"To Be A Chakat" by J P Astbury A.K.A. Kit Silva

Warning, I have tried to make this story as suitable for all as I possibly can, but cannot guarantee that it is. In fact I would give it a 12 certificate (I think that is equal to a PG-13 in America) and I can state that there are several points where sex is mentioned, be it directly or indirectly and so recommend that this is suitable for mature people only. This version of the story contains NO sex scenes, and nothing that I would consider to be violence.

___ 1.Isis___

... Log on... Chakat Isis... Location... Planet Kreyal... Northern Hemisphere... Third Largest Continent... Ancient Ruins Site One... 09:00...

Isis blinked hard a couple of times as shi tried to get the sleep out of hir eyes. Shi had only just woken but as usual for hir shi had almost instantly started to document and file several artefacts that lay on the table near hir bunk.

Shi turned on the datacorder and started dictating hir notes, "Note... pictorial scripts are..." Shi yawned widely, "...reminiscent of Ancient Celtic art on Earth. The bird like picture apparently has the same meaning as..." Shi yawned again and slowly nodded off.

Shi had been working hard and sleeping little for the past eight weeks. In fact shi had barely slept twenty hours in the past two weeks and for a chakat, more than anyone, that was bad news. Isis of course knew shi needed more sleep than the average human for example, or even other taur species. Unfortunately shi had the archaeologists urge to document everything old and interesting shi came across, and, as any true archaeologist, shi was more interested in hir work than hir personal problems, especially lack of sleep.

Michel, a human, fellow archaeologist and the resident first aid rep, popped his head around the tent flap that served as Isis' front door.

"Hey Isis, are you up... yet?" he said noticing hir slumped over the table with the datacorder still running. He walked in and up to the table and switched the datacorder off. He then gave Isis a light nudge. "Hey sleepy bones, Wake up!" he said loudly.

Isis groaned and opened hir eyes before pulling hirself up into a squatting position.

"Oooohh... I need some coffee." Shi said holding a hand to hir head.

"What you really need is the day off... better yet, the week off. You know you chakats need a lot of sleep." Said Michel, a hint of concern entering his voice.

"Yeah, yeah... Just get me the coffee."

"Ok, I will. Just promise me you'll slow down today."

"I'm only two days away from heading back to Earth you know. I'll have a month to rest when I get back, and that's not including the three weeks travel each way." Began Isis, "That's an entire ten weeks to just sit back and relax."

"Yes, but you don't have to test you're endurance before you go you know. And another thing, if I know you as well as I should do then you'll spend most of those ten weeks examining the artefacts you're taking back." Stated Michel, "I'm going to have to seal the crates if I want to be certain you won't start documenting them."

"Aw, don't do that!" Begged Isis, "It's going to be boring as it is, and when my heat begins I'm going to need all the distractions I can get. You know that my work is the only thing besides direct physical contact that can distract me from my needs. I'd go crazy."

"I suppose I could put one or two of the crates on a time lock," said Michel as he thought about it. "Three days from the moment you first open them should be long enough. After that I'm sure you don't need to be reminded what will happen."

Isis put hir hands over hir ears and gently rubbed them as shi recalled the last time shi had misused one of Michel's infamous time lock devices. "Oooh, I know, don't remind me. I still get ringing in my ears from last time. Those things should be band, their way too loud." Shi stood and walked round Michel to a wash basin in the corner next to a small area separated from the main area that served as hir personal WC. Shi paused in front of the basin and turned the cold tap on.

"Right now that that's sorted are you going to finish early today or do I have to get Colderan to force you to have the whole day off." Warned Michel.

Isis turned the cold tap off as the water reached the max level and began to spill down the overflow pipe. "All right, I'll only work until 16:00 then I'll document a few finds until 18:00 when I'll sit back and relax and maybe go back to bed." Hir voice carried a hint of sarcasm, as shi knew 16:00 was the time when Michel needed as many pairs of hands, or forepaws, as possible due to it being the most productive time of day.

"Damn, I forgot about that. You need your rest though; in that case I suppose you'd better make it 15:30 when you finish." He said, grinning as he watched Isis' reaction.

Isis knew when shi was beat, shi decided to accept defeat and showed it by sighing, "Just get me that coffee I asked for before please... black, two..."

"Two sugars," ended Michel, "I know," he said as he headed for the tent flap. "Be back in a mo, ok." He added before disappearing through the flap.

Isis watched him leave and pulled a face at him after he had left the tent. "Hmpff. Treat me like a cub will he," shi mumbled, "I'll show him." Shi looked down at the washbasin for a moment as shi considered what to do next. Shi quickly decided and continued to dunk hir face under the water. Shi soon pulled out, as the water was colder than shi had expected it to be. On the good hand though it had woken hir up properly. "Mmmm. Refreshing." Shi said as shi quickly grabbed a towel and began to dry hir facial fur. Shi paused briefly to consider using a bar of soap that lay beside the hot tap. "Hmmm? Naa, I'll only get dirty again." Shi said to hirself as shi threw the towel over the bar shi had grabbed it from. "Now where's that coffee!" shi muttered as shi went back over to the table and looked at the artefacts stood on it. Shi squatted down beside it and picked up the closest artefact to hir. It was, in fact, a replica of an Egyptian style metallic name band, one of two pieces of jewellery Isis usually wore. Shi lifted hir left foreleg up and slipped the band on making sure to get it the right way up and in the correct position, as it was uncomfortable to wear otherwise. Shi then placed hir foreleg down and picked up a golden serpent that was also Egyptian in style. The serpent was set in a coiled pose, much like the Egyptian serpent bracelets usually worn on the upper arm, it had around five coils and had been specially designed on Isis' request to fit on hir tail near to the base. Isis shuffled back away from the table. When shi was at a sufficient distance to ensure that shi would not knock it accidentally shi curled hirself round to hir left, bringing hir arms within easy reach of the base of hir tail. Shi brought the end of hir tail into arms reach, slipped the serpent coil tail first onto hir tail and slipped it down to hir tail's base. Once finished shi uncurled hirself and moved back over to the table. Just as shi squatted down Michel returned with hir coffee.

"Here you go. One coffee just as you like it." He said as he handed the cup to hir.

"Finally." Said Isis as shi gladly took the steaming drink from Michel's hands. Shi took a long sip of the hot liquid, "You've outdone yourself this time Michel. This is great." Shi praised.

"Sophie made it. You'd better thank her, not me."

"You mean she's been with us all this time and only now she's bothered to show her superior brewing skills?"

"That's about the size of it."

"I think I've just found my new assistant," said Isis with a smile. Shi took another long sip of hir coffee and as shi was swallowing Colderan, a wolf morph and also the head of the expedition, walked in.

"Drinking coffee when you should be working Isis, come on. If you're only going to be working until 15:30 today, if I can believe what Michel told me, then I want you to start work an hour ago." He said in his usual annoyed tone.

"I also explained that shi needs as much rest as possible today Colderan." Said Michel.

"We all know shi's the best two pairs of hands in the camp, even if one of them are paws. That's why I can't let hir rest, and besides, shi has ten weeks of freedom in two days time, shi can rest then."

"That's what I said," began Isis, "but old bossy boots here said otherwise." Shi added as shi motioned to Michel.

"Did he eh? Well I'll just have to see to that." Said Colderan as he winked at Isis. "I think I know what will get you motivated Isis, I've decided we should start work on the temple site today. I want you to get everything running smoothly before you leave."

"Oh!" exclaimed Isis, "Why didn't you say earlier!" shi said in a panic. Shi quickly downed the rest of hir coffee and nearly burned the entire lining of hir throat in doing so. To counter the hot drink shi dashed over to the washbasin and swallowed a litre or so of cold water, dropped the cup carefully into the bowl and finally rushed off out of the tent and off to the dig site.

Both Michel and Colderan couldn't help giggling as they watched hir rush off. The smile from Michel's lips soon faded though and he looked at Colderan in an annoyed fashion.

"I was serious when I said shi needed the rest. Chakats may be superior in most ways to us but they still need more sleep than the average person." He informed him sternly.

"You know, if you weren't the first aid rep I'd send you packing for talk like that."

"Nya nya. You can't get rid of me that easily." Said Michel as he pulled a face and quickly left the tent.

"Humpff." Muttered Colderan. He smiled and shook his head. Under his sometimes-cold exterior he was just like anyone else and did enjoy a joke. He looked at a PADD he was carrying and noted that Isis had started work and when shi was due to end. Pausing before he permanently entered the information he decided to give Isis a little extra time before shi started to have hir breakfast as shi always forgot to have it in hir rush to get started. He made the changes, permanently entered the information and looked up from the PADD. "Damned Isis, Shi'll be the death of me." He muttered as he too left the tent.

Isis had just about reached the temple site when shi finally realized two things. The first of which being the fact that shi had not had hir breakfast, the second being that shi had forgotten hir tools. Shi groaned, turned back and headed off back to camp.

Shi was greeted a quarter of the way back by Michel. He was carrying hir carrysack tool case over his right shoulder, his own tools in his backpack and more importantly a packed breakfast he had prepared before he had first gone to meet Isis that morning in his left hand.

"Aaah, there you are!" He said, "Here quick take this off me," he said quickly as the weight of Isis' carrysack finally registered on his face.

"Thanks," said Isis as shi took the carrysack and put it neatly over hir lower torso. "I think next time I should go back and get my tools myself. My carrysack really is too heavy for you to carry to the site"

"You're telling me," said Michel as he rubbed his aching back. "I've made your usual breakfast up for you." He said as he handed hir the packed breakfast bag.

"Thanks again Michel." Said Isis. Shi took the pack off him and gave him a warm thank you hug. Shi was always game for the traditional chakat thank you and suddenly recalled hir morning coffee. "I'm going to give Sophie a big hug too for that coffee when I see her." Shi said as shi finished the hug, "If you see her first tell her to come and get it."

Michel laughed lightly, "Sure." He replied.

"Right then, let's get there before anyone else does." Said Isis; "I want to get started on that possible entrance site before anyone else gets to the site." Shi continued with a slight degree of urgency.

They both set off as Isis began to eat hir breakfast. Shi had all but completely finished it by the time they arrived at the temple site. Minutes later, minus the remnants of Isis' breakfast, they were at the entrance plot where Isis pulled out hir classic spade, hand trowel, sifter and datacorder and placed them at arms reach to where shi would begin to dig.

"Nothing like classic equipment." Said Isis as Michel produced a more up to date version of the same equipment from his backpack.

"Point taken," Replied Michel, "but if we all used those we'd still be on our first dig back on earth."

"Oh come on," said Isis, "Be realistic." Shi looked over the little area in front of hir, picked up hir datacorder and took a picture of the area.

"Don't forget to do a 3-D scan this time, remember what Colderan said last time when you forgot." Said Michel quickly.

"I was just about to do one thank you." Replied Isis, with a hint of annoyance in hir voice. Shi continued on to do the special scan after altering the datacorder settings for the task. "Anyway, there is nothing wrong with my equipment," shi continued as shi went back to what Michel had pointed out about hir tools. "Rushing this sort of thing leads to damage of important artefacts. Remember how many artefacts you've nearly destroyed compared to me. I think the score now stands at nothing to me and four to you including that one last week."

"Hey, you can't include that one. That was Andraya's fault, not mine." Implored Michel.

"You told her to use your equipment instead of mine, so you're to blame." Said Isis plainly.

"I don't agree to that." Said Michel.

"Live with it, because Colderan put it down on your record." Isis informed him, shi put hir datacorder down and picked up hir hand trowel.

"He did what!" said Michel furiously. "That's it I'm going to see him right now." He said before storming off back to camp.

"Oops, Perhaps I shouldn't have said anything." Said Isis to hirself as shi lay down and began to dig carefully into the soil between hir forepaws.

