FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Krayd Tannis stirred softly, waking, but still half asleep, his drowsy mind sluggishly refusing to be roused all the way, lulled in its twilight state by the gentle hum of the ventilation duct next to his large, oval bed. He curled up in his sleep, making the silken sheets rustle over his brilliant, snowy white fur. His arm passed through the warm spot on the bed next to him, the indentation in both the bedclothes and mattress showing that the other occupant of his bed had only recently vacated.

The dim illumination in the feline's quarters was courtesy of the lights dimmed and polarized filters descended down over the windows. On the edge of his hearing Tannis could just barely make out the sound of the shower in the adjoining hygiene chamber splashing, his bright violet eyes showing under his lids for a moment as he sighed, nuzzling deeper into the pillow that smelled of both him and another exotic scent, purring gently in his half-dozing state.

The doors to the hygiene chamber swished open with a barely perceptible whisper, the rustle of cloth on skin and the sound of feet on the thick carpeting all tugged on the sleeping feline's conscious mind, but he wouldn't let it surface, just letting his focus wander freely. He ignored the tiny giggle before chaos ensued in the plush quarters. The bed suddenly jarred, covers billowing as a voice announced in the feline's ear, "Captain to the bridge!"

Tannis sat bolt upright, bristling as he yelped, almost tumbling out of bed and ending up in a tangle of arms, legs, tail and bedclothes. The familiar laughter made him growl and flail to untangle himself from the sheets, ears flat to his head as he thrashed his long, tuft-tipped tail, "You jerk!"

Shinai, the human executive officer of their ship The Silver City and the feline's mate grinned as he stroked Tannis' snowy, shoulder length hair, "But you were so cute all puffed up like that."

The human was taller then Tannis by an inch or so, being about the same weight as his denser feline lover, with long, lithe limbs, sculpted torso and belly and a handsome, high cheek-boned face, with his oddly striking silvery-blue almond shaped eyes. His darkly bronzed almost olive complextion and his thick, naturally dark hair betrayed Shinai's Asiatic heritage. He had long since taken to dyeing his long, spiky locks the most obscene colors he could think of. In the past month he had changed his hair to violet and a soothing shade of cerulean blue.

The human oof-ed as he was pounced down to the bed and Tannis settled his naked frame down over his lithe lover, smirking as he pressed his dusty colored nose against Shinai's queer wedge shaped one. His fierce expression lasted only as long as it took Shinai to begin rubbing the thick, soft white fur on his sides and hips, his scowl melting away to a blissful smile. Tannis' lean feline frame was compact and lithe, not so much slender as he was sleek and well toned, but not heavily muscled. His entire body was covered in a rich, milky white pelt of short, thick fur, with a long sinewy tail, tufted in the same bleach white at the tip. The feline captain had an almost feminine body, with small wrists, long, tapered fingers, soft paw pads and his almost hour-glass shaped figure. His belly held a slight ripple of ridged muscle, but had a feminine indentation along his abdomen to his breastbone.

Tannis wriggled gently, feeling Shinai's hands wander down and squeeze his smooth, heart-shaped bottom. The feline slept naked, just like most sane sapient non-human species did, his short, soft pelt being enough to keep him comfortable in most temperatures. With atmospheric and climate controls accurate down to the hundredth of a degree onboard ship it was seldom very warm or cool in the habitation quarters. The feline slowly settled his naked furry body down against his human lover, licking his exposed chest and throat as Shinai's thin robe came loosened with their motions. He savored the smell and taste of Shinai's freshly washed and dried skin, the familiar scent of his lover making him feel warm inside.

Those warm feelings had been almost an unknown when they had first met and mated, then grown closer and closer over the weeks and months following the near destruction of both their ships at the hands of a rogue Dracht hiveship. The beautiful feline had never fallen so completely in love with someone, much less someone of a species that was human. They still endured some stares at spaceports or docking stations but most everyone else took to their relationship as if it were no different then any other.

Tannis had never been to Terra, and Shinai had never been to Tet III, his feline lover's home world, so they had planned future leave to visit both worlds and meet with respective extended family members. Shinai's family on Okinawa had already showed great affection for the snow furred feline, Tannis had endured several awkward and shy conversations with Shin's father and mother via the hyperwave communiqué network, trying to pass the intricate systems of bows and greetings that Dex whispered through his ear comm while the translator did the rest of the work.

Tannis had called his father, relieved at his elder male's seeming curiosity over his youngest offspring's choice of mate. His mother had been indifferent, and most of his brothers and sister had been fairly open-minded, but his older aunts and uncles as well as his grandmother had seemed if not totally scandalized, at least incredulous as his position as the beta in their relationship. Tannis had the feeling they would spend more time in the company of his human in-laws in the long-run.

One of Tannis' brothers had come to the station where The Silver City was in dock for repairs and refitting for a visit on his way back home. He had brought in tow both of his wives and their 6 kittens, the latest two of which were still toddlers. Tannis had been overjoyed to see them all, and Shinai had laughed as almost half a dozen feline kits climbed him like a jungle gym, sniffing every inch of him with their twitching little noses. Rosel, his brother's first wife had tried to teach the younger kittens to say "Shinai"

but all they ended up with was barking "Unca Shi" in their still expanding basic vocabulary.

When they had gone Shinai had made Tannis go paler then normal and ruddy eared as he had asked, "They were cute, don't you want a couple?"

The lean feline had said that his other brother who had just had 6 kittens in one litter would probably have been keen to loan them a couple till they were old enough to be sent to school during the day, making them both laugh. All in all the pairing of the human and feline males had been well taken to and accepted by the remainder of the City's crew, still mourning for their own fallen dead, amalgamating the small remainder of Shin's destroyed ship into themselves almost seamlessly and accepting the handsome human as their new executive officer.

Shinai nudged Tannis as they lay together, "Time to get up, we have brunch with Lara and Roan."

"Oh yes. I'd forgotten. Would you set things up while I have a quick groom Love?" Tannis shook clear of the bedclothes, kissing Shinai warmly as the human gently spanked him on the rump, nodding, "You go ahead, I'll get things ready for them, then get dressed myself."

"You don't have to, you know. Lara won't care."

Shinai smirked at the receding back of his white furred lover, visually fondling his ass as he replied, "Yes, but Roan and I have seen one another naked, we try to avoid it."

"You humans... So prudish."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Go wash your tail before I spank you again."

The swishing closure of the bathroom doors muffled the feline's giggle, "You know I like it when you do that. How would it be a punishment?"

Shinai groaned as he brushed his hair, teasing it into soft spikes, slowly pulling on a long, silk kimono Tannis had replicated for him on their third date. He belted it, moving to the small kitchenette and synthesizing a warm pot of coffee and tea, a stack of small cups and a plate full of fruit, small pastries and small bits of candied berries Tannis was fond of. He took the lot to the small table in front of their multi-lounge, tugging on the tabletop and making the legs ratchet up several inches. He tugged a pair of very large, soft pillows from underneath the bed, arranging them either end of the coffee table. Just as he finished he heard the shower stop, standing quickly and trotting to the cabinet on his side of the bed that Tannis had cleared out to share space.

Shinai opened the bottom drawer and rummaged all the way to the back, pulling out two boxes, puzzling over where to put them before he ran back to the synthesizer, called up two larger mugs took them to the small barrier wall between lounge room and kitchen and upended them over the smallish boxes, grinning to himself. Just as he heard the hygiene doors swish open the door chime to their quarters went off and Tannis jumped acking softly as he was still in a towel. The feline dashed to the bed and pulled out a loose swath of cloth, then zoomed back into the hygiene chamber, "Get the door please love, while I finish up!"

Shinai shook his head, sometimes felines, it seemed, spent half their lives grooming. He pushed the panel next to the door and Ooof-ed as a pair of spotted arms seized him and squeezed him hard, "Oooof, hi Larani!"

The wall, willowy J'rali male smiled brightly at Shin, kissing him and licking his nose affectionately, "Hi Shin! Sorry we're late, Roan lost his communicator."

"Ppppshaw, Lara, don't fib, you were long in the shower and then couldn't find anything to wear."

The J'ralan male's exasperated lover squeezed Shin's hand warmly, clasping him on the back, "You look well Shin. Kry not giving you too much of a workout? I know mine is running me ragged."

Roan Brannigan was another transplant from the now late starship Daikokuten, he had been their chief mechanical engineer, and now served happily as an assistant engineer and human liaison officer under Hil, The Silver City's Corlitan engineer. He was human, reasonably short, stocky, fair skinned and flame red haired, with freckles across the bridge of his nose amongst other places as Larani enjoyed to say, giggling madly. It had been an awkward moment for Shin and Brannigan the first time Tannis had asked Larani if his pubic hair was red too, as the felines seemed to be endlessly curious about human anatomy, even over dinner.

The stocky engineer and tall, striking and slender doctor made an unusual pair of contrasts. Brannigan was assertive and could be fiery in his temperament and the J'ralan doctor was soft spoken, feminine and gentle in his manners and ways. It was no surprise that Roan was the alpha in their relationship, but Shinai knew that Larani could bend the stocky Irishman to his own whims without even trying. J'ralans were fond of humans as a rule, but the human male's family had objected to his pairing with a feline and had promptly been thundered at by their son. Shinai had winced at the red haired engineers choice expletives, even picking up a few he hadn't heard before. Larani was stricken at his normally affable lover's tirade in his defense, waving his paws helplessly as he tried to interject but was over-ridden by Roan till he got hoarse then cut the transmission.

The slender J'ralan had always seemed fascinated by the red-headed human, but the two could never work up the courage to ask one another out till Tannis intervened and ordered them to go out to dinner, no questions, no excuses, and then to go back to the engineers quarters afterward. The two had been almost inseparable since, the stocky mechanic even occasionally smacking his knuckles as he was working with a spanner as an excuse to drop into the medical bay and see his spotted lover.

Larani certainly was a looker, tall, with lean, elegant legs and thighs, willowy arms, an hourglass curved figure, with his amber and cream black mottled fur, white belly and chest, his long chestnut hair with honey colored highlights and brilliant amber eyes. He was wearing a pair of long, loose pants that tied at the waist and a pair of soft sandals on his feet. Felines seemed to enjoy being bare-chested while in their off-hours, and no one seemed to mind. Shinai quickly noticed no one seemed to mind any mode of dress up to and including total nudity at times and when people weren't on duty. Tannis seldom wore anything other then a soft, loose wrap around his waist or an ensemble similar to Larani's if they were out.

The snow furred male reappeared as he finished brushing his long alabaster hair, wearing a loose, almost see-through wrap of cloth made of white cotton with cheerful pink cherry blossoms printed on it that Shinai had bought for him. The cloth girded around his waist left the rest of his body free, only cloaking him from the knees to the lower edge of his waist, showing his lower belly and the slow drifting curve of his hips. He smiled broadly as he shook his hair out, kissing both Larani and Roan before pressing up against Shinai, purring and bumping their noses, "I'm so glad you both could come."

Shinai gestured toward the table, "Come have a seat."

He grinned as the felines made a beeline for the large, plush cushions, stretching out luxuriously on them and grinning at their lovers. Roan and Shinai started to settle on the multi-lounge till the pair of pinched expressions made them lower themselves to the floor, lounging next to their respective felines. Each feline lay in front of their lover, as was custom, Tannis leaning back into Shin as the human male curled his arms around him. Larani lay on his back, grinning up at Roan as the red-headed male gave him a slow, gentle stomach rub. His resounding purring rumble was comical paired with his slitted, rolling eyes. Tannis shifted against Shin, "That looks like fun."

He giggled as the human male prodded him in the side, then ooo-ed as Shin started to rub his belly and chest, stroking through his snowy fur. Tannis perked his ears as he rumbled, "So, I'm still a little unclear on this brunch concept. What are we supposed to do?"

"Eat, silly, and drink, and have conversation." Shin smirked and prodded his lover lower on his belly, making him squirm.

Tannis giggled and slowly sat up, passing out the drinking cups, pouring tea and coffee. He wrinkled his nose as he watched Shinai and Roan drink the hot brown liquid, "How can something that smells so good taste so foul?"

"It's an acquired taste, but much better with cream and sugar."

Roan leaned back, slowly sharing a slice of orange with Larani. Shinai grinned and held the tapered end of a strawberry with his teeth. His feline lower bit away half, then pressed his muzzle to Shin's in a kiss, giving him a covert grope. He winked to his human lover and giggled, serving himself to more fruit. They chatted amiably for almost an hour before the door chime went off. Tannis perked an ear, "Wonder who that could be... Come in!"

The doors swished back to allow a slender, short Laslurian male into their quarters. Dex was the City's computer and ship's operations officer, with a bio-neural cybernetic controller network built into his brain and body. In the battle with the hive ship he had risked his life to save 3 others bridge crewmembers when the Dracht's attack had exposed their command center to vacuum. He was short, shorter then Roan even, and slender almost to the edge of skinny, with snowy hair like Tannis, only with a thick coat of silvery white mottled with black spots and a large, fluffy tail tufted thickly at the tip. He had large lemon yellow eyes, and a neutrally expressed face. The shy 17 year old male was always clad in a snug body-suit of crisp white, even in his off-hours though no one could fathom why.

Dex smiled softly as he stepped forward, "I'm sorry captains, I wasn't aware you had company, I don't want to interrupt."

"Nonsense Dex, come have a seat, we'll pour you some tea."

"T-thank-you."

The slender spotted male had been born mute, but had an integrated vocal amplifier implanted, which up till the battle he had disdained using. Afterward he seemed less ashamed to use his own voice rather then speak via the ship's computer. Other then the occasional stutter and an almost unnoticeable lisp on a few consonants, it would have been difficult to tell his voice was electronically synthesized. The youth folded himself gingerly into the multi-lounge and accepted his cup of tea with his new arm. Larani had stressed his need to use the bio-organic prosthesis constantly to train his reflexes and nerve endings to the proper pressure and feed-back. The embarrassed youth had spent a week crushing cups and drink containers and denting control panels when he first had the synthetic limb installed.

Seeing as Dex had lost his limb in the course of service and heroic action in saving himself and 3 other individuals his prosthesis had been paid for by the Spacey itself, so it was top of the line, full skelo-muscular integration, bio-organic nerve grafts and circulatory pressure system as well as a full sensory network and a few choice toys. The arm was dull, matte silver, meeting the youth's arm just below the elbow, making it look like he was wearing a long silvery glove. Larani inspected the synthetic limb, feeling its warmth and the give of the flesh-like substitute that dimpled under pressure just like real blood and meat flesh did. Dex allowed the once over, explaining calmly, "They'll be installing the fur grafts next week."

He unzipped his body suit just enough to give a glimpse of his side, showing the denuded patch of skin where they'd taken a sample of his fur to duplicate. With a blush he zipped back up, hiding his chest and belly once more and adjusted himself in his seat, glancing at the pair of shirtless male felines. The youth had always been shy, he seemed to think of himself as different than normal sapient beings as most of his brain was devoted to data handling and running of a star-ship when he was on-duty. He always feared people would think he was a freak or not like him despite many protestations to the opposite.

Dex took a second cup of tea, smiling wistfully at the couples next to him. Roan rubbed Larani's ears as he looked up at the Laslurian teen, "You look lonely Dex."

The feline's rounded ears flushed pink as he shrugged noncommittally, making Roan smirk, "You know there's a young fellow in the computer maintenance staff in engineering that fancies you."

Dex looked almost alarmed, as if he had just heard someone having over-heard a plot to murder him in his bed, "F-f-fancies... me?"

The youth's face tumbled through a long series of confused emotions before settling on looking surprised, "He, me, fancies? Me? Why would he..? I mean... Me?!"

The red-headed engineer chuckled in his gruff way, "He says you're pretty for a male and admires that you're the one who controls the ship's computer."

The teenaged feline squirmed softly in his seat, blushing loudly as he played with his prosthetic fingers in idle agitation, "That I'm pretty? He says that?"

"10 times a day sometimes it feels like." Roan grinned as he leaned into Larani.

"Why don't you and he go out sometime?" Shinai smiled, "The felines here onboard certainly attract a lot of attention from my old crew."

Dex nodded slowly, his brain still processing, "Um, well, I... What's his name?"

"Jak, Jak Laurin." Roan winked at Dex, making him go ruddier around the ears, "I'll give you his duty schedule and information later."

A window display popped up in front of the Laslurian, showing the human male's duty roster and dossier file, making Larani giggle loudly. The human male shown was younger then Shin or Roan, possibly 18 by the eye, with blonde hair swept away from his eyes and a clear, slightly tanned complexion and bright blue eyes. Dex hid his muzzle behind his synthetic paw, blushing beet red as he looked at the data file, "He likes me?"

"Ayup. I think you two should go out sometime."

Roan chuckled as Tannis leaned over, "I could always make it captain's orders."

Dex uttered a tiny giggle, making them all blink, "No... I think I'm going to like it without that. Thank-you Mr. Brannigan."

"Oh, call me Roan Dex, everyone else does."

"R-r-roan, yes, thank-you."

Dex stood stiffly, handing Tannis a small data-pad, "Here are the duty rosters for the next week and a revamped schedule on our repair and refit. They say 8 more weeks and we should be completely refitted and repaired."

"Well, that's something at least." Tannis sighed as he laid the pad on the small table.

"Hey, now that we're considered heroes at least we have a nice juicy new contract and lots of cushy diplomatic type things lined up for us when they're done fixing the City." Shin grinned as he relaxed against Tannis.

"Yes'sir." Dex agreed as he nodded, "Thank-you for the tea captains, doctor, Roan... I'll be going... I need to uh... See about a duty roster of my own."

"Good luck!" Larani shouted at the Laslurian's back as the door swiped shut again, giggling and flopping out next to Roan again, "My goodness, even poor sour little Dex might get lucky. That's certainly something to celebrate."

Shinai grinned at the word "celebrate", "Mmm, won't be the only thing we need to celebrate. Dex might get himself a boyfriend, our refit will be done in 2 months, we've got full fleet honors and medals to boot, and something else."

Both sets of feline ears were perked as Shin got to his feet and strode to the countertop between living area and kitchenette, cunningly swiping his boxes from under the upturned cups and sweeping around, holding them behind his back. Tannis sat up, bright eyed and curious sitting back on his heels as Shinai had taught him to do when sitting on the floor. The bright haired human male grinned as he stood ever Tannis, winking to Roan and Larani. Tannis looked up at his human lover, "What're you hiding with that big a smile?"

"Ohhhh, nothing..." Shinai grinned as he swept one of the boxes out and stuck it under Tannis' nose, "Only this."

His feline lover blinked, hesitantly taking the box and cracking the lid, then uttering a yowl as he leapt to his feet and jumped up and down. Roan and Larani looked curiously at the overjoyed feline before Tannis practically leapt on top of them, showing them the contents of the box. Larani's muzzle gaped in an O of surprise and Roan just looked politely puzzled at the set of what looked like bracelets in the softly cushioned box. One was silver, the other a golden color, patterned with zigzagging loops and whorls of engraving.

Tannis' yelp of glee as he jumped back up and seized Shinai around the neck, hanging there as he giggled and panted softly in his exertion, "Does this mean?"

"Mmm, will you?" Shinai smiled as he held his feline lover with one arm and produced the box of matching jewelry in his other, making Tannis giggle more and nod wildly, "I will, I will!"

Roan still looked puzzled as Larani swatted at him with a paw and his tail, "Why don't you get those for us, huh?"

"What are they?" The confused human yelped as his feline lover flicked him once more, "They're getting Married!"

"Oh." Roan smiled as he joined the fray of giggling and laughing and hugging.

Later that evening after Tannis had hauled him from stem to stern around the ship, showing everyone the new bands of metal snugged around the base of his tail and his wrist, grinning into their smiling faces and words of congratulations the two of them had retired to their quarters once more. Shinai lay in bed, turning both of his matched bands in his fingers, he had given one of them to Tannis and the feline had given him his own band of the same color, so they now possessed two matched sets, with one of their bands being from the others original pair. He eased both of them onto his wrists, as he had no tail, making Tannis smile as the feline shed his clothing to the back of a chair. Tannis pulled the bedclothes back, slipping up against his human lover's side and laying against him, resting his muzzle on Shinai's chest, "When do we want to set a date?"

"Oh..." Shin thought pensively for a moment, "Why don't we set it for the same week as when our repairs are finished and we're ready to leave space-dock then we can pick a honeymoon spot on our way to our first assignment."

"That's a good thought, gives us about 7 weeks to get things planned and send word to everyone we want to be here."

Tannis mmm-ed and slowly burrowed deeper against his human lover, licking his chin and throat sedately. Shinai's hand moved up and down his back and side, stroking his hip slowly, feeling the thick base of the feline's tail newly adorned with the wrought band of silver. Tannis giggled as Shinai played with the band around the base of his tail, "Hey..."

"Hey what?" The human's grin betrayed that he knew exactly what he was doing, but he kept rubbing anyway.

"You know what that will result in Shin! I know you're not dumb."

Tannis shivered as the human male gave him a gentle spank on the ass, growling playfully and throwing the sheet back to pounce on his human lover, taking him flat against the bed as he straddled Shin's thighs, "Mmm, you're my first human mate, but you know what to do to me every time."

"Well, I enjoy discovering your spots my love."

The supine human ran his hands down over Tannis' chest and belly, feeling his thick, silky fur, watching it ripple around his fingers, seeking out the pale, pert nipples of his feline lover, tweaking them gently and rubbing them with the tips of his thumbs. Tannis bit his lip gently, arching back and huffing a bit, "You know what that does to me Shin..."

"Yea, I do." The grinning human pinched and tweaked the lithe feline's nipples with one hand and reached back to the base of his tail with the other, unlatching the cuff and taking it from around his tail-base, placing it on the bedside table before sliding his fingers over the smooth, snowy expanse of Tannis' rump, squeezing his firm, heart-shaped backside and running his fingers up and down the vee of fur just beneath his tail, making the feline groan gently and shiver. They arched against one another, the feline rumbling gently as Shinai stroked the base of his tail, giving it a squeeze, making his backside grind gently over his thighs.

The human grinned, "You've got such a wonderful ass baby. I never saw a human being with half as nice a butt as yours."

"Mmm, you just say that because you like being inside it." Tannis murr-oaned softly as Shinai planted another gentle little spank on his ass, leaning down over his human lover and running a paw over Shin's half-mast cock. He looked curiously at the smooth, naked skin of his sex, the funny tube of skin over the tip of his human lover's penis that seemed to function as some sort of partial sheath. He had heard Shinai mention the ancient Terran practice of removing the flap of skin and shivered, automatically crossing his legs at the thought of how barbaric the practice seemed.

There were old stories in his own species about the practice of removing a male's barbs if he committed a sexually related crime, but over the millennia of selective breeding spined feline anatomy became a non-issue as half the males born were born without them anyway. These males were fully functional and virile in every other way, but required assistance to conceive with a female, usually an apparatus worn over the shaft during sex, or in lesser circumstances for the more open-minded crowd, a male with his spines intact mating with the female before the male without the proper tools to make his female mate ovulate.

Tannis ran his paw up and down his lover's smooth, tender skinned sex, brushing his fingers over that funny little bristly patch of hair over the base of his cock. All the rest of Shinai's body and facial hair had been removed with laser therapy except for that little patch on his belly and a small area of his chin if he ever decided to grow a goatee. The feline grinned as he felt the human's sex respond to his caresses, his testicle sac tensing or loosening at his touch, his foreskin slowly pulling back as his cock swelled and his shaft getting thicker and longer with his gentle affection. His human lover's anatomy was the most interactive he'd ever seen other then canid and lupine anatomy, for their own obvious reasons.

Shin grinned at his feline lover, sitting hunched over his cock, rubbing and slowly prodding at it like a house-cat with a treat too big for its mouth, "Are you going to prod at it till it dies or are you going to play with it baby?"

"Oh hush you, you know I love your cock, it's just so different then any other I've played with..." The feline giggled and blushed as he settled in and stroked his human lover slowly, pumping him up and down with a firm grip till Shinai had a good diamond cutter jutting from his lower belly. Tannis mmm-ed softly, licking his lips as he toyed with the tip of his lover's cock, "Shin... Do you think we can use your augmentation this time? It was a lot of fun last time."

The human grinned softly, "Sure, if you like it that much, we should use it more often."

Tannis blushed as his lover retrieved a small matte black device that looked like a key fob with two small recessed buttons and a tiny dial on it, handing it to the feline, "You remember where to press it? And remember, go slow at first, or it hurts..."

"I remember!" Tannis eagerly shifted off his lover's lean frame, kneeling and spreading Shin's legs, pressing the small device up against the base of his cock where it met his loose sac, pressing the "on" button and dialing it as low as it could go. The human male gasped, groaning as the length of his erection started to hum softly, vibrations pulsing through his entire crotch from the tiny implant located just in front of his prostate. Tannis grinned and held onto the control, murrrumbling as he ran his paw up and down his lover's shivering cock, feeling the vibrations running through it as Shinai moaned, "Ohhh... Remember, I tend to go off a lot easier with that on."

