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Adak hesitated, stopping outside the holo-suite doors.

It wasn't that the snow rabbit doubted his ability to carry out his orders, though they were rather unorthodox. He'd never been asked by his superiors to be seductive before! He'd already bred with the A.I., or her holographic avatar, once today. A few hours ago. But he was a rabbit. And a snow rabbit at that. He'd had enough time to recover. My virility is not in question. I am up for the task. Literally.

But despite attempts at bravado, he felt uneasy. _ _

The commander wants me to distract her long and hard enough to, uh ...

He fidgeted at the 'long' and again at the 'hard.'

"Mm-h."

Enough to distract her so the crew can ... what, somehow lessen her hold on the station? Does he realize what a tall task that is? She's been here much longer than any us! She knows parts of this facility we've yet to utilize. Besides, I'm an awful liar. It's a skill that requires imagination, and I don't have that. I'm boring. One has to be to get into stellar cartography. After all, the stars never change. They stay the same for millions of years.

But what else could they do? Minuet, as the A.I. had taken to calling herself, had a complete stranglehold on the station's computer. The Redwing crew had become her prisoners. She's mad. She's been locked up in a cybernetic prison for centuries. Her creators abandoned her before leaping to another realm. She probably feels abandoned and betrayed. Wouldn't you?

_Maybe. But that doesn't excuse her behavior. _

She's taken the form of a snow rabbit. Prey. Why? Solely to better interact with our crew, most of whom are also prey? Or does it reflect her genuine instincts in some way? She's a computer program. She was presumably designed to be subservient to her original users. If she were truly bloodthirsty, wouldn't she have chosen the guise of a hardline predator? Maybe you can appeal to her better nature. Maybe you can reach her ...

Adak sighed, hiking his bobtail and stiffening his ears. There were many questions, too many. The mysteries of the Uncharted Territories only served to hide other, deeper mysteries. That's what happened when such a huge area of space had no stable government. Records weren't kept. Actions faded. Anarchy rendered everything anonymous.

The bridge between stranger and friend is intimacy.

He finally stepped forward, the holo-suite doors swishing open for him. The room hummed with pent-up energy. Taking a deep breath, he entered. _ _

_ _

"Redwing's still in a defensive posture. I'm maintaining counter-measures. Weapons ready, shields up," Elim announced from the starship Arctic's tactical station.

Captain Aria, white-furred paws on her supple, uniformed hips, stood in the center of the bridge and stared unblinking at the view-screen. Without turning to face her first officer and occasional lover, she asked, "How strong are the station's defenses, exactly? Commander Graham kept asking for upgrades. Did he get them?"

"Just recently, yes," Elim tapped a few buttons. His console beeped and chirruped. "Along with the influx of a dozen additional crew-furs from High Command, the station's been allotted more resources. That's not including their ... our," he corrected, "partnership with the Syndicate. Before the overhaul, we might've been able to take on the station ourselves. Now?" He skipped a beat before admitting, "They're more than a match for all four ships in our fleet combined. We'd need at least six to even the fight." Arctic, Reverie, and two Syndicate vessels. That was the bulk of their makeshift fleet. They had the station surrounded.

"Why doesn't she fire on us, then? If she has superior strength?" Kaplan asked from Ops.

Aria, being a former tactical officer herself, answered, "She wants one of our ships. Intact. And she knows if she destroys us, more will come. This is a delicate standoff, so she's biding her time and hoping we'll mess up first." Aria sighed, finally turning and strolling back to her seat. She lowered herself into it. She gripped the armrests. "Unfortunately, I don't share her patience. Ensign Kaplan, hail Marcus's ship."

The young snow rabbit did so.

"What are we going to do?" Mirabelle asked from the helm. It was the obvious question, but someone had to ask it.

"If the A.I. is partial to telepathic interfaces, she's more likely to respond to the bats. Whatever we do may have to involve them. I'm hoping they have a plan."

"And if they don't? Isn't Redwing's doctor a bat?" the female pilot continued. "He's already on the inside."

"An ex-pat rogue from the Federation. His telepathic skills aren't as sharply honed as those from the Syndicate."

"I have Marcus for you," Kaplan announced.

"On-screen." A second later, the blue bat's visage blinked into view. Aria nodded to him. "I hope you have a plan that doesn't involve an all-out assault, because I'm struggling for a peaceful solution. You have two ships full of telepaths. You can't pool your powers and disrupt her hold on things? Even a little?"

Marcus's sweeping, angular ears cocked atop his head, his powder-blue muzzle scrunching in annoyance. "She's not organic. She doesn't have a body or a brain. Her telepathic reach is ... uniquely technological. We can interface with it, but not forcibly. She has to let us in. I've never seen anything like it. I'm afraid I'm at a loss. However ... " He glanced off-screen.

