It Was as if it Was Just Yesterday

Thomas walked behind M'Sara; they were on their way back to their room. They had both had a class today, and had just got done sharing their meal together.

It had been over a cycle since the attempted assassination on Thomas' parents. He had not received a word of information on them since. Though he was told that was a good thing. Even so he could not stop thinking about them. He hoped it had not affected their lives in a way that would cause them undue stress.

As for the two of them, M'Sara had been a huge help when Thomas needed it the most, she had helped him so much with CAW related classes that he knew he would have done much worse without her help. Just as he helped her in Earth related classes. They helped each other with their engineer, physics, astrophysics, astronomy and solar-terrestrial physics classes, as those are their biggest shared interests.

Just after M'Sara palmed the panel on the wall to shut the door behind her a few seconds after it shut, it dinged. She stopped and turned to look at the panel she had just passed as she pushed the button that would turn on the camera that allowed her to be seen, and for her to see the area in front of their door.

On the view screen was a middle aged Human male, and a middle aged Luchs. They were waving at the camera, but did not say a word. M'Sara stood there and wondered why they looked familiar.

That was when Thomas said behind her, “Are you just going to stare at my parents on the view screen or did you plan to open the door so they could enter?"

M'Sara turned around just enough so that her head was able to turn around to face Thomas as she exclaimed, “But they are on Terra in hiding!"

Thomas reached around her with a sigh to push the button that would open the door and turn off the monitor. He closed it again as soon as they were inside.

On his heel he turned to face his parents. They stood just inside as they waited patiently for a response. M'Sara peeked out behind Thomas as he introduced them to each other, “Mother, father, I would like to introduce you to my mate M'Sara." Thomas took a step to the side and turned sideways before he said, “M'Sara this is Fred and M'Ross, my parents."

That was when M'Ross approached Thomas as she said, “Good, formalities are over, time for hugs of greeting."

M'Ross was about three centimeters taller than M'Lar, that put her at about one point five meters, she wrapped her arms around Thomas and hugged him tightly.

In return Thomas patted her back gently as he said, “Yes I missed you too mom. I'm so glad to see that you are both health and doing well."

Finally, when M'Ross was done she turned to M'Sara, and looked her over, then took her into her arms and proceeded to hug her as she told her in a soft voice, “It is so good to finally meet you in person. I've waited a year for this. We received your letters and photos, but were unable to respond."

With a grunt M'Sara returned the hug, though a bit more gently. With that she added, “I'm so glad to finally meet you as well. Thomas sure must have been a paw full. I bet you've got some great stories."

M'Ross moved so she could hold her at arm's length before she replied, “Oh do I! When we have time, I have a few you must hear. We will be staying just down the hall from your room for the time being.

My, you are a short one, it feels nice to be next to someone shorter than I am for once."

Fred turned to Thomas as the two Luchs got acquainted, “How is Mateja doing? I mean for real, the few brief emails she had sent were not very informative. I would almost think we were her foster parents or something. Oh, wait we are."

With a grin Thomas replied, “Oh she is feeling the stress with her on the job training while taking classes at the same time. She hides it pretty well though, and I think she is coping with it just as well. She is also warming up to M'Sara too, I'm pretty happy about that."

His father nodded and patted him on the shoulder as he said, “Yeah, that is good news for once. When we took her in, she had so much pent up aggression, likely from the stress of living on Earth by herself. She may have even felt unwanted by her parents. When we fostered her, it was like her parents did not really care what happened to her. I am glad she found you though, she was able to care about someone else, turn her aggression into protection and not be so lonely. I'm glad to know that the bond you share is as strong as ever."

Thomas gave a little chuckle before he replied, “Yes dad, I am glad you took her in and she really is like the older sister I never got. Even though she is only a few months older. I only wish we had met about six to ten years sooner as I may not have been bullied in grade school either. I'm really going to miss her when I get assigned to a ship."

When there was only silence from his father, he looked to see him with a grin. After he stretched that out for a few seconds his father answered, “Oh, you won't have to worry about that son."

That was when M'Ross stuck M'Sara between her and Fred with a hug as she said, “Let us welcome our new daughter to the family! Group hug!"

M'Sara's ears were folded off to the sides of her head and her tail had a nervous twitch on the end, but even so she did not resist or complain.

His father and mother hugged M'Sara between them. Thomas stood there and watched with a lopsided grin on his face. M'Sara looked so cute between them. His father was almost same height he was, so she fit right in.

Thomas wandered over to the wall opposite the bed and pulled out all the seats from the wall. There were two sets in total, enough to seat four average sized people.

That was when his father noticed and separated himself as he said, “Well enough of that, time to get down to business."

With that the four of them took seats, his parents on one seat, and Thomas and M'Sara on the other. His father started as soon as they were all seated, “The reason we are here on Mars is because the CAW authorities thought I would be safer here. I agreed and as a side benefit, we get to visit with my son and daughter. We arrived two rotations ago, but we wanted to recover from the trip here and the debriefing before we came to visit." 

That was when M'Ross took over, “You two have been living together as a couple, as well as going to classes together for a cycle since you wrote that email. I want to hear from the source how you two are handling this relationship.

Your father and I have been doing well ourselves despite the extra stress. In fact, in a way it has brought us closer. At first, we argued for the first five weeks of solitude. We felt cut off from all of our friends and family, as we were through no fault of our own. It was hard for the first two months.

One morning I could not take any more, and I pounced him as he was heading for the kitchen. I informed him I would not let him up until we solved our issue."

Now it was Fred's turn and so he continued, “Oh that was a day to remember. We realized that we were focusing our stress on each other instead of helping the other let it out. That is something one needs to watch out for when one is so close and confrontable with the other."

*****

Thomas stood beside M'Sara, as they were in line to wait to be called to receive their graduation degree. All of their friends had already received their degrees. Their friends were waiting in a line at the back of the stage with the rest of those who had received theirs. On the left the dean stood at the podium. He turned to face the mic and said, “Would valedictorian graduand Thomas Sigmund Hauer please approach to accept his degree."

M'Sara gave Thomas' hand a quick squeeze before he walked down to the ramp that went up to the stage. Thomas approached the podium and the dean held up a roll of paper tied with a silver and black braided string.

As Thomas took ahold of his degree the dean announced, “Welcome Thomas Sigmund Hauer graduate of the Coalition of Aligned Worlds Academy of Mars. Thomas turn your tassel to the other side and join the rest of your classmates."

Thomas did just that as he walked up beside a student he did not know to wait for the next in line on the back of the stage. He watched his mate follow in his footsteps and become a graduate just as he did. His face lit up as if his smile was attempting to break free of its restraints.

*****

Thomas walked into the Six-O-Two club where the after party was being held. At his side was M'Sara. They had changed out of their robes to where something a bit less formal. M'Sara was wearing all black slacks and the top that had two vertical grey stripes along the front. Thomas was wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt with a pi symbol on it that had the numbers for pi going around the symbol in a spiral.

M'Sara spotted his parents waiting for them at the table on the left side near the back. Seated with them were M'Lar and Mateja. She tugged on his shirt and pointed at the table until Thomas nodded. They slowly made their way over and took their seats between his parents and M'Lar.

Fred started off with, “Welcome son, daughter. I'm so proud of you two. This is one of the things I'm glad to be alive for."

Thomas grinned as M'Sara answered, “Thank you, I'm glad to spend more time with you. I hope we get to do this every day until we get assigned."

Fred smiled wide, “I can't hold it in any longer. One of my weaknesses… Before we came here to meet you, we heard you where both assigned. You should have your official orders by the time you get back to your room."

M'Sara sat still, her mouth agape as Thomas got excited at the news and blurted out, “To where? When are we being shipped out?"

“You have been assigned to the intergalactic starship Darmstadt; it is scheduled to dock in ten days."

M'Sara leaped up, her chair fell behind her as she shouted, “My father captains that ship! How did you even do that? How is that not against the rules?"