"I remember." His feline mate grinned impishly, stroking Tannis harder and gently inching the dial up on the vibration, leaning forward and starting to flick his slightly rough tongue over Shinai's blunt glans. He relished the scent, taste and feel of his human's partner's smooth, soft skinned cock, eager lapping up the ting, clear droplets of pre-cum as they came oozing from the slit in his glans. The human male grunted and bucked his hips slowly, feeling those powerful vibrations thrum through his entire crotch, it felt like having a strong vibrator up his backside, but without the nagging full sensation that normally accompanied it.

The buzzing vibrations made him shiver and buck the stimulation to his prostate making tingles of pleasure shoot up his spine and down his thighs, his cock hardening to almost painful erection, made worse by his feline lover's skilled tongue and muzzle. Tannis took his time, dragging his broad, flat tongue over Shinai's tightening balls, curling it around his lover's vibrating shaft and kissing it, slowly lapping over Shinai's glans with long, overt licks. The human male moaned, "Mmm, baby, you're gonna make me go off if you keep that up..."

"If your hormone treatments are going as planned you should be able to cum 2 or 3 times." Tannis grinned impishly as he slowly wrapped his tongue around the tip of his lover's cock, pulling it into his warm, wet muzzle and sucking. Shinai's groan of "Ohhhh, fuuuuuuck!" was music to the feline's ears as he slowly bobbed his slender muzzle up and down, taking more and more of the tingling cock in his maw till his tongue was brushing the base of Shinai's cock. The abrupt jerking of his human lover's thighs and belly paired with the fluttering twitch of his muscles made Tannis realize he'd gone too far too fast an instant before Shinai groaned loudly and the slender feline's muzzle and throat were abruptly clogged with jets of thick human semen.

Tannis' throat jerked reflexively, making him gag for an instant before he got the flow of Shinai's seed under control enough to swallow, his sinuses burning briefly before he got a gasp of air around the human's twitching cock-tip. He purred, swallowing Shinai's seed down and sucking him clean, milking his thick shaft up and down. The buzzing vibration had gone softer now as Shinai's thighs, hips, belly and cock had gone tense, his diamond-cutter of an erection jerking in little pulses between Tannis' lips till he could take no more and had to pry his lover's muzzle from his hypersensitive cock.

Tannis licked his lips and nuzzles into Shinai's balls contentedly for a moment as he let his human lover relax, then slowly shifted and swung his leg over Shinai's hips, straddling his middle, feeling that vibrating spike of human flesh bump against the base of his tail. The feline grinned as he bucked his hips slowly, teasingly grinding down into his human lover, making his velvet furred ass jerk and thrust against Shinai's cock. He slowly leaned down closer to the human's body, arching his hips and lifting his tail, reaching back and gently guiding Shinai's slick cock-tip to the tender ring of his body's entrance.

The lithe feline groaned as his body slowly opened up for his grunting lover, panting softly himself as he felt Shinai's cock slide in slow and deep, every vein and bump on its rock hard surface making him wriggle a bit till his grinding ass was flush into his lover's lap, "Mmm, I'm gonna ride you like a wild Vakaran pony."

Shinai smiled, rubbing Tannis' belly and chest before he slid his hands down to the feline male's own fully erect length, giving it a tug and a squeeze as he started to move against Tannis, "Mmm, I could only wish my cock was that big."

Tannis giggled before uttering a soft groan of passion, thrusting deftly between his lover's cock and his smooth, warm grip, humping into Shinai's soft hands, moving his hips in gradually harder, deeper, more wild thrusts till they were banging together in passion. The two reached climax almost simultaneously, making them both shudder as Shinai's cock was squeezed and gripped within his lover's body and he got a face full of thick, jetting feline cream. Their two subsequent orgasms each left them both panting and tangled in the bedclothes, dozing off still coupled back to front, Shinai's arms around Tannis' slender waist.

The two lovers had just finished dinner 2 nights later, giggling and playfully tickling one another as they shed clothes on the way to their bed. Tannis was just sticking his tongue into Shinai's warm mouth when the door chime went off loudly, making them both jump. Tannis sat up, slowly scooting off the bed with a foul expression as Shinai lounged on the bed. The human had gradually come to terms with being naked, oftentimes in mixed company or just lounging in Tannis and he's quarters so he made no effort to cover up being he wasn't too painfully aroused just yet. He watched Tannis' ass march across their common area, letting the metronome like swing of his feline lover's hips and heart-shaped rump lull him into warm, sticky thoughts of soft fur, musk and heat.

Tannis palmed the door control, stepping back and starting to cross his arms when the doors swished open and he gasped as a slender form came stumbling into him, "Dex?!"

The slender Laslurian toppled unceremoniously into Tanis' arms, making him bristle a bit as he staggered back slightly, "Dex, are you alright?"

Tannis was almost panicked till he felt Dex stir, then the slender teenage feline's paws grip his ass as he held him. Shinai's laugh from the bed made him tuck his ears, "Well, if he's grabbing your ass he'd not dead yet lover."

Tannis adjusted his grip on Dex when the slender male raised his head woozily, his giant lemon colored eyes being slightly glassy and dilated making Tannis wonder what was wrong with him till the short computer technician uttered a soft belch and the scent of alcohol slapped the feline captain in the face, making him recoil, "Yeeeesh! V'retak, Dex, you smell like an open bar!"

He led the slender male to the multilounge, lowering him onto his butt and leaning him back, noticing for the first time the Laslurian wasn't dressed in his accustomed white bodysuit. Shinai who had gotten up from the bed whistled softly, "Ara? Wow, who's closet did he raid, Kanti's?"

"He probably gave him some tips." Tannis sniggered at his lover's skeptical look, Shinai's eyes widening as he came around the front of the multi-lounge, getting a good look at the Laslurian. Dex was dressed in trousers so tight they looked painted on; their glossy black polymer was shimmery with rainbow colored strands melded into it, with slits on the sides of the legs from ankle to waist, showing the youth's spotted fur. The trousers had loops of transparent plex chain-links draped down from its belt loops in the front to the belt loops on the curve of his hip, with progressively smaller links and lengths draping in a swag that reached to nearly his knees. The different gauges of link glowed different colors, a blood red, a cheerful orange, lemon yellow, a sedate green, cornflower blue and the tiniest links were a violent purple violet. Tannis had seen similar jewelry in necklaces, bracelets, wrist and tail-cuffs and rings.

The sleek pants were missing large ovals of material on the inside of the thighs, showing the thick, silvery white of the Laslurian's pelt on his inner thighs and almost to his crotch, which was still obscured. Dex was wearing a bizarre top that was just a Vee of clinging stretchy material that went over his shoulders, barely covering his chest and belly and tapering to a single vertical strap in the back, with a startle both Tannis and Shinai noticed the silver top was a single garment, as it matched the underwear they had thought the slender feline to be wearing. Over the top of his outfit he wore a long-sleeved open shirt of glittering black fishnet material that hung to his wrists and the back of his waistband in back but was cut on a slant so it exposed his belly and most of his chest below the nipple line.

Dex groaned a bit, moving his legs and dislodging the squishy gel sandals of shocking pink from his feet, struggling to sit up as his gaze weaved wildly, making him stare at the ceiling somewhere between Shinai and Tannis' shoulders. He grinned, blearily recognizing the pair, "Captains!"

Shinai had vainly attempted to sway Dex to the fact he was technically no longer a captain by commissioned rank, but in being Tannis and he could not both be captains on one ship he had accepted the role of executive and first officer, but the slender male always called him captain anyway. Now the title was slightly slurred and said at volume, Tannis couldn't tell if it was the feline's vocal amplifier malfunctioning, the alcohol or both. He sat down next to the slender youth and fiddled with the C shaped piece that sat habitually behind Dex's ear. The Laslurian wove in his seat but complied as Tannis adjusted his vocal subroutine and volume, "There, try now."

"Captain?" The Laslurian's voice was not as slurred this time and at a conversational level, "My audio input must have reset and adjusted my vocal amplifier in the bar."

"Did you have a good time Dex?" Shinai sat on his haunches in front of the plastered feline, smiling.

"Oh, it was wonderful. Jak took me to the station's promenade deck, there was a small café and a bar there. He introduced me to a human drink..." he paused thoughtfully, almost making him slide forward off his seat, "He called it a Nar-tinny?"

"Ah, martini." Shinai corrected, making Dex nod energetically, "And da-caries... And some Terran food I'd never had before, he said it was an avian of some kind, how many wings do Terran buffaloes normally have? Looked like dozens from the number on the plate."

Tannis perked his ear curiously at the chuckle that came from his lover as Shinai waved his hand dismissively, continuing on, "He got you a little drink, didn't he?"

"He said I drank the most in one sitting he'd ever seen someone imbibe and still be conscious. I'd never had a drink before, and the taste was interesting... He tasted good too."

Dex giggled conspiratorially, leaning in, "Do all human's smell and taste that good. When we were on the dance floor we were kissing."

The Laslurian blushed loudly around his rounded ears, "I'd never kissed anyone before. I didn't know how good it could feel dancing with someone and having their hands all over my..."

He giggled again, louder as he covered his muzzle coyly, "I think he wanted to have sex with me. I don't know why he didn't. I've never done that either... Just foreplay."

The slender feline's bright yellow eyes opened widely, "What does a real human look like naked? I've only seen the biological database and I've read the medical documentation on human mating habits 3 times, but its short on nuance and detail."

Shinai chuckled in exasperation, glancing at Tannis' puzzled expression as his human lover was stark naked except for the hand draped languidly between his thighs, "Perhaps you should start browsing the pornographic channels on the hyperwave broadcast network rather then browsing anatomy books and uh... Dex... I'm naked currently."

The Laslurian's bleary focus cleared slightly as he leaned forward till he was almost nose to nose with Shinai, "You are?"

"Well yes, you can look and see for yourself."

Shinai nodded at Tannis' words, slowly standing up to allow the Laslurian to see his fully, sculpted, bronze skinned form. Dex gaped softly, his eyes and scanners running up and down Shinai's handsome form 20 times before he gulped and leveled his gaze downward to the handsome human's crotch, gazing at it like it was something unknown and mysterious. The slender feline almost stretched out his paw to touch Shinai, but then his alcohol soaked brain focused and he let his arm drop with a sheepish giggle, "I'm sorry Tannis, he's yours, isn't he..."

"He's not my possession, but you should normally ask someone before you grope them, yes Dex." Tannis tried to stifle his amusement at the Laslurian's unwavering stare.

"So..." Dex began after a moment's consideration, "That... Would... Be inside me?"

"Well, if you and the Laurin boy consent to mating, yes, most likely."

The slender Laslurian looked slightly intimidated, leaning back on the lounge and looking at Shinai's smooth, dense, tightly toned body and still half mast penis, his expressions conflicted as his slowly sobering brain mulled over options. Tannis lowered himself down next to the slender male, stroking his shoulder, "It's alright Dex. This has all been too much to process. You've never had so much intimate input to think about."

Dex nodded slowly, rubbing his muzzle with his new artificial paw, still gazing at Shinai with a mix of apprehension and unbearable curiosity. He sighed softly, leaning against Tannis as Shinai lowered himself down next to the slender Laslurian, slowly threading the younger male's long, thick, fluffy tail gently through his hands. This seemed to soothe Dex a bit, as he relaxed against them, closing his eyes softly and stroking Tannis' chest. Shinai smiled as Dex leaned his way, letting the slender feline's warm, smooth paws, one still denuded of fur roam slowly along his arms and chest. Dex slowly felt the bronzed smoothness of the human's chest, intrigued at the toned muscles under his paw pads, his artificial paw giving him much more tactile data then his real one ever could.

The slender feline was slowly memorizing the smooth texture, soft skin and muscle density of the human's body, filing it away for use later. He examined Shinai's ears, nose, mouth and eyes in detail, curiously catching glimpses of the human's blunt white teeth as he talked or smiled. He felt the texture of Shinai's hair, feeling the difference in weight and lay compared to his own long snowy hair that was just modified fur and sat thicker and with more texture. Dex blushed as he examined the small bristly patch of hair just at the junction of the human male's pelvis, restraining his paws from reaching out to feel it as he wondered if all human's had that odd tiny patch of hair.

Tannis giggled as he watched the Laslurian explore his lover's body, "I think he wants to touch you Shin."

The human lifted his head lazily, looking to his violet eyed feline lover, "Mmm?"

Tannis pointed to the Laslurian's paw resting on Shinai's lower belly, "I think he wants to give you a bit of a feel Love."

The human male chuckled, "Well, it's up to you Kry baby."

Tannis shrugged, "Well, so long as he's being supervised."

Dex blushed beet red through the ears, licking his suddenly dry lips as he drew back, "Uh... Er... Captains? A-a-are you sure, I mean, I would never want to..."

"Just call me Shin, Dex. And Kry, when we're off hours. And if you don't want to experiment, then you don't have to. We're only offering you the option. We were about to have sex anyway."

The human male stretched, pointing to the bed as Dex tittered nervously watching as Tannis stretched luxuriously on the bed, gesturing to Dex and Shinai, "Come here sexy males."

The slender Laslurian licked his lips nervously as he stood and slowly unbuckled his skin tight trousers, swallowing as Shinai helped him with them off, then gently helped the younger male to slide off his blouse, leaving him in his almost swim-suit like undershirt cum lingerie. He took the human male's hand gingerly, tugging on the fabric of his odd bodysuit with his free paw, trying to get it to stop wedging ruthlessly between his rump-cheeks and crotch. Tannis giggled and rolled onto his side, watching Dex fidget restlessly as he slowly pulled the shoulder strap of his body-suit down, then the other, leaving the clinging garment to slump down to about the line of his nipples that were pink, pert and perked from excitement or nerves, Tannis couldn't tell.

The lithe feline captain realized he had never seen Dex completely nude, even in public baths. He perked his ears as he watched Dex wriggle out the remains of his outfit, his soft, rounded pecs flexing as he shoved his bodysuit down to his hips, giving Tannis and Shinai a good look at his flat, softly indented belly coated in a thick swath of white fur. The Laslurian's sides and hips were coated in his silvery white and spotted fur, his black rosettes rippling as he moved. The slender younger male bit his lip, closing his eyes as he shucked his suit all the way down to his ankles and stepped free of it. His internal body monitor was flashing a warning that his heart-rate and respiration were elevated on the inside of the left cornea of his eye, making it sparkle from an outward view.

He flicked his head in a tiny motion to quell the alert and the secondary query on his hormone levels being highly elevated, squeaking gently as he swallowed, making his vocal amplifier slightly confused as to whether or not he had spoken. Tannis found it endlessly amusing to hear a living organic being emit a tiny shrill of static like a comm that had hit interference. Shinai could actually see the slender feline's heartbeat as his chest-fur twitched softly, patting the edge of the bed cordially to try and calm him down.

The Laslurian's neural net's next trick was to show him his blood alcohol level and query if he was really in the shape for sexual interaction versus exhaustion and dehydration. With a sharp shake of his head the slender male shut all the monitors off and slowly lowered himself onto the bed, giving Tannis a spectacular view of his spotted rump, the cleft of which turned pure white from where it Y branched around his tail-base to up between his thighs, connecting his white furred crotch to the large oblong swath of fur going up his belly and chest. Dex's ass was firm and slightly rounded, like a peach, his thickly furred tail thrashing softly next to him on the bed.

Shinai smiled and slid onto the bed next to Tannis, leaving room between the two of them for Dex as they smiled into one another's eyes and kissed deeply, watching the slender male for reaction. His response was a series of shy, glancing darts of is eyes to the couple's naked crotches, examining them with his eyes and watching them kiss, trying to fight the purely hormonal response his body was having, the alcohol fighting his usually neutral demeanor. He stretched out on the bed slowly, sinking into the soft, molded foam and silken sheets, gingerly sliding up toward the kissing pair on the bed.

Shinai and Tannis felt the gentle, curious, questing touches over their bodies as Dex eased up to them, stroking his paws along the older male feline's and human's hips and sides, then chests, rubbing slowly. Shinai stifled a chuckle as he felt Dex's probing fingers brush his nipples, turning them hard. Tannis took advantage as he shifted and ran his long, broad feline tongue over his lover's pecs and nipples, making him huff and squirm as his pearly canines nipped their tender flesh gently.

As Shinai groaned Dex was busily examining the human's pelvis, hips and crotch. The slender feline's nose was almost brushing the human's hip as he scented all the interesting smells, the fragrance of sweat, the tang of musk and the strong scent of the human's sex were arousing more and more unfamiliar sensations in the Laslurian. He examined Shinai's half-mast erection, curiously reaching out and touching the smooth skin of the human's cock, feeling it react almost instantly to his touch. Dex squeaked softly, slowly rubbing his fingers up and down, watching Shinai's foreskin shift up and down over his glans in almost mesmerized concentration.

He was even more fascinated as the human's cock stiffened under his slow, gentle questing, watching Shinai's length fill out and lengthen till it was fully hard, his foreskin pulled back to mingle with the smooth skin of his shaft. The slender Laslurian was seized by a rogue thought, his nose moving as he scented the erect human flesh almost touching his chin. He bit his lip gently before he tentatively opened his muzzle and touched his tongue to the underside of Shinai's glans. Dex blushed and gasped as the handsome human inhaled and grunted gently, his toned hips arching toward his tongue.

Tannis giggled and nuzzled up into his human lover's throat, nipping him gently, "I think you found a good spot Dex."

The younger feline nodded, wide-eyed as he took a surer grip around the human's cock and stroked the tip of his slightly rough tongue over the tender flesh in his grip, making Shinai bite his lip and stifle a groan, the human's hands bunching in the bedclothes as the pair of feline tongues darted all over him. Dex closed his lemon yellow eyes slowly, all the information available on oral copulation coming up on the insides of his eyelids where he studied it in minute detail. He had given blow-jobs before occasionally to Kanti or Larani or Syven as he found the fluffy little Lugosan completely non-threatening and the long eared and fluffy tailed little male was very docile and submissive. He was content to lay for hours while he and Dex explored one another's bodies, but they never engaged in penetrative sex.

The slender computer specialist went on the assumption that human penises weren't so different then anyone else's, but they had no knots, no barbs, no sheathes, and minimal problematic geometry, which made them easy, low impact lovers. He slowly swirled his tongue over the tip of Shinai's cock, moving his free, synthetic paw down to the human's loose balls, rubbing, kneading and cupping them softly as he worked his tongue all over his glans. Tannis opened his eyes from where he was busy nipping and tugging Shinai's smooth skin along his throat and shoulder, moving his hips slowly as his human lover gripped his feline cock, "Mmm, careful Dex, if you play with his balls too much he'll cum quick."

Tannis' warning was processed and filed for later assessment as the Laslurian eased up on Shinai's balls and just fondled them softly as he suckled the tip of the human cock in his muzzle. Dex could taste the human male's pre-cum, trying to enjoy the flavor rather then simply analyzing the taste. Shinai's pre-cum was slightly sweeter then he was used to, with a salty bitter tang, making Dex speed up as he wondered curiously what Shinai's semen tasted like. His previous experience with giving oral sex was running through his head as he slowly bobbed his muzzle, savoring the thick, blunt tipped cock slipping freely between his lips, feeling the minute pressure as the length bobbed and pulsed with the human's heart-beat.

Dex slowly raised and lowered his head, feeling Shinai's body twitch and shiver tensing slowly. With another flash of curiosity he relaxed his jaw and throat and slowly plunged his head down till his dust colored nose was jammed against Shinai's lower belly, the entire length of the human's cock within the Laslurian's warm, wet maw from base between his lips to drooling tip getting softly stroked by the top of the slender male's throat as it's muscles fought valiantly to contract in a swallow. The result was almost immediate as Shinai bucked, arching his body and moaning at the sensation of his cock sliding over the Laslurian's gently ridged palate.

Dex adjusted his head, turning himself sidelong and opening his muzzle wide as he took Shinai's cock even deeper, tasting the freely spurting drips of pre-cum coming harder and more aggressively as the twitch of his cock sped up. He could feel the human's muscles flutter gently as he started to drool with his open muzzled deep throating. Tannis watched intently as he ground slowly against Shinai, thrusting his hips slowly, "Squeeze his balls and rub his ass Dexie, he'll cum hard."

Dex nodded softly as he pulled back, sucking hard on the shaft between his lips as he started to squeeze and knead Shinai's balls, slipping his other slender paw under him and rubbing the human's tight, toned ass. The rise and fall of the human male's chest and belly was harder and more ragged as he puffed like a bull and panted, moaning loudly and holding Dex's head gently, a sensation that made the younger male's cock twitch of its own accord, "Uhhh.... Iku, iku! I'm gonna C_uuuuu_m!"

Dex pulled back, snapping his head back laterally as he sucked hard on the tip of Shinai's cock and stroked the base with one paw while wildly kneading the human's balls with the other. He could feel Shinai shake and buck before he went stiff and his cock jerked, spraying the inside of Dex's sucking muzzle and all over his tongue with thick, white, strongly scented and flavored human essence. The slender Laslurian shivered himself as the heady, piquant tang of the human's musk filled his nose and muzzle, tasting strongly of salt and other arcane chemical nuances as he sucked and swallowed, milking Shinai for everything he could get, till the human was gasping and squirming, his sensitive cock trapped in the younger male's muzzle.

Tannis tweaked Dex's ear gently, "You have to let it rest for a few moments before you can get another load sweetie."

The slender feline nodded and pulled back reluctantly, still rubbing the human's twitching length as he licked his lips, blushing deeply as he realized he had just sucked off his first human to a spectacular finish. Shinai's gasping groans slowed as he lay panting, smiling blissfully as his sweat dappled chest moved up and down, "Mmm, Tannis, I may have to trade you in."

His feline lover smirked as he nipped the human's chest, tasting the scent and salt of his sweat and musk, "Ha-ha, I'm sure I'd give wonderful head if I had 3 computer cores giving me step by step instructions."

Dex blushed harder, clearing his throat as he licked his lips slowly, "Well, this is about where the entries in the database and my own personal experiences end."

"Flying on instinct from here on out, eh?" Shinai grinned, making the shy younger male tuck his flushing ears and nod coyly.

Dex squirmed softly as he lay flat on his back on the bed, Tannis and Shinai on either side of him. The Laslurian's slender body was fully exposed, his velvety fur bristled slightly with his nerves as he grunted and huffed softly. Tannis' paws were rubbing the younger male's chest, belly and face, stroking slowly over his delicate features and smooth, flat chest and belly, rubbing the little indentation barely visible through the extra thick swath of his pelt over his stomach. Shinai was busy farther down, rubbing Dex's long, slim thighs and thick, fluffy tail, tickling his tail-base, making the Laslurian wriggle more.

The younger male's ears were ruddy pink as he clasped his paws to his muzzle and bit a knuckle to prevent the guttural and almost primal sounds threatening to claw their way out of his muzzle. Dex's hips were trying decide if they wanted to lay flat, arch or thrust as Shinai teased his tail and rubbed his heart-shaped ass, making the Laslurian gasp when he felt a blunt fingertip slide over the tight entrance to his body, his hips abruptly arching upward as an unfamiliar surge of heat erupted through his thighs and belly.

The slender feline was too enthralled to even pay attention to the alert that flashed under his eyelid, his lemon colored eyes rolled up almost white as he moaned gently around his paw, feeling Shinai's smooth, strong hands knead his hips and backside, then slide around and begin to work on the breathtaking hard-on the Laslurian was building to. Dex's balls were a good moderate size for his stature, dense and heavy, slightly swollen in their sac of velvet white fur. Shinai ran his finger over the sleek, tapering tip of Dex's erection, feeling it twitch as he stroked up and down along the smooth, pink shaft jutting from the Laslurian's sheath.

Dex's cock looked almost exactly like Tannis' except for the slight size discrepancy and a ridge of tiny, soft little bumps that ringed where his shaft met his tip. They weren't unpleasant, just a new texture to the human male, they brushed over his fingers as he stroked the slender Laslurian, flattening with every down stroke and flaring slightly with every upward stroke. Dex shivered hard, uttering tiny, gasping moans as the stimulation to the small, soft nubs around his cock made his entire length twitch. Tannis grinned as he watched his human lover work, nuzzling into Dex's throat and shoulder, licking the younger male's chin as he felt the Laslurian twitch, shudder and buck gently.

The older feline kissed Dex softly, "He's really gonna blow once you're done with him Shin."

"Mmm-hmm." The human grinned softly, stroking Dex slightly harder, with long, slow, deliberate pumps of his cock, giving his balls a tiny squeeze as he did so.

Dex opened his slightly rolling eyes, focusing on Tannis briefly as the older feline kissed and licked his throat and chin. The two felines rumbled at one another, Dex offering a slightly plaintive meow as he lapped back at Tannis, leading them back into a kiss, their tongues flicking back and forth. Shinai grinned, watching the two snowy coated felines kiss, slowly lowering his mouth to Dex's cock and licking his tip. The reaction made him jump softly as Dex yowled and arched hard, his sleek cock offering up a spurt of pre-cum to the human's questing tongue.

