Part 2 – The Distress Call

The runabout Stardust Traveler glided its way through the muted tones of rainbow colors that made up what was known as Slipspace. The mission, carry its seven passengers from the Izuno system to the space station Artemis Terminal; the new headquarters of the Mobile Crisis Response Units. These MCRUs, code-named Sentinels, Space Rangers, or even Valkyries, are mandated to respond to any distress call or investigate any disturbance that might threaten innocent civilians. They are not there to enforce the current peace, but to create hope for the future.

Seven of the nine personnel currently traveling on the runabout were among the first to represent the major powers that had signed on to the MCRU Initiative over a year ago. A journey that will take the runabout a full week to complete...

"So..." The tan and gray wolf like Lykain started as he came over to the table in the center of the compartment. Obviously, he was already bored with the week's journey on the Runabout. "Where do you think they'll post us, Theaz?"

Theaz shrugged in response. "Hard to say with us being out bound to the Artemis Terminal." The mostly gray wolfess said without even looking up from her data pad that she was reading from. "It's one of the few stations out on the rim of known space." The tan Lykain who broke the silence in the room huffed in annoyance.

"I heard we might get posted on the LCS Valkyrie." A voice said from a bench against the wall.

"The LCS Valkyrie?" The wolf asked, picking at his simple gray jumpsuit-like uniform that identified him and the other two wolves in the room as soldiers from the Lykain Freehold sectors. "Isn't that ship captain by a Caushae?"

"Yes." A creamy pink furred Caushae yawed out as she stretched out on the bench behind the other two. Dark pink locks fell in front of her face, which she soon threaded behind her brown feline ears. She stood up and pulled on her two piece uniform that identified her as a Sovereignty technician, straining out the blue cloth under the uniform and smoothing the leather like long vest so she was more comfortable again.

"I think that I'd rather be posted on the Moon Hunter." The solid cream colored Lykain with a light brown mane for hair that was also sitting at the table cooed. "I heard that the captain was handsome."

"Is that the one with the Lykain captain who has a prosthetic limb?" Theaz asked, looking up for the first time.

"And tail." The admission of the revelation didn't detour the cream color wolf's face from staring at the wall, probably envisioning the Lykain captain with a bit of a twinkle in her.

"That must be one heck of a story." The Caushae said as she rounded the table to get at a coffee pot on the counter at the rear of the room.

The only male Lykain on the trip scoffed. "With all the rumors I've heard so far floating around about the MCRU, I don't know who would even want to be assigned to the Valkyrie. Rumors say, it already has had quite a few unsettling adventures so far."

"I-I wouldn't m-mind being apart of the Valkyrie crew..." The room fell into silence as everyone turned to the new voice. Now the focus of attention, the lone Mauluse Started to squirm in the corner of the compartment. How she wished she had kept quiet.

"Oh, so now she speaks..." The tan Lykain mocked. "Never knew what 'Quiet as a mouse' was till just now."

"I-I just..."

"Kleo, behave yourself." A new voice spoke up from the doorway. A tall human woman wearing a TAFT BDU (*Battle Dress Uniform) came in and walked over to the table and crossed her arms. "Or do I need to get a newspaper to roll up and bat you over the head with it?"

The Lykain winced. "That's not a funny joke..." Kleo whined.

"I wasn't joking." The woman said crossing her arms over her chest and giving the now cowering wolf the ever dreaded "Look" that human females seem to be able to do so easily.

"But..."

"I'd stop when I was ahead, Kleo." A second male voice said from the door. "You're not going to win with Kasey." The human, also wearing the same olive drab TAFT uniform as Kasey, came in and walked by the table.

"But..."

"You want me to find a Sunday paper for her?" The human asked, turning to look at Kleo. Theaz and the others snickered as Kleo's ears laid flat against his head and made a whimper.

Kasey turned and faced her fellow soldier. "Oh come on Jordan, a regular Saturday paper will work."

