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_ Chapter 20- Chasing Shadows _

<UEF-A 'Tiamat'> [September 10, 2085] (Time:1345)

A month passed, with several of the crew noticing that although Canith was as busy as could be, he made plenty of time to spend with those he had become intimate with. True to Snow's prediction, Canith had quickly gotten the hang of the full level 3 shift. He could appear as a pure human all the way to the genetic level. It did not, however, inhibit the use of any of his abilities. The most useful, if hardest to practice safely, being his telepathy. Namely, the use of telepathy to block out a target's memories or thoughts surrounding a particular concept or idea.

Today, of course, marked the last day on the Tiamat for him for a while. He had said his farewells to all his friends, and was going over last-minute details with Snow and Kai.

"I think you should use your ability as soon as you have some cover in a station to muddy the vector you are coming in on." Kai said, looking over the route plotted for Canith to take back to Earth. The Tiamat would, of course, be shadowing the movements, just not docking or getting too close.

"Actually, it would be better if a split crew had him come on board, then have him disembark as human. That way, the captain could help cover for us." Snow said, holding up a ship manifest for them to see. "I know a bear- solid, dependable, and in the know. He might be willing to help out, and he routinely hires on humans for short cruises."

Kai nodded at this, as did Canith. The later was the one to speak though. "It does sound better, but also opens up another point of vulnerability. I think we should go with the first. Or better yet, have me board his as human after shifting in the station. I think I have the knack of a small-scale emp figured out with Holly's help, so there should not be any prying eyes for it."

Kai smirked a touch at Snow, who threw his paws up in surrender. "Looks like I am outvoted. You have the skills now, and this is your plan, so we play by your rules. You sure Aura can relay for you? Especially if you are going to be stuck as a human for an extended amount of time."

Canith smiled slightly. "I'm certain. Quantum entangling is not affected by distance, so having the crystal on or in me will maintain the link. The other, of course, is here." Canith then gestured to his last project on board the ship. Beside him, on the ground, was what looked at first glance to be a medium-sized dog. It looked up, and it's face blurred for a moment, showing Aura's rainbow-hued eyes.

"I will be a house pet, it seems. 'Security issues' is why he has me. I will guard his domicile and act as a second relay in case it is truly needed. " The face resumed the normal look for an intelligent feral animal, and laid its head back on its forpaws.

"Backup is more like it." Canith corrected, gesturing to Aura. "I don't want to be on Earth solo, as any number of things could go wrong. Aura is the ace up my proverbial sleeve."

They were just banter at this point. The plans had already been lain out, and the Tia' was scheduled to dock at a nearby station for a resupply of fresh goods. All they were doing at this point was burning time until they docked. With that in mind, Canith promised to meet them by the airlock after docking and headed out for one last walk-around before he left the ship.

_ <2 Hours Later, Antho/Human Co-Habitation Station 'Orion's Gaze'> _

The event that was Canith leaving the ship was relatively quiet. The goodbyes and farewells had already be spoken, and with a curt nod and handshake, Canith stepped through the Airlock onto the station. He only had a small duffel with him, and inside was his "ID" for getting through the checkpoints on human controlled stations. It was useless here and now of course, as the picture on it was of a human, and he was not. Other than that, there was a couple changes of clothes and daily hygiene products.

He strolled through the station, always on alert, and made his way over to the local bar that serviced the crews and captains of incoming and outgoing ships. The lights inside were dim, and he quickly looked around until he spotted his contact. Goal in sight, he maneuvered past various crews, both human and anthro, until he made it across to the captain.

"Hey, you Cap' Trelani?" Canith asked the individual, a bat anthro with a ring pattern to their fur around one large ear, and heterochromatic eyes- one an icy blue, the other a deep amber.

The bat stood, and shifted a bit as they reached out a hand. "That'd be me. Do I know ye?" Her voice was breathy, almost a rasp. She coughed once after they shook hands, as if to clear her lungs though, and it sounded a bit better.

"Nay, but we have a mutual friend who refered me to ya. I believe you know that arctic devil know as Snow?" They had been introduced, point of fact, by Capt. Kai, but this was actually a way to verify who he actually was.

"Aye, I recall the bas'rd. He still up to his tricks?" She motioned for him to take a seat, and he did, moving his tail out of the way as he did.

"Yeah, he's still messin' with everyone as per usual. He said you might have a spot on your ship for a short term contract though?" Sign and countersign verified, he continued acting out the script that had been agreed upon.

