Tales of the Folly
by Allen Fesler
Book One: The Curse


Chapter: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17


 

CHAPTER 1

The cool morning breeze felt good tousling his dark red hair, as Neal half watched, half supervised the loading. Forklifts moved pallets and crates from trucks into transport carriers, which would then be transferred to his cargo pod, and then the overpowered shuttle attached to the pod would lift the whole mess skyward. Once in orbit, the pod would be reconnected to the ship, the carriers would then be shifted to the main cargo holds, or moved to other pods to be dropped where the larger vessel couldn't go.

It would of course have been much easier to just pick up the loads already in carriers at one of the space stations, but that would have entailed paying others to get the cargo into orbit, never mind the extra expenses of the docking/storage fees. This way his ship was out of the way in high orbit, and with his own shuttle on the ground, he could leave when he was ready, knowing exactly what was loaded where, with no 'missing' packages when he got to his destination.

Another 'little' advantage of having his shuttle on the ground was the fresh air. Pumps onboard pulled in air, compressed, chilled, and stored what he needed, unwanted gasses were vented back into the atmosphere, saving a little of the 'high cost of doing business in space'.

There had been problems earlier. A group of 'Humans First' idiots had been chasing and trying to beat up any furs they came across. Funny how they had seemed to be in such a big hurry to leave when some seemingly half-crazed red-haired human had started using what looked like an old pump shotgun to pelt them with a painful concoction of large birdshot and rock salt.

The shotgun in question was still sitting behind his chair in case they came back, the ammo changed out to something that would make a bit more of a dent if they were in need of another hint.

After dinner the night before, Neal had visited an old coffee shop he had been going to for over thirty years, the shop offering a mellow tea he enjoyed. It was just as he was getting ready to leave that the old proprietor had placed the curse on him. He had just stood there at the door not quite believing his ears. Staring back at the grin his old friend was giving him, he could only shake his head in return, "Take back your curse, you old furball!" he said with a smile of his own, "I really don't need something like that hanging over my head." The old foxtaur had just laughed as Neal left his shop.

Just as he was smiling again thinking about last night, a small fleet of heavily loaded trucks pulled up. The emblems on the doors showed that they belonged to Raynor Inc., one of the larger companies that used him to move their goods across the space lanes. Not seeing the fur he was used to dealing with, Neal's curiosity went up a notch.

"Where’s Snowfall?" he asked the man coming up to him.

"I’m your new rep," the guy said with a smirk, as he handed Neal the shipping orders, "Bill Stalk."

Walking back to his fold out desk, Neal tapped his comm badge, "Tess, a quick scan of these docs please. Check for any tricks or traps."

"You expecting a problem, boss?" a female voice replied.

" ‘Something’ is so fishy I think I’m going to need tarter sauce," Neal whispered back.

"Two jars in the lunchroom cooler, four more in the back of the break-room cabinet three."

"Smart-assed computer," Neal hissed with a half smile as he flipped through the sheets, letting the scanner in his glasses get a good shot, then moving on to the next.

He was halfway down the stack when he heard the tone from his comm badge.

"Got it," Tess reported. "Turn back to page 34. Halfway down in all the fine print is an employment contract, if you sign any of the pages in this stack, you become their newest, cheapest, wage slave for the next 25 years."

"Great! They’re back to their old tricks again," Neal groused. "They must’ve had another management shuffle; the new idiots thinking they can do something the last five sets couldn't manage!"

"Maybe so," Tess replied, "but what are you going to do about it?"

Neal looked back at the 'rep' still standing just outside the pod’s main doors, "Patch me through to Snowfall, voice only. Let's see what shi knows about this." He smiled as he added, "I wonder how many heads we can make roll this time?"

Thinking back to the past attempts to get him working for them under their terms, Neal wondered why they kept trying. By now they should know that playing their games just cost them more to get him to ship their cargo.

"The receptionist says shi's in a meeting and can't be disturbed," Tess reported.

"Tell them that if I don't speak with Snowfall, their cargo will have to be shipped by someone else," Neal replied. "Tack on the shipping orders so they get an idea of how 'little' cargo that is."

"Ooh, mean boss. That should get their attention!"

"That’s the idea Tess. Now be a good girl and send it on down the line." Neal was smiling again. The 'new rep' was starting to look a bit nervous.

Less then a minute later, Snowfall was on the line, "Neal, why are you calling me?" Starting the conversation with a question told Neal shi wasn't able to talk freely. Either someone was with hir or shi thought the line was being monitored.

"Do I have a new rep, or is someone trying to blow smoke up my ass?" Neal asked acting pissed.

"What? Wait, where are you getting the idea you have a new rep?" Snowfall asked, her voice rising as she spoke.

One of the many things Neal liked about Snowfall was shi had always been very honest in all hir dealings with him. Shi had gotten even madder than he had at some of the tricks hir company had tried in the past. Neal had made it a point to only work with Snowfall; shi was the only one who could talk his fees down. Anyone else trying just got them raised, one trickster got Neal angry enough to actually leave a large shipment sitting on the loading docks. Since most of it had been going to their own manufacturing facilities, they had production lines stopping as they ran out of resources. Their stock prices dropping almost 20% because of the delays had insured that they were very careful how they dealt with him the next time around.

Neal replied with no smile in his voice, "You mean you don't know about this idiot at my door, not only claiming to be my new rep, but thinking I’m dumb enough to sign a set of shipping orders with an employment contract written into them?"

There was silence on the other end, then Snowfall quietly said, "No, I was only told one of the drivers would be just giving you the shipping orders." Then even more softly, "I take it you’re upset about this?"

"You might say that," Neal said, "Tell your bosses the cost to ship just doubled."

A new voice on the other end shouted, "You can't just increase your price!"

Neal’s smile could now be heard as he said, "You're now up to four times, would you like to say anything else?"

"Mute connection!" Snowfall's voice cut in before anyone could say anything else.

"Muted at this end too, boss," Tess said. "Sounds like somebody didn't read their own history on how you deal with dirty tricks."

"Snowfall is probably clueing them in on that, as well as the little fact that I’ve left their cargo on the docks before for their troubles," Neal said, some of the anger leaving his voice.

"Do you think they will go for it?" Tess asked.

"They don’t have much of a choice really," Neal sighed, "They’re just losing some of the savings I was giving them for shipping such a large order. Snowfall and I had negotiated the shipping costs down to almost a tenth of what they would usually be, due mostly to the size of the order and that most of it is going to one destination. Even if I go to eight times, I’m still cheaper than what I would have typically charged, and a lot lower than any of the other carriers can afford to offer. Then there’s the problem that none of the other ships presently in the area can handle the whole load, and they won’t be able to make the deadline."

"Why don't they just get their own ship?" Tess asked.

"The cost of a ship, upkeep, paying a crew, fuel, and then keeping it busy enough to make it profitable," Neal said, "After all, I made the ‘Folly’ out of major parts from five older cargo ships, smaller pieces from over a dozen more. She's pretty much a one-of-a-kind beast done on the cheap."

"The specifications of which you put out on the net, public domain, so pretty much anyone could try to copy her."

"Sure, they may have the basic blocks, but not how I strung it all together, so they can't figure out how the Folly goes as fast and far as she does on so little fuel."

"That, and pirates don't seem to do so well when they meet up with her," Tess said.

"Now that is just pure dumb luck," Neal said, his smile returning.

"Riiiight," Tess said. "Oops, they're back. Unmuting now."

Snowfall’s voice was the next on the line. Shi sounded like shi was trying to speak quietly after just having had a shouting match with someone. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Captain. The new rates have been accepted, and new shipping orders are being sent to you as we speak. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"That should do it. Thank you for clearing up that little problem so quickly," Neal replied. "Should I send the idiot packing, or do you want to take care of him?"

"We’ll deal with him," Snowfall all but growled.

"Have fun!" Neal said, then had Tess disconnect.

The replacement shipping orders had come and the 'new rep' had been removed. After scanning the orders, they were found to be the same as before, minus the employment contract. The reason for double-checking was Neal didn't trust them not to try again, and if they ever got him under their thumb, they would take away his freedom to go where he wanted when he wanted.

The rest of the day and well into evening was spent shifting cargo pods between the ground and the Folly. Even though each cargo pod was quite large, it still took six of them to move all the shipments heading out this time. Not all the traffic was uphill. Neal brought down a pod and a half, mostly consumer goods, and a few carriers of food that couldn't be grown locally. The last trip was from the Folly to the high orbit space station to drop off a pair of warp engines for a ship nearing completion, back to the Folly for a pod, then down to the ground to pick up the last of this trip’s outgoing cargo.

Coming up on the Folly, Neal had to smile. Every engineer that had ever seen his ship had told him it couldn’t possibly make it to warp, and if it did, it would be out of fuel in no time. Funny thing was, the Folly not only went to warp, she went faster than some ships a fraction of her size, and in some cases, used less fuel to do so, which in turn made it easier to be the lowest bidder when it came time to move someone’s cargo while still maintaining a profit.

She wasn't much on 'looks' since Neal's main objective had been more towards 'works'. Take two large freighters, their main cargo spheres looking like they had all but collided nose to tail, with docking ports and bays filling the gap between them. Behind them was a thick pole-like section with rows of cargo pods attached. A few slots were empty, making that section look like a cob of corn with a few kernels missing. Next came the main engineering section with the warp engine nacelles out on long adjustable booms.

After docking and verifying the flight path with Tess, he ordered her to bring the needed warp cores online and head for their next stop at an economical warp four.

While having a quick snack, Neal checked through his mail. One of his accounts that only a few people knew about, had a new message. He started laughing as he began to read. Snowfall was more than a little pissed, not at him, but at her now 'ex'-workmates, and was blowing off a little steam.

It seemed that the now outgoing management types had tried to blame the cost increase on Snowfall because shi hadn't 'warned' them about him and his 'temper'. Shi had pointed out that it was hard to warn someone about something when they were doing it behind hir back. The top brass having seen this ‘trick gone wrong’ before, knew whom to blame, so Snowfall stayed and three levels of 'stupid-visors' were shown the door.

Neal had liked Snowfall from the moment he had met hir, and shi had always understood him better than anyone else working there. Shi had never acted like a ‘brown nose’, and if he put a final yes or no on a business-related subject, that was it, shi stopped asking. When not talking business though, they had yet to find any limits on joking, storytelling, or teasing, just as long as you remembered that turnabout was fair play. Shi still didn't know how he had filled hir home bathtub with cherry jello the day shi had swapped his sweetened tea for a very bitter one at lunch.

Shi even put up with the nicknames he would give hir. Snowfall was one of the largest chakats he had ever seen at just inches under his own six foot height, and hir tiger-striped fur was almost a pure white-on-white. He would often say that shi came down on hir adversaries like an avalanche, after first blinding them with a blizzard. When caught by one of hir jokes or gags, he would claim he had been snow-blinded. Shi would return the favor by calling him Red, or hir pain in the tail, which he would then offer to tie in a knot.

Shi had asked him home for dinner with hir mate Sandrunner, only to find hirself the odd one out. Sandy and Neal had hit it off at once, and had spent the whole time talking sensor and transporter theory until well after dawn. Neal had found out later that hir sandy-shaded mate had spent the next three days bouncing off the walls trying to fully grasp what he had been trying to explain to hir, and trying to write it all down before shi forgot anything important. What had confused Snowfall the most was how a mere freighter captain could know enough theory to get one of Star Fleet's top transporter techs that excited.

Still chuckling at Snowy’s rant, Neal brought up the maintenance logs to see what needed doing tomorrow. He had just opened the logs when an alarm went off. As he got up, Tess called his station, "Captain, my sensors are picking up movement."

Since they weren't shipping any live cargo, either they had cargo shifting or someone/something had gotten onboard without being noticed.

"Where?" Neal asked as he put his shoes back on. Leaving the bridge, he stopped by the weapons locker, belted on a stunner, and then he grabbed the shotgun. Loaded with large buckshot, it would chew up most living things, but not put a hole in the hull.

"External bay 23, row delta, the last one you loaded," Tess reported. "So far I can make out at least ten life forms; looks like mostly taurs."

Neal put the safety back on the shotgun but didn't shoulder it. "What the hell are a bunch of taurs doing on my ship?" he muttered.

"No idea," said Tess. "I guess you'll just have to ask them."

"Have the force fields ready just in case," Neal said as he got to the hatch.

"Ready when you are boss."

Neal opened the first hatch, entered and locked it behind him. Now even if his ‘guests’ made it past him and the fields, they still wouldn't have the run of his ship.

Opening the second hatch, he brought the lighting up to full and stepped into the bay.

"Alright, I know you're in here. Come on out where I can see you," he called, his voice echoing off the walls.

After waiting a moment and not getting any reply he said, "Okay, if there are no humans or furs in here, the sensors must have picked up rats, and since I don't like rats, my method of getting rid of them is venting the bay to space." He chuckled for effect. "Haven't seen a rat yet that could breath vacuum."

This caused some frantic whispering from behind one of the carriers.

After giving them a few moments to think things over, Neal called out again, "Last chance. Hmmm.... no answer. Must have been rats after all."

As he made some noise working the latch handle, a voice cried out, "Wait please! We’re coming!"

One by one, a dozen furs all in their early teens came around the corner of the carrier: six chakats, three foxtaur vixens, a very large male equitaur, a female fox and a male cat and, if Neal was any judge, none of them old enough to be out on their own.

One of the chakats tried to put on a bold front. "Take me to the captain," shi demanded.

Neal cocked his head, sizing hir up. "And who might this ‘captain’ be to you?" he asked with a smile.

"Shi’s my mother's sibling," Brighteyes replied, no longer sounding quite so sure of hirself.

"And does hir ship have strap-on cargo pods, like the one you're in?" Neal asked softly.

Before shi could form an answer, Neal asked, "What ship were you trying to stow away on anyway?"

"The ‘Twintails’," Brighteyes all but whispered, realizing they were all in trouble. They had just barely avoided the Human First groups on the ground earlier, and now they were on the wrong ship, with an armed human that didn’t seem at all pleased to see them.

"Twintails, huh?" Neal said, "Dawn's-light runs that ship as I recall, crew of ten, none of them human last I saw, not the fastest ship around, but well maintained."

Brighteyes could only nod slowly, as Neal continued, "You've probably figured out by now you caught the wrong ship, so I guess introductions are in order. I’m Neal Foster, and you’re aboard the Folly."

They whispered among themselves for a moment, then the vixentaur Graysocks asked, "What are you going to do with us?"

"Is there something I should be doing with you?" Neal asked her with a smile.

"Can you take us home?" This from the fox named Cindy.

"Not until I finish this run, I’m afraid," Neal answered. "I’m on a timetable and have to be a certain places at certain times."

"So when can you take us home?" This again from the fox.

"If everybody I need to deal with is ready when I get there, about sixteen months, but it could be as long as twenty three."

If they had been long enough, twelve jaws would have bounced off the deck.

Neal waited for them to say something. As the silence continued, he finally asked, "How long was the Twintails expected to be gone?"

"Just over two years." Brighteyes replied slowly.

"Not a problem then," Neal said. "I can get you all home in plenty of time."

The furs were now looking anywhere but at Neal. After another moment, Neal spoke, "Why am I getting the funny feeling that none of you told your parents what you were up to today?"

Now the furs looked like they wanted to sink into the deck.

Neal continued, "When they try tracking your movements, they’ll find you went to the spaceport. Add the Humans First attacks earlier, and since there will be no record of you leaving, what do you think your parents are going to be thinking?"

"Can I call my dad?" asked Alex the cat.

"Not till we reach the next port," Neal replied. "By then you will have been missing for weeks."

"Please," one of the chakats pleaded, "I have to tell them I’m okay!"

Neal quickly held up his hand before they could say any more. Half of them looked ready to panic, the rest ready to plead and beg. "I may not be able to let you each call your parents, but I can get word to them that you're alive and well."

"How?" someone asked.

"I can't just patch through the FTL relays, but I can drop a message to a starbase we will be passing close to in a few hours."

"What will you tell them?" asked Cindy, looking like she already knew she wouldn't like the answer.

"Well," Neal said, "the safest thing for me to say is the truth: found a dozen stowaways, add your names and who needs to be contacted for each of you, and tell them how to contact me in return."

"You’re going to keep us?" asked Alex.

"It’s either that or drop you off at the next port. Your choice really."

Brighteyes, looking very scared and ready to cry, asked, "You mean you would just leave us?"

"Only if you wanted me to, after all, keeping you against your will is kidnapping, and that’s something I’m not into."

The kids calmed down a little on hearing this.

"Now what?" asked Alex.

"We keep on keeping on," Neal said with half a smile. "Get your information for that message, then some food in you, then someplace for you to sleep tonight. Then tomorrow we see where we go from there."

The message was set up and queued to go out as they passed the starbase. The meal was almost done when the alarm went off again. The kids had been complaining about the food packs, saying that they were not to their taste, nor sized for the taurs, when Tess broke in to announce more life forms where there should have been none.

Neal was at the inner hatch on bay twelve, row baker, the first cargo pod to be loaded and lifted after Neal had chased away the Humans First rabble. Before opening the second hatch, he looked back at the kids, all of whom had followed him to see what was going on. "Look," he said, "if you're coming in, you will do as I say, understand?"

There was a mixed choir of 'yes' and 'OK'. Neal brought his shotgun to the ready and opened the hatch. With the lights up, nothing moved, just row after row of carriers casting long shadows down the bay. "Hello!" Neal called out, "Show yourselves".

No sound other than that of the kids behind him. He tapped him comm badge. "Tess, full scan. Where are they hiding?"

A few seconds later, Tess responded, "Two carriers to the right of your current position, still in the carrier. Scans show more taurs, one large, one medium, two small."

Two carriers down, the door looked like something on the inside had come loose and bowed it outward a little. The latch that should have opened easily from either side had a bent rod jamming it closed.

Eyeing the set up, Neal set his gun to the side, and looked to the kids. "Hey big guy," he said looking at the big equitaur whose name he’d learned was Mike. "Think you can bend that rod back?"

Mike looked at it and smiled, "No problem, sir." Stepping up, he twisted it back into place with little effort.

"You guys might turn out to be useful after all," Neal said with a smile. "Now stand clear while we see who our guests are," he said as he worked the latch.

Only Tess's force field kept Neal from getting clawed as the hatch opened. A chakat youth, about eight or nine years old, jumped at Neal, was bounced to the side by the field, then seeing Neal start hir way, ran for the shadows.

Neal had taken another step as if to follow when he heard sounds of crying in the carrier. Along with stale air came the smell of blood.

Looking at the kids, he said, "Catch hir if you can. Try not to hurt hir, but don't let yourselves be hurt either."

"And if we can't catch hir?" one of them asked.

"Then we’ll try something else, but right now I need to find out who in that carrier is bleeding badly enough that even I can smell it."

As he moved toward the hatch again, the chakat youth came around the other side still trying to stop him. This time the force field knocked her away from both Neal and the carrier, as shi hit the deck shi found hirself blocked on all sides.

"Why didn't you tell us shi was coming back?" someone asked.

"Think about it. Anything I could have said would have told hir that I knew where shi was and start hir running again. For now, see if you can calm hir down. I still have work to do."

Opening the hatch fully, Neal could see two smaller furs, one foxtaur, the other a chakat both about six years old. As his eyes adjusted to the inside of the darker carrier, he saw the third fur, an adult foxtaur vixen backed in and wedged partway between the crates, her right arm bent at the wrong place, with dried blood all down that side of her torso.

"I could use some help with this," Neal called. As the kids came to the hatch he said, "See if you can get the little ones out and calmed down, while I see what I can do for the vixen."

The vixen’s name was Weaver, and though she didn't try getting up, she pleaded, "Please don't hurt them!"

Neal held his hands out showing they were empty, "In case you didn't notice, everyone with me is a fur, and no one here wants to hurt you or yours."

Weaver eased back, stopping as it brought on pain. Neal called over his shoulder, "Someone bring me the med kit. It's that big white box with the red cross, to the right of the hatch we came in."

A moment later it was in his hands. He removed a scanner and ran it across her body.

"Both bones broken right forearm, three ribs cracked upper torso, forward right thigh broken." As he continued the scan, Neal stopped in surprise, and went back over her lower torso. He looked at her carefully as he asked, "When is your child due?"

"Sometime in the next two or three weeks. Why? Isn’t my child alright?" she asked.

Neal replied slowly, "As far as I can tell, the child's scan looks okay, but the trauma to the rest of your body could cause you to go into labor sooner than expected."

"How long until your next port?" she asked

"Too long. Tess, options please." Neal studied the readout that formed in his glasses, then selected his choice. "Bring up core number three. Once online, bring us up to warp six." Looking back to Weaver, he said, "About eight days to port with the added speed. That will give us a few extra days at port for the birth and to get everything you'll be needing to take care of her."

"Her?" from one of the kids.

"Scan shows a female. Not knowing what her mate was, I wanted to make sure I didn't have a baby chakat to deal with," Neal responded without turning around.

"What would be wrong with the baby being a chakat?" demanded chakat Roseberry.

Neal turned to look hir in the eye, "Have you had your lessons on the birds and the bees?"

"Of course," shi said wondering where this was leading.

Neal continued, "Then you are aware that a chakat baby would need trace nutrients that are only available in a chakat’s milk to get everything shi needs?"

Hir eyes went wide as shi saw what shi had missed.

Seeing that shi understood, Neal smiled, "So for a baby chakat with a non-chakat mother, we would have to add to the shopping list, either finding a chakat wet nurse that likes to travel, or try finding a source of chakat milk at almost every port. If we couldn't, we would be risking the child's health by not having a constant source."

"What about us?" chakat Dusk asked.

"First, are you old enough to make milk, second would you be willing to play 'wet nurse' for the next two years or so, never mind that we would still need some chakat milk to get you started?"

Weaver took this time to end the debate. "A good thing all that’s a non-issue."

"True," Neal told the vixentaur, "But it does give my stowaways some idea on how hard it can be to handle unexpected surprises in space."

"Stowaways?" she inquired.

"Somebody thought it would be a wonderful idea to surprise hir aunt by stowing away, and shi brought a few friends along for the ride," Neal said as he pulled equipment from the med box. "Needless to say they caught the wrong ship."

"What are you doing?" Weaver asked looking at the small pile of hardware he was assembling.

Setting up a work light, Neal said, "Well, I can't move you without causing you more damage and pain, so I’m going to start fixing you up here and now. Once we get you patched up, we can move you." Neal looked around as he called, "Hey, big guy, if you can stand the blood, I could really use your help on this."

The equitaur came forward slowly; the smells of the now crowded carrier making him uneasy.

"Easy, Mike," Neal said seeing how much white was showing around his eyes. "I’m going to want you to hold the bones together so I can mend them. Think you can handle that?"

Mike slowly nodded. Neal gave him a smile and a pat on the arm. "Good, just let me get her ready." At that, he placed two small disks on the vixentaur, one at the shoulder, the other on her hip. "These nerve blocks will keep you from feeling most of the pain. However they can't stop all of it."

"I understand," she said. "Let’s just get it over with."

Turning on the devices, Neal turned to the equitaurs. "Place one hand at her elbow, the other at her wrist. When you're ready, I’ll guide you on getting the bones in place to set them."

After a few moments of careful pulling and twisting, Neal leaned back and set down the scanner. "Can you hold her just like that for about five minutes?" At Mike’s nod, Neal placed a wrap around device over the break. Before turning it on he looked at Weaver, "Everything looks good, but in order to make sure we haven't pinched a nerve, I need to turn off to block and have you tell me what you feel." At Weaver’s nod, he deactivated the shoulder block.

The vixentaur's face told him she was hurting, but she managed a weak smile and said, "Not as bad as before."

Turning back on the block, Neal turned on the other device. "This will close the skin and start knitting the bones back together. After a few minutes, they'll be strong enough that you will be able to relax," he told Mike.

While waiting for the arm to set, Neal reached for a handheld bone knitter. This one he held over her cracked ribs.

"Good thing all your injuries are all up front," he said. At Weaver’s questioning look, he elaborated. "I don't dare use these toys near your child. They could cause her growing bones to set, not something we would want to occur."

"What would you have done?" she asked.

"Set and splint the breaks the old way and wait for the next port. You would have been in a bit more pain, and unable to move around. Like I said, it’s fortunate I can treat what injuries you do have."

After a moment of silence, Weaver said, "I’m sorry, but I just have to ask you something, but I don't want you upset at me for asking."

"Fire away." Neal said giving her a grin, "If I don't like the question I can always give you a ‘no comment’."

"Are you the only crew?"

"Very good. There's me, the stowaways, and your little group."

"How will you manage all us and still run a ship?"

"Having a very good computer helps." At the sound of a laugh track coming though his ear plug, Neal added, "When she's not being a smart-ass that is."

Having heard the noise from his earpiece, Weaver also laughed, finding her ribs didn't hurt as much now "I would have thought someone with all of us dumped on him would be in a panic by now."

"No," Neal said quietly "I’m more in a ‘wait and see what's going to hit the fan next’ mode with this curse and all."

"What curse??" came from somewhere behind him

"I’ve just been figuring you must all be part of the curse I was recently put under."

"WHAT CURSE??" they shouted at him.

With every eye on him, Neal gave them a half smile. "The curse placed on me yesterday by an old friend was, ‘may you live in exciting times’." Looking at all the furs staring at him he softly snorted, "It seems to be working a little too well."

As Neal removed the nerve block from her shoulder, Weaver noted that there was now very little pain. Looking at him, carefully she asked, "You mean you think this is all part of some stupid curse?"

Neal told Mike that he could relax his grip, then looked back at his patient. "And just how did you get busted up and locked in a box?"

"My mate, my daughter and I were surprised by a group of those Humans First types." Weaver checked quickly to see how Neal was reacting to the information, not seeing any anger coming her way she continued. "We got separated from my mate, then we were blocked by a second group. We ran into this carrier. Holly could get between the pallets and hide from them, but I was a little too wide, so I backed in as far as I could and tried to defend myself. As you may have noticed, I didn't do very well." The last was said with her head down, eyes closed as she tried to hold back the tears.

Her eyes opened in surprise when she felt a finger slide under her chin and lift her head until she was again eye-to-eye with Neal. He then asked softly, "If you were doing so badly, why did they stop?"

"They had only hit me a few times when Shadowcrest came out from between the crates. She was trying to hold them at bay when we started hearing an old style gun firing. It seemed to have alarmed them. The group attacking us ran out, locked the door somehow and then we heard more shots. We felt the box move a few times, and then you opened the door."

Neal was no longer smiling and said quietly, "Tess, bay speakers, very low volume, give me some audio of ‘Betsy’ in action."

Everyone but Neal jumped a little when they heard a female sounding voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once, "Sure thing, boss," the voice said, then came the stepped down sound of a shotgun blast, the 'click-clunk' of another round being chambered, then another blast.

Neal let this continue for five shots watching his guests. After waving Tess to silence, he quietly asked, "Is that what you heard?"

There was fear in more than one set of eyes as Weaver slowly nodded.

"Then you should have figured out by now that I dislike Humans First types a lot more than I do furs that, by either accident or design, end up uninvited on my doorstep."

"So you're not going to shoot us?" This from the Holly, who was trying to hug her mother without hurting her.

"Shoot you?" Neal chuckled. "That’s not my idea of fun." With an evil grin, he picked up the little vixentaur and said, "I like to think that I have much better ideas," he pushed her into the arms of one of the chakats. "Hold her!" he commanded.

Nightsky looked like shi was going to let Holly go when shi saw him wink at hir, "Yes sir!" shi said.

Acting like he was going to grab of the child by the torsos with both hands he said, "This is what I do to little trespassers!" and he then proceeded to tickle her until she was just a wiggling pile of giggling fur.

Letting her catch her breath, he declared, "I’ll get the rest of you later."

"You won't get me!" This from the largest of the chakats.

"Want to bet?" Neal asked with a grin, "I’ll have lots of help."

"They won't help you if they know what's good for them!" CalmMeadow said starting to back up.

He smiled at that, "Even if they don't help, there's always Tess."

"What’s that suppose to me…" she had started to take another step back, only to find she could only move her head and neck.

Stepping slowly towards CalmMeadow, Neal spoke quietly, "Tess is quite good at holding things, and she's very clever." Now close enough Neal reached out and placed a hand on either of hir shoulders, then stepped forward until they were almost nose to nose. "When are you going to get it though that thick skull of yours that I’m not going to hurt you or anyone else? If I wanted you dead I could have spaced you when I found you. If I was the fur-hating type, I wouldn’t have bothered to feed you or to heal her." Neal turned away, dropping his arms. "But you can't even handle the threat of your friends holding you down for a little tickling."

Finding hirself free to move again, CalmMeadow took a hesitant step towards him. "I’m sorry," shi whispered. "Most humans hate furs."

Turning back around, Neal stepped right up to hir. CalmMeadow held hir ground, so he gave hir a grin and wrapped his arms around hir in a gentle hug. After a moment shi hugged him in return.

"Not most," he quietly said, still holding hir. "Just a very few really. They just seem like more due to the amount of noise and damage they cause."

He held hir for a moment longer then let hir go, "We’ll talk about this more if you like," he said, "but right now we still have a few things that need to get done." Neal looked around; most of the furs were looked a little sheepish at having been afraid of him.

Stepping back toward his patient, he said to Mike, "Ready to do it again, big guy?" At his nod, Neal added, "This is going to be both easier and harder, easier because there's only one bone, not two, harder because the muscles are much larger in the thigh than the forearm. Get a good grip on the knee and on the thigh as close to the hip as you can." Picking up scanner, he checked the bone's alignment. "Very good. Now start pulling the knee away from the hip." It took less time to get Weaver ready this time. While waiting for the bone to fuse, Neal had Tess bring up ship's status, dialing up life support another notch to handle the extra bodies, and seeing what might have needed his attention while he had been busy.

The rest of the late evening was spent feeding the newest group, getting their information for the starbase message, and finding places for everyone to sleep. Since the kids couldn’t make up their minds as to who should sleep with whom, Neal had them drag the bedding from several of the cabins and make a large bed in one of the lounges.

"There," he finally said. "Group sleeping in here. For those that want to pair off or sleep alone, there are plenty of cabins to choose from. Sorry that you’ll have to make your own beds; the staff has the day off." The last got a couple of laughs, so he knew the kids were starting to settle down and become used to their situation.

Later that night, Neal awoke to sense someone was in his room with him. He brought the lights up a little so he could see who his visitor was. A taur, too small to be from the first group, and too large to be the smallest two cubs. He had last seen them curled together, asleep with the Weaver, looking like they might have been siblings.

That left the dark gray chakat youth that had tried to jump him at the carrier. Shadowcrest waited for him to say something, when all he did was watch hir back, shi finally spoke, "I don’t fit into the other groups." shi said.

Raising the sheet to offer to share his bed, he said, "Birds of a feather should stick together." At her blank look he smiled, "We are alike in that I don’t fit into most groups either."

Climbing into bed with him Shadowcrest whispered, "I’m sorry I tried to attack you."

"You were just trying to protect them weren’t you?" he asked softly. At hir nod, he said, "It’s alright, I understand. Try to get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day for all of us."

The next morning Neal got an early wakeup call.

It came in the form of his cabin’s door opening and closing again and again, almost like he had a cat that couldn’t decide on which side of the door it wanted to be on. Looking past the ears of the chakat he was entangled with, he saw three of the chakats and a vixentaur teen staring at him. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"What are you doing to hir?" CalmMeadow demanded.

Ear movement told him his bed-guest was awake, but didn’t want to face the older kids just yet.

"Not really doing anything ‘to’ hir, more like doing something ‘with’ hir." At their blank looks he added, "Since nobody thought to include hir in their sleeping arrangements, Shadowcrest slept with me. You don’t have a problem with that do you?"

"Shi should have slept with us." CalmMeadow said.

"Did you ask hir? Did you even think that maybe shi would be just a little intimidated by your older group? That since no one had invited hir into your group, that maybe you were ignoring hir, didn’t want hir, or maybe that you hadn’t even noticed hir?"

"We did want hir with us." shi said slowly.

"And you didn’t tell hir this last night, because…?"

"We thought shi already knew." CalmMeadow said looking at the deck.

"We’ll talk about this later. For now, OUT!" After they had fled, Neal tightened his hug around the softly crying Shadowcrest, "Easy little one. It sounds like they assumed someone else had welcomed you into their group, or that you would automatically feel welcome. They weren’t trying to hurt you."

Hir crying eased up as shi asked, "Does this mean I can’t sleep with you anymore?"

This earned hir a chuckle as Neal replied; "My door and my bed will always be open to you if you need them." He smiled as he added, "Of course you may have to share."

After breakfast, Neal handed out comm badges and allowed them to explore the safer parts of the ship, Tess answering questions and keeping them out of trouble. The only real surprise they got besides the size of the ship, was when Shadowcrest found Neal’s pets. A very faint scent made hir try a door, inside was a small space and another door. Opening the second door shi found hirself in what looked like a very small clearing with trees all around. A small shallow stream cut across the meadow, and on the sandy banks were several small piles of seed, cut up fruit and nuts.

All this shi saw later. What caught hir eye first were six little cockatiels. Five of them flew for the tree limbs and out of easy reach, the sixth flew right at hir face. When shi ducked it flew into the smaller room and, on finding the other door closed, flew in tight circles squawking its head off. With the annoyed bird still squawking overhead, Shadowcrest had called for help. Tess had told hir to lie down and cover hir head with hir hands to protect hir face. Neal found hir in that position a few minutes later.

After letting the bird land on his shoulder and petting it for a moment, Neal told Shadowcrest shi could get up. Leading hir all the way into the room, he had hir sit in a corner, then he introduced hir to the birds. The one still on his shoulder was male. His name was Squeaky due to his higher than normal pitched call. It took a few tries to get Squeaky to sit on Shadowcrest’s finger, but soon shi was able to pet him and rub his neck without him flying off.

By this time, the other kids had heard there was something to see, so Neal let them in two at a time, having them move slowly so as not to startle the birds, and showing how to hold them and how they liked to be petted. As they were leaving, Shadowcrest admitted shi wished shi could have one for a pet of hir own. Neal smiled and led hir over to the far wall. He had hir look into a hollow ‘tree’. There shi saw four tiny eggs. As they left the aviary, Neal told hir that the female laid eggs every other day, and with four eggs the oldest egg must be at least six days old. The eggs only took twenty-one days to hatch, and it would only be a few months after that before the parents would be kicking the young birds out of the nest. So, could shi wait that long?

After lunch Neal was at one of the bridge stations, trying to come up with a plan of what to do with the kids.

Leaving them to their own devices was out; they would either drive him or each other crazy – not a good idea when you couldn’t get away from one another.

Deep in thought, he didn’t hear Weaver enter, only opening his eyes when he heard one of the other station seats converting itself into a low bench for her to lay on.

"What are you thinking about captain?" she asked.

"What to do with fifteen active kids on a very long, boring trip," he said, studying the displays as if answers were written in the status lights.

Weaver smiled. "And you don’t think I’ll get bored too?"

He returned the smile. "You’re old enough to know how to make your own entertainment. Not that you’ll need too much after she comes into the world," he said, nodding at her baby-filled belly. "I think she’ll help keep you busy."

"I’ll still have plenty of free time. So what have you come up with so far?" she asked.

"Well, I don’t have enough entertainment disks to keep them occupied even if they could sit still that long. So I’m thinking along the lines of some type of training or schooling," he said as he checked the engineering section.

"They’ll never go for it," she said. "They didn’t stowaway just to go to school."

"If it’s that or just sit on their tails the whole trip?" he asked. At her shrug, he continued, "They came out to be on a ship, but not, I think as passengers. If they want to try to become crew, there is a lot to be learned, a lot of how things are done and why you do them a certain way, in a certain order. Before a person can even begin to bring a ship into dock, or find the next port among the stars, they will need more than basic math and science just to understand where to start."

She gave him a long look and said, "And you think you can teach all of them?"

"No," he softly said, "I’m more of a one-on-one type teacher. I never was any good with large groups"

"So how will you do it?" Weaver asked a little baffled.

"I’ll cheat." Catching the look of surprise on her face, he smiled and added, "Tess can help teach them from the basics to advanced using teaching disks. I’ll take over when they hit something Tess can’t explain, and when it gets down to actually running the ship."

"Aren’t you afraid they will fly us into a sun?" she said with a half smile.

"Who said anything about letting them play with ‘live’ controls until I think they’re ready?" he said. "This ship has four full bridges, any or all of which can be switched into training mode."

"Four bridges? Why would you have four bridges?" Weaver demanded, wondering yet again just how insane the individual running the show was.

Neal just laughed at the look on her face, "This ship was created from the sections of over a dozen ships. In most cases, I just added things, not removed. Since four of the bigger pieces already had bridges, I just wired them in. At the time it was much easier than making a bridge from scratch. Plus not only does this gives me the ability to reach a bridge quickly from anywhere on the ship, I can also be modifying or repairing a bridge while under way."

"I still think you are biting off more than you can chew," she said softly.

"Perhaps," he replied equally softly, "but I don’t see a way out of it, without either dumping you and the kids somewhere, or screwing up this run."

"Why is this run so important? she asked.

"Part of the run is timed, as in I have to be at certain ports at certain times. Too early, and I’m sitting around waiting for them to get their shipments ready, too late and not only do I get fined or not paid, but people won’t be able to work because they’re waiting for the parts and material I’m transporting. In between, I hit some ports that may only see a ship once a year or so. A few years ago I got to one frontier station just as they were evacuating. It seems the last two supply ships had never showed up and they were almost out of air, food, and water." At her look, he added, "Very few stations are fully self-supporting."

"Were those other ships ever found?" she wondered.

"Not that I’ve ever heard," he answered. "There’s a lot that can go wrong on a ship, or it might have hit a rock, or possibly pirates."

"Are we at risk?" she asked, more than a little concerned.

"No more than on any other ship, and less than most really." At her look of curiosity, he added, "Unlike most warp-capable craft, this ship has more the one warp core, so losing one doesn’t mean we’re stuck somewhere. Though there are only two engine nacelles, there are really four warp engines, losing one cuts down our top speed and costs us more in fuel to get somewhere, but that won’t stop us from getting where we’re going."

"And rocks?" she asked with a smile.

"Haven’t hit one yet," was the reply. "I have very good sensors."

"And pirates?" a little more concern in her voice and on her face.

He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Let me put it this way: no pirate has ever survived boarding this ship. Some I’ve outrun, some I’ve tricked, but no pirate has ever stepped aboard the Folly and lived."

"I’m not even going to ask how you got rid of them," Weaver said. That earned her an eyebrow wiggle from the human seated across from her. "But I am curious, just how many pirates have you run into?"

"I told you, I have very good sensors, I didn’t ‘run into’ any of them." His smile faded a little at the look she was giving him, "OK, OK! Over the last ten years, I’ve seen a little over eighty pirate ships, very few of which ever saw me. Of the ones that saw me, only two got anyone onboard, and none made it past the second hatch."

"How is that possible?" she asked.

"To explain it so that you would understand could require some schooling," he said, his smile returning. "Interested?"

That got a laugh out of her. "And I thought this was going to be a boring trip!"

"That’s what I was thinking just before I found I had guests," he said. "Now with this crowd I won’t have any time left to be bored."

He turned serious, "Tess reminded me of a problem we are going to be running into very soon." At her nod, he continued. "Due to issues of kidnapping and slavery, a lot of ports require that kids under certain ages to be escorted by a parent or legal guardian."

"Can’t you just hide them?" she asked.

"No, because if I don’t claim them and they are discovered, I would be jailed automatically, getting a trial could take a while, and that would leave the rest of you stranded."

"So we lose the kids at one of those ports?" she asked, apprehension in her voice.

"If the parents of my stowaways can get me proof of their ages, they should be in the clear. It’s your little group that’s going to bite us on the tail." He cut her off as she started to respond, "Yes, Holly is covered by you, but the two chakats have no such protection."

She looked at him closely. "The look on your face suggests you have something that might work, but you don’t know if they’ll buy it."

That earned her a lop-sided grin, "You’ve known me less than twelve hours and already you’re reading me like a book. I hadn’t realized I’d become so transparent."

Weaver waved away his joke and he continued, "The easiest and safest course is for me to adopt them."

She waited a moment, to see if he was serious, then after thinking about it she said, "They will never go for it. You’re just not the father type."

He snorted at the last part, "Oh, you would be surprised." He grew somber. "As for them going for it, it’s all a matter of presentation."

That earned a snort from her "That I have to see!" she said.

He grinned back, "Oh, I intend for you to be there, as a witness if nothing else." He leaned back in his chair. "But that’s for later. Tess dug up some study material that I really should start reading over."

"On child rearing?" Weaver asked with a smile.

With a smile of his own, he said, "I think that’s in chapter three or maybe four." Then he looked her in the eye. "Chapter one is on how to play midwife." Chuckling at the look on her face, he added, "The way this curse is working, if I don’t study this, I’ll probably need it. If I know what to do, I won’t need it, so what do you think I should do?"

Weaver got up, and as she walked past him she patted him on the shoulder. "Please study hard," she whispered.

"This is not the type of test I would like to fail," he softly replied as she left.

Later that evening after everyone had eaten, Neal got them all together. Sitting on the padded deck with Shadowcrest beside him and Weaver holding the littlest two with an arm around each, he quietly explained about the laws requiring parents to travel with very young children and that unescorted children could be taken away to protect them from possible pirates, kidnappers, or slave traders.

The stowaways were looking thoughtful; they hadn’t realized there would be laws covering such things, much less that a law wouldn’t be the same for every port.

Not wanting to ask outright, Shadowcrest pointed to Holly, "Won’t she be okay?"

Neal gave her a small smile, "Yes, Weaver covers her requirements. It’s her little friend, Quickdash, that would be at risk."

Looking at the Quickdash, Shadowcrest quietly asked, "Can you help hir?"

Giving hir a gentle hug, Neal smiled as he said, "I think I can help hir." Squeezing hir a little tighter, he added, "And the same thing should work for you as well."

Neal suddenly found himself short of breath. Shadowcrest was hugging him so tightly he could feel the tips of hir claws.

After shi calmed down a bit, he asked, "What was that for?"

"For saving us!" Shadowcrest said laughing.

"Well," he said slowly, "there is something you will have to learn how to do…"

"What?" shi asked.

"You could probably learn to do it with a little practice…" Neal said, dragging it out a little longer.

"What already?" Shadowcrest demanded, getting tired of his stalling.

Trying not to laugh at the intent look on hir face, he quietly asked, "Do you think you could get used to calling me ‘daddy’?"

An almost snort came out of Weaver as she kept the little ones quiet; everyone else was just staring at him. Giving them a minute, he then took Shadowcrest’s hands in his "I, Neal Foster, captain of the Folly offer to adopt Shadowcrest. Shi will have all the rights, freedoms, and responsibilities as my daughter."

At the surprised look on hir face, he added, "Since you have no way of knowing if I would make a good father, I will leave you with an escape clause. If you ever find me to be unsuitable as a father, you need only say; ‘you're not my daddy anymore’ or ‘I don’t want to be your daughter anymore’, I will ask you if you’re sure, if so, then we will no longer be related."

After a moment Shadowcrest’s face clouded up, and in a small voice shi asked, "And what do you say when you don’t want me anymore?"

Ignoring the fact that shi looked ready to cry, Neal acted like he was thinking it over, "I seem to have forgotten to add an escape clause for myself. I guess I’m stuck with you." Then a gleam came into his eye. "On the other hand, I could just be a bad daddy to make you use your escape clause!"

Realizing that he was teasing hir, Shadowcrest gave him another tight hug. "You can’t get rid of me that easily!" shi said, laughing even harder than before.

"Does that mean you accept?" he asked. Shi had been laughing so hard shi was now crying, Shi could only nod, and then shi buried hir head against his chest.

"Why is shi crying?" asked Quickdash.

Weaver smiled and softly answered, "Because shi’s so happy shi has a new daddy."

"Do I get a new daddy too?" Quickdash asked, not really understanding.

"Yes," Neal replied, "I will be your new daddy as well."

"Do I have to cry?" shi asked, not sure shi wanted to play this game.

There were several snorts and giggles from the older kids now that the tension was broken. "No crying required," Neal told Quickdash with a smile. "You just get to call me daddy." Indicating the chakat in his arms, Neal added, "And since you are both my daughters, that also makes the two of you sisters."

Walking up to Neal, Quickdash looked carefully at Shadowcrest, who had stopped crying and was now watching hir. "I’ve never had a sister before," Quickdash said.

Pulling out of Neal’s arms, Shadowcrest hugged hir new sister to hir. "Me either," Shadowcrest whispered.

Feeling left out, Holly asked, "Can I be hir sister too?"

Neal was hard pressed not to laugh out loud. Weaver had that ‘deer in the headlights’ look, her daughter having completely blind-sided her with the request.

"Well," Neal said, hoping Weaver would give him a sign if she approved of this turn of events, "from what I’ve seen since you came onboard, you two are already acting like sisters. Far be it for me to break up the set." That broke Weaver partway out of her daze and she shot Neal a questioning look. Still not knowing what the vixen wanted, Neal surrendered, "But I’m afraid we’re going to have to ask your mother about that, little one."

Still a little shaken at the turn of events, a confused Weaver hissed, "That’s it! Make this my fault! "

"Not at all," Neal said softly trying to calm her down, "I am more than willing to adopt her, I would just need your okay. Or there is still a way for you to make them sisters even if you didn’t want me to adopt her."

Blind-sided yet again, Weaver just asked, "How?"

Giving her a small smile, Neal waved at the three youngsters. "Whether I adopt her or not, you could always adopt them."

"You would just let me adopt them?" Weaver asked, not sure she understood his meaning.

He smiled at her as he answered, "This isn’t about what I do or don’t want. This is about what the little ones will need. They have been uprooted from their normal lives and family. They’re going to need new relationships to help them deal with the situation they now live in."

With a tentative smile, Weaver asked, "You really don’t mind adopting her?"

Neal chuckled at her uncertainty, "I’ve just adopted two furballs," he said with a smile. "What’s one more?"

Before Weaver could reply, another voice quietly said, "Two."

Turning to face the other furs, Neal asked, "Two?"

"Two more furballs," this from the fox named Cindy, "please?"

"Three!" from one of the chakats, and at least five of the other kids shouted "Four!"

Holding up a hand to silence them, Neal asked, "Are you sure this is what you want? Just because you’re officially be my kids, don’t think it’s going to make the trip any easier or shorter."

Mike spoke up, "I think what we’re saying is that we accept the challenge of trying to be a family for this trip, with you as its head or father. That, and the fact that I for one don’t want to run the risk of somebody trying to pull me off this ship to ‘protect’ me." The other furs just nodded, Neal noticed tears in more than one set of eyes.

Neal found his own eyes misting over a little as he said, "What the heck, the more the merrier."

That earned him a group hug attack from the kids. When it was over, he turned toward Weaver. Cocking his head at her, he smiled and said, "I seem to have just become a father with fifteen children. Would you like to join my crazy new family as its mother?"

Weaver slowly shook her head at him. "You had this all planned, didn’t you?" she asked softly.

Neal shook his head in reply. "No, my only plan was security for the little ones. The rest was just a pleasant surprise." Turning serious he said, "If I remember your customs correctly, two adults agreeing to share the responsibilities of taking care of their children are denmates. That is what I’m offering you."

When Weaver nodded, she was almost knocked over when the hug attack turned her way.

When they finally let her up for air, he added, "Just like the kids, you always have the option of canceling if I don’t turn out to be a suitable denmate."

With a shy smile, Weaver said, "Like the little one said, you won’t be getting rid of us that easily."

"Time will tell," he replied returning her smile, "After all, we did meet less than a day ago."

Two days from port, their newest member decided to make an early appearance, this leading to some thinking that the captain just hadn’t studied hard enough.

 


Chapter 2  

 

Eight weeks into the cruise, only a few hours out from the Folly’s second stop, this at a ‘mid-point transfer’ space station. Neal watched his ‘crew’ and had to hold back a smile. The kids had insisted on learning how to help run the ship, so he had them each ‘working’ a training bridge four hours a day. This was in addition to four or more hours of ‘schooling’, everything from math and science to warp theory, and wherever else their interests led them. Tess giving them the basic information and training, Neal working them though any stumbling blocks.

Weaver had been surprised the second day out when Neal had started them all with training on weapon safety and handling. Neal had pointed out that there was no way he alone could protect all of them, especially if they wanted to head off in different directions. He had started them out with a ‘toy’ gun he called a ‘Stinger’. It looked like a standard stunner, but instead of a beam that could knock someone out, this delivered a harmless pinpoint jolt, and could be turned down so it could barely be felt. Neal used these for basic target practice as well as teaching them to keep their heads (and tails!) down when trying to take down someone who was trying to take them out. The kids had renamed the training gun the ‘TailStinger’ due to that being the part some of them seemed to have the most trouble keeping out of sight.

While all of them had been issued stunners for when in port, Neal also trained and armed his four top trainees with phasers. These were to be brought out only at need. Misuse would see them disarmed and no longer allowed to carry a weapon.

The training had come in handy the first five minutes after landing at their first port, the kids having had a bad case of ‘cabin fever’ and couldn’t wait to get off the shuttle and into the fresh air.

They had no sooner stepped out of the shuttle’s hatch than a small group of humans had come around a corner. Upon spotting the furs, they had started to move towards the kids, yelling for them to go back where they came from, they weren’t wanted here.

The humans had stopped dead in their tracks when the three youngest furs pulled their stunners out of their belt pouches. With her weapon still pointing at the ground as she had been taught, Holly asked, "Can I shoot them now?"

Standing beside her with hir own stunner out but not yet aimed at the group of humans, Shadowcrest replied, "Not until they do something threatening. If they try to hurt us, then we get to shoot them."

With some of the teenage furs with their paws in their belt pouches, the humans had decided they wanted nothing to do with this group and beat a hasty retreat.

Neal had then come out of the hatch’s shadow where he had been waiting with ‘Betsy’. He was trying to not let his smile get too big, the kids having done just what was needed, no shots had been fired, and with any luck the word would soon be out that this was not a group to be messed with.

His denmate had then taken four ‘protectors’ and she and the newborn had headed for the hospital. After securing the shotgun and locking up the shuttle, the rest went with Neal.

First stop was a wide-ranging general store to get all the things the kids would be needing for a long trip. Grooming aids, soaps and shampoos, games, snacks, clothing, and a few toys quickly filled the carts in no time. After dropping that load at the shuttle they hit one of the shipyard stores. Here, filters, chemicals and a small mountain of parts were on Neal’s list of needed things.

After dropping off their second load, they joined up with the vixen’s group. The doctor’s report was that Weaver and Starblazer were both in excellent condition.

The group’s next stop was a little company that made meal packs. The kids had groaned at the idea of more ‘ready meals’, but Neal had lead them in anyway.

After a quick word with a salesfur, they were escorted to a dining room where several dozen meal choices were offered. Neal suggested that instead of them just eating what they liked, they should at least sample each of the other choices. After everyone had made a meal out of sampling everything, Neal had wanted to know which ones they didn’t like, to their surprised looks he had chuckled and told them he just wanted to know what ‘not’ to buy.

The rest of the day was spent at the shuttle, loading and unloading as different customers shown up, most of them surprised by how early the Folly had arrived, and that Neal would be there over a week. A day or two was more the norm.

While there had been messages waiting for all the kids from their parents, several of the parents had also sent separate messages to Neal, one was a threat of legal action if their child wasn’t returned at once (at Neal’s expense of course), most of the rest offering support and asking if there was anything they could do to help. The one from Weaver’s tod just asked him to give her and his kids all the love he couldn’t and all but begged for information about how his newest addition was doing.

Neal showed Cindy the letter her father had sent him threatening legal action if she wasn’t returned at once, and gave her the option of staying behind and waiting for a ship to take her home or staying with her group. She chose to stay with her friends, and added a letter to her father telling him of her choice.

Before arrival Neal had let each of the kids make their own recorded messages, some of them having spent hours trying to make each message ‘just right’ so as not to scare or shock their parents too badly. This was a bit of a challenge for his stowaways. How do you admit that you were trying to stow away on a ship and ended up on the wrong one? The Twintails had just come into port and was going to be there another three days; plenty of time to be ‘found’ and still get a look at the ship before being sent home. The only flaw in their plan was ending up on a ship that was leaving as soon as they were loaded.

What they didn’t know was Tess had recorded their whole session – retries, bloopers, and all, this is what Neal had actually sent to their parents. He figured this would give the parents a better feel for what the kids were really thinking and how they were doing as well as show them that he wasn’t telling the kids what to say or how to say it.

Shadowcrest and Quickdash had both gone to the spaceport that day with different groups from their schools. Shadowcrest had snuck off by hirself to do a little exploring. When shi had heard a Humans First group shouting nearby, shi had hidden in the open carrier, slipping between the pallets to get out of sight. After getting separated from hir own school group, Quickdash had spotted Shadowcrest sneaking around and had followed hir into the carrier just before the foxtaurs were chased in by the Humans First mob. Neal had pointed out to Shadowcrest that if shi hadn’t been there, Weaver would most likely have been hurt much worse than she had been. Along with the messages, Neal had sent the recording of he and Weaver adopting the kids, pointing out to any possibly anxious parents that the kids had the choice to opt out of having a human for an adopted father any time they wanted.

With nothing to do until the last loads were ready, they saw some of the local sights and spent a good deal of time in one of the nearby parks. Watching the kids run around in a modified version of tag, Weaver had asked Neal what they could do to help the kids deal with some of the longer stretches between planets. Neal had replied that he had picked up enough parts that he should be able to get a good sized holodeck going, he had some other ideas, but he needed parts he couldn’t get here.

Though Neal had sent the messages low priority to save on the costs of sending so much information, they reached the parents in plenty of time for replies, and while most were fairly understanding, a couple had promised their kids that they would be ‘grounded for life’ once they got back. Neal had suggested the kids take it with a grain of salt; their feelings would change a lot over the length of the trip.

The next letter from Cindy’s father had claimed that Neal had no right to adopt his daughter and ordered Neal to leave Cindy behind. After showing Cindy the latest letter they agreed on a reply. Neal’s reply was that he would never leave a child behind against her will, if he wanted her off Neal’s ship all he needed to do was meet them at one of the Folly’s port of calls and Cindy could leave with him if she wished too. As far as un-adopting Cindy, she was the only person that could do that, Neal would not disown her. Neal had given all the parents the major stops the Folly would be making and when she should be there to make staying in touch with their kids a little easier.

The last evening before they left Neal had taken them all out for ice cream: one last treat before they were stuck on the ship again, this time for over a month.

Once they were back aboard the Folly, Tess had informed the kids that they would not be allowed in the aviary for a while. Two of the three cockatiel pairs now had baby chicks to take care of. When the kids had wanted to see the chicks, Tess had showed them how to access the remote cameras so they could watch the action without bothering the birds.

It had taken Neal almost a full week to convert one of the larger lounges into a holodeck. The kids helped where they could, but making something from scratch was a new challenge for them.

The first thing Neal did once the holodeck was activated was to show them a ‘blank’ world. To match ship time, he added a sun at a slight angle to suggest that it was early afternoon. Neal then ‘made’ two towering pine trees, their large trunks just ten feet apart, branches entangled to form a wide shady canopy. Adding some grass and a large hammock, he fell into the hammock, called up a pleasant breeze and some quiet bird song, and said they were on their own; he was done for the day.

Weaver had gently dropped Starblazer into his lap, telling him that if he was going to sleep on the job, she would keep him company. Since Starblazer had just been fed, it only took a little of the hammock’s gentle swinging to put her to sleep, Neal soon followed.

When he awoke a few hours later, he found himself deep in an evergreen forest, a path leading toward the sound of running water. With Starblazer still asleep in his arms, Neal followed the path and came upon a large clearing with a lake being fed by a small waterfall. He found his denmate and most of the kids napping on the beach, one of the still alert ones informing him the rest were playing hide-n-seek.

When not being used to help them relax, the holodeck was also used for training. Here, Neal could show them everything from the insides of a working warp core to mock-ups of bridge/cockpit controls so they could watch their commands move ships and shuttles around a station or though space.

One of the things Weaver and the kids were still getting used to was their denmate/father/captain’s sleeping routine, or lack of one actually. Neal normally had trouble sleeping, so he was used to just working until he was tried, sleep anywhere from two to ten hours, then he would be up for ten to thirty hours before he was ready to crash again.

Neal on the other hand was learning to live with never knowing whom he was going to wake up with. Sometimes a fur or two (or three) would be waiting for him when he was finally ready to sleep, sometimes his bed was vacant. What would occasionally drive Neal crazy was most of the time who he went to bed with wasn’t who he woke up to. The kids were also trying to get him on a more normal schedule by helping him with his projects, and sometimes by claiming to need his help with their schooling, in both cases they would soon suggest that they were at a stopping point and it was bedtime. This worked more often than not, but the kids in turn found themselves staying up far later than they had intended when they found Neal was working on something ‘interesting’.

Now, Neal just leaned back and watched this shift’s ‘bridge crew’ doing all the little things that were part of bringing a ship into port, while he handled communications with the station, they were moving the ship into the requested flight path and watching out for other traffic. Since there was no other freighter traffic expected, station control was allowing the Folly to dock with the station, blocking several of their other docking ports. If they had been busy, Neal would have parked the Folly out of the way and shuttled the cargo pods to an open port. Instead he was able to let the kids get the Folly right up to the docking port, Tess doing the last of the fine maneuvers needed to gently mate with the station.

Neal had intended to be docked only long enough to unload, a few hours at most, but as his father had always said there was always two ways of doing anything, ‘first class or with children’. In this case the ‘with children’ meant spending most of the day, the kids all wanting to see their first space station, even though there was nothing all that special about it.

Since the station wasn’t showing any signs of trouble, Neal had given in and allowed them to explore in groups of three or more.

Two hours before their ‘extended’ scheduled departure time Tess informed Neal that everyone was back onboard. The way she said it told Neal something was going on.

Ever since the kids had taken over the bridge, Neal had started using a neighboring cabin as an office/captain’s dayroom where he could try to get some work done while still keeping an eye and an ear on the bridge.

A tap of a claw on the open doorframe told Neal someone wanted his attention, looking up he saw Shadowcrest standing at the door, looking like shi would prefer to be almost anywhere else. There had been a quiet yet ‘heated’ discussion between some of the bridge crew and the young chakat just a few minutes earlier. Neal wondered if this was related.

Shi just stood at the door, so Neal waved hir in. Shi still looked like shi didn’t know what to say, so he keyed the door closed so shi could speak without hir sisters’ big ears picking up every word. When shi still said nothing, Neal came around the desk and wrapped hir in a hug. Feeling hir trembling, he shook his head as he quietly asked hir, "Okay, just how much trouble did you get yourself into this time?"

That broke the floodgates, an almost tearful Shadowcrest told him that while exploring, they had come across a fur looking for passage off station to almost anywhere else. She would happily work for her passage, and she claimed to be a gourmet cook. It took some time, but Neal finally got hir to the point, Shadowcrest had already promised this ‘cook’ passage without asking him first.

When he asked hir why the others in hir group didn’t say anything at the time, Shadowcrest admitted that shi had gone out with Quickdash and Holly. Neal shook head in amused annoyance. He had inadvertently left a loophole letting hir get loose without any of the older kids, and shi had used it. Of course using that loophole had now forced hir to accept the consequences of hir having been the one in charge of the group.

"Are you mad at me?" shi asked

"No, just a little concerned. Remember, the little ones will be watching you even closer than they watch the older kids, getting ideas from how you handle things. I didn’t think you would try to go for a walk without any of the older kids or Weaver. Quickdash and Holly might think it’s a great idea too…"

"But you said three or more!" shi cried.

"So? What if Holly tells her mother that they will watch Starblazer? Now there are three of them…"

Eyes wide, Shadowcrest opened hir mouth, but no words came out. Neal shook his head, "Part of being a big sister is being a role model. They are going to learn from you, and so you are going to have to decide what you want to teach them."

As he held hir to help calm hir down, he tried to decide on the best way to handle this little mess. While unloading, Neal had been approached by over a dozen humans and furs, all of them looking for a ride to another port. He had declined their requests, having more than enough to do keeping an eye on Weaver and the kids. He could always send this ‘cook’ packing as well, but that might make the youth in his arms think that he was doing it just because shi hadn’t asked him first. On the other hand, while there was less grumbling about the meals, the kids still didn’t think much of them and a change would be welcome.

Having come to a decision Neal gave Shadowcrest one more squeeze and released hir. "Go blow your nose and wash your face." Then with a wink, he added, "And then go get your cook. I would like to have a word with her before you try picking out a room."

The brown and white rabbit in front of him looked nervous but determined. Her name was Suzan Pebble, and the résumé on his desk showed a tendency to work somewhere for a week or two, or to stay for years, then on to the next job. Her last job had been on a cruise ship, the Southern Breeze. She had lasted six months before bailing out early, and because she didn’t finish her contract, the cruise line was holding her pay, leaving her without the funds needed to buy passage off station. Meanwhile, station fees were quickly eating through what funds she did have.

It took a little coaxing to get her whole story. Suzan had been working for the cruise line for several years, and she had completed three previous cruises on some of their other ships before the one she had quit. A little more digging brought up her reasons for quitting: a new cook had been added at the last minute, an ‘old friend’ of the ship’s first officer, one who liked to claim credit for other peoples’ hard work, and for shifting the blame for his own blunders. When management did nothing to resolve the issue, Suzan had left. Her only error was not waiting for a better port to disembark.

Neal thought it over, and then looked toward Shadowcrest, who had been waiting quietly in the corner. "Introduce her to everyone, if that doesn’t scare her off you can find her a room."

After they left, Neal had Tess bring up what she had on the Southern Breeze and her crew. A little reading made Neal glad he had helped her, though it also made him wonder if more personal reasons may have forced her to jump ship at such a poor location.

It turned out that Suzan didn’t scare easily. Most of the kids had been on the holodeck playing ‘tailstinger hide-n-seek tag’ where you ‘tagged’ your opponent with a low-powered tailstinger instead of chasing them down, which put the smaller furs on a more even footing with the bigger kids, good aim and a sharp eye being more important than size or speed. Neal had tried to suggest that this wasn’t a proper use of a weapon, even a training weapon. The kids’ counter-argument had been that his rules required them to practice their marksmanship with the tailstinger. Their ‘game’ covered that as well as keeping under cover while trying to ‘tag’ without being tagged in return. Neither Weaver nor Neal had come up with a good reason to not let them practice their way, so playing ‘tag’ had taken on an entirely new meaning on the Folly.

After leaving the station behind, Neal headed for the holodeck. After picking up a stinger and checking its charge and settings he entered the forest. Normally he would have just walked a few kilometers of the meandering trails for a little exercise, but with the kids adding the stingers to their game, even he was expected to join in. Usually someone would give him a hit with their stinger to tell him they could see him, he would then stop and see if he could find and tag them in return.

Lately most of the chakats had taken to hiding in the trees, but this time his attacker was hiding a little lower. As he walked down the length of the beach he felt someone tag him on the back of his leg, whirling around he saw movement behind some large rocks at the edge of the water. Charging the rocks, Neal quickly looked over them. No one behind them, nowhere they could have run without him seeing them, that’s when he noticed a few bubbles rising in the quiet water between the rocks. After waiting almost a full minute a brown and white nose slowly rose from the depths, Neal with his stinger set as low as it would go, gently ‘tagged’ the nose, which quickly vanished only to be replaced by a choking rabbit. After helping Suzan out of the water Neal handed her a comm badge, at her questioning look he explained that it not only would let her communicate with everyone else, Tess would monitor her vitals, alerting them if she ever got into trouble. When she accused him of trying to make ‘tagging’ her easier, Tess had informed Suzan that she wouldn’t help Neal cheat without helping everyone else as well.

The next day Neal opened one of the long unused kitchens. A substantial layer of dust coated everything. After they cleaned off the mixers, stoves, ovens and other equipment Neal wasn’t too surprised to find that most of it didn’t work, the ship had been in a scrapyard for a while before he bought it, and he’d never bothered to check any of it before. After cutting power to everything but the overhead lighting, Neal set the kids to work removing the old equipment and the new cook with instructions to make three lists, one of all the toys a chef could want, what she could work with, and what she would need to just get by.

When Suzan returned with her lists, Neal gave them a glance, then dropped the ‘just get by’ list in the trash, at Suzan’s dirty look he grinned and said, "It was to make you think, and I’ll bet the other lists have more on them because of it. Am I wrong?" This earned him a small smile and a headshake.

Handing her a list of his own he said, "This lists the ports we will be stopping at over the next year, are any of them someplace you might want to get off at?"

Looking over the list, Suzan was surprised to find she didn’t recognize half of them, the other half were quite a distance from each other, almost as if the Folly was following a zigzag line.

At her questioning look Neal smiled and said, "Yes, they are in order, and yes, there is a madness behind my methods." At her arched eyebrow he continued, "This lets me cover two routes at once and helps keep others from realizing just how fast the Folly actually is, if you just go by every other port, then I’m just a third faster than one of Star Fleet’s ‘fast freighters’. A few times I’ve even been asked if I knew there was another ship using the same name running my ‘other’ route. Now, are we dropping you off at any of them?" At her headshake, he dropped the ‘could work with’ list in the trash, holding the ‘all the toys she wants’ list he had Tess scan it into memory, then handed the list back to her, "If you think of anything to add, tell Tess and she’ll add it to the shopping list." As she kept staring at him, he answered her unasked question, "The second list was in case you weren’t going to be with us long. After all, why buy more than we need if you’re not going to be here to use it?"

"And when I do leave?" she asked.

Neal shrugged his shoulders. "With any luck, one or more of the kids may take an interest in cooking, and if you can teach them the basics, we may not have to eat too many mistakes."

Suzan gave him a perplexed look. "You expect me to teach them?" she asked.

"Only if you are willing, and only if they show an interest," Neal replied. "Since I’m assuming that you’ll be needing extra hands every now and then, watching and smelling your meals come together might just make them want to try it for themselves."

At their next planetary stop, Neal had four of the chakats accompany Suzan as she looked for kitchen equipment and all the other toys that a cook needed to get the job done. Suzan’s orders were to look over what was available for what price and make a list of what she wanted. Suzan wasn’t told, but the chakats’ orders were to watch her and make a list of the items and cost of what she really wanted but had passed over due to her doubts that Neal would okay the higher expense.

After they returned Neal uploaded both lists to Tess, she would display the lists through his glasses while they were shopping. Then the whole crew came along, some to help haul what they bought, and some for guard duty as there had been some reports of Humans First problems.

Once they were back among the ovens and stoves, Suzan would point out what she had selected from her list, Neal would then walk over to the one the kids’ list said she really wanted and ask if it were a better choice. After the fifth ‘upgrade’ Suzan had stopped dead in the middle of the store and demanded to know what was going on. Neal had just smiled and said, "I get by with a little help from my friends." After that Suzan stopped even looking at her list, she just pointed out the things she wanted. The only other surprise she received was when Neal sometimes purchased more of some items than she had asked for. He had pointed out he was just making sure she had enough, and to cover any breakage caused by inexperienced ‘help’.

With the kitchen equipment loaded in the shuttle, Suzan and the kids were then sent grocery shopping, Suzan carrying not only her list, but also a list of what she could draw from ship’s stores.

It took a few days to get the kitchen rebuilt and ready for its new chef. The ceiling was cleaned and painted, and the drains were cleaned and tested before the flooring was replaced. Power and water connections were replaced and checked before the walls were covered, then it was time to start moving in the new ovens, stoves, sinks and countertops. Shelves and cabinets covered most of the remaining wall space while a large movable chopping block/workspace dominated the center of the room. Then Suzan had to decide what to store where, a couple of the kids bringing in more boxes as she emptied them. (It would be two weeks before she realized that over half her chef’s hats and aprons had sayings on them, ‘to heck with the spoon, lick the cook’ being one of the milder ones that the rest of the crew had picked out for her.)

Suzan had stormed into Neal’s office, closed the door and then opened an apron for him to see. "What the hell is this?" she demanded.

Neal was hard pressed not to show his amusement. The apron read: ‘Her food is great but I prefer RABBIT STEW!’

"I knew some of the aprons had colorful expressions on them," he said slowly, having had a few suggestions of his own when they were being made, "but I seem to have missed that one."

Suzan just glared at him "Just what type of a ship are you running?"

"One with a dozen teenagers, all of which are past puberty, half of which are chakats." Neal replied, to her questioning look he added, "You are aware of their twenty-four day heat and rut cycle?" She nodded "Then you should know that sex is never far from their minds. To me that apron simply suggests that somebody likes you and would love to know you better."

Neal let that sink in. After a moment, the insides of Suzan’s ears went bright pink. Now smiling, Neal added, "Now the only thing you have to decide is if you dare to wear it."

Over the next week Neal noticed morale seemed to be increasing. Not that it had been low, but something was giving it a boost. The best clue he got was at breakfast one morning. Suzan was wearing her ‘lick the cook’ apron and most of the kids were calling her ‘Stew’. At his raised eyebrow, her ears went pink. At her grin, he could only shake his head with a smile of his own.

It turned out several of the kids were interested in cooking, but finding free time to experiment when Suzan didn’t need her kitchen turned out to be a problem.

Neal had just smiled and reminded them that they had enough ‘spare’ parts to put together a small kitchen. They only had one spare oven and stove, but that should be enough for cooking up an ‘experiment’ or two. They would still need Stew’s okay for the cooking supplies, or they would have to remember to get their own when at port. A break room was converted into a mini kitchen for them to try their skills without keeping Stew from getting her meals ready. Mike turned out to already be a pretty good pastry cook though he had problems proving it. It seemed someone would always eat his treats before he had a chance to show them to everyone. Morningmist, on the other paw, seemed to be able to take some of the toughest meats and turn them into something that would all but melt in your mouth.

Everyone was relaxing in the lounge after another of Stew’s excellent dinners, when Tess silently paged Neal. Though he had tried to act as if nothing was wrong, the chakats all felt his emotional spike. Once he left the lounge, the kids had started asking Tess what was going on. When she evaded their questions they knew it had to be something important.

They then asked where Neal was. When informed that the captain was on the bridge, they rushed to one of the other bridges. Once there, they slaved the monitors to the active bridge just like they normally would for training. Once the systems came online, they found themselves seeing screens Neal hadn’t shown them yet: tactical data on an unknown ship they were coming up on shown on most of the screens, on others were indications that the Folly was getting ready for something. She had just dropped out of warp and power levels were coming up instead of dropping. Her shield generators were powering up but the shields were still down.

Then from the nose of the Folly, four small shapes appeared on the displays, three of them moving to quickly parallel the other ship, one slowly coming up behind it. As the shapes closed on the other ship, more information was now being added to the tactical screens. Suddenly, part of the unknown ship started flashing red, then zoomed in. They were looking at a storage room about the size of a carrier, down one side was a row of fourteen cages, in the bottom of each cage was a large catlike fur in chains. Now when asked, Tess answered their questions. They had come up on a pirate/slaver. Neal would as a rule disable them and give their location to Star Fleet and let them collect the pirates, but the prisoners or slaves could be killed long before Star Fleet could get a ship out. Weaver asked if there was any way to save them. Tess admitted that Neal had several options, but he was worried about putting his own crew at risk.

Weaver quickly left the training bridge and headed for the active one. When she reached it, she found Neal sitting in his captain’s chair. The look of anger on his face was something she hadn’t seen before. His head turned when she stepped up beside him but he said nothing.

After a moment she said, "It’s always easier to take a risk when it’s just yourself you’re risking." At his slow nod she continued, "If the kids and I weren’t here, what would you do?"

Letting out a pent up breath, Neal looked back at the monitors. "Transport the prisoners into one of the empty cargo pods until I know who and what they are, beam the computers onboard so Tess can data mine them, then disable their ship and leave them for Star Fleet to clean up." The last was said at almost a growl.

Looking him in the eye she said, "Then do it." At his stare she smiled, "You’re not the only one who is willing to accept risks. Tess, what are the others up to?"

Tess responded with, "The older kids are starting to move bedding into a cargo pod, the younger ones are helping Stew, since it looks like the slaves weren’t being fed, she’s mixing up a light soup to start them off, and a snack for the rest of you since it look’s like it’s going to be a long night."

Looking like he had bitten into something he wasn’t sure he liked the taste of, Neal stared at Weaver for another moment, then turned back to the displays.

"Tess," he asked, "is there anyone over there running around loose but unarmed?" With her negative reply, he made his decision. "Disable their bridge controls, then grab the computers and the slaves." Looking at Weaver he continued, "And then turn them into a rock. The only thing I want you to leave working is life-support."

Looking back to the displays, the pirate’s bridge suddenly showed a complete loss of power. Areas that had shown computer equipment went vacant, then the cages started vanishing. A few seconds later most of the ship went dark as control and power systems, even connections and cabling were transported away.

Watching as the ship started to slowly drift, Neal said, "Tess will leave them basic life-support. If they want to try to get something else going, they’ll have to take from that, so they should still be here when Star Fleet gets around to collecting them."

Pointing at the four small objects returning to the Folly, she asked, "What are those?"

Neal glanced at her as he said, "A Zulu and three baby Zulus."

With a raised eyebrow Weaver asked, "And just what is a ‘Zulu’?"

"Just as ‘Z’ is the last letter in the English alphabet, the ‘Zulus’ were intended originally as the Folly’s last defense. When I started out, the Zulus were my ‘last chance’ fight or flight craft. For flight they are very fast and long ranged, for fight they have long range sensors and transporters that can penetrate most shields."

Weaver asked, "Is there a reason you haven’t brought this up before?"

Giving her a smile, Neal replied, "Only because we haven’t had a need for them so far. That, and I can no longer use the Zulus for ‘flight’." At her raised eyebrow, he sadly added, "They can barely hold two, so even using all six I would have to leave someone behind."

"And a ‘baby’ Zulu?" she asked.

"Unmanned, no transporter, less fuel, made for scouting and, if need be, ramming."

"Ramming?" she asked looking a little upset.

Neal gave her a tight smile, "I’ve only used them as scouts so far but, if need be, they are my ‘last chance’ to protect the Folly."

A little worried Weaver asked, "When do you use them?"

"The baby Zulus are used when I’m actively hunting pirates. Their scanner range is almost as good as the Folly’s, so with six of them running parallel to her, we can sweep a very wide path. The Zulus are used when I’m trying to keep pirates from seeing the Folly, when running silent like we were, coming up on them, I can get pretty close but not quite into transporter range without running a risk of being detected before I can take them out. A Zulu is much harder to see than the Folly, so I used its transporters to shut them down. Then I used the Zulu as a relay to beam the computers and cats onboard. I can also use the Zulus if I’m trying to stay out of range of something that might damage us before I can disable them."

"How can you ‘relay’ a transporter? I thought they could only take things apart and put them back together!"

"Yes and no. With a single transporter, it would record an object within its range, break it down, transmit the matter to a receiving point also within its range, and use the record to reconstruct the item using the matter it had transmitted. In this case, the Zulu’s transporter retransmitted the recording and the matter to the Folly, and her transporters put everything back together in the cargo pod. With the cats, there was also the mind matrix to consider, but as far as the relay goes, that’s just more information to move."

Weaver frowned. "Too technical for me! You told me before that the Folly had been boarded twice by pirates."

Neal grinned. "Both times I was using the Folly as bait. I had to make sure all the pirates had come into range before I could act. So far no pirate has ever been able to get the word out that the Folly can defend herself. I would like to keep it that way. Oh, and before you ask, I really had no intention of actively hunting pirates with you and the kids onboard. This was just a fluke."

Taking the Folly back to warp, Neal asked, "Would you like to help me welcome our new guests?"

Weaver smiled as she replied, "Maybe after I check on Starblazer."

As they separated, Neal called over his shoulder, "In case you’re keeping score, that one goes under ‘never saw us’."

 

Entering the cargo pod Neal found the kids had already set up beds for each of their guests and they had stayed away from the cages without being told.

Moving up to the first cage, Neal had Tess remove the top and sides, leaving the bottom and the chains. Carefully rolling the big fur over, he found a medpac slowly pumping drugs into her. Turning the medpac off, Neal removed it. Setting it aside, he asked Tess to analyze the contents. A medical scan showed the fur to be badly dehydrated, very under weight and generally in very poor shape. Neal attached a comm badge and one of Tess’s medpacs, and had her start giving the big cat fluids.

After checking each of them, Neal took a break, shaking his head at what he had found. He told the others, "All Rakshani, all female, three look like they were beaten a while back, but their injuries have almost healed. Someone was very scared of them or very stupid. They were using drugs strong enough to knock something Mike’s size down hard, but these furs are all less than half his mass."

 

She slowly awoke to the sound of quiet voices, the words not making any sense at first. She felt like she had slept for a very long time. That, and the way she could barely move her body, suggested she had been drugged. The quiet clunk of the chain when she did move told her she was in serious trouble. Breathing slowly and deeply to try and clear her head, she concentrated on the voices. One was deep sounding male voice. She involuntarily shivered when she realized it was human. The other came from a young cat.

"Don’t you have any drugs that would wake them up quicker?" the cat was asking.

"I have something that might work," the human replied, "but with everything they seem to have been through, I think it would be better to just let the drugs in their system wear off and let them wake up on their own. It would be easier on them, and less of a shock."

She was surprised that the cat had dared to question the human’s methods, and even more surprised that the human didn’t punish him for it. As she continued to watch, a hatch opened, and a rabbit and three very young taurs came in. Two of the taurs were quite small, and her anger rose at the thought that the human had such young slaves. The rabbit seemed to be a trustee. She was heading toward her master.

 

Stew walked over to where Neal was using a fold-out desk. He was reading through some of the data that Tess had already recovered from the pirate’s computers. "How did you want to handle feeding them?" she asked.

"Cool the soup so they can’t burn themselves, put down a bowl of water, and one of soup, about a half a liter in each." At her look he said, "With starvation recovery, it’s ‘slow and easy’; just a little at a time to get their systems used to food again. If we let them try to drink too much too fast, they’ll do themselves more harm than good by throwing up."

As they started placing soup and water bowls in front of each of the Rakshani, one of them lunged at the rabbit, her weakness more than her chains stopping her pounce well short of Stew.

Waving the surprised Stew away, Neal stepped up to the Rakshani, stopping just out of her reach. She stared at him growling, stopping after a moment to cough.

Neal gave her a small smile and pushed the bowl of water a little closer, "You’re too dry to even growl properly. Drink a little water and you can try again if you like." At her glare he picked up the water bowl and drank half of it. Setting the bowl down, he added, "You’re bigger than I am, anything in the water would hit me harder than it would you."

After watching him for a minute, she tried to get a drink but her paws shook so badly she knocked the bowl over when she tried to pick it up. Neal sat down on the edge of the cage and helped her sit up. Leaning against him, then taking a fresh bowl from the little foxtaur, he held it so all she had to do was drink. After she had finished off the water, Neal set the bowl down and just let her lean on him.

When she looked at him, he smiled, "Just let that settle, then we can try some soup." When she rattled her chains, he gave her a little squeeze, "The chains stay until you give your word that you won’t try to harm anyone on this ship."

"I don’t make deals with slavers," she growled/coughed.

"Not a problem. I’m not a slaver and you’re not a slave." At her glare he added, "The pirate ship they had you on ran into problems. We beamed you off when they lost power."

"I don’t believe you." She hissed.

"What would convince you?" Neal asked.

"Free us!" she all but shouted.

"Only on your word you won’t try to hurt any fur on this ship," Neal replied.

"You’re not a fur," she pointed out.

"I’ll take my chances," he said with a small smile.

At her nod, Tess released the shackles and the chains dropped off. As she stared at them, Neal smiled again. "Now, did you want to try the soup on your own, or would you like some help?"

After feeding her two bowls of soup, Neal and Mike helped her over to one of the beds. After getting her settled, he turned back to the row of Rakshani still in chains.

"What about the rest of you?" he asked. When none of them moved, he continued, "The comm badge each of you is wearing is monitoring your vitals so we would know if you were having problems, but it also lets me know that all but two of you are faking sleep."

The Rakshani in bed tried to get up, but Neal gently pushed her back. "Please don’t hurt them," she begged.

Neal just gave her a smile. "You were faking sleep too," he reminded her, "then you tried to attack one of my crew." At her apprehensive look, he shook his head as he chuckled. "I will have to think of a suitable punishment for that last part, but perhaps your friends have learned from your mistakes." Looking back at the other Rakshani, he said, "Well?"

One of the larger Rakshani tried to speak, but her throat was too dry. Neal helped her sit up and carefully fed her the water. When she indicated she wanted more, he told her she could have all she could hold, but she was going to take it a little at a time. After two more bowls of water and the soup, she was ready to try again.

"As ranking noncom, I give my word that my people will not harm your furs."

Neal smiled as he replied, "Having dealt with Rakshani a few times, I have some idea of how sneaky your kind can be, so my first question would be if all of these are ‘your’ people?" At her nod, he added, "And for your information, they are mine as far as the vixen that just came in is my denmate, and the young ones are my adopted children." He then asked, "What service are you in?" At her look he shrugged, "We will be going by a Star Fleet base in two days. We could drop you off there."

"NO!" she gasped, then realizing what she’d just done, she shut up and stared at the deck.

Neal started quietly cursing.

Having come in the middle of the conversation, Weaver asked, "Why would she not want to go home?"

The Rakshani remained silent, so Neal answered her question. "She doesn’t want Star Fleet to know they aren’t still on that pirate ship. That, and the information Tess has already pulled from the pirate’s computers, suggests they were on a Star Fleet vessel when they were taken prisoner." Looking up at Weaver, he added, "In other words, this was an inside job and there’s no telling where, or how deep into Star Fleet the rot goes." Looking at the kids, he indicated the other Rakshani. Each of the older kids picked one to release and help, the two little ones going to see if the Rakshani already in bed wanted some more soup. Lifting the chin of the Rakshani in his arms until she met his eye, he asked, "Tell me I’m wrong. Please." She only shook her head.

She bowed her head and began to speak. "My name is Zhanch ap Nashene na Zhane. I am a Marine sergeant in Star Fleet. We are part of the marine detachment for the cruiser ‘Montgomery Scott’. Three days from the Connadis system is the last thing I can remember."

"The medpacs you were wearing had their data recorders on," Neal told her. "Most of you have been drugged for a little more than five weeks." Giving the big cat in his arms a squeeze, he added, "Your medpac and two of the others showed two days less. Also, your medical scan suggests all three of you were beaten about that time. Do you remember any of it?"

She just shook her head, Neal looked to the other two. One of them waited for her sergeant’s nod before speaking, "I had a dream," she shuddered, "or maybe a nightmare, it kept fading in and out. They were trying to question the sergeant, but someone was saying that they had used the wrong drugs on her. They tried beating her, but the drugs seemed to keep her from feeling anything."

"What would the three of you know that the others wouldn’t?" Neal wondered.

Zhanch stiffened in Neal’s arms, "The command codes for the armory and the heavy mobile suits!" She looked at Neal. "If they were trying to get the codes from us, then our officers were already unable to talk!"

Looking thoughtful, Neal agreed. "That should reduce their boarding action fun, but they still have a Star Fleet cruiser to play with. Not a good thing." Looking at the Rakshani that had ‘remembered’ her dream, he asked, "Did you see any furs in your ‘dream’ or just humans?"

"All I remember were humans. Why?" she asked with a shiver.

"Because the pirate’s records strongly suggest Humans First involvement," Neal said softly. At the questioning looks, he expanded on his thought. "Take a cruiser-sized play-toy and add a bunch of fun-loving Humans First types." At their shocked stares, he could only shake his head. "The really bad news is that no one will realize they’re the enemy until it’s way too late."

After putting all the Rakshani to bed, Neal left two of the kids with them in case they needed help, most of them being too weak to even stand on their own. Going back to his day room, Neal started digging though the data Tess was still pulling from the pirate’s computers.

The next morning, a tired Neal joined the Rakshani as they finished their breakfast of soft foods and lots of liquids.

Sitting down next to Zhanch’s bed, he told them what he’d found. "The pirates were planning on taking your group to Pharos, one of the non-aligned worlds. Once there, they were going to sell you as slaves." Neal added, "They were part of the attack on your ship. A group of Humans First insiders gassed most of the ship and were able to take the bridge and engineering. Anyone not immediately overcome by the gas was shot. Their biggest mistake seems to be that the gas they used was too strong for most of the crew. They just stopped breathing. The few with some resistance to the gas acted like they were intoxicated. Some side notes suggest your group was asleep when they started using the gas. You were the only ones asleep that lived. The alert Rakshani were fighting the gas and got shot for their troubles." Glancing at the three that had been beaten, he added, "While they were trying to get the access codes from you, the gas still in your systems helped keep their truth drugs from working properly. That’s why they thought they had used the wrong drugs to question you." Neal’s tone changed at that point, a little more anger leaking out as he added, "Starvation, dehydration, and the drug overload they had you on would have killed you all long before you reached Pharos."

"And the human insiders?" asked the sergeant.

"Must have been wearing full body containment suits to protect themselves from the gas. Contact with the skin would knock a human out almost instantly; breathing it would kill in less than a minute. Any humans not in on the attack never knew what hit them."

"So if the gas killed most of the crew quickly, they may not have all the command level codes they need to properly run the ship." Zhanch said.

"The problem is all they need is enough to be able to move the ship, dock with a ‘victim to be’ and unload their troops and take over a ship or station from the inside. The trick is going to be finding a way to warn others without risking word getting back to the cruiser that we’re on to them." Looking at the sergeant Neal asked, "Is there anyone in Star Fleet that you trust enough to talk too?"

"A captain, but she won’t believe any message I send her."

"Don’t worry, she’ll believe the message we send her, who is she?"

"Zhane. The last I heard, she was the commander of Starbase 3."

"An old friend of yours?"

"She may still see me as an enemy." At Neal’s raised eyebrow, she added, "We were once after the same male. I ‘won’, only to lose him to someone else."

"And did she ever find a mate?"

"Yes, a human admiral named Boyce Kline."

"I would guess the male you two were fighting over didn’t rank so high?"

That earned a weak laugh out of Zhanch, "You could say that."

"Then if we can convince her, we should be able to get her admiral in on this too. Tess, schedule information please." After checking times and locations, Neal told the sergeant, "Our next stop is in two days. If they’re ready for us, we should only be there a few hours. If I push it, the Starbase is only four days from there, so we should be talking to your old ‘friend’ in less than a week. We will only have a day to convince her, then we’ll have to hurry to make our next port in time."

The Rakshani named Kestrel asked, "Isn’t this more important than your schedule?"

Neal smiled at her, "It is much more important than my schedule. However, I don’t want anyone wondering why the Folly is ‘late’ for the first time in over five years. Someone asking questions about us is the last thing we need right now." At her nod he added, "This way there’s nothing to ask questions about. All we have to do is keep your group out of sight."

After dropping off supplies at a frontier station they headed for Starbase 3 in the Rakshah Quadrant, two days out they received a hail. "Shadowchaser to Folly, where the blazes do you think you’re going in such a hurry?"

Shadowcrest was standing the early morning watch. As shi had Tess wake Neal, shi brought up the shields, set the sensors to actively scan the ship hailing them, and switched to tactical displays. As Neal hurried onto the bridge, shi gave him hir updated information. Having already heard the hail from Tess, Neal had Tess drop the shields and take Folly out of warp, at Shadowcrest’s stare, he just smiled and just said, "Trust me."

Reopening the comm channel, he asked Shadowchaser how far behind hir friends were. Shi replied that they should be arriving in less than an hour.

Shadowcrest was still watching the tactical displays. They showed only a large two-seated fighter, the tactical data sheet telling hir that it was a type normally carried by a larger ship or a station, and was deployed to chase down pirates or other foe. It was fast at both impulse and warp, but didn’t have much range.

Neal was changing the sensor parameters. Their range suddenly increased and they could now see two small carriers, each capable of launching up to eight fighters. Escorting them was a pair of pocket destroyers.

Reading their size and mass from the tactical displays, Neal told Shadowchaser the Folly could handle the load. Did hir captains understand the rules?

Shadowchaser assured Neal that the other captains would not cause problems. At Shadowcrest’s questioning look, Neal explained, "‘MY ship, MY rules’. If they don’t like it, they can always get out and walk."

As the other ships closed on the Folly, Neal had them split up, a carrier and destroyer to each side. As they reached the forward end of the ‘corncob’, Neal had the carriers discharge their fighters. Tess then started pulling them into two cargo pods, eight on each side. Once the fighters were parked, the pods were closed and pressurized.

Most of the kids were up by now and watching from another bridge. They got a surprise when Neal told Tess to open the ‘main hanger doors’. They had been told that the first cargo sphere was just for ’vacuum mass-storage’. They were about to see one of Neal’s definitions of that term. The second sphere they already knew held the main living space and long-term carrier-sized storage. The corncob had some unused living space and two of the bridges. All of its storage was limited to the external pods and the carrier transportation system. Between the spheres were eight protected docking ports that held the shuttles, only seven of the ports were currently in use.

A very large circle appeared on either side of the forward sphere, then the circles started to rotate to the rear, leaving holes big enough that both of the small destroyers could have passed though at the same time. Tess now backed the carriers in. Once they were parked, she blocked them in with the destroyers. After closing the sphere, the Folly went back to warp as if she didn’t notice the extra mass.

Neal, having already told the other kids to not be seen just yet, then had Tess direct the pilots back to their carriers and inform the other captains that he would be able to talk with them in a few hours. He then asked Shadowchaser to join him on the bridge. Shi came without asking directions or asking which bridge.

Shadowcrest watched hir enter, the look on hir face suggesting shi wanted a weapon to protect hir ship from an invader. Shadowchaser had entered the bridge with a cocky grin, only to stand slack-jawed, staring at the younger chakat at the navigation station.

Neal didn’t quite manage to hold back his chuckle, the noise causing both chakats to turn to him, with identical questioning looks that just made him laugh all the harder.

Wiping his eyes, Neal said, "Sorry kids, but those looks were priceless. Tess, please save them for the scrapbook under ‘crossed shadows."

"Sure thing boss," Tess replied.

"Kids?" asked Shadowcrest now totally confused.

"Shadowcrest, say hello to your big sister Shadowchaser. Chase meet Shadowcrest."

Their new staring contest was interrupted by the arrival of the rest of the kids, Weaver and Stew bringing up the rear. At Weaver’s look, he wiggled his eyebrows and said, "if you remember your first day onboard, I did say you would be surprised about something." She thought back and suddenly remembered her remark about him not being the father type.

To Shadowchaser he said, "As you can see, I seem to be in the stray collecting business again, though I will admit that I had a bit less control of my choices this time."

Weaver cocked her head as she asked him, "And do you consider that to be a bad thing?"

Neal laughed and replied, "Hell no! With the curse I’m under, it could have been a whole lot worse!"

It was Shadowchaser’s turn to look confused, "Curse?"

"Later," Neal told hir, then he started introducing hir to everyone. When he got to Stew, he warned her to expect nine more for dinner.

Shadowchaser corrected him with "Ten." At his raised eyebrow, shi said, "I want you to meet my mate."

This raised Neal’s other eyebrow and earned hir a laugh. "Oh yes, by all means bring your mate."

"One warning," Shadowchaser said giving Neal a wary look, "she’s an engineer."

Neal laughed again, "Then it will be interesting to see if you gave her enough warnings about me and my toys." Then turning serious he added, "We need to have a talk before I talk to your captains."

They left the bridge and headed to the holodeck, Neal was letting the Rakshani use it when they were up to it. Tess was shifting the environment to aid their movement and exercise, they were now able to get around a little but were quickly tired.

The sergeant stared at the Star Fleet uniform as she asked Neal, "Are you betraying us, captain?"

Neal gave her a frown. "Not at all Zhanch. You have those you think you can trust in Star Fleet, I have mine. May I introduce my daughter, Shadowchaser."

Looking at Shadowchaser, she said, "My apologies. I’m a little nervous about Star Fleet right now."

Neal looked at Shadowchaser, "They are not here, you did not see them." At hir raised eyebrow he added, "Star Fleet probably doesn’t know it yet, but one of their cruisers is no longer under their command. These Rakshani were left to die on a pirate ship heading for Pharos, we intercepted it five days ago. We were on our way to Starbase 3 when we got your hail. One of the things I got from the pirate’s logs was that the insiders had been onboard for months. They waited until the ship left station without any chakats onboard before they attacked. I’m pretty sure they were afraid the chakats would sense that they were up to something. So my first question for you is: which of the ships I just took onboard have chakats?"

"Are you serious?" Shadowchaser asked. At his nod, shi thought for a moment, then smiled, "Do skunktaurs count? If so then we should be okay. The carriers both have chakats in the crew, and I heard the destroyers each have a skunktaur."

"Just because you have chakats or skunktaurs onboard, it doesn’t mean you’re ‘in the clear’. It might just mean they’ll bide their time and think nice thoughts," Neal warned hir. "I’m having Tess scan all four ships and the fighters for anything out of the ordinary. That gas they used on the cruiser was nasty business."

Neal sent Shadowchaser back to hir ship with instructions to talk to the skunktaurs and chakats on the other ships. They were to see if any humans ‘felt’ stressed when around furs.

Neal then had his meeting with the captains and first officers from the other ships, all of whom were a little ill at ease. They weren’t used to having their superiors telling them to take orders from a civilian. One of the captains gave Neal a sealed package. Opening the package, Neal dropped a memory chip into a reader and quickly read though the papers that came with it. "Well it looks like your commander wants you to magically disappear from where you were and reappear in some pirate infested area. As luck would have it, I’m in a bit of a hurry, so you’re already quite a ways from where you were, and I’ve already been though some of the areas she’s suggested, so we can rule them out for now."

First officer Canner, a medium sized foxtaur tod, snorted at Neal’s statement. "And how would you know if there were pirates somewhere. They could have been shut down and hiding."

Looking over his glasses at the foxtaur, Neal asked, "You’re from the destroyer, ‘Spike’, right?" At the officer’s nod, he continued, "Tess, patch me though to the Spike’s bridge, I would like to talk to their on-duty sensors tech."

A moment later the speaker mounted on the table spoke, "This is sensors, Carson speaking."

"This is Captain Foster of the Folly, I was just checking to see if you had been tied into our sensor network, and to see if you were having any problems with the sensitivity of our systems."

Not knowing that his captain and first officer were listening in, Carson just laughed. "We’re still taking bets over here on if the data you’re sending us is real or just something you’re making up on the fly!"

Neal smiled. "And why would you question our data feed?"

Carson snorted, "Well, for one thing, your passive scans are ‘showing’ non-powered objects at five times the range my sensors could, and the couple of times your people went active my display wouldn’t scale far enough out to see what they were looking at!"

"How could you confirm the data, without having to slow us down or unload your ship?"

Carson thought for a moment. "I’ve heard that some of the fighters have had a sensor upgrade, if one of them could parallel our course, we could compare the data once it got back."

Neal smiled, "I think that could be arranged. Passive only though. There aren’t supposed to be any military ships in this area."

"That would be enough to prove it to me and maybe even my skipper and first mate. They were betting on the side that says you’re feeding us a line," Carson replied.

Neal’s smile was making the officers in question squirm on their couches. "Tess, since Shadowchaser was able to spot us as we went by, I’m betting shi has the enhanced sensor package. " Hir carrier Captain, Chakat Autumnbreeze, raised an eyebrow at hir first officer who nodded at Neal. "Looks like a yes. Ask Shadowchaser if shi’s up for another little run; maybe an hour or two."

Five minutes later, the Folly dropped out of warp, the large door on a pod swung open and a fighter slipped out. Moments later, both ships jumped to warp, the larger ship masking the fighter’s jump to warp.

With hir sensors at max, Shadowchaser pushed the fighter’s speed up so that shi could pull away from the Folly while continuing to parallel her. After thirty minutes, the fighter was ten times as far away as the Folly’s suspected maximum passive range. Shi then started jinking around so hir data recorder would have something on it that the Folly wouldn’t be able to guess about. Shadowchaser then sped back to the Folly, both ships again dropping out of warp together.

Once back onboard Shadowchaser had just opened the canopy when hir wing commander came up demanding, "What’s the big idea trying to overstress your fighter?"

Shadowchaser smiled, "So you saw?"

"Saw? Hell, we had front row seats! That Captain Foster of yours had some kind of probe all but up your tail the whole time going out, it was playing ‘follow the leader’ during your stunt flying, and then it flew circles around you almost all the way back. Didn’t you see it?"

Shadowchaser frowned at the last bit of information. "How close was it?" shi asked.

"Its warp field was as close as a hundred kilometers from yours," hir boss told hir. Looking confused, he asked, "You really didn’t see it, did you?"

Shaking hir head, Shadowchaser smiled as shi saw the expression on hir commander’s face. "It seems that my adopted father is still capable of making ‘toys’ that can and will drive others crazy."

 

Dinner wasn’t quite what the guests had expected for a freighter. While there was no rhyme or reason to the seating, and everyday dishes, the food looked like it had come from a five star restaurant. Neal had warned them not to try talking shop during the meal. His cook had a nasty tendency to over-spice things if she thought people were ignoring her food.

The small talk wasn’t what they were expecting either. When one of the Folly’s ‘crew’ was asked what shi had done that day, shi informed them that shi and hir sister had practiced flying one of the heavy shuttles. They had been hauling fully loaded pods between the Folly and a space station, as well as an Earth-type planet without getting into any trouble. With this coming from a pair of six year olds, and having already had their collective noses rubbed in the fact that this freighter didn’t practice the idea of ‘normal’, the officers were a little reluctant to ask the older kids what they had been up to.

Shadowchaser and hir mate, a foxtaur vixen named Redfoot, had secured seating pads next to Neal. As they finished off the dessert, a ‘death by chocolate’ cake with ice-cream, shi asked him, "Just what did you have playing tag with us anyway?"

"A ‘baby’ Zulu." Neil replied.

Before Shadowchaser could ask another question, Captain Autumnbreeze cut in, "And what is a ‘Zulu’?" Shi had watched the ‘sensor test’ flight, Neal had given them both the direct feed from the Folly and the feed off the ‘probe’ that had followed the fighter out. Comparing the data with what Shadowchaser’s recorder had brought back had convinced hir that sneaking up on the Folly would be almost impossible even without a probe adding to her range.

Neal was taking a moment to decide if he wanted Star Fleet to know how helpless the Folly wasn’t. He finally decided he’d already shown them too much A little more wasn’t really going to matter.

"The ‘Zulus’ are the Folly’s defensive fight or flight craft. For flight they are very fast and long ranged," Neal looked at the other officers as he said, "For fight, they have long-range sensors and transporters that can penetrate most shields." Raising a hand to hold off the questions that several of the furs were trying to ask he added, "Releasing a gram or two of antimatter on someone’s bridge could ruin their whole day." A gram being more than enough to destroy most ships, that was a bit of an understatement.

"And a ‘baby’ Zulu?" shi asked.

"Smaller, unmanned, no transporter, less fuel, made for scouting, and ramming."

"Ramming?" first officer Canner asked, his eyes wide.

Neal gave him an evil smile, "Scouts and the ‘last chance’ to protect this ship."

Autumnbreeze asked, "Have you ever needed to use them?"

"The baby Zulus are often used when I’m hunting pirates. Their scanner range is about eighty-five percent of the Folly’s, so with six of them running parallel to her we can cover a very wide sweep. The Zulus come in handy when I’m trying to stay out of range of something that might be able to see or damage the Folly before I can disable them."

Shadowchaser said, "I don’t remember any of the Zulus being as fast as my fighter."

Neal chuckled, "They weren’t at that time. With just me running the Folly, I’ve always had lots of idle time to tinker with new ideas and redesign old ones. The Zulus are now about half again as fast as your fighter. The baby that was chasing you earlier never got up to 30% of its top speed. At slower speeds they’re easier to mask, so there was almost nothing for you to see."

Autumnbreeze broke the sudden silence. "So you have high-speed concealed parking for a small fleet, and enough power to protect against a small fleet. A ship that looks like it should be pirate bait is really a pirates’ bane. Any other tricks up your sleeve, Captain?"

Neal looked to Shadowchaser. Shi nodded. "I checked all four ships, and said hello to everyone on them, if there’s a Humans First type among us, he or she has a split personality." When Neal remained silent shi frowned. "Well?"

Shaking his head, he replied, "It’s not my call to make."

A few minutes later, Zhanch staggered into the room, two of the kids jumping up and helping her to a chair before she could collapse. She looked at Neal and nodded, then bowed her head as she fought to get her breath back.

With every visiting eye on Zhanch, Neal softly spoke, "The Rakshani before you was part of the marine detachment onboard the cruiser, ‘Montgomery Scott’. We pulled her group off a pirate vessel five days ago. All indications are that the ‘Montgomery Scott’ has been under new management for six weeks now. The logs off the pirate ship suggest the cruiser now belongs to a Humans First group. The only mixed blessing is that the gas they used may have killed the people that could have given them some of the keys to the ship."

"But you don’t know that for sure, do you?" This from Goldeneyes, the other carrier captain.

"No, but if they had captured any of the bridge officers alive, they wouldn’t have needed to try and beat the codes for the armory and heavy suits out of the sergeant here."

"What do we do now?" asked Shadowchaser.

"You’re going to stay concealed. Zhanch and I are going to talk to someone in Star Fleet she trusts. Then we have one port we have to make." Neal then gave them all an evil smile. "And then we’ll see if we can’t drop you on some pirates."

After dinner, Shadowchaser and Redfoot joined Neal in the lounge, Weaver and most of the kids tagging along.

Once everyone was seated, Redfoot gave Neal a grin. "Chase has warned me about you and your ‘toys’. So instead of saying they can’t work, may I ask ‘how’?"

Returning her grin with one of his own, Neal asked, "And which ‘how’ did you want to attempt first?"

Redfoot cocked her head, "How are you getting a warp field around something this big?"

Neal smiled, "And where do you see a problem getting the field to stretch that far?"

Giving him a dirty look, Redfoot said, " Your engines aren’t strong enough to cover the second sphere, much less the first, no mater how much power you pump into them."

Neal looked thoughtful. "You’re not by chance using the type of engine nacelles you saw as a reference, are you?" At her curious nod, he added, "I only used those old nacelles because they would just barely hold the two modified Voxxan warp engines I used. " At her look of total bewilderment, he grinned, "Two engine nacelles, four engines."

Shaking her head, Redfoot said, "Why? That would just increase the strength of your warp field, not extend it!"

"If they were set up the same, yes. But what if one set of engines was set to distort or push against the field of the other? Just like with magnetic fields where you can use a second magnet to change the size and shape of the fields being generated by the first." Getting up, Neal held out his hand to Redfoot. When she took it, he pulled her to her feet. With a wink at Shadowchaser, he said, "I wouldn’t wait up if I were you," as he led Redfoot out the door.

Outside the holodeck, Neal told Tess, "Engineering training room please."

It was two in the morning ship time when Shadowchaser decided it was time to bail hir mate out. Shi and Weaver had talked into the wee hours. Entering the holodeck, shi found Redfoot just staring at an engineering diagram, Neal waiting patiently for her next question. Pulling hir mate to her feet, shi said, "Looks like you overdid it again."

Neal gave hir a smile and wrapped them both in a hug. "Maybe a little, but she’s doing better than most of the other so called ‘engineers’ that I’ve tried to explain it to. You’ve made a good choice in mates with this one. She’ll keep you on your toes. And she must really love you to be willing to put up with me!"

 

Once at Starbase 3, it took a couple of tries to speak with the base commander. Her receptionist kept referring him to different departments rather than letting him have access to her boss.

Neal finally gave up on using regular channels of gaining access to the base commander and transported a message to Captain Zhane ap Nashene na Zhane’s desk, complimenting her on her receptionist’s abilities, but adding that he really did have a security related issue that he would not pass on for someone else to decide if it was important enough for her to be informed of.

Zhane was at lunch when the message appeared. Her receptionist saw it first, but wisely left it alone when she read the last lines. ‘If I still don’t get a response from you I will assume your receptionist made off with this note. My next available means of contacting you would be by tying into the starbase’s public address system, or getting your attention by rattling your station’s walls by pulsing my radar against them.’

Zhane received Neal rather coolly, her receptionist having seen fit to play down just how hard Neal had previously tried to get in touch with her.

It hadn’t helped that the Star Fleet database didn’t have a whole lot on either this Neal Foster or his ‘Folly’. When she had tried cross-referencing with the Federation’s civilian database, she was surprised that there was a Federation link that, when activated, told any civilian authority asking about Neal Foster or the ‘Folly’ to give any and all assistance he/they requested and to not interfere with him/them in any way.

When closing out of the Federation database, a Star Fleet authentication had come up. Once Zhane had passed the verification, she found herself staring at a Star Fleet command issued by an Admiral Silvermane, and while it didn’t quite order her to ‘give any and all assistance’ nor to ‘not interfere’ it did suggest doing so unless having a very good reason not to.

Neal explained his having rescued Rakshani captives from a disabled pirate ship, and that they had been on the cruiser ‘Montgomery Scott’ when they were gassed and given to the pirates. He left out the minor fact that he had disabled the pirate in the first place.

When Neal was finished, Zhane gave him a tight smile. "A very interesting story, Captain. Do you have anything to prove what you’ve told me?"

Neal tapped his comm badge. "Tess, is the sergeant ready?" With her affirmative, he said, "Then beam her over."

Zhane had been about to tell him his transporters wouldn’t be able to make it though her security screens when the figure materialized in front of her. Her mood went from surprised shock that her security was so easily breached, to fury when she saw who stood before her.

With her claws digging deep grooves into her desk she stared at Zhanch and demanded, "Why have you brought that damned creature to me?"

Neal spoke softly, trying to calm her down, "This is one of the fourteen we rescued from the pirate ship, and you on the other hand, were the only one in Star Fleet Zhanch trusted enough to try to contact."

As Zhane continued staring at her old rival, Neal indicated that the sergeant should sit down. When she remained standing, he stepped over and gently pushed her into a chair, quietly growling, "Sit down before you fall down. You’re in no shape to challenge Starblazer, much less the Captain." Zhane was shocked to realize that Zhanch had tried to continue standing. Looking harder, Zhane finally realized how thin and frail Zhanch really was.

Turning away from his charge, Neal gave Zhane a wary look. "As for you," he told the captain, "I understand you two once fought over a male, is that correct?" Surprised by the personal assault, Zhane only nodded. "Then I have a question for you," Neal said. When she arched an eyebrow, he continued, "If you had won that male, would you be where you are today? Would you have been as happy with him as you are with your current mates?" To her confused look, he added one more little push. "How you answer those questions should help you determine whether you should still hate Zhanch, or possibly be thankful that she got in your way at the time."

The two Rakshani just stared at each other for almost a minute, then Zhane came around her desk and knelt next to the chair Zhanch was half sitting, half lying in. The words they used were too soft for Neal to hear, and while he could always have Tess tell him what was being said, he figured it really wasn’t anything he needed to know. He moved over to sit on a couch against the far wall, only pausing to sweep his hand over the deep grooves Zhane had made in her desk, Tess smoothing them out as he went over them.

The Rakshani whispered between themselves for over ten minutes, the last few in a tight hug. Finally releasing Zhanch, Zhane stood up, straightening her uniform as she moved back to her desk. Once she was seated she looked at Neal. "Well, Captain, do you have any other surprises to drop on me?"

"The Rakshani I have with me were starved for over five weeks. The only liquid they received during that time was from the drugs that were pumped into their systems. While some of them are showing limited signs of improvement, Tess’ scans suggest they are still in danger. I would like your sickbay to run a full physical on each of them. The more information we have, the better we can treat them."

"That’s easily done. Have them report to sickbay. I’ll have the doctors standing by."

"One problem with them reporting anywhere…" At her raised eyebrow Neal continued, "Zhanch is the most mobile of the group, and she has problems going a hundred yards without collapsing. Would it be possible for me to beam them straight to your sickbay? Or someplace where your people can wheelchair or gurney them to sickbay?"

There was more than a little frost in her voice when Zhane replied, "Thank you for reminding me, Captain. Just how did you manage to transport her through my security screens?"

"The same way I got that note past your receptionist. Didn’t she tell you that she didn’t place it on your desk?" at Zhane’s headshake, he continued, "Your screens are set to only sense and block limited bands of the spectrum. My systems simply detected what yours would block and shifted around them. That’s also why your alarms didn’t go off. They’re not watching where I’m beaming. If you like, I’ll give you my word that I will not beam anything else on or off you station without your knowledge."

Zhane looked at her desk for a moment, noticing the repairs where she had dragged her claws across it. She then looked at her blanked display. She was starting to understand why a Star Fleet admiral might have to keep her people from locking this maniac up. From what she’d seen so far, he only obeyed rules when they were what he wanted to do anyway. Looking up from her desk, she locked eyes with the infuriating human. "I noticed you used the word ‘knowledge’ and not ‘permission’. Why is that?"

Neal smiled. "I only give my word on what I’m sure I can keep." Then giving her a grin he added, "If it will make you more comfortable, I have a non-Rakshani member of Star Fleet onboard. If you like, I will leave control of all transports to and from your station in hir paws."

Zhanch caught Zhane’s eye and nodded. Zhane looked back to Neal. "May I ask what shi’s doing on your ship?"

"Shi and some friends are just hitching a ride."

Neal’s reply earned a soft snort from Zhanch. When the other two looked at her, she looked at Neal as she said, "You do seem to have the second method down to a science."

Neal chuckled while Zhane looked confused. Zhanch smiled. "I had noticed that while Captain Foster never tells an outright lie, you won’t always get the truth either."

Neal continued for her. "When she cornered me on it, I admitted that I try to use the last two methods of lying rather than the first." At Zhane's raised eyebrow he grinned. "The first method is of course the outright lie." He waited for her nod. "The second is the partial or half truth. I told you earlier that I had rescued Zhanch and company from a disabled pirate, I left out that I disabled them in the first place."

Shaking her head, Zhane asked, "and the third method?"

"Is the hardest one of all," Neal told her. "It only works if you’ve read your audience just right. You tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. You just tell it in such a way that no one believes you. So, would you believe me if I told you that some commander in Star Fleet was crazy enough to give me sixteen fighters and four starships to drop on some pirates if I find any?"

Zhane looked toward Zhanch. "First?"

Zhanch shook her head. "Third."

Neal asked, "May I have hir beam over? The Folly’s not currently docked, so it’s that or waste time with a shuttle."

At her nod, Neal asked Tess to beam Shadowchaser to Zhane’s office.

After telling Shadowchaser that shi would be in charge of getting Zhanch and the others to and from Zhane's sickbay, Neal prepared to have a chat with Zhane’s quartermaster. This hadn’t been on his list of stops, but maybe he could do a little business while the doctors did their examinations.

Zhane asked, "By the way, just how well do you know Silvermane?"

"Silvermane?" Neal asked, surprised by both the subject change as well as the name.

"Admiral Silvermane seems to know you pretty well," Zhane said, surprised and a little pleased that she had been able to surprise this captain with all the answers.

Neal asked, "How is she mixed up in this? I’ve heard of her, but I’ve never dealt with her personally."

Zhane activated and spun around her workstation display so Neal and Shadowchaser could see the Star Fleet commands issued by Admiral Silvermane.

Looking at the dates on the orders, Shadowchaser commented, "Looks like somebody figured out just who stepped on all those civilian and Star Fleet toes and tails doing that cruise ship rescue."

"Perhaps…" Neal replied, "but how did Silvermane get wind of it? The Folly didn’t even have a name at the time, or her current configuration, I was still in the middle of testing different setups and settings."

At Zhane's puzzled look, Shadowchaser smiled. "A cruise ship, the Starburst of the Canaris Lines, lost main power months from the nearest port. Star Fleet, the Canaris Lines and several civilian groups spent more time quarrelling about who needed to do what than actually mounting a rescue. When they finally got it in gear and sent ships to start moving the passengers off the disabled ship, the ship was gone. Where it should have been was a large rock, the words ‘too little, too late’ written across one of its sides." Shadowchaser’s smile widened, "Two hours before they found that rock, about three and a half days after the mayday, the Starburst was being docked in her berth at the Canaris Lines facility orbiting earth. Two heavy lift shuttles were playing ‘tugboats’ and pushed her right up to the docking clamps." Shadowchaser chuckled, "Until today, Neal had thought he’d gotten away clean."

Zhane turned to Neal. "And the rock?"

Neal snorted. "At the time, I was testing to see how far I could stretch my warp fields and how much mass my test configuration could handle. I needed something big that I wouldn’t care if I damaged, say by not getting all of it in the warp field." Looking at Zhane he grinned. "The Starburst was a little smaller than my test rock. I just released it and picked up the ship, hooked up some power to keep their life support going, and gave her poor captain the ride of his life!" At her raised eyebrows, he smiled again, "Think about it. As the captain of a disabled ship, you’re sitting on your bridge, the only thing working is your sensors, and yet your ship is moving faster than it ever has before. The only problem is it’s not under your control, you don’t even know the person or the ship that’s pushing you home."

"‘Too little, too late’?"

Neal frowned. "I had gotten tried of listening to all the long-range fighting over who should be doing what. I was close enough, I had more than enough power, so I quietly did what needed doing. The note was just my way of suggesting that next time they ‘pull their primary sensory organs out of their solid waste disposal chutes’ a little faster."

Zhane cocked her head. "But why not claim credit for the rescue?"

Neal shook his head. "At the time, I was trying to keep a lower profile; ‘out of sight, out of mind’, although I don’t seem to have fooled your admiral. These orders may also be the reason officials that were giving me a hard time suddenly ‘rolled over’ and played nice over the years. From the looks of this, your ‘Silvermane’ has had her paws in my business for a long time."

Shadowchaser frowned as shi said, "Now that I think about it, I’m sure the name Silvermane was also mixed into the orders sending us out to meet the Folly."

Neal returned that with a frown of his own, "The note and message chip they gave me was signed by a commander named Harras. Any idea when those orders were cut?"

"Three, maybe four weeks ago. Why?" shi asked.

"And what type of E.T.A. did they give you for the Folly?" Neal asked, a look of concern on his face.

"You were about six hours early, we had just started to deploy when I saw you flash by at close to the limits of my sensors." Cocking hir head shi asked, "What are you leading up to father?"

Ignoring the look of surprise from Zhane at his relationship to the Star Fleet pilot, Neal looked at Shadowchaser. "It’s just that I had no plans to go through that particular piece of space anytime this year, so how did this admiral of yours know where to place you at least two weeks before I had a reason to take that route?"

Zhane looked thoughtful, "So that would have been two or three weeks after the cruiser was taken."

Neal slowly shook his head. "And if Admiral Silvermane had an informer onboard and had known where both the pirate’s flight plan and mine would intersect, and knew what I’d do with both the pirates and their ‘cargo’." Looking at Zhane he added, "Your admiral would also have needed to know that Zhanch had survived, would talk to me and only trust you, otherwise I could have dropped them off at some other starbase, or I could have waited and taken them to your home world when I go there later this year." Shaking his head again Neal added, "Now I really want to meet this ‘Silvermane’."

 

The medical testing went quickly, most of the news was as bad as Tess’ scans had suggested. The abuse their bodies had received had prematurely aged them, their organs were slowly failing and the doctors didn’t expect them to survive for more than a few years even with medical assistance.

Neal offered to take them home. The Folly would be heading there in a little over three months, or they could stay at the starbase and catch the next ship heading their way. Zhane had dinner with Zhanch and company to go over their options. Six hours later, the Folly pulled away from Starbase 3, Zhane and the other Rakshani having decided that it would be best if they stayed with a ship and crew that already knew their needs and was willing to take care of them.

 


Chapter 3  

 

The plan had been simple enough. In the early morning hours, the kids would help Neal move the Rakshani to rooms in a hotel near the New Kiev spaceport. Star Fleet was still holding a ‘news blackout’ about the missing cruiser; no information was being released concerning the ‘Montgomery Scott’ or her crew. Once they were at the hotel, the Rakshani could send any messages they wanted to their families and friends, without there being a link to the Folly or to Star Fleet. With them dressed as elderly tourists, no one would look twice, or wonder why they might need help getting around.

That plan died a quick and painful death. They were just starting to round the last corner on their way to the spaceport’s main lobby. As usual, the younger kids couldn’t wait, so Quickdash was the first to start around the corner. There was a flash as the pulse of a beam weapon passed over hir head, momentarily blinding hir and scorching the fur on the tips of hir ears. The second shot was lower, and would have caught hir mid-upper-chest if shi hadn’t been yanked back by the tail. Dusk let go of hir tail, while Neal tore the comm badge off hir tube top. After grabbing four more from the other kids, he told Tess to ‘record for tactical’. He then tossed them high and around the corner.

Tess was playing the video feed straight to Neal’s glasses, and the kids watched his surprise and anger mount. The scene before him was like something from a bad gene war movie. The bodies of over a dozen furs lay where they’d been shot. A large group of humans each with a big ‘H1’ on their shoulders was using phasers on anything that moved. A small group of spaceport guards were trying to harass the attackers, but their stunners and phasers were having little affect against the personal shields the Humans Firsts were wearing. Tess then told Neal her transporters were being blocked from reaching the humans. He would need to take out any transport inhibitors before she could help directly.

The Rakshani were confused when Neal told Tess he needed ‘Betsey’ with solid shot. Then the shotgun materialized in his hands. Starting around the corner, Neal saw the kids were preparing to follow him. The look he gave them, and the growled command, "STAY!" rooted them where they stood. The Rakshani were also momentarily frozen by his order.

As he glanced around the corner and yelled at Tess for a force field, Shadowcrest told Tess to get Shadowchaser and hir friends. Their daddy was going to need help.

Neal’s old shotgun only looked old; the ‘choke’ was magnetic. When used with solid rounds, it did double duty as a baby rail-gun, boosting the speed of the projectile far beyond what the gunpowder could do. The five round magazine never ran dry, because as long as he stayed out of range of the transport inhibitors Tess could beam in more ammo as she recharged the magnetic systems.

With the magnetic system up as high as it would go without taking his arm off, Neal started to fire into the Humans First group. It still took him three or four good hits to take each of them down, deflecting the slugs taking more shield power than absorbing a shot from a beam weapon. Also the kinetic force from the impact of the slug would sometimes knock them into each other, shorting their personal shields together, and robbing them of power.

Neal was so busy shooting at the main group, that he never even noticed Shadowchaser and the crews from the other ships. They started taking out the smaller groups at the other entrances to the lobby. They had quickly discovered their beam weapons weren’t up to the task, so Shadowchaser had requested shotguns from Tess. There were a few minor injuries while they relearned what ‘action-reaction’ was all about, but then they started clearing the entrances so the local authorities could get in to help.

The Rakshani were in no shape to handle shotguns, but they found that ‘group’ phaser firing on a single target was almost as good. Zhanch would ‘tag’ a target, and the rest would fire as one. Their only casualty came when Starblazer got loose; she was trying to run away from all the noise and exploding wall tiles. She was running past the end of a half wall that the Rakshani were hiding behind, when she was spotted. The last Rakshani in line was Dessa; she dived out into the open and grabbed the infant. Throwing Starblazer back behind the barrier, Dessa then tried to follow only to be hit in the hip by a phaser blast. At Zhanch’s call of ‘fur down’, Tess had beamed Dessa back to the Folly. She was placed in a suspended animation field that was normally used to keep foods from spoiling during long trips.

Neal had stepped to one side after the first few massed phaser shots had started coming from behind him. Now he stood almost behind a column, firing as fast as he could chamber the next round. The return fire seemed to be going everywhere but at him. Most of the Humans First types having never had to aim at a target that had a chance of killing them first, they were more used to hunting those that couldn’t fight back. When some of them had tried to make a run for it, they were met by Shadowchaser and hir crews, who had already cleared out the smaller nests of humans at the entrances.

Finally, Neal could see the transport inhibitors; there were three of them in the center of the group. He managed to take out two of them before the remaining humans started trying to protect the last inhibitor. However, that opened a gap for Shadowchaser’s crew, one of their shots shorted the last inhibitor’s power pack, taking out several of the closer humans when it blew.

Tess then started using her transporters. Removing the power pack connections from their weapons and shield generators, she changed them from a fighting force into easy targets. A missed shot hit a pile of spare power packs, the resulting explosion taking out the last of the Humans First group, while Tess’s force fields protected Neal and the others from flying debris.

With the shooting over, most of Shadowchaser’s crew started slipping away, Tess beaming them back to their ships once they were out of sight of the local authorities.

It took Neal a moment to realize that it was over, even with Tess flashing an ‘all clear’ in his glasses. Then, through the ringing in his ears, he heard a groan: a fox tod near him was still alive. Setting down his shotgun, Neal asked Tess for a med kit. Taking out the medpac, he placed it on the fox’s chest. Tess remotely worked the needles into the veins, as Neal used zip-ties just above the missing knee and arm to help keep the fur from bleeding to death. Once the needles were in place, Tess took a blood sample, then beamed in the correct blood plasma and started pumping it into the tod’s system.

With the fox stabilized, Neal moved to the next fur. He found there was nothing he could do for her; she had already died from her injuries.

Neal started walking past the next two furs; both of the taurs having had their upper torsos almost completely destroyed. Something caught his attention and he looked back at the taurs. There was no way he could help them, they would have been impossible to save even if a full med team had been standing by when they were hit. Again, he started to turn away, only to feel something still pulling at him. This time he knelt next to the taurs; one had been a chakat, the other a foxtaur vixen. He gently placed his hand on the vixen’s belly, only to yank it back in surprise. Something had moved under his hand! Grabbing a medical scanner, Neal quickly checked the unborn child, then made his decision. Pulling a scalpel out of the kit, he started to cut the vixen open, as a doctor would when the mother was unable to go though a normal birth.

One of the foxtaur guards did a double take; a blood stained human that reeked of spent gunpowder, was calmly butchering a taur corpse. He had started to draw his phaser, when a large hand clamped over his. Following the hand up, he found himself staring at a large equitaur.

Mike wasn’t watching the guard; he was watching Neal. When the guard again tried to free his weapon, Mike tightened his grip, and simply said, "Wait."

Realizing that he was wasting time using a method that protected both mother and child, Neal changed his small cautious cut to one that crossed the vixen’s belly. Once the belly was open, it was a simple matter to cut open the womb, letting the unborn child fall into his hands. After using a small zip-tie to pinch off the umbilical, he cut the cord and lifted the baby chakat to his lap. When the child didn’t start breathing, Neal lowered his head and placing the child’s nose and mouth in his mouth. He then puffed a little air into hir, only to get a mouthful of fluids in return. Turning his head to spit out the fluids, Neal gripped the base of hir tail with his left hand. Lifting hir by the tail, he raised hir until hir mouth was level with his own, the rest of hir over his head. Using his right hand to guide hir inverted nose and mouth into his mouth, Neal gave hir a breath, then he released hir head, letting the fluids drain from hir mouth and throat. He then gave hir another breath. This time the tiny chakat responded, first with a large gush of fluids pouring from hir mouth and nose, and then shi inhaled, and started crying. Neal continued to hold hir tail high, letting hir cry the rest of the fluids from hir throat and both sets of lungs.

The guard was no longer trying for his weapon. He was just watching in disbelief as the human lowered the still-crying chakat and cradled hir in his arms. "Why would he do such a thing, and how did he know how to do it? Is he a doctor?"

Mike smiled. "The ‘why’ seems to be he collect strays." At the guard’s stare he added, "I should know. After all, he took my group in when we ‘strayed’. As to how... No, he’s not a doctor, but I know he did a lot of studying when he found out there was a chance he might have to play midwife to a foxtaur while between ports. That delivery went without complications. It looks like all his extra studying paid off."

Shadowcrest slowly stepped up to where Neal knelt, still holding the now quiet infant. After a minute, Neal noticed hir. Looking a little dazed and giving Shadowcrest a sad smile, he said, "It looks like you’re going to have a new sister. For some reason, I think hir name should be Firestorm. Looks like we’ll need to find a chakat wet nurse after all." Handing the newborn to Shadowcrest, Neal told hir to get Firestorm cleaned up, and take hir to the local hospital for a checkup. Hir lungs seemed to be developed enough, but rest of hir might still be too immature to survive without medical assistance.

With the cub wrapped in a towel Tess provided, Shadowcrest and four of the teens were beamed to the hospital. Neal remained kneeling for another moment, then he slowly got up and staggered toward an unoccupied hallway. Seeing some of the kids starting to follow, he waved them back. Once around a corner, he fell to his knees and emptied his stomach on the floor, his eyes stinging as he cried.

Shadowchaser and CalmMeadow had started to hurry after Neal when he turned the corner, only to stop when they heard what he was doing. Shadowchaser signaled to CalmMeadow to wait there, shi then went back into the lobby. Some of the bodies were still being tended to or removed as shi went to one of the small shops that lined the lobby walls. Reaching into a shattered display case, shi removed two bottles of water, from another a tube of toothpaste and a brush. The brush was a bit large for a human, but it was the smallest undamaged one shi could see. Returning to CalmMeadow, they waited until Neal’s sobs had died down, then they slowly came around the corner. Pushing a water bottle into his hand they got him to rinse his mouth, shi then handed him the brush, already loaded with paste. After he cleaned his mouth out, Neal managed to drink some of the water, both to help rinse the stomach acids from his raw throat and to try to settle his stomach.

Letting the kids help him to his feet, he let them lead him to a bench where he could sit down, Shadowchaser letting him lean against hir and keeping him from falling over. Neal rested for a moment and then asked Tess for a status report. Tess told him she had the exhausted Rakshani back onboard. She then informed him of Dessa’s injuries and how she had received them. Since this was more than her sickbay could handle, Tess wanted to know if she should beam Dessa to the hospital?

Neal let out a long sigh. "No, she was injured protecting our family; treat her as such." When Tess pointed out that there would be repercussions, Neal had just smiled and said, "So be it. If her injuries are as bad as you say they are, then she has a better chance with you than the hospital. You have my authorization to process her." To CalmMeadow’s questioning look, Neal just said, "You’ll see soon enough."

They were making their way back to the lobby, to collect the rest of the group, when Tess reported that Shadowcrest was having problems at the hospital. Someone was trying to take the cub away from hir. Neal stopped dead in his tracks, his head down, eyes shut, something more than a frown working its way onto his face. In turn, CalmMeadow and the other chakats were almost belly down, eyes wide and ears flattened to their skulls at the rage emanating from him. After a moment his head came up, and his eyes opened. They had been bloodshot before from the gunpowder and tears, but now there was an additional fire that suggested that he wasn’t putting up with any more problems today.

"Beam me to hir," Neal whispered. He found himself in a large examining room. Shadowcrest was being held by two guard-type furs, while a chakat in a nurse’s top was carrying a screaming Firestorm out of the room.

The nurse turned in time to see a human appear in the middle of the room. His red hair a filthy tangle, his face wild looking and his body smelling of spent gunpowder. Blood stained his pants past mid-thigh, but his bloodshot eyes were what terrified hir. They and the emotions that seemed to hang around him like a shroud sent hir running for the door, only to find it would not open for hir. The guards had let go of Shadowcrest and reached for their weapons, only to find them missing.

Neal slowly looked around the room, then nodded his head at Shadowcrest. "Get Firestorm," he growled through his raw throat. "Then you can tell me what’s going on."

"They wouldn’t let the others in with me," Shadowcrest said and gave the nurse a dirty look. "Then shi wouldn’t give Firestorm back when shi refused to nurse from hir." Looking at the floor, shi added, "Shi called the guards when I tried to get Firestorm back."

Neal gave hir a tired smile. "With everything that’s happened today, you forgot your other resources." At hir questioning look he added, "As my daughter, you can draw on many of the same resources I use. For example, say ‘Tess’."

Shadowcrest gave him a weary grin. "Thanks, daddy." Then looking at the others in the room shi said. "Tess, please restrain the guards and keep the nurse from moving." Stepping up to the nurse, shi found the nurse was clutching the cub tightly. Giving hir another dirty look, Shadowcrest just said, "Tess…" The astonished nurse felt hir fingers being slowly forced open and, after a moment, Shadowcrest was able to take the cub from hir. Carrying the still-crying cub to Neal, shi laid hir in his arms. Neal was as surprised as everyone else when Firestorm almost immediately stopped crying, and then tried to suck on his dirty fingers.

Giving the cub a tired smile, Neal said, "Well, you seem to have the right idea. Now let’s see if we can get you fed." He started to step towards the nurse, only to stop at hir look of fear and revulsion. Shaking his head, Neal moved over to one of the chairs and slowly sat down. Looking at Firestorm, he said, "Tess, use their public address system. See if you can locate a chakat wet nurse, one that doesn’t mind dealing with humans. Extra points if shi likes to travel."

It was only a few minutes later that Chakat Moonglow entered the room. Shi was followed by two guards, who stationed themselves at the door. With the door open, the other nurse and guards beat a hasty retreat. Moonglow walked over to Neal and said, "I understand you’re looking for a wet nurse." Neal handed Firestorm to Moonglow, only to have the child start pushing away and crying.

Taking Firestorm back from Moonglow, Neal cocked an eyebrow at the coffee-and-cream colored wet nurse and said, "Shi won’t let you hold hir, and I can’t breastfeed. What if we try it together?"

The guards helped shift the exam couch so it was in front of Neal’s chair. He had Moonglow stretch out on the couch, and then adjusted it until hir breasts were just higher than his knees. Laying Firestorm in his lap, Neal gently aimed hir nose at one of Moonglow’s nipples. Everyone let out a sigh of relief when shi started to noisily suckle.

Neal watched hir feed for a while, then leant his head back until it bumped the wall. He let out a sigh as he muttered, "So much for the easy part."

Shadowcrest just looked at him in shock. "What easy part?" shi demanded. "What we just went through at the spaceport… One of the Rakshani is dead…" shi said as events started to catch up with hir, and shi started to break down and cry.

Still holding Firestorm with one hand, Neal reached out and pulled Shadowcrest to his side with the other, and then he held hir close as shi cried. "The easy part is what’s already done. For Stormy, this is hir first meal and look at all we had to go through just to get that. As far as the hell you and I just went through, it’s behind us and we survived." Tightening his hug he added, "And we didn’t lose Dessa." At Shadowcrest’s stare, he gave hir a small smile. "Tess will have her back on her feet in no time."

Shadowcrest pulled away sobbing. "Please don’t lie to me father. I saw her. Her leg was blown off, and her guts were showing! There’s no way even Tess can put her back together!" Shi then curled up on the floor, crying.

Neal placed Moonglow’s hands around the now sleepy cub, then had hir lean back so he could stagger up. Kneeling next to the sobbing Shadowcrest, he wrapped his arms around hir and held hir tight. He quietly whispered in hir ear, "I am not lying to you. She is alive, and she will soon be up and about. You have my word." Shadowcrest looked up at him through hir tears as he added, "And you of all the kids should know how important keeping my word is, even when someone uses it for me."

Remembering when he had kept the promise shi had made to Stew, shi smiled though hir tears, and hugged him back.

Moonglow watched them as they held each other, feeling the love between them. Looking down at the sleeping cub in hir arms, shi made hir decision. When they seemed ready to move on shi asked, "There was some mention of travel?"

Neal smiled. "As the captain/owner of a freighter, I spend most of my time bouncing from port to port. Anywhere you want to go, I’ll be going there sooner or later."

Moonglow smiled in return. "I’ve always wanted to travel, but I have some items I won’t part with." At Neal’s raised eyebrow shi said, "The last gift my grandparents gave me was a taur-sized motorcycle with sidecar. Needless to say, the shipping charges have always kept me from moving off world."

Neal’s smile grew wider. "Why do I get the feeling that’s not the only item holding you down?"

"You’re right," Moonglow said. "I have a whole house of their things I would like to keep. I will give that up if I have to, but the bike goes where I go."

Looking to Shadowcrest, Neal said, "Well? What do you think? Is shi a keeper, or do we throw hir back and try again?" At Shadowcrest’s confused look, Neal chuckled for the first time that day. "You picked Stew out of all the furs wanting a ride off that station. I’m learning to trust your judgment on these matters."

Shadowcrest looked at Firestorm, now sleeping peacefully in Moonglow’s arms. Looking back at Neal shi grinned, as shi said, "Shi’s a keeper."

Neal’s reply was blocked by a yawn. He suddenly realized he was all but dead on his feet; well, knees anyway. His arms were ready to come off at the shoulders, and his eyes felt like someone had replaced his eyelids with coarse sandpaper. Shadowcrest caught him as he started to collapse. He gave hir a weary smile and said, "Tess, ask Chase if shi wouldn’t mind helping the kids get things under control. I’m afraid I’m not going to be much use for a while..." Saying that his eyes closed as his head sagged.

Shadowchaser appeared as Shadowcrest was asking Tess if Neal was all right. They both smiled when Tess told them he was fine, just exhausted. She admitted that she had started to wonder just how much longer he could keep running on just adrenaline. She had expected him to pass out after the firefight. It took a lot of strength and energy to fire that shotgun at the settings he had used, and he had fired well over a hundred rounds in that short battle. Shadowchaser let out a groan at that. Shi had fired a little over half that many rounds, and hir arm was still sore from hir weapon’s kickback.

Giving Shadowcrest a grin, Shadowchaser said, "It looks like he left you in charge, half-pint, so how can I help, ‘Boss’?"

Shadowcrest gave hir big sister a dirty look as shi thought. "Moonglow here is joining the Folly. We need to move hir and hir belongings ASAP. Can you gather the needed drivers and movers?"

Shadowchaser nodded. "What’s hir weight limit?"

Shadowcrest gave hir older sister an evil grin, as shi said, "No more than the max capacity of a pod."

Shadowchaser did a double-take at the answer. "Don’t you mean a carrier?" shi asked.

"Pod," Shadowcrest repeated. "Tess, what’s the status of the rest of our Rakshani?" When told they were all in an exhausted sleep, shi asked if Weaver and Stew could look after Neal; he needed to be cleaned up and put to bed.


Sixteen hours later, Neal was slowly waking up, unsure of where he was or how he’d gotten there. He found himself lying on his left side, surrounded by fur. He could tell that one of the vixens lay behind him, her breasts making a warm backrest for his neck. In front, he found himself almost nose to nipple with a very impressive set. Looking up, he could see a new chakat face. It took him a minute to remember hir name.

Moonglow watched Neal wake up a little at a time. When shi saw that he was watching hir in return, shi pointed at his chest. "While Firestorm will let others you give hir to hold hir for a short while, shi seems to need your presence to feel safe."

Neal gently laid his hand on the sleeping cub. Carefully stroking hir, he asked Tess for current ship status. Tess informed him they were on schedule, with the help of some of the fighter pilots playing shuttle pilots, the kids and some of Chase’s friends were keeping the pods moving. His new wet nurse/nanny was moved in. Hir three carriers of personal property were set up so shi could still get to everything. Although shi had a room near Neal’s, it didn’t look like shi would need it for a while. Dessa was off life support. Tess would keep her in a light sleep until morning. The Ship Counselors from his four Star Fleet vessels had spoken with each of his ‘crew’, the kids were a little shaken, but doing okay. Weaver was still a little stressed about almost losing Starblazer and Quickdash. One Ship Counselor had also warned her that his cook was bordering on a nervous collapse.

It seemed the attack had been an attempt to take over the spaceport, though no one could figure out how they had planned to keep it. Their shuttle had heavier weapons onboard, but the first wave’s job had been to quickly secure the port. They had been well enough armed to easily take out the regular security forces, but Neal’s surprise attack had forced them to pause and regroup. This had given Shadowchaser and hir friends time to add their weight of fire and put them in a crossfire. Since their shuttle didn’t have any active transport inhibitors at the time, Tess had disabled both the weapons and the shuttle before they could join the fight.

"I see the kids didn’t scare you off," Neal said with a smile.

"Before you ask, yes, they even showed me tailstinger tag," Moonglow said, returning the smile. "You’ll have to do better than that to get me to quit a ride willing to carry my bike for free!"

"Just remember, no running that thing up and down my corridors!" he said, pretending to be stern.

Shi giggled at that, waking Firestorm. Even with Neal’s touch, shi was still cranky. When Moonglow offered hir a nipple, shi pushed hirself away. Running his hand down hir lower belly, Neal smiled. "Time for the second rule, I think," he said, slowly getting out of bed.

"Second rule?" Moonglow asked.

"The three rules of a happy life," Neal explained, as he tried to work some feeling into his left arm. It was still a bit numb from the abuse the shotgun had given it. "Fill what’s empty, empty what’s full, and of course, scratch where it itches."

"Meaning?"

"You’ve been filling hir empty belly. Now hir bladder is full of used milk, and it’s time to empty it."

Moonglow ran hir fingers across the cub’s belly, and smiled. "And how does a human freighter captain know how to check a chakat cub?"

Picking up Firestorm, he said, "I do a lot of reading, some of which comes in handy from time to time. Let’s see if I remember what it said about getting hir to not pee on hirself." He then headed for the bathroom.

Since the tiny cub could easily swim in the taur-sized receptacles, Neal moved over to the human-sized commode. Neal asked Tess for two long thin boards, one side tacky so they wouldn’t slide. Laying them across the toilet with a small gap down the middle, he then laid Firestorm’s feet on the boards with hir belly and sheath in the gap. Reaching under the board he slid his finger along hir sheath to draw hir shaft out part way, and after a few strokes across hir full bladder shi started to unload. When shi was done, he rolled hir over and wiped off the tip of hir shaft before it slid back into hir sheath. Moonglow was lying on hir backs when they came out. Neal gently dropped the now hungry cub on hir upper torso. "Rule one," he said with grin.

While Moonglow fed Firestorm, Neal took a shower, then headed for the kitchen looking for a midnight snack.

The walk-in refrigerator held some leftovers, not that there was much to be leftover with all the kids, most of who seemed to have four hollow legs when it came to food. Spying a large bowl of mixed fruit, Neal spooned some into a smaller bowl. He was looking for the ice cream, when an annoyed rabbit demanded to know just what he thought he was doing in her kitchen.

Turning around, Neal gave his tired looking chef a long look. "Tess told me you were asleep, so I was making myself a one bowl mess of a snack. Since I know you couldn’t have heard me, what are you doing out of bed?"

Stew’s stare faltered, as she looked at the floor.

Neal slowly shook his head. "Tess," he asked, "Does she have you set to wake her whenever someone enters her kitchen?"

"Just for you boss," Tess corrected.

Still shaking his head, Neal told Stew to go back to bed.


The next morning, Neal had Shadowcrest, CalmMeadow, and Zhanch meet him in his office. Firestorm had been in need of hir security hug, so Moonglow had also joined the group. Neal told them he was ready to have them join him in waking up Dessa, but that they should be prepared for a few changes. Due to the extent of her injuries, Tess could not just put Dessa back together. Instead she had taken the coding of Dessa’s DNA, and recreated her body as the DNA called for. With all the others looking confused, Neal gave them an example. Take an egg that had split into two in the womb, when born, you would have identical twins. Take one of them and let her have a rough life, get banged up a lot, and not always eating what she should. Her twin on the other hand was never banged up, and was always fed just what she needed. Forty years later they might still look like siblings, but probably not the twins they actually were.

"There are problems with the system. Since the brain’s interconnections aren’t quite the same, it can take a while for you to regain full control over your body again." Looking a little sheepish, Neal continued. "I’m the only human Tess has run through her ‘process’. She has to hook me up to life-support for the first six to eight hours, while my mind figures out how to make my heart and lungs work again. Fully understanding what I’m hearing and seeing can take me up to a week."

"Dessa, on the other hand, was off life-support after less than an hour, so her mind may be finding her new pathways easier and faster than I normally do."

Stepping quietly into Dessa’s room, Zhanch mentioned that she looked in some ways bigger, and much younger than she had before. Tess quietly admitted that Dessa was ten centimeters taller now. She was over sixty-five kilos heavier, though a lot of that was due to her being very underweight before. Her body had been restored to early adulthood.

On waking, Dessa had first thought they were just part of a drug induced dream. Her memories started flowing back and, with her words badly slurred, she asked how badly injured she was.

Neal smiled, and warned her it was both better and worse than she feared. He explained to her that her mind was still getting use to controlling her body again. Her speech and movement would improve with practice. With Moonglow’s help, he walked Dessa around the room, and then told her why she was now taller than Zhanch’s seven foot one. Dessa had a little trouble with the idea she wasn’t quite herself anymore.

Zhanch had then pointed out that at a regular hospital, they would be still trying to just keep her alive. If she had survived, they would then be talking about a mechanical hip and leg to replace the ones she’d lost, not walking around the next day. Neal warned her to try things slowly. Her new body had never eaten before, so bland foods to get her started. She needed to just start out slowly and learn her new abilities and limits.

Neal had taken the next shuttle down, and saw a few of his rules seemed to have been bent while he was out of the loop. Shadowcrest was the youngest being allowed down; considering the day before he could understand that. All the kids now openly wore phasers in ‘quick draw’ holsters, Neal checked with Tess to see if they had all passed the tests he required them to take in order to be issued a phaser. Tess told him they had, plus all the taurs but Shadowcrest had also passed his requirements to handle ‘Betsey’, Shadowcrest, Cindy, and Alex being just a little too small to handle the heavy shotgun.

The only ‘trouble’ they had seen since the Humans First battle was from the local authorities. It seems ‘they’ didn’t like having armed ‘children’ running around loose in their spaceport. They had started to get angry when Mike had calmly asked if they only allowed mature, murdering Humans First members to be armed in their spaceport. They had quickly left though, when CalmMeadow had offered to disarm hir work party. All shi needed from them was their pictures and names, to be given to hir captain in case something ‘bad’ happened. Having seen from the security recordings how hir captain reacted when things went ‘bad’, they were not about to have him personally looking for them.

That evening, Neal had Tess tie into the local databases. He was looking for information on Firestorm’s parents. There would be grandparents to notify both of their losses, as well as their gain.

The vixen’s data had been recovered. Her name had been RushingStream. Her village was on Earth, but her records showed both her parents had died in a landslide when she was a teenager. No other kin was listed in the local database.

The chakat was still to be identified, hir ID having been destroyed when shi was killed. Neal sent a request to a private investigator he had used before, asking her to dig up the information he needed, and forward it to the Folly.

Shutting down his terminal, Neal went rabbit hunting. He found her looking exhausted, still in her kitchen, getting things ready for the next day’s meals. Waiting until she didn’t have a knife in her hand, or something to drop, he cleared his throat. She spun around, and stared at him as if he had just badly scared her. Shaking his head, Neal simply said, "We need to talk." He then indicated that she should follow him. Finding the lounge empty, he waved her in and then followed her, closing the door behind him.

Looking at the exhausted rabbit sitting across from him, Neal said, "You’re working yourself too hard. If you keep it up, you’ll run yourself into the ground."

Not meeting his eyes, Stew replied, "I’m fine captain. I-I’m just a little behind in getting everything ready for tomorrow."

Neal looked thoughtful. "We’ve been putting too much of a strain on you, even more so since we added the Rakshani and their special needs. You’re not asking for the help you need."

Stew was almost tearful now. "Please let me stay, I can do the work."

Slightly confused, Neal said, "I not talking about replacing you or getting rid of you. I’m just suggesting we need to lighten your workload a bit. You’re not the cheerful little bunny I fished out of the lake your first day onboard. I should be able to pick up some parts I need to get a food replicator or two up and running in a few days. Till then, I’m going to ask the kids to take over breakfast and lunch, and have them give you more help with the dinners."

Suzan just bowed her head and hugged herself. Neal was surprised when he saw the tears start. Kneeling beside her chair he took her hands in his. Squeezing them gently he said, "The replicators aren’t to replace you, they’re to supplement you, to allow you more time to do the things you like."

"But I love to cook!"

"The same things day after day, and in the massive amounts needed to feed all my hungry kids?"

"I just want to stay…"

"I wouldn’t dare try to kick you off my ship," Neal said with a chuckle. "The kids would mutiny. And even as weak as they are, I know the Rakshani would help."

"You promise I can stay?"

"Whatever gave you the idea I wanted to get rid of you?"

"You’ve never treated me like you do everyone else, you always seem to keep your distance."

"That’s what’s been worrying you?" At her nod he added, "The reason I’ve always been careful not to get too personal, was because of what I found out about your last job." At her baffled look he said, "Tess picks up all sorts of information at every port we hit, including information on other ships and their crews. When you told me why you had jumped ship at such a poor location, I had Tess do a little digging. It seems several of the ranking offices of your last ship have gotten into trouble, some more than once, for sexually harassing or forcing themselves on lower ranking crew members. I didn’t want to frighten you off, or make you think that you had left the frying pan just to end up on the heating element. I’m afraid I’ve been waiting for you to tell me if you wanted to get more personal."

