At the moment, Rrre'nansh was deep in a regretful funk over his decision to run for office. Sure, being a planetary governor was great for having an impressive title and getting to rub scales with the elite. He had a suitably impressive office as well as lots of interest from the ladies...and, best of all, he had the first-ever warmcuddle base outside of the small aliens' home system. That was something that he really wished he could rub in the snouts of other colony governors, but sadly he had to keep quiet about the base.

The governor now sat in a loose pile in the middle of that aforementioned impressive office, which was a combination of dark wood and big windows letting in a nice amount of sunshine. He took in a sizable breath, forcing his hood to relax as he breathed out and opened his eyes. Unfortunately, that meant that now he saw Hnnresnthsh. The viper-like, red-scaled Jornissian fidgeted his fingers together as he sat in a tight coil of fear before his boss.

"" Rrre'nansh asked with a deadly calm.

""

""

Hnnresnthsh told him, and the governor's hood twitched in puzzlement.

"that useless?>" The obvious answer fell into Rrre'nansh's head a moment later. ""

"" The archivist trailed off.

Rrre'nansh thought for a few moments about simply burying the whole mess. He could reassign Hnnresnthsh and his minions to some remote supply depot and threaten them to keep their snouts shut, then act as if nothing was amiss. It would be the simplest solution.

But tech-transfer to the warmcuddles was, without a doubt, the most tightly regulated and inspected area within the Senate's domain. That was only natural, given the near-disaster caused when the [Karnakians] had innocently given the newly-found sapients a couple bits of obsolete technology. If the Senate found out that the warmcuddles had stolen this data, and worse still traced the theft back to him? No, he couldn't take that chance.

"" he asked.

""

Rrre'nansh tapped his tail-tip against the polished wooden floor. ""

Hnnresnthsh's hood spread out in shock. ""

The governor sighed. ""

""

Rrre'nansh nearly lashed his tail out at the irritating functionary, then realized he'd brought up a good point. "" He rubbed at his snout while he felt a fresh spike of dread poke at his guts. ""

"[So what went wrong, people?]"

Oscar leaned back against Myyreh's chest as he pondered the Captain's question. He glanced around the rec lounge of the good ship Furious Claw of Inquiry, where the rest of his pack squatted or reclined.

"The big problem was that the head guy was smarter than expected," said Oscar. "Everything we had on him said he was meathead, and he was anything but that."

"[All right. What other lessons did we learn?]"

"[Not to try this again, for starters,]" said Ngralh.

Oscar shook his head. "I think the idea is sound. But the next time we try planting some Green we need to use a tracer that won't stand out so much. At least we had a Plan B."

Rgrarshok gave out a muted growl. "[Not good enough. You were still in too much danger, not to mention we failed in our primary objective. Bgrarh, I want you to work on a less obvious tracer.]"

"[On it, Captain,]" said the big brick-red Dorarizin. It was hard for Oscar to look in his direction. Since the team debriefing was taking place during 'off hours', Bgrarh-of-Arhraz was not in uniform. And when not in uniform he'd taken to wearing Hawaiian shirts, each new garment more eye-watering than the last. This latest one was a practically radioactive mix of red and neon-green flowers.

The Captain turned to Egwreh. "What sort of protection can we provide [Oscar]?]"

"[Nothing active, for sure,]" replied the engineer. "[Not if we want it to slip through scans.]"

"Can't we just have Myra come as well?" asked Oscar. "If I'm acting the part of a Green smuggler, me having a bodyguard wouldn't be suspicious."

The Captain considered the idea. "[Perhaps. My worry is if somebody does a DNA scan. Our own networks aren't as secure as I'd prefer, and if they find out that Myyreh is with law enforcement that would be...bad.]"

"[Only bad for them,]" growled Myyreh. She hugged Oscar tighter against her. "[Nobody lays a finger on my sweetie.]"

The last word spread a happy glow through Oscar's chest, and he patted her embracing arms in silent appreciation.

"[Now the good news,]" continued Rgrarshok. "[Thanks to [Oscar's] convincing, Grnahrg's Green expert has given us a lot of names to work through. We might be able to take down most of the distribution network anyway. It'll be a lot to plan and execute, so everyone make sure you get some rest. We start first thing tomorrow...]"

The Captain stiffened and stared off into the distance, wearing the distracted expression of someone receiving a message via implant. Oscar saw her eyes widen, then she shook herself.

