On the top side, the commander of the pirate forces was arguing with his communications officer. "What do you mean no one is responding?" he asked.

"Sir, I've been running comm checks on all teams in half hour intervals as per orders, but within the last three hours, I've lost communications with over 30 teams..." said the young tech.

"Which sections were they in?" asked the commander.

"I've lost comms with all teams in the living section and the science section Sir. The only teams still responding are the ones in the docking ring, the C&C, and on the ship Sir. Everyone else has gone quiet," the comms tech said wincing slightly as he half expected to be shot being the bearer of bad news.

The commanding officer growled something under his breath and then said, "Reinforce defense perimeters on all access points to the docking ring and post extra guards around the C&C. We can't afford to lose the link to the station's computer systems. The information we are getting from the computers is almost worth more than all of the filthy morph slaves. Start getting the slaves moved to the cargo holds, I want the databases copied and every slave we can still get our hands on captured and moved."

"Sir..." said the comms tech. "The majority of the slaves are still in the habitation section that we lost contact with. If we are going to make any money off this, we're going to need to get back in there and get those slaves collared and on the ship."

The commanding officer straightened looking coolly at the comms tech and contemptuously backhanded him across the face. "I'll remind you Mr. Sherringer, I don't care who your father is. You are under my command and you will not presume to tell me how to run my operation. Do I make myself clear?"

The blow took the tech completely by surprise, but it really wasn't meant for pain, more as a wake up call and the tech cringed back slightly nodding, "Y...Y...Yes Sir, understood, Sir."

"Very good, now, get three squads together, we are going to take back the habitation module and get the cargo we came for. There is over a billion credits worth of slaves in there, and they WILL be mine," he stated, greed dripping from every word.

>>>

On the other side of the station several minutes earlier in the C&C for the entirety of the station, Swytch sat quietly in the back of what could only be deemed as organized chaos. Commander Shylin was directing everyone like a professional orchestra maestro. Hy may be a sneaky old taur, but hy knew hys business, Swytch could grant hym that much. Hy could feel Max's bone deep weariness through their link and hy continued to send him all of the love and encouragement hy could through their bond while silently praying to whatever deity was out there to keep him safe.

"Sir! Outer sensor buoys have just relayed a contact," said an Ensign at the tactical sensor control board. Shylin's head whipped around. "Clarify Ensign, do we have a signature?"

"No Sir, they are still too far out but I am reading one light cruiser sized vessel and two runabout sized vessels heading in this direction. They may be the reinforcements Commander Prurin sent at the request of Lt. Commander Dreamspirit," said the Ensign.

Shylin let out a breath. "Finally, some good news. Can we warn them?" asked the old spook.

"No Sir, comms are still down. The only reason we even picked them up is because the buoys are linked into the passive arrays. All we can do is watch them coming," reported the Ensign.

"Wonderful, help is on its way and we have no way to tell them exactly what kind of help we really need," Shylin grumped and then quickly looked over at Swytch as Max's mate burst out in a happy laugh.

Swytch hugged hymself reveling in Max's feelings for the moment and noticed Shylin watching hym. "Sorry, Max just found Lt. Commander Dreamspirit. Shi was injured and holed up in one of the science labs. He's managed to get hir awake and moving and shi is NOT happy about his little army of ex-slaves." Hy cocked hys head to the side listening to what Max was doing. "They are going to move hir back to the freed slave encampment in the habitation module. And shi just offered to shoot Max in the butt," Hy giggled. At Shylin's raised eyebrow hy just waved. "It's how shi shows affection. I think shi's as relieved to see him as he is to see hir. They are heading to the encampment now. From there Max plans on making his move on the C&C section." Hy looked at Shylin. "If we all survive this, you're going to give Max a vacation back home, the only reason he hasn't had a mental breakdown is he's been kept too busy and I'm pretty much keeping his emotions calm and his mind in one piece. Too much has happened to him in too short a time. He needs time to have a complete break down with his family and friends around so he can process everything and heal again," hy stated bluntly.

