Two

The next morning, Kali found her captain sprawled across the couch, and Spaz draped out in the chair. Que was bustling around in the kitchen, as usual at 0600 in the morning.

Que appeared right beside Cloud’s head, holding Kali’s alarm clock.

Don’t you dare! Kali hissed.

Que just grinned and placed the alarm on the couch headboard.

That’s just mean, Qugon! Kali growled silently. You know the buzzer makes it move.

Que grinned again and flicked his tongue at her. It’s not going off until 0900, when he gets up anyhow. he assured her and disappeared back into the kitchen.

O nine hundred? Shards, he’s a lazy bug, Kali commented to herself, unconsciously straightening her uniform again. She shook her head and continued into the bathroom to finish up.

Two hours later, the alarm buzzer went off. Spaz twitched in his sleep and straightened. Unfortunately, that made him slide off the chair and onto the floor. At the same time, Cloud snorted and yawned. Que cracked up as the clock fell off the back of the couch, bonked the poor kreeth on the head, and fell onto the floor, where it bumped into Spaz’s tail. When the clock hit Cloud with a thud, he sat straight up, snorted and almost fell off the couch himself.

Spaz and Cloud looked blankly at each other, then at Que. The haunter was rolling around in the air, gasping for breath.

“Mornin,’ gentlemen,” Kali said, smiling as she set a breakfast tray in front of each of them. Cloud stared at her blankly, though Spaz seemed to revive. He winked in return and dug in with a muffled ‘thank you.’ Cloud just blinked at her, and then fell back against the couch with a snore.

About an hour later, Spaz had left to go pack, but Cloud was still asleep. A soft knock came from the door. Kali started for the door, but Cloud was up and at the door and had it opened before Kali had gone more than a few steps. He grinned back at her. She mock-glared at him then shrugged and picked up his now-cold tray to warm it back up. In the doorway stood a young llexan holding three small bags.

“Captain, sir, I thought you might want your bags with you for your flight on the morrow,” the llexan spoke up diffidently.

“Ah, yes, Murre,” Cloud replied. Kali cleared her throat. “Ah, thank you.” She cleared her throat harder, almost coughing. “Ahm…won’t you come in? Kali was, uh…just getting breakfast.”

“Yes, thank you, sir,” Murre said and turned towards Kali and bowed to her in brief thanks. He carefully avoided putting hoof prints on the Turkish carpet in the middle of the floor. Kali returned with a small mug of khava and a straw, and gave it to Murre. Having a horse-like head, Murre wouldn’t be able to simply drink from the mug. Cloud pouted.

“Where’s mine, woman?” he complained. She just laughed. Though not completely unrestrained, her laughter was a little more relaxed than the night before. She vanished back into the kitchen. In a moment, Kali returned with his now-hot tray of breakfast and set it down on the khava table in front of him.

“Captain, sir,” Murre spoke up as he sipped quietly. “I wondered if you realized that I was not assigned to assist you on this trip. Surely, it must be an oversight, one that hasn’t been caught as of yet. I am your faithful assistant whenever I am needed.”

“Ahm…oh, hey, Kali!” Cloud dug into the food. “This is really good. I hope you’re the designated cook on our trip. No offense, mate, but Murre here can’t cook.”

“Captain?”

“Oh, yes…um…the reason for that ‘oversight,’ Murre, is that there can only be the four crew members onboard,” Cloud replied. “Private mission and all. I’m sorry, Murre, but I can’t take you with me.”

“But, sir, who will take care of you?” Murre objected. Kali snorted rather explosively from the bedroom.

“Um…Murre? I think I can take care of myself, just this once,” Cloud hastened to assure his young assistant. “It’s just a simple…um…it’s a simple assignment. Really.”

“I’m sure Cloud will be fine,” Kali helped, then cocked her head sideways in an unconscious imitation of her partner. “Which reminds me. Do you know what this mission will be? You seem to know more than any of the rest of us.”

“Nope. Unfortunately, they seemed disinclined to inform this poor captain. On that subject, you can rest assured I know naught more than you, m’dear,” Cloud replied with a shrug. He stood and silently ushered Murre towards the door. “Why don’t you just keep my apartments until I return, Murre. I’ll be back soon, it’s not a long mission, but you know what I’m like after missions.”

The llexan nodded with a snort, but obediently headed for the door. His last parting comment was to ask Kali,

“You’ll take care of him, won’t you, Miss?”

“Of course I will, Murre,” she replied quickly.

