When I finally came to, I found myself in a small cabin aboard an interstellar transport vessel. I sat up and groaned as my stomach told me I apparently hadn't eaten in a couple of years and if I didn't do so soon, it would happily start working its way through my spinal cord. So, I walked over to the small food replicator in the cabin and looked through the selection in the menu. "Computer, milkshake, chocolate. Double bacon cheeseburger and a large order of fries with catsup." At the last words I cleared my throat, I sounded a little horse. As the replicator complied I walked over to the small inset bathroom and splashed water on my face and froze when I looked into the mirror. Ever looked into a mirror and seen a complete stranger?

Probably not. But if it does happen, it takes your brain a few minutes to process what you're seeing and decide to shut down or continue running. Mine chose the latter. I'd always been an average looking guy. Barely 1.9 meters in height and a bit pudgy due to my occupation. I had dark brown hair that I had kept cut short and greenish gold eyes in a round face. THAT was NOT what was in the mirror now. Looking back from the mirror was a rougher sketch of what handsome would be. My face was now a bit longer. The chin was more pronounced and sported a manicured goatee. The eyes were still the same greenish gold but the eye shape had a more almond appearance. The cheekbones were more pronounced and seemed to sit a bit higher. The hair upon my head was now quite a bit longer just brushing my shoulders and all of it, to including my goatee was stark white. Not like old man white and thinning, for it was still quite thick, but more of a scared shitless white. I could also see why I was so hungry; apparently the gene therapy had taken quite a bit of energy to finish its process as quickly as it did because now I was quite lean. I had dropped at least 13.6 kilos. I reached a hand up to touch the face and sure enough I felt the touch, it was apparently mine now. I looked closely at my hand and noticed the fingers were a tad longer than they had been and I seem to have lost a few centimeters in height someplace and for some reason I was quite pale. Not sickly, more of a tone that complimented my eyes and new hair color. I snorted to myself. If I had pointed ears I would look like one of those Elven species from the games I used to play when I was younger. "Well, no one is going to recognize you now, are they?" I sighed and picked up the food from the replicator and quickly scarfed it down, instantly feeling much better afterwards. I noticed there were 4 large bags in the room so I started to rummage around in them.

Cold weather gear.

Toiletries.

Clothing.

Reader.

Portable computer.

Music player.

In one hard sided case, someone had actually packed something that meant something to me. An antique percussion cap Hawkins rifle that had been handed down from father to son in my family since time immemorial. "Well, at least they left me a small part of my history." My voice still sounded weird. In one side pocket, I found identification and travel papers as well as medical papers. "JC McClellan no longer exists, say hello to Maximilian Pilumnus." I stripped down to get a better look at myself and to take a shower, I felt like I hadn't bathed in a century. As I said before, my body was no longer pudgy, I seemed to be fairly much skin and bone with a light coating of connective muscles keeping things moving. "Well, I always did want to lose weight." I quipped to myself. After showering and changing into a clean set of clothing, I opened the portable computer I had been given and started to research my new self.

Name: Maximilian Pilumnus

Age: 28

Born: Mars Colony

Parents: Deceased during terrorist activities

Siblings: Deceased during terrorist activities

Marital Status: Single

Profession: Freelance Computer Security Expert

History: After the bombing of Mars Colony which took the lives of Maximilian Pilumnus's family, Max, as he prefers to be called, finished his study of computer systems and security and joined the Star Corps for 6 years before leaving at the rank of Lieutenant and going into private practice.

Digging deeper I could find bits and pieces about Max in several places, enough to pass a cursory background investigation really. One of the trickier parts was that many of the original Mars Colony records had been destroyed during the terrorist attacks there, so the lack of any extra background information wouldn't even make security personnel blink. Bitter thoughts skittered around in my skull at the mention of terrorist activities, remembering the real reason I was on my way to Chakona. Would I ever be able to make amends for the sins I was responsible for? Would I ever be able to escape this path of terror and death? Even at these thoughts, the shadows of echoes ran through my head... 'Murderer... Murderer... MURDERER... ' I shook my head to clear away the voices.

