Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A clang of metal echoed in the empty weight room. Barbells slid back on the rack. Richard grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat from his bare chest and head. Muscular, clean-shaven, and a head full of brown hair if one ignored the greying edges. His brown eyes betrayed his age, half-lidded from exhaustion with sagging wrinkles underneath. The prison’s weightlifting room made for a nice personal gym for the head of security. After he dried himself, he put black jumpsuit, followed by the long black leather overcoat. The uniform seemed to be tighter every day.

Once Richard exited the brig, he was greeted by the warden Jack. His righthand man, wearing the standard red security jumpsuit and HUD glasses. Jack did a quick salute and was returned with one in kind. “How’s the exercising going? Been hitting the gym pretty hard for the past few months… more than usual. Everything alright sir?”

Richard grumbled, “Just trying to keep up, age hasn’t been kind to me.” He then looked at his wrist PDA; on the home screen was a note for the head staff meeting. “I’ll be at the monthly meeting; you have the charge.” Jack nodded and parted ways back to the breakroom. Richard continued to the entrance to the security department putting on his pair of HUD glasses and black beret. He passed by several holding cells, only one was occupied by a drunkard assistant. This wasn't a periphery station, no tolerance for troublemakers.

Richard left the security wing of the station toward the center where the station’s bridge was located. Gunmetal grey steel tiles lined the floors and walls, with the nauseating LED lights that burned if one looked directly at them. He stopped for a second at the end of the hallway to let two engineers pass. They carried more steel panels. Richard admired how much relationships have changed on the station, the lizardmen and the human chatted happily together as they headed to do their tasks. Several years ago, they refused to let lizardmen occupy any position higher than the service industry with humans.

The door’s pneumatics hissed when he entered the heart of the space station. Monitors lined the walls as they overlooked the happenings all around the station. Reinforced windows behind the computers viewed open space and several levels of the service wing. Dozens of employees could be seen running around getting ready to start their duties for the day.

Richard was still 20 minutes early, yet the other heads were already there. They chatted amongst themselves. The chief engineer had his conversation with the research director about experiments and installation plans for the coming months. The head of personnel, Ali, was stuck in a conversation with the chief medical officer, Allison.

Ali noticed the head of security in the bridge and excused himself from his conversation. He walked quickly away from the woman as if he had just freed himself from a bear trap, “Glad you’re here, the captain is about ready to listen to the update for the month.” Richard shrugged, these meetings were kind of pointless for his position. His updates were usually, 'everyone is still alive'.

“I have nothing to report, everything is going smoothly in my department. A couple of misdemeanors and an article NT-15i.”

Ali shook his head and whispered, “I know. I just want to get out of talking with the CMO, I can only take her in small doses.” Richard nodded, thankfully he only had to deal with those under her employ. They would rather spend time in the brig than deal with her.

The captain walked in from the meeting room, his regal blue uniform and gold trim completely outclassing the other heads’ coverall uniforms. A long white bushy beard perfected his look like a jolly Santa. Ali shouted, “Captain on deck!”

Everyone on the bridge stood at attention until the captain raised his hand with a gentle, “At ease.” He disappeared back into the meeting room. The rest of command followed suit.

The captain was seated at the head of a long wooden desk, and the room smelled like cigar smoke. Each person took their seat along with the long table, sitting in large comfortable leather seats. Captain Martinez was a kind man. None of the staff had a problem with his leadership. He won many awards from central command at Nanotrasen, and he was on track to become an administrator for the entire sector. He smiled, “I am sorry to have these constant meetings, but Nanotrasen mandates that I keep posting updates on the station. I am just grateful they allow me to do it once a month instead of once a week.”

The rest of the heads agreed with that sentiment, wasted time with pointless meetings just to give brass something to do was irritating. The research director, a pencil of a man stood up, adjusted his circular glasses, and started his briefing about the experiments his teams had been working on. His nasally voice droned on in the room, Richard already tuned him out.

One by one the heads gave their speech and handed in their written reports to the captain. Richard’s head perked up when Allison spoke his name during her lecture. She had some biting words about how he was running his department.

“Security department appears to be causing some extra trouble for the rest of the station; I wonder if all that testosterone is too much for your department.” The rest of the heads collectively rolled their eyes at the comment. She pointed accusingly at Richard, “Your officers keep sexually harassing my staff and I had to patch up one of your officers after a negligent discharge.”

Richard gritted his teeth and shook his head at the woman, “Asking someone on a date isn’t sexual harassment. We’ve been over this. And I took care of the other problem many months ago, the two of them are demoted to trainees with time served according to space law. They no longer have access to firearms. Discipline handled.” He finished it off by leaning in his chair, “Stick to your department.”

Her aged face soured at him, “And about the other departments' aliens, are you going to do something about them? They have been getting their hair all over the public laundry. My girls are constantly complaining about fur clinging to their clothes.”

Richard stared at her and then shrugged, “Ma’am I’m not going to apprehend aliens because they have fur and scales.” Allison contorted her expression to disgust.

Ali interjected, “I already spoke with the aliens, they agreed to use a section of washing machines for their needs and promised to keep them clean.”

She scoffed, “Then why are my nurses still complaining about the shedding.”

Richard leaned toward the group, “Maybe they should check to see if they are using the alien’s machines, you know… look before you sit.” The others held their mouths to hide their expressions.

Allison glared with an evil look in her eyes, “I didn’t want to bring this up in this meeting, but I noticed that the logs for recreation have been very light on your records Richard. Becoming a workaholic and excessive exercise isn’t a healthy habit for dealing with a divorce.”

Richard shot up and slammed the table startling the room, “Who the fuck gave you the right!”

She smiled smugly with control over the conversation, “Anger, such an appropriate response. It’s my responsibility to check up on everyone on the station, and after a little-“

The captain stood up and shouted, “Enough!” Allison stepped back as the captain glowered down at her. He cleared his throat, “This meeting is over, everyone except me and Richard leave.”

Richard remained seated in the meeting room as everyone quickly left. Once the door slid shut Martinez spoke somberly, “I’m sorry, I truly am. I shouldn’t have instructed the CMO to do anything. She kept prattling on about the ‘good of the station’ to do a health and wellness investigation, and I went and signed the paperwork. We were able to get access to the private messages through Nanotrasen corporate lines.”

Richard grew disgruntled as the conversation continued, “That is no one’s business but my own.”

“I’m sorry, again, when she came to me with the records, I was worried myself. How you were treated is distasteful. To add insult to injury we went around your back. This will be the last time I or the others will speak of it. Just take a few hours off every day to get Allison off our backs.” He gave a firm grip on Richard’s shoulder to improve the mood, “I’m here if you need to speak to anyone…”

“On the bright side, most people in your position find solutions at the bottom of a bottle, you on the other hand look fantastic, a real inspiration to the crew. You might need to go get your uniform tailored though, it looks like it might bust open.” The captain let out a warm chuckle which put a smirk on Richard’s face. He opened the door to the bridge, “Now onto real business, come.” Richard followed relaxed from the confrontation. Ali waited for them and stood at attention when the captain walked in.

“Please, don’t do that. When it's just us customs can shove it.” Martinez said annoyed at the protocol-following HoP.

“But it isn’t just us,” Ali pointed out Richard.

“Bah! he’s family too. We do need to get serious about the next topic.”

Richard stepped toward the two as they both stared at the radar console. The readings all seemed normal asteroids except for a single red signature.

“Syndicate ship, infiltrator class” Martinez stated with a deep frown under his beard.

“Do we have their location?”

Ali responded, “No, we only recorded them for two seconds before they disappeared into the asteroids,” he pointed out the signature's time stamp.

Richard thought for a few moments about protocol. “Code blue?”

Martinez gave a nod, “That would be for the best, if we see the signature again, we will go to code red. What will you be needing?”

“I’ll need volunteers, preferably ones with weapon training already, five from every department and ten from services. I’ll need them to report to security for firearms training and practice after their shifts.”

The head of personnel was dumbstruck by the request, “Isn’t your current staff enough to handle this threat?”

The captain gave the younger man a long look, “Listen to Richard, he knows what we are dealing with. Infiltrator signature ships always carry nuclear ordinance, we both have lived through them. If it turns out the reading is correct, we will be fighting for our lives.”

              The HoP tapped at his PDA to send messages to the other heads. The captain got ready to make his announcement. He pulled the microphone to his mouth and pushed the button, “Attention crew, this is a code blue, all security personnel will be seen carrying weapons, searches may be performed on probable cause.”

              Richard pushed his radio earpiece to speak to the security department, “You heard the captain, I want to see everyone in formation when I get back and Jack, hand out armor to everyone.”

He stared at the signature screen again when his ear buzzed, “Yes sir,” from his warden.

When Richard arrived, everyone was lined up wearing their red jumpsuits, combat boots, face shields, and plated bulletproof vests. Ten officers, and five trainees. The station had 200 employees total, 30 of which were alien. The security team by Nanotrasen definition was considered small for the size of the station. The warden stood at attention in the front.

“At ease gentlemen,” the head of security marched in head held high. “I’ll be assigning you all security details to focus on our weakest points in the station. You will also need to return here after the shift to assist in the training of the volunteers we get. If we go to red alert, they will reinforce our numbers to repel an attack. Understood!?”

They all shouted, “Yes Sir!” He proceeded to assign 9 officers to various parts of the station. Three to atmospherics, two to the bridge, one to virology, and three to cargo department. “Just tell the quartermaster you will be assisting around the department… You know how they complain about extra sets of eyes watching them.”

He studied the two recently demoted officers, “You two get your weapons, I need you on the most important portion of the station, the AI’s wing on the far end of the station. It’s been seven months, and your records have been stellar before the incident. You two only hurt yourselves, just don’t make me regret it…”

The two of them snapped to attention, “sir!”

He pointed at the last officer, “You will also be keeping an eye on the A.I. too, they are our eyes to the rest of the station.” Richard finished off his speech, “I will need rotating shifts, save virology, the syndicate can strike at any time. Report anything immediately, shadowy figure, a large spider, hissing from behind you. Don’t even turn around just report it. Okay boys, move out!”

The three remaining trainees watched as everyone made their way out of the hall. “You three will need to help the Warden get the training equipment ready, once that is done you will be walking the halls as officers keeping an eye out for trouble. I’ll make sure to make a note of it on your records so you will get a bump in pay. Just don’t do anything stupid, the rest of the crew bitches about anything they see.” Richard smiled as the young men joyously joined the warden’s side with their assignment. “I think that covers all the bases. Have anything to add?” Richard asked his second in command.

“You covered every possible area. Wish we had more people to double up, but we work with what we have…”

“As long as we have the A.I. watching everyone as well, we should be okay.” Richard paused and thought for a moment. He changed the frequency on his earpiece, “A.I., I am sending over 3 officers to watch over you, report any unusual external entries, and make sure no crew dies, okay?”

A feminine voice penetrated his ear, “No human harm shall happen.”

He pondered what he heard, then switched the frequency again, “HoS to HoP can you clarify an A.I. law that only Nanotrasen employees are human.”

Ali buzzed back, “Sure thing, was already on my way there when a guard showed up on the bridge.”

With all the pieces placed, Richard cocked his head high. He left the empty hallway toward his quarters. His office desk was clean and orderly, he spent most of his time here filing bureaucratic paperwork that Nanotrasen required.

On the far end was the entry to his room. All Richard would do is eat, sleep, breath security. That’s the company’s motto for his position. Double the size of the normal dorms, and a large computer desk to monitor the station and the security details. Simple wooden dresser for storing personal belongings, and a high-security locker.

He swiped his ID on the locker to pull out his security belt. Stun baton, handcuffs, and a selective fire laser pistol. The belt snapped around his waist. He examined himself in the locker’s mirror, his attention drawn straight to his grey hair and wrinkles. Exasperated he closed the locker.

Double-checking if he missed anything he looked on his PDA. The PDA spat out the schedule; all he had on it was the meeting with the captain. Frowning he thought about his own life and sat down in his chair to file paperwork for his officers and request more security armor be manufactured.

Many hours passed. His mind continuously wandered back to himself, how he spent the many months sulking. “Damn that bitch,” he mumbled under his breath.

Decidedly done with paperwork he got up and left to clear his mind patrolling. Richard passed the warden who oversaw the charging of the rifles and pistols, “I’m going to head out and do patrol while everyone is at their post.”

Jack spoke out in a concerned tone, “Sure thing boss, take as much time as you want.”

Richard made his rounds, once around the station. He watched all the different departments, all the people performing their duties. A second round around the station, people noticed him more, a few people grew concerned by the muscular man in black. By the third round, people stopped to murmur amongst themselves.

“You really should stop pacing so much and take a break, you have everything secure.” The head of personnel spoke out his window as Richard passed by.

Richard approached the windowed kiosk, “I just don’t know what to do.”

Ali laughed, “Plenty of young girls on the station, Nanotrasen just forbids relationships with your subordinates. Go out and meet someone new.”

He shook his head, “I’m going grey. I’m not some young 20-something like you, women don’t want that.”

“Oh. Quit. It. You aren’t that old. Just go to the bar and talk to people. The shift is almost over so you might meet someone.”

Reluctantly Richard accepted his advice, “I guess I should, it won’t hurt. Thanks, Ali.”

“I’d wish you good luck, but I think you will be fighting them off with that stun baton.”

              Richard walked to the dining hall, the steel corridors were suddenly filled with people as they came off shift to eat dinner and relax. Crowds never pleased the HoS, too many people to keep track of at a single time. Luckily no one wanted to bother him. The many people in blue, grey, green, and yellow jumpsuits were intimidated by his presence, they parted like a wave to let him pass. This was the first time he visited the canteen in over 8 months.  The vast majority of dayshift was eating their dinner. The noise deafened any meaningful conversation he could have had. However, he wasn’t here for food, he was here for the lounge in the upper level.

              Richard walked up the staircase and entered the posh wooden saloon. The pine floors were quite real as opposed to the vinyl in the dorms.  It served as a reminder of home to the humans and aliens from temperate climates. The decorations resembled replicas from some spaghetti western, with lots of cow skulls and bones on the walls along with some wooden wagon wheels. A fine touch Richard thought, keeping old traditions alive, even if they were superficial.

              The bar was somewhat busy, several cargo techs watched a sports game on a TV in the middle of the performance stage on the far end of the bar. The only thing that stood out of the room was a bright orange furry creature dangling from a wooden ceiling fan.

Dangled by her blue suspenders around two separate blades of the fan was Trixi the station’s clown. Her polished red shoes kicked wildly as she tried to get herself down to no avail. Richard strode forward to admire the small creature, she had to be taller than 4’5” and sopping wet at 80 pounds.

              Her high pitch voice was bubbly enough to make anyone smile. “Oh… hi HoS, hehe just hanging around” Trixi laughed as she spun around one revolution.

“I take it you didn’t do this to yourself,” he said with a serious tone; some human employees still love to pick on aliens around the station. A bad habit of xenophobia that stuck around with many humans.

She just twirled around again, “Oh it’s nothing, I don’t want to cause any problems for you HoS. But if you want to help, you could help me down.”

She was a silly-looking thing, red polka dot white shirt, and red oversized pants. Her orange face fur had some kind of spray that painted it all white along with red paint to spray over the ear tuffs that gave her the signature clown hair. Patches of orange fur always stood out as the paint wore off by the end of the day. The final touch like every clown she wore large shiny red shoes. However, she fitted them. Her alien ankle slipped perfectly into the oversized shoes, looked like a short clown that sneaked around on tiptoes. Which she claimed made her look funnier.

              Richard stood on the table, plucked the Vulpes off the spinning fan, and set her on the floor. Trixi swished her white-tipped orange tail, glad to be off the fan, “Thank you HoS…” She pranced around him; shoes squeaked as her paws tapped the floor. Her eyes ogled him as she circled, “wow… you look different…” He ignored her and walked toward the bar.

              Two people were seated at the bar, Bakes the bartender was standing at his usual spot. The grey jumpsuit-wearing men harassed the lizardman behind the counter. The place was a mess, a few broken glasses and a mug were scattered along the bar table. Fluid flowed to the floor from a tossed beer bottle at a wall. Trixi tried to stop the confrontation to no avail, “Please don’t, it’s not necessary.” She grabbed him by his coat trying to slow him down only to be dragged like a sheet of toilet paper on a boot.

              The assistants were drunk off their asses. They didn’t see Richard enter the bar, nor the fact the clown was released from the fan. “Come’on you walkin’ belt-n-bag give me and my pal annudder round we’er all out of rasshuns.” Bakes just cleaned a mug he held in his claws; his scaly muzzle showed no expression toward the young humans. The bartender was used to being treated like this by newcomers.

              Bakes’s lizard lips curled into a smile when the head of security stepped behind the two jackasses. His lizard tongue flicked out as he spoke common, “Hello HoSss, haven’t ssseen you around here in a while.”

The assistants turned to look at who he was talking to and immediately stood up from the stools. “So, what are you two doing to Bakes’ bar?” Richard asked with a cool manner. They stammered out excuses, which only drew to the conclusion that they knew what they did was wrong.

              “Hold each other’s hands please.” They listened and held hands unsure of why. “You know, I think it’s time you two morons learned to grow up,” just as he finished that sentence, he pulled out his stun baton and pressed it to their hands. The assistants jolted from the surge of electricity then collapsed to the floor. “That should sober you two up.”

              They slowly picked themselves back to their feet as Richard pushed the touch screen on his PDA. “Alright, starting tomorrow, after your shifts you two will be reporting to Bakes-the-Cakes for extra duties for 2 hours for the next two weeks. You will be helping him out and you will treat him with respect, or I will make things worse. Got it?”

He watched their faces as the words entered their thick skulls, “Yes sir…”

“I can’t hear you!” He shouted in a deep voice that startled the other drunks in the room, have that military discipline forced down their throats.

They snapped at attention and responded, “Yes sir.” He dismissed them with a hand wave.

Trixi sighed as she got up from the ground, “Always so serious…”

Richard sat down at the bar, the only sound now was the TV on the far end of the saloon, “I’ll have a malt rockbreaker, Bakes.” His eyes shifted toward Trixi and asked, “What would you like clown?”

She took a few seconds to process the question from who is essentially the anti-clown, “Uh, I think I will have a soda.” Bakes turned away to prepare the drinks. The clown turned on her charm and smirked at the serious head of security and cheerfully asked, “So what brings you into our neighborhood?”

Bakes brought over the drinks and continued to his clean-up. The fizzy drink was mildly sweet with the aftertaste of caramel-drizzled toast. “Thank you, Bakes, I missed this.” Trixi gazed off into the glass, wondering if she was going to be brushed aside when he said, “I don’t know. I was asked to come here by the HoP. Not sure what I’m looking for.”

“Maybe you were here to relax?”

Bakes placed another full mug in front of Richard, “Have another one on the houssse. Not many come by here after the resssent renovation.”

Richard picked up the mug and observed the room, it was supposed to be the end of the shift, yet only a few relaxed on the sofa in front of the stage watching the television. “Where is everyone? This place was a popular spot…”

Bakes shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe it’sss due to me not being human.”

Trixi interjected to cheer up the bartender, “No! That isn’t it Bakes; you are loved by a lot of people in the station!”

The lizardman left the side of the bar to clean up the floor and sighed as the broken glass was placed into disposals. Trixi felt like she failed her job, the HoS sat silently looking into a half-empty mug and the bartender dispirited, “Come on you two, smile! It’s not that bad!” She looked up at Richard, “When was the last time you laughed HoS?” The question surprised him for a moment.

He placed his fingers under his chin and thought deeply. Mind raced as he tried to remember. All that came to him was his overloaded time off card, unused alcohol ration card, and the 2 months of acquired leave he refused to take. He never left the station in over a year; he hasn’t taken any time off. Since he found out about the cheating, he refused to return to a shattered life.

Trixi took in his silenced expression as an ‘I don’t remember.’ She got off the stool, determined to make him smile.

              Two people entered the bar. Young women, fresh out of college. A redhead and a blond. They wore white coveralls, designated them as nurses. They beelined it toward the counter, “Hey there, didn’t expect to see you here HoS, my name is Tammy, and this is my friend Samantha.” Richard took his eyes off his drink.

The women were quite attractive, but something ate at him, “What’s got you two looking for an old bastard for?”

They each took a seat at the flanks of the Richard. As they sat down a loud fart broke the silence, followed by Trixi’s infectious laughter.

Tammy blushed and pulled out a rubber woopie cushion from under her butt, “Bleh! You disgusting rodent! That wasn’t funny!” She threw it at the clown, but just landed harmlessly on the floor.

Trixi continued her laughter, “Oh, I beg to differ.” She skimmed the drunk cargo techs who were giggling at the embarrassment of the nurse.

The woman got up and stomped her shoes in anger, “You flea-ridden gremlin, why on earth are you on this station in the first place!”

The vulpes took that as a challenge, “Oh? I’m a gremlin? You're just a dolled-up medibot. I’m sure if I got one cherry jubilee lipstick and a fleshlight it would attract more men than you.” She then pulled out her bike horn and honked it, a wide toothy grin on her snout. Honk! The crowd’s chuckling got louder. She focused on the reaction of Bakes and HoS. The lizardman smiled, but the HoS just watched stone-faced.

Tammy smacked the horn out of Trixi’s paw, “I can’t believe I had to come inside this place, disgusting foxkin, and slimy lizards.”

Richard interjected, “Then why did you two come up here then if it wasn’t for the jokes or drinks?”

              Tammy’s scowl disappeared and she brushed a stray hair off her face, “We came to see you up close; we saw you walking the halls and were wanting to have a chat.” Samantha stroked his broad shoulder, “You’re a very attractive specimen, we wanted to show you what your ex couldn’t.” Richard frowned, he spun around toward the bar, “Bakes, I’ll need another one to go.”

“Sssure thing bossss.”

Samantha was hurt, “What’s wrong with a woman showing affection?”

Tammy added, “Yeah, we are just trying to help you get over your divorce.”

He angled his head toward the woman, “That fucking bitch…” He took off before Bakes set down the drink.

Trixi’s mouth hung open as the pieces were put together. She swiped the drink, “I’ll deliver it, Bakes.”

He nodded, “Okay Triksssi.”

The two women approached the clown before she made it to the exit, “No, you will let us deliver that, you mongrel.”

Trixi held her muzzle high, “No I don’t think I will let you. The HoS needs to laugh not be burdened with some tart.”

              The cargo techs ‘oohed’ at the insult, more interested in the drama than the game. The fox drank in the audience, “Oh, before I go make a fool of myself for the HoS I wanted to compliment you on your lovely blond hair.” Tammy raised an eyebrow not sure where the clown was going with this. “Yes, it’s gorgeous. My species doesn’t have blonde hair, I just never understood why you humans always dye your roots a different color.”

Tammy immediately covered the brown on the top of her head to the sound of drunken laughter. Trixi moved a free hand to her own C-cup and squeezed it; it imitated the sound of a bike horn blaring out. Honk!

Richard was pissed. He worked his way through the crowd in the lunchroom, the only thing that ran through his head was how his private life was now gossip for the rest of the station. So much for patient confidentiality. He needed to blow off steam, so he started toward the dorms where the holodecks were located.

The sounds of squeaking followed him as he marched through the hall, “Wait up, I’m not as fast as you! You forgot this!”

Richard stopped and allowed the clown to catch up.

Trixi panted, “You forgot your drink HoS.”

He exhaled heavily and took the cup from her paws, “Thanks…”

She walked with him as he continued his path, “So where ya goin’?”

He took a long swig of the beer, “I’m going to head to the holodeck to do some training drills.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun. Mind if I join you? I still haven’t succeeded in my mission.” Her tail swished side to side, excited to complete her task.

“What mission is that?”

“I need you to smile, it’s my duty.”

Richard gave her a forced smile, teeth bared.

“Not like that silly, a forced smile doesn’t make you happy, it only makes things worse. I would throw you some banana peels, but I doubt that would work. Probably just turn your frustration into depression.” Trixi continued with her loud thoughts as she followed him toward the dorm room.

              He arrived at the dormitory. A large staircase in the center spiraled up several levels. Doors to their rooms rose like a skyscraper inside the station. The benches were occupied by assistants and others loitered around the central stairway. Tapping away on their PDAs while they waited for a holodeck room to be opened to spend their recreation time. The head of security had special privileges over the lower ranks, and he exercised that right. He chugged the contents of the cup and tossed it aside.

              Doors to the holodecks were located on the first level, several in total. The door opened and four people exited. Another group of four reached for the control panel with their ID cards. Richard’s hand slammed over the panel; the startled group stepped back. “Sorry, this one is occupied.” They didn’t argue and backed off to wait for the next one.

              He slid out his ID and inserted it into the console. Trixi was surprised with his timecard, “You didn’t do anything in how long?!” The recreation time was accumulated over the hours of work, 1 hour each day for different premium services on the station. His hours maxed out at 200 with a little red warning that informed him of just that.

              The door opened, and he placed his ID back in the PDA. Trixi squeaked in after him. The door’s pneumatics hissed shut sealing the two inside. There were black electroceramic tiles coated in glass on the floors and walls. Specialized hard light projectors for simulation. On the opposite wall was an alcove of standard gunmetal tiles along with a place to store the user’s possessions.

Richard turned to the clown and asked, “Are you sure you want to join me? I use this program to train with melee weapons.”

Trixi nodded, sure of herself, “The mime and I play games in here all the time, it’s a lot of fun… When we accumulate enough hours that is. We use it to test out material and exercise our roleplaying muscles.” She grinned lewdly, “Unless you want to use this for personal reasons, in which case I will leave you to your privacy. Just make sure to clean up after you are done. The smell lingers in these rooms.”

Richard thought about lying to the clown to get her out of here.  He decided against it, “No, I’m not going to do that.” He removed his black overcoat and HUD glasses and placed them on a small seat near the console in the alcove. He slipped his ID card into the machine, and it loaded up his profile. A list of hundreds of virtual programs populated the screen. He selected Skyout.

Trixi recognized the title, the multifaceted fantasy adventure. They even had online events where you can fight other players. “That’s the game me and the mime play, you want me to insert my ID so I can play with you on my jester? The game is more fun that way.”

“I guess? I never really played it with someone.”

She inserted her ID into the other slot. The console loaded her profile next to his. He pushed another icon, and it loaded their characters from the system. He was a melee fighter, and she was a magic-wielding jester. After a few more buttons the screen loaded in a huge list of mods.

She looked briskly through the mods. A few notable ones caught her eye, safety setting manipulation, harder weapons, bloodier scenes, female lizard princess quest, rain texture remap. The list went on and on. A smug expression crept on her muzzle as she looked back at Richard. He responded to the look, “What?”

Her tail swayed side to side, “Oh nothing, I just didn’t think you of all people would be into scales.”

He blushed as he unbuttoned his black coveralls, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

With rolled eyes, she responded, “You don’t need to lie to me, I know all the dirty mods for this game. Even without the lewd textures mod, the princess one is quite voluptuous. Although, true lizardmen don’t have breasts.” She squeezed her tits. Honk!

He embarrassedly answered her question, caught by the furball, “A few months ago."  He hid his cheeks, "I always thought of lizardmen as exotic.” Trixi’s tail happily twitched about this revelation as Richard pulled his sleeves and tied them around his waist, “I take it you are now going to gossip to the rest of the girls around the station about this.”

“Absolutely not, on the clownmother herself, I refuse to share that detail to anyone. I just never thought a head of staff would be a xeno…” Her mouth agape as she gawked at him, his tight white tank top let her get a full view of just how good he looked, the black uniform wasn’t doing him any favors.

Richard didn’t notice the clown’s expression as he started the machine and a computerized voice echoed through the hall, “All players please step into the circle.”

She hurried and squeaked into the center of the room. “Wait for me, I’m coming!” As she entered the circle the lights vanished.

_____

They were suddenly in a cave with bonfire as their only light source. Two chests occupied one wall. Bright sparkles enveloped the two of them as their belongings transformed. Trixi spun around and giggled as her clothes transformed into a bell-riddled black and purple female jester outfit. She held out her paws and a large ornate golden staff glittered into them.

              Richard stood perfectly still as armor morphed around him. The plated metal had a slight glow to it from enchantments, and then the helmet encompassed his head. He held out his left arm and a heavy tower shield blinked into existence, several menacing spikes on the face of it. A sword appeared at his hip.

“Wow, you already have a full set of enchanted darkiron metal? That’s insane!” She inspected the sword at his side, “What sword is that? I have never seen it before.” Making a circle motion with her finger opened the inspection menu, an orange name appeared, “Darksilver, the dagger of the damned. Isn’t that a weapon from the open beta?”

He replied to her barrage of questions, “Yes, I played this game quite a lot back in the day, it’s still a good item with all the upgrades.”

She bounced around with joy, “And here I thought I was going to be too high level for you, you might just show me up.”

He watched her bounce up and down, her outfit revealed quite a bit, orange fur standing out on the dark purple and white cloth. A heart-shaped fishnet window on her abdomen revealed purple panties and fuzzy thighs. Her orange fluffy cleavage exposed to the air caused him to flush. He forgot how revealing the base game can get. He turned his head away to not stare and cleared his throat.

“Hehe, you really are a xenophile if that’s a reaction a flea-riddled rodent like me can fluster you.” She turned away from him and raised her tail showing off the heart around her perky fluffy butt.

“Don’t make me shut this off and leave,” he threatened.

“It’s just a prank, my boobs aren’t even this big.” She squeezed her sizable breast, paw passed through the character texture and a bike honk echoed into the cave. Honk! “Now come on, let's select a mission and difficulty.”

              They walked toward a wall and a drop-down menu appeared with missions. Richard selected the lowest possible safety setting, weapons that struck them would shock them like a taser. “What mission do you want to do?” The scantily clad jester already selected the princess lizard quest. A red warning appeared that read the game won’t reward or give items for modded levels as the campfire was blown out. He questioned the dark, “Did you really have to pick that one?” She giggled again.

              The world came to light again, bright blue sky. Grass blew in the wind and the fragrance of flowers from a nearby hill. Tall fir trees materialized blocking out the artificial sunlight. The cool air felt as real as any planet, one could drink it in. A dirt path was laid out before them, leading into the thick forest.

A male voice narration played in their ears, “Welcome adventurers, the scaled princess Dances-with-Scales is held captive by the vicious armored marauders. Who knows what terrible plans they are going to enact on her?”

              Richard pulled his black sword from the sheath, “I have turned off the safety so be careful, the enemies will hurt you.”

“I have been stunned before by your goons, clowns get used to it."

“They better have not. I warned them if they stun people, they better have a reason.”

Trixi shrugged it off, “Well… I may have done something to deserve it, but it’s in the past. They always apologize to me after I return their belongings. Again, it was just a prank.”

              He scowled in frustration at her response. The last thing he needs is to have another damn meeting with Allison about injuring other staff on the station. “Alright. I just don’t want my security team to devolve like the periphery stations. I spent all those weeks teaching them CQC. Well, no offense. They should be able to take down a woman without having to pull out the stun baton.”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m tougher than I look. I was top of my class with gymnastics and balancing.” She did a forward flip with her staff in hand. The base slammed into the dirt and she balanced herself on top with a single hand. “Tada!” The bells on her clothes jingled as she did the splits on the pole to maintain balance. Richard turned his head again blushing inside his helmet. The little exhibitionist giggled at his reaction and jumped off.

“I said enough… please.” He questioned himself if he should have just lied to get the fox out of here.

“Okay, okay. That kind of humor is off-limits.”

He viewed the horizon at the tall stone tower in the distance, “Those bells are going to give our position away. We are already in earshot of them.”

“Well, we’ll just have to fight them, my hearing is better than yours. We’ll know when they come.” She said with a sudden serious nature. “And then I can blast ‘em with my spells, nothing resists the jester class spells. Slip ‘em with ice floor, blind them with foxfire.”

“Won’t work on the boss, he cancels out magic and enchantments.”

She let out a huff of protest, “Well that’s not fair, my whole character is about getting up high and cheesing everything.”

Richard proceeded ahead on the dirt path. The path wound through the forest. The deeper they went the thicker the canopy got. The two stopped suddenly when the smell of a campfire caught their attention. They both crept low to the ground, careful to not reveal their position.

              Four humans in full suits of onyx black armor sat on logs around a bright fire. A boar roasted in the middle. Trixi whispered, “So HoS, where do you want me? I can cast some CC if you want.”

“I don’t know, I never played this game with anyone else before.”

“Why? This game is so much more fun with people.” The sudden movement jingled the bells on her clothing, two of the guards stood up to investigate.

              Richard immediately engaged springing into action, the black blade sung as it glided through the neck of the guard. The other warrior unsheathed his weapon only for the fighter’s blade to crash over his helm. Blood poured over the dirt. Trixi followed it up by casting a dazzling storm of light. The light blinded the other two knights that charged toward Richard.

              The remaining enemies swung their weapons clumsily, the sound of metal on metal as they bounced uselessly off the shield. Richard struck out with his shield, sending his attackers to the ground. He finished one off with a quick stab through the heart. Blood shot up as it carved through the chest.

              The remaining guard regained his senses ready to strike at the fighter. Trixi fired another spell, “Listen to me, we aren’t your enemies.” A bolt of purple struck him, and he stopped, frozen in his tracks. “Ha, got him, the minion is mine.”

              Richard rose and raised his sword to cut down the man. “Wait! Stop!” Trixi yelled before the sword could make contact. She sighed with relief, “Whew, we don’t have to fight him anymore, he’s on our team.”

The blackguard gave a weary response, “What thou request mistress?”

“Do a silly dance.” The man kicked his legs out dancing like Michigan Frog. Trixi rolled on the ground laughing at the spectacle, his metal armor loudly clanged every time he landed.

“Humm, strange never seen that before. How long does it last?”

She dusted herself off, “Until the end of the mission, usually, I will play around with them and have them fight each other.”

He nodded, “Useful.”

Trixi sniffed the air then recoiled, “I hate the smell of blood.” She stared at the wet stains on Richard’s armor.

“What’s wrong with it?”

She shuddered, “It’s that fake blood smell, not that real blood smells any better. But that electric twang the holofield makes. You humans are so senseless when it comes to that.”

“I can fix it. Computer, remove smells from current simulation.” The confirmation beeped and they could only smell what was really in the room.

She took deep breaths in, “Thank you. Those artificial smells are just awful.” She took in another deep breath and a contented smile spread on her muzzle.

              They resumed their travel toward the tower with their NPC escort. Trixi asked the guard about the location of the other camps so they could avoid them. Richard was impressed with the resourcefulness of the vulpes, he usually bashed skulls of everyone he crossed.

              They climbed over a small grassy hill and peered into a small basin. “There it is.” The thralled guard said pointing to the base of the large 8 story stone tower. five guards stood at the staircase that led to the double wooden door entrance.

She groaned with agony, “Good, my paws are killing me. Clown shoes are meant for being funny not for hiking.”

“That’s the anti-magic guy I warned you about.” Richard pointed to a tall ogre in the center. A large grey-skinned brute, large bulbous nose, and barrel gut. “He will cancel out any spells or enchantments, I don’t know why there are so many guards though, last time I played this there were only three.”

She raised an eyebrow, “You really haven’t played this with anyone. The game has dynamics to make it more difficult if there are more people. So, we need to work together.”

“Do you know how to use regular weapons then?” He asked curiously.

“No…” The vulpes’ tail went limp, and she held the staff close to her bosom.

He placed his index finger on his helm, “I see. Well do you have any regular weapons, I could teach you something if you want to practice.”

Her eyes gleamed in surprise, “You will give me private lessons!?”

Richard opened a menu to drop an item from his inventory, “The whole reason I play this game is to practice techniques.” He handed her an ivory crossbow and a quiver of bolts.

She took it in her hand, “Are you sure I can work something like this? I never even shot a laser before. You think I can learn something like this?” Her voice was trailing shyly as her tail betrayed how excited she was.

He motioned back the way they came, “Let me teach you how it works, and the NPC over there can help.”

              They doubled back from the tower a safe distance. Richard showed the vulpes the basics of the crossbow. First, he had her pull the string back.  Trixi complained about the difficulty, “Why is it so hard to pull back?”

He smirked inside his helm and grabbed her paw to help her, “It’s the mod for heavy weapons. It’s still not realistic enough, but it works how I like it.”  He set his shield on a tree so she could practice hitting a target. The thrall was tasked to retrieve lost bolts. “Go ahead and aim down the sights” he placed the crossbow into her shoulder and rested her face on the stock. The crossbow was quite large for her, but she held it properly and more importantly, still.

It took her 50 shots before she finally got the hang of aiming using the goalpost sights. He had to remind her a dozen times to use both eyes. Focused on the target rather than the weapon and finally, a metal 'ping!' the bolt nailed the shield. She screeched with joy, “I did it! I did it!”

Richard clapped, “Good job. Do you want to try it on the bad guys now?”

              He led the way back up the hill. “That was so much fun, I always used magic in this game! Throwing light around always is always fun! I never really found shooting to be that interesting, seemed like a point-and-click adventure, but that was amazing!”

She continued her exited ramblings until Richard touched her snout, “Shh, they will hear you. Their weapons still hurt, just try not to hit me when I get their attention. Aim for the big guy.”

Trixi’s ears perked up, “I have a better idea, why don’t we use our guard to lure them away. They look dumb enough to follow him.”

Richard didn’t like that plan, he wanted to burn off some energy. “Okay, I guess, it is getting late, we did spend a lot of time training.”

              She instructed the guard to run over to the others and lead them away. The guard did just that. They watched carefully as the guard conversed, the ogre grimaced and waved his hand. The thrall stumbled back. Trixi asked, “What’s going on?”

              The spell was broken, and he immediately pointed over the hill while the rest of the entourage grabbed their weapons. “I think your spell was broken,” Richard said with enthusiasm, ready for action.

              The six enemies charged up the grassy incline and the fighter posted up defiantly. He leaped and two were struck with a long stroke of the blade before he hit the ground. His momentum carried him forward and bashed another with his shield. The spiked shield was embedded into the body with a gurgle of blood. The shield became too unwieldy, he tossed it aside with the body still attached.

              He passed the two remaining armored guards and the ogre down the hill. They roared out and chased him as he arrived at the base of the tower. Trixi loaded a bolt and aimed at the largest target. The bolt whistled through the air and hit him in the ass cheek. The ogre was undeterred, he still chased after the fighter that took down three of his own.

              Richard neared the sealed door; he ran up a few steps and turned on his pursuers. He flourished his blade taunting the knights from higher ground. One of the black knights swung his massive war hammer. Luckily, it missed and crushed the stone on the steps. Richard kicked him in the head and his back was sent to the dirt below.

              The last knight fenced with the fighter; swords clashed as they would parry each other’s attacks. His heart pounded as he faced the artificial sword wielder. He pressed an advantage with a few steps forward placing his helm inches from the onyx armor. Swords scraped between the two as they fought.

              The combatants were suddenly blind-sided as the ogre found a large log to strike them both. The fighter and knight were sent into the air as he swung wide, sweeping them away from the tower’s steps. Electricity coursed through Richard as he landed, the simulated damage caused him to shout out in pain as his body arched. Trixi watched it happen in slow motion as the ogre strolled to him as he was downed, he raised the massive log over his head for a final blow.

              She pulled out her staff and pointed at the ogre, “Distract!” A bright green light pulsed out toward him; the ogre laughed. Before the light even reached his body it flicked out of existence. He looked back up and spotted the little vulpes up the hill.

              Richard got up, pained muscles, and sweat irritated eyes. He peered over at the knight, his armor caved in, and blood pooled inside of it. He stood and picked up his sword. The last armored knight waited for him. Standing between him and the ogre, who now strode his way toward the jester. The fighter charged; sword point aimed at the knight’s chest. The hammer was useless to stop the blow as Richard’s full weight collided and pierced through the onyx armor.

The final warrior dropped to the ground in a heap. The fighter forced himself to a hasted retreat to help his ally. His lungs burned more, he watched Trixi fire bolt after bolt into the unphased ogre.

              Her arms were exhausted, the string twanged again with another bolt. It sailed past the ogre’s head by a foot. “Damn it…” she cursed herself for her bad aim. She fought with the string again to load another bolt. The ogre climbed the small mound getting closer to the little vulpes. Her heart raced; the massive log balanced on his shoulder. A terrifying laugh bellowed out.

              His body was riddled with several bolts. They poked out of his grey flesh by several inches. Despite all the damage nothing vital was penetrated. He raised his massive makeshift melee weapon. Then he started to list to the side, a scream of agony rang out as he braced himself. The ogre collided with the ground and rolled down the hill.

              Next to the armor clad Richard was a standing left leg. It had been severed cleanly from the rest of his body. The ogre's body remained still at the bottom. The bolts vanished into the grey flesh, just a torrent of blood oozed out of holes. One directly in his chest.

              The fox panted, her chest raised with every deep breath. Her tongue lolled out cooling her overexerted body from the fight. She saw the HoS with a bloody sword being inserted into the sheath near the leg. She ran over to him stumbling on the grass, “Are… you… okay…” She gulped after every word as her tongue flung out short of breath.

              He breathed in slow long breaths. “Yeah, I’m fine… It just hurt like hell.” She looked him over and he seemed to be fine, then she stared down the knoll and saw the remains of the monster.

“You… did… it…” her tongue dripping with saliva.

              Richard removed his helmet, sweat matted his hair down in a wet sheen. He glanced over at the conquered beast. “You did it.” He said confidently a smile on his face. “You killed the enemy.” He peered down at the exhausted vulpes, her clown makeup completely worn away, revealing all her orange fur beneath. A bright beam crept across her snout.

              Trixi examined the monster from afar, she saw the holes and realized she made those holes. A renewed energy surged through her and jumped around excitedly. “I did it! I beat the monster! I used an actual weapon!” She happily jumped up and hugged Richard, “That was amazing, I never thought I could do something like that.” Her enthusiasm was infectious. The clown learned how to use a crossbow. From the looks of the sight of the many bolts scattered through the grass, she missed only 80% of the time.

              He set the fox aside feeling her body clip through his avatar, “It’s no trouble at all, I've been doing it for many years.” His smile disappeared, “So many years…”

Trixi spotted his change in attitude, “Hey now, old man. Don’t go getting sad on me now, we have to see the princess.”

              They entered the stone tower, all that was inside was a spiraling wooden staircase that rose to blackness. “Oh boy I can’t wait to see you kiss the maiden, it’s always funny to watch you humans kiss non-humans,” Trixi said to her amusement.

Richard just scoffed, “And how many times do you voyeur such activities.”

She got defensive, “Hey now, there isn’t much else going on around the station. People-watching is a fun time.”

“I’m glad that interspecies relationships are happening more frequently. It wasn’t that long ago when they would barge into my office demanding I do summary executions.”

A squeal of glee leaked out her snout, “I’m glad to hear that from you! I’m also glad we spent some time together! I always thought you were one of those old guard that just tolerates aliens. But here we are, climbing a staircase up to see a lizard princess so you can smooch them.”

              Trixi made kissy noises as they got to the door up at the top of the tower. Richard pushed it open. Inside was a beautiful maiden, her scales were light green with a very healthy bustline. Her lithe figure was similar to all lizardmen with sharp claws on the end of her digits. She wore a flowery baby blue gown that hid her legs but exposed her massive cleavage. She approached the two, “Oh noble knightsss. Thou hasss come to sssave kingdom’s darling.”

              The princess puckered her scaly muzzle for a kiss and text appeared on the wall, ‘Thanks for playing the mod.’ Trixi walked around the princess, looking over her model with a careful eye, “She looks pretty good.” She then lifted the NPC’s dress and crawled underneath it.

“Will you cut that out?” Richard asked growing more frustrated.

The princess responded, “Sir knight, I don’t know what-“ He held up a finger.

The clown reemerged from the front of the dress. The NPC didn’t react at all to what Trixi did. “Wow, she is fully modeled, hehe.”

He rolled his eyes, “Will you stop that…”

She shook her head, “You humans and your sexual romanticism.” She scowled. “No wonder all the stations need a clown, you take everything too seriously. You need to loosen up.” She pulled up the dress and revealed white panties and scaley muscular legs. The NPC remained unaware and waited for the kiss. Richard blushed and turned away. “Come on, it’s just an NPC in a game, go ahead and ogle it all day, no one will judge you,” Trixi's voice was irritated.

Richard was fed up with the situation, “Computer end program.” The princess vanished and the world melted back to the large box room. Their computerized clothes and armor disappeared into the dust of pure light leaving behind their normal clothing.

He grumbled, “I’m not looking for a quick fuck, or masturbation encouragement. I’m 43, and I have no one now.”

Trixi took a few steps back, her eyes wide, “I… I didn’t know.” She folded her arms around herself, she completely misread the situation.

He pulled his coverall sleeves back on. His tank top soaked with sweat, “I know a clown can’t understand these types of things, I just wanted to practice, and I have succeeded in that.”

Trixi’s ears were folded back defensively as she handed him his glasses and heavy overcoat, “I’m sorry… I just thought you wanted confidence.”

The sight of her sad eyes hurt, “It’s okay, you couldn’t have known…”

The room was dead silent. A sudden idea flashed in her head. Her pointed ears shot up, “Oh I know. How about I get you to talk to Welds, she is a lizardman engineer. We share the same washing machine.”

“Is she even interested in a human?”

“Only one way to find out.”

He sighed, not sure if he should accept the clown’s help at all, “If I don’t agree you will pester forever.”

She laughed, “It’s what clowns do, we have to make people happy.” She gave her boob another squeeze and the honk bounced around the cubed room. Honk!

“It’s getting late, we should pack it in.”

The clown bounced over, her shoes squeaking, “Will you continue to teach me? I had a lot of fun.” He looked over his wrist PDA and pushed the touch screen a few times, “Sure, you showed some promise, I could probably show you how to shoot something real.”

Trixi shouted and hugged the HoS, nestling her chin on his chest while she looked up at him, “Thank you! Thank you!”

He held up his hands, “No problem. I have to use my time off anyway to get the captain off my ass.” She took in a deep breath and then released him.

Chapter Text

Richard entered the security breakroom, wearing tank top and coveralls. The sleaves are tied around his waste. Workout towel draped around his neck. The warden drank his early morning coffee.  “So, how’s the training going Jack?” He stood to greet him before Richard dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

“It’s going well, each department sent several people. Only one individual from medical had a problem, she just kept asking about you. I didn’t waste time on that and dismissed her. I have enough problems to deal with.”

“Gossip, it’s just gossip. I have no idea what is going through their heads.” He sat down across the warden. The cold station bit at his wet body.

“Most departments sent their lizardmen to us. I think we had every lizardman on station come through. They all had weapons training from their military service on their home planet. I didn’t even know that service was mandatory there. All I had to do was tell them about the proper methods to recharge the laser weaponry and they were off to the races.”

Richard sighed with relief, “Sounds like this will be a lot easier than we both thought. Code red and we have them all grab their gear and take out the bad guys.” He thought about the logistics with the reinforced numbers, they might be able to pull it off on their own.

“The lizardmen were a little skittish around the other officers. I think they thought they were singled out for their species. We tried our best to show them it wasn’t the case.”

Richard knew the reasons for this. He grunted, annoyed at the way they were treated, “It’s the other departments, I make sure to bash any xenophobia out of this department, but I can’t get all the morons on the station.”

He got up and headed out the door until Jack asked, “So, how what the bar last night? Meet anyone new?”

Richard didn’t know if he was joking or not, “No, just the same old same old. You’re young...” The warden who was several years younger stared at him with a cocked eyebrow. “Not like that, I meant… Well… Why is the bar empty? The only people there were the bartender, the clown, and several cargo techs watching the TV.”

“The rest of the guys just drink from the vending machines, they installed them while the bar was going through renovations, it’s pretty popular. Just the brands of mixed drinks in bottles and cans. They just swipe their alcohol card, and it gives it to them.”

Richard shuddered uncomfortably, “Discount brand stuff? That shit is disgusting.”

Jack sipped his coffee, “It’s what they like, they don’t wait in line to be served. And all the men are just hitting on the new nurses, who really don’t like the bartender.”

Richard thought about Bakes and how hard he worked on this station. If things didn’t change, he would get laid off or transferred to another station. “Why are they so catty? The felinids aren’t even that catty. I like Bakes, I don’t want to see him laid off or moved.” Jack nodded his head remembering the other staff who were replaced around the station. Richard mulled around some ideas in his head, “How about tonight we all head to the bar? my treat. We will take the volunteers too, this will be good for team building, show them we appreciate them.”

The warden’s mood brightened, “That sounds like an excellent idea. I’ll send the message to everyone. It will be perfect for the different shifts.”

Richard left Jack to enjoy his morning. He arrived back in his quarters opened his security locker and picked up his weapon belt and overcoat. A shining golden pin caught his eye and he pulled out the old black and red commissar hat. Flashbacks came to him when he joined Nanotrasen, his instructors all wore the same hat. Running a company like a military outfit was the only way they could maintain order in deep space. Rival corporations constantly declared war on each other, and the United Earth Government refused to police space. It fell to the hands of the employees to protect the station… and themselves.

He donned the hat and HUD glasses and opened the door to his office to fill out more bureaucratic nonsense. An hour passed as he double-checked his work. He thumbed through the paperwork when he realized the orders for the practice lasers arrived from yesterday’s order. He switched his headset’s frequency, “HoS to QM, did those security crates arrive?” No one responded. He stood up and headed back through the main hallway of security. Richard walked past Jack, “I’m headed out to pick up the training supplies.”

The warden chuckled at the old school look, “You look like you’re going to blow the brains out of a subordinate for fleeing.”

The HoS grinned back, “Like the good ol’ days, that’s the look I'm going for.”

He strolled through the halls and watched staff go about their business. Just another day on the station. He neared the service's main hall when he heard a faint sound of a laser blast. A whispered sound of whistling plasma originated from the cargo department.

The laser pistol switched to kill as he opened the doors into the cargo’s lobby. Blasts got louder when he entered the ordering room. Richard arrived at the cargo bay. He instantly put his hand to his face and shook it. Laser pistol lowered to his side.

The cargo bay was a mess, opened crates made two box forts on each side of the bay. A security officer on each side. The entire department laughed with practice laser pistols and rifles. Bolts of energy flew across the room. Sounds of capacitors charging and discharging caused the HoS’ tinnitus to act up. “What the hell are you idiots doing?!”

None of the participants saw the pissed-off head enter the bay. The QM was nowhere to be seen. Richard leveled his pistol, flicked the switch to disable, and then opened fire. One by one the amused cargo techs went down. Paralyzing shots jolted through them. Even the two officers that joined in the festivities went down just as they turned their attention to the blue blasts of energy.

The sound of blaster fire was replaced with pained moans. Each one rubbed the point of impact on their body as the feeling returned. “Those aren’t toys! They can still blind you if you get hit in the eye!”

The QM came out of his office after the moment of silence, “What’s going on?” His eyes were dilated, and he stank of marijuana.

“Doug care to explain to me why my training equipment is scattered throughout this department?”

He looked around the room as if he had never seen the place before, “Can’t say I can.”

Richard groaned and yelled at the cargo techs, “Put the weapons back in the crate, funs over!” He singled out the two officers, “Tweedledee and Tweedledum get your asses over here!”

The two officers stepped up, avoiding eye contact with their boss. He just shook his head in disappointment, “The fuck were you two thinking?” One stammered out an excuse while the other one just looked straight ahead. “God damnit you two if someone got injured.”

He scanned the room looking at the cargo techs putting away the practice lasers back in the crates. His keen eyes checked them for any injuries, constant eye fluttering, or excessive rubbing of their eyes. Typical signs of injury if they took a direct hit to the eye. No one had any symptoms.

“You both got lucky.” He sighed with relief and thought to himself how he would’ve been proud of them. If his officers had the cargo techs put on the eye protection that shipped with the weapons. He stared down at the weapon crates, beaten, battered, and scratched with crowbars and hammers. They pulled all the stops to get the high-security crate open. The security guards stood there shamed. “Take the crates to the warden, you idiots will be charging them tonight after shift.”

They moved quickly to lift the crate away. The QM wondered over to speak, “Sorry about the trouble, didn’t think it was such a big deal.”

Richard relaxed the fire of the gun fight in his body, “It could have been a big deal, I’m not going to report it, a waste of time for the both of us.”

Doug smiled, “Well that’s some good news, between the extra checks and orders, my list is full.”

As if on cue the speaker for the entire space station blared out with Trixi’s voice, “Attention crew, this is not the captain! He just forgot to log out of his console.” Bike horn honked over the intercom. Honk! She resumed her announcement “I do have some good news though; I found my joke book again! You thought you hid it in disposals from me, but I found it!” The sound of cargo was filled with loud audible groans upon hearing the news.

The com ended with the microphone being wrestled away from her. The HoS sighed, “Well looks like I have to head to the bridge now.”

Just as Richard went toward the exit Doug asked, “Can you deliver this paperwork to the captain? It’s from centcom’s distribution.”

He took the envelope from the QM’s hands, “You owe me.”

The doors hissed closed as Richard entered the bridge. One security guard, the head of personnel, and the captain stood around the clown who was sitting cheerfully in one of the office chairs. “Hi HoS, welcome to the party!” The clown joyously announced.

“Unlawful entry, tampering with equipment, interrupting work hours.” Richard went through the list of violations she had just committed. Martinez the captain had a smile on his face, he enjoyed the antics of Trixi. Ali was annoyed, constantly dealt with subordinates’ complaints about the clown. Trixi just bobbed her legs playfully while holding a golden book of comedy in her arms. A wide grin on her painted muzzle.

Richard inquired, “How did you even get inside here anyway?” He looked over to Ali, “Did you give her access?” Ali shook his head.

“I crawled in through the vents, I’m just small enough to fit through. I did some exploring and I found myself on the bridge. Pretty neat huh!” Her fluffy tail tip bounced beside her happily.

“That’s amazing! Wish I could fit through there.” The captain shook his belly inside his blue uniform with a hearty laugh.

“Alright, let’s go, Trixi, we need to speak to the HoS, thanks for bringing him here” Ali motioned out the door.

She held her book and was pushed out the door, her shoes squeaked along the floor the entire way, “Aw, I’m not going to be arrested?”

The frustrated HoP answered back, “Maybe later, right now there are more important things to deal with.” Ali pushed the button to shut the door behind the vulpes.

“What’s the problem now?” Concern in Richard’s throat as he glanced around the low-lit room.

The captain’s jolly nature was replaced with a sober deadly tone. “I filled out a request to have ERT stand by if things go south. Centcom isn’t going to send any reinforcements unless we lose 70% of personnel.”

Richard cupped his chin, “So we are on our own then. If we lose 70%, we’re already dead.” His eyes searched for answers just out of reach, “Do they want us to evacuate everyone? An emergency shuttle can’t hold 200.”

The captain shook his head, “They think it’s just a bug in the system and we are overreacting. I filled out requests for better equipment, riot gear isn’t enough to stop fully hard suited terrorists.”

The envelope felt like a fire in his hands, he handed it over to the captain, “I believe this is related to that.”

The captain tore it open and read it. It was crumpled and thrown away in seconds, “Dammit…”

Ali shook with fear, “What do we do now. The system isn’t bugged, we did diagnostics manually, electronically, and visually. They're out there.”

Martinez gripped him by the shoulder, “Calm down, maybe they left. Our probes haven’t detected anything.”

Richard flicked his wrist, “We have eyes all around the station, I put extra eyes on atmospherics and the A.I.. If so much as a fart the leaves the station, we will know about it.” He looked at the officer he assigned to post on the bridge who nodded confidently in return.

Ali’s shaking subsided as he took in a deep breath, “I always heard about what they do to the stations, never thought they would happen to ours. This is low threat space.” They all wondered the same thing, why this station. No answer they came up with would satisfy.

Richard returned to security to check on the armory. Laser weapons lined the walls and the center steel tables held batteries and charging ports. In several boxes were the new plates for his team. He hoped the science team made enough ceramic-coated asbestos plates for the security team and the volunteers. The tests proved effective to absorb several laser blasts. But a syndicate energy sword was a point of concern.

Jack walked into the armory to join in on the activity, “Everything looks fine boss, stop worrying.” Richard stopped and looked at the warden, who smiled confidently. “You've been frazzled more than usual. You sleeping alright?” It comforted him to know his men had his back, maybe he didn’t need to be so nervous.

“I’m just preparing for worst-case scenarios. Might even go around Nanotrasen to get my hands on real equipment.”

“Ha, I wish you would, but if they found out, it would be all our asses on the line, the QMs, yours, the captain’s, hell, even mine.”

Richard shook his head, the meticulous surveillance of Nanotrasen would probably use that very conversation as evidence for a court-martial. The maximum penalty for such an act in his position would be death. “I'm probably overreacting. It was just a few seconds of a signature, and we have probes out there searching asteroids.”

Jack patted him on the back, “Once you get a look at the drafted volunteers you will change your tune. Get them a bit of practice with the equipment, then we can work together and give the rag-tag syndicate agents a run for their money.” Jack looked at his PDA, “How about those drinks, we all could use a pick me up.”

Richard set the armor aside, “A few drinks can’t hurt. Tell Philhouse and Miller they can join us when they get done recharging those practice lasers.”

The bar was packed. 15 lizardmen and 4 human volunteers showed up along with the entire security team. Richard examined the group, the lizardmen grouped shily together while the humans stood away talking amongst themselves. A few lizardmen spoke draconic to each other in hushed words. Their scales were greatly varied, from earthy browns to seacoast blues.

Trixi approached the HoS. Her fur puffed, and her pointed ears laid back with an angry scowl on her muzzle, “You should have told me you were planning this! I didn’t prepare anything!” She pointed accusingly at him.

“It’s just for a few drinks, I wanted to make sure everyone was comfortable with each other. It’s my job to make sure the lines of defense on the station can work together as a team.”

The clown stepped back and looked around the room, “Oh, that’s what HoP asked volunteers for.”

“More like voluntold, half of them were probably selected because they were alien or a delinquent in their department.”

“Oh, like that one?" Trixi pointed out one of the humans, "Look at that cargo tech staring at the ceiling, I can smell like marijuana from here.”

The warden approached the two of them, “Well, this is the group that showed up, there were others, but they said they couldn’t make it.”

“Thanks, Jack, I will get to talking to them shortly. Everyone seems a bit on edge right now. I’ll order the drinks you tell the officers and those four to mingle with the aliens, we need to work together on this. Don’t want to just push myself in there just yet, they are ready to stand at attention at a moment’s notice.” Richard turned his attention to Trixi, “Trixi can you put on some background music, something to fill the dead air?”

She snapped her shoes together with a squeak and gave a poor salute, “Sure thing HoS.”

The next thing on his mind was the bar, “Alright Bakes, get them whatever they want, and if you could, it would please me to try the drink that is best for a lizardman palate.”

The lizard silently watched the people meander about the saloon. The colorful blue and green fin stretched up from the top of his head down to his back, “HoSss, why did you bring ssso many people here?”

Richard answered back in a confused tone, “I wanted to bring a crowd here like before the renovation. We seen so many crew members get replaced by vending machines, like that disgusting discount pizza.”

Bakes hissed out a sigh and relaxed the fin on the top of his head, “I appreciate it, it hasss been a while I ssseen many customersss. I thought usss lizardmen were in trouble at firssst.”

The answer took him aback. He evaluated the room and realized how it might have looked to gather the entire security team with every lizardman. He said calmly, “I’m sorry. The other heads just selected them on your past military experiences. Or at least that’s what I’m hoping they did, rather than just select ‘expendable’ crewmates.” Bakes sighed as he remembered the mistreatment he gets constantly from the crew. Richard ended the topic, “I’m hoping no one thinks this is ill intent, I treat them as if they were officers, I have to protect and serve the station.”

“HoP mentioned that. I wasssn’t hatched on Tizira, I didn’t ssserve” the lizard’s tongue flicked out.

“I remembered Bakes you were born on the human world of Hau.” Bakes’ eyes popped open in surprise that someone other than Trixi listened to him. “I want the crew to treat you well and keep you aboard. As a plus, we don’t have to drink that dog piss in the vending machine.” He looked into his reptilian eyes, “Trixi is right, we do appreciate you.”

"I’ll bring out the drinksss and I think you will like thisss drink.” He quickly vanished to the backroom to gather somethings.

Richard turned back to the crowd. Trixi messed around on stage and pulled out some speakers while everyone was still in their little cliques. He wanted a drink to help lube up the ol’ social muscles when one of his officers approached him, “Are you sure it’s okay to be drinking before shift boss?”

“It’s fine, back in the day we used to drink while on shift. And on the stations in the periphery, it’s encouraged. Just keep it under two an hour and you're good… Make it three, you had a rough transition on the shift change.”

The guard laughed at the encouragement, “I took some sleep assistors from medical. I’m right as rain.”

Loud blaring music started to play on the stage, what could only be described as clown music. Everyone covered their ears as the clown shuffled through a tablet cycling through different music. The mime exploded out from the back from stage right and started a makeshift fight with the clown.

The mime was wearing his traditional garb, black and white makeup, black and white striped shirt, and black overalls. His painted face was furrowed deeply toward the clown as he frantically took the tablet away from her. She fell back and clutched her chest, overdramatically feigning injury to the floor.

The mime pushed the control to stop the music and then tossed the tablet onto the wooden floor. He adjusted his chapeau and dusted his hands off silently. The crowd was pleased to no longer be hearing the blasted music. The mime then moved to the back of the speakers and then leaned down to mess with the cables. He then backed away slowly flicking his wrist outward while his other hand was cupped. His cupped hand dropped as he pinched something. Then he turned around and then pushed it forward. The mime showed off his exuberant smile to the crowd as he turned on his heels. He moved around stepping over something large then sat in the middle of the air.

A gentle wave of his hand in the air and the sound of a piano played softly through the speakers. The mime pinched up high and twisted, then his gloved hands started to dance in the air as gentle ambient rhythm filled the room. Trixi popped up joyfully as the crowd applauded the strange act and the music flowed gently in the air.

With the silence broken some of the officers stepped forward to speak to the aliens. Then followed the other human volunteers. Richard watched the crowd mingle, uniforms from every part of the station. His men got along with the lizardmen, he smiled and relaxed on the stool. Bakes returned and set down a glass of kortara.

“Thisss isss all I have left in my ssstash. The botanissst refusesss to grow the treesss.”

Richard looked at the single glass with concern, “I don’t want you to waste your special drink on me, if you want to keep it for yourself, I won’t blame you.”

“No sssir. I refussse. I want to sssee what you think of it.”

He sipped the drink, a sweetened hazelnut milk with the after-taste of alcohol. It wasn’t strong but if one had enough you could get drunk. He nodded approvingly of the drink, “Very good, thank you for sharing.” Bakes beamed at the reaction. “I’m going to talk to that botanist, it might just become my regular drink. Can you get some shot glasses, please? I want to share this with everyone.”

Bakes pulled out a tray of shot glasses and poured the drink into each of them. There was just enough to give everyone one. Richard held up his shot and stood on the table to get everyone's attention, “You’re all from many walks of life, but right now, we will need to work together. I don’t want to see us fail because of our differences, we are all living on this station, and we will all fight for this station. I’ll fight and give my life to protect every one of you!” He drank the shot and the others followed suit. The lizardmen noticed the flavor, immediately they were reminded of home. An approving smirk spread across Richard’s face as the remaining nervousness vanished.

The room filled with chatter, the lizardmen slowly opened up. Cave wheat brew started to flow and loosened the head of security up some more. He talked with each draftee and got to know them a little bit more. He sat back down on the stool and smiled. The lizards seemed quite capable.

The warden joined his side, “You look a lot better.”

Richard nodded, “You were right, as always. I was overreacting. Used to dealing with the bottom dwellers of the station, I forget there are actually decent folks working here.”

A few other lizardmen showed up late for a minute to greet the HoS and then pardon themselves from the festivities. Richard was pleased to meet all of them and the effort they showed to their extra duties. He hoped to see them in action with the weapons. Jack claimed they all took to holding the weaponry like they were hatched with them.

Night shift left for their duty and nearly everyone parted ways and said their goodbyes. Richard felt quite buzzed. An officer cried out, “Enough with the ligma jokes!” Trixi had her golden book in her hand and laughed as she chased him toward the exit. Her footsteps squeaked as he exited the saloon.

“Oh come on, it’s not my fault your name is Philhouse!”

Richard snickered which caught the little clown’s attention. Her eyes faced him like a high-end targeting computer, “Ha! I got you to laugh.” She ran forward and took the seat next to him, a smug expression on her snout, “Well that was a blast, makes up for the soreness you left me last night. My arms and legs were killing me from all the activity. I didn’t think you would push me so hard, and the way you handle your sword really got at the heart. You even showed me how to aim after I did the splits.”

Confusion took the inebriated man, “Why are you talkin’ like that?” He heard stifled laughter behind him. He turned and saw Jack and two officers.

Jack bellowed out loudly with some of the other officers, “R-really Richard? The clown-n? I guess ya did find someone last night, you can do s-so so much better.” Richard blushed and chuckled at the situation, being wasted kept him from knocking some sense into them. Trixi honked her bike horn, her smug expression melted to a forced cheerful smile. Honk!

“It wass just a training seshion, taught our little friend how to sshoot. She has potential.” She confidently puffed up her chest and held her head high. They just laughed harder thinking it was another joke as they walked out of the bar.

“Good un’ Richard, I’ll see ya tomorrow.”

She shrunk and her tail drooped. Richard dismissed the two with a wave of his hand, “Don’t listen to them Trixi, I didn’t forget we were ssupposed to go train again… We have ta push it tomorrow; I don’t think I can do anythin’ ‘cept make a fool of mysself.”

He took another mug and drank heavily from it. Bakes wandered to the counter again, “Thanksss for the helpersss, I definitely needed them tonight.”

Richard peered over his mug and saw the two greytiders elbow deep in soapy water in the back. “Oh good. Glad ta help!” Richard just stared in the distance; mind clouded with dwarven-styled ales.

Trixi tugged on his overcoat to snap his attention back to reality. “She’s over there.” Her voice was hushed.

“Who?” he responded turning around to look.

One of the lizardmen was sitting at a table alone. She wore the engineering department’s yellow jumpsuit. Her scales were vibrant blue and her smaller caudal fin was a deep forested green. He didn’t know how hard he stared at her as she glanced over and saw him, a concerned look spread on her angular muzzle.

He talked to her briefly when he introduced himself to everyone, got her name and some history on her home planet for her short stint in their military. Welds-the-Pipes wanted to leave the first chance she got. He turned away to not creep her out anymore, another mug in his hands.

“Well, aren’t you going to say something?” Trixi said louder.

“Let me thinks about that, ‘oh hi, I love your scaless, wanna get to know each other?’ That is just askin’ for troubles. Not to menssiun how drunk I’m bein’” The clown covered her muzzle to hinder the laughter at his self-reflection 14 beers in.

“Come on, it’s just a talk. Just walk up and say, ‘how are you, would you be interested in getting a bite to eat tomorrow.’ I’m sure she will say yes.”

He downed the other mug as replacement courage, ”Alright, I’m doin’ it.” Standing up he walked forward with surprisingly steady steps. Trixi watched with bated breath. The blue lizard’s fin shot up defensively as he approached, her anxiety on full display. The clown watched from afar as they talked with each other, the lizard at the table smiled cordially at the HoS. Then the smile vanished as he continued. Welds said some things in return then held her drink closer, a deep frown on her scaled lips.

The HoS responded with his hands up. He continued to talk for a moment then her mope faded. He waved good-bye and then turned around. Disappointment on his face. He returned to the bar and sighed back into his mug. He sat there and said nothing. He just nursed from his beer. Trixi opened her maw, “Well? What happened?” She continued to pester the HoS to get any information out of him, but he sat like a stone. She hopped off of her barstool to ask Welds what happened, just as the tip of her lizard tail vanished out the exit.

Richard finally answered her question, “She’s already seeing someone. I really fucked up.”

“I didn’t see a ring on her claw, you’re obviously a better pick th-“

He turned and glared her down, “I don’t play those worthless games, I’m not Rebecca!”

Fear struck her. He rubbed his tired eyes, “Sorry Trixi, didn’t mean to scare ya. It’s been a long day. Now I haf ta deal with hittin’ on a terrified lizard, I shoulda known that wass a bad idea.” His head rested on the counter with a loud bang, “Goddammit.”

The night was over, the music stopped and the only occupants in the bar were Bakes, the mime, Trixi, and the HoS. The mime was sitting in the middle of the air, his feet up high. he pinched his fingers together with his pinkie out brought it to his lips and sipped silently. Trixi never left the HoS’ side, he drank until he couldn’t move on his own anymore. “Bakes can I please get some water for the HoS, I think I should bring him back to his quarters.”

She forced him to drink some water and helped him off the stool. She tried to keep him moving out of the bar, but he was far too heavy to be carried alone. The mime got up and helped the poor vulpes, taking one arm around his scrawny shoulder. The two of them made their way out the door.

As they left the bar to the food court a surprising burst of energy overcame the drunkard. He pulled out his laser pistol and flicked his thumb over the settings, “Fucking bastard!” He fired off several shots of white plasma into vending machines on the far wall. The ion bolts arched electricity as they impacted the printed face on the side of the vending machine. The mime grabbed his arm in a hard jerk and forced him to return the gun to his holster. Fortunately, no one occupied the dining hall. Richard stumbled back with his arms in the air and spoke to an empty room, “Shorry folks, just executin’ hard criminls!”

Trixi approached him very slowly, her fur on end, “Sir, we need to take you back home. Shift’s over.” She gently touched his arm and wrapped it in her arms, the mime pulled his other arm around him and held on to it tighter this time.

Trixi looked up at the mime, “Thanks Jacques, you’re amazing.” The mime smiled brightly. Richard was still using his own two feet, but he stumbled left to right. He mumbled incoherently, talked about a war that may or may not have happened, cursed different names, and yelled about the space bees. The two entertainers did their best to guide him to security.

The arm Trixi held got a little feely. A surprised yip escaped as it stroked up her stomach, then wandered up and squeezed her prop bra. Honk! She just giggled at the action and looked up at the half-sleeping man. The mime’s eyes widened with worry for the fox. “Relax, it’s fine. I can handle a little grope.” She pulled the hand back to her side and sighed as they rounded another corner.

When they arrived, a recruit greeted them before they could make it to the door. “Thanks for returning him” he opened the high-security door and let the group into the security wing. Trixi grabbed the HoS’ arm to let them into his quarters.

Once the HoS was laid down on the bed, they both stretched, arching their backs. The mime over-exaggerated his movements rolling his shoulders and holding his back. Trixi was soon preoccupied taking in the room. It was so bland and barren to her sensibilities. Nothing occupied the walls, the only furniture he had was a chair, a computer desk, and a bed. There wasn’t even carpet over the basic flooring. Her nostrils flared as she took in the scent. The guard waited for them at the entrance of the room. Richard was already passed out on the bed. She took in a final breath before leaving the room.