Jordan chuckled at the comment as he went to the counter to pour himself a cup of coffee. "Well Kasey, I wanted to make sure you had something thick enough to get through Kleo's thick Skull."

The Mauluse watched the interactions continue between everyone, very glad that the attention was off of her. She nearly jumped out of her seat with a surprised squeak when she felt a paw on her shoulder.

"Hey," a soft voice spoke next to her. "I didn't mean to startle you."

She turned her head to see the Caushae sitting next to her. "I-its ah... al... Its Okay..." The mouse managed to stutter out. The feline smiled at her. When the Mauluse looked at the feline, it felt like that you could get lost looking into those sleepy blue eyes of hers.

"I'm sorry it took me this long to speak to you, but I thought that you might have been mute. I haven't seen you speak to anyone in the last two days Aya."

"Min..."

The feline cocked her head to the side, letting a few loose strands to fall loose. "Min?"

The mouse nodded, looking obviously quite shy and well out of her element. "N-name... My name... Short for Minuet..."

"I see," The feline smiled and gave Min's shoulders a light squeeze. "It's a pretty name for someone as cute as you. Aya Minuet."

Min looked at the floor. If it wasn't for her off white fur, she'd probably be beet red. As it was, it felt like her ears were burning.

"I'm Dusine," The Caushae introduced herself, causing the almost white Mauluse to look up at the creamy pink feline. "And if you're interested in knowing, the two humans are Jordan Gilder and Kasey Benson." The two humans looked up from what they were doing and gave a quick wave while Min waved back sheepishly. "And the three Lykains at the table are Kleo'Vumoss, Celia'Pritran, and Theaz'Gren." Kleo and Celia both nodded when their names were called. Theaz, however, kept looking at her pad as she gave a quick wave.

"There are two more floating around here. But I don't know where they are." Kasey said before taking a sip of her coffee. "Mmm, this is good."

"I know right?" Jordan said after taking another sip of the hot liquid as he leaned against the counter in the back of the room. "I wonder who made it."

"It wasn't you?" Kasey asked skeptically as she retrieved a mug from a cupboard.

Jordan shook his head. "Nope."

Kasey looked over at the three Lykains at the table. Kleo held up his hands. "Every time I try and make the stuff, people compare it to something called tar." Kasey turned to the girls, the one named Celia shook her head no.

Theaz didn't bother to look up from her pad. "I don't drink the stuff,"

"Then who..."

"I d-did..." Min shrunk in the bench where she was as all eyes turned to her again.

"Well..." Jordan said as he held up his half finished cup. "This is the best stuff I had ever tasted. My vote is that Min is the official coffee maker for the rest of the trip."

"Here, here." Kasey said in agreement.

Dusine nudged the Mauluse with her elbow. "Hey that's something to be proud of. Not to be hiding from."

"I-I don't l-like the attention..." Min muttered so low that the three Lykains could barely hear what she had said. Dusine frowned. Before she could ask why, Kleo spoke up.

"Where did you learn to brew coffee? Every time I try, it turns to goop."

Min pulled her legs up and hugged them. "M-Master made me learn."

The room fell into a deafening quiet as what she had said sunk into the other occupants. The only noise was the soft sound of the Runabout's power plant and engine's humming. Everyone was looking at her in shock of what she had said, even Theaz put her pad down and looked at the diminutive Mauluse.

"You... You were a slave?" Kasey couldn't keep the shock out of her voice. Everyone watched as Min just nodded. "My god... With as advance as civilizations are now, why does slavery even still exist?"

"Sadly some races haven't evolved enough to count every sentient race as equals." Dusine said as she looked up at the stunned human, pulling some of her pink locks of hair out of her face. "The Apophis are prime examples and continue to hold colonies of Mauluses and Almedhas to do whatever they please with. And, while I'm ashamed to say it, even the Sovereignty has not yet been fully able to outlaw slavery within its borders. There are still hold out sectors that aren't enlightened and prefers the old way of things from when the Immortal Emperor was in control."