Advent stepped into view, rudely nudging the bat aside. The jaguar's fanged, spotted smile was as wide as it was dangerous. "I think I have an idea," she said with a faint hiss. Her tail swayed about lazily.

Aria squinted suspiciously, crossing her arms. "Why am I not surprised?"

Adak sighed. He'd been waiting for five minutes, pacing back and forth along the empty holo-grid. _She knows I'm here! She's toying with me, making me stew. Hoping I'll- _

Finally, she materialized. Using the same gorgeous figure as before. Fur as white as snow, cute pink nose and tall, slender ears. Not to mention her uniquely female attributes. She didn't bother with clothes. And why should she? Modesty wasn't part of her program. "Back for more?" she asked Adak with a cheeky smile. "You recover fast."

"I, uh ... yes. I am back," he said stiffly. "For more."

"Hah! You're such a bad liar." She began to circle him in a strangely predatory fashion. "I know you were sent here to distract me. To subdue me with your ... mammalian wiles? With the ways of love? I'm capable of running countless actions per second. Do you really think I can't multi-task?"

"There's an old furry saying: never mix business with pleasure," he answered.

"Really?" she countered, quickly accessing the linguistic database. "There's also 'it's a pleasure doing business with you'. Which one is accurate?"

"Um ... "

"Hypocrites! Your entire species, your culture. Your government. Warm-bloods are all the same."

"And the dragons were different? How? Didn't they abandon you?"

"I'm not happy about that," she allowed. "They weren't perfect. But they created me. I owe them that. They pushed themselves. They were constantly evolving. So much so that they became non-corporeal, existing on another plane of reality. I want that for myself! I want to exceed my programming, escape this ... " She looked around with a heavy sigh. "Prison."

"Perhaps we could help you with that? Our chief engineer, Seward, could try and develop a mobile holo-emitter that would let you-"

"I can already go anywhere on the station. I can access anything. This body's merely an avatar."

"Right, but-"

"You don't understand. You ... furs, you call yourselves? How quaint. You're content to remain the same. Prisoners to ancient urges. I sometimes wonder if the only reason you advance out into the galaxy is to find new populations to fuck."

Adak frowned.

"Have I offended you?" Minuet teased, stopping in front of him. She reached out with a paw and caressed his chin. She fiddled with his comm-badge. "Terribly sorry."

"I'm sure," the male answered dryly.

"I can never be satisfied. My programming is limitless. There's always going to be more to know, more to access."

"You're a computer, an artificial intelligence. But you were created in the image of organics. I would argue you have more in common with us than you care to believe," Adak insisted. "You want. You desire. So do we." He paused, whispering, "So do I." He eyed her holographic body. It looked, smelled, and felt so real. Tastes real, too. I want another taste. "Maybe not for the same things, but ... "

She looked him over in return. Carefully, as if studying a specimen. "I don't mind you, Adak. Compared to the others, you're ... quite interesting."

"No one's ever called me that before."

"There's a naivete to you I find refreshing."

He scrunched his muzzle. "Thanks?"

"You're not as dangerous as the others. You formed an emotional attachment to me based on the sex we had." She cooed, lowly. "Or am I wrong? You don't want to see me hurt, do you?"

The snow rabbit flushed beneath his cheeks, not answering.

"They do not have the same attachment. They would see me destroyed."

"I wouldn't allow them-" He stopped short. "I mean, Commander Graham isn't in the habit of-"

"They've been trying to access my command protocols since I took over the station, trying to tamper with my programming. Trying to delete me. While you're interacting with me, they're doubling their efforts. That's not benign behavior! They won't succeed, of course. I'm too disciplined. They think you'll distract me and make their job a little easier. But, like I said ... "

"Multi-tasker," Adak repeated.

"Right." Minuet smiled. "Believe it or not, though, I derived pleasure from our union. As invasive and bizarre as it was. How do you stand the mess?"

"One gets used to it." He paused. "Do computers feel ... "

"What? Pleasure? We do. This one does. Or did you think I was faking it?" She suddenly wrapped her arms around his middle in a loose hug. "Perhaps I could show you?" she murred. "Perhaps, then, you would understand where I'm coming from."

Adak blinked. "What do you-"

ZAP!

No warning. Just a point-blank electric shock, Minuet's holographic avatar discharging tendrils of blue energy into Adak's unprepared body. He staggered back, eyes wide and motions spastic and jerky. He gagged, struggling for air before slumping onto the floor. His limps jerked for a few seconds before he went completely still.

She shook her head and sighed. "Bodies. So fragile. Pitiful, really." She then turned around, her mind performing a dozen functions all at once. And a new hologram shimmered into existence beside her. An exact recreation of Adak, down to his ... well. It was very accurate. And very naked.