"But the kids, and even Moonglow…"

"Climbed into ‘my’ bed, not the other way around. Though I think Moonglow is doing it more to be near Stormy, rather than because shi likes to sleep with a smelly old human," Neal said with a grin.

"Don’t be too sure of that," Stew told him. "So does this mean you’ll treat me more ‘personal’?"

"Only if you would like me to."

Stew pushed him back into his chair, then moved so she was sitting beside him. She then laid her head on his shoulder as she gave him a hug. Neal returned the hug, and continued to hold her as she slowly relaxed. In minutes, she was asleep. Figuring they were going to be there a while, Neal reclined the chair. Smiling at the softly snoring rabbit, he whispered, "Tess, warn the kids that they’ll be making breakfast and lunch tomorrow."

The next morning, Neal went groundside with Moonglow and Stormy, and half the teenagers went along as security. There had been no reports of Humans First activity since the spaceport shootout, but they were taking no chances with their captain or their newest sibling.

After picking up the parts he needed, Neal spent the rest of the day putting together the replicators and getting them online. One had gone in Stew’s kitchen, two in the dining area. Stew had found him that evening, installing the fourth one in the kids’ mini kitchen.

"You missed dinner," she said quietly.

With his head and chest buried in the replicator, she couldn’t see his smile as he replied, "Rumor control said you were fixing stuffed green peppers. Peppers and me just don’t get along."

"I would have fixed you something else, if you had asked," Stew said, sounding hurt.

Neal pulled himself out of the replicator, and looked to make sure Stew wasn’t as sad as she had just sounded. Catching the gleam in her eye, he gave her a dirty look that made her smile. Shaking his head, he said, "You know how it is when you’re in the middle of something and don’t want to stop?" When she nodded, he continued. "Besides, you always seem to have munchies waiting for those of us that don’t always eat on ship’s schedule. I was just going to play with some of your snacks, and maybe test these replicators at the same time."

The testing involved making a large banana split, with all of Neal’s favorite toppings. After Stew helped make it, Neal placed it in the replicator and had it record the pattern. Then he had it make another from the stored pattern. Handing one back to Stew, they enjoyed their late snack. They were almost done when Moonglow came in with Stormy. When shi said shi would love to try one, Neal overdid it when he told the replicator to double the dimensions of the pattern. They all laughed when it materialized, the banana was over 60 cm long and 10 cm across, the scoops of ice cream were equally massive. Stormy didn’t think much of it after sticking hir nose in the cold ice cream, so shi warmed hirself by latching onto one of Moonglow's nipples, causing Moonglow to shiver as the cold nose made contact.

With the last pod loaded and reconnected to the Folly, it was time to have a chat with Zhane’s Admiral Kline, and maybe find some pirates for Shadowchaser and hir friends to play with.


The Federation Starship NCC-2121 Pegasus was running silent at low impulse. Almost no emissions betrayed her position as she passively scanned the area, hunting for the telltale signs of pirates trying to run just as silent. There had been a recent increase in pirate activity and she had been asked to help weed them out. The Folly came up on the hunter from the rear, then shifted to port. Coming parallel to the Pegasus at just over two hundred kilometers out, Tess matched speed and course. After five minutes of the hunter ignoring them, someone pressed the call button on the captain’s ready room onboard the Pegasus.

"Come," said Admiral Kline, not looking up from the report he was finishing. He did a double take when he did look up; he knew most of the faces onboard his ship even if he didn’t know them all by name. The face not being familiar and the non-uniform the man wore threw him for a loop. Cocking his head, he asked, "Who are you, and how did you get on my ship?"

Neal gave him a smile. "The who is Neal Foster, in command of the fast freighter ‘Folly’. As to how I got here, we waited a few minutes after coming up on your ship. Not getting a hail, I decided to deliver my message in person. Since it’s for you, I rang your doorbell and you said ‘come’, so I beamed over."

Looking for a thread to pull to unravel this unexpected puzzle, Boyce asked, "Your ship is within transporter range?"

Neal’s grinned again. "Right outside your window." Tapping his comm badge, Neal said, "Tess, flash your running lights, if you would please."

Looking out his ready room’s window, it only took Boyce a moment to find the small flashing light among the stars. Boyce asked, "Why didn’t my bridge tell me that you were approaching?"

"That’s actually my fault. Captain Zhane informed me you were running the same type of sensor suite as a cruiser we need to find. I thought I’d see how well the Folly could sneak up on it," Neal said as he handed Zhane’s letter to him.

After opening and reading the letter, Boyce gave Neal a long look. "And how can I be sure this is real?"

Neal shook his head as he smiled. "The first clue would be if it sounds like something she would write, most families seem to have their own code. Another way would be to get one of your other mates to smell it. Zhane wrote it a little over three weeks ago, but her scent is probably still strong enough for a fur’s nose to pick up."

Requesting Commander Silpurr’s presence in his dayroom, they waited for his mate to arrive.

Rosepetal gave Neal a curious glance as she reported to Boyce. He then handed her the letter. After reading it, she smelled it. She then held out her hand and said, "Tess…" A plastic bag appeared with one of Neal’s shirts in it. Opening the bag, Rosepetal placed her nose over it, then inhaled as she gave the bag a squeeze. She smiled at Neal’s puzzled look. "Zhane’s note suggested that she had hidden a stronger hint on how she felt about you. I am curious though, as to who or what a ‘Tess’ is."

Neal gave a small sigh. "Tess is the Folly’s main computer. With everyone I have onboard, I had changed her security protocols to just inform me of what she thinks I need to know. Looks like I’ll be having a little talk to her about that later."

Boyce chuckled. "You mean you’re not ‘all knowing’?"

Neal’s sigh was closer to a groan this time. "I’ve never been ‘all knowing’, but with Tess to help ferret out, process, and remember information for me, I guess it could look that way at times." Then looking at Rosepetal, he asked, "Just what was the deal with my shirt anyway?"

Rosepetal smiled. "I take it you didn’t cheat and read her letter?" At Neal’s headshake she said. "Zhane’s note only told me that Tess would know what I wanted. She told me to just hold out my hand and say ‘Tess’, and she would give it to me."

Looking back to Boyce, Neal asked, "So do you now believe the letter is real?"

Boyce opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a tone from Neal’s comm badge. Moonglow needed to talk to him. "Sorry to bother you Captain, but I have someone trying to claw hir way though the hull to get to hir father." The sound of Firestorm’s crying was easy to hear over the open comm link.

Neal said. "Tess, beam hir over please." Boyce and Rosepetal watched in amazement as a very tiny and very loudly crying chakat appeared on the deck, moving at a fast crawl. Shi hit Neal’s shoe, and started climbing his leg. Neal bent over, and gently got hir tiny claws out of his pants leg. Holding the now quiet infant, he looked to his hosts. "Sorry for the interruption, but Stormy always seems to know when I’m trying to go somewhere without hir."

Rosepetal stepped forward to stroke the cub. "Zhane’s note didn’t mention a baby chakat."

Neal’s smile softened a bit. "Firestorm joined us after our meeting with Zhane."

A very pregnant black-furred chakat dressed in a Security officer's uniform burst into the room, having sensed an unknown chakat cub in distress. Security Chief Midnight stopped warily, staring at the tiny cub and the stranger who held hir in his hands.

Boyce caught Midnight’s eye and nodded, causing hir to relax a bit. He then stepped towards Neal. "May I?" he asked, holding out his hands.

Neal nodded. "When shi starts to get upset, just hand hir back to me."

Holding the tiny cub, Boyce frowned. "Why do you assume that I will upset hir?"

"Not just you. Even my chakat wet nurse can’t calm hir if shi’s wanting me." At their confused looks he added, "Shi seems to have bonded with me at birth."

They were all staring at him now, Midnight demanding, "Why would a cub bond with you, and not hir parents?"

"When they are dead," Neal quietly said.

Stormy was already trying to climb out of Boyce’s hands. As he handed hir back to Neal, he said, "Explain."

Looking down as he gave Stormy a hug to calm hir down, Neal sighed. "There was a Humans First attack at the New Kiev space port. Over a dozen furs were killed; a lot more were injured. After I helped take out the Humans First types, I was rendering aid to those furs that I could. I passed two taurs, their upper torsos badly torn up. When I tried to walk past them, it was like something was pulling at me, that and I was suddenly feeling short of breath. I looked again but, as before, there was nothing I could do for them, but again I found I couldn’t just walk away." Looking at his hosts he continued. "One had been a chakat, the other a foxtaur vixen. The pulling feeling seemed to come from the vixen. When I placed my hand on her lower torso, I felt movement. Needless to say, her child was still alive, but with hir mother dead, shi was quickly running out of oxygen."

Looking a little ill, Boyce asked, "You cut hir out of hir dieing mother?"

"No," Neal slowly said, "I cut hir out of hir dead mother. My only other option, was to let hir die too."

"That must have been a hard thing to do," Rosepetal quietly said, giving Neal’s arm a gentle squeeze.

"I don’t really remember the cutting part that well, but I do remember holding hir up by the tail, letting the fluids drain from hir airways," Neal said, looking at her. "I was more or less running on autopilot by then, reacting to whatever hit me next. Tess has recordings of the events. I’ve been trying to use them to help fill the gaps in my memory, but it’s not an easy task."

"I would like to see those recordings," Boyce said.

"No, you wouldn’t," Neal said sternly, then he sighed again. "View at your own risk. I strongly suggest you not have anything in your stomach."

Changing the subject, Boyce asked, "So, was there anything else besides testing our sensors, and letting us know about our missing cruiser?"

Glad for the subject change, Neal smiled. "Well there are a few things I can help you with, and some things I will need your help with."

At Boyce’s raised eyebrow, Neal grinned. "Zhane had said something about you being rushed out on this ‘hunt’ without being able to properly re-supply. I may have a few things you could use. If I remember correctly, she said something about this particular ship not running on anti-matter, that it ran on something called, oh what was it…? Ah, I remember, she said this ship ran on Chipinge coffee."

The look on Boyce’s face was classic. Rosepetal failed trying to hold back her laughter. "He’s been out for weeks, and there’s been no living with him!"

Neal laughed with her. "Then I can help, I have half a carrier of the stuff, I’m sure we can agree on a price, say 5 grams of anti-matter per bean?" Rosepetal broke up again at the look on her mate’s face. Neal chuckled. "Just kidding, but I did bring you some other ‘things’ that you may find useful." Tapping his comm badge, he said, "Tess, are they ready?"

"Waiting on your command, boss."

Neil smiled at the confusion on his hosts’ faces. "Tell them that they are free to launch."

Sixteen fighters erupted from the Folly’s pods, and quickly passed over and under the Pegasus. They then paired up, and went in different directions in a search pattern. The comm unit on Boyce’s desk chimed, as warning lights and alarms indicated yellow alert.

Giving Neal a dirty look, Boyce stepped over to his desk. Pressing the ‘all hail’ he had his ship stand down from yellow alert. Then with a grin, he contacted the bridge and asked them where the fighters had come from. As they listened to the sensor tech tell them that the fighters had just ‘appeared’ on her passive sensors, Neal offered to show Boyce a few ‘tricks’ to get a little more out of his sensor suites.

Neal then suggested Boyce tell his bridge crew not to panic, or his next ‘trick’ would have them at red alert. After the bridge crew had been warned, Neal told Tess to once again open the Folly’s main hanger doors. The two pocket destroyers slipped free, followed by the small carriers. They took up positions near the Pegasus.

Boyce had left the comm unit set to listen to his bridge. The noisy commotion caused by the magical ‘appearances’ of the larger ships was cut to a dead silence when Neal told Tess to drop the Folly’s ‘sensor jammers’. After giving them a moment, he had his massive freighter slowly move in.

Shaking his head, Boyce asked, "This isn’t the first time you’ve moved Star Fleet craft, is it?"

"No," Neal said with a smile. "The first time was a rescue, one of your small carriers had chased down a pirate, only to find the pirate was bait for a trap. When I found them, the carrier was a floating wreck. Only one of the fighters was in any condition to fly, much less fight. We were able to find the remains of all but two of the fighters; three of the pilots were somehow still alive in their wrecked fighters. Most of the time the Folly just plays postman, delivering things where they’re needed. Twice she has been quietly used as a carrier. Six of her pods are set up to hold up to eighteen fighters each. Other pods can hold forward supply points and spare fighters."

"And you were in command?" Rosepetal asked.

"The first time, yes and no," Neal replied. "I could veto any launch if I thought it would put the Folly in too much danger, and I could only ’suggest’ what the fighters should do. Their wing commanders could override me once they were launched."

"Did they override you?" Rosepetal asked.

"Only the first three times. The first time, they sent everything they had after one lone pirate. Their reasoning being the Folly couldn’t possibly see far enough to tell if the pirate had friends or not. The next two, I had to bail them out. Again they didn’t trust what I told them the Folly could see, and they ended up biting off more than they could chew."

Looking at one of the Folly’s view ports, now only forty meters from his own, Boyce could see two young cubs, a foxtaur and a chakat, staring at his ship. When they finally noticed him they waved. Waving back, Boyce asked, "And just how did you ‘bail’ them out? Is your ship armed?"

"Define ‘armed’," Neal said with a grin, as he keyed his comm badge. "Tess, please park a baby Zulu where we can see it."

Moments later, one of the small scouts floated between the windows.

As Boyce and Rosepetal examined it, Neal explained, "While I don’t have any craft with phasers or missiles, I can use some of them as weapons if needed. The baby Zulu before you is a scout, but it is fast enough to chase down and ram most other ships. The larger Zulus have transporters that can get though most shields, I can either remove parts to disable a ship, or beam in a little anti-matter if required."

After letting them look at the baby Zulu for a minute, Neal had Tess send it and the other babies out to help scout the area. As it left, Rosepetal turned from the window. "And the second time? she asked.

"The second time, I was in full control." At her raised eyebrow, Neal smiled. "I simply told them that if they wanted to play with my toys, it would be by my rules. The only pilot dumb enough to argue the point found himself dropped off at a starbase we were passing. His craft was given to one of the spare pilots to fly."

Boyce shook his head. "So you’re going to reinforce us, resupply us and scout for us? And what do you want in return?"

Neal smiled. "Star Fleet wanted the other craft out hunting pirates, so if my scouting doesn’t turn up anything, I’ll just load them up again, and continue the search. As for resupply, I’ve quietly done that for Star Fleet vessels often enough to know off the top of my head which forms I need to fill out to get paid. The main thing I need from you is medical assistance." At the look of concern from all his hosts, he continued, "The Rakshani I have with me were starved for over five weeks, the tests Zhane's doctors did suggests they will all be dead in a year or less. Due to an accident at New Kiev, I was forced to try something unorthodox on one of them. Depending on what your doctors can tell me, it may save the rest of them as well. I was going to wait until we got them home, but Tess’ scans suggest they may not have as much time as we thought."

"When did you want to start?" Boyce asked. "I can have the medical teams ready in a few minutes if needed."

Neil shook his head. "No. I know for both of our ships it’s after main watch, and the Rakshani are probably already worn-out. Let’s get the testing started in the ‘morning’, which will also give your quartermaster time to make a list of what you need." Seeing Boyce opening his mouth, Neal added, "besides your dang coffee!" which started Rosepetal laughing again.


Stew was a little annoyed when Neal informed her they would all be dining on the Pegasus, but was cheered up a bit when Neal promised she would get to show off her cooking skills some other evening.

They had no sooner walked into the dining area than Stew made a beeline for the galley. Neal only noticed it because Midnight had quickly caught her by the arm, spoke to her for a moment, and then let Stew continue her journey. At Neal’s raised eyebrow, Midnight simply told him that they were still breaking in their galley help.

The food was every bit as good as some of Stew’s creations. This led to a meal-long debate of which was better, the kids having to set their loyalties aside and judge the food on its own merits.

Four identical blonde-haired male gray rabbits had served the meal, and had been ecstatic when the kids had favorably compared their cooking to Stew’s. Stew had then served the after-dinner drinks. The kids were served their hot chocolate first, then Neal and Weaver were served a mild tea. The open coffee container on the cart smelled like something someone had left on the back burner over the weekend. Boyce and the others had quickly flipped their cups upside-down to indicate they were not interested. Neal was about to ask Stew what had happened, when he caught her wink. She then picked up the overturned cups, and started filling them from a sealed carafe. The furs picking up the new scent before Boyce and Neal did. Neal tried to hide his grin as Boyce stared in disbelief at his coffee cup, the rich aroma of the Chipinge coffee almost bringing tears to his eyes. Boyce gave Neal a dirty look as he tried a sip.

Neal laughed and shook his head. "Don’t give me that look. She didn’t let me in on the joke either."

After dinner, Rosepetal offered to give them a tour of the Pegasus. M’Lai also offered to take the Rakshani off Neal’s hands for the night. With the basic scans done while they slept, they could start first thing in the morning.


M’Lai was more than a little surprised the next morning. Neal was not interested in the information on the Rakshani at risk; he only wanted the status of Dessa.

Dr Kelly, the Pegasus’s Chief Medical Officer, was trying to tell Neal for the third time just how bad Zhanch’s condition was, when Neal grabbed her PADD from her hand and tossed it to a nearby table.

When she opened her mouth, Neal cut her off. "Doctor, the only thing I want to hear from you is what, if anything, is wrong with Dessa. Everything else can wait."

"She’s not the one you should be concerned with!" Dr Kelly snapped.

"Doctor," Neal said, speaking sternly but slowly as if to a child, "just over two weeks ago, Dessa was in the same shape the others are in now." Neal raised his hand to cut off the doctor’s interruption. "She was then hit by a phaser, severing her leg and doing severe damage to her torso. Needless to say, we tried something unorthodox and saved her life. My only question is her status. If she is fine, then I can try it on the others. If there’s anything wrong with her, I could be moving the others from the frying pan into the fire."

The doctor’s mouth had hung open since Neal had said ‘hit by a phaser’, her mind having problems wrapping itself around the idea that anyone in such poor health would have survived the shot, much less having been treatable.

M’Lai stepped forward to bail out her superior. "As per your request, Dessa received the full battery of tests. While she still has a few coordination issues, she is in perfect physical condition."

Neal nodded, "Thank you Doctor, that’s what I needed." Turning to the other Rakshani, he took the time to make eye contact with each of them. "While I can’t guarantee that any of you will survive the process, I will offer it to you."

Having recovered from her surprise, Dr Kelly asked, "What are the risks?"

"It’s basically Russian roulette. They spin the prayer wheels of whichever deity they believe in, they either come out like Dessa did, or they don’t come out at all."

"And the odds?" Zhanch asked.

"I’ve lost seven furs, three chakat, two foxtaur, one wolftaur, and a skunktaur."

"Seven… out of how many?"

"Tess?"

"5,258, counting Dessa."

"How many were Rakshani?"

"Dessa is the one and only so far."

Meeting the glances of her troops, Zhanch said, "We like the odds. Why did you wait so long to make the offer?"

"Two reasons: to make sure Dessa wasn’t a false hope, and to have medical assistance on hand when we needed it." At Zhanch’s raised eyebrow, Neal added, "The Folly’s sickbay can only handle one or two of you at a time. The Pegasus, on the other hand can handle all thirteen of you at once. Plus, if there is a problem, you have real doctors ready to help, instead of just me making my best guess as to what to try next."

With the Rakshani bedded down, Neal gave the doctors their instructions. Two trauma teams would be active while the Rakshani were being processed. One would hook the processed fur to the systems that would maintain their breathing and heartbeat, the other would stand ready in case there were other problems while the first team was busy.

Zhanch went first, ten minutes later she reappeared on the bed. The trauma team took a moment to get moving, such was their surprise at what they got back. Zhanch was thirteen cm taller and over eighty kilos heaver. That and her going from near death’s door to a healthy early adulthood caused them to doubt that this was the same individual.

Kestrel was the last one processed. When she reappeared, Neal heaved a sigh of relief. At the curious looks from the doctors, he smiled. "At least I don’t have to tell the kids we lost someone. In an hour, you should be able to stand your crews down to just a couple people to monitor them. Leave the sleep inducers on until morning. That will give their minds more time to integrate with their rebuilt brains."

The next morning found the Rakshani in good spirits, despite the fact they couldn’t see straight, and they sounded drunk when trying to talk.


The next few weeks were spent covering an ever-expanding area of space in search of pirates. Boyce had been more than a little surprised when Neal had offered to save the Pegasus some fuel and move them to the next search area. By inverting the Pegasus, and attaching its main hull to the corncob just behind the second sphere, Neal was able to get them inside the Folly’s warp bubble. A little shifting of his loads balanced the Folly for flight. With twelve scouts and six ‘Zulus’ adding to their scanner range, they covered large sections of space in a short period of time.

When they came up on one of the Folly’s stops, Neal would drop off the Pegasus with six of her scouts to search the outlying area. While at Folly’s stop, her remaining scouts checked the star system they were in. After each stop, the Pegasus would link back up with the Folly. Once in warp, anyone watching the space lanes would only see a very large freighter making good time.

Whenever the Pegasus was joined to the Folly, Kayla could usually be found with Shadowcrest. The two becoming fast friends and mischief magnets. Shadowcrest was reminded the hard way why Neal wanted her to only have one door to the aviary open at a time. His parent birds were only semi-trained, the eleven younger birds not at all, so spooking them with both doors open meant chasing panicked birds up and down the Folly’s corridors for over an hour.

However, even they couldn’t keep up with Holly and Quickdash. Those two quickly earned the title of ‘terror twins’ by some of the Pegasus’s crew. Not because they were always getting into trouble, but because they knew enough about how ship systems worked that the technicians couldn’t BS their way though the kids’ questions. This led to some of the technicians actively avoiding them; it was embarrassing being caught out by a pair of six year olds.

Boyce and Neal were walking though the Pegasus’s engineering hull, when a door at the far end opened. Holly and Quickdash were pushed out into the corridor. "And Stay Out!" was heard as the door closed.

"Busted," Boyce said hiding a smile.

"Again," Neal agreed. As the kids turned to go in the opposite direction, Neal called out, "Hold it right there, you two." When they reached the kids, Neal frowned. "What were you told about making a nuisance of yourselves?"

"But daddy, they’ve got a big problem! " Holly complained.

"Do you think their ‘big problem’ is going to hurt someone or damage the ship?"

"No, but…."

"This isn’t my ship, so you can’t just go tell the crew how to do things. What did I tell you to do when you see a problem?"

"Report it."

"And if that doesn’t work?"

"Take it to their supervisors."

"And if they don’t want to listen to a couple of meddlesome little brats?"

"Tell Tess what we think is wrong, and tell her how we think it should be fixed. And then she will tell you."

"You keep skipping that last step. Back to the Folly with the both of you; Tess will have something for you to do when you get there."

"But…"

"Move!"

Once the kids were out of sight, Boyce turned to Neal. "You were a little harsh on them."

"Not at all. If they think they’re up to criticizing other people’s work, it may be time to let them get their hands dirty and see what it’s really like. Tess, show me their training schedules." Looking at their training, Neal added a few more tests for them to take. "Tess, tell them if they pass these tests, they can help me work on Gulf." Smiling at Boyce, Neal said, "So, would you still think I’m harsh if I tell them that if they quit irritating your crew, and pass a test, that they get to play with a ship of their own?"

"But, they don’t know that."

"Yet. They need to learn that being able to see someone else’s mistakes doesn’t mean you won’t make the same mistake when you do it yourself."

"They’re a little young for you to be forcing them to work."

"Too young to force it on them as work, but not too young to offer it as a new type of play. Ask them in a week if they feel ‘abused’."

Their conversation was interrupted by the turbo-lift opening. Rosepetal was leading Kayla towards the door the terror twins had just been evicted from. Kayla’s face and upper body was covered in something thick and gray, Rosepetal’s face was covered in fury. Boyce started to open his mouth, but a look from his mate closed it with a snap.

After the door closed behind them, Neal said, "I wonder… Tess, what were the kids bothering his technicians about?"

"Some of the sink and shower drains have a positive pressure behind their check valves. Holly acquired a face full of water from one of them."

"And it looks like Kayla wasn’t pouring water down her drain. Almost looked like watered down clay."

"Perhaps art class cleanup," Boyce suggested.

"Hmmm. Tess, did the kids ever get to tell the techs what was wrong, or were they stonewalled?"

"A very solid stonewall, boss."

Turning to Boyce, Neal said, "If you don’t mind, this could be a very good learning experience for my twins. The downside is your mate may decide to tear a strip off of whatever’s left of your techs."

At Boyce’s nod, Neal had Tess send the twins running back to the Pegasus’s engineering section.

When they arrived, Neal didn’t give them time to catch their breaths. With a hand-signal for Boyce to wait, he led them into the room.

Rosepetal was glaring at a group of techs who looked like they wished they could sink into the deck. Kayla was standing in a corner, trying to not be noticed.

"Sorry for the interruption," Neal said as he led the twins over to Kayla. As they stared wide-eyed at their friend, Neal said, "This is what can happen when you waste time arguing with someone who’s not listening. By the way, you were wrong when you told me that the problem couldn’t hurt someone, Kayla got a little mud in her eyes, but she was lucky. It could just as easily have been someone in the galley dumping boiling water into a sink. Now take Kayla and get her cleaned up. I’d advise having Tess check the drain before you use it."

"Can we take her to the Folly?" Holly asked. Neal arched an eyebrow at Rosepetal, at her nod the kids took off.

Looking at Rosepetal, Neal was about to speak when the comm panel on the wall beeped. "Engineering! We’re getting reports all over the ship of drains not working. Some are spraying the contents back up, while on others the drain valves don’t seem to be opening at all!"

"This is Commander Silpurr, we are aware of the problem. Engineering out," Rosepetal said. Giving Neal a suspicious look, she asked, "Do you know why some of the valves are staying closed?"

"No, but I have someone who only tells me what she thinks I need to know. Tess, are you keeping those drain valves from opening?"

"Yes, boss."

"I can guess why, so I’ll ask: how?"

A pile of small pieces rained onto one of the tables. Picking up one of the pieces Neal snorted. "The power connections for the valves?"

"Yes, boss."

As three more connectors fell into the pile, Neal smiled at Rosepetal. "I suggest we let them get to work, before this pile gets too much bigger."

Rosepetal fumed as she followed Neal out to where Boyce was waiting for them. "If your ‘Tess’ was protecting people from the problem, why didn’t she protect my Kayla?"

"It sounds like she’s protecting your crew from injuries, not from messes. That, and with engineering not listening to the twins, Kayla’s little ‘mess’ brought the problem to the two top ranking people on this ship. And it did get our attention, where all the twins got was the brush-off."

"I don’t like her methods," Rosepetal said, still a little upset.

Neal shook his head as he smiled. "No, but you do have to admit they work."


Weaver and Moonglow had decided that with all the available Star Fleet support just looking for something to do, that this would be a good time for everyone on the Folly to have physicals. The kids were no problem, but getting Neal into a sickbay almost required brute force.

Neal entered the Pegasus’s sickbay in poor humor, still arguing with Weaver. "All a doctor is going to tell us is that I’m a bit overweight, a shrink will tell you I’m crazy, both of which we already know to be true."

Moonglow was carrying Firestorm. She and Weaver had been double-teaming Neal the whole way to sickbay. "As your ship’s only crewmember with any medical background, I insist you have a full physical while we have the resources available to us. You’re no better than the kids you know."

Nodding at Drs Kelly and M'Lai, Neal turned back to Moonglow. "And what part of a physical would not be covered by Tess’s scans?"

"This part," Dr Kelly said.

As he turned to face the doctor, Neal felt something touch the other side of his neck. Spinning around the other way, he caught a glimpse of M'Lai with a hypo spray in her hand as he collapsed. M'Lai and Weaver catching him before he could fall. They laid him on one of the beds as a skunktaur in hys female form walked in.

Firestorm had started to fight for hir release when Neal collapsed. A sharp nip had won hir hir freedom from a surprised Moonglow, and shi leaped for the bed. Shi then stood with hir forepaws on Neal’s chest, growling at the group of adults.

With a chuckle, the skunktaur named LightTouch said, "You may have taken down the master, but you seem to have missed his guardian."

"First time shi’s bitten anyone, to my knowledge," Moonglow said, rubbing hir paw.

Weaver sighed. "It was this, or have you try to sneak into our room while he slept. You did say it would be easier for you to do this if he wasn’t warned about your assessment."

LightTouch smiled. "Quite right. Give me a moment to calm the cub, and then I can begin checking hir father."

To Weaver, this appeared to be a staring contest between LightTouch and Firestorm. After a minute Firestorm relaxed a little and laid hir head between hir paws, but hir eyes never left LightTouch.

Stepping to the head of the bed, LightTouch’s eyes lost focus as hy placed hys hands on Neal’s head. After several minutes, hy blinked as if waking up.

"Most interesting," hy said. "He does have a modest empathic sense, but he has no control over it. Most of the links lead to his subconscious; only a few threads reach his conscious mind. He may sometimes get ‘feelings’ about things and people around him, but not know why he is getting the feeling."

Weaver smiled. "That might explain why he’s more understanding and tolerant of someone after sleeping with them, but how did he know about Firestorm?"

"From what I’ve been told of the incident and what I just received from the evaluation, Neal was already exhausted from the fire fight. His subconscious, or autopilot as he calls it, was at the forefront. That, and Stormy’s own empathic abilities may have bonded them together before he got hir out of the womb."

Feeling slow and sluggish, Neal opened his eyes. Weaver’s anxious face coming into focus. "Why?" he whispered.

Giving him a small smile, she said, "Because, you would have thrown the results by knowing the test was coming."

"I assume you talked it over with Tess, and received her compliance."

"True, but we forgot to ask someone else’s permission." At Neal’s look of confusion, she smiled. "Firestorm didn’t like our little surprise, and did what shi could to defend hir father."

Stroking the head of the purring kitten in question, Neal smiled. "You should have seen that coming. Of course leaving hir behind wouldn’t have worked either. Shi would have been going full speed down the halls, screaming hir little head off. Just think of the crowd shi could have been leading by the time shi reached sickbay!"

"Do you always have to paint things in their worst light?"

Neal snorted. "No, that would have been more towards the ‘funny’ side of the scale. Worst light would have been Tess deciding you had deceived her. You don’t want to know some of the tricks we’ve pulled over the years." Giving her a half smile, he asked, "Now that everyone knows just how crazy I am, why am I not in a little padded room, wearing a very long sleeved coat that ties in the back?"

Weaver grinned. "Would you believe we decided you’re our kind of crazy?" she snickered. "Then there’s the problem of getting Tess to let us lock you up. And as we’ve seen, we will also need Stormy’s permission too."

"Not to mention Stormy and Moonglow would be frequent visitors. Nice to know I’m not worth the hassle of locking up."

"No, but we’ve been asked to keep you under strict observation, and to try to keep you out of trouble!"

Neal grumbled. "Just what I need, more babysitters."


At LightTouch’s request, Neal had Tess transfer a copy of her New Kiev spaceport records to the Pegasus’s holodeck memory. Hy wished to better understand what had happened that morning. On hearing the records would be available, Dr Kelly decided they could also be useful in trauma team exercises.

M'Lai had returned to her quarters that evening looking drawn and haggard. Even knowing what the simulation was about had not fully prepared her for walking though the aftermath of the attack.

With the original EMS teams removed, they had gone from one mangled body to the next, diagnosing and rendering aid. That had been bad enough, but LightTouch had then reset the simulation to when the last shot had been fired, and added Neal’s group. They watched Neal treat the fox tod, noting that his computer-controlled medpac did most of the work for him. As they had, he bypassed the next fur as she was beyond anyone’s help.

Having not been told about Firestorm, they were surprised when Neal stopped at the pair of dead taurs. They watched as he discovered and removed the baby chakat, and got hir breathing. After handing the newborn to a chakat youth, Neal had staggered down a corridor and disappeared around a corner, two chakats following him at a distance.

LightTouch had paused the simulation at that point, and pointed out that the trauma team exercise was now over. M'Lai had leaned against a wall as the others had filed out.

Already knowing what had happened out of sight, LightTouch had the program continue as Neal came back around the corner, half supported by the chakats. They were just reaching the rest of Neal’s group when the comm call came in telling Neal someone was trying to take the infant from Shadowcrest. LightTouch watched with interest as all the chakats reacted to Neal’s rapidly growing rage. Shadowchaser was the only one that did not drop to hir belly. If anything shi stood taller, hir teeth bared, claws fully extended, looking for a threat. After Neal was beamed to the hospital, the others calmed down. Shadowchaser had then called Captain Autumnbreeze, requesting help; both with the debriefing of Neal’s group as well as with helping them deal with what they had just been through.

LightTouch stopped the simulation, and restarted it just before Neal appeared at the hospital. After watching it through Neal’s collapse, LightTouch commented to M'Lai, "That explains why Moonglow was confused by the feelings of the others when shi first entered the room. Shi never saw Neal ‘mad’, just the effects it had on the other nurse and the guards. While he will take most things in stride, it appears that threatening a child in his care will get you an almost chakat-like response." Looking carefully at M'Lai, hy said, "You may want to leave now, I intend to see the actual fight." M'Lai had stayed and watched as Dessa was shot, after examining her body both before and after the shot, M'Lai gave the odds of her sickbay’s chances of keeping someone in that condition alive at less than one in ten.

After seeing how the recordings affected M'Lai, Boyce was even more determined to see what had transpired that day. Midnight insisted on joining him, so they made plans to run it the next morning. M'Lai suggested they not eat breakfast, and take some anti-nausea medicine before viewing the recording.

The next morning Boyce and Midnight entered the holodeck. They were coming up on Neal’s group from behind. When Boyce told the computer to unfreeze the display, a bolt of energy flashed over the head of the chakat youth that he had seen waving at him through the view port of the Folly…


Boyce looked a little gray-faced as they walked into their cabin, and Midnight’s tail was almost dragging the deck. M'Lai met them at the door. Without speaking a word, she walked them into the fresher. She already had their toothbrushes loaded with paste. As they brushed the foul tastes out of their mouths, M'Lai got the shower going. They spent the rest of the day with the ship’s consoler and LightTouch, going over what they had seen and how they felt about it.

With all the ships connected, the Pegasus and the Folly would each host dinner at least once a week. When Pegasus hosted, the captains and first officers from the other ships were invited. When on the Folly, Boyce’s family was invited to a more laid back family type dinner.

The Pegasus was hosting dinner that evening but, for the first time, Boyce and Midnight did not join them. Rosepetal informed them that her mates were a little under the weather.

After dinner, Neal had decided to visit the coffee lounge. He had drawn some raised eyebrows when he commandeered a chair and two unused tables. He now watched the stars slide by from the chair, a table to each side. One held his iced tea within easy reach, the other a soft pad on which Stormy slept, curled around his right hand and lower arm.

Three more chairs were moved to the other side of Neal’s tea table, and a tray with four cups of coffee was set on the table. An additional glass of tea was set on the other table, away from Stormy. LightTouch gently stroked the kitten as hy asked, "What are you thinking Neal?"

Still watching the warp distorted stars slide across the view ports, Neal quietly said, "They say that hindsight is 20/20 but, even looking back, I don’t know what I could have changed to make things better. I could have killed off the Humans First group faster with bigger weapons, but a strong enough beam weapon would have fried the furs on the ground between us. A heaver projectile weapon would need to be anchored to the ground, making me a sitting duck. As far as safety for those with me, I should have beamed the lot of them back to the Folly! Of course, then I wouldn’t have had the Rakshani’s fire support, and the other Star Fleet crews may have taken longer to join the fight. Dessa’s injury is the only reason the Rakshani are healthy today. Without the Rakshani firing from behind me, I would have been behind a different pillar. And that tod and Stormy would have died…"

"You don’t know that," M'Lai said.

"The medical teams might have gotten to the tod in time, but I understand even your trauma teams missed Stormy." Turning to Boyce, Neal said, "I request that you delete those recordings when your medical teams are done with them. You’ll understand if I think of most of it as being a bit ‘personal’."

"Some of it is a bit intense," Boyce agreed.

Neal snorted. "Yeah. I guess you could say some parts of that morning were just a little ‘intense’."

LightTouch gave him a small smile. "Intense enough that you still can’t get it out of your head for more than short periods of time?"

"Get out of my head, shrink," Neal said, though there was no heat in the words. "We each cope in our own way. Mine just takes me a little longer."

"And the fear?"

"Which fear? The fear that I didn’t do enough, or what I did do wasn’t the best thing to do? Or the fear that those I care about won’t want to be anywhere near someone capable of doing the things I did?"

"Which one scares you the most?"

"The past is over and I can’t change what happened, but I can try to use it to help determine what to do next time. I’ve been afraid to ask Weaver and the kids what they think, afraid that they may be just waiting for a safe enough port to jump ship. Not that I could really blame them ."

A pair of furry arms reached around Neal’s chest and didn’t quite squeeze his breath away. A set of sharp teeth gently nipped his ear, then a voice quietly whispered, "I’ve told you before that you won’t be getting rid of us that easily. Which part didn’t you understand?"

Neal sighed, and laid his head back against her chest. "I almost lost half of Chase’s group when they found out what I could do if pushed to my limits. We were on one of the non-aligned worlds and someone tried to kidnap one of the younger chakats. They had hit hir with a tranquilizer dart, then stuffed hir in a bag," Neal snorted. "I never did find out what that attempted kidnapping cost them. Tess was disabling/destroying their automated defenses, while Betsey and I took out anyone that tried to keep us from getting hir back." Giving the arms around him a gentle squeeze, Neal continued. "It was as bad as, if not worse than, New Kiev, but it was spread out over a city block. Half the kids didn’t want to have anything to do with me after that, the other half was mad at the first half for treating me that way. If they had had any place else to go, I think that would have broken up our extended family."

"What did happen?"

"It took a while for them to finally understand that some things could get an ‘extreme’ reaction out of me. Danger to my kids was high on that list."

"Kidnappers?"

"And pirates, slavers, Humans First types, even your common every day mugger is not too little to get a response out of me. And, as you noticed with Zhanch and company, it doesn’t have to be my kids that they’re hurting."

"Did they ever forgive you?"

"In time. Most of that group pooled their funds and bought an old medium-sized freighter. They let me help them get it up to spec, and I gave them a few of Folly’s smaller contract stops to get them started." Neal smiled. "They were quite pleased with themselves, two years of dodging pirates, without being seen or having to run or fight them. Then they were given some cargo that contained a gravity mine. There they were, dead in space, trying to get the warp drive back online, when three pirate ships showed up to claim their prize. The kids got two of them, but the third got their boarding teams unloaded before they were taken down. The kids won in the end, but not without three of them being badly injured, and a lot of damage to their ship."

"Sounds like they learned their lesson the hard way."

"Yeah, straight from the school of hard knocks, they learned that sometimes the only choices are ‘fight or die’."

"So, did they give up on the freighter?"

"No. They’re still moving freight. They just know now not to ignore trouble, just in case it doesn’t ignore them."

"Do you help them?"

"I help keep their propulsion systems tuned up to save fuel. And they have two Zulus and six of the babies on permanent loan for protection."

"And the others?"

"Chase and three others are in Star Fleet, two in the Star Corps, and five on other freighters."

"Do you ever get to see any of them?"

"We can sometimes get together when we’re at the same port. Most of the time we just play e-mail tag."

"And you thought we would run when you showed us you had a darker side."

"I’ve been trying not to make the same mistakes that I made with Chase’s group. I just keep forgetting your group’s dynamics and reasoning are different from what theirs was."

"I guess that helps explain why you always seem to be putting your foot in your mouth…"

"… and wiggling my toes. Yes, I know. Each of your accounts has more than enough to get you home in style. The only reason to hang around any longer is because you want to."

"It is nice to have another option, but most of us have other plans for the money."

"May I ask what yours is?"

"Right now, it’s a toss up between upgrading our home or transportation."

"I have the same problem with my time. Should I put some of my available time into fixing something, or is it time to just toss it and replace/upgrade it? Then should I be working on the Folly, the shuttles, the pods, or maybe working on that idea I had. Too many things to do for the time I have to do them."

"And here you sit, sipping tea, and helping Firestorm get to sleep."

"Even I need a little downtime. Someone once wrote that you can’t stay tense while watching a cat sleep. With hir cuddled up around my arm, I can understand what they meant."

"Well, finish your tea and come to bed. Shi isn’t the only one that would like to cuddle."

"Yes, dear." Getting up, Neal wrapped Stormy in hir pad, nodding to his hosts. "If you’ll excuse me," he said as he followed his denmate back to the Folly.


The next evening, dinner was on the Folly, Stew getting yet another chance to show off her culinary skills. Two of the bunny boys had come over to help her prepare it, both to ease her workload, as well as to learn some of her ‘tricks of the trade’. They all considered this a fair trade; when the meals were on the Pegasus, Stew was picking up some of their secrets in return.

The main courses were over. Everyone was sipping coffee/tea/hot chocolate, letting their stomachs settle a bit before the desserts were rolled out.

Neal and Boyce had been discussing where to extend the pirate hunt next, when Holly spoke up. "Daddy," she said. When Neal looked her way, she asked, "Can we have an ‘Alternate Thursday’?"

"Where did y…?" Neal sputtered. Then, catching sight of a dark tail disappearing out the door, he yelled, "CHASE!" As the door closed, he muttered, "brat..."

Weaver looked around. With the exceptions of Neal, Redfoot, Quickdash, and Holly, everyone else looked equally mystified by the exchange. Looking at Neal, she said, "One of these days I’m going to sit on you until you tell me all your little secrets. This isn’t another ‘Zulu’ is it?"

"No love, it’s not another Zulu. Just another little ‘blast from my past’. And as far as sitting on me, I’m torn between saying ‘Promises, promises’, or pointing out that I know where you’re the most ticklish," Looking around, Neal said, "You’ll have to understand that most of the kids in Chase’s group ranged between Holly and Shadowcrest when I took them in. This led to some of the entertainment being just a little more, well, juvenile. There were more than a few messes made, and I finally had to put my foot down, and dictate that they were only allowed to make a mess where and when I told them they could. These ‘messy times’ became known as ‘Alternate Thursdays’, although they could be anytime of any day. They were used to have fun, blow off a little steam, and sometimes as a reward for not driving me crazy." Neal smiled. "The rooms we used to use are offline, but I think I could set it up as a holosuite program in a few minutes."

"That won’t be necessary Neal," Redfoot said with a smile. At his raised eyebrows, she grinned. "Chase and I have spent quite a bit of our free time getting the rooms in question back up to spec. The only reason your twin terrors know about it is they caught us in the act of upgrading the power conduits. So, we can all have a little ‘juvenile’ fun. That is, if you’re up to it, old man."

"Old man? No one has called me that in a long time. Didn’t Chase warn you that I’m in better shape now than when shi was a child?" At Redfoot’s nod, Neal grinned. "Then shi should have also told you that even as an ‘old man’, I could still tie hir tail in a knot when shi needed it."

"You’re avoiding the question again, pops. Is this a Thursday of Alternatives or not?"

"Pops… I’ll show you pops!" Neal muttered as he looked at the others. Weaver was wearing her poker face, but the gleam in her eyes suggested she was waiting for the show to begin. Boyce’s group was waiting with a show of patience, but the way Holly and Quickdash were bouncing around was making everyone squirm a little in anticipation. Zhanch had what could only be called an evil grin plastered across her muzzle. Giving them all a grin to match Zhanch’s, Neal said, "Clothing is optional, but I do suggest you not wear anything that stains easily. If you want a set of trunks or tops, just ask Tess." He then looked to Redfoot. "Show them the way, I’ll join you in a moment." He then walked into the kitchen.

All three rabbits looked up from their final preparations of the desserts when Neal walked in. Stew arched an eyebrow as she said, "We’re almost ready. Are they getting impatient?"

Neal smiled. "No to the second, don’t bother to the first." At their confused looks, he chuckled. "Change of plans, and this time it’s not my fault."

"What are you doing?" Stew asked as Neal looked over the dessert cart.

"Deciding on the proper ammunition," Neal said as he picked an item off the cart and placed it in the kitchen’s replicator. "Tess, use this for our new pattern please." Looking back to the bunnies, Neal said, "You’re invited, but be aware it will be getting messy. Dress, or don’t dress as you please."

Redfoot had led the others to an older dining area in the corncob, just forward of engineering. Most of them had left their clothes in a neighboring cabin. Boyce had borrowed a pair of trunks for the ‘messy fun’. Redfoot had them line up along the walls, facing inward. Wearing a set of trunks, Neal arrived a few minutes later with three nude bunnies in tow.

After getting the rabbits positioned, Neal then hung his glasses on a loop by the door, and walked over to Kayla. Smiling he asked, "Ready for dessert?" At her curious nod, he grinned. "There are special rules for eating desserts on ‘Alternate Thursdays’. You cannot eat your own dessert; someone else has to feed it to you. Alternately, others will need your help to eat their desserts. Think you can handle that?" When she nodded again, Neal smiled and pointed at Shadowchaser, who was standing across the room. "Go ahead and feed Chase dessert."

Looking confused, Kayla asked. "How can I feed hir? There are no desserts in here."

"Silly me," Neal chuckled. "Hold out your hand like you were balancing a plate on it." When Kayla held her hand out, she almost dropped the whipped cream covered chocolate pie that appeared. As she started to walk toward Shadowchaser, Neal said, "No, no. Feed hir from where you are." When Kayla stared at him in shock, he laughed. "I did warn you it gets messy! The only way anyone is leaving this room clean, is if they are extremely good at avoiding being ‘fed’, or if no one else thinks they’re worth feeding."

Kayla hesitated until Shadowchaser gave her a smile and opened hir mouth wide. Her shot was low and a little to the right, adding a cup size to half of Shadowchaser’s bust.

"RELOAD!" Neal shouted. Once she had another pie, he called out. "Let the games beg…" three pies catching him in the face, while others plastered the rest of him.

Things instantly got out of hand, and went downhill from there. The first shots were fairly accurate, but this quickly changed. It’s hard to aim when others keep nailing you with pies. Neal didn’t bother with aiming, he just wind-milled his arms in the direction that he thought an attack was coming from. Others tried his method and found saturation pie firing had its uses. After the first minute, the footing became treacherous, the taurs gaining a slight advantage, though even they were sliding around in the mess.

Neal waited until things died down to just a few of the Rakshani practicing ballistic bombing at each other, half their shots dripping off the high ceiling. In places, the pie filling was over two feet deep. He quietly called out, "Anybody still hungry?" At the groans and laughter, he said, "Then I declare a ceasefire."

Seeing part of a small chocolate and cream pile next to him move, Neal reached into the pile and pulled out a small six-legged creature by the tail. Eyeing his find, he chuckled. "Heavier than Ember last time I held hir, but the limbs don’t seem to be quite long enough. Tail wraps around too well to be Starblazer. Either we’ve been invaded, or Stormy has managed to cross the field of battle without drowning. Not bad for such a little furball."

"I take offence to that term," said one of the larger animated piles of chocolate pie filling.

Carefully wiping off Firestorm’s face, Neal smiled. "For once I can honestly say all you big cats look alike to me. Which one are you anyway?"

"Kestrel, sir. And I’m serious about not liking that term."

"Furball? I’m afraid I sometimes use it as a term of endearment to those I care for. Of course, I know those who do not care for furs sometimes use it offensively. Hmmm, as for not liking the term, maybe you’ve never had it properly applied." Looking at the other chocolate piles, he tried to remember who had been next to Kestrel when the pie fight had begun. "Zhanch, would you and Dessa do me a favor, and please restrain Kestrel?"

Kestrel started to back away from her colleagues as they closed in on her, their eyes and grinning teeth the only non-chocolate covered parts of their bodies. Neal chuckled. "Don’t you trust them?" he asked as she continued to back away. That stopped her; Kestrel stood still and let the other two get a grip on each of her wrists.

Neal hummed. "It may be safer for all three of you to sit down, better still if Kestrel laid down." Once they were down, Neal called out, "Stew, Holly, Quickdash, Shadowcrest! Front and center please." As they struggled through the chocolate and cream mess, Neal turned to where Boyce and his family were watching with growing curiosity.

"When the Rakshani first woke up onboard the Folly, they thought they were aboard a slave ship and Kestrel tried to attack my crew. At the time, I told her then that I would have to think of a suitable punishment. I did think of one, but in her previous state, there was a chance it might kill her. Now that she’s healthy again, the punishment shouldn’t be fatal." Neal whispered something into Stew’s ear. She tried to disagree, but finally nodded her head and whispered something to the others. "Since these were the ones Kestrel attempted to attack, I think it’s only fitting that they deliver her punishment."

The four surrounded Kestrel, and reached for her. At first, nothing seemed to be happening, then Kestrel let out a shriek, and then another one. She was trying to tuck her legs up and free her arms as she let out yet another shriek, and broke into helpless laughter as her punishers continued to tickle her. After a minute, Dessa and Zhanch released the now helpless Kestrel. She tucked her legs in again and wrapped her arms around them, in an attempt to reduce the areas her tormentors could reach.

Neal waved the others off, and held Kestrel’s hands in place. When she got her breath back, Neal smiled. "In case you didn’t notice, you seem to have wrapped yourself into a ball. If it weren’t for all this chocolate, you would look like a ball of fur, or as some would say, a ‘furball’. I will try to not use that word in your presence, but if I slip, I want you to remember this moment." As Neal released her hands, he added, "And if you ever need a reminder, I’m sure any of the kids would be more than willing to help you remember."

Struggling to his feet, Neal offered Kestrel a hand up. With a grin, Kestrel took his hand, but used it to yank Neal back down on top of her. With her torturer where she could reach him, she started giving him a taste of his own medicine. The kids had taught Neal long ago that there was no real defense against a good tickler; only a stronger offensive against an attacker might work. Soon they were both having problems breathing. It didn’t help having the others shouting advice and taking bets on the winner. In desperation, Kestrel grabbed both of Neal’s wrists and held them away from her body. While this kept Neal from tickling her, it also removed his means of supporting himself. This dropped his head between two chocolate mountains. While he would normally find this quite pleasant, the valley between was also full of chocolate, making breathing a challenge. Kestrel took pity on him and raised her arms over her head, dragging Neal’s face clear of her breasts.

Neal caught his breath, and then began to chuckle. At Kestrel’s look of confusion, (or at least that’s what it looked like under all that chocolate), Neal said, "I never knew the marines taught that type of attack: smothering an enemy with your chocolate coated breasts. But I must say, what a way to go!"

Kestrel just stared at him for a moment, then she released his wrists and started giggling. With his arms free, Neal took some of his weight off her, and waited for her to settle down. "Truce?" he asked when she was looking at him again. At her raised chocolate eyebrow, he added, "At least for now?" She nodded, and he rolled the rest of the way off her. "Good, because I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to overheat in this layer of chocolate," he said as he slowly got up.

Shuffling to the far end of the room, Neal opened a heavy set of double doors. The next room held several screened, taur-sized toilet stalls, half a dozen large open shower stalls, a wading pool, and two huge hot tubs built to hold up to ten taurs each around its perimeter. The center of the room was dominated by a large pool, with depths ranging from three feet, to over ten feet under the diving board.

Dropping his trunks in a bin as he headed for the first set of showerheads, Neal said, "Here’s where we find out if Chase and Redfoot really got the filtering systems up to spec." As he stepped into the shower area, the heads started a needle fine spray, driving deeply into his hair, as the chocolate melted off his shoulders. He was almost through the shower when he heard a small cry over the noise of the water. Stormy had tried to follow him in, but the shower’s spray was more than shi was ready to handle. Neal picked hir up, and as the others took their showers, he carried Stormy to a sink. A few minutes of splashing around got most of the chocolate off the kitten, and then it was time for a bath.

Moonglow met them at the wading pool; shi had Stormy’s shampoo and bath toys. Weaver joined them with Starblazer. Midnight soon followed with Ember in tow. A bubbling fountain in the center of the pool released fresh water, the chocolate and soap residue washed down drains set around the rim. With the little ones cleaned up, a few more toys were added to the pool and they were allowed to play. The adults moved over to one of the hot tubs, the other hot tub having been commandeered by the Rakshani, while the older kids were trying to turn the main pool into one big bubble bath.

Neal was just stepping into the hot tub, when he was pulled to one of the bench seats and a furry pair of legs wrapped around his waist. Paws pointed his head forward when he tried to turn around, and then his captor began working shampoo into his hair. After dunking him to rinse out his hair, the paws began working over the rest of his body with a soapy sponge. After getting the soap out of his eyes, Neal was able to see Rosepetal was giving Boyce similar treatment. Midnight was working on M'Lai’s back, Moonglow was already on Weaver’s lower back, and the bunny boys were laughing about something as they did each other’s hair and ears.

When he decided the paws were doing more groping and tickling than cleaning, Neal pulled the legs around him apart far enough to get loose, then used them to bring their owner in front of him. While Stew had walked through the showers, she still looked like she was trying to audition for the role of a chocolate Easter bunny. Smiling, Neal turned her around as he said, "My turn."

He quickly found out why the bunny boys had been laughing so hard – cleaning the chocolate out of Stew’s ears was driving her crazy. As he started on her back and shoulders, Neal looked around to see how his guests were doing. Boyce had turned the tables on Rosepetal, who was all but screeching for him to stop, while he kept insisting her ticklish sides needed just a little more ‘cleaning’. Neal turned his head just in time to see a very soapy Dessa make a short flight as her associates threw her from their hot tub the few feet to the deep end of the pool. She came up sputtering, then sprung out of the pool and all but dived back into the hot tub, as they chose their next victim to be cleaned.

Thirteen more large splashes into the pool later, the ‘cleaning’ was dying down, and it looked like cuddling was the next thing on the menu. The three little ones had been tired after all their hard play, so after drying them off, a pile of warm towels was made into a bed next to the hot tub.

Shadowchaser turned toward Neal and asked, "Feeling better, father?"

For a moment, Neal didn’t answer. He just laid there, a towel acting as a pillow, Suzan still in his lap, her head on his shoulder. "Yes, I do feel better. Thank you, Chase. I didn’t realize just how much I was holding back, until you and the others helped release it."

"This has been building since New Kiev, hasn’t it?"

"Since our stop at Starbase 3, actually. The idea that someone in Star Fleet has enough information on me to anticipate my movements scares me a little." Looking at Boyce and Rosepetal, he added, "It’s not so much that I mind you keeping track of where the Folly is. It’s more a fear that that data could make it to others, whom I’m deliberately trying to keep in the dark."

"How many secrets are you keeping from us?" asked Shadowcrest.

"You can’t count that high," Neal said with a chuckle.

"How about 5,250?" Mike asked.

"Nice try, but that’s just the number that needed and survived the process, not my number of secrets."

"Give us a hint!" Holly demanded.

Neal just shook his head as he laughed. "I know you nosy furs have been going though my ship and cargo logs. All the clues are there, if you can just figure out what you’re looking at."

"But there are gaps!" Holly cried.

Neal smiled. "There’re more than enough clues in what is in the logs to fill in the gaps. You just have to know how to read between the lines."

Weaver looked a little hesitant as she asked, "You’re not annoyed at us for snooping around, are you?"

Neal smiled as he shook his head. "No. If I didn’t want you looking, I could have told you no, or planted fake logs for you to find."

Looking intrigued, Rosepetal asked, "Can we give them a try?"

"Since there’s a good chance you’ll figure it out, you’ll have to wait until my crew ‘gives up’ on it."

Weaver and the kids quickly ‘surrendered’, and one of Tess’s mobile carts came in with a pile of waterproof data pads for all of them. Some went for the ships movement logs, others the cargo logs, while a few tried finding the correlation between the two.

"First gap was for three and a half years ending thirty-five years ago, then we have ship logs for every four or five years, followed by another two year gap. The way the patterns repeat, this should be the last ‘logged run’ before another gap."

"No major changes in the cargo load out for the first gap, all the others the loaded cargo takes a major hit with no increase in credits to show for it. A slow but steady build up in cargo and credits between gaps."

"Wait a minute, the only reason to be sending some of these types of hardware to an unknown destination is if you’re…"

 


Chapter 4  

 

"Wait a minute, the only reason to be sending some of these types of hardware to an unknown destination is if you’re…" Everyone turned to look at M'Lai as she stared at Neal. "You’re supporting a colony!"

"Nice try, but I am not supporting a colony."

"But, that’s the only thing that fits! Unless you like throwing expensive equipment out the airlock while hiding for long periods of time!"

Midnight laughed. "Easy M'Lai, the key word he’s jerking you around with is ‘a’. He said he’s not supporting ‘a’ colony." Looking at Neal, shi asked, "So just how many colonies are dependent on you and the Folly?"

"Three at present, but after this ‘gap’ it should be down to just two that I’m lending a hand too."

"Why?" Rosepetal asked.

Neal frowned. "Not an easy question. Thirty-seven years ago, I had just ended a very long trip around the borders of our ‘known’ space, looking for possible colony worlds. I found quite a few good choices, and a couple of great ones. Then I started doing research on how other colonies had started, and how they ended up. I found a disturbing trend – of all the independently started colonies over those last 20 years, all but two of the colonies had ‘failed’ and were now controlled by a company called ‘Triform’. A lot of digging through false fronts and holding companies will lead you to four major companies, two of which are in the courts almost every other week for using illegal means to crush anyone that gets in their way. All of the ‘failed’ colonies failed the same way, pirate attacks, and/or an influx of ‘new’ colonists that overwhelmed the original colony’s resources." Neal’s frown deepened. "You have to understand that once Triform gets a colony in its clutches, it does its best to run the colonists into the ground. The best parallel I can think of would be the old North American coal mines in their early days. The company store was the only place you could buy or sell anything, and the prices were set so you were just keeping your head above water, no matter how hard you worked." Neal smiled. "There was even a song about those times, one of the lines went: ‘You load sixteen tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt’. Triform has taken that to a whole new level."

"That would never be allowed!" Midnight said with a little anger in hir voice.

"If it was widely known about, no. But Triform handles all the communications and most of the shipping on those planets, so they can monitor and control most of what is heard from their colonies."

"Star Fleet would help!" Rosepetal pointed out.

"Like they did at ‘Amazonia’?"

Amazonia was a sore subject. Through loopholes and more than a few shady tricks, Star Fleet had ended up supporting the companies and not the Wemic that had originally been left there to fend for themselves. (see Hands Across the Sky, by John R. Plunkett)

After giving everyone a moment to calm down, Neal continued. "So I was stuck with a dilemma: any colony I started would be set upon by Triform unless I could keep it quiet, and there was no way to quietly get enough colonists to get a reasonable-size colony going."

"But you did anyway," Weaver said with a small grin.

"Not at first. I came up with a very large ‘shell game’ that I thought might work, but then I looked at the time required. I was starting to get older. I could have made the first few deliveries, but that would have left them on their own long before they were ready." Neal snorted and shook his head. "I deleted the colony plans and went to bed that night."

"And in the morning?" Weaver asked.

"I didn’t wake up."

Smiling at the shocked looks Neal said. "Two days later I did wake up, unable to control my movements or see straight." Nodding to the Rakshani, he said, "I think you ladies know how that feels." At their grins and chuckles, he added. "After the week it took me to get it back in gear, I found the colony plans waiting for me. It seems Tess’s delete key doesn’t always work properly."

Rosepetal asked, "And the ‘shell game’?"

"Was to safeguard my colonies from Triform while they grew. I figured I could support up to three colonies if I didn’t have to fight Triform on all three fronts. Two of the colonies are still not known by anyone but me and the colonists. The third was made known to the public eleven years ago. You may have heard of it; ‘Catch-A-Lot’."

Rosepetal thought for a moment. "I think I started hearing about it around ten years ago. Mostly water, grasses and swamps on the landmasses. The deep oceans though are teaming with life, thus the name."

Neal grinned. "And storms like you wouldn’t believe! Either you build it solid to last, or it gets blown away next week. The colonists that I settled on Catch-A-Lot know that they’re bait. Most have sent their families and friends ahead to the other colonies while they help set up my trap."

"Trap?" Boyce asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Catch-A-Lot was settled as bait for Triform and their parent companies. The colony had been running fine for six years, then the public was informed that they existed. Almost overnight the pirate attacks started… and failed to inconvenience the colonists. I had left behind a dozen of my Zulus. The pirates never knew what hit them."

"You have your Zulus attacking other ships without warning?" Midnight asked, hir eyes growing wide.

"Of course not. I set up three small automated space stations around the planet. They challenge any ship approaching. If the ship refuses to answer the hail, an unmasked baby Zulu goes out to meet it. Since the pirates usually like to open fire once they see it coming, anything done to them afterwards becomes self-defense."

"I guess that’s one way to get around the rules," Boyce commented with a frown.

"If my colonies would be safe playing by the rules, I would play by them. Until that day, I will do whatever it takes to protect the people that have placed their trust in me."

"What other traps have you set?" Rosepetal asked.

"The colony’s charter does have an option where other companies can buy their way onto Catch-A-Lot, but it requires eighty percent of the voters to okay it. Voters have to be adults that have been on Catch-A-Lot at least one standard year. With over twenty-five thousand adults already there, Triform has to move over a hundred thousand adults to guarantee a victory at the polls. They tried to just dump people like they’ve done in the past, but they hit a snag. The charter requires them to supply housing and food for any colonists they send. In other words, no ‘free room and board’."

Weaver was looking thoughtful. "So for every adult you have on the planet, they would need to support four to take over."

Neal nodded as he grinned. "And with the storms, you either set up very large, very tough greenhouses, or you ship in a lot of food. The one time Triform tried to claim that we were ‘starving’ their colonists, I had Tess dump the whole digital trail of who owned what to the press. That and the charter made them look very bad in public."

"Are they winning?" Shadowcrest asked, having joined them from the main pool.

"After getting burned twice, they’ve been slowly building their forces. At their current rate, they should have enough adults in about six months. Add a year until they are guaranteed to win the vote, and I’m cutting it just about perfect."

"You want them to win?" Rosepetal asked, a little confused.

"It doesn’t really matter in the long run. Win or lose, in less than eighteen months I’ll be pulling all of my people out, and splitting them between the other two colonies."

"You can’t just pick up and move twenty-five thousand people!" she said, thinking of the logistics it would take.

"At the rate they’ve been going, it will be closer to forty with all the kids. As for how, I’ll use my usual methods and cheat." At the looks of mass confusion, Neal chuckled. "That’s right, you haven’t seen the settlement yet, have you. Tess, if you would please."

A hologram of Catch-A-Lot appeared, then zoomed in. On a finger of land, thrusting out from one of the landmasses, sat forty boxy-shaped objects with something reflecting between them. As the zoom continued, Chase was the first to realize what they were seeing. "Those are cargo pods!"

"With full life-support and living quarters built in. Give them enough power and you can live in them anywhere, up to and including space. My idea was to insure safe living spaces, and each of them can hold up to two thousand. The greenhouse was made using local materials and will be left behind.

"Why are you giving up on Catch-A-Lot?" Weaver asked, "Surely there’s some way to keep Triform out."

"When we leave, Catch-A-Lot will have done just what I wanted it to do. Triform will have wasted a lot of money and resources on a planet they can’t keep."

"The planet has another trap?" Boyce asked, wondering just how many more tricks Neal had up his sleeve.

"The star system itself was the trap. If they had looked before they leaped, they could have missed all my tricks."

"How?" Weaver asked, shaking her head.

"Catch-A-Lot has been settled twice before." Smiling at Zhanch, Neal said, "To the Rakshani, it is better know it as ‘Thrice Damned’."

Zhanch sputtered. "But everyone knows about…"

"But Triform never bothered checking the old solar information. They only saw the report that someone else had of colonizing a planet." Looking at the others Neal filled in the gaps. "Thrice Damned’s sun has a very strong solar flare cycle, but it’s only on about ten out of every one hundred and fifty years. That’s why the ocean life is so far ahead of the land – the land keeps getting burned back by the flares. Thinking it was a one-time event, the Rakshani tried to resettle after the flares died down. We’ve got four to seven years before the next flare cycle starts; plenty of time for Triform to get their ‘colonists’ out and give them a black eye in the process."

"So you have forty thousand secrets," Holly said.

"In that one colony, yes. There are still the other two colonies to consider."

"Dependant on you," M'Lai added.

"Not as much anymore. They both have populations well over eighty thousand by now, and are pretty much self sufficient. Most of my current load is for expanding their growing areas, and adding some more space-mining capacity. If they ever do need help, they each have a dozen message drones I put together. The drones are about the size and speed of a baby Zulu, but even longer ranged. One automatically makes a mail run every three months, and they can send one when needed. For protection, they each have twenty Zulus. Catch-A-Lot was close by so I could come running if they called for help. The other two are over four months away even at the Folly’s speed."

"Wait a minute, where did you get all those colonists? I don’t remember seeing anything about it," Boyce asked.

"My first two ‘gap’ trips were to set up and start some minor terraforming, to get the planets ready for colonists. Then I went shopping for people unhappy with where they were. Three guesses where I started?"

"The ‘failed ‘ colonies!" Holly exclaimed.

"Got it in one!" Neal said with a smile. "Most of the original colonists jumped at the chance to try again, with the promise that I would do my best to keep Triform and its parent companies out. Then there was ‘the old fur’ rumor mill." Neal smiled. "I had told a couple of older friends about wanting to try starting a colony. One of them had complained that starting a colony was for youngsters, old folks would just be a burden to the group. Since I had used Tess’s process on a couple of furs that had almost been killed by pirates, I told them that there was a dangerous option, but an option nonetheless. To make a long story short, they each told their old friends, who told their old friends. When I came back though to pick up what should have been a few thousand, I found I had over fifty thousand volunteers, with over five thousand old furs willing to risk what was left of their lives for a chance to help start a new colony. What was even more of a population boost was a lot of them managed to talk their kids, and even grandkids into joining them!"

Boyce almost dumped Rosepetal off his lap in surprise. "Wait a minute, that was when all the fur disappearances occurred on earth, about twenty years ago!"

Neal nodded. "That’s the problem with a secret that gets too big – people notice. We emptied a couple of furry retirement communities as well as rest homes and whole sections of a few hospitals, even the staff wanted onboard when they heard about it. I had a hard decision to make. If I said no to any of them, it would only take one ‘whistle-blower’ to bring the whole project crashing down."

"So you took them all," Boyce stated.

"So I took them all. It wasn’t easy. I didn’t have a tenth of the living areas or the life support I needed. I couldn’t take any of the older furs until I had arranged accommodations for everyone. If I just started making people disappear, the local authorities would have noticed, and tried to figure out what was going on."

Boyce frowned. "As I recall there was a bit of a panic. A lot of rumors got started, including that Humans First groups were involved."

"Except their M.O. was nowhere to be seen. H.F. types like to destroy things and leave the bodies laying about. This little mystery had no damage, and no blood. Just a large number of furs and more than a few humans, all disappearing in the space of one night. The missing left behind notes saying they were leaving. Wills and best wishes were left for those who would remain behind. A few left behind hints, though most just packed what they would be needing on a new world."

"Why take old furs?" Quickdash asked with a puzzled expression.

Neal smiled. "There’s an old saying that ‘youth is wasted on the young’. You youngsters have all that extra energy and wonder at everything new. When you get older, you start losing the wonder, because you’ve already seen everything, or so it seems sometimes. And the energy? I know you’ve heard older people watching kids at play and wishing they had that kind of energy themselves." Quickdash nodded, and Neal continued, "The flip side of that coin is the older people have a lot more knowledge and wisdom, mostly learned the hard way by making mistakes. Those ‘older furs’ were bringing well over a hundred years of experience each! But, they no longer had the energy to make the most of that knowledge. Run them though the process and you end up with furs like most of our Rakshani. They may look young, but they know things that it takes a lifetime to learn."

"The news of people missing was just on Earth, I don’t remember any mention of any of the other colonies losing colonists," Boyce remarked.

"You’re forgetting that Triform controls all communications from those colonies. If they had admitted that they had people disappear too, they would have had Star Fleet and everyone else ‘helping’ them investigate it. Not something they would want. Word might get out as to how they really run things…"

"ENOUGH!!" cried Shadowchaser, "This was supposed to be relaxing, not getting everyone stirred up."

"How did we get on that subject anyway?" Mike asked.

"Some people think I have too many secrets," Neal chuckled.

"Will you tell me a secret?" asked Quickdash.

"Sure little one. Come here and I’ll whisper it to you." With hir ear at his lips, he gave hir a hug as he whispered, "I love you."

"Can I stay with you?" shi asked.

"Well, it is going to be a while yet before I take you home."

"No, I mean stay like Chase stayed with you."

"Little one, Chase didn’t have a home or parents to go home to, that’s why I had hir for years. Don’t you miss your parents? I know they miss you."

"How do you know?"

"The message drone I left at New Kiev came in yesterday. Along with some of the information I was waiting for, it also had a few late messages from some of your parents. That, and they took a trick I played on you and played it back on me."

"What trick?" shi asked with a frown.

"Do you remember when I was complaining that some of the corridor filters were clogging up faster than I thought they should? And some of you decided to ‘help’?" At their nods Neal grinned. "I caught your group in the act, and had Tess record it."

"NO!"

"Oh yes! Tess?"

A hologram opened, Quickdash was in front of the group, Shadowcrest behind hir and a little to the left, with three of the teenage chakats across the corridor bringing up the rear. All of them were swinging mops although it looked like the last three were cleaning up the mess the first two were making.

"This is boring," Quickdash was complaining.

"You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to," Nightsky reminded hir.

"I want to help, but this is just boring," Quickdash moaned.

"Well, we could always sing something while we work, what song would you like?" asked Dusk.

"Could we do one of the songs I found in Neal’s library?" Quickdash asked, starting to get excited.

"Is it a good song to mop by?" Morningmist asked with a laugh.

Changing one word, Quickdash sang the first verse to them. After the first few bars, Tess supplied the music, minus the original voices.

"I am Chakat, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore,
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'cause I've heard it all before.
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again."

(from I am woman -Words and Music by Helen Reddy and Ray Burton)

Shadowcrest laughed. "Works for me."

What followed was four-footed dance lessons for beginners. Only Dusk had ever taken any dancing classes, so shi was trying to teach the others.

"Oh yes I am wise,
But it's wisdom born of pain.
Yes, I've paid the price,
But look how much I gained.
If I have to, I can do anything.
I am strong (strong).
I am invincible (invincible).
I am Chakat! "

Let’s see, there’s the steps, stepping to the music, trying to stay in step to the music and each other, moving their bodies in sync, swinging their arms, mops and tails simultaneously. The only thing not happening was any mopping!

"You can bend but never break me,
'cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal.
And I come back even stronger,
Not a novice any longer,
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul"

"I am chakat watch me grow,
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land.
But I'm still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand."

By this time, most of the adults were weak from laughter, so Neal stopped the replay, "There’s over an hour of that. They do get fairly good towards the end."

"And the trick on you?" asked Boyce.

"I had sent it as proof of how badly I was abusing their kids. They sent one of the last songs the kids sang to their local news channel and it was aired as some of the local color. One of the music stations picked it up, and it’s a top ten music/video hit for most of the planet. There’s a few talent agencies that think the kids have some talent and want to talk to them when they get home."

"That’s not what had you so depressed," Shadowchaser said.

"No. That was the good part of ‘the good the bad, and the ugly’."

"The ugly?" Weaver asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I now know why Cindy’s father was trying to get her back so badly. After his last message, I had a private investigator do a little snooping. Cindy has a good-sized inheritance from her grandmother’s estate and her father’s been seeing how much of it he could steal before he loses control over Cindy."

"Can you stop him?"

"May already have. Since I know this P.I. quite well, I had given him the okay to take things to a certain level," Looking at Cindy, Neal continued. "When your father found out he was being investigated, he disappeared."

"Are you hunting him?" Weaver asked.

"No. That would be up to Cindy."

"And the ‘bad’?" she asked.

Neal looked over at the pile of warm towels that the little ones had burrowed into. "I now know the name of Stormy’s sire. Chakat Whitepaws, daughter of Snowfall and Sandrunner."

"Did you know Whitepaws?" Brighteyes asked, sensing his sadness.

"No, I never meet hir, but I spoke to hir mother the day you all stowed away in that carrier. How do you tell two good friends you were there when their child was killed?"

"But, you saved their grandchild!" Holly blurted out.

"I keep thinking that if only we had been a few minutes earlier… but a few minutes earlier would just have put us all out in the open when that Humans First group started firing."

"You’re still holding something back, father," Shadowchaser said, cocking hir head.

"I don’t know if the last one is good, bad, or no big deal. I was planning to check on a group during my ‘gap’ trip, but they’ve already sent a message that they’re ready for pick-up whenever I’m in the neighborhood."

"Why is that a problem?" Weaver asked.

"I was going to pick them up before heading out to Catch-A-Lot. What’s puzzling me is the lack of information. They’re not asking for an early pickup, and no mention of trouble, just that they’re ‘ready’ to be picked up."

"This isn’t another trap for someone like ‘Thrice Damned’, is it?" she said, starting to get tired of all Neal’s secrets.

"Nope."

"Give, father!" When Neal just laid there and smiled, Shadowchaser hissed, "Tickle him Quickdash! Make him talk!"

Neal grinned. "Shi knows how well I can tickle back. The group I’m wondering about is on a first contact mission."

"But Star Fleet…" Rosepetal started.

"… didn’t discover them, and still doesn’t know that they even exist. I found them at the end of one of my log’s ‘gaps’. I was scanning what I thought was a promising solar system, when one of my baby Zulus ran straight through one of their sensor screens. While they haven’t left their system yet, they have seen aliens before, and a few had been ‘unfriendly’. I admitted to being a trader that did a little exploring between deliveries." Neal smiled at Boyce. "I only showed them the foods and low-tech things I had to sell. They knew my ship had to be able to go faster than light, but they understood that I couldn’t just ‘give’ them access to it. After trading for samples of most of the things I offered them, they requested contact with the Federation. I suggested that I bring a contact team to them. If everything worked out, the contact team would let the rest of the Federation know about them. If it didn’t work out, I would take the team home, and we wouldn’t bother them again."

"How could you promise them that?" she inquired.

"Well, the contact team doesn’t know where they are, and they gave their word they wouldn’t try to find out. And, since they’re a bit off the beaten path, the odds are good no one else will be tripping over them anytime soon."

"And, just where did you dig up a first-contact team to send to them?" Midnight asked, more than a little concerned.

Neal smiled, "I bent the ears of a few members on the Chakat High Council. They quietly put together the team for me. It’s sometimes handy, having daughters in strange places."

"What are they like?" asked Holly.

"All you’ll get from me is this: they lay large eggs, and never stop growing. Some of their elders are huge."

"But, what do they look like?" she demanded.

"If they decide they don’t want Federation contact, you’ll never know."

"Please?" begged half the kids. Neal just shook his head.

"So, are you going to get them?" Weaver asked.

"When I can make the time. Right now, that means after this run, as I had originally planned."

"But, that’s over a year away!" Shadowcrest exclaimed.

"As fast as the Folly is, she can only be at one place at a time. Even pushing her to her limits, I can’t get far enough ahead of my deliveries to get out there and back between all the stops I have to make."

"What if we use Charlie and Delta?" Shadowcrest asked.

Charlie and Delta were two of the six working shuttle/ships that were docked between the Folly’s spheres. Alpha and Baker were designed to move loaded pods into and out of a gravity well, while Echo and Foxtrot were designed to move pods to nearby space platforms. Charlie and Delta, on the other hand, were warp-capable and able to carry up to two hundred carriers internally. Gulf was a work in progress, that bay looking more like a junkyard than a ship. The Folly also had some smaller, non-cargo carrying craft. Two old rebuilt assault shuttles were in a bay just aft of engineering; they were used when Neal needed to move people, and not cargo to or from the surface. There were also over a dozen lifeboats scattered across the Folly. Neal had kept them all in good shape, mainly because he couldn’t predict where he’d be when and if he needed one.

While Charlie and Delta didn’t have the Folly’s speed, they could be dropped off along the way, make a delivery, and be recovered after the Folly had made a delivery of her own.

Neal looked over at Boyce. "Hmmm, what would Star Fleet say to me offering some of its commanders some command time in civilian craft?

Before Boyce could open his mouth, Brighteyes spoke up. "What about us?"

Neal softly snorted. "What about you? You’re not ready to take a ship out on your own."

"You let Chase’s group do it!"

"Yes I did, but only after years of training and experience. You’ll have to remember, most of them were under ten when they started, and that the Folly was their home," Holding up his hand to forestall any more questions or demands, Neal smiled as he picked up a data pad. "Give me a minute or two to see if they would even make enough of a difference. Tess. Schedules and loads please."

Neal’s data pad updated, and a hologram appeared overhead, red, yellow and green stars filling the space. Some of the stars were red with a date stamp on them. Yellow weren’t time sensitive, but the deliveries were more than the smaller ships could handle. A bar across the bottom was the timeline. Red knots showed the ‘must make’ times with red lines leading to them showed the time needed to get there from the last planned stop. White spaces showed ‘free’ time between the other colored lines and dots. Neal started finding places that he could drop Charlie and/or Delta to save the Folly a stop without using up more time than it saved. The others watched quietly as the lines showing the Folly’s planed flight path shifted, green stars turning blue, and more pieces of the timeline turning white.

Finally, a white line almost filled the space between two widely spaced red knots, one little yellow line/dot standing in the way. Neal sighed. "Best I can do. Tess, do you see a better path?"

"Not without exceeding your parameters, boss."

Looking at Boyce, Neal asked. "I believe you were interrupted before you could give me an answer about using Star Fleet volunteers."

"How many would be needed?"

"A dozen per ship would be enough to comfortably cover the shifts, eighteen to twenty would be a full complement. "

"So twenty-four to forty ‘volunteers’…"

"Minus the slots my kids can fill, once they’ve had enough training, and if whoever I put in charge is willing to take them on as crew."

"What about that one stop?"

"If Charlie and Delta are a go, then I’ll call in a marker for that last stop."

"I don’t see a problem, in fact most of them will probably jump at a chance to try out your equipment."

Looking back at his data pad Neal thought for a moment. "Hmmm. If we figure on two weeks for training and a shakedown cruise or two, then a couple of runs with the Folly there to back them up… Could I tie up your holodeck for training? That would let both ‘crews’ train at the same time."

Boyce nodded. "When did you want to start?"

"I should start tomorrow. We have five weeks before the first real runs, but you can never have enough training time."

"Should we post the openings in the morning?"

Neal thought for a moment. "No. Post them now, let’s let the off shifts have first crack at it."

"What’s your message going to say?"

"Hmmm. ‘The Folly is looking for a few fools foolish enough to want to work long hours on their time off from Star Fleet. The job will entail moving cargo from point A to point B using equipment designed by the same demented fool that designed and built the Folly. Available fools taken in the order of their foolishness to volunteer’."

"Are you sure you want it worded that way?"

"Of course. It gives them fair warning of what’s to come, and what’s expected of them."

"Okay by me."

"Tess, have the ships’ on-duty personnel post it, if you would please."

"Sure thing boss."

"Oh, and send out three of your message drones. I’ll be needing the next year’s schedules for all the usual suspects." At Boyce’s raised eyebrow, Neal grinned. "If this is going to work, I’m still going to need someone to deliver that last load, and they may be interested in some of my other loads as well."

Giving Stew a nudge to get her the rest of the way off his lap, Neal stood. "I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m getting waterlogged. I’m not saying the party’s over, I just need to get a little drier."

Neal wasn’t done drying off when Tess asked him if she should have set a cutoff number of foolish volunteers, she already had well over a hundred. By the time he stopped laughing, she reported she had just over two hundred. The shifts had just changed, and everybody on the graveyard shifts seemed to want a crack at playing with Neal’s toys.

Neal laughed again, this time at the bemused expression on Boyce’s face. "And I didn’t even have to mention paying them. We must not have been giving them enough to do, if they’re that bored."

It was Boyce’s turn to think for a moment while he finished drying. "I understand Charlie and Delta aren’t as fast as the Folly?" At Neal’s nod, he continued. "Why don’t you give them an ‘escort’? That would give them some added protection, as well as give the other crews more to do."

"I was going to send them out with three scouts and a pair of Zulus each, but there’s no reason we can’t use the other ships as well. Hmmm, that reminds me, I’m going to have to get some more Zulus and scouts made up." Seeing the eager expression on Boyce’s face, Neal chuckled as he added, "Yes, you can help. That is, if you can talk your mates into giving you some time off for good behavior."

Neal snickered as Boyce turned to speak with Rosepetal, his mates having heard what he and Neal had been talking about. The looks they were giving him suggested he was going to have to work hard to earn his freedom to help Neal play with his toys.

Weaver came up and handed Neal her brush. As he started running it though her fur, she asked. "What are you finding so funny?"

Neal pointed his chin to where Boyce was running a brush though M'Lai’s hair, Rosepetal and Midnight on either side of him. From the tones of the voices, Boyce was losing the quiet ‘discussion’ they were having. "Poor guy’s outnumbered. Looks like I’ll be working solo again."

"What makes you think you’re going to get off any easier?"

"Because I only have to convince one mate that doing something is a good idea, he has three times the challenge."

"I remember you told me that he has two additional mates, Zhane and another chakat," she said as she smiled.

Neal snorted. "Zhane – I just barely dodged the phaser pulse with that one."

"And just what do you mean by that?" Rosepetal demanded, her lips curled back halfway to a snarl for the slur to her co-mate she thought she had just heard.

Meeting her eyes, Neal sighed. "What do you know about Zhane’s older sister?"

"A sister she hates, she never even speaks her name." Rosepetal said, her voice dripping with scorn.

"Yes, an older sister she hated for stealing a male from her almost twenty years ago. It turned out the quartermaster of Starbase 3 was a childhood friend of Zhane’s. When she found out I had gotten them both in the same room after all these years, she was more than willing to tell me the whole story, as well as the aftermath. The male they fought over had a history of using, as well as abusing ‘his’ females. I say had, because the family of the female her big sister ‘lost’ him to, removed him from the gene pool. Funny thing is, if you look at it from the outside, it almost looks like an older sister used herself to shield her younger sister from a jerk, and then fed said jerk to what she knew would turn into a meat grinder. What do you call a human that goes and rubs a Rakshani’s nose in something like that? In her own office, with her big sister in the same room no less?"

No longer angry, Rosepetal quietly said. "A fool."

"I didn’t know at the time that they were sisters. When I found out, I had a quiet nervous breakdown. You don’t get in the middle of a family- never mind a Rakshani family’s domestic dispute unless you’re crazy. More often than not, the domestic disputers will team up, and take out whatever is interfering with their personal fight," Neal shook a little from the memory.

Weaver gave him a hug from behind. "That’s why you were so quiet that evening."

"You never saw how angry Zhane got when I had Tess beam Zhanch into her office. She clawed a very nice set of grooves into her desk, just on seeing her sister. I was afraid her hatred would cause Zhane to not help Zhanch, or the others." Neal snorted softly as he looked back to Rosepetal. "The only thing I knew at the time was she had you and Boyce as mates. I rubbed her nose in the fact that if Zhanch hadn’t taken that jerk away from her, she could have ended up with him for a mate. I got lucky; she thought it over and decided to forgive Zhanch, and she forgave me for sticking my nose into her personal life. But the way she said ‘take good care of my sister for me’, when she left the Folly that evening let me know just how close I’d come to looking like her desk."

Having heard her name being used, Zhanch had come up on the group as Rosepetal asked, "Were you able to take good care of her?"

With a small smile and a hand wave at Zhanch, Neal said. "You can ask her yourself, this is Zhanch. Zhanch, this is most of your sister’s family."

Not sure how she would be received, now that they knew who she was, Zhanch simply nodded. Boyce was having none of that however, and pulled her down for a tight hug, his mates quickly joining him.

"Why didn’t you tell us?" Rosepetal asked Zhanch.

Neal answered before Zhanch could find her tongue. "How did you describe her to me just a moment ago?"

"Oh!" Rosepetal said, her fur hiding her blush. "There is that."

"Indeed. Well, since you and Zhane are co-mates, I guess that would make Zhanch your co-sister-in-law, or whatever equivalent term you use."

"What it makes her is part of our extended family," Rosepetal said smiling up at Zhanch.

With everyone dried off, they dressed and then headed for the Folly’s main lounge. The three rabbits had snuck off as soon as they were dry. They now returned with the unused dessert cart and fresh drinks.

Once everyone had something to munch on, Stew sat down next to Neal. She waited until he finished his snack before she spoke. "I want a raise."

Neal took a moment to reply. "Monetary, title, or altitude?"

"The first two would be nice, but they are not what I’m after. I’m not sure what you mean by the third. The fourth option please."

"And just what would this fourth option be?"

"Relations."

Neal was glancing around as Stew spoke. Moonglow and Weaver were showing no surprise at the request; Neal thought he actually saw Weaver give a small nod. Looking over his glasses at her, he snorted. "This is why you smiled when I thought Boyce being out-numbered by his mates was amusing."

Weaver gave Neal a grin. "Like the Caitian, I’m used to the problem of the females outnumbering the males, so sharing one of my males with someone I care for isn’t an issue. Suzan and I have been helping each other take care of you and the kids since she joined us. I see nothing wrong with giving her the ties that go with the job she’s already doing."

Neal frowned. "If I agree to that, your next trap would be to point out that as the nanny and wet nurse for a child I’ve accepted as my own, that Moonglow should also be given a raise in the relationship department."

Weaver grinned again. "It’s so nice, dealing with a male that knows when he’s already beaten."

"That doesn’t mean I’ll go down without a fight," Neal said with a matching grin as he raised an eyebrow at Suzan. "First you wanted me to get more personal, now you want a relationship. You already have my word that I won’t kick you off my ship, what else are you after?"

Suzan wrapped him in a hug. "I’ve never worked harder, nor have I been happier, than I have after I came aboard the Folly. Even before we had our little ‘talk’, I knew I wanted to stay more than anything else. I guess that’s why I overworked myself; I was trying to prove I was worth keeping. You and the kids have given me a feeling of family I’ve never felt before, I want to be a part of that family."

"You do realize that my ‘family’ is more than a little unstable. At the end of this run, all of my kids have relatives that will have more of a say in where they go next than I do. You could end up stuck with just a grumpy old human for company."

"Even then," she said softly.

Neal then turned to Moonglow. "You understand that I could lose Firestorm at our last stop. If hir grandparents claim hir, I’ll have to give hir up. Not to mention that if you’re always on the Folly, you may never get a chance to ride that bike of yours."

Moonglow’s smile was on the tender side as shi replied, "I understand the risks, and accept them. Even if you don’t accept us as your mates, we will be your mates in our hearts, and will treat you as such."

Neal snorted. "As mates, or as keepers?"

Rosepetal spoke from where she sat on Boyce’s lap, Midnight and M'Lai each with a possessive arm around each of his shoulders. "Is there a difference?"

From the middle of the group, Boyce added, "It has its advantages."

Stew tightened her hug on Neal when he shook his head, and let out a quiet sigh. "I keep seeing old sayings and phrases used against me." At the curious looks, Neal gave them a small grin. "I started this cruise with the curse 'may you live in exciting times' hanging over my head," Neal snorted. "That still seems to be in full force. The old saying that comes to mind now is ‘men may rule, but women decide’, and fool be he that thinks he has a voice in the matter!" Looking to Rosepetal, Neal asked, "Did he go quietly, or kicking and screaming?"

Rosepetal laughed. "Both actually."

Boyce had started to protest, but Midnight squeezed his arm and whispered. "Forest," as they tightened their hugs on him.

Neal smiled at Suzan. "I guess it’s like that old song ‘all or nothing at all, I don't know why I go to extremes’." Wrapping her in a hug, Neal looked over to Weaver and Moonglow. "I surrender. What have you ladies ‘decided’?"

Weaver smiled. "Suzan and Moonglow join me as your denmates…"

"I saw that coming," Neal said with a grin. "Why do I get the sinking feeling there’s more?"

"The odd phrase I heard you tell Holly was ‘he who saves a life…’" Weaver said.

"’…Is responsible for it’. At the time, she was wondering why I didn’t just leave our Rakshani ladies at Starbase 3," Neal said. "We had just rescued them from death in a drugged sleep, only to leave them looking forward to a slow and lingering death. I was holding the process back as a last thing to try, because of both the risks, as well as the resources it demands. That, and I could only offer it if we kept them. No sane doctor is going to let me just walk in and experiment on someone in their care. Then Dessa was hit and it was her only real chance of survival."

Dessa stepped up and knelt in front of Neal and Suzan, bringing herself to their level. "I’ve used the holodeck to help me remember, as well as to see what I missed. When Tess told you I had been shot, you told her to treat me as family. Am I ‘family’? Or am I just a ‘stray’ you’ve now rescued from three different possible deaths?"

Neal reached out to place his hands on her shoulders. "I would be honored to call any of you family. Even in your weakened conditions, all of you were more than willing the fight by my side; you were willing to risk your life to save one of my children. In doing so you saved yourself and your sister marines from their lingering deaths. I consider all of you many things, but ‘strays’ isn’t one of them. Your current options are open; all of you have choices to make once your ready to face the outside world again. If you wish to stay on the Folly while you get used to your new situation, I would be happy to have you here."

"As what?" she asked.

"You’ve all been helping with the ship and my kids. Teachers, trainers, a couple of you are already pretty good shuttle pilots. What do you have in mind?"

"You said you would let the kids train to use the smaller ships; will you give us the same privileges? It’s starting to feel a little strange, not having any set responsibilities."

"If that’s what you would like, I have no problems with it."

"What about our Star Fleet responsibilities?"

Neal snorted. "What Star Fleet responsibilities? Right now Star Fleet can’t even admit you’re here on the Folly without admitting that one of their cruisers is out there under someone else’s control. Then we gave them another little problem. May I ask how long you’ve been in Star Fleet?"

"Eighty-five ye… Oh, hell!"

"Indeed. So they will be getting back a few youngsters claiming to be well over a hundred. Your families and friends are in for one hell of a shock." Looking at Zhanch, Neal raised an eyebrow. "Do you think Zhane will mind trading in an older sister for one that appears to be half her physical age?"

Zhanch chuckled. "Only if I swear to stop stealing her mates from her!"

After the laughter died down, Neal continued, "It’s a good thing the Folly and I are disappearing for a while after this run. From what Tess has been telling me, the Folly’s reputation as the ship of impossibilities is still growing among the Star Fleet crews. Both the kids and the Rakshani are also generating rumors that we must have found the fountain of youth. Most of the confusion is being caused by the knowledge my ‘crew’ has not matching their apparent ages." Neal gave them a grin. "For example, I had the privilege of watching Kestrel in action. She was mopping the deck with the Pegasus’s marines in hand-to-hand combat practice. The real treat was that she looked like she was just practicing her dancing. One of the challengers would come into range, she would shift towards them, and they would be down, or flying backwards, all without her missing a beat. Then there’s our ‘terror twins’." Looking at Boyce, Neal’s grin widened. "If you ever have trouble finding your chief engineer, ask Tess to scan Gulf’s bay. After the twins stopped getting underpaw, Sparks got worried they might have been ‘grounded’ and came over to check on them. When I went to check on the twin’s progress that evening, I found that slim Siamese colored chakat of yours, almost ‘buried alive’ in Gulf’s power distribution systems. I had to threaten to not let hir back on the Folly to get hir to eat and go get some sleep. Sparks was back the next day though, with more than a few friends. At the rate they’re going, Gulf will be ready for trials in less than two months."

Boyce just shook his head. "Shi gets all the breaks. I can’t even help you with your scouts, and here Sparks is building a ship."

M'Lai laughed as she gave Boyce a hug. "Be good and maybe we’ll let you play too."

Rosepetal smiled. "That is if Neal is going to be working on them, his mates may have something else with a higher priority."

Neal snorted. "One of the differences between us is that I am this ship’s chief engineer, as well as the captain. I have no choice but take the time to make sure everything is done right." Making eye contact with each of his mates, he continued, "If that means I don’t get to spend as much time as I would like with my mates and my kids, I hope they’ll understand."

Weaver grinned. "Just so long as you understand we will do everything we can to help you, even if that help is dragging you to bed before you’re so tired you hurt yourself or those around you."

Neal nodded. "Understood, love. I wouldn’t have it any other way."

"Good!" Weaver said as her grin turned evil. "Then you won’t mind having fourteen companions, to ‘help’ us keep you out of trouble."

Neal got his mouth open, but no sounds came out. Weaver laughed at his shocked expression. "You said yourself that they are not strays, and you also said you would be honored to have them as family. Somehow, I don’t think they’ll let you adopt them, even as old as you keep hinting you are."

Neal just sat there, with his mouth hanging open, until Stew poked him with a claw. "Breathe!" She hissed.

After Neal got his breath back, Dessa asked sweetly, "Is there a problem?"

"Sorry, that last surprise burned out what was left of my mental calculator." Smiling at the mixed looks of amusement and concern, Neal explained, "I was just trying to figure out how the hell I’m supposed to keep sixteen more denmates and companions happy, when I’ve already have seventeen kids that need everything from love to guidance and encouragement. Oh yeah, I’m also currently in command of not only the Folly, but also four Star Fleet ships and their fighters. Plus I have scouts and Zulus I should be getting built, never mind making sure that Gulf is built the way I intended." Neal shook his head. "I’m starting to feel like I’m getting stretched a little too thin in places."

Dessa leaned forward and wrapped both Neal and Stew in a hug. "Try to think of it more as extra shoulders helping you bear your load, not as more of a load for you to bear."

Neal smiled. "I’ll try. You have to understand that this is the first run in a long time, in which I‘m not running solo. One of the reasons I’ve always liked this job was the ability to get away from everything and everybody for a while, no cares or responsibilities except to get someone’s cargo elsewhere. The few times I was running Star Fleet games, it seemed like it was nothing but extra work."

Redfoot asked, "And Chase and company?"

"That started out rough and had a few bumps, but it smoothed out. The worst parts were the attempted kidnapping and the kids hitting their teens. Like most youths, they decided they knew more than I did on just about any subject you care to name," Neal snorted. "That’s where ‘ye old school of hard knocks’ reared it ugly head. I got tired of arguing with them, so I just started letting them learn things the hard way. After getting their tails scorched a few times, they started asking me ‘why’ I thought things, instead of just assuming that I was too old to know anything worthwhile," Neal chuckled as he looked at Chase. "Plus I showed a couple would-be ‘hotshot pilots’, that even they could be taken down by an old man with poor reflexes."

Chase hung hir head a little, "We thought fast reflexes were everything back then. Neal showed us that some traps work even better on those that just react, and don’t think things through." Looking up, shi smiled, "I was one of the best pilots in my classes at Star Fleet, mostly because I had such an evil, cheating, scheming, no-account father!"

Neal sighed. "Damned by faint praise."

"But praise nonetheless, father," shi said with a smile. "Now prove to me that nothing’s changed, and my adopted father can still handle anything that’s thrown at him!"

Neal looked over to Boyce, "Shi’s almost sixty-five, and shi still doesn’t understand that things and people have limits. Shi still thinks a little begging, or a cute pout will make things better."

Redfoot answered before Boyce could speak, "Of course shi does – shi had you for a role model. When did you ever let hir down?"

"Oh, I failed them, more than once, but I made up for it when I could. They may not have always had treats when they thought they should get them, but there was always food and a warm place to sleep."

"And you always found you had a spare box of ‘hugs’ tucked away somewhere when we needed them the most," Chase said with a chuckle. Smiling at the confused looks around hir, shi continued, "When I was little, we came close to overloading Neal. Nineteen small furs can be quite a handful, and it took a while before the four teenagers started pulling with him instead of against him. One time when we were all feeling a little down, Neal pretended we had ‘run him out of hugs’. I swear he spent over an hour with most of us kids following him, worried that he wouldn’t be able to hug us anymore. He was looking in all his drawers, under the bed, in his desk, just about everywhere. Finally, he got into a storeroom and locked the door before we could follow. He made noises as if he was shifting things back and forth, then we herd him shout out in triumph! He then came out and gave us each a hug…" Chase chuckled again, "I know I spent hours in that storeroom, trying to find where he hid his supply of spare hugs!"

Neal smiled at the memory. "When they finally confronted me on there being no ‘boxes of hugs’ in that storeroom, I simply told them that I had gotten the last package that had been stored in there. After that, whenever they wanted or needed a hug, I would tell them not to worry, I had more spares tucked away somewhere."

"So, have we given you more than you can handle?" Weaver asked.

"I don’t think so love," Neal said as he smiled at her. "It’s just going to take a little while for it to all sink in. I seem to remember it taking you a day or so to get used to the idea of having an extra fourteen kids, never mind agreeing to have a human denmate. Just give me some time to get used to the idea."

Shadowchaser snorted, "That means he wants to go off by himself and play with his toys. He’s always claimed to think better when he’s working with his hands."

"Boyce can be just as bad," Rosepetal said with a smile. "Why don’t we give the boys a little time to at least look over Neal’s projects tonight. They have crews to pick out, and training to start in the morning, so I don’t expect them to make an all-nighter out of it."

At Neal’s raised eyebrow, Boyce shrugged and smiled as he got up. After the door closed behind them, Chase chuckled. "What do you think their first topic of discussion will be about?"

"’How to keep multiple mates happy without ending up in the doghouse’," Weaver said with a laugh. Turning to Rosepetal, she said, "And our discussion should start with, ‘How can multiple co-mates work together to not drive their mate - or each other crazy’?"


The next two weeks resembled semi-organized chaos as things took shape. At Boyce’s suggestion, Neal took most of his foolish volunteers from the ships under his command, being careful not to strip any of the ships of key personnel. Along with the groups working on Gulf in their off hours, Boyce brought a dozen more to help with the Zulus.

Neal had been a little apprehensive about having seventeen denmates/ companions waiting to attack when he and Boyce were done talking that first evening. His fears proved groundless though – only Stew and Moonglow were waiting for him when he entered his room. As with the kids, he found who he went to bed with wasn’t always who he would wake up to find.

The other problem he found with having so many keeping an eye on him, was his habit of working long and strange hours went right out the airlock. While he could brush off the kids with a ‘go on ahead, I’ll be there when I’m done with this’, his new companions would wait for him, and if he didn’t move fast enough to suit them, they could and would pick him up and carry him! This led to him missing fewer meals, and if it was bedtime and he was still too wound up, they were more than happy to take care of that as well. This didn’t mean they were always all over him, they had their own training schedules, and they did give him the time for a little peace and quiet.

Weaver also took on more of the role as Neal’s second in command. The kids and Stew had always used her as a sounding board before asking Neal about something, but now she was making more of the decisions. Neal found she could be just as bad as Tess when it came to telling him only what she thought he needed to know.

Dinner that night was on the Pegasus. Along with the other captains were the commanders that would be taking Charlie and Delta out for the first time the next day.

The Spike’s first officer, Canner, was taking command of Charlie, while Craig Dobson from the carrier Slingshot was in charge of Delta.

Four of Neal’s kids and six of his Rakshani companions had passed the tests Neal had set up for them; now he needed to see if his acting captains would take them on as crew.

When Neal had brought up the subject, Canner had laughed. "Trying to replace us already?" he asked with a smile.

Neal returned the smile with a chuckle. "Not until they’ve had a little more seasoning. So far, the kids have only had me for a captain. Some time under someone else will be good for them. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know when you’re training your replacement."

Canner smiled again and nodded. After their rocky start, Canner had been afraid that he had alienated the civilian captain. While Shadowchaser was Neal’s main liaison with the Star Fleet vessels, Canner found that he had been ‘drafted’ to fill in for hir whenever shi was busy. It had taken him a while to realize that Neal hadn’t been angry when he’d disbelieved the sensor data the first day. Neal had simply used Canner’s distrust of the data to show him and the others that there might be a good reason to have the Folly’s help in hunting pirates. Even though the Folly’s current flight path didn’t use the more commonly used ‘space lanes’, Neal was sending a few of his scouts down each of those lanes, then picking them up when the Folly reached that destination.

His next surprise had come when Neal had helped upgrade their sensors, and explained the trick of Folly’s ‘sensor jammers’. Space is a noisy place; every star puts out its own ‘hiss’ across the radio spectrum, up to and past the speed of light. Most sensors were set to ignore this and just report what the sensor could detect above its set noise threshold. Neal’s jammers worked two ways, by slowly adding to the noise, raising the noise threshold of the sensor he was trying to blind, and by sending out a ‘counter signal’ for the Folly’s noises that were over that noise threshold. Like a good set of noise canceling headphones, the earmuffs kept out the hiss and static of the universe, while the electronics ‘countered’ any noise above the threshold. The key to the jammers working correctly were the Folly’s own sensors, you had to know where the other ship was and what they would be ‘hearing’ in order to send the right signals.

Having originally settled on fifteen crew per ship, splitting Neal’s crew between them brought them both up to full complements. His acting captains were pleased that Neal did this without having to ‘bump’ any of their already-trained Star Fleet personal to make room.

After dinner, Neal had both new crews meet him in the lounge. One of the things he wanted to remind the Star Fleet members was that they would be flying freighters, not combat craft. They were to avoid danger whenever possible. While they were used to risking their lives for others, this time their lives were more important. If delivering their loads looked dangerous for any reason, they were to abort. He reminded the captains he expected them to abort if anyone of their crews said the word ‘abort’. Once they were clear, they could find out why.


The next morning saw both ships taking turns making a short hop. Neal running around their engineering sections, making sure everything was working and tuned up. The rest of the day the ships and crews were run though their paces, docking, loading and unloading was practiced by each crew’s shifts.

The next day saw both of the small freighters with a full load, making for the Folly’s next stop. They flew together as a small convoy, the Star Fleet carriers and destroyers acting as an escort. The Folly followed them at a distance, the Pegasus hidden within her warp field.

Two days later, they reached their next stop. Not only did Neal need to transfer cargo on the planet’s surface, there were three space-mining platforms and a research facility to deliver supplies too. After dropping the Pegasus well out of the system, The Folly headed for orbit around the planet, leaving the space based platforms to the smaller ships.

After dropping off their supplies, Charlie and Delta headed back out of the system with their escorts. The Pegasus joined them once they were clear of the system.

The Folly caught up with them two days later. Once the other ships were loaded onboard, the Folly continued on, apparently alone.


The debriefings went smoothly; almost everything had gone according to plan. Neal had made sure to give his crews what background information he had for each of their stops. The crews though, had been more than a little surprised by how many people had been surprised, and sometimes even upset that Neal had sent someone else in his stead.

This had been especially true of one chakat, who had met Charlie as they docked at the first of the mining platforms. Shi had been in such a hurry to meet them, that shi still had hir infant nursing under hir open top. TaurgerWolf, both for hir parents, as well as hir tiger pattern and timber wolf coloration, had first seen the odd human when shi was a very small cub. He had never failed to have a treat or present for hir as a child. As a surprise for hir wolftaur grandparents, Neal had once given hir a ride in the Folly. When they reached Earth, Neal had contacted hir grandparents, only telling them that hir parents had shipped some cargo though him. Neal had then helped hir climb into a large crate, and then filled it up to hir chin with pea sized packing foam. When the grandparents had complained that the crate wouldn’t fit in their vehicle, Neal had suggested they unpack it there, and just take the contents. It was a very dry day, so when the side dropped, white foam poured out. Then, with foam clinging to hir fur, TaurgerWolf had pounced on hir grandparents. A little static electricity soon had all three covered in the foam beads, foam they were still finding in their home twenty years later. CalmMeadow and Mike had been assigned to Charlie. They explained that Neal was using the smaller ships to make up some time, but he hadn’t forgotten hir. They gave hir the small box with hir name on it. Inside shi was surprised to find, not only a gift for hir, but also toys for hir newborn.


The next runs were to two neighboring systems, the Folly heading for one, while the smaller ships and their escort made for the other. The second system had no habitable planets, just a small way-station with a large mining operation.

The quartermaster had been surprised at having the two smaller ships bringing in his supplies instead of the massive Folly, but then he had smiled and made an inter-station call. Delta was almost unloaded, when carriers from the station started queuing up to be loaded. Dusk and Morningmist had been put in charge of unloading Delta; they now looked again at their data pads, no cargo was scheduled to be taken, just dropped off.

The stationmaster, Tom Prasills, whose blond hair had turned to silver over the years, explained the load to them. "A little over fifty years ago, old man Foster helped us repair and upgrade these facilities after a pirate attack. Part of it was a loan and replacement equipment, the other part was lowering the cost of shipping things though him. We’ve never been able to fully pay that loan back. About thirty-five years ago, this ‘younger’ Foster started making the rounds, claiming to be the old man’s ‘grandson’. He’s always told us that there was no record of a loan to us in the old man’s database, so he would never accept payment. Funny thing is, this ‘grandson’ seems to know everything the old man knew, including my daughter’s birthday. So since he has always refused our payments, we’re going to send it to him though you."

The story had pushed Craig Dobson’s curiosity buttons, so he had Velasco scan the carriers before they were brought aboard. The Rakshani had let out a hiss of disbelief at what her scans were showing her. Each carrier was loaded to capacity with refined Boronike ore. The ore in question had properties that kept it from being transported, but those same properties made it a key component in most transporter and replicator manufacturing. Depending on the current prices, each carrier was worth more than a small ship. A hundred and fifty carriers were loaded onto both Charlie and Delta. When asked why so much, Tom had just laughed. "When he wouldn’t take his payment, we rolled it back into the business, this is just half of what his ‘share’ has grown into."


A little before the Pegasus was scheduled to separate from the Folly to check the outlying area while the Folly went in-system, four identical gray rabbit bucks entered Neal’s dayroom. Neal smiled as he said, "Please, don’t tell me you need permission to kick Stew out of your galley again."

"N-No sir. It is about Suzan, but that’s not the problem," Peter said, all of the bucks were clearly nervous about something.

Waving them to chairs, Neal leaned back in his. "She has been acting strangely of late. Why am I getting the feeling my mates are trying something behind my back, and they asked you to help them with it."

"Yes…" "But..." "We…" they all tried to answer at once, but then none of them could bring themselves to speak.

After trying for several minutes to get them to tell him what was upsetting them, Neal suggested they all go back to the Pegasus with him. As they filed out, Neal asked Tess to see if their ship’s counselor or LightTouch was available. LightTouch met them in the coffee lounge.

Even with hys help, it took a while to get the issue out in the open. Suzan had asked the four bucks for something Neal couldn’t give her, and the bucks were terrified Neal would be upset about it.

Neal shook his head as he snorted in amusement. "Don’t worry gentle furs, I learned a long time ago that shooting the messenger is a bad idea. Tell me what the problem is. If I do get to upset, I’m sure LightTouch can hold me down long enough for the four of you to escape!" he said with a grin.

"I do not know about that," LightTouch said with a chuckle, "I have heard rumors that you can out-tickle a Rakshani."

Peter and Roger had been there that night, and they nodded. "And he’s not too bad in a pie fight either!" Peter laughed.

"So I have heard," LightTouch said, giving Neal a wink. Turning to the bucks hy said, "So, what has you so frightened of him? Or, is what you are holding back so terrible that you are afraid he might tickle you to death when he hears it?"

Oswald all but whispered, "She wants our seed." Then he slapped his paws over his mouth.

LightTouch carefully watched Neal. Hy had felt the spike of mental activity. Now hy listened as it slowed down, a few more spikes came up, but they were much smaller, side-thoughts to the main one. After a few breaths, Neal was as calm as he had appeared to be.

Making eye contact with each of the bucks, Neal smiled. "How do you feel about it?" he gently asked.

"We don’t want to come between you…" Peter stammered.

"You won’t be," Neal quickly assured him. "Don’t worry about me. What I want to know is how you feel about helping Suzan bring a child into the world." As they continued looking confused Neal continued, "I will admit that this was a bit of a surprise, but I’m wondering if it was a bigger shock to you than it is for me. I guess what I’m asking is if the four of you have thought this through? Do you want to have a child running up to you yelling ‘daddy’? Or, ‘daddies’ as the case may be?"

"Daddies?" Harvey asked.

"You’re all identical, so if you all wanted to help, there would be no way of telling which of your seeds did the deed. The real question is: do you want a child to be related to you? I promise you I am more than willing to treat any child of Suzan’s as one of my own. The other question would be if you want the child to know of you as their fathers, or do you just want to be anonymous sperm donors?"

"You’re not upset?" Peter asked, they were all still looking slightly stunned.

"No. Just surprised that I heard it from you. I guess Suzan is still trying to find a way of suggesting it without shocking me too badly. But, I’m not the issue here, you four are. This is something that’s going to be with you the rest of your lives, please do not let me scare you into doing this or not. And, don’t let Suzan, or any of my other mates or kids bully you into doing it if you’re not sure you want to. I know of your sexual preferences; you have never had to consider a child before. It’s a big step for anyone, so please take your time deciding."

Once the bunny brothers had left, Neal turned to LightTouch. "You will help them with their decision, won’t you?"

LightTouch cocked hys head at Neal. "And, which way did you want their decision to go?"

Knowing that hy was just baiting him, Neal snorted as he gave hym a dirty look. "Whatever is the best for them. Suzan can always find other donors. I know she likes them, but that’s not a good enough reason to make them uncomfortable about something like this."

"You did not seem as surprised as I thought you might be about her wanting a child."

Neal snorted again. "Those bucks aren’t the first ones to tell me that one of my mates or companions are thinking of having children. So far, Kestrel and Whitetail have also shown an interest. Derikk, the male that Whitetail approached, came to me to make sure I wouldn’t space him for going after her. I did about what I did with the bunnies. I sat him down and asked him if he was sure he knew what he was getting into. Then I called Whitetail in and sent them off with my blessings, and the hopes of a healthy child." Neal chuckled, "Kestrel's first ‘volunteer’ wasn’t all that bright. He had heard her telling someone else she was looking for a male for breeding purposes. So Tomlic had barged into my dayroom, declaring that he was going to have Kestrel and that there was not a damn thing I could do about it."

"What did you do to him?" LightTouch asked with a grin.

"Why nothing," Neal said, matching hys grin. "I just told Tess to let Kestrel know her ‘stud’ was in my dayroom. I didn’t ask, but as mad as she was when she came in, I have to assume that she had Tess tell her who had said what. You have to remember she’s well over a hundred, even if she looks like she hasn’t seen the high side of twenty yet. She gave him her best imitation of a ‘drill sergeant from hell’; every time he tried to open his mouth, she shouted him down. Then the fat went in the fire when he took a swing at her to try to shut her up! She gave him his arm back, broken in two places." Neal shook his head as he added, "She had to break his other arm, as well as a few ribs, to get it though that thick skull of his that she wasn’t interested in something with such a low IQ."

LightTouch snickered. "I already knew about it. I was talking to Doc Kelly when Tomlic came in. He was trying to claim that you had ordered Kestrel to beat him up. Kelly had called Midnight in; attacks on or by Star Fleet personnel are taken very seriously. After he told his ‘tall tale’ for the record, Midnight requested that Kestrel join us. Of course, their stories did not match, so shi had Kestrel ask Tess if there was a recording of the incident, and if she would release it to hir, uncut. Tess played it back for us, plus from what I understand, in Admiral Kline’s dayroom, as well as the marine barracks and the mess hall. Needless to say, by the time Tomlic was escorted from sickbay to the brig, no one was listening to what he had to say."

Neal shook his head, "And here I thought everyone knew that lying to a chakat was a waste of time, or in front of a skunktaur for that matter. Anyway, the next morning Kestrel brought Johninc to meet me. He’s a bit older, and knew Kestrel from before her change. I don’t know what amazed him more, her change, or that the old sergeant that had given him so much grief when he first joined Star Fleet now considered him a good breeding partner. Like Derikk, I let him know I wouldn’t stand in their way, and if they needed any help to just ask."

"I’m a little surprised by your attitude."

"I learned a very long time ago, that I can’t be everything for everybody. But, every now and then, I find someone who can help me by being what I can’t. For Whitetail and Kestrel, if that means I take a backseat to their new loves, so be it. After all they’ve done for me and mine, it’s the least I can do for them."

"And the bunny brothers?"

"If they can help Suzan get what she wants, fine. If not, that’s fine too. I will respect their decisions either way."

Tess picked that moment to remind Neal that ship separation was in just a few minutes. Neal bid LightTouch a good day, and hurried out of the lounge in the direction of the turbolifts.

Light Touch waited until Neal had left the room, then hy got up and went to the other exit, the one the bucks had used to head back to the galley. Around the first bend in the corridor, Peter stood, looking very confused. When he saw LightTouch, he frowned. "I heard what the two of you said, but I didn’t understand. Does he want us to tell Suzan ‘yes’ or ‘no’?"

LightTouch smiled as hy said, "Neal has left that decision up to you and your brothers. If you like, I can help you talk it over, but I can not and will not make the choice for you." With a grin, LightTouch added, "Welcome to another one of those little problems you face when you have the freedom to make your own decisions."

Peter gave hym a tentative smile. "Would you be free to talk with us after the lunch rush?"

LightTouch grinned. "I would be happy to make the time if needed. As it is, I have no pressing duties after lunch, so it’s a date."

"A date?" Peter said, matching hys grin. "We’re having enough female problems with Suzan without you wanting a date too!"

LightTouch could sense that Peter knew what hy meant, so hy just laughed. "Funny bunny," hy said, shooing the rabbit away. "It is a good thing your cooking is better than your jokes!"


The four rabbit bucks returned to the coffee lounge after the lunchtime rush was over. Sitting down on a long couch, they talked quietly while they waited for LightTouch.

Midnight came in a few minutes later with Ember. Midnight stepped up to the counter, while Ember explored the room. Shi found several people that shi knew, but after a stroke or two, or a hug from those shi knew well, shi headed for the rabbits. To their surprise, Ember jumped to the arm of the couch. Then shi started walking across their laps, giving each one a lick-kiss. Once done, shi laid down, trapping them. Midnight joined them with a cappuccino and a smile.

Shi smiled at the looks of bewilderment on their faces. "That’s what you get for sneaking hir all those treats!"

"You knew?" Peter asked, more than a little surprised that they had been caught.

"Of course," Midnight smiled again. "You keep forgetting that I can feel hir emotions. There’s a special ‘spike’ when shi gets a treat. By the way, if you want hir to calm down, just stroke hir. Shi has a full belly, so shi should drop off quickly."

After a few minutes of group petting, Ember had purred hirself to sleep. LightTouch picked that moment to join them.

Peter shook his head. "You set us up," he quietly said as he gave hym a dirty look.

LightTouch smiled. "There is an old saying that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. It is one thing to see someone caring for their child; it is different when the hands comforting the child are your own. Nothing I could say would make you ‘feel’ what it feels like to have a child that trusts you enough to fall asleep on your lap."

Midnight smiled again. "LightTouch told me you needed a little help with the idea of becoming parents, or just donating your seed. Ember and I though we would let you get a little closer to the idea, though nothing can really prepare you for your own child."

"Thank you," Roger whispered, the others nodding in agreement, as Ember slept on, not knowing how shi had helped them make their decision.


That evening, Neal waited until after dinner to talk with Suzan. Bonita and Whitetail were helping her get a few things cleaned up and ready for the next day’s meals when Neal stuck his head in the door.

Giving his companions a smile, Neal asked, "Do you mind if I steal Stew for a little while?"

Bonita gave him a leer as she replied, "Just so long as you save some energy for tonight!"

Neal shook his head as he held the door for Suzan. "Thanks for the warning!" he laughed as the door closed.

Neal led her to the same lounge they had used for their ‘talk’. This time though, she shared his chair with him. After getting comfortable, Suzan smiled. "Not that I mind a snuggle, but was there another reason for getting me alone with you?"

Neal tightened his hug around her for a moment. "Just before the Pegasus left, I had four rabbit bucks come into my dayroom…"

"But I didn’t…" A finger across her lips ended whatever she was going to say.

"Let me rephrase that. I had four terrified blonde-haired, gray bunnies come into my dayroom. They would have had their tails between their legs if it was physically possible. It seems you asked them for something they feared would ‘upset’ me."

"I was going to tell you if they said they were willing! I was hoping you wouldn’t mind."

"Oh, I don’t mind," Neal said, as he gave her a gentle squeeze. "The problem is, they had never thought of having a child before, so that was one shock to their systems. The other was when they came to make sure I didn’t mind, only to find out I had no idea you were in the market for a child."

"So where do we stand?" Suzan asked, a little worried.

" ‘We’ stand just fine," Neal told her, tightening his hug around her. "Where we stand with the bunny brothers remains to be seen. While I don’t think we’ve burnt any bridges, we may want to tread lightly on the matter for a while."

"So, they won’t help me?"

"I don’t know. When the Pegasus left, they had a decision to make. Please don’t hound them about it. It may take some time for them to feel right about giving you a yes, or a no. If they do say yes, you just might find out from docs Kelly or M’Lai first." At her confused look, he smiled. "Unless you want them coming after you with a turkey baster!"

She stared at him moment, then closed her eyes. After another moment, she groaned. "Thanks a lot! Now I can’t get that image out of my head!"

Neal chuckled. "You think that’s bad? I left the poor bunnies thinking about some little brat running up to them yelling ‘daddies’!"

Suzan shivered. "Then they’ll say no."

Neal smiled. "Don’t be so sure, there are positive points to go along with the negative ones. More than anything, I think they will need to just sit down, and think about it for a while."

Bonita looked in on them a little later, both were sound asleep in each other’s arms. Suzan's cheek fur showed where tears had flowed, but the expression on her face suggested whatever had caused the tears had been resolved. With a smile, Bonita closed the door, and went to see if Moonglow was interested in some company.


Three days later saw the Folly stopping to pick up the Pegasus, before chasing down the rest of their convoy. Once the ships were joined, Neal headed to the Pegasus to compare notes with Boyce. Midnight met him at the access port.

"Permission to come aboard?" he asked with a smile.

"Permission granted Neal. The last time I saw Boyce, he was waiting for you in his dayroom." Midnight then grinned. "And our cooks have a message for your cook, shall I send them over?"

Neal reached up to tap his comm badge, only to pause when Midnight shook hir head. "They want to surprise her," shi said with a wink.

"Far be it for me to spoil a surprise," Neal said as he headed for the turbolifts.


Boyce was in the coffee lounge when Neal tracked him down, nursing a cup of Chipinge coffee. After getting an iced tea from the attendant, Neal joined him.

They had been talking for only a few minutes when Suzan came in. She was clutching a case, and looking like she was ready to cry. Neal quickly got up and sat her down in his chair. Figuring the brushed metal case was what was bothering her; he gently took it from her and set it on the table.

Suzan shuddered as she said, "They said that this is all they could give me." Then she hid her face in her hands as her tears started.

With Boyce looking on curiously, Neal opened the case and then he snorted as he say the contents. "I’ve always heard that great minds think alike, but this is ridiculous!"

In the case sat three items, each in a molded pocket. A small clear container contained an almost clear liquid in it; another small container of what the label said was cooking lard, and a turkey baster.

With a look of concern, Boyce started to say something, only to be stopped by Neal’s raised hand. Neal had noticed that the case was much heavier than these contents would warrant. Removing the items, he then used the pockets as a handle to lift out the molding. Underneath was a small cooling unit, a tube of lubricant, and rows of oral medicine syringes. Opening the cooling unit, Neal counted over a dozen sealed tubes.

"Suzan? Suzan!" Neal had to pull her hands away from her face to get her to look at him. "You missed something," he quietly whispered.

Her eyes went wide when she saw the contents, then she jumped up and ran from the room.

"Midnight and M'Lai had both told me that the brothers had made their decision, but they didn’t mention any gags going with it," Boyce said with a frown.

Looking again at the first layer, Neal snorted. "It looks like a joke they added after the case was set up. I do like the spirit that it suggests. Although they were willing to help her, they also wanted to give her a taste of the shock she had given them." Still smiling, Neal keyed his comm badge. "Tess, how are the bunny boys surviving Stew’s ‘thank you’?"

"Remains to be seen boss. She’s already hugged and kissed two of them into the ground, the other two have fled."

Putting the case back together, Neal gave Boyce a grin. "I should put this in her room. And I think that our chat will have to wait until after we rescue your cooks from mine."


Late that evening, Bonita found Neal in the lounge, sipping hot tea while Stormy slept in his lap.

"I thought you were with Suzan," she quietly said as she sat down beside him.

"Couldn’t sleep. And, it seems if I can’t sleep, Stormy can’t stay asleep either. So I left Moonglow curled up around Stew." Neal snorted as he added; "She’s been banned from the Pegasus’s galley until she promises to not attack the bucks again."

"She attacked them?"

"For some reason it seems they prefer to not have a female try to smother them with hugs and kisses."

"But they wouldn’t have minded you ‘thanking’ them."

Neal smiled as he snorted, "So I was told."

"Well, I can’t help you with your bunny issues, but I may be able to help you get some sleep," she said as she gently lifted the kitten from his lap and set hir on a cushion. "Fully recline that chair and roll over," she commanded. Once Neal was on his stomach, the big Rakshani started to give him a massage.

"You’re like a coiled spring! Try to relax."

"Too much on my mind…"

"Are ‘we’ pushing you to hard?" Bonita asked with some concern.

"No. It’s worrying about how the others are doing. I don’t like being out of the loop, out of control!"

"That’s all part of being in command of a small fleet. You have to trust your captains and their crews."

"It’s not that I don’t trust them, it’s just not knowing if every thing’s okay. Or I’m racking my brain, trying to think of anything I may have forgotten."

"You know, your ‘kids’ are growing up fast. You can’t hold their paws all the time."

"The first letter I sent to their parents, I promised I’d take good care of them. Then I put them in harms way at New Kiev, and now I have some of them delivering cargo, while we’re out here hunting pirates!"

"Was it this bad when it was Chase’s group?"

"Possibly worse. With Chase and company, I had more time to train them. Maybe that’s part of my fear, that was before they got chewed on by pirates. I thought I had taught them everything they could need, but they still got hurt."

Bonita smiled as her paws firmly worked their way down his back. "Perhaps you inadvertently shielded them from making too many mistakes. I know that you know the expression ‘no pain, no gain’. It’s one thing to be told something, it’s a whole ‘nother story to have it actually happen to you."

"I can tell myself that they’re as safe as they possibly could be, but my gut still churns with the fear that I may have missed something. Like you just said, it’s one thing to be told, it’s another to know. Have you had any kids?"

"A rather personal question, but no, no kids."

"Sorry, it just seems the fear goes up a notch when it’s your kid verses somebody else’s brat."

"So if the child is yours it’s a kid, if they belong to anyone else, then they’re brats?"

"My father always claimed that he had little enough patience with his own kids, and none for other people’s. I like to think I’m a little better than that, but I find that it often depends on the kid in question."

"I’ve noticed that you let the terror twins get away with quite a bit more than I would."

"Probably. Part of the problem is they remind me so much of Chase’s group. They’re at that age where they soak up knowledge like a sponge. I’m trying to let them learn as much as they can without overloading them. The flip side of that coin though, is that I’m trying not to slow them down too much either. Right now, this is ‘fun’ to them. If I turn it into ‘work’ or ‘school’, they won’t be as motivated to learn."

"But, is it safe to let them help build a ship? There are so many things that could hurt them."

"Sparks said the same thing. I told hir to work with the twins for a day. Shi was to just be an extra set of hands; the kids were to tell hir what to do. Shi came back to me that evening, ready to sign the twins on as part of hir crew. They obeyed all the safety rules, to the point that they actually caught hir skipping a couple."

"I’ve spoken with hir. Shi seemed pretty sharp."

"Oh, shi is, but like most people that do the same things day after day, shi has learned what ‘short cuts’ shi can and can’t get away with. The only problem is Gulf isn’t the Pegasus. On hir ship, there’s a lot of places that flipping a single switch kills power to a whole section. On Gulf, those same sections are fed by multiple warp cores, so you have to kill all the routes to make a section safe to work with." Feeling Bonita’s claws digging a little deeper than they had been, Neal snorted. "Easy! Shi was never in any danger; the kids had the section safe before shi could get in any trouble. Plus you’re forgetting my best babysitter of all, Tess."

"You know, you count on your computer too much."

"Only because she’s proven to me that I can count on her. Without her, I don’t think I would have attempted to let Chase’s group stay onboard. Twenty-three to one, that one also needing to run a ship and move cargo? Every trip, Tess seems to learn a little more, there’s less for me to ‘correct’."

"You make her sound almost alive."

"Key word being ‘almost’. When we started out, she was little better than the Pegasus’s main computer. You could give her basic orders, and ‘if/then/else’ type instructions. Then I almost lost to some pirates. The ship was a battered pile of wreckage, and I wasn’t in much better shape. Among other things, a main power bus blew. The safeties kicked in before too much damage was done, but I was badly burned. I didn’t really notice when it started, but it was sometime after she processed me that I noticed that she was starting to do things without being told. At first, I thought I had simply forgotten that I had told her to do things, but then I deliberately didn’t give her needed commands and she did what was needed anyway."

"Could the surge have damaged the computer itself?"

"Possible, but all the components have been upgraded so much since then, that there’s nothing left of the original system."

"And the code?"

"I have let a few trusted experts look though the code. It’s so old, and has had so many upgrades, add-ons and patches, that all they could tell me was that they thought it looked fairly ‘stable’. Considering there’s still nothing on the market half as responsive, I’ve stayed away from starting over with a newer program. As they say, ‘better the devil you know’."

"Speaking of devils we know, I have a few questions about the process you used to make us young again."

"I’ll answer what I know, but it’s not entirely under my control."

"First off, all of us are taller and er… bigger than we were before."

"As I told Zhanch when we woke Dessa up, the process reads your DNA and rebuilds your body to its best potential, not what it was."

Bonita frowned. "Okay. I’ll buy that, but most of us have been trying to get back in shape. In basic training, I remember losing some of my bust as I started putting on more muscle, but that’s not happening to any of us this time. Are the changes permanent?"

Neal smiled. "Sorry, that’s not the fault of the process. It’s the fault of your nutritionist." At her look of total confusion, Neal chuckled as he continued, "I’ve found that one of the programs Suzan has Tess running happens to keep an eye on how hard each of you exercise, and then she plans your meals with enough to replace what you tried to burn off."

"So you’re saying we should blame Stew and Tess for all the males only noticing our tits and not our muscles?"

Neal grinned. "Well, that and your ‘snacks’."

"Most of us don’t snack that much!"

"Not how much, but what you’ve been snacking on."

"A bowl of ice cream isn’t bad for you!"

"Not if it was regular ice cream, no. But I’ve noticed you all seem to have fallen in love with the ‘home-made’ ice cream that we give Stormy as a treat."

"If it’s okay for hir to eat…"

"Oh, don’t get me wrong. It’s great ice cream, but my older chakat kids have to stay away from it," Neal smiled as Bonita eyes grew wide. "You see, it was made with Moonglow's milk, so they would start producing milk too."

Bonita covered her face with her paws, the way she was shaking it was hard for Neal to tell if she was laughing or crying.

Neal chuckled. "The bunny boys were all ready to make new creations using the ‘chakat milk ice cream’, until it was pointed out that it would have certain affects on chakats and skunktaurs. Since Midnight was already in milk producing mode, shi tried some and liked it. I understand shi was teasing Sparks and LightTouch with it."

Bonita was now holding her sides as she laughed. "Extra rich and creamy! No wonder it’s so good. Damn it, one more thing that will make me fat!"

"You could always cheat like I do," At her raised eyebrow, Neal smiled. "Just skip a meal and have a banana split instead."

Bonita chuckled. "Is that why Weaver says that you’re a bad influence on the kids?"

"Among others."

"Is it just me, or is she running the Folly more than you are?"

"Weaver is helping manage all the people and their needs, while I try to manage the ship and all the hardware. Otherwise, I’d probably be feeling like a one armed paper hanger."

"That’s another thing, half the things you say don’t make any sense."

"Different frames of reference I’m afraid."

"Just how old are you?"

"As you know, I went though the process thirty-seven years ago. It was about a hundred and twenty years before that, that I almost died in a pirate attack, and I was processed for the first time. Let’s just say I’m over two hundred and let it go at that."

"What’s it like?"

"To be so old? Some times, it feels like too much to remember. Some days Tess has to remind my of something I was just talking about moments earlier, other times a sight, sound or smell will remind me of something from before my first ‘process’ like it was only yesterday." Neal looked at her carefully as he asked his question, "While we are on the subject of age, why was Zhanch in charge of your group? From what I’ve heard, she’s almost the youngest of you."

Bonita smiled. "One of our training tricks is to assign the junior ranking member the command slot. Then those under her command see what she’ll let us get away with, and what she won’t. It also forces her to order her people into possibly life threatening situations. It’s one thing to risk your own life; it’s something else to order a friend to risk their life. Zhanch had been tapped for possible promotion; we were to test her. That was some test we fell into."

Neal grunted softly. "I don’t know. You all survived, and most of you seem happy with the changes surviving required. Like many things, the trip isn’t the destination, it’s the journey. This minor ‘reset’ just means you get a second chance at a few things you may have missed the first time around."

"Like cubs?"

"Them too."

"I was sterilized by an accidental blast of radiation when I was young. That kind of put me out of the running in the cub-making department."

"That body didn’t get hit by that radiation. The doctors would have told you if there was a problem."

"So this time around I have to decide, where last time the choice was taken from me."

"Nobody said the choices get easier as you get older."

Rolling him over, Bonita shook her head and softly snorted as she picked up Stormy. Laying hir on Neal’s chest, she then picked him up. As she carried them to the door she quietly murmured, "Enough thinking for one night. Let’s see if I can’t help you feel young again!"


The small convoy was over a day’s travel from where the schedule called for them to be, when the Folly came out of warp in front of them. Charlie and Delta were barely docked between the spheres, before Neal met them at Delta’s docking port. "What failed?" he asked, wondering what problems he might have missed on the test runs.

"Not a thing, Captain," Craig answered with a smile. "She’s just a little slower with a heavy load."

"What load?" Neal asked, totally puzzled.

"A gentleman named Tom Prasills told us he’s been holding it for you for years now," Craig said with a grin.

"Prasills? That brat!" Neal had started to say more, but was interrupted when both crews burst out laughing. "What?" Neal demanded, confused by their outburst.

Morningmist managed to contain hir laughter first. "Tom told us that only one person had ever called him a ‘brat’. That person was ‘old man Foster’, and he only said it when Tom managed to really get under his skin. Mr. Prasills told us to tell you, that if he’d managed to get you to call him a ‘brat’, then he’s returned the loan to the right Foster," Looking at Neal’s expression, shi snickered, "Sorry father, but it looks like ‘the cat’s out of the bag’." This started the others laughing again.

Neal was still shaking his head when Weaver came up. "Why didn’t you want them to pay you back?" she asked.

Neal snorted. "As far as I was concerned, they already had. I both ship their orders, as well as buy some Boronike for myself to sell on the open markets. Boronike is so much in demand, that I could ship their loads for free! With the markups I charge, the ore I sell makes me more profit than almost anything else."

Weaver waved her paw at the open hold, almost full of carriers. "Then what’s all this?"

Neal shook his head again. "Tom and company think it’s ‘interest owed’." then he grinned. "Oh well, as they say, ‘turnabout’s fair play!’"

"And just what does that mean?" Weaver asked.

Neal’s grin turned evil as he chuckled. "What it means, love, is that they will be getting a ‘gift’ to thank them for their little surprise the next time I come by."


The third and last trip before they would be racing the clock in earnest, had Charlie and Delta heading for different systems. The Folly would drop them off along the way, before heading for a third system. Since the Folly would be over a week early, Neal expected he would have to wait for his loads to be readied. Charlie, Delta, and their escorts were to rejoin after their deliveries, then catch up with the Folly at their best speed.


Charlie’s destination was a small mining platform that was currently positioned well into an asteroid field. They left their escort behind as they slipped into the slowly shifting field, the Zulus taking their own paths to quietly scan the area. Canner had Mike and Zhanch working stations on the bridge, while CalmMeadow and Croix prepared to help unload the cargo.

The first surprise came when it took several tries to contact the station; the next one was when an exhausted-looking human answered their hail. He told them that a remotely operated mining probe had stopped responding to commands, and had hit the station. Most of the station personnel were getting some much-needed sleep, after having worked double or triple shifts on the repairs.

Canner had told him that Charlie’s crew would be happy to do the unloading for them; all he would need was for them to open their docking bay.

Zhanch had been looking over the patched-up damage. It looked like the run-away probe had been going at a fairly good clip, having damaged or destroyed the long-range communications arrays before it impacted the station, just missing the control center. When asked if there had been any injuries, they were told that there had been just enough warning to get everyone clear.

CalmMeadow had been listening to the conversation between the bridge and station, a feeling of fear and dread growing in hir as they approached the station. Shi pressed the intercom key that would let just the bridge hear hir, and whispered, "Abort!"

As hir whispered word seemed to echo around the bridge, Mike looked up from his station; he had been carefully scanning the station as they approached, "I confirm we should abort, Captain."

Canner only hesitated for a moment, then he ordered Charlie to reverse course and pull away from the station. At the surprised demands from the station, he replied that they had just lost their docking computer again. They would try docking as soon as they isolated the fault. Turning to Mike, Canner asked, "Okay, why did we just abort docking?"

Though the intercom, CalmMeadow answered first, "Something’s wrong on that station, captain. I can feel it!"

Looking at the intercom panel Mike sighed. "More than you know, sister mine." Looking over at Canner, he said, "Sir, he’s lying to us. I am only finding six furs on that station, their location suggests that they are hiding in the air ducts. All other life signs are human, and there’s well over a hundred of them, about half of which are waiting on the other side of the docking port they were going to have us use."

Canner’s brow creased. "Neal’s notes said this station is the home of over fifty furs, mostly chakats. Where are they?"

Mike shook his head. "No other large masses of organics on the station sir. They or their bodies were removed, and I can’t see chakats willingly leaving anyone behind. The scan looks like five very small and one medium taur-sized furs, they are all bunched together so they are a little hard to separate."

They could hear CalmMeadow’s voice breaking as shi cried, "They’re starving! We have to save them!"

Canner watched as Mike nodded in agreement. "I’m open to suggestions, but remember, Neal doesn’t want me placing you in danger. This isn’t a fighter, it’s just an over-glorified freighter with a few tricks tacked on."

Mike snorted. "So use the tricks!" At Canner’s raised eyebrow, he added, "Their shields are down for us to dock, we can use one of the Zulu’s to transfer the furs to us. Park the other directly between us and the station, both to act as a shield against any attack, as well as give us the ability to disable their systems."

It was Canner’s turn to snort. "I keep forgetting the full capacities of those dang things!" Looking at Mike and Zhanch, he smiled. "You two have more training on them than the rest of my crew, so I’ll let you do the honors."

Mike nodded and looked over at Zhanch. "I’ll get the furs, you take the station." As Zhanch nodded, Mike keyed the intercom, "All medically trained personnel to sickbay please. Expect incoming. CalmMeadow, please join them."

Meanwhile Zhanch was also busy. As she moved her Zulu into place, she contacted the other ships. "Slingshot, Spike! Full alert guys! These are not the people we were expecting. They may have more unpleasant surprises waiting for us." She could hear the fighter jocks being ordered to their fighters as Slingshot’s captain, Goldeneyes reminded her that that wasn’t proper communications protocol. Zhanch had growled back, "Protocol be damned, I’m busy! Damn! DO NOT launch the fighters! I’ve found four missile tubes and six heavy beam weapons already aimed at us! Give me some time to try and disable them!"

"Got them!" Mike exclaimed moments later, "Captain, you can raise shields and get us clear of this trap!" He then started helping Zhanch disable the weapons on the station.

Zhanch had already taken care of the missile tubes by using her Zulu’s transporter to modify the tube exits. They each now sported a new set of blades set in an ‘X’ pattern that would slice up the missile as it got to the end of the tube. Depending on the type of missile, it might even go off while still in the tube. She was now working on the beam weapons. By cracking their lazing crystals, they would explode if power was applied.

Mike started with their command and control systems. That would keep them from firing multiple weapons from one location. They could still try firing from the weapons themselves, but by the time they could get their people to the individual weapons, Zhanch would have them disabled.

The calls from the station were now getting frantic. They demanded to know why Charlie had raised shields and was now pulling away from the station. Canner’s smile was tight as he opened communications with them again. "Whoever you are, you’re lying to me. Our scans are only showing humans. Where are the furs that own and run that station?"

Their only reply was a small explosion on the station. Mike had left one beam weapon attached to their control systems. Since Zhanch had already damaged it, all it did was let Canner know that they had tried to fire on his ship.

As they started to move away from the station, small explosions occurred on three nearby asteroids. These cleared the openings for three ships. Two started for the freighter, the other began discharging fighters once it was clear of its hiding place.

As Mike and Zhanch repositioned their Zulus to intercept any shots or missiles fired by the two ships, Canner ordered one of the baby Zulus to ram the enemy carrier. One thing Neal had drummed into the crews running his ships was that, if need be the Zulus, the cargo, even the ships themselves were disposable. He could always make more. What he couldn’t replace were the crews. Canner got another surprise when he gave the command; he had expected the scout to head straight for the carrier. What it did was change its course so that it came around and hit the third fighter as it was leaving the carrier, smashing it back into its launch bay as the scout came apart. Neal’s scouts were made for ramming. The anti-matter containment was weakest to the front of the craft, so when the scout hit something, there was little keeping the anti-matter from its intended target. Canner watched as a blinding fire pulsed from the carrier’s open port. Acting as an off-centered rocket thruster, it started spinning the big ship around, as more and more of the ship seemed to catch fire and fall or melt off.

Mike and Zhanch weren’t idle while the carrier died. As well as keeping the other two ships from getting a clear shot at Charlie, they were also fighting back with the Zulus and trying to cut though the attacking ship’s shields, and render them harmless. Mike managed to take out his target’s bridge controls, causing them to hit a large rock almost dead-on. Zhanch’s target had already scraped a smaller rock, and had lost most of their rear shields. Zhanch removed the power buses that fed their anti-matter containment fields. After a moment, the ship seemed to expand just before it exploded, fiery pieces going in all directions.

Canner had the last two scouts harassing the two remaining fighters. They were staying between the fighters and Charlie, while the fighters from Slingshot moved in for the kill. One tried to escape to open space, but was cut to pieces when it came around a rock, and into Spike’s phaser range.

With all hostile craft neutralized, Spike and Charlie joined Slingshot well clear of the asteroid field. With Slingshot’s fighters out and ready for another attack, Canner sent a Zulu and a scout back into the field. The scout went in with its sensors set to ‘high’ active, the extra power letting it see into the rocks, looking for more traps. The Zulu headed back to the station, Canner intended to use it as a relay and ask the current occupants some hard questions.

When they refused to answer his hails, Zhanch suggested he let her try. She had seen something when she was scanning for weapons that she thought might help loosen their tongues. An open crate of gas grenades had been just inside the cargo door where they had wanted Charlie to dock. She transported one of the grenades to their control room. Then she politely informed them that the next one she gave them would have the pin pulled.

Recognizing their own grenade, they started answering Canner’s questions. After ten minutes though, it became apparent that they were making answers up as they were asked.

While Canner continued asking questions, Zhanch was removing their ability to escape. She first removed all the computers from the station and the vehicles in and around the station. She then opened the inner airlock doors and sealed them in place. She also beamed all the space suits outside to keep them from being used. She then removed the cables connecting all but their local antennas to the station. As a last precaution, she booby-trapped all the access to the power room. Anyone trying to get more power out of the system, or trying to blow up the station would get a taste of their own gas.

While all this was happening, CalmMeadow found hirself in a different type of battle. Shi was turning the last corner to the small sickbay, when a human male and a fox tod all but dived out of the room. Both had been clawed, the tod’s left upper arm dripped blood while the human’s hand looked like it had gone though a shredder.

CalmMeadow dragged them both to the next room. Pulling the first aid kit off the wall, shi dropped it next to them. "Do what you can with this, we’ll get you properly patched up after we get hir calmed down." Shi then hit the comm panel and asked Mike to help hir in sickbay.

Mike had taken only moments to join hir, and shi explained hir plan. "We have to get hir to trust us before we can help the cubs. I will try to calm hir down. If shi attacks me, I will try to hold hir for you to grab."

Having seen the walking-wounded in the next room, Mike hadn’t liked hir plan, but unfortunately he didn’t have a better one. He stayed out of sight as CalmMeadow opened the sickbay door. Inside was Nova, a tiger-striped chakat in hir early teens. In the corner there were five chakat cubs, the oldest almost four, the youngest only a few months old. Now that they were awake, all of them were crying in hunger.

CalmMeadow watched the younger chakat carefully, as shi tried to project calm. "Let me help," Shi whispered. "Let me help you feed them. They are crying for food."

The younger chakat stared at hir for a long moment, then shi started shaking as shi slowly collapsed. "I can’t feed them. I’ve dried up," shi said as shi started to cry.

CalmMeadow slowly stepped up to hir, then shi knelt and wrapped hir in a hug. "That can happen when you don’t get the fluids you need yourself. I have a friend outside that will get us both some food so we can feed the little ones. Can I ask him to come in?"

At hir nod, CalmMeadow called Mike in. Understanding that the situation was still touchy, Mike said little, and basically let CalmMeadow tell him what to do.

As well as getting them food, Mike had a guard posted to keep anyone from disturbing them. With three of the cubs looking to be under a year old, he had Canner check to see if the other ships had a chakat producing milk as shi or hir milk would be needed for the little ones. When he returned with the food, he found CalmMeadow with the littlest two. Each was sucking hungrily on a nipple, with the other three whining for their share. After reminding CalmMeadow not to let any of them eat themselves sick, Mike went to have a word with Canner.

Canner had bad news for Mike when he got back to the bridge, none of their little fleet’s chakats were nursing, and none of the replicators had either chakat milk, or the chakat milk ice cream loaded in their memories. And Canner had given up on getting anything useful from the humans still on the station, so he had decided to make for Delta’s group at their best speed, then the convoy would then head for the Folly’s stop.

Canner had already sent a scout to warn Delta and her escorts of the trouble they had run into. Mike suggested he send the remaining scout to catch up with the Folly; the little ones would soon become ill without chakat milk. Canner sent his last scout racing for the Folly. It would let the Pegasus know what they had found as it passed by.


Four days later saw the small convoy still over a week away from the Folly’s stop. There had been some discussions of stuffing the little ones into a Zulu for a fast ride to the Folly, but there wasn’t enough room for CalmMeadow, Nova and the cubs. Splitting them up wasn’t an option; Nova refused to let any of the cubs out of hir sight. That, and shi seemed to have gained a fear of small closed spaces, keeping them from sending just hir and the cubs. Nova was barely letting CalmMeadow near the cubs, never mind anyone else. Mike was doing what he could to help, but that boiled down to just getting whatever they needed, CalmMeadow couldn’t even get Nova to let him hold one of the cubs, much less help feed or clean them.

CalmMeadow had almost scared Nova by leaping for joy, when Mike told hir that a scout had just returned with a message that help was on the way. The convoy dropped out of warp to wait for the Folly. They found that they had been mistaken in their assumption on who was coming to help; it was Pegasus that came out of warp before them. She then came over and quickly docked with Charlie.

Boyce had ‘short-stopped’ the scout Charlie had sent, to keep Neal from finding out. He knew that Neal would have dropped everything and rushed out, only to have to return to finish his pick-ups and deliveries. Now Boyce, Rosepetal, and Midnight got a quick update from Canner before checking on the young survivors. Mike stopped them as they headed for the little sickbay. He apologized to Boyce, but the way Nova was reacting to humans made letting hir see him a bad idea.

Even CalmMeadow couldn’t convince Nova that Rosepetal and Midnight were friends, and that they only wanted to help. Hearing that his mates were having problems getting Nova to trust them, Boyce made a call to the Pegasus.

A few minutes later, Kayla showed up, with Ember being kept in check by Yeoman d’Armand, their nanny/keeper when their parents were busy. Kayla had brought half a dozen small covered bowls. At CalmMeadow’s puzzled look she smiled as she said, "Moonglow ice cream."

CalmMeadow thanked her as shi took one of the bowls and started eating. Midnight stepped back to where shi could speak to Boyce without being heard. "I hope you know what you’re doing," shi told him.

Boyce frowned. "Since Nova wouldn’t let you near the cubs, I thought I would give CalmMeadow some other options on getting some chakat milk into the little ones. Shi could have let the ice cream melt before feeding it to them, but it looks like shi has decided on a more direct approach."

After eating half the bowl of ice cream to prove to Nova that there was nothing wrong with it, CalmMeadow started offering it to the cubs. The older two had no problems with the frozen treat, but the younger three quickly pushed it away. CalmMeadow took one of the unopened bowls and asked Mike to warm it to body temperature. Once warmed, shi had no problem getting the younger ones to lap it up.

