Oscar and Maria were now coming off of a full hour of all-but-groping by Egwreh. In principle it was in the name of getting measured for their new 'uniforms', but privately Oscar suspected the session was just a way for the engineer to get in a good amount of personal cuddle-time with the ship's two humans.

"Emma wasn't making a pass at me, was she?" asked Maria as they walked down one of the ship's oversized corridors.

Oscar glanced to the other side of him, where Bgrarh loped alongside the pair. The big Dorarizin was also involved with Egwreh's effort, specifically in the area of secreting various bits of protective tech into the low-profile armor. As Bgrarh paced along, he stared off into space with ears flat back against his head. It was an expression that Oscar knew denoted a feeling of dread within his giant friend.

"Nah," Oscar replied to Maria. "That's just how the Dorarizin do. They're not a big believer in 'personal space'."

Maria grinned. "I guess I'll believe you, since Emma was groping you just as much. You better be careful, or Myra's gonna get jealous." Her smile dropped away. "Wait, though. The crew is all the same pack, right? Does that mean you get, er, passed around? That sounds dangerous."

Oscar laughed. "What, you don't think I got what it takes to be the ship's boy-toy?"

"I'm just sayin' it looks like the Captain could snap you in two if she got too friendly."

"[She'd never do such a thing, even by accident,]" said Bgrarh in a distracted tone. "[The Captain is very graceful and precise with her strength.]"

Oscar looked back over at his crew-mate and friend. "You doing okay, Bennie?"

Bgrarh flicked one ear up in a shrugging manner, then laid it flat back against his head. "[Not really, [Oscar]. I'm worried about my dancing.]"

"Why? You're a physically capable guy and plenty smart. I'm sure you'll do great."

The Dorarizin rippled his teeth as he continued to muse. "[I've got the steps down, yes. But it's not automatic yet. What if I mess up? What if I step wrong?]"

Maria shrugged herself. "Then act like it's no big deal and dance on. It's a performance, not a recital in front of judges. If you're confident, that will go a long way."

"[But I don't feel confident! I need something to emulate.]"

"You don't have any Dorarizin male role models to follow?" asked Oscar. "You should be able to do that easily. Fer Chrissake, you channeled Poirot for a long while, and he was human."

Bgrarh dropped his head. "[I know. My head's all full up with both armor development and dance, so for now I had to sort of...set aside [Poirot]. I've tried to follow how a Dorarizin hero would act, but it's not working. I can't feel confident, and I don't know why.]"

Oscar gripped Bgrarh's forearm and squeezed it. Or rather, he tried to squeeze it, since Bgrarh was a wall of rock-hard muscle. "It'll be okay, Bennie." He wondered if now was the time to reveal some contraband he'd had secreted in his luggage ever since leaving Zephyr Station.

He glanced around and saw nobody else in the corridor. Good. "Tell you what, both of you come with me." Bgrarh's big paws and Maria's much smaller shoes both padded behind Oscar as he led the way to his quarters.

Oscar didn't speak again until the door closed. "Right. I suspect that we're dealing with a case of familiarity breeding contempt. Does that phrase translate?"

"[I believe so. You think that the reason I can't [channel] a proper Dorarizin male role model is because I'm too used to them?]"

"It's possible. Seeing as how you're a big fan of human media, there's one thing we can try...but it ain't exactly legal."

Maria folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Well, it's not breaking any Senate laws, if you catch my drift."

The petite woman stared for a moment, then a slow smile spread across her face. "You brought some of the good stuff, didn't you?"

"A few bits. I figured it couldn't hurt to be prepared."

"I agree," replied Maria. "Tell you what, wait here and I'll be right back."

As Maria slipped back out the door, Oscar moved to one of his bags. Bgrarh stared in curiosity as he dug through it and found a particular zippered pouch. Within the pouch lay a palm-sized opaque bag plus a few latex gloves.

"[Friend [Oscar], is that what I think it is?]" asked Bgrarh.

Before Oscar could reply, the door slid open again and Maria tottered back in, now nearly bent double under the weight of the Überduffel on her back. Bgrarh made a wordless whine of alarm and reached to take the load from her, only to be stopped by an equally wordless growl from Maria.

