FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

30 December 2082

The report Harvey compiled with the team was well received. The team got a glowing review from Allen and Bruce on the research done. Fresco Caballero showed up on all of the news feeds. Harvey even got his first message since being out on the mission. An elderly dingo, his father, was so proud of him that he had tears in his eyes.

“This was sweet," said Harvey as he turned the message off, “Thank you Rasul."

“Keep up the good work Fresco," Rasul said.

Diego entered the cockpit, “Do you know who's painting pictures all over the ship? There's trees in the lounge and our bedroom doors all have portraits and names now."

“That's Bruno," said Rasul, “He's been getting bored late at night."

“He made me look grumpy," Diego flopped down into his chair.

“I'd say more reserved," said Errol, the weasel was running the morning diagnostics.

“Well, Bruno's shy, and he probably just feels intimidated by you," Rasul suggested, “He made Magnus look grumpy too."

“I hope he doesn't see me as just that. I like him," said Diego, “He's a good guy. And he keeps cooking us edible dinners. We would not be eating half as good if he didn't."

“It's just a painting," Errol chuckled, “Don't overthink it."

“If you're worried about it, you are the one responsible for crew morale," said Rasul.

Diego stood up, “I'm gonna go bring him coffee."

“Bring me back some!" Errol called after him.

The bat found Magnus and Hugo in storage. The raccoon was feeling much better. He was back to his morning lifting routine. Hugo was there to make sure he was fine, and not just saying it.

“Morning guys."

“Morning captain," they both said.

“Bruno in back?" Diego asked.

“Ja, he's down below checking the water filters," said Magnus.

“Thanks."

Diego made two cups of coffee once he reached the galley. He had no idea how Bruno liked it. Diego decided to do what he does and hopes the coyote likes it. Two creams, two sugars. He popped the lids on top of the tumblers and made his way into the lower level of engineering.

He found Bruno sitting beneath the water filter canisters. The coyote had his feet propped up against the wall and tablet in hand. In his other hand, was his cock. Bruno must have thought he'd have privacy with Magnus and Bruno working out. Diego cleared his throat.

Bruno panicked and scrambled to his feet, throwing both hands over his crotch. The tablet he dropped was playing a rather lewd video of several guys going at it. The coyote didn't know what to do.

“Captain, sir!" Bruno was bright red, “I'm… I'm sorry!"

“Quite fine," Diego chuckled and held out the coffee he got for him, “I wanted to bring you some coffee."

Bruno hesitated, but took it from Diego, “Thank you sir…"

Diego leaned against the wall, “You know, it's safer to do that in your room."

“I know sir, I'm sorry," Bruno hung his head.

“At ease Bruno," Diego chuckled, “I don't mind at all."

The coyote was struggling to hide himself anyway as he removed his arm from covering himself, “I'm sorry."

“Not bad Bruno," the bat had never seen Bruno outside of his sheath before.

“Thank you," the coyote blushed as he sat back down and pulled his uniform over himself.

He wasn't able to go back down since he pulled his knot from his sheath and was stuck for the time being. His ten inch cock simply droops as he sat in the silence between him and Diego. He sipped on his coffee as Diego took a seat across from him.

“May I? Diego asked.

“What sir?" Bruno blushed.

“Help you out," Diego moved the uniform out of the way and wrapped a hand around the coyote's swollen prick.

Bruno huffed out, “S… sure!"

The coyote wasn't quite expecting this. Coffee and a handjob from his captain was certainly not on his radar. Diego set his coffee down and opened up the front of his uniform. He pulled out his swelling cock and massive balls out. Bruno hesitantly reached out. Diego pulled his hand to him.

Bruno laughed nervously. He curled his fingers around the eleven inch tool. The two of them stroked on each other firmly. Both of them hotly aroused and leaking precum. Both their hands slicking up their tools. Bruno was shaking nervously as he leaned over. He slid himself onto his side and wrapped his maw over the head of Diego's cock.

Diego huffed out from the warmth. The coyote skillfully swallowed down his cock. Diego leaned down onto his side to return the favor. Bruno whimpered out as he felt Diego pull his meat into his maw. The bat slid his tongue around the coyote's shaft. Slowly sucking his way down till he felt the knot press against his lips.

Bruno instinctively started to buck his hips. Diego held tight to him to make sure the coyote wouldn't ram his knot in. The bat wasn't sure he could open up that much. To help Bruno along, Diego slid a hand behind the swollen knot and grabbed hold.

Bruno moaned loudly over Diego. The coyote was forcing the bat's cock down the back of his throat. He was eager to get Diego to cum with him. The coyote didn't last much longer though. The firm grip behind his knot was overwhelming. He felt his heavy nuts lift as he unloaded into the captain's maw.