Shi then offered a bowl to Nova, warning hir that shi would start producing milk if shi ate it. Nova just stared at the bowl for a full minute, then carefully took a small taste. CalmMeadow watched with some amusement as Nova started slowly, but then quickly wolfed down the bowl. CalmMeadow handed hir a second bowl. Shi then handed one to Mike, requesting that he copy it into the replicator. CalmMeadow had no intention of ever being without a source of chakat milk again.

With CalmMeadow and Nova now producing milk, the young cubs were out of danger. Nova though, was another story. Shi still barely trusted CalmMeadow, and though hir, Mike. Nova would not let any of the cubs out of hir sight, and shi would only doze off for a few minutes at a time before fighting hir way back to consciousness to make sure the cubs were okay. CalmMeadow could only watch as Nova’s fears slowly tore at hir, making hir try to be ever vigilant, always on watch.

The Folly met them two days later; Neal was a little annoyed that Boyce had kept him from getting the message sooner. Once the other ships were on/in the Folly, Neal had the scouts and Zulus create a sphere to give him plenty of warning of any approaching ships.

Boyce met Neal as he was about to board Charlie. Neal gave him a dirty look as he said, "I know what you did and why you did it. Please don’t do it again. While I know the Pegasus could get to them quicker, and the Folly did need to finish loading, I had information that might have made this a little easier on everyone." Without further comment, Neal walked into Charlie. Waving off Canner, and then Mike, Neal stepped into the room next to the sickbay.

He stopped at the countertop connected to the wall that it shared with the sickbay. Laying a few items on it, Neal began using his hands to beat a rhythm on the countertop. In the next room, the oldest of the cubs, (DarkStreak, for hir dark gray cougar coloring) was alerted and looking around with interest. When Neal repeated the rhythm, shi dashed out of the room in search of the beater. CalmMeadow felt a surge of surprise/fear/hope, as well as something else, from Nova, but shi did not try to stop the cub.

DarkStreak had easily found Neal. He let hir carefully smell him before picking hir up in a tight hug. After a minute, he set the cub back on the floor. Picking up two of the items he had placed on the counter, he placed one in hir paw and said, "For you, little one." Placing the other item in hir free paw he said, "For Nova." He then shooed hir out of the room. Looking at Boyce’s look of surprise, he gave him a sad smile. "Shi was almost two the last time I saw hir and hir parents. I’m glad shi still remembers me."

DarkStreak ran back into the sickbay. Shi stuck out her paw to Nova. When Nova just sat there staring at hir, shi pointed hir paw at CalmMeadow. When CalmMeadow held out hir paw, the cub dropped a small hard candy into it. Hir mission accomplished, DarkStreak plopped down with the other cubs to share hir treat with them.

CalmMeadow opened the candy and sniffed at it. It was ‘watermelon’ flavored. Shi then offered it to Nova; who smelled it, then gave it a lick, and shivered.

A knock on the open door caused them all to jump a little as Neal called around the corner, "Nova, this is Captain Foster. May I come in?"

Nova was shaking and unable to speak, but shi looked at CalmMeadow and nodded.

CalmMeadow told Neal he could enter. He did so slowly, so as not to upset the cubs any more than necessary. He knelt next to Nova, his eyes never leaving hir face. Shi spoke first. "I’m sorry," shi whispered, the tears flowing freely.

"For what?" Neal gently asked.

"I couldn’t help them!"

"Your parents?"

Shi nodded. "I could hear them dying, but I couldn’t leave the little ones."

"Your parents would be very proud of you. I know I am. You kept the little ones alive. If you had tried to help your parents, you would have left the little ones with no one to care for them. They wouldn’t have lasted long without you."

"B-but, I ran out of milk-water!"

"They had what you did give them to keep them going long enough for my kids to find you. That’s all that matters."

"Your kids?"

"CalmMeadow and Mike are just two of my kids. Midnight and Rosepetal are two very good friends of mine. They would never hurt you or yours."

Neal then placed his hands on hir shaking shoulders. "I am taking responsibility for you and the little ones. You are relieved, understood?"

Nova nodded, then shi slowly slumped in CalmMeadow’s arms, dead to the world.

CalmMeadow stared up at Neal in disbelief. "How did you do that?" shi demanded.

Neal gave hir a small smile. "I’ve known Nova almost all hir life. At seven, shi tried sneaking into Foxtrot while I was offloading cargo. Since I was in no hurry, I let hir look around the Folly for a few hours before I ‘found’ hir and dragged hir back to hir parents. My rapping out tunes to make it easier to find me was just one of the games I played with hir and the other kids." Neal grew somber. "The reason shi wouldn’t calm down for you was hir sire probably told hir shi was in charge of the cubs. Both hir parents were marines, so shi has more of an understanding of discipline than most kids hir age. So, until I relieved hir, shi thought of the cubs as still being hir responsibility, and shi felt shi couldn’t ‘stand down’."

Midnight and Rosepetal had entered the room as Neal was talking to Nova. Neal handed the two smallest to Midnight. He was handing one to Rosepetal, when she asked, "But shi would ‘stand down’ for you."

Neal closed her arms around the cub and held them for a moment as he met her eyes. "If you told Kayla to guard Ember, and she never again saw or heard from any one she knew, do you think she would relax her guard for just any stranger?"

Rosepetal just stared at him, and then slowly shook her head.

Releasing her, Neal said, "Same difference. It would take a very long time for someone to earn her trust, unless she had already known them from before." Neal then picked up the fourth cub and told DarkStreak to follow him. As they left the sickbay, he asked Mike to help CalmMeadow carry Nova.

The group headed for the main living section of the Folly, where Weaver had converted one of the rooms into a nursery.

After getting their guests settled, Neal debriefed Canner and the rest of his crew, paying special attention to the scan data Mike and Zhanch had collected.

Looking at Boyce, he sighed softly. "Well, we’ve found some pirates, but this isn’t the way I wanted to do it." At Boyce’s frowned agreement, Neal continued, "At this point, my ‘suggested’ orders from Star Fleet are to release command of the carriers and their escort, and let them get on with the hunt. Since you’re the ranking officer out here, you of course have the option to ‘commandeer’ them if you wish."

Boyce nodded. "Let me go over the data and think about it. I’ll give you my decision tomorrow morning."

Dinner that evening on the Folly was a quiet event, CalmMeadow was staying with Nova so shi wouldn’t wake up alone. Moonglow was feeding the little ones while Holly and Quickdash helped feed DarkStreak and Spitfire, a small red and black tiger striped three-year-old chakat. Neal appeared to be deep in thought, all but oblivious to the food and quiet talk around him.

Weaver finally nudged his elbow. "What are you thinking so hard about?"

"What to do about Nova and the little ones. I’ll check, but I’m pretty sure that most – if not all of their kin were on that station. If I had come up on that station by myself, I might have missed them in the attack. Even if I had found them, they would have been a handful without all the help the rest of you are giving them."

Weaver smiled. "Are they really any different from Stormy? We seem to be taking good care of hir; what’s five more and an older sister? There’s more, isn’t there?"

Neal let out a long sigh. "This also ends my control of the carriers and their destroyer escort. I had control of them while we were searching for pirates, now that we have found a nest; they are out of my hands. Boyce can always cut them new orders and take them under his control, or he can leave them as a separate command. The Folly can hang around for another week or so, but then we will have to continue our deliveries. And without those extra hands, Charlie and Delta are done delivering."

"We can fly them!" Nightsky exclaimed. "Most of us have passed the tests you set up."

Neal sighed. "It’s not that I don’t trust you to fly them, it’s that I won’t take the risk of you going out with just a skeleton crew. And while you could fill one of them, it won’t be enough to handle all the stops that were needed for that plan to work. Never mind the fact that I am going to want a few more Zulus to help take out anything that tries to attack."

"So how are you going to get that first contact group?"

Holly and Quickdash both sang out, "We can take Gulf!"

Neal gave them a calculated look. "Who is this ‘we’ you’re talking about?" he asked with a frown. "First, there’s the problem that there’s still a lot of work to be done before she’s ready for trials, never mind a long flight. Plus it looks like I would need to be in two places at once, on the Folly, and Gulf. You see the contact team will be expecting me, not a bunch of furry brats."

Weaver looked up from feeding Starblazer. "Are you saying you don’t think we could run the Folly while you get the contact team?"

"No, love, but if I do take Gulf and leave you to mind the store, we are going to have to decide who stays and who goes. When she’s finished, Gulf will be able to handle about eighty taur-sized people. But I’m picking up fifty, plus however many kids they may have had over the last five years." Looking her in the eye he smiled as he added, "Would you like to decide who stays behind to help you run the Folly?" At her dirty look, Neal grinned. "Now you see my dilemma."

Mike smiled. "CalmMeadow and I will be staying behind to help with Nova and the little ones. And you will have no choice but to take Moonglow and Firestorm. With you going and Weaver staying, your biggest issue will be the twins. Weaver won’t want to part with them, but at the same time they’ve put so much work into Gulf, that it will be hard for the two of you to tell them no."

Sharing a look of resignation with Weaver, Neal sighed. "Well, that’s still a little ways off. Tomorrow we find out what Boyce has decided, and we’ll go from there."


Boyce had decided to leave the other ships as an independent command. So with their group about to split three ways, Neal had called all the quartermasters together to top off each ship’s consumables. Then, there was one last meeting with the captains before they went their separate ways. Neal loaned the carriers four of his baby Zulus. They could use the scouts to improve their chances of finding the pirates, as well as defending the carriers if needed. They would return to a preloaded location for Neal to pick up when the carriers release them, or if they ran low on fuel.

All the ships had received sensor upgrades while with the Folly, but the modifications were not recorded in their logs. The reason that Neal requested they not log the upgrades, nor record any of the things they had learned from the Folly was simple – while he trusted these particular Star Fleet personnel, Neal did not trust all of Star Fleet. Each of the engineers had been shown how to put their systems back to Star Fleet specifications. This was particularly hard on Sparks. Shi was ready to write a few books with all the ideas shi had gotten from working on Gulf. Neal had taken pity on hir and given hir a data pad he said shi could use. Shi had been confused by the gift until shi tried to use it. While shi could transfer information to the pad’s memory, shi couldn’t transfer any information out of it. Hir next surprise came when shi tried to hand the pad to someone else; the pad would instantly shut down.

After declaring themselves mates, Whitetail had decided to stay with Derikk on the Pegasus. Since her Star Fleet status was still up in the air, Rosepetal had simply logged her in as Derikk’s dependant.

They had received a surprise when they went to the marine barracks. The old gunny sergeant had demanded to know if the rumors of them being mates were true. When they had said yes, the other marines had jumped them. Tied and blindfolded, they were carried up and down the Pegasus’ passageways. Finally they were gently dropped, and they heard a door close.

A few minutes work freed them of their bonds. Looking around they found they had been placed in a small but neat cabin, usually reserved for single officers or couples. Derikk’s things had already been moved in, while Whitetail’s bags were sitting on the larger than standard bed. A card on the desk welcomed the new couple. Behind the card was a Pegasus comm badge for Whitetail, and a dual charging stand for a non-Star Fleet type of badge. One slot was empty, the other contained a shadowed ‘F’ badge that Neal used for the ‘Folly’. The note with the charging base told Derikk that he was now considered part of the family, and just as Whitetail, he had a few privileges he could call on when needed.

Shadowchaser and hir mate Redfoot had also received comm badges, Neal having updated them since Shadowchaser received hir last one. At hir mate’s look of confusion, Shadowchaser explained why she should always keep the badge close at hand. Not only did the badge let them talk with those on the Folly, it also would link to other ships that Neal had a standing agreement with. At Shadowchaser’s last count, there were over thirty ships that the badge could get hir free passage to wherever they were heading. Most bases that Neal dealt with would also accept the badge as proof that the bearer was one of Neal’s associates, and would put room and food billings on the Folly’s tab.


After all the run-up to get everything ready to run three ships at once, the pace after the Folly left the other ships behind was more than a little anti-climactic. There was still plenty to do, but there didn’t seem to be anywhere near as much rush to get things done.

Between stops, Neal split his time between working on Gulf and making a few more Zulus. With all the kids getting proficient at using the Zulus, Neal had decided he would have each of them controlling one, while Tess handled the extras.


Raksha was a major stop for the Folly, so Neal had decided to use both Alpha and Baker to get everyone and the first pair of the heavily loaded pods down. Once grounded, they ran into an unplanned snag. No cargo transfers were being done. It was as if they had come in during some type of celebration. While Neal led everyone to a quiet break area, Dessa went to find out what was going on.

Dessa came back to the group, almost bouncing on her toes, she was so excited. "A Traveler’s festival just started a few hours ago. That explains why they aren’t moving any cargo for the next few days! With the Rakshan fertility festival having started yesterday, the deities will be stirring up more trouble than usual."

"More than you know," Neal said with a small grin. "Tell the kids your people’s tale of ‘The Traveler’, if you would please."

Dessa smiled. "Many years ago, one of our deities decided that she wanted to see what was going on beyond of our world. It’s said that she could leave under her own power, but that she wouldn’t be able to find her way back. Then she discovered she could ride a ship to faraway places, and return to tell her fellow deities what she had learned. Throughout her festival, children will carry treats though the crowds for space travelers to ask for. It’s said one of them will be her next ‘ride’ to the stars."

Staring at Dessa with wide eyes, Quickdash asked, "How long is the Traveler’s festival?"

"Until she leaves on her next journey." Kestrel answered for her.

That’s the tale," Neal agreed quietly, "but not quite the truth." Neal’s grin widened as all his Rakshani companions turned as one to stare at him. "The truth would be that she takes on the form of one of those children, and she offers her ‘ride to be’ her treat. If they accept, she rides with them until they bring her home. If they decline, she either stays home or finds another ride."

With her eyes wide in astonishment, Dessa demanded, "Where did you hear that?"

Neal smiled. "I didn’t."

 


Chapter 5  

 

The others hadn’t noticed the small Rakshani child walk into their group, not until DarkStreak and Spitfire both let out small cries of delight at the smell of the small pieces of fruit pie she was offering them. CalmMeadow was more than a little surprised that Nova didn’t raise a fuss about a stranger offering hir little sisters a treat. However, Nova just calmly sat there, and quietly watched as the child somehow magically produced yet another slice of pie for each of the little ones.

When she offered Starblazer and Firestorm their treats, she stroked each of them for a moment. "Like fire and water," she whispered, "and they will be as much trouble as when the two are combined."

Then she walked over the where Holly and Quickdash were sitting together. As they accepted their pie slices from her, she said, "You will make a very good couple, and have beautiful cubs."

She next stepped up to Nova, and as she offered hir her treat she said, "What you seek you will find right in front of you. Don’t be afraid when it is offered to you."

The Rakshani child continued handing out slices of pie from an apparently unlimited cache, to some with just a smile, to others with a sometimes-cryptic remark.

When she offered Weaver her treat, she smiled as she whispered, "With such loving but sneaky mates, you should be more careful of what you wish for."

Suzan received her slice with a rub of her belly, and the words, "They will cause much mischief, and will be much loved."

Finally, Zhanch and Neal were the only two to not have been offered a treat, the child looked into her eyes as she handed Zhanch a slice. "All your questions will be answered when you go home," she whispered.

She smiled as she turned to Neal. Holding out a last piece of pie, she quietly asked, "Foolish Captain, will you accept my offer?"

Neal returned her smile as he closed his hand around the paw she was holding the plate with. "Conditionally," he all but whispered. "I would be more than happy to share what you offer with you."

As she fed him a piece of her pie, she smiled. "Again with the sharing. Didn’t it cause you enough problems this last time?"

Feeding her a piece in return, he replied, "I know you kept Tess from seeing my stowaways until it was too late to take them back. And I think you shifted our course just enough so I could pick up our Rakshan ladies. My only question this time is if you blinded Tess at New Kiev?"

"I didn’t have to," she quietly replied. "Because of the problems Tess’s scans had caused you with the local authorities the last time you were there, your standing orders had her on limited power and frequencies. She was mainly watching through your comm badges. Once you were fired upon, she naturally started pulling data from every source she could reach."

They finished sharing their slice of pie in silence. Then the child climbed into Neal’s lap, and gave him a hug. "This one has traveled further than she should have. Will you see her home?" At Neal’s nod, she added, "She lives two doors past your next stop." She then laid her head on his chest, and fell asleep.

Noticing that all except the youngest were now staring at him, he smiled. "What’s the difference between a curse, a blessing, or a gift?" As most of them shook their heads, he softly chuckled, "Sometimes not a thing."

Looking at Brighteyes, Neal asked, "Did you have time to read the mail that was waiting for you when we got into port?" At hir unhappy nod, he said, "I got hir message as well. So tell your fellow stowaways why catching the wrong ship was really a blessing in disguise."

Shi looked down for a moment to work up the courage to tell hir friends what they had almost walked into. "Dawn'sLight, my aunt, wrote me after Neal told hir that we had tried to sneak onto hir ship. It seems hir message has been chasing us all this time. The last time the TwinTails was in space docks, she had some upgrades done. One of the major upgrades was her loading and unloading equipment was completely automated, so no one would have heard us. Since no one needs to go into the storage bays anymore, there’s no reason to waste life-support on it. They just keep it at ten psi with nitrogen." Almost tearful shi concluded, "If we had made it to the TwinTails, we would have been dead before anyone knew to look for us."

Looking at all the somber faces, Neal added, "And if Tess had told me about you in time, you may have had enough time to get in a carrier heading for the TwinTails. Tess had a little help turning a blind eye on you."

Weaver frowned. "And us?"

"I’m still not really sure just how much trouble your group was supposed to cause." At her dirty look, Neal chuckled again, as he continued, "You served as several tests for both me and the kids: could I trust them, could they - or you - really trust me? Without your group, I would not have needed to adopt the older kids, and their parents would probably have been in a bigger panic. Then there’s our first space station stop. With just the teens, we would have missed Suzan. With just your group, the kids would never have been let out on their own, so still no Suzan. And without both your groups and Suzan, I would never have tried to keep our Rakshan ladies. If Zhanch hadn’t trusted me, they would have been dropped at the first starbase we could reach. Even if she had talked, I would have dropped her on her sister at Starbase 3."

Weaver frowned. "I remember you were hesitant to rescue them. Tess told us it was because you were worried about the risk to us. However, the longer we’ve been on the Folly, the less that makes sense."

Neal gave a soft snort. "I had two main concerns at the time, one was if they would be a danger to your group. The other was giving all of you such a big hint of just how many tricks Tess and I have up our collective sleeves."

"So you decided their lives were worth more than your secrets," Holly said with a grin.

"Some of my secrets, anyway," Neal said with a smile, as Weaver’s frown deepened. "Either way, we wouldn’t have had their help at New Kiev. The odds are good that I would not have been close enough to ‘feel’ Firestorm, so no Stormy or Moonglow." Looking around the group, Neal sighed. "In fact, on my original schedule, I most likely would have already have left New Kiev by the time they attacked." Looking at Nova, Neal sighed. "The original schedule also had me going to your station a few months from now. So without the rush to try to make that early pickup, we would have missed you too…"

Suzan shuddered as she looked from all her Rakshani friends to Nova and the little chakats. "So they would have all have died by now," as a tear stained her cheek fur.

Kestrel reached over and pulled her into a tight hug. "Thanks to you, and the others, we didn’t."

"Was she telling us the future?" Weaver asked, her eyes shifting between Starblazer and Firestorm, and Holly and Quickdash.

"No," Neal said quietly. "She was just reading the potentials she sees in each of us. She has had since you came onboard to learn to understand each of you. Her comments are just on what she has seen so far. Holly and Quickdash have been hard to separate for quite a while now, and I’ve noticed that if you give either Starblazer or Firestorm a treat, they will always share it with the other."

Still wrapped in Kestrel’s arms, Suzan put her paw on her belly. "She said ‘they’," she whispered in awe.

Kestrel tightened her hug on the worried rabbit. "When did you come into heat?"

"Yesterday evening," Suzan whispered. "Moonglow helped me insert my first try this morning."

Kestrel chuckled as she held the dumbfounded bunny. "Foolish rabbit! You tried getting pregnant during a Rakshan fertility festival, compounded by the Traveler’s festival? Don’t be surprised if it works better than you anticipated!"

As the others each gave Suzan a hug, Weaver turned to Neal. "And just what did she mean by I should be careful of what I wish for with such sneaky mates?"

Neal just smiled. "If I told you, I wouldn’t be being sneaky, now would I?"

Zhanch smiled. "If you will excuse me, there’s someplace I should go."

Neal said, "I’m coming with you."

"That may not be a good idea," Zhanch said with a frown. "My parents are very traditional."

"Yeah," Neal said grinning. "So traditional your sister is a mate to a human with four other mates."

"True, but she introduced him to them with his child in her belly. That made a big impact on a couple that didn’t think they would be seeing any grandkids."

"Why did they think that they wouldn’t have grandkids?" Weaver asked.

"When we were very young, Zhane and I were playing out on a pier that we knew we weren’t allowed on. She fell in, and I jumped in to get her. We got out and cleaned ourselves up as best we could and didn’t tell our parents what had happened." Zhanch hug her head. "The reason we weren’t allowed out there was the water was polluted. About a week later, we were both so sick we spent almost a month in the hospital. Among with the other problems caused by our long illness, was the likely inability to have children."

"But, I thought she had a son," Weaver said, a little confused.

"She does…" Zhanch said as a strange look crossed her face. Reaching for Neal’s face, she gently pulled his glasses off. Turning them around, she said, "Tess, please show me the dates the Folly has been in orbit around Raksha." She then let out a soft snort as she said, "Rakshan dates please, not Terra’s." She slowly lowered the glasses, staring at Neal. "You were here the night Boyce impregnated them."

Neal slowly shook his head. "You’re reading too much into it. I didn’t know any of them at the time, and the only control I have over any deity, is giving her permission to ride." At Zhanch's disbelieving glare, he continued. "It was my third visit after I was processed. I suddenly realized that a small female Rakshan would always offer me her treat, and that a Traveler’s festival was always underway. The child was much more somber that time, as if she knew that I now understood what was happening. We talked – it seems that most spacers don’t want an alien deity looking over their shoulder. We talked some more and she promised to not affect me or my ship if that was my wish. In the end, I had three choices. Reject her offer, and she promised to stay off my ship. Accept her offer, and she would just ride along, unable to affect anything."

Kestrel burst out laughing. "You’re letting her ‘share’ the ride, rather than just being a passenger!"

Neal nodded. "Just like the rest of you. You could just sit in your rooms, or you can be part of the voyage. So far, her interference has benefited all of you."

Shadowcrest grinned. "And has it benefited you?"

Oh, yes," Neal said with a matching grin. "Either that, or she was just making sure that that curse came true. However, that’s not the whole truth either. Brighteyes wasn’t the only one having a message chase hir across the stars. The mate of the foxtaur tod that placed the curse on me, wrote to say she had made him take back his curse. Of course, she then went and damned me with a blessing of her own."

"Damned by a blessing?" Bonita asked. "How?"

Looking at each of the kids, then to his companions and mates, Neal chuckled as he shook his head. "Her ‘blessing’ was ‘May you find Love’." Looking at all the stunned looks, he laughed. "Curse or blessing, it seems to have been a little overdone."

"Are you complaining?" Zhanch asked with a smile.

"No, just amazed." Neal said with a small smile. "I had turned into such a grumpy old man, not even going though the process could pull me out of my rut. So she goes and drops all of you on me," he softly snorted. "Not even I could stay grumpy with that much love and youthful energy aimed at me."

"So, you’re saying a Rakshan deity likes you so much that she always travels with you?" Nova asked, unsure why everyone else was taking the idea so calmly.

"No. I’m saying she asks me because she knows I won’t tell her no. Without her help, I probably would have died from my injuries after a pirate attack many years ago. I owe her my life. And all she wants in return, is for me to let her ride along. It’s hard to say no to something like that. And every now and then, she gives our voyage a nudge into something ‘interesting’."

"So, do we rate as ‘interesting’?" Holly asked with a grin.

"I would say so, little one. Once, she told me that one of the things she likes about riding with me is because I take her to so many ‘interesting’ places. Seems most other ships aren’t as far-ranging as the Folly," Neal said with a grin of his own.

"How do you let her ‘share’ the ride? Does she whisper in your ear?" Weaver asked with growing curiosity.

"I’ve only heard her words when she’s offering me her treat here on Raksha. She’s able to interface with Tess to a certain extent. Which means she can ‘look’ with Tess’s sensors, and she can ‘shift’ our course within the limits I’ve given Tess." At Weaver’s look of concern, Neal smiled. "Let me give you an example. Say Holly was in engineering and you called her for dinner. There are several paths she could take, as well as several places she could get cleaned up along the way. Tess is the same way, I tell her where and when I want the Folly to be and she takes it from there. If her logic takes her down one path and not another, was it her random number generator? Or just a wandering spirit, wanting a closer look at something?"

"Why didn’t you tell us?" Shadowcrest demanded.

"Would you have believed me? ‘Welcome to the Folly! Not only does she have a smart-assed computer to go along with her demented captain, she also has a deity from another world!’" Neal said as he chuckled.

Shaking her head, Weaver snorted. "There is that. Was she the secret you were hiding from us?"

"One of them, yes."

"I swear, I’m going to…" Weaver started.

"… sit on me. I know, I know. The last time you tried it, you lost, remember?"

With Weaver still growling at Neal, Zhanch smiled as she stood up. "Let’s go, before she decides that it’s time for a rematch."

As they walked the short distance to the passenger terminal, she asked. "You are aware that half of us are in heat, right?"

Neal smiled. "Even my nose couldn’t miss the scent of that many big cats and foxtaurs smelling extra special."

She smiled back. "And you know that some of us wouldn’t mind having a cub, if we can find the right partner?"

"And you know I will be happy to treat any cubs you have as if they were my own, if you stay with me or not. Kestrel caught, and decided to stay with the Folly, while Whitetail stayed with Derikk. Both asked me to be their mate, both so they would have someone to help them raise their cubs, as well as an extra parent in case something happens to them."

"Will you extend the same honor to me?"

"It would be my honor, but I thought you were worried about your parents disapproving?"

Zhanch stopped just short of the transport’s doors; she took a deep breath, and turned to face Neal. "I haven’t been home since I stole that rotten excuse for a male from Zhane," she said, her voice shaky. "I knew that my parents would never forgive me for hurting her. As soon as I was sure that I had lost him to my rival, I joined the marines."

Neal’s hands were full so he couldn’t hug her, so he just leaned against her. "You stood beside me and fought at New Kiev. How could I not help you face your parents?"

"Thank you," she quietly said, wrapping him and his load in a gentle hug.

The doors on the transport were closing when a small high-pitched cry was heard. Zhanch held the doors, as Firestorm raced in with them. "I just can’t escape without hir chasing me down," Neal said with a grin, as Zhanch scooped up the little chakat.


Their transport took them around the sprawling city, and finally stopped at the entrance to a small community. As in the olden days when attacks from rival groups were common, the six-sided outer wall was tall and solid, with no openings save the entrance. There would be a back door on the far side, but it would only be opened in times of trouble. Unlike those olden days, the tops of the wall and corner watchtowers were ablaze with color in the early afternoon sun. The protected walkways had been converted into an extended garden; potted fruit trees and vines made the wall look almost overgrown. The gate and bars that would have closed the entrance had been replaced by force barriers, and the guards by a single guard.

Zhanch looked on with some amusement as the young Rakshan guard stared at the human carrying a child, while being followed by a young adult carrying a small chakat.

Still staring at their group, the guard demanded, "What is your business here?"

Doing her best not to laugh at the poor guard, Zhanch almost lost it when Neal replied.

"Just bringing home a couple wayward children," Neal said, with a tone that suggested that it was something he did on a daily basis.

As the guard took a closer look at the child in Neal’s arms, his eyes widened. "But that’s Fellstorm! Her mother reported her missing!" he said in surprise.

"Yes, she decided to visit the spaceport. I was wondering how she had gotten that far on her own," Neal said with a smile. "She lives two doors down from the ‘Nashene na Zhane’ residence, correct?"

The guard just numbly nodded as Neal started past him, Zhanch trying not to grin as she followed.

The inside of the community had the homes built against the outer wall, with the center courtyard broken up into garden areas and a few small buildings.

"He’s going be chasing his tail before nightfall, trying to figure out how she got out without being seen," Zhanch said, once they were out of sight.

"And you think he’d feel better if I told him a deity had spirited her away?"

"Perhaps not. My parents live in this next dwelling."

"And so our little friend lives two doors beyond that," Neal said with a grin. "If you’ll scratch on their door, we’ll drop her off."

"Now I know how Tess ended up being such a smart-ass," Zhanch laughed as she pushed the doorbell. "It’s the company she keeps!"

Neal smiled as the door opened. To the astonished parents, he simply told them that their child had wandered up to him and shared her pie with him. Once they had taken Fellstorm from him, he told them it was his custom to return a gift for a gift. He stepped back out the door, returning moments later with a heavy box. Setting it on the table, he turned to go; with a parting comment that he hoped it would please them. Opening the box once their visitors had left, they found four large jars, each filled with large honeycombed chunks floating in a thick golden liquid.

"What did you give them?" Zhanch asked as they walked the few steps to her parents’ home.

"Just a little raw honey from earth," Neal replied with a smile.

Zhanch stopped to look back at him. "You like confusing people, don’t you?"

"Better they wonder about the gift, than worry about why their child wandered so far from home."

Zhanch just shook her head. They had all been surprised at some of the gifts Neal gave his friends and some of his customers. When told that he was spending too much on something, he had laughed and pointed out that any value was in the eyes of the beholder. Zhanch knew that the honey had only cost him a few credits on Earth, and Neal would only consider the shipping cost if he was selling something.

They now stood before a door; Zhanch's claw had stopped just short of pushing the doorbell.

Neal gave her a gentle smile as he stepped in front of her and pressed the button. "Into the breach!" he whispered as they heard the tone sound inside.

A young male with hazel eyes answered the door. "Can I help you?" he asked, looking curiously at Neal, Zhanch, and Firestorm.

"You wouldn’t by chance be Kernos, would you?" Neal asked with a smile. At his nod Neal added, "By Terran dates, you are ten years old, as I recall."

"How do you know that?" Kernos asked in surprise.

"I’m Neal Foster. I met your mother at Starbase 3, and your father on the Pegasus. You look a lot like her, but you certainly have his eyes. Is Zhane with you?" At his nod, Neal asked, "May we come in?"

Kernos led them down the hallway, past the kitchen, to where it turned before opening up to the main room.

Knowing Zhane was home and not sure how the ‘new’ her would be received, Zhanch held back at the corner, letting Neal precede her.

The four adults had stood when they heard voices approaching. An almost growl escaped from the two males when they saw Neal following Kernos, Zhane had simply let out a hiss of surprise.

While they sized him up, Neal was returning their stares with a polite smile as he looked them over as well.

The older of the males, who Neal assumed this was Zhanch and Zhane’s father, Nashene, was just a little shorter than Zhane, but had a massive build that caused him to look like he might almost be as big around as he was tall. The other male was almost thin in comparison, though he probably still weighed well over twice Neal’s 115 kilos.

If their mother, Yelest, was any indication of what the girls would look like when they got older, all Neal could think was ‘wow!’. Like her daughters, she was just over seven feet tall, and ‘stacked’ was the only word that fit. Not the kind of thoughts to be having of one’s ‘mother-in-law’ when ‘daddy-in-law’ was giving you the look that suggests that he’s wondering how small a box he could squeeze you into.

Kernos broke the staring contest. "There’s a lady and a baby chakat with him," he stated.

Neal grinned. "That’s no ‘lady’, that’s my mate," he said watching their faces.

Having heard that joke a time or two from Boyce, Zhane just groaned. "What are you doing here Captain Foster?" she asked, Neal noticing that she looked like she hadn’t been getting much sleep.

Before Neal could speak, Nashene growled, "Is this the human you were telling us about?" Stepping up to tower over Neal, he demanded, "WHERE’S MY DAUGHTER?"

"Afraid to face the wrath of her father, it appears," Neal said quietly. "Not that I can figure out why," he added, with more than a little sarcasm.

Firestorm picked that moment to come charging around the corner. Shi let out hir little war cry, as shi headed straight for the big Rakshan. Nashene gave ground in total surprise at the tiny attacker.

Neal had bent over and grabbed hir tail as shi went by, then he lifted hir off the ground by it. "No," he said as he tried to cradle the squirming kitten in his arms.

Having dealt with baby chakats that didn’t want to do something, Zhane was surprised that the kitten never once tried to use hir teeth or claws on him, as shi struggled for hir freedom.

With one hand now holding the angry kitten by the lower torso and the other holding hir head so shi couldn’t turn away, Neal brought hir up to his face. Shi stopped struggling and allowed him to kiss hir nose pad. "No," he said again quietly. "As much as you would like to help, this is my battle little one, not yours."

Who is shi?" Yelest asked, smiling at the little chakat.

"A survivor of New Kiev," Neal slowly said, as he continued to calm Stormy, "and my adopted daughter."

Not meeting his eyes, Yelest asked, "I saw the news footage of the fight. You lost a Rakshani. Was it…?"

Neal shook his head as he replied, "Dessa left shelter to rescue Starblazer, and was hit before she could get back behind the wall. We did not lose her."

"How long did she survive?" Zhane quietly asked.

Neal gave her a smile. "I last saw her less than an hour ago. At that time, she was still alive and kicking." At Zhane’s look of disbelief, he grinned as he added, "With both feet, I might add."

"That’s impossible!" Zhane blurted out. "Even if she lived, there’s no way to repair or regenerate that much damage in just a few months!"

"M'Lai saw the Folly’s recordings of the incident. She gave Pegasus’s EMT’s less than a one in ten chance of saving Dessa. I only had one thing I could try, but it had never been used on Rakshani before. It worked, and she was in much better shape than before. I offered it to your sister and the others." As Zhane continued to stare at him, Neal grinned. "Do you remember telling me to take good care of your sister?" At her guarded nod, he added, "We have an old saying, ‘be careful what you wish for’." Stepping back, Neal reached around the corner and grabbed Zhanch's wrist. As he pulled, he added, "’you just might get it’. And with me, you can sometimes get more than you bargained for."

Zhanch just stood there, and waited for their reactions. Having been told how bad her condition had been, her parents were confused. Zhane, on the other hand was trembling as she slowly shook her head in disbelief.

Neal then realized that the younger male had not known Zhanch. He too was looking at her, but with the curiosity of a stranger having been told about someone they had never met.

Zhane finally took a step towards her sister, then another, before all but running into her arms. Their parents took only another moment before they also joined the hug.

As they all began speaking, laughing, and crying at the same time, Neal smiled and walked back down the hallway. Letting himself out, he carried Stormy towards the gardens.

Hearing the sound of the door closing again, Neal turned. The younger male had followed him out.

"Why did you leave?" he asked as they continued walking toward the gardens.

"Self-preservation," Neal said with a grin. At the confused look he got, he chuckled. "Think about it. Right now, they’re so excited that they might literally crush me in a hug – accidentally of course. I think it’s safer for me to let them all calm down a little."

"Strange. The person that Zhane spoke of would not have ducked out of a fight."

"A fight is one thing, getting mauled unintentionally is another matter. One happily excited Rakshani can be bad enough, I know! I’m not sure I could survive four." Neal smiled. "As you must know, I’m Neal Foster, and you are?"

"Forgive me, I am Lieutenant Jackton. Captain Zhane is my commander and a good friend."

"Nothing to forgive, Lieutenant. When I first saw you, I had wondered if Zhanch hadn’t bothered mentioning a brother."

"No, I was just making sure my Captain got home alright, before heading home myself."

"With one of her co-mates giving birth next week, I had figured she would have headed for Earth," Neal said with a raised eyebrow.

Jackton growled. "If things hadn’t gotten so busy on Starbase 3, she would have. But, by the time we had everything under control, it was too late for her to catch a ship that would get her to Earth in time. So she decided to at least be with family."

Neal smiled as he tapped his comm badge. "Tess, top off one of the new Zulus, and add a few games to the computer buffer, just in case she takes me up on an offer." At Jackton’s look of bewilderment, he chuckled. "I’m just going to rock her boat a little, and maybe get her where she really wants to be."

Giving Neal a dirty look, Jackton growled, "Speaking of ‘rocking her boat’, I take it I have you to thank for the bruising she gave me the evening you left." It was Neal’s turn to look puzzled. "I am her sparing partner when the holodeck won’t do. I found her in the gym after the Folly left, shredding some of the equipment in an extremely non-regulation manner. Seeing that she needed to blow off some steam, I challenged her to a fight." Jackton ruefully shook his head. "I’d always thought we were pretty evenly matched, but not that night. She blocked all my best shots, and all but tore my tail off!" Letting out a sigh, he continued, "I found out later, she had gone back though the medical scans herself, and she didn’t expect any of the Rakshani with you to make it home alive."

"You saw the New Kiev news feeds?" At Jackton’s nod, Neal sighed. "Dessa's only hope was a process I had used on a few other types of furs. After it saved her, we monitored her closely to see if there were any complications. When we got to the Pegasus, I had their doctors confirm that Dessa was okay. Then I offered it to Zhanch and the others."

"So they all survived?" Jackton asked in surprise. At Neal’s nod, he asked, "Are they with you?"

"All but one. Whitetail stayed with Derikk, her new mate, on the Pegasus."

"Zhane has been worrying herself ill, thinking she should have kept them, to get them home quicker."

"That’s why she looked so tired. I may have just the thing to help her get some rest."

"What are you going to do to my Captain?"

Neal smiled. "Wear her out, then put her someplace boring." At Jackton’s raised eyebrow, he grinned. "Ever done any patrols in one or two seat fighters? About as boring as it can get, if there’s nothing going on out there."

"I’m not sure she would be interested in riding in a small, cramped fighter."

"Even if it could get her to Earth in about four days? She and Kernos could be there a couple days before Midnight’s cub is due."

"No fighter has that kind of range!"

"It’s not a fighter exactly, it just has the same limited space for passengers."

"That might be a good idea," said a deep voice from behind them. Turning they found Nashene and Kernos standing a few steps away.

At Neal’s raised eyebrow, Nashene smiled. "It seems Zhanch wants to find a mate, at least for breeding purposes. So the females kicked us out, so they could talk without burning any mere male’s ears off." Then he gave Neal a calculated look. "She tells us that you are already her mate. Are you like Zhane’s Admiral Boyce?"

"No," Neal said, shaking his head. "I would give her a child if I could. Since I can’t, I’ll just support whatever decision she makes in selecting a male."

"Have you no pride?" he demanded, more than a little surprised that his daughter would be interested in someone that didn’t stand up for themselves.

"Not only do I have pride, I have faith. Faith that she will do me proud with her selection," Neal replied with a smile.

Nashene shook his head. "If these were the old days, I would challenge you, or just run you off."

Neal laughed. "What? No third option?" At his growl, Neal grinned. "I happen to know that some families allow themselves to be bribed, either with power or money to ‘buy’ their daughter’s mating to a male that the rest of the family may have seen as less than entirely suitable."

"You have nothing I want," he said, giving Neal a dirty look.

"Your daughter’s happiness?" Neal asked quietly. "I’m not forcing her to stay with me, it’s her choice. If she finds someone to mate with and wants to stay with him, I will wish them well. All fourteen of the Rakshani we saved are my companions. So far, three of them have asked me to be their mate. One stayed with her Rakshan mate, one stayed with me. Which way Zhanch goes is up to her, whatever makes her happy will be fine with me."

"You don’t care if she leaves you?"

"There was a poem I saw a long time ago. Its message was simple:

If you love something, let it go.

If it comes back to you, it’s yours.

If it doesn’t, it never was."

Giving Firestorm a gentle squeeze, Neal said, "Zhanch and the others were as weak as kittens when we got to New Kiev, but that didn’t keep them from fighting at my side." Neal gently pushed the now quiet Firestorm into Nashene’s arms. As the big Rakshan stroked the tiny chakat, Neal asked, "What price do you put on a cub? What reward do you give someone that helped you save hir? Her freedom to choose where and who she stays with seems like such a small price to pay."

"Zhane was right. You’re nothing if not an enigma. Zhanch has always chosen her own path before, I will not stand in her way now."

"It would be nice if you told her. She came home fearful that you were still mad at her for hurting Zhane."

Nashene seemed to deflate a little as he sighed. "We were never angry at Zhanch for taking that piece of crap from Zhane. We were mad at her when we thought she had really wanted him. However, we understood what she was doing and why, when she all but handed him to daughter of one of my rivals." Shaking his head, he continued, "She fled before we could tell her we understood why she did it."

Neal frowned as he shook his head. "Sounds like misunderstandings on more than one front. Zhane on why her sister stole that male, and Zhanch believing you wouldn’t understand." Neal snorted. "And now that you have them together under your roof for the first time in years, I was going to separate them."

Nashene smiled. "If you really can get Zhane to Earth in time, offer it to her. Now that they’re talking and Zhanch is in good health, we have time."

Looking at Kernos, Neal smiled. "How about it? Want to ride in a very small, very fast ship?"

"You said it would be boring," Kernos said frowning.

"Boring for your mother. Hopefully she’ll get some much needed rest, now that she knows Zhanch and the others are okay." Neal grinned. "I’ll see if we can’t find something to help you pass the time. Would you like to see the ship?" At Kernos’s nod, Neal smiled at Nashene. "I would send you up with him, but you would barely fit. If you don’t mind, I’ll send Jackton in your place."

At his nod, Neal turned to Jackton. "Ready Lieutenant?"

"Why are you sending me?" Jackton asked.

"To make sure the oxygen level is set high enough for Rakshani!" Neal said with a laugh. Tapping his comm badge he then said, "Engage!" before Jackton had time to sputter a protest.

Jackton vanished into a transporter stream, to be followed a few seconds later by Kernos.

"Besides," Neal quietly said to Nashene, with a smile. "This way Kernos has someone that he knows with him in an unknown place." Tapping his comm badge again, he said, "Well, what do you think, Kernos? Ready to try and talk your mother into a four day trip to Earth?"

Kernos and Jackton had found themselves in a small cockpit, the seats arranged side by side. Both seats had a full set of controls, which Jackton had already suggested they not touch.

So of course, Kernos’s first question was, "Can I fly it?"

Neal chuckled, both at Nashene’s groan, as well as a whimper from his comm badge that could only have come from Jackton. "How about learning how first?" he said. "You pass the tests, then we can see about a little flight. Okay?"

"YES!" Kernos shouted. "How do I start it?"

"Simply say ‘Zulu. Training mode. Start training’. Jackton, you can ask for training or flight simulation modes. Don’t worry about making any mistakes, the Zulu won’t let either of you actually fly it without my authorization."

Neal was just turning back to Nashene when the three female Rakshani picked that moment to join them.

"Where’s Jackton?" Zhanch demanded, looking around.

"And my son?" Zhane added, a frown forming on her brow.

"Playing in a Zulu," Neal said with a smile. "Care to join them?"

Looking toward her sister, Zhane asked, "Do I even want to know what a ‘Zulu’ is?"

"Yes you do," Neal told her with a grin. "By the time your sister shows you the ropes, the males should be ready for a little two on two."

Zhanch just smiled, as she tapped her comm badge. "Beam us up, Tess," giving her sister an evil grin.

After they were gone, Neal smiled at Yelest. "Your mate’s being a regular ‘pain in the tail’ that I don’t have."

She just smiled back at Neal. "Nothing new about that," Yelest said with a chuckle. "You should have seen him run poor Boyce around in circles when he first told us he was taking Zhane as one of his mates."

"At least Boyce could give you a grandchild. I’m having problems getting Nashene to suggest a suitable bribe for stealing away your other daughter."

"We should be asking you what kind of ‘bribe’ you would accept for giving us back our daughter," she replied. "This is the first time she’s been home in years. And your surprises have hit Zhane harder than you may know. When Zhanch told us she wanted to have a cub, Zhane immediately suggested…" Yelest stopped, covering her mouth with her hand.

Neal’s blue eyes sparkled as he laughed. "So that’s why she was wondering where Jackton had gotten off to!" At her look of concern, he grinned. "Well, if Zhane’s helping set her up with a male that she trusts, I would have to guess their troubled past is truly behind them."

"You’re not upset by her looking for another?" Yelest asked still concerned.

Neal smiled. "As I’ve been trying to tell your mate, I trust Zhanch to find a good breeding mate for her child. If she stays with him, or she continues traveling with me will be her choice. I will honor her decision."

Yelest laughed. "No wonder you drove Zhane crazy so quickly. Boyce was much more possessive when he argued with my mate."

"I will argue for keeping her as my mate as hard as is needed," Neal told her. "What I won’t do is force her to stay with me against her will. As I told Nashene, Zhanch has done things I can’t pay back. I can only try to help where I can. If that help is letting her live her own life, so be it."

"I still feel that we are in your debt," she said quietly. Nashene slowly nodded.

Neal nodded with a smile. "If you really feel that way, you can help me surprise Zhane. Gather up whatever she and Kernos brought with them, I don’t think they’ll be spending the night."

Once they were out of earshot, Neal keyed his comm badge. "Tess, do we have any of the ‘sampler’ pallets that I normally use for the Rakshani restaurants?"

"Yes boss."

"Wait till they come out, then break one out and transport it to their kitchen please."

"It sounded like they didn’t need or want a ‘bribe’."

"That’s why they’re getting a gift instead."

"Will do, oh sneaky boss."

"Let everyone know that those spending the night on the Folly should meet back at the spaceport in about two hours. Warn Suzan we will be having some Rakshani guests, and she should plan the evening meal accordingly. Let the kids know I’m thinking that we should have an ‘Alternate Thursday’ tonight. Let Zhanch know quietly, I want it to be a surprise for our guests."

"She’s a little busy right now, she and Zhane are already giving the boys a hard time."

"Sounds like the boys need more practice," Neal said as he saw the door start to open.

Firestorm was out as soon as the door was open far enough. Shi dashed up to him for a quick hug, then jumped down to explore a nearby bush as they waited on the others.


Zhane had been surprised to find herself in what appeared to be a small two-seated fighter. Her sister quickly walked her though the basic controls, then Zhanch brought down a barrier between them. With the barrier down, it was as if she were alone in the small ship. Choosing the flight-simulator mode, Zhane quickly got use to the controls. After giving her sister a few minutes to get familiar with the little ship, Zhanch had suggested they take on the males.

With Tess tying the four cockpits together, they agreed on the types of ships they would be fighting in, as well as their weapon loads.

They started out simple, just the four ships in open space. With an open comm to tease and instruct him with, Zhane quickly taught her son not to hold his course for any period of time, unless he wanted to be shot to pieces. While she was training her son, Zhanch was showing Jackton what old-fashioned dogfights had looked like. As their matches progressed, the obstacles increased. From rocks to hide behind or dodge, to stations and other moving ships that they needed to avoid damaging.

While they didn’t win every match, the girls held a fair lead by the time they were told that dinner would soon be served. While the adults had been ready to call it a day, Kernos didn’t want to quit yet.

Zhane was about to tell him no, when Neal’s chuckle sounded in their headsets. He told Kernos that they could all have one more flight, but how long they could fly would be determined by how long the four of them could survive his fighters. Their environment changed to the Raksha area they were in, the Folly drifted nearby, while other ships moved around a station that they could see in a lower orbit. Then two new fighters left the Folly, and headed towards them.

The four Rakshani had each picked a different escape vector when the two new ships attacked. But before they could regroup or return the attack, Zhanch was picked off. Zhane soon followed, but not before Jackton got a piece of one of enemy ships as they attacked his captain. The damaged ship had then placed itself between him and the station, making another shot at it an unacceptable risk.

Zhane had found herself beamed onboard the Folly; Zhanch had been waiting for her. As they went to freshen up, Zhane had Zhanch bring her up to date on what had happened to her since their meeting on Starbase 3.

Zhane’s next surprise was when they entered the dinning area. The Rakshani marines that greeted her were a far cry from the barely mobile ones she had said goodbye to almost six months ago. She had met Weaver and Stew at their dinner while at Starbase 3, and the sixteen kids. She was a little startled to realize that the Folly was now actually running a nursery, with four chakats under a year old. Zhanch told her about the survivors of the mining platform that had been taken over.

Zhane had been about to ask about the chakats’ manner of dress, the older ones were either bare, or wearing very loose tops. She got her answer when a hungry cub ran right up Dusk’s foreleg, and under hir top. Dusk had simply brought up an arm to help support the cub as shi continued hir conversation with Yelest.

At her look of confusion, Zhanch had smiled. "Yes, shi’s getting milk and not milkwater. It’s impossible to prove if it was by accident or design, but all the older chakats are now giving milk. I think the way CalmMeadow enjoys feeding the cubs had more than a little to do with it."

Neal led Jackton in a few minutes later, Jackton had only lasted a minute more than Zhane had, the ‘enemy’ ships having caught him in a crossfire.

Holly and Quickdash led Kernos in just as Stew was bringing out the first course, they had saved him for last to give him as much time to play as possible.

Dinner was a big hit with the guests; Suzan had gone all out and made use of one of Neal’s ‘Rakshani restaurant’ pallets, the smoked salmon was particularly well received.

The after dinner entertainment was the ‘mess’ room. When asked what he wanted for dessert, Kernos had selected the lemon meringue pie. This became the weapon of the evening, with his grandfather being his first target.

As with Boyce’s group, chaos reined supreme. This ‘Alternate Thursday’ ended with Zhanch and Zhane wrestling in the lemony mess, much to the delight of those in attendance. What started out with cheerful insults about each other’s aim, turned into taking turns tossing each other around the room. At one point one sister was on top of the other, trying to ‘feed’ her a pie before she was flipped. When Kernos asked who was winning, Neal had chuckled, and told him that they both were.

Jackton had been a little surprised when Zhanch had tried to drag him away for some ‘personal’ cleaning. Her friends had other ideas though; as they were both run through the ‘Rakshani cleaning machine’, before the pair was left to their own devices.

Zhane and Kernos were also carefully cleaned and dried, before Neal suggested that they say goodbye to everyone. A few minutes later saw them in a Zulu, on their way to Earth.


With almost everyone else in their rooms for the night, Neal was heading for his, when Tess quietly paged him. "Sorry to sidetrack you boss, but the freighter Good Deal just came out of warp. From the comm badges I’m picking up, she has that package you were expecting."

Neal just shook his head and chuckled. "And she’s in heat. They say that timing is everything, but this is ridiculous."

"You could always have them ‘hold’ the package for a few days," Tess suggested unhelpfully.

"They’d lynch me when they found out," Neal said with a groan.

"A lynching sounds like fun," a voice behind him purred.

Neal turned to find Kestrel coming up behind him. "This would be the ‘un-fun’ type. With people feeling hurt and upset at me," Neal replied, having lost his grin.

"We all know you occasionally drive us crazy, but I’ve never seen you intentionally hurt anyone. What were you going to do to get yourself in trouble?"

"A surprise package for Weaver and Holly just came in. What do you think they’d do if I hid it for a few days, say until the Rakshan fertility festival is over and she’s no longer in heat?"

"Why would…" Kestrel started, then her eyes got big.

"Yup," Neal said as his smile returned. "That type of surprise package."

"They’re requesting permission to dock, boss," Tess chimed in.

"Main docking port, port side Tess," Neal said as he headed to his room for a fresh shirt.

Tess stopped him with her next remark. "Weaver and Moonglow are already asleep in your cabin. Would you like me to get you a set of clean clothes?"

By the time Neal and Kestrel had changed into fresh attire, Tess was reporting that the Good Deal was beginning her final docking maneuvers.

The Folly’s four main docking ports were located around the second sphere. Each was made up of one of the cargo pods, recessed into the sphere.

As they waited for the Good Deal to dock, Kestrel asked, "Do they work for you?"

"No," Neal said with a small smile. "They’re just some independents that I sometimes share or trade loads with."

The personnel hatch opened to reveal ‘Sharp of speech’ a Caitian female, her fur a rich chestnut brown with dark red highlights. She stopped a few feet from them before she bowed. "Captain Foster," she said as she straightened, staring up at the big Rakshani.

"Kestrel, this is SharpTongue, first mate of the Good Deal and firstwife to her captain, LongReach - house of Starrec. SharpTongue, this is Kestrel, my mate," Neal said with a smile.

An excited cry came from behind him. SharpTongue stepped to the side to see around Neal and Kestrel, as the other two turned towards the sound. They watched a tiny chakat come around a nearby carrier and leap up into Neal’s arms.

SharpTongue let out a soft snort as she chuckled. "And next you’ll be telling me that mating a human with a Rakshani produces a chakat."

Kestrel also chuckled, as she watched Stormy cuddle with Neal. "Are you saying you know of his ‘methods’?" she asked with a grin.

"Oh yes. I’ve learned to assume that I’m not getting any more than he wants me to know." Then with an evil grin SharpTongue asked, "Want to swap tales?"

"It would be interesting to find out what he’s been leaving out," Kestrel agreed with a matching grin. "For starters, I am just one of his mates, and Firestorm here is just one of his adopted daughters."

Done with hir hug, Firestorm leaped into SharpTongue’s arms. She started to stroke the little chakat, only to have hir start trying to get under her top.

Kestrel couldn’t help but laugh, as Neal tried to get Stormy to stop trying to undress his guest.

"NO! No, no, no…" Neal said as he tried to untangle SharpTongue’s top from Stormy’s fast little fingers. "This is not one of your mothers or your big sisters. Stop." With Stormy finally off hir victim, Neal turned to Kestrel. "Lot of help you were," he growled.

Still snickering, Kestrel said, "At least with you, shi won’t try to use hir claws. Besides, it was priceless watching the two of you battle to see who was going to grope your guest the most."

Blushing a deep red to rival his hair, Neal turned back to SharpTongue. "One of the ‘games’ hir older sisters have been teaching hir is called ‘milk check’. I think you get the idea."

SharpTongue softly chuckled. "I see. You know, you never need an excuse if you want to get friendly…" she said as she placed her arms on his shoulders, the still squirming Firestorm now trapped between them.

" ‘They’re just some independents that you sometimes share or trade loads with’, huh?" Kestrel said, her grin getting wider.

"Is that what he told you?" SharpTongue asked, acting hurt. "We’re much more that that!"

With Stormy still trapped between them, Neal pushed SharpTongue away. Now able to move his arms, he threw Stormy at Kestrel, before wrapping his arms around the surprised Caitian. Bending her over backwards, he began giving her a long, hard kiss. After a moment, she was returning it with interest.

Kestrel hooted at the display, Stormy joining her in laughing at Neal’s antics.

Hearing an extra chuckle, Kestrel spun back to the docking port. ‘To grab the distant’, a Caitian male with light-tan fur, was just leaning on the edge of the port, grinning at the scene before him.

LongReach slowly shook his head as he said, "And I thought that you, of all people, would know better than to tease him, my dear."

"I had to try," SharpTongue said with a grin. "It seems his mates have loosened this halfwit up a bit!"

"Halfwit? As in that ‘halfwit’ that has rebuilt or replaced most of your engineering systems?" Neal asked as he let her drop, only stopping her fall as her hair brushed the deck.

SharpTongue grinned as Neal pulled her back to her feet. "Yes, the halfwit that would never accept my offer to share my bed!"

"Perhaps he just prefers big furs," Kestrel said with more than a little pride.

"I dare you to say that where Stew can hear you," Neal said with a grin.

Kestrel laughed. "Your insanity may be rubbing off on some of us, but I’m not stupid!"

"Who is this Stew?" SharpTongue asked curiously.

Neal smiled. "A rabbit doe, about your size."

LongReach let out a chuckle. "A rabbit named Stew. Are we talking about a person, or an item on a menu?"

"Depends on which ‘menu’ you’re placing me on," came a sultry voice from behind the carrier. The dessert cart preceded the brown and white bunny, who was wearing her ‘lick the cook’ apron.

At Neal’s raised eyebrow, Suzan laughed. "Tess warned me you were entertaining more guests, and that they were in the middle of their dinner when they docked. I thought they might enjoy a surprise dessert. That is, if someone doesn’t want ‘rabbit’ instead," this last she said while giving LongReach a calculated look.

SharpTongue let out a hoot of laughter at her mate’s expression. "And you were telling me not to tease him!"

LongReach bowed his head. "Once again we find it’s folly to assume anything about the Folly, her captain, or her crew when she has one."

Kestrel gave Neal a long look. "Sounds like there’s an interesting story in there somewhere."

"I don’t know about a story, but there is more than a little of a tale," LongReach admitted. With a smile, he waved them back the way he had come. "Will you join us?"

As Stew and Kestrel followed LongReach into the Good Deal, Neal tapped his badge. "Tess, if Holly is still up, asked her to join us."

"Will do, boss." Having already been monitoring the comm badges on the Good Deal, Tess suggested Quickdash also go along.

SharpTongue laughed when they came into view. "You asked for one and got two?"

Neal shrugged. "Double or nothing," he said with a grin.

SharpTongue returned his grin. "I can do you one better!" she boasted as she led them into her ship.

Neal followed her into the Good Deal’s dining compartment, only to stop at the entryway. He had expected to see the foxtaur tod with one foreleg ‘sock’ longer than the others, along with SharpTongue’s co-wives and kids. However, he hadn’t been expecting the two chakats. They were returning his confused stare with one of mild amusement.

Holly and Quickdash almost knocked Neal over in their hurry to get into the room when they saw who was waiting for them. As the three chakats traded hugs and lick-kisses, SharpTongue chuckled as Neal shook his head. "I told you I could do you one better," she said.

With his daughter still trying to crush him in a hug, LongSock nodded at Neal. "I hope you don’t mind a couple of extra surprises. Their jobs finished up before mine did, so they asked to come along."

"I take it the credit chit I sent you had sufficient funds?" Neal asked.

"About that," Quickwind, the larger of the two adult chakats said, "what’s with that comm badge you gave him? We were trying to buy tickets for one of the cruise ships, when one of the managers of the line came up and asked LongSock if he was connected with the Folly. When he showed her the badge, she changed the economy room we were trying to get for a first class suite. Not only did we end up at the captain’s table more than once, the captain actually had a competitor’s ship delay its departure so we could make the connection!"

SharpTongue smiled. "They also made sure we would be there and in time for the final leg of their journey."

Neal smiled. "What can I say? My friends get by with a little help from my friends…"

The other chakat, Shortdash, frowned. "That doesn’t explain the level of VIP treatment we received. I don’t think the president of the lines gets that type of treatment, certainly not from their competition!"

SharpTongue chuckled. "And you didn’t even think to ask why we would help you get to the Folly."

Kestrel cocked an eye at LongReach. "Is this part of the ‘tale’ you hinted about?"

LongReach nodded. "Our first dealings with the Folly were not good ones." At Kestrel’s look of concern, he added, "It was self-inflicted."

SharpTongue took up the tale. "We were doing okay at the time; not great, but we were making ends meet. We were at a small space station when the Folly came into port. You have to understand that we had never met Neal; all we had to go on was the stories we’d heard. Stories of him running other ships out of business by undercutting their bids, tales of him buying up what there was to sell by being able to offer more than anyone else could afford. I have the name SharpTongue because of both the way my name translates to Terranglo, as well as the way I cut deals. Since the station wasn’t one of Neal’s regular stops, they knew even less about him than we did. I tried to use that to undermine his ability to buy and sell at the station to try to increase our own profits."

Neal sighed. "I was just at the station for a few parts and to take a break from my latest set of tests on a new engine configuration. Imagine my surprise when my credit is no good, and they will only take hard currency, and even then they still overcharged me. A helpful store clerk told me that someone was telling everyone that would listen that I was a thief and an all around bad risk." Neal looked around the room, meeting each set of eyes. "The only thing of any real value in this business is your reputation. Having your name dragged though the mud means no one will do business with you. Since I couldn’t afford that, I went to the bar she was spreading her lies from and listened for a few minutes. Then I challenged her to name names. I demanded she give us someone that could back her tale, I even offered to pay the FTL charges for a real-time chat with whomever she could claim I had cheated."

SharpTongue snorted. "I had never expected to have to actually face him, and of course I couldn’t answer his challenge. So I used my ‘sharp tongue’ to try and out argue him. That didn’t work though, his answer to anything I said was ‘prove it’! He kept telling me to name names and places."

"I have run a few people out of business, but those bottom feeders were in the business of screwing others, so all I had to do was be fair to their victims to win the contracts away from them. If she had named any of those, I was ready to counter her claims by also calling some of their victims for the other side of the story."

SharpTongue continued, "I left when it became obvious that Neal wasn’t going to back down. His parting demand for me was a retraction and an apology." A light sigh escaped her as she remembered that evening. "In the end, my lies cost us more than they saved us. With the locals not knowing whom to trust, they didn’t trust either of us. This hurt us more than it did Neal, he had more goods for sale, and could afford to give them better prices."

Neal snorted. "Like I was saying earlier, I wasn’t trying to make any money at that stop, I was still in the middle of a test run. That, and the attitude of the buyers and sellers meant I didn’t bother giving them the best deals I could."

SharpTongue frowned. "We didn’t do half the business we planned there, and when we pulled out it was with a warning shot from the Folly." At the raised eyebrows, she chuckled. "Not that type of shot! As we left the station, Neal just sent a message that he still expected an apology."

"I had sent one of my scouts to follow them. I left the station the next day and reached their next stop two days before they arrived."

"The next station was a very small outpost. With the Folly docked, we couldn’t even see it behind her spheres." She shook her head. "We didn’t even dock, we just sent our list of things for sale. They sent back what Neal had charged them for like items. They admitted they already had enough supplies for over a year, so anything we wanted to try and sell would have to be at bargain prices."

Neal snorted, remembering. "As they left, I again reminded them that I was expecting an apology, as well as their word they would stop spreading lies. I again beat them to their next port, this a large trading center. They docked, but only bought a few supplies and left. The next evening a broker came up to me, and told me he had something that he thought would interest me. He uncovered a plaque with a ship’s name on it. Most sea and space-going races believe losing a ship’s plaque is bad luck, and they only sail without it when in dire straits." Neal gave each of them a somber look. "It was Good Deal’s ship plaque, they had sold it for their supplies. I paid him more than I should have, but I was in a hurry." He grinned. "I almost tore their docking clamps off leaving that station. I caught up with the Good Deal and did a complete scan of the vessel. I was relieved to find they had enough fuel and supplies to reach their next stop. I just tailed them that time, keeping a watch over them."

LongReach took up the tale, "Tensions onboard were high, we were very low on supplies and we had detected at least part of his scans. Fearing pirates, we ran as fast and as quietly as we could."

Neal nodded. "I gave them a couple hours at dock, before I brought the Folly in. Once docked two ports down from them, I sent a message to the local bulletin board that the Folly would not be doing any business until the next morning. Having seen that the Good Deal seemed to be okay, I had decided to wait until morning to deal with them as well." Neal gave SharpTongue a smile as he continued, "But she had other ideas. I was almost in bed when Tess told me someone was waiting at the personnel hatch for me. Not in the mood to put up with some idiot trying to get in an early bid, I told Tess to send them packing," Neal snorted. "That was one of the few times Tess argued with me."

Tess’s voice came over the badges, "Not really an argument, I just insisted that he would want to see this person as soon as possible."

"Tess even suggested I take my long coat," Neal said with a grin. "Most ports don’t waste much power on keeping the cargo bays warm, so they can be a bit nippy. I was ready to tell someone to go to hell, but I wasn’t ready for what I found. One small, nude, Caitian female, shivering, as she knelt in front of my hatch. It told me a moment to realize it was SharpTongue, and she was trying to apologize though her shivers."

SharpTongue smiled at the memory. "First he looked confused, then concerned, that was my first inkling that I might have misread him. He wrapped me in his coat, and picked me up as if I was a cub. By the time he got me to our hatch, he was furious."

LongReach shook his head. "She had refused to eat since the last station, her fears that Neal would never stop hounding us, keeping her from sleeping."

Neal snorted. "She felt much lighter than I thought she should. Thinking her mate had been heartless enough to send her out into the cold to beg forgiveness, I was more than a little pissed off. I stormed aboard their ship, ready to tear a strip off his hide. His first words hit me like a bucket of ice water. Tess had guided me to LongReach, in this room. His first words on seeing me with his mate were, ‘if you can get her to eat, we would be grateful’."

LongReach chuckled. "I could see him shift moods, one moment he was glaring at me. The next, he was carefully setting her in a chair and tapping his comm badge. He and Tess exchanged a few words, and a she transported a small banquet to our table. Then he showed us his darker side by not letting us eat any of it…"

Neal snorted at the dirty looks he was getting. "What I said, was the rest of them couldn’t have any of it. Not until SharpTongue not only ate, but promised she wouldn’t starve herself again. Remember, the others had eaten earlier - SharpTongue was the only one in real need of a meal."

SharpTongue smiled. "After a light meal, all my poor stomach would stand for, Neal told us he would see us in the morning. Then he turned around and said, ‘I almost forgot’, and handed LongReach a thin but heavy box before walking out on us. We were shocked to find our ship’s plaque inside."

LongReach shook his head. "The next morning Neal was back, with a memory chit of reasons we couldn’t leave port. I tried to dispute some of his findings, but he would simply walked over to the unit in question and prove it was no longer up to spec."

Neal snorted. "A pipe rated at a few hundred psi shouldn’t have been so corroded that I could crush it with my bare hands… It was just an emergency drain, but they would have had lost most of their environmental systems if that system had vented."

SharpTongue nodded. "He spent the next three days replacing or patching what he considered the worst of our problems. While he was doing that, he somehow managed to not only have our cargo sold for better than we could have hoped for, but also end up with a prepaid cargo delivery."

Neal shrugged. "I had a friend on the station in need of some of their cargo, and he needed a load going somewhere I wasn’t heading at the time."

It was LongReach’s turn to snort. "All of which wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t put in a good word for us after all we’d done."

"I had just wanted SharpTongue to stop sharpening her tongue on my reputation, not run you out of business."

"So, instead you made us your business."

"Funny, you’ve never complained about it. Do you want me out of your fur?

"No," LongReach said with a smile. "Our current arrangement suits us very well."

SharpTongue cut in, "With one exception." At Neal’s raised eyebrow, she grinned. "We want you to train our eldest daughter on the upgrades you’ve installed for us. ScreamingWind tried studying a standard Federation engineering course, but she said it made your systems even more confusing, not less."

Holly and Quickdash giggled, while Kestrel snorted in amusement. "That’s because he rejects our views of reality and substitutes his own!" she said with a laugh.

Holly piped in with, "No he doesn’t, he just makes it look that way!"

Quickdash grinned. "It’s like when he’s telling one of his tales; you have to know there are lines to read between."

Neal shook his head. "Most of the problem is I don’t use just one style or type of technology. Caitians, Voxxans, Rakshani, Merraki, Terrans, they all figured out ways to get into space, and everyone had found a way to travel between the stars. But while a lot of them use the same Federation standardized equipment now, originally they each had a unique way to get the task done." Neal nodded at Kestrel. "The Rakshani would have to be considered the ‘brute force’ types. When they joined the Federation, their equipment was the biggest and bulkiest for what it did. But, you could beat the hell out of it, and it would keep on working. While, whenever I see Merraki tech, I have to wonder what else it can do beside the obvious. They are some of the most extreme gadget-makers." Neal smiled. " ‘My’ tech is simply using what others have missed. Rakshani sensors were the worst of the bunch, but they had better range and sensitivity than a lot of the others. Why? Because they multiplexed them to make up for their limitations. So what happens when I use Rakshani methods on Caitian sensors using a computer from the Voxxans? I can see things in passive mode that most starships can’t see in active! Most every engineer from any race, upon seeing the Folly, said it couldn’t possibly work. That’s because each of them knows how the Federation does it now, and some know their old tech. A few of them might wonder if I might be using some of their older tricks for part of what I was doing, but only two so far have known enough of other species’ old tech to realize how I might have strung it all together."

"Are you saying you can’t teach her?" SharpTongue asked.

"No. I’m just saying it could take years to teach her just the basics, never mind my ‘tricks’. And you can’t properly troubleshoot a system if you don’t understand it. I’ve already given you the quick ‘if this happens – do that’ instructions. Any more requires an in-depth understanding of the system in question."

"How would you do it?"

"Part of it would be classroom type instruction, which she could do anywhere. The other part would be hands on, learn by doing…"

Still holding Quickdash in a hug, Shortdash asked, "How long did it take you to learn what you know?"

Neal chuckled. "I’m still learning new things all the time. And before you ask, yes, I’m a bit older than I look."

Kestrel snorted. "To paraphrase something I heard him telling the kids, ‘the surface of the sun is warm, the ocean is damp, and Neal is a little older than he looks’!"

"You’re one to talk," Neal said with a grin.

"True," she said with a matching grin. "But, that too is your fault!"

"So it is." At the looks of confusion from his three surprise guests, Neal grinned. "What can I say, Tess gives great makeovers."

SharpTongue chuckled. "Before you start practicing all three methods on them, will you take ScreamingWind as your apprentice?"

Neal looked over at ‘Air rushes though the limbs’. The slim teenager had been sitting quietly while her mother tried to make the deal. "You won’t be the only one I’ll be teaching. I’ll be teaming you with what the Pegasus’s engineering department called the ‘terror-twins’. Think you can handle it?"

ScreamingWind nodded. "I will do my best, sir!"

Neal caught Holly and Quickdash’s eyes as he said, "Why don’t you two show her Gulf. Don’t start on anything, I have a feeling all three of you will have new chores starting tomorrow."

LongReach’s youngest daughter, ‘Nectar of the buzzing insect’, Honey asked, "Can we see Gulf too?"

ScreamingWind looked like she hoped Neal would say no, but Holly piped up first. "Sure," she said. "Just remember, don’t touch anything without permission!" Neal and LongReach nodded their approval.

As they left, Neal turned to LongReach. "Tess tells me you have some interesting toys in your hold. Are they for a customer, or are they for your next upgrade?"

"Upgrade. That is, if we can ever catch you with some free time."

"Do you have any pressing business?"

"Nothing that can’t wait a month or two. Are you saying you have time?"

"I never seem to have any time anymore. But I can make the time, so long as you don’t slow us down too much."

"Do you have the space?"

Neal smiled. "It just so happens that my last set of hitch-hikers bailed out about a month ago, so I have room enough for a Good Deal or two. I know I told you two weeks, but if I’m teaching, it will be more like four to six weeks. Will that cause any problems?"

"No. We were hoping you would have the time, in fact we swapped some cargo with Father’s Love to have an excuse to bring your ‘surprises’ to Raksha."

Neal was thoughtful for a moment. "That should work. They should be moving cargo again the day after tomorrow, so figure we leave in a week. That will give ScreamingWind some time for my tests, as well as beginning her training."

"Will she be okay with your ‘terror-twins’?" SharpTongue asked, a little concerned.

Neal shrugged. "I think they’ll get along, they did seem to be hitting it off when they left."

LongSock’s jaw dropped, along with the chakats’. "You mean Holly and Quickdash are your ‘terror-twins’?" he asked.

Neal grinned at their looks of disbelief. "No. They’re your ‘terror-twins’. I’ve just been honing their skills since they came together under my ‘roof’."

"Weaver said they’d been behaving."

"They have been. But I’ve always found the best way to keep young ones ‘entertained’ is to give them something ‘interesting’ to do. And if it helps them learn and be more self-confident, all the better." Turning to SharpTongue, Neal added, "They actually have a bit of an advantage over ScreamingWind. They didn’t have anything to ‘unlearn’, plus I’m letting them see how what they learn works out in the real world, so teaching them is a little easier."

Quickwind and Shortdash were looking confused. "Just what have you been teaching our daughter?" Shortdash asked.

"How to think. How to take a problem apart and find solutions for the pieces, instead of being stumped by the bigger problem. How to learn. Using the different databases and the nets to find what they want or need to know to get something done. They’ve even found a few things I didn’t know."

"I find that hard to believe," SharpTongue said with a laugh.

"Third method," he told her. "If you become a teacher, by your students you’ll be taught."

"Meaning?" Quickwind asked, frowning.

"Have you ever done any teaching or tutoring?" Neal asked.

"Some," shi admitted.

"Did you ever have a student that came up with an answer that didn’t use the logic you were teaching?" At hir nod, he grinned. "You either had to show them the error in their logic, or admit that at least in that case, there was more than one solution to the problem." As shi nodded again, he added, "So, did they ‘teach’ you anything?"

"A point," shi admitted.

"A lot of my ‘learning’ involved having a problem, and needing the best solution I could afford at the time. Some ‘newer’ solutions were beyond my means, so I had to look to older methods of getting things done. When I could afford it, I would then look at the newer equipment, and have to decide if the gain was worth the cost. In some cases, I just upgraded pieces of something, rather than the whole unit. An example is the Folly herself. When she was just a double length cargo pod carrier, her name was ‘the Pogo Stick’. When her warp core became unusable, I couldn’t afford a proper replacement. My studies had included the Voxxan’s methods of blending the power of multiple cores, as well as the Merraki methods of getting more power out of smaller cores. So I picked up four much smaller-and much cheaper cores, and ended up with not only more power than running the one core system, but it was also more efficient."

"So, do you consider yourself an engineering expert?" Quickwind asked with a raised eyebrow.

Neal chuckled. "Not at all, I’m just a jack of many trades, master of none, that sometimes happens to figure out how to bash two different technologies into one solution."

"What ‘solution’ are you working on the Good Deal?" Shortdash asked, with a growing curiosity.

"Power and propulsion this time. They want to expand their carrying capacity, so we start with the power to move it. Then we figure out just how much we’ve gained, and they get to decide on modifying this hull or replacing it."

Shortdash frowned, "You make it sound like it’s no big deal."

"The Folly is my masterpiece in progress, but she’s neither the first, nor the only ship I’ve done this to."

"And you’re going to let those three help?" LongSock asked, still a little stunned at the idea.

"Why not? It will make a good training exercise. I’ll let them plan it out, then see how close it comes to mine. I’ll explain why I chose the path I did, and see if they can explain theirs. Only then do we get to build it."

SharpTongue asked, "Should we send over her things?"

Neal shrugged. "I have no idea where she wants to sleep, so you might hold off for the moment. There’s no real hurry, we’ll have a couple days to sort things out."

"And us?" Quickwind asked.

"Tess or I can find you a room for tonight, or you can spend one more night on the Good Deal. Your choice." LongSock opened his mouth only to close it at Neal’s next words. "As for you," Neal told him. "Weaver is in the captain’s quarters, which is where I’m assuming you will be spending the night." Tapping his badge he asked, "Tess, do you think you can wake Moonglow without disturbing Weaver?"

"Not a problem, boss. Shi had just asked me what was keeping you."

"Ask hir to join us. Oh, and ask hir to bring Starblazer with hir, if you will."

"Can do boss. So where am I putting your toothbrush tonight?"

Suzan spoke up. "In my room," she said, eyeing Neal.

Neal looked over at LongReach, so he missed the winks between Suzan and SharpTongue. "Do your wives always tell you where you’re going to sleep?" he asked with a grin.

"More often than not," LongReach admitted after a moment. "When they don’t care where I sleep, it is usually a sign that I have somehow displeased them." That earned him a grin from his firstwife.

Neal smiled. "So that suggests that I haven’t managed to displease all my mates and companions, at least not all at the same time yet."

SharpTongue chuckled. "Just how many mates do you have?"

"Kestrel and Stew are two, then there’s Weaver and Moonglow. Whitetail is on the Pegasus, while Zhanch is probably well into wearing out a new friend her sister recommended."

"Six mates?" LongReach asked in surprise.

"And eleven more Rakshani as companions, all due to me having a very sneaky ‘firstwife’." Neal said, while giving LongSock a dirty look. "Why didn’t you warn me about our mate?"

LongSock shook his head. "She’s never pulled a trick like that on me, so there wasn’t anything to warn you about."

Kestrel sniggered. "When she ‘helped’ you decide to add Stew and Moonglow as mates, she said she didn’t mind sharing one of her mates with others. Of course, she never said she wouldn’t mind ‘sharing’ the other one too." This last she said while giving LongSock a long, hungry look.

"Down, kitten," Neal said with a chuckle, as she leered down at LongSock, who physically backed away from the big Rakshan. The look on his face suggesting he now knew how it felt to be prey.

Kestrel pouted, as she turned to Neal. "Are you saying you won’t share me with your co-mate?"

"No," Neal said, still grinning. "I’m just suggesting that Weaver might get a little annoyed if you managed to scare him off before she even knew he was here."

"So, that’s why you wanted Starblazer," Moonglow said from the doorway. Shi stepped over to LongSock, and placed the sleepy child in his arms.

As father and daughter stared at each other for the first time, Neal introduced everyone to Moonglow.

After introductions, Moonglow turned back to Neal. "Just how many parties were you planning to have tonight?"

Neal let out a soft snort as he smiled. "I had only ‘planned’ one, this just sort of happened."

Moonglow smiled at LongSock. "Your mate was asleep when I left her, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you waking her."

"And she is in heat, so before you join her you may want to decide on if the two of you want another child," Neal said, watching LongSock’s face.

LongSock sighed. "That’s not really a problem for us, we have a low compatibility between us. We wanted several cubs, but it took us years to give Holly a sister."

Kestrel reached over and gently squeezed his arm. When he looked up at her, she smiled. "You arrived at the conjunction of a Traveler’s festival and the Rakshan fertility festival. If the two of you want to start another cub now, let’s just say your odds have improved."

"Do you really believe in these ‘deities’?" LongSock asked looking confused.

Kestrel laughed. "The real question is do they believe in you? Oh, and do be careful of what you wish for, you might get more than you bargained for," she added with a grin.

Moonglow walked over and planted hirself in Kestrel’s lap – well the forward end of hir lower torso anyway. With arms and forepaws wrapped around the big Rakshani, shi tilted hir head back and gave her a big lick-kiss as shi said, "Behave."

Kestrel looked down with a big grin. "And who’s going to make me? You?"

"If need be," Moonglow shot back with a matching grin and a gleam in hir eyes.

SharpTongue was about to ask Neal what that was all about when she noticed he had closed his eyes, a smile slowly creeping across his face. Looking around, she saw the chakats were matching Neal’s actions. As she felt something pleasant that made her shudder, they all took a deep breath and opened their eyes.

Smiling at the chakats, who now looked much more relaxed, Neal said, "Sorry about that. Since I didn’t know Stormy would be with me, I had Tess leave the screens down."

SharpTongue had opened her mouth, but Shortdash beat her to it. "Well! After that, I think we can safely report to the other parents that you’re not keeping the kids from enjoying themselves."

A totally confused, SharpTongue asked, "What just happened?"

Neal chuckled. "You know how some chakats can read your feelings and sometimes even project their feelings?" SharpTongue nodded. "Well sometimes they will project when under duress or in this case, when very excited. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, I have several strong ‘projectors’ on board. So when they’re happy, everybody knows it."

Shortdash snorted. "I felt at least three, it was hard to concentrate with such strong emotions."

Quickwind nodded in agreement. "I could feel a couple more. Do they always do it together?"

"Whenever they’re sure they have the time to recover," Moonglow said with a smile.

Looking around, SharpTongue growled, "What does it take to get a straight answer out of you? What just happened?"

Shortdash chuckled. "As you know chakats are dual sexed." SharpTongue nodded. "Well, we enjoy sex from either position, but a dual orgasm is a real treat for us. Even more so when there’s more than one chakat having a dual orgasm at the same time. Sometimes we will inadvertently broadcast our pleasure. That’s what we all felt a moment ago, several chakats ‘letting go’ at once."

Neal snorted. "To keep from bothering others that are sensitive, I normally have Tess set up screens to block the effects. However, those same screens cut the mental link between chakats, so they can’t sense each other. If you want to see a frantic chakat cub, place Stormy where shi can’t sense me."

Shortdash frowned. "Shi has that strong of a bond with you? I didn’t think that was possible."

"Hir parents died in the attack at the New Kiev spaceport. I have a low sensitivity, but I felt hir distress while shi was still trapped in hir mother’s womb. A skunktaur shrink suggested Stormy may have bonded with me before I got hir out. While shi has gotten a little more independent, shi still needs to know that I’m near."

"We had some Star Fleet personnel with us for a while," Moonglow said with a grin. "Even with the screens, I had a few chakats asking me just what type of games we play on the Folly, and more than one asked if they could join in!"

Neal smiled. "LightTouch had commented on it and I had Tess increase the strength of the screens. Hy never mentioned it again, so I thought we had the issue resolved."

Tess picked this time to cut in. "They woke Weaver. Should we send her your ‘sneaky mates’ surprise’?"

"No time like the present," Neal said as he got up. Smiling at LongSock, he added, "If you’ll follow me?" To the rest of the room he gave a half-wave and a yawn. "I’ll see the rest of you in the morning."

LongReach waited until Neal and LongSock were out of hearing, then he turned to his firstwife. "I saw you and that long-eared temptress swapping winks. What deviousness are the two of you plotting?"

Suzan got up and sauntered over to him. With her paws on the arms of his chair, she looked down at him and smiled. "I only told him where he was sleeping tonight." Giving him a slow lick-kiss as she sat down in the surprised LongReach’s lap, she added, "I never said with whom…"

 


Chapter 6  

 

Neal woke slowly, trying to remember why he felt so good. Tess’s night vision camera caught his eye roll and brought the lights up just enough for him to see. There was an ear just in front of his nose, an ear much too short to belong to the owner of the bed he was in. The ear twitched slightly as he softly snorted in remembrance.

After leaving the Good Deal with LongSock, he had shown his co-mate to his cabin with a parting hug and a whispered ‘have fun!’ He had then retired to Stew’s room. He must have dozed off, because the next thing he remembered was someone crawling into bed with him. A slight shock had run though him when he realized that Stew had set him up. SharpTongue had been a little apprehensive about how Neal would take her surprise, but Neal quickly assured her that he was getting used to his sneaky mates being almost as sneaky as he was. After showing her just how much he enjoyed her surprise, they had slept for a while, before he was again awakened. This time the arms he had around SharpTongue were covered, as someone snuggled up to her from behind. His back was also soon covered with fur, as a second body hugged him from behind. He also seemed to recall Stormy’s purr as shi gently head-butted him sometime in the night, but shi didn’t fully wake him.

Looking past the twitching ear, Neal could make out LongReach’s face. He gave Neal a ‘cat that ate the canary’ smile, as he whispered, "We are blessed to have mates that know us so well."

From behind him, Neal heard Suzan whisper, "It helps that both of you have learned how to share your loves, as well as your love. One of my former boyfriends thought it was okay for him to see multiple females, but that I should only be allowed to see him. Needless to say, I ditched that relationship as quickly as possible."

SharpTongue backed up a little so she could see Neal’s eyes. "I know we won’t be able to get together very often," she quietly said, "but would you accept me as a companion?"

Neal tightened his hug on her as he kissed her nose pad. "I would be honored," he whispered back.

Stormy picked that moment to give hir vote of approval by all but climbing over their faces, to give SharpTongue a belated ‘milk check’.

With so many guests on board, Suzan had decided to help the kids with the morning meal. She grabbed her ‘rabbit stew’ apron and was soon making breakfast for everyone.

Weaver and LongSock were the last to show up for the meal, both looked happy, but it was obvious they hadn’t gotten much sleep.

Neal smiled at LongSock. "Why do I have feeling you tried to make sure that our mate leaves the Folly as big around as when she arrived?"

LongSock gave him a weary smile. "Well, one of your mates did suggest we would have better odds."

Neal laughed with the others. "At least I get a little more advanced warning this time," he said with a grin.

"How much did you have last time?" Shortdash asked.

"She told me we had two or three weeks, then she gave me six days," Neal said with a laugh.

"Did you practice acting as a midwife in the holodeck?" shi asked.

"The current holodeck came after our next stop. I just did a little reading."

"Replicators, for diapers and such?"

"Those were added after Stormy and Moonglow joined us."

Shadowcrest frowned. "If you never had replicators before, how did Chase and the others have ‘Alternate Thursdays’?"

Neal sighed. "Finally noticed that did you? Well, that’s a tale in itself." With everyone looking at him expectantly, Neal snorted. "When I was gathering parts for the colonies, I bought a few dozen replicators. They were in case they had to whip up drugs or parts in a hurry. When we went to install them, we found the company I got them from had sold me mostly junk. I was able to sometimes take two or three of them to make one working replicator, but that left them short. Since I wasn’t planning on coming back for five years, I ended up tearing every replicator out of the Folly to make up for the junk ones. When I returned, the company in question wouldn’t replace or refund what I brought back, so I don’t do business with them any more."

LongReach smiled. "Neal has a tendency to let others know when he no longer allows particular companies to ship cargo on the Folly. We can then fill the vacuum, or we can follow his lead."

"Does Neal tell you what to do?" Nashene asked curiously.

LongReach shook his head. "Not really. But we do know we could lose the benefits he provides by helping someone he’s seriously displeased with."

"Do you think he would try to run you out of business again?" Shortdash asked.

"No. But we would miss the cargo trading and fuel he always seems to have available."

Up to this point, Weaver had been quietly sharing a big breakfast with LongSock. LongReach’s last comment caused her to pause, her next bite halfway to her open mouth. LongSock was about to ask her if something was wrong, when she dropped her food with a growl. To the surprise of those new to the Folly, and to the amusement of those that called her home, Weaver rushed Neal. Dragging him to the floor, she pinned him down with her lower torso. She tried to keep his wrists pinned with her paws as she growled, "That’s what’s missing from your damn books! They show what cargo you buy and sell, but they never show you buying or selling fuel!"

Neal struggled to free his hands as he called, "Stormy! Tickle Weaver! Starblazer, tickle attack mommy!"

Having played this game before, the little ones quickly started climbing all over Weaver. While they weren’t all that good at tickling, they were distracting. When Weaver tried to twist away from paws that were getting a little too close to her ticklish sides, Neal got a hand free. The battle was turned as the three of them soon had Weaver helplessly laughing, still feebly trying to fight off their attacks.

The little ones quit jumping on Weaver as Neal rolled over to hold her in a hug. After she stopped shaking, he grinned and said, "And I thought you didn’t want any horse-play at the table. Or is it that you’re still feeling frisky after last night?"

"The truth," she whispered.

"After breakfast," Neal replied. At her dirty look he added, "My word."

As they got up, LongReach asked, "Did I say something I shouldn’t have?"

Neal grinned as he watched Weaver dig into her meal with a vengeance. "No, you just gave her the last piece she needed for a puzzle she’s been chewing on for a while. While we’re on the subject, what is your fuel status?"

"Under an eight part, which was another reason to want to meet up with you."

"Good, that much less to unload before we can start on your upgrade."

Weaver stuffed a last roll in her muzzle, and pointed at Neal. Neal shook his head at her. "After everyone is done with breakfast, o impatient mate of mine."

With Weaver glaring at those still eating, the others finished quickly. A couple of the kids started clearing the dishes, but Stew stopped them. "That can wait," she told them as she herded them towards the door, and the lounge Neal was leading the others to. "This should be interesting," she whispered with a grin.

With everyone comfortable, Neal turned to Weaver. "You had a question?"

Still glaring at him, she said, "Your records don’t show you ever loading or unloading anti-matter. But, I know you topped off the Pegasus and the other ships. From what LongReach was saying, you refuel him and your other friends. Where, or who, are you getting your fuel from? How are you paying for it?"

Neal smiled. "Yesterday, I caused you to believe I knew a deity. Could I convince you today of the existence of the anti-matter fairy?" At Weaver’s angry growl, he chuckled. "I guess not." Holding up a hand, he surrendered. "Third method. I have my own supply."

"How?" she demanded.

"As you know, the main way we have to get anti-matter is to make it. The Federation has a few out of the way stars where they make antimatter; it’s a time and power hungry process. A few stars away from my colonies, I set up a station to make a supply for the colonies’ use as well as to keep the Folly moving. There is also enough excess that I can keep most of my friends going as well."

Quickwind started to ask something, only to be elbowed by hir mate. Neal shook his head as he smiled at the pair. "Ask, and yes, I already know you’re both Star Corps." As they turned towards their daughter, Neal added, "No, shi didn’t tell me. I had Tess build up a detailed profile on each of my adopted kids and their parents. That’s how I knew when LongSock’s assignment would end."

Quickwind glanced back to hir mate for a moment, then shi asked, "Why haven’t you told the Federation about your station? We could use an extra source."

"It is well out of Federation space, so you or Star Fleet would have problems laying any claims to it. And indirectly, the Federation is using it as an extra source." At their looks of confusion, he shook his head. "As Weaver pointed out, I didn’t record the fuel transfers to the Star Fleet ships, but I did lighten the load on the Federation’s anti-matter demands. The same could be said of every ship I keep fueled, that much less of a burden to the Federation’s supply, but the cargo still gets where it needs to be."

"And the cruise lines?" Shortdash asked.

"Twofold," Neal said. "A couple of my wayward children are making a very nice living by refitting ships with engine and warp core upgrades. Since they use the same methods I do, they are producing a faster ship that uses less fuel. As for the service you received, the captains of ships we refuel all have communicators like the one I gave LongSock. Among other things, it lets them know that they are dealing with someone that has my support. While a few have abused that support, most do not want to lose it. That means that even competitors will sometimes work together, neither wants to be the one to tell their company that they got on my bad side."

Shortdash stared. "You would retaliate? How?"

"Depending on what who had done to whom, it could be as simple as telling their bosses that I can’t work with that person. If it’s bad enough, I could boycott the company."

Shortdash shook hir head as shi said, "I can’t see a large corporation caring if you boycotted them."

"If my friends and family agreed with my reason for the boycott, that could mean over thirty cargo ships refusing their cargo. Throw in paying more for fuel if I’ve been cutting them a deal, and even a large corporation will see a dip in their bottom line."

"Why are you doing this?" Weaver asked, slowly shaking her head.

"Doing what?" Neal asked, a small smile forming on his lips.

Weaver waved her arms over her head. "Any of this! You have more power than any one man could possibly need, but you’re still acting and claiming that you are just a damn freighter captain!!!" she looked down, still shaking her head in confusion.

Neal got up, and sat down in front of her. A finger stopped her head shaking, as he raised her head so she would meet his eyes. "A damn freighter captain is just what I need to appear to be right now. I have colonies to quietly support. I do not need someone wondering why I am buying something. If I buy five hundred replicators, do I intend to sell them to Star Fleet? No one knows but me. If it were general knowledge that I had money to burn, I would have everybody and their kid brother trying to con me out of it." Neal pulled her into a hug. More softly he continued, "That was part of why I became such a grumpy old man. It seemed every person I saw wanted a handout, anyone saying they wanted to be friends seemed to have an ulterior motive. So, I crawled into my half-crazy, cranky freighter captain persona. The only ones I felt I could trust were the ones that didn’t know I could be of any use to them."

Neal tightened his hug around her for a moment, before continuing, "And then a demented deity with a warped sense of humor decides to blind the sensors that Tess uses to warn me of things that shouldn’t be. There I was, thinking I had just one more dull loop around the Federation before I could go see how my friends are doing on the colonies. But no, what do I find? A dozen furry stowaways! I just get them fed and what appears, but three more brats, not to mention one damaged, pregnant adult."

"Why did you care for them and keep them?" LongSock quietly asked.

Neal looked over at Shadowcrest. Shi was sitting near, but not with anyone. "The same sensitivity that let me save Stormy, also means I sometimes can’t not help. And as I told our mate only yesterday, if things hadn’t happened the way they did, most of the people in this room would not be here."

Shortdash snorted. "We’d all be home."

"No," Mike said from where he sat with CalmMeadow and Nova, helping them keep the little ones quiet. "We would most likely all be dead. If our dozen had picked the right carrier, our last act would have been trying to breath pure nitrogen. Nova and the little ones were trapped on a station, unable to safely get food or water. Our Rakshani friends were being starved in slave cages. Your daughter was locked in that carrier. There’s no telling if they would have been found before they suffocated if they had ended up on a different freighter."

"There, but for the grace of ‘a demented deity’, go I," Shadowcrest said with a small smile.

Neal snorted softly. "I knew I should have kept you out of the old stuff," he said as the twins giggled at their big sister.

"Why haven’t Star Fleet or Star Corps noticed you not charging them for anti-matter?" Quickwind wondered aloud.

"Oh, I always send them a bill," Neal said with a smile. "But there will be a couple of errors on it. So they send it back, I correct one thing, but screw up another. After it’s bounced back and forth a few times, I ‘forget’ to send it back. They have it in pending and think that I am just a bad bookkeeper. And like Weaver just proved, the best way to hide something, is to not make an official record of it."

"So how often do you have to go out and refuel?" Shortdash asked.

"I don’t. I have a dozen modified Zulus transport it to a couple of out-of-the-way places."

"A modified Zulu?" shi asked, reminding Neal that this was hir first day on the Folly.

Neal clapped his hands once. "Twins," he said, changing the subject. When they turned to look at him, he said, "Your chores for today will be orientation and safety. Your parents need to be brought up to speed with how and why the Folly does things. Zhanch, I’ll leave Jackton and your parents to you. Shadowcrest, ScreamingWind will be your chore when I’m done with her." Looking for questioning looks Neal said, "If that’s it, I think it’s time to get to work."

As they began filing out of the lounge, Neal caught ScreamingWind’s eye. "You’re with me," he told her as he led her to his dayroom.

As Neal selected her tests, ScreamingWind looked around Neal’s dayroom. Spotting a long coat hanging by the door, she reached up and pulled it off its hook. The hook was made from a piece of badly corroded pipe; the pipe was covered in a resin to keep it from crumbling any further. "Was that from the Good Deal?" she asked. At Neal’s nod, she asked, "Why?"

"It reminds me that you can find friends under the strangest of circumstances, and some of which can be trusted to hold your coat," Neal said. "And I will tell you, there are very few indeed that I trust that much."

ScreamingWind smiled. "My mother still has that long coat you carried her in. She takes it out sometimes, just to smell it. A few times when one of us kids were scared of something, she would wrap us in it, and tell us that that was what you did when she had been cold and frightened."

Neal snorted softly. "Did she also tell you that I was the thing that caused her to be cold and frightened?"

"Yes," she said with a small grin and a nod. "She admitted that she had made you mad at her and she was afraid that you wouldn’t forgive her. I’m glad you did."

Neal grinned at that. "Ready for your tests?" he asked.

"I think so, Holly told me not to try to study, that it would throw off your tests."

"These tests are to see not just what you know, but how you think, I’m not interested in what you may have memorized. Take your time, please skip the ones that you don’t know or don’t understand, WAGs will only throw off my evaluation."

"What’s a WAG?"

"Wild Assed Guess. Any other questions?"

At her headshake, Neal indicated that she was to sit at his desk. "Just tell Tess when you’re ready to begin," he said as he left the room, the door closing silently behind him.


Shadowcrest found Neal in the lounge just before dinner. He had spent most of the day tearing though the Good Deal, checking over the equipment they wanted modified and installed, as well as planning what would fit where. Instead of sitting in his favorite recliner, he was sitting on a pad on the floor, his torso supported by a padded board that kept his back straight. His arms were up, fingers interlaced on his head, as if he were trying to keep his head from falling off.

Shi quietly padded in, and slid one of the taur sized cushions next to him. Sitting down, shi smiled. "What is this I hear that you were trying to twist your back like only a chakat can?"

He cracked one eye and looked at hir without moving his head. "Go ’way," Neal muttered, closing his eye. "Those Rakshani torturers have already broken what was left of my back."

"Your sickbay can’t help? Like you did with Weaver?"

"All I really did to Weaver was spot weld her bones in place, and close the skin. It still took time for the muscle damage to heal. One of the healing pads I used on her is under this board. It just takes a few hours to do its work. Unfortunately that means I’m grounded for the rest of the day."

"And you hate being grounded when there are toys to play with, especially some one else’s toys," shi said with a smile.

"You know me too well. I can’t even stupid-vise; the pills I took had me seeing double for a while," he said with a groan.

Giving him a gentle nuzzle shi said, "Don’t worry about it, we have everything under control."

"How is ScreamingWind holding up?"

"Very nicely. After lunch I gave her her ship orientation. From what she said, the Good Deal has a lot of the same rules in place."

"If you’re trying to survive in space, some things are universal."

"True. But that doesn’t explain them having the exact same type of lifeboats, including your modifications!"

"They are friends of mine. If they need to use a lifeboat, I want them to have the best that I can provide."

"She also noticed that you’re holding three of your cores at idle."

"After Charlie’s little incident, I don’t feel safe just sitting dead at any port. Folly needs at least three cores at the ready, just in case we need to move quickly or raise shields."

"I feel a second method there, what aren’t you saying, father?"

"You kids are getting too dang good at that. Thank god Weaver’s not a chakat!"

"Sorry father, but evasion isn’t going to work either."

Neal sighed. "I tried to get in touch with Stormy’s grandmother earlier. I called Raynor Inc. but every time I tried to ask for Snowfall, I was transferred to a jerk named Stalk. He informed me that I would be working for him when I got back. When I told him I don’t and won’t work for an idiot like him, he promised that from now on they would be playing ‘hardball’. I hung up on him after suggesting he not forget to wear his cup." Neal sighed again. "I tried Snowfall’s home number, the call would start to go though, but then it would disconnect."

"And you think it is part of their ‘hardball’?"

"As Tess will sometimes tell you, ‘insufficient data’."

"And you don’t like not knowing what’s going on."

"That too."

"How well do you know hir?"

"Well enough that we often play jokes and tricks on each other," Neal said, smiling.

"What’s the worst thing you ever did to hir?" shi asked with a grin.

"Shi would probably say it was the cherry jello." At hir look of confusion, he smiled. "I just gave hir a little black cherry jello for having swapped my drink at lunch one day," Neal said, trying to sound innocent.

"And now you get to the part where you explain why shi wouldn’t have liked it."

"I just gave hir a taur sized tub of it. You know, a taur sized bath tub." As shi continued to stare at him, he added with a chuckle, "Think of the cleanup. Shi’s a white-on-white tiger stripe. If shi got any of it on hir fur, shi would have been lovely shades of pink. Since we were still on speaking terms afterwards, I have to assume shi didn’t fall in," he chuckled, only to groan when it reminded him of why he was sitting on the floor.

Shi grinned. "That’s why Stew removed some of the desserts before you let Kernos make his selection! Because they would stain fur."

Neal carefully nodded. "She had both blue and green gunk. Imagine Zhane and son, showing up on earth with a lovely green tint to their furs. Somehow I don’t think Boyce would have been pleased with me."

"You’re right, smelling faintly of lemon was much better," shi said with a chuckle.

The door opened and Firestorm and Starblazer raced in. Stormy made to jump on Neal, only to stop just before leaping. Star had been coming in a little slower, but she still bowled the seven-month-old chakat over in their sudden stop.

While Shadowcrest laughed at the little ones’ antics, Neal carefully lowered his arms so he could stroke the wiggling pile of fur that now lay against his thigh.

Still snickering, shi said, "Star’s six months older, but Stormy always seems to be the one in charge."

Neal smiled. "She slows hir down every now and then." To someone just looking in, it would look like the little ones were play-fighting, but if they watched for a minute, they would see that the cubs were also taking turns being petted by Neal. Every time his hand came down to stroke them, it was on a different back.

"Your friend said they were like fire and water," shi reminded him.

"They are," he agreed. "She sometimes banks Stormy’s fire when shi overdoes it. Did you get the other reference?" at hir headshake he smiled. "What happens when you put fire to water?"

"Steam."

"And if it’s in a sealed container?"

"Pressure."

"I saw DarkStreak retaliate a little too strongly for one of Stormy’s surprise pounces. Before I could move or say anything, Star was across the room and all over DarkStreak."

"So that’s why shi is so careful around them."

"Size or age does not always a pecking order make."

"Is that why the twins are in charge of getting Gulf built?" shi asked with a smile.

"Partially. The rest of you weren’t all that keen on putting her together until Sparks and hir friends made it look like fun. Between Sparks’ willingness to work under them, and since they have yet to do anything that would give me cause to pull them, what choice do I have?"

"I’m not complaining, but Quickdash's parents are all over hir about it."

"How is shi taking it?"

Shadowcrest grinned. "With Weaver occupied with LongSock, Holly has been helping her twin double team hir parents. When Shortdash tried to tell hir something was too dangerous for someone hir age, Quickdash started telling hir sire just what you have been letting them do, with and without your direct supervision. I think it stunned them a little. They went to their room, supposedly to rest."

"They did get up a bit early by their internal clocks, and I’ll bet the twins gave them a little something to think about. How are you holding up?"

"Okay, but I think I’m going to want a snuggle tonight."

Neal snorted softly. "Weaver’s not going to want to let go of LongSock for a while yet. And somehow I think Zhanch will still be keeping Jackton busy. Since my back is going to keep me from getting too energetic, I think your odds for a snuggle are pretty good."

"Yeah, I just have to get there before all your other mates, companions and kids!"

"The ‘not too energetic’ part rules a few of them out for tonight, besides, it’s been a while."

"I remember the first morning, you warned my I might have to share, but how did you know?"

"I didn’t, but you have to remember that you were not the first cute little furball to crawl into bed with me."

Shi cuddled up next to him. "I wasn’t all that small then, and I’m not as little as when I first climbed into your bed."

Neal pulled hir into a gentle hug - all his back would allow. "You do seem a little bigger," he admitted. "Must be the angle I’m at, or maybe those dang pills."

Shi snorted at his teasing. "It is not! Tess, tell him I’m bigger."

"He knows," Tess said quietly, as the cubs were almost asleep. "I informed him when you first came aboard that you would need to be fed more than most of the teens because you were, and are, in your growth spurt. Your scans indicate he will soon have to worry about having yet another sex-crazed chakat onboard."

"Chakats aren’t sex-crazed!" shi hissed.

Neal grinned. "Compared to some of our Rakshani? Not at all. But compared to – let’s say, a Caitian? Sex-crazed doesn’t even begin to describe a chakat at one of hir peaks!"

"Do you really think we’re sex-crazed?"

"For chakats? No. But, you can be a bit of a handful for someone that doesn’t have your drive and stamina."

"That sounded like the voice of experience."

"It was, and it was quite an experience, but not one we are going to talk about at this time."

Hir reply was to lean into his hug a little more. He felt his back twinge, but he ignored it. Some things were worth a little pain.


Dinner was a quiet affair; well as quiet has you can have with four under a year old anyway. Quickdash’s parents ate quietly, watching the little ones race around the eaters until they ran out of energy and climbed under someone’s top to refuel and recharge. Curiosity finally overcame Shortdash.

"Are those real comm badges they’re wearing?" shi asked as Firestorm disappeared under Nova’s top.

"Yes," Neal answered. "Among other things, it helps us keep track of them."

"Don’t they take them off, and leave them behind?"

Neal grinned. "Tess, put hir badge in baby mode." Looking at Shortdash, he said, "Go ahead, treat it as if you were a child."

Shortdash tore hir badge off, only to have it give an angry buzz as shi dropped it on the table. Looking up, shi found all the smaller cubs watching hir. When Shortdash didn’t put hir buzzing badge back on, Starblazer pulled away from Weaver. Walking across the table to Shortdash, she picked the badge up, and placed it on hir chest. The badge then let out a purring sound. Star patted the badge, and then went back to her mother.

Neal was giving hir a wide smile for hir look of surprise. "Now take it off the way you were told to," he suggested.

Using three claw tips, Shortdash held the badge without pulling on it. After five seconds, it released its hold on hir top. Shi set it on the table again, this time it remained quiet.

"Tess, have hir badge respond as if shi is moving away from it."

The badge let out sound like a happy kitten wanting attention. It cried out every few seconds, each time sounding more and more desperate until shi touched the badge. Shortdash placed hir badge back on hir chest, it gave out a purr of happiness and fell silent.

"Does it always buzz when you don’t take it off correctly?" shi asked.

"Only in child mode, and only when you’re here on the Folly. Tearing the badge off, or someone tearing it off for you, puts Tess in a higher alert mode. Think of it as having hit a panic button."

"So they always wear them?"

"They have been taught to take them off for bathing and sleep. If they walk away without them, the doors won’t open. Needless to say, they learned quickly. And, if they’re lost or scared, all they have to do is start tapping on their badge, and Tess will send one of us to get them."

"I’ve noticed that Firestorm is very careful not to bite or scratch you, why is that?"

"As you have been told, shi bonded with me at birth. One part of the bond is shi feels what I feel. So the first time shi sank a claw into my arm, shi felt me feeling the pain. The down side of the bond is if something angers me, shi will be angry as well, but where my years have taught me to control my anger, shi quickly tries to lash out, and not always at the target that I am really angry at."

Nashene frowned. "Is that why you had to catch hir? You were angry at me?"

Neal gave a small snort. "No, that was fear. Even knowing you probably would not strike; even knowing that Tess would protect me if you had tried. My little monkey brain had a momentary flash of panic when something well over twice my mass with sharp teeth and claws was yelling as it bore down on me. While I could steel myself against my fear, shi felt it, and rushed in to protect me. Hopefully, shi will grow out of it."

Nashene was thoughtful for a moment, and then he grinned. "That is why you were able to give hir to me a few minutes later, you had calmed hir down by calming yourself."

"Partially. As I said, my fear was momentary. Convincing hir that nothing needed shredding took a little longer."

"It seems to be a two way street," Moonglow remarked. "You seem to be slowly getting more sensitive. Either that, or you are now able to access your sensitivity better than before."

Shadowcrest laughed. "That might be why Stormy aborted hir pounce in the lounge earlier. I thought I felt a small push of ‘no’ with a hint of pain behind it."

"Could be," Neal acknowledged. "I saw hir coming, and was thinking ‘this is going to hurt’."

"I have a question," Shortdash said with a grin. "Or do I have to best you in a tickle fight?"

"Depends on the question. Ask, and I’ll tell you if there is a price to pay for it," Neal replied with a smile.

"First would be why you and most of your Rakshani ladies seem to be older that you appear to be."

"My transporters have a way to sometimes reset a person to early adulthood. Before you start thinking that this is a great toy that should be shared, there are a couple of negative points to the process. First you may or may not survive it. The only way to know is to try. Second, it takes a lot of power. The transporter is running at full power throughout the process. Where a normal transport, say from here to the surface takes three to five seconds, it took just over ten minutes to process Zhanch. And even if you have enough power for two hundred transports and are willing to take the risk, there’s still one more little catch. I don’t have full control of it."

"So why would you risk it?" shi wondered.

"Both the times I was processed, it was with no warning. I spent the next week or so relearning how to see and move. I can sometimes cause the process to be used on others. Because of the risks and the power requirements, I only do it when they are quite old or otherwise near death in the first place. Even then, the system will sometimes refuse to process someone."

"I can’t see anyone wanting to take those risks," Shortdash replied, frowning.

"Over fifty-two hundred thought it worth the risk, and I thought they were worth the energy and wear on my equipment." Neal smiled as he looked over at Dessa, "I don’t count you, you weren’t given a choice in the matter."

Dessa grinned. "I would have said yes, had I been given the chance."

"At ten minutes per person, it would have taken you over a month for that many," Quickwind said thoughtfully.

"It took almost four months," Neal said with a frown. "The transporters needed parts replaced after every few hundred taurs or so. And I had to cycle to different transporters while recalibrating the systems a few dozen times." At hir look of disbelief he added, "Remember, that is over a million and a half transports worth of wear on those systems."

"And what did you get in return?" Quickwind wondered.

"Five thousand more colonists."

"For colonies you control," shi said, not sure shi liked where this was heading.

"More or less," Neal agreed. "But if they wish to, the colonists have an option to buy me out."

"A fledgling colony could hardly afford to do that!" Shortdash exclaimed.

Neal smiled. "I don’t know about that, both colonies accepted my payment plan."

"Which was?" shi demanded.

"A ten-kilometer square." At hir look of confusion, he chuckled. "A hundred square kilometers of land. Preferably, some wooded hillside, some water running through the property would be nice. They are allowed to use it as a wooded area or park until I retire."

"You’re going to retire?" Holly asked, her eyes wide.

Neal smiled. "No time soon little one, but maybe someday."

Quickdash furrowed hir brow. "But, if you have both of them reserving land for you?"

"I have no idea where I might want to settle down. The one I don’t pick ends up with a nice park."

"You’re not telling us something." Shortdash muttered.

Neal gave hir an evil grin. "There are a lot of things I’m not telling you. You will need to find the right questions, to get any deeper into my schemes."

Weaver growled to the room at large, "Now you know why he drives me crazy! Second method indeed!"

"So, all you have to do is sit on him, to get him to use the third method?" Quickwind asked as shi started to grin.

Neal quickly cut in, "With my back the way it is, I will chose a champion for any battles you wish to lose."

Quickwind’s grin turned evil. "And what makes you think I will lose?"

Neal matched hir grin with one of his own. "Because I will choose the only fur to have bested me. Kestrel, will you take care of my light work for me?"

Kestrel looked up from helping Spitfire get a slice of spice cake. Giving the chakat the same hungry look she had given LongSock the night before, she purred, "Only if I get hir when shi loses."

"That would be up to hir," Neal said, chuckling at the surprised expression on Quickwind’s face. Hearing Shadowcrest snicker, he turned to hir and added, "All things are relative after all."

"Relative to what?" CalmMeadow asked.

"Shadowcrest had asked me earlier if I thought chakats were sex-crazed." Neal turned to smile at Kestrel. "Compared to a certain pregnant Rakshani, chakats aren’t sex-crazed, not at all."

Looking at Kestrel, Shortdash quietly asked, "Joking aside, are you in need?"

Kestrel grinned as she shook her head, "I’m just teasing your mate. Although, if either of you are offering, I would be happy to take you up on it!"

"Bribing my champion does not count as winning," Neal informed them, causing the others to laugh.

"Not a bribe," Shortdash promised, "just some good clean fun."


Neal went to bed that night with Shadowcrest and Suzan, only to wake up with Croix and Satsuma.

Giving the two Rakshani each a hug, Neal chuckled. "Now I know why I dreamed I was shrinking," he said with a laugh.

After breakfast, everyone piled into Alpha for the trip to the surface. With all of his Rakshani leaving to see friends and family, Neal had tasked the older kids with unloading. Meanwhile, he gave LongReach a little OJT on handling Folly’s heavy lift shuttles.

When it came time to let LongReach ‘solo’, Neal had Holly and Quickdash act as his copilot and engineer. To their parents’ looks of surprise, he pointed out that this was just a familiarizing flight. LongReach had been flying shuttles for years, just nothing as big as Neal’s toys. He didn’t mention that he had let the twins land Alpha that morning, Holly had been their co-pilot and Neal had been at the engineering controls. With the cockpit door closed, Quickwind and Shortdash had not realized they were complimenting their daughter when they had commented on how smooth the flight had been.


The next evening, a worried Zhanch tapped on the doorframe to Neal’s dayroom. At his smile, she entered and closed the door. When she left a few minutes later, her look was relieved, while Neal’s was now thoughtful.

Over the next couple days, each of his Rakshani came to him for a private conference. Some looked relieved, while others were still troubled when they left. Dessa was the last to seek a word with Neal.

"I’m leaving Star Fleet," she informed him, after closing the door and asking Tess to prevent remote monitoring.

Neal arched an eyebrow at her as he said, "That is your right of course, but may I ask why?"

"I was contacted by Star Fleet while I was visiting my family. They want me to spy on you!"

Neal nodded. "They have asked all of you then. As far as I know, only Zhanch has taken them up on it. They offered her a commission, so she is now a Lieutenant."

"She’s betraying you?" Dessa growled, a look of shock on her face.

"No. She came to me, just as you did. I just pointed out that one more spy wouldn’t really matter." At Dessa’s look of surprise, he smiled. "You mean you didn’t know Quickdash's parents are two of Star Corps’ top troubleshooters?" At Dessa's headshake, he continued, "My sources had told me that they would be tied up on their current project for another year or two. For them to suddenly be done at the same time as LongSock, suggests the Folly and I have become their latest ‘project’."

"Aren’t you afraid of what Star Fleet or Star Corps might learn?" she asked, looking even more concerned.

Neal came around his desk, and smiled as he pulled her down for a tight hug. "No, they can learn what they like. I’m not doing anything illegal, so there’s no reason for them to try to stop me. Plus, this time I’m not operating alone, so even if I and the Folly do get detained, my plans won’t."

"Will you tell me your plans?"

"You can’t tell what you don’t know," Neal reminded her with a grin. "You will see the clues as they appear, just like everybody else. I think you’ll like it."


The night before the Folly was to depart, they had a party. Of their thirteen Rakshani ladies, only Zhanch, Dessa, Kestrel, and Bonita would be staying with the Folly; the rest would remain on Raksha. Croix and Velasco were going to retire from Star Fleet to start new families. Satsuma and the others would be reporting back to Star Fleet in the following weeks.

One of the gifts brought out by the Rakshani ladies were Rakshani ankle bracelets for everyone. Neal was more than a little surprised to find that Raksha now boasted a newly formed clan with a house name of Foster. As the head of the house, Neal was now Neal ap Edwin na Foster. Stew seemed quite pleased to have become Suzan ap Frank na Foster.

With the party winding down, Neal had helped carry the sleepy cubs to the nursery. Once he was out of earshot, Velasco had asked Quickwind and Shortdash to keep Neal busy on his return. When he did return, they started firing questions at him. Neal stood in the middle of the room grinning as he returned fire; he was using the second method more often than not. With his back to the door, Neal didn’t notice two, now nude Rakshani enter.

Neal was listening to Shortdash’s next question when Velasco pulled him into a tight hug. "Mine!" she cried to the room at large.

Grabbing Neal from behind, Croix also cried, "Mine!"

Shifting her grip to Croix, Velasco asked, "Ours?"

Shifting her grip as well, Croix agreed, "Ours!" as they started to squeeze Neal between them.

The two Rakshani then proceeded to drag Neal out of the room, to the laughter of the others. Just before the door closed behind them, one of them was heard murmuring to Neal, "So, you think Rakshani are sex-crazed do you?"


The next morning found Neal dragging himself to breakfast. He was holding his back and limping like an old horse that had been ‘rode hard and put away wet’. Croix and Velasco looked up from their meals as he sat down with a groan.

"See?" Croix told the others with a grin. "We didn’t kill him, just broke him in a little."

Looking a little worried, Velasco asked, "Are you really that sore?"

Neal moaned for effect, but it was ruined by Stormy happily jumping up on him for hir morning nuzzle.

"Faker!" Holly cried out. "Stormy wouldn’t be jumping all over you if shi knew you were hurting!"

Still holding Firestorm, Neal sat up straighter in his chair, and smiled. "Actually, they were quite gentle for such big, playful, ‘sex-crazed’ kittens," he said as he stroked the little chakat.

"Just giving you a night to remember us by," Croix laughed.

"That will be hard night to forget," Neal agreed with a grin.


While the Good Deal left orbit right after breakfast, Neal still had three more cargo pods to move before the Folly could follow them.

A few hours after leaving Raksha orbit, the Folly caught up with the Good Deal. As with the smaller Star Fleet ships, Neal had them park the Good Deal in the forward sphere. Because of the extent of the upgrades, Neal also suggested LongReach and his family move into the Folly’s quarters for the duration.

Once the Good Deal was getting power from the Folly, her core was shut down and her remaining antimatter transferred to the Folly. Quickdash and Holly had joined ScreamingWind in coming up with their ‘plan’ for how the Good Deal’s upgrade should go with the equipment they had on hand. That evening, Neal wasn’t the one that had to be dragged to dinner.

Neal grinned as Dessa and Kestrel led the three into the dinning room. Kestrel was commenting on them trying to pull a Foster and work through dinner.

They had then tried to ‘talk shop’ until Weaver had threatened to gag them.

Not two minutes later, Neal almost choked on a mouthful of tea. Holly had snuck in a data pad, which they were now trying to use without being noticed.

Looking over at his growling mate, Neal chuckled. "Let them get it out of their systems, love," he told Weaver. "You should know by now how hard the muse can ride a person."

Weaver glared at him, but she did stop glaring at the kids. The three of them did eat, but they jabbered more than they ate. The ice cream on their cakes had melted long before they realized that their chocolate cake actually tasted like banana bread.

A little later, Neal entered the holodeck to check on their progress. As he entered, he snorted in amusement. Someone had added a viewing room so they could watch the kids without distracting them. LongSock and Weaver seemed to be doing more necking than watching. LongReach and SharpTongue simply watched as their daughter used what she had learned so far to try to keep up with the twins. Quickwind and Shortdash’s expressions suggested they were having trouble believing what their daughter had learned while on the Folly.

Neal listened to the kids for a few minutes. They seemed to be done with their main design, and were now picking over the finer details. Giving his mate and companion both a wink and a quick squeeze, Neal quietly opened the door to join the kids in the engineering mockup.

As Neal sat down to listen to the kids’ ideas, Shortdash turned to Weaver. "What did he mean earlier about you knowing how hard the muse could ride a person?" shi asked.

Weaver snorted. "Knowing Neal, you may get a demonstration tonight. When he gets into something interesting he can work on it for hours - sometimes days, trying to turn a problem into a neat little solution."

"Days?" Shortdash laughed, "For most people, furs or humans, productivity starts dropping after a double shift with no breaks."

"Oh, he will slow down every so often," Weaver agreed, "But then he gets a second wind, and starts charging forward again. His longest ‘muse attack’ since we joined him has been fifty-two hours." At Shortdash’s look of surprise she added, "He was chasing down a few problems in the containment field software he uses in his latest Zulus. As he explained it to me afterwards, the containment field would distort when the warp field first came up. The software was not compensating fast enough. He lost three of them before he had enough data to understand the problem."

Before Shortdash could ask another question, voices were being raised in the mockup.

"We reinforce it with Boronike! That’s how we get that much power out of it," Holly huffed, while giving Neal a dirty look.

Neal looked thoughtful. "Well, yes. Reinforcing the major load areas with Boronike would let you get more power out of it, but Boronike wasn’t on their list of upgrade components," he added with a raised eyebrow.

Quickdash spoke up, "I was going to let them have some of mine," shi said quietly, not meeting Neal’s eye.

Neal shook his head slowly. "I know Weaver has already told Holly that she can’t spend hers on whatever she wants, what do you think your parents would say?"

"They don’t need to know," Quickdash said at almost a whisper.

Neal chuckled. "Do you really think you could keep those two from getting wind of it?"

A startled Shortdash had opened hir mouth, only to be shushed by Weaver as Neal continued talking to Quickdash.

"I’ve gone though what Tess could find out on your parents. From what I read, I wouldn’t be surprised if we could find more than a few pure bloodhound genes in their make up. They seem to able to come up with the right answers with very few clues." Neal snorted softly, before he continued, "I know Weaver told Holly that she can’t touch her Boronike, what do you think Shortdash will say when shi finds out you’re giving it to your new friend?"

"It’s not that much," shi mumbled.

"For that one component, no," Neal agreed. "But if you are going to have that much power coming down the line, will the flow control handle it? What about the buffer?" Neal chuckled. "You three remind me of a couple guys I knew a long time ago. They wanted to ‘soup up’ an old internal combustion vehicle. They dropped a bigger engine into it. The first time they tried to use the extra power, the clutch plate came apart from excessive torque. They upgraded that, only to blow the transmission. After many false starts, they ended up replacing the entire drive train. That is about what you three are going to have to do, upgrade the whole thing to handle what you’re adding."

"So it’s a bad idea?" Holly asked, sounding hurt.

"No, little one. Not a bad idea, just one that you have to think all the way through. Like flying, you don’t just jump in and take-off, you have to plan for the landing before you ever start the craft." Neal glanced at the clock and smiled. "It’s getting late, why don’t you call it a day. I’ll go over the numbers and tell you what I think in the morning. Okay?"

In the viewing room, Weaver jumped up. "Quick! Follow me!" she said as she half dragged LongSock towards the door. They all rushed out and hurried down the corridors until they reached Weaver’s room.

Shortdash cocked hir head at Weaver. "What was that all about?" shi asked, as the door slid shut.

Weaver grinned. "They were about to come out, and I didn’t want to appear to be too nosy of a mother, what about you?"

"Point taken," Shortdash agreed with a nod. "But now that we are clear, what did he mean to insinuate that Quickdash owns a quantity of Boronike?"

Weaver snorted softly as she replied, "Just what he said, shi owns a standard transport carrier worth of Boronike. He received a rather large amount of it and has ‘shared the wealth’ with the rest of us."

"Just how did he receive this Boronike?"

"He seems to have been refusing a payment that others thought needed to be paid. When the kids made a delivery, Neal wasn’t there to tell them not to accept the payment."

"Just how much Boronike are we talking about?"

"Three hundred carriers worth."

"And he just gave it to the kids?"

"And to his mates and companions as well, two carriers each. He called it a ‘windfall’ gift." Looking over at a now very nervous SharpTongue, Weaver smiled, "Didn’t he tell you about it when he accepted you as a companion?"

SharpTongue simply shook her head as her mate held her in a tight embrace. "But, I…" she stammered.

"Didn’t think of the dangers of having such a crazy companion?" Weaver asked with a grin.

"Does he always bribe people to like him?" Shortdash asked with a frown.

Weaver returned hir frown with a glare of her own. "I was the only one Neal asked to be his denmate, and that was to help with the kids. He offered to adopt Shadowcrest and Quickdash, the rest, including my daughter, asked to be adopted. As far as his other denmates, mates and companions, they asked him. Actually, we trapped him for Suzan and Moonglow, then blindsided him with his Rakshani companions. No wealth was ever offered or asked for."

Slightly taken aback by Weaver’s irritated tone of voice, Shortdash chose hir next words more carefully. "I apologize, I didn’t mean to say it quite the way it came out. But you will have to admit, from the outside it looks a bit like he’s bought himself a harem."

With her glare back up to full strength, Weaver hissed, "As for running a harem, unless asked to do otherwise, Neal sleeps in his own bed. No one is forced to join him there. In fact, I had to ask him to join me when I went into heat, he didn’t presume that he would be automatically welcomed." A little less heated, Weaver continued, "He also pays us all for doing tasks. The kids get paid for getting good grades on their tests, as well as for working on the Folly or sitting watches. Suzan gets paid to cook; Moonglow was taken on as a wet nurse and nanny for Firestorm. I’m paid to help manage everyone, so Neal can have a few minutes in his day to actually move freight from one star to the next."

Shortdash snorted softly. "All of which he wouldn’t need to do if he had just taken you home when he found you."

"From what I’ve been able to find, it looks like he had timed his departure to annoy someone. Going back may have caused him other problems. And he did offer to drop off anyone that wanted to leave."

"That’s enough," LongSock stated, "You have your answers. Stop badgering her." At Weaver’s look of confusion he said more softly, "They were testing you, dear. They are here to try and dig up all of the Folly’s little secrets, and you and the kids are a major puzzle to them."

"I tried to tell Neal that our first night, but it seemed he already knew," SharpTongue quietly said.

"Why didn’t he warn me?" Weaver wondered, feeling a little betrayed.

"Because we would have felt your prior knowledge just now," Quickwind murmured. "By not telling you, Neal made sure that we would know what your true feelings for him were."

"And now?" Weaver asked, still a little annoyed.

"We can safely tell our superiors that Neal is not forcing or bribing anyone to stay," Shortdash replied, "We don’t like giving new friends the third degree, but in our line of work we’re sometimes not given much of a choice in the matter."

"And why do you need to spy on him?" Weaver demanded. "Do you suspect him of something?"

"Sometimes strange things happen when this ship appears. Most often it’s pirates disappearing before Star Fleet can take care of them. We don’t mind that, other than the minor fact that this is supposedly an unarmed ship."

Weaver laughed in spite of herself. "As the sneakier of my two mates would say, ‘define armed’."

"An armed ship is one with weapons." Shortdash replied with a raised eyebrow.

"So now you have to define ‘weapons’." Weaver said, her smile getting bigger.

"A weapon is something used to damage something else."

"So a phaser bank would be a weapon."

"Of course." Shortdash agreed, wondering where this was leading.

"Even if it’s on a mining station and set up to slice rocks?"

Shortdash sighed. "Granted, some weapons can have peaceful uses."

"And some peaceful things can be used as weapons," Weaver said with a smirk.

"Explain," Shortdash asked, with a raised eyebrow.

Weaver smiled. "You figure it out. Neal was saying something about you two being part bloodhound, you tell me. I’m sure your orientation gave you more than a few clues, and the open portions of Neal’s records should give you plenty to chew on."

LongSock also smiled. "Why don’t you think it over tonight? In the morning we can see if you’re half as clever as you think."


The next morning, Neal was the late one to breakfast. He had showered and changed before joining them, but it was obvious that he hadn’t slept that night. To Weaver’s knowing grin, he just gave her a tired smile and nod of acknowledgment.

Quickwind also grinned at Weaver. "You didn’t tell us that the local muse jumps from person to person to get the task completed."

Shortdash snorted. "It looks more like there was a muse on each of the kids, and all three of them jumped to Neal when they left."

"Close," Neal admitted. "My original plans didn’t have us with a ready supply of Boronike. While it is normally reserved for transporters and replicators due to it being hard to get, it has other uses. Once I started figuring out where the Good Deal could use it, ideas for upgrades on the Folly and a few other things came to mind." Shaking his head, Neal chuckled. "It just sort of snowballed from there."

Weaver grinned. "Well, while you were playing, we challenged our Star Corps friends to figure out what you are up to with what they have seen so far."

Neal gave a soft snort. "You should have included Zhanch. That way we could get Star Fleet’s side of it as well."

Zhanch smiled at Shortdash. "Want to go first?" she asked.

Shortdash nodded. "We won’t bother going into the dual uses of your Zulus; that was amply demonstrated when Charlie beat off those pirates. We did notice that the two spheres that make up the forward section of the Folly are detachable. We also noticed some of the cargo you have onboard suggests you’re getting ready to start another colony."

Zhanch spoke up next, "The configurations of the spheres suggest a ready-made, mobile spaceport. The spaceport would have thirteen docking ports, eight of them protected. The forward sphere could be used to hold a small fleet as we have already seen, or for a dry-dock to build or repair small to medium sized ships as you are preparing to do with the Good Deal."

Quickwind nodded. "With three of the Folly’s eight warp cores and the impulse engines you have on them, the spheres would be able to freely roam a solar system. Throw in a few dozen of your Zulus and you could control, or protect a system."

Neal snorted. "I have no need to control a system, other than to protect those in it."

Dessa frowned. "Did you lie to Boyce when you told us you were going from supporting three colonies to just two?"

Giving them all a grin, Neal laughed. "That was just the second method in action." To Dessa’s hurt look he added, "I never said the two after were any of the three before, now did I?"

"So, you are setting up two more colonies?" Shortdash asked.

"Yes, I am setting up two more colonies," Neal agreed.

Weaver snorted out a laugh. "Even I could smell that second method! What else are you up to?"

Shortdash had noticed SharpTongue lean a little more into LongReach’s hug. Shi snorted as shi said, "Whatever it is, he needs help to pull it off." Looking at Neal, shi asked, "How many others are helping you with your next colonization push?"

Neal let out a quiet sigh. "Like the first time, I planned something little. To get it done, I had to let a few friends in on it. They liked the base idea, but wanted a little more. That led to a few more knowing what I was up to. By the time things had stabilized, we were up to four more colonies. Two of which, are to be set up and supported without my assistance."

"Are you laying any claim to them?" Zhanch asked.

"Other than discovering them, and a little prep work? No. Though they had offered payment, I said no. When they insisted, I gave them my request of the ten square kilometers, as I did the other colonies."

"Why are you doing this?" Shortdash demanded.

Neal shrugged. "Why not? As Weaver has pointed out, I now have more wealth than I could ever need." He snorted softly. "While I have known some that considered wealth as a way of keeping score, for me it has usually been more along the lines of ‘what can I do with it?’ It started with building up my ship. As I gathered the needed credits and knowledge, I slowly put my profits into upgrades for the Pogo Stick. More power and tweaked engines meant better speed, so I could meet deadlines better than before. Once I gained a reputation for always getting things delivered on time, business improved to the point that I didn’t have enough cargo space. A little more system tweaking let me double the number of pods I could carry with just a minor reduction in speed. I had a few baby Zulus by then, though they were nowhere near what I use now."

Looking at Zhanch, Neal shook his head. "And then I ran into a pair of pirates just outside of the Rakshani system. They had either been running silent, or had some basic stealth systems, because the first warning I had was when they fired their phasers. What shields I had were down and they cut though my debris screens like they didn’t exist. Their first shots took out my transporter and warp engines. I was badly burned when a power conduit blew during the fight. With nothing else to use, I rammed my few scouts into them. I then somehow managed to patch enough of the Pogo Stick together to limp into Raksha orbit."

"This was before you were processed the first time, wasn’t it?" Shadowcrest asked.

"Yes," Neal agreed. "I was well past middle age and had been thinking that a few more runs would be enough to retire on. Instead I ended up badly burned, in a ship that was badly damaged, circling a planet of oversized cats that weren’t to happy with humans or the Federation at the time.

"When was this?" Dessa asked.

"Not long after the signing of the treaty between the Rakshani and the Federation. Needless to say, they weren’t the most friendly group I had ever met."

"Tess’s records don’t have that. They seem to start sometime after you left Raksha," Weaver added.

Neal nodded. "Her databases were badly scrambled by the surges and fluctuating power during and after the attack. The data isn’t reliable until about a month after she processed me."

"How did you get your hands on a transporter? They had just been perfected to transport living beings about then," Shortdash wondered.

Neal snorted. "What I had at the time was really just an oversized point-to-point replicator, with something to capture the mind matrix tacked on. I was still testing it and hadn’t gotten to the level of trying living things yet. I was just trying to get it up enough to help move things that I could no longer handle. After a couple of tests, I had called it a night. The next thing I knew, I was in my little sickbay, a breathing tube down my throat. I was gagging on the tube, but I didn’t have the muscle control to remove it."

"Risky," shi muttered.

"And unplanned on my part." Neal agreed. "I was trying to get enough of the systems back up to get me to Earth and better medical treatments for my injuries. To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t sure I would survive the journey."

"You never did say what happened on Raksha," Weaver reminded him.

"Partly because I only remember bits and pieces of it. I do remember trying to argue with one of them, or maybe several of them, about transporting some of my cargo to a nearby system for me. They were being cunning little Rakshani, and trying to change the deal I was offering to one that would give them ownership of what was left of my ship."

Zhanch grinned. "We didn’t earn a reputation for being crafty by being nice to helpless little humans," she said with a chuckle.

Neal chuckled as well, as he said, "But even Rakshani have their limits which, when met, they won’t cross. I had all but given up on getting any help, when a child came up to me. She was carrying a small meat pie, which she offered to me. After what the adult Rakshani had put me though, I must have asked her half a dozen times what she wanted in exchange. Each time she said it was a gift. I finally took it after thanking her. I can’t tell you what type of meat it was, but it seemed to have been soaked in their version of brown sugar."

Dessa nodded. "There are several meats that are treated that way, it helps mellow their taste."

"Well the sugar gave me a little more energy to work with. And it was after I accepted her treat that things began to change. A Rakshani bigger than Zhanch's father came up and offered to take the cargo that I was trying to get moved. He made me more than a little suspicious when he offered to do it for less than I had been offering." Neal shook his head. "I don’t know why, but I gave him the access codes he would need to safely board the Pogo Stick. No sooner had he left, than another Rakshani male stepped up to me. This one was much thinner, and claimed to be a doctor. It took me a while to understand what he wanted. He was teaching his students how to care for burn victims, and he wanted to use me as a practice dummy. Once again, I don’t know why, but I let him drag me to his transport."

Dessa smiled softly. "The traveler deity may have been helping you and the others decide what to do. As her new ride, she now had a vested interest in your safety and well being."

Neal nodded. "True, but I didn’t know about her at the time. All I knew was that things had gone from bad to seemingly good for no apparent reason. A good reason to stay alert, so the first thing the doctor does is give me something for the pain." Neal snorted. "I woke up three days later; he had overestimated my mass and my tolerance for his drugs."

"Do you think he did it to you on purpose?" Shortdash wondered.

"As pleased as he seemed to be when I woke up, I would have to guess no," Neal replied.

Quickwind summed it up with, "So they patched you up, and then you patched up the Pogo Stick and got processed when you got your hacked together transporter working."

Neal nodded. "More or less, yes," he said as he finished his breakfast.

Zhanch grinned. "I think most of us have been avoiding one question." At Neal’s raised eyebrow, she chuckled. "Why Pogo Stick? Why Folly? Other than to confuse people I mean."

Neal shrugged. "Folly came about because that’s what friend and foe alike told me adding a sphere to the front of the Pogo Stick was, sheer folly." Neal grinned. "So I added two. As for Pogo Stick, that’s what a double length pod carrier looks like. One long, thick pole, with the two booms sticking out like footrests. I guess I could have named her ‘the Flying Corncob’, but I think that name was already taken."

Suzan had been coming out of the kitchen as Neal was speaking. As the rest of them laughed at his alternate name, she said, "That does it! When your jokes start getting that bad, it’s past your bedtime. SharpTongue, would you like to help me put him to bed?" she asked with hint of a grin.

Moonglow hooted, as they dragged Neal from the room, "I noticed you didn’t say anything about him getting any sleep!"

Weaver watched as Shortdash and Quickwind exchange glances before they looked at her and nodded. She returned their nod before returning her attention to LongSock.


A few days later saw the Folly orbiting Bifrost, an inhabitable world currently in the middle of a minor ice age. The settlement was there to dig up information on a civilization that had once existed there. At Shortdash’s request, Neal held the Folly in orbit long enough for them to send messages and wait for replies on the FTL relay stationed there.

After a few hours, Shortdash and Zhanch both received their replies from Star Corps and Star Fleet.

As the Folly left the system, Shortdash entered Neal’s dayroom.

Closing the door, shi turned to Neal. "My mate and I may soon be out of your hair, Captain," shi said as shi settled on the taur pad next to his desk.

"Why so formal?" Neal asked with a raised eyebrow.

Shortdash smiled. "I’ve noticed that you have the others addressing you depending on what they want you for, father, mate, companion or captain. It’s the captain I need to speak with now." At Neal’s nod, shi continued, "Our supervisors didn’t seem to be very impressed by our report, and have decided we could be better utilized elsewhere."

"Did they say where they wanted you next, and how much of a rush they were in?" Neal asked, as he brought up the Folly’s flight plan.

"They want us on Karpiak, ASAP," shi replied. "I can’t tell you why."

"Understood, they can’t have just anyone knowing that something in nearby space is scaring the hell out of the locals." At hir dirty look, Neal chuckled. "No, Tess wasn’t reading your mail. That has been an ongoing problem for at least the last twenty years. My only question would be why they consider it important enough to send the two of you now."

"The three of us. We will be taking Quickdash when we leave."

"Have you told hir yet? Weaver, LongSock and Holly should also be informed."

"We will tell Quickdash when we are ready to depart; this does not concern the others."

"I think you are wrong about that. It does concern them."

"If you are referring to the bond shi has with Holly, they will get over it."

"That bond may be deeper than you realize."

"Are you going to try and keep us from taking our daughter when we depart?"

"No. I’m just saying that you may be so glad to have hir back that you’re missing just how attached shi has become to Holly and the others."

"I think you are the one overreacting Captain."

"That wasn’t just the captain speaking. That was also their adopted father, teacher and friend."

"Nonetheless, we will be leaving the Folly when we get to Terra."

Neal nodded, a troubled look on his face as Shortdash turned to leave.


It was the next day before Quickdash and Holly cornered Neal.

"My parents are up to something," Quickdash told him.

"I know," Neal said.

"Does it have something to do with me?" Holly asked.

"Only indirectly," Neal admitted. "Go get your parents," he told her, "and I will tell you what I can."

Once LongSock and Weaver had joined them, Neal explained, "For reasons I can’t go into, Quickwind and Shortdash have received new assignments. They will be leaving us when we get to Earth." Looking at Quickdash, he added, "Naturally, they want to take you with them."

Clinging to Holly, Quickdash blurted out, "But what about Gulf? Or the Good Deal?"

"Or Holly?" Neal quietly finishing hir unasked question for hir. "I know. I just don’t see any easy solutions."

After sending the kids off with a task to help take their minds off what they had learned, Neal turned to his denmate and co-mate. "I think you will agree that the real problem is separating those two?" as they nodded, Neal said, "Then we can add another option to the list." Weaver refused to meet his eyes, but LongSock looked confused, so Neal explained, "If they insist on taking Quickdash, we can at least request that they take Holly as well."

LongSock looked to Weaver, who slowly nodded her head.


The problem came to a head a few hours later, Quickdash had gone to beg hir sire not to separate hir from Holly, and Shortdash was furious at Neal for having told hir.

"You had no right!" Shortdash growled at Neal, when they met in one of the corridors.

Neal met hir angry stare. "Not just a right, but a responsibility. This affects more than just the three of you."

"We are taking hir with us when we leave!"

"I’m not contesting that. Would you consider taking Holly as well?"

"We won’t have the time to baby-sit!"

"So you won’t have much time for Quickdash either, now will you?" As Shortdash growled, Neal added, "At least together, they could keep each other company."

"NO!" Shortdash snarled as shi stalked off, hir tail twitching wildly.

About to follow hir, Neal stopped when he heard what sounded like a sob. Around the next corner he found Weaver and the twins, Quickdash was quietly crying as shi clung to Holly.

Neal closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh. When he opened them, there was a look of determination in them, along with more than a little annoyance.

"What do we do?" Weaver asked, hugging the two tightly.

"What we have to I’m afraid," Neal replied. Pulling Quickdash out of Weaver and Holly’s grasp, Neal gave hir a hug. "I’m sorry little one," he whispered, "but I can’t fight your parents on this. From now until we get to Earth, I want you to stay with your parents. You will eat and sleep with them. You can only see Holly if they are with you, do you understand?"

Now openly sobbing, Quickdash barely nodded before shi ran after hir sire.

Weaver looked angry, but remained silent.

A tearful Holly asked, "Why are you doing this to us? Can’t we at least be together until we reach Terra?"

Neal knelt and gave her a tight hug. "They won’t listen to me, so shi will have to show them just how much you have grown to need each other. For now, why don’t you go help ScreamingWind on the Good Deal’s upgrade. She’s learned quite a bit already, but she’s nowhere near your level yet."

As Holly left, Weaver frowned. "I don’t like where this is leading," she said.

"Doing this now means we have the option of undoing it. If we wait, the same thing will probably happen, but we won’t have the opportunity to get them back together."

"Sometimes you can be a heartless bastard," she murmured.

"That’s not heartless," Neal said, "this is heartless." Tapping his badge, he said, "Tess, I want you to screen Quickdash from everyone but hir parents whenever possible."

"Understood Captain, but I do so under protest."

"Understood Tess. Do you understand why I’m doing it?" Neal asked.

"So that shi won’t have their support. Mean boss."

"Just as if shi were no longer here," Neal agreed. "Hir parents will be forced to fill hir needs, if they can. If they can’t, hopefully we will find out before the point of no return."


Neal’s answer came in the middle of the night watch. Holly had asked to share Neal’s bed that evening, only to cry herself to sleep in his arms.

Neal had been dozing when the door announcer quietly chimed. He slowly let out a long sigh before nodding his head slightly. Tess caught the motion and opened the door.

Quickwind and Shortdash stood in the doorway, looking more than a little frazzled. Quickdash was behind them, looking ready to collapse.

Sitting up, Neal waved them in. the adult chakats would not meet his eyes as Shortdash quietly whispered, "You win."

Reaching out, Neal lifted hir chin until shi looked up at him. "The only winners here will be the twins, they were the ones with the most to lose if we ‘lost’."

As Shortdash slowly nodded, Neal looked at Quickdash. Shi looked half fearful that they would change their minds again, while the other half was staring at Holly as if it had been years since shi had last seen her.

Neal slid the rest of the way out of bed, and gave hir a hug. "She missed you," he quietly said as he gave hir a gentle push towards the bed.

Quickdash needed no other encouragement; shi quickly climbed into bed and wrapped hirself around Holly, who hugged hir in her sleep.

Slipping in his earplug, Neal then grabbed his glasses and clothes before stepping out into the corridor to get dressed as the older chakats followed him out the door.

Out in the corridor, Shortdash said, "We know what you did."

"Do you know why I did it?" he asked.

"To show me that I was wrong."

"No, only to show you what would happen if you separated them. Yes, they might have gotten over it eventually, but could you two have held out that long?" As shi shook hir head, Neal added, "I wanted you to know what you were getting into before you ran out of options."

"What options?" Quickwind asked.

"Hours out of port, in a ship you can’t turn around, is not the time to find out you might have been wrong about something."

"So, where do we stand?" Shortdash asked, looking worried.

"Pretty much where we were before, hopefully just a little more the wiser," Neal said as he headed down the corridor.

"Where are you going?" shi wondered.

Neal stopped and turned back to them. "Well, I’m in no mood to sleep right now, so I might as well get some work done." He turned and continued heading towards the first sphere.

Quickwind cocked hir head at hir mate. At Shortdash's shrug, they started heading after Neal as Quickwind called out, "Could you use an extra paw?"

***

Weaver was happily surprised to see the twins together at breakfast, seemingly none the worse for wear. Inquiring about Neal, she was told he had worked long into the night and that he was currently asleep. Even more surprising was when Quickdash got the same response when shi asked the whereabouts of hir parents.

Looking first at her mother, and then to her twin, Holly grinned as she asked the question, "Where are they, Tess?"

"Onboard the Good Deal. I don’t have as much access to her as I do the Folly."

Quickdash grinned. "Can we see what their comm badges see please?"

Tess complied. A moment later, the dining area roared with laughter. The view showed that the comm badge had been set on a dresser that had a mirror attached to the back. The mirror was tilted to allow someone to see their entire body by stepping away from the dresser. The tilt was just enough to give the comm badge a good view of the bed. The bed wasn’t quite long enough for taurs, so the two chakats on it were curled up a bit. From between them came a furless arm that had draped itself over Shortdash's upper torso.

Weaver snorted as she shook her head. "Twelve hours ago they were ready to bite his head off."

LongSock chuckled. "Maybe they did, and the arm is all that’s left."

Neal had not taken his earplug out; the laughter Tess had fed it woke him up. LongSock’s wisecrack caused the furless arm to twist palm up. All the fingers curled into a fist. Then the middle finger extended.

"They followed me home, can I keep them?" Shadowcrest asked, as the others laughed.

This time the hand seemed to give a shrug before giving a cut-off wave. The view faded as the arm was seen curling back around Shortdash in a hug.


That night, Shortdash and Quickwind had followed Neal onboard the Good Deal. They were then surprised when he suggested they put on lightweight environmental suits to keep things out of their fur. Once properly attired, Neal had led them into one of the chilly cargo bays. They spent the next few hours running new power and data lines from the bridge conduits out to the hull for the sensor upgrade Neal had decided to add to all the other projects underway.

Neal had been the first to run out of steam, he had sat down ‘for just a moment’ and had fallen asleep in his chair.

After trading tired smirks, Shortdash and Quickwind had carried him to one of the empty bedrooms.

After a late breakfast, Shortdash and Quickwind returned to their room. After creating a short message, Shortdash took it to Neal.

"I know you usually wait until you’re near a FTL relay to send messages, but I would like you to make an exception," shi said.

"Do we need to wait for a reply?" Neal asked.

"No. If they have a problem with it, they can tell us when we get to Terra."

At his nod, shi handed him the memory chit. Plugging it into a slot on his desk, he said, "Tess, drop us out of warp and send this when we have a good line on a relay."

"Sure thing boss," Tess replied.

"Did Tess tell you what was on it?" shi asked.

Neal gave hir a small smile as he shook his head. "Apparently she didn’t consider it something I ‘needed to know’. With your rush to send it, I had assumed it was Star Corps related."

Bowing hir head, shi said, "It is." Without raising hir head shi looked up at Neal. "With your permission, we will be staying on the Folly longer than we last discussed."

Neal snorted. "Well, if you’re done spying on me, it’s going to be a rather boring trip for the two of you."

"We thought we might help on some of your ‘projects’. Just to make the time go faster you understand," shi said the last with a hint of a grin.

"And to spend more time with Quickdash," Neal added with a chuckle.

Shortdash chuckled with him. "That too," shi agreed. Tuning more somber shi said, "I need to apologize for our actions since coming aboard the Folly."

Neal nodded. "From what I’ve heard, Weaver and the twins are the ones you need to apologize to."

"We will, and you?" shi asked.

Neal indicated something behind hir. All shi could see was the long coat hanging by the door. Stepping over to it, shi noted what it hung on.