__________

Despite the pounding headache, he continued his normal workout routine. The thoughts of last night buzzed in his head. The last thing he remembered was humiliating himself in front of what potentially could have been considered a subordinate. His fears contorted how she looked from a mild confusing glance to an abstract figure of disgust. It ate at him.

He tried to think of ways to not talk to her, maybe he could just remove her from the draft list to not cause her any more troubles. The weight slammed down on the bar rack. He got up covered in sweat and picked up his water jug, eyes burned from poor sleep.

“Sir, the clown wants to speak with you,” Jack said into his ear over the comms.

Richard clicked the button on his waist, “Tell her I’ll be done in 10 minutes.”

Trixi rounded the corner to the brig’s weight room. Her fresh makeup was still wet on her fur.

“She already ran past me.”

Richard shook his head and held his temple.

Her cheerful voice tempered off as she spoke, “Good Morning HoS, you sleep well?” She took a deep breath in and waited for him to finish.

He sat down and grabbed a rag, “Not well at all, sleeping with my gun jammed in the stomach didn’t help.”

She snickered playfully, “I could have stripped you before putting you in bed.” Her tail danced quickly behind her, “You drank pretty heavily, I just wanted to check up on you.”

“I’ve had worse days; I just don’t know what I said to Welds. I feel like a fucking moron now.”

Trixi wanted to touch her snout to palm it but held off due to the paint, “What? Why?”

Richard returned the weights to the racks, “I shouldn’t have done it, I’m higher-ranked and due to these extreme circumstances, I am technically her superior. On top of that, she is not single, and I want nothing to do with it.”

Her eyes danced over him as he got dressed, her breathing became quicker, “It’s nothing, I’ll talk to her tonight, she is going to be doing some laundry and I will make sure things are good… You worry too much about everything. You just asked a question. And… I got to get out of here.” She fidgeted on one leg then another.

He listened to her carefully, he couldn’t deny that he may be overreacting again… “What?”

She stood still, her gloved hands grabbing tightly onto her fluffy orange tail, “Oh nothing, I also came by to ask you another question. The mime was… talking to me about how you were acting and asked me to ask you to visit him. He thinks he can help you, he’s the station’s therapist.”

“Who on earth allowed that to happen?”

She shrugged, “He’s a very good listener, and he can’t talk about it to others. So you can tell him all kinds of things. Unless you want to talk to me, despite me being just a clown.”

“Your job is to entertain. I don’t need to drag you down to worry about issues in my personal life.” She stared at him with her big blue eyes. “I’ll go to the mime tonight. If it will make you leave me alone.”

She bounced up with joy, landing with a squeak before turning away quickly out of the room with her tail nearly hitting the back of her head, “Well… I’ll see you later, I got to go, bye!” And with that, the vulpes left. He picked up his PDA and added it to his schedule.

The shift continued. Richard walked the halls, everyone was performing their duties. The security department had everything locked up tight. He looped through the bridge just to keep updated on the probes. Hoping for a confirmation on the syndicate signature.

He made it a point to avoid engineering and medical. A chance run-in with welds was the last thing he wanted. While the staff in medical all spoke about the newly available bachelor. He shuddered at the thought. Old enough to be their father.

At the quartermaster’s console in cargo, his PDA beeped as he browsed through the catalog. A simple tweak could allow it to order military-grade weaponry. However, he hesitated. If his life was the only one on the line, he would have done it in a heartbeat. He stared at the order form. The PDA beeped again.

“Damn.” He made his way across the hall to keep his promise to Trixi. He wondered how the mime would even help. The sleepless nights, the broken home life. Maybe if he talked to someone it would at least be a placebo. On the bright side, the mime couldn’t break the confidentiality, with half station talking about his personal life.

The bar was packed when he arrived. The sight surprised him as he pushed the door open. Richard snuck through the back room behind the bar. Bakes greeted him, “Hello HoSss… the vending machinesss… downssstaresss… Electrical failure…” His mouth parted to take in air and cool him off as he frantically ran back and forth to fill another mug.

He watched the lizard work and the crowded bar area. Glad to see his friend working again, even if it meant the place was too packed to be comfortable. Richard smiled, “Not surprised to hear that, those machines are as put together as the drinks inside them. I’m just here to see the mime.”

Bakes nodded and pointed with the tip of his tail, “Just… around back… his quartersss… he’sss on break…”

He waved farewell and exited through the back of the bar. He pushed through some storage boxes and exited to the back hall. The several service dorms were lined on the steel corridors. The doors were more personalized than the dormitory wing. Bakes’ room was the first in the line, draconic marked a little placard that hung with magnets, followed by Trixi’s door which had a cute drawing of herself smiling. Then the mime.

On the mime’s door hung a picture of the old Eiffel tower. An ancient relic from when the earth had nations. Richard sucked in a breath and knocked on the door. He waited to hear something but remembered this was the mime. His weird magic or psychic powers prevented that. Or it was just an act?

Squeaking shoes came up from behind. He turned toward Trixi expecting to see a white painted-up face. Her make-up was wiped clean off, orange fur, and a bright toothy smile. She started to bounce around the HoS.

“I’m so glad you took the advice!” Trixi wrapped around his stomach and gave a hug as hard as she could. Her prop bra was squeezed between the two of them and let out a honk. Honk!

He held up his hands defensively away from her, “Maybe. I checked Jacques’ background. A Ph.D. in psychology. It’s always the silent ones.”

She laughed at the lame joke, “Well, I think it’s something you need. You've been working yourself too hard, and you bottle everything up. It’s not healthy.”

Her shoes squeaked as she looped around him some more. Her bright blue eyes contrasted heavily with her orange fur. Richard asked, “So what’s with the no make-up?”

She checked her face with her paw, “Oh right. my makeup was running from the heat of the bar, I needed to reapply it. There are so many people now that the machines were destroyed.” With a paw to the side of her muzzle, she whispered, “Don’t tell Bakes about this, but I saw he was jumping around ecstatically when the crew started to flood the bar.”

Richard smirked, “Good, I was worried the easy-going bar was going to make him soft.”

Trixi whispered out softly, “So about last night… Do you remember anything?”

“I was told you and the mime brought me back to my room. I haven’t drunk in such a long time I became a lightweight.”

“Well, that’s good… well I mean… at least you had a good time. I hope anyway.” He nodded approvingly. The vulpes just stared up at him her muzzle expressing a pout of concern, “I don’t know exactly what threat is going on, but everyone is on edge. All the officers just ignore me entirely. All they do is focuse on the different tasks around the station. Even when a funless human complains about a banana slip your troops just pick him off the ground and tell him to shut up. It’s not normal, you seem to be the most affected by it, on top of all the other things you've been through.”

She scratched nervously at the side of her face. The stress got to the clown, which is a bad sign for the rest of the crew. A robust canary in the proverbial coal mine. She continued, “When I found myself in the bridge’s vents I popped out and announced myself to everyone. The HoP and the captain were just staring intently at the screens as their life depended on them. The captain loves my shenanigans I was hoping to hear his jolly laugh.”

Richard wondered what to say to help her. Tell her the truth about a rival corporation bursting down the airlocks and killing everyone in sight. No regulations required him to tell her that or keep it from her. He decided to go for an easier option. He looked into her sad eyes and hugged her. “It’s nothing, we're just overreacting. It’s gotten everyone on edge.”

She rubbed the side of her muzzle into him as his hand stroked her back up to her nape. Her breath became more rapid as the hug continued. He felt her become more jittery. Bounced from one leg to another. “Oh great. again…” The vulpes complained and then broke the hug and stepped a few paces back.

Wondering if he had done an offense to the little alien he asked, “Something wrong?”

She shook her and hid her cheeks with her paws. “Oh, it’s nothing. I just got to go take care of something… again.” She moved quickly to her dorm room and vanished as it sealed shut with a hiss.

He watched her fluffy tail disappear through the door. He then rubbed his hand that touched her fur. She was incredibly soft. The corner of his eye suddenly caught something abnormal. A white-painted face silently smiled in a black void of an open door.

Richard jumped back a bit started by the visage. The mime stepped forward and grabbed his hand aggressively and shook it. When Jacques released the hand he made tons of gestures, so fast that the HoS thought he had a stroke.

The mime slowed down to a more manageable speed. He placed his hands behind the top of his head like make-shift large ears, then his mouth moved like it was speaking. He then pointed at himself. Finishing it by bowing and extending his arms inviting Richard into his room.

“Trixi told you I was coming. Yeah, I understand.” Richard walked through the door to the mime’s dorm. The room was quite different than he expected. The furniture was flowery with cloth upholstery. There was a large chaise lounge in the same flowery design in the middle of the room.

The mime moved behind the chair and presented it to the HoS. The warm expression he wore under the painted face instilled a weird mixture of fear and ease. Richard laid back on the chair and observed the mime as he started to adjust something.

His hands looked like they adjusted a large cone. Then he bent down in an overdramatic way and shuffled with his index finger and middle finger along a surface. He picked up an invisible circular object and placed it under the nonexistent cone. He pinched something and slid it over what he placed down. Then music flowed out.

It was a piece of gentle accordion music. He bent down again and twisted something; the sound became a whisper in the background. The mime nodded and plopped down in the middle of the air across from the HoS. The mime’s hand moved up to his ear. After that, he adjusted some imaginary glasses to begin writing down on his palm which was his index finger.

Richard looked at him perplexed. Wondered if this was a serious situation or a prank. He looked at the wall behind the mime that floated in thin air and saw very real accolades. Two degrees from earth’s most prodigious schools, Ph.D.’s in psychology and criminal justice. There was also an advanced mime school dated several years later.

“Well, what would you like to hear about first. I will be as honest as I can.” Jacques placed a finger on his chin. He started to silently act out coughing and sneezing while sticking his tongue as if he were ill. “Am I sick? Not that I know of.” The mime shook his head and then placed both hands on the side of his head and tried to close his eyes but kept opening them intermittently.

“Symptoms, trouble sleeping… Yes.” The strange therapist wrote that down with nothing, on nothing.

“I have been sleeping terribly, maybe two hours at a time before I get up again. It takes me another hour to get back to sleep.” The mime nodded then made a motion of unscrewing a small bottle and pouring it in the back of his throat. “No, I’m not taking any medication.” He smiled and jotted that down.

He motioned putting something around his neck then jerked both arms down. He tilted his head and stuck his tongue out. He turned and tapped his head then pointed at the HoS. “No, I don’t have any suicidal thoughts.” Jacques wrote that down nodding slowly.

He proceeded to pantomime stress by looking around nervously around him. Richard already knew he was stressed out and rolled his eyes at the waste of time this whole appointment. Then the mime looked at him seriously, peering with his black and white painted face that would be terrifying if it was in a dark corner.

Jacques stood up and proceeded to walk out the door while his mouth moved in makeshift blabber. He was stopped by an invisible wall. He attempted to pry the wall using a doorknob but couldn’t do it, all the while still making the same blabbering. He held his finger up and stopped the movement. He tried the invisible doorknob again and it opened letting him through the invisible force. He motioned one final time sweeping the finger to the door to his very room.

“Nothing will be discussed outside of this, well that’s good to… hear.” Richard chuckled and shook his head slowly. “Heard that one before.”

Jacques sat back down and took his ring finger, he pulled on it aggressively and made a throwing motion across the room with a deep scowl. His expression faded and then waited for a response.

Other than Jack, he never told anyone about his divorce. Even when he told Jack it was just about how he had to get a lawyer to deal with his estate and affairs from off-world. “You want me to start from the beginning?” Jacques nodded showing no emotion as he continued to hold his imaginary clipboard.

“Been married for 15 years, it ended sometime 8 months ago. Or at least that’s when the paperwork was finalized.” Richard stopped and leaned back in his seat. The mime frowned and made circular motions to keep going. “I don’t know what else to add. I got screwed over. At least mostly, thanks to my lawyer and the damn emails I got from Rebecca I was able to keep 90% of my home back on Raia.” The mime looked at him curiously then pointed to his eyes and moved down at his clipboard.

Richard sighed deeply. “They were sex videos, about 10 of them. Made me vomit on the first one, I didn’t even bother looking at the rest. She sent them to me saying how I have been terrible to her for always being gone. The videos were dated as early as two years prior.” He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.

The mime stood up with a box, he turned a wrench twisted a screwdriver on the box then handed it off. Swiped his brow before he switched places and took the box batting his eyelashes and then threw the box down while bellowing out a silent laugh.

“Yeah, I gave everything to her. Part of me feels it’s my fault. I work on the station, and I only come back two months of the year. What kind of life is that for her?” The mime pondered for a moment then slid his fingers on his ring finger, followed by inserting a slip with a large lever on the side. He held up his finger, then switched the actions.

“I was working before I got married, she used to work for Nanotrasen as well when I met her.”

The mime got a disgusted look on his face. He made an hourglass shape with his two hands and then scribbled on his palm with an index finger and then placed an invisible ring on his finger. “She signed up for it?” The mime nodded and then tapped his head.

The mime then acted like a weight was on his back as he walked forward, holding on to it with dear life. He followed that up with a climb and sat effeminately in the air and fanned himself off while. Richard sat back and watched the mime act out in other similar manners.

Out of all the many years, he tried to make the relationship work as he was out in space. Rebecca was sick of working for Nanotrasen and wanted a quiet life planetside. He provided it. She wanted property and a large house. Once again, he provided it. She wanted her medical degree paid off; he worked that debt off. She then demanded his time, he spent so long working he got to this position. He couldn’t create time.

The frustration was visible on his face as the mime did his routine. Jacques stopped, sat back down, and composed himself. He held up a hand and bowed toward the HoS. Richard sighed and stood up, “I gave her my life. I was a servant to her while she was relaxing in a house I had built. She was safe while I am risked my life through various super matter collapses, hostile takeovers, laser battles, and criminal negligence.”

The mime nodded and rolled his wrist to goad him on. Richard teared up thinking about them all the time lost. He poured out his frustration for almost an hour, “It had to be two years ago when she said how happy she was in the house. Before that, I had a message from her a month prior with her screaming at me how I was never home. She mentioned that damned daughter of hers. She claimed that she wanted me home.” Jacques held up a hand to get his attention. Once his teary eyes turned to the mime, he had an inquisitive look he held his arms under his chest and swayed them slowly back and forth.

“Another man. Victoria was five years old when I met her mother. Looking back on it, she was used as a tool to keep me around, every time Rebecca and I would argue she would just bring her up and I instantly caved. I tried my best to be there for her, but as she grew up, she just kept saying how I wasn’t her real dad. Even when I took time off for her 16^th birthday and bought her a new car. It hurt.” Richard paced heavily around the room. His hands occasionally swiped away at his eyes.

The mime shook his head and frowned. He stood and hugged him and patted him on the back. Richard sniffed and held the mime tightly. He squeezed his eyes shut to try and keep the well at bay. Once the embrace was broken the mime smiled, his make-up stained with tears of empathy. He pulled out a handkerchief for his patient.

“Thanks, doc, I needed that.” He wiped his face and held his head high. Felt like a vice unscrewed from his head. A glance at his wrist revealed he went way over the time limit, “I’m sorry, I took too much of your time.” The mime waved it away dismissively. “Just send me a message when you want me to schedule for the next session. I think I should probably keep doing this. Keep the CMO and Trixi from pestering me.”

Jacques smiled, he then pointed at Richard then both of his eyes. He then motioned near his eyes with his thumb and index finger. Opening them like a pair of binoculars just over his eyes. Richard tried to guess what he referred to. “My glasses, my eyeballs, vision?” The mime shook his head frustrated.

He pointed again at Richard then placed both hands on his heart and beat them up and down at a steadily increased rate. He pointed at his eyes and then looked down. He stepped to the side and got to his knees. His hands made makeshift pointed ears on the back of his head and looked up at Richard batting his eyelashes quickly.

“That’s rich. you think I have a thing for Trixi.”

Jacques jumped up and rolled his eyes. He pointed at himself again then at his eyes and with a large sweep he pointed at Richard. With a quick movement, he stroked his own body. He pantomimed mouth movements with his hands. He dashed toward the wall and started to write excessively large invisible letters.

Richard sighed, “You’re getting weird, you believe my body is telling you I like the clown?” Jacques nodded and smiled wide. The HoS just shook his head and started to walk toward the door. The strange thought the therapist had was easily dismissed. Liking a clown in his position, that’s a joke Trixi would have made.

As the door hissed open Trixi leaned on the hallway wall across the way. She wasn’t wearing her make-up, nor her silly outfit. Just the standard Nanotrasen blue service coverall. Her tiny claws peeked out under her pant legs. She looked up at the HoS and smiled in her usual heartwarming way, “How’d it go?”

The mime mouthed his words quickly ending with a nod and smile. Trixi understood it as if spoken in perfect common, “Good, glad to hear that. We need our first line of defense to be healthy.” She grabbed the HoS’ hand, “Now, you said you were going to teach me to shoot.”

With his other hand, he slapped his forehead, he has forgotten about the complete conversation this morning. “You were waiting out here… for hours?”

Trixi shrugged, “Well, pretty much yes.” She stared up at the HoS waiting for his answer.

The mime leaned on his door frame watching the two. His grin grew wider as he watched their conversation. Trixi’s eyes glanced over at him and when Richard turned around the mime whistled silently staring at the ceiling.

Richard shook his head slowly at the mime and then turned back toward Trixi, “I’ll go pick up something from the office, meet me on the holodeck. Okay?” Trixi’s eyes beamed open, and a bright toothy smile spread on her snout.

Her voice bubbled up to a near shriek of joy, “Really, I thought you were going to back down! You are going to teach me?”

The HoS was confused by that statement and looked at her queerly, “I don’t lie. I say I’m going to do something I’ll do it…” He walked down the hall, “I’ll be at the holodeck shortly.” She continued her jumps of joy, springing around the hallway.

__________

A holodeck room was once again secured by Richard. The room was transformed into an expansive grassy field littered with targets. Different sized target dummies, characters from video games, and cardboard cutouts. All the fun things one would ever want to shoot at.

Trixi and Richard stood in the center of this near-endless field next to a table. Her enthusiasm wore on her sleeve. Richard produced a small metal box and handed it to the fox. She quickly unlatched the box and was greeted with a practicing laser. An expensive device that is still banned to non-weapon trained individuals.

“Is this mine?”

“Sure. Just don’t let any officers see you with that, especially Beepsky. It’s not a toy, even though idiots seem to think otherwise.” He handed her a set of safety goggles and specialized ear protection, “Safety, is always important.”

With the formalities ready he pulled out his energy gun and fired off several shots downrange. The plasma bolts arched up and exploded the distant targets. She stared at her little energy weapon. The yellow paint job indicated it was a practice weapon. Like a kid handed a bb gun, she loved it.

She aimed like a crossbow, the butt of the handgun placed to her cheek. “Hold it!” She froze. He gently grabbed her arms and corrected her aim. “Aim it like this.” Arm stretched out; the digital sight came into view. She lined the holographic point onto the closest target dummy and fired.

The plasma fired out and the gun nearly flew out of her hand. Richard watched her carefully as the bolt splashed into the grass below the target she aimed at. He gripped her hand, “Both hands hold and squeeze here, and crush. It’s designed to simulate everything about a standard weapon.” The vulpes nodded and tried again.

The weapon was drained completely. A button was pushed to reset the test dummies. Trixi chatted as the batteries were changed out, “I spoke to Welds while you were talking with Jacques. She laughed about it.” The HoS rubbed his face embarrassed about the situation. She reiterated, “It’s fine. I swear. She was flattered you approached her. Lizardmen are used to forwardness.”

He sighed with relief, “Thank you. That takes more of the pressure off.”

“Good, that’s my job on the station after all.”

He pushed a button on the table and moving targets blinked into existence. They were 8-foot-tall syndicate insurgents. The black armor flared with dark red edges. Red glowing dots for eyes on their hard suit helmets. They started to strafe around quickly. Richard pointed to them, “See if you can hit these targets.”

The vulpes gulped down her breath as she saw the massive men in the distance. She carefully squeezed the trigger blast at the target, the hologram dashed out of the way quickly as the plasma shot closed the gap. Missed by a few inches. She tried several more times but every time the hologram would dash out of the way just at the last second. Trixi cried out in protest, “This isn’t fair, my shots are too slow!”

Richard smirked, “You gotta shoot faster then. Look at how they move and account for it.” He pulled his gun again and fired two shots in quick succession aiming at the furthest hologram. The hologram juked the first shot by inches. It attempted to pivot to avoid the second shot and was struck in the chest. The hologram vanished into thin air.

Trixi’s maw was open in awe, “How many fights have you been in to get that good?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “26 long years, been in far too many I care to remember. I wish I had never been in any fights, gang warfare, xenomorph attacks, escaping a second before the station’s core detonated. If I didn’t get good, I’d be dead. But this is what my life has turned into… What about you? What made you want to be a clown. You have been on the station for more than 3 years.”

She blinked and wrapped her arms under her breast, “I’m not interesting.”

Richard cocked an eyebrow, “Really, a vulpes clown is already rare. An alien clown on an inner world's station is even rarer.”

“Well, I didn’t really want to be a clown when I started, I just saw an opportunity to work and took it. I had no idea what I was signing up for. When I arrived at the Nanotrasen school I saw everyone was wearing funny outfits.” She remanences, “They were so happy to see an alien though, it was the most fun I had in such a long time.”

Richard smiled, “Sounds like a great time, lots of laughs.”

“It was a nice change of pace. My home life wasn’t great before I joined… I decided to leave after high school because of my sister.” Her tail dropped and she had a dejected look on her face.

Curiosity overwhelmed him, “Do you mind me asking what your sister did?”

Her bright blue eyes stared at him through the safety glasses, “She didn’t do anything wrong. She’s lovely, kind, and did her best to please. It’s my father who pestered her to ruin her life.” She sighed and clenched her arms tighter around herself. The subject clearly caused her discomfort.

He changed the subject immediately, “Go ahead and follow two quick shots, I want to see you hit that middle target before we get done. Okay?”

She smiled at him picking up her practice weapon again and aimed. As Trixi’s training continued, she breathed deeply. The artificial smells of the room were faded and only the real scent lingered in the air. Richard stepped closer and helped her line a longer shot up. She pressed her nose into his cheek. The moisture startled him, and he pulled back. She stammered out apologetically, “Sorry! I didn’t mean t-to do that.” Nearly dropped the laser she covered her nose.

He wiped his cheek defensively and then surveyed her form once again. Her orange fur was radiant in the simulated sunlight. “It’s alright…”

The practice laser was lowered and placed back into the box. Her bushy tail dropped as the box was snapped shut. “I think I should head to sleep now. If the rush in the saloon continues, I will need to plan more events,” her voice trailed down hurt.

He examined her and wondered if he had done something to upset her. “I’ll see you then… Keep the drunkards in check while you perform.”

Her ears pointed up and her paws clasped his hands, “I’d love that!”

Her smile was infectious, and he beamed back to her, “Good.”

Chapter Text

The training of volunteers continued for a few weeks without a problem. Richard has even spent his few extra hours training Trixi. Yet not a single sign of the syndicate ship was spotted near the station. The over-worked staff had been run to exhaustion from the extra duties. They started to voice their complaints about the code blue.

“We can’t keep this up, I have missssed my hatchling callsss, he turned ssseven.”

Richard looked at the lizardman who stood amongst the other volunteers. His own eyes sagged, exposing his years, “You all have been doing well, I understand deeply that juggling this obligation with your actual duties is taxing. I’ll speak with the captain to see if I can lower the hours required for you all. I don’t make the regulations, just enforce them.”

The breakroom was silent. The lizardman nodded and stroked nervously at the back of his scaled neck with a claw. Richard still felt that they were scared to speak up to him. He wondered how the other heads treated the aliens if they were this skittish. He gripped the lizard’s shoulder with his hand, “I’ll speak to the captain first thing in the morning. I have the morning meeting with the other heads. I’ll let your bosses know that you are all doing a fantastic job here and performing beyond the normal line of duty.” The lizardman smiled hearing those words. He and the others filed out of the security department leaving the warden and HoS to themselves.

“I hope you can get them something in return for the extra work.”

“Martinez will allow it, we haven’t had a single sign of the bastards. Nanotrasen doesn’t even believe we have a threat, no point to work ourselves to death before they might show up.”

Richard’s PDA beeped and interrupted their conversation. Jack sipped at his coffee, “Well looks like it’s back to therapy you go.”

Richard sighed and grumbled, “I shouldn’t have told you that at all…”

“Come on, it seems to be doing you wonders. Might do it myself. Your spirits seem higher when you finish. Either the therapy is doing that or your evenings with the clown.” He chuckled and continued his banter, “Maybe the one-on-one comedy routines in the holodeck are relieving some stress.”

Richard wasn’t amused by the joke and glared at him, “First my therapist and now you.”

Jack held his hands up, “It’s just a joke, you always enjoyed teaching. I wouldn’t judge even if it was serious either, she’s cute in her weird way.”

Richard smiled and retorted back at his friend, “Didn’t take you for a xenophile.”

Jack leaned back in his chair and checked around the room nonchalantly, “Not at first, but they grew on me. Maybe the felinid girl from sanitation. Just between us, the small fox girl and you would make a cute couple.” The HoS laughed loudly and made his way to the door.

“Well, I’ll see you later, got my obligations to uphold.”

Just as he stepped through the last security door, he slipped on a banana peel and landed on his ass. As he laid on his back Trixi’s laughter echoed in the empty hallway, followed by a honk of a bike horn. Honk! She jumped to his side and tried to help him up as best her small frame could, “Sorry about that HoS I was trying to get at the warden. I need to get him back for making fun of my height.” He got up brushed himself off and smiled at the vulpes. Trixi quickly noticed the change in attitude. Usually, a standard clown prank would sour his mood, “Are you okay? Did you hit your head?”

“I’ve been feeling quite a bit better actually. I believe you are to blame for that.”

Her maw hung open in shock. A sight that amused him even more.

Richard walked with her down the hallway as they continued their idle conversation. When she heard that the stress from the great looming threat over the station had been alleviated from the head’s shoulders it renewed her energy. The clown honked her horn again. Honk! “That’s a nice change of pace, I’m happy to hear it! Does this mean we won’t have those training sessions anymore?” Her voice wandered as she thought about the implications of ending the extracurricular activity she partook in.

“Maybe.” Her snout tilted to the gunmetal grey floor tiles. Even with squeaking shoes and a painted face he felt awful for the fox. “Don’t be discouraged, it’s not like I can teach you forever.”

The vulpes protested weakly, “I know… I know, I just… I don’t know.”

He thought about how he could make it up to her, “How about instead of the normal training tonight we should do some practice with Skyout. We can link up with some player vs player and put what you learned to use.”

She smiled and jumped around, landing with squeaks, “That sounds amazing! I can’t wait!”

Richard looked over at his PDA, “I’ll see you after I am finished with my session.” The excited fox girl didn’t let up, tail bobbing all directions as she danced around the hallway. Seeing her happy self, improved his spirits. He left her to head to the mime’s room. A custom he grew used to after several sessions. The mime greeted him as he usually did with a firm grip of the hand and a hearty shake. Jacques smiled wide and offered the seat to him again.

Richard sighed laid down on the couch and started to speak about how things have improved. Focused on the good aspects of his situation, “Everything is going smoothly. Everyone is comfortable, there are no threats currently and I’m enjoying my free time now.” The mime pantomimed clapping, a large grin on his painted face.

The session continued to the topic of how he spent his free time. Jacques made pointed ears at the back of his head with cupped hands and batted his eyelashes slowly. “Yes, with Trixi…” The mime smirked and clasped his hands together slowly. Every session his friendship with Trixi always gets brought up, “I told you last time, we're friends.” The mime nodded his head.

The mime dropped to his knees and batted his eyelashes again, then pointed at Richard. A quick hop to his feet he puffed out his chest and looked around the room with a keen eye. He continued looking around then fell to his knees and pretended to be Trixi. A longing view in his eyes as he looked up at where he once stood. He hopped back into his invisible chair sat in the air and made a heart with both of his hands.

“She doesn’t see me like that…” The mime rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. He then acted out with an invisible sword and shield. He slashed away at invisible foes, then dropped to the ground and clutched the leg of the warrior’s spot he was just located at, reenacting those famous barbarian paintings of a scantily clad woman on a muscled warrior. “She didn’t say any of that… did she?” The mime shook his head, face serious. He pointed at himself and then his eyes. “You just see it.”

The mime nodded and gave a wink.

The session ended and Richard stepped back out to the hallway to be greeted by Trixi. She made a habit of that. Her face fur was cleaned of make-up and her natural orange fur and crystal blue eyes stood out in the dullness of the grey station. “How’d it go?” she asked tilting her head. He didn’t get a chance to answer her as she grabbed his hand and pulled him through the hallway, “You can tell me in the holodeck. I already got things started, just waiting for you to log in and step into the position. I wanted to show you something. I think you might like it.”

Being dragged through the hallways by the small vulpes was an interesting sight to the crewmates that shuffled off to their night duties. A glare was shot at them under the brim of his inquisitor hat as they made whispered words about the two of them. During night shifts when he waited in the bar for her, there was a change in the behaviors of the crew. They would occasionally glance back at the weathered security chief. He only imagined what rumors they said behind his back.

The door to the holodeck was sealed behind them. Trixi bounced around the black glass tiles, the tapping of her tiny claws echoed around the cube. “So, how was your appointment?” Then she took another look at him, “What’s wrong?”

The man looked confused and frustrated. He straightened his back, “Have the crew been treating you differently? Have you been getting strange comments?”

She snorted out a laugh, “None that I know of. I did find ‘overloaded’ stickers for the mules and left them on the seats for everyone the other day. The captain had one on his butt the entire shift, that was pretty funny.” She proceeded to chuckle at her prank.

Richard exhaled and relaxed. The last thing he wanted was to have the entertainment of the station be gossip about a relationship between Trixi and himself, “Good, good.” He smiled at the girl and walked over to the control console and inserted his ID, “Session went as well as any other.”

Trixi was giddy, “I’m glad it’s been helping.” She bounced on her springy legs impatiently, “I can’t wait to show off the new outfit I got. I think you will enjoy it.”

The computerized voice blared out, “The simulation will now start, all players get into positions.” Richard started to remove his accessories till he was in his tank top and his coveralls. Trixi’s tail bounced left and right as she stood on the glowing square in the center of the room.

When he stepped into the square the room melted away and a bright light enveloped the two of them. The light dissipated and Richard was now in his full plate armor, complete with a spiked tower shield and black sword. Trixi had a glowing enchanted wooden staff complete with a green crystal ball on the end twisted in vines. Her body was covered with a pink flowing gown and the top of her head had a lacy coif, befitting a noblewoman.

Torches lit up the cavern lobby as she sashayed around with her dress. Her tiny footsteps tapped on the stone floor as she twirled, “How do I look? I remember last time you had a problem with my jester outfit.” He looked her up and down and then she curtsied elegantly. Her orange paws revealed for a moment. The long-sleeved gown clung to her body in all the right places.

He was at a loss for words out sweet she looked. He only managed to spit out, “You look great.”

She frowned and spoke in a small voice, “That’s it… Just great? I worked hard to grind up my crafting to get this.”

He shook his head at her quickly, “No, it looks amazing on you. I’m just not used to women dressing up for my sake.”

 She bounced over to him and hugged him, “Well that shouldn’t happen to a guy like you. I would do anything to keep you around.” Richard coughed as she spoke and she jumped back trying to hide the blush on her face, “Forget I said that.”

Richard was thankful his face was obscured by the helm. Her charm started to wear on him, and he started to believe his friend and the mime. He pulled up a menu with his index finger and selected the gladiator area for a destination, “We will be fighting one group, I think that should be enough activity for the both of us don’t you think?”

Trixi held her cheeks to hide her embarrassment and nodded.

A warning lit up the room. It warned the pair they were about to enter a multiplayer zone. All stats and mods are disabled and then the standard affair of potential banning for harassment is scrolled by. Richard confirmed the choice and the room’s torches blew out leaving them in complete darkness.

Light-filled their vision by candlelight from a chandelier above them. They were in a small stone room with a large double door on one side. He opened the door and allowed Trixi through. They were greeted by an artificial sun and a bright blue sky. Large marble-tiered seating towered several stories high. Hundred’s people were in cliques near the lower tiers around the lip of the area’s bowl. Some observers had small windows in front of them of close-ups in the current fight.

Trixi and Richard started to make their way to the arena. She could hardly believe the outfits people wore, they put her clown outfit to shame with how many colors they had on. Some had white powdered wigs and make-up to match her own. Several wore fancy flowing jackets and smoked cigars while they stared into the arena. They laughed hardily at the festivities below as they conversed.

They neared the edge of the arena and Richard peered over. The two men dashed and clashed about using all their class’ abilities to fight. He scoffed at the notion. Children’s games of mashed buttons and watching how things unfolded. Trixi smiled and kept looking at the dressed-up humans. The people in their immediate area slowly became silent.

“Is that an alien?” A human questioned while pointing out Trixi. Groups turned their heads to the couple.

Another man decried, “Nah man. That’s probably a custom mod that got through.”

A woman squinted, “I think that’s a vulpes. How on earth did they get access to a holodeck, their planet is poor as shit.”

Trixi scowled and her muzzle wrinkled at the comment.

A friendlier human stepped forward, he wore a tall, powdered wig and a fancy black and white checkered suit. He offered a white-gloved hand to Richard, “Welcome to the festivities, which clan are you two from. We rarely see aliens come through here, what species are you big guy? another vulpes?” Richard took in the assault of questions and grabbed the hand with a firm shake. The hands passed through each other. The digits of the other man scattered and reformed in white light, “Sorry, I’m used to being around people in the same holodeck I forget we can’t touch out here.”

Richard pulled his hand back, “Well anyway, I’m a human, and I’m not from any clan. I just wanted to play some arena and head off to sleep.”

The man examined up and down, “I see, not used to humans being that large in my field… this close anyway. Well! We are the betting club. I have made quite a bit of credit placing bets. You my friend, look like a signed blank check in my eyes.” A purple crosshair glowed over his right eye.

“Not interested, I just want to play the game and go.”

The man shook his head, “No, you misunderstand. I said credits, not gold, or whatever the in-game premium currency is called now. I’m a software designer for FTL ships, I already won 800,000 credits in just these past few matches off my associates.”

Richard stared through his slotted helmet at the man. He looked like he never lifted a pencil, yet he played with half a year’s salary of Richard’s position. Trixi’s mouth was open with awe.

“I see now I have your attention,” the man suddenly closed the gap between the three of them. “Look, aliens aren’t seen highly by these lot. I want to use that to my advantage. You two do a roulette and I will do the rest. I’ll give you 10% of whatever I win, deal?”

Richard responded shaking his head dismissively, “She can’t do a roulette. It’s too much for her.”

She shot angry eyes back at him, “I can handle it!”

The potential benefactor leaned down next to her and looked up at Richard with pouting lips, “You going to deny a face like that?”

Richard slumped his shoulders toward Trixi, “I done it before, it’s not pleasant. I can’t even imagine what a current PvP version of the event would be.”

The man responded, “It's safe, you don’t need to worry about it. Plus, the other players here are all pathetic, just look at the clowns down there.”

Trixi didn't break her glare at Richard, “I can do it. You said we were here to put my new skills to test.”

Richard threw his hands up defeated, “Fine. But be warned I can’t control what the roulette will debuff us with. From gravity changes to a constant temperature rise. If I see it becomes too much for you, I’m shutting down the holodeck.”

Trixi perked up with a bright smile, “25%.”

“A shrewd businesswoman, it's a deal.”

Richard crossed his arms skeptically, “How do we know you’re not pulling our chains and not cut and run. I played roulette before and know how difficult it can get.”

He pulled a crystal tablet out from his pocket, “Give me your routing details and I will transfer a small starting wage to confirm our deal, a trust payment, if you will.”

Trixi pulled out her PDA and gave her information to the man. After a few seconds, she was left speechless. Richard spied over her head to see her financial situation. A long line of red lines and then a single green line. Her account had quadrupled in wealth with a single transaction of 100,000. She barely trod water. Richard turned his gaze to the man who held his tablet waiting for Richard to produce his PDA, “Just give my half and the winnings to her, I don’t need it.”

The man pushed his tablet a few times and chuckled, “Chivalrous of you.”

Trixi looked up at Richard about to break out in tears, “R-really?” It tore at him how little aliens got from Nanotrasen. He nodded and she wrapped her arms squeezing him tightly, her face clipped through the armor to his shirt. Moisture spread where her face was pressed as the tears were soaked up. The man looked around nervously as the two hugged, while the other rich patrons started to make more comments about the alien.

“Does that thing have fleas?”

“What’s with the big guy, some kind of cyborg?”

“Maybe it’s a sex slave.”

The rich man turned to the crowd, “We have roulette on the way. How about we get things started?!” He walked toward the edge of the arena and made his announcement, “A roulette is about to start! We need some volunteers to beat this alien and human in unaltered combat!”

He started to speak about the bets with his clique. Richard only heard a few of the rules they made with each other. A few glances and chuckling came in their direction. Trixi attempted to step toward them to listen to what they were talking about, but Richard held her back, “We should be headed to the starting zone. They’re getting volunteers of people to fight against us.”

A line of other humans was near the entrance to zone in. Some were clad in full plated armor like Richard, others wore leather, some nearly naked. Trixi felt like she was being sized up like a piece of meat to be chopped and sold. The comments confirmed that feeling as they were far worse than the rich folk.

“Look at that xeno, like a furry sentient hat"… "I wonder if we skin it we can craft something from the pelt"… "How does something like that even get into the game, even lizards aren’t even allowed here”

Trixi was used to verbal abuse on the station, but the unfiltered feelings of humans were entirely different. “Relax, they can’t hurt you. See,” Richard pushed his hand through one of the men and it phased through him in white light. “They can’t touch you outside of the arena and even in the arena it will be very limited to what you can do.” Trixi eased her with a heavy sigh ignoring the more brutal comments they started spouting.

Once they zoned into the arena they were teleported directly to the center of the bowl. The floor was comprised of coarse sand with rocks interspersed around. Four large pillars stood in each quarter of the arena. Trixi relaxed now that she was no longer be near those humans anymore. Richard touched her shoulder to comfort her a little, “Just pull out the crossbow and breath. Our stats will be flatlined so a headshot will take them out just as fast as an NPC.” She opened her inventory menu and selected the crossbow. The weapon felt weightless in her arms.

As they waited for the match to start a floating purple eyeball drifted near them. It spoke with the rich man’s voice, “We got seven sets of fighters for you guys. I had to put up quite a lot of money for this, but I’m sure you can make it. Each set of fighters has multiple bets to see who will win against you as the roulette continues, the final one has the least payout. If you win, we get it all!” The eye drifted and circled once and down to Trixi, “I believe you are aware of the roulette’s random effects.” She stared into the purple orb and nodded. “Good, well things are all set on my end. I am quite sweaty from how much money these dumbasses are willing to throw down on this fight, if you lose the first fight, I’m down 10 million.”

“Is this even legal?”

The well knowledge man of law answered her question, “It’s not against space law. If you file the correct tax record for gambling on blood sport, that is if you even report on it.”

The eyeball titled back as if it was laughing, “No blood here. This doesn’t even qualify as sports thanks to the SFL lobbyists. The combatants should be on their way, after that the first, the wheel will spin. Good luck! I’ll keep an eye out for you!” He laughed and floated up to a swarm of floating eyes of every shade of the rainbow.

Richard stared at the mobile cameras, he felt uncomfortable being watched by so many. Trixi reveled in it, she wished she could point a laser pointer or strobe light at the eyes. “Six, that’s not that bad,” he said to himself.

The comment brought Trixi back, “Six what?”

He buckled his shield to his left arm, “Six roulettes, six effects. Nowhere near as bad as our modded game we played a while back.” His confidence in the fight melted any doubt for her about the matches.

Cheers cried out from above as a pair of armored men walked toward the pair. Chain mail rattled from under their dark, worn armor, they strode confidently to the center. One flipped his helmet visor up revealing cybernetic red dots and a silver plate covered the top of his face, “You got a lot of nerve to show yourself on the server, bad enough we have to deal with you cretins in space, making peace and dirty dealings, now we have to see you in our games too. Filthy fucking mongrel.”

Trixi growled at him and aimed the crossbow dead in his beady little red eyes, “How’d you lose the eyes!? Gangrenous pink eye from eating your boyfriend’s ass all night!?” When she finished the taunt, the bolt was released and hit the man right in the head. His head exploded into pure light. The game’s censorship for player combat. The body fell to the ground and faded out of existence.

His partner roared angrily with a drawn glaive and shouted, “You can’t just start without waiting for us to get into position!”

Richard shouted back in a graveled voice, “The battle starts when you’re in sight!” He unsheathed his black blade, and the crowd was silenced. The armored man charged forward, and Trixi puffed out her chest defiantly as the enemy closed the distance. The bladed tip of the foe's weapon was forced into the sand, he tumbled over onto his back. Richard stood above him holding down the glaive’s handle with a firm step, the legendary sword to the man’s throat.

“Oh, shi-,“ the blade struck home and his body faded away in a splash of flickering light.

The crowd remained quiet as the first combatants were defeated without a sweat. Eyes floated down and started to look closer at the couple. Several inspected the blade Richard held. The purple eye dropped down, “Well that was a very short first match, some of the others already started to try and welch on the bets.” He laughed heartily, “They didn’t expect to see a veteran arena fighter with the alien.”

Richard tried to shoo the eyes away with the legendary blade, halfhearted sways back and forth. They acted like curious fish and swarmed back to inspect the beta blade. Trixi smugly retorted, “Well, let’s get the next combatants out here, I’m just getting warmed up.” The eyes all looked up to a giant wheel that materialized above them, red slices, yellow slices, and a couple of blue slices started to spin.

The circle spun for a moment then landed on a blue slice. Floating text faded in under the wheel, ‘two wounds.’ The crowd booed out their anguish toward the combatants. “What does that mean?”

“It means we can take 2 fatal hits before being dropped. Looks like the crowd isn’t pleased by that news.” Their bodies glowed with a yellow aura for a moment.

Trixi swished her tail and loaded another bolt into her crossbow, “Good, tough crowds are great to knock down a few pegs.”

Two more enemies appeared on the far end of the arena. Leather straps for armor with bare chests and lean with muscles. Their heads were covered by a dark hood. They pulled out a stick with a burning ember on the tip. With a few words, they shot two screaming fireballs toward them.

Richard raised his shield and produced a barrier around himself. He charged into the balls. The resulting explosion nearly blew Trixi to the ground. Richard remained unharmed and the barrier vanished. She taunted the stick-wielding men, “Got anything better than that, maybe some fire puns?” A bolt found its way in the leg of one of the enemies. He was brought down to his knee as he swung his wand again.

Burning ash floated near Trixi’s eye. Soon she found herself surrounded by these embers. Quickly, she dove to the sand as heat passed over her. The feeling of warmth ran up and down her back as a firestorm passed over her. She hastily loaded another bolt while she waited for an opening.

Richard raced closer to the two sorcerers. His breath was steady with his steps, focused on his targets. One peppered his shield with fire shots while the other concentrated on keeping the spell upon Trixi. He swung down on the sorcerer attacking him only for him to blink backward a meter. Sand was flung into the air as the sword collided with the ground.

The sorcerer waved another fireball until a tower shield nailed him in the head. Twang! The shield ricocheted off him and returned to Richard’s arm. Running forward Richard finished him off with a stab through the chest. The other sorcerer broke concentration to turn to his more pressing threat with a dagger in hand. Before he could strike another bolt glided through his throat, a stream of light poured out the exit wound. His body disappeared instantly.

Richard flourished his blade and returned to Trixi who dusted off her dress. “This is fun, I can’t believe I haven’t done this before. Should I use my spells too?”

“Mind magic and effects don’t affect players. Jester is kind of useless in the arena, but the damage spells and buffs still work.”

She pouted, “That sucks. I wanted to toy with them.” They looked up as the wheel spun again.

The crowd cheered at the result with a red result, ‘gravity.’ The crowd cheered at the result. Darkness crept up from where they stood. It engulfed them and then disappeared. Trixi felt like she was carrying a rucksack around her entire body, “Is this how fat people feel?”

Richard shifted his grip up the handle of the sword and adjusted his shield to compensate for the heft, “Now things are getting good.” He gritted his teeth and smiled under the helmet.

“Now you may have bested those two but how do you fare against actual magic users!” Another set of gladiators entered the arena. These two were much flamboyant than the last, “Prepare yourselves, your xenophilic relationship shall be tested!” They wore dark blue wizard robes with long flowing sleeves and tall, pointed hats. Richard laughed at the phony wizards; He believed the wizard federation would get a kick out of these idiots. The wizard spoke defiantly, “You dare mock us; we will control your minds and destroy you.” They both waved their arms and cast a purple wave of light flooding the arena.

The flood vanished with Trixi and Richard looking around perplexed. The two wizards strode toward them confidently, “Now you two are in our complete control.” Richard glanced back at Trixi who had a brow raised. With great conviction, one said, “Lower your weapons!” Richard put his sword near his side, his smile hidden under his helm. The confused Trixi watched in wonder as the other wizard walked near her, “Interesting, a vulpes. Never seen one up close. Don’t move. Let me take a look at you.”

Trixi felt nothing but creepy vibes from him as he inched his face closer to her. She was grateful she couldn’t smell him, probably stank of dried cum and cheese flavored dust. He whispered into her pointed ear, “Take off your clothes, I want to see what you look like.”

She was surprised at the gumption and turned to him, “Not even going to offer me a dinner first?” She fired the crossbow into his head point-blank as the look of shock took hold.

The other wizard watched his partner disappear, “What!” Richard’s sword cleaved him into a light show, vanishing into nothingness.

Trixi laughed hardily at the morons they just dispatched, “I guess they didn’t get the memo.” Richard looked around as the crowd watched quietly as they fought. Eyes buzzed around them once more.

The purple eye floated between them, “Well that was a bit of a letdown… for the people who placed bets with them.”

Richard rolled his shoulders, “Are we going to get real challenges, perverted twigs, pencil pushers, and pirate gangsters the best you got?”

The eyes floated around Trixi more closely, she batted them away with her paw, “I agree this is just another day in the bar for me. Hope you have some real threats.”

The eyeball danced in the air, “That’s why I said you were a blank check. From the moment I saw you two enter with that unique ID, I knew you were from Nanotrasen. Been wanted to work there my whole life. Amazing pay and adventure, you two must live amazing lives.” Trixi pointed her muzzle down kicking sand under her dress.

“It’s not as glamorous as the commercials have you believe. Trust me.”

The eye swayed to a stop, “Sorry to hear that… I also wanted to let you know that the people that bet against you are really unhappy. They picked some winners here. Easy money for me.” His laughter rang out as the eyeball soared away.

The next result on the wheel was again gravity. The same force gripped the two of them. Trixi’s legs shook under her weight. Richard’s knuckles turned white as he held to his weapons he looked over as she regained her footing, holding her crossbow ready, “I’m okay, don’t worry about me.” She gave a forced smile through gritted teeth.

He shouted up at the swarm of eyes, “If that happens once more, I am shutting the system down!” The eyes were indifferent to their plight and cheered for the negative outcome.

A massive lion and tiger entered the arena, dozens of eyes grew brazen, and approached the arena awaiting the masters of the animals. Chants and praise rang out as the next combatants appeared. Two young females clad in bikini mail armor. The eyes drifted around their bodies as they posed. Perky C-cups and a toned stomach. Carefully crafted longbows materialized in their hands, one with dragon talons that held the string of the bow, the other had an ethereal bow with a blue string that glowed faintly.

The dragon bow woman raised her hands and the gawking eyeballs departed, “Shouldn’t send boys to do a woman’s job.” The ghost bow woman pulled the string and freed an arrow. It soared through the air toward Richard and struck him in the shoulder. The shock buzzed him slightly as he was hit, the spot was numbed as white light drifted up from the impact. The arrow vanished soon after. He readied his shield to stop the next arrow.

Trixi had a difficult time steadying her aim, fighting her arms in the higher gravity. The bolt missed the mark, sand sailed up from the impact. She loaded another shot when her ears twisted to hear the roars of the big cats. Looking frantically in the direction, they bounded toward Richard.

With his shield, he confronted the charging cats. Smashing into one with his weak arm and stabbing with the other. The tiger was run through, and the lion was wounded heavily. Blood poured out of the large cat from the spiked shield. The women set their bows aside and picked up whistles that hung gently from their ivory necks.

The bodies of the large predators disappeared, only to reappear fresh for a fight by their side. Richard mumbled, “I fucking hate pet classes.”

“What do we do? I can’t hit them like this.”

 “Use your abilities, there is a major ability that allows you to multi-shot.”

The dragon bow woman taunted them, “Looks like our pets are much stronger than your mutt.”

Richard charged forward leaving Trixi in a wake of sand. Arrows hit Richard’s shield as it blocked his view. The sand was much harder to traverse with the extra weight. He listened carefully for the large cats while Trixi fired another shot, nothing came of it other than the sound of soft patters of sand. He lowered his shield a moment only to see two tiger claws leap at him. He toppled to his back pinned. Frantically he tried to stab the white and orange furball, but his arm was being crushed in the jowls of the lion.

The lion gnawed useless at his arm, unable to penetrate the armor while Richard struggled to push the tiger’s claws back. Trixi cried out as she fell to the sand trying to get closer for a better shot. The laughter of the crowd was drowned out from the cackles of the two women. The dragon bow huntress stepped forward, “Looks like your done playing. But I do like to watch a man struggle against me.” The pets kept Richard from reacting as she gently slid off his helm revealing his face. She smirked, “You are human, a good-looking one too. Not bad, not bad at all.”

Eyeballs started to swarm the group getting a closer look at his face. Some eyes were also interested in her body, nearly touching her ass as she leaned over. He gritted his teeth looking toward Trixi who struggled to get back up.

The woman scolded the man, “You would rather look at an ugly furry alien than me?” She stood and drew the string back. Trixi was finally upright on shaky paws when an arrow flew and struck her in the chest. She let out a pained yip and a shower of light poured out of her wound. She vanished as she collapsed back to the ground. “Gone, as all aliens should.” the woman went back to play with her victim as the crowd above applauded.

Richard knew it wasn’t real. She didn’t die but, many times he saw close friends die. To watch her delicate figure fall to the ground fed a wave of primal anger. He yelled out and pulled his arm free of the lion. White light gushed from his wrist as he used both arms to roll on top of the tiger. Roars escaped the tiger as the shield's menacing spikes stabbed it. The huntresses backed away from him as he slashed like a wild animal.

He jumped toward the dragon bow woman who drew her string back. He sliced in a long downward arch, cleaving her in half. The shocked crowd ceased cheering. The lion vanished mid lunge as the dragon bow woman disappeared. The final opponent had her back to a stone pillar, an ephemeral arrow drawn. Richard turned to face her just as the arrow loosed.

The arrow was batted harmless out of the air by his shield. He stared her down and charged. Terror took hold of her as she blew on the whistle again. The tiger jumped around the pillar and bounded toward him. He slammed the sword to the hilt through the tiger without breaking eye contact with the woman. Dropping the weight of the cat with his sword he rushed in on his target. He aimed the spiked shield at her and slammed his weight forward, she was crushed between him and the pillar. Light spilled out the sides of the shield and he finally relaxed.

Some of the crowd of eyeballs and patrons cheered at the gladiator while others lingered in hushed whispers. Trixi pranced up next to Richard and hugged him, “That was amazing! I can’t believe you did all that!”

Richard looked down at the vulpes, grateful it was just a simulation. He wrapped a tired arm around her, “I don’t know what came over me.”

“I never thought I would have that effect on anyone. Did you do that when I got hurt…” Her face blushed, “Thank you.” She happily picked up his sword and handed it to the tired fighter.

“You aren’t staggered by gravity anymore?”

She shook her head, “One wound left, the effects are all gone.”

Richard wiped the sweat from his brow. Grateful he didn’t need to worry about her getting too strained from the game. They gazed up at the wheel again. It spun around and stopped on a blue square; harder weapons appeared in the text below. The crossbow and the black blade shined with a golden shimmer.

Richard grinned wide and twisted around cutting at the stone pillar. The rock shattered at the blade’s edge leaving a large gash in the column. Bits of debris sailed to the sandy ground. Trixi tried her weapon and fired a bolt at another pillar. The impact caused a small crater at the point of impact. There was a mixture of responses from the crowd, most booed while others cheered the duo on.

“I think we just got easy mode now,” Trixi said with another bolt loaded.

Richard heaved, winded, he stretched and grabbed his helm from the sand, “Let's end this.” He slipped the helmet on and waited for the next combatants to enter.

They stood around and waited. And waited. Whispers were heard from above. Richard and Trixi walked to the center of the arena looking around. He asked, “Where’s the next opponent?” The audience peered over the lip looking around as well. Then Trixi’s ear twitched to the sound of shuffling sands. She quickly turned in the direction it originated from. The sound stopped.

“I think it’s rogues. I can hear them faintly.”

Richard faced the same direction, “You can hear them?” She nodded and her ears moved around under the pink coif. Picking up another shuffle of sand she fired a bolt. The bolt struck the side of the arena. The fox loaded another bolt with her pointed ears on alert.

Richard kept his eyes around him for the faintest hints of an attack. Reminded of the real problems he had on the station. Waiting for an unknown assailant to attack. The focus on his surroundings was interrupted by the weight of gravity. It’s been taxing his body, he needed to take a break, but he couldn’t, not now. His breath became ragged.

Trixi fired another shot at a blur she saw, they dashed away, kicking up a small amount of sand as they ran. Richard let out a grunt of pain, a blur of light had struck him with a dagger under the armpit. Light poured out of the wound. He tried to grab at the figure only for the stealthed foe to dash back unseen. The vulpes lost track of the target and then turned to realize her bastion started to show exhaustion, “Are you okay?” He nodded silently and kept his attention on the environment.

The fighter’s sword arm was now numbed from the attack. He switched to a more defensive poise, shield and arms tucked behind a shield. His back was now to his ally. Trixi noticed this and put her back to him to cover his weak point. She stared carefully and listened to the sounds of the sands. She had one trick that might work from her class spells, but she needed a target. They both strained to pick up any evidence of the opponents. Even the crowd hushed to try and pick up what the fox girl was hearing.

A loud splash of sand echoed in the direction to the left. Trixi turned her head in the direction to see a rock bounce. Richard murmured, “They’re tossing stones now. It flew from behind the pillar.” She reassured herself and stayed true to keeping her eyes and ears for the softer noises, and slowly grabbed at her waist. She pulled out a small branch wand and slid it parallel with the stock of the crossbow.

She batted Richard’s inner thigh with her tail, “I have a plan.”

He stilled his body and steadied his breath, prepared to attack. Another splash of sand from a tossed rock. She fired the bolt at the stone. She then pivoted to where she was aiming just as the blurry figure sprinted into view. Her paw pulled the branch away and fired, “fäks ˈfī(ə)r!” An array of glitter hung in the air around the target and stuck to their form.

The stealth field faded away and a man dressed in complete black garments materialized, only his eyes were exposed as his body was sticky with glowing glitter. He pulled back his charge as he tried to wipe the substance off. Trixi notched another bolt and aimed true. The ninja’s body exploded into light. The glitter in the air started to spread around the arena, it stuck to every crevasse.

The other ninja jumped off a pillar he clung to. His façade was broken. He attempted to throw shuriken at the back of Trixi as he fell. The fighter defended her small body quite easily with the tower shield. The bladed star bounced to the ground as the ninja took a three-point landing. They glared at each other, waiting for the other to act. Trixi stepped tentatively around her protector, crossbow ready. The ninja reached behind his back.

Richard readied his shield, “You know you won’t win now.”

The ninja scowled, “If I can take her out at least I get paid.” He threw two silver balls from behind his back, they collided with the bolt as it flew through the air. The balls explode into a massive white cloud that enveloped the three of them.

The ninja dashed in the mist disturbing the cloud to twin spirals as he passed unseen. Kunai are drawn ready to decapitate the alien fox. He memorized where she stood and made a wide slash to get her throat.

He sliced through nothing. He tried to retreat to get another shot but couldn’t move. Cloud of mist dissipated, and he found himself stabbed through the back, completely impaled to the ground. In the last moment when the ninja dashed forward, Richard scooped up Trixi and thrust the sword where he believed the ninja would strike. Richard mocked, “I warned you.” The opponent vanished like the others.

More of the crowd cheered at the odd couple as they won the match against the most overpowered class in the game. Trixi was dizzy from the quick movement. She was hung over her savior’s left shoulder and was returned to the sandy ground. A blush spread on her face as she pointed her muzzle at Richard, “You know how to handle a woman, huh.”

Richard was amazing how quick the fox was on her feet, “You were fantastic that fight, you had a perfect plan.”

Her face reddened even more, “I-I’m a clown! I always have an ace up my sleeve.”

He smiled under the helmet seeing her flustered like that, “Just two more fights to go.”

The crowd continued to cheer them on as the wheel appeared again. Round and round it went only to stop on a red square. They held their breath for the result ‘broken armor’ appeared. The crowd ‘oohed and the eyeballs swarmed. The purple eyeball laughed, “I hope you both don’t mind fighting in your underwear.” Richard looked at his armored glove as it turned into a liquid and melted away revealing his hand. Soon the rest of his armor started to fall apart. He was standing there in a pair of red boxers.

Trixi’s dress fell away from her body, the eyes were glued to her body unblinking. She decided to pull out her staff and give a little extra of a show for them. She twirled once, her fluffy orange tail caressed her body letting the clothing melt away revealing her purple bra and panties. Once she saw Richard she stopped. He attempted to block the view of himself from the various eyes trying to spy his bulge. He raised his shield to the eyes giving her a fantastic view.

“Are you packing another gun in there? that thing is huge!” She covered her snout quickly as her unfiltered voice escaped. Richard glared at her with a deep scowl. She giggled and looked him over once more, “Did you do an unedited 3-D scan when you started?” Richard didn’t say anything, just tried to block everyone’s view with his shield. The eyes orbited the two of them, chances were high they would be posted on some space African honey enthusiast forum somewhere. “Should have done what I did, this body isn’t mine…” her hands passed through the model and squeezed her body hidden below. Honk! She continued, “A few alterations on the sliders.”

Richard was still agitated, “Alright the peepshow is over folks, let us fight or I’m calling foul play.” The eyes all quickly retreated, the A.I. responsible for maintaining the servers will ban anyone that interferes with the fights.

Richard readied his sword and shield, a roll of the shoulders to loosen them. Trixi swapped her weapon to her crossbow again using her menu then waited next to Richard. She stole a few extras peeks at Richard’s boxers before focusing on the arena. He only hoped that the enemy wasn’t a ranged class. Without armor, he’s just a walking pin-cushion.

Two figures entered the arena, a woman with a perfect hourglass figure wearing a white robe and a man in full plated armor with a matte white finish on it. The woman's face was hidden with a white mask with a hood over her hair. There was a glowing white aura around the knight, a large crown of gold over the metal-plated helm. He pointed a sword out to Richard, “I watched you two fight, you have the heart of a knight… Even if you lost your armor.” The woman stepped with him and raised an ivory staff with her white-gloved hands, channeling light to the warrior. He resumed his monolog, “I’m not like the rest of the people you fought, you have a deep bond with your partner, I can sense it. Expect a real battle.”

Trixi shot a bolt as he finished talking. The bolt shattered into light as it approached his head. Richard bounded forward; it was a strange feeling to see his body but still feel the clothes. The sand felt slippery from his extra weight. He struck his black blade at the ivory knight. The sword clashed with a pure white blade, a weapon of equal beauty. The crowd murmured while they watched the battle. The blade was a similar beta blade given to top performers of the game.

Richard strained as he locked blades, the ivory knight held the blade with both hands to hold off the tremendous weight. Richard gritted his teeth when he heard another bolt sail through the air, aimed at the woman. The knight blinked away, Richard stumbled forward in the sand. The bolt was deflected by a white buckler.

Once the naked fighter got his footing, he targeted the woman. She had been channeling her magic through the staff when he ran up and slashed at her. She vanished before the sword could make contact, the ivory knight took her place. The sword clanged loudly with the buckler causing the knight to skid back a few inches.

The knight grunted and clenched his fists, “You hit like a truck.” Richard proceeded to provide an onslaught of attacks, slashing at him with unrelenting force. The white knight buckled to a knee from the blocked attacks. The white light flowed around his body once more, the female channeled her power through him again. The knight stood and locked swords again with both his hands.

Trixi fired another shot only for the whole series to play out again. The dash, the block, and the dodge. The two of them were synched so well together. She watched Richard struggle to hold up his weight and yet he was continuing to fight. She loaded a bolt and waited for an opportunity to strike.

Sweat poured from Richard’s face, holding pressure on his opponent. A moment of clarity in his mind as they shuffled back and forth for one to press the advantage, he knew the key to his enemy’s defense was the woman. He gritted his teeth, “You are good, a shame I have to beat you.”

The white knight laughed through labored breath, “I’d love to see how you pull that off, lugging around in around 200% gravity is taking its toll.”

He shuffled back a few steps letting his opponent press him, he shifted to the left then the right positioning himself between the woman and the man. The fighter’s one arm pressed to the white knight’s two. He glanced over at Trixi who had her crossbow aimed at the woman. Perfect. With his free arm, he tossed the shield back at the woman, allowing the skill to let the shield fly. The white knight watched as the spiked shield soared into her partner. The impact caused her to step back and stop channeling. Richard pressed the attack grabbing the handle of the sword with both hands and pressing through the white blade. The ivory knight’s weapon started to crack. The warrior’s blazing eyes stared his opponent down.

The woman regained her footing, she pulled the staff forward to cast the defensive magic again. A loud twang interrupted her, she looked down seeing light leak from her body, a bolt to the ribs. She collapsed to the ground and faded.

The white warrior wasn’t left to mourn, as soon as his partner fell his sword shattered. Richard pressed through cutting his opponent down. The warrior laid upon the sand, light emanating from his opened chest, “Heh, we should talk after the fight, win or lose.” He disappeared from the battlefield. The crowd roared with cheers and Richard knelt to catch his breath.

“Are you okay, do you need to sit down?”

He huffed, “I can handle it. Just one more fight.”

She pressed her body to his, “Please don’t push yourself too hard. It’s just a game.”

He could only feel her jumpsuit on his arm, but the sight of her beautiful fur pulled at his heart. He looked into her crystal blue eyes and saw the worry in them. He took several deep breaths and then stood again, “I’m good, I have two wounds. If worse comes to worst, I will die and come back refreshed.”

The wheel spun for the final time. It landed on another red space, ‘Weaponless.’ His shield and sword turned to ash before his eyes, and Trixi grasped at her weapon as the ashes blew away. “How are we going to fight now?” Trixi huffed.

He answered back, “Looks like it’s CQC.” He hid how bad it was, he wondered how he would possibly win against a fresh-faced enemy.

The eyeballs circled closer; the arena silent. The final round. The sound of metal armor clinked, two warriors in full plated armor, shiny steel. One wielded a heavy two-handed ax while the other wielded a heavy maul with vicious spikes. Richard shook his head and whispered out, “Fuck.”

The ax-wielding warrior spoke, “Look at ze little gremlin. I woonder what sound et will make when wee crush et.”

The maul holder laughed heartily, “This will bee fun. I loove crushin’ xenoos.” Richard put up his fists, in a vain attempt to look threatening. They both laughed, “And heere is the nakeed knight, nu weepon ta fight with.” Richard sized them up, tall, but the armor hung on their bodies loosely. He thought up plans to get in close to grapple them.

The two armored enemies laughed amongst themselves speaking in a foreign language. The naked fighter took his chance to try and catch them off guard. He sprinted through the sand to try and end this quickly, muscles burned as he closed the gap to the warriors. The maul wielder picked up his weapon and made a large arch at him sending him flying, bouncing in the sand. He let out a pained grunt as his whole body went numb.

The audience and Trixi gasped in unison. She joined her companion, “Are you okay?”

He coughed, “I’ll be fine…” The adversaries started to meander over to them weapons ready with both hands as he caught his breath.

The vulpes thought quickly about what to do, she sprinted toward the warriors. They braced for a counterattack. The fox passed between them. They weighed their options, attack the downed warrior, or give chase to the alien. She turned and taunted them to help persuade the decision, “Ikea sucks, and your meatballs taste like dog food!”

The ax wielder protested, “Noow that was uncalled foor missy.” He turned to his friend, “Leets geet eer.” The two started to chase the little vulpes around the arena. Her small frame danced on the sands while their lumbered movement kept digging in.

Richard pushed himself up his health waned. He looked over to see Trixi running circles around the two. She continued to goad them as she ran through the sands, “Swedish fish taste like wax!” He tried to spot an opportunity to attack, any straight-on attack would be impossible. He gazed up at the pillars, if the ninja could get up there, he could too.

At the base of the pillar, he placed his hands in cervices between the large carved blocks. With pained muscles, he climbed up high. Higher and higher till he reached the top of the arena. He looked out and saw the crowd murmured, questioning his actions, the eyes flowed like a swarm around him. Then he looked down, two stories below Trixi ran around the arena, always ahead of the winded warriors. He flicked a pebble from the top of the pillar down and timed it, then he waited for his targets to get close.

Richard watched Trixi run in a figure-eight around the pillars, laughing the entire time. The warriors started to slow chasing the little fox. She then ran around the pillar he was occupied on. As soon as the warriors got close, he leaped. The crowd gasped.

After the wind hit their face, he realized his reckless mistake. He was two stories high plummeting to a very hard surface. The game also realized this and slowed his descent to safe levels. The two warriors ran after the fox when behind them a loud thud and a groan of pain. They turned to see their other opponent just landed behind him.

The two looked at the boxer-wearing man and laughed, “Ya almoost had us.” Weapons were drawn they both struck down on him. Trixi looked on as Richard splashed into light and faded away. Her heart raced as she took deep long breaths.

Richard appeared in a small dark cell; a large timer counted down on the wall. He was back in his full armor set with his weapons. He was graciously given a seat to sit his tired body down while he waited. He heard the echoed gasps and cries of the audience. He knew Trixi could hold her own for the short time. Rolling his arms grateful to finally be back to normal gravity while he waited.

Once the timer ticked to zero, he stood and readied his shield and sword. He reappeared back in the center of the arena. He was taken aback by what he saw. Trixi crawled around on one of the warriors, her teeth bare and ears back. she growled and snapped at their hands. Her claws were buried in the armor of the warriors while they tried to grab her. Their weapons were tossed aside while they dealt with the vulpes.

The furious vixen tried to claw her way through the armor but to no avail. Hands grabbed her and she desperately clawed at the armored gauntlets and kicked frantically, “Let me go this instant!”

The opponent sighed with relief, “Caught ya noow, feeral beeastie!” She squirmed helplessly as he held the nearly naked fox at arm’s length under her armpits.

Richard ran forward, he felt like he weightless once the effects fell off from him. Reinvigorated he sprinted through the sands to rescue Trixi. The warriors faced each other perpendicular to Richard’s trajectory, one held Trixi tightly while the other pulled out a dagger to stab the vulnerable vulpes. She continued her protests while her small paws kicked at him. Richard was behind the warrior before he could touch her with the dagger. Trixi fell to the ground as the other warrior opened his mouth to warn his partner. The black sword pierced through the first warrior.

The blade twisted, and he vanished without a word. The other warrior stammered back, the gaze through the slotted dark helmet was more frightening than a screaming fox girl. The black blade dashed forward through the slots of his helm. Light erupted from the wound, and he faded away. The battle was over.

Trixi looked down as her dress was returned to her. “We did it!”

Richard collapsed to the sand with clarity, his chest raised with each deep breath, “I used to go 12 rounds before I got this exhausted, what the fuck happened to me.”

She sat next to him, her tongue hung as she panted. They both stared up to the cheering crowd. “You were amazing out there. Doing all that for me…”

He wheezed, “You fought very well yourself, I have never seen you fight like that before.”

She looked away embarrassed, “I felt like I was cornered…”

Richard comforted her by touching her paw, “You were absolutely amazing, and your aim has improved leaps and bounds. Told you the unmodded crossbow in this game works like the pistol.”

“Thank you… for everything.” He took a deep breath and sat up, the two of them locked eyes for a moment. She reached up and removed his helmet. Sweat beaded from his forehead and dripped into his eyes. He winced and wiped his brow.

She giggled then sat back and watched him silently. Once his heart rate steadied from all the running, jumping, and falling. He stared deep into her eyes and he felt his own face flush. She leaned her head forward and puckered her black lips. He swallowed, wondered if he should interrupt her or press to her. That thought remained where they were, as the game teleported them out of the arena.

They found themselves surrounded by the spectators just at the entrance. The audience cheered the couple on. Trixi was bombarded with praise from the humans. She fought viciously in the battle and handled herself against opponents much larger than herself. She was floored by the compliments. Richard stood up then helped her get to her feet, “Well we won over the crowd, that’s a good thing.”

She beamed and thanked everyone that spoke to her. Her escort smiled and thanked the people that congratulated him as well. The exhausted man winced as his body ached. The vulpes saw his haggard state, “We should sit you down you look like you might collapse.”

“That would be lovely…” Shoulders dipped as they walked toward the balcony edge. Other combatants have already started fighting, they looked small from the lip of the arena. Once he sat down, he leaned back and closed his eyes. Trixi smiled and started to look around the area for the rich man. She instead saw the ivory knight and the woman pair. She got up and waved to them. They waved back and made their way toward her.

“Hello, again vulpes,” the knight said taking a seat in the row behind her.

She stood on the seat to talk to them, “My name’s Trixi and this… this…” She paused for a moment and looked over at Richard who slept on the seat, “He’s Richard.” Her paw pushed him in the shoulder to awaken him gently.

He grumbled in response and then noticed who she was looking at, “Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“No worries friend, my name is Harvis and this lovely young lady is T’ashi” he motioned to the white-masked woman who giggled at the compliment.

“I’d shake your hand but it would just phase through.”

“I wanted to congratulate you on your victory, you two fight ferociously, and jumping off the pillar with the gravity debuffs, I laughed hard when I saw that you attempted that.”

Richard embarrassingly scratched the back of his head, “Not my finest ideas.”

T’ashi started to speak, “I also wanted to meet Trixi. She had a lot of courage to come here without any disguises, and the crowd’s reaction to you gave me hope that things are starting to change with humans.”

Trixi raised an eyebrow puzzled, “What do you mean?”

She took her gloved hand and pulled back her hood. Small furry pointed ears popped up and she slipped the mask off and revealed she was a white felinid with brown stripes or perhaps a brown felinid with white stripes. Trixi picked her jaw off the ground. T’ashi smiled, “Humans despise aliens, but the way they cheered for you almost brought me to tears, daily I have to deal with so many negative messages and poisonous words.”

