The ship screamed through the lower atmosphere, steadily cruising over the mingled natural and industrial terrain on the way to Erckt Point. Magarce was piloting it, inexpertly, and Jens was torn between trying to give her some pointers, and doing what she’d asked.

She’d casually suggested that he get all the weapons from the dead gang members, and Jens wanted to impress her with his capability and wisdom. He’d had some serious pilot training, and wanted to pass it on, but he’d also had some gun safety tips thanks to Ganstig, and was trying to put that into practice.

It was teaching him things he didn’t want to know.

He was unloading the guns and readying them for storage. All the gang members’ guns had been loaded, including the one Magarce ended up with. It was possible they’d done that on purpose knowing they were coming into a risky situation, but it told a story. Magarce claimed they’d shot at her, and as a result, she’d evidently grabbed a gun and slaughtered the lot of them.

It had been a lie. No gun had been fired but the one she’d been holding- and it seemed unlikely she’d been able to seize a gun that was being fired directly at her, even at close range. There would be no distraction, it would’ve been held firmly, the idea was impossible on its face.

The only explanation was that his kitten girl had presented for the gang, been penetrated, and only then had she grabbed a weapon and begun murdering everything in sight. None of the gang members had been able to get off even one shot. It added a horrifying twist to the shaming spectacle he couldn’t get out of his head, and he couldn’t work out if it made things better or worse. It would’ve been hard to cope with the reality that she’d willingly given her body to the gang to protect her friends- but to do that as an excuse for mayhem?

The times he’d had her were burned into his memory, and her immediate lust and ferocious carnality were something he thought he understood. It was like a secret fantasy, seemingly impractical, and suddenly right there and tangible. For that exact reason, he couldn’t stop imagining her taking on the gang with the same glee and willingness, and the shame of it racked him- but to turn and destroy them, to shoot the guy fucking her, was a twist worthy of his worst nightmares.

Jens knew which guy that was, too, because he’d covered the bastard up with a jacket from one of the other corpses. The guy had fallen backward, shot in the head, cock still erect and glistening with Magarce’s juices as he fell, and that cock also haunted Jens’ thoughts. It was better than his- not that the guy would get to use it on her again. He’d been hit glancingly, perhaps because it was awkward even for Magarce to aim at someone humping her from directly behind. Her second, delayed, shot, had dead-centered his forehead.

He looked horrified. They all did. Jens felt a similar look trying to sneak onto his own face as he looked forward into the cockpit, where Magarce flew the ship, perched on a Runge seat too large for her. In order to reach the rudder pedals, she balanced on the edge of the seat, her pert rump tense as she held the controls. Perhaps the gang member had grabbed, squeezed that little feline butt as Jens had in similar circumstances. Perhaps he too had been aroused by the gamine feline and her wild horniness.

But… not for long, he hadn’t.

“Who the fuck used to fly this thing?” cursed Magarce, her ears laid back in frustration. “What was he, ten feet tall?”

Jens came forward, cautiously. “Maybe we can adjust it?”

“Oh, that would be nice. Can you? This is making me crazy.”

“Where are we going?” said Jens.

“Erckt Point. How’s that suit you?”

Jens just looked at her, for the words meant nothing to him. “Is it a good place?”

“Well, I liked it!”

“Okay, I’ll, ah, go with that.” said Jens, who’d figured out already that ‘good’ and ‘Magarce likes it’ were not concepts that necessarily went together. He’d see what the place was like when he got there. “Wait a minute. You do remember we’re bringing dead bodies to wherever that is? Should we, I don’t know, stop and dump them out or something?”

“That’s why Erckt Point. They’ll know what to do. I know a guy there.”

The concept ‘good’ underwent further adjustment. “Oh. Well, if you know what you’re doing?”

“Of course!” lied Magarce. Jens’ ear quirked. He’d seen Magarce in a state of utter terror. Why had he picked up a hint of fear just when she was reassuring him?

“Is there anything I can do to help?” he said. “I know how to pilot. I’ve gathered the guns, and unloaded them. And I covered up that, uh, that one guy.”

“Fucker.” said Magarce, and her ears were back again.

“The, the, the guy? I mean, yes I guess you must be talking about that guy, the one with the um, the hardon…”

“The fucker.” snarled Magarce. “Yeah, that one. I should’ve shot his dick too.”

Jens gulped. “So… you didn’t l… like it?”

Magarce turned her head, and her eyes were both angry and tearful. “That stuff’s supposed to be good! I can’t have them turning evil on me like that. Twice now I’ve had evil cock in me. If you turn on me I’ll fucking kill you, I’ll fucking kill you just like that.”

Jens was speechless, but couldn’t look away from her eyes. After seconds had passed, she turned back to return her gaze to the ship’s course.

“You’ll do. Let’s get to Erckt Point. I want to clean this ship up, and then I want to do you again. Replace the feeling. It’s like he’s still touching me in there. Sets my teeth on edge.”

“Your tail’s kinda… bristly.” said Jens.

“Exactly.”

Jens slunk forward, and hesitantly began stroking and smoothing her tail- rewarded, before long, by a little beleaugered purr. In spite of everything, his heart leapt to hear it. Then, it sank again.

“What’s that on the screen?” he said.

“What screen?”

“You don’t know it? The display there. The tracker. Is our transponder on?”

“How should I know?” said Magarce.

“If you’re flying you should know… what I’m saying is, there’s someone following us. See that blip?”

“Oh, shit…”

“So you don’t know what that’s about?”

“How should I know?” hissed Magarce. “We’re stealing this fucking ship! It’s being followed, now?”

“I’m thinking yeah.” said Jens.

“Which thing is the guns?”

“I don’t know,” said Jens, “maybe you want to consider running away?”

“We’re already flying away as fast as we can. What more do you want me to do?”

“You can turn and see if they keep going. You’ve got enough fuel to make it to Erckt Point?”

“How should I know? If you’re so good at flying, you tell me.”

Jens scanned the controls. “I’d have to guess, but I’d say we have enough to go for many hours yet. This thing’s space-capable, it can keep going for a long time, though it’s not exactly interstellar. It’ll make rendezvous with something in orbit, it’s got the controls for it, so in atmosphere it could get around this planet a couple times. Do you know how far Erckt Point is?”

“Kinda.”

Jens stared at her. “Do you know where Erckt Point is?”

