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Captain's Log, 355.04.16.

Its been over eighteen hours since we've arrived in the Maiya Tau System and so far we have only found wreckage of the station. Search has been slow going due to the radiation that was scattered when the station's reactors went critical and has been spreading beyond that of the debris field. While the ship hull and shields have been keeping the ship safe from the heavy fallout, the shear amount of radiation has limited our effective scanning range into the debris field itself.

Thankfully though, the majority of the debris seem to be settling at the station's original location of the Lagrange Four of Maiya GG-3, the larger of the gas giants that makes up this system, making it so that navigation in the Maiya System will not be hampered as long as the precaution of avoiding the remains of the station are taken before entering the system.

. . .

I can't help but feel that this mission is taking a heavy, emotional toll on the crew as well as on myself. After our time in service as a Mobile Crisis Response Unit, there has at least been some sliver of hope that people has survive similar situations in some fashion and we have been able to rescue so many from the brink. This time though... I can't help but feel that my first officer Marus might be right this time. That there's no one out there to be saved... It feels like this will be the first time that our efforts will be in vain and that there's nothing left but a scattered graveyard.

. . .

When we do return to the Artemis Terminal, I think that I will be requesting an extended shore leave for my crew. It has been a few months since we had any time off and this crew needs some down time. Specially after this mission...

End log...

Rayne gave a yawn as she stretched her arms over her head.

"Quit that." Anoixi said, just before trying to stifle her own yawn.

"Sorry." The vixen giggled. "I think that I need a good cup of coffee to wake up."

The rabbit rolled her eyes as she walked over to her station. There were only four of them on the bridge at the moment. Rayne had came back on duty a few minutes before Anoixi arrived, a human tech was sitting at the Ops station that their first officer normally occupied when he was at the bridge. When her eyes fell on the fourth figure, the rabbit stopped in mid stride seeing who it was still sitting at his station.

"Trip?" Anoixi blurted out when she realized that the griffin was still at his station in back. "Have you been here this entire time?"

"Hmm?" The blue avian griffon looked up from his control panel.

"Have you been here all night?"

"All night?" He asked, confused as he rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Its Seven-thirty... ish." The vixen answered without looking up from her pilot station. "In the morning"

Trips eyes grew as the realization set in. "Oh, I guess I have."

Anoixi sighed as she shook her head. "You really should of taken a break by now and gotten some rest."

"Yeah..." Trip sighed as he turn back to his station. "I can't help but feel like if I leave something might get missed in my absence."

"You're not a miracle worker Trip."

The griffon chuckled. "Maybe, maybe not. It felt like my grandfather was one though. Sometimes it seemed like he could make the impossible, possible. He always said 'Do the right thing, even if you find yourself going against the tide of things."

"Really?" Rayne piped up as she swung her pilot chair around to face the bridge and the bird like creature. "I though you said that he always said 'If you find yourself going up a steep hill, hit the diff and pray." There was a choir of chuckles at the Fox's response.

Even Trip grinned as he thought about his grandfather. "Actually, he had a few things he would say, but I'll leave out the more colorful language."

"Really? But stick in the mud isn't here to scold you."

"Heh, yeah but..." Trip never finished as something over his headset drew his attention back to his station.

"Come in."

Marus sighed as he hesitated at the door for a moment. Despite previous experience from other missions that told him that his CO hadn't gone to sleep, but yet he had hope that she was able to at least get some sort of rest earlier. However his hopes were dashed when he came in to find her partly still in her uniform and sitting at her desk, holding a cup of a mostly gone liquid as she looked at the projection wall that showed the outside of the ship. The projection wall was incorporated into all the officer's quarters in their office/living space so that they could have any image that they so chose, hoping that the illusion of having an outdoor setting or out side the ship would help alleviate the feeling of being in a cramped space ship during long voyages. He almost thought that the standard crew quarters had them too, but he never visited one with such projections on.

Marus sighed. "I hope that you at least caught a cat nap last night."

Lynnette groaned as she rolled her violet eyes. "The cat jokes are about as lame and over used as ever. About as much as threatening a Lykain with a rolled up newspaper."

Marus chuckled as he walked over to a chair that was placed across the room and sat down in it. "There's no argument from me there." He sighed as he regarded his CO a little closer. Her uniform was open in front, exposing the black tank top that she wore underneath to show off the curves that were normally hidden by the stiff, yet flexible material of their uniforms. Though it was obvious that her cloths weren't fresh, looking like they've been well worn for a while. "But still, the question remains, where you able to get any rest last night?"

The snow leopard shook her head. "Were you?"

Marus paused a moment. In truth, no. While the Lykains usually didn't posses any true psychic abilities like the Caushae did, their beliefs in the spirit of nature and living things had them a bit more attune to such things around them. Them being so close to where people had lives lost out in the floating graveyard of scrap metal that had once been home to countless personnel was enough to keep him unsettled. The best he could do was to meditate last night, but even then peace wouldn't find him and it was all he could do to keep his mind semi clear of the nightmares and horrible thoughts that crept through his mind. He wasn't sure how Rayne, being a Lykune; an off-shot of the Lykains that was even more attuned to the spirits, was able to cope. Perhaps, he'd ask her later.

