"Hello, Amanda.  How are you today?"

The coyote smiled up at the right-hand vidscreen. She had a pillow in her lap and a book on top of the pillow while sitting in the pilot's seat. "Couldn't be better, Cindy. I'm the only one currently on board; everyone else is gallivanting around the countryside while we wait for our next assignment. I assume that's why you are calling, so I'm glad I was here."

"It's awful what happened at Hestra, but Merlin is proud of you guys for your help with those evacuees."

"Yeah, we did what we could, but it got ugly before it got better. Everyone's glad to have a bit of time off after our next delivery was summarily canceled by an asteroid, but frankly I'm ready to get back to work."

"In that case, I'm here to grant your wish!"

"You're smiling awfully wide, Cindy Loo-Hoo. Did we get a juicy assignment that pays double?"

The grey mouse on the screen snickered. "I'm sworn to secrecy to divulge specific details, but on Merlin's orders, the Blue Horizon has been recalled to Dennier. You won't be flying home empty, though. We lined up a three-fold delivery that will fill your cargo deck. You'll be carrying high-tech electronics for JR Lane Astrogation, six communication satellites for Loxley DataStream, as well as a last-minute passenger addition who will ride with you to Grandstorm to meet her business partner. All will converge on the Blue Horizon tomorrow morning, so you'll need to schedule a flight plan with the Alexandrius Defense Authority and then contact your crew. I'm uploading the mission file with all the details of your cargo and passenger as we speak."

Amanda nodded and put a finger under her chin. "All that sounds great, but my interest has been piqued by the real reason behind our flight to Dennier. A recall? That's usually something rather serious, if you're bringing us back to home base.  Did you recall our sisters too?"

"No, this really doesn't concern the Hidalgo Sun or Mooncrest as directly as it does the Blue Horizon, so they're still on schedule." Cindy Allport giggled again and put a hand over her mouth. "Only the flagship is being recalled."

Amanda narrowed her eyes.  "C'mon, give!  What's this about?"

"Nope, can't tell you. It's something you'll have to find out for yourselves once you get here."

"Cindy!  Dennier is four weeks away from Alexandrius!  I'm gonna die of curiosity before we get there!"

"Heh… quit your whining. I'm not going to tell you.  Not even Captain Nichols will know what this is about, so all you need to do is focus on your mission deliveries."

"We're getting fired, aren't we? It's because of all those jobs we lost."

Cindy looked surprised. "Uh, no – Nobody is losing their jobs. This is going to be a good surprise, not something awful."

Amanda pouted. "Why did you even mention it, then?" she grumbled. "You could have told me about the assignment and just left off the part about the recall."

"Sorry, I just wanted to give you something to look forward to at the end of the flight."

The coyote swished her tail through the slotted opening in the back of the chair and switched tactics. She gave the mouse a smile with wide eyes and clasped hands. "I promise I'll look forward to it if you tell me what it is…"

"Nope, not a chance."

"Brat!"

"Did you just call me a rat?  I'm a mouse, I'll have you know!"

"Same thing, as far as I'm concerned…" Amanda stuck out her tongue.

"Nyah, nyah. Keep the recall to yourself, if you want. Just give the mission file to Taro when you've called her back to the ship. I won't keep you any longer. You’ll need to contact your crew immediately."

"You're mean," Amanda muttered with the back of her hand up to her forehead. "You're going to cause me mental anguish for the next month. I might not be able to survive!"

"It’ll be worth it, I promise!"

"It better be. I won't ever talk to you again if it's not…"

Cindy laughed. "Then I have nothing to worry about.  Bye, then.  See you in four weeks."

"Bye..."

"Blue Risen!"

Renny Thornton looked down at the young cheetah holding his hand. "Yes, Sandy, that's the Blue Horizon, our home."

The four-year-old who had recently become his charge released his hand and ran to the airlock ramp, waiting for him to open the door. She trotted up to it and slapped lightly on the painted door panel, grinning back at him, Taro and Lorelei.

"She's such a cutie," the white rabbit whispered. "That outfit you bought looks good on her." The youngster wore a dark blue jumper that was loose on her fur, with yellow butterflies across the front and a matching blue ribbon at the end of her tail.

Renny strode up the ramp with a shopping bag of their purchases and gave the young girl's head fur a tousle before punching in the security entry code in a recessed panel.  With no pressurized air to cycle, the doors split apart diagonally and the chamber light of the airlock came on. Sandy darted inside and began running around the empty cargo hold with her arms outspread like airplane wings.

"Looks like we beat Damien back," Renny said to the ladies when they stepped inside.

The vixen turned to a panel beside the airlock and keyed in a long-memorized sequence. The massive bay door began to rise up and outward. "May as well let in some fresh air," she said. "Lori, would you go pull out the work gloves?"

"I'll get them," the doe replied with a light hop. She chased after the small cheetah girl and followed her around with outspread arms a moment before she continued on to the equipment locker on the far side of the chamber. Sandy enjoyed the attention and followed the bunny to see what she was doing.

"I'm going to gather up our little bird and set her in front of a video in my cabin," Renny said. "Once I've gotten her set down with water and a snack, I'll lock the door to keep her inside and then I'll be back down to help with the cargo."

Taro nodded and glanced at her watch. "The first truck should be here in about twenty minutes," she said. "Would you stop by my desk on your way back and grab my clipboard? I need to send Lori out on a supply run. She knows what foodstuffs we need, but Justy left me a list of the other shipboard supplies we need before he left for shore leave."

"Sure."  The navigator walked across the deck while the bay doors completed their opening cycle. "Lori," he said to the rabbit, "Taro needs you to make up a grocery list to stock up the galley before we launch. Do you think you can get everything within two hours?"

The bunny looked up at him with a handful of work gloves and flashed him a pleasant smile. "I already have a list in my quarters of what we need," she replied.

Renny nodded his approval. "You’re fast!" he said.

Lori laughed and gave him a wink. "Of course I'm fast. I'm a rabbit!"

The navigator looked at her with a grin and said, "Anytime you want to see if you are faster than a cheetah, just let me know."

Lorelei laughed aloud and touched the tip of his nose with a finger at arm's length. "Your legs must really be feeling better if you’re willing to race," she said. She then leaned in and whispered something in his ear that made the end of his tail twitch.

Renny cleared his throat and looked down at Sandilee. "C'mon, kitten," he said. Lori gathered up the rest of the work gloves with a mischievous smile. "Let's go."

"Where we goin'?" she asked, scratching an ear.

"We're going up to our cabin," he said, trying to ignore the look the rabbit was giving him. Renny reached inside the shopping bag and pulled out a video cartridge. On its cover in primary colors was a children's show dinosaur character sniffing a flower next to a sparkling lake. The title emblazoned across its sky read: Big Happy and the Rainbow Bug of Sillon. "Want to watch this?"

Sandy's eyes lit up over a wide grin. "Yeah!" she exclaimed. All other thoughts evaporated as she reached up for the video. Renny handed it to her and led her to the lift.

"Bye, Sandy!" Lori lilted.  The small cheetah waved absently, her focus now on the video package.

When they got up into their quarters, Renny quickly got her situated in front of the video player so he could put away her new belongings and set up her bed on the couch. He went up to the galley, grabbed some water and few snacks for her, and then came back to pause her show. When she looked up at him in surprise, he squatted down next to her.

"I need to go back down and help the others do some work, so I need you to stay in here for a while," he told her. "Can you do that for me?"

"Don' go!" she said in sudden distress.

Renny brushed a finger lightly under her chin with a gentle smile. "Don't worry, kitten. Big Happy will keep you company, and I won't be gone long." Sandilee put out her bottom lip and looked forlorn. The adult cheetah sighed and shook his head. "Do this for me," he said, "and I’ll let you sit on my lap on the Bridge when we fly up into the sky."