Trixi glanced down for a moment, “I know all too well about that. But considering how interested they were in my bra and panties you would think they secretly have a thing for us.” The two of them giggled and then Trixi explained, “But coming here wasn’t my idea, it was Ri- I mean HoS’.”

Richard watched the felinid and then at the white knight, not paying attention to the conversation. The only thing he wanted to do was lie down. The vulpes nudged him. Confused he muttered, “What?” The three of them laughed.

Harvis shook his head while holding his chest, “You two are like a married couple. How long have you two been together?”

Trixi and Richard looked at each other, the thoughts that he left behind in the arena rushed back in. He liked her but didn’t know how it would work out, potential futures played out in his mind, would she like him in a few years when he gets even older, does she think he’s too old now... She smiled and then turned to the other couple, “We aren’t dating…”

T’ashi frowned, “Awww… you two looked like such a cute couple.” Richard shook his head awake. He heard that phrase before, the mime even acted it out.

Trixi’s face reddened from the complement and started to nervously play with her tail, her head full of thoughts. The other two looked at each other and the felinid smiled, “Well I’m sure it’s getting late for you two. He looks like he is going to drop. I’ll send you two friend requests; you can message us, and we can maybe talk again sometime.” Trixi nodded watched the two of them get up and leave.

“Well, that was interesting, glad I caught all that, or else the team will think I’m cheating” the familiar voice spoke up. They turned to see the rich man sitting on the edge of the arena. He pointed to his glass tablet again, “Gonna need those deets again little foxy. You two made me quite the mint, shame I can’t milk that cow again… no-one will bet against you after that performance.” Trixi gave her numbers again and the man smiled, “25% just like I agreed, I have the totals if you want to look at it. I am honorable, even though my mother told me I look like I sell drugs or insurance.”

Richard opened his hand and was promptly handed the device. He looked it over and he managed to get 15 million credits total on the entire fight, “I thought you said 10 million?”

The man smiled smugly, “I didn’t close the bets, they thought they could recoup the losses by betting against you still…” He shrugged, “So I kept them open. You should have seen them bitch and moan when they lost. Priceless.”

Richard chuckled under his breath, “Well that’s a nice chunk of change, Trixi will be very happy.” He handed back the tablet and he finished the transfer. Trixi stared intently at her PDA hitting refresh every second.

Once the transfer went through her eyes watered, “Thank…” She sniffed, “You…”

“I didn’t do anything, I saw a winning team and just put capital on it. You two did the work.”

Richard said, “Well thank you for putting up the capital, and honoring your agreement.” He got up with a grunt, “My age is starting to get the better of me, we should head out Trixi.”

Her eyes were closed tight tears stained the edges as she held her PDA to her chest. Richard looked at the man, “Well goodbye, maybe we will meet each other again.” The wealthy donor smiled and waved farewell. Richard commanded, “Computer end program.” The world faded away and melted back into the cube they started in.

Trixi kept her eyes glued to her account and the 3.7 million that was added to it. She thought it might have disappeared when the program ended, but it didn’t it remained in her account when the world faded back to the glass tiles. She started bawling and embraced Richard, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You have no idea what this means to my sister and me.”

He touched the top of her head and stroked it softly as she cried on his shirt. “It’s nothing, really. I’m already well off, and I know how many credits go on alien worlds.” She squeezed tighter around his waist. He yawned and continued to pet her, “I think it’s time for bed.”

The sobbing furball rubbed her eyes, “You’re right. I’m sorry… I just…”

He looked down at them and smiled, “It’s okay. You have done a lot for me as well; I would still be a sad sack waiting in my bed till I rotted away.”

She stammered, “Y-yeah, but not 3 million worth…”

He bent over to get to eye level with her, “I’m telling you; I am doing just fine, it didn’t bring me any happiness.” Staring in his tired eyes, she moved her muzzle to the side of his face and kissed him. Shocked he popped up and touched where she pecked him. She held her breath and waited for his reaction to the sudden expression. He smirked, “You can call me Richard by the way, you don’t work for me. No need for the formality.”

She beamed with joy then glanced at her PDA again, “Oh! My sister is going to go to sleep! I better message her before she does! Thank you again… Richard.” She pranced out of the holodeck.

He still had his hand on his cheek. Mulling over his thoughts as he got dressed. Hesitant to call her a girlfriend, though at this point the entire station probably called them that. He worried about her job and how much she enjoyed it. They wouldn’t treat her the same at all. She wouldn’t be a clown, the entertainer of the station, she would be seen as the head of security’s girl. Thoughts of what others might think of him being with an alien danced in his mind as well, but no one would dare say that to his face. He wondered if they would give her a trouble. He yawned again as the negative thoughts became too numerous.

He headed back to his quarters to get some well-deserved sleep.

Chapter Text

Richard rolled over in his bed arching his back in pain. The alarm beeped at him, and muscles burned from the mock battles in the holodeck. A quick slam shut off the alarm, his ears rang in his head from the noise. It was still set for his early morning workout. Getting out of bed he looked down at his erection reminding him of his strange dream. The first fantasy he had in a very long time, and it got ruined by his usual nightmare. He dreamed of being with Trixi for the first time. Then the armored operatives burst into his room and attacked. A cold shower would suit him instead of his normal routine.

Once dressed in his black coverall uniform, he proceeded to the breakroom. Motion sensors picked up his movement and the LED overhead lights blinked on. The empty room echoed with every movement as he grabbed a mug and placed it into the coffee machine. The steam poured out into the cool station air. Once the mug was set on the table the entrance hissed open.

Officer Roma entered the breakroom. “Hello, sir.”

Richard greeted the man returning his salute, “Good morning, how’s the shift going.”

Roma had a nervous look about him, something that all subordinates had when they were about to ask for something. If it were the younger officers Richard would hear it out and maybe consider it, but Roma had a spotless record that stretched through three other duty stations. “Nightshift had no incidents, the entirety of code blue.” Richard sat down and sipped at his coffee, waiting for Roma to state the real reason he came in. Roma nervously looked back at the entrance, “Sorry sir, but I wanted to talk to you about something.” Richard set the mug down offering the chair across from him with an outstretched hand. Roma took the seat, “It concerns the events about a couple of weeks ago, I just wanted to thank you for respecting-“

He was cut off as Jack entered the breakroom, his cheerful mood cutting through the cold air like a knife, “Ah… thank you for warming up the machine for me, I need it after last night.” Richard ignored his second in command and focused on Roma.

He rolled his wrist to get him to continue, “Respecting…?”

Roma shook his head dismissively, “I’ll talk to you later about it, it’s kind of private.” He quickly got up and left the breakroom.

Jack joined Richard at the table, “What was that about?” A shrug was all Richard could give in response.

The two sipped their coffee, then Jack decided to bust his friend’s balls, “So I was in the bar last night and saw your little friend come in completely elated, bouncing around like she was the Space Queen. You decided to go for her?” He laughed as Richard’s face reddened.

“I don’t know. Maybe… I’m concerned about pursuing a relationship with her.”

Jack scoffed, “Oh please, no one will give a shit, even if they did you have the entire security department who will gladly realign incorrect opinions.” He punctuated the statement by cracking his knuckles with a smirk.

“She’s a clown though. I don’t want to ruin her position on the station. She’s on the station to remind everyone to not get wound up too tight using slapstick jokes and other pranks. Kind of hard to do that when you have the security head dating her.”

“I see. Could always keep it a secret, the crew is already starting to make judgments anyway, whether you do or not. Go for it; you've both been spending a lot of hours after a shift together, clearly you like each other. Fuck the consequences. That’s how I ended up back in the inner sphere away from those coffin stations.” Richard’s mood improved when hearing that.

“Fuck the consequences…”

Jack drank from his mug. They chatted till Richard’s PDA beeped out a reminder. He looked down and sighed at the time that flew by, “Well time to go. Maybe we can lower the hours for everyone, the twelves are draining.”

Jack smiled and raised his mug, “The men would appreciate that. Good luck!”

The meeting droned on, the heads handed over the files and went through the routine of their plans. Richard wondered what he should say to Trixi, he didn’t pay attention to the other head’s speeches. The research director sat down after he gave his briefing, he looked over at Richard expectantly. Soon all eyes turned toward the man.

“What?” Richard said returning to the room.

The scrawny scientist spoke up again, “I was just asking if the asbestos plates we provided would be enough, we recovered some spare material to make more.”

“No, I think we have enough for all the volunteers, they worked quite well. They stopped several shots from a fully charged X-01.”

“Good, I wish we could do more, but our printers are limited thanks to local space laws.”

Richard groaned, “Don’t remind me.”

It was Richard’s turn. He handed his portfolio to the captain gave a quick salute and then returned to his seat. “I know things have been difficult with security around your departments. Because of this, I’d like to request that the captain lower the extra duty hours that the security team and the volunteers are working.”

The chief engineer joined in agreement, “I’d also like to voice this concern. A few of my subordinates have voiced their grievances with this extra duty.”

Richard looked at the mustached man, he figured the man for a xenophobe. He then gazed at the captain who looked deep in thought on the subject.

The chief medical officer interjected, “So we are to put our lives in jeopardy because a few lizards want to have more time to themselves?”

The engineer ruffled his mustache, “Allison, I would like to quote Richard on this, keep to your department. Last I checked none of your crew volunteered and my crew has been sluggish because of the code blue, if Richard thinks it’s safe for us to lighten the load, then I’ll refer to him.” He turned to Richard nodded. The woman leaned back in her chair scowling.

“Alright enough,” Martinez said while he stroked his bushy beard listening to the conversation, “Is there anything else you would like to add Richard?”

Richard stood and paced a few steps, thinking about how the volunteers may have been treated by their respective bosses, “The volunteers are all top shots, they qualified with the highest scores. I’d like to add they have been performing beyond expectations. I don’t see a reason to have them constantly do drills. I'd put my life on that.”

The chief engineer’s eyes betrayed shock by the statement, “Well I’m glad they are performing well.”

Ali clasped his hands together, “Excellent, if you are that confident in their abilities, I have no problem agreeing.”

The captain stood up, “Sounds great, I’ll leave it to you then, thank you, Richard.”

The security head took his seat and relaxed into the leather. The next one to speak was Allison. She stood up and Richard immediately turned off his mind remembering last month. She didn’t bring up any other departments this time, probably due to the captain’s private conversations with her. She only mentioned the surplus of medical supplies for the code blue. Once she took her seat the other heads were at the edge of their seats eager to get back to their posts. The captain stood up first, “We all know our parts. We know what to do if we go into red alert. I trust all your staff knows as well.” Everyone nodded in acknowledgment. The captain’s jolly demeanor took hold, and he smiled brightly with rosy cheeks, “Good, dismissed.”

Richard returned to his office grateful to be done with the meeting and finally able to spread the good news to his team. He was surprised to see Roma sitting in the chair across from his. The gleaming blue scales of Welds stood next to him. Her tail was wrapped around his shoulder massaging it with a flex of powerful muscles. “Roma, it’s past your duty assignment. You should be asleep.”

He quickly popped up from the chair startled and saluted quickly, “Sorry sir, I just needed to talk to you in private.” Welds had a concerned look on her scaled muzzle.

Richard saluted back and sat in his chair opposite the two of them, “What’s going on?”

Roma sat back down, “Sorry for interrupting you twice sir, but I needed to talk about my relationship. And I can’t talk about it with anyone else.” Welds’ tail wrapped tighter to comfort the man.

Richard immediately turned red, “Oh…” He placed his hand over his face then peered up at Welds, “I’m sorry about that night, I had way too many drinks…”

She responded, “No sssir, you were ressspectful of my relationship.”

Roma’s eyes were bloodshot from having already worked a 12-hour shift, “She told me you asked her out, I was shocked, to be honest. I knew I had a catch, but I didn’t know you saw her the way I do.” He sneered while he gently petted her tail.

Richard smiled at the couple, “Well I’m very happy for you two.”

She giggled and nudged Roma further, the man wiped his tired eye, “Now that you know this, I was going to ask if I could switch shifts, I wanted to spend more time with Welds off shift, she works days and with the schedules and extra duties we have been apart for a month.”

Richard pulled up his PDA, “I can arrange that… Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

The exhausted man rubbed the back of his head, “We were still a bit nervous about revealing our relationship to anyone. Even after you asked Welds, and to be honest, I was terrified you would be jealous.” Richard frowned at the assumption. “But… We heard you and Trixi were going out, so we were more open to the idea of telling someone.” Richard changed the schedules on his PDA and sighed. He didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Scheduling is done, you will switch with Danny, he wanted to work nights anyway, go ahead and get full rest and start tomorrow morning.”

Welds bounced on her springy legs; powerful talons flashed when she jumped. Roma got up, with a groan, “Thank you, sir.” He turned and walked out the office door hand in claw. Before the door sealed shut, they pulled away from each other.

Richard sighed again, forced to live like that with the one you cared for had to be torture. He forced his mind to paperwork, filling out data sheets, and checking on reports. After the bureaucratic waste of wood was filled out, he left to the breakroom for another coffee.

He sipped his coffee wondering if he would also have to hide like Roma and Welds, looking over his shoulder everywhere. However, the two of them already thought he was in a xeno-relationship, and they finally came to someone. He wondered if he was the first person they ever told. Pulling out his PDA he started to type a message to Trixi, ‘I would like to speak to you about ‘us’.’ He held off on sending it, thinking it was too gloomy, and then quickly deleted it, ‘I want to see you tonight over a drink.’ He sent it and smiled.

His earpiece buzzed, “Come to the bridge immediately!” The smile vanished instantly.

____________________

The coffee spilled from the haphazard way it was placed down as he bolted to the bridge. Jack joined in his sprint through the main hallway. They didn’t say a word to each other as the door slid open to the bridge. The captain stood grimly behind the HoP who sat at the console. Ali stuttered out, “W-we d-detected them.”

Richard moved the man out of the way to look for himself. The signature was highlighted with red text, officially logged, and in the database records as a syndicate infiltrator vessel. He marked the location picked up by the probe floating in the asteroid field. It was right in their backyard; a short jump and they could be at the station in mere minutes.

Richard asked not breaking eye contact with the screen, “Did they detect our probe yet?”

“N-not that I’m a-aware o-of.”

Richard stepped back, “Drift the probes away, if we pull back, they might think we detected them. I want you to do it at the normal pace you've been scanning. We'll arm and man our posts in red alert.” The shaking HoP nodded. “Well captain, do you have anything to add?”

The captain remained silent, glaring at the screen. He tapped the glass and brought up the information and stared intently at them, “Can we detect lifeforms aboard?”

Ali typed a few commands and sent the signal to the probes, “It will take a few minutes sir.” The room waited patiently for the results. Richard itched for this fight, all the preparation, and training. If they had better equipment to utilize, he would feel more confident. Damn inner sphere laws.

The results popped up on the screen in a window, one life form aboard. The enemy’s crew already left the infiltrator. The captain pulled the console’s microphone to his lips and pressed the button. “Attention crew, there is an immediate threat to the station, code red. Report to your stations of duty and follow the instructions of your department heads.” He pulled away from the microphone and pressed his earpiece, “A.I., you know the drill, I want radio sweeps around the entire station, inform of any metal projectiles headed toward the station.”

Richard spoke to the security channel, “Alright crew, we ran through these drills daily. I want you all in the department immediately. The warden will pass out the equipment.”

It didn’t take long for the security department to get set up. The officers were given laser pistols and several recharge ports to bring with them. They wore Kevlar armor with the new ceramic plates. The disabler lasers and non-lethal weaponry they had in storage were useless against the hardsuits the enemy most likely wore.

When the enlisted arrived, there was a total of 15 officers and 20 draftees from around the station. The idea was to overwhelm the nutjob mercenaries with sheer force and win through attrition. Problem was that Nanotrasen didn’t keep enough real weapons on the station, so they selected the top performers out of the group. The officers helped gear them up.

The two human volunteers placed on their ceramic body plates and a helmet. The lizardmen required a little more effort, a slimmer torsos and longer legs proved to be slightly more complex to the men trying to help them strap the gear on. But with a little elbow grease, they managed. The helmets had the visor smashed off so that it could fit over their angular heads. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was all the station could provide. Once they were geared up the warden handed them laser rifles from the armory.

The group was split into 5 units led by the officers. One was sent to the A.I.’s control wing of the station, one of the officers in that group was fitted with one of the three security hardsuits. He was to guard the A.I.’s room and defend against space breeches.

The powered hardsuit was sealed for space walks, while the armor-plated chest and shoulders were secured over a flexible thick polymer inner lining, providing considerable protection against laser fire. He slipped on the inner lining and then the black-armored plates were secured around his body. Not ideal to prevent the A.I. from being targeted but they hoped to deter threats from just wandering in.

Another unit was stationed in engineering. One explosive in that location would knock out the entire station’s power grid and they would be left floating helplessly in the dark. One more unit was placed in medical, and they were to help bring casualties back for medical treatment. The last two were mobile units, to help pinch the intruders when they arrive on the station.

Richard took Roma and Miller aside before they marched off with the medical unit. Roma just finished chugging a coffee as soon as he got his gear on. “I need you two to go on a special mission. You two are to bring the enemy’s ship to dock with the station. Get hardsuits on and take one of the personnel shuttles to do it. There is a single life form aboard, probably intel personnel to help coordinate the enemy. Get the drop on them and take them out.” The two men looked at the HoS with confidence. Richard had a smug expression on his face, “If they don’t get the drop on us, we'll get the drop on them. Here are the coordinates.” He handed the two of them a small datapad with the location of the asteroid field where they were last spotted.

Richard helped the two of them get suited up while the rest of the security went off to their designated locations. Richard placed the black helmet over their heads and the armor sealed them inside. Internals came online and the HUD reflected off their faces from inside. “Alright, good luck you two, if you get spotted warp back immediately, the shuttle can take a bit of a pounding so you should be able to get away.” The two saluted and marched off, heavy metal boots slammed on the gunmetal plates.

Jack was the last one, he asked a question from behind the armory window, “So where would you like me?”

Richard sat down, exhausted from fitting, thinking for a moment, “I’m going to need you in engineering. Only 7 there, it’s not enough, if they cut power or communications or life support we’re fucked.” Jack exited the armory and was about to walk off before Richard stopped him, “Take my hardsuit, I have the trench coat and hardened Kevlar, it will provide enough protection for me.”

They headed to his quarters and opened the high-security locker. His hardsuit was a standard design but thicker armored plates. Jack pulled out the helmet, “Are you sure this is a smart idea, you have more experience in combat than me.”

He tried his best to comfort his friend, “I have the gasmask and gravity boots, plus you have more to live for than me.”

Jack responded with an exhausted tone, “Stop that depressed bullshit, now isn’t the time to be pessimistic.”

“You want me to say it’s because I know you’re a bad shot and will take a few rounds before you put them down?” The two shared the laugh as Richard helped him into the hardsuit.

Once Jack was kitted out, Richard grabbed his armored vest and jacket donning them quickly. He then put on a pair of armored gravity boots, which operated more like glorified adjustable magnetic shoes. He then slipped on his night vision gas mask helmet. Fitting over his entire head with thick latex, red-tinted his vision as it was snapped snuggly to his head. With a final touch, he grabbed his military beret and readied his pistol, “Let's head out and push their shit in when they get here.”

When the door opened to the main hallway Trixi in her full clown regalia stood inside. She was looking through the windows to the breakroom. Her orange bushy tail sashayed back and forth. Jack’s voice boomed out of the powered hardsuit’s speakers, “Why aren’t you in the services department!?”

Her fur puffed up in surprise. She stood boldly to the two men, “I want to help, I trained too! I can help!” The voice carried confidence unbecoming of a clown.

Richard stepped forward and kneeled to her, his visage was terrifying with the armor and weapon in hand, “I’m sorry, but we don’t have any more weapons. We barely had enough for the volunteers we got. All my men are forced to carry pistols because of the shortages.”

The captain's voice roared over his earpiece, “I’m dressed up and ready to defend, where would you like me, Richard!”

Richard stood and held the button on his waist, “Thank you for your participation, sir, we could use all the help we can get. I take it you brought that old gun out of retirement?”

The captain’s jolly laugh echoed over the radio, “Oh you know me too well, just got fitted into my hardsuit it took a bit of squeezing to get it on… I could use a position on one of your teams I saw running around.”

Richard wondered where to place the captain, “Take Philhouse’s position and help the A.I. You hear that Philhouse, I need you over to the medical department.”

Another voice affirmed him, “Yes sir!”

The dejected Trixi pouted watching him give orders to everyone over the headset.

He looked down at the sad vixen, “If we can get their ship to dock with the station, we can steal their weapons and arm more crew.”

She was shocked, “You stole their ship?!”

He shook his head, “Not yet, I have two officers on their way to it. Hopefully, we can strike them without them even knowing we are onto them.”

Jack patted him on the shoulder, “We should get going.”

“Right, Trixi tell the services department to hide the bar, I know they’re probably already in cargo, but it’s too exposed. I need them to be away from the hull of the station, in case they plant a bomb outside.” For a moment he thought he saw fear in her eyes, but it vanished when she agreed. Her shoes squeaked toward the exit. Richard stopped her as the exit opened, “Remind the crew that this is a direct order from the head of security and if they don’t listen, I will beat them.” He pounded his hand into his fist for emphasis. She giggled and exited the door.

Jack patted him on the shoulder, “Smart thinking, we will get to their ship before they even attack. They won’t get the drop on us.” Richard nodded and they exited the security wing. They didn’t have much to worry about, there were only a few key targets the operators were after, the AI, the power grid, and the nuclear arming disk.

Richard keyed his mic, “Is the disk secured?”

There was a delay before the captain answered back, “Yes, I passed it off.” He wondered who had it but considering the captain’s need to fight he was sure it was the HoP, who was probably cowering in the bridge.

The two men separated not saying a word to each other, focused on the mission at hand. Richard opened the door to the bridge. Sure enough, the man sat at the monitors, staring intently at the suit logs. “You alright?”

The man nearly fell back from fright. “D-don’t scare me like that, you know how terrifying it is holding onto this damn thing!”

“Just keep doing what you’re doing. I would ask if you were to stay with a group, but it would be best if you stayed at the heart of the station. We can counter any offensive better that way.” Ali returned to the screens, monitoring the locations and health of the entire crew.

Richard patrolled the halls as the crew abandoned the hallways to their duty stations. He remembered times on the smaller stations where everyone would grab weapons and manhunt the intruders. It didn’t take long till the A.I. picked up something on the radar. The computer’s voice warned Richard, “A large metal object is going to collide into arrivals.”

“Is it a bomb?”

“No, it’s not fast enough to match a torpedo and the signature matches a boarding orb.”

He sprinted toward arrivals keying the mic, “I’m headed to intercept, I need the first mobile team to join me immediately.” He rounded the corner and readied his weapon. As he ran through the services quarter, he saw a few crewmates walking toward the cafeteria, slowly. He yelled out at them, “Get the fuck inside or I will put you down!” They tripped over themselves and clambered out of the hallway to safety.

Arrivals were dead quiet. Docking doors were retracted giving a clear view to open space through the empty ship docks. He couldn’t see anything, pulling himself away from the glass to join the mobile team in the lobby. They sat down on the wooden chairs that occupied the waiting area. The unit was anxious, holding their laser rifles and pistols ready. The AI said, “the metal object is going to collide with dock 2.”

Richard stood to the door and activated his gravity boots, “You all better grab ahold of a wall, because we are about to get the vacuum.”

A bulldozing crash screeched through the area and an ear-shattering bang quickly followed by the expelling hiss of an atmosphere leak. Richard spotted a very large black metal ball. The ball had to be over 2 meters in diameter. It had embedded itself into the wall outside the windows to the lobby. The siphoning stopped as the emergency shutter slammed shut over the broken portion of the dock.

Richard retreated to the unit, “Get to cover now!” Wooden tables were kicked over. The others followed suit knocking over another large table for cover. They saw the metal ball through the large bay fractured glass window, it rocked a bit back and forth like an egg ready to hatch. A seam appeared on the hemispheres. Metal pings sounded off from inside. The sphere exploded, the reinforced window shattering completely from the metal fragments.

The unit ducked as the shards of glass fragmented out. The captain’s voice buzzed through security comms, “Report!”

Richard peered over the ruined wall, the boarding sphere revealed a black metal egg-shaped figure. Two blazing red lights beamed out from the center of this egg; hover pads extended out from beneath it. Richard responded to the captain, “We have a syndicate assault drone. The medical team gets over here ASAP.”

The drone’s hover legs lifted the large robot higher, more arms popped out from the metal shell one with a chain gun and the other with a grenade launcher. Richard cycled to ion blast on his pistol and opened fire. The rest of the unit did the same with red beams cutting through the air through the broken window the robot’s shell graciously made for them. The robot’s armor held up as it simply pointed the grenade launcher from the rightmost arm and fired to the largest cluster of attackers.

Two lizardmen were at the impact zone of the explosive. Richard and three others were caught in the blast. Luckily the armor protected them from fragmentation. Richard picked himself up but couldn’t hear a single thing from the ringing. He glanced over at the wounded; they were already being pulled out of the lobby by the others to safety.

The drone cycled another grenade into the launcher and was ready to fire another at the fleeing combatants. Richard jumped to the door to arrivals firing ion shots trying to get the attention of the death bot. Lightning arched around the bot as the white bolts struck the armored shell. It shuddered and dipped in height as it hovered. The two red lights twisted around its shell and focused on the more threatening target. It pointed the left most claw with the chain gun at Richard and opened fire.

Bullets rained as he took cover by the door frame. He felt his coat tails get tugged on from a few stray rounds. The fire was sustained as it floated closer to his location. He looked around desperately for an item to use and spotted a half-broken coffee mug. The mug was scooped up and tossed into arrivals. The bullet spray traced the broken mug nailing the heavy metal plates with few ricochet twangs. Richard peaked the corner and aimed for the two red beams of light and fired.

The lights sparked and fell dark as the electricity zapped through it. He fired several more shots until the battery was depleted in his weapon. The eyes rotated around the body searching with dead eyes. This was his opportunity to strike. He sprang forward and leaped onto the floating machine. The robot started to spasm swinging all its limbs as it drifted backward bashing and scratching at the human.

Richard held on tightly as his back was pounded on heavily. The padding provided quite a bit of protection from the beating. He spun around and heard the grenade launcher’s thump. It struck more windows in the docks, the A.I. quickly sealed them. Richard looked through the broken window and noticed the 5 remaining of his unit behind cover.

“Fire damn you! Fire!” He cried out to the soldiers. They hesitated a moment but fired carefully. Richard watched through the red tent as the red lasers struck the armor melting portions of the coating and damaging important components inside. The robot pointed the gun and fire it as the hover stabilizers tried their best to keep steady. The bullets missed every shot as the weapon depleted its ammunition. Richard thought they were winning the battle as one of the legs was blasted off by a perfectly aimed laser.

With a last-ditch effort, the robot struck with a lucky blow hitting the human off with the grenade launcher arm.

Richard was flung across the room into the reception area, his back bounced off the counter and his side collided onto the wall. He fell forward and collapsed to the ground. Battered and bruised the right side of his head was completely numb and warm. His right ear rang horribly. He gripped his weapon and stood to fire a few more shots from the self-recharging gun. Through blurred vision and pounding head, the first shot missed, the second shot struck the housing for the hovering legs.

It drifted slowly to the ground as the hovering pads lost power. Lasers continued to pepper the case as the robot’s weapon dry fired unable to see targets. Richard raised his hand and jumped over the countertop. The laser fire stopped as they waited for further orders. Richard peered over the edge of the broken window and gazed at the crippled robot. The limbs weakly moved; it wasn’t going to get back up anytime soon.

His ears were still ringing, and he couldn’t hear the others. His officer stepped forward and his mouth moved. Richard just shook his head and pointed to his ears, piercing pain shot through his skull. He winced and gritted his teeth yelling out to the man, “I can’t hear anything, the drone is down!”

The man turned to check the injuries on the rest of the unit.

Richard checked over himself poking holes through his jacket pulling out an embedded bullet the flattened lead didn’t make it through the outermost layer of armor. He wasn’t struck by a bullet and was just beaten badly. The hearing slowly returned to his left eat and he started to hear ticking, it was loud. First thinking it was just his ear acting up but as he turned to check his right chest plate when it got louder. He stared over the window again, the direction of the ticking. “Run!”

Richard picked up one of the lizardmen who had a difficult time running and dashed out through the hallway with the rest of the unit. They ran just past the airlocks to the entrance of the station, a station rattling explosion shook them all to the ground. The lizardman was sent flying down the hall, slipping out of his arms. Richard steadied himself up with the help of the gravity boots. Then airflow reversed pulling him backward. He was pulled off his feet back toward the origin of the explosion. The emergency blast doors slammed shut just in time for his back to collide with the metal.

He came to a minute after. The rest of his body ached every time he moved, but nothing compared to his stinging warm pain on the side of his head. He looked up and saw the mobile unit arguing with crewmates that had left the cafeteria. Trixi was right in front of his mask, worry and tears running down her muzzle. He shook his head of the pain and dizziness, “Is everyone alright?”

Trixi hugged him, “Your safe!”

He winced as she squeezed him tightly. He keyed his radio, “What’s going on?” No one responded.

His officer ran toward Richard, “Sir, they are trying to cut their way through the hull in engineering, we are holding them off as best we can.”

Richard shot up and looked at the crewmates, they were all frightened. “Get back in the bar immediately! Turn out the lights, don’t leave until I or the captain says so!” The crew started arguing, then Richard shot an ion blast at the floor. The loud crackle immediately shut them up and forced them to return to safety.

Trixi’s eyes were watery as she looked up at him. He couldn’t get distracted by her, so he kneeled and ordered her, “Please, go with them. I need you to be safe.”

“But your hurt, I can smell the blood.” He ignored her as he felt a numb buzz in his right ear. He pulled off his gas mask letting his hat fall to the floor. He wheezed from the burning pain as he peeled it away. Warmth flowed from the right side of his face down his neck.

Trixi gasped and turned away from the sight. He winced as he reached to his earpiece and pulled it out. He flicked the earpiece shaking blood from it and put it in his other ear.

The A.I.’s voice came in clearly in his other ear, “-getting engagements on two locations in engineering, they are affixing a C4 to the hull of the A.I. chamber. Mobile group 1 is taking care of the wounded HoS.”

Richard keyed the microphone, “Fake news, I’m not wounded. I’ll be assisting the A.I. immediately.”

He stood up and placed the mask over his head again, grinding his teeth through the sticky burning pain. Trixi grabbed him, her eyes locked to the ground. Before he left, he told her, “Be safe.” She didn’t say anything in return as he marched away with the unit. The sound of his heavy metal boots grew quiet until all that was left in the hallway was a vixen trying to hold herself together.

____________________

Watching him leave like that tore at her heart. She stared at the hat, praying to any god that it wouldn’t be the last thing she sees of him. The abandoned hat was picked up and she walked toward the safety of the bar. The smell of his blood lingered in her nose as she entered the dark cafeteria; all lights were cut to dissuade attacking the unprotected non-combatants. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and ascended the staircase to the upper saloon. The airlocked blast doors opened to allow her to enter, once she stepped in it was sealed and bolted again.

A voice from the crowd of people whispered angrily, “God damn you clown, you took forever to get back up here.”

Trixi eyed the crowd and held the hat tightly, “Sorry… I’ll be quiet…” Murmurs spread through the terrified cliques from around the station. 45 of the service members were crammed into the small bar. From janitors to cargo techs, everyone was accounted for.

Bakes was at the counter giving water and some refreshments to calm people’s nerves, they just had to be quiet to get it. Trixi walked behind the counter and sat down on a box. She looked through her PDA, the dull light reflecting off her painted fur. The message from this morning blinked at her. Tears beaded at the corner of her eyes again, “This place isn’t worth sacrificing yourself…”

Bakes watched the little vulpes carefully and sat next to her giving her a gentle rub on the back. He reassured her with a whisper, “It’sss okay little one.” He handed her a glass of cold water. She gently lapped it up to not make to too much noise.

“Thank you.” She said choking on her grief.

She thought about all the plans she made this morning, the beautiful house she was going to purchase next to her sister’s new house. She finally had a new lease on life with enough funds to get the dream life on her birth world. She would be done with Nanotrasen and the space station. She wanted to tell Richard all her plans, after all, he’s the one that granted it to her. Richard’s bloody pained face returned to her mind.

She was reminded of his lessons, ‘Simulations are very different from real experiences. Real gore has a different effect on the brain.’ She wanted to stop him from running off to battle. Another station-wide vibration sent everyone to the ground. She fell and the cup spilled sending ice skidding across the floor. The pain of not knowing what was going on echoed through the crowd. Richard never did tell her the threat to the station, he always skirted or avoided the question passing it off as nothing.

The crew held onto their friends and loved ones in terrified silence. Part of her desperately wanted to cheer people up, the only thing she liked about her job was to see people laugh. Xenophobes and people that just hated clowns were always great targets, but this was something she wasn’t ready for. Nothing prepared her for a crowd that huddled in the dark horrified. She picked herself up from the floor and scanned the sea of faces in the dark. Her pointed ears heard a banging from below.

Trixi crept toward the window. Whispers told her to get back, but curiosity overwhelmed her. Her eyes peeked over the edge down below and saw two armored men were breaking the airlock with crowbars. She pushed her back to the wall and sank to the floor eyes wide with terror.

A woman snuck up to her and whispered, “What did you see?”

Trixi said with a soft voice, “Two people are breaking into the cafeteria.” Everyone started to speak softly to each other, their body language was on edge.

One man calmed them, “The AI saw them, no doubt. The security team will take them out… right…” The banging got louder, everyone else heard it. Their anxieties climbed higher.

A felinid whispered, “The AI sees everything, the security team probably just defended engineering.”

This continued back and forth as the intruders broke through the cafeteria. Their boots echoed as they stepped through, everyone was dead silent and lowered their bodies to the floor. Trixi pressed her ear close to the wall. The men spoke to each other, “Get that thing in place and weld it down while I keep watch.” Loud scraping and boot slamming, something heavy was dragged through the broken door. Trixi fought every instinct to see and kept her large ear pressed. “We still need that disk. You want to get it or me?”

The other man said, “Rock, paper, scissors?” The two started to count and then argue on if it was on ‘go’ or ‘three’. This continued for such a long time that the vulpes slid up flattening her ears. She peeked once again and saw a metal bomb with a nuclear symbol on it.

Trixi ducked down her chest heaved with fear, “They have a nuke.” Her voice rose a little too high and she immediately clamped it shut with her paws.

The others shuffled around peeking over the edge of the window themselves. Bakes set a glass down and spoke out in a higher voice just a bit over the crowd’s noise, “Keep calm and get back. They ssstill need the disssk to activate the ssstolen bomb, they need Nanotrasssen authorization codesss.” The patrons calmed after the lizard’s statement. Trixi exhaled and continued her listening.

One pair of boots were crunching smashed glass as he exited toward the hallway. The other man messed with his belongings looking for something. It clicked and then a steady sizzling reverberated through the wall. Trixi raised herself to see what he was doing and blinked as a bright light shined in her eye, he was welding the bomb to the plated floor.

Another vibration through the station shook her to her butt. Bakes’ lizard claws tapped gently as he ran over to help some people get back up. A woman asked him quietly to the lizard, “How do you know what they need?”

He smiled and flicked his forked tongue, “I been doing this bartending job quite a long time.” Trixi always liked listening to Bakes’ stories, tales from several stations, pirates, wizards, and xenomorphs. It calmed her and the rest of the crew to see someone keep good spirits in this awful situation.

After laying down for a while her curiosity gnawed at her again. She slid back up and spied on the man once again, he placed the welding torch away and started to guard the explosive. He paced around a few times, the four green beads of his helmet cut through the darkness like razors. Eventually, they stopped moving, aimed at the wall with the vending machines. The syndicate pulled out a red energy sword with a distinct high-pitched sizzle. It lit up his entire frame. Red armor plates over all extremities and a menacing red helmet were revealed by the red glow. The chest plate was made of segmented plates to maximize flexibility without giving an ounce of defense. The man slashed out and sliced his way through the vending machine. Trixi sniffed out a small laugh, knowing he won’t get any of the drinks Richard called disgusting swill. Her smile melted and she ducked down fast as the neon green orbs turned toward the staircase.

“Uh, I think he might be thirsty…” she whispered. The air was dead silent. Trixi saw some people start to hide behind furniture that was tipped over. She needed to distract him; it was her job after all. She pulled her tiny claws out of the fabric of the hat she had a tight grip on and placed it in the pockets of her baggy pants. There was something cold inside the large pocket as she stuffed the hat inside, she gripped it and pulled it out.

The practice pistol she was given, brilliance struck her mind. She sprang as the sound of sizzling and boot stomps started on the staircase. Her shoes squeaked as she ran behind the counter through the back. Bakes started to marshal people to the back rooms to not be seen by the invader but trixi stepped in front of him. “I can lead him away.” He looked at her curiously, then she pointed the gun.

“Where did you get that.”, “Why didn’t you just use it on the first.”, “Why do you have that?”, Bakes and several other crewmates asked at once.

“It’s a practice weapon, it can’t kill but I can use it to draw him away, everyone please stay here where it’s safe.” Bakes tied to nab the gun from the vulpes, but she vanished through the backroom, her squeaks shrank away in the darkness.

She dashed as quick as her little claws took her, tail bushy with fear of the unknown. She passed her dorms and slid down the ladder to the next level. The door to the main hallway hissed open, she peaked around making sure no enemies were in sight. She took in a deep breath and then looped around toward the cafeteria again, knowing that the crew was just a single blast door from being killed.

With squeaking shoes, she passed the kitchen’s darkened windows and then the cafeteria. She saw the man through the glass. He was trying to peer through the top blast door’s tiny window, but the glare of his red energy sword made that difficult. She exhaled and aimed with her yellow gun.

The red energy bolt blasted his back. He pivoted and looked down at the attacker. Trixi blasted him again hitting him in the armor with a weak laser. The operative laughed, “A clown is going to stop us? You better start running you, little midget.” His sword’s blade zipped away in exchange for an energy rifle. He aimed it dead center through the clown in the window.

She fled line of sight just as a green energy bolt flew through the glass pockmarking as it made contact with the floor tile. Her shoes squeaked with every step. The thumping of her heartbeat was but a touch lighter than the combat boots giving chase. She curved the corner and made her to the ladder to head down a level away from everyone. Her pointed ears just made it through the ladder’s port when another green laser flashed singing a few hairs on the top of her ears.

“Goddamn you clowns, such a nuisance.”

She gulped as his voice was projected out of the suit’s speakers. She slid down to the bottom level and started running. Her pursuer made no such safety measure and jumped down the flight catching up to her quickly. His powered suit helped absorb the impact of his landing.

She fired off more of her red blasts. The man aimed his rifle back before pointing it down. He was shaking and tilting his head back. Laughing, he laughed at the clown’s attempts. The operative squared his shoulders and exhaled, the microphone picking up his voice once more, “Did you think you could stop me with that weapon?”

Trixi’s heart raced, and her tongue lulled out panting for breaths to calm herself down. He stepped closer forcing her to take a few squeaking steps back. Terrified to say anything to the red armored man towering over her. The man just inspected her looking her up and down, just like how the humans in the hologram stared at her.

“A vulpes? Quite rare, maybe there is some personal profit that can be made on this worthless station.” She fired off another laser shot only to get backhanded, sending the useless gun away. She recoiled in pain rubbing her paws together. “I think I’m going to have you come with me little vulpes, you will make some sultan or baron an interesting pet.”

She backed away shuffling in her pockets for another means to getaway. Her paw grabbed something then her arm was grabbed and raised, nearly crushing her wrist bones. A high pitch shriek of pain escaped her muzzle.

“Relax, I’m not going to hurt you… too much. It would lower your value. However, if you keep struggling you could always be turned into a fluffy little pillow.” The man pointed the rifle at her head, and she froze. The man laughed, “Give up, being a pet would probably be an upgrade than how you’re currently living.”

Tears swelled in her eyes. She closed her eyes tightly to keep her composure. She relaxed her paw and released what she held onto, “Get off my station…” The small objects let out taps as they bounced on the metal plates. The armored intruder stepped to see what fell. Before he knew he stepped on some marbles and tumbled forward. The gun slid down the hall and Trixi fell on her back. The gun was out of reach, she scrambled to it. A sharp pain gripped her heel.

“Damn you fucking clowns!”

She screamed and kicked at him; her soft red shoes just squeaked against his helmet. Her fingertips were just out of reach of the rifle. A sound echoed through the halls. A horrible bone-crushing sound. The arm relaxed around her leg, Trixi quickly got to her feet and looked back.

The smell hit her first, it was awful, fresh blood and grey matter. She choked back vomit. The emergency blast doors and fire doors had crushed the man’s skull and severed the arm. Pulping into a twisted mass of bone, sinew, and brains. Trixi turned away heaving on the ground.

A calm computerized voice projected to the speaker near the ceiling, “Please return to your designated location at this time.”

Trixi looked up and saw the camera pointed at her, “Did you save me A.I.?”

“I prevented human harm.”

She was completely confused by this answer, “What?”

“Non-humans have infiltrated to harm humans, designated by their employee numbers, you are human.”

Trixi wiped at her eyes clearing the moisture from her encounter, “Thank you AI. I’ll go give this weapon to one of the security officers first.”

The robot confirmed, “Good.”

She picked up the gun and a massive vibration shook the station, several reinforced glass windows cracked as she fell to the ground again. The computer immediately sealed them, closing off the view to the station. The blast doors had buckled and bent and hissing emanated from where she came from. Her only way back up to the main level.

The quick-thinking vulpes searched a nearby storage room. She climbed up a shelf unit toward the back, knocking boxes of office supplies to the ground. She spotted her target in the dark room, an air vent. With a quick laser blast to the metal, she crawled through to get access to the other levels.

____________________

Richard’s earpiece buzzed with several voices at once. He and his team just finished destroying three operatives sending them to die alone in space. Several more officers were injured near the power generator. Another one was cutting his way through to atmospherics and the nuclear bomb had already been secured in place. The captain’s voice cut through all of them, “Is the disc secured still?” There wasn’t an answer. Richard exploded over coms, “Dammit Ali, respond!”

The A.I. responded, “His location is in the bridge, but there are 2 intruders on their way to the bridge. I have slowed them down with fire doors.”

 “I’m going to go secure the disc, everyone reinforce atmospherics, the enemy should be running out of bodies by now.” He kicked himself for not paying attention to the services, of course, they had more dirtbags follow their worthless little pod. Shit backing up in the toilet happens, just like this trash that crawled in through disposals.

Richard passed by medical, carefully avoiding the nurses carrying some wounded crewmates inside, the blast in engineering did a number on them. He continued his sprint, the sloshing of liquid in his right ear as the pressure gave him a headache. The AI opened the emergency fire doors for him. The two operatives were leaving the bridge. The green helmet lights pointed in his direction.

“You go, I got this bastard.” The smaller man stood his ground while the other man ran through a sliced open fire door. Richard pulled his pistol and opened fire. Two red lights lashed out one struck the man’s armored helmet the other was deflected with a red energy blade sending it into the wall. The man stood defiantly.

Richard wanted to grab one of the enemy’s swords before they exploded. He would show the intruder who runs this station. His earpiece was picking up chatter from his team, the enemy finally cut through atmospherics. He sighed and squared himself with his current opponent.

Richard shot him with a few more blasts and charged forward. He grabbed at his hip for the stun baton. A rather useless weapon against an energy sword but its carbon fiber shaft might prove effective to hold off the blade. The stun baton was fully charged before he collided with the enemy. He continuously fired off shots hoping to at least weaken the armor plating to get in.

Richard’s actions baffled the operative who focused on deflecting the energy bolts. The shots were rhythmic, once Richard got to melee range, he swung hard at the man’s neck with the baton. Electricity sparked on the suit and the operative sucked in air as his windpipe was beaten. He took a step back and clutched his neck with a hand. Richard continued his advance and lunged at him. He dropped his weapons and grabbed at the energy sword’s hilt with both hands.

The shuffle continued, but the intruder was inexperienced, despite his equipment giving him a strength advantage over the HoS. With a swift kick into the wall, he had the sword. The man was staggered. He quickly pulled a pistol from his belt and fired, striking Richard in the face.

The 9mm round was slowed considerably by the filter over the gas mask, however, the bullet tumbled and tore through his lower jaw punching through his lip and pulverizing 3 teeth. The sizzling round remained in his mouth. Screaming in agony his mouth clinched, slashing wildly with the energy sword. His mouth filled with hot blood and pain shot through making the concussion and broken ear feel like a mild breeze.

He stared down at the body through pained tears at the man who shot him. Several burning slashes ran across his torso and his left arm was severed; the wound completely sealed from the burning. His corpse ticked, just like the rest. Richard shook as he picked up his body and hobbled toward security. He snapped his fingers to the camera and the fire doors immediately opened up for him, he threw the body in and they closed followed by blast doors.

There was a shaking explosion and the doors held nicely. Richard’s vision tunneled. Every nerve burned and screamed in his mouth. He reached in his medical pouch and pulled out a syringe of morphine and god knows what else. He slammed it into his leg and swallowed a mouth full of blood which caused him to gag, he fought the urge to vomit. His vision started to clear, and the pain was much more manageable.

The voices on the radio were speaking the entire time, “The captain’s down. Where is the HoP?”

The A.I. tried its best to answer all these questions, then the A.I. stopped itself and said, “A nuclear explosive has been armed in the cafeteria. It will detonate in 3 minutes.”

Another explosion rattled the station as Richard picked up his pistol and energy handle. His head was floating, and he couldn’t feel his arms. The drugs were setting in. He sprinted toward the cafeteria. Occasional red mist spurted out from the bullet hole in his mask as he exhaled. He readied his weapons energy sword in his right hand and pistol in left.

The operative laughed, “Shouldn’t have let that kid stick around with you.” The red armored man had a double-bladed energy sword in front of him.

The red LED lit up the room, chairs scattered around, and the tables tipped over to the edges of the wall. The ominous nuclear device ticked away; the display locked behind a glass case. Richard swallowed a mouth full of blood and rushed forward. The energy swords clashed several times, the opponent slashed in rocking movements to get the maximum use of his sword. Richard stopped the swings with flicks of his wrist. His other hand gripped the pistol tightly.

A few shots splashed the man’s armor blackening the red coating. Several sets of footsteps pattered quickly down the stairs. Both of them turned their heads to see several service members touching the controls of the nuclear device. Bakes popped open the glass case covering the device. The operative screamed out, “Stop that you fucking lizard!”

Richard refused to let him disengage from the fight, he locked swords and shot his helmet blasting out one of the cameras. He growled pressing his blade forward. Their swords clashed again, and the powered suit started to push the veteran HoS back. Richard took his chances and tossed his laser pistol toward the unarmed crewmates hoping they could help.

This move distracted him enough to push the double energy sword to force Richard’s energy sword out of his hand. Richard leaped back just in time to avoid the backswing searing his Kevlar. A red laser splashed the armor, a woman in a chef’s uniform held the gun out with both hands and fired another shot. The armor absorbed the blow. Terror gripped her while the others messed with the explosive.

The operative held his double-bladed weapon pointing one end at Richard and the other to quickly deflect any more energy bolts. The defensive stance was ended when another explosion rattled them to the ground. The crackling of the energy swords stopped as they dropped their weapons when they landed on the ground. Richard’s magnetic boots kept him upright.

The heavily armored man attempted to get up but was promptly stepped on by Richard. He leaned down and kicked the hilt away. He wanted to say something to the enemy, but it would just be gurgling blood with slurred words, he felt strangely lucid. A firm boot pressed to the man’s helmet as Richard pushed the button to increase the magnetic pull on the boot. His legs were beaten and clawed at by his captor, but the pain wasn’t registering. The sound of bending metal and cracking glass was quickly followed by the screams of a dying man as the boot’s magnetic pull maxed out, pulling itself to the metal plate below, crushing the man’s skull between.

The gore flowered outward in a beautiful array of colors. He switched the boots back to normal and immediately picked up the ticking headless body tossing it over the side into the kitchen. He ducked behind the counter to avoid the blast. Bakes pulled everyone down as the kitchen exploded. Water started to flow out of a ruptured pipe filling the room with moisture from the waterfall over the counter.

One of the crewmates vomited while Bakes quickly checked on Richard who was still laying down. The scaled lips moved but nothing was entering his ears. Claws gripped him and helped him stand. Richard just gave a half nod and walked toward the bomb. There was still a minute and a half left on the bomb. Richard looked over at Bakes who was still talking.

His hands were completely numb, he flexed them, they were like two water balloons. His skin had first-degree burns on them. Probably from the energy swords, no gloves protected his hands from the heat. His earpiece was buzzing but nothing was getting through.

Richard pulled out his combat knife from the hip and pulled at the wire bundle with them. One quick upward arch the wires snapped. The timer stopped and then dimmed. He pushed the button on the disk receiver. The disk fell out onto the ground. The bomb was now deactivated.

His vision was jostled, he stopped and looked around. The people around him had smiles on their faces. He shook his head at them. In a quick motion, he jammed the blade into the receiver and forced his weight on the handle snapping it inside the slot. Blood trickled from his right arm; the broken blade sliced through from the clumsy movement. This would prevent any further arming of the device.

He swallowed again, the feeling of blacking out returned. He shook his head, trying to shake it off. Stopping only for a moment he removed his gas mask. His skin was pale and from the mouth down a shade of the ruby. The right half of his head had deep gashes coated slick with dark red blood, a single stream of fresh blood flowed out of his left ear as the headset was removed.

Bakes wrinkled his muzzle and tried to speak to his friend. Richard handed his headset over and muttered incoherently, a mouth full of blood pooling on the floor. He put the mask back on. Bakes tried to keep a hold of him, but Richard shrugged him away and walked off. He took the pistol from the chef and picked up the hilt of the energy sword before he left the cafeteria.

Clouded with drugs he was only focused on one thing, killing all intruders. His legs betrayed him though, refusing to walk in a straight line. To his right was the window facing the bridge, to the left the destroyed entrance to arrivals. He walked toward the windows keeping the red-tinted vision for anyone else. The captain was in medical, the HoP was missing, he failed to protect the station. He needed to save the survivors.

Turning the corner back toward engineering he stopped. Down the hallway was another red armored operator. Richard shot an energy bolt into him, the light splashed on the man’s helmet melting the armor in an ugly scar. The man stumbled forward a few steps. A second shot was fired, the shot was deflected back at Richard by a shimmering energy shield in the intruder’s left hand. Richard was brought to a knee as the bolt hit his right knee cap.

The challenger laughed, activating his energy sword. He walked cautiously toward the HoS, energy shield ready to deflect rounds. Richard took in deep breaths. His vision cloudy, legs shaky as he stood back up and activated the hilt of his energy sword. They stared each other down.

The hum of electricity buzzed in the air. Trixi had finally gotten up to the main level through the dusty vents. She pushed the vent out and it fell with a clatter. The operative turned his head briefly but was quickly reminded of the threat that he faced as another energy bolt struck him in the back of the neck. The weak layer melted away and burned his skin. He growled in anger and faced the wounded assailant.

“You were giving us a run for our money. Damn corporate shill. But this ends now, you lost. Your weapons are countered by our defenses, and we are slowly slicing through to get at the defenders. I’m going to enjoy killing you.”

Trixi popped her head out and checked for any threats. The standoff was going on to her left, nose burned with ozone and blood. She slid out of the vent quickly with her energy rifle. She primed the shot and aimed the operative. Richard screamed for her to leave; blood just spilled from the mask’s hole. The operative laughed at him, he stopped advancing when he realized how fucked the HoS was.

“Are you on your last breath? Sounded like a plead. After what you did with my team and my ship. Once I kill you, my men will cut down the rest of your crew and sell the rest to slavery. Maybe keep a few for our own. Your captain’s dead. It’s over, Drop your weapons and I will make this quicker than you deserve.”

Trixi lined up the hologram sights at the back of the man’s exposed neck. The man’s bolstering covered the charging capacitors. The trigger was squeezed, and the laser vaporized the man’s neck.

The green energy lapped at his spine, severing it through. He fell over dead without any fanfare. Trixi beamed with joy as the energy weapons retreated to their hilts, “Got ‘em!” Her happy squeaking shoes bounced over the corpse toward Richard, his bloody hand holding himself up on the station’s glass. He screamed out, with all his might, but the blood just bubbled out as he waved his hand telling her to flee.

“We need to get you to the clinic now!” Trixi said with a serious tone.

Richard’s eyes were tearing up as she stepped over the body. She didn’t know, he acted as quick as his sluggish body could. He looked around for an escape but couldn’t find any cover. She reached up and grabbed his hand with an unaware smile on her face. He lashed out and gripped her wrist tightly. She yipped out in pain. He quickly pulled her into a ball into his chest, wrapping his coat around her.

His back faced the vindictive corpse. He held on to her as tightly as he could as she struggled, “What are you doing?!” He set his gravity boots to the maximum. The ear-shattering sound was followed by silence.

Chapter Text

Trixi had gone through her entire checklist. The spiraling scroll unfolded down to the fox’s red clown shoes. Her clown duties were almost completed. ‘Honk at boxes then stamp them with Nanotrasen™ clown stamp™’ checked. ‘Add dye to the Janitor’s water bucket’ checked. ‘Draw mustaches on several posters’ checked. The last thing on the list was to slip seven people. Just needed one more.

There was a sudden crash of a crewmate behind her followed by profanity. She giggled and honked her bike horn. Honk! The clown drew a slash through the last bullet point, check. She quickly stamped the scroll several times and crammed the paper into a nearby trash chute before running away. The man she just slipped followed closely after her, cursing quite a bit about the banana peel.

She rounded the corner and hopped into the opened kiosk window nearby. She landed in the botany department and ducked underneath the counter. The vulpes held her breath to avoid detection. The man slammed his fists on the counter and glared inside to see where she had gone but found nothing. He let out a huff and stormed off down the hall seeking the slippery vixen.

Trixi popped her head out and laughed in triumph. She checked on her PDA to see what other tasks she was given but was quickly distracted by the sweet smells of botany. Her sensitive nose picked up the lovely smells of flowers, honey, and fruits. She changed her mind and decided it was time for a break and meander about the station’s forest.

Due to the size of the station, the botany department was gigantic. It helped to support the healthy atmosphere and feed the station’s inhabitants. She stared at the massive walls of greenery from not only earth but several other planets too. She frowned when she didn’t see a sweet pod. Plants from her home planet that carried her favorite sugary berries.

She neared the honeycomb robot that shuffled a beehive from one end of the department to the other. The bees were harmless and domesticated, one tried to find nectar in her pointed ear. She flicked her ear, and the bumbling insect bounced harmlessly away. The closer she got to the hive her nose picked up a distinct chemical smell, something she hasn’t sensed in a long time. She closed her eyes and followed the trail. It smelled like ozone, bananas, and warm thermal paste.

The bees were swarming around a beautiful hanging ruby flower. She quickly realized she was in the banana grove. The smell wafted from another row of trees, she stepped over the hydroponics tray to the other side. Several banana trees were growing tall and ripe with fruit. One stuck out from the rest, while the bananas were green and yellow this one was had purple and blue bananas. She immediately recognized them as bluespace bananas. A clown’s most magical tool, one slip and it will teleport them to a set distance depending on how they slipped on it.

The little vixen removed her gloves then gripped the trunk of the tree with her claws and started to climb up. Once she got to the bunched-up fruit, she grabbed five of the largest blue bananas and stuffed them inside her pockets before clambering down the tree.

After the heist was complete she made her way deeper into the forest, taking in the smells and relaxing. The mist started and filled botany with a humid thickness. A little whine escaped her muzzle, and she left the botany department. She worked very hard to keep her coat shiny and she wasn’t going to ruin it with a little moisture on her clean fur and undercoat.

Once she hopped back over the kiosk, she glanced at her PDA again. The only task she had left was to practice with the head of security, he said they were going to play Skyout today. Her tail bobbed excitedly about that date. All the training sessions she spent with him was amazing. Sadly, the day wasn’t even close to halfway over. She groaned and started to roam the station thinking of fun ways to burn the time.

As she walked the halls the bananas shifted in her large pockets. Thoughts flooded her mind about how to utilize them. She could mess with the engineers and see if the pilot monkey’s bones are still burning, or she could bug the nerds for fun toys to play with. With the bluespace bananas, she had all access.

She decided quickly as she passed the hallway to science. Her shoes squeaked joyously as she skipped down the hall. She pulled out a blue banana and started to eat the fruit before she got to the target, 'research and development'. She made sure no one observed her and then placed the peel next to the wall. One wrong move and she could be teleported down a level or into a wall and be killed instantly.

Luckily, space slip theory was one of her majors in her clown education. She took a few steps back and ran at the wall. Her left paw stepped right on the edge of the peel and then a bright blue flash filled her vision. She blinked several times and then rubbed her eyes. She found herself on the floor of the RnD department.

The clown pulled out her bike horn and let out a victory honk. Honk! She got up she checked over her body to make sure all of it was still there. Her big poofy tail swayed and wrapped around the front of her. She brushed it with her gloved paws and then moved on to check her pointed ears. “All’s well.”

The curious fox started to wander around the department, tools were scattered around the steel tables and benches. Large contraptions took up most of the space, including a strange device that pulsed light in a tube back and forth. She then spotted a large metal ring welded to supports that jutted out of the floor. Her gaze jumped to the other side of the room, and she saw another ring with a control panel next to it. The air smelled of the same bluespace chemical.

She wandered around picking up and inspecting strange inventions. There was a container of smaller metal rings under one of the tables. The box reeked strongly of the buzzing chemical. She picked up a handful of the rings. They looked like they could fit around her arm like the lizardman jewelry. Foxlike instincts drove her to place a set of them into her pockets.

In her continued rummaging around the room, she noticed the door to RnD storage. A legendary room filled with all kinds of mysterious objects that the scientists had forgotten about. She snickered happily and pulled out another space banana. She took her time eating it before setting it gently in front of the door. She wanted to appear directly on the other side of the door, so she took several steps back and charged at the banana, landing on it with her right clown shoe.

With a bright flash, she skidded to a stop inside the storage room. A bright smile spread on her muzzle as the LED lights flicked on. The room had shelves to the ceiling filled with gizmos and gadgets. She picked up a multitool and cycled through the menu before getting bored and moving on.

There were tons of spare batters, nothing else caught her untrained eyes until she looked in the very back of the room in a dusty cardboard box. She looked inside and saw a bag of holding and a weird flashlight. The fragrant bluespace wafted from the box. She flipped the switch on the flashlight a few times, but nothing would happen. She put it in her pocket and pulled out the bag of holding, a metal box with wires connected to a hinged door with a sturdy grey woven strap to carry it.

She opened it up and found it to be shallow. No portal to store goodies. The machine was broken. She sighed and took the item with her, hoping to get one of the researchers to fix it for her. She approached the sealed door and set another blue peel down. Remembering the layout of the other side she wasn’t concerned about slipping into an object. She jumped on the slippery devil and tumbled to the other side of the door. When she landed, she fell to her fuzzy butt. Arms held the steel box tightly. She blinked as the blinding flash went away and saw a scientist staring at her.

“What are you doing here?”

The quick-thinking fox jumped up and held up the machine to the scientist, “I need this fixed; it’s broken.”

He pushed up his glasses and inspected the device, “I see, the bag of holding isn’t holding. Well, I can already see the problem.” He pointed to a few broken wires and a missing panel from the top. “It’s an easy fix. I can do it right after my companion gets back, he’s acquiring spare bluespace crystals for the experiment.” She smiled brightly and gave a honk on her horn. Honk!

He set the box aside and moved over to the control panel to the ring device. Trixi curiously asked, “What’s the circle for? It’s making everything smell like bluespace.”

“Correct, it’s a portal device. We are trying to make stabilized portals using the blue space powder. Sadly, every attempt is temporary. All we could do is make small dimensional rings. But even they have their limits. Things remain immobile inside until we put the portals together again. Not all that useful.”

Trixie’s mind boggled, “Are they safe?”

“Of course they are. They make stable portals. However, they just remain apart.”

The scientist pulled out a ripe banana from a drawer. The banana was split in two, by two ringed disks. “Try as we might. We can’t pull the banana through the microportal. But when we push the portals together, they lock and close the portal.” He demonstrated this by pushing the two sides together then twisting the metal rings together. Once the banana was aligned the ring slid freely from the banana.

“Neat!” Trixi excitedly clapped for the scientist's work.

The scientist ignored the applause and went back to fiddling with the controls. The door leading to the department slid open and the other scientist waltzed in carrying a container with blue crystals. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the clown, “Oh great. Just what we needed…” The man was younger he had stubble on his chin from a poor shaving job.

The glasses-wearing man shook his head not diverting his gaze from his work, “Now, don’t be rude."

Trixi smiled at the younger scientist, “Come on, I’m not that bad, am I?” He huffed in response and put the crystals away. Trixi jumped up to the counter and sat down watching the men go about their business. They wrote in a journal and took readings from a multitool several times. “Is there anything I can do to help? I’m here to help make life easier on the station after all.”

Her bright demeanor gave the older scientist an idea, “Well we could use an organic test subject for this portal trial, it’s like the banana. Completely safe.”

She jumped from the counter and landed with a squeak, “Put me in coach!” The blue portals opened in the center of the large rings. Opaque shimmering blue ovals and rippled silently inside the metal rings. The scent of bluespace permeated everything in the air.

The younger scientist groaned at the idea, “Do we need the clown for this? I could just shove my arm in again.”

“Nonsense, we need a variety of test subjects. Now, would you kindly proceed to the other portal and mark the time as events unfold.”

The younger man walked over with the notebook and started taking data. The other scientist penciled some things and then tossed a rubber ball through the portal. When the rubber ball bounced inside, it instantaneously flew out of the other portal. They silently watch as the ball bounced between the portals and come to a stop. The young man sighed, “Same as the 3^rd time.”

They continued back and forth with this test until the older scientist spoke up, “Okay, vulpes, could you run through the portal for us?”

Trixi perked up and stared through the bright blue sea of the portal. She stepped through, then followed the rest of her body when her foot touched solid ground on the other side. She saw her tail flick back and forth on the other side of the room. After the initial push through the portal, she giggled and ran into the portal. Her shoes squeaked with every step as she ran through the portal a dozen times.

“Alright, clown, we got enough data.” The young man said.

They crunched some numbers and the older gentleman asked, “Can you place yourself halfway through the portals dear?” She happily did it without question and shoved the top half of her body through the portal. Her fluffy tail danced outside of her red overalls. She wondered what they were writing when they suddenly cut the power.

Her eyes went wide as she saw the portal retreat and close around her torso. There was a slight pressure at where the portal closed. The fox saw her legs kick wildly at the other side of the room as she tried to get out of the tight space. She reached for something to grab onto but her upper half that floated mysteriously off the ground. After grabbing at nothing she dug her shoes on the floor on the other side and attempted to back out of the portal. She was thoroughly stuck.

“Um, I can’t move.” She said with a little panic in her voice. The scientists were buried in their notebooks wearing disgruntled faces from the results. She then tried twisting and grabbing onto the other side of her top half, but her digits stopped right on the blue light of the portal, it felt like smooth glass.

The young scientist sighed and walked off to the fabricator and the older one walked up to Trixi’s upper half, “Well the portal didn’t last. But don’t worry we will just encase the micro portal and return you to one piece.” The scientist’s smile comforted the fox. He added, “While we are working on that, I’ll go ahead and fix up that bag of holding for you, just remember to never put the bag of holding into another bag of holding. The spatial anomalies will collapse into a micro singularity. Also, you should refrain from using any other forms of teleportation, the results are quite wild and unpredictable.” She nodded and then relaxed in her quantum prison while they worked.

Trixi kicked up her feet and snickered, watching her lower half float off the ground. Then the other scientist stepped up holding up two large silver disks. He attached the on the other side of the portal on her lower half. She chuckled and spoke to the man in an airheaded manner, “Help me stepbro, I’m stuck.”

The scientist looked at her with a serious face, “Gross.” The fox rolled her eyes at the unfunny man. He attached a metal ring around the portal sealing it to her lower half. As it latched on, she felt a weight on her lower half shift, her legs stood up. The feeling of inertia difference of her lower half and top half caused her to feel dizzy.

“Your lower half is freed from bluespace adhesion.” He walked toward her top half with the other disk. She wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying, she was having far too much fun running around the room with her lower half.

She was chuckling trying to control where she was headed without her top half. This quickly ended when she ran into the steel wall and fell to the floor. Her legs fell to the ground. She muttered out, “Oh great.” Trying her best to get up back up just watched helplessly as her legs flailed around on the ground.

The scientist moved behind her. Curious she looked down and saw the blue light emanating from where her mid-section ended. The disk was applied to the portal and the light vanished. Another ring was locked around her body fell to the floor landing with a honk on her prop bra. Honk! The half vulpes was picked up off the floor. She watched what he did carefully as the rings around her body were twisted together and rejoined. Once he was finished with her, he walked off silently to write in the journal.

It was strange being separated but feeling everything, she stretched her legs with a metal belt around her waist. The older scientist came back with her new backpack, “All finished. Oh, and this latch right here disengages the ring.” He pointed to the mechanism. She flicked it open, the ring hinged open freeing her completely.

She stared at the ring for a moment then rubbed her stomach, “Where did the metal plate go?”

“Oh it’s simple, the silver disk resides on the other side of blue space. You see when the portals meet, they create a pocket dimension of unknown size, then once the portals are opened again the items will manifest themselves in material space. Our task is to experiment with these phenomena to see if we can create a permanent portal. However, once power is cut the portals cause objects to be stuck between the portals…” The scientist mutters about capacitor failures and calculations through Ohm’s law and places a finger to his wrinkled brow. His gaze drifted around the room.

The scientist points to the box of rings Trixi took from before. “The rings can recreate portals when twisted, however, they are all useless. Only splitting the objects in half and suspending. Nothing gets through. Unless we power them with an external source…” He continues with his ramblings as Trixi nodded along not fully comprehending what was said to her.

Eventually, his gaze focuses back on Trixi, he quickly handed off her backpack, “Here is your bag of holding back, the bluespace portal is working, however, I am saddened to say that the battery is only 50% charged, it will only last for 2,556 years. Please try not to teleport with this backpack again, it drains the batteries, while also being quite dangerous. You might end up in the depths of space.”

Trixi wrapped the strap around her arm beaming about her little adventure, “thank you!” Before she left, she stared at the larger ring that was wrapped around her body, “Can I have that too?”

The scientist nodded, “I don’t see why not, we have loads of the things, we are probably going to deconstruct most of them anyway.” She opened up the bag and stuffed the ring inside, vanishing into the pocket dimension.

The other scientist peaked over, “Is that…?” He stepped forward just as Trixi’s puffy tail vanished out the busy hallway.

__________

Trixi was quite happy with the little detour, and her participation seemed to make the scientist happy, a job well done for a clown. And now she had all sorts of interesting toys to play with. She wondered what she would do with them. She started moving the dimensional rings to her backpack when suddenly she felt the peel of her bluespace banana. She considered what she would do with the last two, then remembered the scientist's warning. She headed back to her dorm to store the bag.

She passed through the halls, lunchtime always brought out the most people, they tried their best to ignore the clown squeaking her way past. A few people smiled and she waved back at them and gave them a honk on her bike horn. Honk!

Her room was decorated in bright colors. Discarded garments were strewn about the floor and on her bed. The red and white sheets were half pulled off marred with tiny claw holes and orange hair. A large dressing mirror and a vanity table were the only pristine pieces of furniture in her room, organized makeup cases sat on the top with posters of famous clowns on the walls. Her nostrils flared as she smelled the air, incense of cinnamon and apples from last night hung in the air. She set the high-tech backpack down on a pile of clothes and left the room.

On her way to the main hall, she stopped by the kitchen, thanks to the HoP who graciously granted her access. The cook was frantically running around, her apron was stained with cheese sauce as she mixed the macaroni. Trixi snuck in, the commotion from the other side of the glass hiding the squeaking shoes. She decided to help the chef out by filling orders.

Trixi jumped up to pluck orders from the ticket holder. Someone ordered a cheeseburger; she would give out a slice of banana cream pie with a mountain of whipping cream. The customer looked down at her confused but quickly forgave the clown as she had a whole pie in her other paw. This continued until the chef realized the orders were missing from the queue.

“Dammit Trixi, they need to put a bell on you!”

Trixi beamed at the idea, “Oh, like last time? I annoyed the hell out of everyone with that thing. The warden smashed it with a hammer because it got on his nerves.” The fox giggled loudly as the chef grew in frustration.

“Just get out of here please, you helped enough.” The chef looked at the orders that were ‘completed’ and shook her head.

“Aw, come on you’re the only one here, and look at all those mouths to feed.” Trixi put on her best pouting snout and looked up at the busy woman.

The chef placed her fingers on her temple when she heard a familiar and annoying voice from the other side of the counter. “I’d like to order a date with a side of you please.” The man smiled creepily, his wedding ring tapping on the sneeze guard as he stared. He wore green coveralls and had his hair wet with hair gel.

The woman looked at Trixi with a scowl her voice irritated, “Can you fill one more order, that will help me out tons. Okay?”

The clown smirked and gave a wink, “Sure thing I can give him something.”

The man looked down at the fox, “Eeh. Not really into xenos, but I’ll try anything once.” The clown smiled coyly at the man, her hips swayed side to side and tail moving rhythmically.

The man continued to stare at the vulpes with a mixture of disgust and interest, “Maybe you should remove that makeup and let me get a good look at you. Might need to put a bag over your head anyway.”

Trixi rolled her eyes. She was used to this kind of treatment by the humans, either they showed contempt or disgust for her. She took it all in stride and said, “Well, what’s the fun in that?”

The man raised an eyebrow, “Maybe I would like that, I've seen you make balloon animals before. I’m sure your quick hands would feel fantastic.” The disgusting individual leaned over the glass to get a closer view of the clown.

Whap! The banana cream pie hit him square in the face. He fell backward as the filling smeared all the way down to his stomach. There was a roar of laughter from the cafeteria. The chef smiled intently giggling under her breath. Trixi said, “Sorry, but we’re not on the menu!” The cheesy line followed with a honk of her bike horn added to the laughter and caused a few people who sat in silence to shake their heads and smile. Honk!

“Thank you, Trixi. That guy, holy shit.”

The clown nodded, “No kidding. Well, my job is done here, I’ll see you around Wilma.” Trixi waved goodbye to the chef and strolled the halls to see what other shenanigans she could get herself into.

__________

She stared at her PDA watching time pass slowly as a crewmate bumped into her leaving a room, “Oh sorry about that.” They paid no attention to the clown and walked off. The door they left remained open. Supply office, she decided to wander inside and maybe grab some things.