Thomas waved his hands towards M'Sara as he committed, “Wait, wait, wait… Are you telling me I'm going to serve on a ship with her father? That sounds like it would be stressful for me. Why would you do that to me?"

M'Sara turned and hit Thomas in the shoulder with her fist then told him, “You think it will be hard for you? I'll have to put up with his judgement of me for every waking moment!"

Thomas rubbed his shoulder before he turned his head to face M'Sara so he could roll his eyes at her. After he sighed, he faced his father again to ask, “Why are you doing this to us?"

With a smirk Fred informed them, “Turns out I had nothing to do with this, it came down from on high."

Thomas sat back in his chair with a slump, “On high, what does that mean?"

Fred slowly shook his head, the smirk still in place, “Oh, I'm afraid that is above my pay grade."

M'Lar and Mateja had been remaining silent until Mateja smiled and with a slap on the table said, “Congratulations you two! May the solar winds always be at your back."

M'Lar nodded and added, “I'll miss you guys, but we will remain in contact. I had a feeling this was the likely outcome."

******

M'Sara and Thomas entered their room. As he turned to close the door M'Sara padded over to their bed and flopped onto her back on top of it, arms spread out and her legs hung over the edge.

Thomas followed her to the bed and looked down at her as she stared at the ceiling as he said, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

At that she made a “fumpf" noise.

He looked a bit worried at that sound, turned around and sat on the bed beside her. “You realize this is our dream, right? Just because your father is the captain, could it really be that bad?"

She turned her head ever so slowly towards him. When she faced him is when she said, “You don't get it. My mother is serving as his Number One. It is not all that uncommon to have families serve on the same ship, even for our defense force. I bet my first paycheck it was my father's doing. This has his name all over it. It could have been my mother's idea, but he was behind it. He had to have called in some favors for it too."

“Do you know much about the ship we will be serving on?"

“I know much. Studied it after I learned my father was serving on one. It is our most advanced large escort class ship. It was designed after Terra joined CAW. We studied your war ships, since you guys love war so much, you got really good at it. We took what we thought were good ideas and integrated them into our own designs and tech. It is crewed with humans too, last I heard. As far as I know he is in a fleet with four other ships. A cruiser, carrier and two gunships. They patrol shipping routes in CAW systems. Mars is pretty far off from their patrol systems. I would not be surprised if he comes here alone to pick up new crew. So, our first mission will be to rejoin the fleet. I'd buy that for a dollar."

Thomas rolled his eyes with a chuckle, “Why did I think it was a good idea to have you watch Robocop with me. I really have corrupted you beyond repair."

She grinned and gave him an open palm light punch on his upper arm before she said with one ear turned slightly to the side and a smile in her voice, “I was corrupted before I met you, you just made it worse."

New, less rough

*****

Everything was on fire; people were screaming everywhere around him. A man that he did not know and was also on fire, floundered as he walked towards him, his mouth opened and a beeping sound emitted from it. The beeping became more insistent and changed in sound too more of a buzzing sound as he got closer. Soon it was nothing but that sound, louder and louder as the man got closer and closer.

Thomas woke with a start and sat up; his bedside alarm was going off. Once the alarm clock sensed that he was awake it reset itself. With a shudder he took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. What he needed was a distraction.

M'Sara stirred beside him, her leg draped over his under the blanket. Thomas pulled the cover up and off of him. Her foot became exposed and with a smirk he gently stroked her foot with his fingers, between her grey digit and metacarpal pads. When her foot started to twitch, he chuckled in amusement.  Before he knew it, he was shoved out of the bed by said foot. It happened so fast he did not even see what happened. When he landed about a meter away from the side of the bed, he could not help but laugh, even though his hip was sore from being shoved so hard.

As she sat up so she could rub her abused foot she informed him, “I'm going to get you back for that, mark my words. When you least expect it. Not today, nor tomorrow, but one day. Boom."

“I think my cat hated that too, he did not look amused when I did that to him."

She turned her head up in a very human like snub as she got out of the bed, in nothing but her fur, and padded into the refresher room, after a minute she poked her head out to ask, “Are you not joining me?"

*****

With all his possessions packed into a large duffle bag, his school uniform left behind for others to use. He had one of his new uniforms on, all clean and nicely pressed. M'Sara was beside him having done the same. Thomas was beside himself with excitement and it looked as if M'Sara was the same, with a distinct bounce to her step as they walked down the hall to the launch pad where their shuttle waited. They were so excited in fact that they both forgot all about who's ship they were getting on, all they could think about was they were going off into space, the adventure of it all was almost overwhelming for both of them.

When they turned to go down the airlock passage, they noticed two armed guards on either side of the airlock. M'Sara nudged Thomas in the hip, “This is the right one, let's go. Our future awaits."

He did not realize he had even stopped, with a deep breath he caught up to her. As they approached one of the guards gave them a subtle nod before they turned to open the hatch.

There was the sound of a large motor and gears turning as the arm came out of the side and attached to the center of the hatch. With a hiss the round gear shaped hatch moved towards them before it rotated as it moved to the side.

This was the point of no return, on the other side of that hatch was the shuttle that would take them into space to deliver them to an interstellar spacecraft.

All his life it was all he could think of after he learned about space travel. That lifelong dream was about to become reality. He could hardly believe it. There was one thing he did not count on, and that was becoming so close to someone that he was not sure at times where he stopped and she started. He had started to pick up a few mannerisms of hers just as she had his.

He stepped through the portal and felt another chill of excitement as it ran through him. Just then M'Sara grabbed his lower arm in both of her hands, he could feel her bouncing on her toes.

They took seats next to each other, there were only five of the ten left open still. They did not know if they would all be filled, but after they strapped themselves in and waited, they looked around at the three others that had been there already and neither of them knew them. They also did not seem to care or notice their entry. That was fine, there was time to get to know the rest of the crew after they got on their way.

The silence was getting heavy so Thomas decided to end it. I leaned over with his arm out for a handshake, “Hi, I'm Thomas, and this wonder beside me is M'Sara. Good to meet you, looks like we will be working together."

Just as one of the strangers looked at Thomas then his hand in thought, a male human, two more people entered through the hatch the seal closed behind them. Thomas withdrew his hand and turned it into a wave.

That is when the cabin started to flash with yellow lights along the all along the top corner where the wall joined the roof. The airlock retracted from the shuttle with snap as it left the shuttle. The latest arrivals took their seats, one beside Thomas, one beside the strangers. Thomas thought he recognized the female Katzen, a Lehpparr by the look of her rosettes. Though he could not place her yet. She had just finished buckling the five point harness.

He tapped the side of his jaw in thought as he gazed at her trying to jog his memory, she turned to look at him. With one of her ears turned to the side, “Is there… Wait do I know you?"

At that point they heard the engines revving up, and could feel the shuttle vibrate under them. It was about ready to take off.

Thomas smiled pleasantly at her, “Yes, I do think so. I'm trying to remember where I recognize you from."

Her head tilted to the side as her left ear turned back, and the right one turned to the side as it looked like she was doing the same.

M'Sara had her head tilted to the side while she looked at the last human male that had joined them. She knew that face, but from where she was not sure, a classmate most likely. She was on the opposite corner of the cabin from him so she would wait until they got to their destination to reacquaint herself with him.

When the yellow lights stopped blinking and turned switched to red is when the shuttle launched from the surface of Mars with a jolt. With a lurch the shuttle went from going up to up and forward at about point five g. After only a few minutes they begin to feel Mars pull at them less, and less. The passengers remained silent during the trip, for one the shuttle was not quit so it would be difficult to hold a conversation, and two they were all pretty excited, even if they did not outwardly show it. Out the viewport they could see the newly built shipyard/drydock in orbit around Mars. It was only about five minutes until they reached orbit and the main thrusters cut out.

The Lehpparr beside Thomas laid her hand on Thomas's arm, “I have remembered where I know you from, we went to school on Terra together, you helped me in History class a few times."

