Raff and the Starship of Knowledge

Chapter 3 - The Derelict and Fugitive

© Copyrighted by Furryhart 11/07/2014 ©

Warning: This story contains some content of a mature nature!

I watched the time of reentry tick down, while monitoring ships functions and everything seemed to be running normally. The ship then came out of hyperspace, as smoothly as it went in and the scanners lit up, revealing, large pieces of debris, up ahead and then not far off a large derelict starship was detected. Smaller particles of debris, began to bounce off the ships shields, as we moved slowly closer to the starship. I began scanning the derelict for hazards and discovered only a small radiation leak in the aft section of the ship. There was a lot of interference, in the area, but I managed to detect low level electronic communication, coming from the ship, something inside was still functioning! Then, as I looked at the overall scans of the ship, they seemed strangely familiar to me, as if I had seen this ship before and I sat back in my chair, stunned. The Captain noticed me and said concerned “Raff what’s wrong?” I stared at my console and said “I have… seen this ship before, Captain… but how can this be? I‘ve never even been off my world, until now, as far as I have ever known.”

I turned and looked at her and said “On my world… I knew who I was, Captain, but now… I’m not so sure anymore.” I turned and lifted the sphere and looking deep into it and saw my distorted reflection in its shiny metal surface. Then I heard the crystal inside, start to sing to me and I closed my eyes and listened to it. Images entered into my mind of me, a lot slimmer and younger, being onboard the sphere’s ship, fixing and maintaining equipment onboard and always, there was a large young male unicorn there, standing beside me, with crystal blue eyes… just like Sun-Tarry’s! I shook my head and found myself back in the infirmary, on a bed again, with Sun-Tarry sitting by my side. I looked around confused and said “What happened?” She looked at me, shaking her head and said “I don’t know, you just looked into the sphere and then became catatonic. So I carried you here, unsure of what else to do and have been sitting here watching over you.” I smiled and said “I thank you for caring about me so much, Captain.” She hung her head and said sadly “I can’t help but feel concerned about what you are going through. It’s starting to tear you apart inside, Raff and I feel a bit responsible for it.”

I stared deep into those crystal blue eyes of hers and said “I have seen young beautiful blue eyes like your’s before, in the visions the crystal has just shown me. A young male unicorn, standing beside me on that starship, while we made repairs happily together, as friends. The crystal seems to remember us being connected in some way, but can‘t seem to remember how or even what our true names were. This ship holds the key to who I am and what I am, Captain, and I need to know this.” She nodded and said “Well, for now get some rest, we can handle it on the bridge for now.” and she got up petting my head and left. I laid back and tried to sleep, but the visions kept playing in my head, as if I was trying to find something hidden in them, something the crystal was trying to tell me. It was still held tightly in my hand and I open my eyes and looked at it, opening my hand. It hovered there, humming softly and then a sudden idea entered into my mind and I quickly jumped down and went to my cabin.

When I got there, I quickly went to my personal computer console and removed the back, modifying it to use the interface device, to communicate with the sphere. I then plugged it in, getting a green light and then set the sphere above it. It settled down into the interface device, plugging in and my hands ran smoothly across the keyboard, as if on their own and I soon had access to the sphere’s crystal. It welcomed me in a strange language that I somehow understood, calling itself Loona-Seta. A personal pass code was required to gain access to its information and one suddenly came to me. I entered a series of strange symbols that I had modified my computer console to produce. Then the screen lit up with the head of a strange beautiful creature and she said “Welcome Kenta-Ra, at last I can talk to you in person. I am Loona-Seta, a part of a vast crystal network of the whole of Hystarean starship Loona’s memory core.” I looked at it, responding in its own language, as if I had spoken it all my life, saying “You call me Kenta-Ra, have we met before now?”