“Kinda. Get off my back!”

Jens gulped, considering the idea that he was not only trapped on a flying ship with a bunch of dead bodies and their cheerful killer, but that he was also lost. When Magarce spoke again, it was a little gentler. “No, actually, I’d rather be telling you get on my back. You have no idea. But we have to escape first and we have to know if that other ship is following us, and probably kill them, okay?”

“You mean, if they’re after us?”

“That too.” chirped Magarce in her little voice, giving Jens a chill.

Jens thought quickly. “Do you want me to relieve you?”

“I thought that was what I just said, but I’m busy flying…”

“No! I mean, I’m a pilot! Let me take over, I’ll fly for you and you can rest.” said Jens, and thought to himself- and, I can spare that other ship if they’re just randomly flying this way. I’ll get us out of there before she resorts to the guns.

Magarce purred again, glancing at him. “I didn’t think of that! I thought you were kinda useless.”

Jens didn’t flinch. “If you lift up, I can try to scoot under you and get in the seat- you can probably leave the rudder pedals loose for a second, just hold the stick…”

Magarce did just that, and the white-furred Runge slipped under her, only to feel her pert rump wriggling against him, and hear her “Mmmmm…”

“Not yet! Not yet! Let me fly this!”

Magarce made a little trilling noise, and reluctantly made way, allowing Jens to take the controls. The ship wavered as he took over the stick, and then he noticed a leisurely swaying, a pivoting of the ship around its axis, and he cursed fretfully. “Move! I have a yaw oscillation!”

Magarce squeaked and hopped off his lap. “Shoot it!”

“No, no…” said Jens, distractedly, as he wrenched the stick to the side just as the ship went level again, and kicked in some rudder. “There, that’s got it. You didn’t know that? You were lucky it didn’t get swinging on you, then.”

Magarce stared at him. “It’s what? Swinging?”

“It’s okay, I got it.”

Magarce’s ear flicked. Her tailtip twitched. Without a word, she padded aft, apparently offended that she hadn’t known what Jens knew, and with just enough sense of self-preservation to not yell at him about it while he was flying their ship.

Jens stared ahead, feeling the ship’s once more docile behavior, allowing the hint of a smug look onto his face to celebrate his little victory. His celebration lasted five happy seconds, and then the smug drained away again, as he heard a clicking, mechanical noise, a noise of fabric being moved- and an earsplitting bang.

He gulped. “Please cover it up again, Magarce. Please! I don’t want to see. Please, please put that jacket back…”

There was another noise of fabric being shifted. Jens kept his eyes rigidly forward. Her paws came padding forward, and her hand caressed his cheek. “Poor sweet puppy. I covered it for you.”

“Thanks…”

“Now let’s shoot this other ship.”

“Wait! I need to check if they’re really following us.”

Jens allowed the ship’s course to veer off to the left- not with a sudden movement, but gradually.

“Is it working?”

“Wait.”

Magarce waited for a few seconds, then said, “Didn’t that start out… not as close?”

“Yeah. Hold on. They definitely speeded up.” With that, Jens banked hard to the right and went into a sharp turn, pulling several Gs and straightening out on a tangential course, completely different from their original direction. “You were heading north, right?”

“It was up in the mountains.”

“That figures.” said Jens.

“The dot!”

The blip on the display had sped up more, and was heading towards them faster and faster.

“Shit! Okay, hold on for real now. I hope I can remember it all…”

“You’re… No, Jens, we want to go away from them…” said Magarce as Jens turned even more sharply and headed right for the dot. “You’re doing it wrong, what if they- Jens!”

The other ship had lit up briefly with gunfire, and they blasted under it with little room to spare as Jens slammed the throttles to full.

“Dammit, Jens, you flew right at them! Why?” shrieked Magarce, shaking.

“Now they’re way back there going the opposite direction, that’s why.” said Jens. “Not directly behind us, going the same way, still shooting at us. Stop yelling!”

Magarce fell silent for a moment, then- “What are you going to do?”

“Don’t know yet. Here they come again.”

“Shoot them!”

“Do you know which thing turns the guns on?”

“No.”

“Neither do I.” said Jens, and threw the ship into another hard turn, watching the attacking ship try to get into a following position, and again refusing the attempt with deft piloting.

“That building!”

“Sorry!” said Jens, evading. It wasn’t much of a building anymore. It was a towering post-industrial hulk, all girders and rust, and Jens had been aimed right at it, because it was the farthest he could get from letting the enemy ship latch onto his tail. He looked frantically out the windows, as the ship clawed for fresh altitude.”Where the hell is he?”

“So how do we turn the guns on? Can I just start pushing buttons?”

“No!” yelped Jens, as the ship described a slow arc in the sky. “You don’t know what does anything!”

“But if we randomly find the guns…”

“But if you randomly engage the flaps, or lower the landing gear, we’re totally fucked, okay? Don’t push anything! Where the hell did he go?”

Magarce was looking out the windows. “If you circle a little bit more…”

“Actually, that might be a really bad idea. North’s that way, right?”

“There he is, back there!” cried Magarce.

“And that’s why it’s a really bad idea! Where? How far?”

The cockpit gave a clang, as a bullet ricocheted off the hull.

“That far!”

“Oh, fuck…” managed Jens. “Can’t just turn, not enough airspeed… we’re stalling…”

“Do something!”

Jens glanced at her, and set his jaw, and hissed “Hold. On.” through his teeth- and shoved the stick hard forward.

Magarce clung frantically to him and the seat he was in, yowling as the floor became the ceiling and the same giant wrecked building loomed at them. It was like they were diving straight down into it.

“Jens!”

The dive worsened, got steeper and steeper, until their flightpath curled under, became a riot of hurtling wreckage and foliage- and then, unexpectedly, a glimpse of upside-down daylight.

Behind them, the attacking ship lost its nerve. It had tried to follow the dive, but had been moving much faster- would not have made the outside loop- and when it tried to break off and evade the oncoming ground- there was the giant wrecked building.

A boom rocked Jens’ upside-down world as the other ship hit the building and exploded, its space-fuel liberating all its unthinkable energy in one titanic burst. The riot of hurtling wreckage overhead briefly was lit up in surrealistic fashion. Magarce wailed and lost her grip on the seat, landing with a small thump on the ceiling.