Sandy's distress disappeared and her eyes grew wider. "Promise!" she said.

Renny put his hand over his heart and said with a wink, "I promise."

"Okay," the appeased youngster said.

Renny pulled out a coloring book and box of crayons from the shopping bag. He set them on the floor beside her and replied, "Good girl. I’ll be back in later to get you."

"Okay," she repeated. Renny resumed her program and stood up. The kitten's attention instantly refocused on the screen, so the navigator gave the room a quick glance and then shut the door behind him.

He started to head directly to the lift, but then snapped his fingers sharply as his memory kicked in. He walked into the captain's office and spied her favorite clipboard resting on one corner of the wooden desk. As he picked it up, he noted that she had left her monitor on to the news feed. He reached out to shut it off, but then recognized the cruise liner on the report.

He took up a position on the corner of the desk, turned up the volume, and listened to the local broadcast for a moment.

"The SS Soundchaser has just arrived in the capitol city with its load of refugees from the Hestra-Vashon disaster. Dispatched several days ago, the empty cruise ship's function in this emergency was to collect evacuees of the Vashon moon from various smaller vessels that helped get the populace out of the danger zone. The first response of the Hestran government was to set up a tent city on the parent planet for these folk, but then it was discovered that nearly ninety percent of the evacuees were non-Hestran, and therefore wouldn't be able to stand up on the surface of the heavy-gravity world.

"The Merriam Cruise Line graciously offered the use of one of their liners for the emergency, the SS Soundchaser, which was currently in port in Alucara. The Vashon refugees will be granted temporary housing in Alucara set up just for—"

Renny switched off the monitor and headed back down to the cargo deck. When he stepped out of the lift, he saw two trucks backed up to the loading ramp, each bearing the silhouette of a rabbit and the words "JR Lane Astrogation" painted upon their sides. Several of the Blue Horizon crew was already moving crates from the trucks up into the hold, with Damien directing for proper weight load placement.

Taro was chatting with the truck drivers, both male red foxes who had taken it upon themselves to be friendly with the shapely vixen. Renny frowned as he stopped next to her with the clipboard.

"Here you go, Luv," he said, putting emphasis on the last word for the benefit of the truck drivers. Both vulpine drivers instantly looked uncomfortable when the navigator leaned in and placed a quick kiss on the side of her muzzle.

Taro raised an amused eyebrow at him and replied, "Thank you, Luv."  She glanced at the foxes and said, "Excuse me, guys. I need to take care of this."  Both murmured something and ambled back to their trucks to stand in the shade.

"Feeling jealous, lover?" she whispered impishly to the cheetah.

Renny gave her a crooked smile and shook his head. "Flirt all you want," he said. "I'm still the one who gets to travel with you."

Taro laughed and gave him a quick hug. "Too true," she said.

"Listen, there’s something I need to discuss with you," Renny told her while they walked back toward the hold. "I saw a local news broadcast while I was up on the crew deck. The Soundchaser just arrived in Alucara with all the evacuees collected around Hestra."

The captain nodded. "That's good to know," she said as she gestured to Lorelei that she had Justy's supply list. "They'll get good care from the Alexandrians."

"You went to the Hestran Ambassador on Sandy's behalf when we couldn’t turn around and take her back to the Soundchaser, where she should have gone. Now that all the evacuees are now here on Alexandrius, shouldn’t she go join them until her family can be found? There were other felines among those we had on board the Horizon. Perhaps some of them can take care of her."

Taro looked at him for a moment. "I thought you liked Sandy," she said.

"I do, but that's not the issue here," Renny replied defensively. "As you told the Ambassador, we will be launching halfway across the Planetary Alignment once we leave here, and may not be back this way for some time. It would be better if she were here local when her family comes to get her."

"Yes, I agree that would be best," the vixen answered, "but we've already made an agreement with the Ambassador. I doubt she would be pleased if we bothered her with this again."

Lorelei bounced up to them, took the supply list from Taro's hand, and then waved as she bounded away. "I'll be back as quickly as I can," she said.

"Don't be late!" Taro called after her. The bunny headed to the spaceport terminal building, where a busy line of local cabs waited for fares. The captain looked at her watch and then back to Renny's forlorn face.  "Okay, I’ll go call the Ambassador again, now that the Soundchaser has arrived. However, even if she agrees, there may not be time for her to arrange a transport for our little friend. We're on a tight schedule to make our launch window, and Sandy can't wait for a cab or other transport by herself if we run out of time."

Renny nodded. "I accept that you’ll give it a shot," he said. "I do like Sandy, but she does need to go back to her family, wherever they may be."

"Agreed."  Taro pantomimed handing something to the cheetah and said, "Don't whip the slaves too hard, taskmaster."

Renny swung an imaginary whip into the air and made a crack! noise with his lips.  Taro laughed aloud and then headed toward the lift.

Max Sinclair looked up from his cargo loading as a shapely Cocker Spaniel walked up to him. She was dressed in calf-high boots, a mini-skirt that barely covered her tail, and a narrow halter-top, all the same golden-blond shade as her fur. There was a matching fringed purse in her slender hands and a wheeled suitcase beside her. He looked up into her wide brown eyes and was instantly lost in her wide smile.

"Hello, Max," she said in a high, bubbly voice, "is this the Blue Horizon?"

"Uhm, uh, yeah," the German shepherd replied thickly. "Yes, it is."

"Oh, good!" she replied with a bit of a bounce. "I'm supposed to be your passenger to Grandstorm. My name is Ariel Bennington."

The German shepherd blinked away the fog that had suddenly wrapped around his brain and he gave her a big smile. "Ariel, hi!. How did you know my name is Max?" She reached out and lightly tapped the name tag attached to his shirt with a grin.  "Oh, yeah," he replied.

"Can you check me?" she asked.

Max quickly glanced over her form and then forced his eyes back up to her face. She was only a few years older than he was, but she definitely had his interest. "Excuse me?" he asked hoarsely.

She giggled and held out her paid ticket. "Can you check me onto your ship, please?" she asked. "I would like to put my things on board."

"Uh, sure," he said absently. When Pockets set small crate on the floor next to him, the mechanic remembered his place. "Actually, if you speak to that coyote over there," Max said as he gestured toward the airlock hatch, "Amanda will get you checked in and taken to your quarters."

Ariel nodded with a bop of her head and then made a cursory glance at Max's shoulders. He was no longer the skinny boy he had been when he first came on board; his shoulders were broad and his physique was shaping nicely from his workouts with Renny and Damien on the exercise mats.

"What do you do on this ship, Max?" the woman replied.

"I'm a mechanic in the engine room," he replied, automatically pointing to the engineering symbol on his sleeve displaying a crossed wrench and a screwdriver.

Ariel's eyes lit up. "You help make the ship go fast?" she asked.

"Yeah, something like that," Max answered.

The Cocker Spaniel moved in closer and then turned away just enough so that she looked at him over her bare shoulder. "Could you give me a tour later?" she asked. "I would really like to see where you work."

Pockets set another crate next to Max and cleared his throat lightly. The young mechanic grinned at the woman and said, "Sure, we can do that after we've taken off. However, my partner needs me to get back to work loading the ship.  Amanda will see you to your cabin."

"Thank you, Blue Eyes," Ariel with a friendly wave. "I will see you later!"

Max returned her wave with a waggle of his fingers and then watched her bop across the tarmac toward the coyote, her floppy ears swaying with her walk.  Pockets gave him a nudge in the side and clicked his tongue.

"What?" Max asked, startled.

"That wagging tail of yours is stirring up the dust, partner."

"Huh?"

The raccoon laughed aloud at him. "I don't think you have anything to worry about finding another girlfriend," Pockets said in a low voice. "She was checking you out as much as you were of her!"

Max grinned at his friend and shook his head. "Hush!" he scolded. "She might hear you!"

