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Jessi appeared before Captain Zanj'sheh, the bending of light allowed her to be seen by him and those odd few who happened to be behind him and glance in is direction, "Come Captain, we are leaving. There is much too much senseless violence on this space station."

Startled the Hoop-Kah Captain almost choked on his beverage as he stared into the grinning skull that peered down upon him, licking his lips he nodded and stood. Whistling to his crew, he told them rapidly to hurry with their meal then report back to ship, they would be leaving.

Some of the crew began grumbling, when Jessi stepped into view, again only those looking at her would see her. The crew grew silent and nodded, hurriedly eating and keeping their eyes averted from the Xindhi. Captain Zanj'sheh turned to Jessi and said thickly, "I shall begin the preparations for the ship to jump." With a curt bow he headed down to the docks.

Jessi nodded and followed the good captain as he made his way to the elevator, the energies that swirled around her resonated with prana as she framed every moment in the holon. The twisting of the darshan continued to bend light around her.

You should get back to Captain Zanj'sheh, Kykherhenha sent.

"Wait a minute," I said. I was looking at a strange girl who had a sword at her side. A sword? What was she doing with a sword? Curioser and curioser, I decided.

"May I help you?" I asked cautiously. I wasn't sure if she intended to attack, but if that was what she had in mind, I would defend himself the only way I knew how.

"My name is Thekherham," I continued. "I'm the... liaison here... Well, I'm thinking of quitting this job. You can take your hand away from that sword... I'm not going to do anything. I guess you don't know anything about Tereskadians... that's my species."

I wonder who she is, Kykherhenha sent.

"What's your name?" I asked, just as there was an announcement that the Phaselhar Temhar had arrived.

The girl removed her hand from her sword after hearing Thekherham's words and noded "I'm Iris nice to meet you Thekherham" she replied then she heard the announcment and looked puzzled.

"ok... um..where exactly is this place?" she asked as the ship neared the docking bay while thinking 'best if I knew where I was...'.

Iris looked over at peter and took in what she thought was his odd clothes then thought 'my clothes look weird to him I'll bet...' looking at her jacket and shirt on her top half and her jeans and combat boots on her lower half, she then looked up at him and smiled "hello to you too" she said feeling a little less scared than she was before. But her thoughts turned to the ship as she thought that she felt something familiar aboard.

"Welcome to Space Station Orion," I said. "It's literally in the middle of nowhere, but also everywhere. I know that's a bit confusing, but there is a wormhole nearby that will take you any place you want to go."

I didn't really feel like explaining the station to the two beings standing before him, I was more interested in seeing my mate and cubs again.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go now," I said.

If you don't want to continue as liaison, Kykherhenha sent, then maybe you can get a job as a detective and find out what all these weird goings-on are.

Arthur?

That's one.

Murders?

Uh-huh.

I'm not interested, I sent. I was walking down the corridor to the docking bay. Through the large window I could see Rhalhea and two of the three cubs, waiting for me. My youngest was in Rhalhea's chamber, and she would soon transfer to mine.

Suddenly I shuddered, wishing my family had not come to the station.

Evil Arthur dropped out of an air vent above the captain's chair, landing silently and hid away from the captain and jumped out as the captain turned around and knocked him out. He took his uniform and tipped the hat down to hide his face. He then dressed the captain in his own clothes and gagged him.

He turned the chair to face away from the door. Perfect. They 'find' me controlling the ship and kill their own captain.

Evil Arthur walked off down to greet that pesky fox.

As captain Zanj'sheh made his way down to the docks he reflected about the events of the last few minutes, Jessi would not have come to him unless it was a dire situation, after all the Xindhi had a feeling for such things. With a grunt, he cast a sour glance at the Orion's crew pumping supplies into the cargo hold of the ship. Pausing briefly, he checked with the harbormaster and settled the bill for cargo. They had traded 15 metric tons of fine clothing and food supplies for 12 tons of food and 5 tons of fine silica particles.

Satisfied that the deal was in his favor he signed the lading bills and quickly crossed to the merchant trader, the two Xindhi stood guard, their eye sockets flared brilliantly with the prana, he could tell by the glow on their weapons they were indeed taking the situation seriously. Stepping on board he nodded to the guard inside the airlock, squeezing past him he hurried to the bridge.

Chaucer stood silently behind the basalt chair where the Aeryn would sit, even as the Hoop-kah entered, the Xindhi barely moved, the energies flared slightly then returned to their normal miasma. Tapping the command panel he watched as the bridge slowly began to light up, checking the engine ionization ratio he was satisfied they could leave within the hour, a little less if pressed.