She pocketed a pen and some sharpies, along with a ream of paper. She needed more art supplies. The clown’s baggy pants are made for great storage. As she raided the place, she spotted the copy machine. A devious idea popped into her mind. She flicked the lights off and closed the blinds for the windows. She needed a little privacy for this prank.

With that out of the way, she lifted the top of the scanner. The clown swiftly unbuttoned her suspenders and tail button. Her ears pointed at the door listening for any footsteps that may come by. The pants fell to the floor around her ankles. Trixi shook with giggles and excitement, clowns are notorious for copying their butts, this would be the first time she has done something so risqué. She lifted herself onto the scanner sitting firmly on the cool glass. Her fluffy butt barely filled the surface. She unfasted her underwear from around her tail and with a few shimmies, she slid down her plain pink panties.

She spread her legs to see the controls and hit the button for a single copy. The light flashed under her butt and the warm paper fell onto the output tray. She smiled and then hopped down pulling her clothes and buttoned her overalls.

She grabbed the fresh copy of her butt and blood rushed to her face feverishly. All of her was on display in the image. Her black puffy vulva, her anus. All of it. Her legs were spread just wide enough to open her fox pussy slightly. She quickly folded the paper up and put it in her pants. She thought it was just going to be her butt cheeks, but this was far more than what she asked for. Before she left, she removed any evidence that she was near the copier and ran out of the room. Her embarrassment was hidden under a layer of makeup.

Trixi took a few minutes to return to her senses after that embarrassing prank. She found herself in the security wing. She sniffed the air and could smell HoS, he just walked through the halls. She peered through the doors, curious if he was inside. The place was empty.

The clown decided she would let herself in. One blue banana later she was inside the security’s main hallway. She smelled the air for signs of anyone, but the scent was weak. She checked the brig, perhaps he was in his office. She pushed the button for the door, it beeped out a denial at her.

A huff of air flared her nostrils. She pulled out the last banana and decided to enter the office. There was a running start, a flash of light followed by a crash to the ground. She found herself on the other side of the wall. However, it was too far. Squinting she saw that she was inside the head’s private quarters.

She breathed deeply; his scent caused her to feel lightheaded. Trixi had conversations with her sister about this, and Kalia said she had the same experience when she first met her human husband, Dirk. Blinded by her curiosity she looked around the room, only getting a glance the first time she visited.

The room was sparse of belongings, a computer desk, along with a single table, a wooden dresser, and a queen-sized bed. There were no decorations, other than the singular locker with yellow bands and a red security light that blinked on and off. There wasn’t even a carpet, just the steel plates like the rest of the station. The size of the room added to the emptiness. What made her feel worse was the fact there was no color, besides the red blinking light. Everything is comprised of earth tones or greyscale.

Her wet nose sniffed the station air some more, it smelled like he was around her. The same feeling overtook her when they played the games together. How he closed his hands around her paws when they practiced shooting. She ungloved her paws and rubbed the fur on her knuckles. She looked over at the large bed, it was practically a sultan’s bed to her kind. She touched the dark brown comforter, the soft down-filled blanket felt amazing on her pads. She couldn’t help herself and pushed her muzzle deep into the bedding.

She huffed a deep breath and her eyes closed tightly; her heart raced. She pulled back and saw there was a wet spot where her nose and mouth were. The scent was getting to her again. From one leg to the next, her shoes squeaked. The fox heat was starting up again, blood rushed to her spade and begged for her attention. She whined out in protest, “Really? Again?” The movement of her legs only rubbed her sensitive pussy, teasing further. “Mmmf.” Trixi looked at her PDA. There was still plenty of time to burn, a quick session would clear her mind.

The fox sat on the bed and started to remove her clothes. Slipping off her shoes and socks they squeaked as they hit the floor. She gave her claws a stretch flexing her pads that have been trapped in the shoes. She quickly unbuckled her overalls and tossed her red polka dot shirt to the side. The cool air felt wonderful on her fur. She started to rub her fluffy tummy and leaned back on the head of security’s bed.

She rubbed her body up until she hit her bra. A huff of sexual frustration escaped, and she unfastened the bra letting the prop fall to the side letting her flat fluffy chest feel the air. The small buds of her aroused nipples poked through her soft steely white fur. Digits sought out her nipples and started to rub them gently between her pads. She let out a moan of pleasure in the bed taking in deep breaths. Her tongue lolled out as she continued the teasing. Trixi’s thighs rubbed lightly together, the sound of her wet panties on her fur joined the symphony of her voice.

The vulpes’ fingers danced downwards toward her sex. Her fluffy tail batted at the bed aggressively. She spread her legs just enough to allow one of her fingers to touch her puffed-up pussy. She pushed the thin cloth inside to reach her erect clitoris. Only the slightest rub was enough to send her over the edge. She squeezed her thighs together and moaned out in exasperation.

Her pussy pulsed on nothing in an unsatisfying experience. The pleasure raked up her body desperate for penetration. She tried to make the best of it and rolled her hips through the short waves of climax, “Please, I want this…”

Her voice died down and she panted heavily. She looked down at her panties and they were soaked completely through. Her dark throbbing pussy was visible through the thin fabric. Panic set in when she realized she was still on the bed and hopped up. There were a few droplets of her moisture on it. She looked around for another cloth to help dry it. Her heart raced from panic and returning arousal.

There was a clothes basket near his dresser. She pulled out a grey security workout shirt and proceeded to soak the few droplets of her pleasure with it. The smell was stronger than before, she pulled it to her snout and inhaled. She had a great idea and slipped the shirt on; it fell to a long skirt on her. The collar was pushed to her nose, she hugged herself. She fantasized about being carried in his arms. The warm throbbing itch returned. Her pussy begged for her attention after that unsatisfying attempt. She slipped off her panties and lay on the floor. She didn’t want to ruin his bed with evidence of her escapades.

She started by pulling the collar of the shirt over her muzzle, taking in the lovely scent with every breath. One hand tended to her nipples from outside of the shirt and the other filled the room with wet sounds fondling her moist lips. She inserted her ring and middle digits and carefully rubbed her clit. The sensitive nub tingled, and her tunnel clinched. She withdrew her claws, so she didn’t scratch her sensitive flesh.

With part of the fabric of the shirt, she used it as a barrier with her claws. A renewed vigor took her as she rubbed her spade. Her moans grew louder than the squelching of her vagina, she fantasized he was in the room watching her get off. Her voice let out a pitiful cry, “Please go deeper.” She pushed her fingers in slightly more and rubbed her clit again.

The pleasure shot through her once again. She arched her back and stood on the tips of her paws. She continued the motion rubbing faster and faster at her most sensitive spots inside. The vulpes cried out louder with each motion rubbing in and out of her sex, scratching at an itch that desperately needed to be scratched. She was about to release. Her tunnel clenched desperately for something to shove inside but her dulled claws were all she had. She let out a high-pitched gekker of release and her legs spread wide to the open air, pleading for a lover. “I need this!” Juices shot out as she rubbed her sex vigorously. She bucked her hips on her fingers, her tail danced back and forth under the bridge that was her body. The pleasure was short-lived no matter how hard she wanted to prolong it.

Her paws slid forward, and her butt landed on the steel floor, tongue popping in and out of her maw as she panted. The scent of her arousal mingled with his. She pulled the shirt off her muzzle. The collar was now soaked with her drool and there was a large stain of her love juices on the front. She wouldn’t be giving this shirt back to him.

Trixi stood up and wobbled on her weak legs. Her head was clear again, she acted quickly to clean the place up so he wouldn’t find out. Thankfully humans are pretty nose blind, so with another one of his articles of clothing she wiped up the fluids from the metal floor. She looked over and saw her soaked panties. She giggled and decided to stuff the pink fabric deep into the hamper. Thoughts of him smelling the panties when he found them and using them as a cum rag later put a mischievous grin on her face.

She started to put her clothes back on, snapping the prop bra under his t-shirt and putting on the rest of her garb over it. She took one last look at the room. The scent lingered of her fun. She hoped it wouldn’t come back to bite her fuzzy ass. She felt the folded paper and pulled it out as she checked her pockets. Her display is open for viewing.

She frowned looking at it. She remembered how humans hated aliens. When she showered in the locker room, the other girls always pointed out their differences. They would always make comments about her body, how flat she was, and how she is just a red monkey on the evolutionary scale.

The girls would also make the same comments about the lizardmen, but the lizardmen gave the women the creeps with bared fangs and talons, it would usually send them running the other direction. She had no real defense just tiny dull canines and back scratcher claws.

Her imagination ran wild with depressing feelings, she imagined the head of security being disgusted at the sight of her body, how she lied to him by putting on the façade of having a normal bountiful chest. Dread filled her heart. She tore the paper up to pieces stuffed them back into her pocket and opened the door to leave.

She tried to leave the office and the door beeped at her when she pushed the button. “Crap.” She pushed the button again and it beeped at her again. “Oh no.” she searched her pockets for a blue banana, but they were all gone. She gritted her teeth and realized she was trapped in security. The quick-witted fox thought of something and looked to the camera that stared in the office. She pulled out her communication device and clipped it to her ear, she was told to only use it in emergencies. Once the channels were cycled to the A.I.’s frequency she pushed the button.

“A.I. I got teleported randomly into security, can you let me out?” she said closing her eyes hoping the A.I. would listen to a non-human. The door opened for her. She bounced out of the room; a weight lifted from her chest. The A.I. traced her movement to the main hall of security.

The warden spotted her as she danced down the hall, “What are you doing here?”

Trixi froze, “I got teleported here from one of the blue bananas. I had a bag of holding and got teleported all the way here.” Her lie was just the right length to pass, usually, that worked.

The warden was confused and scratched his head, “Okay… Be more careful next time, if Richard hears that you killed yourself it’s going to make life harder on everyone.”

Trixi blushed under her painted face, the thought of him caring that deeply about her disintegrated the negativity that plagued her heart. Trixi smiled at the warden who let her out of the doors. She took one last look at her PDA; she had a little time to kill before she would meet up with the head of security. She decided to get cleaned up and change.

__________

Trixi stood on a stool looking herself over, her fur shined brightly from the lights in the vanity mirror. A wet rag in her paw she wiped the paint off her fur. Once the make-up was cleaned, she started to brush her fur. Her naked body stood like an elegant figurine on the small wooden stool, perfectly balanced. The clothes were discarded, and the stolen t-shirt sat on her bed. A prize the vulpes coveted from the day’s adventures. Her PDA beeped out a musical tone. She looked at the message. Kalia was calling her. The fox smiled and pulled a drawer out.

She inserted her PDA into the device and pulled out a screen. The screen flickered on revealing another vulpes, she had deep blue eyes and wore a white sundress. She spoke in their native language, higher-pitched gekkering with inaudible words, “Oh you’re in your room already?” Kalia’s voice was slightly rougher than her own.

Trixi waved to her sister on the communication line, “Yeah, I’m getting ready to spend time with Richard.”

Her sister had a smug look on her face, “So you finally got a human mate?”

Trixi blushed and continued to brush her fur, “I hope so, every time I’m with him he makes me feel like how your husband made you feel.”

Her sister rolled her eyes, “Speaking of which, he found out you sent us more money. He was so defeated after that.”

“What’s with humans and their need to be so damn stubborn? You are taking care of 4 kids now; he's already working himself to the bone.”

The other vixen gratefully accepted on her beloved's behalf, “Thank you… I mean it, for everything. You aren’t making that much money to begin with.”

Trixi wanted to hug her sister through the screen, “Please don’t mention it. How’s my little hybrid nephew doing anyway. He’s what… 1 now?”

“He’s 3 now.” Trixi was stunned at the time that was lost, she lost grasp of the passage of time thanks to her work. “He’s adorable. The triplets love their half-brother deeply, and Dirk doesn’t play favorites, he loves each of them even if they aren’t his.”

Trixi put her hands to her heart, “Aw that’s so sweet. I hope one day I can find a human mate.”

“From what you've been telling me humans want nothing to do with you. And you say this Richard hasn't shown interest in you.”

Trixi sighed in frustration, “I don’t know. He cares for me, or else he wouldn’t be spending so much time after work with me. Humans are complicated, they don’t like talking about it, especially the men. It’s like taboo for some reason.”

“Ha, you should have seen how awkward Dirk was when we first dated, he kept repeating himself over and over again." She let out a huff and calmed down from her memories, "I know I’m to blame for why you are on that station, even Dirk realized why, you wanted to find a human too.”

Trixi blushed and turned away, “You aren’t the only reason, father’s the reason. What he did-”

She was interrupted, “Please, it’s in the past. I made my bed, it’s my fault for falling for his dumb xenophobia and I love my children. They are healthy and happy; I wouldn’t change that for the world.”

Her words struck at the heart, Trixi rubbed her eye to prevent a tear from welling, “Good, I’ll be sending another 10k next paycheck. I want my nieces and nephews to have new shoes and school clothes.”

“Thank you…”

Trixi moved on and chatted about mundane things, and the training she went through. Trixi then mentioned the fox heats she has been feeling.

“Oh, that sounds difficult. And you spend hours with him in the holo deck? I can’t imagine how frustrated you must feel.”

“I manage. I only hope he likes me; I have been putting all the moves I learned online. I am practically swimming when I’m around him.”

Kalia smiles warmly, “Sounds like what I went through… I’m definitely to blame for your human obsession.”

Trixi started to move to brush her fluffy tail. The long strokes caused the undercoat to fly in the air. “He made you happy, I want to be happy too.”

There was a pause and some sadness in her sister’s voice, she felt guilt. Kalia changed the subject, “So why is he training you to begin with?” Trixi spoke about the threats to the station. Concern filled her sister, “I hope nothing bad happens.”

Trixi did her best to comfort her sister, “Don’t worry, Richard's already on top of everything, he has a great record for these things. He also smells fantastic.” They both laugh and then her sister said her goodbyes to let Trixi continue grooming for her date.

Chapter Text

Bruised and beaten, sounds returned to her waking body. Respirators and labored breathing filled the hospital room. Trixi’s eyes stirred under her eyelids. Heartbeat monitors beeped as the vulpes awoke. She let out a groan of pain as she sat up from the bed. She examined her injuries and found her body had been stripped naked. The vulpes moved on to her surroundings, she was on the xeno level in the small hospital wing.

All the beds to the left and right were occupied with lizardmen. Some were breathing through tubes and others were completely bandaged. Trixi’s mind raced on the last moments before she lost consciousness. She remembered the battle, but everything beyond seeing an armored man in red gave her a pounding headache.

She hopped out of bed and nearly sprained her ankle falling to the floor. She clutched her ankle and gasped from the pain that shot up from her injured leg. She proceeded to limp away from the bed to ask one of the lizardmen what had happened. None of the lizardmen responded to her, out cold from their injuries. She couldn't even recognize them due to the medical cream and bandages applied to the burns on their faces. Growing restless she tried to leave the room, but the door beeped at her defiantly, she couldn’t leave without an ID.

She checked over her injuries once more, her fur was singed in some places. The smell of burnt fur confirmed this. Her paw pushed in on several bruised portions of her body that were hidden under her coat. Her tail ached in spots like it had bent too far in a few places. She swayed it around to make sure nothing was broken. Other than her ankle pain, everything seemed to be in place.

The door opened to the room, “Good, you're awake. How are you feeling?”

Dr. Manit was the only xenobiologist on the station, oversaw the medical wellbeing of the aliens. He always took time with his patients and had excellent bedside manners. Trixi greeted him with a smile, “What’s up, doc?” The doctor stepped inside and removed the medical chart from her bed and looked it over without responding. Trixi went on to answer his question, "Nothing's broken, but my memory is a little fuzzy, I don't remember how I got here."

Dr. Manit looked around quickly and started to check charts on the lizardmen’s beds, “That should return to you after you rest a bit..." He moved on to peel open the eyelids of a lizard and shined a light into it. "I'm sorry for this Trixi, but you need to leave. I need to get your bed ready for another alien that just finished his operation.”

Trixi’s smile faded. Blurry events unfolded in her mind of the day prior. The doctor didn’t face her, his voice grew frantic and worried as he looked through his notes. He scanned one of the injured lizardmen with his hand analyzer, “Please Trixi, go rest in your quarters, there are spare coveralls in the locker outside.”

The tone of his voice disturbed the vulpes, but she didn’t want to pry and keep him from doing his important work. She exited the room without protest to the sterile hallway. Her orange fluff not only protected herself from the cold station air but covered her shame quite nicely. It didn’t take long for her to find the locker she was told about. However, finding something that would fit her small stature was another story. She ended up having to roll the sleeves and pant legs up quite a bit to make the woman’s small fit her.

Once dressed she walked toward the lift that would take her to the reception lobby. The spacious steel hallway had a single wounded lizardman limping by, leaning heavily on a crutch. His ankle was bandaged to his clipped splayed talons. Trixi approached him, “Are you doing alright?” The lizardman huffed in draconic, the harsh words stung the air with anger. Trixi recoiled, her furry tail puffing up.

The lizardman looked down just now noticing the vulpes and immediately apologized, “Sssorry about that…" He paused and closed his eyes to remember. "Trixi… I’m not happy right now. I’m not familiar with thisss area and don’t know how to leave.” Trixi nodded and pointed where she was headed and led the lizardman toward the lifts. He noticed her limp and spoke as they entered, “How did you get injured?”

Trixi traced his eyes down to her ankle. She closed her eyes and remembered the towering, armored man that grabbed her ankle. “I was grabbed by an enemy.” The smell of copper filled her nostrils. She was reminded of the carnage of the remains. She gagged feeling sick to her stomach. The lizardman stared back with worry. A shudder passed through her body as the feeling left her, “How about you?”

The lizardman shrugged, dipping his body as he leaned on the crutch, “Grenade. I'm fine.” His scaled face frowned. “At leassst we’re alive.” Trixi was swimming with questions. Before she asked, the lift stopped. The two of them heard a mass of commotion. They both saw doctors and nurses running around frantically back and forth intertwining in and out of rooms. Trixi and the lizardman walked toward reception, the staff gave them a wide birth as they both limped by.

The receptionist was filling out paperwork, ignoring the two aliens that entered the area. Trixi exhausted from her short journey said, “I’d like my belongings back.” The blonde-haired woman behind the counter didn’t answer back. It was always a battle to get something she needed from the medical department. “Please can I have my belongings back?” She rose her voice and put both her paws on the counter.

The woman sighed and moved on to another paper. The lizardman approached the counter and growled, “Give usss our belongingsss now! We already risssked our livesss to sssave you!” The woman stuttered leaning back in her chair.

“N-names, I-I’ll go find it.”

The lizardman sighed with fatigue, “Rivets.” Trixi was about to say her name when the woman dashed away through the door behind reception. When she returned, she held two containers with their names written on them. Trixi took the container and lifted the lid, all that was inside was her PDA. Rivets was also perplexed, “Where isss the ressst?”

“Don’t know, I just work reception,” she added a snarky attitude to her voice.

Those clothes were expensive and carried something she needed to return. The hat she stuffed into her pocket, she wanted to give it back to Richard. Trixi did her best to bare her teeth, “Where did our stuff go? Were they thrown out?” The woman paid no attention to the vulpes' demands and looked up at the lizardman who stood with the fox.

The receptionist collected herself and held her head high. A phony smile spread on her face, “They were thrown out. Too unsanitary for this department, both fur and scale have no place for the medical department." She tilted her head and added, "Take it up with the CMO, her orders.” The lizardman exhaled and left with his PDA. The sound of his crutch and scraping talons repeated with each step.

Trixi remained, she thought about what she should do next. She waited and waited in the middle of the lobby, lost in thought.

The blonde woman grew agitated and yelled at her, “Leave foxkin, you're blocking the path!” Trixi wandered away silently, heading back to services. Her muzzle faced the floor defeated. She passed by several technicians carrying new shiny metal panels floor panels. She stepped to the side to give them enough room for the meter-by-meter floor panels so they could make their way to supply the technicians making repairs.

Her leg screamed at her to lay down. She passed the hallway that led to security, there were two more technicians replacing floor and wall panels. The old gun metal plates had been torn to pieces from an explosion. The Hull of the station was exposed as they removed the twisted shrapnel.

Pushing her hands into her head she tried desperately to remember what happened. The horrid vision just filled her senses again. Her tongue flexed out as she dry-heaved. She sighed and pushed the thoughts out of her mind, she needed to rest.

Once she arrived at the services wing her mouth agape. What tore through the security hallway was nothing compared to what happened to the services hallway and cafeteria. Three men were hard at work fixing the damaged piping in the kitchen while the hallway was out of service. She pressed her paw to the red emergency door and jumped back, fur on end. She smelled copper. Fear took hold. She was paralyzed.

There was a break in the work that was being conducted. The welder and grinder stopped leaving silence in their absence. One of the engineers peeked over the edge and looked at Trixi through the blown-out window of the cafeteria, "Careful where you step missy, there's broken glass everywhere." She snapped out of her trance and looked down as he announced the warning. Her claws were surrounded by shattered glass. She carefully tiptoed toward the portal.

"Do you know what happened? How bad are things on the station?" Her voice was weak, but desperation was carried in the vulpes' questions. The man just scratched his head under the hard hat confused by the query.

"You don't remember? You were there, in fact, we rescued you right through that hallway." He leaned forward and pointed to the red blast door. "You two were exposed to vacuum for a few seconds before the A.I. sealed the emergency shutters. Thankfully the HoS broke the nuclear bomb before he left. The last invader tried desperately to fix it before the rest of security finished him off. Once we got the all-clear I pried the door open so we could take you two to medical."

Her head tilted at the thought, "Two?"

The man was taken aback for a second. "Geeze the blast must have done some serious damage, you were in the Hos' arms huddled in a ball against the explosion." Trixi's eyes started to water. She squeezed her head trying to remember. She remembered Richard in the hallway after he dropped his hat, his face cut, and bleeding.

"You look pretty rough. Are you sure you're okay? I wouldn't worry about the Hos too much he was taken to medical; nothing can be done now." His comforting tone didn't alleviate her stress. She needed to know if Richard was still alive, she fled back to the medical wing without a word.

Pain shot up from the bottom of her injured leg as she ran back, she gasped nearly falling to her face. A voice echoed through security's hallway at her.

"Please stop!" The young man's young voice shouted. Trixi trembled through the pain of her leg, she stared at him with tears staining her cheeks. She desperately wanted to return to medical to see Richard. The man skidded to a halt, "You were in the xeno level of the hospital, right? How's Welds doing?" Trixi's ankle gave out from under her, and she fell on her side to the steel floor. There was a trail of blood dripping from the bottom of her dark pad.

"Let me help you." He examined the injury and pulled out a small fragment of glass. He then pulled out some bandages from his pant leg and started to wrap the foot, "It's a minor cut but let's get you back to medical just to make sure." He gingerly wrapped her delicate paw to staunch the bleeding. He sighed when it was finished and asked the fox again, "Did you see welds?"

She looked up at the worried man her vision blurry from tears, "I don't know. I don't know…" She sucked in air through her clenched jaw.

He gently helped her to her upright. Her arm was held lightly as she hopped with her good leg. He tried to converse with her to get her mind off the pain. "No one is allowing me inside." She looked up at him tears of pain and anguish mixing on her orange fur coat. Frowning he apologized, "I'm sorry. I'm just worried. I have been busy with clean-up and reports. With the boss incapacitated and…"

Her ears perked, "Is Richard still alive?"

He muttered out weakly, "I don't know. The nurses won't tell me anything." Trixi's tail went limp, her heart ached. She wiped away her tears and looked up at the security guard again. He was Roma, wearing wrinkled red security coveralls. His face was disheveled from days of not sleeping. She remembered seeing him at the bar alone for the past few weeks once everyone left. He was always the last to leave for some reason.

"Roma, how many…" She couldn't finish the sentence; she didn't want to know.

"Eight so far." He swallowed after saying that, hoping there wouldn't be more that succumb to injuries.

Her stomach turned. Dying crewmates was something that happened on far-away stations. Stories to be told amongst peers. Everyone shared stories with her, even Richard. She wiped her eyes wishing to wake up in the bed again and pretend none of this happened.

The two arrived at the medical department, the receptionist was still filling out papers. Roma approached her, helping the hobbled fox to the counter. "Excuse me, I would like to take Trixi to the xeno level please." He was courteous, despite the bullshit run around they gave him earlier in the day.

The woman looked up and then saw the orange furball, "You were already released, why are you wasting our time?"

Trixi felt shame, she didn't even get through the cafeteria before she was injured again.

"She got a cut on her foot from the broken glass strewn around the station. I just want to make sure it's bandaged properly before she gets to her room." Roma smiled to be as pleasant as possible.

Unmoved the receptionist gave a disgruntled sigh and placed the paperwork down to answer him, "Sorry sir, only medical professionals are allowed through the department, we are already patching up the rest of security and we can't afford to have you contaminate the area with her fur."

"It's okay, I think my paw will heal with what you did-"

Roma's façade faded he furrowed his brows and slammed the desk with his free hand, "I don't fucking care what you have to say! I have been cordial all damn day with you! As acting head of security, I'll have you thrown in the brig for malpractice!" He clenched his fist around Trixi's arm. She yipped in pain which caused him to loosen his grip immediately. "Sorry, Trixi…"

The woman was stunned by this behavior, "Fine, just follow the blue line to the lift." She fiddled with the papers to get to the control panel to unlock the door.

Roma didn't speak as they passed through the medical department. When they were on the lift he apologized again, "I'm sorry about that, is your arm alright?" Trixi nodded her head and leaned against the back of the elevator. "Good, I have just been worried about welds. She and I-"

Trixi already put two and two together and interrupted him, "I understand. I wish I could tell you; I was shuffled out as soon as I opened my eyes." Once the door opened, he helped her out into the sterile hallway. The silence was deafening. A floor below was filled with the clatter of tools and footsteps, but the xeno level felt like it had been abandoned. Trixi pointed down the hall, "That's where the injured are, I think Dr. Manit is performing surgery."

They entered the room, and the vixen found a vacant seat to sit down on. Roma sprinted off to one of the beds. Welds was on the far end of the room, a breathing apparatus strapped to her muzzle pumping in oxygen. Trixi watched as he looked her over and hugged her sleeping form. Trixi was never told of their relationship; she prided herself on detecting these things. She would've congratulated them if conditions were different. Roma then moved to the charts at the bed and flipped through them with a perplexed look on his face. "Is something wrong?"

Roma didn't answer and marched out of the room leaving the injured vulpes. She hated that she was back where she started; she wanted to find Richard and make sure he is alive, with her own eyes. As she waited her exhaustion started to pass her grief. She shook herself awake, refusing to rest until she knows.

An hour passed till Roma returned, he carried a medkit with him, "Dr. Manit is busy patching up another, I will just do some basic first aid for you. He is the only one up here doing anything for the aliens."

The old bandage was unraveled around the cut on the paw and examined closely with the bright medical lights. He pulled two small pebbles of glass out of the wound. Trixi clinched her jaw tightly from the pain. After a few seconds, he sprayed it down with antibiotics and re-wrapped it with a fresh bandage. "I may not be a nurse, but I can at least do something... I'm going to stick around and yell at some of the others to help Dr. Manit. He's going to need it." A crutch that had been broken in half was presented to her, "Here you go."

"Thank you." She said with a pitiful tone in her voice. "I hope everything will be okay." Roma remained silent, he started checking on the other lizardmen lying in the beds. She got up and placed the crutch under her arm and shambled back toward the lift.

When she arrived on the main level again, she searched around the rooms to find where they were keeping Richard. Her wanderings were interrupted by an attentive nurse. The brunette's voice was stern as she approached the vulpes. "Get out of here, you aren't allowed to be in this part of medical."

Trixi looked up at the nurse and then flicked her tail at the woman dismissively and limped into the room labeled 'stasis unit'. The nurse followed her orange puffy tail reiterating what she had already said. The fox just shambled along looking at the humans in the stasis beds. There were eight beds in total laid out in the room. Vitals were paused in these devices as a glass shield separated them from the outside world.

She recognized them; they were the humans from security. She searched the room with a quickened step down the line as the woman grabbed her shoulder. Trixi shrugged her off and arrived at the last bed. Her muzzle hung open and fresh tears started to stain her fuzzy face.

She moved along the glass shielded bed, eyes wide at Richard. She swallowed trying to keep herself together. He had been stripped naked; his hands were blistered white and black with burns. The sheet he laid on had been stained red from surgeries. There were also bullet holes across his chest and scar tissue of older injuries. His face was black and blue from blunt trauma and his right ear had been cut open. The most gruesome wound caused her to reflexively turn away. The man's jaw had been partially removed, leaving behind a bloody smear of gore. Tendrils of flesh hung in stasis where it was dissected away from his face. White bone protruded from where the mandible had been severed.

The woman grabbed the fox again, "You need to leave now, or we will both be in trouble." There was a tinge of concern in the nurse's voice.

Trixi wiped away her eyes and sniffed, "Is Richard going to make it?"

With pursed lips, watching the little vixen in this state caused her own heart to ache. She stepped away to read through a chart at the foot of the stasis bed, "He's stabilized; however, we are waiting on new limbs to be manufactured for him, and some bionics, others are in line as well."

Trixi sniffed again wiping her nose on her sleeve. She took a final look at Richard's face, worry frozen on his beaten face. All the fox wanted to do was stay by his side until he got better. The nurse patted the fox on the head, "I know you care for him." She stopped and looked back at the door and then back at Trixi, "I'll let you stay for a few minutes…"

Trixi dried her eyes, grateful he was alive and being treated. "Thank you…"

The nurse comforted the crying vulpes with a few more head pats and back rubs before she led her out of the room. Trixi exhaled, her body ached from exhaustion. Now that she got information about Richard, she could try and rest.

Back in the cafeteria she carefully navigated through the hallway covered in glass shards and torn shrapnel. She clattered up the staircase to the bar. The wooden stairs seemed to go on forever, and her arm was getting sore from carrying her weight.

A dozen people were drinking and talking inside the saloon. They stopped and turned toward the diminutive orange figure, they frowned at the sorry sight. One of the patrons muttered out, "Now I feel even worse than the clown is injured."

Her mood worsened from the comment. Just her existence was enough to cause grief. She limped toward the bar when Bakes ran to her side and helped her, "Trixi, I'm ssso glad you are alive, we were worried sssick about you. There were ssso many explosionsss." A quick examination of her leg caused him to slam his tail angrily at the floor. "Damn thossse lazy sssobs, leaving you to sssave their sssorry!" He continued his insults in draconic while staring down the other crewmates in the bar and then cursed himself out for his failure to take the gun away from the little fox.

Trixi smiled weakly at Bakes, "Please, it's fine. I'm fine. I just need to sleep…"

The lizard shut his maw and picked her up by the shoulders, "I'll take you to your room."

Trixi struggled, but he already scooped her up and pushed through storage to the hallway in the back. With a push of the button, her door hissed open, and the familiar scent wafted through the air. The lizard wasted no time, years of dealing with drunks taught him the proper way of putting crewmates where they belong. He pulled the covers over her and tucked her in.

Trixi yawned, "What no bedtime story?"

A smile crawled over the lizard's muzzle; grateful she survived the horrible attack. A pillow was slipped under her head and she quickly fell unconscious.

___________

Trixi stayed off her leg for two days, her job required it to be fully healed. This proved quite difficult due to the reoccurring nightmares interrupting her rest. Visions of the death at the door still plagued her. She would awaken in the middle of the night thinking the station was still under attack. These panic attacks cost her many lost hours of rest, huddled in the cold dark room. Every attempt to recall what happened before she blacked out caused the visions to worsen.

An attempt was given to call her sister, who was unaware that the attack happened. But Kalia was busy with 4 kids and moving to a new larger house thanks to the winnings Trixi gave. She gave up and curled up in the darkness trying to sleep.

Desperate for answers the following day she asked other crewmates what happened, but everyone was either busy with repairs or taking care of other business. Bakes told his side of the story in the cafeteria; he kept the crew from panicking as the battle happened. The lizard then hugged her, thanking her for saving their lives from the operative that came up the stairs. She didn't feel like a hero though.

When her leg became bearable to walk on, she decided to stop by the head of personnel to see if he knew anything.

Trixi waited patiently by the bridge's door. An engineer exited which gave her the opportunity. She hopped inside the dim control room. The HoP sat in his chair with a hand on the radio at his belt talking to other engineers. He cycled the nob to another frequency and spoke to security. Sweat poured from his brow and his uniform was soaked from perspiration. She waited patiently for him to finish speaking so she could ask her questions.

The man finished and sighed with relief. Trixi looked around to make sure no one would interrupt her conversation, but something was missing, "Where's the captain?"

Ali swiveled in the chair startled by Trixi. He wiped his brow and looked around, "Trixi?" Hovering his hand over his radio call button before he muttered to himself, "Nevermind…" Trixi stared at him with wide eyes. "He's in surgery now, He'll be out shortly."

"Did he get injured from the enemy too?!"

Her words were carved at the HoP. It's no surprise to him, she liked the captain, everyone did. "No, the big guy just had a new heart put in. With his lifestyle and with recent events, he pushed his old one too far." He stood up and paced around the room a bit, "Always did warn him it would catch up." Trixi sighed, relieved to hear that he was okay. "Is that all you're here for?"

"I also wanted to ask about Richard. Is there any word on how well he is doing?"

The man just stared at her, his eyes fixed on her worried expression, "No. The head of security won't be out for another week or so. But, they are confident he will make a full recovery. However…" He pressed his hand under his chin to look for the right words.

Trixi stepped forward illuminating her orange fur in the screen's light, "What is wrong?" She pointed her face out the bridge's window to the rest of the station. Men could be seen working on the outside of the hull, replacing damaged plates above arrivals. Her ear tilted to her boss waiting for an answer. He opened his mouth.

"I really shouldn't be talking about medical matters to anyone but…" Trixi turned to look at the man as he spoke. "We need a specialist to come to the station for his operation. He will need to be released so he can heal the rest of his injuries before surgery. I called the acting head of security to take care of him while he is recovering."

"That's good. Finally, some good news. Or any news." She sighed with relief and smiled warmly.

Ali didn't return the gesture. He just looked down in despair, "It is good news. Nanotrasen won't need to replace both security positions from the attack." Her head tilted from the statement. "We lost a lot of good men in the attack. I know you're good friends with many of them. I'm going to give more time off to grieve."

There was a change in the air. Trixi retreated a step. She didn't know who died in the attack, everyone was far too busy. Clinging on to hope in her heart that everyone close to her was just recovering in medbay. Trixi put a paw over her muzzle and clenched her eyes tightly, she braced herself as she asked the question, "W-w-who…?"

Ali recited this list over and over again, he made sure he remembered who gave their lives to protect the station and those aboard. He hesitated to tell her. Another glance at the vulpes. She was tensed up and defensive with ears laid back. She looked like she was prepared to be beaten by him. He swallowed…

The names poured forth, and he finished the list with the warden's name, Jack Sinclair. Trixi was completely broken and collapsed to the floor. Her voice was muffled as she buried her snout in her sleeve for several minutes until the fox was completely exhausted. Her chest ached. Ali knelt and helped her up with a hug. Her arms wrapped tightly to his coveralls. Tears moistened his uniform.

Ali pulled away and rubbed his sore knees. He sighed and held the button on the belt and spoke into the communication device, "Thank you, I'll let her know." Trixi rubbed her eyes as he explained, "I just got word that the captain has recovered from surgery. He said he wanted to see you." Trixi's eyes were swollen and bloodshot, she wiped her nose on her sleeves and left for medical immediately.

Her mind raced, thinking about the good times she had with Jack and the others. Serving years alongside them on the station, they were her family. She would play pranks on them, and they would come to the bar and have a laugh with her about it. It was her job, and she loved them. If they were feeling particularly down a day, she would sneak them extra rations of alcohol and they would share their stories with her. She blew her nose on her other sleeve as she entered the medical department.

"Disgusting." The receptionist exclaimed.

Trixi ignored her and walked to the door to the main hallway entrance and waited for it to be opened for her. The woman let out a huff, "I told you, you aren't allowed inside." Trixi closed her eyes, to hide that she had been crying and lifted her muzzle to the receptionist. The receptionist stood up and approached the fox, "You better get out of here before-" The door hissed open and the CMO stepped aside to let Trixi in.

The CMO followed Trixi closely as she traveled through the halls. The older woman opened the patient's door and then left to go do business elsewhere. Trixi brushed the fur on her face and stepped into the sparsely furnished sterile room.

"What happened to you? You look like you were just beaten by a monkey and lost." The captain's voice bellowed out. His skin was pale under the paper hospital gown, there was also an IV attached to the back of his hand. The head of the bed was tilted up so that the captain could get a good look at who was coming into the room. Thin hospital bedding was neatly folded over around his waist.

Trixi smelled the chemicals in the air. Her nose twitched and a weak smile spread on her muzzle, "Sorry sir. I must look a mess. I don't have any of my make-up on and I don't even have a clown uniform anymore." She brushed her fur some more to make sure it wasn't sticking out in places.

The boisterous captain smiled brightly, "Nonsense, you helped save the station! You should be proud of yourself. You, the security team, and everyone else that helped. The blasted lot just sat around terrified like cowards. Bah!" His arm flailed at his remark.

This piqued Trixi's interest, she was too stricken with grief to ask the HoP. She rushed to the side of his bed, "You know what happened?"

The captain brushed his beard and repeated, "Know what happened? Of course, I know! I was reviewing all the security footage from the whole nasty affair." He pointed to a tablet on a nearby table. "I had to submit the information to those worthless paper pushers in central command, added a lot of profanity to my report after they denied my previous requests." He grabbed her shoulder, a bright smile on his face, and shook her a bit, "You were a quick-thinking hotshot. Richard should have handed you a real gun!"

Trixi backed up shocked by the compliment, she remembered the man that wanted to take her alive, "Right, I remember that. What happened after? All I remember is the… door… slam…" She pressed her temples again trying to forget that horrible scene.

"Oh?" The round man was puzzled by the reaction. It struck him a second later and his smile faded. "This was your first attack; I'm sorry… I should have been a little more respectful." He sighed and picked up the tablet, the light flickered on his aged face. "I'm used to be around people that have been in the company a long time. They are completely desensitized to these things."

Trixi frowned at the reality. She squeaked as she asked him another question that has been bothering her, "Does it get better? I have been going through a lot with what happened. I've been losing sleep."

The captain sighed and pushed the button on the tablet. His beard looked greyer than normal, "A little, just have to take it one day at a time. Not many people retire from this career. We usually work until someone, or something takes us away from our job." Trixi nodded, she was reminded of that same lesson when she trained to become a clown. Her very job was to distract people from the cruelty of space. She rubbed her eyes again. He handed her the tablet, "You asked about what happened, this is what the A.I. picked up. You did quite well for your first time."

The tablet was paused on a video of the recorded events the A.I. took. The camera focused on the invader and Richard having a standoff. With a push of the screen, she watched the events unfold, confused at where she fit in the situation until a distant figure popped out of a wall vent. With bated breath she watched as the A.I. panned to her entering the scene, laser rifle ready. A strange alien feeling took her as she watched herself kill the intruder with a well-placed shot. "Why don't I remember any of this?"

The captain stared at her, his voice rough, "It's not over."

She continued the footage. There was a happy little dance she made over the corpse. The curious fox furrowed her brows as she watched the gestures Richard made. Blood poured from his mask as he flailed. Her breath was taken away as she watched herself get scooped up and tucked inside his trench coat. There was a flash, then the screen went black. Trixi stopped the video and slowly looked up at the captain.

He gently took the pad away from her, "All nuclear operatives have syndicate bombs injected into them, they detonate when they die... Nutjob mercs."

Sparks flooded her vision, she felt like she was about to blackout, "Richard tried to warn me. But I didn’t listen."

The captain let out his warm laugh, which caused the bed to shake, "The man injected himself with space marine battle stimulates after he got shot in the mouth, the robust motherfucker then went on to crack a skull and disable the nuke saving everyone. Giving clear Instructions was something he couldn't do."

The joy the large man got from recanting the tale spread to her. She pulled up a chair next to the captain to listen to him talk about the rest of the battle.

"I am half tempted to release the footage so that everyone sees how hard security and you worked to keep this station from falling to pieces. The lizardmen fought as one, they blasted through the glass just to keep the A.I. from being blown to smithereens from the outside. And when those crazy motherfuckers managed to cut a hole into the hull, yours truly fried them into space dust."

The captain's laughter made her feel a little better. She also saw that color returned to his skin as he swayed around emoting as he described the gun battle.

"You should have seen it. Richard had his units lined up behind the emergency blast shields. The A.I. was monitoring the scene outside. The nukies didn't even stand a chance. The enemies got all nice and cozy trying to set up C4 on the A.I.'s wing. Then BAM! The A.I. opened the blast shields overlooking the wing and the firing squad cut them to ribbons through the glass." He laughed harder, "A survivor tried to shoot back, but they were using ballistic weapons. Didn't even make it through the first layer of reinforced glass before his corpse vanished into the darkness."

Trixi joined in the laughter, "How many were there total that attacked?"

"Oh, there had to be twenty in total. Most of them died swarming the A.I.'s wing trying to cut out our eyes to the rest of the station. Richard and I have been through a few of these events, we know what they're after. Shame the ol' ticker couldn't take the excitement and I had to be rushed to the hospital."

Trixi patted his hand with her paw with a smile on her face, "I'm sure your heart just wanted to give the enemies a fighting chance. Twenty against you and our security, that's just not fair." The words landed with their intended effect and the captain beamed. His cheeks flushed with his normal rosy color.

She stayed with him for a few hours as he waved his arms about the fight. She nodded along and gasped where appropriate, a perfect audience member. Her position after all is to spread happiness, and the captain loved telling his stories.

"After you and Richard were taken out of the fight Jack had to take charge. Atmospherics had a massive hole in it. He safely evacuated the crew before they were exposed to a vacuum. Then they stood facing each other, three hard suited terrorists vs him." The captain paused for a second to look through the tablet again. "They had no more ammunition; they wasted it shooting through the hull trying to get at the technician's fixing the cuts they were making. Not the brightest fucking bulbs, but what do you expect from people who munch crayons."

His voice became more stoic holding his own emotions in check, "So, Jack took out one without a problem, 3 shots through the eyes with his laser pistol. However, the uncaring bastards grabbed the body and chucked it at the oxygen pumps for the station. If it had blown up, it would have killed half the station through asphyxiation." He stared down at the vulpes and frowned, "…Then Jack jumped out after them. He grabbed the body and charged the two other men. Killing all of them in the blast."

The orange fluffy tail drooped around the chair. Renewed tears broke through as she started to cry. The captain pressed his hand to her paw. "Please don't. Security's job is to protect everyone no matter the cost. He would be happy knowing that you and many others are alive." Trixi tried to stay positive, but her vision was blurry. Then the old captain lifted her muzzle with a gentle finger, "He wouldn't want to see you cry. Richard wouldn't want to see that either, they worked hard to keep this station safe and everyone inside alive. They succeeded, so celebrate their victory, for Jack. The numbers were stacked against us, and they still pulled through."

Trixi dried her eyes, "Thank you, sir. I will." She smiled, then a yawn escaped the vulpes muzzle. The captain was quite exhausted himself and gave a sympathetic yawn in return. She stood up from the chair and said her goodbyes with a hug.

He whispered, "I'll be out of here in no time, the new heart is tickin' better than ever, like a whole new man." His hand ruffled the top of her head and she left him so that he may rest.

___________

Trixi took a detour and visited the chaplain. The funeral services have already been performed and the remains have been sent to relatives. She wasn't a very religious woman, but she wanted to honor their memories. The captain's words sank in deep as she sat silently on the pew. The religious room was decorated with every religious iconography that humans have. The large 50-person room made the vixen feel even smaller.

The chaplain sat with her holding his thick bible, his head bowed in silence. They both knew it was more for her to grief than the ceremony.

Trixi gave a soft smile, she pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her eyes, "Thank you for allowing me, father. I know I don't spend a lot of time here."

"It's always a treat to have aliens in the house of God. He did build the cosmos. Room for everyone."

Another thing that not only confused Trixi but every non-human. The vast variations of religions in human culture. Seemed to be a new religion every decade, or changes to a previously established religion. She gave up trying to understand it. Just another one of those weird human things. She hugged and thanked the chaplain, then left for the bar to get a glass of water to replace what she lost in her tears.

Trixi's orange fluffy tail swayed over a barstool, she lapped at a cool glass of water, digesting the scene from the tablet she viewed and the stories the captain told. Something ate at her, wondering why she couldn't remember any of it. She wasn't hit on the head or battered against steel. A creeping thought entered her mind that it may be her fault Richard ended up in stasis while she was rescued from certain death.

The thought faded to the back of her mind as Bakes wandered over and refreshed her glass, "How are you doing? Your eyesss have been bloodshot for a while." Trixi looked up, eyes half-lidded. The lizard suggested, "I have sssome sssleep medication that should help if you would like sssome."

A small pill was placed on the counter. Trixi pushed it away, "I'll be fine. I'll get past this." Bakes sighed with a heavy hiss. She understood her friend's attempt to help, but something deeper was wrong. "How is the rest of the crew, they seem to be more mellow than their usual rowdy selves."

The bartender pressed both hands on the counter and sagged his weight down, "Everyone wasss traumatized. This ssstation, inssside the human's inner sssphere. They want nothing to do with the political climate of corporate warfare. Many of them have never ssseen combat or even heard a gunshot. They hail from planetsss that banned weaponry."

Guilt spread across her face. She believed she was the only one the battle affected. A glance around the room revealed the usual faces, just gaunter than their usual drunken selves. The lizard looked at her realizing he said something to make her feel worse, "Hold on. Let me get you something." He vanished to the back before she even acknowledged he left.

When he returned, he brought a small glass of korta nectar with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, there were several blueberries on top. Trixi's eyes lit up, "This looks so good." She sniffed the concoction, the flavors wafted over her like a river. "It smells amazing as well." Her nose was practically touching the vanilla scoop before she flicked her tongue out to eat a blueberry. The taste melted into her mouth. "This is too much… How long have you had these ingredients?"

Bakes admitted with a smug smile on his face, "I wasss going to give it to you on your birthday, but I think you need it now more than ever."

She savored the treat, lapping up the handmade vanilla ice cream, she could even taste a bit of the husk of the vanilla bean he used. The best part was the blueberries and the nutty flavor of the nectar combined with a nut berry juice that mixed with the cream to a delicious concoction that no species would hate.

A bright smile spread on her muzzle. "Thank you so much. I haven't had anything this good… ever."

The lizard blushed with embarrassment, his scales turned a deeper shade of blue, "it'sss nothing little Trixi. You sssaved our livesss, it wasss the leassst I could do." The lizard stepped to the side and to another patron who asked him for a drink. Trixi watched the glass, the remaining ice cream melting into the juice. Drops of condensation slid down the side. She should be proud of herself, but there was something broken inside. A feeling she couldn't grasp. Her concentration was broken when the saloon door slammed open.

Two women were arguing with each other. "Please stop. We need to get some sleep." One nurse said to the other.

The other woman with wavy blond hair yelled out as she stomped toward the bar, "No, I'm getting a drink!"

They seemed as exhausted as the rest of the crew. The two of them sat a few seats away from Trixi. "My friend and I would like a beer please, we had a long day. So keep them coming so I don't have to talk to you lizard." Trixi sighed watching Bakes fill two glasses for the young women.

There was a long silence as they drank until a technician walked up and asked the two women a question. "Hello, I wanted to know how William is doing? No one has contact-" This was a huge mistake. The blond woman threw the glass at his head.

"I'm sick of the constant questions! We don't have to answer any of your damn questions! We have been slaving away to help them out! It takes forever to grow new limbs and organs; I had my arms elbow-deep in protein solution because the feeder got clogged again!"

The man stepped back apologetically. "S-sorry."

Trixi felt both sides had a point, everyone had been working nonstop after the attack. One patching up people the other patching up the station. She found herself not able to step in and interfere as she normally would have. Her glass of nectar crème called out to her, and she lapped the rest of it up while the nurses and techs argued some more in the background. Bakes sidestepped the conversation as well and replaced the glass the woman threw.

The other woman stood up ignoring her friend and stepped toward Trixi. "I saw the captain's data tablet with the security footage." The vulpes' ears perked up and then she swiveled to face the young woman. "You fought them next to the HoS, you probably feel pretty good about winning." There was a faint smile on the lady's face as she congratulated Trixi.

Trixi deflated sitting away from the empty glass, "I don't feel great. I feel miserable. I can't sleep. Barely eating and my fur is becoming brittle, I don't know what's wrong with me." She pressed her forehead to the countertop.

Bakes approached the two of them, "What happened over here?" Concern was in his voice, thinking that the woman harassed Trixi.

"I was just talking to her about the attack and how great she was."

Bakes stepped aside relieved.

Trixi looked up at the nurse, her eyes opened with surprise, "You're the nurse from the stasis chambers!" The brunette acknowledged the statement with a nod. Trixi apologized for her attitude, "I'm sorry, I haven't been feeling well, I couldn't recognize your voice. I-" She stopped herself from asking the same question, she didn't want to start an argument like the engineer.

The stool next to the fox was taken by the nurse, she shifted elegantly to face the vixen. Pain shot across the human's face. She slipped off her shoes and rotated her ankles off the floor, "He's well. The surgeons are about to finish installing his new jaw and teeth. The bionics have been installed. Just need to do preliminary tests to calibrate them." She sipped on the new mug that was placed on the table. Bakes and Trixi relaxed a little after hearing the news.

Bakes flicked his tongue and exhaled deeply, "I am grateful for your hard work. I wish there wasss sssomething more I could do." He poured another beer for the young woman who wasn't finished with her first one. She declined to take it. Bakes pulled the glass back but it was stolen by the other woman who took the seat on the other side of Trixi.

"I'll take that please and thank you."

The kind nurse smiled and tried to cheer Trixi up. "You did a lot more than you think, the captain talked everyone's ears off every time one of us was near him. However, I know the captain sometimes embellishes stories, I wanted to see it for myself. So, I watched everything one night." The woman paused to recall, "We were a minute from death before he saved us. Then I saw how he risked his life for you. I could tell how much the HoS cared for you, and seeing your reaction when you looked at him, you care for him too."

The other woman laughed. "Talk anymore about that and the foxkin's fur will burst into flames."

Trixi touched her cheek and it felt like it was on fire. Being exposed like this was unusual for the poor fox. No make-up to hide under, just her orange and steely white fur. Bakes hissed out a snicker himself and refreshed her a glass of water. She happily lapped it up to distract herself.

The two women started to talk loudly over her head. Their conversation drifted from topic to topic that it made the vulpes' head spin. She smiled at Bakes who waited patiently on them and the occasional patron that would ask for a drink. He offered her the pill again and she decided that it might be nice, so she drank it.

Trixi felt the pill taking effect. Her head bobbed as she tried to stay awake. She waved goodbye to her friends and went off to have at least one night of nightmareless sleep.

___________

After a night of rest, she felt a little better. Richard was going to be awakened in medical and she wanted things to be perfect. After showing and brushing her fur coat she made another attempt at giving her sister a call. No one picked up. They were still very busy with the move. She sighed and played around with her blue space rings. A simple twist of the ring around her upper arm pulled away from her body. She held her arm like a sword and used it to dust the high points of her small room. Quite handy.

After cleaning she stared at her vanity mirror. Make-up kits untouched for a week. She thought about getting dressed up for work but her new outfit was still on order. A sad exhale escaped her snout, the station needed some laughs.

Dressing her lithe body in light blue civilian coveralls was suitable enough. She cupped her flat chest missing her prop bra that mimicked her bike horn. A unique gimmick she enjoyed deploying that caused Richard to blush furiously. The door hissed open, and she was ready to wander the station. Little claws tapped the metal with each step. She needed to get back on the scene to feel like her usual self.

She knocked on the mime's door as she passed by. He too has been working nonstop after the attack. A felinid exited the room and the mime stepped out wiping his brow of invisible sweat. Trixi waved at the mime with a half-smile. Jacques frowned and spoke silent words to the poor thing.

Trixi understood, the mime was booked solid from all the patients. She nodded and continued heading down the hall, but not before the mime picked her up and gave her a big hug to help her feel better. Trixi hugged him back. The smell of expensive perfume hit her and made her eyes water.

The repairs to the station have been steady, 90% of the station was opened. No more glass or red emergency doors. Unfortunately, visions still plagued her. Every time she stepped under an emergency door her nostrils flared with an unpleasant copper scent. The fleeting feeling caused her fur to puff up.

She circled the station a few times, looking for something to get her mojo back. Her first stop was to cargo to check to see if her proper uniform arrived. Inside the cargo department, the men were all sitting on boxes and steel crates smoking cigarettes and marijuana. The smell overwhelmed the large warehouse space.

Doug the quartermaster conversed with two lizardman cargo techs while smoking a blunt himself. Their grey coveralls and beige vests had pockets filled with more cigarettes and marijuana. Doug saw the little orange fox enter the area, "Hello Trixi! How are you doing?" The whites of his eyes were completely pink.

She shily waved back as the room turned toward her. The feeling of being stared at without her makeup in the large environment caused stage fright, an unrehearsed play where she was forced out naked. She crossed her arms, making herself seem as small as possible, and approached the quartermaster, "Hi, I just wanted to know if my package arrived…"

Doug shook his head, "Sorry man, it's delayed. Gonna be here for another week at least." He shrugged and blew out smoke up and away from the small woman. Trixi deflated and her arms dropped to her side. The man knelt and whispered, "I had one of my men dig through the refuse though. I think he may have found something for ya." Pointed ears peaked at the notion.

"W-what did he find?" A frantic look took hold as she scanned the men seeing if any of them were holding something. She thought the hat had been destroyed with her old uniform. If she managed to get that back it would be perfect for when she visits Richard today. The quartermaster smiled and opened a crate that was leaning against the wall.

A pile of shiny baubles and other burned things was stuffed inside the metal container. Fire damage was evident and overpowered the smell of nicotine and THC. "Now, most of what was tossed was unrecognizable, but we searched for loot that might be valued. Odds and ends. However, I heard a certain HoS has his eyes set on a little orange critter, so I thought I'd secretly pass something to you for him."

Trixi didn't hear the rest of what he said after he said, 'Richard had his eyes for her'. Her fur felt like it was on fire from embarrassment. She cupped her muzzle and wanted to bury her head away. Doug chuckled at the sight, "I didn't know your fur could turn that red." Trixi huffed and turned her nose up at the man. Doug laughed some more and then pulled out a silver handle. Trixi opened one eye and tilted her head curiously at what he revealed.

"I'm not allowed to have this, one of the nukies left it on the conveyor belt to disposals." He snapped his fingers and two men run off to blow smoke at the A.I.s cameras at the side of the room. Once the wires were cut, they gave a thumbs up. "Heh, I trained them to do that so we could get some more secret stuff." He pushed the button on the handle and the laser sword hissed open. Red light eerily reflected off his person. The power was cut off, the blade retreated to the handle.

"The HoS has been dyin' for one of these, and I owe him a favor. The rest were destroyed when the nukies 'sploded. Thought I'd misplace it to the clown, who would slip it into his hand. I think this would make things even-steven." Trixi was handed the silver gadget. She nearly dropped it when the quartermaster released his grip from the unexpected weight of the device. "Woah, careful their bud. I don't want anyone to find out about this, the proper procedure for this illegal good is to destroy it. That'd be a waste."

She quickly pocketed the hilt and smiled. "Did you find any more belongings? Like my old clown suit? The nurses tossed it into the garbage." Doug looked confused, well… more confused. He shrugged and stepped to the side of the locker giving her free reign to look for herself.

She searched but found nothing. She exited the slight tire fire-smelling locker and sighed. "Well thank you anyway."

Doug scratched his head for a second, "What's so special about the clothes anyway? You're getting a new pair and a free vacation."

Trixi frowned while staring up at the quartermaster, "It's not the clothes I'm worried about, Richard lost his hat, I wanted to return it to him when I visited him in medical. Though I'm sure it got ground up into dust by now." The defeated fox sagged her shoulders.

Doug nodded along and then snapped his fingers, "Yo Rikki! Help this little lady out okay! I want to see if you can help her find her old clown suit!" Rikki sprung up and ran toward the quartermaster and saluted. The man had to of been 18 years old at most.

"Sir, yes sir."

He proceeded out the back door and opened the lock with his PDA. He waited patiently beside the dark opening. Doug pointed at him with two fingers "Just follow him and he will dig for you." Trixi exited the room into the darkness. The shut behind her and she was swallowed by the void.

The only light source was from the stars outside of the reinforced glass. It illuminated the catwalk they stepped on and thin glass panels overlooked the single-story drop. Trixi's eyes adjusted quite well to the darkness her slitted pupils dilating to soak in the light. The cargo tech slipped on a pair of night-vision goggles and donned a pair of steel boots and sturdy thick gloves.

His young voice echoed in the room, "So I'm going to go down there, you just make sure no one activates the switch over there, don’t wanna get sucked into the crusher." Trixi never met Rikki, which made sense because he wasn't old enough to drink. Questions have arisen in her mind about the boy, first one was how he faired from the action that happened. But before she could even ask him, he descended a ladder down to the refuse.

"Do you want me to help?!"

The voice bellowed back up, "No! you will cut yourself on this sharp stuff!" He expertly climbed the trash pile and explained, "I've been doing this for years, before I even started working here." The thoughts of a young boy climbing piles of trash worried the vulpes. He should be in school or learning something productive, not climbing twisted shrapnel and broken pipes.

The spry young man jumped over a broken floor tile, he dug through and picked up a small indiscernible fragment before descending the little hill, "So, what day did they toss your belongings, it will help me locate your stuff!" Her eyes danced over the massive pile, the top of it had nearly reached the catwalk. There were also several conveyor belts on the far end that led to vicious-looking spiked rollers.

She made her best guess, "The day we got attacked! Before they started reconstruction!"

"That was some messed up stuff, wasn't it?! Don't tell the quartermaster this, but I swear he shat himself when the first bomb exploded in arrivals!" He traversed over more scrap and fragmented glass like an expert ice skater doing their routine. Trixi shook her head at his strange positive attitude.

"Are you used to fighting?!" She sat on the edge of the ladder looking down at the young man work. Her paws dangled back and forth over the side.

The boy peaked up at her his eyes glowing through the night vision goggles, "Yeah! I was born on Erewhon, outer rim world! Used to be a farming world around 70 years ago until a war tore everything to shreds! A lot of pirates and criminals pass through these days! Father always said that his grandfather had a hoard of sheep muchin' on grass! Now our land is a massive scrapyard, selling broken weapons and fixing ships!"

Trixi felt sorry for the kid, though the history lesson was quite welcoming. Compared to the humans the vulpes' time in space was a mere blink of an eye, only 20 years of having FTL technology, while the humans were already killing themselves and inciting rebellions. Richard, Bakes, and Jack all had their histories they shared from across the universe. So many varied worlds that would take years to reach even with FTL.

"I think I found something!" He pulled out a lumpy orange medical bag. "Let me open it up first, don't want to pull out dirty needles!" He grabbed a broken piece of glass and tore the bag open. He reached inside and pulled out a large shoe. "This yours?!"

She squinted. The red leather had been burned and stripped of all color, "I think that is mine!" The kid cheered at himself for finding it so fast and scaled the mountain of trash back to the ladder.

Trixi grabbed the bag so he could get up to the catwalk, "Thank you for helping me find my belongings."

Rikki took the bag back, "Sorry miss. I don't want you to get stabbed by a needle or somethin'." The orange plastic bag was gently stretched open. He stuck his glove inside slowly started to pull belongings out. First her burnt shoe. "Do you want to keep this?" She shook her head, and the boy tossed the shoe over the catwalk, it squeaked as it collided with the trash heap.

The boy pulled another shoe, this one wasn't as burned. The shoe joined the other one as it landed with a squeak. As he reached into the bag again there was a honk of a bike horn. Honk! Trixi giggled as Rikki pulled out the prop bra. The boy's face was flushed with embarrassment. One of the boobs has been completely dented in from the fight. She laughed more at his reaction then said, "You can go ahead and toss that too. No one wants to walk around with a floppy boob."

The bra joined the trash heap with a honk. Honk! Grabbing another article of clothing he pulled out a polka-dotted shirt. Trixi inspected it to see if it was still useful. There were several tears across the chest and there were black marks from a fire on the back. A deep sigh escaped her as it was tossed into the trash heap.

"You must have been in some battle to end up with all that damage. How'd you even survive?"

"I was saved by the Ric… I mean the head of security." The boy nodded his head reaching in again. He pulled out her red baggy pants. More black burns were marring the costume, Trixi quickly grabbed it, "I hope it's still inside." She shuffled through the pockets, a screwdriver and a banana peel fell out of the pocket and a handful of confetti fell out of the other pocket. She checked again and again. she collapsed to her knees on the catwalk. "It's not here."

The young man dug into the bag again, "Is this what you're looking for?" He pulled out the security beret.

Trixi bounced up to her feet again and hugged him, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" her tail flicked restlessly. Rikki had no idea what to do, he held up the bag up and away in case it had sharp objects inside it. She released him and held the hat close to her snout sniffing it, her tail flicked and vibrated. There were trace amounts of Richard's scent, but it had mostly been replaced with her own.

Rikki smiled happy to see his work is appreciated and reached into the bag, there was only one item left and when he pulled it out his face went crimson. He turned away holding the object away trying to be as considerate as possible. It was a pair of frilly pink panties. Trixi's face also shot red with embarrassment. She took the item out of his hand and shoved it into her pocket. He apologized, "Sorry about that Ma'am"

Trixi covered her face, "It's not your fault." There was a long silence as he took the gear off. She held the hat tightly in her claws, "Thank you for this. It belongs to the HoS, and I wanted to bring it back to him. I hope to see him today."

"It was no big deal, the quartermaster has me dig through the trash once a week. Plus helping a woman out is always a pleasure." Trixi curtsied graciously. "Well, I hope the HoS fully recovers. He did save all our lives from what I gather."

Trixi closed her eyes tightly from the pain of the adjustment. Doug walked over and patted Rikki on the back, "Did you find it?" Trixi smiled and held up the hat. "Ah, the HoS' hat. Glad you got it back. Good job Rikki!"

"Thank you so much, Rikki." She gave him another hug which caused him to flush red again. A few of the cargo techs started to laugh at the scene. She broke off and furrowed her brows at the teasing men, they casually returned to their work silently.

Doug laughed, "Just remember to give the HoS the thing." Trixi nodded patting the pocket the silver hilt was held. "And make sure you give him a very good time on his off time, he deserves everything for keeping us from being vaporized into space dust." Trixi blushed through her fur and the cargo techs she leered at started to snicker quietly. Doug yelled out at them, "Move that freight!"

Hat in hand she left the cargo bay. She exhaled gratefully to have it back in her possession. On her way to the medbay, Roma stopped her. The man looked even more exhausted. He stank like a space hobo that ran a marathon. She covered her nose. He spoke quickly to her, "I need your help, Trixi."

Trixi backed up a step and nodded. The frantic man explained, "HoS is completely out of it, he was told to stay in medical but he refuses to be placed there, he's supposed to heal so he could get his surgery done and now the doctors are afraid he'll injure himself permanently, I am in charge of taking care of him by the captain's orders, but I need to look after Welds and the rest of the injured crew. Can you please look after the boss?"

He stopped talking only to take in a heavy breath of air. Trixi held up a hand, a trick Richard did to everyone, "Please calm down. First, you need sleep. You look worse than me after I woke up from an explosion." She covered her nose again, "And you need to shower. Also, what did you say about Richard?"

Roma gave her another step of distance, "Sorry, he's in the chapel. Can you please talk sense to him? He needs to be in bed resting."

Her eyes widened, "I'll be right there, promise me you will also get some rest as well."

Roma nodded and slumped away down the hall toward security. Trixi sprinted toward the chapel. Heart pounded in her chest as she turned the corners. The double doors to the church hissed open and she charged forward.

Richard was sitting in a wheelchair with his head in his hands, the chaplain stood next to him stoically. Trixi called out, "Richard!"

He turned to face the orange ball of joy as she barreled down the aisle. She skidded to a stop as he wheeled himself to face her. There was a scar running down the middle of his chin, his eyes were swollen holding back tears. His right ear was torn with scar tissue running down the side of his face, there was a silver glimmer inside the ear canal. Bandages trussed up from his fingertips to his wrists. He spoke up with a gritty pain that would be comparable to chain-smoking pure black tar cigars, "I'd stand up, but I can't move."

Trixi threw herself at him and clung round his neck tightly. Tears streamed down the side of her muzzle, "I'm so happy you're alive…" Richard returned the hug, he wrapped it around her slim figure and stroked her back softly. She inhaled and rubbed the side of her muzzle into his neck.

The chaplain smiled at the sweet scene and left them so they could catch up.

They embraced for a minute before Richard set her down. "I need to get back to work, the station's a mess." Trixi examined him and finally noticed the wheelchair.

Her maw was agape, "Are you okay?!"

"The explosion damaged my spine. A specialist surgeon is supposed to come here to install cybernetic equipment. So, I am a house plant until that time comes…" The man looked defeated, his face was pale from the drugs and surgery. Trixi put a paw on his lap.

"You need to rest. Please, let me take care of you… You mean everything to me." The vixen's tears threatened to drown him.

His throat bobbed as he swallowed. He wiped his eyes, "Can you take me to my quarters… I'm going to lie down."

Chapter Text

Trixi wheeled Richard to his quarters where so he could bathe before sleep. She waited patiently outside the bathroom door. The male nurses that were put in charge of cleaning had done a poor job. "Let me clean you up. I don't want you to get hurt anymore." Her voice choked back tears through the door, one would think he's going to drop dead from a little water.

Her voice echoed in the steel private washroom. Just big enough for a tub, toilet, and sink with the little floor space occupied by the wheelchair. Richard scrubbed himself with the luffa, water halfway above his paralyzed lower half. He hadn't had a real bath in ages, it would be relaxing if he could feel the water on his legs instead of the icy cold sensation that tingled up his spine. Fumbling with his unbandaged hands to turn on the showerhead again, warm rain trickled out. Handling the sponge was painful, white blisters marred his fingertips to his elbows. Clashing energy swords release extreme heat to the area, a painful reminder of forgotten lessons.

"No, I'm not geriatric, I can do this myself." He wrapped his hand around his own throat. Like gargling gravel, it scratched from the surgery that reattach his new jaw. Water flowed over his back and arms. It stung across his blistering scars. By the time he finished there was a slight pink tint to the water in the tub. He hoisted himself out onto the wheelchair. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, a weakened old man stared back at him. He clenched his fists and righted himself on the chair mumbling to himself, "Just ten days…"

Trixi pressed her paw to the door upon hearing the water slosh as he got out. She protested, "Please. If you hurt yourself… I won't know what to do." What Roma had told her sent panic through her heart every time Richard moved. If he strained his injuries any further the future surgery would be ineffective.

Gentle dabs of the towel stung every inch of his arms, once dried he applied the burn automender, an automatic chem dispenser that rolled across his burns applying silver sulfadiazine. He moved on to the painstaking process of rewrapping his arms. Slow and steady he worked through the pain, while continuing to ignore the vixen that cared for him. Shocks of pain streaked across his face as he clenched his jaw swallowing his feelings. He needed to do this for himself.

"I'm coming in. I can hear you bandaging yourself. You can't do this alone." Her voice commanded as she pressed the button to open the bathroom. Hot steam hit her nose. She marched in on Richard trying to bandage his other arm. He was dripping wet, naked, and had an angry scowl on his scarred face. Frustrated she glared into his eyes. The scar on his lower jaw drew her attention, it looked irritated and swollen. "I placed your anti-biotics on the counter in your room. You need to take them before bed and when you wake up." Her paws held his arm up carefully, she slowly wrapped the gauze in circles around from his elbows to his fingertips.

"I know how to read instructions. I'm not suicidal." Despite his stubbornness, he let her wrap his arm up. He gazed into her crystal blue eyes, the little mascara she had put on stained her cheeks and dried on her orange fur. He had read reports of the aftermath and learned that four days had taken place after they won. He thought about how hard everything must have been for the little vulpes, his scowl softened to sorrow. He took a deep breath in, "Thank you, Trixi. I'll tell the HoP to give you security access so you can help out around here, God knows we need it."

Trixi smiled weakly as she finished bandaging his arm. The job she completed was smoother and straighter than the one Richard did himself. She examined the rest of his wounds, worried about the blisters that marked his body. Grabbing a towel, she dried him off so that the other burns may be dressed as well. The sight of his back caused her to wince, over half his back was scar tissue, burns outlined the edges of replacement synthetic skin. As she continued her examination, she patted him dry, "Does it still hurt?"

He relaxed at her touch; the delicate claws helped mitigate the pain he felt from the cheap abrasive towel. She moved onto his greying hair and wiped most of the water from the back of his head. Her paw slid from the towel to touch the side of his scarred cheek. She traced her finger on the rough lines that lead to his mangled ear. Richard leaned into it; her pads felt wonderful on his face. "The towel is a little rough on the burns. The pain killers will help."

She nodded along moving to his front, she placed the towel on his lap to give him some decency, "I'm going to bandage up some of the other spots, okay?" He had no defense against her help at this point. Her black lips curled to a half-smile, "Good, you can dry your… other areas while I get the bandages."

It hit him quickly that she wasn't acting the same. The beaming joy in her voice had been strangled. Her paws gently caressed his back pressing down adhesive bandages to the burns on his back. He took a stab in the dark to root out the problem, "It's not your fault."

The caressing stopped. She pulled her paw away for a moment then resumed. "You did everything right, I messed up, I should have remembered that damn sidearm. If I didn't-" He gagged on his own gravely words.

Her arms wrapped around his broad shoulders and held tightly without touching his burns. His bandaged hand reached for her paw and petted the orange fur softly. He blinked several times to tell himself not to lose to emotions, he already cried enough in the chapel.

The vulpes rested her pointed chin near his ear, "You did everything right. You won; many lives were saved. Including mine."

"No, I got too cocky. After the drone, I thought we could take out everyone. Even going alone. If you hadn't shown up as a fuzzy angel, I would be dead."

Trixi frowned, not sure how to take what he thought. "I wish I remembered everything about it. My memory of what happened was just watching the A.I.'s video." She resumed her duty of dressing his wounds, "You saved my life twice, once for the nuke and then the explosion in the corridor." Trixi finished applying the cream to his burns, every touch she made seemed to loosen his muscled back. The pain calmed.

Richard was confused by her answer, he creased his brow and looked back at her. She looked uncomfortable. "If you need to talk about it, I'm here for you. Not like I can walk away from you."

A smile broke across her muzzle as he joked around, "Thank you, just being around you is helping me."