Thomas a little surprised turned his head quickly at her and smiled when she started talking. He gently placed his hand on hers for a few seconds before going back to M'Sara's leg on his other side.

M'Sara was leaning over watching the exchange with her right ear perked up and the other off to the side. She placed her hand over his when it got back to her leg.

Thomas with a gentle smile still, turned to her, “I remember you, Tamur'a, right?"

She smiled and nodded, she looked wistful with her ears partly forward and slightly down.

That was when the red lights turned off as they heard the shuttle connecting to the ship that would take them into interstellar space.

Thomas nodded slightly back, “We will talk more later, would be great to catch up. See you around."

Tamur'a nodded with her ears perked up, and smiled, “Yes we will."

When the green light strips on each side of the airlock blinked, they unbuckled the harnesses and got out of their seats. They each stood in front of their seat waiting for the hatch to open. After the sound of motors working and large bolts clamping on the hatch hissed before it opened.

They were able to stand thanks to their maglock boots. They were in micro gravity in orbit around Mars attached to their future. 

Rough

They walked through the airlock, into their new home. Bare white COB-LED light strips in the corners where the roof connected to the wall, lit up the hall they walked down and the room they walked into. Waiting for them were not only other new recruits, but the rest of the crew as well. The only ones who were not present were the bridge officers.

After a few seconds of standing just inside the hatch and looking around in wonder the male Löwe lieutenant barked, “Form up plebes, get in line at the back." 

As they waited, the hatch closed with the work of hidden motors, as soon as it was seated in place, they heard through the hall the shuttle clamps release then silence.

Thomas looked around the room, what looked like a machine shop, garage and storage room. He looked on the floor and noticed markings, they were gathered where a shuttle would be. He knew there should be three shuttles, two would be clamped to the outside hall when stored, and one would be stored here. This room would be one of the places he worked in as this is also where they did any maintenance on shuttles and made any needed parts for any ship maintenance or repairs. The wall to his left not only had machining tools, but a large 3D printer. The other wall beside the hatch was a wide rectangular door large enough for a shuttle to go through. When inside the bay the shuttle would be clamped to the floor.

They got into the next row towards the back. There was quiet chatter among the group. As they waited quietly it slowly got louder. The lieutenant in the front turned towards the group and shouted, “Quite down. It won't be much longer until the last group arrives."

To either side of him was M'Sara and Tamur'a. M'Sara looked like she was attempting to hide behind him, her arm around him as her head peaked around his side. Tamur'a looked up at him as he turned to look at her with a warm look on her face with her ears off to either side of her head, turned downward.

Thomas smiled down at her, “What was your major?"

“Logistics, and tactics."

“Did you have a minor?"

“Weapon proficiency."

“Really?"

“I like shooting things, and explosions."

“We should do some Lazer tag or target practice."

Her eyes narrowed a bit as she said, “Oh, we can do both. For tag we just need a team of four. You just need to find three others to join you."

“I've got M'Sara on my team, so I just need two more."

She nodded and held out her hand. He took it and gave it a firm shake. With her other hand she retrieved her compad from her belt. When he let go of her hand, she used it to unlock it and opened the contact app. “Give me your contact info so we can IM each other."

Thomas retrieved his from his belt and did the same then touched hers. They chirped letting them know they exchanged contact info. After that they put them away.

“It is good to see you again."

At that point they heard the clamps engage on the hull as the shuttle docked. The room got quiet again as motors worked and seals locked. It was not long before the hatch opened with a hiss and slid to the side with the sound of smooth bearings and motors.

Only four others walked through the hatch, before they stopped and looked around in wonder. Three more female humans and a female Togartz. That still made it about six to one male for new arrivals as most that were there when they got here were males. Not only that but most were human. Not all were new recruits, some were transfers. Everyone in the group was new to this ship though, anyone that was on leave would have just bypassed the group of thirteen and had left the room.

The lieutenant barked again, “Form up plebes, line up in the back."

He looked around before he said, “I see that all the plebes are finally present. Everyone make sure to keep quiet as the captain is on his way to welcome you."

Slowly a hush fell over them when the Boatswain's call was heard over the intercom. That was when the door on the left side corner slid open with a whirl of motors. In walked the captain, a Löwe that stood at about one point six meters, tall for his species, yet held himself as if he was two meters tall. He looked very fit in his uniform too, clean and without a single wrinkle. Behind him was his first mate, his Number One, she was a Löwe as well that looked to also be very fit and stood about one point five meters.

The lieutenant announced, “Captain on the deck." then moved aside to make room. The captain stood at the podium, his hands on the surface, with his first mate beside him, he scanned the recruits as they waited in silent attention.

Thomas felt a chill when the captain paused to gaze at them for a heartbeat. With one look he suddenly feared everything M'Sara had warned him about.

With one last look around before the captain started, “Welcome aboard my new recruits, some of you I personally requested be assigned to my ship." With an ever so slight smirk he looked at M'Sara, “As was my own daughter and her mate. Now I want everyone to know I run a very tight ship. I need everyone to give their best while on duty. While off duty, I don't care what you are doing as long as you report back on time at your best and it fits within the rules of conduct. There is zero tolerance for insubordination. Everyone on board has their life in each and every one of our hands. Get settled in, the duty roster will be posted in your room cons." He turned and pointed at the terminal behind him, “Your room assignments are posted behind me. That is all." With that he turned and the First Mate followed him out. The door closed behind them with a swish.

The lieutenant barked, “What are you waiting for, form a line, look up your room, and leave. Your room will only open for its occupants. Hop to it!" With that he stepped back and stood against the wall at attention.

The front row walked over to the terminal forming a line, and everyone fell in behind them. One by one, they got their room number and a map to find it from there displayed on the screen briefly. When M'Sara got hers, she noted her room was the same as Thomas's. They had a room with two others. She did not recognize the names. Wait one of them did sound familiar, “Tamur'a Burn'am". She wondered if that was the Lehpparr Thomas had talked to earlier. Why were they roomed with two other females, she wondered? They were supposed to have had their own room together. Thomas had to have noticed that as well.

After the door closed behind M'Sara, Thomas took her hand in his as she walked beside him as he waited for her to exit as he asked, “Why are we in a quad room with two female roommates? One of them an old acquaintance."

“I was wondering that myself. So that was the Lehpparr you were chatting with on the shuttle."

He nodded as he walked in step with her down the hall to take the lift to the floor their room was on, “She was another exchange student, we went to high school together. I've not seen her since, or I've not noticed her at least. I have no idea who the other person is. Your parents would not have anything to do with that, would they? They do have double rooms on this crate, don't they? I thought we were to get our own room."

“It does sound like something my mother would do. She likes to cause chaos for entertainment; however, I don't think she did. As for the rooms, yeah, they do, for officers they have double and single rooms, sometimes for ensigns. It is probable that it is just chance. We may have had two roommates no matter what. Room is a premium on a starship of this size and recruits may not get a double room. We may be suspicious because you know one of them. I'm just glad they did not separate us; I would have lodged a complaint.

For all we know all the other rooms are one gender per room. The rules for room assignments are left up to the captain. I was just the odd one out. They could be a couple too. Well, if anything this is not going to be a dull assignment. We will need to see if we can get some alone time. That should be fun."

“I'll buy that for a dollar."

Thomas cringed then dead paned, “Why oh why did I have you watch eighties movies with me."

“Just goes to show you how much you love me. Also, we can thank your father for that as well."

“Oh, I'll thank him alright. Him and my grandparents. I'll thank them on how it is all their fault I got an extraterrestrial referencing eighties movies in conversation."

M'Sara reached the lift and touched the slightly glowing pad on the up arrow, it chirped and got brighter as an animation of a box descending replaced the arrows.

She turned her head and grinned up at him before stepping in, walking to the back and turning around to watch him follow her inside.

