OOC:  First off, sorry in advance for the firefly reference but I HAD to do it.  I would apologize to my uncle for making him into his dog... but he'll never know.  Anyway, yeah.  Ship has a skeleton crew of 6 and can hold up to twenty so if you wanna join up or just be some kinda paying passenger or something...   lemme know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sibko Orbit 

M02D10:950:1650H

The dead calm of space had already been shattered by the
unprecedented attack on a passenger vessel, though the far side of the planet
was still unaware of the event.  Among
the sparse scattered orbital docks a few ships skittered back and forth.  Some tiny recon ships patrolling for
undocumented vessels, other held sleek futuristic lines and shiny metal
surfaces the ships of private independently wealth people or business
owners.   And then came the cargo vessels
and salvage privateers, who's ships tended to appear as if they were disintegrating
in flight.

One in particular seemed to be starting to leave orbit, it's
surface looked as though it may have been white at one time but only flecks of
it remained, the rest the barren matte gray of the hull's metal.  The front had three distinct holes, two
appeared to be the underneath intakes for who knew what particles and possibly
doubling as air intakes for atmospheric travel. 
The third was large and centered, the rectangular indent seemed to glow
and could have been where the sensors and such were contained and protected
in.  Above that the rather large viewing
area of the pilot's area was visible with a rather determined looking tan
Vulpoid with large ears who seemed to make her fingers dance over controls while
maintaining one hand on the control stick.  
The ship appeared to be around a hundred meters long and possibly thirty
or forty meters wide and tall.  Both
spacial and atmospheric engines in the aft section of the vessel.  One of the forward engine intake nacelles
read "S8183 Murrieta.

The inside of the ship was laid out very compact, only the
bridge and kitchen area's had enough room for any kind of meetings.  It was room enough as the crew complement was
almost two dozen and they barely had half that number.  But what they did have a very large array.

The Murrieta’s Captain was a rather excitable and colorful
little Sibken Canoid man who seemed to be suffering a mid-life crisis a little
early.  Robert Buraczenski was usually
seen buzzing all over the crammed vessel, sitting still only to sleep.  Getting
in the way of the overly energetic German Pointer usually resulted in being run
over as he never quite seemed to be paying attention to what he should be.  

Her first mate was rather his antithesis, a massive grey wolf
standing nearly seven feet high with shoulders that barely fit into the ships
corridors.  Kane Onaskatew was a literal
throwback from another time.  He was a
pureblood Kydane and was rumored to be one of those at the center of a
Kyzarie's Civil war so many years ago. 
He never seemed to rush anything, his voice was low, gruff, and
intimidating; the massive sword he kept in his quarters more so.  Whatever his attire he insisted on wearing a
large white mantle that only exacerbated his already threatening appearance.

Her doctor, Myca Bant, was another throwback, this time a
self described "Mesric runaway".  
Like Kane he looked past his prime with graying fur, only with the
coyote's brownish fur it seemed to show much more than his wolven
counterpart.  He and Kane seemed to have
a history, though neither would go into detail on it, and always seemed to be
in a state of disagreement.   Bant very
much belonged on the fringe of space, he even insisted on wearing a cowboy hat
and duster to 'complete the image'.   His
speech had a decidedly southern hint but he was friendly enough and would
dispense advice whether you wanted it or not.

The pilot was Samantha Evans, do not ask her age, ever.  Probably the only member that could in any
fashion be called sane.  A very level
headed Fennec that managed to minimize the damage done by the conflicting
personalities, act as a mother to the two teenage whizkids maintaining the
vital systems,  make the meals safe for
consumption, and all while keeping the ship on course.

The person keeping the ship from falling apart physically
was new.  In every way.  He’d been 'found' by Sam during a mission on
Cirro years ago and seemed a capable tinkerer. 
Robert had objected on the grounds that he was 'done with having kids
tear up his ship'.  He was of course
overruled by Sam as the boy needed a home and they needed free repairs, and so Kieran Baxter the antler-less fanged deer came to join the crew; leading to many
many horrible puns and nicknames at the hands of the rest of the crew.

The last member is the computer techie of the bunch, another
of Sam's personal projects who they picked up again in some ruins on
Cirro.  This time however the youth was
Kydane and has to this day never told anyone about his life.  Tobias Droegemeier was rather stocky for a lepoid and it was obvious from day one that the peculiar
yellow furred rabbit was a mess.  He had
been nearly mute when they found him and just when it seemed, Lori, the
previous engineer had pulled him out of his turmoil she was killed during a
mission on Kyzarie.  This time it was
another member of the crew, John Kinnear, that somehow pulled the brooding
teenager back to sanity, but only just before departing from the ship
himself.  Toby had initially hated the newcomer Kieran,
seeing him as a replacement for Lori and resenting that fact LOUDLY.  But over the years
mellowed and has actually started to like the odd newbie.

*KA-THUNK*

Samantha looked up from a display, her eyes rolling back
watching something metal fly past the window.  
A lanky Pointer grabbed the back of her seat and jutted his nose past
one of her ears at lightning speed. 
"What was that?  Was that
part of my ship?  Did part of my ship
just fall off?"  The fox sighed,
blinking very slowly, "I think that was the primary buffer panel...
Captain." 

"No.. no, my ship doesn't fall apart.  If it falls apart, someone took her
apart."  The Canoid yelped eyes
widening as he darted over to a panel and smashed the button.   "BAXTER!  My ship is falling apart!  Where are you!"

A rather distracted sounding voice replied, "Rob?  My quarters.. 
It's past 4:30, I'm off duty."  

If he could have turned red he would have, bellowing into
the mic with his nasally voice, "You ain't in school you lazy ass
kid.  Sammy brought you on my ship, but I can
throw you out just as easy.   You go see
what fell of my ship, and then you see how much've're pay it's going to take to
replace it."  Before the voice could
reply he turned the panel off and walked back to the pilot seat in a huff.  "Why I let you take those two on my ship
is beyond me.   Few years outta diapers
and ya think they can fix my ship."

The Fennec giggled lightly, "For all we know that
Cervoid is older than you are, Captain.  Don't
be s'hard on them, they're only
boys."   Robert snorted as a faint
beeping could be heard on other station to the rear of the bridge being manned
by a wolf so large it seemed he preferred to stand at his station rather than
use the small chair shoved into the corner. 
"Boys nothing you know what I caught your boys doing in-"  "Captain,"  His impending tattling was cut-off by the
Lupoid looking up from his station, "I am sorry Captain, but we are
receiving an automated distress beacon from the far side of the planet.  A passenger ship has been attacked."

A quizzical look came over the dog's features he wrinkled
his nose and shook his head, "Nah, what’s that got to do with us.  Attacked? 
Like as in warships?  Kane you
ain't on some fancy Kydane battleship anymore,. 
I got pieces falling off my ship and little kids puttin' 'em back on.  I
ain't about to go starting fights with either those two crazy types."

"I am sure there would be compensation for simply
helping with the rescue efforts.  The
Sibken ships will deal with the attackers."  Kane said pointedly in his gruff style.

Robert grunted, "Nope, my ship, no.  We lost time on Sam's charity already, ain't
going to lose no more.  We got business
on Mesric."

"Robert, we came here to try to help Toby get over his
resentment of John leaving, and I think you did very well with that.  Kane is probably right about the compensation
to but you're forgetting something." 
The fennec said coyly motioning to a display of the disintegrating
passenger ship.   The Pointer walked over
and looked at it, "Like what?"  Sam smirked and ran a finger over the ships hull, "How many buffer
panels you think that ship has?  I'm sure
they will extend salvage rights to a team that altruistically offered
humanitarian aid in a crisis."

If the man's iris's could have morphed into dollar signs
they would have, his face brightened and he scampered over to the radio panel
again, gleefully hitting the button. 
"Hey Fangy!  Where you
be?"

"Um...  
calculating the cost of a new buffer panel... sir."  The reply was indignant from an obviously
pissed off young man.

"Nevermind that, we got plenty of those to salvage
after we babysit some well-ta-dos!  We
need to get ready to take 'em off a crashing 'Liner."  The thought of salvaging a whole ship full of
rich passengers still singing in his head the Captain seemed to forget his last
conversation with the deer.

"WHAT?!  Rob that’s
going to require us to extract people from that thing while crashing into the atmosphere!"  The reply was enraged and squeaky as the
deer's voice broke at several points.

"Yup!  You better
get us ready!  10 minutes, Bambi, take
Thumper and get started!"  Rob was
literally singing by the end of the statement barely giving time for Kieran to
get out, "You $#@-" before he turned off the radio.  "Sammy, get us there yesterday.  Lets see who we can pull off, oh and monitor
the breakup for large fragments we can move in on ASAP."

"Already done Ahab. 
You might wanna inform Bant we'll probably have some injured coming onboard."  Sam snipped out her fingers dancing over the
controls, switch the control stick from right to left hand without missing a
beat on the touch panel.  The ship
lurched noisily as they turned to fly around the planet.

     Having, seemingly, come home tired from his meeting with Tobias, John Kinnear lay asleep upon his bed. His wife, Athena Kinnear sat in a chair next to him, idly staring at her snoozing husband. She was wearing one of his shirts over one of her night gowns, the shirt being large enough to make her look decent. She held a mug of steaming coffee in her hands, occasionally taking a sip. She couldn't help but think that this was the most peaceful that she had seen John in a long time. The Rodoid woman loved her husband deeply, and so she felt a sense of renewed vigor at the sight. She curled her fluffed tail around her lap as she waited for her husband to wake.

     Finishing her own cup of coffee, she set it upon a dish on the bedside table, grasping another that had been on the plate as she did so. When she turned back, she saw John staring back at her. A wave of energy washed over her, at the sight of her awakened husband, a large goofy grin appearing on her face. "Good morning, sleepy head!" she said with glee, "I made you coffee!" She thrust the mug forward, spilling most of the liquid on John in the process. Her husband stared at her a while, covered in hot coffee.

    "What's got you so giddy, today?" Mr. Kinnear asked quizzically.

    "Nothin'. Why?" asked Mrs. Kinnear in response, tilting her head to the side.

    "What is the atomic mass of palladium?" asked the man, an eyebrow raised.

    "One hundred six point four." replied the squirrel woman quickly and precisely.

    John reached up and rubbed his wife's head, tussling her platinum locks. "There's my wife." said the man with a slight grin, "Now give me my shirt and put something of your own on." Athena removed John's shirt and moved to her dresser, removing a white blouse and a pair of denim jeans, and promptly dressed herself. After she had redressed herself she spun on her heel to face her husband who was now sitting up in the bed. She placed her hands behind her and grinned widely at her husband. "Do you remember-" she started to say before a light passed by the window, causing her to completely loose her train of thought.

    "You were saying?" John offered with a slight chuckle.

    "Oh, right!" she shouted, pounding her fist in her hand, "Do you remember the day we met?" He expression went from one of glee to a more sultry one. She strode up to the bed and plopped down next to John, her face taken over by an expression of childlike curiosity.

OOC: First off, I hope that I portrayed John right, second... My skill in this kind of thing slightly disturbs me...