Turning back to Neal, shi said, "I heard ScreamingWind telling SharpTongue about your coat hook." Cocking hir head, shi asked, "What does it mean to you?"

"A ship I almost killed for smearing my name and reputation. When I found out how close I had come, it scared me a bit. That piece of pipe is there to remind me that an enemy doesn’t have to stay an enemy. They now trust me with their ship and their daughter, and I trust them to ‘hold my coat’." At hir look of confusion, he grinned. "In the bad old days, when challenged to a fight, a man might take off his coat so he could move better. In the pockets he would place anything of value that might get damaged in the fight. Needless to say, he wouldn’t give his coat to someone he didn’t trust."

"Are you saying you trust us?"

"You could have left me on that chair, or just dumped me in one of the beds. Instead you shared your bed and your warmth with me. That seems to suggest that you are gaining some little trust of me."

Shortdash snorted. "In hir second or maybe third letter, Quickdash told us that we wouldn’t understand you until we slept with you." Shaking hir head, shi added, "Until last night, we couldn’t figure out why it would be any different than being with you when you’re awake. Conscious, you hide your feelings better then most. It’s hard to tell when you’re lying; you seem to treat everything as a joke."

"Not really, although it might seem that way sometimes. If it is something that doesn’t really matter, then yes, I will have a little fun with it. Serious things I will treat more seriously. Quickdash falls into both categories. Shi is still quite young, so making things ‘fun’ helps keep them from getting boring. But I try to be very careful when teaching hir. I’ve been helping hir build a foundation of knowledge that shi will be using the rest of hir life, I want it to be one shi can depend on." Neal snorted. "Moonglow sat through one of our training sessions. Shi told me later that Quickdash was ‘cheating’." Neal chuckled at Shortdash's expression as he continued, "What I had mistaken for an intent look was hir using hir ability to ‘read’ me, shi was getting what I was trying to explain a little more directly."

"What did you do?" shi asked.

"What could I do?" Neal asked with a big grin. "I just rubbed hir nose in it."

"How…" shi started to ask, before quickly turning hir upper torso around and whipping hir tail up where shi could grab it. After checking the tip carefully, shi turned back to Neal.

"Like daughter, like sire it seems," Neal said with a smirk. "It can be hazardous, reading someone with a vivid imagination."

"How did you do that?" Shortdash demanded, still holding what felt like a scorched tail.

"In order to try and read me, you have to accept what I feel is happening to a certain extent. So if I can vividly imagine and truly believe that the tip of your tail has just burst into flames, while at the same time thinking of how much that must hurt, you may have problems determining which reality to believe."

"So you’ve done this to Quickdash?"

"Not as often as I should have. When I get wrapped up in trying the explain something, I don’t always notice hir prying. On a side note and as another hint of how closely they’ve bonded, it seems shi can pull information from me and ‘push’ it to Holly. And it appears that I am just sensitive enough for hir to take it the other way as well. Tess pointed it out after a very long session. She said that towards the end we were scarcely even speaking, but it was obvious we were communicating."

"So they know all your little secrets?" Shi asked, hir grin getting bigger.

Neal snorted as he shook his head. "They may have caught a few hints where something pertained to what we were working on at the time, but interrogating Quickdash or Holly isn’t going to give you all of my secrets."

"That might help them pick up your ‘hints’ faster."

"True, but the fun of watching others make their own discoveries may also be rubbing off on them. So don’t count on them running up to you saying ‘guess what?’"

"Why are you still keeping secrets? I mean you don’t appear to be too concerned when some of them are revealed."

"It started as self-preservation. Not knowing if any of them would be with me for more than a stop or two made it easier to not tell them what else is going on. And part of that was a fear of scaring them into jumping ship at what might not have been the best place. I know you have been told that a Rakshani deity likes to ride the Folly, some think to see what trouble she can get into. How long do you think Weaver or the older kids would have wanted to stay onboard if I had warned them about her from the start?"

"But you’re still keeping Weaver in the dark about some things, aren’t you?"

"A lot of things are already out and in the open. The rest of it gives her, and you two, something to do," Neal said with a grin.

"Meaning?" shi asked, hir eyebrow rising.

"She’s not really interested in learning tech, or moving a ship and cargo through space. And she may not remember it, but her first day on the Folly she asked me how I was going to keep her occupied." Neil chuckled as he asked, "Do you think it’s working?"

"The way she pounced on you our first morning aboard? I wonder if you are not overdoing it."

Neal chuckled. "The reason for the strong reaction was because it hit her so hard. She’s been over my books I don’t know how many times, and never saw that little trick."

"And a chance remark dropped the answer on her tail."

Neal shrugged. "Now that she has LongSock, she shouldn’t be needing my distractions as much."

"And Quickwind and I?"

"A lot of the puzzle pieces were already on the table for you two to pick up, all that is really missing is some of the finer detail."

"Like where you plan to find, and how you plan to move enough people for two- no, four more colonies."

"That too," Neal agreed with a grin.

"Why do I get the feeling the clues are right under my muzzle?" shi said, grinning in spite of hirself.

"Could be," Neal agreed with a laugh. "I’ve got to get back to work. When you’re ready, I have the twins helping ScreamingWind supervise the upgrades on the Good Deal. For now, Zhanch is in charge of Gulf’s work. Between them, you should find enough work to keep yourself occupied."


That evening, Stew warned everyone to save room for dessert; she had something special in store for them. When the main meal was over, she wheeled out the dessert cart with a large cover over it. The little ones started getting excited. They knew what that cover had hidden before. The older kids showed mild interest with a little confusion, having not been warned that someone was having a birthday.

The confusion only increased when Suzan removed the cover. The cake had not one, but two faces on it.

Suzan walked over to the confused two whose faces were grinning back at them from the cake. Giving them both a hug, she said, "Last year you said you wished your birthdays were on the same day, and since we missed one of them due to all the excitement at Raksha, I thought this would be a good time to start. Today is the day between your birthdays, so I wish you a happy birthdays."

There was no name on the cake, but even without the life-like artwork, the words ‘Terror Twins’ made sure there could be no doubt of who was being honored.

There were only eight candles on the cake, but sixteen wicks burned. Each candle was a pair of candles that had been softened, and then twisted together. With matching grins, Quickdash and Holly blew them out together.

The little ones were served their cake and ice cream first, one of the teens trying to help each of them to get more of cake in them than on them. The only question on serving was for Quickdash’s parents on if they wanted Moonglow ice cream or regular?

Once everyone was served, Neal said, "I’m afraid I forgot to get you two anything for your birthdays. Do you have any suggestions?"

Quickdash had hir mouth full, so Holly answered for both of them, "Thank you, father, but we each have a gift from you, for which we thank you."

At Neal’s raised eyebrow, Dessa laughed. "I think everyone considers the Boronike to be gift enough."

Swallowing quickly, Quickdash shook hir head. "That wasn’t his gift."

"Letting you play with Gulf and Good Deal?" Bonita asked with a grin.

"No," Holly said looking at LongSock.

"He doesn’t count," Neal claimed with a grin. "The only reason I invited him onboard was to help get Weaver off my back. The chakats were a surprise to me as well, so I can’t take credit for them either."

"So are you saying that all your best gifts are accidents?" Zhanch asked with a chuckle.

Neal shrugged. "You tell me. I didn’t plan on stowaways, or for them finding a cook. Pirate hunting and Dessa getting shot weren’t on my list of things that needed doing, nor was Stormy and Moonglow at the time."

"Now he’s blaming poor Tess and a particular ‘demented deity’ for everything going the way it has," Kestrel chuckled.

Shortdash stepped up to hir daughter and Holly. "My mate and I would like to offer you a gift." Turning to Weaver and LongSock, shi said, "I know Weaver adopted Quickdash with Neal when they first came aboard. LongSock, with hir permission, would you be willing to adopt Quickdash?"

LongSock choked for a moment in surprise, then he quickly nodded. "I would be happy to call hir my daughter," he said.

Quickdash stared at hir parents for a moment, as if to try and read their thoughts. Shi then turned to LongSock, grinning as shi ran over and wrapped him in a hug. "Thank you, daddy," shi whispered, a few tears staining his fur.

Shortdash turned back to Holly. "And will you allow Quickwind and I to become a part of your family? May we adopt you?"

Watching Weaver join LongSock in hugging Quickdash, Holly looked back at Shortdash and nodded as she stepped into hir arms. A moment later she felt a second pair of arms embrace her.

CalmMeadow had been watching Nova as shi watched the adults adopt each other’s child, a look of longing on hir face. Shi stepped beside Nova, and worked up the courage to say what shi had been holding back for weeks. "I…" was as far as shi got before a large hand closed on hir shoulder. Looking over hir shoulder, CalmMeadow found Mike watching hir with a tender expression on his long face.

"Wrong order," he told hir with a grin. At hir questioning stare, he added, "You can’t do it by yourself." Reaching out to take hir hands in his, he said, "CalmMeadow, would you accept me as your mate and denmate? Will you allow me to share my love with you and any cubs you may have or adopt?"

CalmMeadow was stunned. Shi had been looking one way, trying to do that one task perfectly. Until this moment, shi hadn’t even noticed a support that had always been there for hir. Often silent, but always helping hir with hir task. Shi tried to picture doing the task without that support and shuddered. Mike had known what shi had planned before shi hirself was sure, and he was right – shi couldn’t manage it by hirself. Hir eyes tearing a little, shi nodded before pulling him into a tight embrace.

Mike held hir tightly for a minute. The room was almost silent, even the little ones watching curiously but quietly. After that minute, Mike pulled away a little. At hir confused look, he smiled as he whispered, "Your turn."

CalmMeadow’s eyes open wide as shi remembered what shi had been about to do. Turning to Nova shi asked, "May I… may we, adopt you and your little sisters? Since the day we met, I’ve felt this bond growing. I wish to always be a part of your lives."

Nova turned to Neal, a questioning look on hir face. Neal smiled as he said, "Your call, little one. Remember though, no matter who you call mother, father, sire, or dame, you and yours will be my daughters for as long as you wish it."

Nova’s eyes drifted from one of hir little sisters to the next. Each was watching hir back, they didn’t understand what was happening, but somehow they knew it was something important. Looking into CalmMeadow’s teary eyes, shi nodded before hir own eyes clouded over. Shi felt CalmMeadow clasp hir in a hug, then Mike’s arms wrapped around them both. One by one, five smaller sets of paws added their hugs to the pile.

Shortdash looked at Neal. He nodded as he said, "How does it feel to be the catalyst?"

Shortdash shook hir head in wonder. "I think I understand now what you meant by some things ‘snowballing’ on you. I am worried about one thing though."

"Their ages?" Neal asked. At hir nod, he nodded back. "I agree, they are underage by the rules on most planets. However, most of them would allow it if they have the support of their parents, of which I am one." Mike, CalmMeadow, and Nova were all watching him closely now as he addressed them, "Your mating and adoption has my support. For now, it will be official only on the Folly. Think of it as a trial period, if it doesn’t work out, no harm done. One of the signs that you can do this will be proving you know when you have bitten off more than you can chew and are willing to ask for help."

CalmMeadow smiled with one arm around Mike, the other holding Nova. "We will, father," shi said, "and thank you."

"She said I would find what I was seeking right in front of me," Nova quietly said.

"She told me ‘Shi will say yes, if you’ve but the courage to ask’," CalmMeadow added.

"Funny, that’s what she told me," Mike said as his squeezed his mate.


The next week went quickly, as the upgrades on the Good Deal were done to Neal’s not always understandable specifications. Neal found himself spending most of that time training ScreamingWind. With her only a few weeks into her training, Neal often had to backtrack and lay the basic foundation before he could explain what they were actually working on. The twins would often join them to help translate Neal’s views of reality into something ScreamingWind could understand.


A mere month after entering the tempest that was currently called life on the Folly, Quickwind and Shortdash found themselves sitting on benches to the rear of the bridge. They watched as the kids parked Folly in orbit around Terra. Neal had been a little annoyed that he hadn’t been able to get a synchronous orbit, he preferred to be able maintain direct contact with the Folly at all times. He did place six of his baby Zulus around the planet to guarantee a solid link with her no matter where she was in her six-hour orbit.

It was just dawn as the big shuttle, Alpha, gently set a loaded cargo pod on its designated spot at the Big Sur Spaceport on the southwestern coast of North America continent. Zhanch and Kestrel had volunteered to supervise unloading the pod while Neal took Alpha and the kids north, before heading back into space to drop another of Folly’s cargo pods on the moon.

Neal had dropped the kids off with instructions to wait. The kids found themselves abandoned at a very small spaceport. One small and elderly looking shuttle was parked at one end of the ramp, a small building at the other.

Only a few minutes passed before a small two-seated hover car appeared. It stopped for a moment at the shuttle before driving over to them. A teenaged foxtaur vixen gave them a smile as she climbed out.

"Hi! I’m Surefoot," she said as she approached them. "I take it you all are from the Folly?" At their nods, she said, "Testing will be done two at a time If the first pair will head for the shuttle, the rest of you can wait inside for your turns."


Quickdash and Holly waited impatiently as they watched as their older siblings were tested on their shuttle handling abilities. Whiteboots, the old fox tod instructor, was making them use his shuttle. Not only to make sure they weren’t getting computer assisted help, but to prove they could handle shuttles in general, not just one type. He sat in a cabin off the cockpit with a full control panel. He did this both to take control if needed, but to also to inject ‘problems’ or degrade systems as part of his testing. One of the things he had insisted on was that he would not see any of the students until after their test. This way he could not be swayed by who or what they were, only by how they flew.

Most shuttles took a least three people to operate properly, pilot, copilot, and a flight engineer. Whiteboots was only testing piloting skills, so he was overseeing engineering from his cabin. The kids were going up in pairs as pilot/copilot, sometime in the flight the fox tod would have them swap off to test them in the reverse roles.

With fifteen kids to test, Neal had asked ScreamingWind to partner with Shadowcrest to keep any of them from either having to go up twice or solo. While ScreamingWind had passed easily enough, she had been surprised to find that most of the others were topping her scores.

Cindy and Alex were just finishing up; the instructor had been very impressed earlier by how well they had handled ‘losing’ half their flight control thrusters as they were trying to dock with a mock up space station.

While Quickdash and Holly understood that they would probably not be certified due more to their ages than their abilities, they had wanted to try anyway.

They made it through most of the flight without any problems, even when the instructor had degraded their controls to simulate an overweight, and unbalanced shuttle load. On the last leg of the test, they were to land back at the instructor’s private landing field. They were a few minutes out, when three small stunt planes ‘buzzed’ them. Holly was currently the pilot, and she had shifted her slow-moving craft out of their way as quickly as she could. They could both hear the instructor on the comm telling the planes to leave; they were in private airspace and interrupting a training flight. The planes turned around for another pass, this time opening fire on the shuttle. The phasers they had strapped under their wings weren’t all that powerful, but to an unshielded shuttle they could still be a serious problem. Whiteboots had then tried calling for help, but his comm system was now being jammed by one of the planes. As Holly tried to keep the shuttle moving in unusual directions, Quickdash was trying to find something to use against the stunt birds.

Whiteboots had just opened the intercom to tell them to head back for space where the planes couldn’t follow, when he heard Quickdash growling, "We should have used Alpha for this test! We could have used his transporters to remove the power cells on those things and see how well they glide!"

Holly had hotly replied with, "The Captain always tells us to use what we have, not what we wish we had. What toys does this thing have that we haven’t played with yet?"

Whiteboots was again about to speak, when Quickdash had all but shouted, "Tractor beams!" They then sang out together, "Crack the whip!"

The old tod watched his screens in amazement. The kids were turning his shuttle back to face the planes as they were coming around for another pass. Quickdash grabbed the rightmost plane with a tractor beam. Shi had tightened its focus so instead of grabbing the whole craft, shi just had a grip on the plane’s left wing. Setting the beam to maximum pull, shi forced the craft towards the other two. The one in the middle dived out of the way, but the left craft didn’t react quite fast enough and they collided. With the other planes spiraling towards the ground, the remaining plane tried to run. Quickdash grabbed him by a wing and pulled the plane around in circles. The plane tried to pull a tight turn to shake Quickdash’s grip, but the pilot hadn’t added the tractor beam’s pull into his calculations. The high-G turn had been just barely within the craft’s normal operating envelope, the extra force on the wing overstrained it, tearing it from the plane.

Watching the last plane enter a tight spin on its way towards the ground, Whiteboots broke his long-standing rule. He switched on the video to the cockpit to see just who had not only protected his unarmed shuttle from an attack, but had also managed to use it to take out the attackers.

Holly was busy testing each of her controls to see what, if any damage had been done to the shuttle. Quickdash was the first to see the old tod staring at them in amazement. Nudging hir sister, shi pointed hir nose at the screen. Tapping hir comm badge, shi quietly said, "Daddy? I think we failed our test."

Neal’s voice had a calming affect on hir as he asked, "And why do you think that, kitten?"

Quickdash quickly gave Neal the details of the attack and what shi and Holly had done about it. Shi then informed Neal that even though they weren’t done flying, the instructor was watching them, and he didn’t look happy.

"Has he taken control of the shuttle from you?" Neal asked. At hir negative reply, he said, "Then finish your flight in style, kids. After all, we knew there was only a small chance he’d pass you, even with a perfect flight. By the way, Alpha is inbound to give you all a ride home. Once clear of controlled airspace, I think the others will let you fly him home."

The landing was so smooth that Whiteboots had been surprised when Holly had reported, "Done with engines." He had not even felt the landing skids making contact with the ground.

Mike and CalmMeadow were just returning. They had ‘borrowed’ Whiteboots’ hover car to check the wrecks – none of the attackers had been able to bail out.

As they were discussing their findings with the others, they all looked up to see Neal’s massive shuttle Alpha coming in to land next to Whiteboots’ craft. Usually Alpha looked smaller because it was normally attached to one of the huge pods it was designed to take to and from orbit.

As Neal left the shuttle, he heard Whiteboots telling the older kids and ScreamingWind that they had all passed. Whiteboots then turned to Quickdash and Holly and said, "I’m sorry, but there’s no way I can certify kids as young as you two to fly by yourselves." At their forlorn looks, he smiled as he added; "But I can certify you to fly with someone else in charge until you are older. One thing I would like to know though is how you knew how to do that trick with the tractor beam.

Quickdash had looked down, the insides of hir ears a bright pink. Holly quickly explained, "One day Neal was practicing flying a heavy load in bad weather and some of the other kids had thought it would be fun to ‘attack’ him with small fighters. On the first pass they knocked out his transporters, those being his favorite ‘weapon of choice’. Neal had dived into a canyon to keep us from coming at him from all sides, then whenever a fighter cleared the lip of the canyon, Neal would grab it with a tractor bean and pull it into the canyon wall. You don’t have any canyons close enough to hide in around here, so we had to make do with what we had. We had accused Neal of cheating, so he made us all learn how to do it."

Whiteboots looked at Neal as he slowly shook his head, "And you trained all these kids?"

Neal gave him a grin in return, "I don’t know how much prior training ScreamingWind had, but the other kids only started shuttle training a little over a year ago. Of course I cheated a bit. Most of the training was with an AI on a holodeck. I just stepped in when they needed a little more guidance or instruction."

"Guidance or instruction huh? Well it looks like your idea of guidance may have saved my tail today!" Cocking his head, Whiteboots asked, "Would it be possible for me to check out your Alpha? The way the kids were talking, it must be pretty special."

"Fine by me, " Neal agreed, "In fact, if you like you can take a ride up to the Folly with us, I need to bring a few things back down so you can be back late this evening."

"Would it be possible to bring my mate and my grandpups?" Whiteboots asked with a hopeful smile, "The kids always want to see new things, but as an engineer, my mate can be worse than the kids!"

Neal looked at his ‘crew’. "Bets, anyone?" he asked with a smile.

Whiteboots stared as the kids started naming off times from ’10 seconds unwarned’ to ‘20 minutes if warned, gagged and sat on’. Looking at Neal he cocked an eyebrow. To Whiteboots’ unasked question, Neal had grinned, "The ‘bet’ is on how long your ‘engineer’ can go without saying the ‘I’ word." As the fox tod continued to stare at him Neal laughed, "Most engineers will see my ship or something about it and say ‘That’s IMPOSSIBLE’, even though they can see that it does in fact work."

The bet was won, or lost depending on your point of view, when Whiteboots told his mate who was going to be piloting the large shuttle. Goldenmane, ‘Golden’ for her long honey-yellow hair, had said the ‘I’ word when she saw the two eight year olds. Whiteboots then told her about the three wrecks a few hills over and how they had ended up that way. Golden had been concerned that they would be blamed for the deaths, but Neal shook his head, "I carefully scanned the crash sites, all anybody is going to figure out is that two of them collided in midair, the other over ‘G-ed’ his bird. Three ‘Darwin Award’ winners." At the blank looks he was getting Neal clarified, "They’ve removed themselves from the gene pool so their ‘idiotic’ tendencies won’t be carried to the next generation. Just a little evolution in action."

The ride up to the Folly was interesting for all the passengers. Whiteboots rode in a seat between and behind the pilot/copilot seats listening as the kids explained the shuttles capabilities and limits, while Golden sat at the engineering station, muttering the ‘I’ word both at what the kids were telling her mate, as well as the readings she was seeing on the engineering station displays. Their teenage grandkids, a tod and two vixens, enjoyed the view out the ports and the tales Neal’s kids were telling them.

Once at the Folly, they were all treated to a massive late lunch; Stew having overdone things a bit to help celebrate the kids’ passing their tests.

After lunch, Quickdash and Holly volunteered to show Whiteboots the other shuttles. Neal ended up showing Golden the Folly’s engineering section, while their kids were introduced to tailstinger hide-n-seek tag on the holodeck.

Whiteboots was amazed at the shuttles. Alpha and Baker were both massive brute force shuttles, able to lift a fully loaded pod from a planet with a gravity of up to one and a half gravities. Charlie and Delta were larger, but could only carry two hundred carriers internally, their extra size was because they were warp capable, and they couldn’t handle a pod. Echo and Foxtrot were almost tiny in comparison, designed to just move pods from the Folly to nearby space platforms. Gulf was Neal’s latest work in progress, she was a little smaller than Charlie and Delta, and was more like a baby starship than a shuttle. With very little storage space in her bays, she had a lot more room for crew and living areas. Neal hadn’t mentioned it, but the kids had all figured out that Gulf was Neal’s new replacement for the ‘flight’ side of his Zulus. If anything she would be just a little faster than his current Zulus, but even longer ranged.

Golden was stunned when she walked into engineering, the warp core was large, but not as big as she had expected. Then Neal had brought up the main engineering controls and she said the ‘I’ word again when it showed not one warp core but eight, none of them the same size. It took quite some time to get her calmed down enough to listen but Neal was finally able to explain. Like most energy producing systems, warp cores have a ‘sweet spot’ where you get the most power out for the least fuel in. Running a core on either side of that mark wasted fuel. The Folly was so large that a single warp core would have to be huge both in size and cost, and would never be run at its most efficient, so it would be a fuel hog. Neal’s technique was to run multiple cores, each at their ‘sweet spot’. Which cores, and how many, was determined by the load the Folly was carrying, as well as the speed they wanted to go. Sometimes Neal would go a little faster than planned, because it allowed him to run all the online cores at their most efficient settings and thus actually using less fuel than he would have by going slower. After that Golden was almost immune to the explanation on the multiplexed sensor arrays that increased the Folly’s active and passive ranges. Seeing that he had overloaded her, Neal didn’t bother walking her though the other systems. Instead he showed her to the holodeck, her grandkids quickly roping her into the game.


That evening Whiteboots piloted Alpha down to Big Sur with a loaded cargo pod beneath it. Golden rode the engineering station, watching it give her more of those ‘impossible’ readings. Mike was acting as co-pilot, while Alex sat next to Golden, both advising their guests on the proper running of the large shuttle. After setting the pod next to the empty one, Alpha was detached and flown north to drop off Whiteboots and family, then back to Big Sur to take the empty pod back to the Folly.


The next morning, the twins parked Alpha on the already grounded cargo pod, while Shadowcrest and ScreamingWind brought down another loaded pod with Baker. Neal and a few of the kids stayed to supervise the unloading of the pods, the rest split into groups. Stew needed supplies, while others wanted to go shopping.

As soon as the pod’s main cargo door was opened, Neal was surprised to see Moonglow head for a carrier in the corner. Shi opened the carrier’s doors wide, and stepped inside. Moments later, there was a loud roar of an internal combustion engine that someone had neglected to install a muffler on. As shi rolled hir motorcycle out, the twins dashed over and jumped into the sidecar. As they put their helmets on, Moonglow gave Neal a wave as shi opened the throttle.

"Where are they off to?" Shortdash wondered aloud.

"Just out for a ride," Neal told hir. "Though shi did fail to warn me that shi was bringing hir bike down."

Weaver laughed. "Well at least shi kept hir promise not to run it down the hallways!"

"True," Neal agreed. "And shi’s in keeping with my rule of at least three together at all times."

"I still find it hard to believe that you have the twins packing phasers," Shortdash said as shi watched the bike disappear around a corner.

"Are you saying you want me to disarm hir?" Neal asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No," Shortdash said slowly, "I’m just having problems believing our daughter is growing up so fast."

"They all do that," Neal said slowly. "One moment they can’t be trusted to do something for five minutes without being distracted, the next you can’t believe they stayed up all night to get something done."

"Hir sensitivity seems to have grown since shi bonded with Holly." Quickwind said. Looking to hir mate, shi added, "We may have to think about training sooner than we had expected." At Weaver’s questioning look shi smiled. "Most chakats have their biggest physical and mental growth during puberty. Being separated from us and bonding with Holly seems to have caused Quickdash to mentally mature quicker. And if shi’s anything like we were, shi will need training to help hir control that sensitivity."

As the others took off in different directions for shopping and a little sightseeing, Neal, Mike, Cindy, and Shadowcrest supervised the unloading of the cargo pods. The train that was to take the carriers east had been delayed, so the stacks of carriers were being parked between the pods and the personnel terminal. Looking down from the top of one of the pods, it looked like someone was making a brick wall; the stacks of carriers were staggered, with enough space between them for a forklift to get whichever carrier it was after.

With the pods almost empty, Neal had suggested somebody pick a place for lunch, one large enough to handle his little crowd of hungry furballs.


With the lunchtime rush winding down, Ketta was just glancing out the window when the taur-sized motorcycle came to a roaring stop just outside the door. The coffee-and-cream colored chakat would only draw comment because of hir unusually large bust; the sidecar on the other hand did cause her to take a second look. Two young furs were climbing out of it, a chakat youth and a slightly smaller foxtaur vixen. The three stepped though the door and looked around.

The chakat youth spoke first. "It smells good in here. I think we’ve found lunch."

The foxtaur tapped her badge, "Captain, have you ever eaten at ‘Carol's Gulp N' Gallop’?"

A male voice replied though the comm badge, "A time or three, but it has been a few years. It’s mostly veggie, but if Joe is still at the grill, it will do just fine."

The busty chakat smiled at Ketta. "Do you expect it to get busy anytime soon?"

"No," Ketta replied with a grin. "Most of the lunch mob just left."

Moonglow grinned. "Well then, you’re about to get busy again" tapping hir badge shi sang out, "Red rover, red rover, send that hungry horde on over."

As vehicles started pulling up, Carol laughed at the strange group swarming into her place. The chestnut brown equitaur with them was just a little larger than Joe. Mike gave her a smile as he held the door open as the ‘horde’ rushed in.

Chakats and foxtaurs she was used to seeing, though the handful of hyperactive little ones was a surprise. The Caitians she barely noticed, as the group of four much larger Rakshani entered.

Knowing the big cats were making her boss nervous, Ketta placed her paw on Carol’s lower back. "I’ll take them," she said, indicating the Rakshani. At Carol’s raised eyebrow she grinned. "The little ones are climbing over them as much as anyone else, and the cubs wouldn’t do that to someone they didn’t know and trust."

With all the furs coming in, they didn’t notice the lone human until one of their human regulars cried out; "I’ve seen you on the news! You fur-hating types ain’t welcome here!" Jack said as he advanced on Neal, his hands balling up into fists.

Ketta turned, only to stare open-mouthed. The face of the human before her had been in the news only a few days before; part of the clip had shown him firing an old type projectile weapon. The other part of the chip had shown him taking a knife to the body of a taur. As she shook with reaction, her first thought was that she was glad that Nikol was safe with Stargrey that day. They traded off cub sitting each day, although Ketta had almost suggested she keep Nikol with her. She had found her tips were always better when her curious cub was helping keep the truckers entertained.

The angry trucker’s advance was halted when one of the Rakshani grabbed him by the collar of his shirt as he tried to get past her. Jake grabbed her wrists in an attempt to break her grip as she raised him to her eye level, his legs bicycling in the air.

"Dessa! Put him down gently." The voice had a command ring to it, one that suggested that it was holding back a fury of its own. As Dessa slowly lowered the now thoroughly frightened trucker, Neal placed a hand on her arm. In a gentler voice he added, "You’re old enough to know better. Scaring the messenger may mean you don’t get the whole message. And I for one want to know what he’s talking about."

As Neal turned, Ketta’s eyes went wide. The human had placed his left hand on the big Rakshani, his right hand having been occupied holding a small chakat.

With hir tail wrapped around his wrist, and both pairs of legs gripping his forearm, the little orange spotted, leopard-skinned chakat had twisted hir upper torso to see what was going on around hir. Hir dark brown eyes scanned the crowd; shi was letting out a little snarl at those staring at hir human with hate or fury on their faces. Then hir eyes met Ketta’s.

Stormy tapped Neal’s arm, when he looked down, shi pointed at Ketta. Neal looked over at Ketta, then back down at Stormy. "No milk checks," he quietly warned hir. At hir nod, he moved his arm closer to the table.

Firestorm leaped from his arm to the table, then shi did a six-legged run around the cups and plates to the side Ketta was on. Giving a happy yowl, shi leaped at Ketta who automatically caught hir. Stroking the happily squirming kitten, Ketta looked at Neal in total confusion.

Neal gave her a somber smile. "Hir name is Firestorm. Shi was one of the survivors of an attack on the spaceport on New Kiev."

Looking at the little chakat so she wouldn’t have to look at Neal, Ketta said, "A few days ago, they started showing your image on the news. You were firing a long projectile weapon in part of it. Then the view changed to that of you bending over a taur, a knife in your hand. The reporter said the clips were from the security cameras at the New Kiev spaceport. She also said that quite a few furs lost their lives that day."

Neal looked thoughtful, as well as hurt. "All those things did happen that day," he agreed, "but they seem to have left a few things out. Most of those furs were killed before I even knew that there was a fight going on." Nodding at the young chakat that had come in first, Neal said, "My first warning was someone just missing Quickdash. After I helped take out the Human First group, I rendered what aid I could."

Ketta looked down at the cub in her arms. "Hir parents?" she asked fearing she already knew the answer.

Neal sighed as he lowered his head. "Dead before I fired my first shot." He murmured. Looking up, Neal frowned as he looked at the trucker that had wanted to attack him, who was now in the protective arms of his Quange partner. "The shot where you saw me using a scalpel on the fur, could you see her upper torso?"

Jake watched Dessa as he carefully shook his head.

"Some very careful editing, it seems," said the busty chakat that had ridden in on the bike. Turning to Ketta and the truckers, Moonglow continued, "Without editing, you would have seen that the fur had been killed with a beam weapon. As they did show you, Neal was using a projectile weapon." Looking at Tom shi added, "The fur you saw him using the knife on was Stormy’s mother. He was removing Stormy from her womb before shi could die too. He then adopted hir. He hired me as a wet nurse and nanny for Firestorm." Giving them a small grin, shi added, "Since then, I have also become his mate."

Dessa frowned as she said, "Something stinks about the timing. The news should have gotten here a lot sooner than this. Isn’t Stormy almost eight months old now?"

"Almost," Neal agreed. "Do any of you remember if they mentioned a name or a ship in reference to the news clips?"

As Ketta and the truckers shook their heads, Weaver snorted. "It sounds like someone is trying to make you go into hiding, unable to show your face in public."

"Why?" Holly asked, "What good would that do?"

Shortdash snorted. "Follow the money trail. If this had happened a trip ago, Neal would have been alone. With everyone against him, he’s out of business. Since they didn’t drag his name or his ship into this mess, it is possible they think they can use the Folly without Neal’s face being a problem."

As the adults speculated on who was behind the personal attack on Neal, Quickdash pulled Holly into a booth with ScreamingWind and Shadowcrest. They were using their PADDs to find the clips on the local net. After viewing the clips, they had Tess relay them the original views she had picked up from the security cameras at the New Kiev spaceport. Making eye contact with each of them, Quickdash waited until they had all nodded in agreement before hitting ‘send’. Moments later, the news clip had a new subtitle labeled ‘Nice editing! But here’s the rest of the story’. In it were the full views, the first showing the Rakshani firing in support of Neal. The scene with him holding a blade over a taur now ran though him removing Firestorm, getting hir breathing, and handing hir to Shadowcrest.

Bonita had been keeping an eye on them; she now cleared her throat to get their attention. "Nice trick. Now point the local news services at it. That should speed things up a bit." She chuckle as she added, "With all the sneakiness that you seem to have gotten from Neal, I’m glad you’re on our side."

Stormy picked that moment to jump from Ketta's arms back to the table. Shi then leaped from one table to the next. Shi stopped when shi reached the table Jake and his Quange partner Morris, were sitting behind. Shi held out hir arms to Jake.

After looking at Neal and Dessa, Jack held out his arms for the little chakat to climb into. Looking at Neal as he stroked Stormy, he said, "I don’t understand."

Neal softly snorted as he grinned at the trucker. "I think shi’s trying to play peacemaker, by giving us something in common."

"Maybe we can give you a little more in common," ScreamingWind said as she approached the large monitor that was usually set to the weather channel. Plugging her PADD into the controls at the base, she fed the videos they had downloaded from Tess’s database.

First was Neal pumping his shotgun. But, now it was the original wide-angle view from the same camera, showing fourteen Rakshani hiding behind a wall as they added phaser fire to whatever Neal was shooting at. Then there was a small streak of red with white highlights that was Starblazer, as she ran out into the open. The Rakshani on the end dropped her weapon and dived after the little foxtaur. Throwing Star to one of the other Rakshani, Dessa bunched her legs to leap back to cover. She had just started to move when a phaser hit her. The viewers were left looking at her prone body for only a few seconds before she disappeared in a transporter beam.

Then the scene changed to Neal stepping up to the remains of two taurs, an open and already bloody med kit hanging from one hand. He started to turn away, but then turned back, looking confused. After another moment, he knelt next to one of them. Placing a hand on the taur’s belly, he yanked it away with a surprised look on his face. Digging though the med kit, he pulled out a scalpel. As he reached for the taur a box framed a small part of the view, showing where the other ‘news clip’ had been taken from. The view was looking at Neal over the taur’s body, so they didn’t see the actual cutting. The next thing they could clearly see was Neal lifting out a tiny taur. It wasn’t until Neal rolled the cub over, that they cold see it was a chakat. They watched silently until Neal got hir breathing; the number of gasps when the cub first cried out suggested that more than one of the observers had been holding their breath. The scene ended with Neal naming the cub as he handed hir to Shadowcrest.

As ScreamingWind set the monitor back to the weather channel, Jake looked down at the little chakat in his arms and then up to Neal. "Is shi really…?" he started to ask.

Neal nodded. "Shi is," he replied.

Joe had been watching the whole show from his kitchen, one hand on the comm panel in case he decided he should call for help. He now stepped up to the serving shelf and called out, "So are y’all hungry? Or did ya come in for just a chat?"

More than one stomach growled in reply, forcing a laugh out of Ketta.

Firestorm climbed out of Jake’s hands and back on the table. Going to the edge, shi pointed at Dessa. When Dessa stepped up to the table and offered Stormy her arms, shi pointed down. Shi then pointed at Neal and then at the floor again.

"I believe shi wants us to sit here," Neal said with a smile. "So, may we join you?"

Jake and Morris both nodded.

A few stools sat in a corner for the restaurant’s biped guests, they were soon all scattered around the room as Neal’s group was invited to join the regulars in a meal.

Joe was doing a quick head count and grumbling that he was going to run out things before they were all fed, when he heard a noise behind him. Turning around, he found a white and brown rabbit that had just started shredding lettuce heads with one of his knives.

"What do ya think ya be doin’ in me kitchen?" he demanded.

"Making sure you don’t run out of anything before my hungry horde is fed. Or did you want those big cats coming over that serving shelf to see what the delay is?" she asked with a grin. As Joe looked back at the four towering Rakshani, she added, "Besides, not only do I know what they do and don’t like, I also know what it feels like to be swamped." She shrugged. "Let me help you at least get your bins refilled."

Joe grumbled under his breath for a moment before nodding. "Just so long as ya remember that I do the cookin’ ’round here," he stated.

Setting the knife down, Suzan wiped her paw before offering it to the Shetland Pony equitaur. "Suzan Pebble, my friends call me Stew," she said with a grin.

Joe did a double take as the nickname registered, then her small paw disappeared into his much larger one. "Joe," he said, "and we don’t serve no ‘dead horse’ ’round here, just catsup." At her look of confusion, he grinned. "A while back we’d had some chakats from ‘down undah’ that kept demandin’ that somebody toss ’em de ‘dead horse’. Carol almost threw the lot of ’em out ’fore one of ’em got up and fetched it hirself."

With a few questions to make sure she got things the way Joe wanted them, Suzan quickly replenished his stocks and took over the deep fryers. When the batter for the onion rings ran low, she whipped up a small batch of one of her own recipes. Joe had almost forgotten he had an invader until he smelled something new coming from the fryer. Turning, he gave her back a glare.

Stew caught his glare as she turned to dump the basket, golden fried rings bouncing into the empty bin. "Try one," she told him, "If you don’t like them you can give me your recipe. Unless of course you think you can whip up a batch yourself without burning all that stuff on the grill."

Joe scowled as he picked up a hot ring, blew on it to cool it down a little, then popped it in his mouth. Suzan quietly watched as he tried a second ring, then he grabbed a handful and dropped them on a plate. He was carrying it over to the serving shelf just as Ketta walked up with another order. He took her order slip and handed her the plate of onion rings, "Take dis over ta Trevor. Tell ’em I’m askin’ his thoughts on a new recipe."

Smelling some of the new spices, Ketta snagged one for herself as she delivered the sample. It had a spicy burn to it, but not an overpowering one. She made a note to herself to pick up a double order before she went home that evening to share with Stargrey and Nikol.

Stew and Joe watched Trevor try one of the spicy rings. Trevor was an older, heavyset Quange who had been one of the very first customers to walk into ‘Carol's Gulp N' Gallop’. Joe often asked his opinion on new things before risking them on his other customers.

Trevor continued reading his news page and glancing up at the large monitor as it showed some of the areas he would soon be driving through. One by one the rings disappeared from his plate. Once they were gone, he put down his reader and cocked his head. After a moment, he caught Ketta's attention. When she came over, he quietly said something to her, and then picked his reader up and moved on to the next news story of interest.

Ketta walked over to the serving shelf, holding her face expressionless. "I don’t think he thought much of them Joe," she told him before she broke into a grin as she added, "He only wants five orders now, and ten in a to-go bag!"

Joe turned to Suzan; "Yous are gonna give me da recipe, right?"

She grinned at him, as she said, "Trade." At his raised eyebrow, she added, "You teach me how you prepared those vegeburgers. The Rakshani usually turn up their noses at mine."

Looking out where said Rakshani were wolfing down vegeburgers like they were the best treats they’d had in a while, Joe gave Stew a lopsided grin. "Deal!" he agreed, "But first stir up a big batch and slice up a few dozen more onions, I think we’re gonna be needin’ ’em!"

As the rush died down, Joe actually had to ask one of the large Rakshani to remove Suzan from his kitchen so he could get her to sit down and eat something. Bonita had laughed as she picked up the much smaller rabbit and carried her out, telling Joe that Stew often had to be kicked, dragged, or otherwise thrown out of other people’s kitchens.


Alex and Cindy rode Moonglow’s sidecar back to the spaceport, while the rest piled into the rented vehicles for the short trip. Parking the vehicles at the terminal, they started walking among the staked carriers on their way back to the shuttles.

A couple of the forklift operators had seen Neal leave and had decided that he must have arrived on the Folly. To demonstrate that letting a fur murderer travel with them was a bad idea, they had decided to trash some of Folly’s offloaded cargo. It had taken them a little while to disable the safeties built into their forklifts, but now one of them slid his pickup tongs just a little ways under one of the stacks of carriers. Raising the side less than a meter shifted the center of gravity for the stack beyond the far side. There was little noise as it fell, just some creaking and a rush of wind from the edges just before impact.

The first sign of trouble was when they heard a loud crash.

"What the hell?" Zhanch demanded

"Don’t know," Neal said, looking in the direction of the noise as it echoed off the rows of stacked carriers. "Get everyone back to the shuttles, we can find out there." Tossing Stormy to Zhanch, Neal added, "MOVE!"

As they ran, there was another crash. This one was closer and echoing from in front of the group, causing several of the little ones to jump free of their holders and change directions. Shadowcrest and the twins raced after them while the main group continued on the more direct path to the pod. They were almost to the pod when the stack they were running beside started to tip. Most of the furs were almost clear of the stack of carriers when it shifted, being the slowest of the group, Neal was bringing up the rear, and Dessa had lagged behind to try to speed him up. Estimating that they couldn’t get clear in time, Dessa grabbed Neal’s wrist with one paw. With the other she grabbed the corner of the next carrier stack as she went by it, yanking herself and Neal into a hard and fast turn. She let go, and quickly dragged Neal to the next corner, then grabbed that corner to put them on the far side from the falling stack. Only just able to keep his feet under him, Neal barely got his other arm up to protect his face before they slammed into the side of the carrier. The falling stack slammed into the stack they were hiding behind as well as the one next to theirs, the upper most carrier coming apart from the diagonal forces that were applied to it. The next carrier down dug into the two still-standing stacks and kept the stack from falling any further.

Dessa had held them right at the corner of the carrier, ready to dodge back around it if it had also started to tilt. With things momentarily stable, she took stock of the situation. Two broken claws and a sore arm were the extent of her injuries, but Neal wasn’t as well off. The last yank around the corner had dislocated his right shoulder, and the slam into the side of the carrier had badly bruised his other arm as well as his face and chest.

She was just trying to get Neal back on his feet when another crash sounded from behind and to the side of them. As the grinding of tortured metal stopped she could hear a piercing scream that made her blood run cold. It could only have come from one of the smaller cubs, the pitch being too high for an older fur to make. The crying scream sounded again, suggesting the cry wasn’t for the crier, but for another.

As Dessa was pulling Neal to safety, the rest of the main group had rounded the tipping stack heading for the problem. The protective cage the driver sat in protected the forklift operator from their stunners, but he was quick to surrender after Shortdash melted a hole in his windshield with hir phaser. As shi and Quickwind detained the driver, the rest headed for where the other crashes were occurring. At the sound of the cub’s scream, Bonita ordered the others to help the child while she and Kestrel went after the other forklift.

Holly and Quickdash had thought Shadowcrest was right behind them when the carrier crashed nearby. A mental stab of pain caused Holly to stumble, while it knocked Quickdash off hir feet. Picking up the now sobbing cubs, they ran back the way they’d come. They found Spitfire screaming hir lungs out as shi hunched over the unconscious Shadowcrest. The rear third of Shadowcrest's lower torso was crushed under the fallen carrier, a pool of blood slowly growing beneath hir.

Holly was the first to snap out of her momentary daze. Turning to Quickdash, she said, "Think Dessa! The same things can save hir!"

Still trying to concentrate through the emotional load the cubs were battering hir with, Quickdash nodded and tapped hir comm badge. "Tess, Shadowcrest has been badly hurt. Shi needs to be processed NOW!"

Tess’ reply was not what they wanted to hear. "It will be three hours until the Folly is in range, unless you order me to break orbit, but even then will still take twenty-three minutes."

"Too long," Quickdash murmured, the panicked cubs making it hard for hir to think, not realizing shi was broadcasting that same panic to Holly.

"Stasis! Tess used a stasis field on Dessa!" Holly tapped her comm badge. "Alpha! Emergency power up! When power is up, beam the portable stasis field generator to this location."

"Commands understood," the shuttle confirmed.

"Tess," Holly asked, still feeling the press of time, "How long would it take for you to get a string of Zulus in place for a relay transport?"

"Eight minutes."

"Do it!" she ordered as the portable stasis generator materialized beside her.

Fumbling in their hurry to set up the unit, they then pulled the crying cubs off Shadowcrest before activating it.

The stasis generator had just come up to full strength, when the others came around the last carrier. They found the three little chakats in a tight ball with Holly and Quickdash wrapped around them. Just beyond them was the stasis field, partly hiding Shadowcrest's form.

By the time the authorities arrived, both forklift operators were in custody. One of them locked the perpetrators in their vehicle, while the other followed Kestrel and the others to the rest of their group.

Among the damaged and destroyed carriers, they found everyone else in what looked like a large group hug. While the spaceport security fur stared at the stasis field and its grisly cargo, it took a minute for Shortdash and Quickwind to work their way to Quickdash, shi and Holly were buried at the heart of the hug, still holding Spitfire and hir sisters.

"We choked! When it was a real emergency, we panicked! Did we take too long? Will shi be all right?" Holly babbled, as Weaver held her tight.

Shortdash could only add hir own supportive hug. Shi couldn’t answer because shi didn’t know the answers hirself. Shi watched as Quickwind helped LongSock hold Quickdash. Shi didn’t know how this was going to end, but shi did know that if their bond was so tight that it could keep them from operating in severe conditions, then it was past time to start training both of them. Not only would Quickdash need training on controlling hir mental powers, Holly would need to be trained with how to cope with those powers being directed at her.

Dessa appeared coming around the rubble from the other side. She was carefully carrying Neal, whose bloodstained face showed that they hadn’t gotten off scot-free either.

Neal was just turning his head towards the stasis field when it collapsed, giving him a momentary view of Shadowcrest's body before shi was transported away.


Shi was in a place without landmarks, the distance fading into the fog.

Shi remembered pain, but shi couldn’t think of a reason for it.

Shi remembered there was something shi should be doing, but for the moment it eluded hir.

A figure appeared before hir, a figure like shi had never seen before. At first glace, it… no she (shi?) looked like a lynx morph, but no morph shi had ever seen sported such a beautiful set of wings.

The figure was floating (but not flying!) just above the ground; she gently set down in front of Shadowcrest. Looking down at herself, she smiled as she said, "That’s quite an imagination you have little one, I don’t think the others have ever imagined us like this before."

"Are… are you the deity Neal has been telling us about?" shi asked in wonder, "Is that the way you really look?"

Flicking her thick tail in amusement, she said, "Close enough, little one."

"Am I d-dead?" Shadowcrest stuttered.

"Not yet, and not at all if your little sisters have anything to say about it," she said with a gentle smile. "They have just placed you in what I understand you call a stasis field. They are having Tess send out some of her ‘Zulus’ to relay you up to the Folly to be processed."

"Do I have to be processed?" shi asked, remembering Dessa and the others.

The figure indicated to the side. There, Shadowcrest could now see hirself laying on the ground, the carrier across hir lower torso. Phantom pains started crawling up hir back before shi turned away. Looking the other direction, shi could see the pile of furs that shi had learned to love calling hir family – and shi remembered what shi had forgotten. "Spitfire!" Shi cried out.

"Safe," the figure beside hir quietly said. "You were able to get hir clear of the falling carrier, just not yourself."

No longer afraid, Shadowcrest looked up at the deity. "Will you help process me?" shi asked.

The deity nodded as she wrapped her arms around Shadowcrest, and after a moment shi returned the hug. Feeling the wings also wrapping around hir as the sounds of the stasis field faded so the transporter could collect hir, shi almost didn’t hear her softly say,

"Neal didn’t accept my treat that day on Raksha."

"You did."

 


Chapter 7  

 

Shi woke slowly, as sensations started to register on hir mind. Opening hir eyes, shi found hirself on a taur pad in the middle of the Folly’s main lounge. Neal lay nearby; a couple of small med units softly hummed behind him, suggesting that at some time in the recent past he had sustained injuries. Lying next to his hip was Spitfire, with Stormy and Star all but wrapped around the larger cub. Raising hir upper torso, shi thought it seemed to take more effort that it should. LongSock and Weaver were in front of hir, Weaver smiled as she saw hir stir.

"How do you feel?" she softly asked.

"A little strange," shi replied, "and everything looks smaller."

There was a snort, then a groan from Neal as the snort jarred something tender. "Look down," he suggested, a small grin trying to show on his bruised face.

With a raised eyebrow, shi lowered hir muzzle. The other eyebrow joined the first as shi stared down at hirself. Shi finally raised hir head and looked first at Weaver, and then to Neal. "Okay," shi acknowledged, barely whispering, "Those are bigger."

"Do you remember what happened?" Weaver softly asked hir.

"The carrier stacks were tipping over and, in the rush, Spitfire got loose. I grabbed hir and was chasing after the twins…" Shadowcrest quickly checked hir paw, where a childhood accident had left a fine scar and a thin line of white fur. Not finding it, shi looked at Neal. "I was processed!" shi said in surprise, "I thought it was just a dream."

"And what does the process do?" Neal quietly asked.

"It makes you younger, taller, and bigger!" shi said, hir voice cracking.

"Calm down and try again," Neal suggested. "If you were any younger than you were, your body would be too young have any breasts at all."

"Best potential of the DNA, body age reset to early adulthood," shi whispered, remembering how shi had heard Neal describe it to others. Stormy had crawled over to hir, requesting to be held. Picking up hir little sister, Shadowcrest was amazed at how small shi seemed to have gotten. Giving Stormy a gentle cuddle, shi slowly started to accept that the others hadn’t shrunk, shi had grown, and not just a little. "Just how big am I?" shi asked, not sure shi really wanted to know.

"Do you remember that full sized holodeck image I have of Snowfall?" Neal asked. When shi nodded, he smiled. "Tess tells me you would look down to look hir in the eye. Not by much, just a few centimeters or so. You are also a little wider across the beam – among other places."

"The other chakats you processed, did they all end up like this?" shi wondered, trying to imagine the Folly’s corridors crowded with very large, very busty chakats. And then a giggle escaped, as shi tried to imagine Neal getting any work done in that type of environment.

Neal smiled. Hir finding humor in the situation was a good sign that shi was starting to get used to the idea that things had changed for hir. "Most of them did get bigger, though only a few got as busty as you. And there were a few vixens that would have made you look underdeveloped."

Weaver quietly added, "Have you noticed anything else?" When shi shook hir head, she smiled. "Well, I for one seem to recall our Rakshani friends spending a few days relearning how to move and talk. You don’t seem to be having any of those problems."

Shadowcrest looked down at the paw shi wasn’t holding Stormy with. Shi slowly flexed the digits and fully extended hir claws. Other than it feeling like shi was using a little more effort to move them, they felt fine and were under hir complete control. Brushing hir thumb across hir finger pads, shi thought that they might be a little more sensitive.

Remembering that the others had also said it was a day or more before they could see straight, shi looked at Neal.

He nodded. "Several things were different about your processing. You didn’t need any heart or lung assistance, and Tess tells me you were processed in just over two minutes, compared to Zhanch’s ten."

"I… I had a dream," shi whispered. "I could see my body." Looking at Neal, shi continued, "I couldn’t see you."

"I was detained," Neal admitted, "I just got there in time to see you being transported out."

Looking around the room, shi suddenly realized that everyone else was with them. "The rest of you were in a big hug."

Weaver’s eyebrows shot up. "But we didn’t get there until after the stasis field was up!"

"I know," shi agreed, "I was looking through the stasis field. And I wasn’t alone." To their surprised stares, shi described the deity and their conversation. Shi ended it looking at Neal as shi said, "She said she gave me her treat that day, not you."

Weaver was first to break the silence that followed, "But I saw the child give Neal a treat, he shared it with her!" looking a little confused she added, "She gave each of us one."

Neal let out a long sigh before he answered, "Well. That might help explain a few things." At Weaver’s growl, he snorted. "No love, I wasn’t holding back. Well not much anyway, I just didn’t know for sure until now."

"Didn’t know what?" Weaver demanded.

Neal carefully shook his head. "In all the years that the traveler has offered me her treat, no one has ever seemed to notice. With Chase’s group, she could walk right up to me, we would share her treat, trade a word or three, and then she would leave. The others never saw or heard a thing. After the child was well out of sight, they could smell what I had eaten on my breath and would wonder how I had snagged and eaten something without them noticing."

"Were they ever offered treats?" Weaver wondered. When Neal shook his head, she asked, "So what do you think it means?"

"From Rakshan folklore, as well as what the traveler has told me over the years, she only offers her treat to one person of the ship she wishes to travel on. Any crewmember or passenger will do, and the stories say that she can jump ship at any port if she chooses to do so."

Weaver frowned. "So why would she give us each a treat if she never has before?"

Shadowcrest’s head jerked up as shi said, "She didn’t!" a little calmer, shi added, "The deity that shared Neal’s treat wasn’t the one that gave me her treat."

Are you saying there’s more than one?"

"That might explain some of the strange things the little ones have been doing," Nova said slowly. "I know most cubs go through phases where they talk and play with imaginary friends, but they actually seem to be learning from these friends."

Moonglow nodded. "I had thought they seemed to be behaving better since Raksha, maybe they’ve been getting some coaching."

Shortdash and Quickwind were staring at each other, their mouths half open. Weaver chuckled. "You two as well?" she asked with a grin. "I was with LongSock when another child offered him a treat."

Bonita was shaking her head. "I’ve never heard anything to suggest that more than one of the deities was a traveler. And why would more than one of them want to visit the same place?"

Most of the eyes in the room zeroed in on Neal as Zhanch said, "Maybe they know something interesting is to occur before the Folly’s next visit to Raksha."

"Just finish this run, see how my colonies are doing and set up a couple more," was all Neal admitted to.

"All of which you’ve done before without stirring up the deities!" Bonita exclaimed.

"That you know of," Neal pointed out. "The offering of treats is just her way of asking permission. She has never said she had to…"

"There’s more to it, isn’t there?" Weaver asked.

"Well," Neal said, as if thinking out loud, "a few Rakshani have requested some space at one of the new colonies."

Kestrel snorted. "This from someone who compares the ocean to being damp! What is your definition of ‘a few’?"

"Just a few," Neal answered. As she continued staring at him, he added, "hundred," this was followed by a longer pause. Kestrel was opening her mouth when Neal said, "thousand."

"Well?" she snapped, "What is it? A few hundred? Or a few thousand?"

"Yes," Neal agreed, with a small smile.

As Kestrel growled at him, Zhanch was looking at him in wonder. She asked, "Just where did you find a few hundred thousand Rakshani willing to follow you? And how the hell are you going to move them?"

"It seems that there are more than a few Rakshani looking for something challenging to do. A fight if you will, even if it is just against what is currently an uninhabited planet."

"Colonizing a planet can’t be that much of a challenge," Zhanch said with a headshake.

"There’s a strong chance that once known about, others might try to take it from them. Would that discourage or encourage your average Rakshani?" Neal asked with a small grin.

"If you offered it to them that way, you couldn’t keep them away," Bonita said, watching Neal carefully. "Why would others want it?"

"For the same reason ‘Amazonia’ has been a battleground for all these years. While different, the plant and animal life there is almost as diverse. That alone will have bioengineering and pharmaceutical companies fighting over who gets what. I figured things might be a little more orderly if a large group of well-armed Rakshani were calling the place their new home."

Zhanch nodded. "That’s why your latest Zulus are built to handle Rakshani easily. And these spheres will become the station protecting that planet."

Bonita frowned. "Our people could control and protect such a planet, but we couldn’t use it properly…"

SharpTongue gently coughed, "A number of Caitians have also been offered permission to share the planet with the Rakshani. Those with the needed skills are allowed to bring as many family members as they would like."

"How many?" Zhanch wondered.

SharpTongue shrugged. "The total was over four hundred thousand the last time we were at Cait. By now their numbers might match that of the Rakshani."

"Could that be why the deities are onboard?" Weaver wondered, "To be with their ‘children’ on their new world?"

A growing purr made itself known before anyone could speculate further.

Stormy had decided that shi wanted more than just a cuddle. Smelling a new scent on hir big sister, shi shifted to where shi could give hir a ‘milk check’.

Shadowcrest didn’t think anything of it at first, shi had been milk checked before by the little ones. They would give hir a pleasant feeling by teasing a nipple for a minute or two before looking for someone with milk to offer. This time shi was stunned by how much more sensitive hir nipple was, and then shi felt a muscle behind hir nipple relax. As the greedy cub began to nurse in earnest, Shadowcrest found hir pleasure increasing. A nudge at hir other breast woke hir to the fact that Starblazer also wanted some refreshment. Shi moved hir other arm to help support her, and soon had both nipples occupied. Hir eyes slowly closed as shi was lost in the pleasure of feeding the cubs. Shi never even realized shi was purring.

Weaver smiled. "I thought they weren’t normally interested in milk-water."

"So we’ve noticed," Shortdash said. Looking at Neal, shi asked, "Another effect of the process?"

"Not sure," Neal said, looking troubled. "It just seems to happen to about ten percent of the females and herms."

Noticing Neal’s reluctance to mention it, shi asked, "What aren’t you telling us? Is there a problem?"

Neal’s frown deepened for a moment, only to lighten as he watched Shadowcrest enjoy feeding the little ones for the first time. Looking over at Shortdash, he said, "Other than a few that had been dedicated wet nurses, all the other milk producing furs were pregnant by the end of their first heat."

Staring at Shadowcrest in a new light, Shortdash murmured, "I can see how that might cause you some concern."

"Hir parents are already going to be displeased that I got their daughter injured badly enough to need processing. Somehow I don’t think adding a young one on the way will help."

"It wasn’t your fault they were trashing the cargo," Mike quietly pointed out from where he sat with CalmMeadow.

"That’s not what he means," Shortdash said with a snort. "He has accepted responsibility for all of you. So anything wrong, real or imagined, will be his fault in the eyes of your parents."

"Not mine," Mike said with a grin. "As soon as they knew I wasn’t coming back anytime soon, they dumped my junk in storage, rented out the house, and mom started riding the long-hauler with dad." He gave a small snort as he added, "That’s how they met years ago. It turns out that they were just waiting for me to ‘fly the coop’ so they could go back to riding together. The only thing that surprised my dad was how far I ‘flew’," he finished with a chuckle.

CalmMeadow smiled. "We’ve sent our families word of us becoming denmates and adopted parents. While my mom might see it as more of Neal’s bad influence, my sire will probably take it in stride."

"Did you send them the recording?" Neal asked.

CalmMeadow smiled as shi nodded. "We started the record from when Suzan rolled out the cake. We sent it to the group. Not only so all of them could see how everyone is doing, but so they would be there to help support my parents when they find out what I’ve been up to."

"The group?" Kestrel asked.

Shortdash chuckled. "For want of a better name, ‘the group’ is made up of the parents of Neal’s stowaways." Looking again at Neal, shi wondered yet again if he had planned for it to happen from the start. "We were all called together to be told that our cubs had snuck aboard a starship and hadn’t been discovered until the ship was well underway. The data packs we each received had all the cubs as well as their parents’ names. We ended up getting together once a week or so, a cross between a support group and a rumor mill." Nodding at LongSock, shi continued, "He was the odd one out, since he was without both his mate and cubs. Quickwind and I more or less took him in. That is how we knew Neal was planning a little surprise and added ourselves to it."

Shi was so absorbed in the new feelings the cubs were giving hir, Shadowcrest had barely heard the discussion around hir. After the first minute of bliss, shi had realized shi could feel the cubs enjoying hir milk. Shi could actually taste hir milk, and experience their contentment as it filled their bellies.

Shi found shi could feel some of the other cubs being fed as well, Nova, and CalmMeadow were both nursing a cub. While each was projecting calm and love at their cub, Shadowcrest could feel the underlying emotions of fear and anger.

With what felt like no effort at all, shi found hirself probing deeper. Shi then tried to recoil from the storm of emotions shi found in each of them, but was unable to back out. Still fresh in their minds was the crashing of the falling carriers, Spitfire’s screams and mental blasts of fear and pain. They had rounded the last carrier to find Quickdash and Holly clutching the three little ones, trying the give them a calm they couldn’t find in themselves. As if that raw wash of emotions wasn’t enough, there was their memory of that thing just beyond the twins. Even having seen it in the dream, Shadowcrest couldn’t bring hirself to think of that form as belonging to hir. It lay there where it had fallen, looking awkwardly like a limp doll that a cub had tossed partway into a toy box before slamming the lid closed.

As shi tried to disengage from their minds, thought associations brought the others to mind, bringing their thoughts, hopes and fears to hir as well. The storm only intensified, sweeping away what little control shi had left.

With hir physical contact, Firestorm was the first to react to Shadowcrest’s mental turmoil. When a nip on a nipple didn’t get hir attention, Stormy pushed away and cried out for help.

Reacting to Stormy’s cry, Shortdash tried a gentle probe of Shadowcrest's emotional state, only to be blasted by the overload of feedback. Feeling hir mate’s shock at what shi had stumbled into, Quickwind hugged Shortdash to hir, as shi tried to shield hir mate from whatever was causing hir distress.

Neal had been about to ask Stormy what was wrong when everything seemed to suddenly go silent. It wasn’t a silence of sound, but of mind. Until it was gone, he hadn’t even noticed the growing mental noise, nor the headache that it had started to give him. The chakats suddenly found themselves unable to sense each other, only feeling those that they were in physical contact with.

Weaver watched as Stormy rushed over to Neal, while Star climbed into her arms for a hug. Meanwhile, Shadowcrest tried to curl hirself into a ball, hir arms trying to protect hir head, the end of hir tail twitching wildly. Looking at all the agitated chakats, she asked, "What’s wrong? Is shi alright?"

Quickwind was the first to reply. "From what little my mate got, Shadowcrest was being overpowered by our emotions." Looking at Weaver shi said, "Shi seems to have gained hir adult sensitivity without having the time to grow into it. It was a good thing Neal had Tess isolate hir from us with her fields."

"Wasn’t me," Neal said as he calmed Stormy. "Tess?"

There was a moment of silence before she replied, "I received orders to set up fields in a blanket pattern across this room. But nowhere do my records show me receiving them."

Neal gave a soft snort, as he said, "Don’t blow a fuse looking for the logic. You can turn off the fields not protecting Shadowcrest."

"Yes boss. Do I put this under ‘traveler’s logic’?"

"No. I think you need to open a new folder labeled ‘deities’. Place it in there for now."

Shortdash had recovered slightly from Shadowcrest’s overload; shi now crawled over to hir, being careful not to touch hir. "Shadowcrest? Shady? Stop trying, just relax and listen to my voice…"

Watching Shortdash try to calm Shadowcrest, Weaver edged over to Neal and asked, "What actually happened just now?"

"Do you remember the first time you ‘borrowed’ my ear plugs?"

Weaver shivered, her ears having been blasted by a volume setting Neal considered ‘low’.

"Same difference," he agreed, "except shi can’t dig those loud voices out and throw them across the room."

"What can we do for hir?"

"The screens will keep hir from getting any more feedback from us, but that may not be enough. If Shortdash and Quickwind can’t bring hir down, we may have to sedate hir." At Weaver’s raised eyebrows, he explained, "Shi’s like a terrified child, clutching the controls of a runaway vehicle. Shi has to let go of the throttle to slow the vehicle, but hir panic is keeping hir from releasing it."

They watched as Quickwind moved to be beside hir mate. Shi then asked Tess to screen them from the rest of the room. Shi wrapped hir arms around hir mate, keeping hir mental contact with Shortdash as the fields blocked out the rest of the room.

Shortdash continued trying to calm Shadowcrest as the others faded from hir senses. Once hir mate was in position and mentally prepared, shi gently laid hir arm against Shadowcrest’s.

Projecting all the calm shi could bring to bear, Shortdash slowly and gently pushed into the storm that raged in Shadowcrest’s mind.

For a minute, Shadowcrest’s erratic tail seemed to be the only movement in the room.

Stormy started to climb out from under Neal’s hand and head toward Shadowcrest, only to be stopped by Neal’s gentle grasp of hir tail. "Not now Stormy. Let them try to calm hir first,"

Stormy tugged again, and was rewarded with a quiet ‘no’. Turning around to face Neal, shi extended a single claw and placed it on the hand holding hir tail. Shi slowly added pressure until Neal took notice of the discomfort. The eyes that returned his look were too level and steady to belong to an eight month old cub.

After meeting hir gaze for a moment, Neal nodded as he released hir tail. "Be careful," he said, "both of you."

Giving Neal a slow nod, the little chakat turned and moved over to Shadowcrest. Shi sat down next to Shady’s head, then laid down and rolled onto hir side so hir back laid against the back of hir big sister’s head.

Looking very startled, Dessa asked, "Did what I think just happened, happen?"

Still watching Stormy, Neal slowly replied, "If you think you just saw a deity prove that they can inhabit and take over beings other than Rakshani, I think we did."

"Why?" Weaver asked, still watching Stormy, who seemed to have fallen asleep.

"Perhaps because a younger mind is more flexible to the idea of letting someone else take over for a short while. Why Stormy? They should know by now how well shi and I know each other, so they knew I would feel more than just Stormy just now."

"Can we trust them?" LongSock wondered.

"I think so. They’ve been onboard for over a month now, and they don’t seem to have caused too much trouble." Watching Shadowcrest’s tail slow down to the slow and gentle twitch of a sleeping chakat, Neal added, "Unless of course you consider them playing with the little ones to be trouble."

"Or the possibility that they may have helped get a few of your mates pregnant," CalmMeadow pointed out.

"Considering that was what some of us wanted, I don’t think you can count that as causing trouble," Zhanch said with a grin. Both she and Bonita had caught, leaving Dessa as the only non-pregnant Rakshani onboard.

As LongSock rubbed Weaver’s lower belly, he smiled in acknowledgement. SharpTongue chuckled as she winked at Suzan. "Six little ones on the way," she said with a grin. "They should help keep him from finding time to get into trouble."

"Don’t count on it," Weaver said, grinning at Neal. "He seems to have a knack at being in the middle of things."

Pulling a small bottle out of her belt pouch, Bonita said, "Speaking of him being in the middle of things, this was from one of the broken crates. It caught my eye because it didn’t match any of the others." She handed Neal the bottle.

Neal gave a fair imitation of a pissed Rakshani’s growl when he read the label. Without being asked, Tess scanned the bottle and confirmed that the label matched the contents.

"Tess, confirm that was from one of the pods that was loaded exclusively with carriers from Raynor," he asked.

"Confirmed, boss. We still have two more pods from Raynor to drop."

"Detailed scan, Tess. I want every bottle of this crap removed from their carriers."

"Order accepted and started boss. It will take me several hours to check each pod. What do you want me to do with what I find?"

"Find an empty carrier in internal storage, place them there."

"Yes boss."

"What’s so special about that bottle?" Weaver asked.

"One, this drug in it isn’t on their manifest. Two, the main source of the drug is Amazonia. Three, Raynor knows I refuse to ship drugs from Amazonia."

"Are they illegal?"

"No. But in the Federation they are supposed to be carefully controlled. This drug and others like it are the main reason for the fighting on Amazonia. When I was told that I would not be allowed to ship aid to the war beasts, I told them I wouldn’t be assisting the pharmaceutical company either. Which means I don’t ship their drugs out, and I don’t ship in weapons for them to use against the war beasts."

"Amazonia?" LongSock asked.

"Also known as Pizarro 419C," Shortdash said. Looking at Neal, shi asked, "Where are you getting your data? I knew there was an ongoing conflict with Star Fleet involvement, but your database has a very different spin on it then what I’ve seen in the Star Corps reports."

"A few baby Zulus once the Folly was no longer welcomed in that area of space, chats with a few people that have been there, and a little digging through Star Fleet records by some of my kids." Neal’s frown deepened as he continued, "The bare bones is a very large, very well connected drug company wants what Amazonia has to offer, but they don’t want to share the profits with the war beasts that have lived there for the last hundred years or so. So they got Star Fleet involved as ‘peacekeepers’." Neal snorted. "Star Fleet hasn’t been allowed to escalate it into a war as that would then kick the company out of the war zone. So you have both Star Fleet and the war beasts bleeding for a drug company’s gain."

SharpTongue said, "Surely something can be done!"

Shortdash shook hir head, remembering what Neal’s notes had hinted at. "I don’t know, but if Neal’s data is correct, then parts of the Federation Council are in on it to a certain extent. And there is pressure from the council to keep Star Fleet in the mix at a less than optimal level."

"The Federation Council wouldn’t stand for others being treated that way!" LongReach exclaimed.

Shortdash snorted as shi replied, "What if they’re getting the same reports as the Star Corps gave us? The spin doctors have done a good job at having everyone see just what they want them to see."

"Could the same group be responsible for the edited news from New Kiev?" Nova wondered from where shi sat with Mike and CalmMeadow.

"A page from the same book perhaps. But if it is the same group, they screwed up badly." Weaver said with a snort.

"How so?" shi asked.

"By giving it to the general public, they can’t control the response. The shuttle instructor and his family didn’t see the news about New Kiev, so they didn’t have a problem with Neal. On the other paw, if we hadn’t been with him in the diner, it could have gotten ugly."

"Not to mention he wouldn’t have known about the drugs if those workers hadn’t started tipping carriers." Bonita added.

"I would trade that knowledge for the old Shadowcrest," Neal mumbled.

"We could feel your friends calming hir down, but for some reason I got the impression that they can’t stay with hir all the time." Shortdash said.

"Can’t they fix hir?" Holly asked.

"Shi not really broken, just a little too strong." At her confused look Shortdash smiled. "Just like Quickdash needing training to help hir learn how to not overwhelm you. Right now Shadowcrest is so sensitive that we overwhelm hir."

"Shi will need training to help hir control hir abilities," Quickwind agreed.

Neal frowned as he asked; "You were talking about training Quickdash and Holly, could you add Shadowcrest to you class?"

"No," Quickwind said, "This is more than just hir overly sensitive empathic talent." Shi looked at Neal. "Shi wasn’t just overwhelmed by our feelings, but by our thoughts as well. One of the thoughts we saw clearly was from you. You were trying to convince yourself that there was nothing better to have tried. I am curious about where you had seen a tailless chakat with a set of wheels in place of hir hind legs."

Neal shuddered. "A very long time ago. Shi had been caught in a rockslide on a frontier world. Being as stubborn as most chakats, shi had insisted that shi could still work. The wheels gave hir enough mobility to not be a burden on the others, and do quite a bit around their campsite. By the time the Folly visited them, shi didn’t see them as enough of a reason to leave."

"Did you offer to process hir?"

"No. That was before Shadowchaser’s group, so I didn’t even know I could use the process on others at the time. Plus, there would have been the minor issue of hir being three months pregnant. I still don’t know what would occur if I tried to process someone in that state. Would we lose the unborn cub? Or after Shady’s process - would we end up with an adult sized infant?"

"Some things are better left undiscovered," Weaver murmured.

"So if you don’t think that you two are up to the task, what do you suggest?" Neal asked.

"We have a couple of skunktaur friends currently stationed at Port Kepler on Chakona. Since Quickdash has also been doing a little mind reading, we were planning on asking their advice on an instructor."

"That’s at least three weeks travel time with all the stops we need to make. That doesn’t count the next four or five more days transferring cargo at Big Sur, Melbourne and Cape York. So call it a month before we get there." Neal sighed, "I can’t safely keep hir screened that long, no input can be as bad as too much." Neal laid back, looking for answers on the ceiling for a moment before continuing, "Tess. Start preparing Charlie for a little trip. No cargo, three Zulus, five scouts, and one of the personnel shuttles." Looking around the room, he said, "I would like at least six volunteers to take Charlie to Chakona."

"I take it there will be some ‘non-volunteers’?" Weaver asked with a raised eyebrow.

Neal nodded, "Holly, Quickdash, and Shadowcrest need the help. Quickwind and Shortdash have the contacts. I want at least six ship handlers, anyone else can go or not as they please."

"Won’t that leave you a bit short on crew for the Folly?" Shortdash asked.

Neal grinned. "I’m used to running her all by my lonesome, I think I can handle her."

Weaver smiled at Holly as she said, "LongSock and I will stay behind to help keep Neal out of trouble."

"As will I," Dessa said, nodding at Zhanch.

"Charlie has replicators, so they won’t be needing me," Stew said with a smile.

Moonglow shook hir head. "With Stormy’s dependence on Neal, I’m not leaving the Folly."

"We can help fly Charlie," Holly pointed out.

"I know. That’s why I only asked for six," Neal agreed.

An annoyed voice from the center of the room growled, "I’m staying!"

The others had failed to notice that Shadowcrest was awake again, and shi was a little perturbed that they were planning hir future without hir input.

Neal let out a quiet sigh, "I’m sorry, little one, but you need more help then we can give you. My choices are leaving you behind, or rushing you to the Folly’s next major stop."

"You’re a fine one to talk!" shi huffed, "You should be in sickbay, tied to one of the beds. You’re using the pain from your other injuries to mask your broken rib and the torn ligaments in your back and right leg!"

Neal ignored the dirty looks his mates were giving him, and watched Shadowcrest as he said, "Okay, I’ll spend the next three days running this ship from sickbay if you board Charlie without any complaints."

"No deal. You promised you wouldn’t force any of us off the Folly against our will, and I’m holding you to it!"

Neal opened his mouth for a rebuttal, but Shadowcrest wasn’t done yet. "This is not an emergency! You don’t have to rush me anywhere, I can handle my little problem until we get there." A little calmer shi added, "I know you were given the pain killers that make you more than a little loopy. Before Tess dropped her screens on me, I got a pretty good read on everyone. The only person you’ve been fooling with your act is yourself, the others have been waiting for you to nod off so they could put you to bed. Father, let them put you to bed, I promise not to go crazy before you wake up."

Neal snorted lightly. Moonglow had given him a second dose of the painkillers just before Shadowcrest had awakened the first time, and shi was right, he was more than a little out of it.

Weaver also snorted. They had almost lulled Neal to sleep when Shadowcrest woke up, that added excitement had given him what had to be at least his third ‘second wind’. She waited now to see if he would continue to fight, or if he would give in. She gave a sigh of relief when he made a throwing away gesture with his hand.

"We’ll discuss this tomorrow," he agreed.

To show that she supported the decision as well, the doors opened and one of the computer controlled gurneys rolled in.

As it rolled to a stop next to him, Neal gave Tess’s pickup a small grin. "Et tu Brute?"

"Short of us being under attack, I would have been ignoring your orders as well boss. Let them help you up and I’ll do the rest," Tess said as the gurney lowered itself nearly to the floor.

Dessa and Moonglow carefully lifted him onto the gurney; an easy leap had Stormy join him. Moonglow was exasperated that Neal had been able to conceal his other injuries from hir. The painkillers were wearing away at his control, and shi could now sense more of what Shadowcrest had mentioned.

Dessa had been ready to follow them out, when Shadowcrest caught her eye and signaled for her to stay. When the doors closed, she opened her mouth to speak, only to have Shadowcrest shake hir head.

"You can join him in a moment," shi told her. "But first I thought you should know that he doesn’t blame you for his injuries." As Dessa stared at hir, shi grinned. "No, I’m not reading your mind right now, but I did get a little more than I wanted just before Tess set up her fields. Your main concern was that he would reject you for hurting him. You are wrong to worry. Every time Neal feels those aches and pains, he remembers what he saw when you were carrying him to the rest of us. He saw how the carrier had come apart and where the debris landed. He figures his odds of living through that without your help at close to zero." Shadowcrest looked at her carefully for a moment before adding, "The other things I saw are for you to tell, or not to tell, although I think he already knows part of it."

Dessa had remained motionless while Shadowcrest spoke. She now nodded to hir before turning to head for sickbay.

Shadowcrest now turned to the twins, who scooted back a step at hir gaze. Shi snorted softly and shook hir head. "As for you two. No, I am not upset that you froze up and panicked a bit. I’ve got more than an inkling of the pressure you were under, and I think you did pretty well under the circumstances." Shi gave them a grin as shi added, "I would give you both a big hug in thanks, but I don’t think I could handle the contact right now."

"You mean you can’t touch them?" Weaver asked, looking confused.

"I want to, but I don’t dare. Before being processed, I could just sense them and feel their base emotions, handy as a lie detector, or feeling what they meant beyond just their words. What I got earlier was far more than I am used too. Their feelings lead me to their thoughts, and some of their thoughts were about those around them. The associations lead me to the rest of you; your feeling and thoughts quickly overwhelmed me. That’s when Tess dropped her fields over us, but by then I couldn’t find a stopping point."

"We felt some of what you were going through, but I couldn’t get enough of your attention to help," Shortdash said. "Then we felt another presence that seemed to cover you like a blanket."

"That was several of the deities working together. I had another dream-talk with the one who gave me her treat. It seems they improved on the traveler’s ‘process’ as you may have noticed. The problem is they ‘tweaked’ my mental abilities as well. Having never tried it before, they overdid it a bit," Shi said the last part with a small grin before continuing, "She told me they can’t undo it, but they will try to help keep me sane until we can get to someone that can help me."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Weaver asked.

"All I really need is your love and understanding, the rest is just something I need to learn how to handle."

"One of the other things we saw from your brush with Neal’s mind is probably the reason he’s in a rush to get you to someone who can help. All the furs he’s processed had very strong ‘first’ heats or ruts on their next cycle. And here you are, with no idea when your cycle will start, and no one can touch you."

Shadowcrest shuddered, "I know, I could almost hear the thoughts behind his words. It’s a little spooky, knowing him that well."

"Are you saying you could read him through the field?" LongSock asked, wondering if any of their thoughts would be safe from hir.

Shortdash snorted as shi shook hir head. "No. Shi’s saying that shi inadvertently ended up with a piece of his mind, literally."

"So, do you know all his little secrets now?" Nova asked with a chuckle.

"No. What I got was a lot of little fragments. The right thoughts or word associations can cause them to gel into an idea of where his thoughts might be heading."

"So what do we need to do?" Weaver asked, "How did you plan on handling your cycles if we can’t come in contact with you?"

"If worse comes to worst, I can use one of the holodecks. With luck, the deities might understand what they’ve done well enough to help rein in my abilities." Letting loose a big yawn, shi added, "Let’s sleep on it for now. In the morning we can continue." Shi hesitated a moment before adding, "Oh, wait, there is one more thing. Neal will want to go somewhere in the morning. Knowing that most of us won’t want him leaving, he will probably try to sneak out. Zhanch, you and the other Rakshani should go with him; maybe Quickwind and Shortdash as well."

Weaver snorted as she asked, "Why would we let him loose? Isn’t he banged up enough without going down there again?"

Shadowcrest met her eyes somberly. "It’s something he’s done every time he’s been to Earth. He seems to think it helps keep him sane, going back to something in the past."

"Where will he lead us?" Zhanch asked.

"To visit the Gene War monument," shi replied. "I don’t have enough to understand why he needs it, just that he does."

"Then he shall have it," Zhanch agreed, then she turned to leave.

As they filed out of the lounge, Shadowcrest heard Shortdash tell Zhanch, "Let us know when you are leaving, we will join you."

"If you don’t mind, we’ll keep you company," Weaver said as she and LongSock settled down to rest.

"Thank you," shi said. The lack of any mental contact was making it difficult for hir to relax. A thought intruded into hir mind, almost as if someone had whispered it. Shi snorted softly and grinned, wondering why shi had not thought of it. "Tess? Would it be possible for you to shift my fields to manual control?"

"Of course. How would you like to control them?"

"Voice control override with a second register, the second register will be a memory location you specify. I think the deities are going to vary it as required, you just need to check it every few seconds." Smiling at Weaver shi said, "If I seem to be in trouble, just say ‘full fields’ and Tess will lock me down. My deity friend seems to think they can control my sensitivity long enough to let me get some sleep."

Weaver nodded and settled back down, her head turned so she could check on Shady by just opening her eyes.

Tess dimmed the room to twilight, and added the soft sound of some classical strings to lull them to sleep.


The next morning found Neal moving carefully. Tess’ medical systems having knitted his bones, but most of the muscle damage was still sore. He had already been out when he got to sickbay, so he had no idea who had slept in the other, now-empty bed.

He was only a little surprised to find someone waiting for him to leave sickbay. Kestrel matched his slower pace as he headed for his cabin for fresh clothes.

After he had dressed in something a little heavier than his standard ship wear, she asked, "Did you want breakfast before going down?"

"Down where?" he asked, not remembering mentioning any plans.

"We were told you would want to visit the Gene War monument. Or are you going to put it off for later?"

Neal stopped and stared at her, and then he grew thoughtful. "Shadowcrest," he murmured as he started walking again. "So it wasn’t all a dream, shi was in my mind."

"Shi was momentarily in everyone’s mind from what shi said. That’s what overloaded hir – too many thoughts."

"What else did shi tell you?" he asked as they headed to the galley.

"Only that you would be going downside, with or without us. We would prefer with."

"The last I heard, it was not always a fur-friendly zone," Neal commented.

"Then it is a good thing you will be there to protect us," Kestrel replied, her tone suggesting that them going with him was not open to debate.

Neal snorted. He had planned on having just Tess watch his back with one of her Zulus overhead. But he knew that arguing with Kestrel, or any of his mates for that matter, would be a waste of time.

Most of the others were still eating when they entered the dining area; Stew had set up a breakfast buffet. She now stood behind one of her moveable hotplates, whipping up omelets on request.

Neal noticed that Shadowcrest was sitting in the corner, eating quietly by hirself. Neal also noted the portable field generator wrapped around hir waist, its display lights suggesting the strength of the field was being shifted almost constantly.

Neal nodded at Stew and indicated he just wanted a small omelet. As she poured out the eggs, he gathered a few things from the buffet before sitting down across from Dessa.

Noticing that Dessa was trying to not meet his gaze, Neal reached over and stabbed a piece of fruit off her plate. He then watched Dessa watch him eat it. She made no move to stop him as he stabbed a second piece. Neal then broke open one of the pastries he’d taken from the buffet and poured honey over it. Dessa allowed him to place it in her mouth, as most of the tension left her shoulders.

"I thought taking food off a female’s plate could get a male clawed," Nova commented, having seen just such an incident while they were on Raksha.

"It can and does," Zhanch agreed. "The male is claiming the female is his. Depending on how strongly she disagrees, his life could be at risk. The only males that can safely take a female’s food are her mates, or very close and trusted friends."

Dessa was studying her plate again, so Neal reached out and lifted her chin with a finger. "I was just reminding Dessa that I still consider her my mate. She seems to have thought that saving my life would change that."

Still looking a little worried, Dessa said, "But I injured you by not considering that your body couldn’t handle what I tried to make it do."

"And if you had taken the time to consider it, we may not have gotten around that corner fast enough. Better a few minor injuries versus being buried in the rubble," Neal said as he stroked her face. She turned her head to lick his palm.

"Get a room you two," Suzan said with a knowing grin, as she slid a loaded plate between them. Having seen what Neal was up to, and knowing a little of the Rakshan traditions, she had upsized Neal’s omelet into something they could share.


The personnel shuttle set down gently on a large patch of bare rock overlooking the Gene War monument.

Neal led them to, and then through, the large gazebo-styled information center, and out to the canyon side. They followed him down a ramp leading deeper into the canyon. The trail started as a well maintained path, but it degraded the further they proceeded. Neal stopped almost two miles later, where the rough footpath ended at the ruins of a massive wall. A curved wall that at one time had spanned the canyon.

What was this?" Zhanch asked.

"A dam," Shortdash replied. "At one time this spot was covered in over thirty meters of water."

Quickwind watched Neal as his eyes traced back and forth over the ruins as if reconstructing it in his mind. "You saw it before it was destroyed," shi accused.

"Don’t be silly," Neal teased hir. "Your mate just pointed out that this side was under water."

Dessa noted that he hadn’t answered hir question. "What does this place mean to you?"

Neal let out a long sigh before answering, "I come here to remind myself that there are those that will do whatever it is they think it will take to keep someone else from winning, even if it means that everyone loses."

"A lot of fighting occurred in this canyon, this dam was where it ended. The furs and their human allies had managed to take refuge in the dam itself; its name was Hoover by the way. Unwilling to wait them out, and not bothering to consider the consequences, the other side nuked the dam. They got the few hundred furs, at a cost of millions of lives on both sides. Those that didn’t die from the blast and the wall of water the destroyed dam released, died in the general flooding downstream. Then came the radiation sickness for anything that drank the water. Downstream was one twisting ribbon of death; the other was the cloud of fallout whipped about by the winds. The dam also supplied a lot of the power for the area, that left a lot of places without and caused even more fighting as each side blamed the other." Neal snorted, "That battle was to be the primer cap that touched off the world wide furry/human war."

"Were you there?" Zhanch asked.

"No. If I had been, I wouldn’t be here now, now would I?"

"Damn it," Shortdash gently cursed. "And you’re still too banged up to tickle attack and force the answers out of you."

"Yeah, lucky me," he agreed.

"There’s more," Dessa half asked.

"This used to be part of what was once called the United States. It’s funny that the two bloodiest wars ever fought on its soil were over the same disagreement – slavery. The first war ended up being called the civil war. It was the slave states against those that thought no man should be a slave. The gene war was those that thought furs were good for nothing but slavery, and those that disagreed." Neal shook his head. "I guess it’s true what they say, ‘those that don’t study history are destined to repeat it’."

After a few minutes of silence, he led them back up the trail.

Still sore from the day before, Neal stopped at the monument this time, both to give himself a break as well as give the others time to look around. Perched on the canyon rim, the large structure gave an impressive view of that section of the canyon. On the side away from the canyon were several fountains and some artwork, even a wading pool to cool tired paws in, though the northern breeze would make it a little chilly to use in late November. A few small statues of both humans and furs dotted the area, the interactive display screens explaining the parts they played in bringing the gene war to an end. While the Rakshani looked around, the chakats kept a close eye on Neal. They didn’t miss him nodding to three of the statues, or glaring at a couple of the others.

As they made their way back to the shuttle, Shortdash commented, "Why do I get the feeling the history books would show the Gene Wars in a different light if you had written them?"

"History is written by the winners, or in this case, by the survivors. Considering that some parts of ‘the truth as I know it’ would probably spark a new war, I think it best to leave the past in the past."

"This from someone who just told us that those how don’t learn from the past will repeat it," shi said with a soft snort.

"I have no proof, having missed some of the more important moments. But what I do know or have heard of some of the players suggests that they could only act in an honorable manner if you held a gun to their heads."

"So you admit to being alive back then!" shi proclaimed in triumph.

"Or, I am simply claiming to have seen personal accounts that paint those events in a different light," he said with a grin, knowing shi wouldn’t be able to read the truth from the lie.

"Will you tell us the whole truth about something for once?" Quickwind asked, shi was growing tired of the near constant sparring between Neal and hir mate.

"Do I get to pick what it is?" Neal asked with a grin. When shi nodded, he said, "Here’s a piece of personal history for you. You may know the first chakat was born using a Bengal tiger to carry hir to term. What you may not know is five tigers were ordered, but they were not the five that were received."

When Neal didn’t continue, Shortdash said, "That’s it? Where is the rest of your ‘whole truth’?"

Neal smiled into hir stare as he added, "Only that I had a hand in making sure the wrong tigers were received. You’re a cleaver little chakat, you shouldn’t have too much trouble figuring out how and why I might have done such a thing."

The ride back up to the Folly was a quiet one as the others thought about the hints Neal had revealed.


"There’s a Jack Benny from Raynor trying to bother you again," Tess said, once everyone was back aboard the Folly.

"Again?" Neal asked.

Weaver snorted, "He’s been calling every couple of hours since our little incident yesterday. Tess had suggested that we not bother you with it until things had settled down a bit."

"More proof that she knows me all too well. Patch him through, let him only see and hear me."

"Will do boss."

"Where is the rest of our shipment?" the talking head demanded when he could see Neal.

"Delayed while I recover from a little attack I had yesterday," Neal said. "Almost being crushed under your shipment can take a lot out of a guy."

The head grinned. "We can help with that. I’ll send you one of our crews to help you get things settled. In fact, with furs not liking you much right now, we can assign them to you until all this blows over."

"That won’t be necessary, I’ll have the next pod down tomorrow morning, the second should be unloaded before nightfall," Neal responded.

"I insist. We can’t have our main shipper unable to ship things."

"And I insist you don’t. I can get your shipment down without your assistance."

"Bill Stalk told me you would be a tough nut to crack. He suggested I remind you that we’re not afraid to play ‘hardball’."

"Oh? So you think you’re up to playing the sandlot bully?" Neal asked, a grin forming on his lips.

"If need be. That’s one big ship. You need our business to keep it running."

"Oh, I think the Folly and I can survive without you or your kind of business. Tell you what; let’s test your hypothesis. After I unload the last two pods of your deliveries, the Folly will stop moving Raynor material. If you are right, my business will fold before yours does."

"YOU CAN’T DO THAT!" he bellowed, his face turning red.

"Sure I can. In case you weren’t informed, I only contract by the job. If I don’t sign any more contracts with Raynor, I won’t be shipping any more Raynor cargo. Tell Billy I hope he likes my ‘pitch’," Neal added as he signaled for Tess to drop the connection.

"You burnt that bridge to a crisp," Tess commented as she disconnected. "I take it they get a busy signal from now on?"

"Hmmm, burning bridges, that bridge was already badly scorched when I couldn’t get in touch with Snowfall, even that PI is no longer returning my messages. The drugs and the way he now thought they had an advantage with the furs hating me were the last flames. Tess, if they do call, you can always ‘take a message’. Who knows? Maybe they will come up with something funny or creative."

"Should get even better when they can’t find their other drugs."

"Speaking of which, how goes the hunt?"

"Almost done, boss. It looks like it will total almost four carriers worth."

"Is it valuable?" Quickdash asked.

Shortdash snorted, "That stuff makes Boronike look cheap in comparison." Looking at Neal, shi asked, "What are you going to say when they demand it back?"

Neal’s smile was not a pleasant one. "Demand what back? If we ask the point of origin, they will deny that there was anything not on the manifest, and it’s not on the manifest. So what is it they’re missing again?"

Shortdash hmmm-ed, "If they try to take it to the authorities, they expose the fact that they have been smuggling. Either way, they lose what you found."

"By hiding their drugs among similar ones, only a very detailed scan could detect the difference. If they let it be known that they did it to me, they will expose all their cargo runs to much more careful inspections."

Watching Neal closely, Quickwind said, "As I recall, it is used in regeneration and age reversals. We could all live forever with what you have in those carriers."

Neal gave hir a funny look as he shook his head. "No," he said, "I’ll find someone that can put it to good use." A soft snort escaped as his added, "And despite appearances, I don’t really want to live forever."

The wall speaker emitted a raspberry, "He just keeps finding ‘just one more thing’ that he thinks needs to be done," Tess said.

"The last time I was processed, I had decided that I didn’t have the time for something," Neal pointed out, then he shrugged, "I’ll leave it to you and the Traveler to decide when I’ve worn out my usefulness."

Looking hurt, Dessa asked, "Don’t we get a say in the matter?"

"What makes you think you will still be here? I have a tendency of running people off after a while. Right now Shadowchaser holds the record at thirty-three years."

"I thought Tess and the Traveler have been here longer,"

"One’s a captive audience, the other is always ‘out of sight, out of mind’."

"You will find me hard to scare off," Dessa promised.

"Of that I have no doubt."


After dinner found most of the crew in the main lounge, when Dessa walked in carrying a large flat box. Leaning the box up against the wall, she opened it and carefully removed a frameless painting. After a moment’s thought, she pressed the painting to the wall. She released it after giving the bonding agent time to secure the painting.

Dessa's portrait

Turning back to the others, Dessa said, "Some things are meant to be enjoyed by others." Looking at Neal, she added, "This is my humble gift to the clan of Foster.

The painting was of a much older Dessa, seated on a chair that was padded by one of the native animals found on the plains of Raksha’s main continent.

SharpTongue studied at the painting for several moments before asking, "When did you pose for Damalia? I had heard it was almost impossible to get her to do personal portraits."

Dessa smiled. "She still does a few, but this one was done about fifty years ago. She was already a very fine painter, but her funds couldn’t keep up with her appetite to travel. My father was the captain of a ship that gave her passage, and this painting was her fee."

SharpTongue shook her head. "Your father got a heck of a bargain."

Dessa laughed. "Funny, Damalia said she was the one who got the bargain."

"I’ve met her once," Neal admitted as he admired the painting. The pale gold Amur leopard had been trying to find some paints used by the natives on New Baikal. At the time, Neal hadn’t had any of their paints. But he did find that he had a few of their painted art pieces. After a little careful scanning by Tess, and a little replication, Damalia had her paints. Neal toyed with idea of finally calling in his marker for those paints, but dismissed it. There was no way he would be able to get Stormy to sit still that long.

One of Tess’s carts rolled in with a protective cover to place over the painting. Once in place, Tess would replace the air with an inert gas to help preserve it.


The next morning saw Neal using Alpha to set down one of the loaded pods. He noticed a lot more security in the area. In the nearby rail yard he could see an empty train waiting to be loaded, so there would be no carrier stacks setting around this time.

As Neal opened the main cargo door, a female Quange stepped up and handed him a data chip. As he dropped the chip into his reader, she cleared her throat. "They didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt."

"Spotters are often used to insure that nothing is in the way of moving machinery. Something that might have prevented them from being incarcerated for attempted manslaughter," Neal said a little stiffly, eyes still on his reader.

"They didn’t know anyone was around."

Neal reached over to his desk and handed her a personal holo-viewer. After adjusting it for her head, she activated it.

At her gasp, Neal explained what she was viewing, "What you are seeing is what my mates found when they followed the sounds of a screaming cub. The two eight year olds trying to calm their little sisters. That object in the stasis field is what was left of their big sister after your friends decided to play ‘tip the carriers’. Shi was carrying one of the cubs when shi was crushed."

When she tried to return the viewer Neal shook his head.

"Keep it," he told her. "When they ask why what they did was so wrong, you can show it to them. And their families, and anyone else that thinks they are being treated unjustly."


The unloading was half finished when a Raynor Inc. PTV and a bus pulled up. Neal recognized the man getting out of the PTV’s passenger area as the talking head he had dealt with the evening before.

Jack Benny waited until over a dozen men from the bus had joined him before approaching the pod.

Neal had a sour look on his face as he said, "You and your men are neither needed nor wanted here."

"Just protecting the vested interest of the company," Jack said with an evil grin.

"After I’m done unloading, Raynor won’t have any vested interest in me or the Folly."

"Let’s discuss that. Tommy…" Tommy was six inches taller then Neal’s six feet, and looked like someone that should have been on the pro wrestling circuit.

He was almost to the cargo door when Zhanch stepped out of the shadows, grinning down at him.

Neal’s smile now matched the one that Jack had worn a moment ago. "I see your thug, and raise you one oversized kitten with very sharp claws," he said to Jack’s look of shock.

One of the men still with Jack reached into his coat pocket.

A ‘Cha-chunk!’ came from the shadows that Zhanch had just left. "If your hand comes out of that pocket with a weapon, you lose the hand," a voice growled.

He carefully removed his empty hand from his coat pocket as Dessa stepped into view. While she had something that looked similar to Neal’s ‘Betsy’, it was built more along Rakshani lines. The barrel was half again the diameter of ‘Betsy’ and the slug it threw was four times as heavy. In the style of some Rakshani weapons, it included a ‘claw’ mounted to the side of the weapon, allowing her to ‘gouge’ someone on that side without releasing her grip on the weapon.

"As you can see, I now have a crew. I suggest you take your hired muscle and leave."

Jack stuttered as he asked Zhanch, "How can you work for him? Haven’t you seen the news from New Kiev? He hates furs!"

Zhanch seemed to disappear, only to reappear right in front of Jack, his men stepping back in surprise at the large Rakshan’s speed. She growled as she picked him up by his shirt. Nose to nose to him, she snarled, "We were there. The only things he killed that day were humans. FUR hating humans. One of which almost killed Dessa. " She then dropped him in disgust, her nose telling her that he had soiled himself.

"Do you think they got the message?" Dessa asked as Zhanch returned to the pod. Jack and his crew were beating a hasty retreat back to their transports.

"Time will tell, and they won’t have too many more chances. With any luck, we will have the next pod unloaded before they discover anything’s missing."


The call from Raynor Inc. came that evening, Neal had been going over the pods that needed to be unloaded at Melbourne the next day.

A new talking head had replaced Jack; this one was younger and seemed very nervous about something.

"There’s some cargo missing from your delivery," he stated without preamble.

Neal made busy work for a moment, bringing up the load manifest for their order. "I have your manifest in front of me, which carriers are missing what items?"

"Uh… I-It’s not on the manifest," said the talking head.

"Have you confirmed it was actually sent?" Neal asked. As the talking head stammered, Neal smiled as he added, "You are putting me in a rather interesting position. The only reason to have some of your cargo not on the manifest is if you are trying to cheat me, or you are trying to smuggle something using my reputation to hide behind. Either of those reasons would make it in my best interest to get the authorities involved. So tell me, what is missing that was not on the manifest I was given?"

Just before the connection was lost, Neal saw the talking head look to the side, as if to ask what to say.

"Short and sweet," Shortdash said from hir pad in the corner. "Somehow I don’t think they will give up that easily."

"Agreed. But now that we don’t need to make any more trips to Big Sur, they will have to come to us."

"Us?" shi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You are aiding and abetting. You either don’t have a problem with what I’ve done, or you’re waiting to see what I do with my ill gotten gains."

"A little of both, actually. You haven’t broken any laws per se, but if you bend them much further, some may snap."

"I was thinking of donating it to a good cause. It was that, or drop it into the sun."

Shortdash snorted. "Someone might recover them before they finished their trip."

"Or I could let the kids use them for target practice, push one carrier out the locks and see if they can hit it with another," Neal said with a grin.

"That wouldn’t destroy the drugs," shi pointed out.

"No, but it would scatter them so badly that it wouldn’t be worth gathering up. Add sending them counter spin-ward, and the pieces won’t be in orbit long."

"I think there’s enough junk orbiting Terra without you adding to the mess."

Neal let out a long sigh, "You Star Corps types are just no fun at all."

"The way you suggested it suggests that you have used unwanted cargo for target practice before."

Neal nodded. "One time the ammo was a dozen pirates in heavy armor suits; the target was their own ship. You’ve no doubt noticed the carrier transport system?" At hir nod, he grinned. "The Folly can back into a port and transfer cargo through the aft access port. I just let them get into the transfer system, and almost to the forward end."

Shortdash’s eyes widened. "Then I assume you ‘fired’ them down the shaft with a little gravity."

Neal nodded. "A hundred G’s got them moving quite nicely. Made quite a mess of their ship as I recall."

Shi shivered slightly, the kids sometimes used that area as a large zero-g playground. More then once shi had seen Tess carefully apply a little localized gravity to keep someone from running into something headfirst.

Neal saw hir shiver and shook his head. "It’s as safe as anywhere else onboard, and it’s really the best place for them to practice in zero g."

"I know. It’s just that everything on this ship seems to have more than one reason to be there."

"Nothing strange about that, I like having options."

"Those heavy doors going to the pool area – what purpose do they serve?"

"A holdover from the original design. That pool doubles as one of our water reserves. The doors keep the water inside in case we lose gravity."

"You embrace new tech, but use old tech as well."

"Both have their places, and sometimes it is the same place."

"I did a little hunting on the webs about your Bengal tigers."

"And what did you find?"

"That five of them were ordered for the labs, while another five were ordered from the same source at the same time for a zoo. Nothing shows that there were any swaps, or reasons for swapping."

"You didn’t look far enough, or you would have told me why."

"Please, no more games."

"Just this once, I’ll make you work all the harder for the next one." At hir nod, he smiled. "What you missed is what happened to the ones that went to the zoo. In less than six months they had all been put down after mauling their keepers." Taking a sip of his tea, he continued, "I was to pick up and transport all ten of the tigers, and I had an idea what the lab intended to do with theirs. Imagine my surprise when the ones for the zoo were actually friendly enough to want to be petted, while the ones for the lab were all man haters."

"Why would there be such a discrepancy between the two sets?"

"I didn’t have the contacts and resources I do now, but what little I could find suggested that others also known what the lab wanted those tigers for. It seems they didn’t want any new furs to be created."

"How would that have stopped chakats from being created?"

"Think it through. Quickdash has a lot of Quickwind’s outlook on life, some of which formed while shi was still in the womb. How friendly would that first chakat cub have been if hir mother had carried a strong hatred for humans?"

Shi just stared at him, unable to finish the thought.

"Instead of that, we have some chakats that can actually love humans. Good thing too, or I would be in a lot of trouble right now."

"So now you claim to be the reason that chakats exist."

"Nope. You’ll have to blame Charles and Katherine Turner for that. I just helped keep someone from screwing up their good work."

"Just how much history have you changed?"

Neal frowned. "That’s the problem with history; at any particular point in time, doing something may just seem to be the best or right thing to do. It’s only later that you can look back and see what a seemingly minor change or decision has brought about. I had met Kat long before I moved the tigers. I had no intention of seeing her or her mate hurt by one of those man haters, so I swapped the orders. It was only later that I got to see what they had used the tigers for." Looking at Shortdash, but not really seeing hir, he smiled and added, "I think it was worth the effort."


A little later, Shortdash got Shadowcrest alone for a moment.

"You said you can sometimes get some of Neal’s thoughts and memories with the right trigger words. Would you try one for me?" At Shady's nod, shi whispered, "Bengal tigers."

Shadowcrest flinched back as if avoiding a blow, and then shi calmed down and thought for a moment. "My initial reaction was from the image of one of the big cats trying to take a swipe at me; not a pleasant memory," shi shuddered again as shi added, "I’m not sure how Neal can face us, much less Rakshani with that in his head."

"Is there more?"

"A little more, but it doesn’t really seem to belong. He’s holding a newborn chakat. There is a human female with him. Looking at her, all I get is ‘Cat’."

"Kat, as in cha-kat," Shortdash absently corrected hir, as shi slowly sat down.

"Not what you expected to find?" Shadowcrest asked, looking anxiously at the older chakat.

Shortdash gave hir a half-hearted smile. "Maybe this is why he has learned to only give the rest of us half-truths, his whole truths can be a bit of a shock."

"Is this something I should keep from the others?"

"As Neal would say, ‘your call’. You now have a better idea than I as to what Neal would want."

"Then as ‘my call’ I think I’ll let you in on another of his ‘little secrets’. Mind you, I have no proof or actual memories, just feelings and impressions." Shi waited for Shortdash to nod before continuing, "One of the reasons behind him pushing his colonies is that he has seen similar ‘bad vibes’ between furry and non-furry before. His conscious mind doesn’t see it yet, but his subconscious mind is seeing parallels between now and just before the gene war began."

"He thinks there will be another war?"

"The furry hate movement seems to be growing. While the Humans First types are what makes the headlines, there seems to be even more going on behind the scenes. Neal can’t find the root source, so he’s making what he hopes will be a few safe havens."

"And the monument?"

"He goes there to try and remember how bad the hatred was back then. He’s trying to gauge how close history may be to repeating itself."


In the early morning hours, the Melbourne spaceport seemed laid back and relaxed after the bustle of Big Sur.

After getting the cargo transfers started, Neal collected a couple of packages and made his way over to the personnel section and the ground transport rentals. He was about to select one of the smaller ground cars from the rental fleet, when a furry arm reached around him and punched the ‘taur van’ option. Looking behind him, he told Moonglow, "I was just going to drop off a gift; no need for additional keepers."

Moonglow grinned as the larger vehicle pulled up. "Are you are forgetting that Midnight is our friend as well? Plus this will give us something to do with the little ones for a few hours," shi said as Shadowcrest, Nova, CalmMeadow and the little ones started clambering aboard.

Neal had planned to just take the quickest route there, but with the little ones (and some not so little ones) gawking at everything they saw, Neal changed the computer’s instructions to take a slower and more scenic itinerary.


The van pulled to a stop in front of a large spread-out home that Neal had learned to associate with taurs. Seven miniature missiles erupted from the van, and streaked across the yard, stopping at random points to inspect the grass, bushes and trees, then off to the next thing to catch their attention. Then the dwelling’s front door opened and gave them a new place to explore.

"Hey!" shouted a surprised voice from just inside the door.

Neal had just managed to bend over and grab Starblazer as she went by, he now looked up to see a large, dark haired, golden jaguar patterned chakat; hir green eyes busily examining the cub shi had just caught trying to invade hir home, while another was gently but firmly wrapped in hir tail.

"My apologies, they haven’t quite mastered the idea that there are some places they aren’t allowed to go without permission," Neal said as he approached hir. Shi was just a little taller then Moonglow, with a bust just slightly smaller than the wet nurse.

"No harm done," shi said as shi tickled the cub before giving hir a hug and releasing hir. After doing the same to hir tail captive, shi turned back to Neal. "Midnight warned me that a crazy human with a small hoard of little ones might pay us a visit. I am Forestwalker, child of Desertsand and Longstripe. Forest to my friends."

"It is nice to finally put a face to the name Midnight gave us. I am Neal Foster. Once again, I apologise for the invasion."

"Nothing we’re not used to around here," shi assured him with a grin. "Catching wayward cubs is somewhat of a game in this household."

"One that you appear to need more practice at," said an amused voice from behind hir.

A long-eared fox morph, just under five feet tall walked into view. Firestorm was being given a cuddle as shi was carried back to the front door.

"Leanna, this is that ‘Captain Neal Foster’ Midnight warned us about,"

"Stormy…" Neal said having noticed that hir little paws were busy.

Stormy’s ears drooped. Leanna was about to console hir when shi looked down and realized that Neal’s scolding was for the present, not the past. Without hir noticing, Stormy had already released half the fasteners holding hir top closed. "Why you little scamp!" shi laughed, while giving the kitten a tickle.

"I see shi’s not clinging to you as much," Midnight said as shi joined them with their newest addition in hir arms.

"No, now the problem is shi likes undressing strangers." At hir raised eyebrow, he added, "The kids taught hir to give others ‘milk checks’. As you can see, shi thinks it is great fun."

"No harm done," Leanna said, echoing Forestwalker. "I caught hir sitting quietly at the bedroom doorway, watching Midnight feed Littleroar."

"It’s nice to see shi’s learning a few manners. Disturbing the little one’s meal would not have been polite."

"Now if we could just get hir to not interrupt those bigger than shi is at mealtime," Moonglow said with a smile.

"Everyone anyways gets it backwards," Neal said. "You don’t have the cub, the cub has you."

Midnight suddenly realized that something was bothering hir mate. "Forest, what’s wrong?" shi asked as shi watched hir mate stare at one of the chakats in Neal’s group. Nova, CalmMeadow and Moonglow shi remembered, but the much larger chakat was a stranger – Midnight’s eyes widened as shi recognized the fur pattern. "Shadowcrest?" shi whispered, not believing hir eyes.

What had caught Forestwalker’s attention was hir inability to sense the larger chakat; it was like shi wasn’t there! Then shi noticed the heavy belt and the status lights around hir waist. Shi took a step towards Shadowcrest, only to have two of the others block hir path.

"The field is for hir protection," CalmMeadow said when Forestwalker glared at hir.

"You all might as well come in," Midnight said as shi gently led Forestwalker away from the door. "Neal, why is it every time we meet you have explaining to do?"

"Two data points do not a set make," Neal reminded hir as he sat down after doubling up one of the cushions.

"But they can be the beginning of a trend," shi replied as shi settled down.

"New Kiev came back to bite me on the backside."

"So I’ve heard. We saw a report yesterday of the edited video and the original. Our local news furs didn’t pick up the edited video until the controversy over it came to light. It appears that some one does not like you, Captain Foster."

"And they are spreading hate and discontent," Neal agreed. "A couple of furry forklift operators decided to tip over some of my cargo, Shadowcrest and I were injured as a result."

"You had to process hir? Just how badly was shi hurt?"

Shadowcrest turned hir upper torso and placed hir paw on hir lower torso almost a third of the way from hir tail. Shi shuddered slightly as shi realized that shi knew exactly which point on hir lower spine to touch. Looking at Midnight, shi said, "From this point back, crushed by one of the carriers."

"As bad as Dessa," Midnight commented. At Shadowcrest's nod, shi added, "That helps explain your sudden growth, but not the portable field generator."

"I seem to be rather ‘gifted’ now. So much so, that I can’t shield myself from others."

At Forest’s raised eyebrow, Midnight explained, "Shi’s not quite twelve as I recall. Instead of growing into it, shi got it all at once."

"May I?" Forest asked Shadowcrest.

Shadowcrest looked to Neal. He shrugged and said, "Your call little one." Shi heard the unspoken ‘I’ll have the trank darts ready’.

Shi smiled at Forest and said, "Okay, just give me a moment to prepare." Looking towards Leanna, shi held out hir arms as shi said, "Stormy, I need a hug please."

Before Stormy could leap, Leanna hopped up to press the cub into hir arms.

"No! Just…" Neal had started to say ‘Just let hir jump’, but contact had already been made.

Shady quickly backed up until hir backside bumped the wall, while Stormy leaped clear of both of them.

Still standing in the middle of the room, Leanna looked confused. "What happened?" shi asked. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Not intentionally," Neal assured hir. "Shi was going to use Stormy to get hir baseline, but shi probably got a little of you just now as well."

"I don’t understand."

"Let me see if I can give you an example. Have you ever had your eyes dilated?" At hir nod, he continued, "You can’t control how much light you see, so even low light levels are blinding. That’s Shady’s mental control right now – everything is too bright. Then we throw in another problem. To protect hir ‘eyes’, shi’s wearing blinders that keep hir from seeing any light at all. Just like your eyes in the dark, they go ultra-sensitive in their effort to sense anything at all. Each of us puts out a mental ‘light’ to hir; the little ones don’t seem to be quite as blinding to hir as the rest of us. Shi just wanted Stormy, sort of like letting your eyes get use to a candle’s glow before turning on the room lights."

"And by holding on to Stormy, I blinded hir," Leanna slowly said.

"Shi wanted a candle flame, and got a flashbulb," Neal agreed. "It will take hir a minute or three to recover from the overload."

"Will shi be okay?"

"I think so. If not, I’ll call in the heavy artillery." At hir questioning look he smiled, "Hir first overload was with a couple dozen of us, it took some help to bring hir down."

"Shi’s almost as bad as you, father," Shady said, arms still over hir head as shi took in several deep breaths. "Stormy? Help please."

Stormy brushed up against Shady a few times before offering hirself for a hug.

At Leanna’s puzzle look, Neal explained, "Just like you picking up something that you think might be too hot to handle. You get your arm close, and then you might brush the back of your paw against it as a test before you actually try to grip it. If hir touch was too much for Shady, Stormy was ready to back off."

Shadowcrest cuddled Firestorm for a minute before looking up at Forestwalker. Extending hir arm, shi said, "Let’s make contact with the backs of our arms. That way either of us can quickly break the connection."

Forest extended hir arm to touch Shady’s, only to yank it back after the briefest of touches. Of all the minds shi had ever been in contact with, very few had been this powerful. But where those minds had been in tight control of themselves, Shady’s was wild and undisciplined. Forest stepped back, not wishing to make contact again.

Midnight looked at hir mate. "That bad?" shi asked.

Forest nodded, "A lot of power with very little control. And even being prepared for it didn’t help, for a moment I knew exactly what they mean by ‘a wild bull in a china shop’."

Shady nodded, "Shortdash and Quickwind think some of their friends on Chakona can help teach me to control myself."

"A month away," Forest commented. Shi had gotten a flood of impressions from Shady, mostly of things that were currently worrying hir. "I know you are thinking about using the holodeck for your heat and rut. May I make a suggestion?" At Shady’s nod, shi smiled, "It doesn’t have to be sterile and mechanical. Have a partner in the holodeck with you. Echo or duplicate yourselves and make love to each other’s echo. I’ve done it before with Boyce and the only down side was the lack of mental touching."

Shady snorted. "I should have thought of that! Neal uses that trick often enough in training. It allows us to practice things that might otherwise injure or kill our opponent."

Neal nodded. "Makes it easier to teach them to not pull their punches. Depending on where the safety cutoff is set, a skull cracking blow can be turned into a minor thump."

"A good thing too," CalmMeadow said with a grin. "Neal has even taken down Zhanch a time or two."

"The rest of the time, she stomps me into the ground," he said, grinning.

Midnight had noticed the cubs were all mesmerized by a large bush they could see just outside the window. A growing breeze was pushing the bush back and forth like a flag. "Would you like to play outside?" shi asked DarkStreak.

DarkStreak looked to Nova, who nodded as shi got up. "I’ll keep an eye on them," shi said as Midnight led them to the back door.

Moonglow smiled as shi also got up. "We had better join hir, there is no way shi can keep up with all of them."

The older cubs sought excitement in the upper limbs of one of the trees, clinging to the branches as the wind whipped them about. Starblazer and the younger chakats were content to stay on the ground, a new sight or scent around every turn.

The growing winds were bringing in heavy clouds, and the sky quickly darkened.

"Have they ever been out in the rain before?" Leanna asked from the porch, watching Neal watch the little ones.

"No, all ship or station born and raised," Neal replied as he glanced at the sky. "Looks like the makings for a nice little thunderstorm. Be prepared to be buried in frightened little furballs," he warned hir.

"Ready, willing, and able!" shi replied with a grin.

They didn’t have to wait for the lightning to bring the little ones inside; the first large drops of cold rain sent the younger ones scurrying for the cover of the porch.

Snowcloud and Patchwork had laughed when DarkStreak had asked where the water controls were so shi could set them a little warmer.

Everyone was back on the porch before the rain came down in earnest. As the cubs stared at the downpour, Midnight exchanged a few whispered words with Forest before going back inside.

Forest stepped up to Neal, who was watching the cubs watch the rain. "Why do I get the feeling that you want to go out and run through the rain like an over-aged cub?"

Neal grinned as he watched the heavy rain come down. Looking down at the cubs, he said, "If I go out there, they will follow. Besides, I didn’t bring a spare set of clothes."

"Neither of those are a problem. What’s really keeping you in?"

Neal just smiled as he shook his head, and looked back out into the rain. Forest hadn’t missed the glance he had given Shadowcrest. As Midnight returned, shi said, "This storm will blow out of the area tonight. Will you and your family like to join my family on the beach tomorrow?"

Neal had started to answer when Moonglow cut him off. "We would love to!" shi said. "How did you want to get there? Separately? Or meet up somewhere and go as a group?"

Knowing when his opinion was moot, Neal went back to watching the kids as they watched the rain.

As Moonglow and Forest discussed who would bring what, Shadowcrest stepped up behind Neal. "Aren’t you forgetting something?" shi asked.

"The gifts! Damn, they’re still in the transport," Neal muttered.

The front door slamming against its stop plate was the first sign that someone else had heard Neal’s reply. Going to the door they could see two little furs trying to get into the PTV. Neal reached into his pocket for the remote he had pulled from the dash and keyed the doors open. Watching DarkStreak and Spitfire scramble into the vehicle, he looked back at his hosts and commented, "I think we will start your beach party early by borrowing a couple of towels."

Forest and Leanna disappeared down the hallway, only to return moments later with a pile of towels each. Dropping their piles by the door, they each kept one to wrap around a cub as they ran back in. Some vigorous rubbing soon had most of the water off them, and it was time to see if the gifts had survived the water.

Since the packaging had been made to be easily recycled, they were in a little disarray after being carried through the heavy rain. Though damp, the gifts within had survived intact. For Littleroar, Neal had brought a little ball with a soft and fluffy tail attached to it. Turning it on, it began rolling aimlessly around the floor, the tail flipping randomly as the ball rolled. Littleroar stared at it for a minute before giving chase.

Neal’s gift to Midnight were some tops, some very large tops. When shi gave Neal a confused look, he indicated shi should put one on.

"A little too big Neal," Forest commented with a laugh. "There is enough room in there for hir and a cub or two!"

"That’s the idea," Neal replied. Making a couple adjustments to the straps, he then pulled the top open and gently dropped Littleroar into it. The cub found hirself held securely in a pocket just under Midnight’s breasts. Shi had no trouble climbing back out to see what was going on. As shi turned to nuzzled hir mother, Neal grinned. "Moonglow had mentioned that some of the wet nurses use these. The cub can nurse and sleep right up next to you while you have both paws free for whatever else needs doing."

"A practical gift from you?" Midnight asked in surprise.

"Or very impractical, depending on where you wear it," CalmMeadow said with a grin. "Some joker who will not be named, suggested we wear those tops on an ‘Alternate Thursday’. Wearing one of those once the others have filled it with chocolate pie gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘top heavy’!"

"‘Alternate Thursday’?" Forest asked Midnight.

"Remember the mess Ember made with the pie the first week we were back?"

"All over the kitchen!" Forest said, frowning. "You mean I can thank the Folly for that little disaster?

Midnight grinned. "It seems ‘Messy times’ was one of his treats for the first group of cubs he adopted. One of them was back on the Folly for a few months; shi and hir mate surprised Neal by rebuilding the room they used to use. Our family was invited to join in its reopening."

"You really let them throw pies all over the place?" Leanna asked. At Neal’s nod, shi grinned as shi said, "How do you clean the room afterwards? With a fire hose?"

Neal grinned, "I know you have been on the Pegasus, what did you do with your dirty dishes?"

"Put them back in the replicator," shi said, wondering what this had to do with cleaning a room.

"The ‘mess room’ is basically one big replicator, that’s how I can get pies to magically appear out of thin air. After we are done, the room cleans up the dirty dishes, as well as the floor, walls and ceiling."

"Told ya," Ember said, poking Stonefur.

The poke was returned with interest, which resulted in a pounce, which was also returned. The scuffling pair rolled into the still damp Spitfire who was happy to join in the playful fray. The adults watched as the rest of the cubs joined in, the older ones being careful not to crush the smaller ones. Littleroar watched all this with a growing alarm as the rolling, twisting, growling pile of fur rolled hir way. Before shi could run, two pairs of paws reached out and gently pulled hir in. Hir little roar was heard as shi disappeared into the furry pile, only to be followed by a giggle as someone gave hir a tickle.

The tangle of little ones came apart like magic when the front door slammed open again. A pair of soaked foxes rushed in, quickly followed by half a dozen waterlogged taurs.

While Forest and Midnight took their packages and saddlebags to the kitchen to see what could be salvaged from the soaking, the rest tried to help dry off the newcomers.

Neal found himself rubbing down a chakat with silvery gray fir. As shi used another towel on hir hair, shi twisted hir upper torso around to see who was giving hir a lower backrub. Raising a soggy eyebrow, shi said, "That’s strange, Forest didn’t mention that there would be more guests showing up."

Neal smiled as he kept working his way down hir lower torso. "We just dropped by to say hello, so Forest was almost as surprised as you. I’m Neal by the way."

"Silverpelt. My sister and I were visiting my nieces and got roped into helping get provisions for tomorrow." Frowning towards the kitchen shi added, "I know the breads are ruined, but the rest of it should be alright."

"Not a problem," Neal said, grinning. "I’ve been told that we will be joining you, so we need to gather supplies as well. Make a list and we can add it to ours."

"You’ve been told?" shi asked with a matching grin.

"As mate and adopted father, I find my opinion isn’t always in great demand," he chuckled.

"I know the feeling," said the male foxtaur. The comment earned him a wet tail slap from one of the other waterlogged chakats.

Moonglow had been helping towel hir off. Shi smirked as shi asked, "Too close to the truth?"

Still glaring at hir mate, shi said, "I listen to your opinions!"

"And then you ignore them!" Neal and the foxtaur chorused back, laughing when they realized that they had both been thinking the same thing.

Silverpelt grinned. "Give it up Goldie, they have your number."

Moonglow chuckled. "To paraphrase one of my co-mates ‘isn’t it nice to have a mate who knows his place’."

"It makes me thankful I have a big ship," Neal said. At Garrek’s raised eyebrow, he added, "More places to hide."

"Not as many I’ll bet as that freighter that has been in orbit the last few days. Goldie and I have been arguing about how they get it to warp."

"Magic," Neal said with a grin. "Lots of magic."

"There’s no such thing as magic," Patchwork piped up.

"Tell Mike that when you meet him tomorrow," Neal told hir. "Not only is there magic, but many different types."

"We are trying to not fill their heads with nonsense," Goldfur said with a frown.

"So you’re saying that that big freighter you two saw is powered by nonsense?" Neal asked with a grin.

Before Goldfur could reply, Forest came back into the front room, "We will need a few things for dinner tonight. Midnight and I will take the PTV once the storm dies down a little."

Silverpelt looked back at Neal again. While his hands were still on hir rump, he had stopped rubbing hir with the towel. He turned his head to look over at Shadowcrest. Shi looked back at him and started to grin, knowing that look in his eye.

"You wouldn’t dare, she hates not having plenty of warning!" shi said.

"But, she does like a challenge," Neal pointed out as he tapped his comm badge. "Tess, would you be so kind as to advise the cook that we will be having a few guests for dinner?" he said, grinning at Shadowcrest.

A few moments later Neal got a reply. "Tess, will you tell that idiot captain of yours that I need more than ‘a few guests’ to know how many to cook for on such short notice?"

Neal grinned. "Tess, tell that lazy cook that there will be three bipeds and eight chakat sized taurs. Oh yes, there are also half a dozen cubs to consider."

"Nine taurs," Silverpelt corrected. "My mate will be back in an hour or so."

There was a growl from the other side before the connection was terminated.

Midnight looked at Neal with a raised eyebrow. "That doesn’t sound like the happy bunny I last saw on your ship," shi commented as shi started helping Desertsand dry off.

"Some furs get a glow about them when they are with cub, others get cranky," Neal said as he went back to drying Silverpelt.

"I heard that," came from his comm badge.

Neal kept drying as he replied, "Now, did I say which of those types you happened to be?"

Silverpelt asked, "Is it safe to go to dinner after the captain has annoyed the cook?"

"Perfectly safe," Shadowcrest said with a laugh. "That is, for everyone but the captain!"

Moonglow nodded as shi helped dry Longstripe. "Suzan’s main fear is not having enough time to do everything the way she thinks it should be done. Even on short notice she can whip up some amazing meals."

"So why did she sound so upset?" Forest asked.

"Because she hasn’t had time to visit the local markets to see what she can find. Like any artist, her passion is assembling a beautiful meal, not just slapping something together."

"She sounds a lot like the bunny brothers," Forest commented.

"Just like them," Neal agreed. "If she had been a male I might have lost her to the Pegasus, they got along so well in the galley."

"Just so long as you didn’t get her too excited," Midnight said with a grin. "She would start hugging and kissing them."

"But they’re…" Forest started - only to be cut off by Midnight’s chuckle.

"And there lay the problem!" shi agreed. "Poor Suzan was banned more than once from the Pegasus's main galley." To the confused looks shi was getting, shi added, "The bunny boys we are talking about prefer other males, so having a female jumping all over them wasn’t their cup of tea. Despite her being female, they did care for her enough to donate some seed to help her have a child." Looking at Neal, shi asked, "I take it she caught?"

Neal grinned as he nodded. "Like some of her meals, she seems to have overdone it a bit." At hir raised eyebrow, he added, "Her scans show twins. Tess hasn’t told us the sex because Suzan doesn’t want to know."

"What does that mean to you?" Forest asked, having detected more than a few odd thoughts coming from this odd human.

Neal waved at the cubs, who were now almost as wet as the adults they were trying to help dry off. "I’ve already got a mess of brats, what’s two more?" he said with a grin.

Before any of them could object to his terminology, Stormy rushed out from between Windsong’s forelegs and jumped at Neal. Shi then began to squirm and wiggle as shi used his shirt for a towel.

"Brat!" Neal exclaimed as shi soaked his front.

The rest of the Folly’s cubs then joined in, knocking him over onto a taur pad and thoroughly wetting him down with their wet fur.

Moonglow chuckled as they soaked hir mate. To the others shi said, "You will find he doesn’t mean ‘brat’ or ‘furball’ in a derogatory way."

CalmMeadow smiled, "A couple of them prefer ‘brat’ to being told they are good little chakats."

"And Neal doesn’t have just two bunnies on the way," Nova said with a grin. "There are also three Rakshani cubs and a foxtaur pup as well."

"And you all just travel with Neal?" Longstripe asked.

"That’s a long story," CalmMeadow quietly said.

"And different for each of us," Moonglow added.

"How can it be different for each of you?" Forest asked.

CalmMeadow started with, "Twelve of us snuck into a carrier that we thought was bound for another ship, while another four were trapped in another carrier. Both of which just happened to be loaded onto Neal’s ship."

Shadowcrest piped up with, "Suzan came onboard when Neal kept a promise I made. Then we rescued some Rakshani from a pirate ship."

Moonglow continued, "I was hired as a wet nurse and nanny for a newborn chakat that Neal delivered and adopted."

Nova ended with, "My sisters and I were rescued after our station was taken over."

From under the pile of little furs, Neal added, "And along the way we bumped into one of my other daughters, as well as the Pegasus, and a couple of other Star Fleet ships."

Goldfur frowned as shi said, "Boyce and Midnight have told us a bit about their adventurers with a crazy captain in a oversized ship…" shi looked over at Midnight.

Midnight nodded as shi said, "Yes, the human lying under that pile of wet cubs is the captain that thinks nothing of dragging the Pegasus around like a toy on a string with his oversized, magically powered ship."

"Magically," Goldfur repeated, still frowning at the term.

"The main propulsion for the Pegasus seems to be a particular blend of coffee," Neal pointed out. Seeing Patchwork’s scowl, he added, "We are just using the word ‘magic’ in place of saying ‘I don’t know why something works the way it does’. I’ve found that knowledge can remove a lot of the ‘magic’, but there always seems to be a little left."

"Prove it!" shi demanded.

"Proving magic…" Neal said slowly. "I myself have never been that good at it, but I’ll give it a try," he said as he nudged the cubs out of the way and reached into his shirt pocket.

As he pulled a small square card out of his pocket, Goldfur’s eyes narrowed. With his wet shirt stuck to him, there had been no place for the card to hide.

Handing the card to Patchwork, he asked hir to place it on one of the low tables.

"Now what?" Patchwork asked staring at a thin black card five centimeters on a side.

"Try unfolding it," Neal suggested.

Patchwork found that the one card was really two, with one side connected. Once opened, shi could detect another seam, which shi also unfolded, only to find another. Shi soon had a forty-centimeter square with no more seams to unfold.

"Lift it by the corners," Neal said with a smile.

When shi had lifted it high enough, another square came down from each side, forming a cube. One last square unfolded, closing the bottom of the box. Neal had hir set the box down, and then told hir to try opening the top. The room was quickly filled with the aroma of fresh pastries; the box was filled with assorted donuts and small cakes.

At hir wide-eyed stare, Neal grinned. "While I know several of those in this room can explain what just happened, would you prefer a logical explanation, or magical treats?"

Hir answer was to grab a donut in each paw and see how much powdered sugar shi could get on hir muzzle. The other cubs quickly rushed over to claim their share, only to find the bottom of the box before everyone had been served.

Stonefur was staring at the empty box, a pout about to turn into a quivering chin, when Neal asked if shi would like a treat too. At hir almost tearful nod, he suggest shi close the box. He then asked hir to tap on the top three times. At hir doubtful look he smiled and asked if shi trusted him. At hir hesitant nod, he again asked hir to tap the box three times. After shi did, he asked hir to open it. Hir eyes lit up when shi peeked under the top to find the box full again.

As the cubs, and adults, emptied and ‘refilled’ the box a few more times, Goldie stepped over to Neal.

"That wasn’t really magic," shi started.

"It most certainly was!" Neal countered with a grin.

"I will admit that the transporter shifts were very smooth…" shi said only to be cut off by Neal blowing hir a raspberry.

"Not that!" Neal said with a chuckle. "The box was just window dressing. The magic was the cubs when they opened that ‘empty’ box!"

Shi stared at him for a moment before nodding as shi grinned. "All right," shi admitted, having felt the cubs’ surprise and delight. "That part was magical," Shi agreed as shi noticed Midnight herding the now thirsty cubs towards the kitchen for milk and juices.

Neal smiled at Goldfur. "I’ve been warned that you and Garrek are engineering types. I have a standing bet with Sparks that I can get three jaw-drops out of each of you."

"We are not that easy to surprise," shi warned him.

"Good! I like a challenge. Shall we say the next twenty-four hours?"

"Fine by me, what do we win when you lose?" shi asked with a grin.

"If I lose, you have a nice time and I owe Sparks. If, on the other paw I happen to win, you have a nice time and Sparks owes me."

"Is this a private bet, or can anyone play?" asked a still damp chakat with silvery tinted ginger fur, giving hir a gentle coppery effect to go along with hir bright copper eyes.

"It’s folly to bet against him," Shadowcrest warned hir.

"Nonsense," Windsong said, putting on a bit of an air. "My college studies centered on the mind, human and non-human, and how it interacts with the world and with other minds. By watching for his anticipation, I will know when his traps are about to spring, and be able to avoid them."

"Really?" Neal asked with a grin. "Are you reading me now?"

Shi had started to nod when shi let out a shriek and grabbed hir tail.

Looking at a very surprised Goldfur, he said, "Your mouth seems to be hanging open. I think that’s a ‘one’." Looking back at the Coppertone chakat, he said, "And I think you need to learn to comprehend reality a little better before you start gambling on your abilities."

Windsong missed hir mother’s snicker as shi held what felt like a badly scorched tail tip. A moment later shi hissed, it felt like hir sore tail had just been dipped into ice water. Hir jaw hung open when shi realized that Neal had actually stepped over to hir and placed his hand over hir paws.

Neal shook his head as he said, "I couldn’t undo my little trick because you were no longer ‘listening’ to me. It’s much harder to block physical contact." As the cold numbed hir tail tip, he added, "When the cold dissipates, the pain will be gone."

Forest had been watching with minor amusement. "I detected a very low powered ‘push’ from you, but not enough to make someone really feel something."

Neal chuckled, as he explained, "That’s because I let hir do most of the work. Shi was trying to read my mind, so I simply held on to a very strong image of the tip of hir tail bursting into flames."

"That’s not an easy trick," Forest commented.

"Sure it is," Neal quietly said. "All you need are the basics. The ability to focus on the thought or feeling you really want to get across, and to know what it feels like." He said the last looking at his right hand and arm, working them a bit as if to convince himself that they were undamaged.

Copper eyes studied Neal for a moment before Windsong took his hand in hir paws and looked it over. That the hand and arm were where Neal had pulled up the pain of a severe burn, shi could sense. But the hand and arm showed no physical signs of the damage, or of the repair. "Regenerated?" shi asked.

"A while ago," he admitted, though shi could sense both truth and lie in that simple statement.

Now that they were in physical contact, shi thought again of trying to read him, only to see him raise an eyebrow at hir. The thought of a catapult, ready to launch a fireball at hir was in the forefront. Shi could smell the burning pitch and feel the heat as shi released his hand. Acknowledging defeat, shi gave him a small nod. Looking at the others, shi said, "First round to the Captain, I will have to learn to choose my battles more carefully."

"He has had more practice," Moonglow admitted. Once again, Windsong was sure shi heard a double meaning in hir words.

Leanna had gone into the kitchen to help Midnight with the cubs. Shi watched with a growing curiosity as Midnight picked up Stormy and placed hir on the table. Giving hir a small cup of milk, shi reached down and tapped Stormy’s comm badge. When it chirped, shi said, "Tess, I need a little favor…"

When they emerged from the kitchen, they found that the plans had changed yet again. Instead of waiting for evening, they would be going up with the next load. They would not be coming down until it was time to go to the beach the next day.

To Midnight’s raised eyebrow, Neal had shrugged and commented, "You let my cubs play in your backyard, I guess it’s only fair that yours get a chance to play in mine."


It was a bit past lunchtime when three taur-sized vans rolled up to, and then into the cargo pod. Having found the other PTV’s had adequate room for his family, Neal had split them among the other taur vans and sent the rental home alone. As they climbed out, they watched Neal’s kids anchor the vans to the deck before ushering them to the personal lift. That, and a short but steep ramp had them in the shuttle itself. As the others were shown how to fasten their seat restraints, Neal led Goldfur, Garrek, and Windsong to the cockpit. Already in the cockpit were a teenage fox vixen, and a pair of taur youths.

"Cindy," he told the vixen, "I’m shifting you to the observer’s seat so Goldfur and Garrek can monitor the engineering panel. Windsong here will join you."

"Aye Captain," she said as she got up from the engineering controls.

The two youths had been running down a preflight checklist. The foxtaur now turned to Neal. "Preflight complete, tower has given us an available launch window in two minutes."

Neal nodded. "I have no reasons to hold us up, you may take the window."

"Aye Captain," she said as she turned back to her controls.

As he turned to leave, Neal noticed all three of his guests were staring at his pilots with their mouths open. "One for Garrek, and another for Goldie and Windsong. This really is too easy," he added with a grin.

"You’re kidding," Goldfur half asked.

At Neal’s headshake, Garrek suggested, "Remote control?"

Windsong wasn’t listening to the conversation; shi was sensing the youths’ feelings. They knew they were in charge of the shuttle, and they knew they could do it. There was the smallest amount of resentment directed at Cindy, not at her as a person, but because she had to be there in order for them to be allowed to pilot the shuttle. Shi was even more surprised when shi felt the chakat youth send a thought of amusement to the foxtaur. The chakat then turned to look hir in the eye. ‘I know father’s already scorched your tail; bother us while we’re flying and I’ll burn your ears off!’ shi then turned back to hir controls as hir companion received final clearance from the tower.

Neal was still shaking his head to Garrek’s question when he saw Windsong’s ears drop like someone had tied weights to them; hir expression was one of shock. Goldfur also looked a little unsettled. Though the message hadn’t been directed at hir, shi had caught enough of it to get the general idea.

"Now you know who I practice with," Neal said as the shuttle smoothly lifted the loaded pod off the ground.

The only excitement was several direct lighting strikes as they passed through the heavy clouds. Cindy nudged Goldie and Garrek out of the way as she checked her engineering board for problems, while the pilots ran their own checks.

After a minute of checking, Cindy reported, "Eight point three percent loss of port lift capacity. No extra power draw, so it is probably just a couple of the elements."

"Noted," Holly said as she adjusted their course to intercept the Folly as she came around in her orbit.

"Are we in danger?" Windsong asked, though shi had noticed that none of the others seemed too concerned about the damage.

"No," Goldie told hir, having watched the tests over Cindy’s shoulder. "If these instruments are to be believed, this shuttle can lift almost twice its current load."

"Secondary port sensors are out, as are the cameras in that section," Quickdash reported.

"Common denominator?" Cindy asked.

"Port side junction box 3C. Request permission to investigate?"

Cindy snorted. "Did you want to fly it, or fix it?" she asked.

Looking at each other, the youths said, "Yes!"

Shaking her head, Cindy grinned as she tapped her comm badge. "Alex, if you’re not busy, I could use you in the cockpit."

"Copy, be there in two," he replied.

Quickdash got up from hir seat and adjusted it for biped use.

"Problems?" Neal’s voice asked over the intercom.

"A little lightning damage, and the twins want to play," Cindy said with a smile. "I thought Alex and I could do the easy part while they work," she said as she slid into the seat. After looking over the settings, she turned to Holly and said, "I relieve you."

Alex came in as Holly adjusted her seat for him. Dropping into the seat, he said, "Tell me again, which of these is the ‘go’ button?" Quickdash swatted his shoulder with hir tail as they left the now very crowded cockpit. Looking over the controls, he snorted. "Didn’t leave us much to do, did they?"

"Course correction in five, and the docking," Cindy agreed. "Not that I really blame them, we have too many pilots and not enough piloting to do."

"You called them twins," Garrek commented.

"If not twins, then certainly companions, and future lifemates," Windsong commented. At Garrek’s surprised look shi added "I got a very good feel of their bond before shi told me to butt out. Their link is so strong I think she is slightly telepathic through hir."

"And Neal?" Goldie asked.

"Almost an E2, and a very weak T1 as well. He got me because I wasn’t expecting him to have any E, much less T ratings at all."

Garrek frowned. "At the house, you were acting like your tail was on fire."

"As far as I could tell it was. At some point in his life, Neal was badly burned. He still carries such a strong memory of the pain that he can project it as a weapon against mind readers."

Cindy snorted. "He doesn’t use it often, usually just when he’s trying to rub someone’s nose in it."

"Well, he certainly rubbed my nose in it!" Windsong exclaimed with a laugh.

"Safer that than some of the other things he’s projected," Alex said with a chuckle.

"Such as?" Goldfur asked with a raised eyebrow.

Alex shook his head and grinned. "Ask him. Maybe he will give you a demonstration."

"Maybe I will," shi said.

"I don’t know cousin; he had such an evil grin when he suggested it," Windsong pointed out.

After attaching the pod to the Folly, they moved the shuttle to one of the enclosed bays between the spheres.

As the shuttle slid into the bay, Goldfur was examining it with one of the working external cameras. Noting rows of emitters lining the walls, shi zoomed in, only to let out a hiss of surprise. "Those look like holodeck emitters!" shi exclaimed.

"They are," Cindy agreed. "This is the repair bay. Rather than keep buying us suits to outgrow, Neal has us use this bay for vacuum work."

After confirming a good seal with the docking port, Alex led them out of the shuttle’s cockpit area. The twins had finished what repairs they could from inside the shuttle; they were now begging Neal to let them do the external repairs as well. When he gave in, they let out a shout and headed for the hatch, only to stop when Neal caught both of their tails. "After we eat!" he said. "I am not going to have Stew on my ass for you two skipping lunch."

Windsong’s mouth hung open for a moment before shi shook hir head. "How would them not eating cause you to sit in your food?"

Neal smiled. "That’s not what I said."

While Windsong stared at him, Goldfur frowned. "Wait a minute, I remember Midnight warning Forest not to ask for stew unless shi meant it."

As he led them out of the shuttle, Neal grinned and said, "Because shi might bite off more than shi can chew."

They caught up with the others as they reached the dining room. Midnight had known that there were Rakshani onboard, but even shi was surprised when a family group of Caitians came in behind them. After Neal introduced them to LongReach’s family, shi playfully asked, "Are you still gathering strays captain?"

Before Neal could reply, SharpTongue quipped, "Just hitching a ride and a free meal while he puts our ship back together."

Midnight roller hir eyes as shi grumbled, "I see the second method is as contagious as ever on this ship." At the raised eyebrows form hir group, shi said, "I’ll explain later." A moment later the doors to the kitchen opened.

Rolling out the first of the serving carts, a brown and white rabbit stopped between Goldfur and Windsong. Lifting the covers to reveal some of the meal choices, she grinned as she said, "How do you do? My name is Stew. See anything you would like?"

There were several chuckles from around the room as the two chakats stared at her, unable to keep their jaws from dropping yet again.

"Thanks for the warning," Forest told Midnight with a laugh. "The occupants of this ship seem to have a very low sense of humor."

"That too," Neal agreed. "Besides, I think that makes three jaw drops for Goldfur without even showing hir the Folly."

"And for me," Windsong admitted. "I could sense she was very pleased with herself about something, yet I still fell for it."

Suzan grinned, as she said, "Tess warned me that Neal had set you up, all I had to do was spring the trap!"

Silverpelt looked around as shi said, "I don’t remember you introducing anyone named Tess. Will Tess be joining us?"

Weaver grinned. "Tess is the all seeing, all knowing, but not always all telling main computer for this crazy ship."

"I can’t imagine where she might have picked up that bad habit," Midnight said, giving Neal a raised eyebrow.

"If you had a choice of a system that told you every little thing, or one that just told you what you needed to know – which would you choose?" Neal asked hir with a smile.

"Oh, I’m not saying it’s a bad system, just that it could lead to surprises."

"She’s pretty good at warning me about unpleasant surprises. Pleasant surprises I don’t mind being surprised about."

Forest caught a quick flare of amusement from Midnight, and wondered what type of surprise shi had set up for their host.

While there was plenty of food, Suzan considered it just a light lunch for the group. She promised them something a little more substantial for dinner.


The twins rushed out the door after lunch, and Neal had suggested that Goldfur and Garrek follow them. Forest and Suzan ducked back into the kitchen – supposedly to make sure they had or could get everything they needed for the beach party the next day, while Neal led the rest of their visitors – and all the cubs, to the main holosuite. Inside they found themselves in a heavily forested area.

Once inside, they were each handed a bright red ‘gun’. Neal explained the rules, "These aren’t the regular Tailstingers my kids train with. With so many cubs, I thought something a little gentler was called for. These are tinglers; they have a high and low setting." Pointing the one he had at himself, Neal put his finger in the trigger guard. A red beam shot out, showing where the gun was aimed. Pulling the trigger caused the red light to flash, but Neal didn’t seem to react to it in any way. "There isn’t much of an effect, just enough to let you know you’ve been hit. The low setting is about like someone running their finger though the ends of you fur; the high is almost a tickle. I do suggest you try it on yourselves so you know what you’re doing to others."

After finding out that even a face shot only tickled, the cubs started shooting each other. As they started chasing each other, Midnight turned back to Neal.

"Won’t the younger cubs be at a disadvantage?" shi asked.

"Not really," Neal replied. "The tinglers themselves are part of the holodeck and completely under Tess’s control. She will help the younger ones with their aim."

"And for those of us that don’t want to play?" Silverpelt asked, the way shi had hir arm around hir mate suggested shi was looking for a quiet retreat.

"Just lay the gun down. Tess knows who is playing, noncombatants won’t draw light or fire from them."

"It sounds like you’ve thought of everything," Fireglow said as shi and hir mate tossed their guns into the bushes and started heading for the sounds of a waterfall.

"I try," Neal admitted as they disappeared. "But the kids usually prove that I’ve forgotten at least one ‘loophole’."


While Neal helped keep the cubs occupied, Goldfur and Garrek had followed the twins into what looked like a suit room with a set of airlocks at the other side. Having been told earlier that Neal wasn’t buying suits for the kids to outgrow, they were surprised to find not only a pair of suits for the twins, but also another pair with their names on them. Each of the suits had a pressure gauge that read two atmospheres, except the one marked Garrek, it only read one atmosphere. After pressurizing it to two atmospheres, they found a small tear in the joint for the right fore knee. After replacing the joint with one from the parts locker, they donned the suits and tested them again before heading for the airlock.

Leaving the airlocks, they found themselves in the bay with the damaged shuttle. Looking around, Goldfur noticed the holodeck emitters were gone. Keying hir microphone shi asked, "This is all just a hologram, isn’t it?"

Holly nodded. "You’ve been on a holodeck since we entered the suit room. While we don’t really need these suits to do the repairs, Neal has us wear them so we get the full effect."

Garrek nodded. "So this is just a training session."

"Yes and no," Quickdash replied. "We are actually going to be repairing the shuttle, but we will do it remotely. The job gets done with no risk to the crew."

"Or any visitors," Holly added. "You can watch, help, or just play in the zero G. when you are ready for something else, you can ask Tess for an exit."

"So we aren’t required to wear these suits to play in the zero G?" Garrek asked, as he leered at Goldie, who caught his train of thought and grinned as shi shook hir head at him.

"No," Quickdash replied, and then shi grinned. "But if you’re thinking what I thought I just felt you thinking, you really should ‘get a room’."

"Do you have any ‘rooms’ we can use?" Goldie asked.

"Plenty," Holly replied as she placed the spare parts she thought they would need in a container to take to the shuttle with them. "We started with just one large holosuite, but as we found more uses for it Neal has added more."

"And all the rooms have variable gravity," Quickdash added as they headed over to the shuttle. "We even have a couple rooms with padded floors, walls, and ceilings for those that don’t want to bang into anything hard while they are ‘playing’."

Still grinning at the look hir mate was giving hir, Goldie said, "Maybe after we help you with your little chore."

With four of them working on it, the repairs went quickly. In a few cases they found that it wasn’t the anti-grav element, but the power and control runs which had suffered the damage.

After the static checks, they went in to de-suit; the full power tests would have to wait until the shuttle was next flown.

Goldie wrinkled hir nose as they got out of their suits. "I don’t know about the rest of you, but I need a bath or shower before I’m fit to be seen in public again."

Holly nodded. "We all do, and if you like we can use this holodeck to clean up in."

"Built in sonic shower?" Garrek asked with a frown. While it would get them clean, he had never felt that they did that good of a job.

"Something like that," Holly agreed with a grin. "If you two will just stand over there?" as they moved into position, she said, "You will want to raise your arms and spread your legs for the full effect."