Emboldened Shinai dragged his soft, warm, wet human tongue over the tiny barbs on Dex's cock, sucking him slowly. The sound of the human male sucking Dex off was almost as exciting as the two felines passionately kissing, licking and softly biting at one another. Dex's hips were moving in sharp, tight, rocking humps, jerking hard as he shivered all over. Shinai was careful to keep the younger male teetering on the edge as long as he could before committing to let him go off, slowly kneading the Laslurian's swollen balls.

Tannis sat back, panting himself as he watched Shinai work, Dex's slender, smooth body arched hard and bucking, his mating instincts swamping his neural net as his hips just jerked and bucked of their own accord, his cock twitching sharply as it sprayed pre-cum into Shinai's mouth and onto his lips. The human winked at his feline lover, pulling him closer till they were taking turns sucking Dex's thrusting cock, lapping all over his shaft caught helplessly between their mouths.

The poor younger feline couldn't hold out long against the stimulation of two tongues and two mouths, arching desperately as he moaned long and low, his body betraying itself just before it exploded by giving a tremendous twitch, then arching like a bow. Tannis had the pleasure of the first squirt of Dex's pent up load as he sucked the tip of the younger male's cock. He swallowed and then withdrew to let Shinai catch a few of the jets, the feline milk that didn't get caught in their mouths squirting and spraying wildly over their chins, cheeks and lips as well as Dex's own belly.

Dex grunted his body flexing as he uttered a soft sound of pleasure, then slumped back, completely spent, panting hard and raggedly. Tannis slowly cleaned Shinai's face as they watched the slender youth's body relax, grinning at one another. They finished cleaning one another up and then the Laslurian's belly, then stroked the younger male's chest, "How'd you like it Dex?"

The slender younger feline's eyelids flickered at his name was called, but he otherwise didn't respond, making Shinai nudge him gently, "Dex? Sweetness?"

Tannis giggled softly, gently lifting one of the younger male's eyelids, watching his lemon colored eye flicker back and forth, a skein of what looked like lines of static on a monitor flooding back and forth across the lens of his eye. The younger feline was out; sound asleep, and completely spent. Tannis sat back up as the flood of information increased its speed and examination of his other eye showed a soft blue glow from the pupil, "He's in gray mode. Neuro-synaptic maintenance, data updates and diagnostic check-ups on all systems. Between the alcohol and his expenditure he's in total shut-down."

Shinai stretched, smiling, "So he's asleep."

"Deeply."

"Hehe, typical male of his age, go off like a rocket, fall fast asleep. Do you think we should move him?"

"Nah, let's go have some fun on the lounge, he'll sleep it off and be fresh as a daisy in the morning."

Shinai grinned as he felt his feline lover tug him to the lounge, then pounce him down, kissing him passionately and straddling his hips, "Mmm, you didn't get to cum yet Love, wanna rectify that?"

"Oh gods yes." Tannis grinned and ground slowly up and down against his toned human lover.

"Couple times, then a bath and some shut-eye. Hopefully Dex won't freak about sharing the bed."

Tannis shrugged and gripped his lover, moving his own body up and down harder, moaning gently, "We'll see in the morning. Now shut up and mount me."

Shinai banged his hand on the monitor display, making the window projected between its pair of uprights flicker and pixilate wildly before he jabbed the button to close the hyperwave channel, making Tannis perk his ears as his human lover burst into a string of Japanese curses that were no doubt quite floral. He sat up, noting Shinai's posture and tipped his head, "Problems Love?"

"No..." Shinai sighed and leaned back on the lounge, rubbing his forehead gently. He felt Tannis' fur brush him as the feline passed behind him, the lounge shifting as his feline lover sat beside him, "The Terran central administration offices on Luna are still having problems with my citizenship papers. My transfer from the Terran naval fleet to the Council Spacey is approved, but my Terran citizenship papers seem to be causing a lot of problems."

"In this day and age you'd think it would be rather difficult to misplace paperwork..."

Tannis kneaded Shinai's shoulders gently, rubbing his muzzle into the human's soft, sweet smelling hair that was down today as opposed to its usual spiked coif. The bright shades of emerald green and neon blue that the human had changed it to hung down around his face and nape, it had been disconcerting to their other non-human friends the first time they saw Shinai sans spiked hair and with it pulled back to his nape in a stubby ponytail. His human lover was dressed in a pair of baggy silk trousers that bunched at the break and ankles, black with swirling pink and white floral designs on them. He still hadn't gotten used to the sensation of striding about nude, so the pants were a compromise.

Tannis stretched out across Shinai's lap, naked as a newborn kitten, smiling up at his human lover's face, "I'll put in a few communiqués later myself. Who wouldn't want to help the hero of the Terran Exchange Fleet?"

A bare shadow crossed Shinai's face as he leaned back and stroked through Tannis' bare fur, feeling his thick, velvety pelt part and riffle around his fingers, "The Spacey has been very accommodating already. With the Daikokuten reduced to 75% scrap metal in the fight with the Dracht and a goodly number of my old crew mates killed, it's hard to comprehend some days. Being here on the City and with those who didn't cut and run back to Terra to wait for a new commission is comfortable, but still alien. I sometimes wonder if we had enough time to mourn after patching both hulls up enough to limp into Kivanka space port docked together."

He sighed and ran his hands over Tannis' white furred chest and blunt muzzle, feeling his feline lover's nose quiver as he stroked it till it was too much and Tannis uttered a soft snorting sneeze, "After that is a blur. Our ships in pieces, dead and dying everywhere. We never had a chance to salvage what was left of the Daikokuten's secondary hull and with the City missing its bridge, its drive-ring and a goodly sized portion gouged out of its flank, never had a chance to recover the bodies either."

Tannis nodded softly, thinking of all the casualties of the pitched battle that had consumed half his bridge crew, they had been his officers, his friends and part of the family that had made up the Silver City. Both he and Shinai had presided over the funerary services, the strings of names, numbers and faces had been overwhelming, watching the bright clusters of ion flares launched from the ship's remaining functional launcher to represent every life lost. The glittering streaks of light had surged away, twinkling like stars as they shot away, off to explore deep space with a name, a service number and a holographic photo of each slain crewmember cradled within their shell.

Tannis had clung to the only thing available to him, seeing to the rebuilding of his ship, nurturing the amalgamation of all those members of the Daikokuten's crew who were amiable to the reassignment with his own battered crew and spending almost every waking moment within arm's length of Shinai for a month afterward. The two captains had eased one another's pain, growing closer as they clung to one another for sanity. Eventually things led to their pairing and moving in with one another, Shinai's old uniform being reprogrammed to the Spacey standard colors, black and scarlet, cementing his new position within the ship and its crew.

Their medals from the battle were sitting on a non-skid display pad on either side of the bed, the shining gold and silver metal medallions gleaming softly. They'd both received commendations, awards for their technical saving of both ships, destruction of the rogue Dracht ship and for being wounded in the line of duty. Everyone on both bridges had been awarded commendations of excellence and tactical brilliance and both ships were now in a register somewhere in both Terran and Council data centers. The remains of the Daikokuten had been shipped to earth, along with her crewmembers that had not stayed aboard the City and there had been talk of building a new vessel around the piece of her hull that remained.

The Silver City herself was in the midst of a full refit and rebuild, her destroyed drive-ring, bridge and ravaged primary hull were being rebuilt from the inside out, with no expense spared. Tannis had gotten tired of the non-stop boredom in space-dock, tired of seeing the stars stationary and his ship's engines cold as he spent his time wandering corridors, watching renovation crews from the station repairing them, bunked out with Shinai who had about as much to do as Tannis did past making sure his own former crew was acclimating well or wandering the shops and recreation facilities of the station's promenade. When a starship wasn't moving, there was surprisingly little to do to entertain oneself, duty rosters, crew reports and the same boring vista every day for 6 months, with 2 still to go was making them all a little stir-crazy.

The night shift was even more boring, with just a handful of people monitoring the automatic maintenance drones and incoming and outgoing flow of repair workers and engineers and mechanics. The silence was fine by Dex, who could usually be found prowling the corridors after lights-out like a pale wraith with his gleaming lemon eyes. As such, he was in the one in the auxiliary bridge chamber they had been forced to use since their primary bridge module had been blown off. He was slowly spinning in the command chair, playing a game of something Shinai had shown him called go, using his neural net to adjust his pieces on the projected game board, the rows of black and white stones were starting to crowd the board when the main computer laid a final gambit, making him huff softly as the scoreboard laid another green checkmark beside the computer's tally and a red X beside his own.

They were tied at 3 games each, and Dex was in the process of resetting the board once more as the comm system lit up. He shut down the game screen, making the computer utter a scandalized buzz in his ear, shushing it as he reached and flicked the switch, opening the incoming channel, bring up the audio and video window with a lazy poke of the button. His bright yellow eyes widened a notch as he conversed with the head of the station's medical department and he nodded, thanking the sleek, smooth skinned humanoid before shutting down the channel and punching up the internal comm.

In the darkness of he and Shinai's quarters Tannis curled closed to the warm smooth expanse of his human lover. He burrowed farther under the covers and sighed contently in his sleep, not noticing the gentle beeping of his comm. Shinai stirred, but didn't wake either, rolling over closer to the slumbering feline. Unseen by either of them a comm window popped up, drifting over the bed as Dex gazed down at the pair of shapes snuggled together under the bedclothes. He pitched his voice low, "Captain..."

Dex sighed, "Captain... Caaap-tain... Captain... Captain Tannis? Captain Tsukisyo? Captains? Wake up..."

A slight stirring, but nothing concrete, forcing the slender feline to try again, "Captain? Captain Cap-tain Caaaaaptain, captaincaptaincaptain! Krayd? Wake up, wake up, wake up, please!"

A white furred arm slid from the bedclothes, swiping at the comm window, making it flicker and hiss softly, the rectangular outline of Dex's head in the bridge dodging Tannis' questing arm as the feline captain mumbled and grunted something irritatedly. A bright violet eye cracked, rolling a moment before homing in on the comm window, "Mmm?"

Encouraged, Dex pushed the window closer to the feline captain, "Sir, there's a communiqué from Desira station med bay. XO Lorensi is awake sir..."

Tannis sat bolt upright in bed, making the sheets fly off his upper half as he shook Shinai awake, making the human sputter and come awake with a snort, "Mmm-uh? Ara? Kry... It's the middle of the night... What's going on?"

The feline pointed to Dex's comm window, "Desira just notified us, Lorensi's awake."

Shinai almost fell out of bed in his haste, getting tangled up in the bedclothes as he grabbed his kimono style dressing gown and groped under the bed for a pair of soft slippers, "We've got to..."

Dex interjected delicately, "I've taken the liberty of warming up a pod for you arranging a site to site translocation, as soon as you're ready."

"Thank-you Dex." Tannis hurriedly pulled on a fluffy dressing gown of his own that had been a gift from Roan, it was patterned in mottled spots like Larani's pelt, only in silvery white like Dex's coat, as a joke for the feline captain who's fur was snowy white and devoid of any markings. He smoothed his hair and nodded to Shinai who was anxiously tugging at his robe, "We're ready Dex."

"Stand-by. I'm calibrating your jump. Executing."

The comm window faded from view as the air around Shinai and Tannis shimmered softly, the ionization making the feline's fur stand on end slightly as he felt the familiar sensation of translocation aphasia overtake him. The room suddenly washed out into a fuzzy blue-white light and Tannis felt the soft sucking, roaring sensation of quantum space as he and his human lover passed through hyperspace for barely a mere nothingth of an instant, their bodies coalescing inside the small cockpit of the EVA pod Dex had waiting for them. Shinai sat down at the controls and noted they were already locked into the landing beacon on the flank of the gigantic Desira station floating peacefully above the vast expanse of Veira prime beneath the titanic station and orbital shipyard in which they were berthed.

A chime greeted them as the airlock at the aft of the pod closed and the control station hummed into full power mode from stand-by. A cheerful automated message in standard basic, "Welcome to the EVA pod Aileron. Please be seated and let the auto-navigational system conduct you to your destination. All docking will be automated for your convenience. Please have a pleasant flight courtesy of the Vega Natin IV heavy and mass manufacturing conglomerate and cybernetic engineering corporation."

Shinai settled into the wide, thickly padded flight seat, leaning back and as he accepted Tannis into his lap a panel on the console light up a cheerful golden color with a slow, steady blink and the computer chimed again, "Thank-you for choosing this light duty work-pod as your vehicle. Please press the lighted control panel to begin flight sequence."

Tannis slid a paw out and touched the panel, making the computer chime yet again and the pod vibrated softly as its systems powered up, running through an internal diagnostic and preflight checklist before it gave the green light and the vibration turned into a soothing hum as the small pod's engines cycled up. As the work pod slowly drifted up from the deck of their hangar bay and started to hum louder, running smoothly out through the atmospheric field protecting the wide-open bay. The transition from brightly lit, sterile, white walled hangar bay with its flashing red landing lights to inky void sprinkled with diamond pinpricks of light was slightly disorienting, but a breathtaking view.

The pod itself was nothing but a bubble-shaped cockpit, with a wide, wrap-around window, an airlock and an engine. The little crafts were used when a shuttle or other heavier transport was too slow or too bulky to use in the orbital yard. Tannis watched the sleek hull of his ship slide past them, gazing out at the superstructure of struts and work arms enclosing the City like a giant floating cage. He could see the matte silver hull plates, the joints showing with their close fly-by, some still bearing scorch marks from the battle. Tannis had insisted on the color of the hull matching his ship's name, the shimmering silver hull plates twinkling at the right angles, like brushed steel in the light from the system's primary star, turning ruddy and golden when the pod slid around the curve of the ship's main hull.

As they passed the midpoint of the ship they could see the gigantic components of the new drive section floating serenely near-by, awaiting installation. He tried not to look at the cauterized stump of the bridge as they passed it, the new bridge module being scheduled to be installed at the same time as the drive components. All in all the repairs were going well; their ship would be whole again within a month and a half's time. As they scooted around the hulking shape of the City the bulk of Desira station came into view. The orbital space dock was gigantic, fully a mile wide and half a mile from top to the ends of her communications array at her ventral tip, with long, tapered docking pylons dotting her dorsal surfaces and her entire mass twinkling with ports and running lights.

The gigantic spaceport and the orbital dry dock cages and enclosures slowly skirted the planet below, orbiting it in a high, geo-synchronous orbit. The pod adjusted its speed and attitude as it homed in on the docking socket near the rim of the main hub of the station, matching its relative speed and orientation as it spun on its axis, backing up toward the round airlock, giving Tannis and Shinai a breathtaking view of the vast, distant field of space beyond the shipyard. The large, silvery primary moon of Veira was visible, in its full phase, with the other three tiny moons dancing behind it. There was a clunk and a hiss as the pod docked and the airlock at its aft engaged and pressurized, sliding open to admit the pair.

They skidded into the brightly lit, polished corridors of the station, dashing to the nearest public computer terminal to find their way to the medical bay of the huge station. As they approached the standing column of the public computer terminal a pair of subdued green scanners gave them the once over and found them to be on the visitor list, so with a hum the terminal's holoprojector kicked on, making a humanoid representative of the station's visitor help center shimmer into view. The holographic construct was 2 meter's tall, with a plain white, formless torso and pelvis, with slightly gangling legs and long arms, tipped in nondescript hands which gestured respectfully. The head was almost like a mannequin's, featureless and smooth, save for a glowing blue lens set into where on a normal being would have been right between their eyes and a slightly disconcerting slash of a mouth that flashed blue in time with its carefully modulated speech.

The cheerful tone was almost grating as the holograms vocal subroutines kicked on, "Greetings, welcome to Desira station. I would like to welcome our esteemed visitors and ask if there is some way in which I can be of assistance? I am fully functional in navigation, translation and problem solving applications to meet all your possible needs. I am also in direct contact with station security, maintenance department and medical services in circumstances of unfortunate conduct, appliance or software failure or biological damage."

The pair of strained countenances thought the speech was never going to end till the holo-droid tipped its head, "How may I be of assistance?"

Shinai and Tannis answered almost simultaneously, "Location of Medical bay?"

There was a second's pause before the droid inclined its head, "Emergency services, non-critical care treatments or visitation?"

"Visiting."

"Would you prefer verbal direction, available in 500 standard languages, hard-copy directional map available in 500 standard languages including binary encoding or visual guidance?"

Shinai rubbed his forehead, sleep still crowding his eyes, "Guidance!"

There was a spritely musical ping and the holo-droid abruptly bowed, "Acknowledged. Please follow the visual cues to your destination and thank-you for using this multipurpose assistance directory. Please have a pleasant day."

Just when both males thought their sanity would completely erode by the holo-droid's verbal speeches the computer obligingly provided a flashing light that zipped ahead of them along the bulk-heads to guide them, giving them good time to the section of the station given over to medical facilities. They walked at a fast clip, without breaking into an actual run, passing the matte white and silver maintenance droids and the dimmed sections of the station's night cycle. The lift took them up and over and hummed along the outer rim of the station's main disc, then slid into the interior of the gigantic space dock itself. Their quick-lift travel sometimes took minutes at a time, covering hundreds of meters at a time, whisking them into the heart of the looming station.

The little light trail streaking ahead of them led them to a set of large double doors, with their top halves glassed in, frosted to a milky white with a large pink diamond printed onto them. The main medical bay was quiet and semi-dark, the individual partitions of the occupied beds cloaked in shadow as they stepped past the doors that swished shut behind them. A tall, sleek, silvery-gray skinned humanoid male bustled toward them. He was human, but sported another set of arms that sprouted out of the shoulder blades of his dark blue uniform, resting in a folded position with their pincer-like graspers curled serenely. The medical officer's complexion had a sallow pallor that made it seem almost shimmer, his dark eyes and hair seeming added on. A ridge of tissue ran from the tip of his nose to his hairline above his forehead, accentuating his large eyes.

His two primary arms gestured them closer as a congenial smile parted his sallow lips, "You must be captains Tannis and Tsukisyo. Commander Lorensi is waking sirs, and you were listed as the first ones to call."

The pair nodded their expressions somewhat grim as Shinai swallowed, "Has his cognitive function returned?"

"We are not sure sirs; cognitive function in psionics cannot be ascertained without the help of another psion. But higher functions can be tested."

The gangly humanoid led them deep into the medical bay; his arms clasped behind his back, which struck Tannis as slightly redundant, "You have not been here to visit him before sirs, for this I apologize. His condition thus far has been too fragile to allow outside stimulus. You should be warned, Cmndr. Lorensi's current outward physiology is somewhat... unpleasant."

Tannis perked an ear, his stomach lurching uncomfortably as he held Shinai's hand tighter, "He was injured badly, but we weren't aware how badly."

The human nodded, smoothing his hair back as he held Tannis close. His former first officer had been found amongst the wreckage of the lower decks of the forward module of the human's ship. He'd been pinned beneath support struts and deck plates when the main body of the ship had blown, taking half the Dracht vessel with it. They hadn't expected Lorensi to survive, but the Vakari had clung to life by a thin tendril, lying comatose and in a state of biological hibernation as his body was tended to as best the stations medical staff was able. The feline male had been in no state to face physical therapy or surgery past what was necessary to sustain his vital functions, so most of his aesthetic injuries were still intact.

The gray skinned doctor smiled as delicately as he could muster, glossing over the uncomfortable moment with a reassurance, "We've just taken Cmndr. Lorensi from his tank. He's done very well with the regen therapy. As soon as he's washed up, you can see him."

The doctor pointed to a large, cylindrical tank of slightly green tinted liquid that stood from floor to ceiling, and two meters wide. The neon goo had small trails of bubbles drifting lazily from the network of tubes and a breath mask floating peacefully within it. Tannis shivered, he recalled vividly his own short treatments in a regen tank, floating in the hyper-oxygenated and antiseptic fluid that was as warm as blood and as viscous as oil. The sensation of breathing the fluid was one of the worst, so most individuals undergoing treatment were kept mildly sedated. The sedation left them floating, dreamlike in the womb-like environment of the tank, warm, safe and their body regenerating its tissues as the treatments accelerated cell growth and stemmed infection.

The humanoid doctor stood silently as Tannis and Shinai recalled their own tank treatments, waiting as two orderlies guided a floating bed past them and into an alcove next to the tank. Tannis stiffened a bit as he saw a pair of black tipped ears peeking above the thickly padded pillow as the bed slowly revolved, then slid backward into the network of tubes and sensors aligned in the bulkhead, letting them see Lorensi for the first time. Shinai squeezed Tannis' paw, his breath catching as they strode to the bedside, looking down at the ruined body of the former first officer.

The pain in the human's voice was almost audible as he gently stroked Lorensi's lank auburn hair away from his face. His feline officer stirred slowly, his eyelids fluttering, one showing bright amber, the other showing a socket, rimmed in tender pink flesh and scar tissue. Half the feline's face was relatively undamaged, the other side seeming lopsided, with patches of pink skin showing through where his pelt had been singed. Lorensi's body was thin, the nutrient addition to the antiseptic solution could only do so much, the outline of his form under the bedclothes was all angles, albeit missing the arm and leg on his right side, and his left leg from the shin down but his left arm twitched fitfully.

Lorensi's eye rolled slowly, glazed as it scooted across the ceiling, then wandered down to Tannis and Shinai. The feline's breathing was raspy and gasping at times as he uttered tiny sounds of disorientation and discomfort. His amber eye settled on Shinai as he uttered a rattling breath and his paw opened and closed more forcefully then before. The human male slowly peeled back the sheet to stroke Lorensi's thin, battered paw, looking to the humanoid doctor, "When will we know if he's suffered... Impairment...?"

"Probably soon. Though he does seem to recognize you captain."

Shinai nodded, seating himself on one of the pair of stools that had risen from the deck. He stroked the feline's paw, "Lorensi?"

The glassy amber eye wavered down to follow him as the spotted feline licked his lips gingerly, "K-kan...cho."

The feline's raspy whisper was almost too soft to be heard, but Shinai leaned in till he was almost nose-to-nose with Lorensi, "You recognize me? Your captain?"

"Mmm, yes..."

Shinai smiled softly, "Good."

The waking feline groaned softly, "I... feel... like shit."

"You kinda look like it too spots. You were caught in an explosion when the Dracht ship was blown in half."

Lorensi nodded softly, "Was... my idea. Had to blow the umbilicus manually."

He uttered a gasping breath before continuing, "No time to get clear. F-figured I might not get out in one piece..."

The feline tipped his head, using his good eye to gaze down at himself, "Looks like about half a dozen... to be... precise."

"You'll be fine." Tannis soothed, smoothing the bedclothes, stroking Lorensi's ruined cheek.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better... H-how long have I been out?"

"About 6 months spots."

Shinai smoothed Lorensi's hair again, "Your hair has even gone back to its original color."

"Ugh. Always hated it."

The spotted feline twitched gently, squeezing Shinai's hand, "Ohhh... The pain meds are good, but still kinda aches..."

"You'll be back to your old ugly self in no time Lor."

Shinai grinned softly as Lorensi coughed, "Promises, promises. W-what've you been doing for the past year? Is the Daikokuten being repaired?"

"She's been taken back to Terra spots; we're at Desira station with the Silver City while she's being refurbished. I'm her new XO."

The bedclothes rustled as Lorensi shifted, grimacing, "Mmm, so you decided to stay with the City? Don't need your old crew anymore?"

The feline's question was mild, but he squinted, making Tannis unsure if it were pain or emotional hurt. Shinai chuckled, shaking his head, "Most of them were reassigned to the City too, under Krayd here. You can be too."

"You honestly think they're gonna let me back near a helm with one good eye, possible brain-damage and only one good limb brother?"

Lorensi grinned lopsidedly as Shinai smirked, "Why not? I did."

Tannis leaned into Shinai, smiling at Lorensi, "I think Kanti would love to meet you."

"He's your pilot?" Lorensi rested his head softly to his good side, stroking Shinai's smooth hand slowly.

"Yes. There's always a position for you aboard the City."

Tannis stroked Shinai's shoulders as he looked to the supine feline, "Once they get you patched up, we can get you transferred to temporary light duty."

Lorensi grimaced gently, "That'll be a load of fun, playing consultant as a non-com. But d'you think I can be fixed?"

The gray skinned humanoid had been skirting the edge of the pool of light around the ragged feline's bed, sliding in on Lorensi's good side, "Yes commander. All of your organs survived reasonably intact, what bone fractures you had have been mended by your regen therapies, your missing limbs can be augmented by bio-organic or cybernetic prosthesis or new limbs can be cloned and grafted."

Tannis nodded, "A new eye as well."

Lorensi coughed softly, slowly laying back against his pillow, "And anything else that needs it..."

The feline paused, "Uh...Is everything else intact?"

Shinai and Tannis looked bewildered for a moment till the human blinked, "Oh, uh..."

He glanced over to the doctor who stood neutral faced, then leaned over the feline, gingerly lifting the sheet, "Well, let's see."

Shinai nodded, slowly lowering the sheet once more, "Looks like you're in decent shape there Lor."

"Mmm, the one thing that wasn't crushed. Go figure."

The Vakari male coughed again gently, wheezing, "Hard to catch my breath."

"You have some scarring to your lungs Commander. You inhaled some plasma."

The multi-limbed human doctor was consulting a data pad, "Thankfully Vakari have lung capacity about 15% larger then any other species their size, so it's balanced the damage till we can do a more extensive repair regimen."

