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Inspired by CoyoteOldOne's Farren's Fixers, Ive been wanting to do a Planetary Romance series along the same vein.

Rare Earth, Common Ground

First Contact - Part I

2010 by Eldyran

Karth Moons-Song looked up from the endless horizon of snow and boulders to the star speckled night sky. As his white paws clutched the rough shaft of his spear, thin wisps of hot breath curled up around his muzzle lips to snake their way into the frigid arctic air. His curious amber eyes gazed up to the awe inspiring expanse of the galaxy spread out above. Clouds of diamonds twinkled alongside great expanses of desolate emptiness.

The seemingly random pattern sent a small twinge of vertigo through the bipedal wolf, and he was unsure of whether the universe spun around him, or vise versa. He crouched in the icy drifts under his hind paws and howled up at the twin moons hanging above him on instinct. Its sound carried far across the barren, frigid landscape, lost along the stray flakes twinkling in the moons' silvery glow.

So many unanswered questions plagued the wolven scout. It wasn't enough to explore the farthest reaches of his tribe's territory. The twinge of unexplained wanderlust went farther than driving him over the next valley or hill. It drove him from his village, from the normalcy of everyday pack life, to ... what?

The Elders' concern over his erratic behavior had grown more and more, ever since his blatant disinterest in many traditional rites. Karth looked up to the motionless twin moons hanging above them. twelve times had they circled over his head, chasing binary red suns. He was no longer a pup; not quite an adult.

His tribe urged him to follow his instincts. Perhaps what he needed was a spirit quest to quell his restlessness. But Karth found the suggestion empty at best. Still, he had traveled far. Past the Broken Sleeper's edges despite his Elders' warnings. What was he looking for? His eyes dropped back to the ground, about ready to grab his spear again and head back to the warmth and security of the village.

Look up ...

Karth's ears perked up. The wolf looked around, but all he heard was the occasional shriek of a cruel arctic wind whisting over the featureless landscape around him.

Look up ... or do your eyes enjoy the sight of well tread ground?

The androgynous whisper itched at the back of his mind, urging and taunting at the same time. Before he could question it, his gaze returned back to the great star speckled expanse above just in time to catch a shooting star streak its way across the nocturne sky. For a second Karth chided himself for falling for the ... rouse? A shooting star had no spiritual significance for his kind. Pieces of the Broken Sleeper had fallen out of the sky for countless cycles now. At least a hundred generations, if not more.

Karth was about to scoff at the disembodied taunter and turn around when he noticed the fiery tail of the falling star grow shorter. His brow narrowed, keen eyes squinting at the odd sight. He watched it for several seconds. Any other shooting star would have disappeared over the dark horizon by now. Yes, there could be no doubt.

The falling star was ... slowing down.

A sudden rush of adrenaline and uncertainty flooded through Karth. For the first time in what seemed like a long time, the wolf felt excitement. He didn't know what was about to happen; a far cry from the rugged but predictable routine of tribal life. Karth took off back to the village to tell the Elders about the star. They would know what to no next. Its fiery herald had been foretold by their ancestors, almost a hundred generations ago.

As his long legs strode over the crusty drifts, the large hind paws under them left a long trail on the otherwise featureless arctic plains. The bipedal wolf ran for hours without exhaustion, testament to a perfect mix of natural evolution and genetic manipulation ...

* * * * *

Rowan shivered in the bitter gale blowing off the snowy plateau, but it was more in reaction to the cutting wind than the actual surface temperature of M1-o2-432. The stocky Jovian's explorer thin-suit covered most of his body except for his head, responding and adjusting to its wearer's skin temperature as needed. The Jovian looked up to the twin moons hanging in the night sky, momentarily lost in their beauty.

He wondered what it be like to sit here and watch them take their long crawl across the sky. By Vos' calculations, it'd take another 243 Standard Galactic Days for M1-o2-432's primary sun, a KV, to rise on this planet's western horizon. The surface temperature might reach a balmy 5 degrees Celsius by that time, enough to melt the permafrost and allow some type of terrestrial flora to grow.

"Rowannn." Ik'vas hissed out, turning half way to the Jovian. "Ssstop gawking and keep ssscanning you _chim-dum_"

The therapod's Universal Translator Emissions Module sparkled in the night as it failed to relay the exact insult to the human's ugly external ears. After realizing that the small blue crystalline device implanted in her vocal cords didn't impress upon the fur less mammal the exact ingress of his clutch, the raptor swung her large head away in disgust and went back to tapping at a control panel with her sharp claws.

"Im sorry, Ik." the novice explorer offered before returning to the multi-scanner in his hands.

The harsh grit of blowing snow scraped along Rowan's flushed cheek. Their bite made the lobes of his ears burn, especially at the implanted sites of thier Universal Translator Receiver Modules. Under the moonslight they looked like a pair of small sparkling sapphire earrings. Even with the strange interference blocking their ship's long range scanners at this geologic anomaly, their ship anticipated this mission would be over long before frost bite settled into the soft cartilage of Rowan's exposed ears.

While sporting a stocky build, Rowan also had soft skin and a fine facial structure. Other humans would consider the soft lines of his face and large light blue eyes quite welcoming, if not outright attractive. To the Saurian Sha'ar race, not so much.

"Pay no attention to the Sha'ar." Vos answered for the raptor, who was still busy programing the autonomous-miner. Rowan turned to the Biological Sciences officer, and watched four sets of linked blue crystals twinkle along the cephalopod's crown, one set for each of the aquatic creature's vocal emitters. "She is just cold, and is impatient to return to the warmth of the ship."

Vos' universal translator didn't completely negate the burbling, quadraphonic echo of the Quar's unique biology. Rowan nodded back to the squid, or rather, the full-environmental suit encasing Vos. The mottled blue green outer skin of the living suit shimmered as some of the scientist's twelve tentacles wavered about. Some held and manipulated various uni-scanners, calibrated to narrower spectrums than the one Rowan held. Others carried the squid forward, closer to a clumping of boulders which looked covered in ice encrusted lichens. Vos didn't have to turn around to address the human; the hermaphroditic squid's radial symmetry allowed Vos to use several eyes already trained on the mostly hairless simian to appraise his reaction.