It was barely fifteen minutes later when the rest of the dig's team arrived. Isis, though reluctant to pause hir work, stopped what shi was doing and stood up to allocate the plots, as was hir job as head archaeologist. Before shi could begin though Sophie appeared, shi dashed straight over and wrapped hir arms around her in a big warm thank you hug.

"Thanks for that coffee this morning, it's the best cup I've had in a long time." Said Isis as shi ended hir hug.

"Ooo, that made it all worth it." Replied Sophie happily.

"Did Michel tell you I wanted to give you that?" asked Isis.

"No, why?" replied Sophie.

"Oh it doesn't matter really." Said Isis. "Anyway, I've got to get this lot into order before I do anything else... err... anyone you'd like to work with today?" shi asked hopefully.

"Geri said he'd like to show me a few things today so if you don't mind I'd like to be in his team today." Replied Sophie.

"Ok then," said Isis with a hint of disappointment. Shi turned to the group who had gathered nearby, "Right then, is everyone here?" shi asked them. A chorus of yes's answered hir. "Ok, Geri, you Sophie and Dominick can take plot five. Starburst, you take Kale and Joanna to plot twelve. Tony you can take Marc and Lisa to plot six. Tessa and Fred are with me and..." Shi looked about for Michel but he was nowhere to bee seen. "Hey, where's Michel?" shi said annoyed. "Oh forget it. Claire and Jay take plot three, you'll have to wait until Michel arrives so I guess you can do what you want until then." Shi looked at everyone. "What are you waiting for, get to work people." shi said. The crowd sorted themselves out and headed off to their appointed plots leaving Tessa and Fred with Isis. They walked over to hir with happy smiles on their faces. It was considered an honour among the trainee archaeologists to be selected to work with Isis. They held hir in high regard even in the worst of times, but being picked by hir to work on the possible temple entrance plot was truly something the other trainees would be jealous of.

"O-the others are going to be so jealous, you know that." Tessa said to Fred.

"You'd better believe it," replied Fred, he then turned to Isis, "Why did you pick us marm... err I mean Isis." He said as he quickly corrected himself.

Isis gave him a quick stern look, as if to say don't let me hear you call me that again, before shi replied. "There's no real reason. In fact to tell you the truth I just went by the order I remembered your names in." Shi explained.

"Wow, even better," began Tessa, "we were picked by luck."

"Yeah, it's great I know." Said Fred agreeing with her.

Isis rolled hir eyes and sighed as shi turned and headed off back to hir plot. Shi just couldn't understand what the trainees saw in hir to treat hir with such high regards. "Come on lets get started eh."

"Oh, I can't wait." Said Tessa.

"Oh, me nether." Added Fred.

"Oh shut up and come on." Said Isis as shi sat back down and picked up hir hand trowel.

Both Tessa and Fred headed quickly over and had unpacked their equipment in a flash. To Isis' surprise they both unpacked classic style tools much like hir own, shi didn't know whether to be flattered or annoyed at their attempt to copy hir lead.

"Do you have both sets of equipment in those bags or do you always use those?" asked Isis.

"We try to use these as often as possible. Whenever we're allowed to anyway." Answered Fred.

"Hmm... Maybe we'll be seeing more of each other in the future in that case." Said Isis with a grin."

"Really? Wow." Said Tessa, shi was close to hysterics."

"If you both keep that up you don't stand a chance." Began Isis. "I'm not that special you know. Please, for god's sake just treat me like you would another trainee."

Tessa and Fred looked at each other as they recalled the way all the trainees, including themselves, treated each other. It wasn't as if they didn't respect each other. It was more of the way they acted, being much like any other group of young adults when far from home. They nodded at each other and looked back at Isis.

"Yeah... sure." They said slowly together. Of course they both knew they wouldn't.

"Good." Said Isis, "Right, lets get digging. Tessa, If you could start just over there and Fred right there please." shi said pointing to the areas shi wanted them to dig as shi spoke.

Both trainees moved to where Isis had pointed and placed their tools down within easy reach before they began to dig. Isis watched them start and decided to continue on hirself.

The day passed surprisingly quickly for Isis. Under the circumstances it was obvious why. What made it even more annoying for Isis was the fact that barely ten minutes before shi was due to end hir work shi came across the entrance to the temple. Luckily for hir Colderan had said that shi could continue the work hirself tomorrow just so long as shi-stopped work at exactly 15:30. Though that too was very annoying shi agreed and headed off back to camp where shi spent the next few hours documenting several artefacts from hir table after which shi went straight to bed and to sleep.

___2.Leaving___

Two days later the runabout Isis was to use to go home in was being loaded and checked over for take off. Isis was in charge of packing the artefacts that shi was taking with hir. Shi walked into the tiny cargo hold and looked at the crates already loaded. Shi read the ident tags on each one and entered them into a PADD that shi was carrying.

"Now where's that TS334 gone?" shi said to hirself as shi searched each crate over for the right one. "Aaah there you are." Shi said with a smile. Shi entered it into the PADD and turned to face Starburst as shi brought in another two crates on a small hoverloader.

"Are those the last two?" Asked Isis.

"Yes, where do you want them?" said Starburst.

"Just over there will do thank you." Replied Isis as shi pointed to the right of the door where there was just enough room for the two crates.

"You know, it's not going to be the same without you." Said Starburst as shi pushed the hoverloader towards the space.

Isis looked away, almost in shame. "Yeah I know. Are you still sure you want to stay here?" shi asked.

"I am. You know I can't go with you. These runabouts are just too cramped and with my claustrophobia... well, it's getting to me being in here now..." replied Starburst.

"I understand." said Isis, Shi put on a smile as shi continued on, "looks like I'll be satisfying myself when my heat comes while I'm out there. Just think what I'll be doing."

Starburst grinned, "Don't forget to give yourself one for me."

"Behave you raunchy Chakat." Said Isis.

"Never!" came Starburst's quick reply. Shi switched off the hoverloader and walked over to hir. "We'd better say goodbye now I suppose." Shi said more seriously. "You'll be off in less than half an hour and I have to get back to the temple site." They gave each other a long good-bye hug before reluctantly separating. "Just make sure your back in time for my heat. I'd hate to miss you by a day or two."

"O give over... Cheeky." Replied Isis with a grin. "I'll be back, don't you worry."

"Good." Said Starburst. Shi gave Isis a quick lick kiss on the nose before dashing off laughing as shi went.

Isis smiled after hir shaking hir head at hir cheeky attitude. Shi then looked down at hir PADD, "Better put the last two in." shi said to hirself as shi walked over to the crates Starburst had brought in. Looking at the ident tags shi smiled again. "Isis 1 and... Isis 2. Great that's everything." Shi said as shi entered the crates on hir PADD. Shi walked out of the cargo hold and locked the door down behind hir. Shi then headed off to the port side-docking hatch and paused as Colderan appeared in the hatchway.

"Everyone's off besides you, and Genessa's given the all clear for the runabout's systems, you shouldn't have any problems at all." He said as he paused too.

"Great, I'd hate to be late home." Replied Isis.

"Well, I can pretty much guarantee that you won't be." Said Colderan. He looked down at the PADD that Isis was carrying, "Is that the cargo manifest?"

"Yes, everything's in there."

"Good, Thank you." Said Colderan as Isis handed him the PADD. "I'll go and do this now and then you can be off. You can lock down the outer hatches now and prepare the engines for take off."

"Right." Said Isis. Shi gave him a good-bye hug. "Tell Michel I'll deal with that new brakeage of his on the return trip ok."

"Ok. He'll be delighted to hear that I'm sure. He's still holding a grudge about that one of Andraya's."

"Oh yes. I forgot to ask about that." Said Isis as shi recalled the incident two days previous. "What did happen with that?"

"Nothing special. I just told him to accept it was his fault or take the consequences." Explained Colderan.

"What consequences?" asked Isis.

"There are non. You know me, all huff and no puff. I just worded it in my special little way."

"Oh, I see." Said Isis with an understanding grin. "Well then. Now that's sorted I may as well get ready to go. See you in ten weeks."

"And you." Replied Colderan as he turned and headed off.

Isis waved after him before walking over to the hatch controls where shi locked the outer hatches securely and headed up to the tiny bridge at the bow of the runabout. Shi squatted down in front of the helm position and powered up the nav COM to lay in hir course.

'Hmm?' shi thought to hirself, 'Now comes the hard part, plotting the course. Darn I should have asked... Oh!' Shi thought as shi suddenly realized the course was already plotted for hir. "Thank you Genessa!" Shi said to hirself. Shi decided to test the engines and so powered them up.

"All systems working at full capacity." Stated the computer.

"Good. Initiate auto power down." Said Isis.

"Auto power down complete." Replied the computer.

'And now we wait.' Thought Isis. Shi looked out through the small bridge windows in front of hir. The Runabout was facing the temple site and shi could see the other archaeologists and the trainees at the individual plots they were working at. Though it was difficult to see exactly who was who as the runabout launch site was several hundred meters away shi managed to pick out Michel. He was wearing his bright orange t-shirt, Isis knew he was wearing it so that shi would see him; shi smiled and decided to contact him via the planet comms.

Shi switched the planetary communications array onto manual and typed in Michel's personal COM code into it. A little light illuminated informing hir that it was ready to send. Shi opened the channel.

"Hey Michel I can seeee youuuu." Shi said playfully.

"Aren't you supposed to announce yourself and wait for me to reply before you begin to talk?" came Michel's reply.

"Aw don't be a spoil sport." Said Isis.

"Yeah I know it spoils things sometimes but you really should use the proper address codes." Replied Michel.

"Spoil sport." Said Isis playfully.

"Oh quit it," said Michel. Though he had a smile on his face Isis was unable to see it. Shi could tell by his tone that he was just pulling hir leg though. "Anyway, I hope you enjoy your trip back." He continued.

"Thank you."

"Is there anything you wanted?" asked Michel.

"Yes actually. Give us a wave, please." Michel did so, "Thank you," Shi suddenly recalled something in the back of hir mind. "O-I forgot, have you have set those time locks right? It's just that out in space I might not be able to escape the alarm and that might be pretty serious. I don't want to come back deaf you know."

"Don't worry, I've set them right. Three days exactly from the moment you first open them." Explained Michel.

"Good. Oh err... which ones were they again?" asked Isis.

"TS347 and TS363."

"I thought there were three?" said Isis a little disappointedly.

"They're the two big ones," said Michel.

"Oh great. Thanks a lot Michel."

"Your welcome." The COM went quiet for a few moments; Isis became a little worried that shi might have accidentally cut the connection. Shi breathed a sigh of relief though when Michel began to talk again. "Sorry about that. Looks like Dominick has just uncovered something interesting."

"So that's why everyone's running around." Said Isis as shi watched them. Isis growled, shi was annoyed that shi would probably have to wait until shi returned to see what all the commotion was about. Shi could barely hold hirself back form running off the runabout and over to the site to see first hand. "Just my luck." Shi continued, "I'd better go before you tell me it's a sarcophagus or something even more interesting."

"Ok, Enjoy your trip, see you soon."

"Thank you. And I hope to see all of you as soon as possible too." Replied Isis. "Signing off."

It was literally only a couple of seconds later that Colderan hailed hir.

"Runabout Guillemot, Your clear for take off."

"Thanks Colderan, err... I mean received control, preparing for take off."

"Good luck Isis. See you soon." Said Colderan.

"Thanks again Colderan." Finished Isis before shi signed off.

Shi powered up the engines manually and took the controls for take off. The runabout shuddered slightly on the initial lift off from the ground, it smoothed out though as it became fully airborne and hovered briefly at around two foot. Isis initialised the impulse engines and took them up to quarter power. The runabout gained speed and height, levelling off at one hundred feet as it flew over the temple site. Isis could make out several of the team waving at the runabout, shi waved back but quickly returned hir attention to the controls as the runabout began to drift from it's path.

"Whoops, better concentrate on this." Shi thought to hirself as shi straightened the runabouts course.

