bridge though as shi figured shi finally had the time to ask the chief about it. "Chief I'm filing a report but, I was able to get onto the bridge of that ship. I had just stepped into it when we were beamed back," Star ventured, hoping now would be as good a time as any to ask for his help with hir situation.

"You what?" He exclaimed, surprising the chakat and making hir jump a little as shi stared wide eyed. "H-how? The encryption was too difficult with the alien language for even the code breakers," apparently he had completely forgotten overhearing hir comment when she appeared on the transport pad.

"I-I don't know how to explain it. I was hoping to get your advice on how to write my report. I plugged the encryption team's interface into my PADD. All that came up was static but I could 'see' patterns when I hit the buttons. Before I knew it I could even 'see' which button I should hit next. I really... don't know how I did it. It's just like when the warp solution came to me," shi replied with a little hesitation. Shi could feel a mix of emotions emanating from him at the moment. Joy, jealousy, resentment, pride; it was difficult to tell which way he would tilt. When he simply stared at hir for the next 30 seconds shi nervously looked down at the screen to go over the warp calculations again.

"S-star that's.... just amazing. You said you're an sigma 4 empath? Have you ever been tested for sympathetic talents?" He asked in a much easier tone. Shi looked up at him and shook hir head no. "Perhaps you should be. I heard there's a Chakat in Star Corp that can sense when a piece of equipment is about to malfunction. I don't really understand it all but you might have something similar. In any case you were going back to that ship regardless of this breakthrough. Now you're on the bridge team with me though." he quipped with a smirk. Star returned a cheeky grin of hir own, but hir tail curled happily in excitement. After checking a few more formulas Star continue to pick the chief's brain for help on how to explain hirself in hir report.

<hr>

The hours seemed to tick by ever so slowly as Star tweaked hir warp solution. Shi had already ensured the computer had accepted the changes, finished and submitted hir report regarding the bridge of the alien ship, and had gone back to trying to improve the ship's warp speed. Shi pushed a few figures to the limit of the calculations but it was all shi could do. The solution broke down after a certain point and it was only due to the sophistication of the Quicksilver's computers that shi could push it this close to that limit. Any further would only give fractional improvements anyway. The chief on the other hand, was busy reviewing many reports about the ship. One he shared with Star, was that linguistics had been able to begin deciphering some of the ship's language. A translation algorithm was already under development and an alpha version was expected within the next few hours. An impressively fast time scale to be sure, but on the other hand, the ship had become the talk of Star Fleet and Star Corp since its discovery a few days ago. Furthermore, in an amazing collaboration, all the races belonging to the Federation were combing their historical records for signs of these rings. It was the Faleshkarti who were first to provide a second ring location, followed by the Rakshani with a third.

<hr>

"Luna!" Starchaser exclaimed as shi hugged the Starwalker tightly. Luna let out a chuckle and returned the embrace before the two found a table to crouch at.

"I heard you got the bridge open," Luna began, starting Star off on a long description of both how shi did it and how the bridge looked. Before long though, it was Luna's turn as Star couldn't help asking about the planet side ring. Both could hardly contain their excitement for returning to the alien vessel.

When the conversation finally lulled, Star let out a sigh after a long draw of hir tea. As they sat in silence shi found hirself absently looking at Luna until their eyes met. Shi blinked and blushed at the empathic feeling of affection, happiness and a touch of arousal shi suddenly felt from the foxtaur.

"Do you realize you do that?" Luna questioned with a sweet but sly smirk.

"W-what?" Star stammered.

"Your empathic projection," Luna replied, swishing hir fluffy tail and setting hir drink down. Star's ears splayed as shi felt hir blush deepen, warming hir ears. Shi shifted uncomfortably, hir body reacting in many ways to what shi was feeling from hir friend.

"I-I don't... I'm sorry," shi replied timidly, fidgeting with hir cup as shi stared at the table. Both hir hearts pounded in hir chests. Luna giggled softly as she smiled at the embarrassed Chakat. Shi had to admit shi hadn't met one quite like Star.

"What's your S rating?" Luna questioned gently, reaching a hand out to rest on Star's wrist. Shi couldn't help the soft gasp that escaped with the contact. Star was radiating a complete mess of emotions.

"F-four. The Star Fleet testers said I had great potential for psychiatry but... I'm not very good at controlling it. " Shi answered after flinching softly at the touch. Shi was quite aware of hir talent and how it worked, but most times hir use of it was purely unconscious. Rather than try to shut it off as Luna touched hir, shi tried to stem the tide of hir emotions and focus on hir feelings for the foxtaur. Hir ears lay flat and hir hearts raced as shi nervously searched hir friend's expression and emotions for hir reaction.

Luna felt hir own ears begin to warm as shi felt Star's emotions begin to calm. Star knew shi had shared every feeling shi had with that simple touch. The fact that Luna hadn't pulled hir hand away immediately seemed to be a great comfort to the flustered Chakat. Still, there was very little the clever Starwalker couldn't figure out from what shi'd felt.

Luna smiled warmly as Starchaser's gaze rose sheepishly from hir cup. "Come on, follow me," shi said softly and rose as if nothing had happened. Star blinked with a curious purr before shi too got to hir feet. As the two navigated the ship's corridors Star ventured an empathic feel of the foxtaur. Shi swallowed a bit hard as shi sensed Luna's amorous mood, a sensation shi quickly tried to ignore lest shi slip free of hir sheath in the middle of the ship...

"Come on in," Luna purred as shi turned towards a door. The biometrics quickly recognized hir and opened the door, which remained open as Star tentatively entered. Curious, shi looked around and quickly came to the conclusion that this was Luna's quarters. A soft blush tinted hir ears and cheeks as hir mind raced with the circumstances of why shi was here. "Make yourself at home. I apologize for the mess," Luna said kindly.

The Chakat was idly looking around. It seemed Luna had similar tastes in hobbies as there was a replicated model of the rings half assembled on the nearby table. The model and the unmade bed were the only "mess" to speak of. Otherwise, the room appeared much the same in organization to hir own, though shi had quite a few more plants for accents. Star's ear twitched towards Luna's voice, bringing hir gaze with it shortly after. Hir eyes widened seeing that shi had stripped hir uniform to expose hir ample breasts. Shyly shi averted hir eyes as shi shifted, feeling old tensions well up in hir. "It's alright Star. You shared plenty with me when I touched you, but if you'd rather leave I won't stop you. Now you know where my quarters are though right?" Luna said calmly and kindly as shi sat next to the bed pad at the back wall beneath a viewport full of stars.

"I-I'm not... coercing you am I?" Star questioned softly, rubbing hir arm as shi looked over at Luna. The foxtaur blinked with a very concerned look.

"No. Why would you think that?" Shi replied, watching Star carefully.

"Well it's happened before... If my projections are a little too strong it pushes people into something they might have reservations about," Star explained, seeming to remember more than one personal experience. Luna's expression saddened as shi listened. Shi could feel Star's projection beginning to harbor motes of fear and regret. Rising to hir feet Luna padded back to the Chakat who stiffened as the foxtaur's feet came into hir view. Shi seemed ready to hear Luna's dismissal but before shi could move, Luna pulled hir close and embraced hir tightly. Star's breaths came in soft gasps for a moment before shi tentatively let hir arms slide around the foxtaur. Luna hugged hir tighter with the returned affection and nuzzled against the smaller Chakat. Cradling Star's head and nuzzling between hir ears. Star's eyes began to well with tears until shi was clinging desperately to Luna and sobbing softly into hir shoulder. Luna couldn't help smiling as shi felt the happiness returning to hir friend's heart. However, there was still a tiny speck of fear in the Chakat that Luna intended to banish. Slowly and gently shi released hir embrace and slid hir hands to cradle Star's jaw. Shi made sure their eyes met so Star could see the clarity of thought and the sincerity in hir eyes before she pressed their muzzles together.

Star's eyes wavered and widened as Luna kissed hir. Shyly, shi returned the affection but as shi did Luna deepened the affection, slipping hir long tongue into Star's muzzle and drawing hir into a loving tongue wrestle. Star could feel the love and acceptance radiating from Luna as if it were a warm shower soaking into hir fur and washing away all hir doubt. More than a little eager Star moaned into the kiss as shi began to fight back, gasping and purring as their passions started to grow.

After letting their kiss linger for a long moment Luna softly pulled away and met Star's gaze once more. "Proof enough?" Shi purred as shi kept hir nose a mere centimeter from the Chakat's.

Star felt hir hearts pounding, hir emotions aflutter as Luna gave hir that sweet foxy grin. Shi couldn't help smiling back as shi tackled the fellow taur to hir bed. Holding hir tightly Star's forepaws wrapped around Luna's lower torso and pulled hir closer still. Luna yipped as shi was thrown to the bed and laughed as Star furiously began to nuzzle against hir neck and shoulder while purring loudly. Hir own large forepaws grabbed Star's torso to hold hir tight as shi stroked Star's soft brown hair. "My my... someone feels ready," Luna teased, feeling Star's warm and throbbing erection pressing against hir belly.

Star's ears splayed shyly as shi realized shi was nearly thrusting against Luna's soft, furred sheath in hir eagerness. Luna chuckled and kissed Star between hir ears before shi squirmed and rolled to lay on hir stomach. "Mount me Starchaser," Luna murred with a sultry gaze as shi flagged hir fluffy tail and wagged it back and forth slowly. Star's breath caught as shi moved to accept the invitation. Crawling carefully over the foxtaur shi lay fully atop hir and nuzzled against Luna's back as hir hands and forepaws slipped around to hir belly and lower chest. Shi couldn't stop hir rumbling purr as shi shifted and wiggled hir hips, sliding and pressing hir hard shaft against Luna's haunches until a warm kiss found hir tip.

Luna let out a pleasured yip with Star's low "Mrowl" as shi pressed hir length forward into Luna's waiting tunnel. Already wet with anticipation Luna easily accepted Star's girth in one smooth push. The pinned foxtaur squirmed and moaned as hir feminine walls clenched and squeezed around Star's shaft. The chakat was just as enthused as shi began to thrust against Luna's inviting body.

It wasn't long before Luna could feel Star's desperate plea for love and acceptance through the Chakat's projection. Being joined at the hip certainly strengthened hir ability until it was nearly overwhelming. Suddenly, Luna understood why the Chakat might have had trouble before... Without a moment's hesitation though, Luna eagerly latched on to and reveled in the warmth of Star's emotions. Hir own hearts swelled with affection for the Chakat as shi basked in the deep love Star already seemed to hold for hir.