Diego rumbled in delight. He felt the rush of the coyote's cum hit the back of his throat. He sat there and suckled down on the pulsing prick. Bruno doubled down on his efforts to help Diego get off. The coyote was really good at sucking dick. Diego was sure Magnus got to enjoy this often.

The bat kept his mouth locked around the coyote's cock. Only small dribbles of cum leaked out of him now. Diego slid a hand against the back of the coyote's head. The bat felt his loins tense up. Bruno let out lewd moans as he felt the rush of cum blast into his maw. The coyote was eager to feel the load ooze over his tongue.

Diego let out a deep breath as Bruno suckled hard over his tip. The coyote let each strand of cum blast over his tongue before gulping it down. Once he felt that the main rush of seed die down, Bruno pushed his lips all the way down against the bats crotch and hugged his arms around him. Diego gasped as he pulled up from the coyote's cock.

“Whoa, fuck," Diego rubbed a hand down into the scruff of the coyote's neck, “Easy there Bruno."

The coyote was breathing in deeply. He was obviously enjoying the bulge against his throat as he suckled away. He was keeping Diego locked in. The bat shivered. Never had anyone deepthroated him like this with ease. The bat patted the coyote and pulled him up. His entire crotch was covered in drool.

Bruno gasped for air as he wiped his maw clean with his arm, “Sorry sir."

“No sorry needed," Diego pulled the coyote to him and gave him a hug, “This was nice."

“It was unexpected," Bruno huffed, “Thank you captain… And thanks for the coffee…"

“Anytime," Diego smirked.

“Uh, sir, was this ok?" Bruno asked, “They always sat us down in seminars about this sort of thing. Magnus is one thing, but you're the captain…"

“I treat you all the same Bruno," Diego leaned back against the wall, “I just haven't opened up enough to everyone."

“O… oh…" Bruno nodded, “I've just always seen you as the captain. I've always been nervous about opening up to you."

“Well, don't," Diego ruffled his headfur, “We're all in this together, and we should all get along. I lucked out on getting such a good looking crew."

Bruno blushed, “Bah. I'm just a scrawny goof with a huge dick."

“You and Ken both," Diego jokes.

“That's just a monster," Bruno laughed.

Diego caressed the coyote's cheek before standing back up and grabbing his coffee, “I should get back to the bridge. We wanna make sure all systems will be fine while we celebrate the new year tomorrow."

“Of course sir," Bruno scrambled to his feet and started to slip back into his uniform, “After I finish the water filters, I'll be checking climate control."

Diego smiled, “Good work Bruno."

Hugo and Hyperion had departed for Europa with Ken, Marc, Julio, and Kuga. Julio was getting more involved now that they found bacteria. Marc helped Hugo operate the drill. Magnus was hesitant to let anyone else run the drill, but Marc picked up on it the day before when they went down.

“Sen' it down," Marc aligned the drill.

Hugo turned the drill on and they started the dig. Julio stood by with arms crossed. He was eager to get more underground samples. Kuga and Ken, however, were still interested in discoveries they could find on the surface. Kuga was running scans on the large cliffs surrounding them. They were like glittering ice towers looming over them.

“I wonder how often the moon shifts like this," said Ken as the two of them walked underneath the ledge, “There's clear signs of these getting pushed up from underneath."

“With its orbit around Jupiter, it's unpredictable," said Kuga as he paused to run his scans at the base of the cliff, “We should be experiencing more quakes if I was perfectly honest. I guess the ice is flexing in ways unknown to us. We have witnessed two geographical changes on the surface the last few days. But, it's not changing at a fast rate, and it heals over quickly. The grooves in the ice here are even starting to smooth out."

“Without much of an atmosphere, another mystery of our icy moon," Ken ran his hand along the wall.

Ken and Kuga wheeled out the auger and started to gather ice core samples. Marc was busy scanning for anything he could dig up and study. Julio and Hugo had broken through two layers of ice. Without Magnus there to supervise, Hugo was going for two hundred feet. The tiger pulled the drill back up once they reached their goal.

Julio took control of the drone and Hugo lowered it down into the depths. They had difficulty going through the first ice cave as there wasn't any water and the drone kept swinging back and forth. Hugo wiggled it around until it fell down into the hole. He went back to slowly lowering them down further.

The screen flickered on Julio's arm. He shook his arm. The screen had a steady flicker going across it. Hugo told him that happened the last time. The hyena shrugged but wanted to continue until they couldn't. The drone finally dipped into water. Julio turned on the propellers and took a quick look around the section they were in.

“Looks much like the first cavern you guys found," said Julio as he moved the drone around in circles.