He touched the touchpad on the right side of the door on the number four, it chirped and changed from a list of numbers and into an animation of a box ascending with the number four inside of it. The inside of the elevator had plain walls of brushed aluminum and dark grey pile carpet just like the hall and storage-repair bay they were greeted in was.

When the lift reached the fourth floor it made a double quick chirping sound before announcing, “Fourth Floor." That was when the doors opened with very little sound.

As they walked down the identical hall to their room Thomas mentioned, “Sure am glad you guys invented artificial gravity, even if it is only one about half that of Mars."

“Point two five that of Terra actually."

“Yeah, yeah."

“It is enough so that even humans can live with it long term with exercise and supplements. It would be a waste to have it higher when it cost so much power to do so."

Even so it was taking Thomas some time to get used to the change from Mars gravity.

They stopped in front of their door and just looked at it, as if they were memorizing every scratch, every seam. Finally, Thomas reached over to the glass pad beside the door and placed his palm on it. With a chirp it whisked open.

The room was just big enough to fit two bunk beds side by side with just enough room to squeeze between them sideways, it was even smaller than his first dorm room. Even the ceiling at two meters was just high enough that he would not bump his head on it. There was no desk, no console. There was only a touch screen at the end of the room where they needed to do everything communication or computation wise in their room other than using their own personal devices. There was a multi user workstation at the end of every hall and in every work room, just none in anyone's quarters except for the officers. The officers' quarters were also on the uppermost deck a few decks up, along with the bridge. Between them was the common deck with engineering, medical, the armory, recreation, training rooms, the cafeteria, and the halo room. The health and mental wellbeing of the crew is very important. However, space on an interstellar military vessel is at a very high premium.

They both put their duffle bags on the bottom bunk on the left side of the room.

M'Sara looked up at Thomas, her ears up and pointed forward, “We did it. I hope we integrate with the rest of the crew without too much stress."

With a warm smile he said, “I'm not that worried, for the most part we will be working with other technical geeks and nerds. I bet we will be fine as long as we stay away from your father."

“Oh, you just had to go and ruin the moment, didn't you? Don't misunderstand, I love my parents very much. We just need our space; it is the way."

Thomas gave her a look, one eyebrow raised.

“What?"

“Uh… nothing. I wonder where our roommates are. I did not…"

That was when the door swished open. In walked Tamur'a, behind her was a Togartz they did not know. Thomas was outnumbered three to one now.

Tamur'a stopped in her tracks and looked to the bed that Thomas and M'Sara were sitting together on. The Togartz following her almost bumped into her as Tamur'a said, “Well, look who I get to room with. What an awesome coincidence."

Thomas and M'Sara looked at each other as she said, “Dammit mother."

Tamur'a turned with a giggle and placed her bag on the bottom bunk across from them. Behind her the Togartz did the same before she turned around and offered her hand to Thomas, “Hi I'm Cayla, Cayla Basset."

Thomas took her hand and gently shook it, “I'm Thomas Hauer." He held up his other hand with M'Sara's hand still in it, “This is my mate M'Sara D'Khatarr. Nice to meet you, it is."

M'Sara did the Katzen version of a smirk, her left ear tilted slightly down, knowing the reference as she watched Cayla.

Thomas finally let go of Cayla's hand that he had been still shaking, “I look forward to working with you, may the solar winds be at our backs."

Cayla did the Katzen version of a smile, her ears perked up and tail rose up behind her, “May it always be." She turned her attention to M'Sara, “What is it like being mated to a human?"

With the smirk still in place she answered, “A never ending adventure."

Cayla was almost as tall as Thomas, and broad shouldered with a muscular build. She seemed a bit surprised, “Really? Do tell."

All semblance of friendliness left her, “I don't think I will."

“I'm curious, I've barely talked to one, let alone be friends with one."

“Why do you care? I don't share my personal life with strangers."

Thomas stood up between them, “Let's not start our time together on a bad foot. How about we all just pretend to get along, even if we do not. We will be stuck in this tin can with no way out for years."

Cayla looked at Thomas her tail slowly swishing back and forth and her ears going down before they slowly rose again, “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset anyone. You are right, we should be friendly. We will be sharing our sleeping quarters together for four years at least, after all. I knew what I was signing up for, I just did not expect to be rooming with a human. It took me a bit by surprise. Imagine if you will, finding out you will be spending your most vulnerable time with a species you know almost nothing about. I realize that was a bit irrational of me. Forgive me?"

Thomas raised his hand and out for another handshake, “Of course, we know nothing about each other. We will be trusting our lives with each other. That takes some courage right there."

She slowly reached out and took his hand in hers, and at the same time he reached behind him and pulled M'Sara off the bed by the hand and placed it beside Cayla's, with his hand on the outside, a three-handed handshake was made.

Thomas nodded as Cayla looked up into his eyes and said, “We forgive you."

M'Sara pulled her hand out then used it to grab Thomas's rear to give it a squeeze before sitting back down on the bed with a huff, her ears slightly back.

Thomas gave a yelp at that miss handling of his posterior, but kept his smile just the same.

Tamur'a had been watching from her perch on the bed with a look of being entertained a little with some mischief, her ears turned back the smallest bit, and only a little turned down with the end of her tail slowly waving from side to side, “Well that was fun, and it is good to see us start this little trip with us all getting along. Though I start with someone here I already know something about."

M'Sara gave her a raspberry in response, a very human thing to do.

Cayla gave M'Sara the oddest look, almost like another eye sprouted out of her head, “Is there something wrong with your tongue?"

Tamur'a looked at M'Sara and smirked.

M'Sara looked at Tamur'a and smirked back.

Cayla looked from Tamur'a to M'Sara her ears turned down and her tail drifted down to the floor, “Did I miss something?"

Thomas squeezed her hand that he had not let go as of yet, “I'm afraid M'Sara learned that because of me. It is a playful human gesture."

Cayla looked down at her hand, she suddenly realized that she was still holding onto his. She gently pulled it free and sat down on the bed behind her, “Oh, I see."

Thomas smiled and turned around and with a gesture towards their bags M'Sara stood up dragged them off the bed and onto the floor. As soon as they were off Thomas lifted the bed like a lid to reveal their storage locker. There were only two per room, one under each bottom bed. That meant stranger or not, you had to share it.

****

They sat down at the table, M'Sara and Thomas on one side, Cayla and Tamur'a on the other. The table and chairs were made of what looked like plastic and attached to the floor. They were in the recreation room with their food that they got from the vending machines.

Just as Cayla was about to put the generated beef hotdog into her mouth for her first bite, she exclaimed, “Wait, are you that M'Sara, the one that is the daughter of the captain?"

M'Sara dropped the pizza slice she was currently eating back onto her plate with a sigh, before she said with some strain in her voice and her ears back a bit, “Yes, yes that is accurate."

Thomas had no problem eating his generated pepperoni and mushroom pizza, watching the interaction as he did. Almost as if he was enjoying it.

Cayla tilted her head slightly as her ears perked up, “You don't seem happy about that."

With another sigh, she replied, “I'm not. I'm rather stressed out about having to deal with my family while trapped with them in this food can in space."

That was when Tamur'a interjected when Cayla looked confused, “She means the ship we are in, it's a Terran metaphor, though it should be tin, not food. You've really haven't had much exposure to Terrans have you Cayla?"

Her hotdog still in her hand and untouched by her mouth she quickly answered, “Nope. I've never even talked to one before." before finally taking a bite.

They were all eating Terran food thanks to Thomas who had talked Cayla and Tamur'a into having the beef hotdog. Tamur'a was not a hard sell, she knew what they were.

Cayla looked at Thomas, “This hot dog is really good, and I love this yellow stuff on it. Thank you for suggesting it."

“That yellow stuff is known as mustard, and is made from ground mustard seed mixed with vinegar and water. No one knows what is in hot dogs though."

Tamur'a holding half of her hotdog that she had yet to eat, she looked the room over before looking them over as she said, “Is it not better that we are friends? This way we have someone to share our off-duty time with."

