03 - Pod Sweet Home

Alain whistled long at the luxurious interior of the captain's emergency pod and the size of a large living room a few day later. He had decided to take a look in case there was something useful in there when he was near the pod bays, and even though the pod was the same model, it wasn't made to hold several people inside like the regular crew pods. Even the officers had to share one pod between three of them. This one was made to serve at most two persons but the facilities were a lot better than what he had in his own pod. 'Damned class difference.' he muttered.

He stood at the centre of the pod and pondered whether or not he should. 'Fuck, just do it.' he said and activated the pod's controls at the pilot's seat next to the entrance hatch. The pod wasn't piloted like a regular ship or shuttle but it featured small thrusters to manoeuvre it and the seat would look out directly at any target for docking.

The controls displayed a ready status and Alain buckled up, shut the warship's bay hatch and the pod's hatch, and released the clamps. a quick burst from the thrusters pushed him away from the bay.

He kept the bursts short as he steered the pod from close to the rear of the warship to his crew pod because he didn't have much experience flying and took things slow in case he made a mistake.

On his way along a safe distance from the side of the Walkurea, soft static sounded from his communicator. 'Is you in pod?' Asitha asked.

'Yes, it's me.' Alain said and hoped she understood him well enough without the help of a language device. 'Visit me later, I'll show you.'

'We come later.' Asitha said and Alain felt some excitement to have them come by again to see what he did with it.

When he was close to his crew pod he took a few deep breaths to prepare for the most difficult part. In the most delicate way he could muster, he aimed the emergency pod's entrance towards the docking hatch of his crew pod and moved it closer slowly. He held his breath when both docking rings were just a hand's breadth apart and hoped the moorings could withstand the shock.

The clunk at contact resonated through the pod with the minor shock at stopping. The hammer sounds from the clamps engaging followed and Alain dared to exhale. The controls were green and he stepped out of the pilot's seat, equalised the two pod's atmospheres, and opened the hatches of both pods.

The environmental controls of the crew pod were still green and he went out the airlock to check on the pod's anchors.

His relief was complete when they were fine and he went underneath the emergency pod, extended the struts with the manual controls towards the Walkurea's hull, and bolted the feet to the hull with brackets and a nail gun powerful enough to penetrated the steel plating.

He stepped back after he was done to admire the new extension to his home. 'Home, sweeter home.' he said, wondering if an extension larger than the original could still be called an extension.

Back inside and out of his suit, he looked over the emergency equipment and supplies and left them as they were because they weren't in the way, and they were necessary in an emergency in any case. The kitchen corner was fully functional and when he pulled down the wall bed he laid down on his back with his arms spread to enjoy the large size and the glee at no longer sleeping in a cramped space from that moment on.

Asitha's voice sounded from his communicator and he stood up quickly to answer her. 'I'm here.' he said.

'We can come?'

'Yes. I'll be waiting.' he said and looked around for anything embarrassing they might see, even though he told himself this wasn't like his small apartment back home and he'd already acted like a fool in front of them during their first visit.

***

'So much space.' Tiness said when she entered the pod first and gazed upon the empty space at the centre.

'My guess is they didn't place any furniture in here to keep the space clear for multiple purposes.' Alain said. 'I can imagine when the crew needs to bail and end up on some planet, they need a common space for the officers to meet.'

Tiness nodded. 'What are you going to do with it?'

'Move in here, of course.' he said and thought about what he could get in here. 'I'm sure I can find a good couch and a table, and it's trivial to set up a large screen to watch movies on. It'll be like a real home then.'

'So lucky.' Asitha said and Alain thought her pout and ears turned backwards looked cute.

'Why not see if there's a pod on the Amaroth that you can use in the same manner? A captain's pod as well?'

'Yes, we should!' Tiness said.

Asitha looked at the pleading in her expression and knew she couldn't use regulations as an excuse to not try the same thing with their pod. More space for themselves was something she wished for as well. 'We'll take a look after our next shift.' she said and Tiness smiled. 'We'll eat and sleep now, then we can start early.'

'Great!' Tiness said and Alain chuckled at the happy expression on her face.

***

Tiness looked at the map displayed on her arm screen. 'These should be the ones for the officers.'

Asitha shone her light down the corridor and the row of access hatches to the emergency pods. 'Might as well start at the captain's one since that is likely the most comfortable one.'

They moved along the corridor and stopped at the hatch with the captain's symbol on it, a circle with a single vertical line dividing it. Asitha unlocked it and they shone their lights inside. 'This looks nice.' said Tiness at the light grey and roomy interior and they went inside.

'I'm definitely going to try the shower first.' said Asitha when she looked inside the extra large shower at one side. 'This thing is almost as big as our pod.'

Tiness chuckled and examined the contents of the compartments in the back. 'Only a simple kitchen here. Nothing like the one in Alain's pod.'

Asitha shone her light along the seats and table at the side. 'Still, a lot more space than what we have now. I think we'll take this if you agree.'

'Definitely. I can't wait to stretch my tail in comfort.'

Asitha shone her light around. 'I think there's just one problem.'

***

'You can't fly the pod.' said Alain when he was curious to hear if the girls had found a usable pod and contacted them.

'It has no controls like yours.' said Asitha. 'Looks like we stuck with our small home unless we can think how to move it.'

Alain pondered a way to move the pod and thought he remembered something that could be the solution. 'Wait there. Maybe I know a way but I have to make sure first.'

'Yes?' said Asitha.

***

Asitha and Tiness kept themselves busy with exploring the other pods and collecting any rations that had been forgotten when the Amaroth had been abandoned. Tiness floated towards the back of the captain's pod to look outside when Alain called in. 'Are you still there?'

'Yes. We still here.' said Asitha.

'Good. Prepare to release the pod.'

'Release?' asked Asitha. 'Why?'

Tiness's eyes grew large when she saw the cargo picker heading towards them. 'Asitha! Look!'

Asitha floated over to the window. 'Alain!?'

Alain chuckled. 'Surprise!'

'But, you not allowed on ship!'

Alain steered the vessel that was used for transporting cargo containers at space ports towards the Silth pod. 'And I am not coming on board, am I? I just happen to give a hand to someone who does the same job I do while out here in space.'

Tiness chuckled. 'Where you get this vessel?'

'I thought I saw it when I went through one of the ship's cargo bays a while ago and I was right. Luckily it was in working condition because it'd been smashed into the racks during the crash.' He patted the console in front of him. 'Good thing it's a sturdy one.'

He slowed down near the pod and used the extended clamps on two arms to grip the pod's hull. 'I've got a hold of the pod, you can release it now.'

Asitha punched the manual commands on the control pad in the corridor and the clamps released their hold of the pod's hatch and supporting struts. Tiness gave a positive signal when she saw the pod was free to go. 'Pod is free. You can pull back.' Asitha said.

Alain fired the thrusters of the cargo picker and pulled the pod away from its bay while Asitha and Tiness observed it from a window in the corridor. 'Guide me at your crew pod.' he said.

'We going there now.' Asitha said and hurried with Tiness to their pod.

Alain was near the pod when the girls arrived and they took positions on either side of their crew pod to keep an eye on the docking. Asitha guided him to align the hatches and activated the clamps when both pods connected. 'Very good.' Asitha said. 'You can let go now.'

'All right.' Alain said and released the clamps from the pod, and pulled back.

Asitha and Tiness braced the new pod with several extendable struts and welded them to the hull of the Amaroth and the pod itself.

By the time they were done Alain had showed up to check on their progress. 'How is it?' he asked.

Asitha rolled up the hose on the welder. 'We just finished. Pod is secure.'

'All is good inside.' said Tiness from inside the pod. 'Atmosphere good and no problem with power connections.'

Alain smiled. 'That's good. I hope you'll get as much enjoyment from the extra space as I will.'

Tiness looked at the comparatively spacious interior. 'Will you have drink with us?' she said and tensed her tail at the sudden boldness she'd never felt before.

'If it's okay, I'd love to.' he said and felt as if he'd been invited for the first time to a girl's place and not specifically a Silth dwelling.'

'We want to thank you for help.' Asitha said. 'This means much to us.'

'Let me freshen up first.' Alain said. 'I'll be back in a short while.'

***

Although there was no point to it, Alain knocked on the outer airlock door of the Silth pod before Tiness gestured she'd open the hatch from inside. He went in, waited for the atmosphere cycle, and stepped with slight hesitation and hot feeling into Silth territory. 'I kind of feel we do something historical here but we can't let anyone know.' he said after he took off his helmet.

Tiness chuckled. 'Maybe we'll be famous when we're old and our worlds are truly at peace.'

He reached into his pack and pulled out several small containers and a bottle of greenish liquor popular in the tropics. 'I brought some snacks and something else to try, to celebrate both our expanded homes.'

'Thank you!' said Tiness and took them from him. 'We prepared a few things but they're probably too bland compared to what you're used to.'

Alain hung his suit in a free locker. 'Don't worry about that. I'm still curious to find out what kinds of food you eat.'

He followed Tiness through the regular crew pod and into the new one where Asitha set the table at the side with plates of snacks, bottles, and cups. She smiled at him. 'Have a seat.'

The plates were filled with bland coloured and smelling cubes. Most were greyish-brown with a shredded meat structure, others had darker red and green splotches. Tiness brought napkins and she and Asitha sat down and poured drinks. Asitha leaned a little forward. 'It's not much but it's the best we can offer as thanks for helping us get this pod.'