Tannis stretched gently, "You say repair as though it's a mechanical problem."

The slate-eyed doctor tipped his head as though the question puzzled him, "But it is. The body is a biological machine. It can be torn down and repaired as simply as any inorganic mechanism."

The pair of arms resting against the sallow humanoid's shoulder blades stretched as he looked at the data pad, their slender, pincer-like fingers flexing idly, "Musculature, tendon and skeletal systems are analogous to an endo-skeleton in an android and its hydraulic fluid exchange system. Easily repaired. Organs have very basic, almost primitive functions save for the fact that they are not redundant in most species. Easily cloned or mimicked. Gas, waste and nutrition exchange can be facilitated mechanically."

The doctor tapped the edge of the bed with the pad, "Most autonomous and conscious neural activity can be mimicked with an existing neural net. Frankly the only organ which cannot be easily repaired or replaced is ones brain, but that is only for the fact that the consciousness of an individual being is such a nebulous concept. What makes a person themselves? Their arm? Their leg? They continue to exist even without those."

He pointed to Lorensi's supine form, "Is he the sum total of his parts? Missing limbs as he is. But is he his brain on the other hand? The brain is a soft piece of meat, easily damaged beyond repair, but that too is not a true reflection of who and what we are. We are more then the sum total of our parts as living biological mechanisms. It is the basic parts that can be repaired, yet the transcendental part of the being is irreparable and an unknown where science is concerned for the most part."

Tannis nodded softly, "I can see where you'd find a certain philosophical bend in the minutiae of biological systems..."

"So when can my repairs get started doc?"

Lorensi tipped his head, allowing his single amber eye to swivel to the pale humanoid that looked consideringly back, "Within a week, I should think."

"Sounds good to me." Lorensi laid his head back on the pillow with a sigh, leaning into Shinai's hand as it rubbed the unscarred side of his muzzle, "Mmm, wonder if I should just go for the full upgrade package."

Tannis chuckled gently, "I think anything that can be cloned should be. But past that you could probably get a 'borg eye."

"A neural net might not be too bad, if I've lost my sense of direction and reflexes..."

"There will have to be extensive testing on that." The pale humanoid doctor tapped his data pad, nodding, "Those can be scheduled for a day or two from now depending on how you're feeling."

"Great."

Tannis growled softly as the com and door chime went off in tandem, furiously toweling his hair as his fur dried into a fluffy mess. The pinging and chiming kept going off in competition with one another as he skidded across the carpet and landed on the edge of the bed, yanking a drawer open and fishing through it, "I know... I know, I know... Coming!"

The hum of a lock over-ride silenced the door chime as Tannis sighed, the doors sliding open to reveal Larani and Dex standing outside the doorway, Dex's gleaming yellow eyes gazing at Tannis' nude form with a blush in the tips of his ears as Larani nudged him with an elbow, giggling. Tannis shot them both a venomous look as he bent over, rummaging through the drawers, making Larani giggle harder and Dex fend off his elbow by stepping out of range. The shorter feline coughed delicately, "Captain, we're late."

Tannis glared softly at the shorter feline, pulling himself into a tight white jumpsuit that was crisscrossed by fine swirls of lavender and slate, with a matching belt that held a com and a pouch for credit chits. He struggled on with a pair of soft, low-slung ankle boots as he tried to smooth his alabaster hair. The feline finally straightened, zipping his jumpsuit to a modest level just below his nipple-line and marching himself between his companion felines to the door as they herded him along, "Shinai is probably there by now."

"I took the liberty of setting up a 2 stage trans for us. That way we won't have to worry about work pods."

Dex's no-nonsense tone and the glitter in his lemon hued eyes made it clear he was keeping the station transit office on its toes and brooked no excuses. He led them to the nearest available translocation hub, the same place Tannis and Larani had met Shinai, Lorensi and Roan over half a year before. Tannis' eye was caught by a small, plas and metal crate sitting on the deck next to the raised receiving dais. Dex raised a brow, "Oh good, they got him here on time."

Larani jumped as the crate wobbled and shifted, almost upturning itself at the sound of voices. Dex sighed and sat on his haunches, unlocking the hatch on the front of the security crate, "I thought it would be nice to take him out today."

"Him?" Tannis perked his ears as the hatch on the front of crate slid open and there was a low hissing rumble, to which Dex wrinkled his muzzle, "Don't you take that tone with me. I'm letting you come along, aren't I?"

Tannis took a step back as a streak of white bolted from the crate and swirled around Dex's ankles, then did a lap of Larani's ankles and his own before speeding back to Dex's. Tannis gasped softly as he recognized the long ears, thick, puffy fur and blue, albeit narrowed eyes, "That's a Rixi..."

The small creature bristled and growled softly as Tannis pointed; making Dex brush the older felines paw down, "Don't point. He nips fingers lately."

Dex patted his shoulder, "Li, up."

The Rixi bounced from the floor and settled around the short feline's shoulders, draping his puffy tail and back legs along his arm, looking at Tannis and Larani with distrust. Dex patted Li gently, making the white furred Rixi utter a bizarre purring chirrup, "It's ok. He's still undergoing rehabilitation. But he behaves."

Dex rummaged in a pocket till he found a small container, tipping a small pellet into his paw and proffering it to the fluffy white form draped along his shoulders, "Li used to belong to Clor. Shinai's former assistant engineer."

Larani oh-ed gently, nodding, "He was killed in the attack, wasn't he?"

"Yes, and Rixi are notoriously temperamental when it comes to partners. The bonding process comes unraveled and they go a bit mad. But with intensive therapy and rehabilitation they can be re-paired. Roan and the rest of the engineering staff were taking turns, till Jak had Li and got bitten and scratched up pretty badly. I offered to take him."

"Hosting an orphan Dex?" Tannis smiled slightly crookedly, making the shorter feline cough softly, eliciting a chirp from Li, "I figured someone with a strictly scheduled life might do him some good. He's gotten much milder in my care; the psychiatrists were talking about making it permanent."

Dex stroked Li's wedge shaped head, making him emit a crackling purr that vibrated his fur and ears comically, "He's also very good with keeping to a time table and fetching. I think he's enjoying being rehabilitated now, so I thought he could come with us."

Tannis nodded, "He's certainly quiet these days."

"Part of the process, he still knows how, he's just been shy. They say he should start talking again at about the 9 month mark."

The short feline stepped up onto the raised dais, waiting on Tannis and Larani to settle themselves before he thumbed his comm, "Silver City to Desira transit."

"DTS here City, go ahead."

"Captain Tannis is ready for transport, him, myself, our medical officer and one Rixi."

"Aye sir. Two stage translocation for 4. Please relax; your jump is being calibrated now."

The comm pinged as the channel was closed and Tannis counted slowly to 10. At 5 he felt the familiar tingle of ionization through his fur, closing his eyes as the room started to dissolve into the hyperspace static of the translocation jump. The feline always unconsciously held his breath, though he never knew why, perhaps as a good luck gesture. Translocation technology had been around for nearly 3 centuries and was almost flawless, the chances of a mechanical failure were miniscule, but there was always the unease of the unknown that pestered him.

The dizzying swirl resolved for an instant, giving him a glimpse of the receiving platform in the station's transit hub, then dissolved back once more into swirls of light and color, plunging them back into the void before spitting them back out in the sterile white and cream corridors of the medical wing. Tannis breathed deeply as his boots solidified on the soft carpeting. He jumped as he felt Li slip from Dex's shoulders and land on his own, the Rixi sniffing his ears and hair, making them tickle, the tiny little puffs of breath stirring the fine hairs on the inside of his ear and making it twitch.

Dex inclined his head a bit, "Well, that's a good sign, I suppose."

The small Rixi yawned theatrically, curling around Tannis' shoulders like a fur wrap, closing his bright blue eyes and emitting a buzzing purr. Tannis shrugged inwardly and strode up the corridor between Dex and Larani, passing several staff members in their blue and white jumpsuits, a few pushing floating trays or grav beds. The double doors to the main medical bay parted, allowing them inside to the soft, smoothly curved and soothing interior design of the wing.

Tannis caught the eye of a short, slender Saelican male who had a stripe of silver around his collar, signifying his position as head of the Internal Medicine day shift. The fox male had silvery blue-white fur, with darker blue markings and white stripes at the tips of his ears and tail, as well as along his eyes and muzzle. His hair was a steel gray, pulled into a sensible bobbed tail at his nape, his soft, but stern features accented by his silver eyes. The short fox male bustled up to Tannis, smiling warmly, "Captain Tannis, Doctor Larani...and..."

"Computer Operations Specialist, Dexian."

Tannis presented Dex with a wave of his paw, making his arm raise and lower slightly, waking the napping Rixi who chirruped and bounced off the feline's shoulder, his sides expanding a bit as he inflated his internal gas sacs, making his swing around the Saelican male's shoulders a gentle hover. The vulpine doctor blinked, raising a paw, gloved in blue-gray fur brushing Li's ears as the soft weight settled on his arm. Tannis coughed delicately, "And Li. He's a former mechanics assistant."

"Yes." The Saelican doctor nodded, idly stroking the Rixi under the chin, "He's getting better, isn't he?"

Dex nodded, recalling that the short vulpine breed were telepaths, most Rixi having low level psionic fields themselves, "Yes, his rehabilitation is coming along nicely."

"We've done some inter-species rehab projects here in the past."

The slender Saelican gently handed Li back to Dex as they heard a creak and a low humming noise, "Oi, about time you got here, they're threatening to keep me another day or two."

Lorensi cruised around a partition, his lean form in a high backed hovering chair, the black upholstery and chromed frame creaking under him as he shifted. The Vakari's good paw was working a spherical touch control, maneuvering the chair efficiently in tight circles and turns. The feline's almost scrawny frame was clothed in a simple beige jumpsuit with specially tailored sleeves and legs, his good arm was clothed to the wrist, but his foreshortened right arm was completely swathed in a soft cuff of thick padding, a regeneration unit humming on his bicep right above where his arm had been sheared off.

The spotted feline's right leg was similarly padded as his arm, what was left of his thigh resting comfortably, with what looked like the end of a tangle of fiber optic cable poking free of the bandages. The hem of his left suit's leg came down to the knee, leaving the exposed stump of his calf brushing the footrest of the chair, a similar conglomeration of fiber optics and components jutting from his healing flesh. Lorensi's ruined eye was covered by a self sealing black patch, and Tannis could see where his muzzle had been reconstructed, new teeth implanted and new fur implanted over his muzzle and throat, his spots coming in faintly.

He spun the chair in a circle, looking at the Saelican doctor, "I'm supposed to be fitted before I leave."

"Yes, that's correct commander. Any time you're ready."

"Thanks doc."

Lorensi looked nervous, his kinked tail fretting about the remains of his good leg as he fiddled with the chair's controls, his good amber eye gazing at Tannis, "Was Shinai coming?"

"I assumed he'd be here by now."

Tannis glanced back to the open doors of the medical wing, "I don't know what could be keeping him."

The slender Saelican smoothed his jumpsuit, "We can post-pone if you like Captain."

"Mmm, no, no, that's alright Doctor V'lin."

Tannis waved his paw in a dismissive gesture, gently taking the handles on the back of Lorensi's chair as Li jumped from Dex's arms to the Vakari's lap, curling up and giving one of his odd, humming purrs. They all looked around as the Medical Bay's doors swished closed, then open again, admitting Shinai. The human looked harried, striding quickly up to Tannis, kissing his cheek, then gripping Lorensi's shoulder, "Sorry I'm late. The pod made an unexpected stop."

"S'fine Shin. Just glad you're here."

V'lin ushered them all into a small room just off the medical wing, the cool blue and white décor surrounded a long, wide table, thickly padded and Tannis noted apprehensively, restraints along both sides. He gestured, "Should I call for an orderly, or can we...?"

"I've got it." Shinai gently eased his arms underneath Lorensi's thin, battered form, making the feline grit his teeth softly, "Easy boss. Still sore."

"Sorry spots. It'll be better once this is done."

Lorensi flashed an uneasy, manic grin as he slowly relaxed onto the table, the padding molding underneath him slowly. He licked his lips softly as V'lin slid open a large drawer and withdrew two canisters, one long, one short, both almost the same thickness around and slowly pushed them to the lounge table on a floating cart. He opened the clamp sealing one end of the shorter tube before prodding controls on the end of the bed's control panel. There was a soft hum and the scent of ozone as a sterile field sprang up around the bed, making the assembled fur crackle gently. Li wrinkled his nose and jumped lightly into the seat of the vacated chair, watching the proceedings with interest.

The Saelican doctor punched in bio-monitors and then opened a compartment on the side of the bed, sliding a round frame out that had a film suspended in it like a soap bubble. He thrust his paw through the frame to the elbow, stretching the microfilm before it snapped around his paw and forearm, sheathing his arm in a super thin sterile glove. He repeated the same procedure on his other arm, then nudged the sliding frame closed again, smiling pleasantly as he reached into the canister, withdrawing a disembodied foot and ankle. The prosthetic appendage was a neutral, matte silvery gray, with a rotating ball socket, a smooth, flesh-like calf that dimpled under the pressure of the doctor's fingers and a fully articulated foot, complete with segmented toes.

The end of the prosthesis was a cup, with connector points ringed around the central carbon polymer strut that gave it its tensile strength, and Tannis noticed they matched the cables and tubes that jutted from the Vakari's shortened calf. V'lin rested the artificial foot on the padded table, showing it to Lorensi, "This is it commander. We've fitted it specifically for you. You can still go back to the other plan of cloning all your limbs. We'll need to connect and initiate the neural pathways and synch it to your nervous system."

The fox's expression softened a bit, "This will be unpleasant. Are you sure you don't wish a painkiller?"

"No, no... That'll just screw up your calibration..."

Lorensi took several deep breaths, exchanging glances with Shinai and Tannis. V'lin smiled soothingly, urging to the Vakari to lie as flat as possible, flicking a series of switches to make a field hum to life over the spotted feline from the nipple-line down. Lorensi felt a bizarre tingling in his appendages as he bit his lip softly, his new teeth feeling smoother and a bit sharper then his old ones. The vulpine doctor flexed his paws in their gloves and inclined his head toward Larani, "This will be unpleasant, but the restraint field should be effective. You must not move commander. The nerve splice is the most unpleasant part of the entire procedure."

Dex nodded, "It hurt like hell when they did mine."

He held up his artificial paw, resting it gently on the Vakari's shoulder. Shinai held Lorensi's good paw and Tannis gripped him gently at the other shoulder, "I think we've got him."

V'lin nodded, slowly unwrapping the padding from around the feline's longer leg, letting them see the fresh meat that surrounded the surgical grafts; the vanadium struts that had been grafted to his bone, the hydraulic tubes in place of his muscles and the elastomeric tendons and ligaments and the tangle of tiny fiber optic cables that sprayed out the end of the coupling. Lorensi nodded and breathed deeply, gripping Shinai's hand tightly as he felt his leg tingle as V'lin made the first connection to regulate the power flow.

To keep things airy the vulpine kept talking, "The internal battery storage for these modules is 25 years. They recharge with kinetic energy, the harder they're hit, the more they store, with the force inhibitor override you can kick harder then a Taresian mule."

"Urrrrg..." Lorensi bit his lip as the tingling in his leg turned to an unpleasant pins and needles discomfort. He hissed gently, the sensations building to a burning feeling, as if someone had pressed a red-hot brand to his nonexistent foot. Sweat popped out on the spotted feline's lips and soaked through his brow, his eye rolling up a bit as the red hot pain went to white agony for a split instant before fading back to a dull ache. V'lin smiled pleasantly, seemingly unaware of the discomfort, "There commander. All done with this one. How does it feel?"

Lorensi sighed as his pain receptors throbbed, but at least he could feel something below the knee again. He slowly bunches his muscles, hearing the soft, gentle whirring of servomotors as his new silver skinned foot flexed its toes. The vulpine doctor wrapped a sterile wrap and dermal regenerator around the coupling of flesh and cybernetic leg before he turned to the other canister. The cylinder hissed as he opened it, a white mist billowing out as he withdrew the longer, thicker prosthetic, smiling, "We're proud of this one. Fully rotational knee and shock impact absorbers that can take a fall of 15 meters before incurring stress damage."

"I'll keep that in mind..." Lorensi commented in a faint voice as he felt the tingle build again in his right leg. The sensations of the larger prosthesis were sharper, more robust as the vulpine doctor fused the artificial nerves to the graft, the built-in voltage regulators producing the stimulus of pain as the Vakari's nerves were forcibly rebooted and rerouted into the artificial leg. The waves of agony hammered the spotted feline, making him whimper as the final connections were fused, then it was over, leaving him panting breathlessly. The tingles and pulses of sensation made him twitch and the new leg flexed, humming almost imperceptibly to itself.

V'lin smiled, "You did well commander, once the computer sequences the new prostheses we can address your eye."

The table hummed and chimed to itself as it scanned the artificial legs and made them flex and tense and twitch, calibrating them and making sure the new nerve grafts were properly secured. As it did this the vulpine doctor retrieved a small case and slid the top open, removing a spherical module with a connector on the back, holding it up to let Lorensi see, "You requested violet."

The artificial eye looked lifelike; with sclera white, veined with fine pink and red skeins, a violet iris similar to Tannis' own eyes and a dark pupil that reflected the overhead lights. V'lin gently pulled the self adhering eye patch off the feline's empty socket, examining the eyelid to make sure it had fully healed from the graft of skin they had tailored to it. He nodded, "Looks good, all I have to do is insert it."

He leaned over Lorensi, who's good eye was watering in sympathy for the artificial one held in the vulpine's fingers, he squinted, holding his head as still as possible as V'lin held his pink eye socket open with thumb and forefinger, surprisingly strong for his stature and slowly lowered the violet eye that he had inserted at the end of a probe into the empty socket. The silvery-blue furred male smiled reassuringly, "Take a deep breath and count to 5 for me commander."

Lorensi resisted a nod as he took a deep breath, held it, then counted slowly, "1... 2... 3..."

He stifled a yelp as at the threshold of 4 the artificial eye was thrust down into the socket with a sickening crunching pop and then the synthetic nerve couplings slotted in the gasket already installed to his optic nerve and a flare of pain rattled his skull. It felt like someone had hit the spotted feline in the temple with a hammer and a nova of white exploded into his vision on the right side, till he realized that he could actually see the light on the right side. V'lin withdrew the probe and let go of the spotted male's eyelid, letting it flick down, watching as Lorensi's eye watered up, lubricating the new eye as it wobbled in its socket, his body reasserting itself with moving something within the socket again.

The Vakari blinked, squinting upwards at Shinai's face and smiling as his vision was now stereoscopic again, his vision on the right side blurring slightly as the new optical receptors calibrated themselves. The restraint field went down as V'lin stripped the sterile gloves off with a snap and helped the Vakari to sit up, "You're doing very well commander."

He pressed a dermal injector into Lorensi's thigh, watching the vial in it bubble as emptied, making the Vakari perk an ear, "Whazzat?"

"Painkiller. Should tide you over the initial discomfort till this evening. I'll have some tabs forwarded to your quarters to take care of the next week or so."

The vulpine gently flexed the new foot and leg, watching as they responded naturally, "It will take about a month for your body to fully integrate the prostheses, and there will be a learning curve. Skin and fur grafts can take place when we're ready to attach your new arm. I checked on it this morning, it's coming along nicely from the cells we took last week. You should stay in your chair for the next day or two, and then physical therapy can begin. I trust Doctor Larani can assist you with that."

Larani giggled and nodded, clearing his throat and standing up straighter, "Of course doctor."

"Alright. I think you're good to be discharged."

V'lin patted the feline's shoulder as Shinai and Tannis helped him back into the serenely hovering chair, dislodging Li who waited patiently, then leaped back into Lorensi's lap and curled up. The spotted feline's eyes were slightly glassy and unfocused as he looked at the Rixi, "Mmm, he's got the right idea. Sleep through unpleasant situations."

The spotted feline smiled faintly as he settled into his chair, prompting V'lin to rub the Vakari male's ears, "He should be a little out of it for a while. But that's probably for the best while his new legs adapt."

"Yes, thank-you doctor." Shinai grasped paws with the Saelican, as did Tannis and Larani. Dex gripped the Saelican's paw with his artfully camouflaged artificial one, making the fox blink gently, before nodding as he realized he was gripping a non-living extension of the feline's body, "You felt blank for a moment. Almost threw me."

Dex blushed softly at the tips of his ears as he shrugged, "Sorry, I sometimes forget that part isn't real."

"Only as real as you make it."

The vulpine doctor showed them out of the medial wing, ushering them through the main doors with a wave as Larani shook paws with him again, "I'll send for Lorensi's daily care and physical therapy regimen early next week, thank-you."

The Vakari's head lolled gently as he smiled expansively, his amber eye slightly dilated as his new violet one stayed alert. The painkillers were doing him a world of good, as the discomfort of his new limbs was a bare twinge. He watched as the corridors slowly slid by them, watching the flashing lights of the decks whiz by them in the lifts and giggling as he watched others go about their business. Shinai shook his head softly as he steered the chair, not wanting to test the feline's reaction time so soon after his dose of heavy drugs.

Their lift opened onto the station's main shopping and entertainment promenade, the wide, circular dome overhead showing the dappled star field of the void outside and they could just see the limb of the planet down below, an expanse of blue and white, with the occasional pink and green swirl of cloud tops. Dex shifted his gaze to the orbital ship yard looming in the distance, pointing as his eyes zoomed in on one of the mammoth cages, "There's the City."

Tannis squinted but couldn't see anything, but Shinai tensed his eye muscles, making his enhanced vision zoom out onto the cage Dex was pointing at, "Yea, that's her. Looks like she's ok without us for once."

They drifted into the groups of people coming and going, the interlaced catwalks and walkways that lined the massive domed area holding a flow of traffic as they wove in and out amongst groups of sapient beings, listening to the chatter not only in basic but in a dozen different languages. The catwalks went all the way around the 4 leveled dome, with lifts up and down and walkways extending across the whole of the area, with disc-like platforms between them holding kiosks and booths, as well as automated information centers and computer panels, both of which Shinai and Tannis eyed warily.

Larani bounced on his feet softly at the bustling action around them, while Dex seemed stone-faced, itching for a dark corner or a computer interface. Lorensi gazed around him with that detached air of interest while Li sat in his lap, gazing at everything, ears and nose twitching like mad. Not all the people were bipedal, there were quadrupeds and some with 3 legs, a few tiny Skarn ambling along in spider legged exoskeletons, and hover chairs like Lorensi's. Everyone gawked as they saw a phantom, the nickname for the species from Lorima VI, a very low gravity world made mostly of gas and a thick atmosphere, famous for its tacticians and thinkers.

The phantoms were a bipedal, humanoid species but they were slender as aspens, with long arms and legs and elegant hands that could take anything apart and put it back together seamlessly with the help of graspers. Being their world was one of extremes of atmosphere and gravity their skeletal system was as delicate as spun glass. Their bones were hollow, like a bird's, as they often spend long periods of time hovering and floating through the dense gas storms on their planet, with its low gravity and their ultra light physiology. Phantoms by nature were skittish and wary of species, but friendly and open to most concepts. Most of them wore force suits, a field of energy that enveloped them from head to foot, usually amplified with an anti-gravity field as under normal gravity conditions a phantom would collapse under its own weight.

As one of the more novel species in the known galaxy phantoms were often viewed with a sort of awe, and an air of intangibility. No off-world being had ever had a relationship with a phantom other then friendship; the slightest pressure, even touching them wrong could cause pain, injury or in extreme cases death from blunt force just from a stray limb. All phantoms that left their home world were understandably celibate, much to the disappointment of most species, despite their fragile physiology they were beautiful to behold. The delicate humanoids had an elfin slenderness, their bodies smoothly curved and no harshness of angles or joint was evident, a quirk of their low gravity world. They generally had pale, almost translucent skin that shimmered in sunlight, owing to their unique body chemistry, which was mostly chemosynthetically driven.

The ephemeral phantoms almost always had long, gossamer-like hair, regardless of their age or gender, ranging from pale to almost jet black, with every shade in between. Their eyes were usually almond shaped and quite large compared to their cranial size, giving them a look of comical alertness at times. The delicate humanoids were almost all vegetarians, their pacifistic nature showing through. They lent their skills to Confederations and Space agencies as terms of information or educational exchanges mostly, and as being onboard starships often engaged them in their favorite past-time of strategy and playing the odds.

The Phantom that glided by had a shimmering cerulean force-suit, offsetting its pale china-like skin and flowing blonde hair. The tips of the elfin humanoid's toes barely touched the ground as they drifted by, offering a wide, pearly smile to the group. Tannis noted the Phantom was male as their shimmery cornflower robes were backlit briefly, making him blush and lean into Shinai as they all ranged themselves around an expansive table on an observation platform outside a comfortable café the off duty ship crew frequented. The deck on which they sat was directly beneath the central hub of the gigantic dome above their heads, offering a breathtaking view of both space and the slowly flowing limb of the planet below them and they could see the shipyard from their seats.

