Rerra had settled into her new life as a member of the of Petra. The nights she slept fur-to-fur with the kittens who still preferred her over her sisters for cuddling. She would get up early and help with the breakfast, making a lunchbox out of the leftovers for herself. Pag the leftovers reminded her every day of her ck of cooking skills. But by arranging the tents of her lunchbox, she at least got better at presenting the food. Then she would leave before the den would be awake. She ate her breakfast with Trina in the 'Blended Followers', even though the food there was not as good as in the den. Trina was still her best friend, and happily lent her an ear, being the only one who could uand the hardships of being a high-tier Samul. And with every day ira , her sympathy for Trina grew. She admired Trina's work ethic, showing up every day to help out in the shipyard, despite her mandatory prese the many te-night Samul iribal gatherings. And being the third of the Kerta tribe oation also meant that people were always trying to reach her. Well, her brainless assistants took the brunt of it, but more often than not, she was out for a business lund just back from another meeting for a te afternoon shift. And finally, she was thankful for the way Trina shielded them from the higher-ups.

  In the ms, she worked hard to finish whatever task Trina gave her. It was not alossible, and as she got faster, Trina increased her workload. Fair was fair.

  She looked forward to her lunchtimes. Not a fan of lunchboxes before, the leftovers from Petra's catering were always of such good quality that she was now verted. Never before had she had such tasty lunches, and she often bartered with Rarrar, Traxy or Tryxa for the odd item. And the lunchbox saved her time for the Sagan.

  After the cost of the new bearings for the pumps, she had to trate on cheaper repairs like fixing loose pting or ging the fiments in the ehe tter were so on that Trina did not charge for them. The twelve fiments would not show up at all, given their usual monthly ption. Every other afternoon she went on a treasure hunt, sging from the wrecks. She found an air humidifier and a w sed thermoelectrierator, as well as smaller items such as power distributors. Quite a few of these items were even han the inal ones in the Sagan. Installing them was enough wiring for days.

  However, even with the dedicated half-day shifts and the additional money saved by not having to pay the rent any more, it became clear that the Sagan would not be doing a certification flight any time soon. Too much to do and too much to buy. The most expensive would be two more jump coils. The one she had was worn out and could not sustain a long-distance jump. Even used jump coils were more in the mid 1000's, so at least two months' sary. With free food and lodging from now on, it was doable.

  Every third day she met Lead for a sexy lunch. She started pag a sed lunchbox for those days. Seeing Lead smile at 'her' lunade it eveer. It felt like they were already in the same tribe, and she got nervous when they had to postpo for a day. Like Lead, it also made her more resistant to the lure of other male sts. As Lead had said, three days with losing one mind in the presence of the other sex, three days without the need for a suppressant. It ut to the test occasionally when a group with a male ate at the 'Blended Followers'. Or at the gym: her first iill had 12 doses left.

  But today Tri with her straight from the breakfast table to the shipyard, with no breakfast at all. She barely had time to swallow her drink before Trina dragged her into the lift. "e on. We have to hurry. You know the Cye, the freighter that arrived a week ago?"

  "The rger oh the meltdown fusion core?"

  "Yes, apparently it is needed in two days. Apparently, it is the only le freighter with a rge enough passenger avaible."

  "Sounds a bit short for an overhaul," she nodded.

  "Short?" shouted Trina, causing the other riders to turn their heads. More quietly she tinued, "We might be able to physically repce a fusion core. But even if all goes well, we ot test it. This freighter should go nowhere without tests aainly not transp passengers. Your stunt with the Sagan was almost sarina tinued in an angry whisper, "but this is an order from down below."

  The p, which meant politid the end of reason.

  The lift stopped at the st stop before the shipyard and they were alone.

  Trina already looked exhausted. "We will repce the core and start her up, run a hot power test and maybe, just maybe, she leave the shipyard tomorrow evening. We have to try and hope for the poor pilot that the core does not break when it cools down or fails after a restart."

  "Aua never jumped, did she?"

  Trina looked at her in surprise. "Of course not. Not even I have jumped yet, though I could ask to join Penny on a test. Yes, you have more first-hand experieh jumps than I." She breathed heavily. "Yes, stupid cats-don't-belong-in-space-but-run-a-spaceship-business Kerta-Samul-tribe." The st sentence almost blurred into a single word, aail sighat she was ready to pounce.

  The lift door opened on their final destination.

  She smiled at Trina and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll do our best."

  "I know, we always do. This is why they expect more," Trina sighed with a crooked smile and a half-hearted tail swipe.

  They almost ran to the office. 2501 showed on the big clock above the windows and everyone was there, even Roberta.

  "Sorry to be te. In case you did not believe your messages, yes, we have to repce the fusion core on the Cye today and have her ready for departure at dog port A01a tomorrow at 9000."

  "That's impossible, murder!" shouted Penny.

  "It's irresponsible," Rarrar agreed, "robably deliver a ship with a running hot core, but we ot test re-ignition and cold standby."

  "A01a idiots," muttered Roberta.