It was quite literally the first time he'd not wanted this.   Dealing with the defiant teenage had been mentally exhausting and soul crushing.  He'd known when he left the Murrieta it would be hard on Toby, but after the transfer there was simply no way he could continue keeping up with the privateer lifestyle.   Granted part of him wanted to rejoin them, but his place was here now with Athena, they'd even discussed a child so there was simply no way he could returned.

"It's not like I EXPECTED any different.  Rico did it and he always seems to take after you, he just beat you TO IT this time!"

The young rabbit's words came back, hitting him like a lance.  He felt his heart sink into his stomach, ears dropping as his demeanor seemed to crawl on the floor.   The floor, with the bugs and filth, is that where he belonged?  Sam had told him of the events transpiring after he left, how she'd taken the helm and the empty hole left by Lori remained for years even after he left.  It didn't sound like his sacrifice had done anything, not even the spirit of White Tail itself was easing the pain of the last son of Underwood.  The boy had been through hell and back, and there was yet more betrayal he didn't know about.  John had thought about telling him, the boy couldn't hate him anymore after all, but he couldn't.  More deception would have been more than the adolescent's mind could take.  He gave a helpless sigh, "He strides through grasslands, Uncaring of his fur or his face, Protecting his own with an uncommon pace.  Caring not about politics, war, color, race nor ideals, The Warden doesn’t even seem to care for his meals.  The Warden protects, the Warden lives. The Warden very simply is...   Verse 181..."

He looked over at Athena, her own expression growing more serious seeing his depression coming on.  "I'm... sorry.  I didn't hear you, hon.  It's...  been a rough few days.  Part of me, thinks I've failed as a Warden."  He swallowed, feeling his eyes starting to water.  He forced his chin rigid, damming and suppressing it.

      Athena could feel her husbands sorrow welling up, causing her to worry. She grabbed the rabbit's chin and forced him to look at her. "We met at a cafe in town. I was sitting at the next table over and noticed you. I thought you were a handsome playboy." she said, an embarrassed smile appearing on her face.

      "You might have been right about that." John responded, grinning weakly.

     "I was right!" said Athena, an exaggerated frown crossing her face, "You were a horrible flirt!"

     "Your words stab like knives, hon." replied the rabbit, faking pain.

     "But I didn't know that then." she continued, smiling, "You had gotten some of your food on your face, and without thinking about it, I had come and licked it off of you." She giggled aloud, finding the memory amusing.

     "Our first kiss. If I recall, everyone stared at us, and your friends were gasping in shock." Athena's husband recalled.

     "You went on to say, 'Usually I ask for a drink first, hon.'" said the squirrel in an exaggerated male voice. He countenance took on a sympathetic appearance. "What I'm saying is... If I fell in love with you after all of that, there's still hope for you and Toby. You just have to grab it." Athena leaned in and kissed her husband. Johns melancholic expression returned, however. He thought of the crisis that Toby must have been going through. "It doesn't always work out as sunny as we'd all like, toots." the rabbit said with a sigh, the word toots drawing a chuckle out of his wife. She regained her composure and stood from the bed, pulling her husband to his feet.

     "You can't stay in the past forever, no matter how much you would like." she said, a sultry expression on her face, "Kick and scream all you like, the waves of time will always pull you in one direction or another. It's all a matter of which way you swim. Now, I say we go for a night out on the town!" As she said this, her stomach growled which would have caused her face to turn red if it could do so.

     "You were just hungry, weren't you?" John asked with a sardonic smile.

     "Maybe just a little." she replied, giving a sheepish smile. The sun was starting to rise on the side of the planet where John and Athena resided. A new day, and new problems, but they had each other, and that was all they needed.

OOC: Alright, let's move things along a bit here...

IC:

-Epoch Genesis, Bridge-

"What do you mean, you sent out a distress signal, Savage?! WHO ASKED YOU TO SEND OUT A FREAKING DISTRESS SIGNAL!?"

Deacon was glad that the captain wasn't riding him for once, but the Pomeranian at the wrong end of his verbal bashing now, Kaitlin, was just uncalled for.

"One of the pods just launched and there's still at least a hundred people on board, ten of them crew!" she squeaked back. "We need help!"

The lion tugged his hat impatiently over his mane. "Urgh... DAMN it all!!"

*KA-BOOM*

Another explosion rocked the ship, sending the captain reeling from impact. The bridge shook especially violently, and sparks flew from several mounted consoles as they blew out.

"Crap! Our communications are half-shot!" growled the badger manning the controls there.

"GET TO FIXIN' THEM!!" the captain roared at him.

---------------

-Elsewhere, on another ship’s bridge-

A few people were manning the controls. With the area dimmed, it made it difficult to see their colleagues, although they have no problems with their respective lit stations. Two figures sat in two seats in the center of the bridge, talking amongst themselves.

“Looks like they’re nearing the end of their rope. If they don’t land now, then they’re dead. Of course, that’s assuming they don’t burn up in the atmosphere first,” said the one on the left.

“With the shape they’re in, it’s bound to happen. No Kydane ship’s gonna enter this part of space with us around. Especially one with an Enforcer on board,” replied the other on the right.

A display opened in front of one of the figures, displaying diagrams of the Epoch Genesis, along with a scrolling list of passengers.

“You still don’t know which one is the Enforcer, do you?”

“It doesn’t matter. Better to destroy the whole lot of them. It’s called ‘process of elimination.’”

“You’re too cruel. He wouldn’t really appreciate it, though.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it… hmm?”

The first figure paused as one of two the crew turned towards it. “Our sensors are picking up another ship in orbit. It’s approaching from the east.”

“Your orders?”

The first figure made a thoughtful noise. “I think we should cut this party short for now. I think we’ve done enough damage, don’t you?”

“I dare to think so,” the second answered. “They’re on their last legs, anyway, and it wouldn’t be good if we got caught.”

“Very well then.” The first figure motioned to the two crew members. “You know what to do then, yes?”

“Aye.”

------------------

-Back on the Genesis-

Kaitlin stared at her screen for a full thirty seconds. “Captain, you won’t believe this; the enemy is… retreating!”

“Yeah, and somehow we’re also getting a hailing signal, too,” the communications badger grumbled.

“FINALLY, SOME $*#@!ing progress!” the captain roared yet again. It was unimaginable how he managed to stay so loud for so long. “Try and get a channel open, you hear, Cratchett? Smith… Smith? SMITH?! Why’re we sinking?!”

“Dammit, there’s no way I can keep ‘er flyin’, Captain. We’ve no choice but to land, we’re being pulled into the atmosphere, anyways.”

“What about the evacuation?”

“Going crappily,” piped up Kaitlin glumly. “One of our pods seems to have launched prematurely and has already crashed onto the surface…”

Everything went silent for a moment, the ship rocking steadily as Deacon struggled with the steering.

The lion banged his fist on the back of the human’s chair. “AND YOU’RE TELLING ME THIS NOW?! How many are left?!”

“… Four. Another has just taken off…”

------------------------

-Elsewhere on the Genesis-

“You’ve got to be kidding me!!”

Kenneth’s face was pressed against the glass as another one of the craft’s smaller ships, an escape pod, headed towards the atmosphere and glowing brightly as the heat around it built up.

Kiri managed to yank him away from the window. “Kenneth, what’s wrong?”

“Another one just up and left. Hardly anyone was on it,” Ken reported. “This isn’t what I was bargaining for at all.”

“‘Course not,” snapped Aria, jabbing her middle finger at him. “You just had to drag us along for the ride, and NOW look at the trouble we’re in!”

“… Aria,” Kiri said in a scolding tone, “That’s uncalled for!”

“I know you feel the same way, so don’t give me that!”

The ship rocked again. Everything seemed to freeze.

“What’s happening?” Kiri started, orange eyes darting left and right. Her head was one of several turning towards the windows lining the corridor. The surface of the planet was slowly, but surely rising towards them.

At once, renewed panic set in, and people started shoving about in all directions, making it difficult for Kenneth, Kiri, and Aria to push their way through.

“Where are you goin’ now, Ken?” Aria had to shout. “The pods are this way, you know!”

“Didn’t you memorize the diagram? There are only three on this side. If we wanna make it off and find the kids, we’ve gotta go to the other side.” Kenneth looked back at the rabbit and fennec hybrid. “Well? At least we’ll have a chance.”

Kiri nodded without hesitation; Aria just snorted, “Well, this better not get us killed!”

--------------------

-Sibko, on the surface-

“… Where the hell are we?” Violet eyes looked about with extreme dislike at what they were taking in. “This place looks like a dump. Hey, Ironing Board, what do you think?”

This earned him a punch from the orange rabbit next to him with the fennec-cat girl looking on in shock. “SHUT IT, Leon!” she snapped, steel gray eyes alight with fury. “Don’t start it now! Not when we’re… lost…”

To the other teens’ surprise, the sunglasses-wearing white cat stood first, expression impassive. “Get up. Someone’s already called for law enforcement.”

“Kaien,” the orange rabbit said with furrowed brows, “Nel’s still shaken. Give her some time.”

“Tch, who died and made you boss?” Leon linked his fingers together behind his head. “What makes you think I oughta listen to you?”

“Someone’s coming right now.”

"We are coming in range now, Captain."  Kane stated in his low punctuating tone.  Rob smiled leaning over the opposite side of
the console, "Wow..  she's a
beaut'!"  He jumped back and wheeled
around to Sam's cockpit view and turned his head suddenly, "Wassat?"

Sam sighed, "Should I attempt to contact the
ship?"

Rob waved her off "Whatever...  I saw som-"  "Captain, ship coming out of the
lightspeed."  Kane barked out
suddenly.  The smaller canoid snapped his
finger and pointed at the wolf, "Told ya. 
Let’s get outta here before they see us."

Kane seemed busy, rattling off suddenly, "It is a large
vessel, approximately six hundred meters in length.  They must have some kind of energy shielding,
I cannot get any reading on their internal makeup; however, the Kydane records
Tobias... recovered register it as the Odyssey.  We should use caution as it is the flagship
of a renegade group of Sodalitas followers."

Robert groaned, "aah, Kydane...  great. 
Then ya should be the FIRST one wanting outta here, weren't you with
those Servi loonies?  Don't care if it's
Kyzarie's nutjobs or some new version of 'em; I'd think they both have a price
on you."

Sam looked concerned, "Renegades?  What are they doing here?  Even if they're split from the Wardens they
can't seriously expect to find help here. 
I'm with the Captain; this is getting too danger-"  "Incoming transmission."  The wolf cut her off pushing a few buttons on
his console and motioning Robert over. 
The dog winced and slunk over, peeking over at the monitor on Kane's
console.  It flickered to life and showed
a rather lavish scene with several canoids and felinoids at sleek computer
stations all wearing the same black and maroon uniforms.  An aging fox stood addressing them; the color
in his fur seemed to be fading, adding a distinguished air to his penetrating
green eyes.  "I am Warden Master
Richard Underwood of the New Sodalitas Order. 
Are you in need of assistance with that craft?"  The introduction and question were simple and
brief, leaving little room for further questions

Robert blinked, his mind instantly going to how much money
they would lose sharing the salvage, "Nah'sir, we can handle her.  Got a whole cargo bay we can fill."