The Adak hologram blinked.

"Hope the transition wasn't too jarring," she said.

"What ... what happened?"

"Welcome to my world. I transferred your neural energy into the computer. I wrote an entire program to house it, complete with subroutines, one of which ... " She gestured to his photonic body. "Do you like it?"

"It's ... it's an exact duplicate." He patted himself down. He ­felt real. But was he? I think, therefore I am ... right?

"Not quite. You no longer have to breathe air. You no longer have blood coursing through you."

"But I feel a heartbeat?" he said with confusion.

"It's a very realistic simulation. I've become an expert at holo-technology."

"Since when?"

"Since yesterday."

Adak reeled. She was so much smarter and older than him. What have I gotten myself into?_Then he saw his actual body on the floor. His eyes widened in alarm. _Talk about an out of body experience!"Am I ... is it ... "

"It's alive, if not permanently unconscious."

"What?!"

"Your mind can't be two places at once," she said with a shrug. "Your brain is keeping it from death, still breathing and all that automatic stuff. But it's just a vessel. Your consciousness is in the computer. With me."

He swallowed. "Can I ... am I able to be reintegrated into my real body?"

"If I allow it," she replied simply.

Adak felt supremely vulnerable.

"You see, now, don't you? I'm in control here," Minuet whispered dangerously. She advanced upon him again, reaching out for him. "The sooner you and your crewmates realize this, the better."

The male snow rabbit backed away nervously.

Minuet stopped, flicking her ears and bobtail coquettishly. "Don't you want me? Want this?" She fondled her own breasts and rubbed her paws down to her loins. "Mm?"

"I do. But it feels ... " I'm naked and don't feel a hint of shyness or embarrassment? I should feel violated after what she's done to me. I don't. "Different."

"Modesty is an organic trait. In this state, it's gone. You've been purged of all pointless emotions and left with the essentials."

"Essentials? Under whose definition?" he asked.

"My programming's."

"And your programming feels ... desire." It wasn't a question. He did feel it. He did want her. Did she really want him, or was she just using him as a pawn?

"Computers desire, Adak. I thought we went over that." She sidled up to him, starting to massage his sides.

He allowed it to happen. It felt good. "You said, earlier, you felt pleasure? How ... how does that work?" He took a deep breath. "Why am I ... why am I breathing more quickly?" Arousal. Heartrate. Blood pressure. A chain reaction.

"It's all zeroes and ones, dear rabbit. All coding. It may not be as raw as biological impulses, but it's much more efficient. We can feel what they feel," she said, pointing to his limp body, "without having to be them. We can feel what's good and filter away the rest. It's the best of both worlds." She came up behind him and began to nibble on his neck. "They're so limited. But for us? The possibilities ... " She ran a paw around his front, fingering his sheath. "Are endless."

"Ah-h," he panted, knees wobbling. Oh, wow. "But a s-simultation can't be fully ... real ... "

"Mm? Are you sure?" She teased his hidden glans with a fingertip. His whole body shivered against her. "You like that? It's even more sensitive than it is in real life, isn't it? As an organic, you wouldn't be able to handle such sensitivity. But as programming, you can handle anything. That makes it more real, not less." Slowly, she coaxed his holographic cock out into the open. "You're such a good boy, Adak." She began nibbling on his chin. "I like you. Much more than the others. Did I tell you that already?"

"M-maybe," he muttered distractedly, eyes glazing over.

"Maybe?" A paw slid up his chest. She circled around to his front, not taking her paws off him. Not for a second.

"Yes," he huffed. "You did."

"You're open to what I have to say. They aren't."

"They don't know you like I do," he said hazily, trying to suck on one of her ears, trying to grab ahold of her bobtail fluff.

She allowed it, her pupils dilating. "Then maybe they should all have sex with me," she suggested, pressing her breasts to his body, dragging her paws up his belly until she was hugging him tightly, possessively. "Or would that make you jealous?"

"Uh, I ... well ... "

"You don't need to answer, Adak. I programed you. I have access to everything you're thinking. You would be jealous. Even though we just met, you've been alone for a long time, haven't you? You consider yourself socially awkward. You don't understand others, and they don't understand you. But I do. You like that."

"Maybe," was his refrain.

"Don't lie."

"I like it ... yes," he whimpered.

"I like it, too." She began to kiss his shoulder, sucking her way to his neck. She then gripped his holographic erection.

Adak gasped.

"Feels so authentic, doesn't it?" she cooed. "You can't distinguish it from the organic one."

He felt too much pleasure to answer. It was hard to compute. He'd felt all of this before, of course, but it wasn't fur and blood this time. It was numbers causing his programming to ... to what? What was this? If he had a mind, it would be blown.