She finished bandaging him up. Her fluffy tail swayed as she walked out to give him privacy. The door slid shut and Richard went through the obnoxious process of putting on sweatpants. One leg at a time he shoved it through the cotton. He returned to his room; she sat on the edge of his bed. Her tail draped to her slim waist. She looked like she belonged there, next to him. Rolling to his bed he pleaded to her, "I can't let you stay here." The fox deflated; her blue eyes looked at him, betrayed.

"What do you mean? I need to be here for you." Her claws grabbed the covers, refusing to move from her spot.

He didn't want to answer her. But her eyes courted it out. "I don't want you to see me like this, I am going to have problems sleeping, and I will need to clean up in the morning…" Her head tilted in confusion. He let out a deep sigh, "I don't know if I can control my bodily functions when I sleep. I don't want you to deal with that or even see it. I want to have a little dignity."

Trixi's pointed ears drooped, "Oh… I'm sorry." Her muzzle frowned as she hopped off his bed. Richard turned his wheelchair to face her and grabbed her arm as she walked by. Her waist was pulled up over his legs and her paws dangled off the floor. The vixen's head rested on his shoulder as they embraced with a hug. Before he set her down, he kissed the tip of her black lips.

The vixen was stunned, when she touched the floor with her claws she nearly fell with weak legs. She wanted to do everything for Richard. Her tongue dipped out over her lips to touch where his lips touched, she wanted to tell him of all the fantasies she had or will have. Have their tongues meet in a passion-locked kiss, undress for him, be there for him and only him. Her mind was flooded with passion.

Richard pulled himself out of the wheelchair to the bed where he awkwardly shuffled the blankets over his body. Trixi rushed over and help shift his legs under the covers, she followed it up by giving him his medication. He whispered out, "I'll let you know when to come over in the morning, I'm sure the HoP will have no problem giving you that duty." His hand reached to touch the side of her fuzzy face, she held it for a moment before sliding away to let him rest.

_____

Nightmares interrupted Richard's sleep. Contorted shadows stabbed at his back; hot coals sear his legs. He woke throughout the night several times with excruciating back pain. Sweat coated his sheets. He forced himself to roll over to get another hour or so of sleep before the pain returned. By the time he had to get up his eyes were blurry and irritated. He cleaned then dressed up in his black coveralls, which took a hundred times longer than usual.

The bandages and medicine had to be applied once again. He grunted at his work of wrapping his wounds. The bandages chaffed his arms with every movement, Trixi was messaged as soon as he was presentable. Within seconds the door to his room hissed open. Trixi wore her light blue coveralls, she also sported a faltering smile which drove him to ask, "What's wrong?"

She tiptoed inside and nuzzled his outstretched hand. "I got my ID updated and tried to sleep. I couldn't help but worry about you. I didn't sleep..." Richard leaned back in the soft fabric of the chair, finding himself unable to help the vixen. Trixi helped him through the exit.

"Can you take me to the security breakroom, please? I need to speak to Roma and the others, I already messaged them saying to meet me in the morning, and I am already very late." She continued her path pushing him through the hallway.

"I already saw them when I entered the department earlier this morning, their moods seem to brighten when I walked in. Roma looks and smells a lot better now; I heard them talk about medical in the breakroom, they are finally starting to help the non-humans." Hope surged through both of them as she relayed that information.

"Good. That keeps me from having to come over there and shoving my useless legs up their asses. After the meeting I'll need to fill out some paperwork, it will be good to give an official ranking to Roma. He deserves it." Trixi wheeled through the main hallway of security; the empty holding cells flanked each side. The entire station appeared to have their idle hands occupied with reconstruction to break the rules. Voices bounced off the steel walls as they neared the breakroom. The aroma of warm cheap coffee filled the air.

"There he is, glad to see you back sir!" The men all stood at attention and saluted the disabled head of security. Richard saluted them back, his hand in poor form. He squared his shoulders with pride. They took to their seats at the breakroom tables. Trixi wheeled him to the back of the room, she smiled brightly seeing so many people happy for their boss' return.

There was a lot more room in the breakroom than before the attack. Five people were missing, Richard swallowed that up and smiled for his men. "You all did fantastic work out their gentlemen, every single one of you performed above and beyond against stacked odds. I'd like to thank Roma personally for holding the place down while we recovered. I hope-" Richard pursed his mouth not sure if he should even bring it up. "I hope you enjoy your new promotion to warden; I'll be filling out the paperwork to get you that pay raise." Roma smiled as everyone cheered for him, he was the most senior staff in the security department after all. "Also, there is going to be a huge bump in hazard pay for everyone here. I'll need to get in touch with the captain to make sure that happens." The men started to high-five each other cheering.

Once the cheering died down, he continued, "You all know Trixi here." She gave a smile and a wave. "She is going to be helping me while I recover, so expect her to be in the security department. I already know you won't go harassing her, but if another crewmate does, you take care of them. Got it!" The men agreed with each other. Years of weeding out any pointless hatred toward non-humans made for a pleasant security force. "Go ahead and start your normal patrols like they were before all this mess happened. Help other departments within reason, you don't work for their departments, you work for me. Also, try not to share too much about the hazard pay bonus, I don't want it to be denied because everyone starts crawling to the HoP and captain."

Trixi tilted her head about the hazard pay, putting a pin in it. She would ask Richard later in private. The men slowly dispersed grabbing their helmets and stun batons. Each one thanked their boss for everything and even thanked Trixi for her help with taking care of their boss. Roma approached Richard once everyone left, "Thank you, sir. For everything."

Richard's smile faded and he looked into the young man's eyes, "How is she doing?" Trixi looked on wearing her worry on her fuzzy face.

Roma looked back at the entrance then back at the two of them, "She is stable, though there was a complication… she caught a lung infection. She needs surgery and the CMO finally started to let the non-humans get surgeries from the other doctors, I just hope it's not too late."

Richard gritted his teeth to the point where it hurt his jaw. "Nothing you can do; it is out of your hands." Roma's mood didn't improve by much, but he couldn't blame Richard or the overworked Dr. Manit. Roma quietly left the breakroom.

Trixi stood at attention waiting for her orders while Richard roamed his thoughts. "Go ahead and take me to my office, I have to fill out the paperwork."

"Shouldn't you eat? You haven't eaten all day."

He reached over and grabbed a stale donut from the box and took a bite before it fell to the floor from his light grasp, "There, I ate." Pain shot through his face as he swallowed the bite. She disagreed with a shake of her head and started to push the chair out the breakroom. He grumbled as his body was taken away by the fox.

"Nope, we're going to the lunchroom to get you some real food. I want to make sure you heal properly. You also need to take your medication." She shakes the bottle next to her side, the pills rattled obnoxiously.

Richard grunted, defeated by the vulpes he dared not to upset, "Fine. But please take me back to the security breakroom, I don't want to eat around everyone else." She nodded along, ignoring what he said.

Lunch break had just started for the station. Crewmates started to line up to get their meals from the food court. A bombastic voice cried out from the far end of the hallway.

"Richard! Come join us!"

Eyes turned to the captain sitting at the head of the mess hall. The rotund man in his royal blue uniform smiled invitingly to Richard and Trixi. Trixi returned the gesture and started to push Richard in the direction. The patrons of the dining hall stepped aside to let them through.

The faces Richard focused on were ones filled with pity, eyes tilted away upon seeing the crippled man. Trixi on the other hand saw hesitant faces wanting to speak to Richard, perhaps to thank him for saving everyone.

Martinez and Ali sat at the head table, the captain opting for a more nutritious diet than his usual steak and fries. The chair next to the bearded man was pushed away to make room for the wheelchair, Trixi gently pushed Richard into place. The captain smiled, "How are things going friend, do you need any more assistance?" Richard shook his head 'no' and stared off at the crowd of people that ate peacefully to themselves.

Ali excused himself, "I'll go get you something to eat Richard, do you want anything special?" Richard shrugged. The HoP turned to Trixi, "How about you? Would you like anything specific?" Her pointed ears turned toward her boss.

"Oh, I d-don't know. I'll just have the rabbit stew please." Ali dashed off while the captain chatted with Richard, the topics shifted from hazard pay to the medical department. Richard's voice grew hoarse as the conversation continued. It was evident to everyone that he was exhausted.

Trixi stood by his side waiting for an order, just gazing at him with her caring blue eyes. Until the captain caught Trixi's attention, "You can sit down little missy, this isn't some sort of silver spoon table. We're all working-class here." Her tail flicked around as she took a seat next to Richard. "There you go!" He smiled warmly at the vulpes.

Richard relaxed in the back of his chair, the soft chorus of the rumbling crowd and clattering plates caused him to drift. A plate was placed in front of him the smell of warm soup and grilled cheese. Trixi placed a paw on his shoulder, "Do you want me to bring you back to the breakroom?" He shrugged eyes half-lidded. A bowl was then placed in front of her by the HoP. "Thank you, sir." Her mouth watered at the sight of the food, her stomach grumbled reminding her that she has only eaten warmed donk pockets for days.

Digging in quickly on her bowl, her eyes constantly dashed over her shoulders at Richard. He had the sandwich in his hand, trying to bring it into his mouth. What little food that did make it in looked painful to chew. He swiftly gave up on the sandwich only for the soup spoon to fall to the floor out of his injured fingers. She stopped eating; her tail vibrated pent-up emotions as she watched him give up. "Let me help…" She stood up on the chair to assist, bringing the bowl of soup to his lips.

"Please, I don't need help…"

Martinez chuckled, "Come on, it's cute. What are you afraid of anyway? You bested a nuclear ops team with sheer willpower, you can stand to get waited on till you recover." Richard turned toward the captain rolling his eyes.

"I don't want the crew to see me like this." He raised his arms that were trussed up to his fingers. Trixi lowered the bowl, tail drooping down. Her mood was swallowed by a black hole. She recalled all the instances of him and her around the crew.

Like puzzle pieces falling into place the situation became apparent, she interpreted it as she wasn't supposed to be seen with him. He always focused on how he was perceived by others. Why their meetings were always private or after hours. She could feel the corners of her eyes water. The captain creased his brow looking at both of them.

"No one will say anything to you, Richard, we are all in your debt. No one here will think anything of it, also…" Martinez lifted a finger and pointed to the vulpes. "You should watch what you say or else it might be taken the wrong way." Richard turned to face Trixi; it was clear she took it personally. A deep exhaustive exhale as he tried to correct his action.

Trixi curled up with her knees to her chest, she felt like she didn't belong in public with him. The sight of her like this nearly tore his chest open as much as his back was torn, "It has nothing to do with you… please continue." He reached up and patted her on the head coaxing her out of the ball. She smiled weakly and proceeded to feed him. She cut the grilled cheese and dipped them in the soup, bringing it to his mouth.

"See, nothing wrong with a little help." The captain winked at the security lead who blushed furiously.

Her mood slightly improved after feeding him bites of food. The captain enjoyed watching their relationship blossom. The way he protected her from the explosion brought a tear to his eye. There were a few strange faces among the crew, but the captain gave them the stink eye. All it would take is one word from him and they would get a one-way ticket to the airlock.

After the meal, she returned him to his office. She pushed him to his desk and waited next to him for her next order. Her mind was still flooded with depressing thoughts. Richard felt revitalized after eating warm food and started working on the stack of paperwork. "It wasn't about you." Trixi perked up.

"Then what was the message about?"

This caught him off guard. He tried to remember, but nothing came up in his mind.

She pointed her PDA, "You said you wanted to see me. Was it because you wanted to talk to me about being seen in public?"

Taken aback Richard slammed the stack of papers down, startling the fox. He yelled at her to prevent her from retreating to a ball, "Nothing like that! I don't give a shit what some brain-dead crew thinks of my relationship with you." Trixi's tail swayed to the front where she nervously played with the fur. He paused for a moment then relaxed, "I just don't want to be seen as some old weak useless man."

Trixi stifled some of her laughter, "What?! No one in the station thinks that about you. Is that what the message was about?"

The man shook his head remembering his conversation before the battle, "No, Jack… and me, I wanted to bring up your job and our relationship." The mention of his friend caused him to slump his shoulders. "I was worried about you and your job. You can't do your job if you're in a relationship with me…"

Trixi comforted Richard, her paw on his arm. "What did he say?"

A smirk and a small chuckle escaped his breath. "Fuck the consequences." Trixi snickered and moved her paw to his shoulder, caressing it softly. He leaned back and closed his tired eyes for a moment, relaxing under her touch.

"Why would my job be affected by a relationship? That doesn't make much sense."

"You can't spread joy and have people relax around you if you are in a relationship with a security lead, it is nearly impossible. Everyone will think you are just a snitch who will mark them down for every waste of time they do for the company. They won't see you as a clown but another security officer."

"I do love my job, I made a lot of good friends… But it isn't that important as, well… Remember when you asked why I joined nanotrasen. Why I bother putting up with some of the people here?" Richard rotated his wheelchair to face the vulpes. "I wanted a human husband like my sister. I thought that if I worked around humans, I would find one." Her face turned away blushing; this was the first time she said it out loud to anyone.

"You mentioned your older sister Kalia before, she seems nice. But why? Humans are just as angry and stupid as every other species in the universe."

Trixi hesitated, but upon seeing his genuine curiosity she decided to open up. "Remember my relationship with my father?" Richard nodded and leaned back in his chair to listen to the vixen. "He told me and my sister that humans are evil and going to wipe out all of us. Our world, everything. This was back when we first discovered humans and your various worlds. My older sister and me were kits at the time, we didn't know anything."

A scoff escaped his lungs, "He would've got along with a lot of other people I knew. The lizardmen used to think that about us until they realized how inept we are at picking leaders."

"It was kind of silly looking back on it, but at the time Kalia wanted to be a good little daughter, father wanted us to fight against the humans anyway we could. He mentioned how we should find a male and help combat the humans, so she bedded the first male to show interest in her after juvenile school. Some dog I can't remember the name of."

Richard furrowed his brows in anger, "That's awful… Did this appease your father?"

She shook her head and crossed her arms around her chest, "No. She told me first and ran off to tell our father. He stared right through her, first ignoring her, then cutting her off entirely. Kicking her out to the street to be with her boyfriend." She huffed angrily at the memory. "I begged him to stop as he threw her stuff out. God, it must have been over eight years ago. The worse part about it was the father of the kits ran off as soon as he found out they were triplets. Our species usually have one to two kits, but she had three."

The tale had Richard mortified, his mouth parted in disgust. She continued, "I helped her in every way I could, I worked part-time during my juvenile education and helped watch the kits while she rested in her apartment from her job. One day while I was studying with the babies, Kalia came home with a smile on her face, the first smile I had seen her wear in such a long, long time. She told me how she met someone, a human. I still had some of my father's prejudice, but that melted away when she brought him home. He helped with everything, so tall and strong. He would pick up all three of the kits and tuck them into bed when he got home from his job. I fell in love with how much it turned her life around. I wanted what she had, so I looked for any opportunity to work in human space."

"That's a lot to take in. I hope to meet them someday. They sound like wonderful people."

She beamed and waved her tail around, "So does that mean you are my human?"

A choked laugh filled his room, he cut it off by grabbing his sore throat. Her smile faded as she leaned forward to comfort him. He held her back and swallowed painfully, "Of course. You have been wearing me down with your charm for a long time."

Her heart leaped with joy and her tail swayed excitedly. With a high-pitched voice, she spoke in her gekker tongue as she pressed her snout to his neck, nuzzling it. The wheelchair rolled back when she jumped into a hug. He stroked her back then up to her fluffy head.

"The only reason hesitated was because of my fear of what people might say to you on this station. I worry about you, and I don't want you to be treated poorly because of it."

A giggle shook her body, she curled up and leaned on his chest touching him as she dreamed. "I'm a clown, I already get treated differently, double I'm not human. You are probably the only reason I don't get beaten. From the stories I hear from the crew, I would have been turned into a hat on any other station. Luckily, I had you, and you always cared for the non-humans, and you passed that on to your men. Even if I did get stunned once or twice by security during my duty."

He softly patted her body. The tolls of the day caused his head to bob. She pulled his injured arm away and landed on the floor. She wheeled him to his quarters so he could rest. The door hissed shut after she entered, causing him to awaken. Trixi touched his scarred face, "You were falling asleep, I think you should turn in early today."

He held up his arms, "I need to wash up first and redress my wounds. Mind taking me to the bathroom." Once he entered the bathroom, she quietly left him. The long process of cleaning began and just like the last time the water still stung, he wondered if the medicine was even working.

Richard pulled himself out of the tub. He looked at his scarred arms and asked, "Trixi, can you please help me with my bandages?" She walked in holding up a clean towel and rolls of gauss and bandages. The whole process was much quicker than he managed in the morning. When she was done there was less agony, the bandages weren't loosely holding on his arms chafing. He smiled, "Thank you."

Her tail twitched excitedly at his words. Before she left to give him to get dressed, he kissed her on her muzzle again. A high-frequency word in her tongue escaped her snout as she touched her black lips with her paw. This caused the man to laugh, "What does that mean?"

She paused, "It's just an affection word, it's hard to translate, common has too many specific words."

They parted ways for the night, wishing a good night's rest to each other. However, the rest was plagued with nightmares still. He folded his legs into the fetal position to try and sleep on his side, but his arm would be strangled from the bandage. He resigned to sleep in the wheelchair. The strap that held up his back made minimum contact with the most damaged part of his back. He wrapped his lower half in a blanket before getting a few hours of sleep.

_____

The morning came and Richard chucked his clothing and the blanket into the laundry basket. He gathered a fresh uniform before he started the shower to clean himself again. Hot steam mixed with the cold station air. Bandages were unraveled and tossed to the steel floor. He slipped clumsily into the tub and let the water rinse him off first. He closed his eyes for a moment as the warm rain covered him. There was a scratch at the door, "Can I come in? I want to help." Trixi's sounded exhausted. He turned to face the steel door. She always smiled when she helped.

"You can come in; I am just rinsing right now." He clutched his throat, it seemed to be improving. The door hissed open, and a plume of hot steam escaped the small bathroom. The chill rippled through his upper half. Trixi stepped forward with her arms full of bandages and gauss, setting them next to the automender on the counter.

Her fur stuck up on the back of her neck and the top of her head. She closed the door to not let any more of the heat out. The vulpes was exhausted, her movements were sluggish as she sorted through the belongings, red veins marked the edge of her beautiful eyes. She asked, "How did you sleep?"

Richard took a finger and pulled at one of the bags under his eyes and exposed the red vessels. Drowning monkeys had better sleep than what he experienced. "Terrible, how about you."

A smirk spread on her face, "Too cold and I still have nightmares." She sat in his wheelchair and leaned back stretching her arms up as high as they could reach, letting out a cute moan as she did. Briefly closed her eyes to enjoy the warm air in the bathroom.

Richard pulled his body up and held it steady by the grip of the steel rim. He grabbed the luffa and started to lather it up. He felt her paw touch his shoulder, "Let me take care of that for you, I want to make sure the wounds on your back are cleaned properly." He nodded and handed her the soapy sponge. After dealing with this ailment for two nights, he wanted to make sure his back didn't get worse.

The luffa was set on the edge of the tub, the little fox turned away, her fluffy tail getting sprinkled with some of the warm water. When she was a few steps away, Richard watched on, his heart raced as more of her fur was exposed starting with her shoulders. Hesitantly he said, "You don't need to be naked…" She let out a small bashful giggle.

"I don't want my clothes to get wet silly." She slipped the coveralls down her arms. Her fluffy orange back reflected the light in the room. Countless hours of grooming herself and taking care of her fur paid off. Each follicle shined brightly. She shook her slim hips pushing the light blue uniform down further. Tail dropped as the coveralls passed around it.

She turned her muzzle over her shoulder to look at Richard's crimson face. He was looking up at the water flowing from the ceiling. Her face was blushing as well, she pleaded to the man she loved, "Please look at me…"

His eyes bounced to her body. She swallowed and continued to take off her coveralls. Pushing them down past her knees, she raised her tail in his direction. Pink panties were all that separated her swelling flower and his gaze. Her breath quickened and she started to shake in anticipation. Swallowing she kicked her uniform off her ankle.

Her eyes were closed when she turned to face him. The steam penetrated her fur, she was starting to feel the warm water on her skin. Her vulva started to throb. Her eyes blinked open, and Richard was sitting there watching her, examining her body. A weak smile spread on her blushing face, "L-like i-it?"

Her figure was much smaller than what she showed off in VR, which was to be expected. Feminine curves with a subtle chest hidden behind her steely white fur. The pink panties she wore were partially obscured by the fur around her waist. Body language was completely different too, shaking like a leaf, arms draped at her hips. Helpless and delicate, she stepped forward, tail trembling behind her head. She paused waiting for an answer. He stated what was in his heart, "You look beautiful, like the fuzzy little angel I always thought you would be."

She let out a high-pitched gasp and covered her face with her paws. The white fur on her thighs rubbed together tightly. This was a completely different vixen than the one he trained in VR. She was showing off her avatar like it was nothing, squeezing her honking bra to a crowd. She uncovered her face for a moment and quickly reached down to the pink elastic and pulled them away from her wet privates. Her paws went right to her eyes preventing her from seeing his reaction.

A portion of her swollen dark vulva stuck out between her legs. He stared at her exposed body, eyes glancing over it a few times then he focused on her embarrassed face, "What's wrong? You are acting strange." She peeked through her claws and then dropped her hands, her tail hitting the back of her head.

"Sorry… I-I just never been looked at while in heat by a male." Her voice sped up as she spoke. He remembered that the body she used in VR wasn't hers. He looked at her dark spot between her legs, a white fur forest covering most of it.

"Are you a virgin?" She nodded and twisted her thighs together. This shocked the man, with all the exhibitionism she portrayed, one would think she has had at least one lover. He noticed that she still waited for an inventation, "If I could get an erection, it would show off how attractive I find you." He chuckled at himself looking down at his soggy flaccid penis. There was a small bat of her palm hitting her furry head.

She looked like she just forgot his condition. He snickered a little at the fact. She took a few careful steps forward, "Well I feel silly," and picked up the luffa and squeezed it causing soapy water to run down her arms, "A-and my… lips… are practically pushing my legs apart."

His dick wouldn't work but his mind was interested in her privates. Part of him wanted to see her spread eagle for him, his fingers dancing across her body touching the delicate fur between her thighs and exploring the dark folds she had hidden in her fur. He shifted his gaze at the water again. One thing he loved about the station was the infinite warm water. She leaned down at the edge of the tub and started to scrub his back. He winced as the luffa touched his blistered skin. "I'm sorry… let me know if I am doing it too hard."

"Don't bother, it always hurts. I just have to bare through the pain… It isn't as bad as it was the other day." The luffa was pulled away from his back and she used her paws to massage the soap into him. The soft furry pads felt much better than the abrasive sponge.

"Can you move forward? I can be your luffa." His arms grabbed the side of the tub and lifted himself a small amount moving forward a little bit. "Thank you." She was shaking, as she stepped inside and resumed scrubbing his wounds. Her digits massaged his muscles and softly moved over scar tissue.

Hot breath was on the back of his neck. She whispered, "So this is why you have a cactus flower mixed in with your scent." He looked over and she was on her knees, her muzzle was studying the bottle of body wash inches from his face. Water dripped from the tip of her snout.

"What do humans smell like?" A question that has been on his mind forever. She answered in a tongue he couldn't pronounce and then smiled. He chuckled, "And what does that mean?"

"Like an ocean spray, salty with a subtle earthy musk." She dumped a large dollop of the soap on her chest and started to rub it in. She asked a question in return, "What do I smell like?"

A mischievous grin took his face as he leaned back, gripping the edge of the tub, and sniffed her chest, she trembled as he did so. She smelled like a well-groomed dog, no heavy scent but there was a fragrance of her own. "When you're wet you smell a like any other furry animal, but when you're dry you smell like lavender. You already know humans are pretty blind when it comes to smell."

She laughed at the statement, "At least you didn't call me a wet dog, the girls in the public showers kept calling me that all the time." She closed the gap between their bodies and then reached around his muscles. Richard got tired of craning his neck to stare at her body and turned it up at the showerhead. She started to massage the soap using her fur, almost painless.

He relaxed as she set her rubbed her furry face over his neck. Her soft fuzzy body felt amazing as he leaned back into her. He whispered wanting to fall asleep, "Your fur feels so good." Her eyes however peered down at his naked body. Her furry arms reached around and caressed his chest, soapy water washed away under the shower. His skin was so smooth, felt like glass as she rubbed his chest.

The arms crept lower, wanting to grasp at his penis and feel it. In all the videos she watched; his manhood was about the same size. Kalia told Trixi the story about her first time with a human. Trixi relished the day she would experience it. Even if she wouldn't experience being pinned down by his shaft, she wanted to at least touch his masculinity in her paws. Before she knew it her hand had grasped his rod.

Her delicate touch got no reaction, as expected. The warmth passed through her wet paw. Richard didn't even notice what she was doing, his eyes closed in a half-sleep against her body. She felt the placid member, the softness and weight in her paws. The delicate skin caused her clit to swell inside her expanding spade. She suppressed a giggle as it plopped back onto his wet thighs.

Waking up from his half-sleep he shifted forward to let the water wash off the soap. She moved to the front to rinse the soap from her body. Her vulva was near his eye level. Paws were hesitant to cover, shaking near her puffy sex. The ogling was as obvious as her own. She gazed down at the top of his head. She gleefully stated, "Thank you for looking at… me… I was scared you might be disgusted at me for being different."

His head leaned toward her head, "If I could stand, I would do everything to you at this moment." She clenched her thighs together twisting her needy sex in between her thighs. The petals to her entrance throbbed and her hidden clit begged for attention. He lifted his arms to her hips and lured her down to meet his own.

He glided his hands up to her head and brought it forward. They both closed their eyes as they kissed. At first, it was awkward, as her pointed muzzle tried to find purchase over his lips, their mouths eventually parted, dashing their tongues inside each other. They held each other tightly, her body covered by his strong grasp. She rocked her hips instinctually, the soft sex wishing to please her lover.

When they broke their passion, both were out of breath. Trixi swallowed, heart racing; her speech was so weak she couldn't be heard. Confused he tilted his head at the vixen. She cried out a little louder, "Can you please touch me… I n-need this." Tears ran down her face mixing with the hot water. She pulled her knees apart revealing her puffy vulva, the lips were larger than he expected. The dark triangular flesh leaked lubricant, a beckoning flower.

Richard glanced at his hands; blisters marked his fingers. He got a mischievous look on his face, "Go ahead and stand up for me. My hands are scarred, and my hips don't work." She did as she was commanded to with shaky legs, placing one leg at each side. Her quick breath didn't falter and as he touched her hips again, she let out a yip of excitement and leaned forward.

The swollen vulva landed on his mouth. The fox's legs nearly gave out from under her when she felt his tongue lap at her entrance. She was slowly dragged down to the bottom of the tub, falling to her knees at the bottom of the tub. She let out a shriek of pleasure and grabbed his brown hair as he dove his tongue deep inside.

Her throbbing pearl was quickly located. Moans bounced in the small room followed by the quick slaps of her soaked tail as it flung water everywhere. Pleasure shuddered through her body as she moved her hips.

The engorged warm entrance leaked over his mouth; her nectar poured onto his face. He teased and played with her clit with the tip of his tongue. Every touch caused another shudder from her. The sound of her pleasure was like singing, the song ended with a moment of silence. Her body tensed up and her walls clamped down on his tongue, then she released to a shriek of her climax. She squeezed her thighs around his head and rode through it as a sharp bark escaped upward.

He held her hips to his face as she fell to the side resting her head on the wall. Ignoring his pained grip, he didn't want to let her go. He felt the tight muscles of her vagina on his tongue pump with her rapid heartbeat. He let her catch a few breaths before he continued to service her.

His tongue punished her oversensitive clit, the post-orgasmic nerves were on fire. She immediately yelped out tried to jump off. Several more licks and she was panicked bucking her hips at every sensation. She let out a long string of words in her tongue, the treble words not stopping his assault on her sensitive bud, till eventually, her body caved and she had a second climax.

Her muscles burned as she came again. The vixen grabbed a hold of her lover's head as she road through the second climax, the warm muscle inside her pumped away at her defenseless body. She cried out in another high-pitched bark into the brown eyes of Richard. Her body shuddered curling forward. Out of breath, her tongue lulled out, "I-I had e-nough… l-let me b… breath." Richard relented and released her hips. She promptly collapsed on top of him, her wet body curled to a ball, rising and falling with every quick breath.

He smiled to himself, pleased that he still could still get a woman to cry out in pleasure. He petted her wet fur, her body was warm to the touch. Trixi mumbled, "Thank you for saving me. I'm glad you think I'm worth something." He chuckled warmly, the taste of her lubrication still on his mouth.

"You are beautiful, kind, and fun. I would do anything to make sure you smile at least one more time." Trixi uncurled from the ball and laid on top of him, his warmth resonated with her, cutting through her soggy fur. If she wasn't completely love-struck, she would have laughed at the cheesy line. Her body shifted under his stroking muscles and her snout nestled under his chin.

They rested under the shower catching their breath till the soft patter of water was broken, "I should probably finish cleaning you, so you can get back to your work…" She slowly rose, the water dripped onto his body. Richard smiled as she started to lather her body once more, using it as a soft warm luffa on his legs.

He joked, "Once I can walk and feel my legs again, I'm gonna have you do this to me again." she laughed with him as she rubbed her chest along his legs. She finished washing him using her soapy fur.

"Only if you suck out my clit like that again." She wiped water between her legs causing her hips to twitch, "I never thought it would feel that good."

They finished with their extended shower. She dried him off than herself, her orange fur smelled like his body wash along with her slight musk. Then the medication, he was pleasantly surprised that the pain was significantly less than the last time he applied it. She even helped him get his clothing on slipping the underwear over his legs where he could pull them up. Manipulating his dead weight of legs was tricky with one arm.

She wheeled him to his office once they both got dressed. He noticed there was a pile of blankets folded over some chairs that were pushed together. The blankets were bright red with white stripes. "What's that for?"

"I was having trouble sleeping so I thought If I slept close to you it would help. But the room was so cold I couldn't sleep."

He slumped his shoulders feeling her pain. Uncomfortable with the fact he still had problems because of his disability. "I'll give you some more blankets if you want, I still don't want you to sleep in my bed at this time."

Her tail drooped back, "Thank you… will I be able to sleep in your bed when you get the surgery?"

His bandaged arm reached up and touched the side of her face where she nuzzled it. "Of course, you can. Will probably be the best sleep I had in a long, long time." Her face brightened up at the thought. He was slowly pushed out the door to get on with the day's tasks.

Chapter Text

Richard picked up his beret from the desk and examined it. He was in better spirits after he expressed his feelings towards the vulpes, who slept soundly in the office. Tiny claw holes marked the edges of the rim. He smiled at the markings, just another story for the old, dusty thing.

He placed the hat on his head and returned to filling out paperwork. Sheet after sheet of injury reports from his men and draftees. Roma was busy keeping track of the weapon confiscations and armory checklists. Roma failed to get through the paperwork to make sure the personnel get compensated for their injuries. Fortunately, Richard's hands recovered enough so that he could finally hold a pen.

What he read would have disturbed the young man anyway. Richard hardened himself to the harshness of the corporation, over 26 years will do it to anyone. Central command thought of the men as nothing more than a checklist of body parts. He swallowed deeply as he filled out the forms confirming the damage reports to the personnel and the treatments they received.

Something caught his eye; he furrowed his brows further. The lizardmen's paperwork stated they haven't been treated at the time of reporting. All the surviving humans had received their treatments or were awaiting care.

Discrepancies grew as he took a closer examination. The medical care his men received didn't align with the injuries. The man in question showed off the scars in the breakroom. Boasting about his first engagement and a reward of two bullet scars on his arms. A minor wound like that would've involved antibiotics and a suture, right as rain in no time. Yet his treatment involved the stasis pod, a procedure only reserved for critical care or partial surgery.

The lizardmen were forced to wait on their treatments. Richard clenched his teeth causing pain to spark from his throat down to his chest. Is this their thanks for sacrificing themselves for the ungrateful people on the station, dying on a cold table? He grabbed the paperwork and wheeled toward the scanner to send the copies to central command. He made sure to scan a set for himself to get a better look at the treatments. A follow-up with his men would be required to confirm his findings.

Soft murmurs left Trixi's snout as he worked through the paperwork. A twitch of the ear woke her up from her morning nap. She failed to sleep in the ice-cold room the night before. She cooed to Richard, "Hello handsome."

Richard smiled at the orange fluff sticking out of a pile of brightly colored blankets, "Are you feeling better?"  His tone betrayed displeasure.

She shuffled under the bedding looking up at him with her blue eyes, "Still tired…" she answered with her maw open in a yawn, "is everything okay? You sound annoyed."

Richard swallowed. Trixi had already been through so much adding to her stress was the last thing he wanted to do.  He feigned a smile at the sleepy fox, "it's nothing. I'm just frustrated with how much work I need to do."

Concern echoed in her voice, "Are the bandages too tight?"

He showed off a hand and flexed his fingers. "You did fine, I can hold a pen quite nicely today," He looked at the work that still needed to be done, "finally got started on the mountain of paperwork… you can go and catch up on your sleep, I'm still busy with all this. I'll let you know if I need any assistance."

The vixen quickly disappeared into the covers, falling asleep almost instantly. Pleased with the response he wheeled himself to the desk again and pushed the coms button at his waist, "Roma, can you come to my office, please? I need to talk with you about some details."

The door hissed open shortly after and Roma stepped through. He eyed Trixi's outlandish red and white blanket bed. Once he took a seat Richard bluntly stated what he needed, "Can you ask for confirmation of the injuries the security team got? I'm going to need a physical copy, preferably voice recorded. Things aren't adding up on the paperwork."

"I- Yes sir." Confusion marked the younger man as he answered.

Richard nodded, "Good, I expect to see it on my desk by the end of the day."

Roma asked, "What did paperwork say?"

Richard leaned back in his chair and gave an indifferent smirk, "It's all just a part of Nanotrasen's paperwork process." He changed the subject quickly, "Just like the armory… Speaking of which, do you have that paperwork filled out? I'll need to send it to central command as well."

"Yes sir, I'll bring it right over."

Richard shook his head, "And please stop with the 'sir' business." Roma nodded and backed out of the room to grab the armory forms. Richard sighed, he hated obfuscating his intention, but Roma had a loved one involved. Might cause the young man to lose himself in an investigation. Richard resumed and filed the paperwork away, keeping copies in his desk for cross-referencing.

The room was silent. He pondered the next action he would take, he looked over to Trixi's corner. The bed moved ever so slightly with her breathing. He cursed his position, "dammit." If things were slightly different, he would be laying in bed, with her.  Instead, he had to pick up duties of those that were lost, damage reports and equipment lost needed to be completed.

How would things of changed if he made different choices? Would Jack be around if he took the armor? He wondered if it was the armor that caused him to think he would survive the blast. Would Roma have perished instead? What if Trixi was killed if he was too slow to save her? His mind was caught in a loop of potential mistakes while unfinished work was clenched in his hands.

Trixi woke up bringing the man back to the room. She brushed the wrinkles out of her coveralls as she jumped out of the bedding, "That was amazing. I didn't think I would feel better sleeping on some furniture and blankets. I think your scent in the room helped out with that; I felt safer." Her bare claws tapped at the steel floor as she stepped toward Richard.

Richard smiled at the vulpes hiding his mental anguish. "I'm glad you're feeling better." He placed the paperwork down and rolled to face the vulpes. She started to look and sound like her old self, her fur bushy and smile bright. He reached up and stroked her head and down the side of her cheek. The bandages and numbness prevented him from feeling her fluffy face.

The comforting touch did help her though as she leaned into it, "I'm glad you're feeling better as well." She reached up and traced his scars with her paw pad. The blisters around the face were healing nicely in the open air. The two of them stared into each other's eyes until the door hissed open again. They quickly collected themselves and faced Roma.

Roma cleared his throat, "Sorry about the intrusion, but here are the forms. Signed and accounted for. Several weapons went missing, but the A.I. reported them destroyed in explosions or lost to space. Including your X-01 pistol."

"That's quite alright, they will deduct that one from my pay. The rest will be written off as an occupational loss. I'm sure you did a good job accounting everything." Richard took the files from the man and stamped them after he took a brief glance over the work. "Excellent, I'll submit it to Centcom."

Roma nodded and looked over at Trixi, "How are you holding up? Bakes said you were quite the mess last time he saw you."

"Oh, me? I'm doing much better now. The first bit of sleep without waking up shaking like a diabetic."

Roma chuckled at her bubbly attitude, "Good, I'm glad everything is working out then. Richard can be a bit of a handful I bet." Trixi laughed looking at Richard who was trying not to smirk while he scanned the paperwork through. Roma nodded comfortable that things were taken care of, "I'll be back on the syndicate ship if you need me. The crew stripped out everything but the hull plates. I'm going to inspect their job."

Richard waved farewell, "Thank you, Roma, you've been a blessing."

Once Roma left Trixi asked a question. Something that burned in the back of her mind since they left the shower, "So how was the first time with me? Did I do a good job?" Puzzled, Richard looked over to her. She blushed through her fur at her question and then bobbed on the tip of her feet, stretching her heel up and down.

"What are you talking about? I should be asking you how well of a job I did with you."

She bounced over and pressed her snout to the side of his face giving a little lick, "You did something I never thought I would experience, it was absolute bliss." Her blush deepened as she stood by his side, "I was talking about the kiss."  She paused for a moment and lowered her voice, "I watched so many videos of humans and my kind kissing, even my sister sent me a video of her and Dirk kissing to demonstrate," she admitted, "I may have been a little obsessed."

A small laugh escaped, "Your tongue is raspier than I expected, but it wasn't unpleasant. I just hope I didn't get rusty."

Her pearly canines reflected at him. She hopped up onto his lap and hugged him, tail bouncing excitedly. "I want to do whatever you want. I've seen what humans like, I'll get on my knees in front of you wearing a collar and a leash, panting on your scent."

Richard creased his forehead in shock, "What videos have you been watching?"

Trixi covered her cheeks with her paws. Her voice trembled, "sorry… I thought it might have been something you would like."

He held her close with his bandaged arms, "You don't need to do any of that for me."

She sighed and confessed where she got most of her human sexual information, "a lot of stuff I watched are on xenophile websites. There is a vulpes on there that wears only a collar. She's the only vulpes actress that has sex with humans."

Richard's mind was flooded with an image of Trixi wearing a collar.  A blush took his face, "Please you don't need to be a sex slave. I don't want a sex slave!" He petted the top of her head causing her tail to whip around, "I want a happy woman who isn't completely helpless, you've already proven that."

The vixen wrapped her arms tightly around his broad chest, "I know, I know… I'm glad you see me that way. I must be the luckiest girl for having found you." She pressed her muzzle to his lips. Their tongues met for a brief second, her blue gaze returned to his eyes when they separated.

Richard continued his work while Trixie remained on his lap. The high-energy vulpes didn't have a problem with the boredom of bureaucracy. He welcomed the company, kept his mind from drifting to darkness.

She watched him. The silence was occasionally broken with a question. The who, what, when, where, and why of Richard's past, "I told you my selfish reason for working for Nanotrasen… why did you join? Did you want to be head of security? What about your family?"

He chuckled at the barrage of questions; her curiosity amused him. They were simple questions he answered many times to his men. "I joined many years ago. I can't remember the exact date anymore, but it was one of the only opportunities I had to get off-planet." Richard paused his work into the 'to do' pile, "My father was an earthling, colonel in the United Earth Government Navy. He moved my pregnant mother to Raia while he fought in the colony rebellions." A glazed look takes his eyes as he thinks about the questions some more, "I guess I was just destined to be in space like him… maybe it's genetic."

Trixi giggled at the story, "You’re a spaceman, just like the stories, the underpaid pilots, lost explorers… I learned quite a bit from songs and battle hymns from your human culture." She tilted her head as her train of thought shifts, "it confuses me as to why humans hate aliens so much. What could our races have that cause humans to hate us so much? We are so weak..." A frown crept across her muzzle, "My species hates humans because we only have a couple of planets and a small colony… we're scared."

"That's a very complicated question, your species feel the same way the lizardmen did. Humans are seen as a massive force with tons of planets and resources and people at our call. It's only natural. However, our people aren't all living in luxury, and Nanotrasen furthers the divide with their hiring practices."

Trixi furrowed her brow to this, she heard many reasons why humans hated her, but nothing involved Nanotrasen. "What does the company have to do with any of this? I was always told by the friendlier humans, 'oh he's just a jackass' or 'that guy hates everyone'."

"Most of that is true, people hate things that are different, doesn't stop at aliens. But Nanotrasen profits by keeping all the other aliens under their control. They can use their species as cheap labor…" He sighed as the vulpes was further confused. She was getting paid more than any of her peers on her home planet. "You haven't been to a human world, but you would be dumbstruck how expensive things are. That bet you won from that guy, would maybe cover a small condo on earth, excluding taxes. Hell, the newest model GM spinner costs three million."

 Trixi frowned at the realization, "at least the money will buy a nice home for my sister's family." Richard agreed with the sentiment, glad to be part of the improvement in their lives. The talk of money had her ask one of the forbidden questions, "How much do you make?" He scoffed, not wanting to answer her query.

"Not enough for the job but more than enough to cover my expenses." She pouted at his non-answer and crossed her arms in a huff. This irritated him, "ug… I'm not supposed to tell you about my pay… it's rude to ask that about a man."

Trixi's tail flicked around to tease his face with it, "even for your girlfriend?"

Richard wanted to touch her tail for such a long time. He seized the fluffy appendage and pressed the silky fur to his face. It smelled clean and was surprisingly warm, "you're right." The tail retreated with a smirk from the vulpes. "I make around 1.6 million a year, you make about 70k, while a clown in a similar position would make 600k." Trixi's mouth hung open in the disparity of pay while he continued. "On top of that everyone on this station gets 50% hazard pay bonus… except for aliens. They don't get hazard pay."

Her pointed ears were flattened, and her posture deflated. She wondered why Nanotrasen would think so little of her or the other non-humans. The only question she could think of next was, "Why?"

"Cheaper labor," Richard's bandaged hand comforted the fox and elaborates, "Nanotrasen controls alien economies. They sell cheaper luxury items on alien worlds. Usually, 10% of what it would normally cost, that three million spinner is only 300k. The domestic economy gets strangled out allowing complete economic domination." He curses and then rolls his eyes, "Nanotrasen gets away with it all, thanks to their monopoly on plasma energy. Once they take over a world's entire economy, they force them to only use earth's credits."

She focused all her attention on him, her eyes betrayed sadness. She closed her fist tightly, "When did this all start?"

 He sighed for a moment trying to think of when it started, "The practice has been going on before we even made first contact with aliens.  Comstar did it when we first discovered FTL.  Now they are just doing it to aliens. Sell them goods at a loss to keep them working for the company and save money for generations. They can hire a skilled engineer at 5% of the pay… In turn, this built resentment with the humans who are trying to find work, as all the skilled and unskilled labor jobs get taken up by aliens." He flicked his wrist like swatting an annoying bug, "The only saving grace for humans was with the UEG blocking Nanotrasen from hiring only aliens, now they're required to have a quota of humans aboard all stations."

Trixi slinked away remaining silent while she processed all that he said. The thought of her entire species being forced to work for a company that didn't care for them, or their futures. It hurt. She mustered up the courage to ask another question, "Will my people be slaves to the company?"

Richard assertively shook his head 'no', "The lizardmen have already gone through what your planet's going through. They can't block interstellar travel and the mixing of species. Lizardmen had their pay increased in the company to near-human equivalencies," he shrugged, "it will eventually work itself out."

She half-smiled at the only sliver of optimism he said in the conversation, "well that's something." The man watched her carefully, the truth couldn't have been comfortable for her. "Thank you for telling me."

"I try not to think about it, above my pay grade to do anything. Just like every poor SOB in the universe, trying to live our best lives for themselves and their children." With a heavy exhale he returned to his paperwork.

Trixi laid down while he worked in silence. Richard was agitated as he answered her inquiries. The subject was one he hated to discuss. She left him to his work as he grunted in irritation at his work. The silence was broken as his pen was set down. He pressed his communicator button and groaned in frustration, "I'll be there shortly, sir." He looked over to Trixi, "The captain wishes to speak with me. Can you take me to the bridge please?"

_____

On the bridge, the captain waited. He sat in his large office chair in front of the monitors overlooking the station's systems. The head of personnel lingered with him. Ali looked dejected and stared at the steel floor. Richard was wheeled in by Trixi. His presence perked up the two of them. The captain stood up, "Thank you for coming Richard. We have some news."

"Just news? Sounds ominous."

Martinez smiled, "well, a little more than that. First, I will have to ask Trixi to step outside for the time, it's sensitive information." Trixi naturally protested this decision, but it was quashed when Richard raised his hand and shrugged at the vixen. She huffed waited out the door, once it sealed the captain started talking.

"I told Ali she was fine, but he refused to believe me." The head of personnel deflated and sat down. The captain looked Richard over, "you're looking better."

"Recovery has been quite painful, but the pills have helped. Forgot how hot those energy swords get." Richard flexes his trussed-up fingers, "I should be getting full mobility in my hands in a week."

"Excellent! I want you to be fully healed up when the Nanotrasen liaison arrives. The company is sending him here to speak with you about the attack. They were quite alarmed about the attack, which makes sense concerning circumstances."

Richard shrugged, "What's that got to do with me?"

"It has everything to do with you!" Martinez beamed, "I sent them some footage the A.I. gathered. That's the reason they are coming over, so they can speak with you and review the files directly. They were quite impressed." Richard rolled his eyes at the thought of speaking to a VIP Centcom agent. "I know that feeling. I already gave them an earful when they first contacted us."

Richard gave an indifferent look, "Is that all you wanted to speak with me about?"

The captain looked over his shoulder with a grim expression on his face. Ali slowly raised himself, "I wanted to apologize. I have been at wit's end about everything… felt helpless." Richard glared at the troubled man who quickly fell to his knees. "I'm sorry for everything, it's all my fault."

"What was your fault?" Richard asked with confusion.

Ali gazed up at the wheelchair-bound man, "I fled leaving the disk behind, I'm the reason you got injured. I could have done more to help you." His face was holding back tears from his torrent of emotions, "We should have given you the authentication disk, I just abandoned it to hide under a desk." Martinez looked at the show and just shook his head shrugging at Richard.

Richard just groaned, "get up!" Ali bounced to his feet quickly. "I don't want to hear that. You would have just been shot dead if you stood your ground." He waited till the HoP composed himself before he continued to berate him, "is that why you wanted to drag me in here? Just to hear you blame yourself for your mistakes?" Ali nodded. "Good god man, I already hear that from my own conscience and Trixi," Richard hung his head, "everyone is blaming themselves and I'm done…"

Martinez patted Ali on the shoulder, "Thank you, Richard. I'll take it from here; you can go now. Just remember, the liaison is top secret. No one needs to know about it other than you me and the HoP." They agreed to be done with the topic before Ali fetched Trixi to take Richard away. Richard just groaned in exhaustion, not wanting to discuss the matter.

Trixi remarked, "that bad huh?" While they headed back to the security wing.

Richard shook his head, "It's nothing important, I didn't get to talk to him about what I needed to talk about." He let out a long sigh, "I need to get back to my work."

Time passed as he got caught up with the security paperwork. Then came the medical appointment to make sure the treatments were coming along. He was given another burn treatment and skin regenerative treatment. His doctor told him that things were on schedule and that he would make a complete recovery after surgery. This excited the vulpes who wished to celebrate the news.

Richard asked the doctor an unrelated question, "How are the lizardmen doing in the xeno level?"

His doctor paused for a moment and gave the head of security what information he could. "The team stabilized the infections I hear; I have no formal experience with xenobiology so I can't give a definitive answer." This was satisfactory enough for Richard, at least there won't be any more unnecessary deaths.

Trixi was a bouncing ball of joy upon hearing the news and whisked him out of the medical department. As they traveled the halls toward the bar, they passed their fellow crewmates. The warm wishes and heartfelt gratitude were given to Richard and even Trixi. The vixen pumped her chest with pride.

Richard on the other hand had his mind preoccupied with worry and extra doses of pain medication. She accepted the crewmate's words for him with a bright smile on her muzzle. It felt good to be out and about with the crew. She even invited them to the bar where they would be sharing some drinks.

Bakes whipped his tail excitedly upon seeing Richard. "Richard! I'm glad you are well! Let me clear the path for you." The pair took the lift around back to avoid the stairs.  Bakes was speaking non-stop as he moved the boxes for them.

Attention from the patrons shifted to their direction. No longer just a boss of the security station but a hero to the crew. Richard was still divided if he liked that. To him, it was just another job. Lost in thought he ordered his usual.

Bakes gave him two bottles and continued the conversation about how things have been going. Richard just drank the bottles offering some nods and single-word responses. He wouldn't admit it but relaxing with a beer successfully helped unwind him a little.

"Thank you Bakes, you have done your part keeping the station together while I been away. People probably would have revolted if they didn't get their booze," Richard said in a half-joking manner.

The lizardman flashed his sharp teeth in a smile, "I'm jussst grateful you helped with the bomb, I have never messssed with the consssole before. Had to of been… four yearsss ago on another ssstation."

"Happens too much. But that's corporate warfare for ya," he chuckled at the commonality of situation.

Trixi listened carefully to the two reminisce. It disturbed her. She couldn't sleep after just one attack, the memory of that red-suited man and the shaking station haunted her. "Why do they attack so often? It shouldn't be so normal…"

Bakes and Richard looked at each other, then the vulpes. Richard reminded her of the conversation they had about the monopoly Nanotrasen had with plasma. He went on to describe how other corporations have a coalition to attack Nanotrasen, "the syndicate wants to break up the monopoly. They have been at war with each other before us and will be at war long after we're all gone. Eventually, the monopoly will break up and splinter, bickering like nations of old did."

Trying her best to understand Trixi lapped up a glass of water she was given. The gravity of the situation chewed at the back of her mind. All the stories the older crewmates told each other; were quite real. Every death, every battle. She thought of Jack and how Richard never spoke about him or the others. This wasn't his first fight, he probably lost countless others in his long service in the company.

Bakes poured another beer for Richard who was relaxing in his wheelchair, his back muscles loosened up; it wasn't that long ago when she was just trying to comfort him in the bar. Catching herself staring she blushed and gazed around the saloon.

It was a packed house. Everyone relaxed after their shift. She couldn't help but admire how quickly the crew softened after the attack, like it never happened. If she had her clown supplies, she would perform for the crew. Maybe some silly tricks, a song? An idea popped into her mind and she hopped off the barstool. Her bushy tail disappeared into the small crowd.

Richard placed the beer down. chuckling under his breath about how much of a lightweight he was. He turned to speak to Trixi, but she was gone. It wasn't long till he spotted her orange visage standing on the stage. She had a guitar and a microphone.

She sang for hours as Richard drank. Starting with everyone's favorites, 'Cargonia's Anthem' and 'Banned from Argo'. The crew loved the old space tales, even though her voice was far too high pitched at the pace the acoustics were going, but they cheered her on. Once the mime jumped on stage the entertainment picked up. Jacques played every invisible instrument at once with his singing partner. Some drunks even jumped on stage and joined in. Human and lizardman getting along with the vulpes. Things were back to their original state.

Several people approached the HoS. Richard smiled warmly at them, face flushed with alcohol. They exchanged a few words and bought him more booze. Thanking him for stopping the destruction of the station. The drinks piled on and between interruptions he just watched the orange furry creature sing her songs, the lyrics blurred in his mind until the crowd left for the night.

A handful of people remained in the bar, they assisted Bakes with the cleaning. Trixi sang one last song while watching Richard. It was in her language, soft trilling words.

Richard couldn't understand the lyrics, but the way she looked at him caused his heart to pound with the strums of her fingers, clearly a love song of some sort. He gave her the attention she deserved and watched her every movement. It looked like she was dancing with her bushy tail, sashaying it about with the rhythm. A night they both needed.

Bakes spoke up with his forked tongue flicking out, "It was great to see you friendsss, the mime doesn't exactly make good conversssation company."

Trixi busted out with her laughter returning to the counter, "Oh I know, I wish I could stay here longer but I'm busy looking after this lovable cripple. He would never heal with how stubborn he is." She stared at the man in question who was half asleep. "I'm just glad to see the crew doing well. The smell of fear was completely gone from the room."

Bakes nodded, "I'm grateful they moved passst it, they're ssstronger than they look."

With their goodbyes, Trixi pushed Richard through the back halls again. He started muttering to himself in a drunken stupor, free booze would do that to anyone. She stopped by her own room and wheeled him in. She picked up some of the belongings she was missing, something to pass the time the following days. She grabbed her bag of holding and started to put all the toys and even her computer inside. With that out of the way she took one more glance around the room and saw the handle of the energy sword sticking out from a pocket of a discarded jumpsuit, she tossed that with the rest of the belongings.

Richard was forced to drink water while he rested. The vulpes really didn't want to deal with his hangover. He whispered what he believed to be sweet things, but it came out as incoherent murmurs. She physically held her muzzle shut to prevent herself from laughing too loud.

Back in his room, he rested in the chair; too heavy to be moved to the bed. She stared at him for a moment wondering if she should stay. The blanket was tucked in around him. Protecting him from the cold station air. Once that was complete, she gave the sleeping man a good night kiss, before leaving him for the night.

Alone in his office, she unpacked some of her belongings. The vulpes set up her computer so she could contact her sister. She crossed her fingers, hoping that Kaila would answer. The screen came to life and her sister's bright orange face filled the screen. "Kaila I'm so glad you picked up. I have been trying to contact you!"

Kaila looked past Trixi at the dull grey walls, curious as to where Trixi was located. "I know, I had multiple missed calls. It took a while to get the extranet in place… Did you do something to your room? Your computer is up higher than normal."

Her ever-observant sister's comment warranted an explanation, but there was a laundry list of things to talk about. Trixi started in their quick barking language, first the attack, the injuries. Slipping in the attacker being crushed between the events. The last part of her story was how Richard expressed his love for her and they are now together.

The vulpes on the screen was in shock, she turned away and yelled out, "Dirk, I'm going to be a minute Trixi's on call right now!" Her undivided attention returned to the camera. "This is more to unpack than what we have at the new house," there was a brief pause while Trixi caught her breath, "start over again, so the attack wasn't a false alarm?"

Trixi shook her head and went over every aspect she remembered. This moved into the nightmares after the attack and the red armored suit that tried to kill her, "the only sleepful nights I had were from sleep medication. I can't even sleep in my room without thinking the station is shaking itself apart."

"I… wow, no wonder the precautions were in place. I passed the training you were doing because he was interested in you. You have to quit this job. I don't want you to die for some corporate war." Kaila swallowed her worry. "We have a big house and enough money to last a lifetime, you can live with us."

The premise sounded lovely to Trixi, she could just quit and join her sister. She looked back at the door behind her, thinking about the man she fell for and how he still needed her. Even if he wouldn't admit to needing the help, "not yet." The vulpes on the screen frowned, eyes drifting down from the camera. Trixi softened her up, "I have my boyfriend to take care of now. He finally expressed his feelings for me!" Trixi held her muzzle shut to keep from being too loud from the excitement. Her sister just laughed at her.

"I told you. No one would spend that much time with someone if they didn't care for them. This Richard sounds as stubborn as you said. Guess that's why he's in that position fighting off bad guys and saving the day."

Trixi was warm with happiness. "He saved my life, I can't quit. Even if every fiber of my being is telling me to run away. I feel safe near him, I can sleep soundly with his scent."

Kaila smiled at her dear sister, "just be safe. I don't want you to die. I wish I had picked up sooner. It must have been hell to go through all that." She paused for a moment making sure no little ones are listening, "so… you going to tell me what he said when he spilled his feelings?" The two sisters laughed as Trixi explained everything in excruciating detail, completely unashamed about the activities the two did. Kaila offered some advice about procedures when dealing with human and vulpes differences, there was nothing the sisters wouldn't talk about.

They spoke throughout the night till Trixi's yawns interrupted their conversation, "it's about time I went to sleep. I have to get up early to help Richard get ready. He keeps pushing himself to be useful on the station and I have to help him in every way I can."

Kaila chuckled, "Sounds like someone I know, always running into situations without planning." The two waved farewell to one another, "well, good night, sweet dreams!"

The screen went black just as the station's air cooled, signaling time for bed.

_____

Another morning, another day closer to surgery. Richard was grateful that Trixi gave him some space as he washed his clothes and the bedding he was wrapped in. The shower was boiling hot once more as he slid his body into the tub from the wheelchair. He quickly scrubbed his lower half off before leaning back to relax under the warm trickle.

Trixi entered the private bathroom with a bright smile on her face, she brought in fresh bandages, "What's on the agenda for today?"

"I'm going to overlook some data, double-check the injuries on the reports, and then I'm going to send a message to the captain. I also need to double-check the remains of the infiltrator ship we captured and ensure that it is being dealt with properly… I doubt I'm going to find a problem with anything."

She stripped speedily as he spoke. The activities sounded pretty mundane. At least scrubbing the man off was entertainment enough for the vulpes. She hopped into the warm water with him and let the water completely soak through her coat before crawling onto his chest, "that sounds easy enough."

His arms wrapped around the wet and lithe figure. She let out a soft pleasing coo when he touched her. The only sensation his nerves sent back was a gentle numbness. The doctors told him it could take weeks for feeling to return.

As he rubbed her body, he mused to himself how he finally won the company of a woman that wanted to be with him. Yet, in cruel irony he couldn't feel her or be pleased by her. Some old god must be laughing his ass off. He sighed and remembered the song she sung. Touching his chin to her soft fuzzy forehead he asked, "What was that song last night?"

Trixi nuzzled under his chin; she was impressed he remembered the last song, "it translates to a shade of white. It's an old folk tale about a lost love. The vulpes used her tail to lead her mate back from the snow." She blushed, "I didn't do the tale justice singing it, just mouthed the words with the chords."

He moved his hands along her body enjoying her presence, "I thought it sounded beautiful."

The warm water gave a nice wake-up call to the day. Then she grabbed the luffa and started to scrub him down gently. She gave him quite the show as she moved around his body. Lifting her wet tail high as she worked on his legs, letting a leg rest around his shoulder showing off her flexibility while she scrubbed his chest and back.

Soft kisses were her reward. From the bottom of her paws, against her inner thighs, and puffy vulva. A shudder of delight was just what she wanted for a morning routine. The breathless fox washed the juices off her lover before helping him out of the shower, "Breakfast is in your office already, lots of protein just like you want."

Richard continued to fondle the fox. His hand danced across chest causing her to shudder as he brushed against her hardened nipple. Disappointment dripped from his face with the water as he watched her touch his flaccid shaft.

Her heart pounded in her chest still from the activity. Determined dipped down and tried lapping at his cock. The physical activity caused the penis to swell a little, but it deflated as soon as she stopped manipulating it. She pleaded under her breath, "Dammit, come on please work."

He interrupted her, "please don't bother. Nothing is going to happen."

Her wet naked body was scrunched down between his thighs. Her blue eyes were on the verge of tears. She didn't want to be a selfish lover. She stood and pressed her chest to his and hugged him tightly burying her muzzle under his head.

He comforted her, "You can help me get up dry off, that is more than I could ask for."

Richard kissed her on the muzzle as she dressed his scarred arms. "Thank you." The pain he once had was nearly gone. The medication sped the healing process nicely, soon he wouldn't be needing bandages. "I'm grateful to have you. When I get better, I'm going to miss being cared for to this extent."

Trixi paused for a moment, "Why would I need to stop doing this? I like doing this…"

He frowned at her response, "I'm going to have to get back to what I normally do, and so will you. The bar needs their entertainment back, along with the crew."  He pondered about his time off he still had banked, "We can spend off time together, perhaps play on the holodeck together." He lifted her muzzle to bring her eyes to his, "I can't just hoard all the joy in the station to myself."

She chuckled lightly and nuzzled him. "I'm missing the pranks and the crew's faces." She rested on him and sighed, "But I need to get off the station, I don't think I can deal with it alone anymore. Being in a crowd is fine, but I am having trouble… alone. When I was out getting breakfast, I stared at the emergency bulkhead's caution lines for 5 minutes before jumping over. I felt like a ball from how my fur puffed out."

Richard held her close, he comforted the vixen. When he traveled through the halls there was always a slight pause before those very emergency doors. He brushed through her damp fur, "I'm here for you."

She backed off not wanting to soak his freshly bandaged arm. Her eyes watered, "Let's hurry up and dry up, the food is getting cold."

_____

The records weren't lining up. The recordings his men gave reported minor injuries, while the medical charts were listing life or limb wounds. Simple bullet wounds, glass shrapnel punctured the extremities but were reported as ruptured major organs. From the words of one of the security members, he received a single automender treatment, bandaged up, and sent on their way. For unknown reasons, the report read that he was placed in a stasis chamber.

Richard copied the audio to a file at his desk and compiled the information into a single file and messaged Martinez. A few lines accompanied the compilation, 'I have noticed that my men were in stasis while many lizardmen died waiting for surgery. I'll need to speak with you on the matter.'

Richard knew the captain would be very interested in the information and will bring it up with the medical department. Their inattentive nature toward the aliens on the station disgusted Richard, he looked over at Trixi who munched on some deep-fried sausage while playing on her PDA. His mind went to dark places once more, how things would've been different if he wasn't able to protect her, just like the others.

She noticed him staring and tilted her head curiously, "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head and went back to his work, "nothing… How's the food?"

"The sausage is great! Wilma always makes tasty breakfasts." Trixi finished the sausage and licked her pads. "She gave me extra helpings for you, I think she likes you," giggling as she teased the man.

Richard just brushed it aside with a soft chuckle. "When you see her again, tell her I appreciate the extra food. How about everything else on the station. You always did have your ears out for how everyone is feeling."

The vixen smiled, "Everyone is improving. I make sure to put smiles on their faces, even the regulars that dislike me have turned a new leaf."

"That's great. I hope to be walking the halls with them soon."

Her dark lips pouted, "Why not now? I can wheel you around to see their faces…"

Richard did a once over on his desk. The only thing he was waiting on was the captain to respond to his query. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. Let me just grab my hat and stun baton and we can get a good early morning patrol around the station."

They entered his room where he gathered his belongings from the high-security locker. His awards, medals, and accolades cluttered the storage bin. She asked him questions about some of the secret things he kept hidden. "Why don't you hang any of this stuff up? Your room could use the splash of color."

"It just reminds me of my time wasted," he picked up a frame with two medals of service along with a picture of several young men and an older bearded man, they smiled for the picture while holding up their weapons in celebration. "The company just chews people up and spits them out, I thought I escaped it when I found someone. Someone to look forward to seeing when I finally hung up my uniform."

Trixi placed her paw on his bandaged arm and stroked it gently, "What will you do now that you have me?"

"I'm still not sure. I'm getting too old to run around space," the picture cried out memories of the past, none of them were pleasant. His finger pointed to the gentleman on the far right in the picture. "Samson was killed by a blobbernaught."

"Blobbernaught?"

Richard whistled then answered the question "a large monster construct of a blob. Tough as shit and can tear apart bulkheads in a second."

Trixi quickly remembered the list of threats he spoke about when they practiced together. She scrunched her brow, "You said blobs were a minor threat."

He shrugged, "If you let them grow large enough, they become a problem and start to fight back." He changed the subject by pointing man on the far right in the photograph, "that man right there was killed by friendly fire during migration of space carp. Friendly fire tends to be the highest mortality rate in this field."

The fox remembered space carp sightings in her textbooks when she was in school. The babies were quite cute. "What harm can space carp do? They kind of just swim around in the vacuum of space."

"Migration season. Parents breath fire and the wizard federation see them as protected species…"

Trixi looked at the picture, "Which human is you?" He pointed out a young man in the group of several, a bright smile on his face and a laser rifle up high. Uniform pristine red and head full of brown hair, he was so small compared to what he became. Trixi yipped, "Aw, you were so cute!"

"If I remember correctly, I was 19 at the time." He placed the frame back into the locker, "Everyone died in that photograph except for me."

"You should quit. The company doesn't treat anyone with respect."

He wheeled around and placed the stun baton on his waist, "I don't do it for the company, I do it because I need to look after everyone. There are many threats outside the station and inside."

"Then I will stay with you. I want to be by your side, no matter how bad things get."

Her blue eyes peered into him, caring and deep. Richard lifted her to a hug. He brushed his arms along her body and down to her fluffy tail. He sighed and pressed his face into her fluffy neck. "That's more than I could ever ask of someone." Once he set her down, he was grinning wide.

A chuckle escaped her muzzle. She remembered she had a gift for him. She left him to the office and returned shortly after, "Here you go! I delivered it as promised." The metal shaft was passed to him, familiar weight and shape as he clinched it.

"Where did you get this?"

Her orange tail bounced with excitement from side to side, "Doug found it in the trash, said it was left behind. I promised I'd give it to you."

He activated the handle, and the eerie hum of the red energy sword came to life. He slowly passed the blade through the air, the burning edge hissed. "Did anyone see it? Did the A.I. see it?" She shook her head, the sneaky fox knew where all the cameras were located, no one would be able to catch her. He shut the blade off, the handle was warm. "I can't believe Doug remembered I used to collect the blades," he smirked, "every time I moved to a new duty station my replacement would confiscate a dozen from my collection." The hilt was placed into the security locker, "Thank you, Trixi. If only I had a blade beforehand, things would have been very different."

Trixi moved behind him and grabbed the wheelchair, "You want to go on patrol now? I'm sure the crew would love to see you around. It would make them feel safer."

"That would be great, I can speak with the captain about some things and get to see the progress on the infiltrator dismantling."

_____

The two patrolled the station, Trixi laughed as Richard awkwardly accepted thanks and handshakes. Last night he was doped on medication and alcohol. She wheeled him through the different departments so he could get a feel for how the station was coming along. The crews' purposes were defined, and laser-focused. The sight had Richard in a great mood. The final department they visited was engineering, Trixi was asked to leave the security head in the chief engineer's office for a private conversation.

"Thank you for understanding Trixi, it won't take long." The older man said to the vulpes as she slowly walked out of the room. "You wanted to know about the lizardmen and their treatment in the medical department?"

"That's correct, they were under my care as volunteers and I'm responsible for their treatment. So, please tell me how many are still injured, you're probably the only other department lead on the station that cares." Richard looked out the window of his office to two lizardmen working at consoles for the supermatter crystal, thick padded yellow suits covered them from head to the tips of their tails.

The engineer agreed, "They're doing a lot better now that the warden chewed out the medical staff. Are you aware that five died shortly after being admitted into the clinic, three more a week later?" Richard nodded to the somber statement; the facts were etched on the engineer's face. "My department suffered greatly; they were beloved friends."

"I sympathize"

The chief brushed his mustache nervously, "I'm sorry Richard… you lost close friends and colleagues as well. I just wish I knew what went on in the medical department."

"I'm hoping to find out, first I need to speak to the captain about it, I might have to wait till I get my surgery, so I'm not bound to a chair like a damn house plant."

The two chatted around the subject of who they believed to be behind the reasons the aliens were not treated. However, protocol required all the evidence to be in line and statements gathered if another department head was to be implemented in a crime. With the chief engineer's story verified it gave Richard some peace of mind that things are improving for the lizardmen.

Trixi was allowed back in to take him away to his next destination. She hummed happily to herself as they headed toward the bridge. When they arrived, a similar conversation took place, Trixi once again asked to leave.

She let out a huff, "Do I really have to?"

"Yes, this is the last meeting," Richard had a mote of sadness in his voice.  He watched the vulpes drag her feet out of the conference room.  Once the door was shut, he faced Martinez.  "I'm going to be opening an investigation into the malpractice of the medical department, I believe they have purposefully neglected their duties to the aliens on the station which led to the deaths of eight lizardmen."

"I'm glad you told me." He pulled up his PDA and looked over the data he received. "I visited medical not too long after I got the message. Roma had gone through the department, some doctors told me they were shocked at the situation in xenobiology." The captain leaned back on the large office chair, "I went to the xeno level myself and checked on how the patients were feeling. Three are still fighting for survival, the station's night cycle isn't healthy for their cold-blooded bodies. I ordered them to keep their rooms heated round the clock."

Richard sighed, helpless. He couldn't do a damn thing about it and Roma has not taken a break in countless days. No doubt worried about his scaly woman. He cliched his fist, "I wish there was more that I could do."

The captain stood up, the creaking of the old chair exacerbated by his body's slow movement. "Let me get the doctor's claims recorded, I'll add it to your investigation while you recover. I'm responsible for all my crew's wellbeing as well." He opened the door to let Trixi into the room, she bounded to Richard's side. "You're not alone on this matter."

Richard saluted the captain, "Thank you, Martinez."

Martinez saluted back but frowned as he watched the man get wheeled away. It was written all over Richard's scarred face that he was unhappy with how it was handled. He opened a drawer from under the table and pulled out a bottle of aged whiskey. Something to calm the old captain's nerves. Much like Richard, he blamed himself for those that gave their lives.

Trixi whispered to Richard as they left the bridge, "What's wrong? Did the captain yell at you?"

"I'm just trying to deal with something important." He slumped his shoulders and deflated into the chair. He asked, trying to change the subject, "Did you have fun at least? I saw that some people were excited to see you around."

She had a weak smile on, "Everyone has been really kind. I haven't been able to do my normal routines yet, and I am required to be in uniform to perform hijinks."

Richard bolstered her mood, "let's check cargo then. maybe they have your order?" The hopeful vulpes pushed on to visit cargo.

Inside the warehouse was a thin fog of smoke and Doug reeked of marijuana. He slowly rose his hand to welcome the pair. Trixi coughed and pulled up her collar over her snout while Richard wore the same tired look he always had.

The quartermaster buzzed out of his mind put on his aviator sunglasses to hide his bloodshot pink eyes, "So… what can I get ya?"

Richard answered him as Trixi continued with her coughing fits, "We're wondering if the clown supplies arrived." Doug didn't respond just scanned the room with a sluggish speed. The entire cargo department laid about not doing anything, half were completely asleep.

Trixi was fed up with the room with her hypersensitive nose, "Where did you even get this much marijuana?!" This caused the quartermaster to go into a giggle fit. He was useless in this state. Richard spotted a small metal crate underneath a sleeping cargo tech. He started to wheel himself to the box before Trixi grabbed the chair and pushed him, "no, let me do it. It's my job right now." Her voice was muffled by her cloth.

The cargo tech was passed out snoring loudly. Richard pulled out the stun baton and before the man knew it, he was on the ground. He quickly rose ready to strike at his attacker but quickly pocketed his rage when he saw the serious-faced head of security staring back at him. Doug burst out laughing along with a few of the other cargo techs that watched the events unfold.

"Sorry, sir. Uh, didn't know you'd be here." He backed away slowly holding his stunned abdomen.

Trixi's laughter was hidden inside her shirt. The small box and it had her name on it. "It's here! Let's head back to the office so I can try it on."