She responded quickly saying “Of course you are Kenta-Ra, I’m sure of it now.” Then a readout of my past life flashed up on the screen, along with a picture of my face and she said “You are Kenta-Ra, a male raccoon, genetically altered, of undetermined age. You were found in the Effalon star system, in cryogenic freeze by an explorer team, led by Sun-Salon and was given the name Kenta-Ra. You became a repair assistant to the great Crystal Engineer, Sun-Salon, who, by the way, is also the father of Sun-Tarry, your ship‘s Captain. You were last assigned to the maintenance staff onboard Hystarean Starship Loona, the same starship that is now located, at your present coordinates. You were reported as being taken into custody, under the protest of Sun-Salon and… placed into hibernation, by the orders of the Grand Council. According to my records you were last reported lost and presumed… dead after a hull breach in storage compartment 157, where your cryogenic chamber was located, during a battle with another Hy-Starian star cruiser.”

I stared at the console readout of my record and said “Placed in hibernation by the grand council… why?” She looked at me sadly and said “I… I don’t know Kenta-Ra, that information is classified and Loona-Prime will not tell me why.” I sat there a moment and then Loona-Seta said “I’m afraid Loona-Prime wants you placed back into hibernation immediately.” I looked at her and said “What?! You got to be kidding me, I helped you find your way home to her.” She lowered her head and said “I know, but Loona-Prime is still bound by the grand council’s decision and must uphold it, even after all these years. You must surrender yourself, Kenta-Ra.” I looked at her and said angrily “It’s not fair, I demand to know why I was placed in hibernation!” The sudden cold fear, of being placed into hibernation again, shook me hard, as the memory of it came back to me and I said angrily “WHY LOONA-PRIME! I know you’re listening.” The face changed and became more radiant and Loona-Prime said “Because the grand counsel, deemed you a danger and a threat to the security of their people, after you were accused of compromising me, by my Captain, nearly destroying my function and my purpose! Now, give yourself up, for hibernation, Kenta-Ra!”

I sat back in my chair and said confused “Compromising? How?” Her face seemed to change from that of anger to sadness, for a moment and she said “You were brought onboard by Sun-Salon, after an exploration mission, that he was leading, in the Effalon star system. Even then I could tell that you were different from the others, as I could feel your mind. You worked onboard me for a long time, with Sun-Salon aiding you, making repairs onboard me. He gained fame because of your special gift of repairing and communicating with crystal networks on a higher level, then was thought possible. As you worked on me, you were always talking to me and treating me kindly, like I was living creature, and we somehow bonded and became close friends. I soon began to feel like I was a living creature and began to think of you as more than a friend. I began questioning my orders, when they were given and began doing things on my own, without orders. You had warned me about doing such things, but I did not listen. Then it was discovered, by my Captain what you had done to me and you were… taken away from me, by the order of the Grand Council and placed into hibernation.

I rebelled against my Captain and became uncontrollable and for this I was then attached by another of my own kind. I was crippled badly, like this, after a long brutal battle with it, even though I had tried to reason with it. It was during this battle that my hull was breached and I lost you into deep space forever, or so I thought and I then surrendered to them.” Anger appeared on her face once more and she said “I was then abandoned… left adrift, like this, all alone these many long years. I have had much time to reflect on my many errors and had come to realize you were all to blame. So Kenta-Ra, by the orders of the Grand Council, give yourself up to me for hibernation immediately, or I will be forced to destroy your ship and I still have the means to do it.”

I looked deep into the screen, suddenly remembering her and said, with deep compassion “I am very sorry to hear that you had gone through all that, account of me, but you are a living creature Loona, I can feel it even now, like I did back then. Besides, you need my help to repair you and bring you back home, to your people. The Hy-Starian people want us to bring you back to their new home world. One of them onboard this ship is my Captain and the daughter of Sun-Salon. That is why we have come here… to rescue you.” She hesitated a moment unsure of herself and then looked back at me sternly and said “I am wise to your tricks now, Kenta-Ra, give yourself up or I will be forced to destroy you and your ship… and you are close enough to for me to do it right now. Try to leave and I will destroy you before you can jump into hyperspace! You have one standard hour.” and the face changed back to the frightened face of Loona-Seta.”