M'Sara looked up at her while she was taking another bite from her pizza and their eyes met for a brief second.

Tamur'a turned towards Cayla, “How about we start with you, what is your story? What department are you in?"

Cayla finished chewing on the bite of food she had taken, “I'm in logistics. I'm from one of our outer colony worlds. Unlike the rest of you, I've never been to Terra or Mars except to transfer to this ship. I transferred from an old ship, served a year, and had all Katzen crew. I was not happy, felt held back."

M'Sara grunted, her ears going back again, “That could be why my mother put you in with us, so you could integrate via osmosis or something."

Tamur'a perked her ears up and turned to M'Sara, “Do you often blame your mother for the situation you find yourself in?"

“It is habit, she is a control freak after all."

Thomas now done with his pizza turned to M'Sara with one eyebrow up, “Is that so. You haven't told me that."

“I did not think too. Not like I planned to be assigned to this ship. I was never even informed that they wanted me here. Not like I've talked about my family very often. We were too busy for that."

It was time for Tamur'a to comment with a sultry sounding voice, “Too busy doing what?"

Thomas ignored the implication and dead panned, “Oh school work, sparing, exercise, and getting abducted."

That shut her up, though she also looked shocked, her eyes wide and ears perked up.

Cayla looked agitated, her tail sweeping back and forth behind her and her ears off to the sides and down, “Why would someone abduct you?"

Thomas suddenly seriously looked down and sighed with a frown, “We're not sure, and we won't tell you what we do know about it either as we are not allowed to."

“Then why did you tell us?"

M'Sara did her version of a smirk, “He is chaotic neutral with a little good."

Cayla looked confused again, her tail dead dropping and ears off to the side, head at a tilt.

Tamur'a chimed in, “Another Terran reference. It is from an old Terran tabletop game that is still played by some including myself. M'Sara is having too much fun messing with you Cayla."

“Where you a transfer student too, M'Sara?" She said as she turned to look at M'Sara with one ear turned to the side a bit.

“Nope. You can thank Thomas for most of my familiarity with Terran culture. Mateja, his Katzen childhood friend helped too. She was on Terra since she was a kit, they grew up together and they were like siblings, but she did not make it on with us, she has another two years on Mars. I did however study on Mars though. We've been together for practically my entire time there. My uncle suggested I go to Mars, and gave a good argument for it. He was right, and I'm thankful he did."

“What I don't understand is why you would want to be with a human. I don't even know how I'm going to handle sharing a room with one." Cayla said while her ears drooped slightly.

“I can understand where you are coming from. He is not much to look at being mostly furless, and he smells alien. However, his mind is beautiful. He is honest, and honorable. When I first met him, I could not stand him in fact, though that was based on misleading information."

“How did you find out the info was misleading?"

“Hand to hand combat. It was a draw. He did not even attempt to take advantage of our vast height difference."

“That brings up another question. How come he did not pick a Lehpparr like Tamur'a or another species more of his size?"

That brought a chuckle to Thomas, “I did not pick her, she picked me."

“That I did." M'Sara looked up to Thomas with love in her eyes, her ears turned to the side and slightly down.

Tamur'a cleared her throat, “Get a room you two."

M'Sara ignored her and kept looking at Thomas then added, “So I got used to his strangeness, and it changed from repulsive to exotic."

Well, that was Unexpected

In the distance Thomas heard a buzzing sound. It echoed as if he was in a cave. He needed to make it stop.

He opened his eyes and remembered he was in bed, in a ship. M'Sara was without clothing and curled up and snuggled on top of him, her fur felt as soft as a house cat and warm against his skin. Since they were in a bed meant for a single person, there were not many ways to sleep together in it. Their alarm was going off and she was still sleeping. Her head on his chest, and a leg draped over his. He reached over to the wall and down towards his hip, and he was about a centimeter short of the button to turn off the alarm. The clock LEDs blinking in time to the buzzing chirp. He ended up scooting himself over, taking M'Sara with him so he could reach the button. Finally, that noise is gone. He wondered why that did not wake her up.

He started to pet her softly like he would his old house cat, giving her a good behind the ear scritch. She started to stir with a grunt as she opened her eyes to look at him.

“Time to get ready for our first shift." He whispered next to her ear.

She made a sound that almost sounded like a growl mixed with a moan and rolled onto her side against the wall so he could get out of the bed. She was less of a morning person then he was.

He stood in his boxers beside the bed and waited for her to get out of the bed so he could lift it to access their clothing. He turned to look behind him and their two roommates appeared to be still sleeping. How was he going to get used to sharing a room with two other females; one that was practically a stranger, he had no idea. They had no privacy, he felt so embarrassed to be so vulnerable.

M'Sara finally rolled onto all fours like a cat and crawled out of bed, literally. As she looked at him the dim light from under the bed refracted in her eyes, and they glowed.

He pulled the covers around the mattress, they held on with straps on the corners. He lifted the bed up then looked behind him again to check on their roommates.

With his head turned around M'Sara stood up partially and reached up and pulled down his boxers with a huff.

He quickly rummaged around in a panic standing butt naked, his boxers now around his feet. The only light was from the soft glow of the touch panel beside the door, the dim LED from under the bed, and the LED clocks in the wall at each bed. M'Sara could see just fine, the poor human she thought as she did her snicker noise, not so much. She got him back, finally.

M'Sara stopped snickering long enough to grunt and held his clothes in front of his face. He grabbed them with a sigh of relief and quickly got dressed in the dark, hoping he did not put his shirt on backwards.

In this way they started their new morning routine.

*****

They arrived for their first shift after they shared a shower in the communal shower room, at least each shower had its own stall. After that they had breakfast. They had a few minutes to spare by the time they showed up, they gave themselves extra time because they did not know how long it would take. Good thing too, as they had to wait for an empty stall. Some of the Katzen even left their clothing on the bench before using a stall. Must be nice to be covered in fur. Cayla was one of them that did just that as their two roommates arrived a few minutes after they did. Cayla waved at them after she sat her clothing on the bench and got in line to wait for a stall.

*****

All cleaned up and now in their new uniforms they walked into the Engineering section. There was a female Luchs almost as short as M'Sara but stockier, walking by them as they entered engineering. M'Sara asked as she was about to pass them, “Hey, could you point us to where the lieutenant is?"

She pointed to an office half way down the corridor.

“Thank you."

She nodded before she continued on her way.

The lieutenant on shift looked up from his desk as they entered his office. He looked to be in his thirties, a human male, his hair was very short and auburn.

They both gave their respects, slightly bowed with their arms to their sides, hands flat against their thighs.

“I'm lieutenant Barkly. You will spend the next ten rotations training. I expect high marks from both of you, going by your record. Lieutenant Bryanna M'Jann is assigned to train you. She will be here momentarily. You are to stay with her for each shift. I expect to not see either of you again until your review in twenty cycles. That is all."

They both showed their respects, before turning around and leaving his office to wait just outside the door. They waited quietly for what seemed like a minute before a Togartz walked up to them.

“You must be Thomas and M'Sara."

They both turned to face her, gave their respects and nodded.

“Good. You will address me as sir, or lieutenant M'Jann. You will show up for your shift on or before your start time. You will stay near me at all times unless I order you on a task, and you will return to me after that task is completed and report. Only professional behavior will be tolerated." She gave them a hard stair as she explained in a tone of authority. “Is that understood Crewmen third class?"

They slapped their hands to their thighs and almost in unison replied, “Yes sir."

At that she turned around without a look behind her and started to walk away from them down the corridor. They fell in behind her and remained quiet.

After three turns, going down a ladder in a hole and down another corridor she stopped in front of a panel and removed it. “This is access tube fifteen bravo. It leads to your first task. Hand me your communicators."

She held out her hand for them, and after they handed them over, she informed them, “I'm giving you my contact info. I'll leave my contact open when I give them back so you know how to contact me. You will contact me when your task is complete and I'll meet you here."