The runabout began to climb as Isis concentrated on what shi was doing. It took barely five minutes to get out of Kreyal's atmosphere. As the Runabout entered space Isis initiated the autopilot. It locked on to the predetermined flight route and took over the controls raising the speed up to full impulse almost immediately.

"Auto pilot engaged, Eight hours until departure from the Kreyan star system and warp initiation." Stated the computer.

"Oh is this going to be boring or what." Said Isis to hirself. Shi decided to take a quick catnap and so headed off to the little cabin that would serve as hir living quarters for the next three weeks. Shi bedded down and was soon fast asleep.

___3.Schneider___

...Log On... Mark Schneider... Location Planet Earth... Southern Hemisphere... India... Calcutta... 17:13...

Schneider paid for his cola and headed out of the little shop he was in. He stopped at the doorway and looked out into the hustle and bustle that was Calcutta's Main market street. It was just like any other Indian market street of the time, still much like they were in the late twentieth century with bazaars galore down all the large streets that lead away from the main street.

He looked up towards the busy road to his left full of minivans, buses, taxies and carts pulling all manors of things before rolling his eyes to the right and sighing. "Always the same," he muttered to himself. And it usually was, there had only been two instances he could remember when something had been different, and nether of those were that different. "Oh well, home, here I come," he thought to himself. He turned right and set off.

Moments later the traffic on the road began to honk their horns, even more than usual. Schneider quickly stopped and turned round. Fortunately for Schneider he was a tiger morph, this gave him the height above most of the humans who made up the crowds on the street. He was clearly able to see the traffic, which had come to a non-surprising standstill but he couldn't see what the commotion was about. All of a sudden a male red foxtaur leapt up onto the roof of a bus from the opposite side of the road to Schneider. He was carrying a small brown paper bag that he held to him with his left arm while using the other arm to aid his balance as he took off from the bus' roof and landed neatly on the top of a minivan. From the minivan he simply bounded up onto a truck roof before hopping down onto a taxi and finally down onto the pavement on the same side Schneider was on.

"Wow," thought Schneider, "I wonder what kind of morph he is?" he continued to think as he watched the foxtaur run into the crowd.

Schneider was again impressed though also surprised as he watched the crowd move back as he ran through them. The foxtaur was quick to head to the nearest deserted back alley entrance and soon disappeared down it.

"Wow again, I wonder how he did that?" thought Schneider. As the commotion from the traffic died down to it's usual level Schneider quickly headed off to the nearest back alley entrance to himself. He pocketed his drink and began to run as he entered the alley. He wanted to find out who and what the taur was, and another thing that he had just thought of too. Simply, why had he been making such a commotion when no one was following him?

Schneider knew the back alleys like the fur on the back of his hand. His work took him all around them so he had to, this made it easy for him to work out where the foxtaur would be and where he could catch up to him. He took the second right he came to, he then turned left and continued on for several straits before turning left followed by a quick right and finally another right into a tiny open area. Schneider had known he would catch the foxtaur there, but unfortunately misjudged the timing as he and the taur crashed straight into each other. The small bag the foxtaur had been carrying ripped as it flew off and hit the ground, spilling a multitude of small items and a hand sized statuette of a natural Bengal tiger all over the place. Meanwhile the two morphs ended up in a tangled heap with the taur on top of poor Schneider, who was surprised at the foxtaur's weight as he could barely move.

"Sorry." Came an odd feline like British accent as the taur spoke hurriedly. "Here take these." He continued as he almost magically produced a large bundle of cash and thrust it into Schneider's hands. He quickly stood and grabbed the small items, putting them at considerable speed into several pockets on a shirt he was wearing before grabbing the bag and the statuette and beginning to run off.

"Hey wait!" cried Schneider as he managed to get into a sitting position.

The foxtaur skidded to a halt and looked round. "What? Quick I'm in a hurry." Came the feline like voice. It was almost pantherine like Schneider's own.

"Who are you?" asked Schneider.

"Chaos." Replied the foxtaur as he ran off.

"Hey!" cried Schneider as he stood. But it was too late, the taur had gone. He decided against following him, for one he was going to have a tough time keeping up with the taur's naturally faster pace, another thing was what would the taur think if he did. He sighed and looked down at the wad of cash in his hand. "Oh god." He said as he realized just how much money there was. He quickly counted the bundle and gave a growl of delight as he counted over two weeks worth of pay resting in his hand. After looking the money over for authenticity a wide grin spread across his thin lips. "Yes!" he exclaimed, "Two less weeks of work, two weeks sooner, two weeks less of that empty little room!" he said happily to himself, "Ngorogoro here I come!" he said happily as he quickly set off for the bank.

He had barely moved though when he noticed something glinting on the ground near where the foxtaur's bag had landed, he walked over and squatted down to look. It looked like a broach of some sort; Schneider picked it up and stood as he looked it over. He quickly noted that the broach was in the shape of a letter K, the only other thing to note was that it had a tail on the lower diagonal line. It went backwards at a ninety degree angle to the diagonal line it was attached to and stopped beneath the vertical line that made up the backbone of the K. Schneider decided to try it on but quickly realized there was no fastening device of any sort. He placed it to the right breast of his shirt anyway and was surprised to find the broach locked on somehow. He pulled it off and looked at the back of the broach briefly before putting it back on and leaving it there.

"Neat." He said to himself as he pocketed the cash and set off.

After visiting his bank and depositing the cash he headed home. Less than ten minutes since he found the broach later he was stood in front of his apartment door.

"Damn, where's that keycard gone?" he muttered as he fumbled around in his left jacket pocket. He eventually found the missing card and pulled it out only to find it his work keycard. "Damn, wrong one." He thought to himself as he plunged his hand back into the same pocket keeping the card he had found in his free hand. "Ah ha!" he exclaimed, "That's got to be it!" he said as he found a second keycard. He pulled it out and sighed with relief as he saw it was the one he wanted. He put the other card back in his pocket before slipping his apartment keycard into the slit by the side of the door. A little green light illuminated briefly before the lock clunked and Schneider was able to push the door open. He pulled his card out walked through and closed the door behind him.

Schneider's apartment was a very simple affair, not because he couldn't afford better in his current employment but because he was saving his earnings for a trip of a lifetime to the Ngorogoro crater in Africa. He had wanted to go there ever since he had watched a documentary about it and had planed every last detail of his life up to when the holiday ended at which point he had decided he would go back into Starfleet. It was the closest thing to living his dream job as a captain aboard a freelance starcruiser he could manage, but it was a good substitute under the circumstances. He had always told himself he was lucky that he had been born when anyone was able to become a bridge officer, given the proper training of course, and Schneider had already passed the basic level bridge exam before he had to leave Starfleet.

He sighed as he looked about the almost empty little room that served as his living room, kitchen, bedroom and hallway in one. He took off his jacket, threw it onto the single bed that was set in the corner and sat down on the only chair he had. He had placed the chair in front of his personal mini com before he had left that morning as he usually did. He always went straight onto the mini com when he got home simply because it was the only real luxury he had allowed himself to buy, besides the odd magazine that he bought simply for the novelty of reading from paper instead of a PADD or vid screen. Unlike most times he used the mini com though he actually knew what he was looking for this time, and that was information on taur morphs. He linked to the Net and found his favourite search engine within seconds. From there he selected the "find a morph" option and looked at the categories.

"Hmm? Biped or quadruped?... quadruped," he said to himself before filling out the other categories as best he could. "Red fur... black socks... white tail tip... canine... Hmm? Was he?" mused Schneider as he looked at the next category, "Definitely male... and for "other observations of importance"... err? Oh yeah... pantherine like voice... British... or possibly Australian? Ability to jump high with ease (e.g. onto the roof of a single deck bus.)... Um?" he though briefly about everything he had observed the taur do, "Oh yeah, the crowd thing. I wonder if I should put that in? No, I'll leave that out." He said to himself before touching the onscreen search button. A little egg timer came up onscreen along with a message that read please wait. A few moments later a results page loaded. Schneider quickly read the best-fit morph species. He wasn't too surprised to find that the best fit was a foxtaur morph but the percentage bar put him off slightly at 54.33254%. After reading the little note beside it he was relived to find that the percentage only related to the others section which could be wrong for any number of simple reasons and it was nothing to go by for certain.

Schneider downloaded the entire page to his personal com and set about reading it fully. He was the impatience sort though and so ended up skipping most of the data provided on foxtaur's and went straight onto the other possible results starting with wolftaur. He passed straight over that knowing most physical information about them would be similar to the foxtaurs. He looked at the next possibility and noticed it had been selected with the "other observations" in mind."

"Chakat?" The name sounded feline, this intrigued him considerably. He highlighted the name and the information guide came up. "'A guide to Chakats,' sounds interesting," he said to himself before beginning to read the entire guide.

___4.Kit___

... Log On... SSV Sutherland... Location... Reality 0172... 18:30...

The Sutherland sped at slip speed towards nowhere in particular. Its command was to head away from civilization and any populated area to a place where it would be alone. In the vastness of space that may seem a simple task, but it isn't always so.

The 800 meter star cruiser came out of slip speed as it neared a known unpopulated star system. It wasn't as unpopulated as the crew of the ship had hoped though, as orbiting one of the systems planets was another vessel. It was somewhat less technologically advanced than the Sutherland, but it was a fine example of the technology of the reality the Sutherland was currently in. Not that it was of any importance. Fortunately the Sutherland was phased, so there was no risk of being detected, as a phased ship is impossible to detect.

The Sutherland manoeuvred into an orbit around the systems sun between the two outermost planets and powered down its sub slip engines as it switched to manoeuvring jets only. That done, there was only one thing left to do, but that would require manual control.

On the Sutherland's bridge a lion sat at the helm. He was the lone crewmember of the ship. He was a Hybrid, capable of many things, but created by his people to be the usual ultimate soldier. That was for a war long since passed though. His current task had been given to him over fifty years ago, to charter the 'other realities', and that was what he was doing. The Hybrid lion rarely followed orders to the letter, who does; he was running late because of that. He had been off doing little jobs to keep himself amused, but he had finally decided to leave the reality he was in though, for more than one reason.

"Oh gods," groaned Kit. He hated log reports and was fortunately coming to the end of over an hours worth of dictating his findings to the logbook. "Alright, resume log..." he sighed. The computer blipped in compliance and started to record. "Note 846, Solice is again known as Earth, the human specie is present on this and all but three of the other planets we inhabit, see planet files 1065 for details. Note 847, Other natural evolution species are also present from their respective planets, for example, the Rakshans, see planet file 3672 for details and planet files listed in index for other species... Oh two last notes, Note 848, the human specie of this reality have 'also', emphasis that, taken it upon themselves to mess around with nature. (Not mentioning anyone from our reality.) They range from Morphs, to taurs. The Morph group are, as usual, similar to Solicians, and the taurs are also logged. Note 849, interesting note, It appears the Chakats have made an appearance in this reality. Though unfortunately, and rather surprisingly, they are the creation of the human specie and have not naturally evolved... End round up log of reality 0172."

The computer stopped recording and Kit cursed out loud.

"Sekhmet!" he snarled angrily. He hated humans. Ever since he had found out what they were really like. Every time he heard the word stuff, he shivered. In his own reality humans had never existed. Not even in fairy tales. This is what made it a rather odd reality, for most of the realities Kit had passed through had always had humans in it, even if they were just the creation of another specie. He shivered as he thought of the strange coincidences that had given his reality a similar history to that of many average human realities. The main difference to note between his and the human realities was that the human realities always seemed to take the war path to deal with disputes, not that Kit's reality hadn't had it's own fair share of wars.

'The sooner I'm out of here the better.' He thought to himself. He powered up the 'jump' drive for the jump back to his own reality. The main reason he had wanted to find and unpopulated region of space.