Glancing at the outer camera display he spotted the pilot and the astro-navigator hurrying towards the ship. A slight smiled crossed his lips before he tapped their uniform receivers, "Hurry mates, the Xindhi are anxious, and when they are anxious there usually is a reason for it."
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Jessi the Aeryn moved slowly towards where the prana indicated the liaison should be, even as she headed in that direction there was an odd little pulsation of energy, as if someone was or had manipulated the energy stream around the station. Pausing Jessi focused the prana on that pulsation, having no longer detected it proceeded towards the liaison.

Stepping through an archway Jessi paused, there was the liaison and the companion as well as two oddities. Allowing the prana to flow from her, Jessi framed each being, each moment in the holon, seeking to understand their place in relation to this space station. The female is armed with a sword. Canting her neck Jessi peered at the female, then shrugged. Glancing at the man who was equally out of place, Jessi shook her head and turned her attention to the liaison who was clearly agitated and seemed to be responding to the arrival of a ship, no to the arrival of being similar to himself.

Jessi stepped against the wall and watched the interaction, curious as to this species, curious to it's native habitat and system. Framing each moment in the holon memory Jessi watched and tried to understand.

Iris walked behind Thekherham thinking 'now where have I felt this before.... felix? nah too calm for him....' and humming to herself as she did she lookrd through the window and saw the cubs smileing as she did.

"awwww so cute" she said out loud before blushing and hideing her face and running on ahead almost knocking Thekherham to the floor in her haste.

" s-sorry bout that!" she yelled behind her as she kept on running.

I was waiting for Rhalhea and the cubs to join me when the female called Iris ran past me, almost knocking me down.

"Hey, what's the hurry?" I called, but she was already gone. Well, at least she had shouted an apology.

Leave her, Kykherhenha said. We've got more important matters to attend to.

I knew what she meant. I waited while my mate and the cubs were cleared to enter the reception area. Rhalhea finally came through, Jhorhea and Rheža behind her, along with their whistling dragons. She ran into my arms, and we embraced and held each other tightly. I licked her cheeks, and we touched tongues. She ran a digit along my ears, caressing the fine hairs that ran along the perimeter of his ears, indicating that I was a male.

"Not here," I whispered. ^You shouldn't have come^, I sent. Since Rhalhea and I could not communicate telepathically directly, I sent my message via Kykherhenha who communicated it to Keridhar, who relayed it to Rhalhea.

^Why?^ she asked. Aloud, she said, "You know I have to come. I have Jhalhemha in my chamber. You know how long she's been in there? I want to transfer her right now."

I did not have a choice. Both male and female Tereskàdians not only nursed their young, they had to exchange the cub which remained in a sort of abdominal, fur-lined, cavity called a chamber for five days. In the case of Rhalhea and me it had been much more than five days. It had been much too long.

We stood snout to snout and our chambers opened. We moved closer to each other until our chambers touched. Guided by a special scent, our youngest daughter, Jhalhemha, transferred to my chamber. At the same time, Jhalhemha's whistling dragon, Beselhen, transferred from Keridhar's to Kykherhenha's chamber.

"You can have her for the next three months or so," Rhalhea said. "Maybe then we'll be even again."

I looked at her ears which were laid back, and the twitching tip of her tail. "I'm sorry," I said. "I wasn't planning on staying that long." I could feel Jhalhemha pull on the single teat in the chamber.

She accepted my apology... somewhat, because her tail indicated that she was still a bit upset with me. She put her paw in mine, asked me to show her and the cubs their quarters.

"So who was that female who almost ran right through you?" she asked. "She seemed to be in a big hurry."

My whiskers twitched. "Her name is Iris... That's about all I know."

It had been a while since massive Trantor cruisers had returned home, the massive rebuilding efforts nearly complete after years of idleness out in Deep Space. This mile long cruiser had entered realspace, sending a message to the space station, requesting several things, and offering many items, as the captain, one tall, dark skinned man said over his coms.

"I am Ryand-Smith, Captain and Leader of the Fifth Trantor Exploration Fleet, currently in command of the ship Downturn of MarketsI return from deep space, after my long, self imposed exile. I wish to dock with your station, and trade goods from beyond the outer rim of this galaxy. Is there any sort of docking procedure for my New Macross class, or should I send over a smaller cruiser to dock with your ship?"