The light glimmered against the caverns walls. There wasn't anything different about this chamber than the first trip. Julio drove the drone back to where the hole continued further down and slid his way in. The hyena pushed further down into the endless tunnel of water. The hyena jumped when his screen turned off with a blinding flash.

He shook his arm, “Are you fucking kidding me?"

“Lose connection?" Hugo started to reel the line back up.

Julio's screen flickered back to life, “Damnit. How far down was that?"

“Just a little over one fifty," said the tiger.

“We need to figure out what's interfering with the signal," said Julio as he started to help the tiger lift the drone out, “For now, let's get some more samples and we'll head back up. Get Rasul to do a deeper scan."

“He's been running nonstop scans," said Hugo, the tiger stood over the hole to see where the drone was, “He has all sorts of data collected. Why don't you get your boyfriend to check them out?"

“He's not my boyfriend, he's my toy," said Julio.

“You're a cruel man doctor," Hugo shook his head.

“He likes it," Julio pulled the drone up out of the hole and handed it to Hugo.

The tiger carried the drone over to the ship and Julio set to work. He lowered the vial box down the hole. Hugo turned his head to the side when he spotted something on the drone. He grabbed one of the vials from the supply box and scraped off a hunk of white ice that was clung to the drone. He capped it and brought it over to Julio.

“Think this is anything?" he held it out for the hyena, “It was stuck to the drone."

“Good eye Hugo," the hyena held the vial up to get a better look, “Not sure, but it's definitely not just water."

The two of them finished dipping the vials into the water. Marc had a collection of pebbles and a few large stones with him when he returned. Kuga and Ken had mapped out the area, buried a probe, and retrieved several gigabytes of data from their scans. They all had a productive day with loads for them to bring back to the Nova for study.

Hyperion pulled them into docking and stretched out. He powered down and helped them bring the samples down to the lab. He grabbed a seat to see everything they got. Marc pulled Hyperion over to his station. The fennec chuckled.

“Got some fancy stuff to show me?" Hyperion puffed up to look important.

“Lets see how much ye learned in school," Marc said as he loaded up a sample and pointed to the eyepiece.

Hyperion chuckled and took a peek, “Looks blurry to me."

“Twist these dealies here," Marc showed him.

Hyperion rolled the dials until the slide came into focus, “Lot's of colors."

“Whatcha got?" Marc asked.

“Looks like some powdery orange stuff," Hyperion kept adjusting to get in closer, “There's gray, black, and white speckles. Looks like sand."

Marc chuckled and moved in to have a look, “Yer orange stuff es phosphorus. And yer sand, let's see, looks like we have a little bit'o," the kangaroo messed with the dials to get in deeper, “Looks like...a smidge o' magnesium, carbon, chlorine, and a handfu' o' ot'er things."

“Is that good?" Hyperion leaned back in to take another look.

“It's somethin'," said Marc, “Likely from meteors bangin' inta the surface." He flipped the face of the stone to the side he had broken in half, “See here the grooves o'er the sides. I gave 'er a good ol' whack to break it out. It's got a noice mixed blend o' all of these bad boys in thar. This band here is a nice wrap o' granite."

“It's really pretty," Hyperion grinned, “A good find for the collection."

“Right it is," Marc grinned.

The kangaroo moved on to his next stone. Hyperion slid his chair over to the other station. Kuga, Ken, Julio, and Harvey were all there. They were taking turns on the microscope to figure out what it was that Hugo scraped off of the drone. Ken and Kuga were able to identify it was a protein, but Harvey and Julio were going in deeper.

“I just don't see how it's possible," Julio leaned back from the eyepiece.

He was scanning and studying their results on his tablet. The hyena looked perplexed but Harvey looked amused. The dingo went back in and started muttering to himself. He leaned back up and crossed his arms.

“Let's break it down," said Harvey.

The hyena loaded up the samples into the particle separator. He leaned his face into his hands as the room waited. The machine slowed down and came to a stop. Julio wasted no time and stripped out a piece of the membrane on the side of the vial and stuck it back into the microscope.

“Fuck me," Julio pulled Harvey to the scope.

The dingo took a look, “It's surely an amyloid."

“What's that?" Hyperion asked.

All of them looked at him.

“Uh, well," Harvey threw up his hands, “It's an abnormal fibrous, extracellular, proteinaceous deposit. It's typically found in tissue and organs. This one is surviving in whatever the liquid we found is."

“It's definitely some underwater ice monsters cum," said Julio, “It is white and has a jelly texture."

“We'll have to research more before we can come to that conclusion," said Harvey, “We're not even one hundred percent on how it's formed and what it can do. We do know amyloids are a leading cause of several diseases, but we need to figure out this one's full DNA and test what it does."

