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Space. The Final Frontier. These are the Voyages of the CLS Minx, it's ongoing mission to seek out new life and civilizations, to absorb new culture and species, to barge in where no one ever asked them to before.

The ship glided out of Starbase 241 smoothly, where they had just finished transferring personnel and supplies. Res sat back in his seat, one of three stations in front of the Captain's chair. Res didn't dare look at the Captain and his ever present scowl, instead keeping his eyes locked on his station, flicking occasionally to the viewport.
"All stop." The Captain's order cut through the near silence on the bridge, and Res bit down on his cheek to keep himself from jumping. Immediately stopping the ship, he rotated slightly to face the Captain.
"Sir?"
"What is that?" He pointed on the viewscreen. "Enhance."
Res quickly adjusted the viewscreen to track the drifting object the Captain had spotted.
"I don't know, Captain."
"It's tiny. Some kind of probe?"
"Negative, Captain." The second officer, Commander Knavaz, looked up from a station along the back wall, her antennae bobbing. "It's giving off the wrong energy signature."
"So it's a ship then?"
"It's hard to tell. Preliminary scan detect... Captain?" Knavaz motioned the captain over, and the two of them exchanged hushed whispers.
"Try hailing it, all frequencies."
"No response."
"Bring it in then. Security and engineering, standby."
"Bringing it in." Silence as the bridge crew watched their tractor beam catch the small vessel, pieces of which broke off from the pressure.
"We got it, Captain."
"Good. Have security clear it and bring all occupants directly to my ready room. Then have engineering figure out where that ship came from."
Knavas relayed the message to the department heads as the Captain left the bridge at a brisk pace. Res shared a look of curiosity with the other occupants of the bridge, but remained at his post. He really didn't want any more marks on his record.


Ori cursed at the ship's barely functioning computer system for the sixth time in the last five minutes. At this point, he had been working on the fuel collectors for the last three sleepcycles without much progress. He had gotten the ship to move about a kilometer at one point, but that wasn't very far in space at all.
And now, the computer was bent on informing him that the ship was low on carbon dioxide. So at least he would suffocate and wither before the ship's cloaking device failed, right?
Wrong. The cloaking device had been the first to fail on this stupid machine, as a V class wasn't designed to be cloaked and the cloak they had installed was a rush job from the end of homeworld. Upon realizing the cloak was toast, Ori had planned to land on literally and planet with a habitable atmosphere and work from there, but no. Before reaching his target, the fuel collectors had to give out, and he found himself stranded in space. And Ori was hoping beyond hope that he could fix things before one of the ships going to or from the space station a few clicks away noticed him.
That was the first rule of space travel. Never, ever be detected. And never let yourself or your ship be captured, for the bipeds are sources of horrors unimaginable.
Ori jerked back from the panel he was working on as it gave off a puff of smoke. That was never a good sign. Removing the damaged piece and floating it over to a containment bin, Ori began to reroute power the best he was able to with what he had.
WARNING: Incoming Energy Beam
Ori dropped the piece, looking up in time to see a yellow beam collide with his ship. No. No.
He jumped into his chair, and began activating the self destruct procedures.
"Confirmed. Please enter second confirmation code."
Ori cursed again. He didn't have another person to confirm. He punched in Eie's confirmation code, hoping it would count.
"Biometric data is incorrect. Self destruct cancelled."
The world outside his windows changed, becoming harsh and fluorescent. Ori grabbed the broken panel, repped a vent off the wall and climbed in, closing it after him. He had to hide until he could rig the ship to blow. He would not be captured. He would not let his ship fall into the hands of bipeds.

Lieutenant Hans Decker

The engineering section was bustling with engineers running system diagnostics and checking components for any potential faults. At the center of it all directing the mass of workers was the Chief Engineer. He was issuing orders to his crew and assisting where needed when orders came to prepare the engines to depart from the station. Overseeing it personally, the engines were brought to life and controls given to the helm. The engines purred happily as the ship began to move, and Hans was proud of his work fine tuning them. Then not long after, the ship was brought to a halt. Confusion spread amongst his team, and murmuring filled the air with speculation. Checking the systems, everything seemed fine. It must have been helm input.