"Its okay, Vos." Rowan went back to his assigned task. "It's almost as cold here as it was back on Ganymede."

The Jovian looked back over to the thin-suit the raptor wore. Belts of tools and replacement parts criss-crossed the Engineer's thin suit. Rowan couldn't imagine what it would be like to wear a full environmental suit all the time. If it wasn't for the crushing pressure inside Vos' environmental suit, the ammonia based squid would literally fall apart in this thin atmosphere.

| Enough non-cooperative conversing | The metallic, multi-segmented thorax of |03| tinkled some under the moons' glow as it turned to address the expeditionary team with the emotionless chitter of base trinary. | Data gathering efficiency has dropped below acceptable levels | Resume primary directive without delay | The adjudicatory probe of their ship, IEF Lompo, turned back to its own self assigned task, its duty alien to the rest of the group.

In effect, the insect-shaped machine was their ship, just as their ship was also a processing adjunct of the galaxy spanning Second Imperium. The probe, shaped in the rough biological design of Earth's praying mantis due to its functional efficiency, remained in constant communication with IEF Lompo, or, to its own internal designation, |02|. It also monitored each of the organics assigned to it, appraising their physiological vitals and analyzing psychological inter-personal efficiency between each member of the expeditionary team.

Organic life didn't play a sub-servant role to the galaxy spanning Artificial Intelligence of the Imperium per say. Instead, the biological and artificial sentience comprising the Second Imperium formed a tight cooperative. Despite spending over a quarter of its reactor's output on maintaining the tenuous life processes of the organics assigned to it, |02| determined the relationship to be marginally cost effective mutualism. Though AI wasn't limited by crude organic biochemistry and their physical and mental limitations, there were circumstances when machines found their own self styled efficiency useless.

While on a routine mineral survey of what Terrans had called the M1 Crab Nebula, Imperium Expeditionary Force surveyor ship Lompo discovered an anomaly at extreme scanner range. After concurring with |01-Prime|, Lompo made a course correction to an un-surveyed planet designated M1-o2-432. Further orbital scans of a 25 kilometer long geologic anomaly near the planet's equator proved equally inconclusive.

Now that Lompo sat perched on top of the anomaly itself, the superdense mineral or unknown ore impeded all of its sensor gathering arrays. |02|, and by extension |03|, were effectively blind. The organics assigned to it by |01-Prime| did not have this impediment, and |02| instructed the small expeditionary team to deploy an autonomous mining probe that Lompo would collect later for definitive analysis on the anomaly in question.

As |03|'s compound eyes swept across the lower plains around Lompo, a hundred thousand variables and instructional strings streamed through its cluster of processors while the rest of the organics around it continued their work. Of its assigned organics, |02| directed most of its attention to the fledgling Jovian, Rowan Irskirt. Though Rowan elected to join the Imperium Expeditionary Force at the earliest age allowable, the human's test scores and genetic make up suggested a promising function in planetary exploration with emphasis on First Contact situations.

Mutation markers in the Jovian's genes showed a disposition towards uncanny empathy, if not out-right telepathy. It was an ability that might manifest itself with age and experience, as well as prove an insightful tool for the Second Imperium. The combined processing power of trilliards of AI's still could not accurately predict the irrational and often chaotic influences on organic xeno-psychology.

That had the downfall of the First Imperium.

Vos straightened up from the boulder of frozen lichens to sweep one of the uni-scanners in his tentacled grasp southward. The mottling on his living suit shifted color, lightening for a moment. Even with his blue eyes trained on his multi-scanner, Rowan looked up, sensing the cephalopod's sudden distress. |03| found itself both pleased and troubled at the same time from their reactions.

"Oh-Three. There are twelve complex life forms approaching from the south."

| What is the nature of their complexity? | The machine-mantis chittered.

"Unknown. Spatial arrangement suggest ordered hierarchy, but the interference coming from the anomaly under us makes accurate predictions of sentience difficult." Vos' coloration paled again at the potential danger. "I can attempt to recalibrate, but they will arrive before I will finish."

| Engineer Ik'vas, what is the operational status of the miner? |

"Deployyyed." The raptor hissed out with smug satisfaction, and with a last tap of her claws, the Sha'ar stepped back as the small robot buried its way into the snow. It disappeared beneath its semi-glossy crust in a sudden plume of shaved ice.

As the ship and probe transmitted variable strings back and forth, it came to the conclusion that, while unforeseen, other anomalies warranted investigation. |02| confirmed that given a worst case scenario, the loss of the expeditionary team and |03| might be justified if it could be determined why Lompo failed to detect indigenous sentient life while in safe orbit.

Without prompting, Rowan tucked away his multi-scanner and crawled his way up through a large snowdrift. The Jovian pulled out some pair of macro-lenses before putting them to his eyes, looking down across the snowy plains to the group of semi-clothed, white bipedal wolves drawing near. Some carried crude spears tipped with stone. Others carried staffs dangling with fetishes and other adornments. Rowan turned back to the expeditionary team, yelling just to be heard over the shriek of the flake filled wind.

"They're wolves! I think. They look ... primitive."

"Wolvesss? Ik'vas asked with a soft hiss, putting away the small number of tools she had used back into various loops and pouches.

"Terrestrial mammals. Carnivores. Group mentality." Vos gurgled in, answering. "Variants include four or six appendages, depending on planetary origin."

But what were wolves doing on an uncharted planet otherwise void of other complex life? Vos and |03| consulted while the wolven party climbed the snowy plateau. In the end they both agreed that Rowan should speak on their behalf. As the troupe of lupines topped the plateu, Rowan moved up to them, stopping a few meters from the lead wolf. He looked younger than the rest. Had it not been for his beaded avian skull necklace hanging around his neck, his white fur would have blended him into the snowy background almost completely.