“Everyone out," Julio shooed everyone that wasn't him or Harvey out of the lab and closed the door.

“He's a pushy one," Kuga laughed and wandered off to his room.

Marc shook his head, “Whatever. I'll be in the shower mates."

Hyperion looked up at Ken, “What do you think?"

“Well, we've found something unusual in a place it doesn't quite fit into," said Ken, “This is quite the discovery."

31 December 2082

Ken stretched himself out. The wolf had grown accustomed to just throwing on the coveralls and nothing else. He slid his morning wood down one of his pant legs as he pulled the suit on. He fastened the button above his tail and buttoned up the front. He wandered his way into the galley after his nap in search for food.

Julio had kept him and the other scientists up most of the night. The hyena was super obsessed with solving their bacterial protein mystery. The wolf pulled out a few food bars and sat down at one of the windows. He stared out at the moon below. Diego sat down next to him, holding out a cup of coffee.

“Thanks," said Ken.

“For a doctor, he surely doesn't care if you get a good night's rest," said Diego.

Ken laughed, “Yeah. He's good for that."

“I've never seen him so pumped up about something," the bat sipped on his own coffee.

“How long have you two known each other?" Ken asked.

“Since I entered the program," said Diego, “He came in before me after serving in the military. He was always a little manic. But damn, can he really get shit done."

“Yeah," Ken nodded, staring back down to the moon, “Do you think it might be linked to something else beneath the ice?"

“I mean, it could just be something that exclusively grows here," said Diego, “It's not outside the possibility of coming from algae as Harvey suggested. As far as creatures, I'm still skeptical."

“Algae would be a great find," said Ken, “That would definitely be a long research paper for me."

Diego chuckled, “I can imagine. How you doing otherwise?"

“Hanging in there," Ken nodded, “Feeling a bit exhausted."

“Well, we're making it a stay inside kind of day," said Diego, “The lab is a madhouse enough. Plus, tonight, we celebrate. We need to relax a bit."

The ship's lights turned off.

“I swear I'm cursed," Diego shook his head.

The bat stood up and ran his hands across the wall. He found the flashlight box and the red emergency lights turned on. Errol came stumbling out of his room trying to pull his uniform on as he ran up to the cockpit. A moment later, a naked Magnus entered the room.

Diego shined his light on the raccoon, “Lights are out."

Magnus held up his hand with a look of disdain, “I can see this. Give me that."

Magnus took the flashlight and headed to engineering. Diego motioned for Ken to follow after Magnus. Magnus slid down to the lower deck and made his way down the dark corridor to the tubes. Diego grabbed him and Ken a few flashlights.

Errol whispered into the PA, “Captain. I can't find the source of the outage. All other systems are fine though."

“Well, that's good," Diego sighed, “Lets go crawl around."

“The main switch board will be in the center of the ship," said Magnus, “You'll find the main connections when you can see the wheel."

“I'll take the right side," said Diego as he lifted himself up into the tube."Ken help me out?"

“Sure thing," Ken hoisted himself up into the tube and Diego gave him a tug in.

Magnus pulled himself up behind them and broke away from them when they reached a split in the tubes. Diego seemed to have just as much trouble as Magnus did squeezing through the tubes. His wings brushed against the top the whole way through. They entered a chamber where they could stand up. The wheels mechanisms were just in view.

Magnus called from the farside, “Check every switch. There's always a chance the switch hasn't flipped off. It can either be popped up or burned out. If any of them look different from the others in any way, that's the problem."

Ken pulled off the power panel and his jaw dropped. There were hundreds of switches. Magnus and his team didn't miss a single thing. Ken leaned in with his flashlight and started to look closely at every single one of them. Diego started on the other end.

Errol called down the tube, “Hey, where you guys at?"

“Go left Errol," Magnus called back.

The raccoon could use the help. Him being so short, Errol made his way down in no time. They spent about ten minutes looking through each switch before Magnus called out.

“Found a burn out," the raccoon said, and he replaced the switch.

He hit the reset button and nothing happened.

“What the hell?" Magnus was upset.

“Just smack it!" Errol slammed his hand against the panel and the lights kicked back on.

“Good job Errol," Diego laughed.

“I hate this machine," Magnus popped the panel back into place, “At least the gravity didn't cut out."

“Do you think maybe the cracked panel could be affecting the unit?" Diego asked.

“Maybe," said Magnus, “Do you want us to go out and take a look?"

“No," said Ken, “It's a stay inside kind of day."

Diego laughed and ruffled Ken's ears around. The bat led the way back out of the tubes. Magnus lowered himself to the floor and put his hands on his hips. He obviously didn't like the idea of a relaxing day.