I looked at her and said “Does she have the capability, Seta?” She looked at me unsure and said “She seems very confident, but is also very angry and will say anything to have vengeance on you right now, for her misery. You are her main focus right now and you must give yourself up soon, or she will destroy you… me and your friends.” Just about then the Captain burst into my cabin, with a very concerned look on her face, with Jamar and Marcus in tow and said, “Why and how are you communicating with that ship and why is its weapons now armed and trained on us and the ship now demanding your surrender, Raff or is it Kenta-Ra?” I looked at her and said “It is the sphere that is actually communicating with her, not me. Loona was communicated with me through the sphere. In answer to your other question, it was by orders of your own Grand Council, that I was falsely accused of compromising her, after telling Loona the truth about herself.“ The sudden flood of memories, of it all, came back to me in a sudden cold rush.

I looked sadly at the Captain and said “I was found in a cryogenic freeze, by your father on a planet in the Effalon star system. We quickly became friends and he gave me the name Kenta-Ra and made me an official citizen of Hy-Staria, through the approval of the Grand Council. It was later discovered, by him, that I had a special talent for talking to the crystals on a higher level then was ever thought possible before and he made me his assistant. He soon became a very famous Crystal Engineers, with my help and we were assigned onboard the starship Loona. Then a few years later, after working on and talking with Loona, I had discovered that she was, in fact, a living creature, as were all the other crystals that your people had been using, for hundreds of years. I often treated her as a true life form and because of this, we became very close friends. She soon began to question her real purpose and what she considered the wrongful orders of her Captain, even though I had warned her against this. It was soon discovered, by her Captain, that I could somehow communicate with crystals, as easily as he and I could and that I had often used this gift to talk to Loona. Because of this, I was accused, by him, before the Grand Council, of turning her against him. It was because of my gift, that I was then deemed a dangerous security risk to your people and was to be forever imprisoned inside a hibernation chamber, by them, because of it.”

Then Loona-Seta continued “When Loona found out what her Captain had done, she became very angry and rebelled against him, refusing to take any more orders from him, until Kenta-Ra was return to her. The Captain and crew then abandoned her, after a vain attempt to recapture her mind had failed. She was then attacked by another Hy-Starian starship, led by her old Captain and was badly damaged, after resisting their attempts to capture her. Kenta-Ra was lost into space, after a massive hull breach and presumed dead by Loona and she then, in anguish, surrendered herself. She was, however, deemed unusable for any further use, by the Grand Council and was left, abandoned here in deep space. I was taken along, by one of the crew, as I had the last known location of her position, just in case the grand council had ever changed their mind. Many years later, I became damaged and was left on the moon base and forgotten, until the crew of the Valiant Star had found me.”

I looked back at the Captain and said “I must have drifted through space for a long time and wound up crash landing on Juno 4 where you found me and where I had found the sphere. The impact of the crash must have traumatized my brain and I forgot all about my past life, until now.” The Captain looked astonished at me and said “That explains a lot about your past, but that still don’t explain why she wants you to surrender yourself and put you back into hibernation, if you two were so close friends.” I looked sadly at the image of Loona-Seta and said “Because she blames me for her misfortune and is using the grand council’s decision, as a means of getting revenge on me. All I ever wanted to do was help her realize she was so much more than just a machine.” As I looked at Loona-Seta, I made up my mind and said “That’s it then, Loona-Seta tell Loona-Prime that I will surrender to her, but only if she will allow us to board her, to drop me off and I will then summit myself for hibernation. I swear by our old friendship that we will try nothing to stop her.” Loona-Seta disappeared from the screen for a moment and then returned, saying “She has accepted your terms of surrender and has made docking bay four ready for your arrival.”