The main engines powered up and a dark blue light began to pulse from the Aft' to the for'd section of the two main engines. The pulses quickened and soon were a blur. Seconds later, the for'd sections of the main engines began to glow as they prepared to engage. All of a sudden a huge explosion knocked the star cruiser off course. All power to the engines failed and the Sutherland began to drift. Fortunately Main power onboard the main section of the ship was generated separately in a self contained fusion generator near the heart of the ship. Kit routed power to the manoeuvring jets and the Sutherland drew slowly back into its original orbit between the two outer planets of the system.

"What in the name of the gods was that?" said Kit to himself. The computer was quick to reply to his unasked question.

"Sensors show major damage to the for'd section of the starboard main engine." Replied the Computer.

"Bring it up on the mini screen." Said Kid, He used the word mini screen as the main screen covered some considerable dimensions. A mini screen appeared in mid air several feet away from the helm position showing an image of the damaged engine.

"Oh no," he said hopelessly, "Not the crystals, anythin' but the crystals!" he said, almost in a panic. He leapt up from his seat and almost flew into the deck lift. The doors closed behind him as he hastened his destination to the lift itself. "Main starboard engine, Now!" he cried hurriedly. There was a brief whoosh, and barely three seconds later the doors opened.

"I said main starboard engine, not main engine arm," said Kit angrily as he realized he was not as the specified destination.

"Unable to comply. Sensors show lift corridor to main starboard engine is open to space." Replied the computer. "Service ducts are available, Force fields are in place to allow greater access to damaged areas." It finished.

"Damn." Said Kit as he walked from the lift to the service hatch that stood opposite. After opening it he took off his uniform, leaving him in only a silky black body suit. He arched his back before dropping to all fours and morphing into a natural leopard. His body suit moulded itself to fit the new form as he morphed. He hopped up into the service duct that easily accommodated his new form. Not wanting to waste any more time he set off at a brisk pace down the duct that ran along the interior of the engine arm. It was simple affair navigating the ducts as he turned left as he reached the engine itself and headed to the for'd section. One last turn to the left brought him face to face with a force field, beyond which was open space, and the remnants of over five meters of the leading edge of the starboard engine.

"Oh Gods!" cried Kit, "Not a human reality... Why in Sekhmet's name did it have to be a human reality?!" he groaned and swung his head to the right and hit the facia panel of a junction box hard. "No! No! No!" he snarled hitting the panel a further three times. He stopped banging the panel, which was now unrecognisable from its original form and dropped down flat on the ducts floor plate dejectedly. "Just my luck the Midland was lost." He sighed as he thought about the Sutherlands sister ship. He wasn't lost in his sorrows for long as an incoming hail brought him back to the real world.

"Incoming hail from Starcorps exploration ship James Cook. The ship is approximately Nine hundred meters off starboard at grid reference V014, H103. Scans indicate a friendly hail." Informed the Computer.

"It's that ship isn't it?" Said Kit as he stood, turned and headed off back along the duct.

"Affirmative. Star Corps exploration ship James Cook." repeated the computer.

Kit hopped out into the corridor next to his uniform. He morphed back to his Leonine form and had put his uniform back on in the blink of and eye.

"How long da ya think they'll wait until they sent a boarding party?" Kit asked the computer casually as he stepped into the lift. "Bridge." The doors shut and the lift took off

"Two hours, thirty three minutes." Replied the Computer.

"Let me guess, you checked their procedures log didn't you." Said Kit, as the doors opened onto the bride.

"Affirmative."

He headed to the COM point, located behind the helm position on the upper section of the bridge and sat down.

"Illuminate the main screen an' bring up all tactical data as normal... no skip that," he said as he thought about what he was saying, 'It's a pop gun against a cannon scenario,' he thought to himself as a slight grin spread across his muzzle. "Just the main screen OK"

"Affirmative."

"And stop saying Affirmative. It gets annoying after 50 years. Use that other personality you have."

"Fine, Be that way." Replied the Computer.

'Great, now what have I done,' thought Kit.

"The James Cook is hailing again Kit." Said the Computer.

"Tenner bet it's a human at the controls." Said Kit.

"Your on," replied the Computer, before opening a com channel. A mini screen appeared in mid air several feet from the com, much like the one at the helm and a wolf morph appeared.

'Bugger.' Thought Kit. There was a muffled giggle from the Computer but before Kit could do anything about it the captain of the James Cook spoke.

"Alien vessel, I am Captain William Lynch of the Starcorps exploration ship James Cook. We recorded a sizeable explosion coming from your ship's location and would like to offer our assistance." Stated the Wolf morph.

'Yeah, whatever.' Thought Kit before replying. "I'm captain Silva of the Solician Starvessel Sutherland, thanks for the offer captain, I'll hav' t' check the damage first t' see if y' can help. I'm afraid my ship's technology is very different to what you're used to y'see."

"Very well. We'll stay here just in case. James Cook out!" replied Captain Lynch.

There was a moment's silence as Kit just stared at the James Cook via the main screen, it was soon broken by the Computer though.

"You lost the bet Kit." It said almost mockingly.

"And what would you do with a tenner?" replied Kit as he looked back at the com controls in front of him.

"Accept my winnings gracefully." Replied the Computer.

"I think I preferred y' the other way." Said Kit as he checked over the damage list on the com controls. "Oh wonderful. The starboard arm won't raise. Looks like we'll have to separate them and find a good planet to land on for repairs."

"It's only the hydraulics." Said the Computer, "I would recommend asking captain Lynch for assistance. I know that they use hydraulics in many of their designs."

"Old technology is always the best eh?" said Kit as he continued to search the damage list. "Quite a few servos are blown in the main engine section. Are the regeneration units up to fixin' them?" he asked the Computer.

"Yes, but you know you would prefer someone living to do them, so ask Captain Lynch for assistance." Said the Computer.

"Pushy, pushy." Muttered Kit. "Alright I'll ask him. If only to get everythin' fixed a little faster." Kit suddenly thought of something he had forgot, he stopped the Computer from hailing to check on something. "Wait, don't hail just yet. I've got to check the phase units." Micro seconds later he was looking at the short damage list for the phase unit itself. "Great, how did that blow a relay? Oh well, at least the secondary units are up and running so they can't scan us."

"It took you that long to figure out that they could see us. You are getting slow Kit." Said the Computer.

"Shut up and hail them." Replied Kit.

"Opening a channel." Said the Computer. The mini screen reappeared in front of the com position and the bridge of the James Cook was displayed with the captain sitting in his command chair.

"It looks like I may need you assistance after all captain." Said Kit.

"We're happy to help captain, how may we be of service?" replied Captain Lynch.

"Umm? Well if it's possible, I'd like to borrow a couple of repair teams off you to service the blown servos and whatever else needs replacing, and if you have a couple of people who know something about hydraulics I could use them to help me repair part of the engines." Said Kit.

"That's fine with me captain." Began Captain Lynch, "The first team are ready now, there's just one minor problem. We can't seem to scan your ship for a place to beam them too."

"Hang on a sec," said Kit as he adjusted the secondary phase unit to allow for beaming in. "There you go. Oh if you don't mind, could you beam the first lot to the bridge. It's just that I'm here and I don't want them beamin' into an area unattended. There's only me aboard y'see. Oh yeah, could I have a word in private before you send anyone across captain?"

"Of course, if you could wait a few moments I'll go to my ready room and we can continue there if that's alright with you." Said Lynch.

"That would be fine. Thanks." Said Kit as the screen went blank for a few moments.

"Let me guess, you don't want any humans aboard do you." Said the Computer suddenly.

"First prize to the smart ass computer." Said Kit just before the screen picked up and captain Lynch appeared in his ready room.

"Right, what do you want to talk about captain?" asked Lynch.

"Well, I just want to ask that you don't send any human crew members across. I know it's not very diplomatic of me but I have had some very bad experiences with them and I don't think I could trust one aboard my ship because of that." Explained Kit.

"I see," said Lynch, "Well, if that's what you want captain I think I'll be able to sort it out. Thank you for informing me of that."

"No, thank you for understanding." Said Kit. "You can send the help over anytime you feel like it."

"Alright captain. They'll be with you in a few minutes, James Cook out." Said captain Lynch.

"Your right. That wasn't very Diplomatic of you." Said the Computer.

"O-shut up. We'll do the standard wipe afterwards anyway. Personally I think I'd prefer them not knowing we were here anyway. Besides it wouldn't do any good to our reputation around here would it."

"Are you actually saying you want to hang out around here, in this quadrant, of this galaxy, with humans?" asked the Computer.

"When put like that, no. But I might go and see what it's like in the Rakshan star empire or something. That'd be cool, all that training with guns and whatnot. It's just a shame their not as strong as I am. I'd really like a proper challenge and not just another REC room sim."

"Good for you." Said the Computer, "I almost thought you were becoming soft." It continued. "Oh and the first team are beaming over now." It announced. "You're lucky. They're both taurs. One male red foxtaur named Garrek Redfox, and a Chakat by the name of Goldfur."

"Oh joy," said Kit in a mock cubbish tone. He turned and looked round to the small open area to his right and watched as the two taurs materialized there. He stood and stepped a little closer just before they had fully materialized and put on a welcoming smile as he looked down at them.

"Welcome aboard the SSV Sutherland. I'm Kit Silva, just call me Kit though, 'cause I hate bein' called captain Silva. Gets anoyin' y' see." He held out a hand and the Chakat took it.

"Hello, my name is Chakat Goldfur, child of Longstripe and Desertsand" they parted hands and Goldfur gave a, not completely surprised Kit, a Chakat greeting hug before he had time to refuse. Shi pulled back and allowed the foxtaur to introduce himself, or at least try to.

"Err... hello I'm err Garrek... Redfox." He seemed bashful, or very shy in the least as he offered Kit a hand.

"Nice t' meet y'," said Kit as he shook Garrek's hand, "and nice t' meet you too." He said as he turned back to Goldfur.

"How can we be of assistance Kit?" Asked Goldfur as shi took a good look around the bridge, "If the rest of your ship is this impressive I'm surprised you need us."

"It gets a little lonely bein' the only one aboard. T' be honest that's why I accepted your captains offer of help. Anyway back t' business. First off, are you two any good with hydraulics or are you two just the advance party?"

"Actually, we are the two that are good with hydraulics," replied Goldfur, "or to be fair, Garrek is. He's a bit of a wiz when it comes to fixing things aren't you Garrek." Shi looked at Garrek and he nodded, almost blushing in embarrassment.

"Yes." Said Garrek in a small voice. "I'm not sure I'll be all that good with your technology though. It looks very... um, different." He continued.

"That's no problem," said Kit as he walked over to the command chair. He picked up two silver strips of metal that were resting on the seat and then walked back. He then offered one of the strips to both Garrek and Goldfur. "Here, put these on."

"Err... I don't mean to be rude, but, How?" asked Goldfur.

"Oh, sorry, There like shades, if y' know what they are. You just hold one end and hold them up over your eyes. The strips'll do the rest." Explained Kit as he mimicked putting on a pair.

Both Garrek and Goldfur looked down at the strips and, a little reluctantly, put them on as Kit had instructed. They were both taken by surprise when the strips left their grasp and moulded themselves over their eyes until they looked like silver sunshades. A large amount of information was thrown up like a mini screen in mid air in front of both taurs eyes as they looked through the now shade like strips. The most noticeable being the words "Log On" followed by their respective names.

"Anythin' y' want t' know, just think about it and as long as it's in one of the computers data bases, or it's not sensitive material, it'll be displayed in front of y' eyes." Said Kit.

"So these are linked directly to the ships main computer then?" asked Goldfur.

"One of them, yes. The ship has three main computers." Said Kit.

"Oh, I see." Said Goldfur.

"Right then," said Kit, "We'd better get started on the engines. Then when the other teams get here I can go and sort them out before I go back an' help you." He continued as he turned and headed for the lift door. "Come on, let's go."