“I'm not relaxing," he said, “It sounds nice, but I can't neglect the ship."

“We've been hard at work," said Diego, “We could use a day to chill. Not unless you think this can't wait."

“It should be changed out," said Magnus, “I'll take Bruno with me. He's better at laying the panels out than Hugo."

“Make it so," Diego agreed.

Magnus nodded and took off to get Bruno out of bed. Ken followed Diego and Errol up to the bridge. They stopped to refill on coffee first where a sleepy Harvey was barely functional and just staring at his tablet as his coffee sat full in front of him. Julio messed him up the most the night before. They went back and forth at least twenty times to argue over the source of the amyloid.

Ken sat down at Rasul's station, “Good idea to relax." The wolf threw his thumb back towards the galley.

“Right," Diego laughed, “He looked half dead."

Errol checked his systems, “Captain. Did you or Hyperion adjust our orbital settings?"

“Not that I know of," Diego checked the console, “Huh, we're off a couple of degrees. Readjust. It may have been a fluke from the outage, but double check with Hyperion later."

“Sure thing boss," Errol reset the ship's orbit.

Ken saw the message board flashing, “Looks like mission control got back to us."

Diego leaned back in his chair and punched in the code to unlock the message, “Let's see what they've got to say."

Tucker appeared on the message, the rabbit looked like he'd been up all night, “Hey Nova. So, our research team worked around the clock on all the information you sent over. They confirmed the find, but it's not like anything here on Earth. Whatever Hugo scraped up for your science team, it's a completely new type of amyloid."

Allen sat down next to Tucker with a tall cup of coffee, “I haven't pulled overnighters like this since Mars. Keep running the research, and hopefully you can find more samples. We hope you can find whatever the source of the bacteria is."

“Get some sleep Allen," Tucker pushed him away, “I'm attaching two letters as well. One for Bruno and one for Kuga. We'll be in touch later to celebrate the new year with you guys."

“So much for Allen following his own advice," Ken jokes.

“We've been here less than a week, and we're already shaking the foundation of science," said Diego, “I can't say I've gotten much sleep myself."

“And that's why today we relax?" Ken chuckled.

“We're gonna burn ourselves out if we don't," Diego smirked.

Magnus came into the bridge, still nude, “Captain. Can you come run the airlock for us?"

Ken and Diego followed Magnus to the airlock. Bruno was yawning while putting on his suit. He blushed when he saw Diego. The coyote still had yesterday fresh on his mind. Magnus slid his suit on and Ken and Diego helped the two of them seal up. The raccoon and coyote dropped into the airlock with a solar panel and a tool case. Diego sent them out.

Magnus clipped himself onto the tether support and clipped Bruno to himself. The airlock opened. Magnus had a hold of the solar panel and Bruno had the tool box. The two of them activated the magnetizers in their boots and made their way to the wheel. Magnus clipped the tether that tied them to the ship onto a clip on the ship and pulled up another tether from his suit.

“Get ready to step onto the wheel," Magnus was watching the wheel go round and round, “Errol, you there?"

“Yes sir," said the weasel.

“Which panel has a crack on it?" Magnus waited for him.

“I have it," said Errol, “It's in section five."

“Tell us when to step on," said Magnus.

“Roger that," said Errol, “It's coming rooooound…..now!"

Magnus and Bruno stepped unsteadily onto the wheel. The raccoon clipped the tether to the bottom of the pole they were next to. They both started their accent up the side of the wheel. Bruno groaned when they reached the top.

“Don't barf," said Magnus he positioned himself over the top of the wheel and helped Bruno up.

“I'll try not too boss," the coyote was not ready for this sort of thing early in the morning.

Magnus clipped one more tether to the top of the wheel. Magnus and Bruno walked across the wheel and found the shattered panel. Magnus pried up the edge of the panel. He took a step back as he kicked a bar under the panel. The panel flipped off and flew away from the ship.

Magnus took the tool box from Bruno and passed him the panel. The coyote could barely hold onto it. Magnus clipped the tool box to the wheel and opened it up. He pulled out a lock tool and walked to the far edge where the panel popped off. The raccoon slowly made his way across as he reset all the locks.

He popped the tool back into its case and closed the box up. He slid the panel away from Bruno. The raccoon took in a deep breath as he made his way back across the top of the wheel.

“Grab the handle on that end," Magnus pointed, “Once we get it lined up, keep it forced down as we lay it into place."

“Yes sir," said Bruno.

The coyote readied himself. Magnus waited until he was able to get his end aligned. The raccoon pulled down and pushed the panel forward. Bruno mirrored him. The panel clicked into place. Magnus pushed down on the panel to make sure it was in tight. The raccoon held up his thumb. Bruno barfed.

