Public Domain - authored by Dee Dreslough.
Rakal stretched luxuriously and rolled on his back. Kiralla was curled, sound
asleep, with her tail over her nose, but he could still see her faint smile through the downy fur. Rakal lay there
for a moment, regarding her as she slept. The blood from Landry was still caked on her paws and muzzle.
The approach klaxon broke the quiet moment. Kiralla awoke with a start and leapt
straight to her feet. "The jump gate! Time to get back to work. I trust, Rakal, that your team had the good
sense to secure the crew of this tub? I doubt now that Landry is gone that they'll be particularly keen on us deploying
the gate crasher."
Rakal chuckled at her discomfiture knowing his crew had already made quick work
of the demoralized Arrallakeeni left on the ship. Faking nervousness, he reached for his uniform helmet. "Sidal?
Is the Dark Hope secure?" he used an uncertain tone that brought Kiralla's furious gaze toward him. The comm
crackled to life. "Yes sir. Crew quarters have been sealed, and the gate crasher is being checked for final
deployment." Rakal faked a sigh of relief and she moved toward him to scold. Raising a paw in playful defense,
he chided her, "You don't always have to do everything yourself, you know. Some of us are fairly competent."
Kiralla laughed.
"You're one lucky bastard. God is in the details, as the humans say."
She tinkered with the broken door lock and it opened with a whoosh. She grabbed a piece of what had been part of
Landry's uniform and wrapped it tightly around Rakal's injured leg, tying it in a knot. "Sanitary? No. But
effective. We'll get you to med lab after we crash the gate."
Rakal ignored the pain in his foot and worked with his helmet. "Thank you Sidal...Have
you had any communication with the colony?" He removed the comm piece from his helmet and looped it over one
ear..
:"No sir. Nothing at all."
"Kiralla..." He bounded after her on three legs. "Time to use your
little gift, eh?"
She glanced back at him, "Well, I've used your little gift all up. I guess
I'll have to use mine now." She laughed and continued ahead.
"Hey!" Rakal grabbed her tail with his teeth and gave it a tug, still
swooning a little from her musky smell. She ignored him...she was concentrating.
"I don't know if I have the range for this, but someone there, if they're listening,
can make up the difference." She stopped suddenly, and Rakal skidded to a halt behind her. She stared blankly
at the wall, as if listening. "I've got someone. Ekayim Barryd, a healing place to the north. I've got the
second acolyte on. There's been a war...Telka and Mulkol. Telka lost about half it's population...Mulkol won, but
the 'Archs were killed. Tara is alive...she's recovering but not fully conscious." She paused, and stopped
relaying, but continued talking as if to someone in the room. "They fear the Barryds are lost? I don't know
what you mean. Can you explain that?" The sound of her tail swishing from side to side was the only noise
in the corridor as she listened to some unseen voice. "Thank you....Yes, we're going to close the space hole...yes...
thank you...BYE!" She growled.
"What a bunch of yammerers. You get 'em started and they just don't shut up.
I just don't understand what they're talking about. How do you lose a damn city? Fuzz lizards. And, if the leaders
are dead, then Mulkol did lose, if you ask me." She gave Rakal a playful bite on the nose. "Tara's alive,
as are many of the colonists, and the other Arrallin pairs are currently the guests of Ekal, and are fine. If Mulkol
is 'lost', whatever that means, it won't be any more trouble to us."
She continued on down the hallway and into the lift. "Cargo 2". The gravity
lightened as they moved toward the center of the rotating ship.
"I'd rather take my chances on Dimar than have this litter end up just another
addition to the fleet crews." Rakal fiddled with the bandage on his leg.
"Agreed." Together they strode into the cargo bay, greeted by the throaty
rumbles and cheers of Arrallakeeni waiting for them.