“Just don’t let him near the kitchen,” the llexas unen called back with a grin at his Captain. “He’ll burn the food.”

Kali laughed with him, and he walked quickly off down the tunnel hallway. “Well, blast. I was hoping to at least have an idea where I’m going and what I’m being ordered to do this time.”

Cloud just laughed. “Hey, Kali, when will you be done packing?”

“She’s already finished,” Que offered from the other bedroom. Kali glared at the open doorway, but nodded to the captain.

“I finished packing about an hour ago,” she replied evenly.

“Would you care to join me?” the kreeth asked hopefully. “I wanted to go over to the IAC and check out my new ship. Our new ship, that is.”

“That’s a good idea,” again, Que called from the other room.

“Qugon! Shut up!”

“Um…can he actually hear us all the way in the other room?” Cloud asked with a frown. “I mean, I knew haunters were good of hearing, but I didn’t realize they were that good.”

“No,” Kali replied wryly. “His hearing isn’t that good. Because of our friendship, we, in a sense, share each other’s minds sometimes. He’s only hearing it because I can understand you. So if you ever hear him say he doesn’t understand a word I’m saying, he’s trying to acquire pity. Don’t listen to him.”

“Oh, that must be annoying,” he responded with a grin. “Sharing your mind with a haunter.”

“Hey!” Que protested. Kali laughed.

“Seriously, you guys,” Que piped up, floating out of his bedroom with a single pack in his hands below him. “Do either of you find it odd that there’s no pilot named?”

“Yeah, I had wondered about that,” Cloud commented. “My superiors refuse to tell me why, either.”

“Self-piloting ship?” Que quipped. The other two laughed. “No, really! I’ve heard rumors they’re experimenting on AI’s. That all one has to do to control the ship is speak.”

“Never heard that rumor,” Cloud leaned back against the chair. “What mill turned that one up?”

“Not sure,” the haunter replied, hovering about the kreeth. “I just heard it. Actually, I found out about it at Assembly.”

“You mean you weren’t completely enamored by having The Great Green Captain at Assembly?” Kali grinned at him, knowing his tendency toward poking fun at famous people.

“Nope,” he responded. “I’m not like you.”

Kali’s grin disappeared. Her face turned bright red and she glared at her partner before disappearing into her room. The door shut with an audible snap.

Cloud blinked. “She does like me?”

“Of course, she does, Cloud,” the haunter assured him. “Most of the females I’ve met in the past few years like you.”

“That didn’t help, haunter,” Cloud muttered. Suddenly, he glared at the haunter. “You…you didn’t tell her, did you?”

“What? Me? Let your precious, 14-year-old, obsessive, tiny little secret out? Now, why would I do that?”

“Que!”

“No, I didn’t!” Que put his hands up in surrender, ready to fend off his new captain. “I swear! I didn’t say a word!”

“What about that bond the two of you share?”

“Oh. Didn’t think about that,” Que floated lower in sudden thought. Cloud made a grab for his tail, but Que zipped up to the ceiling and popped away, laughing.

Cloud grumbled, his face hot and dark green, and thought about leaving. Instead, he walked over to Kali’s door, and knocked. He heard a muffled shout, and then the door slid open.

The first thing he saw was the multitude of ferrets. Everywhere. On the bed, on the dresser, on the small hammock in the corner, or on the bookshelf. Some were curled around each other in fuzzy balls, others were skittering around, tumbling over one another. When the door opened, two ferrets paused in their play and skittered over to pause at his feet. The two brown fuzzies looked up at him with twin looks of innocence.

“Um…Kali?” Cloud started, but a flying white ball connected itself to his hair and burrowed into his morning mohawk. “Oof!”

“Sleepy!” the woman soon followed her voice into the room, walked over to him and extracted the white ferret from his hair. The two still on the floor clambered their way up her legs and side to perch on her shoulders. They chirped questioningly. Sleepy simply freed himself from her grasp and leaped back to Cloud’s hair. Kali laughed, defeated.

“I think he likes you. Either that or your hair,” she told him. Cloud gave her a look of helplessness. She laughed again. The two ferrets chirped again. “Oh, all right. Get ‘im.” Instantly, the two fuzzies leaped from her shoulders to Cloud’s arms, clambering up to his shoulders. They began to play with his hair, batting it around and chewing on it. One of them sniffed at his face for a moment, then seemed contented and joined the other at play. Cloud’s face only changed to incredulity.

“Don’t worry. They only want to get to know you.”

“I suppose this is something I’ll have to live with?”

Kali snorted, then turned back to the two packs on the bed.