"Steady," he said to his team. "Standby for instructions." The silence that followed held only the humming of the idling engines, but they didn't have long to wait before orders came in to prepare for inspecting a vessel. "Looks like we're having guests already. Lieutenant Fisher, grab your tools and come with me." Lieutenant Decker grabbed his own tools and began making his way to the shuttle bay.


Ensign Borghild Gernna

Upon arriving at the CLS Minx, the first thing she noticed was a distinct lack of headspace for her. Her ears brushed against the ceiling as she walked down the corridors, she had to duck to fit through doorways, and getting past crew mates coming the other way was difficult, exacerbated by her duffle bag she was carrying to her new living quarters. Clearly this ship wasn't designed with Fenrir in mind. She had to remind herself that this was only temporary and that she would be back to the Wintreath Federation soon...ish.

She eventually found where her quarters are located and walked inside. What she expected to see was something resembling Federation living quarters. What she got instead was a mostly empty room with an enormous basket of dirt. "Damnit! How am I expected to live in here?" In frustration, she kicked the basket across the room causing it to spill some of the dirt onto the floor. She groaned at the dirt on the floor and quickly cleaned it up, placing the dirt back in the basket. It wasn't long before she was called for duty in the shuttle bay, so she left her bag on the floor and began making her way there.

Mari paced back and forth down the halls outside the med bay. 'Why am I so nervous?' she thought to herself. I've done this before.' Still she couldn't help but feel uneasy, she'd only ever served on ships advancing humanities intrests in space. Her command structure had always been human as well. Now she was serving on a ship advancing a decidedly non human agenda.

"Well only one thing to do I guess," she sighed aloud before entering the med bay.

Lieutenant Fisher
John picked up his tool bag and followed Hans to the shuttle bay waiting for whatever was in that ship to come out or he would have to use his laser cutter to make a hole but either way, he was in awe of the ship. Very small in comparison to our ship but He's never seen anything like it. Now John waits for the security team to tell him when to cut the door open....

(Sorry for the late post guys. I promise I won't do this in the future.)

Prikki et al.
Prikki straightened his uniform as he stood with his fellow Gorram in the landing bay on the outskirts of Technocratic space. As he gazed over the group, he noted the differing reactions among them: Most of the younger, less-experiences ensigns and technicians displayed varying degrees of nervous excitement, while the older, more-experienced scientists and officers busied themselves with making sure that all of their luggage was in order, as well as instructing their subordinates (if they were of such rank to have them) on proper protocol once onboard. Prikki let out a little sigh, and turned to his assistant.

"Is there anything wrong, sir?" Oren asked. He had served alongside Prikki for many years, and had picked up one his various mannerisms and expressions, no matter how small.

"Nothing is wrong, Oren. Just another day in the life of Prikki Tel'Yorak. What are your feelings about the whole expedition?"

"My feelings are subordinate to the goals of the Technocracy, sir." A typical Oren answer, with just the right amount of obedience and humility one could expect from an advisor, but Prikki shook his head with a little half smile.

"Don't give me that, Oren, you've been my assistant far too long for me to believe that."

Oren grinned, "Well, I do feel that this is quite exciting. I've never seen a Longren in person before, nor been able to witness their ships in action. Have you, sir?"

"Once, a long time ago." Prikki let out another sigh as he remembered it. "But things are different now."

"They are indeed, sir," Oren replied. At that, the CLS Minx docked with the Gorram spaceport, and Prikki and his entourage gathered up their belongings as they moved towards the ship. Once aboard, Prikki, Oren, and their drones left the other Gorram behind as they quickly strode towards the command deck. Prikki and Oren had familiarized themselves with the layouts offered by the Federation, and so they arrived in good time.

