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Part 3 - Dead On Arrival

The Runabout flew silently through Slipspace to its destination. Its crew was very uncertain of what awaited them at their destination; but despite the uncertainty they all shared, there was an air of determination as everyone got ready as they neared their destination. With the hours of travel time gone, the remaining time was spent getting ready as best they can for what could be waiting for them on the other side.

She found Minuet standing in front of a mirror in the modestly small locker/bathroom. The mouse was topless looking into the near full size mirror like a teenager would when they were contemplating their looks. She watched silently as the Mauluse brought a paw-like hand up to her chest and traced an angry looking pink scar from just above her left breast, following it down her abdomen to where it disappeared below her belt line. She sighed as she looked at the scar that marred her white gray fur. Min's expression drooped with her ears as she looked down to the floor.

"I think that you look rather pretty." Min squeaked in surprise as she turned suddenly, nearly causing her to trip on herself with as fast as she spun around. "I'm sorry." Dusine said as she stepped up to the diminutive mouse. "It seems that all I can ever do is scare you..."

"I-Its okay..." Min finally let out as her heart slowly settled back into her chest. "D-do you r-really think th-that I'm pretty?"

"I do."

"Ev-even with th-this?" she asked, placing her hand on the top of the scar on her chest.

Dusine smiled as she came over to Min and placed a hand on the mouse's. "Even with that." She said softly. "I'm not going to ask how you got that scar, but we are going to do some girl talk." The feline giggled as she watched the Mauluse's ears turn red.

"G-girl talk?"

"Yes, Girl Talk." Dusine grinned deviously as she eyed Minuet. "There's only one reason I can think of for someone looking in a mirror the way you just were."

Min swallowed hard. "R-really."

The Caushae nodded. "So... which one is he?"

"H-h-he?..." The poor mouse stammered, looking like she was caught in a pair of headlights.

"Yes," Dusine giggled with a wink. "Unless it's one of us girls that caught your eye."

"NO!" Minuet shook her head and hid her face. If it wasn't for the thick black hair on her head and the fur on her face, Dusine would swear that the Mauluse would be as red as her own hair. "H-he... We just talked."

Dusine guided Minuet to sit on the bench that was against the wall. "Just talked huh?" The Mauluse nodded as she fidgeted with her fingers. The feline draped her arm across the smaller girl's shoulders. "So... What did the two of you talk about?"

Min shrugged. "Whatever came up. I... honestly can't remember the whole conversation."

"But, you enjoyed it."

"...Yes..."

Dusine smiled to herself. Earlier she knew that someone would have to work on getting the mouse over her shyness, and it looks like someone had the same thought too. Before she could say or ask anything more, a chime sounded throughout the ship and Rulve's came over the com system.

"Attention all hands. Approaching destination, prepare for De-Fold."

Both girls held on to the bench as they felt the forward momentum decelerate as the runabout came out of Slipspace. Minuet let out a sigh as the ship returned to normal space only for both girls to suddenly scream as the compartment abruptly jostled violently around them sending both girls flying around the small room.

"What the HELL Happened?!?" Jordan unintentionally shouted from the station he was belted into.

Rulve's fingers flew across the dash as warning sirens filled the cockpit. "We DE-folded into the middle of a debris field."

"Does Maiya station even supposed to have a debris field?" Kleo asked as he picked himself off the floor in the back of the compartment.

"It will if it was attacked," Nasyn stated as he looked out the forward view port and pointed. "Look!"

The Clover Class station was named in the fact that it was designed with a central core that connected to four arm like structures that served as both docking pylons and hanger bays, as well as cargo storage, living accommodations, arboretums, and whatever else that the station thought it might need. The four arms were also connected by an outer hexagonal ring that connected each arm together without having to go in and out of the main core of the station.

However, what the Caushae male was pointing at was one of the station's four arms. Or more specifically, the lack of one where it was supposed to be. More than half of the structure was blown apart, exposing what was left of the entire section to the vacuum of space.