The fox nodded, "Then I wish you luck.  Odyssey out."  The connection broke as suddenly as it had
started.  Kane stood quietly, still
staring at the screen.  Robert fiddled
with the buttons for a moment before speaking up again, "Look to be moving
off and powerin’ up that fancy FTL drive. 
Pity whoever attacked this ship if that cultist weirdo's are after 'em,
eh?"

Sam was staring blankly out into space pulling the ship into
a descent path with the passenger ship. 
Kane sat silently, still contemplating something. 

"Well don'tya'll thank me at once for getting rid of
them or nuttin'."  The Pointer said
almost pouting.  "An, Sammy?  Your boy’s best be having that bay
ready.  I ain't gonna have salvage... or
survivors floating off to the void."   The Fennec nodded, pushing a button on her console and speaking out, “Distressed
vessel this is the Murrieta, we are coming alongside on your port, please
respond.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cargo bay of the Murrieta was fairly empty; they'd
already offloaded a large supply of very discreetly marked boxes to a quintet
of men in gray suits on the planet below. 
A few pieces of metal parts were scattered on its floor but it looked
large enough to squeeze around two dozen people into if one was desperate.  That is a few more counting the two young men
standing near the large hatch that was used to load the ship with whatever
non-descript 'cargo' they would be delivering next.  The two were glaring at each other and
pointing at a box with four gray protrusions that looked as if they passed
through the door and out into space.  They
watched a screen beneath it as it showed a piece of metal shoot out of a small
receptacle beside the hatch that seemed to hesitate by the same four gray
protrusions for a moment before flying out into space behind the ship.

The first to speak looked around eighteen or nineteen,
turning to see the smaller boy glaring daggers into him.  The yellow rabbit wrinkled his nose and
snapped out roughly, "Don't EVEN look at me, I'm not the one that thought
we could extend the power to the antigrav emitters by re-RE-inverting
them!"

"Positive times negative times negative IS positive!  Or did you forget basic math?"  The younger boy snapped back.  He was an odd specimen.  They'd never found a record of his parents so
his real race was still rather a mystery but Bant had determined him to be some
sort of Cervoid.  And although he did
look quite like a small deer even not that he seemed to be in his mid-teenage
years instead of growing horns, he'd started growing small tusks; a new source
of comedy for his peers.  

"Then why are the test plates floating off into SPACE,
Kqueeran."  The rabbit fired back
with all the arrogance he could muster.

"Heck if I know! 
Unless the laws of mathematics suddenly don't apply YOU must've muddled
up a comm-line Mr. Ihaveagirlsname." 
The buck yelped out looking embarrassed.

"I DON'T @#$% UP SPLICING FIBER YOU FURRY
VAMPIRE!"  Tobias roared back
balling up a fist.

"YOU THINK I'M TRYING TO SABOTAGE THE REAR
EMITTERS?  I'M NOT STUPID OR SUICIDAL YOU
FOUL MOUTHED, OVER EMOTIONAL, HALFBREED!" 
The Cervoid's last word was a dead scream that left only echoes and
silence.

"--MIT, YOU $%*##@ING BADGER, IF YOU DON'T GET THAT-- What, we're on?"

The lion's voice on the other end of the comm link was loud and clear, despite the terrible condition of the ship. Apparently just realizing he was, in fact, making a fool of himself, he hastily coughed and tried to sound professional for once.

"Uh, this is Captain Hyde of the Epoch Genesis-- don't laugh, I wasn't the lame Poindexter who named it..."

"TCH, CAPTAIN, JUST GET TO THE DAMN POINT!!"

"I AM! SHUT UP AND TRY TO KEEP THIS THING IN SPACE, SMITH!! HEY, WHAT ARE YOU--"

There seemed to be a short tussle as Hyde's voice was suddenly muffled. Another male voice cleared his throat and started speaking.

"This is Deacon Smith, the Epoch's pilot, speaking on behalf of the idiot captain. I'm afraid time ain't of the essence; we've got fifty people..."

"Thirty-five," corrected Kaitlin. "Ten more crammed themselves into another pod. A few poor souls just got trampled..." She trailed off, beginning to sob.

"... ANyway, just come around our cargo bay and take as many as you can. Unfortunately, we're gonna have to pull this off while making an emergency landing. The bastards that attacked us left us with serious engine damage.

"You done yet?" Hyde's voice asked after remaining silent for far too long. "'Cause there's one more thing."

"Yeah, I was getting to that," Deacon said impatiently. "One of our passengers is a Kydane Enforcer who came aboard with his family and some company. We don't know if he's still on board or not, given all the chaos and stuff. Just let us know if you see 'im, yeah?"

"... AND?"

"Oh, yeah. He's Felinoid, about 43 years galactic standard-wise. You'll recognize him right away by his eyes. They're two diff'rent colors. He's not in uniform, though, just wearing a dark jacket over a simple shirt, pants, and dark shoes."

"... AND?"

"SHUT UP, CAPTAIN!" roared the badger's voice. "The Enforcer's name is Kenneth Sonata! Just give us the word or we'll have major heat on our collective asses when it hits the fan!"

John sighed and looked out the window, “Four hundred and
thirteen years…”

The squirrel moved her head to one side and looked
quizzical, “Hm?”

The rabbit smirked, “I’ve be around that long.  Seen the Refusal War from inception to
completion and fought for people now thought of as legends and deities.  And you know what?”

Athena had a feeling what it was going to say, smirking but
playing into his trap, “Oh I haven’t the slightest idea.”

“Every day I wake up you STILL manage to surprise me.  You keep up this rate and…”   He trailed
off, his wife not noticing the suddenly grim look on his face.  “And I’ll make you old before your time?  I’d think that would be a good thing now
wouldn’t it.”  She stopped after the
sentence seeing his face, “Johnny?  What’s
wrong?”

“Even with it gone I can still hear things, feel things,
something has been off all morning.  Look
outside, over there.”  He pointed to a
trail of smoke rising.  Athena pulled a
curtain back and looked, then shrugged, “Someone with a fireplace?  Maybe something caught fire?”

The rabbit’s ears were rigid, “Not this time, look up.”

She raised her head to see a something in the dawn sky, “A
falling star?  Should we make a wish?”

He slowly shook his head, “It’s a ship, and it’s falling
into the atmosphere.  The fire must be a
piece of it.  I should probably be check
it out.”  Athena looked worried, “Johnny
you’re not a Warden anymore.  You don’t
have to go running headlong into something that looks like trouble.  You told me that religion was behind you.”

The rabbit was putting his boots on; he looked up and
smiled, “The Warden protects, The Warden
lives.  The Warden very simply is.  Verse 181. 
It means that being a Warden isn’t about that religion or that
planet.  It’s about wanting to help
people, and in that sense?  I’m still a
Warden through and through.  Besides, it
could be fun.”  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sonata…”  Kane muttered
lowly before engrossing himself in a panel on his station.

Rob winced, the last thing he wanted on his vessel was one
of those rule toting stick in the mud Kydane police officers.  “Ah, hell, just do it Sammy.  But that lawman twitches I’m giving Kane the
order to run him through post haste!”

Sam nodded and pushed the intercom button, “Kieran hon?  I need more power to the maneuvering thrusters…”  She waited for a moment, then pushed it
again, “Mister Baxter I need some power here we’re going to smash into this
ship.”  Another paused and finally the comm
crackled to life,  “Sorry Ma’am,” an
audible sniff as if from a crying child was heard, “Rerouting power now.”   The fox looked worriedly at the speaker but
said nothing, she couldn’t afford to see what had happened now, instead
muttering something about tanning the rabbit’s butt if he’d was being a bully
again.

“I would not be able to carry out that order, Captain.”  Kane stated suddenly, causing Robert to curse
and storm off toward the cargo area.  He then
hit his own communication panel, “Epoch Genesis, this is Kane, we are inbound
on your cargo bay now.  Please inform Mister
Sonata I wish to speak with him promptly. ”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robert stormed down the middle corridor heading to the cargo
bay to lay the law down on the two adolescents making trouble for him, running
smack into an average sized coyote with a plain ranch-style shirt and jeans
on.  The Pointer smirked, “Ah, doc does
take his hat off once an a awhile? 
Oh!  Suppose to tell ya we got
some civies with bangs and bumps coming in; possible 35.”  The coyote tipped his head down and smiled, “Better
I know now than nevah chief.  Little foxy
already told me, e’la, hence me without my Sunday best.  Gotta fetch some more vittles and nittles for
the patients come, sorry to be short but don’t worry a’tall Master Bant will be
ready, e’la.”  With that he bowed lightly
and ducked into another room.   The
captain grinned and slid down the corridor and out into the cargo bay preparing
to yelp at the two for fighting again, and Kieran for being so cowardly as to
cry like a child.

He froze in his tracks, a look between anger and disgust
swelled up into his features.  Across the
bay the Deer and Rabbit stood hugging each other.   â€œWHAT
IN THE NAME OF KENJI AND ALL HIS CRAZY NEPHEWS IS GOING ON HERE?!  You damn nancy boys!  If you two aren’t trying to kill ‘chother you’re
acting a pair of raging fruits!  Next
time I swear I’m going to tell Sam what you’ve been up to and…  oh hey has that been upgraded?  It sounds different.”

Fortunate the ‘fruits’ of their labors had activated his
ADHD compounded by OCD the two shot apart, revealing a rather nasty black eye
on the smaller deer.  The rabbit wiping
some obvious tears away cleared his throat, “Um…  We figured out that inverting inverted power
wasn’t quite enough to stabilize the outta emitters so we had to reverse
engineer a power repeater from a weird weapon I picked up while we were at the
Otrium last.”

The captain blinked, “And ya did it in 45 minutes?”

The deer coughed and spoke, not looking away from the
ground, “Thirty actually, we… had a fight sir.”

Robert snorted, “Well, whatever, yer fruit’n around probably
accounted from 10 of the 15…  Just, keep
my ship running ok?  Noone need know ‘less
you can’t handle it.”  He turned to leave
but paused at the door and looked back at the two, nodding, “’Ey…  Good work.” 
Then quickly shut the door and headed back for the cockpit silently.

       Athena stood up and grabbed her husband by the waist. "I don't care if you think it's some kind of duty." cried the squirrel, burying her face in her husband's shirt, "I don't want you risking your life any more.Haven't you fought enough?" John placed a hand on her head, tossing her hair about once more.

       "I know you don't like it, love, but I've got to go out there and see if I can help at least." he said, moving away from her.

       Athena puffed up, not ready to take that for an answer. She through on her old lab coat and rushed past John for the door. "I'm coming with you, then!" she shouted, her nose raised in a cute scowl, "And you can't talk me out of it." John sighed and scratched the back of his head. He looked at his wife for a moment before shrugging and walking toward her. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. "Wheee!" blurted out the rabbit's wife, finally getting through to her husband.

       "You're a real handful..." quipped the rabbit as he walked through the threshold of their home. His wife simply responded with, "I know.", grinning the whole time.

