Our car floated into a halt a half mile from the star port. Captain Uwu had thought it better for us to sneak up on foot until we get a better y of what the Gellical Collective was up to at the ports. They shut off coms during their invasion and we hadn’t been able to speak to our crew for almost a day now. Anything could have happened to them.

  With a handful of Gellys, I had no doubt the rest of the crew could take care of themselves and have time for a beer, but with an Ascension ship in orbit with a metric fuck load of religious freaks ready to bst anything with a tail into space dust, I was a little less optimistic.

  Now, we were creeping along a shoddy stone wall, overgrown with shrubs and vines, that surrounded the star port with the typical razor wire lining the top and cameras every hundred feet or so. Lucky for us, the star port was in pretty bad shape. My bet was only a handful of cameras worked anyway. Still, my hood could scan for electrical signatures, and sure as shit, they were all cold. I kept my hands close to my weapons regardless. I couldn’t let my guard down now.

  Captain Uwu was leading the group, with Echo on our fnk. He stopped just shy of the corner ahead, his pistol raised and ready. He gnced around the walls edge and sniffed a bit before turning back to us, “The terminal looks guarded by Gellys, probably set up shop and taken over the shipping to this rock. Which means…”

  “They could be poking around our ship.” Speck snarled while brandishing his cws.

  “Exactly. If they found our real cargo, the rest of the crew is dead.” Uwu’s voice was serious and cold. His was face emotionless, but I knew he was feeling the same as the rest of us. Frustrated, scared, worried for our comrades, and a little helpless to top it off.

  “But we don’t operate off of what ifs, especially when it comes to the crew.” Uwu stroked his red, facial fur and sighed the same sigh I’ve heard many times. It was his stressed-out release. He gestured to Speck and pointed to the top of the wall.

  The Anthro-Jaguar nodded and jumped onto the wall, his cws biting deep into the stone. With the ease and grace of a cat, Speck toped the wall and pulled a small device from his pocket. A dim red light shone at the top of the wall, and I reflexively looked about, making sure nothing was watching us, but Echo was already ahead of me. His bat ears twitching back and forth as his dark beady eyes scanned the dark around us better than I could.

  “Done.” Speck’s voice rang from the top of the wall before he dropped to the other side. The razor wire split in two, springing to the sides, leaving us with a nice gap to jump.

  Uwu holstered his gun, “Alright, everybody up and over.” He winked at me before he grabbed a tool from one of his belt pouches. He pressed the button and a line shot out of the tip, striking the top of the wall. He attached the handle to his belt and grabbed onto Ash, holding her tight.

  “We’ll get you one of your own soon enough.” The two of them then shot up to the top of the wall before shimmying over the other side and rappelling down.

  “You jealous?” Echo startled me. His bck figure blended into the night.

  I rose an eyebrow at him, “Please. It would take more than that to make me jealous.” In fact, I was very jealous right now. Some other woman was holding my man. Who wouldn’t be jealous?

  “If you say so. Looks like competition to me.” Echo snickered while his own zip-hook ripped him from the ground and into the air.

  “Heels.” I whispered as my boots began to compress. I guess I deserved that after what I said to him at the bank. The words did hit me hard though. I had finally found something nice, that I deserved after so much heartache. The thought of it getting ripped away from me was a living nightmare.

  I shot up into the air, high enough to clear the wall easily. I could see across the star port. Lights peppered the strip of metal and concrete. Off to the left was our own little slice of heaven, the Yiffin II. It was dimmed and in standby mode while it was refueling for our used to be swift departure from this moon.

  I quickly fell to the ground, my boots absorbing most of the impact. My crew was crouched behind a messy stack of old crates left out to rust. Ash was crouched next to Uwu, inspecting her gun with his help. I had another fre of jealousy. I blinked and shook my head. This was no time to be caught up in petty feelings. We had a life-or-death job to do.

  I crouched down next to Uwu. “So, what’s the pn?” I smiled at Ash.

  Echo and Speck were holding up each side of the crates, scanning the star port for any Gellys.

  Uwu gnced out towards our ship. He pulled a small cylinder from his belt and held it to his eye. “Looks like they’re about to board the Yiffin. About 20 of them. Not good.” He crouched down and held his gaze at the ground. I could tell his thoughts were rolling around a million lightyears a second in there.

  “Vixie. You still able to go into stealth mode?” Captain Uwu’s gorgeous eyes nded on me.

  I blushed a little, just enjoying the attention. My HUD lit up, and I checked my power levels. “Yup. Got enough for whatever you’re cooking up.”

  “There’s not enough over for us to get close to the ship. The Gellys will spot us and atomize us in an instant. If you can sneak in there and deal with them without raising an arm, we can start loading up the cargo into trucks. Echo and Speck will get one, Ash and I will grab the other.”