Shylin nodded. "I know, why do you think I've been trying to keep him as busy as I have. I won't deny I have ulterior motives where he is concerned, but he won't do me any good if he breaks completely," hy stated bluntly as well. "Your mate is unique in several ways and would be a boon to Starfleet and especially to me. BUT, after this, I will make sure he gets the training he needs if he decides to pursue the plans I have in mind for him. I won't force him and if he wants to go back to just being a regular old computer nerd then I won't bother him again. But, if he is even slightly interested in doing something more for the greater good of the galaxy, then I will give him every tool I can to help him do it," hy said with conviction.

Swytch eyed the other skunktaur before saying, "Before you pressure him, you will give him, and us, time to sit down and talk about it. He has absolutely NO sense of self-worth. He still can't believe Jackie and I even want to be with him, and there is a deep underlying fear that we will see that and decide to leave. He may be a full morph now, but he still has the mind of a human and a damaged one at that. We are going to get him the help he needs before we let him make any decisions and you WILL respect that," hy said with a voice as strong and unbending as steel.

Shylin nodded in acquiescence. "I give you my word on that. A broken Max won't do anything for me and my plans. I'd much rather have a whole and healthy Max," hy said. "The thing is, those milfurs have pledged complete allegiance to him and him alone. I'm not really sure what I am going to do with them because I'm pretty sure your family doesn't need a detachment of warbeasts to watch over them. The twins that have been following him around are already attached to him via their own decision. Our files on the twins are even more sparse than they are on the warbeasts. Perhaps I can get Max to assign me as one of their superior officers and then I can put them through Federation training. If Max decides to join fully, then he will need a group he can trust and those warbeasts will die before they let anything happen to him. I also have a feeling the twins aren't too far off from that either. But at least with them, they are trained as bodyguards instead of beasts of war. You may end up with two more mouths to feed," hy smirked.

Swytch grinned. "If they keep making coffee like they have been, I'll happily welcome them to the family and feed them."

>>>

Max couldn't decide which was worse, the cramped quarters in the maintenance tunnel or the smell. Eleven morphs in such a cramped space with minimal air flow made for an unusual collection of scents. It didn't help that his nose was still every bit as extra sensitive as it had been either. Max checked his schematics on his wrist comp again. They were almost to the main junction that split off to the C&C when Zyndil pinged him. Max signaled a halt and closed his eyes to concentrate. 'What's up, Zyn?' he sent.

'Sir, they just dispatched three groups to the habitation ring to find out what happened to their crews there,' the astral Blackpaw replied.

Max cursed under his breath and relayed the information. "I knew it was too good to hope they would have waited to send reinforcements. Sergeant, I'm sorry to have to ask this of you, but I want you to go back and help the civilians. If you can come up behind the pirates, you can probably catch them in a cross fire and pin them down at least until I can get the computers back online. Once I get that done you'll have reinforcements."

"Sir, our job is to keep you safe so that you can achieve your goal," the milfur objected.

"Sheppard, how long do you think the freed slaves can hold out against a trained force of pirates?" Max asked gently. "The greater good is their safety, not mine. They deserve every opportunity at a normal and free life, so do you for that matter. Help them remain free, Sergeant," Max said with determination in his eyes. "That's an order," he said with a touch of authority.

Sheppard looked slightly frustrated then slumped a bit and nodded. He then held out a hand. "It's been an honor Sir, it's been good to have a purpose again."

Max took the offered hand and clasped wrists instead in a show of brotherhood more than respect. "I don't plan this to be our last meeting Sergeant, with the way my life has been going I have this weird hunch that I have a long way to go yet. I'd prefer for you and your men to be at my back when I get there, so stay safe," he said solemnly.

"Aye, Sir, we'll be there when you're ready for the next mission." And with that, he motioned his men to follow him and each one nodded respectfully at Max as they crawled by heading back the way they had come.