She entered her info using her finger paw pad on the touch screen on both devices then handed them back before continuing, “Your task is to clean out the conduits in this access tube including inside each conduit junction box. This is how you learn what you will be maintaining inside and out. You will find supplies at the end of this corridor in a storage closet. Power has been rerouted for maintenance." With that done, she turned and walked down the corridor.

With a sigh, Thomas started down the corridor towards the storage closet. M'Sara echoed his sigh and followed him.

About half way down the corridor Thomas smiled, “We get to touch the insides of a spaceship. I'm so excited."

M'Sara rolled her eyes and with a monotone voice said, “I'm so excited to be able to play the role of a drone."

With a grin he replied, “Oh I bet you are. Make sure you make drone noises while we work."

She grunted, “Keep that up and I'll end up with a sprained eye."

After Thomas opened the closet he exclaimed, “Ha!" He grabbed two red overalls, the small one he gave to M'Sara and he took the large one. After he put his on, he grabbed the gunmetal black cleaning caddy, only unlike what you may find on Terra, this one was made of a light metal alloy, enclosed and filled with what was needed to clean and inspect electrical equipment.

When they got back to the hatch, M'Sara turned to face him with her paw hand held out to take it, and he gave it to her. With that she put the caddy inside the hole then climbed into the hole that the bottom lip was about a meter off the floor. Thomas followed her in with a nice view of her tail.

Just as he got all the way inside on his hands and knees, she stopped and turned around to sit with her legs out. He stopped and sat too, his legs on either side of her legs, his head almost touching the top of the tube. She opened the lids on the caddy and removed two scanners, wire/nylon brushes along with a squirt bottle of non-conductive cleaner and some rubber gloves. There were two pairs of small, medium, and large sized gloves. Handing him a large pair, they got started.

*****

Now on the far side of the tube, her back up against the inner haul, she put the last bolt into the cover as Thomas worked with the brush on the conduit beside her with his arm right up along her chest. He looked up into her eyes and smiled, and she looked at him and smiled back.

She reached down and grabbed the scanner, she grunted as she used it, “Looks good. We are done here. I'll upload the scanner data to my compad."

As she did that, Thomas returned items to the caddy including what M'Sara had before closing it and moving it around himself so he could push it ahead, “Now it is your turn to watch my rear as we crawl out of here."

She reached up and gave his rear a pinch, “How about you get that rear a moving."

With a chuckle he crawled as fast as he could, “You're right, I'm hungry too."

“You're holding me up, is that as fast as you can go? I can walk on all fours as easily as any quadruped in this place."

“No fair! You have an evolutionary advantage."

“More like you have an evolutionary disadvantage."

When he got to the edge, he lowered the caddy to the floor before turning around and climbed out. M'Sara smiled and hopped into his waiting arms and he gently lowered her to the floor. With a pat in thanks to his arm she reached down and took the caddy, turned and started off towards the storage locker.

He closed the hatch and started after her and by the time he got there she was putting her overalls back into the closet. He removed his by ripping the Velcro down the seams that held it on. She had put the caddy back and was turned to him with her hands on her hips.

Thomas took his compad out of his pocket and touched the lieutenants listing in his contacts. He typed, “We are done and ready for our next task." To M'Sara he said, “Let's go back to the hatch to meet her."

They walked back to the hatch side by side and waited up against the wall.

When the lieutenant arrived to meet them, she raised an eyebrow at them, “Is there a reason you two are holding paws?"

They lifted their hands and looked down at their hands and together said, “Huh, how did that happen?"

“As long as it does not affect your work and no one else is around, I'll ignore it. I did a quick check on my way down and you two did a passing job in a decent amount of time. Next, we go back to my office and go over daily work duties. After that and a tour of our area you will have your lunch break."

They followed her down the corridor no longer holding hands, looking professional again. After a few turns they ended up at her office. She put her paw on the panel by the door and it opened with a chirp. She motioned to the seats in front of her desk, “Have a seat."

The lieutenant sat behind her desk and spent a few minutes reading what was on her flat panel monitor much like what they have on Terra, except it is as thin as plate glass with no bezel, utilitarian and on an articulating arm up and a little off to her left side. Her ears turned back slightly before she brought her attention back to them.

“After your one-hour lunch break you are to report back here. At that time, you will work the rest of the shift at your assigned work stations. I'll make sure you can log in. For the start of your next shift, you are to report here again. Your daily work duties will be spent at your work stations, however the reason I have you report here at the start of your shift, and after lunch is so I can brief you on anything that may need your attention. If something needs your immediate attention, I would use your coms. I think face to face time on a regular basis keeps moral up. I also don't play favorites, daughter of the captain. Though I must say Thomas your record is most impressive… For a Terran. I'll be keeping an eye on you and your progress."

They both nodded, but kept otherwise silent.

She stood up out of her office chair behind her desk before directing them, “If you would follow me, I'll give you the grand tour."

The lieutenant led them out of her office and down the corridor. They walked what seemed like the length of the ship, all the way to the end, passing doors on either side. Using her paw pad placed on the touch panel she opened the door and led them inside. This room was the one they had entered the ship in.

When they were about in the center of the room, “This is our machining room. You must schedule time to use it or be scheduled to use it as part of a maintenance ticket." Pointing to a large box about three meters high, six wide, and four deep, made of what looked like plexiglass with metal beans in the corners to their left, “That is what we now call our three dee printer. It is capable of producing items of any known material." Pointing at a large machine that stood about two meters high with a wide platform in the middle, “That is our CNC mill." She waved beside that to the long heavy looking machine, “And that is our lathe." She pointed on the far side where a large flat table was with an articulated arm on one side, “That is our laser cutter." With that she turned to face them with her paws on her hips, “I'm sure these look familiar to you Thomas, as they are modeled after Terran machining tools. They only look and operate like them however, they are made of very lightweight and strong alloys, and are a bit more advanced than what you may be used to. Using laser sensors for truing and to keep cutters from being destroyed. They are also able to be automated, though you can use them manually as well. The reason for that is that close to half of our crew are Terran and that means less training. Not to mention that our normal tools from our home world were not that much different. Form and function and all that jazz."

Walking around them the lieutenant went back out the door with them in tow, “The door on the right is the multi person unisex head. On the left is where you will spend most of your time, the workstation lab."

They walked down the corridor for almost a minute until they took a left at the tee intersection, “On your right is material storage. There is also a corridor that goes behind the lab connecting it to the machining room directly without doors. The last room on the right is drone storage."

She stopped and turned around to face them, “That concludes our grand tour." The lieutenant looked at her time piece on her left wrist, “It looks like it is time for your lunch break. I've decided to have you meet me in the workstation lab after lunch. I'll get you started on that then. See you in one hour." With that she turned and walked towards her office.

*****

They Walked into the recreation room when they spotted their roommates waving at them, it looked like they got spotted first. They headed towards their table and sat in the empty seats opposite them.

As Thomas and M'Sara sat down Tamur'a asked, “How was the start of your first shift?"

M'Sara answered as soon as she was on her seat, “We got to pretend to be drones."

Thomas chuckled and rolled his eyes, “I'm sure they just wanted us to get a firsthand look and feel of the maintenance tunnels."

M'Sara just grinned and looked back at Tamur'a, “What about you, did you have fun?"

She nodded as she answered, “Oh yeah, they are having me go through everything to become familiar with my station, running simulations at it. I'm doing that for my first five shifts, it may get boring after a few though. I hope it does not."

M'Sara smirked, “I'm glad we only had to pretend to be a drone for two point five hours. When we get back from lunch we will be working at our stations."

Tamur'a smiled, “I'll get everyone lunch, pizza for everyone?"

Thomas and M'Sara nodded as Cayla looked confused as she asked, “What is pizza?"

“Oh, it is what M'Sara had for breakfast. It is good, trust me."