Cautiously, Jens let the ship gain altitude, and cautiously rolled it over so that the floor was the floor again. Magarce wailed again, landed on the floor, and was sick. Jens panted, and finally observed, “I’m glad something makes you sick!”

Magarce spat, her ears back in fastidious horror. “They’re gone? That boom, it was them?”

“It was.”

“Is there anybody else?”

Jens glanced around frantically. “Uh, I, I, I don’t think so…”

“Clean that up, will y…” began Magarce, and then realized that he was still flying, would continue to do so, and she’d given way to him for a reason. The seat still wasn’t placed conveniently for her, and she was in no position to take over piloting.

Jens stared at her. “How?”

“Oh, never mind. I’ve got it.” grumbled Magarce.

Once she had done so, using the ship’s provisions as her source of paper towels, she stood by Jens, paw gently on his shoulder. “Thanks.”

He didn’t say anything.

“You’re supposed to say you’re welcome.” she added.

“I just… I’ve got a lot to think about.” said Jens, and then hastily added, “Such as flying this! It was north we wanted, right? Do you have an idea where in the mountains we’re going?”

Magarce pointed. “Let’s try over there!”

Jens drooped. The ship banked deftly, and whooshed off in the mad kitten’s desired direction.

It was getting dark by the time they found it. Erckt Point didn’t maintain elaborate security systems, didn’t put up guidance beacons- if you found it, you could probably land easily enough, and then your troubles would really begin. Jens knew nothing of this, and Magarce’s experience of Erckt Point had been unusual. She assumed she’d be welcome, and yet something in the back of her mind made her uneasy, suggesting that it couldn’t possibly be as simple as that.

“Why are there no lights?” complained Jens. “I need landing lights.”

“Just do it. But don’t hurt the ship!”

Jens set his jaw, his attention expanding outwards to cover all possible lastminute air conditions, peering hectically at a dimly seen unlit airstrip, and with his breath hissing harshly through his lupine nose, he set the ship down gently in the darkness, partly through cunning and partly through dumb luck. He brought it to a stop and looked over at Magarce.

“Now what? Since you know this place, and I don’t.”

“Just park it somewhere, will you?”

“But I need to talk to the tower about…”

“Do you see a tower anywhere? There’s just that building. Just park the thing. Or we could just get out here…”

“No,” said Jens. “What if someone else landed? They’d slam right into us. I’ll look for where the other ships are. There’s other ships, right?”

“Yeah, and cars and stuff. You’ll like it.”

Jens was picking out blasted hulks in the darkness, trying to find a place to leave the ship and spotting only places where clearly nobody had left their ship alive. Most of them seemed very old, sometimes with foliage covering them. None had been cleared away, so long as they didn’t block the runway. “I’ll like it. Right.” he muttered, as she got her gun. He picked a spot he could find again, between two wrecks, and hoped it would suffice.

There was a door, that Magarce marched right up to as if she knew the routine. She went to bang on the door with her paw, but at the first blow, it simply swung open, as if it had been left ajar. Jens wondered if this mysterious place was as ruined as the many spaceships littering the grounds. Had something happened to it? Inside the door was only dimness, though it seemed like there was light and power. He thought he heard a noise, but couldn’t swear to it.

Magarce’s bravado was only inflamed further by this spooky emptiness. She kicked the door open the rest of the way, and marched straight in, crying “Who wants some?”. Jens cringed at this, though if he’d been present for Magarce’s first visit to Erckt Point he’d have cringed for a different reason. He also hesitated, not entering right away, and then cowering back even more as a large figure jumped out behind Magarce.

A feline shriek cut the air, but the creature hadn’t attacked, or fucked her. It had zeroed in on her gun, and deftly wrested it from her grip. She whirled, enraged.

As Jens tried to decide whether to attack the huge, leather-clad figure, another shriek happened, but different.

“Fran!”

Magarce flung herself at the monster, and clung to him with arms and legs, playfully trying to grab for her gun again.

“Whoa! Easy there! First things first! What brings you back?” he rumbled. “And where’s your friend?”

“Ahem…” said Jens, still not crossing the threshold, but somewhat relieved, and also somewhat jealous. Surely this was some sort of ex-lover, and once again he felt horribly outclassed.

“What’re you talking about?” said Magarce. “Gimme that! Fraaan!”

“Never mind,” said Fran, “this must be the man! You’ve outdone yourself, short stuff. Ow!”

Other people had emerged out of the gloom as this exchange progressed, and lights began to go back on. Jens stood in the doorway and took it all in. The denizens of Erckt Point weren’t reassuring- they covered a wide range of species, even the reptilian Tompar, and a wide range of attire, tending towards black and intimidating to the point of shiny spikes and blades sticking out. Somehow, the ones not dressed for mayhem were even more alarming- it might have been something in the eyes.

They weren’t looking at Magarce, even though she’d bit Fran before he got her in a head-lock. They were looking at him.

“Uhhh…” he said.

“Good enough.” said a starved-looking Estrai, one of the ones with normal clothing and scary eyes.

“Yeah, good enough.” rumbled Fran. “You can enter, whoever you are. Who are you?”

Jens stepped over the threshold as if it was likely to soil his blindingly white fur. “Uh, Jens. I’m, I’m from Ungovernment. No, I mean that’s where I lived, it’s not like they sent me here. Where I live, I should say… nobody there would ever send me anywhere, that’s not how we work…”

“Figures!” scoffed the Estrai, and turned away, uninterested.

“You said good enough,” said Jens. “Am I supposed to say, or do something? That I didn’t do right?”

“But you did.” said Fran. “You remain outside until we can get a good look at you. Oh- you’d better hold this.” He handed Jens Magarce’s gun.

Jens stood, horribly off-balance. “But… I didn’t know that. I, I was just afraid. I’m sorry…”

“When fear makes you step right, it’s not your enemy. If it stops you from stepping right, that’s when we have a problem.”

“But you had the door open. Magarce walked right in!”

Fran’s eyes seemed to crinkle into a look of great amusement, and a smile began to sneak onto his wolfish face- one that was cut short by a wince, as he’d been muffling Magarce’s curses with his hand, and she’d managed to bite him again.

“Yeah- we’ve met her.”

“Are… are you going to let her go?”