"Damn..." Jordan said as he refilled his cup with more coffee. "Well, I for one am glad that you were freed and have joined us for this journey. Not sure if I could stomach any of Kleo's coffee."

"Hey!"

Kasey sat down on the other side of Min. "So, who do we have to thank for you being here with us now?"

Minuet looked at her hands as she fidgeted with her thumbs. "Aya Lynnette..."

"Lynnette?" Kasey said, a little confused. "Is she a human?"

Minuet shook her head. "N-no... A C-Caushae."

Kleo looked at her in disbelief "Not Lynnette Wilkes, the captain of the Valkyrie." Min nodded. "Well that would explain it then."

Before anymore could be said, a beeping like alarm sounded throughout the compartment. Min squeaked in surprise as the two humans quickly stopped what they were doing and immediately left the compartment with a look of determination on their faces.

"Wh... What is that?" Min said, starting to cover her ears to the noise. The other four listen for a moment trying to place the sound.

"I think that is the communication alarm." Celia spoke up as the three wolves at the table got up to join the two humans.

Dusine gave the Mauluse's shoulder a squeeze before saying, "Come on let's find out what's going on." Min shyly nodded as the two got up and went forward to the cockpit. Thankfully the cockpit area itself was rather spacious allowing for multiple stations though everyone was crowded around the forward two pilot stations. Jordan was standing next to the pilot seat leaning over trying to get a good look despite two long dark gray ears nearly getting in his way.

"What do we got Rulve?" Jordan asked the hazel rabbit that was sitting in the pilot seat.

"Give me a minute and I'll tell you." The female pilot groaned out after a yawn. She gave subtle tugs to straighten out her blue colored uniform with red trim that looked like it was hastily put on. "Whatever this is, it woke me up during the first restful sleep in the last three days." Rulve's hands tapped along the console in a flash as the alarm was silenced. Rulve's one ear twitched as she read the display.

"Well?"

"It's a general distress call." Rulve sighed as she slouched in the pilot's chair. "It seems that we are passing through just on the edge of the receiving range for it."

"Where is it coming from?" Theaz asked.

"Hold on, the signal is pretty weak." She turned to the gray tiger Caushae with the same uniform on that was sitting next to her in the co-pilot seat. "Nasyn, see if you can adjust the receiver's sensitivity."

"Hold on." The feline said as he tapped away at the controls. "The signal is being finicky. We maybe have a minute or so to lock it down before we lose it."

"Can't we fold back into normal space and try it then?" Celia asked, trying to help.

The Rabbit shook her head "No, if we do, we might drift out of range faster and we'd lose the signal completely."

"Let me try." Dusine said as she took an empty station off to the side and started to bring up the different command prompts for the subspace radio. The feline's fingers were almost a blur as she typed away on the keypad before her, obviously in her element as she worked the station. Soon she grinned as she entered her final command. "There. Try it now."

Rulve nodded as she turned back and entered a few more commands. "That got it, thanks."

"Koh-mra"

"Lets see..." The Almedhas leaned closer to look at the screen, nearly pushing Jordan out of the way. "General Distress, Automatic Repeat... From... Maiya Station?"

"Maiya Station?... What and where is that?"

"Maiya Station," Came the reply from Nasyn as he read the information off the computer screen before him. "A "Four Leaf Clover Class" Deep Space Research Station on the edge of known space in the Maiya Tau System. Currently it is designated as one of the major research stations for this sector and any inbound expeditions are to come here and drop off any new samples or data on new flora and/or fauna. Population... two thousand five hundred some personal and family members."

"Fuck..."

"Val-ruah.."

Silence fell over the assembled people in the cockpit as the information sunk in. It was close to a minute before anyone spoke up. "W-what are we going to do?" Celia asked no one in particular.

Jordan gave a determined grunt as he stood up and looked back at the others behind him. "I say we answer that distress call."