He gazed at both girls and was happy to have made contact with the Silth. 'It was my pleasure to help out and I'm glad both you and me have increased our comfort on this wreckage floating in space.' he said and lifted his cup. 'Let's forget about what's out there for a while and celebrate what we gained today.'

'Agreed!' said Tiness and drank.

Asitha pointed at the plates. 'These and these are products made from fish and other sea creatures, and these are from various animals that are our main food source. If there's nothing you like I won't blame you.' she chuckled. 'Especially after we tasted your food.'

Alain chuckled. 'I can't diss it before I try it.' he said and took one of the cubes that had two grey-brown layers, smelled it, then put it in his mouth.

Asitha and Tiness watched him chew slowly. He nodded. 'It reminds me of what's called tuna flavoured in my world. The taste is faint but it's there so it's not bad.'

The girls' ears sagged slightly in relief. 'I'm glad you didn't start with finding it disgusting.' Tiness said.

He chuckled again. 'There's still a chance I will spit like a volcano and keel over from the taste of the others, so keep the bottles open so I can flush away the taste.'

Tiness giggled. 'Lucky we have enough to drink then.'

After having tasted everything, Alain pondered ways to improve the taste of the Silth food. 'You just heat it straight from the container?'

Tiness nodded. 'Not much else we can do with it.'

'Mind if I take a few with me to try things? I'll bring some of the food I have so you can try that.'

Tiness's ears pricked up. 'sure! We'd love to try out more human food.'

Alain chuckled. 'All right.' he said and chewed on a pork-chicken flavoured cube. 'I'm going to take one of the cooking units from a nearby mess hall and install it in my pod so I can cook the supplies that were left. How about coming over later when I've settled in?'

Tiness looked at Asitha. 'We'd like that.' Asitha said. 'Maybe we can install some of the equipment from the Amaroth in here and do the same.'

'Oh, then we can exchange meals.' said Alain. 'There's a thing we call spaghetti and it's a great base for a fulfilling meal.'

***

Alain went back to his pod after all three of them had had their fill of drinking and snacking with a large bag of various Silth food. He through about what he could do with it and when his mind turned to salads he pondered reviving one or two of the local greenhouses to both get a natural quality from the air purifier, and to grow fresh vegetables. The greenhouses were mostly automated and that gave him enough confidence to be able to do it. He resolved to look into it right after installing the cooker in his pod.

***

Tiness sighed with flattened ears and leaned back in the soft fabric of the curved couch Alain had confiscated from an officer's suite. He had invited the girls over to see what he'd done to the pod and try out his cooking, and what he'd done with the Silth food. 'What's wrong?' he asked as he brought out snacks.

'We can't install a cooker in our pod.' said Asitha. 'The equipment in the central mess hall isn't modular so we can't take a unit out.'

'Hmm, no other places to find them?'

Asitha shook her head. 'There's only the single mess hall on the ship.'

'And our equipment isn't compatible with your power sources so it's no use installing one from the Walkurea.'

Alain sat down on one end of the couch. 'No other equipment to cook with?'

'No. Not even the portables that squads use out in the field.'

Alain sipped his drink in thought. 'Guess you'll just have to use the kitchen here.'

The girls turned their heads towards him at once. 'Here!?'

He cocked his head. 'Why not? I have no problems with you coming over and I wanted to invite you more often anyway.' he said and grinned a little. 'If you, in exchange, leave some for me then I'd be fine with it.'

Tiness laughed out loud. 'You really are not the kind of human I expected you to be.'

He smiled proudly. 'Good, because I don't like to be what's usually expected.'

Asitha giggled. 'Then we'll take you up on your offer. Just don't complain that our cooking's bad.'

He stuck out his hand. 'Deal. I won't complain, I'll only voice opinions and suggestions.'

Asitha shook his hand and he realised it was the first time they actually touched each other. He liked the softness of the thin layer of fur of her hand. 'For now I'll present you with a few ideas for Silth food. I'll start on it after a drink though, I just hooked up the screen and set up the sound system.'

'Screen and sound system?' asked Tiness.

Alain fished a remote from the side pocket of the couch and pushed the power button. A large screen rolled down close to the opposite wall and a media menu appeared. He selected a classic movie and it began. 'I love good movies so when I noticed this screen and a projector lying in a storage closet I just had to take it with me. The sound system I built from spare parts.' He retracted the screen, began playing his music collection on random, and finished his drink. 'I'll begin cooking. I feel hunger coming up.'

Tiness sat up straight. 'Can I watch? I'd like to see what you're doing with our food.'

'Sure. Give me a hand at the same time.'

She moved up next to him in the kitchen, then looked at her hands. 'Oh, is it okay though? Our hands are covered in fur, unlike yours.'

He looked at the slender fingers and her hands that had fur on top but none on the inside. 'Do you usually do anything before you prepare food?'

She looked at him. 'We brush our hands or rub them with water if we have no brush.'

'No problem then.'

'You're not disgusted by hair in your food?'

He chuckled. 'Of course I don't like hair in my food, don't you?'

'Yes.'

'Then I won't have to worry if what you do before preparing food prevents what you don't like yourself, right?'

'Right!' she said and rinsed her hands thoroughly under the kitchen faucet.

Alain noticed her large and fluffy tail swaying and smiled. "Cute." he thought, and wondered what it felt like before he turned his attention back to the counter and the containers of Silth and human food he had chosen for the meal.

He looked back towards Asitha. 'Asitha, if you like to, have a look through my media collection. I don't have any Silth media but maybe there's something you like.'

She turned towards him. 'Then I will. The kitchen's too small for the three of us to cook anyway.' she said and took the remote from the armrest.

Sounds of various movie scenes and rattling and clicking from the kitchen filled the pod and it reminded Alain of his young years at his home when his parents cooked together and he searched for something to watch while they'd eat. He chuckled and Tiness looked up puzzled from dicing the fish and meat. 'Did I do something wrong?'

He gave her a warm smile. 'No, it's just that this reminds me of when I was young and I never imagined I would relive these moments in my own home. Yet here it happened and even in the company of two Silth.'

She chuckled. 'It must be very weird for you.'

He mixed spices and herbs in a small bowl. 'It's very comforting, actually, and it doesn't matter whether you're Silth or human, I can say for certain it's fun to have you two over.'

Tiness smiled. 'It is fun indeed to spend some time together, although it's still a little strange to be with a human.' She looked up at him at once. 'I don't mean it in a bad way, it's just that we're not used to meeting other species.'

Alain chuckled. 'I know what you mean. I read that your society is pretty closed and most of your kind never met an alien. Humans mingle much easier in that regard.'

She nodded. 'I'm sure we'll adjust quickly around you. You're really nice.'

He chuckled. 'Thanks.' he said and looked at Asitha's concentration as she went over the media list with the help of the translation tablet. 'I think Asitha is well on her way to get used to human things.'

Tiness giggled. 'Seems so.'

***

Asitha looked at all the food placed on the low table before her. 'This all looks very good.' she said and sniffed the air. 'And it smells great.'

Alain smiled. 'Dig in then, Tiness had to suffer enough just watching the food and not tasting it.'

Tiness's ears twitched a little. 'It wasn't that bad.'

He grinned. 'Oh? I thought I saw your eras flicker and your tail sway each time I finished frying a batch, and figured you were eager to try some.'

She looked away in embarrassment. 'I though humans couldn't read our body language.'

He laughed once. 'I don't mean to be rude, but I grew up around cats and I learned a thing or two from them.'

Asitha raised an eyebrow. 'You're saying we're just like your domestic house pets?'

He held up his hands. 'Of course not, but since humans have no tail and can't move their ears you have more ways to express yourselves and I noticed it sooner.'

She nodded and chuckled. 'Good answer. You're off the hook.' she said with a mischievous smile and took one of the empty plates. 'Now to find out if what you made is good.'

Alain watched bemusedly as the girls sampled the food and stacked more on their plates while their ears twitched left and right and their tails quivered at every bite. He had to admit he was happy to eat some real cooked food instead of heated up ready made meals, and didn't hold back either.

Tiness explained to Asitha what they'd done with their own bland food while they ate, with some clarifications from Alain, and they discussed food and ate and drank it until all three were stuffed and slumped back into the soft couch.

Asitha puffed. 'That was good.' she said and put her hands on her full belly.

'I don't think I ever ate so much because it tastes so good.' said Tiness.

'No wonder I heard so many humans are fat.'

Alain chuckled. 'Yeah, eating is a favourite pastime and a great comforter.'

'It seems so are movies and series.' said Asitha. 'You have so many here.'

'And that's only a rather small portion of what's available because I look for quality in the first place.' Alain said. 'Although I do have plenty of dumb and simply fun ones. Did you find something interesting?'

Asitha went over the list in her mind while staring at the blank screen. 'There's a lot that caught my interest but I'd have to watch to know for sure if I like it or not.' she said and looked at him. 'While I looked up more information on the genres I noticed you only have a few of the superhero genre.'

Alain nodded. 'I think only a few of the characters are really interesting but I have to admit a few of the movies I have are because I like to watch the female character.' He chuckled. 'I'd rather watch women than men anyway. Men are just ugly.

Asitha laughed and Tiness chuckled. 'You have a specific taste.'

He shrugged. 'My taste is in cute, and men don't fall into that category in my eyes.' he said and took his cup. 'For that kind of thinking you'll have to speak to most human women.'