Fran’s eyebrow lifted in a quizzical look. He shifted his grip, so that the little feline was still pinned to him but could speak. She took in breath for a huge tirade, but stopped as Fran put a finger to her feline nose.

“We don’t have anybody annoying enough to kill, here, anymore. Do you understand?”

“Except you!” burst out Magarce, but then, after a pause, she began to laugh.

“No, really. We want to meet your friend, and we don’t want anybody getting shot randomly, understand?”

“Who?” blinked Magarce.

“He says he’s named Jens- and it couldn’t have been you doing that piloting, could it? Cannons don’t have the touch to be pilots.”

“Cannons?”

“Word gets around, little one. You’ve got a rare gift- probably from your man Benz, but you seem to be a quick study.”

Magarce purred and nestled against him. “Cannons. I like it. I think he would be happy that I’m welcome back here.”

“Well, we’re happy your new man Jens is here…”

“Meh, he’s not that great.” said Magarce. “Got anyone bigger?”

Fran’s eyes widened for a moment at the rudeness, and while he didn’t let go of the mad pirate kitten, his glance darted to Jens, where it accurately recorded the hurt, humiliated look it found- and even the revealing lack of surprise.

After a moment of thought, Fran rumbled conspiratorially, “I’ll trade ya.” and waggled his eyebrows.

“You will?”

“But! I’m not going to tell you for who. Not right away. So,” he said, letting Magarce down, “when you get your gun back- that’s right, Jens, go ahead and let her have it back- when you get your gun back you don’t shoot anybody, okay? Cause you don’t know who you’re going to get. Say it for me. Youuu don’t shooooot anybody.”

“Eyeeee doonn’t shoooooot anybody.” repeated Magarce mockingly, and playfully licked the end of the gun barrel.

Fran’s ear twitched. “I bet that’s about as good as I’ll get. Okay, people, you can get back to what you were doing, emergency’s more or less over… you, Jens, I’d like to talk to you, kid.”

Then, he froze. Magarce’s playful look had dropped off her face with frightening speed, and she wasn’t pointing the gun but somehow it seemed extra present as she said “Why.” in a tone that matched her eyes.

“I just said, I want to talk to your guy, okay shortstuff?”

“And I said why.” replied Magarce. “I’ll give you ten seconds to answer. Nine… no, that’s being too generous, two…”

Fran drew himself up. “Didn’t I just say I’ll trade you for him? Didn’t I just two seconds ago…”

“Oh!” cried Magarce. “I forgot! You go and talk. Can I explore?”

Fran sagged, a bit. “I’d like to know who would dare to stop you…”

“You say the nicest things!” said Magarce, and jumped up to plant a glancing kiss on his nose, and scampered off, gun waving merrily in her paw.

Fran and Jens watched her go, and then Fran said, “So. First, ah, pussy, huh?”

Jens blinked. “How the… heck would you know that?”

“It’s written all over you, kid. I didn’t know she was that way when I first met her, though we all learned to be careful real quick. I can see she’s cute- and, ah, lively. When did she start with you? What’s she been having you do?”

“I… I haven’t been able to do too much, honestly.” said Jens.

“What’s with the ‘bigger’ comment? She’s freaking tiny. You some kind of freak of nature? Because I can tell you right now, it won’t matter to us, you have a place here.”

“No- well I didn’t think so, I don’t understand why she’s so mean- wait, what do you mean, a place here?”

Fran looked at him. “We monitor airspace farther than you’d think. We can tap into scrambled broadcasts from satellites, kid. We watched you flying.”

“Oh, that?” said Jens.

“‘That’, he says. Kid, there’s a difference between good pilots and great ones for our purposes. Where’d you pick that stuff up?”

“Well, it was just obvious! What stuff?”

“Kid, you used the other guy’s momentum against him. The way you worked the airspace there- I’ve got pilots here who’d like to shake your hand, they say it was beautiful. They thought you’d fucked it at the last moment, up there like a sitting duck with no energy, and then you pull off an inverted half-loop and get the guy to follow you, and it was the low speed itself that saved you. You’re telling me that was all just instinct?”

Jens was bristling with embarrassment, and wagging. “Um… yeah.”

“Do you mind danger, guns and sometimes craziness?”

“I did come here with…”

“I withdraw the question. Let me get you set up with a permanent room, and we’ll try to find you some work to keep life interesting, okay? Might even find you replacement pussy if we’re lucky. Does it have to be Nerre, kid? That makes it harder…” said Fran.

“No, no…”

Magarce was happily mingling with the denizens at Erckt Point. It seemed so familiar to her- the same aura of danger and menace, the same smells of unbathed, stressed out Runge, the same vague hostility. It felt like the pirate ship again. Angs was dead- she’d watched him die. Benz was dead- she’d felt him die, which was worse. Tres was… somewhere, hopefully dead, but Magarce knew she couldn’t be that lucky. But these wolves here, bad people- her people- these ones were alive, and they were here for her. She felt the old quiver between her legs, that wildness of knowing things could get lively at any moment, and that she could be just as lively as they were.

“Who wants fucking?” she purred.

The Runge glanced back and forth between each other. Not one moved on her, not an inch. Magarce blinked and realized she was pointing the gun at them, and that they were handling it very well considering what she’d done the last time she was here.

An Estrai vixen said, politely and with an air of disbelief, “You came here to fuck? Seriously?”

“No,” said Magarce, “it’s because we have this- the ship! That’s right! I had an idea about the ship!”

“Your ship?” said the vixen.

“Well yeah! Obviously my ship now! What we’ve got to do is take it from there, keep it my ship or even more my ship, you know what I mean? Do you have any paint?”

The vixen blinked, speechless. A skulking wolf behind her lifted his head. “What do you mean, paint?”

“Paint! Something nice! Do you have paint that I’d like?” said Magarce.

“Seems to me I might have something else that you like…” leered the Runge guy.

“Ooooh. But you should tell me if you have paint, do ya?”

“No, but I…”

“Shut up, then. You!” she demanded of the Runge standing next to him, whose ears went back at the attention.

“Uh, you got the money, I’ve got the paint…” began the guy, but he shut off quickly as the shiny target pistol swung gently forward to point at his eye.

“No, I just want you to paint my ship. No money. I’ll fuck you if you want, are you any good?”

The guy drew back a little, but another vixen standing in front of him hastily whispered, “Do it!”