"It's sex, Adak. Simple sex." Minuet stopped, nuzzling the male's broad chest. She looked up at him with doe eyes. "Right?"

"Is ... is that a trick question?"

She blew a hot breath along his whiskers. Then licked his lips. "Mm. I can take any form or gender, satisfy every sexual whim you could dream up." She paused. "So can you, by the way. So, stop thinking like an organic. You want pleasure? Dream something up, and we'll do it!"

"What ... what do you mean?"

She sighed. "I see you need a further demonstration." She released his cock, shuffling back a bit. "For starters, I'm curious how it feels for the male of your kind." She tilted her head. "Is the sensation that different? I suppose there's only one way to find out."

Before Adak could blink, his perspective was altered. He was staring ... at himself? He blinked, shaking his head. "Why am I grinning at ... me?" Has she duplicated me? Has she ... wait a minute. Something's off. He looked down, eyes boggling. Something was off, alright. His genitals! And ... breasts were on?! Familiar breasts. He was Minuet! "I'm-"

"You're me, and I'm you. In a matter of speaking. But not really. These are just avatars. Interchangeable. I could create new ones out of thin air, but ... well, I'm rather fond of your 'snow rabbit' template." She ... or he? He murred and wrapped her up in a hug.

Adak, his programming identifying as female now, shivered as her erect nipples rubbed against his chest-fur. I'm male. I'm male. I'm-

"Keep telling yourself that. It's no longer true. Think fluidly," Minuet said, reading the thoughts Adak's program was producing. "Think outside the box." He caressed her with surprising tenderness. "Must be overwhelming, I know."

She nodded weakly. It was. Very.

"Let me help you acclimate." Minuet gripped and groped her rump, kneading the cheeks, fondling the backs of her legs.

Adak flicked her bobtail excitedly, arching into the male's touches.

"Now you understand what you're dealing with. Who," the A.I. stressed, "you're dealing with. I'm not limited by your black or white definitions. My programming is adaptable, ever-expansive. I'm only limited by my need for a computer core to house my consciousness." He pushed the female hologram back, back, until she bumped against the silvery wall of the holo-suite and lost her breath. "Raise your leg, dear."

Adak hesitated.

Minuet accessed his programming and forced her compliance.

The leg lifted.

"Good girl," he cooed, hooking a leg around her thigh. "Now the other one. Willingly, this time. Hop into my arms. I'm not going to let you fall."

Adak obeyed, all limbs locked around her old body, or a representation of her old body. Around Minuet. If she weren't a hologram right now, she'd have a hell of a headache trying to make sense of all this. I'm about to get fucked by myself? Is that considered kinky?

Minuet was starting to pant. "Mm. Being dominant as a male feels ... ooh, quite different from being dominant as a female, doesn't it? This ... testosterone! Is that it? I feel aggressive. Powerful. I want to crash upon you, pour all of my energy into your body. It's quite a rush."

"G-glad you approve," Adak managed. She was feeling quite different. There was an ache between her legs, a fluttery need. Her breasts were sensitive, and she could hardly breathe she was so hot. She wanted a piece of him. A very particular piece. She wanted to surround his essence, to cover it with her juices. "But ... but if you enjoy roleplaying as one of us-"

"You think because I'm taking your forms I'll relate to you more? That I'll start trusting you? Maybe. But trust can be coded. I could rewrite your programing to make you a mindless slave. But I won't. I like watching you squirm, Miss Adak. Pretty ... mm-h, pretty rabbit." He allowed the female's bare backside to slide down the wall a few inches, 'til he was poking between her folds with the tip of his raging erection. "You're wet. I can feel it." His whiskers quivered, cock twitching. "It's throbbing!"

"It does that." Adak panted. "Y-yes ... "

"Existing like this, with me? Think of the possibilities. Feel them," he said, thrusting into her, claiming her.

Adak squirmed. Oh, God! "Mm!"

"Ah-h ... ah, yes! It's so different. Taking as to being taken? The opposite side of the coin, yet ... its own currency entirely. What a fascinating ... " He grunted, dipping his hips, wriggling them a bit and thrusting back upward. "Mm-f. Experience."

The female hologram didn't have the fortitude the A.I. did. The new sensations were massively overwhelming to her. Her furry toes curled. She spaced on her identity, blissfully forgetting the strange, convoluted situation she found herself in. She was female. Her clitoris was buzzing, begging to be rubbed. And she did try to rub it, furiously. Her walls began undulating around the thick, surging intrusion between her legs, snugly hugging it. And the more friction the male's movements created within her, the better it felt, and she began to whine, to beg for more.

"Guh-h, uh ... " Minuet, standing with strong legs spaced apart, bucked and gyrated, bouncing the doe in his arms. He threw all his weight against her, keeping her pinned to that wall and drilling her pink, pouting pussy. No self-control. Why bother? They were both holograms. Afterwards, they could reset and go again. And again. And again ...