"Ye, I has a bunk. You good with Gen3 'Drives? Our's is sweet most days, but takes a lookin' after. You do that, I's sure I can see you past a couple stops." She had a wicked gleam in her eye, like she knew that even though this was just acting she wanted to see if he would crack.

"Ah, Gen3? Surely you jest. Those things are so slow." He made as if he looked around for other options and shrugged. "Alas, looks to me as if the pickings are slim here, so I must take up your generous offer. Can's the name. I hope we can get along Capt'" He said, giving her a nod.

"Right you are then. Was just finishing up anyways. We head out immediately, so come along then. Looks like you have your gear with ya, so no need to wait up." The bad stood, and quickly paid their tab before leaving the bar, Canith trailing behind her.

A bear at the counter watched them walk out, and then pulled out an earpiece. "Hey boss, the nut mention a red furred dragon by the name of Can by chance?"

There was a pop of static before he got a response. "Negative. Just scaled dragons. Only red one mentioned was a 'Drake'. Heh, so much for original naming."

The bear sighed and put the headset away. Mentally, he just hoped that this human he was looking out for, one Darion Sygon, showed up soon so he could just bag him, tag him, and be out of there. He eyed the drinks behind the counter longingly, before turning his back on them to keep an eye on the entrance.

_ <20 min later, on board the Frigate 'Shadowchaser'> _

They had boarded quickly, and Trelani had shown him to a bunk on the end. After a quick peak around, she turned back to Canith. "Our crew is small, just me, a trio of other bats, and 2 humans. They humans are due back in a minute, and the other anthros are prepping for launch. No one that's riding with us save me saw you get on, so now's the chance you need to shift."

He jerked back in surprise at her blunt statement. True, it would be an ideal opportunity to shift to human, but for her to already know . . . "How do you . . ." Then it hit him. If she knew both Kai and Snow, and were friends, that meant she had probably been filled in on what role she played in the plans, so he shut up and shifted quickly.

Unlike his original form, He had chosen to look more Asian then European. Dark hair, brown eyes, and a build more fit for an office than an engine shop. He would shift it a bit closer to Earth, but for now this would be sufficient. Trelani let loose a low whistle at his skill.

"Damn, that's smooth. I could have blinked and missed it." She turned and headed to a nearby ladder to the bridge. "Go help in the engine room. I heard you were a wiz at them, so you should make things easier." With that, she vanished onto the deck above.

He sighed, then placed the bag on the floor. "You spot anyone tailing us?" He said to the bag.

The bag blurred, and in it's place was Aura in their robot form. "Negative, although after we left I did pick up a short wave transmission that mentioned your description, and the name 'Drake' was mentioned. Logic suggests that the Tiamat was tracked to this station, and you were expected to disembark." Though Aura had spoken, it had been very low and was also transmitted to his uplink.

"Hmmm." He filed that info away, turned to the accessway to the lower floor. "Stealth mode, keep a sharp eye out for anyone who might give us away." And then he descended to the engine room, secure in the knowledge that part one of the plan was successful.

_ <3 months later, Luna Relay Station> _

:This looks risky. Security is too tight today. You should wait for it to die down a bit.: Aura sent to Canith as they looked on from a booth that had a decent line of sight to the checkpoint on route to Earth. As they had said, security had been beefed up considerably lately due to several sightings of pirates in the local sector. As a result, although normally he might be able to get through unmolested, he didn't want to have his credentials checked so hard here. He still had not fully shifted to the image on his ID, and while he could, that would leave a paper trail that might raise questions later on.

:It would be better if we could bypass it altogether. Any chance of that?: Aura went silent at the request, busy scanning local devices, calculating routes, and running probability equations.

:Possibly.: They said finally. :In 5 minutes, there is going to be a sensor malfunction that is purely a false alarm. The area will be in a panic, and calculations indicate that the guards at the checkpoint will run away from the dock, not towards it. Be ready to move when it happens, and keep to the edges to prevent getting blocked or trampled.:

Canith finished his tea, which had been some strange mix that was recently in demand. It, to him, had tasted horrid, but the barista seemed insistent on him trying it anyways. This taken care of, he moved out of the break area and towards the far line, as if he was ready to process through. He figured that with the increased checks, it would normally take 10-15 minutes to get through.

A couple minutes later, chaos erupted. Hull breach alarms began sounding for the docking area, which caused everyone close to the bay doors leading to the hanger to to rush away from it in a panic. Even the guards wanted nothing to do with this, and left their posts, not even giving a glance back. As Aura suggested, Canith quickly sidestepped as the lady in front of here turned to run, putting his back to the wall and never fully entering her vision. Then, with practiced stealth, he made his way through the now unguarded bay doors and into the hanger.