“What?” he hissed.

“Get on her good side, do it!”

“But… Deserre!”

“Zenkt, do it!”

Magarce watched this exchange. “Whatcha doing? Is this your guy?”

The vixen, Deserre, wasn’t as big as Tres had been- in any sense. She looked Magarce right in the eye, and said “I can afford to lend him. He’ll understand. I just gotta protect him, from himself.”

“You mean from me.” said Magarce.

“Yes, exactly.” said Deserre.

“Interesting.”

“Ain’t it always?”

The gun swung to cover her. Zenkt tensed. “Do you love him?” asked Magarce.

Deserre’s face twitched. Her ears were back, but she stood straight.

“Yes.”

Magarce stood, motionless, for second after second, and then she began to laugh.

“Do you know what I’m doing?”

“No.” said Deserre.

“I’m trying to figure out if you’re lying to me! I’m trying to figure out if an Estrai woman, with a Runge guy, is conning me! Would you let on if you were?”

Deserre snorted, gently. “That would be almost as stupid as trying to do it in the first place…”

“Explain.” said Magarce.

“You’re tight with Fran, I don’t know why. I hear you shot an X around Ungovernment’s best sniper’s shot at a hundred paces- more than that, the guy posted a picture and I’ve seen the picture. You’re not worried about walking right up to us, but I think we’re all pretty worried…”

“Go on…” lilted Magarce, her tail swishing with pleasure.

“We all have to deal with each other, okay? We’re used to gauging what to expect. I can’t read it from you, sugar, I can’t be sure what you’re going to do, and the reports I’m hearing aren’t soothing. So… name your color of paint, take my man, let us help you in whatever way you need, and please think well of us for as long as you last.”

“What?” blinked Magarce. “What?” said Zenkt.

“I’m a good judge of character, sugar. Don’t hurt us, and we’ll try to help you…”

“No, I mean what do you mean, as long as I last?” said Magarce.

“Oh, honey.” said the vixen, and a chill ran down Magarce’s spine. “Try not to think about it, all right?”

Magarce struggled to make sense of this sudden… pity? “You’re going to what? Hurt me, betray me, fuck me until I die?”

Some of the onlookers were furtively slipping away, alarmed by the conversational twist. The vixen didn’t budge, and the look of sympathy grew, and her guy seemed to be picking up on it, shooting glances at his Estrai girlfriend and sorting out how to react.

“We don’t have to be the one to betray you, sugar. Let’s just get you what you need, okay?”

Magarce wavered. “Then who is? Why are you talking this way? Stop it!”

“I’m sorry. I’ve just seen people like you before. Does it help that I want to protect myself and my man from you hurting us? I’ll do whatever you want in exchange for our safety. You know we have paint, and you want that for some reason. Let us help you?”

Magarce stared at her with haunted eyes, trembling. It had all gone spooky so suddenly, but instead of this Estrai woman turning frightening, she’d managed to turn the whole rest of the world frightening, with a few simple words.

“Will you? Help me?”

“If you let us.” said Deserre, gently.

Magarce wavered, and Deserre got blurry, and more blurry, and then she realized she was beginning to cry and had no idea why, and then she was clinging to the strange Estrai woman, not much larger than herself, and being hugged.

“Don’t, Zenkt.” said Deserre, sharply.

“What?” he replied.

“Don’t do it. Let her keep holding the gun. Don’t even touch it. I’ve got this…”

Zenkt backed off, looking worried, but obeying the gentle order.

“Go ahead of us. We’ll take her to our room. I think she’ll be safer there. Come on, sugar… that’s right, hang on to the gun, but gently… I don’t want to carry it for you, just firm relaxed grip okay? That’s the way…”

Nobody was willing to be anywhere near them. The onlookers melted away into the shadows, as the three made their awkward way, Magarce still clinging to Deserre, down the corridors to a small room that was surprisingly less spartan than expected. The walls were decorated, and not with blood or bullet holes. Fabric wall hangings, and even a plant, helped instill an air of home even though it was only Erckt Point.

“That’s it… sit down here with me.”

Magarce wiped her eyes. “Why are you doing this?”

Deserre regarded her seriously. “I’m protecting my mate. You saw him answer your question. I wish, more than anything, he’d lied, but he’s not great at it, and so here we are.”

“Yeah, here we are in your room!” said Magarce. “What’s that about?”

“Do you think I am stupid?” said Deserre gently. This got her a sour look from Magarce.

“Uh… this is over the top, even for you, Des…” said Zenkt apologetically.

“No, listen, darling!” said Deserre. “She saw you. Unless we fled Erckt Point right away, she would’ve found you- and how would I have been able to convince you to do that? I couldn’t take that risk!”

“You guys are talking about me like I was an unexploded bomb or something.” said Magarce, unamused.

“You… are special,” said Deserre, “and I’ve seen your like before.”

“Special how?”

“You’re one of those to whom nothing seems to matter. I don’t know why, but I recognized it, and from all I’ve heard it’s the simple truth. When you learned my mate had things that you wanted, I had no choice… please, let us do for you all that you need done, and then please let us go. You have the pilot you came here with. We have only each other, and this is our home…”

“It’s okay.” said Magarce, looking around. “But it’s still kind of a dump.”

“It is our home.” said Deserre. “Everyone knows us, and knows where we live. We couldn’t hide for long from you, if we had tried.”

Magarce considered this- the strange atmosphere, that in the middle of all the familiar chaos of Erckt Point spoke of stability, security. “Yeah… wait, no. No. Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” said Deserre.

Magarce thought, her tail lashing a bit as she did. Deserre didn’t interrupt her. Finally, the little Nerre spoke.

“What’s your real reason? I don’t think you’re stupid, but it doesn’t make sense. I would probably have forgotten all about you in five minutes. I kinda do that…” Magarce shook her head. “Quit confusing me, I’m not liking it. What do you really want?”

Deserre stared at her, and one vulpine ear twitched. Zenkt stared as well, and neither seemed willing to answer.

“I don’t like that you don’t want to answer.” said Magarce. “Do I have to start counting backwards?”

“We’re scavengers.” said Deserre. Zenkt nodded.

“And what does that make me?”

Deserre gulped, but didn’t drop her gaze. “A tool. I’m sorry. You weren’t buying it, now I have to tell you the truth…”

Magarce considered this, while the eyes of the other two flicked between hers- and her gun, which remained raised and not aimed anywhere in particular.