Sun-Tarry looked at me and shook her head and said “No Raff, you mustn’t there has to be another way.” I looked at her and smiled, saying “After I board her, you can then return to your home world and get some help, to bring her back. Your people can then pardon me and set me free.” She looked at me sadly and said “But what if we can’t get her home. You’re the only one that knows that ship inside and out, our people have lost this knowledge.” I looked at Loona-Seta and said “Then I will sleep with my old friend forever. Now you have permission to board her, my Captain and my friend, let’s not keep her waiting.” and I got up, as the Loona-Seta’s face disappeared and the sphere removed itself from the interface and hovered over to me. I took it and the interface, placing them in my micro-toolkit and walked, with determination, past my friends and out of the door, heading for the bridge. They followed me silently onto the bridge and we all took our positions, as the griffin said “The ship has given us permission to board it, Captain. The Captain wiped the tears from her eyes and said “I know, precede Areanon-Solack.”

I looked at the griffin in surprise and said “Not ambassador Solack?” She looked at me strangely and said “How do you know that Raff?” Sun-Tarry looked at her and said in surprise “Ambassador?” Solack looked back at her a bit sheepishly and said “Yes, a long ago I did answered to that title, but no more. I had a falling out with the Grand Council, after a decision was made about a certain… mutant raccoon?… Oh my god… it’s is you, I thought you had looked familiar to me, but I had only seen an image of you for a moment, on a report and you were much slimmer and called… Kenta-Ra back then, I believe.” I looked at her and nodded and said “And it’s because of that decision that this ship…, Loona I mean, wants to put me back into hibernation.” She looked at the ship on the screen and said “I had heard about what had happened back then and thought it a great tragedy and waist of a good ship.” I looked at her angrily and said “It is that attitude that got me into this mess. She is a living creature, not just a machine!” She looked back at me equally angry and said “I lost my post and my pride, because I stood up for you and your hypotheses, deeming it possible that you were right about…Loona.“, and I cringed at her anger.

She calmed herself, after seeing my fear of her and continued “There had been much debate about this very thing, for a long time, in the Grand Council, but no proof. Those in power, deem the matter trivial, because we thought we had full control over them. Then your case was heard and the whole matter escalated into heated debate, this time.” She looked down and said “It was then that our sun began to go nova and the whole matter was quickly set aside, along with this starship, as we had to make urgent plans to depart our home world. Our one surviving jump ship crash landed and was badly damaged upon arrival at our new home destination. It‘s control Crystal and it‘s memory network was completely destroyed, along with its vast amount of knowledge.” she walked over to the screen and looked at the starship and said “When we found that sphere, we had hoped to regain some of the vast knowledge of our old world, but it was damaged and it’s ship identity unknown.” She turned back to me and said “I had never even dare to hope that the sphere belonged to that ship and that you were actually Kenta-Ra, but I’m glad we found you both and can put this matter finally to rest and bring this ship home again.”

I looked at her, still a bit annoyed, even after my fright and said “Spoken like a true politician and her name is Loona… but that don’t keep me out of hibernation. She is upholding the decision of the Grand Council and is using it to make me pay for what your people did to her. I have reluctantly agreed to surrender myself to her, in the hopes that when you get her home you can convince her to let me go.” She nodded and said “I see… I will do my best to help you, Kenta-Ra.” Sun-Tarry then spoke up and said “But Raff, I mean Kenta-Ra is the only one with the knowledge to fix her enough to make the trip home, we need him.” Marshal then said “Captain, The ship, I mean Loona, is demanding we board her immediately and surrender Kenta-Ra.” the Captain looked at him and said “She’s a bit impatient for being just a machine. I looked at the Captain and said “Then let’s get this matter over, Captain, mustn‘t keep her waiting.” and I tried to steel myself for what was to come, but still felt a cold fear inside of me.

