Soon they were standing in the corridor in front of the Samul residence on the Fallerian V station, the only Samul residence in the Fallerian system. Completely underdressed for that occasion, with Trina's working clothes and her gym uniform. Fanny was the most dressed up, returning from an evening reception then. The Samul residence was a whole corridor side with a fake wood wall and plastic boulders, with a lot of gold nearer the gate. Even though Fallerian was free for independent traders, Samul had no intention of not ruling here as much as they could. The equal competition rule had been imposed on Samul by the Fallerians who valued competition more than favours. But at least on Fallerian V, the cat's business was also dominated by Samul.

Trina had announced their arrival. And by now, they would have received the news from the data dump she had started to transmit as soon as they had entered the communication range of Fallerian V, as it was customary for every ship. Without ships transporting data dumps, they would have had to wait several years for the lightspeed slow radio waves to carry outdated news.

Despite being announced, their reception was frosty. Two guards, huge black-furred cats, stood on either side of the Samul representative, assault weapons ready. She stood as tall as she could to Trina's right, and Fanny stood a little further back to Trina's left.

Trina bowed first. "Trina of Kerta from Samul. Greetings."

The other cat bowed very slightly. "Sra of Frata from Samul. Nice to meet you." But her body language left no doubt that these words were empty lipservice.

Trina was hardened enough by doing business on the station to ignore it with a smile. "I have dire news from the station. Ketcher has seized power, using alien technology to create murder cats. Kerta from Samul has been murdered, as has Fiyul from Ketcher. All capable ships have fled the station."

"So you are saying that the incompetent Kerta cost us our space monopoly," Sra hissed.

"No, Torragh of Ketcher has seized power. But it is highly unlikely that she can hold on to it. The station was on the verge of breakdown when we left. And to drive away the only people who could maintain it? That will not last."

"They even killed one of the station's AI. You won't find that in the data dump," she added.

"Who are you?" Sra demanded.

"Rerra of Codeson from Perta. We came with my ship which was in the shipyard for overhaul."

"Rerra released the clamps so the other Samul ships could escape," Trina added, "so whatever problem you have with me, Rerra has nothing to do with it."

Sra still looked down on her, even though she was not the tallest either.

"No problem, I will be gone as soon as you have finished your business," she replied before Sra could add another insult. Poor Trina.

Sra turned to Fanny. "We are Samul and you are Ketcher. I do not want you here. Leave the station. The Fallerians do not care how the resident aliens settle their differences. There will be no next meeting."

"Come, Fanny, we are not wanted. Let's go."

Fanny was enraged with her claws out but remained silent. But there was nothing she could do.

"Take care," she nodded to Trina and then walked back with Fanny. The door slammed shut as they passed, threatening to cut their tails off.

Outside, Fanny roared in frustration, several times until she was hoarse. The few other passers-by had fled down another corridor.

"Are you feeling better?"

"No, but at least I'm not going to kill anyone right now," Fanny croaked.

"Let's get off this station and go to Fallerian III. I can get new xenon there, and Samul has nothing there. With the data dump now in this system, can you access your wallet?"

Fanny switched on her pad. Indeed, the dump had been processed, her pad was now recognised and her wallet was accessible. However, the clan wallets were locked and Fanny's was not as well stocked as one would expect from a leading Ketcher member. But it should last her for a while, and even pay for a return trip if her ship would not be ready then.

* * *

Fanny was back in the co-pilot's seat of the White Ocelot while she ran through the startup sequence for undocking. She had negotiated a forward transfer of the ship's docking fees, as their stay here had been less than 1000 and she had not refuelled or even used much power. She was very proud of this achievement, even if it was only a 100 discount. It certainly would not have happened without her speaking Fallerian, and also because they chose Fallerian III, which seemed to raise their standing in the facetted eyes of the docking officer.

The docking officer had been very chatty once she had started speaking Fallerian. He had complained about the arrogant cats on this station, apart from the two nice ones standing next to him, of course, and how the Samul residence was bad for business, handling large contracts through ships that docked for the minimum amount of just one day, only transferring goods from other low bidders from other stations.

Her Fallerian was stretched to the limit, and even beyond, she did not get all the details. But the beetle was very frustrated by the situation, and once he started, it did not take much Fallerian to agree and let him vent.

She even got the name of a docking officer to greet on Fallerian III. She very much doubted that she would recognise the officer even if he stood in front of her, but she would relay the greeting via flight control. Connections were much needed in her situation. One could never have enough, as Trina had always emphasised.