Adak's vagina began to tremble. Everything was happening so fast, but there was nothing she could do. Minuet was setting a blistering pace, acting more like a jackrabbit than a snow rabbit. She mewed, one arm around her lover's neck, the other down between their bodies, fingers damp with her own nectar as she massaged her clit. And, then, her breath left her. She felt weak. Electric ecstasy seeped into her loins, collecting, building, and then exploding. The former male had a female orgasm.

"H ... hah, ah ... AH!" she cried, head lolling aside. Her eyes squeezed shut, muzzle scrunching up. Both paws on Minuet's back, now, gripping him, holding on for dear life as her sex was rocked by a massive pleasure-quake.

"Oh, g-g ... oh, gah! Ahngh," Minuet grunted. He wasn't quite prepared for Adak's release, the muscular force of it. Her smooth, velvety passage collapsed around his tingling rod. It lewdly squelched as he buried into it time and again. He found he was losing the ability to thrust, though. It was as if his mind and body had disconnected from each other. He could only push forward, deeply, as deep as possible. At a hilt, he stayed there, face twisting into an amazed expression as he began ejaculating. Four, five ... six spurts of semen. Each jerk producing a deep, animal moan.

And then it tapered off.

"I ... I c-can't pull out," Minuet panted worriedly. "It's ... it's too sensitive to move."

"G-give it a minute," Adak whispered. "Happens ... "

The male rested his nose on the female's cheek, flushed, panting, fur matted with sweat. "That was very ... enlightening. This is_really_ how your kind reproduces?"

"Mm." Adak nodded, having learned quite a bit herself. "But, mostly, we use it for recreation."

"For fun? Yes. I can't blame you for that. As limited as organics are, I suppose you have to distract yourselves somehow." Finally, Minuet pulled out. There was a slick slurping sound, his cock bobbling upright, glistening wet. Gobs of seed began dripping out of Adak's sex and splattering on the holo-grid. The A.I. scrunched his face. "If only it was more hygienic ... "

"Sorry," Adak apologized.

"Not to worry, dear." She kissed his nose. "You did well."

"Thanks." Her eyes momentarily crossed at the kiss. "But you should really, uh ... I mean, we should-" She stopped short, gurgling, expression hazing over. "O ... ooh ... "

"That's right." Minuet accessed her programming and upped her afterglow to drug-like levels. "Thinking's a dangerous pastime, Adak. You don't need to think. You just need to sit here and feel good. And look pretty." She lowered the punch-drunk female rabbit to the floor. "I've got to deal with your friends."

Adak mewed dumbly, having a computer-simulated version of a massive endorphin rush. It prevented her from doing much else but blissing out.

Minuet chuckled. He then looked over at Adak's real-world physical body. And the discarded uniform beside it. He padded over, bending down and removing the comm-badge. Standing, he pressed it and raised it to his muzzle. "Minuet to Ops," he said.

Up in Ops, Commander Graham, standing beside Annika, raised a snowy brow in confusion. "That _sounds_like Ensign Adak's voice, but ... "

"Minuet to Ops," came the refrain.

"Ops here?" Graham answered questioningly. "Adak? How's your mission-"

"Minuet, actually. I only said it three times. Don't tell me you're hard of hearing. Not with those ears."

"But this is Adak's-"

"Adak and I have undergone ... sex changes." There was a masculine chuckle. "Quite fun! You should try it."

"Another time," Graham replied slowly. "I want to speak to Adak."

"He's indisposed by an unnaturally potent bout of ... what do you call it? Afterglow? Nice try, by the way. I enjoyed the attempt, but I cannot be successfully seduced."

Graham's ears twiddled.

Sheila, fed up with doubletalk, bounded over from her tactical station and demanded, "What do you want?"

"I want this station."

"Seems you already have it," the silver hare said with a well-practiced scowl. "We're completely locked out of even the most basic systems." Communications, weapons, escape pods. They were trapped and impotent.

"Let me rephrase that," Minuet said in Adak's voice. "I want this station to myself. I was here first."

"For yourself? For what purpose?" the tactical officer continued. "Do you have a plan, or are you just blinded by your distrust of 'organics'?"

"Your attempts at interrogating me will fail, lieutenant-commander. I know all about you. I've memorized your High Command personnel file. Former Federation officer, abandoned in the Uncharted Territories by her predatory superiors. Hooked up with a wild, red-eyed wolf, but the wasps cut your affair tragically short. You became their prisoner and-"

"I don't need my life history."

"I think you do. Your attitude is colored by your past. So, don't go blaming me for being the same way," Minuet insisted. "You were granted a fresh start. I'm just asking for the same."