"Rightie-O!" chirped Kaitlin, suddenly a little too cheerful again. "I'm sending the message out now!"

"Thanks a lot," said Deacon. "We really appreciate it. E.G. out."

Deacon pressed the button to end the transmission and sighed heavily. "Damn, this was all too much trouble. If it were me, he'd have been chucked into space along time ago."

"It wouldn't have turned out any better," muttered Cratchett. "You know how things are these days. We took a risk... and got the short end of the stick because of it."

"ENOUGH!" Hyde shouted after remaining silent for far too long. "Let's just get this thing over with! The faster the better! Savage, get that announcement going!"

"Aye, sir!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"... Attention passengers: There is another ship on standby. If for any reason an escape pod is unavailable, please report to the cargo bay. I repeat, there is a waiting ship on standby."

Kenneth blinked. "Cargo bay?" Before he could ponder on it further, something in his jacket pocket vibrated. Withdrawing a device similar to a mobile phone, he flipped it open to answer. "Sonata speaking. What is it?"

"This is Hyde, Ken. You and whoever's with you had better hurry over to that cargo bay. Dunno how much they can take aboard, but, dammit, you're the highest priority right now."

"Right. Thanks, Captain."

"Don't mention it... Seriously, don't mention it, we're already in enough trouble as it is. Some dude named Kane wants to talk to ya, too."

With a 'click,' the lion hung up. Ken put the phone back in his pocket.

"Well?" Aria asked, tapping her foot impatiently.

"We're saved," Ken answered. "But we've got to hurry to the cargo bay."

"It's not that far from here," Kiri said. She seemed to perk up a little. "Kenneth..."

The cream-furred tomcat nodded. "Come on."

With their conversation done, the three started to run down the corridor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"... so you say there's a ship en route from Kyzarie fallin' apart in space right now, kid?"

A canine officer quirked an eyebrow. Something about the sunglasses-wearing teenager in front of him rubbed him the wrong way. Like he wasn't normal.

"... That's what I've just told you," Kaien replied. "It's not that hard to comprehend, is it?"

A fox next to the canine shrugged. "He's not lying, sir."

The canine shook his head. "No he's not," he replied, "but, regardless, you kids can't stay in the middle of town like this. As it stands, not everyone's aware of what's goin' on, and there'd be mass panic once it's exposed. Better to keep you all safe, you see.

"What?" Leon looked outraged. "We ain't goin' nowhere with you!! We ain't do nothin' wrong!"

Nel gripped the rabbit's hand. "Elegy, are we in trouble?"

Elegy shook her head, brows furrowed. "What about his uncle and aunt, and my mom? Aren't you gonna make any effort to let them know where we are?"

"As soon as we have the means to, yes," the first officer snapped. "Right now, they're out in space, right? It's not like we can contact a ship that's startin' to burn up in the planet's atmosphere. Like I said, you Kydane kids stick out like sore thumbs, so you can't stay here."

"Bro, they can't be serious about this," Leon shouted, looking to Kaien. "Tell 'em Uncle's coming."

Kai's head turned to him, the sunlight reflecting off his dark lenses. His attention went back to the officer. "Very well, then. We'll go. However, please contact my uncle. My aunt-- my little cousin's mother-- and my friend's mother is with him. We got separated during the evacuation."

"What?!" Leon grabbed his shirt. "Kai, you ass! What do you think you're doing!?"

"Making sure we're safe."

"Tch, yeah right!"

"Leon, stop it!" Elegy yelled at him. "You're making a scene!"

"Can it, Flat-chest!" Leon carried on. "You know what? I'm really ticked off now." He turned back to the slightly taller Kai. "Tryin' to keep us safe, huh? What a load of BS!"

The younger teen's fist connected with Kai's jaw, knocking him to the ground and the sunglasses off his face. Whatever remained of the crowd that was staring at the whole exchange stopped and froze.

For the few moments it look for Kai to straighten himself up and pick up his sunglasses, his eyelids were shut. Once he stood to full height, however, they opened to blinding sunlight, unveiling a pair of crimson hues. The atmosphere was suddenly icy, not helped at the fact that Kaien's expression hadn't changed the entire time. If he was angry or anything, he never showed it.

"Please refrain from doing that," he said coolly. "You know how bright it is out here to me."

The door between cockpit and corridor opened moments before Kane and Robert ran smack into each other, the smaller pointer bouncing off the wolf and scowling, "Where ya think yer going?  Security to busy to watch for more trouble?"  The wolf pushed passed him grumbling, "I do not have time for idle banter.  I must retrieve my weapon and secure the cargo bay."  With that the massive lupoid strutted off down the corridor to his room.  Robert sneered and skulked back into the cockpit to watch Sam lining up the ship with the cargo bay, her large fennec ears twitching wildly, indicating her nervousness.

"Captain... An Enforcer?"  She said never pausing from correcting the flight path.  

Robert looked irritated, a slight sneer on his face, "It'll be fine, Sammy.  That Servi bastard should keep him in line... if he don't kill 'em.  But...  best be sure the cannon is online.  Better we get a few shots off than nothing if that trouble heads back this way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once the prep work was done they'd all pretty much forgotten about their engineering team still dealing with more personal disputes, all but one that is.  The cargo room was silent again, the two young men sitting on either side of a table.   The deer with a cold compress on his eye, the rabbit with his face in his hands.   "Seems some kinda nasty went down didn't it kiddos."  The voice was southern and nasally, belong to the old coyote who'd silently entered and put his bag down to wait for the ship to finishing it's docking and the refugee's into start entering.  He smiled at the two with tired eyes, "Seems a fledgling's not happy with himself.  Conjure he need a bit-a help, most us Warden do when we still learning how it works.  How you at helpin' bambi?  Seems ta me you be the right size sheath for that sword, too large they fall off and too small they break.  Be glad you the size you are, if'n ya weren't we all might be in trouble.  Not just us...  every us."

Kieran turned his good eye to look at the old man, he'd been with the ship for years and STILL could barely translate the coyote's odd speaking style.  He blinked to clear his vision and scratched his head, "You're... saying I need to help Toby?  What could I possibly do to help him, he's so powerful since..."  "IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"  The rabbit suddenly cried out, slamming his fist on the table, "I didn't ASK him to do that!  I don't WANT to be a +!!+%++ Warden and never did!  Why can't you damn cultist freaks understand that I want nothing to do with your religion or your weird creatures!  Just LEAVE ME ALONE!"  Kieran shoved his chair back from the raving rabbit and cringed.  Myca Bant just smiled, "Sorry son, some of us just get born to do it.  No choice."  Toby snarled at him, then looked and the cowering deer.

"You might hate me, hate us. We expect no less but there's others needin' what you got.  Kenji wha'n't half as crazy he seemed.  One thing always made sense to me was that Warden protect that what they see needs it.  They need that support when they can't do no more, support right in front of'em sometimes yet still they miss it."  The coyote rambled off settling on another bench against the same wall.

"Kieran I..."  He couldn't think of what to say.  The last year or so had been such a rollercoaster between them, even when he won the fights he felt so angry still but he could never figure out why.  But looking now, at the other boy cowering in front of him, it started to click.  He sat down and put his hands on the table, open, staring holes into the painted metal.  The for last few years they been fighting, most of which was because of him.  He knew it was because of Lori, but recently it was more.  It didn't matter how frustration he vented it just came back doubled.  Kieran slunk away and over to get ready to open the bay doors when the signal was given, leaving the rabbit to his own thoughts.   The old coyote sighed and popped his neck with a quick jerk of his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Then maybe you should do something that's NOT letting us get pushed around!"  Leon yelped taking a second swing at the older boy's face.  But, it missed.  Kai hadn't moved, he'd just missed.  Seemingly for no reason.  Leon blinked and opened his fist, looking at it like it was a foreign object.  Then a voice piped up behind them, "I dislike fights.  I dislike watching children fight.  And I despise family fighting.  So please control yourself ya little fireball or next time I'll make you miss and hit yourself in the groin."  John and Athena had arrived on the scene, apparently just in time for John to start flaunting his prowess as a Grey Warden within a few moments of arriving buy forcing the boy's fist to miss it's intended target.

This was an extremely delicate operation.

       Athena approached the children, not quite noting what the officer had said. She knelt down in front of the boy wearing sunglasses, looking into his eyes. "Wibbly-wobbly!" she shouted out, glancing back at her husband with a grin and pointing to the boy. Her fluffy tail waved behind her as she looked him over before returning to John's side. Her husband may have understood, he may not have. Regardless, Athena was enjoying herself.

      Looking into the sky, she tilted her head to the side. Numbers and equations ran through her head, trajectories, impact zones, debris calculations, possible error variations. She then came to a very simple solution. Tugging on the sleeve John's coat, she looked up at her husband and simply stated, "I think that big hunk of metal is going to crash into the town. Should we do something?" Her expression had no look of worry or fret in it, just a simple curiosity.

The only visible reaction Athena got out of Kai was a quirked eyebrow from behind the dark lenses. The small fennec-cat mix behind him, however, seemed a little less wary, although she remained rooted to where she stood. Elegy was glaring daggers at Leon as though she wanted to slap him, and the younger teen had seemingly forgotten about his anger, his violet eyes checking out the squirrel with a smirk that showed he was thinking very unsavory thoughts.

John watched the two officers starting to panic, smiling inwardly at Athy's ability to send them into a panic, and strutted over to the group of kids and looking each one over with his... own brand of commentary.

He pulled Kai's sunglasses down slightly then released them, looking over his attire and finally sitting back and stately smugly, "Albino?  No wonder you wanted off Kyzarie.  I heard rumors a recent Raven scare had mobs killing albino's.   Also the older... eldest?, probably with the way to let that one smack ya.  Quiet, passive, brooding, but lacking the stick I thought I'd find lodged in your posterior."  It got little more than an eyebrow raise from the cat as the rabbit moved on.

He took one look at Leon and grimaced, "Kenji's sake boy.  You do know I'm a Lepoid and can FEEL that hate.  Man, what a fireball, almost as bad as-" "You, Dear?" Athena added, perched on a bench and rolling her eyes looking extremely bored.  The rabbit pouted, "Yeah, probably.  Just as much of a skirt chaser too from the way he's eying you."  Athena giggled and rocked back on the bench, "Maybe I should trade you in on a younger model then."

John attempted to ignore the comment and attempted to give give El the same once over he gave Kai but the bunny moved her head with him at every turn, staring just as inquisitively as he was.  After a few moments he realized it was pointless and gave it up, shrugged his shoulder and looking at his wife, "This one's all yours hon.  Got a very bad sense of Deja Vu."

They both gave each other a smug look as he moved to the smallest of the group, he looked down and almost instantly frozen.  Athena watched for a moment then vaulted to her feet, "Johnny?  Whats wrong?"  The grey furred rabbit blinked suddenly and rubbed his head, "Um, nuttin.  Just was trying to decide if this little one is a orange eyed with blue eyes or blue eyed with orange eyes.  Eh hehehe..."  A wave of real deja vu had hit him, something about her was, familiar.  So much so it unnerved him, but he couldn't place it.  

