With a flutter in her stomach, Shreeah bounced on the pads of her feet and tried to calm down. This was not unheard of - she'd been on a ship before that was doing the same thing, boarding a potentially hostile pirate ship. She'd wound up almost getting her tail chopped off during that encounter, but fortunately the ships lurched at the right time and she was spared.

Shreeah could feel that the others aboard, all but one were humans, were quite stressed about this. They were young, but so was she. At only about two decades old, she had a far better idea of what experiences like this could bring, so she forced her way to the front of the boarding group.

"Sir, I might be of some assistance here, in case they are hiding. And," she glanced at the pair of nervous humans behind her, "they probably are hiding. It's what I would do, and what pirates like this had done in my experience before."

Mutterings of 'she's got experience with pirates, let her deal with them!' and 'I didn't sign on to get into fire fights with pirates!' went through the cabin, and the commander nodded curtly.

"I think you're right. You've brought your knives, I see?" He said, and she nodded.

"I'll try and keep them clean," she said. "Just watch my back and don't let anyone shoot me."

They opened the portal between the ships, and it was the queerest sensation for a Zh'mrrel to see hyperspace zooming by away from you on all sides. Where were up and down? Which way do you lean to fall on your feet?

She passed through it quickly, unnerved for a moment. Then, she and two others forced open the pirate ship's airlock. She felt the blast of pressure as the pirate ship's lock was void of any such air - it sucked through from the scouter and into the airlock. They were safe.

Shreeah almost wished she had some of that vac suit training. She loved playing in a big ship's zee-gee room, but this was a smaller scout ship, and couldn't have afforded the expensive gravity cells that those big military ships had. It wasn't the sensation of falling in all directions at once which really made Shreeah afraid. It was that 'no air' thing.

She put her mind back to work, when the other four scouts came in behind her. Her ears back, and her tail moving slowly, she sniffed at the air. There were a dozen male humans, two human females, and one... other male. Hmn.

Closest were two who made so much noise trying to hunker down behind a cargo bin that the humans with Shreeah found them before they had the chance to even get off a shot. The next three were a bit more aggressively trying to get the scouts off their ship.

They shouted insults from around a corner, and zapped at anything they thought they saw moving. That made for an entertaining few minutes standing off, but in the end, it was Shreeah's quick tumble across the floor while they were busy coming up with more insults, that took these men out. She left them breathing, ready to be taken back to the scout ship.

This went on for many minutes, almost three-quarters of an hour. Shreeah's instincts had taken over and she lay low, while the one female and a burly human male lumbered past her on their way to the shooting.

Shreeah continued into the ship, knowing that the whole group had not been caught yet.

***

Lapinus was amazed at how quickly the Cap went from arrogant bastard to arrogant worried bastard. But so long as he didn't think Lapinus was at fault, which he apparently didn't, the lagomorph was safe from his wrath.

He'd dodged the man once, but didn't get the chance to dodge when the crew held him down and had the giant of a man pummel him into submission for their initiation. He wasn't into all that - not with guys anyway.

So Lapinus found his way back to his small quarters and abruptly began packing. They would have to find him here, and he'd just surrender - it was never his idea to be on this bucket anyway.

He heard the sounds of a limited-round firefight down the halls, and Lapinus thought that was the most moronic thing that anyone could do aboard a starship in hyperspace. Why not just poke holes in your vac suit while you're at it, he thought.

He nervously paced, his heavily padded feet were used to the chill of the metal floors, and he kept his nails trimmed so they didn't make so much noise as he walked around the ship. He had enough of the guys joking about him sounding like a dog on linoleum floors. Screw them.

The ship was quieter after about an hour after they'd been boarded. In fact, Lapinus couldn't hear anyone moving around or yelling at all. They might have all been captured or killed. He wasn't sure which he'd wanted more, that the Cap be killed outright was always a fantasy come true, but if he were tried for his crimes, that might also be best. And Lapinus would be quick to explain the situation.

Then it suddenly occurred to him that he might not be believed - that every pirate would claim that it wasn't them - they'd been forced into servitude... A thick knot formed in his throat. What if he was captured and put into the same cells as them?

His pink-red eyes went wide with fear, however imagined the situation was. Then, he heard a soft sound - something set his fur on edge. All of it, white, if he'd been human he would still be as white as a sheet. Someone was coming for him!

But before he could even jump behind something to hide, the door to his cabin slid open and a blinding light came in. Silhouetted in the light was a menacing blurry dark shape with a halo of light around its head...

"I didn't sign on! I was taken from my job! They made me come and I was going to alert the authorities when we came into the hyperstream here!" He blurted out, still half-blinded by the light from the hallway.

But when his eyes cleared...

***

Shreeah now knew what had been odd about that last scent. So he was male, and he looked to be some kind of Kin. A... what? Some kind of rodent? But he was pure white, this one.

He had thick, short white fur all over him, rather like Shreeah's black coat. He didn't have any accent fur, which told her that he wasn't of her type of creature. He had pale milky colored straight long hair, as well as his fur, and it looked like he had his ears tied.

When he boldly - shakingly and at the top of his lungs - asserted his innocence, of course, Shreeah almost laughed. That was what half the rest of the idiots aboard this pirate ship had said. But...

The way he said it, and the way he stood there like... A deer in headlights, he expected to be carted away and he wasn't going to enjoy it. He also was telling the truth. Shreeah was lousy at detecting the wiles and whims of human facial expressions, so the lies and taunts of the crew had to be learned the hard way. But any Kin type like this, she could read as easily as any scent mark at home.

He was totally angry, scared, and hadn't had a decent shower in weeks by the smell of him.

And he appeared to be taken aback by her when he could finally see properly again. His quarters had been dark, he obviously didn't want it to look like he was waiting for them. But...

"So, you didn't want the option. Maybe we can work something out," Shreeah said. She held her hand out, after putting her knife into her belt and leaning against the metal doorway. "If you give a good enough confession and explanation I'm sure they'll let you off more easily."

Lapinus stared at her. Certainly she was an angel... If it had been a human he knew he'd just been shot and left for dead. They didn't care much for his kind out here, did they? The crew here always said so anyway. He didn't take her hand, but not out of mistrust, more because he was so stunned.

"I can't - I can't go back with them," he said, of the crew. "They'll kill me."

"They're barely able to lift their own limbs about now," Shreeah said with a tiny baring of teeth and flicking her ears about. Lapinus recognized these as signs of sarcasm. He reached up to his head, pausing when Shreeah tensed up and went for her knife again, but then took the leather tie out of his hair and from around his ears.

"My name is Lapinus. I'm a Kin from colony eight. And... you're not Kin are you?"

Shreeah shook her head, "nope. But I'm close enough."