Rowan found himself almost speechless looking at the lead wolf. Young, toned, and decidedly attractive, the Jovian realized he had been standing there for almost a minute, both parties looking at each other awkwardly for some time. He stepped closer to the taller lupine, and with his arms at his side, palms turned towards the other party in a welcoming, non-threatening gesture, spoke.

"We seek contact." Rowan offered, watching for the wolf's reaction. The wolf in front of him seemed pensive as he considered what the creature in front of asked, the harsh wind and bitter flake ruffling his thick, furry coat ....

* * * * *

Relative to others, the Second Imperium's had very lax First Contact protocols. The involved expeditionary party often used the Universal Translator to answer questions and more often than not, attempted to negotiate a rudimentary trade pact or simple mining rights if diplomacy seemed amiable.

When it came to less advanced civilizations, |01-Prime| always made it clear that it was not a deity, and the organics in its service did so of free will. While this often led to massive spiritual upheaval in the less philosophically advanced, the Imperium decided long ago that egocentric organic cultures contributed little to the galactic good.

In dealing with xeno-phobic or aggressive organic species, the Imperium exercised much more restraint, often allowing the aggressors to overpower and destroy the First Contact team. |01-Prime| considered the loss of a few organics and their synthetic overseer acceptable losses when gathering invaluable psychological data on new organics. Most times the Imperium could find a way to steer the new organics into a non-aggression pact. Some times, it could not.

In the unusual case of species M8-o2-432-02, the seemingly primitive bipedal canidae organics did not seem interested in the origins of Lompo or its motley organic crew at all. The elder faction of the benign species readily accepted the Imperium's request to mine the anomaly below them. All the elder faction asked for in return was to send a member of their tribe back with Lompo in order to know more about its own tribe.

* * * * *

Vos' coloration darkened at the unusual request. Perhaps this primitive culture had a pacifist and enlightened philosophy, much like the Quar's own.

"Well, our survey mission does take us on a brief loop around this star system. As long as your young one does not decide to eat any of us, I do not see why Lompo would object to having him on board for a few days."

The humored squid deferred to the machine-mantis, but it was too busy evaluating all the possible variables involved. |03|'s compound eyes glinted under the moonslight as it watched Rowan and the younger wolf continue to proxy despite neither party having anything to express at the present time.

Both seemed curious, bold. Eager to initiate communication. Readings from Rowan's thin suit showed slightly elevated heart rate, blood pressure, and release of both appeasement and sexual pheromones. The Jovian's flushed skin, dilated ocular pupils, and unique maxillofacial musculature arrangement directed to the other proxy suggested physical attraction. |03| computed the exact interpersonal co-efficient between the two organics, and within milliseconds, weighed it against the older wolves' request.

While the Jovian's genetic markers did show a strong disposition toward members of its own sex, so far |02| had not managed to evoke such an impressive interpersonal coefficient between any other member of Lompo's organic crew, despite extensive social and production assignment manipulation. |02| estimated the energy draw on Lompo's primary power reactor to be 0.023% more given the physical size and metabolic requirements of the bipedal carnivore.

Although it would later have to consult with |01-Prime| once Lompo lifted clear of the geologic interference, when combined with the mining rights on M1-o2-432 and further development of the Jovian's interpersonal aptitudes, |02| and |03| both concurred that allowing the organic to stay on board the ship as it finished its survey of M1-o2 would be cost beneficial for all parties involved.

| It is agreed | Without anything further to address the unfeeling machine insect turned to the open loading ramp of Lompo and skittered toward it, its six metallic legs crunching through the top layer of ice and snow. The Sha'ar followed suit, eager to get back to her hot, humid quarters where she could bask and sleep under some solar replicators.

The other eleven wolves each placed their paw on Karth's right shoulder in turn, wishing him a good spirit quest. They knew the young one's destiny lay among the stars, just as their own ancestors' had so many generations ago. The Elders began the long trek back to their village, knowing full well they must contact the other twelve tribes and begin their migration away from the Broken Sleeper now, as their ancestors had decreed so long ago.

Karth turned back to the almost fur less alien and the taller, fishy mentor that the yearling often consulted with. The young one, calling himself Rowan, grimaced back to him. The wolf found it odd, considering how warm and inviting the furless one seemed. Perhaps the tightening of his jaw muscles and curling of muzzle lips implied happiness instead of dissatisfaction. Karth wondered if his own erect, forward facing ears and slightly raised tail meant the same thing to Rowan as it did to members of his own tribe.

"Well, Wolfy, I hope you don't get motion sickness." Rowan smiled before ushering Karth towards the odd metallic beast that seemed to have both a name and a mind of its own.

Its main body looked octagonal despite several spines coming off the front and back. Small stars dotted the underbelly, twinkling in some bizarre pattern. Karth wasn't sure about being led up its jagged, open mouth into its belly, but its mixed tribe seemed to do so without hesitation. At least the wolven scout didn't see any teeth.

Why sickness, get I? Having no UTEM of his own, it the was best that Rowan's UTRM could make of Karth's questioning growl.

"Oh, you'll see ..." Rowan laughed, wondering how the wolf would tolerate planetary takeoff and the vertigo of high orbit ...

* * * * *

A few hours later Karth looked out one of Lompo's view port to the sparking dust hanging between the twin moons. He had looked up to them since he was a pup. Now their huge white orbs filled the spectacular view. This close up, Karth noticed the once fuzzy outlines of their familiar craters looked jagged and powered, the subtle features of their flat plains and lifeless valleys now sprawled out before his yellow eyes with unbelievable crystal clarity.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Rowan offered, stepping next to the wolf with crossed arms.

Yes. Karth's growl came out light, touched with awe. He looked over and down at the short Jovian. Now that they stood next to each other, the wolven scout became aware of their height disparity. Karth stood almost 2 meters at the shoulders, Rowan only about 1.7. The Jovian's stocky build looked muscular despite his soft features. Though he had never seen a human before, Karth felt strangely curious about the furless, smaller mammal. From you came, are many moons?

It took a moment to Rowan to sort out what his UTRM meant.