A rolling cart with 5 arms and a vox synthesizer spun to their table, its tinny voice making Larani giggle and poke Dex who uttered a soft snort, as he mumbled, "Tea, Verulean, hot."

The short feline exhaled sharply as he felt teeth close on his ankle, sighing, "And a cranberry juice, iced."

Li hopped up in the short feline's lap, looking pleased with himself, settling in to the idle petting along his spine, watching the others with slitted eyes.

"Coffee, with milk and sugar."

"Coffee, black."

"Plima juice."

"Mineral water please."

The serving droid chimed and rolled away, into the service entrance of the café as they sat looking out at the star dotted field of view Tannis stiffened, looking almost straight up, "Isn't that..."

The feline's long, tapered finger pointed toward a dull coal colored shadow almost directly overhead. As Shinai and the others watched the oblong ship caught the sunlight and came into contrast, making Larani gasp and the other two felines gape as Shinai looked puzzled, "It's a big black ship..."

He paused, his forehead wrinkling, "Ugly too."

Tannis looked at Dex as the lemon-eyed youth gazed up, his eyes dilating as he zoomed in on the distant ship, "Dex, is that...?"

"The Black Parade. Yes captain."

"What the hell are they doing here..."

Tannis gazed up at the ugly shape looking in the star-field, a look of mingled distaste and apprehension washing across his face. The large black cruiser was ugly, just aesthetically wrong, with long, deep, charred gouges seaming her hull, weapon pods flanking her all along both sides and the hull itself was just wrong, its geometry was bulged in some places and oddly flat in others, with a series of ugly additions built up around the stump of her bridge. The haphazard additions showed sharp silver joints where they had been melded into the existing hull, then painted black to match.

Dex's sharp cyborg eyes picked out details no one else could make out, "They seem to be grafting parts of a ship to their own hull. It looks Dracht."

"Dracht??" Tannis blinked, "You mean they're grafting parts of the Dracht ship we destroyed onto their own hull?"

"It would appear so Captain Tannis. They seem to have salvaged a sizeable section of the Dracht ship's outer hull." The young feline squinted, "And perhaps a weapon pod as well."

Tannis was busy looking scandalized so Shinai seized the opportunity, "Would someone care to enlighten me?"

He glanced heavenward again, "It just looks like some ancient old cruiser someone bashed together in their free time. Not some floating death weapon."

Tannis clicked his teeth together softly, the wrinkling across his muzzle unsuited to his normal relaxed appearance, "The Black Parade isn't renown so much for her pure weapon power, more her reputation."

"Do go on."

Tannis sighed softly, "They're pirates. Government sanctioned, however. It's a penal ship. Crewed by thieves, murderers, rapists, unspeakable criminals. They're untouchables, unspeakables, non-persona grata, un-people for every definition of the word; they don't exist; only their ship does. They're used as mercenaries all over the quadrant. Where no one else is sane enough or noble enough to try and do, they will. It usually amounts to wholesale slaughter and banditry."

Dex was sitting with his head cocked gamely to one side, "They've panicked half the orbital traffic."

The short feline was listening in on the intersystem com channels as he watched the black ship floating by, "The transit office is rerouting about a third of planetary traffic."

"But what is that flying lunatic asylum doing here, is what I'd wonder about."

Lorensi was leaning back in his chair, amusing himself by making his new eye zoom in and out of focus on the black cruiser. He found if he squinted he could almost bring the looming ship into crisp focus. Larani, Tannis and Shinai all shrugged, but Dex fiddled with Li's tail, "Probably sizing us up."

The short male looked up at Tannis, "They've scanned the City about 3 times since we've caught sight of them up there."

"How do you figure?" Larani twitched his nose as he sipped his mineral water.

Dex's lemon hued eyes made a delicate half roll, "Honestly... Do you think I'm cut off from the City just because I'm outside her? I've got a tie into the passive sensor array. I like keeping an eye on system traffic while I'm part of it."

"Sensible."

Tannis swirled his drink, glancing sidelong at Li who was holding his own glass of dark burgundy juice between his small, clever and opposed front paws, lapping from it, "Why are they so interested in us?"

"Might as well guess a psychotic person's motives. But perhaps just to size us up."

Lorensi turned his head, making Shinai blink as he hadn't heard the Vakari refer to the City as his ship before. The spotted male was tapping the table, his new feet and legs giving the occasional twitch as his nerve relays recalibrated and analyzed the new nerve impulses. Dex's lemon hued eyes were sober as he stared up at the ugly black ship, "The City and the Daikokuten are the only light cruisers on record to beat a Dracht hiveship in one on one combat, unassisted, even if we were half destroyed in the process and it was a weakened hive."

"Yes. Like a shark circling a new, smaller shark, just seeing if it's up to snuff. Or wondering how we did it."

Tannis nodded, sipping his tea thoughtfully, "I just hope those lunatics keep to themselves. Their captain is just as notorious as his crew."

They all nodded, then Larani giggled, pointing softly to the other side of the promenade, "Hey, isn't that Jak, Dex?"

The slender Laslurian went pink, sitting up straighter as he cleared his throat, "Yes."

"You haven't introduced us yet..."

Larani's teasing tone made Dex shoot him a series of evil glances, only encouraging the J'rali male to giggle harder and wave at the blonde human. The tanned human teen dashed over and promptly curled his arm, slung with parcels, around Dex lifting him gingerly from his seat, prompting the Laslurian to bristle gently, blushing red as he protested. The human teen grinned as he kissed Dex's nose, "Dexie! Why didn't you tell me you'd be on leave today too??"

"Yea Dexie. Why didn't you tell Jak?"

Larani bit his paw to keep from giggling as Dex looked as if he would have rather stuck his head out an airlock then tell the J'rali male anything at that precise moment.

The youth instead tucked his ears and muttered, "Hi Jakky."

Tannis grinned at the youth's ruddy ears, "Why don't you join us Jak?"

The human teen grinned broadly, showing his blunt, pearly teeth, his bottle blue eyes shining as he drew a chair from the table next to theirs and planted it backward next to Dex, seating himself and leaning over the backrest, "Thanks."

He paused, "You must be?"

The alabaster furred feline grinned softly, "Tannis, Krayd Tannis."

Dex coughed delicately into his paw, "Captain."

Jak's blue eyes widened as he stammered, "Oh... Uh, I see, Captain Tannis. It's a pleasure."

The human male blushed softly, his already bronzed complexion going a deeper shade around his cheeks as he touched grips with Tannis, looking to the wildly giggling Larani, "And you're..."

"Doctor Larani. Pleased to meet you Jak."

Shinai grinned as the human male gave him a lopsided smile, "And you Captain."

Their greeting was cut short as Li lowered his glass and yapped softly, eyeing the human teen suspiciously, making Jak unconsciously curl his fingers protectively into his palms, "And... Li..."

Dex stroked Li's back, watching Jak's forehead wrinkle as he did so, stroking the human's arm and making the Rixi's white fur prickle softly, "We have some territory issues to work out."

"Going to need a baby-sitter Dex?"

Tannis grinned as the Laslurian actually relaxed against the human teen's side; Li's suspicious posture settling a bit as he deliberately ignored Jak. Dex sighed gently, "It's possible."

Shinai chuckled, leaning over the table, stroking Li's head softly with a fingertip, "Heh, it's just like when I was a kid and we had this old house-cat... who..."

The human caught himself, trailing off as he glanced at the quartet of felines around him who were looking at him intently, their bright eyes focused on him, suddenly reminding him of the kitten of his youth, making him feel a queasy twist of unreality, "Er... Ah... I mean..."

He stuttered, looking chagrinned as he rubbed his chin, making Tannis perk his ears, "Oh, I understand."

The alabaster feline leaned into Larani, whispering in his ear in a language Shinai didn't understand. He wondered how casually he could turn his translator on till Larani blinked, then giggled wildly, stifling himself with a paw. Lorensi was staring at the star field above their heads dreamily as Dex sat with a raised brow, his lemon hued eyes glancing back and forth between the two giggling members of his own breed and the two sheepish humans, "What's a housecat?"

Shinai coughed delicately, opening his mouth till Tannis waved a paw dismissively, "On Terra they have non-sapient quadruped felines as pets."

"Oh." Dex mulled this over, "They don't talk?"

"Ah... Well, in their own way."

Shinai leaned back in his chair, smiling sheepishly as he rubbed his forehead, "I keep forgetting we have a lot of the same species that evolved elsewhere in the universe as non-sapient species on my world."

"Well, at least you don't see non-human species as nothing but walking, talking animals."

Tannis grinned at the blush that swamped his lover's ears as Shinai shook his head, "No, no. Believe me Love; the topic of anthropomorphized animals arose on my world long before we even knew there were other intelligent species in the galaxy."

Shinai winced softly, "Humans have a penchant for thinking up some pretty kinky stuff in their down-time."

It was the feline's turn to look intrigued again as Shinai declined to comment further, even when Dex prodded Jak in the side, giving him that familiar stone-faced expectation. Shinai tried to wrest the conversation back away from his ancestors as their second round of drinks came up, sighing in relief as the natural feline tendency to gloss over things eventually kicked in and the conversation turned to more mundane matters. Tannis flicked through a polymer display catalogue of ceremonial dress with Larani over his shoulder as Jak and Dex fussed with Lorensi's artificial legs, making the feline grouse at them as he flexed and moved his new prostheses for them.

Tannis was pointing to a gaudy outfit made of what looked like tangled crepe paper, making Shinai cringe gently and shake his head. With a huff the feline flicked the pages over, hunting till he found something else that caught his eye. Larani was pointing things out with a claw-tip, giving suggestions as they eyed Shinai and everyone else at the table with skeptical gazes. Shinai tipped his head, "What're you two planning?"

Tannis grinned softly, "Just need to make sure that what we pick is to everyone's taste."

"Simple is usually better. Less is more Love."

Shinai craned his neck, looking at the endless flow of pictures and text that flowed across the plas pages of the catalogue, pointing to several simple, slightly austere outfits that made Tannis wrinkle his nose softly. The white furred male glanced up at his human lover as Shinai pointed to a long, bell-sleeved robe of pure white, "Don't you think that might clash with my fur Lover?"

The human stroked his chin softly, "It has to be white, or my parents will likely throw a fit."

"Oh..." Tannis flicked through the catalogue, biting his lip gently as he looked at the long, finely woven white robes and gowns, tipping his ears as he glanced at Larani, "We could always find a nice accent color to put underneath the white. What color should you wear Love?"

Shinai sighed softly, "Probably black. We'll be lucky if we get away with that much."

He smiled to Tannis soothingly, "Well, technically you're the bride-to-be. My mother won't stop making a fuss."

The human male sighed, "As they're the family of the groom, they refuse to not make a fuss. I wonder if I'm being equitable letting you marry into my family."

Tannis chuckled softly, "I don't mind marrying into a human family."

"A Japanese human family." Shinai grimaced, "There's a difference."

"Regional differences, I'd wager?"

Larani looked at the pair of human males, perking his ears, "Can humans from the same planet have so vast cultural differences?"

Jak ran a hand through his blonde hair, "You'd be surprised. Some folks still don't put too much stock in the whole global culture thing."

"Yes, the Japanese culture is hard-headed in a lot of ways."

Shinai nodded, his silvery blue eyes looking tired as he huffed, "I just hope mom and dad don't have any nasty surprises in mind."

Lorensi grinned softly, "That's usually what they do well."

The Vakari lolled his head, waving his slender paw back and forth slowly, "If I recall from the times I met them."

Tannis chuckled as Shinai winced, "I'm sure it'll be fine."

The white furred feline passed the catalogue onto his human lover, "What about this one?"

The sleek, shimmery white gown was almost robe-like, with a narrow waist and long belled sleeves. The plunging neckline indicated suitability for female anatomy, but Shinai glanced at his lover's figure, nodding gently. He rotated the stock image, pondering it as Larani tugged at Tannis' jumpsuit, "Yea, I think this'll do. See if there's anything in red that can go over it."

Tannis nodded, squirming as Larani tugged his jumpsuit in an uncomfortable way between the legs, "Red's so harsh. Not really my color."

"You wear it every day." Dex tipped his head, making the older feline scrunch his face, "Doesn't mean I particularly care for it. Just means my career dictated my color scheme."

Tannis smirked gently, pressing the call button on the table-top, "I think I could use a harder drink."

Jak perked up, "There's a bar not too far from here."

He grinned at Dex, "Where we had our first date."

The Laslurian went beet red around his ears, clearing his throat as he gazed up at Tannis and Shinai, making Jak look between them in puzzlement. The slender feline bit his lip gently, leaning into the human male's side as he nodded. He distracted his human lover with a covert grab beneath the table, making Jak inhale and grin softly, "Course we haven't done a lot of stuff yet."

Larani giggled softly as Dex tucked his burning ears, pressing into the human male's side as he tried to shush him. The Laslurian uttered a startled yelp as Jak goosed him, then proceeded to tickle his sides and hips. Dex wriggled in his seat as he giggled breathlessly, swatting at the human male's hands. Shinai grinned as they watched the two younger males play fight, "It's good for him."

Larani grinned softly as he shook his head, "It'd be even better for him to once in a while have a cock up his a-Ai!!!"

The J'rali male screeched softly as Tannis prodded him in the side, "Well it would!"

"They will. In their own given time."

Tannis shook his head as he deftly levered himself to his feet, taking the handles of Lorensi's chair and wheeling the spotted male and Li curled in his lap next to Shinai as Dex and Jak walked holding hands. Larani walked next to Shinai, almost brushing against him as they wheeled down the promenade, almost reaching the far end before the neon signs of the bar came into view, casting the entire corridor into garish contrast. Tannis looked bizarre with the gentle UV shift of the blue and purple lights making his white fur glow, wheeling Lorensi into the double doors. He glanced around the tavern, noting a heavy flow of males and females, "Looks busy today."

Dex nodded, "The Wind Dancer is in for supplies and an engine check before she sun dives back out of system. 243 crew."

He glanced around and did a quick head check, "23 in here."

The low slung table suited Lorensi just fine as he grinned expansively into his 4th beer, chastising Li as the Rixi uttered a high pitched belch and looked up wobbily from the shallow saucer the feline had been dribbling streams of his drink into, "I think someone's a light weight."

The Rixi belched again, hiccupping as Lorensi swept him off the table, away from the candle that fizzled testily with a red flame, "Whoa... All quadrupeds that burp hydrogen off the table and away from open flames..."

Several heads turned their way, making the one armed Vakari shrug with a grin. Dex sipped at a neon green drink, nursing it after the aftermath of his last spectacular hangover. Jak and Shinai were engaged in a display of testosterone across the table, the younger male gritting his teeth as he tried valiantly to pull the older male's arm over onto the table. Tannis and Larani were busily watching, flicking through the catalogues that seemed to have followed them from the café, the J'rali sipping a disgusting looking bubblegum pink concoction that he claimed tasted like fruit juice, but no one took him up on a sip while Tannis lined up shot-glasses. Tannis just barely snatched up he and Larani's glasses as Jak's arm banged down on the table hard and made all the glassware jump in place.

The younger human looked chagrinned as the older male flashed him a victory sign, making Tannis almost drop his shot glass and pull his human lover's hand down, "ERK... Not in public!"

"What?" Shinai looked puzzled, making Tannis shake his head, "That gesture is really rude on about 4 planets within 10 parsecs of here."

"Oh." Shinai nodded, then leaned back in his chair, "Next round's on Jak."

The bright eyed male grinned, "Anyone else up for a try?"

Lorensi flicked a straw at Shinai, making the human male blush softly, "Sorry Lor."

The feline snorted, "Soon as I have that new arm put on, I should be able to flatten you."

Lorensi wrinkled his nose as Li; flat on his back in the feline's lap uttered a soft strangled snore and then twitched with a hiccupping belch in his sleep. The Vakari waved his paw in front of his muzzle, "Whew... The little shit could... peel..."

He trailed off when he noticed that everyone else was staring at him, trying desperately not to laugh as the feline's voice had gone up by an octave, "Goddamn gas... Might as well fart helium while he's at it."

"Rixi have remarkable metabolism. He should be up and around in a half hour or so." Dex sipped his drink, looking mellow as Jak played with his hair idly, watching Larani and Tannis quibble over details, "You two have less then 3 weeks to plan."

"Don't remind them. Bad enough the in-laws will be here in roughly 2..."

Shinai shuddered dramatically, "Think we have enough time to elope, then call them all off?"

"Hah, then they'd just force us to have a ceremony for their benefit instead of ours."

Tannis pushed his snowy locks back over his ears as he sighed, tapping his datapad irritable, "I think this should be good enough. We just have to decide who we want to perform the ceremony."

Shinai and Tannis looked at one another, "Being both of us will be present and busy, we can't exactly preside."

"I know a few people I can call." Shinai smiled, then frowned, "Providing mother and father don't insist."

He leaned on his hand, looking at his feline lover, "Your family has been awfully hands-off with this. What's your secret?"

Tannis chuckled gently, waving his paw dismissively, "No real secret. Marriage isn't a big thing with my family."

"Things are always so much easier when there's no female involved."

Larani grinned, and then yelped as Tannis shushed him, waving his paw, "What?"

Shinai wrinkled his brow, "When there's no female involved?"

The topic made Tannis bristle softly, "Lari, shush!"

The spotted feline looked scalded, "On Kry, you know it's the truth... Being your family doesn't really... OUCH!"

The J'rali pulled his foot back where Tannis had trodden on it, wincing, ignoring Shinai as the human male leaned in toward his feline lover, "Kry, what's he mean?"

"Oh, alright." The alabaster furred feline sighed, prodding Larani as he leaned back in his chair, "My parents, and most families on my world view same sex marriages as just an arrangement of convenience. Being there's no feasible procreation involved between the two marrying they don't really see it as more then a glorified living arrangement for status, money or political interests."

Shinai digested these words for a moment before he frowned, "So they don't really think we're serious?"

"They think we're serious enough as two young males. But they think it's a phase, I won't truly be married in my family's eyes till I mate to produce kittens. They're so hard-headed."

"Well, we could have a recombinant gene splice done and carried to term for us, if that's how they feel."

Tannis shook his head, "No, no... These are things that can wait, for years for all I care."

The feline smiled, leaning into Shinai and feeling the human's tense posture abate somewhat. He kissed Shinai softly, rubbing his hands with his soft, warm paws, smiling and nosing into the human's throat, "I don't care what they think, if they think it's some sort of delusion or me just wanting a male consort."

"Suddenly your folks aren't so bad, eh Shin?"

Lorensi downed the last of his beer, whistling and gesturing with his arm to the passing serving tray as Shinai sighed softly.

Shinai tossed back a third shot as Tannis wandered in a tense circle. The feline took the shot-glass away from Shinai, as he circled the table, "No more, or you'll be wobbly for them, now pour me one."

Tannis yelped, choking as the door chime went off, snorting softly as he finished the gulp of alcohol, and then frantically brushed out his robes freeing them of dust that wasn't there to begin with. The feline was dressed in airy robes of violet and cerulean, his thickly furred chest exposed as he tugged at the front of his blouse. Shinai was dressed in a nice pair of casual pants, with a long shirt over them, the hem reaching his knees and the sleeves loose around his wrists. He stood, almost toppling over in his high heeled boots as he steadied himself, smoothing his hair back where it was pulled into his cute bobbed ponytail.

The door chime went off again as he steeled himself, pushing the panel and making the doors swish open to a bemused looking Metaran make who giggled softly at the bewildered looks on Tannis and Shinai's faces, "Captains."

"Lune."

Tannis relaxed a bit as he looked at his short, slender Metaran operations officer. The bouncy skunk male had been one of the fresh transfers in from outside, shunted from his post on Desira station to take over the operation and third officer posting till alternatives could be found. He had expressed interest in staying on as the City's ops officer, but was undecided as of yet. The Metaran like most all of his species had brilliant black and white fur, bleach white hair that was just starting to pepper through with black and silver strands as he reached his third decade, large green eyes and a long, wide, massively fluffy double striped tail that floated behind him. The diminutive skunk male held a clipboard with a schedule visible on it as he smiled, "It's time to go greet inbound shuttles Sirs."

Tannis nodded mutely, his fur prickling, as he looked lost, Shinai seizing his arm and steering him along. He could hear the taller male muttering things in Japanese as they walked, they sounded like curses. Tannis patted his pockets in desperation as he tried to find his translator, grinning nervously as Lune slid it into his paw. He clipped the unit to his collar, switching it on and setting the micro-receiver in his ear to pick up, wincing as Shinai's language came in loud and clear, making Tannis gasp and swat at his human lover, "Shinai!"

The human startled, "What? Ah shit, translator..."

He grinned nervously, "I thought it was just payback for all those times I couldn't understand you and Larani."

"The J'rali language has some nuances I don't know if the human throat is capable of... Otherwise we'd offer to teach you."

Shinai's smile became fixed as they neared the shuttle bay, his glassy expression making his slivery eyes glitter softly as he held onto Tannis' arm tightly. The bay doors parted, the airlock seals clanging as they parted, giving them an unobstructed view of the expansive landing pad, the crisp yellow lines and blinking lights throwing amber shadows on the silvery gray bulkheads. The sleek little wedge shaped shuttle loomed larger and larger as they walked across the corrugated deck plates in slow motion. The doorstop shaped craft was dark, then the rear hatch hummed open, making both males stiffen as they adopted their best facial expressions. The Japanese writing on the side of the pod caught Tannis eyes as he nudged Shinai, "What's that say?"

The human whispered back to him, "It means it belongs to my father's cargo hauling and exporting interest."

"Oh."

Shinai banged into Tannis, his eyes widening as the pilot of the shuttle came around its starboard side, "Uncle??"

The younger human male skidded, almost knocking Tannis over as he gaped at his middle-aged uncle rounding the shuttle. Tannis perked his ears, gazing at the other human male, who was shorter, stockier, with thinning black hair and a sallow complexion, offsetting Shinai's bronze skin tone. A pair of thick black spectacles rested on the older male's face, and he was dressed in a loose black and white patterned business suit. Shinai dropped a curt, but pleasant bow to his uncle, letting the older male return it before he burst out, "Uncle Shigeyuki, what are you doing here?? Mother and father were scheduled in today!"

The older human had a low, slightly growling voice, accenting his basic as he gazed at his nephew and the white furred feline standing slightly behind him, "Your parents sent me in their place for now. To see if this ceremony is proper."

"What?? They couldn't have done this weeks ago instead of a week and a half before the ceremony?!"

Shinai rubbed his face, making his uncle pat him paternally on the shoulder, "Relax. I won't go too hard on you and your new bride."

The middle aged human paused, "Speaking of."

He harrumphed as Shinai pinched the bridge of his nose, then cleared his throat loudly, making the younger human sigh, "Uncle Shigeyuki, this is Tannis Krayd. Krayd, this is Uncle Yuki."

Tannis looked terrified as he bowed softly, raising his paws as he looked toward Shinai for guidance. Yuki gripped one of his paws softly, the firmness of his shake noting he was unfamiliar with how much strength to put behind it. The feline giggled softly, smoothing his hair back as he tried to relax a little, Shinai rubbing the bridge of his nose as Yuki looked the slender feline up and down, tipping his head to all angles. A look of grudging approval creased the older human's face as he nodded curtly, leaning to catch a glimpse of Tannis in profile, making the feline's tail flicker nervously.

Yuki grunted in a non-committal way, "Mmm, good hips. Pretty eyes. Good pelt. No markings? All white like that?"

Tannis flushed as he bit his lip softly, grinning sheepishly, "Y-yes. At least if anyone's noticed any distinguishing marks they've never mentioned them."

Shinai coughed delicately as he sighed, "He's white all over uncle. Natural hair color as well."

"You should talk." His uncle shot the younger male a look over the rims of his glasses, glancing at the vivid splashes of green and blue in the younger human's hair, "You've changed the color of your hair, eyes and skin. You look like a gaijin."

Shinai snorted softly, "Outer space is about as foreign as you get uncle. I enjoy spending time off-world, unlike almost everyone else."

"Mmm, your cousin Shino moved to the Vega tertiary colony, and your sister moved to the #6 satellite colony near Alpha Centauri."

"We're moving up in the galaxy? When did everyone stop being so xenophobic?"

The older human grunted again, "You don't seem to be."

"I wasn't happy on Terra, working in the cargo office."

"You weren't happy working for your father?"

"Happy and father aren't necessarily mutually inclusive, I'm the youngest boy Yuki, I was tired of hand-me-down posts, I needed something new to do with my life and be happy."

"Family isn't about happy. Family is about convenience."

"Alright, being cooped up with 6 brothers and sisters with mother and father making life cramped isn't happy, or convenient. So I found a new job."

"And lost your ship."

The older human's face made it clear he wasn't happy about Shinai's decision to become a lower officer, making the younger human sigh in disgust, "My old ship was destroyed. I took the next best thing to come along."

Yuki sniffed delicately, looking at the brightly lit corridors as they walked down them, feeling the solidness of the deck plates and the smooth carpeting as the windows flashed by with stars sprinkling the space beyond. The older human evidently had no bones to pick with the City as he merely nodded, glancing at the crew members who strode by, "Mmm, not many Terrans aboard, are there?"