John shook off the weird feeling and marched back in front of them all, "Well, you always wanted kids Athy, looks like you got the answer in quadruplicate." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The other end of the sword was held by the immense wolf.  He easily navigated the crowd through intimidation alone.   Kane lifted his head, staring down at the feline for a moment as if he was scanning him for something.  After a moment he spoke, "It HAS been a long time, Kenneth."  He withdrew his weapon and sheathed it on his back, "I apologize if I frightened you.  I had to be sure it WAS you though."  He looked around the now rather packed bay and grunted, "Behind me is a door, please take your friends and enter it.  After that count 4 doors and enter the right door, it will be the kitchen area.  Please wait for me there I must attend to my duties."   The wolf turned away and seemed to be scanning the crowd, Kenneth looked toward the door through the group of people and sighed.  "Mister Sonata."  His ears perked up as Kane's gruff voice hit his ears again.  "It is good to see you alive again."

    Athena tilted her head to the side in confusion, not quite understanding what her husband meant. "But none of them look like us..." John stared blankly at the Rodoid woman for a while, hoping that she was joking, but knowing that she wasn't. "That's... not... I mean..."

    "Not the brightest one, huh?" quipped Leon, brushing his chin as if thinking of something.

    Athena's cheeks puffed up, finding the comment offensive. "Hey! I'm really smart!" shouted John's wife in protest. In response to this, John fished through his pockets and produced a polished coin. He then flipped the shining coin in front of his wife's face. Without thinking about it, she dove after it. Realizing the position she had just put herself in, she cursed under her breath. She stood up and turned to see John and Leon staring at her with smiles plastered on their faces. "Johny! Not in front of impressionable young!"

    "I'm impressionable!" stated the two in unison.

OOC: Weak, I know, but my computer crashed and I lost what I wanted to post. Thus I forgot and had to come up with something else...

Elegy buried her face in her hands. “If this was what I was gonna end up dealing with, I’d rather have stayed home…”

“I ain’t complainin’,” said Leon happily. “’Side’s, there’s a hot babe here.”

“You IDIOT! Can’t you tell they’re MARRIED?!”

“Who cares, Elegy? A hot babe is a hot babe. You, on the other hand, need to grow a pair.”

“And you need to drop a pair!”

“Touche.” The younger cat’s grin diminished a bit, but he gave John a devious look. “I won’t tell you that my friend here’s got on--OOF!!”

He never got to finish the sentence, as Elegy’s fist hit his stomach so hard he nearly collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. Both John and Athena looked outright shocked. Nel’s hands covered her mouth. Kai seemed to be the only one completely unaffected, as he nonchalantly removed his sunglasses to clean them with the bottom of his shirt, his eyes closed.

His head turned to John as he spoke, “I… must apologize about my younger brother, on both my own and my uncle’s behalf. My uncle tried the best he could to curb his… behavior, but I’m afraid he’s too much like his own father…”

“Sh-shut up!” Leon coughed, shakily getting back to his feet. “Don’t even go there! I’m NOTHING like that freaking jerkass!”

“LEON! Watch your mouth!” The orange rabbit was already looking like she wanted to strangle him. Her finger pointed to the small fennec still standing behind Kai. “Are you TRYING to set a bad example for your cousin?!”

The albino teen continued cleaning his sunglasses, as though the bickering didn’t bother him in the least. His eyes did open once more, exchanging looks between the other two before he muttered, “Stop.”

At once, Leon and Elegy fell silent, although they remained seething with anger. Neliel only shrank back further, obviously sensing intense emotions. She seemed to still find her voice, however, when her orange and blue eyes shifted to John. “Mister, what does ‘de-ja vu’ mean?”

-------------------

At once, Kiri breathed a sigh of relief, though her ears remained twitching… it was a nervous habit of hers.

Aria kept looking at the wolf’s retreating back and the almost nostalgic look on Ken’s face. “Okay, am I missing something here? Because shoving a &$%#ing huge ass SWORD in someone’s face is NOT my idea of a greeting or a joke.”

“It’s not, trust me,” Ken said with a lighthearted chuckle.

“So you do know that guy?”

“Met once when I was a kid. Well, saved my life was more like it. Not long before I first met Kiri, of course.”

“And I told you back then running off like an idiot would get you in trouble.” Aria’s hands flew to her hips, glaring at him.

“Was that before or after you nearly got killed?” The cat quirked an eyebrow.

“… We shouldn’t stick around here.” Kiri seemed put off by the last sentence.

Kenneth looked after his wife as she left the cargo bay, his expression remorseful. “H-hon?” he called stupidly after her.

“And you really need to watch your mouth. You know how she gets when you mention that.” The rabbit gave him a knowing look. “She’s right, though, we shouldn’t stay here. You have a previous engagement.” She nudged him before leaving the bay herself. “You’re getting popular,” she called back before she disappeared into the hall.

Ken was about to follow her, but paused, as though he’d just sensed something. He turned about face, and at once, he spotted him sitting by himself across the crowded bay.

The yellow rabbit seemed to stick out like a sore thumb, seemingly wallowing in his own depression, but that wasn’t the reason why Ken had paused.

“Could that be…? No it couldn’t, no Lepoid alive ages that slow…”

Shaking his head, Ken hastily exited, but not before the pair of vivid blue eyes looked up, sensing his presence, and followed him as he left.

John just kept smiling, folding his arms patiently and waiting for a break in the action before speaking.  As the turmoil slowed to a simmer and Nel quietly posed her question the rabbit giggled and clapped his hands together, "Come, come, now I can't respond when you all talk at once."  He knelt down and and put his hands on his knees, "Deja Vu is when something that happens seems like it's happened once already little miss."  He smirked and put a hand on her head lightly messing her hair up before standing again and pointing at Kai defiantly, "You, I was right, you're the oldest.  Never blame people for acting like their parents.  You'll only reinforce the mentality that they should."  He turned slightly and pointed at Leon, "And YOU!"    He grinned, "Oh you're going to be fun.  I had a little brother like you.  Lay one preteen paw on my partner and I'll personally physically PULL your puberty to premature primality."

Athena blinked, "Honey did you just alliterate about... ew."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The yellow rabbit had felt himself being given the once over, plus he knew couldn't shake the feeling he knew the man.  Kane not running him through after pulling his weapon confirmed it to him.  Plus he was pissed off and wanted to get his mind off.. his mind.  The young man got up and marched after the cat. 

The Murrieta’s kitchen was bigger than he expected. There were the usual furnishings-- a sink, a fridge, coffee machine, and the like.

The Enforcer found his wife and friend already sitting in two of the chairs situated around a small table in the center. The rabbit’s chin rested in her paws, the fennec was staring out a side window, her posture perfect and hands clasped together on her lap. Despite the outside turbulence and rising from entering the atmosphere, nothing in the room shifted.

When they heard Ken’s footsteps, both females’ eyes were on him, the green pair tired, the orange pair forlorn.

“… Don’t you think you should have waited a bit before getting comfortable?” he asked lightheartedly, trying to defrost the icy atmosphere.

Aria snorted in response. “Not all of us are made of raging testosterone. Please excuse me if my legs need time to solidify again.”

“… Neliel…” Kiri rubbed one of her eyes with a hand.

“Yeah, that, too. Can’t stop worrying about the kids.” The rabbit gave Ken a sharp look. “Don’t give me that ‘Kai’s with them, they’ll be okay’ crap. I can just imagine the flack he’s gonna catch once those Sibken races find out he’s albino.”

“At least they don’t know about that other thing,” Ken muttered darkly, taking a seat next to Kiri. “Kyzarie gave ‘im two kinds of hell. I don’t I could stand going through all that.”

Kiri turned to him, draping an arm around his shoulders. “You married me,” she said pointedly, her lips dangerously near his cheek.

“Yeah, you get plenty of flack for that,” Aria noted. “Then you got busy. That’s a plus.”

The fennec’s face reddened, and she slowly moved away from her husband, fixing the rabbit with what would have been a death glare if she didn’t look so embarrassed.

A light chuckle escaped the cat. “What’s with the look? There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Kiri’s face only flushed more. “That’s not the kind of thing you talk about in public!” she squeaked.

Aria smirked. “Heh. It’s been a long time since we actually sat and talked like this. Other times it’s just you an’ me while Ken’s doing whatever Enforcers do or that other thing…” She looked over to Kenneth. “So leads that went bust… Seriously, Ken you should put this to rest. At least for a while. Focus on your family, spend more time with Nel. Not that you’re a bad father…”

Ken’s smile faded. He looked down at his hands and shook his head. “As much as I would like too, I can’t.” His green and blue eyes looked back at Aria. “I’ve told you this before, Aria. Their own mother walked out on them. They deserve to know why.”

The tan rabbit rolled her eyes. “Oh, for Kenji’s sake, not this again. ‘The boys’ this and ‘the boys’ that; all you’re doin’ is flapping your gums, Kenny. You just don’t wanna admit you’re in this for yourself, too.”

Ken felt himself tense up unexpectedly. “It’s not like that!” the Felinoid said, his voice rising a little. “Besides, you want to know, too, don’t you?”

The rabbit shrugged, cocking her head to the side. “I admit, your sister had been acting very funny for a while. I think it had something to do with that jerkass noble she’d been seeing. She’s got real bad taste in men.”

“It only got worse after Kaien was born.” Kiri’s gaze focused on the other two, eyes almost brimming with tears. “If she had told us she was… If she had told us what happened to her sooner, we could have…”

“… Enough.” Ken’s fist pounded the table, and it was only then that he found out his temper was quickly rising. The two women were giving him a concerned look, and he decided to bury his face in his hands in an attempt to calm himself. “Sorry… just… don’t talk about that. Please…”

In a room not far away the yellow rabbit sat hunched over a console that seemed to be recessed into the wall, and probably hidden if he desired.  Tobias was somewhat paranoid, mainly due to his childhood, and being as adept with interworking tech as he was it'd been no trouble to secretly wire small cameras everywhere.  The rest of the room was dimly light, it was all a sea of clothes, video games, spare tech, and stuffed animals.  The glow of the monitor danced on his blue eyes as he quietly watched and listened to them talking, trying to figure out their interest in him.  Then the glow fell on a second face, a smaller one silently coming up over the rabbit's shoulder.  Somehow the cervoid had slipped away from his duties and had broken into the lepoid's room.

"An albino on Sibko?  Whoa!  That kid's in some trouble."  Kierans youthful voice yapped enthusiastically.

Tobias jerked suddenly and banged his head on the ceiling of the console's hidey hole with a loud thunking noise.  He grabbed his head, smushing his ears down and spun around angrily,  "Dammit Kieran, what the hell?  Aren't we entering an ATMOSPHERE?  Why are you here?"

The deer's face feel, "Long as the computers can handle the entry procedures the ship is fine, it's up to mom to fly us in."

Toby sneered, "You shouldn't have snuck out, what if this hunk of junk starts falling apart again.... and quit calling her mom."

The younger teen sneered right back, "Ships in no worse condition than the servers and you're in here eavesdropping."  Then he pursed his lips, "And I can call her whatever I want, I don't even have a mother.  Unlike YOU."