"By the maker's Star ... don't stop!" Luna managed to gasp as Star continued. Hir hot breath washing over Luna's nape as the pleasure stricken Chakat clung to hir lover. Hir hands had found Luna's breasts pressed against the bedding and moved to cup and massage them. Luna moaned and murred as hir stiff nipples rubbed against Star's warm paw pads.

Star blushed as hir efforts started to became more and more frantic. It had been too long since shi'd been with anyone and shi'd been so pre occupied with the alien ship shi hadn't even felt the need to masturbate! Before shi could stop hirself shi was yowling as shi thrust deeply into hir lover. Luna gasped and shuttered as shi felt Star's shaft surge. Star's warmth bloomed within hir, pushing hir body into the gentle quakes of a small orgasm. Her tunnel tugged rhythmically at Star's pulsing length, encouraging the chakat to release all of hir tensions until shi lay gasping against Luna's back.

~Wow.~ Luna thought as shi panted in their afterglow. ~Shi really needed that.~ The thoughts bringing a sly grin to hir muzzle as shi wiggled, letting Star know hir full weight was a little much to endure for long.

"I-I'm sorry," shi gasped as shi wiggled hir haunches, groaning in pleasure as hir barely softened and hyper sensitive penis slipped from Luna's entrance.

"Not at all," Luna murmured in return, reaching back and encouraging Star to lay beside hir. Once the Chakat had settled, Luna cuddled up close and moaned as shi buried hir muzzle in Star's neck. With a moan of hir own, Star leaned back as Luna began planting sweet lick kisses over hir throat and jaw until their lips met once more.

It was Star's turn to gasp as Luna's roaming hands found the chakat's bust. Star blushed as each of hir orbs just barely exceeded the size of Luna's grasp. "I think they're the perfect size you know..." Luna purred gently into Star's ear, picking up on Star's embarrassment and once more finding it oh so endearing.

"O-oh!" Star gasped as Luna rubbed a thumb over hir stiff nipple and began to nibble on Star's cute little ear. "L-Luna I-I..." Shi gasped, panting hotly as shi squirmed. Hir own hands soon found Luna's chest to return the favor, but a forepaw found something else to play with as well...

Luna moaned as Star's large forepaw began to rub at hir sheath. Shi was already more than halfway to being fully erect but Star had found one of hir guilty pleasures. As the Chakat rubbed hir sheath back and forth Luna's shaft swiftly hardened further. Shi was sure Star had noticed hir pleasure as shi gasped and whined into the Chakat's ear. Before long, shi knew shi couldn't sideline hir male half any longer.

With renewed vigor, Luna shifted and rose to hir feet. Shi gave the curious looking Chakat a grin and turned before lying down again with a raised a hind leg. Shi displayed hir eager shaft for Star, as well as the mess they'd made of hir femininity. Star smiled with the hint as shi shifted hir haunches and raised hir leg as well.

Both were eager to explore the other's body despite knowing they were built alike. Star's gentle touch reached Luna's shaft first. Grazing hir pads along the foxtaur's warm, wet length shi giggled as it twitched and surged, seeking more attention. Hir nose twitched with Luna's combined scents, but the feminine was a little more prominent despite the strong masculine musk of hir member. Feeling hirself growing further aroused as Luna's paws began to explore between hir legs, Star wrapped hir hand around that eager length and brought it to hir muzzle for a teasing kiss...

Luna murred pleasantly as hir lover began to explore hir maleness, but shi had hir own goal in mind. Hir ears tinted softly as shi found hirself unable to pass on giving star's sheath an admiring grope. Still sporting a half limp erection, Luna could smell hir scent mixed with Star's strong male musk. Shi smiled as hir hand continued to stroke Star's sheath while hir muzzle sought another prize. Star's feminine scent grew stronger as Luna sniffed at hir entrance. Both lovers moaned as Luna pressed hir fingers to Star's labia just as the chakat grasped Luna's erection. Luna gasped softly as Star kissed hir glans, smearing hir pre over the Chakat's lips. With a sultry look shi seemed to vow not to be outdone before she leaned forward and pressed hir broad tongue to Star's warm feminine sex.

Star shivered and mewled as hir lips parted. Shi failed to beat Luna to the act as that warm tongue slid over hir sensitive clitoris. All the while shi could barely keep from squirming as Luna's other hand seemed entranced with rubbing hir length through hir sheath! Hir own hand rubbed and stroked the base of Luna's shaft, teasing and pressing at the tip of the foxtaur's sheath. Though Luna's start had delayed hir intent, Star quickly recovered and pursed hir lips, slipping Luna's ample length into hir wet and waiting muzzle. The Chakat moaned around Luna's shaft as shi ran hir rough tongue over the tip, eliciting a strong surge from hir lover as well as the wonderful taste of hir pre.

Luna moaned deeply as Star began to close the gap between their mutual efforts to please. Returning the favor Luna continued by lapping harder at Star's folds, pressing them apart and flicking the tip of hir tongue over the chakat's stiff button. Shi could feel the tension mount in Star's splayed legs each time she teased hir tongue over hir lover's petals. She groaned and smiled as Star made hir buck hir hips against the Chakat's muzzle. That feline tongue felt absolutely delightful but shi was eager to prove the benefits of a canine one as well. Turning hir head just a little shi let out a long pleasant murr as shi sunk the length of hir tongue as deep as it could go into Star's tunnel. Shi felt the Chakat stiffen under hir ministrations but could not stop hirself from doing the same as Star's muzzle tightened and teeth grazed hir sensitive shaft!

Star forced hirself to relax as Luna's tongue curled and pulled from hir sex. Amidst the throws of passion with another hermaphrodite shi'd forgotten there were differences between Foxtaurs and Chakats! That long tongue reached wonderful places within hir and shi had to remember not to tense too much. Still shi blushed as shi began to suck at Luna's shaft once more. The foxtaur's scents were beginning to make hir dizzy, though shi knew it was also the double stimulation Luna was performing. Shi didn't know when shi had grown hard again, but hir member was making even more of a mess of hir fur as it throbbed and begged Luna's paw to favor it instead of hir sheath. With a whine and a moan shi redoubled hir efforts to focus on pleasing hir partner, taking Luna's shaft as far as the very back of hir muzzle before withdrawing and curling hir tongue around the throbbing length as shi did.

Luna soon found hirself panting over Star's now very wet folds. Shi was growing close, very close to painting Star's muzzle... Before shi could though shi shifted, lowering hir leg and forcing hir shaft to pop from Star's muzzle. The Chakat looked about as breathless as shi was, which made Luna grin slyly. Star swallowed hard seeing that breathless grin. The taste of the Foxtaur's pre still lingering on hir tongue as shi began to roll to hir belly.

"Aha aha," Luna chided and crawled around so they were once more face to face. Shi placed a hand on Star's fore shoulder and pushed lightly. Star took the hint and rolled to hir back as Luna stood and positioned hirself above the Chakat. "Oh my... You are unbelievably cute like that," Luna said with a giggle, making Star blush as hir ears splayed. Still smiling Luna lowered hirself until the two were once more entwined. Hir hard shaft rubbed and prodded at Star's flower while their height differences left them nose to nose. "Ready?" Luna panted, hir haunches shifting in anticipation. Star swallowed again as shi gazed up at Luna lovingly and nodded.

Both lovers cried out their pleasure as Luna began. Starchaser writhed as Luna's shaft pulsed and throbbed within hir, setting a steady pace of thrusts and pulls. Each time though hir own maleness was teased by Luna's luxurious fur, and before long, shi was being treated to the massaging gropes of Luna's hands on hir breasts as well as affectionate nips on the neck.

"Ahh! L-Luna!" Star gasped as an orgasm crashed upon hir. Hir tunnel squeezed and spasmed around Luna's shaft, begging hir to release as well but the foxtaur seemed unphased as shi continued hir slow steady pace. "P-please L-Luna! I-I need you... to..." Star gasped as Luna continued, only now beginning to pick up hir pace.

"To what my dear?" Luna panted with a grin, pausing hir massaging and nips to prop hirself up a little and look down at the helpless Chakat but not relenting one bit with hir hips.

"T-to... nnnn... W-with m-me!" Shi squeaked, blushing as shi couldn't fight the waves of a small orgasm, one that seemed to herald a much larger if Luna didn't stop. Luna smiled wider as she panted harder. Propping hirself up further shi watched Starchaser knowingly as shi brought one of hir fore paws down to rub at Star's stiff shaft. "Ahh! D-don... N-n..." Star protested, flailing hir head against the pillow beneath hir, but Luna could feel the Chakat's desire screaming ~YES~. Shi grunted and yiffed loudly as shi bucked harder and rubbed hir forepaw against Star's maleness. The Chakat was near the edge and Luna was right there with hir. With a few more hard thrusts Luna gasped with a pleasured yip as hir shaft began to spill hir seed. Star's forepaws braced on Luna's lower chest as shi yowled hir dual climax. Her tunnel spasmed, wetting Luna's shaft further as hir sticky warmth spread in strong jets between the pads of Luna's stroking forepaw.

Panting softly as the warmth of an afterglow began to wash over hir Luna gazed down at the pleasure stricken Chakat still quivering beneath hir. Gasping for air and even drooling a little as shi lay prone amidst the twisted sheets of Luna's bed, Starchaser finally seemed utterly spent. Luna smiled warmly, thankful because shi wasn't sure how much more shi could withstand of such an emotional onslaught. With a long groan shi slipped hir softening shaft from Star's depths, earning a whining mewl from the oversensitive Chakat. As shi padded close and lay down with hir new lover Luna draped hir tail over Star's haunches and tenderly wrapped hir arms and fore legs around the Chakat. Blinking tiredly Star managed to look back at Luna, a blush warming hir ears as shi still hadn't caught hir breath. "I-I love you... S-starwalker L-Luna." Shi managed as shi squirmed, cuddling close to the warm foxtaur.

"I love you too Chakat Starchaser." Luna purred and hugged hir tight, cradling the chakat's head under hir own. Luna smiled as Star's worry ebbed away with hir words, leaving them both warm with their mutual affection as they slipped into their dreams.