"[Apologies. I've just received new orders. We're to depart immediately.]"

Ngralh straightened up. "[What? We're not done here!]"

"[We'll just have to leave it for the local police to mop up,]" replied Rgrarshok. "[This is a top priority mission.]"

"Did another sacred relic get stolen?" asked Oscar with a grin.

Rgrarshok glanced at him, and for the first time in a long while she looked troubled. "[I'll brief everyone at the proper time. For now, we need to get moving to [Hsrneanth-IV] at full speed.]"

On most nights, Oscar was able to put away any thoughts of work and focus on snuggling with Myyreh in their shared quarters. Even if sex wasn't on the menu, it was still lovely to lie back and luxuriate in the feel of her warm fur on his bare skin. But tonight he stared at the ceiling, unable to get the Captain's final expression out of his head. Finally he decided he'd ask Myyreh.

"Do you think the Captain looked at me weird, right at the end there?"

Myyreh snuggled her head into Oscar's bare chest. "[What do you mean weird?]"

"Maybe I'm reading Dorarizin expressions wrong, but it was as if she was going to say something more, then decided not to because I was in the room."

His lover pressed her head more forcefully into him, pinning him into the bed-pile. "[My take on it is that she's not allowed to tell us until we get there. I think you're being paranoid.]"

Oscar absently scratched through the fur on top of her head, earning a full-body wiggle against him and a click-purr of delight. "Well, I am human. Paranoia comes with the territory."

Myyreh picked up her head and clasped his head in between her paws, staring deep into his eyes. "[But you're a pack-member. That's not some mere job title. Pack means that this...]" She leaned in to kiss his chest, right over his heart. "[This belongs to us, just as our hearts belong to you.]"

The little knot of tension in Oscar's gut unsnarled while he stroked her head. "That's...well, I guess I know it in my head but not my gut. Sorry, I know I'm being silly."

Myyreh's voice took on a playful tone that Oscar had come to know very well. "[My silly monkey-boy, do you know what part of you belongs to me?]"

Oscar smiled. "I have a good guess, but maybe you could show me?"

"[Hmmm, perhaps I will...]"

In the Claw's hangar deck, a large blue-green globe hovered in the air. Rgrarshok stood in front of the hologram as she addressed her pack.

"[This is [Hsrneanth-IV],]" she began. "[Started as a [Jornissian] colony, founded about [three thousand] years ago. It now holds a mixture of races, though the colony still follows Jornissian law.]"

That bit of news made Oscar wonder why they'd been sent here in the first place. His adopted denmates investigated crimes which crossed between species, or where the jurisdiction was muddled. But for now he kept his mouth shut as the Captain continued. She gestured to the hologram, which obligingly zoomed in to one of the planet's continents. The terrain whizzed by, stopping finally on a sprawling cityscape.

"[This is [Hsnrah], the colony's main city. About [one hundred thousand] people. And here..." she gestured again, causing the hologram to zoom in further to a small, single-story building. "[This is a secure storage facility for sensitive data. It is air-gapped, with no network connections.]"

A picture appeared of an egg-shaped object with an intricate fractal pattern etched into its black surface. "[Seven days ago, during a routine scan, it was discovered that this storage device within that facility was a fake.]"

"Do we know what was on it?" asked Oscar.

"[That information is need-to-know. Suffice to say it contains sensitive military information.]"

"Ah, got it. I was wondering why they'd called us here so fast. Are we going in as ourselves?"

Rgrarshok nodded an ear. "[No cover identities for this one. But I must impress on everyone that this case is to be considered utterly secret. Only three people on the planet know about the theft. We'll be working in the open, but we will not discuss with the locals any details, no matter how small.]"

"[That's going to make this complicated,]" said Ngralh.

Rgrarshok shot another inscrutable glance at Oscar. "[There is one additional complication. This colony also has a significant [human] contingent present.]"

The crew made various growls of surprise while Oscar felt the knot of tension return. "What? The only colony I know of is Selene, and they're just getting that underway. Why haven't I heard of this?"