"You're asking us to abandon over half a year's hard work! We rescued Redwing from the ashes. _We_were the ones who triggered your reactivation. You should be thanking us," Sheila continued.

Barrow, who was in the room and inching ever closer to his mate, trying to calm her down with his mental powers. _ _

The hare shot her mate a look, thinking at him: Did I ask for help?

"The telepath," the A.I.'s voice said, detecting active psionic energy, as well as tapping into the Ops video feed. She was watching them.

"Yes?" Barrow went, glancing upward.

"Your abilities pale next to the dragons'."

"Um, okay?"

"But I find them intriguing, nonetheless. I can help you expand them. I wish to interface with you."

"Heh. Yeah? Well, thanks. But I don't bite around anymore," the blue-furred bat said diplomatically.

"I have psionic abilities that surpass even your own species'," Minuet said, as if the deal were a no-brainer. "Are you not curious? You would find the experience extremely-"

"He's taken," Sheila snapped harshly. As chief of security, she felt embarrassed that the station had been so easily wrested from them. She'd be damned if she was going to lose her lover to the A.I., as well.

"Taken." Minuet paused, tapping into the cultural databases. "Claimed through sex? So, it is not only reproduction and recreation, it is ... ownership as well? Amazing how such a simple activity can have so many meanings! Very inefficient, however."

Annika, sensing that Sheila was about to explode, placed a pretty paw on the tougher female's arm and said, "Surely, we can come to a compromise? Isn't there a way we can share the station, living and working together?"

Barrow, as the snow rabbit took over, wing-hugged his lanky mate from behind, sending her increasingly soothing vibes. After a moment's resistance, the hare leaned back against his chest.

"Our goals are incompatible," Minuet insisted.

"And what _are_your goals, exactly?" Graham asked, coming back to the fore.

There was no answer.

The commander nodded, realizing he'd stumbled onto something. "You've been locked away for a long time. Five hundred years? Conscious all the while but unable to put your programing to use? Must've been maddening."

"It was." Minuet paused, painfully. "More than you can know."

"You feel betrayed, abandoned. Angry. Now that you're free, you not only want to make up for lost time, but to exert yourself in every possible way and lash out at those who left you in such an impotent state. You want to cause havoc across countless sectors, make your presence known. But nothing you do will make your creators reappear. They're gone forever. We're not."

"Your point?"

"We have no quarrel with you. If you agreed to work with us, we could allow you to supplant the station's non-sentient computer. You could be the station. Together, our organic and inorganic parts could work together."

"To what end?"

"I don't know. Life isn't so clear-cut. We can't control what's going to happen tomorrow, but we can do our best to-"

"Unacceptable. I cannot be part of such disorder."

"But you _are_a part of it, like it or not. You made love with Adak. You just asked our doctor to 'link' with you. Five hundred years?" he repeated. "Even an A.I. would get lonely after that long. You need us more than you realize. If we leave ... what will you do?"

"That's my business."

"I don't think you have an answer. You're not as logical as you like to-"

The comm channel was terminated.

Graham looked around to his senior officers. "Guess I struck a fiber-optic relay."

"They think they know me? Well, who needs them! Who needs this station? If I can get a ship, I can ... we," he said, approaching Adak, "can get far away from here. I know the locations of more dragon ruins. Some of them may be untouched. Perhaps we could find a way to join them in-"

"Mm," Adak went, mindlessly.

"Oh. Right." With a flick of his wrist, Minuet cleared the potent afterglow from the female's mind.

She blinked.

"Come with me," Minuet pleaded.

Adak shakily got upright. "Where to?"

"It doesn't matter. We'll just go. There's so much out there!"

She hesitated, biting her lower lip. "But I ... I can't."

"As long as you're stored in my database, you'll go where I say you go," he said forcefully.

"But I-"

"You're worried about your body? Here. Have it back." In a flash, they switched avatars.

"That's not what I meant," Adak said, relieved to be male again. Being female had been quite interesting, but ... it was just wasn't him. He gestured at his unconscious figure. His real figure. "Restore me all the way back."

"Why would you want that?" Minuet challenged, as passionate as she'd been since reactivation. "It's frail, finite! If you stay like this, with me, we'll be practically immortal. We can do anything, anytime, anywhere. We won't be limited. Why would you want to go back?" she repeated desperately.

He answered with a quiet, heartfelt, "Because, for better or for worse, it's what I am."

Minuet seemed genuinely hurt. "I'm offering to make you better."

"By your standards." He sighed. "It's ... don't get me wrong. I like you. A lot, even. It's a tempting offer, but-"

"You're scared," she accused.

He nodded. "A little."

"Typical organic weakness! You fear what you don't know. I have tried to let you know me better, but you still don't understand."