<hr>

"Attention all hands, the alien ship has dropped out of warp. Prepare for boarding operations," the voice came over the intercom after an alert whistle. Luna and Star moaned softly, being awoken rather rudely from their pleasant dreams. Star nuzzled into Luna's massive fluffy tail, breathing deeply hir wonderful scent. Luna smiled as she felt the Chakat's cuddles, not moving hir head from hir lover's flank. "We should probably get up and ready," shi purred with a chuckle.

"Yeah..." Star replied dreamily, shi couldn't remember the last time shi'd felt so connected with a lover. Shi wondered if Luna had felt it too, but shi was also deeply concerned shi might have rushed things with hir new friend. Shi was quite good at hiding hir worries physically, but not so well empathically. Especially when shi was still entangled with the object of hir internal dispute.

"Oh cut it out," Luna growled playfully, rubbing the Chakat's rump, making Star blush and shiver. "At the VERY least I'm still your friend," shi continued, raising hir upper half from resting on Star. The Chakat rolled to hir back, tucking hir legs cutely like shi had the night before as shi looked down to meet Luna's eyes. "I assure you Chakat Starchaser. You didn't project anything I didn't already know. And before you ask, no I'm not a telepath. I can however, read your feelings like a book," shi purred with a smile as hir tongue poked from the tip of hir muzzle. Star blushed but smiled back, quite happy to hear the words of comfort. Yet it was the empathic sensation that accompanied them that once more washed Star's concern away.

"Th-thank you Luna. It's... been a while since I've been with anyone," shi admitted as shi rolled to hir other side to get up and help the foxtaur do the same.

"I could tell. I've never been with more than a class 3 empath before. You were projecting some very strong emotions. I, for one, am glad your rut betrayed you," Luna grinned, flicking hir tail to beckon the chakat to follow hir. Star blushed again, hir ears lowering shyly.

"You caught that huh? That's not a problem is it? I-I mean... I kind of forgot to ask if your season was close. Wait! Luna, are you mated?" Star replied as shi padded after the Foxtaur. Hir thoughts began to race as shi fully contemplated their situation and shi froze mid step hoping shi hadn't crossed any lines.

"Yes, no, I'm not quite there yet, and not yet," Luna laughed as shi answered the rapid fire questions and stepped into the shower. "And since when does casual sex bother a Chakat? Even if I were mated," shi continued as shi held the door to the shower, the stall barely large enough for two taur forms.

"I know... I'm not your typical Chakat in that regard. And I'm sorry if my emotions leaked a little too much," Star replied as the water began to cascade over the pair.

"You don't have to apologize. You said it's been a while since you've been with anyone. I assume that means a Chakat too?" Luna questioned with an air of concern in her voice. Star looked down as shi lathered Luna's fluffy tail with shampoo, a knowing expression on hir face. Shi nodded softly as shi met Luna's gaze. "You should be more careful Star. you're lucky I'm a S 2 empath," Luna replied with a sly smile. Star blinked as shi stared at the Foxtaur for a moment before giggling shyly.

"So I guess you've caught more than I've projected huh?" Star quipped, hir hearts feeling lighter with Luna's admission. Luna winked hir affirmation before shi continued to wash Star's haunches, stealing a grope of Star's sheath in the meantime and earning a surprised "eep," and a playful slap on hir rump from the Chakat.

"Another thing I've been wondering... Why did you plead me not to give you a dual release?" Luna queried as they began washing the parts of themselves they could easily reach. Luna didn't need an empathic response to see the question had flustered the Chakat yet again.

"W-well... I-I hadn't done anything with either of my genders in over a week. A-and you know how intense something like that can be. Even if you're used to it. Honestly I was afraid of making a fool of myself..." Star answered while washing hir hair and ears, hiding hir embarrassed face as much as shi could.

Luna laughed as Star finished. "Oh boy did you too! You had the goofiest look I've ever seen on a Chakat."

"Hey! That's not exactly helping!" Star bawled back with a pout.

"It was adorable, and the sounds you make... It wasn't just the empathic connection I enjoyed last night you know?" Luna continued calmly with a loving smirk. Star blinked and smiled a little shyly hirself. The compliments had definitely been backhanded but it was hard for hir to be mad at that face. Hir hearts fluttered knowing Luna hadn't meant them as insults at all.

After virtually wrestling each other with towels once they were out of the shower the two were sufficiently dry enough to dawn their garments and head out amidst some pleasant conversation. "Would you stay with me tonight as well Star?" Luna asked as shi paused on their way to the door.

"I-I... why?" Star asked, hir ears warm as shi turned to shyly face the Starwalker.

Luna drew closer and took Star's hand in both of hirs. "Star, I know chakats need empathic feedback. I may not be able to provide quite as much as a Chakat but I think you need as much as you can get."

Starchaser gazed back into Luna's eyes, hir hearts skipping a beat as shi saw the sincerity behind them, but it gave hir pause as well. "L-Luna I."

"I know. You could try spending some time with Chakat Seaswimmer, but I don't think you've even looked hir up yet. Have you?" Luna continued as shi pulled Star closer, holding hir hand against her bosom.

"Please Luna. D-don't..." Star hesitated, tears welling in hir eyes as shi began to worry Luna really was growing obsessed.

"Starchaser, I promise it's not what you're thinking. I meant what I said last night. I'm asking as your friend," the starwalker said as shi leaned close and put hir forehead against the chakat's. Star shut hir eyes with a wavering breath. "If you're going to be my friend, or more if you wish, you're going to have to accept that I won't let you keep hurting yourself," Luna finished in a calm even tone and gave the chakat a gentle lick on the forehead. Star swallowed hard as shi opened hir eyes to meet Luna's once more. "I'm not a kit Chakat Starchaser. I am in full command of my thoughts and actions. You might overwhelm some with your abilities but not me. So I ask you. Will you be my companion and allow me to be yours until such time as WE decide whether to pursue a relationship or to go our separate ways?"

Starchaser stared back at the hopeful face of hir friend for a long time. Luna never once seemed to grow impatient or anxious. The Starwalker kept a hold of hir hand the whole time but the grip was not possessive or clinging. Star couldn't help using hir talent to probe Luna's feelings. Luna never flinched or shied from the sensations and no matter how deeply shi looked shi could find no hint of the unnatural obsession that shi had come to recognize when hir feelings were projected onto another. Indeed, every tendril of hir talent seemed to confirm that Luna was being genuine. "Yes," Star found hirself mewing with a cracking voice. Only then did Luna's eyes shift, looking over Star's face as it twisted in emotion. The Chakat couldn't contain hirself anymore and shi burst into tears as she threw hirself into Luna's embrace.

Luna smiled as shi held the Chakat tightly, stroking hir hair gently and fighting back tears of hir own. Star's projection was strong but it was hir own happiness that had brought the tears to hir eyes. For the first time, shi couldn't imagine letting go of the dear friend in hir arms.

"I-I'll warn you though... I'm at the peak of my rut today," Star gasped after a long moment spent simply hugging hir new companion.

"That was hardly a problem last night now was it?" Luna answered, hir hand running down Star's back to scratch at the bend in hir spine. Starchaser stiffened in hir grasp, moaning involuntarily at the affection and making the foxtaur laugh. As Star forced hirself back from Luna's embrace shi put on a fake look of accusing anger, to which Luna couldn't help giving hir sly, foxy grin.

After a quick stop at Starchaser's quarters to pick up hir uniform the two were quickly in the lift to engineering. Each gave a wave and a smile as they parted ways, Star aiding the chief and Luna heading further into engineering.

"Well that seemed friendly," the chief commented with a knowing, toothy grin.

"Oh... I'm sure you know what happens when you start chatting up an engineer about ancient technology," Star teased, trying to be casual though shi couldn't hope to hide the deep blush tinting hir ears.

"It's about time. You two have been flirting since you first met in the shuttle bay," the chief retorted with a chuckle and returned to the last of his work. "That should do it. Hopefully this program will disable the vessel."

"Wow, did you figure out a way to bridge the coding? Umm... Chief? This would make the engines loose containment. They'd melt themselves," Star corrected, scanning quickly over the chiefs panel.

"H-how? You were even looking at it upside down." he gawked and looked it over again. "That part shuts down the shields how would...?" He began to question until he realized shi was right. "Damn it! I was so focused on taking out the ship's redundancy I forgot how redundant it was," Star couldn't help but snicker at the chief's rhetoric. When he looked up at hir, shi had to clamp a hand to hir muzzle to stifle a laugh seeing that he hadn't intended it either! "That's right yuck it up. See if I put you on another away team now you cheeky Chakat. How does that look?" He quipped back. Normally shi would have taken such a comment very close to hir hearts, but shi could sense the chief's playful mood.

"Much better sir," shi praised as shi read over the script once more.

"Good, now grab a PADD and get your suit on. Meet at shuttle bay 2 in 30 minutes. You're taking me to that bridge," the chief ordered and hurried back to address the rest of engineering.

<hr>

Once more Luna and Star waited in the back of a shuttle as it approached the alien vessel. This time though, the shuttle actually had to dock with the derelict in order to penetrate the shielding. "Why is it stationary this time?" Star questioned to Luna, who simply gave a shrug before the loud clank of a successful coupling sounded. The door in the rear of the shuttle slid open, revealing a jagged and worn hole in the hull just barely large enough for the taur forms to get through.

"Be careful of your suit," Luna cautioned as shi glided forward. The starwalker slipped through the hole as gracefully as a swimming snake. Star swallowed as shi moved forward, grasping the sides with hir gloved hands and carefully easing hirself through. Once inside they made their way quickly down the corridor towards the main hanger. The hole had been the closest one small enough for the shuttle to seal but large enough for the taur forms to enter. After disembarking, the shuttle maintained a vigilant presence around the other drop points.

It wasn't long before Star had led the chief's team to the bridge. Shi could feel the alien sensation she knew was jealousy emanating from a few of the other team members as they saw the doors really were open. No doubt they were part of the team that had failed to get them open before. Once there, Star held back, watching as the others filed into the room and seemed to each claim a station. The consoles were alight with scans, readings and other flashing lights. The ship seemed to be doing some kind of data collection, but for what purpose was a complete mystery. The next hour was a flurry of activity as the team worked to connect a PADD into the ship's main computer and initiate the virus written by the chief. "Attention all away teams. We are about to initiate the all stop program. Stand by," the chief spoke into the coms. A moment later the bridge flashed more than a dozen alerts as the virus sought to disable essential systems.

"Quicksilver to Chief. The shields just went down. How are things going?" The captain's gruff voice spoke mere seconds after tactical reported the shields collapse.

"Things seem to be going well captain. So far the ship seems to be disabled," the chief replied.