Tabi Vygon
Tabi dropped her heavy bag of gear at the entrance to the shuttle bay, directing her people to spread out around her as she set up her scanning equipment, trying to get an idea of what they were going into.
"Alright, Team. Bridge informs me we're looking at single occupant, mission is to detain. Base scans show corridors are just over a meter high, so we're going to have to crawl. We've got two levels. Stay on base level if possible.
"Engineering, I want structural analysis done stat. We need to know if the upper floor is capable of supporting our weight.
"Gernna, Zaimar, you're with me at the front of the ship as team one. Kilf, Mjikor, Noft, team two, hold the back of the ship and exit. I don't want our occupant getting out, understood? They might be hiding, be sure to sweep anywhere that looks like it might open. Keep on comms, don't break anything if it can be avoided."
Tabi looked around, as if looking for confirmation from someone, before shaking herself out of it.
She motioned to engineering to break the door open, ducking inside with her phaser rifle extended in front of her, twisting to motion her team in.
"Let's go."
Ori
Ori nearly dropped the panel as he heard the door come crashing off his ship. He was at the very front, it would take a little longer for them to reach him. Hopefully, he wouldn't be noticed. He was too small. Bipeds always expected something bigger.
Tightening his hold on the panel, he continued his work, piece after piece clicking into place, the occasional forgotten scrap of metal floating through the vent grates without care.
Peering out through the slats, he could see a particular set of red lights come to life. He relaxed a bit, taking comfort in having completed his mission.
Ori reflected back on his life. Had he done everything he wanted? Mostly. He would have liked to make it to the Neba. He would have liked to have found his clan again, wherever they were scattered. But Ori also knew those were recent events, and he had had a really good run.
Yet, he couldn't quite bring himself to flip the last piece of metal into place. The one that would make all the alarms on the ship go off, everything left overload and fry itself, and him.
Even though he had followed every protocol precisely and was standing on the metaphorical ledge, Ori did not want to jump. Ori did not want to be captured, nor did he want to die.
The rustling in the hallway grew ever closer, and Ori was sure if he had a heart it would be pounding.
Ori checked his hololense over his right eye, held in place not by an exosuit but by the metal embedded in his shell, contemplating if he could escape the ship and give the direction to self destruct from another location. He could hide. They wouldn't notice him. He was small, and they were huge.
No. They were too close already. It would never work.
Powering down the lense, dulling his own vision as if going to sleep, he focused on the switch.
*Click*
Self Destruct sequence engaged. Two minutes remain.
Bridge
The doors slid open, and Res wasn't really sure what he was expecting, but certainly was not a whole bunch of undersized lizards. Amusement played on his face, but was quickly wiped away by a stern look from his commander, who stood from the helm and briskly walked over to greet the smaller beings.
"Prikki Tel'Yorak, I presume? Welcome to the Minx. We look forward to continued relations with your people." The commander bore a forced smile that came off as more "I'm going to eat your face" than "We're happy you're here."
"Please let us know if there is anything we can help you with. You are, of course, welcome to remain on the bridge, and Lieutenant Bokor will assist you with any questions you might have."
"I... Yes, Ma'am." Res nodded in her direction.
"Bokor. Tel'Yorak is your responsibility until his shift starts. Make no wrong moves." The commander sent a pointed stare in his direction, and Res gulped. "The Captain will want to meet with you after our current predicament is resolved. Expect a summons no later than 1200 hours."
With that, the commander returned to her post.
"All stations, report in. What's going on down there?"
Genzi Novdo
"You alright there?" Genzi smiled warmly upon seeing the latest human cadet enter his medbay. "There's nothing to fear in here. I don't usually bite." He laughed before standing from his lab station, where he was experimenting with a particularly stubborn strain of scale fungus.
"So, Mari Tanaka of Japan, yes? 19 years old, Cadet Year Three, currently on practical rotation." He read her personnel file before setting it back on the table.
"Genzi Novdo, Head of medicine around here. You can call me Genzi, but don't tell the Captain. He's a stickler for proper protocol. I look forward to seeing what you bring to my medbay."