'Unless they send you a woman to work with, I doubt we'll ever get to speak to one.' Asitha chuckled and looked at the screen. 'Oh, there was one that seemed more different from most.' She picked up the remote and scrolled through the categories until she found it and pressed play.

Alain smiled at the familiar sound of a squeaking wind vane and crickets chirping under the blazing sun. 'This is indeed one of my very favourite classics.' he said while four cowboys walked into a remote train station.

Asitha looked at him. 'Can we watch this?'

'Of course. It'll give us time to digest in relaxation.' he said and leaned back his head while enjoying the pleasant atmosphere and the company of the two girls fixated on the screen.

The sudden loud whistle of a steam train startled them and Tiness spilled her drink on her coverall. 'Shaz!'

Asitha sniggered. 'You're on laundry duty now.'

Tiness plucked at her front. 'I have to go back, otherwise I'll smell the whole time.'

'If it's all right with you, you can borrow a shirt from me.' Alain said and gestured at the crew pod. 'I have a few big ones that will probably fit.'

'You don't have to.'

He stood up. 'Don't worry.' he said but then realised something. 'Unless you don't like the idea of wearing shirts, or human clothing.'

'No! Thanks you!' Tiness said and shook her head. 'I'll be glad I won't have to go back and forth and miss out.'

He smiled. 'Follow me then.'

She followed him to his personal quarters and opened the wall closet. 'Pick out what you like.' he said when he pulled out a stack of t-shirts and put it on his bed. 'I'm afraid this is the only thing you'll fit in.'

She shook her head again. 'I'm glad for your offer.'

'Take your time.' he said and stepped out.

Tiness examined the t-shirts in various colours and sporting different prints of text and images, and settled on a short sleeved black one with the white outline of a mountain range printed on it. She looked at herself in the small swivel mirror on the wall. 'Good.' she said when the t-shirt was long enough to reach her thighs, and chuckled at the image of her wearing Alain's clothing, then blushed as she realised his scent had enveloped her. She and Asitha had clearly smelled his scent in the cramped space of the pod but being wrapped in it was something other than it just hanging in the air. She sighed and tried not to think about how long it had been since she'd been embraced by a man, even if it was just for comfort. She folded up the rest of the t-shirts and placed the stack back in the closet.

'Oh, nice choice.' Alain said when she returned to the big pod. 'The black and white creates a good contrast with your pretty white fur.'

Asitha nodded. 'Almost like the clothing we wear at home.'

Tiness blushed again and quickly sat down on the couch and took her cup to sip the soothing liquor.

'You wear shirts usually?' Alain asked.

'A garment a little longer than this and with wider sleeves or none at all. It's the most practical clothing to wear for us.'

'With your tails and all, right?'

'Yes.'

He glanced at Tiness's shapely white legs and her tail wrapped around her feet. 'I guess the space suits and the tight coveralls you're wearing are uncomfortable then.'

Asitha nodded. 'We keep our tails usually in one of our suit's legs and it's frustrating when we can't move it freely for a long time.'

Alain gestured towards his quarters. 'Do you want a shirt too?'

Asitha looked at Tiness and fiddled with her cup. She did think it would be a lot more comfortable, but to act so carefree in front of a human felt embarrassing to her. 'I don't know..'

'Have a look with Tiness, if you don't want to you don't have to.' Alain said. 'I can imagine it feels weird to do that here with a human around.' He began collecting the dirty dishes from the table. 'I'll put these in the dishwasher in the meantime.'

Asitha looked at Tiness, and she took her hand. 'I think I already know which one will look good on you.' she said, and pulled Asitha along when she stood up, and headed towards Alain's quarters.

Asitha looked at the vaguely blue and grey striped t-shirt. 'It does look nice, but I don't know if I can wear it.'

Tiness hung the t-shirt from Asitha's shoulders. 'Give it a try at least. I'm kind of glad for the drink accident, you know? Any time I can stay out of our restricting work clothing I'm thankful for.' She stepped through the doorway. 'Don take too long.'

Asitha sighed. She would feel more comfortable after changing but she couldn't stop the wariness she felt in a strange environment. She took a deep breath. "It's just that I need to get used hanging around with a human." she thought. "That's all."

When she returned to the pod, Tiness and Alain gave her an approving smile. 'That looks very good on you.' said Alain. 'Certainly better than on me.'

'Told you.' said Tiness.

Asitha blushed but her ears stood up more. 'Enough with the clothing for now, I want to drink and watch the movie.'

Alain picked up the bottle. 'Sit down and we'll continue the show.' he said and topped off their cups.'

***

'Sleep well.'

'You too.' said Tiness to Asitha after they returned to their own crew pod. The fun time they had at Alain's pod had given her a bit of energy despite eating and drinking so much that she felt like toppling over. She giggled as she pulled Alain's t-shirt over her head but stopped for a moment to smell his scent once more. She didn't know if all humans smelled like this but his was comforting to her. She took off the t-shirt completely and held it against her chest, glad she convinced him that they would wash it before returning it to him. She tumbled into her bed and closed her eyes.

Asitha held the t-shirt she had worn in front of her and looked at her reflection in the mirror and smiled slightly. 'The colours do look good.' she said softly and hung it on one of the hooks next to the mirror. When she stepped back her smile vanished at the sight of her bare reflection. She averted her eyes and crawled into bed.

Alain chuckled as he lay in bed and the thought of laying his head on those two furry laps vied for his attention again. 'They'll say I'm crazy.' he said to himself and turned off the bed light to enjoy the space on the large bed.

***

'Alain?'

Alain stopped unscrewing a control box for a moment when the call came in through the shared communication channel. 'Tiness?'

'Yes, can I ask a question? If you have time.'

Alain smiled a little. 'Sure, no problem.'

Tiness was glad and the nervousness of initiating the call faded slowly. 'Can we come later to borrow kitchen? We decided on meal schedule and like to prepare everything for period.'

Alain was glad to hear they took him up on the offer he had made. 'Fine by me. Any particular things you like? I'll pick it up from the storage here on my way back.'

Tiness felt a little guilty about asking him for ingredients. 'Ehmm, just simple pork and chicken, and carrots.'

Alain chuckled. 'No need to hold back. Just ask what's on your mind. We're trading after all.'

'But is unfair trading because your food so much tastier than ours!'

Alain laughed. 'Don't worry about that. I can spice it up nicely and it's still nutritious, so it's no loss. And I get pleasant company over for a while on top of that, so how about some beef and that sweet bean paste that you loved?'

Tiness remembered the taste and her stomach voted in favour to ask him for it. 'Yes, please.'

'Then salty potatoes too, please.' asked Asitha.

Alain chuckled at her sudden request. 'All right.' Alain said. 'I've stocked up the storage closet in the pod so have a look through it when you're there.'

'Thank you.' came from both girls.

'You're welcome.' he said. 'You're working right now?'

Tiness glanced at red coloured barrels left and right of her. 'Yes. But in storage they didn't empty, and it full of exploding fuel.'

'Alone!?'

'Yes, Asitha at back of Amaroth for special order. We not know this fuel here but need part for sending.'

'Just be careful, okay?'

Tiness smiled a little. 'Yes.' she said. 'I think I asked you question to take mind away from being here.'

Alain chuckled. 'I'm glad I could help.' he said and thought about how easier it was to communicate with them face to face when they could use the translating software and gestures. 'I'm not good at small talk but as long as it'll distract you I'll try.'

Tiness chuckled and began cutting wires. 'What you normally talk about?'

Alain pondered for a moment. 'I guess work related things, technical stuff, my favourite genres of media. How about you?'

'I not talk much. Often just listen to others talking about life, or when alone I watch media to learn new things.'

'Oh, so you like to learn? I'm always curious about new-' Alain said when a sharp bang and a crash sounded from Tiness's side. 'Tiness!?'

'Tiness!?' Asitha called out. 'Deja Bodu!? Tiness!?''

Static was the only reply. and Alain dropped his tools. 'Asitha, where was she working!?'

'Close to front!'

He pushed himself hard out of the short corridor he was working in. 'I know a place where I can cross over into the Amaroth! It's halfway from the centre to my right, where do I go from there!?'

'But you forbidden to come on Amaroth!'

Alain jumped against wall bracing to speed up through another corridor leading towards the breach. 'Screw that! Tiness might be hurt or worse! Where do I find her!?'

Asitha jumped from her spot towards the doorway from the compartment she worked in. 'Go further into ship and go to side at main passage, tell me number on wall when you there!'

Alain saw the open red door to the storage after entering the corridor Asitha had guided him to. 'Tiness!?' he called out again when he bounced through the doorway.

Tiness looked at the human entering and her eyes went wide. 'Alain!? Why you here!?'

He spotted Tiness, the backpack of her suit stuck on a rack and her holding tight onto her lower arm with her other hand. 'Tiness!? Are you okay!?' He pushed himself towards her and noted the gash in her suit that she held closed and the crack on her arm display. He gave her a thumbs up and was relieved to see her give one in return.

'Tiness okay!?' asked Asitha.

'Tiness seems fine but her suit is torn and her communicator is damaged.' Alain said. 'Her backpack is stuck somewhere but I'll seal her suit first.'

'Good. I'm glad.' Asitha said and relaxed a little as she floated quickly through a small hall towards the front.

He pulled out a roll of grey tape from the storage bag at his front, tore off a piece, and put it over the tear in Tiness's suit while she slowly pulled her fingers away.