"Away team 3 to Chief. All engines have shut down but the reactors are still humming. Everything is green here," a man's voice reported from the engine room at the tail of the ship. Star couldn't help frowning a bit at the voice, recognizing it as Aric. The chief acknowledged the reply and continued to monitor. When all was said and done, the ship had truly been disabled. The alerts were soon silenced and the away teams cleared to continue study.

A download of the ship's entire database to a databank replicated aboard the Quicksilver was initiated, but the Quicksilver's computer was having a difficult time transferring the staggering amount of data. Especially since a laser transmission module couldn't be retrofitted to the alien vessel.

The initial translation algorithm failed to properly translate any of the data. A big disappointment, but the linguistic teams were quick to begin figuring out what went wrong. It wasn't until the analysts figured out the alien vessel's systems were quantum in nature that the major breakthrough came. It seemed as though the race who built the ship used a base 12 numbering system. So unlike earth's base 10 numbering system (Which contained 10 repeating integers in varying sequences) the ship had unique symbols and interpretations for the earth numbers 10, and 11. Though not unheard of, such a concept often confounded researchers who weren't used to it. Though the physical value could easily be discerned, a data stream translated into terrangalo might happen to have a 1 next to a 0 or another 1. Such a sequence might actually have been the alien figure for 10 or 11. After fine tuning the algorithm to take such factors into consideration, the computers were beginning to translate the alien vessel's data into characters. However, without a direct reference to a known word or phrase, there was no way to know what a series of characters truly spelled or meant.

The F.S.S. Meson soon joined the Quicksilver at the alien vessel, a second star Corp vessel arrived a week later, to deliver a group of the top Terran, Voxxan, Faleshkarti, and Rakshani scientists. After all, the ship's discovery was a historical find to more than just Terrans. Luna and Starchaser were among the few who began to figure out what the alien markings and words meant. Star had started tracing the symbols into a journal anywhere shi found them. After two weeks of study shi had more than two dozen combinations narrowed down to a few possible meanings. Of course the linguistics team had done the same, and to a much greater extent, but there was unlikely to be a "Rosetta Stone" onboard the ship.

<hr>

"Quicksilver to Takac, this is the captain. Is everyone back aboard?"

"Yes sir," Takac replied from engineering. Two days previous, command had given the approval to attempt an activation of the ring device. As everyone bustled around engineering Starchaser could feel one individual in particular. Luna was positively radiating hir excitement. Thanks to the long hours of study, and perhaps a few generous allowances from the chief, their shifts had synchronized. Three days later, Starchaser found hirself blinking in the planet side sunlight. Luna's tail was wagging like a kit at a surprise party as shi finalized preparations to initiate the ring. The chief had differed to hir as the expert on the rings, letting hir lead the away team tasked with activating the device. Starchaser felt a little out of place amidst the other engineers. After all, hir experience was in engines, ships and warp theory. Luna however had insisted the Chakat be there. Some of the other engineers thought it was favoritism for the "prodigy," but Luna had kept the Chakat quite busy with necessary computer work.

The operating system of the rings had been simulated over and over in the holodeck. After the initial hurdles of helping the Quicksilver computer correctly interpret the data, much of the interface had fallen into place. "Alright everyone, finish the setup and evacuate the containment area. We're going to see what this thing can do," Luna said with a grin and a swish of hir tail. The technicians finished checking the sensors and various connections before grabbing their gear and retreating. With a nod from Luna, Takac engaged a portable shield generator, encompassing the large device in a high intensity shield.

"We are all green here Luna," the chief reported and came over to stand beside the foxtaur. Luna took a deep breath and looked down at hir PADD. Shi poked the screen, selecting a symbol from a digital display of the ring. The entire party jumped in surprise as the ring let out a loud, groaning whrrrr and began to move. Star felt a shiver run down hir spine and curl hir tail as shi watched in fascination. The excitement was tangible in the air as the entire ring began to rotate, driven by a mechanism within the base. When the symbol Luna had selected reached the top of the ring it stopped, and the symbol lit with light. Nervous glances were exchanged before a cheer went up and everyone looked to Luna, awaiting what came next. Luna smiled, hir tail brushing the grass behind hir as shi quickly poked six more symbols. Once more the ring groaned to life, rotating until the next symbol in the sequence reached the top, lit, then moved to the next.

Star watched the first three lights before shi flicked through an interface on hir PADD. From it shi could see a simulation of the ring program. Curious, shi pulled up the raw code streaming from the device through one of the attached sensors. Shi watched as blips jumped out at hir with each symbol lighting up.

"This is the last one," Luna said as the last symbol reached the top of the ring. It lit blue, then flashed red before the ring seemed to power down. A wave of disappointment washed over the team, but like a true scientific experiment it was far from over with just one try.

<hr>

Hours later the star system's sun had long since sunk behind the far off mountains. Lights had been set up for the crew to continue working as their schedule wasn't in sync to the planet's day and night cycle. Frustration was beginning to get the better of Luna and the others. Star had felt the enthusiasm in the air diminish with each failed attempt to activate the ring. Shi had taken to monitoring the code from the ring as Luna continued to try combinations.

"I don't understand!" Luna growled in frustration after what must have been the 50th attempt.

"Shir... there's less combinations in the Solar Lottery," Star tried to comfort, reaching out to rest a hand on the curve of the Foxtaur's back. Shi gave a long sigh and nodded. "I know but we ran through simulations. There's supposed to be a point of origin. The program calls for it, but none of the combinations seem to work."

"So what symbol is it and when do you put it in?" Star queried, hoping a talk might help.

"It's the lone dot. The program we lifted from the rings on the ship indicate that. It's the first one we enter," Luna replied.

"Sooo. What if you put it last?" Star persisted. Luna opened hir muzzle to reply but realized... shi had no answer.

"Alright everyone, let's try again. Finish up what you're doing," shi instructed. Surprised by the enthusiastic command, the team hurried to finish their corrections and retreated once more. This time Luna began with the six symbol combination and input the origin last. Star watched the code blip by and caught something different.

Luna sighed as the ring flashed red again to indicate a failure. "Hang on..." Star interjected before anyone could move to disable the shield. "Why doesn't this display all the data?" Shi asked, indicating the ring displayed on hir PADD.

"The rest was just static. The computer didn't find anything else translatable," Tiana, a human software engineer replied with a hint of annoyance evident in her voice.

"Can the display be changed to show even the 'worthless' parts?" Shi persisted again. With a shrug the woman took Star's PADD and began deleting a few restrictions on the data flow.

"Your PADD will be a bit slow. It's a lot of data and it's nowhere near optimized," the woman said as she handed it back.

"Thank you," Star said with an eager smile. "Luna, try that same combination again, wait for about a minute after the first symbol," shi instructed and Luna gave another nod.

Tensions once more rose as Luna began with just the one symbol. Star could feel the PADD warming as it processed the display through the translation algorithm. Soon enough though, an extra section popped up! "I got it! Try these symbols!" Star chirped happily and thrust the PADD at Luna.

Luna blinked and looked, finding a set of seven symbols displayed amidst some scattered characters of the alien language. Following Star's suggestion, Luna continued with the indicated symbols, once more finishing with the origin point symbol.

The last symbol lit with light as it had before, but this time, instead of the lights turning red the entire ring lit up like a Christmas tree! A hum began to emanate from the device before a loud whrr repeated twice as an enormous splash of what appeared to be a silvery blue liquid erupted from both sides of the ring! The splash contacted the shield surrounding the ring and almost immediately overloaded the generator. Technicians dove away from the portable generator as the electronics inside fried themselves, showering the area with sparks and arcs of plasma. Miraculously, no one was injured, though a fox morph mechanic did get his tail fur singed.

"Holy...!" "Son of a...!" Gah...!" as well as many obscenities and other gasps of awe and terror flew through the air around the team. Most of the technicians fell to their rumps, the taur forms nearly rolled back themselves. A second after activation the erupting fluid shrunk back to the ring, leaving a vertical pool filling the center of the ring device. The entire away team stared, mesmerized at the odd happening.

<hr>

"Captain! A massive subspace disturbance just came from the planet! It was centered on the ring!"

"Captain to away team! What happened?" The captain bellowed into the coms. "Answer me! Commander Takac! Lieutenant!"

"Th-this is Takac... We're alright Captain." Takac replied.

"What happened? Our sensors reported a massive subspace event."

"We're... not sure. We successfully activated the ring but, nothing more is happening. It contacted the portable shield and fried the generator as well."

"Well shut it do...!"

"Captain! We're receiving a distress signal!" Communications reported mid order. "It's... Faleshkarti? M-my apologies sir, I'm not fluent, but they are requesting an evacuation of their facility."

"What facility? Where are they?" Captain Aryn barked, his brow twisted in confusion.

"This is the F.S.S. Quicksilver to Faleshkarti command. What is the nature of your emergency? How may we be of assistance?" Coms replied to the hails, only to have a severely confused Hona chatter back. "Sir? They're asking where we are and how we have cloaking technology."

"Would someone please start making sense!? Faleshkarti command! This is the Captain Aryn Ouragan of the F.S.S. Quicksilver in orbit around the class M planet in Star system 6510. Where is your facility, there are no reported Faleshkarti structures in this system!" The captain demanded. There was silence on the other end for a moment until someone replied in heavily broken Terrangalo.

"This colony, world Faleshkarti. No, Fleet ship in sight. Alien device, turn on. Hona, must leave!" A young voice said over the link.

"Colony world?" The captain muttered with a questioning look before inspiration hit the wolf morph. "Device!? The Faleshkarti ring! Hona! What is the name of your planet?" The captain demanded, though with an easier tone, remembering the leaders of the Faleshkarti were still the children of the race.

"You know? What Fleet do?" The voice growled back, albeit unintentionally adorably... "This world called Ralanna. Council hear this!" The voice seemed to threaten.

"Captain? We're getting a bunch of yapping and yipping on the coms down here. Are you hearing this? George says it's Faleshkarti." Chief Takac questioned, making the captain pinch the bridge of his muzzle and draw a deep breath.

"My apologies Hona of Ralanna. We were carrying out an experiment on an alien piece of technology. Will you assist us in confirming that there is no danger and that you are who you say?"

<hr>

"Ralanna?" Star parroted, hearing the captain's transmission and looking back at Luna.

"The world the Faleshkarti found the ring on!" Shi gasped in return.