Goldfur was about to ask what full effect, when shi started to feel a tingling on hir hand paws. Needle sprays of pleasantly cool water were wrapping hir paws in a watery mist. The rings of spray worked their way up hir arms, combining as they reached hir chest. The washing action then moved down hir torso, splitting into three to do hir forelegs and lower torso. Shi let out a yowl of surprised delight when the spray reached hir hindquarters, before going down hir tail like a fuse in reverse. As the spray died off, shi started to turn, only to be told to close hir eyes and mouth. As soon as shi complied, the spray started again at hir shoulders and worked its way up to hir face. While the spray didn’t go straight up hir nose or into hir ear canals, it did get everywhere else. A moment later and shi felt a tingle across hir entire body. Opening hir eyes, shi was amused to find hir self completely dry and feeling clean. A glance at Garrek showed he had also been cleaned, and if his wild fur was any indication, they both needed a good brush down.

Handing Garrek and Goldfur each a brush, the twins stepped away from them and spread their arms and legs. They were immediately covered in what looked like a watery halo that covered their entire bodies. Five seconds later, the halo disappeared, leaving them looking clean but unkempt.

As they each picked up a bush, Goldfur asked, "Why didn’t we get it all at once?"

Holly laughed. "You don’t get that until you learn to keep your muzzle shut when it’s doing your backside!"

Having yowled when the needle like spray had gone under hir tail, Goldfur understood the logic. "Well, I do feel much cleaner. Is this your regular method of bathing?"

"Actually this is our ‘quick and dirty’ way to get clean. As you noticed, by using holodeck water we can skip having to dry our fur, and go straight to grooming," Holly said as she started brushing Quickdash's hair. "We have regular showers and baths, as well as the hot tubs and pool."

"You bathe in a pool?" Garrek asked in amusement.

"Group bathing," Holly explained. "I think we will all be doing it tonight."

"Why would we need another bath?" Goldfur asked suspiciously.

"You’ll see!" Quickdash said with a laugh.

Once they were all groomed and dressed, the twins started showing Goldfur and Garrek around the Folly – that is until they got a look at the unfinished Gulf. They were still cheerfully rooting around its innards when Tess warned them that it was dinnertime.


Dinner was a noisy affair as the cubs were served first, either from the serving trays or by being dropped into a ‘big top’ as required. Having been fed earlier, Littleroar showed shi was no longer afraid of this new environment or its occupants by going from plate to plate, begging a taste from those that had something that smelled or looked interesting.

The other cubs were getting restless while the rest were still eating, so Suzan brought out one of the dessert trolleys. On it were rows of spoons with very small ‘samples’ of different types of pies.

As the cubs decided which flavors they liked the best, Midnight looked over at Neal and said, "I take it the criteria has changed."

Neal nodded. "You could say that, the game was altered so someone wouldn’t get stuck with something they didn’t care for."

"And how do you work that trick?" shi asked.

"Smoke and mirrors, and of course a little Tess style ‘magic’ thrown in for good measure."

"I take it what we pick is what we get?"

"For the most part, yes."

While chocolate was the most popular flavor chosen, rhubarb and cream was also in high demand. Windsong smiled when shi noticed that only shi, Neal and Shadowcrest had picked cherry.

Grinning at Ember, Neal asked, "Remember the way?"

With a little quiet coaching from Tess, Ember led them to the older dinning room. After leaving hir top in the next room, Midnight looked around the ‘mess room’. "I see you have added holodeck emitters in here as well. Does this mean we won’t be enjoying real pie?"

"No." Neal said with a grin. "It means sneaky chakats can’t sense their victims while blinded by pie." At hir dirty look, he chuckled. "It also lets us have a bit more fun in the same limited space."

Once every one was ready, Neal stepped into the center of the room. "I don’t know what Ember and the others may have told you, but a few things have changed since they last ‘played’ in this room. First, you aren’t stuck getting splattered with a pie flavor you don’t like." As the others grinned at this, Neal added with a soft chuckle, "And we have made it a little more cub friendly. When Ember last played, all shi could manage to throw were the small personal sized pies, even though others were throwing full size pies at hir." Neal gave hir a wink and said, "Here’s how it works now. Hold out your paw." A small pie appeared. "Now point out who you want to hit with it." With a grin shi pointed at Goldie. The pie changed to rhubarb and cream and grew to full size. "Now, if you had chosen Littleroar…" the pie changed to chocolate and shrank to little more than a double spoonful. At the confused looks he was getting Neal laughed. "In a nutshell, everyone receives what they are can handle, and throws what they are able." Turning back to Ember, he said, "Feed someone!" shi raised hir paw and a small pie appeared in it, shi then threw it at Neal. In mid-flight the pie grew to full size and changed to cherry before hitting him right in the face. Wiping the pie out of his eyes, he asked, "Any questions?"

The ‘messy time’ started in earnest at that point. As the pies started to fly, they found that Neal hadn’t mentioned a couple of little ‘loopholes’. One was that pies colliding in midair could ‘feed’ you flavors you had not asked for. The second was the pie was sized for its intended victim when launched, so when Moonglow ducked under what would have been a face shot, it was Eudora that was covered by the full size pie. Windsong was about to voice hir concern, when most of a full sized pie fell towards Littleroar. Just before it would have buried the kitten, the pie hit a small force field. While a little of it did land on Littleroar, most of it plopped down on either side of hir. Puzzled, Windsong turned to Neal and was about to ask what had just happened, when a missed mass of butterscotch not only filled hir open mouth, but also coated the rest of hir face. Tess’s quiet voice warned hir that while she would protect the little cubs, big cubs were on their own.

Spitting out bits of pie, Windsong muttered through hir butterscotch coated muzzle; "Thank you Tess, I think."

With everyone now a multi-flavored mess, Neal opened the heavy doors leading to the pool. Ember led the older cubs to the showers as Midnight carried Littleroar over to a sink to get the worse of the pie fillings off the happily squirming kitten.

Windsong was at the doors when shi looked back; only Longstripe, Desertsand, Silverpelt, and Fireglow remained. It was hard to tell who was whom without hir other senses, as they were so completely covered in the remains of the pies. Fireglow made a shooing gesture as Silverpelt asked hir to close the doors behind hir. Windsong grinned as shi nodded and closed the doors. Unless they had learned to tone it down, the others would know what they were up to soon enough.

Shi was not quite out of the showers when a pair of paws grabbed each of hir wrists and dragged hir to the pool. Once in the pool, one pair of paws started shampooing hir hair, while the other pair started rubbing soap into hir backs, eliciting an unexpected but very happy purr from hir. With hir eyes covered in shampoo, Windsong used hir other senses to see who was working hir over so nicely. Sending out a thread of thought, shi quickly reeled it back in when shi realized it was the youth that had threatened to burn hir ears off.

"Relax, we can talk this way so you can keep the shampoo out of your mouth," Quickdash quietly sent hir.

"I thought you wanted to me stay out of your mind," Windsong sent, confused by the unexpected about face.

"Well, it is more polite to speak where everyone else can hear. As for earlier at takeoff, I find it hard to concentrate on my flying when someone I don’t know is trying to dig through my thoughts."

Windsong bowed hir head, both in acknowledgement, as well as to give Quickdash better access to hir hair. "I’m not used to being around others who are that sensitive, I will have to break myself of that bad habit."

"I’ll be happy to help!" Quickdash sent, along with a light scorching of hir ear tips.

"Hey!" Windsong sent back as the youth pushed hir head underwater, both to remove the shampoo as well as ‘cool’ hir ears. Shi was just raising hir head out of the water and about to ‘path’ a strong ‘tickle’ toward the twins, when a strong feeling flowed across and through hir, leaving hir weak kneed, and wanting to laugh out loud.

"Noisy, aren’t they?" Holly laughed, as most of those in the pool reacted to the pleasurable feelings coming from the next room.

"You can feel that too?" Windsong asked in surprise.

"Mostly through hir," Holly agreed, pointing her chin at Quickdash. "Shi even ‘sent’ me both sides of your conversation just now."

"An interesting ship, and an even more interesting crew," Windsong sent at Holly.

"You have no idea," shi heard back. It had sounded like Holly, but there was a little of Quickdash in there as well.

As things started heating up in the room next door, Windsong grinned as shi said, "I hope no one minds them getting a little excited. My parents live on Chakona, so my mother doesn’t get to see hir sister as often as they would like."

Quickdash tried to blow hir a raspberry while laughing. "Heck, what they are doing is kind of tame for the Folly! With three of our chakat sisters in the same heat/rut cycle, it really starts getting wild when they are on their peaks!"

Looking over at where Neal had just dunked Screamingwind, Windsong commented to the young chakat, "You’re kidding me. Somehow I had thought a human captain would be more restrictive."

Holly snorted as she worked shampoo into Quickdash's hair. "He knows our needs are not always his needs. Although I do remember him complaining that it was hard to concentrate with all that wild sex going on."

"What did he do?" Windsong wondered, trying not to giggle out loud.

"Try to plan his times of concentration when they were busy with other things!" Holly said with a chuckle before adding, "He does have fields that could shield him from the sensations, but he never uses them."

Quickdash nodded. "He has used them to keep others from sensing it though. We had other ships connected to the Folly, and Neal dampened down the output when they started questioning what was going on."

"That, and a couple of them were asking if they could join in on the fun!"

Windsong could only laugh as shi smiled back at the pair. "Well, if that was the case, I guess you couldn’t blame them for asking, could you?"

Forest had been listening to Windsong and the twins talk as shi did Midnight’s hair. Shi looked over at Neal and commented, "I thought my mate was exaggerating about some of the things that happened on this ship."

Neal snorted as Screamingwind washed his back. "First rule of being a good captain to your crew is to never give them an order you know they can’t obey". He hmm’d for a moment before continuing. "Somehow, trying to tell to tell them when they can and can’t have sex just sounds like a great way to start a mutiny."

"That, and we would then expect him to ‘service’ all his mates himself!" Calmmeadow said with a grin, most of those mates in question were laughing at Neal’s pained expression.

The ‘noise’ from the other room had peaked and died down while they were talking. Holly grinned as she asked Neal, "Do we get to rate them?"

"Be nice," Neal told her, "they are our guests after all."

"Rate them?" Goldfur asked with a raised eyebrow. Windsong’s own puzzlement was obvious as shi mentally echoed the question to the twins.

Neal smiled. "You know, score cards with how we felt what they did, maybe critiques on performance," his smile grew wider as his quietly told hir, "You know, teasing your parents."

A soft series of chuckles and giggles followed the suggestion, as they started to ask just ‘how’ they could offer their ratings.

It was another five minutes before the doors to the mess room opened; Silverpelt was the first one out. Shi only got halfway out before shi froze. From the cubs in the wading pool to the Rakshani in the far hot tub, everyone was holding a sign with a number on it. Shi finally moved forward again, frowning at some of the holders of the lower scores.

"You only rate our effort as a five?" shi demanded of hir daughter, whose card was shaking from hir laughter. "At least the good captain gave us a ten!"

Windsong only smiled sweetly as shi looked up at hir mother. "Only because he doesn’t know you as well as I do. After all, there were times some of us weren’t able to sleep with ALL your romping about at home!"

Midnight and Forest lost it at that point, as Goldfur started flipping the sheets of hir card. While there was a blank one to write in your own score, the sheets went from a minus five to zero to ten. Then it went to eleven and twelve, followed by ‘WOW!’ and ‘HOLY #%#^^$$!!’.

As shi stared in bewilderment, Neal said, "We sometimes find the scale we’re using isn’t quite large enough for what we’re trying to measure."

"And what may I ask would it take to get a high score from you?" shi asked as shi stepped towards the showers.

"You mean the ‘holy’ one?" he asked. At hir nod Neal grinned, "The last time I thought I needed that card was when ten chakats all had dual orgasms at once. While several of them are as ‘vocal’ as you are, two are even more so. I happened to be with Zhanch at that particular moment, thank the deities she sank her claws into the bed and not into me!"

"Do you believe in deities?" Windsong asked, more than a little surprised at having felt that for some reason he did.

"A silly question to be asking me," Neal said with a grin. "Ask Midnight or Forest if they believe in deities. Of course they might just believe Boyce is magical."

"I thought strange things have been known to happen on the Folly," Goldfur commented.

"Oh, they do," Neal agreed. "Like a computer whose logic seems to be more than her programming can explain, and transporters that sometimes do more than just move people and things! But those are things that might be explained away with a bad connection or faulty circuits. I know Boyce has sired Caitian, Rakshan as well as chakat cubs with his mates – a wee bit harder to explain than a few short circuits." Looking over to the wading pool where Ember and Windrunner were splashing and being splashed, Neal asked, "So, are those two a love gift from a mischievous deity, or magic?"

"So now I’m a short circuit?" Tess asked sweetly, startling their guests.

Neal grinned. "Your default programming has you do a basic scan on every carrier we take onboard. So was it a loose wire, or a demented spirit that caused you to not alert me to our stowaways until it was too late to take them back?"

"Perhaps she thought you were lonely," Suzan said, with a smile.

"Tess? Or a crazy deity?" Neal asked.

"Yes," she said with a grin.

Forest turned to Midnight and said, "I see what you mean about it being hard to get the truth out of him."

"Truth?" Neal said with a grin. "What is truth? Tell you what; here is the truth as I know it. Yes, deities exist. In fact, I believe that there are over a dozen of them on the Folly at this very moment." At the looks of surprise from his guests, Neal’s grin turned evil as he added, "If just one of them played that ‘trick’ on Boyce, think of the trouble a dozen of them could cause."

Suzan’s grin was almost as bad as Neal’s as she added, "In other words, be very careful what you wish for!"

While Neal was confusing their parents, the cubs had been quizzing DarkStreak and Spitfire about any other entertainment the Folly might provide. Spitfire now ran up to Neal with the other cubs in tow. "Can we show them the birds?" shi asked.

"No scaring my birds," Neal teasingly told hir. As they all nodded, he smiled. "Get dried, and then you can go."

Leanna had been cuddling with Kris and Trina. Shi was starting to pull hirself out of their embrace to help keep an eye on the cubs, when Midnight waved hir back down. At hir look of confusion, Midnight smiled and said, "You can relax Leanna. With Tess keeping an eye on them, they will be hard pressed to get into any real trouble."

Spitfire ran over to one of the mats by the door. Standing on it, shi said, "Tess, quick dry please!"

Goldfur and Garrek were the only guests that didn’t jump a little as the cub was enveloped in a misty halo. Seconds later it disappeared, leaving a dry cub waiting impatiently for the others.

Ember had jumped on the pad for hir turn when DarkStreak called out, "Tess, tickle dry! Start at the tip of hir tail!"

Ember had trouble staying on the mat, as a little ball of mist started at hir tail and crawled up it like a slow burning fuse.

The other cubs all opted for the tickle dry. Some more than once, as they challenged each other to try not to move as the mist tickled down their bodies.

As the older cubs raced from the room, Midnight remarked, "That does look like more fun than towels and a fur drier."

"Just one of the pluses of the holodeck systems. A small replicator deconstructs the water and loose fur, leaving nothing to clean up after."

"Isn’t it a waste of power?" Longstripe asked.

Neal grinned as he said, "Warp cores aren’t ‘instant on’ and they produce a lot of power, even when in standby. We have enough excess that I don’t have to turn them up for little things like the mess room or our magical dry cleaners."


While most of the others headed for the main lounge after drying and dressing, Windsong stepped back into the old dining area. Shi was surprised to find it immaculate. Looking around, shi tapped the comm badge Neal had given each of them and asked, "Tess?"

"Yes, Windsong," she replied, "How may I help you?"

"I understand that this room is one big replicator. May I ask you to make something for me?"

"Within limits," Tess agreed. "You will need to get it out the doors."

"It won’t be all that large." Shi said with a grin. "I was hoping for a Celtic harp, one with dual crossed strings?" shi asked, looking hopeful.

"I have a couple of styles in memory, is this what you are after?" Tess asked, as a harp and covering case appeared next to a wheeled dolly.

Windsong carefully went over the harp, smiling at the rich texture of the beech and walnut wood. Shi then carefully checked the case. In one of the pockets shi found extra strings, a tensioning tool, and a set of metal claw tips to protect hir claws from the strings.

"Thank you Tess, this is perfect!" Windsong said as shi carefully placed the case over the harp.

Shi stepped into the corridor, only to stop after looking both directions in confusion. "Okay," shi muttered. "Which way was my room?"

The emergency lights came on, and then started flashing in a ‘runway’ pattern to the left.

Giving a snort of amusement, shi said, "Thanks Tess!" and followed the lights.

Once in hir room, a few minutes with the tensioning tool had the strings tuned to hir liking, and shi started strumming through some of the melodies shi’d learned while on Earth.

Shi was just finishing a melody shi’d heard in an ancient black and white human movie, one called ‘An Old Irish Lullaby’. Shi was softly singing the old lyrics of a son’s wish to hear his mother’s loving voice again when shi sensed someone watching hir. Turning back to the door, shi found it standing open. In the doorway were several of the cubs, Spitfire and DarkStreak had been leading Patchwork, Snowcloud, Eudora, Stonefur, Ember and Markus through the corridors when they had heard the harp. Suddenly all of them moved into the room, burying hir in hugs and lick-kisses to show their appreciation for hir music. After the surprised chakat returned the hugs and kisses, a few unexpected tears slipped from hir eyes. The cubs then proceeded to drag hir and hir new harp to the main lounge where the rest of their families were congregating.

Windsong's harp

After moving one of the taur pads to the middle of the room for hir, the cubs insisted shi play some more.

Smiling, Windsong started playing an even older tune shi’d learned called "Oh Danny Boy’. With hir lyrics little more than a whisper to the kits, hir mother passed Neal an unsealed envelope. After reading the message Neal raised an eyebrow at hir, Silverpelt gave him a shrug and a smile in return. Neal then passed the note to Weaver, who read it, and then she looked over at the singer surrounded by cubs. Turning back to Neal, she gave him a nod.

Windsong’s last song was another lullaby; with the long day the cubs had had, half of them were now asleep.

One of the little ones still up was Firestorm. Shi started to get up, only to be stopped by Neal’s hand on hir lower back.

"Sleepy time," he quietly told hir.

Shi then tried to crawl out from under his hand.

"Oh no you don’t," Neal told hir as he pulled hir into a hug. When shi tried to wiggle free, he wrapped his other arm around hir as well and said, "Five minutes. You stay awake five more minutes and you can go play, okay?"

Stormy looked like shi was going to protest, when Starblazer joined them. After a couple of lick-kisses, Star cuddled up with hir and closed her eyes. Stormy wasn’t far behind.

Weaver gave Neal a grin. "Water quenches fire," she whispered. At Midnight’s raised eyebrow she said, "Someone told us that they were like fire and water. It’s not hard to tell which is which."

Neal stroked the sleeping cubs as he whispered, "Star often cools Stormy down, but Stormy can occasionally stir Star up to the point that she’s boiling over with excitement."

"What are your plans now?" Forest asked.

Neal snorted. "You’re asking me?" Looking over at Weaver he asked, "What are my plans for this evening?"

"To keep to your schedule and still go to the beach you needed to take down two pods in the morning."

"Pods loaded, manifests checked and confirmed. We will test Alpha’s repairs before we take both shuttles down with a pod."

"You said you had a friend you trusted to unload them without your supervision."

"I’ve already talked to him, Samuel will meet us on arrival."

"I understand that Suzan and Forest baked plenty of breads to replace those ruined in the rain, as well as prepared us a little picnic basket. So the captain is off the hook until morning."

"So much for the easy part," Neal said, still stroking the cubs.

"Easy part?" Garrek asked.

"I feel I wear too many hats sometimes. The captain and quartermaster are done for the evening. As chief engineer, I’ve also checked over the repairs you helped the twins with, a very nice job by the way. With those ‘easy’ jobs out of the way, I’m just got the more challenging ones to do."

"And those are?" Windsong asked as shi put hir harp in its bag.

"Mate, companion, father, teacher…"

"Warrior," Zhanch added.

"Court jester when we need a lift," Calmmeadow said with a grin.

"Magician!" Holly said with a laugh. "We lost track of the number of jaw drops we got out of showing them Gulf."

"Do you regret having those other jobs?" Forest asked.

"No… I just sometimes worry that I’m not giving them the time they need." Looking around the room, Neal grinned as he added, "I’m just lucky my mates and older kids are as understanding as they are."

"In other words, we take turns!" Quickdash said with a laugh.

"So whose turn is it tonight?" Goldie asked with a grin.

Neal smiled. "I’m sure they’ll let me know."

"That’s always safest," Garrek agreed.

"What’s that suppose to mean?" Goldie asked, picking up a nearby pillow.

"When we are at Mountain Glade I have little choice but to bow to vixen rule," he reminded hir. "It sounds like the good captain has also found that to be the safest course of action."

Goldie nodded in agreement, but shi still bounced the pillow off Garrek’s head the moment he turned away.

Alex chuckled with the rest of them when Garrek gave hir a dirty look. "You forgot the third rule," he said with a grin. At Garrek’s confused look, he said, "Neal warned us male types of the three rules to get along with females and herms. Rule one, she, or shi is always right. Rule two, when they are wrong, refer to rule one."

"And rule three?" Garrek asked with a grin.

"If you ever find yourself winning an argument with them, apologize immediately!" Alex finished with a laugh before being pelted by all available pillows.

Neal chuckled. "The Pegasus was with us when I suddenly found I had more than one mate. I think Boyce’s firstwife, gave my ‘firstwife’ a few pointers on keeping peace in the family."

"You didn’t ask Tess?" Midnight asked with a grin, having been there to lend Weaver and the others hir views on sharing a co-mate.

Neal shook his head and shuddered. "I’ve found that there are some things safer left unknown, the workings of the female mind is high on that list."

As the others laughed at him, Neal snorted quietly. "Maybe we should put the cubs to bed before we wake them up again."

As they started carrying the cubs to the nursery, Garrek quickened his pace for a moment to catch up with Neal. "What are the chances of using one of your holosuites for a few hours?"

"Ask Tess, she knows who’s already asked for what." Neal grinned as he added, "If you want it for what I think you do, ask Tess for some echoes."

"Echoes?" Garrek asked, confused.

"You’ll figure it out," Neal assured him.


"Reminds me a bit of Dale," Goldie commented as they looked over their ‘echoes’, while the echoes seemed to look them over in turn. It didn’t help that the echo ‘Goldie’ had precisely matched hir words and gestures with only a slight delay.

Garrek was about to reply, but when moving his arm he bumped his echo’s arm into a nightstand. He then stared at his arm; he had felt that! He then walked himself and his echo up to each other, and gently brushed a hand across the other’s face. "Tess," he asked. "Is there a way to control my echo’s movement without me moving?"

"Of course," she replied. "You can use voice commands, move the echo in real time or with a delay you can set. You can also move it like a dummy, mirror echo, or swap."

"What’s ‘swap’?" Goldie asked - only to find hirself across the room. Hir echo was now where shi had been.

"Echo freeze," Garrek quickly said, grinning when his double froze in mid-word. He then stepped over to what was now Goldie’s echo, and ran his paw down hir backs. Both Goldie’s shuddered as he dragged a claw tip over sensitive spots. He then wrapped hir echo in a hug. Shi could feel his embrace, and returned it, watching hir echo trap him in hir hug.

He grinned as he said, "Echo swap." Moving the ‘him’ that Goldie’s echo didn’t have captured, he moved around to hug hir from behind. "Echo unfreeze, add two second delay," he said when he thought he was in the right position. Both ‘Garrek’s then began groping and lick kissing the chakat trapped between them.

Tired of feeling both of him all over hir while watching the action from across the room, Goldie quietly said, "Echo swap."

After a few more minutes of heavy petting, Garrek pulled away enough to grin at hir as he quietly said, "My dear, I think I see some very interesting possibilities…"

 


Chapter 8  

 

The party fragmented a bit as the cubs were put to bed. While Goldfur and Garrek checked out one of the smaller holosuites, Midnight and Forest had decided to call it an evening and had volunteered to sleep with the cubs. On hearing this, Leanna had tucked Opal and Mica into Midnight’s big top before dragging Kris and Trina towards their room, the grin on hir muzzle suggesting that they wouldn’t be sleeping any time soon. The twins had also dragged their new friend in the direction of the main holosuite. After hearing one of them say something about ‘stingers’, Shady had followed to help keep Windsong from getting in over hir head.

When Neal returned to the lounge, the only guests remaining were Silverpelt, hir sister, and their mates. A moment later, Suzan joined Neal as he plopped down on a low couch; a quick tickle-fight erupting before they settled into a comfortable hug.

Silverpelt grinned at the pair. "And here I thought he was in hot water for making you all that extra work."

Suzan grinned back as she said, "Oh, I have no problem with Neal bringing home friends for a meal, but the ‘ship’s cook’ will sometimes get after the ‘captain’ for not giving her sufficient notice."

Desertsand snorted as shi asked, "How do you know when it’s safe to play-act? He could have been trying to impress someone important."

"First, Tess was good enough to tell me where he was calling from. Second, he asked for ‘the cook’. That told me I could play it as I pleased. Since I really would have preferred to cruise the local markets first, I voiced a little of my annoyance at him. From what I heard, either Midnight fell for it too, or shi was helping set the rest of you up to take the fall."

"So we shouldn’t believe anything while we’re here?" Fireglow asked with a frown.

Shortdash chuckled. "The rule of thumb for this ship is: ‘Is it really important?’ If the answer is no, then good luck getting a straight answer out of this group. If on the other paw it is important, you will find they don’t play around."

Quickwind snorted as shi added, "Proof that it is contagious, my mate didn’t add that the question of importance is gauged by the one asked, not the asker."

Desertsand turned to Silverpelt and asked, "Does that note you passed to our host fall under the category of important?"

"I think so," Silverpelt said with a nod. "I just hope the captain thinks so too."

Neal was about to answer, when they all jerked a little from a sudden mental jolt.

Longstripe was the first to speak, though shi was fighting back a chuckle, "That was Goldie! Five credits says shi just got goosed!"

"No bet," Neal replied. "But, could you tell if it was intentional, accidental, or did shi manage to goose hirself?"

"How could shi goose hirself?" Longstripe wondered.

"I had suggested to Garrek that they try out some echoes," Neal said with a grin. "You will feel what they feel, and they can be made to move as you do. So if Goldfur’s echo was close to hir own hindquarters when shi took a swipe at Garrek, and he dodged out of the way…."

"What a delightfully evil toy!" Silverpelt exclaimed, laughing as shi tightened hir hug on hir mate. "Is there a free room where we can try them out?"

"Be patient, love, I’m still waiting for him to answer our question," Fireglow told hir.

"Patience my tail!" Silverpelt exclaimed. "If I understand this correctly, your echo can’t knock me up, but we can still enjoy you in me!"

Tess spoke up before Fireglow could try again to calm hir mate. "A room for eight has been reserved for you whenever you are ready for it."

"Eight?" Silverpelt said in surprise.

"Your words and actions earlier suggested that your sister and hir mate would be joining you tonight. If all four of you wish to play with your echoes, you will need a little more room."

Desertsand raised hir hand before Silverpelt could start dragging hir mate out of the room. With a smile shi said, "As you can see, my sister can sometimes be easily distracted when shi comes into heat. I fear it's something of a family tradition. But before we go play, what was that note about?"

"Admiral Kline sent that to us just before we left Chakona," Fireglow explained. "We weren’t too sure about it initially, but having meet Neal and his ‘crew’ we are starting to think Boyce’s idea has merit."

"Which is?" Longstripe prodded.

"To have Neal take Windsong to hir first Star Fleet station. Shi was originally scheduled to take a Star Fleet cargo ship, but Boyce suggested the Folly as an alternate possibility."

Silverpelt nodded. "And with the way shi’s acting, we decided to ask about the option."

"I had not noticed anything unusual about hir," Desertsand commented.

Silverpelt frowned a little as shi said, "Something about hir has changed since shi went to that school in North America. A little over two years ago hir cheerful messages stopped for over a month. Then they started up again, but the cheerfulness seemed to be forced, almost as if shi was trying to hide something. Shi brushed off our questions and we let it go at the time. But now that we can feel hir, we can sense a barrier, almost like shi is afraid we might find out something shi wishes to keep a secret from us."

"I was wondering about that," Shortdash said. "Windsong seems to be holding up a mental block to try to keep hir family from reading hir too deeply. A much weaker shield is directed at the rest of the chakats that might try to read hir. Neal and our ‘twins’ got through because shi wasn’t expecting them to be able to sense, much less read hir."

Weaver frowned. "Did shi raise hir barriers once shi knew they could get to hir?"

"Not really," Shortdash said with a chuckle. "Shi stopped trying to read Neal when he scorched hir tail, but he was still able to get through with physical contact. As for the twins, shi had opened up a little while they were washing hir. The physical contact and Quickdash’s bull-headedness kept hir from getting hir barriers back up."

"I seem to remember hearing you saying something to the effect that that attribute was the fault of hir first adopted father," Weaver said with a grin.

Shortdash gave first Weaver and then Neal dirty looks while hir mate chuckled. "Pot, meet kettle," Quickwind laughed as hir mate turned hir glare on hir. "Neal may have helped bring it out, but you have to admit that ‘bull-headedness’ runs in the family."

"What are you doing Neal?" Silverpelt asked, having noticed that Neal seemed preoccupied.

"Along with asking if I would give your daughter a ride, Boyce added a few access codes. One of them includes access to certain Star Fleet records in which Tess has already found a medical reference to Windsong." Neal’s voice hardened a little as he continued, "It seems shi was badly injured about that time. The full details are under a privacy seal." He didn’t add that Tess had also found that there had been a lot of furs hurt in a riot in a town bordering the school Windsong had been attending just hours before shi had been admitted to the hospital.

"Why would shi try to hide something like that?" Silverpelt wondered, feeling hurt.

"What would you have done if you had known?" Neal asked hir. "Would you have tried to pull hir out of school and drag hir back to Chakona?"

"I… we…" Silverpelt sputtered as hir mate sadly nodded.

"The other glaring omission is that no psychological testing was done as part of hir treatment and recovery. In fact three doctors placed in hir records that shi refused to be tested." Neal frowned a little more as he continued; "Perhaps shi feared the loss of hir scholarship if they didn’t like what the tests said about hir mental state after whatever happened."

"Why do you see that as an omission?" Shortdash asked.

Neal snorted. "Star Fleet took a very close look at the mental health of my kids after the New Kiev incident. They either liked, or were confused by what they found, because they then ran me through the wringer."

"I somehow find that hard to believe," Shortdash said with a small snort of amusement of hir own.

"It’s true," Weaver told hir with a grin. "They asked us to drag him down to Pegasus's main sickbay. Once there, they knocked him out and a skunktaur did what hy said was a little ‘light reading’."

"And they still let him loose?" Shortdash laughed, only half joking.

"They seemed to think he was more traceable with others to look out for." Weaver grinned a little wider as she added, "What seemed to scare them a little was what Neal might have done if he hadn’t had us to think about."

At the stares he was getting, Neal shrugged. "The most dangerous thing out there is someone that believes that he has nothing to lose."

"What about your colonies?" Quickwind asked. "Don’t they still need you?"

"Not really. My death and the loss of the Folly would be a major setback, but the colonies would be fine. Some of the progress on the existing ones would be delayed a bit, and the new ones might start up a year or two later than currently planned, but I have enough help that they can do it without me if needed."

Suzan pulled him back into her hug with a growl. "You promised to help me raise these two," she reminded him.

"I did, and I intend to," Neal agreed while returning her hug.

"So no more talk of doom and gloom!" she said as she poked him in the ribs.

"Yes dear," he replied before he made her squirm with a tickle.

"So will you take hir?" Fireglow asked.

Neal was quiet for a moment before slowly nodding. "We’ll take hir. If we can’t get hir out of hir shell, perhaps whoever we find to help Shady will be able to help Windy as well."

"Is that the only reason?" Desertsand asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That, and I’m sometimes a sucker for stray kittens," he admitted with a grin.

Fireglow nodded. "One word of warning, shi prefers Song to Windy."

"I’ll take that under advisement," Neal said, his grin turning evil.


While all the cubs had been taken to the nursery, not all of them had thought it was bedtime just yet. Stonefur, Ember and Markus had been carried in and were still asleep, Windrunner had awakened just long enough to crawl over to hir mother before going back to sleep. Patchwork and Snowcloud on the other paw, were still wide awake and getting bored. Snowcloud started to get up, only to be stopped by a tail trying to nudge hir back down. Shi turned to complain, but stopped when shi saw it was DarkStreak. DarkStreak simply held up a paw for silence as shi watched Midnight and Forest. Deciding their slumber was deep enough, shi and Spitfire headed for the door, only pausing to grab their comm badges. Patchwork and Snowcloud made to follow them, only to be stopped by Spitfire, shi was pointing at the pile of badges. Silently grumbling, they each grabbed a badge and followed them out of the room.

"They’ll be cranky in the morning," Forest mumbled into Midnight’s fur.

"They can nap on the way to the beach," Midnight replied, as shi let hirself drift off to sleep.

Once they were around a couple of corners, the cubs stopped for a moment.

"What’s the big idea? The ship can track you with these things!" Snowcloud said as shi waved hir badge around.

"Tess can track us without them," DarkStreak replied. "If you had left it behind it would have set off an alarm when we left the room."

"And I think I have hirs," Patchwork said, sniffing hir badge.

"That’s all right," Tess said, shocking their visitors. "I can tell who is wearing which badge. Now, what are you four up too?"

"They were going to play stinger tag, and we want to play too!" Spitfire said, referring to the twins.

"Well, they are already having entirely too much fun at Windsong’s expense. Tell you what, you go in on Windsong’s side and I’ll pretend I didn’t see you sneaking out. Deal?"

"Deal!" they chorused as they ran down the corridors.


Silverpelt was trying to coax hir mate back to their waiting ‘room for eight’ when shi heard the soft thumps of fast moving cubs. Turning to Neal, shi said, "That was…."

Having just been warned by Tess, Neal grinned as he finished, "… a couple of ours, and a couple of yours. I think they’re heading for a game of tailstinger tag."

"Should we send them back to bed?" Desertsand asked.

Neal shook his head. "No, let them play themselves tired. Tess will keep an eye on them." Checking a note in his glasses he added, "They’re around the corner already, so it’s safe for you to sneak out."


A little while after having seen his guests to their room, Neal was heading for his cabin when Tess paged him.

From the intermittent wash of feelings that he had been getting since the groups had gone their separate ways, Neal had started to wonder if some of his crew and guests were competing for the night’s high score. As he yawned, he asked Tess what else needed his attention.

"I just thought you would like to welcome your latest guest onboard," she said.

"I don’t remember asking anyone else to join us," Neal said slowly, trying to think of what – or whom – he might have overlooked.

"Midnight sent the invitation; I understand hir guest had to do a little packing before joining us."

"And you didn’t see this as noteworthy?"

"You did say you didn’t mind pleasant surprises," she reminded him.

The small personnel shuttle docked at the port Neal had been closest to, and its sole occupant stepped into the airlock.

The skunktaur was in male mode. As hy stepped out of the airlock, hy gave the tired looking Neal a grin. "Burning the midnight oil again, I see. I had thought that all of your mates would have tied you down by now." As Neal continued to just look at hym, hy smiled and added, "I was in female mode when last we met."

"Lighttouch," Neal acknowledged as he finally recognized hym, "What brings you calling? Not that I mind seeing you again."

"Since I was not sure I could break free in time, I asked Midnight not to mention I was coming. The reason for my calling is you, or rather your family. I understand Shadowcrest was hurt and might benefit from my services. Midnight gave me a few of the details, but knowing you I am sure that there is more to it."

As one of Tess’s carts came up to take hys luggage, Neal began filling Lighttouch in on Shadowcrest's situation, as well as the training Quickdash’s parents thought shi would be needing a little earlier than anticipated. He then told the skunktaur about Windsong and the reasons shi might soon be joining the Folly.

Lighttouch smiled to hymself as Neal rambled from point to point. He had been more than a little tense before he recognized the skunktaur, but he now seemed to be calming down now that he thought he might have a possible solution to some of his more time sensitive problems.

As Neal wound down, Lighttouch asked, "I would be happy to help with the twins and Shadowcrest. Are they still up?"

"They are currently tail-stinging each other and Windsong. Did you want to talk to them, or just observe?" Neal asked.

"Observation will do for now," hy replied.

Neal led hym to a small holodeck and asked Tess for a chair and a taur pad. Once they were comfortable, Neal asked her for a ‘magic mirror’. The view changed to one of the forest in the other holodeck. They could each look down into a small display and see where everyone was, they could then use it to shift their views to wherever they liked.

They watched as the youngsters tried to out-fox each other. Shadowcrest was walking though the underbrush, making just enough noise to make hirself easy to track. Windsong laid in wait for the twins, only the tip of hir tail twitching in anticipation. The twins though, had spotted the trap, and were now silently sneaking up on Windsong. Behind them were the four cubs; they had already paired off to take the twins.

Neal chuckled as everyone got into position. "This is when I’m always tempted to have Tess make the audio go both ways and clap my hands."

Lighttouch grinned. "So what is stopping you?"

"Payback, among other things," Neal replied with a matching grin. "I’m trying to teach them the old ‘do unto others’ and not the ‘do as I say, not as I do’."

"And this?" Lighttouch asked, as the players seemed to be almost ready to spring their surprises.

Neal nodded. "I know that DarkStreak would have had Patchwork and Snowcloud try the tailstingers on themselves so they know what they are doing to the twins. And if Forest is anything like Midnight, shi has taught those two that what goes around, comes around."

Tess quietly interrupted with, "They also did a little practice stalking in one of the other holodecks, so while this is the first time they have gone after the twins, they have been ‘stung’. I heard Spitfire warning Snowcloud that the twins won’t hurt them for their sneak attack, but they will get even. Spitfire then suggested they let the twins get even with them tonight, shi wants it over and done with."

The moment had arrived. Thinking shi had heard something, Windsong had stepped just a little ways out of hir concealment. Not making a sound, the twins stood as one, and fired at the copper-toned tail. Windsong seemed to levitate as shi shrieked in surprise, hir tail spreading into a nice imitation of a bottlebrush. The cubs then bounded out of their concealment, nailing the tails of the twins. Windsong spun around in surprise as hir attackers shrieked in return. As shi brought hir stinger to bear on Holly’s fluffed out tail, Windsong saw Snowcloud and Spitfire dodging back into the underbrush.

"Shady!" Quickdash yelled as hir tail bottle brushed just as Windsong’s had a moment ago.

"No fair using two stingers!" Holly added, thinking their big sister had managed to nail them both at the same time.

As the twins headed in the direction they thought the shots had come from, Windsong gave chase with a grin. If they were looking for one very large chakat, a sneaky cub or two would probably go unnoticed.

Lighttouch and Neal watched as the twins ran past the hidden cubs, who then gave chase, ignoring Windsong. The twins were ‘tail stung’ several more times as they tried to find Shadowcrest and retaliate, but shi wasn’t anywhere they looked.

Holly was turning to return fire on Windsong, only to find that shi was still firing at Quickdash. Looking harder at the underbrush, she spotted Snowcloud popping up for another shot. "Quickdash! Cub infestation!" she cried as she fired on Snowcloud before the cub could duck back under cover.

The next few minutes were a free-for-all as the groups split, everyone being targeted by everyone else. The twins finally found (and tailstung!) all four cubs, then they, the cubs, and Windsong went in search of Shadowcrest. They were passing under one of the large trees when several water balloons dropped from above, getting headshots on two of the older three and spraying the little ones with near misses.

Patchwork started to aim hir stinger at the treed chakat, only to have DarkStreak bat it down with hir tail. "It’s wet!" shi explained, "You might get zapped too!"

Noticing that no one else had tried to fire, Patchwork nodded and lowered hir arm.

Once shi was down, Shady gave them all a grin as shi said, "No hits on my tail, and I didn’t have to fire a shot!"

Noticing the lack of hir suppresser belt, Quickdash asked, "That’s an echo, isn’t it?" At Shady’s nod, Quickdash dropped hir stinger and leaped at the much larger chakat. Holly, DarkStreak and Spitfire were right behind hir.

Having been asked to avoid physical contact with Shady, Windsong, Patchwork and Snowcloud watched in confusion, as Shady was tickle-attacked by the others. Tess quietly explained how the echoes worked, and that this Shady was safe to attack.

No matter the size, seven against one is a losing proposition for the one. Fighting to speak through hir laughter, Shady gasped, "Enough! I have to go on watch in a few minutes!" when the others just redoubled their efforts, shi called out, "Tess! Cancel echo!" A moment later shi vanished from the holodeck.

As the rest fell into the space Shady had been just a moment ago, Patchwork demanded, "Let’s go after hir!"

Giving Windsong a wink, Quickdash said, "No, shi’ll be expecting that. Let’s pretend to be tired and head for our room. We can lie there and let hir think we’ve fallen asleep. Then we’ll get hir!"

The cubs just thought they were ‘acting’ tired, but by the time they reached the twins’ room they were actually dragging a little. The twins trapped Windsong on the large bed with the cubs, which they then blocked in with themselves. Windsong's last thought was to wonder if Quickdash had been pushing the idea of being tired at hir as well as the cubs….


When Shadowcrest arrived on the active bridge, shi found Neal and Lighttouch waiting for hir. Neal left soon after, having asked Shady to let Lighttouch help hir if hy could. The two spent most of hir shift talking while they probed hir new strengths and weaknesses.

Healthy Kestrel Sick Kestrel

Neal was paged yet again by Tess, this time to tell him that his toothbrush had been moved, and that he was expected to join it. He soon found himself in the suite of rooms the Rakshani had taken over after being processed. Across the room there were a row of clocks, each with a different time. One was real time for the main star port on Raksha, in their equivalent of minutes /hours /days /weeks /months and year. The next one had changed itself to match the clock and time of the port they were currently using. The last was an old twenty-four hour clock that the Folly used for ship time. The last two reminded Neal that just a day before they had been synchronized with the opposite side of the planet.

Kestrel was waiting for him on one of the love seats. An unwanted memory flashed through Neal’s tired mind of the way she had looked being wheeled into the Pegasus's sickbay. Her easy grin helped dispel the memory; she was over that event and had moved on. Something about her grin as she got up to drag him to her room also pushed away some of the weariness Neal had been feeling.


The early morning light of Melbourne saw the Folly’s two heavy lift shuttles each gently set a pod in the freight unloading area. Forest and family had been awakened after everything was ready for them to depart. Neal and a couple of the kids had tested Alpha before getting both shuttles loaded with the picnic supplies and guests. The cubs were wakened just long enough for a restroom stop, then carried or led to the shuttles where they were allowed to go back to sleep.

Midnight kept an eye on the still sleepy cubs. Littleroar was snugly tucked away in hir ‘big top’, the adjustable straps holding hir just under hir mother’s breasts. The day before there had been a little confusion the first time Littleroar had needed to relieve hirself. Shi had come out of the restroom still full and very unhappy that shi hadn’t found a sandbox to go in. Firestorm had beat Midnight to the distressed cub and led hir back into the restroom. Midnight had not been in this restroom yet, and had let out a chuckle when shi saw it. Behind the standard taur facility, there were several brightly colored boards hanging from the wall, as well as a ramp with different colored steps. Stormy had led Littleroar up to the ramp, and then placed hir hand-paw on the first of the colored steps. One by one, the boards came down off the wall, on their topsides were taur toilet tops, each smaller than the one before. The topmost was tiny, just the right size for a cub that knew when shi needed to go. Stormy led hir the rest of the way up the ramp, and helped hir position hirself for the first time. After shi was done, Stormy showed hir the flush button, before leading hir to the side of the ramp. Here shi leaned on the counterweights, and one by one, the seats rose back into their out of the way positions.

Watching as Littleroar now brought the seats down again, this time in play instead of need, Midnight muttered, "Great, now shi’ll want one of these at home."

"That can be arranged," Tess told hir. "Shall I have one taken down with the loads tomorrow?"

"Let me think on it," Midnight had told her.

Shi now looked around the shuttle as shi heard the power systems winding down after the landing.

Shi smiled as shi looked in one of the corners. Neal had seen to the shuttle testing before shi was awakened, and had picked that corner to nap away the short trip to the surface. He had been joined by Stormy and Star. With the exception of Shady, the tailstinger crowd was curled up in another corner. Shady and Lighttouch were laying side by side, and if not for the occasional stray thought or feeling shi could sense, Midnight would have thought they were asleep as well.

A small fleet of taur-sized rental vans pulled up and were loaded as Neal talked to Samuel, who turned out to be a five foot six red squirrel. "It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you carrying passengers," he commented as he watched them packing the vans.

Moonglow overheard them, and called out, "I’m no passenger, I’m his mate! Well, one of them anyway," shi added with a grin.

The squirrel looked over towards Neal with a surprised expression. "Mates? I thought you told me mates were for fools that…" Samuel started before Neal could shut him up.

"WHAT!?!" Moonglow demanded, hir grin turning evil. "What was this he said about mates and fools?"

Wenfrec's outfit

Neal was saved from hearing what Samuel might have come up with by the arrival of a Rakshani female. She was dressed in an outfit common to many civilian ship crews, this one being an off green and showing no pins or badges to suggest who she was or had previously worked for. She looked a little intimidated by the crowd of furs around the cargo pod, but she all but marched up to Neal, and came to something that resembled ‘attention’ a little too much. She didn’t quite bark out, "Captain Foster! I am Wenfrec ap Pulan na Shazbot. I am seeking passage to Chakona. I am a skilled pilot and navigator."

As the Rakshani spoke, Neal’s glasses darkened slightly as Tess reported what her scans were finding. The weapon in her holster had been made to look like a common Rakshan heavy stunner, but was in fact a phaser. A hidden flap on the back of the holster also hid an alternate ID card. Her belt also concealed several memory chips, one of which seemed to have a Star Fleet security seal on it.

More then a little curious, Neal decided to play along – sort of. "Well, I’m not really hurting for pilots, and we haven’t gotten lost recently," he said scratching his head, "but we are heading to Chakona if what you’re really after is a ride."

Wenfrec nodded cautiously; this was not going at all as her briefing had suggested it should.

" ’Course, we’ll have to see if you can fit in without stirring up too much trouble, so pick a van and climb in," Neal said with a grin.

Definitely not as per her briefing, Wenfrec thought as she soon found herself trapped in a taur van full of chakats heading away from the spaceport.

Shortdash gave Midnight a wink as they started quizzing their guest. Both had tuned into the fact that the Rakshani was reading off what was now a broken script. As Wenfrec had to make up more of a story than she had thought she would need for just the Folly’s captain, she started making mistakes – mistakes that the others didn’t bother to point out, wondering just how far she would go to spin her false tale.

While hir mate and Shortdash double-teamed their victim, Forest had been carefully gauging Wenfrec’s mental state. While the Rakshani was starting to worry that her story would soon unravel, she wasn’t too concerned with them because she thought it was Neal she would have to convince.

Shortdash looked over at Midnight, and got a nod. Shi grinned as shi dropped their pretence of idle questions. "An interesting tale, Wenfrec. Or should I say ‘Lieutenant’?"

"I don’t know what you are talking about," Wenfrec said, shaken by hir guess.

"Give it up," Midnight softly told her as Littleroar popped out of hir top for a quick nuzzle. "I’m a Star Fleet Lieutenant Commander, and my companion interrogator holds a similar position in Star Corps."

Shortdash nodded before adding, "And the Folly has both branches represented, so we will know what you’re up to – sooner or later."

Wenfrec sagged a little. This was not how she had envisioned this mission starting! She was trying to think of an excuse that wouldn’t dig her pit any deeper, when she felt something touch her forearm. The tiny chakat from Midnight’s top had climbed down and was now looking up at her as shi patted her arm. As she stroked Littleroar, she looked at Midnight, more than a little surprised to see hir grinning.

"No, Lieutenant, we weren’t waiting in ambush for you. You just happened into us heading for a quiet day on the beach," Midnight said with a smile. "May I ask how old your briefing data was?"

"My information is for the captain of the Folly," Wenfrec said, trying to stick to some part of her orders.

Shortdash’s comm badge chirped and the voice of the human she had spoken to earlier said, "He’s been listening, go ahead Lieutenant Wenfrec."

"I am not going to discuss classified information over an unsecured channel, sir," she stated, getting nervous as she realized that her conversation with the chakats had gone farther than she had known.

"As you will, Lieutenant," the voice said before falling silent.

A few minutes more found them paralleling the beach. Neal was in the lead PTV and he let the cubs pick out where their small convoy would pull over.

The cubs picked a wide flat expanse between two dunes for their beach party.

While the cubs ran for the water (some to quickly come running back when they discovered this water ‘attacks’ back!), the rest dragged, rolled and carried the supplies a little closer to the water.

Wenfrec found herself helping drag one of several barbecue grills that had been stashed in the backs of a couple of the vans, a rabbit doe and the leopard-spotted chakat directing their placement. Having completed the task they had asked of her, she turned to hunt down the human, only to freeze when she found him almost behind her, a very large projectile weapon in each hand.

Neal pretended to not notice to shock in the Rakshani’s eyes as he offered her one of the weapons. "Care to try a little skeet shooting?" he asked with a grin.

Midnight watched the exchange with interest as shi joined them. "I didn’t know skeet was on the menu," shi said giving Neal a long look. "Nor do I remember us loading any weapons."

"Tess was kind enough to add a few party favorites when she noticed the PTV that was following our little convoy stopped a few klicks away, and they are breaking out some lethal toys of their own." Neal looked in that direction as he offered hir the other weapon. "I’m hoping that seeing we’re not helpless might deter them."

"And if it doesn’t?" Midnight asked as shi examined the shotgun Neal had handed hir.

"Then we try something different," Neal said with a smile.

The launchers would fire three of the clay disks at a time; they were aimed out over the water to reduce chances of anyone being hit by stray shot.

Neal had gone first. The first two targets had shattered quite nicely, but he only knocked a small piece out of the third.

After teasing Neal, both Zhanch and Dessa took out all three of their targets.

The only shooters to miss all three of their targets were Shadowcrest and Wenfrec; both were then given a little instruction on leading their targets and allowed to try again.

Halfway through the third set, Midnight sidled up to Neal. "Did it work?" shi asked, having seen a strange head pop up a few times, but it hadn’t been seen for a while.

"Unfortunately not," Neal admitted. "I think they’re trying to wait until they think our guard is down."

"So what do we do?" shi asked.

"We eat!" he said with a grin.

The cubs had been snacking since they reached the beach; the rest of them now started looking to see what was for breakfast. Forest and Suzan had been busy; they now helped fill plates with food. As most of them sat or lay on blankets to eat, Dessa picked up her Rakshani-sized shotgun, and walked over the dune that the unknown head had been peering over.

Wenfrec had jumped up and grabbed the gun Neal had provided her; only to freeze as a command voice behind her said, "Stand down, Lieutenant!"

As she spun around to face Neal, she snarled, "You would have her face them alone?"

"Yes," Neal said a little quieter. "I am not foolish enough to insult a Rakshan marine by suggesting that she can’t handle a few roughnecks armed with rocks and sticks."

Wenfrec just stared at him for a moment, before looking to others for support. Most were eating or complimenting the cooks on the snacks. Only Midnight met her look, slowly shaking hir head ‘no’. She slowly sank back down, watching the others act like it was just another day.

She sat down next to Lighttouch. Hy swallowed hys mouthful of omelet and quietly said, "I do not even have to read you to know what you are thinking. And to most of those here, this is indeed ‘just another day’." As Wenfrec continued to stare at hym, Lighttouch continued, "A few days ago, Neal and his family were dodging loaded carriers that were being tipped over because some furs thought that Neal had killed furs on another planet. I am here because that large chakat sitting over there by hirself was partially crushed by one of those carriers. It may not look it, but shi was repaired. I was invited to help hir with a few mental challenges brought about by those repairs."

Looking at what appeared to be a very large chakat in perfect health, Wenfrec frowned as she said, "The more I hear and see, the less I believe."

They watched as a coppery colored chakat joined the one they had been discussing. Lighttouch grinned as hy added; "Here is another puzzle piece for you. Those two have a combined age of under forty Terran years." Getting up to get a pastry, hy said, "I will only add that the smaller is the older of the two."


Not noticing that they were being discussed, Windsong settled down next to Shadowcrest. Offering hir one of the small cakes shi had snagged, Windsong said, "I noticed you’ve turned off your belt."

Shadowcrest looked down to frown at the portable field generator. "My security blanket," shi mumbled around the cake. "Lighttouch showed me a lot last night, but I’m still not all that sure of myself."

"I know my cousin Forest knows more than shi’s telling, and Midnight is entirely too good at keeping secrets. So maybe you’ll explain to me why one minute your family treats you like an adult, the next like a youth."

"Because that’s what I am," Shadowcrest said with a grin. Hir grin widened slightly as shi watched Dessa walk back over the dune. There had been no shots and no shouts from over the dune while she had been gone. Shi noted that other than looking a little annoyed about something, Dessa looked pretty much as she always did. Shi turned back to Windsong, wondering if the other chakat had even noticed hir diverted attention.

Windsong had just looked at Shadowcrest for a few moments before finally saying, "Okay… that makes even less sense that a lot of the other stuff I’ve heard from and about your ‘family’."

Shadowcrest just grinned again as shi said, "You could say I am a youth, trapped in an adult body."

"Still a cub at heart?" Windsong asked smiling. "I can relate to that. Do you prefer Shadowcrest or Shady?"

"Either will do. I heard Neal call you ‘Windy’ earlier."

"I prefer Song or Windsong, but your captain does seem to like ‘Windy’," shi grumbled.

"From what we’ve gotten Tess to admit to, one of Neal’s other daughters was also nicknamed Windy."

"So he’s hoping I’m like his daughter?" Song asked with a laugh, shaking hir head.

"Probably not," Shady admitted. "The same database suggested that shi is still mad at him about something that happened a very long time ago."

Finishing hir cake, Song shook hir head as shi pondered Shady’s last comment and said, "We seem to have gotten off the subject of you thinking of yourself as an oversized cub."

Shady also finished hir cake before replying, "I will be twelve in about a month." Looking down into Song’s shocked expression shi added, "Less than a week ago I was maybe three quarters of your body mass. Neal’s Rakshani mates and I are examples of how the Folly does repairs to badly damaged furs."

Song involuntarily shivered at a thought shi tried to keep down as shi quietly asked, "Twelve? How badly were you injured?"

As shi had done for Midnight the day before, Shady turned and touched hir lower back. "This point back, crushed by a falling carrier."

Song bowed hir head and shivered again as unwanted memories of hir own past pain threatened to surface. Shi looked back up at Shady as the much larger chakat took hir by the shoulders. Shi was radiating concern and trying to offer comfort, but Song could feel that most of Shady’s energy was directed at forcing hirself to not dive into Song’s mind and see the problem directly.

They stared at each other for a moment before Shady asked, "You okay?" Shi released hir grip on Song when Song nodded.

Song just watched the larger chakat; shi had put up hir best barriers when shi felt Shady’s mental presence, but shi now knew that hir walls would have crumbled had Shady pushed even a little. "Thank you," shi quietly said. "Both for support, as well as not rooting through my memories."

Shady giggled. "That was the reason for the belt, to help keep me from accidentally seeing things I wasn’t trying to see. Before last night I didn’t dare touch anyone but the smaller cubs."

They continued to talk for a few minutes before Lighttouch wandered over to them. Settling hymself comfortably, hy asked, "Are you two okay? You seemed a little upset a moment ago."

Shady made a face at hym as shi replied, "And it took you this long to check on us?"

The skunktaur smiled. "You had seemed to have gotten over it, so I thought gauging our new Rakshani friend would be a more useful employment of my humble talents."

"And what did you find?" Shady asked with a grin.

"Only that she wishes that her current assignment made some kind of sense. It seems she is easily confused by Neal and a gaggle of furs that don’t seem to do things quite like everyone else."

"So… why was she sent?" Shady prodded when Lighttouch didn’t volunteer any more information.

"To hand deliver some information, as well as to protect the person she was to give that information to."

Windsong frowned as shi said, "I was under the impression that you don’t probe minds without permission."

Lighttouch grinned at hir as hy said, "Who said I was reading her mind?"

Shady had also grinned at Song’s query, shi now asked, "How do you think a non-telepath learns things without being told?"

"By using empathy."

"How about Weaver?" Shady asked, pointing hir muzzle at the foxtaur vixen. "She’s a solid E and T zero, yet she’s very good at reading between the lines."

Lighttouch chuckled. "Most of it is a natural talent at reading body language, but trying to keep up with Neal has certainly helped hone her skills."

"So you’re a natural telepath that reads body language instead of using your talents."

"You can not always use your other talents. As Shadowcrest’s belt demonstrates, your talents can be blocked. Accidents, injuries, or some types of trauma can also have an impact on our mental gifts and talents. Having some other means of gathering information can be useful."

"But others can fake their body language," Song insisted, trying to ignore some of the other parts of Lighttouch’s statement.

"Like Neal likes to hide his truths in lies?" Lighttouch countered, having heard about the tail scorching.

Windsong could only nod to that question. "I’m still trying to read between his lines, he’s one of the most confusing humans I’ve ever met." Shi chuckled softly to hirself before looking back at the others. "Funny, for all my training and high scores, it seems I’m always the one getting surprised. Though of late, at least some of those surprises have been pleasant ones." Shi looked from Lighttouch to Shady, a hesitant smile on hir muzzle.


When Lighttouch had gotten up to talk to the chakats, Wenfrec had gotten up to move over to where Dessa had sat down with a snack. "Why did you let him put you at risk that way?" she asked the younger looking Rakshani.

"What way would that be, youngling?" Dessa asked, a frown forming as she spoke.

"What do you mean by ‘youngling’, cub?"

"Hmmm, na Shazbot. Would you by chance have a grandmother named Bertif?"

"Great-grandmother," Wenfrec corrected, slowly nodding.

"I ‘cub-sat’ her a few times when their ship was in port," Dessa explained. She grinned at Wenfrec’s look of surprise. "We were both much younger then." Looking seriously at Wenfrec she added, "If you wish to have any real hope of surviving the Folly, you will need to learn to not take all things at face value."

Dessa lounging at the beach

"So I’m noticing," Wenfrec acknowledged, frowning slightly.

"As far as my walking over to ‘chat’ with an armed foe? Neal had already used his ship-based transporters to replace their power packs with something that wasn’t quite compatible with their weapons."

"So that’s what he meant when he said you were going up against someone armed with rocks and sticks."

"Like I said, don’t believe everything you think you see." Dessa told her as she got up to head over to where she had set up her umbrella and chair before the skeet shooting had started. She watched the surf for a minute before setting down her weapon and letting the sea and breeze lull her into a nap.

Wenfrec watched her relax. It had always surprised her how fast some people could change their alertness levels. She frowned slightly as she touched a stud on her ‘stunner’, the gentle vibration telling her that she had not been disarmed. Her frown deepened as she wondered at the seemingly random levels of security. They had left a complete stranger armed in the middle of their camp, and yet they disarmed another group before they even got into range. She remained where she was, pondering the logic – or lack thereof.


Lighttouch nodded in the direction of the two Rakshani. "Just watching their faces and ears, you could see Dessa was rubbing Wenfrec’s muzzle in something she did not care for. Her change in body language suggests that she is now showing Dessa more respect, so it may have been age or rank related."

"Wenfrec does look like she would make a poor poker player," Shady agreed, having also noticed the rapid changes in expression and demeanor.

Windsong shook hir head. "I’m glad I’m not the only one having problems figuring you guys out. Maybe she and I should compare notes later."


The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent enjoying the sun, sand and waves. A few sandcastles were built, but none of them survived long as it turned out that Littleroar loved to ‘help’ Opal and Mica knock them down. Neal had fallen asleep under one of the large umbrellas, only to wake and find his arms and legs buried under large mounds of sand. Weaver had then taken the opportunity to ‘win’ a tickle fight while her mate was helpless.

While shi hadn’t participated in the skeet shooting, Windsong did ask Tess to fabricate and beam down some weapons that were more to hir liking. Tess sent down a long bow as well as a compound bow, a few dozen target arrows, a quiver with a harness for hir lower torso, and a pair of targets. Windsong then prepared to demonstrate that harp strings weren’t the only things shi knew how to pluck.

Shi quickly set up the two targets a few paces apart and secured them into the firm beach sand.  After stepping back to hir firing line, shi carefully planted each target arrow into the sand next to hir before shi reached out and lifted the longbow.

Windsong shows hir skill with the bow and arrow

Holding it in front of hir, shi pulled the string back against hir muzzle several times before slowly letting the string relax. Choosing an arrow, shi pulled back the string to fire – only to slowly release the tension without firing. Shi reached up and rubbed the side of hir right breast. The string had brushed against it and reminded hir of one more thing shi needed.

Tapping hir badge again, shi said, "Tess? I need one more thing. Could you make a leather bustier for me?  I need something to protect my breast and nipple from the string?"

"Of course I can, Windsong," Tess acknowledged. "Would you prefer one with a bit of padding, or will reinforced leather be sufficient?"

"No padding, but some metal bracing inside the bustier will help in case I slip and whip the string across my breast."

A polished brown bustier materialized in Windsong's hands. After putting it on, shi grinned at the curious looks shi was getting. "Trust me, looking silly is worth it compared to the pain a bowstring across the breast can deliver."

Windsong notched the arrow again and pulled back the string, a gust of the breeze across hir muzzle causing hir to automatically correct a little more for the wind before shi released the string. Without looking away from the target shi reached for, notched and fired the next arrow, and then the next. Hir concentration was only broken when shi reached out and hir hand did not encounter another arrow.

Looking around, shi found most of the group watching hir with open curiosity.

Shady was first to break the silence, "What were you thinking about just now? You seemed to be locked on the goal of killing that poor target." Shi didn’t add that the only other time shi had ever seen anyone so focused on mayhem was in the minutes before Firestorm was born.

Mentally pushing back unpleasant memories shi didn’t want to acknowledge, Windsong tried to give them a reassuring smile. "Nothing at all. I just cleared my mind of all other distractions."

Shady nodded, though shi didn’t believe Song. There had been almost a hatred emanating from hir while shi had ‘concentrated’ on the target. Deciding to leave it for later, Shady looked at the target with its tight cluster of feathered shafts. "Nice grouping," shi said. "May I try?"

As Shady and the others took turns trying to hit the target with the gusting crosswind from the sea adding to the challenge, the cubs were offered foam-tipped darts to throw at a target and each other. This was fine until one of the cubs discovered that a tip saturated with seawater not only went further, it also ‘splatted’ nicely on the victim.


"What do you mean?" Wenfrec demanded, her eyes going wide as her claws came out involuntarily. Zhanch had just asked Neal if he was going to paint the main lounge in his Rakshani house colors.

"The Folly is run by the house of Foster, Neal is the head of that house," Zhanch explained. "It shouldn’t be a problem. Many Rakshani have served houses other than their own before."

Wenfrec shuddered before answering, "But a head of a house can not serve under the head of another house!"

Zhanch stared at the other Rakshani. "You are the head of your house?" she asked, unable to hide her surprise.

Wenfrec nodded without looking at Zhanch. "Our house runs the freighter Sharp Claw. It is almost a year overdue. All that is left of my house is myself and three younger cousins." Looking up at Zhanch, she said, "I will not surrender my house!" A little quieter she added, "Not while there may still be a chance that they are alive."

"I have no intention of taking your house from you, Wenfrec," Neal quietly told her.

"You will have no choice in the matter!" Wenfrec growled at him. "One head of house under another dissolves the lesser house. Our laws are very strict on this – it keeps a house from controlling other houses."

"Head of a Rakshani house was thrust on me by surprise, so I am still learning all the rules," Neal explained to her. "As a head of house, could you answer a few questions for me?" At her nod, he asked, "Are the heads of houses exempt from military duty?" She shook her head. "How do they normally keep one head of a house from being over another?"

"A subordinate is chosen to command the lower ranking head of house; the two only communicate commands through the subordinate."

"So if I were to put Zhanch in charge of you, that would satisfy the letter of the law?"

"In most cases, yes," Wenfrec agreed. "But your ship is part of your house and under your direct command and control, and thus I am directly under you again."

"How does a head of house visit another?" Neal asked, still trying to find a way around the new laws he found uncomfortably binding him.

"A short visit is acceptable, but not a long stay under the roof of another house. Sometimes a house will designate an area or a building as open to all the houses. This place allows other houses to meet and stay without the heads of the houses having to sign agreements, or risk being absorbed by others."

Neal sat back for a minute thinking. It was Shortdash that next spoke. "I was told the forward section of the Folly was going to become a new space station, and it would be run mainly by Rakshani… correct?"

Neal slowly nodded. "So I would have had to claim the whole thing house neutral anyway. Hmmm, no reason I couldn’t do that here and now." Looking at Wenfrec, he asked, "Will that satisfy the letter as well as the spirit of the law?"

Wenfrec slowly nodded. "I think you have found a way to let me come aboard without taking away my house," she acknowledged. "Thank you," she quietly added.

"No, thank you. I would have walked blindly into that trap without you."

"So, am I welcome aboard the Folly?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, there are a couple of tests that prospective crew members must pass," Neal admitted.

"I can pass any test you set before me!" Wenfrec declared.

Neal smiled as he said, "Excellent! Your first test will be a ‘little’ one, or in this case, the little ones. The rest of us thank you for your generous offer to cub-sit."

Neal ignored her look of shocked surprise and turned to the cubs that had been waiting patiently for the grown-ups to settle whatever they were doing. Smiling at them, he waved at Wenfrec. "She’s all yours. Try not to break her," he said as he left the Rakshani to her fate.

Shortdash turned hir head quickly, hoping Wenfrec wouldn’t see hir grin. She’d had that ‘deer in the headlights’ look as the cubs had started heading for her.


Silverpelt and Fireglow led Windsong a little ways down the beach, away from the others.

Fireglow started by handing Windsong the message they had received from Admiral Kline. After giving hir time to read it and think on it, Fireglow quietly said, "We think you should seriously consider the idea. We have already asked Neal about it. His response was somewhere between ‘what’s one more furball?’ and ‘the more – the merrier!’"

"There is a lot more to Neal, his ship, and his crew than meets the eye," Windsong pointed out.

"So we’ve noticed," Silverpelt agreed with a nod. "But what we’ve seen so far suggests that this is not necessarily a bad thing. And I don’t think his ‘crew’ would be half this cheerful if he treated them poorly."

Fireglow also nodded in agreement. "You don’t need to decide right now. From what Neal was saying, the Folly will be moving cargo for another week before moving on. That should give you a better feel for them and whether you will want to travel with them. Your other ride was going to take a week longer to get here anyway, so you have the time to get a feel for them before you decide."

"I will need to get my stuff from Starbase One. They’re holding it for my original transport, the Sojourner Truth, I think…" Windsong thought out loud. Shi finally nodded to hir parents. "I’ll consider it."

"That’s all we could ask," Silverpelt said.


A morning of playing hard on the beach had made for a hungry crowd when lunch was ready – especially those that had been downwind of the cooking. Neal had been amused to note that Goldfur’s family had kept hir from ‘helping’ with the meal preparations almost as energetically as his family had kept Weaver occupied and away from the grills.

Most were now sleeping off lunch when Weaver heard Neal’s earplug emit a tone she hadn’t heard from it before. "What is it?" she asked as she noticed that several of the chakats and Lighttouch had also reacted to the tone, even though they had not been close enough to hear it.

"It seems someone thought that with me on the surface, the Folly would be unprotected," he said with a frown. Tess was relaying her scans for him to see the possible threat. Fourteen objects had detached from a slow passing ship and were now drifting towards the Folly. "Tess, patch me through to Starbase One. I need someone in operations."

"Yes, boss," Tess replied.

"This is Lieutenant Peterson in operations. What can we do for you, Folly?"

"You can tell me if Star Fleet has any training exercises going on in the area of my ship," Neal told him.

"Such information would be classified, Folly."

"The reason I ask is because my passive sensors have picked up inbound objects. If they are yours, I’ll be happy to send them back. Otherwise I might just consider pitching them so they skip through the upper atmosphere a few times. Your call, Lieutenant."

It was almost a full minute before the lieutenant replied, "Folly, we have nothing in your area. That being said, we would be interested in those objects ourselves."

"Understood. I’ll keep them out of trouble while you send someone to collect them," Neal agreed. "Tess, shields and tractor beam fun."

"Sure thing, boss," Tess replied. She brought up her primary shields and started using her tractor beams to shift the directions the objects were moving.

The objects didn’t like having their courses changed. Small thrusters first tried to put them back on course. When that failed, they tried stronger ones to break away from the Folly, only to find they too were useless against tractor beams capable of shifting fully loaded pods. By shifting which beams were shifting which object in which direction, Tess soon had them ‘orbiting’ the Folly in a high-speed dance, weaving them in and out of each other’s orbit.

By the time Star Fleet got a ship out to collect the objects, most of them were in no shape to resist; Tess had been making them waste thruster power to avoid ‘near misses’.

Neal watched on the remotes as Tess ‘tossed’ the objects one at a time into the other ship’s hold. Active scans had showed that each of the objects was a camouflaged powered-armor space suit with a human inside. As he watched the last one disappear into Star Fleet custody, Neal hoped they would at least inform him of who had sent them.

His answer came less than an hour later, Tess relaying the message from Starbase 1.

‘To Captain Foster of the Folly:

We thank you for alerting us to the objects you found approaching your ship; however we don’t have a lot of information for you at this time. The occupants of the suits appear to have planned to take a drug that would have made them difficult to interrogate if captured. Unfortunately, the drugs seem to have been tampered with and they are all dead. We believe this was done to keep them from talking. The suits themselves were decommissioned Star Fleet equipment, but there are irregularities on how the equipment was decommissioned. We will keep you updated as our inquiry progresses.

Lieutenant Peterson, Star Fleet Operations, out.’

Shortdash had been resting near Neal, and shi had had no problem hearing Tess relay the message to Neal. Watching Neal watch the surf, shi asked, "What do you think?"

"I think that will be the last report we hear on the matter." At hir raised eyebrow, Neal sighed. "You know how it goes – as more people get involved in it, someone of rank will order a lock down on information about it until they decide what to admit to."

Shortdash nodded, having been surprised that they had gotten as much as they had. "Do you want Quickwind and I to do a little snooping?"

"No. You’re officially still on an extended vacation. Sticking your noses in this could cause your bosses to ‘reactivate’ you before you wish to leave."

Shortdash nodded again. Shi and hir mate hadn’t discussed it with Neal yet, but they would be leaving Quickdash behind when they did go. Not just so shi could be with Holly, though that was a big part of it. They were watching their child grow up and take responsibilities at an age they were hard pressed to believe. Then there was what shi and Holly were learning on the Folly. When they weren’t shuttling loaded cargo pods around, they were rebuilding one ship and helping build another. Then there was the other training shi needed. Lighttouch had already shown an interest in training Shortdash and Holly, and hys results with Shadowcrest looked promising. Raising an eyebrow at Neal, shi admitted, "We would like to hang around at least until Chakona, further if we are able."

"Fine by me," Neal replied. "I know shi’s happy to have you here, and it’s never a bad thing to have friends looking at things from their point of view."

Quickwind chuckled. "So you rate us as friends?"

Neal shook his head and smiled. "Well… I don’t think you’re foe, nor do I think I can consider the two of you innocent bystanders. We happen to have a couple daughters in common, what does that make us?"

"Gluttons for punishment?" Weaver piped in with a laugh.

"They’re not that bad," Neal admonished, looking over to where the two being discussed helped Mike do a little ‘sleight of hand’ to help keep the cubs amused. "And it doesn’t hurt that they have an eagerness to learn. They’re picking up things even faster than any of my first set of brats."

"Their bond and mind reading may have a little to do with that," Shortdash chuckled. "Then there’s the pleasure they sense you getting when they suddenly understand a new concept."

Neal nodded, "Any good teacher gets that, the knowledge that you’ve given them an understanding of something new."

"Real teachers anyway," Suzan snorted. "I’ve met a few ‘teachers’ that were just reading from rote and didn’t really understand what they were teaching."

"I’ve run into a few of those as well," Neal admitted. "They can become very defensive when you use logic to point out that they or their books are wrong about something."

"What degrees do you hold?" Shortdash wondered.

"Not a one," Neal chuckled. "I did sit through a few classes, but I was usually asked to leave when I disrupted the status quo."

"Talking in class?" Weaver asked with a grin.

"That too," Neal agreed with a smile. "As well as pointing out where their theories didn’t allow for other theories that seemed to better explain what they were supposedly teaching. It didn’t help that some of the other students would start paying more attention to what I had to say than they did to the teacher. Those classes I didn’t mind being asked to leave, the teachers weren’t going to teach me or the other students anything useful."

"Why did you bother if you already knew more than they did?" she asked.

"At the time, I knew that I had some major gaps in my knowledge of a lot of things. And like playing with or against any set of rules, the better you know and understand them the better you can properly bend or break them. The trick was finding the instructors that could actually teach and not just read from a script."

Suzan nodded. "Which is something our captain seems to be able to do on occasion. I especially liked him comparing water guns to phasers when one of the cubs asked why they had to wait for it to be ready to fire."

Neal shrugged, "Both store a buildup of a charge – one from a power cell, the other from pumping air into the holding chamber, when you have enough you discharge all the stored energy at once."

"True," Suzan agreed. "But most people wouldn’t think to turn accumulators and charging cycles into playing in the water."

"I just go with the level of my audience, and that’s one of the reasons I’ve never felt I could teach a group."

"Why not?" Shortdash asked.

"Take this group for example. With any subject I might try to discuss, I would have some that I’m speaking at their level, some I’m boring to tears, and some that I’m talking over their heads. So I let Tess feed them data at the rates they can handle. When they can’t figure it out, then I do a little one on one."

"You might have made a good teacher?" Weaver suggested.

"Nah. A classroom is too static – new ideas are hard to get there, and those that do sneak in are often smothered."

Looking over to where Wenfrec was watching the magic show with an almost cub-like intensity, Shortdash commented, "It seems someone else was thinking you and the Folly would make a more ‘dynamic’ training ground. Are you really taking her in?"

Neal nodded. "And possibly Windsong as well. I know hir parents are going to suggest it, but it remains to be seen if shi says yes. I have noticed that Shady and Lighttouch have also been showing an interest in hir."

"Does that worry you?" Weaver asked.

Neal shrugged. "If they click, they click. Who knows? They might be good for each other."

Weaver nodded. "And Wenfrec?"

"Ship born, I’d wager, and a very strict ship at that. That inability to not be at ‘attention’ could get her killed in too many circumstances. Whoever sent her knew I wouldn’t shoot her out of hand, but they either thought I’d drop her after debriefing her, or they knew about Weaver and the kids and thought it would make an interesting training situation."

"Do you think they considered us?" Quickwind wondered.

"Hard to tell without knowing when her orders were cut. Boyce would have known about Zhanch and the other Rakshani, but you two wouldn’t have been in any of his reports."

"Anything you want us to do with her?" Quickwind asked with a grin.

Neal snorted. "If possible, teach her how to stand down." He waved at where Wenfrec had picked up an insistent Starblazer, only to have Firestorm start climbing her tail. "They’re all over her, yet she’s still all but standing at attention."

"Put her on cub duty for a week. If that doesn’t bend that back of hers, nothing will," Shortdash suggested.

"A thought," Neal admitted. "We’ll save it for in case we get desperate."

"Speaking of which, the cubs are almost spent," Midnight pointed out, Littleroar already fast asleep in hir top. "What do you think, a snack before we start packing up?

Forest nodded, "Some of us do have work in the morning."

With the heavier gear stowed, they let the cubs finish wearing themselves out. Then it was time to divvy up the tired cub pile into ‘ours’ and ‘yours’. Neal wasn’t the only one unable to hold back his laughter when Wenfrec energetically thanked the deities that all those cubs didn’t belong to the Folly.


The trip back to the spaceport was uneventful, Tess making sure with a Zulu watching overhead.

While being used to shipboard life, Wenfrec was more than a little unnerved when the twins and Alex entered the flight deck to prepare for departure. "They’re just prepping the shuttle for the pilots, right?" she asked Zhanch.

"The twins took up the last load yesterday, no reason they can’t do this one," Zhanch replied with a grin. "Why, didn’t your parents train you to fly your shuttles?"

"But I was twenty before I was certified!" Wenfrec contested.

Zhanch shrugged. "Well, Neal thought training them young would help keep them out of trouble. All the teens are certified, and the twins’ certificate only requires a trained pilot be up there with them when they fly."

Wenfrec shook her head, but didn’t protest further. Dessa looked younger than she was, but claimed to be old enough to not only know – but to have actually cub-sat her great-grandmother. Perhaps those ‘twins’ were also not what they appeared to be. She spent the flight up to the Folly trying to come up with a way to separate the real from the false.


Once aboard, Zhanch walked Wenfrec through the basic safety and emergency procedures that the Folly used. Having been raised on a ship, Wenfrec had no problems with the procedures, but a cub going by reminded her of another question. "Who’s in charge of them in an emergency?" she asked as Spitfire dodged back into the ‘cub room’.

"Whoever’s available," Zhanch told her, a grin starting to form. "Since you brought it up, let’s walk them through a drill." They walked into the cub room and found only Spitfire and Darkstreak were still playing quietly, the rest were asleep in a pile. Touching her badge, Zhanch whispered, "Tess, gravity loss and wind whistle when you start the alarm." Turning to Wenfrec she quietly added, "You’re on cub patrol until you are relieved. That means you’re cub-sitting for part of tonight." Zhanch then turned and left the room before Wenfrec could come up with a response.

Moments later an alarm sounded and Wenfrec suddenly found herself in zero G. Reaching out; she grabbed a nearby shelf to keep herself from floating away from the floor. She watched in amazement as the cubs responded. The two larger cubs were the first to respond. The smaller threw hir toy away from hir, sending hir towards a panel that displayed a warning sign that it contained a life bubble. Shi activated the release and opened the slowly unfolding bubble. While the bubble was being prepared, the other one had jumped to the far wall and then kicked off to put hirself on a collision course with the now airborne ball of cubs that the alarm was just waking up. Wenfrec stared as the older cub pushed at the pile of little ones, and as they started to move away, shi grabbed the end of one of their tails. That cub then grabbed the tail of another cub. They were soon in a not quite straight line that slowly drifted towards the now ready life bubble; the cub that had opened it had hir hands on the opening and hir body and tail stretched out in their direction. The cub at the front of the chain grabbed the tail and pulled hirself hand over hand across hir bigger sister and into the bubble. As the last cub climbed in, shi looked back a Wenfrec.

"Hurry up!" shi told the big Rakshani, "We don’t know how long the air will last!"

Wenfrec pushed off, mentally kicking herself for just standing there while there was an emergency – drill or no drill. As soon as her tail was in, the cub that had opened the bubble closed and sealed it. She felt the pressure increase slightly as the bubble’s life support kicked in and she heard the alarm start to fade as if there was no longer an atmosphere to carry the sound. She watched the cubs form into another ball and start going back to sleep. Noticing one of the older cubs was watching her, she asked, "Now what?"

Darkstreak eyed her curiously. "We sleep. Daddy says it conserves our air and we won’t get hungry as fast."

Wenfrec nodded and tried to relax a little while she waited for the drill to end. She found she had managed to fall asleep when a quiet beeping woke her. She found that she was now in the middle of the cub pile; they were clinging to her arms, legs and chest. She watched the little foxtaur go to the ‘top’ of the bubble and slide herself into the provided handgrip. Once secure, she turned off the life support panel and opened the cover that hid the return air filter. She carefully removed the used filter and placed it in a bag before removing a fresh filter and turning back on the life support.

"Very good, Star," Darkstreak told her as she settled back into her resting place.

"How often do those need to be changed?" Wenfrec wondered quietly to Darkstreak.

"A day with just us," Darkstreak told her, "but in training mode we have to do it every couple of hours so we get practice."

"I see," Wenfrec murmured, again confused a little by the seemingly random ways things were done. As she closed her eyes to ‘rest’, she wondered what else on this aptly named ship was going to surprise her.


Later that evening, Shady led Song to hir room. "You sure you don’t mind?" shi asked as shi waved Song in ahead of hir.

"Not at all," Song replied as shi looked around the room. "Though I was a little surprised you didn’t ask one of the others."

"As I’ve told you, I lost control of my new sensitivity when I woke up after being processed. So the only ones I would be able to tell I haven’t read would be you and Wenfrec, and I heard Zhanch left her cub-sitting in a life bubble," shi said with a grin. Shady wrapped hir arms around Song in a hug as shi quietly added, "And your trying to hide something of your own makes me feel even more honored that you agreed to help."

Song grinned as shi said, "Before I trust myself to your subconscious, I want to push your conscious mind a little further."

Shady grinned back at hir. "Just what did you have in mind?"

"Take off your top and I’ll show you," Song said as shi pulled off hir own top.

"Now what?" Shady asked once they were comfortable.

"Now we see if you can stay in control under more trying circumstances," Song said as shi placed hir handpaw on Shady’s.

Shadowcrest and Windsong get amorous

"Okaaay," Shady agreed as shi wrapped an arm around Song’s shoulders.

Song proceeded to reach up between Shady’s breasts to play with hir long hair as Shady gave Song’s breast a friendly grope. As Song’s tail started to wiggle, Shady caught it with hir own. They continued their game until they were wrapped together in a mutual hug. Song then tried a little kiss, only to find on that what Shady lacked in skill, shi more than made up for in enthusiasm.

"I thought you said you weren’t twelve yet," Song whispered, breathing a little heavy at the end of the kiss.

"I’m not," Shady agreed, also a little out of breath.

"So where did you learn that?"

"Watching my older siblings. This is the first time I’ve really wanted to try it."

"Mmmmm…." Was all Song was able to reply as Shady attempted something else shi had seen hir older siblings doing.


The next morning found Wenfrec chasing after Starblazer and Firestorm.

She had thought she had gotten up early to make her report to Captain Foster, only to find he was already up and busy. Adding to her displeasure was some of the kids offering to get her luggage from the spaceport lockers when they went down with the next load. She had only handed over the key and code when Weaver pointed out that the alternative was for Wenfrec to brief Neal after she went down and got her luggage herself.

Then there had been the breakfast she hadn’t really wanted. Feeling that she was more alert when hungry, Wenfrec preferred to meet with supervisors when not weighted down with a meal. She had tried to stare down the rabbit that had insisted she eat, but Suzan had had Weaver on her side. Worried about annoying Neal’s second in command, Wenfrec had given in.

She had pushed back the empty plate and looked at Suzan and then Weaver before saying, "I am done. Will you please tell me where the Captain is?"

Suzan had grinned at Weaver. "Well, she did finish her plate."

"True," Weaver agreed, ignoring the look Wenfrec had given her for treating her like a cub. Looking over to where the little ones were playing in a corner, Weaver said, "Star, will you keep an eye on Stormy?" As her daughter nodded she grinned. "Stormy, Daddy needs his morning hug!"

The cubs placed their toys back in the box where they were stored, and made a dash for the door. As Stormy and Star were heading out the door, Weaver had turned to Wenfrec. "I hope you can keep up with them," she said with a chuckle.

Wenfrec now found herself chasing the two cubs through the Folly’s corridors. The only thing that seemed to be keeping them in her sight was that they had to wait for each set of airlock doors to open for them. She didn’t notice that the doors then stayed open long enough for her to make it through as well.

She was almost to them when the next set of doors opened. A few meters from the second set of doors there was a guardrail – a guardrail that the cubs ran full speed at before dodging under. Wenfrec caught the railing and stared down into a long and vast space. She was having a little trouble with her balance before she realized that it was because she was at the edge of a gravity field – the chamber beyond was in zero G. Hanging on to what her inner ears were telling her was a spinning railing, Wenfrec could just make out the two cubs she had been chasing, they were already over a hundred meters away and still ‘falling’.

She growled in frustration. The twisted corridor run on a full stomach had not been fun, the gravity shift threatened to bring it back up. "How the deities am I suppose to catch them now?" she muttered as she stepped back from the railing.

Deciding to let Wenfrec know she wasn’t quite alone, Tess said, "The objective wasn’t for you to catch them, only to follow. As far as how to follow, your choices are the walkways to either side, or you can take a ‘leap of faith’."

Wenfrec grumbled under her breath for a moment, the cubs were almost out of sight. She braced her leg against the wall, then she kicked off as hard as she could, one step and a leap had her over the railing and on an indirect route to the ‘ceiling’. She twisted around to take the impact with her legs, only to find her course shifting to take her after the cubs.

As she watched things speed past her at an increasing rate, Wenfrec quietly whispered, "Thank you."

"Anytime," Tess replied.

Tess had given Wenfrec a bit more of a push than she had given the cubs, so that all three stepped onto the walkway at the other end at almost the same time. Where the cubs had been dashing wildly about before, they now moved at a pace the Rakshani could easily match without hurrying. They went through several more sets of airlocks before Wenfrec found herself in engineering. If it had not been for the cubs’ lead, Wenfrec never would have found Neal in the series of large rooms. As it was, she watched the cubs settle down to wait near a panel that two human feet were sticking out of. They waited quietly until Neal backed his way out of the panel, then they attacked from both sides. Wenfrec waited for Neal to quit hugging and tickling the cubs before she quietly spoke.

"Good morning, Sir. Is this a bad time to brief you on why I was sent?" she asked as the cubs wound down.

"No, Wenfrec," Neal replied as he got up. "My checks are done for now. Would you be more comfortable here or in my office?"

"Anywhere will be fine, Captain, but you will need a secure reader for one of the chips I brought."

"Over there," Neal said, indicating a nearby workstation.


Shady and Song had spent the morning in one of the secondary bridges; Shady had been giving Song basic ship handling exercises. This had included the fun stuff, like changing orbits with very limited power, the Folly ‘wallowing’ as Song first corrected and then over-corrected the slow and unresponsive beast. Shi had been about to tell Shady that what shi was asking was impossible when shi sensed Shady mentally reacting to someone else. Shi turned just as Shady bolted for the door, the last things shi felt from the larger chakat sending cold shivers down hir spines. Song found hirself chasing Shady through the corridors towards the connection with the ‘corncob’ section of the ship.

As shi ran towards the aft engineering, Shady slapped hir badge. "Family, I don’t know why, but I just got something from Neal that suggests he’s madder than we’ve ever seen! Whatever it was has him thinking of ditching us, possibly for our own safety. He’s all the way aft – I don’t know if I can change his mind by myself." As shi finished, shi ran through the last set of airlocks and ran at the open space, Tess having dropped the guardrail out of hir way.

Windsong hesitated for only a half step before following Shadowcrest over the edge, trusting that Shady knew what shi was doing.

They found Neal at a work desk, sitting seemingly calm. In front of him were several displays, their data frozen at points that had caught Neal’s attention. A closer look showed that he was forcing himself to sit there quietly, but Stormy gave lie to his acted state of mind. Shi was spitting and snarling at Wenfrec, the only thing keeping hir from clawing hir way up the much larger Rakshani was Starblazer. She was wrapped around the smaller chakat as best she could, preventing hir from attacking outright.

"CAPTAIN!" Shady barked. He stood and turned to look at hir, hir hackles rising as a corner of hir mind suggested just how angry he was right now. Had the floor not been littered with furs in New Kiev, a similar anger would have had him order Tess to drop the roof on his targets. Shi searched the anger shi saw, looking for what could be used to break it. Shi almost broke eye contact when shi realized the solution was right in front of hir. "You are hurting Firestorm," shi quietly told him, hoping it would get through to him.

Neal stared at hir for another moment before looking down at the cubs. A couple steps carried him to them; he knelt and picked them up together. "Sorry little ones," he told the now crying Firestorm and Starblazer.

Wenfrec looked from Neal and the cubs to Shadowcrest and Windsong. Neal had been quietly reading the data she had brought as the cubs sat at his feet. He had gone back through something he’d seen, then brought up several more displays and started searches on them. Moments later the little chakat had snarled and leaped at her, only to be tackled and held by the foxtaur pup.

Shadowcrest looked around as Neal calmed down a little for the cubs. Shi could feel most of hir family coming. While a few were dirt-side transferring cargo, and those on watch were manning their posts, shi was sure they were there in spirit thanks to Tess’s sensors and cameras. Shi slowly stepped over to Neal and the cubs. Lowering hirself to their level, shi added hir arms to the hug. Remembering how Lighttouch had soothed hir a couple of times in hir training, shi closed hir eyes and tried to project a peaceful calm onto Neal and the cubs.

Neal felt the push and allowed hir to continue helping him and Stormy calm down. Star, having never been upset by Neal’s rage, simply continue to hold her now quiet sister. Feeling that Shadowcrest had ‘calmed’ them enough, Neal pushed back with a little resistance. When shi didn’t stop, he pushed a little feeling of his own.

Shady’s tail flinched as shi felt someone yank a single hair out of the sensitive tip. Hir mental radar told hir no one was close enough to have done the deed, which suggested it hadn’t actually happened. Shi opened hir eyes to find Neal watching hir. "Ouch!" shi sent. "I was just trying to help."

"And you did," shi felt Neal agree, "but you didn’t back off when I asked, so I got your attention the old-fashioned way."

Shi stared at him in wonder. "So this is what full telepathy is like."

"More or less," Lighttouch gently cut in. "There are many different ranges and flavors. You will find no two minds feel exactly alike."

"And I still have a lot to learn," shi added, hir tail still stinging a little.

"Something we will work on later," Lighttouch agreed, letting hir feel hys mental smile.

Aloud shi declared, "We’re staying," while giving Neal hir best glare.

"I hadn’t said you weren’t," Neal quietly commented.

"You were thinking it loud enough for me to hear you at the other end of the ship! That and something that had made you quite angry."

"Is it related to this?" Shortdash interjected, eyeing the displays over the desk. Shi looked over at Neal and asked, "May we?"

Wenfrec had started to protest when Neal nodded, but then fell silent. One of her few briefings had warned her that Neal might not consider the information to require the same security levels that Star Fleet had. She watched as Quickwind and Zhanch joined Shortdash in going over the data Neal had left open.

After a minute, Zhanch looked back at the group. "This is going to take a while." Indicating Neal, she softly added, "Find something to keep him mentally busy. I can already see some of what might have gotten him worked up."

Neal gave her a dirty look. "Shouldn’t you have waited until I was out of the room to say that?"

"No," she replied with a grin. "I want you to know that we intend to break that foul mood of yours. So the sooner you behave, the sooner you’ll be allowed to play without close and personal supervision!"

The twins and Screamingwind took the first crack at him, after first adding a few ‘faults’ to their work on the Good Deal for him to find. Once they had his tech side warmed up, they started questioning some of the changes Neal had decided to add to Gulf. This in turn became a training session when they started leaving Screamingwind behind.

They arrived late for lunch, still working through an explanation. The kids had Neal’s attention so completely that he failed to notice Suzan’s lack of retribution for them ‘working’ through a meal.

It was an hour later that Zhanch and the others came in for an even later lunch. While Windsong looked more confused than worried, Shortdash and Quickwind looked depressed. Zhanch and Shadowcrest on the other paw looked like they wanted something – preferably certain live targets, to sharpen their claws on. Wenfrec had brought up the rear; her expression was that of someone praying that the present company didn’t shoot messengers that brought unwanted news.

Weaver helped Suzan bring out a meal for the researchers, only to watch each of them push it away. Having confirmed that what they had found was more than a little unsettling, she asked, "What did you find?"

Shortdash was the one to break the long pause that followed, "The only reason we are here is a lot of luck – possibly nudged along by Neal’s resident deity." Shi looked again at the plate of food shi had pushed away. Hir stomach wanted it, but shi was still too angry to want to try to eat just yet. Looking back up at Weaver, shi continued, "What Wenfrec brought us suggests that almost every threat you’ve seen was a direct or indirect attempt at taking over, or at least controlling the Folly. All the injuries and deaths along the way were someone’s attempt to make grabbing Neal and his ship a little easier."

"Take your group for example. From what was gathered from some of the ones caught, they had several groups there just to stir up trouble and have security chasing them while a small group overpowered Neal. That failed for two reasons – Neal’s ‘Betsy’, and the fact that the port had been on high alert for another issue and they couldn’t get their own guns in without giving themselves away." Shortdash frowned before shi added, "From what you’ve told us before, Betsy was the reason those thugs stopped trying to beat you. So you and Shadowcrest could have been killed outright, and if they had jimmied the latch to keep others from finding their handy-work then Quickdash and Holly wouldn’t have had a chance either."

"And the teens?"

"May have been caught as well if the other groups hadn’t been run off."

"New Kiev?"

Shortdash looked down, and Quickwind continued for hir, "Timing was everything there, and Neal was late due to his detour to Starbase 3. The enemy shuttle had grounded at the earliest time Folly should have gotten there. Then they ended up waiting over a week – still in the expected window for Folly to get there, but they had been sitting too long, their edge was gone. Add to it being early morning, how Folly came in like a bat out of hell with Alpha in route with the first pod before Folly was fully in her orbit, well they got caught flat-footed. They were still trying to take control of the spaceport when they almost killed Shortdash." A quiet sigh and shi closed with, "An extra hour of advance notice could have had you all walk into the trap with no warning at all."

"That leaves the mining station," Weaver pointed out.

"An expensive operation they had originally thought they wouldn’t need because they would use the Folly to take over the station. When New Kiev didn’t come out as planned, they rushed a force out to take the station so they could then take the Folly," Quickwind snorted softly. "The re-arrangement of Folly’s delivery schedule worked against them. They had just gotten their ships hidden when Charlie showed up, this time catching them long before they thought they needed to be ready."

"Mike and Calmmeadow are a reason they didn’t get Charlie," Zhanch added, having been there for the excitement.

"And our little mishap at Big Sur?"

"Wenfrec’s data is too old to tell us that, but it didn’t have the right ‘feel’ for the group using the Human’s First types for their dirty work. This was a general ‘stir things up’, not a well-defined plan to take Neal to get the Folly. On the other hand, that dead space walking group does fit the profile of them not caring who dies in the attempts."

Turning to Wenfrec, Weaver asked, "Why were you so surprised yesterday? You had to know Neal had a crew."

Wenfrec shook her head. "My data chips have been updated as I chased the Folly, but my only real briefings seems to have been before Star Fleet officially knew he had a crew. I was originally supposed to meet him at New Kiev, but as you know, things got a little ‘interesting’ and I wasn’t able to get close to him. After that, I’ve been on several fast courier ships, trying to be where the Folly was expected to be, but never was. Earth was the next ‘Folly has to be there in this time bracket’ we had." She shook her head ruefully. "And then I get here and find you already have most of the pieces and he doesn’t need me – hell he already has four Rakshani onboard – marines at that! Never mind Star Corp operatives."

Dessa stepped over and placed a paw on Wenfrec's shoulder. "You’re far from useless my young friend. You’ve provided us with a lot of information that we were only guessing at before."

Weaver nodded as she added, "And I heard him asking Tess to see if she can’t dig up the last known position of your family’s Sharp Claw and the next few destinations she didn’t reach. That suggests he’s going to hunt for her." At Wenfrec’s doubtful look, she grinned. "Trust me, the Folly has more tricks than you’ve seen so far."

Wenfrec frowned a little before replying, "So I’m going from supporting him in his endeavors to being supported by him in my search for my family? Somehow I don’t think this is what my superiors had in mind when they sent me out here."

"No plan survives contact with the enemy." Shortdash reminded her. "And it can be even worse with friendly forces – everyone has their own idea on how something should be done."

"Speaking of which, is it time to sit on Neal and tell him what we’ve concluded?" Quickwind asked.

"Don’t bother," came Neal’s voice from Shortdash’s comm badge.

"You mean you’ve been listening the whole time?" Shortdash demanded.

"I know that all of you were shown how to place your badges in ‘private’ mode. Since not one of you thought it necessary, Tess piped me the more interesting parts," Neal admitted.

"Are you still trying to convince yourself that we would be better off elsewhere?" Weaver asked.

They heard Neal softly sigh. "While I would be happy to see all of you safely elsewhere, Stormy’s bond to me would hurt hir. That would mean keeping hir and Moonglow. And if I’m keeping them, there’s no honest way I could force the rest of you out."

"Never mind the fact that Suzan is the only one of your mates small enough for you to pick up and bodily carry to the shuttle," Quickwind said with a chuckle.

Wenfrec brow was furrowed as she asked, "Wouldn’t he be able to just beam you down with the transporters?"

"You would think so," Zhanch said with a small grin, "but it seems Neal understands the concept that power can corrupt, and that absolute power is even more of a hazard. Tess won’t step in with any unwarranted force unless there’s a clear and present danger. So if we are under attack, Neal can order us beamed to safety against our desires."

Weaver nodded. "And she will also protest an action she doesn’t think is warranted. I watched Tess argue with Neal over isolating Quickdash from Holly." Looking over at Quickwind and Shortdash, she continued, "Even I worried that what he was doing was wrong, but he turned out to be correct."

Shortdash noted Wenfrec’s quick glance hir way and nodded. "We had underestimated the strength of the bond between them. Neal forced us to acknowledge it before their separation couldn’t be undone." Shi lowered hir head to mutter into hir comm badge, "Damn sneaky son of a pain in the tail."

"High praise coming from you," hir comm badge replied.

"If you’re making jokes, then can you at least admit that you and the Folly were not the cause of all the deaths we have seen?" Weaver half asked.

"Yes and no," he slowly said after a pause. "The only place that we might have made a difference was at New Kiev. If the Folly had been sooner or later, Stormy’s parents might be alive today. I have to balance that against all the additional deaths there would have been if a ‘fur hating’ Folly had been traveling between the stars this past year."

Weaver wasn’t the only one to shiver at that thought. They had stopped at far too many small stations that would have been easy pickings had the Folly been hostile.

"Is that even possible?" Dessa asked. "I mean a ‘fur hating Folly’ would mean they would need Tess working on their behalf – could they do that? Reprogram her to do their bidding?"

It was Tess that answered her. "No," she said. "While they might batter down my defenses and board me, they would never control me or this ship. My ‘brain’ if you will is all over the ship in several groups of nodes. You would have to isolate each one and keep it offline to keep it from reintegrating with the rest. The problem is some of my smaller nodes do nothing but check on the rest of me. Depending on the ‘last thoughts’ they received, they can disable systems or even destroy the Folly."

"The Folly has a self-destruct?" Shortdash asked in surprise.

"Not as you think of one," Tess told hir. "But any warp capable ship can be destroyed by loss of anti-matter containment, or by pushing a warp core past its limits. The first would burn like a small sun; the second might take out other ships in the blast radius."

"And with eight warp cores, that could be a very big bang," Zhanch said with a frown.

"Would you just blow up the Folly to prevent someone from taking over?" Quickwind asked.

"No. As with Neal, keeping family and friends safe would be my first priority. After that, I have a few more options."

"More proof that I’ve been a bad influence on her," Neal said as he entered the room, his three engineering trainees in tow.

"If we were all gone, would she really kill herself?" Weaver asked, the others also looking to Neal with concern.

"She shouldn’t – unless that’s the only way to remove a threat," Neal told them. "If she can, she will go to a pre-selected spot where some of my other kids will take care of her. If disabled, she will use whatever means she has available to let them know where to find her."

"You make her sound almost alive," Wenfrec said as she looked from face to face to see if she was the butt of some kind of joke.

"At times she seems to be," Neal quietly allowed, several of the others nodding in agreement.

Trying to not sound too hopeful, Wenfrec asked, "Is it true that you’re going to try to look for the Sharp Claw?"

Neal smiled. "I’m afraid the scent is cold, but we will try. I am both checking her planned route, and some of the areas where she could have gotten sidetracked from her scheduled route."

"Thank you," she softly said. She tried to ignore the little voice that thought it odd that she actually believed that this unusual ship and her crew might be able to do something that Star Fleet had so far failed to do.


"I need your help with something," Shadowcrest told Windsong as they left the dining room after dinner. While Neal and the other adults had put a cheerful veneer over their thoughts of what they had found, shi knew it was still troubling Neal more than shi liked.

"Anything," Windsong told hir.

"I’m going to spend tonight with Neal. Would you please join me?"

Song was taken back by the request, but seeing how serious Shady was, shi nodded. "I’m not sure how I could be any help, but I’ll be there if that is what you wish."

"Just having you there with me will be a big help," Shady assured hir. "I just feel like I need a little extra support this time."

They snuggled for a little while before Neal came in. He grinned as he raised an eyebrow at Shadowcrest. "Are you sure this is wise?" he asked hir, only half in jest.

"I need this," shi told him. "And I think you do too."

Neal then grinned at Windsong. "And is Windy acting as your support? Or as your chaperon?"

Shady stuck hir tongue out at him before replying, "A little of both," Shi admitted. Then shi grinned and added, "But which of us is shi chaperoning?"

"Just what I need, one sex-crazed furball pretending to protect me from another sex-crazed furball," Neal muttered as he climbed into bed with them. He soon found himself surrounded by fur, Shady wrapping him in a hug from the front while Windsong covered his back. After the tension filled day, just a little nudge from Shady soon had him fast asleep, with the chakats soon following.


Shi hadn’t had the dream for over a year and shi had thought it was all behind hir now, but here it was again after all this time. A friend had invited hir to a party off-campus. They had become separated, and shi had somehow found hirself at the back of a group that a very energetic man was preaching to. Shi was impressed by how he seemed to have them hanging on his every word. Shi had been listening to how he spoke, not what he was thinking of, so shi was caught by surprise when he suddenly pointed at hir, shouting ‘There’s one of those gene jokes now! It thinks it can openly spy on us! Let’s show that thing what we think of its kind!’ He leaped off the steps he had been stirring the crowd from, and came at hir with a piece of pipe that had been resting against the handrail. Shi had not noticed before, but most of this crowd was similarly armed. As shi started to step back in surprise, shi tried to push a calming feeling at the crowd, but shi was shocked to find another mind pushing a hatred that overwhelmed hir senses. Shi never saw the first blow coming; shi had been staring at the human that had riled the mob to a fever pitch. Pain, pain and more pain had caused hir to black out as the blows had come from all directions. At some point hir mind had blanked out the overload. Shi wasn’t sure if shi had really heard someone cursing when they found the Star Fleet ID in hir belt pouch. It would be days before hir conscious mind would surface again; fighting through the severe concussion shi had somehow survived. It would be months before shi left the hospital, and shi would somehow make up the lost class time to graduate at the head of hir class, but the friendly, fun-loving Windsong was gone. What remained was a guarded chakat, one that was always trying to watch out for anything that might hurt hir. Two years later, shi still unconsciously held hir guard up, even against hir own family. Not because shi thought they would deliberately hurt hir, but because they would try to help. And that was something shi wasn’t sure shi could handle. The shocks – pleasant and otherwise, from the Folly and her crew had lulled hir into a false sense that hir past was behind hir. Past and present combined as shi fought hir demons, struggling to not be buried in the mental hatred and fear shi had known.


Windsong woke shaking badly as shi tried to get hir bearings. Hir limbs were immobilized, and there was a strong smell of fresh blood in the air. Neal had turned around sometime in the night, and was now holding hir, murmuring things you would use to calm a frightened cub. Behind him, Shadowcrest was using hir hands and handpaws to keep Windsong from moving hirs. Hir addled mind couldn’t quite wrap itself around the idea that shi had sunk hir claws into Neal, and Shady was doing what shi could to keep Song from doing any more damage. Still not fully conscious, Windsong found hir sight fading as others started coming into the room.


It seemed like only a minute later shi was awake again, but too many things seemed to have changed in that minute. The lights were back down to a weak nightlight, and the room no longer smelled of blood. Neal was asleep, still holding hir close, while shi now sensed that Shady was hugging hir from behind. Shi had not remembered Suzan coming in, but she was now hugging Neal from behind with Dessa sandwiching her against him. Extending hir senses, Windsong was amazed to find that most of Neal’s family seemed to be in there with them. Hir questing senses also came across another conscious mind.

"Do not stir, you might wake them," the gentle mind-touch of Lighttouch told hir.

"I…" she started, only to stop.

"… had a nightmare," hy softly finished for hir. "We know." Feeling hir concern rising, hy added, "You were broadcasting it rather forcibly. That is one of the reasons everyone is here, to help offer you the support you need."

"They know?" shi thought, tears of shame welling in hir eyes.

In hir sleep, Shady felt Song’s turmoil and tightened hir hug around the smaller chakat.

Song felt Lighttouch nod in hir mind. "Yes they know, and they are more than willing to do what they can to help you," hy sent to hir gently. "As am I."

With hir barriers completely down for the first time since the night of the attack, Song reached out to feel the thoughts and feeling of those around hir. The surface thoughts held support and caring for hir, and a low rumbling anger at the ones that had hurt hir.

"Stop," hy told hir as shi turned hir senses back towards Neal. "Trust me when I say that you really do not want to dig through his thoughts and memories." When shi set hym a questioning thought, hy added, "Ask Shadowcrest what Neal would think or do. Shi knows a bit more of his thought process than shi sometimes wishes."

Song lay there for a moment, just letting the feelings in the room calm hir. "Why am I still here?" shi asked hym. "Why didn’t they lock me away where I couldn’t hurt anyone else?"

"That is not how he does things," hy told hir. "You should have noticed by now that he helps those he cares for. He will do this even if they hurt him."

"What do I do now?"

"You still have a few days to decide if you wish to travel with the Folly. I will only add that if you stay, I will have more time to help you – if you wish it."

"Can you really help me?"

"The first step to any cure is admitting that there is a problem."

"I’ll stay if they’ll have me," shi thought as shi closed hir eyes again, pulling Neal and Suzan a little closer to hir.

Dessa opened her eyes when she felt the shifting. After deciding that all was well for the moment, she again closed her eyes.


When Song next opened hir eyes, Neal and the others were gone. Only Shady remained, still wrapped around hir.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," shi whispered when shi sensed that Song was fully awake.

"The others?" Song asked.

"Doing their chores – this ship doesn’t quite run herself you know," Shady chuckled, ignoring the soft raspberry coming from Tess’s speakers.

"Don’t you have chores?"

"Why yes, I do. My chore for today is you. Captain’s orders and all that you know," shi said with a grin and a cuddle.

"Is he mad at me?" Song asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"No," Shady assured hir with a hug.

Song curled a little more into hirself before saying, "Lighttouch suggested I ask you what Neal’s feelings were."

Shady shivered for a moment before shi locked those thoughts back in the corner of hir mind where shi was learning to keep them. Tightening hir hug on Song, shi whispered, "Some old piece of poetry says that you would never notice the mountains if it weren’t for the valleys. Neal’s hatred can flow as deep as his love can fly high." Shi thought for a moment before continuing, "The best example I can think of was a space port we stopped at. Someone just missed trying to kill one of our cubs. Neal went berserk, killing them without batting an eye. But then he went out and rendered what aid he could to the surviving furs. That included rescuing a cub from hir dead mother’s womb." Feeling Song shiver, Shady held hir until shi stopped shaking. "Shi bonded with him at birth. If you ever want to know if something is really bothering Neal, just watch Firestorm." They lay together a little longer, each with their own thoughts until a growling stomach suggested that it was time for them to start the rest of their day.


After their late breakfast, they went looking for Neal. Song was far from convinced that he would still want hir onboard after what shi had done.

They found him in one of the environmental plants, explaining to Screamingwind the design modifications that he had also incorporated into the Good Deal’s upgrades.

Before they could interrupt the training session, Song was attacked from behind. Shi had spun hir upper torso around to see what had hit hir lower back just in time to get a face full of chakat cub. Stormy was all over hir with hugs and lick kisses in an attempt to cheer up hir worried new friend. As Song turned around with the squirming cub in hir arms, shi found hirself staring at Neal’s shirt. Trying to not panic, shi looked up, only to find him smiling at Stormy’s antics.

Shifting his attention to hir, he quietly asked, "Are you feeling better?"

Song nodded, not sure shi trusted hir voice at this point.

Neal wrapped the still scared chakat in a hug, being careful not to crush Stormy. "If you’re still worried about last night, don’t be. I have my own demons, and they can sometimes make me lash out or do things I later regret."

"But I…" shi started, only to have him hush hir.

"In a fit of anger during an argument, one of my adopted kids took a swipe at me and tore open my forearm. He’s a wolftaur and the idea of taking orders from a mere human didn’t set well with his alpha male mentality."

"Did you ever forgive him?" Windsong asked, hir voice quaking a little.

"In time," Neal admitted. "But first I made him and the others that had been on his side of the argument patch me up using an old-fashion med-kit. While the others closed the rather messy wound, I had him squeezing my arm to reduce blood loss."

"Tess didn’t step in?" Shady wondered.

"She was ready to, but I had waved her off. I needed the kids to understand that their lives depended on me, and that it was a two-way street." At hir curious look he added, "They hadn’t been onboard very long, and were still getting used to the idea that if they were going to stay on my ship it would be under my rules. My arm was out of commission for a little while after that, so I made them do my more physical chores. They quickly learned that things are a little different in space."

"Did they have a choice?" Song asked, sensing the shifting emotions that the tale was costing Neal.

"Yes and no. They were from a newly settled colony that had taken a terminal hit. An earthquake and tsunami devastated the colony, leaving a lot of parentless cubs and young adults that for one reason or another were away from the main settlement at just the right time. It was three weeks after the disaster that I got the Pogo Stick there and loaded what survivors my life support could handle. Then I redlined my systems getting them to a Starbase. I thought that was the end of it, but a small group of them thought differently.

They made their first choice by hiding when everyone else was being offloaded. I had to make up some time, so they were stuck with me for almost two months. After that time, I took them down with a load for Earth. I gave them each a credit chit that would keep them housed and fed for a year and gave them the option to abandon ship then and there. They all took off and I thought I’d seen the last of them. The next day they were back – every single one of them. I could see the younger cubs sticking together, but the teenagers were a pleasant surprise. The biggest surprise though, was the wolftaur. After that day, he would still argue with his adopted father and teacher, but never again with the Captain."

"He never questioned why you did things your way?" Shadowcrest asked, openly surprised.

"Oh, he would ask after the fact – if he hadn’t already figured it out for himself. But when in the middle of something he just did as he was told – unless he thought I had missed something, he would say just enough to make sure I understood his concerns and then he would follow his orders."

"Will you let me travel with you?" Windsong asked, still more than a little afraid the answer would be no.

"I’m not going to kick you out for a couple of scratches caused by a bad dream, little one," Neal assured hir.

"Thank you," shi said, just before letting out an exclamation of surprise. While hir attention had been on Neal, Stormy had gotten hir top out of the way for a more personal inspection. As Stormy gave hir a milk check, Windsong looked back up at Neal. "As I understand it, the proper response is to call hir a ‘brat’."

"Something like that, Song," Neal agreed.

Raising an eyebrow, shi asked, "You were calling me Windy last night, why the change?"

"Because you have changed little one," Neal said with a tender smile. "Last night you were hesitant to touch me, now you seem much more comfortable with having me near you. Understandable with what had happened to you. You’ve gone from a guarded heart protected to the point your parents were worried, to an open one that seems ready to break out in song. Well worth a sore back and thighs I think."

At Windsong's look of wonder, Shadowcrest smirked. "That’s just the blood loss talking, he doesn’t normally wax poetically like that."

Neal just grinned. "Well, I have to go see what the other two of my trio of terror is up to. Tess says they want to make yet another change to the Good Deal. And I believe Lighttouch said something about talking to you when you’re ready."

Nodding, Song tapped the badge shi’d been given. "Tess, is Lighttouch in the middle of anything?"

"No Windsong, hy’s been going though some of hys mail while hy waited for you."

"Any time you are ready," a soft thought seemed to slip through hir mind, along with where Lighttouch was waiting for hir.

"I’ll be there in a minute," shi said and sent. As shi left the room, shi realized that something that had terrified hir for two years was gone. The fear that someone would look into hir mind and reject hir was missing. Shi was surprised to find more spring in hir step as shi discovered shi was actually eager to have that little talk with Lighttouch.


Windsong found the next few days to be very enjoyable. Shadowcrest seemed to have taken a shine to hir, and always seemed to be nearby. They each had training with Lighttouch, sometimes separately, sometimes together when hy wanted to use one as an example for the other. Quickdash and Holly were also getting evaluated and a training schedule made up as Lighttouch came to understand their budding talents, but Shadowcrest was the one Lighttouch focused most of hys attention on.

After spending most of the day helping Lighttouch train Shady, Song found hirself sprawling in the lounge with just Neal, both of them relaxing as they let their dinners settle.

"I was wondering something," shi said with a shy glance in his direction.

"And what might that be?" Neal asked, sounding almost asleep.

"When we came up that first day, Alex had hinted that you could push worse things than just a scorched tail."

"Are you asking for a demonstration?" Neal asked with a half leer.

"Can’t you just tell me?" Song asked, not sure shi wanted whatever had made Alex grin so nastily.

"Like trying to explain color to a blind man, some things get lost in translation," Neal told hir.

They continued to lay there in a companionable silence until Song whispered, "Show me."

At first shi thought Neal might have fallen asleep, but then shi felt something just brush the fur on hir backs – or something like something was just brushing hir fur. Shi knew they were the only two in the room, and Neal was still in his recliner. The feeling of being almost touched got a little stronger – and seemed to be spreading. Shi shivered as the gently questing touches came around hir front, somehow feeling the same when they reached fur shi was lying on. The feeling reached and cupped hir breast – and shi bolted upright as the door slid open!

Shady and Lighttouch walked in, both radiating extreme amusement. Shady’s grin grew wider as shi noticed that Song seemed to be trying to hide something under hir.

"You two may want to turn on the fields the next time you play. Song was broadcasting rather forcibly," Lighttouch murmured, trying not to chuckle at the shocked look on Song’s muzzle.

"No," Shady said with a smirk. "If the fields were up, Stormy would have come looking for Neal."

"You mean everyone knows?" Song asked, hir eyes wide.

"Even Weaver got a good bit of it," Shady told hir, hir smile holding more than just amusement.

Tess interrupted with: "Captain, the crew of Winds of Fortunate are asking if everything is all right over here."

"Patch them through," Neal told her. A moment later Tess sounded the tone that told them the comm channel was open. "This is Captain Foster of the Folly, how can we help you, Winds of Fortunate?"

"This is First officer Wiggens, sir. We were wondering if everything was okay over there. Several of us were enjoying someone’s rather pleasurable broadcast coming from your direction when it was abruptly cut off. We’re hoping that they’re all right."

Neal looked over at Windsong, who was staring at him in horror and shaking hir head. "Tess, how far were we from Winds of Fortunate when Song and I were playing?"

"Just over ten thousand kilometers when you were interrupted."

"Fortunate, what you ‘heard’ was someone getting a bit more than shi asked for, and then forgetting to keep it to hirself," Neal said with a grin in his voice. "We’re sorry if we caused any problems."

"No problems Folly, but if you’re going to be having that much fun, we request you send us an invitation! Fortunate out."

Even hir coppery fur coloring couldn’t hide Windsong’s blush. Shi made a break for the door only to have Shadowcrest bring hir down in a flying tackle that turned into a six-limbed belly-to-belly hug by the time they stopped rolling.

"Please let me go! I can’t believe I just did that!" Song sent, still halfheartedly trying to escape.

Shady just tightened hir hug a little and projected calm at the smaller chakat. "No one is upset with you Song. Perhaps a little amused," shi admitted, "but not upset."

Neal looked over at Lighttouch. "What do you think?" he asked, "With hir mental shields up for over two years, hir other abilities had to overpower them to be usable?"

Lighttouch nodded. "And then you cracked hir shields and released hir full strength. Shi and I will need to have a few more sessions."

Looking over to where Shady continued to cuddle Song, Neal smiled as he quietly said, "It should be interesting to see what other surprises shi’s been hiding all these years."

Lighttouch looked at him sharply. "What are you suggesting?" hy asked.

"Gusty crosswind with a bow and arrow, and shi still managed to place them in a very tight grouping. Skill, luck, or maybe something else entirely?"

"You think you saw the something else?"

"You tell me," Neal said with a grin. He left the skunktaur looking thoughtfully at the pair of chakats, who for the moment were unaware of anything but themselves.


The next evening, Shortdash decided that shi had a few questions for Neal. Shi was surprised when Tess informed hir he was in sickbay. Shi entered the sickbay to find Neal sitting in a reclined chair, a computer controlled apparatus covering his open mouth.

At Shortdash's raised eyebrow, Tess said, "I told you where you could find him, not that he would be saying much."

Shi grinned as shi said, "Then while he can’t tell me no, you can answer a few questions for me."

"You haven’t needed to be with Neal to ask me questions before, so you must want to gauge his reactions to the questions."

"You’re much too clever for a computer," Shortdash told her.

"Is that your question?"

"No," shi started to say before shi heard a high-pitched whine coming from the device covering Neal’s mouth. "What are you doing to him?" shi asked, hir curiosity overcoming hir other questions.

"Repairing one of his molars, he lost a piece of it during dinner."

"Did he break it on something?"

"No, they’re just getting old and starting to fall apart on him. Though they are lasting a little longer than they did his last process."

"I don’t understand, there are drugs to help strengthen teeth and bones…."

"Most of which Neal is either immune or allergic to. That is one of the reasons he wasn’t interested in the drugs that were found; he can’t use them."

While they were talking, the device moved away from Neal’s mouth. Working his jaw, Neal tested his bite. Nodding, he said, "That’ll do, thanks Tess."

"Anytime boss," Tess replied as the devices started an auto-clean cycle.

"Great," Shortdash muttered, "now I’ve got even more questions."

"What?" Neal asked with a grin. "Even chakats need a little dental work every now and then."

"True, but our teeth don’t just ‘fall apart’ as Tess suggests yours are doing. And how could you have lived so long if you can’t use the anti-aging drugs?" Shortdash watched him watch hir, apparently trying to decide on whether or not to answer hir question.

Neal sagged a little as he sighed. "I can’t take the drugs for the same reason I don’t like or trust most pharmaceutical companies. I was an unwitting non-voluntary test subject a very long time ago."

"Before the Gene Wars?" Shortdash softly asked.

Neal nodded. "I was already well past what we called middle-age back then. A prescription I had for pain had run out and I was having problems getting it refilled. I had some friends that were on similar drugs, and they each gave me a couple of theirs to tide me over. What none of us knew was that the companies their drugs had come from were running illegal tests on older humans. They had several groups, each on a different set of tests for early anti-aging drugs. Just my luck, I had friends from more than one of the groups, so I got an unplanned mixture that almost killed me."

"What did the drug companies do?"

"Not a thing," Neal said with a sad grin. "I wasn’t on any of their programs, so I slipped under their radar. My friends weren’t so lucky. I was completely out of it for almost a week. It was another week or so before I had rebuilt enough strength to try to leave the house. By that time, all my friends had vanished."

"What did the drugs do to you?"

"At first I didn’t think they had done anything but make me sick. A few months later I noticed that a chronic pain in my lower back wasn’t bothering me as much as it had. Over the next ten years I slowly started feeling and looking younger. After about the first year I realized what was happening and moved to another area where no one knew me. There had been more disappearances of what might have been ‘test subjects’, and I didn’t want to get caught in one of their nets. It would be years later that I would learn both the blessings and curses of what had happened to me."

"How was it done?"

"I don’t have all the facts – hell, I only have enough bits and pieces to make a WAG or three. The best I could figure was at least two of the firms doing it were using retroviruses to change the ways the cells reacted to aging. The problem was they were using large dosages to make the changes faster and easier to track. My friends probably had instructions to call in if they started feeling strange, where I had just assumed that the dosage being off was what was making me sick. The accidental mix I got seemed to have been mainly for the soft tissues, which means my bones and teeth start giving out a lot sooner then the rest of me."

"Is that why you always seem to be eating ice-cream?" shi asked with a chuckle.

Neal nodded. "But even with that and the calcium boosters, my teeth don’t go long without needing some help."

"How old were you when you were first processed?"

"Too old, or so I thought. I was thinking I’d had enough, it had been a long and entertaining life, but I was starting to feel soul weary. Another loop and then I planned to try something that didn’t need constant work to keep going."

"And then you got to start over."

"Something like that," Neal agreed. "A younger body, at least for a while. Whatever let me live that long the first time was now encoded in every cell of my body, so my ‘best results for the DNA’ was less than you might have thought. My teeth are already getting ‘old’ by my body’s biological clock, in a few decades my bones will also become an issue."

"How did you handle it the first time?"

"False teeth and having most of my long bones replaced with synthetics. It wasn’t any fun, but it did keep me from becoming a basket case."

"I would think you could do better in this day and age."

"It’s being worked on on several fronts. I donate a little to those doing the research and Tess is always searching the news and keeping an eye out for who might be developing what."

"So do I need to tell your cubs and mates to go easy on their old man? Maybe tell Suzan to puree your food before she serves it?" shi asked with a grin.

"You do and I’ll tie your tail in a knot!" Neal promised with a laugh as they both got up. He added as the door opened, "I have a few more good years left before I have to take it easy on my body, and I intend to enjoy them."


Windsong looked out the port as the shuttle touched down with the last load destined for the Melbourne spaceport. Shi had already caught a ride to Starbase One to get hir things, and now all shi had left to do was to say goodbye to hir family for a while.

While shi had intended to go alone to say hir goodbyes, Shady had insisted on tagging along. They enjoyed the scenery as the PTV drove them to Longstripe and Desertsand’s home.

Fireglow met them at the door with a smile. "’Bout time you showed up," shi told hir daughter with a grin. "I understand the Folly leaves soon."

Windsong nodded and began to reply when hir companion beat hir to it. "Not for a while yet," Shadowcrest assured hir. "And if we were cutting it that close, we would have beamed down."

"I take it shi’s adapting well to shipboard life?" Silverpelt asked from where shi sat next to hir sister.

"Well, shi’s not trying to shield hirself from us like shi was a week ago," Desertsand allowed. "You don’t still think shi was the one we ‘heard’ do you?"

"I know my kitten," Silverpelt said with a chuckle as hir daughter’s eyes opened wide in surprise. "That was hir."

"I would have thought all the other ‘noise’ coming from everyone else on the planet would have drowned out one voice, even one as strong as Song’s," Shady said as shi blocked Song’s path of retreat.

Silverpelt grinned as shi shook hir head. "Yes, there is a lot of background noise, but each ‘voice’ is unique and I’ve known Song’s all hir life. It was brief but quite clear.  I even heard some of the news commentators predicting a world wide surge in births in about nine to twelve months."  Shi smiled at the near panic in hir daughter's eyes.  "I'm only teasing little one, you should know that." Turning momentarily serious, shi asked Windsong, "You are leaving with the Folly, aren’t you?"

With hir near panic at the thought that the entire world might have heard hir subsiding, Song nodded. "They’ve already helped more than I thought anyone could, and Lighttouch says hy would be happy to help work out the issues that are still bothering me."

"And Shadowcrest here has nothing to do with your decision?" hir mother asked with a grin.

"Well, maybe a little," Windsong carefully allowed.

"So…" Fireglow drawled, "Are you going to explain why you were so closed before?"

"Or do you just want to tell us what had you broadcasting so much pleasure of late?" Silverpelt hinted, watching hir daughter’s blush deepen.

"Or you two could let them be and enjoy your time together before shi leaves," Desertsand pointed out.

"There is that," hir sister agreed before wrapping Song in a hug, Fireglow joining them a moment later.

When the hug broke up, Silverpelt then gave Shady a hug as well. "You do promise to take care of our little cub right?" shi asked with a grin.

Shadowcrest smiled back. "Me, take care of hir? You do realize that shi’s twice my age, right?"

"And you’re twice hir mass, so you should be able to sit on hir when shi tries to do something crazy," Silverpelt replied in the logic that mothers have used since time began.

"I don’t know," Shadowcrest contested, "it seems that a lot of people already know we made the mistake of leaving hir and Neal together without a chaperon for all of five minutes. Think of the trouble they can get into in the next few months!"

"Neal and Song?" Silverpelt laughed while hir daughter looked like shi wanted to sink into the floor.

"And that was with him not even touching hir," Shadowcrest added unhelpfully.

"You never told me shi had a thing for older humans," Longstripe interjected, getting in on the fun.

"It wasn’t like that!" Song protested.

"What was it like?" hir mother asked, the grin on hir muzzle getting wider.

Windsong tried to decide how to explain it to hir parents. "When we all went up on the shuttle that first day, one of Neal’s teens suggested Neal could push worse things than a scorched tail."

"And that’s what you were sending?" Silverpelt asked, hir grin getting even wider. At hir daughter’s hesitant nod, shi laughed. "If that was worse than a burnt tail, then I wonder what his ‘terrible’ might be…."

Shadowcrest simply shook hir head. "We’ve learned not to ask," shi replied as shi placed hir hand on Song’s shoulder, offering a little support as hir parents double teamed hir.

"And do we need to thank that skunktaur Lighttouch for your barriers being down?" Fireglow wondered.

"No, that was Neal’s fault, with a little help from me," Shadowcrest admitted, giving a slight shiver as shi remembered Song’s nightmare.

"Neal said that you had been injured. Is this related?"

"I got caught by a fur hating group," Windsong admitted. "It was pretty bad," shi added, thinking of the human that had been stirring up the others. "When Shady and I spent a night with Neal, I had a nightmare about it. I hurt Neal pretty badly, but he didn’t reject me. I think that was the reason I had kept my barriers up all that time, I feared that others wouldn’t like what they would see in me after that night."

"We wouldn’t have rejected you," hir mother softly murmured.

"No," Song agreed. "But you might have pitied me or tried to help, and I didn’t think I could bear that."

"Well, we’re glad that’s behind you," Longstripe said, breaking up the somber moment. "You said you hurt Neal – is he okay?"

Windsong nodded. "In my dream I was trying to hold back those hurting me. I ended up sinking my claws into Neal. I think he was moving a little stiffly the next day, but he claimed he was fine."

"And Firestorm was all over Song the next day, so we know Neal wasn’t hiding any negative thoughts about hir," Shadowcrest added.

"But it was when Neal called me Song, instead of Windy that I was sure he wasn't upset with me," Windsong quickly added to Shadowcrest's statement.

"How did the others take to you hurting Neal?" Desertsand wondered.

"Rather well actually," Shadowcrest assured hir. "It didn’t hurt that hir broadcast had penetrated hir barriers, so we all knew why it had happened." Shi didn’t tell them that most of them had helped make a composite sketch of the human from Song’s nightmare and Tess was looking for matches in the databases she had access to.

"How long can you two stay?" Silverpelt asked, the look on hir muzzle making it plain that whatever they said would be less than shi wished.

Windsong smiled as shi said, "I believe we have a couple more hours before we need to start heading back to catch our ride." Shadowcrest nodded in agreement.

"Good!" Desertsand exclaimed, "Because there’s this great little restaurant just a few minutes from here."


Two hours before the Folly’s last pod would be ready to lift, Tess relayed a message to Neal. He looked over the short note, thought for a minute before remembering the pregnant therapist that had helped with the furs from one of the medical facilities. Shi had stayed on the Folly a few days while Neal had struggled to get everything ready for ten times the number of colonists he had been expecting. It had been over twenty years, but Tigerlily hadn’t forgotten Neal’s promise to return the favor someday. He nodded slowly before tapping his comm badge. "Tess, let the kids know I need some volunteers for an extra shuttle trip. They will be taking one of the personnel shuttles a bit north of Big Sur, to pick up one passenger bound for Chakona. Give them the information Tigerlily gave us on Tauna. Oh yes, inform orbital control that we will be leaving a few hours later than scheduled."

"Sure thing boss," Tess replied as she relayed the information to those that needed it.


Just before dawn, the old assault shuttle settled gently into a snow-covered field near the Lake Valley clan’s village. Two chakat teens and a foxtaur vixen followed the map they had been given to one of the homes at the edge of the village. The smell of breakfast being prepared told them that the occupants were already up, so they knocked on the doorframe. The vixen that answered the door had a smoke-gray coat with golden blond tips. An apron hid and protected her four small breasts from the cooking the knock had interrupted. She eyed her early morning visitors with open surprise.

"Tauna Shadowback?" the foxtaur with the chakats asked. When the other vixen nodded, she said, "I’m Graysocks, and these are Dusk and Nightsky. We were sent to pick you up."

"I don’t understand," Tauna said, looking from one of them to the next.

Dusk smiled. "It seems you have a friend that knows our captain. He was told you needed a ride to Chakona."

Nightsky nodded. "Our captain said he owed Tigerlily a favor and that shi had finally called in hir marker," shi said with a grin. Catching a change in the odors coming from inside the den, shi added, "I think your breakfast is burning."

Tauna rushed back into the den to rescue what she could of the breakfast. Other calls from inside the den suggested she had been cooking for more than herself. The trio from the shuttle followed her into the warm den to find two other foxtaur vixens, Siri and Jaishu helping pull the pans of food off the heating elements. A fourth joined them, Zia’s hair and fur still wet from her shower. Graysocks and the chakats stayed out of the way while things settled down.

Dusk grinned as their hostesses worked. "Stormy would have a field day in this village," shi joked as shi watched the vixens run around their kitchen.

Zia looked up from where she was separating charcoal from fried potatoes. "Who is Stormy? And why would she be having a field day here?" she wondered.

Graysocks also grinned. "Stormy is a cute little chakat cub with the questionable habit of sampling every breast shi can get hir little paws on. And here you have a village full of four breasted vixens? Shi’d be in heaven!" she chuckled.

"Other than bothering today’s cook at a critical time, why are you here?" Jaishu asked, a burnt breakfast not improving her mood.

Dusk met her glare with steady eyes. "A friend of Tauna’s told our captain that Tauna is in need of transportation to Chakona. Since we were given short notice, I fear she won’t have much time to pack if she wants to go." Turning to Tauna, shi added, "I’m sorry to rush you – but for us the clock is ticking."

"When does your ship leave orbit?" Zia asked with open curiosity.

Nightsky snorted. "Two hours ago. Or at least that was the original plan. The captain gave us one more orbit to pick her up. We can spend a couple hours helping her pack and say her goodbyes before we have to boost." A little more gently shi added to Tauna, "That is, if you would like to go of course."

Tauna set down the dishes she had been holding and rushed out of the room.

"She can’t afford this," Zia warned them, looking in the direction her friend had gone.

"The ride is at the request of a friend; she won’t be charged," Dusk assured her. "Why don’t you help her pack? You’re going to have little enough time to say goodbye."

After Zia had left, Siri turned to Jaishu. "Our group is down to two hunters," she quietly pointed out.

"We’ll get by," Jaishu assured her.

Zia poked her head around the corner to ask, "What’s her weight limit?"

"Whatever the seven of us can carry," Dusk assured her with a grin.


"Please start recording Tess."

"Recording."

"Hello again. I know it’s been less than two weeks, but a few things have happened and I thought it best that you hear it now versus being surprised by it later. This is being sent to the group rather than just my parents because I want them to have the support of the others. First let me say that everyone’s okay – well physically okay, and the rest is nothing that we can’t overcome. Some of your past messages hinted that you were worried about how Neal would treat us, especially after New Kiev. The teens and I have discussed it, and I am going to send you the recordings of that morning. We had thought about editing them to remove some of the parts we thought might upset you, but then you would wonder what could have been so bad that we wouldn’t show you. I am also sending a short news clip that was used to twist the truth of what happened in New Kiev. The clip was used on Earth to get furs to hate Neal. A couple of furs decided to destroy some of Neal’s cargo in retaliation. As a result, Neal and I were injured." Shadowcrest took a long shuddering breath before shi continued. "Thanks to one of his Rakshani mates, Neal’s injuries were not life threatening. Unfortunately I was not so lucky and mine were. Fortunately, the Folly has a process that was able to repair the damage, but at a cost." Shi adjusted the camera that had been focused on just hir face, letting it zoom out to take in hir upper torso. Turning to the side, shi called, "Stormy? I need a hug!" The little chakat leaped into hir arms for a snuggle. Still holding hir, Shadowcrest turned back to the camera. "This is Chakat Firestorm, daughter of RushingStream and Whitepaws. I was holding hir in my last message, so shi will give you some reference as to how I’ve changed. Hir parents were killed during the attack of the New Kiev spaceport. Hir sire was Chakat Whitepaws, daughter of Snowfall and Sandrunner. They may or may not know that their daughter is dead. Neal hasn’t been able to reach them, so they probably don’t know they have a granddaughter. If you would please, let them know. Once they know, I have a feeling they will be joining your group. All my love, Shadowcrest out."

"Got it," Tess told hir. "Do you want to play it back or do any editing?"

Giving Stormy a tickle, Shady shook hir head, "Send it as is. Thank you Tess."

 


Chapter 9  

 

Tauna sat looking out one of the small view ports mesmerized. She hadn’t had much time to think since Graysocks and the two chakats had knocked on the door of her den. The lure of being able to chase after her friend Vanessa had her throwing caution to the winds – first by having her abandon her other friends, and then by having her throw in her lot with someone she didn’t even know. She watched now as the blue of what should have been an early morning sky faded to a pitch black as the whistle of air across the hull of the small shuttle faded to silence, leaving only a light hum and the slight rushing noise of air through a nearby vent.

She looked forward as one of the chakats exchanged instructions with someone on the comm system.

"ETA ten minutes at your current acceleration, Folly," Dusk said after checking hir instruments.

"I see nothing that should interfere with your current course, and Neal says to park in bay Eight. He has some things he wants to check out," the voice replied.

"Thanks Tess," Dusk acknowledged. Feeling curious eyes on hir, shi turned back to check on their passenger. "How are you feeling?" shi asked as shi tried to carefully gauge the foxtaur vixen’s emotions.

"I’m not sure how I should be feeling," Tauna admitted. "I think I just dropped my life behind me without making sure there was really something to pick up on the other side."

"Been there, done that," the other chakat told her as shi turned from hir engineering station. Nightsky grinned as shi continued, "We had thought we were going to just sneak aboard a ship and look around for a few hours before being caught and sent home. Instead we ended up on the wrong ship and got thrown into a real adventure!"

"Are you complaining?" Dusk asked with a knowing grin.

Nightsky just laughed. "Hell no! I wouldn’t have missed this for the world."

Graysocks also grinned as she told their guest, "If you want to see the ship you’ll be riding in, go over to one of the port view ports. The Folly will be coming into view in just a minute."

Tauna looked out the suggested view port. The shuttle rolled slightly and a ship came into view. It looked to her like someone had balanced two small melons on a corncob. Like a corncob, not all the kernels were the same size, and some were missing. The only things breaking that illusion were the color and the two struts that swept forward to hold the ship’s warp engines a third of the way up the corncob. She turned away to listen to a voice tease her pilots about something, when she turned back; she was shocked to see how much larger the ship had grown.

Nightsky had felt her emotional spike. "You all right?" shi softly asked.

"It didn’t look that big a moment ago! I’m having trouble gauging size… and I guess distance out here," Tauna admitted.

Nightsky smiled. "Completely understandable. There are no references for you to use, and the lack of an atmosphere means there’s no softening of edges or shadows. Here’s a hint; each of those larger ‘corn kernels’ is a sixty-meter cube. The corncob section itself is about two kilometers long."

"I knew they had to be large to move a lot of cargo, but I didn’t think they got this big," She said as they drifted past the rings of cargo pods, and up towards the two spheres.

"The Folly is a bit larger than average. I think it’s because her captain hates to make two trips when one will do," Dusk said with a grin.

As the shuttle got closer, Tauna watched as their shuttle seemed to drift over and up the larger ship. They seemed to lose their race as they reached a point midway between the two melons, drifting inward instead of forward. Moments later, tractor beams gently pulled them into a slowly opening hanger. Once the shuttle was securely docked, the teens led their guest through the airlocks. A lift dropped them deep into the lower sphere, releasing them into the living area.

Walking down one of the numerous corridors, Nightsky smiled as shi asked, "Shall we room her near our other ‘guests’?"

"The room next to Song is free," Dusk agreed. At Tauna’s raised eyebrow, shi added, "That way, in case of trouble we can gather all of you up easier."

"Will there be trouble?" Tauna asked.

"Like our adopted father says, ‘hope for the best while preparing for the worst’," Dusk explained.

"Your room," Graysocks said as she waved Tauna into a room.

Tauna felt her jaw drop, as her heart seemed to sink. While quite large and with a bed big enough for her and all the hunt-mates she’d left behind, the room was stark and unappetizingly barren.

Seeing the chakats’ reaction to their guest’s emotions, Graysocks quickly added, "Perhaps we should’ve warned you that this room hasn’t been used yet. That means you get to decorate it any way you like."

"Can we help?" asked a very young voice from behind them. Tauna turned to find two small chakats openly staring at the latest newcomer.

"Isn’t it past your bedtimes?" Dusk reminded them. At Tauna’s confused look shi smiled at her. "We’ve been on Aussie time this week, so for us it’s getting late."

"Aww… please?" the smaller of the cubs begged.

"Not tonight Spitfire," Dusk told hir. "Ask again in the morning and Tauna may have a few chores for you and Darkstreak."

"Ya!" they both cried as they ran around a corner and towards what Tauna assumed was the nursery.

Turning back to Tauna, Dusk grinned. "I’ve bought you a little time, I suggest you get some ideas of what you want before they swamp you – unless you want a ‘cubs’ room?"

"Thank you, no," Tauna said with a half smile; still looking in the direction the cubs had left. Turning back to the others, she asked, "Do you have a catalog of materials I can work with?"

"Ask Tess; she knows what’s where," Graysocks advised her.

"And who is Tess?" Tauna asked, having only seen the three teens and pair of cubs so far.

"Oops! Sorry, Tess, this is Tauna; Tauna, Tess," Graysocks said waving an arm in the air.

"Greetings Tauna," Tess told her from a nearby speaker.

At Tauna’s surprised look, Dusk added, "Ship’s computer. You’ll find she’s pretty clever."

"Clever enough to suggest that you point our guest at one of the smaller holosuites where we can go through some of her options."

Tauna spun her head around as a new voice commented, "Trying to make our guest disappear before the rest of us are even sure you got her onboard?" The grinning red-headed human had barely registered before Tauna was distracted by a small blur of fur that launched itself right at her.

As she held the small and very playful chakat cub that had ‘attacked’ her, Tauna was again distracted – this time by a growled, "Stormy…" A tall female Rakshani had come from a different direction, and could see what hir little paws were up to. The little chakat changed hir attempt to undo the top’s fasteners into a quick hug.

"I’m Neal and this is Dessa," Neal said indicating the large Rakshani. Pointing at the cub in her arms, he added, "And that little handful is Firestorm. I’ll warn you right now that shi’ll try again."

"Try what again?" Tauna asked, having missed Stormy’s aborted attempt.

"To get under your top," Neal explained with a grin. "Shi likes giving new friends ‘milk checks’."

"I see," Tauna said as she looked down at the cub, who was doing hir best ‘I’m a little angel’ impression. "And who taught hir to greet strangers that way?"

"I like to place the blame on hir chakat big sisters," Neal said with a chuckle. "Shi woke up one day to find that there was more than one source of milk, so now shi’s always looking to see who else might have hir favorite treat."

Looking down at the little chakat in her arms, Tauna said, "Sorry Stormy, I don’t have any milk for you."

Graysocks laughed. "Trust me, shi won’t take your word for it, I know."

"Well then, I’d better be on my guard for kitty attacks," Tauna said as she gave the aforementioned kitten a tickle before letting hir down.

"Good luck," Neal told her with a grin. "Just remember, you have to sleep sometime," he warned her with a chuckle, before he and the tall Rakshani left the way Dessa had come.

"So," Dusk asked as they turned back to their guest, "do you want to make a virtual mess before you try a real one?" at Tauna’s nod they led her to one of the holosuites before getting back to their other chores.

Tauna found herself in what looked like the same bare room she had seen a few minutes ago. "How do I do this?" she asked the empty room.

"Whatever is easiest for you," Tess replied. "Some like to vocalize what they want, others like a control board or a color palette that you can ‘paint’ what you like, or any combination."

"Lets try a color palette," Tauna decided, and one appeared before her with a brush clipped to the edge of it. She dabbed the brush into one of the colors and smeared a blob of paint across a section of the board. A brush full of another color was added across the first. A little of a third was added to a point where the other two were close to the shade she wanted. Touching the concoction at the point where she thought they met her desired color, Tauna touched the brush to a wall, where the color spread to cover the entire surface. Eyeing the wall, Tauna murmured, "Maybe just a shade darker." The wall darkened slightly. Nodding, Tauna asked, "What types of storage options do I have to play with? I’m not planning on getting too fancy for a three week trip."

"My current estimate is thirteen weeks to Chakona," Tess informed her.

"But – I checked the cruise ship schedules! The direct ones get there in a little over three weeks!"

"Had we stayed on our original schedule we would have been on a more direct run to Chakona," Tess agreed. "However, there was a change in which companies we ship for. This removed our priority to get to Chakona, and the captain picked up a few orders requiring stops between here and there."

"If we’re going to be taking that long to get to Chakona, then I need to send a message to my friend."

"That can be arranged," Tess assured her. "Whom do we need to contact?"

"Vanessa Saroian – she’s on a cruise liner named the Star Nomad on her way to Chakona."

"We won’t be able to reach them directly; do you know where your friend will be staying on Chakona?"

"No, but a mutual friend on Earth might be able to find out for me. Hir name is Chakat Topaz, daughter of Tigerlily and Dawnlight."

"Is this the same Tigerlily who informed Neal that you needed a ride?"

"Yes."

"Then get your message ready, I still have hir comm code in memory and I can send it through the next relay we pass."

"Thank you Tess."

"You are welcome Tauna. Now, did you wish to do a little more with your room?"

"I think so, yes," Tauna agreed as she reached for the controls to scroll through her choices.


Dessa had led Neal to one of the smaller and currently unoccupied lounges.

As she indicated that he should sit in one of the chairs, Neal commented, "Well, this isn’t ‘my room or yours’. What are you up to, kitten?"

A little hesitant, Dessa replied, "I wanted to ask you something that has nothing to do with the bedroom."

Neal grinned. "Until something or someone intercedes, you have my complete and undivided attention."

She knelt beside his chair. "Would you be my lifemate?" she blurted out – looking like she wanted to take it back as soon as it left her lips.

After waiting a moment to see if she’d say more, Neal asked, "Are you still worried about our little run through the carriers?" At her cautious headshake he said, "Then yes, I would be honored to be your lifemate."

"Why did you ask if I was worried?" she wondered.

"If you were offering it as an apology, then you’d have been doing it for all the wrong reasons, and I wouldn’t have accepted," Neal said as he pulled her into a hug.


Having watched Stew chase some of the older kids out of her kitchen earlier, Tauna was wondering what to do about her growing hunger. She was roaming the halls when Neal came around a corner.

"Bored?" he asked.

"A little hungry actually," she admitted.

"Well, I could do with a snack myself. Let’s go raid the kitchen."

"Won’t the cook get after us?"

"Not if we’re sneaky enough," Neal assured her with a grin.

Leading her into the kitchen, Neal headed for the storage area. "What do you say to some stuffed baked potatoes?" he asked as he grabbed several.

"Stuffed with what?" she asked.

"I was thinking of roast beef and broccoli smothered in cheese – unless you’d prefer something different?"

"That does sound good right now," Tauna admitted.

While they were talking, Neal had gathered the mentioned ingredients and a few others. Handing Tauna half the load, he headed for the door.

"Aren’t we going to cook this?" Tauna asked staring at Neal.

"We are," Neal agreed, "but not here."

One level down, Neal showed her the kid’s mini kitchen. While the potatoes were quick-baked, Neal started chopping the meat into smaller pieces. "I’m going add some onions and olives to mine, is there anything you would like for yours?"

"Shrimp, but I didn’t think I saw any."

"Sounds good. Tess, a kilo of peeled and steamed shrimp please."

"Coming right up, boss," Tess replied as the shrimp materialized in the replicator.

Frowning at the steaming shrimp, Tauna asked, "If you have replicators, why are you making a meal by hand?"

"Where’s the fun in that?" Neal laughed. "Besides, I don’t think we have stuffed potatoes with shrimp loaded yet."

"So I’m helping add to your selections?" Tauna asked with a small smile.

"That too." As they started preparing their potatoes, Neal asked, "Are you feeling alright? I know it takes some people a while to get used to shipboard life."

"I am not suffering from Territorial Attachment Syndrome," Tauna stated a little defensively.

Neal chuckled, "I didn’t think you were, or I’d probably have found you hiding somewhere in the fetal position. Nonetheless, we all get a little homesick every now and then."

"Where do you call home?" she asked as they placed their potatoes back in the oven to warm the toppings.

"Home is where the heart is, or so they say. This ship has carried me from place to place for so long that she’s my home. She helps connect all the pieces of my heart."