She thumped the Überduffel onto the deck between the two others, then looked at the gloves in Oscar's hand. "Good idea," she said. Maria unzipped her enormous bag and rummaged through it. One pouch yielded a set of disposable gloves sized for her, and after donning them she kept digging. Various small compartments within the Überduffel yielded up a generous double-handful of small square chips.

In the meantime, Oscar put on his own gloves and shook out a relatively paltry amount of the same-sized chips into his palm. Each chip could hold many hours' worth of media of any type...both approved and disapproved.

"This is just like smuggling cartons of smokes into prison," said Oscar. "Don't ask how I know that."

Maria laughed in reply. "Whadda you have? I got some Hong Kong action, a few World War Two movies, some stoner comedies, a couple of contemporary historical dramas...a whole lotta stuff."

"How pristine are they?" he asked.

"Pretty good quality."

Bgrarh's ears rose upon hearing that. "[That would make them more valuable, correct?]" His law-enforcement instincts kicked in and his ears subsided. "[Hypothetically speaking, of course.]"

"But of course," said Oscar. He looked at Maria's chips with a critical eye. "I hope they're dubbed at least?"

"Most of them are. There's only a few originals...I think."

"You'd better double check. Any still in their original language should be destroyed."

Maria looked stricken at the thought. "Really?"

"Really. Plausible deniability and all that, just in case the OIH comes across 'em." Oscar stirred through the chips in his palm with his other finger, then selected a few. "Let's stick with mine for the moment. These'll be much harder to trace. The soundtrack's been dubbed into Spanish then run back and forth a few times through the translator matrix. Plus the print quality's been artificially degraded so they'll look like second- and third-generation copies from the original film stock. Hold out your paw, Benny."

"[Before I do, I need to know. Is this contraband [human] media?]"

"Yep, but only for your private consumption. Don't try to sell 'em to anyone else, and keep 'em well hid. If the OIH or anybody else asks, I did not give these to you, understand?"

Bgrarh's ears perked back up and he held out his paw. "[I understand, my friend.]"

Oscar dropped several chips into the middle of Bgrarh's waiting palm. "There you go, amigo. A little James Bond for some inspiration."

Maria snorted. "That's your big plan? How is Benny acting like a chauvinist pig going to help?"

Oscar held up a gloved hand. "I'm not saying he should act exactly like Bond. Benny, don't think about what Bond is saying or doing...especially towards women. What you want to emulate is his overall attitude, understand? Things go wrong for him all the time, but he never loses his cool and he's always ready with a quip. That demeanor is what you want to copy."

"[I will do my best, [Oscar]. I can't thank you enough.]" Sure enough, Bgrarh had his usual cheerful expression back on; the fact that he had something to take his mind off of the upcoming performance was probably more valuable than any media Oscar or Maria could give him.

"Just don't start slapping women on the butt," added Maria.

Bgrarh shrank back in horror. "[I wouldn't! The Captain would rip my tail off if I tried that!]" His fear subsided as he looked at the chips in his paw. "[I'll will watch these, at least. Thank you again, my friends.]"

The group of 'artistes' stood or squatted in various positions around the Claw's rec lounge. Maria was still dissatisfied with her performance, so as far as she was concerned this was time that could be better spent elsewhere. She leaned back against Hrathra'sstah's coiled body as she tried to tune out the murmur of Resh'ssk nearby. The ex-soldier's face was set in concentration as he semi-silently went over his lines for the five billionth time.

Oscar stood in front of the main holo display, wearing an outfit that to Maria's eyes looked a little like a navy-blue tuxedo. The jacket had a Nehru-style collar and light gray trim. It looked normal, but she was sure it was anything but.

Egwreh and Bgrarh stood on either side of him, both grinning like the proverbial cat who's gotten at the canary.

Oscar spread his arms, his hands at waist height, then gestured down at himself. "Thank you all for coming. As you can see Emma and Bennie have been hard at work getting us all dolled up for any potential shindig. This uniform is based on human fashion, since we're leaning hard on the 'we have humans' angle to get landing approval.

"You're all going to be getting similar versions of this clothing, tailored for your own body of course."

He turned in a circle. "So here I stand, a completely defenseless little human..."

Maria blew a big raspberry to show what she thought of that horseshit. He winked at her and continued.