“A cannon, huh?”

“It sounds like you’re the best.” said Deserre. “I don’t know if you have a heart. Sometimes they don’t. I thought I’d find out. I am so, so sorry.” Zenkt’s nervousness increased, as his mate told her story.

“Meaning,” said Magarce, “you’re not going to do things for me, now?”

“I never said that! We will! We’ll do anything you want! Please, even if I’ve fucked it all up and we can’t win your loyalty!”

Magarce scanned the vixen’s eyes- so big and tearful, and yet it could so easily be another sham. Her spirit wearied of the endless wrangling, all the Runge and Estrai with their complicated intentions- all the Nerre who couldn’t find a place for her- everyone, constantly turning away or betraying her, and she felt bitter and empty inside. And as she stared, she saw something in Zenkt’s look that steadily grew, the longer she waited, that worsened as she stared at the vixen and not him.

Zenkt did love his mate, and he was racked with anguish every second she was in danger- and somehow, Magarce sensed the same was true in reverse. Somehow, these two were bonded together in a way she had never been able to keep. She could have shot either of them in a fraction of a second, and in so doing, she would have killed both in a very real way.

For a moment, she considered doing just that, so the heart-ache would leave her alone.

“What,” said Magarce, “did you want to get from me, then?”

It was as if a spell was broken. Deserre, so much faster at reading the emotional truth of a situation, began to chatter frantically. “You’re such a good shot! We’ve really never heard of anything like it, like the stories that came back, and that picture- and the story of you coming here for the first time! You’re the bravest thing ever, or at least utterly fearless, and it seemed like your loyalties might not work the normal way but if we got to you in maybe a more intimate way…”

“That’s what this was about? I mean, that’s all it was?” said Magarce. “You wanted to fuck me until I liked you? Is that it?”

“Zenkt is very special.” said Deserre. “And I’m versatile…”

Magarce’s emotions seemed to be on springs. Her face worked, revealing sudden anguish. “And that’s all it was! You don’t really want me, you just wanted to use me…”

Deserre’s ear was going to end up sprained, from how badly it was twitching. “What do you need? You can have anything you need from us.” She looked sick, like she’d horribly overestimated her ability to stay on top of the situation.

Magarce sagged. She stepped back, and when her legs touched the couple’s bed, she just sat down onto it, all the fight going out of her, the gun as good as forgotten at her side.

“I’m so tired…”

Deserre and Zenkt didn’t move.

“I just stole a whole spaceship. All by myself. Do you know how I did that?”

“How?” breathed Deserre.

“It came, with a bunch of guys on it. Runge, like you- well, like him. They were gang guys, or something. Kind of like pirates, I guess? They were going to start shooting us- the people I was with, I mean. They didn’t like that I had this gun. They said to put it down. Then they said they had to see if I was hiding other guns- and I was pretty sure what was going to happen.”

“Oh, honey…” said Deserre. Zenkt still didn’t dare speak.

Magarce’s little voice was weary, blank. “So, when they told me to, I took off all my clothes, and I walked in to meet them. I licked my paw and tried to slicken myself, because you know. They don’t ever wait, do they? I knew that. I walked right in, and they were real happy about that. I twirled, real pretty, and I picked out the guy who looked meanest, and I swished my tail to the side and presented.”

They didn’t breathe, as the little cat continued, tonelessly.

“He knew what was coming- he was playing with himself, obviously wanted to be first. Had to be their alpha if he was already that stiff and nobody stopped him. He shoved it into me, and they all watched, and they all started playing with themselves too. It hurt, mostly because he shoved it in so mean, and I really wasn’t excited. They didn’t care. That was what they wanted.”

Deserre’s eyes glistened, now, but Magarce wasn’t nearly finished.

“So, that’s when I grabbed the gun from the guy standing next to me. He went ‘Hey!’ and then I shot all of them. I guess I’m glad there were enough bullets? I had to get the guy who was in me, twice. I hit him once but he twisted away, and he’d got a knot really quickly, and it yanked my body around and ruined my aim.”

The eyes upon her were wide now.

“It yanked out of me, and I shot him a second time, and I walked out of there.”

“Oh, honey…” went Deserre.

“That makes- out of the last three guys that were in me, two out of the three were evil and I had to kill them while they were still fucking me.” said Magarce. “That’s… oh, yeah, that other guy too, but that was just business.”

Deserre was speechless, her expression a mix of terror and anguished sympathy.

“It’s… Deserre, you’re Deserre, right? I’m tired, Deserre. I’m so tired.”

Deserre’s ear flicked again, and she dared to glance at her lover, her eyes filled with dismay. “Honey?” she said.

“What.” said Magarce dully.

“Is… is it safe to hug you?”

“Well, I don’t know!” mewed Magarce. “Why are you asking me? Why don’t you just not bother? It’s not as if you guys even wanted me, really. I’m the tool, right? What difference does it make?”

“It does.” said Deserre. “It does. May I?”

Magarce patted the bed beside her, instead of answering, and the Estrai woman approached cautiously, and sat, and put her arm around the strangely rigid Nerre girl. “Thank you, Magarce.”

“I shouldn’t be here.” said the little cat. “I don’t know where I should be, but it’s not here.”

“Can Zenkt join us, dear? I think we’d like to make you feel better.”

“Whatever.” said Magarce. “Why bother?”

“We’re funny that way. Ask anybody.” said Deserre, as her Runge lover joined them, on Magarce’s other side, sitting gingerly next to the gun that Magarce no longer seemed to care about.

“Why do only evil people want to fuck me?” asked Magarce. “Evil people can’t get enough of me. And you’re nice people, and you don’t want me at all. Why? Is it because I’m little? Is it because I get mad at stuff?”

Zenkt glanced quickly at Deserre, but she shushed him. “Slow down, honey.” she said. “How can you tell if we want you? What’s giving you this idea about evil people? I don’t understand.”

“Those guys in the ship had hard-ons in like fifteen seconds for me. And look at your guy. Nothing. I can see already, nothing.”

Deserre hugged the dejected feline a bit closer. “Oh, honey. It doesn’t make him happy to see you sad.”