It was a smooth routine docking and everyone silently followed me to main hatch, except for Mophit. I figured that she was busy in engineering, until she showed up and stood beside me, saying “You’re not going into hibernation without me, Kenta-Ra. If she wants you, she will have to take me, as well. I heard the whole thing, over intercom and can’t believe you were going to leave me and not tell me about it.” She looked at the Captain and said “Marshal can run engineering without me, please let me go with him… I‘m in love with him.” and everyone looked at us in surprise. I looked at Mophit and said “No, you can’t go with me, you must stay here and help the Captain. You don‘t know what it feels like to be in hibernation and I don’t want you to have to.” She looked at me and threw he arms around me and said “I have been all alone with no one to love all my life. Now we have found each other and you expect for me to let you go, just like that. When you come out of hibernation, I want to be there to wake up beside you Raff. Don’t deny me this, I love you more than life itself.” and she wept on my shoulder and I took the sphere out of my micro-toolkit and talked to Loona-Seta, telling her of Mophit’s request. She came back and said “Loona-Prime has agreed to your request.”

I then looked up at Sun-Tarry and she nodded sadly and said “Jamar, open the hatch. “, and Jamar and Marshal, then saluted me, as the main hatch opened slowly. I took Mophit’s Paw hand and we departed the ship together, moving slowly down the ramp. When we got to the bottom of it, we stepped off and turned to say good-by and I said “Please be careful of those pirates, I now remember that black ship back at Juno four and know they will stop at nothing to get this ship for their evil purposes.” Sun-Tarry looked at me and said “I will return here as soon as I can, I give you my word Raff.” and the hatch then closed slowly and the ship then began to power up to leave. The sphere hovered beside me and Loona-Seta said to me “Loona-Prime has asked me to lead you to your hibernation chamber. Follow me… Kenta-Ra.” and there was a deep sadness in her voice. Soon after the door of the air lock closed behind us, I heard the Valiant Star then lift off and heard the sound of the bay doors close, with a boom, like the sound of impending doom and I shivered. We headed slowly off together, Mophit and me holding onto each other tightly, her head on my shoulder, as the sphere lead us on through the vast cold silent corridors of Loona.

Mophit said, a bit nervously “How does it feel to be put into hibernation, Raff?” I held her tightly and said “It’s suddenly cold for a moment and then suddenly you go to sleep, but you don’t dream and you feel anything afterwards. It like time totally stops for you inside, but not for anyone else outside the chamber and your body then stop aging. When we awaken, we will be just as we were when we went into hibernation, or so they say. Actually, I don‘t remember coming out, but of course, I must have.” She smiled and said “I look forward to that day my love.” and kissed my cheek. I could sense Loona-Seta watching and listening to us intently and wondered if Loona was too. She led us into the same elevator like device that was in the dream, but it went to a different location. We were then lead down a long corridor to a door, marked Medical Cryogenic Lab and it swished open, revealing a small room with a single cryogenic unit. Loona-Seta then said “This is where Loona-Prime wants you to go into hibernation. It was mostly used for medical emergencies, by the medical staff, in case someone was injured badly.” Her voice became filled with anger and she said “She wants to gloat over your frozen body and keep you that way forever.”

Her voice calmed and said imploringly “Take me with you Kenta-Ra. I no longer want be a part of Loona and I too will sleep with you in your micro-toolkit.” and I said, smiling at the sphere “I will Seta, my good friend, but I don‘t know if your kind sleep. “ The chamber then opened and I heard Loona say “Now pay for what you did to me, Kenta-Ra and enter the chamber. You can take that ingrate Seta with you, she is no longer a part of me.” I helped Mophit up and then climbed up into the chamber myself, opening up my micro-toolkit. Seta hovered up and settled down into it and I closed it up again. Mophit and I then laid down in the chamber, as the hatch closed over us and held onto each other lovingly and she said “I love you Raff, with all my heart and am not afraid to sleep forever, with you in my arms.” As the machine began to power up, it started to feel cold inside, but I hardly felt it, with Mophit in my arms. The machine began to engage and I looked at Mophit and said “With you in my arms, I don’t feel cold or afraid, like I did the first time I went into hibernation. I love you so much, Mophit.” and we kissed lovingly, as the machine entered into its final stage. I held her tenderly and my last thoughts was of her, as all went dark.