"[This not a true colony, think of it more as an experiment. The Senate and [human] governments agreed to keep it dark for many reasons, chief of which is avoiding a public relations disaster if the experiment fails.]" She gestured to the hologram, which sped with dizzying speed over to a sprawling complex that reminded Oscar of Greek architecture. If he read the scale correctly, the place covered many hundreds of acres. "[This is the main governmental building of the colony.]" Rgrarshok pointed at one peninsula-like portion of the complex, which lit up orange. "[An entire wing of it here was renovated for [human] occupation and fortified for their protection. Passage in or out of the fort is controlled, but not prohibited. There are about [one thousand] [humans] living here, most of them members of the military. It's officially a military base, not a colony.]"

"[Does the general population know about this [human] presence?]" asked Bgrarh.

"[Of course. That's the main goal of this experiment, to see if [humans] and the other species can live in close proximity without having a horrible accident every other day.]"

Oscar crossed his arms as he regarded the complex. Something about this didn't add up. "Don't the Zephyr stations prove that already?"

"[No. They're entirely staffed with people who have been trained to interact with [humans], not to mention they're outfitted with automated defenses and drones. This is more of a real-world environment.]"

Oscar felt that unwelcome knot of tension grew tighter as a suspicion formed in his mind about why the Senate was so panicky about this theft. "So what's the story for our visit?"

Rgrarshok's nose twitched, as if she sensed her pack-mate's troubled mind. "[For now, we stay unobtrusive. Officially, we're doing a routine security check at various points within the colony. We'll be arriving towards the end of the local day, when the storage facility is closed. The plan is to visit it the next morning, so we keep up the pretense that it's all routine.]"

Upon hearing that, Oscar figured he'd put his suspicion on the back burner for now. "Seeing as how we'll have the evening off..would we be able to visit the human base? There's gotta be a huge wait list to get in."

The Captain smiled. "[Less than you'd think. They hold a lottery every week to award passes to the base. But as a [human], you can go in at any time. Better yet, you can bring a guest.]"

The twilight air of Hsrneanth-IV was fresh, and the overall climate put Oscar in mind of California with more humidity. He smiled up at Myyreh with real happiness, although that knot of unease was still present in his stomach. "Thanks for agreeing to come along, honey-babe."

Myyreh grinned back down at him, showing a lot more teeth. "[Why wouldn't I? A chance to see [humans] in their own environment? I'd be an idiot to turn that down.]"

The pair strolled along the brick-paved courtyard of the government complex, with Oscar's smaller hand clasped in Myyreh's larger paw. Ahead of them loomed the monolithic ten-story-tall wing that held the 'human experiment'. They'd have to approach it from outside; all entrances from inside the massive complex were sealed shut.

"It's not going to be all fun and games," said Oscar. "I'm sure they're going to give you the hairy eyeball..."

As if to prove his words, a section of brick smoothly slid open and the metal sphere of a security drone popped up to confront them. "[Attention. You are approaching a restricted area. If you enter, you will be subject to [human] military law.]" A red grid of glowing lines appeared over Oscar, then over Myyreh. "[No contraband or weapons detected. [Human], so no passes required. You may proceed.]"

Myyreh's ear twitched in curiosity. "[Military law?]"

"Yeah, this place sounds like a combination of embassy and FOB." Upon seeing another curious ear-twitch, Oscar continued. "Forward Operating Base?"

"[Ah, understood.]"

As they approached the only entrance into the human wing, Oscar saw a (for him) normal-sized figure slouched against the gateway. That figure straightened up as he and Myyreh drew closer, eventually resolving into a kid in a khaki uniform who couldn't have been older than twenty. Oscar gave him his most disarming smile as the kid scratched absently at one ear. His other hand rested on a carbine slung over one shoulder, and Oscar wondered if he'd actually done any qualification on the weapon.

"Evenin', folks," said the guard. He flicked his eyes towards Myyreh, then down at their clasped hands. "Any non-human species who wanna enter must have a security drone following them at all times, and if directed to leave you must do so immediately."

As he spoke, another spherical drone floated with a faint hum around the square arch of the gateway. It spoke in the same neutral voice as the first. "[Identification, please.]"

Myyreh shrugged an ear. "[Myyreh-of-Relgreh, ship ident Furious Claw of Inquiry. I have [Level Ten] certification in [human] interaction, if that makes a difference.]"

Another grid of red lines appeared over her, and after a long pause the drone spoke. "[Identification and certification confirmed. No drone chaperone required.]"