"Then that's..." Star trailed off, staring once more at the shimmering pool in the ring.

"A wormhole to Ralanna." Chief Takac finished for them both. "What are the readings coming from the ring?" The chief demanded.

"Nothing sir. No abnormal radiation, heat, electricity... nothing," was the prompt answer.

"And the telemetry?"

"Apparently filtering through the event horizon."

"This is beyond anything I've ever seen... and such a simple design." The chief mused, stepping almost close enough to touch the ring.

"Chief. I need you to attempt sending a probe through that ring. Whatever you did it activated a device on Ralanna. The Faleshkarti are demanding proof. The probes should be on their way now." The captain suddenly addressed the team directly.

"Incoming transport." Another of the technicians informed a moment later.

"Yes sir. Ordinance received. Stand by." The chief replied to the Quicksilver before turning to Star and Luna. "Star, link the probe to your PADD and forward the signal to the Quicksilver.

"Done sir. We're recording video and audio. We can also transmit through it from the PADD and the Quicksilver." Star reported.

<hr>

"Hona, please have your people stand clear of the alien device. We are about to send a probe through." The captain advised before giving the go ahead. Luna taped a few controls on the probe and it drifted forward, slipping into the silvery surface of the event horizon.

"This Hona Yenear. We have probe." The hona informed, and a moment later, there were a half dozen young fennec fox faces displayed on Star's PADD and the Quicksilver view screen.

"We see you Hona Yenear, and your five friends. Our telemetry should be compatible with any view screen you have. Set your interface frequency to the Fleet standard." The captain said with a chuckle. Starchaser had to stifle a giggle as the Faleshkarti on the other side all started to chitter excitedly upon hearing the audio from the probe. After a fair bit of movement and shuffling, a small group of about ten Faleshkarti were soon seen watching what must have been their own view screen.

"You strange looking!" Yenear exclaimed as shi blinked seeing the image of the timber wolf morph Captain. Of course he couldn't help flashing them a toothy grin and laughing heartily. The young foxes jumped visibly but more than anything they seemed utterly fascinated with the turn of events. Before the explanations could be completed however, the ring buzzed twice like it had when it engaged and the puddle vanished in a flash of light.

"What happened!" The captain demanded.

"Apologies captain. It seems some of our initial theories were correct. It generated a sort of worm hole between devices. However, such an event becomes unstable after a certain amount of time. It appears that time is just over a half hour," Luna explained.

The captain let out a sigh and sat back in his chair. "I suppose it can't be helped. I don't want to risk activating it again until we know more. Collect your data and return to the ship. I have a few calls to make..." The captain said with exasperation. The rest of the crew acknowledged the order and set about with a greatly renewed vigor.

The first of the captain's transmissions, was to Ralanna, explaining the circumstances. The second, was to Star Fleet command...

<hr>

"I already said it fifty times!" Star whined as shi and Luna sat in the Quicksilver's lounge. The foxy grin now seemed permanently stuck on Luna's face even a month after the first successful test of the ring. "Uhg, you were right. It's a transport device," shi relented, smiling at hir companion as hir tail wagged.

"I still can't believe it. This could change so much," Luna murred cheerfully.

"As long as we can put them within range of one another," Star added with a sigh. "Or if Fleet would let us give the thing more power."

"You know how it goes though. Lots of debate and politics have to happen before that. Congratulations on your promotion to ensign by the way! I suppose I better watch my tail hmm?" Luna quipped with a sly grin.

"I know I will be," Star retorted with hir own playful smile. Hir ears still warmed when shi dared to make such a suggestive comment to hir companion, but hir anxiety over such things had lessened considerably since shi'd met the foxtaur. "It's still hard to believe the commission is for a full year now."

"I hope you're not growing tired of my company already," Luna teased, earning a dreamy look and a giggle from Star.

"Never," Star purred, trying to come up with something more to say, but failing to find the right words to express how lucky and happy shi felt. Leaning hir head on Luna's shoulder shi tried to focus on the feeling shi had as shi thought back to their fateful meeting on the shuttle, letting it warm hir hearts as shi savored it.

"You're getting better with your projection hmm?" Luna chuckled, rubbing the Chakat's ear between hir fingers. Star's smile widened and shi started to purr as shi enjoyed the moment, knowing Luna had gotten the message.

The two sat together for a long moment before the ring planet started to eclipse the view in the window. "Besides, I don't think a better mission could even exist for me. I mean seriously, this is a dream job right now!" Star purred happily.

"I feel the same. I never really had the grades or the brains to be at the top of my class. I'm betting the only reason I'm in Star Fleet, let alone a lieutenant on this ship, is because Starwalker Foxtaurs are so coveted as crew. I have always dreamed about discovering something amazing like this though," Luna agreed.

"You don't give yourself enough credit. You're a very capable and commanding person. You got us all back safely from the ship when it went rogue," Star replied as shi cuddled a bit closer to hir companion.

"I never did tell you how worried I was that whole time. Did I?" Luna admitted after a moment of thoughtfully gazing at the Chakat leaning on hir. Star purred curiously as shi turned hir head to look up. "I had the missing crew's profiles at the edge of the display. Your picture kept catching my eye as I tried to keep those transporter "experts" focused," Luna continued, looking away from the cute Chakat as hir ears lowered with a blush. Star smiled and hugged the foxtaur tightly.

"I'm glad to know someone was," shi said happily, remembering how difficult it had been dealing with certain crewmates.

"So how is your family doing?" Luna asked with one of her grins.

"Ugh! Do you have any idea the teasing I had to put up with after you left?" Star groaned as shi arched dramatically against the foxtaur.

"Oh, I have an idea alright," Luna couldn't help snickering. "Your mother and sister never did stop asking if you were paying me to be your companion. By the way, please thank your sire again for taking me on that hot air balloon ride."

"It's no trouble. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's been a family hobby since before I was born," Star smiled, remembering how the Stellar foxtaur had been more than a little hesitant to get into a wicker basket that would suspend two chakats a thousand or more feet in the air under a bag full of hot air... "And what about your family? When do I get to meet them?"

"I'm not sure when we'll get a chance. Other than a video call that is. They're usually quite busy building or maintaining space stations. There's a reason my sire is named Hyperdrive after all," Luna chuckled.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. That would be difficult to manage, especially since we're more or less stuck here for the next year. I mean, is it really such a big deal that it had to be classified top secret?"

"Look at the bright side. As long as the Quicksilver is here for security we get to keep studying the alien devices. Right?" Luna murred happily, scratching at the base of Star's left ear. The Chakat began to purr louder, nodding softly and reveling in the affection before the two had to report for duty.

<hr>

Progress through the following month seemed to move at a snail's pace. Researchers continued to make strides in understanding the alien language and ship. It was the ongoing political, ethical and economic debate between the various races and worlds that hindered further testing and use of the ring devices. It had been confirmed that the rings were transportation devices capable of near instantaneous one way travel from the place of activation. Luna had been the first sentient creature to step through the event horizon and be transported to another planet. Of course several test animals had to be used first, lest a situation like Chakat Nova and the first transport be repeated... It had been a very hard thing to convince the Hona of Ralanna to keep the project secret when each one simply wanted to share the tale of a black foxtaur appearing from a puddle in a ring.

The Rakshani however, wanted to use the ring to explore and perhaps colonize new worlds, an idea that was quickly adopted by the Faleshkarti with their population problems. Both Cait and Voxxa were each pressing to be given their own ring to study and use. Finally, as if to put a cherry on top of the proverbial Sunday, there were rumors that the League of Unaligned Worlds had gotten wind of a revolutionary technological discovery aboard an alien ship...

<hr>

"So how is the ship? It's been two weeks since I've been up there," Luna queried as shi and Star found a table in the lounge.

"Well, we managed to get life support running. The CO2 scrubbers needed completely replaced. Ugh... it's disgusting. The air smells absolutely foul. It's hard to believe they filled the ship with air from the planet. Aside from that, we're finding a lot of broken systems and trying to repair them. Other than the holes in the hull I'd say at least 40% of the ship is back in working order. The Quicksilver's holo rooms have really been getting a workout with replacement testing," Star explained with a chuckle.

"Wow, what about the ring manufacturing?" Luna continued.

"That's the tough part. They think it's some kind of replicator and nano fabrication mix. We haven't been able to figure out how it's making the ring material but we've figured out how to tell it to make different components. We're actually close to making test filaments for a reactor hook up," Star continued. Luna listened raptly, hir tail swishing softly as shi could hardly wait to get back to the ship and take a look hirself. Teams were rotated on the projects but Star had been almost exclusively dedicated to the ship and Luna to the planet side ring since the alien vessel had been towed into orbit above the newly named planet Circulum.

"What about the ring? Any new discoveries?" Star asked, happy to let hir companion take a turn explaining.

"We've managed to chart three more habitable and two ice worlds. So far we haven't been allowed to try any addresses we suspect to be outside of Fleet territory. They want us to figure out the reference points of the symbols but it's difficult to do if you have to stay within a certain quadrant," Luna replied.

"So did you get to go to the planets?" Star inquired with a smile.

"No... The brass don't want anyone traveling to untouched worlds with the ring. Prime directive is what they claim but I suspect it's a stop gap to avoid arguments about colonizing," Luna sighed. Star quickly caught the disappointment and frustration hir companion was feeling. Hoping shi might be able to help shi tried to project as supportive a feeling as shi could as shi put a forepaw on the Stellar foxtaur's own and leaned forward to give hir a gentle lick kiss. Luna's emotions fluttered for a moment, making Star giggle as shi smiled back at the sly glare Luna now aimed hir way.

"You did encourage me to practice," Star chided, grinning wider as Luna struggled to come up with a retort.

<hr>

"What's wrong Chief?" Starchaser asked with a deathly serious tone as Takac walked into main engineering and sat at his station with a depressed sigh. The chakat had sensed him even as he walked down the corridor outside.

"It seems the Rakshani didn't want to wait for our findings on the rings power systems... They tried to hook up an antimatter reactor to it," Takac began. From the empathic sensation shi was getting from him Star could tell the news was far worse than bad. "It overloaded when they failed to properly regulate the power intake."

"Oh no..." Star gasped, knowing how bad an antimatter reaction could be.

"It's worse than you imagine. The ring material managed to amplify the destructive power of the explosion. Think of it like the Hydrogen bomb improvement over the first nuclear weapons. The blast radius exceeded 250 Kilometers, and the radiation is a severe problem for the entire planet. Not to mention every electronic device in the hemisphere was fried by the EMP," the chief explained with a warry look. Star simply gaped for a moment in thought. "They're lucky it was a colony world with minimal population," shi could only nod in agreement, unable to think of anything more to say or ask.