She did not look convinced, but said, “Sure, “I will try it. I do like trying new things."

With that Tamur'a got up out of her seat, “I'll be right back." Then she walked away towards the vending machines.

Thomas looked at Cayla with a hopeful smile, “Say, Cayla, how was the start of your first shift?"

Cayla turned back around with a small Katzen smile, her ears slightly perked up and facing forward, as she was watching Tamur'a before he asked, and answered, “Oh, it was productive, I did the same as Tamur'a. Our stations are side, by side. If it stays like that, we will be spending much of our time together."

Thomas nodded before he replied, “That sounds good to me, I hope you two become good friends."

“So far, we get along. I hope you and Tamur'a become friends too."

“As do we. It would be great if we all could be friends with each other. We should hang out after our shift."

“I would like that. You three are only people I know on this ship."

M'Sara wondered out loud, “I wonder if they put you two in the same room because you work in the same location? We all have the same shift too. That would be just like my mother too."

Cayla smiled when she got an idea, “I should wake everyone else up, I don't have issue getting up early. That way Thomas does not have to fumble in the dark."

Thomas looked up at Cayla with his eyes a little wider, “You were awake?"

Cayla gave Thomas a Katzen smile with her ears up and forward, “It was amusing. It was hard not to laugh."

Thomas turned his head quickly to M'Sara, “Did you know she was awake?"

She was grinning back at him, “Yes. Yes, I did. I got you back. Boom."

Cayla asked, “Got him back?"

M'Sara faced her to answer with her ears facing forward, “He woke me up the other day by tickling my foot between the pads with his skinny human fingers."

Cayla tilted her head a bit to the side and her ears turned to face out the sides of her head, she looked confused, “You two are strange."

Cayla recovered and looked around for Tamur'a and spotted her on her way to the table, holding a big metal plate with a pizza on it. She wondered out loud, “I wonder what pizza taste like."

Thomas and M'Sara looked to see what Cayla was looking at and spotted Tamur'a just as she was getting ready to place the pizza on the table. Pepperoni and mushroom with cheese, their favorite. Thomas turned back to Cayla, “Depends what toppings you put on it."

After Tamur'a placed the cut pizza on the table she looked at Thomas, “Your favorite, I hope everyone else likes it at least as much as I do."

M'Sara spoke up, “Oh, it is my favorite too!"

Tamur'a looked at Cayla, “Well, I hope you like it."

Cayla watched everyone else use the pizza server to give themselves a piece, and copied them. She looked up at M'Sara to watch her eat it, her eyes got wide as she was stuffing it into her mouth with her paws. She heard Thomas say, “This is good, they're using my dad's recipe here too?"

She heard M'Sara say, “He did give it to CAW as a food to try way back, so that makes sense. It may be the only recipe there is for Pizza for us out here."

She listened as she stared at the pizza, reddish brown circles covering the cheese with gray stuff sprinkled over it.

Tamur'a was next with, “Do you think we will make another convert?"

Cayla narrowed her eyes and poked at the piece of pizza; the crust was firm. She did as she watched M'Sara do and took a bite, using her hands to pick it up off the plate. Multiple flavors exploded in her mouth. Tart, sweet, bitter, spicy and meaty all mixed together like in a dance. It was like she was having a party in her mouth, and she was invited. Her eyes got wide again and her ears splayed out as she exclaimed, “This good!"

*****

M'Sara and Thomas returned to the workstation lab that they were told to meet at the start of the second part of their shift, they were about two minutes early. The lieutenant had just walked in from the other hallway.

“Ah, good to see you return at just the time I want you to, about two minutes before shift start. I'll show you two your workstations, you will be assigned five and six of eight for your use during your shifts. You may personalize them to your liking. They are for your use for as long as you are assigned here."

She walked over to stand behind two seats with her hand on one, she turned the chair, “This is yours M'Sara."

M'Sara got into her seat, by hopping into it. Her feet did not touch the floor even at it's lowest sitting, she swung them back and forth gently, she was however able to access the keyboard, and see the monitor properly.

The lieutenant let go as soon as she had sat down, and turned the other one, “And this one is yours, have a seat."

Thomas sat down and she released her grip on the chair, he turned it around easily, looking his station over. It had the number six labeled over the monitor.

The lieutenant stuck two sicky notes beside each keyboard, “These are your temp passwords, you need to create new ones on your first login. They must be strong passwords, or you will be asked to try again. You will need to make a new password every two hundred and forty ship cycles, don't worry it will remind you twelve shifts before it forces you to."

Thomas tapped his chin thinking of a password before he looked to see how M'Sara was doing, and she was doing the same. She was picking up way too many habits from him.

He finally thought of one, a sentence in Leet, he typed it in twice, it was accepted.

After M'Sara was done she continued, “Now you will find all your documentation in a folder on your desktop, I expect you to read it all, become familiar with it. At that time check work orders and tickets, you will only be allowed to accept level one tasks at this time so that is all you will see. At the end of your shift, log out and go. Whenever you need to relieve yourself, if you get out of your seat it will log out as well, log in again when you return. I'll see you again at the start of your next shift in my office. Until then." She nodded, turned around and left. She looked fairly relaxed on her way down the hall, her tail waving slowly behind her.

After Thomas read all the documentation several times, he left it open for reference when he opened the ticketing system. He could see three work orders open for scheduled conduit cleaning. As he went to click on the oldest one with his finger tip, it was replaced with the one under it, now the oldest one, so he clicked that one instead. He looked over at M'Sara and noted she had it now, and was starting the drone remote controller program. He looked back at his screen and did the same. He did not know why they were the only ones in the lab, but he did know there were four other labs for this department. He made himself a mental note to ask about that at the start of their next shift.

There was not much to it, you chose a docked, fully charged drone then set the path and where to clean and take readings for the drone as you monitored it. He activated the last available drone. After it got on its way, he monitored its progress. Not only could you see out of its stereo optic cameras, it had other measuring tools as well. It displayed graphs for the user such as power leakage and usage, and the like. It cleaned the area as it did all that too.

*****

M'Sara was followed by Thomas into the recreation room, their shift was over and it was time to eat again. Thomas looked around but did not spot their roommates, so he walked over to an empty table instead, “Looks like we are eating alone, or are here first this time."

It would not be wrong to say that Thomas was surprised, he let out a high pitched, “Yelp!" as Tamur'a hugged him from behind.

“Our first day is over! It was pretty boring, but it still had times that it was not."

M'Sara turned around and her left ear turned to the side in a grin up at Cayla who was behind Tamur'a, “Nice of you guys to join us." She patted Tamur'a's hands and her tail rose up behind her as she still had him in a hug, “Feel free to see how long you can hold him like that."

Thomas chuckled, “I don't mind, I'm always open to hugs from my friends. All three of you are always welcome to give me a hug. That includes you as well, Cayla."

Cayla seemed shocked, her jaw was slack before she finally said, “Oh yeah, you are longtime friends. Hugging common with human friends?"

She finally let go after she gave him one final squeeze causing him to grunt as she was stronger than him, he was used to that, he dropped back to the floor and she took a step to the back her tail slowly waving playfully back and forth, “That depends on the human, he as you can see, enjoys hugs."

Cayla gave her a look as she walked past them so she could sit down on the other side of the table from where she thought Thomas would sit, with her ears lowered a bit she admitted, “Never hugged anyone before, I think that human friendly gesture."

M'Sara turned and started to walk away with her tail waving slowly behind her, “I'm off to get us food, hamburgers for dinner!"

Cayla turned to watch her go as she softly committed, “Another new food, I hope is good."

After Tamur'a sat next to Cayla and patted her shoulder, “Oh, they are. They use grown beef hamburger, that is a way the meat is prepared, it is ground up. In a patty between a bread bun. You put whatever you want on the patty."