"She probably did," Renny said dryly. Max and Pockets whirled around to see the first officer standing behind them looking stern. Both mechanics dropped the conversation and went back to work without saying anything more. When Renny walked away, he had to hide the grin that spread across his face.  He liked Max and felt sorry for his broken heart, but as Jerry had tried to tell him, he would get over his breakup with Wendy. It would take time and maybe a different female form to push him onward.

"Renny," Justy said as he trotted up beside him, "Have you seen the captain? A truck with the satellites for Loxley DataStream just arrived."

"Thanks. I'll get Damien to sign for them."

Sandy's eyes were wide with wonder and delight as the Blue Horizon launched from the Garrison Spaceport. The middle vidscreen showed their forward path, while the left-hand screen showed their departure angle. As promised, the cheetah kitten was strapped into Renny's lap behind his flight harness so she could see their launch. Normally this would not be a good idea with the stresses of launch, but Jerry had promised a smooth take-off now that Pockets and Max had successfully repaired the faulty inertia dampeners with parts they had purchased on the company account while in Delorme.

Likewise, Taro's seat at the Com station had been repaired and the vixen calmly sat with her elbows on the new armrests. She smiled at the kitten's enthralled expressions and then looked over at her pilot. Jerry appeared to be struggling with the guidance shifts and his lips were pressed together tight.

"Something the matter, Doc?" she asked in a quiet voice so as not to alarm the youngster.

The edge of the male fox's lips curled up slightly. "The controls are little sluggish, probably due to a full load of cargo weight. The launch thrusters just aren't used to the weight of the satellites we're carrying."

"Are we going to have trouble making orbit?"

"No, but it may take a few minutes longer to get there."

As predicted, the extra weight added nearly five minutes to orbital entry. It may not have seemed like much time to the rest of the crew, but it took more thruster fuel to gain the altitude.

Taro touched a pad on the engineering console next to her and then spoke into her headset mike on ship-wide broadcast. "The ship's artificial gravity has automatically enabled and is reading normal. Once we are beyond planetary traffic, the LightDrive engines will be engaged for our run to Dennier. Mobility is now safe; you may shed your harnesses and move about."

Sandy's little eyes shifted from the view looking aft toward the forward vista of stars. She looked back and shared a wide grin with Renny. The navigator never tired of the stars and was pleased to share the sight with the youngster.

After several moments, however, the forward view remained unchanging. Without a stationary frame of reference, it appeared to the kitten that they had stopped moving, although they were increasing velocity to incredible speeds. Bored, she looked back to the aft view and saw the blue-green world shrinking on the monitor. She stared at it for a long while, but as they traveled farther away, there were no more wonders to see.

Sandy started to squirm on Renny's lap, so the navigator unbuckled his harness and set her on the floor. Taro reached out for the child's hand with a smile. "Renny needs to do some work now," she said. "Let's go see if Lori can find us a snack."

"Okay," the kitten replied with an exaggerated nod of her small head. Renny was already deep into his astrogational calculations when they walked out the door.

No sooner had Taro's announcement come over the intercom that Ariel Bennington was out of the flight harness in her cabin. She stowed it into its recessed wall receptacle just as Amanda had instructed, and then she moved to the back room to study her reflection in the mirror. She fluffed up the fur around her large, floppy ears and then checked to make sure her skimpy outfit was presentable. She briefly considered spritzing a bit of perfume into her fur, but instead decided her own natural scent would be sufficient.

She checked her reflection once again, made a cheerful bounce on the tips of her toes, and wagged her tail with a happy smile. She was ready.

Ariel peered out the cabin door into the corridor, but saw no one else about. Pleased, she darted to the lift with her small purse and thumbed the call button. A moment later, she stepped into the elevator and tapped the "1" button just as a short koala stepped out into the hall.

Justy tried to stop her so he could catch a ride up to the recreation deck, but the panels closed before he could get there. He shrugged his shoulders and stretched, waiting for the lift to return.

When the elevator reached the cargo deck, Ariel stepped out into the cold chamber. Although pressurized and insulated, the Hold was always difficult to keep warm while the ship was in space simply due to its volume. The Cocker spaniel's fur was not thick and she felt a shiver as she stared up at the large satellites tethered to the center of the deck. Octagonal crates surrounded each of the satellites for proper weight distribution, and they were secure to the deck beneath sturdy freight nets. There was a three-meter wide aisle around the perimeter of the chamber and she looked each direction, wondering which to take.

It had been a while since the small canine had last been on board an Okami freighter, but this model was a new design to her. Simply on a hunch, she turned to her left and began walking along the aisle.

Several moments later, she passed by a compartment that looked out into the Hold behind a thick sheet of glassteel. Inside, there was a large, paper-strewn desk with laden book shelves lining the walls and a small kitchenette on one end of the room that was littered with paper coffee cups and paper plates. Sitting behind the desk was a broad-shouldered mastiff in a white shirt with long, billowed sleeves. The office pressure door was currently open.

Her sandal bumped into a metal chain lying on the floor up against the wall and the mastiff looked up at her through the window. He stood up and moved around the desk to the doorway.

"Excuse me, miss," Damien said in a deep voice, "but passengers are not allowed on this deck."

Ariel looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. "Why not?" she asked.

The mastiff leaned against the door frame. "We’re carrying cargo for other customers that needs to remain untouched, and also because it's dangerous for you to be wandering around alone down here."  He tapped the chain on the floor with the toe of his boot. "Things like this can trip you up, and your flight insurance doesn’t cover you in areas that are forbidden to non-crew personnel."

"Oh," she replied with a crestfallen expression. "That cute German shepherd said he would show me where he worked after we launched."

Damien sighed inwardly, wondering if Max would need a chaperon, now that the young mechanic was inviting women into his out-of-the-way work area.

"Just a minute," he said after a moment. From the ethereal look the girl was giving him, Damien wondered just how much dust might be upstairs in that attic. He moved to a control panel beneath the window and tapped a control. A moment later, there was a sharp chirp that echoed in the upper rafters of the cargo deck.

"You have reached the mightily impressive engine room to the flagship of the Sinclair fleet," drawled Pockets' country voice. "How may I be of service?"

Damien simultaneously raised an eyebrow and the edge of his lips. "I have a young lady here who claims that your partner promised her a tour of engineering," he said with amusement.

"Oh, he did, did he?" Then in a voice that was slightly removed from the microphone, "Max! Your date's here!"

Damien flashed a quick look at the Cocker spaniel, but the girl only beamed back a wide grin at him with a gentle wag of her tail. He chuckled and shrugged briefly.

"The young stud is on his way," Pockets said with a laugh, apparently not caring if the girl heard him.

Somewhere out around the perimeter of the cargo deck, Damien and Ariel heard booted feet stepping quickly around the aisle. Maximilian emerged from the shadows with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Hi, Ariel," he said shyly.

"Hello, Max," replied the spaniel. She moved closer to him and then very gently licked the side of his muzzle. Damien chose to return to his desk at that moment, and Max was unsure if he liked being left to the female. He gave her a crooked smile and then offered his arm to her, as he had seen Merlin do countless times with Samantha.

"Did you handle the launch okay?" Max asked as he led her back toward the engine room.

"Yes, it was okay," she replied. "The launch chair was a little stiff, and my rear could use a massage, but otherwise it was just fine. I was lonely up there all by myself, though…" She snuggled up to the German shepherd, and Max suddenly found it difficult to swallow.

They approached the pressure door into engineering and met up with Pockets. Ariel's eyes grew wide and she bent over to rub the raccoon's ears. "Aww, how adorable!" she cooed. Max's eyes went to the back of her short skirt while Pockets looked up into the girl's smiling face.

"Yes, I am!" he said with a grin. "You must be Ariel."