The guard let out a little grunt of surprise. "Well, okay then." He swept a hand towards the entrance. "Have fun. There's a map just inside showing you where everything is, just keep in mind the red areas on the map are off-limits to all but base personnel."

Myyreh gave the guard a deep, respectful bow. "[Thank you.]"

Oscar had expected the guard to comment or give him a leer over their hand-holding, but to his surprise the kid seemed to treat it as no big deal. He gave an internal sigh of relief as he walked through the doorway.

As Oscar did so, twenty separate cameras captured both his and Myyreh's faces from a myriad of angles. The resulting data was dutifully forwarded to an expert system and, after chewing on the images for a bit, the program sent the resulting red flag to a control room deep in the human base.

The human on duty in that control room was a skinny guy named Stefan. He looked up from his dog-eared automotive magazine as the big display in front of him lit up with a blinking red exclamation mark. That mark overlaid the usual camera view of the base entrance.

"Scheisse," he muttered as he set the magazine aside and started to do some actual work. A few key-strokes and gestures later, and Stefan was presented with a puzzle which filled him with dread.

He'd have to call the base commander.

Stefan cleared his throat, then ever-so-delicately tapped on one particular button that he'd never, ever hoped to press.

The voice that filled the room was guttural and Russian in accent. "What?"

"Sir, this is the Monitor Station-"

"I know that, durak! What is problem?"

"I have a red-flag alert from two people who just entered. One human male, one Dorarizin female."

The voice's harshness faded a bit. "What is issue with Dorarizin?"

"It's not her, sir. It's the human. The facial recognition software shot me a red flag on him, but it won't tell me why. I keep getting an 'insufficient security level' message. And I'm logged in properly, I've checked three times now."

Stefan could practically feel the Slavic judgement wafting through the speaker. Finally, the voice spoke again. "All right, I am coming down. This had better not be screw-up on your part."

There was nothing to do but wait, and Stefan did that with an ever-heavier heart. He was sure that he'd somehow messed it up, and that he would soon be sporting a boot up his ass courtesy of the commander...

The door to the control room slid open, and the compact, wide-shouldered figure of Commander Maksimov Valentin Ivanovich strode in. That stride suggested that, if a Dorarizin had been standing in front of the door, the alien would now be sporting a Valentin-sized hole through its body. His black hair and mustache all but bristled as he glared at Stefan. "Call it up."

Stefan dutifully pressed the keys, and in the main display appeared the face of a man with a tan complexion, short dark hair, and a myriad of laugh-lines around his eyes. Other than that, his face appeared smooth and ageless. "This is the man, sir."

Commander Valentin grunted, then leaned forward. "Interesting. That face is familiar, I might actually know this ublyudok..." He tapped a few keys of his own to log in, and after a bit more Russian swearing he managed to call up a personnel file. A slightly younger version of the same man stared out of the screen, with a lot of text to the side and beneath his picture. Much of that text was covered in the blacked-out rectangles of a heavily-redacted document.

"Oh, cyka blyat," said Valentin. "It's him."

Oscar stopped dead upon entering the human base proper. He was expecting a series of gray, uninteresting corridors like many of the barracks he'd been stationed in. But instead, they'd hollowed out the wing and turned it into a shell which overlaid a grid of smaller human buildings with an actual street running through them.

In the center of the base squatted a taller, brick-like building that must be the base's main redoubt. Oscar had no doubt that any path to that redoubt was covered with overlapping fields of fire from a myriad of disguised and armored pillboxes. The whole place felt like a combination of Disneyland and next-level paranoia.

At the moment he saw only humans walking about, most of them dressed in military fatigues. There were some here and there that wore more civilian attire. Oscar stood for a moment and reveled in the feeling of being surrounded by normal-sized figures for the first time in a long while. He saw a couple of curious glances at his and Myyreh's clasped hands, and wondered if human-alien romances were at all common here.

Right next to the entrance was a small billboard with the promised map on its surface. "Care for a bite to eat?" asked Oscar as he looked it over. "They should have a restaurant here."

Myyreh looked around, her ears twitching with uncertainty. Even though she was on the short side for a Dorarizin she still towered over everyone else. "[I don't know. Will I fit in one of your eateries?]"

"We can only try...huh, looks like they have a Chinese place, plus a coupla pizza joints. Which would you like?"

"[You choose, sweetie. Lead the way.]"