"It's low-profile body armor, as you probably guessed. It has an integrated full communication suite, but that's just the beginning. Let's demonstrate the more defensive features first. Bennie, if you please?"

The punch that followed was so fast that Maria glimpsed just a blur as Bgrarh's fist slammed into Oscar's chest. The human flew backward into Egwreh's waiting paws as she caught him easily.

Everyone in the lounge twitched at the sight, and a few of the Karnakians got to their feet with exclamations of distress. Egwreh set Oscar back on his feet with exaggerated care while the human smiled and waved to show he was unharmed.

Oscar tapped his chest. "Impact-sensitive nanofabric. It flexes just like cloth under normal use, but a fast or hard enough impact will make it go rigid and absorb the blow. If things go south, you touch this topmost button here on the jacket to turn the uniform into full-armor mode."

He did so, and a hood snapped out of the collar to wrap itself around his head while a transparent cowl fitted itself in front of his face. Similar snaps sounded from his sleeves as gloves flew out and fit themselves over his hands. With another button-touch, the hood and gloves retracted just as quickly.

"Now for the rest. You squeeze the left side of the collar repeatedly to cycle through the outfit's preset colors." He gripped one rounded corner of his collar, and the navy-blue and gray scheme of his clothing blinked into something more like a basic black. A few more squeezes resulted in his outfit flashing through all the colors of the rainbow.

"We'll coordinate the final chosen colors with each other before the show starts, of course. If you reach up and squeeze the right side of the collar, you'll activate another defensive feature."

Oscar switched his grip to the other side and instantly vanished. Maria squinted and could just barely make out something, a slight wavering in mid-air that she could have easily missed.

The disappearance was surprising enough to make Resh'skk stop his murmured practicing. "[A holographic cloak?]" he asked. "[It must be multi-spectrum. I can't even pick up your body heat.]"

"You got it," said Oscar's voice from empty air. "Unfortunately this drains power like crazy, so it'll only last for about twenty minutes before the microbatteries are done." He blinked back into visibility. "Plus if there's a Dorarizin around they'll still be able to smell you, even if they can't track your exact location. Now for the more offensive features..."

Oscar pressed the top jacket button to get back into full-armor mode. "Touching the second button down activates the uniform's taser." He followed his own instruction and then assumed a fighting stance with his right hand held out in front. That hand grasped at empty air while Maria heard a slight crackle.

"It's enough of a shock to make anyone let go," he said. "If you hit your attacker in a sensitive spot, like the eyes or, well, the gonads, it'll be enough to incapacitate them."

He hit both buttons again to reset his outfit into 'normal' mode, then pointed at a line of buttons on one sleeve. "The sleeve buttons are disguised flash-bang grenades. Pull one off of the sleeve to arm it, then throw it against the nearest hard surface to set it off. It'll even release a bit of selenophenol to disorient a Dorarizin's scenting. If you're in full-armor mode, there's built-in hearing and visual protection to take away much of the grenade's effects...but I'm afraid it won't do much for the stink."

"How bad is the smell?" asked Maria.

Bgrarh shuddered. "[I've only heard it described, and the description alone was enough to make me ill.]"

"Obviously, these are only to be used in case of emergency," added Oscar. He glared in turn at each group of Karnakians, who were still segregated on each side of the lounge. "I don't care how spirited the religious debate gets, nobody is to flash-bang or taser anyone from the ship. Got it?"

A hasty nodding of crests followed.

Sssnathor placed Ta'irrl'qc's Claw into a newly-made alcove. This display room was secreted within his private chambers; it was accessible only to himself, Nerlharg-of-Aergh, and of course the members of his harem. He leaned back and admired the sight. The once bone-white surface of the Claw had been varnished, polished smooth, then varnished again over the millennia until now it was a deep and glossy nut-brown that threw off pleasing highlights from the room's soft lighting.

As he pondered his newest acquisition, his implant chimed internally to let him know that one of his other recent acquisitions was now awake and moving about. As a matter of fact, she was heading his way. The tyrant felt a familiar little tingle in his nethers as he realized he had a perfect pouncing opportunity.