She blinked and looked back at him in delight. "You know my name!" she squealed.

"Yeah, well, Max couldn’t stop talking about you while we waited for lift-off!"

Max bristled. "Pockets!" he exclaimed indignantly. Since the canine mechanic had grown up a bit during his stay with the Blue Horizon crew, the raccoon had taken to teasing the boy that he had taken on to be his partner.

"If you two will excuse me," Pockets said, "Lorelei called us to supper. I told her you two would be busy for a while," he said with a  waggle of eyebrows, "so she said she would keep your food warm until you came up to claim it."

Max scowled at the engineer and hooked a thumb over his shoulder. "Shoo!" he said. "We'll be up there in a bit."

"Bye, mister Pocketo," Ariel said with wriggling fingers. "We'll see you later!"

"Good bye for now," Pockets said.  He scurried past Max, narrowly missing the swat that had been aimed at him. After the raccoon had gone, the German shepherd slowly turned to face his guest. He put an arm across the back of his neck and grinned at her sheepishly.

"So…" he started. "What would you like to see first?"

The Cocker spaniel looked at him coyly and said in a quiet voice, "I want to see it all. Show me everything you've got!"

"After all the jobs we lost, I'm glad to have a full cargo hold again," Justy said before he scooped up a forkful of eucalyptus salad.

"It feels like we're making up the lost revenue with multiple loads," Renny agreed as he fed a spoonful of tuna to the small cheetah beside him, "but I wonder if Merlin ever found out why all those folks were dropping out on us."

Taro took a drink of green tea and pushed her empty plate away from her. "I haven’t had much opportunity to talk with him lately," she said, "but I intend to have a long discussion with him about our Vault capabilities when I can speak with him privately. Since all three deliveries of our current assignment are to be shipped to Grandstorm, it's a lucky coincidence that we get to return to headquarters."

"Luck had nothing to do with it," Amanda piped up absently as she cut her meal into smaller portions. "Since we've been recalled, I can only wonder—"  The coyote realized what she was saying and suddenly clamped a hand over her mouth, drawing everyone's attention.

"Recall?" Justy asked with a sharp look at their captain.

"What do you mean, we've been recalled?" Damien asked.

Taro appeared just as confused as the rest of them. She looked at the coyote with a furrowed brow. "Mandy, you’re the one who told me about our assignment," the vixen said in a quiet voice. "I don't remember you saying anything about a recall." Amanda's eyes betrayed her fear, but she did not remover her hand from her mouth.

"This isn’t looking good," Pockets muttered. He wiped his hands on his coveralls and put them on the edge of the table. "Are we in trouble?" Lorelei sat next to him in stunned silence.

Amanda put her hands in her lap and nervously wrung them together. "I-I don't know why we are being recalled," she said quietly, making everyone strain to hear her. "Cindy acted like she wanted to tell me, but said that Merlin had forbidden her to give us any details."

"Mandy, you aren't making sense," Renny replied. "Start over."

The coyote nodded, took a deep breath, and then looked around the gathered crew. "When Cindy called to give us our assignment," she explained, "she was acting strange, as if she had a big secret. I asked her why she was acting like that, and she said that she was sworn not to give out any details, but that the Blue Horizon was being recalled to Dennier. I begged her to explain, but she would say nothing more about it. I asked her if the other ships were being recalled too, but she said this only concerned us and that we would find out what was going on once we arrived."

"Why didn't you tell me this?" Taro asked in annoyance.

"I called Cindy mean-spirited, but she told me that not even you were to know why we’re being recalled. I was told it would be best if I didn't mention it to anyone else so we could focus on our assignment."

"I'll bet we're getting canned," Justy said dejectedly. Everybody looked at him in surprise and he stared back at them indignantly. "What?" he exclaimed. "You were probably thinking it too!"

"I said the same thing," Amanda continued. "I thought it might be because we lost those customers and were being punished for losing the revenue, but she denies that anyone's jobs are in danger."

"Then what is this all about, and why all the hush-hush?" Pockets wanted to know.

"She wouldn't tell me," Amanda replied, "and that is all I know about it – honest!"

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Taro asked again. "Even if you didn't know details, I think this is something important enough that your captain should know about!"

"I'm sorry," Amanda replied with a lump in her throat. "I don't know why Cindy told me what she did if Merlin had forbidden her to say anything!"

"It sounds like Cindy has a big mouth," Pockets said dryly. "If it's such a secret, she shouldn’t have said anything to you at all."

The vixen set her tea cup on the table and got to her feet. "I'll get to the bottom of this, folks. I'm going to talk to Merlin directly."  Without another word, she walked defiantly toward the elevator lift.

"What does this do, Max?" Ariel asked. She clung to one of his arms and had her body pressed up against him as she trailed her fingers along a panel full of indicators and controls.

The German shepherd had difficulty focusing with the girl pressing in on him so much. He was sharply conscious of their points of contact and he swallowed uncomfortably. She was apparently unaware of her effect on him.

"Th-that's for liquid crystal fuel regulation," he replied. "We have to keep the inflow of energy balanced to get the most efficiency for engine output. If any of the settings are out of synchronization, we would lose speed rapidly and fall back to sub-light velocities."

"That's bad, huh?" Ariel asked with a bop of her chin against his shoulder.

"It's certainly not good," Max said with a grin. "If it gets too far out of balance, we could wind up with a ruined feedloop module. Now, if you want to see something really interesting, look over here..."

The German shepherd went on with a mouthful of technical jargon, but Ariel looked back at the fuel regulation panel with sharp interest. Her eyes took on a focused expression until her host asked her a question. She returned her attention to him instantly with wide eyes of innocence and fluttered her eye lashes at him.

"I'm sorry, Max," she said with a giggle. 'I was daydreaming."

"That's okay," the young mechanic responded with a smile. "I've learned so much from Pockets the past few years that I'm afraid I can spout out technobabble as much as he can! I apologize for boring you with all this."

"Not at all," the Cocker spaniel replied with encouragement. "This is all so interesting, but I admit that I don't understand everything you've explained."

"Is there something else I can show you that would be of more interest?" Max asked.

The female canine's eyes narrowed and the corners of her mouth curled up. "Yes, show me your cabin, Max," she said in a whisper. "I want to see where you sleep."

"Y-you want to see my bed?" The German shepherd swallowed and suddenly felt the girl's hand at the base of his tail. "I, uh..."

"Don't be embarrassed, Max," she cooed in his ear. "I like you, a lot! Don't you like me?"

"Uh, yeah, I d-do," he stammered, "but I don't know if..."

"Let's go, Max," she whispered. "It'll be okay."  She led him by the hand out of the engine room, but suddenly stopped just outside the door. "Oops," she said. "I left my purse in there. Be right back!" 

Max fidgeted, waiting courteously for her to return. Although he was sure he could read her intentions correctly, he was not certain he could meet her expectations.  A moment later, she bopped out to his side with her purse in hand, and then threaded an arm through his.

"Lead me on, Max," she said with a giggle. 

"No, Taro, I can't tell you anything more."

The vulpine captain scowled up at the brown mouse on the right-hand vidscreen. "Keri, I want to know what’s going on, and I want to know right now! Get Merlin on the line."

"Taro, everyone's gone home for the evening. The only ones here are me and the night guard, Bob, and I will be leaving in about ten minutes. Bob doesn’t know the answers to your questions, Taro, so there's no one else you can talk to tonight."

"Will Merlin be there tomorrow?" Taro asked irritably.

"No, I believe he and Samantha have an appointment together," the mouse replied.

Taro's expression softened and she leaned on the forward console. "Please, Keri, tell me what is going on. My crew is afraid for their jobs and I need assurances."

"Listen," the mouse said sternly, "what you want to know is information that has been classified SECRET by our boss, Merlin. We have been forbidden to divulge any information on the matter, especially over a Com line. Cindy should have never mentioned it!"