She couldn’t wait to open her clown supplies. Right as the door hissed close to Richard's office, she opened the crate. The scent of banana crème wafted from the container. She pulled out her new clown suit. Orange fur puffed out as she stripped from the restraining clothing. Richard watched as she slipped on the clown's uniform. Her fur vanished under the polka-dotted white shirt and red overalls. She rolled up the pant legs so she could get the final touches of the uniform the squeaky red shoes.

The smile she had on rubbed off on the man. She started to bounce from one foot to another in a funny fashion, each step with her paw sounded off with a squeak. Richard picked up her discarded uniform and folded it neatly.

She hugged herself, rubbing the new clothes with her paws. The clothing hung loosely around her body. "This feels so much better! Coveralls just rub my fur all the wrong ways, I was going to have bald spots."

Richard asked, "What does a vulpes' usually wear?"

"In our homes, underwear. Or sometimes in a light clothing called rashine. It's a single fabric that drapes over our bodies with a hole for our head, it's very light silk."

Richard pictured her small frame silhouetting a white fabric. Her curves outlined in shadow. "Huh, do you have a rashin'?"

She smirked at his mispronunciation, "Nope. I was told to not pack anything from my homeworld other than an issued coverall. Said it was policy."

An exasperated groan left Richard, "They are still doing that after all these years? The recruiters don't want any alien culture to get on the station..."

Trixi tilted her head, "it's okay, honestly. I love the variety of human clothes. Woman have so many different options. Vulpes don't have anywhere near the many colors and verities." She clutched her clown shirt that smelled like bananas, "When you have your surgery, we could go into the holodeck and I can replicate the clothing to show you."

He leaned back in his chair and smiled, "That would be lovely. I would also love to see what your planet might look like as well."

The vixen nodded in agreement as her attention drifted back toward the sweet-smelling crate. "Great! I can't wait to show you some things, and then you can show me what your planet looks like." She pulled out the culprit of the smell, a long colorful tube mechanism loaded with banana crème pies. She laughed and then rolled backward, "I can't believe it! They sent me a pie cannon!"

Richard joined in her laughter. "Don't get into too much trouble with that thing." The fox was enamored by the shiny toy.

"You're not going to take it away from me?" Confusion warbled her voice.

Richard got an idea, "I believe the cargo techs might have the munchies. So go have some fun."

"What about you? What if you need to go somewhere?"

"I am not going to go anywhere."

She looked at him seriously, "promise?" The man put a hand over his heart.  The fox flashed wicked smile on her muzzle, "Thank you, I'll be back shortly. It only has like 10 pies loaded."

Trixi went to her room and applied her clown makeup once more. She spent the rest of the shift firing pies at the crew with her pie canon. Once it was emptied, she annoyed the chef to get more pie. The crew wasn't bothered too much as they watched the squeaking menace fire salvo of sweet treats across the halls. It marked a return to normalcy for the station.

Richard however worked hard to compile information on CMO. He knew Allison hated the aliens but couldn't figure out why she allowed events to unfold the way they did. He added the chief engineer's statement to the investigation. There were still testimonies from the medical department that needed to be taken. Back pain took Richard's mind off his work. The constant activities from the day worsened. He groaned and mumbled to himself, "just a little longer than this will all be over."

Chapter Text

Laundry day. Trixi held her bag of laundry waiting for the machine to finish so that she may start her load. Richard’s wash was constantly in use so she couldn’t use the head’s private utilities. Glad to be out of the boring office for a breather was nice. No matter how much the person she cared so deeply protested, she wouldn't leave his side. Not after she caught him trying to sneak out in his workout clothes. She saw it in his face that the pain in his back worsened, and just a few more days till his surgery. She did her best to watch over him so that he didn't exert himself. But she had to do her chores.

The women’s laundry room was occupied by three other women. The fox was by herself in the alien corner of the room. She tried to mind her own business as a few machines rumbled around noisily, but the other girls spoke loud enough for her pointed ears to pick up the whispers.

“That’s the HoS' girlfriend over there.” One girl said to the other.

“Does he have a problem, is his dick too small for a normal woman?”

They giggled at each other when the third woman spoke up. “Nope, the man is hung, saw it for myself when he was on display in the stasis bed. The alien is probably a size queen.”

Trixi didn’t want to listen anymore to the conversation. The thought of a woman eyeing up the men she got to know like hunks of meat disgusted her. She felt her stomach turn as they continued to gossip, wondering if this is what Richard hated. The dryer buzzed and she took the yellow coveralls inside and stuffed them into the neighboring basket. They were very large, grease-stained. Several burn marks marred the cuffs. It wasn’t long till the owner returned to pick up her uniforms.

The blue-scaled figure slowly walked up to her wearing her civilian coveralls. The diminutive fox felt even smaller next to the large lizardman. However, the normally cheerful Welds looked weak with her claws wrapped delicately across her arms. Trixi smiled at her, pleasant to see her out of the hospital, “You’re back! How are you feeling!?” The lizardman nodded, her mouth curling slightly at the sight of the orange bushy-tailed critter.

Welds and Trixi caught up with each other. Trixi recanted her tale of heroism and how Richard and the others saved the day. Welds tried her best to keep up with her story but talking hurt, her voice rasped more than the usual lizardman. Then Trixi asked about her relationship with Roma.

This sudden shift turned Welds’ slitted pupils toward the other women in the room. She spoke very softly, “Not in front of the other humansss.”

Trixi looked at the three women who were now staring back. She dismissed the judgmental looks, “Why not? If they have a problem with it, I will gladly get some crayons and toss them into all the driers. They can’t do a thing about it.”

The other women quickly turned their heads away from the fox and pretended to not listen in on their conversation. Welds grabbed her basket angrily and left the room. Trixi followed closely behind her, concerned for her friend.

The empty 4^th story walkway overlooked the dorm stairway. Trixi silently followed Welds' scaly tail. The door hissed open, Welds’ room was small and clean, the same layout and size as Trixi's. Except instead of garish reds and sharp blues the lizard's color choice was more earthy, rich chocolate colored bedding with a warm red heat lamp affixed overhead. The basket was haphazardly dumped onto the bed. Trixi hopped up next to the pile and waited for her friend to speak up. It wasn’t until the clothes were folded and put away that she finally spoke up.

“It’s not sssafe to talk about that ssstuff.”

“Safe? All I saw were glares from medical bimbos… And I think that's the default look they give.” Trixi closed her eyes and tried to remember any other instances… outside of the normal clown occupational hazards. Her eyes opened, the three women were the first she witnessed that behavior.

“I worry, Roma told me many thingsss.”

Trixi patted the bed wanting to hear her out. Welds hesitated, scratching some loose scales from her arm. The small vulpes bounced up from the weight shift as she sat down.

“Humansss have killed lizardmen for being in a relationship. When Roma worked in the outer rim a woman fell in love with my kind. When the crew found out, they grew jealousss, he wasss beaten to death. Roma tried to arressst them, but the head of the ssstation refusssed.”

Trixi lowered her muzzle. “This station is different. Richard and the captain won't allow that abuse.”

“We didn’t know how the heads of this ssstation would handle an alien bond. We ssspent monthsss wondering if it would work out at all. Sssneaking around it getsss tiresssome.” Welds relaxed, her tail lashed lazily to her side.

"You shouldn't live like this. The captain and Richard would never let something like that happen here." Trixi touched Welds' claw who nodded with the sentiment. “Speaking of that, how did you two meet?” There was a gleam in Trixi’s blue eyes that beckoned to the dark green of the lizardman. “You HAVE to tell me!”

Welds choked back laughter, clearly an amusing memory. “We ran into each other in the engine room half a year ago. Literally into each other. I dropped some tempered glassss and it exploded when it hit the floor. I wasss mad. I cursssed him out in draconic and he just ssstared at me with a ssstupid look on his face.” She covered her toothy smile with a claw as she laughed. “I called him a worthless pink sssmoothssskin.”

Trixi joined in the laughter, “That’s adorable! What happened next?”

“He wouldn’t leave me alone, followed me around everywhere, eventually I asssked him why he said ‘I’m gorgeousss’.” Welds’ scaled face turned a deep blue as she blushed. She looked over at Trixi who squeaked with joy.

“That’s so cute!”

“What about you? I’m sure your bond is more interesssting.” She couldn’t help but be a little curious how a clown and the head of security could go out with one another.

Trixi happily told her, she opened her mouth and overshared her little heart out. Even things that should’ve been kept private. Her little adventures in the holodeck to showering together to help him recover from his injuries. By the end of her retelling Welds’ maw hung open, that was a lot more than she expected.

"That… wasss an interesssting ssstory. Roma never ssspoke about Richard. We were both shocked when he tried to asssk me out."

The fox wasn't proud of herself, she frowned looking up at her friend. "That was my idea, I was just trying to help him get over his problems. I wouldn't have suggested it if I knew."

She chuckled at the sentiment. "I'm sssorry for not telling you. I never told anyone about my bond, not even my family, they hate humansss."

"That's awful. You told no one?" The lizard shook her head. Trixi wondered how things would be different if she didn't have her sister to help her. She probably wouldn't even be here if it weren't for her. She looked up again at her tall friend, "If you need anything, Richard and I will be there for you and Roma." The PDA beeped in Trixi's pocket, reminding her of the dryer. “Clothes are finished. I’ll see you around Welds, I’m so happy you are feeling better now." Before the door shut she said her final goodbye "Message me when you want to talk more.”

Welds' tail tip flicked beside her, the unexpected company of the vulpes was welcomed. “We should do this again sssometime, it was fun.”

Back in the laundry room, Trixi thought about how to make things better for Welds. She got a wonderful idea, something that normal couples do all the time, double date. It would be great to have a normal couple's conversation without the constant fear of judgment.

Richard was in his office when Trixi arrived with her pile of clean clothes. The pain medication had knocked him out. The vulpes moved his head to the neck pillow, trying her best to not wake him as she folded her laundry in her makeshift home in corner of the office.

After she finished, she clambered up to her new favorite spot, her boyfriend’s lap. She rested her head on his chest, listening to him gently breathe. Only two more days till the anticipated surgery. She grew tired of scolding him every time he left to do his work. He was stubborn.

The other night he tried to sneak out without waking her, but her acute senses picked up the slight squeak of the wheelchair. After yelling his ears off he lamented, knowing the pain in his back had worsened. He didn’t mention what he was working on, but he eventually gave up and said it can wait till after the surgery.

His scent comforted her. She watched as he slowly stirred from his rest to the company of the vulpes’ smile. “I’m glad you stayed.”

Richard let out a long yawn and petted her soft fuzzy head. “Wouldn’t want you to jump down my throat again," he said in a joking manner. "Did you get to wash your clothes?”

She nodded and then explained what happened. Then she told him her plans for the double date. He shifted his face, confused about how that would work.

“I don’t know, Roma’s much younger than me. We don’t have much in common.”

“Please… it will be good for the four of us.” Her muzzle pouted with a quivering lower lip.

“What do you mean?”

“We’re the only odd couples on the station. Welds had to keep her relationship a secret for such a long time. She doesn’t even have family to speak about it. They don’t like that she is working for humans. Probably disown her if they found out.”

Trixi cared for the well-being of others. Even if it was to her detriment half the time. He thought about Welds and Roma. They were probably terrified of coming out to others. Richard feared for Trixi if their relationship was discovered. But his position would protect her. Others didn't have that luxury. “Humm, you're right.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ll go ahead and message them. Where would you like it to be?”

“We could go to the holodeck.”

“Too many people who will notice us all enter.”

Richard looked down at her. She normally never worried about such things. “Did those women get to you that much?”

“No, of course not! Failed doctors don’t bother me. I’m just worried about Welds. What if her family finds out?”

Richard sighed, the family ties would be a very complicated mess. He knew rival clans occupied the same station from Tizirian. Which ones he couldn't say, but they gossiped as much as humans. He thought of a secluded location. The abandoned sections of the station were still under repair, so most were still blocked from travel.

“We could go to the owlery. No one goes there.”

“Perfect!” Her tail twitched happily, bopping him in the side. Trixi sent the message to Welds while Richard called in Roma.

Roma walked in seeing the vulpes rest on the security chief's lap. There was confusion on the man's face as he approached the desk. "Did you need me for something?"

Trixi hopped down and explained her plans. Upon the request, Roma stared at Richard with a hand stretched out as if to be handed an answer from his boss.

 “Not my idea.” Richard pointed at the excited vulpes.

Trixi hugged Roma. “It will be fun, trust me. Just like the shows.”

Roma was as enthused with the idea as Richard was. Trixi prattled on and on about how this would be a good thing for everyone.

Richard offered a way out of the obligation, “Unless you’re too tired and wish to rest, maybe spend some private time with Welds.” Trixi was silent and looked up at Roma with the quivering look she gave Richard.

He was completely worn down at this point. “It won’t be that long, I guess. We can spend a few hours together. The girls will be happy anyway.”

Trixi gekkered happily. "Yay!"

The lift leading to the owlery opened. Located at the top level of the dormitory section of the station, formerly an observation deck. A 50-meter semispherical dome shielded the occupants from space, each star flickered dimly. Grow lamps populated the walkway, they kept the grass healthy and green. Fake trees helped give the illusion of a full park.

Generations ago it was a popular spot for astronomers and astrophysicists, but as the centuries went by, people no longer cared to see boring dots in the endless black void. As time passed the humans that occupied space were no longer scientists, but regular people. It was out of habit the structures are still ingrained into the Nanotrasen blueprints of the mass-produced stations across the galaxy. Currently, the deck was used to house owls. No reason was given, maybe an alliance with a secret cult to stop the end of the universe or some weird fetish by an administrator. Regardless, hooting from several species of owls echoed in the vast space.

Richard and Trixi brought some food with them. A basket of treats Trixi picked out for their little picnic. They waited at a bench in the center of the park. The air was chilly, Richard’s head was racing. He figured since he was forced to go on this date, he would be able to glean some information for his investigation on the medical department. However, avoiding Roma getting involved would take priority. One thing he wished for was some alcohol to help him out.

Trixi on the other hand was ecstatic. She sat on Richard's lap and watched the door to the lift carefully. The cool air coupled with the man's warmth was comforting. "This place is nice."

He was brought back to the present to the warm orange vulpes leaning on his chest. "It's quiet, I forget it exists sometimes." A rather large space owl hooted disrupting the peace. "Somewhat quiet." She shifted in his lap and rubbed her snout into his chest. He wrapped her with his arms causing her to shrink into his grasp.

"Are you going to fall asleep here?"

"Maybe. It's so comfy."

He stared into her eyes, darkness caused her pupils to dilate reflecting the stars. She looked so beautiful with shiny fur and eyes full of stars. He couldn't help himself from stealing a kiss from the vulpes.

She was left breathless as he pushed the kiss deeper, penetrating her maw with his tongue. She felt temptation take her. It was a good thing she did laundry earlier, she would need a new pair of panties. She pulled away as her heart raced, "Not yet. I wanted to wait till you got better." The request was heartwarming. She recently complained about her selfish behavior, leaving the desire in Richard unfulfilled. He stroked her body tracing the curves to her feminine hips and down her fluffy orange tail. She straddled him and rotated her hips on his lap slowly. "I want our first time to be special, okay?" There was a disconnect somewhere as her body moved on him.

"Alright, but you’re the one moving your hips." Richard teased.

She stopped moving, blushing feverishly. "Damn fox heat."

"You're in heat again?"

"It's natural. When my species gets in the mood we get into a type of heat."

"I could lend a hand if you'd like." There was a smug smile on his face that was subsequently wiped away as she put her paw over his mouth.

"Hardy har. Isn't this a public area? You already stopped me when I tried kissing you in the hallway."

Richard frowned. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but he still had a job to do. "C.C. 111 P.D.A. We were in the hallway, working environments forbid intimacy. Technically that would cover my office, but I'll be damned if they tell me what to do while I'm in recovery."

"So… I could pull off my panties, right now, and show you how dirty they got and you wouldn't arrest me." She now had the smug toothy smile on her muzzle.

He shook his head and chuckled to himself, "C.C. 106 I.E. Light kissing and hand-holding is all that is allowed in public recreation areas." He kissed her snout playfully, "I'd have to confiscate the evidence and put some handcuffs on you. Then I'd add it to that other pair you left in my laundry."

Trixi lost control of herself laughing at the prank she left him. She held herself steady on his chest. They were interrupted by a cough from behind. Roma and Welds stood across the table. Richard pursed his lips wondering how much of their conversation they heard while Trixi caught her breath.

Welds looked away with her face a deep blue while Roma was nervously scratching the back of his head upon seeing the two talk about intimate matters. Trixi smiled and invited the couple to sit. "You're getting good at walking in at the right time." Richard covered his unscarred portion of his face in embarrassment. It was an awkward silence as the couple unloaded what they brought to the picnic. Some cake and left-over pizza from the cafeteria.

Once everything was dished out Trixi started the conversation. "I'm glad you two could be here."

Welds smiled politely. "Thank you, I'm feeling better after resting in my bed." She patted Roma on the leg. "I probably wouldn't have pulled through if it wasssn't for him." Roma hugged her with one arm pulling her close.

Richard perked up out of his embarrassment, "How was recovery? Between my pain medication and trying to heal I haven't been able to check up on the xeno wing."

"It wasss rough, cold. Very cold…"

Roma helped warm her with his body rubbing her scales through her coveralls. "I spent hours arguing with the CMO about the heating. Once the captain recovered, she finally bumped up the heat."

Richard squinted, questioning as to why Allison would do something like that. It's not like the heating is coming out of her paycheck. He wasn't a doctor, but he knew the cold-blooded reptilian race needed outside warmth. "Any reason why?"

"She said it was designed to give rest for humans, if she changed it, it would mess with the systems in the entirety of med bay."

Welds interrupted with a chuckle. A hazy memory lying in bed came to her, "I woke up once from the sssound of him yelling outssside the room."

"That's cute! You got to hear him fight for you." Trixi said while lifting a toolbox to the table, ice water sloshed around inside.

"What do you have there?" Welds asked.

"Bakes gave me this drink for everyone to enjoy. He said it was really good." Trixi produced a bottle of kotare from the toolbox. The draconic writing on the bottle indicated it was from Tizira. She proceeded to pour the contents into glasses for everyone. Welds' eyes lit up at the sight of the milky fermented crème.

As the alcohol flowed the girls began to gossip. It quickly turned to talk about their human partners, a topic Trixi desperately wanted to talk about. Topics included, the weird quirks about humans not having a strong sense of smell, the jewelry human females wear, and how the thin chains always got caught in scales and fur. The alcohol started to get to the ladies.

"Letsss not forget human warmth."

Trixi enjoyed Richard's warmth because he had no fur, she got to feel his heat radiation directly. Then she thought about her cold-blooded friend. "He must feel so much warmer to you. I'm jealous."

Welds hissed out a laugh. "It's incredible. He'sss my little heat blanket." The larger woman wrapped her arms around Roma. He leaned in and accepted his fate.

"I bet the sex feels amazing."

Welds' eyes shot open, and a blush took the young couple's faces. Richard sat there stone-faced knowing that it was bound to happen.

"Aw, come on. It's natural. I can't wait till we finally get to do it."

Richard covered his face with one of his hands. His other hand wrapped around her snout. "That's a private matter."

Welds smirked and leaned her long neck over toward Trixi. She whispered to the group, "I can't go back to my kind now." Roma was mortified, hiding his face until Welds leaned into him once more.

Trixi pushed Richard's hand away from her snout. "Now I have to know! It took my sister a while to get used to it. Humans are just so much larger. You'd think they were bred to have big dicks."

Richard barked out ordering the women to stop, "Alright, enough of that talk please discuss something else."

Welds and Trixi giggled as he scowled at the two non-humans.

Despite the direction of the conversation, it pleased the men to see the females act without judgmental eyes.  They shared some embarrassing childhood stories of their alien backgrounds and what brought them to the station.

Welds told her military background when she served as an engineer in the Tizirian defense force. Once she was discharged, she left the planet to find a better life for herself. Roma shared his experience joining Nanotrasen when he was 17 years old. He nearly died on his first month in the outer rim.

Richard frowned, drinking from his nearly empty glass. "It's rough out there. I don't think I would survive if I were to go back."

Roma's curiosity piqued, "What about you Richard? You never spoke about what happened on your last duty station."

"Didn't I tell you that already?" Roma just shook his head. It was a story Richard told many times to Jack, to the point he was sick of it. An abridged version of heroism would do for now. He topped off his glass, "Well, there isn't much to tell. The station doesn't exist anymore, self-destruction. A spy sabotaged the super matter crystal. Thankfully we evacuated with the saboteur in custody."

Roma chuckled pouring the bottle of the lizard drink into his glass. "You know how to stop enemies don't you."

"It's all about how incompetent the enemy is. He had contraband equipment, so I broke his knees." There was a smug smile on Richard's face.

Trixi nudged Richard, "Please don't talk about fighting now, we are supposed to be celebrating." The direction the stories were taking disturbed the vulpes.

He brushed the side of her furry face comforting her.

Welds flicked her tongue out. Her dilated pupils were almost as large as Trixi's. "How did you become head of sssecurity? I heard rumorsss that humansss take the position after one perishesss."

"Look at Roma, that is how it usually goes." Roma frowned and Richard drank heavily from the cup to drown his feelings. "We must prove ourselves capable to keep the position. Substituting an absent head is one way. If the administration liked how you performed, you keep the position. Other positions can be attained through academic achievements or have connections in very high places." The alcohol loosened up Richard, he smiled to lighten up the mood. "So, Roma, have I told you how I got promoted to department head?"

"No, Miller asked Jack ages ago, he just laughed his ass off mumbling about a wizard."

He gave them a hook by telling the punchline, it always stuck with his men when he told it to them this way. "I put a man's balls in my mouth." Confusion passed over the party. Richard's smile widened further on their reactions. "15 years ago, a wizard infiltrated the station around an asteroid field near Balista. The lunatic was upset that we were mining through a space carp's den. Why they care so much about mindless space fish I couldn't say. Anyway, he was throwing spells left and right and ripped through several bulkheads by turning himself into a rod slamming through the station. We were quite fucked."

Wizards were an enigma to everyone outside of their special cult. The last time anyone heard of them was a treaty between Nanotrasen and their guild. Roma asked, "Wasn't there a ceasefire with the wizard federation?"

"Not back then, and even if there is one, those nerds don't care. They have no moral values of right or wrong. If they want to do something, they'll do it. And the robe-wearing megalomaniac did, he toyed with the crew, doing horrible experiments. He turned the, at the time, head of security into a monkey and kicked him into space."

Richard felt Trixi tremble into his chest. She pouted up at him. He sighed and shortened the story up, skipping over the other horrible things to prevent her from having more nightmares. "And then I was transformed into a corgi along with three other officers."

Welds tilted her head, "What wasss that like?"

"My head was swimming in a completely different body. It felt like a dream. I didn't get to experience it for very long. I saw that cackling mug of his and charged at him with my stubby little legs. I was filled with rage. An angry, fuzzy, sausage roll. Biting him right on his ball sack." He let out a burst of bellowing laughter as he finished the story.

Roma joined in the infectious laughter. "Seriously?! And that's how you beat a level five magical presence?"

"Yup broke his concentration and we all turned back to normal. I still held onto his sack with my teeth as he screamed like a little girl. He was shot dead when the others grabbed their guns."

Trixi sipped on her own smaller glass. The idea of bizarre encounters gave her more satisfaction with her current work. She would rather sit in his office being bored out of her mind than dealing with deadly magical demi-humans.

The bottle was empty. The cold started to bite at them more as the station's heating switched tonight. Roma's arms were wrapped around Welds, her cold-blooded body soaking in his heat as the night arrived. Trixi was feeling chilly herself and was content to stay put on Richard.

"We should probably get back, it was a nice night out though, thank you for the invitation, Trixi," Roma said as he helped Welds back to the lift.

Trixi waved goodbye. "Thank you for coming. I'll see you tomorrow." Once they were out of sight the vulpes hopped out and started to push Richard in the same direction, the grow lights flicked off as they walked down the trail. "Are you feeling better too?"

"Tired, but that's normal. A good night's sleep will help." Richard mulled over how Welds felt about her treatments. He wanted to ask more about the ward. Sadly, the whole ordeal would have to wait till after he recovered. He prayed that it would be a quick and easy operation so he could get to work.

_____

The following day was much like the rest. He was rather stir-crazy, days of being confined to an office would do that to anyone. Trixi picked up on his mood quickly.

"Do you want to patrol the station?"

She sat on the little pillow den she made. Just looking at it would make one want to curl up and take a nap. She wanted to get out and see the station too. Outside of the few hours she dressed up in her clown uniform she was stuck in his office as well, refusing to leave his side.

Richard shook his head staring down at his PDA reading random articles from the net. "No, I don't want to cause any more inflammation." He pulled his eyes up from his device. Like a guard dog, she watched over him. "You can do whatever you want, I'm not going anywhere." She winced at every movement he made. The surgery worried her more than it did him.

"No. I want to make sure everything is perfect. If something happens…"

Every day that passed her worry grew. He wanted to wheel over and comfort her and let her know that nothing would go wrong. But deep down he didn't trust his own words. Countless hours of lost sleep kept it on the forefront of his mind. Everyone did their part to try and give him his rest, and he couldn't even do that properly. A false bravado was all he mustered, "Nothing will happen. The surgeon installed hundreds of bionic spines."

"Please don’t say 'nothing will happen', you said the same thing about the attack." Her eyes water on the verge of tears. Richard tilted his head back and swallowed, he patted his lap for her to sit. Before he looked back, she embraced him on the spot. Her legs were curled to her chest as she cried, "Please be okay."

He petted her fur, the blisters on his hand were now just white scars that marked up to his elbow. The feeling hasn't fully returned, but he was glad to at least touch her soft fur without pain. He kissed the top of her head as she held him tightly, "You worry enough for the both of us. Once the surgery is done, I'll be better than before the attack."

Trixi the gesture calmed her a bit. She rested her snout on his chest. He was warm to the touch, she greedily nuzzled into him. "If something does happen, I'll be there for you the entire way."

He frowned, the thought of being a permanent plant was a fate worse than death for the man. Worse than that she would force herself to deal with his uselessness. He wanted to argue with her but, he was grateful that she said that. He didn't want to be alone. He leaned forward and kissed her on her dark lips, thanking his vulpes for staying with him.

The door to the office beeped, it had been so long that thing was used Richard forgot what it sounded like. Everyone usually just barged in unannounced. Trixi hopped off Richard's lap and sat back on her pillow fort.

"Come in."

The captain walked into the office with another individual. Trixi stood up at attention and Richard saluted from his chair. "At ease." A young human stranger followed closely behind the happy rotund man. He wore a lab coat, looked like every other scientist, glasses, pencil frame, except with bionic hands. Not the cheap discount prosthetics either, fully articulated silver-lined metal gauntlets. The captain introduced him, "This is Dr. Plano, the man that will perform the operation tomorrow."

Richard smiled and shook the doctor's hand. "Welcome aboard, I hope your trip was pleasant." The hand was warm to the touch and firm. He could sense the metal appendage could crush his hand like an empty soda can if the doctor wanted it to.

"I had rougher travels. I just wanted to meet my patient face to face. You know how Nanotrasen keeps their medical records."

"I lost count of how many times they lost my records."

They shared the common humor and then he pulled out a clipboard and asked the usual doctor questions. The standard rigmarole every doctor asks every time they see an individual. Dr. Plano filled out the checkboxes and was pleased to see the head of security wasn't a donut-eating desk jockey like the others at the company. "Everything is in order. Don't eat or drink tonight and I will see you bright and early in the morning."

Trixi injected herself into the conversation, "Are there going to be any side effects? What are some complications that will happen? If something goes wrong, can it be reversed? …" She was going through every possible combination of questions her mind could think of so fast that the doctor couldn't get a word in.

"It's going to be okay Trixi," Richard said to the anxious vulpes. She stopped talking and looked down, her tail whipping around signaling her nervousness.

"Ho!" The captain laughed out. "You're going to need a doctor yourself if you keep worrying like that. He's the best nano surgeon in the inner sphere."

"Indeed, I performed countless spinal replacements, installed bypass spinal columns on disabled children. A healthy adult is as simple as rewiring a wiring harness." He lifted his hand and it split open across the dorsal and palmar into a web of tiny prongs. They all started to move independently, faster than any of them could see. "Plus, I have the greatest tools mankind has come up with to date."

Trixi looked on with awe. Her worries vanished as the wired fingertips retreated into his silver hand.

With the medical questions out of the way, the captain escorted the doctor out of the security wing. Richard smiled, one more day and he can get out of the wheelchair and further his investigation. Being free to walk around would make that process lightning fast. The ability to interrogate some of the doctors without altering Allison put a smile on his face. And then there was Trixi, sure she could help in her way but if things got… complicated...

Trixi's tail batted around timidly, breaking his concentration.

"Is there something you want to do?" Richard asked.

"No, I'm fine. I'm glad we got to meet the doctor."

"I'm surprised they went and got that doctor. I just looked up his name." He pulled up his PDA and showed it to the vulpes. "He is one of the highest-rated bionic surgeons in known space."

_____

The following morning Trixi waited outside the operating room. She paced back and forth. Richard's wheelchair was folded up against the steel wall. She wished it was done in the observation room, but Richard refused. He hated the idea of being a spectacle for everyone in such a vulnerable state.

A woman's voice sounded overhead, creaking like rusted gears. "You can go now vulpes. You aren't needed anymore." Spinning around she saw the chief medical officer. Her aged face sagged more than usual, green daggers for eyes judged vulpes. "The security head will be fine to walk back on his own."

The older woman's demeanor was very different than the rest of the staff. Trixi always avoided her while she messed around in the medical department. An uncomfortable crawling swept up her spine. Refusing to move she stared at the door to the operating room again.

"I insist, you aliens seem to think you run things around here. Not in my department." The woman mumbled under her breath, but Trixi's ears still picked up what she said to herself, "Wouldn't have this problem back then…"

The surgery was going to take another 8 hours. She didn't want to abandon him. "No. I don't want to leave."

The woman's forehead creased causing her to look even older than she was. "Like a dog wanting nothing more than to be at your master's side. Get back to where you belong, in the service wing. Or I will-" She cut herself off with a cough. "Just leave, I'm sure the head will contact you when things are finished."

Trixi's fur stood on end. She should be furious, but something was off with this woman. Her back twitched incessantly. Instincts told her to get away from her.

Reluctantly, she left the medical department. With no real destination in mind she headed back to her room to think, but Jacques stopped her in the hallway toward her room. His white painted face was a warm sight to the vulpes. The mime spoke by mouthing words asking if she was feeling alright.

"I was kicked out of the medical department, the CMO doesn't want me waiting for Richard."

He frowned deeply and then kneeled to hug her. She welcomed the comfort and a small smile spread on her muzzle.

"How have you been? Is the bar doing okay without me?"

He mouthed saying everything was alright. Bakes has been feeling much better after hearing the lizardmen were returning to their work. The mime then congratulated Trixi with breaking through to Richard.

She was shocked, she has yet to tell him about that yet. "How did you know?"

The mime let out a silent laugh tilting his head back in an overacted arch. He then told in his silent way how her body language was relaxed around Richard, and that his eyes dilated 20% when he was around her. It was clear to anyone who could pay attention to body language.

The vulpes giggled at how obvious it must have seemed to the mime. "It has been quite the trip." The mime silently agreed. "I should probably get on my make-up. Maybe spend some time at the bar. Pass some time."

Her silent friend gave a thumbs up to the idea, wiping his brow of invisible sweat.

"You can take a break. I'll man the stage."

Once she got dressed, she greeted the patrons at the saloon. Telling bad jokes and helping Bakes keep things clean helped melt away the time and keep her mind occupied.  It was a nice distraction.

_____

"The anesthesia will wear off shortly." Dr. Plano said as he finished his diagnostics with a vitals scanner.

Pain shot through Richard's back as the feeling returned. He was on his stomach, his head poking through the headrest. Tingling sparked through his waist and legs, felt like pinpricks and fire spread down to his toes.

"Sensations will subside as your brain receives the signals from your nerve endings once again."

He flexed his toes. The joints cracked and popped, he sighed when they moved, it felt great.

"Good, that was the first on my checklist. I'll have to make sure everything is calibrated correctly. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much pain are you in."

"5, it feels too warm." Dr. Plano nodded and then asked him to elaborate as he poked and prodded his legs with a wooden tongue depressor. "Tingling and burning on my leg-" There was pressure on his lower back then a whirling noise. The extra sensations slowly dulled to non-existence.

"Alright, go ahead and try to stand. Careful your back is still open."

Richard couldn't wait for this, he slid himself up. His legs felt like gelatin. He looked down at the small table his bare legs flexing under him. The doctor grabbed his hand and helped him off the table. Every movement of his legs sent them too far one direction or the next. It felt like he was wearing skates and he couldn't balance himself. As soon as he was still the doctor released his hand.

"Keep it slow. You're going to need to relearn how to use your legs. You got a new interface for your body; it's not going to be the same." He instructed him further, "Slow and steady movements." Richard's heart was racing after that. He calmed down with steady breathing and moved one foot at a time along with the table. "Good, now try to walk toward the door and back here. Let me know if there is sharp unbearable pain."

Richard didn't know if he was joking or not. A bullet pretending to be a molar was unbearable. With that in mind, he released his grip on the table and took one heavy footstep after another. He wouldn't call what he was doing walking, he kind of shuffled across the floor like a toddler. The cold steel floor was a welcome relief as he inched to the door.

Just when he thought the hard part was over, he realized he needed to face the other direction. A deep breath in he lifted one foot trying his best to keep balanced. He stumbled to the wall catching himself on the counter.

Dr. Plano shook his head approvingly. He wrote down all his observations on a clipboard. "You are learning quite fast. With a crutch, you should be walking around unassisted in no time." The words of encouragement helped restore Richard's injured ego. Stumbling around naked learning to walk again wasn't a great feeling. "Just one more adjustment and then I can stitch the rest of your back up."

Richard looked over his shoulder to see himself in the mirror. His back was sliced open vertically. Half the vertical cut was stitched up. Gauze that had been stained red with blood was stuffed into the open wound. Three small wires hung out on the lower part of his back outside of the wound.

"The muscles bonded nicely to the prosthetic. There should be minimal scarring from the installation." Richard looked at the man with a dismissive roll of the eyes. His back already looked like a map of a mech battle. Just take it easy for the first few days. Now come back to the table."

Richard put his face through the hole on the table and then there was some more buzzing followed by the sound of a shaving cream canister. His back felt cold as something was applied to his back, then it spiked up his back. His back felt like it was freezing solid. "Ah!"

"It will be over soon, I'm applying neutroamine antibiotic foam."

Richard shot a glare at the doctor. "You could have warned me about that!"

The ordeal was over. Richard looked at his back in the mirror once again. The cut was completely stitched up and the wires were gone.

"Oh shoot where did my watch go?" Richard twisted his head toward Dr. Plano who had a mocking smile on his face, "Sorry. Bad joke." Richard shook his head unamused. The doctor then applied another coat of the freezing foam. "There, sealed and ready. I have you scheduled to see me every day for a week to fine-tune the spine. I have sent you a video of some exercises to help you ease into it."

"Thank you, doc, I know one thing I'm going to do first."

He then turned his eyes to the bathroom, his first act of freedom. It was liberating feeling his equipment again. When he got dressed, he strolled out of the medical wing with a big smile on his face. Stroll in his mind, it was a slow process and he leaned heavily on a pair of crutches as he moved his legs by half steps.

He looked around the waiting room and saw the folded-up wheelchair. Trixi was gone. He hoped the first person to see would be her. He looked at his PDA, no messages. At the end of the hallway, he grew bolder, making longer strides. Checking the bar would be his best bet, maybe loosening up his new spine with alcohol.

The crew in the mess hall greeted Richard as he passed by. Some offered a helping hand up the stairs, he politely refused. He needed to do this on his own, a small victory on the road to recovery.  One leg followed by his crutch, he ascended to the bar. He burst into the door and was welcomed with open arms by the drunken crew. They were pleased to see his smiling face. He walked over to the Bakes who set out two foaming rockbreaker stouts for him.

Trixi was on the stage juggling three full glasses of beer. She took her eyes off the mugs when Richard sat down on the stool. His large frame and onyx black jumpsuit weren't hard to miss in the crowd. The mugs clattered to the floor spilling their contents on the wood. Some observers expressed their disapproval of her reckless waste of beer.

Richard sighed with relief as he felt the cushion of the uncomfortable stool on his butt. Then there was a familiar tug on his coveralls. He spun around and smiled brightly at the clown below. She hopped up and wrapped her arms around him. Her tail shivered in delight behind her. She whimpered helplessly lost in her words.

He set her down just as more people accosted him. The security lead was much more approachable than his wheelchair-bound self. Trixi laughed as he was offered as many drinks as he could stomach.

The night was long, Richard practically spoke to everyone in the station. The captain even stopped by before calling it a night. The crowd died down to the normal late-night attendants, the two entertainers, the bartender, and the security head.

Standing on his own two feet, he took several slightly too large steps toward the stage where Trixi was cleaning her mess. He stumbled forward grabbing a hold of a nearby table. She stopped her work and leaped to his side.

"Are you okay?"

Richard just laughed drunkenly and sat at the table. "Got to break in the legs. I'm like a newborn learnin' to walk."

"O-okay." She was confused by that statement but then spotted the crutches leaning on the wall. She disappeared and reappeared in the blink of his drunken gaze. "Here, these should probably be used so you don't get hurt."

"Thanks, I forgot." He picked them up and placed them under his armpits. He started to swing his legs under himself. "Thish feels great."

She closed her muzzle with her paw trying to stop herself from laughing at his antics. "How much did you drink?"

"Yes."

Bakes was out from behind the bar cleaning up around the place. "I think Richard should probably go home before he sssleepsss here."

"Not yet I want to help clean up first. It was a big night, everyone wanted to see the station's hero."

The man in question had just finished a half-consumed mug of beer that was discarded on the table. He let out a hearty sigh when he finished the slightly chilled drink.

The mime patted Trixi on the shoulder and mouthed to her that he could take over.

"Thank you, Jacques." She hugged him, then she turned to her drunken boyfriend, "Alright let's go get you to your room."

He stared at her for a moment, head bobbing back and forth. She grabbed his hand and he stood up on his shaky legs. With a little more coaxing she got him to use the crutches to take the back lift. All the while her tail couldn't stop expressing her happiness.

Richard slurred a sentence out. She looked up to see his eyes staring down into her. He was smiling warmly. It was the happiest she has seen him act in a while.

"I'm glad you are feeling so much better."

He rested his arm on the top of her fuzzy head and stroked it softly. "You're so pretty." His hand rubbed the side of her face and she blushed as the lift opened to the lower level. She took his hand and led him back to his quarters. Her shoes squeaked with every step as he stepped slowly with heavy footfalls. They passed one of the late-night security officers on their way through the security hall.

"Hey Trixi, are you going to make sure he sleeps well tonight?"

The man's innuendo caused her to blush. She stuttered out, "M-maybe."

Richard wore a half-smile. Normally a comment like that would piss him off, but he was in a great mood. "Go check the safety actuators on the guns, make sure they work properly." The officer just chuckled at the phony order as they shuffled by.

Trixi sat on his bed and watched him shuffle to the bathroom. He yelled out in a deep sigh as he relieved himself. She let out some laughter as he did that. Drunk Richard was always funny. He stammered out of the bathroom slowly and looked at the fox who was giggling like mad.

"Feels good to have everything under control again."

"Hehe, I can't even imagine what it must have been like."

He approached her, one heavy footstep at a time. The cold floor stung his bare feet. Their eyes met when he sat on the bed. Her clown make-up had rubbed off slightly, orange fur peaking from the side of her face. She was trembling in anticipation of what was going to happen next. The long-awaited union they both craved.

Chapter Text

Trixi had a nervous smile on her muzzle as Richard slowly approached her. The vulpes seemed smaller than usual. Probably due to sitting for over a week seeing her face to face. She shivered as he reached up and unbuttoned his coveralls. She was frozen in place her tail hiking up to hit her head, knowing what was in store for her. With a twitching nose inhaled his scent as the coveralls dropped to the floor. It overwhelmed her senses and she barked out her excitement in her tongue. Richard's member was waiting for this moment as well. He was already standing at attention, twitching in the air.

Her clitoris throbbed inside her. Moisture no doubt had marked her panties. Remembering her own sister's lessons of the size difference, she passed it on, "Please be slow. I wanted to talk to you about this..." Trixi swallowed hard at the sight of the throbbing member. There was a bit of fear as she squeezed her thighs together, her genitals begged to join his.

He stopped himself as she expressed that fear. She laid down on the bed, her tail yanking out from behind her.

"Humans are very big compared to-" She looked down at his throbbing penis again. He was on his knees around the small vulpes, his warm cock lined neatly up her stomach, the tip touched her navel. Her nose picked up the strong smell of his lubricant as it leaked out. Her muzzle was pulled up so that his lips touched. Their tongues mingled together.

The man was confident he touched her furry painted face and said, "I'll stop at a moment's notice." She gave an affirmative nod.

He started to peel off her costume. She didn't move a muscle as she was stripped, enjoying everything about it. He manhandled her easily. He grabbed her legs and lifted her paws so that he could remove her red shoes. They squeaked as they hit the floor carelessly. Her paw pads were rubbed with gentle caresses. She flexed her claws as he massaged the digits. A cute moan left her snout.

"That feels nice."

Her body was moved again. Overalls unbuttoned and pulled away from her body. The shock made her feel more vulnerable, and she squeezed her thighs together. She was left in her pink panties and polka dot shirt.

He spread her legs to get a good look at the real estate. The panties hid her dark labia, the triangular shape was visible through the cotton fabric. Her lubricant could be seen leaving a dark trace in the center. She let out a whimper covering her eyes as he studied her.

"What's the matter? It's not the first time I saw it."

She pulled her hands away trembling. "It feels like it, we only been in the shower."

He slipped his hands up her shirt pulling the article over her head. As he did the motion, he dragged his hands up her sides feeling the curves of her body. The feminine body was hidden under her fluff. And there she laid, naked, soft, and vulnerable. Just like the first time he saw her, a delicate glass figurine.

She panted and swallowed as his hands raked through her fur. It didn't take long for him to find her subtle breast. He groped them squeezing and pressing up with his thumb. A moan escaped as her nipples were teased out from her steely white fur. They grew erect from the manipulation. His arms were around her chest keeping her from wiggling free. He played her erect nipples with his thumbs, gently touching the tips and wiggling them around. It drove her wild. The vulpes' thighs were squeezed harder as he played with her like a thumbstick controller. She tried to worm free from his grasp but couldn't find any solace from the stimulation.

"Mmmmm. Stop teasing me." Richard let her go and she heaved rubbing her chest. "My turn." The wily fox slipped between his legs and pushed her snout into the shaft of his dick. Her pussy throbbed as the sticky salty juices stuck to her nose. She lapped it once causing the human to buckle forward involuntarily.

"Holy shit!"

The quick movement startled her, and she ducked under him. "Did I hurt you?!"

"No. Your rough tongue is amazing. It caught me off guard." He laid his back on the bed, to avoid his unusual movement. The cool sheets felt amazing on his back, whatever that foam was helped tremendously.

A smile crept over her muzzle as she moved onto him. His cock pointed up in the air like a monument. "Your tongue was so strong and thick. I think it's only fair mine is dexterous and rough. Let me take care of you." Her tail thrashed upward. "Your scent is driving me into a fox heat again." An understatement, her vulva was throbbing between her legs.

He reached down to pet her head, but she batted it away. "I said it was my turn. Let me please you, don't move." Her lust-filled eyes looked up at him with a hunger of a wild animal. Her muzzle moved to the head and gently licked it causing his hips to tense up. All his nerves fired as her tongue rasped up his dick.

She teased him between every lick, precum was wiped away as quickly as it was produced. "You're getting hard." His dick throbbed silently as she edged him. He clenched his fists to his side till his knuckles were white, the slow steady tongue bath was almost too much. He wanted to manhandle her, but he looked down at the trembling vulpes gave him pause.

Trixi's tail wagged up and down. Pussy juices dripped freely from her body soaking into her fur. The thoughts of her own begging body were pushed back, she just focused on his manhood. Her tongue was wrapped around the shaft and pulled up to the tip. Her reward was a dose of salty precum. Her paws touched his hips, she could feel the muscles tense up every time she touched his penis. Her eyes darted up to Richard who had his clenched shut. She opened her maw and pushed the rod into her mouth.

His eyes shot open as he felt the dull canines on his shaft. She opened her mouth up wider avoiding the teeth and swallowed pushing him deeper. It was short-lived as her gag reflex choked her. She jumped back coughing. Richard sat up as she had her coughing fit.

Trixi tried to speak between coughs, "I-I'm," a deep breath was inhaled through her nose, "A-lright." Once she got her composure she shook her head, "The videos made that look so much easier."

He comforted her by stroking her softback. In the meantime, he examined her up and down as her furry body sat between his legs. Her nipples peeked out on her furry chest and her dark spade shimmered with her nectar. "Don't push yourself too hard."

"I'm okay now, let me try again. Just lay back down."

He did as she asked, his ridged cock once again pointing to the ceiling. Trixi didn't start at the tip this time. Her small kisses were on his heavy balls. Tasting the sweat from the sack. When she moved up, his member poured out precum. It bathed her snout in fluid, causing her to whimper at her own begging genitals that throbbed between her legs.

Richard let out a deep sigh when she made licks to his penis head again. He gripped the sheets holding himself back as she stuffed the member into her muzzle. The taste of his lubricants coated her mouth. With one paw on each thigh, she moved faster. Feeling his powerful leg muscles tense up every time she bobbed her head down the shaft gave her comfort and the sounds of his steadily increasing breathing.

She was doing everything right. The texture of her tongue flicked across his shaft's head and her warm mouth felt wonderful. As his rod disappeared and reappeared he got closer and closer. The build-up was getting too much as he concentrated on not thrusting with reckless abandon.

The taste pleased her as much as his scent, the more she continued the stronger and thicker the fluid became. Her tongue lulled out and touched the base of his balls as she dived down deep. His knees bent as he got close, this was her chance. She shoved her muzzle as far as it would go, tears ran down the corners of her eyes as she dove.

A deep shout of pleasure echoed. His cock pulsed inside her throat, beating with his rapid heart rate. Reserves poured out inside her mouth. Reaching up and grabbing the vulpes head and held her down around his cumming cock. Her claws pinched at his legs as he made slight thrusts into her muzzle.

"Gah!" Trixi sighed with her release. She panted licking her muzzle clean. "That tasted great!"

"Sorry about that." Richard was left breathless as well. "Are you okay?"

She didn't pick up what he said, just continuing to stick her tongue out lapping at the roof of her muzzle. "It's so thick." While she did that her right paw was subconsciously rubbing her swollen vulva through her panties.

"That was amazing."

She continued to ignore him. "Thick as glue, I could chew on it."

Richard shuddered at the thought, the idea of cum being chewy didn't sit right in his stomach. This caused her to laugh, finding him cringing humorous. All the while her paw molested her folds. This drew him to smile. The bright smile on her face while rubbing her sex between her splayed legs.

The sight was quite exotic. He felt his lust quickly return. He reached over and touched her paw pulling it away from her needy pussy. A look of surprise took her as she saw her claws sticky with her fluid. "What? When was I-," She was cut off as she was put on her back on his stomach. Her panties were pulled off.

She let out a moan as he spread her lips with two fingers, her clit throbbed in the open air. Her body was so hot he thought he saw steam escape as he opened her up.

She whimpered desperately as he held her with her pussy open. Then she felt his erection touch her pussy, her twitching legs spread out wider wanting the intruder to penetrate.

Every part of her body wanted this. The vulpes was desperate to be speared and claimed by the human. But with a brief moment of clarity, she whispered, "Please go slow. It will hurt me, I can't take it all." She was smaller than the human after all. Richard paused for a moment. Her opening begged to be entered. "I need time to take it all." Furry arms reached up and around his neck, she kissed under his chin. "Mold me to you, make my body yours."

The encouragement helped and with a guiding hand, he pushed his hard cock into her entrance. It was so hot and tight. The warm lips wrapped around his head and slide down his shaft. Her walls gripped around him, it didn't want him to leave. She was stretched as wide as she could go and as he entered deeper. She bottomed out with half his shaft exposed. He stopped where he was as he heard a grunt of pain. Her jaw was clenched. Richard swallowed not sure what to do. He pulled her up slowly.

As she rose, she let out a deep moan of pleasure. His shaft felt like it was being sucked by her as he pulled her body up. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, "No, Don't leave!" She wiggled out of his grip as her vagina was left empty. "Let me do it."

Richard had no objections, she knew her body better than him. He also didn't want to have one errant thrust to send her to med bay.

She stood up above him and then squatted down around him. "It will take some time before you fit, but once you do, I'll make you plow me until I merge with the mattress."

He imagined her body being manhandled under him. Her body succumbed to his touches. All the teasing and dirty talk escaping her mouth as she screams in pleasure into a pillow. A lewd smile spread on his face.

"I'm patient."

His dick disappeared between her legs. Hot fluids poured out onto his waist. She started to ride him, only getting three quarters down before coming back up. Her hips rotated carelessly. He grabbed the sheets as her tight entrance pulsed and throbbed around him.

Trixi was in bliss. Her hard clit rubbed relentlessly over his shaft. Everything melted away as she bounced up and down, her hands wandered across her body rubbing her chest until his hands joined them. His steady grip massaged her body and caressed her curves. His shaft stretched her to her limits, she nearly lost balance, but his hand kept her steady. All she could do was move her ankles up and down between moans.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

It didn't take long for her building orgasm to take her.

"Fuuuuuck!"

Fluids spilled out as she dropped one final time, letting out a sharp bark as she pressed her body as deep as she could go. Her body took over as the muscles spasmed around his member. Her vulva squeezed around his shaft trying desperately to lock around his fat cock.

Richard was being worked over. He exhaled quickly as her genitals took over for her twitching body. He gripped her carefully squeezing her wide hips. But he couldn't take the assault any longer and came deep inside Trixi.

The injection of warmth prolonged her orgasm, she trembled in his grip rotating her hips on his shaft as he pumped his fluid into her. She threw herself onto his chest panting heavily. Her arms stretched wide across his chest clutching him tightly as her spasming muscles rhythmically tightened and released his shaft, milking him for all he is worth.

After several minutes she lazily caressed his face. She felt warm and full. The vulpes moved like a snail to place her head next to his, complete with a sticky trail on his stomach. They both caught their breath and kissed deeply.

"I love you."

Richard swallowed hard when he heard that, his post orgasm daze blurring his world, her warm body pressed to his. He couldn't help but beam at Trixi.

"I love you too."

He wrapped his arms around her. Holding her close. He turned off the lights by tossing his nightstand book at the switch on the wall. Starlight was all that filled the room lighting everything with a soft subtle glow. She was already passed out when he wrapped the blanket around the two of them. Soft snores escaped her snout as her chest rose gently. His hand traveled through her fur, caressing her gently.

He wondered if he died on the table. Everything felt great, he pinched himself just to give himself a little pain to accompany this peaceful moment. It hurt, it was real. He smiled holding onto Trixi and drifted peacefully to sleep.

Chapter Text

It was the first time Richard rested peacefully in a long, long time. No nightmares, no dreams, just Trixi's warm form pressed close to him. He shifted, coming to the waking world. Her silky-smooth fur comforted his skin. Hours of grooming helped keep it that way. The permanent void out the window by his bedside was salted with distant stars filled his vision as he opened his eyes.

"Good morning, Richard," Trixi said, caressing the words to his ear. She was wrapped by one of his arms while her legs straddled his waist, warming his core. "I'd ask if you slept well, but you were smiling the entire time."

He inhaled the cool station's air. The musky scent of their activities clung to the bedding. A slightly offensive odor. He remembered tasting it in the shower, though it was much stronger now. As a downside of being with a xenophilic vulpes, it was minor.

"It was the best night I have ever had." His head rested on her fuzzy head, "What about you, did you sleep well?"

"Magical. I didn't wake up panicking at all."

Richard stroked her back, orange fur gliding between his fingers. He remembered his duties and was going to turn his head to look at the clock. Then her tail swayed up and caressed his whole arm, he didn't want to ruin the moment by knowing when it would end. He stayed where he was, relaxing with the woman he loved.

"What do you need to get done today?"

"Ug."

"What?" Trixi asked pulling her head away, concerned that she said something wrong.

"Nothing, it's fine. I just remembered I have to go back to Dr. Plano today to adjust my spine."

"That doesn't sound too bad. In, walk around a bit and walk out."

"And I have to talk to the captain about the Nanotrasen VIPs that are coming to inspect the station, make sure things are inspection ready when they arrive."

"Nanotrasen VIPs? what are they inspecting?" Richard's eyes shot open. He'd forgotten that he wasn't supposed to mention that. She picked up on his sudden surprised look. "When are they going to arrive?"

It would be best if he just was honest with her. The last time he didn't tell her the truth it didn't go well. "They wish to speak with me about the attack. The mouth breathers probably want to congratulate me or something. It's not that important." He twisted his head to the pillow and her muzzle rested under his chin. She nuzzled him. "Don't tell anyone about it please, Martinez told me it was top secret. okay?"

"Oh, okay."

"It's nothing you need to worry yourself about." Richard stroked her for a few more minutes until his alarm started to chime. No matter what sound he set the thing to, it always grew to irritate him.

Trixi helped him out of bed by handing him his crutches. The confidence he had with the alcohol was replaced with a headache. Slow and steady they washed clean from the experiences of the night before. Trixi had taken a significantly longer time, complaining about the stickiness that coated her inner thigh fur.

"This stuff got everywhere last night."

"It has been a while." Richard was standing, swaying gently back and forth struggling to maintain balance. He needed to exercise more to get better control.

"My sister always said how human cum is thicker than our kind. But because we can't lock together, it leaks out."

Richard chuckled at the strange relationship she had with her sibling. Then again humans are probably just as strange to them, hiding sexual conversation, even between partners at times. His attention was drawn down to her as she pressed her soapy fur to his lower back. Reminding him of just how short she really was. Constantly looking her in the eye while sitting changed his perspective a little.

"Do you want me to scrub you like I always do?" Her blue eyes stared up at him, she looked like she was crying from all the water.

"No, we'll be late for the first visit if we do. Dr. Plano is an early riser. Such a strange doctor."

"Haha. You're one to talk. I stopped you from getting out to exercise countless times."

Trixi ducked under Richard's legs to get into the full cascade of the showerhead. The soap rinsed off revealing her slick shining fur. It was difficult to not admire the vulpes, she was so beautiful. His body was beaten and scarred beyond recognition, meanwhile, her fur and body were pristine. He wondered if it would be like that forever, or if something or someone would come along and make her just as broken and bitter as himself. He contemplated that the entire time she scrubbed the suds from her body.

They dried themselves off, Richard taking no time at all. He got to his knee stumbling and landing slightly harder than he anticipated drawing in a sharp breath of pain as he landed.

"Are you okay?"

He groaned holding the towel in his hand, "I'll be alright." He tossed the fabric over her head and started to ruffle it up drying her off.

"Thanks…" Trixi said unamused.

"You know you don't need to come with me, you can return to your duties."

The towel was pushed away, and Trixi handed him his crutch so that he could push himself up. "Not a chance, if something happened to you while you were walking, it'd be my fault. I'm supposed to help you until you recover fully. That's what the captain ordered."

The captain did say that. Richard wasn't sure if the man did that for his safety or other reasons. In any case, he smiled at the sight of her pouting face, blue eyes creased with frustration. "Well, you can't disobey the captain. That would be a dereliction of duties, I'd have to lock you up for that."

She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead and twisted up in an overly dramatic fashion. "Oh no, I'd be handcuffed with no defense against the security department's leader. He'd probably strip me of my belongings and put me in the glass hold with no way to cover myself." She sashayed her tail as she spun, lifting a leg up into the air in a pretend faint. Flashing her dark privates as intended.

Richard laughed at the overdramatic display, "We should get dressed. We'll be late, and I know the CMO is waiting in the wing to get up my ass about something. Roma gave her a hard time. she probably can't wait to get revenge on me."

"That fossil gives me the creeps."

"That sums it up quite well."

Dr. Plano was surprised to see the vulpes in the office with the HoS, the two were wearing their off-duty civilian coveralls. He looked at the little orange alien with a curious face then back at Richard.

"Are you sure you want her in here?"

"It's fine, she's helping with my recovery."

"Well, I'm going to have you strip so that I can examine your muscle contractions as you walk, are you sure that's okay."

Richard looked over at the vulpes who has seen him naked quite often. "She's my girlfriend."

The vulpes' tail twitched happily. She blushed through her fur as he spoke the words to the doctor.

"That makes more sense, the questions she asked aligned to a concerned wife." Dr. Plano faced the alien sitting next to the examination table. "Might I ask what your job designation on this station?"

"Clown." She didn't break her joyous attitude as she answered, her tail fidgeting non-stop.

The doctor did a double-take. "An alien wife isn't unheard of. But a clown with a head of security."

Richard shook his head chuckling to himself about the absurdity himself. "She's stronger than she appears. She wore me down fast."

"I bet, vulpes' are quite energetic."

"Are you a xenobiologist too Dr. Plano?" Trixi asked curiously, her face showing embarrassment as they spoke about her.

"Minor study. I'm going to be helping Dr. Manit after this appointment."

Richard's head perked up. Perfect, he can get some insight on the situation in the xeno level. He rolled his shoulders and spoke in a calm voice. "I hope that you can sort things out up there. My second in command was having a difficult time trying to get any assistance helping out the lizardmen."

"The CMO tried to prevent me from heading up there, she wanted me to instruct the surgeons how my prosthetics work and methods for installing nerve bionics. But the captain already gave me the orders of what I'm to do while on station."

Richard sighed with relief. Allison pulled out all the stops to prevent treatment of the lizardmen. "Thank you, doctor. Please let Roma or me know if you need any assistance, we owe our lives to the aliens."

"Don't mention it, now go ahead and strip so I can get the readings."

The examination went better than expected. The doctor watched the muscle groups contract. He waved the handheld reader to double-check his findings. No adjustments were needed. Richard stumbled a little walking unassisted, but the doctor told him that with a little practice he should be able to run squat, and jump like he used to. Eventually, he would surpass his old reflexes.

"Alright, just a few more questions, no loss of bladder control or sphincter control?" Richard shook his head. "Good, good. How about sexual desires. Have they returned?" Richard nodded, though they never really left when he was injured, it was a mild annoyance while he was around the hypersexual fox. "Good. And the sexual activities, did everything feel like they used to?" Trixi turned her head toward Richard wondering the same. Richard blushed, not sure if he wanted to discuss such matters with someone else.

Dr. Plano saw the hesitation in Richard's face, "It's safe to answer, you wouldn't believe how many cross-species relationships I've seen, even in the inner sphere. I'm just going to check off the box that says things are working."

He was put on the spot and pursed his lips before answering, "Uh… great, I would say."

The doctor just checked off his list, "Great, I think that covers it. Go ahead and start the exercises and I'll see you tomorrow bright and early."

Richard hopped off the table and started to dress. The only thing he hated about the next visit was the 'bright and early part. He hasn't been able to return to his normal routine in such a long time. Before the pair left the examination office Richard asked the doctor, "Mind telling me about the situation in xeno level tomorrow? I've been wanting to check out the place myself. It would help ease my mind knowing how things are going."

"I don't see why not. The station's security is your duty after all."

With all that out of the way, Richard and Trixi left the medical bay. Trixi was practically skipping the entire way down the hallway. She was over the moon. Richard was lagging taking steps cautiously.

"Can you open the bridge door for me?"

Trixi swiped her ID and the door hissed open to the dark command room. He stepped in slowly, holding himself up with the crutches. Ali was sitting at the console looking things over and greeted Richard and Trixi with a smile.

"Great to see you two. You're looking well."

"Thank you, boss, I've been working hard to make sure he doesn't injure himself more," Trixi said still in the warm glow of what her boyfriend said.

The head of security wasn't here for social business. He wanted to ask the captain some questions. He concentrated on the task at hand. "Is the captain around?"

"He's in his office."

The man stood quickly and buzzed the door telling the speaker that Richard wished to see him. The door hissed open, and the captain bellowed out his invitation. "You can join me." There wasn't any humor in his voice. Something was wrong.

Richard set the crutches aside and started to walk on his own two feet. As slow as he did in the doctor's office. Trixi quickly grabbed the crutches and followed behind silently. She wanted to tell him to use his crutches, but she couldn't speak. The air was strange. Richard's demeanor was completely different, shoulders squared, eyes narrowed and focused.

Something gripped Richard as he stepped through the door. He shot his hand up stopping the vulpes from entering. She tilted her head in confusion wondering what was going on. The door sealed, separating the two.

The captain's office had shelves littered with memorabilia of stations past. On one wall had a portrait of several men, all wearing the captain's uniform. In the center was younger baby-faced Martinez bright-eyed and smiling as he usually was. Martinez himself was sitting on the opposite end of the desk, the smile wiped clean with a somber look under his bushy beard.

"Richard, I'm glad you could make it." There was a file in the center of the table with the CMO's full name. "I need you to cease your investigation."

"Sir?" Richard crooked his eyebrow.

"Please, just don't go after her. Some men coming to deal with it." He stood up and walked toward the portrait. "It's my fault for not checking deep enough."

"What did you find? Let me help." Richard stepped forward and rolled his ankle, spraining it with a painful thump as he fell to the floor.

The captain hurried to his side to help him up. "It's alright, you don't need to do anything, everything is going to be taken care of. The butcher will be dealt with."

Richard turned his head to the round captain. The name didn't ring any bells. "Who?" There was a deafening silence as he was placed in the office chair across from his desk. Once they were both seated, he explained what he found.

"It's in this file I compiled. When I took over this station, I didn't do a background check on the staff already employed here. Foolishly thinking they were all clear of crimes." He opened the folder revealing photographs, criminal record sheets, and several logos for defunct organizations known for organ harvesting, kidnapping, and trafficking. "She has been hiding on this station for longer than I been a captain. A Nanotrasen administration hid her here many years ago."

"Are they going to do anything?"

"I told you. Men are taking care of it. Nanotrasen internal affairs said they will scrub her. They already found the scum that hid her."

He slid the criminal record sheet off revealing another photograph of three men and a younger Allison. They were standing over a dissected lizardman, his scaled skin was split open and pinned to dissection vinyl. The lizardman's eyes were wide open, tears stained its scales. Richard gritted his teeth at the sight. The smiles on their faces had him clench his knuckles white.

"They were experimenting on the lizardmen. A vestigial organization from a colony destroyed in the human lizard war."

"After all these years, there are still people wanting revenge."

Richard was shown other photographs and documents. They revealed the other groups seeking the extermination of alien races. She apparently had a little hand in all of it and in the process of her experiments, she sold organs on the side to researchers in the inner sphere for xenobiology making her very wealthy.

In hopes to bridge the gap between humans and the rest of the universe they mistakenly bought organs forcibly removed from their owners.

"Can I just kill her?"

Martinez shook his head slowly. "I wish we could, internal affairs said they need to watch her for a while. All her communications have been tapped. If others are hiding like her, they will find them. This is much bigger than us."

Richard grumbled relaxing his fists that wanted to smash her head into the corner of a steel table.

"If the news got out that Nanotrasen is harboring these people it could start another human lizard war. And with how many lizardmen are employed with Nanotrasen, it would cause a significant backlash. The company would rather just bury everything and silently exterminate the problem. They already took out her former boss."

He pushed a glass tablet forward that was already open on a news article that read, 'Planetary CEO Sueaz Died from Mysterious Heart Condition.' Richard shrugged, it was good to know that Nanotrasen is doing something right for a change.

"And with that, my friend and colleague just got promoted to that same position."

Richard chuckled at how the gears of Nanotrasen moved. Everything was going to work itself out it seemed, which relaxed the man further.

"So, I have your confidence that you won't do any further investigating."

"Saves me the trouble sir."

"Good." Martinez breathed with relief, closing the incriminating document. Once it was closed and shuffled aside a bright smile took the man's face. "It's good to see you up and walking around Richard."

The men exchanged for a while longer, the serious miasma lifted away. Along with it, Richard's stress of the job. The air felt cooler, and his ankle thumped softly with every heartbeat. He remembered the other important matter that needed discussing.

"What do I need to do for the VIPs?"

The captain laughed, jiggling his large belly. "Don't worry yourself about that Richard. Ali and I have everything under control. Just relax, you earned it."

Trixi waited patiently outside the door, arms holding both crutches. She didn't move from the spot just outside the door. Ali tried chatting, but she didn't respond. She felt something was wrong, her tail trashed nervously behind her. Then the door opened.

The two were smiling and talking about Richard's plans once he fully recovered. It didn't take long until she noticed Richard was not putting weight on one foot.

"You're hurt!"

"Ah, yeah, I sprained my ankle."

She handed him the crutches. Her ears laid back as she scolded the man, "Stop putting unnecessary strain on yourself. You need to heal properly."

"Ho! You should listen to her Richard. She's perfect for the duty." The captain said warmly, quelching the humming of the computers in the room.

Richard shared in the laughter and patted the vulpes on the head, "Thank you. I'll make sure I won't do any more reckless activity."

"Good." She looked at the two and saw the change in attitude. Richard relaxed on his crutches and the captain's voice was jolly once again. "What were you two talking about?"

The captain answered the question before Richard could come up with an excuse. "It's classified, nothing to worry about."

Trixi remembered the conversation she had in bed. The 'non-issue' that worried Richard. She nodded along and played dumb. "Oh, okay." She smiled at Richard thinking she did a great job at keeping the secret.

Back in the HoS' office, the two settled in. It had been quite an eventful morning for Richard. He kicked off his shoes letting his swollen ankle breathe. Trixi rummaged through her belongings and moved them into his private quarters.

As she moved her stuff he wondered if he should fill out the paperwork to have joint quarters. He started to look through the mile-long list of forms on his PDA to see if there was any regulation on that. Usually, individuals would live together for a year, transfer to another station, and then marry each other by the time the notification of joining quarters was processed. Such is the speed of bureaucracy and pointless middle management positions.

He ignored it after passing through forms on his PDA. No sense in bothering with something that will get lost in transportation. No one will care enough to report the discrepancy.

The concerned vulpes stopped her migration to inspect his ankle, "You want me to get an ice pack for your foot, it looks bad."

"I just have to stay off it. You can continue what you're doing."

She continued to file in and out of his room, she didn't have that many things, but she was small and couldn't carry much. He searched his PDA for something that the captain mentioned, 'The Butcher'. A vague name for a wanted criminal. Might not even be a name, judging by the acts. Wouldn't hurt to check.

With his access to human criminal records, he searched. The first result for inner sphere crime displayed some low-level bandits, aliases they gave themselves. The second attempt on the outer rim was an actual butcher that evaded taxes. He expanded his search and looked up the former CEO that died from a heart attack.  Sueaz was clean, Nanotrasen didn't want anyone to find out about this.

"Who's Sueaz?" Trixi's head was next to his as he pondered his PDA.

"Nobody. Just looking at things." Her blue eyes stared into him. Nanotrasen wouldn't like it if he was poking around corpses. Allison was a dead woman either way. Trixi nuzzled him.

"I'm all finished with my stuff. So, what do you want to do?"

The case was clearly larger than Richard could comprehend. Who knows what they would do if they thought he was in the way? He didn't want harm to come to Trixi. The program was closed and left alone. There were more important people to worry about. "Let's head to the holodeck so I can exercise."

_____

The holodeck was set to a green grassy field. The artificial wind blew the grass in shimmering waves. It was the same field Trixi was trained with her practice laser. She sat on the grass and breathed in the warm air.

Richard tossed his crutches to the ground and then laid on his back. Avoiding putting weight on his injured ankle. He started doing crunches bringing his knee to his elbow as instructed. They were slow but methodical.

Trixi just watched the man, the determination on his face was pinpointed like a laser. She swiped her paw in a square and searched for something. The outfit that materialized around her was magnificent. A rashine from her planet.

A large square of silk with a sash for a belt, it looped and folded under her tail creating a dress that left the sides open for airflow, perfect for warm summers for a furry species. Her head popped out of the top hole. The only thing left to do was to lose the coveralls and underwear.

The exercises went by quickly, he had to stop several times as he kneed his elbows quite hard. He moved on to crossing and uncrossing his legs. Then Trixi began to hum swaying in the tall grass.

She was beautiful. The first time he saw her wear something that was her size. Her real body. All the human clothing was too big on her small frame. Her slim body walked on the grass with a dancing grace. The wind whipped the fabric, clinging to her fluffy body.  The feminine curve of her waist and hips were exposed in the bright light. Her claws flexed on the grass at the bottom of the dress. Every orange follicle on her body was accentuated by the white cloth.

Trixi blushed slightly as he looked her up and down. She cupped her cheeks and curled her black lips. "This is the rashine we wear casually."

Richard stood, legs exhausted in a tremble. She did a pirouette, the excess fabric hanging from her wrists swayed gently behind. The cloth parted at the side of her legs, showing off her thighs. She wasn't just beautiful, she was gorgeous. None of the human clothing did her justice.

He was at loss for words.

She let out a giggle as he shook on his legs. He wanted to run up and pick her up and twirl her around but was too slow to make such an advance. He settled for just kneeling and opening his arms.

She skipped over and embraced him in a warm hug. The hologram fabric clipped through his body breaking the illusion that she was wearing clothing at all. His hands roamed her back feeling the soft warm fur underneath, it trailed even further down to her tail.

"Want to have sex here?" She asked with a lewd smile on her face.

"Well, aren't you just upfront about everything."

"Hah! We're in a sun-filled field, I'm already naked and can barely walk straight myself. If this isn't the perfect setting, I don't know what is."

"We'll have to clean up afterward."

"I'm fine with that. Now let me strip you."

Trixi unzipped his coveralls, peeling off his clothing revealing his scarred chest and back. Tracing her claw across his chest she paused for a moment when she moved around to his back. Every time she looked at it she winced. Large cuts etched into the flesh, and then the large white discolored slash at his lower back. A permanent bad memory embedded in his body. She had him lay on his back so she could remove the rest of his uniform. When his cock popped free, she couldn't help but bury her snout into it.

The light warmed his skin. He felt like a king, relaxed and in charge of his land. No demons barking at the door, just him and her. A quiet peace overtook him.

She took a moment longer to appreciate his body. She flicked off her clothing and it evaporated into white light as it vanished off her fur. She could feel her growing arousal as she rubbed her body on his.

The two cuddled together, drawing out moans from her muzzle. She rested on his chest feeling his skin. His fingers glided down her back to her tail. He felt the warm entrance between her legs and fondled the folds gently. With a quickened gasp she was brought to a climax as his fingers touched her throbbing clitoris.