“I just wanted to re-ask you if you wanted to go see our new ship with me. You didn’t give me an answer,” Cloud stated.

“Well…” Kali hesitated.

“You’re already packed,” he said. “I mean, if you don’t want to, I can understand perfectly, but I…”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“I said, yes. I’ll go.”

“Great!” Cloud smiled at her, then reached up for one of the three ferrets on his head. “Um…”

Kali laughed. “Here, I’ll get them off.” She reached for them, pulled the white one, Sleepy off his perch, and chirruped at the other two.

They chirruped back and chattered at her. Kali chirruped again, reaching for them. They squeaked, and dived off the captain, tinkling across the room to the Apartments in the corner.

“Can they actually understand you?” Cloud asked awed, as she gently set Sleepy down on the bookshelf.

“I guess so,” she replied, giving the room a once-over before shutting the door. “They listen more to the tone of my voice than the actual sounds I make.”

“Ah.”

“Que!” she called, grabbing her Imperial-regulated overcoat and clipping on her laser sword. “We’re going over to inspect the ship!”

“Ok,” his voice returned. “I might join you in a few.”

“We can wait for you, Que,” Cloud offered.

“No need. I’ll find you.” When Cloud looked confused, Kali told him,

“The bond. He always knows where I am.”

“Ah. Useful.”

“Um, hmm.”

Once in the hallway, they avoided the workers fixing the hall-light and eventually emerged into the bright sunlight. Cloud squinted against the light, but Kali seemed unperturbed. Cloud thought he caught sight of a flash of something in her eyes, but she turned away to hail a cab. He shook his head and forgot about it.

“So…why do you live so far underground?” Cloud asked conversationally. “I mean, I can understand Que liking it, but don’t humans usually like light?”

“Some,” Kali returned, glancing up and giving a piercing whistle. She turned back to him to reply, “Humans are a widely varied people.”

“Ow,” was all he responded with, fingering his ear closest to her jokingly.

Kali laughed as the yellow hover cab shot down from the traffic above and screeched to a stop inches from the two of them.

“Cripes,” Cloud muttered as they crawled into the cab. “I haven’t been on one of these in I can’t remember how long. Didn’t miss much, I see.”

Kali laughed but flinched when he crashed into her as the cab driver took off. She steadied him and saw his face was a darker green than usual. She pretended she didn’t see it, and waited for him to recover from embarrassment.

All too soon for Cloud, they arrived at their destination. He exited the cab quickly, gallantly held the door for her, and paid the driver.

“I’m the one who suggested this trip, I’m the one who’ll pay for it, m’dear.” Once inside the IAC building, Cloud told the receptionist who they were here to see their ship.

“Captain, you’re not allowed here until tomorrow,” the ghattan tom replied, sadly shaking his furry head. One ear twitched at a faint thump behind him. “I am afraid I cannot allow you entra—“

Que popped into existence above Kali right at that moment. “You let our crew’s technician in,” the floating reptile chided. “Why not us? This, here, is the Captain.”

Kali would have laughed at Que’s stress of the title, but she didn’t want to jeopardize their chances. The receptionist sighed.

“Fine,” and he gave them a pass onto the correct landing deck; LD422. “But I wasn’t here.”

Cloud only grinned and held his pass up in thanks. He started off, but Que grabbed his coat sleeve.

“I know where it’s at,” he spoke up, holding a hand out to Kali, who took it. “Been there already.”

Everything went blurry, then blacked out for a split second. Cloud staggered a little when they snapped back into reality beside the flight deck doors. Workers surrounded the small ship, carrying things to and from the storage bays. A jura was standing off to one side, taking notes of some sort as he spoke to a tall khrahn in a technician’s uniform.

“That must be Arlix, our technician?” Cloud asked. No one heard him, so he repeated it louder. Que nodded and headed that direction.

“Well,” Cloud continued, looking back at Kali, who hadn’t taken her eyes off the ship. “Shall we?”

“What?” Kali looked at him, then where he indicated. She paled slightly, but nodded.

As they headed towards Arlix and Que, Kali noticed the name of the ship printed clearly on the lower side of the left wing: Matrivani. Her Linguistics teacher had once told her she had a gift for picking up languages. Kaligan knew every language known to the Alliance the then some, but the ship’s name was a complete mystery. The next thing she noticed were the thrusters and cannons attached to the bottoms of the short and stubby wings. The cannons looked as if they held a good amount of firepower. Kali nodded absently, satisfied. It was definitely better than her own personal aircraft, which was one of the better models to begin with.