Sssnnathor used his implant to shut off all of the lights in the room except for one shining directly on the Claw, then with speed and precision he flowed into the darkest corner of the room. He coiled into a compact ball, tucking his hooded head into the middle of himself. There was a crack in between two of his coils, the only portion that showed any trace of his shining silver eyes.

Those eyes gleamed with lust as a Karnakian came tapping her way into the room. She wore no clothing, as he decreed for all within his harem. This was N''illl'kan, the one he'd 'chosen' out of the most recent shipment. She'd shown admirable flexibility for a non-Jornissian and her obedience training was progressing nicely.

The newcomer's four eyes all fixed on the shining Claw against the far wall, and she walked towards it with her white crest rising in curiosity. She examined the glyphs carved into its surface and let out a puzzled little trill. There was no hint in either her posture or expression that she had any idea that Sssnnathor was there.

Sssnnathor waited in utter stillness as he felt his heartbeat increase. This was such a delicious feeling, to go unseen by one's prey and yet be poised near them like the very avatar of Harsak herself. He could spring and crush the life from N''illl'kan in an instant. If he let his imagination wander, he could imagine her panicked struggles, her futile attempts to breathe, the feel of her heartbeat getting steadily weaker, the light in her eyes going out...

The tyrant blinked, dispelling the daydream as he berated himself mentally. Such fantasies were the reason the benighted fools in the Senate looked down upon immortality. It wouldn't do to show those superstitious bastards as correct in any way. Yes, he indulged himself in illegal pleasures, but he wasn't so far gone as to take life for no reason. Sssnnathor took pride in the fact that he'd never killed needlessly or cruelly. True, many of his 'business' dealings had resulted in a death or two, but it was always for a reason and always with a quick and sure hand. He was no hedonistic monster, he was a Jornissian on a mission and he must keep focused.

Not a single twitch happened in his body during his little moment of internal crisis, and so N''illl'kan continued to tilt her head to and fro in blissful ignorance as she regarded the Claw. She had no notion of incoming disaster until Sssnnathor sprung like silent and inevitable death from the corner.

The attack was sudden and complete. His midsection slapped into N''illl'kan's torso while the rest of his long body was already performing a coiling motion around her. Within another eye-blink he had the Karnakian wound up completely. He held her with just enough force so that she couldn't move a muscle, but yet could still breathe.

The tyrant took his time as he wound himself more completely around her trembling body, reveling in the feel of warm feathers and fluff against his scales. He clasped her head between his hands and gazed into her wide and fearful eyes. ""

"[My lord, forgive me! I didn't know this room was off limits, there was no door...]" She gasped as he wound ever tighter, restricting her breath. "[Please, I didn't know...]"

Sssnathor's genitals became engorged, and he pressed his lower torso into her feathered belly. He knew she could feel them through his clothing, and sure enough she shuddered in his grip. The notion rose again in his mind...what would it look like, to gaze into her eyes as he continued to squeeze ever tighter? What would it look like, what would it feel like, when he snuffed her light out?

Instead, he relaxed his coils ever so slightly and allowed her to breathe again. ""

"[Yes, my lord,]" she sobbed in relief.

""

Sssnnathor rolled his balled-up body around while keeping her firmly held in its center. Only her head protruded from the mass of scaled muscle. The tapering tip of his tail wrapped firmly around her snout so that she was forced to look at the Claw. He gestured at it casually with one hand, while with the other he stroked her crest. ""

He loosened his tail-tip so that she could speak. "[It's...very nice, my lord. I recognize some of the lettering. Is it [Karnakian]?]"

""

"[No, my lord.]"

Sssnnathor's fingers wound among the large feathers of her crest, which made her shudder anew. The movement felt delicious against his body. "" he said. ""

He flicked his tongue out and danced it near her head as he sampled her scent. A slight acrid fear-stink was still present but rapidly fading, to be replaced with her own intriguing alien odor. ""

She swallowed hard as her fear-scent rose again. "[Not really, my lord. I'm so sorry, ancient sacred text is very different from modern [Karnakian]. I'm of the Seven Rings, and we only use modern writing.]"

"" He tightened himself around her in a thoughtful reflex action.

"[I can say it's something to do with being good!]" she hastened to add.

His hissing laugh filled the room. ""

"[Of course, my lord.]" Her tone was reluctant in spite of the words of her declaration.