Max turned to the twins who were watching him with flat eyes, he opened his mouth to order them to follow as well but before he could even get the first word out, in unison they said, "No."

Max blinked. "Excuse me?" he asked.

A baritone voice replied, "We will not leave you to do this alone." A soprano voice continued, "We are not military and therefore do not have to follow those orders, we choose instead." And the baritone voice completed, "To stay with you and keep you safe, it is our decision." And a matching set of feline eyes regarded him in the darkness of the maintenance tunnel.

Max sighed. "Stubborn, hard headed..." he muttered.

"From what we can tell from Lt. Commander Dreamspirit's conversation with you, so are you Sir," said the baritone voice.

Max snorted but nodded. "For what it's worth, thank you."

The twins both nodded and the three of them continued on.

>>>

Dreamspirit look around, other than the clutter of junk placed at the main doorway of the living area, the place looked clean and well-kept during the crisis. A dog morph and cat morph looked to be having a private conversation and a few of the other morphs were doing what seemed like trading. Others just cuddled each other for comfort. After repositioning a few of the armed refugees so that if an attack came the entry way would be better covered, Dream sat in the living area speaking with many of the refugees on many subjects. Dream yawned and hir jaw made an audible pop as the first shot hit the entryway frame and an exchange of weapons fire started. One of the fox morphs was hiding behind a table with his hands over head and was shaking violently. Dream made a b-lined for him and skidded to a stop as shi took cover.

"Hey, it's going to be OK!" shi said as shi peered of over the top of table that shielded them and nearly lost an ear in process.

"No... No... No, they are the Masters, we serve them!" the fox yelled nearly in tears.

Dream stared at him a moment before shaking hir head sadly. Shi popped up over the table and took a couple of shots back down the way the enemy fire was coming from.

Two of the guards shi had placed were down already. Dream didn't know if they were alive or not, but shi didn't have time to think about it. To the fox shi said, "You serve yourself, no other! Damn it, I need your help. We need your help. Shoot back!" shi demanded as a number of shots hit their cover.

The fox morph curled into a ball and cried as the firefight took place around him leaving Dream to fight from that spot alone. Just when everything seemed to be about to completely go South, shots started to come in from behind the pirates. This quickly worked to divert their attention. Between the few armed ex-slaves and the fire coming in from behind, the pirate's morale quickly broke and they swiftly started to retreat. Once it was finally quiet again, Dream saw five fully armed morphs coming towards the barricades. "HO in the barricade!" the lead yelled.

"Sergeant Shepherd? Is that you?" Dream asked astonished.

"Aye Ma'am. The Commander sent us back to lend a hand," he replied.

"Then who the hell is watching Max's back?" Shi exclaimed.

>>>

Max and the twins continued their way through the maintenance tunnels and finally reached the access hatch that would let them out just outside the C&C section of the docking ring. Max had Zyndil do a recon of the area and started to prepare himself for what would probably be the most dangerous part of this whole ordeal. He would have to exit the maintenance tunnels, get inside the C&C, disable whomever was in there, and then get the computers back up and running. Preferably all without being caught and shot, he thought sourly.

Zyndil came back shortly. 'Sir, they are moving every morph they can get their hands on into the cargo ship and securing them in slave restraints, the humans they are just piling in a large cargo container that's been set up as a jail of sorts. The C&C has one guard outside and two inside as well as three technicians. It looks like they are mining data from the terminals,' hy sent.

Max cursed. 'Are the techs armed?' he sent back.

'Looks like they have side arms, the guards are carrying the heavier weapons,' Zyndil responded.

Max sat there for a minute thinking furiously taking a look at the schematic for the C&C room. 'Point to where they are all standing on the map, Zyndil,' he sent.

Zyndil indicated several places which Max marked on the map. Max looked thoughtfully at the map and then out loud he said, "OK, here's what we are going to do."