"About 2 dozen. Out of around 200 crew."

Tannis bobbed his ears as he glanced between the pair of humans, his tail coiling and uncoiling behind him like a flag caught in a twister. Yuki glanced back at the feline, eyeing him again before he grunted, "You're in charge of personnel?"

"He's the Captain!" Shinai groaned as he slapped himself in the forehead, "Yuki, this is his ship!"

"I see, so this vessel is the bride-to-be's ship? You're working under him?"

"Ay... Yes, The Silver City is Tannis' ship. I'm still a captain, but I hold rank of first officer."

The violet-eyed feline smiled helpfully, "And if it makes you feel better, he seldom works under me, especially at home."

Shinai almost tripped over his own feet as his uncle stopped dead in the corridor, looking bewildered until the full significance of the feline's words sank in, then he looked blustery, "You two are living together? Already? Why even have a marriage if you're already a pair?"

"Yuki... It's almost the 24th century. Quit being a prude. Besides, that's where kittens come from."

Shinai chuckled as his uncle actually nodded, then puffed back at him, "You two won't be having any of those, will you?"

"Dunno yet. The night is young."

Tannis nodded, smiling brightly, "We'll have to adopt most likely, or have a gene-sequence clone born. I don't have the right equipment to procreate."

"Right... Equipment?" The older human looked at Shinai, "You mean he's a she?"

"Ugh... Uncle, no! It's more complicated in felines. Tannis can't have kittens like say; someone with narrow fallopian tubes has problems conceiving a child!"

"So it's a physiological problem?"

"Yes and no."

"This is more complex then I think I bargained for. Any chance of a drink?"

"Several."

Shinai pointed toward the quick-lift, grinning sheepishly at Tannis, "Well, this has gone well so far!"

Tannis hovered around the low table that the pair of humans sat around; the older human at least looked at home on the thick cushions that sat on the floor. A small cup was resting in front of him that Shinai kept refilling as its contents kept vanishing. Yuki was slowly unwinding, the alcohol making him a bit more expansive as he gazed around. Small spots of color were rising on the older male's cheeks as he talked animatedly with his nephew. Tannis was surprised at the almost total change of attitude once they were no longer in public.

Yuki gestured at Tannis as the feline looked lost, "Have a seat Tannis. This is your own home."

"Are you enjoying the wine? I had a case of it brought in from Terra for the ceremony next week. I hope it's up to standards."

"Very good. A very reputable brand."

The older human nodded, smiling as he drained his saucer-like cup again. Tannis smiled faintly, he had tried the rice wine, but found it to be much too bitter for his tastes. He folded himself onto his haunches, watching Shinai pour more from the small bottle at his elbow. The feline had the sneaking suspicion that the younger male was trying to get his uncle as inebriated as possible in as short a time as he could.

Yuki examined the feline as he smoothed the crisp shirt he wore beneath his jacket, "You captain this ship?"

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"Uh, about 5 years now, almost."

"About the same length of time Shinai had been a captain."

"Well, technically he still is. Two people can't be called captain on one ship, as a rule of tradition, but he still holds the rank, and if I were ever incapacitated, he would be in control of the City."

The older human shifted on his cushion, loosening the sedate tie knotted around his high collar, "What holdings does your family possess?"

Tannis flicked his ears, settling down onto the cushion opposite the older human, rubbing his muzzle as he thought, "Ah, well, my parents have a nice home in the Inogar province on Tet III, my father acts as ministry regent at the second largest city in that province. My mother is an archivist. My oldest brother has a shipping company out of Renath Prime. He wholesaled about 15 million kilotonnes of oranem ore last year. A wife, a husband and 4 kits. My two other brothers are both in the ministry on Tet, and my sisters are married into Terraforming and mineral rights interests in about half a dozen systems."

"Are multiple spouse marriages normal in your species?"

A slightly dour expression creased the older human's brow as he looked to the feline who smiled sheepishly, "Well, you marry females to procreate and males to recreate as they say on my world."

Shinai uttered a tiny little cough as his uncle's expression seemed to ratchet up a notch or two, making Tannis swallow and clear his throat, "Uh, it isn't that it means marriage to same sex isn't important! Or as sacred as marriage to procreate...But most breeding couples are paired of convenience or under the demands of breeding cycles. Male pairings are usually consummated of emotional attachment rather then hormones."

The feline smoothed his robe with a chagrinned smile, "Being females only cycle twice a year, most of the time they want nothing to do with male companionship unless it has something to do with rearing kittens. In your species the females ovulate on a monthly cycle, and engage in recreational breeding year-round. Most feline species don't do that."

"You do present an interesting point." Yuki rubbed his chin consideringly, "In our cultures females are the more attached and dependant members of the species. In yours they're less so, fraternizing with males only when they feel the need to breed. It begs an interesting view of relationships from a human standpoint."

"Yes. Most humans view multiple partners taboo, but your females live with their males year-round, and feel an emotional attachment to them past passing on their genes. Our females have evolved to a point where they feel these sentimental attachments, but constant cohabitation sometimes isn't up to their comfort. Males seldom have these emotional dysfunctions about living with someone else if it's convenient."

"It all sounds so cut and dried when someone from another species says it."

Shinai leaned on his hand, smirking gently, "So our humanoid forbearers are just less dysfunctional then yours, a coupe for the soft pink skins, eh lover? Just don't let mother hear you talking about human females."

"Females know their place, even in today's society."

Yuki looked matter-of-factly over the rim of his cup, making Shinai groan, "There's the Japanese misogynistic streak I missed so much."

"Well, the bride marries into the groom-to-be's family in this day and age. Will you be comfortable with human contact?"

"What he means love, is will you be comfortable being the bitch whenever someone from my family asks?"

Tannis uttered a snort as the older human coughed gently on his drink, making Shinai grin lopsidedly as the feline shrugged, "I usually am anyway. So it wouldn't technically be lying."

Yuki eyed the younger males wearily, "You claim you have trouble telling which is which when you both seem to dress like girls anyway."

"It's the style out here Yuki. Most clothing is unisex. A lot of sapient races have flexible gender roles, not to mention rampant pansexuality and male sexuality roles. They used to call it gender queer in the stupid ages."

The older human sniffed softly, "Whatever you call it. This is going to be a long week."

"Yeah, we kind of figured it would be."

"Is everything ready?"

"I think so, is everyone there already?"

"Tannis is hyperventilating again..."

"Shinai! That's enough wine!"

"They're both a mess. Where's Larani with those sedatives?"

The doors swished open to admit the puffing J'rali doctor as he held his long trailing skirts with a paw, clutching a dermal injector in his free paw and teeth as he tried desperately not to trip over his own feet in his high heeled shoes. Dex accepted the vial the spotted male spat into his grip as Larani caught his breath and smoothed his long, elegantly braided hair back into position. Jak was massaging Shinai's shoulders, trying to chafe some life back into the pale human as Shinai sat and muttered in a long, low stream of syllables no one understood. Li was bouncing from seat to seat around the table and multilounge, chirping brightly as he entertained himself, absolutely indifferent to the chaos around him.

Roan was busy trying to get Tannis to breathe as the feline looked as though someone had thrust a live power conduit up his ass. The slender feline looked gorgeous in his long, silken robes, almost more dress-like then they had looked in the catalogue, with the spun white fabric slithering around itself as he moved. The elegant white leather sandals on his feet barely showed with his dipping hem-line. The open, plunging neckline of the robe showed almost his entire chest and belly, the white spray of his ruffled fur pressing out from the cleft in the blouse. He was wearing a light, almost see-through wrap over the gown, of a color that almost looked like spilled blood. His long, snowy hair was let down, only held back off his face with a simple silver clip as he tried not to trip over his own tail.

Larani made Tannis twitch as the dermal injector hissed in his ear, "What's that?"

"Anti-anxiety med."

Tannis grunted as he shoo-ed everyone off of him, staggering upright as he smoothed his robe and wrap, chewing his lip gently. Shinai got to his feet, his shining high-heeled boots leaving furrows in the carpeting as he walked to Tannis' side. The human was dressed in a loose pair of black velvet trousers and a black silk shirt, with a long, open coat of patterned silk over it all, the whole go tied around his middle with a sash that was aqua colored. The white and gold threads of the outer coat shimmered as he moved, his hair shifting around his eyes, disconcerting everyone as it was its natural deep black. He grinned at Tannis, "You look good."

"So do you. But we're not supposed to see one another before the ceremony, are we?"

Shinai shrugged, "I could care less, but my mother would have a fit."

Jak, Dex and Roan were dressed in almost identical black jumpsuits with their rank and branch striped on the collar and wrists. The doors parted again, admitting Lorensi, the spotted feline dressed in a loose outfit similar to Shinai's, propped with one crutch under his good arm. He had two now, but the freshly grafted arm was sheathed in a sling, still on strict orders to let it settle and allow his nerves some time to heal and get used to having an arm again after they'd adjusted to not having an arm. The feline's artificial legs had grown in nicely, with his spotted fur already coming in over the seams of his synthetic flesh. He barked at everyone, his amber and violet eyes flashing, "They're getting restless. We should start."

Tannis sighed, "Are they still staring at one another?"

"Not so much now, no, and everyone else is caught in the middle."

"Yea, I suppose we should get going."

Jak plucked Li up off the back of the lounge, draping the chattering Rixi across his shoulders and handing Shinai a small black data module, "The transloc system is already set and calibrated. Just hit the control when you want to jump."

"We'll give you 5 minutes to get there and settled before we go."

"Alright. See you in 5 minutes."

Tannis looked fit to be tied, kissing Shinai before Larani and Dex marched him out one on either side, leaving Shinai, Jak, Roan and Lorensi."

"We should set off too, so we can get good seats."

Roan jerked his thumb at the door, nodding to Jak before the pair of them strode out, leaving Shinai and Lorensi milling around one another. The human gazed at his feline friend, feeling a little unnerved as Lorensi gazed back, then jerked his eyes to the floor. Shinai sighed and ran a hand through his hair, noting not for the first time how much Lorensi's new eye looked like Tannis' violet gaze. He gingerly lowered himself into a sitting position on the back of the lounge, "Lore, are you ok with this?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" The spotted feline glanced back up as Shinai shifted his weight, "You're getting married."

"I know, but are you ok with it? We never really talked about those sorts of things when we..."

"I'm... Yes... No... I don't know Shi. Can't say as I'm not a little jealous that you were moving on with life while I was in a coma."

"Lore... We'd broken up months before. . You said you weren't ready to settle down, I didn't think you were still..."

The feline scowled softly, rubbing his muzzle, "I don't know if I am Shin... I don't know if it's you, or me, or what happened, or what..."

"You're restless. You're still recovering. But are you ok with this?"

Lorensi shrugged softly, sighing as he felt Shinai's fingers move along his sides, "You picked a good one Shin, he's pretty, and intelligent, and has a good ship."

"You're those things too. But I didn't know you still held a torch."

"I wasn't sure I did, but sometimes I get jealous of Tannis."

Shinai sighed softly, stroking Lorensi's sides and hips, feeling the slenderness still in the Vakari's frame. He softly chuckled, patting Lorensi on the backside, "You've still got a nice ass. So there's always hope."

Lorensi smiled, nodding as he licked the human on the cheek, inhaling as Shinai kissed him, feeling the human's hands grip his backside harder. He flicked his tongue gingerly over Shinai's blunt teeth, inhaling and exhaling through his nose as they kissed deeply. The Vakari coyly gave the human a grope, mmm-ing as he felt the almost instantaneous response, "Mmm, well, nice to know you still find me attractive with all that's happened."

"Of course. And you've given me an erection as a wedding present."

Both males grinned as Shinai flushed, tugging at and smoothing the material over his pelvis. Lorensi blushed softly, "Well, nice to know you'll be thinking of me when you're on your honeymoon."

The Vakari grinned softly, "And it's been 5 minutes."

"We should go."

Shinai took a gentle grip on Lorensi's shoulder and thumbed the small black unit Dex had given him, hearing it whine softly as it powered up. The familiar tingle built around them both as he felt that sense of unreality swirl around his senses. The faint blue-white tint of the translocation swept them sideways into hyperspace before depositing them both half a corridor from their intended destination. The ship's main promenade was off the main reception chamber, where all their direct transports were received. The reception hall had been converted for the occasion, decorated in long trailing streamers and flowers, with rows of seats stretching from the main dais. The seats were filled, making Shinai grunt softly, "Is most of the ship here?"

"The half not on duty I'd think." Lorensi whispered softly, looking at the dozens of black dress uniforms, picking out familiar faces. A small block of seating was populated by humans that were dressed similarly to Shinai, all with the same dark hair, albeit different complexions. Another row of seats was filled with white furred felines and their mates of varying coat colors and markings. Several kits were bobbing in their seats looking bored till they were shushed by their parents. Tannis was standing on one side of the dais with Larani standing close behind. The feline smiled to Shinai as the human and Lorensi walked up the narrow aisle between the seats.

The human smoothed his outfit as he approached his lover, taking up a loose stance next to him and waiting on the ceremony to begin. The presiding minister came up the middle aisle, making the assembled crowd murmur softly. Tannis had invited the highest ranking officer on board the station to preside over their bonding ceremony. Admiral Jun Isagori floated serenely down the aisle between the chairs in his energy bubble; the phantom was tall, spindly and smoothly curved with waist length blonde hair, in a black ceremony suit with long belled sleeves and collar, done in gold and silver. The admiral's feet barely swept the floor, the large crystal shaped bubble of force shimmering around him, giving him a cushion of space past the normal skin tight energy sheath.

The capsule of energy was a deep purple and swirling cornflower blue, looking like the skin of a soap bubble, softening the phantom male's already elfin features as he floated up to the dais and drifted over the step up. The admiral's pearly white skin was like china, with his blunt teeth and long pointed ears offsetting his willowy appearance. He drifted behind the raised podium, but didn't touch it, the vocal pick-up on his lapel making his voice amplify enough to be heard in the back, but still stay melodically soft, "Thank-you all for coming to witness the bonding of two in our midst."

Tannis' ears flushed as he felt light-headed, the weight of over a hundred pairs of eyes on him as he gripped the edges of his wrap and swallowed, breathing deeply, looking at the slowly, pleasantly shifting colors of the admiral's force bubble. Shinai was wearing a fixed smile as he stepped closer to Tannis, ignoring all the eyes on him as he focused only on the feline, feeling Lorensi bump into him gently from behind. The human kept his hands folded, gazing back and forth between Tannis and the admiral.

The phantom gestured with his long, elegant, tapered hands, his giant, almond shaped eyes flashing with gold flecked green irises, "We come here today to witness the union and bonding of Shinai Doren Tsukisyo and Krayd Lin Tannis together as a mated pair, accepting into one another their families and cultures. An interspecies marriage is a rare and wonderful union, fostering goodwill and closeness of families in all cultures and species of the galaxy.

"The union of two beings after the tragedy of their mutual losses is a wonderful thing, and it is my hope that their lives will be long, fruitful and full of the happiness and love they both deserve. In days of long gone by a blood union between two long-lived and auspicious families would be the cause for many years of happiness, let us hope this shall be no different. Now, do you both here wish to join one another in the bonds of marriage, signifying your love and devotion to one another and your place in one another's lives?"

Shinai nodded, smiling as he raised his hand loosely, "I do."

Tannis looked at his human lover, raising his own alabaster furred paw as he nodded, "I do."

The force bubble surrounding the phantom admiral flexed as he reached out and gingerly eased the membrane of his field around both males hands, making Tannis shiver as he felt almost as if he were thrusting his paw into a pool of warm water, marveling at the touch of the phantom officer's hand, it had almost no weight, it felt as delicate as a bird's wing, just the warm, soft grip gently drifting along, pulling his own grip together with Shinai's. The smiling elfin male raised his own hands gently and clasped them over Shinai and Tannis' entwined fingers, the fragile grip was warm, dry and soft, "We accept you both now as mates, so long as you both live and love one another, till the stars fall and the years fade. Go with the blessings of all here and the cosmos which gives us birth and brought your love together. My congratulations."

Tannis and Shinai slowly withdrew heir hands from the semi-permeable bubble, hearing cheers from the back rows of their crewmembers. The feline was flushed, blushing loudly as he held Shinai's hand, looking to the seats where his family sat, seeing smiles and tears in even proportions as well as a few thin expressions. Shinai's family had almost the same make-up, but the stoic expressions made no obvious revelation as to their own degree just yet. Larani screeched gently and hopped onto Shinai's back, sobbing wildly as he clung around both their necks, prompting Lorensi to put a steadying, and squeezing hand on the J'ralan male's backside, which drew a squeak and a dirty look from Roan still in the audience.

Kanti shook his head, dragging Lorensi away with a smirk as he stuffed the crutch under one arm and guided the bandage armed member of his own species away from Larani's ass. The crew was gradually filtering out of the reception hall down to the galleys for the reception as Tannis and Shinai walked with Admiral Isagori and Larani, still blowing his nose in their wake, followed by Jak and Dex. Their families were already in the main dining galley, each one taking a corner of the mess hall, eyeing the other warily as the members of the crew filtered and circulated freely amongst them.

Tannis grinned softly as he swung at the end of Shinai's arm, almost losing his crimson shoulder wrap before Larani caught it and tucked it up higher. The human male led his new bride to the knot of his dour looking family, his bright smile ratcheting up a notch as he looked to his father and mother, "Mother, father, I'm so glad you finally made it. Uncle Yuki was beginning to tire of his appointment as chaperone."

His uncle snorted into his drink, making Shinai grin harder, the human's mother and father relaxing a bit as they took the needling with composure. Shinai's father looked like an older, hardier version of Shinai himself, with thinner hair, a more sallow complexion, but with a stockier physique. His mother was a pretty woman, just starting to silver around the temples, with a strong face and dark eyes. She looked at the slender feline, speaking in Japanese, but the translator did its job and Tannis heard perfectly inflected basic in his ears, "It's good to be here son, with your lovely new bride, eventhough he is a man."

"We found the pairing acceptable." Shinai's father nodded to Tannis, his strong voice reminding the feline of his human mate's, "Do you think a starship is the proper place to raise a family though?"

Shinai couldn't help but chuckle, expecting no less from his father, the older human was completely disregarding the fact the feline was male, but he had assumed this was how his family would cope with the arrangement. His family saw no reason to frown on their pairing, so they were simply accepting Tannis as their new in-law bride. Shinai ran down the line of the group of assembled humans, "Satori and his wife Yukie, Shiguri and his wife Aoi, the small one is my brother Shun and his wife Haruko. The sister on the left there is Saaya, with her husband Ritsuo, the right is Sumika, her husband Dai and there in the corner is Sayuri and her husband Naoya. The children... uh... I disremember all of their names at the moment; most of them start with vowels. Yuki you know, grandmother Saya, grandfather Subaru."

Tannis exchanged greetings with all of Shinai's family, accepting their welcomes to the family and giving his own in return as he moved along the line, nervously glancing to the other corner of the room as they came to the end of the line, "Please, enjoy yourselves. We've exported many Terran food and drink items and a selection of them from Japan especially for the party."

The feline slowly placed his feet and guided Shinai across the room, looking to his father as the expanse of the floor lessened foot by foot. Shinai didn't look nervous, much to his credit, as he allowed his slender feline lover to tug him across the deck plates till they were standing directly in front of the tallest feline male in the party. Tannis looked at the older feline's feet, "Father."

The older feline, all white like his son, only broader in stature and features, more firmly muscled, with a long mane of alabaster hair and a short beard lining his jaws and chin, giving him an air of stately maturity. Tannis' father gazed down at them with piercing deep green eyes, nodding slowly after a moment, "Krayd."

Tannis relaxed incrementally as he looked up at his sire, "I'm honored you and mother could make the trip."

The older male's expression softened as he looked at his offspring, "You look well Krayd. So this is the human who's captured your heart, is it?"

Shinai smiled, a little more forcefully then he should have, as he felt the feline's interest shift to him, being Tannis' father stood several inches taller and wider then he did, and had all the natural menace of stature his feline lover lacked, "Yes'sir."

The older feline issued a soft, considering rumble, tipping his head as he looked down at the human male, "Hard to have a good look with all those clothes. Looks strong enough, tiny fangs, so little hair, interesting eyes, looks healthy for a human."

Shinai grinned softly, shrugging, "Never had any complaints."

A smaller feline came up behind the imposing older male, a slender, white furred and platinum haired female, obviously so from the large swell of her chest, "This is Shinai, the human who lost his ship defending Krayd's, isn't it?"

"Yes ma'am. My ship was demolished in the attack, crippling the hiveship."

Shinai nodded his head, indicating Lorensi off with Kanti and Roan at a table with Larani, "My former first officer and chief mechanic."

Both felines bobbed their heads, the older male sniffing gently as he extended a paw to Shinai, "Human physiology has always been an acquired taste in my family, but you seem an honorable male, and willing to defend our son to the death, even before you had engaged him in any coitus."

Shinai glanced sharply at Tannis, who licked his lips and glanced away pointedly, making the human male smirk inwardly and extend his own grip to the older feline's. He grunted as the older male's grip tensed around his own, prompting Tannis to lean in and whisper in the human's ear, making him blink and nod, "I see."

Shinai relaxed his grip around the older male's and brought it to his nose, inhaling and exhaling long and slow, making a show of it, despite the fact he could only smell the fact that the older feline's scent was remarkably similar to Tannis'. The older male relaxed as Shinai touched his paw to the side of his face, then let go, allowing it to drop once more. Tannis nipped Shinai's ear as he whispered again, nudging the human's hip.

The silvery eyed human nodded, slowly lowering himself down on one knee and looking at the older feline's feet, tipping his head to one side, exposing his throat. Tannis stood nervously to one side, painfully aware of the rest of his family watching the exchange raptly, including the feline crewmembers circling the area. His father looked down at the kneeling human and uttered a pensive huff, glancing toward his son before slowly lowering himself onto his haunches, leaning into Shinai's space and pressing his nose into the human's throat, folding his long, thickly furred arms around the human's arched back, giving him a squeeze. The older feline released the human, almost sending him sprawling to the deck as he patted his shoulder, "Welcome to the family. Take good care of our son, and we want to see offspring."

"Yes'sir."

Shinai stood woozily, pressing against Tannis as the feline introduced him around to his new family. The press of felines, both younger and older, including kits was slightly disorienting, but Shinai did his best to keep names and faces straight. He was pleasantly surprised that amongst the felines there was a Metaran, a half-breed Saelican, a Lugosan and one of Tannis' half brothers was part Vakari so he wasn't the only married-in exotic. He was soon enduring sniffs, licks and nips from Tannis' immediate and extended family, and he looked poised through several gropes, no doubt from the family members who wondered about his prowess.

The remainder of the reception faded into a whirl of faces, music, dancing and drink as Tannis and Shinai were forced to stay on the move amongst their guests and crew. Their families were comfortable to mingle, but kept to themselves with the crew members roving freely. A minor squabble resulted when the mob of kittens started a short but fierce fight with the table decorations before being descended upon by their respective parents. Kanti was giggling wildly, lounging in Lorensi's lap in the hovering chair that had been brought up for him when the Vakari had gotten tired, the two of them moving in slow circles around Jak and Dex who were at a small table drinking some of the imported wine and casting glances at one another.

There was a small riot when one of the partygoers disrupted Li's nap beneath one of the table arrangements, making the Rixi bounce from table to table chattering wildly. The kitten having been separated from their decorations giggled wildly as they chased after the bouncing Rixi, making Li turn his jumping into a game quickly, staying just ahead of the groping paws. Shinai chuckled as the kits lost interest after a while and the fluffy Rixi went back to zigzagging through ankles and sampling food and drink from abandoned or unguarded plates and glasses. Jak sighed as the Rixi managed to upend a glass of champagne over himself as he tried to stick his head into the flute to drink the bubbling liquid. Li looked like a half drown rat with his thick, fluffy fur soaked through, sitting on the table-top and making small sneezing noises as he tried to groom himself clean.

Tannis and Shinai were yawning at one another, matching the wide yawning and sleepy eyes of the kittens as the party slowly thinned. The crewmembers changed shifts, many bedding down for the night as they slowly dispersed. The families gradually left for their temporary quarters aboard the City or the space station till there were only a handful of people left, Jak and Dex in the corner, Lorensi and Kanti still in his chair, Lune had stopped in for a drink, sitting primly on a bar-stool and Syven had come through, the tiny, soft furred and immensely long eared little Lugosan male barely came up to Shinai's waist. The Lugosan reveled in being adorable, despite the fact that it was a sticking point whenever he wanted someone to take him seriously.

The Lugosan was perched comically in Tannis' lap, his long, big toed feet dangling, along with his giant, liquid brown eyes and long, flopping pink lined ears. Shinai grinned as Syven sipped his drink, having to remind himself that the tiny lapin was fully grown despite being the half the size of any other mature species. Syven hopped down, landing deftly on his broad, long feet, with his heavily muscled hind-quarters, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he stretched, showing his cute pink tongue. Lune giggled and sipped his drink, getting a lopsided glance from the Lugosan.