Ensign Borghild Gernna and Lieutenant Hans Decker

The two met for the first time outside of the shuttle bay entrance. The surprise of seeing another Fenrir aboard the ship stunned them both. They looked each other up and down.

There's another Fenrir aboard? She's not part of the engineering team. I wonder what she's doing here...

I didn't know there was another Fenrir here. His eyes are strange. I wonder if he's anything like the cadets...

She's absolutely beautiful. But she's an Ensign. I wonder how far the Captain would allow a relationship with her to grow...

He's certainly interesting. But he's a Lieutenant. It'd be highly inappropriate for us to get too close...

Lieutenant Decker opened the door and gestured for her to enter. "After you, Ensign." She nodded and ducked inside the shuttle bay and was shortly followed by Decker.

Inside the shuttle bay, Ensign Gernna stood ready with the security officers while Lieutenant Fisher prepared to cut a door for the security officers to breach. Hans took over operating the scanning equipment, carefully assessing the scans of the interior. "I'm assuming you already saw the strange readings coming from the front of the vessel," he said to Tabi.

"I have a question," Gernna stated. "With all due respect, would it not make more sense to have a smaller individual go into the small space instead of the largest person here?"

Hans just rolled his eyes at the question as he continued to monitor the scanner and analyze the interior structure. "I believe the upper level will be able to hold your team members. Just be sure to keep your weight spread out."

Not long after Fisher cut the door open, an alarm from the scanner grabbed Lieutenant Decker's attention. "There's energy building up in what appears to be the vessel's engineering section. I advise evacuating and ejecting the vessel."

Mari chuckled nervously as she studied Genzi before smiling.

"Yes that's correct," she cheerily exclaimed. "What all did that file say about me?"

'Hopefully not everything,' she thought nervously.

She looked around the medbay trying to make sense of it.

"I also might need a quick little rundown of your set-up it differs greatly from the bays I've been in."

Prikki
Prikki made a short bow towards the commander, although those familiar with Gorram culture understood that it was more out of protocol than anything approaching respect.

"Thank you, commander. I will have my adviser, Oren Ker'Taan liaise with the bridge. Oren's face was emotionless as he stepped from the small group of Gorram and stood Prikki.

Prikki turned to the rest of the Gorram as they moved into a small huddle, "You all have received your lodging information by now. I expect you all to be on your best behavior for the entirety of this voyage. You are the face of the Technocracy to these people, and so I expect you all to show how you are the best and brightest we have to offer." The ends of his lips quirk into something approaching a smile. "May the Motive Force guide you." The other Gorram murmured their assent as they broke to investigate their bunks. Prikki nodded at Oren once, before  turning to Res. "Lieutenant, it appears that my shift is starting on the navigation deck. I will leave Oren here on the command deck, and he is fully authorized to operate with my authority should I not be available." Without further ado, Prikki strides off to the navigation deck. As he reached the deck and began to tally up the list of crew members, he frowns. Someone was missing from the nav deck.