  "Thank you, Roberta," Trina said, "Yes, this is ing from the p. I have absolutely no choice, aher does mother Kerta." Everyone looked surprised. There were not many cats that outranked her, the highest-ranking cat oation.

  "There is some good news. We have unlimited funds for this. Apart from catering meals during the wo days, you will get a month's sary as a bonus for the two days".

  "The most we do is a test jump wheransfer her to the dog bay," Penny thought aloud, "but holy, they would need someoh them to fix the core if there are troubles. And it is not only the core, the Cye was in for a full overhaul."

  "You're right." Just then Trina's pad chimed. "Oh no! They want to paint the ship too!"

  Everyone fell silent.

  "Paint? That adds aon of dead weight," Rarrar said, her tail showing her fusion.

  "Pfolk. And that means we have to tape up all the sensors and spray and wait for it to dry," even Roberta objected.

  "Maybe we hire someone. Spraying paint 't be that hard," she said.

  "Great, did you knoainter oations?"

  "Well, ask your assistants."

  Trina was silent for a sed. "Sorry, yes, stupid me, I will ask them, yes, let them do them find a painter and order a stantly stocked buffet. I suppose no one has had breakfast?"

  Almost everyoail dropped in embarrassed agreement.

  "Ok, the pn. Penny, Rarrar and Rerra, you disect the old core and prepare the new oryxa and Traxy, you remove the pting over the fusion core se. Core II, please check the yout. And Roberta, please repce the thruster fiments. I will find the best rept core and theape up all the openings for painting. Let's get our paws dirty.

  "Poor souls who fly her," Rarrar muttered as they desded towards the freighter.

  "You're worried about your former fellow pilots?"

  "Yes. This is not the first rush job we have had to do. Ae all our efforts, about a third of them had minor or major failures on their first trip. When I still flew," she paused and sighed, "I o stuck at the edge of our system and limped ba 20 days, out of supplies and almost out of oxygen. No pilot would voluo fly this ship if they knew. And the folk on the p don't uand that it would be better to have them here two days longer. On a long-distance voyage, it would make no differe all. We could tuhe engines while we do the tests, and that could even make up a day over two jumps."

  They stood in front of the Cye aered to disect the sed fusion core.

  * * *

  A fusion eltdown was rare. Usually, the cores had plenty of reserves and there were always two, except for in-system tugs and very small ships that cked the space, such as rescue ships and her Sagan. The Cye, however, had had a problem with the cooling loop on core 1, and while trying to work around it, the pilot somehow mao overload the cooling of core 2 so much that the whole fi vessel overheated, went out of shape, lost vacuum and broke the superdug fi coils. It was impossible to rebuild a fusion core, and it had to be literally cut out. At least the core had been cold for more than 20 days, so there was no radiation to worry about.

  The area outside the core was not radioactive, and the fluorocarbon hydrides of the cooling system were at worst a weak beta emitter of C14 isotopes and traces of tritium. But just in case, everyone w he core had to wear radiation suits. These were bright yellow full-body suits with gloves as, with an active coating that ged colour from yellow to red to purple when exposed to radiation. These suits were marginally easier to work in than the hard vacuum thinsuits, thus a real nuisaoo.

  Trina, with the help of Berhe shipyard's sed AI, had chosen the more powerful of the two fusion cores they had received from Ken. They fit and were still in the weightless se o the Cye. All the other cores were stored further away sihey would only repce a core once or twice a year.

  Soon they had disected the core. Some cables were sliced with a rge cutter and some t tubes with a band saw. Handling the tter in near weightlessness was hard, the petite Penny did a great job. Penny made sure to cut only what was needed as the two cores shared a lot of wiring and sensors. Rarrar was floating above the core and removing the shielding. Sihis se was usually under vacuum, there was no corrosion and removing the shielding was easy. Sooernal lights reached them where the twin had already removed the outer pting and now took their early lunch break.

  Soon the old fusion core was fully disected. The hard part of meically cutting out the old core, fitting the new core and welding it in pce was a job for the twins with their unmatched coordination and brute force. The others used the time for lunch.

  The buffet was from Petra, and Fieta stood behind the table. She smiled professionally. When she was served, Fieta whispered: "Thank you, sister."

  It felt se, so intimate. She even showed her teeth for a moment, but then had her under trol. "Not my doing," she whispered back, silently thanking Trina's assistants for stig to their usual catering. "I may not e tonight, big job to finish."

  Fieta took a tiny, iced gss from a portable freezer, apparently made just for her. "pliments of Eli."

  "Thank you," she winked. It felt so good to be a part of Petra.

  After the chumberry sorbet, she ate a crumble too and a sweet roll. In the end, her entire lunch had been desserts.

  Fieta took a tiny, iced gss from a portable freezer, apparently made just for her. "pliments of Eli." It was a chumberry sorbet."Thank you," she winked. It felt so good to be a part of Petra.After the chumberry sorbet, she had some crumble and a sweet roll. In the end, her entire lunch was nothing but desserts.She watched from the window as she licked the st dessert bowl empty and then licked her snout . The broken core was already in a radioactive waste cask o the ship. Trina and Roberta were on the hull, removing dust and dirt from all the windows and sensor ports, and began taping over the openings and windows for the painting. Trina took many ss before taping. They used e warning tape so that the pces would stick out on a sed s after the painting. Then the AI would show where they had put the tape and make sure to remove it from every single port. A covered star sensor or thruster could be fatal in deep space.