"Then Chinese it is." Oscar tugged at her paw and headed up the center boulevard. Myyreh let him take the lead as she walked with caution among the humans streaming to either side of them, her ears spinning like radar dishes all the while. They only passed one alien, a pythonesque Jornissian who sat frozen on the ground. She looked to be positively vibrating out of her skin in delight as she stared at the humans surrounding her. After a short stroll they stood in front of a yellow-painted building with guardian lions formed of fake stone flanking the entrance.

"[Should you ask them if I can come in?]" asked Myyreh.

"Nah, it'll be fine. They gotta expect your species in here on occasion."

She had to duck to follow Oscar through the doorway. The dour-faced Asian woman near the entrance raised her eyebrow upon seeing Myyreh, but all she asked was "Table for two?"

The place was almost full, and bigger than Oscar expected. It wasn't the oversized alien architecture he was used to, but the place was clearly designed so that xenos wouldn't keep banging their heads on the ceiling. There were even a few Jornissian-style floor divots in place of booths. The other patrons (all human at the moment) took Myyreh's presence in stride and the Dorarizin visibly relaxed at the lack of commotion. Her ears rose as she squatted across the table from Oscar, and he could hear the subtle swish as her tail wagged against the carpet.

"Why are you so nervous?" he asked.

"[Just...well, it's a bit overwhelming having this many humans around me. During my training we worked on simulacra, but only a few at a time. I worry that I'm going to bump into somebody by accident.]"

The imperturbable woman brought them menus. "Special number three causes allergic reaction in Dorarizin," she said.

"Do you get many of your, er, hosts here?" asked Oscar.

"About fifty per week. The Szechuan Beef is popular with them."

Myyreh shrugged. "[I'll try that then.]"

"That might be kinda spicy," said Oscar. It was perhaps ridiculous to warn her, seeing as how her species ate things that would kill a human stone dead.

"No complaints so far," said the woman. "We can make it less spicy, if you prefer."

Myyreh grinned. "[That sounds like a challenge. Make it as hot as you can. What do you want, sweetie?"

Oscar shrugged and ordered a few dishes to share, along with a pot of tea.

"[Nothing stronger?]" asked Myyreh as the woman bustled off.

"Nah, we're on the job tomorrow. Gotta be sharp."

Myyreh looked around the restaurant. Garish gold wallpaper lined the walls, broken up by vertical red velvet stripes at regular intervals. "[So this food is from a specific region of [Earth]? I really should read up more on your different cultures.]"

Oscar grinned. "Well, this place isn't culturally accurate, if I'm honest. But it's kind of a tradition. Wherever humans go, Chinese restaurants follow."

They both relaxed and engaged in small talk until the food arrived. Myyreh's dish was Dorarizin-sized, and the vapor coming off of it made Oscar's eyes water. They divvied up the various dishes, but Oscar chose not to take any off of Myyreh's beef dish.

She speared a few pieces of beef as well as the surrounding peppers, then popped the fork into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "[Hmmm. That's really good.]"

"I don't know how you can eat that. My nose is nowhere near as good as yours and that stuff is clearing out my sinuses even way over here."

"[It does have a unique scent profile. Are you sure you don't want some?]"

"When I was a young man, I went for anything really spicy. But what goes in must come out, and...aw, hell with it. I'll try some." Oscar transferred a few mouthfuls of the beef-and-pepper extravaganza to his plate, and with great deliberation took a bite of his own.

"Wow," he mumbled as he chewed. "This really is tasty..." His eyes widened as the first wave of searing heat spread through his mouth. He almost spat out what was in his mouth, but manfully fought through it and chewed until the little lump of fire was liquid enough to swallow. Then he grabbed his cup of tea and downed it in one slug. "HOOAH! Oh man, I'm gonna regret that later on."

Myyreh reached out and refilled his cup with a gentle smile on her face. "I knew it. My brave little warrior never backs down from a challenge."

Oscar stood in the center of the storage facility. He was surrounded by storage lockers and the muted whirr of camera drones mapping the place. He could hear Rgrarshok's muffled voice from the small office at the front as she grilled the Jornissian in charge.

Bgrarh let out a grunt of interest as he leaned towards a window at the rear of the facility. "[There's a small gouge in the frame here. Might have been [jimmied] open.]"