Garrek and Goldfur followed Kit as the doors into the lift opened, they all walked into the reasonably spacious cabin and the doors closed behind them.

"Main starboard engine arm, for'd section," said Kit, there was a brief whoosh and the doors opened again.

"That was fast," said Goldfur.

"Their the latest craze on the cruise liners where I come from." Said Kit as he followed the two taurs out of the lift.

"This way," said Kit as he turned right and headed down a short corridor. As he approached the only door on the left it opened and he walked on through without even hesitating. The two taurs followed him through into a large room that held three huge hydraulic pistons, each one of which was at least six foot in diameter. The one furthest to the right had been severely damaged and to both taurs disbelief, the bulkhead behind the piston was open to space.

"Don't worry about the hole in the wall, the force field won't fail so we're safe." Said Kit.

Garrek, who up until then had been keeping to himself suddenly walked off towards the hole. He stopped directly in front of the hole and slowly raised a hand, put out his index finger and proceeded to touch the force field. He was surprised to find his finger passed straight through and quickly pulled his finger back as the intense cold of space beyond the field hit the tip of his finger.

"Cold out there ain't it," said Kit as he and Goldfur walked up beside him.

"Very." Replied Garrek.

"Sorry t' spoil y' fun but if it's possible I'd like t' get started, no offence or anythin' but it would take about ten years to explain how everythin' on the Sutherland works. And that's only because you're an engineer already."

"Oh, ok." Said Garrek as he watched Kit walk over to the damaged piston.

"Now then, the first thing you aught to know is that the term hydraulics is used loosely as the pistons you see in front of you all use, for lack of a better word, electricity instead of hydraulic fluid. It works in the same basic way though and the shades'll automatically change the information you receive int' words you'll understand so it'll be dead easy t' figure out." Began Kit, he was interrupted though as the computer informed him of another hail from the James Cook.

"Incoming hail from captain Lynch, Kit." Said the computer suddenly.

"Bring up a screen in front of me and open the channel while y'r at it." Said Kit.

A small screen appeared in mid air a few feet in front of where Kit was standing and Captain Lynch appeared on it.

"We have two more teams of two ready for you captain, and I can get a few more ready if you need them." Said Lynch.

"They'll do," replied Kit, "Just have them beamed to my location an' I'll show them where t' start."

"They'll be with you in a few minutes captain, James Cook out." Said Lynch.

"I like that," said Goldfur as shi watched the screen disappear from view.

"Yeah it's great havin' hollow emitters on every deck. Actually I was expectin' them to be offline, well, at least that's something we don't have t' repair." Said Kit as the two teams materialized a short distance away. He walked over them and smiled lightly as he saw that there were no humans amongst them, he gave the small group, which consisted of a vix morph, a wolf morph and two skunk morphs a rather simple yet warm welcome. "Hi, welcome aboard the SSV Sutherland, I'm Kit Silva, Just call me Kit though, if you'd like to follow me I'll take you to where you're needed. Any questions I'll answer on the way." Said Kit, as he lead the two teams out of the room leaving Garrek and Goldfur alone.

"I wonder what their mechs look like?" said Garrek unexpectedly.

"What made you think of mechs?" asked Goldfur as shi headed over to the damaged piston, 'Hmm? I wonder where we start?' shi thought to hirself as shi looked it over.

"When Lynch said he wanted someone who knew about hydraulics, for some reason I had expected to be repairing damaged mechs." Said Garrek.

"Oh, I see." said Goldfur.

Their conversation carried on as they began their work. Both, for some reason, couldn't help but look over their shoulder at the hole in the bulkhead, though they were somewhat relieved to see that two repair bots had begun work on repairing the damage and had to stop briefly as they observed the bots simply scan the tattered edges of the hole and beam in perfectly fitting sections of hull plating that they attached with some sort of invisible weld. Besides that everything went smoothly.

___5.Out and about___

Schneider was out on one of his many trips he made as part of his job. He worked as a delivery tiger, delivering anything that needed delivering, collecting or just needed moving from one site to another. He was proud of his job, mainly because the transportation business was so dominated by Quange, a kind of horse taur much bigger than chakats or foxtaurs, and he had somehow managed to get the job instead of one of them.

Today was like any other day, and Schneider knew it would end as any other day. But he didn't mind the repetitiveness that came with that fact. Just so long as he didn't have to think to hard he was content to be, at least until he finally managed to get enough money together to make it to Ngorogoro.

"Where is it?" growled Schneider as he looked about at the signs at the junction he had stopped at. "Ah, yes, Damn! I'm in the wrong lane. Why on Earth did they have to change the road lay out around here." He flipped the indicator to move left and was relived to find a PTV to his left let him go in front of it. He waved his thanks and quickly manoeuvred into the correct lane. "Great, five more miles and I'll be there." He said happily noting the distance on the sign.

It didn't take long before he was pulling into the loading depot of the Tiberien Companies eastern site, the company that Schneider currently worked for. Jessie Cormorant, a Quange, fellow deliverer and co-worker waved to him as he reversed his van up to a loading window and switched the engine off. He opened the door and hopped down into her arms.

"How's my little kitty doin'?" She asked as she gave him a tight hug.

"Can't... breath!" came Schneider's muffled reply as his muzzle was inadvertently pressed between Jessie's breasts.

"Oh! Sorry honey." Said Jessie as she released him from her hug.

"It's ok." Replied Schneider, he was breathing a little heavy but he was well enough to make a quick comment, "I couldn't think of a better way to die." He said with a big grin on his muzzle, he bared his teeth as he did so causing Jessie to back off slightly.

"Whoa, close that mouth of yours. You know all those sharp teeth give me the jitters." She said in a slightly shaky voice.

"Aw Jessie. You know I'd never use them on anything but dead meat." Said Schneider as they started to walk towards the rest room.

"That's what worries me." Replied Jessie.

"Should we change the subject?" asked Schneider.

"That's ok with me." Said Jessie. "So, what have you been up to recently?"

"Not much really." Began Schneider as they reached the rest room door, Schneider opened it and held it open for Jessie as he continued. "I did bump into a foxtaur the other day though."

"So what's so special about that then, beside the fact that foxtaurs are rare around here?"

"This foxtaur gave me two weeks worth of pay because he bumped into me." Said Schneider as they sat down at a special table designed for both taurs and bipeds to sit at.

"That much just for a simple knock! Where is he? I wouldn't mind getting' bumped for that much!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Actually, it was a little more than a simple knock. He nearly flattened me, I never knew a foxtaur could be that heavy." he said as he started to think about what had happened. "Oh yes, he dropped this to." He said as he pulled the little K broach off his shirt and handed it to her. "Its really neat, it doesn't look as if it has any kind of fastening device on it but it will stick to anything."

Jessie looked the broach over and tried it on her own shirt, "Hmm? I like it. I wonder what it is though. Do you know?" She asked.

"It's a letter K..." began Schneider.

"I know that much Kitty litter brains." Butted in Jessie. "I mean what is it made of and does it have any purpose."

"Oh, sorry. No I don't know, well actually... err?" Said Schneider.

"Spit it out then."

"Well, when I asked him his name he said it was chaos. I was just thinking, maybe he spells it with K, it could be a personalized broach in that case."

"Mmm? It possible if you think of it like that."

"I could be completely wrong."

"Oh well. Anyway, do you want somthin' to eat, or drink?" asked Jessie as she handed him the broach after pulling it off her shirt. "Or are we just going to starve?"

"Erm? I'll have a cola as usual, oh and an American style burger." Said Schneider.

"Right," replied Jessie as she pressed the service button on the wall beside her.

"May I help you?" came a friendly female Indian voice from a speaker next to the button.

"We'd like to order please." Said Jessie.

"Very well, may I take your order please?" asked the voice from the speaker.

"I'll have an Oatmeal special and a black tea with two sugars, horse taur size. And an American style burger with a cola, morph size please." Ordered Jessie.

"Thank you, they will be with you in a few minutes. Please pay at the service bot." Ended the voice.

"You know, that sounds stranger each time I here it." Said Schneider, "The way she says pay "at" the bot I mean."

"I know what you mean. But for someone who doesn't speak English as their first language I think she does pretty well." Replied Jessie.

"Yeah, your right." There was a few moments silence before Schneider continued. "Do you know anything about chakats?" he asked for no real reason in particular.

"Never heard of 'em, but with a name like that I'd bet they have somethin' in common with cats." Replied Jessie.

"Oh they do. I found this info file on them called "A Guide To Chakats" and it's taught me quite a bit about them. They look like cat taurs, and you can probably visualize that, there the same size as foxtaurs and apparently they don't have any specific fur pattern, they can be, quite literally, any colour under the sun."

"Even yellow with pink polka dots?"

Schneider giggled cubbishly at the thought, "Yes I suppose so." He couldn't help giggling again before he continued. "That's not the weirdest thing about them though."

"Go on,"

"Apparently their hermaphrodites."

"And that means?"

"Their both male and female at the same time."

"That sounds like fun to me, especially in bed." Said Jessie just before the service bot pulled up to their table.

"One Oatmeal special, one black tea with two sugars, one American style burger and one cola." Said the bot as it put a tray down on the table with the food on it. "Please insert pay card, notes or coins into the correct slot." It continued as it held up a modified arm with the slots to pay on the end.

"I'll get it." Said Schneider as he quickly pulled out his pay card and slipped it into the correct slot.

"Thanks," said Jessie as she took her Oatmeal special and her tea off the tray then moved Schneider's burger and cola off the tray and paced the tray aside just in time for Schneider's card to be returned.

Schneider pocketed his card and the bot left the table on its next errand.

"So, where were we?" asked Jessie.

"We were talking about chakats being hermaphrodites." Replied Schneider.

"Oh, yeah. Really sounds like fun in bed." She said with a grin.

"I'll say." Said Schneider.

"It's great bein' bi isn't it." Said Jessie with a happy sigh.

"Hey keep it down will you. I don't want the world to know." Said Schneider as he worriedly looked around.

"What's wrong with that. If you can't be honest about your sexuality you should really go see a psychiatrist about it..." she was cut off in mid flow by Schneider.

"Ok I get the idea but I'd rather ease this out into the open than go around advertising it." He said

"Fair enough."

"Right then. Shall we eat?" asked Schneider.

"Fine by me." Said Jessie as they both tucked into their lunch.

___6.Crash landing___

Isis wearily tapped in a minor course correction into the helm control. It had been four days since shi had left Kreyal and the boredom was already setting in. Shi sighed and thought of next week when hir heat would finally be at it's peek, shi couldn't help but sigh again as the build up to that period was in full swing and shi was desperate even now for a partner to bed with.

"A female, that'll do," shi said to hirself as shi continued to wish to find and rescue someone in a life pod. "I don't mind, even if I am going into heat. I can deal with being a homosexual chakat. If that's what I would be?" shi pondered the thought for a few moments before trying to change the subject. Putting hir fingers on hir temples shi gently rubbed them, "Ok now, just forget that I'm going into heat, work with me body, just relax... I've still got the artefacts to document, and the special brew, no matter how much I dislike it." Shi muttered. "Oh please let me find someone before my heat sets in!" shi almost shouted as shi pleaded to whatever god or gods might hear her.

Shi eventually decided to have a drink and headed off to the little galley situated just behind the cockpit. It was a cramped affair, which only made sense, as it was a runabout shi was on and not a true starship. The problem was made worse by the fact that it was not a runabout designed with taurs in mind as it was an old ship converted some time ago for use by the archaeological group Isis worked for. Shi quickly poured a cup of coffee and squeezed into the space between the table and the wall to the cockpit. Shi put hir cup down and picked up a PADD shi had left on the table earlier.

"Mmm? Nope, still agitated," shi said to hirself after reading a few lines of a book shi was half way through reading. It would have helped if the book hadn't been an erotic one, unfortunately in hir present state of mind, and with hir lack of other things to do, shi couldn't help it. Shi put the PADD down and downed the coffee in one go. As usual shi lightly burned hir throat, fortunately for hir though shi had done it many times before and hir throat was beginning to get resistant to it. That said shi did move quickly to the galley sink and drank a few mouthfuls straight from the cold tap.