  My lips pursed in a pout. I didn’t like that, but I understand. She was new to this all, and Uwu would need to guide her along.

  “We make this quiet and fast and we can get out of here without an all-out war.” His eyes nded on me. “I’m counting on you, Vixie.”

  I smiled. My cheeks went red. “As you wish, Captain.” I stood and bolted towards the Yiffin. “Ghost.” I whispered as my suit reacted in seconds. The material shimmered before turning translucent. The only thing that could give me away now is my footsteps.

  I cleared the gap between me and the Yiffin and crept up to the loading bay doors. I could hear someone talking to the unmistakable, gravelly voice of our cargo master, Walter Beemus.

  “I’m telling you, gentlemen, there’s nothing on this ship except for what’s on the manifest. Which I already gave you. There’s no need to board us.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that. Now move aside or we will be forced to subdue you and take you for ascension.”

  I gnced around the corner to see what was up. Walter was blocking the small cargo door, holding up about 20 Gellys. All Deacons, luckily. The officer was up front, holding a tablet, looking over the cargo manifest while his butt buddies were backing him up in two uniformed lines.

  “You have five seconds to comply.” The officer’s voice wan monotone, no emotion, just pure facts. His temple was taken up with the neural impnt all the Gellys had drilled into their skulls.

  A part of me felt bad. How many of them were just regur people kidnapped and turned into religious nutjobs. Whatever they did on those ascension ships was no joke. No one ever came back from that...except one man I knew of.

  “Alright, alright. No need to get your collective panties in a bunch. Let me lower the ramp so you can viote my rights to privacy.” Walter turned to enter the ship when the officer spoke up.

  “Any more insults from you, and I’ll have you executed on the spot.”

  If the officer could smirk, he’d be grinning bigger than the man on the moon.

  Walter turned and smiled, “Sorry, sir. Just a long day is all. Let me get this open for you gentlemen.” As Walter turned into the ship, I could hear his whisper under his breath, “Dumb cunts.”

  The rge cargo doors began to hiss and whine as they dropped open as slow as mosses on a winter day. I used this distraction to make my way into the small door. I walked past the group of Gellys, flipping them off as I entered the ship.

  It felt good to have the sleek metal walls of the Yiffin around me. There was nothing more that I wanted than to take off into the stars and leave this rock behind. Get back to comfort and safety. I couldn’t, of course, so I’d just have to off some Gellys instead. At least it would make me feel a little better.

  I took up a spot by one of the many crates, watching the door finally drop to the runway below.

  Walter lit up a cigarette, puffing a cloud of smoke into the night air, “Alright gentlemen, she’s all yours.” He waved a hand inside, gesturing into the Yiffin.

  If Speck was here to see them board his ship, he would have blown up into a blood fueled frenzy.

  The officer turned back to his men, “Squad one, check the crates for contraband. Squad two, check the ship for animal-kind, and eradicate any you find.”

  “As the Prophet commands!” The goons all shouted in unison.

  The officer strode up to Walter with all the pompous authority of a tech trillionaire. He ripped the cigarette out of Walter’s mouth and tossed it to the floor. His boot stomped on it and ground it into the metal floor. “Vices are unbecoming of one of the Gellical Collectives newest converts.”

  Walter pyed with his tongue in his mouth. “You know, a little tip about this ship. Stay away from the med bay. If you know what’s good for you, just stay away.” Walter stuffed his hands into his jacket.

  I almost gave up my position as I suppressed a ugh of disbelief.

  “Squad two, start with the med bay. Take any supplies you find too.” The officer shouted orders as the Deacons came rushing into the ship, guns raised. “And you best not say another word, if you know what’s good for you.” The officer’s eyes dug deep into Walter’s.

  Walter held his hands up and took a step back.

  The second squad stormed past me and deeper into the ship, following the small signs posted for navigating. I stood and followed them, keeping my distance, trying not to give my position away with any loud footsteps.

  They turned in the hall ahead of me, disappearing into the med bay. The lights in the ship flickered before going dark. It was quiet and pitch bck before some auxiliary lights flicked on, illuminating the corridor with dim light. There was some chatter ahead, and some fshes of lights, gunshots, before the screams drowned out the silence of the ship. They quickly went silent as I poked my head around the corner.

  There was blood sptter across every wall of the med bay. Bodies y around, severed into different pieces. In the back of the med bay was a rge figure rising into the air. Her yellow and purple scales shone in the dim lights. In her jaw was a Deacon, slowly sliding downward into her gut.

  Slizz lowered their rge head, popping their jaw back into pce. The Anthro-Snake’s tongue shot out and flickered about. “Disgusting, sour little morsels.” Slizz turned their head slowly over to me, “You may be invisible to the eye, but I can still see you, strange one.”

  The ship’s doctor slowly began sliding through the crimson muck about the med bay, knocking aside body parts as they closed in on me.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. Slizz truly was a monster to fear.