“Is that it? Why is it so easy to find guys who want to see me sad, then?” Magarce’s face twisted a bit, in thought. “Or more like… want to see me hurting, especially on the end of their cock. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that. I used to like to fight back- before I started fighting even more than that, before I got my gun and started to kill them back. Why do they get that way?”

“Was it all that way?” said Deserre, softly.

Magarce’s thoughts flew back over the locked boxes of her memory- Jens and his unsureness, lusty Demarle, the one beautiful and terrible time with Benz, on past all the pirate exploits to her times with Benjen, wrapped in his sleeping arms as he somehow worked gently but firmly in her.

“No… no, it wasn’t always that way. A lot of it was. Not all.”

“Hey…” said Zenkt, “you could give me a chance. Des is right. You’re expecting me to get horny for you right now?”

“Would you make up your mind?” snapped Magarce, with a flash of obvious anger, and the two scavengers tensed. “Shit. I’m sorry. Look at you. How are you supposed to be nice to me? I scare you!”

“Is that how you want to be?” asked Deserre carefully.

Magarce’s kittenish face worked again, and it was anybody’s guess what would emerge on it- rage, despair, grief- and finally, grief overpowered everything else, and the Nerre twisted and grabbed Deserre in a childish hug.

“No!” she sobbed, and the rest was tearfulness, as the Estrai woman petted and held Magarce, while staring sadly at her gun as it lay quietly on the bedspread.

“No, dear.” she said to Zenkt, whose eyes were similarly occupied. “Not even now. I think we’re safe. Let it lay.”

“What can we do for you while you’ve got us, dear? You have your life to life- but we’re here for you now.”

Magarce sniffled. “Hold me.” she said, and Deserre did. After an exchanged glance, Zenkt joined them, and the sad little Nerre was sandwiched between Runge and Estrai in a solemn, grieving embrace that went on and on and on, one that nobody wished to break.

Eventually, Magarce wriggled, and remarked, “My leg’s going to sleep.”

“Sorry… you need to stretch?” said Zenkt.

“It’s too bad you don’t want to stretch me in another way.” said Magarce. “It’s okay. You guys are something different. I don’t feel sexy at all, so don’t feel pressured. It just… reminds me of somebody. That’s all.”

“Do you want to tell us about it?” said Deserre, gently.

“No. I don’t. I’m going to have to go back out there- that life you tell me to have. I get that. There just used to be… somebody.”

“What did you mean, it was too bad?” said Zenkt, cautiously. The look he got back from Magarce was unexpected. Until this point, the little feline had been a force of chaos, taking what she wanted and destroying the rest, and both Deserre and Zenkt had spotted it for what it was instantly. Now- perhaps it had been a teachable moment? Now, the grey-pointed Nerre was looking back at him sadly but sympathetically, from inches away and while wrapped in his arms. Even if only for a moment, she seemed to be looking to him, and not simply at him.

“Maybe it’s just as well. When I started getting really horny it’s kind of like that’s when my problems began. It just makes me mad that only bad people want to fuck me. I’m going to have to do something about that, but I don’t know what. It’s really okay. Maybe you know somebody who isn’t, you know, evil and stuff?”

Deserre chuckled. “Of course we do. You don’t like us, then?”

“Don’t tease.” said Magarce. “You’re not turned on. I know what turned on is, and you’re not. I’m not even sure I want that from you, now. You’re too different. I wish I could stay!”

Glances shot back and forth between Estrai vixen and Runge male. Ears quirked in perplexity.

Deserre said, “Maybe you’re not quite done learning. Zenkt? As a kindness? As a power of example?”

“Twist my arm, would you…” he replied.

Magarce twisted to look at them. “What are you talking about? Now you’re just confusing me.”

Deserre smiled at her, and said, “We never said you weren’t attractive. You’re just different- and I think we both like you better now than when you came in, waving that gun around.”

“Oh! That. Right. It, it, I feel safer….” stammered Magarce.

“But you feel safe with us?”

“What a turn-off.” said Magarce. “Yes, very safe.”

“Hah!” said Deserre. “Thought so. Zenkt, we need to set her straight, honey. Would you mind helping me do that?”

Zenkt blinked. “Do you think you can do that without… don’t you think you’re taking a chance? She’s already agreed to, um… go have a life.”

Magarce’s hurt look came back, instantly, but Deserre reached out and touched her on the nose, catching the again-tearful eyes with hers, and said, “We’ve got to trust her. Kitten? We can’t keep you, but is it okay with you if we… show you how you should live? Sometimes people have to be shown.”

Magarce gulped. “What are you asking? Why are you asking? If you’re going to fuck me, why don’t you just start fucking?”

“That,” said Deserre, “is exactly why I’m asking. Is this okay? We both care what the answer is. We will both be okay no matter what answer you give. I’ll be clear. Do you wish us to please you, sexually? In our way?”

“I… don’t understand.”

“Poor sweetie.” said Deserre. Her eyes glinted with a sort of fond amusement. “Let’s rephrase that. May I?”

The little Nerre’s eyes were very wide.

“Uh-huh.”

Deserre held Magarce as she wept, stroking the feline’s short fur, staring at nothing with an expression of concern and sadness. Eventually, the sobbing quieted- Magarce’s ears were still back, but the worst of it seemed over. When she looked up, there was a dreadful vulnerability to her. This cannon had not lost all feelings- yet.

“Please don’t be afraid of me.” she said, in a tiny cat voice that wrung Deserre’s heart.

“I promise.” replied the vixen.

“I want to stay.”

To that, Deserre had no reply, and Magarce’s face slowly, slowly gave way to utter despair… but in seeing it, Deserre had her answer. “Can you… take care of yourself… and return?”

“I want to stay.” said Magarce softly, as if it didn’t really matter very much.

“You must find your own life, kitten. For us? Please? It seems you haven’t made the best choices.”

“I want to make one now.” said Magarce, eyes still so vulnerable.

“Magarce… you want to have made our choices. You’ve got to go on. You’ve got to make choices of your own- in your life- not ours.”

Zenkt hung his head. He wasn’t able to add a thing- or to disagree with a thing.

“Please?” said Magarce, so faintly it was hard to hear.

Deserre’s smile grew. One elegant vixen hand reached out to stroke across Magarce’s body, sliding across the silken dress that Faisand had given. Again, the hand stroked, almost a fondle, fingers contouring to the shapes they found, beginning at the rib-cage and exploring across Magarce’s trim belly, veering to the side and caressing her slim flank.