Shinai watched Li roll back and forth on an abandoned table, clutching a small sake bottle made from deep emerald glass in all 4 of his feet and poking his nose into the neck, looking at the overhead lights through the curved glass. Dex glanced at the Rixi, who amused himself by rolling the bottle back and forth on the table, listening to it clink, "It's amazing how they amuse themselves when they think no one else is watching."

They both perked up as Li stretched on the tabletop, holding the bottle in his grasping forefeet and looked at them with his bright blue eyes, yapping, "Mine!"

Shinai sputtered at the high pitched pronouncement, laughing gently, "Who am I to argue... It'd only go into the recycler anyway; he can have it if he wants it Dex."

The Laslurian nodded, smiling, "I guess he's finally relaxed enough to talk again. But he'll still want me to carry it home for him."

Dex wrinkled his muzzle, smirking softly as Li scampered over to him with the bottle clasped in his paws, licking the neck of the bottle, making the Laslurian shoot a nasty glance at Lorensi, "He's developed a taste for alcohol. It's been hard keeping out of the synthesizer."

"He's just a fun little fellow." Lorensi grinned at the shorter feline, watching Dex as the Laslurian bent over to pick Li up, taking the bottle gently from the Rixi as Kanti punched Lorensi in the shoulder, making him huff, "Careful, that's just been sewn on."

Dex glanced at Tannis and Shinai, "Don't you two have a shuttle to catch?"

"Yeah, I suppose we do. What you lot are gonna do without us, we'll never know."

Shinai grinned as he swept Tannis around, making the feline giggle softly, "They'll get by. Besides, we won't be far. Just down on the planet for a few days."

"Yea, you kids go have fun." Lorensi stretched, "We'll handle things from here out."

"You know I'll keep an open channel with you just incase Captains."

Dex slowly bundled Li up as he went with Jak toward the doors opposite the new couple who nodded, "See you in a week."

Shinai smiled as he loosened his clothes and pulled his shirt out, freeing his hair as they walked down the corridor to the landing bay, "I've got a surprise."

"Another one, in so short a time?" Tannis perked his ears, slinging his scarlet wrap over one shoulder.

The landing bay doors hissed open, revealing the rows of sleek little personnel shuttles and work pods, except for a larger long haul shuttle that stood out like a sore thumb. Shinai dashed to the large, boxy shuttle, sweeping his arms out, "What'd you think? She's mine; they managed to salvage her from the Daikokuten and sent her on here for me. Isn't she gorgeous?"

Tannis glanced between the boxy, wedge shaped shuttle and his new mate, his brain flicking through responses before settling on one, "They did a good job fixing her up, didn't they?"

Shinai's expression thinned a bit as he leaned against the battered metal skin of the old freighter shuttle, "This is how she's always looked."

"Oh..." Tannis bobbed his head a bit as he looked around the bulk of the boxy shuttle, looking over the florid scrawl of her name painted in lurid colors across the flank, "The Wheel of Dreams."

The feline's posture arched a bit as he nodded, "Pretty. What class is it?"

"Upstart class. She was surplus, they were gonna decommission and scrap her, can you believe that?? These long shuttles are classics. They run forever."

Shinai grinned as he thudded the hull with his fist, a flaking smear of paint coming off against his skin and he wiped his palm on the seat of his trousers, "Needs some new paint."

He keyed his entry code into the hatch of the shuttle; inhaling as the door swished open and the familiar scents of a thousand flights came rushing back to him. Tannis rubbed his nose at the acrid scent of coolant and plasma on top of the scents of half a dozen species, along with Shinai's distinctive smell wafted around him. He tried hard not to sneeze as he looked around the cramped shuttle; the cockpit holding a pair of chairs, the passenger compartment behind the primary firewall holding 4 more seats and the hatch to the rear cargo and Spartan living quarters. The human pointed to the hatch, "There's a pair of bunks, the hygiene chamber and a synth unit back there with the cargo hold on the other side."

"Cozy." Tannis slipped gingerly into the co-pilot's chair, smiling broadly as Shinai secured their luggage and then shut the hatch, bounding into the cockpit and throwing himself into the thickly padded pilot's chair, "We can redecorate it later. Here we go."

The alabaster furred feline gritted his teeth as the shuttle powered up around him, expecting the worst till the engines throbbed to life as smoothly as silk and Shinai jabbed the comm, "Wheel to bridge."

"Go ahead commander."

"Ready to depart hangar 2."

"Roger, hangar 2, departure for Veira Prime, logged, you are free to depart at any time. Have a good time commander."

"See you in a week City."

The shuttle hummed, engines throttling up as Shinai brought them off the deck and slid them toward the atmosphere barrier, grinning as he punched it just as they hit the field, making them burst from the pressurized bay and into the void of space with a disorienting squirt of speed. Tannis smiled as he relaxed back into his chair, watching the limb of the planet below come up. He frowned as the proximity sensors flashed at them, watching Shinai adjust their heading, "What is it?"

"That big ugly black ship. It seems to be ignoring orbital traffic."

"They would."

Tannis looked at the sensor display seeing the ugly outline of the large black cruiser passing away behind them. The swirling blue and green marble of the planet was rising higher and higher to meet them as they angled their descent toward the larger northern continent. They could see the blurred outline of the continents and the hazy blue and green expanses of the shallow, warm seas below them. Viera had no deserts, a wide, expansive subtropical belt and lots of coastlines, making it perfect for tourism. Shinai locked in on the orbital navigation beacons and let them guide him toward the western coast of the northern continent, where they could see a few giant cities spreading like great silver stars amongst the vivid green growth of the forests around them.

Tannis giggled as Shinai rocked the shuttle, tapping his feet as they entered the main layer of the stratosphere, feeling the increased turbulence of the buffeting air currents. The human male flicked a series of levers and the shuttle whined around them, its profile becoming sleeker and more elongated, a series of aerofoil wings popping out along her flank and dorsal hull, making atmospheric maneuvering easier. He shut down the main engines, letting the shuttle coast in on her secondary power plant, seeing the landing zone outlined below them as they made a series of wide, sweeping spirals down.

The majority of the land below them was pristine forest land, unbroken for hundreds miles in any direction, their prow aiming for the giant, silver, disc shaped platform jutting up above the tops of the trees. For a moment thought the city was floating over the treetops, till they swung lower and he saw the thick, massive main tower that supported the mammoth saucer shaped city. The mushroom shaped city was meant to be low impact, holding everyone safely above the forest below, self contained and fully self supporting, it allowed for no resources to be drained from the land around it. Shinai aimed at the central hub of the mile wide disc, seeing the landing lights of the main landing port flashing in the gathering dawn.

The massive flanks of the city fell away around them as they eased down to the automated landing pad, feeling the shuttle hum as they powered back and touched down lightly. Tannis took his carrying case, leaving the silky wrap draped over his chair as Shinai popped the hatch open and let them out into the landing center. The deep blue sky overhead still twinkled with stars, the massive city below them stretching out to the limit of their vision. Shinai led the way to the automated tram, inputting their destination as they were whisked off, down the smooth levitation tracks and into the heart of the self contained city. The route took them past wide, sprawling promenades and open courtyards, gardens, restaurants and shops that lined almost all-available space within the city. The long, wide boulevards were clean and well manicured, with a few people strolling in the dawn air.

The tram slowed as they came to a large, multi-level building that spanned for a distance in either direction down the lane. The elegantly painted steel, glass and duracrete building was nicely appointed as they pushed through the front doors and into the lobby, the gigantic front desk made of sleek, smoothly polished ebony polymer. Shinai pressed the button on the desk, waiting pleasantly with Tannis on his arm as the office doors swished open and a small, stocky Metaran male padded to meet them, dressed in soft velvets and a brocaded vest. He smiled expansively, "How can I help you?"

"We have reservations. Two, under Tsukisyo."

"Ah yes, Captains Tsukisyo and Tannis. Welcome to Ilara City, the Verdant Green hotel."

Tannis grinned softly, "Captains Tsukisyo and Tsukisyo-Tannis now."

"Congratulations."

The short Metaran male grinned broadly as he pressed the cunningly concealed computer display channels on the top of the desk, a slot on the desktop popping up and disgorging a sleek keycard which the concierge plucked up and passed to Shinai. The human nodded, smiling as he pressed his thumb against a small black panel that the skunk striped male slid across to him, "Thank-you sirs. Please have a pleasant stay with us, don't hesitate to call for assistance. We have a fine selection of shopping and dining."

"Thank-you. Would it be possible to book a trip down to the forest for later?"

Tannis smiled as the Metaran nodded, "Yes sir, the finest nature scenery in the system."

"Thank-you."

Shinai raced Tannis up the corridor, snatching the cardkey out of the feline's reach as he giggled. The human grunted as his feline lover collided with him outside their room, snatching the card and pressing it to the door, making it swing aside for them. They padded into the large, plushly appointed room, gaping at the thick, verdant green carpeting, the polished wood furniture and the richly carved wood panels that lined the room, making it gleam with the soft, cunningly concealed lights in the ceiling and walls. Their room had a large sitting area, with a multilounge like their own back on ship, only padded in dark green velvet, with an expansive kitchenette nestled next to it.

The dining area was actually outside on the wide, roofed, open air balcony, looking out over the thick, rich green woods that stretched away for miles 50 stories below them on the surface, the actual ground, not visible from their view was another 100 lower. They had one of the best views in the city, along with a giant round bed, set along the wall of open floor to ceiling windows. Tannis set his case on the bedside dresser, looking around and seeing the doors to the hygiene chamber, curiously walking through them and gasping, "My gods, the tub is gigantic Shin!"

"I told them I wanted their biggest."

The human male grinned as he leaned in the doorway, looking in with a nod, "It's a Japanese thing too."

Tannis giggled, then squeaked as Shinai goosed him while he was bending into the washing chamber. He nipped his new human mate on the chin, swatting at him as he wriggled away and padded quickly to the bed, flopping backward onto it, stretching out. He hadn't realized how tense he had been till he was flat on his back and relaxing. The feline sat back up, unbuttoning his gown and sliding out of it, rolling onto his belly on the giant bed, "Mmm, feel like rubbing my back Shin?"

The feline felt his human lover settle on the foam mattress, then smirked into his arm, "My back Love... My back."

"This is technically on your back." Shinai grinned as he straddled Tannis' knees, pressing his hands into the center of the feline's back and hearing him gasp softly as his spine popped with a rippling crackle, "You're a little tense baby."

"Well, yes. I'd imagine so." Tannis groaned into the bed as he felt the human's strong fingers dig into the thick pelt and dense skin on his back, feeling out the knots in his muscles. The feline adored back-rubs from his human lover, as Shinai had no claws he could really dig in with his fingertips in a way most other species couldn't without drawing blood. Tannis shivered as he felt Shinai's fingers rub up and down his spine, pressing on either side as he pushed down on his lower back, eliciting another pop. He sighed as his back relaxed in stages, feeling as if he were ready to melt into a puddle of very relaxed fur and goo.

Shinai chuckled as he felt the looseness of the feline's back under his hands, "Humans give good massages."

"Mmm, yea..." Tannis yawned as he stretched, flexing his paws in the bedclothes as he turned his head from side to side, hearing his neck pop softly, "I could take a nap. We've been up all night."

"You can if you want to Love. I'm tired myself."

Tannis uttered a sleepy rumble, curling up in his kind's uniquely feline way that Shinai marveled his lover's spine wasn't kinked more often. The human shed his robe, vest and pants, then felt Tannis shift, "You're still wearing underwear, aren't you?"

The human chuckled, "Just the fundoshi."

He tugged the ends of the cloth out a bit, letting it hang as a loincloth as he feline rumbled softly, "Mmm, ok. Those were kind of sexy."

The human flopped down on the bed, then yelped as his feline mate uncurled and pounced on him, laying on top of him as they stretched out on the bed. Tannis grinned as he kissed Shinai, lapping at his chin, "Mmm, feels so surreal. We've been married for 6 hours."

"I know. It feels good."

Tannis stretched languidly, opening a violet eye as an unfamiliar door chime went off. He rolled over, being reminded of where he was as he felt the thick verdant carpet beneath his feet, strolling to the door as he scratched along his sides and hips, yawning widely. The alabaster furred feline palmed the panel next to the door, making it swish to one side, letting the light from the hall outline it. A surprised looking vulpine male bumped into the cart floating serenely beside him as Tannis smoothed his hair back. The flame tipped fox blushed as he smiled cheerfully, trying to keep his eyes above Tannis' waist as he bowed, "Captain Tsukisyo?"

"Mmm, one of."

The fox nodded, "I hope you're enjoying your stay thus far. Our records noted your honeymoon, so the management wanted to send up this complimentary basket."

The grav cart steered into the room easily, with a large woven basket on top of it. Tannis could see a pair of tall glass bottles, a pair of glasses, a large box of candy, assorted fruits and he flushed as there were also an assortment of lubrications, fur and skin oil and a small set of bedroom toys nestled at the bottom. He giggled, nodding, "Thank-you. That's very thoughtful."

"Will you be in need prophylactics?"

The fox male stayed resolutely straight faced as Tannis giggled harder and shook his head, "No, thank-you. I think we're safe without birth control."

The vulpine nodded gently, pulling out a small data pad as he smiled, "And the front desk wished to tell you that your trip to the forest is scheduled for tomorrow mid-morning, if that's acceptable."

"Very, thank-you."

Tannis grinned and bowed as he pushed the cart over to the table in the dining area, watching the vulpine male glance to Shinai's sprawled, nearly nude body, walking back slowly, deliberately putting one foot in front of the other to make his hips swing, getting a thrill as he held his tail slightly rigid, watching the fox turn ruddy around his ears, almost dark enough to match his fur. The feline gently sent the cart floating back to the fox male with a playful bump of his hip, "Thank-you."

"Yes'sir." With another bow and a swallow the shorter male stepped back and the door shut between them, making Tannis giggle and shake his head. He didn't know why he had suddenly been seized by the urge to flirt; perhaps it was just the thrill of teasing. The feline stretched again, picking through the basket, giggling softly as he picked up a small ring of what looked like silicon rubber, squeaking as it began to vibrate as it came into contact with his body heat. With a sly grin Tannis curled his paw around the vibrating ring, padding to the bedside before gingerly leaning over and using his forefinger and thumb to gingerly pull Shinai's backside apart and slipping the shivering ring into the cleft of his ass, spanking him sharply.

His human lover yelped, waking and thrashing on the bed, yanking his waistcloth off and jumping to his feet, swiping the shivering toy from his ass as he uttered a shocked shout, "Motherfuck!"

The human stood panting as he woke, looking at Tannis with a smirk, "I suppose this is payback for before?"

"Maybe." Tannis grinned as he flopped out on the bed, fishing the small stretchy ring from the bedclothes and tugging it with his fingers, making Shinai blink, "What the hell is that?"

"It was in the honeymoon basket from the hotel."

The feline giggled as Shinai snatched the toy from his paws and looked at it, "They gave us sex toys?"

"And lubricant. And some other stuff."

"You non-human species have dirty minds."

Shinai smirked as he stretched the ring and fired it like a rubber band at his feline mate who caught it and giggled, "I've seen some of your human fetishes!"

Shinai blushed as he lowered himself back to the bed, "We're not the only species to make pornography."

"Should we make some interspecies porn?"

Tannis grinned as he pounced his human lover, looking down at him as he rubbed down into Shinai, who squirmed softly, "People might like that too much."

The feline giggled, "You seem to enjoy the thought."

"You're grinding your ass against my cock. I think I could be dead and still get it up with that."

"Ooooh, well, what am I doing now?"

Shinai groaned as he felt his lover's body press down, arching his hips as he felt Tannis' tight backside shift, then arch just right, both of them grunting as the human's member slipped inside Tannis' rump. Tannis bit his lip, feeling his human mate's smooth, blunt tipped cock drive into the core of his body, grinding his hips softly in gentle circles to get his own muscles to relax. He shivered; taking Shinai's length deeply, the discomfort fading to a warm, tingly full sensation within him as he slowly bucked his hips up and down. Tannis arched, moaning as he felt Shinai's strong hands grip his ass, spanking it gently and guiding him up and down as the human's hips started to move.

Tannis panted as he thrust into Shinai, feeling his human lover's body thrumming under him, tight, tense and aroused, the length of his cock diamond hard as it plowed slowly up and down, sliding through the tight ring of clenching muscle moving steadily harder and more urgently. The feline savored the feeling of thrusting against his smooth skinned lover, the sensation of his blunt tipped fingers kneading and squeezing his ass and hips, his thick, smooth cock invading him deeply. Humans were wonderful lovers, no sharp edges, no claws, no fangs, low impact and happy in a myriad of positions that sometimes never occurred to some species just accustomed to penetrate and thrust.

The alabaster furred feline groaned as he shivered, impaling himself on the thick spike of human flesh driving up and down, rubbing and grinding into Shinai, a feline growl of lust making him rumble softly. Shinai was reminded that however civilized his lover was in diplomacy and rank, he was still a feline, feeling the thick fur on Tannis' back and nape, the jolting jounce of his hips as they moved, driving them both deeper and harder, the soft prickle of his lover's claws as they flexed against his smooth skin. Tannis gasped as Shinai gave his tight feline cock a squeeze, moaning and lowering his muzzle down into his human lover's throat, biting it softly.

The human inhaled as he felt sharp fangs, grinning as Tannis uttered a series of rumbling squeaks, the feline's eyes rolling back white briefly as Shinai slid his hand up and tugged his nape hard, giving the somewhat loose, tough skin there a squeeze. The result would have been comical if it weren't so passionate as the slender feline went limp almost immediately, moaning low in his throat as he clenched tight. Shinai was finding out all these little erogenous zones and soft spots in feline anatomy, each time they coupled he learned a little more. With a deft hand Shinai circled his fingers around Tannis' sleek feline cock, squeezing just below the ridge of his glans, stimulating where the feline's spines normally would be, resulting in a low growling moan, Tannis' body tightening as he started to buck his hips on reflex, thrusting hard against Shinai.

The human male used his blunt teeth as best he could, nipping and biting at his lover's ears and throat, hearing him moan wildly, their thrusts turning into hard, desperate clashes of flesh, bucking, twisting, writhing and panting against one another. Shinai closed his eyes as he felt his body tense, grunting as Tannis' questing muzzle found his own mouth, kissing one another deeply, swapping their tongues back and forth as the feline male whimpered and rumbled softly, bucking heatedly.

Their passion peaked abruptly as Tannis felt his human lover shiver, the slamming of his hips suddenly degrading to wild humping as he snarled gently, shoving himself down into Shinai with a heated intent, grinding and bucking hard as he clenched as tightly as he could, wanting the end result badly. His human lover didn't disappoint him as Shinai's hands squeezed his ass tight and he arched, grunting loudly, Tannis feeling the fluttering of his human mate's muscles below and within him, then the wild twitching and the burst of heat into the depths of his body.

Tannis moaned loudly as he felt his human mate's seed flood him, his head fuzzy with warm, wet thoughts as he ground down into Shinai, rumbling. Shinai twitched, his body flexing as it emptied, gripping Tannis' ass tightly as they ground together, the feline's cock trapped between them, rubbing it up and down, back and forth till he was bucking and twitching, shivering on the edge. The warm, sticky wetness that had built up between them was suddenly enhanced by hot, milky jets of Tannis' feline essence, pumping from his trapped cock, coating them both along the belly and chest. They both held that tense posture, riding their climaxes to the peak before relaxing against one another, panting raggedly.

Tannis gasped, panting as he shivered and twitched, grinning slowly as he slowly relaxed down into his human lover, "Mmm... It gets better every time we do that."

"Yea, but we forgot the toys."

Shinai chuckled as he kissed his feline lover, rubbing his back and sides slowly, pressing into him, hearing Tannis groan gently, "Don't tease..."

"You felines. Insatiable."

"You know it, let's go fuck in the tub."

Tannis grinned as he slowly pulled up off his human mate, grunting as Shinai's cock slid free, tugging the human's wrist insistently till he got up. He yelped as the human spanked him on the ass softly, then shivered as he felt Shinai's hand slip under his tail. The feline wriggled his backside, trying to concentrate on the tub controls as Shinai played with his ass. Focus got doubly difficult as he felt his human lover's finger abruptly slide under his tail, then into his tail-ring, making him utter a high pitched whimper. Shinai chuckled, "Gods, you're wet and slick baby."

"It'll get worse if you keep that up."

"Keep what up?"

Shinai grinned as he slowly probed at his lover's inner walls, angling his finger down and pressing over the little swollen spot he felt, making Tannis stiffen and groan loudly. Water hissed into the tub, muting the feline's groan as Shinai rubbed harder, feeling Tannis' body clenching around him, the feline's hips bucking softly. The human angled his body to watch his feline lover's cock bob, its slick length twitching as he prodded the pleasure spot inside the slender feline. Tannis panted softly, wriggling his backside as he whined, "Shinnnn... You're gonna make me cum..."

"Mmm, so?"

The human's grin made Tannis flush as he tried to focus on setting the tub to turn itself off automatically, gripping the side of the raised lip of the basin as he panted. Shinai slid onto his backside on the warm tiled floor, deftly pulling his finger back, then pressing two back in its place, feeling Tannis' ass rebel for a moment before relaxing again, resuming his prodding of the feline's pleasure button. His feline lover groaned loudly, "Shinai, don't you daaaaaare..."

"Oh, you know you like it."

The human looked up at his feline mate, watching Tannis chew his lower lip as his hips bucked softly, making his cock thrust enticingly. He shifted more, getting into a comfortable position and angling his head level with his lover's crotch, feeling Tannis tense up at the touch of his smooth, warm tongue to the tip of his sleek feline cock. Shinai grinned softly as he felt his feline lover's paw grip the back of his head, fingers tangling gently in his hair as he slowly started to swirl his tongue around the head of the feline's cock, making him shiver.

Tannis' ragged, whimpering moans punctuated the hissing water's gurgle into the large basin as he gripped the human's nape, his body tense and tingling as Shinai's lips slid up and down along his sleek feline cock, making it drool profusely. The prodding against his internal pleasure switch was making his body respond on reflex, building and tensing quickly as Shinai milked his prostate and sucked his sensitive cock, bobbing his thickly haired head harder and quicker. The human knew his lover was building to climax fast as he felt the feline's hips jerk and hump wildly, his muscles fluttering and tensing, clenching around the fingers pistoning deeply in and out of his tensing ass.

The feline arched hard, groaning as his body tingled, electric heat washing through his belly and hips as he bit his lip, muffling the yowl that tried to claw its way free as he gripped Shinai's nape tightly, "Ohhhh gods... I'm gonna!"

Shinai mmm-ed softly, giving his lover's balls a squeeze with his free hand as he just jammed his fingers deep and rubbed the feline's prostate heatedly, feeling his entire body clench before it blew. The human grunted, his mouth abruptly filled with jerking feline cock, then flooded with the hot, slick, silky essence of his snow-furred mate. He swallowed, not wanting to lose any of the sticky fluid offered to him as he stroked his lover's tender spots, milking him to the point of panting and whimpering, his hyper-stimulated cock giving off wild electric tingles with the drawn-out stimulus.

"SHIiiiiiinnnnn!" Tannis groaned, bucking to try to pull his aching cock from his lover's grasp, panting raggedly as he wriggled his hips and uttered soft growling moans. The human finally let up, grinning up at him as he rubbed his velvet-furred ass tenderly, "That was good."

Tannis grunted mmmph-ing softly as he extricated himself from his human lover's grasp with a smirk, "The tub is full."

"So it is, so it is."

Shinai grinned widely as he slowly got to his feet, sitting on the edge of the massive, oblong tub, slowly lifting his feet and settling them into the pleasantly hot water. The bathroom was wonderfully appointed, all smooth curves and cool tile, done in cheerful autumnal colors, with splashes of gold. The tub itself was a mellow washed out burgundy, with golden taps and both air and sonic jets ranged around it. Tannis splashed into the deep basin, pulling Shinai in with him with a splash, making the human sputter and shake water from his face. The feline sat back, looking immensely pleased with himself till Shinai pressed one of the controls and made a sonic jet spring to life directly under Tannis' ass, making him yelp and try to move till his human lover pounced on him and held him against the vibrating cone of water.

The feline shrieked as he giggled helpless, wriggling against Shinai, nipping at him breathlessly as they splashed, making water ripple across the deep tub and slosh over onto the mocha colored tiles. The feline nipped his human lover, prodding him away as he shifted his tingling backside away from the jet, stretching and slipping slowly under the warm, swirling water till he was submerged, breeching back up and puffing, smoothing his alabaster hair back and shaking water from his ears. Shinai was grinning, watching his feline mate, "Cats do like water."

"Yes, we do. Pity we forgot the bottle of wine in the common room. I could use a drink too."

Shinai grinned, "Well, that's the nice thing about being at a swanky hotel; you can have someone do everything for you."

The human leaned over, prodding the com panel inset into the edge of the tub beneath its splash-proof lining, making it beep and a chipper male voice respond, "Room service, how can I help you?"

"Hi, can someone bring a bottle of champagne up to our room? With a pair of glasses and ask them to bring it in please."

"Yes captain."