She let out a deep breath when her suit was temporarily sealed again. She turned on her helmet light and gave Alain a grateful smile. 'Thank you.'

He turned on his light to return a relieved smile, and examined her back to see where it was stuck. A sign attached to the rack had wedged itself between the pack and her suite but he freed her with some wriggling and pushing against her pack. 'She's free now.' he said to Asitha. 'I'll go with her to your pod.'

'Thank you.' Asitha said. 'I meet you there.'

***

'Luckily only your suit was torn and you didn't get hurt.' Asitha said as she looked at the torn arm, and smiled at Alain. 'I'm glad you had that tape with you.'

'I always carry it with me in case of an emergency.' he said. 'You never know when an accident can happen, especially with the damaged structure we have to work in.'

Tiness smiled softly at him. 'Thank you for rescuing me.'

He chuckled. 'You're welcome, but Asitha would have rescued you anyway.'

She put her hands on his. 'But you still broke the agreement to come for me.'

He blushed a little at her adoring eyes. 'Yeah, I didn't know if you were in a life threatening situation or not. Some things are more important than a political disagreement.'

Asitha sat back in her seat. 'I can't wait to find out how much trouble we'll get into.'

'I'll take the blame.' said Alain. 'It was me who entered the Amaroth.'

'But they'll want to know why you knew she was in danger.'

He pondered for a moment. 'Just say I was curious and happened to be there at the right time and place.'

'No!' said Tiness. 'I'll take the blame!'

Alain smiled at her. 'You didn't do anything wrong though.'

'Still.' she said and pouted.

Alain chuckled at her cute face, then looked at Asitha. 'Hang on, did you actually get an alarm when I crossed over?'

Asitha's eyes grew large when she realised she had not. 'I didn't.' she said and took the tablet from the side of the table. She typed on it and stared at it. 'The system didn't detect you.'

Alain raised his eyebrow. 'Is it broken?'

Asitha typed some more and shook her head. 'It's working fine.'

Alain hummed. 'How does it detect humans in the first place?'

'I don't know.' said Asitha. 'Some difference between us.'

Alain looked sideways at Tiness's suit draped over the free seat. 'I doubt it's movement, and it's hard to detect differences between us when we're inside our suits. There's no way to see or hear us.'

Asitha nodded and Alain gazed at her. 'Ah! Hearing! The system probably listens for radio communication, but because I talked to you on a shared channel it didn't register as a human specific communication.'

Asitha pondered it. 'That sounds plausible.' she said. 'I wouldn't be surprised it was that simple, they didn't want to spend much money on this recovery project.'

Alain folded his arms and nodded. 'Yeah, it's mostly a political stunt on our side as well. Something to distract the people with and look good for their political prowess.'

Tiness leaned on the table. 'But we're stuck here in the middle.'

Alain grinned. 'All the more reason to take what we can get and make the best of our time here.'

Asitha stood up and returned with a bottle and cups. 'I think we'll go with your suggestion and take things more easily. from now on. Tiness and I will work no more than a short distance from each other, I don't want to see another accident.'

Alain nodded. 'Good.'

She poured the drinks and looked at Alain. 'Also, I'd like to suggest we use our shared channel by default. I don't want to find out you've had an accident when we could have helped.'

He smiled a little. 'Thank you.'

Tiness smiled at him. 'I owe you one but don't make me pay back in the same matter.'

He chuckled. 'I'll try not to. I'd rather drink after a peaceful day.' he said and they toasted to that.

***

Tiness looked at the containers in Alain's storage closet. 'What would he like?'

Asitha moved up behind her. 'Thinking what to give your hero as a reward?'

Tiness giggled. 'I just want to show my gratitude and do something for him in return.'

Asitha chuckled. 'At least he's not like the usual hero in our home world stories and expects you to give your body to him.'

The image of Alain taking her for pleasures of the flesh popped up in her mind. 'He wouldn't!' she said and turned to Asitha. 'Or would he!? He knows a few things about Silth so maybe he thinks that's normal for us!?' She looked away. 'No, he isn't like that. Humans are different and he wouldn't expect that. He wouldn't even want to with me.'

Asitha chuckled. 'I was just teasing.' she said and smiled a little mischievously. 'But I'm not so sure he would turn you down when you offer. Why would he?'

Tiness took a container from the closet and stared at the label without reading it. 'I'm..' she said and imagined his reaction to her if he'd see her completely in the fur, then took more containers.'He would. He just would.' She placed the containers on the counter. 'He would pick you for sure if you offered yourself.'

Asitha's smile vanished. 'No, he wouldn't.'

Tiness turned around. 'He said you looked good.'

Asitha blushed. 'He also said you have pretty fur!'

Tiness blushed a little at the memory of his compliment. Asitha opened the containers and began cutting the meat. 'It's silly anyway, humans and us are too different and he said he prefers to look at women.'

Tiness nodded and cut the vegetables. 'Yes.'

***

Alain hoped the girls were comfortable being alone in his pod after he'd left them there to pick up the food they had asked for earlier. Despite knowing he had nothing embarrassing to hide like naughty photos or movies or dirty laundry laying about, he still felt a little nervous about what they might think of him and his place when he entered the airlock of his pod.

When he stepped into the large pod the sight of the two girls in their casual long Silth garments lifted his heart. Their shirts reached down to halfway their thighs and the word sexy lit up in his mind. "Idiot." he thought but he still took in the view of the feline creatures at the kitchen corner.

They looked back at him and he thought he noticed a little hesitation in their greeting. 'We already begun.' said Asitha. 'This time it's our turn to make something for you as well, so you can take it easy.'

He chuckled and stacked the extra containers and some glasses he picked up from one mess on the side of the counter. 'I'm looking forward to it.'

He sat down and began his daily routine of checking for changes in the Walkurea's systems and skimming over the logged messages but his eyes were drawn to the fluffy white and the red striped tails and their owners while they were cooking. He couldn't quite get the idea of stroking their tails and petting those two out of his mind. 'You're going to cause an interplanetary incident, you idiot.' he muttered as he redirected his attention once again to his tablet.

'What was that?'

He looked up startled at Tiness standing at the couch. 'What was what!?'

'I thought you said something.'

He sagged in relief that she hadn't heard. 'I was just talking to myself when I checked the systems.' he said and gestured at his tablet.

She smiled. 'Oh, okay.' she said and held up a glass. 'Shall I pour you a drink?'

'I won't say no to such an offer.' he said. 'Just be careful you're not going to spoil me.'

She giggled as she picked up a bottle from a cabinet Alain had found in another suite and made it home to his booze stash. 'You deserve it at least for now.'

He nodded at his approval of the whiskey she presented. 'Then I'll make full use of it.' he chuckled and followed her swaying curves and tail with his eyes as she returned to Asitha's side.

Asitha grinned a little. 'Keep it up and he will accept your offer when you do.' she said quietly.

Tiness blushed and chuckled. 'Hush, I'm not going to do that!' she said and continued with her task.

Alain put his tablet aside when he was done, started his music playlist, and took the opportunity while waiting for the girls to finish cooking to sort out his laundry and get the machine running. When he returned he noticed the girls' tails swaying in rhythm with the beat of the rock blues music playing. He chuckled and watched them until Asitha looked back at him. 'What?'

'It looks like you're enjoying the music.'

She chuckled. 'It has a catchy rhythm. What is this music called?'

He moved up to them and peeked at what they were doing and smelled the first scent of frying meat. 'This band plays mostly rock blues.'

'Rock blues?' asked Tiness.

'It's one of many genres we have in music. You'd have to listen to several songs to begin to understand the genre and the differences between them. Even when listening to a lot it's not always clear.'

'I like it.' said Tiness and swayed her hips. 'It is energetic.'

'One more reason to come over then.' chuckled Alain and snatched a carrot.

'Hey! No snacking before any meal!' Tiness said and pushed Alain towards the couch. 'Go do whatever you do and wait until we're done.'

Alain laughed. 'Yes, mum.' he said and made crunching noises on his way from chewing on the carrot.

He spent his time reading a weapon manual he'd found a short while ago in a mostly empty armoury because he was curious about the technology. He put it aside when the girls placed the first plates on the table and examined each one. 'If it tastes as good as it smells, marry me.'

'What!?' said Asitha and almost dropped the plate she held. 'Who!?'

He grinned wide. 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, as we say back home, and I agree. A woman who can cook well is a keeper. Two are a treasure to behold.'

Asitha blushed. 'You humans are strange.' she said and placed her plate on the table and returned to the kitchen where Tiness giggled as she finished the last of the courses.

When they all had settled on the couch Tiness picked a movie based on the title. It turned out to be a comedy about two strangers ending up in the middle of nowhere by accident, but as soon as the first romantic mood hit she was reminded again of Asitha's teasing and blushed. She glanced sideways and the stance of Asitha's ear told her something similar was on her mind. What Alain was thinking, she couldn't read from his expression but it seemed he just enjoyed the movie and thought nothing more of it. It put her mind at ease and she figured these kinds of things were everyday occurrences for humans. She figured she'd probably think nothing of it soon enough as well.

Alain tried not to compare the situation in the movie to him and the Silth girls. "Two strangers is not the same as two different species." he thought. "Besides, we're talking about movies and not reality." He glanced sideways at the girls. "I don't even compare to one of their own strong males." He tensed his body a little. "Maybe some extra training would be good."

By the end of the movie all three were left with a warm and cheerful feeling and Alain chuckled as he retracted the screen and turned on the music again. 'And they lived happily ever after.'