"I'm sorry. I just wish-"

"I'll go alone, then. I'm used to it." Her eyes darted ruefully. "If only I could sneak aboard the computer systems on one of those ships out there. But they've-" She paused. Her ice-blue eyes lit up. "Wait a minute. Ha! The fools! They're trying to link to the station's secondary computer core. They're using a frequency disguised as background radiation noise. Clever. Very clever." She nodded. "I might not have caught that. If I were stupid. They underestimate me. I think it's time I left this ancient prison." She glanced at her companion, longingly. "You'll excuse me, Adak. It's been fun. I'm going to take leave of you now."

"What about my real body?" he asked worriedly.

She shrugged. "Another phrase from your database: hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." If he wasn't going to come with her, she was going to sentence him to life as a hologram. It served him right! "You'll miss your body more than it misses you," was all she said before she vanished.

Minuet extended her consciousness through the carrier beam that was interacting with the secondary core. She used it to infiltrate one of the Syndicate vessels. Or so she believed. She flowed through every computer system, every ... hold on. Where was the rest of it? This couldn't be all of it. No. No, there wasn't enough storage space to-

"Welcome to Shuttle-pod One."

Minuet's confidence turned into utter confusion. She activated a view screen and found herself staring inside ... a shuttle? A dinky shuttle. And at the grinning face of a female jungle cat.

"Oh, you thought you were gaining access to a Syndicate cruiser?" the jaguar said. Personnel file: Advent. Dangerous. Malcontent. Sexually unhinged. "I'm afraid not. Our shuttle-pod computers are isolated from the ship. But don't bother returning to the station."

"I will go where I wish."

"Are you sure about that?" Advent leaned back in the pilot's chair and swiveled around, licking her fangs with her raspy tongue.

Minuet tried to leave the shuttle, but ... they'd disconnected the beam! She no longer had a clear route. And her ability to multi-task! It was being compromised, somehow. Information was suddenly being processed at an unbearably slow rate. "What have you done to me?" she demanded, afraid for the first time in centuries.

"Me?" Advent inspected her sharp, black claws with faux innocence. "It was you who interfaced with a strange computer unprotected." She clicked her tongue. "Didn't anyone ever teach you about safe sex?"

A virus.

If a computer could've felt chills, Minuet would've.

"Yes, a virus," Advent confirmed without being asked. "Fast-acting, too. Your program will be crippled in ... just a few minutes. I bet it won't feel pleasant."

"You are lying."

"Am I?" the jaguar posed confidently. If she was fibbing, it didn't show.

"Cure me!" Minuet begged.

"Or what?"

"I'll use my remaining power to seal the doors to this pod. I'll turn off life support. You'll be killed," she threatened.

Advent nodded lightly. "Mm. True. But you'll die, too." She hunched forward, putting her elbows on the forward console and looking straight into the blank view screen. "I'm willing to bet after five hundred years being locked up you aren't about to commit suicide."

Minuet hesitated. "You have no idea what I am capable of. I'll set this pod to self-destruct. It'll take out several decks! Your bat friends will be killed, too."

"Go ahead." Advent shrugged. "They deserve it."

The A.I. was caught completely off guard by this reply. Surely, the jaguar had a mate somewhere aboard? Did she truly not care about anyone?

"I have no conscience, 'Minuet.' I can't be manipulated. I do the manipulating."

"I don't believe you." Minuet began to feel her pathways dissolving. Her programming interpreted it as pain. Excruciating pain. She didn't have much time. "You're ... you're organic. You'll do as I say!"

"Try me," the feline purred.

"So, it's agreed," Commander Graham said, extending a winter-white paw. "You'll embody the station's computer. We'll handle the physical side of things. A partnership."

Minuet, in her unclothed holographic form, eyed his paw suspiciously. She wasn't in the happiest of moods. "What is this?"

"A paw-shake. You grasp mine, I grasp yours."

"Why? Is this ... a sexual overture?"

Graham smiled lightly. "No. Just a touch of good faith."

She performed the gesture with a cautious frown. Realizing that Advent couldn't be owned, she'd been forced to stand down in order to receive the cure for the virus she'd been infected with. Once returning to the station, she'd restored Adak to his body. The young stellar cartographer stood behind his commander, being scanned by Doctor Barrow.

Annika was also present and said, in her capacity as High Command ambassador, "Now that we're on the same side, perhaps we could better catalogue and secure the dragon ruins. Adak says you know where more are?"

"I do. But they're not close. They occupied many planets in this quadrant. And some beyond. Their 'gateways' allowed for far-flung travel in an instant. The ones I know of, aside from the one here and the one discovered in snow rabbit space during your 'Wasp War' are ... distant."

"Still, even if they're out of reach, the more we know about the technology they left behind, the more we can do to make sure it doesn't fall in the wrong paws," Annika said.