Inside, the alarms were louder, yet there was clearly no breach. Several of the passengers here were looking about in confusion, as they should have been spaced within seconds of that alarm going off. As it was, all but a couple failed to notice the nondescript male walk calmly over to a nearby shuttle and settle himself in, smiling all the while.

:Very nicely done Aura. What did you do to cause that alarm?: Like before, he prefered to not have a trail from this.

:Nothing extreme. I put the alarm in silent mode, then cycled the test mode to 'Hanger Breech'. Once I checked to ensure that there wasn't an issue, and traffic would lull, I simply unmuted the alarm.:

:Wouldn't they notice that the alarm had been silenced?: That had been risky all right, but not from a safety standpoint.

:Negative. I had cycled through it in less then 3 microseconds in a test run to ensure that I had the right alarm set, and the silence lasted less then 2. After I triggered the alarm, I erased the past 3 minutes of event logs for the system that involved the alarms. As a result, it will simply look like a malfunction that happened at a safe time, rather than an Incident.: Aura put special emphasis on that, due to the ramifications it could have entailed. Sighing, Canith simply leaned further back and closed his eyes. This was bound to be risky, but snags like this made him jumpy.

The alarm was cut off a few minutes later, and after three more passengers were aboard the shuttle, the main engine whirled to life and the doors closed and they left the station on the last leg of his journey back to Earth.

_ <1 Month Later, Sygon Industries Headquarters _ >

The director looked at the file in his hands, then back at the individual in front of him. The applicant had promise, but that was it. "I'm sorry son, but you simply need more experience before you could make it in this opening. I recommend a lower position first, closer to entry level. Of course, the wait times for those are a bit long at the moment . . ." He had said this speech dozens of times each day, and it never failed to break his heart a bit to see the young individuals faces fall when he delivered it. Sadly, it was part of the job, so he did it faithfully.

The young man stood and shook hands with him, knowing that further argument would be useless, and possibly even detrimental in the future. So he gathered up his small folder with his notes and copies of various documents, and left the office. After he did, he paged his secretary to let the next one in.

Canith walked through the door with confidence, causing the director to put on a hurried smile and rise to shake hands with him. "Afternoon director, pleasure meeting with you today."

For the director, having a scientist applicant showing this level of confidence was next to nonexistent. It rattled him, but practice and experience kept it from showing. "Likewise. I have already seen your file, and while some of the references seem stale, most seem to be in order. You also have a rather nice folio of schooling as well, and a good track record. Your government clearance is up to date, if a touch low, but that is easily remedied. Tell me a bit personally why you think you would be a good fit here."

In all honesty, if the guy's credientials were any better he could have applied for a director position himself, but that was one thing he would never say.

"Well, for starters, because I have plans that require the funding that only Sygon can provide. With their connections and resources, I believe we could change the course of history."

The director looked at him blankly at this, and continued to stare as Canith dove into a pre-prepared speech that said all the right things. However, the director's expression never changed. The reason for this was that Canith had tweaked his thinking a bit, and he was lost in thought about various board meetings and applicants. This went on for about thirty minutes before Canith lifted the befuddlement and left a lightly implanted idea that he was perfect for the job, and should be hired as soon as all the paperwork could be finalized. It was underhanded, and morally wrong, but Canith wanted to take no chances. This way, although the content of the speech made for mental background noise, he didn't actually have to block anything. Instead, the director would assume that he heard things that had influenced his decision, without recalling what they were.

"Very good, very good. So glad that today turned out to be the day we finally expanded our roster once more. If you are still interested, I can have the rest of the papers brought in and we can discuss the gritty details of your contract. Shall we?" Canith smiled, and nodded once.

Two hours later, he walked out of the building and over to the Auto-cab station that was down the street. He simply sat down in the back, and it took off. Aura, of course, was driving, and also taking care of the fare. :I take it, from your thoughts and the security feed, that everything progressed within acceptable parameters?:

:They did. It was almost too easy to be honest.: Forging the credentials had been masterful. If one had looked at his old set and the forged set, there were some major differences. Yet due to careful planning, skillful hacking, and just a touch of mental voodoo, they were for all intents and purposes legitimate. At least if anyone had checked them. Which they had.

Now that he had his foot in the door, he could start making a name for himself in R&D, and eventually propose the actual project.