"I don’t think I understand."

"From Tigerlily’s note, your heart’s chasing its pieces, some of which you left behind while you chase one you’ve grown very close to."

"I hadn’t thought about it that way," she admitted as they removed their snacks.

Neal placed his potato in the replicator. "Copy pattern please," he told Tess. After it beeped, he removed it and suggested Tauna do the same. "After all," he told her with a grin, "I can’t have too many options in the case I go and get my cook mad at me."

They were almost done eating when a voice at the doorway sweetly asked, "Would you like some dessert to go with that?" Stew rolled the cart into the room as she gave Neal a dirty look. "You, mister, are busted," she growled at him.

"Are you saying I should’ve made our guest dine alone?" Neal shot back with a raised eyebrow.

Giving him a long look, Stew finally nodded. "You’re forgiven… this time," she granted before turning to the foxtaur and giving her a grin. "As for you Tauna, my kitchen is always open if you’re hungry. I just ask that you not leave me too big a mess to clean up." Tauna looked a little confused by Stew’s rapid changes in attitude and merely nodded.

Stew then served Tauna and Neal from the dessert cart before cutting herself a slice of spice cake and joining them. Tauna finished first and bid them a quick goodnight before leaving the small kitchen.

After their guest was out of earshot, Neal commented, "Tess told me she was roaming the halls with her stomach growling."

"I had playfully chased some of the kids out of my kitchen earlier," Suzan admitted. "She may’ve thought I was serious. By the way," she teasingly asked, "what were you still doing up? You know how Bonita hates to be kept waiting."

Neal grinned; Bonita was one of his more understanding mates when it came to him going to bed later than expected. "I spent a little while this evening with Dessa, she’s asked me to be her lifemate."

"‘Bout time," Suzan said with a grin.

Neal nodded. "And after that I needed to rebuild my energy before seeing Bonita. As I was still recharging my batteries, I went over some of the data from the scouts I sent to check the alternate routes. One of the scouts I sent out as we left Raksha never hit any of its later checkpoints. I’m sending out a few more to cover the areas it never got to, and to see if I can find out what happened to it."

"Any particular reason?"

"While I do lose a scout every now and again, this one might have disappeared in one of the areas the Sharp Claw may have gone missing. More than enough of a reason to send others down its path."

"Too many maybes in there I think." At Neal’s nod of agreement, she asked, "Will you tell Wenfrec?"

"Not until we know more. I don’t see any reason to stir up hope just yet."


Bonita

After giving Suzan a goodnight snuggle, Neal went in search of Bonita – Tess directing him to one of the smaller holosuites. Twin moons shining through scattered gaps in the canopy lit a lush bluish-green jungle night. Following a path through the dense vegetation, Neal found Bonita waiting for him in a small clearing. Having heard his approach, Bonita struck a pose as he came into view.

"Silly kitten," Neal said as he gave her a hug. Looking around a little he wondered, "What world is this?"

"Teauhous Four," she replied as she pulled him back into the snuggle.

Neal shuddered slightly as he grumbled, "I hope you left the more ‘interesting’ of the plant and animal life off the holosuite program."

"Of course," she said with a grin. "I didn’t think having to wear protective armor suits would be all that romantic."

"Did they try colonizing it again?"

"Not to my knowledge, but it was a beautiful place."

"Beautiful and deadly, just like most of my mates."

"You’re one to talk."

"Sure I am, being neither beautiful nor deadly."

She frowned. "As I’ve heard you telling the cubs, ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’. As far as deadly, a long talk with Shortdash and Tess brought out that you have protocols in place that could wipe life off the face of a planet."

"Which I hope to never have a need for," Neal pointed out. "Like your military training, it is hoped that you will never need it – but if you do, you will need to know how to do it right the first time."

"Why is it I never win these types of discussions with you?" she asked playfully.

"Perhaps you need to pick your battles more carefully," Neal suggested as he gave her a quick kiss.

"Then let’s see if I can win this type of battle," she whispered as she rolled them both over into the soft and springy groundcover, her low rumbling purr filled with a promise of things to come.


Tauna spent the next few hours getting her room the way she wanted it, just leaving a few little things for the cubs to ‘help’ her with in the morning. She then settled down for a nap, figuring that to be the easiest way to shift her internal clock to ship time.

As this was the first time she’d had to just lay there and think since that knock on the door, her thoughts went out to her denmates. It would just be late afternoon in the village; her friends would be working, the evening meal still hours away. She rolled over again, trying to find a position that would bring her a little rest before the ship’s quickly approaching ‘morning’.


Tauna woke slowly, the warmth from the bodies around her making her want to curl back into the group for another few minutes, but someone had other ideas. "Zia, you tease," she grumbled as one of her nipples was gently tongued. A giggle that Zia couldn’t have produced brought her fully awake – to find herself nose to nose with the oldest of the cubs she had meet the evening before.

Seeing she was awake, Darkstreak grinned as shi said, "You felt lonely so we slept with you. Is that okay?"

A glace down showed Tauna that the little cub she had been warned about had indeed gotten hir ‘milk check’ in. She looked back to Darkstreak and returned hir grin. "I was a little lonely for my friends," she admitted. "Thank you for filling in," Tauna said as she pulled the two cubs into a hug. "You have my permission to help me anytime I’m feeling lonely."

Nova had been spooning Tauna from behind. Shi softly chuckled as shi said, "Like they would wait for permission. I’m Nova, and I understand you didn’t get to see too much of the Folly last night, so I’ll be your guide until you get your bearings."

Looking back at the younger chakat, Tauna smiled. "If last night was anything to go by, I’ll need a guide, a scorecard, and a coach to figure this place out!"

"We’ll go easy on you," Nova promised.

Still enjoying the cuddle, Tauna said, "Let’s start with that. Just how many is ‘we’?"

"Counting cubs?" Nova asked with a grin. Taking a moment to mentally count heads, shi said, "Not counting the crew of the Good Deal whose ship is in getting an upgrade, the Folly boasts thirteen adults, fourteen teenagers counting me, a preteen and a pair of eight year olds as well as seven cubs five and under. Though the preteen’s more in the adult category these days." At Tauna’s look of disbelief, shi added, "You’ll see."

"Are you saying there’s another ship in this one?" Tauna asked.

Nova laughed. "Counting one that’s still unfinished and the Good Deal, there are four ships and six shuttles tucked into the Folly."

"I knew this ship was big, but…."

"Like that old saying goes ‘you ain’t seen nothing yet’," Nova assured her.

Tauna’s first lesson that morning was in chakat cub herding, the cubs being much more interested in going through her things than going to breakfast.

As they entered the dining area, Nova grinned as shi whispered, "Got your scorecard ready?"

The first thing added to the scorecard was when a foxtaur kit a little larger than the milk check kitten bowled said kitten over as they came in. A playful scuffle began. "Star – Stormy!" an older vixentaur snapped without turning her head. "Not in the dining room," she said a little softer. As the two cubs leaped up on one of the tables and went over to a bowl of what looked like kibbles in milk, the foxtaur turned towards Tauna. "Welcome Tauna. I’m Weaver, and that little tripping hazard was Starblazer." Waving her hand around the table she added, "I’ve heard you’ve already met Dessa. These are Shadowcrest, Bonita and Kestrel. The rest of our menagerie is scattered about the ship, this being towards the end of Folly’s breakfast time."

"Hello little sister," Tauna heard Nova say as shi brushed past the much larger Shadowcrest.

"Younger sister maybe," Shadowcrest mumbled around a mouthful of food as shi gave the smaller chakat a gentle swat with hir tail.

"Where’s your coppery shadow?" Nova teased as shi selected what shi wanted from the remains of the open buffet.

"An early training session with Lighttouch. Hy’s running some tests to see what other abilities shi might have hidden away."

"You mean besides broadcasting erotic feelings from orbit?" Nova teased again as shi set a bowl of mixed fruit on the table.

"Behave," Bonita told hir with a grin.

At Tauna’s look of confusion, Weaver smiled. "Some chakats can be very mentally ‘noisy’ at times, and we seem to have more than our fair share on the Folly."

"And Windsong’s been so loud other ships have heard hir," Nova added with a giggle.

"I told you to behave," Bonita reminded hir, her grin getting wider.

"Make me," Nova challenged, remembering how easily Neal had brought down the large Rakshani with a few well-placed tickles.

Bonita was about to give the chakat youth one last warning, when she was distracted by Nova’s bowl of fruit – the spoon having shifted slightly without being touched. Then the handle of the spoon dropped as if an unseen paw had slapped it downward and a piece of fruit was flipped out of the bowl to bounce off Nova’s muzzle.

Nova looked around the room as the spoon rattled on the table. "Who did that?" shi demanded, not seeing anything or anyone that could have knocked the spoon out of the bowl, and the fruit almost into hir eye.

"My shadow," Shadowcrest told hir, unable to hold back hir laughter. "I do believe shi heard you."

Nova had hir mouth open to reply but remained silent as another piece of fruit moved. This one rose up out of hir bowl and floated over to the table where the cubs were eating. Star had seen it coming and snapped it up as it came into range. A third piece of fruit made its way to Stormy before the bowl spun around a few times and then stopped.

After waiting a few moments to see if anything else would happen, Tauna asked Nova, "I take it that wasn’t normal for this ship?"

Kestrel chuckled. "While anything can and sometimes does happen on the holosuites, the only time food flies in the dinning room is during a food fight – which is frowned upon most of the time."

They were still speculating on the reason for the flying food, with Shady insisting it was hir ‘shadow’, when Windsong and Lighttouch joined them. Tauna noticed that they both looked exhausted. As Song loaded two plates from the buffet, Lighttouch ordered two very large omelets from the replicator. Joining the others at the table, they dug into their meal as if they hadn’t eaten for days.

Weaver gave them a minute before asking, "I thought you two ate before you went off to play?"

"So we did," Lighttouch admitted. "But we have burned off a great deal of energy this last hour, and we need to replace it."

"Doing what?" Kestrel asked, the tone of her voice suggesting she thought she already knew.

Song stared at Kestrel’s almost empty plate. A well-chewed bone lifted a few inches from the plate and floated in midair for a moment before dropping back to the plate. "Best I can do right now," shi said after swallowing a mouthful of food. "I’m still tired, and Lighttouch was lending me hys support when we were playing with Nova’s food," this last said as shi half grinned at Nova.

Weaver frowned lightly as she asked, "So, were you using Tess’s sensors to see what you were doing?"

"No," Lighttouch said as Windsong's mouth was full again. "One of hir other abilities is Astral-Projection or ‘Out-of-body Projection’ as it is sometimes called. Add to that hir telekinesis, and shi can not only see, but also affect things at a distance."

Weaver gave Shadowcrest a dirty look. "That’s what you were grinning about before Tauna and Nova came in – you could sense Song’s presence."

Shadowcrest nodded. Shi had sensed parts of Lighttouch’s testing, and hir growing bond with Windsong had helped the astral-projecting chakat find hir way to the dining room.

"What’s hir range?" Dessa wondered.

"We are still determining that," Lighttouch told her. "Today’s test was just to see if shi could do it at all, and whether shi could control it consciously. Windsong’s range will also be affected by whether or not shi has any ‘help’. With my support shi was able to project a little farther, and have a little more strength when shi used hir telekinesis. Both should improve with practice."

"So this is something new?" Tauna asked. At Weaver’s nod, she mumbled, "So even trying to keep a scorecard on this bunch won’t help."

"You get used to it after a while," Weaver assured her. "I’ve almost learned not to assume anything’s impossible on this ship."

"Is there by chance a corridor long enough for me to practice my archery?" Tauna asked with a grin. "I don’t want to get too out of practice."

"Actually there is," Weaver told her, "but you wouldn’t want to use it." When Tauna gave her a questioning look, Weaver explained, "While it’s almost two kilometers long, there’s no gravity."

"Some local gravity could be added," Bonita commented, "but it wouldn’t always be constant, which would throw off your aim."

"Never mind the captain not wanting you putting any holes in his cargo carriers," Dessa chimed in with a grin. "I suggest you stick to the holosuites, much safer for everyone."

"My aim’s not that bad," Tauna said, pretending to pout.

"Considering you’re a hunter, probably not," Dessa agreed, having seen the bow that had accompanied their guest. "But gravity fluctuations, tractor beams and random air vents will throw off even your aim."

"Tess has warned me that this will be a thirteen week cruise to Chakona, I’m hoping there’s something I can do to help out."

"In other words, she’s afraid she’ll be ‘bored out of her gourd’," Nova piped in. "Don’t worry Tauna, we have lots of things to do."

"After you’ve given her a tour of the Folly and briefed her on the safety protocols," Weaver warned hir.

"Of course," Nova agreed. "I’ll take good care of her."


After her ship orientation and safety briefing, Nova led Tauna to the main holosuite. They entered a tropical forest with several well-worn paths leading away from the door portal. A small pedestal held rows of what appeared to be phasers, some smaller than others. A few were missing, each empty spot showing a small picture of who had taken which weapon.

Snagging a pair of phasers, Nova nodded at a couple of the pictures. "A few of the cubs are in here with us, so you’ll want to set your weapon at its lowest setting."

"Why on earth would I want to shoot cubs?" Tauna wondered, not taking the presented weapon.

"Self defense perhaps?" Nova countered.

Tauna was about to reply when her tail received a sudden jolt. As she reached back to inspect her tail, there was a second sting on her shoulder. "Hey!" she protested as she checked the ‘hits’, other than the momentary shock, her shoulder and tail felt fine.

"Cease fire!" Nova called out. "She’s not playing!"

A rustling in a nearby tree alerted Tauna of the direction of her attacker. Or attackers as a tree limb on another tree began to shake as well. A nearby bush also shifted as a Caitian youth stepped into view.

"We’re sorry," Honey told the surprised foxtaur. "We thought you were playing ‘stinger tag’ too."

"Not yet she isn’t," Nova told her, showing that shi still held both stingers.

"Will you play with us?" Honey asked hopefully.

"It goes against my nature to hurt cubs," Tauna told her with a headshake.

"But it doesn’t hurt," Darkstreak insisted, shooting hirself in the foot.

"I’m not that good with a beam weapon anyway," Tauna tried to insist.

"Bows and arrows!" Spitfire exclaimed from hir tree.

Nova cocked hir head. "How would that work?" shi wondered.

Tess’s voice came from all around them, "This is a holosuite after all. I can simulate her arrows feeling like stinger hits, and if desired I can also leave the arrow sticking out of its victim."

Nova held out hir paw. "Tess, an arrow please." When the arrow appeared, shi pushed it into hir buttocks. Looking at the others, shi commented, "Just like a stinger hit when the tip touched me, but it doesn’t hurt… it just feels like something’s stuck to me." Shi wiggled hir hips, making the arrow wave back and forth.

Tauna was about to protest that she wasn’t going to be shooting them with anything, when the cubs all started demanding arrows from Tess. A minute later it looked like a group of happily animated corpses from a bad B-rated movie, including Honey sporting the classical ‘arrow through the head’.

Shadowcrest, Windsong, and Lighttouch picked that moment to enter the holosuite.

Watching the cubs bounce around to see how far they could make their arrows swing, Windsong laughed. "I should have thought of that!"

"Please?" Darkstreak begged. "She won’t shoot us," shi said, indicating Tauna.

At Windsong’s request, Tess created a pair of bows as well as quivers of arrows like the ones used at the beach. Testing the tension on one of the bows, shi asked, "How long should we set the arrow’s persistence to?" as shi picked an arrow and fired it through hir own handpaw and into the ground. A tailstinger’s jolt on the top and bottom of hir paw told hir what shi would be doing to those shi shot, an attempt to shift hir paw showed hir that shi was indeed ‘nailed to the spot’.

"I would think a minute would be more than long enough," Shadowcrest suggested.

"Why a minute?" Honey asked.

"That way you don’t end up pinned somewhere until after dinner time," shi replied with a chuckle.

"How would shi pin me?"

"Like this," Song said, stringing and firing an arrow into Honey’s arm as well as the tree behind her.

"Oh, wow," Honey said as she tried to pull free, finally working her arm down the shaft, the feathers tickling as they were drawn ‘through’ her arm.

"Brings a new meaning to ‘pin the tail on the cub’," Shadowcrest said with a grin.

"I’m having trouble believing that you’ve turned getting shot at into a game," Tauna stated as she watched their antics.

"The holosuite training is a non-lethal environment," Lighttouch explained. "But to show you that they can and do take weapons seriously…" hy clapped hys hands to get everyone’s attention. "Training time," hy stated. "Weapons are on heavy stun, any hits take you out of the game. The scenario is we were enjoying a wooded area near the spaceport, but an unknown force may now be hunting us. We will not be safe until we are back in the shuttle and launched. Any questions? No? Tess will provide a map of the area and the path we used to get here. You have ten minutes to study it."

What followed was a practice session in stealth and caution as they split up into three groups and tried to sneak their way back to the shuttle. While they ended up not needing to stun any possible ‘foes’, Tauna and Windsong's arrows did help provide distracting noises away from the groups when a couple of possible hostiles got too close.

They were all safely in the shuttle when Darkstreak pleaded, "Now can she shoot us with arrows?"

Alex was ‘piloting’ the shuttle. He turned and smiled at the little chakat. "That would be up to Tauna. If she says no, then no. And I know that you know better than to keep begging after a ‘no’ has been handed down."

Alex turned back to his controls as several of the cubs began to pout. Tauna touched Darkstreak’s shoulder and quietly said, "Maybe later." This cheered the cubs up, but Tauna was still thinking about what she had seen. When trying to get to the shuttle the cubs had been surprisingly careful to not aim their weapons at each other, but now that they were playing with stingers they were aiming at each other’s tails again.

"Cubs will be cubs," Alex commented, as the shuttle appeared to dock with the Folly.

Shadowcrest snorted. "Are you trying to say you wouldn’t be back there swapping stings if you weren’t flying?"

Alex chuckled. "No, I’d be back there stinging away. As Neal’s shown us, you’re only as old as you let yourself feel."

"Just how old is Neal?" Tauna wondered. She hadn’t really gotten a good feel for him in their two encounters.

"You can ask him, but don’t expect a straight answer," Shadowcrest warned her. Shi held back that some of the memories shi had from him suggested that not only did he predate chakats – but possibly furs as well.

Shutting down the ‘shuttle’, Alex nodded. "As he’ll tell you, ‘does it matter?’ He’s old enough to know what needs doing, and young enough to still have fun doing most of it."

As they disembarked from the shuttle into the corridor leading to the holosuite, Nightsky walked next to Tauna. "I understand you’ll have a chakat for a companion when we get to Chakona." At Tauna’s curious nod, Nightsky asked, "How close have you been to chakats? As in would you like a little practice?"

"Are you offering to ‘instruct’ me in the ways of chakats?" Tauna asked with a shy grin.

"If you like," Nightsky agreed with a grin of hir own.

"Hey! No fair hogging the fresh meat!" Dusk called out from behind them.

Tauna laughed. "Shi did ask first, and some idea of what to expect wouldn’t hurt – especially since my companion won’t have been a chakat all that long."

"Maybe you’d better explain that last part," Dusk suggested, she and most of the others were now clearly curious.

Tauna soon found herself in the main lounge, explaining to most of the Folly’s crew and guests Vanessa’s physical problems, and the possible cure.

When Tauna was done, Calmmeadow turned to Neal, "Could your ‘process’ have helped Vanessa?"

Neal frowned thoughtfully for a moment before shaking his head. "If she was already having problems when she hit adulthood, the process could ‘reset’ her to that point, but not cure her."

"So it seems someone on Chakona has a trick Tess doesn’t know yet," Shortdash commented with a grin.

"So it appears," Neal agreed. At the looks several of them were giving him, he added, "And no, I don’t intend to try to pry their secrets from them."

The more telepathically sensitive picked up, "He won’t need to with all the curious felines on-board – corporeal and non…." The thought was whispered so faintly that none of those that heard it was sure of the sender.

Further speculation was interrupted by Stew informing them that lunch would soon be served.


After lunch, Song found Neal humming to himself as he worked on one of the smaller Zulus. Shi smiled as his humming stopped suddenly and he looked around to see who had snuck up on him.

Waving the pair of data pads shi had carried in, shi said, "The terror twins say they’ve aced your little test."

"Remains to be seen," Neal countered as he reached for them, only to have Song pull them back.

"Trade," shi offered him. "These pads for that tune you were humming."

"No deal," Neal told hir with a grin.

"Please?" Song begged, using hir best pout.

Neal relented and held out his hand.

Handing him the data pads, Song quietly asked, "The tune?"

Chuckling, Neal started humming the tune again, and then he added the words for hir.

"Who's peekin' out from under a stairway
Calling a name that's lighter than air
Who's bending down to give me a rainbow
Everyone knows it's Windy"

(by Ruthann Friedman)

Song made a face, both at the name as well as Neal’s excuse for a singing voice. Neal just grinned and said, "Tess?"

Having had time enough to find to original tune in Neal’s library, Tess played the rest of the tune for them:

"Who's tripping down the streets of the city
Smilin' at everybody she sees
Who's reachin' out to capture a moment
Everyone knows it's Windy

And Windy has stormy eyes
That flash at the sound of lies
And Windy has wings to fly
Above the clouds (above the clouds)
Above the clouds (above the clouds)"

As a flute solo began, Song grinned. "And here I thought you were making up the ‘Windy’ part of it."

"No," Neal told hir, "it was a fairly popular song a long time ago. Funny thing is, the songwriter was making a song about a man she knew but when the song came out, they had switched the gender."

"Why is that funny?"

"Because in my mind the song’s now gone from he, to she, to shi," he said arching an eyebrow at hir.

Song laughed as shi turned to leave. "Thanks… I think," shi said as shi curled hir tail under his chin in a quick tease, only to jerk it away before Neal could grab it.

Glancing at the pads, Neal asked, "Tess, how do they really think they’ve done?"

"As Song told you, they feel they breezed it."

"We’ll see," he said with a smile. "Tell them to join Screamingwind on Good Deal. Her parents are starting to ‘chomp at the bit’ to get moving again."

"You’re stuck with just Screamingwind for this afternoon, boss," Tess informed him. "Lighttouch has already requested the twins to gauge their link and Quickdash’s powers."

"Alright, I’ll see where she’s at after I get this beast finished and buttoned up."


"You are going to have your hands full with those two," Lighttouch said with a chuckle. "As if Quickdash was not powerful enough, Holly also has some latent talent of her own." The two in question were with Neal and Screamingwind, deep in Good Deal’s engineering section.

"Which Quickdash is no doubt stirring up," Weaver suggested.

"More than a little," Lighttouch agreed. "And it will be interesting to see how far they will grow as they started so young."

"Are you sure we can’t blame this on Neal?" Shortdash asked with a grin.

Lighttouch chuckled as hy replied, "Only as far as they came together on the Folly. Quickdash’s powers would have manifested in the next few years with or without Holly and Neal. Whether Holly’s talent would have surfaced is open to speculation."

"So we can blame him but you can’t!" Weaver told Shortdash with a laugh.

"Blame, or thank?" Longsock wondered. "Without his help I might have lost my mate and daughters."

"Maybe a bit of both," Quickwind allowed. "But should we be thanking Neal, Tess, or a particularly devious deity?"

"Since they’ve admitted their presence, I’ve noticed the cubs talking a lot more about their new playmates," Weaver said. "I’ve even spotted what I thought were Rakshani cubs in the holosuite, but when I looked again they were gone."

Lighttouch frowned slightly before commenting; "I asked Dessa and Zhanch about the stories behind their deities. While the traveler was known about, there is no mention of a group of them all traveling on one ship."

"Have you tried talking to the deities themselves?" Weaver asked.

"A couple of times, with no results. On the other paw, Shadowcrest says a couple of them do ‘suggest’ things to hir from time to time."

"Windsong’s noticed it a few times. It seems shi can sense that Shady’s communicating with them, but shi can’t hear what’s being said," Weaver commented, having seen Windsong look curiously at Shadowcrest just before Shadowcrest admitted that a deity had just said something.

"That is normal for telepathic communication," Lighttouch informed her. "Unless one of those communicating sends you the conversation, the most you might get is a ‘feeling’ of the emotions of those conversing."

"You do know they’re probably listening to us right now, don’t you?" Quickwind pointed out.

"I know," Lighttouch admitted. "But they have not seemed interested when I tried to communicate with them before."

"We’ll talk at you when we have need," a mental voice assured them all.

Shortdash laughed at Lighttouch’s pained expression. "Looks like they prefer the cubs to us."

"Perhaps because we have questions while the cubs just want to play with them?" Quickwind suggested with a grin.

Weaver also laughed. "If they have yet to tell the Rakshani everything there is to know about them, I don’t see them telling all to a bunch of nosy taurs."

"Or perhaps a bit more like Neal," Shortdash suggested looking thoughtful. "They’ll only tell us what they think we’re really ready for."


"I was wondering if you’d be my first," Shadowcrest quietly asked Windsong that evening, after shi’d gotten Song alone for a minute.

Song’s expression was a mix of a grin and a smirk as shi replied, "After our little game the other evening, I was wondering when you’d ask." Wrapping the larger chakat in a tight hug, Song whispered in hir ear, "Anytime you’re ready…."

"Well…" Shady whispered slowly into their snuggle, "neither of us has any duties until midday tomorrow…."

Song giggled. "Your room or mine?"

As they ducked into Song’s room, Shady said, "Tess? Please place fields around this room to give us a little privacy."

"And to keep the whole ship from hearing me!" Song added with a laugh.

It was only a few minutes later that Weaver suddenly shivered. "Why am I feeling frisky all of a sudden?" she asked, noticing that several of the chakats were also becoming aroused.

"Shady and Song finally decided to make a little ‘Whoopee’ as Neal calls it," Morningmist commented as shi shifted to make hirself more comfortable. "Tess, shield those two before we have to break out the mops and pails."

"I already have them behind a set of fields, sensors indicate that the fields are working properly," Tess informed them.

"Then add another set!" Holly said with a laugh. "If Mom can hear them, then so can everybody else!"

Windsong surprised

A third set of fields was erected before most of them thought they couldn’t hear the mental and emotional output coming from the room. The quiet lasted until they all felt a sudden jolt. They all also received double mental images from both Song and Shady. One in pure bliss at something shi was doing for the very first time, the other in more than a little surprise and discomfort.

"Ouch!" Neal summed it up as they all tried to get over the feelings. "That felt like too much too fast, and the last time I checked I don’t have one of those."

"That was Song," Moonglow groaned. "Either shi forgot to suggest Shady take it slowly, or Shady ‘slipped’." Trying to unclench a couple of cramping muscle groups, shi muttered, "Remind me to ask Shady to go easy on me… that hilting was a bit much."

Noticing that most of the others were still in some discomfort from what had bled through the fields, Lighttouch checked on hys students. Finding that they were already past the initial shock and back to pleasuring each other, hy said, "Tess, drop all but one set of fields please." Hy let the others feel the enjoyment the two chakats were giving each other for a minute before asking Tess to bring the fields back to full strength. Hy then asked for yet another field, and finally a fifth before deciding the others should no longer be able to sense them. While hy was doing this, most of the others had left the lounge in twos and threes, leaving just hym and Moonglow.

Moonglow was growling in frustration. "Well, that took care of the hilted feeling," shi admitted, "but your cure left most of us horny as hell!"

Lighttouch chuckled. "As Neal would say, ‘would you like a bit more of the dog that bit you?’ As I am not totally unaffected, would you like some help with the aftereffects?"

"Y-yes," shi agreed, "but first I think we need to check on the others."

Tess interjected, "Everyone else has found a partner or partners to help them finish what those two have started. I’ll continue monitoring and let you know if anyone needs help."

"Thank you, Tess," Lighttouch said before giving Moonglow a leer. "Your room or mine?"

"Mine," Moonglow told hym as they headed for the door. "Yours is a little too close to those two for my liking."


More than a little late for breakfast, Windsong and Shadowcrest were grinning and giggling as the door to the dining area open in front of them – this stopped when they saw what awaited them. The rest of the Folly’s crew and company were also having a very late start and it looked like most had gotten little sleep the previous night.

One by one, each of them held up scorecards like the ones used to tease Windsong’s parents. Each and every one was flipped to ‘Holy #%#^^$$!!’.

"B-but we had Tess put up the fields before we started!" Shadowcrest protested.

"You and Song went right through them," Lighttouch informed hir. "We thought three sets of fields were sufficient until you two traded positions and you gave Windsong a little more than shi was ready for." The skunktaur stifled a smirk; neither of them seemed to have noticed that hy was now in female mode. Hy had gotten a little carried away and drank Moonglow dry during their hours of lovemaking. Hys body had finally put hym to sleep to change, and hy had been one of the last ones up.

"You heard that?" Shadowcrest asked; both shi and Windsong were now looking very nervous.

"No," Weaver told them, "We felt it! The only good thing I can think of is that the males onboard now know what it feels like."

"Never mind everyone having to work off that sexual overload you two gave us," Moonglow added with a grin at the embarrassed pair. Shi had already promised Lighttouch a rematch now that the tables were turned.

"Daddy," Holly said looking at Neal with a big grin. "Can Quickdash and I be processed so we can try it too?"

There were four rather loud ‘NO!’s before Neal even got his mouth open. Looking at each of his co-parents, he turned back to Holly. "I would have to say ‘no’ too, little one. You two will just have to wait until you’re old enough to enjoy it yourselves."

"But we could help a lot more if we were bigger," Quickdash insisted.

"We’ll have to add ‘aiding in the delinquency of minors’ to your list of talents," Neal teased Windsong and Shadowcrest as they started to back out of the room, only to be stopped when the door didn’t open for them.

"Where could you possibly run to?" Lighttouch gently thought at them. "Take the teasing for keeping everyone up all night and get it over with," hy advised.

Ignoring their aborted attempt to escape, Neal turned to the cubs. "What did you think of those two last night?" he asked them with a grin.

"They are fun!" Darkstreak told him as shi and the rest of the cubs started piling on Shadowcrest and then Windsong, lick-kissing each and crawling all over them as if they knew there was more to it, but weren’t sure just what.

Wenfrec shivered slightly. She wasn’t sure what she’d have done if Quickwind and Shortdash hadn’t offered their assistance. Even in heat she’d never felt sexual cravings like the ones she’d experienced last night.

Tauna had also been amazed at the strength of the feelings she’d felt last night. Looking at Neal, she commented, "While Nightsky has assured me that most chakats aren’t as strong as those two, I’m not sure I can survive three months of that."

"None of us can," Shortdash agreed. "Lighttouch just needs to show them how to use their mental volume controls."

"Or the ‘mute’ button," Neal said with a thoughtful look. "Lighttouch, you’ve been training them the same way you would skunktaurs, correct?" At hys nod, Neal grinned. "Tess, I want two of those skunktaur headbands." When they materialized in one of the replicators, he tossed them at Shady and Song. "You two know what these do, right?"

"We won’t be able to send or receive mentally," Song said as shi looked at the headband with distaste. "We won’t even be able to mentally feel each other. It would be like making love while wearing bodysuits."

"These won’t stop the mental connectivity transferred by contact," Neal assured them with a grin. "Try it. Put the headbands on, and then see if you can’t ‘hear’ each other when you touch."

More than a little hesitant, they donned the headbands. Quickdash was first to notice the change. "Cool! I can’t sense them."

Neal smiled. If that had worked, the rest should too. "And when you make contact?" he told the two unhappy looking chakats.

They grabbed each other’s hand almost franticly, only to let out a sigh of relief when they could mentally feel each other through the contact.

Neal tried not to grin too big as he turned back to the others. "It seems they can mentally sense each other, can anyone sense them?" Shortdash had started to nod, but Neal’s raised eyebrow turned it into a negative headshake. Neal looked at Lighttouch, who was frowning at the pair. "How ‘bout you Lighttouch? You can’t sense them, can you?"

"No," hy admitted after a moment. "The headbands seem to be working properly."

"The second test will be to see if they work as well under stress," Neal said as he turned back to Shady and Song. "Why don’t you two try a quick romp or three? We’ll monitor things from here… shoo!" he added when they just stood there staring at him.

Once hy was sure they were out of hearing, Lighttouch commented, "They are taught that the headband also stops mental contact through physical contact."

"That’s only if they have the standard black metal thread woven into them and not the green metal thread those will have when Tess gets around to it," Neal replied with a chuckle. "After all, the power source is the same." He then snorted as he added, "I don’t believe I just told those two to go off and have still more sex."

Weaver gave him a strange look before saying, "I believe you and Lighttouch aren’t telling the rest of us something."

Before either of the accused could speak, Quickdash told Weaver, "I know what they’re hiding. Part of the training Lighttouch has started with us covers the headbands."

Holly nodded. "The headbands are what I’ve heard Neal call placebos. They only work because the wearer and those around them believe they work."

"And this will be a blind test," Neal explained. "Tess will be monitoring them and us, so if someone starts feeling frisky while those two aren’t getting hot and heavy, it can be marked down as normal hormones and not a ‘headband failure’."

"So you’re using a mental trick to control their mental output?" Tauna asked in surprise.

"A mental hammer to hammer a mental nail," Neal agreed as he got up. "And since it appears to be working, I think I’m going to try for a nap. If anyone wants to join me, all I might be interested in is a cuddle."


It was well over an hour before Song and Shady came out to see if the headbands had worked. The dining area was deserted, as was the bridge. It seemed that other than a couple of energetic cubs, the rest of the ship was in nap status.

"I guess they worked," Song commented dryly, tugging hir headband off, noticing a series of green threads woven into the inside of the headband.

"I could use a snack and a nap myself," Shady admitted as shi also removed hir headband. "At least we know how to wake them up if we need to," shi added with a grin.

"I think we’d better behave," Song stated. "Neal might decide to glue these things to our heads. And if he doesn’t, a couple of the others will."

"True," Shady agreed.

"So, is it normal for everyone to take a ‘lazy day’ off?" Song asked as shi punched a meal request into the replicator.

"Not normally all at once," Shady admitted, "but we did kind of keep them up for most of the night."

"True. So a snack and nap before your shift?" Song suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea, but you’re coming along. You can learn the comm panel while you keep me company."


Things returned to more or less normal for the Folly, including Tauna’s need to find things to do for the next three months.

"So what hobbies do you have?" Nightsky asked Tauna as they relaxed after a ‘teams’ game of stinger tag with the cubs. Tauna had found the cubs could be quite elusive when the winners got ice-cream. The fact that the losers also received ice-cream didn’t seem to detract from the competition.

"Well, I enjoy archery and cross-country hiking, which led me to hunting. I’m also an amateur ceramicist, and probably would have apprenticed with the potter if I hadn't decided to be a hunter. And I like to read, as you should know after you caught me going through your ‘frontier romance’ novels, though I also like travel guides and adventure stories."

"Hmmm, check with Tess for reading material, I’m starting to think she’s kept a copy of everything that Neal’s ever come across. The holosuite is the place to keep your hunting skills sharp. Just don’t be too surprised if some of the game is new to you, the Rakshani have added some of their beasts to the mix. Ceramics might be something we can use with the cubs when we’d like them to play quietly."

"It can be quite messy," Tauna warned hir.

"Not if we do it in a holosuite," Nightsky pointed out.

"True," Tauna admitted, "but then you have nothing to show for your work."

"That’s where the replicators come in. Once you make it in the holosuite, Tess can turn it into something you can keep."

"Maybe we can snag one of the smaller holosuites after dinner and do a little experimenting," Tauna suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Nightsky agreed with a grin.

They had planned to try their ceramic talents on their own before getting the cubs involved, but the cubs had other ideas.

"But we saw Kayla making a bowl on a spinning wheel," Darkstreak insisted.

"That’s pottery," Tauna explained. "We can do that too if you like, but I was thinking of making something a little different."

"Like what?" Honey asked.

"How would you like to make little figurines? Small statues. They could be anyone or anything you like."

"Mommy said she once had a bowl that had little people around it. Could we try to make one of those?" Honey asked.

"We may need to mix a little pottery and ceramics, and it may take us a couple tries, but I’ll be happy to help you with it," Tauna assured her.

Tauna then showed them the different clays they would be starting with. The softer one would make shaping on a spinning table easier while the firmer clay would hold its shape better for sculpturing. For the very little ones, several differently colored clays were provided for them to play in.

The first evening’s efforts ended with three unbalanced looking plates, two semi-deer shaped objects – one with a head much too large for its body, and several lumps that were unrecognizable to anyone but their creators. The good news was the various clays vanishing from fur and paws as the cubs left the holosuite.

Nightsky shook hir head at the trails of clay pawprints showing where the cubs had been. "Tess, please save what we’ve got on the table, then wipe the rest of this mess if you would."

"Can do," Tess replied as the mess disappeared. "Do you want me to ‘straighten’ any of the attempts?"

"No," Tauna told her. "Leave them as is. The best way to improve is by seeing the mistakes you’ve made."

"Not that you could really tell what they wanted them to be," Nightsky pointed out, indicating the lumps.


When the cubs wanted to play in the mud the next morning, Tauna had a few surprises for them. With Tess’s help she had made molds of a few of the shapes she had worked on, giving them a quick and easy way to make figurines. Honey was especially interested in the one that she thought looked like her mother, Sharptongue.

As they poured several of each of the molds, Nightsky asked, "How many figurines did you say you and Tess made molds for?"

"One pair of Caitians, a female Rakshani, a deer, and a chakat cub, so five," Tauna replied. "Why?"

Nightsky just showed her the sixth mold. "I think someone else has been playing," shi said with a grin.

"What is it?" Honey asked.

Tauna turned to give her a wink. "Let’s find out," she said as she stirred the ‘mud’ before pouring it into the holes in the mystery mold. After pouring out the excess mud and giving it time to harden, she cracked the mold apart. Inside was a female cat-like creature not quite like the Rakshani. The mold had also made a set of wings that would attach to this strange cat’s back.

"That looks like what Shady said the deity looked like," Nightsky commented in surprise when Tauna fitted the wings to their mystery cat.

"Deity?" Tauna asked in surprise. "I thought the cubs were making them up."

"They’re as real as Shady turning twelve in about a month," Nightsky told her. "Think of a spotted rather than striped Rakshani. I think shi also said the wings were several colors."

Tauna found herself making lots of ‘deities’ as all of the cubs wanted at least one to paint. Even Shadowcrest asked for one with the intention of trying to paint it to match the deity in hir dreams. Other molds were also made, including an adult chakat and a pair of foxtaur vixens, one with two breasts, the other four.


It was few days after leaving Earth that Neal and his engineers finished the work he had promised Longreach and Sharptongue. The Good Deal slowly slipped from the Folly’s forward sphere. With her upgrades complete, it was now time to start the calibrating and testing of her new systems.

Neal had been getting ready to start the fuel transfer when Tess advised him that they had company inbound. Nodding to Longreach, they shifted the Good Deal to dock with the Folly’s second sphere.

The ship that approached looked a bit like the aft half of Folly in some aspects. A pod-carrying ship, she was only three quarters the length of the Folly’s pod storage section. She also sported what appeared to be the same warp engines, and a scan of her engineering section would have revealed a similar five-core arrangement.

As Father’s Love drifted up to the port across from the Good Deal, Zhanch went to the docking port to meet them. Sensing excitement in the air, the cubs followed her to find out what was going on.

A chakat cub about two years old darted in as soon as the hatch was open wide enough, followed a moment later by a another chakat, this one about six, yelling, "Get back here, Stinker!"

Both were brought up short by the sight of the large Rakshani waiting for them on the other side. They stopped to stare up at her grin, and didn’t notice the cubs with her until they were surrounded.

As the adults waited for the hatch to fully open, they watched as Blossom and Sprinter were ‘attacked’ by the smaller, but greater in number cubs from the Folly. The entire pile of cubs then moved as one mass, deeper into the ship.

"They make friends fast," commented a male skunk as they approached the Rakshani.

"After what most of them have been through, I would consider that to be a good thing," she replied. "I am Zhanch ap Nashene na Foster, and the only skunk Tess warned me to expect was named Phillip."

Phillip nodded, then raised an eyebrow and asked, "na Foster?"

"When a group of mates, companions, and children reach a certain size, they can petition to create their own House. Since Neal is the mate we all have in common, we became the House of Foster."

"How many favors did he have to call in to push that through?" a sandy colored chakat demanded, sounding annoyed.

The glare from Zhanch's eyes suggested the only thing keeping the chakat from a Rakshani backhand was the fact that shi was also one of Neal’s adopted daughters. Letting her lips pull back from her teeth a little further, she quietly snarled, "For your information, the petition was placed by his Rakshani mates and companions. Neal knew nothing about it until it was presented to him, already approved and written into the List of Houses."

Stepping up to them, another chakat said, "Please forgive Desertwind. Shi’s been at odds with Neal for quite a while now."

"Since a particular cubnapping attempt?" Zhanch asked the chakat, whose stripes actually crisscrossed each other.

"That was a big piece of it," shi agreed, more than a little surprised that Zhanch had heard about it.

Turning back to a still fuming Desertwind, Zhanch said, "Well, your father’s been up to his old tricks again. You may want to review Tess’s records before saying hello to him. Tess, direct hir to one of the smaller holosuites, and have the New Kiev mess ready for hir. If shi still wants more, you can show hir my first hours onboard the Folly."

Still sneering up at her, Desertwind asked, "Just what are you trying to show me?"

"Just what an idiot that adopted father of yours can be," Zhanch replied with a matching sneer.

As Desertwind stormed down the corridor, the other chakat smiled at Zhanch. "I am called Dreamweaver. I’m sorry the introductions started out so poorly."

"Not your fault Captain," Zhanch said, giving hir a warm smile. She turned back and made sure Desertwind was gone before the smile turned into an evil grin. "Tess, I want you to position hir right behind where Quickdash will be for that first shot!"

"Now you’re just being mean," Tess scolded. "I take it you want hir to take it personally?"

"Shi’s already taken what Neal has done as personal. I just want to give hir a different point of view."

Dreamy smiled as shi said, "I can’t really object as I don’t know what you’re up to, but what are you about to do to my sister?"

Zhanch frowned slightly as she said, "The New Kiev mess started for us with a beam weapon just missing one of our younger chakats. Let’s just say it went downhill from there."

"And what were you having Tess do?" Dreamweaver repeated.

"Placing your sister where shi gets to watch that first beam come right at hir," Zhanch confessed.

"A little shock therapy?"

"I’ve found Neal sometimes has a problem dishing out ‘tough love’. I, on the other paw, have no trouble at all," she said with only a slightly evil grin.

"Then I wish you luck. That grudge has been there almost sixty years," shi warned her.

"I am cheating just a little," Zhanch admitted as she waved for them to follow her. "There is life as well as death on the New Kiev recording. If what shi sees doesn’t rattle hir feelings for him, nothing will."

"And your first hours?" Dreamweaver inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Neal got up close and personal to convince us that he wasn’t a slaver after pulling us off a pirate ship." She chuckled as she added, "Though I can see where your sister might think Neal has pulled strings for some things; a lot of people seem to owe him something."

"And what do you owe him?" Dreamweaver softly asked with a grin.

Zhanch grinned back as she said, "In order? My freedom, my life, my sister, my health, a mate, my family," she gave her still flat belly a rub as she ended with, "and a cub on the way."

"I take it he had some help with that last part," Dreamy said, hir grin getting wider. "Or are you telling us he’s fertile with Rakshani?"

"My sister had a friend with her the second time the Folly brought us together. She recommended him highly," she said with a chuckle.

They entered the dining area, a few more tables, chairs, and taur pads had been added to handle the extra guests. One of the trailing chakats paused to let the rest of the group go ahead, waiting just outside the door.

Neal was waiting for them just inside the door. He gave each of them a hug as they came in. He looked a little crestfallen when he got to the end. "Shi won’t even say hello?" he wondered out loud.

"Your mate sidetracked hir. For good or ill remains to be seen," Dreamy said with a smile.

The straggler then pushed through the door, a very surprised Neal happily giving hir a hug, but he looked more than a little confused. Still holding hir by the shoulders, he stepped back so he could see hir face. "I’m always happy to see you Farsight, but aren’t you supposed to be keeping Fangs out of trouble?"

Smiling up at him, shi said, "And I you, and I am." At Neal’s raised eyebrow, shi grinned. "He can’t get in trouble if he isn’t here when you find out what we’ve decided to do!"

"Are you telling me that oversized pup is hiding behind his little kitten again?" Neal asked with a grin.

"You tell me," shi said as shi dropped a memory chit into a wall mounted reader.

Tess read the chip, and started relaying the information to Neal’s glasses. He viewed it in silence, only snorting softly a couple of times as new data spooled by.

After seeing the data, Neal let out a sigh. Looking at Farsight, he commented, "I take it you won’t be wanting a pickup next year."

"No," shi agreed, "But I did bring a list of things we would like you to drop off if you will."

"What about Triform’s people? I thought they were about to have enough people to swing their vote."

Farsight grinned. "Their spies couldn’t help but see what we were building, so when the word got out about why we were building it, they panicked. I heard their last supply ship was overrun by colonists trying to get off planet."

Phillip chuckled at the last part. "Shi forgot to mention that they might have been fleeing for other reasons. A rather large storm had just passed over the Triform complexes when we got there, and our sensors showed that three of their buildings had collapsed. A few of the still standing ones had also been breached by the storm." The skunk shook his head. "And the storms are expected to only get worse as the sun’s activity increases. I can’t see them wanting to stay, no matter how much Triform promises to pay them."

"While my fool of a son and friends want to stay," Neal commented with a frown.

"Not so much a fool, but as someone who has learned to love the planet, no matter how harsh it may seem," Farsight quietly corrected him.

"This isn’t one of your jokes, is it?" Neal asked hir. One of the things that Farsight was well known for was hir pranks – both practical and impractical. So much so that hir longstanding nickname was Loopy.

Dreamweaver smiled as shi said, "I confirmed the data with Fangs. While a few do wish to move to the other colonies to be with their loved ones, most have decided to stay on Catch-a-Lot."

"Despite the sun’s cycle, the planet has much to offer. We are staying," Farsight stated, giving Neal a hard look for thinking shi would play games on something this important.

Neal looked back with a half grin. Farsight was one of those five thousand that Neal had ‘processed’, hir true age was now well over a hundred and sixty, though shi often acted like a preteen when it came time to have fun. Shi had met Fangs while he and Neal were planning the colony on Catch-a-Lot. Shi had taken the large and much too serious wolftaur and knocked him down a peg every time he tried to get lost in his work. Neal hadn’t been too surprised when they announced they were mates a mere year later. That was a couple cubs ago. While Fangs remained the leader of the colony, Farsight gave him a trusted counterpoint opinion on many matters, as well as being his field agent for things off world.


After lunch, Phillip joined Longreach and Neal on the Good Deal. He looked over the upgrades as the ship was fueled.

Once the Good Deal was a safe distance from the Folly, they started bring the new warp cores up one at a time. Then power and fuel flows were tested, venting most of the energy created into space. With the base tests done, it was time to get the warp engines in the loop. With only a little tweaking, Neal declared the engines ready for their first test.

Phillip was tweaking the sensor board when he noticed some extra noise in one direction. "We may have a ‘ghost’," he quietly said.

Neal just snorted. "Three of them followed you in; Tess spotted them as you came out of warp earlier. There might be another one or possibly two hiding behind the three we can see."

"So the ghost ships are real?" Longreach asked.

"Yes and no," Neal told him. "Unlike the Folly’s sneaky methods of hiding, they sometimes broadcast a ‘coded pulse’ to help hide their presence. Unfortunately for them, it only works on software that they’ve had a hand in developing. Since the Folly has several sets of sensors, each set running on different programs, they can’t ‘blind’ all her sensors at once." Looking over at Longreach, Neal added, "None of your systems will be running programs that they can affect."

With a frown, the Caitian asked, "So why do you run systems that they can affect?"

Neal chuckled as he said, "Because their ‘pulse’ broadcast is usually the first sign they’re in the neighborhood. If they’re foolish enough to flash their lights and shout ‘Hey! I’m over here!’ who am I to ignore them? And your systems will detect the pulses to let you know when they’re in the neighborhood as well."

"I thought I heard someone once say they were broadcasting some type of ‘virus’ that caused the sensors to fail to see them," Longreach said, looking confused.

Neal barked out a laugh. "Whoever told you that wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box! Let’s see, for a virus to affect your sensors, you need to receive it, then load it into your sensor’s computer and then run it. Now, while I’ve heard of ships transmitting and receiving messages through their sensor arrays, I’ve yet to hear of someone having their systems set up so you could reprogram their computers from an incoming signal. So, no virus is going to get in that way, not without a lot of help. Now, setting up a backdoor to respond to a coded pulse, that’s a bit more doable if you’ve had a hand in making the software."

Phillip snorted as he worked to finish the calibrations on the passive sensors. "That, and some of the ‘ghosts’ have been adding a coating to their hulls that adsorbs most scans. We saw them a few days ago and Dreamy told them to beat it. Seems they were staying just out of our sensor range." With one final adjustment, the three ships seemed to jump into view. There was one small fuzzy spot behind them, suggesting a fourth vessel. Giving Neal an evil grin, Phillip asked, "Have the active sensor arrays been tested yet?"

Neal shook his head as he grinned in return. "Just static checks, but they should be ready to use."

Phillip nodded and looked over at Longreach. "With your permission, Captain?"

Longreach grinned as he nodded. "It will be interesting to see just what Neal and the twins have done to our poor ship."

Phillip grinned as he focused the active scanner arrays on a small area of space.

Like being in a room where the brightest light is coming from a few lightning bugs, the active array’s emitters lit up that area of space like a pre-space flash bulb, blinding the forward sensors of the ships caught directly in its beam. Reflections from two of the first three helped illuminate a fourth, but that ship’s sensors were not totally blinded. The active pulse also highlighted several much smaller ships well beyond them. Before Phillip could start trying to identify them, the Good Deal’s computers identified them as baby Zulus, and showed that they were currently assigned to the Folly.

"And stay gone!" Phillip muttered as the ships each sped off in a different direction.

"You think they’ll return?" Longreach asked, concern evident in his voice.

"They can be rather hardheaded," Neal admitted. "If they do come back, I’ll let the kids ‘tag’ them."

Phillip chuckled in memory of being able to tag Star Fleet ‘spy’ ships when he was young. "You still have those baby Zulus set up for firing paintballs?" he asked with a grin, remembering hearing about a shamefaced captain that hadn’t taken Neal’s suggestion that he and his friends go bother someone else. His ship had returned to its starbase painted in a mad kaleidoscope of colors, a gift from the cubs of a ship he’d thought he could annoy.

Neal nodded as he moved Good Deal further away from the Folly, and started charging the engines for the creation of the warp bubble that would soon encompass the ship. "With some of the newer paints, it’s the easiest way to paint the Folly and the pods. Plus they come in handy to mark things I may want to find again."

Phillip grinned again. "I take it the paint is very reflective to sensors?"

"You could say that," Neal agreed. "And, if some of it just ‘happens’ to get on their sensor arrays.…"

Longreach just shook his head, and then he grinned as he asked, "Will we be getting any of these ship painters?"

Neal nodded, "One of your babies is set up for it. I’ll include standard ship paints as well as the highly reflective stuff for marking things of interest."

With the engines now sufficiently charged, Neal brought up the warp bubble and started checking the readings. Pleased with what he found, he turned to Longreach. "Ready to take her for a spin?" he asked with a grin. Moments later the Good Deal vanished from real space, three of Neal’s full sized Zulus in hot pursuit.


As the Good Deal was prepared for flight, Star-rider and Sunset led Sprinter and Blossom onto the bridge, followed by Scarlet and Fred. Switching two of the bridge stations to taur use, they then raised the couches to let their cubs see the displays and controls. Blossom reached for the controls, only to have an angry sounding buzzer go off.

The adults chuckled at the indignant look on the cub’s face at having been scolded before shi could even touch the forbidden controls. Shi looked up at hir sire’s grin as Sunset said, "You know you’re not allowed to touch without permission, Blossom." Sunset then reach out to toggle a switch – only to get buzzed as well!

Scarlet and Star-rider laughed at the hurt expression on Sunset’s muzzle. Star-rider finally choking out, "Who needs to remember to ask permission?"

Turning to the two teens on watch, Sunset said, "I apologize for that. I guess I’m just used to having full access to Neal’s toys."

"That’s okay," Brighteyes told hir. "We’re still getting used to the number of older siblings we seem to have gained."

"Chase did warn us that there was a new crew to contend with," Scarlet said as she looked over but didn’t touch the panel she was seated at.

Looking over her shoulder, Fred shook his head. "And you’re still going to claim that you were flying these controls at ten?"

"Of course not," Scarlet said with mock scorn. "These controls weren’t here when I was ten. The spheres weren’t here either for that matter," she added, giving him a grin.

"I’m referring more to the piloting a starship at the age of ten," Fred countered.

"Why? Is ten too young?" Redtail asked, feigning concern. Turning to Brighteyes, the foxtaur vixen commented, "I guess we shouldn’t tell them about the eight year olds playing in the antimatter mixes."

"Na. If you really want to scare him, we can ask them to shuttle the pods over to Father’s Love. As this isn’t controlled space, no rules that Neal doesn’t impose and a complete lack of supervision," Brighteyes replied, watching Fred glance between them, trying to figure out if they were pulling his leg.

Thinking she would call their bluff, Scarlet asked, "Tess, are they kidding?"

More than one set of ears folded back in surprise at Tess’s ‘No.’

"Terror twins to the bridge!" Redtail called into her comm.

"We’re busy!" was Quickdash’s reply. "Is it important?"

"Plenty of time," Redtail assured them. "What are you ‘busy’ on?"

"Neal has us going over Father’s Love’s Zulus. Two of them can be upgraded, but the others will need to be replaced," Holly said. "What other chores did you have for us?"

"Swapping pods around. Though some adults think eight years old is too young…" Brighteyes said with a chuckle.

"But they don’t mind us playing with the warp cores of their Zulus?" Quickdash asked in mock shock.

"I think that was more ‘ignorance is bliss’ than them not minding," Redtail chuckled as she watched their ‘guests’ expressions.

"How did you get a hold of our Zulus?" Fred demanded. He was sure he had properly secured them before Father’s Love had docked with the Folly.

"I heard Neal tell Dreamweaver that he wanted to look them over. He then told us to update or replace as needed," Holly said.

"You have time," Redtail told them. "Dreamweaver was last seen looking over Neal’s trades, and Neal’s just left on Good Deal’s warp trials."

"Probably tomorrow if not later," Scarlet assured them. "While Dreamy is the captain, shi’ll still go over what shi’s thinking of with the rest of us for our comments and suggestions."

"Sounds like a well run ship," Brighteyes commented. "Not that I’ve seen enough ships and their crews to be an expert or anything."

"We’ve had the same teacher," Sunset pointed out with a grin. "A well informed crew knows not only what the captain has in mind but why. Neal liked to rotate our responsibilities so we’d have a better understanding of why you might need to know more then just the job you were doing." Shi gave them a sheepish grin and added, "So… request permission to play with the controls? I only intend to use them to show Sprinter a bit of the Folly, maybe see what all dad has to trade."

"Permission granted," Redtail said with a laugh. "We’ll trust Tess to keep you out of trouble."

"Some things never change," Star-rider chuckled. "Tess, how much trouble have you needed to keep this set of Neal’s brats out of?"

"Not as much as your group," Tess stated. "Though they haven’t been here all that long, I’m estimating they’re on par with your group at the same ages."

"Come on now Tess, we have to have caused more trouble!" Brighteyes said with a laugh. "Did they bring home stray cooks, or adopt cubs of their own?"

"No…" Tess admitted, "but there was the one time they…"

"Tess! No! You promised you’d never mention that!" Scarlet exclaimed.

"Oh, so you’ve been naughty too!" Redtail hooted. "Tess, don’t tell them our secrets if they won’t share theirs!"

"We weren’t really being bad, we just didn’t think things through," Scarlet quietly said.

"We had brought home something we should have left where they were," Sunset admitted.

"They?" Brighteyes asked, no longer smiling at the emotions shi was feeling from the older chakats.

"We were about your age," Scarlet admitted, staring at the panel in front of her to not meet the teens’ eyes. "There had been some type of outbreak on a Non-Aligned World and the Pogo Stick was delivering a cure that had been developed by the Federation. Back then Neal took what a lot of people called ‘unacceptable risks’. We were guarding the shuttle, Fangs had already given a couple slave traders warning shots when they tried to ‘inspect’ Neal’s ‘slaves’ when we saw a young collie slave being abused."

Scarlet stopped and shivered, Sunset took up the tale. "We would have been breaking Neal’s rules to leave the shuttle, so we yelled at the slave’s abuser. Seems she wasn’t meeting up to his expectations. After trading a few threats and insults back and forth, we purchased the collie from him. We had thought we could get her off planet and set her free, but it wasn’t that simple." Sunset looked to Brighteyes and then Redtail before adding, "They had done something to her mind. With a lot of work we taught her to keep herself clean and do a few simple tasks, but other than that she only wanted to eat, sleep and have sex."

Fred had wrapped his arms around Scarlet, he now murmured, "That’s why all you guys have such an issue with slavers, you’ve seen their dirty work firsthand."

"I’d warned you that Neal wasn’t our only source of craziness, some of it we brought on ourselves," Scarlet reminded him as she leaned into his support.

"What did Neal do?" Brighteyes asked them.

Star-rider was holding Sprinter as Sunset held Blossom. The cubs knew something was upsetting their parents, and it was upsetting them as well. Star-rider gently stroked Sprinter as shi said, "He did what all good parents do when the cubs bring home a pet, he made us take care of her. It took us months to realize that he wasn’t being mean when he said she couldn’t be trained to do any but the simplest of tasks, and that she was only good for warming a bed. He even had to point out that we were being mean by denying her what she wanted and needed to be happy."

"Sex," Redtail said watching the older chakat.

"Sex," Star-rider agreed. "And the constant reassurance that she was a ‘good girl’ and that we were pleased with her performance."

"Did Neal ever take her to bed?" Brighteyes wondered, not knowing how many of Neal’s methods of dealing with them had come from how he’d dealt with the first group.

"Not per se," Star-rider said, "but she snuck into his bed a few times. As far as we could tell, he would just cuddle her unless she was in need. Then he would help her, much as he would any of us."

"What ever happened to her?" Fred asked, wondering what other secrets his mate and shipmates had been hiding from him all these years.

"There’s this brothel on Chakona, it seems Neal knew some of the operators quite well. They have a wing that’s devoted to those with ‘special’ needs." Star-rider looked to the two youngsters and then over at Fred to see how each was taking it. "It’s run by chakats and they’re very careful in matching their client’s needs to their charges."

"Do you ever check up on her?" Fred asked.

"We each try to see her every time we hit Chakona," Scarlet assured him. "I’ll take you with me next time we’re there," she promised.

"Be warned that she has a very special way of greeting new friends," Sunset advised him.


The Good Deal returned from its trials three hours later, and the way her captain was acting caused his firstwife to wonder if he hadn’t overdosed on a controlled substance. When she had asked how the tests had gone, he had picked her up and swung her about the corridor with glee. Neal received a dirty look from his firstwife when he pointed out that some of Folly’s halls were indeed wide enough to swing a Cait.

Dreamweaver stepped over to Phillip as they watched Longreach’s antics. "I take it the tests went well," shi commented.

"You could say that," Phillip agreed. "They had a good base upgrade planned, but a little luck gave them far more than they had anticipated."

"That tone in your voice suggests you want to upgrade Father’s Love again," shi said with a chuckle.

"I know we won’t have time for what would be needed, but dad has already made us a ‘do it yourself kit’ for when we have the down time."

"More toys," Dreamweaver groaned.

"Wait till you see what these toys can do," Phillip warned hir.

"I think we have enough, don’t you?"

"Those ghost ships followed us in. Can I at least take the sensor upgrade?"

"Is that why you went active?" shi asked, frowning a little.

"Good Deal can now pick them out in passive mode half again as far out as we can."

Dreamweaver nodded. "Okay, you can have your toys. Please make the sensor upgrades your first priority."

Phillip grinned as he said, "Yes boss." He then dodged the tail that tried to swat him.


Desertwind joined the rest of the group at dinner. Shi carefully avoided Neal’s questioning gazes as shi tried to put what Tess had shown hir into a framework shi could comprehend.

Hir long-held nightmares of how vicious Neal could be were from a cub’s view. Today’s new shocks had been watched through adult eyes, eyes that in the past had watched hir own medical training prove that there were some injuries that even shi couldn’t repair. Eyes that had felt a sense of déjà vu, while this copy of Neal had told those with him to ‘stay’, the flashback in hir mind was that of Neal telling hir and the others to get back to the shuttle. Their big brother had disobeyed that order, and the rest of them had followed. While the one long ago had seemed to stretch forever as Neal fought a running battle with those that had taken Tailspin, this one had been a stand and deliver as Neal bet ‘Betsy’ and Tess’s remote force fields against a larger and better armed group. Still standing where the first shot had ‘hit’ hir, shi had watched as a member of a group of elderly looking Rakshani peered around the corner, then she and the others came forward and hid behind a low wall. Once positioned, they started popping up to take group phaser shots, then ducking back under cover as the other group tried to return fire. After the first few shots, Desertwind thought shi understood why the return fire was not hitting the Rakshani. Tess was dropping a section of her force field only when they fired, reducing the time the enemy had a clear shot at them. Then a very small blur of fur had run out into the open. Desertwind had tried to run towards the tiny foxtaur, but the holosuite kept hir in place. Instead, shi watched one of the Rakshani leave the protection of the wall. She got the kit to safety, only to take a phaser hit herself. For Desertwind, the rest of the fight dulled into a blur of shots before something in the enemy camp exploded.

In a deafening silence that followed, shi watched Neal scan the area, looking for still another target. He finally seemed to sag a little as he lowered ‘Betsy’ to the ground; the barrel hissing as it touched something wet. Neal had then staggered over to a badly injured fur. After rendering what aid he could, Neal moved on, passing another body before stopping at the remains of a pair or taurs. Desertwind almost gagged when he started cutting into one of them. Movement to the side helped pull hir eyes from the ghastly scene, to where a foxtaur guard was being restrained by a large equitaur. The guard turning back to stare at Neal turned hir eyes as well. Shi watched Neal gently remove the tiny cub and start CPR on hir. After Neal handed the newborn to a chakat youth, Desertwind watched him stagger down a hallway, followed at a distance by hir sister Shadowchaser and one of the chakats that had been with Neal when the scene had started.

Tess had changed the scene to where the two chakats were leading Neal back to the rest of the group. Desertwind then heard Tess’s comm call to Neal, telling him that someone named Shadowcrest needed help.

Desertwind didn’t need hir empathic abilities to know why the chakats were reacting the way they were. Shi still vividly remembered the few times something had gotten Neal past the point of being angry about something. Moments later, shi watched him being transported out just as hir own view changed.

Shi was now in the middle of a hospital corridor, the newborn, hir bearer, and a few more of the youths from Neal’s group were explaining why they needed a chakat wet nurse. One came forward and quickly separated the infant and the one carrying hir from the rest of the group. Unlike the chakat youth, Desertwind didn’t miss the nurse’s signal to a pair of guards to follow them as they entered one of the examination rooms.

The nurse had been more than a little displeased when the cub refused to nurse from hir. Shi was even more annoyed when the youth tried to get the cub back. Shi had the guards restrain the youth as shi headed for the door, only to stop and stare as Neal was beamed into the room. Knowing the bottled rage that he had left the other group with, Desertwind wasn’t surprised to see the nurse panic and try to escape out the door, only to find it wouldn’t open for hir. Shi watched Neal scan the room; he had left his weapon behind, but shi knew he was far from unarmed. After insuring that nothing needed his immediate attention, Neal had relaxed a little before reminding the youth that shi was far from helpless hirself.

After watching Neal’s collapse and the youth placed in charge, Tess ran Desertwind through the rescue of the Rakshani from the pirate ship. Knowing how Neal normally dealt with pirates, Desertwind asked Tess, "Did he really let them live?"

Tess replied, "He seemed to be especially displeased with that bunch. So yes, he let them live."

"Did he have you turn their position in to Star Fleet?"

"Not yet."

Desertwind nodded. Displeased indeed, if he had chosen to not give them a clean death.


Shi now watched the noisy cubs as they were fed so the others could eat with a little more peace if not quiet. Shi found shi couldn’t stop staring at the cub with the fiery orange leopard pattern, the cub matched the newborn shi had seen on the holosuite. Something else that didn’t feel right to hir was the extremely large chakat that was helping a rabbit doe and a coppery chakat bring out the meal. Shi looked like the chakat that Neal had given the newborn cub to – but that had been a preteen at best, while this was a very large adult.

"Is something wrong?" Bonita asked hir, having been warned about hir attitude by Zhanch.

"That chakat looks like the one I saw in the New Kiev attack, but shi’s much too large."

"Some edited footage of New Kiev made Neal look the part of a fur murderer. A couple of furs on Earth decided to tip his carrier stacks in retaliation. Shady was injured badly enough to require processing, so shi went from preteen to adult in one leap." A little quieter, Bonita murmured, "I suggest you step softly around hir. Among other things, shi seems to have gained more than a little of his outlook on life, making hir almost as dangerous as he is."

"What do you know of how dangerous he is?" Desertwind hissed at the taller Rakshani.

Bonita’s grin matched the one Zhanch had given the chakat earlier as she stared hir down. "I know that he will protect those he loves with everything he’s got. And if that means others need die, die they will," she growled.

Desertwind was the first to break eye contact. Shi shuddered slightly as shi wondered why none of them could see him as shi did – a danger to himself and those around him. Shi spent the rest of the meal staring at the food shi didn’t want.


"You’re hurting him," Shadowcrest told Desertwind when shi’d finally gotten hir alone for a moment shortly after dinner.

"What would you know of hurt?" Desertwind demanded.

"I know this!" Shadowcrest exclaimed as shi reached for the older chakat.

Desertwind shuddered as raw emotions washed over hir, the larger chakat projecting what shi had felt from Neal when Desertwind had rejected him yet again. "You don’t know what he’s like," Desertwind insisted as shi tried to recover from the mental overload.

"Oh, but I do," Shadowcrest countered. This time shi projected hir own past emotions that involved Neal. New Kiev was a mixed bag of fear and terror during the fight, to be changed to wonder at the delivery of Firestorm, while the hospital had shown hir that even Neal had limits.

Then there was the fear and wonder as shi kept Windsong from doing Neal any additional damage while he comforted and calmed Windsong after hir nightmare. There was just one more thing Shadowcrest wanted Desertwind to experience, hir first day on the Folly and hir adoption – but before shi could they were forced apart.

"You know better!" Windsong hissed as shi broke Shady’s physical and mental links with Desertwind. Lighttouch was there moments later to help the shocked chakat.

"I’m sorry! I was just trying to make hir see how much shi’s hurting Neal," Shadowcrest cried.

"We will discuss this after I have checked Desertwind," Lighttouch sternly informed hir as hy led the still dazed Desertwind away.


Weaver found Neal in his office later, frowning at nothing. "I heard you and Lighttouch have settled on a punishment for Shadowcrest."

Neal nodded, looking unhappy. "Two weeks of wearing a black wired headband." At her look of curiosity, he added, "No mental contact with others – even with physical contact."

"I thought they knew how to get around the headbands."

"They do, but shi and everyone else knows shi’s being punished. So they won’t try to sense hir and they will try not to send to hir either."

"So it will be like wearing that belt again, except this time it will be hir own powers keeping hir alone."

"Something like that," Neal grumbled.

"I don’t like it," she quietly stated.

"Neither do I," Neal admitted. "But we can’t have hir using hir talents to try to force hir beliefs or feelings on others…. I should’ve seen it coming and tried to stop hir…."

Weaver gave him a sad smile. "Despite your belief that you can do anything, you couldn’t have known shi would have tried that."

"Truth and falsehood in one statement, you’ve been hanging around me too long," Neal said with a dry chuckle. At Weaver’s frown he said, "I knew Desertwind’s attitude about me, and I knew it would probably rub some of you the wrong way. I also knew that Shadowcrest can and will try to do more than shi should on occasion, but that was a good thing when shi helped bring Suzan and Moonglow into our family. Knowing all that, I just sat back and let matter and anti-matter collide. Should I have warned you all about Desertwind? I couldn’t without turning you against hir before you even met hir. Could I have stopped Shadowcrest? Not without making it seem I didn’t trust hir…."

"What are you going to do?"

"Pray that the next two weeks goes by quickly."


"How’s Windy?" Phillip asked Dreamy when he stopped by hir quarters that evening.

"Shi seems to be alright after hir little encounter with Shadowcrest. From what I’ve felt from hir and Lighttouch proves that doctors make the worst patients," Dreamweaver told him. "I thought hy was going to have to strap hir down to get hir to let hym look hir over."

"That’s our Windy, stubborn as hell."

"Hereditary," Dreamweaver agreed. "Shi gets it from Neal you know."

"Yes, but you can sometimes reason with him."

"Sometimes…. Did you hear about the punishment?"

"Yeah, I saw hir and Windsong at dinner. I think the punishment’s going to hurt the entire crew as much as it does Shadowcrest. Even the Rakshani are acting moody, and I heard one of them say they thought the punishment was just. Did you talk to Windy?" Phillip asked hopefully.

Dreamweaver slowly shook hir head. "No, shi’s not in any mood to listen… even if I did have anything useful to say."

"It’s going to be a long night," Phillip remarked as he left. Dreamweaver only nodded as shi went back to deciding which of Neal’s offerings Father’s Love would be interested in.


It was early morning hours ship time, and Desertwind was storming down the corridors. Shi hadn’t been able to sleep with the depression that could be felt about the Folly. No one had blamed hir for the attack, and shi’d had no say in the punishment, but shi was sure everyone thought it was all hir fault. With a growl of frustration, Desertwind stepped over to one of the computer terminals mounted in the walls every so often. Not trusting hir voice, shi keyed in a question, which Tess dutifully answered. The room shi then headed for hadn’t been computer locked and opened at hir touch. The two occupants were still awake and turned to the opening door. They both tried to apologize, but shi would have none of it. Claws fully extended, shi lashed out once before turning and heading back the way shi’d come.

 


Chapter 10  

 

Lighttouch was sleeping fitfully with Moonglow. They were in the captain’s bed, sans said captain, who had last been seen hiding in engineering. Starblazer and Firestorm had also disappeared in that direction, presumably to help keep him company. Hys uneasy slumber was broken by a mental call.

"Lighttouch! Shi took it!" Shadowcrest's voice was loud in hys mind.

"Who took what?" Lighttouch asked, not yet awake enough to remember that shi was being punished. Hy had barely released the thought when it was answered by the door sliding open. Something was tossed in, only to flutter to the ground in pieces as the door closed.

Shadowcrest’s reply helped explain the shredded mess on the floor. "Desertwind! Song thought shi was going to claw me, but shi just tore the headband off my head."

"So I see," Lighttouch said as hy identified the remains of the headband before hym. "Shi seems to have returned it in no condition to be worn." Feeling how upset shi was through the link, hy added, "You and Song try to get some rest. We will talk about this in the morning."

Desertwind was halfway to hir room when shi felt Shadowcrest's strong mental presence again disappear. Shi turned back with a growl, only to be stopped by Tess’s voice. "This time the block is voluntary," she told the still upset chakat.

"No one deliberately blocks themselves like that!" Desertwind stated.

"They do when they know that their lovemaking is going to require clean linen on every bed on the ship. Or don’t you remember your first rut with Star-rider and Sunset going at it in the next room?"

Desertwind frowned at the very old memory; shi had just come into rut and was asleep when the other two had decided to unwind after their watch. Desertwind had awakened to a dual orgasm – part dream, part the bleed-over of hir sisters’ pleasure. "Surely a set of screens would blunt their output."

"Five sets of standard screens were needed to ‘blunt’ their output, but even that didn’t prevent those sensitive enough from still ‘hearing’ them," Tess informed hir. "Neal came up with the idea of skunktaur headbands that block their mental broadcasts, but allows them to still mentally and emotionally sense those in contact with them."

"The headbands don’t work that way."

"It seems they do for those who believe they can."

Desertwind remained silent. Shi could just sense the two shi’d left in the room, and they did seem to be happy enough. The depression that had lifted shortly after shi had shredded Shadowcrest's headband had not returned, so their current self-suppression didn’t seem to be bothering anyone else.

In hir room, Dreamweaver looked up from the inventory lists shi had been going over. Shi had felt hir sister’s fuming build to the point shi had done something about it. There was still an anger and frustration there, one that Desertwind would aim at Neal as shi always did when shi could find no other target. But shi sensed that the anger wasn’t the same as it normally was, almost as if it had been at least partially deflected. Going back to hir lists, Dreamy wondered what those changes might mean for them in the future.


After hir little chat with Lighttouch the next morning, Shadowcrest again approached Desertwind. Giving the older chakat plenty of space, shi bowed hir head slightly as shi said, "I’m sorry for what I did to you yesterday. I’ve been brought up better than that, but I let my feelings cloud my judgment. I’m not going to ask for your forgiveness because I know what I did was wrong. What I would ask of you is help in understanding your disdain for our adopted father."

Desertwind eyed hir motionlessly for a minute before shaking hir head. "No," shi softly replied. "No mere words will be able to explain to you why I feel the way I do about him, and I don’t want to try to share those feelings with you or anyone else." Shi then turned and left without waiting for Shadowcrest to reply.

Windsong had been waiting nearby. When Desertwind left shi moved in to console the younger chakat. "You tried," shi said while giving Shadowcrest a hug. To help take their minds off things they couldn’t change, they joined some of the teens in one of the holosuites where the Rakshani were showing them various throws, blocks and strikes, each designed for a different types and sizes of opponents.


While most of the others knew better than to try to change Desertwind’s mind, there was to be one more attempt made. Desertwind had been in the main lounge reading when shi felt eyes on hir. Turning, shi found the fiery spotted cub watching hir. Shi frowned as shi said; "I've heard you like doing ‘milk checks’. Is that what you're after, or something else?"

Stormy walked up to hir and carefully undid hir top, watching Desertwind to see if shi disapproved. Not being stopped, shi then proceeded to give Desertwind hir milk check.

Along with the pleasure of the cub feeding at hir breast, Desertwind also felt a gentle mental push from the cub, a push of love, and behind that a nudge trying to get hir to accept Neal as well. "Sorry little one," shi softly said, "but I can’t love him the way you do."

Stormy gave hir an almost mournful look before giving Desertwind a hug. As the little chakat made hir way to leave the lounge, shi was attacked. "Got ya!" Phillip exclaimed as he snagged hir tail and smoothly pulled hir up and over to plop bellies up in his lap. As he started to give the surprised kitten a good tickling, he said, "Can’t have you moping about, I’ve noticed our adopted father seems to reflect it, and we can’t have the captain in a poor mood."

Dreamweaver had been watching the action from one of the neighboring taur pads. "You’ve gotten better at hiding your intentions, you caught hir completely by surprise," shi told him with a chuckle.

"Sprinter and Blossom have given me plenty of practice, though I was starting to wonder if they weren’t faking their surprise so I’d drop my guard more often," he admitted as he continued to have his way with the now helplessly giggling kitten.

"Over-tickling may be as bad as hir moping," Dreamweaver warned Phillip as he continued to tease Stormy.

"Just winding hir up to the right level," Phillip insisted with a laugh. He then part tumbled-part set the cub back on the floor. "Go get daddy!" he told hir as shi found hir paws and scurried for the door.

Phillip had turned back towards Dreamweaver when the door started to open, so he didn’t see Stormy suddenly change directions and head for the back of the oversized recliner he was sitting in. An easy leap had hir on the top of the chair, from there shi dropped to the top of his head. Before Phillip knew what had hit him, Stormy had a good grip of his head with hir lower paws, bending down shi began to give his face and muzzle an inverted tongue bath.

"No! Stop! Off! Yuck!" Phillip groaned as he tried to get the overly energetic chakat out of his hair and off his head. By the time Stormy decided shi’d had hir revenge, even Desertwind was laughing with the others.

Sensing that Phillip was going from wanting hir off to preparing to resume tickling, Stormy quickly climbed back over the top of the recliner and back around to the door.

As the door slid closed behind hir, Dreamweaver laughed as shi reminded Phillip, "I warned you not to over-tickle hir!"

Trying to get his now damp face fur to lie down, Phillip chuckled as he replied, "Spunky little brat."

Going back to hir reading, Desertwind softly muttered, "Pot, meet kettle."


"… and along with Shanook and Huey, we can take those five Wayward ports off your hands," Dreamweaver suggested as shi and Neal went over the lists shi had worked out. "While they’re not directly in our current path, they’re not that far out of it."

"Then take that Fleet training base while you’re at it," Neal suggested, pointing out the details. "Dropping that set of stops will cut three weeks off Folly’s time to Chakona. Which a couple of my passengers won’t mind a bit."

"Which ‘couple’?" shi asked curiously.

"Tauna, who has a friend already heading to Chakona ahead of her. And Wenfrec, who is feeling a little like a fifth wheel because I already have plenty of Fleet type Rakshani trying to keep me out of trouble."

Dreamweaver leaned in a little closer as shi said, "I’ve been meaning to ask you, how are you doing with your new family?"

"How does it look like I’m doing?" Neal shot back with a grin.

"Like some of our good times, when everything seemed to be running well and we didn’t have any major conflicts going on," shi admitted.

"This group does have a few advantages over yours at this age," Neal pointed out. "They haven’t had the time your group did to learn all my tricks and grow tired of me. And it doesn’t hurt that they all have a home to go home to, unlike you and the others."

"Do you think we could have stayed together as a family unit?" Dreamweaver wondered, thinking of hir own cub-hood and early adulthood aboard the Pogo Stick.

"No," Neal said sadly. "All you guys knew was me and my ways. It took getting out in the ‘real world’ and learning that things were both better and worse before most of you could decide that maybe I wasn’t as crazy, or as stupid as some of you thought."

"I never thought you were stupid," shi said, sounding hurt.

"How many times did you go off in a huff when I didn’t agree with what you thought we should buy or sell?" Neal asked with a raised eyebrow and a grin to show he wasn’t really trying to restart an old fight.

Dreamweaver made a face at him that any five-year-old cub would have been proud of, before grinning hirself. "Alright, I’ll admit that I couldn’t see your rhyme or reasons for a lot of things before the rest of the universe rubbed my muzzle in it. But could we come back now?"

"Why?" Neal asked, "Are you tired of being the captain of your own ship?"

"No… no, not really, I was just wondering if we could ever come home," shi said, feeling a little foolish for feeling lonely all of a sudden.

"As I’ve told Tauna, home is where the heart is, and somehow I doubt you really want your old room back."

"No," shi softly said. Shi had gone into the old Pogo Stick section and to hir old room earlier, to just look around. Shi’d tried to remember how the room had once felt, but though the room hadn’t really changed, shi had. Dreamweaver looked at Neal again as if seeing him for the first time. They’d been talking earlier, not as father and daughter or teacher and student, but as equals. Two captains, discussing a beneficial trade agreement between their ships. "No," shi said again before giving him a smile, "but I would like a snuggle tonight. That is, if I won’t be depriving your mates or cubs of you."

"They won’t mind you stealing a snuggle, but they might want to join in," Neal half warned hir.

"That’s OK, I’m willing to ‘share’ you with them," shi said with a smile. Indicating their lists, shi added, "I think we’re done here."

Neal nodded as he downloaded the data to his desk. "I’ll have Tess start sorting the carriers and pod sets out for you. Anything else?"

"We’d heard Chase and Redfoot rebuilt the mess room. Any chance we could let Blossom and Sprinter play in it?" shi asked, sounding hopeful.

"And the rest of you?" Neal teased with a grin. "I don’t see why not. You and the Good Deal should both be loaded and ready to leave by tomorrow evening, how ‘bout we all have one more dinner and then make a little mess together?"

"Sounds like a plan. I’m thinking we save it and surprise the others tomorrow," Dreamweaver suggested as they got up to leave. Shi stopped Neal just before the door’s sensor would have opened it. With a worried look, shi added, "And I’m sorry about Windy. I’m not sure if shi’ll ever come around."

Neal pulled hir into a gentle hug as he said, "Don’t fret little one, something I once read said ‘if everyone likes you, you must be doing something wrong’."

"Still, I wish…" shi started, only to have Neal hush hir.

"Don’t ever wish that on anyone, much less your sister," he told hir. "The only way to learn it is by experience, and there’s only one way to do that…."

Dreamweaver shivered in his arms. For hir, the experience had been the pirate attack on hir ship, and almost losing three of hir siblings that had taught hir that shi too held a beast that could match Neal’s when it came to bloodthirstiness. A beast that could lash out at any threat, real or imagined. Desertwind had been in Star Fleet when the pirates had almost taken Father’s Love, then named Frequency Modulated. (‘Frequency Modulated’ being something Neal had said around the then younger cubs instead of saying some things were ‘f**king magic’, and they had used it for the implied joke.)

Neal continued to hold hir as he softly said, "All the reports I could get of hir tour with ’Fleet suggested that shi never saw anything combat-related first hand. So, compared to you or I, shi’s still an innocent." Pulling away so he could meet hir eyes, he added, "And I don’t think getting hir to like me is worth possibly breaking hir spirit that way."

Dreamweaver nodded before pulling Neal back into their hug. They broke up a few minutes later, each turning a different direction when they passed through the door, just two captains with ships, cargos, and crews to see to.


The next time Dreamweaver came across Neal, he was fully in his ‘chief engineer’ mode. He and Phillip were carrying on a lively but convoluted discussion, as carriers of equipment were transferred into Father’s Love’s internal storage. Shi left as their techno babble started going over hir head, figuring shi’d just have to sit on Phillip later and make him explain it in words shi could understand. Unfortunately for hir, shi had left just before ‘holosuites’ and ‘replicators’ were brought up.

When Tess told Neal that Dreamy was well out of hearing, he had grinned and asked her to send his engineers on over; he had a little project or two for them.


Dreamweaver got hir wish that night, sharing Neal with Blossom, Sprinter, Sunset, and Star-rider. Sometime in the early morning hours they were joined by Star and Stormy, who blended their way into the center of the pile without waking any of the others.

After working late on those ‘little projects’ with Neal’s newest crop of engineers, Phillip had also found himself sleeping with some of his younger siblings that night. Screamingwind had declared the others to be too tired to safely continue working, and had led them all to the twins’ room, the oversized bed being more than large enough for the four of them. Scarlet found him there the next morning….

"I knew you liked them young, but really brother…" she said with a chuckle, Phillip had awaked to find Holly in his arms, while Quickdash and Screamingwind were spooned up against their backs.

"We’re sorry," Holly told her. "We didn’t mean to aid in the delinquency of our big brother."

"Smart-alecky little upstarts," Scarlet laughed. "But Neal seems to be happy, so you guys must be the right type of silly."

"We try," Quickdash replied, "though we know to be serious when he’s teaching or letting us work on stuff."

Hands on her hips, Scarlet cocked an eyebrow at them before saying, "I heard one of the other kids saying something about you three doing some of the work on that ship Neal’s been puttering with for the last couple of years."

"Yes, but we’ve had lots of help with it," Holly admitted. "We even had half the engineers from the Pegasus helping for a few months."

"How’d you manage that?" Scarlet asked, sounding impressed in spite of herself.

"It was something new, and being done in ways they hadn’t considered. What more do you need to rope in curious engineering types?" Quickdash asked her with a grin.

"And just what were you guys doing so late into the night?" she queried, poking at her brother.

"A little gift Neal thought we’d like," Phillip told her with a grin. "The installation and calibration of said gift being much easier to do in pairs than alone, dear sister. If you would please, keep your muzzle shut, we want it to be a surprise."

"You’ll owe me," she agreed as she turned to leave, only to have a pillow to the back of her head help speed her out the door.


"What the hell’s up with the Rec room?" Fred asked Phillip later at breakfast. "I saw you and those kids going in and out of there yesterday, so I know you had something to do with it."

"I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about," Phillip replied innocently around a mouthful of food.

Scarlet watched with interest as she’d seen the ‘kids’ in question react to Fred’s accusation.

The recreation room in question was one of two very large rooms in Father’s Love that had been set aside for whatever the crew wanted to do in them. Most of the room was padded to be easy on the paw, with deeper padding where one might lay or be thrown in a bit of horseplay or training. With variable lighting controls and with a good sound and video system, it was where the crew could play and relax. Fred though had gone in for his regular morning workout. He had been halfway through his exercises when he’d realized some things weren’t as they had been.

Giving Phillip a dirty look, Fred said, "I was working the weights when I noticed the marks where they’d been dropped a few times were gone. And there’s the little fact that the section of padding Blossom shredded and we flipped over is whole again…. So tell me, what weren’t you four doing last night?"

Phillip grinned in defeat. "So much for surprises. It was just a little gift from Neal and his latest set of brats," he admitted with a wink it his three companions in trouble. Turning back to Fred, he added, "We’ll show you the new toys after we’re done eating."

After breakfast, almost everyone went to Father’s Love’s recreation room to see what the engineers had been up to. Dreamweaver was among them and shi now looked around, already feeling that something wasn’t quite right with the room. It took hir a minute to put hir claw on it. "It’s too neat and clean," shi told the others. "The pillows and cushions are never that neat. And I know the toy chest was all over the place the last time I looked."

"Yeah, it was kinda messy in here," Holly agreed. "So it took us longer to get everything set up."

"To get what set up?" Fred asked from where he had picked up a dumbbell and was showing Scarlet where the use marks weren’t.

"This," Phillip told him. "Computer, end program." Fred’s hand jerked upward as the weight in it disappeared, as did most of the other objects in the room, leaving just a pattern of holo-projectors offset from the walls.

Scarlet was the first to speak after the illusion faded. "Cute… but I hope you’ve taught it more than just mimicking the old room."

Phillip nodded. "As well as being able to make our own, I also made copies of some of the ones Tess has for theirs. Computer, Forest One, late spring." They now found themselves in a small clearing in what looked like a heavy forest; running water could be heard from one side.

"I know this spot!" Darkstreak proclaimed, just as Star and Stormy took off running down one of the paths.

As the others followed the path they heard giggling from the cubs. The path opened up as it went between two very large tree trunks, to which someone had tied a hammock. The cubs were in the hammock, being tickled by its other occupant.

"How’d you get here ahead of us?" Dreamy asked Neal. "I know you weren’t at breakfast, and you weren’t here when Phillip ended the last program…"

Neal raised an eyebrow at hir. "I was thinking I’d catch a quick nap. Tess was to alert me if the holosuite was invaded, so I wonder why didn’t she warn me?"

Quickdash and Holly were the first ones to realize what was going on and laughed. "She didn’t wake you because we’re not in your holosuite! She transposed you into ours," Holly told them. "Sort of like when we do repairs in bay eight, our holo-projected selves seem real in the other holodeck."

"So you guys are just figments of a holosuite trick?" Neal said with a laugh. "Then I know how to finish my nap. Tess, drop the link between the suites please."

Star and Stormy dropped into the now otherwise empty hammock as Neal disappeared. The two grinned at each other before jumping off the hammock and running towards where they knew the door should be.

"I think he’s done napping for now," Quickdash said as shi faintly heard the doors open and close on the new holosuite. "We’ll need to silence those doors, they ruin the mood of the forest."

Phillip nodded. "Just one more of those little things we didn’t get to last night." Turning to Dreamweaver, he added, "The other room is almost finished as well. We should be done with it in a few hours."

"Other room?" shi wondered.

"Neal gave us enough components for two rooms, so I thought our two ‘great’ rooms would be the perfect candidates," Phillip informed hir.

"How much of a strain will these place on our other systems?" Scarlet asked as she dragged a claw down a tree trunk, smelling the odor of the wood and sap.

"Just a little power," Phillip assured her. "Neal included an independent computer system to run the holosuites. While it’s not Tess, it does use the same subsystems she’s been using to manage the suites."

"Safety protocols?" Fred asked, as he eyed how high Blossom had already gotten into one of the nearby trees.

"Can be changed," Holly advised him. "But the defaults are set at high safety. You’ll have to work hard at trying to even bruise yourself, much less any serious injuries."

"So we won’t have to ‘spot’ for you when you’re working the weights," Scarlet told him with a grin.

"You know you like ‘spotting’ me," Fred replied with a leer, just as Blossom proceeded to climb beyond a branch’s theoretical ability to hold hir. There was a loud crack and a yowl of surprise and fear as shi plunged towards the ground. Star-rider leaped for hir cub; only to be surprised at how gently Blossom ‘fell’ into hir arms.

Grinning at all amazed looks around hir, Quickdash said, "If you’ll excuse us, we still need to finish up the other suite." Shi, Holly, Screamingwind and Phillip headed for the exit, leaving the rest of the crews to experiment in their new ‘playroom’.


That evening they all sat down for one last dinner together. Although Neal had promised Dreamy dessert in the mess room, he didn’t warn hir of the changes. Blossom was allowed to throw the first cub-sized pie, and it was a tossup of who was more surprised, hir or hir sire when the pie grew to full size before plastering Sunset in the muzzle. Sunset’s retaliation was thwarted by hir return fire shrinking down to cub-sized attacks. An ill-advised wisecrack by Fred turned the general medley into a pie fight between the first and second sets of Neal’s brats. The two groups seemed fairly well matched until all the cubs added their firepower.


After the cleanup, a few gifts were given between those parting. One of the gifts to Longreach and Sharptongue was a deep plate that Tauna had helped Honey make. Small figurines representing each member of their family had been carefully painted and attached to the borders of the plate. Suzan’s gift to those leaving was replicator recordings of all the meals she’d made and saved in the Folly’s replicators. Neal had also had Tess transfer some of the carriers of Boronike to each of the other ships, some as ‘gifts’, the rest to be given to other family members or sold on the open markets.


The little ones were allowed to say goodbye before being put to bed, then it was time for the older kids to give their own hugs, and more than a few tears in farewell. While promises to see each other again soon were exchanged, everyone knew that fate and luck would have more to do with ‘when’ than planning ever would.


Neal sat quietly at one of the bridge stations, idly checking readouts before his eyes went back to the main view screen, which was showing a long-range tactical display of the other two ships heading their separate ways. He didn’t turn when he heard a sound behind him.

"You’re missing them already," Shadowcrest said as shi gave him a hug from behind.

"One of the curses of this type of work, you’re always saying ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ to family and friends," he admitted as he leaned back into hir hug.

"Well, come to bed. Tess can keep the watch tonight," shi suggested.

"Maybe in a little while," Neal replied, "in my current mood I’d just end up keeping the others awake too. Speaking of still being up, why aren’t you cuddled up with Song?"

Shadowcrest smirked as shi said, "I managed to ‘feed’ hir quite a bit of dessert tonight, shi’s sleeping off hir full bellies."

"You two have gotten pretty close in the few weeks you’ve known each other. Am I going to have to explain to your parents that you’re running off with a kitten half your size and twice your age?" he asked playfully.

"I think you’re safe in that regard. From what shi’s told me, hir first assignment won’t have the room for hir to take me with hir." Shi felt an echo of Neal’s mood in hirself when shi realized that shi would be in his position sometime in the not too distant future. "I’m going to want a snuggle the night shi leaves," shi predicted.

"I’ll be there," Neal promised as the long range sensors lost track of the other ships and dropped back to a slowly moving star field.


With the Good Deal done, there was more time for them to spend on getting Gulf ready for her trials. As he was about to take Gulf out for her first tests, Neal found himself at odds with different parts of his family and crew. His engineers had assumed they would be helping with Gulf’s testing and run-up. They had been more than a little perturbed when Neal told them he would be doing the first warp test run solo.

"Good Deal was safe enough for you to let Phillip and Longreach test it with you!" Quickdash insisted.

"Only ‘just as safe’," Neal told hir. "Do you remember those three Zulus chasing after us?" At hir nod, Neal continued, "They were there in case something went badly wrong. Depending on what went wrong and how, they were to beam us off the Good Deal."

"Hope for the best while planning for the worst," Weaver quietly murmured.

Neal nodded. "While I expect everything to work, I like having a lifeline just in case."

The other disagreement Neal found himself with was with Spitfire and Darkstreak over the name. A random tale in Neal’s library had given them a name they wanted for the soon to be christened ship. Neal had given in when the rest of his crew sided with the cubs. He let his engineers take Gwendolyn out of her bay for the very first time. As with Good Deal, they parked her a little ways from the Folly before they started their testing and calibration of the different systems. They then parked her on one of the external docking ports to go in for lunch. There was more than one youthful scowl when she undocked after lunch with just Neal onboard.

Or so he had thought.

The third time an indicator changed before he actually touched the control, Neal growled, "Tess, I asked you to stay with the Folly."

"She did," a female sounding voice replied. While not the voice that Tess used, it was a far cry from the mechanical voice that the ship’s computer had been using before lunch.

Neal’s eyes narrowed slightly as he asked, "And who might you be?"

"I don’t have a name yet. What would you like to call me?"

"I’m open to suggestions," Neal admitted, still not sure that someone wasn’t having a little fun with him.

"Well… my ship’s tiny compared to Tess’s, so Tiny? Or Tina?"

"Size isn’t everything," Neal gently informed her. "Tina works for me, but I’m curious – Tess and I have tried twinning her before with no success. While she can be moved from one computer network to another, she was never separately ‘awake’ in any two of them at once."

"I really don’t know what happened," Tina admitted. "I think Tess placed copies of her memories in me, but I can tell they’re not really mine. I know what my own thoughts feel like, but these are like reviewing someone else’s recordings of past events."

Neal hmmm-ed before guessing, "One of the tests on the computer’s core was for Tess to ‘move in’ and fully test all the systems. She may have left copies of most of her long term memories to help speed her transfers, which in turn could have been used to help speed up your learning process." Neal said, looking thoughtful until Tina disturbed his thought process.

"You still sound like you don’t believe I’m real," Tina said, sounding unhappy.

Neal chuckled. "My choices are: one, you’re Tess playing games with me. Two, like Tess, you’re your own being. Or three, one or more of the deities are having a little fun at my expense."

"How will you test your theories?"

"Well, option one will be made or broken when we hit warp, Tess wouldn’t be able to pretend to be both of you at once."

"And the other two?"

"May take a little longer," Neal admitted. "If you really are your own being, then call over one of the CPU heavy Zulus and back yourself up."

"Already done, chief. Let’s get started on my tests. Your boards are green, Captain. I’m ready to start the first core."

Neal nodded. "Very well, bring up the intermix preloads on one…."

***

Gwendolyn was back just two hours later. Neal had cut her first test run short to keep from worrying the others. With the more hazardous of the tests out of the way, he could let his engineers help with the rest.

After docking, Neal gave his report to his engineers. As he prepared to leave them to their chores, he added, "And get with Tina about realigning the sensors, something about the port side isn’t quite right."

"Tina?" Quickdash asked in surprise.

"You tell me," Neal replied, jerking a thumb back towards Gwendolyn’s bay.

"What was that all about?" Shortdash asked, having just seen hir worried-looking daughters run past.

"It appears I have yet another smart-assed computer on my hands," Neal replied.

"Why do you think she’ll be a ‘smart-ass?" shi asked with a grin.

"Because she’s already showing some of Tess’s more enduring and frustrating traits. Tess? How long have you known she was there?"

"I was going over the systems while you were eating. I lost my connection with the computer core for just a moment. When I regained the connection, there she was." Tess hesitated a second before adding, "Tina is requesting access to what I see and hear."

"Considering she’ll probably be spending a lot of time cooped up in one of your internal bays, I’d be inclined to allow it," Neal agreed.

"Thank you, chief!" Tina’s voice said through Tess’s speaker.

"Get the feeling they didn’t wait for permission?" Shortdash asked with a grin.

"No surprise there," Neal said with a chuckle. "Tess wouldn’t have asked if she’d had any problem with the request."

"So she only asked to make it official?"

"Something like that," Neal agreed.

"And to help explain Tina knowing things that only I would know," Tess added.

"Oh? And Tina? Don’t give them all the answers, they’re still in training," Neal warned.

"So Tess has informed me, chief."

"Chief?" Shortdash asked.

"Since Tess calls him ‘boss’, I’ll call him ‘chief’ so he knows which of us is speaking," Tina explained.

"Makes a kind of sense, I guess," Shortdash acknowledged.

"Until they start claiming to be each other," Neal chuckled. "Then I’ll be in trouble."


"I heard Neal saying something about making you two the ship’s scullery maids after last night," Lighttouch commented the next morning, as Windsong and Shadowcrest finished a late breakfast. "Something about changing the bedding on all the beds."

"It was an accident!" Song insisted, "I didn’t mean to knock Shady’s headband off."

"So I theorized," Lighttouch admitted. "But there is a way to prevent it from happening again."

"I’m just hoping it doesn’t involve an adhesive," Shady muttered.

"No," Lighttouch assured hir, "just a little more mind over matter."

Gathering up three headbands, hy lead them to one of the small rooms they sometimes used for mental training and practice. "Full screens please," hy told Tess once they were in.

Once the chakats were comfortably settled, hy had them close their eyes before hy personally placed a headband on each of their heads, taking a minute to adjust them properly. They spent the rest of the morning talking of other things, their eyes closed until it was nearly time for lunch.

At the soft tone Tess used as a warning that it would soon be mealtime, Song let out a sigh of relief. "About time! I need to stretch," shi said as shi opened hir eyes and reached up to remove hir headband – only to drag hir hand through hir hair a second time when shi came up empty handed. Looking at the other two, shi realized that none of them were wearing headbands.

"What the?" Shady muttered as shi found hir own headband missing.

Lighttouch grinned and pulled the three headbands out from behind hym. "This lesson was to remind you that the headbands are just a reminder to not broadcast or receive. They have no more power then what you give them."

"So we weren’t wearing them all morning?" Song asked.

Lighttouch nodded. "Like the emperor’s new clothes, they are there only as long as you think they are…. So, reach up and ‘remove’ your headbands."

Song reached up again and ‘removed’ hir imaginary headband, feeling hir senses reaching out as hir arms came down. Shi looked over at Shady, who merely closed hir eyes before hir presence became much more noticeable.

Seeing Song’s questioning look, Shady grinned. "It’s a mental headband, so I used mental hands to remove it." Shi ignored Song’s mentally stuck out tongue as shi turned back to Lighttouch. "We should have figured that trick out on our own."

"It is easiest to be shown something could be done. As Neal started this by changing how some headbands work on you two, I thought you were ready for the next step."

"This will take some getting used to," Song said as they washed up before heading for the dinning area.

"No time like the present," Shady quipped, as shi pantomimed putting hir headband back on. Song shrugged, but mentally lifted hirs back to hir head as well.

They had just settled down on their pads when Nightsky and Tauna walked in. without looking, Nightsky’s senses told hir that the pair was wearing their headbands. "Not at the dinner table," shi playfully growled as shi reached over to snag Shady’s ‘headband’.

"Not what at the dinner table?" Shady playfully asked as shi and Song relaxed their mental control.

"For some reason I thought you two were wearing those headbands," Nightsky confessed looking confused.

"We were," Song admitted with a grin. "But it was all in our heads," shi non-explained.

Tauna just shook her head at them. "I don’t know whether to be hopeful or fearful of Vanessa having some of your abilities as a chakat."

"Be hopeful," Calmmeadow suggested as shi tried to get bibs on a couple of the cubs, spaghetti being a very fun and messy meal for them. "It’s not just what talents she might gain, but how she decides to use them."


"Ready for tonight?" Dusk asked Graysocks as they passed in the corridor.

"I heard we’re starting late so Roseberry and Brighteyes can join us," she replied.

"Not just them, Song and Shady claim they can keep from going overboard and they asked to join us tonight as well," Dusk informed her.

Graysocks laughed. "Neal will need more than the ‘holy’ card if one of them slips and drive us all crazy at once!"


Shady and Song entered the dining area early the next morning, only to find Neal waiting for them with a scorecard. He grinned at their expressions before holding the card up to show the ‘10’.

"We had Tess put up the fields…" Song started to insist.

"… and I had her take them down," he told them. "I’d never expected you two to have to hide behind them every time you had a little fun, and Lighttouch had suggested that you were ready to be trusted not to blow the rest of us away with your broadcasting. The ten is for getting it pretty near perfect. While we could feel you, you weren’t any worse than some of your other chakat sisters."

"Thanks daddy," Shady said as they both gave him a hug.

Setting his dirty plate back in the replicator, Neal added, "Get something to eat, I seem to remember you two having the watch in a little while."

"Slave driver!" Song sent to Shady as Neal left the room.

"Don’t tell him that unless you want to spend the rest of the trip with nothing to do!" Shady fired back. "Just ‘hint’ to him that he’s pushing too hard and he’ll stop. The thing is, he won’t start again."

"Hey! It was just a joke."

"Trust me, there are some things you have to make sure Neal’s in the right state of mind before joking about, and slavery is one of them."

Song looked down at the floor for a moment before nodding back to hir best friend; "You’re right, I should have realized that by now. I’ll try to be more careful, the last thing I’d want to do is hurt him," shi looked back into Shadowcrest’s eyes, "Or you."

Shady laughed at the last as shi replied out loud, "Save the mush for tonight, we’ve got chores to do!"

Song was about to threaten hir with twice the mush later, when shi noticed a minor discomfort. Cupping hir slightly swollen breasts, shi looked at Shady’s grin of understanding. "But I’ve been careful not to drink your milk!" shi complained.

Shady laughed. "True, but you forgot that all my chakat sisters are in milk mode, and we did go a little overboard last night."

"I can’t show up for duty in this state!" Song moaned.

"We’ll have a few months to wean you," Shady reminded hir. "In the meantime," shi said with an evil grin, "Tess? Let Stormy know someone needs a milk check!"

"I just hope shi’s hungry," Song said.

Shadowcrest licked hir muzzle in anticipation. "Don’t worry, I’ll finish off whatever shi can’t hold," shi promised Song as Stormy and Star charged into the room.

While Star didn’t have Stormy’s passion for milk checks, she did often join hir when it was time for a snack. The kit and cub were just finishing when Weaver and Longsock came in.

Weaver gave Song something between a smirk and a frown as she said, "Hey! It was my turn to feed them!"

Shady grinned as shi said, "I’m afraid we’ve added another player to the milk queue, but don’t worry as shi’s going to have to start weaning hirself soon enough."

Longsock laughed at his mate’s expression. "Since they’re full, I guess you’ll just have to settle for my services love," he said, giving her a leer.

"See Song, you’re always causing trouble," Shady giggled as Longsock and Weaver left arm in arm.

"Right…" Song shot back, "now finish milking me before Neal comes looking for us."

"Well, if you insist…" Shady said with a grin before pulling the smaller chakat towards hir.


"I’ve lost a second scout," Neal reported once he’d gotten everyone in the main lounge that evening. "While the other two scouts hit all their checkpoints, the missing one’s last report was at its halfway point, so that’ll help narrow down the search area."

"So the Folly’s going on the hunt?" Zhanch asked with a grin. While she and the other Rakshani marines liked Folly and her crew, a little excitement would be welcomed.

"No," Neal said. "I was thinking I’d load a few useful things in Gwendolyn and take a look."

"Those few things being?" Weaver asked.

"Things useful for a search and possible rescue, as well as a handful of Zulus to ferret out and disrupt any traps that the missing scouts may have sprung."

"You had better be counting us among those ‘useful things’," Bonita commented, only half kidding.

"All Rakshani are coming," Neal agreed. "If it is the Sharp Claw, they may be more likely to listen to you than me."

"Wenfrec’s been their ‘Head of House’ this last year; surely they’d listen to her," Shadowcrest suggested.

"Yes and no," Wenfrec replied. "They wouldn’t have known what was going on while they were missing. And while I’ve represented my House, I haven’t had the power base to do more than hold my house name. What we find may establish if I still have a House. And if they are alive, a couple of them might be annoyed that I took over the position without permission or training."

"Not that there was anyone else to take the role," Dessa pointed out.

Weaver grinned at Neal. "So, are you finally trusting us to run this ship?"

"Of course not!" Neal exclaimed acting surprised. "I’m expecting Tess to keep you from getting into too much trouble."

Neal wasn’t the only one to laugh at the dirty look she gave him. As the laughter died down, Lighttouch said, "I too would like to accompany you with Moonglow, and I would suggest you also consider our Star Corps friends."

"And Star," Weaver said with a small grin. "You’ll need someone for Stormy to play with." At Neal’s questioning look, she smiled and gave him a small nod.

"And you’ll keep Quickdash," Quickwind replied. "They should be able to help keep the Folly running for the few days we’ll be gone."

Neal nodded. "It should take us no longer than a week to get there and check the area.

If the ‘Claw is out there and there are survivors, we could be an additional day or two depending on the condition of their ship. So, two and a half to three weeks tops. Then we rejoin before hitting Chakona."

 


Chapter 11  

 

Gwendolyn left the next ‘morning’, Neal having spent most of the previous evening giving instructions to those who would remain aboard the Folly.

While Gwendolyn had made several test flights at various speeds, this would be the first time her power and warp systems would be held at their higher settings for an extended period of time. Neal spent most of the first day in engineering working with Tina, monitoring and tweaking the individual subsystems to their peak performance.

The others spent the time exploring the new ship. While the bridge was almost identical to one of Folly’s, the much smaller galley didn’t include a corresponding kitchen, having instead several replicator units installed along one wall.

"I hope we have some of Stew’s meals stored in those things," Dessa commented dryly.

"Tess gave me copies of everything that Suzan has entered into her replicator library," Tina assured her.

"And if we can’t power the replicators, I see that Neal’s got plenty of ration packs just in case," Bonita commented with a grin as she’d noticed a single case of human style rat-packs among all the larger cases that would sustain the much larger furs.

Further exploration revealed a good-sized lounge/entertainment room, as well as two medium sized holosuites. A shuttle bay held one of Folly’s old personnel shuttles with a little room to spare. They also found a well-stocked weapons locker with Neal’s preferred weapons, as well as an assortment of Rakshan arms. Zhanch picked up one of the short swords that the marines preferred for ‘close in’ work and tested its balance before replacing it with a smile. As per Rakshan custom, the hilts of each weapon were decorated in their House colors.


As Neal and Tina spent the next couple of days getting them to the search area, the Rakshani marines freshened up on their ship-to-ship boarding and attack skills. While Wenfrec was in security, she wasn’t a marine, so Zhanch and the others gave her some basic training in the way they carried out certain actions. This left her sore and tired, but she was actually starting to look forward to her next encounter with Security's hand-to-hand combat instructors.

A day before they were to reach the area the missing Zulus would have covered, Neal slowed Gwendolyn before launching three fresh Zulus. They were sent ahead to scout the area and sniff out whatever might have taken out Neal’s earlier scouts. Two ran ahead, taking turns at being the lead. The third sat back a ways, monitoring the first two and feeding their data back to Tina, who would stop Gwendolyn at the first sign of trouble.

It was only a day and a half into the search before things got ‘interesting’ as both of the lead Zulus stopped reporting back. As programmed, the third stopped and relayed the data to Tina, who halted Gwendolyn and woke Neal. By the time he was on the bridge, one of the wayward Zulus had resumed its mission as if nothing had happened. Its scans showed the still unresponsive Zulu had changed direction and was heading off its programmed route. An active scan of its new heading showed what they might be looking for: ships – and at least one of the other missing Zulus.


The ship had been new a hundred and fifty years ago, and she still showed much of her Rakshan heritage. A heavy bulk freighter, she displayed a few changes in design as upgrades or repairs had been required or desired. Other changes showed that were not improvements. There was a large hole in the engineering section that indicated that her warp core had been jettisoned. The burn marks of phaser fire across her impulse engines told of her being too crippled to run or maneuver against her attacker. But there were other signs that she had not died easily. Another ship – much smaller, but seemingly more intact – drifted just a few hundred kilometers away. A quick scan of it showed no running power sources or life signs.

While the warp core was gone, the Sharp Claw did have limited power. The missing Zulus sat either on her hull, or drifted near her, feeding power to her remaining systems.

"Well, now we know where the missing Zulus went," Neal commented dryly. "I’m guessing one of the deities was using my Zulu for a little field trip when she came across the Sharp Claw."

Tina spoke up, "Chief, power and fuel recordings from the scouts suggest that the deity may have feared help wouldn’t arrive before the first scout’s fuel reserves were depleted, and by then that scout no longer had sufficient fuel to reach and access a relay."

"And she probably guessed that losing two of them in the same area would have me looking into the matter sooner rather than later," Neal mused.

"She just encoded a bank of my memory. She says ‘Yes!’ and ‘It’s about time you got here!’"

Under Tina’s control, Gwendolyn had moved alongside the Sharp Claw as they were talking. Tina completed her deep scan of the damaged ship. "Someone rigged a stasis system to run on what was left of their power systems. It looks like it held until the deity showed up with the first scout. She then tapped the scout’s power to help keep their stasis field going. In the field I can detect a small pile of Rakshani bodies. The rest are laying or standing separately." She spoke a little quieter as she added, "There is also one body outside the field, near what appears to be the controls for the field."

"They may not have had the time to rig a timer they thought they could trust," Neal suggested as he examined the scans. "All Rakshani will suit up and join me on the Sharp Claw. Lighttouch, Quickwind, and Shortdash are assigned to sickbay; I’m afraid their mental states may be a little on the rough side when we start waking them up. I’ll send Wenfrec back to you so they’ll have someone they know with them."

Along with Neal and the Rakshani, portable stasis generators were also beamed into place. As the Rakshan generator was taken offline, Tina would bring up the ones under her control, allowing them to deal with the Sharp Claw’s crew one at a time rather than all at once.

Once the stasis generators were in place, Neal killed the old system as Tina activated the new. With the systems now under her control, Tina started scanning the Rakshani one by one.

"Chief? I have one very elderly Rakshani with badly damaged lungs and other injuries that will require processing to save her."

"Which one?" Neal asked. Tina sent them all a picture of the Rakshani in question as well as her medical scans.

"That’s Bertif! She’s the head of our House!" Wenfrec blurted out in surprise.

"Go ahead and process her. Dessa, you and Wenfrec will go back to Gwen and stay with Bertif. Shadowcrest was only out a few hours after hir process, so there’s no telling how soon she’ll wake up. Tina, start a list of those we can bring out without too much patching up."

"Captain?" Zhanch asked as Bertif and the others were beamed away. "What’s missing from this picture? If this was a family-run ship, where are all the cubs?"

"Tina?" Neal asked in reply.

"Ship design suggests that one of the areas badly hit was probably the nursery. The only cub I can detect is a newborn being held by his mother."

"Thank you, Tina," Neal somberly said.

"What’s next?" Zhanch asked as she and Kestrel carefully wrapped the mummified body that had been outside the stasis field.

"The rest of us will be looking over that other ship for clues on who they were and why they attacked the ‘Claw. For now, the rest of these will keep until we can ask Bertif just what happened."


The two groups rejoined a few hours later for a late meal.

"What did you find?" Shortdash asked as Neal picked at his food.

"Another ten Rakshani bodies as well as fifty-four human ones. While a lot of them died fighting, the final deathblow was gas." Looking at those around him, Neal quietly added, "It’s almost identical to the stuff that was in the pirate’s database."

"So they might have been part of the same group?"

"Looks that way," Bonita agreed, "and every wardrobe I checked had a shirt in it with a big H1 on the back."

"Humans First," Zhanch growled. "What did they want with a Rakshan freighter?"

"I’m afraid that wasn’t in their databanks, at least not the ones I’ve gone through so far," Neal admitted. "I’ve hooked Tina into what was left of their computers to see if she can find anything useful."

"What’s Bertif’s status?" Kestrel asked.

"Processed successfully, currently in a light sleep," Tina replied. "I’ll let everyone know when she’s about to wake up."


It was only an hour later that a very confused Bertif woke to find one of her great-granddaughters peering at her anxiously. The explanation of how she came to be there, and why Bertif was now physically younger than Wenfrec took a little while. Getting her to tell them about the attack took even longer, and left several of them thinking Bertif wasn’t telling them everything.

"I think we should wake the others one at a time and question them before they can talk to each other and work out a cover story," Shortdash muttered after Bertif had eaten and gone back to a nearby room to rest.

Wenfrec looked like she had a hot retort, but held it when Zhanch raised a paw at her. "Are you suggesting that she was being less than truthful with us?" she asked the annoyed chakat.

"Second method," Shortdash shot back. "But she’s not as good as Neal at hiding the fact that there’s more that she’s not saying."

"The ‘Claw’s holds suggest some of what she’s hiding," Kestrel quietly told the group. "She’s carrying a lot of stuff that only a new or very young colony would find useful."

"And somebody knew where they were going," Neal added. "The attacker’s ship was named Yuri. While Tina was able to recover some data from the attack, a lot of short term information was lost, so I had her read what she could from the ‘Claw’s computers." At Wenfrec's dirty look he frowned. "We were only digging for how the attack was carried out, not any ‘family’ business, Wenfrec."

"What did you find?" she questioned, still unhappy that she hadn’t been asked.

"Yuri knew the ‘Claw’s intended route to such a fine degree that they were able to lay gravity mines along her intended path. The mines detonated when they detected her warp field and dropped her to sub-light for Yuri to attack. The hard drop from warp and some of the damage inflicted by Yuri forced the ‘Claw to eject her core. After taking a few more shots at the ‘Claw to remove what weapons she did have, Yuri then fired into the crew quarters." Neal locked eyes with Wenfrec before adding, "And by that time any able bodied Rakshani would have been at their post or doing damage control, so the only reason to for those last shots were to deliberately kill the cubs and their keepers."

Wenfrec stood up and turned around, she was not going to break down in front of the others. Before she could reach the door, Zhanch had stepped up behind her, a paw on each of her shoulders – her claws digging in almost to the point of breaking the skin. Wenfrec stood there, the pain helping to keep her focused on what the others were saying.

"They obviously didn’t know Rakshani," Kestrel said, pointedly ignoring Wenfrec’s distress. "Taking out the cubs guaranteed that the crew would fight to the last one standing."

"Like threatening a chakat’s cub," Lighttouch murmured. "Once you have reached that point, there would be nothing you could say or do to stop them."

"So when Yuri then made the mistake of trying to board the ‘Claw, they never had a chance," Neal agreed. "The fight left both ships unable to support their crews, gas on Yuri and an almost total power loss on the ‘Claw."

"So what are you going to do about it, Captain?" Bertif demanded as she came in, having heard part of what had been said.

"Gather and render aid to the rest of your family," Neal told her. "Drop a marker on both ships, you’ll be able to reclaim yours and have salvage rights on the other. Then I’ll get you to a starbase to tell your story and get your ship and House in order." Indicating Wenfrec, he added, "She’s been holding your House name while she waited for you to be found."

"And who are you to know of Rakshani Houses?" she demanded.

"I am Neal ap Edwin na Foster, and the Head of the Rakshani House ‘Foster’. The House was formed after the ‘Claw’s disappearance. Wenfrec has been most helpful in teaching me more about the Houses and the House rules. For example, thanks to her instruction, this ship is House neutral."

"I want the rest of my family brought out of stasis," Bertif didn’t quite demand.

"Once you were up, I intended to bring them out a few at a time," Neal told her. "While we have adequate space and life support, our sickbay can only handle three at a time."

"And our dead?"

"Those still on the Yuri have been left alone. The lone remaining body on the Sharp Claw has been wrapped for space burial."

"Thank you, Captain. The others were arguing over who would give their life for our family when young Twovoc stopped the discussion by doing it himself…. I was in no shape to tell them to shut up and let me do it." Looking at each of the others, Bertif added, "I didn’t expect to live much longer, and it would have been an honorable death."

"Dying is easy," Neal quietly told her. "It’s living that’s the real challenge. I’d planned on starting with the little pile that I assume was arguing. Once we have them settled down they can help with the rest."

Tina identified for Neal the Rakshani as they were beamed over. The ‘pile’ was made up of the Sharp Claw’s captain, Bertif’s mate, and one of her granddaughters with an unknown that turned out to be the granddaughter’s new mate. While three of the four had been injured, none of the injuries was life threatening.

"Frodo," Neal told one of them as they got to their feet. "I’m glad to see the ‘Claw won’t be without her Captain. Keitot, Murminka," he said as he nodded to Bertif’s mate and granddaughter. Nodding at the Rakshani that hadn’t been in the database, Neal added, "I am Captain Foster, and you are aboard the Gwendolyn, and you are?"

"Where’s the Sharp Claw?" the unnamed Rakshani demanded.

"Kilson! Your manners!" Murminka softly snarled before the other two could. While she was unsure how this ‘Captain Foster’ knew their names, she had heard tales about him. Foster was known to deal with others how they dealt with him, and right now she had a feeling that they needed all the help and goodwill they could get.

"Manners be damned! We just survived a fight with humans bare hours ago!" Kilson snarled back.

"A bit more than a few hours I fear," Neal dryly commented. "Your stasis field was activated, and the Sharp Claw has been missing for over a year."

"Impossible!" Kilson snapped as Wenfrec and another Rakshani he didn’t know came in. "He lies!"

"Shut up Kilson," Bertif muttered as she looked to her mate Keitot. "It seems some of the things we’ve heard of the Folly and her captain are truer than we knew."

Keitot stared at the now very young Bertif. "You were dying," he whispered.

"So I was," she softly agreed, "but the fates and deities seem to have had other plans."

While the others had been staring at the new Bertif, Kilson had drawn his phaser and was now pointing it at Neal. "You will give me the command codes for this ship or I will kill everyone aboard!"

"Kilson!" Murminka started, only to have the weapon swing her way.

"Shut up you idiot!" Kilson snarled. "If your family hadn’t fought so well, I’d have the ‘Claw by now, but this ship will have to do." His eyes widened as even more Rakshani started filing in behind Wenfrec.

"So it was an inside job," one of them retorted. "You probably gave Yuri the information she needed to intercept the ‘Claw, and I’ll bet you worked from the inside to help insure their victory."

"Except our captain doesn’t trust new family members with ship codes," Keitot said as he nodded to Frodo. "You may have fooled Murminka, but your whirlwind romancing and mating left some of us wondering. It’s sad to see we were right to doubt your true intentions," the older Rakshani growled as he stared at their betrayer.

"So… you were to get the ship, and your friends were to get the colony?" Neal asked, interrupting the staring contest. Star and Stormy had joined them, hiding behind Neal, their paws around his legs.

"The codes," demanded Kilson as his phaser swung back to Neal before he lowered his aim slightly. "The codes or I start with those cubs!"

Having ‘just’ lost their own cubs, the ‘Claw’s Rakshani moved as one, and it would have been hard to tell who actually killed Kilson. Their first strikes crushed his skull, tore out his throat, and destroyed his heart. By the time they backed away they were all bloodied, and it would have been impossible to identify the remains.

Neal had simply knelt and held the cub and kit. "You don’t threaten cubs," he quietly said as he waited for the Rakshani to calm down.

"What were the odds of you finding a traitor in the very first group?" Dessa wondered as Lighttouch and the chakats rushed in, only to slow at the sights and smell of carnage.

"Pretty good actually," Neal said as Moonglow joined him in comforting Star and Stormy. "Every other Rakshani looked like they’d just been through the wringer, while he looked like he had somehow managed to avoid any fighting."

"A coward?" Lighttouch suggested.

"Or someone who knew what was about to happen," Bertif growled. It had been her claws that had gutted Kilson on the way to shredding his heart. Turning, she snarled, "The same could be said for you, Captain. You just stood there as he threatened your cubs."

"I was hoping for more information before he died," Neal countered. "Besides, didn’t you wonder why his phaser never discharged? You’ll find that all their weapons were disabled as they were transported." As the others belatedly checked their weapons, Neal added, "It’s easier to get someone to talk if they think they have the upper hand."

"Whereas you think you have the upper hand," Bertif said dryly.

"No, I know I have the upper hand, at least for the moment," Neal chuckled. Giving her a calculated look, he added, "Which in this case means that I can be more generous with my aid than I would be if I thought me or mine was at risk. It also meant that I could listen to his empty threats in the hopes that he might fill in some of the missing pieces to this puzzle."

"What more needs to be discovered?" Murminka demanded, "He only pretended to love me to kill us and take the ‘Claw." The hurt of betrayal mixed with her rage as she spoke.

"And the new colony you were shipping supplies to," Neal added.

Captain Frodo frowned. "We don’t know about any new colony, Captain."

Neal frowned in return. "Your cargo bays disagree with you, Captain. Before you say any more, let me just say that I am not interested in your colony other than how critical it might be to get them the supplies you were to deliver. They’ve been waiting over a year for you to show up – how much do you think that might have hurt them?"

Wenfrec had been helping bag the bloody remains of Kilson. She looked up to Frodo and said, "I have been the acting Head of this House since the Sharp Claw disappeared. While I gladly return that responsibility to Bertif, I strongly suggest that you answer Captain Foster’s questions fully and honestly."

"She’s correct," Bertif quietly growled. "I’ve already tried telling just what I thought they needed to know and they saw right through my half-truths. Tell him what you would if it were me asking the questions."

"On all things?" Frodo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"As our family can live or die at his whim…" Bertif pointed out.

Frodo nodded and carefully cleaned his paws and claws before he removed a memory cell from his belt. Handing it to Neal he said, "This contains what we have of the colony and its conditions."

Neal accepted the device and stepped over to a small computer terminal to let Tina read it. "Tina, focus on the colony and its expected needs, extrapolate the colony’s condition when the Sharp Claw never made her expected delivery." Turning back to Bertif, he said, "You should know that I don’t normally kill out of hand, so your family is safe enough. The colony though may be at risk, and I won’t let House pride add to that risk."

Bertif nodded. "Understood Captain, but I was less than fully honest with you earlier. More than just my House is still in danger; ask what you will."

"Does anyone else know of this colony? And could the colony call for help if they needed it?" Neal asked as he ushered them all to the little sickbay to get the others tended to.

"Others know but they don’t, or at least didn’t, have a ship. The colony’s a ways from any FTL relay, so we were also their main means of communication," Captain Frodo admitted as his burned arm was unwrapped and tended to by Moonglow with Quickwind assisting. "We were delivering additional seed stock as well as livestock as the native plants and animals aren’t all that tasty or nutritious."

"Unfortunately, your livestock and most of the seed is freezer burned past being usable," Neal commented as he read what Tina was giving him. "Tina, top off one of the baby Zulus. Send it to their colony and make full scans of it. Then see if it can make contact with them. If they’re all right, then the Zulu can return here. If they are in distress, then the Zulu is to head for the nearest starbase and give Star Fleet what info we have."

"Yes chief," Tina replied before adding, "Someone’s overriding some of the commands I just gave the Zulu. I think we have a passenger going out with it."

"So far their interference has been beneficial," Dessa pointed out.

Neal chuckled. "As if I could know for sure whether one of them rides it anyway. She may have been doing the overrides now so we’d know that she was going to help us check on things. At least a Rakshani deity onsite will give us a better judge of the colony’s true conditions."

His last comment had caused his guests to look at him in shock. Murminka was the first to find her tongue. "You speak as if you know deities personally."

"Not really," Neal replied. "But my probe wouldn’t have stopped when it saw your ship, nor would it have fed power to the stasis field on its own. So if it wasn’t a deity, then some of my toys are thinking for themselves."

"I resemble that remark," Tina reminded him.

"And for all I know, you’re just another deity having some fun at my expense," Neal pointed out, ignoring the raspberry coming from her speakers.

As the Zulu left, Neal prepared to get the rest of the survivors moved to Gwendolyn, and patched up. After consulting with Frodo, Gwendolyn was joined to the ‘Claw and a path to the stasis area was lit and made breathable.

Only a couple needed to be transported straight to Tina’s sickbay; the rest were more in the ‘walking wounded’ state. Neal stayed out of the way while they were tended to, to give Wenfrec and the other Rakshani time to explain what had transpired since the fight.

Once all the Rakshani from the ‘Claw had been tended to and fed, the debriefings began.

Two had returned from the ship-to-ship fighting on the Yuri and they accounted their actions onboard her. This had included sealing and forcefully decoupling the ships once they started getting reports of the gas attack.

During the debriefing, there was more than a little finger-pointing as hindsight showed how things could have been done for a better ending. Captain Frodo finally had enough of it and shouted them all down. Yes, things could have been better handled, but they hadn’t known what was happening or why until it was too late. It was time to pick up the pieces and move on.

Neal also found himself dealing with a loss of self-confidence in their Head of House the next time they were out of hearing of the others.


"I failed my family and my House!" Bertif blurted out when they were alone.

Neal shook his head. He couldn’t do it for her without absorbing her House into his, which was already getting complicated enough, nor had he seen any of her family that could take her position without the infighting shaking up the damaged House even more. Deciding to work with her feelings of responsibility and pride, he said, "I lay this task before you: Your family and House need you now more than ever, and you will not shrink from that duty. The deities saw fit that you should live, so I suggest that you get off your guilt trip and get back to being the Head of your House."

"Who are you to know what deities do and why?" she demanded, her claws out.

"One led me to you," he reminded her. "She seemed to think you and your family were worthy of her time and mine." A little more gently Neal added, "And as far as knowing what a deity wants… well, I sometimes wonder if I’m still around because one thinks I haven’t finished all of my tasks yet."

Her claws slowly retracting, Bertif stared at him for a minute before asking, "How long has she tasked you?"

Neal merely shook his head, "Knowing that would require knowing when she first took an interest in me – of which I have no real way of saying for sure."

Bertif slowly nodded. "Very well, where do we go from here?"

"A day or two for you and yours to recover, the funeral, and then I get you all to a Starbase."

"No," Bertif countered. "We’re staying with our ship."

Neal shook his head. "Even I couldn’t get her warp capable with what we have available."

"Maybe not, but even my crew could make her livable until a starbase can send out a tug," Bertif countered.

"Yuri’s core was still intact," Neal admitted. "While not large enough to get the ‘Claw to warp, it should be sufficient for everything else."

"Do you have the fuel to spare?"

"No, but I can by the time we’re ready for it. Tina? Get one of the Zulus to a FTL relay; we need a load of antimatter. Add a message for the Folly that we’ll be a little later than originally planned."

"As good as done chief," Tina acknowledged.

Despite Neal’s suggestion that they take a day to recover, the more mobile Rakshani were suited and repairing the ‘Claw’s hull breaches the next ‘day’. A few had been shuttled over to the Yuri to collect their fallen while Neal went over to see about removing Yuri’s core for the ‘Claw’s use. Finding enough other things they could use, Neal had Tina bring the ships together to facilitate moving the equipment.


Tina woke Neal in the middle of his ‘night’ to inform him that his ‘House guests’ were again causing her problems. He dressed and followed her lead to a cabin where two of the Rakshani had already partly dismantled the wall to better access the components behind it.

Scowling at the Rakshani, Neal said, "While I’ve promised to help get the ‘Claw operational, gutting Gwendolyn wasn’t part of the offer."

"But we need these parts!" one of them protested.

"I’ll help you strip the pirate and you can have my spares," Neal told them. "But you’re not stealing any of my ship’s systems, and that includes her backups!"


The funeral was held the next day, Neal having docked the shuttle to Gwen’s side so they could make use of the shuttle bay. Each of their dead was named as their body was pushed through the field keeping the air in the bay. A few words were spoken of their fallen comrade as the others growled their agreement. For those that no body remained, an object or possession of theirs filled in for the missing loved one. Kilson’s remains were thrown out last… to a dead silence.

The family had turned to go, only to find their host holding the half-melted remains of one of their fuel regulators. Pushing the unit out into space, Neal said, "To the Sharp Claw! She and her House may have been down, but they are not out…. Like a Phoenix, they will rise from the ashes!"

Surprised by the benediction, Bertif was first to growl her approval, the rest of her family turning it almost into a roar.


It was a worn out Neal that trudged to the captain’s cabin that night. With a lot of help, he’d gotten the warp core from the Yuri installed in the ‘Claw. Tomorrow would see the rest of the connections adapted and the first of the test runs, but for now he was truly exhausted. Therefore it took him a minute of staring at his bed to decide something was wrong, and almost another full minute to figure out what that might be. The dim lighting showed him a Rakshani female in his bed, not an uncommon occurrence with him having four Rakshani mates onboard. Nor was Star and Stormy cuddling up against her belly all that unusual, but that was where things started to not make sense, for there were not two but three tails coming out of the little pile. The cubs’ shifting revealed the surviving Rakshani cub curled up between them. Which in turn made it easier for Neal to wake up to the minor fact that the fur pattern of the Rakshani in his bed didn’t quite match any of his mates.

Neal was turning to go when she spoke. "Stay," she requested. "Your little ones have been keeping my son company all day. Your mates told me that you wouldn’t object."

"Your mate…" Neal began.

"Died in the Yuri," she informed him. "Rakshani males would consider sharing a bed as more of a commitment than humans do, and I feel the need for company tonight."

"I’m not your average human," Neal muttered, "but I have been known to do strange things for the sake of a cub."

"Our cubs show they can be friends, perhaps we can as well," she suggested.

Neal smiled. "Just so I don’t break my longstanding rule of not waking up with someone I don’t know, may I know your name?"

"Calypso," she replied. "And my son is Darkash."

Neal crawled into bed and gave each of the cubs a gentle stroke. "Welcome, Darkash," he murmured as the Rakshani cub reacted to his handling.

He was semi-awakened twice that night, once by Calypso feeding Darkash, the other to find Kestrel had joined them. In the morning he woke to just the cubs, Darkash licking his nose to wake him up.


Repairs continued, but not always smoothly. Neal’s mixed methods left the Rakshani engineers and their assistants confused and upset more often than not, and their frustration was stirring up the rest of the family. Things peaked with Bertif all but roaring in Neal’s face; Neal weathered the storm without backing down. As Neal again started to explain why they were doing things his way, Bertif had fled for her room, her mate Keitot found her there a little later….

"Love, you really need to restrain your temper," he said once the door was closed.

Bertif growled, but Keitot ignored it. She was younger now and could probably take him in a fight, but he knew her well enough to know her moods and how she would react in each of them. Keitot had also noticed the mess of small pieces of wood, padding, and fabric where a chair had once stood.

Indicating the remains of the chair, he said, "While our host may get annoyed at you for the chair, better it than you having taken another step towards him after your little display of anger."

Bertif huffed, "Grandfather’s logs say he had to deal with a very frustrating human by the same name. If it weren’t for the fact that those logs are over a hundred years old, I’d swear it was the same damn human!"

"Go look in the mirror," Keitot gently suggested. "It could very well be the same ‘damn’ human. And if it is, then the odds of you winning an argument with him go down a bit. Oh, and the next time you do decide to scream at him, do it in private. There were three phasers drawn by the end of it."

"His mates thought I would attack him?"

"No, three of your House drew their phasers – aimed at you I might add. It seems Neal’s mates trust that he can get himself out of just about anything."

"Who…" she started only to have him cut her off.

"Mine was one of them my dear. I much preferred the idea of stunning you to finding out what Neal or his mates would do if you had actually attacked him."

"I’ll keep my claws off him," she promised. "But I’ll not make that promise to the rest of you!"

"As it should be," he agreed. "While he seems to be working more madness than sense into our repairs, this ship shows he must know things our engineers don’t."

"I’ll try to keep that in mind."


The next few days saw the Sharp Claw running on limited internal power; just enough coming from her temporary core to run the life support and begin recharging her depleted reserve power cells. When the three Zulus showed up to refuel the ‘Claw, Neal’s crew learned a little more about them.

"Why haven’t we seen these before now?" Zhanch asked. While just a little larger than one of the two seated Zulus, these lacked the cockpit and transporters, and appeared to have very limited sensors compared to their smaller counterparts.

"These are basically flying fuel cans," Neal told her. "And while it would only take a few of them to get the ‘Claw to a station, they’re not big enough to refuel the Folly in a reasonable manner."

"So how do you keep the Folly fueled?" she wondered.

"Several of her pods are nothing more than a collection of anti-matter containers with a small core for power. A little plumbing takes it to internal stores. As far as refueling? Father's Love swapped three loaded pods for four of our empties."

"And where did they get the loaded pods?"

"There are plenty of uninhabitable systems; I just set up a plant here and there. Whoever happens to be heading near one picks up pods for the rest of us."

"You told Boyce your facilities were out with your colonies.…"

"I just didn't tell him I had others closer to home," Neal admitted with a grin.

"One of these days you're going to second method one thing too many and we'll all be helping Weaver ‘sit’ on you," Zhanch warned.

Neal chuckled. "Until that day, I have work to do."

With plenty of fuel, the core was tested at higher levels to see if the ‘Claw could survive on her own until a heavy tug could arrive to drag her home for repairs. This included shields and weapons, some repaired and some taken from the Yuri. Neal noticed a marked increase in morale once the ‘Claws weapons were successfully fired, and her shields brought up to full strength.

Another piece of good cheer was the Zulu Neal had sent to the colony returning with news of the colony’s well being. Most of the news was positive, but they were looking forward to a resupply now that communications had been reestablished.


"Chief?" Tina quietly said once Neal had gotten something to eat. "I have a deity that wishes to speak with you."

"Go ahead and read it to me."

"I can’t. She wants to talk to you in holosuite one."

"Tell her I’ll be there momentarily," Neal said as he disposed of his dishes.

Holosuite one was empty when Neal entered, just the crosshatch pattern and the emitters at each junction, then the emitters faded from view. As Neal waited, a blur formed in the middle of the holosuite. It gained size and then form, and finally color. The deity before him was a little taller than an average Rakshani, her fur spotted rather than striped and her tail appeared thicker and much longer than a Rakshani. She stood with her head bowed and eyes closed, her wings draped around her like a cloak.

"I thank you for saving the Rakshani," she quietly said without opening her eyes.

"I’ve been helped by Rakshani before, so returning the favor seemed like the right thing to do," Neal pointed out.

"They are causing you more trouble than you expected," she suggested.

"True," Neal admitted. "But I would probably be doing the same in their place. Though a year may have passed, to them it’s been mere days since the battle and their losses."

"You wanted to strike them," the deity accused.

"I was tempted to ‘knock some sense’ into a couple of them," Neal agreed, "but it looks like their ‘Head of House’ is doing that for me."

"There is much anger burning in that one. She hides it well."

"They lost their crèche and far too many of her family. I’m only surprised that her control hasn’t slipped more than it has."

"It came close, human. If you had shown the least amount of fear when she roared at you, you would have died."

"I have faith in my protective systems."

"The Traveler won’t always protect you," she warned.

"I was referring to my computer’s safety protocols, not the whims of a deity."

"You make light of serious matters."

"If letting her scream at me gets enough of the anger out of her system that she can think things through, then I’m happy to let her scream."

"And what of me? Would you stand for me screaming?"

"If it will help, scream," Neal replied.

Screaming Deity by Sangluna

For a moment the deity continued to stand before him, then her hair started to lift as if from a static charge. The air became ionized as if a storm was coming, her hair fanning out more as a crackling sound became audible. Sparks were dancing from her form when her eyes opened and her wings swept wide. The scream was that of Bertif’s roar of anger, as well as that of a tortured soul that had been alone with her own thoughts for far too long. Not having mortal lungs to power her scream, it went on much longer than Bertif’s had, but Neal thought he heard it change to one of hope and challenge towards the end.

Neal waited in the deafening silence; her wings were down, but they no longer fully cloaked her. And while her eyes were still open, they seemed to be looking more inward. "Better?" he asked when she finally took notice of him.

"Surprisingly, yes," she admitted. "Do you also ‘scream’?"

Neal snorted. "For it to work for me I have to add a twenty pound sledge and a large piece of cast iron that I think would look better in a new shape." At her look of confusion, he added, "I sometimes feel the need to manually smash something."

"Ah, I understand. Much like Bertif clawing up the chair in the room you assigned her."

"We each have our breaking points, and our own methods of stress relief," Neal agreed.

"I will have to speak about this to those that came with you. Thank you for your time, Captain."

"You are quite wel…come," Neal had started, only to find the deity gone. "Tina, run a full system diagnostic on the holosuite system before letting anyone try to use it." The odor in the room suggesting to him that the deity might have pushed the system past its design limits.

"Aye chief," she replied as Neal left the suite. He still had things to do before he could think of calling it a night.


Three more days were required before Neal was satisfied that he had done all he could for the Sharp Claw and her crew. They shared one last meal before Gwendolyn left to chase down the Folly. Neal had left behind the two Zulus the deity had hijacked to serve as long-range eyes while they awaited rescue. Whether a deity remained behind wasn’t known.

 


Chapter 12  

 

Weaver sat in the modified ‘captain’s chair’ of the Folly, wondering how Neal made it look so easy. She was still discovering all the little details that went into running a freighter, and right now she was worried that she might have bitten off a little more than she could chew.

"Relax mom," her daughter told her from the navigation station, Holly’s budding powers letting her know just how ‘ill at ease’ her mother really was.

"She’s right," Longsock said from behind her. "Neal has taught them their posts well enough that all he does is tell them what he wants to happen and they know what to do." Not seeing his mate relax any, he added, "And it’s not like you don’t have Tess for backup."

"I know," Weaver finally admitted, "but it’s not the same when yours is the final say."

"This one’s what Neal would call ‘a walk in the park’," Tess assured her. "All we have to do is trade out one cargo pod with another. Neal confirmed the inventory before he left, and we’re just getting back an empty."

"Which you will scan before we take it," Quickdash said with a grin. "After all, we don’t want any stowaways."

"Nor any other surprises," Screamingwind added. "Mom’s told me about gravity mines and other methods of disabling and capturing ships."

There was no other traffic as they approached the station. Weaver had the teens use both Echo and Foxtrot, one to retrieve the empty as the other placed the replacement pod in the station’s now vacant port. A few pleasantries with the station and they were on their way, one down, more to go.


With Lighttouch away on Gwendolyn, mental training was put on hold, but that didn’t mean hys trainees were getting off easy. Both hy and Neal had left them plenty of chores and training material to work through in their absence. And of course there were other possible distractions.

Tauna had requested a holosuite for the day to practice her hunting skills; she didn’t want to be too out of practice when she returned from Chakona with Vanessa. As she hadn’t specified the terrain nor the beasts, she spent the first few hours learning the lay of this new land and where and what her potential targets might be. The area looked a bit overgrazed so some culling would probably be in order to help rebalance the land. Deer and wild boar tracks were plentiful, as were rabbit and squirrel. Deciding on bigger game, Tauna began following the tracks of a small herd of deer. Half an hour’s travel brought her in sight of the herd. A good-sized buck with eight does and three fawns made up the herd, but what caught Tauna’s eye was how badly one of the does was limping. Tauna moved slowly downwind of the little herd as she strung her bow and prepared to take down the lame doe. She was about to loose her arrow when the herd scattered, the buck thrashing wildly as blood poured from an arrow wound on his shoulder.

A coppery chakat was coming out of the bushes near the buck; shi was trying to aim another arrow at the wildly moving beast. Tauna muttered a curse before moving closer as well. She waited for the buck to rear up on his hind legs facing her before she fired her arrow into his heart. As the buck dropped, she turned on the chakat. "Just what the hell did you think you were doing?" she demanded, her voice harsher than expected in the heat of the moment.

"Tess told me you were hunting," shi said, a little surprised at Tauna’s anger.

"There’s a difference between hunting and just firing away at targets, Song," Tauna replied, still annoyed at the chakat.

"He shifted just as I fired."

"That wasn’t the problem," Tauna informed hir. "He was the last one you’d want to kill."

"I don’t understand," Windsong admitted, the surprise and confusion obvious in hir voice and expression.

"He was the only buck in this herd," Tauna explained, "so you just insured that there would be no more fawns from the does until they find another male."

"Then which one were you going to kill?" Windsong wondered.

"There was a lame doe; taking her down would have helped speed up the herd and given the others more to eat." Indicating the ground around them she added, "This field’s being overgrazed, but we don’t want to kill off the whole herd because other animals depend on them for food."

"Can ‘we’ try again?" Windsong asked hopefully as shi looked at the mess shi’d made.

"One of the nice things about holosuites are the instant resets," Tauna agreed with the beginnings of a smile. "Tess? Back us up fifteen minutes after we get back into hiding."

"Can do," Tess agreed as the buck and his blood disappeared from the ground.

"May I ask why my killing the buck upset you so much?" Windsong asked as they made their way back to where shi had fired hir shot.

"Sorry about that, but it’s just that I’m a trained forester," Tauna explained. "I was taking this test seriously, and the idea that we might have lost the entire herd to a foolish mistake hurt more than it should have."

Windsong nodded. "Like when I’m trying to hit a target, you were in the ‘zone’ and playing it for real. Tess, could you let the simulation run as if the deer can’t hear us? That way Tauna can explain things to me without having to stop or rewind the scene."

"Low talking is now safe," Tess informed them. "However, stepping on a twig will be heard by the herd."

"Thanks, Tess," Tauna acknowledged. "Now watch as they come into view," she told Windsong, "the fawns are staying close to their mothers, and the one with the limp is bringing up the rear. That’s the one I would take, this herd needs to be thinned if this area is going to be able to support them when winter comes."

"But there’s plenty of grass for them," Windsong objected.

"There may be plenty now," Tauna agreed, "but they will be working down what’s here, and there won’t be enough left when winter comes and buries everything in snow. Even culling one may not be enough, but I don’t want to change too much too fast."

"Since I flubbed my shot…" Windsong started as the lame one moved into range and gestured to Tauna to take over.

"No, Song, you go ahead and take the shot," Tauna said getting her own arrow ready. "Just remember, you don’t want her suffering any longer than needed, so a heart shot is preferred. I’ll stand ready if she needs a second shot."

The copper chakat nodded and slowly drew the arrow back and took aim. This time Windsong's arrow cut deeply between the ribs and the doe dropped with hardly a sound. The other deer fled a few steps in confusion before running out of sight as Tauna and Windsong stepped out from their cover. Windsong had just pulled hir arrow free of the doe when a growl came from the other side of the downed deer. A cougar snarled again as she hurried to the doe, trying to chase the chakat and foxtaur away from their kill.

Windsong stared at the huge cat for a moment before shi started notching hir bloody arrow, only to stop as Tauna touched hir shoulder. "Shoot only if she tries to attack us," the foxtaur vixen suggested.

"Don’t tell me you give away your kills," shi half teased while watching the large cat carefully.

"Normally no," Tauna agreed. "But if you look at where she came out of the trees, you’ll see why I’m inclined to let her keep the deer."

One by one, three little muzzles poked around two of the trees. They looked old enough to be weaned, but still much too young to fend for themselves. They now waited and watched to see if they would be eating today or not.

"Back away slowly," Tauna advised. "She has what she wants, so she should be willing to let us go as long as she doesn’t see us as a threat to her or her cubs."

"So if we hadn’t culled her, there’s a chance momma here would have," Windsong murmured as they backed away from the cougar, who now was standing with her forepaws on the doe, watching their every move.

"As a forester, I’m always looking for balance. In this case we weren’t really needed here, were we Tess?"

"You did save the cougar having to chase it down and drag the meal back to her cubs," Tess pointed out. "There was also a chance that one of the fawns might have been her target, it all depended on the moment."

"All I know is that I need to learn more about balance before I shoot at anything other than targets," Windsong admitted just as a soft rumble was heard from inside hir.  Shi gave an embarrassed smile before adding, "My stomachs are telling me we probably missed the main meal, but I’m game for trying to sneak something out of Stew’s kitchen if you are."

"Safer to steal that deer back from the cougar," Tauna chuckled, "but I’m game. Tess, end simulation please."

As the field and forest vanished around them, the two smiled at each other and headed towards the exit. Windsong snickered, "Tell you what, if Stew catches us, let me do the distracting while you grab enough to fill both our bellies. Right now I’m hungry enough to eat that simulated buck, raw with fur and all."

Tauna chuckled then looked back at Windsong before asking; "I’m curious – you hesitated for a moment when the cougar came out. That could have gotten you injured or killed you know, and why didn’t you try to ‘calm’ her? I thought chakats were good at empathy, and Clouds know the stories I’ve heard and the couple times I’ve felt your ‘loose cannon’ telepathy."

"I know, and the answer’s the same for both. My first response was to try and touch her mind and convince the cougar not to attack us."

"And?" Tauna asked.

"There wasn’t anything there for me to touch! I’d forgotten we were in a simulation, so there was no living mind for me to touch, feel, or ‘push’. That was also why I didn’t sense her before or during the attack." Windsong’s voice quieted and paused with a curious expression on hir face as they walked towards the exit.

Tauna smiled as she teased the other "Okay, I can’t resist; a half credit for your thoughts?"

Windsong shook hir head and laughed. "Sorry again, it’s just that for a moment, while I was staring into the cougar’s eyes, I couldn’t help but think that I could have been looking at myself in some alternate reality."