Max strode down the hallway, his holoprojector on and showing the world his pirate facade. His heart was hammering in his chest as real pirates walked all around him. He tried to keep his steps measured and lazy like the rest as he headed towards the C&C hallway. His mouth felt like it was full of sawdust as he desperately tried to work some kind of saliva into it. He turned down the hallway to the C&C and when he was in view of the door, he lifted his chin slightly in a curt greeting. The guard did the same in reply not even bringing his rifle to bare. "I'm here to relieve ya," Max said as gruffly as he could manage with a dry mouth. To Max's astonishment the other guard just nodded, grabbed his gear and left. Max blinked a couple of times completely taken off guard at not even being questioned and then took his place by the door as if to guard it himself. A few minutes later two inky black shadows rounded the corner and made their way to where Max was. "How in the hell do you two do that?" he hissed. The only reply he got were two very feline grins and a flick or two of their tails. Max just grunted and unlocked the C&C door with his biometrics. Taking another deep breath, he filled his mind with the Caitian lullaby once more. He nodded curtly to the twins and palming open the door walked inside.

The inside of the C&C wasn't terribly large. The room was roughly circular with equipment lining the walls for base control functions for the docking ring. In the center was a large holoprojector viewing table. Three techs were working on different terminals mining data Max guessed and didn't even look up when he entered. The two guards sitting in chairs by the door quickly looked up as he walked in. He again just raised his chin slightly to them and said, "Just doing a walk through making sure everything is OK. How is the data retrieval going?" he asked trying to make his voice curious.

One of the guards just shrugged. "Dunno, every time I ask, one'na the techs tells me it'll be done when it's done."

Max grunted noncommittally and shrugged. "Boss told me to check, so I checked."

One of the guards laughed. "Typical eh? Go do this, go do that, while they sit on the soft butts and get the good loot."

Max tried to laugh as well but it sounded strained. "Yeah, that's tha way it normally goes, eh?" he said putting more of a slang on the sentence. "Meh, told 'em I'd check so I'm check'n," and he walked towards the techs.

One of the guards made a 'help yourself' gesture towards the tech and they both went back to a game of dice that seemed to be taking the majority of their attention. The guards didn't hear the door when it slid open again because Max had left it unlocked and the twins eased it open manually. The techs were so engrossed in their work that the two Max walked up behind didn't even register that he was there until he placed the hypos to their necks and with a hiss they slumped over their consoles. At about the same time, two inky blurs quickly rushed up behind the guards who were amusing themselves with 7's and 11's and with quick, deft hands, there was a cracking of bone and the guards slumped over the table moving no more. Unfortunately, the third tech was on a separate wall from the others and actually noticed what was going on. He jumped up clawing for his sidearm as all three of them rushed him. It was a lucky shot, that's all it could have been as the weapon discharged and fire blossomed against Max's head and then his ear. Max fell to one knee his hand lifting to his head and when he brought it away, there was blood. Max looked up to see the last tech crumple to the floor and the twins rush over to him.

"Hold still," a baritone voice said. Max heard the sound of rummaging and then winced as pressure was applied to his head causing him to wobble a bit with dizziness. "You were only grazed," a soprano voice said. "Although, you have a nice hole in your ear now," she continued.

"Check the hallway, see if anyone heard that shot," he said and the baritone voiced twin hurried off while the soprano voiced one gently padded the wound and bound it into place. Max leaned against the twin wearily breathing hard and could feel her body vibrating with a gentle purr as she supported his weight easily. "Thank you," he said, which only caused the purring to get louder.

"There is no one coming yet," said the baritone voice. "I will barricade the door from this side and jamb the locking mechanism. Hurry and get the computer systems unlocked. If someone comes this way, a jammed lock isn't going to stop them long."

Max nodded and decided that wasn't a very good idea as he wobbled drunkenly. The soprano twin caught his elbow and led him over to the primary terminal for the docking ring C&C and sat him down. Max pulled the thigh computer from his leg and ran a retractable cord from it to the computer and got busy with the nerd work.

>>>