After washing the cup shi headed back into the cockpit and sat back down at the helm. "Perhaps I should try pacing?" shi thought to hirself. "Ugh, what am I thinking, I can't pace about for two weeks in this thing." Shi thought on. Shi looked out of the main window in front of hir and hir spirits lifted slightly as the runabout approached the third planet of the star system shi was travelling through. "Ah ha, something different to do!" shi said happily as shi decided to scan the planet as hir runabout passed by.

Unfortunately for Isis shi was going to get a closer view of the planet than shi had expected as no sooner had shi prepared the sensors ready for scanning the port side nacelle was struck by some unknown object. Before Isis knew what was happening the runabout had veered completely out of control.

The runabout shuddered violently and Isis was thrown hard against the helm control panel. Fortunately hir tough chakat physiology meant that shi received only minor injuries and shi was soon trying to get the runabout back under control.

"What the?" shi exclaimed as shi found the runabout was caught in the planets gravity. "But that's impossible," shi continued, as shi looked out of the window at the planet. An odd blue/green mist had encompassed the entire planet and was also around the runabout. Isis was to busy trying to keep the runabout steady to scan the mist which was beginning to pull the runabout faster towards the planet.

"Come on, steady up!" said Isis through clenched teeth as shi held on tightly to the floor with hir foot claws and tapped furiously away at the helm control panel. The runabout did eventually smooth out as Isis regained control of the manoeuvring thrusters but unfortunately the speed was still being controlled by the strange mist. The runabout was soon entering the planets atmosphere and all of a sudden the mist disappeared. "Thank heaven for that!" said Isis as shi was able to slow the runabout down before the thick upper atmosphere could severely burn the underside as it was already becoming critically hot. Unfortunately Isis could not get the main engines to work so shi was forced to continue entering the atmosphere.

The runabout was easy to control in the planets atmosphere and Isis was soon scanning the rock terrain for a place to land. It took little more than ten minutes to both find a landing area and land the runabout and as soon as shi had powered down the engines Isis almost collapsed onto the helm panel. As soon as shi hit shi yowled and shot back up into a sitting position clasping hir right shoulder.

'Agghh Ouchie, looks like I did more damage than I thought.' Shi thought to hirself as shi gently felt it, shi tensed as another bolt of pain hit hir and soon realized it was broken. Shi stood and made hir way to the medipac locker at the rear of the cockpit. Shi carefully opened it up with hir left hand and had too jump back as the contents spilled out onto the floor. 'Oh wonderful.' Shi thought after the pain had died down from the sudden jolt shi had just given hir shoulder. 'Well at least there's nothing else broken.' Shi continued as shi realized that no other part of hir body hurt to badly. Shi lay down and sifted through the medipac contents and found a hypospray filled with a light sedative and didn't hesitate to use it on hir aching shoulder.

"Oooh, that's good." Shi said to hirself as shi put the hypospray down and looked about for a bandage to use as a sling. Shi found one and had a terrible time trying to put it on with hir one free hand. To make things worse hir shoulder had started to swell despite the sedative that should have also stopped that from happening. "Wonderful." Shi groaned as shi finished tying the sling up and winced at the pain of the swelling. Shi stood up and looked hirself over for any cuts or bruises and was glad to find non. That done shi headed to the helm once again and scanned the runabout for damages. A long list began to run down the mini screen in the console and shi groaned again as the communication array appeared on the screen. "I'd better send a distress beacon up come to think about it." Shi said to hirself. Shi paused the scan for damage and proceeded to launch the beacon. Unfortunately that was something else that was damaged. "Damn! Not now, please not now!" shi pleaded in vain. "Looks like I'm going to have to brush up on my micro electronics." Shi muttered to hirself as shi turned round and headed off to the starboard docking hatch.

Isis quickly stopped before leaving the cockpit as shi decided it would be a good idea to check the atmosphere first. Shi stopped at a mini console just behind the helm and used it to perform an analysis of the atmosphere.

"Hmm. The oxygen level is a little low but that shouldn't matter," shi said as shi looked at the results. Shi then headed off to the starboard docking hatch and was soon standing outside looking at a two meter long gash in the starboard nacelle. "Why me?" shi asked hirself before looking up at the communication array only to find it missing. "Great." Was all shi could think of saying. Shi decided to go and check hir food supply wasn't damage and set off at a slow trudge as shi started to lose hope of being found.

___7.Test flight___

Deep inside the for'd section of the Sutherlands starboard engine Kit and Garrek were hard at work. They had long since completed work on the damaged piston along with Goldfur's help and were now well on the way to finishing the damaged components of the engine itself. Surprisingly Garrek had become rather talkative over the period he had been around Kit to which the computer had secretly accused him of playing with Garrek's mind. Kit had had non of that though and swore that he had not done a thing to Garrek.

"I've never been inside an engine this big before you know." Said Garrek as he pulled out a burnt circuit and replaced it with new one. "In fact I've never been inside an engine before for that matter."

"Shame you won't remember it.' Thought Kit. "Well, there's a first time f'r everythin' isn't there." He said. "Be careful as you put that in, there infamously known for falling apart if put in wrong."

Garrek slowed his actions down as he took great care not to damage the circuit. "It won't damage anything if it does fall apart will it?" he asked nervously.

"Nah, it'll just vaporize the ship is all." Replied Kit casually.

"Eeep!" squeaked Garrek as he let go of the circuit. It dropped to the metal plating he was stood on and shattered in the process.

"I was only kiddin'." Said Kit in and understanding sort of way. "Tell y' what, I'll put that in and you scan this plasma coupling, I've finished repairing it now."

"Right." said Garrek in a more confident tone. He picked up a scanner from the small tool bag Kit had provided for him and swapped places with Kit himself. He looked down at the scanner and smiled lightly. 'Scan the plasma coupling,' he thought, before holding the little devise up in front of the Plasma coupling itself. Garrek had grown to like the scanner for more than one reason, the main one being that it was thought activated and he needed only to think what component to scan and the shades he still wore passed the message onto the scanner, he then only needed to put it at a suitable distance for it to work at and let it do it's job. It was something completely new to him, despite the abundance of technology he was used to, a thought activated scanner of this calibre was unique to him. A mini display suddenly appeared in mid air in front of his face stating that the plasma coupling was in full working order. "The Plasma coupling is in full working order." He said as Kit turned to face him.

"Great," replied Kit. "That's everythin' done then. We just have to start it up now. 'Kit to Goldfur... we're ready for start up whenever you are'." He said to the com.

"Goldfur here, I'll start her up now then, Goldfur out."

"Uh oh," said Kit as he looked at the plasma coil Garrek was stood in front of. "Quick, run for it!" he said urgently as the coils began to glow. He grabbed Garrek's right hand and continued to pull him swiftly towards the service duct hatch they had entered the engine by. In fact Kit was pulling Garrek so quickly that he lifted off the deck plates completely, he took the opportunity to try and look back to see what Kit was running from, his eyes opened wide as he watched the injectors vent the blue plasma and the coils ignite the volatile gas. A huge ball of blue flame exploded before his eyes and rushed towards them. Luckily the hatch was relatively close, and before Garrek knew it he was inside the service duct. A force field quickly came online as soon as they had passed through the hatch and the plasma flames whooshed passed.

Kit moved over to the hatch door and shut it tight. "Looks like the safeties are out too." He said casually to a heavily breathing and quite shocked Garrek.

"Err... um? Err? Eeep." Managed Garrek as he lay partially on his side, wide eyed and staring at Kit.

"Yeah, it was a blast wasn't it." Said Kit, "Anyway, I think I'll overlook the fact that your mate just tried to incinerate us. Besides, I seriously doubt shi mean it, unless what I know about chakats is wrong."

"Err... how did you move that fast?" asked Garrek.

"It's because I'm a hybrid. My species was created to use the full potential of our bodies, speed is just one of the many things that has been enhanced in that way." Explained Kit.

"...Oh, I was wondering what kind of species you really were... you look a lot like lion morphs... so err..." Said Garrek.

"Yeah we do don't we, anyway, now you know." Said Kit, "Let's get back to the corridor eh, then you and Goldfur can get back to your ship and we can all go our separate ways." He waited for Garrek to start moving along the service duct and followed him at an equal pace. They were soon standing in the corridor at the end of the duct and Goldfur walked over from the service panel shi had been working at.

"Well I've finished fixing up the panel," said Goldfur as shi stopped in front of them, "And the engine is running at minimal power... say, what happened to you?" shi asked Garrek as shi noticed he was a little shaken up.

"We were still in the engine when you started it." Explained Kit.

"You were?" said Goldfur almost in a panic, "But the scanners said that there wasn't anybody in there?"

"The safeties need fixin', that's all." Said Kit, "It's nothin' to worry about."

"But I almost killed you, how can you say it's nothing to worry about?" began Goldfur.

"Listen, Don't worry about it. Ok?" said Kit as he looked hir in the eyes.

"Ok." Replied Goldfur in a surprisingly calm voice.

Garrek looked at hir with a confused expression on his face. If anything he knew that what had just happened wasn't normal but he was still a little shaken from being in the engine when it had started to question what was going on around him so he decided to keep quiet.

"Come on, let's get back t' the bridge and see how well we did." Said Kit as he headed off to the lift. Both taurs followed him and it wasn't long until they were all standing on the upper section of the bridge.

"Right lets see," said Kit as he hopped into the com chair and brought up a new considerably shortened damage list with a few taps of the panel in front of him. "Hmm? Everythin' seems ok. Shall we take a run around the galaxy to see?" he asked Garrek and Goldfur.

"We'd love to but I don't think we have the time I'm afraid." Replied Goldfur.

"Nonsense. We could be on the other side of the galaxy and back before your ship left the star system." Said Kit.

"Alright then. I'd like to see that." Said Goldfur. "Clear it with our captain and we'd love to join you."

"Great," replied Kit, "Computer, open a channel." He said to the computer. The Computer complied and the mini screen reappeared in front of the helm as usual. "Hi Captain, I'd just like to ask if it's ok to take Garrek and Goldfur on a little test flight to make sure everythin's workin' right. It shouldn't take more than twenty minutes."

"That's fine with me Captain. And you can take as long as you like to make sure. We can always work a little over time if we're late." Replied Lynch.

"I'll make sure you're not captain. And thanks, we'll be back in around half an hour then."

"Fine, see you then. James Cook out." Finished Lynch, the mini screen disappeared and Kit turned to Goldfur and Garrek.

"Ever wanted to see the Andromeda galaxy?" asked Kit.

"Pardon?" asked Goldfur.

"Do you want to visit another galaxy?"

"Do you mean?"

"Yep. Let's power up and go shall we." Said Kit as he moved from the com point to the helm.

Captain Lynch watched as the Sutherlands engines powered up and fired two white beam of some sort out in front of its bow from two canons that had extended out of the nose of both engine units. In less than the blink of an eye the Sutherland's huge mass was pulled through a white hole that had been opened by the two beams converging about one hundred meters in front of where the Sutherland had been, and disappeared.

"I wonder what type of drive it uses?" he mused before sipping his tea.

___8.Time off___

Schneider tapped his claws on the dashboard of his van. He sighed and looked at the clock illuminated in the lower left corner of his windscreen and slumped down as another minute ticked by.

"Where are you?" he growled, as he looked out of the windscreen around at the mass of people beyond on the busy market street he had parked on. He soon spotted Jessie's large form coming towards the van and sat up in anticipation. "Finally." He said as he pulled on his belt. The passenger door opened and Jessie hauled herself into the cab. "You must be the world champion if it takes you that long to go."

"Ah, be quiet an' drive. It's hard enough to find a public toilet in this town that caters to quange without people like you tryin' to rush us." Replied Jessie.