"Great maker..." Theaz said from the other station. "We might need some help with this one."

"Agreed." Jordan said as he pried his eyes from the scene. "See if we can send a message to Artemis Terminal, update them to our current situation. Priority One"

"Trying..." Naysyn said as he punched commands into his terminal. "Val-ruah... We have no communications."

Rulve cursed under her breath. "Nasyn, do a systems check for damage."

"Okay..." The feline said as Dusine and Minuet came into the cockpit. "Doing a ship wide damage assessment." Nasyn's finger flew across his console as readout started to appear on some of his screens. Everyone was silent as the minutes dragged on. Finally after what seemed like forever, but was just five minutes the feline turned to to Rulve and Jordan. "Uh..." He started grimly. "Want the long version or the short version?"

"What's the short version?" Jordan asked.

"We're screwed..." The cockpit was an assembly of curses as each person spoke under their breaths at the news.

Rulve sighed as she pinched the bridge of her muzzle. "What's the long version?"

"The communications and navigation are toast, I can't get either system to respond. The power plant took a hit and we're leaking engine fuel and coolant. The main computer and the Fold Drive are showing multiple errors, and, oh... the hull is showing a micro rupture, so we're slowly venting atmosphere." This time everyone groaned.

"Are you kidding me?" A few of them groaned.

"No, and that is still just the short list."

"What!!!"

"Yeah, the computer is still compiling the damage report."

"You're joking. The system should have compiled everything by now." Growled Theaz

"Do you want to do it yourself? If you think you can get better results, you're more than welcome to try."

Nasyn and Theaz started to argue in the front part of the cockpit, bringing to bare any insults that the two could think to throw at each other. Min looked around confused and asked. "Wh-what happened th-that the ship was damaged like that? Isn't the ship supposed to be able to deflect debris?"

"Essentially," Kasey started. "What the runabout had run into, of course, was a part of the arm structure when that section of the station blew apart. Normally, such things are of little concern due to modern shielding and hull armor. However, that is also factored at sub-light speeds in normal space. Not a ship decelerating from a space fold transition. The piece of debris was pretty much like a bullet floating in the air and we just ran into it at full speed."

"Basically," Dusine added, "It's the difference of a person walking into a wall versus someone running at full speed into the same wall."

"Basically."

"Okay enough!" Jordan barked getting everyone's attention before things could degenerate any further.

"Uhm..." The room stayed quiet as everyone looked to the mouse. "H-has anyone tried to c-communicate with the station? We st-still need to find out why they sent the distress call in the first place. P-plus, I'd think that, maybe, they would have parts that we could maybe ask for to fix out ship."

There was a light muttering among the rest of the gathered people in the cockpit. Soon Jordan spoke up again. "Min has a point. We're supposed to be the rescue party, not the ones needing rescue. We need to focus on the here and now! Arguing about things that had happened and beyond our control is pointless." He looked around and saw a few of the alien's ears spade out in shame as they knew who he was talking about. "Theaz, see if you can get any of the local channels and try to make contact with the station. Rulve. Nasyn. Focus on getting us out of the debris. I know it's going to be hard without the navigation system, but we still have a job to do."

"Two more sets of eyes would help."

Jordan nodded. "Kleo, Celia, you're our extra eyes."

Both Lykains nodded. "Understood."

"I'll see if I can get some of the computer systems back to some kind of operational status."

"Good." Jordan said. "Kasey, Minuet, you're with me. We're going to see where that rupture is and make sure that we can save enough air so we can dock."

With tasks given out, everyone moved to perform them to the best of their abilities. It was slow going at first. Rulve only being able to use the docking thrusters to maneuver the runabout through the scattered debris, she didn't really dare to use the main engines fearing that something more might happen and the result was that the tiny ship's engines might cook off the damaged reactor. It helped though with three sets of eyes keeping a lookout for floating dangers that could damage the runabout further.