It was a few seconds before anyone spoke up. "But... We're not part of an official unit yet."

"What can we even do? There's only nine of us in a runabout."

"Well," Jordan stated with a determined look on hi I don't know about you guys, but this is exactly the sort of thing that I signed up for when I volunteered to join the MCRU." There was a small murmur from most everyone as they agreed with Jordan. The majority of them all volunteered to take missions like the one that they're being presented with now, but the suddenness of this was still a shock on their systems. "How far out of route is the station from our current course?"

Rulve entered the calculations into her console. "Lets see... It's going to be about a six, seven hour detour there and an added four hours to our trip once we get back underway again."

Jordan nodded. "Okay, we are left with a choice, it's either a few extra hours with a stopover at Maiya or spend the next three days wondering if we could have done more."

Kasey straightened up. "I agree, we all signed up for this. Life won't wait forever for us to feel ready."

"While there aren't proper regulations for the situation that we're in," Theaz stated. "It's the mandate of the Mobile Crisis Response Unit to respond to any distress call they may receive."

"Agreed." Dusine and Celia said.

Kleo sighed as he crossed his arms. "As you humans would say, "In for a penny, in for a pound."

Rulve looked over to her current co-pilot. Without being asked, the feline simply nodded and started to input commands as she turned back to her controls. "Ready to change course for the station... Now." Before she could finish though, Jordan's hand stopped her. She looked up at his questionably.

"Only if all of us are in agreement." Jordan said softly. "There's still one more that needs to voice her answer."

Everyone wondered what Jordan meant. It took a few seconds for everyone realized that Minuet hasn't spoken yet. Min felt all their eyes on her again. Oh how she wishes that she could just disappear in a crack in the bulkheads. Sensing the Mauluse's discomfort, Dusine got up and placed an arm around her smaller frame in an act to try and put the mouse at ease.

"W-we should go help."she finally stuttered out. "Th-they sent out a distress call for a reason, a-an if we c-could be of some sort of a-assistance we should go and s-see what we can d-do for them..." Everyone nodded in approval and smiled at the timid Mauluse.

"Okay, we are all in agreement then." Jordan said as he turned back to Rulve. "Please change course for Maiya Station, best speed." He then turned back to everyone else in the cockpit. "All of us had better go and catch as much rest as we can get in the next six hours. God only knows what we're getting into."

The group all nodded and started to filter out of the room. Dusine sat back at the station where she was before to send a subspace message to the Artemis Terminal, alerting them of the developed emergency, even though they won't get the message for at least a day and a half. Jordan followed everyone out, but tailed behind Minuet as she made her way back to the common room again.

"Hey Min, can I talk to you a minute?"

The Mauluse stopped in her tracks as if jolted out of her thoughts. She turned to look at the human, pulling a few black locks out of her ruddy colored eyes. "Ye-ye... Sure..." She stuttered out.

"I wanted to let you know, I didn't mean to put you on the spot like I did." He sighed as his gaze fell to his fidgeting fingers. "I hope you can forgive me, I didn't want to take a course of action unless all of us were in agreement and I hope that I didn't also force the issue on you."

Min blinked at the human. She was almost at a loss of words. She had never heard anyone apologize to her, let alone for something like he was. "Uh... I-its..." She stuttered before swallowing hard, trying to force her thoughts into words. "It's okay..."

"It doesn't seem like it to me though..." Jordan said. "Listen, I don't know what had happened to you when you were a slave, and I don't think I could ever imagine what had happened to you during that time. Especially to the point where you don't want to have much attention on you." He gave a sigh as he closed his eyes briefly. "If it's okay, I'd like to talk and get to know you a little better."

Minuet blinked in surprise. Instincts in her mind were practically yelling at her that something was amiss and he wanted something from her, but what? Yet when her magenta eyes look into the human's brown eyes, all she saw was concern. She wasn't sure why though.

"I... I'd like that." she finally said after a few seconds of silence. Jordan smiled and followed her to the back compartment.