Taro's ears twitched and she nodded with a sigh. "Okay, if it's that sensitive, we’ll wait until we get to Grandstorm to get our new orders."

"I can't confirm nor deny whatever it is you are thinking, Taro, but it will be better to simply wait until you arrive to find out what all this is about."

"I don't like all this secrecy," the vixen muttered, "but I will refrain from asking further. All I can say is we will be on edge the rest of our voyage wondering what may be up."

"It's better if you just try not to think about it," Keri said with a nod and a sudden wink, "but I assure you that it will be worth the wait. However, it's time for me to go. I have a date tonight and I still need time to get ready."

"A date?" Taro asked, the focus of her attention diverted. "With whom?"

Keri grinned widely. "His name is Jomo, but I don't have time to tell you more. See you later, Taro!"

"Good night, Keri. Have fun tonight."

The communication circuit closed and Taro sat down in the chair at navigation. She glanced over at Jerry, who stared back at her from the pilot's center seat, and shook her head. "I just don't get it," she said. "Merlin's never been this secretive with the crew before."

Jerry thought for a moment and then glanced briefly up at the vidscreen where Keri's visage had been. "Since our purpose at Grandstorm is classified a secret and everyone is forbidden to talk about it, it sounds to me like we may have been contracted to take on a government cargo to haul somewhere covertly," he guessed.

Taro's eyes widened in surprise. "I hadn’t thought of that," she replied. "That would explain why we can't get straight answers out of anyone. It would be foolish to discuss it on an open com channel..."

"It makes sense," Jerry said. "Either they don't want anyone listening in to find out, or they don't want anyone on board finding out."

"Who would they want to keep information from on this flight?"

"Well, we do have a passenger on board."

Taro snickered. "Yeah, she’s a passenger who can barely give Lorelei a run for her money on intelligence!"

Jerry smiled. "I don't think she's all that innocent. From what Pockets has said, that little spaniel has her cross hairs on Max."

"Poor Max, that girl has no clue to his past... She won't get a full performance out of that show."

Jerry looked at her with a tilt to his head. "Max may be shooting blanks, but he can still perform if he wants to."

Taro looked surprised. "Huh? I thought he couldn’t…. I mean, he was neutered as a pup!"

Jerry shook his head. "I dare say you've not had a close inspection," he said. "Max was sterilized when he was young, but he still has all his equipment. He's young and hasn’t had many opportunities for experience, but he would have if he had stayed on Quet."

"What do you mean?"

"Since you were only his crew mate at the time he came on board, I don't suppose Max ever gave you his full story," the male fox replied, "but as his doctor and a male friend, he's told me all about his childhood."

"Aren't you breaking the doctor-patient confidentiality by telling me this?"

"No, because there were others present when he told me," Jerry replied. "Besides, as his captain, you may need to know anyway, in case you ever run across his former owner again."

Taro studied him for a moment and thought it over. "All I really know is that he worked on Quet at the Wild Star as a kitchen slave," she admitted. "His father was a space pilot and his mother was a working girl who owed money to the owner of a pleasure house. When she got pregnant, her master made her go through the birth and then sell the child to settle her debts. When he was old enough, Max's owner had him neutered since he would be working among all the females at the establishment."

"All that’s mostly true," the doctor replied, "but Tagon was not protecting his girls from Max by having him sterilized. When he bought the puppy, Tagon intended to add Max to his business when old enough, so he had him sterilized to protect future clients."

"Wait… Max was going to be a male prostitute?"

"That was Tagon's plan. The Wild Star also catered to female clients, and Max would have brought in extra revenue to the business. I doubt he would have taken the pup merely to be a slave, since he purchased him before Max would be old enough for that. Even as a pup, Tagon could probably tell that a blue-eyed German shepherd male would be an exotic draw to his female clients."

Taro looked perplexed. "Okay, I can understand all that," she said, "but he told us he had been neutered when he first joined us here on the Horizon. That's not the same thing as being sterilized."

"How old was Max when he came on board?"

"Fourteen or fifteen. I don't remember exactly."

"Right, and a fourteen or fifteen-year-old probably doesn’t have much of an idea what being neutered means. He probably heard it from one of the ladies of the house and thought that meant him – either that or that's what Tagon told his girls to keep their paws off him until he was old enough to start learning the business. At any rate, until you guys came along, it was in Max's future to spend his life pleasuring others for money – something that is legal on Quet along with slavery."

Taro leaned back in her chair and put her hands behind her head. "Did he tell you about Merlin's deception that freed him from that place?

"Yes."

"Do you agree with what he did? Merlin practically stole him from his rightful owner to keep him with us."

It was Jerry's turn to look perplexed. "I don't intend to argue in generalities, Taro, but let's look specifically at Max's situation. Yes, Tagon legally owned him and was in his full rights to raise the boy into the business as he wished. However, he frequently beat the child, kept him in deplorable conditions and even starved him. It's possible that Tagon had no prior experience raising a child and let his anger get away with him when dealing out punishment. However, the more Tagon overly punished Max, the more the kid rebelled, so it was likely the rat changed his mind about him; otherwise, he would have done everything in his power to make sure the boy grew up strong and handsome for the ladies to fawn over when older."

"That would explain why he let Max go so easily," Taro mused. "Sure, he put up a fuss, but I don't think he really tried all that hard to get him back."

Jerry gestured with a hand. "Do I agree with what Merlin did? Speaking in generalities, I would say 'no' – but in Max's situation, I think it was better that he came to live here than stay on Quet where he may have died from mistreatment. Weller Tagon willingly offered to sell Max's contract to Merlin, so that was a legal transaction by Quetian law. There might have been deception involved on how Max wound up on board the Horizon, but Merlin did not steal him from his owner."

Taro fell silent again, but then a moment later a smile crossed her face. Jerry saw it and twitched an ear. "You find this amusing?" he asked.

"No," the vixen replied. "It just occurred to me that Lori might have tried to bed Max if he had not told everyone he had been neutered. As with most bunnies, she's free with her affections and will play with any willing male, but she never thought he would be able to perform. Even though he's now of legal age, she's left him alone."

Jerry shared her smile. "I'm sure she could teach him all he might have learned at the Wild Star, if she knew his real physical condition.  Are you sure that she never worked at a pleasure house?"

"No," Taro laughed, "I'm not sure, but we'll just have to take her at her word that she's just a typical bunny."

Justy hummed to himself on the quiet Bridge and flipped through an old magazine. The Blue Horizon was approaching the Van Conner nebula, an area of space filled with gaseous hazes of blues and greens. Their current course would take them just beyond the edge of it on their right, and although the area contained large traces of carterium gas that would diffuse their sensors, but it was otherwise harmless.

Kicking back in his seat, the koala flipped on the new StellarNet connection that had been routed to the Bridge. He bypassed the INN news broadcast to a movie channel, and although the show was already in progress, Justy did not care. He came in during an action scene and immediately riveted his attention to the screen while he idly munched on a eucalyptus leaf.

"What's going on?"

"The enemy has found us and is attacking!"

"WHAT?"

"Two of them entered the entrance tunnel by cutting through the side airlock, and now they are trying to breach the inner airlock.  The remainder of their forces are blasting down from above, trying to break through the hardened roof." 

"Get everyone moving!  We've got to get out---­­­reach the ship!"  *

A warning chirp from the engineering console interrupted Justy's enjoyment of the movie. The koala muted the entertainment channel, stood up, and then moved to see what needed his attention. He expected it was probably a warning that the sensors had lost a signal, but that was to be expected in this nebular region. Instead, he saw that the ship was losing speed, falling rapidly to sub-light velocities.

He checked the flight settings, but everything appeared to be correct. The ship should be flying at standard cruising speed. Unable to ascertain the cause of their falloff, he punched up the intercom for the engine room.