"Around Jupiter? Yeah." Rowan's grimace widened, but the way his light blue eyes sparkled, Karth could only think that the human looked humored. It took a moment for them both to realize they had become lost in each other's gaze. Rowan didn't seem to mind, but Karth moved his eyes back to the view port, which seemed to move now that Lompo slipped out of hight orbit.

Was the furless small one challenging him for dominance? From the Jovian's scent marker, Karth didn't think so.

Jupiter where is? The large wolf asked, feeling a tinge in his stomach as Lompo's gravimetric drive flung the ship toward the next planet in the system. The stars in far distance crept across the view port.

"My own planet?" Rowan continued to look up the Karth's broad, white furred shoulders. His instincts told him that Karth harbored a interest him, but Rowan didn't know how to edge the wolf into opening up. "Its about halfway across the galaxy from here."

The Jovian pointed off to a small cluster of stars in the far distance, and the wolf stepped closer to the view port. The black pads of his paw touched the clearest ice Karth had ever seen. It felt cold to his curious touch.

"Jupiter is a gas giant in the middle of my home star system," Rowan continued, "I grew up on one of the gas collecting platforms in lower orbit, and then later moved to Europa to work in at a guest inn. I guess I wanted to see what frontier life was like."

How did you come be here? Karth turned again to the shorter mammal, and Rowan had to think hard to what the UTRM exactly meant.

"I think the frontier wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. Europa turned out to be pretty boring actually. Yeah, we had a few Martian tourists here and there, and the Venusian terraform workers got a bit rowdy on their six month leaves, but it just felt like more of the same, ya know?"

Karth found himself nodding without realizing Rowan had stepped up closer to him again. He couldn't deny the synergy they seemed to share; the same feeling of wanderlust that had drove them both to the edges of the unknown.

"So, that's why I joined up with the IEF. How could I say no? It offered me a chance to see the galaxy. To meet exciting new species. No one day is the same."

It? The wolf asked, confused at the use of the singular noun.

"Oh, the Imperium." The Jovian nodded, forgetting that the wolf had never met an outside race. Rowan had grown up under the AI's guiding, unsleeping eye, and often took it for granted. "This ship, every machine like the insect you saw earlier, every planetary super-computer, its all one ..." Rowan paused, choosing his next work carefully ".... voice."

Imperium, tribe you belong?

"I guess you could say that." Rowan smile faded a little. "The Sol system has been a part of it since 2243, almost a century after we lost access to Earth."

Earth? Karth asked. So many new names, the wolf felt confused trying to keep track of them all.

"The planet my species first came from." When Karth looked on the cusp of another question, Rowan answered it before the wolf could even ask it. "What happened to our homeworld?" The wolf nodded without realizing it.

"We don't know for sure. Martian scientists think Terran generals lost containment of a nano-virus, one so lethal it kills any human who comes into contact with it within seconds. The two had been fighting a war of colonial succession for almost a decade by that time, so it makes sense I guess. My kind can never set foot on our homeworld ever again."

I'm sorry. Karth offered, placing a paw on the smaller mammal's shoulders, feeling a sudden wave of compassion for him.

"Oh that's okay. It happened six generations before I was born anyway." The look on Rowan's face brightened. "And a lot of us think that without the Imperium stumbling across our star system, humanity would have gone extinct."

Extinct?

"It means to die out." Rowan took the large white paw off his shoulder and squeezed it, but never let it drop. Karth found himself surprised how warm the human's hand felt without any fur covering it. Rowan continued.

"You have to understand, back in 2153, there were only a three thousand humans living outside of Earth. Most of them lived on Mars. The Sol colonies still imported most of their food and medical supplies. By 2240, lack of basic resources, inevitable natural catastrophes, an aging demographic, and genetic isolation had dropped our species' effective numbers below minimum viable population size."

Karth nodded, albeit slowly. Rowan felt confusion and pity roll off the bipedal lupine.

"Im sorry, I keep forgetting that my words might not make sense, even with the universal translator." The Jovian apologized. Karth squeezed the hand holding his paw. It was an odd custom, but he didn't want to insult Rowan or his tribe by pulling his paw away.

Words make sense, but Lore do not. Forced and natural selection make stronger tribes. Best hunters survive. Make better offspring. Advanced tribe as yours get around inbreeding depression should have known.

Rowan blinked. He reconsulted the UT, but the intent of 'natural selection' and 'inbreeding depression' came back with 92.2% accuracy. It had just been Karth's confusion that Rowan misjudged.

Before Rowan could ask further, a meter tall blue plumed avian with a white underbelly hopped around a 135 degree bend in Lompo's habitat outer corridor. For a moment it looked like the huge bird was about to hop past the two holding hands until she skid to a halt, her scale covered nisodactyly feet finding little grip on the corridor's smooth metal floor. The black trimmed feathers of her wings ruffled as she fought to regain balance. Some shiny trinkets and gadgets fell out of the unbuttoned belt pouches wrapped around her midsection, clattering on the hard floor.

"Rowan, what are you doing on the habitat deck?" Despite the overlay of the universal translator her voice was thin and squeaky, like a rusty water pump. A pair of small, under developed scute covered arms flailed some before tucking themselves back close to her chest. A pair of fully functional wings attached to her back flapped and fluttered about before the avian tucked them back down. The way her white underbelly puffed in and out, along with the constant turning of her head, amused Karth for some reason. "Lompo wants the passenger to see Doctor Chako stat for his initial physical and inoculations."

"Oh Dey-Jay, come on." Rowan smiled back at the avian before letting go of Karth's paw. He stooped down to help the fidgety bird collect her stuff, "Just because you don't have anything do doesn't mean you have be all broody." Karth knelt down and picked up one of the trinkets, some type of gemstone, before dropping it in her thin, outstretched claw. The light ribbing seemed to ruffle Dey-Jay some more, and Karth was unsure of the unchanging expression on her beak.

"Hey, don't be jealous of me for having the easiest job on the ship. Lompo pretty much flies itself."

What Who Lompo? Karth's questioning growl made the skittish pilot hop back a bit.

"Lompo is the ship we are on." Rowan stood back up just a cleaning remote slid out of an access panel to pick up some stray fluff lingering in the floor way.