The raccoon shook his head and helped the coyote get himself together. Magnus undid the tether on top of the wheel and turned off Bruno's magnetizers. The raccoon nearly lost his footing as Bruno tried to fly away. Magnus held tight to the coyotes tether as he forced the toolbox into his hand.

“Hold tight pup," said Magnus, “I'm gonna get you down."

“I'm sorry boss," he was ashamed for throwing up in his helmet.

“Happens to all of us," Magnus started to pull them down the pole of the wheel.

The raccoon found his footing as they spun around and around. Magnus sighed as he unlatched the tether on the wheel. He stepped off of the wheel and stumbled down the side of the ship. He made his way to where the other tether was waiting for him. He latched himself to the tether and unlocked his boots. He reeled him and Bruno back into the ship.

Ken and Diego were still hanging out in the airlock having a conversation. Magnus hit the console to close the outer door. Gravity hit him and Bruno. The raccoon helped him to his feet as Diego opened the door back into the ship.

“Whoops," Diego helped Bruno up the ladder, “Looks like the wheel claimed its first victim."

“I'm sorry captain," Bruno lowered his ears.

“It's alright Sparky," Magnus took his helmet off and went to help Bruno get his off, “Not too bad. Easy clean up."

“Good thing you dragged him straight from bed," said Ken, “I couldn't imagine if he had breakfast first."

“I don't even wanna think about it," said Bruno as he unbuckled his suit, still feeling a bit queasy.

“Get some water and get your feet back," Diego patted the coyote on his shoulder, “I'll be on the bridge if you guys need me. Good work."

Ken and Magnus helped Bruno get into the showers. Now was as good a time as any for them to join him. Magnus grabbed a bar of soap and started to help Bruno bathe. The coyote lowered his ears and apologized again. The raccoon smacked him on his ass.

“Stop apologizing," he said, “You did good."

Ken felt himself stiffen up from the sight of this. He grabbed another bar of soap and started to help the raccoon get cleaned up. Magnus blushed a little. Usually he was the cleaner. The raccoon got the coyote cleaned up and Ken got him cleaned up. Bruno started to guzzle down the water as it washed all the soap away. Magnus turned his attention to Ken and started to scrub him down.

“Hehe, easy now," Ken giggled.

The coyote leaned himself against Magnus and held his arms around the raccoon. Magnus got Ken all cleaned up and rinsed off. He turned the shower off. He unlatched Bruno from around him and pulled the coyote over to the towel rack to dry off. Bruno wagged his tail as Magnus fluffed him up.

Ken jumped as Magnus pulled the wolf over to get dried off too. The raccoon then dried himself off. The coyote turned on the furdryer and waved it under his arms and at his crotch. He motioned for Ken to indulge and helped get him dry too. Magnus came over and let Bruno work him over.

Ken never realized how handy it was to have help getting ready for the day. He was clean and dry, and now he was getting brushed. Bruno was gentle with the brush. The coyote teased Ken's chin scruff up with a smile.

“There you go," Bruno chuckled, the coyote looked like he was feeling much better now.

Ken grinned, “Thanks Bruno."

The coyote helped get Magnus brushed out. The raccoon took it from him and started to get his tail fluffed up. Magnus swishes his tail around. The stripes settled back into their pattern. He gave Bruno a pat between the ears.

“Go grab us breakfast, and I'll start on diagnostics," Magnus turned down to engineering.

“Never takes much of a break, does he?" Ken asked.

“He tries, but then he stresses himself out," said Bruno, “We can usually steal him away for games and food, but he doesn't have much of an off switch."

Ken walked with Bruno to the galley, “Sounds like a challenge."

“It's easy to get him to leave work if you appeal to his senses," Bruno pulled out several protein bars and poured a couple of coffees, “Me getting him breakfast while he runs diagnostics, he'll be more chatty. It's a good time to get him to talk and to get to know him better. If you don't talk, he'll chow breakfast down and disappear into the depths of the ship."

“Or drag someone out of bed to do repairs," Ken chuckled as he refilled his coffee.

“Thankfully I'm used to that," said Bruno, “But I wasn't expecting to do a spacewalk on the wheel."

“I don't envy that," said Ken, “All the force pushing up from your feet."

“Hence my misadventure," Bruno had his pockets stuffed with the protein bars and a coffee in each hand.

Ken followed behind him. He noticed Julio was fast asleep in the lab. He had passed out in one of the chairs. Ken shook his head as they made their way to engineering. Magnus was already deep in his work.

Bruno set down a few of the protein bars and a coffee down on his console, “Here you go boss."

“Thanks pup," Magnus tore open one of the bars, “I'm setting up an automated check to run on the chips. If any of them are at risk of blowing out, we'll get a notification for which section so we don't have to check over each one again."