Inside, hundreds of tons of metals, extracted and processed ores, AI produced foods, silks and spices from space lined the trading ports, as the massive battleship hovered a save 100,000 kilometers away, the three other escort ships hovering in a close V defense pattern. Clearly, the Trantor had been burned by recent encounters, but trade was key, as trade was the law of the land. His massive sho

To start off negotiations, two small single man snub fighters escorted a simple hundred meter long shuttlecraft to show off several wares, while inside, the captain and trade negotiator of the Shuttle Lesser Economic Downturn an artificial being in the shell of a common Greater Kitsune seemed to smile. Her escorts, two battle androids and 4 standard marines hoped for the best, as in the rear of the shuttle an entire diplomatic team stood ready, translation experts, PSI users, and robot to human specialists all hoping to be the first to meet the head of the space station.

Jessi moved slowly around the area, the energies flared from her eye sockets allowing the amber light to swirl and mist away quickly. Even as she stepped to witness the behavior of Thekherham and someone she assumed to be his mate, Chaucer streamed a dream towards Jessi.

"Aeryn we have a new ship entering the system. It is a Trantor fleet ship." Chaucer visualized as he stood in the bridge of the Hoop-kah merchant ship. The dream came in vivid and strong, the image of the ship entering through the warp and the displacement of the two small ships and a longer one.

Jessi had been on Hub during the discourse between the various civilizations that had encountered each other; in fact the Xindhi had advocated peace and had been the only contingent to no cast aspersions on the others. Allowing the warped light to fall from her, Jessi flushed a great deal of prana around her as she sought to understand the moment, it appeared the Trantor ships were entering the docking space and waiting to meet the Liaison, who was currently embraced with his mate.

Glancing at the beings, Jessi framed their image in the holon and proceeded to a more advantageous space to observe the meeting between the Trantor envoys and the personnel of the space station.

With Jhalhemha safely in my abdominal chamber, and my mate Rhalhea, and the two older cubs following me, I made up my mind to see the huge ship that was hovering just outside the station. I had never seen anything this enormous. Even the ship that traveled regularly between Alharhan and Tereskadhar was only a fraction of the size.

I stepped aside when Captain Dhantrel walked into the room. For some reason he did not look at all happy, as if the arrival of the massive ship were an intrusion. "Captain Ryand-Smith," he said into the com, "welcome to Space Station Orion. I am Captain Dhantrel, commander of this station. Please proceed to Docking Bay 7. One of our personnel will be happy to greet you and your entourage."

When I noticed that Captain Dhantrel was looking at me, I shook his head. "I have my family here. Jhalhemnha is in here..." I tapped his abdomen.

"You're the liaison," Dhantrel said unsympathetically. "Your job is to receive new guests, show them around, grant requests..."

I knew I could not get out of it. I looked at Rhalhea, wished she and the cubs weren't here. But Rhalhea had to come because of Jhalhemha and Beselhen.

"All right," I said. "I'll go to Docking Bay 7 right now." I turned and left abruptly, and Rhalhea and the cubs, and the whistling dragons, had no choice but to follow me.

As I headed down the corridor, I wondered what had happed to Arthur.

The New Macross class ship moved in closer, it assuming a stable position 10,000 kilometers away, as the escort ships took up their jobs. "I will not be able to meet you directly, my team should be able to however. We hope to open our trade with you as soon as possible. Ryand-Smith out." The man sat down at his console, surprised to see such small cruisers around the station. "Did... Did the war destroy all the Overtechnology.. are we the only ones who made it out, who knows!" He turned to his XO, saying

"Well, make sure that we stay normal, and give me a full combat scan, I want to know if they have any weapons that could damage the fleet."

"Copy that," the officer said "But sir, with the Macross Type, we should be able-"

"The last time we underestimated a foe, we nearly lost the Homeworld, do you want to make that mistake AGAIN.."

"No sir, I shall relay your orders!"

The Ship began a scan, figuring out what sort of interstellar station they had found, as the other diplomatic force docked with the space station, the AI walking out first, her body sculpted from the artist's ideal of a Kitsune, as she wore the traditional Japanese Kimono, This fleet was odd, as its theme seemed to be a combination of the Meji period in Japan with an ultramodern city feel, as the guards took the form of micro sized fighting robots, or mecha.

The rest of the diplomatic team was human, of all races of the old Earth, as they waited for their boss, Captain Setsuna Kobayashi to see the newcomers. She stood in front of the docking portal, as her ears stood alert, ready to talk to the residents of this interstellar base.