The overall design of this ship was that of an archaic, three-taloned dinosaur footprint, with the nose barely longer than the swept-forward wings. The only sharp edges on the aircraft were the wing tips and the nose. It was an odd design, and one that Kali had only seen in fiction. The pale silver plating shone brightly, almost mirroring the surroundings in its sides. Kali took a glance underneath the ship as they passed and saw several technicians working on the electronics. Someone was apparently giving them instructions through mindspeech, for every once in a while, they would stop, glance up at the ship, then nod and continue working. She grinned mentally when she was a few of the workers slow or stop completely and gawk as the famous Captain Tyaak walk by. Cloud seemed oblivious to it all. When the two reached Arlix, Que was floating unobtrusively out of the way.

Well, Que offered, politely including Cloud in his assessment. Arlix knows his job. They’ve gotten me as lost as Kali talking in another language.

Cloud snorted explosively, causing the jura to glance distractedly over at him, return to his note-taking conversation, then do a double-take in surprise.

“Forgive me, Captain, I did not recognize you right away,” the jura apologized, slipping his notebook into a small pouch at his belt.

“That’s perfectly all right,” Cloud replied with a smile. He held out his hand. “You must be Arlix. I’m afraid I cannot hope to pronounce the rest of your name. I have always been hopeless at names, pronounceable or otherwise. “ At this, he glanced over at an innocently whistling Que. Kali only smiled.

“Don’t worry about it, sir,” Arlix answered. “I usually go by Arli, anyhow.”

“Arli it will be then,” Cloud announced grandly. “I believe you’ve already met Que and Kali?”

“Yes, sir, I have,” Arli answered, nodding deferentially at Kali. “Good morning, Miss Kaligan.”

“Good morning…Arli,” Kali replied, forcing a smile. Even though deep down inside, she knew Arlix hadn’t been there, she couldn’t bring herself to relax. Not yet anyway.

Only time will tell, child, Que whispered to her only. Kali glanced at him with a small smile. He winked back at her.

“Hey! Almost everyone’s here,” Cloud piped up cheerfully. “Think we can steal the ship, kidnap Spaz, and leave a day early?”

Arli grinned, Que snorted, and Kali’s mouth twitched. “So, Captain, is it true? Did you really steal that ship?” Que asked innocently.

It was well-known that the captain had “stolen” a ship to get help to a frigate stranded in space. The IAF had written the helpless ship off, but the captain had refused to let over nine hundred people die.

“Who, me?” the kreeth responded, just as innocently. “I would never do a thing like that.”

Everyone cracked up at that, including a silent mindspeech snort. Kali’s eyes glanced around, but no one was near enough.

“Lighten up, girlie,” Que popped over to her shoulder and tickled her ear. “You get first pick of the rooms onboard.”

“Hah.” Kali’s breath exploded,

“She does?” Arli was curious, and

“I don’t think so,” Cloud muttered. “Captains always get first pick.”

“Women go first, Captain,” Que replied with a grin.

“Rank goes first, haunter,” Arli stepped up, eyes twinkling as he responded to the floating reptile’s indignation.

“Well then, we’re agreed,” Que finished with a flourish. “Cloud follows Kali around, so that means she’s the top rank here, right?”

Arli looked confused at Que’s answer, but Kali laughed when Cloud grinned at the haunter and turned to give a grand formal bow to her. Arli shook head with a grin.

Que! You’re coming way too close here, Kali warned him silently. You know the rules.

Oops, Que winced mentally.

Just then, an older silex trotted up to their group and said apologetically,

“I’m very sorry, sirs, madam, but I must ask you to leave the deck. To board some of the supplies, we will need to move the ship. Only authorized personnel are allowed while the ship is in motion.”

Cloud held up his pass card, but the cat-like wolf only shook his white-tipped head. “Authorized personnel are the workers only, Captain. I’m very sorry.”

“That’s fine then,” Cloud replied. He then turned to the jura. “Care to join me? I thought I’d go up to the Tower for a last drink or two before I head back home to collect myself for this trip.” He included Kali and Que in his request.

Arli accepted the offer gratefully, as did Que, but Kali begged off, saying she had too much to do before tomorrow morning and take off. Que simply shrugged, but Cloud and Arli glanced at her. Before they could say anything, however, Que said he would meet them at the restaurant and translocated himself and Kali straight to their living room quarters.