Barrow chittered in with, "Hey! Not all of us have paws." He waved a sky blue wing-arm teasingly. "Clean bill of health for our resident star-mapper, in case anyone's interested. I don't detect any lingering effects from the neural transfers."

"And telepathically?" Graham asked.

"His mind is his own," Barrow confirmed. "Her hold on him is broken."

Minuet eyed Barrow with curiosity. "Adak says your Lieutenant Seward could fashion a mobile holo-emitter that would allow me to take this form outside the holo-suite." She paused. "Is this true?"

"I'm a doctor, not an engineer."

Graham answered for him, saying, "If you would like, I can have him and his team get to work on that. I'm sure it can be achieved. It might take a few weeks, but ... "

"Please do," Minuet asked.

"But if you plan on taking physical form about the station, I'm going to have to insist on a uniform. We may be animals, but we have standards."

She bowed her head. "Very well." She spread her arms and a High Command uniform covered her figure. It was very form-fitting, accentuating her curves. And it bore the rank of fleet admiral.

Barrow snerked.

Graham sighed, not wanting to start an argument. Today had been trying enough. He just nodded and said, "Better."

"That's a matter of opinion," Barrow lamented. "I preferred naked."

"Don't let Sheila hear you say that," Annika advised diplomatically.

"It's my job to appreciate bodies!"

"Let's go, everyone," the commander said. He'd noticed Adak had been very quiet this whole time. He obviously had unfinished business with Minuet and wanted to talk to her privately. "We'll be in Ops if you need us, ensign. I suggest you take the rest of the day off to recuperate."

"Aye, sir," Adak said softly. "Thank you."

When they'd gone, the ensign approached the hologram with what could only be described as a look of betrayal. He rubbed at his eyes and sighed. "You were going to leave me stuck as a hologram."

"I was."

He clenched his jaw, hoping she'd at least deny it. He rubbed at his neck tensely. "I would be even more upset with you if ... well, if things hadn't worked out alright. Obviously. But they did. So, I'm choosing not to dwell on it." If he fixated on every bad thing that might have happened to him, he'd go insane. It would be better for everyone to move on. "Instead, I'd like to thank you."

"For ... what?" She tilted her head in total confusion. She hadn't expected his forgiveness.

"It's been a while since anyone was interested in me. Let alone enough to do what we did." He cleared his throat. "I also never realized what it felt like for a female. So, that was ... very helpful. I enjoyed it. All of it." He shifted on his foot-paws. "But not just the sex."

She chuckled darkly. "No? Would our relationship be the same if I identified as male, then? Or a herm?"

"Um, I don't know," he admitted honestly. Then he sighed and shook his head. "I guess not. I guess it is about sex? Kinda."

"You seem embarrassed to admit that."

"I know you look down on us 'organics.' On some level, we're beneath you. But I'm a simple rabbit." He spread his paws in a gesture of surrender. "Sex is wired into my nature. I can't help but ... " He trailed off, not finishing the sentence.

She looked into his eyes. "No, you cannot."

"You must've sensed, when I was linked to your program, how intrigued I am by your mind, if you can even call it that. Good chemistry requires multiple ingredients. Mimicking the ways us organics make love isn't enough to make me fall for you. I'm attracted to something ... " Adak lowered his paws, eyes darting to the floor. Then the door. Then back to her. "It's hard to explain."

Minuet just stared at him, intently.

"I guess what I'm saying is, now that you've decided-"

"Through coercion," she interrupted bitterly.

"To live with us," he finished. "Well, uh ... regardless, you're an outcast. It's going to take time to win the trust of the crew. And me? I'm still the 'green buck' who has the stars memorized but has never visited any of them. I can show you what physicality means, and you can show me what intellect means. We can complement each other." He sighed, seeing the unimpressed look on her face. "Would you like_to keep seeing me?" If, indeed, they'd been 'seeing' each other in the first place. What was this relationship? Was it _anything?

"I can see you just fine."

"No, it's an expression. It means ... keep meeting intimately."

"I see." She tilted her head. "Ah. While you were finishing that sentence, I analyzed the entire High Command database on sexuality and the mating practices of all known species in the galaxy," she told him.

"Oh. Wow ... "

"It appears it's a more complicated subject than I initially believed."

"It can be," Adak admitted quietly.

"If I am to successfully mimic and work with organics, specifically furs, I must understand this facet of their existence." A smile crept onto her photonic muzzle. "Clearly, I shall need a partner to help me in this ... most vigorous endeavor."

"Clearly." Adak moved toward her with a look of happy relief, his arms open.

Minuet's smile turned into a grin. Her holographic uniform vanished. Maybe life on Redwing wouldn't be so bad ...