Why call itself Lompo? The kneeling wolven scout reached out to touch the small octagonal remote twirling about in front of him with a curious white paw. It let out a series of annoyed beeps in trinary, and without a UTRM of his own, Karth wasn't able to understand the simple admonishment. A moment later the remote slid back into its assigned maintenance recess, waiting till the bothersome organics would move away before proceeding with its instructions from |02|.

"Oh it doesn't choose to call itself that. It asked us for an organic designation." Rowan helped the lanky wolf up off the shiny floor. "Otherwise we'd rattle off a fifty character long string of base trinary every time we referred to it."

Understand I. Mean name what?

"Fat ugly bird that can not fly" Dey-Jay's chip turned squeaky to thin and reedy, but lacking any real time around the avian pilot, Karth didn't know it was her way of expressing humor. She leaned in under Rowan's arm and allowed the Jovian to help smooth out the last of her feathers. Despite the ribbing earlier, they seemed pretty close. "Enough squawk, Rowan. Get the passenger cleaned up before you two visit the infirmary. Ik'vas keeps complaining she can smell him all the way down from Engineering."

Rowan's cheeks seemed to flush some at the order, but the newest member of Lompo just nodded and let the bird hop off to whatever it was that she did when the ship engaged its autopilot sub-routine. His hand found it way back into the white paw and he urged Karth to follow him with a playful tug.

"Well Wolfy, looks like I have to give you a bath ..."

* * * * *

A short stroll down Lompo's outer habitat ring brought the two to a rather non-descriptive bulkhead. All the other hatchways they passed earlier had decorations or glyphs adorning their hard metallic surfaces. A small display near each of their control panels indicated the inhabitant of each room, the inhabitant's specific life support needs, and any cultural protocol the occupant might require upon receiving visitors. Besides base trinary and any written alphabet known to the Imperium, the screen offered verbal translations in any language the visitor preferred, in case the visitor lacked ocular senses.

If the visitor lacked both ocular and auditory senses, then more than likely the organic in question shouldn't be stationed on an IEF vessel to begin with.

Karth noticed the display for this particular control panel was blank for the moment. That was until Rowan stepped up to the bulkhead, and the panel in question brightened. It blasted out a chitter of base trinary to the Jovan, who seemed to have no problem understand what the ship asked. The human's response seemed just as random and equally as short, the small blue jemstone set in his adam's apple twinkling in short bursts. The control panel paused for a moment before the circular lock set in the middle of the door disengaged, turned 90 degrees, then sunk into a recess. After a soft hiss, the interlocking edges of the pressure door pulled apart.

Karth blinked at the darkness contained with. He couldnt tell how big the room was, but the squeaky bottoms of Rowan's footwear seemed to echo as the Jovan stepped into the gaping darkness without fear. The wolf followed, but shot around as the door locked shut behind them.

"Calm down, Wolfy." Rowan's words bounced about across far away, unseen walls. "Say, how many adults tall, long, and wide are the dwellings you live in?" Karth thought for moment.

One, six, six.

"Lompo, primary occupant base living space, two meters by twelve meters by twelve meters. Primary occupant will adjust comfort co-efficient later." The space around them filled with the tapered echoes of bangs and clatters. "Lompo, set room brightness to 1 lux." To Karth, the room brightened enough that the wolf's eyes could make out the ceiling, but he could not determine where the brightness came from.

"Too bright?"

Brighter in corridor. Firelight fine.

"Lompo, increase room brightness to 50 lux." Rowan's soft features came into view, along with the stark white color of the ceaseless room around them.

What this?

"Your room." Rowan's smile widened. "I didn't know if you'd feel comfortable getting cleaned up in mine, so I figured I might has well get you somewhat settled in before your initial physical."

Room mine? Empty is. The Jovian's grimace widened again. From the change in scent, Karth began to realize it was a pleasant, if playful reaction. He wondered how old Rowan was in his species lifespan. He didn't seem like a pup.

"That's because you haven't told Lompo what you want it in yet."

What have in room?

"Anything you want, really. But right now we should really get to that cleaning." Rowan looked up to the ceiling. "Lompo, we require a sonic shower. Capacity, large human. Location, any corner." Rowan's keen lupine ears picked up a soft slurp like sound coming from behind in, and the wolf turned to watch part of the wall melt into soft curves and expand outward. Its form solidified into a small room onto itself, hemmed in with clear ice.

"Well Wolfy, you want me to leave you alone?"

For what? The human's cheeks seemed to burn. Karth wanted to reach out and touch them to see if they felt hot.

"Um, to clean yourself off."

See no lake or fall.

"Its inside the glass. Here ..." Rowan stepped up and opened up one of the ice plates, motioning the scout inside.

Karth's eyes lit up with sudden understanding, and without shame, took off first his bird skull necklace, then slid down his loincloth. Karth's white sheath, despite its size, fit the shape of his lean lupine body quite well. Though Karth wasnt quite an adult yet, the lines of budding muscle tone ran just under the white fur and throughout the inverted triangle of his upper body. The wolf's digitigrade legs looked carved out of stone, capable of carrying the scout for hundreds of kilometers without rest.

The Jovian's jaw dropped a little as the now nude wolf sundered past him into the cubicle. Rowan's heart raced as he watched the tight musculature of the wolf's ass move past. The sight of of Karth's shaggy lupine tail only made the situation more exotic. The wolf looked at him expectantly.

What now? Fall make?

"Um yeah." Rowan found himself short of breath, his heart hammering against the insides of his chest. He closed the door to the sonic shower and with much reluctance, turned away to rest his back against the cool glass. "The controls to the spigot, I mean, waterfall, are underneath the cone pointed down at you."

Karth turned around and blinked at the metallic cone pointed about eye level. He tapped about the flat controls of the square inset underneath it without much success. His frustrated claws scraped about, but the control panel just gave indignant beeps back at him.

Whats wrong, Puppy? Can't figure it out?