"You have a quick trigger." Richard teased as he removed his wet fingers.

"Not. Fair. I..." she caught her breath, "been on edge the entire time we cuddled."

He smiled and held her body close, her legs stretching down to fondle his cock. His breath slowed and he closed his eyes, accepting the fake sunlight as if it were the real deal.

"Plus, you humans always have such longevity in bed. Now get hard so I can feel you inside me again." Her tail wagged tapping his sides with each swing.

Richard stared up at the cloudless blue sky as he rubbed her sun-warmed fur and thanks to her paws, he had more than enough stimulation to be rigid. She felt the hard member behind her, but before she got up, he held her and kissed her. Her tail stopped wagging and rose parallel to her back. When they parted, she covered her genitals hiding how aroused she really was.

She squatted down on him, going further than she did the night before. Richard held her hips as she dipped down, her flexible legs split around his pelvis. She moved up and down slowly. Her tight entrance held on for the ride. "Yes, this feels just right."

She was teasing him with her slow gyrations. He didn't know if it was on purpose or if she was on the verge of pain. Her entrance was so tight and hot he couldn't tell. Then she moaned loudly, "Mmmm, Yes!" He could feel her vaginal walls clamp down around him, she came again, letting out a sharp howl into the endless field. The vulpes dropped, collapsing onto him.

"Are you finished?" Richard looked down at her with worry that she didn't have the stamina to keep up. He then wondered how he performed last night and if the alcohol affected his perception of how things went.

Trixi inhaled sharply and righted herself. She was still impaled by his hard cock. "You're… still… hard?"

"Yes… Do you want me to stop?" he was worried to push the vixen any further.

"No, please don't. Just… Roll me over and thrust into me."

She smiled wide in her usual manner, but this wasn't a joking matter. If he pushed too hard it could seriously hurt her. He held onto her hips and rolled on top of her, his shaft half-buried in her swollen spade.

He pushed his hips forward. She arched her back as her oversensitive clit was rubbed on the inside. Eyes rolled in the back of her head as he thrust inside her, not going all the way but enough to drive himself closer. Difficult to say as the only reactions he got were more high pitch barks and a flailing tail.

He sped up and the flailing stopped. She desperately clung to the grass with her claws as her body was pushed further. Then the sounds stopped, and her tongue lolled out. Her tight orgasming opening sent him over the edge, he grunted and pushed deeper until he felt a hard resistance. A shiver of pain crept up her body, it mixed with the euphoria as her womb was filled with hot fluid.

She held tightly onto the ground, legs twitching on his flanks. She screeched until she was out of breath. He emptied himself into her and then pulled out. His first concern was solely on her. He couldn't bask in his own relief until he checked over her body. Thankfully there was no blood.

"Are… you… okay?" Richard asked with a shallow breath.

She just raised a paw and gave him a thumbs-up, her tongue bobbing out the side of her muzzle. They embraced each other and cuddled as her heart settled down from the activity.

"That was very different than last night," Trixi said laying on his chest.

"It had been a while since I had sex, last night I probably came quickly."

"I don't know why. You're pretty much perfect, all the other girls talk about you."

He sighed, wanting nothing to do with those women. "They're difficult."

"Their loss. I won't be letting you go."

They were lost in thought as his hand wandered in her fur. In his post nut clarity, he wondered how their relationship would continue. Should he send her planetside to keep her safe, away from the conflicts, or if he should keep her in his quarters so that he had something to look forward to off shift.

The fox was also thinking, "That's good. You won't abandon me for the next piece of tail when the time suits you."

That comment insulted the man. "Why would I cheat?"

"Oh… sorry, I didn't mean it that way. Male vulpes tend to screw around behind the females' backs, especially during mating season."

Richard frowned at the idea. "That's normal?"

"Yes"

"Must have a lot of single mothers on your planet."

"No, there's mineral water that stops pregnancy. We just drink it before our heat cycles."

Richard thought for a moment, not sure what kind of birth control that would be. She did mention that she goes through phases before mating, "Did you drink the medication before your heat started?"

"Of course not."

His eyes shot open, the demi-human her sister had boiled in the back of his mind. "Uh, so you could potentially get pregnant?"

"No, I said it was a fox heat. A fake heat." She let out a chirp and shrill sound in her language. Repeating the word in her tongue.

"You mean faux?"

"What? Is that how it's pronounced?" Richard nodded, chuckling at her confusion. "But there is an 'x' in it."

"Blame Jacques for that."

"Common is weird. If you could hear our high-pitched language, I could teach you mine."

"Bakes said the same thing. Human language is pretty monotone."

She rested her back on his stomach and stared at the cloudless blue vista. "Do you want children?"

The question hit him in the gut. He wanted to have children with Rebecca many years ago. The very question pulled at his mind. Then the chain of events that brought him here was pulled taut.  Every change Trixi effected in his life flashed in front of him.

"Something wrong?"

Richard coughed, "Huh?"

She repeated herself but this time she rolled to her stomach looking up at him with her curious crystal eyes. "Do you want Children?"

"I don't know," Richard said honestly. Bringing another human into the universe was one thing, but to have a hybrid was something he never thought about. Would they be stuck between two species unable to navigate life? The thought terrified him, and he pushed it away.

"Oh." There was a sad trill in her voice.

"It's complicated." He knew that wouldn't ease her. But what else would he say? He's unsure of the child's future. He knew next to nothing of hybrids, he never met one. It was only in the past 20 years when the first hybrid was born, and the worthless governing bodies still haven't made a ruling if they counted as human. His mind raced through all the horrible things humans have done just because of slight differences as he lay naked in a peaceful artificial setting.

"Do you want to talk about it? It's okay if you say 'no'. I won't leave you." Her arm stretched up and caressed his cheek with the backside of her paw.

He chuckled to himself. They weren't together that long and she is already talking about children. He smiled at her, "Ask again in a year. I'll give you my answer." Not answering 'no' would be sufficient. It would give him time to think on it and now she's smiling, the sadness once again banished.

_____

Once they returned to his quarters Richard was spent. He went through just about every human emotion that day. He ate some of the takeout Trixi got him and he swallowed his medication. He grumbled as he was handed his many bottles, reminded of his late father who aged like the grace of a space hulk. But the pain medication knocked him out quickly.

She tucked him in and was on her own for the evening. A beaming smile on her energetic muzzle. She decided to do some pranking in the lull after the day shift. She threw on her clown makeup and got into costume. It was time to spend some quality time with the crew.

Trixi dashed through the halls, happier than a drunken space pilot. Dressed up for some shenanigans. After she was plowed like a field in a field, she had the focus to do her job. Her first stop was to check on Wilma, she was so kind to Trixi getting all the food for Richard the entire time he was indisposed. It's only fair that the vixen comes and helps her out.

Upon crossing the backroom to the kitchen, she started to make her recipe, some fish fillet soup. Water and fillet of salmon to make a nice fishy broth. That was the extent of her own cooking ability. After that, it was pretty much whatever she could get her gloved paws on. She searched the freezer to see if there were other meats she could add.

She loved having access to the entire station. Not taking full advantage of her special circumstance looking after her boyfriend. She made a mental note to check on the pilot monkey later. It's always a good idea to make sure it's still on fire in the plasma combustion chamber. The engineers would always yell at her to 'Wear protective gear please' and 'Get out'. She was always behind the safety lines, what's there to worry about?

Trixi rummaged through the meat locker and found some frozen hamburgers. A few patties were chucked into the pot and with a wag of her tail, she had enough for the meal. Then she deviated a bit, opening the fridge she chucked one egg into her maw and then another into the pot. Munching on the shell and the juicy protein as the other egg splattered into the pot shell and all.

Then for the untraditional soup ingredients. She found an unprotected jar of peanut butter and some sticks of butter. Her little experiment of things she liked, the ingredients was chucked willy-nilly inside. The once pristine pot with two clean cuts of salmon was now a disgusting brown slop. Soon to become a warm disgusting brown slop as the heat was applied. She grabbed a stool and her tail swayed around back and forth as she stirred the goop.

Wilma was working the counter, taking orders from the crew when her nose picked up the smell of some indescribable horror.

"Trixi? Goddammit not again!"

"Hey there, I'm cookin' something up." It was clear from the black smoke that was rising out of the pot she had no idea what she was making. The pot was quickly removed from the heat source. The chef nearly vomited as it was dumped into the sink, clogging the drain.

"I thought you were supposed to be helping the HoP."

"He's sleeping so I thought I'd help out again."

Wilma rubbed her temples and sighed. "Fine. Go take orders, I don't want you burning more food."

"Sure thing!" The excited vulpes jumped off the stool and manned the counter. The customers she did get were all quite annoyed as the clown honked her bike horn after making puns with every order. Honk! This continued until the womanizing portly man approached the counter, wanting to order a date with the chef.

"Hey, there clown. Go get Wilma for me. I want to let her know she's gonna be spending some time with me after work."

This wasn't the first time the balding man approached the chef. Trixi wasn't sure how he managed to survive this long. The officers usually beat the shit out of people like this. His position wasn't clear to Trixi, even though she worked in the services department it was separate from the rest, below everyone.

"I'm sorry, but I spoke to the HoS, and he said that you're so fat that you're now to be classified as light industrial equipment. So you'll be spending the night in engineering to get preventative maintenance done." Trixi smiled at the disgusting individual. Her sensitive nose already picked up that the man didn't bathe.

"That's no way to speak to me! I still outrank you in this department, even if you got that lazy cushy position in the security department."

Trixi rolled her eyes at the blow heart. "I don't care if you were the captain. No man as fat as you should be holding up a food line, that long." She pointed to the line of crewmates behind him. Each one looked more annoyed the further back they were.

The chef chuckled from behind the grill. "Go ahead and tell him off, I told him a hundred times, I'm not interested."

"Come on baby, I'm perfect for you. I got the moves to prove it." He then started to thrust his gullet out as he gyrated his hips.

The strange mating dance disgusted the vixen. "Someone call security, we got a space manatee in the cafeteria. He's starved for vacuum and needs to be let out." The patient crew laughed as the clown honked her bike horn. Honk!

The man was quite agitated as he was clowned on. "Don't make me jump over the counter and yank your tail."

Trixi shook her head giggling to herself at how easy he's making these jokes out to be. "You want me to ask the AI to disable the gravity to help with that? Scratch that. If it did that, your gravity would pull everyone in."

The man continued to berate the clown, but she was pounding the steel counter laughing at her own humor. Then a sharp pain was pulled on her backside, "Yap!" The greaseball nabbed her tail from over the counter and pulled her up over the other side.

He fumed, "I still need to get you back for that pie incident."

Trixi tried to wiggle free, but it only caused her to hurt more. She let out more shrill barks of pain, dangling from his sausage-like fingers.

Wilma and other crewmates commanded him to let her go. He just laughed at the gestures, "She's a clown, they're punching bags for the rest of the crew. Remember the last clown, he was beaten constantly."

"I wouldn't mess with that vulpes idiot, the HoS is going to kill you!" One of the crewmates yelled out from the back.

"You think he cares about aliens?" He studied the vulpes who was swinging wildly. "Nah, I don't believe it." He dropped her to the ground with a painful thud.

Trixi immediately checked her tail to see if it was broken. After everything checked out, she looked up at the man. "Good, you didn't get grease on my fur, I'd have to shave it off if it got contaminated by you." There was a cheeky smile on her muzzle which upset the man even more. She noticed a red uniformed officer standing behind the man.

"Why you ugly little foxkin." The crowd was silent as he reared his hoof back aimed at Trixi's stomach. She didn't break the smile on her face as his foot came forward.

"That's enough." The aggressor had his arms wrenched back and cuffed.  His uniform stretched around his gut as it was pulled tight. He shouted profanities the entire time while the officer effortlessly handled it. "Are you okay, Trixi?"

"Don't worry about it Philhouse. I'm fine. just a little roughed up."

The helmeted man nodded, glad to see Trixi relatively unharmed. "Good, don't need another injury in the security department, we got our fill of those as is." He turned toward the crowd of rubbernecking crew and yelled at them to get back to what they were doing while he carried the now silent man away.

"I didn't think he would do that. The guy looked pathetic." Wilma said peeking over the counter.

"It's alright. I had it coming eventually, being away from everyone I forget to keep out of reach of people."

The chef looked over with pity, "I don't envy your job."

"It's for the best, if you had my job then I would have your job. Then I'd probably find a way to burn the station in the vacuum of space." She picked up her bike horn and gave it a little squeeze. Honk!

Trixi continued to help the chef take orders until Wilma remembered something. "Oh shoot, the security officers order." She pointed to several to-go bags of food sitting under the little heat lamp.

"I can take care of that. Let me deliver it to them."

"You're a lifesaver, thanks Trixi."

The bags were snagged and cradled in the vulpes' arms. Her shoes squeaked down the hallway toward security carrying the food. It was kind of strange that they ordered everything at once, usually, they just head to the cafeteria and relax or take their food to the private breakroom security had.

Upon entering security there wasn't a single soul. The breakroom was empty, the armory was empty, and the lockers were empty. The only one in the hallway was the moron that was locked up. Trixi turned toward the criminal behind the reinforced glass holding cell. Just the sight of him had her ears laid back defensively. "Where's security?"

"Beat it, clown, it's your fault I'm in here."

Trixi rolled her eyes. Her tail still ached from him yanking her around like a yo-yo. "Tell me and I'll forgive you, Richard will let you go with a warning."

He sighed annoyed, it was better than the alternative of demotion and possibly getting his teeth broken on a storage container. "He left for the medical wing. He was in a hurry to push me in here. Bruised the crap out of my back."

"Well, you deserve it." Trixi softened her expression, he was no threat, just another angry human. "Thank you, I'll hold my end of the bargain."

With tired arms, the vulpes squeaked into the reception for medical.  The blond woman sighed upon seeing the clown stumbling around with an arm full of burgers and fries for the security officers.

"Delivery for security."

She pushed the button and stared back at her desk, "They're in medical, help yourself."

Trixi squeaked down med bay looking for the humans, her nose picked up all the security officer's scent. The area wasn't well-traveled, so it was easy to pick up. Her shoes echoed through the empty halls causing a helmeted Roma to peak around the corner. He jumped out directly in front of the vulpes and grabbed the food.

"Thanks, Trixi, we-" He paused for a moment.

"Don't mention it. I’m always glad to help." She punctuated the statement with a honk of her bike horn. Honk!

"Right…" He looked around frantically. "I'll deliver it to the men, you can go back to the HoS."

"Is everything all right?"

The man nodded. "Yeah, everything is fine. Just want to make sure Richard is taken care of."

"He's sleeping, I was helping the chef, but you look like you need help."

As she said that the captain stepped forward out of the room. "Ho! Don't worry yourself about that Trixi. We are fine here, go and head to the bar. I'm sure the crew misses you."

She placed a paw on her forehead as she remembered happy hour has started. "Oh, right. Thanks, captain!"

Once she was gone the captain's smile evaporated. "That was close."

"Sorry sir, I didn't know what to say."

"It's fine, I just hope none of this reaches Richard."

Chapter Text

Trixi snored lightly at Richard's side. Her orange fur still had traces of white paint from the night before. The bar missed her as the women were getting a little more obnoxious each passing day. The vulpes just happened to be the only one that could knock them down a few pegs. Her ways of prodding under their skin always helped keep egos from being too inflated. Her snout pointed up and he couldn't help himself, he kissed her moist black noise. His actions caused her to wake up with a cute sneeze. "Oh, it's morning?" She said groggily from the stark awakening.

Richard sat on the edge of the bed. His movements were slow as he grabbed his crutches to get ready for his appointment. "Sorry about that, you can stay asleep. It's just the normal appointment." The bed bounced as he pushed himself up. She murmured something and then wrapped herself in the blanket taking up the warm divot he left in his absence. She inhaled his scent deeply before returning to sleep. Richard smiled at the cozy fox. He was glad that she returned to work. Not only for herself but the crew as well.

When Richard arrived at his appointment Dr. Plano frowned. He examined him up and down. "You better be more careful." There was annoyance in the doctor's voice.

"What do you mean?" Richard asked as he stripped his clothes off for his routine examination.

"Your ankle is sprained. Let me look at it." Richard was shocked he could determine that from just a few steps it took to sit down at an examination table. The doctor grabbed his foot and pulled it to his face to examine it closer. After a disappointing sigh, he released it. "Please stay off your foot for a few days. It's going to interfere with my observations." Dr. Plano started to put his equipment away, indicating the examination was finished or at least couldn't be concluded.

"Is that it, doc?"

"Yes. I can't get good data when you're limping like that, take a few days off your foot so I can get accurate readings."

Richard wasn't used to this level of treatment. He didn't think a small, sprained ankle would cause such a massive deviation in the readings. He brushed it off, it was a minor annoyance after all. As he dressed, he wondered how the day went for the good doctor.

"So how was the xeno level yesterday?"

Dr. Plano was shocked by the question. "You didn't hear?"

"No… What happened?"

"What do you mean!? No one told you?!" The doctor was quite perplexed.

Richard felt like it was a stab at himself, but he honestly had no idea what happened. "No one contacted me yesterday."

Dr. Plano inhaled deeply, ready to spill his guts out to the semi-nude HoS, "Yesterday was a catastrophe. The first annoyance was in medbay. Entire files were carried around for patients as they did the separate tests. Took me ages to figure out where your paperwork was located so I could catalog my data." Richard rolled his eyes. The nurses never got their shit together. Countless times they misplaced his records. One time he saw one of his men's files propping up a table leg. The doctor continued to vent, "And when I enter the xeno level. The reception was unmanned, I wandered around for a good 15 minutes till I saw someone."

"Where was Dr. Manit? I thought he was expecting you."

"I couldn't find him. The only thing I saw was a lizardman on a respirator. His eyes were crusted from an infection."

"They weren't treating the infections?"

"I was never told of an infection. The only thing the captain briefed me on was the five lizardmen in critical care that Dr. Manit needed assistance with. The atmosphere was too humid as well. They need a dryer air supply to heal properly." The news sank into Richard's stomach. He believed they were treated already and recovering. Richard's next step was to march up there and see what was going on for himself after Dr. Plano finished elaborating on the rest of the problems. "And then there was the medication. Half of which were expired or improperly stored. Which baffled me. The chemists could just make fresh batches ready at any time. So the first task I accomplished was rushing to renew everything for the patients. Then I finally ran into Dr. Manit. He was completely disheveled. I felt bad for him, honestly."

"Where was Roma?"

"He helped me carry some fresh anti-biotics… I applied the injections and he got atmospherics to adjust the air. By the time we got to the last lizardman, he had already passed. Roma left the room to contact you the captain arrived on deck. I'm surprised no one said a thing to you."

Richard was surprised himself. He never saw Roma, nor the rest of his crew that day. Something was wrong and he clenched his fist tightly as he came up with conclusions. Richard zipped up his uniform and walked out the door unaided. When he entered the lobby, the captain was already waiting for him.

Martinez spoke slowly, knowing exactly what was on the man's mind. The rage was written on Richard's face. "Don't."

Richard was shaking with anger, "Did she have anything to do with this?!" The captain was silent, which was all he needed. "Goddammit!"

"Calm down! You will get yourself and others killed; they already know what she did."

Richard refused to calm down and punched the steel plate on the wall next to the door. There was a sickening crunch as his hand impacted the metal. Dr. Plano rushed out holding Richard's crutches just in time to see the display of anger.

"What's going on?!"

The captain let out an exasperated sigh. "Fix his hand, doctor."

Richard turned toward the captain holding his mangled hand. Tears of pain and anguish welled up in the corners of his eyes, "Don't let it happen again. Please, Martinez!"

"I promise. Now get your hand fixed. The VIPs will be here in a few days. You're confined to your quarters until then."

"That's bullshit and you know it!"

"That's an order, got it!"

The captain left the waiting room to return to his business. Dr. Plano approached cautiously to get a closer look at the new injury Richard gave himself.

"What was all that about?" Dr. Plano didn't get an answer as he bandaged the hand.

Richard swallowed the pain. He never would have thought the woman would just willingly kill off helpless crewmates. He almost vomited at the thought. If it weren't for his damn injuries, he would have been there to stop that worthless cunt.

"That should do it. it's just a sprain, you shouldn't need a cast. But you have to let it rest."

Richard looked at his bound hand. The bandage was as tight as Trixi's wraps. He stroked the numb appendage. "Thanks, doc."

"Don't mention it. I have no idea what's going on here but try not to punch any more metal plates and stay off your feet."

Richard stopped in the security breakroom thinking about the crimes Allison committed. The numbing drugs wore off and his hand was pounding as he held an empty coffee mug. Usually, at this time Jack would have made a fresh brew to start his day. Instead, the air was stagnant and cold. Roma walked in seeing Richard idle the time away. The moment Richard brought his eyes up he learned what happened the other day. Roma swallowed and sat across the table.

"I'm sorry, I was ordered by the captain to not tell you."

Richard softened up. Roma wasn't to blame for all this. He worked hard to save the aliens. More than he could say for himself. "Who died?"

"Swims, I wasn't able to check the cause of death. The CMO claimed he took too much medication to try and get high." Roma grew frustrated and slammed the table causing the empty mug to tumble to the floor. "Fucking liar! I knew him!"

Richard picked up the mug and walked toward the coffee maker. He ejected the old coffee and started to make a fresh batch to keep himself calm. He had already broken one hand losing his temper, he wasn't going to lose another by having another outburst.

"What is going on Richard? Why did the captain order me to not tell you? What aren't you telling me?"

Richard drank the bitter coffee. It warmed his busted hand through the glazed ceramic mug. "It's best that you don't know. The captain and I have already discussed the matter thoroughly. He confined me to my quarters for the next few days. If you pry at it, you could be a target for what's to come next."

"You would have told Jack."

Richard nearly dropped the mug. "It's not that… It's that you’ll do what’s right, rush headlong and do the deed that I should have. But some factors are taking priority."

Roma calmed himself with steady breathing. "I'm not an idiot, it has something to do with Allison."

It had to of been obvious from the young man's point of view. He argued with her for hours to even get the aliens some reprieve. Richard watched the cameras in the room, "Larger than her. But if word gets out..." There wasn't a doubt that internal affairs were already looking at them at this moment. "If word gets out, we will all be killed by Nanotrasen."

Roma was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"I can't say in detail, but we need to do our jobs. Listen to the captain, he's the only one that will keep us and our loved ones alive." Richard's voice flagged with worry. He started to pace back and forth thinking about the lizardman that was killed. "How many lizardmen are left in medbay?"

"Four. Three are suffering from heavy lung damage. Their organs take a special protein which is time-consuming for the organ printer to craft. The silver lining, the new anti-biotic cocktail is now working at full effect."

Richard set the coffee down and nodded at the sliver of good news. "Keep them under guard. I don't want to see another be killed."

"The captain already ordered that. He told the CMO it was to monitor Dr. Manit."

Richard was relieved to hear that. The scent of coffee filled the air. It reminded him of how things used to be in the early morning. He never appreciated how his friend helped him focus on the important jobs. "Go to Welds, spend time with her. The captain already ordered me to drop what I was finding. He will keep us out of the crosshairs of what's to come. No more aliens should die." The order was simple, don't disobey the captain.

Roma sagged his shoulders. He looked like he had only been given more questions than answers. "I'm sorry… I'm not as good as Jack."

The levelheaded friend Richard had in his life was gone. His damaged hand was a testament to that. Jack would have come up with a solution that would have saved Swims and perhaps more. Richard wished he had a fraction of that resolve. "Neither am I."

Richard returned to his office. His cell for the next few days. It would've been maddening if it weren't for the fluffy orange clown in his quarters. At least he would be distracted somewhat by what's going on in the medical bay. But until she woke up, he stewed in his head while he sipped his coffee. After he contemplated what to do next, he decided to head back to bed.

The vulpes sat wearing one of his shirts. The oversized grey cloth draped over her body like a short dress. Her ears popped back when she noticed the new injury Richard acquired. She bit at him with harsh high-pitched words in her language. It was clear through the language barrier what she was saying. 'Why did you do this to yourself… I can't leave you alone for one second without you doing something stupid…' His tired eyes stared off into the distant stars through the window. He didn’t want to look her in the eyes feeling as bad as he did. Her tail drifted down when she saw his defeated stature. Richard didn't say a word and stripped-down, returning to bed. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" Her head tilted curiously. She followed him into the bed, pulling the covers over her body. Her fur was pressed to his skin. "You need to tell me so I can make it better."

He refused. She didn’t need to know the truth, it would only further the scope of who could be targeted. If word got out, Nanotrasen would send the only group of humans Richard truly feared, the emergency response team. Corporate assassins, cleanup crew, 'rescue' team, reinforcements, and death squad. Many more lives would be thrown away because of that woman and his own failures.

“Please tell me.”

Her concern fell on him like a velvet blanket. He inhaled her scent and caressed her back as he usually did.  “It’s nothing. I just lost my temper at the appointment and punched a wall.”

She nuzzled his chin. “Really? That’s what happened? I'm never going to leave you alone for appointments again.” She finished off her beratement by pressing her nose to his. Her tongue flicked out playfully, kissing him.

“Well, you shouldn’t have to worry about that. The captain ordered me to remain in my quarters until the VIPs arrive.”

Trixi giggled, the idea of Richard being sent to his room for losing his temper amused the vulpes. “Looks like I'll have you all to myself till then, huh.”

Richard wasn’t laughing. He put on a forced smile to hide what happened. Adding lying to his fluffy girlfriend to the growing pile of secrets he’s forced to stomach. He continued to caress her back until his exhausted mind drifted back to sleep.

____

The following days Richard's mood rapidly degraded. He spent his confinement keeping tabs on personnel going to and from the med bay, constantly hovering over the computer. Trixi brought him his meals and kept him company. She tried her best to engage with the work-addicted head of security. But it was no use.

"I'm sorry Trixi. I can't leave or do anything right now. I need to make sure that everything is alright in medical."

The fox wasn't having any of it. He still hasn't elaborated on what was going on or what needed to be watched so carefully. She let out a huff through her flared nostrils. "Why won't you tell me anything, Richard?" He stared at her. Her fur was on end and her tail trashed behind her.

"It's top secret. I already told you."

She shook her head and crossed her arms. She was hoping to spend some more time with him. Now that he was forced to stay in the quarters, she would have unfettered access. But last night was rather cold for the vulpes. Her man left it early in the morning to stare at the same screen. She saw other officers in the breakroom while she collected food for Richard. They were in better spirits even though they were running in and out of med bay.

"Well, if you can't talk to me, then I'll go ask Roma. Maybe he can help." She spun around and left the room determined to make Richard feel better.

Richard sat there, tired. His busted hand pulsed as he held the PDA with a light grip. Secretly, he would be glad to speak with Roma if only to be reassured the situation wouldn't get worse. Then he reminded himself of internal affairs and the measures they would go through to keep secrets. He faced the monitoring window again.

Two blue dots of his security team sat with the recovering lizardmen while one sat at the reception desk and kept tabs on the doctors entering and exiting. If anything went wrong, the officers would know about it immediately and would be free to act on that alone, then the nightmare would be over. Richard shook his head at the thought, to lose another life pointlessly for revenge would be disgusting.

Trixi headed on over into the breakroom. She caught the younger security lead exactly where she last saw him. Her shining fur was a ray of sunshine in the gunmetal grey room. Roma and two other officers were snacking on donuts, the favored choice for all security officers. Trixi hand-delivered them earlier that morning, she delighted in their happy attitudes. Roma engaged with the vulpes.

“How’s the boss doing Trixi?”

Trixi wasn’t her usual enthusiastic self. Her tail was limp, and her pointed ears were back defensively. “All he's doing is checking the sensors in medbay. What happen?”

Roma leaned back in his chair, pursing his lips. It took him a minute to get a semblance of an answer out, “It’s nothing, he's been going through a lot. The quarters arrest hit him pretty hard.”

The first officer answered the orange critter, he had a beard with crumbs of powdered sugar in it, "He's probably upset still about the-" Thwack! Roma struck the man in the shin with a boot. "Ow!"

Roma gave him a death glare while the other guard read the room over before offering a suggestion, “Maybe you should surprise him with something. He’s probably in a rut from confinement. I know I’d be pretty upset if I spent weeks locked down only to be put back in the same spot.”

The others nodded along. Roma finished off the conversation by volunteering his services, “I'll speak with him if you’d like. Jack would usually offer advice in a time like this.”

“I'd appreciate it,” Trixi said with a wavering smile on her face. “I’ll go ahead and pick up some dinner for him while you talk things out.” Then she sprinted away with the clicks of her claws on the metal plates echoing behind her.

Roma stood up from the group and gave a reluctant sigh, “Well time to tell him we got everything under control. Again…”

“You know he blames himself for what happened,” the first officer added.

Roma acknowledged the statement with a nod. However, they were clueless about the depth of the situation that worried their boss.

The door to his boss’ pneumatic door hissed open and he stepped inside. “Roma, what’s going on? Is everything alright?” The exhausted Richard had deep circles under his eyes. No wonder Trixi needed help bringing him around, he looked like he lost a week’s worth of sleep in only a day. Roma wondered how often Jack would deal with this side of Richard.

“Everything's proceeding as expected. Except for you.” Roma stared his boss down. “Trixi told me that you needed help.”

Richard rubbed his bloodshot eyes. The computer light ignited the lower half of his face as he hunched over it. “I may have gone overboard.”

“I’ll say. Have you even left your desk at all?” Roma didn’t need an answer for that one. He was watching the biometrics of the security team. He mustered the courage to fill the shoes of the man he replaced. An advisor to the head of security and friend. “The captain ordered you to relax. This isn’t relaxing.” Richard gave a cautious stare back down at the monitor. “We already got word of the VIPs headed to the station tomorrow. Please, get some sleep before they show up.”

The light for the monitor was flicked off. The boss gave a disgruntled grumble. “I just hope this whole thing blows over quickly. I’m tired of waiting.”

Roma sat in the office chair across the desk. “What did she do that would have you this worried?” He'd hope to at least get a simple answer.

Richard leaned close, so close he was laying across the desk inches away from the man’s face. “Just promise me you will not engage in any capacity. If you do, we all could be killed.” There were beads of sweat on his forehead.

Roma was shaken to see his boss fearful. “I promise, just let me know. I won’t lay a finger on Allison.”

“Good. Because she is being targeted by internal affairs. They are already tapping the communications to this station and the security cameras. What has me so aggravated is she was killed again. A wasted life. That’s the reason I was put under arrest. I lost my temper and wanted to go after her while she was being observed.”

The realization came into focus. Roma let out a long, “Oh.”

“Exactly, so, please. Just make sure no more harm comes to the aliens. If she suspects a thing or if word gets out of her true identity, they will cleanse this station.”

Roma leaned back and placed a finger on his chin, “What happens if it does get leaked out?”

Richard let out a deep sigh and shrugged. “I don’t know, but the captain and Nanotrasen believe it could start another lizard-human war.”

Roma was well versed in the history of the first alien war humanity had. It forever stained the relationships humans had with other races. It took generations to barely heal those wounds. He thought about Welds and his other lizard friends. He wouldn’t want that to be damaged in any way.  After the attack Allison argued with him to let the aliens die. If he was told this a few weeks ago, he may have pulled a gun on her right then and there. Maybe Richard was right withholding this…

"You didn't tell me about this because of my relationship with Welds. Right?"

Richard nodded. "I'm sorry, I know what I would have done if I were you. Now she's being observed to find out who else is hiding with her." He let out a pained sigh as he flicked the PDA away. "I just wish we could save everyone rather than let her run around free."

Richard watched Roma leave to perform his tasks. The air seemed colder now that he was left on his own. The constant barrage of negativity he buried himself in subsided.

Trixi entered the room and was delighted with the sudden change in attitude. She smiled and set the to-go box in front of him. "I'm glad Roma talked with you. I was at my wit's end. You really shouldn't work yourself that hard." He was well aware of that fact. He picked up the vulpes who was delighted to be scooped up. She was set back down on his lap where he opened the meal box. The two shared the overcooked rice and chicken that the assistant chef made for dinner.

_____

It was time. The arrival of the shuttlecraft with the representatives was in a few minutes. Richard stood ready in arrivals. The captain by his side. They were dressed in their fanciest unforms. The head of security was forced to wear real black slacks instead of the worn black coveralls issued to him. The belt chaffed his waist uncomfortably and the dress shirt was uncomfortably tight. He regretted not having a tailor fix his older uniforms.

No other members of the station were there with them, Ali was now acting captain while the Martinez escorted the men around. They expected two individuals. The glass docks were pristine from repairs. The engineers did a fantastic job repairing the blown-out section of the station. Richard couldn’t even point out the location of where he impacted the wall when the drone threw him. The captain's belly jingled from all the medals pinned to his chest as he laughed.

“This shouldn’t take long. You can go back to your duties once the initial interview is concluded.”

The head of security was grateful for that. He gripped a wooden cane he was given by the doctor to help strengthen his walking. He no longer walked around slowly but his strides occasionally slipped. Stairs still caused a lot of problems.

There was a silver glint of light outside the vast blackness of space. If arrivals’ lights weren’t blindingly bright, they could see the shape of the arriving vessel. But for some reason, Nanotrasen decided they need to illuminate every corner of arrivals to make it welcoming to the new workers who would be stuck on the station for the next few years.

“How many are coming?” Richard asked as the silvery shuttle craft approached.

“Hmm… About two. Maybe.”

The answer wasn’t filling Richard with confidence. The last thing he wanted was a bunch of bureaucrats with cushy eight-figure-a-year jobs nosing around his business. They always seemed to think they knew best despite never doing the job they oversaw once. Richard clenched his teeth as the shuttle’s shape approached the station’s docking port.

The silver triangular ship had rounded windows in a line on the sides for the passengers to view the vast nothingness around them as they zipped through hyperspace.  The shuttlecraft contacted the docking windows and the automated systems quickly activated. Two hallways extended out connecting the two structures and sealed shut around the bay doors. The doors hissed open mixing the atmospheres of the station and the spacecraft. Richard sighed standing at attention as he waited to see who would be exiting the spacecraft.

Three men slowly stepped onto the station. Their black uniforms had a vest with golden trim. On their shoulders was a golden Nanotrasen logo. One man was tall and lanky, and his hair was greased back. He looked like he would sell insurance for something else no one would ever need. The second individual was short and fat, with a terrible combover. He would have looked better if he just shaved his round head rather than try with the awful discount hair gel and five strands of hair. Reminded Richard of another fat man on the station that caused quite a bit of problems.

Then a third individual. He wore reflective aviators and an earpiece. He stuck out from the group of three. Tall, dark-skinned, and fit. His age looked in his mid-30s while the others looked to be over 50 from a lifetime of poor choices. He walked to the station with purpose while the other two were speaking to each other about whatever middle management types talk about.

The three made their way to the head of security and the captain. Martinez greeted them with a bow and welcomed them to the station. The bald man wore a crooked smile as he walked forward ahead of the other two, clearly, the one taking charge of the group. He spoke in a heavy accent from one of the inner human worlds, or it could have been a speech impediment. It was difficult for Richard to decern the two.

“Yesh, thank you for welcoming ush to your humble shtation. I’d have hoped to be greeted by women, I checked the roshter.” He dabbed the sweat from his large forehead and giggled like a school child. “Young pretty thingsh, yesh.”

The taller man bowed to the captain while the squat man composed himself. “I’m sorry sir, Patins is a bit distracted, long journey. My name is Neal, we’re from Nanotrasen headquarters on earth.”

Martinez and Richard then looked toward the out-of-place individual. He remained silent and just looked back and forth. He looked like he was doing his job of inspecting the station as he observed the glass hallways.

“And how about you sir, what’s your name?” The captain asked the tall dark man.

“Your engineering crew did a fine job Martinez. Some changes to Nanotrasen specs but they are all within limits.”  He pulled off his sunglasses revealing dark brown eyes. “My name is Quinsy.” His voice was dominant and deep. Richard probably would get along well with this individual.

“Ah, so he doesh speak. Shpent the entire ride here and not a shingle word. He tagged along for the trip with us by Nanotrashen orders, I thought nothing of it. Let ush make our way to the cafeteria I’m shtarved over here. We can finish introductionsh out of the way there.” Patins took the lead down the hallway toward services.

Richard wasn’t too happy babysitting, but that’s the perk of having such a prestigious job title. After Patins hit on the chef by showboating about the money and position he held he stuffed his face. There wasn’t much talking as he chewed loudly. What conversation did occur was between the captain and Neal. They spoke briefly on the station’s productivity. Neal offered some sleazy advice about cooking the books to ek out higher numbers in areas to make Martinez look better. Turns out he was an insurance salesman before he got the position as quality assurance and climbed his way up. Quincy didn't eat, he just eyed the crew who ate in silence to avoid catching any ire from the bosses. Once they finished their meal Patins asked to be led around the station so they can get their initial assessment started.

The tour was quite benign the only individual that seemed to care for the station itself was Quinsy. He noticed the efficiency changes made to the hallways that are normally abandoned at most stations. The engineering team had quite a bit of creative liberty with designs throughout the many generations of operation. Richard admired the eye for detail the standoffish individual had. Which had him wonder if the man was the real leader of the group instead of the round oaf who just commented on how the women on the station should be wearing skirts instead of coveralls. When they stopped at medbay it was hard to ignore the bulging eyes Patins got when he saw the young blond woman at the counter.

“Greetingsh m’lady how are you doing thish fine evening.”

She grew uncomfortable. The similarities he had with the other crewmate were uncanny. Patins then got inside her personal bubble over the reception desk. “Uh… Can I help you, gentlemen?” Her eyes glanced over to the captain pleading for help as he was nearly smelling her hair from where she was sitting.

Richard reached up and grabbed the man’s shoulder yanking him back to the other side of the desk. This caused him to trash his shoulders out of the grip violently. “Unhand me!” he brushed his shoulder with his hand as if he was touched by a mere commoner. “Thank you, I’m merely inshpecting the fine crew of the shation. Your jobsh are on the line, don’t interrupt me.”

Richard glared at the ugly fat man. If it were any other crew member, he would have hit him with a stun baton rather than simply pull him away. He turned his attention to the captain who also looked rather annoyed with Patins’ behavior.

The CMO jumped through the double doors to the lobby smiling unusually wide at the VIPs. “Welcome to the station. I’m Allison, so glad of you to stop by, would you like a look around med bay. My staff would be more than happy to show you around.”

The captain held up a hand. “Sorry Allison, but we really are in a hurry. Once the tour is over, they can explore to their heart’s content.” She wasn’t thrilled he stopped her brown-nosing. A few protests were coming from Patins who wanted to head into med bay, but Neal stopped him.

"There is plenty of time for that later. Our little TDY vacation will start once the initial meeting is finished."

The rest of the tour proceeded without issue. Which pleased the head of security, all the walking around was draining. Then Patins tripped and fell in the hallway. His body collided with a loud thud. “What the hell!?”

There was a burst of familiar laughter from behind the group. Trixi wearing her clown outfit and painted face. She honked her bike horn to punctuate the physical comedy. Honk! The captain busted out laughing when he saw that the little vulpes clown tied the man’s shoelaces together. A surprising shock was on Richard's face, he didn't hear her shoes squeak upon them to do the deed.

“Pick me up you dolt!” the man cried out holding his hand toward Richard. He was obligated to pick his ass off the ground. After he caught his breath from the yell, he demanded his shoes be fixed. Which Richard also had to help him with. “You better arresh that alien, ashaulting a Nanotrashen offisher, is a grave offensh.”

Richard grumbled under his breath, “Clown pranks isn't assault.”

“What wash that?!”

Richard stood up to look down at the man. His patience had worn pretty thin, “I fixed your shoes, sir.”

“Ah good. Well, go arresh the alien now.”

Richard stared at him for a while longer then glanced at the other two representatives. Neal just checked his shoes to see if he also got pranked while Quincy covered his mouth hiding a smirk of satisfaction. The captain changed the subject knowing full well that Richard wouldn’t arrest Trixi. “He can deal with her later. We got much more important business to take care of.”

“Aw, so I won’t be cuffed and locked up?” There was a smug vulpine smile on her muzzle as she stared up at the group of humans. Her tail danced around pleased with herself.

Patins pointed at the fox. “You zip it. If I shee you again around the hall, I'll be walking off thish shtation with a fancy hat.”

Richard was about to lay into him until Quincy placed a hand over his chest shaking his head dismissively as if to say the round man wasn’t worth it. The action gave Richard pause. He was definitely not like the other two bozos.

Trixi however egged him on. “Why do you talk like that, do you have trouble with your throat?”

The man’s face was beet red with anger. “How dare you!” Trixi only responded with another honk of her bike horn. Honk! Her shoes squeaked as she ran away laughing to herself. The man huffed as he gave chase, only making it several steps before he realized she was long gone. “Damn alien employeesh. Should have never allowed them in our shpace.”

Martinez continued chuckling to himself some more. “It’s quite alright. Our aliens have done quite a lot for the station’s wellbeing. Even saved it from destruction as I noted in my reports.”

“Harumph, I take it they were quite exaggerated. Never met an alien I liked.” Patins said confidently while brushing himself off some more.

Neal added to the alien beratement, “Lazy, slothful, and rather dumb by human standards. I already got several into paying me to work for me. Making a nice mint on their backs.”

The captain was rapidly growing sick of their remarks. “Enough, this is my crew and my station. You two can discuss your mutual hatreds after the assessment.”

It wasn’t enough to shut them up as they went on and on about their crooked dealings and malicious treatment of alien crewmates. By the time they got to the meeting room, Richard was one swift kick from wearing one of them as a boot.

Patins sat at the captain’s chair when they arrived in the meeting room. Richard was about to take his seat across the table until Neal took the seat as it was pulled out from the table. Once everyone was seated, they began to talk about why they were sent to the station.

Neal went over the obvious, “As you are aware this station was attacked by Syndicate operatives…” Richard leaned back, ready for another long boring talk about stuff he already knows. “This however came to us as a shock. Nanotrasen and the Syndicate coalition have agreements with the planetary families of the core worlds. No nuclear attacks in the inner sphere. This attack violated many laws with the families.”

He went on to describe how the planetary constituents were tired of the constant corporate warfare and didn’t want nuclear weapons being set off right in their backyard. This history lesson was interesting. However, rules are always broken.

“That’s great and all, but what does that have to do with me?” Richard asked, annoyed that they came all this way to waste his time.

Neal answered, annoyed to be cut off from his historical speech. “Sorry about that Richard. Nanotrasen saw your performance during the attack. We're sent here to offer an opportunity to join the emergency response team as a death squad commander.”

Richard’s eyes boggled at the offer. It was quite a prestigious slot that would put him ahead of most members in Nanotrasen. On top of that, the pay increase was ridiculous, he would be able to afford a mansion on earth.

Quincy spoke on the matter, “It’s not an easy job. Trust me. But we are in desperate need of strong men who are quick thinkers. I saw the recordings of the attack; you were able to take out 4 heavily armored soldiers and a mech with cobbled together scrap and an energy pistol. Any other man would have perished, but you held on strong and saved many lives.”

Neal and Patins looked confused when he revealed this information. Patins asked with a raised brow, "Why are you here with ush, we weren't informed of a high ranking member would be joining ush."

Quincy gave a smug smile. "That's need-to-know information. But if you must know, I wanted to see the would-be commander for myself."

The captain applauded, “This is fantastic! I had no idea this is what the higher-ups were cooking up.”

The offer did tantalize Richard. But there were many problems with it. He was looking forward to ending his career with Nanotrasen soon. Dealing with shitheads and incompetent crewmates, he could only take so much.

Quincy saw the hesitation in Richard’s eyes. “There is no need to rush into this. You and I both know the dangers of the duty. In the meantime, we will be spending time on the station to get reports and data from the other crewmates.”

Richard smiled hiding his true feelings about such a massive decision haning overhead like an all-encompassing cloak. He won’t be getting a restful sleep anytime soon.

The meeting concluded with the captain boasting of Richard's past accomplishments. It wasn't ideal for the reserved head of security. When they finally left the bridge Patins received another gift from the clown. Whap! A crème pie hit him square in his face. The man screeched as Quincy and the captain laughed loudly, overshadowing Trixi’s horn. Honk!

“Get that damn alien now!” Patins’ voice was high-pitched leaping at the vulpes, but she effortlessly jumped away. Neal launched himself down the hallway chasing the clown as she flipped away. He soon hit the ground as he stepped onto a perfectly placed bar of soap.

Richard was quite happy as they both started to slide around on the ground from the pie coated the floor. He feigned a chase soon after, walking slowly with his cane. The clown slowed her speed to keep in his line of sight. He mouthed the words ‘Thank you’ to Trixi, who gave a simple wink back. He was finally separated from the two jackasses.

Chapter Text

Richard was awake in bed. Two hours until he needed to start the day. Trixi slept soundly pressing her smaller body to his chest. One of her pointed ears listening to his heartbeat. Richard was stuck in a mental loop thinking about the job offer.

To take the position would be prestigious, higher than even the rank of captain. The pay wasn’t half bad either, he thought about a lovely home on the beaches of planet Florida in the outer rim. All the retired officers and military agents end up there. With a reputation of being extremely hostile to outside forces, pirates and bandits avoided the system entirely. The reputation of their hostility to being controlled even made the united earth government leave them alone. A planet of hard-to-control but free individuals might make for a great new home. They could live their lives free.

That would be the case if the job didn’t have an insane mortality rate. Nearly zero percent retire from the emergency response team. They end up disintegrated or consumed by some space horrors. What good would the money be if he was dead? Maybe he could move Trixi and her sister’s family, at least they could live full lives off his work.

He held the vulpes tighter. He didn’t want to push her away. But those thoughts clashed with his desire to protect the ones he loved. He did the same for Rebecca and her daughter. Space is just too dangerous. Some idiot could accidentally leave a toolbox around only for it to get knocked into the containment field for the plasma fuel causing half the station to be atomized.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” Trixi asked staring intently from under the covers. In the dark, her eyes dilated to satellite dishes.

“Nothing in particular.”

“You know you can’t lie to me, right? You were practically burning a hole in the steel.”

“It’s just work stuff,” Richard said trying to change the subject. “I’m just wondering about some planets and if they have rules against aliens living on them.”

“For what?” Her tail started to twitch happily under the covers.

“I was thinking of having you sent away, someplace safe.”

Trixi stopped wagging her tail. “Would you be coming with me?” Richard didn’t respond… “But… I wouldn’t be with you.”

“That’s the idea. The station’s dangerous, there is no need for you to risk your life. We both almost died multiple times in just one night. I just want what’s best for you.”

“What’s best for me? I need you. I need your scent. I need your warmth. When you were glued to that screen, I had those nightmares again.”

Richard was surprised by this and took a moment to observe her visible sadness. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I thought I could be strong like you. Live with the pain.” Trixi’s voice warbled painfully under the covers. If a heart could be heard ripping itself apart, her voice would be that sound. Richard started to mentally kick himself for suggesting such a thing. Her snout was aimed at his heart, but it might as well of pierce it. He imagined how awful it must seem to just fall in love with someone just to send them away without a second thought.

He caressed the vulpes’ back in long smooth strokes. She calmed down from the motion. No more beating around the bushes, “The reason Nanotrasen sent those goons here was to inform me of a job offer. If I took it, I would be forced to leave the station. They would have me travel hyperspace to troubled spots around Nanotrasen-controlled territory.”

Trixi peaked her muzzle from under the blanket. “What’s the offer?”

“The ERT, they come and clean up stations that are in dire trouble. From zombies, angels, blobs, to corporate fuck ups.”

“That sounds like suicide missions. Like the guys that attempted to blow up this station.”

Richard clenched his jaw. She was correct. Death squads are pumped full of drugs before the mission, killing is all they can think about. Richard did his best to lighten the gritty details of the missions they went on. “It’s not that dangerous. We have top-of-the-line human gear that even the UEG doesn’t get. Hellfire lasers, pulse emp grenades, plasma-“

“You’re lying again,” Trixi said cutting him off, “I felt your body tense up. Why would you even consider taking that job? Are you not happy?”

The question she asked stunned Richard. Why would he take the job? The money. But why would he need the money? Everything he had been taught was to work hard for his family. Like his father before him. It was the only thing he was taught from his old man. Visions of his mother sitting in the large house that his dad provided while he left for space. It cost his father countless years of his life to providing that life. His mother was always worried sick while he was away.

Richard did his best to do the same thing and all he had to show for it was an empty house on a distant world that constantly rains. Now all he wanted to do was protect Trixi. Maybe it wasn’t the best approach. He would just lose her just like he did his ex.

The hum of the station was all that kept the silence from being ear-shattering.

“Please tell me what I need to do to make you happy. I’ll do anything.” Trixi pushed her head next to his laying her muzzle on his neck. “I don’t want you to leave me.”

Her eyes caught the stars from the window and sparkled. Her deep concerned expression warmed him. Couples were supposed to comfort each other. In the chaos of his trainwreck of a life, he forgot that fact. He chuckled at himself causing the vulpes to bounce with the sharp inhales.

“What’s so funny?”

Richard let out a wheeze. “Sorry, I’m laughing at how stupid I’ve been. I’ve been so balled up I forgot what it’s like to have someone to share my feelings with.”

“What? You haven’t said a word and just started laughing like a weirdo.”

He shared everything. His hard-working father. His worried woman of a mother. The house he called home as a child. The few times he met with his dad was sparsely in conversation. After the war, they rarely spoke to each other until he passed. She listened carefully asking further questions to delve deeper into the kind of woman his mother was. He was reminded that she never got to know her mother. The conversation was cathartic for the couple. The tension inside his chest unraveled and he wiped his eyes on the pillow to hide the fact he got emotional.

“Thank you for telling me. It means a lot.” Trixi said with her dark lips smiling up at him.

Richard stole a kiss from the vixen. The motion melted her to him, and her tail bounced below. When they parted the fox was laying breathless on his chest. “I don’t think I’ll be taking the position. I think I’m happy enough right here. Under you. Besides I couldn’t even wrestle a spider queen these days. Hell, a steel wall came out of nowhere and broke my hand. I’ll leave the death squads and cleanup crews to the younger men.”

“Good,” Trixi said caressing her man’s smooth skin. “I don’t think I could live planetside anyway. Alone. Knowing you were out there fighting for your life. You’d come home to a bald vulpes, all my fur would’ve fallen out.”

The two lay in bed relaxed in each other’s comfort till it neared the time to start the shift. Richard hopped into the shower while Trixi left to prepare some coffee for him. She grabbed one of Richard’s shirts and draped it over her orange fluffy body. She took the time to smell the comforting scent.

Roma and Philhouse were already in the break room when Trixi opened the door. The sight of the orange furball wearing their boss’ shirt as a dress caused them to stop their idle conversation. She looked like she just rolled out of bed or had a good fucking before entering the room. The fur on her entire body was a mess. The neck hole sat around one of her shoulders, the textbook picture of a girlfriend who just spent all night with their boyfriend.

“How’s everyone doing?” Trixi asked headed for the coffee machine.

“We’re alright,” Roma said tepidly. “I already have coffee brewing if you want to wait for a cup. Do you even drink coffee?”

Trixi looked at the machine and smelled like warm water. “It’s for Richard. He didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night.”

“I can see that,” Philhouse said jokingly.

Roma pursed his lips trying not to laugh. The innuendo luckily went over Trixi’s head as her muzzle wore the same black smile it always did. They continued to stare at the vulpes waiting for the coffee. They were terrified of offending the vixen, so their eyes lingered on her head rather than the bushy tail that twitched, threatening to expose her rump from under her makeshift dress. Richard already busted the nose of the last guy that did something to her.

“How’re Welds, Roma? Is she feeling better since being out of the hospital?”

Roma’s eyes went wide. He looked over at Philhouse who looked back inquisitively.

“S-she’s doing f-fine,” he stammered out.

The coffee machine started to spit up the coffee. The ancient machine bubbled and popped filling the pitcher. Trixi grabbed the warm vessel and poured it into a single mug for Richard. “That’s good. I’ve been so preoccupied with my extra duties I don’t get a whole lot of free time to visit my friends. I’m glad she found someone who cares for her so deeply.” She left saying goodbye while Roma blushed vigorously. Philhouse snickered under his breath until he got punched in the shoulder.

Richard kissed his little fox girlfriend goodbye. He was off to inform Quincy that he wouldn’t be accepting the job. He served his time in Nanotrasen and he wanted to enjoy life outside of the company one of these days. He laughed at the timing of everything. If they came to him before he got to know the resident clown intimately, he would have snagged the job in a heartbeat.

The VIPs and the captain joined Richard in the conference room. He gave his denial with as much ass kissing company regulation requires. Humbly deny the job offer and all that.

“Are you sure you want to skip out on this opportunity?” Quincy asked. Disappointment wrinkled his face. Earlier he was quite excited to add a valuable tactician to the ranks of his department.

The captain sat in his usual seat at the head of the table. Having taken the seat before Percy got a chance to sit. His bright smile eased Richard. Martinez had to of known he wasn’t going to take the job and it was written in a smug smile across a large wooden table.

Percy and Neal sat next to each other grumbling their grievances, mostly that they were in the meeting instead of vacationing on the station.

“That’s correct.” Richard said, “I’m too old to live in hyperspace. I nearly died from a rookie’s gunshot. I couldn’t hope to compete with the pirates and corporate assassins. Even with the proper equipment.”

Quincy nodded understandingly. A denial he has grown accustomed to. “That’s a shame, Richard. I was hoping for some more levelheaded crew to teach the younger generation how combat is properly done. Fewer and fewer respectable men out there.”

Richard frowned knowing the man’s plight. He too had to kick out many officers because they didn’t fit. But there were still some decent humans willing to put up with the stupidity of humanity. “They’re out there. Just have to get to them before they inevitably die and before they realize living is something to be enjoyed. Some of us want to do a little living. Sit down and kick our feet up, knowing the following day everyone around them will still be there.”

“Blech! What ish thish dribble,” Percy exclaimed waving his hands dismissively. “You’re offered the mosht prominent place in the company. And you turn it down?!” “I have half a mind to have you transhferred back to the outer rim. Rejecting Nanotrashen’s generoush offer-”

“You will do no such thing,” Quincy said. “It’s his decision to make. I don’t force people to work for me. Poor morale leads to backstabbing, and backstabbing leads to trillions in losses.” He squared his gaze on Percy causing the man to quake in fear. “Should I tell our superiors you’re okay with losses?”

The quarrel between the VIPs was welcomed. Richard had it up to his neck with meetings. He could barely stomach the once-a-month affair. He waited patiently for the captain to release him. Patience in his mind at least. The captain saw Richard grip the chair tightly, eager to throw himself out of the room.

“Well gentlemen, you have your answer I think we can now put this all behind us.” The captain said joyously. “If there is anything else you would like to add, we can continue with the rest of your inspections.”

Richard was already checking out. They told him some things that went in one ear and out the other. Only when Quincy spoke did he pay attention. “I’d love to visit security, I heard you keep them quite in line. Lowest incarceration in the sector.”

“I wouldn’t say low, we just have effective means of discipline.”

“Would now be a good time for you then?”

Richard paused for a moment. He wasn’t sure if his men were ready for inspection, he had been quite relaxed with regulations, a slight morale booster with all the extra hours he was shoving in their schedules.

The captain answered the question for him, “Richard would love to show you around while I take Percy and Neal to the breakfast selection in the mess hall.”

Richard and Quincy walked side by side toward the security department. Their boots clacked heavily, and several assistants stepped into side passages to avoid the two men. Quincy was smiling unusually wide considering his job offer was passed up.

The security chief wondered what he was thinking about, “I’m sorry about the wasted trip. I guess my cowardice got the better.”

“Cowardice?” Quincy said laughing at the concept. “You’re smart and know a bad deal when you see it. A man like you should be in my position looking for good candidates to fill the rank and file. Instead, you got stuck on station duty babysitting a bunch of labcoat-wearing nerds.”

“It is the end road for security team members, safe. Well… Relatively safe as opposed to the outer rim.”

“Don’t get me started on those stations. Half of them just activate the self-destruct if there is a space bee infestation. If they treated the stations better, they would maybe get better equipment.”

They arrived in the security department. A few officers were in the breakroom. Half of them were in their grey undershirt, their red coveralls were tied loosely around their waist. The rest were in half-donned armor. They didn’t stand at attention when they walked in. It was bad form, but Richard had let it slide. It wasn’t until one got up to refill his mug that he realized the new face in the room.

“Oh. Uh.” The officer stammered out grabbing the other men’s attention.

“At ease,” Richard said disgruntledly. “Gentlemen this is Quincy. He’s the chief recruiter for the emergency response team for central command. Show him every ounce of respect as if I already shoved a boot up your asses.” The tension in the room could snap piano wire.

“This is a fine crew,” Quincy said easing the room a bit. “They’re in shape. I can see how you managed to defend the station cobbled together equipment.” He glanced over at a table where a book sat open face down next to one of the officers. “And they can read.”

“Oh yeah, those officers are some of the most interesting to work with.”

Quincy paced around the room with his arms behind his back. It was part of the inspection. The men were quite troubled and finished getting prepared for their shift in the breakroom. They slapped on their armored vests and helmets as he circled back around.

He asked a question at one of the officers, “Where are you going to patrol?”

“Sir, I’m going to relieve the others in the xeno level of medical. We are tasked to help the injured there.”

Quincy nodded, “Good. Looking out for crewmates is our top priority.”

Satisfied with the answer he turned around and left the breakroom. Richard gave the stink eye to his men before following. It could have gone better, Quincy is either great at hiding his disappointment or Richard was doing a decent job with his employees. It was difficult for him to read this guy. He wondered if Trixi would be able to read him better.

Trixi. He forgot she was still in his quarters. Richard clamped his eyes up as he neared the door to his office, hoping the vulpes wasn’t inside. The door slid open revealing his office to Quincy. Richard scanned the room a little too long before entering.

“Is everything all right?” Quincy asked peering over Richard’s shoulders.

“Yes,” Richard answered pulling a chair for his guest. “Just a little nervous. I’m always a little uncomfortable being inspected. You know how it goes.”

“You don’t need to worry. The video evidence has already been scanned and verified. The repairs were the next thing to be inspected after speaking with you. That’s what Percy is supposed to oversee. I didn’t trust him entirely to speak to you about the offer, so I came along.”

“Yes, Nanotrasen’s method of sending a baker to build a bridge. Works every time.”

Quincy and Richard chuckled. They spent a few minutes airing their grievances about the company they worked for until the door behind Richard hiss opened. A misty air of steam and wet fur hit Richard in the nose. He spun around quickly to see Trixi soaked in warm water fur clinging tightly to her nude body. Small bumps marked her nipples as they hardened from the cool air. A towel was wrapped around her head as she blindly entered the room.

“You’re early. How was the meeting?” Trixi asked in a muffle as she dried her face.

Richard panicked and pulled the towel to cover her up. Her face quickly became flushed. A small peep left her muzzle when she saw the visitor. Quincy turned his attention to the ceiling to be as gentlemanly as possible while she escaped to the bathroom with her dripping tail between her legs. Richard shut the door and exhaled trying to stop his heart from beating out of his chest.

Quincy cleared his throat, “Ahem. I could have scheduled this at another time if you were busy.”

Richard’s face was red. He sat back down and stroked his cheeks to try and quell the blaze. “I’m sorry about that sir. I didn’t tell her there would be guests.”

“It’s quite alright to me. I’ve seen my fair share of unique companionships. After all, I review footage in the public areas on stations.” He looked over Richard’s shoulders at the closed door and smiled. “And we won’t be interrupted now it seems.”

Richard raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

They stared at each other for a minute while Richard thought about the reasons he would want to speak in private. It hit him quickly, “Right. The chief medical officer.”

“Correct. I reviewed the footage of everything last night. I’m not going to get into details. You don’t need to know them. But your fears of complete eradication are unfounded.”

“What are you going to do then?”

“Need to know basis.” Quincy’s expression was as stern as it has always been.

“Is it necessary to take so long and allow others to die?”

“I know it’s going to sound like I don’t care. But I wish we could have acted sooner. Our hands were tied by the top brass. When word got around of your investigation, you became quite the celebrity back in the department. A few of us were rooting for you to take matters into your own hands. Of course, if you did that, we would have offered you a position in lieu of prison.” There was a melancholic smile on his face.

The thought of an entire department watching him through all the cameras caused him to shudder. All the intimate moments he had with Trixi were watched by a roomful of people. He covered the non-scared side of his face and glanced over to the camera in the office.

Quincy chuckled briefly at Richard’s expense. “Relax. It’s not like we have the entire footage able to be viewed. Just like the station’s feed, an AI combed through the footage and cut out all the non-important parts to be released to the department. Everything that pertains to the exact case in question or mentions of the target.”

Richard relaxed with a heavy sigh, “That’s some good news.”

“Come on, a xenophilia relationship is a breath of fresh air in my line of work. I’ve seen the worst humanity has to offer. Slavery rings orchestrated by the captain of a station. Culminating in organ harvesting of every recruit that dared to speak out. Terrible stuff.” Quincy slumped in the chair defeated he showed his true self at this moment catching Richard off guard. “It’s a real shame we couldn’t add you to my team, the last man I hired is in a relationship with a lizardman.” Quincy smiled lost in thought, “He served up the nicest banana kortara desert.”

“I wish I could go, but I already spent my life in space. I just want to hang up my hat before I lose my head.”

“That is completely understandable.” The visitor tightened his uniform on his chest. “I should get going now, I have to make sure the other two don’t do anything they will regret. You should go see your fuzzy woman. You’re still on break after all.”

Richard hit the table with his head as his embarrassment flared. The door hissed shut allowing him to breathe more deeply. It was getting quite claustrophobic saying ‘no’ to a man with that much power. He turned to the camera pointed at him and gave a farewell wave before returning to his quarters.

Trixi was a mess. She stood in the middle of the room wearing her off-duty coveralls shivering. “I’m sorry about what happened! I didn’t know! Did he say anything!? Are you going to be in trouble!?” Her claws gripped his clothing tightly.

It was sweet that she was more concerned about his job than anything else. He patted her still damp fur and kissed the side of her snout. “Nothing bad happened. Neither of us is in trouble. Just try not to walk naked into my office next time.” Richard gave a lewd smile and winked, “Unless I say so.”

The vixen relaxed and then licked the unscarred half of his face. Her chest rose and fell as she caught her breath from her panic attack. She wiped her eyes free of the worried tears. “Oh? Are you going to ask me to sit under your desk one day like a secretary and let me service you while you do your paperwork?”

Richard laughed at the notion. “You need to stop watching so much porn. You’re already repressed as is.” He slid his uniform off, ready for a nap. Groaning, he stretched his limbs to the ceiling. Even though that was his one job for the day, the lack of sleep drained what little energy he had left.

Trixi’s eyes roamed his body, and the contours of his muscles and smooth skin got to her. The embarrassment she felt disappeared. Her paws joined what her eyes were enjoying. Pads felt his body in a desperate attempt to out-compete each other. She loved having access to him. Every time she saw him naked it revitalized the fire in her loins.

He moved to the bed with Trixi hanging onto his body like a leech. He chuckled and stripped her of her simi-damp clothing. The smell of her arousal and wet fur enveloped the room as he removed her panties. Blood rushed to his penis as the fabric passed her ankles.

She pushed her hips forward showing off how wet her spade became. She wanted the attention, and he happily gave it to her. He inserted his middle finger rubbing her hard clit with small circular strokes. She rolled her hips with the movement. Then he pulled it out and grabbed her fluffy butt. With a single motion, he picked her up and set her slowly down on his manhood.

Her cries were immediate. Hips touched and she was stretched to the limits milking him for all he was worth. Her body had become his entirely, interlocking like the perfect puzzle piece. With every thrust cementing the change. He pulled her up and her sex gripped tightly in an almost sucking motion only to relax and stretch full as she descended. It was the only thing her body could do, he had complete control.

Up and down, he pushed and pulled her. The wet slapping punctuated the landing of her hips. She held onto his shoulders and stared into his chocolate eyes completely lost in the moment. She eventually collapsed and rested her head under his chin. Her pants were audible with every moan. The buildup of pleasure was blocked like a dam waiting to open. Her sex waited on her lover to open it. Richard slowed down, prolonging that moment to the music of an almost inaudible whine from Trixi.

Then he released squeezing her hard and pulling her deep onto his dick. His climax triggered hers causing her already twitching muscles to prolong his orgasm. They both moaned in pleasure pulling each other together. Her climax lasted longer as her sex quivered trying to keep his deflating penis inside. But the feeling of warmth never left leaving her completely sated. And utterly exhausted. She closed her eyes and fell asleep listening to his heart race.

_____

Richard smiled to himself reading his PDA in the saloon. It was early morning in the lull before the night shift got off duty. Now that he denied the job offer, he was free to enjoy the rest of his on-station vacation. The VIPs were occasionally seen around, but he acted like they didn’t exist. It wasn’t his job anymore to placate them. He just sipped on some coffee to help get him through his day while Trixi practiced her routines on the floor. Her bright smile when she pulled off a prank or tell a great joke made him feel 20 years younger.

Bakes had just stepped behind the counter scratching at some loose scales ready to start another day. He burst out in joy when he saw the usual face, “Richard you’re looking better than ever! I knew you would bounce back in no time!” Practically jumped over the counter to hug the head of security. “What can I get you?!”

“Nothing, I’m good. I am just relaxing with a cup of coffee.” He looked at the cup, the warm brew brought him comfort for some reason. The lizard wasted no time and topped it off. He returned to his news feed on the PDA and would occasionally glance up to see what Trixi was up to.

Trixi and Jacques were practicing with each other. The mime would throw an invisible pie and she dived to avoid it. The clown retaliated with a bottle of seltzer water, she aimed it at the mime’s face, but he plugged the nozzle with a white-gloved finger. She pulled the trigger, and the fluid would comically spray back onto her face.

She ran over to the bar to retrieve a towel to dry her face. A bright smile on her painted face as she carefully dabbed the water away to not mess up her face too much. Richard was half paying attention to his surroundings. Trixi thought of a fun little joke and ran to the other side of the counter.

“Bakes, wanna see something funny?” Trixi whispered to Bakes while snickering to herself.

Bakes squinted inquisitively as he watched the vulpes run back around the counter. She clambered up on Richard’s lap as if she did it every day. He didn’t notice the motion at all or didn’t care. Her head was right under his as he concentrated on his PDA. She puckered her muzzle for a kiss, and he pushed forward to reciprocate unconsciously. He eventually closed his eyes to kiss the vixen deeper and with more passion. Then he opened his eyes and looked around the room.

He wasn’t in his quarters or office. He was in the bar. Bakes’ eyes were wide, and his jaw was on the floor. The mime was silently whooping and hollering with exaggerated muted clapping cheers. Trixi laughed at Richard’s blushing expression. His hand caught her before she fell as her laughter became uncontrollable.

He pursed his lips knowing that Trixi wanted to get a rise out of him and to see the reactions of the crewmates. “Alright, you had your fun. Please don’t do that to me again. I might have a heart attack.”

“No promises,” Trixi said wiping a tear from her eyes. “You really should have seen the look on your face.” She then turned to Bakes, “And your face, you look like you saw a banshee.”

Bakes brushed his frill down and cleared his throat, “Sssorry, I jussst didn’t think today was a day I sssaw a clown make out with Richard in the open like that.”

“Come on,” Trixi said playfully, “I’m not that ugly, am I?” She produced her bike horn and squeezed it. Honk!

Richard chuckled with Trixi’s infectious laughter. He carefully touched her painted face to cover a spot that had smeared away. Her tail slashed the air in frantic waves as he touched her. He turned the tables and kissed her, pulling her head to his. Her tail stopped moving for a second then quickened its speed. When he released her, he smiled wide, “There, even.”

Trixi bounced with laughter, “Oh not yet. I still owe you tons more. But we can’t discuss that in… what was it again? Public settings.” A smug toothy smile spread on her muzzle. Richard watched as she walked away. The squeaking of her clown shoes diminished the excited sashaying tail movements as she made her way to the stage again.

Bakes was laughing, his head on the table, “Ssso the rumor wasss true. Explainsss the attitude adjustment.”

The man scratched his head still shaking off the embarrassment of the public display. “She has her ways. Even an old murderer like me melted under her charm.” He turned to see Trixi tune some instruments on stage. Plucking a string and listening carefully to the vibrations. Her ear swiveled and twitched before she turned the tuning keys. Once she was finished, she set the instrument down ready to start the show.

Richard observed the show. Engaging in the audience that came to relax from the graveyard shift. The two entertainers performed their routines, played music, and did their jobs perfectly. And just when the last of the night crew left, the morning shift started to trickle in. The exhausted personnel ready to enjoy their time off was non-stop. Richard was impressed with the levels of energy the services department had. To deal with the constant workflow of other self-important individuals would wear down anyone.

Bakes offered him some drinks, but he refused to partake. He didn’t want to be carried back to his room again like the last few times he overdid it. Trixi was surprised to see he was still standing at the end of the day. Her nose twitched.

“I don’t smell any alcohol on you. Was something wrong?”

“I just wanted to enjoy your songs.”

Her crystal eyes lit up. “You’re too sweet.” She embraced him with a tight hug. Richard let out a yawn, exhausted from watching other people work. Trixi’s pointed ears shot up, “We should probably head back to bed I’m pooped.”

There was a loud nasally voice screeching on the other end of the bar. All eyes turned toward the direction. It was Kinn the fat slob that attacked Trixi in the cafeteria. He was with Percy and Neal. Quincy wasn’t with the group. Richard rolled his eyes wondering what the idiots were going on about this time. Richard stood and approached the group. Then he squinted unexpectedly.

Percy’s round face looked an awful lot like Kinn’s. Their physiques matched as well. He always did have a problem with Kinn but every time he sent in letters of demotion or requests for him to be transferred there was no response. Their family had connections.

“Give me and my cousin and friend as much alcohol as we can drink,” Kinn said patting Percy on the back. “And make sure to wear gloves you disgusting scalekin. I don’t want a single scale inside my beer.”

Bakes sighed and put on thick yellow rubber gloves in front of the men. Obviously demeaned by the comment. To add insult to injury Neal and Percy laughed joyously. He poured the fizzing beer and handed it over to the VIPs. Richard sat closer to them, keeping an eye on the troublemakers. Trixi on the other hand rushed forward to defend her friend.

“Fancy you guys showing up. I thought you would be in the holodeck molesting some virtual women.”

Percy scowled at the vulpes remembering the last time she made a fool of him. “What are you doing here foxkin? Firsht they allow aliensh to sherve drinksh instead of wiping up the puke. But oh no, couldn’t stop there, now they allowed aliensh to drink with people.”