Shinai settled back as they waited, less then 5 minutes passing before the door chime went off, "Come in!"

They could hear the doors swish open, "In here please!"

Tannis giggled as they heard footsteps across the thickly padded carpet, wondering if it would be the same fox as from before. He grinned as he draped himself across Shinai's submerged lap, lounging over the edge of the basin as a shadow threw itself onto the carpeting. The feline startled as a handsome, stocky male that looked like a cross between a fox and a rabbit crossed the threshold. The new male had bright, cream highlighted sandy colored fur with flame points and black tips on his paws, ears, muzzle and tail. Their pelt was fluffy and soft looking, and there was a lot of it, thick over his chest, exposed hips and his forearms and feet. He was wearing a short-sleeved jacket and a long, trailing cloth wrapped around his hips, slit down the sides, showing his lean, densely muscled thighs.

The male's bright mocha colored eyes widened as he twitched his broad blush colored nose, "Oh, I apologize... I did not with to interrupt you while you..." his pause was almost overlong, "Bathing."

Shinai tipped his head, smiling at the compact new male, he didn't recognize their breed, but he swore he'd seen one somewhere before, "Nonsense, we just called for the bottle because we're wet. No sense tracking onto the lovely carpeting."

The human male grinned gently as Tannis stretched out a wet arm toward the newcomer, his fur dripping, making the coffee colored male step back quickly, "Oh, I'm sorry sir... The... moisture..."

Shinai looked puzzled as the stocky male recoiled from the droplets of water as though they were acid, glancing sidelong at Tannis as the feline pulled his arm back, "I'm so sorry. I forgot Korovans have a phobia of water."

The auburn haired male smiled nervously, standing well back, "I trained for many years to be able to live on a world where people bathe, soak and swim in water and where it often falls from the sky."

Shinai looked consideringly at the thickly furred male, "Your people don't bathe?"

The Korovan male uttered a high pitched giggle, hiding his muzzle with a paw, "Not in water, no sir. My world is a desert. My people have evolved to do without liquid moisture. We bathe in sand. Sonic scrubbing with a sand bath is very invigorating..."

The stocky male paused, looking at Shinai, "Though perhaps too abrasive for someone of your species I fear..."

Tannis nodded, "Korovan's secrete a thick oil into their pelts, it's why their fur is so soft and fluffy. It acts as an insulator and traps just enough moisture for them to absorb through their skin. But if they ever immersed in water they wouldn't even get wet, just..."

"Uncomfortable, sir. It would throw off my personal thermal regulation, which is delicate in a biosphere so cold."

The Korovan male smiled brightly, "I had an uncle once who took a holiday to Arica III, tropical, with vast oceans and fountains and swimming pools."

He looked scandalized, as if he had just said something very shocking, lowering his voice to a whisper, "He said the water smelled good, and was so beautiful, but when he tried his personal bathing pool like yours, he said it was much much too cold and it took him hours and hours to dry and groom his fur back to normal."

Shinai raised a brow, "You do know water can be heated till it reaches body temperature, right?"

"Really?" The Korovan male looked at Shinai with wide, curious eyes, taking a tentative step forward, "It is not always cold?"

"No, you just turn on the hot tap."

The human male showed him by pulling the slide on the hot water, making a steaming cascade burble from the gold tap and the Korovan male uttered a squeak of surprise at the wisps of steam coming from the heated water, "I had no idea sirs. My uncle will wish to know of this. He is adventurous with moisture, more so then most of our breed. For his next holiday he speaks of visiting the areas of the world where water falls from the sky frozen, we all didn't believe him."

"It's called snow."

"Really sir... I did not know thank-you."

The thickly furred male bowed as he tentatively approached the tub, uttering tiny little chirps and squeaks as he held the bottle and glasses out at arm's length, allowing Tannis to grasp them, then pulling his paws back quickly, giggling like a kit, "This is why I so love working in this temporary domicile lodgings, everyone from far away is so nice and has such knowledge. If you need anything else sirs, please send for Riva, me."

The Korovan male bowed himself out, and Tannis and Shinai heard their room door hiss shut again, making the human chuckle gently, "Are there any other species quite that... neurotic?"

Tannis snorted into his glass of bubbling wine as his human lover poured them both a measure, "He's young, obviously not long off his world. At least he's eager to learn..."

Shinai grinned softly, eyeing his lover, "And had such a cute ass."

Tannis swatted at his human mate as he inhaled a fine stream of bubbling air, snorting and coughing, "Shinai! Married not more then 18 hours and you're already extolling the virtues of someone else's ass! Can you wait at least a year before you start courting an additional husband?"

The human laughed softly, "Kry, I was looking at his ass, it was almost completely visible in that waistcloth of his, not proposing to him marriage and cubs."

The violet-eyed feline smirked, "Just as well, Korovan give horrible oral sex."

"Ohhh... They even don't like bodily fluids?"

"It unnerves them when its not their own. I wouldn't call it as vehement as water, but it takes them a long time to adjust to swallowing liquids."

"So when do they drink?"

"They don't. Weren't you listening? They absorb moisture through their skin and from the solid food they eat. Some Korovans go their entire lifespan without taking a single drink of anything fluid."

Shinai nodded, rubbing into Tannis as the feline purred, "They must have remarkable metabolisms."

"Giant genitals too."

"What??"

The human nearly spit out his champagne as his feline mate giggled, nodding, "Yeah, hung like K'hans. Why do you think they don't wear pants?"

"Kinky."

"We can always call him back."

"Nah, I think I like your cock best."

"Fibber, but keep going."

Shinai grinned, "Ok, so I like your cock and your ass equally well?"

"So when do I get to be on top?"

"Tsk, should the beta be asking that sort of question?"

"Oh hush. We're both versatile and you damn well know it... I've talked to Lorensi about those times when you had his..."

Shinai flushed and stoppered his lover's muzzle with his tongue, kissing him hard till Tannis was flushed and squirming, "I'll have to have a talk with Lor."

"Roan too. He's told Lara and I some stories."

"Sigh." Shinai sighed theatrically, smirking as he relaxed against his feline lover except for one particular spot that seemed to be enjoying its own tension, the tightness getting worse as Tannis wriggled his hips, making the feline giggle, "So, about this admiration for my ass..."

"Do all felines have an ego the size of a colony ship when it comes to their asses or cocks love?"

"If they're good with them, they do."

Shinai smirked gently, "So what did Lorensi tell you?"

Tannis swallowed before speaking, "Well, he mentioned one time on Renla when you, him and 3 other males were in a club and you all stood around and the male servicing you had a wineglass..."

Shinai yelped, "That's enough, we were all horribly drunk, we were betting to see who could fill it with the most... well, you know, when they orgasmed..."

Tannis grinned softly, arching into Shinai, "That sounds like a fun party game. So who won?"

"Our old security officer, he was a T'kantis. So naturally he had us all beat."

"Well of course, if you're up against a species that goes off like a broken coolant hose when they orgasm."

The warm water swirled with a subdued hissing as they relaxed, Tannis perking his ears, "Mmm, we've been in here for over an hour..."

"So?" Shinai's grunted reply almost sounded sleepy as he grinned, his eyes closed.

"So we've been in here for over an hour and we're not mating yet."

"You do have a point..."

The morning was crisp and clean, scuds of clouds creeping by as Tannis stood on their balcony and looked down at the dizzying drop to the thick green carpet of the forest tree tops below them. He gripped the railing and leaned out as far as he could, watching in interest as birds darted in and out amongst the branches, and small green and blue animals that glided like airplanes through the leafy canopy. The feline turned his head and craned his neck, looking upward, feeling a giddy swirl in his stomach as he could barely see the disc-like curvature of the massive enclosed city above them. The open levels were sandwiched in layers, allowing natural airflow and moisture into the maze-like raised town.

He startled as Shinai spanked him on the ass, steadying himself on the rail, "Shin! You scared me!"

The human chuckled, "Careful, if you'd moved any quicker you'd have likely triggered the momentum screen."

The entire city was ringed and wreathed in a passive energy screen with open windows and balconies secured with enhanced field emitters. They allowed any slow moving object or breeze, but if a gale force wind, bird or speeding object intersected the screen its velocity was negated and deflected, so anyone attempting to jump from any of the balconies would have bounced right off the field. It protected the superstructure of the city from hurricane force winds or free-floating objects. Shinai held up the small bottle he had gone in search of, "Found it, Riva was amenable to help out."

Tannis grinned and nodded, "Good. I hear it's a local specialty."

Shinai uncorked the amber glass bottle, sniffing it with an exhalation, "Woof, it smells like coolant."

He tipped the bottle back, taking a sip and banging his leg as his eyes watered, "DAMN."

"That good?"

Tannis sniffed gingerly at the bottle, taking a tiny nip and whooped as his muzzle abruptly caught fire. He waved at the burning sensation flooding his tongue and throat, coughing and trying to get the taste out of his muzzle. Shinai patted him on the back as the feline hiccupped helplessly, gasping, "Oh gods, oh gods... That burns!"

Tannis took a swig of the juice that had come with breakfast, gargling it loudly as he grunted, "Whew... Good gods, that's strong stuff..."

"Little dab will do you." Shinai already felt warm and slightly fuzzyheaded as he corked the bottle once more, "I think it's slightly narcotic..."

"Wouldn't doubt it. Come on and get dressed, our trip down is in half an hour."

Shinai grinned, "First time I've heard you wanting me to put clothes on love."

"Just bare minimum." Tannis grinned as Shinai slowly pulled on a pair of loose pants over his naked hips, knotting the loose waistband and pulling on a large, draping over shirt, leaving it unbuttoned, showing off his toned pectorals and rippled belly. The human smiled as he stretched, arching his back and hips, making his tanned skin glide smoothly over his rangy form. Tannis ran his warm paws over Shinai's ridged stomach, winking at him before slowly wrapping a loose skirt of silk around his hips, knotting it securely and leaving the rest of himself bare. Shinai busied himself with a pair of soft shoes, while his feline lover went barefooted, leaving it to his densely furred and thick padded feet.

Shinai packed a small bag, slipping the amber glass bottle in amongst the odds and ends, kissing Tannis as they wandered out into the corridor of the hotel, heading to the lobby. Riva grinned to them from the front desk as he saw them exit the quick-lift, the Korovan blushing as gave them the information and pointed them toward the proper transit point. Shinai leaned over the counter, gazing at the Korovan as he bent down to retrieve a credit slip. Tannis nudged him in the ribs as the human whistled gently, gazing at the mostly exposed backside of the tan and flame furred desert male. He could see the heavy indentation on the front of the Korovan's waistcloth, raising his eyebrows and Tannis poked him again.

Shinai stood back up to his full height as Riva turned back around, catching the human's eyes darting up from his waist-line to about nipple height, blushing scarlet through his long, slightly drooped ears. The Korovan tittered gently, "Is there anything further you need sirs? Can Riva do anything for you? Show you anything you need?"

Shinai opened his mouth, a grin on his face as Tannis elbowed him firmly, "Ah... Not right now, thank-you Riva, but we'll let you know when we come back."

"You are going to the forest below sirs? Riva has been, but not very long. It was so green and wet... And cold... Riva's mother sends him a warmer outfit for the winter months. This world is colder then Riva is used to."

"You have such nice fur though."

Tannis grinned as he slowly steered his human mate away from the desk, waving genially at the Korovan. He nipped his human lover's ear once they were out of ear-shot of the fluffy male, walking easily next to Shinai, "Must you lay it on so thick?"

"What? He's just fluffy and adorable and sweet and shy. I could take a pair of him home and we could use them as pillows. That's all."

"You want to fuck him."

"I want to fuck a lot of things, most of which consists of your ass."

"Sweet talker."

Tannis showed their transit pass to the smiling fox male who manned the tram portal. The short, stocky male handed Shinai a small boxy electronic device, "This is a communication and tracking beacon. If you get lost or need help you can use the beacon to call the patrol skips in the area. Would you like a guide? All the paths and trails are clearly marked with rest areas every quarter mile."

Tannis shook his head, "I think we'll be alright, thank-you."

"Alright, please enjoy your visit down below. The finest natural environment in this sector."

Tannis and Shinai settled into the small 2 person pod that came trundling along the transit track, the clear bubble top closing around them as the tram powered up and lifted off the gravity track, humming down into a transit tube. The ride was giddy, mellow blue and white lights illuminating the gentle downward slope of the tube as it twisted into a descending spiral, taking them into the bowels of the lower-most levels of the city, then down into the massive support trunk. Outer windows flashed past them as the tram pod glided down and down, lower and into tighter curving spirals.

Their pod slowly eased to a stop at the end of its track, a wide open bay receiving them as the bubble opened to allow them out. Tannis giggled and tugged Shinai's arm as they walked to the exit of the bay, the doors standing wide open into the pristine natural forest they had only glimpsed from above. Tannis gasped as they walked into the out of doors, the transition from cold, technological frontier to peaceful, verdant forest was seamless, like walking from one room to another, almost like stepping through a portal. The forest stretched away, miles of it, dense, thick, green and fresh.

The two of them looked at the vista laid before them, slowly walking down the wide, well tended pathways of thick, rich, dark loam and green dotted moss. Giant trees flanked them on all sides, almost obscuring the massive silver trunk of the city looming behind them like another ancient steel tree. The widely spaced trees were thick trunked, gnarled and wizened, with pale, chalky white and pale green bark and curling brown roots. Their leaves were massive, dark green and veined in blues and purples. The canopy overhead rustled with the cool, sweet breeze, making Tannis' long, snowy hair ripple as he stretched, inhaling and exhaling. The ground was so solid under his feet, still and peaceful, but with a stillness of nature, still vibrant and alive in its quietness.

The spongy, dark soil was moist, springing under their feet, small patches of silky greenish-blue grass peeking up in the dappled pools of sunlight as they walked. Tannis was so accustomed to feeling the constant hum of a starship around him it almost felt bizarre to know he had an entire planet beneath his bare footpaws. He looked up at the old, gnarled tree that sprung from the path just to their side, the trunk was three times as thick as his shoulders, with elegant, but truely organic curves and dimples, the twist of its body, the sprawl of his branches were so invigorating and natural compared to the smooth lines and contours of a ship or a station. He ran his paws slowly along the pebbled bark, feeling the smooth texture under his finger pads. Tannis grinned as the tree flushed along its trunk at his touch, reacting to his body warmth, the pale greens and silvery white of its trunk flushing and washing in with light blues and firmer greens.

Shinai looked in amazement as the tree responded to his lover's touches, reaching out and gently touching the tree, watching as the bark rippled in color under his fingertips, responding to his soft caresses. The leaves overhead hummed gently with the breeze as he stroked the huge tree, smiling peacefully. The forest went by in a blissful haze of rich, green scented life, trickling water in sparking sweet tasting streams and deep, crystal-like pools. They saw no one else as they walked the wandering paths, finding a quiet, shadowed glade between a trio of towering rustling trees with a natural rock formation next to a clear, cold spring.

Tannis lowered himself onto his backside, inhaling and exhaling in pleasure as he reclined on the soft, moist grass, the soft earth cradling his body as he gazed up at the clear cornflower blue, cloud dappled spring day high above the canopy. He grinned as Shinai lay down against and slightly on top of him, bringing their faces level as they kissed. They caressed one another, gazing at each other and the lush forest around them as Shinai sighed, "There are forests like this on Terra, I used to go there when I was a child, but it's been years. This place is so beautiful."

"Almost tempts you to give up the fleet and settle your feet on a planet, doesn't it?"

"Mmm, tempts me, but makes me glad that whenever I need it I can just make a stop somewhere like this."

The human smiled, rubbing his hand through the thick fur on Tannis' belly and chest, feeling his smooth curves beneath it as the feline dug through their pack and pulled out the bottle of liquor. He nodded to it, "So what's that for?"

"Oh, just an offering. This forest is sacred."

The feline glanced around and then pointed to a small stone statue and offering bowl standing in the hollow of the nearby tree, "See, over there."

Shinai nodded, "Reminds me of the old Shinto temples. So why do people make offerings?"

"Oh, for peace, for love, to give thanks to the forest spirits and gods for giving them this forest and for allowing them to travel in it and other things..."

Shinai raised a brow, "Other things?"

Tannis giggled softly, "Well, this forest is sacred, and it was recommended to me as a good place for newlyweds."

"Ok, now I'm intrigued."

The feline giggled harder and covered his muzzle with a paw, "Oh, I was hoping to keep it a secret, but this forest is filled with sacred groves where newlyweds come to uh... get fertile..."

"We're about as uh, fertile as we're both likely to get baby. But I do appreciate the gesture."

Shinai chuckled as he kissed Tannis lips, then nipped one softly as the feline grinned sheepishly, "I know."

"So do we offer before or after we... Fertilize?"

"Before, or after, or during, or whenever."

Tannis grinned as he looked at his eager lover, Shinai looking around slowly, "Won't someone care if they come along and find us mating in the middle of their sacred forest?"

"Love, they advertise it in the brochure. When the vulpine said "rest stops", he meant little semi-enclosed beds they have here in the forest. If anything anyone coming across us would probably just go on their way, or watch, or ask to join in."

The feline winked as he slowly gripped Shinai's shirt and pulled it off him. The human's rippled torso glistened softly with the humidity of the forest around them. Tannis plucked at the loose knot tying his human lover's pants, grinning as the human himself untied the drawstring and allowed the feline to shuck him naked. Just as Tannis was unknotting the silken wrap around his hips and unraveling it from around his hips the foliage rustled at the other side of the clearing, making them both jump. Shinai pulled Tannis down into his lap, drawing the wrap around the feline's hips on reflex, masking both their lower bodies.

The feline started to protest till the ferns on the opposite side of their little glen parted and a patch of bright mocha fur extricated itself, making Tannis simply stare. Shinai grunted, craning his neck and falling back with a huffing chuckle. The ferns parted and a familiar lean form shook free of them, wearing a long, thick shawl-like comforter, and his usual waistcloth, with a pair of thermal leggings beneath. A large basket was hooked in Riva's paw, swinging as he came into the sunlight.

The Korovan froze when he saw Tannis and Shinai, blushing hard as he nearly stumbled, his ears twitching comically. He slowly padded up with large eyes, gazing at the couple on the ground, his mocha eyes wide as he rubbed his muzzle sheepishly, "Sirs. It took Riva forever to find you, but I had no wish to intrude on you while you were..."

The Korovan uttered a high pitched giggle as he tried not to stare as Tannis' partially exposed ass, "While you were... coupling!"

Riva said the last word in a short, sharp burst of breath, looking scandalized as he shook his head, making his long ears flop behind his head. Tannis smiled softly at the flustered male, noting with a glance downward toward his mate that Shinai's erection hadn't softened a bit. The human grinned lopsidedly as he shrugged his shoulders a fraction of an inch. Just to tease his lover the feline ground his hips downward with a covert motion, covering it up as he stretched his upper half, "Well, we haven't done anything yet Riva."

"Fancy meeting one individual on a planet this big. Almost seems planned."

Shinai grinned softly as Riva blushed fiercely again and slowly dropped onto his haunches, his thickly muscled legs bunching. He slowly laid the basket on the ground, nervously twitching his ears and the short, puff-tipped tail that swung restlessly in tiny jerks. The Korovan slowly pulled his shawl closer around his shoulders as he squatted, "I was... hoping to see sirs again, sometime. I took my own off-time, and came down with a lunch. I thought, it would be amenable to share..?"

Tannis twitched his ears as he nudged Shinai who was slowly moving his hips, making the tip of his erection prod the feline's balls, "Sharing seems to be on the menu today?"

The feline glanced sidelong at his prostrate human lover who was glancing at both of the furred males with a look of abject lust across his features, making Tannis roll his violet eyes slightly. Riva giggled softly, catching himself staring at the slumping silk wrap around Tannis' hips, each inch it slid exposing more and more of the feline's milky white furred ass and hips. The Korovan male fidgeted softly, adjusting himself on his haunches and pawing the cover off the basket he brought with him, "I brought many things I like, fruit, berries, nuts, some may be too coarse for your liking, but Riva also brings some meat products, but he has never tried any before himself, and a bottle of this!"

The thickly furred younger male seemed proud as he brought out a bottle of sparkling fruit juice, holding it up so the emerald green bottle caught the light, "Riva is a little nervous about it. But the female in the shop said it is nice."

He blushed softly, "Riva has never known so many beautiful people in one place before that were not his own species. He's never..."

The Korovan clamped a paw over the end of his muzzle as he bit back a giggle, shaking his head wildly, "Riva does not wish to seem, rude sirs...!"

"I get the feeling you don't mingle much outside the hotel?"

Shinai leaned back against the sun warmed wood to his back, biting his lip as Tannis' body teased him, watching the Korovan male shake his head, "No sirs... Riva has not been away from his people so long, it is difficult to make friends with some species here. Riva does not go out when it rains, or bathe, or swim like all do. This is a recreation world, but Riva seldom does much recreating. Lots of things are quite expensive and this world has no deserts..."

"Terra... My world has gigantic deserts, in many places of it."

Riva perked up curiously, "Just in some parts? Not the whole thing?"

"No. We have deserts and oceans and forests like these and mountains and snowy places and 100 other types of climates all over the planet."

"Ohhh... This sounds pretty... Riva wonders if his Uncle Maathu has ever been to your world, is it far away?"

"Oh, about 800 light-years from here, give or take a parsec. Not too far, but not all that close."

Riva nodded, smiling brightly, "Yes, yes... Riva wants to see many places, like his uncle. Everyone back home says we should not be so light with leaving our world, that we should stay home, build a den, bond with females, and make kits... But... Riva has never actually... Felt that is the way for him, if you understand this way sirs."

"You want to try different things. It's not that unusual."

Tannis nodded, "If you want to travel, I might be able to get you a job working on my ship."

The feline glanced at Shinai, "Don't we still have a few open places on late duty maintenance crews?"

"I think so. We could probably pull a non-com freelance position opening. Would avoid all the paperwork, and there are empty cabins on the lower decks."

Riva tipped his head, "You would, take Riva with you, to a starship?"

Tannis smirked softly, "To my starship. If you'd like to find work that will let you travel, we go all over this quadrant."

The Korovan's giant liquid brown eyes were goggling as he slowly lowered the bottle clasped in his paw to the soft grass, almost falling over backward, "You would take Riva, to a new job? Off of this planet? All over the galaxy?"

"Well, the starting pay tier isn't much, but the hours are good and you get three days a week off for other pursuits. You'd just be a crewmale, no rank, but you'd technically be a contractor from your own world."

Tannis grinned as he felt Shinai squeeze his ass, sitting up straighter, "And everyone on board is friendly."

The Korovan was still mulling things over as he nodded softly, "Riva gets one day here, and a free meal, he has a small room in the other tower block, but he shares it."

"You'd have your own cabin, or a double with someone, your own synthesizer unit or use of the galley for all meals, a bathing unit could be tailored to your own specific biological needs, I'm sure."

Riva nodded softly, his paws shaking softly as he rubbed at his muzzle, "Uncle Maathu would be so proud. None has ever worked on a starship before in our entire family. But... What would Riva have to do for a new job?"

Tannis clamped his paw over Shinai's mouth the moment he saw his human mate's lips part, "Nothing, really. You seem to be eager to please, young, in good shape, friendly, eager to learn and try new things. And my husband here seems to have taken a liking to you..."

The feline smirked softly as he released Shinai's chin, poking him as his human mate stuck out his tongue. Riva seemed oblivious to the exchange as he bounced on his haunches softly, his paws opening and closing in excitement, "Riva likes you too sirs, Riva had a warm feeling for you both the moment he saw you."

"Really? Where?" Shinai asked before Tannis could stop him, grinning up into his feline mate's face as he developed that cute, exasperated little nose wrinkle. He inhaled as he felt Tannis' paw squeeze his balls sharply, offering a tiny grin as Riva looked coy, "Oh, uh, well sirs... Riva felt good for you inside; in his head and warm... in... other places."

The Korovan giggled wildly as he blushed, covering his muzzle and face with a paw as he shook his head, "Riva is not used to... what is the term... flirting openly, with other species and other males. In his own society it is frowned upon to... pursue other males once you reach a certain age past youth."

"You're not on your world now."

Riva nodded frantically, blushing hotly as he covered his face, "Yes... Riva knows. He has tried to... flirt, but not met with success often."

The Korovan shook his head, "The one female asked if Riva wants paying for sexual intercourse, but Riva knew that would be bad..."

"They thought you were a prostitute?"

"Is that the term sir? Someone who is paid for sex... Riva does not think he would like that. He likes doing better work for paying."

"No reason you can't have casual sex."

Tannis stretched, his arms cramping from leaning on top of Shinai, rubbing his paws and wrists lightly as Riva stared openly at him, "Casual sex sir?"

"Mating between friends."

Riva wrinkled his nose softly, "Riva has no friends sir, not in that way of intimacy. Riva has not thought that way much, about other males, really, amongst his own kind, not for many cycles."

"I'm positive you'll make lots of friends onboard the ship."

Shinai's grin was contagious as Riva giggled and nodded, making Tannis smirk at the both, "I'm never gonna get a moment's peace, am I?"

End Part II