Karth shook his head at the taunting inner whisper, his black muzzle lips tightening around his ivory fangs. The androgynous filament threading through his mind laughed, and Karth banged on the controls with the flat bottom of his bawled paw.

So help me. Karth's curse growled back at the disembodied whisper, closing his yellow eyes and leaning his furry forehead up against the cool clear ice. The door to his right opened with a soft click.

"Help? Sure. As long as you don't mind how crampt it is in here." Karth opened his eyes and looked over to Rowan. The Jovian's lower lip trembled, the soft blue eyes eager yet nervous at the same. Rowan licked this thin lips and put an index finger on one of the control panel rectangles. A series of beeps and horizontal lines climbed half way up the rectangle, up to where Rowan's finger touched the control. "This is to set the sonic intensity." He tapped the rectangle next to it, and the same happened again. "This sets the temperature."

Karth watched on with keen interest, getting an idea of how Rowan's technology worked.

"And this ..." Rowan tapped a small square up and to the right of the middle rectangle. A sudden spray of tepid water hit Karth right on his square canid nose. The wolf snorted and shook his muzzle free of the unexpected wetness, splashing Rowan's playful, widening grimace. "... turns on the spray."

Once Karth got over the unexpected douse, the wolf took his paw and played with the vibrating streams of water. The force of them rattled the small bones of Karth's paw. Rowan took off the shower head and brought the cone, unconnected to the rest of the shower, closer to the wolf's wide chest.

"Here, you can hold it in your hand and move it where ever you want." Rowan took Karth's paw and attempted to give him the cone, but the wet, smooth metallic shape slipped against Karth's paw pads and droppped. The Jovian cursed before snatching the shower head before it could hit the floor, but not before dousing his own thin suit in misdirected spray.

"Sorry ... about that." The Jovian stammered, fumbling with the shower head some before closing the door behind them with another soft click. Rowan turned back around to start washing again, but froze when he felt sharp claws slip underneath the thin suit's collar. Karth parted the seal running down the front of Rowan's suit with a wet zip. The flustered Jovian just stood there as the bipedal lupine pealed off the human's soaked second skin and pulled it down to his ankles. Rowan's bare skin flushed as it came into contact with the steam swirling around them both.

Not get clothing wet. Karth put a large paw on the human's naked shoulder. His erect ears faced forward, the lupine tail behind Karth pulled upright. Rowan shivered at the contact of Karth's rough paw pads and thick claws on his bare skin.

"Um ... thanks."

Rowan blushed before kicking off the textured thin suit pooled around his ankles. With an unsteady hand, Rowan continued to wash Karth, running the streams of ultrasonic water through the wolf's thick pectoral fur. Months of built up dust and grit dripped to the shower floor from Karth's guard hairs. The undercoat was otherwise clean. The Jovian tied keeping the grooming formal and platonic; hard considering they stood naked just a few centimeters away from each other. After a few awkward minutes passed, Karth finally spoke, breaking the steady hiss of the sonic shower spray.

Male, you are?

"Yep. Thanks for ... noticing." Rowan heart skipped more, and he found it hard to catch his breath. He tried to ignore the fact that the curious wolf continued to stare down through the hot mist to his lower body, interested in the shape of his own furless sheath. Karth's paw rubbed his shoulder before sliding up the back of the Jovian's neck to feel about his dirty blond, medium length hair. Rowan liked to style it despite IEF protocols.

Mostly furless, why are? Karth himself had a hard time keeping his roaming paw still. Besides his baseline curiosity, the scent of the smaller mammal tending to him had turned slightly musky. The heat scent of arousal and nervousness filled Rowan's sweat. Karth knew it well, rolling off of other males in his tribe during the breeding season, but not directed at him.

For the first time in his life Karth thought about the traditional rites his tribe offered him: Choosing a trade. Selecting a mate. Bearing pups to continue his genetic Moons-Song legacy. None of that appealed to him. Much like his exploring paw, he found the unexpected and unknown drawing him forward instead.

"I don't know. I guess we, humans that is, keep it mostly for decoration. It helps to attract ... mates." Rowan regretted the implication as soon as it left his lips. His quivering blue eyes met Karth's questioning yellow ones. The Jovian felt weak in the knees, his pink lips so close to the lupine's black ones. Karth continued to play with Rowan's hair, fascinated. Both of them felt the subtle tug of mutual attraction despite the language gap and other inter-species hurdles.

Attract mate, has it? Karth's ear flicked back some, a strange look settling in his yellow irises.

"Why you ask?" Rowan blushed again, moving the cone around to the wolf's back, and the matted fur there dripped clean a few seconds later. The human massaged the steaming water into Karth's bushy tail, and the wolf fought back a whimper.

Species mating traditions, unsure of. Mate jealous, might be. Karth's claws slid down Rowan's neck to scrape along the soft flesh of the Jovian's back. Rowan shifted about on unsteady feet, fighting the growing arousal and rush of blood to his lower extremities. He knew if Karth broke eye contact and looked down, there would be no dancing around the obvious sight of a growing erection.

"No. I dont have a mate. I never stay in one place long enough to have one." Karth rested his furry forehead down against the human's brow, stooping down a bit. It was an intimate gesture among his kind.

Sorry I am. Karth's eyes looked like huge yellow saucers this close up.

"I don't mind. I'd rather be among the stars than tied down anyway."

Karth nodded against Rowan, sharing a moment of mutual understanding. The moment ended abruptly when Karth's dropped his gaze and looked down at the semi-hard warmth pressing up against his belly fur. Karth looked back into the shorter mammal's eyes with a impish equivalent of a wolven grin.

The wolf didnt have to ask if Rowan found him attractive. It was painfully obvious. Same sex relations were not unheard of in Karth's tribe, but their customs kept such relations a spiritual and sexual bond between two tribe members rather than an exclusive mated one. Based on the scent and visual cues the mammal presented him, Karth felt sure the Jovian desired that with him. As his species custom dictated, Karth tested Rowan by placing his paws on the naked mammal's buttocks and drawing the pink furless mammal closer.