"We're ready." She turned to Fanny in the co-pilot's seat, her harness looking good.

"Yes," Fanny sighed.

The clamps opened and she quickly reduced the counter-thrust to zero. It was a textbook departure, a standing pencil would not have fallen over. Soon they were drifting weightlessly away from the station.

She had to conserve the xenon; they should barely make it so they would have to take it slow. Including a long time drifting in zero g. They had eaten a small snack while they waited for the fusion core to start. Not ideal after a long jump but better not to eat too much before a long period of weightlessness in a ship without a toilet or sink.

After they were clear of the station, nothing was to be done anymore. She turned to Fanny. "Would you really work in adult entertainment?"

"If there was nothing else," Fanny shrugged.

"You're joking right? We are in the Fallerian system, and the bugs have nothing like adult entertainment, at least in our sense. As far as I know. Actually, do you know?"

"Honestly, no idea either. But me, a typical poorly educated cat from the galactic hinterland."

"Poorly educated? Colour me sceptical."

"Yes, okay, true. But certainly not cosmopolitan."

She chuckled. "With that vocabulary, I think adult entertainment with you would need subtitles. How about flying? How about getting a class C licence?"

"And then who will hire me? No, I'm afraid we're in the wrong system for me to get a job."

"You want me to take you to a human world? I mean, I have a place we could go. There is still the open invitation from the human who sold me the ship."

"No, you are not Samul and neither am I, so we won't be welcomed there."

"It would be a non-commercial jump, so clearly within the rules." She flicked her ears. "First we have to reach Fallerian III, we need fuel. It will be slow, about 4200 for our jump windows, 0004 for the jump and another 2300 to dock at Fallerian III."

"What is your plan?"

"Plan? Such a big word. But as soon as I have enough xenon, I want to go back. I am very worried about my clan. Petra has no resources, you know."

"Yes, but neither do we at the moment. I doubt if the station is back to normal. I worry that there is also fighting on the ground, most of Ketcher are not on the station. My clan never bothered with space apart from Fiyul."

"You mean there could be Ketcher trying to take over the spaceport now?"

"It would be enough to stop shuttle launches." Fanny shrugged. "You know better than I how many things have to work to get a shuttle off the ground. Sabotage the hydrogen storage and no flights for weeks."

"Or even months, given our industrial capabilities. Shit, you are right." She sighed too. "So we have to lay low for a while. Then I would like to fully restore the White Ocelot, have all three main engines operational. Not sure if that is in my budget. But if there is any new development, like via another data dump, I will leave the next day".

"Full agreement. Say, you probably know the station better than anyone else outside right now."

"No," she interrupted Fanny, "there's also Trina and Yakka. Especially Yakka and some of the maintenance staff should be more familiar."

"Well, but only you are here. Since we have time to kill," Fanny grinned, "say, how could one try to retake the station?"

"That's a tough one." She thought for a while. "I would prepare as many ships as possible. Assemble them at the other Lagrange point, mostly hidden from the station in case they had got the flight control radar working. Then I would approach the station hub from all sides. Not to dock. But the hub is the place where one could shut down the central cooling conduits leading to the radiator panels. Without cooling, the central fusion cores would shut down. This will be extremely dangerous to the people on the station, as life support then just depends on the fail-back systems. And many of them may not be in good shape. Without power, all lifts will shut down, circulation will stop, and only emergency lighting. The big bulkheads may trigger, but a lot of them may be stuck. The network would go down too."

"So total confusion."

"Yes. No one could figure out that you had entered the station or trace you. But then comes the hard part, going in with as many as possible and finding everyone involved. Meanwhile, a repair crew has to get the systems working again, and fast."

"Sounds like a plan."

"If there is no suicidal maniac. People underestimate the difficulty of keeping the station alive. Killing everyone is a lot easier than taking the station back."

"If I find an army, I'll let you know."

She looked at Fanny and grinned. "Yes, we will go in armed with our teeth. Rambo cat style. Knife and teeth."

"And claws!" Fanny grinned too. "Ahh, that feels good to imagine that." Then she sighed.

After a moment she added. "It's weird to be idle for so long. Well, at least I am prepared from the last trip."

"And we are together. It does get a bit lonely on a solo trip. Well, the price to pay for the stars."

"I wouldn't mind jumping with you more often. But for better reasons."

"Well, you wouldn't be here without them."

Fanny lowered her ears. "You're right. In my defence, as an heir to Ketcher, I was drilled to be careful with my friends, to keep my relations within the clan. The damned peer pressure of high society," she trailed off.