The rest of the day was spent running calculations for power requirements. Despite having to explain some of hir work to Takac and the Star Corp chief engineer Prion, Starchaser confirmed the calculations and requirements for the ring's power consumption. Upon looking at the device's programming however, it was discovered if power were openly available the ring would continue to draw everything available. Though the report had yet to be finalized, both Star and Takac believed this was what led to the Rakshani disaster. Starchaser also happened upon a theory as to why the ring would have such a feature in the first place.

"Chief? Look at this. It's the calculations for the nine symbol address," Star piped up after checking hir work twice.

"What's wrong?" Takac asked as he began scanning the formulas.

"Well, I believe this address has an additional distance factor. It could explain why the device will pull power even to the point of overloading. I don't think these rings were really designed for that much energy. If we could upgrade the capacitors though, I believe it could make the ring much safer. It might even let the ring handle the energy needed for the nine symbol address," shi explained.

Takac flicked through a schematic of the ring device as Star highlighted the built in capacitors. "You might be right. We might be able to adapt our technology to fit that purpose but the scale is the problem. It essentially has to be plug and play. Hmm... It's at least worth a few tests in the holo rooms."

Star smiled as hir tail curled happily. Shi could feel the chief's spirit's raising with hir suggestion. Shi happily continued working, glad shi could help him feel better.

<hr>

"All readings nominal! It looks like the capacitors are functioning perfectly!" Starchaser said loudly as shi studied the readouts on hir pad.

"I agree! Energy levels throughout the ring are elevated but not dangerous. Alright, increase the feed another ten percent!" Luna replied. Chief Takac dialed up the increase with a nod. The ring hummed a little louder and glowed brighter. "All the way up if you would chief!" Luna spoke again after a few moments, seeing no change in the readings shi and Star were monitoring.

"That's all she's got! Looks like a success ladies!" Takac yelled after turning the controls of the antimatter reactor to full. The ring's hum was near deafening, and it looked as though the lights might short at any moment.

"I think that'll do! Dial it back chief and bleed the energy!" Luna yelled back after collecting another minute of readings. Another few minutes of shut down procedures and discharges and the ring was once more dark and powerless. "Computer, load ring ready program A," Luna spoke in a normal voice as shi removed hir ear plugs. The scenery around the ring shimmered and vanished, leaving an array of holo emitters strewn over every wall. Where the ring once stood there were four platforms supporting hourglass shaped devices about the size of a two liter bottle.

"That's the third success for these pieces and the seventh total," Starchaser beamed happily as shi went over to retrieve one of the devices from their perches.

"And since none of the previous pieces showed any sign of damage I'd say it's a fair bet they are ready for a real field test," Takac added with a smile as he came up and pat Luna on the back. "Congratulations you two, another incredible invention to add to your resume."

"Yeah... if only we could patent it and sell it to Starfleet," Luna chuckled. One drawback of doing research for Starfleet was that any patents would be the property of Starfleet, not the inventor.

"Don't be so sour! You know as well as I do they'll give us a substantial bonus for something like this," Starchaser giggled as shi returned with the four devices tucked away in the carry sack over hir haunches. Luna rolled hir eyes but smiled at hir denmate. It had been six months since Starchaser had begun designing the capacitors. The two had only grown closer while working on the project together and had announced their mate ship on a brief shore leave just a month ago.

A facility had been built around the planet side ring and containment for an antimatter reactor was currently being constructed. It would be another month before field tests were completed on Starchaser's capacitors. It was an arduous process of presentations, meetings, demonstrations, and politics but finally approval had been granted to construct the antimatter reactor on planet Circulum. Returning to the quicksilver with hir and Luna's proposal for enhanced power dialing of the ring signed by several admirals, including the Grand Admiral, the chakat was understandably joyous.

<hr>

"Luna? I can't sleep," Star whined as shi cuddled against the foxtaur.

"So you assumed I couldn't either?" Luna growled playfully as she turned her head to wearily look at hir denmate.

"N-No! I could sense you weren't!" Star protested, blushing as hir ears lay back shyly.

"Well you were right. I keep going over the protocols and programs in my head," Luna replied as shi rolled over and intertwined her fore and hind legs with Star to pull them close together.

"Yeah... Takac is relying on me to regulate the power though. Even with the new capacitors I can't help feeling uneasy," the chakat answer as shi nestled her head into Luna's soft furred breasts.

"I can tell dear, but you're still not near as anxious as when we first made love," Luna murmured with a giggle and stroked Star's long brown hair.

The chakat purred softly and cuddled closer to her foxtaur denmate, enjoying the comforting warmth between them both physically and empathically. "Speaking of... We've both ben rather busy lately," Star murmured playfully, wiggling hir haunches and rubbing their sheaths together.

"That's what happens when you're about to make history," Luna purred back, pulling hir lover close with all hir limbs as their bodies began to respond to the other's affections.

"Mmm... I wonder if the records will omit this part," Star giggled as shi slid a hand to the back of Luna's head and pulled hir into a deep, loving kiss. With both sharing in the affections and love the other felt, their shafts slipped free of their homes in unison. Both Luna and Star moaned as they pressed their hips forward, their needs rubbing through the soft fur of their bellies and against the other's slick warm maleness. It was Luna who first used a forepaw to slip between their long bodies and wrap around their lengths. Hir warm pads stroked both their shafts and held them together. Falling into an alternating rhythm of short thrusts the pair rubbed their members together between Luna's paw. It wasn't long before their bellies were a mess of slick fluids as they grew closer to climax.

With a shuttering moan and an adorable squeak Star reached hir peak first. Hir body jerked and tensed as Luna held hir tight. The foxtaur wasn't far behind, the feeling of warm sticky seed gushing forth from Star's sex sent hir over the edge as well. With short thrusts and a clenching paw Luna erupted, messing their bellies all the more with hir spunk. Together the lovers gasped and held each other tight as they squirmed in their fading bliss.

"That felt amazing sweetheart... but I still don't think I can sleep," Star purred, nuzzling hir head into Luna's neck and chin.

"Good... because I'm not done with you yet," Luna growled playfully and squeezed the Chakat in hir embrace while hir forepaw gently stroked Star's sticky length. Star giggled and gave hir denmate a gentle lick kiss as the foxtaur rolled them. The Chakat soon found hirself on hir back with Luna laying atop hir. Once more Luna pressed their muzzles together as shi shifted. Hir half-erect shaft pressed and slid against the Chakat's feminine entrance. The warmth and wetness of Star's eager body was all the invitation shi needed to slip hir tip past the chakat's outer folds.

Starchaser moaned into Luna's muzzle. Shi could feel hir denmate's shaft quickly recovering its vigor. Hir breaths began to come in short soft gasps as Luna coaxed the two taurforms into a slow steady rhythm of thrusts.

The lovers both gasped as their kiss was broken. Star lay panting in pleasure as shi clung tightly to Luna. The foxtaur growled playfully through hir moans as shi began to nip at Star's neck. The chakat squeaked and eeped as Luna played with hir, each little nip making hir shutter and tense. Luna could tell the Chakat was growing close once more as hir tunnel quivered in time with the love bites. It wasn't long before Star let out a long gasping cry. Hir body shook as shi reached a second peak, this time with hir feminine side. The rhythmic tugs of Star's walls coaxed Luna to hir peak as well. Luna's arm seed painted Star's inner walls, making hir whine in pleasure.

"Alright, my dear..." Luna gasped with a smile. "It's my turn..." Shi continued, groaning as shi slipped hir softening shaft from Star's body.

"Mmmm... It would be my pleasure," Star giggled, moaning as the Foxtaur rose and turned around. Placing a hand on hir lower back Luna gave hir lover a sultry look as shi flagged hir tail to the side and held hir rump high.

Starchaser's ears flattened as shi blushed at the sight. Hir maleness was stiff and throbbing against hir belly as shi rolled to get up. Shi smiled as shi came behind hir lover and rubbed hir hands over Luna's haunches. With a swift hop and a wiggle, hir slightly smaller frame was resting on Luna's strong back. Pressing hir upper body to Luna's upper back shi slipped hir hands around Luna's waist to rub hir belly. The foxtaur moaned and shut hir eyes as Star began to admire hir body. A gasp was loosed from hir muzzle as Star's roaming hands cupped at hir bare breasts, rubbing and massaging the robust orbs with soft finger pads.

"Nnn... Star," Luna moaned, arching into the chakat as Star's tip rubbed teasingly at hir femininity.

"Yes love?" Star purred, nuzzling hir read into Luna's shoulder as shi continued to grope and massage Luna's tender breasts. Hir lower body wiggled and quivered atop hir foxtaur lover. Hir forepaws stroked along Luna's sides and haunches, hugging their bodies together and keeping hir lover's hips from driving back to take hir length.

"Nah! P-please?" Luna gasped and begged, blushing at how much shi wanted Star to mount hir. Of course, Starchaser happily obliged, and with a giggle shi tugged at Luna's hips, hilting in hir lover with one smooth push! Luna yipped loudly, hir hind legs shifting with the pleasant pressure within hir. Star groaned and nipped Luna's neck lovingly as shi began to thrust gently but swiftly into Luna's wet, eager sex. Shi pulled Luna's upper half to lean backwards into hir, pressing hir smaller breasts into Luna's black fur as shi began to tease Luna's nipples with greater attention.

"M-maker's St-Star!" Luna gasped, whining between hir yips of pleasure as their pace quickened. Luna's passage quivered and quaked around Star's eager need, drawing them both to the edge of bliss. The final push for the stricken foxtaur was feeling the warmth of Star's climax bloom both within hir and through their empathic senses. With a gasp shi joined hir lover in panting release.

"Mmm... I love you Luna," Star purred, tiredly hugging and squirming against hir black furred denmate.

"I love you too sweetheart," Luna managed through hir panting. Shi brought a hand up to cradle Star's cheek gently and give hir a soft lick kiss.

As the lover's afterglow waned Starchaser dismounted. The two cuddled back into their bedpad nest and were soon fast asleep, dreaming of the discoveries that awaited them...

<hr>

"All readings nominal," Starchaser reported from behind hir consol. The room shi shared with six other people was situated behind a foot thick wall of transparent steel looking out at the alien ring device. The imbedded lights glowed with power from the recently connected antimatter reactor.