A few minutes later, he arrived at a mid level apartment complex that had roof access, and descended to the top floor. From there, he walked down the hall to the corner unit, and opened the door. At first glance, the place looked normal. Living room set with display, kitchen, large bathroom with both a walk in shower and a very large tub, bedroom with a double size bed, spare bedroom that had been converted into an office/lab. For what he was appearing to be, it seemed normal enough.

But as soon as the door closed, Aura turned off the masking field from the room, and instead activated the one in the walls. Gone was the dividing walls, the living room set, and the cheerful decor. Instead, the area was spartan, but the major fixtures remained- the bathroom area, bedroom area, kitchen area, and office space. Aura was over in the office, and was ready for the status update.

A holo tank in the corner flickered to life, and Aura dropped their own masking field to fully sync with themselves on board the Tiamat. Kai appeared in the holotank.

:Greetings. I hope everything is going as planned?:

:It is. My foot is now in the door, and there is no trace I came from off planet.:

:How much mental manipulation have you done so far?:

:Minimal. Largest so far was that near miss in Procryon. I nudged the director a bit, but didn't block him or force him.:

:Fine line there. Be careful.:

:Will do. Any issues on your side?:

:Just a minor one. Apparently a pirate gang has caught our scent somehow and has been pursuing us lately. Nothing we cannot handle."

:Alright, I will contact you again in a month, unless something comes up.:

:I will be waiting till then. Kai out.: With that the image faded, and Aura disconnected from the tank.

"Thanks Aura. Now, to relax a bit." He reached out with his telekinesis, turning on the bath water to the setting he had marked for just this purpose. As he did so, he was also stripping off the business suit he had worn to the interview, until he was completely naked. He paced while the tub filled, and shifted as he waited back into his anthro form. Once done, he gave a yawn and a stretch, and then moved to the tub and sunk in, cutting the water off at the same time.

It wasn't a pod, but it helped him relax. The water embraced his form, his fur waving to and fro in the water as he simply breathed out his strain and anxiety. Slowly, he relaxed, body and mind, and finished cleaning off. Stepping out, he started draining the tub and dried off. Unfortunately, a fur dryer would have been too much to hide, as it could not be passed as anything but. As a result, he used a hair dryer for several minutes as he let the tub drain.

After he and the tub were both dry, he reached into the tub and rotated the drain, and a filter popped up, he took it out, cleaning it of all the crimson and steel colored fur. That he put in a micro incinerator, torched, and then swept into the trash. He fixed him a quick meal of a salad and a bottle of distilled water, and laid down to rest. As he laid down, he shifted back into human form, and had Aura flip the masking back to how it was before he had gotten home, just in case.

_ <Lightyears away> _

The fox paced the dimly lit room restlessly. He still could not figure it out- the human had never shown up when that ship docked. It wasn't as if he would have had the audacity to get changed. This thought sent a shiver down his spine though. Any time he thought of anything related to E-deck or the potential there it caused severe backlash from where that vixen had helped him by breaking through the mental block.

The thought of that encounter brought back the manic laughter, but managed to suppress it rather quickly. It was getting easier internalizing the madness. It was at just that moment the worn console in the corner lit up with the aforementioned vixen.

"Sean, I know you said he would not change, but this human you are obsessed with is no where to be found. We have had crackers going after that ship for weeks, and none can pierce the firewall. Damn thing acts as if it's a living thing. All we have managed it the sightings of a red furred dragon of either eastern or western heritage, at the first base. After that he's a ghost- we marked what ship left with him on board, but either he never got off or he disappeared. Either way, whoever this 'Can' is, he's gone."

Sean thought over this turn of events. Even though he recalled most of the people on board, he could not place that dragon. Added to that was the other fact that no one else had joined the crew after he got kicked off. That left only one explanation, and he just could not reconcile that with reality.

"I think that dragon might have been him. It makes no sense though- he had pure status. Why would he just throw that away?"

The vixen shrugged. "Just my two cents on this. For every pure human, there are two who are not hung up on it, and one of those two would jump at the chance to give it up. These days, it is not as prestigious to be pure as it used to be."

Sean just sighed. "Still, it feels like I am missing something here. Why go through so much trouble to get on board, only to leave a few months later and not even be replaced. That doesn't seem normal. And your reports say that the defenses are ridiculously strong? Ya, I'm thinking we are missing a piece to the puzzle here."

They talked back and forth for a while, before finally disconnecting. If either had taken the time to check, they would have noticed that the data stream for that connection was slightly larger than it should have been, and contained a pair of luminescent eyes.