She knew what she meant better than Fanny might suspect, with her Curragh upbringing. "Fanny, I will tell you a secret that only Trina and very few others knew."

"Thank you for the trust. It will stay with a hundred more." Fanny smiled weakly, "honestly, it will be safe with me. Maybe I didn't say it well enough. Dear Rerra, I enjoyed the time before. Come, let's be friends. Whatever happens, you are a true friend of mine. I'm sorry I've been so distant." She fiddled with her harness.

She had considered Fanny a friend since that evening on the Kolani ship. So she was already out of her seat and quickly unbuckled Fanny to give her a hug. "True friends to the end of space."

"To the end of space."

Had she not held on to the seat with her paw thumbs, they would have floated around as a hugging Fanny-Rerra bundle. It was nice to have her nostrils buried in Fanny's thick fur. Yes, best friends, she would never forget her scent. They purred together.

"Fanny," she whispered, "I was raised as Rerra of Curragh from Samul."

Despite her silent announcement, Fanny quickly raised her head and rotated them around her grip. "Really. But..."

"Really. And more, the avatar said my father was human. Well, and Curragh wasn't my mother, one of my sisters was, probably. So they wanted me to be hidden. In the end, I was even paid to renounce my Samul peerage. I was happy to do so, it was mutual. So that is my secret."

Fanny looked at her. "Oh, by Hopkins!"

"I was lucky, becoming Petra was the best thing."

She gently pushed Fanny's head again into her short fur. They floated like that for another 0500, until the White Ocelot was called from flight control as they had drifted too far to delay a course correction.

Buckled in again, Fanny had taken out her pad and was scanning the data dump. But nothing new came up. A few more blurry shots of the monster cats. A few more rumours and more background on the Torragh tribe. Nothing helpful. But good enough to kill some more time, as they had half a day to drift.

And they had plenty of time to look at the stars.

* * *

As well as looking at the stars. For the next course correction, she persuaded Fanny to have a go at the sticks. She handled the ship too roughly, overshooting almost every correction. But she was in good company because so had done all the others who had flown the White Ocelot for the first time. Fanny soon got better and she could switch off the autohold. Another bumpy correction followed until, a further 0300 later, Fanny was pointing their nose wherever she wanted.

"Great," she said for the sixth time, "really. Now please calculate the jump parameters and orient us for the jump. You did that in the simulator?"

"Yes, of course, I tried jumps."

"Then she is yours. Here are our target window coordinates, and here is the jump windows with our slot." She turned to the navigation console.

" It seems we don't have much of a choice."

"Indeed, in this busy system, all slots are pre-timed, and I have requested a slow transit at maximum main drive efficiency. So please work out the jump with that."

"Ok," Fanny said doubtfully. Yet, she was happily tapping away at the navigation console.

She smiled, it was fun to teach Fanny. She was so eager. And clever too. But she should be taught by a real pilot, not someone who had just made her second solo jump.

"Ok, the jump will depart in 0742 for 0004.12041 at 1.5 g. That would be right in the middle of our slot."

"Not bad, but the main engine will need 0035 to ramp up to 1.5 g. During that time we will be accelerating in 3D."

"Oh." Fanny went back to her calculations. It took a little longer. "Ok, now I have it. Jump in 0693 with the main drive ramping up from 0650. Jump for 0004.11661."

"And what is our delta v when we come out?"

"Um, 114 km/ds."

"Yes, that would be a valid solution if we had enough fuel. But we only have enough xenon for 86 km/ds. Can you find a better solution?"

She looked at her and shook her head. "Please tell me how. It wasn't covered in the simulator."

"Indeed, not in the basic version. We have to use the full size of the jump window and cross it diagonally with a side component in 4D. See here," she plotted her solution and sent it to Fanny's console. "It's 81 km/ds to docking, close but doable. If we jump a bit early, we could even shave another 2 km/ds off. But we have to change direction in 4D after 0002.55412 by timer."

"I don't think I'm cut out to be a pilot."

"Don't worry, this ship is just too old and I am running low on xenon since we jumped out with what was left. Normally an AI would take care of that."

"Why didn't you install an AI?"

"AIs are expensive because we cannot make them at Hopkins. And the White Ocelot is not even officially certified yet. So if Fallerian III wants to see any papers, I only have a provisional certificate for personal use. But of course, if the White Ocelot gets an official licence for commercial use, an AI would be at the top of my list. Not least to have one to talk to. So you want to jump with my solution? Then we can count that jump towards your C licence."

"No, it is your solution. No cheating."

She nodded. "Then stick priority will again go to me."