Starchaser brought up the dialing program on hir console, the display once again showing the ring in the upper left with boxes for the selected symbols in a line below it. On the right was the "address book" that Star had located in the data the first time they had dialed. Of course this time, the programmers had ample time to translate everything into Terranglo. The program started as it had many times before except for a box that popped up in the lower right of the display. The small section displayed a raw, un-translated code that highlighted anything not already on the display. It was something the program developers had put in just in case something new was added to the ring's data stream.

"What is that ensign?" Captain Aryn growled softly through the communications relay with the quicksilver and Meson.

"Unclear sir. The reactor is holding steady. The ring seems to be accepting the power transfer. We are within the power estimates required for eight symbol addresses," Star explained, rechecking hir readings on a second screen to ensure there was no problem on the power end. A third screen showed the figure of a black foxtaur near the antimatter reactor, tweaking and checking the machinery.

"Everything checks out here. Containment at 100%. Whatever the glitch was before seems to be gone now," Luna reported.

"Good, then get back up here. You don't want to miss the big moment," Star replied cheerfully to hir denmate with a tap on hir com badge.

"I believe the ring system may be updating its address book captain. It should finish momentarily," Star continued, smiling softly as the foxtaur swished hir fluffy tail and looked to the camera. Shi turned and left the field of view a moment later. A few more seconds of waiting and the box of code disappeared. As it did, the address book began scrolling through combinations at an incredible speed.

"H-how... Just how many of these things are there?" Chief Takac gasped from the console next to Star, staring aghast at the sheer number of new addresses.

"It looks like... several thousand. There's perhaps a hundred seven symbol addresses," Star replied, hir voice sounding hir wondrous delight.

"Incredible," Captain Aryn commented with a similar disbelief. "Care to do the honors of picking our test subject Chief?" He encouraged as he sat back in his chair.

"Yes sir," Takac replied and scrolled to the beginning of the eight symbol addresses.

"Ahh!" Starchaser gasped suddenly. Hir eyes were wide and unfocused as shi visibly trembled. A moment later, the lights flickered as the building shook. Alarms blared to life around the entire facility. "Containment breech imminent. Emergency evacuation initiated," the speakers sounded before another explosion rattled through the complex.

Hir breath coming in quick pants Starchaser's attention snapped back to the panels in front of hir. In an instant shi had the reactor protocols and controls on hir screen. "Chief this is bad! There's an antimatter containment breech. It looks li..." Star began, but froze mid-sentence when shi brought up the building schematic to hir third screen. Several flashing red areas indicated severe damage. "Most of the emergency systems have been damaged. There's no way the reactor can be contained. The transport relays are offline too! Chief you have to get out of here, the transporters can't reach inside anymore," Star continued, hir fingers beginning to fly over the controls in front of hir.

"I'm not going anywhere Starchaser. The captain will get us out of here, do what you can to contain it for now."

"Sir, I already am. The reaction is starting to cascade. There's too much power in the system. At this rate it'll end up like..." Star replied frantically, still typing away at the controls to nearly every system in the facility. "Wait, I have an idea!" Shi suddenly chirped, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.

"This is ensign Starchaser! Everyone who can hear me come to the ring room immediately! Grab any equipment you can carry!" Star yelled through the speakers, hoping anyone still inside would head hir warning. "I'm sorry sir. I have to siphon off as much power as possible. Get to the ring and organize everyone. I'm dialing the nine symbol address," Star continued to Takac even as the ring lit up and began to spin.

"Are you crazy? Your capacitors aren't made to handle an out of control antimatter reaction! If you make even the slightest miscalculation it could overload the ring!" Takac bellowed back. A quick smirking glance from the Chakat reminded him that was going to be the outcome anyway.

"Please hurry, I'm funneling as much power as I can from the reactor but it's still going to overload. The ring isn't an unlimited energy sink. Well... it is, but that option is much worse," Star urged.

Takac looked at the other bewildered crewman in the room, including chief engineer Prion. "Get to the ring," Takac ordered. Prion nodded, a glint of fear in his eye but otherwise calm as he began hurrying the others out of the room. Meanwhile, Takac sat back down at his station and continued working. When the ring room was nearly stuffed with terrified personnel the chief took the intercom.

"Stay clear of the front and back of the ring. As soon as the worm hole is stable you are all to hurry through as quickly and calmly as possible. We don't know where this will take us but the reactor has gone critical and the Quicksilver has no way of reaching us. We have no other option," the chief ordered, hoping the personnel could contain the hysteria that was written all over their faces.

"I have a connection!" Star chirped as the event horizon burst from the ring and settled. Power hummed through the whole room, the transfer conduits bordering the ring arched bolts of electricity through the air into the ring. The lights on the ring were harshly bright as Star pushed even hir modified capacitors to the brink of overload.

"Proceed! Take whatever equipment and supplies you can carry!" The chief ordered through the coms. In a chaotic, yet miraculously controlled, rush the remaining occupants of the lab began disappearing through the shimmering puddle.

Meanwhile, Star continued to turn every system on. Laser transmission would be difficult to decipher with how high shi turned the compression and transfer rates but any and all data shi could stream shi tried. Hir hearts ached wondering what had befell Luna. Hir screen had cut to static a moment after the bond between them had alerted her that something was wrong. "Look at the subspace sensor logs. Luna, I love you. I'm sorry," Star typed out in a personal message as fast as shi could and sent it out with the rest of the transmissions.

"Get going Star," Chief Takac said sternly as he continued to try and aid the chakat in diverting power. The ring was beginning to flicker and glow. Temperature readings of the device started triggering alerts and warnings of imminent failure.

"No sir, you need to..." Shi began, feeling a sad hopelessness emanating from him.

"That's an order ensign! Go! Now!" He screamed with the most intense look in his eyes shi had ever seen. Shi froze and blinked, with wide eyes until his expression softened into a gentle smile. "They all need you. You're the only one who can get them home. Take this, it's been recording everything we've been doing with the ring today. It would take me years to figure out the calculations you just made for the ninth symbol's power without even thinking. Now go." he managed as he shoved a PADD to hir chest and pushed her out of the way of hir consol. Tears welled in the Chakat's eyes as hir legs shook. "GIT!" He yelled again and before hir brain could say otherwise shi was running through the door. Scrambling around the bulk head of the ring room shi grabbed a large case with hir hands, and hooked a forepaw and hir tail through the straps of two more sets of equipment. Nearly tripping as shi hauled everything with hir, shi ran to the ring. The puddle flickered just a moment before shi dove into it, pulling the case through with hir. The ring buzzed and flickered again before finally the event horizon evaporated, leaving a small tuft of white tail fur drifting to the ground. "God speed Starchaser," Chief Takac said solemnly as he watched sparks begin to fly from the ring. A moment later the facility was wiped from existence in a brilliant flash of light...

<hr>

Luna woke with a gasp, hir eyes wide and hearts pounding. Looking around shi quickly realized shi was in the Quicksilver's med bay. The lights were dimmed, and several other figures lay in the beds around hir. As the adrenaline of hir waking began to wear off shi brought a hand to hir head. "What... happened?" Shi muttered, gaining the attention of the medic on duty.

"Lieutenant! Thank the maker's you're alright! Take it easy, you took quite a blow to the head," a mouse morph girl squeaked as she hurried over.

"Miri? What happened? Uhg..." Luna persisted, only now noticing the splitting headache shi had and shutting her eyes with the pain.

"Captain Aryn? Luna is awake," Miri reported before turning back to Luna and giving hir a hypo spray of analgesic in the neck. "The captain has some questions for you about what happened. He'll be here soon."

"Questions for me? I don't even remember..." Luna began as the medicine began to dull hir pain. She trailed off as her eyes grew wide. "Where is Starchaser? Where's the chief?" She asked urgently, beginning to panic. "What happened?" She screamed at the mouse as shi grabbed her.

"Take it easy Luna. The captain will explain what we know," the small framed girl replied, as calm as ever despite being grabbed by a foxtaur three times her size. Luna began to shake softly as shi released the girl, hir mind racing.

"I'm glad to see you're uninjured Lieutenant," Captain Aryn said in an uncharacteristically caring voice.

"C-captain!" Luna pipped up as shi snapped to attention.

"At ease. Miri? Is shi well enough to accompany me to my ready room?" The captain dismissed and addressed the mouse medic. Miri nodded simply with a smile as she stood at ease before the captain. "Excellent. Luna, if you would come with me." he continued simply, his gaze looking over Luna seemed almost sympathetic. Despite hir concern and frantic desire for answers, shi nodded respectfully and stepped after the captain.

"To answer what I'm sure is your first question... The ring overloaded. It and the facility is gone and a significant portion of the planet is now dying because of the radiation from the antimatter reactor," the captain said bluntly and glumly as he took his seat. Luna froze mid step hearing the news.

"W-who all was rescued?" Luna queried, glancing to the chief of security standing calmly at attention as the tall black panther morph studied Luna.

"Six, out of ninety," the captain replied, his expression a mix of horror and sadness amidst his usual stoic facade.

"The Chief...? S-Starchaser?" Shi stammered. The captain held the foxtaur's gaze for a long moment before his eyes shut and he shook his head softly. Luna brought a hand to hir muzzle as hir eyes welled with tears. Shi collapsed to the ground and began sobbing. The captain waited a moment before he opened his eyes and spoke again.

"Lieutenant Luna, I am deeply sorry to be so demanding at the moment but I need to know your recollection of the events that transpired," the captain said sympathetically.

"Y-yes Sir," Luna replied with a sniffle and hurried to wipe hir eyes and stand. "I-I apologize," shi said with a deep breath.

"Not necessary Lieutenant," Aryn assured.

"We were performing final checks on the power linkages when Ensign Starchaser... and I noticed a variance in the magnetic containment. We put in a call to the reactor monitoring team but the crewman reported no such variance," Luna began, hir breath catching at the mention of Starchaser.

"What was the crewman's name?" The security chief interjected.

"I-I don't remember... Windman? Windleman... Wireman! Crewman Wireman from the Meson," shi answered.

The panther wrote something down on his PADD and began to manipulate what it showed. "Please continue."