Iris stood there hugging another girl this one haveing long blue hair tied up in twin ponytails

"Iris! so I'm not the only one who's up and about now huh? anyone else on this station or is it just us?" the girl asked as she looked at the residents with wide eyes

"it's just us two for the moment... Ami.... any news about earth?" Iris asked with a worried tone

"not sure.... there's a rumor that it was destroyed in a intergalactic war but I have yet to find out if it's true or not..." the girl known as Ami replied "but if it still exists.... our friends and family are.... dead.... only us two and the other five made it...." she then said with tears in her eyes and she removed her glasses to dry them off

Iris then hugged Ami as if to comfort her and looked round to see if anyone might know if the rumor Ami spoke of was true or not

As I headed to Docking Bay 7 I wondered what type of beings would enter the station. I really had no desire to go any further, and Rhalhea's pleading in my mind via our whistling dragons didn't help matters much.

^You should go back to teaching children,^ she sent through Keridhar, and Kykherhenha relayed the message.

^This is much more interesting,^ I sent back. I knew it was a poor reason, but it was the only one I could think of right now. I wasn't going to tell her about Arthur, or Iris, at least not now. She would worry her tail off.

Where was Arthur?

I stood in front of the door to Docking Bay 7, but it didn't slide open because I wasn't close enough to cause it to open automatically. Why did I hesitate? I had no idea. I felt Jhalhemha stirring in my abdominal chamber, and glanced at the two older cubs beside me.

"I can quit any time," I said, more to myself than my family.

Are you sure? Kykherhenha wondered.

I sighed, stepped closer to the door, and it slid open. I stepped into Docking Bay 7.

Iris sighed as she walked through the corridor to the gym.

"no luck...." she said to Ami who was on a rowing machine to bulid up her arm strength.

"You did your best....any news on the others?" Ami replied as she kept rowing.

"nothing..... no other reports of statues coming to life...." Iris said as she set up the combat dummy. "but we can't give up! who knows... they might be out there...." she started sparring with the dummy as she spoke.

Ami sighed "yeah...hey can I borrow your sword? I want to make a sword that can stand up to the tech here, incase we are attacked ok?" she asked while pushing up her glasses.

"sure" Iris replied as the sound of metal on flesh echoed around the gym.

I felt Rhalhea's paw on my arm. "The ship is scheduled to return to Alharhan in three hours."

I looked at my mate. "If that's a subtle hint," I said, "you're not doing a very good job."

She laid back her ears. "If you think I'm going to stay here while you have Jhalhemha in your chamber, then you better think again. When you signed on here, it was supposed to be for just a short time, and then you were supposed to come home again, but no... you liked this space station so much you decided to stay, despite the fact that our daughter needs you as much as she needs me."

What was she trying to do? It was obvious, wasn't it? She was trying to make him feel guilty beause she had been carrying Jhalhemha in her chamber.

"Three hours," she said. "Then I'll be on that ship."

I didn't have any choice. A Tereskadian cub still nursing from her parents needed the milk of both parents, or she would die. I had taken an awful chance leaving Rhalhea alone with Jhalhemha while I spent time on this station.

"I have to see Captain Dhantrel," I said. And give him my notice of resignation, I added silently.

The officer walked from the ship, surprised to see other of the hybrid life forms, confirming the information seller's tales. The AI made sure to adjust the body, a gift from one of the Turn worlds, to resemble a happy form, as she smiled, offering gifts.

"Hello, Hello! We are from Trantor, I am Setsuna, Setsuna Kobayashi of the Trantor Federation, and I bring gifts from the stars. We hope we may establish friendly trade relations with your people." She bowed, as the crew followed suit. "We come from a world far away, so we used our great ship to ride the waves of space, hoping to find others like ourselves, interested in trade." She purred softly, saying "I did not know kitsunes had spread to this sector of space

"Can you believe it, a wormhole, and no warships, this reminds me of home..." Ryand said as the ship seemed to stop in space, scanning the interstellar medium for other ships. "I wonder if that station has any defenses, seems pretty scary out here in the blackness.."

The two girls walked out of the gym and took a elevator to the docking bay where the trantor people were and went into a corner, Ami then took off her backpack and emptied it onto the floor.

"Your sword's a katana right?" she asked Iris as she looked at the parts that she had been offered by a trader in exchange for her help.

"yeah.... used to be...dad's...." she said and choked back a sob as she did, Ami saw this and frowned.

"sorry.... didn't mean to remind you...." she said as she began assembleing what looked like a katana hilt out of the parts.

"w-wait a minute... where's the blade?" Iris asked as ami did her work, to which Ami smiled.

"remember that um... alien lizard you fought?" she asked and noteing her friends nod she continued "it will be like his knife only a sword"

"a laser sword?" Iris asked and Ami nodded but then sighed.

"too bad none of these parts are whatever that metal is.... then you could channel your power into it...." she said but Iris shook her head and smiled before leaving Ami to her work.