Thomas looked around as he waited in his seat, he spotted a few of the other new human recruits. It was easy to spot a new recruit, they wore the same gray uniform. The only difference is the patch on the shoulders designating their station; engineering, defense, communication, navigation, etc. By the looks of it they have formed their own clicks as well as they were in groups of three or four. He looked back around the other side and in walked no one other than R'Tar D'Khatarr and he spotted Thomas watching him. His ears went up and he started walking towards him with his tail floating low behind him, people just got out of his way without a word. No one saluted, and there was no announcement of his presence. He had a standing rule that in the mess, everyone was to remain at ease and to ignore him unless addressed.

Thomas felt himself start to sweat as the tension in the room built and he was sure his eyes were wide as he watched him approach.

That was when he heard a food tray drop on their table, he whipped his head around to see four hamburgers, condiments and toppings bounce in the tray after it landed as M'Sara dropped it. He looked up at her to see that her eyes were wide, and she looked scared, her tail swishing quickly behind her.

R'Tar stopped at the side of the table, his arms crossed, and gave Thomas a hard stare. After a grunt he said, “So this is the human you chose. I find him lacking."

Thomas looked very nervous, and swallowed as he looked down at the table. His self-confidence just seemed to vanish.

The captain turned his head to look at M'Sara now, “From what I've seen, you let him behave as if he is your equal. I do not approve of that. You are by far his superior in every way. You are my daughter; he should treat you as that. I hope you figure that out soon, and drop this silly idea that he is your mate. I was also very unhappy to find out you went to Mars."

At that he turned around and left, M'Sara was left sputtering. Thomas watched him leave, got up and got behind her, bent down, giving her a gentle hug as he laid his head on her shoulder and whispered into her ear, “We will get through this."

Tamur'a got up as well, went around the table, bent down behind them, and gave them both a hug as well, a gentle one. Cayla just sat there with her eyes wide and mouth agape. Finally, after a few minutes she blurted, “You captain's daughter?!"

Tamur'a gave her a look, her ears down, and she quieted down. She stuck her muzzle between them and whispered, “I'm on your side, you need anything, you got it. I don't care what your father thinks, love is love."

Thomas and M'Sara gently put a hand on each of Tamur'a's and gave them a squeeze.

After another minute Thomas spoke up, “We should eat, and go to our room for some privacy."

Tamur'a gave them another squeeze before she said as she stood up, “Good idea."

Cayla looked around the room before she took a plate and hamburger from the tray, and placed it on her plate in front of her.

It was Tamur'a's turn to grab a plate and put a hamburger on it, she removed the top bun and start putting toppings and condiments on it.

Cayla watched, then copied her, sniffing the varies things and deciding what to add.

M'Sara still sat in shock staring intently at the table in front of her as Thomas prepared her hamburger along with his own, placing it in front of her when it was done.

No one said a word as everyone ate their meal.

*****

Thomas opened their room door, and entered with M'Sara being carried in his arms with her face snuggled up to his chest, her arms wrapped around his shoulders and neck. Tamur'a was right behind them, she looked worried with her ears down, and tail almost on the floor.

Thomas turned and sat down on their bed, letting her rest in his lap, she still clung to him. Tamur'a shut the door and sat next to Thomas, letting M'Sara's feet rest on her lap.

She laid her hand on his shoulder as she softly said, “I don't know what is going on, but I think I know you well enough Thomas. I don't understand why he would do that; it makes no sense to me. I'm here for you, both of you." She laid her other hand on M'Sara's leg and she turned her head enough from his chest to look at her.

“Thanks, I need all the support I can get, Thomas is my only friend on this ship."

“Well, now you have two. I did not hang out much with Thomas, but I could tell he is a good person, and really, I wish I could have gotten to know him better, but we were both too busy for that. Any friend of his, is a friend of mine. I'm glad we are together again."

M'Sara lowered her hand from his neck, and softly put her hand over Tamur'a's hand that was still on her leg, “Thank you, you are a good friend for Thomas and I'm glad to have you as one too."

Thomas turned his head to look at Tamur'a and smiled, “You're just saying that because I'm the only person you knew onboard."

She squeezed his shoulder as she made a little growling noise with her ears a little higher up, “You're always like that. Even though that is true, it is not the only reason. Back on Terra, I had hopped you would have asked me to go hang out, I really did want to get to know you better. I saw you on Mars, but when I did, you were busy and I did not want to bother you. I was also afraid you did not like me after all. I've been pretty much alone since I got to Terra, that is the way, but I'm starting to think I don't want that anymore."

“Now we live on the same ship and sleep in the same room together. I'm sorry I did not even know you were on Mars, I'm afraid I was too worried about keeping my credits and grade point high to think about it much. We also had way too many things that were not school related happen to us that I really can't talk about."

M'Sara sat up and pulled her shirt off before she started to pull off Thomas's shirt, without a word he lifted his arms in the air and helped her. 

Tamur'a moved her hand out of the way, “Should I leave you two alone?"

M'Sara looked at her with her ears turned to point off to the sides of her head and down, “Stay, please. We are just hot. Please, put your hand back, we both need comfort." She rested back against his chest and wrapped her arm around him, and laid the other on her leg that was still resting in her lap towards her, watching her.

She looked down at her hand that was resting open and palm up, reached out and put her hand in it, and she took hold of it with a squeeze before letting it relax.

They sat there like that for a few minutes until Tamur'a shifted, “Now I'm feeling too warm."

M'Sara grinned at her, with one ear up and one off to the side, “In that case, you better take your shift off too. We will all be shirtless together in solidarity."

She gave her a look of surprise, her ears up, and eyes a little wider, “You don't mind?"

With the same look she added, “Cuddle up with me too, I'll make room for you."

Thomas turned his attention back to her, “Get comfy. We want you as part of our family. You are not alone anymore."

Her ears moved forward, then to the sides, and her tail waved a few times before she sat up and removed her shirt and let it drop, she had nothing underneath like most Katzen.

M'Sara sat up with her arm out and guided her between them, her head resting on her shoulder with Thomas against her backside, “There, that is better."

She wrapped her arms around M'Sara and pet her back softly, “Thank you."

M'Sara had her arms going beside her and on Thomas' sides, they were not long enough to go around him too.

Thomas wrapped his arms around M'Sara too, they easily were long enough going over her sides and pet her slowly along with Tamur'a down along her back.

M'Sara started to purr, and soon after so did Tamur'a. Thomas felt like he was holding two large cats. He even pet Tamur'a a few times along her side as they snuggled in his lap. She must really miss her friends we left behind. She under sold her father, he was worse than he had expected. The thing is, if he is so against me, why am I roomed with her? Something does not add up, he needs more information. He studied the clover shaped rosettes on her back as he thought.

M'Sara softly asked, “You are part of our family now. Will you join us tonight for sleep?"

She sounded surprised, her ears up and forward, “Sleep? With you? What about Thomas?"

“I want all three of us to sleep together, and you have to sleep without any clothing on."

Her ears tilted down a bit, “How would we fit? I don't want to get between you."

“You could lay beside him and I'll lay on top of you both, I'm small enough, one of the advantages of my size. Don't worry about getting between us."

“I don't know…"

“I'll even pet you as we go to sleep."

Thomas remained silent with one eyebrow raised as he looked at M'Sara but, remained silent. This was totally up to her and he did not have any objections. If she was that lonely, he was willing to do just about anything for her, so that she would be happy.s

“Alright, I'll try it. Just this once."

*****

Cayla opened the door and entered the room, the light from the hall lit up the room and she noticed that all three of her roommates were in the same bed, with no clothing on, M'Sara on top of the other two, her head using Tamur'a's chest as a pillow, and her legs going over and between his. Thomas was on his side facing the wall. The covers were only covering his feet that were spread out across the bed like they were kicked off, but not by him. She staired at them for a few seconds with her eyes open wide in shock, not what she was expecting to see. She finally moved out of the doorway to allow the door to close and quietly got into her bed. She  could not understand why they liked the Luchs so much, such a lowly creature.