'They did?' asked Tiness.

He stretched. 'It's a stereotypical ending to old fairy tales in my world and sometimes it's used as a joke when the expectation is that the characters are going to end up fighting again after a while.'

Tiness giggled. 'Humans are silly.'

Alain grinned. 'You're definitely right about that.'

Asitha's tail quivered as she stretched. 'I can understand why our government is hesitant to open up to you humans, too unpredictable from our viewpoint.'

Alain chuckled. 'I don't blame them one bit.'

The girls gathered the food they prepared for the next cycles and Alain gazed at the amount they left behind. 'Are you sure to leave all this?'

Tiness gave him a warm smile. 'Take it as part of paying you back.'

'I think I won't have to cook much until you come by again, thanks.'

She giggled. 'Unless you eat everything at once.'

He grinned. 'I'm tempted to anyway, but I'll try to hold back and not burst out of my suit soon.'

The girls took their space suits but Tiness hesitated for a moment and hung it back, then turned to Alain. She suspected the drinks suppressed her normal behaviour but she didn't care, and she hugged Alain just as the woman had done with the man in the movie. 'Thank you for coming to me.'

His heart pounded at the unexpected hug but he hugged her back after a moment. 'As I said, no problem.'

She pulled back and blushed as she put on her suit and stepped into the airlock with Asitha. They waved goodbye when they rounded the pod and went towards their own pod along the Walkurea's hull. 'It's beginning to look like one of our stories now.' chuckled Asitha.

'I was just doing the same ritual humans do to express their thanks. You saw the movie.'

'I did, I did.' said Asitha and decided to wait to see what might happen for her amusement.

Tiness felt hot under the collar while her consciousness began questioning the boldness of her move.

Alain felt giddy when he dropped into his bed while the sensation of Tiness's softness lingered against his body. The resolve to not ask if he could pet and stroke them cracked.

***

'Crap.'

'Something wrong?' asked Asitha over the communicator a few days later.

Alain blew sweat from his nose. 'Not really, but I need to pull some some stuck debris out of the way for this task and it makes me sweat a lot.' he said and turned down the suit's cooling a notch. 'It makes me wish I could take a good and long relaxing bath but all I have is standard showers in the pods. Even the one in the new pod isn't much bigger.'

'The one we have now is a really good one. It's roomy and our fur is sprayed from all sides while we're floating. It simulates floating in water the way we like to do at home.'

Alain imagined his body getting sprayed by cool water. 'That sounds really great about now.'

She chuckled. 'Want to try?'

Alain blew another drop of sweat from the tip of his nose. 'Can I?'

'Yes. You let us borrow your kitchen, so why not borrow our shower?'

'I'll come over when you're done with your work.'

'All right.'

Alain pulled on a panel to bend it out of the way with renewed vigour from the thought of taking that luxurious shower.

***

Alain observed how Tiness worked the controls and explained their purpose. 'I think I get it.' he said and looked once more around the spacious shower cabin. 'Thanks for showing me.'

Tiness gave him a quick smile. 'I hope you'll find it as soothing as we do.'

He chuckled. 'I'm already convinced I will.'

She gestured behind her. 'I have to return to my work but take your time.'

'Thanks again.' he said and took the bag with his towel and change of clothes while Tiness donned her suit, then realised there was no changing room to undress in. He stepped back towards the airlock to ask Tiness but heard the hiss of its cycle. With both Asitha and Tiness working, he figured he wouldn't have to confront them with a close look at the human anatomy and undressed, although still quickly.

Inside the cabin he turned off the artificial gravity and turned on the nozzles which covered him in a cocoon of mist. Immediately, the sensation of floating in water rushed over him and he closed his eyes while every muscle in his body relaxed and sweat and fatigue washed away from him.

***

Asitha looked pleased at the container of equipment she had recovered in less time than expected. Some of them had become exposed and made for easier disassembling. She took the container and pushed it in front of her while she pushed herself towards the outside service hatch, and towards the probe waiting to return at the next scheduled departure. She secured it inside the short row of cargo compartments which made it look like a dragonfly with miniature containers along its body, and went into the crew pod to quench the thirst that plagued her during the last task.

***

Alain startled awake and panicked for a moment from disorientation before his brain kicked in and he remembered where he was. He relaxed again and took several deep breaths to energise himself, them rinsed himself in the mist of water after lowering the temperature a bit to a refreshing setting, and engaged gravity when he felt more clean than he'd done since arriving at the job.

He held on to a rung while his feet touched down on the floor and stepped out of the cabin in a cheerful mood. Asitha nearly spat out her drink of water when he stepped out bare naked in front of her.

***

Tiness laughed at the blushing faces of Asitha and Alain after she heard the reason why Asitha and Alain avoided looking at each other when she returned to the pod later. 'I guess there's not much more left to hide between us.' she giggled.

Alain groaned. 'If I knew this would've happened I would have spent more time in the trainer.'

'Trainer?' sniggered Tiness.

'A harness that provides resistance and simulates physical exercise.'

Tiness nodded and looked at Asitha. 'Good thing you weren't about to take a shower yourself.'

Asitha coughed. 'Don't make it worse.' she said and was really glad she hadn't indeed. She didn't like to think about what might have happened if he saw her in the fur.

Alain finished the drink Asitha had poured for him and herself to calm down after the first mutual apologies, and stood up. 'Thank you again for the use of your shower, it was a really good experience.' he couldn't quite suppress a chuckle. 'By which I mean the shower itself.'

Tiness smiled at him. 'Don't hesitate to make use of it again, even if this time it turned out to be a surprise. We'll just have to put up a sign or something.'

He chuckled once. 'Warning, close encounters of the naked kind.' he said softly, then gave her a quick smile. 'I don't want to impose too much, I was already happy to take this one.'

Tiness giggled. 'Well, if you dare to take another one let us know.'

They waved him goodbye as he left for his own pod and Tiness turned to Asitha. 'So tell me, how did he look? Are they anything like our males?'

Asitha blushed at the memory. 'I didn't really see.'

Tiness giggled. 'That's not what you look like. Was he that good to look at?'

Asitha looked up at her. 'No!' she said and averted her eyes. 'I mean, it wasn't bad.'

Tiness leaned closer. 'Come on, tell me, I'm curious.'

Asitha sighed. 'Fine.' she said and sat back in her seat. 'He only has some fur down there, and his, anatomy, is fully exposed.'

Tiness's eyes went wide. 'Exposed? How?'

Asitha tried not to focus on the memory. 'Just, exposed!' she said and poured herself another drink. 'I don't know how else to say it.'

Tiness sniggered and leaned back. 'Guess I'll have to wait until I accidentally get to see it for myself.'

***

'Asitha? Tiness? I think there's something you need to see.' said Alain over the communicator as he looked at the detection system of the Walkurea.

'Something bad?' asked Asitha.

'I don't know but an unknown vessel is coming our way.'

'We'll come over as soon as we're done here.'

The girls looked at the printout and the small rectangle with a dotted line crossing the position of the warships. 'It's not from either of our worlds?'

'The system can't identify it even if it can give probabilities from emissions from the vessel.' said Alain and tapped on another list with numbers. 'It's either a clump of various vessels from other worlds, or it's a completely new technology not based on any current ones. We can't tell anything from this.'

Asitha looked at Tiness. 'As far as I know we're not expecting anything soon from our side apart from the next cargo probe. That one is not due to arrive around this time though.'

Alain nodded. 'Same here. We'll just have to wait until it gets closer to find out what's going on. We'd better prepare to hide our close contact if it plans to arrive here.'

Tiness pouted. 'Does that mean we'd have to eat only our Silth food?'

Alain laughed. 'I hope that would be the worst thing that could happen.' he said and smiled. 'I propose compensating in advance, I brought containers with scampi for today, they're a popular seafood.'

Tiness pricked up her ears and licked her lips. 'I'm all for that suggestion!'

Asitha chuckled. 'I don't mind.'

04 - Fight or Die

'..body ... on the ship ... landing for repair ...'

'Ship troubles.' said Asitha. 'Earth crew.'

Alain turned down the volume on the transmission. 'Seems so. I tried contacting them but they didn't respond, which could be caused by damage to their communications.'

'How long?'

Alain looked at the printout. 'Just over two standard days.'

Tiness sighed. 'We'd better not make contact after today then in case they pick it up or see us on the hull.'

Alain twiddled his thumbs. 'Yeah.' he said and looked at the drooping ears of the girls. He imagined his ears would look the same if he were Silth and his chest tightened a little at the thought he couldn't see them for a while, depending on the troubled ship coming. He stood up from the couch. 'All the more reason to indulge ourselves now! Let's eat and drink and watch movies until we've had our fill!'

The girls' ears pricked up. 'You're right, let's have fun!' said Tiness and looked at Asitha. 'I'll help cooking, you set up the rest.'

Asitha chuckled. 'All right.'

Asitha had chosen a horror movie because she was curious to see what kind of alien scared humans, and Alain chuckled silently when Asitha crawled against his side after the morphing alien appeared in its hideous form made from other aliens. She blushed at the end of the movie when she realised she had held on to his arm. 'Sorry.' she said and sat straight.

Alain smiled. 'In our world, that's what men are there for. To provide a safe spot for scared women to hold on to during movies.'

One ear went sideways. 'Really?'

He chuckled. 'Well, we hope to be anyway.'

Tiness giggled. 'Then next time we watch something like this I want to sit next to you too.'