  High on sugar, she was ready to tinue her work in the innards of the freighter, floating in the narrow ducts. First, she and Rarrar would reattach the outer hull pting and then go io redo the electrical es ohe twins had welded the core to the ship. Penny and Roberta would ie the core into the ship's systems as soohe cables were ected. And of course, Rarrar would be welding the superductors, something she was best at.

  * * *

  It was te in the evening and the core was meically aronically ected. However, it still looked very tight. Cooling the superductors and pumping the vessel would take at least 3000, and they were still not ready to start the cooling.

  During a short break, she repaired one of the pumps from fusion core 1 so that it would be closer to its old cooling capacity. With her experieh the Sagan, she was already shrinking the bearing on the sed axis when Trina came by.

  "e o's take a break," Trina said.

  "Just 0010, let me finish the axle, it's cold already." She looked at the clock, already past 8200. Her stomach was growling, despite the occasional trip to the buffet. "Let me put this in so we start cooling as soon as they are done."

  Trina nodded and yawned. "Ok, e up after this."

  She went to the office as soon as the pump's g was closed. Penny was there too. Each held a pte of sweets from the buffet. Trina looked at her. "I've vinced my mother that while we may be able to get the Cye flying, we ot address all the other issues. So, the repairs are not going to be good enough, no matter how hard we work and how much money we throw at it. But she has no choice, absolutely no choice. Because, and this must not leave this room, this is not a Samul mission, this is a Ketcher mission. That is why the ship must be painted white with yellow spots, bck-rimmed; Ketcher's colours."

  "But Ketcher doesn't do space travel," Penny said, fused.

  "Apparently they do now. There are rumours of some busio be cluded in person. You know that Ketcher had a new mother. Samul was offered a favour too great to ignore. So it ushed all the way down to us."

  Politics, she shuddered. For distra, she asked, "Have you found a painter?"

  "Yes, tonight they will do the white grounding and tomorrow drones will do the spots from 2500 to 3000, during the breakfast break." Trina brushed it off, "That's not the point. Ketcher agreed to take one of us for any repairs along the way. Someo from Samul."

  "That leaves you and me," Penny added, "and I think they would reject me because of my age. You know the Samul propaganda."

  "You mean I should go with a Ketcher ship? Doing repairs on the way?"

  "I need Penny here," Trina said, "You know I would be lost without her."

  Penny's tail showed her embarrassment at being praised that much. She tried to avoid the subject. "We could send Berh you."

  "The AI will help. But, Penny, you knew so much more."

  Penny shook her head. "No, I like flying. But they wouldn't take me, and I'm afraid it's political. No, thank you."

  She did not like politics either. "I've only retly been adopted by Petra. If they find out."

  "They won't care!" Trina interjected, rubbing her paws, "Believe me. This is your ce because the other dition is that we send a jump pilot. Tomorrow, you will make the jump to the final dog port and Penny will certify for a provisional css C lice. And on the Cye, you will be the sed pilot, officially."

  Speechless, she sat down and stared at Trina. "You, how?"

  "Samul does the pilot lising. Ketcher wo pilots under 40 from outside Samul but went through official Samul els. There is only ocher pilot who works for my mother, so she was a given. There are currently seven other indepe pilots from Ketcher uhe age of 40 that she occasionally hires, but none of them have any knowledge of maintenance. And you are Petra, an old but unimportant , and you even work for Samul. So you will officially be the sed non-Samul pilot and at the same time will take care of any repairs that e up". Trina grinned. "It was a hard sell to get you on this ship and I really hope you stick to piloting and not have to do all sorts of emergency repairs."

  It took a few more seds for her to catch up. She ran Trina's words a sed time to make sure she had got them right. Then she jumped to Trina and hugged her, g with joy. Trina stroked her head.

  "Thank you," she sniffled, "you're such a great cousin."

  "Ex-cousin," Trina joked, "but seriously, there is another dition. You have to look like Ketcher."

  "What?"

  Penny grinned sardonically, "What a surprise."

  Trina gave her an angry look and turned back to her. "Your whitish fur is a great base. And didn't you dye your fur at Crice? You'll get a paint shop like the ship." Trina's smile was crooked, despite her best efforts.

  She stared at Trina, processing the catch. "Well, I'm not Petra anyway," she muttered.

  "Sorry about that, but you get a full C lice for free a out of this madhouse," Trina sighed, " Ok, you two, finish the wiring check. Rerra, you then ght to the Ketcher Beauty i 14ac. You have an appoihere at 9500, a special ht treatment. e on, cats pay crazy amounts for that. So be on time."

  She nodded automatically. "Ketcher Beauty ic?" she mumbled.

  "e on, back to work!" Trina nudged her gently towards the door.