Justy waited for a reply, but there did not seem to be anyone down there. He frowned and signaled Pockets' quarters. A moment later, the intercom chirped.

"Yeah?" drawled the raccoon's drowsy voice. "I was nappin'."

"Pockets, this is Justy. We just had a major drop in speed and I can't find the cause for it up here on the Bridge. Max isn’t down in the engine room either."

"How bad is the drop?"

"With our current decrease, we'll be solely on inertia in a few minutes."

"Yikes!" Pockets' voice came alive. "I'm heading down to engineering!" he said quickly.  Before he had a chance to close the channel, the entire ship began to shudder beneath their feet, and then there came a roar through the deck plates that could be felt as much as they could all hear it. "That's not good!" Pockets exclaimed. The roar stopped abruptly and then the ship shuddered once more before it too ceased.

Justy swallowed and looked up at the vidscreen. The usual, slight telltale "smear" of starlight that denoted FTL speeds was gone. The stars he could see through the nebula gases were sharply in focus, although there was no visual frame of reference to see how much they had slowed.

The intercom suddenly chirped several times in rapid succession. He tapped the control to open the first connection. "Bridge," he said.

"Justy, what’s going on up there?" Renny's voice asked. The koala could hear frightened whimpers from the cheetah's young friend in the background.

"Something's happened to the engines," Justy reported. "Dunno what yet."

"Let me get Sandy calmed down, and then I'll be up there."

"Okay." Justy tapped the next connection. "Bridge."

"What took you so long to reply?" Taro exclaimed.

"Renny called the same time you did," he explained. "Something's happened to the engines. Dunno what yet."

"I'll be right there as soon as I get dressed."

"Okay." Justy sighed and tapped the next connection. "Bridge."

"Justy," Jerry started.

"Something's happened to the engines. Dunno what yet," the koala repeated.

"You need any help up there?"

"No, but Pockets may need help in the engine room."

"Where’s Max?"

"No idea," Justy replied with a shrug he knew the fox could not see. "I suppose he's with his lady friend."

"This is a heck of a time to be away from the engines!"

"The last time I checked, I don't think Max was clairvoyant," Justy said with a sudden chuckle.

Jerry started to retort, then stopped himself and said, "Right," before he closed the connection. The short koala stuck the tip of his tongue out between his lips and held his finger poised over the intercom answer button as if he were a snake about to strike, awaiting the next call from someone to ask about their situation.

Ariel opened Max's cabin door only a crack and peered out into the corridor with one brown eyeball. The German shepherd had just left her alone to report in to Pockets to help assess the problem with the engines.

She saw Renny leave his quarters and then trot around the curve in the passageway, followed by Taro a moment later wearing a set of medical scrubs and toweling the fur of her head dry with a large multicolored towel.

When the corridor was empty, the Cocker spaniel opened her door and slipped out into the hallway. She glanced around nervously, her innocent and bouncy demeanor gone, and she walked quickly to the door Renny had just departed. She tried the panel, found it unlocked, and let herself inside.

The floor inside the cabin was covered in toys, coloring books, crayons and other oddments. Sitting in the middle of it all, on the carpet in front of a long coffee table was the small cheetah kitten wearing a mint green jumper. Sandilee looked up with a crayon in hand and stiffened when she saw the canine woman.

Up until that moment, neither the cheetah nor the spaniel had been together in the same room on the Blue Horizon, yet there was instant recognition between them.

"I knew I'd find you, brat!" Ariel said with a smile that was anything but friendly.

A ridge of fur on the back of Sandy's neck stood up and she suddenly scrambled beneath the coffee table. Ariel rushed forward and dropped her knees, breaking several crayons. She snared the kitten's scrawny tail and tried to pull her out, but Sandy dug her claws into the carpet and began to yeowl.

"I don't have time for this," Ariel snarled. "Come out of there!" She yanked hard on the spotted tail and then grabbed one of the small ankles, making the cat screech louder. Ariel pulled harder and the pain to her tail was frightening, but Sandy's claws were firmly embedded in the carpet. Ariel knocked the coffee table aside angrily with an elbow and then gathered the kitten up roughly in her arms.

"No!" Sandy screeched. "Leggo!" She took a scared swipe at the spaniel and her tiny claws raked thin furrows across Ariel's snout. The canine cursed and dropped the kitten to the floor to grab at her nose with one hand, but retained a grip on the kitten's wrist with the other.

Angered, Ariel reared back to slap the child when the cabin door opened. Renny reacted swiftly, instantly launching himself at the Cocker spaniel with a feline shriek that set the dog's teeth on edge. She tried to twist out of the way, but Renny bowled her over and all three landed hard against the couch. Ariel's grip on the kitten released only when Renny bared his teeth and went for her throat.

As cheerful and bouncy as the passenger had appeared when she had first come on board, Ariel Bennington was none of that now. She jammed the point of her elbow into the adult cheetah's side while simultaneously slamming her open palm against his throat. Renny dropped to the carpet with a gurgle as the spaniel scrambled away from him.

Sandy darted around the couch and swiftly ran toward the back room, but Ariel was onto her instantly. The kitten shrieked and tried to use her claws again, but the canine woman pinned her little arms to her side and held her tight.

"You aren't getting away from me again!" Ariel spat. When she turned around, Renny was there. He was having trouble swallowing, but his anger made him desperate. He slapped her hard across the snout, and then grabbed her wrists in a tight grip before she could react.

Sandy dropped to the floor and scrambled away as Ariel reeled back against a bookcase. Books, curios and photographs rained down upon her, but she was not down yet. She raised her knee swiftly toward his crotch, but Renny had anticipated this and twisted enough that her knee hit his hip bone instead. Undaunted, Ariel growled fiercely and lunged back at the navigator, her jaws going for his throat.

Renny got an arm up in front of him and her teeth sank deep into his left forearm. He hissed in pain, but then the Cocker spaniel's head rocked suddenly to the side, taking his arm with her. Both fell over onto the carpet, but Ariel's eyes rolled back and she stopped struggling.

"Are you okay?" Jerry asked. Renny looked up sharply with wild eyes, but shook it off quickly when he saw the remnants of a shattered clay vase in the fox's hand. The cheetah grimaced and nodded toward his bleeding arm.

"Glad you could stop by for a visit," Renny said hoarsely as he extricated his arm from the unconscious woman's mouth. “I didn’t like that vase, anyway.” Jerry knelt down to check his injuries, but Renny waved him off, cradling the arm close to his chest. "Do something with her, in case she wakes up," he suggested.

Jerry nodded and whipped off his belt from his trousers. "What happened?" he asked as he swiftly belted the woman's arms together behind her back. "I heard the commotion from the corridor."

Renny sat back and struggled out of his burgundy tee shirt. "I came back to check on Sandy," he said between breaths as he wrapped the cloth around his injured arm. "I found this idiot going berserk, trying to hurt her, so I jumped in without asking questions."

"Yes, I see," the physician said as he unplugged a small lamp table, snapped the power cord from its base, and then used the wire to bind the spaniel's ankles together. "I don't understand it, though. Ms. Bennington does not seem like the type who would want to hurt anyone." He knelt close to examine the back of her head where he had struck her with the vase. There was a bit of blood beneath her fur, but the cut was only superficial. She would have a tender lump as a gift when she awoke.

Renny got up to his feet and leaned up against the back of the couch, rubbing his bruised hip. "It had to have been an act," he said with a scowl. "She's not as innocent as she appeared. Little Miss Bubbly here knows how to fight." He started looking around the room, but did not see the kitten. "Sandy?" he called in a raspy voice. There was no reply, but he assumed she was hiding somewhere in terror and was unlikely to answer right away. "Sandy, kitten. Where are you?"

Jerry got to his feet and moved to the navigator's desk while the cheetah started looking under furniture. The fox thumbed the intercom and the return signal chirped almost instantly.