Oscar looked at the small window...small for an alien, that is. That knot of suspicion began to form again. He moved to the cabinet of interest and reached up to the handle, opening the heavy door with some effort. The shelves within were lined with Eggs all similar to the stolen one. As he peered closer, he saw that the fractal-like patterns on them differed from Egg to Egg.

"No numbering scheme," he muttered. The foam nestling the Eggs had no markings either. Oscar poked his head around the door and called back to Bgrarh. "Hey, do we know which one it was?"

Bgrarh loped around the door. "[It's the empty slot here,]" he said, pointing to a shelf well above Oscar's head. "[Oh, would you like me to...?]"

Oscar sighed and held up his arms like he was signaling a touchdown. It was his adopted shorthand for asking for a boost.

Bgrarh reached down and hoisted Oscar up, and the human didn't miss the little wag that started in Bgrarh's tail as he did so. Oscar put the slight humiliation out of his mind as he looked down at the now-empty cradle. "Just the one, eh?"

"[Yes.]"

Oscar hummed thoughtfully as he tapped on Bgrarh's paw to ask to be put down again. Once his feet were on the floor, he looked around the room again. "Find any DNA?"

"[A bunch of fragments, but nothing that could give us a positive ID. This place is a few hundred years old. A lot of people have been through this room.]"

And that was the main thing that bothered Oscar. This place was not some kind of super-duper bank vault, it was a glorified storage locker. There were no motion sensors or drones, just a few cameras and a night guard. He suspected that the reason for the latter was only to give someone a job. If the stolen Egg held information sensitive enough to call in his team, then why was it stored here?

He strolled out into the front office. Hnnresnthsh, the Jornissian in charge, was in the middle of waving his arms as he protested to Rgrarshok.

"[...there's no way she could be in on this! She's just a student! Not to mention she's the one who brought it to my attention.]"

"[I appreciate your point, but we must examine all possibilities. Who else knows the details of what is stored here?]"

The Jornissian looked down at Oscar and chewed on his lip. "[Er, I don't know if I should say in front of...]" He trailed off with an apologetic set to his hood.

Rgrarshok turned to regard him as well. "[[Oscar], would you mind excusing us?]"

His knot of unease clenched tighter. "[Sure. After you're done, can I speak to you in private?"

Oscar stared out the shuttle's side window with folded arms. Myyreh sat across from him, twiddling her paw-pads together but otherwise staying silent in the midst of his brooding. The vehicle rocked slightly to one side by the Rgrarshok's entrance. She seated herself next to Myyreh, her nose twitching as she automatically inhaled Oscar's scent. "[You are troubled, my little pack-mate.]"

He waited until the shuttle door slid closed, taking the time to choose his next words carefully. "Captain, may I speak freely?"

Rgrarshok cocked her head. "[Of course.]"

"I don't think we've been told the whole truth."

The Captain crossed her arms. "[Go on.]"

"I'm going to tell you what I think is going on, and then you can tell me if I'm full of shit. Whatever's on the Egg isn't classified. If it was, you guys would've kept it in a more secure location." He waved in the direction of the building. "This place is a joke. The night guard is a kid, for Chrissake!"

Neither Dorarizin said anything, so he plowed on. "My guess is this facility is some kind of offline storage site or archive where you stick historical information so you don't clog up the networks with yottabytes of obsolete data. But when they put the human base here, the higher-ups forgot that what's useless to you isn't useless to humans. Someone from my species must be the culprit."

Rgrarshok sighed. "[I have my orders, [Oscar]. That includes not telling you details of the Egg's data or why it's stored here. What you're saying is only conjecture.]"

The knot of tension in Oscar's stomach turned into a flare of anger. "Dammit, I'm not an idiot. The Senate must suspect humans are behind this. It's the only reason they'd freak out about such a minor theft and pull us in so fast. It's why you can't tell us what's on the Egg. And on top of that, Bgrarh thinks the facility's rear window was the point of entry. It's barely big enough to fit a skinny Jornissian through, and way too small for either a Karnakian or Dorarizin. Even a Jornissian would have left a lot more physical evidence than a single scrape. But a human or two could get through there no problem."