Over the course of the trip to Chakona, I spent time looking into my financials, which were decent, as well as studying up on what my new job would be at an ARCS station. The job seemed pretty straight forward and even perhaps a tad boring but it would give me time and a chance to figure out what I was going to do with my new life. Perhaps I could just hide out in the arctic for the next several years until everything blew over. I slouched in my bunk as I stared out into the nothingness of space. As I watched the stars streak by, the constant static in my mind would act like a white noise generator, relaxing me. Would I ever be free or would I be hiding for the rest of my life with zero attachments only to die alone in some obscure corner of space, forever forgotten and unnamed in the annals of history. Would anyone even miss me?

Finally, we entered Chakona space and the transport slipped out of warp and started the trundling journey to Chakona Station for processing. I already had my bags packed, sitting off to the side when the door chime sounded. I palmed open the door and a steward stood there, and nodded to me respectfully. "Mr. Pilumnus, if you will follow me, you have been marked for priority departure." I raised an eyebrow confused. "Priority departure?" I asked. The steward nodded. "Yes Sir. It seems that our route took us longer than expected and they really need you on site ASAP. I'm not sure who's backing you Sir, but they had enough pull to get your medical records approved and have you first in line off the boat. We are to beam you straight down to the ARCS station." And with that, a porter took my bags and I was led to the transporter room. As we waited for the ship to dock, an immigration agent checked my papers one last time and smiled up at me. "Welcome to Chakona Mr. Pilumnus. If you'll stand on the pad we will get you to your destination." A bit bewildered by the rush I stepped onto the pad with my luggage and in a whir of energy I found myself standing in front of an impatient looking chakat and a slightly startled skunktaur.

The chakat had hir arms crossed and hir fore-paw tapping on the deck plates in slight impatience. I stepped from the transporter pad and set my belongings to the side and bowed slightly towards the chakat. "My apologies for being late. From what I was told the transport had to make an emergency pickup and it threw them off schedule. My name is J... umm sorry, Maximilian Pilumnus but everyone just calls me Max."

Leftpaw couldn't really be upset at what was an apparently bewildered human and shi nodded back. "My name is Leftpaw, child of Quickstep and Trill and don't worry about it. I'm just a tad testy because I haven't seen my mates in a year and I'm jonesing for some affection from them." Shi grinned, "Now shoo! You're blocking my way home!

Max quickly took a step back as shi moved hir stuff to the transporter pad. "The training sims are on the holo suite's main directory. I'd say if you have any questions feel free to call me, but I think I'll be out of contact for quite a while," shi said with a smirk. "Plus, if you weren't already proficient with everything here, you wouldn't have been hired to begin with! Have a great year!" and with that shi disappeared in a whir of energy and light.

Swytch couldn't help but chuckle at the bewildered look on the human's face as the 'kat disappeared and hy stepped forward holding out a hand in greeting. "Hello Max, my name is Swytch of Clan Redpaw, child of Jynxy of Clan Redpaw and Riot. Pleasure to meet you!"

Max took a minute to get his brain back on track before looking at the skunktaur smiling at him. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward and took the offered hand to shake it and said "A pleasure to meet you as well, Swytch."

When Max's hand met Swytch's, Swytch's mind was suddenly inundated with the sounds of static and a spike of self-loathing and then panic which was quickly smothered back into the static and Swytch quickly jerked hys hand back with a startled exclamation.

When their hands touched, Max felt a floodgate open in his mind and a sudden stab of surprise rushed through him that wasn't his as sudden panic swept his mind, this time it was his panic. When Swytch yanked hys hand back, Max knew he'd heard something and he blanched slightly and looked down. "Which one is my room?" he mumbled tiredly. At the skunktaur's stunned direction, Max went into his room, locking the door behind him.

Swytch watched Max leave and heard the sound of the door lock engage behind him. "Great job Swytch! Human does not mean non-empathic you moron." Swytch continued to berate hymself as the serious blunder hy had made. Hy had just assumed that since Max was a human, hy wouldn't have to worry about hys mental shielding. How lucky was hy that hys new workmate was at least empathic if not slightly telepathic and hy had just done the mental equivalent of blasting his mental stereo at 10. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" Swytch's ears laid back in consternation as hy continued to mutter to himself and made hys way to hys room. "What a great way to make a first impression."