Theaz had just as difficult time as the Almedhas pilot if not more so. While the rabbit had help, the Lykain was on her own. Finding out the hard way that the subspace transceiver was so inoperative that the outside components were very likely smashed to bits. The wolfess couldn't do much of anything in her current situation aside from perhaps putting on an EVA suit and manually attempting to repair the transceiver. Which begs the question, did the runabout have the parts to even fix the thing? Hell, did the runabout even have an EVA suit that would fit her? Did they even Have an EVA suit? A beeping from her console brought her out of her musings and she pressed a button.

"Theaz," Dusine's calm voice came over the ear piece that the Lykain was holding in place. "I had to reroute several systems, including communications. Try switching to the Beta-12 circuit and let me know if you hear anything."

Theaz frowned for a moment, but did as instructed. There was a loud pop that came over the ear piece that made her wince, but there was nothing but silence afterwards. She sighed as she keyed the internal com-line back to Dusine "There was a loud pop, but other than that, nothing."

"Not even static?"

"Nope."

"Val-ruah..." the Caushae on the other end muttered dejectedly. "I was sure that would work..."

Theaz thought for a moment. "Send me what you were trying to do and I'll see if I can do something on my end." Dusine replied with an affirmative and soon the gray wolf was looking at a rough schismatic of some patch-worked circuitry. She nodded to herself as she mentally traced what the feline was doing. Even from her perspective, what Dusine did should have worked on a local scale... 'Unless...' She started to adjust the frequency's modulation and tried it again.

She was now hearing com-static.

"Got it!" The wolf exclaimed.

"You did? How?"

"Needed to adjust the modulation for the new com-frequency."

Theaz grin when she heard a low curse over the com-line. "Well we should now have local communications at least." Dusine said, hiding the embarrassment she felt. "There's nothing I think I can do from inside for the subspace radio. I'd have to get outside the ship to check out the damage proper."

"Agreed. Theaz, signing off." The Lykain said before returning to the now working communication equipment. "This is the Stardust Traveler to Maiya station. We are here responding to the distress call we have received. What is your situation, over?" Nothing but soft static answered her back. "Maiya station we are here to help, please respond." Her ear twitched as she frowned, still nothing but static. "Maiya Station Respond!" Giving a light growl, she entered a few commands to send an automated command challenge and waited for a response. Such commands were usually reserved to determine if a computer on a derelict or other abandoned installations was operational and reviving the com-signal. In this case, she was using it to see if the station had suffered a computer malfunction or if the station was even receiving the signal period. After about a minute, her station chimed and she shook her head at what it meant.

About then, Jordan and Minuet came back in. "Any luck?" He asked.

Theaz shook her head. "The station is receiving our hails, but..." She turned to look out the forward view port. "Either, no one wants to answer, or no one's home." Silence fell over the cockpit momentarily as everyone that was there took in what the gray wolfess said.

After a long moment as Rulve and Nasyn went back to what they were doing, Jordan spoke up. "Looks like we're going to find out the hard way..."

It took more than an hour for the runabout to maneuver clear of the more damaging debris pieces. Everyone had given a sigh of relief when Rulve announced this fact and Dusine gave some of her news as well. She stated that she was able to get some of the sensors back online, though more than a few systems were bypassed like a Christmas tree and that the setup was rather frail. Nasyn had grunted and mentioned something about "Fixing the barn doors after the cows came home." Everyone looked at him with a questionable look.

With some navigational sensors active again, Rulve was able to ping a guide beacon to find a hanger. Where the beacon first tried to send them was right back into the thick of the rubble of the destroyed arm of the station. Dusine and Theaz soon proved how much of a team that they could work as; as soon both were at the cockpit secondary stations, giving each other different lines of code and other techno-jargon as they worked the consoles before them. Shortly, Rulve was reviving a new guide beacon and moved the runabout to head for the source. After an additional thirty minutes, Rulve was setting the runabout down in a secondary hangar bay in the furthest arm from where their ingress point into the system was.