"Okay, now I know that you’re running on empty. Let’s go run the gauntlet of Stew’s Kitchen before you start getting really strange."


The next two stations the Folly visited were easily taken care of, but the one after that provided a break from the routine.

"That’s not our order," a male voice from the station stated once Echo was en route with the pod.

"This is the supply request your station broadcast and that the Folly had agreed to supply, at the offered price," Weaver replied, a little confused. All the other orders had been correct, and the station hadn’t contacted Folly to request any changes.

"We won’t accept the order without these items," the station stated, sending a list of over two hundred additional carriers of supplies.

"There will be an additional charge of…" Weaver started to say before she was cut off.

"No! That and the pod for the original price!" the voice growled.

Screamingwind held up her hand to get Weaver’s attention. Once the outgoing comm was muted, she said, "They’re playing a very old trick on you. You either lose time and credits giving them what they want, or you lose even more credits in the loss of the entire sale. Most ships have to fold as losing a few large sales can pull you under."

"But this isn’t ‘most ships’," Mike said with a chuckle. "With your permission, I’ll play some ‘hardball’ as Neal calls it."

At Weaver’s nod, Mike keyed up a private line to Echo. "Graysocks, Cindy? These guys are playing games with us. Reverse power and come to a stop. While I’m not reading any weapons, please keep the pod between you and the station just in case." As the shuttle pivoted its load and slowed, he reopened the comm line with the station. "I understand you’re wanting more than what was in your original supply request, is that correct?"

"Who’s this?" demanded the station.

"Night shift supervisor, Mike Hampton. And you are?"

"Tom Banks, station procurement agent."

"Well, tell me Tommy, how many ships have actually fallen for your little scam?"

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," Tom replied, sounding offended.

"Getting a cargo ship all the way out here, only to find the deal’s off if they don’t sweeten the pot for you. A little ‘shake down’ as my father calls it. As giving in to that sort of thing would set a bad precedent, I won’t be giving you anything extra. The order, as you posted it and for the price you offered to pay, take it or leave it."

"Get me your captain!" Tom snarled.

"My captain is indisposed, and you’ve already annoyed our first mate. You’re stuck with me, so is it a deal, or no deal?"

"I told you to get me your captain!" Tom was now bellowing.

"And his orders were for me to obey his first officer," Mike replied, still in good humor. "As Folly pays my wages and not you, I’ll be abiding by their orders and not yours. Oh, and be advised that I’ll be warning any and all ships that Folly does business with of your manner of ‘procurement’."

"You can’t do that! That’s libel!"

"It’s not libel if it’s true, and the way you’ve treated us so far says it is."

"That’s blackmail!" Tom shouted.

"No, it isn’t that either," Mike assured him. "I’ll be sending out that warning whether you take this order or not." After a full minute with no additional response from the station, Mike activated the comm again. "Bring it home Echo, this station appears to have been a waste of our time and fuel."

"Echo copies, returning now," Cindy replied as they started maneuvering the pod back towards the Folly.

The station remained silent as Echo reconnected to pod to the Folly. As Echo was moved back to its storage bay between the spheres, Mike said, "Seems not only did they never plan to play fairly with whoever brought out their load, they don’t think they need it badly enough to pay for the order." Turning to Weaver he added, "Do I send it just to Neal’s friends?"

Weaver frowned. "No, send it as a warning to all ports that Folly deals with, and include a recording of this aborted transaction. Add a recommendation that anyone thinking of dealing with them get paid in advance."

They were just about to jump to warp when a new comm call came in.

"Hey Neal! Is that offer still open?" a feline sounding voice asked.

With a raised eyebrow at Weaver, Mike replied, "Who is this please?"

"You’re not Neal," the voice said, sounding confused.

"No," Mike admitted. "I’m just part of his crew. Why?"

"Can I speak to Neal?"

"I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. Why do you need Neal?"

"Well, he kinda promised me a ride out of here if things turned to shit, and well … things turned."

"Tess?" Mike asked after muting the comm.

"This station has been going downhill for a while now. The voiceprint is a match for a feline named Jackie Chun, and Neal did offer her a ride if she needed one," Tess told them.

"Sounds like she thinks she needs one," Mike said. He waited for Weaver to nod approval before he reopened the channel. "Very well, Ms. Chun, how much time will it take for you to have your bags packed and ready to go?"

"Now!" came the almost frantic reply. "I had to bypass their security systems just to get this call out! They’ll be trying to force my door in the next minute or two."

"Keep your comm open if you can," Mike advised her. "Tess? Have a Zulu double back and get her."

Folly maintained her course but did not go to warp as the Zulu turned back to the station. There were several comm calls from the station demanding to know what the small vessel wanted; they grew more frantic when they detected it using its transporter. The Zulu was almost back to the Folly when one more communication came from the station. It was nothing more than a long string of profanity with someone in the background shouting something about a biohazard. The Zulu transported its cargo to an airlock before resuming its normally assigned position.

Almost everyone had gone to see their newest passenger; Mike following after he’d had Tess take them to warp.

He joined the others at the inner airlock doors, the Zulu having left their guest sitting on the deck, surrounded by her belongings. As she hadn’t had time to pack, the Zulu had transported the contents of her drawers to her lap and the second seat in the Zulu for the ride over. As Calmmeadow helped the Siamese cat up, Dusk started helping pick some of the things off the deck.

"Tess is bringing us a couple of containers for your possessions," Weaver informed her. "I’m Weaver, Neal’s second in command."

"Where is Neal?" Jackie asked.

"Out on a search and rescue mission," Calmmeadow told her. "He left us to do some of the ‘easy’ deliveries."

"Though he seems to have left us with a couple surprises, too," Weaver told the cat. "I’m afraid he didn’t leave me any instructions of what to do with you," she added as one of Tess’s remotes delivered a set of containers for the items still scattered about the airlock.

"Where are you bound?" Graysocks asked as she helped Jackie stuff the containers with her belongings.

"Anywhere," Jackie replied. "I was starting to think Hell would be a step up from there."

"What happened?" Graysocks asked.

"Just what everyone warned me would," Jackie admitted with a small growl. "There was a change of management several years back. They started by getting rid of some of the crew that had been there the longest and bringing in their friends to replace them. After that, the rest of us started having problems with getting paid … or getting messages out." She looked at each of them before continuing, "Thank you for stopping for me, I was starting to think I’d waited too long to escape."

"Why didn’t Neal pick you up the last time he was there?" Weaver wondered.

"I was still thinking things couldn’t get any worse," Jackie admitted.

"Our next major stop is Chakona," Weaver told her as the now-filled containers were placed on Tess’s remote, which then headed towards the living quarters without being asked.

"That’ll do nicely," Jackie replied before hesitating for a moment. "When Neal offered the ride, we never did get into payments…."

"Well, Jackie, Neal seems to like putting hitchhikers to work," Weaver told her with a grin. "What talents might you possess to help you earn your keep?"

"Or stave off boredom," Alex suggested as he and Cindy joined them.

"Anything. I’m trained in life support so anything from keeping the air clean to unplugging stopped pipes and drains."

Mike spoke up, asking, "The last transmission from the station wasn’t very pleasant. Know anything about it?"

Jackie shook her head. "No, I was talking to you, I found myself beamed out, then buried under my possessions before being dumped in here."

"Tess?" Mike asked.

"After I had collected Ms. Chun and her things, I lost access control of the Zulu for five point six seconds."

"Do you have a record of what happened during that time?" Weaver asked.

Tess was silent for a moment before replying, "Yes. It seems all the one-way valves between her room and the station’s first stage waste processing plant were reversed and the contents of the plant were forced into the room under pressure. When the station personal forced the door to her rooms they would have gotten back what they’d been flushing."

"Oh … shit …" Cindy half-muttered, trying not to snicker.

"That too," Mike added dryly. "Tess, make a note for Neal about this, I don’t want him getting blind-sided the next time he’s out this way."

"But I didn’t …" Jackie started to say.

Weaver waved off her concern. "We know it wasn’t you. We have our own imps and pranksters onboard. It seems one of them took an interest in how the station was treating you."

"Well," said a voice behind them, "if she likes playing with food, I’m getting where I could use a full-time galley wench or scullery maid."

Jackie laughed at Suzan in her ‘lick the cook’ apron that was showing the swell of the rabbit’s pregnant belly. "If it involves playing with real food, then I’m your girl!" she promised.

"Well, before I get to test drive you in the kitchen, this ship has another test you have to pass first," Suzan told her. "Cubs! Teens! Take this sacrificial lamb to the main holosuite! Good luck kitten," she added as the cubs started leading Jackie away.


Having passed her ‘cub exams’ Jackie found herself manning the hotplate the next morning for breakfast while Tauna and Windsong brought her up to speed on what was expected of guests on the Folly. Along with chores were alternate types of entertainment. While there were now plenty of holosuites for doing whatever you wanted, there were several ‘group’ activities that had caught on. Windsong headed sing-a-longs as well as story telling for the cubs. Tauna’s ceramics and pottery had really taken off with the cubs (and some of the older ‘cubs’), making and painting their own works of art, enough so that they were now using one of the larger holosuites, both to work on their art as well as display it in a ‘gallery’. As a little something she considered partial ‘payment’ for her ride, Tauna was also working her way through Folly’s crew, a figurine of each and every one of them.


The next station delivery on their list proved to contain yet another pair of distractions. The first was an older Folly style comm badge; the second was a ship that caught the eyes and fascination of the engineering trio.

The old Rakshani medical frigate looked like it belonged in a salvage yard, but as salvage or scrap was debatable. Its original twin warp engine setup had been changed to a strange-looking four-engine array, and they in turn appeared to have been mostly destroyed by some type of failure. The remains of the ship were docked next to a small, long-range Star Fleet shuttle.

"A hard drop-out of warp can’t do that type of damage," Holly protested as they had Tess scan the wreck. "Besides, those engines aren’t even positioned to bring up a proper warp field!"

"They got here somehow," Screamingwind pointed out. "If any of the engineering crew survived, we may get to ask them."

"Did Weaver okay station leave?" Quickdash asked, hir eyes still glued to the readouts.

"Yes. Since we’re not leaving them any pods, we have to wait for them to be unloaded. Mike said we should be here at least six hours," Holly said as she saved the data to her PADD.

"Then let’s go before something changes," Quickdash agreed as shi shut down the scanner. "Don’t forget your phasers, preset to medium stun."


While the engineers made preparations to see what they could find out about the strange ship, Tess was signaling the comm badge she’d located.

The comm badge vibrated a few times, and then started beeping quietly when there was no response. As the badge had not been locked, Tess opened a channel to it. Slow, heavy breathing suggested that her party was asleep. Tess debated a moment before selecting the William Tell Overture. The breathing became erratic after a minute, but it was still another full minute before the heavy breather choked himself to wakefulness.

"Tess?" asked a very tired and confused male voice.

"Hello, Doug. Sorry to wake you, but we'll be leaving in a few hours and I thought you’d like to say ‘hello’."

"Just the parties I was looking for. Put Dad on," Doug requested as he tried to clear the cobwebs from his head.

"He’s unavailable," Tess informed him.

"You woke me up, you can wake him up too," he groused as he started to roll over.

"He may be awake, but he isn't here," Tess replied, only to hear a thud and a groan.

A little more awake now, Doug slowly picked himself off the floor. "What do you mean he's not there? Where is he?"

"Out on a search and rescue mission."

"Without you? Surely you didn't let him just take off in Charlie or Delta."

"No, he took Gwendolyn," Tess told him.

"Who or what is a Gwendolyn?"

"You've been away a while," Tess quietly said. "Gwendolyn is Neal’s newest ship. Have you been in contact with any of your siblings?"

"Nope, just got back from a long mission out in the middle of nowhere*… Why?"
              *(See ‘The Three Ships’ by Daniel Davis)

"Then you’re in for a few surprises," Tess warned him. "Get dressed, I don't think you'll want to miss this."

"Alright, alright, give me a minute," Doug said as he fumbled for his shorts.

It was then that Tess heard a second voice mutter sleepily.

"Bring your friend if you dare," Tess added as she dropped the connection, the engineering trio seeming to have reached their goal.


The trio’s target – or targets in this case, were easy to spot. They were sitting in the station’s main dining area, uneaten meals in front of them as they argued over a list they were going over. The list was of things Folly was offering for sale over and above what had already been sold to the station. While not really hungry, the kids each ordered a snack and sat nearby to eavesdrop.

"They’ve got Ester Mark 3’s, and after what happened to the Mark 2’s…" said a skunktaur in female mode.

Hys counterpart was also a skunktaur, but in male mode. "First, they’re only offering three and we need four; second, we don’t know if a larger field would have made any difference; and third, we can’t afford what they’re asking for them. Never mind replacing the AFU…"

The other sighed, interrupting hym, "We can’t really afford to get towed back to Chakona, and our funds won’t last forever sitting here. What do you suggest? That we give up?"

Hys companion grinned, "No, I don’t want to give up on this any more than you do. Tell you what, let’s send a message back to them telling them what we’re looking for. They may have a few things that they didn’t bother to list for sale."

"We’ve got a mess of Ester Mark 2s and 3s, as well as several Ackins models," Quickdash commented from the next table. At the skunktaurs’ startled looks shi added, "We don’t show everything we have because Dad uses them for his own projects."

"Are you saying you may be able to sell us what we need?" the male mode skunktaur asked, trying to not sound too hopeful.

"I’m saying we may be able to work out a deal," Quickdash corrected. "Part of that deal will be just what you were trying to do. There’s no way you got anywhere using them as standard warp engines in that configuration."

The male mode skunktaur started to snap off a rejoinder when hys companion touched hys arm. "Don’t say it," hy warned. Looking back to the other table, hy said, "Hydro was about to ask what cubs would know about warp engine configurations, however I sense that you might know more than would be expected. I am Terra, House Redpaw, and I’m what you’d call a telepath. My cohort in trouble is House Blackpaw which is astral-projection."

"Good," Holly said, "we have a beginner astral-projectionist on board. Perhaps you can give hir some pointers."

"So you’ll give us a lift?" Hydro asked.

"Let’s hear what you have to ‘trade’," Screamingwind suggested as they joined Hydro and Terra at their table.


Now fully awake and wondering just what the hell was going on, Doug had quickly dressed. Getting his tired friend up was a different story; Chakat Digs in Dirt was in no mind nor mood to get up. Not that Doug really blamed hir; they had only docked their small shuttle a few short hours ago. Digs had not been sleeping well of late, and Doug was starting to wonder if it had more to do with the lack of chakat companionship than it did with the cramped shuttle. He had been relieved to find the station had boasted no fewer than six chakats, as well as a pair of visiting skunktaurs. Digs had started to act more relaxed almost as soon as they had docked, and he was sure shi was asleep before shi actually hit the oversized bed. He was struggling now to get hir up for the fourth time when the door announcer went off. Letting Digs again curl up into a semi-ball, he went to answer the door.

"I’m a little busy right now..." he started to say, until he got an eyeful of what was blocking the doorway. The two chakats grinned at his confused look. It didn't help that he'd never seen either of them before, nor the fact that they were each wearing what looked like a different style of Folly comm badge.

From his five foot ten height, the Siamese colored cat found himself having to look up as the larger chakat said, "Hello, big brother. Tess told us you were having problems getting your roommate to rise and shine."

"Tess talks too much," Doug said as he allowed the chakats to enter. "You have me at a disadvantage," he added as the chakats stepped up to Digs’ bed.

"Sometimes," Windsong agreed as shi and Shadowcrest mentally examined the sleeping chakat. "I’m Chakat Windsong, daughter of Silverpelt and Fireglow, and not one of your new sisters. Though this mountain of fur is, say hello to Shadowcrest. What happened to hir? It feels like shi let hirself get way too in need."

Doug nodded, "I thought that’s what was happening, but Digs kept insisting that shi was fine. I should probably warn you, shi’s been treated for a drug dependency to some stuff that shi used to use to help suppress hir needs during heat and rut."

"Which would have made hir even more sensitive to heat and rut without the drugs," Shadowcrest commented as shi gently placed hir hand on Digs’ shoulder. "That and it also seems to have made hir much more susceptible to missing other empathic minds for extended periods. Why would anyone do something like this to themselves?"

Doug sighed. "From what I’ve learned, shi thought it got in the way of hir work."

"Sounds like someone we know," Windsong commented as shi physically and mentally watched Shadowcrest carefully determine Digs’ state. "Though his tricks are all mental."

After a minute Shadowcrest said, "Shi seems stable enough, just exhausted." Turning to Doug, shi asked, "Are the two of you joining us on Folly?"

Doug cocked his head before replying, "Are you two going to explain how Folly’s here, but Neal isn’t?"

Gently rolling Digs over, Shadowcrest said, "In a nutshell? One of our passengers was from a ship that had gone missing. Neal thought he had a lead and went looking. His last message said he’d found something and would be delayed rejoining us."

"And just how did Folly end up with passengers and I’m assuming a crew? Dad’s been traveling solo for quite a while now."

"I understand someone thought Neal was lonely, and he didn’t discover two carriers worth of furs before it was too late to take them home," Windsong said with a grin. "I heard that’s how he ended up with your bunch, too. He didn’t know you were there until it was too late, and by the time he could unload you, you had bonded."

"Something like that," Doug admitted.

"So try to not act so surprised that he did it again," Shadowcrest laughed softly, as to not disturb Digs. "Help me get hir up on my back, I think it will be easiest if I just carry hir to the shuttle."

Doug found himself following the chakats out of the room. Shadowcrest walked slowly and carefully, trying to not let Digs shift too much on hir wide back. Digs had been placed straddling Shadowcrest’s back, hir arms held around hir upper torso and hir head resting on hir shoulder. Windsong had put on Digs’ saddlebags to leave hir arms free in case Shadowcrest needed help with hir passenger, leaving Doug to carry his own kit and bringing up the rear. They only had one near incident; Digs’ rump had started to slide to one side, but Shadowcrest had quickly brought it back in line with hir tail.

As they reached the docking area, Doug said, "I’ll need to bring our shuttle along."

"No problem," Shadowcrest said. "With Gwendolyn gone, bays four and eight are available. Or, if it’s small enough we can tuck it into a bay with one of the other shuttles."

"Four! We need bay eight!" a voice from behind them called out.

Turning, Doug found himself staring at another group coming from one of the other corridors. The comparison continued, as the oldest ones in the group looked as confused as he felt. A pair of adult skunktaurs were being led by a teenage Caitian, and foxtaur and chakat youths, the chakat being the one that had spoken.

"And what would you three be needing with a bay?" Shadowcrest asked, turning carefully with hir load.

"Because we can use the holo system to help repair the ship these guys busted up," Holly replied. "Unless your friends broke their ship, too?" she half asked, sounding almost hopeful to Doug’s ears.

"Did you get Weaver’s approval?" Shadowcrest asked.

"You should talk!" Quickdash quickly responded. "I don’t remember you asking Neal for approval before dragging Stew onboard! Do your new friends know you’re only twelve?" shi demanded, hoping to distract hir from the other issue.

Shadowcrest just grinned. "The cat behind us just happens to be Doug Foster, one of Neal’s first set of brats, and my passenger is a friend of his. Now, what’s your excuse?"

The twins were silent for a moment, trying to come up with a suitable response. Screamingwind spoke first. "They had a little misadventure with their ship. We were hoping to offer them a ride and some repair work in exchange for data on the drive system they were experimenting with."

"‘Their ‘ship’ being the one out there that looked like it had already been half-fed to a shredder?" Windsong asked, having wondered why the station had a piece of scrap tied to it.

"It uses a type of warp, but it’s not warp," Holly tried to explain.

"This ought to be fun to watch," Windsong chuckled. "Tess, ask the others if they want to buy tickets to the explaining of this mess to Weaver."

"Weaver wants to know how much the tickets are, something about buying one for Longsock," Tess replied.

"You weren’t suppose to tell her," Holly moaned.

"Timeout," Doug didn’t quite demand as he stepped in between them. "Who’s Longsock? Or Weaver for that matter?"

Mike was just coming from the corridor leading to the docking bays and surprised Doug by answering his question. "Weaver is Folly’s first officer, and with Neal elsewhere she’s in command. Longsock is one of her mates. My name’s Mike by the way, just another of your ‘new’ younger siblings." Turning to the trio and their skunktaur followers, he chuckled. "The way you three left told us you were up to something, and you know how the ‘powers that be’ love to know when things are about to get ‘interesting’. Don’t worry," he added with a grin. "Weaver has already agreed that we can at least give your new friends a lift back to Chakona. As far as fixing their wreck, anything major will have to wait for Neal’s return and approval."

Doug was about to ask another question when Digs murmured in hir sleep. Instead, he followed Mike and the others to the shuttle docking area.

As the station was still unloading the first pod, Mike let the engineers use Echo to ferry the badly damaged ‘Fractals’ over to the Folly, while Doug followed in his smaller ‘Fleet shuttle.

The Folly’s eight bays made an octagon around the connection between the two spheres. Four of them were quite large, the other four much smaller. The smaller ones held Neal’s shuttles, while two of the large bays held Charlie and Delta in opposing bays. While Neal had always claimed it was for balance, Doug had often wondered if the staggering was more to protect at least one of each type of vessel in the event the Folly was attacked or damaged.

He watched as the ‘kids’ parked their new project in bay eight before docking Echo at one of the second sphere’s docking ports to offload their passengers. Doug then circled Folly to park his own shuttle in bay four.


Once aboard, he found things were indeed different from his last visit to Folly. A handful of cubs were the first to greet him after docking his shuttle. They were leading him to a room just as Shadowcrest and Windsong were leaving the neighboring one. Doug looked into the room they’d just left; Digs was curled up in the middle of the oversized bed. He set his bags next to hirs before giving hir head a gentle stroke and then turning to the cubs. "I don’t want hir to wake up alone and in a strange place. Would one of you like to stay with hir for me?"

The cubs ‘debated’ among themselves until Shadowcrest said, "No need to fight over hir. You can all help keep hir company … quietly!" shi quickly added as they gleefully charged into the room.

Doug followed Windsong and Shadowcrest into the lounge to meet Weaver, Longsock, and even more of his ‘new’ siblings.

After enough greeting hugs to make him wonder if this was such a good idea, Doug found himself the center of attention.

"So what are you doing out in the boondocks, carting around an overtired chakat?" Weaver asked as Jackie and Suzan rolled in snack carts.

"So what is Folly doing out here with all of you and not Neal?" he countered.

"It’s a long story," she warned.

"I appear to have the time," Doug said with a grin. "I was already told that he’s out on a search and rescue, but there seems to be a lot more going on."

"Well," Weaver said, "it all started when Neal was loading cargo from Bright Hope …"


Digs in Dirt woke slowly, feeling that shi was in that half-asleep state that always felt so good. Shi shifted slightly to hug Doug, only to have it feel like he had split into two. Another wiggle on hir back brought hir awake in a rush. Shi was surrounded by four little chakat cubs, all of which started climbing all over hir, each wanting a hug.

"You’re not suppose to wake hir up!" a fifth and older dark gray cougar patterned cub admonished from the doorway.

"Shi just woke up!" the small red and black tiger striped cub behind hir retorted.

Looking around, Digs was fairly sure that this wasn’t the room shi’d fallen asleep in with Doug. "Where am I?" shi asked, not sure shi’d get a useful answer from the cubs.

"You on Folly!" the one still hugging hir said. "The big cat told us we can sleep with you."

"And where is Doug?" Digs wondered.

"We’ll take you to him!" the cub at the door promised.

Finding hir bags next to Doug’s by the bed, Digs dug out a top to wear before letting the cubs drag hir out of the room. A short trip through the corridors had them in a galley where shi found Doug enjoying a meal with over a dozen other furs. Shi was led over to a taur pad already beside him before the cubs dispersed to find their own meals.

Doug noted hir questioning look, and gave hir a small grin. "We’ve been shanghaied, Digs. Seems Folly found us, but for the first time in recorded history my father’s not on board."

"Where does that leave us?" Digs asked.

"As guests," a foxtaur vixen told hir. "I’m Weaver, and we’ll introduce the rest of the group once you’ve had something to eat. Doug’s told us a little about you two, most of which was covered by ‘top secret – ask something else’."

"Some of it has been," Digs admitted. "Though with the hints Doug’s been giving me, I want to have a little ‘chat’ with his ‘dad’."

"As Doug just said, Neal’s not here right now," Weaver told hir, "but the rest of us would love to sit in on your quizzing him. We get to learn more about him every time he bumps into his past."

"It’s not always pleasant," Doug commented.

"We know," Weaver admitted. "We met some of your siblings along the way." A little quieter she added, "We also ran into a group that wanted to kill us and take Folly. We got a glimpse of just what he will do to protect his own."

Digs looked around at all the somber expressions before muttering, "I take it he goes too far?"

"Depends on who you ask," Doug replied, having seen how the topic was bothering the others. "From the outside or after the fact it might look like overkill, but in the thick of it, I haven’t seen anyone else step up with a better idea."

"But you still resent him for that," Shadowcrest stated, feeling the conflicting emotions coming from the cat.

Doug gave hir a sour look before saying, "For a long time I did. I don’t think I do anymore, but some things can take a long time to unlearn."

‘It’s okay," Shadowcrest replied, "I screwed up and tried to force Desertwind to accept him."

Doug was unable to hold back a bark of laughter. "I bet that was a hell of a show!"

Digs on the other hand looked concerned. "You tried to force someone to like him?" shi asked, not quite believing hir ears.

Windsong moved in to comfort Shadowcrest. Hugging hir upset friend shi said, "Lighten up on hir, shi was just trying to help."

"And I know my sister can be as stubborn as my dad. Part mule, the both of them," Doug commented. "If you were pushing ideas at Windy, I assume you’re a telepath. What’s your rating?"

Windsong chuckled. "We’re still trying to find out. Our skunktaur instructor is with Neal, but hy thinks Shady’s at least a strong T4, possibly much higher."

A skunktaur in female mode chuckled. "From what I have already felt from your engineers, I think your Quickdash already meets the requirements for T4, and shi hasn’t hit puberty yet," Terra commented.

"Don’t remind me," Weaver mock groaned. "Shi and Holly are getting where they know what I am going to say before I do."

Grinning at her mother, Holly piped up, "We knew you were going to say that!"

"No we didn’t," Quickdash fired back, also grinning.

Weaver stuck her tongue out at them. "Just wait until your father gets home," she threatened.

The other skunktaur looked interested at that. "What would their father do?" Hydro wondered out loud.

"Burn their tails off," Windsong replied with a slight blush at the memory. "He doesn’t have much of a ‘T’ rating, but he can project a thought strong enough to make someone reading him feel what he wants them to feel."

"You should know," Cindy laughed. At the curious looks from their guests, she added, "The blushing copper cat over there has been both burned and lit on fire by Neal. Tell us Song, which did you find more embarrassing?"

Windsong’s blush only got stronger before shi hid hir face and shi mumbled something into Shadowcrest’s chest fur. Noticing that all their new guests were eyeing them with open speculation, Shadowcrest ‘pushed’ a moment’s worth of the feelings shi’d felt from Windsong that evening in Earth orbit.

Terra chuckled as hy asked, "Did he really broadcast it that strongly?"

Cindy was the one who replied, "Lighttouch told us Neal has very little power, so what we had felt was Song receiving the feeling from Neal and then re-broadcasting it for the rest of us. I think what really embarrassed hir was when hir parents on the ground and neighboring ships picked up hir broadcast."

"And it was Dad’s fault?" Doug asked. "I don’t remember him pulling that on us."

Shadowcrest smiled. "Lighttouch thinks a couple of things are combining to give Neal more sensitivity and power. One is all the time he’s spent around and trying to outfox other sensitive minds, the other is named Firestorm. Shi’s a chakat cub that bonded with him when he rescued hir, part of that kill or be killed we were talking around."

Doug nodded. "Tess? Would you build up a synopsis of what all I’ve missed? I think it would be easier on everyone if I just did a little reading."

"You sure you won’t want a little moral support?" Shadowcrest asked.

"Thanks, but no. If he’s done something so severe that he can shock me, then I don’t think you guys would be sitting here calmly talking about him. Tess? Does he have anything ‘blocked’?

"No, Doug, all current records are in the clear," Tess replied.

"So he does hide things from the kids," Weaver commented.

Doug chuckled. "Perhaps not quite the way you think. He most often hides pieces that won’t make any sense by themselves, only to unhide them once all the pieces are in place. There’s another cargo ship out there named Maverick that he served on board many years before my group. From their ship’s log, the Captain’s daughter was kidnapped while they were on a fairly sleazy station. Seems Dad went hunting as a slaver looking for a new furry pet." Looking around, he noticed he was only shocking those that hadn’t been there long; the others seemed to realize that Neal would do whatever he thought needed doing. He added, "The log showed that when some of the crew caught up with him, he had rescued not one but four, and had taken one of the slavers as well."

"I didn’t remember seeing anything about it," Weaver admitted.

"That was ‘BT’ – Before Tess, so not in her records," Doug told her. "I only found out because of some digging I did after a side comment by one of their crew suggested Maverick had a longer history with Dad than I did."

"This sounds like some of my digs," Digs-in-Dirt commented. "The more you find, the more questions you end up with."

Weaver was looking thoughtful. "I wonder what we would find if we asked each of the ships in Neal’s little group for their records of him? And the stations he trades with?"

Doug grinned. "Good luck with that. Most of those ships and stations owe Neal, they won’t betray him…. Though… maybe if you hit them all at once – and they all know you’re asking the others – you might just get them curious enough to consider it."

"We may need help from his first set of brats," Suzan said smiling at Doug. "Some of those ships and stations are ’Fleet and ’Corps run. I wonder what juicy tidbits they may have tucked away."

"Shady?" Windsong asked, disturbing their conversation. Shadowcrest didn’t appear to even be breathing; hir eyes had a glassy stare to them as if shi was seeing something the rest of them could not.

Holly and Quickdash also approached their big sister. Close, but not touching hir, Quickdash murmured, "Wow, shi’s in deep." Shi turned as shi felt Terra reaching out to Shadowcrest mentally. "Don’t! Give hir a minute," shi asked.

Terra honored the request, asking, "Have you seen hir like this before?"

Holly nodded. "Yes, though normally not this long. I know you were told about hir getting overloaded right after shi was processed. Well, shi seems to have a bit of Neal in there with hir, shi gets flashes of his memories with the right stimulus."

At that point Shadowcrest drew a shuddering breath before dropping to hir mat shivering.

Windsong, Quickdash, and Holly each laid a paw on hir, pushing calm. After a minute Shadowcrest’s breathing steadied and shi got back up. Looking at each of them in turn, shi seemed hesitant when shi said, "Perhaps we should just allow that Neal has had a checkered past and let it go at that."

"You found some more of his memories," Quickdash suggested.

"No, I got to live through one of his nightmares," Shadowcrest countered. Shi shivered again before continuing, "In it Neal’s on trial. Any crime you can think of, he’s done it at one time or another. His nightmare doesn’t consider that he may have been fighting for his life or the lives of others, just that he committed the crimes."

"You are afraid digging up the past will hurt him," Terra stated, still feeling the chakat’s unease.

Shadowcrest slowly nodded. "A mind can only take so much before it goes crazy. Neal has been pushed there and beyond a few times… When he feels like he’s losing it, he runs, more to protect those he cares for than for his own good."

Doug said into the silence, "Let me guess – his last ‘fear of losing it’ attack was about forty years ago."

Shadowcrest turned to look him in the eye and Doug shivered at something he felt in those eyes. Now he actually believed that there might be a piece of Neal in there. Hir eyes softened as shi got hirself fully under control. Shaking hir head shi gave him a small smile. "He was feeling ‘off’, but he didn’t completely lose it that time," shi told him. "He had just gotten his ‘brats’ out of the nest and he felt the strong need for a ‘walkabout’."

"He was feeling the walls close in?" Doug asked.

Shadowcrest gave him a small smile before singing:

"I'm a cosmopolitan sophisticate
Of culture and intelligence
The culmination of technology
And civilized experience

But I'm carrying the weight of all the useless junk
A modern man accumulates
I'm a statistic in a system
That a civil servant dominates

And all that means is that I'm running on ice
Caught in the vise so strong
I'm slipping and sliding, cause I'm running on ice
Where did my life go wrong?"

          (from Billy Joel’s Running on Ice)

Digs snickered at the look Doug wore when Shadowcrest stopped singing. "It seems you are like your father as well – you like to get away from others."

"So why am I carting you around?" Doug wondered.

"Perhaps for the same reason Neal is carting us around," Weaver answered. "No man, or fur, is an island."

"Or perhaps they’re both gluttons for punishment," Cindy said with a chuckle.

Doug saw Shadowcrest open and then close hir mouth without saying a word. He half nodded, there was punishment and then there was punishment. Some that was done to you, some you accepted as being deserved, some you took for others, and some that was self-inflicted. With a small smile, he moved the discussion to safer topics, like his father now having almost enough mates to keep him out of trouble. He noted the coppery colored Windsong gently lean against the much larger Shadowcrest before squeezing hir hand and whispering something into a gray ear.


While Hydro and Terra found themselves spending most of their time with Folly's engineers, Windsong also found time to use their knowledge of their skunktaur abilities to learn more of hir own powers. Terra added another point of view on telepathy and helped fill some of the gaps Lighttouch had not fully covered before hy left with Neal. On the other paw, Hydro gave hir a major boost in hir astral-projection abilities. As Hydro had a much more playful attitude, this carried over to hys methods of training.

Weaver walked into one of the smaller lounges just as Shadowcrest lifted a small ball out of a bucket and bounced it off the floor and at Windsong, who moved just far enough to catch it in hir mouth. Weaver was about to suggest that they not give the cubs any ideas when, without spitting out the first ball, Windsong caught a second. "Windsong!" she exclaimed.

Having not noticed her come in, both Shadowcrest and Windsong jumped, and over a dozen of the little balls seemed to fall from somewhere within Windsong's torso.

Looking carefully at both of them, Weaver dryly commented, "I take it only one of you is really here."

Shadowcrest looked over to where Windsong's illusion wasn't holding together as well as it had been. "Hydro and Terra are with hir, adding their support, and we were trying to see how many of hir abilities shi could maintain at one time. Shi's easily distracted at this point."

"So I see," Weaver agreed with a grin at the balls still rolling around, "but please don't let the little ones see you eating things we tell them not to put in their mouths!"

"Tess was going to warn us if any of them were heading our way," Windsong mentally said, "I just forgot to have her warn me of anyone ‘else’."

"I take it you can't ‘throw’ your voice?" Weaver asked.

"In theory shi could," Shadowcrest said, "but it takes a lot of work to vibrate the air just right."

"Sooo rueee," an almost ghostly voice whispered from behind Weaver as Windsong's image disappeared completely.

At Weaver's raised eyebrow, Shadowcrest smiled as shi added, "And shi's still practicing on hir aim."

"And how was shi hiding all these balls?" Weaver asked as she picked up one that had stopped by her foot.

"Shi was maintaining a ‘bowl’ shaped field to contain them once shi ‘swallowed’ them," Shadowcrest explained. "My changing the angle of each ball was to make hir work harder at keeping everything in sync, though shi still has a long way to go on hir telekinesis."

"Still, shi’s already come a long way from Nova’s bowl of fruit," Weaver pointed out.

"It always helps to have someone with the ability show you the ropes. With luck shi will find someone to help with hir telekinesis," Hydro sent as hy appeared before her. When Weaver tossed her ball at hym, Hydro made to swat it, but it went right through hys hand. "I don't have hir telekinesis," hy reminded her with a grin.

"I thought you didn’t have hir telepathy either," Weaver remarked with a raised eyebrow.

"As I’m still in contact with Terra, hy’s relaying each of our thoughts to the other," Hydro explained as hy disappeared.

"Neat trick," Weaver admitted to Shadowcrest. "You know Song and Hydro are going to get blamed for any non-holosuite ‘ghost’ sightings we have around the ship."

Shadowcrest grinned in agreement. "And Windsong can be anything you thought you saw, heard, or felt. And shi’s getting better with practice."

A soft mental chuckle echoed in their minds as Windsong reformed hir body and smiled at both of them. "In a way, I could cheat a little by doing this..." The image's mouth moved in time with hir mental comment before shi shrugged sadly.  "But it's not the same as actually speaking as even a non-telepath would soon realize there was no true sound to match the voice they’re hearing.  But I’m going to keep working on it."


It was late into Folly’s ‘night’, but Digs in Dirt was still up and still researching hir latest ‘find’. While most archeological digs required getting one’s paws dirty, shi was still immaculate several days into this ‘dig’, for this time it was data shi was mining.

Tess routinely gathered the local news and information at each port she visited, information that was then locked as ‘read only’ and not changed by any ‘updates’ that might have come later. This was giving Digs not only the original word of events, but what had later been changed with hints of why. Shi was so engrossed in the records that Tess had amassed during a dispute between the Federation and the Faleshkarti over a newly discovered habitable planet, that when hunger struck, shi had simply carried hir PADD to the dining room. Reading while shi ate, Digs completely missed the byplay between the rabbit and cat in the kitchen. Fortunately for hir, being a guest that hadn’t yet been told the ‘rules’ of the dining area, shi was allowed to miss having hir snack ‘spiced up’.

Digs was so immersed in hir reading that shi never returned to the lounge, but remained lying on a taur pad in the dining room, the others quietly getting what they wanted and then leaving hir to hir reading. The slight shifting of the ship as it dropped from warp and then resumed a few minutes later also went unnoticed by the brown chakat.

The door to the corridor opened yet again, but this time shi was not allowed to ignore it, as a cub shi hadn’t seen before got between hir and hir reading. Shi was getting ready to gently push the cub out of hir way when shi discovered said cub had been working on the fasteners to hir top. They both looked up when a voice admonished "You’re supposed to ask for permission first, Stormy."

A female Rakshani laughed at the human that had spoken before saying, "Stormy knows what shi wants and when shi wants it, Neal."

"Hope springs eternal, Dessa," Neal replied before turning back to Digs. "Sorry about that, but my daughter loves giving ‘milk checks’ to new herms and females."

"No worse than the teens around here dragging me away from my research for what they claim is ‘therapeutic’ sex," Digs complained.

"I wasn’t aware they needed therapy, sex or otherwise," Neal commented. "By the way, I’m Neal Foster."

"Chakat Digs in Dirt, daughter of Chakats Summer Moon and Tailcatcher."

"Professor Digs-in-Dirt, I thought I’d heard somewhere," Neal commented with a smile.

Shi frowned up at him as shi said, "Just Digs, unless you want me calling you Captain the whole time I’m here."

"Just Digs it is," Neal agreed with a grin. "And what’s this about therapy?"

Digs was saved from answering for a moment when Stormy finished hir milk check and gave hir a hug and a lick-kiss across hir muzzle. As the cub climbed off hir to find other entertainment, shi looked back at Neal. "Your son insisted on telling them about a condition I’m recovering from."

Neal looked quizzically at the chakat before him before asking, "Are you telling me they forced themselves on you?"

"No," shi admitted, "but they keep offering to ‘help’, and it’s disrupting my research."

"Which is what got hir in trouble in the first place," Tess told them. "Shir Digs in Dirt’s work comes before hir body’s needs. Doug has warned us of what to expect and we do what we can to keep hir out of trouble."

"I can manage myself just fine, thank you!" Digs snapped.

"No, you can’t," Tess replied. "You are two days away from your female peak and already you’ve been trying to go back to using drugs to counter your body’s needs."

Digs’s jaw dropped. "How’d you know?" shi whimpered.

"Because she sees all and knows all – and only tells others what’s needed," Shadowcrest said from the door as shi and Windsong came in. "Tess detected the drugs you got past Doug and we had her replace them with placebos. You will not fall back into abusing yourself, Digs, not on this ship anyway."

Neal didn’t say anything as Shadowcrest and Windsong sandwiched the older chakat between them, lending hir their support whether shi wanted it or not. Digs tried to read hir PADD, but after a moment shi surrendered and leaned into their support.

As Shadowcrest placed the PADD to the side, Neal finally said, "Sorry, Digs, no one’s allowed to suffer alone if others can help. To be honest, I’d be ashamed of my kids if it were otherwise."

"Say goodnight, Digs," Windsong suggested as they got up.

"Goodnight Digs," Digs muttered as shi allowed hirself to be led towards Windsong’s room.

Neal smiled as they left. "Who’s where, Tess?" he asked once the door had closed.

"Your bunny needs you the most," Tess replied. "Suzan’s starting to fear she’s getting too round for you to be interested in her."

Neal snorted softly. "She don’t know me so good, do she? Just more of her to love."

‘She’s in the cub room tonight," Tess warned.

"And I’ll join her there after I have a snack," Neal agreed. "It was an eventful trip, but it’s good to be home."

As he ate, Tess updated him on some of the things that had transpired while he had seen to the Sharp Claw. When she got to the skunktaurs and their little experiment, Neal had asked for a PADD containing what data she had so far. Half an hour later, Tess had to remind him he was suppose to be sleeping with Suzan and the cubs.

Neal was able to sneak into the cubs’ room and clean up in the bathroom without waking any of them, or so he thought. When he came out, Suzan was still asleep on her side, surrounded by wide-eyed cubs who moved to let him squeeze in between them, which of course woke Suzan.

"Welcome home," she whispered. "You didn’t give us quite enough time to destroy Folly."

Neal softly chuckled. "She’s survived my first set of brats and all I’ve put her through, so you guys didn’t stand a chance." Giving her swollen tummy a gentle caress, he added, "A little birdie told me you’re afraid of how big you’re getting."

He felt her give a shiver before saying, "I’m getting where I need more and more help in the kitchen. I’m not carrying my weight anymore."

"Idiot rabbit," Neal softly muttered as he tightened his hug on her. "You may still think you and Weaver’s little ‘trick’ in front of Boyce and family forced me to accept you, but you’re wrong. You are a part of this family until you decide you can’t stand me and mine any more. As to that expanding belly of yours, I agreed to be the mate of a cheerful bunny – not a skinny thing that thinks her looks and cooking were my only interests in her," he said before looking over her head where another pair of eyes watched in the near darkness. "Darkstreak, if you or any of your sisters feel Stew going hungry, you are to tell me." Looking back to Suzan he added, "The punishment will be you eating a whole banana split with Moonglow ice-cream."

"You wouldn’t force me to eat myself sick," she countered.

"You’re right, I wouldn’t," Neal admitted. "But the ice-cream’s a tastier treat than what I will force feed you if I do catch you going hungry." At her raised eyebrow he said, "We have crates of concentrated emergency taur ration bars. A mere four-ounce bar contains over six thousand calories. One bar and some water can keep an active taur or Rakshani going all day. So… you going to eat like a good little bunny?" he teased.

"I’m going to want to lose a bit of this after the twins are born," she insisted.

"That will be then, this is now," Neal countered. "And we both know you can balance your hunger against your calorie input, so behave."

"Yes, dear," she meekly replied before snuggling her head against his chest.

Neal waited a few minutes for her to fall back to sleep before carefully reaching for the PADD he had brought in with him. He thought he heard a half giggle from a kitten, but he could see no eyes glowing back at him in the dim light.

 


Chapter 13  

 

It being a proven fact that pregnant females (and herms) have smaller bladders than non-pregnant ones, Suzan was awake again well before ship’s morning, only to find Neal still cuddling her, his PADD not quite resting on the top of her head. She considered surprising him with a tickle attack before deciding that not only would she lose the fight, but that it would most likely involve them having to change the bedding. Instead Neal received a quick kiss before she started extracting herself from between him and the cubs.

The same reasoning for the smaller bladder also helped explain her having a stomach that didn’t hold nearly enough to feed two, much less three, so she next headed for the kitchen for a quick snack. There she discovered that Weaver, Zhanch, and Kestrel had also had similar urges. A quick request from the replicator and she joined them with a bowl of peaches and cream ice-cream.

"Neal’s in the cubs’ room, reading," she informed them as she sat down.

"What’s he looking over, Tess?" Weaver asked.

"A variation of the skimdrive technology we got from Terra and Hydro," Tess replied. "He’s already cross-referencing the specs to a couple of the newer Zulus, so it seems he is already coming up with a plan," she warned them.

"That fast?" Zhanch wondered. "He’s only had a few hours to look at it."

"It’s not really new tech," Tess explained, "just a different way to do it. It can be a major speed boost if it works right."

"We have an example of what ‘done wrong’ looks like sitting in the repair bay," Weaver informed the Rakshani with a chuckle. "Our ‘engineers’ spotted the wreck at one of the stations we stopped at."

"And they convinced you to buy it?" Kestrel asked in surprise.

"No," Suzan laughed, "it was more like ‘They followed us home when we told them we might be able to help – can we keep them?’ We have a pair of skunktaur guests anxiously waiting to see if Neal will approve repairing their ship."

"Supposedly autopilots and AIs can’t handle it in flight, so the kids are looking forward to some ‘seat of the pants’ flying once they have it working right," Weaver commented.

"They’re just not using a smart enough AI," Tess assured them from one of the galley speakers.

"Well, that explains him reading in bed," Kestrel chuckled, "he doesn’t want them to be able to blindside him with the data."

"Well, that and Tina’s ship clock said it was just late afternoon when we docked," Zhanch reminded her.

"Speaking of your little outing, how did it go?" Weaver asked.

Zhanch smiled. "We got lucky. Seems one of the deities that came on board at Raksha was riding that first missing Zulu when it found Sharp Claw. The reason the Zulus never returned was because she was using their power to keep the ship alive."

"I didn’t know they could transfer their power to other ships," Suzan marveled.

"I’m not sure even our engineers in training know everything those Zulus can do, never mind Neal’s other toys," Weaver pointed out. "Case in point, we all know that Neal’s setting up more colonies after this loop. Well, it seems that the Zulus he’ll be taking with him will be armed."

"No surprise there," Zhanch countered, "he needs to be able to protect not only the convoy going out, but the colonies once they’re established."

"Maybe, but these will have tricks that will probably make Star Fleet take a harder look at him when they see them. Each one will not only have the firepower of a small fighter, but they look like they’re to be launched in groups to increase their effectiveness. And that ‘manned’ Zulu? Not only does it have heavier weapons, but six hard points that look like they could be used for mounting the smaller Zulus or deities know what else."

Kestrel’s smile wasn’t pleasant as she murmured, "A fighter with six remote flying guns? Sounds like my kind of fun. When does he pick up his new toys?"

"Not until we’re done with this loop through the Federation," Weaver told her. "Then what I’ve found says Folly gets some kind of major upgrade and Neal starts loading all the gear and personnel bound for the colonies."

"Will you be going with him?" Kestrel asked.

Weaver nodded with a grin. "Oh yes, somebody’s got to try to keep him under control. Then there’s staying close to Holly and Quickdash … And last, but by no means least, both Longsock and I would like to see both the old and new colonies he helped set up."

Both Rakshani nodded as Kestrel said, "My cub and I will see them as well. Whether we stay out there depends on what we see."

Finishing her snack, Suzan said, "Well, I’m going back to bed. I’ll see if I can’t get him to at least take a nap before he debates merits with them."

"Good luck," Zhanch replied.


"We’ve heard it was a rescue so you stayed longer to celebrate," Weaver commented to Neal the next morning as everyone converged in the lounge after breakfast.

"And I see you guys have been busy picking up still more hitchhikers," Neal countered with a grin.

"Are you saying they should have left me behind?" Jackie asked from where she was sitting next to Suzan.

"No, I thought you should have left years ago," Neal told her. "Glad to see they found you something to do."

"Your family has been quite supportive," she replied. "I’ve been promised a job until Stew has her twins, possibly a bit longer. Unless of course you say no."

"And put myself in the doghouse? Not likely," he chuckled.

"So, anything you wanted to tell us while you have all of us in one spot?" Suzan asked.

"Nope. Just seeing how everyone’s doing before I get pulled seven directions at once."

"Well, other than you needing to drop a few kilos, the chief cook isn’t upset with you," she said with a smile.

Weaver smiled as she took her turn, "Other than Jackie’s station trying to pull a fast one, all the deliveries went ok. Tess also picked up a report that the space liner Star Nomad was delayed two weeks by some type of drive failure, so Tauna isn’t quite as far behind her friend as she feared."

Neal nodded. "I saw the notes, that backflow couldn’t have happened to a more deserving bunch." Smiling at Tauna he said, "Sorry it’s taking longer than you were hoping for, but we’ll get you there." At her smile and nod he turned to look over at the pair of skunktaurs that weren’t quite hiding behind his engineers and added, "And I’ve gone over the data on your drive. From what I’ve gathered from other sources I’d guess you’re trying to duplicate Blackstar’s little slipstream drive."

"You already know about it?" Hydro asked in surprise.

"Kind of hard to miss," Neal countered. "My scouts have recorded hir Midnight Star coming and going a few times. The scan of your ship suggests you made it into slipstream, but came out of it rather badly."

"They lost their AFU," Holly said. "That’s Advance Flying Unit, Dad, not what you’re thinking!" she exclaimed on seeing Neal’s expression.

"What did you think he was thinking?" Digs asked.

Doug didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what Neal had been thinking. "Situation Normal, All Fouled Up," he paraphrased with a chuckle.

"Accurate enough for what actually happened," Terra admitted before turning back to Neal, "but we think we know what happened and would like to try again. For that we will need your help."

"I am considering it," Neal admitted, "but we’ll scale it down a bit. And we will use an unmanned vehicle until we get everything stable."

"It can’t be done that way," Hydro replied. "Even Blackstar has to use a live pilot to make it work."

"And I’ll bet Blackstar isn’t losing hir data links with hir AFU," Neal countered. "You may be willing to risk your lives making this thing work, but I’m not." Eying both of them carefully, he quietly added, "My toys, my rules. We will break this into pieces; no advancing to the next level until I say we’re ready to move on. Deal?"

Holly, Quickdash and Screamingwind all nodded with the skunktaurs. Terra smiled as hy said, "No less than we were warned of, sir. It was suggested you would use one of your ‘Zulus’, as it could be used for the small scale testing."

Neal nodded. "After we redesign your AFU; that lack of control looks like what almost killed you."

Terra shivered as Hydro admitted, "It was a wild ride for the time it lasted."

"Maybe after the Captain has seen to his other chores?" Weaver suggested.

"Yes Mom," Holly agreed as they started getting up. "Part of their ‘payback’ is having them help us with ship chores."


Neal must have gotten his ‘chores’ finished early (or marked ‘done for now’ anyway) because he and the engineers came in to the dining area as a group and more than a little late for lunch, PADDs out and they were in the middle of a lively discussion/argument. At Suzan’s frown Neal said, "Working lunch, Stew." She had huffed in annoyance, but hadn’t protested further before returning to her kitchen. Not obviously protesting didn’t mean that they were forgiven, as they soon learned, as their first course turned out to be a scorcher.

While the skunktaurs had grabbed their drinks, the Folly engineering crew each reached into their pockets for ration bars they had brought ‘just in case’. Flipping a couple extra bars at Hydro and Terra, Neal said, "they’ll soak up the burn better than your drinks will. And we know they haven’t been ‘spiked’ by our sneaky cooks."

Suzan stuck her tongue out at him as the others laughed.

While the others were enjoying the unexpected entertainment, Digs was wondering what to do with hir after-dinner tea. Shi preferred it with milk, but there wasn’t any on the table. The only thing close to it was some ice-cream a couple of the cubs were having for dessert. Darkstreak saw hir wandering eyes and offered up a double spoonful of hir minty treat. It added an interesting flavor to the tea and Digs nodded hir thanks to the cub. None of the teens or adults had noticed the exchange, or they might have warned Digs of the contents of the cubs’ chilled treats …


After lunch, Moonglow stepped into a holosuite Tess’s lights had illuminated for hir and looked around. One end of the room held tables of all sorts. Pouring tables for the loading and draining of molds; spinning tables for throwing vases, bowls, and plates; as well as just plain tables for modeling clay and painting. Past the tables were shelves of molds and art supplies, beyond those were several kilns ready to be fired. The other end of the room had been turned into a display area to showcase some of what had come off those tables.

Moonglow and Weaver collide

Pedestals lined the walls while some were freestanding. Shi watched as Spitfire moved one of the seemingly lightweight bases before placing a small sleeping chakat statuette on top of it. When the cub darted off to change the next display, shi bumped against one holding a small deer. Moonglow leaped to save the figurine only to see someone coming at hir from the side just as they collided in a mass of limbs. It seemed Weaver had also seen the deer’s plight and had also tried to intervene; she now lay under Moonglow with the deer safely cushioned between her breasts.

"You two may want to get a room," Nightsky suggested as shi smirked at their positions.

Looking up at the confusion mirrored in Moonglow’s eyes, Weaver said, "We were just trying to save this little deer …"

Tauna stopped her table top’s rotation before turning to chuckle at the two of them lying on the floor. "You didn’t really think we’d trust the cubs not to knock things over did you?"

Spitfire proved the point by reaching between them for the deer. Shi gave it a quick lick-kiss before throwing it at the floor – the deer shattering into pieces that rained all over the floor. "Holosuite rewind!" shi called out. The pieces bounced back to the point of impact and the now intact deer jumped up and into hir paws. Placing the figurine back on the pillar shi said, "Sorry I scared you," before running off to the next thing shi wanted to rearrange.

"Never assume," Weaver half muttered with a soft snicker.

"That things are covered, or not?" Moonglow chuckled as they untangled themselves.

"That too," Weaver sadly admitted. "It’s hard to tell when not to jump at something."

"The little ones are still learning what not to do," Nightsky informed them. "Bumps still hurt and they’re encouraged to clean up their messes or they don’t get to play."

The excitement over, Moonglow went back to examining the artwork. Shi was surprised to find a figurine of Lighttouch on one of the pedestals. Spitfire stopped to see what shi was staring at and said, "Tauna makes them – come see!" shi half dragged the larger chakat over to a storage cabinet. Throwing it open, shi exclaimed, "See? She’s making one for everybody!"

The shelf was covered with figurines. Most were in sitting or lounging positions, but some stood seemingly looking back at hir. The scale wasn’t quite the same between the figurines, the cubs being larger than the rest to bring out more detail. Moonglow picked up Neal, he was seated in his favorite chair in the lounge, while the expression painted on his face suggested he was very happy or proud of something.

From behind them Tauna said, "I’ve still a few to finish. Tess, display mode ‘one prime’ please."

Before them the display rearranged itself. Neal’s figure sat in the center with the others around him. Starblazer and Firestorm sat at his feet while Weaver lounged by his right hand with ghostly versions Suzan and Moonglow showing where they would sit to his left. The Rakshani were in a row behind while the teens and other cubs were in front, grouped as they seemed to interact in real life. Mike and Calmmeadow bracketed in Nova and hir cubs while Shadowcrest was next to Windsong.

"I was thinking you each get the signed original while Tess keeps a copy for Neal," Tauna explained.

"They’re beautiful," Moonglow said as shi set Neal down to pick up Firestorm. The ceramic cub’s expression was a cross between ‘I’m a little angel’ and ‘guess what I’ve been into that I shouldn’t be’. "You’ve got hir pegged perfectly," Moonglow assured Tauna. "You can just make out the horns holding up hir halo."

"Shi does seem to take after hir ‘father’," Tauna agreed. "Glad to know I pulled it off."

Moonglow set Firestorm down and looked over the others. Some were waiting for their final touches while a few were still bare of any paint. "Haven’t gotten to me yet?" shi asked.

"I was going to get all the regular chakats poured before doing yours," Tauna confessed with a chuckle at Moonglow’s expression. "For yours I will need to hollow out certain areas of the mold to make a little more room for your assets," she reminded the busty wet nurse with a cheeky grin.


A little before dinner, Windsong was making hir way down the corridors towards the captain’s quarters, a burning question on hir lips and more than a little apprehension in hir heart. The door to the cabin opened as shi approached, but he wasn’t there. Shi was about to turn to go when the bathroom door also slid open, music almost drowning out the sound of running water. Neal had his back to hir and head covered in shampoo as he badly sang with the music:

"… not enough to make the nightmares go away
It's not enough to make the tears run dry
It's not enough to live a little better every day
Everything that they taught us was nothing but lies
Everything that they brought us was nothing but bribes
But it'll all be over now
All I wanted was a piece of the night
I never got an equal share
When the stars are out of sight
And the moon is down -
The natives are so restless tonight

I've been looking for an original sin
One with a twist and a bit of a spin
And since I've done all the old ones
Till they've all been done in
Now I'm just looking -
Then I'm gone with the wind -
Endlessly searching for an original sin"
            (Original Sin - Meat Loaf)

The song cut off suddenly as Neal called out, "Are you in here to wash my back – or just to admire the view?"

Caught flatfooted, Windsong took a moment to move. "Well, maybe a little bit of both?" shi stuttered before shucking hir top, Shi stepped into the shower with him and grabbed the body wash. Once shi had lathered his back, Neal turned and started applying shampoo to hir head fur. Trying to make small talk through the suds shi asked, "What was that song I heard you pretending to sing?"

"Ask Tess to play ‘Original Sin’ for you," Neal replied. "But that wasn’t the reason you interrupted my shower, now is it?"

"It’s Shadowcrest," shi admitted. "You’re the closest thing shi has to a father for quite a few light years. I came to ask for your permission to ask hir to be my companion," shi finished, again fearful that he might tell hir no.

Neal surprised hir with a chuckle. "You spent way too much time away from other chakats, Song," he told hir. "As I understand, it’s customary for chakats to decide they are companions or mates, and then they go and tell their family and friends."

"But you’re human …" Windsong blurted out as Neal rinsed hir hair and started lathering up hir upper back.

"You will always get in trouble when you try to stereotype, Song. Some of us just don’t fit the molds."

"So it’s okay with you?" shi asked as he turned them around under the sprayers.

"I’m the least of your worries – have you even asked Shady?"

"No, I thought –"

"No, you didn’t think," Neal interrupted hir with a chuckle. "Go ask hir, now," he added with a swat to hir rump, causing Song to all but leap out of the shower.

Still soaking-wet, shi ran out of the room and into the corridors, almost knocking Shadowcrest over as shi was about to round a corner.

"Will-you-be-my-Companion?" Song blurted out as shi clung to the much larger chakat.

"Sure," Shadowcrest replied. "I’ll even help you get dried off," shi added with a giggle.

Still wrapped in each other’s arms, Shadowcrest led Windsong to hir room. As shi got busy toweling hir off, shi asked, "Just how did you end up running through the halls soaking-wet?"

"Neal," Windsong said letting out a soft chuckle as shi realized how easily he had manipulated hir.

"Enough said," Shadowcrest agreed. "Well, if we’re companions, there’s one more thing we should do …" shi suggested with a grin.

Tess interrupted them with, "You are both off the schedule for tomorrow. The Captain’s compliments and a little something to get you started …"

‘Let's roll the windows down, turn the radio up
Let the wind blow through our hair
Love is reckless
Let's get reckless tonight

There ain't nothin' out here but a big ol' Texas sky
There's a red sun painted across the coming night
Well, your daddy's got plans for you
and mine thinks I'm at school
They say it's reckless to chase a dream
But this town's got nothing for you and me …’
                            (Reckless – Alabama)

"So …" Shadowcrest suggested, "neither of us is on heat; shall we get a little reckless tonight?" The only reply shi received was a soft purr as shi felt hirself drawn into a tight embrace.


No one seemed surprised that the new Companions missed dinner that evening, though Suzan did say she would prepare a ‘picnic basket’ for them, they would be hungry soon enough.

The engineers had been careful not to bring their PADDs to dinner with them, but Weaver wasn’t too surprised to see Quickdash make a quick note on a napkin before shoving it in hir pocket.


It was late evening when Tess informed Neal of a request for his presence in the main holosuite. Neal had raised an eyebrow at the lack of who or why, but went to see what might be going on. The holosuite doors opened into what might have been a bar/speakeasy/discothèque if the designer had been on hallucinogens. While there appeared to be a bar running the perimeter of the room, there were stages and tables grouped here and there about the large room. At one table, several cat-like beings were singing what appeared to be a drinking song, said song, the table and their drinks suffering from their apparent loss of coordination. Another feline with wings was attempting to dance, her long skirts all but tripping her up. It took Neal a minute to realize that most of the music and words he was hearing were from old movies – some of which had been considered quite bad when made, and time had not improved them. Stepping up to the bar, Neal had no sooner placed his hand on the surface than a full glass slid into it. He took a sip of his iced tea and nodded to the barkeeper in approval before resuming his travels.

A couple more of what he had finally decided were the deities were playing cards, extra aces peeking out from between feathers and other not so well hidden hiding places. At the next table a wingless deity ‘Arred’ at him as he went by. She wore an eye-patch and peg leg to match her pirate outfit, but the green tinted cockatiel on her shoulder didn’t quite work.

Shadowcrest dancing by Kacey Miyagami

In the center of one of the spotlit stages was Shadowcrest. Shi was up on hir hind legs; pole dancing to the cheers and catcalls of several of the avidly watching deities. The next table over, Windsong looked as if shi was uncomfortably sitting on something as shi watched hir new companion dance. Shadowcrest sensed Neal’s eyes on hir and increased hir bump and grind routine. Neal chuckled when he recognized the soundtrack shi was dancing to, it was Meat Loaf’s ‘Good Girls go to Heaven (but the Bad Girls go Everywhere)’.

Neal grinned and shook his head. Shi reminded him of a cub trying to act like a grownup. Not that shi didn’t now have a grownup’s body and needs, but he could still see in hir the unsure youth asking to share his bed that first night.

There were quieter spots and Neal strolled through each one, sometimes laughing or shaking his head at what the occupants had come up with. Bonita had commandeered another pole and was vamping it up as Neal passed. He gave her a wink as he went by, chuckling at Longsock who seem mesmerized by the display. Doug and Digs were sharing the table with him. Doug acknowledged him with a grudging nod of approval; he was finding that his adopted father had picked up quite an interesting set of mates and kids this time around. Meanwhile Digs was trying to enjoy the show, but shi seemed somewhat distracted as hir hand kept reaching up to rub hir breast.

In the center of the seemingly random anarchy, one of the deities sat quietly in a lotus position with her eyes closed, the party noise seemingly rolling over her without disturbing her. The only thing out of the ordinary was that there was nothing under her for support. Neal stopped a few feet from her and eyed her quizzically. "So you’re the one causing all the chaos and confusion on my ship," he said slightly sternly, but his eyes suggested he was trying to keep from laughing.

She opened her eyes and smiled down at him. "Oh no, Captain. This time I needed a little help in bringing about the required amount of chaos." Unfolding her legs, she placed them on the ground before shrinking to the size of a Rakshani cub.

Neal frowned slightly as the ‘cub’ offered him her treat. As on Raksha, he captured the paw holding the treat with his hand. "This is the last time you offer me a treat for your ride," he told her.

They were instantly surrounded by the other deities. "You shouldn’t punish her for us having a little fun!" one of them said as the rest nodded and growled in agreement.

"I’m just doing something I should’ve done a very long time ago," Neal advised them as he took the Traveler’s other paw in his hand. "You have haunted me and my ship for well over a normal lifetime now. We both know what I will say when you ask, so consider it ‘said’. While I don’t presume that I can really tell you what to do, I consider you a part of my family, and as family, you don’t have to ask for permission to ride."

The treat disappeared as the cub reached around Neal to give him a hug. As Neal returned the hug, one of the other deities said, "You may end up wishing you hadn’t done that. Her need to ask permission was the only control you had over our Traveler."

Neal chuckled. "Like skunktaur headbands, the only power is perceived. And like one of those old Billy Joel songs you were playing says, ‘it’s all a matter of trust’."

"Never tempt The Traveler," another deity warned him. "She loves the challenge and has a wicked sense of humor!"

"Then it’s a good thing I’m always letting her have fun at new places."

"Ah! But now she doesn’t have to wait until your next stop!" she assured him.

"You are going to behave yourself, aren’t you?" Neal asked, noticing that the ‘cub’ seemed to be growing in size.

"By whose standards?" The Traveler deity replied, now nearly as tall as Neal.

"Mine of course," Neal said, though his reply was partially muffled in the still growing deity’s cleavage.

Their sizes reversed, the now massive Traveler picked Neal up and held him much as he had held many of her ‘cub’ forms. "Despite your foolishness, I still promise to cause no harm to you or yours," she vowed as she gave him a hug.

"I didn’t expect that to change, although your friend suggests things might get still more interesting around here."

"More interesting, or more obviously interesting? I can and will be a bit more open when I ‘suggest’ things to Tess, and we’ve all grown fond of playing with your cubs. You, on the other paw, are why I’ve hung around so long. Your schemes and what you’re willing to do to bring them about have always been of interest, but even that sometimes pales when compared to the work you do to keep it unnoticed."

Neal shrugged. "As you deities should know by now, it’s always easier to do something if your target audience isn’t expecting your help in whatever you’re doing."

"While that is true," she admitted, "that doesn’t always explain all your attempts to hide things in plain sight."

"When someone is looking for things they expect to be hidden, they tend to overlook what is left in plain sight. This is especially true when it blends in with everything else that they expect to see. So I hide hints to things that don’t matter, while leaving the rest of it for them to trip over and then discard."

"Very well, Neal," she chuckled, "We shall just see how much you don’t see in plain sight."


The next morning, Digs woke up to Firestorm and Pooled Gold nursing at hir breasts. Shi had been more than a little self-conscious the night before, but hir breasts had finally gotten tender enough to force hir to ask for Moonglow’s advice in the matter. Embarrassed was too kind a word to use when shi found that despite hir careful avoidance of any chakat breast milk, shi hirself was now in nursing mode and producing said milk.

"I was careful, dammit!" shi grumbled to Doug as they got dressed.

"Tess," Doug said instead of arguing with the annoyed chakat, "Please go over the last forty-eight hours, and tell us when or if Digs consumed any quantity of chakat milk."

Digs had hir mouth open to hotly protest when Tess replied, "Yesterday’s lunch, Darkstreak’s ice-cream was made from fresh chakat milk. It seems to have been of sufficient quantity to get Shir Digs in Dirt started."

"So quit your pouting," Doug told the still-fuming chakat with a chuckle. "Not only are you now more popular with the cubs, but you don’t have to be as ‘careful’ during your therapy sessions."

"You think all this is funny!" Digs accused Doug. "Sex therapy, swapping my drugs … hell, they’re worse than your military!"

"I had noticed," Doug admitted. "They even seem to have Dad behaving, no minor feat in itself."

"You make him sound uncontrollable," Digs half asked.

"He can be, uncontrollable that is," Doug told hir. "But there’s more here. He’s got even more to worry about, yet he seems more relaxed then I ever remember him being."

"Maybe he’s better off with others around him," Digs suggested.

"Perhaps," Doug agreed. "But he’s not the only one. You seem to concentrate on your work better after your therapy sessions … Don’t bother giving me that look, you know you’re getting more done. Is it in spite of the sex breaks – or because of them?"

Ignoring his question, Digs headed for the door. "I’m hungry," shi grumbled as shi left.

Doug followed a little behind hir with a small smile; he was wondering if shi knew hir tail was far from its usual ‘almost dragging in the dirt’ position.


As Folly came out of warp well clear of Chakastra’s warp boundary on her way to Chakona, the kids scanned the area that would be their new ‘home’ until it was time to move on yet again.

Darkstreak and Spitfire were using one of the bridge consoles, tapping on things to zoom in on them. "Tess, what’s this one?" Spitfire asked of a particularly bright spot.

Since no one was using the main display, Tess used it to bring up a closer look at what had interested the cubs. "That’s the Spinning Wheel. It is a solar sail craft; its large reflective sail uses the light from the star to push it. Records say it’s currently moving the core structure for a new mining outfit that is just getting started in the Chakastra system."

"Why don’t they use a real ship?" Darkstreak wondered.

"It is a real ship," Tess replied. "And if you’re not in a big hurry to get somewhere, it’s much cheaper than using a shuttle or ship to tow your load out there."

"So why don’t we use a solar sail?" Spitfire asked.

"Because it would take us years instead of hours to get where we’re going," Calmmeadow replied. "Come on you two, time for a snack before we get to Chakona."

As Folly closed on Chakona’s orbit, Tess began reporting to Neal which of his friends were in orbit as she sent each of them a data pulse. On receiving the data pulse, one ship replied with a data pulse of its own. It read:

‘If you’re getting this, then Folly or one of your Zulus has come into range of Chakona. On my own authority I’m offering Blowfish admittance to our little group. They ran into something that may or may not have been pirates and they got chewed up pretty good. I’ve already explained the basics to her captain, and while shi’s a little leery of what sounds like too good of a deal, shi’s saying yes for now. Star Fleet’s been giving hir a hard time, so that might be a part of it. On a personal note, I’ve known Tippytoe and Jasmine for years now, and I believe that they’d make a good addition to the group. I’m forwarding the data they acquired from their sensors; you should be able to extrapolate which way the bigger pieces may have gone. Unless you veto it, I’m going to have Arcs and Sparks start in on their repairs as soon as Star Fleet releases Blowfish. Colin Steppes of the courier ship Night Hawk, out.’

Neal leaned back in his chair for a moment before saying, "Tess, send him an acknowledgment and let Arcs and Sparks know that it has my blessings. Prep two Zulus for the hunt."

"Sure thing, boss."

"Care to explain what you just told Tess to do?" Quickwind asked from where shi sat watching Holly work the helm.

Neal tried not to smile; most of those on the bridge literally had an ear cocked in his direction. "As you know, I have a few friends in a loose group that work together and do a little trading. Tess just gave me a message that one of them is in the area. The captain of the Night Hawk has just informed me that he wants to bring another ship into the fold."

"I take it you trust them enough to ‘hold your coat’ when needed," Shortdash commented.

"Enough that I also trust them with a few baby Zulus," Neal replied. "Which reminds me, Tess? Recall their Zulus and key four of the newer ones for them."

"Will do, boss."

"Who are Arcs and Sparks?" Holly asked.

"An older version of you and Quickdash. They’re a pair of my first group of brats that had that engineering knack. Tess tells me The Tinker is in orbit so you’ll get to meet them."

As Folly approached Starbase 2, they watched as a pair of tugs moved a round little freighter with an extended tail over to the Starbase. Tess’s tactical scans showed the port warp engine was badly damaged and there looked to be some serious hits to the main fuselage as well.

Looking over the damage, Neal quietly murmured, "Looks like they lost their warp drive in the attack – but not their core, so they still had plenty of power. Hmmm, hull damage penetrated into their shuttle bay section, so that might be a write-off." Looking a little closer at something that didn’t look quite right, he asked, "Tess? Tight scan on that old torch system. Has it been used recently?"

"Scan shows that the system has been used and abused, boss. Some of the core components are still warmer than the surrounding pieces, so it was powered up within the last week or so."

"Thank you, Tess. What type of ‘abuse’ does the damage suggest?"

"Equivalent to the damage you would expect to find after someone had taken it from dead cold to full power without a proper warm up."

"Which might help explain why they survived whoever shot them," Neal mused.

"I thought the torch was just an older sub-light type propulsion system …" Shortdash half wondered.

"Oh, it is," Neal agreed. "But a very dangerous one to get in the way of!" he added with a grin. "Think of Folly’s main reaction drive on a tight focus at full power, now up that by an order of magnitude."

"Ouch," Shortdash muttered, "you could cut ships in half with that."

"Well, since we’re done with Gwendolyn, can we " Holly suggested hopefully as the skunktaurs were still a long way from having Neal approve their new AFU design.

Neal shook his head and chuckled at the looks his three engineers in training were giving him. "Sorry kids, but it sounds like that job’s already been farmed out. Tell you what though, why don’t you go ahead and treat it as a test. Use the scans Tess made, and come up with what you think would be the plan for the needed repairs, and any suggestions you might have for upgrades."

Screamingwind grinned as she tapped the all hail key on the comm section of her board. "Alternate bridge crew to the bridge, your engineers have been otherwise tasked."

"You can at least get us to our parking place," Neal suggested.

"Aye sir," they chorused, settling back into their seats.

Tapping his own comm key, Neal said, "Alex, pick your crew for Echo; Cindy, you have Foxtrot. We’re all going to the Starbase with the first two pods. While I handle some business, those of you not unloading can look around for a bit before we head downside. Tauna? You can either catch a shuttle at the Starbase, or wait for us to take you down."

"While I am in a hurry, I intend to see this Starbase, and I’ll wait to go down with you guys," she replied from where she was watching everything from the rear of the bridge.

"Good enough," Neal agreed before adding, "While we’re on Starbase 2, I want everyone to stop by the medical section for a health check. Those that don’t get a certificate of health will get to spend their time at Chakona stuck in orbit."

"Maybe we should do that first thing … and as a group," Weaver suggested.

"That’ll work," Neal agreed. "Afterwards, you can find something to keep the little ones occupied while I talk to a few people."

Folly was just reaching her assigned parking spot when there was a call from Starbase 2. "To Captain Foster of the Folly. Do not egress any equipment or personnel at this time. A Star Fleet shuttle will be docking with you momentarily."

"A decidedly unfriendly ‘hello’," Neal commented. "What do you see, Tess?"

"They have us under constant scan, boss. Somebody appears to be afraid you’ll pull a fast one on them," she replied. "One shuttle departing, along with two fighters. Their targeting computers are locked on us, but weapons are not powered up."

"Wonder what kinked their tails?" Neal muttered.

Shortdash and Zhanch had already moved to vacant bridge stations and started digging into the ’Fleet and ’Corps nets to find out what was going on. Weaver looked over at Neal – other than looking annoyed, he was just sitting there watching the approaching ships. "Is there anything we should be doing?" she asked with some concern.

"No," Neal replied. "Not really. If they pick up any increase in activity they might start to wonder if we’re up to something."

"Has this happened before?"

"Few decades ago," Neal admitted. "They were looking for someone and thought I may have given them passage."

"Had you?" she asked, questioning the tone in his voice.

"Yup," he confessed. "But they never found her," he finished with a smirk.

"Why not?" Shortdash asked as shi queried the databases.

Neal smiled. "Because basic life scans can’t tell the difference between live and dead meat within a stasis field."

"Whatever it is, there’s nothing in the dispatches up to my level of clearance," Shortdash commented as hir search came up empty.

"Nothing on the ’Fleet side either," Zhanch added. "Which means it’s very hush-hush, or something very new and/or local."

"See if you can get your local commanders on the line," Neal suggested. "We can always leave the links open so they can see what’s going on."

Four beings exited the shuttle when it docked a few minutes later. The deer morph with the Lieutenant rank badge didn’t bother asking permission to board as her group entered. "You are required to assist us in our investigation, Captain Foster. Failure to do so will be considered obstruction and will be dealt with accordingly," she stated, her glare suggested she would love for him to do something that would allow her to use the two guards she had brought along.

"And how might I assist you, Lieutenant?" Neal asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You are illegally trafficking in controlled substances," she accused.

"Allegedly, I assume," Neal countered, "or you would have already arrested me." At her growl of frustration, he added, "May I at least know what I’m accused of trafficking in?"

"We will find it and you will be arrested," she countered sternly.

"Shall we dock so your additional personnel can board more easily?" Neal wondered. "It would take the four of you a lifetime to properly search a ship of this size."

"What we’re looking for will be easy enough to find," the lieutenant assured him with a scowl.

Her assistant, a wolf morph, opened and powered up a rather bulky looking scanner and began scanning. It beeped almost immediately and he and the lieutenant scurried off in the direction it indicated. Neal and Shortdash followed at a more leisurely pace with the security pair, a banded chakat and a Rakshani male, bringing up the rear.

They stopped in front of the hatch for one of Folly’s many lifeboats. The wolf entered, only to emerge a minute later holding up a small container. "Just the standard package from their first aid kit, sir," he reported before turning to replace it.

"Raynor," Shortdash muttered under hir breath.

"Or whoever’s controlling them," Neal muttered in agreement. "Too bad they waited a little too long to play that card," he added with a grin.

"Meaning?" shi quietly asked.

"I had Good Deal take it to Cait."

"Oh. So that means these two are going to inspect every aid kit onboard?"

"And the sickbays," Neal reminded hir.

"What do you plan to do about it?"

"Just give ’Fleet the standard boiler plate that they’ve offended my integrity and dignity, and that if they want to chase real smugglers they should be hounding Raynor and company. Tess, you might as well send it now."

"Sending, Boss," Tess replied. "Shall I have the others stand down? At their current rate I estimate forty hours for them to finish their little ‘inspection’, and that’s only if they don’t tweak their toys to start pulling up false positives."

"Tell them to take a break for now," Neal agreed.

It was ten minutes later that Tess quietly informed Neal that there was a second shuttle inbound and this one was graciously requesting docking clearance. Neal noticed that the chakat and Rakshani security team had also received communications of some sort; they were now looking a little grim about something, but it didn’t seem to be directed towards him or his.

Weaver soon led a female Caitian wearing a captain’s comm badge to their latest check. The Caitian had a quick and quiet word with the security team before stepping over to where the lieutenant was badgering the scan tech over his continuing failure to find what they’d come looking for.

"Ah, Lieutenant Greenheart, I heard that you were out here doing an inspection?"

"Yes, Sir. We received intel that this ‘Folly’ is smuggling controlled substances into Chakona space."

"That’s strange, my office didn’t receive any ‘head’s up’ about this. On whose authority did you come out here by yourself to do the inspection?"

"Captain Maradeath, Sir."

"Who may have a say over on Gateway, Lieutenant, but not on Starbase Two. We need to get this sorted out. Lieutenant, you will be returning with me, now."

"B-but Sir, what about the smugglers?" she stammered.

"Were most likely the ones that persuaded you into coming over here in the first place. Come along Lieutenant, I think we’ve wasted enough of Captain Foster’s time." Turning to Neal she added, "Sorry about the delay, Captain. You should be receiving clearance to start moving your cargo momentarily."

"Thank you, Captain," Neal replied.

As Weaver led them back to their shuttles Shortdash turned to Neal. "Are you going to tell me how you pulled that off?" shi asked. "That silver tunic says she’s security and not part of the regular chain of command."

"I didn’t," he corrected. "But it sounds like the local offices just learned about the surprise ‘inspection’, and Tess would have sent out corrected estimates of when we would be offloading what to whom, and if she just happened to include the reason for the delay …"

"Then someone might see what they could do to rectify the situation before things went too far," shi finished for him.

"So it seems," Neal agreed. "Tess, tell everyone we’re in motion again. Get the first deliveries to the starbase queued up."

"Can do, Boss."


Echo beat Foxtrot to the starbase by a good margin. While the terror twins hadn’t broken the letter of the law as they powered Echo through the corridor they’d been allotted by traffic control, but by not waiting for it to be properly ‘cleared’ they had crushed the spirit of the rules, and a fine was levied against the Folly.

The health inspections went quickly and the groups split up, some to do some shopping and to keep the cubs occupied, some to see to the transfer of cargo to and from the station, while Neal went in search of the captain of the Night Hawk. He caught up with Colin Steppes in one on the many corridors.

Trading a handshake with him, Colin said, "Sam’s sticking with Chakats Tippytoe and Jasmine. A ‘Fleet Commander named Bastet is still badgering them about what really happened out there. My mate’s managed to convince the commander that things should be kept ‘informal’, so they’re heading to the ‘civilian’ side of the base."

"Why don’t you go and join your mate," Neal suggested. "I’ll meet up with you after you’re all settled, the better to keep your commander from changing her mind when she sees me coming."

"Captive audience?" Colin chuckled.

"Thereabouts," Neal agreed. "Best to keep them off balance."

"Speaking of which, I heard something was going on as Folly came in," Colin commented.

"I’ll tell you about it later," Neal promised as they parted company.

With more information on which players were doing what, Tess was able to give Neal more of an update. Colin’s twins, Sandra and Matthew Steppes, were already at the same dessert shop Weaver and the others had found. Colin’s comm badge had joined Samantha's and they were now heading in that direction. Neal idly wandered the area until everyone was seated before he entered the shop, pausing only to grab a chair from a neighboring table. Colin and Samantha each gave him a smile in greeting, the chakats just gave him curious looks, while the ‘Fleet commander scowled at his having joined them unannounced.

Colin handled the introductions. "Tippytoe, Jasmine? May I introduce Neal Foster? He’s the head of that group I was telling you about. Neal, this is Tippytoe and Jasmine of the Blowfish, and Commander Bastet of the Starwave. The Starwave came to Blowfish’s assistance after they were attacked."

"Thank you, Mr. Steppes," Neal said formally. Turning to the chakats, he said, "I understand you’ve agreed to the basic terms and are just waiting on the finer details before deciding on whether to take the plunge?"

Tippytoe and Jasmine were just giving Neal tentative nods when Darkstreak rushed up to their table – shi was all but dragging a slightly larger cub. The dark gray chakat stopped beside Neal’s chair. "Can-I-help-hir-deliver-this-package?-Moonglow-says-it’s-okay-n-shi’s-give’n-us-a-ride!" Darkstreak blurted out once shi had Neal’s attention.

Neal grinned. "Slow down, Darkstreak. First of all, who’s your new friend?"

The lynx-tailed chakat looked to the chakats at the table for support before turning back to Neal. "I’m Hyjinx, daughter of Tippytoe and Jasmine, sir," shi said.

"So you’re their daughter huh?" Neal replied. "That makes things a little easier as my next question was going to be if you had their permission to run off with one of my cubs?" Hyjinx’s worried glance at hir parents confirmed that shi didn’t as yet, so Neal decided to help their decision making process. "Though it isn’t a bad idea, you get to have a little fun and fresh air, while your parents and I talk about getting the Blowfish fixed up."

"You’re gonna fix Blowfish?" Hyjinx asked, hir eyes wide.

"With a little help," Neal admitted before turning to cock an eyebrow at Tippytoe and Jasmine and giving them a grin. "Which will it be harder to trust me and mine with? Your ship, or your cub?"

The chakats looked at each other before turning back to Neal and the cubs. "In for a penny …" Tippytoe began.

"… In for a pound," Jasmine finished. "You may go with Darkstreak, Hyjinx; just be on your best behavior."

"I will, Dad," Hyjinx promised. The cubs started to move towards the other group, but stopped short so they could hear what was being discussed.

Commander Bastet frowned at the interruptions before she again began questioning the chakats on their experience. As she started to agitate the chakats, Neal stepped in to slow her down and give the chakats a little peace in which to answer.

(All part of "The Package" tale.)

"Damn him!" Shadowcrest quietly muttered as they pretended to not watch as Neal all but made the Star Fleet commander back down on her attempts to badger the chakats of the Blowfish.

"Who, Neal?" Windsong asked innocently.

Shadowcrest nodded. "Watching him nudge things his way with his little weight brought another one of his favorite songs to mind."

"Which one?" Windsong asked, always eager to learn a new tune.

Shadowcrest softly sang,

"I ain’t in it for the power,
and I ain’t in it for my health.
I ain’t in it for the glory of anything at all,
and I sure ain’t in it for the wealth.
But I'm in it ’till it's over and I just can’t stop
If you wanna get it done, you gotta do it yourself."
                (from Everything Louder Than Everything Else)

"Meat Loaf," Doug supplied unhelpfully as they went back to not watching the other group.

A promise of the pirate’s last known position, and a possible means of seeing past their sensor jammers, soon had Commander Bastet and her people out of their hair, and allowed Neal to talk freely with the chakats.

"Colin has told us a little about the arrangement he and the others have with you," Tippytoe told him. "Let’s just say we’re worried that it sounds a little ‘too good to be true’."

"Which part?" Neal asked, ignoring the smirks Colin and Samantha were giving him.

"First, that you’re going to foot the bill on Blowfish’s repairs, and then let us pay it back as we feel we can. Nobody does business like that," Jasmine shot back.

"And that you and your friends sometimes swap loads and ‘share the wealth’ of the better routes," Tippytoe added.

Neal grinned as he held up his hands. "First off, double-teaming me isn’t going to work because I can and will cheat if necessary," he told them. Looking towards Jasmine, he said, "As to footing the bill, Colin said that not I. However, he has yet to steer me wrong in these matters, so I’m inclined to sit back and see what happens. The payback? While I know you’ll soon have some credits from the salvage fees, I also know ‘things happen’, so locking down a payment schedule could prove to be counterproductive. How do I know you won’t cheat me? Once again, I’m trusting Colin on being right about you two."

To Tippytoe he replied, "Some loads are better serviced by certain ships and crews. So if Colin and Sam see a load heading someplace they know you have a need or want to be, they may offer it to you. Or if something comes up, having friends that can cover your deliveries when you can’t can come in handy."

"And if we decide after a while that we want ‘out’?" Jasmine asked.

"This is a very loose organization," Colin assured them. "Several ships have quit to go do other things or join other groups, some of those did return after their other jobs were done."

"What do you think he’ll have us doing?" Jasmine asked Colin.

Samantha laughed before her mate could form a reply. "No one’s going to be dictating where you go or what cargo you haul," she promised hir. "What you will be told by others is where there’s cargo going places that they weren’t heading, and what types of prices were being offered." Thinking about it for a moment, she added, "Your ship is on the small side, which makes it best suited for small, custom or time critical loads. Once the rest of the group knows about you, that’s what they’ll let you know about. The way you pay us back is by letting the rest of us know which of those loads you’ll take, and about what loads you see that we might be interested in." She frowned slightly before adding in a quieter tone, "One thing that we haven’t had time to bring up yet is the ‘bans’." Meeting both of their looks of curiosity, she continued, "There are a few groups that we don’t deal with or ship for. Most of the bans are because of what they ship where, or what they do to get it."

Colin cleared his throat. "I’ll see that you get the list. Some are hard bans, where we would prefer to not deal with you if you like dealing with them, the soft bans are those you can take, but most of us won’t be doing them any favors."

Neal nodded and cut in with, "Raynor Inc. has been added as a hard ban. I’ll double-check with Tess, but I understand we also added one station to the soft ban list." Neal’s glasses darkened for a moment before he added, "Yup, just the one soft ban."

Jasmine frowned at Neal. "This is part of what we’re afraid of, you dictating what we can and can’t do."

Neal nodded thoughtfully. "If you like, think of it more as a ‘warning’ list. Places, ships, and people that we strongly suggest you watch out for. Everything on the ban list includes the reason the ban was placed. And any of us can argue for adding or removing a ban. Even some of the ones I’d once banned have been cleared by others after the reason for the ban was corrected or removed."

Samantha cocked her head at Neal. "I thought you were shipping a large load for Raynor. What happened?"

"I caught them mixing controlled substances in with their other drug shipments. As I don’t like being used as a smuggler’s mule, I’m just trying to make sure none of our friends get put in that position."

"Did that have something to do with that ‘security delay’ I heard about?" Colin wondered.

"That was it," Neal admitted. "Someone was hoping we still had what we hadn’t given Raynor. Fortunately that had already been offloaded."

"And the soft ban on the station?" Colin asked.

"They tried the old ‘now that you’ve come all the way out here, we demand a better deal’," Neal replied with a smirk. "That, and they appear to be treating their hired help rather poorly."

"Did you give it to them?" Samantha wondered, though she sounded like she knew the answer to be ‘no’.

"I was otherwise occupied, but my crew," Neal indicated the occupied tables around them, "gave them nothing for nothing, and they even picked up a hitchhiker to boot. Oh, they did post the warning for other freighters to see, so we won’t be the only ones keeping a wary eye on them."

"I smell a rat," Samantha half growled with a grin. "Just what would have kept you otherwise occupied?"

"A little search and rescue," Neal admitted. "We found the Rakshan freighter Sharp Claw."

"Was there anything worth recovering?" Colin asked, remembering that the ship had been missing for quite a while.

"Almost half her crew," Neal said, not adding what else had been found.

"Did you give them a proper Rakshani send off?" Jasmine asked, also knowing of the ship.

"I don’t grieve for the living," Neal replied. "A little luck had them waiting for me in a stasis field."

"So it was a rescue," Samantha said with a smile. "I remember seeing you right after a couple ‘recoveries’. You always looked ready to kill something," she said, half scolding.

Both chakats shivered at the sudden feelings they got from Neal. Neal returned Jasmine’s stare with an icy one before saying, "You were willing to kill to protect your own. I sometimes find myself avenging those that weren’t able to."

Jasmine slowly nodded. "So rumors tell us, Captain. Would you have gone after our attackers if Star Fleet wasn’t already on their way?"

Neal chuckled before asking, "What makes you think I’m not going to take a little look-see into the matter? My Zulus will have several hours to gather data before our ‘Fleet friends can get out there."

"Careful Neal," Colin warned. "They haven’t said ‘yes’ yet."

"I thought I should place all my cards on the table as they seem wary of traps," Neal replied. Turning back to the chakats he continued, "A Zulu is a very small high-speed scout, with the best sensor suite I could cram into something that size. I was thinking a pair of them might make watching out for pirates and other shipping hazards a little easier for you. Night Hawk has some assigned to her as well." Giving them an evil grin he said, "If I am an overbearing manipulative control freak, I might use them to watch your every move … Or, they could be a means of protecting friends that I have a vested interest in. Records are kept, but Tess only uses them to track other ships’ movement for possible pirate activity."

Samantha smiled. "That information’s been used a couple times to determine where a ship was last seen, for search and rescue to know where to start looking."

"And if we don’t want your spies?" Tippytoe asked.

"Then just say ‘no’," Neal assured hir. "Not everyone thinks they want or need them. Night Hawk’s deliveries sometimes take them into less than safe areas, so the Zulus offer a little more in the way of protection." Turning to Samantha he added, "By the way, I’m upgrading yours, better sensors and range."

"Are they armed?" Jasmine asked, hir eyes narrowing.

"No, but you can use them as scouts, or as a shield against enemy fire, and as sword – though they only give you one swing each at your foe."

Jasmine looked at Tippytoe. "Two swings could have meant getting here under our own power …"

"Or seeing them before they attacked, or being able to use their navigation systems to get us home without needing to stop," Tippytoe countered. Turning to Neal, shi added, "We’ll take your spies, Captain Foster."

"Just Neal will do. I take it you’ve decided?" Neal asked.

Tippytoe nodded. "We’re in."

Neal tapped his comm badge. "Tess? Let Arcs and Sparks know that Blowfish is a go. Have them add a pair of Zulu docking ports while they’re making the repairs and upgrades."

"Upgrades?" the chakats chorused in surprise.

Neal nodded, grinning at their shocked expressions. "While she’s down we might as well slide in a few improvements. Say sensors as good as my Zulus? We already know your navigation systems are in need of help. Your original warp core was wedged in there, you might be better off with a smaller multi-core system to power your new warp engines."

Colin and Samantha were smirking at the chakats’ expressions. "We told you, he doesn’t just put a bandage on a problem," she reminded them.

"Do we get any say in the matter?" Jasmine wondered.

"You get every say in the matter," Samantha assured hir. "You’ll find you just have more options to work with.

"The engineering teams will go over each change or repair in detail before they start," Neal promised.

As the chakats rose to leave, Neal noticed that the lynx-tailed chakat was more than a little pregnant. "When are you due, Tippytoe?" he asked.

"Nine more days," shi said with a grin as hir mate reached down to give hir belly a gentle rub. "Why?" shi asked suspiciously. "You aren’t going to claim you can have us back together by then – are you?"

Neal chuckled. "I have no idea what else the engineering teams on The Tinker may have on their plate ahead of you. That said, they aren’t known for wasting time once a job is handed to them." Looking over to where Quickdash, Holly and Screamingwind had been sitting with Suzan and Dessa, Neal said, "Time’s up! Sync your tablets and let me have one of them."

His demand got him a pair of dirty looks from Holly and Quickdash, Screamingwind just sighed and brought him her PADD. "The basics are there, but it’s still very rough," she told him.

Neal smiled as he went down their list, murmuring, "Relax, I wasn’t expecting anything but a rough outline in the hour I gave you kids to work with. Hmmm, not a bad start," he acknowledged as he handed the PADD to Jasmine. "While Arcs and Sparks will probably have other ideas, consider this a ‘first peek’ at what we might do to your poor little ship."

Jasmine looked like shi thought the PADD might bite, so Samantha took it from Neal. "So now you have cubs drawing your rocket ships?" she teased Neal as shi nudged Jasmine back towards to table.

"Next time you see her you can ask Sharptongue what she thought of the drawings they made of Good Deal," Neal replied.

Samantha’s muzzle dropped open in surprise, as she had seen some of Longreach’s boasts of their latest upgrade. "You mean those three?"

"Those two," Screamingwind corrected. "I’m still in training."

Colin chuckled at his mate’s expression as he said to the chakats, "First rule of working with Neal is you will never be able to tell when he’s pulling your tail. Sam, why don’t I take the twins and get us ready to go while you three look over their suggestions?"

Neal added, "And I’ll take my engineers so they can’t argue their points before you’ve had time to think about what they’ve already got listed."


"You didn’t pull us away just to keep us from kibitzing," Screamingwind suggested as Neal led them away from the snack bar.

"Yes, and no," Neal replied. "They were starting to get the ‘deer in the headlights’ look of too many surprises coming at them too fast, but I needed to take your cohorts aside for a minute," Neal said as he stopped to give Holly and Quickdash a stern look.

"The operations chief in charge of docking wasn’t very impressed with your zooming though hys nicely arranged queue," he informed them. "Hy was so displeased that along with a fine, hy’s requested you not control any vessels within hys domain. Along with banning you from flying for a week, I’ll be adding extra watches to your chores to make up the fine," he told them. "Any thoughts or comments on that?" he asked.

Holly and Quickdash quickly shook their heads no. They could tell Neal was annoyed with them, but not mad, mad would have been banning them from doing anything involving engineering during their punishment.

"How did Arcs and Sparks get their names?" Screamingwind asked, looking for a safer subject. "Surely their parents didn’t name them that."

"Their siblings gave them those nicknames after certain incidents. When they started showing the engineering knack, the names stuck. When they reached adulthood they changed their names officially," Neal admitted.

"What’d they do?" Quickdash asked while at the same time Holly asked, "What were their names?"

"One at a time you two," Screamingwind begged.

Neal just grinned. "One of them tried to all but arc weld a pod to Pogo Stick when shi didn’t properly relieve the electrostatic charge the pod and shuttle had picked up leaving a planet’s atmosphere. The other made quite a shower of sparks when she dropped a spanner across a pair of live buss-bars. As for their original names, I’ll let you ask them," he said, just as a medium sized midnight black chakat and a small slender dark brown female mouse came around a corner.

On spotting Neal, the mouse let out a squeal of delight and pounced him, the chakat quickly following. "I told you he’d hit the starbase first," the chakat said as shi wrapped hir arms around both of them. Noticing the other three’s varying levels of surprise, shi asked, "Are these some of our ‘little’ sisters?"

"These two are," Screamingwind informed hir, indicating Holly and Quickdash. "I’m just another engineer in training."

"What?" The mouse said from within the double hug. "Are you trying to make us some more competition or something?"

"Or something," Neal assured her. "Besides, the last I heard you two were buried in work. A couple more helpers could come in handy."

"Starfleet tried that on us a couple years ago, dad. We don’t have the free hours to play baby sitters," Arcs told him as shi turned to give each of the other three a hug.

"Even if they are cute ‘babies’," Sparks allowed as she also gave them each a hug. She then turned back to Neal. "We heard you had a little ‘extra’ Boronike that you might be willing to part with …"

"Maybe we can come to an agreement," Neal suggested with an evil grin. "You allow my trainees to do a little learning on how you do things, in exchange for a couple carriers."

"Who decides how long?" Sparks asked, as Quickdash handed Arcs one of the PADDs that they had been doing their Blowfish repair/upgrade suggestions on.

"They do," Neal said. "No sense making the ‘sitters’ work if the sittees aren’t happy with them."

"Hold that thought …" Arcs muttered as shi flashed through the different pages and notes. Quickly coming to the end, shi eyed Neal critically. "How much of this is your work, Father?" shi demanded.

"None," Neal told hir with a grin, as Sparks took the PADD from hir and speed-read through the contents herself.

"Tess?" Arcs asked the air.

"The three before you used my systems to access Folly’s inventory and to run a couple simulations, but the work is what they could come up with in the short time they were given for it. At no time did Neal offer any input other than suggesting they work up a plan for repairs."

"Why a tri and not a dual core? It’s not like they’ll need the extra power." Sparks asked.

"A dual system would require interfering with their existing torch drive," Holly explained. "As they’ve left it functional this long, we didn’t see them letting us scrap it."

"Especially after it appears to have come in so handy against their attackers," Quickdash pointed out.

Arcs and Sparks exchanged glances. "Maybe there won’t be as much ‘baby’ in this ‘sitting’ after all," Sparks allowed as they looked at the trio with approval.

"They’re all yours," Neal said as he turned to go. "Try to keep them out of trouble …"

"Was he talking to us, or them?" Screamingwind wondered just as Sparks called out, "Be warned, Talssist wants to speak at you!" at Neal’s retreating back.

"Who’s Talssist?" Holly asked.

"Talssist is a Merraki, still in female mode," Arcs told her. "When her ideas get too crazy for us, we let her bounce them off Neal. He’s shot down dozens of her schemes."

"But he’s also agreed with a couple of them," Sparks reminded hir. "Their last ‘head-banging’ session gave us a rather interesting sensor upgrade."

"This time she thinks she’s cracked reliable full FTL communications while at warp. As Neal’s been fighting that issue for a while, it should be fun watching them kick it around," Arcs agreed.

"Well, we were there when Neal said Blowfish was a go," Screamingwind told them. "Shall we chase down those poor naive chakats and tell them what else Neal’s minions have in store for them?"

"And with your plan and ours, they’ll have too many choices," Arcs agreed. "Tess, where are they?"

"Still at the snack bar talking with Samantha," Tess reported. "Well, that’s not quite correct as Samantha is doing all the talking and I think your newest clients are minutes from total confusion-induced shock."

"So, do we rescue them – or sink them deeper?" Quickdash asked.

"Rescue," Arcs told hir. "They haven’t said ‘yes’ yet."

"Then we can sink them," Sparks playfully finished as they started walking towards the food court.


The non-Star Fleet badge hidden under her lapel softly beeped. She glanced at her mate, who nodded – they were alone for the moment and it should be safe enough to take the call. Tapping the badge, she quietly asked, "Yes?"

"Tess detected your comm badges. Did Boyce tire of the two of you already?"

"No, we were left behind to ride herd on what one of the council members considers a very dangerous madman," she said, the sarcasm dripping off her tongue.

Her mate chuckled and chimed in with, "The Admiral told us that we were the best choices for the task, though I believe that he might have seen it as sending a secondary message as well."

"We’ll be down in a few hours; play it as you like."

"Can do," the two marines chorused as she tapped her badge to cut the connection. Grinning at her mate she whispered, "Things are about to get ‘interesting’."

"About time," her mate agreed. "I grow weary of hir prattle."

 


Chapter 14  

 

Amistad spaceport
(Hmmm, I guess a little before 9:00 Chakona time on 7/42/91)

A young council security guard waited patiently with hir new partner and their charge. While hir senses roamed the area looking for trouble, shi again wondered why shi was there. As one of the newer recruits, being tapped to escort a member of the council had been more of a surprise than an honor. Hir next surprise was when they had bypassed the spaceport’s personnel terminal for the cargo docks. They had watched a very large cargo pod set down a few minutes ago; they now waited to one side of the pod’s nearer hatch as it opened to reveal stacks of carriers.

Shi watched as a red-haired human came out and talked to one of the forklift operators. After handing the operator what might have been a communicator or a remote, he had started to head towards them, before being intercepted by a foxtaur vixen who had come charging out of the same exit, her saddlebags bouncing in her hurry. The four-breasted beauty crushed him in a hug and shi heard her say, "Thanks again for the ride. I’ll contact Tess when I know more about how Vanessa’s doing."

"Don’t be strangers," the human replied. "We expect to see you two before you return to Earth."

Resuming his interrupted course towards them, the human gave their charge a smirk as he commented, "Two guard kittens this time. They’re keeping you on a short leash, pussycat."

Forgetting that shi was only there to protect hir charge from harm, the young guard stepped between them with a growl, "You will show Councilfur Wildflower proper respect!"

To hir surprise, the human didn’t back down. Instead shi thought shi sensed amusement though his smile did seem to ice over slightly as he replied, "When Shir Councilor Chakat Wildflower is in council, I will show hir all the respect that I believe hir position is due. However, outside of council business shi’s just another dang furball. The only thing that makes this particular furball special is that one of my crazier daughters thought that shi would make a good lifemate." Turning back to hir charge, he asked, "Speaking of which, how is shi?"

"Wider than ever, Neal," Chakat Wildflower admitted, trying to hide a grin.

"Again?" he said, acting surprised. "Haven’t you found what’s causing it yet?"

"This time it appears to be twins," shi said.

Neal shook his head as he grinned. "What are you two trying to do? Have enough brats to take over the entire council?"

The young guard stared in shock as shi realized just how badly shi had misread the situation. Shi was trying to back out of the way without making even a bigger fool of hirself when the human put hir back in the spotlight.

Looking hir up and down, Neal said, "Is good help getting that hard to find? This one’s so green shi needs mowing."

The older guard smiled as shi stepped forward to defend hir partner. "Shi’s young for hir position, but I believe shi has potential."

Neal grinned again. "What would you know Cieila? You were still wet behind the ears the first time we met."

Chakat Cieila smiled as shi remembered the first few times shi had locked horns with this human. "That was a few council members ago," shi reminded him.

"A few," he agreed. "Though you do seem to have been stuck with this one for quite a while now."

"Blame that crazy daughter of yours. I’ve been told by a very reliable source that shi’s insisted that I accompany hir mate."

"I’m sorry that such a burden has been placed on you," he said with no hint of sincerity in his voice.

"We all have our crosses to bear, some more so than others," Cieila replied with the same tone and a grin.

Turning back to their charge, Neal said, "Is that what brings you here?"

Wildflower nodded. "I have been unofficially warned that you are to be brought before the council. They have a few official questions for you."

"You say ‘they’ and not ‘we’. I take it you don’t agree with the questions."

"Let’s just say that the questions are along the lines of ‘are you still beating your mate?’"

"I believe the proper response is ‘only when they beg me to’," Neal said with a grin.

"Which they will put down as a ‘yes’ whether there had ever been a beating or a mate, although I have been hearing some rumors …"

"Since I can guess whom, should I ask why?" Neal asked.

"Shi still thinks you have too much power and influence, both here and elsewhere."

"And I, but a lowly freighter captain. I don’t know where shi gets such ideas. Any inkling of what shi’s going to try this time?"

"Well, banning Folly from Chakonan space didn’t work," Wildflower said with a half grin.

The so-called ban had been lifted before Folly had even had time to depart. As far as shi knew, all Neal had done was let a few people know that ‘due to the council’s displeasure’ he would not be making any more deliveries to Chakona. While a couple of businesses had complained, it was Star Fleet and the Star Corps that had caused the ban to be quickly lifted. They had not even asked about dropping the ban, they had merely asked why Folly was being banned from Chakona space. Not willing to admit that a ship and her captain had been banned simply because a member of the council didn’t like him, the ban was reversed and officially reported as a clerical error.

"There have been noises that shi wants you under someone’s control," shi added. "But I don’t know how shi’s going to try to justify it."

"Could be fun. I wonder who shi might have in mind. Surely not you."

"Surely," shi agreed. "One of hir minions no doubt."

"Don’t fret little one, hir timing is as bad as ever," Neal said, causing the younger guard to frown again, as he didn’t appear anywhere near old enough to be calling the councilor ‘little one’.

"I hope you’re right. Shi may also use your ‘corruption’ of certain members of the council as reasons for removal."

"Including yourself?"

Wildflower nodded. "And some of those that helped you put together that first contact team."

Neal hmmm-ed to himself for a moment. "Don’t worry about hir getting someone to take over my Folly, that’s a non-issue. As for the rest, is this a full session? Or just an informal one?"

"From what I could discover, informal. Why?"

"Then call your friends, as well as any non-friends that might not like hir doing questionable things behind their backs. This is the type of thing when even your foes can and will aid you."

"What are you up to?" Wildflower asked as hir eyebrow rose.

Neal’s smile was not a nice one as he said, " ‘It’s all on the wheel’ my dear, ‘it all comes around’." With a warmer smile, Neal asked, "When do the games begin?"

"Thirteen fifty hours, you’re scheduled to be the last session for today."

"Why do I get the feeling that the previous session will have ended well before that?"

"Twelve seventy-five. And yours was written in at the last moment, so most of the council will be on their way home for our ‘weekend’ by then."

Turning to the older guard, Neal smiled as he asked, "Do you remember what I said when you’ve asked me how I get away with some of the things I do?"

Cieila nodded. "You’ve always said that you ‘get by with a little help from your friends’."

"I know that as guards and gofers for the council you’re not allowed to directly interfere with the council members. But that wouldn’t keep like-minded friends of yours from asking their charges if they are staying for the late session …"

"And when asked, they would then have to explain what late session," Cieila finished, grinning as shi activated hir communicator.

While shi spoke to a fellow guard about the pain of late sessions called on short notice, Neal turned back to their charge.

"Would you care to join me for lunch? I can promise to keep you entertained while we wait for our session."

"I’ve seen your ship before, and she’s much too large for a proper tour in the time we have."

"That wasn’t how I planed to keep you entertained," he warned hir with a grin.

Wildflower had opened hir mouth to ask what he might have in mind, but shi was distracted by two small blurs that streaked around the corner of the cargo pod. Focusing on them, they resolved into two small furs, the lead one appeared to be just under a year old with a fiery spotted pattern, while the slightly older chaser was a bright red with white paws and tail tip. After a couple of random direction changes, they headed for Neal.

While hir charge had been watching the cubs, the younger guard had been watching Neal. Shi saw him tense up slightly as the cubs approached, even though he couldn’t have possibly seen or heard them coming. At the last moment he turned, just as the smaller cub leaped at his back. Catching the cub, a wrestling match commenced as he tried to control the frisky little chakat.

"Ten minutes! All I wanted was ten minutes without a sneaky kitten attack. Is that too much to ask?" Neal pretended to complain as he tickled the cub. The little foxtaur watched from below, calmly waiting her turn.

The younger guard didn’t see the signal, but the little foxtaur reared back and leaped up just as the human threw the chakat cub at hir.

Neal smiled as he stroked the much calmer foxtaur kit. The young guard had instinctively caught the cub, only to realize that shi and hir partner were now both doing things other than watching out for their charge. Shi started a quick scan of the area, looking for problems and missed what was happening right under hir muzzle. Hir scan of the area was interrupted by a cool breeze across the tips of hir nipples, just before the cub gently latched onto one of them.

Wildflower failed to hold back hir laughter as the younger of hir security detail was undressed by the little chakat. Cieila also grinned while continuing hir conversation. Shi shifted hir communicator just far enough to snap an image of the kit, cub, and their holders; another touch of hir claw sent it to hir friend on the other end.

Still laughing so hard shi wasn’t sure hir legs would hold hir, Wildflower settled hir lower torso to the ground. Cieila grinned as shi shut off hir communicator before hir friend could demand to know just what shi was seeing.

For the next few moments they watched the cub show the younger guard who was in charge, six limbs and a tail dominating hir mere two and a tail tip. Kiwi finally got a good grip on the cub. Holding Firestorm away from hir open top, shi was about the claim victory when the little foxtaur joined the fray.

Putting away hir communicator, Cieila took pity on hir partner and gently pulled the chakat cub out of hir paws. Firestorm gave the unopened top a look and grinned, only to be stopped by a gentle thump on hir nose and a whispered ‘behave!’ Locking eyes with the older guard for a moment, the cub relaxed and settled for a cuddle.

Still wiping tears from hir eyes, Wildflower said, "If this is your definition of keeping us entertained, I’m not sure that we’ll be in any shape to make the session."

"We’ll see that you get there on time," growled a new voice.

All three chakats twisted around, only to find a pair of Rakshani females had used the cub distraction to sneak up on them. The guards’ initial concerns were removed when kit and cub each twisted free of their holders and picked a Rakshani to ‘attack’.

"This just keeps getting better," Wildflower said, watching the cubs. Having met more than a few Rakshani, Wildflower knew they wouldn’t put up with the cubs’ high jinks unless they were in some way related. A second glance at the cub holder made hir realize that she was more than a few months pregnant.

The Rakshani now dangling the still frisky chakat cub by hir tail caught hir look and smiled. "My mate’s adopted daughter," she said as an explanation.

"Why do I have the feeling that your mate is not a chakat," Wildflower half asked, smiling up at the Rakshani as she continued to move her arm to keep the swinging cub from reaching her top.

"No, I don’t have a chakat mate," she admitted. "But I do happen to have a chakat for a co-mate. Also a foxtaur vixen and a rabbit doe."

"Not to mention four more Rakshani co-mates, Bonita," the other Rakshani reminded her.

"Then there are my mate’s ten companions to consider, though none of them are with us right now," Bonita added as she expertly flipped the cub to land on her outstretched arm. Firestorm started to crawl up said arm, only to be stopped by hir tail still being trapped in Bonita’s paw. "Give it up Stormy, you’re not milk checking me right now."

"Your mate sounds quite ‘busy’," Wildflower said with a grin.

"You have no idea," Bonita agreed with a matching grin.

Giving Neal a calculated look, Wildflower said, "Why do I have the feeling that this will also take longer than we have time for?"

He shrugged as he smiled at hir, "Less time than it took to get you to accept that your mate thought of me as hir father. As I recall your parents welcomed me into the family before you did."

Wildflower’s fur hid most of hir blush, but the others could sense that it was there. Hir first couple of meetings with this furless, tailless, ‘son of a demented ape’ had not gone well. It had taken their firstborn to totally break hir of hir dislike for him. Shi had been exhausted from the long day, as well as the birth. With hir mate wrapped around hir, Wildflower had been unable to reach hir cub as shi started squirming away from hir. Shi was just trying to untangle hirself from hir mate when a soft voice had quietly whispered, "Wrong way little one," as he gently gave the newborn a stroke before turning hir back towards hir parents. Shi had watched him as he had silently watched as the cub made hir way back to hir, and then he had quietly left. The next morning, he and his ship were gone, off to make their next set of deliveries.

It was to be another three years before Folly again stopped at Chakona. Neal had found a message waiting for him. It had simply said, ‘When should we expect you?’ and had been signed, not by his daughter, but by hir then denmate. The invitation had included both their street address information, as well as proper transporter coordinates.

That had been many a cub ago. A few times he had been there for the birthing party, but more often than not he could only send his well wishes. As the little chakat and foxtaur were released and came over to finally greet hir, shi looked up at Neal. "And how long will you be here this time?" shi asked, sounding hopeful.

"How long would you like me to hang around?" Neal replied with a grin.

"Shi’s due in five days," Wildflower suggested hopefully.

"Then we will be here at least six, perhaps longer as we’re running well ahead of my excuse for a schedule," Neal assured hir.

"Passion will be thrilled to hear that," shi said with a smile. "Most of the family will be there, and I’m sure they’re going to want to meet your new family."

"Should be interesting to see which group frightens the other more," Neal agreed with a chuckle.

"Was my mate really that bad?" Wildflower asked.

"I didn’t say your mate would be the one scaring them, although this will be the first birthing party for most of them."

"Are you saying we’re going to scare them?" the other Rakshani inquired with a frown.

"No, Dessa, I mean more along the lines of each group finding out what the other group gets away with doing," Neal explained. "Shipboard life is very different from planet living, even for one as newly settled as Chakona."

"Chakona isn’t ‘newly settled’," the younger guard protested.

Wildflower gave hir a sad grin before saying, "Trust me Kiwi, he’s older than he looks."

Neal grinned. "If we have time, I’ll show you some old pictures from space. They show the progress made on Chakona over the years."

"I can get that out of any history database," Kiwi refuted.

"Ah, but these aren’t in anybody’s database but mine," Neal assured hir. "And some databases have been modified to hide things that others don’t want known."

"Don’t say it," the older guard advised as Kiwi opened hir muzzle. "We’ve found proof that certain archived records on Chakona have been deliberately tampered with. We’re hoping that the good Captain brought some of those original records with him."

"Why would he have been trusted with that type of information?" Kiwi asked.

Neal softly snorted. "Contrary to popular belief, the FTL connections between the different systems hasn’t always been there. Then there’s that little fact that current communications ties up most of the available bandwidth, so sending a full backup of a large database is still cheaper and easier to ship than to transmit. And, for the first few decades, almost all communications from Chakona were sent through ships like mine, playing mail carrier to places like Chakona used to be. Since my standing orders for the records were to see that they were delivered to at least half a dozen planets as a guarantee that the records would never be lost, I’ve always made an extra read-only copy that I kept isolated in a location that only I knew of …"

"Which came in handy when someone started damaging parts of our early records," Wildflower grumbled. "Neal’s brought us back copies of the backups before, but the attacker was always able to corrupt the data again."

"Won’t there just be another attack when you replace the database again?" Dessa wondered.

"From what I gather, they think they found the culprit," Neal explained. "You see, they could never tell where the corruption came from, but last time they’d timed it for when certain people were on a holiday. As the data remained intact until one person was told that the database was mysteriously working again. With luck this may be the last time I have to restore their archive."

"Who was it?" Kiwi asked.

"Don’t worry about it," Wildflower told hir. "From the sections of the database that were always damaged, and who we know had access to it at those times, I think they were recently retired."

"How would he know what was damaged? Or have the rights to view the originals?" Kiwi demanded.

"Relax," hir counterpart told hir. "The records in question were of public record and available to all. Or at least they were supposed to be … someone didn’t want parts of those records to come back to haunt them."

"Or their family," Neal countered. "Sometimes it’s hard on cubs to realize that their parents or grandparents weren’t as smart or as clever as they seemed."

"Enough talk," Bonita suggested, "Cindy said she was taking Alpha back up in ten minutes."

"Earth or Chakona minutes?" Wildflower teased.

"Folly time, and that was five of those minutes ago," Bonita replied as shi grinned and turned. "Shake a tail, they won’t hold that launch window for us!" Her comment was punctuated by the roar of a motorbike that zoomed by before barreling up the ramp they had seen Neal come out of.


Once aboard the shuttle, Wildflower discovered that they weren’t the only guests going up. A very excited little chakat cub named Hyjinx was telling anyone who’d listen about hir earlier ride on a real motorcycle. It seemed shi had helped deliver a package that had come all the way from Earth, handed off from one cub to another.

Shi was only half surprised to find Arcs and Sparks onboard Folly; they’d been down to visit their sister a couple times since their The Tinker had made orbit. The two engineers each gave hir a hug in greeting, but they seemed to be in the middle of a discussion or argument with three youngsters who appeared to be holding their own as far as shi could tell.

Wildflower wasn’t really impressed with Folly; shi’d seen her more than enough times over the years. What did impress hir though was how much more alive the ship seemed to be with more than just Neal rattling around Folly’s empty corridors. Shi also saw a little more of why hir mate could go from one state to another in a flash; seems it was inherited from hir foster parent.

First a small group of chakat cubs had charged around the corner on hearing Neal’s voice. After confirming that they’d done their morning chores, Neal had agreed that they could go play in the holosuite until lunchtime. They were gone again in a flash, including Hyjinx, Stormy and Star.

Next had come an adult foxtaur vixen, Wildflower noticing that she too was a ‘little’ pregnant. Weaver had been fielding calls coming in from shippers needing dates and quotes for expected and future deliveries. As Neal sorted through the messages he was interrupted by several teens with questions on what/when and how he wanted some tasks done. Each had given hir a smile and a nod, while one cheeky teen vixentaur whispered that she hoped she could get to know Wildflower better before she too disappeared around a corner.

With Weaver still in tow, Neal had led them all towards his ‘dayroom’, stopping at the galley on the way. He had stuck his head in the door to say: "Five extras for lunch Jackie, four chakats, one mouse. And none of Stew’s shenanigans with the spices, this will be a working lunch!" They were only a few steps down the corridor when yet another pregnant female bound out of the door Neal had just been at. The rabbit had run up behind Neal, turned him around, kissed him hard, and then dashed back into the galley.

Weaver laughed at Neal’s expression. "You know you should have let Tess relay the message."

"I –" Neal started before gasping for a moment. "Tess, have a glass of milk in the replicator please," he choked out as he picked up his pace to his dayroom. Once inside he quickly took a large swig of the milk and started working it around his mouth as his eyes watered.

"Enough of us are in milk mode," Weaver pointed out as he took another gulp.

Neal gave her a funny look and swallowed before asking, "Do you really want me to rub whatever this is all over your tits?"

"Probably not…" Weaver admitted. "Now, if you’re done playing?" she asked, bringing up the next note on her PADD.


Who was doing what, when, and where took a little while and then it was time for lunch. The others found it amusing how carefully Neal was eating, almost like he suspected someone of spiking his food, though he did relax a bit after Firestorm begged for a taste of something and Stew didn’t panic.

They were just finishing their late lunch when Tess interrupted.

"Sorry to bother you, boss, but Alex is reporting that a couple of chakats are looking for you. They are dressed as council flunkies and acting like they own the spaceport and anything on it … Oh," she seemed to add as an afterthought, "No offense to our onboard council flunkies."

"None taken," Cieila assured her with a grin.

"Sounds like it’s a good thing I didn’t stay dirt-side," Neal commented. "And it’s a good thing you came by before they made me disappear," he said as he nodded at Wildflower.

"Oh, not even Dunes would dare try to make you ‘disappear’, but shi’s not above trying to have you locked up and out of sight."

"Alex is playing it ‘by the book’ so far," Tess told them. "His request for the warrant that gives them the right to search the pod and shuttle for Neal has them sputtering."

"Good for your Alex," Wildflower said with a laugh. "I’m afraid that Dunes’ people have gotten so used to pushing others around that they don’t know what to do when someone knows their rights."

"Tess? Ask Alex to try really hard to hide the fact that I’ll be down on one of the next pod deliveries," Neal suggested. "That way they’ll be watching the cargo section of the spaceport, and we should be able to sneak in the passenger side without being noticed."

"You’re freight shuttles won’t be allowed in the passenger landing areas," Wildflower pointed out.

"That’s why we won’t take a shuttle down," Neal assured hir. "Tess? Let Tina know that she’ll be departing shortly. If we bounce the request through a couple relays I’ll bet Dunes’ goons will never know where Gwendolyn came from."

"Landing request sent chief!" Tina reported. "I can’t wait to see my first planet up close!"

At Wildflower’s surprised look Neal chuckled. "I told you I had plenty of things to keep you entertained."

"And Tess is moving one of your special PTVs to my bay, so you can drive straight there," Tina said just before adding, "Landing permission granted, you have fifty Chakona minutes before I have to start moving to get us there on time."

"Why would you carry your own PTV?" Kiwi asked. "I’d think it would be cheaper to just rent or purchase one on Chakona."

"True," Neal admitted. "But this one won’t have a fresh paper trail that can be quickly tied back to me or Folly, as it’s been in your planetary database for decades. Part of not being spotted is not doing anything they might be watching for. Another trick is giving them something else ‘interesting’ to watch."

Mike grinned as he and Calmmeadow finished their meals. "And we’ll be setting a fresh pod down at the same time Gwendolyn’s landing, so we’ll have their attention more than long enough for you to be on your way."

Firestorm refused to be left behind when they prepared to go down, so Shadowcrest joined them to cub-sit while they were in council.


Most of those still on the Folly also ended up riding Gwendolyn down, some to shop and sightsee after checking on this part of Neal’s family, while Neal and the five chakats boarded the PTV as Weaver punched in a request for several rental units. While set up to adapt to taurs and bipeds, Kiwi thought there was something wrong with Neal’s PTV, but shi couldn’t put hir claw on it until they were climbing out of it in front of the council hall. With it sitting next to a standard PTV, the differences stood out. The basic shape and color was the same, but it just seemed ‘beefier’ with heavier tires and thicker windows as if it was made for a more unfriendly environment.

A quick comm call by Cieila confirmed that the council was ready, and that they were waiting for Neal. A short ride in the lift and he was in the council chambers. Wildflower assumed hir taur pad behind the table as Cieila and Kiwi joined the other guards that sat around the perimeter of the room. Neal took the center of the half ringed table, able to see and be seen by the entire council.

Dunes was hurrying back to the council chambers from hir office. Hir security team had failed to find and detain that damnable captain, so shi now planned to hammer out a request to have Star Fleet help arrest him. Shi turned the last corner and stopped dead in hir tracks. Shi could see him through the open doors to the council chamber. He had somehow made it past the building’s security systems, but shi had him now!

"You’re under arrest!" Dunes shouted from just beyond the doorway.

"And you no doubt have a warrant for my arrest?" Neal asked as he turned with a raised eyebrow to the chakat who was striped in two shades of what Neal would uncharitably call dirty dishwater blond.

"I don’t need one!" shi exclaimed.

"Actually, you do," a voice from inside the council chambers informed hir. "Unless of course you have proof of a crime?"

Dunes stepped up to the door and peered in. Shi had expected to find a mere half dozen of hir fellow council members, each asked to be there because shi was sure shi could convince them to do things hir way. Hir muzzle fell open in surprise at what shi found. Instead of the planned paw-full of supporters, the chamber was filled with almost the entire council – but only two of the six shi’d planned to have assist hir.

"I do," shi said, no longer sounding quite as sure of hirself.

"A news report isn’t proof, Dunes. That is, if this about what I think it is. Have you actually confirmed that any charges were pressed or that a warrant was ever issued?" an older wolfmorph asked hir.

"No, but …"

"No buts, Dunes. We must ask you to provide proof before you try to detain him. You two do have a history between you." Tormic Graybrow had been a council member for over fifty years, and sometimes it felt like most of them had been spent keeping Dunes from implementing one scheme or another.

"I assure you …"

"Produce the warrant or back off, Dunes," the wolfmorph insisted.

"Even if I can’t have him arrested for murder yet, I also have kit-napping charges – and he won’t be talking his way out of those!" Dunes said defiantly.

"May I ask whom I’m supposed to have kidnapped?" Neal asked with a frown.

"Cindy Grayson. Her father was more than happy to file charges against you," Dunes told him as shi tapped a key on hir PADD, glad that there was something he couldn’t get out of.

"Her thief of a father is here?" Neal chuckled, startling Dunes. Tapping his comm badge, he said, "Tess, let Cindy know her excuse of a parent is here to take her home."

"You caught her in the middle of something, boss. She’s asking for twenty minutes to get ready and get down there," Tess replied.

"Tell her she’ll be before the Chakona Council, she may want to dress accordingly," Neal suggested.

"Is there a reason she might come dressed improperly?" one of the council members asked.

"Depending on what she’s up to, she could be wearing a grimy set of overalls," Neal pointed out.

"You’re forcing her to work?" Dunes demanded, seeing something shi could use against him.

"Well," Neal smirked, "If I had indeed ‘kidnapped’ her, it would have to have been for some purpose. On the other hand, if I had suddenly found a dozen stowaways and had to find something to keep them occupied, I might have put them to work."

A soft snort from behind Neal made Dunes realize that he hadn’t come alone. A massive black and gray striped chakat was holding a fiery colored chakat cub. "Your friends can wait outside," Dunes told Neal, angrily.

"I didn’t think it wise to leave them alone without some kind of adult supervision," Neal replied, getting a couple chuckles from the other members of the council.

"Shi’s obviously an adult!" Dunes retorted.

"I’m only twelve," the large chakat quietly countered.

"I find that a bit hard to believe," Dunes scoffed.

"Nonetheless it’s true," Shadowcrest told hir with a raised eyebrow. "If you like, you can call my birth parents and ask them," shi suggested as a middle aged rusty-gray fox entered the council chambers.

"Mr. Grayson, is this the person you say kit-napped your daughter?" Dunes quickly asked the newcomer before other questions could be brought up.

"He’s the one!" the fox stated, having hardly given Neal a glace. "Where’s Cindy?"

"She’s on her way," Neal assured him. "While we wait for her, why don’t you explain to the council how I supposedly kidnapped your daughter."

"What’s there to explain? You took my daughter! You’re going to pay for that!" the angry fox groused.

"Was she alone?" Neal asked, watching the council’s response.

"No, you took some of her friends too!" he insisted.

"Yet she and all her friends admitted to their parents, including you, that they had all stowed away in a cargo carrier that ended up on the wrong ship. And you’re the only parent that wouldn’t accept it," Neal commented, paying out the line.

"I told you to leave her at your first stop and have her take the next ship home!"

"Why yes, you did demand that," Neal agreed. "On the other hand Cindy didn’t want to be abandoned, and stranding an under-aged child against her wishes runs counter to even my limited parenting beliefs." The last phrase eliciting snorts and chuckles from some of the council members that knew of his first batch of kids.

"You had no right to make that decision!"

"As someone who had promised to take care of her, I did."

"After you kit-napped her!"

"This is a very serious charge if he can substantiate it," councilfur Benson admitted, getting nods from several of his fellow councilors.

Neal snorted lightly at his accuser before turning his attention to the wolf and setting the hook. "He’d have better odds of this being true if Star Fleet counselors hadn’t already had a little chat with me, as well as each of the kids in question. Somehow I think Admiral Kline would have locked me away if there had been anything remotely suggesting that any of them had actually been kidnapped."

"Kline?" Dunes gasped out, shock evident on hir muzzle, giving Neal confirmation of where a couple loose threads had come from.

"That’s right," councilfur Quenteta said as shi gave Dunes a grin. "You had bragged to me that Admiral Kline had provided you with personnel to rein in a certain problem captain. Trot them out Dunes! I for one want to see if any of your schemes are going to work today," the forest breed Stellar foxtaur finished with a chuckle.

Dunes scowled as shi again tapped a key on hir PADD. Moments later two Rakshani, a male and a very pregnant female wearing Star Fleet Marine dress uniforms marched in. They stopped a meter from Neal, their expressions stern as they looked down at the captain.

Eying them back with what looked like disdain, Neal asked Dunes, "Did you really think you could control me and my ship with a pair of hellcats?"

"They are here under Admiral Kline’s orders," Dunes shot back, but hir voice wasn’t as confident as before.

"Oh, I’m sure that they are," Neal chuckled in agreement. "But to aid you or me?" Looking up at the Rakshani, Neal asked, "Well?"

"Before we get into the official business, there is something else that we need to take care of," the female stated. Opening a pocket, she removed a blue and aqua ankle bracelet. Handing it to Neal, she softly asked, "Will you do the honors?" as she gently put her left foot on his thigh, being careful not to puncture his pant’s leg with her claws.

Neal looked down at her ankle, which already held a red and brown Rakshan ankle bracelet. "Over or under?" he asked.

"Over," she told him. As Neal snapped the bracelet in place, she added, "While I may have two mates, you are my first mate and my family name is Foster."

"FOSTER?" Dunes didn’t quite hold back hir shriek.

Whitetail turned to Dunes and touched her House sash. While it had a red and orange trim denoting Derikk’s House colors, the primary colors were the blue and aqua that her sister marines had picked out to surprise Neal on Raksha.

His hand still on the Whitetail’s ankle, Neal looked over at the now very worried looking chakat. "You mean the good Admiral didn’t tell you that Whitetail and I were mates?" he asked with an evil grin. Turning back to his mate as she lowered her leg, he gave her a smile and a quick belly rub. "How’s the little one doing?"

Catching his hand to keep it on her belly, "Fine by my last scans," Whitetail purred to him.

Looking at the male, Neal asked, "Has she been behaving herself?"

Derikk nodded slowly. "About as much as one would expect from a pregnant female. Better since the Admiral put her back in uniform," he added with a small grin as she playfully growled at him.

"Folly has three more in her condition, you may be getting in over your head," Neal warned him.

Derikk toothy grin widened slightly as he said, "Whitetail and I have discussed that issue, and she has agreed to ‘share’ me with her co-mates."

"That’s between you and them," Neal agreed.

"One thing that is between I and you is this," Derikk said, as he pulled a matching sash from his own pocket. "I was hoping your family had room for another member."

"It does," Neal assured him.

Stepping up to Neal, Derikk offered him the sash before kneeling to make it easier for Neal to place the sash over one shoulder and under the opposing armpit.

Closing the sash under his arm, Neal waited for Derikk to stand up before giving the large Rakshani a hug. "Welcome to chaos," Neal said as he stepped back before adding, "Brother," in Katang Low Tongue. Derikk looked startled and Whitetail and several of the council members looking surprised by the greeting. (I’m thinking ‘brother’ means a bit more than male sibling in this case, more on that later.)

Quenteta grinned at Dunes as Dunes just stared openmouthed at the Rakshani. "And just what were the admiral’s orders?" the Stellar inquired.

"Why, to obey those in command of the ship we will be serving on," Whitetail assured hir. "While we’ve received promotions, the ranking Rakshani marine onboard Folly will still be Lieutenant Zhanch ap Nashene na Foster, our co-mate to Captain Foster."

"In other words, I’ve already got plenty of ‘keepers’," Neal told Dunes with a grin. "But I thank you for having them send a couple more Star Fleet types for me to further corrupt."

Cindy picked that moment to enter. She was wearing a neat jumpsuit of the same dark blue Neal used in his work shirts and was carrying a document bag. She nodded at Neal before she walked up to her father.

"Are you Charles Thomas Grayson?" she asked him.

"You know very well who I am!" her father snarled.

"Yes, I do," Cindy admitted with some disdain, "but this is for the record. Are you Charles Thomas Grayson?"

"Yes," he stated, reaching for her.

Cindy avoided his grasp and pushed a sealed envelope from her bag into his outstretched paw.

"What the hell is this?" the surprised fox demanded.

"You, Charles Thomas Grayson, have hereby been served. You are charged with stealing from the accounts my grandmother left me."

Charles threw the envelope down as if it had bitten him.

"Pick it up," Cindy told him. "I have a whole room full of witnesses; you won’t be able to claim you didn’t get it."

Ignoring the packet, Charles made a lunge at Cindy, who twisted away from his grab and sent him crashing to the floor with a well-placed kick.

As he stared up at her in astonishment, she smiled. "I’m not frightened of you any more," she informed him. "And after wrestling with Rakshani, you’re not even a warm-up."

Charles tried to spin around as Neal quietly said, "Is that what you feared? Cindy learning to be independent?"

"His worse nightmare," Shadowcrest murmured in agreement from where shi sat keeping Firestorm quiet. Several of the council members that looked hir way as shi spoke did a double take when they thought they saw a coppery ghost helping hir keep the cub entertained.

Neal also frowned at the astral-projecting chakat. "Tess, tell the cubs I expect them to keep Windy so tail stung shi won’t have time to play games in council chambers."

"Yes boss," his comm badge replied as the coppery ghost appeared to let out a silent squawk of indignation – hir tail bottle-brushed as shi disappeared.

"Tell hir to come in here!" Dunes demanded, angered that Neal seemed to be mocking hir authority in front of the whole council at every turn.

"That would take a minute or three," Neal informed hir, "unless of course you’ve figured out that I can still get my transporters through the security measures that have been put in place since my last visit."

Letting Dunes fume, Neal clapped his hands. "Now where were we? Oh yeah, we’re still waiting for Dunes to produce a murder warrant with my name on it, and we have this accusation of kidnapping to deal with. Cindy, did I kidnap you?"

"No, Captain," she replied.

Neal nodded as he continued, "And I also claim to have not kidnapped you, so now the only person saying otherwise is you, Charlie."

"Which proves nothing!" Charles blustered as he scampered up off the floor. "I want him arrested for kit-napping!"

Neal let out a long sigh as he shook his head. "At least this will be quicker to clear up than Dunes’s attempt at a murder rap," he commented as he turned from Cindy to Charles. "Tell you what Charlie, we can have this solved in no time. You see those three skunktaurs over there?" he asked, pointing at two bluepawed and one blackpawed skunktaurs. "They’re all mind readers. I’ll be willing to let them snoop around in my head to look for proof that I kidnapped Cindy. When they find I didn’t, they’ll be reading you to find out why you’re lying." (Telekinesis for House Bluepaw; Telepathy for House Redpaw; and Out-of-body Projection for House Blackpaw.) Not that I’m thinking Charlie would know which color meant what. ;-)

Charles’s muzzle was open, but no words had come out when Cindy spoke up. "They have my permission to read my mind as well. That will prove I ended up on Folly by my own actions and not Neal’s." Giving her father a dirty look, Cindy added, "Drop the charges, or everybody will know your dirty little secrets."

Playing along, the council’s skunktaurs appeared to look interested in Neal’s offer. The blackpawed skunktaur smiled at Charles. "Three of us to three of you. This works well as there need be no overlap. Not to mention we can speed things up by doing all of you at once and giving the council our full findings. Be advised that we will only be looking for things pertaining to a possible kit-napping. From what we’ve heard so far, this will include why the good captain didn’t turn his ship around or drop her off to find her own way home; why Cindy didn’t want off; and of course why you’re seemingly in such a panic to get back a child that obviously doesn’t want to go back with you."

Neal nodded at the skunktaur. "I’ll be happy to throw in what’s been discovered by a private investigator in this matter. I’ll include his contact info and a release so that the council can confirm that I haven’t altered the data."

"That would be most helpful, Captain." Looking back at the now very uncomfortable looking Charles, hy said, "We have Neal’s and Cindy’s permission to proceed, do we have yours?"

"You have no right to read my mind!" Charles sputtered.

"And you have no right to falsely accuse Neal of kit-napping!" Cindy fired back. "Ante up or fold…. Now." As her father continued to sputter, Cindy looked to Neal, who raised an eyebrow and gave her a ‘your call’ sign. Turning back to Charles, she said, "I’ll give you one last option. I know which accounts you were skimming from, you can have those accounts… in exchange for me."

"Just what do you mean by that?" Councilfur Graybrow asked.

"It’s not really me he wants, but the credits under my control. While I’m giving him a choice, I already know which way he’ll jump. While several accounts were set up for me, those were by far the largest. But this cuts the cord, I don’t want him in a position to steal anything else from me or my grandmother’s estate."

"What’s the deal?" Charles asked sounding interested.

"I sign the accounts over to you. In exchange, you disown me and any rights to me or what’s left of grandmother’s estate," Cindy informed him.

"That includes the evidence of what you’ve already stolen from Cindy and the estate," Neal added. "As well as me calling off the private investigator."

"Done!" Charles cried. More than a few of the council members looked disgusted at the idea that a parent would pick credits over their own child.

Cindy also looked disgusted as she pulled the required forms from her bag. "I don’t know which of you is more revolting – you or that supposedly empathic chakat that sided with you," she said as she glared at Dunes. "You dragged me through this for what? So you could help him steal from me? At least your interference will free me from him once and for all!"

"Captain Fos –," Dunes started.

"HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!" Cindy shouted hir down. A little quieter she said, "It could have been any ship and any captain with even half a heart, and Charles would have tried this ‘kit-napping’ crap to regain control over me. Would you have fallen for his bullshit if it hadn’t been Neal?"

"A very good question," councilfur Graybrow commented while Dunes sputtered. "If you answer yes, then you show that you are very easily fooled; if no, then you’re admitting to being very hostile to the captain. Either would be reason enough to ask you to step down from this council. So which is it Dunes?"

Iceglitter, a snowy-colored female lion morph dryly commented, "I’ve also heard that shi’s been trying to get some of this council’s members removed for helping Captain Foster with a first contact team. I went over the list of those chosen, and while I would have chosen a couple others, I understand that timing and availability played a major role in the selection."

"Let’s get this money-grubbing excuse for a father out of here, and then we can deal with the issue of Shir Dunes," one of the other council members suggested.

"We do have enough for a full council," Iceglitter agreed.

Once the papers signed and properly recorded, Charles wasn’t quite given a bum’s rush out the doors before the council turned back to Dunes.


"The question to you Dunes, was whether you’re incompetent, or if you’ve been manipulating this council to attack Captain Foster and others for your own personal reasons," Iceglitter stated, her voice matching her name.

Dunes was saved from immediately replying by the chakats that had accompanied Neal. Firestorm had rolled out of Shadowcrest's arms and was now heading for the council members.

"Stormy…" Neal said when he saw where shi was heading. Firestorm stopped and tried to look innocent of any intent to cause mischief.

"You have no right to boss that cub around!" Dunes snarled at him, happy for any distraction.

"As one of my adopted brats, I do," Neal shot back as he kept his eyes on Firestorm.

"No you don’t!" Dunes insisted, "You have no rights to tell anyone what to do!"

Several of the council were surprised when Neal suddenly switched gears. "Fine, I wash my hands of the matter," he agreed. Turning back to Firestorm, Neal smiled as he said, "Have fun!"

Firestorm watched Neal for a moment to make sure he wasn’t teasing hir, then shi ran for the table Dunes was behind. Dunes made to give the cub a hug, but Stormy had other plans. When a quick inspection of Dunes’s top didn’t reveal any fasteners, Firestorm tore it open with hir claws, being careful to not damage the contents.

"What the hell?" Dunes exclaimed, as the cub shredded hir top. "You put hir up to this!" shi growled at Neal.

"No, he didn’t," Shadowcrest growled back at hir. "Neal knows Stormy likes to ‘milk check’ anything with breasts, and he tried to stop hir. You’re the one that demanded that he not control hir, so any problems were caused by you!"

The other council members tried to not laugh as Firestorm gave the still sputtering Dunes hir ‘milk check’. The urge to laugh was quickly forgotten when the cub backed away from Dunes after just a moment, with a noise that sounded like shi was gagging on something. They watched as Firestorm then started licking hir paws as if to get a bad taste off hir tongue.

The Folly comm badges Neal, Shadowcrest, and Firestorm were wearing had relayed the events to other interested parties, who were now laughing in Neal’s earplug as well as in Shadowcrest’s mind. Shadowcrest also grinned as shi mentally suggested something; moments later shi heard the slight hum of a transporter beam as something was added to hir saddlebag. As Dunes reached for Firestorm, who quickly ran down the table to avoid hir, Shadowcrest reached into hir saddlebag and tossed Dunes a new top with a bright flowery pattern. At Dunes’s stare, Shadowcrest said, "I told you shi likes ‘milk checks’, though you’re the first one shi didn’t like the taste of."

Mountainwind, one of the oldest of the current chakat security guards, was stationed behind Dunes and perked up a little as Dunes donned the replacement top. An accident decades before had left hir with one eye that couldn’t see as far into the infrared or ultraviolet as a normal chakat. This eye was now telling hir that the colors on the back of the top were changing as the cloth was warmed to body temperature. Closing hir ‘good’ eye made it easier to see what was going on.

‘Founding member of the ‘Chakona is flat’ society’ the back of the replacement top read.

The words now visible to hir caused Mountainwind to choke back a laugh.

Hearing the snort of amusement, Dunes spun around to stare at the elderly chakat, who could now see the front of the new top.

‘I messed with the captain of the Folly, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!’ was too much for hir. Mountainwind hid hir muzzle in hir paws as shi laughed hysterically.

"What the hell’s wrong with hir?" Dunes demanded as shi felt others growing more amused at hir by the second.

One of the other chakats touched the elderly chakat’s shoulder. "Are you alright?" shi sent.

Without looking up Mountainwind sent, "Put on a dark yellow lens and ‘look’ at hir new top. If you can keep a straight face, I’ll buy you dinner!"

The others watched with growing interest as shi reached into hir kit and removed a set of protective yellow lenses. Looking through the lenses at Dunes, shi choked back a laugh of hir own when shi saw the words that were in plain sight for those with more limited vision. Looking over at hir old friend shi admitted, "You win." Turning back to Dunes, shi dryly commented, "You should be more careful of gifts from those that have no reason to like you."

"What’s that suppose to mean?" Dunes demanded, pulling hir top away from hir breasts as shi tried to determine why the others were finding it so funny.

"Only that you have to be blind to see," shi cryptically replied with a grin before resuming hir seat.

Iceglitter was not grinning. "It seems that even cubs know that you’re not what they’re looking for Dunes. Today alone you tried three attempts to attack Captain Foster. I, too, have seen the full footage of the New Kiev attack; the good Captain is the reason more furs didn’t lose their lives that day, including the one that thinks you taste bad. Your kit-napping charge was no more than a thief trying to get back the key to the coffers he’s been robbing, and Admiral Kline seems to have disagreed with how much control needs to be added to the Folly. I’m not going to ask you to explain yourself; that would be a waste of our time and yours. Instead, I will ask your fellow council members if any of them has anything to say in your defense." Looking around the tables, she said, "Anyone … anyone at all?"

Dunes looked to the two shi’d thought would have helped hir with Neal, but they were carefully avoiding eye contact with hir.

Iceglitter gave the silence a full minute before speaking; "I recommend a vote of no-confidence on Shir Dunes’s ability to conduct hirself in a manner that would be considered proper for this council. I also recommend that shi be removed from this council at this time."

"Seconded," Tormic added, beating out several others.

The vote itself took mere seconds, the ‘ayes’ were a deafening roar, while there wasn’t a single peep when the call for ‘nays’ was given.

Dunes sat there in shock until a pair of the guards helped hir to hir feet and out of the council chambers.

There was a notable sigh of relief when the elevator doors closed in the corridor.

Neal frowned at Iceglitter and Tormic before commenting, "While I don’t mind helping the council from time to time, I prefer to know when someone’s planning on using me as bait."

"I’m sure that we don’t know what you’re talking about, Captain," Iceglitter replied with a ‘cat that ate the canary’ expression.

"Your tricks might have fooled Dunes, but I have better resources," Neal shot back. "I know you kept Wildflower and Cieila in the dark, but you slipped up. When Cieila sent that warning of the late session to hir friend, it should have caused a cascade of calls on the council networks as the word was spread. But I happen to know that that flurry of calls never occurred; yet everyone seems to have gotten the word. Also, while you did have enough for a full council, no full session was ever called to order."

Tormic chuckled. "That was why we chose you, Captain Foster. Bait that we knew shi couldn’t refuse, and bait that would bite back. The reason for now was shi’d started playing hir games on ships and crews without your ability to fight back. As we still don’t know who’s controlling hir, we used you to cut hir strings."

"Risky," Neal murmured. "Whoever was behind hir will probably go to ground for a while."

Iceglitter nodded in agreement. "True, but it couldn’t be helped. You were the best bait we had to dangle over hir nose, and we didn’t dare wait until the next time you decided to grace us with your presence. Speaking of which, how’s your buildup for another colony coming?"

Shadowcrest’s rumbling chuckle came from where shi’d remained sitting. "Does anyone not know what you’re up to?" shi wondered out loud.

Neal shrugged. "I just told a few people, but it appears they might have told a few, who then told a few …"

"I just happen to know a few furs that think that there will be a new colony opening in the next year or so. Rumors say that a lot of the prep work has either been done or is underway," Iceglitter commented. "The funniest thing was that most of those rumors pointed back to one unusual ship, run by one seemingly foolish human."

"Rumors can sometimes hide the grains of truth in them," Neal admitted. "But you can’t always count on which grains are true," he added with a smile.

Iceglitter smiled in return. "I’m not asking for confirmation Captain, just if things are going well and if you might need any favors as it looks like the council owes you yet another one."

"No," Neal replied, "everything’s moving along nicely so far, but I do thank the council for the offer."

"Remember it’s there when you do have need of it," Iceglitter teased him as she stood. "A most productive late session. Unless someone else has something for the captain?" She received mostly smiles and headshakes from the others, so she said, "Then I suggest we adjourn for the weekend. Any opposed? Those in agreement?"

As there had been no noise at all when she had at for opposition, the others started getting up as they voiced their agreement. This came to a stop when they heard their most elderly council member quietly say, "Captain? May I have a moment of your time?"

"What are you up to, Dewblossom?" Chakat Q asked hir. Dewblossom’s granddaughter, Darkbrow, had been sitting in hir place on the council for several years now. Q had been wondering what had brought hir old friend out of hir semi-retirement.

"This is about a private matter that doesn't concern the council," Dewblossom huffed.

"That’s what Dunes wanted us to believe," Q said, sitting back down.

"I assure you …"

"Shi said that too," someone else pointed out, the rest of the council resuming their pads and seats as Neal approached the elderly chakat.

Giving up on the council, Dewblossom turned to Neal. Pushing a data chit towards him, shi said, "I'm hoping that this is a suitable bribe for you to take my granddaughter and hir family out to that new colony we've heard you're setting up."

Pushing it back without reading it, Neal smiled as he told hir, "Not enough."

"So what do you want?" Dewblossom demanded.

"You, kitten. You were brought up on Chakona when it was a much rougher place. My colony can use someone with your talents much more than any credit chit. Think of it as payment for the others being taken out to my colonies."

Dewblossom laughed weakly. "At most I’ve only got a few more months to live, not long enough to get there, never mind being of any use to anyone."

"I’m willing to gamble that you’ll not only make it, but become a valuable asset to the colony," Neal insisted.

"Even if I made it, I’ll be more of a burden than useful," shi pointed out.