Max sat on his bed staring at his pile of luggage. What had that been? He wasn't well versed in skunktaur structure so he picked up his travel computer and looked them up. "Crap, Clan Redpaw... Telepaths. Oh, that's just wonderful," he muttered to himself. "New face, new DNA, same memories and thoughts. Did he see anything? Was he calling the authorities right now?" Max placed his face in his hands and just sat there. Then his door made a quiet alert letting him know someone wanted entry. Max took a deep breath and looked up at the door. "Come in," he said in a miserable voice. The door slid open and Swytch was standing there looking agitated as hy fidgeted and slowly stepped inside.

Hy looked up and took a deep breath. "Please forgive me!" he blurted out. "I assumed that, since you were a human, I didn't really have to worry about my mental shields being up and when we touched, well, your Talent and mine kind of called to each other sucking me in where I shouldn't have looked! I just want to know, why weren't you shielding??" hy managed to blurt out in one rambling sentence.

Max just sat there staring at the taur, his mouth opening and closing a couple of times, looking like a fish on land before managing to say, "What are you talking about? What's Talent?"

Swytch just stood there with hys muzzle half open 'Did this human have no idea?' he thought to hymself. "You really don't know?" hy asked.

Max managed to look frustrated and slightly offended at the same time. "You know, if you're just going to yank me around and make fun of me, maybe I should see if I can get a last-minute replacement. If I'd known I was going to be stationed with someone who didn't like humans, I would have turned down the job," he said defensively.

Swytch was slightly taken aback by the venom in Max's tone, "I don't have anything at all against humans!! Heck you're the first one I've ever met! Don't you DARE lump me into the same category with those human hating furs!" Hys tail was now bristled and fluffed fully in agitation. Hy was primed and ready to defend hymself if need be.

Max held his arms out, his right hand on top of his left in the time-honored tradition of 'time out'. "Wait, wait, wait..." He took a deep breath and then sniffed curiously at the air. He shook his head for a minute. "I think we are both in defensive mode. Thirty second timeout?" he asked hopefully.

Swytch opened hys muzzle with a hot retort but stopped hymself and nodded at Max and they both sat there breathing deeply to calm themselves.

Max blinked and looked around sniffing the air again. "What is that smell?" he asked curiously.

Swytch's ears pinked in a blush and hy coughed slightly embarrassed, "Ummm that's me. Fight or flight response." Hy tucked hys tail firmly back down. "Most humans find the odor distasteful, I'm sorry. I have some deodorizer in my things for just this reason," hy turned to leave and go to his room when hy felt something grab his tail. Stopping, hy looked over hys shoulder at a slightly red-faced Max who quickly released hys tail shaking his head.

"I wasn't complaining," Max fidgeted. "I actually thought it smelled kinda nice. Kind of a mixture of musk and loam and deep forests, but with a pungent overtone. Do all skunktaurs smell like that?"

Swytch was yet again speechless. Humans didn't have the kind of sense of smell to determine variations in a skunktaurs scents. Mainly, they just smelled the typical skunk defense spray smell and found it NOT to their liking. "You can smell all of that from me?" hy asked, "How??"

Max gave a lopsided grin at the memories in his head and said, "That is a very long story." He looked at the taur and then looked uncomfortable as he tried to make himself say things he normally wouldn't. "Can we start over?" he asked plaintively.

Swytch turned towards the, from what he could only surface read, painfully socially awkward human and smiled as hys temper dampened. Hy felt a bit of a kindred spirit in the human who seemed to have as many problems socially as hy had when hy was a small cub. "I think that would be an excellent idea, actually. Why don't we go back into the living area, I'll put some water on the boil and we can have a hot beverage and chat like civilized adults!" And with that, hy turned and trotted out of Max's room towards the kitchen, humming to hymself...