Sssnnathor shifted himself around so that the bottom of his torso was behind her. His hands reached down and pulled up the hem of his shirt so that his belly was exposed. He was now fully hard, and he purred with anticipation as he pressed both of himself into her back. ""

Ter'yeik's eyes opened upon hearing toe-claws tapping towards his cell door. Ordinarily he would feel irritation at the interruption of his meditation, but he knew who his visitor was based on her foot-fall pattern alone.

As he suspected, when the door slid open Matriarch Ma'elge'yk's yellow-feathered head poked into the small, spartan room.

He bowed. "|You honor me with your presence, Reverend Mother.|"

In reply she held out a hand. At its clawed finger-tips dangled Ter'yiek's terminal. With some slight hesitation, Ter'yeik took it with great care from her hand.

"|I thank you for allowing your guards to join the others in song,|" he said. "|It appears to be going well.|"

"|So I've heard, and you certainly seem better,|" said Ma'elge'yk. "|You're no longer molting at least.|"

"|Being of service gives me a sense of atonement. I still have very far to go to make up for my sins, but it's a start.|"

"|Indeed. I've read your manifesto, and I find your reasoning sound. I've come to make a request.|"

Ter'yeik kept a calm expression, but inside he groaned. He knew what that request would be.

"|You must not allow the Claw to remain at large,|" she said.

As he blinked in surprise, a smug grin settled onto the Matriarch's face. "|Oh, I know what you expected. You thought that I'd ask you to turn the Claw over to our Path, should you be lucky enough to have the relic fall into your claws.|" Her grin dropped away. "|I won't deny that it would be very satisfying to possess that which we should have had since the beginning. But your words made me realize that more is at stake than who holds the Claw.|"

Ma'elge'yk shoved her snout further into the room, now almost touching the tip of his. "|The Final Sutra is loose in the galaxy. Our only saving grace is that it is written in ancient Karnakian, otherwise any fool with an implant could read it and disseminate it. We must not allow that to happen!|"

Ter'yeik stared back at her, transfixed by her gaze. "|I...I agree, R...Reverend Mother. I will do whatever I can to prevent it,|" he finally stammered out.

She nodded. "|I know you will. I understand you are limited in your actions thanks to that monitoring chip, but if the opportunity presents itself you must regain the Claw, no matter the cost to any of us. I will do the same, so will all of us Karnakians. I will die before I let the Final Sutra be publicly known, and I know your zeal is as ardent as mine."

Ma'elge'yk withdrew her head and the door slid closed. Ter'yeik looked down at the terminal in his hand, thought about his declaration, and pondered just what...or who...he was willing to sacrifice to fulfill his promise.

On the holographic display, Sssnnathor's planet looked a bit like an Easter egg. It was a tan globe broken up around its middle with various stripes of green and perfectly-round blotches of blue.

The view also showed a thin ring of twinkling jewels that encircled the planet in a higher orbit; these were the remnants of the icy comets used during the planet's terraforming.

The Claw's hangar deck was now filled to the brim. The 'neutral' group of Dorarizin, Jornissian, and human placed themselves right in the middle. On each side of that middle group were the Karnakians from each sect. Apart from a few venomous glares from their respective Matriarchs, the two sets of raptors behaved themselves.

"[Within a few hours we'll be in communication range of the planet's traffic control,]" said Captain Rgrarshok. "[We'll try to get assigned to a parking orbit while we await official approval to land. According to our ship's transponder we are now the Long Dance of Fghrealh, on a new tour of the galaxy to show off our newest cast members.]" Here she nodded towards Oscar and Maria.

The Captain nodded towards her XO. "[While on the planet, Ngralh is in charge of the true investigation. He will direct the actions of the remaining team members, using the cover story that we're here to perform, resupply and also look for interesting [knick-knacks]. Even though we don't have the true identity of this 'Silken Feather', we do have her DNA and physical description.]"

Oscar was still not sure about this tactic. Yes, having humans on board all but guaranteed them permission to land, but it also meant that they'd be under a lot more curious scrutiny.

"[As of now, the show will start with the Karnakians singing, followed by [Maria's] recitation. Then Bgrarh and I will do our dance routine, [Hrathra'sstah] and [Resh'skk] their scene, and we'll finish with [Oscar's] playing. We're still trying to come up with an appropriate finale which includes all of the performers, so any suggestions are welcome.]"