"Well enough." Marus lied. Lynnette gave him a look that told him that she knew different. Marus changed the subject before silence befell them. "Did you know anyone that was here?"

Lynnette shook her head. "Not on Maiya station itself, no. But I did know some from the runabout that came here."

"Who?" the black furred wolf ask as he cocked his head to the side.

"Jordan Gilder was one."

"Oh?" Marus thought for a moment. "The name sounds a little familiar. Who was he?"

"He was a TAFT Marine that had just finished his training and was starting the rest of his four year tour of duty as a volunteer with the MCRU."

"Okay, that's how I recognize the name." Marus nodded as he thought out loud. He looked at the snow leopard. "How did you know him."

Lynnette hesitated as she looked past the black furred wolf at the display behind him. "I... I met him at Reginald Rossetti's funeral, Jordan was a second cousin that was a year or so younger."

Marus frown. " Rossetti?" He mused more to himself as he thought. "Must be some kind of story there."

"Reg is..." She stopped herself when she realized what she said. "Was... My mate. He was going to propose to me after we both graduated the academy." She sighed as she slumped in her chair. "Come to find out, he was going to propose to me after the mission where he..." Her voice trailed off as she tried to hold back her tears at the memory.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

She sniffled as she wiped her face. "Its not part of any official record. Nor do I think that his family approve of his choice, judging by the looks his parents was giving me since I was the only one there not a human... Jordan was the only one to come up to me and talk with me. Reg had told him his plan and..." Lynnette reached onto her chest and pulled up a necklace with a set of rings into view. "He was also able to take the rings he had gotten and gave them to me. Afterwards we had stayed in contact and while he had already enlisted in the T.A.F.T. Military, showed interest in joining the Mobile Crisis Initiative."

"I see." Marus mused as the snow leopard let the necklace fall back onto her chest. "That's one. Who else?"

"Hm?"

Marus leaned forward a little. "That was one person. You said that you know "Some" from the runabout. Who else did you know?"

Lynnette's ears fell back against her head as she looked down at the floor. "Minuet."

"Min..." The black wolf blinked in a confused shock. "Not Minuet. Not the Mauluse that we rescued on that freighter..."

"The same one."

"Why though..." Marus felt flabbergasted. "Why would she even Want to join the MCRU, Specially after everything that she had gone through? Hell, even with the short time that she was with us?"

Lynnette sighed. "It was my suggestion."

"What?!?" Marus cocked his head confused. "Why would you even suggest that she join the MCRU?"

Lynnette sighed. "From what I was gathering at the time, she was having trouble adjusting to a more civilian life. It was my suggestion that she join us with the intent to have her help in the kitchen."

"I see..."

Before any more could be said between them, there was a sight change in the pitch of the back ground noise the ship produced. Their gaze immediately turned to the display window as the debris that was drifting beyond the hull was now quickly disappearing from sight, signaling to them that the ship was moving away on an unknown course. The feline turn to her desk and keyed her comm. "Bridge, this is the captain. Report." She said flatly.

"Bridge here," Anoixi said over the intercom, confusing the two for a moment. "Specialist Crichton had just picked up a signal and we're now moving to intercept."

Both the wolf and feline gave each other a look before moving standing up and moving for the door. "We'll be right there." Marus let Lynnette take the lead as they quickly moved through the ship from her quarters. In less than five minutes, they were walking in with the snow leopard taking her seat in the captain's chair. "What do we got?"

"Weak signal from a locator beacon." The Griffin announced from his station. "Its currently on a decaying orbit around Maiya 3."

"Can you tell what it is?"

Trip clicked his beak "Negative sir. There's too much interference from the station and the Gas Giant for me to tell what it is till we're on top of it."

Lynnette gave a light growl. "Rayne..."

"Intercept in seven minutes." The white vixen called out from her station as she worked the controls.

The snow leopard turn her chair towards her second in command. "Marus, can you try and confirm what we are going after?"

"Stand by." Marus said as he started to fidget with his controls. After about a minute he announced "Got it." as he turned from his station. "Its an escape pod."

"An escape pod?!?"

The wolf nodded and motion towards the screen. Everyone looked up and for a moment watched as the purple gas giant loomed in the distance. Soon, brackets appeared near the edge of the large planet and enlarged a small section into a pixelated blur that shortly resolved into a fuzzy cylindrical object that was tumbling slowly and freely into a decaying orbit of the gassy planet.

"Readings?"

The black wolf had turned back to his station already and was already typing away at his station. "I got a bio form reading, but I can't tell the number or if they're alive or not due to the interference from the planet."

"Hail them."

"Frequency's open and I've been pinging them. They're not responding."

Lynnette frowned. "Contact the shuttle bay and prepare a recovery team immediately. I want that pod aboard ASAP." Without another word, the bridge crew went about carrying out their orders. When they got in range, two one man shuttles with grappling arms were deployed and streaked for the escape pod. As the three objects were on their way back to the Valkyrie, Lynnette stood up. "Marus, you have the com. I'll be in the shuttle bay." Before Marus could say a word, the snow leopard was already out the door on her way to the elevator.

'I hope they are there and alright...' She thought as she made her way through the ship.