Kali instantly disappeared into her room with a waved thanks to her partner and quickly shut her door. He chuckled a ‘good luck’ and translocated out of sight. The first thing she did was pull out the four collapsible carriers from under her bed. Instantly, not a single ferret could be seen. Kali sighed in resignation and began her searching. She knew from hundreds of past times the many spaces ferrets could use to hide. She was grateful she had, for once, remembered to not let them out into the rest of the apartment. Though why all her fuzzies would dislike the carriers en masse, Kali could never figure out. Que never tried.

She reached in behind her books, felt fur and grabbed. The trapped ferret screeched in indignation at having his tail pulled, but Kali held on, pulling him out completely. Flip tried to reach around and bite, but she grabbed his middle and prevented the movement. Kali chirruped a warning and his little ears flattened, chastised. He squeaked when she pushed the hapless rodent into the nearest carrier.

One down, 54 to go, Kali muttered and heaved sigh.

Unfortunately, an hour into her search, one of the surprisingly intelligent fuzzies had gotten the bedroom door open and half the ferrets made a break for the rest of the apartment; she had only caught one on the run.

Three and a half hours later, Kali had managed to find and capture all of her ferrets but one. The last remaining hold-out was Fidget. Usually the small brown ferret could not be still for a millisecond. He was always shooting around, on the couch then in the other room, now under a bookshelf. Always going a mile-a-minute ever since he was born, Fidget had lived up to his name.

Unfortunately, he chose the night before Kali left to hide and ignore his namesake. Kali tried coaxing, she tried food, she tried ignoring him. Nothing worked. She simply couldn’t find him. If it weren’t for the fact that she knew her pets couldn’t get out of the apartment, despite Dsorri’s haranguing, she’d have thought Fidget wasn’t here.

Just when she thought she’d found the ferret’s hiding place, the doorbell rang. Kali glanced up with a growl, and had to whirl back around to make a grab for the escaping fuzzie; she missed. The bell clattered again, insistently. Kali snarled out a string of curses in several different languages as she lunged after the fleeing ferret. Fidget dodged right at the last minute, and disappeared under the big chair.

Kali growled deeply and lay there on the floor, trying to catch her breath from chasing a fuzzie for the last half-hour. Distantly, she heard voices from the other side of the door.

“Que!” Kali screeched both audibly and mindspeech. “Hesi your vinola zhaveth á travers wollim puñetero a-s-du-di et ogar pona pre cio beschissen ferret valtin seinige risslan cruento bärkasse!”

Outside, the haunter winced and subconsciously floated lower.

“What’s the matter?” Cloud asked concerned. “I…don’t think I caught all of that.”

“Trust me, you didn’t want to,” Que replied. “Wait for me here?”

“I heard ‘ferret,’” Arli offered. Both he and Cloud nodded immediately. Que disappeared. They heard a loud thud, then an angry shriek and a tiny, indignant squeal.

“I hope this isn’t something that will happen on the trip,” Arli spoke up quietly. Cloud winced. Both jumped when the door suddenly slid open. The captain staggered, as he had been leaning on it.

Note to self, Cloud muttered, looking expectantly at the small haunter floating in the doorway. Do not lean on doors.

“She’s fine,” Que responded to the open question in their eyes. “Come on in.”

Hesitantly, the two males stepped inside the flat. The female member of the crew was sprawled on the couch.

“Kali, are you all right?” Cloud asked. Her only response was a tired wave of a limp hand.

“She just spent the last three hours rounding up her ferrets,” Que supplied the answer.

“You’re taking them with you? Us?” Cloud cried incredulously.

“Why can’t she, Captain?” the jura asked, looking politely confused.

“She’s got entirely too many of them,” Cloud responded promptly.

“I could have told you that,” Que muttered with a grin.

A snort came from the couch.

“They don’t get underfoot, Cloud,” Que spoke up. “Of that, I can assure you.”

“Que…”

“Yes?” the haunter replied.

“You don’t have feet.”

“Oops.”

Arli snorted and grinned.

“No one I know is willing to care for them for an extended period of time,” Kali said with a sigh. Carefully, she sat up. “Temporarily, yes, but not for more than a month or two. All they have to do is come over and feed them once a day, but do they care? Of course not.”

“I see…” Cloud trailed off. He slowly lowered himself to the end of the couch.

“I take full responsibility for them,” Kali assured him. Suddenly, she sat up with a mad gleam in her eyes. “Cloud…Don’t. Move.”

When he realized she wasn’t looking at him, but rather behind him, he breathed a mental sigh of relief. He froze when he felt a something brush against the back of his head.

“What?”