Jordan frowned as he stepped out of the runabout's airlock and surveyed the surrounding area. The part of the station where they found themselves looked rather run down and seldom used. If the human listened, he swore that he could hear drips of liquids off in the distance. At least the smell wasn't too bad, the stereotypical scents that usually associated itself with a rarely used area of any station or ship. Kleo came out behind the TAFT soldier and wrinkled his nose as he took a deep whiff of the station's air. Jordan had turned around to see the Lykain's face scrunched up.

"Don't tell me that you smell something bad already?"

The wolf shook his head before he sneezed. "No. The air is too sterile. There's no scents here." Jordan just looked at Kleo confused before Celia came out and clarified what the Lykain was saying.

"Kleo'Vumoss and I are from Lykaios, the Lykain home world. Our culture are integrated with nature and so we are trained much like our kin was back in the days past to use all of our senses. We can usually tell quite a bit more that the average Human or Caushae. No offense."

Dusine, who was behind the she-wolf just smiled. "None taken. Everyone has their Strengths and weaknesses."

"Quite so." Kasey offered up as the rest of them came out of the runabout. The Human woman stepped away from the others as everyone started to take stock of the damage to the runabout. She gave a shudder as she turned around to face everyone. "Anyone else getting that horror movie vibe?" Most of the gathered group of aliens just gave the human a funny look, wondering what she meant.

"Yeah..." Jordan agreed as he looked around the seemingly abandoned hanger by. "Since we've landed. This almost reeks of horror/thriller/slasher film vibe..." There was a loud clatter as stuff started to hit the deck plates that made everyone jump and rushed to the other side to see what was going on. What they found was Rulve had climbed up the low part of the runabout's hull and was now pulling pieces of shrapnel and other destroyed junk that was once part of the station and the runabout. "Damn it Rulve!" Jordan cursed at the rabbit. "Warn someone before you start making a racket!"

"This bird is my responsibility." She yelled back " I don't need anyone's permission to start working on her!"

"Easy..." Dusine offered up, trying to diffuse the situation. "I think this situation has already gotten us on edge. I think we should focus on the task at hand. I think we should split up and search the station. We need to not only find out what happened but we also need to either fix the runabout or find another way off the station when we're done."

"Oh.. No... Bad idea." Kasey said. "That is usually what gets everyone killed by the end of the movie. We should stick together and all go as one unit. Head to Operations and Control first and then figure out how to get off this station."

Theaz rolled her eyes with a huff. "You humans and your wild ideas that are based on make believe."

"You Lykains are one to talk," Kasey glared at the gray wolf. "Aren't you all supposed to believe in the supernatural and magic and stuff?"

"There's a difference." Celia offered up.

Theaz looked over at Celia before crossing her arms. "I don't believe in the supernatural anyway."

"How? How is it different?" Kasey asked.

"Well..." Celia scratched her head. She obviously was not ready to be put on the spot by the human woman. "That stuff you're mentioning is just human superstition from what I've heard and is nothing more than make believe dribble from human minds with nothing better to do."

"Actual Human horror movies are based on actual historical facts and truths, just spiced up for entertainment." Kasey's voice was rising with her irritation. "There's no difference between them once you get to the basics."

Celia and Theaz scoffed. "Yeah right."

"Says the ones that believe simple fireflies are spirits of the dead and gets drunk and high to have so-called 'vision quests'."

"It is a honorable practice!" Celia barked.

"Ooohhh... look at me." The human mocked. "I want to see things so I'll just make myself hallucinate."

"Stop that!" The wolf growled as her fur bristled in anger.

"You want to make something of it you mutt?" Kasey growled as she came up to the cream colored Lykain. The irritation in her face was evident and despite being half a head shorter than the female wolf, the human did not look like she was willing to back down."

"Bring it Bitca!" The Wolf declared as she puffed out her chest. More than ready to take the woman before her to task.

"STOP!"