Myyreh reached over and put a big warm paw on Oscar's knee. "[Is that what has you so worried? You don't want to track and arrest your own kind?}"

Oscar blinked in surprise. "Eh? Oh hell no, I've busted plenty of my own people over the years. No, it's that we're hamstrung by this damn secrecy. Captain, I understand need-to-know and all of that, but how are we going to be able to do our job like this? There's no real physical evidence thus far. They do scans of the Eggs every twenty days, so we can't narrow down the time of the break-in any closer than that. We're down to working on motive, and we can't do that without knowing what's on the Egg."

The Captain leaned back and let forth a click-growl of frustration. "[At the moment, all I can ask is for patience. The secrecy will be less of a hindrance than you think.]"

Myyreh shot the Captain a look that could only be described as 'guilty'. Oscar realized that the Captain had been specific when she'd mentioned her orders to not tell him anything. He felt that flare of anger grow larger. "Wait one damn minute. Are you kidding me? The rest of the crew knows the Egg's contents? Myra, do you know?"

She looked at the deck, unwilling to meet his eyes. Finally, in a small voice, she said. "[Yeah.]"

He threw up his arms. "Well that's just fucking great."

Rgrarshok's face was stony. "[We have our orders.]"

"Orders can fall down and go boom." Oscar stood, his fists clenched. "You've turned a blind eye to the regs plenty of times for me, why not now?"

"[Technology transfer is a very sensitive area where Senate interactions with [humans] are concerned.]"

"Oh, so they think I'm gonna turn around and steal the Egg myself? After all of the shit we've been through together, you don't trust me?"

Rgrarshok stood faster than Oscar was used to, and he flinched back in surprise as her head brushed against the roof of the shuttle. "[Again, I understand your anger. But I can't go against my superiors, not on something like this. This conversation is over.]"

Oscar watched her go with his teeth clenched hard enough to hurt. Just before she stepped down out of the craft, he called out to her. "Humans aren't the only ones involved."

The Captain froze, then turned her head back towards Oscar with narrowed purple eyes. "[Explain.]"

"There's no serial numbers or glyphs on or near the Eggs, no way to distinguish any one in particular. They went for one on a shelf above human height. And they only took that one, not a bunch of 'em. Which means they knew exactly what they were looking for. Somebody here in the colony told them where it was."

"[I'll take that under consideration, [Oscar]. Thank you.]" She turned her head back and hopped down out of the shuttle, which again rocked gently.

"[You see?]" asked Myyreh. "[You're still able to help, even if you don't know...]"

He swung his head to Myyreh, and the big alien actually flinched at the fury in his eyes.

"[I'm sorry, [Oscar],]" she said in a quieter voice. "[The Senate told us not to say anything to you.]"

He said nothing, just clenched his jaw tighter with his arms crossed.

Her ears folded back flat against her head. "[When our Alpha orders, we obey. You understand? Just as the Captain is doing what she's been told. Don't blame her. Please, don't be angry with us...with me.]"

"I'll be angry if I fucking well feel like it. After that stuff about your heart belonging to me, and mine to you...if y'all had straight-up told me you'd been ordered to keep quiet I'd get it. I wouldn't be happy, but I'd understand. But no, I guess the Senate thinks I need to be kept in the dark like a fucking child and you all went along with them."

He took in big lungful of air, trying to calm himself before he said something he'd regret. Myyreh stared with watery eyes at him as he dropped his hands wearily to his sides. "Myra, I know you care for me, but I have to deal with a lot of shit you don't. I live in a ship where everything's built too tall for me, I never hear a human voice except in a recording, I work in a risky profession where I'm always the weakest guy in the room. The only thing that's kept me going is the knowledge that you, all of you, have my back."

Myyreh did the same blurry-fast standing that the Captain had just performed. "[But we do!]" she protested. "[I do! Don't you know how much I love you...]"

"Then why are y'all treating me like a fucking pup? I know you have your orders, but couldn't you trust me to keep my mouth shut? It's not like I'd go tattling on you to the Senate."

Myyreh sniffled and wiped her nose. She blinked her tears away, her eyes suddenly wider as she looked at Oscar in a silent plea.

He held up an unamused hand. "Don't do the puppy-eyes routine, okay? Not now."

She looked away. "[So...what do we do?]"

"I will try to do my damn job. I don't care if what's on the Egg is plans for a black hole gun or directions to build a planet-sized laser or recipes for the best fucking ever tuna salad. Somebody stole it and I'm gonna go find 'em." He turned and headed for the shuttle exit. "Right after I walk around for a bit and calm down."