"Sorry." Said Schneider as he started the engine.

"It's ok."

"Good, cause you still take a long time even if you don't have to find one first."

"I do not!" huffed Jessie, "And can we get off this subject. It's not somethin' you should talk about when you're talkin' to a lady."

"You're no lady, you're a quange."

"And what's that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing. I just mean a lady is a female human, you're a horse taur mare."

"Oh. Sorry, I forgot you were one of those."

"One of what?"

"Nothing." Said Jessie as she pulled on her belt and looked out of the window.

"It better hadn't be," said Schneider before he set the stick to drive, pressed the accelerator lightly, took a quick look around to see if anyone or anything was coming before releasing the hand break and pulling away from the kerb all in one fluid movement.

It didn't take long before they had reached their destination, the Tiberien Company's South city site where Jessie usually parked her company van for the night.

"So where do I park?" asked Schneider, as he paused his van at the gates.

"Over there," said Jessie pointing to an empty bay. "Back it in, it's the same as at your site, just give the go-card to the attendant. Heh, they'll probably give ya my load in the mornin' if your not back quick enough."

"Then I'd better be back, early. I hope they fix your van up before tomorrow, I'd hate for you to be stuck packing or something." Said Schneider as he manoeuvred his van around and backed it into the bay Jessie had pointed to. He switched off the engine and they climbed out of the cab and met in front of the van.

"I hope so too." said Jessie as she continued the conversation on, "Not that I don't need the exercise." She said with a grin.

"Jessie!"

Both Jessie and Schneider looked over to where the voice had come from.

"Hi Kamali." Called Jessie as she realized who it was.

Kamali joined the two morphs before he continued.

"Mr. Shaw would like a word with you." He said to Jessie.

"Really? You know what it's about?" asked Jessie.

"Just a word, he said it was not serious."

"Aah, Then it's probably about my van." Said Jessie. "Thanks Kamali."

"You are welcome Jessie."

"See ya later," said Jessie as she headed off towards Mr. Shaw's office. She called back to Schneider as she walked, "Come on, Tony won't mind if you come with me."

Schneider quickly began to follow her as she headed through a door into the main building. She flashed her pass card to the security guard as she passed, Schneider did the same and they passed unhindered into a long corridor.

"Is it me or does this look a lot like my site's main building on the inside?" said Schneider noting a few similarities in the lay out.

"It's exactly the same, well, except for the odd desk and chair in the corridors." Said Jessie.

"That's strange. I wonder why they did it like this when the outside looks different?"

"Who knows, it's just one of the many mysteries of life I suppose." Said Jessie as she stopped in front of a door marked South city site manager. She knocked on the door and waited patiently for a reply. After hearing a faint "Come in" from beyond the door she grabbed the door handle and twisted it and pushed the door open.

"Hello Jessie, what can I do for you?" asked Tony.

"You wanted to see me Tony." Corrected Jessie as she walked up to his desk.

"So I did. It's about your van. It can't be fixed tonight, but that's not only what I wanted to tell you. Your lucky your van did break down because it looks like we're bringing in new ones, and you'll be the first one to try one of them out."

"Alright, I've been hopin' for a new van for over two months." Replied Jessie happily.

"It'll be delivered tomorrow at 11am, so you'll get a lie in too."

"Great. Thanks Tony. Oh, y' don't think you can do anythin' to get Schneider here a lie in too do ya?"

"Ooo that depends. Which site's he from?"

"The east site sir, but you don't have to bother getting me a lie in."

"Of course I do. I'm sure you hate all this work, work, working all the time. Everyone deserves a little time off in the form of a sleep in now and then."

"If you say so sir." Replied Schneider.

"And stop with the sir stuff, Tony's the name. And that lie in is as good as covered."

"Thank you."

"His van's in my bay, just to let you know. Just in case you get told about it." Said Jessie.

"Right, You've given your go-card to Kamali haven't you?" asked Tony.

"Oh, no I forgot." Said Schneider.

"That's ok. Just give it to him on the way out."

"Thanks Tony, I owe you one." Said Jessie as she walked off towards the door with Schneider in tow. "I'll see ya tomorrow then."

"Yep, see you tomorrow." Replied Tony as they left his room and closed the door behind them.

___9.Not a standard goodbye___

Somewhere in the Andromeda galaxy, the Sutherland flew by a dieing star at full slip speed. Garrek and Goldfur were having the time of their lives as they watched the star, and the other wonders of the neighbouring galaxy from the 3D wrap around viewscreen on the bridge of the Sutherland.

"Could I get a picture of that too please," asked Garrek. The first thing he had asked for when they had arrived was a camera, Kit had kindly offered to download any pictures or information he wanted to a PADD and Garrek was taking full advantage of the offer.

"Sure." Said Kit as he pressed a single button on the helm to take the picture. "That'll have t' be the last one, I think we should get back to your ship now."

"That's a shame." Said Goldfur. "I'd like to see more of this galaxy and what this ship is capable of doing."

"I'd offer both of you a position as part of the crew but I couldn't take you away from your captain. I'm sure he'd miss you too much." Said Kit as he slowed the ship to sub slip and powered up the 'leap' drive that had brought them to the galaxy they were currently in.

"I have to admit that is a tempting offer but you are right. Besides, I like my job in the Starcorps and I'm sure Garrek does too, don't you?" shi asked Garrek.

"Oh well, it's not the end of the world." Said Kit as he expertly brought the Sutherland back to the same location it had left from. The James Cook instantly hailed them the moment they had fully emerged from the hole the Sutherland had created as part of the 'leap' drive process. Kit opened a channel.

"You were as good as your word captain." Said captain Lynch, "Did everything go according to plan?"

"Yes it did, thank you." Replied Kit, "I'm sure you want to get on you're way now captain so I'll transport Garrek and Goldfur back and we can both go our separate ways, ok?"

"If it's not a problem for you captain, could we exchange a little data before we part. It's just that I'm assuming that this is the first contact between our people and it's standard procedure for us." Explained Lynch.

"Err... yeah sure." Said Kit as he looked down at the com pads in front of him. He pressed one of the pads and before Garrek and Goldfur could blink they were back aboard the James Cook. "Freeze 'em." Muttered Kit as soon as both taurs had materialised onboard their ship. The computer complied and fired a blue beam at the James Cook causing the crew that could be seen on the bridge, and everyone else aboard to be frozen in a stasis field.

"Do the standard wipe and fill in the gaps as normal." Said Kit to the Computer.

"I suppose you'll want to tow them back to the planet they were scanning whilst I'm doing the hard part then." Replied the Computer.

"Well, I would scan the information they would have scanned anyway but you can do it so much faster than I can."

"Not that much faster."

"Just do what I asked please." Said Kit as he manoeuvred the Sutherland over the James Cook and locked on with the port-aft tractor beam. He powered up the sub slip engines and headed to the planet the James Cook was scanning before the Sutherland had made its unexpected appearance. The Sutherland had no problem in pulling the James Cook and it manoeuvred as easily as it would if it wasn't pulling it so it wasn't long until Kit released the tractor beam after precisely placing the James Cook where it would have been if the Sutherland hadn't appeared. "Easy." He said before the computer spoke up.

"I've finished, phase the ship then just say the word and we'll be long gone." Stated the Computer.

"Right. Wait a bit, I want to download those pictures Garrek wanted into his personal com, if he has one." Said Kit.

"What about regulation T46?" said the Computer.

"I don't care. Though I won't get to find out for myself what he thinks when he finds them I still can't help messin' around like that. You should know that by now." Replied Kit.

"The fact is in my database but..."

"Look, I'll hide 'em that deep It'll probably be a few years before he finds them anyway, and by that time he won't recall diddly-squat about us. I'm doin' this whether you like it or not so download the info to his personal com."

"I thought you were doing it." said the Computer.

"Do it before I order you to revert back to your original personality."

"It doesn't really make any difference to me but I'll do it anyway." Said the Computer. It took less time than a blink of the eye before the Computer continued. "I've done it."

"Right then. Phase the ship then unfreeze them." Said Kit as he stood up. "When you've done that take us to a planet of your choice and land." He said before exiting the bridge through a door to the rear of the bridge.

___10.Rescued___

"Argh!" exclaimed Isis as what was left of the com array dropped from the top of the Runabout to the planets surface below with an almost sickening clatter of metal. Shi quickly ran to the edge and looked down after it only to find it in several pieces. "Well I tried." Shi said calmly. "Oh who am I kidding? I've just lost any hope at all of someone finding me." Shi said angrily. "Guess I shouldn't have tried moving it with only one hand." Shi said sadly as shi turned and headed back to the runabouts dorsal escape hatch which shi had used to access the array. Pausing shi raised hir left hand to hir head as a sudden rush of light-headedness came over hir. It passed quickly though and shi continued on.

Shi descended carefully as shi avoided using hir right arm as hir shoulder still hurt every time shi moved, once down shi quickly made hir way outside and walked over to the twisted pile of metal that had once been the com array. Shi was about to sigh when a loud thunder like boom sounded from somewhere in the sky. Isis quickly looked up to see what it was and was surprised to watch as a large ship shimmered into view in the sky above hir. Shi quickly read the name that was printed on the ventral for'd section of the ship.

"SSV Sutherland. SSV?" Shi questioned. "Oh who cares, I'm saved!" shi cried happily. As shi watched the Sutherland fly away from hir shi lost a little hope. As it disappeared behind some tall rocks shi headed over and climbed up to a position where shi could clearly see the ship was preparing to land. "Yes!" shi exclaimed and quickly descended from the rock shi was on and headed back to the runabout to get a flair gun. Shi was ready to fire it in what seemed like the blink of an eye after shi had found one and was glad to find that it actually worked as shi fired the green flamed flair up into the sky above hir from the rocks where shi could clearly see the now motionless Sutherland as it had by now landed several hundred meters away in a large flat bottomed valley amongst the rugged terrain.

Shi waited both patiently and hopefully but nothing seemed to happen, there was no shuttle, nobody beaming over, not even a scout bot or landing party. Isis raised a pair of binoculars shi had grabbed along the way from getting the flair and looked at the Sutherland through them. Shi noticed the damage to the starboard engine unit but looked it over as shi searched for any signs of life.

"So I have to come to you do I." Shi said to hirself and turned to make hir way back to the runabout. As shi approached shi noticed movement from on top of the runabout and looked up to see what it was. "Who's there?" shi called out. To answer hir question a head popped into view from over the edge of runabout. Hir mouth dropped open as shi realized it was pantherine shi was even more shocked as it reviled itself to be a natural jaguar as it moved the full length of its body into view. It hissed at hir before jumping down to the ground in front of the runabouts starboard entry hatch where it sat back on its haunches and seemed to start smiling at hir. Isis passed the smile off as the natural curves of the pantherine's muzzle as they sometimes appeared to have a light smile on their muzzles as a result of that.

The jaguar cocked its head at hir and simply stared. It seemed to Isis that it was actually observing hir and hir belief became strengthened as it watched hir even closer as shi put hir left hand into a pocket on hir halter and pulled out a toffee stick shi had been saving. Shi unwrapped it, broke a piece off and was about to throw the piece to the jaguar when shi had second thoughts.

'What am I doing?' shi thought to hirself, 'Oh what the hey, I'm sure it won't kill it.' And with that shi threw the piece of toffee in front of the jaguar's forepaws.

The jaguar looked down at the little piece of toffee for a few moments before lifting its right forepaw, unsheathing its thumb and index claws and picking the toffee up between them. Isis watched in awe as the jaguar looked it over carefully and wiped any dirt it found off on the pad of its left forepaw as it balanced easily on its hind legs. It then popped it into its mouth and began to chew, it soon screwed up its face in disgust and spat the toffee out onto the ground.