"Bridge," Taro's terse voice said.

"Captain, we've just had an incident in Renny's quarters," the doctor replied. "Our passenger was trying to hurt the kitten and got into a row about it with Renny."

"What?! Are you talking about Ms. Bennington?!"

Jerry gave her a brief rundown of what he had seen and what the navigator had told him, while Renny got down on his knees beside his bed in the back room. There was nothing but dust balls and a couple of missing socks under there, so he slowly looked around the room.

"Sandilee, little kitten," he called softly. "It's okay, you can come out now. The bad doggie won't hurt you anymore."

He still could not see her, but he did hear a small chirp from the closet. He moved closer and saw the tip of her tail wrapped tightly around her butt underneath his old duffel bag. "C'mon, little one," he said gently. "Renny's here for you."

There was a rustle from the closet and then a tiny spotted form launched out at him, landing up against his chest. She clung to him and buried her face in his chest fur as he wrapped his good arm around her. She shivered and shook, and then started bawling.

The navigator picked her up gently and carried her into the front room. The first thing he saw was Taro hefting the conscious Cocker spaniel bodily from the floor. Renny turned his back to she and Jerry so the sobbing kitten would not have to look at the canine. He moved quickly to the door and said, "I'm taking her up to the rec deck," before he disappeared out into the corridor.

Taro deposited Ariel roughly into a chair and then she and Jerry stood over her. "What’s the meaning of this insanity?" the captain shouted at her. "She's just a kitten!"

The canine woman looked up at her defiantly and then spat out several choice words about the vixen's ancestry in several languages. Taro's eyes widened and drew back in surprise. The spaniel's reactions did not match the personality she had earlier presented to them all. The captain's eyes narrowed and Jerry wondered if he would have to stop her from jumping their captive for a sound thrashing for her tirade. He need not have worried. Taro was in better control of her temper and merely crossed her arms to give their passenger a calculating stare.

"This does not make sense," Jerry said with dark eyes at the canine. "Do you have a hatred against children, or felines in general?"

Ariel snorted and added his ancestral history to her repertoire. The doctor scowled and looked at his captain. "May I have permission to infect her with something nasty?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"That's very tempting," Taro replied. "If she doesn’t start answering questions..." She let her words trail off and then held up her fist in front of the canine's nose. "Hurting a child is a serious offense, especially on board my ship! We might just have to return the favor. Now... start talking!"

Justy jumped in his seat when the Bridge sensors bleeped at him in alarm. The koala willed his heartbeat to slow back down as he peered up through the forward windows. He recognized the shape of a Tandem-class, long-range cruiser as it pulled up alongside the port side of the stationary Blue Horizon. Lit up and painted in a stylized script across the white cruiser's bow was the name, Oubliette.

He was about to call for the captain, but the com station blipped when the other vessel hailed them. He shuffled to the panel and tapped the appropriate command. "This is the cargo freighter, Blue Horizon," he said. "Our engines are down. Are you here to help us?"

A hoarse, voice-only response came back across the Bridge speakers. "Blue Horizon, we know you are transporting a cheetah kitten, and we demand that you hand her over to us right away."

Justy blinked in surprise. "Excuse me?" he replied.

"Playing ignorant is not going to work," the gruff voice said impatiently. "We saw your broadcast stating that Sandilee Binfurr was traveling with you, and our operative on board your vessel has confirmed it. We want both at your primary airlock within ten minutes or we will be forced to come and get her ourselves."

"Your operative? Wait, I don't think—"

"That's right. Don't think. We can do this peacefully or forcibly. Take your pick. You wanted to find someone to take her. We're here to help."

"If you’re here to help, you could have simply asked," Justy replied with an empty hand-gesture toward the clear vidscreen.

"In that case, we’re asking you to have them at your airlock immediately," the voice replied sarcastically. "Your time is running out. We will extend our walkway for them as soon as we have an indication they’re there."

The circuit was disconnected and Justy frowned up at the other ship through the windows. He knew nothing about the trouble with Ariel or the kitten. Taro had left without an explanation; he assumed she had gone to check on the engine trouble. He tapped a control, but it was a moment before he got a response.

"Engine Room," Pockets replied in a harried voice. "Make it quick. We're rather busy at the moment."

"Is the captain down there?"

"No, haven’t seen her."

"Okay, thanks." 

Justy did not know where she might have gone, so he locked down the Bridge controls to go looking for her. He checked the captain's office in the compartment next door, but it was empty. Just as he passed Renny's quarters on the way to Taro's cabin, he heard muffled shouting coming from behind the door. He recognized the vixen's voice and hesitated about intruding. He knew that she and the cheetah often dallied together and wondered if they might be having a lover's spat. Then he remembered why he needed her and steeled himself against possible embarrassment at intruding. This was more important.

Justy tried the door and found it unlocked. He knocked and then opened the panel without waiting for a response; he stopped immediately just inside, stunned to see their passenger strapped to a chair with several belts, with Taro and Jerry standing over her. All three turned angry gazes back toward the short koala.

"Not now!" Taro growled at the computer tech.

Justy lost his voice for a moment, but then he cleared his throat. He pointed back out the door behind him and said in a rush, "A ship just pulled alongside demanding we turn over the kitten and some operative on board!"

Taro turned back to the canine and snatched up a handful of her blouse. She hefted Ariel and her chair up so the women were nose-to-nose to one another. "What.is.this?" she demanded in clipped tones.

Ariel gave her a smug smile. "That would be the Oubliette," she remarked. "They have come for me and the kitten."

"Yeah, that's the name of the ship," Justy supplied. "They said we have ten minutes to get her," he pointed at the Cocker spaniel, "and Sandy to the airlock."

Ariel grunted. "You had better do as my companions say. They aren't blessed with a lot of patience."

The vulpine captain tightened her grip on Ariel's blouse and they could all hear fabric start to tear. "Why are you people after Sandilee?"

"What’s it to you?" Ariel retorted. "In your interview, you were practically begging someone to come and take the little brat so you wouldn't have to bother with her."

"You’re far from her family species," Jerry said dryly. "What makes you think we are going to just give her away to anyone?"

"You didn't answer my question," Taro said with another twist of her grip. Ariel felt some of her fur pinch and pull in the vixen's grasp.

"Ow, you’re hurting me!" she hissed.

"You mean to tell me that it's okay for you to hurt a defenseless kitten, but it's not okay for me to hurt you?" Taro said in a suddenly calm voice. She indicated the scratch marks on the canine's snout and added, "Semi-defenseless kitten, from the looks of your nose. Now, why are you here?"

Ariel grimaced. "I came on board to determine if the child really was on your ship, and if so, disable the engines so my people can come to get us. That's it."

"Why do you want Sandy so badly?"

"You don't need to know," Ariel replied evenly. "Just hand us over to my friends, and you won't have to worry about the kid any more. She’ll be in safe hands."

"Somehow, I really doubt that," Jerry muttered.

"I’m detecting no one anywhere near the airlock."

"Stubborn idiots. They aren't making this easy for any of us. Okay, this is on their own heads. Do it."

Two figures in silver pressure suits hovered near the Horizon's airlock, each with a simple magnet-on-a-tether keeping them in place near the freighter's hull; the first one had an extra tether attached to a fat metal case.

From a pouch attached to his leg, the second figure pulled out a small domed object with a solitary covered switch. He affixed the flat end of the item against the outer rim of the hatch, flipped up the switch cover, and then pressed the button beneath.

Both figures moved their tethers and retreated a safe distance from the hatch with small jets affixed to their backpack units. Two compartments on bottom of the small dome opened and a pair of vacuum-rated chemicals instantly combined into a clear gelatinous blob against the hull. The result was instantaneous. A metal-melting compound started to make quick work of the thick pressure door, burning the material with a brilliant light in the spatial darkness.