Oscar briefly pondered suggesting a conga line as a joke. He figured it wasn't worth trying to explain it, and so kept silent. But of course, the perversity of the universe always tended to a maximum, and so the next thing he heard was Maria's chipper voice.

"How about a conga line?"

Oscar face-palmed as the xenos looked at Maria in confusion. After a bit of explanation, she roped Oscar into demonstrating a two-person conga line.

Matriarch Ck'Trrk'Ka's coppery crest rose in pleasure as she watched them. "[Ah! It's similar to some of our sacred dances. Yes, this should do nicely.]"

There followed a long, long discussion about the proper line order. The humans would be in the front, of course, followed by one of the pair of Karnakian guards. Then came the Jornissian pair, then Bgrarh and the Captain, and taking up the rear were the other two Karnakians. That way, the two sects would be safely isolated from each other.

The real sticking point was which pair of Karnakians would go where. Frick and Frack wanted to be next to the humans, claiming they'd known them the longest. Tk'rii'na and his companion responded with the complaint that they'd been on the ship for less time, and therefore had less interaction time with the humans.

They were still arguing about it when the time came to call the planet's traffic control.

Maria stood on the bridge and stared into the main display screen with a completely insincere smile stretching her face. "Hey, there! Are you the right person to talk to about getting permission to orbit?"

The bored-looking Dorarizin in the display looked up and suddenly became a lot less bored as she settled eyes on Maria. "[By the First Pack!...er, sorry...yes. Yes! This is local traffic control. What orbit do you wish?"

"Just a standard parking orbit. We're also looking for permission to land."

The traffic control officer's hands were already a whirl of motion as she began calling up various screens around her. "[Your transponder's been logged. For the moment, set your inclination to thirty-eight [degrees] at one thousand [kilometers] altitude. Do not deviate from this orbit, or you may be fired upon by our defense systems. I'll check your ship's ID and also get back to you about landing permission.]"

Beyond the screen, Grawfren turned on her workstation and gave Maria a thumbs-up.

"We've got it," said Maria. "Oh, do you also happen know what permits you guys require for performances?"

The flunky paused in mid-whirl. "[Performance?]"

"Yeah, that's kind of our thing."

The screen filled with the Dorarizin's face as she leaned forward. "Are you one of those performing?"

Maria nodded with a brighter smile, then realized the Dorarizin might not understand the gesture. "I sure am!"

"[I'm not sure if permits are necessary...we're a little more, er, relaxed here than anywhere in Senate space.]"

"Fine by us." Maria smiled wider and felt a little smug flare of satisfaction in her belly as the Dorarizin stared in a trance back at her. "I look forward to hearing from you."

After a long moment, the Dorarizin shook herself and assumed a more professional demeanor. "[Of course, I expect you'll hear from me shortly.]"

The screen blinked off, and Maria took a deep breath as she relaxed. A huge paw settled on her shoulder and gently squeezed.

"[Good work, [Maria]!]" said Rgrarshok.

Getting a compliment from the Captain made Maria happier than she expected. "At least I didn't stutter. Why did I have to make the call?"

"Just in case our 'Silken Feather' friend is listening in," said Oscar. He stood over in one far corner of the bridge, well out of sight of the main display. "She saw me during her dramatic call, but she doesn't know you or what you look like."

"[And having a [human] make the call to traffic control gives us that much more of a chance that they'll approve us for landing,]" added Rgrarshok.

Maria shrugged. "If you say so. I just hope we don't have to wait long."

As if in reply the display beeped. Rgrarshok faded back out of view as Maria squared her shoulders and reapplied her plastic smile. The Dorarizin appeared again in front of her, and Maria did not like the fanged grin on the alien's face.

"[I must say, you've caused quite a stir,]" said the Dorarizin. "[You are cleared for landing on one condition.]"

Maria kept her smile plastered in place while she felt her guts sink. "I suppose that isn't too bad. What's the condition?"

The Dorarizin's grin grew wider. "[Our beneficent leader, [Sssnnathor], has taken an interest in your group. He will meet you in person when you land.]"