Max sat in his room for a bit after Swytch walked out, just staring at the blank walls. 'A year alone with a telepath... Great.' He'd have to keep his mind on his work and be careful not to continually feel the guilt that was always stirring inside or Swytch would eventually figure something out. He knew that telepaths had strict rules about mentally invading other people but if he was going to keep yelling at the skunktaur with his mind, then it really wouldn't be Swytch's fault. He sighed and got up, sorting through some of his stuff; he moved his portable computer over to the desk hooking it into the network at the desk and had it run background queries of the main computer system to check for any issues that may need his attention. He set the system to flag him on his personal terminal in case there were any emergencies for when he wasn't actively monitoring the systems from the C&C (Command and Control) section. Then he headed out into the living area.

>>>

The computer, now being hooked into the network, sent out feelers to each system collating information and then triggered a hidden program which made its way through various back channels and hopped a subspace carrier, piggybacking on authorized communications. On Earth, an encrypted system received a communication from Chakona. After checking the remote link for eavesdropping, the system sent a message flagged as priority.

A portable wrist PADD chimed a warning; its owner checked it, seeing the notification. Robert smiled, "Phase 2 complete."

Whistling, Robert headed into work.

>>>

Max took a seat on the couch trying to quiet his mind as much as possible as he looked over at the skunktaur who was in the kitchen, heating water.

"Coffee or tea?" Swytch asked.

"Coffee. Two sugars and a splash of cream, please?" Max asked politely.

"Coming right up!" Swytch stated as hy busied hymself in the kitchen setting out mugs and finding tea bags and instant coffee.

"How strong do you prefer your coffee?" Swytch inquired.

"If the spoon doesn't stand up by itself, it's not strong enough," Max quipped and heard a chuckle from the skunktaur. "I've been up for almost 18 hours trying to see if I can get on Chakona time, so I'm a bit out of it." Max leaned back on the couch, staring at nothing really, his mind little more than background static. Jumping at a touch on his shoulder, he looked around.

"Sorry, you dozed off for a minute, here this might help," Swytch said handing him a cup of coffee and sat on a taur pad next to the couch facing it as hy sipped hys tea. "You look fairly out of it. If you can manage to stay awake another couple of hours, you should be able to crash without too many issues and be up on time for your first full day tomorrow."

Max gave a slow nod and sipped the coffee, its pungent taste putting a little caffeine into his system. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just tired and not really thinking straight."

Swytch sipped hys tea and flicked an ear in acknowledgment. "It's OK, if I'd been up for 18 hours, I'd be a touch testy myself. Plus, I'm sure my reaction didn't help any," hy said in apology.

Nodding to myself, I continued diving the depths of his coffee mug gratefully. "Sooo... Care to explain what exactly happened? You jerked your hand away like you had been burned," I asked curiously.

Swytch contemplated his mug for a minute or two before looking up and said, "Well, as you know, contact makes telepathy that much easier. When I shook your hand, well, it was a bit like putting my ear next to an active speaker set to high. I wasn't trying to read you, I promise! But you were broadcasting fairly loudly." Hy looked thoughtful for a moment, "It was a bit like two oppositely charged magnets really, you pulled to me and I pulled to you. Even if you're not a telepath, you're a tad empathic and you broadcast like a megaphone," hy made a face. "Sorry, I'm not trying to be accusatory, just analyzing what happened. Mainly, the only thing I heard was a lot of static." Hy looked at Max worriedly, "I don't want to pry, but is everything, OK?"

The entire time hy'd been talking I never once looked up, my coffee mug was fascinating... I looked up at the skunktaur with a sour look on my face. I'm sure at least from hys apologetic expression I figured I didn't look too happy. I shrugged, "I've had some not to great things happen in my life and I maybe spent a little too much time with a 'kat friend of mine. Nothing happened mind you, but shi was my best friend and we shared a lot with each other. I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but shi always said I was easy to read." With that I fell silent, old pain welling up inside again.

Swytch looked at me with hys head cocked a bit to the side. "Well, it doesn't take even a telepath of my ability to hear that pain. You miss hir, don't you?"