Alain took the remote. 'I'll start one that's even scarier.'

'Noo!' she said and reached for to the remote across Asitha's lap. 'One is enough for today!'

He laughed. 'Just kidding.' he said and gave her the remote. 'It's your choice.'

She took it and pouted. 'Bad human.'

He smirked. 'Then don't tempt me with getting wedged between two lovely women.'

The girls blushed and Tiness hit his thigh. 'Human males are really bad.' she said and quickly started the next movie.

Alain nearly dozed off and woke up with a nod. He looked at the girls and smiled softly at their peacefully sleeping faces. After a stretch to chase a little sleep from his limbs, he unfolded his wall bed, carefully lifted Asitha in his arms, laid her down on his bed, and did the same with Tiness. "I wonder if you'd let down your defence like this if we were the same species.? he though as he watched them for a moment. He pulled a sheet over them and settled on the couch to sleep.

***

Asitha woke up from a dream where she and Alain hid from a slimy alien monster and blinked her eyes until she could focus her vision and see she wasn't in her own bed. She pushed herself up and looked around at the dim pod remembering watching a movie as the last thing, and at Tiness sleeping next to her. Her bladder urged her to get out and she waggled to the toilet, returning later to see Alain sleeping tight on the couch. She smiled softly at him. "Did you put us to bed?" she thought and wished she'd been awake enough to remember that. She returned to bed and snuggled up with the pillow smelling of him.

***

'Hey, sleep well?' asked Alain when Tiness sat up and stretched.

She smiled sleepily at him cleaning up the couch. 'I want this big bed.'

He chuckled. 'I'd offer to let you use it but I'd like to sleep in it as well.'

A fragment of the dream she had of snuggling with him popped up. 'Of course.' she said and blushed.

He moved to the kitchen. 'I don't mind you borrowing it on occasion like this though. It's like waking up on a relaxed morning with friends or family for a day of leisure.' He turned on the water heater. 'Care for a bite to eat?'

'Please.' said Tiness and glanced at Asitha stirring and waking up. "It does feel that way, yes." she thought and smiled.

***

Alain couldn't recognise the class of vessel when it arrived but after a longer look he suspected he'd been right in his guess, the vessel was made from parts of different alien ships. The lower dish from the main hull came from a human explorer vessel but the larger dish on top was from another species, as were the two engines at the back between the dishes. He couldn't be sure but the turrets on top of the hull were from yet another civilisation.

He didn't like the feeling in his gut when it came to a standstill at a straight angle to the Walkurea and the top of the dish made it look like a moon at the horizon. Soon enough two space suits appeared and headed his way.

He opened the airlock and watched as the two figures in worn and patched suits stepped inside. They took off their helmets and the first thing that came to his mind was henchmen. The unshaven man with coarse black hair and thick eyebrows grinned at him. 'Hey there. We need some parts to fix our damaged ship. I'm sure you won't mind that we take the cargo drone as a contribution to pay for them.

'Hey now-' began Alain but the younger man with dark blonde long hair pulled a modified gun from his front pocket. 'Sorg said you won't mind. Then don't.'

Alain froze. 'This is military property, you can't just take it!'

Sorg laughed. 'And who'll tell? You're alone here and the Silth don't care about what happens as long as they're not bothered. If anything they'll get the blame for your death.'

Tiness gazed wide eyed at Asitha as they heard the conversation in their own pod. 'They're going to kill him!' she said while her heart pounded in fear.

Asitha drew marks in the table top with her claws. 'If we didn't have our open channel we'd never have heard of it.' she growled. 'We have to save him.'

'But what can we do?'

Alain gritted his teeth but he saw no way to overpower the two or call for any help that could arrive in time. Even if he'd taken the emergency pistol, he knew he'd be no match for an experienced shooter.

The younger one gestured with his gun for Alain to step back. 'It's going to be a while so you'd better relax and don't try nothing. You wouldn't want to spend your last day or two in pain, eh?'

'Hang on, Lio.' said the first. 'The captain wants him to guide us to every weapons locker to see if there aren't any accidentally left behind.' he said and grinned at Alain. 'Looks like you're going to earn being alive for now.'

'I've checked, there are no weapons on board.' Alain said.

'The captain says there's a weapon locker at the rear of the ship that has a specially hidden compartment for emergency access to weapons, and we're going to make sure whether it's been emptied or not since only a few select people know about it.' He gestured at Alain's suit. 'Get going.'

Asitha grabbed her tablet and opened a secure file. 'We need to get there first.'

Tiness saw the blueprints of the Walkurea on the screen. 'You have this information!?'

'It was given to me to be an advantage in case we got the opportunity to use it. And now we have an opportunity to use it to save Alain.'

***

'Are you leading us around in circles!?' said Sorg when Alain turned another corner and led Sorg and Lio through another corridor.

'Some power units were damaged during the impact. If you want to pass through lethal radiation be my guest. I'll take the safe detour.'

Sorg grumbled. 'Just hurry.'

Alain halted at a door near the back of the ship. 'Here.'

Sorg opened the door and looked inside the mostly empty room apart from a few empty racks at the walls. 'This doesn't look like an armoury.'

Alain shrugged. 'This should be it. I didn't design the ship, I just remove components.'

Sorg went inside and pulled out a scanner. It sent out a pulse and the screen pointed towards one of the racks. He moved closer and examined the sides. 'Get in here, there's a compartment behind this rack.'

Lio pushed Alain inside and Sorg gestured for him to take the other side of the rack. 'There are release mechanisms at the sides, pull them loose.'

Alain took the handle near the bottom of the rack and after a couple of jerks it moved, and the rack came loose from the coupling to the floor. The one on top was easier to free and he pushed the rack away from the wall with Sorg. Behind it was another door and Sorg examined it. 'No lock?'

'Maybe they thought it wasn't necessary or would get in the way if someone needed these weapons.' Lio said.

Sorg hummed in doubt but opened the door. The room beyond wasn't big and all that was left was a large steel chest at the back. He pushed himself towards it and fumbled with the latches to open it. 'What the.'

'What is it?' asked Lio.

Sorg held up a food container. 'This is Silth food.'

Lio leaned into the doorway. 'What do you mean, Silth!?'

The next moment he was hit hard from behind and tumbled and rolled towards Sorg. He caught a glimpse of a Silth space suit just before the door closed and he was trapped with Sorg.

'Thank you.' said Alain. 'You saved me.'

'To quote the last movie we saw, what else are friends for?' chuckled Asitha.

Tiness put her hand on his shoulder. 'I'm really glad we could set this trap just in time.'

Alain grinned. 'Good thing they took me along so I could talk to you in my suit without them noticing.' he said and knocked on the door. 'And a good thing there was this interference free room for electronic repairs near the back. They can't send or receive any signal.'

'What do we do about the rest?' asked Asitha.

'First we see if what they said is true and see if there's a hidden compartment at the armoury. If there happen to be weapons left behind I don't want them to get into their hands, and we can arm ourselves. Did any of you receive any training in weapons?'

'I had a brief military training and fired a weapon a few times.' said Asitha.

'I never touched one.' said Tiness. 'I wouldn't know what to do with them.'

'All right. I only have knowledge about them but never fired one, so we'll avoid a firefight as long as we can.' he said and went with the girls towards the armoury.

The armoury itself was empty and after a thorough search Tiness found a lever behind a narrow grate near the floor at the back wall. She pulled it and a section of the wall snapped forward. Alain pulled it open to reveal a walk-in closet stacked with arms and ammunition. 'Fucking crap on a stick! They were right!'

'What do we do with these?' Asitha asked.

'For now, let's box them up apart from one each that we'll keep for ourselves.' Alain said. 'Tiness, I'll give you one with an empty magazine so you won't have to worry about firing while still looking threatening enough.'

She was glad to not have to handle a dangerous object while not looking defenceless. 'Yes.'

'This is the last.' said Asitha and closed the last box with the closet's contents.

Alain secured one handle of the box to another with a short chain. 'Good. I think these are safest stored somewhere on the Amaroth where they won't suspect them.'

'I know a compartment at the impact zone where we can hide them between other debris.' said Tiness.

'All right, lead the way.'

***

'Think they'll have noticed by now?' asked Tiness while she looked at the bandit ship through binoculars from a window of one of the structures at the front of the Amaroth.

'If not, they'll suspect something soon.' said Alain. 'Then they'll come searching for those two guys and me.'

'We put the rack back, I doubt they'll ever find them.' said Asitha. 'There's a good chance they'll come to see us since they don't worry about killing.'

'Which means we'll have to take them out any way we can.' Alain said. 'Maybe I can get a peek at their systems.'

'How?' asked Asitha. 'You can't walk up to that ship and plug in.'

'No, but maybe I can connect remotely. Since that ship is made up from different parts it's highly likely they had to disable or lower security protocols to connect the different systems. That would create the hole needed to connect to their core infrastructure. I just need a few things from my pod.'

The three kept to the backside of the pod and out of sight of the ship, and Alain was glad it was still empty. He went around and into the airlock as quick as he could, retrieved his equipment, and returned to the girls quickly again. 'I have what I need. We can head over to an observation deck where I can target the ship without being seen.'

The girls followed him through the Walkurea and to a compartment with a reinforced glass dome large enough to sit under and get a view along the side of the warship. The bandit's ship could be seen from the side and Tiness noticed people working near the engine. 'So they really need repairs.'