“Oh!” said Magarce, and grasped at the hem of her dress, preparing to take it off, but Deserre stopped her. “Uht! Follow my lead. Relax. Not yet.” As Magarce hesitated, the vixen’s hand stroked her belly again- and reached farther around her body, drawing her closer. The gentle, exploring touch ran up under her arm, avoiding her little breast- and then, a fingertip trailed directly across there, as the hand withdrew. Just a delicate touch across the sheer fabric, so light that Magarce hardly felt it as it traced the female curve it found.

Deserre smiled even more, as she watched the sheer fabric poke up the tiniest amount, stirred by Magarce’s nipple as it became erect.

“…do that again!” breathed the fascinated Nerre.

“Gladly, darling.” said the vixen. “You liked? Let us show you this way. Seek this out… not those other ways.” Her touch traced back- and then her hand enfolded Magarce’s breast, that very minor swelling against her furry chest, easily encompassed by even a vixen hand. The grasp was tender, but as Deserre took a deeper breath, as her fingers squeezed with gentle insistence, Magarce could feel something familiar after all. This woman wasn’t trying to seize her, devour her erotically, drive her onward, or any of that- but all the same, Deserre’s hand so plainly wanted to know what Magarce’s little breast felt like, and the tender gropings showed a kind of hunger, as well as a kind of curiosity.

“Is it not big enough?” said Magarce. “Yours is bigger.”

“Would you like to touch it?” said Deserre.

“Nah. I don’t really care about that.” replied Magarce. “Um, was that the wrong thing to say?”

Deserre was unfazed. “Not at all. I have Zenkt to appreciate me- and we are here to appreciate you, tonight.”

“Are you sure?” said Magarce, and then gasped. Deserre had tickled her stiffening nipple, through the fabric.

“Yes. We are sure.”

“Can I play?” said Zenkt, his deeper voice breaking in on the feminine murmurs. Magarce glanced at him. “Um… I want to say yes but I don’t know if Deserre is done and I don’t know how to do it this way, help…”

The wolf and the vixen shared a glance, and Deserre said, “Just relax. We don’t often get to do this together with someone. We know what we’re doing, sweet kitten. Relax. We’ll take care of everything.”

Magarce heaved a sigh, and tried to relax, and the Estrai paw was joined by a larger Runge one, also caressing and stroking her body. Zenkt’s hand cupped her other breast, less elegantly, but she liked that- and petted firmly down her belly- and began to go between her legs, when the vixen hand cuffed it.

“Uht! Make her wait a little more, darling.”

“But…” began Magarce. It had woken her up in earnest- she squirmed, a little, feeling her pussy go more slippery as her attention was drawn there by the direction of that touch. “Do I have to?”

“You won’t be waiting forever.” winked the vixen. Her fingers traced down Magarce’s leg, and then up her inner thigh. Magarce gasped.

“Now who’s rushing?” muttered Zenkt, but his tail was wagging against the bed.

“Perhaps I’m greedy.” said Deserre. “Perhaps I’m enjoying myself, hmmm?”

“Are you?” said Magarce.

“Perhaps I am.” said Deserre. “Perhaps I’m lying. How would you know the one, from the other?”

Her fingers finished their journey and answered the question almost before it was asked. Magarce took in a breath, as the Estrai woman’s hand cupped her feline vagina, lovingly grasping Magarce’s pert mound and kneading it slightly with vulpine fingers, heedless of the lubricated damp.

Magarce looked up at her, and Deserre smiled down at the little Nerre’s wide eyes- withdrew her paw- and licked the moistness she found there. Magarce’s ear flicked, as she realized all at once that, though these people weren’t dominating or forcing her, she wanted them dreadfully. Both of them, all of them, everything about them.

“What do you even do?” she asked.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Anything.” breathed Magarce. “Anything.”

Deserre didn’t make her sit around wondering. The Estrai woman slid elegantly off the bed to a kneeling position on the floor, and one vulpine hand lifted the hem of Magarce’s dress, knowing already what would be revealed- a fretfully pouting feline vagina, glinting with its own lubrications, greeting the kiss of the room’s faintly acrid air with a delicate blooming of labia and clitoris. Deserre’s ear twitched again, but not in dismay- in appreciation.

Outside, a thud shook the hallway, and there was a muffled shout.

“Zenkt, dear? No, wait. Magarce?” said Deserre.

“What?”

“Can you watch while I please you? Your gun’s right there, look. This is Erckt Point, and nobody tries to enter anybody’s room, ever. It’s just our way. If somebody comes in, will you be able to kill them before they enter? I promise, that’s the right answer.”

“Yeah, sure. Really? You’re not testing me, are you?” said Magarce.

“We’d be safer if I was. Zenkt will watch too, but you are better, as we know. Then, when I’m done, Zenkt can take over and finish with you. It will be safe to let yourself go completely- I am a good shot in my own right, and I will watch every second.”

“Do you do that often?”

“Too often.” said Zenkt. “It’s just how this place is. We’ve learned to sleep lightly.”

“Go ahead.” said Magarce. “Nobody’s gonna get in here. Wait… you’re going to watch, with my gun? Is that what you’re asking?”

“No,” said Deserre. “Please don’t repeat this- we do not carry guns, everyone knows that about us. We don’t tell lies about important things- that too is known. But I’ve never said there wasn’t a gun in that chest at the foot of the bed.”

Magarce considered this.

“Nobody’s ever seen it,” added Zenkt, “because nobody’s ever come through the door at us, yet. Uh… does that worry you? I’m sorry we brought it up.”

Deserre cleared her throat. “Darling… she lubricated more to hear it. Before my tongue is busy, let me reassure you on that score. She likes this.”

“Is that wrong?” said Magarce.

“It’s certainly useful, for now. We’ll talk about that. Are you ready to watch for us, dear?”

“Sure, I’mmnnnnggggh!”

Deserre hadn’t waited a moment. As soon as she heard Magarce’s assent, her muzzle dipped forward, and a slender vixen tongue licked at Magarce’s waiting puss- licked deep and hungrily, without prologue, thrusting some way into her. Magarce hadn’t expected anything of the sort. Deserre’s politeness and grace had led her to believe the Estrai would be artfully teasing and coy, but this was anything but coy.