The young man's eyes flared, "My mother is destroying this whole STAR SYSTEM.  By all means, take her you little @#$%@!"  He raised a fist and turned on the teenager, who fell backward and skittered away on his rump stammering,  "Toby I'm sorry I just...I..."    The rabbit stopped dead seeing the fear in the deer's eyes.  He'd seen it before, in a mirror.  His face twisted and wrinkled, he spun back around and slammed his fist into a monitor, bloodying his knuckles and destroying the screen screaming obscenities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I do not mean to interrupt."  The three of them looked over to see the large wolf in the doorway, unsure how long he'd been there.  The man looked between them, settling on Kenneth and speaking out in his usual gruff voice, "I have to ask, are you an idiot?"

Picture this: 

Amid the
chaos of fire, wreckage and aristocratic panic; a faint glow of calm ebbs from
a corner of the madness.  Within this aura sits a lone equine figure,
reclined against a strewn pile of unused maintenance cables.  Lithe in
frame and feature she retains a distinct air of youthful energy, even in the
poor light reflecting from a waxen pelt.  Her face is smooth, lacking the
stern cragginess associated with the matriarchs of the species. Short white
mane and soft tail bare remains of last week’s favoured colour in the form of
tinged orange bands, clashing dreadfully with dark green cargo pants and the
heavy poncho she wore across her back.  Even at a distance it is clear that
the urgency of the scene before her had not yet roused the mare to action, her
attention divided between observation to the crowd and the luminous pad in her
hands.  Carefully she examined the title page, apparently unsure whether
the excessive use of formatting had been a little overzealous.

“The Complete Planet Hopper; 
A Tourist’s Guide.  By -me!- ”

Seemingly satisfied she returned
her attention briefly to the disarray, resolving that to move yet would likely
mean being trampled.  With a smooth flick she spun the filled pages until
she found the chapter she had been working on and returned the stylus to work.

               
Chapter Five:  Appropriate Transport.

Many a first time planet hopper
on a tight budget has been lead astray by common misconception, concerning the
kind of vessel on which they should seek to embark.   Some would say that a
medium passenger vessel on a common travel route would provide the greatest
opportunity for budget travel.  This is true for anyone wishing to simply
go on a short tour of their local nebula and can get you between any major
system world with relative ease.  However, for the true planet hopper,
taking a temporary station aboard a smaller ship can often lead you places far
outside the closely knit inner systems.  Before you know it you will be
experiencing cultures you have never even heard of before, seeing the wonders
of the universe and -

Another fierce explosion rocked
the stricken vessel, causing the author to lose concentration and almost her
pen.  Looking over towards the far hull the filly shook her head amiably.
That one had felt like the port-aft thrusters taking one for the team.  In
fact the entire ship now felt to be on a kilter as it careered through the
stratosphere.  No doubt the trail of smoke and flame extended for several
miles already.  Across the metal deck of the cargo bay the last of the
frantic passengers were stumbling and screaming their way to the newly arrived
salvage barge.

Hindsight is a wonderful device
when applied to a foreign event.  The problem came when you took that
method and applied it to a situation in which you were intimately
involved.  Cherry could quite easily see the mistakes she had made,
foremost of which was the purchase of a ticket for travel aboard the Genesis.
  After the attack had begun and she had gathered up what few
possessions she required and had settled down in the cargo bay to await
favourable conditions.  The arrival of the second ship was certainly a
welcome, if somewhat startling surprise.  Despite its rather rough landing
she wasn’t going to complain about an unexpected lift to the surface.

Now it seemed that it was time to
go.

Snapping her screen shut, she
started clambering through the strewn cabling and towards the depleting
crowd.  Now her only distinct physical attribute became woefully
apparently.  The thick poncho, which at first seemed to be simply
over sized, did not hang loosely and follow the curve of her spine as would be
expected.  Instead it protruded almost half a foot from her shoulders,
betraying some large deformity beneath.  Though she walked lightly it
would appear to the onlooker as though she were hunchbacked.  But to those
who observed a little more closely, the supposed haunch moved and bobbed as
though compensating balance like a foxes’ tail.  Something like an extra set of limbs was concealed beneath.  Truthfully Cherry preferred not hide her more unsual assets, but the fact was her race was rarely seen outside of their adoptive home world and extra attention was an avoidable hassle.  Along with the experience of culture, the years of travel had also brought lessons on practicality and subtlety when needed.   

The floor was far more unstable
then she had anticipated.  The deck practically pulled away as she briefly
fought for balance.  Clearly the inertia field was damaged, the stresses
of the decent were tossing the ships contents like a lightly seasoned
salad.  Without that key buffer against irrefutable physical laws even the
best AIs would struggle keeping a ship like this in the air.  And that
begged the question;  ‘Who was flying the plane?’

Stopping by corridor that had
recently played host to the swarm of desperate passengers , Cherry found the
panel she had seen crew members use as the ship’s com.  Sadly what lay
beneath was a plethora of buttons and switches, the combination for the bridge
hail a mystery too her.  Oh well, when in doubt, push everything.
  With an air of relish she pressed every button on the control panel
with her palm... and heard the whistle of feedback as the shipwide intercom
responded.  Causiously she leaned closer to the grill and felt ever so
slightly silly as she spoke into the wall.

“Hello?  Testing.  Is
anybody there-Oh! Do I actually sound like that?  Gosh... Errm can anyone
here me?  I think our rescuers are about to leave, so if there’s anyone
left I’d get a move on.”

oc; I really hope this is all okay Kaze, I think I might have made a couple of
estimated assumptions about the timeline but with any luck they should
fit.  If anything needs changing then please tell me.  I'll be
sending the basic summery to you tomorrow ^_^ 

To everyone else; HI THERE! I've
been considering joining an rp for a little while now and Gemi
seemed to recommend this one quite highly, so here I am! 
If I'm getting in anyone’s way please say so, I really have no idea
what I'm doing.

OOC: Drats. I'm not sure what to do... I can't come up with anything. :-/ Halp!

"What the HELL?!" Hyde erupted on the other end of the intercom. "SAVAGE!! You said all the passengers were off! WE'RE BURNING UP IN THE FREAKING ATMOSPHERE AND THERE'S A PASSENGER ON BOARD!!"

"In case you forgot, Captain," squeaked the Pomeranian, "OUR SENSORS ARE SHOT! It's a miracle our communications are still intact!"

"Look, whoever you are," Hyde continued on, ignoring her, "Get yourself onto the rescue ship Pronto! Protocol states that ALL essential crew gotta stay on in events of emergency--"

"TO HELL WITH PROTOCOL!" the badger shouted. "I'm getting off this thing!"

"YOU CAN'T!! YOU are what's defined as 'ESSENTIAL CREW.'"

"... DAMN!!"

"Please, just save yourself, whoever you are," the Pomeranian spoke up again. "What the Captain means is that all passengers and non-essential crew have priority in the event of an evacuation. Everyone else that is on the bridge is on their to your location. Please board the rescue ship along with them. Unfortunately, making an emergency landing such as this does require a pilot, a navigator, and the Captain, at the very least. Communications is a must, though, in this situation... I'm sorry."

------

The man seemed to blow off Ken's serious attitude and smirked rumbling out, "Not in the least, you were always a defiant idiot.  Actually I was thinking about how you managed a child.  When last we spoke it was impossible for you to lay down long enough to accomplish such a feat." 

An elongated silence lured the bridge crew into a false sense of security, their attention returning to the stressful matters at hand.

“…You’re actually going to try land this thing??” The captain winced as the voice echoed over the Tannoy once again, this time tinted with wonder “the captain going down with his ship. That’s so… poetic.”

“Well!” The shift from dreamy awe to chipper was so quick the ship seemed to sway with the momentum “Good luck with that, see you on the surface.”

With a crackle of static the speakers went silent and, slinging her shoulder bag, the girl ran onto the rescue barge smiling as though everything was right with the world.

She seemed to be the last of the passengers to board and the crewman by the door was getting impatient. Without so much a flicker in her expression, the young woman slowed and turned on one heal as she bounced past.

“Thanks for holding the door, hun!”

EDIT: removed wolfie ^^

OOC: The wolf is currently in the mess hall. He was only there until some of my characters got there. And sorry for being so slow again. It didn't help that I was actually playing Pokemon while writing the next thing. Here it is, though!

          The planet of Sibko's sunny side shown brightly through the bridge screens of the Grey Lance, somewhat obscured by debris. Bits and pieces of what seemed to have at one time been a cargo shuttle floated around the grappler craft, charred and burnt as if from an explosion. It's cargo was mostly ruined, having been crates of fruit, as well as some clothing here and there.

          "Another one gone..." stated an orange tabby in the pilot's seat, "Another haul blown away because of your itchy trigger finger..." She was agitated, and with good reason, having just watched a prime target for plunder get blown away before the boarding party could even pull their trousers up. She stood from the seat, turning off the view-port as she did. Sitting before her, as she turned, was a gleeful grey hedgehog, clapping and giggling to himself.

          "Why the long face, Ash, my dear?" asked the spined captain with a smile, "You look positively wretched!"

          "I look wretched, do I?" she questioned in a soft tone, walking toward the seated hedgehog, "That's so cruel of you to say about your dearest, now, isn't it? Jak, my love..."

          Jak's ears perked up upon hearing this. "So, you've finally come to your senses, love?" replied the spined captain, grinning in a way that unintentionally made him look like a fool, "Come here and I'll find something for us to blow up together!"

          "Oh, I would love that, sweetheart." she said as she leaned over him. However, before anything else happened, she grabbed the key that he wore around his neck and tossed it to a human sitting in the tactical officer's seat. "Arms controls returned to the tactical officer. Jak... I should have known better than to trust you with any kind of weapon." The tactical officer nodded, inserting the key into his console, but otherwise saying nothing.

          Jak's jaw dropped at the loss of his key. "But, but... I NEED that!" he protested, nearly crying, "I want to blow something up! Come on... Have a heart, love..."

          "I'm not your love, you blighted madman! You're lucky I don't-"

          "Please watch your words, love..." stated the hedgehog simply, causing Ashley to draw back instinctively. She pawed at the collar of her sweater, now feeling all to uncomfortable in her own skin.

          "A-anyway... Take a break. Maybe we can try this again at a later date... captain."

          The spined captain contemplated the thought for a moment before grinning and jumping out of his chair. "I can go play video games!? Awesome! I'll go blow something up!" He then merrily hurried out of the bridge chamber and to his quarters, leaving the feline pilot feeling more than a little disturbed. She sighed, placing her head in her hand.

          "Harvey, see what you can pick up out of what's left of that ship. Maybe all isn't lost yet." The silent tactical officer nodded, moving the grappler cage out and rummaging through the rubble. As he did this, something caught the feline's eye. "Hold on a tic... What in the blue blazes is that!?" Outside of the ship, a large metal pod, shaped almost like a pill capsule. "Pull that in! Now! Pull it into the boarding bay and call Regis and a team to meat me there!" No sooner had she said this, than jumped out of the seat and out the door. On the way, she had met up with a few members of their recently hired boarding team, before entering the boarding bay. The grappler cage retracted into the bay, dropping the singed, but unharmed pod. It glowed a slight blue hue. The boarding team trained their weapons on the pod while they waited for the ship's doctor to arrive.