'Which means they won't leave soon and need at least one or two men to do repairs while the rest might come after us.' said Asitha.

Alain opened up a terminal window on his portable workstation and probed for a remote connection. 'Got it!' he said. 'I was right, they had to disable security to make things work and never imagined it could become their weakness.' He typed several commands and other windows appeared with status views. 'The ship's name is Lady Wind, registered as a trading vessel at a lot of nations. They've been going around a lot apparently.'

'Trading is a good cover for robbery.' said Asitha.

'Looks like they're faking flight logs as well. Their arrival here isn't logged.' Alain said and checked another stream of data. 'Someone has stored crew photos. We can see how many of them there are.'

He ran a viewer on the data and it displayed the collection in sequence. 'Those two are Sorg and Lio, the ones we trapped.' said Alain and pointed them out.

'A dozen men.' said Asitha after several photos. 'The guy with the fat neck seems to be the captain.'

'That would be Don Sax according to the ship's manifest.'

'What's?' said Tiness, then growled at the photos appearing on the screen.

'They're worse than beasts.' growled Asitha.

Alain closed the viewer quickly. 'This is how low some people can go.' he grumbled. 'A thousand years in excruciating pain is too good for them. At least now we know we don't need to hold back.'

'Yes.' said Tiness between clenched teeth.

***

'What do you mean, disappeared!?' raged Don.

'We can't make any contact and Rodge and Sto didn't see any sign of them when they went around scanning the ship.' said Dural, his second in command.

'Then he must've gone to the Amaroth!'

'That should've triggered a reaction from the Silth. Their sensors would've detected him and set off an alarm.'

'There's a possibility that he made contact and they've turned off their sensors.' Don said and looked out towards the Amaroth from the bridge window. 'What's the procedure at an alarm?'

Dural thought for a moment. 'The Silth would send out a military vessel. Depending on how close one is, arrival would take at least two weeks for their fastest ship.'

Don turned towards him. 'Send men to the Amaroth. Kill the Silth after making sure they had contact or not.'

***

''Do you think those cats might be involved?' asked Sto on the way to the Silth pod after crossing the wreckage..

'I don't think so.' said Rodge. 'They're just way too happy to see us humans getting killed.'

'They'd like nothing more than us killing each other and then take over our territory.' said Fitch. 'Fucking beasts.'

Rodge chuckled once at the memory of how they played with the crew of a small Silth vessel a while ago before putting them out of their misery. 'Beasts, indeed.'

'Look!' said Sto when he spotted movement at the Silth pod. 'Those two are leaving.'

Rodge waved but didn't get a response. 'They didn't see us.' he said when the two suits moved towards the back of the Amaroth. 'Maybe for the better so we can surprise them.'

Sto sniggered. 'They'll be surprised for sure.'

One of the two suits went down into a service hatch while the other stood at the edge and hadn't moved while the three thugs approached it from behind. Fitch gave the suit a push against its shoulder. 'Huh?' he said when the suit bent forward while the feet stayed put. 'What's this?'

Sharp pain shot through his upper body while red streaks flashed in front of him. He turned around just in time to see Rodge and Sto roll forward with their suits full of holes and their blood making red trails, and a human and a Silth suit holding guns. Darkness enveloped him. 'Fu-.'

Alain and Asitha tried not to think of the images they'd seen when they pulled the trigger but it was futile. Alain felt his arms tingle all the way to his fingertips. 'You all right?' he asked.

Asitha took a deep breath to calm herself and told herself this was the right thing to do because they didn't deserve to live another second. 'Yeah. Trembling but all right.'

'I know how you feel.' Alain said and took her arm. 'Let's move before they send the next guys.' he said and glanced at the stuffed suit Tiness had used before its arm was damaged.

***

''Five down, seven to go.' said Tiness while she, Asitha, and Alain took a breather inside an emergency pod.

'Assume there are more.' said Alain. 'We can't be certain of how many there are of them from the few photos we saw.'

Tiness nodded. 'What's next?'

'What would they do now?' said Asitha. 'My bet is they want revenge and will hunt us down.'

Alain stared at the gun in front of him. 'I think so too. They can't kill us by destroying the warships, they're too big for that, so they can only come after us directly.'

'Hiding wouldn't be an option either. They won't leave before they see our blood.'

Tiness shivered and her ears went flat. 'I hate this.'

Alain pulled her head gently against his shoulder and stroked it while he racked his mind in search of solutions. 'We'll have to hunt them instead as a defence. Trap them although they're probably more wary of that now.'

Asitha checked the oxygen status of their backpacks hooked up to the pod's life support system. 'We have to be quick about it, we can't last for a long time on these emergency systems when they're mostly depleted.'

'Hit and run.'

She looked back at him. 'What?'

'We know these ships best. I don't think we can do more than hit them from a distance, then run for it and head towards a trap and hope they'll fall for it, if they come after us.

Asitha pondered for a moment. 'Yeah, not much else we can do with just the three of us.'

Alain looked at his arm display. 'Maybe we'll get lucky. My tablet's running a simple probe and logging of the Lady Wind's systems to find something I can use to manipulate their systems.'

Asitha chuckled. 'Send them with their ship into the sun.'

Alain, smiled stiffly. 'Yes.'

'Packs are full, Shall we make our first run and hope for the best?'

Alain nodded.

***

Alain checked his display. 'I activated the passive mode on all undamaged sensors in the ship to track their movements. We just need to be extra careful in the blind spots to prevent a nasty surprise on our end.'

'All right, can you see them now?' Asitha asked.

'I get movement at two sections but I can't say how many there are.' he said and pulled up a floor plan. 'The ship's a bit of a maze where this group is,' he said and pointed at the plan. 'if we can lure them here we can trap them in this corridor by one of us closing the section door behind them and the others closing this one in front of them.'

'You can override the locks?' Tiness asked.

'With the right code, yes.' he said and displayed the sequence of numbers. 'Remember this, it'll allow you to secure doors and only unlock them with this code.' The girls memorised the code and he looked at both of them. 'Ready?'

'Not really but we don't have the choice to stay put unless you feel like dying.' Asitha said.

Tiness clenched her fists. 'I'm scared but I trust your plan.'

Alain smiled gently at them and took them by their shoulders. 'I trust you to pull this off.'

***

Asitha and Alain drifted slowly along the corridor wall towards the corner where they should find one or more bandits at the end of the intersecting corridor. They stopped just before it and took a moment to prepare for the attack. 'Ready?' Alain asked.

Asitha put up her gun. 'Ready.'

Together they rounded the corner far enough to aim their guns and shoot at the three figures at the other end of the corridor. Bullets sparked along the surfaces near the bandits, missing their targets because Asitha and Alain weren't used to handling guns at a distance.

The bandits turned at once and returned fire, and Alain cried out when one bullet went right through the shoulder of his suit.

'Alain!' shouted Asitha and reached out for him.

He pushed himself away from the corner with his feet and covered the hole in front of his shoulder with one glove. 'I'm okay! My oxygen will last long enough to reach the trap!'

Asitha covered the hole in the back with her glove while they pushed themselves as fast as they could through the narrow corridors.

Sparks flickered on the wall next to them when they went through a bend. 'They're following!' said Asitha.

'Good.' said Alain. 'Tiness, get ready! There's probably three of them!'

'I am!' Tiness said and peeked through the small window of the door she hid behind. She watched Asitha and Alain pass and held her breath in anticipation of the bandits.

They jumped and pushed themselves aggressively in pursuit and Tiness jerked back when they passed her door. She counted to ten to be sure there were just the three following her friends, then opened the door and looked right and left. The short corridor was empty and she pushed herself to the section door at the junction.

Asitha and Alain almost crashed into the opposing wall at the junction at the end of the corridor. They turned to face their pursuers just as they came around the corner. 'They're fast!' Alain said.

'They must be used to this!' Asitha said and pushed herself to the section door controls. One of the men aimed his gun at her while he flew down the corridor and took a shot at her.

'AH!' cried Asitha when it hit the door post in front of her.

'Asitha!' shouted Alain.

'It missed!' said Asitha and punched in the door code as fast as she could with her gloves.

The door slid shut and the bandits grabbed the wall to stop. One of them turned around and spotted Tiness crossing the other end of the corridor. 'They're behind us!' he shouted and fired at once at her.

Tiness yelped when she saw the sparks flying and curled up into a ball to make herself small. She grabbed the door controls and punched the keypad quickly.

The panel blinked red twice.

'Shaz!' she growled and punched the code again. The panel blinked red again and she cursed furiously.

'What's wrong!?' said Asitha.

Tiness pointed her trembling finger at the keypad. 'My hand's trembling I'm pushing the wrong button!'

'Take a deep breath!'

Tiness shrunk again when sparks flew again and she saw the men coming fast at her. She bit her tongue to focus on her task and ignore her fear, and typed again.

The door shut as slow as a door could in her mind while more sparks flew close by her..One of the bandit's helmets slammed into the small window of the door and it got hammered by the butt of a gun. She jerked further back and expected the window to shatter but it held. 'It's closed!' she said and noticed how fast her heart raced and how the metallic taste of her blood filled her mouth.

Asitha pulled Alain towards her, took his tape from his pocket and covered the holes in his shoulder. 'How bad are you hurt!?'

Alain groaned lightly. 'Not too bad, I'll survive.' he said. 'Don't worry about me now, we need to get Tiness and get out of here.'