Tabi Vygor
"You'll note, Ensign, that I'm having both of the largest people head inward. Using us as a living blockade to cut off as many halls as possible and contain whatever is in there as fast as possible."
Even as she tried to act tough, she was doubting her call. It had made sense at the time. As she slipped further into the ship, her scales brushing against the ceiling as she moved forward, determined to reach the front of the ship.
Self-Destruct Engaged. One minute remains.
Shit.
Her comms pinged from the teams outside around the same time. "There's energy building up in what appears to be the vessel's engineering section. I advise evacuating and ejecting the vessel."
Taking a deep breath, Tabi fell back on her training, instinct rather than logic guiding her.
"All teams, fall back. Establish a perimeter, keep everyone distant from the ship. Prepare to-"
"Negative." The Captain's voice, hard, cold, steady, cut through her. "All teams will continue their current mission. Getting the occupant of that vessel out safely is top priority."
Tabi knew there was no time to argue. Seconds were ticking down.
"Change of plans. Gernna, Zaimar, find the lifeform. I'm at what appears to be central command now. Decker, talk me through disarming this thing."
Tabi noted the dust around the room, a slightly metallic smell to the air, a torn out console, and several blinking red lights. But more than that, the computer screen, scrolling, scrolling, always ticking down.
00:35, 00:34...
Ori
If Ori had a heart, he was sure it would have been pounding. He could hear every little click in the ship now, he could feel the waves disturbed by the far too close biped.
He was hyperalert, and that wasn't the way anyone wanted to face their death. But that was what Ori got. He knew he was vibrating, and though he tried to stay still, he knew he was at risk of dropping the console he was holding. He couldn't set it down without alerting the biped next to him, he couldn't drop it without the same problem tenfold.
*Crack*
In surprise, Ori dropped the console with a slight clatter. Broken in near half, it skittered in two directions. Ori cursed, staring at his own tendrils, wondering how he had broken it. But that wasn't an issue now. The issue now was stalling the bipeds, just a little longer. Just a little longer and it wouldn't matter anymore.
His eyes turned downward for once, finding a hidden surge of determination. He was so, so close. None of this was fair. Both ends of the vent exploded outward as his temper flared, impacting into the biped in his control pit, knocking them away from whatever it was they were up to. Glaring at it defiantly, Ori took off to the other side of the vent, hopping into the hall and looping onto the ceiling before continuing.
"Be advised, target is moving towards the rear of the ship through the starboard hallway." He heard the biped from the control room call into her comms, unable to follow him through the vent. He just hoped she hadn't figured out how easy it was to cut him off from her location.
Res Bokor
"Uh, Sir?" Res wasn't exactly sure how to address the Gorram in front of him. More than that, Res wasn't exactly sure how to explain that the nav deck itself wasn't used very often, in favor of the nav stations on the main bridge instead. But everything was fiiine. The Ensigns down there surely would get things sorted. So Res sized up the other Gorram, Oren.
"So, Uh... what exactly do you do? I'm not the most familiar with Gorram structure, and it seems to have changed a bit from what I remember. I mean, the fact that we're not hostile with you guys anymore is odd. No offense."
Wait, when did that even happen? Searching his memories, Res could honestly not remember when it was that they had stopped being so hostile towards the smaller lizards, much less enough to invite them onto their ship. Shaking his head, he vowed to read up on it later so he could better complete his assignment.
Genzi Novdo
"It says enough about you, Mari." Genzi looked at her with understanding eyes, but also a little caution. Genzi had known when he received the file that this one had great potential, but also required finesse. The redacted points in her file were concerning, but his friends among the other doctors repeatedly assured him there was nothing to worry about, or they would have told him.
"I heard you've given some of your other superiors a bit of trouble. I've also heard you're extraordinarily bright for a third year cadet. But enough chit chat, yes? Get acquainted with the medbay. Ask if you have any questions. When you're ready, I have prepared a series of tasks for you."

Ensign Borghild Gernna

"Understood." The Captain is going to get us all killed...

Borghild then heard the clash from the control area and the report of the lifeform moving to the rear. Springing to action, she began crawling through the ship as quickly as she could. Admittedly she wasn't the fastest due to her hulking size in the small ship, but at least the lifeform wouldn't be able to slip past her. Assuming Zaimar took the other corridor and their colleagues were still guarding the rear of the vessel, the thing that the Captain was risking all of their lives for should be cornered.

With little to tell her exactly what they were dealing with, however, the thing could hurt someone once it figures out it's cornered. She tried to put the thought of getting hurt on her first day aside as she crawled forth.
Lieutenant Hans Decker

"Give me a moment to figure out these systems!" he shouted as he furiously tapped at the sensors' controls trying his best to map out everything relevant in the ship in such a short time span. "I think I've got it!" And he began hurriedly walking Tabi through shutting down the self destruct. This had better work...