Like how Karth rested his forehead against his prospective pack brother, indicating a spiritual communion, the wolf pressed his sheath up against Rowan's stiffening erection, seeking a sexual one. The Jovian closed his light blue eyes and gasped at the lupine's forwardness, but did not pull away. Instead the human's body stiffed before pressing harder into Karth's larger frame.

Karth's claws roamed about Rowan's naked ass, scraping lightly as the wolf continued to slide the pink tips of their sex past each other. Small growls slipped past Karth muzzle lips, enjoying the shared sensations. From Rowan's small gasps and whimpers, Karth knew the small one enjoyed this as well. This was the first time another male had accepted this offer, and Karth felt his young body tense inside from a combination of sharp anticipation and adolescent inexperience.

Rowan's eyes opened long enough to look into Karth's gaze before tilting his head up to press his lips into Karth's muzzle. The wolf's ears flickered, the large yellow eyes blinking in confusion. Rowan backed off just enough to grimace again and give a small laugh.

"Im sorry. Its called a kiss."

Custom among bonded brothers, is? Karth drew Rowan's hips in again, letting their pink shafts grind into each other. Their tips leaked and slipped against each other. He found the act hard to stop, even if he wanted to.

"Kinda." Rowan smile widened. "Are you saying you want to bond with me?"

Yes. Very much. Karth leaned down and pressed the tip of his muzzle under Rowan's nose, reciprocating the Jovian's strange bonding custom. Rowan wrapped his arms around the Karth's back, slipping his tongue in past the wolf's muzzle lips. Karth's white ears flickered at the unusual sensation, and only after the human felt satisfied did Rowan pull his tongue out of the long jaw.

Strange customs with muzzle you have.

"Oh really now." A naughty glint formed in the corners of Rowan's eyes. "Maybe you'll like this one."

The Jovian pecked the wolf playfully on the muzzle again before sliding down the wolf's dripping body, peppering light kisses down Karth's thick pecs. The wolf pushed his paws out against the shower walls to steady his shaky legs as the human knelt down and slipped his mouth over the pink lupine shaft jutting out of Karth's matted sheath.

Karth's head drew back in a sharp whine as Rowan's lips slid down his shaft one centimeter at a time. One of the Jovian's hands wrapped around the base to his sheath in order to steady the twenty centimeter length bobbing before him. The other hand reached under to gently grasp Karth's furry sac's, feeling their surprising weight and softness. Rowan went down halfway on Karth's length before gagging lightly and pulling off a bit. Rowan felt one of Karth's paws rub the back of his head, urging the human to continue.

As if Rowan wanted to stop.

Rowan drew in a deep breath before sliding Karth's length all the way down his throat. Karth whined hard as he felt the human swallow his sex almost all the way to his forming knot base. The paw steadying him against the shower shook, his wet tail thumping against the beads of water sliding down behind him. The wolf never wanted this feeling to end.

The human kneeling before him and playing with his sacs felt the same. Rowan's eyes closed as his lips met Karth's inflating knot, his right hand moving from the furry sheath to explore and rub the red, swollen flesh. A sudden, thin gush dropped into his stomach, and the back of his tongue tasted something really salty. Rowan pulled back to let the constant stream dribble on his tongue, feeling the wolf's tapered glans pass the thick ridges of his larynx.

Rowan suckled some on the lupine tip, allowing another breath before plunging the slick, leaking flesh down his throat again. This time he didnt gag, and found his own erection spurting into the spray falling past them from the wonderful sensation filling his jaw and throat. The human went down to the wolf's knot again, feeling his glans slide halfway down inside his chest before backing off again. Rowan repeated; faster this time. His whole neck flexed back and forth as his hands continued to milk and massage the wolf's swollen sacs and flared knot.

Karth couldn't fight the feeling, and both his paws cupped the back of the human's head. His balls tightened, and with a howl that echoed inside the shower for several minutes, emptied himself into the human's stomach. Rowan felt a sudden flush inside of him, felt a huge leak settle into the bottom of his stomach. It only drove him on faster, and he pumped his mouth and throat back and forth on Karth's huge shaft more.

Rowan's eyes squinted with need, relishing the unique sensation of swallowing Karth's thin salty seed. After about a minute, Rowan felt dizzy from lack of air, and with much reluctance, pulled off the wolf with a soft sputter. As Karth's tip dropped from his lips, a stream of lupine cum splashed his face.

"That was different." Rowan had a hard time standing, but managed to after a little help from Karth. They kissed under the steamy spray, Karth licking himself from Rowan's face. The taste kept his rampant adolescent need fresh. His hardness never faltered.

Thank you. Karth growled, his paw reached down to tease Rowan's smaller, but respectable fifteen centimeter erection. Bond with you. I want. Rowan grinned and squeezed the wolf's knot.

"I think we can work something out." Rowan offered, leaning in to nibble the wolf's nipples. Despite being hidden by wet fur, it was the perfect target at eye level. And the deep rumble it set off in Karth's chest drove Rowan wild. The shorter human slipped around and replaced the shower head. He wiggled back against the tall wolf before realizing the lupine's sex slipped back and forth halfway up his back. "Hmm." He mused, "Looks like we are going to have to get inventive."

Karth nodded, wrapping his wet arms around the smaller mammal and nuzzling the back of his head. He knew what Rowan wanted, and Karth was more than eager to oblige. While the human thought things through, Karth let his back claws slide up and down Rowan's wet belly, teasing his rigid sex some more.

"Lompo, I need a twelve centimeter ledge. Raise it under my feet." a small ledge formed underneath Rowan, pushing the Jovan up at perfect level. He smiled back at the wolf, rubbing his butt cheeks against the wolf's hardness. "Will that be good enough?"

Karth nodded, using his paws to steady Rowan's hips. He slipped his tip up under the human, sliding it around till the tapered glans found their puckered mark. Rowan leaned forward even more, pressing his forehead against the wet shower wall. The hot spray beat across his back, the water running down the cleft of his ass crack where he felt the tip of Karth's sex begin to spread his dripping entrance.