"We knew we couldn't afford any error so I took my PADD with the record of the variance and went to the reactor. Starchaser was still busy with power regulation calculations. Crewman Wireman met me as I entered; assuring me there was no variance... When I insisted I take a look, he accompanied me. I... I went to the reactor and began having a look. My readings were all nominal so we proceeded. I believe that is when you and ring command were conversing sir. I-I was about to leave when I... I spotted something on the containment wall," Luna continued hir recollection. Shi strained to remember details as shi went on and hir gaze wandered as shi tried to think. Suddenly shi snapped hir gaze back to the captain. "It was a mine! It was an explosive device sir! I was about to take action when everything went dark!"

The captain stared at hir even as shi became animated. He let out a long sigh as shi finished. "You're certain? There was no explosion before you lost consciousness?" He asked calmly.

Luna blinked in confusion for a moment. "No Sir. I am certain."

"Then someone is lying and this may be no accident," the panther said, sending a chill down Luna's spine.

"W-what are you saying?" Shi said, trying to keep hir breaths slow and hir nerves in check.

"Would you be willing to submit to a skunktaur's memory scan Lieutenant Luna?" The security chief asked seriously.

"A-am I on trial here?" Shi exclaimed in outrage.

"Just the opposite Lieutenant. I'm afraid I can't tell you any more at this time though. For now, please return to your quarters and get some rest. We already have a skunktaur of House Redpaw due to arrive soon. Hy will be performing a memory scan of the survivors," the captain said. Luna nodded respectfully before remembering to salute him. "Dismissed Lieutenant." he added, his eyes fixed on hir as shi turned and went to the door.

A large Rengar in a security uniform waited outside the captain's ready room. She stepped aside to let Luna pass, but followed close behind. No doubt she had been asked to escort hir back to hir quarters. Luna didn't have the energy or peace of mind to care as shi went to the lift, hir deck, and finally hir quarters. The security guard remained outside the door but as it slid shut Luna stared blankly at the room. It had been hir and Starchaser's shared home for close to a year. Now, it felt empty without hir. Luna stripped hir clothing, feeling a tight pain in hir chest as shi breathed deeply. Shi could still scent Starchaser. Shi shakily padded to the large bed pad and lay down. With a whine shi took a deep breath as shi shut hir eyes, committing the smells of hir denmate to memory for fear they would disappear at any moment.

Two hours later Luna woke feeling weary, sore, and heartbroken. Shi raised hir head, looking around and finding hirself hoping it had all been a bad dream. Nothing in the room had changed though, and Starchaser still wasn't there. Pushing hirself to hir feet, the foxtaur went to the computer station in the corner. Hir eye caught on the small model of the ring device shi'd completed months ago. Next to it was a similar recreation of the alien ship shi and Star had built together. Shi tightened hir jaw as shi felt tears welling in hir eyes. Squatting behind the console shi lay hir head in hir arms and began to cry. The device lit up under her as shi gasped and sobbed. Looking up from hir arms, intending to turn the thing off, shi noticed a tiny blinking message icon. Not knowing who it was from shi debated ignoring it, but shi decided shi could use the distraction. Shi tapped a wet pad to the screen, selecting the blinking icon as shi pushed hirself back and wiped hir muzzle. Blinking away the last of hir tears for the moment shi looked at the simple text message. Hir eyes widened and hir hearts nearly stopped. It was from Starchaser...

"Knowing you this message won't get read until after our test. Good luck anyway sweetheart! Here's to proving the rings are safe to power.

Love,

Star"

The message read. Luna almost choked as shi swallowed. Shi brought a paw to cover hir muzzle as shi tried to stifle her renewed sobs. Before shi could regain hir composure, a tone sounded through the room.

"Lieutenant. This is Chief of Security Softpaw. Lieutenant Iovund of House Redpaw is here to see you," the black panther announced.

"One moment please!" Luna replied with a start. Shi scrambled to grab hir uniform and dawn it as shi gasped for several deep calming breaths. It took hir only a moment to pull the uniform on and stand at attention in the middle of hir room. "Come in," shi spoke next, commanding the computer to allow entry. The door slid open as the foxtaur wiped hir muzzle and combed hir fingers through hir hair. "Please excuse my appearance..." Shi began until the male phase skunktaur stepped up to hir and embraced hir tightly.

"Please accept my apologies Lieutenant. I briefly used my telepathic abilities without consent due to the nature of this investigation," hy said formally, but Luna could tell hir emotions just before they announced themselves had affected the telepath. Shi returned the embrace gratefully.

Softpaw seemed surprised by the display and looked with concern to Luna. Noticing hir bloodshot eyes and the wet fur around them he began to rethink the methods he'd decided on. "Perhaps we should do this another time Lieutenants?" He suggested with a touch of humility.

"No... it's alright Sir. It's better not to allow preparation for something such as this," Luna replied as shi took another deep breath and gently released the Skuntaur. "Thank you for the greeting. My name is Starwalker Luna, child of Nova and Hyperdrive. I apologize if this is emotional," shi offered as shi squatted.

"My name is Iovund, Child of Kali and Rend. As you can see, I am of House Redpaw, which means I am a telepath. I believe you know why I am here already but for formality, do you consent to being recorded?" Iovund asked as hy too squatted in front of Luna.

"I consent," Luna replied formally, then looked to Chief Softpaw.

"I have witnessed your consent. Computer, please begin recording all conversation in this room," Softpaw commanded.

"Recording," the computer stated simply.

"Lieutenant Starwalker Luna. I Iovund of House Redpaw have been asked here to do a memory scan of you for the purposes of a treason investigation. Do you understand and consent to this procedure?" Iovund began calmly and formally.

"I consent to the procedure as described in Starfleet regulations," Luna replied, earning a smirk from the Security Chief. Though shi knew shi was innocent shi intended to hold Starfleet to their own rules and cover hir tail if they did not.

"Very well, I will be speaking aloud your recollection of events," Iovund said calmly as hy placed his fingers and began...

<hr>

"Lieutenant Luna, please report to the captain's ready room," Captain Aryn's voice sounded in Luna's quarters. Luna had just finished taking a shower and drying off when the call came. Shi hurried to dawn hir uniform and stepped out of hir quarters. Shi looked to the Rengar who stood guard as shi exited. It was the same female that had first accompanied hir off the bridge. The ursine gave hir a smirk and motioned for hir to lead the way. Moments later, the stellar foxtaur was standing before the captain once again.

"Lieutenant, I believe you know why you are here." he began sternly. Luna nodded softly, still not sure what the results of Iovund's investigation were. "You have been cleared of all potential charges. However, still cannot discuss any further details," the captain informed and eyed hir carefully.

Luna let out the breath shi'd been holding. Hir expression eased, though shi didn't quite smile. "Thank you sir," shi said simply.

"You're welcome. Now, I need your help." he began again, rising from behind his desk and approaching hir. "As you know, Takac and Starchaser are missing and... forgive me, presumed deceased. During the disaster, the Quicksilver received a massive amount of data from the planet's surface." he continued as he stood before hir. "You're the best person I have onboard to sift through it. Do you think you are up to this?" He asked as he set a hand on hir shoulder.

The captain's grip was firm but very comforting, and the look in his eyes was one of deep regret for what he was asking. Luna shut hir eyes as shi took a calming breath and met his gaze when they opened again. "Yes sir. I will do my best," shi replied, and was quite shocked when the captain embraced hir.

"Thank you Luna." he said to hir, his voice wavering.

Shocked by the display shi was unsure of whether to return the gesture, but thanks to hir empathic talent shi could feel the true pain he was in. It was an all too familiar heartbreak and shi knew he needed some support. Returning the embrace shi gave the captain a soft hug before he released hir. "My apologies." he said as he composed himself and straightened his uniform. Luna wondered why he was so emotional when a realization hit hir. Commander Rezan had been overseeing the operations in the facility. In addition to being Captain Aryn's first officer Rezan was also his first wife.

"None needed Sir. Thank you for that. I promise you. We will find out what happened," shi offered as shi stood respectfully straight. With hir words, the captain slipped into a grin that showed his fangs.

"That's what I like to hear. Dismissed lieutenant." he said with a much-uplifted tone and a nod of his head. Luna saluted and headed straight to engineering after giving hir Rengar escort a wave as shi passed through the bridge. The large woman winked at the foxtaur in recognition.

<hr>

"L-lieutenant! Welcome back," Ensign Laura stammered as Luna walked into engineering. Once more engineering seemed like a looming predator as Luna grappled with being the ranking officer.

"Thank you ensign. What's the status?" Luna asked, attempting to distract hirself with the endless bustle of a starship's inner workings.

"Well, the ship is running fine. Reports are continuing to come in from the alien vessel. The top priority project though is the data from the ring facility. It's encrypted so perfectly our computers are having a tough time with it," Laura reported as Luna began to walk through the distantly familiar section of the ship. The hum and purr of the engine made hir miss a step as Starchaser's face flashed in hir head. "S-Shir? Are you alright?" Laura queried seeing the foxtaur stumble.

"I'll be alright. Let's take a look at the data," shi replied to the human woman after shaking hir head to clear it. The two made their way to the tabletop display where three other engineering personnel were busy working the console. Luna took a place and squatted beside the table as Luna began explaining their hang-ups and progress to bring hir up to speed.

"We've only been able to get a few bits of data from the stream. Personal messages were the easiest to decrypt but there were only a dozen or so. The data from the control room though is what the captain wants," Laura explained. Luna began manipulating hir screen when shi once more noticed the message icon blinking. Without hesitation shi brought it up, but once again froze stiff seeing its contents. "Shir? What's wrong?" Laura asked with concern, getting the others to look up at the stunned foxtaur.

"Th-that's... impossible..." Luna muttered as shi read the message again. In a flash shi closed the message and began furiously working the console in front of hir. In a matter of seconds shi had brought up all the sensor logs from the incident. "It worked..." Shi muttered, his hand trembling over the subspace logs. "It worked!" Shi yelled with a glee shi hadn't felt since first dialing the ring.

"What worked?" the rest of the crew parroted as they looked between each other.

"Try using the inverse of the harmonic algorithm derived from the activation of the ring. See if that clears up the data stream," Luna ordered.

"Yes Shir!" Ensign Riley pipped and after a few minutes of work managed to apply it to the transmission stream. "That's it! It still needs cleaned up but we're getting usable data," he reported.

"H-how did you know Shir?" Laura asked, voicing the overwhelming curiosity of the others in engineering.

"Some help from my denmate..." Shi replied with a smile despite the tears in hir eyes. "Luna to Captain Aryn! Captain the ring was activated before the reactor went critical! They could have escaped through it!"

"WHAT!" The captain bellowed back through the coms...