Kali only grunted, her eyes fixed on whatever it was. She stood up slowly, and inched carefully towards where Cloud was frozen. She stopped near the khava table and didn’t move a muscle for a long moment. Cloud absently marveled at her control. He’d have been shaking from the strain after a few seconds. She was absolutely and completely still. When Kali started moving again, her movements concentrated on the thing behind him. Finally, she was right in front of the kreeth. He felt the creature behind him move a little; Kali lunged. Cloud ducked sideways frantically as Kali grabbed the last ferret around the middle and held him up with a triumphant cry.

Cloud was sprawled across the arm of the couch, while Kali was kneeling on the couch, almost on top of the kreeth, holding the poor ferret. The fuzzie was limp in defeat.

“Finally!” she sighed. Abruptly she realized she was almost sitting on top of Cloud. She jumped back, walked quickly to her room and pushed the Fidget into his designated carrier.

Purposefully, Cloud straightened in the end of the couch. “So,” he said casually in the silence. “Is there anything else you were planning on doing?”

Kali sighed and collapsed into the chair. “Just a social call to a friend.”

“Who?” Cloud asked interested. Kali only shrugged, got up abruptly and walked into the kitchen. Behind her, Que shook his head when Cloud looked as if to press the issue. Instead, the captain asked, “I’d like for the whole crew to get together. Maybe for dinner tonight, or something. Arli and Spaz haven’t met each other yet.”

“Good point,” the jura added with a nod. “It would be a good idea to make sure everyone can stand each other.” The other two laughed.

Kali walked back into view. “I won’t be longer than two hours.”

“Famous last words,” Que muttered. His human partner glared at him. “What? You still have to pack the fuzzie’s toys and buy some food mash for them, don’t you?”

“Hmm…yes,” Kali looked thoughtful. “Make that four hours.”

Cloud groaned theatrically. Arli and Que chuckled.

“Well, if they’d only give me an extra day, I wouldn’t be pushing for time. I’d like to spend more time with Gracen.” Abruptly, she turned away and disappeared back into the kitchen, as if she had said too much.

Again, Cloud and Arli looked at each other in confusion, then at Que, who only shrugged in apology.

If she won’t tell you, I ain’t gonna.

Arli shrugged philosophically and said, She’ll tell us in her own time.

“Well,” Cloud spoke cheerfully into the dead silence. “Here’s my pager number, Kali. Beep me when you’re ready to go.”

“Here’s mine, Cloud,” Arli spoke up. Que exchanged his and Kali’s.

“I’ll go find Spaz and tell him the plans. Until then?” Cloud asked, standing up. The others nodded and the kreeth and the jura left for their errands.

Que popped into the kitchen and stared at Kali once the door clicked shut.

“You are going to tell them, aren’t you?” Kali didn’t answer.

“Aren’t you?”

Still no response. Kali headed to her room to pack the fuzzie’s toys.

“They need to know,” the haunter insisted.

“Why?” Kali cried out in sudden anger. She whirled to face him. “Why do they need to know? Why does anyone need to know what happened to me? When they know, I can feel their pity. I can’t stand to have people feel sorry for me. Que, it happened 14 years ago. It’s dead. It’s over. If anyone can’t get over what happened, it should be me. People can’t seem to get that fact. I can’t stand pity, Que and you know it.”

“They won’t pity you,” Que interrupted desperately. He knew that once she got going on a particular subject, Kali could run for hours. The good thing was she never repeated herself.

“Because they don’t know,” she replied.

“They’re your friends.”

“So? Why should they need to know?”

Que sighed. “Kaligan, I’m not going to argue with you again. I’m heading off to see my clan. See you at dinner?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” Kali sighed.

“Good,” the haunter answered. “Now remember, you said you’d be there.”

“I will, Que!”

Que laughed and popped away. Kali sighed once again and went to the storage closet in the hall and began piling selective toys into the carry box. Every once in a while, a ferret would peek out of the slats in the carrier and squeak if she didn’t put a particular toy in the box. Once she had enough fuzzie toys, she dismantled the top half of the “Ferret Apartments,” which Kali had made portable when she built the Apartments.

About an hour and a half later, she was completely finished in her packing; all but the ferret food, which she would buy on her way home form her usual before-long-trips visit.

She paged the reservation to let Gracen know she was coming and headed out of the city. Even though the boy was almost thirteen years old, he still didn’t understand why Kali had to leave sometimes. On her way outside of the city, she stopped at the tiny animal shelter and bought a rat; a white rat. Gracen had voiced his desire for a pet rat on her last visit. Why or where he got the notion, Kali’s aunt couldn’t tell her, but the boy wanted a white rat. Kali detested rats as a rule because they were natural enemies to her fuzzies, but the boy wanted one and his foster mother, Kali’s Aunt Kaeka, didn’t mind. So, a rat it would be.