Rowan moaned through the hot steam and pressed back against the wolf. The unforgettable feeling of first penetration danced around his sensitive entrance. When Karth's glans pressed its insistent way past his tight ring, Rowan arched his back, feeling a sudden spurt shooting from his own hardness to coat the wall in front of him.

"Ohhh ... yeah ..." Rowan groaned, squinting from the slight hint of pain shooting through his sphincter as it stretched to accommodate the lupine girth slipping even deeper into him. The Jovian tensed about halfway, and Karth stopped reluctantly.

Okay are? He rubbed his paws across the human's back, pausing to reach under neath Rowan to stroke the other male's slick arousal.

"Oh ... Karth! Damn you!" Rowan half bucked with a pleasured grunt. "Give me a second ..." He panted. "... to adjust." He looked back with a saucy look in his eyes to his lust hazed lover. "You're not exactly small you know."

Karth's pants came out uneven and broken. He tried to even them even though his heart and body wanted to thunder forward. No, he would be gentle with this smaller mammal who wanted to bond with him. He let his pink furless lover relax some and Karth felt the tight grip on the first quarter of his sex loosen. Only once Rowan eased his body back, slipping farther on his thick, reddening shaft did Karth place his paws on either side of the Jovian's hips to guide his thrust.

Rowan groaned as Karth slid another few centimeters of himself inside. It felt so slippery, hot, and most importantly, thick. The Jovian's soft cries of passion echoed between the misty walls. Karth grunted as Rowan's ring bumped gently up against the swell of his lupine knot. The wolf eased out of the human before sliding back in. He repeated, this time a little faster. Rowan reached back behind him to squeeze Karth's furry ass.

"Ugghh ... you feel so good ..." Rowan's eyes squinted tight, unable to see the thick line of precum drooling out of his own hardness. The thick strings and fat drops hit the slick floor before swirling down the sonic shower drain. His shaky feet kept trying to slip off the ledge.

Good time I have with you. Karth whined out, his white ears pinning back against his skull as he started driving into Rowan harder, his knot squashing up against the human's tight hole with each thrust. Rowan almost burst out laughing at the UT's tepid translation of their ruttish coupling.

Rowan found it hard not to scream out, even though he knew every habitat wall was completely sound proof. He was more worried that Lompo might misinterpret his cries and send in security or worse, spray restraining gel through the shower head spigots instead of water. He could only imagine what the rest of the crew would think if they saw him stuck to the wolf this way. Instead he bit down on his forearm, hoping to muffle his cries of passion as the wolf's huge sex rubbed back and forth deep against his prostate. Karth slowed when he felt his bond brother tense.

Hurting am I? Karth slowed his thrusts, but found himself hesitant to stop altogether. The human's insides were so slick now; filled with his constant and watery canid spurts.

"No, Wolfy, don't you dare stop." Rowan's voice was thin and strained, pleading.

It took Karth by surprise when Rowan pushed back with slow, insistent force. The wolf felt the human's entrance stretch a bit when the ring tired to slip around his knot. Was the smaller male trying to tie with him? Karth moved back a little, his paws holding the mammal at bay some.

No, wait. Easier way is.

Karth adjusted his stance a bit, dipped his angle deeper and off to one side so that his lover only had to stretch to accommodate half his knot to begin with. Rowan gasped with a sharp inhale at the sudden pressure. He felt his ass stretch painfully, as if his sphincter threatened to tear. With a soft slurp the rest of Karth's knot popped inside of him, and Rowan almost fainted from the sensation. Karth had to tuck one of his forearms under Rowan's belly just to keep him from falling.

While they both adjusted to the feeling of the tie, Karth pulled up Rowan from the shower wall and the two stood front to back, Karth's paws stroking Rowan's bare and glistening chest. One of his claws teased an unprotected nipple, and the human squealed, squirming about despite the knot in his ass. Rowan begged, moaned some as the strong wolf teased his responsive body.

Once he sensed the Jovian was ready, one of Karth's paws slid down Rowan's belly to grasp his straining erection. Rowan cried out as Karth's rough paw pads scraped up and down his dripping sex. He tensed on instinct and felt his prostate squash against the huge knot inside of him. He was so close to cumming.

"Oh Karth ... don't stop." Rowan gasped out as he bucked against the tie, feeling the wolf's knot grind into his twitching pleasure zone. "Right there. Yeah thats it! Fuck me!"

Karth's tail twitched as he humped away at Rowan's tight ass, his paw going to town and jerking off the other male in front of him fast and hard. He could feel his lover tighten around him, signaling the approach of their inevitable climax. Karth watched the Jovian in his embrace squeal some, throw his head back against his chest as the other male spurted his white, surprisingly thick seed everywhere. The erotic, sensual sight drove him over the edge, and he arched deep into his pack brother before sealing the final act of their ritual bond.

Rowan's ass flooded with Karth's lupine cum.

The two collapsed forward, panting against the shower wall even as steam continued to pour up and out the top of the sonic shower. Both found themselves unable to speak, still caught up in the close emotional bond and hard physical exertion. The nuzzled against each other for a few minutes, reveling in the moment.

Without warning the condescending voice of Dr. Chako boomed from unseen speakers above them.

"Rowan. Are you done copulating with the new arrival yet?" The Martian physician seemed impatient and more than a little annoyed at their belated arrival. "Because I don't want you to throw off his vitals more than you already have!"

Karth's ears flattened and his tail tucked at the admonishment. The look on his muzzle was as close to meek as his species could make. Rowan buried his head into the crooks of his arms, hiding his embarrassment.

"Ahhhw man!" The sixteen year old novice explorer mumbled out. There'd be no keeping a lid on it now from the rest of the crew.

Dey-Jay was going to give him so much shit for this.

~ Fin Part I ~

I'd like to thank Azelis for his love and support during the early conception of this series.

Thanks to CoyoteOldOne for continued inspiration and for being the muse for this particular piece.

Many muzzle licks to Sanada Mutt, who I hope comes back and writes more for the fandom despite previous setbacks.

As always, many thanks to Koshne for his continued critiques.

Thanks to Heuvadoches_Naumova for pointing out some small word usage errors.