A sizeable section of the hatch swiftly melted away in super-hot globular clusters, along with a portion of the surrounding structural frame. When the breach punctured the internal, secondary hull, warning klaxons went off inside the vessel, but outside the ship, the two figures watched as the sudden rush of air spewed out and crystallized. The Horizon's mass started to drift a bit from the powerful thrust of escaping air.

The chemical process continued despite the presence of a pressurized atmosphere, widening the hole considerably, but soon the elements began to play out. The suited figures watched passively, knowing from experience not to approach the damaged hull section until the chemicals were totally depleted and rendered inert.  Jagged oxygen crystals, bits of melted metal, as well as frozen flotsam and jetsam from the cargo hold were all ejected at a high velocity out away from the moving freighter, but any of it could present a danger to the pressure suits if any lingered in the area.

One of the figures checked a timepiece mounted to the wrist of his suit and nodded. "Okay, that should do it. Get Matre and Dinco out here with their stunners. We may have to search the entire ship for Ariel and the brat. Terson and I are going in."

"Copy that, Piers. Be careful and try to get out as quickly as you can."

Piers grabbed the floating suitcase while Terson uncoupled their tether magnets. A moment  later, they jetted slowly toward the large opening in the side of the Blue Horizon's hull.

When the klaxons sounded at the hull breach, all pressure doors on the affected deck closed instantly, and then automatic shutters slid over them to seal the rest of the compartments from deadly decompressive vacuum. Max and Pockets were in the engineering room trying to diagnose the disabled engines. Without knowing what specifically had happened, it was taking time to locate the problem before they could even begin repairs.

They were totally unaware of the events on the upper decks, and knew nothing of the external assault until klaxon alarms went off; the pressure door to the engine room slammed noisily into place, sealing itself immediately with the external shutters. Max banged his head in surprise against the top of his access tunnel.

"What was that?" he called out to his partner amidst the loud alarms.

"We have a hull breach!" Pockets exclaimed. The short raccoon ran to the sealed door and saw the negative pressure on the indicator panel next to it. Fear crossed his masked face as he ran back to a diagnostic console that was currently littered with engine schematics.

Max backed out of the crawlway and pressed his hands over his ears against the noisy din. He saw Pockets rushing back and forth between control stations and marveled at the speed at which the short raccoon worked. The klaxon suddenly silenced, but Max's sensitive ears were still ringing.

"What happened?" he asked. "Did we get struck by a meteorite?"

"Dunno," Pockets replied distractedly. "Indicators show a vacuum in the cargo deck, but nowhere else. There's no pressure outside that door."

Max swallowed nervously. "I hope no one was out there…"

"Yeah, me too," the raccoon replied.

"Are we going to be all right in here?"

"We should be," Pockets answered, looking around them. "This compartment has its own air supply and kitchenette, so we won't suffocate or go hungry. However, we're sealed in here by ourselves. Our pressure suits are in the lockers right outside our door… currently in a vacuum."

"Can someone bring the pressure suits to us?"

"Just how do you expect them to get to us?" he asked tersely, looking up at his partner. When he saw the canine's surprised expression, he apologized and put a hand on the young mechanic's arm. "I'm sorry, Max. You've been a good student and have learned a lot," he said, "so sometimes I take it for granted you know as much as I do about space ships. In answer to your question, no.  All the suits are in lockers in the hold, to be put on before going out the airlock if necessary. Right now, everyone else is just as trapped on the upper decks as we are down here. There are manual controls to open the pressure doors, but without an atmosphere in the hold, that would be suicide."

The raccoon leaned back against the wall and passed a hand over his face. "Even if you and I get the engines working again, I'm not sure how the Bridge crew can even land the Horizon anywhere with a hole in our heat shield-protected hull. We can't even go check out the damage to see how bad it is or find out what happened. The breach could be huge, or as small as a marble. Either way, the result is the same."

He stopped for a moment and licked his lips. "Moss!" he said suddenly, darting to a computer terminal on his desk. Max followed him to see what the engineer had in mind.

Pockets called up the mobile sentry system's interface. A tinny "Meow?" issued from the computer speakers when the connection was made, and an image from the flying saucer's camera appeared on the monitor.

"Yes!" the raccoon whispered.

Terson and Piers stood before the lift door and studied the pressure shutters that covered it. Piers opened a panel beside the elevator that revealed several toggle switches and a manual crank. He tripped the first toggle and the emergency shutters retreated to their receptacle above the door. He flipped the second toggle and then an amber diode lit up as the elevator shaft depressurized. When the light turned red, he reached for the crank and began to turn it counter-clockwise. The cogs had been unused for so long that the wheel was stiff, but he managed to move it with two hands.  The lift door began to open. As luck would have it, the elevator was on their level.

When the door was wide enough, the two figures stepped inside. Terson opened another panel inside the elevator and thumbed an internal power switch. As a precaution against the vacuum, power to the lift had been shut off to prevent anyone from the upper decks taking it down to the hold. The overhead lamp lit up and then the lift doors closed stiffly in the cold spatial air. A second button repressurized the compartment before movement could be initiated.

"What are you doing?" Max asked quietly, feeling chastised by Pockets' earlier rebuke.

"Just before the klaxons went off, I thought I had seen Moss float out into the hold. I don't know how it kept from getting sucked out through the breach, but I'm glad to see it still operating."

"Where is he?"

Pockets looked at the young mechanic with amusement. "He?"

Max shrugged. "I've always thought of Moss as male," he explained. "I know Moss is only a device and has no gender, but I've often found myself talking to him when I needed someone to talk to about my problems."

The raccoon looked hurt. "You can always talk to me, Max," he said quietly. "I’ll never spread anything you tell me to anyone else."

The canine looked down at his feet. "Yeah, I know, but sometimes…. sometimes I just need to talk about embarrassing stuff that I could never say even to you, Pockets."

An impish smile crept across the engineer's face. He could not resist teasing his partner whenever he had the chance, even in the midst of an emergency. "If you tell Moss your deepest secrets, then it's fortunate that you and I are such good friends!"

"Huh?  Why?"

Pockets' smile grew wider. "You are aware that Moss records everything it monitors, right?  Guess who has sole access to all those recordings?"

The German shepherd's ears flattened. "You have been listening to my private conversations with Moss about Wendy?!" he croaked.

"Maybe I have, and maybe I haven’t."

Max's pupils shrank to pinpoints and his mouth went dry. He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a quiet whimper.

The raccoon could barely keep from laughing, but he took pity on the young mechanic. "Relax, Max," he said. "I haven’t listened in on your private secrets.  Until now, I wasn’t even aware you were talking to it. Moss only keeps its recordings in the system for twenty hours and then they are overwritten with new recordings on a continuous loop. Unless you’ve had any private talks with our little flying saucer in the last day, I don't have a way to go back in and peek at them."

Max looked doubtful. "Twenty hours, you say?" he asked hoarsely.

"That's right. I rarely even look at its data unless it signals me for an emergency anyway, so I didn't think it needed to keep more than twenty hours at a time."  The canine still did not look completely convinced, but Pockets chuckled. "Trust me," he said. "Even though I enjoy teasing you, I don't really care about digging up dirt on my partners. Your secrets are safe with Moss. They'd be safe with me, too, if you ever told me any."

The raccoon turned back to his controls when Max did not reply. "Anyhoo, let's find out what Moss sees out in the hold. We'll report our findings to the captain once we have something to tell her."

Amanda stepped out of her cabin, buttoning the front of her blouse. She rubbed her eyes and looked around, but the only person she saw was Lorelei. The rabbit padded up to her with a worried expression and placed a hand on the coyote's arm.

"What was that noise?" the doe asked. The alarms had left her sensitive ears ringing and her own voice sounded muffled to