Bruno sipped into his coffee, “Any other repairs on the agenda today?"

“Aside from this morning, the rest of the ship looks fine," Magnus tapped on the console as he moved down the diagnostics list.

“You do this check every morning?" Ken asked.

“It's important to make sure the ship is safe," said Magnus, “My duty is to keep you all safe."

“I don't see you take many breaks," the wolf swirled his coffee around in his cup.

Magnus started punching in numbers on his tablet, “The ship is always running and you're all still living."

“Even before we got on the ship," Ken chuckled.

Magnus paused his work and turned to Ken, “My work is important. If I take a break, I worry it will never get finished."

“You had the Nova and Spider in testing before we even started training," said Ken, “And you had them both finished well before launch. You exceed expectations. Taking it easy from time to time doesn't devalue the work you've put in."

Magnus turned back to his console, “I'll keep it in mind."

Bruno smirked at Ken. Magnus really was hard to crack. Even after taking a sex and shower break with Ken a few days ago, the raccoon still went back to working on the ship after. His breaks were short. Almost like another duty for him to finish and he'd move back onto his main tasks after.

Ken decided to hang out in engineering. He was learning all sorts of things about the ship from Bruno and Magnus, and more in the afternoon from Hugo. The three of them seemed happy to have someone to teach. Having a change in their daily routine seemed to brighten their day.

Magnus leaned against his console and hesitated before speaking, “Ok. We can take the rest of the day off."

“Boss?" Hugo looked confused.

“Go, relax," the raccoon crossed his arms, “We work enough."

Bruno and Hugo exchanged looks. They weren't about to look a gift raccoon in the mouth. Ken smirked and patted Magnus on his shoulder.

“And you," Magnus turned to him, “You obviously want me to take a break and have fun. So, I'm yours for the rest of the day."

Ken blushed, “Oh. I guess I'll have to keep you occupied, huh?"

“If you don't, you'll risk losing me back to work," Magnus smirked.

“Well," Ken slid his hands into the raccoons, “Maybe we can explore a bit more in someplace more comfortable than the tubes."

“I'd like that," Magnus grinned.

2082-2083

Errol delivered the messages to Kuga and Bruno. The weasel had finished his work for the day and slumped his shoulders. When travelling, he had a lot to do. Now that they were floating in orbit, he didn't have anything to do. He needed to find something to occupy himself until midnight.

The weasel slumped down into a chair in the lounge. He stared up at the ceiling. He stretched out with a sigh. He heard someone pass behind him. Rasul had a towel wrapped around him. The wolverine forgot to do something on the bridge so he hadn't showered yet.

Errol jumped to his feet, “Hey Rasul!"

“Thunder?" Rasul walked with him to the bridge.

“I was wondering, do we have any party snacks?" Errol asked.

“Party snacks?" Rasul chuckled, “Looking for something for tonight?"

“Yeah!" Errol grinned, “What's a new years party without snacks?"

“Hmm," Rasul was typing in on his console, “We have the cookies stored in unit sixteen. There's cakes in there too."

“Ugh, those taste like chalk," Errol frowned.

“There's the chips in unit eight," Rasul suggested, “Also cricket crisps, and fruit snacks."

Rasul leaned down, “There's also chocolate bars in unit two. Maybe you can convince Bruno to help you make brownies from scratch."

“Ohhh, yeah!" Errol hugged Rasul, “Thanks commander!"

The weasel ran down the length of the ship. He knocked on the coyote's door. There was some shuffling from within. Bruno peeked out to see who it was.

“Hey Errol, what's up?"

“I was wondering if I could borrow you for some baking?" Errol grinned.

“Oh?" Bruno was curious, “Uh, sure. What do you have in mind?"

“Rasul suggested brownies!" Errol vibrated with excitement for fresh cake.

“Sounds doable," the coyote nodded, “Uh, would you mind giving me a few minutes?"

“Sure!" Errol nodded, “I can go gather the ingredients."

Bruno went back to what he was doing and Errol made his way into storage. The weasel struggled pulling the large shelves from the walls. He shivered when he pulled the refrigeration units open. With his arms full, the weasel made his way into the galley. He slid everything up onto the counters and started the search for the bowls.

Errol didn't know where anything was located and the kitchen was soon a mess of pans, bowls, and utensils. He looked up how to make brownies and turned the oven on. He ran back to storage to gather some chips, the crickets, and the fruit chews. He was standing back in front of the oven with his hands on his hips.

“We need food food too," Errol tapped his foot.