"Phya, eww yuckie!" said the jaguar unexpectedly in a plain English male voice as it scraped off the remainder of the toffee from its tongue. "I must remember, never eat food off a strange planet." he said to himself. "And I hate aniseed, why did I put it in my mouth when I smelt that!" he chided himself.

"You... you can... talk?" stuttered Isis.

The jaguar looked up at Isis as he had looked away whist he was talking.

"Non Anglaise," said the jaguar in a Spanish accent, "Par les vous Francais? Spraken sie Deuch?" he continued in French and German respectively.

"Err?" said Isis, now completely confused.

The jaguar burst out laughing, he quickly raised his right forepaw to his muzzle and clamped it shut to try and stop himself. He succeeded easily and had soon calmed down completely.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." Said the jaguar in plain English.

Isis was speechless.

"Aren't you going to say hello?" asked the jaguar.

Isis was still speechless.

"Hello, anybody there?" asked the jaguar as he rather cheekily raised his right forepaw over his head and waved it about trying to get hir attention. "I thought you chakats were the sociable type?" he continued. "It isn't very sociable to ignore someone it is?"

Isis finally managed to regain control of hir voice and slowly replied, "I'm... sorry."

"O-don't be. It's probably the low oxygen content that's affecting you or something twice as simple." Said the jaguar. "Mmm? Come to think about it, it must be weird talking to a, what do you call them... oh yeah! 'natural' jaguar on a strange planet after a seemingly alien Starvessel landed no to far away."

"Yes... it is a little... weird." Managed Isis as shi recalled several light headed spells that shi had had whilst out in the planets atmosphere.

"So, judging by the state of your runabout I'd say you need a little help." Said the jaguar.

"Oh, yes I do." Said Isis living up almost instantly. "If it's possible could you give me a lift back to Earth. If it's not out of your way of course." Shi asked.

The jaguar grinned and couldn't hold back a quick chuckle.

"You know, it's pretty funny. You know, you, a chakat, asking me a jaguar, sorry, 'natural' jaguar for a lift home. It just sounds so stupid." Said the jaguar. "The low oxygen content of this planet must really be getting to you. If I were you I'd be questioning my sense of reality. Who knows, maybe all of this is just in your head." He raised his left forepaw up to his head and tapped his left temple with his index claw. "Then again I think I'd know if I was a figment of your imagination. By the way, are you feeling light headed?" he asked.

Isis answered his question by raising hir left hand to hir brow. "Yes... I am ... now...oh!" Shi said before collapsing unconscious to the ground.

"Some people." Said the jaguar shaking his head before he stood and wandered over to hir.

___11.Making friends___

Isis stirred. Something felt good beneath hir, it felt soft, warm, so unlike the ground shi had collapsed on which had been hard and cold. Besides that there was a nice smell, like wild strawberries, not unlike the smell of strawberries that often surrounded hir parents home back in the English countryside on earth. Shi smiled and buried hir head into what felt like a pillow as shi continued to rest and shi slowly drifted back to sleep.

Sometime later Isis woke again and sat up immediately in surprise. Shi looked about and found hirself lay on a large bed in a rather luxuriously decorated and spacious bedroom in what shi realized was an Egyptian style decor, though for some reason it seemed different from the Egyptian styles shi had read about. Shi blinked a couple of times to see if shi was still dreaming and pinched hirself just to be on the safe side.

"Ouch! Well, at least I'm not dreaming." Shi said to hirself before realizing that hir shoulder was no longer hurting. Shi looked it over to find in was as healthy as hir left shoulder and there was absolutely no sign that it had ever been broken in the first place. "Wow. Not even a twinge of pain." Shi said as shi ran hir left hand over the shoulder.

Isis climbed out of the bed and began to look at the décor more thoroughly. The first thing that caught hir eye though was the wall opposite the bed. The entire wall appeared to have been painted as a picture of a strawberry field, witch seemed completely out of context with the décor. The amount of detail was outstanding though as Isis could make out everything on the picture, it was almost as if it was a photograph, which shi soon decided it was. The thing was though, the scene looked almost alive as the hedges beside the field gently swayed. Shi was completely taken aback when shi felt the breeze that had moved the hedges with hir whiskers and on the fur on hir body, and at that point the whole picture came to life with birds flying over, rabbits running around in the fields beyond the strawberry field itself, even the songs of thrushes in and around the hedges were all there.

"Well, at least I know where the scent of strawberries is coming from." Shi said to hirself in disbelief. Shi walked up to the scene and touched the wall with hir index finger and found that it was just a wall after all. Shi was a little disappointed at the fact but decided to explore the rest of the room more thoroughly. To hir right, after turning around until the scene was behind hir were a set of long, drawn, white curtains, between them and the bed on the other side of the room was a spiral metal framed staircase leading down. On the opposite wall to the curtains was a door and around the remaining walls of the room were cupboards on top of and on the wall above witch, were small Egyptian pieces of art. 'No dressing table?' thought Isis. 'Odd?'

Shi walked over to the curtains and opened them. Beyond was the planet shi had crash-landed on. "I was wondering where I was." Shi said for no reason as shi stared briefly at the barren rocky landscape.

Shi then turned to the metal staircase and decided to find out where they led. Shi walked over to and descended the stairs and was soon standing in a slightly larger room that appeared to be a living room. Looking about from left to right Isis noticed a large set of curtains running covering the entire length of the first wall. At the end of the curtained wall, as shi turned hir head right, was a passageway leading off, the rest of the next wall was dominated by an elegant fireplace with a miniature obelisk on either side of it. The next wall had a larger set of doors in the centre, Isis smiled lightly as shi spotted a small statue of the cat goddess Bastet guarding the doorway from a table set to the right of the doors. Shi walked over, picked the statue up and began to examine it as shi would with an artefact.

Isis nearly dropped the statue in surprise at what shi found, the statue was of the cat goddess in her human body form and cat head, or that was what Isis had thought it was until shi inspected the hands more closely and turned it around to view the back. Shi was shocked to find that the statue had a tail, and from the look of it, a lion's tail.

"What the? I thought those hands didn't look right." Shi said as shi observed the dress the goddess was wearing more closely. Shi found the telltale signs of the goddess's true body shape by looking at the curves near the base of the statue finding the legs to be more like a morph lions than a humans. 'I'm really going to enjoy this species' culture.' Shi thought to hirself. 'Oh well, I may as well see if I can find someone.' Shi continued as shi turned to the door. It opened silently before hir and shi walked through into a luxuriously decorated corridor with plush carpet that was equal in quality to the one shi had walked over in the room shi had been in.

'Something tells me this is a cruise liner.' Shi thought to hirself, as shi turned right and began to walk along the corridor. Despite the fact the corridor was well decorated, it unfortunately seemed to have the same problem of all ships corridors, and that was the fact that it, and several others that shi came across, looked almost identical.

"Great, now I'm lost." Shi finally admitted to hirself after about ten minuets of wandering aimlessly through the labyrinth of corridors shi found shi was in. It took hir further eight minuets to find a lift which shi only found accidentally as the doors had opened when shi had passed it.

Once inside shi sat back and thought briefly. "Hmm, I wonder where the crew is?" Shi said to hirself, at which point the lift had made an almost silent whoosh. 'What was that?' shi thought as shi walked to the doors. They opened and Isis was happy to find the other side was something other than luxuriously decorated, in fact it seemed much more militaristic somehow. Isis left the lift and looked to hir left to an illuminated panel that was highlighting an arrow pointing left down the new corridor. Shi decided to follow it and headed off down the corridor to a pair of large illuminated doors. Shi walked up to and through the doors as they opened before hir and found hirself in a huge hanger of some sort. The first thing that shi was made aware of was the soft rumbling purr of a combustion engine to hir right at the far end of the hanger. Shi looked right and spotted hir runabout sat at the end of the bay. It appeared to have been repaired as the com array was back in its proper position on top of the runabout. Shi couldn't see if the nacelle had been repaired though as there were numerous vintage cars, and several other types of vintage transportation, set the whole length of the hanger, which shi found when shi took a brief look in the opposite direction. Of the cars shi recognized there was one brand that seemed dominant above the rest.

"Jaguar." Shi said to hirself as shi recalled the natural jaguar that shi had met next to hir runabout. 'I wonder if there is any connection?' shi thought before walking off towards hir runabout and the source of the rumbling purr.

As shi neared the runabout it became apparent that the running car was actually next to it. Shi stopped near to the car and looked at it. It was set up on jacks and there appeared to be someone beneath it as there was a pair of anthropomorphic feline legs sticking out from under the engine section of the car. Surrounding the legs was a multitude of classic mechanics tools and car parts that Isis carefully picked hir way through. Shi stopped next to a decidedly lion like tail which had just appeared from beneath the car and decided to let it find hir feet while it searched for what it had begun to search for.

"Damn, where's that spanner?" came a familiar voice from beneath the car. Isis quickly recognized it as the natural jaguars. Shi didn't have long to wait after that as the tail quickly found hir right foreleg and wrapped itself around it.

"Ah! Your awake." Came the voice from beneath the car. The tail uncurled itself from around hir leg and the feline pushed himself out from under the car revealing himself to be some sort of lion morph. The lion stood up off the dolly he had been resting on and wiped his hands on a rag that was hanging from one of his pockets. "I'll just switch off the engine," he said before nipping over to the drivers door, opening it and switching off the engine, he then returned to where he had been standing in front hir and finally offered hir a hand. "Hi, my name's Kit Silva, welcome aboard the SSV Sutherland." He said as they shook hands.

"Hello, my name is Chakat Isis, child of Sundance and Strongarm." Replied Isis before giving him the traditional greeting hug. Shi pulled back a little surprised as when shi had tried to smell his scent to remember it shi found he didn't have one.

Kit smiled, he knew exactly what was wrong. "I don't have a scent do I." He said still smiling.

Isis nodded, "Err, if you don't mind me asking, how is that possible?" shi asked.

"It ain't," began kit, "I do actually have a scent but it's so light and so obscured that it's near impossible to pick up."

"Oh."

"I bet if y' tried y'd get it. I know for a fact that chakats can pick it up, though that is only when I'm present, y'd never be able to track me."

"Oh. Um, Well I know this is a little off the point but I'd like to thank the natural jaguar for rescuing me if that's possible?" shi asked, as soon as shi had shi recalled the fact that the lion seemed to have the jaguars voice, shi didn't try to correct hirself though and prepared for whatever answer the lion was about to give hir.

"That was me."

It didn't seem to difficult to believe for Isis as they did have the same voice, still, it wasn't everyday you met a lion morph who claimed to be a natural jaguar. "You're the jaguar?"

"Yeah, I'll show y' if y' want."

"Ok."

Kit began to unzip the set of overalls he was wearing as he walked over to a clear space in the hanger. "Y' don't mind me strippin' do y'?"

If Isis hadn't already recalled hir almost imminent heat that certainly reminded hir, causing hir to reply with just a little too much enthusiasm. "Yes please do," shi said as shi licked hir lips in anticipation.

Kit paused and stared at hir briefly before letting the overalls drop around his feet. He stepped out of them and suddenly morphed in front of hir to the form of the jaguar on the planet. "Cool huh?" he said as he sauntered up to hir.

"Err, yes." Shi grinned as shi considered a naughty idea.

"Y' heat is starting to control y' thoughts isn't it." Said Kit as he hopped up onto his hind legs and closed the gap between them. He stopped a suitable distance away to continue the conversation.

Isis snapped out of hir daydream, "Huh? Oh! Yes...no, um, you know?" sputtered Isis in surprise.

"It's not difficult to miss. I'd say you're a little ahead of schedule this time around too from the way y' replied and y' tendency t' lick y' lips." Said Kit. "Well, those and the fact that y' out here alone, I mean, I doubt you'd schedule a solo flight if y' knew that would y'."

"Actually I did know, but I think your right too, I thought it was going to be next week but I sure it's going to be in the next day or so now." replied Isis hopefully looking into Kits eyes. "You don't know of