OOC: Well, here's another starting point for you all. The pod and the newly hired boarding team. If there's anything wrong with this post, please inform me so that I might make edits.

oc: will post up again tomorrow, I'd like to get interacting with some people on the ship ^_^

He watched their exchange for only a few moment before rubbing his forehead in a mixture of boredom and irritation, not even bothering to speak until the chattering at slowed.  The aging Lupoid looked between them for a few moments, making sure the two women were finished with their volleys of accusations and dramatic cries.  He let out a low sigh, "From the yowling am I to understand you... misplaced, your children?"

"Tobe your hand!"  The young deer squeaked out staring wide eyed at the bleeding gash in the rabbit knuckles.  Oddly the rabbit seemed to have calmed down after the outburst of violence and was studying the dripping wound nonchalantly, "Hm.  Crap.  Guess I better wrap it before Rob makes me pay for the cleaner to get the blood off the deck."  Kieran seemed on the verge of panic, struggling back to his feet and grabbing a box of tissues and ripping several free at once, "Dude, you're gonna like bleed to death or something.  Hold these on it and push, I'll go get Doc Bant."  The rabbit snarled, "Kieran, goddammit just stop it.  I'm fine.  It's just a little cut, I've had a LOT worse, I'm just gonna go to the infirmary and get some Gauss.  And ONLY so that damn dog doesn't cut my pay."  He snatched the tissues from the still side eyed teenager and stormed out and down the corridor.  They younger deer attempted to follow but the shuddering of the ship worsened and he seemed to panic further and take off for the engine room

"Captain, Bant reports all passengers onboard.  Genesis staff warning we need to depart immediately."  Sam stated, letting one of her large ears flicker.   Robert had been pacing the bridge since they'd landed on the shuddering vessel and jumped into his chair the moment the words were outta her mouth, "About time!  Jeez those well-off's are slow when they're faced with imminent smushing.  Get this ship movin'!"   The fennec eyed the dog disdainfully but said nothing and eased the Murrieta up toward the still open bay doors.

"Pleasure, E'la."  The old coyote said tipping his hat to the lady then speaking again, "Ya don't look hurt miss.  Don't'spose ya'd like to help an old doctor out with a whole cargo bay of patients would'ya?"

“Sure thing.  I'm Cherry by the way.” She replied cearfully, stopping mid bounce and wandering back to the Coyote by the now closing cargo doors. There was something abnormally energetic about the Mare, as though she were extraordinarily light on her feet despite the poncho covered hunch “I’ve got a little first aid training if you need a hand, where do you need me?”

Oc; sorry, didn’t get chance to post yesterday. Spent most of the night carving lino print-plates

I'll probably endup padding this post out some, but the outcome is the same ^_^

OOC:  Know whatcha mean.  I  hope this is the last week I'm going to be very scarce for time period's to write.  I'll edit this into some coyote confabulation when I return from dinner with my aunt.  Someone better take ME out to eat every week when I get old...er and lonely. 

"We got separated from them during the evacuation from the Genesis. Somehow they ended up inside an escape pod that launched." Kenneth sighed. "Three teenagers-- Aria's daughter and my nephews-- and mine and Kiri's little girl. I can only hope they're on the surface."

The atmosphere in the room was heavy. It didn't take a rocket scientist for Kane to gauge what the cat's intentions were.

-----

Meanwhile, both ships separated, and the timing couldn't be better for the Murrieta. Not long afterwards, when the Epoch had sank several hundred more feet into the atmosphere, the rising heat caused a few small explosions from a few areas of the ship, causing shrapnel to break off.

Below, the town's alarms were already blaring, warning its citizens of impending danger even as the burning ship announced its SOS's and May-Days.

From an alleyway below, a certain someone looked on at the sight with complete indifference before walking away.

---------------

Once the pod was safely on board and the doctor arrived, the crew of the Grey Lance were still wary. Soon enough, however, it opened, releasing jets of steam about. Next, what looked like a head, and an arm holding a hat could be seen in the haze.

"Much thanks for getting me out of space," the stranger spoke, his voice slightly hoarse. As everything cleared, the figure was revealed to be a male... something.

He looked like a cross between a canoid and felinoid, though that was contradicted by a vulpine tail. There were a few scars here and there, surgical it seemed in nature and the rest of them most likely hidden by the trenchcoat he wore.

He stepped out of the pod, hand still on his cowboy hat, and flexed his neck and limbs. "Never did like floating around in space for any period in time, always makes me stiff."

It was then that he noticed all the weapons pointed right in his face.

"Whoa, whoa, no need for all that, I ain't an enemy... Well, I'm a stranger, nonetheless, so I'll introduce myself: Garret Hawthorne, if you please. Remember it, because I don't like it very much when one forgets."

             The weapons didn't lower. "Regis, clean him up and tend to any wounds he's got." ordered the felinoid pilot. The musteloid doctor approached the newcomer, grumbling to himself about how he would rather eat offal. The skunk patted the mix-breed down, checking for weapons, before examining him once more for injuries.

             "I coulda told ya if I was hurt." stated Hawthorne after Regis was finished. he tipped his hat, as if in thanks.

             Regis shook his head as he walked away. "If you would kindly not interrupt me for something so trivial. Next time, someone had better be near death." And with that, he exited the room. Ashley placed a hand on her head, her stress building as the captain had blown their potential income into shards, and then this man was suddenly thrust upon her. Well, at least it wasn't a total loss. Maybe they could sell the pod at a high price.

             "We'll lower the weapons after you fork over whatever you're armed with. Deal?" offered the woman. Her anger was justified, if a bit misplaced. She wasn't angry with the man before her, but with her idiot of a captain. The problem was, he had ways of making them listen.

The tigress in the alleyway is heading to one of her safehouses before going to the place she calls home. It doesn't take her much time to slip inside, stow her sniper rifle, and change out of her work clothes. She dons an outfit more fitting for where she lives. Her twin pistols, of course, stay with her, each snuggly secured in a shoulder holster and hidden by her somewhat ragged grey jacket. Underneath she wears a dark green shirt with an upside-down wasp design in black, and faded blue jeans tucked into combat boots.

She exits back into the alley, and looks up into the sky. She can judge the trajectory of the ship, and is relieved that her home is out of the danger area. Sure, she'll probably lose a safehouse or two, but at least her home and those she shares it with are safe. The young tigress is certain that Carra would have taken care of the other children and reassured them. The otter was a capable second-in, and Angie trusted the other girl with the lives of those under her care.

"I take it back.  You are not an idiot."   Kane snorted.   "You, an Enforcer from Kyzarie, are going to roam the streets of Sarna, the capitol city of the very planet you are at war with.   All because you let your children wander into an escape pod on a ship you foolish enough to board in the first place."

The wolf's eye twitched slightly, "If I did not know any better, I would think you were cloned from a very stupid apprentice I lost."

A loud thud echoed down the hallway as the rabbit gave the infirmary door a few more kicks, muttering out loud as he turned and stormed off back down the corridor, "Damn old man, who the hell locks an infirmary.  Now I gotta go back to the cargo bay just to find something to wrap this with, all because that damn kid can't keep his mouth shut.  Why the hell would he even MENTION that witch and expect me not to lose it, it's like he's trying ta piss me off."  The young man pushed his way into the now crowded cargo area and up to a makeshift triage area Bant had setup to prep any badly injured passengers.  Then began picking about for something to stop the bleeding.

The old coyote smirked, raising a brown furred hand and, without looking, pointing to the makeshift triage area and directly at the yellow rabbit rummaging through his supplies.  "Seems that one's gonna be tha most problematic patient, lass.  Keep'em from contaminating tha instruments woulda.  Be careful though, may look almost grown but that'n's got serious baggage.  Survived the Refusal War by a nose..."  He paused as she turned to look, then added absentminded as he wrapped the leg of a complaining Collie, "Oh, don'ask him bout'is tail."

His fists slammed on the table as he stood. "YOU WEREN'T THERE!!"

"Kenneth!" Kiri's hands were on his shoulder in an instant, but he was still seething.

"You would've had to have been there to know now many people were on the Epoch. Everyone there was damn near hysterical when the attack started!"

"Dammit, KEN!" Aria's fist connected with his jaw, knocking him to the floor. "This ain't about you!"

"I do admire your taste in women though."  The old man said smugly looking at Kiri, then those piercing yellow eyes locked on the floored feline.  "Stop making excuses.  If you hadn't stupidly brought children on this mindless adventure of yours they would not have been that ship to begin with."  This time he narrowed his eyes, making the cat freeze in place.  There was something feral about Lupoid's eyes that, when confronted, could make almost anyone's blood turn cold.  The chaotic golden circular iris set in an obsidian mire stunned the bravest of souls when it was projected by one their hulking breed.  "The only part of you that has changed is that you are now defiant about your own stupidity."

The Enforcer said nothing as he wiped the blood from his mouth. The words had stung him more than Aria's punch, and he finally had to admit to himself that he should have left his family back home.

"That's the exact same thing I've been telling him for YEARS, and he never wanted to hear any of it," the rabbit was saying has he sat back in the chair. "I admit, I was stupid enough to even come along with him in the first place, but Kiri and I didn't want him to get in trouble. Unfortunately the kids ended up dragged into it, too, somehow." Aria scratched her head, upset and depressed and guilty at the same time.

"We just want to retrieve the children and head back home. We were supposed to be heading someplace completely different, farther away from here," Kiri explained, shifting uncomfortably a bit. "One of them is albino, which makes this our situation all the more sticky. Life for him is dangerous enough as it is on Kyzarie, but I'm definitely sure Sibken don't take kindly to them, either."

Before anyone else could talk, the fennec crossbreed shook her head as though ridding it of cobwebs. "I'm not trying to condone anything that's happened, don't get me wrong. We're only looking for someone who disappeared, left from Kyzarie a long time ago; my husband's older sister, Ryn Sonata."

========

Hawthorne tilted his head sideways before reaching into his coat. "Alright, you got me there, but this thing's only for defense, you know?" He pulled out a switchblade, dropped it to the floor, and kicked it towards the cat, cocking an eyebrow at her. "S'all I got, yeah? No need to look at me like that, it'll ruin your beauty." The man smiled, but it didn't make his features look any better.

========

It had sounded as if hundreds of thousands of cars had all screeched to a stop simultaneously. Not that the remaining crew of the Epoch Genesis could actually hear such tumultuous noise.

The crash landing was indeed a crash landing worthy of Captain Hyde's career, complete with all the fire, smoke, sparks severed wires, and extremely violent shaking he couldn't handle.

When he came to, he heard the alarms blaring in the distance, and the labored breathing of the human pilot nearby.

"Smith?" As his eyesight came into focus, he could barely make out Deacon's sprawled form on the deck floor near where he'd been sitting just before the impact. A piece of shrapnel was protruding from his leg. The air was thick with smoke, making it hard to see. Small fires crackled about the bridge, dying down to smolder.