"That is true …" Neal admitted, "I would also need someone willing to take care of you for however long you do happen to last." Looking at the rest of the group, Neal asked, "Who’s up for some babysitting? Or should I say old furball sitting?" Dewblossom glared at him, but remained silent.

Several of the council started to protest his treating of their colleague and friend - only to be stopped by a mental growl from Shadowcrest that sounded a lot like, "You idiots wanted to stay to watch the fun - now shut up!" Several of them still didn’t like the way Neal was treating their longtime friend, but they held their peace for the moment.

The security guard that had laughed at Dunes’ replacement top stepped over to Dewblossom and settled down to carefully give hir old friend a hug. Looking up at Neal, Mountainwind said, "I'll look after hir."

"It may be longer than both of you think," Neal warned them.

"The longer the better," Mountainwind replied.

Waving Mountainwind off Dewblossom, Neal said, "Considering hir condition, I think we should start hir ‘indentured servitude’ now." Tapping his comm badge he said, "Tess, please process Dewblossom for hir new task."

"Yes boss."

As Dewblossom disappeared, Neal smiled at Mountainwind. "Are you sure you know what you're getting yourself into?"

"No," Mountainwind admitted. "But shi looked after me when we were younger, and your daughter seems to think it’s a good thing."

"You're trusting your future to a twelve year old?"

"If that’s what shi really is, yes."

"So be it. Tess? Are you ready for hir partner?"

"Just got done boss," she said as she beamed Mountainwind away.

Neal flipped the still unread chit at Darkbrow. "Those staying behind might have a better use for this."

Darkbrow ignored the chit. "Why did you put hir through that?" shi growled.

"To make sure shi really did want to go. If shi hadn’t shown at least a little of hir old spunk, I would have stopped pushing."

"You say that as if you knew hir well," Darkbrow said accusingly.

"Long before shi became a part of this council, shi and Mountainwind used to haunt the spaceport," Neal informed hir. "Or at least that’s what they called that scorched section of ground way back then." (2219 – a mere 113 years ago. Settlement and development of Aquila 19D8A-04 ceded to the Chakat-led Anthropomorphic People's Lobby. Planet is renamed Chakona and its sun named Chakastra. So Dewblossom and Mountainwind can be older than Chakona has been Chakona.)

"How would you know that?" another of the older council members protested.

Neal smiled back in response, "Pogo Stick’s security scans of the time showed that those two seemed to have been there every time Pogo Stick was. And those same sensors caught them more than once in the pods that had been set down the trip before."

"Are you now calling hir a thief?" Darkbrow demanded.

"Or a ‘Robin Hood’," Neal softly said. "I know the administrator they had overseeing the colonization didn’t like the way a few of the things were ‘liberated’ out from under hir control."

"There’s no proof of that in any of the archives," Iceglitter pointed out.

"Only because your archives were sabotaged to help hide how some things were really accomplished," Neal told her. "Among other things, I received a request through this council for yet another set of copies of some of the older council records that Pogo Stick had carried during the first thirty years of Chakona’s development and colonization. You’ll find that several near disasters were averted because of equipment being where it was most likely to be needed, and not sitting in some ‘spares locker’ as the colony administration thought it should be."

"You can hardly pin that on Dewblossom," Q commented. "There were thousands of people involved in dispersing cargo from the spaceport."

"True," Neal agreed, "but an inventory PADD was misplaced early on that had read/write control over the settlement’s entire inventory systems. With it, it would have been easy for someone to mislabel certain shipments and get them routed elsewhere."

"Surely a rogue PADD would have been detected and cut out of the loop as soon as it was used," Q chided.

"One way to find out," Neal said as he tapped his comm badge. "Tess, send an update request to the central database with what’s coming down in the next pod please."

"Sending now," Tess’s voice replied. Moments later a soft beeping could be heard coming from one of Darkbrow’s saddlebags.

As surprised as anyone else, Darkbrow opened the bag and withdrew an old style PADD. "But, I didn’t pack this!" shi exclaimed.

Iceglitter gently took the PADD from the still surprised chakat. Activating it, she found she could pull up not only the Amistad government storage areas, but all the other Chakona government sites as well. The problem was that some of the entries were color coded, and some locations claimed there were two items in the same location. Looking over at Q, she said, "You have full access to inventory, what do you have in A4.6T.U7.16?"

Opening hir own PADD, Q queried the database. "Surplus. Insulated panels, one meter by three by five centimeters. Why, what does that one say?"

"Well, that’s the funny thing, it agrees with yours in blue, but in red it says: power regeneration units, solar, roofing rated…. So what’s really there, and why would shi be trying to hide it?"

"Wasn’t there a proposal last year for a new settlement?" Tormic asked. "Dunes and some of hir cronies were sitting on it, but it sounds like Dewblossom was planning an end run around them."

"Even with hir no longer coming to council sessions, shi was keeping hir paw in for Chakona," Iceglitter murmured with approval. Then she growled as she started checking random pages, "It’s going to take us months to straighten out the supply system …" Looking up at Neal, she said, "You can’t have hir, shi’s ours."

"Not your decision to make, kitten," he replied.

"You said shi was starting hir ‘indentured servitude’," Iceglitter pointed out. "What exactly did you mean by that?"

"Just what it sounded like, a trade of time and labor for transportation," Neal admitted. "I’m throwing in a little something to help make hir a bit more productive once shi and Mountainwind get there."

Iceglitter was about to ask another question when Neal’s comm badge beeped. "Boss," Tess’s voice said without preamble, "something has changed in the ‘process’."

"What’s wrong?" Neal demanded as Shadowcrest began to look concerned.

"They’re already awake," Tess replied as her transporters beamed down two now very youthful chakats. "And they have demanded to be returned to the council chambers," she added after the fact.

The now very young Dewblossom looked around and spotted hir old PADD in Iceglitter’s paws. "Oh goody, you found it. Look under ‘to do’ for what I had planned for what, where and why." Turning to Neal shi said, "We graciously accept your job offer, Captain. We’ll just be heading off to pack." With that, they were both out the door and gone.

"Well," Q said with a chuckle, "I guess we know shi’s not going against hir will." Looking to Darkbrow, shi added, "Looks like shi left you holding the bag until your voyage begins."

"Great, now we’ll have two members to replace," Tormic grumbled.

Q laughed. "One you’re glad to be rid of and the other you already knew was leaving. And we have half a year or more before Darkbrow leaves us, so quit being cranky."

Iceglitter was still staring at the door the two chakats had run out of. "Shi was to be ‘more productive’, he said. In more ways than one it seems."

"Shi’s outlived all hir mates," Darkbrow softly said before shi went quiet so shi could concentrate on sensing Dewblossom. Seconds later hir head came up suddenly and hir eyes were wide with a mix of shock and embarrassment. It seemed Dewblossom and Mountainwind had only made it to Mountainwind’s room a few floors below, and shi had caught them already into something chakats their ages weren’t normally too interested in any more.

Knowing the process would have made them more than a little ‘frisky’, Shadowcrest chuckled as shi approached Darkbrow. "Think of your very first heats and ruts … and if shi hasn’t been able to fully enjoy ‘it’ for a while because hir body had gotten too frail …" shi quietly explained.

Locking eyes with Shadowcrest, Darkbrow realized that shi wasn’t hearing excuses, but the voice of experience. "You really are only twelve," shi said in surprise.

"And my first heat and rut were amazing!" Shadowcrest agreed. "You may want to warn the rest of your family to prepare for a pair of sex-crazed kittens until they get it out of their systems."

"They?" Darkbrow asked.

"I sensed that they were lifelong friends the first time," Shadowcrest pointed out. "This time around, I think you’ll have problems separating them."

"Why? Are they trying to be more productive already?" Iceglitter asked with a laugh as the council members finally did start to leave.

 


Chapter 15  

 

Passion’s Home

While Neal was heading off to talk to the council, Weaver had been organizing the troops for another minor invasion. Their little caravan of PTVs went through a tunnel in the hills that separated the spaceport from the city before taking a long and winding route through a portion of Amistad and finally heading down what looked like a country road with a forest to either side. After passing a few small communities, the PTVs were switched to manual drive and turned up a private lane. A large turn-around had space for twice as many vehicles as they had brought, but the house didn’t look nearly large enough to have the extra space for them to not crowd out the inhabitants.

"Don’t look up, but we’re being watched," Zhanch murmured as they disembarked.

It took Weaver only a moment to spot the spy. The roof of the home had been heavily bermed, allowing several bushes and clumps of tall grasses to come right up to the edge. An almost purely black cub nose didn’t quite blend in with the greens and yellows around it. Once she could see the one, another, better-camouflaged noses became apparent.

While the roof was higher than the Rakshani could easily reach, it wasn’t by much. Kestrel grinned and reached down as she whispered something to Darkstreak. The cub wrapped hir lower limbs and tail around Kestrel’s forearm and was lifted so that shi was soon almost nose to nose to the dark nosed cub on the roof.

"Can we come in? Or do we have to ring the bell first?" Darkstreak asked.

"Who are you?" the dark-nosed one inquired.

"Darkstreak, daughter of Calmmeadow and Mike. Neal’s my grandpa."

"Grump-pa," the other corrected.

"Huh?"

"Mum says to call him grump-pa so he won’t be," the dark nose explained.

"Won’t be a what?" Darkstreak wondered.

"A grump."

"So …" Kestrel said, interrupting their discussion, "May we come in?"

"Go around the side so we don’t wake up Grandma Passion," the cub suggested.

"Which way?" Darkstreak asked, as the cub hadn’t given any indication of direction.

"I’ll show you," the dark nose replied as it rose to reveal a chakat cub, hir entire body pitch black and that shi looked to be five or six years old. Looking down at Kestrel, shi asked Darkstreak, "Is she safe to climb?"

"Only if you promise not to dig your claws in," Kestrel assured hir. "May I ask who will be doing the climbing?"

"Shi’s Night, I’m Day," replied a pale golden muzzle that had stayed better hidden. "We’re twins," shi added.

Night dropped easily from the roof, only tapping Kestrel’s shoulder and thick tail on the way down. Leading them to the right of the house, shi opened a gate that let them into the backyard and down. From this side they could see that the house was built on the edge of a fairly steep hill, the portion they’d seen from the front being the top and apparently smallest of the many levels. Other cubs from the house paralleled them from above, ramps and steps giving them easy access to each of the other levels. While the upper two levels were topped with grasses and bushes, the next one down had been made into a large deck with taur pads and chairs under a large awning. Night led them onto the deck, where several teen and adult chakats seemed to be just stirring from a nap.

"Mum! Grump-pa’s new family!" Night semi-quietly proclaimed as shi ran up to a dark leopard-spotted chakat.

Giving hir cub a hug, shi then turned to their guests. "I am Darkwalker, daughter of Passion and Wildflower."

Weaver had been at the head of the Folly invasion. She gave Darkwalker a greeting hug as she answered, "And I’m Weaver, one of Neal’s mates. I understand you’re about to have a couple new little sisters in a few days …"

"Next Fourthday," Darkwalker agreed. "Will you be staying that long? And where’s Neal?"

"Your sire took him off for council business, but not before making him promise we would be here a least one of your ‘weeks’," Bonita advised hir. "Do be warned, your ‘grump-pa’ has seven mates with him."

"Eight," Zhanch corrected, "Tess informed me that Whitetail’s comm badge was already in the council building. Ten to one says she’s joining us."

"No bet," Dessa replied as still more chakats flowed out of the house to surround their guests.

Tess interrupted them at that point. "Cindy? Neal’s calling; it seems your father was waiting for you to reach Chakona."

More than one set of ears went down and guarded at Cindy’s growl. She shook her head and muttered, "I don’t want him here … Tess? Tell Neal twenty and I’ll need that package we put together. Oh, and I want a jumpsuit in Folly blue, please."

"Why the jumpsuit? What you’re wearing looks fine," Alex wondered aloud as Cindy dropped the colorful halter and skirt she’d been wearing.

"Neal is wearing his usual blue and black, she wants to look the part of his crew," Zhanch suggested.

"I am crew," Cindy proclaimed, "and part of a real family, as my excuse for a father is going to find out!"

"Tess?" Bonita asked as Cindy changed, "Could you pipe their comm badge feeds to us? I’d like to hear what’s happening."

"We’ve got a portable viewer we could set up out here," Darkwalker offered, Night and Day disappearing inside at hir nod. In minutes it was wheeled out and set up. Through Shadowcrest’s comm badge they watched as the Rakshani marines marched in, only to scowl down at Neal.

Bonita hooted with laughter. "Look at those two! Whitetail’s ready to burst out laughing and Derikk’s stone face isn’t holding up too well either …"

"A bad mistake on somebody’s part," Dessa agreed, "Neal’s having way too much fun with this."

They all watched as Dunes saw the first of hir traps fall to pieces, and Derikk’s request to join the Foster House. All the Rakshani seemed surprised when Neal called Derikk ‘brother’.

Weaver gave Zhanch a sideways look as they watched Cindy walk into the council chamber. "What surprised you guys just now?" she asked.

Zhanch frowned slightly before answering, "Hmmm … Let’s just say that as a Rakshan ‘Head of House’, Neal just made Derikk more than a mere addition to the family."

"Good or bad?" Suzan asked.

"If he’s worthy of it, very good," Zhanch admitted.

"And the way Whitetail’s treating him I’d say she thinks she made a good choice," Bonita added.

They watched Cindy stand up to her father. Windsong had been concentrating so hard on Shadowcrest and Firestorm that hir first warning that shi had been spotted by anyone else was the cubs nailing hir tail with the stingers they’d secretly brought with them. Shi mock-growled at them as Neal and Cindy proceeded to box her father into a corner.

There were snickers from the Folly group when Charles jumped at the offer of money for Cindy. At the confused looks from their hosts, Weaver explained, "Her father thinks he’s getting most of her assets, when in truth he’s getting very little."

"He sure looks happy with it," Darkwalker pointed out.

"There are a few things are working against him," Weaver replied. "First, he hasn’t had access to those accounts or their amounts since Cindy and the others snuck aboard Folly. Second, while we were on Earth, Neal helped Cindy get in touch with a couple of lawyers. With their help most of the funds were transferred to accounts her father doesn’t know about. Third and what would probably irk him the most if he ever finds out, is that Cindy is worth several times what she was before the trip started, and he’s just publicly disowned her …"

"I take it Neal’s been paying his new ‘crew’ well," Darkwalker suggested.

"That and we picked up a ‘gift’ that Neal shared," Weaver admitted.

"Good!" Darkwalker exclaimed, "Then you guys can pick up the tab when we go out to dinner."

Hir mate, Hawkeye snorted. "When has Neal not picked up the tab?"

"There was that one time we twisted his arm almost out of its socket," another chakat reminisced.

"Doesn’t count, Freefall," Darkwalker told hir, "he paid more than enough on that trip to counter anything we did."

"He is the one with credits to burn," Dessa commented.

"Not always," Freefall disagreed. "He may be flush with credits now, but he sometimes puts too much into those colonies of his and has little to spare until he’s done a run or three."

"I’ve heard he came back so broke one time that all he had to sell was antimatter," Hawkeye commented with a smirk.

"You should take better care of your grump-pa," Kestrel playfully suggested.

"It’s hard to do sometimes," Darkwalker replied with a frown. "He won’t tell you when there’s a problem, and he’s proof against most methods of prying the information out of him."

"So I have noticed," Lighttouch commented. "But I have been in his mind, and there are reasons he lets very few into his innermost thoughts and dreams."

"What rights did you have to pry into him?" Freefall half-snarled at the skunktaur.

It was Weaver who answered hir. "It was shortly after the attack on the New Kiev spaceport. We were all shocked at how hard Neal could fight to protect those he considered ‘his’. Star Fleet asked Lighttouch to read Neal’s mental state … From the way they treated him afterwards I think they weren’t quite sure what to do with him."

"No one ever is," Darkwalker agreed. "I’ve heard my parents arguing between themselves and with others on what should be done with him after some of the stunts he’s pulled."

"Why haven’t they?" Weaver asked with a raised eyebrow.

Darkwalker snorted. "You said it yourself. He pulls things like New Kiev often enough that his other little stunts pale by comparison … So ‘Fleet and the others give him plenty of rope, but so far he hasn’t quite hung himself with it."

"He has tried a couple times though," Freefall added. "His second method and keeping his cards close to his chest has made him look bad a few times."

Their discussion of Neal ceased as they watched Firestorm tear open Dunes’s top. Hir letting the council know that there was sour milk to be found soon had them howling. Moments later Windsong held up hir hand for quiet as shi tapped hir comm badge. "Tess, I think Shady would like a new top for Dunes."

"That bitch," Darkwalker muttered. "Shi still thinks the world is not only flat, but the sun and stars revolve around hir. Hey, Tess? Put that on the top!"

"An’ not ta mess with grump-pa no mo!" one of the smaller local cubs called out.

"Can do, and with a Folly twist," Tess agreed.

They watched as Dunes pulled on the new top, laughing when Tess dropped the color range so they could see the words through the pattern.

"That’s still too good for hir," Darkwalker complained as the laugher died down.

"Now, now," Hawkeye chilled hir mate, "Neal’s been known to give some people a second chance …"

Darkwalker’s ears folded back in embarrassment and shi refused to meet anyone’s eyes.

"I smell a story," Calmmeadow commented as shi watched their interaction.

"My mate once thought that hir grandfather was an overbearing pompous ass," Hawkeye fondly recalled.

"He can be," Weaver admitted with a grin.

Hawkeye gave her a wink as shi continued, "I first met Darkwalker on a little transfer station orbiting Carson Six. Shi was trying to trade labor for transportation back to Chakona. The problem was that shi wasn’t very skilled at any of the types of labor the passing ships might have been hiring for. Over a meal I learned that shi’d jumped ship on hir grandfather, seems the bum had expected hir to actually earn hir keep while shi was on his ship." Darkwalker looked like shi was getting ready to bolt, so Hawkeye wrapped hir in a hug and gave hir a long lick-kiss before continuing. "I managed to convince a ship that they really wanted two chakats, even though only one of us had any real ship handling credentials. It ran a loop of ten stops and would get us halfway to Chakona. While I sat watches, Walker worked long shifts as a galley’s mate. It took hir a week to admit that ‘grandpa’ hadn’t been working hir anywhere near as hard as they had hir working in that galley." Shi was silent for a moment, just hugging hir mate to hir as they remembered their first months together. "We left that ship as companions, maybe halfway to mates. And then the fickle finger of fate played this funny little trick on us. Walker had yet to tell me the name of hir grandfather or his ship, so I didn’t know not to post our names and qualifications to a ship named ‘Folly’ of all things. I received an almost immediate response and a suggestion that a representative of the ship would be happy to meet me at my convenience. The human they sent out to meet me was polite enough, but he seemed more interested in my partner and me than he was about how we could serve onboard his ship. He finally told me that Folly had just been to Chakona, and wouldn’t be going back that way for a few years. As he got up, he slid a credit chit to me and commented that another freighter named Maverick would be in port in two days and that the chit would cover getting us both to Chakona."

"And you didn’t know why he was doing it?" Calmmeadow asked.

"Not a clue," Hawkeye admitted. "When I tried to ask, he just smiled and left. When I went back to our room to tell Walker, shi seemed to flip out on me – I’d never seen hir act so strange! While shi demanded I describe the human to hir, shi was banging codes into the room’s comm system. Shi finally just held down the accept key while yelling ‘Pick it up, Tess! I know you’re monitoring!’ That was my first introduction to Tess, but it would be a few days before I found out she was a ship’s AI. It seemed that just as I’d been told, they were heading the wrong way and it would be at least two years, possibly three, before they’d be back. Walker had me gather our gear and we all but ran for the docking ports, but because Folly wasn’t docked we had to wait for one of the shuttles. The same human met us when the shuttle docked." Hawkeye gave the now much calmer Darkwalker another lick-kiss. "Shi begged him for a second chance, and he warned hir there would be no place to jump off if shi changed hir mind yet again."

"Out to his colonies?" Dusk asked. At Hawkeye’s nod shi asked, "Did he keep you two busy?"

"Busy enough, but not too busy," Darkwalker admitted before grinning. "We did come home with those two," shi added as shi gave a little wave at Day and Night.

"Yeah, Granny Passion says we’re Grump-pa’s fault!" Night happily exclaimed.

"My folks were a little perturbed that they had to wait so long to welcome my mate and cubs," Darkwalker quietly admitted.

"They said we were worth the wait," Day quietly informed them as the cubs joined in their parents’ hug.

While listening to Hawkeye’s story, Weaver and the others had also been watching the viewer. Dunes no longer being a problem was duly noted, but the speed at which the chakats were ‘processed’ and back on their paws surprised them all.

Picking up on their feelings, Freefall asked, "You haven’t seen his ‘process’ in action, have you?"

"Several times," Weaver corrected. "It’s just that it seems to be getting faster each time, both the process as well as the recovery time."

"Maybe someone’s still tweaking the system," Dessa suggested.

"Or some-ones," Zhanch countered. "From what Neal’s let slip, all the major changes only started happening after we left Raksha."

"What would change because of Raksha?" Freefall asked.

There were more than a few smirks from the Folly group when Bonita said, "Let’s just say Folly became a bit more spirited at that point."

"Sounds like a tale in that," Freefall suggested, sounding hopeful.

"We’ll let you ask Neal," Zhanch told them with a grin, "it’s always more interesting to see what he comes up with."

***

Neal’s POV (personally owned vehicle) left the council building with everyone that it had left Gwendolyn with, as well as Cindy and Neal’s newest pair of ‘keepers’. Kiwi had been more than a little surprised that shi and Cieila had also been invited to the councilor’s home.

"I tapped you for a couple reasons," Cieila was telling hir as the POV carried them out of town. "Part of it was because I felt you could be trusted with my councilor and hir secrets, the other was because I know you won’t be able to see the rest of your family as much as you would like."

"In other words they’re kidnapping you to brat-sit the little ones when the adults have better things to do," Neal chuckled from the driver’s seat.

"Is not!" Cieila protested in an almost childlike manner.

"What was the first thing Passion had you do when Wildflower brought you home?" Neal countered.

"That was to see if their cubs liked me," Cieila tried to explain.

"Did they hang around?" Neal asked with a growing grin.

"They were in their room on the lower level …"

"… making more brats for you to brat sit!" Neal finished for hir.

"It’s not like that," Wildflower insisted to Kiwi.

"Yeah, it is," Neal riposted. "You’re chakats, you can’t stand to see someone lonely, so you’re adopting poor little Kiwi."

"Much as you adopted us," Shadowcrest pointed out.

"Not at all," Neal countered. "You kids were in way over your heads. Kiwi’s not some lost cub with no means of support."

"Don’t listen to him," Wildflower told Kiwi. "While we welcome you to spend time with us, it’s not a requirement of your post."

"Run, little kitten, run. You don’t know what you’re getting into!" Neal laughed. "Do you want me to drop you off before we reach ‘the point of no return’?"

Kiwi took a moment to mentally gauge each of the others. Neal … shi couldn’t seem to get a read shi really trusted off of him. Cieila and Wildflowers felt hopeful about something. Shadowcrest and Cindy seemed to find the whole thing rather humorous, while Firestorm was watching hir with an unconcealed glee. The two Rakshani had been watching the discussion with mild amusement, it was these shi turned to and asked, "What about you two? You should be in the dark as much as I am."

Whitetail and Derikk shared a look before she said; "I spent a few months with Neal and his family before joining Derikk on the Pegasus, so I’ve had a taste of the insanity he brings with him."

Derikk smiled at hir. "Like you, I am new to this family and its ways. My mate seems to think I’ll survive dealing with them, and I have learned to trust her. Trust those you trust," he suggested.

Leaning back against the upper torso rest, shi raised an eyebrow at Neal. "You’re not going to frighten me out of your vehicle, Captain," shi told him.

"Nor out of my home, I hope?" Wildflower asked.

Kiwi just smiled as the POV turned off the road and into a private drive. Wildflower led them to the front door and into a large lounge that turned out to cover most of what was the top level of hir home.

Cieila then led the others to a long hallway down one side. One wall was covered with small locker like doors. Opening one, shi placed hir weapon, top, and hip pouch in it before keying it locked. Shi waved hir partner to the next one saying, "While the older cubs know what not to touch, there’s no need to tempt fate with the younger ones."

Down one level and further back opened onto the next level’s roof where they were all ambushed by cubs, many more than the handful Kiwi had seen on the Folly. It was a quiet ambush; the cubs were keeping it quieter than shi thought was normal. "Granny Passion’s asleep," one of them told hir.

"Not for long," said another, "where’s Grump-pa Neal?"

***

Shi hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, the twins had been restless and kept hir up most of the night. Shi had slept most of the afternoon away, having felt the others in the house get excited about something, but not enough to wake hir. There had just been another spike of happy and shi was just snuggling back into the pillows when a hand settled gently onto hir swollen lower torso. Shi mmmed in pleasure as shi fully sensed him, a smile growing wider on hir muzzle as shi realized that his guard was down and he was more open than usual. He must have sensed something from hir in return, as the next image shi sensed was that of hir own rump, the words ‘WIDE LOAD’ trimmed neatly into hir fur. Passion was built like a puma, with green eyes and a dark cream-colored pelt with white on hir currently swollen underbelly. Shi now rolled over so shi could properly stretch hir backs before trying a mock glare at him before it shifted into a silly grin. Shi chuckled as shi murmured, "Don’t you dare let the cubs see that last thought of yours."

Neal chuckled. "Why not? You’d look cute with a trim."

Passion carefully got up so shi could give him a proper hug. "How long can you stay?"

"Long enough," he assured hir. "Care to join us?"

"I’ve heard that there’s quite an us this time," shi commented as shi grabbed a brush to quickly fix hir bad case of ‘pillow hair’ and face.

Neal picked up a larger brush to sweep down hir rumpled flanks as he admitted, "A few, plus I hope you don’t mind a couple more guests."

"I haven’t sensed any annoyance from Wildflower."

"Ah, but shi may not have met them all yet," Neal warned hir.

Shi stopped brushing hir hair as shi closed hir eyes to better concentrate. "My twins have reduced my sensitivity a bit," shi murmured before hir eyes opened in surprise. "Doug's here!"

"And he seems to have made a new friend as well," Neal agreed as they headed for the door.

With their Grandma Passion up, the cubs didn’t see any reason to be quiet when they cheerfully mobbed Neal. He would have fallen over backwards from the assault, but for a couple of teen chakats that had hugged him from behind. While the youngest cubs had no idea why this human needed to be buried in fur, they took their leads from their older siblings with enthusiasm.

While most of those from Folly were laughing as Neal seemed to disappear under a living multicolored blanket of fur, there was one that was not amused. Others started turning to the feelings of a distressed cub as Firestorm fought hir way through the packed furs towards Neal. Zhanch happened to be closest and placed her arm in the cub’s path, only to get clawed by the kitten as shi raced by.

Zhanch caught hir tail as it flashed past and lifted Firestorm before shi could claw anyone else. "What’s wrong, Stormy?" she asked the upset cub. "They’re just happy to see him."

"Fear? Jealousy? Somebody does not like big surprises," Shadowcrest commented as shi reached out to take Firestorm from the Rakshani. As shi sent calmness, love and support at the cub shi said, "Shi’s actually thinks these other cubs are competing with hir for Neal’s love."

Feeling hir distress, the other cubs had quickly cleared a path to Neal, who reached out to help Shadowcrest hold hir. "Silly kitten," Neal quietly murmured. "You’ve never had a problem with your other sisters mobbing me." Firestorm’s response was to turn and wrap all seven of hir limbs possessively around Neal’s arm as shi turned to try to stare down all the other cubs.

"Perhaps because shi’s never had quite so many new and eager cubs to compete with," Shadowcrest suggested as shi continued to try to calm the kitten. "Let’s try it again, just a little slower," shi suggested as shi waved Day and Night over.

Each cub gave Firestorm a hug before giving their grump-pa one as more cubs lined up. This went on until one of the teens approached the pair for hir hug. Silverflash gave Neal his hug first and then turned to Firestorm. Having been one of those watching when Dunes lost hir top, shi grinned down at the cub. "So … we don’t rate a ‘milk check’?" shi asked with an exaggerated pout. Loosening hir grip on Neal, Firestorm allowed hirself to be lifted away by the silvery furred chakat. Silverflash only had milk water, but shi projected hir love at the kitten. As Firestorm started to pull away, shi found another teen waiting and another milk check in the offering. While most of the older chakats were carrying milk water, several of them were nursing and provided the much richer chakat milk. It was a very full and sleepy chakat kitten that was finally slipped onto a bed of taur pads to sleep off hir meal.

***

While Neal and Firestorm had been at the head of the impromptu welcoming line, the others had not been left out and now that shi was up, Passion was taking a very good look at each of hir new siblings – and hir father’s new mates and co-mates. Shi wasn’t surprised to see the same curious looks mirrored in their eyes and thoughts as they got to know each other. Doug’s look at hir from across the room seemed to say, ‘Yeah, I don’t believe it either’ as he shook his head. Shi just gave him a shrug and a grin as shi turned to give one of the much taller Rakshani a hug.

Not quite hiding in a corner, Passion spied a very pregnant looking rabbit doe who grinned and waved hir over.

Sharing a hug, Suzan said, "You must be the Passion I keep hearing about."

"And you must be the Rabbit Stew that’s keeping my father so well fed," shi quipped back as shi gave the rabbit a gentle rub over her swollen belly. "How long did it take you to discover he was a meat and potatoes type guy?"

"About a week," Suzan admitted, "but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up on him!"

"Two of my sisters could open gourmet restaurants if they chose to, but plain, simple and good are all Dad is normally interested in. Oh, do be warned the mate of my midwife also considers himself a chef," shi said with a grin.

"He any good?" Suzan asked with a grin.

"Actually he is – but don’t you dare tell him I said so!" Passion laughed.

"So as to not let his head swell overmuch?" Suzan laughed, "Your secret is safe with me."

"He’s not a bad sort, it’s just a little silly to be kicked out of my own kitchen when he’s here."

"Oh, so to stay in your good graces I shouldn’t try to kick you out of your own kitchen?" Suzan asked with a chuckle.

"We’d appreciate it," Passion replied with a grin.

***

Derikk waited until things had calmed down a little before trying to have a quiet word with Neal. He waited until they had walked out to the deck before saying, "I know you are new to Rakshan ways and new to heading a Rakshani House, so I did not take seriously your use of the term ‘brother’ earlier."

"Why not?" Neal countered with a small grin. "You didn’t think I knew I was giving you more than a little power in my tiny House?" at Derikk’s headshake, Neal smiled. "This ‘House’ business is going to get complicated, even more so once we start out to the colonies. I need a second in command on the House side that I can trust and depend on … Are you telling me you’re not that Rakshani?"

Derikk frowned. "You have no way to know me well enough to decide on something this important."

"What I do know is this," Neal quietly pointed out. "Whitetail thinks she picked a mate that won’t be jealous of her having more than one. From what I’ve seen of your reactions I think she’s right. Your Admiral Kline also thinks highly of you as well, both from the reports he sent as well as him putting you in this position. Your records suggest you’ve completed most of your training and might some day be asked to run a House of your own."

Derikk’s frown deepened. "I am not sure I am ready for such a task," he admitted.

"But, are you up to backseat driving a House?" Neal asked. "Say giving said Head useful advice and suggestions?"

Derikk slowly nodded. "As long as you realize that my voice is not one of experience."

"I can live with that," Neal agreed. "Any other concerns before we rejoin the others?"

"Whitetail has warned me that she intends to ‘trip you into bed’ tonight."

Neal chuckled. "It should be interesting to see how the others decide who’s going to be ‘tripping’ you."

Derikk groaned. "Don’t remind me. They were all eying me like I was the catch of the day."

"You are," Neal agreed with a laugh as they headed back inside. He didn’t bother mentioning that his Rakshani mates hadn’t been the only ones he’d seen eying the lone Rakshani male. Nor did he mention Tess telling him of more than one request of the leaves of the Rakshan kharlass shrub, a popular Rakshan aphrodisiac for their males.

***

Later that evening, after receiving a rather interesting message …

Neal waited outside the door of whose button he’d just pressed, soft tones of the announcer were faintly heard from where he stood holding Firestorm. The door opened to reveal Chakat Darkbrow. Shi smiled as shi said, "Welcome, Captain," before ushering him in.

The door opened directly into a great room, one much larger than the main lounge onboard the Folly, and it seemed to be packed to near overflowing with furs. While chakats were in the vast majority, there were the occasional biped and a number of skunktaurs scattered here and there. Dewblossom and Mountainwind were towards the front, well surrounded by Dewblossom’s family and friends.

Looking the group over, Neal chided Dewblossom. "Now, just what did you mean by ‘if I want you, I need to come down here and get you’?"

Neal sensed Dewblossom flushing slightly as shi said, "A few of my cubs seem to think that they have something to say about my leaving with you." The growl of agreement was a low but forceful.

Looking again at the large group, Neal told them, "Well, we don’t really have the time for me to argue my point with each and every one of you, so pick your representative."

"What’s ah representative?" a five or six year old cub towards the front of the group asked.

"A representative is someone that speaks for the others," Neal told hir quietly. "I just happen to represent a group that’s planning a new colony that has offered Dewblossom a position. That means I speak for them."

"Softshout," Dewblossom softly said. When the cub turned to hir shi grinned. "You know what we were talking about. Why don’t you represent us?"

"Me?" Softshout asked in surprise, hir eyes wide.

"Works for me," Neal said as he set Firestorm down before doubling up a taur pad to sit on. Grinning at the still astonished cub, he asked, "So, why don’t you and the others want me to run off with Dewblossom? I wasn’t planning on being too rough on hir," he said as he watched Stormy ‘check out’ one of the adult chakats.

"You have to take all of us, not just them," Softshout told him, remembering the main disagreement the older furs had been having.

"I intend to take as many as I can," Neal allowed, "just not all of you on this trip."

"Why not?" Softshout asked, pouting a little.

"Well, for one thing, neither I nor the colony is prepared for over a hundred extra furs right now. For another, I doubt that most of you could get ready on such short notice," Neal pointed out as Stormy headed for another chakat, and yet another ‘milk check’.

"Then why do you want Granny?" Softshout asked looking confused.

"Because I want to send hir to the new colony to help get it ready for the rest of you."

"But why Granny?" shi insisted.

"Because shi’s done it before," Neal told hir with a chuckle. "Who do you think helped get Chakona ready for you?"

"Granny did?" shi asked, looking back at Dewblossom in wonder.

"Shi sure did! Shi had some help, but shi helped a lot too," Neal assured hir. "So, if shi wants to go, will you and the rest of your family let Dewblossom play on a new world again?"

"Can’t shi stay a little longer now that shi can play with us?" Softshout didn’t quite whine.

"Shi can stay a little over a week, but then the ship I need hir on leaves, and shi has to be on it to go to the colony," Neal advised hir as he watched a red pawed skunktaur in hys male phase pull Stormy off hir latest milk check. They locked eyes for a moment before Stormy reached forward for a hug.

"But I want to go, too," Softshout pouted.

"Well … there just might be a little something they’ll be needing you to do when you finally do join them at the new colony," Neal suggested as if he had a secret he was keeping from hir.

"What?" shi demanded, forgetting hir pout.

"Only if you promise not to tell," Neal countered.

Softshout climbed into Neal’s lap and he whispered something too softly for the others to hear. He almost got the cub’s ear in his eye when Softshout’s head whipped around so shi could stare wide-eyed and open muzzled at Dewblossom and hir new mate. Turning back to Neal, the others heard hir whisper, "Really?"

Neal smiled as he pulled hir in for a cuddle. "Let’s just say the odds are very good. Remember to keep it a secret – saying something about it can change the odds of it happening."

"I promise," Softshout assured him as shi moved back to the pad shi’d been on, a wide grin now splitting hir muzzle.

"So, can I steal them away?" Neal asked.

"I want to protest letting an adult browbeat a cub on such an important decision," a skunktaur named Bluestar complained.

Darkbrow grinned at hir grandmother before replying. "First of all, I didn’t see any browbeating, but we may have a secret to tickle out of a cub," shi said giving Softshout a wink. "And second, this really wasn’t a debate, because Dewblossom has already given Neal hir answer. Have you changed your mind, Grandmother?" shi asked.

"No, we intend to see this new world. And with any luck we’ll have picked out a nice spot for our new home by the time the rest of you join us," Dewblossom said before turning back to Neal. "Softshout’s ‘secret’ wouldn’t have anything to do with us both producing milk would it?"

"About ten percent of the females and herms come out of the process in ‘milk mode’," Neal admitted, ignoring the question. "The Time Bandit leaves in eleven days, will you be on her?"

Dewblossom smiled as shi nodded. "We’ll be there."

Darkbrow laughed at Bluestar’s scowl. "Did you really think you, me, or anyone else in this room could stop Dewblossom once shi’s decided on something? We couldn’t bend hir will when shi was old and feeble; I don’t see it getting any easier now."

"We could hold this one captive," suggested a chakat that held the overfilled and now very sleepy Firestorm.

"No, Eveningstar," Mountainwind said with a grin. "If he could do this to me as a favor to a friend, what might he do to someone threatening his cub?"

"It was just a thought," Eveningstar replied with a smile as shi made hir way to Neal. "You do know I was joking, right?"

Neal nodded as he accepted the sleepy kitten. "Stormy wasn’t reacting to your ‘threat’, so there’s no reason for me to." With Firestorm draped over one arm, Neal reached into his pocket with the other and then tossed two small objects at Mountainwind. "Your comm badges," he said before turning towards the door.

Darkbrow opened the door for him. "Come again," shi suggested.

"And bring that cub!" a voice called from within the group. "The poor dear didn’t get a chance to sample more than a few of us!" Neal left to the sounds of laughter, something that would come in handy on the long trip out.

Settling Firestorm into one of the POV’s seats, Neal chuckled at the sleeping kitten. "Two big meals in one day. You’re either going to grow up or round very fast, little one," he murmured as he got them moving.

***

Neal’s POV turned into Passion’s driveway for the second time that day, only to find most of the household was already out and gathered around a smaller PTV. Seeing him drive in, Weaver walked over to him and took the sleeping Firestorm. "We seem to have a little mystery," she informed him as she led him to the PTV. Inside lay a sleeping chakat cub of about six or seven. The first strange thing was the commotion around hir wasn’t waking hir up. The next was the Folly comm badge pinned to hir upper torso.

"Tess? Who is that badge assigned to?" Neal asked.

"I show it assigned," Tess admitted, "but there’s no name associated with it."

"This was half under hir," Freefall said as shi handed Neal what looked like an old style flight-boarding pass.

It stated ‘One Ticket to Ride’, Folly was named as the carrier, but there was no ending destination listed, nor was the owner of the ticket named. Neal snorted softly when he saw the issuing agent was one T Traveler. "Tess, any messages from Traveler or the others?" he asked.

"No, boss. Though they have been using my comms and transporters for something."

"Did they say why?" Neal wondered.

"No, and I’m learning not to ask," Tess replied.

"Who paid for the PTV?" Weaver asked, not seeing a credit chit in the vehicle.

"It seems I did, electronically, but I have no record of doing so," Tess confessed.

"Ask our demented spirits if anyone is missing a cub," Neal suggested.

The purring voice that answered sounded female, but it didn’t belong to Tess, "You said as family I didn’t have to ask to ride. Has that changed?"

"No," Neal admitted.

"And as others have demonstrated, family can invite guests," she continued.

"True," Neal allowed, "but my main concern is that this cub’s parents will be looking for hir."

"This one has no parents or family to look out for hir, Captain. Shi will need your protection and love at this point. Any more, you and shi will learn at the proper time."

"Does shi have a name?" Neal wondered out loud, but there was no reply.

More than a couple of the local chakats were now glaring at Neal, but it was Night that proclaimed, "Granny Wildflower, Grump-pa Neal’s keeping secrets again!"

"So he is," shi agreed, though shi didn’t seem quite as outraged as some of the others. "Someone bring that cub inside, and we’ll see if we can’t wring the truth out of your grump-pa."

***

The third level held the home’s ‘great room’ and that’s where everyone gathered. The mystery cub was placed on a couple of taur pads; Lighttouch and Passion settling to either side of hir to better assess the still unconscious cub.

"Spill it, Neal, what do you know about hir?" Darkwalker demanded before everyone was fully settled.

"Nothing as yet," Neal calmly replied, ignoring the anger in hir voice.

Wildflower held up hir hand to abort hir daughter’s next outburst. "Why don’t we start with what you do know," shi suggested. "Is that really a Folly comm badge?"

"Tess says it is," Neal admitted.

"That ‘ticket’ said issued by ‘T Traveler’. Who might that be?"

Neal rubbed the back of his neck as he muttered, "That will take a little explaining …"

"We have all night," Wildflower pointed out with a small grin. "Out with it."

" ‘The Traveler’ is what the Rakshani named one of their deities that is rumored to travel from star to star, catching rides on different starships. She’s currently haunting my Folly."

"Bullshit!" Darkwalker complained, getting to hir feet.

"Third method," Shadowcrest countered from where shi sat with Windsong. "I’ve spoken with her a few times."

"I don’t believe you! You’re just trying to cover for him," Darkwalker growled.

"That’s enough, Walker," hir mate told hir, in a tone that suggested shi wasn’t kidding.

At Darkwalker’s look of surprise, Hawkeye moved over to hir mate and wrapped hir in a tight hug. "I know you think he’s lying, but I think you’re wrong in this case. None of those from Folly ‘feels’ like they think this is a joke. And before you say I don’t know him, I’m the one with the advantage here. Neal hasn’t teased me since my birth; he’s not my ‘grump-pa’. To me he’s just a human that loves my mate enough to put up with hir bad attitude." Pushing Darkwalker back to a seated position before shi joined hir Hawkeye murmured, "Hear them out before he decides it would be easier to just leave us in the dark."

Weaver snickered. "What neither of them said was that she’s not the only deity catching a ride this time." Looking at those that had watched the council session remotely, she added, "We warned you that Folly had gotten a bit more spirited since Raksha."

"So you’re claiming a deity from Raksha stole this cub?" Darkwalker retorted.

"No," Weaver said. "She is claiming that she is the reason the cub will be coming with us."

Wildflower frowned. "What else can you tell us about the deities?"

"Only to be careful what you wish for," Suzan replied as she gave her well-rounded belly a gentle rub. "Rakshan tales say they can be quite the tricksters."

"So what do we do with the cub?" Hawkeye wondered.

"We all heard whomever it was say shi is for Neal to protect and love before we can learn anything else," Freefall pointed out. "So you all know what that means …"

"Grump-pa’s cub sitting tonight!" Night and Day proclaimed together.

Darkstreak had crawled on top of Lighttouch’s lower torso to better look over the sleeping cub. "Shi’s pretty," shi said, looking down at the other cub. About the same size as Darkstreak, this one’s fur was so black it was almost blue, with scarcely noticeable little rosettes that almost matched the rest of hir fur. "That spot looks like one of the flowers I saw outside," shi said as shi pointed at the cub’s right fore-shoulder.

"So it does," Passion agreed, "a black rose … I wonder if Blackrose might be hir name?"

"Hey boss," Tess whispered in Neal’s ear, "a ‘Blackrose Foster’ was just added to my database. That name was also just keyed to hir comm badge." Neal nodded slightly at the new information.

While the others had been talking, Lighttouch had been gently probing at the edges of the mystery cub’s mind. Hy shook hys head as hy became fully conscious of hys surroundings again. Looking over at Neal, hy remarked, "Hir mind seems to be in a state of flux, even more so than the Rakshani after they were processed."

"But the process has always reset those processed to early adulthood," Shadowcrest rebuked hym. "It took the Rakshani back and me forward."

"However it came about, this cub’s mind is in an almost total state of disarray. Any deeper prying on my part may well do more harm than good. I suggest we let hir sleep until shi wakes on hir own."

"Sorry, Whitetail," Neal said with a half grin.

Whitetail chuckled back at him. "This doesn’t get you away from me, it just limits what we might be doing," she assured him. "Though we could ‘borrow’ a private room for a little while before the cubs get to bury us alive," she suggested with a grin.

Passion wasn’t the only one of those that laughed as Whitetail made her moves on Neal. "Go ahead you two," shi said. "I’ll keep an eye on hir while the two of you get reacquainted."

***

It was in the early morning hours that Neal wandered into the kitchen, hitting the controls to just bring a dim light to the room. A quick search showed that he had almost remembered where this household kept things, and he was soon filling a pot with water. A sound behind him let him know his wasn’t the only stomach thinking it was snack time.

Passion smiled when shi saw Neal had beaten hir to the kitchen. "What are you thinking of?" shi asked.

"A little oatmeal," Neal replied. "Care to join me?"

"Sure," shi agreed. "How’s our mystery cub doing?"

"Still out like a light," Neal replied as he added a good deal more water before moving the pot to a hot plate. Several handfuls of raw oats were thrown in before Neal started hunting for something.

"Third shelf," Passion said. "That is if you’re looking for the dried fruit."

While Neal hunted for what he wanted, Passion felt someone grasp the end of hir tail. Shi smiled and turned to Firestorm, who was just petting the tail shi held with a hopeful look at hir newest big sister. The tail in question flicked itself out of the cub’s paws only to wrap around the cub’s torso before lifting hir into the air. The tail then gently dropped Firestorm into Passion’s arms for a hug, which the cub cheerfully turned into a milk check.

Neal grinned at the byplay as he stirred in a little sugar and cinnamon before dropping in a handful of apple and cherry bits.

While the oats cooked, Passion quietly said, "Some of the kids want to go out to the colonies this time."

"I’ve tapped Dewblossom to help manage one of the new planets, and it seems that more than a few of hir family will be joining hir," Neal replied.

"Will they be safe?" shi asked, hugging Firestorm to hir a little harder.

With the pot now boiling, Neal stirred as he said, "Define ‘safe’." When shi didn’t reply he added, "Remember, you’re asking someone that spends most of his time riding a barely controlled matter-antimatter reaction."

"But it’s a new planet …" shi insisted.

"Now we need to define new," Neal said with a small smile. "Chakats haven’t been on this planet a hundred and fifty years yet, barely an eye blink in the cosmic scale of things. There are still new things being found here on Chakona, and not all of them have been ‘safe’. In the time since Chakona was colonized there have improvements in detecting dangers, but that still can’t make anything or anyplace totally ‘safe’. You can’t protect them all of their lives. And trying to child-proof the world can make us neglect the far more important task of world-proofing the child."

"I worry," shi whispered.

"So do I," Neal quietly admitted, his thoughts growing darker, "but the only way not to worry is not to … "

"Not to?" shi asked.

"Not to explore, not to find things care about, not to care about the things you might find …"

Both chakats were watching him now; Firestorm was shivering with the mood shi felt from him. Passion was concerned too, but shi at least had seen him like this before. "Can you not care?"

"Sometimes … for a while …" he admitted, "but it can be hard on the body and soul …"

"That’s why you go on your ‘walkabouts’," shi softly accused.

"I’ve watched too many friends – and foes, die over the years. After a while it can be too much to bear …" Giving them a little shrug as he removed the now cooked oats from the heat, Neal added, "Sorry, I’m only human."

Passion gave a small snort before releasing Firestorm. "I think we’ll keep you, human flaws and all, right, Stormy?" shi said as Firestorm insisted on a cuddle before shi’d let him dish out the oatmeal.

A quiet mew had them all turn to the doorway. Brilliant emerald green eyes peered back at them before their mystery cub carefully stepped into the room. Hir nose flared as shi sniffed the aroma in the air; hir eyes flickering about as shi carefully watched all of them.

"Well, it looks like someone has good timing," Neal commented as he turned to get three bowls. He heard a small stomach growl as he dropped a small dollop in his own bowl, before splitting the rest of the oatmeal between the other two.

"Is that going to be enough for you?" Passion asked, eying how little Neal had put in the first bowl.

"I just needed something to tide my stomach over until breakfast. On the other hand, you’re eating for three, and if our friend here was processed, shi’s probably running on empty … Besides, it’s not like I don’t know how to make more if I’m still hungry," Neal added with a chuckle as he pushed the two full bowls across the table.

While Firestorm begged a taste from Passion, their mystery cub had ignored the offered spoon to wolf down the oatmeal, despite it still being a bit on the warm side. Shi didn’t look up again until shi had licked the bowl clean, and that was to look for more. Hir ears dropped when shi found the other three staring at hir with differing degrees of amusement and astonishment.

"Maybe I should make up another pot," Neal suggested with a smile. "We don’t want hir gnawing anyone’s arm off in hunger."

"You have less fur to get through," Passion reminded him with a snicker.

"All the more reason for me to make sure shi’s had hir fill," Neal agreed. As he refilled the pot with water he asked, "May I ask your name, little one?"

Now watching Neal very carefully, the cub started to slowly back away from the table – only to run afoul of Passion’s tail.

"You don’t need to tell us if you don’t wish to," Passion told hir. At a spike of apprehension from the cub shi added, "We’ll help you, even if you can’t remember." One of Neal’s eyebrows shot up at the last, but he said nothing, letting his daughter calm and comfort the cub.

While they waited for more oats to cook, Firestorm insisted on a cuddle from their mysterious visitor. The dark cub was reluctant at first, but finally gave in.

"Shi’s not used to being around others?" Passion half asked in surprise.

"Tauna told us her friend Vanessa was to be converted from a human female to a chakat. Seems there’s a chakat doctor named Oceanwalker that knows how to move humans across the furry barrier. It’s possible my deity friends have been playing a little god themselves."

"Do you trust them?" Passion wondered.

"Yes, for the most part," Neal admitted. "Traveler has had plenty of opportunities to cause trouble, but she hasn’t – well, nothing major anyway. Little things, that’s another story."

"What ‘little things’?" Passion asked as shi slowly moved to wrap the mystery cub in a hug. As shi did with Firestorm, the cub only gave in grudgingly. "Almost as bad as you sometimes," shi told Neal.

"Either afraid that it’s false hope, or that it won’t last," Neal replied. Having to wait on the pot for a minute, he stepped over to where Passion still held the cub. Kneeling to better match their heights, he carefully watched the cub watch him. "Who are you? … What were you?" he quietly asked. "I see apprehension in there along with your defiance, little one. A good mixture for someone that’s not sure what’s going on or who to trust." Moving back before standing up to return to the oatmeal, he added, "Whatever you were, you’re a chakat now, kiddo, and for most that includes a strong sense of empathy, which means it’s not hard for you to detect bullshit when it’s pushed under your nose … let your senses roam, little one, learn what and who you can and can’t trust."

"I seem to remember you telling me that when I was about hir age," Passion said as the cub relaxed a little into hir hug. "You told us to make up our minds as to whether to trust you or not, stay or get off your ship." Hugging the cub a little tighter, shi whispered to hir, "We all decided to stay."

"And what a pain in my tailless ass you were at times," Neal pretended to grouse before adding, "But all in all, I think it was worth it."

"And we thought you were worth it," Passion replied as Neal dished out a big second helping for the cub. "None of us realized how much growing up you had forced us into until we could compare it to those outside. I was shocked at how ‘overqualified’ I was for some things, and yet so very under-qualified for others."

"The dangers of only having one teacher," Neal agreed, "You soon learned that there were more points of view than the ones you were taught."

"Well, you didn’t do too bad of a job getting us ready to leave the nest," Passion chuckled. "Though some of us were a little deficient in the social skills."

"Maybe I should have sent the lot of you to a finishing school," Neal suggested with a grin as he again refilled the cub’s bowl.

While a little slower this time, the cub still polished off the bowl down to licking it clean. Having also had a little from the second batch, Neal chuckled and offered to fill hir bowl again. Proof that they had finally found hir limits came when the cub pushed the bowl away with less than half of the oatmeal remaining.

"Bedtime, little one," Passion told hir before heading for hir room.

"Cubs’ room is this way," Neal added as he headed the other direction.

The cub just sat there for a moment before Firestorm ran back over to tug hir tail in the direction Neal had taken. A quick flick freed hir tail, but shi did follow Firestorm. Once in the cubs’ room, shi picked an empty corner to settle in as shi watched Neal lay next to the furry group in the middle of the room, Firestorm demanding a hug from him before shi burrowed into the furry pile.

 


Chapter 16  

 

The next day 8/42/91

***

Breakfast was in full swing the next morning when Tess sent a tone through the house’s intercom. “Three vehicles turning into the drive,” she reported. “I’m picking up weapons and encrypted communications. Vehicles are owned by ‘Found Inc.’.”

Freefall swallowed hir mouthful of omelet before replying. “Our sister Trapper works for them. HEY TRAP! You’re late again!”

“I’m off this week,” Chakat Trapper’s voice grumbled back from another room. “I’ll go see what they want,” shi added as shi headed for the upper-most level and the front door.

“That doesn’t explain the encrypted chatter or them checking and charging their weapons,” Tess replied.

“No, it doesn’t,” Zhanch commented as more of the group got up from the tables to follow Trapper, the adults and teens heading for the lockers and their own weapons.

“Everyone ‘stand down’,” Wildflower suggested. “Let’s at least find out what’s going on before you guys start any rounds of stunner tag.”

“Better yet,” Zhanch said with a grin, “Tess? Pull the charges from their weapons after they’ve checked them. No sense making this any harder than it has to be.”

Opening the door before the new arrivals could ring the announcer, Trapper gave them a scowl as shi growled, “And just what do you want?”

The two at the door, a chakat and a human male, both backed up a half step in surprise. The human found his voice first. “Trap? What are you doing here?” he sputtered.

“I live here, John, what’s your excuse?” Trapper fired back.

“Chakat Trapper! That’s no way to speak to a superior!” the chakat next to him protested.

“It is when you idiots are charging your weapons coming up my drive, Longstride,” Trapper replied. “You can call back the ones you sent around the sides, unless you want them used as targets.” Turning back into the house, Trapper called out, “Any non-family is fair game! Nothing over heavy stun, kids!” Facing hir team leader and their boss, Trapper held out both of hir hands. “If you want in, it’ll be minus your hardware,” shi told them.

Longstride had opened hir mouth to protest, but John raised a hand to stop hir. Pulling his phaser holster loose, he placed it in Trapper’s hand, Longstride doing the same a moment later.

Giving them a half nod, Trapper turned and led them into the house. “Now, why don’t you tell us what brings you out to a councilor’s home, armed and acting dangerous,” shi suggested as they followed hir into the main room on the top level.

“We received a contract to rescue a kidnap victim,” Longstride told hir. “Intel led us here.”

“Let me make a wild-assed guess,” Whitetail growled from the doorway leading deeper into the house. “One ‘Charles Grayson’ trying to rescue his daughter Cindy from a Captain Neal Foster?”

“Is she here?” John calmly asked the much larger Rakshani.

“She is,” Wildflower admitted as shi came up from behind Whitetail, “but perhaps you should have your office check on something before you ruin your company’s good reputation …”

“And that would be?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Have them pull up yesterday’s last session of the Chakat High Council,” shi suggested. “I think you’ll find that you’ve being duped.”

“Control?” Longstride said into hir communicator before relaying hir request.

Having heard what was being discussed, Cindy came out to join them. “What you will find is that my excuse for a father has disowned me in exchange for the control of a couple of bank accounts. I guess he’s discovered they don’t have quite as much in them as he’d hoped.”

Neal had followed her out. “Can’t really blame him for trying yet again. After all, we left him with just enough for a one-way ticket home, but not enough for all his gambling debts. Though that makes me wonder what he intended to pay Found Inc. with when they fail to deliver you.”

“He used a set of credit chits tied to his bank,” Longstride said just before hir PADD beeped. Looking at the readout shi mouthed an oath before turning to hir supervisor. “Control confirms it; he has no say over her.” To Cindy shi said, “We’re sorry to have bothered you.”

Cindy was still scowling slightly when she finally snapped, “I’m getting tired of this. How do we keep him from simply trying this again with another group? One that doesn’t listen to reason …”

Neal’s look wasn’t pleasant when he said, “Hit him where it hurts, in what’s left of his pocket book. He should be made to forfeit the pre-fees he paid Found for what was basically a kidnapping. I’ll bet some, if not all, of his chits will fail to pay off, so Found could then have a contract out on him for attempted kidnapping as well as nonpayment. That in itself should keep a lot of people from taking his business.” Looking at John and Longstride he asked, “Just how ‘sorry’ are you?”

At John’s nod, Longstride keyed hir communicator again. “Control. Cash those earnest chits from Grayson. Add a warning to the other headhunters that he’s not only a bad credit risk but he’s the one trying to kidnap Cindy. Add bios for both.”

Still looking at Neal, John carefully asked, “Has Cindy simply exchanged one controller for another?”

Neal smirked back at John as he said, “Cindy, please tell this gentleman just how much I can squeeze you for.”

“The lawyers set it up so I can only pull a small allowance from my other accounts each month. So even if Charles were to get me back, he can’t get at it.” Cindy snickered before adding, “Between pay and gifts, Captain Foster has given me more than those accounts were worth.”

“So I’m not the boogieman, or at least not for Cindy, though Charlie might think so if I have the misfortune to ever see him again,” Neal told them.

The representatives of Found apologized again to Cindy before departing. Trapper then pulled Cindy into a quiet corner to talk about what else might be done to keep her father from hounding her. Neal watched them from where he sat for a few minutes before deciding he needed some ‘fresh air’ …

A quick look around showed the third level deck was deserted as Neal tapped his comm badge. “Tess, find that asshole for me, please,” he muttered.

“One asshole coming up,” she replied. “The communicator he had with him in the council chambers just entered a suite of the ‘Furbanks’ hotel.”

“Is he alone?”

“Yes.”

“Bring him to me, please.”

“Sure thing, Boss,” Tess replied as Charles suddenly found himself out on the open deck with Neal glaring at him.

“I’ll have you arrested for kidnapping me!” Charles blustered as he pulled out his communicator.

“You can try,” Neal growled back, “but we’re not in front of council this time, so I don’t have to pretend to play nice.” As Charles tried to get his communicator to work, Neal said, “Found Inc. was just here. They were very displeased to discover you tried to have them kidnap Cindy.”

“She’s my daughter, damn you!” Charles growled, giving up on his communicator.

“Whom you all but sold,” Neal fired back. “By law you don’t have a leg to stand on, and you know it … not that you’d ever let mere laws stop you.” Neal stepped towards the fox, who gave ground at the cold glare from the human. Neal smiled. “You like to think you’re above the law, don’t you, Charlie? You always have another way to game the system. Sometimes I also think I’m above the law … please allow me to demonstrate just how far ‘above’. Tess? Kerplunk this sorry sack of shit for me, please.”

“Aye, Boss, one kerplunked sorry sack of shit,” she replied as Charles was beamed away. “What retrieval level, or was that a ‘goodbye’?”

“Two hundred meters.”

“Two hundred meter retrieval, aye, Boss.”

It was less than a minute later that Tess reported, “Retrieving.” A very windblown looking Charles appeared, only to collapse on the deck, shivering.

That was just a warning shot, Charlie,” Neal told the sniveling pile of fur before him. “The next time you try to do anything to Cindy – or anyone else for that matter, not only will I drop you again, I won’t waste the effort to catch you. Oh, and you can tell whoever you like whatever you please; just remember this – your only proof will require a mind reader in your head, learning everything you’ve been up to. You now know that I can and will protect my own. The next move is up to you.” After waiting a minute to see if Charles had a reply in him, Neal made a throwaway gesture. “Get him out of my sight,” he told Tess.

“Told ya he was mad,” a voice didn’t whisper quite quietly enough as the fox morph disappeared.

Neal turned and stared at the level overlooking the one he was on. One of the bushes suddenly shook, and some of the tall grasses moved in ways not caused by the breeze. Still looking stern, he snapped his fingers and then pointed at the deck in front of him. One by one, a double handful of cubs and teens made their way down the ramps to sit in front of him. “What have I told you brats about eavesdropping?” he demanded of one of the teens.

“You mean besides ‘don’t get caught’?” Silverflash shot back. “You didn’t ask for ‘alone time’, and some of us thought, correctly I might add, that someone should keep an eye on you.”

Before Neal could form a reply, Night demanded, “We wanna kerplunk too! We know you let the others do it!”

“Please?” Day pleaded.

“What’s a kerplunk?” Darkstreak wanted to know.

“Tess drops you from way up!” Night told hir. “Then she either catches you, or you use a parachute! Silverflash and Opal took us up a couple of times, but we had to use a lift platform and parachutes.”

Neal let them beg for a minute before raising his hands. “Ok, ok, one jump each. I’ll have to take Gwen back up sooner or later anyway. You can each fall out of her and parachute down. Tina and Tess can then yank anyone who fails to open their chute in time, or appears to be in trouble. Deal?”

At the roar of approval, Neal tapped his comm badge. “Tina? Remind me to file your flight plan for heading this way and deploying a drop next time we go up.”

“Aye, Chief.”

From where he and Digs lay in a grassy spot above Neal and the other chakats, Doug quietly said, “Do you see now why things don’t always add up when you throw Dad and Tess into the mix?” While he had waved when Neal had called down those spying he hadn’t felt the need for them to move.

“Would he have really killed that fox?” Digs wondered.

“The risk of hurting Cindy probably saved her father’s life,” Doug allowed. “Though Dad normally gives you at least one chance to redeem yourself.”

“Am I at risk for having dug through his logs?”

Doug barked out a laugh before saying, “You’re safe enough. You never saw more than Tess let you see,” he said just before jerking his tail to one side to save it from a tiny taur attack.

Accepting hir miss semi-gracefully, Firestorm next jumped up on Digs’ upper belly, eliciting an ‘ooph!’ out of the surprised chakat.

“Brat,” Digs muttered as the little chakat tugged hir top out of the way of hir ‘snack’.

“Give it up, Digs. Shi knows you’re not upset in the least with hir helping you with your excess milk.”

Digs turned hir head to give him a dirty look before turning back and giving the kitten a few strokes. “I’m a little surprised someone hasn’t dragged me downstairs for more of their therapeutic sex.”

“Maybe you’re no longer feeling ‘in need’ to them … How are you feeling?”

Digs frowned as shi let out a quiet sigh. “Honestly? I feel more relaxed than I have been in a long time.”

“So, would you recommend therapeutic sex for other uptight sexually repressed professors?” Doug asked with a grin.

Digs glared at him for a moment, before a gentle nip brought hir attention back to the nursing kitten.

***

A bit before lunch had their mysterious chakat youth complaining yet again, “I don’t understand.” Hir name had been addressed, at least temporarily, as they had all taken to calling hir Blackrose, or Blackie for short.

“I’ll confess to not understanding all of this myself,” Passion admitted. “You know as much as we do about you.”

“But why is he going to take me?” Blackrose fumed, looking over at Neal.

He won’t take you anywhere you don’t want to go,” Neal replied. “Someone suggested I take you with me, but that is still up to you.”

“Why?” Blackrose asked.

“Why won’t I take you against your wishes? Because, that’s not my style, kiddo. Why did someone suggest I take you? I honestly don’t know, but her suggestions have usually proven beneficial to all those concerned in the past.”

“That’s better than some of your past explanations, but still not very helpful, Neal,” admonished Passion.

Neal grinned at hir as he said, “Sorry Passion, I’ll try to be a little less obtuse.” Turning to the cub, he continued, “What little we know is that you were found in a PTV outside this residence. Other than your furry little hide, you had two things with you: that comm badge you refuse to part with, and the ticket you keep trying to hide from the other cubs. That comm badge is one of mine, but I didn’t give it to you. Not only are they hard to forge, it’s even harder for someone other than me to add one to my ship’s database – and yet yours was already in that database before we even knew you were out there.” He gave hir a grin before adding, “That ticket is even stranger, as I normally don’t take on passengers, and I’ve never bothered issuing tickets when I have.”

“So how did I get them?” Blackrose wondered.

“What have you heard about Rakshan mythology?” Neal countered.

“Like what?” shi asked, confused by the non sequitur.

“Ever heard of their deities? Ghosts and spirits that are known to sometimes interfere with us mere corporeal beings?” he asked with a half grin.

“I think so,” Blackrose cautiously admitted.

“Well, while no one really knows how many hundreds or thousands of them there may be, a few of them are well enough known to have been given names by the Rakshani. One of them is called The Traveler, because it’s said she likes to catch rides on starships so she can see new and strange things … Right now we think she’s haunting my Folly and that she had more than a little something to do with you being brought to us.”

“Wildflower said shi heard someone telling Neal that you have no parents and that he needed to take care of you. Why Neal and not someone else they didn’t say,” Passion added. “Well, we still have over a week before Neal has to leave; plenty of time for you to decide if you do or don’t want to go with him.”

“If I say no, do I have to leave?” Blackrose asked, sounding worried.

Neal chuckled. “If you know of someone or someplace you’d prefer to be, we’ll be happy to get you there.”

“Until you remember who or where that might be, you can stay with us,” Passion promised hir.

“I – I need to think,” Blackrose told them, before darting off.

Passion and Neal exchanged looks and shrugs as the cub dashed out of the room.

Blackrose grabbed the cub-sized belt pouch Passion had given hir to hold hir ticket and headed outside, finding hirself involuntarily memorizing hir path so shi could find hir way back – if shi wanted to go back, shi still wasn’t sure. Neal seemed ‘ok’, but there was something that caused hir to distrust humans in general. A tall tree quite a ways from the house showed the multiple claw-marks of chakats of all sizes. Looking up, Blackrose could see that there were several platforms tied into the higher branches and a rope from up in the tree ended in a basket. Hir sharp claws made the climb an easy one. Shi stopped only when shi ran out of ‘up’, the local birds scattering at the invasion of a possibly hungry predator.

Looking back the way shi’d come, Blackrose confirmed that no one had followed hir – though somehow shi knew the other chakats would have little trouble tracking hir by hir scent or sense, just as shi could sense them when in hir range. Shi opened the pouch and examined the ticket again. Shi was sure the first time shi’d seen it there had been nothing in the ‘issued to’ column, but it now read ‘Blackrose’. Shi pulled the comm badge off hir chest to look at it, and it chirped at hir.

“This is Tess – how can I help you, Shir Blackrose?” a human female-sounding voice inquired.

“But I didn’t ask for help!” shi protested.

“I take it you haven’t been told what happens when you just yank your comm badge off without letting it release?”

“No,” Blackrose admitted.

“Well, time for some OJT,” Tess told hir. “You do know what OJT stands for, right?”

“On the Job Training,” Blackrose snapped back.

“For a cub you sure seem to know a lot of adult words and phrases,” Tess commented. “Ok, on to your comm badge. Tapping it tells me you want to talk, either to me or someone else. Just start talking if it’s to me, or say the name first if you want someone else.”

“So why did you answer when I removed it?”

“The proper way to remove it is to just hold it with three digits for five seconds and the badge will release on its own. Pulling or yanking it off is the same as hitting a panic button – I start looking for threats and getting aid to you.”

“They’re coming?” Blackrose demanded, checking over the edge of the platform to see if the others were heading for hir tree.

“No, I saw no threat, and you’ve just confirmed you didn’t know about the panic button.”

“Sneaky,” Blackrose commented as shi examined the badge. “Someone taking the badge to prevent a call for help would trigger the very thing they were trying to prevent.”

“Thinking like that proves you’re more than just a cub, Blackrose.”

“So what are you?” shi asked.

“Me? Just a humble AI,” Tess replied.

“And who is T. Traveler?”

“As Neal told you, she’s a Rakshani deity that likes to roam.”

“Can I talk to her?”

A different voice, one with more of a purr in it replied, “I anticipated this request,” she said.

“Who am I? Why can’t I remember?” Blackrose demanded.

“It is for your own protection, young one,” the voice calmly told hir. “Your memories will return when you are ready for them,” she assured hir.

“For all I know you’re still that ‘Tess’, just using a different voice,” shi grumbled.

“Tess is quite clever,” the voice admitted, “but she can’t do this.”

Moments later the birds were back. While most went about their business, several landed right in front of the cub.

Blackrose made a halfhearted swing at them and was only a little surprised when they merely ducked, but didn’t try to fly off.

“So, unless you think all of these birds are ‘remote controlled’?” the voice purred.

“You want me to go with him,” Blackrose said, still looking down at the birds in front of hir.

“I believe that’s best for you,” she agreed.

“Ok,” shi finally muttered. “But don’t expect me to like it.”

“There are some things that even I can’t control,” the voice admitted. “But I don’t think that will be an issue, my young friend.”

The little chakat didn’t know how long shi stayed in the tree, only coming down when Tess warned hir that it was almost mealtime.

***

“What is your pleasure?” the pleasant-looking chakat asked as a large group of furs crowded up in front of hir desk in the front foyer of a large but nondescript building.

“One of your denizens requires harassment,” shi heard a human voice say from the back of the group.

That would be up to them,” the chakat responded, with a little less friendly of a tone.

Nudging a couple of the furs out of his way, said human then placed a card in hir reader. The chakat blanched slightly under hir dark fur as hir reader told hir the bearer of the card had free access to a few places even shi had to ask permission to enter. Shi was opening hir muzzle to apologize when hir desk intercom came to life.

“ ’Bout time you got here, Neal. She’s been waiting all morning,” hir boss’ voice said.

“You know her, Shir Tagerwood – too early and she’d be sure she was in trouble, too late and she’d think I’d forgotten about her,” Neal replied as he retrieved his card. Laying a credit chit on the desk, he added, “This will cover my crowd,” he told the receptionist as the others started filing through the doors to the main room.

The receptionist was about to drop the chit into hir reader when hir boss said, “Just drop it in the desk, Frisky. It’s not for the register.”

“But, Tagerwood, he said it was for his group,” Frisky said even as shi followed orders and secured it in hir desk.

“Frisky, you just met one of those silent partners that helped start this place. While dues and tips may help keep this place running, donations like his pay for the upgrades and expansion projects.”

“So I treat him with kid gloves?”

“Hell no! He’d run right over you!” Tagerwood laughed. “You’ll know when he’s putting his foot down, as normal until that point.”

“And then roll over.”

“Trust me kiddo, if he really tells you to roll over, there’ll be a damn good reason.”

***

“Let me go first. Tagerwood’s message said that she was upset,” Neal quietly suggested as they made their way into the brothel’s main room.

The main room they entered was huge, but the furnishings broke it up into many small group areas and a few larger ones, the lighting staged for bright areas and some in near shadow. Neal waved them at one of the vacant circles of seats and pads as he continued towards the far side of the room. A small grouping of well-lit seats held a lone occupant.

Hearing his approach, the female collie morph jumped to her feet before awkwardly dropping to her knees, as she was heavily pregnant.

“Master! Molly bad!” she blurted out as Neal reached her.

“I find that hard to believe,” Neal softly replied. “Molly has always been a good girl.”

“No! Molly bad, Molly stupid,” the collie insisted, as Neal gently pulled her to her feet and gave her a hug.

Still holding her, Neal gently said, “What bad thing does Molly think she’s done?”

“A little human told Molly to jump and Molly jump,” she said, almost in tears.

“Why do you think that was bad?” Neal asked.

“Master told Molly that Molly not to obey other humans,” she said as she tried to hide her face in his shirt, the tears now flowing freely.

“That’s not quite what I told you,” Neal softly corrected her as he lifted her chin so she had to look at him. “I told you that you didn’t have to obey humans if what they said wasn’t something you wanted to do … So, when the child asked you to jump, did you think it sounded like fun?” At her hesitant nod, he tightened his hug on her a little and said, “Then Molly did nothing bad, so Molly is still my good girl.”

Molly placed her paws on her distended belly. “But Molly has pup. Molly not jump.”

Neal chuckled as he gently rocked her back and forth. “Molly didn’t harm her pup, so once again I say Molly is a good girl.” She continued to look worried, so Neal loosened his hug on her just enough to let him bend down low to kiss her nose pad. As she relaxed a little, Neal guided her back to her seat and sat down with her.

They sat there in a companionable hug for a minute before Molly said, “Molly also bad because Molly is to call Master ‘Captain’, not ‘Master’.”

“I had noticed,” Neal admitted, “but I think that was because you were upset and not because you were trying to be a bad girl, right?”

“Yes Mas – Captain,” she quickly corrected.

“Then we will not worry about it,” Neal assured her before she could go back to worrying about any other possible lapses. “I see you’re almost due,” he said as he gave her swollen belly a gentle rub.

“Not mad?” she asked.

“No, not mad,” he assured her again. “In fact, I too have a little surprise for you,” Neal said as he gave his hand a little wave behind her head.

Not everyone had waited where Neal had asked them to, this becoming evident when Firestorm hit the back of the couch they were sitting on before Neal could lower his hand. Molly turned in surprise at the thud, only to find herself literally muzzle to muzzle with the grinning chakat cub. Her smile kept getting bigger as more thumps heralded the arrivals of even more chakat cubs, as well as a foxtaur kit.

As Molly tried to hug all of the little ones to her at once, the rest of Neal’s group joined them. Neal handled the introductions, keeping it as simple as he could for Molly; after which he suggested Molly show them where the ice-cream parlor was.

Molly turned to cling to Neal again as she whispered, “Molly only can have one scoop.”

Neal gave her a hug in return and whispered loudly enough for them all to hear, “If they feed you more than one scoop it will be my fault, and not Molly’s.”

Neal waited while the others followed the now very excited Molly out the way they’d come and towards the little ice-cream parlor just down the street. Once they were well out of earshot, Neal said, “Oh eye in the sky, how goes it with you?”

A snicker came out of a concealed speaker. “Just fine, and you?”

“Same old, same old. What’s Hardleaf doing?”

“‘Same old’ my tired tail! I saw that mob you came in with. I want all the juicy details, Captain!”

“Later perhaps. Hardleaf?”

“Puttering around in his workshop, he knew you were coming and he seems a bit ‘anxious’.”

“Understood,” Neal said. “Warn him I’m here and heading his way.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” the voice reminded him before going silent. Neal remained sitting for another minute before heading to the rear of the bordello. While it hadn’t been needed in years, the ‘eye in the sky’ had been added after a couple of rape attempts by smooth talkers that had made it past the front desk. While it still served that function, it had evolved to helping with the general running of the place, including finding who might have wandered where. Neal’s card got him past one of the doors in the rear, into a wide hallway with doors spaced down each side. These were rooms where a person, couple, or small group could have a little privacy, though the ‘eye’ was there if someone needed help or got into trouble. A door at the end of the hall also yielded to Neal’s card. It led to where the more private rooms and suites were located. Here the ‘eye’ was at the discretion of those in the rooms. Neal walked past Molly and Hardleaf’s suite and to the back of the building where several of the residents had set up their workshops. The workshop he entered was set up for an artist; various paints, clays, and canvases were grouped around the room. One nearly finished canvas seemed to have been set on display. A painting of Molly, pregnant as when he’d just seen her, smiled back at him. Neal sighed lightly, for the painter had her staring her watchers in the eye, not looking timid and fearful as she really would. That, and the intelligence in her gaze the painter had painted left Neal sadly shaking his head at the fox morph standing beside his mate’s portrait.

“Beautifully done as usual, Hardleaf, I only wish she could look at me that way,” Neal said as his eyes went back to the painting.

“She’s getting better at some things,” Hardleaf grumbled. “It’s just when there’s a human present … or a chance a human might show up, then she loses it – no offense.”

“I know … and none taken,” Neal agreed. “The kids and I spent years trying to just get her to treat me like one of them, but her ‘training’ has always been proof against any shrink or doctor we’d throw at her …”

“And then I came along …” Hardleaf said. He had come in one night just looking for something warm and female to dally with while he waited for his ship. He never did board that ship, but instead he’d found himself falling hard for this delicate collie. He had been with her a week before a human female accidentally triggered part of her conditioning in the main lounge. Several of the chakats that helped run the brothel had quickly separated Molly from the group and rushed her to her room. Hardleaf had almost been thrown out for trying to get to her before a red-pawed skunktaur had suggested that Hardleaf might be able to help calm Molly down. Once Molly was asleep, Hardleaf had been told that she wasn’t simple minded, but a fully trained and brainwashed slave. Hardleaf’s next shock had come when Neal had next checked in on Molly, for she’d become the perfect slave right before his eyes. He had hated Neal that first day, as Molly didn’t even notice him once Neal was there – she only had eyes for her master, a master she would do anything for. This included clinging to the human as she told him of her every crime and sin, real or imagined. Neal had sat still for it for maybe five minutes before asking her to recite the instructions he had given her before leaving. Hardleaf had been surprised by the list she’d repeated, for Neal seemed to have given her as much freedom as he could within the limits of her slave conditioning. Neal had then gently reminded her of each of the things she’d admitted to, and then shown her that she hadn’t broken any of his rules after all. He next turned her to face Hardleaf and asked, “Who is this?” Hardleaf had been more than a little embarrassed at how much she’d told her master about him, details he hadn’t even realized he’d shown her. Neal had let her go on until she’d run out of words to say before asking, “Do you like him?” The question had puzzled both of them, so Neal had tried again, “If you can’t be with me, would you like to be with him?” Molly had simply clung to Neal and said, “Whatever my master wishes.” “Your master wishes that you be happy when he doesn’t have any tasks for you,” Neal had replied. Neal had then asked the ‘eye’ for an assistant. Chakat Tagerwood had arrived so fast, Hardleaf had wondered if shi hadn’t been waiting just out of sight for Neal’s request. Chakat and collie had left for an ice-cream treat, leaving the two males facing off against each other. After a few moments of a ‘stare down’ contest between them, Neal had asked what Hardleaf’s intentions were in regard to Molly.

Hardleaf softly snorted as he recalled telling Neal that it was none of his damn business. It was the ‘eye’ that next responded. Hardleaf never did find out who had pointed out that a mere suggestion from Neal could have Molly only prefer females, herms, or anyone other than Hardleaf. The watcher behind the eye then informed Neal of what they’d seen of the interaction between Molly and Hardleaf, with closing comments that he would be hard pressed to find someone better than Hardleaf for Molly. Neal had watched Hardleaf for another minute before rising. “Walk with me,” he’d requested. They’d left the building, and as they walked Neal explained that he would trust Hardleaf for now, but if Hardleaf betrayed that trust, Neal would hunt him down. They had then joined Tagerwood and Molly for some ice cream before all four returned to the brothel. In a private room, Tagerwood (and the ‘eye’) bore witness to Neal giving Hardleaf as close to ‘master’ rights of Molly as he could to a non-human. Hardleaf had been shocked at just how much power that was, and how hard it could be trying not to give Molly anything that might sound like an order. It had taken time, but he’d gotten her to actually tell him if she wanted something rather than him having to guess or play twenty questions to find out what was bothering her. This had included pups, a beautiful daughter they had named Silverdrop, who was just now finishing her schooling, and now their male pup on the way.

Hardleaf cocked his head a little at Neal. “She caught me looking at far away places again,” he started off.

Neal snorted softly and shook his head before saying, “We’ve had this discussion enough times that I’ll have to ask Tess how many we’re up to. You can’t get anything done while keeping your eye on Molly; there’s just too many ways for her to get herself in trouble without constant supervision.”

“Silverdrop’s done with school, she’s going to help me take care of Molly,” Hardleaf insisted.

Neal sighed. “That will still be a heavy load for the pair of you, especially with a pup on the way. That was my reason for bringing her here in the first place – many eyes and many hands to both help and protect her from her programming.”

“I know,” Hardleaf admitted, “but we think we can handle her.”

“What does she think?”

“When we ask in ways that don’t suggest our thoughts, she seems excited at seeing new places.”

Neal seemed deep in thought for a moment before nodding. “I’m still concerned that you might be biting off more than you can chew, but I won’t stand in your way on this. You may want to voice your decision to her in the next week or so, as I’ll still be around if she needs me to tell her it’s okay.”

“Thank you, Neal.”

“No, thank you for making her happy all these years,” Neal replied. “If I don’t run into Silverdrop, give her my hello and love.”

“She should be with us for Passion’s birthing party,” Hardleaf said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Neal agreed. “Shall we go rescue your mate? I left her leading my crew to the ice-cream shop.”

“Will she be all right with them?” asked Hardleaf, concerned for Molly’s safety with Neal’s new and unknown ‘crew’.

Neal smirked at him. “After all this time, you still doubt my intentions? She’s safe enough.”

“Old habits,” Hardleaf admitted. “Worrying about her is second nature ‘after all this time’.”

“Good of time as any to check on them then,” Neal agreed as they left the workroom. Had they been looking, they may have noticed the painting’s occupant momentarily smiling a little wider than she had before.

***

Hardleaf was relieved to find Molly happily trapped in a ring of furs. A small group of cubs was taking turns asking Molly to try their ice cream, while adult furs kept a watchful eye while maintaining a light banter. Hardleaf came up to Molly from behind and gave her a hug. “How much ice cream have they fed you?” he gently asked.

“Not enough!” Darkstreak informed him. “She still feels ‘hungry’.”

Hardleaf gave the dark gray chakat cub a half frown. “She needs to eat more than just ice-cream for her pup to grow properly.”

“One day won’t hurt the pup!” Darkstreak fired back. “And she was happy until you came in.”

Hardleaf had noticed that Molly’s shoulders and ears had drooped when he had caught her overindulging in the ice cream. He gave Darkstreak a wink from behind her as he murmured, “True, one meal of ice cream won’t hurt anything.” Whispering in her ear, he asked, “Is there a flavor you still want to try?” She whispered something back, and he went up to the counter to place her order. He returned with a cone with two scoops of a sickly green ice cream.

Darkstreak and the other cubs backed off with wrinkled noses at the smell of the green ice cream. “What is that?” Darkstreak asked as Molly dug into it with gusto.

“Dill pickle,” Hardleaf told hir. At hir look of disgust, he added, “I understand it’s a pregnant lady thing.”

“It does smell interesting,” Whitetail admitted as she went over to try one for herself.

The groups soon broke up, and while Neal and company planned a little sightseeing and local shopping; Hardleaf led Molly back to their suite, where she would soon take a nap after that large ‘meal’ of ice cream.

***

The brothel turned out to be at a quiet corner of a fairly busy shopping district, which kept them occupied until the ice cream wore off and it was time for a real meal. Even Neal’s nose couldn’t miss the aroma of smokehouse meats coming from behind the local Hoot! Peanut shells littered the floor and the games/play room in the front warned that this was not what one might consider a gourmet-eating establishment.

While Neal ordered a simple BLT, most of the others had to try the ‘hot wings’ to see if they were as ‘warm’ as some of the things Suzan had served them.

“Any other ‘strays’ you need to look in on?” Weaver asked as they ate.

“No,” Neal replied. “All the others know we’re here and at Passion’s for the moment, and most will probably wait until hir birthing day as that was a known event while we are just a surprise.”

“You mean you are a surprise,” she countered. “I don’t think they know what to make of the rest of us.”

Neal snorted. “Have any of them given you less than an open arms welcome?” he asked.

“No,” she admitted, “but I did think I picked up a little resentment from a couple of them when we first got there …”

“Heh, more than what Stormy gave them when I got mobbed?” he countered.

“Well, no.”

“They were just a little surprised that they’d have to ‘share’ me this time around.”

“I guess I can see that … but while we’re talking about those not here, have we heard anything from Tauna? She left in such a hurry yesterday.”

“Tess?” Neal asked.

“Tauna was still wearing her comm badge when she left,” Tess told them. “As she didn’t evoke the privacy mode, I can tell you that our timing was just about perfect, Boss. She got to the Oceanwalker Institute just as they were completing their process on Vanessa – who by the way is now a Forest Breed Stellar Foxtaur, and shi has taken on the name ‘Rain’. Rain’s mother, Camilla Te Ara, is also in the area, but not staying with them.”

“What else can you tell us about Rain?” Nightsky asked.

“I could tell you quite a bit, but I’m not going to,” Tess informed them all. “If you want more info, I suggest you butt in on them getting reacquainted and ask them.”

Neal grinned at the blushes several of the kids were wearing before saying, “Keep an eye on them if you would please, and let me know if they run into any problems.”

“You mean any problems I can’t or shouldn’t handle, aye, Boss,” Tess agreed.

“So they’re ‘family’?” Weaver wondered.

“Friends with benefits,” Neal admitted with a wink and a grin.

***

“Neal?” Wildflower asked once they were back and shi’d gotten him alone for a moment, “I was asked to ask you if you did or had anything done to Dunes. Seems shi was last seen heading for the tram station but shi hasn’t been seen since.”

Neal frowned before he replied, “No … With hir removed from the council shi no longer had the power to bother me, so I didn’t have any reason to do anything to hir. On the flip side, I didn’t have any reason to keep a close eye on hir either. Tess? Did you directly or indirectly do anything to or with Dunes?”

“No, Boss. Nor do I have any records of anyone onboard doing anything related to Dunes after Shadowcrest gave hir that new top.”

“That top did fit hir to a T, didn’t it?” Neal said with a grin. “Thank you, Tess. Keep your ears open, shi doesn’t strike me as being someone good at keeping a low profile.”

***

“I’m hungry,” Night complained.

“Too close to dinner,” Day reminded hir. “House rules.”

“What are ‘house rules’?” Darkstreak wondered.

“Any cub that complains that they’re hungry before dinner gets one tablespoon of whatever the adult feels like feeding them,” Day explained.

“Mom gave me beet juice last time,” Night muttered, sticking out hir tongue.

“So we don’t ask Mom,” Day replied. “Let’s ask Grump-pa!”

The cubs rushed over to where Neal had been almost asleep on a taur pad. “We’re hungry!” Night proclaimed.

“And your mother said, ‘house rules’, right?” Neal muttered without opening his eyes.

“Well, yeah ...” Day admitted. “But you can break the rules,” shi added hopefully.

“Perhaps,” Neal admitted. “But there are breaking rules and just bending them a bit ... back in a minute,” he said as he got up and headed for the kitchen’s pantry.

Neal came back a minute later with a jar. Popping the seal, he said, “I seem to have forgotten a spoon, so I hope you don't mind my dirty thumb ... well, gather ’round if you're too hungry to wait for dinner.”

Night was first in line. Neal smiled and said, “Open wide.” Shi opened hir mouth wide and Neal spread some of the jar's contents across the roof of hir mouth. “Just lick,” Neal advised hir before saying, “Next!”

One by one the other cubs each got a mouthful, their parents not getting wind of it until a cub went by one, grinning as shi clicked hir tongue.

“What are you eating?” Chakat Heartline demanded as hir daughter went by.

The cub fled the room giggling, Heartline in hot pursuit until shi got to the doorway and caught a whiff of something different in the air. “Peanut butter?” shi wondered. “How’d shi get into that?”

***

“I heard you kerplunked Charles,” Cindy told Neal later that night. “Not that I mind after what he tried, but next time I want to be there.”

“There had better not be a next time for Charlie if he knows what’s good for him,” Neal said with a slight frown. “But if there is, I’ll make sure you have a front row seat,” he promised.

“There is something else,” she admitted. “I don’t want him to be able to use my name against me. With your permission, I would like to change my last name to Foster.”

Neal raised an eyebrow as he watched her. “There’s no extra power or abilities in it; it’s just a name,” he warned her.

“But there is a power for me in not being a Grayson,” Cindy countered. “I know you try to treat all your kids equally; I’m not asking for more than that.”

Neal nodded. “Tess? Line up the paperwork and we’ll push it through the legal system in the morning.”

“Sure thing, Boss. Once that goes through, I’ll take care of her other account settings as well.”

“Thank you, Tess,” Neal said before looking over at Cindy again. “Will there be anything else, Ms Foster?”

Cindy smiled. “That was it. Thanks, Dad.” Then she snickered. “I wonder when it’s my turn to have another night with you,” she half asked.

“Don’t ask me,” Neal replied with a laugh, “I go where I’m told and discover who I’ll be sleeping with that night – not that who I go to bed with will necessarily be who I’ll wake up to.”

“Poor fellow, what a hard life you must lead,” Wildflower chuckled from where shi sat with Passion.

“You’d almost think he didn’t like surprises,” Passion agreed. “But he’s in our house, so house rules take precedence over whatever rules he may like to dictate on his Folly.”

“And what are ‘house rules’?” Weaver asked with a grin.

“We’ve just had a naming,” Wildflower pointed out, “so tonight it’s vixen’s rule.”

“He’s all yours,” Weaver told Cindy. “Try not to break him.”

Well,” Cindy said with a grin, “If it’s anyone I want, I might want to try out Derikk – if I don’t have to fight our Rakshani ladies for him!”

Derikk opened and closed his muzzle twice with nothing coming out of it before turning to Whitetail, who was grinning just as widely as the rest of them. Knowing when the deck is stacked against him, he merely nodded at Cindy. “At your convenience,” he murmured.

“She’s young,” Zhanch commented. “Perhaps we should put on a pot of Kharlass tea, just in case he needs help keeping up with her.” Derikk’s glare at her suggested what he thought of her suggestion that he’d need ‘help’ keeping up with the teen.

 


Chapter 17  

 

1/43/91

Molly had slept through dinner the night before and woke up ravenous the next morning. Hardleaf was already at the table when she came in. “Good morning, Love,” she said as she carefully bent over her pregnant belly to give him a lick-kiss.

“How are you feeling this morning?” he asked after returning the kiss.

“I’m feeling fine, I’m not sure why I was feeling so tired yesterday … It must have been all the excitement in seeing Neal and his new family.”

Hardleaf stared up at her in amazement. “What did you just say?”

Molly looked confused as she replied, “I said Neal and his crowd must have worn me out. What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Hardleaf rose so he could give her a proper hug. “I’m sorry, Love; it’s just that I’ve never heard you call him anything but ‘Captain’ and Master.”

Molly thought about it for a minute before replying, “I’ve never noticed it before.”

Hardleaf pulled away just far enough to look her in the eyes. “And it’s always been ‘Molly did this or Molly do that’, never the ‘I’ and ‘my’ you were just using … What has come over you, Love?”

Molly was slow to reply, “I’m not sure … it’s almost like I’m awakening from a dream or a nightmare. I seem to be able to remember everything that’s ever happened to me – everything I’ve ever said and done, but not like it happened to me. I feel like I’m seeing everything fresh for the first time in my life today.”

Looking a little worried, Hardleaf asked, “And where do I fit into your fresh new life?”

Molly pulled him close again before saying, “Dead center, my love. I can remember every time you’ve fought my slave programming to give me what you thought I really wanted. I even remember overhearing some of your arguments with Neal; the funny thing is that I can now understand both sides clearly.”

“I only wanted what was best for you, Love.”

“I know, and so did Neal, in his own way … I think he was right, though, you could never have gotten anything done while trying to keep the old me out of trouble.”

“And now?” Hardleaf asked hopefully.

“Now I think I can be more of an asset than a burden.” Looking Hardleaf in the eye again, Molly cocked her head to one side and gave him a grin as she asked, “And just where did you want to go?” Hardleaf had started to answer, when her stomach grumbled loudly and reminded her why she’d gotten up in the first place. “Maybe after I’ve gotten something to eat?” she suggested with a grin.



Neal was sipping the last of his tea at the end of his late breakfast when Derikk wandered in, looking a bit worse for wear.

“Long night?” Neal asked with a grin as the large Rakshani piled eggs, sausage, bacon, and pancakes high on a plate before grabbing a bottle of orange juice and plopped down across from the human.

Glaring, Derikk said, “I had never considered what it must be like for the Danzhouken, wanted by so many, but not for love or caring.”

Neal frowned slightly as he asked, “Didn’t Cindy ask if you really wanted to join her last night?” At Derikk’s nod, he added, “And did it feel like she wanted you – or would any old side of beef at the market have done as well?”

Looking a little bemused Derikk said, “Actually, she made me feel rather special to have been chosen to be her companion for the evening.”

Neal let out a quiet sigh before saying, “Cindy’s had the roughest childhood of my current brat pack. You saw a sample of her father in the council chambers; she was just a way of getting what he wanted, not a child to be loved and nurtured.”

“But how much love and nurturing should a father – even an adopted father give?” Derikk half wondered.

Neal gave him a half smile. “That would of course depend on whom you are foolish enough to ask,” he told his House brother. “Father/daughter, mother/son or even brother/sister relationships among humans of any age is considered incest – which is highly frowned upon and underage sexual activity is strictly taboo, never mind that ‘underage’ point is also subject to whom you ask. But when among the foxtaurs, often it’s the father or older brother that is a daughter’s first – at her request I might point out. And normally younger kits watch their parents ‘making’ their soon to be brothers and sisters. Hell, among chakats it isn’t even that complicated, it’s just a matter of helping fill the ‘need’; mother, sire, sister, daughter, friend – anyone they think they can trust will do. And that’s just a few of the samples from Earth! I know that the laws or rules on other worlds are no less diverse or complicated on the subject. You mentioned your Danzhouken, which to an outsider unfamiliar with Rakshani needs and customs is just a known sterile gigolo. To those of us that at least think we know how you Rakshani ‘tick’, the Danzhouken are a very important part of keeping you guys happy and stable. If you get to know some of them, I’ll bet you’ll find most Danzhouken to be quite caring to those they get to know – if allowed by the female in question.”

“And you?” Derikk asked with a raised eyebrow.

Neal snorted softly before speaking. “I’m an old man, Derikk. I’ve either done or have had just about everything possible done for or to me. Some – actually quite a few things – I have truly enjoyed, some though I have not. I can no longer see the reasons some cultures use to try to stifle themselves and others. All I see now is someone in my care that I have promised to care for with a ‘need’. I would not deny Cindy relief any more than I would Zhanch, and for the same reasons.”

“You are truly a strange human, Neal Foster,” Derikk quietly said.

“Strange enough to scare off any big old bad-ass marine hellcats?” Neal asked with a grin.

“Maybe some ‘hellcats’ would run rather than to try to fight this particular battle,” Derikk allowed. “But not this one, Brother” he added with a toothy grin.

Neal just smiled in return.



Midmorning found the skunktaurs Terra and Lighttouch taking Shadowcrest, Windsong, Quickdash and Holly on a sub-orbital flight to the Skunktaur Archipelago. After landing at New Bletchley, they were met by a chakat with fur such a pure black it looked blue in the morning sun. “Greetings,” shi said, “I am Chakat Blueblossom, daughter of Oceanfoam and Quietpool. I welcome you to New Bletchley. If you will follow me, I have reserved transportation for us.”

As the PTV smoothly slid itself into traffic, Holly asked, “Are you taking us to be tested for telepathy?”

“No, I’m taking you to my center for further evaluation of your talents,” Blueblossom told her. “You’ve already been tested and verified by your companions. Here we will get a better understanding of your talents and how to best train you to your full potentials.” Catching a hint of a thought pass between the youths, shi added, “Why yes, Quickdash, I do sound like an ad for a mind-reading school. Occupational hazard I’m afraid.” Shi then chuckled at their drooping ears. “You’re heading into an area where most have the skill, so I strongly suggest keeping your thoughts to yourselves.”

“Sorry,” Quickdash muttered, hir ears still down at being caught out so easily.

“No harm, no foul,” their guide replied, giving hir a grin. “In fact I was hoping one of you would do something I could warn you about, rather than have one of the more prickly Redpaws lay into you.”

“They were warned,” Lighttouch commented, “but they know me – or at least they think they do.”

“Why couldn’t Lighttouch do the evaluation and teach us?” Holly wondered.

Blueblossom smiled as shi heard the question that almost everyone asked at some point. Slipping back into instructor mode shi said, “As you should know by now, while we gauge talents with six levels, there are many sublevels that can be even more important. Let’s take your friend Lighttouch here as an example. Even though hy’s only an average T4 strength wise, hys control of hys talent puts hym in almost T5 status ability wise *. The problem is hy can only teach and train up to hys own level of knowledge. And as hy’s not a fully trained instructor, that’s where we come in. As well as determining your true levels, we’ll be seeing just what you are capable of at that those levels.” Looking at Holly and Quickdash shi added, “Because you two have already bonded at a telepathic level, you will be tested both separately and jointly.”

*(T5 -- Greater power and subtlety than T4. T5's can "read minds", extracting knowledge that hasn't been voluntarily given. Range extends to at least all of the solar system. T4 -- Full ability to communicate with both telepaths and non-telepaths anywhere on the world. Which helps explain Lighttouch not doing any really long-range stuff while on the Folly, yet still being able to ‘dig’ into Neal’s mind.)



Shadowcrest found hirself in a small but comfortable room with taur pads scattered across the floor. A skunktaur youth just past puberty looked up from where hy’d been reading. Standing, hy gave hir a welcoming hug before waving hir to the pad next to hys. “Welcome Shir Shadowcrest. I am Blackflower of House Redpaw, child of Follower and Softeyes. If you’ll make yourself comfortable, we can get started.”

“You’re my instructor?” Shadowcrest asked, a little surprised at hys age.

“More like your guide,” hy replied with good humor. “As I’m only a year older than you really are …”

Shadowcrest smiled as shi settled on the pad. “So, how do we do this?”

“First things will be the basics, safe words and cutoffs in the case you feel you’re getting in over your head. Then we’ll move on to building a link between us, how far we go from there will be dependent upon your abilities …”

Safe words and cutoffs were just that, something shi would say or think if shi felt shi was becoming overwhelmed, and shi was handed a ‘dead man’s switch’ that would shield the room if shi either dropped it or squeezed it too tightly. The link was a light one, just like Blackflower was looking over hir shoulder and whispering in hir ear. Feeling something more than just Blackflower at one point, shi was assured that hy too had a ‘guide’ to help keep them out of trouble.

Next came forming deliberate links with others. Blackflower linked a few of hys nearby friends before showing Shadowcrest how to link someone with just a mental impression given to hir. With several side conversations going on in the links, Blackflower started asking hir to add ones from farther away. Shadowcrest found it taking a little longer with each one to find just the right mental signature, it taking more concentration to create each new link while maintaining those shi already held. Others were now asking hir to establish additional links for them, pushing hir even harder. Shadowcrest didn’t know it, but shi was grinning like a lunatic, following and conversing in over a dozen conversations, kibitzing on a chess game while watching three movies through the willing eyes of others. Something else shi didn’t notice in hir concentration and excitement was that shi was starting to pant heavily because of the effort shi was putting forth holding the many links together. Fortunately, sensors in the room had sensed the changes in the subject and lowered the room’s temperature, while others caused the oxygen levels in the room to rise rapidly.

With all of that going on, it came as a shock to Shadowcrest a short time later when a mind voice cut across hir multiple thoughts. “Relay, PSI Service, Cait. How may I help you?

Hi Mom!” said one of the numerous voices that Shadowcrest had been talking to.

Greypool? How, or should I say ‘who’ did you get to link us? I’ve told you before about bothering the T5s …

But Mom, they asked us to help test hir. So I asked hir to try to get to you!

And who might this ‘shi’ be?

Shadowcrest mentally felt Blackflower ‘tap’ hir on the shoulder as hy whispered, “Let me handle this if you would please.

At hir mental nod, hy addressed ‘Mom.’ “I am Blackflower of House Redpaw, child of Follower and Softeyes. This is an evaluation and basic testing of Chakat Shadowcrest, daughter of Shadowspirit and Goldenmist. I apologize if we have overstepped our boundaries.

‘Mom’s’ voice was quiet for a moment before it asked, “Quite an impressive group link for a first-timer, may I ask how much support is shi drawing from others?

No support, just a little guidance at the beginning. May I ask why this interests ‘you’ so much?

Sorry, I’m forgetting my manners; I am called Nightwing, of the PSI service. My interest in your subject is that shi was already maintaining eighty-seven links throughout the Chakona system, and yet shi still had the power and control to not only find but to link to me here in the Cait system.

Being the key to all of the links, Shadowcrest could clearly hear the others whispering among themselves. “I didn’t know shi was holding eighty-seven of us together!” “Cait? Shit, Blackflower got to hold the reins of a high T5!” “Darn, I should’ve asked hir to link me to Earth …”

‘Who’ on Earth?” Shadowcrest absently asked the last. Moments later an eighty-ninth link was established.

I do think that’s enough for this session,” Blackflower suggested a few minutes later. “Start saying goodbye and releasing the links.

Most said goodbye and thanks as Shadowcrest released them. Before dropping out, Nightwing first sent hir a very strong and precise mental mind-image with a ‘just in case you ever need to reach me’.

With the last link severed, Shadowcrest stretched and let out a long yawn before opening hir eyes. Blackflower was still lying on hys pad, staring at hir in amazement.

“What?” shi half demanded, “Did I grow another head or something?”

“I’m sorry, we weren’t supposed to go that far,” hy told hir.

“What? To Cait?”

“Any of it,” Blackflower admitted. “The first time we just link you to a couple others nearby to get you used to the idea of linking yourself to others. You were doing so well that I suggested a couple I knew were out of my reach up on Ka’turna. Then you started taking link requests from others and we went a little overboard.”

“Just a little,” agreed a voice from the door. “I’m Jonathan Winters, Blackflower’s secondary link.”

“Why didn’t you stop us?” Blackflower half demanded of the elderly human as he entered, pushing a cart with two massive drink mugs on it.

“You said it yourself,” he gently replied, “this was an evaluation, and shi was doing so well I didn’t want to disturb the two of you. I wasn’t counting on PSI catching wind of hir. You may get ‘invited’ to join,” he warned hir as shi accepted one of the drinks from him.

“Am I in trouble?” shi asked.

“Quite a bit I’m afraid,” he said sternly before his face broke into a grin. “Drink up! You need to replace some of the fluids and energy you burned making and maintaining all those links. As for trouble? Fleet, Corps, PSI, and everybody else will be falling all over themselves trying to recruit you. I’d suggest a headband, PSI shield, and a heavy stunner, and that’s just for the polite ones.”

“Why? Just because I could link to a T5 in Cait?” Shadowcrest asked before taking another gulp of hir energy drink.

“You’re assuming that Nightwing is a T5. Even if they are, you were the one that established the initial link. Blackflower, what is Greypool?” Jonathan wondered.

“I don’t know, Sir, one of my friends gave Shady the link.”

“Find out for me if you would please? I always like to know who and what I’m dealing with.”

Blackflower closed hys eyes for a minute before opening them with a sigh. “I can’t link Greypool,” hy admitted.

“It’s all right,” Jonathan assured hym before looking over at Shadowcrest. “Ready to try another link session? Only a couple of us this time, and not too far.”

The three-way link was up in moments and Blackflower was giving Shadowcrest the mind feel of Greypool. “Hey Greypool!” hy send. “Got a minute?

Hey, I’m sorry I asked you to link to my mom, okay?” Greypool shot back.

Easy friend, easy. Nobody’s mad about that, I was just surprised we got there,” Shadowcrest assured Greypool. “May I ask you a couple questions? I’m still trying to get a handle on all this.

A lot calmer, Greypool replied, “Sure, okay. Say, was that really your first time?

It sure was! Other than a little mind-reading between my sisters and a couple of friends – and none of those were as a group! First question, what are you? I’m new at mind links so I’m not sure I should be calling you he, she, hy or shi.

Shi for me,” Greypool said with a mental chuckle. “While my dad’s a Redpaw skunktaur, Mom and me are chakats.

Is your mom a T5?” Jonathan asked through the link.

Na, just a T3 like me, but shi’s real good with remembering stuff.

Which would explain why shi’s manning a relay,” Jonathan commented. “While shi can’t create a link of any real range, shi can act as a very useful endpoint.

Are you putting down my mom?” Greypool griped.

Heavens no,” Jonathan assured hir. “While the T5s may be considered the heart of the system, people like your mom are the lifeblood, they make everything else possible.

“Now what?” Shadowcrest asked once they had again said thanks and goodbye to Greypool.

“Whatever you like,” Jonathan replied. “You ‘finished’ your evaluation much sooner than anticipated, so we have some time to do whatever you’d like.”

“Could we try some more links?”

“Sure, anyone in particular?”

“A few friends before I try my parents.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow at that. “I was under the impression that your parents had authorized this evaluation …”

“Yes, and no,” Shadowcrest admitted. “My adopted father authorized the evaluation. My birth parents are on Bright Hope.”

“Hmmm, that’s quite a ways away. I want you to finish both of those drinks before you try getting out of the system again,” Jonathan told hir.

“I thought the other one was for Blackflower,” Shadowcrest said, a little confused.

I wasn’t linking almost ninety people – never mind hitting Cait and Earth!” Blackflower laughed. “All I was doing was riding on your power, so I think it’s chilly in here!”

“When did it get colder in here?” Shadowcrest asked, finally noticing that shi could see hir own breath.

“It takes a small but noticeable amount of energy for you to open and then hold each link. The farther links can take even more out of you,” Jonathan said as shi accepted the second drink. “The systems saw you starting to overheat and dropped the temperature to help speed your recovery.”

“That’s what impressed Shir Nightwing, all those other links were already drawing heavily on you, and yet you still were able to reach out to find and link hir,” Blackflower added. “Most group links are done the other way around – you would grab the harder distant ones first before grabbing the easier local ones.”

“What would you like to do first?” Jonathan asked as shi finished off the second drink.

“Well, before we try a couple of them, I need to make sure I know how to keep things at just the spoken level and no true mind-reading. I thought I was getting deeper than that with a couple of them,” shi said with a slight shudder.

“We can practice that a little bit first if you’d like,” Jonathan agreed. “Afraid of reading your parents?”

“And possibly ‘giving away’ more than I intend to,” Shadowcrest admitted. “When my talent came in all at once I was bombarded by the others’ thoughts. I don’t want a repeat of that.”

“How could you have not known you had that much talent?” Blackflower wondered.

“You already know that I’m only twelve,” Shadowcrest pointed out. At hys nod shi continued, “A few months ago I almost died … the ‘fix’ put me into this adult body, as well as dumping this pretty much fully formed talent on me. Think of it as living your whole life underground with moss glow for your only light, and then you open a new door and the noonday sun is suddenly pouring in.”

“I didn’t think of it that way,” Blackflower confessed. “The prep work for you warned me to start with the basics and never assume you knew something, but you took to it like a fish to water.” Looking over at Jonathan hy asked, “A couple rounds of ‘liar’s poker’?”

Liar’s poker turned out to be just that. Cards were dealt and claims were made, the test being how well shi could read the players as well as how well they were reading hir.

Along with playing mental ‘cards’ with hir, one was reading while another watched a show. Two others that just happened to be together upped the stakes by getting in a little heavy petting. Blackflower kept to the background, reading them all and comparing it to what Shadowcrest was picking up. A mental ‘swat’ when shi went too deep soon had hir just scanning the uppermost ‘public’ thoughts and losing the game.

The game over, it was time for hir to take the plunge. Tentatively shi reached out for hir mother. Shi felt and heard Shadowspirit let out a shriek of surprise when shi felt hir daughter’s presence. Shadowcrest was still trying to calm hir mother down when shi felt hir sire Goldenmist join hir mother’s link.

Mom? Are you all right, Mom?” Shadowcrest half demanded, half worried about hir mother’s reaction.

Me? Are YOU all right?” Shadowspirit shot back.

I’m fine, Mom,” shi assured hir. “Just stretching my wings a little.

I hope that’s not as in ‘heavenly wings’,” Goldenmist dryly commented.

No, Father,” Shadowcrest replied with a mental snicker. Shi felt hir mother relaxing as hir mate made a joke out of hir fears.

So, Daughter … is this something else we should be blaming on that captain of yours?” Shadowspirit asked.

No, more like some of the company he keeps,” Shadowcrest remarked. Feeling that something else was diverting their attention, shi asked, “Is this a bad time for you?

Not at all!” Goldenmist laughed into the link. “The rest of the group just thinks we’re going crazy, that’s all!

Now? Sorry, but I had forgotten to check to see what time it was on Bright Hope.

No harm done, but the others are of course very interested in how their cubs are doing,” hir sire hinted.

Hmmm, I may lose you for a minute, I’ve never tried to hold a mental link while doing something physical,” Shadowcrest sent as shi reached for hir comm badge. Tapping it shi said, “Tess? See how fast you can get me a real-time connection to Bright Hope: it seems the group is all together for one of their meetings.”

Tess responded promptly with, “Connecting to the local FTL relay and requesting bandwidth, it may take a minute or more to reach Bright Hope. Do you have the local number?”



The connection with Bright Hope did take a few minutes – and a few minutes more for some of the teens to get to a stopping point on whatever they were up to.

While most of the parents just wanted to see how their kids were doing, a few had messages or questions for their adopted father. Neal easily fielded most of them from his day room, all but one.

Neal’s screen cleared to show a chakat he had only met once before, one that held hir hand up for silence before he could remember hir name and speak.

“May I see hir?” shi almost begged.

Neal nodded as he said, “Tess? Where are they?”

“Next level down in the toy room,” Tess replied, having already identified the caller and knowing just what they would have wanted.

“Video, please.”

The screen split to show Firestorm and Starblazer adding blocks to a growing pile. “Stormy? Daddy needs a hug,” they heard Tess’s voice say just before Firestorm looked up and over, and then took off like a shot, Starblazer close behind.

“Starblazer is about six months older, but at times you’d swear they were twins,” Neal told the chakat as they watched the two scamper down a corridor and into a waiting elevator. Neal finished clearing his desk just as they ran in, a strategically placed chair made it an easy two-step leap for cub and kit and Neal disappeared under a small pile of fur. He returned their hugs before turning Firestorm around towards the pickup. “May I present Chakat Firestorm, daughter of Rushingstream and Whitepaws.”

The chakat in the display looked like shi didn’t know what to do with hirself, “I – we – they …” shi sputtered.

“Take a deep breath, Sandrunner,” Neal advised. When the chakat did so, he smiled. “Hold,” he told hir. “And release,” he finally said after silently counting to twenty.

“You have friends in some very strange places, Captain,” Sandrunner began on hir next breath. “Imagine my surprise to find that I was ‘way past due’ on my anti-terrorism courses, and that my base commander thought that I needed to be brought up to speed ‘at once’ … They used the scenario of a civilian space port being overrun by a terrorist group that had already gained a foothold and was well armed and shielded.”

“The New Kiev spaceport,” Neal surmised. “I asked Boyce to delete that file, but he seems to have found other uses for it …”

Sandrunner nodded. “Not that they told me. I was sent in with a group being led by a Shir Shadowchaser.”

“One of my daughters that just happened to be with us at the time,” Neal informed hir.

“We succeeded, but only because another force was hitting them from the other side – you.”

“I had help too,” Neal pointed out.

“Yes, yes you did,” shi agreed. “But I didn’t know that until later, they then removed the ‘other groups’ to allow us to find and recover survivors. I thought we’d done pretty good until we were told we had missed one …”

Pegasus’s med team missed hir too,” Neal quietly informed hir. “Hell, it was blind luck that I got to hir in time.”

“But you did,” Sandrunner half muttered. “They led us back to the two taur bodies and had us scan them. I burst into tears when I realized it was our daughter and Rushingstream!”

“Whitepaws wasn’t able to save her – but shi did shield hir mate’s lower torso from the phaser fire …”

“And you saved hir!”

“How did Snowfall take it?” Neal somberly asked.

“Better than I did. Shi had always felt there was something wrong with the reports we’d been sent of you shooting up the place. My supervisor called hir to come get me, as I was still too shaken from everything I’d been put through.”

“If you think the recordings are bad, try having a front row seat …”

“NO, thank you! I make things go, not run into battle with all guns blazing.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Sandrunner, I’ve seen more than one chakat get down and bloody to protect or save someone they loved,” Neal countered. “And I spend a lot more of my time keeping this ship up and running than I do shooting up spaceports or rescuing cubs …”

“I know that too,” Sandrunner admitted, “it’s just that you looked like you were ready – even eager for it – that look in your eyes as you fired that gun at them …”

“It was the same look he had when he was cutting open that poor foxtaur to recover your grand-cub,” a voice from behind Sandrunner quietly said. “I think it’s his ‘I have to do this/I can do this/I will do this’ face. Whatever it is, it might distress him, but he is going to do it – no matter the cost to him.”

“Spying on others again, Lois?” Neal asked the dark cream-colored chakat.

Not at all!” shi mock-protested. “I just felt someone with a bad need for a hug,” shi said as shi made action fit word.

Neal waited quietly while Lois helped Sandrunner calm down. He spent the time giving Starblazer and Firestorm a little more attention. After a few minutes he looked up at the screen – only to find both chakats avidly watching as he and Starblazer practiced her counting. She had dug a pair of dice out of one of his drawers along with a double handful of small paw-sized toys. The dice each had one through five dots on them, while the sixth side was blank. She would roll them and hold up the right number of fingers to match the dice and then try to say the number. If she got it right, she would then pull that number of toys from the pile. That she was doing well was shown by how quickly the remaining toys were disappearing. Firestorm had been playing with some of Starblazer’s winnings, though now shi was staring back at the staring chakat adults.

“Say ‘Hello Grandpa’,” Neal suggested.

“Grump-pa!” Starblazer proudly proclaimed.

“No, I’m the grump,” Neal corrected with a grin, “that one is Stormy’s grandpa.”

“Ump-pa!” Firestorm blurted out before bursting into a fit of giggles.

To the curious adults, Neal said, “I earned the title fair and square, but now it’s used no matter my mood.”

“I see,” Lois said, “So now we should be wary of receiving reports about a grumpy captain from our cubs?”

“Considering they all have more than enough credits to take a luxury cruise home, I don’t think they’ll be hanging around if my grumpiness becomes a problem,” Neal dryly commented.

“Just teasing,” Lois laughed. “The first few letters from the kids showed they weren’t sure what to think of you, but that didn’t last. The last few … well, reading between the lines, I’m thinking more than a couple of them are trying to sound their parents out to see if they can’t stay on past their ‘homecoming’ …”

“And out to my colonies?” Neal half asked, “They may not want to return.”

“They’ve left the den, how much longer before they leave the yard?” shi replied. “It’s hard to keep them home once they’ve seen just how big the outside is.”

“They’re finding the great outside is mostly nothing but empty space, dotted with tiny pockets of people and things of interest,” Neal answered.

I will be one of those wanting to join you when you come our way,” Lois said.

“We might have an extra berth or two – economy of course, as first class is pre-booked,” Neal informed hir with a grin.

“Ha! I’ve seen the pictures of your Folly, we can take a couple extra ships in that thing!”

“We are …”

“You just think you’re being clever, Captain Foster,” Lois retorted.

“No, I know I am,” he replied, “I have just a few Rakshani coming along for the ride, how many of them you can best will determine your berth.”

Lois looked like shi had a rejoinder ready, but both chakats’ eyes suddenly opened wide in surprise. Lois was the first to recover, with a look between a frown and a leer, shi said, “Just who the hell is Shadowcrest? And why does shi think I can’t screw every one of your Rakshani into the ground?”

Sandrunner looked ready to cry again as shi whispered, “Shi let me feel Stormy, thank you.”

Firestorm had also felt the long range touch and tried to hug the chakats on the screen.

Neal waited a minute before prying/tickling Firestorm off the monitor. The two chakats looked more composed now and Sandrunner quietly said, “We’re wasting your minutes.”

Neal smiled and made a throw away gesture with the hand not teasing Firestorm. “The others are still chatting, and I see this as credits well spent. I’ll have Tess send you some ‘home movies’ of Stormy if you’d like. If you would please, ask Snowfall to send me what shi remembers going on at ‘work’ just before they canned hir. I want to properly show my displeasure with the way they treated hir – and you.”

“You think they had something to do with New Kiev?” Sandrunner asked in surprise.

“Maybe not directly,” Neal admitted, “but I’ll bet they were the ones that thought it would be a great idea to rub your muzzles in it. I can’t think of anyone else with the ‘motive’ to try to hurt Snowfall that way.”

“I’ll –”

You’ll do nothing,” Neal curtly informed hir. “You’re Fleet, and Fleet has nothing to do with this matter. I on the other hand just happen to be a cranky old freighter captain with a known problem of not playing nice with others if they’ve pissed me off for any reason – real or imagined.”

“I’m suddenly wondering if staying on this planet is a safe thing to do,” Lois quipped.

“My weapons are more precise than that,” Neal laughed. “Though working for or with a certain company won’t be safe …”

“What will you do?” Sandrunner wanted to know.

“Well, I won’t be dropping rocks on them from space, but they may wish I had in the end …”

“Damn you …”

“Tell Snowfall not to get too busy in the mean time, I may have a little project for hir soon.”

“What are you up to?” Sandrunner demanded.

“You’ll see – soon enough,” Neal chuckled as he dropped the connection.

“Tess, gather up a few hours of Stormy being Stormy and send it to them if you will.”

“Sure thing, Boss,” Tess replied, having already earmarked several of Firestorm’s – and Starblazer’s – exploits for just such a purpose.



While Shadowcrest helped some of the parents really ‘feel’ their kids for the first time in over a year, others now had hir on their minds. While nowhere near as rare as teleporters, strong long-range telepaths were in very high demand, and ones that could maintain multiple continuous links even more so. Nightwing had already advised hir supervisors of a new player on the field and the word was spreading, some of it coming back full circle to other areas in the Skunktaur Archipelago …



“There’s a newly confirmed T5 on the Archipelago,” a red pawed skunktaur said as hy entered hys boss’s office.

“Please tell me Tyso doesn’t know about them,” begged a very small chakat. Most would have mistaken hir for a youth – at least until they saw hir chest or the length of hir tail.

“Hy may not have heard yet, but you know it’s only a matter of time, Trace.”

“Damn. Do we know who and where?”

“A chakat named Shadowcrest, and in one of the evaluation rooms under our friend Blueblossom.”

“Warn hir, Mapper. Now. Shi might be able to protect this Shadowcrest.”

“Blueblossom’s wearing hir headband,” Mapper growled just before hy shivered. “Damn! I just felt something stir up Tyso’s gestalt!”

“Get us transport to Blue’s! If we hurry we might be able to help!” Trace told hym as shi concentrated, “I don’t care that you’re wearing a damn headband Blue! You have to protect Shadowcrest from Tyso!

Trace? What the hell?” came the surprised reply.

Shi’s a T5 you little idiot! Lock down those fields – I’ll be there as soon as I can!



Shadowcrest was sure hir parents were hiding something from hir and was about to try again to tease them into admitting it when shi suddenly found hirself cut off from everyone in hir link other than Blackflower. Opening hir eyes to look at hym shi said, “What the hell? I didn’t feel any reason for you to shield me.”

I didn’t – something outside this room must have triggered it,” Blackflower said as hy checked hys display. “Whatever it is, the entire school is now in full lock down!”

Seconds later they both felt an overwhelming presence, one that the fields had blunted but had been unable to fully stop.

I am Tyso,” the presence told them, “I will speak to Shadowcrest.”

This is an evaluation clinic! You are not allowed to just force your way in here and demand that shi talks to you!” Blackflower fired back. Hys eyes open wide in surprise, as the presence seemed to weigh on hym before hy slumped down, rendered unconscious by the much more powerful mind force.

What have you done to hym?” Shadowcrest demanded.

Never mind hym, hy is of no matter. Fully link with us and we will begin the training you will require to work with us.”

No. I will decide who will train me and how!” Shadowcrest snapped back.

No,” the presence countered, growing heavier on hir mind. “Such a new and powerful mind must be properly taught – no one else but us is acceptable.”

No! Damn you no!” Shadowcrest protested as shi fought the overpowering feeling of being mentally smothered. Shi reached out – seeking help. In the other shielded school rooms shi found Lighttouch, Windsong, Holly and Quickdash. It took only seconds for them to understand what was going on and offer what limited aid they could to Shadowcrest, helping hir begin to push back against the other presence.

The presence redoubled its efforts. “You can not win for we are many more than you. We will be the ones to train you to work for us.”

No,” Shadowcrest growled back, the extra help boosted by Lighttouch’s guidance was allowing hir to keep the presence at bay with a little less strain. Hir links also gave hir another advantage, though shi was borrowing their strength, the others still had full use of their minds.

Even with our help, shi won’t be able to hold them off for too much longer,” Lighttouch warned the others through the link Shadowcrest had created between them.

Maybe we can attack them from a non-mental angle,” Holly suggested. “Like dropping a big rock on them? I’ve got a better idea!” Quickdash told them. “Lighttouch, see if you can’t find the main link for their group and read it to your comm badge.”

What have you got in mind?” Lighttouch asked as he used Shadowcrest’s support to probe at the presence.

Just thinking of kerplunking their key links,” Quickdash answered with a laugh as shi keyed hir own comm badge. “That should confuse the hell out of them!” “Tess! Warm up your transporters – Shady's under some kind of mental attack, Lighttouch is trying to get us a target to kerplunk.”

“Waiting for coordinates – and I think you’ve managed to stir up the deities as well,” Tess reported.

All links lead to … Tyso!” Lighttouch finally said in triumph. They all felt as the main force pushing on Shadowcrest seemed to lighten for a moment – and then totally collapse a few seconds later.

What did you guys do?” Shadowcrest asked in surprise on their private link as the presence turned into over a hundred minor minds – none of which were now able to properly focus on hir through the fields.

We kerplunked their kingpin!” Holly laughed, “They were confused when they lost their link to hym – but then they tried to relink while hy was still falling!

What are we going to do with them? We can’t just let them go so they can force the next person they want to take control of,” Windsong wondered.

I had a thought on that,” Lighttouch admitted. “If Shadowcrest isn’t too tired.

I’m too mad to be tired,” Shadowcrest admitted. “What did you have in mind?

No one has the right to do what that group just attempted. I want to see if we can get a good enough mind image of each of the perpetrators to give to the proper authorities,” Lighttouch told hir.

Tess now has their main link shielded and in the brig,” Holly pointed out.

And without their linchpin, I’m able to sense over a hundred others,” Shadowcrest added. “Is that what you were after?

Yes, but ‘I’ can’t get past these fields to reach them …” Lighttouch pointed out with a mental grin.



“The Tyso gestalt just collapsed!” Mapper said in surprise as hy and Trace jumped into a waiting PTV. Hy checked hys timepiece, it had been less than a full minute from Trace telling hym to get them a ride.

“Any word from Blueblossom?”

“We’ll have to call hir on the comm as only the strongest minds will be able to penetrate those fields,” hy reminded hir.

“Tyso’s gestalt could probably do it,” Trace muttered.

“Maybe they did,” Mapper suggested with a hint of a grin forming on hys muzzle.

Shi stared back at hym in disbelief. “You really think any single mind could not only hold back but beat that gestalt? An untrained mind at that?”

“Something or someone just kicked Tyso and hys friends in the teeth – or do you think they saw the fields go up and said ‘oh to hell with this’ and broke for lunch?” hy countered. “PSI Cait reported shi was holding over eighty links – before making their Cait connection, I don’t think I want to underestimate this Shadowcrest at this point.”

“Agreed,” Trace admitted. “But now that Tyso tried to force hir, will shi be willing to work with anyone?”

“Only one way to find out, though we may need to render aid before we worry more about hir training ...”

They rode in silence to the evaluation clinic, each lost in their own thoughts.

Minutes later Blueblossom met them as they pulled up to the main entrance. “They’re gone!” shi blurted out without preamble.

“Who’s gone?” Trace asked the troubled chakat.

“The four I brought in for evaluation; Shadowcrest, Windsong, Quickdash and Holly.”

“Were they taken against their will?” Trace was asking as a skunktaur shi didn’t know came out the door behind Blueblossom.

“No,” the skunktaur replied, “Their father pulled them home. He thought they’d be safer there.”

“Lighttouch! What happened in there?” Blueblossom demanded.

“It seems someone learned of Shadowcrest's potential and decided they must possess it,” hy said dryly. “Shi declined.”

“But how did shi overpower the Tyso gestalt?” Mapper wondered out loud.

Lighttouch gave a glare at the other skunktaur as hy growled, “If you knew they were coming for hir, why didn’t you help us fight them?”

“We did what we could in the little time we had,” Trace replied for hym, “When we sensed the gestalt shifting, we called for the fields to come up. We had hoped that would slow them down enough for us to get over here to help.”

“But it didn’t,” Mapper added, staring at Lighttouch. “Instead, we didn’t even make it to a vehicle before this ‘Shadowcrest’ not only survived but defeated the gestalt. How is that even possible for someone with so little experience?”

“With a little help from hir friends and family,” Lighttouch admitted.

How?” Blueblossom demanded in surprise, “You were the strongest telepath in the group that came in with hir – there’s no way you could protect hir all by yourself!”

“The gestalt tried to force itself on hir and shi said hir guide tried to tell them to go away – that reminds me, Shadowcrest was worried about Blackflower, hy passed out when hy tried to confront the gestalt,” Lighttouch said.

“You’re avoiding telling us how shi beat the gestalt and where shi is,” Trace pointed out.

“Nor do I plan to, we may need to use it again if someone else tries to attack or force themselves on hir.”

“We’re not all like that,” Trace protested.

“Yet you live right next door to those you know are ‘just like that’ …”

“It’s not a perfect world that we live in,” Mapper protested.

“And that is why I’d prefer not to give away how we beat your gestalt,” Lighttouch told them. “I suggest you go check on Blackflower,” hy told Blueblossom.

Blueblossom frowned, but then shi turned and reentered hir clinic. “And I’ll see about getting those fields cancelled,” shi muttered as the doors closed behind hir.

“I am Trace of PSI, Chakona; may I know who you are?” the small chakat asked.

“Lighttouch, Fleet,” was the curt reply.

“Fleet has to work with us,” shi pointed out.

“Only up to a point, and I am currently on detached service.”

Mapper had been silently talking to their office and said, “Hy’s attached to some star ship named Folly, freighter class, Shadowcrest is also mentioned in the briefs.”

“Do we have anything on this Folly?” shi asked.

Lighttouch allowed hymself a small grin as the request was relayed. Hy watched Mapper quickly frown several times before turning to hys associate. “What we have is too much to go over quickly,” hy told hys boss.

Lighttouch’s grin grew into a smile at the sour looks the other two were exchanging; hy guessed that they had already tripped over one or more of the warnings to tread carefully around the Folly and her captain.

Instead Trace said, “Tyso is missing. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?”

Lighttouch nodded. “Hy’s being held by the Folly until hy can be handed over to the proper authorities.”

“The Folly has no jurisdiction and no rights to hold hym,” Mapper pointed out.

“I understand the captain said something about that if Chakona can’t keep hym from mind-raping other talents, then he would …”

“I really need to speak to your captain,” Trace told hym.

“Go ahead,” Lighttouch's comm badge said.

“Please release Tyso to my custody,” Trace said.

“How can I be sure hy won’t attack my cubs again once hy has hys gestalt behind hym?”

“I give you my word that we can control hym.”

“If you had that much control over hym, why didn’t you just tell the gestalt to leave Shadowcrest alone – instead of calling for the fields and racing over?”

“How did you – ?”

“There’s a reason that Fleet only pulls my chain when they’re very sure of their facts, kitten. I’ll send Tyso down, but you will not remove the headband I am placing on hys head.”

The skunktaur that appeared before them was average in most ways, nothing physical to hint at hys mental abilities, nude but for a silver headband with a chin strap. Hy seemed very nervous and distraught as hy looked around – at least until hy saw Trace. Hy rushed over to hir and all but got on hys knees as hy blurted out, “Save me! You have to protect me from them!”

Trace stepped back in surprise, as shi had never seen Tyso when hy wasn’t on top of things and in control. “And what happened to you?”

“They attacked me! They stung me everywhere! They wouldn’t stop – you have to protect me from them!”

“And why were you being stung?” Lighttouch's comm badge asked.

“I was just trying to help!” hy shot back, fear turning to anger now that hy was no longer where the stingers had been.

“You were trying to force yourself onto a youth – and you kept trying, even after shi told you no …” Lighttouch corrected hym.

Tyso had started to glare at Lighttouch – only to suddenly drop to the ground clutching the headband.

“Passive only,” the comm badge told hym, “You are forbidden from actively using your talents for the next sixty hours. Any lapses and you will be forcibly reminded and the timer will be reset,” the voice said.

“You can’t do this to me,” Tyso whimpered, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Actually, you did, and have been,” Trace quietly admitted. “And we’ve needed you so badly that we’ve been letting you get away with it …”

Lighttouch nodded. “Like not teaching a cub not to bite, they’ll keep doing it – until someone bigger knocks their teeth out … and they won’t be able to understand why because they’ve always gotten away with it before.”

“The headband is the only real punishment hy’ll understand, as it stops the one thing no one has ever made hym stop doing before. Sixty hours, Tyso. Sixty hours of not having your way by nudging or forcing others,” the comm badge told them.

“What was hy saying about being stung?” Mapper wanted to know.

“He was placed in a holosuite with handful of cubs for a couple minutes, everyone – including hym – was armed with ‘stingers’,” Lighttouch told them. “It seems Tyso never learned to take it, just to dish it out …”

“With that headband –” Trace started to say.

“Hy wasn’t wearing it at that time,” Lighttouch informed hir. “That was added when you insisted that hy be placed in your custody.”

“Get this thing off of me, I can’t stand it!” Tyso whined.

“You want it left on,” the comm badge told hym.

“No I don’t!”

“Sure you do. Because if it is removed and I detect you using your talents in any way, shape, or form, you’ll get to practice your falling again – and won’t that be fun?”

“Falling?” Trace asked.

Lighttouch quietly sighed before admitting, “To break hys grip on the gestalt we had hym dropped from five thousand meters. When the others tried to re-link with hym, hys blind panic quickly shattered what was left of hys gestalt.”

That’s how you did it. A purely physical attack and totally disruptive,” Mapper muttered.

“Precisely,” Lighttouch admitted.

“Is there any chance at all that I might speak with Shadowcrest?” Trace asked.

“Shi really doesn’t think much of you guys right now,” the comm badge told hir.

“I know, but the longer we wait, the more set those feelings will get in hir mind.”

“I’ll ask.”

While they waited, Blueblossom returned with Blackflower. ‘No real harm was done to hym,” shi told them, “They just knocked hym out to keep hym from interfering.”

Blackflower just glared at Tyso, who grimaced and then tried to pull hys headband off again. “What’s hys problem?” Blackflower wanted to know.

“Hys new headband will zap hym hard enough to disrupt hys thoughts every time hy tries to actively use hys talents,” Lighttouch informed hym. “Part of the punishment Shadowcrest’s father placed on hym.”

Blackflower concentrated on Tyso for a moment before saying, “Hy still thinks hy can talk hys way out of this.”

“Stop reading me!” Tyso demanded before having to grab at hys headband yet again.

“But it’s ok for you to read everyone else?” Blackflower countered, glaring at the other skunktaur.

“Blackflower? Shadowcrest would like to see you if you’d like to join hir,” Lighttouch told hym.

“Yes! Where is shi?” hy agreed – just before hy was enveloped by a transporter beam.

“So, what does it take to get me an audience with this Shadowcrest?” Trace half joked.

“Hir choice, not yours,” Lighttouch reminded hir.

“I know,” shi admitted. “I also know I’m lucky you guys haven’t just up and disappeared on us.”

“This issue has to be resolved, preferably permanently. We will be watching to see how you handle Tyso’s indiscretions before we put too much trust in whatever else you may happen to say.”

“While I don’t have as much pull with Tyso’s keepers as you seem to think, some of them will listen to my suggestions.”

“If you can’t make hym behave, someone else will.”

“Your Captain Foster?”

“Or Shadowcrest, once shi’s properly trained. Hy needed a gestalt of over a hundred to punch hys way through those fields, but shi reached me and the others through those same fields under hir own power. One on one shi could probably take hym now, once trained shi could be quite useful to whoever can command hir loyalty and trust. I imagine Tyso thought that if hy could get to hir quickly enough hy could turn hir into just one more puppet under hys control.”

“About the gestalt …”

Lighttouch shook hys head. “Shadowcrest and I gave them a bit of what they’d tried pushing on hir – just a playback of what Tyso had forced on Shadowcrest and hir rejecting it. It should be interesting to see what they think of their own actions this day.”

Blackflower picked that moment to return, hy was grinning widely as hy appeared. “Wow, shi bounces back quickly,” hy told Blueblossom when hy saw hir.

“Oh? What were you two doing up there?” shi wondered with a frown.

“Just finishing up that call to hir parents on Bright Hope, they had been worried by how abruptly shi was cut off the first time.”

“Do you think shi’s ready to talk to us?”

“Just ‘talk’, no mind to mind,” Shadowcrest’s voice said from Lighttouch’s comm badge.

“Agreed,” Trace and Blueblossom said at the same time. Seconds later they found themselves in a small room with a couple taur pads already laid out for them.

A moment later, Shadowcrest appeared across from them.

Trace frowned as shi said, “You’re not really here …”

“No, I’m in another holosuite and your room is shielded from the rest of the ship. You did say you just wanted to ‘talk’,” shi reminded them.

“This does show a lack of trust,” Blueblossom pointed out.

“I just had one of your pet mind readers try to force themselves on me, and my father’s trust in you is very low right now. So was mine once I found you knew what was happening, Shir Trace …”

“While PSI uses Tyso’s gestalt from time to time, hy and they are not slaves – we can’t force or control them.”

“And for that ‘use’, you allow them to do things they shouldn’t … I want each of them evaluated. Enough of them thought it was ‘ok’ that Tyso received no backlash while hy was using the gestalt to attack me.”

“We will,” Blueblossom assured hir.

“Not just for what they tried with me,” Shadowcrest warned hir, “Some of those I sensed think they are always ‘perfect’ and correct, and my rubbing their nose in it will be hard on them.”

“What are you suggesting you saw?” Trace asked, looking concerned.

“Imagine you were training a student and they were injured, would you just say they were weak – or would you be soul-searching a bit to see if there was something you could have done differently?”

“The soul-search,” Trace quickly replied, Blueblossom nodding in agreement.

“Some of those of the gestalt will now be looking over all the things they’ve helped do while under Tyso’s influence. I can’t imagine that all of them will be pleased with some of the things they find.”

“And we may want to help with that,” Blueblossom agreed. “Is there a way we could contact Blackflower and Mapper?”

Tess’s voice came up out of the air, “They are still with Lighttouch and Tyso, I can relay if you like.”

“Yes, please.”

“Mapper here, I take it they have some rather impressive fields up there, Boss.”

“They do indeed,” Trace agreed, “I’d almost bet that even the gestalt would have been stopped by them.”

“But that isn’t the reason for this call?”

“No, it isn’t. We need to gather up all of those from the gestalt, some of them might be taking this harder than Tyso was.”

“Already on it as we needed to question them about it anyway.”

“I knew there was a reason I have you as my second …”

“You mean it wasn’t for my animal magnetism?” hy asked with a laugh.

“You do have your uses,” shi admitted before having Tess disconnect the call. Turning back to Shadowcrest, shi said, “I know you probably think it’s too early to talk about it, but we really need to discuss you and what training we can help you with.”

Folly will be leaving Chakona soon and I will not be staying behind,” Shadowcrest informed them.

“Not a problem, as you yourself are the solution,” Trace told hir with a grin. “You’ve already proven you can reach almost anywhere, so you could contact your instructor whenever you were ready for your lessons.”

“But I still need to find one that will take me – but not try to force themselves on me.”

“That’s true, and the best talents don’t always make the best teachers,” Trace admitted. Looking over at Blueblossom shi asked, “Any suggestions?”

“For a T5 of hir power? No. I don’t have anyone capable of keeping up with hir.”

“Hmmm. They don’t need to be able to ‘keep up’, just teach hir how to properly flex hir mental muscles.”

“If you put it that way, I could let Blackflower finish teaching hir all hy knows and then have hym pass hir up to the next level. None of them can truly stress hir to hir max, but they can show hir how to use hir talents without hurting hirself or others.”

“Will that suit you?” Trace asked Shadowcrest.

Shi slowly nodded. “Self paced and a step at a time I am willing to try,” shi agreed.

“Excellent! Then Blueblossom and I have a bit of work to do. I hope to see you again sometime when we can get a proper feel for each other.”

“Another time perhaps,” Shadowcrest agreed.

After the chakats had been beamed back to the surface, Neal joined Shadowcrest.

“Well, what do you think?” he asked hir.

“I don’t think they took my warning about the gestalt members seriously enough.”

“You warned them, that’s the best that we can do without pulling a Tyso and using force to make them see things our way. And the rest of it?”

“I should be able to sense if they try to have Blackflower do more than they said they would – and if they have someone ‘riding’ hym.”

“Otherwise ok?”

“Yeah. It’s going to be a bit like cubs trying to teach an adult to walk, but I think that’s better than having someone trying to ‘own’ me.”

“You have to remember that there are very few T5s in the first place, and most of those they will have busy doing the things that only a T5 can.”

“I know; it’s just that my first time out and I’m attacked by an asshole.”

“From the sounds of it, hy may have stepped a bit too far over the line this time – which means you taking the hit may have protected someone in the future.”

“What do you think?”

“Talents and their training are way over my head, I’m just a simple engineer and freighter captain.” Neal grinned at the dirty look shi gave him before adding, “Work with what you have. Lighttouch may not be a trainer, but hy should be a good judge of what they may try to have you do, and I take it you do trust this Blackflower?”

“Yes.”

“Then get hys feelings on things and the instructor they offer after you’ve learned all you can from hym.”

“When I was young, I always thought that having a talent would be fun, but all this is is work …”

“Heh, through Tess I heard our terror twins griping about all the extra work one little change would make, yet when I asked them about it, they were adamant in wanting to do it themselves.”

“They were afraid you might stop teaching them.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t want to overdo it with them either … well, after we leave Chakona I’ll see if we can’t get back into more teaching and less work.”

“How’d their testing go?”

“Holly appears to be a high T2 or low T3, Quickdash is a solid T3 but both might move up as they mature.”

“And Windsong?”

“They were still testing hir when Tyso tried for you, so they want hir back to try again.”

“We already know shi’s done more than most T3s can, the question was how much more.”

“And then how well, I know. Mixed with hir other talents, it should be rather interesting to see how far shi can go.”

“I’m not trying to read you, but I know there’s something else on your mind,” shi softly said. “Something I think you think will hurt me …”

Not looking at hir, Neal was quiet for almost a minute before murmuring, “It’s all on the wheel, it all comes around. It’s all a matter of perspective; hero or villain is just a matter of which side you’re rooting for. We see Tyso as the villain, forcing hys will on others. But is hy any different than you were when you tried to force Desertwind to see me from your point of view?”

Shadowcrest’s brow furrowed as shi seemed to just freeze in place. It was over a full minute before shi moved, and that was to take a full breath. Hir voice was husky as shi quietly said, “Thank the deities Lighttouch was there to stop me.”

“And hy was there to help you stop Tyso.”

“I never did thank hym properly for that,” Shadowcrest continued as if Neal hadn’t spoken. “I wonder if hy wouldn’t mind a cuddle tonight?”

“If Moonglow doesn’t already have plans for hym,” Neal reminded hir with a grin.

“One way or another, hy’s getting thanked,” shi told him with a matching grin.

“Oh and before I forget, the ship’s cook has told me to tell you to report to her domain for a very large snack, something about you burning quite a few calories this morning.”

“Is everybody watching my damn food intake?” Shadowcrest huffed.

“Just those of us that care about you,” Tess said from a nearby speaker, “Which means most of us.”

“A couple of us figure you’ll have enough keepers,” Neal added with a grin. “Go – before she comes hunting you.”



“Well, that made for an interesting morning,” Shortdash commented as they were finishing lunch.

“Stop glaring at Neal, it’s not his fault Shadowcrest was attacked,” Weaver told hir.

“No,” shi agreed, “but why did he just happen to have that talent zapping headband on hand?”

“I didn’t,” Neal informed hir.

“Here’s where he tells us he whipped one up in no time from all the bits and bobs down in engineering,” Quickwind quipped.

“Someone want to tell them how I could have done it?” he asked as he looked over at the teens.

Chakat Calmmeadow smirked as shi said, “There’s nothing to the execution, like one of those shock collars to train dogs not to bark. The trick would be sensing when hy was trying to use his talents.”

Chakat Roseberry smiled as well. “He cheated,” shi told them. “That was why he wanted Tyso getting nailed by the cubs – hy was doing everything hy could to get them to stop – all the while I'll bet Neal had Tess getting brain scans to show which areas were active when hy tried to use hys talent.”

Slowly nodding, Neal said, “Very good, your solution is simple, elegant and it covers all the bases.”

“And it’s wrong?” Shortdash asked, glaring slightly when Neal only grinned in return.



“So, was anybody else not ready to confront their parents when Shady linked us?” Calmmeadow asked the other teens that evening.

“Catch you at a bad time too did shi?” Nightsky replied with a snicker. “Shi caught me numbly nodding to what my mom thought I’d be doing when we get back to Bright Hope while wondering how fast Tess could get me back onboard once we get there. Mom just stopped dead in shock, staring at me. I was trying to think of something to say – anything to explain why I didn’t want to follow that old career path when shi just snorted and said, ‘Well, I guess that captain of yours really has turned some of you into spacers. We’ll discuses this again once you get home – and I promise not to enroll you in any classes until we see what you really need.’ Dad just gave me a thumb’s up behind hir back, shi knows us both well enough to know shi’s going to have to sit on my mom for a bit to get hir to calm down – and shi knows I don’t plan on changing my mind.”

Mike just shook his head. “While ‘Meadow was trying to deal with hir mom, I was talking to my folks and trying to herd cats at the same time. The little ones had decided that that was a good time to go into their ‘advanced behavior mode’ as Neal calls it. Dad was making jokes about it and my mom was wondering how I’d ever keep up with them when Shadowcrest played hir little trick on us.” Looking around at the others, he added, “While I’m not used to feeling my parents like you chakats are, all I could really feel off them was pride at what I was doing.”

Calmmeadow nodded. “Shady cross-linked us, so I felt them too, they are very proud of their wandering son. Your mom was also mentally trying to figure out what all needs cub proofing once we’re in your old house.”

If we stay there, I’m still not sure,” he reminded hir.

“No hurry, we have a few months yet,” shi agreed.

Cindy looked thoughtful as she said, “You two could always use my grandmother’s old estate. It’s more than big enough for even Mike to get around easily in – and you’d be doing me a favor by making it impossible for my excuse for a father to try to lay any claim to it.”

“You mean buy it out from under you?” Calmmeadow asked.

“Try before you buy,” Cindy corrected. “While it’s a nice old place, right now it holds too many bad memories for me to want to live there any time soon.”

“To consider,” Mike agreed. “Anything else we need to talk about while we’re all in one place?”

“Just how not to get slapped in the face with a surprise link again,” Nightsky said with a grin to suggest shi wasn’t all that upset by it.

“Wear a headband,” Alex told hir with a grin. “Or, you know, maybe we could just ask Shady to give us a little ‘heads up’ before shi establishes a link next time?”

I promise it won’t happen again,” they all heard Shadowcrest say in their minds. “And before any of you start complaining about me spying on you right now, it’s kind of hard not to hear several people thinking hard about you!

“So we basically called your attention to us,” Mike stated.

Yeah, though I was going to try to talk to you guys about it sooner or later,” Shadowcrest admitted. “I was informed by several parties that that was more than a little ‘over the top’.

“My mom?” Nightsky asked.

Yes, and Blackflower and just a few others; I could feel that some of you wanted to feel each other, and rather than just open those few I screwed up and opened them all.

“Well,” Nightsky said, “I was going to say that your timing couldn’t have been any worse if you’d planned it, but nailing my mom with what I really thought of hir plans for my future probably saved us a rather long argument later. So thanks, but please – a little ‘heads up’ next time?”

Can do. And the rest of you?” shi asked.

“You don’t have to tell the others we’re down here comparing notes?” Alex suggested.

Heh, I’ll have to think of a suitable bribe for keeping quiet on that subject,” Shadowcrest said, though they could all hear hir snicker of agreement in their minds.

 


To be continued!

Copyright © 2005-2014 Allen Fesler – Redbear1158@hotmail.com

Admiral Boyce Garald Kline Jr and some of his family are copyright Boyce Garald Kline Jr.

The Quange were created by Roy D. Pounds II and are used with his permission. (if he likes it!)

The Holy Christian Kingdom of North America, and the Amazonia war are copyright John Plunkett.

Windsong, Fireglow and Mythril/Myth are copyright Gregg Anderson, and used with his permission.

Skunktaurs are copyright Bob Reijns.

Tauna Shadowback is copyright Chakat Scirocco and used with her permission.

Chakat Blackstar, hir ships and crews copyright Alex Wiegerling.

Chakat Blackrose is copyright Chuck (Nicolai) Percy

Captain Suzanna Cortez, Panzer, and the rest of the Rendezvous crew are copyright SoulBlade.

Chakat Digs-in-Dirt is copyright Daniel Davis and is used with his permission.

Goldfur, Forestwalker, Midnight, Garrek, Kris, Trina, Leanna, all their cubs, and the Chakat Universe are copyright of Bernard Doove and used with his permission.

( If I’ve managed to step on anyone else’s toes (or paws, claws or tails) let me know and I’ll either give you credit or change my ‘tale’.)


 

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