***

'Morons!' Find a way out of there!' shouted Don when he heard from his trapped men. He turned to the man next to him. 'Frenk! Drive them out and kill them!'

'On my way!' Frenk said and hurried to the shuttle bay of the ship with two other men.

Don went over to the communications panel and opened the standard broadcast channels. 'I don't know who you are but you have nowhere to run.' he said while holding back most of his anger. 'I will find you and your Silth pals and make you regret not accepting your inevitable fate.

***

'Fuck!'

'What is it!?' asked Asitha.

Alain tapped on his arm display. 'I'm getting movement from all over the ship at both sides!'

'What does that mean? The sensors are broken or they're blocking them?' Tiness asked.

'I get no interference on the sensors, which means something is moving in large numbers.'

Asitha stared at Alain. 'Hunter drones!'

Alain looked at her. 'I'm afraid you're right. They're scanning actively for us now.'

'Can't we hide?' asked Tiness.'

Alain shook his head. 'They're not fast but they're usually very powerful scanners. They'll find us unless we're out of their range outside the hull or in a secure room like where we locked the first two scumbags in.'

'The Amaroth has one.' said Asitha while she searched the blueprint of the warship.

'That still leaves going there and them not knowing where we went.'

''Can we move along the hull then?' asked Tiness.

Alain nodded. 'But we'd have to move along the other side from their ship.'

'Then we should go right now.' Asitha said.

'Yes. Follow me.' said Alain and pushed himself away.

Alain led the girls to the nearest exit out of the Walkurea away from the bandit's ship, and they pulled themselves along the hull as quick as they could towards the Amaroth. Asitha looked back when a growing sense of unease welled up in her gut and saw a flickering near the middle of the ship's length. 'They saw us!' she said and Tiness and Alain looked back to see someone flying towards them on a scooter.

'Shit!' grunted Alain.

'That thing's too fast! We won't reach the Amaroth in time.'

'But if we go inside we'll get caught by the hunter drones.' said Tiness.

'And we're not trained enough to hit them if we shoot.' grumbled Asitha. 'We have no way to stop them.'

Alain stared intensely at the flickering dot of the scooter's thrusters firing.

'We'll have to take our chances with the drones and try to evade them.' said Asitha and turned to move to the nearest entrance hatch.

'Wait!' said Alain and typed quickly on his arm display. 'Fire some shots to his right when I say so!'

Asitha hesitated for a moment, then braced herself to the hull with her feet under a rung and aimed her gun at the scooter. 'All right, I trust you.'

Tiness clutched her empty gun and looked from the scooter coming fast to Alain typing, and back again. 'Please hurry, whatever you're doing.'

Alain focused on the scooter. 'Get ready to shoot.'

'Yes.' said Asitha and tensed.

Alain held his finger above his arm display. 'He needs to get closer.'

'Don't make it too close.' grunted Asitha.

'It's them indeed! They're not running!' said the bandit and increased his scooter's speed with another burst from the rear thruster. 'They know they're fucked!'

'Don't kill them yet, Syl!' said Frenk and turned his scooter around. 'We're coming to you!'

"Doesn't mean I can't make them shit their suits in seven colour." Syl thought and aimed his scooter at the three.

'He's getting close..' hissed Tiness and held her breath for anything that might happen in the next few moments.

Alain tensed his whole arm while his mind kept calculating the distance and fighting the urge to trigger the trap too soon and fail. 'Closer..' he grunted. 'Closer..'

'Now!' he said and tapped hard on his display.

Asitha unleashed a spray of bullets to the left of the scooter.

'Fuckers!' shouted Syl at the sparks to his right and fired the thrusters to evade the bullets.

He looked forward again only to see the edge of a missile hatch rising directly in front of him. 'FU-´

The girls and Alain watched the small explosion against the missile hatch with satisfaction. He exhaled hard. 'Shit, it worked.'

Asitha relaxed a little. 'I don't want to experience that again.' she said, then caught a glimpse of light flickering. 'Shaz! More coming!'

Alain looked at the distance to the Amaroth. 'Hurry! We have to go!'

They scrambled to the Amaroth across the impact wreckage and went into an open bay door. 'This way!' said Asitha and led them along the side wall of the bay.

'They're here!' cried Tiness when she looked back at the scooters entering the bay.

'Which way to the secure room!?' asked Alain.

Asitha pointed at a doorway in front of them. 'Through there!'

She went through first and Alain stopped to help Tiness get through, then hit the emergency button to close the door. 'Alain! What are you doing!?' asked Tiness.

'You go and hide! I'll lead them away!' he groaned and moved along the wall to the other side of the bay.

'You can't do that!' shouted Asitha. 'They'll kill you for sure!'

Alain stopped biting back on the pain since he was shot. 'I'm dead anyway.' he groaned. 'I've been losing blood fast enough to not last much longer. I don't even have that much oxygen left.' He looked back with satisfaction at the scooters changing direction towards him. 'I'm glad to have met you.' He muted their mutual channel. 'It's just me now..' he grunted and moved as quick as his nearly depleted energy allowed.

Frenk manoeuvred his scooter in front of Alain just after he entered a smaller cargo bay, and his blood boiled to make the nuisance suffer. 'You're done for.' he grumbled.

Alain slumped back and let go of his grip on the wall rungs. 'I know.' he replied via the broadcast channel. 'Nothing you can change about that.'

The other scooter stopped next to Frenk. 'The captain wants him alive.'

Frenk let out a single laugh. 'This one's dying here. The other two will be enough to satisfy our revenge on.' he said and pulled out his gun. 'But first he'll tell us where Sorg and Lio are.'

Alain chuckled and coughed. 'No, he's not.' he said. 'It won't matter to them anyway by now.'

Frenk aimed his gun at Alain. 'All the more reason to make your final moments as painful as possible.'

Frenk tensed the trigger but a cargo picker crushed him with the scooters and his fellow thug against the bay wall. Alain smiled when he saw Tiness step unsteadily out of the picker, and his vision turned black.

***

'Any sign of them?' grumbled Don.

Dural tapped on the communications console. 'Nothing.' he said. 'I think we'd better consider them lost.'

Don stomped on the armrest panel of his seat. 'Fuck! How much longer until you fix the engine!?'

'Couple more hours.' came the reply a moment later from the engineer. 'The only thing left that could mess up the controls to the engine is the internal control circuit and I need to replace that completely.'

Don stomped his armrest again.

Dural noticed movement on one of the screens with a view of their surroundings. 'Hang on! Someone's coming!' he said and zoomed into the two people moving along the Walkurea's hull. 'It's Frenk and Gust! Their suits are a mess!'

Don rushed over to the screen. 'Shit! They must've taken a beating.' he grumbled. 'But for them to come back must mean they dealt with those pests.'

The two staggered into the airlock a short while later and Don and Dural helped them inside the ship. 'What happened!?' Don asked. 'Did they do this to you!?'

The two turned and removed their gloves while Don and Dural unsealed the helmets and took them off. They froze when they saw Asitha and Tiness glaring at them with raging fire in their eyes, unsheathe their lethal claws, and bare their sharp fangs.

***

Tiness stared out of the pod window at the Lady Wind. Asitha moved up next to her and handed her a drink. 'Nothing else we can do.'

Tiness nodded slowly while she held the glass with two hands. 'Of all the remotest places to get sent to, we meet a human, become friends, and then all this happens.' she said and took a big gulp to feel the heat burning down her throat.

Asitha sighed. 'Even if you or I wasn't here, something bad would still have happened. Maybe even worse if we hadn't taken them down in the end.'

'I just wish the price we paid wasn't so heavy.'

Asitha looked back at Alain lying on an emergency bed with a portable health monitor next to him. 'Humans are pretty sturdy.' she said. 'He'll pull through in the end.'

***

Alain woke up feeling so groggy he was nearly glad for the worst headache in his life keeping him from falling back into a coma. He groaned from the strain of turning his head to see where he was but all he could make out were blurry splotches of colours.

'Alain?' asked a shimmering white shape.

He opened his mouth but nothing more than a faint wheeze passed before everything turned dark again.

***

When Alain woke up again he sensed he was in a slightly better shape than before. He took his time getting used to the headache and the slow activation of his body. After a while he opened his eyes and most of the blurriness was gone. He turned his head and saw Tiness sitting at the table of their pod.

She noticed the movement from Alain and rushed over to him. 'Alain? How're you doing?'

He gave her a faint smile. 'More or less alive.' he whispered.

She gave him a relieved smile. 'We raided your medical supplies and found this device and the instructions.' she said and gestured at the portable box next to him. He recognised it and noticed the attached pad strapped to his thigh which would seep medication into his skin. 'Then all we could do was wait and hope for the best.'

He looked up at her and barely smiled again. 'Thank you.'

She laid her hand on his chest. 'You were willing to save us. It's us who thank you.'

Memories of the last moments came back. 'What about?'

She looked away in the direction of the Lady Wind. 'We took the suits from those guys at the bay.' she said and shuddered. 'Using those we deceived them and entered their ship, then made sure they didn't survive.'

Alain thought it best not to ask about it until they were ready to tell more themselves.

She gave him a quick smile again. 'All we did since then was stay here in shifts to keep an eye on you. Asitha is working right now.'

'I'm really glad to have met you two.' Alain whispered.

'So are we.' Tiness said softly.

Alain noticed a part of his body that slowly became more active and needed attention. 'I'm also feeling hungry.'

Tiness laughed and grinned at him. 'I'll warm up something easy to digest.'