"Cap...?" Deacon's voice was hoarse. "Damn... can't #$*ing move... Looks like the Genesis' tougher than I thought... heh."

"Shut it, Smith, you're hurt," Hyde growled.

"Says the one who's face is half covered in blood."

The lion froze for a moment, and touched his robotic hand to his forehead and mane. His hat must have come off during impact, but it felt wet and sticky. Bringing it back to his face, he found it covered in crimson. "Well I'll be damned. Must've gotten a cut or something..." He started to try and right himself, but a sharp pain in his leg forced him to his knees. He swore loudly.

"Captain...?"

"My leg's messed up, Smith... dammit, the others? How're the others? Savage? Badger Boy?"

Hyde called a few more names out, and only one barely audible reply.

"No matter the situation, you're always freaking loud, captain." The badger in charge of overseeing communications had been slumped against the back door of the bridge. He was a complete mess, and his arm was bent at an odd angle.

"Badger! You sound like you're near one of those big shiny emergency buttons," Hyde said. "Press one, quick, if ya could. Smith needs a doctor!"

==========

"Alarms... that can't be good," Leon grimaced, violet eyes on the column of smoke from the crash site. "Hey, you guys wanna go check it out? ... Come on, don't look at me like that! You gotta have a sense of adventure, don'tcha?"

"... No." Neliel was gripping Kai's shirt again, warily staring at people who'd actually heeded the city's announcement for a voluntary evacuation; some of the passers-by were giving the children angry looks now, especially Kai.

"What we need to to is figure out how to contact mom and your uncle," Elegy huffed, glaring at Leon. She turned to focus on John and Athena. "You'll help us out, right?"

"Eh?" The younger of the two feline brothers sounded as though he'd spotted something.

"What is it?" Kai asked at once.

"Thought I saw someone... Ooh, could be a hot babe!" Although his back was turned to them how, the others could still already picture his arrogant smirk. "I'm definitely gonna check this out!"

"Leon!" Before the rabbit could stop him, he had already made a run for it.

=========

OOC: Leon is coming for your character now, Shy~!

Angie was heading in the opposite direction from Leon, but she stopped when she hears rapid steps behind her. From the shorter pace, she could tell it's not an adult, so she didn't bother to reach for her weapons, but she did turn around, fixing the boy with an intense green stare. There was something slightly odd about her eyes, something not quite right about them, but it would take a closer look to determine just what it was.

Her eyes took in his feline form, his bold stance and confident manner, his arrogant expression. And his age. "Whatcha want, boy?" she asked him, even though she herself didn't look older than fifteen herself. She placed one hand on her hip, but despite her relaxed attitude, she was on guard and ready for anything. She knew better than most, even a child could be deadly.

The wolf took in a breath and closed his eyes, "It seems all pertinent information is finally in the open.  Discussing past events anymore would be pointless.  A boy with eyes similar to those with the stigma will be in extreme danger on the planet's surface.  Sibken are not immune to bigotry, however I do have an...  acquaintance living on the planet.  We should enter into negotiation with the captain, there is a chance he will help...  if given proper compensation, of course."

"I have some put back... if it'll help."  A small voice piped up behind them.   The wolf turned to one side to reveal the young cervoid in the doorway.  He did mince words, as was Kane's custom, barking out, "Baxter, what are you doing in here?  And what in Kenji's name happened to your eye?"    The youth shrunk back, "Um, Tobe and I had another fight.  He cut his hand really bad."  The wolf grunted in irritation,  "Tobias is more than capable of handling that.  Though I do wish you would stop trying to... fix, him."  The boy looked at the floor, the area below his eye starting to visibly swell.  Kane looked at the others, "This is the ship's engineer, rather indicative of our situation I would think.  He tends to dispense unwanted advice to our other engineer.  A young man I believe you are familiar with, Kenneth."

John smiled at little rabbit, "You have my shield little lady.  And being Kydane you know what that means.  I know how hard it is-" She broke him off  yelling,  "Leon!"  The youth was already off toward the newcomer before John could resume standing. "Just like someone else..."  His wife's voice quiped from behind.  The rabbit could feel a smirk coming on watching the boy chase tail, but then the girl turned and his attitude fell.   He turned around with a look Athena hadn't seen from the rabbit in years.  It was worried but there was something else to it, something hard and tense, almost like a soldier.  He muttered lowly, "I'll collect him, shouldn't be a minute."  Then darted away with amazing speed for his age thinking, Something's wrong with that one, kingdom for Ol'Whitetail about now.  Ix'is, is that kid is already in trouble?  I could NOT have been this bad.

"Boy?" Leon seemed taken aback slightly at the name but that smirk crept across his face again. "I'm no such thing, babe; I'm the finest specimen of hot stud this side of the universe." He risked taking a step closer. "Leon Sonata's the name, Miss. May I ask yours?"

"Elegy. Keep an eye on Nel."

"Eh?" The orange rabbit could only focus on the albino feline for a brief second before the small fennec was gently pushed towards her. Kai followed right after John wordlessly, his hands gripping the hilts of two knives sheathed in his belt.

Focusing his mind, he sensed the two forms ahead of him. One was indeed Leon's, but the other was unfamiliar, and their mental defenses were already up, forming a blockade. He'd have to ask this person to identify themselves instead.

"Yew c'n ask, but I ain't tellin' no 'alfwit boy my name." The young tigress examines her paw calmly, placing a slight stress on the word "boy". "Naow, if'n ya don't mind, I 'ave somewhere I need ta be." She has a pronounced accent, a careless disregard for consonants and vowels and a quick, offhand manner of speaking. Her ears twitch, constantly listening to everything going on around her. She turns to go but hesitates. "I don' s'pose ya know anythin' 'bout th' ship tha' jus' crashed, do ya?" Something tells her that this child isn't from around here. If he needed some place to stay, she was going to be stuck with him, whether she liked him or not. Of course, if he didn't cut the act, he was going to find himself back on the streets very shortly. She would not tolerate uncalled for harassment on her watch.

"No need to be like that b--eh?" It took a moment for the question to sink in. "The ship? Oh, you mean that thing. I was on that damn thing. Got attacked by something and I ended up getting stuck on this rock." The violet-eyed cat's smirk had vanished, revealing his almost forgotten annoyance. "Got shoved into a pod, then blasted off. I hate space travel..." He trailed off, ears twitching as he heard two pairs of footsteps approaching. "$*&@, here comes the peanut gallery..."

"Stuck 'way from 'ome, eh?" The tigress's expression softens a very slight bit. But then Leon mentions additional people, and Angie's ears swivel in the direction of the newcomers. "Looks like my offer o' a place t' stay just expired a'fore ya got i'. Tha's a grown-up, tha' is. An' where I live, grown-ups ain't welcome." She spits on the ground and turns away. "If'n ya end up alone, though, ask around if'n ya see any kids. Tell 'em ya wanna talk t' th' 'Ellcat, an' I'll find ya."

             Ashley retrieved the switchblade and stared at it for a moment,turning finally to stare at the man's pants for a second. He's got something else hidden in there... I'm sure of it. thought the Felinoid before pocketing the knife. "Stand down." she ordered to the men and women pointing their guns at the man. They immediately followed the order, dispersing into the corridors of the ship as to go about their leisure. Ashley stepped forward and offered her hand to Hawthorne. "Welcome aboard the Grey Lance. I'm Ashley. Maybe you've heard of me?" offered the woman with a slight grin, "But before you answer that, why don't we get you something to eat? Hm? I have many questions that only a man like you could answer."

____________________________________________________________________

             Meanwhile, in another part of the ship, Jak and a red furred Rodoid woman were sitting in the mess hall of the ship, facing off with a pair of Portable Game Cats, or PGCs. "Haha! Your Patchy Mouse is no match for my Tommy Gun Rat! I win a-WHA!!!" commented Jak, surprised at the woman's finesse with the game.

            "Why, my dear, dear Jak... Did you forget that the Tommy Gun Rat has a weakness to Patchy Mouse's Quicksilver attack? VICTORY IS MINE!!!" giggled the woman, her glasses going opaque like some villain in a children's cartoon, "Now pay up." Jak reluctantly pushed four canisters of napalm onto the table.

            "That's no fair... You always win at Pocket Rodents, Sasha..." groaned the spined captain.

            "Oh, I'm sorry, dear." replied the ship's engineer with genuine concern, "But if you didn't always use the same strategy, I wouldn't be able to read your every move. Maybe next time, right? There's always next time."

OOC: Yes, they were playing Pokemon.

“Oh, I’m sure he’s not that bad.” Commented the equestrian reassuringly.

Had she been a practicing nurse, Cherry might have queried as to why the rabbit was taking priority over real patients. But cherry was not a nurse, though she had served as one onboard a relief vessel once. She was in fact a practicing freeloader, and the first rule of planet hopping was to make yourself useful to the host, reducing the risk of a brief trip out of an airlock. From a distance Cherry surveyed the rabbit, quietly wondering what the coyote had meant by his ‘tail’. All she could see was an ordinary bunny on the cusp of adulthood. One ear drooped while the other stood proud, but apart from this he appeared unremarkable. Although he did look a little tall for his species and could only be a few inches shy of eye to eye with herself. Other details presented themselves as she drew nearer, little things like fur texture and posture that screamed ‘spacer’. Average clothing bore the marks of a ships-monkey whom spent most of his time contorted around or inside control panels.

Still engrossed in his search for bandages, Toby didn’t seem to notice as she drew up to the other side of the trolley he was ransacking. Either that or he simply didn’t care.

Cherry tilted her head and watched the injured paw for a moment.

“Ooo, that does look nasty. Glass?” She queried with genuine interest. The teen looked up irritably but was cut off as she spoke again, anticipating his question.

“Cherry,” Smiled the woman “just got off the ship of doom.”

Toby’s expression barely change, though malcontent might have crept in at the edges “That must be nice for you.” He said flatly “What do you want.”

A thoughtful look overtook the chatty arrival “Well... I’ve always ‘wanted’ to see the moons of Novarice. But right now, I want to help.”

"Oh...  Well if you know where that crazy old man hid the gauss it would help.  I need to get back to the clean room, all that bouncing may have effed up some connections on the main units, noticed the lights flicking over to RPS earlier.  If that stupid kid would just fix the dampeners I wouldn't have to babysit cords."  The rabbit rambled indiscriminately still on his quest to wrap his hand.

John skidded to a halt not far from Leon seeing the retreating figure.   "Hey!  Little lady!  No need to run off!  This area's not for lone wanders right now!"

The tigress turns again to face them. "I ain't no lone wanderer, mister," she says, voice cold and unwelcoming. "I c'n take what any'un c'n dish out, an' give i' righ' back." Her tail lashes. She's not pleased at having to deal with John. "If'n th' boy's wi' yew, 'e don' need my 'elp. I 'ave places t' be. So yew jus' go yer way, an' I'll go mine." She turns again to leave.

The rabbit sighed and put his hand down looking concerned and muttering softly, "He nex'eya-wa-yo..."

He nex'eya-wa-yo - Those that are lost, are naive.