Richard called over Bakes which got the men’s attention. He asked for Bakes’ special. Bakes joyously ran off into the back. Kinn looked a little flustered after the beat down he got last time. Richard gave him a side-eyed stare waiting for the drink.

“I think we do a fine job working around here,” Trixi barked back, “If it were up to you no one would be working. You would be sitting in your house and have slaves take care of everything from wiping your fat ass to chewing your food before you swallowed it. Maybe have those hover chairs so you don’t even need to walk.”

“Don’t you have some better material,” Neal said rolling his eyes at another shot at the weight.

“Lots of material actually,” Trixi added with a smug smile on her muzzle, “Do you want to hear about how your parents never loved you, so you take it out on others? Or would you rather hear how inbred human noble families get from fucking their sisters and mothers?”

Richard was ready as Kinn reached forward to strangle the fox. Hitting a particularly nasty nerve for the tub of lard. He collided with the security chief and bounced back to the ground. “Alright, enough. No fighting in the bar. You know the rules. Especially you Kinn.” He shot a glare at the downed man causing him to flinch. “Your nose healed up nice by the way.”

Kinn huffed in anger while the other two picked him up off the ground. Trixi was holding her muzzle tight to prevent her gekkering laugh to sound off. She positioned herself behind Richard in a mocking manner knowing they wouldn’t do a thing about it. Instead, he postered a threat, “You better take care of your alien friend. Or else something bad will happen to her. It’s obvious to everyone she has you wrapped around her ugly clawed finger.”

Trixi self-consciously looked at her claw for a moment then made a snide remark in return, “You have a lot to talk about. Your sausages would probably burst if you tried to curl them into a fist.” He lunged again at the vulpes his hand nearly getting her around Richard’s sturdy legs. “Should I get you a clown car to help you catch me? Oh, wait never mind, it would run out of fuel by the time you left the bar.”

Richard held up his hand to the clown and she stopped focusing on her target. “That’s enough. You had your fun.” She smugly walked off tail swaying in victory.

Percy was grinding his teeth, “You give the aiensh too much leeway.” Anger dripped from the words. “They walk all over their bettersh.”

Bakes arrived carrying a glass of kortora. “Here you go Richard, I jussst finished fermenting the nutsss.”

“Blech you drink that disgusting swill,” Neal said

“Probably filled with lizard shemen,” Percy added quietly but made sure Richard could hear it.

Kinn was breathing heavily from his overexertion. Normally Richard would have hit him with a stun baton for even attempting such a feat against any crewmate. But it wouldn’t help, chances are the two VIPs would just make things worse for everyone on the station.  Richard picked up the glass and thanked him before facing the VIPs again. With an eye roll at the men, he joined Trixi to help her put away some of the instruments.

“You really shouldn’t antagonize them,” Richard said carefully to not be overheard.

“Not my fault they treat us like garbage. Poor Bakes”

“I know, I know. It’s only for a few more days and they will be so far away from all aliens they will never see one again.”

“Good. I hope no one is subjugated to his fat disgusting ass.”

“I understand that sentiment. But they run things in this sector.”

She remained silent. She didn’t understand, and she didn’t want to. They reminded her of her father, and he was just as strange.

Richard wanted to ease her mind a bit. But He had nothing. It was only for a few days anyway; nothing bad would happen.

Chapter Text

Trixi got up unusually early this time. She was waiting in Richard’s office for her sister to message her so they could bring each other up to speed on what was going on. Her sister was always so busy so they couldn’t line up their schedules. Four kids and a husband was quite a lot even for the high-energy vulpes species.

As she waited, she was playing around with the dimensional rings she got from the scientist. The strange metal rings would separate objects into two parts cutting them in half with a portal. She already blanked on the details on why the bluespace rings worked. The scent of ozone and warm thermal paste wafted from the strange devices. She had a handful of them and would slip one around her arm. With a simple twist, her arm fell away from her body.

She wielded her arm like a sword in her other paw. Outstretching both arms would stretch it to the full length. She marveled at her reach, she thought it would probably be a good idea to keep one in hand so she could reach the high places humans always had. Richard tried his best to put things she needed at her level, but not all humans are so accommodating.

As she played around with her arm, she thought about what else she could do. The large ring fell out of the bag of holding as she continued to rummage through it. It beckoned to her. Richard was in a wheelchair because of his injuries so she decided to experience what it was like to not have legs.

She put her arm back and fitted herself in the large one. With a simple snap, she cuffed her waist. She held her butt and turned to separate herself into two halves. It was strange, but also not the same as she believed Richard felt. His legs were lifeless and weighed him down and got caught in many mundane things. A frown spread on her muzzle as she lifted herself away.

The balance she displayed was impeccable. She was able to walk while holding onto her hips. One steady step at a time. Then she got to the desk where her laptop was located. She jumped with her arms to place her top half on the table. The steel plate that was materialized as the portal was created made for a nice platform to set her body on.

The laptop beeped and Trixi eagerly accepted the call. “How’s it going!” She said half laughing about her legs that were jumping around behind the screen.

“I’m doing great, we just got a new spinner that can carry all of us!” Kalia said with equal exuberance, “What’s going on with you?”

They started to share stories. Kaila is now a full-time stay-at-home mom and Dirk working to feel like he is still contributing to the family with a part-time job so he can spend time with the kids. Trixi was amazed how their lives improved so drastically. Trixi then gave her an update on her boyfriend and his recovery.

“That’s amazing news!” Kalia said in amazement. She looked around to see if any little ones were around and then whispered to the camera. “How’s he in bed now that you got to know him?”

“Perfect. It hurt a little getting his length inside but after a few times I fit him like a glove.”

The sisters giggled in unison on the subject of sex. Then her sister noticed that she was sitting on the table funny. “What’s going on with the metal ring?”

“It’s something I got from the scientists a while ago.” Trixi lifted her torso to show that her legs were missing. The shining metal disk terminated where her waist ended.

Kalia’s eyes shot open in a panic. “Are you hurt?!”

“No, it’s just some bluespace rings I got, I don’t know all the details, but they are safe, my legs are on the other side of the desk.” Trixi spun her sister’s view to see her legs standing on their own.

“W-weird. Is it painful?”

“Nope, I got stuck in one of their experiments and they made me the fun toy. I was wanting to see what it was like to not have legs but I don’t think it’s anywhere the same. Richard is so much heavier. I can run around with my arms.” She demonstrated her athleticism by bouncing from one arm to another and then doing a handstand.

“Neat. I wonder if I can try that out when you come and visit. Looks like fun.”

“I also have a whole bunch of little rings, I’m still not sure how I’m going to use them.”

“I know what I would use it for,” Kalia’s face blushed thinking lewd thoughts, “While Dirk is at work, I could get to fuck him. Play with him until he got hard to relieve the stress. Thank him for treating me and our kids right.”

Trixi’s eyes lit up with ideas. She wondered if Richard would get upset with her, but they were pushed back by her growing arousal. “That’s pretty intense. I should do that. Maybe I can put one on me and have him use me whenever he feels like it. Or maybe we can take turns.” There was a thin line of drool trailing down from her muzzle.

Kaila snickers at her sister’s lust. “Just don’t overdo it. You don’t want to hurt him. Humans have a high libido but save it for when you go into heat.”

Trixi wiped her face and blushed. “I know. I should probably warn Richard when that will happen again.” She looked at the time on the corner of the screen. “I’m sorry about this but I have to go now, Richard should be up in no time. I’m glad you gave me a call, love you.”

“No problem, love you too,” Kaila’s orange face vanished off the screen as she hung up.

Trixi’s arousal didn’t go away. Her legs were bouncing from one leg to another as the itch between them grew. No doubt she would have to change her panties from under her coveralls. She let out a small whine and reconnected her two halves with only a few stumbles as she slid her top half off the table. Once whole she picked up all her rings and thought about what she should do. Then a smug smile passed over her. She picked up one that would fit the role she was looking for.

The door hissed open to Richard’s quarters. Trixi giggled quietly as her tiny claws tapped as quietly as she could. The smell of Richard caressed her snout. Her clit was throbbing.

She carefully lifted the covers to the prize she sought. He slept naked making things easy. She felt his soft flesh and caressed the smooth skin. The metal ring was slipped around his flaccid member, then she carefully pulled his balls through. She wanted his whole penis in her paws. His cock was snugly wrapped in the metal ring at the base. She twisted the ring, and it left his body without any trouble.

After she got her prize she pulled his manhood close to her muzzle. His balls rested on her snout, and she nearly came from the scent alone. Her vagina was clamping desperately for his member to be inside. She unzipped her coveralls and stuffed his cock inside. She held it close and felt the warmth press to her body. She left the room to return to her old quarters to play with her prize.

Richard woke up sometime later feeling strange. His morning wood felt chillier than normal. He noticed that Trixi wasn’t beside him, then a strange hot breath caressed his genitals. He pulled the covers up to see what the hell was going on but saw nothing. Literally. His penis wasn’t there at all. Only a metal ring and a silver disk. It felt like his dick had a tight ring over it and he pulled on it. The ring wouldn’t budge.

Another hot breath caressed him and caused him to shudder. His balls were kissed passionately then the familiar raspy tongue of Trixi started at the balls and then up to his penis’ head. The motion caused him to buckle and his cock to twitch in pleasure. He felt the precum ooze out only to be kissed away by Trixi’s snout.

Richard shot out of bed and looked around the room for the vulpes. “Trixi where the hell are you?! What did you do?!” The only answer he got back was another raspy lick across his urethra lapping the source of the precum. He bucked forward thrusting a little as the sensation overwhelmed him briefly. “Dammit girl, where are you?!”

He threw on his coveralls quickly and left the room. He didn’t bother putting on an undershirt or even shoes. The constant sensation of kissing and molesting his cock preoccupied his entire thought process. He ran out the double doors to security but was unfortunately stopped by the captain.

“Richard you’re up early.” He said laughing to himself.

“Sorry sir, I h-haave to g-go.” Richard stammered out as the vixen lapped at each testicle.

“Oh, you’re in a rush? Sorry to hear that I was going to talk about that job offer you denied.”

“Mmmm” Richard pursed his lips and tried to suppress moaning as her maw envelop his penis. Up and down she motioned making sure her raspy tongue stimulated him in all the right ways. The edge was closing in around him. He’s going to make Trixi pay when he gets ahold of her.

“Yes, I already knew you would turn down the job. I knew you for a long time after all.”

Richard blushed trying to listen to the captain, but the vixen released his cock letting the cold air caress his twitching shaft once more. “Mpfh.” He swallowed hard at the absence of warmth. “T-that’s great, b-but I’m stillll ne-needing to go.”

“Oh right, I’m sorry about that. What are you in a rush for anyway?”

“I-I just gotta find Trixi. S-she has some- something I’m looking for.”

“I did see her walk down the hall not too long ago.”

There was another sensation. Her hot puffy lips pushed up against his desperate cock. Richard held himself together balling his fists. “Y-yeah. She t-took s-something. I- I gotta go.” He rushed down the hall leaving the captain confused.

The captain said something just as he left earshot to find out where his vixen went with his penis. He could almost hear her bubbly laughter knowing that she is teasing him in such a manner. His penis was now coated with her warm fluids as she rimmed herself with his shaft. She would stop occasionally giving him time to breathe and get a few steps closer to where he thought she would be. Then she teased him further bringing him to the edge. After picking himself off the wall for being edged for the tenth time he just wanted to get off by finding Trixi and pinning her to the bed.

He ran through the hallways almost knocking over several bystanders as he made his way up to the bar. As he ran through the double doors Bakes greeted Richard with a toothy smile on his muzzle. Richard didn’t respond and the smile faded. He saw that his face was flush, and he was breathing heavily.

“Did Trixi pass through here?” Richard asked panting.

“Only for a sssecond ssshe went to her room, isss sssomething wrong?”

He felt the cold air around his cock once more as if his cock was being swung around like a sword. This calmed him a little but the need for release was maddening. He was going to make sure the vulpes would have difficulty walking after he was done with her.

“No, I’m fine. I’ll go see her now.” Richard left through the backroom knocking over boxes on his way through. As he approached her dormitory his shaft was resting on a warm fluffy body. Soft kisses were pressed to the head of his dick. Richard held himself up against the wall as he was brought to the edge again. Then she stopped just one kiss away from release. He let out a groan. Being toyed with so ruthlessly was making him think very dark thoughts.

His ID overridden the privacy settings to the door. It slid open and the hot scent of her sex punched him in the nose. Trixi reflexively covered herself. The vulpes was naked on her red and white striped bed in the corner of the messy room. His penis rested right on her chest hard and ready to penetrate.

“Eep,” that was all Trixi could say as she noticed the flushed face of her man. She was enjoying his scent for so long that she didn’t know how long it had been. The session was only supposed to be a few minutes she told herself.

“W-what did y-you do?” His voice was mixed with lust, anger, and confusion.

She was caught red-handed and picked up his wet erection and brought it over to him. “I’m sorry. I thought you would just lay in bed and enjoy my massage.” The vulpes was visibly aroused. Her legs parted slightly. Her swollen sex was visible. The dark lips peaking out of her fluff. She panted and rubbed her legs together as she held onto his dick.

She went on to explain what she did but her lust-addled mind and constant staring at the manhood made it difficult for some of the explanation to come out. Richard held up his hand and stripped off his clothes exposing the metal disk of where his cock used to be. He was still angry with his little girlfriend.

“Get back on your bed,” Richard commanded her.

Her heart raced when she heard him in that serious tone. The same tone he used on his own men when they did something he didn’t like. She handed him his cock and did as she was instructed. Sitting on the side of the bed, tail twitched anxiously below.

The cock felt weightless in his hand. It looked much larger than he remembered, but he doesn’t stare at his package that often. The vulpes was whining waiting for him. He wondered if he should just reattach himself and grind her into her bed or if he should just use his cock as a dildo and fuck her senseless.

He towered over her. “Spread your legs.”

Trixi swallowed at his domination. Tail swayed excitedly as she parted her thighs exposing her swollen dark spade. She was completely soaked and aching painfully for him. She wanted to speak up but all she could mouth were words in her native tongue. The high-pitched whines turned to moans as one of her paws rubbed her puffy sex. She spread her legs wider for him.

Richard sneered at the vulpes taking in the commands and shoved her head on the bed. He has been teased enough and it was about time he got off.

She moaned as he laid his hand on her. She dropped common completely. Just sharp barking words while thrusting her pelvis up toward her man. Like an animal desperate to be mounted. He quieted her down when he pinned her hips back down with a forceful hand.

“I decide how it will happen.”

Her eyes clamped shut waiting for him to do something. Her whole body shivered under his grasp. Then he positioned his cock right to her sex using the ring as a handle resting the disk in his palm. Her toes curled waiting for the sharp insertion. But he waited for a moment. She opened one eye to see what was happening.

He examined her carefully. Watching all her shameless twitches of her entire body. He wanted to make sure she wouldn’t expect it when it starts. “Actions have consequences, Trixi.”

Then he penetrated her. Toes splayed arms desperately grabbing the blanket. A sharp howl from the speed he inserted himself. Her legs tried to wrap around him but he held her spread eagle with a foot and a hand. He didn’t stop.

He pulled and pushed his flesh inside her. It was impossibly tight and warm every motion felt like being caressed by crushed velvet. The desperate grab her sex normally did when he made love was nothing as he pushed quickly through it. He hilted his cock deep inside her. Then again. and again. and again.

She screeched in pleasure. Her Head bobbed back and forth tongue refusing to stay put as she panted. Her sex orgasmed immediately desperately trying to make the male cum. Her unfortunate clit was vigorously rubbed with every movement of his cock. She tried to lean up to grab ahold of him to embrace him, but he only moved his hand up to pin her chest down. Every time she tried to move, he was there to stop it. She was just supposed to lie there and take the stimulation.

His other hand was completely soaked with her fluids he was starting to lose his grip on the metal ring. The sounds of her pleasure cries and the scent of her hot fragrance drove him on. He was lost in his pleasure as he fucked her. The hot hole was so wet and the sounds so irresistible he couldn’t stop himself but continued to push on.

Trixi was having a difficult time staying conscious. Her cries of pleasure and overstimulated sex were leaving her breathless. The lulls between orgasms were the only breaks she got to get panted breaths inside her lungs before her mate’s motions took over her mind. She let out a plea on a weak breath, “Cum inside me.”

A wild smile spread on his lips as he shoved his cock deep inside one final time. He collapsed on the bed next to her and rotated his hips as his body released the teased joy she was responsible for. Trixi closed her eyes feeling the warmth enter her and filling her before succumbing to unconsciousness.

Richard’s arm was sore and his hand was cramping. He looked over at Trixi and in a post-lust haze, he felt he may have overdone it. She was breathing quickly, and her limbs were splayed on the bed around her. He extracted his cock and watched the fluids leak from her body. Trixi didn’t make a sound or even twitch when he did it.

It didn’t take him long to figure out how to reattach himself and remove the blasted device from his person. He pulled her to his chest. Her heart was still racing. He moved to the bed and rested with her.

After a few hours, she came to. She weakly wrapped her arms around Richard. “That was intense.” She said fearfully, her soft eyes tearing up. “I don’t know if I could do that again.”

“I kind of lost myself in the moment.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “I was hoping you would say something, but you looked like you were having a great time, so I didn’t stop.”

She licked his lips and then kissed him letting their tongues entwine. “I’m sorry for teasing you like that. Next time I’ll make sure I’m in heat so you can quell that fire.”

“Just warn me next time. I don’t want to have to run through the entire station getting my dick teased.”

She laughed in her bubbly way. It came to her as no surprise that she was going to be fucked thoroughly after putting him through that. "Well you got me back and fucked me silly."

They both shared that laugh. It was even funnier to the vixen when she tried to step off the bed and her legs gave out from under her. She always heard of being fucked to the point where one couldn’t walk.

It was an awkward walk back to Richard’s quarters. His bare feet were exposed to the gunmetal steel and exposed chest peaking at the top of the coveralls top button. Trixi was beside him blushing his guiding hand keeping her upright as they made their way. Her sensitive nose could smell their lovemaking matted into her fur. Anyone with eyes could see what the two have just done.

Chapter Text

A day came and went. Trixi stepped on stage playing her songs as the crew rolled in. Most of them were interested in drinking and watching the large flatscreen. As she played, she kept her eyes out for Richard who was strangely absent that evening. On her break, she approached the bar.

“Bakes, has Richard come by yet?” Trixi asked.

“Not yet, he might be busy with sssomething. The VIPsss are around.”

“Oh okay. Thank you.” She shrugged it off as a coincidence, he is a busy man after all. She already spent so much time with him last night. Her walk was still funny from that intense workout session. But her overactive imagination started to get the best of her. Making her believe in a feminine story that he was upset with her for the sexy prank. She always told herself to not believe in those simple fantasies she saw in dramas. But she couldn’t help herself as the reserved HoS always hid his annoyances to avoid any confrontation.

Just as she returned to the stage thoughts were broken by the crowd’s ‘oh’s and ‘ah’s. The curious vulpes wandered over to see the boisterous men blocking the screen. Every patron in the bar was tuned into whatever was on the screen.

“Oh man, that was a great move.” One man remarked.

“I didn’t know so much energy could pass through the windows.” A more concerned felinid commented, “I think I’ll close my blast shields in my room.”

“what’s playing?” Trixi asked the backs of the crowd.

A technician was standing on his tiptoes to view the screen before he stopped and addressed Trixi. “We’re watching the security footage from the attack. The captain gave an all-clear to the battle report, so now we get to see what happened.”

“Really?!” She exclaimed with a wagging tail. “I wanna see!”

She slipped through the crowd to the front, an easy enough feat. The wall-mounted screen to see multiple shots of hallways and external shots of the hull. Nothing particularly interesting was currently shown. Then a body in red armor floated away with several smoldering spots of melted metal punched through.

“That guy got fucked up.” An astute observer reported.

“Switch it to arrivals,” a yellow jumpsuit-garbed man demanded, “I worked hard patching all those holes. Practically gouged the station in half.”

The remote flicked through to view arrivals and fast-forwarded to the point where the defenders were in position. Trixi smiled through her painted face as she saw Richard in his padded jacket. As events unfolded through the screen, she felt pumped up and cheered on by the crowd, “Hit em’ hit em’ till they’re horizontal!” The lasers flew in the air in a standoff with the dreaded death drone. Orders were shouted left and right. Trixi was proud of her man’s bravery in throwing himself at the drone to keep it from attacking. Things then turned for the worse.

Her fur stood on end as the drone swiped Richard off. The vulpes folded her ears at seeing the horrifying power that sent Richard skipping across the counter like a discarded glass bottle. When the robot went down the crowd cheered, unaware of the toll Richard took to make that a reality. The modulated speaker in Richard’s helmet was chilling as he ordered a retreat. His words were slurred from pain. The crowd tensed up as the drone beeped. When the beeping finished the screen was filled with a disconnection error message.

A horrifying memory flicked through Trixi. The sight of Richard’s bloody face. Her brain made every attempt to block it. She swallowed and squared herself up to continue watching.

The holder of the controller flipped the camera views to where the captain was blasting through a large opening in the A.I.’s chamber. Automatic turrets lit up the screen in brilliant reds. Sparks of molten armor showered down from the enemies that dared to return fire. It was like a movie where the protagonist was gunning down enemies one at a time. Trixi was no longer having fun. The sounds of shouting were too real. She was there already, and the horrible smell of blood returned.

“Let me have a look!” The felinid yelled out taking the remote. “I want to see how the mess hall blew up.”

He clicked through the bookmarked scenes. The camera was contrasted up to pick up the dark room. The bomb sat dead center, counting down. Another armored mercenary defiantly defended the weapon as Richard attacked. Sparks from their energy weapons fell to the gunmetal floors. She tilted her head slightly. Her sharp eyes picked up on the strange movements Richard performed. The drugs that poured into him gave him an uncanny flexibility. They looked painful, flexing in a way that only looked natural to a felinid. After a station rattling shake cracked the lens of the camera, the armored man was pinned. The crowd was silent. Trixi’s eyes widened.

The fight was over with a guttural crunch. Like a can of soda filled with watermelon. She felt lightheaded and turned away. Then she lurched forward and vomited.

The mime waved through the crowd and carried her away. The felinid cycled the footage to an empty scene as other patrons gave him nasty looks for making the clown sick.

After everything was cleaned Trixi sat at the counter feeling cold, alone, and judged. She folded her arms defensively as everyone glanced worried looks her direction.

“Need anything?” Bakes asked pressing his arms to the counter trying to lower himself to her stature.

“I should be fine.” She swallowed, tasting bile. “Maybe a glass of water would help… The video just reminded me of that day. I thought I got over it.”

Jacques petted her head and offered his other hand open. An invitation to talk it out.

“I should be fine. My stomach is just turning sideways.”

Jacques covered his mouth and hugged the little vulpes squeezing her tightly.

“Come on, it’s not that serious. I’ve been working through my issues little by little.” She groaned and twisted, “Now can you please stop squeezing me, my stomach still hasn’t settled.”

“You should go to medical,” Bakes suggested.

“Maybe, do you have everything under control, Jacques?”

The mime nodded and shooed the fox away smiling wide. He reminded her again that he was always available. Trixi hopped from the bar stool and squeaked on her way to medbay.

She had no real interest in seeking medical help. But maybe a pill or two would get her back to her normally bubbly self. With that happy thought, she approached the counter with audible squeaking shoes, “I got a tummy ache. Can I get something to make it feel better?”

The woman let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m so close to reassignment planet side. Can it wait so I never see you again?”

The vulpes had stars in her eyes hearing the good news, “Oh! Where are you headed? Should I plan a going away party?”

“For the love of God, no! I want my Earth trip to be as peaceful as possible and without disgusting fur on any of my belongings.”

Trixi’s smile of joy turned to a smug half grin. “That’s a shame. I thought you were wanting to celebrate before becoming the ugly one again.” She honked her horn and snickered. Honk! Then her stomach turned, and she gagged. “Ooooagh…”

The nurse clinched her teeth trying not to show pleasure in the vulpes’ pain. “Whatever, I’ll message Dr. Manit.”

Trixi collected herself and held her stomach with her gloved paws. “Good. Thank you…” She parked her butt in a chair in the empty lobby.

Allison walked into the lobby at her normal aggravated pace. Her sagging wrinkled eyes were blazing with anger as she proceeded to yell at the receptionist, “Does the lobby look like a zoo to you? I told you I’m busy.”

“Could’ve fooled me. I see a harpy and a crow.” Trixi said to herself holding off on laughing at her joke this time around.

The young woman defended herself pointing at the alien, “She’s here to see Dr. Manit Ma’am.”

“Humph.” Allison tapped her foot on the sterile silver floors turning her attention to Trixi in a manner that seemed like she was ready to strike the vulpes. “What do you want foxkin? Dr. Manit is occupied and with all those security stooges getting in the way is taking more of his time. Pack of useless dogs.”

The way Allison spoke about Trixi’s friends made her want to snap her jaw. Then her sharp nose picked up something. The smell of blood on the woman’s seemingly washed hands. She hesitated and covered her snout. There was no mistaking the stench. The vulpes gagged.

“She has stomach pain.” The receptionist answered, “Should I contact Dr. Manit or just let her deal with it?”

“Neither. I’ll go fetch some medication for the foxkin. Some Olazapine will do.”

“Thank you,” Trixi said holding her stomach as if it was the only way of keeping it together.

After an hour passed Allison produced a pill bottle. “Here you go, just take two each day for a week. That should be enough to take care of you.”

Trixi nodded, keeping her paw over her snout. All she wanted to do was crawl back into bed and be surrounded by Richard’s scent. But before she made it to their quarters, she stopped by the breakroom to grab a glass of water. Roma sat alone, drinking some coffee.

“Hey, Trixi! You missed the celebration. Everyone got to see you beat the bad guys.”

“I didn’t feel like staying. My stomach was turning from the violence.”

“Oh… Are you okay?”

“It’s fine, I got some tummy pills.” She took two of the pills and drank some water. The water did a wonderful job alone. It cooled her very core. She checked her PDA only to find zero messages. “Is Richard busy? I haven’t seen him all day.”

“He was having a conversation with Quincy again. The two of them have a lot in common.”

“That guy’s friends creep me out…”

“No kidding, I already had to pull the fat guy out of the kitchen. He was drooling on the floor at the sight of Wilma. Or maybe it was the deep-fried butter steak.”

“Eehch. Looks like I should find him and prank him.”

“Be my guest,” Roma handwaved dismissively, “Space lube his shoes and bolt open the SM for all I care.”

“Hehe.” She clutched her stomach again. “I think I’ll just stick with bananas or ask the chef to make more pies. Richard told me never to go into engineering anymore. Something about radiation will kill me or something. Anyway, I’ll be in Richard’s quarters. Let him know I’m not feeling well, okay?”

“I’ll let the boss know. Good night.” Roma frowned watching Trixi leave.

_____

On the other side of the station, Richard looked over the AI’s core. The walls were repaired, and the station was now officially back to 100% operation. The brooding visitor rubbed his fingers across the welds on the interior plates. The bead was as seamless as a medical weld.

“Things are looking quite well Richard,” Quincy said impressed.

“Glad to hear that. Is there any word on reinforcements for the defense of the stations?”

“We’re looking into it still, the attack seemed out of the blue. Most of the corporate leaders in the syndicate are in complete disarray trying to find out who supplied the mercenaries. But rest assured that if there is another attack the ERT will support our stations no matter how unlikely.”

“Finally, some good news. Having to use technicians and scientists as a defense force was costly.”

The door hissed open behind the two men and the captain stepped into the hall. “Central command finished their analysis of the footage and I green-lit the release. I believe this is cause for celebration wouldn’t you say, Richard?”

“I could use a drink. Might help with my headache. I keep hearing rumblings from our other guests. The only thing I hate more than self-righteous asshats are ones with connections.”

“I warned command to only send me,” Quincy stated coldly, “But they wanted a good cover. I apologize on their behalf.”

“It’d be a wasted breath,” The captain said taking a more serious tone. “Richard here has them under careful eye so they get too handsy-”

Quincy chuckled deeply, “I give you my word that if they try anything that disrupts operations in this station, I will personally toss their severed head out the airlock. They may have connections with the barons of earth, but those fat cats would likely not wish to make powerful enemies.”

“Well said,” Martinez chuckled. A smile crept back from the serious matters, “So how about a toast to a job well done?!”

They departed the chamber in better spirits. Unaware that the crew had already delved deeply into the footage. The commotion at the bar stopped as the three entered. Richard was offered a round of drinks as he answered the crew’s never-ending questions. His lips were quite loose by the bottom of the 6^th bottle of dwarven ale. In his drunken stupor, he watched the video himself. He took the footage personally. A homage to how he got his ass kicked by a bunch of cowards in power armor. He didn’t remember the events that lead to the fight in the cafeteria. The drugs blocked everything in a dark haze. An interesting side effect to limit PTSD. Fortunately, he only took one stab of the fluid.

What interested him the most was what Trixi did while he ran around the station. He cycled to the bookmarked scene just after she escaped the clutches of the mercenary. Her bushy tail disappeared into the vents. He could almost feel the fox’s heart race in his own chest.

“Trixi did quite well, considering she had no real weapon,” Quincy said impressed with the alien’s actions. He polished off his margarita. “The clever clown saved quite a few lives as a distraction.”

“I’m glad she made it out alive.”

“Where’s the clown anyway!?” Martinez yelled out drinking his manly dorf, face rosy from the stiff drink. “She would love this attention and admiration!”

Bakes was quietly serving drinks until the captain snapped his focus mentioning Trixi. “She left to sssettle her ssstomach. Not feeling well.”

“I should probably go then,” Richard said, setting his glass down.

Martinez jiggled happily. “All right, have a goodnight! Tell Trixi that she did a hell of a job out there!”

The captain’s voice echoed in Richard’s foggy head as he made his way to security. He ruminated on the battle and how he could have done things better. He arrived in his quarters to see Trixi’s orange snout buried in his pillow. Her light snores were muffled as he stripped and curled around her. Wasn’t the first time she did that, always reminding him his scent brought her comfort. The pillow held the strongest trace. He managed to get under the covers before the station’s chilly air got to him. A warm plush body greeted him. She was in a deep sleep, but a gentle smile spread across her muzzle as he embraced her.

When the alarm woke them Trixi moaned out in pain, gagging again. The taste never left her mouth. “My stomach still feels like it’s turning,” she grumbled.

Richard groggily turned on his side to leave the bed. Once upright, he processed Trixi’s complaints. “Still? Didn’t you see the doctor?”

“I did. I got pills. But now my insides just feel worse.”

After that one playful night, he wondered if maybe it was his fault. “Did I hurt you?”

Trixi rolled over to reassure him. “No. No. It was from the video feed. I felt sick watching it all,” She paused for a moment and rested her paw on his chest. “I could smell the blood again. It felt like it did after the fighting ended.”

He felt slightly better about not causing her physical pain, but only slightly. He still blamed himself for the reason she decided to fight. “Go ahead and rest. I’ll get breakfast.”

“Can you hand me some more pills, I feel like I’m gonna vomit again.”

Richard gave her the medication and dressed for his morning routine.

A plate of breakfast waited for him as he exercised. Pressing metal and a cold shower worked better than the disgusting discount coffee he’d been drinking while he was recovering. He let out a deep sigh of satisfaction and wiped himself off. He gave Trixi a soft kiss on the forehead before turning out the lights to let her rest.

His rounds had the normal idiots running around again. Silently giddy, he caught someone trying to break into the female locker room while they were showering. A stern talk was all he needed, and some bandages for the young man’s hands as he crossed the wires frying himself. Richard then helped himself with a laugh at the assistant’s expense. The man’s face was so red it could ignite plasma. Richard then ordered the idiot to use the holodeck privileges if he wanted to express himself. The whole ordeal was nostalgic. Grey-suited kids, tell them to move a box of rocks and they will pick each rock up one by one.

On his break, he noticed that the breakroom was bustling with activity. The men just got off their shift from medical and patrols. “How are things going around the station?” Richard asked no one in particular.

“Better than normal,” said a helmeted officer, “I got a date with that engineering chick. Who knew all it took to get women’s attention was to put your life on the line and save everyone from annihilation?”

Richard chuckled, “I hope for the best. And how about our VIPs are they staying out of trouble?”

“Eh, not really. Got some complaints but it’s nothing we haven’t heard already from our crew. The CMO seems to let them get a free pass in her department.”

“It’s probably best to not hit that bee’s nest,” Richard said rolling his eyes. “If she had a complaint, she will most likely bitch to us about it. I already got hounded about our extra duties in her department.”

“How much longer are they on board?” Another helmeted officer asked.

“Just one more day. I have a meeting tomorrow and then they will be out of our hair.” Richard ran a hand through his hair wistfully. “The fat one has been pissing me off the most. Lately, he’s been stalking me a little too much. Questioning every little thing I do. I hope I’m not that annoying.” They shake their heads, it’s not like he could tell if they were serious or not, he hasn’t monitored his behavior in quite some time. Richard shrugged, “I’d appreciate it if you guys did let me know I’m overbearing. Life is too short to hate every aspect of your life.”

They joked around about made-up nonsense. Paperwork and tool clean-up are the biggest complaints. Jokers the lot of them. Richard pulled his hand up to quiet them.

“As you all were then. I’m going to patrol the under hab doing some pest control.”

He pulled a laser from the armory and made his way toward the uninhabited maintenance level below the living quarters. It was quite a nasty atmosphere. Condensation from the hot water pipes left the air warm and wet. It felt like a sauna. The large draining pipes left behind a heavy fog. Bacteria and slimes loved to grow and reproduce in the dank environment as well as the rats. These pests feed on the trash that leaked from waste tube seals and chew on precious wire bundles for nesting materials.

A red laser flashed in the darkness and another rat squeaked and died. Richard’s night vision beamed like beacons following the trail of the target. He hunched over avoiding getting seared by the hot water pipes as he continued through the maintenance tunnel. A few more rats were zapped when Roma joined up with him.

“Exterminating some rodents?” Roma asked limboing under a pipe.

“That’s the plan. Someone’s got to keep the population down now and again. Theodin loved this task, but well…”

Roma remained silent as Richard zapped another rodent and then smirked trying to bring the conversation to a more pleasant location, “He never did pay me back my 20 bucks.” Richard tilted his head to hear the story. Their late friend was quite the jokester. “…An old bet I won. Not only did he not pay me, but he sent me a letter acknowledging that he owed the money. With the note he gave me a bar of soap with a bite taken out of it.” They shared a laugh and other humorous stories they experienced. Fond memories and company in the dark tunnels were always welcomed.

Richard neared the completion of the rounds, “I’m not sure if it’s Nanotrasen that turns us into lunatics or if lunatics are just drawn to a life in space.”

“A little of both probably.” Roma leaned on a bulkhead. “You’d have to be crazy to deal with all of this.” Waving his arms dismissively at the environment he suddenly popped off the bulkhead remembering something. “Oh right, Trixi asked about you the other night. She sounded worried about something she did.”

“It’s nothing,” Richard shrugged chuckling warmly. “She just played a prank on me. I think she caught something.”

“Hope she gets better.”

“How about you and Welds?” Richard grinned wide under his mask interested in how their xeno relationship was going.

“It’s great,” Roma said honestly, “We stopped sneaking around as much. Even sitting together during movie night.”

“Ah, young love.” Richard snickered poking more fun at the warden.

“Heh, I think I’m going to propose to her. I want to make things official.”

“That’s wonderful! Is it going to be on your homeworld?”

“I’m planning it on Bakes’ homeworld. Protoa doesn’t allow cross-species marriages and my family is too estranged to bring anything like that up. All we have are each other.”

“I’m here for you,” Richard patted him on the shoulder comforting the younger man, “Hope Trixi and I get an invite.”

“Are you going to remarry?”

“Yes, once we get off this blasted station. I mean, I knew her for years, but we never really had any interactions beyond crewmates. After all the shit we went through, she stayed by my side. I’m going to devote the rest of my life to that little vulpes.” Richard popped another rat in the head. “I’ll sell my home on Raia and move to another world where we can start our new life.”

“Hell, you should move to Hou. We could be neighbors.”

“Doesn’t sound too bad. Maybe Trixi’s sister could move as well. Her homeworld isn’t exactly keen on humans either.”

Roma was smiling stupidly thinking about his future. Hope filled his heart, a quite infectious warmth that spread to Richard. “I can’t wait,” He said beaming, “Real gravity and fresh air. I should just go ahead and ask Welds immediately before I spoil the idea.”

“Want me to come with you?” Richard asked with a voice full of smugness to it, “Wingman.”

Roma laughed, “Nah. I don’t want her pressured and the population of rats quadrupled down here.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t be a stranger.” He waved goodbye so he could continue zapping a dozen more rodents. The rats were happily chomping away at the electrical wires. Just another extra duty that gave him some practice for precision shots. Once he was satisfied with the number of kills, he returned to check on his vulpes.

He was shocked to see his office was untouched. The chair had not moved, nor Trixi’s computer. It was unlike her to not fiddle with things while he was away. He entered his quarters to see the star-lit window on the opposite wall. Everything was suspended in darkness. “Are you doing all right?” Richard asked concerned. He hung up his equipment and took off his uniform. Trixi was as he left her in the morning.

Her voice was weak he almost couldn’t hear her, “I’m still feeling bad. I couldn’t keep any food down.” She shuddered a little and hugged his pillow with her whole body. “My stomach is twisty.” Her fur was matted from tossing and turning all day and she still had makeup smeared on her muzzle. He comforted her by running his fingers through her fur. Eventually, he picked up a brush and stroked her back with it. She crooned and nuzzled the pillow deeper.

“Do you need water or anything?”

“Please don’t go. I can’t sleep without you…”

He stayed by her side, grooming her fluffy tail and back. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths with every stroke. He frowned looking at the poor vulpes. This continued throughout the night until light snores could be heard.

Trixi’s health got worse the following day. As she took more medication, Richard winced. She said it was like drinking spikes as she swallowed the water. When she attempted to eat breakfast, it came back out.

“I’m… Sorry…” She whimpered while Richard cleaned up the mess.

“No, don’t. Just go back to sleep. I want you to get better.”

After cleaning he dressed for his shift. His concern grew with every passing hour. When he passed by the medbay he wondered if he should march to Dr. Manit and ask if there was something else he could do. But regulations would get in the way. The doctor would be hard-pressed to discuss private medical matters.

Beep beep beep.

His PDA beeped reminding him of the damn meeting. He had completely forgotten the thing from all the compounding oppressive matters he needed to attend to. He rushed over as quickly as he could to the bridge. At the door, he straightened his back and rolled his shoulders and exhaling any sibilance of stress out to make himself look attentive. The captain greeted him.

“Glad you could make it Richard,” Martinez said brushing his beard. The smell alone gave away that the captain had already partaken of his whisky.

“Already partying?”

“Just substituting the pre-meeting cigar,” the captain’s voice was a whisper, “Those Earth types are always so pushy when it comes to those kinds of substances.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Richard looked over and saw the two pains in the asses speaking to each other in the meeting room.  The other heads were already sitting in their respective seats. Patins had a smug smile on his face as he adjusted his ass in Richard’s usual spot. The security head just rolled his eyes at the petty gesture. His only regret was not joining the captain earlier to partake in the whiskey before the waste of time started. Quincy was the last one to take his seat. His demeanor was as stoic and hard to read as ever. He had his face buried into his PDA not breaking his gaze from what he was reading. An occasional finger flicked up to read more.

“Bout time,” Patins mumbled. “I have a very important dishcovery I wanted everyone to shee.”

“I’m sure it will be riveting,” Quincy replied already bored.

Richard’s eyes were already starting to glaze over from the talking. Something about the room just drained any attention he had. His eyes inadvertently landed on the individual opposite of him, Allison.

“And just want are you staring at?” She barked.

He shook his head and shrugged, pointing his eyes toward Patins. He was mumbling about how great things looked and that the CMO’s employees were the most well-behaved out of all the sections. Richard wondered what she had her poor girls do to get such high remarks. Just another slimy thing that slipped out of his fingers for not jumping on the opportunity to kill her.

Patins’ beady little eyes turned to Richard. “And ash for you. Your shitcurity team Is the mosht lazy pack of men I have ever had the displeashure of knowing. A Thoushand bananash shcattered around would be an improvement than your men.” His accent seemed to be getting worse and Richard just nodded along. Being lectured by this creature was bad enough. At least he only had to deal with him for approximately however long this conversation went.  “… And now I’m shtarting to figure out why. You’ve been shlacking!” He pointed an accusing finger at the security head. Richard just raised an eyebrow, tempted to snap the finger like a discount beef stick. “All your time conshorting with that dishgusting foxkin!”

Richard was taken aback by the strange accusation. He took a courtesy glance over to the rest of the department heads and the captain.

The captain had the most confused look under his bushy beard. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Everything!” Patins’ face jiggled as he shook a finger angrily at the captain. “You of all people should know the crimesh your shecurity head committed! A.I. pull up footage I bookmarked.”

The A.I. pinged and projected a scene on the wall. It was the bar several days ago. Trixi was conversing with Bakes and the mime. The bar was closed, and Bakes was cleaning up. Richard quickly recognized when this was and started hiding his face from the humiliation. Everyone watched as the happy vulpes sat on his lap and kissed him passionately in the bar.

The room was silent for what seemed like an eternity until the captain bellowed out in joyous laughter, “HAH! That’s adorable! I have never seen you like that Richard, you ol’ romantic!”

All the talks Richard did of public displays of affection and now his little moment was broadcasted to the rest of his peers. He continued to hide the unscarred portion of his face. The department heads were a mix of confusion as to why they were being shown such activities. Allison was the only one smiling. Like she caught an injured mouse in her claws.

Ali spoke up in defense of the HoS, “What’s the problem? It’s not fraternization. She doesn’t work for him.”

“Move onto the next scene A.I.,” The screen faded to a scene from inside the holodeck. The naked Richard was making out with the bright-furred vulpes as their bodies gyrated locked in passion. Everyone was transfixed by the careful caresses.

“A.I. cut the projection!” The captain ordered, “We’ve seen enough!” His knuckles were pressed to the wooden table.

The engineering director and the lead researcher were in complete shock. The aged scientist whispered a thought aloud, “Is she okay?” Quincy had glanced up only to return to his screen.

Richard sank into the chair with his head in his palms mortified. The atmosphere was broken when the chief engineer coughed, “Captain, remind me to disconnect the cameras from the holodeck, some things are best left in private.” The men shared the motion and then looked back up at Patins who was now standing alone looking like the bad guy.

“What!?” Patins shouted, “You’re just going to allow this to continue!?”

Ali nervously answered trying not to offend Richard, “What our security chief does in his private time is his own business. He broke no laws.”

The captain glared at Patins, “A.I. delete our guest’s bookmarks and get security to come and escort them to their quarters.” The A.I. pinged an affirming tone.

Neil stepped up and joined his comrade who was left out to dry airing the security head’s personal time, “Belay that order AI, have the warden come to arrest the former security head.”

“For what?!” the captain cried out.

“Crimes against humanity of course.” He was stern in his resolution as if he was planning for this outcome. “A man in a position of power in the inner sphere is forbidden to fornicate with xenos. Circa 2280, earth emplaced these laws to prevent unhealthy relationships that would promote a net loss of human breeding. As a leader, you should have already known this.”

Martinez was drawn back into thought. “Those backwater laws only apply to governors, and even then, they aren’t enforced.”

“They are,” Neil said straightening himself trying to look imposing with his twiglike frame. “The latest scandal with the Mars diplomat resulted in him being removed from power. As for Nanotrasen, the department heads are also held to the same standard as the governing bodies. They are, after all, acting ambassadors on behalf of humanity.”

Roma entered the room and froze trying to gather the temperature. “What’s this about an arrest?”

“You’re late,” Patins stammered, “Arresht your former bossh.”

The captain launched himself at the fat ball, grabbing him by the scruff of his tailored collar. He picked him off the ground and slammed him into the wall. “Central command will hear of this! You will not come in here and harass the only individual that saved this station from being shattered to space dust!”

“Sir,” Allison softly interrupted, “Inner sphere law overwrites CentCom. We aren’t in lawless space where degenerate behavior is tolerated.” A smug smile spread across her lips and her auburn eyes sparkled with joy. Richard clinched his fist at the aura she let out. In his hatred, he imagined what her head would look like if it was cleaved in two by a hellfire laser.

The captain fumed and set the scared little man down. “Everyone out! Right now!”

Ali and the other department heads left, leaving Richard standing next to the captain. The two of them appeared ready to strike down their guests. Quincy cradled his hands together observing the situation. Roma backed up his boss, still unsure as to why he was called in but was ready to back him up at a moment’s notice.

“Richard, you can go,” Martinez ordered calming the venom in his voice, “This is a terrible joke. I’d sooner be court marshaled than let these idiots have their way.”

“Absholutely not!” Patins shouted. He then pointed at Richard aggressively, “Warden arresht that man. I’ll make sure UEG is notified!”

Roma had a look of disgust on his face. He glanced over at his boss then burst out laughing, “Are you serious? What crimes did he commit?”

He explained the small list of crimes and reiterated the importance for the laws. Roma pursed his lips trying not to laugh his ass off. The idea they would enforce such archaic laws on this station was ludicrous.

Quincy diffused the situation with his deep voice, “Let me handle this, you three can go.”

“No,” Patins countered, “We’re in charge of this matter. We’re-”

Quincy slammed down on the table nearly breaking the innocent furniture as he picked himself out of the chair. “And?”

Patins suddenly became mouselike at the outburst. “W-well… w-we musht keep law and order in the shystem.”

“You already humiliated him. In fact, I’m surprised he didn’t just kill you for sharing that private matter. So why don’t you just count yourself lucky and maybe you’ll make it back home to your 5-bedroom suite in New-New York.” The second threat of violence finally got him to shut up. Tensions in the room unwound allowing the three to leave. Quincy dealt with the malcontents.

“Well, that was retarded,” Roma said shaking off the whole ordeal.

Martinez patted Richard on the shoulder, “I’m sorry Richard, I should have watched that blasted moron more closely. I didn’t think he was snooping into your private matters.”

“What’s the punishment for that crime anyway?” Roma asked.

“I have no idea,” Richard said honestly, his face still red from the embarrassment. “Sounds like one of those pollical baton laws the government loves to keep around.”

The two defeated men left the meeting room. They avoided eye contact as they slinked off the bridge. Quincy sighed, exasperated by the situation. “You shouldn’t hear from them again. The audacity to think they could pull something off on behest of the CMO was perhaps the stupidest plan I’ve seen to date.”

The three looked at each other. Martinez shook his head in disbelief, “She put them up to this?”

“An axe to grind. But that will have to wait, I read some troubling news. Richard, go check on your vulpes. I need to go speak with Dr. Manit.” Before they got a chance to ask what was going on Quincy darted away.

Richard got goosebumps. Fear ran through his heart as the worry returned in a drowning torrent. In a flash, he ran in the opposite direction toward security. Martinez motioned to Roma, pointing him toward security, “I’ll head to medical to see what’s going on, you check security.”

Richard was panicking. The door to his office was left open. There was a puddle of vomit on his desk that had pooled out onto the floor. He entered his room to see it had been vacated. The blankets were a mess on the floor. He tossed the blankets around to see if she was hiding or playing a horrible prank. His artificial hearing picked up his heavy heartbeats. Before he could even turn around, Roma barged into the office.

“Phil said she was taken to medical! She had a seizer!”

____

Richard rushed toward medbay. Knocking over anyone in his path. The A.I. failed to locate the vulpes. A chilling horror that left Richard to assume the worse. He knew Allison was involved and found that she was in the middle of the investigation.

He loomed over the receptionist’s little desk. Anger swelled inside, he quickly swallowed it to ask the ghost white woman a question, “Where is she?”

She let out a small, “Who?”

“Where’s Trixi?”

She was now surrounded by Roma and three other security guards. The terrified woman started to shuffle through her desk to find the data on patients. “I. I. Don’t really.” She thumbed the button to speak to the CMO, “Where’s the clown? There’s a lot of people looking for her.”

Richard grew tired of the games. He slammed the desk and shoved his men out of his way to get to the door. He took a few steps inside, “Search everywhere, I don’t care if you melt the bolts off the doors. I want to know where she was taken. And, if you find the CMO arrest her immediately. Now!”

They had their orders and followed them without question. The search began. Nurses stopped at the sight and slid their backs to the wall. A few mentioned they saw Allison alone with Trixi in the surgery room. Richard headed there first while everyone else split up.

The blast shields were slammed shut at the windows and doors. The surgical room was locked up tight. Richard’s active imagination was let loose at what could be happening on the other side. “A.I., who’s in the surgery room?”

The command registered to the voice speaker near the corner of the wall and the ceiling, “Attempting to access.” The A.I. sent out an error sound. “The camera is non-functioning. I will contact engineering for repairs immediately.”

“Dammit! Open the door to surgery, law two!”

It chimed an affirmative note. Then nothing. The A.I.’s camera fixed itself on the location to investigate. It pinged an affirmative note one more time to Richard, but the door remained sealed. “I apologize, I am unable to interact with the door. I will contact engineering for repairs immediately.”

Upon hearing that Richard turned his gun to the door. Starting with the control box on the door. The panel sparked and hissed at the energy bolt. He then blasted the four corners of the door, punching into the hydraulics. Hot dark-red fluid poured out over the door’s frame. The metal plates groaned as the pressure released. A small crack relaxed between the two halves of the door. Just large enough for him to get his hands inside.

He grunted and pulled the door open putting all his effort into the motion. He let out a primal growl as the door finally gave way shooting more boiling hot fluid out.

The room was vacant.

Operating tools were scattered around and an empty operating table taunted Richard. He looked around for clues. Despite the cluttered mess of a room, there were no signs of Trixi. Not a single orange hair.

Two officers ran inside to investigate the noise.

“Search the place!”

They turned the place upside down. The only things they noticed were several missing tools from the medical rack and a gurney. Richard swallowed trying to keep his mind focused. Thoughts of torture or worse bounded back to him. He was reminded of the picture he had seen of Allison happily standing over a bisected lizardman.

Roma spoke over his earpiece bringing him back to reality, “A surgeon claimed to have seen the CMO walk toward the maintenance tunnels on the xeno level.”

“On my way!” He ran toward the lift to intercept. The speed of the elevator gave enough time for the other officers to catch their breath.

“What did the CMO do to Trixi?” One officer asked.

“No idea, but she went to medical and then her heath got worse. When you find the CMO, stun her and arrest her. Be as rough as you want.”

“Yes sir!” They tensed up ready for action.

Quincy awaited the group when the doors opened. “Richard, I hope you don’t mind that I sent some of your men to search the tunnels.” His face was as cool as it has always been. Flat with only a slight sign of aggravation on his forehead wrinkles.

“Good. Any idea what her end game is? She’s practically a fugitive on this station. A cornered rat.”

“We’re in the dark. She located one of the bugs in her communication lines.”

“Shit.” Richard motioned to his guards, “Turn the walls inside out!” They marched away guns activating. The capacitors charged and the coils emitted a bright blue light as they entered the maintenance halls. The doors hissed closed leaving Quincy and Richard. “Why wasn’t I told of this already?”

“I wish I knew. There’s a delay as the information is sent to HQ and then relayed back to me. I would have a synthesized remedy ready immediately.” Quincy handed Richard a syringe of chemicals. “Dr. Manit created a vulpes liver stimulate. Just inject her anywhere and it will help her process the toxins she ingested. But we need to keep our cool and locate Allison, there is no telling what she’s willing to do. I needn’t remind you we still need to keep her past hidden.”

“No promises.”

“I’m serious Richard. If we can’t keep this from getting out, I will be forced to call in the ERT. We can’t afford another race war in the stars.”

Richard sighed knowing how heavy the consequences were. However, if he could just kill her, they could label her as a traitor to Nanotrasen and toss any evidence of her existence out the nearest airlock. An easy solution that should have been done ages ago. He joined his team in the maintenance tunnels. The tunnels were tight and energy weapon blue light rounded every corner. The security channel in his ear was abuzz with ‘all-clears’ and ‘nothing spotted’. All they found were cluttered storage rooms and abandoned offices.

Richard stepped past a ladder heading back down and touched the radio on his hip. “I’m headed to the first level. I want squad one to follow suit. The rest keep an eye up here.”

He descended the ladder to an equally dark cramped hallway. The rooms were cleared one by one when he saw a sliver of light from a misaligned old door.  When the door opened, he squinted at the harsh bright room. He blinked the pain away to find the stasis operating room. The pods that once held him and his men lined the walls. He wondered why the room was powered in the first place. No surgeries were conducted that required this level of care.

Then he saw Trixi inside one of the pods at the other end of the room. He darted straight for her and immediately checked the vitals on the machine. She was conscious, closing her eyes tightly. An unfortunate side effect for conscious patients. All light that entered the chamber condensed to pure white blinding light as time stopped for the patient. A sensation he was deeply familiar with from various operations.

He powered down the pod and lifted the lid. Trixi grimaced and hugged her tail to her naked body. Relief passed through him when she let out a gargle of pain. He tore open the package for the hypodermic needle and injected her in her abdomen.

“You’re going to be okay,” He whispered while stroking her furry face. She started to relax. Her eyes fluttered open. Richard reached to radio his men when he felt a sting behind his leg. He swatted at the annoying bee-like pest and felt a small syringe fall away from his body. He spun around to see Allison had a dart gun aimed at him from the cover of another pod.

Reacting, he drew his laser pistol hitting her in the shoulder with a bright blue bolt. Electricity scattered through her body causing her to miss the next shot. The air-powered dart plinked off another pod.

Richard gritted his teeth, “You’re fucking dead bitch!”

“Traitor!” Allison slammed the emergency button on the wall sealing the room with emergency blast doors. “I worked too hard to keep humanity from falling to these aliens! You of all people should understand that!”

Richard dashed around the pod to get a better shot, but she already scrambled to a new position. She fired a dart at him stinging him in the arm through his heavy coat. “They know what you’re doing, you aren’t coming out of this alive!” As he shouted, he ripped the needle out of his arm.

“I doubt that. You weren’t the first and won’t be the last. Just be another traitor to humanity.”

Another bolt of energy cracked the air. The hit caused her to grip the weapon tighter. The drug was flowing through him, his vision was shaken. He missed a follow-up shot. The cocky bitch smiled and approached him carelessly holding the dart gun aloft. He swept his leg high to kick the weapon and disarm her. The move caused him to slip to the floor as if he stepped on a banana peel.

“Predictable,” Allison said with cold calculation. “The big strong man comes to save the girl. A bit cliché.” Richard lost feeling in his extremities, squeezing his hand on the gun he fired another shot. “Gah!” She stumbled a few steps back in agony. The pained grunt shifted to laughter as she gripped the side of a pod shaking off the electrical attack, “Ahahaha, losing your edge a little too soon.”

He made one more attempt to hit her, but his hand wasn’t moving. He sat there motionless eyeing her through a thick fog that saturated his vision.

“Your pupils are already dilating,” she diagnosed him quickly. “I’d say you got a few minutes till you suffer from cardiac arrest.” She laughed harder and approached fearlessly. The pistol was pulled from his weak hand and carelessly tossed it across the room. “Honestly, I thought you would have cared more for the foxkin. Staying bedside as she withered away to nothing. Unfortunately, she stuck around longer than I anticipated.” Allison pressed a finger to her chin to come up with an excuse, “There wasn’t much research on their animal anatomy. Worked for me in the end. The naïve alien made for a lovely trap.”

“You think you’re going to get away with this?” Richard asked, a smug smile spread across his face. He might have been screwed but he knew the narcissistic bitch would talk forever if given the chance. He just needed to buy some time.

“Powerful connections can get you anything. Countless humans on earth want to wipe the alien menace out. Give elbow room to the rest of us for generations.”

“Who are you working for?”

“You know damn well who. Luckily, I found the bugs before you got too much information.”

Richard grew agitated at the pitiful job the internal investigation team did. “I didn’t plant the bugs. I personally wanted to execute you. Maybe feed your body to the lizardmen.”

Allison stared daggers at the helpless man, “Everything linked through your security network.”

“Now look who’s clueless. CentCom sent an agent to find out who kept you alive.”

She paced around trailing the dart gun on her temple trying to place who the individual was. It didn’t take long for her to piece together the puzzle. “That stupid man. Dammit.”

“Realize how fucked you are now?”

She composed herself and a wicked look smeared on her face. “No matter, we’re still in the inner sphere. The agents are dumb enough to get me to earth for my trial. Once there, I’ll get pardoned and continue my research.” She fired a dart into his neck. The pain was sudden and then vanished as the drug flowed. “I really should have doubled the dosages of these darts.  And don’t worry about your little fuckpet. I’ll make sure her hide is turned into a bath rug. You should see the lovely things I made from the lizardkin.”

Richard looked past the woman to the pod Trixi was in. Vacant. He prayed that she got to safety. His eyes returned to Allison. He made a final attempt to attack her with his numb limb. A futile effort as she stepped back to avoid the daft strike.

“Save your energy for breathing. You’ll soon find that difficult.” She kicked him to his back, unable to feel the pain or even grunt from the impact. “If only you weren’t a disgusting animal fucker. We might have cooperated more. You did after all save my life among those on the station.” She leaned over him to make sure he heard the final part. “A majority of the syndicate didn’t want me to continue my research either.”

Richard cliched his teeth. If he could shoot lasers from his eyes, he would have punched a hole through her head to the depths of space. He regretted ever listening to Quincy and his plans to draw things out.

Banging broke Richard’s silent rage. Laser fire hammered the emergency bulkheads on both entrances to the room. “Great, like a dumb dog you bring the rest of your pack.” She dusted herself off and straightened her hair and uniform. “Now, to get my story out there. You did after all stop me from saving your pet from you. Your corpse will be convicted for every crime imaginable. I doubt anyone would defend a violent animal rapist.” She let out another crazed laugh pointing the dart gun at him for a final time.

A shrill screech came from behind. Trixi dove onto the woman’s back and bit as hard as her teeth could go into her exposed neck. Her strength wasn’t fully returned to her, she couldn’t break the skin, but it did the job and caused Allison to miss the shot. The dart shattered when it contacted the floor.

“Gah!” Allison cried out, “Get off me you rabid animal!” She arched back and flung the vulpes off.

Trixi landed on her paws ready to defend herself, mouth open baring white canines. Her fur was puffed, and she openly flexed her claws.

Allison shook her head in disbelief. “How are you fucking alive, disgusting creature?!”

Trixi leaped at the woman ferociously tearing at her. The speed of the attack took the vile woman by surprise. The dart gun fell as she tried to fight off the vulpes who kicked and scratched at her. “You did it!” she barked harshly, “Everything was your fault!”

Through scratches and bites, Allison grabbed Trixi’s wrist. She threw the light girl to the floor. Trixi bounced and slid on the silvered tiles. She was panting scrambling to get back up. In her desperate grasp, she managed to pick up the pistol. Before she could turn to face her attacker, Allison was on her again.

“Pwah!” A foot struck her side sending Trixi away like a ball. As she slid to a stop she was holding her stomach in agony.

“Don’t get back up foxkin,” Allison said looming over the alien. “You’ll ruin your valuable coat. Practically the only thing your species is good for.” Trixi’s eyes were moist. Horrible threats she heard before. She looked around for anything to use. The gun was lost in the tussle, and she was naked. She did her best to growl at her, but it was just a terrified weak shriek. The old woman laughed at the pathetic show. Her wrinkles seemed less deep as she smiled, “Hahaha! Finally, you got me to laugh.”

Allison readied herself to kick the defiance out of Trixi. A pointed polished dress shoe stuck her in the stomach. “Aaah!” Trixi screamed as her back hit the wall.

Richard saw Allison get ready to pick up the broken vulpes. Trixi cried out desperately in her tongue. Adrenaline pumped his body overwhelming whatever sedative he was full of. He willed himself on shaky legs and his vision tunneled to a pinpoint. He saw a blurry figure. Hatred tensed him up like a ball. His heartbeat pounded inside his head. He couldn’t hear the drums of laser fire from the outside. He reached out and just grabbed whatever he could of the shadow that threatened him and his vulpes.

He dropped forward with a single step and pulled her down to the metal with his weight. There he proceeded to smash her face into the metal tiles. Again, and again. He didn’t stop. He couldn’t feel anything or see anything. He just pounded like an angry gorilla. Foam dripped from the side of his mouth as he panted through his clenched teeth.  He only relaxed his grip when an orange fuzzy paw stroked his cheek.

In a soft worried voice, Trixi spoke, “She’s dead, she’s dead…”

His balloon hands were coated in slick red fluid. The guards busted down the doors. What happened next was a blur. He was surrounded by doctors who placed him in the stasis chamber. The world around him turned to a blinding white light as he passed out.

Trixi tasted the bile in the back of her throat. She was bruised and beaten. It hurt her to move. She stood still with an unblinking gaze at Richard who was being poked and prodded. Two armored men snapped her out of her stupor. One covered her in a blanket while the other scooped her to take her to security.

She was placed in the brig. The small glass cell was something she was familiar with. Some pranks crossed the line now and again. She was on the verge of tears. Roma tapped on the glass trying to fake a smile to her to keep her hopes up. He stayed by her side to keep her some friendly company. He told her It was only temporary until the heads figure out what happened. He gave her a long prison shirt to give her some decency and any amenities she asked for. She was incredibly thankful for him.

Not even an hour passed when less friendly visitors came by. Outside her glass cell, arguments were shouted about what was to happen next. The remaining department heads listened as the VIPs wanted her executed immediately while the captain ordered that she be released.

In between deliberations, everyone interrogated the vulpes simultaneously. Thankfully Quincy interrupted the men before she completely broke down. The dark man knelt to the vulpes on the other side of the glass and placed a finger over his lips to make sure she keeps quiet about everything she saw.

“Is Richard going to be okay?” Trixi’s voice was wavering, begging for comfort.

He nodded. Quincy’s eyes were intelligent. The same as Richard’s. Someone who saw way too much in their life. She knew Richard trusted him. She closed her muzzle, causing him to smile from the opposite side of the reinforced glass. The gesture filled her with some relief.

“Leave her alone.” He ordered, “Richard will give you all the information you need. She didn’t do anything.”

“You can’t be serious.” Neil protested. “She assisted in the assassination of a department head.”

“I made myself clear, your services are no longer required. Understand?”

“But-” Thwack! A punch in the gut ended the conversation with him walking out of the security wing groaning.  The strike left Patins to waddle away silently avoiding the next potential blow.

“Trixi is a bystander. Everyone who isn’t involved, leave immediately.”

Roma and Martinez remained as everyone departed. Ali gave Trixi a weak goodbye as he departed, unsure if he would see her again. Once the room was cleared Quincy took in a relaxing breath.

“That could have gone better. I’m sorry to have you go through that Trixi. You’re free to explain what you saw.”

She did her best recollecting. She told them of everything she saw when she regained her senses from the chamber. By the end, she felt claustrophobic and exposed. Like she was on exhibit at a zoo. She ended with what was said between Richard and Allison.

The captain opened the cell door and knelt to hug her. “I should have done a better job. I’m glad you’re all right listened carefully, his lips pursed when he came to a revelation, “That explains the attack.”

“What?” Martinez shot up after shuffling Trixi out of the small room. “They sent nuke ops to kill a single target?”

“I have no proof...” Quincy paused for a moment, “But, I believe the syndicate sent them instead of an assassin to prevent any knowledge of the war criminal. They aren’t exactly known for keeping secrets, especially if the secrets are valuable.”

“Damn them!” Martinez clinched his fist, “What information did she send to her Earth contacts anyway?”

“The data we intercepted was on alien biology. Anatomy, gastronomy. She was studying the livers of the members on the station dating back to the first year she arrived. It was only after the attack she got sloppy. Leading to dead crewmembers.”

Martinez squinted trying to remember the profile he read before, “That’s the research she worked on before she joined Nanotrasen.”

“She never stopped. We poured over the records and noticed discrepancies with the sick time usage. The lizardmen had a higher frequency than any other station on record. Normally it’s humans. The chemicals being manufactured were also too varied for blue space research.”

“Did Richard know about all of this?” Trixi asked sheepishly.

Quincy was stone-faced. “Yes.” She opened her muzzle for another question but was cut off, “It was for the safety of the station. We needed to know more. Alison was involved with the deaths of a lot of lizardmen in the past. I ordered him to stand down.”

Martinez had a guilty look on his face. He patted her on the head. Trixi pulled back not wanting to be comforted.

Roma tried his hand to reassure her with an excuse, “Central command was worried if her existence became known it would cause another war. That’s why we had to keep everything secret.”

The vulpes tried to chew on his words but she let out an exhausted yawn from the ordeal. She threw her paws up and shook her head. She hated everything about it.

“You should rest in Richard’s quarters,” Roma suggested, “Richard will be back on his feet. He can talk to you more about it.”

“Thank you.” She left the men who wished her well. They continued their political talks and the potential struggles of power that will follow up this victory. Richard would have enjoyed participating.

___

Back in medical Neil and Patins went to pester Richard. They pushed past the doctors and nurses to one of the operating tables. Richard was shirtless with several IVs attached to his arms, liver, and kidneys. Each one assisting in counteracting the sedatives. His body felt like a cloud stuffed in a rubber bubble. He couldn’t even hear the arguments that were happening at the entrance of the room. Dr. Plano tried to block the two intruders.

Patins sent him to the counter with a shove, clattering the sensitive instruments to the floor. Richard squinted at the two blurry figures while they spouted off the continued list of crimes. Something about how they would do everything in their power to make sure Trixi and him were punished.

He understood two words in that string of garbled nonsense, ‘Trixi and punished’. He reacted reasonably. Sending his balloon-like fist into the face of the fuzzy figure.

Security officers ran in quickly to pick up the fat man. There was some silent cheering from onlookers as he was taken away, blood trailing down his nose. Neil cowered as Richard held his fist aloft. The noise left the room allowing Dr. Plano to get back to work. It took hours for Richard to regain his senses. His limbs were still numb, but he could at least walk and talk again. He pulled out the IVs and stood like a drunkard.

There wasn’t any time to relax or recover. He dressed in his black jumpsuit as soon as he got out of medbay. He waited patiently at his desk until Quincy took a seat across from him. Richard gave his small briefing and statements of what happened, punctuating it with a vicious glare.

“I know what you’re feeling Richard,” Quincy said.

His sides pained him. He wanted to chew out the individual that was supposed to be taking control of the situation. Allison not only found out but could have tipped off everyone else she was working with. “Anger. Betrayal second. Even after all this, we’re just going to bury the evidence anyway. It would have been better to just kill her as soon as possible without having to put Trixi or anyone through this.”

“I know our methods seem-.”

Richard cut him off with his thoughts, “Ridiculous? Pointless?”

Quincy waited a minute before continuing. “Thanks to your reserved actions we were able to locate the CentCom agent that worked with the UEG baron that funded the research. My reports say that the manager passed away in the breakroom from a peanut allergy. Shameful stuff.” Richard took little pleasure in the fact they caught the rat. All a rat will do is chew up wires and shit in the insulation. “I admit that my team and I were too interested in getting dirt on whom she had contacts with. Instead of cleaning what was in front of us, we opted to watch the sewage travel down to see where it led. Watching the consequences of that was eye-opening.”

“And? Is the governor going to be punished?” There was sarcasm in Richard’s voice. He knew damn well it wasn’t going to lead anywhere. Another secret to be used for blackmail for policies that benefit Nanotrasen.

“Politicians,” Quincy smirked. “They may have personal feelings about something until it will affect their bottom line. I know this will hurt our standing with you, but-”

“I Don’t want any part of this anymore,” Richard said truthfully. He closed his eyes and saw the fuzzy image of Trixi cowering and curling away letting out a terrified scream.  He never wanted to hear that again, “As soon as I can write again, I’m signing my retirement.”

Quincy nodded slowly, frowning that there was nothing left he could do, “I completely understand. I regret not referring to your better judgment. I’ll make sure my men back home know this, maybe they will get something from this experience.” He looked up at the camera in the office as if to stare into the eyes of the people that worked for him.

“We’re both old enough to have mountains of regrets and close calls. My time is coming. I don’t have unlimited second chances.”

“I won’t stand in your way.” Quincy gathered his belongings and packed up the reports in a briefcase. “I already stopped the two earthlings from pushing paperwork to impede any retirement plans.” He chuckled to himself, “Broken ankles are quite common for overweight individuals.”

Richard wore a smug smile. “Wasn’t surprised. Bureaucrats, what else can you do with them? I’m sure the next person they piss off will be their last.”

“I made notes to my department that without you or Trixi, Allison would have escaped.”

Richard nodded, glad to be finished with the ordeal. Some other ideas were crossing his mind. The length of time this continued without anyone else in the department noticing. “Were there any other members in medical that were involved?”

“Not on this station. We tapped everything. We were quite sure Dr. Manit was involved, but he just kept cursing to his wife about the constant flow of extra duties and overtime the CMO pressed on him. He was baffled by the pains the lizardmen were going through.”

“Explains the constant rotation we had with xenobiologists. Was always wondering why the department couldn’t keep any members.” Richard turned on himself. He should have pressed the issues as early as possible.

Quincy made his way toward the exit. “Don’t worry about it. You won and deserve a comfortable retirement. Have fun becoming a ghost on an alien world.” There was a slight playfulness in his candor.

“Better to be a ghost than ripped to shreds working yourself to the bone.”

Once the door hissed shut the room was deafening. Richard returned to his quarters. The last plague that tormented his sleep was finally extinguished. He only wanted to relax and submit for his retirement. The corporate life had drained any resolve on sticking around. But that would have to wait. His furball of a girlfriend was curled on his bed waiting for him.

Trixi asked eyes reflecting like headlights through the darkness. “Are you feeling better?” Her voice was like a song that kissed his ears. He felt like he could take on the universe.

“Yes. Everything is finished.”

“Good. I’m tired of fighting.”

He sat on the bed and kicked off his boots. Numb fingers tried to unbutton his jumpsuit. Trixi slid next to him and helped him out. Being mindful of the bandages she unfastened his belt and pulled his undershirt from his torso.

“I overheard you and Quincy,” Trixi’s pointed ears tickled his neck as she leaned over. “Where are you going to go when you quit?”

“Raia, I have to finish up business there.”

She pressed her furry body to his bare back. Pads ran across his chest. “Am I allowed to come?”

“Don’t you want to go back to your homeworld first?”

“Not yet. I want you to come with me.”

“That sounds like a dream.” Richard smiled and reached back to pet his vixen’s head. “I’ll gather the paperwork first thing in the morning. We’ll go over it together and end our employment with Nanotrasen.”

Her tail swayed happily, “I can’t wait. Soon we’ll be cuddling breathing real air.”

“A nice retirement plan. Sitting on the deck of an alien world drinking the local alcohol.”

“Next to fuzzy little me.” She snuggled deeper into his back resting her head in the crook of his neck.