Kali sighed and ignored the squeal of an indignant rodent when she turned a little sharper than usual.

Three and a half hours later, Kali left the Cherokee reservation, exhausted by the enthusiasm of a 12-year-old boy. As much as she loved Gracen, Kali was almost glad when her pager beeped; it was Que, reminding her of the ‘crew dinner.’ They had set it for 2100 hrs, which meant that Kali had a half hour to drop by the pet store for ferret chow, return home, get ready, and get to the restaurant.

If anyone had walked into the flat at that moment, they could have followed the piles of clothes to Kali’s bedroom. In record time, Kali had showered, had a complete change of clothes and her hair fixed back in a deceptively simple braid. Her beeper began to vibrate across the khava table in the living room, the rattle sounding all the way into the loo. Kali growled and shot into the main room, slamming her shins on the corner of the couch on the way.

“Shyte!”

“Um…hello?” the voice from the pager hesitated. “Kali? You ok?”

“Fine,” she hissed, gingerly rubbing her now-bruised leg. “I’ll be there as soon as I can, Cloud. I’m almost ready.”

“Oh, ok. That’s great,” Cloud responded. “Everyone’s here but Arli and you, so don’t hurry too much.”

“And don’t kill yourself on the way!” Que’s voice shouted from somewhere behind Cloud. Kali laughed.

“If you don’t want here to hurt herself anymore, why don’t you go and get her?” Spaz’s voice spoke up distantly.

“Hey! Good idea!” Cloud replied cheerfully.

Kali heard her partner sigh in resignation. “Just remember, you guys, right now only Kali has the privilege of my teleportation abilities.”

Cloud and Spaz laughed. She then heard the distant ‘pop’ that signaled Que would be here soon. Right on time, in seven seconds flat, Que appeared in the living room. Cloud broke connection after Que’s arrival confirmation, and Kali limped back into the loo to finish up.

Ten minutes later, everyone was sitting comfortably around a table in the Tower, the most popular restaurant in much of Alliance space. They had restaurants on most of the Federation planets.

After everyone had ordered, Spaz cleared his throat and complimented Kali on her midnight blue dress. Cloud instantly seconded him. Que muttered something, but stopped with a grin when the kreeth glared at him.

“I almost feel out of place with these three here. They seem to know each other already,” Arli spoke to Spaz conversationally. “I, for one, will be most glad to have an ekansi aboard.” Spaz smiled in thanks. “If you don’t mind my asking, why do we rarely see an ekansi?”

Instantly, Kali ignored the kreeth and haunter staring match and focused on the other two.

“Well,” Spaz pondered a moment before responding. “You know? I’m not exactly sure. My people aren’t very insular, so it’s not a privacy issue. I guess it’s really just not a lot of my people enjoy the fighting. We’re a very peaceful people.”

“Which is what a member of the Alliance is bound to do.” Arli nodded.

“Eventually.”

“Because of your natural healing skills?”

“Quite possibly.”

“Then why did you join the Alliance ranks?”

“I?” Spaz seemed surprised by the question. Then, his expression turned to embarrassment. “Well, I wasn’t exactly the best son to my father, so to avoid dishonoring my family, I left.” He coughed lightly. “So…what about you, Arlix? What made you join?”

“Well,” Arli definitely looked embarrassed. “I’d like to say I joined the ranks of the Alliance out of adventure, but in actuality, I followed my elder brother.” Here, the jura clanged at Kali out of the corner of his eye. “He could do no wrong.”

“You worshiped him,” Kali stated flatly.

“Yes,” Arli winced. “Until, that is, he and a rather large group of his friends almost killed someone.”

“He survived?” Cloud gasped, horrified.

“Fortunately, yes, he did,” Arli replied sadly.

“Fortunately?” Kali muttered, but loud enough for all to hear. “If he was beaten to within an inch of his life, tortured for enjoyment, raped, and then left for dead on a whim, I’m not sure I’d call him fortunate.”

Que shared a glance with Arli, but said nothing.

“True, but he still has his life,” Spaz argued. Neither him nor Cloud had seen the jura’s startlement. “It may be hard, but as long as he lives, he can continue on. As a member of the Alliance, he can defend himself, so he’s not helpless. The Alliance helps people with jobs, too, I do believe.”