He found himself in storage yet again. This time he was going through the freezer. They needed something nice to ring in the new year. He held up the steaks and sniffed at them. He chucked them back in and pulled out hamburger patties. He forced the freezer closed and went into the bread freezer. He pulled out several bags and returned to the kitchen.

Bruno was there. The coyote was reorganizing the kitchen as he studied the ingredients Errol had pulled up. The weasel pushed the burgers and buns up onto the counter.

“I guess we're having a banquet?" Bruno chuckled.

“I grabbed all the bad foods I could," Errol wagged his tail, “Burgers, chips, and chocolate!"

Bruno grinned and ruffled the weasels headfuzz, “Alright, I'll get started on making the brownies. Do you know how to cook the burgers?"

“Only if everyone likes well done," Errol said.

“Oh boy, ok," Bruno turned the stovetop on, “I'm going to walk you through everything. FIrst up, put the buns into the defroster."

Errol and Bruno started to construct Errol's new year meal. Much to Bruno's relief, Harvey showed up to assist. The dingo had smelled what they were up to. Harvey patiently showed Errol how to cook the burgers properly. Soon, the whole ship smelled of the burgers and the brownies. Harvey chased Errol off to go set the table.

“His heart's in the right place, but it'd be dangerous for our health to let him keep cooking," Harvey said to Bruno.

Bruno chuckled and went to help Errol set up the table. The weasel popped the snack bags open and poured them out into bowls. He had no idea how to set up a table, but Bruno let him go. The weasel laid out the plates and condiments and cans of cheese paste. He then ran off to announce dinner over the PA system.

Diego and Rasul were the first to show as both of them were in the captain's quarters. One by one, the rest of the ship gathered round. Errol laid out the bags of buns in the middle of the table and Harvey dropped off platters of burgers at each end. Bruno pulled the brownies from the oven and set them out to cool off.

Errol looked pleased with himself. The unexpected dinner seemed to lift everyone's spirits. Even Julio looked like he left his stress behind from trying to solve the reason for the amyloid's existence. After having put away five burgers, Diego stood up and went to storage. He returned with three bottles of whiskey.

Soon after, everyone was feeling the effects of the spirits. It was starting to turn into a real party. Magnus turned the heat up when he stripped his uniform off to the music Errol turned on. With whistles of approval, Magnus turned his focus on Ken. The wolf was bright red as the massive beast that had been teasing him all afternoon started to give him a lap dance. This set the mood for everyone else. Soon the whole ship was barely dressed and Diego decided to dig out more whiskey.

Rasul wandered up to the front of the ship to make sure everything was good to go before he indulged more in the celebration. He noticed a flashing light on screen. It was a countdown orchestrated by mission control so the Nova would feel like they're celebrating with the rest of Earth. They too were having quite the party.

Rasul sent the message to the screen in the lounge. The wolverine returned to join the party. Apparently he drew the attention of everyone with the message. They were all gathered on the couches or on the floor in front of the screen. Diego passed around another round of drinks as the timer neared its final minutes.

Rasul was snuggled up with Diego on the couch next to Marc and Julio. Magnus had Ken, Bruno, and Hugo on the other couch. Hyperion and Errol were settled in between Diego's legs and locked in a very drunk cuddle as they shared their drink. Everyone had someone to smooch when the timer zeroed out. Everyone except for Harvey and Kuga.

Kuga was two shots in and that was enough to have the otter blitzed. He stumbled over to Harvey and flopped down on top of the dingo. Harvey helped sit him up and held him between his legs.

“Hi Harvey!" Kuga grinned up at him.

“Hey Stumbles," Harvey chuckled, “You doing alright?"

“I am!" Kuga turned to face Harvey, “I came over to ask. Would you like a smooch at midnight?"

“You're drunk Kuga," the dingo smiled as he rubbed between the otter's ears, “You would not ask me otherwise."

Kuga sat there for a moment, “No, I think I would. I like the mysterious, quiet types."

Harvey laughed, “Is that what I am?"

“You're my friend," the otter hiccuped, “And you deserve a smooch to ring in the new year."

Harvey's ears burned as everyone started the countdown with mission control. What was the dingo to do? Everyone shouted as the countdown hit zero and the heat in the room went up as everyone locked into a kiss. Harvey put a hand behind Kuga's head and pulled the otter in for the kiss. The otter's eyes went wide as they locked lips. The dingo pushed deeper into the kiss. He couldn't deny the feelings he had for the otter.

Harvey pulled from the kiss and Kuga huffed out, “Wow."

The otter slumped against Harvey. The kiss finished him off. He passed out from all the excitement and alcohol. Harvey shook his head with a chuckle. He let the otter lay there as the party started to die down. The dingo picked up Kuga and brought the otter to bed. The dingo smiled to himself as he closed the door and went to his own room.