“Granted no other huge groups catch him alone, that is,” Cloud added dryly.

“They wouldn’t” Que spoke up. “There’s laws about that sort of thing, now, remember?”

Spaz nodded eagerly. “So there’s even less of a chance of it happening again. He can go on with his life. There are also protest groups who help those who have been attacked, privately or publicly. The only thing stopping him from continuing is in his own mind.”

“True,” Kali murmured. A small commotion at the door interrupted anything else Kali would have said and the talk died down. The group watched as a very young dooka tried to get up onto the table and dance. Security was called and the intoxicated cat was hauled away, now attempting to dance with the officers. The otherwise beautiful voice was slurred badly as she belted out rowdy bar songs. The crew’s attention was recalled when their food arrived.

“So, Captain,” Que spoke up after a few minutes of everyone stuffing their faces. “What made you become a part of this Alliance?” The haunter grinned. No one knew the real reason why Tyaak had joined. Many people insisted they knew, but there were over hundreds of versions out there. Cloud himself had never told anyone.

“Default,” the kreeth replied around a mouthful of pasta. He swallowed and grinned.

Spaz glared at him. “Well?”

The kreeth laughed. “I ran away from home and stowed away on an Alliance cruiser. When the captain found me, instead of sending me packing, she enlisted me into training. I was only fifteen at the time, so it was kinda hard.”

“That’s it?” Arli exclaimed incredulously. Cloud nodded with a shrug.

“Bummer,” Que grinned at the captain. “I was hoping for some long-held secret, like you saved an entire ship from annihilation or something.”

Cloud laughed. “Well, I didn’t really save that ship by myself. I had major help from the crew. I didn’t even do a single thing but tell the captain to drop the ship behind that asteroid and roll.”

“But you took all the credit!” Kali cried aghast.

“They insisted, I swear!” the kreeth defended himself vehemently with his napkin. Kali laughingly brandished a fork. Que grinned and handed her another fork. “Ack! They were quite happy they had saved the ship and didn’t want the fame of successfully bringing home the Tarian Councilor. For an entire ship, it wouldn’t have been all that much anyway. The captain practically shoved it at me.” Everyone laughed at Cloud’s expression. “I’d be perfectly happy to give anyone else this fame,” he said slowly. The other looked at him, wide-eyed, but the kreeth nodded. “Yes, I would. I never spoke that out loud before, but it’s true. Anyone want it?”

Spaz laughed. “I think I speak for everyone here at the table when I say that we would prefer to live in obscurity.” Que nodded firmly.

“You too, Que?” Arli asked surprised. “I thought all of your kind lived for attention.”

The haunter laughed. “Most of us, yes, but quite of few of us don’t.”

“Ah,” the jura nodded in thought. “Each man for himself, huh?” The haunter nodded with a grin. “So, haunter, what made you join our ranks?”

“Hmm…” Que floated a little lower in his place. “You know? I’m not entirely sure.”

“Yes, you are, Que,” Kali grinned slightly. “You joined so you could attract the ladies with your stunning abilities.” The whole table cracked up at Que’s hurt, caught, and dumfounded look. An interesting expression to be found on a reptile’s face, for sure.

“No, really,” Spaz finally managed. “Why did you join?”

“I felt it the most important thing I could do at that moment,” the haunter replied. “Kali and I had just met and we sort of decided to join together. Shows how long we’ve known each other. It’s been near fourteen years, hasn’t it, Kali?” She nodded with a sigh, and suddenly straightened, popping her back six times. Everyone, including Que, winced.

“Kali! You know I hate that!” Que whined. She only laughed and popped her neck. Que shuddered theatrically.

“Erp,” was the only other comment from the rest of the table.

“Just how long have you two been in the Alliance then?” Cloud asked.

“Eight years,” Kali answered. “It’s fourteen if you count the seven years of IAF training.”

“Wow,” Spaz commented. “I’ve only been out of training for four years.”

“Nine for me,” Cloud spoke up. “Arli?”

Arli grinned and sighed. “Almost 24 years for me. You guys make me feel old.” Laughter broke out around the table at that. Jura were one of the longer lived genus.

After a while, the food had been consumed completely and their impromptu party broke up. By then, it was nearly midnight. Everyone said their ‘goodbyes’ and ‘see you in the mornings.’

As soon as Que and Kali reached home, she headed to her bedroom. Que laughed at her last parting comment of “no doubt Cloud will be the last one to arrive,” and went to his own room to wind down. As late as they got to bed, the morning would come only too soon.