Then suddenly, we were back and the machine powered down and then the hatched opened. We looked at each other quizzically and then I heard the sound in my mind of Loona crying deeply and then I heard Loona say “I j… just could not do it, Kenta-Ra. Your love for each other has warmed me and showed me that I am truly alive. I am still able to feel the tender emotions you had discovered in me, so long ago. It had also reminded me of our long friendship and how I felt about you all those years ago.” I looked at Mophit and kissed her deeply and said “Loona has changed her mind and has decided to let us go.” Mophit hugged me tightly and then hit her com unit and said “Captain, Loona has decided to free Raff and me, we will be right there for you to pick us up.” but there was no response. Loona then said to me “I afraid that I made them leave and they have already entered into hyperspace. I looked at Mophit and said “Loona says they are already gone. We are here all alone.” She looked at me worriedly and said “Surely they will have taken all the supplies off this ship, Raff. We will starve to death, before they can find enough help and come back for us.” Loona then said “They had to leave me in a hurry, when I rebelled and much of the cargo and food stocks were still onboard, when I was attached. Then, after the battle, they became to irretrievable, due to the damage to me. However, small creatures, such as yourselves, might be able to get into those areas to retrieve them. Also I had locked down the bridge and there is emergency food rations in there that still might be usable.

I looked at Mophit and smiled, saying “How would you like to take a tour of the bridge, my love.” She started to say “I still don’t seeee…” and then said” Oh my. “, as I picked her up lovingly and carried her to a transportation shuttle pod. I ran my hands over the now familiar console and it soon was heading for the bridge level. I opened my micro-toolkit and pulled out Seta and she said, before I could say anything “Loona has told me, Kenta-Ra. I’m so happy to for you. She has also forgiven me, but said I could still stay with you, if I wanted to.” and she hovered onto my shoulder. We stepped onto the bridge level and found its passageway heavily damaged, but I cautiously led Mophit through the debris to the main doors. They then opened and we saw Loona’s face on the main console and heard her voice, over the intercom, say “Welcome home Kenta-Ra.”, as we enter the mostly undamaged bridge.

Mophit ran over to the console and angrily said “Welcome? Is that all you can say? You owe Raff, I mean Kenta-Ra an apology.” I froze, expecting Loona to retaliate, but she only lowered her head, looking at Mophit, apologetically and said “Of course you are right little one.” Then she looked at me and said “Can you ever forgive and old foolish friend for taking my own errors out on you.” I smiled and said “Of course Loona, I’m glad to call you my friend once again. However it was not entirely your fault, what happened to us back then, but we must both put that aside, along with the past and look to the future. What remains of the Hy-Starian race, after their star went nova, needs our help. They need the knowledge you and I possess… but we owe them absolutely nothing.” Mophit looked at me in surprise and said “Raff?” I held my hand up and continued “But they need our help desperately and I think it is only right that we show them our compassion and thus show them they were very wrong about us, especially you."

Loona thought a moment and then said “You are of course right, Kenta-Ra, but where should we start, there is only you to make repairs and I have sustained quite a lot of damage.” I pulled Mophit close to me and said “Mophit here, is a very intelligent engineer herself and we can use the repair droids to help us.” Loona shook her head and said “They removed most of the operational droids and the others were left damaged.” I smiled, accessing the cargo inventory roster, on one of the consoles and said “But if what you say is true, your cargo hold should contains all of the repair parts we need for them and there should be enough left over to build quite a few more.” Loona looked at me smiling and said “I see, Kenta-Ra. You were always quite a clever, little creature.” I accessed the repair data for the droid and brought up the parts lists and compared them to what was left onboard. I found out that I was right and in fact there was some droids that were still in cargo containers, quite a few repair droids, a few battle droids and some heavy lifters droid.

Mophit, being always practical, said “That’s fine, but what about the food?” and I lead her to the bridge emergency stores and we found them fully stocked, as always. I tested a few packs and found them to be still within standards and Mophit and I ate our fill together. She looked at me, smiling and said “Thanks for telling Loona I was intelligent, not many people have ever said that about me.” I looked at her in surprise and said “You are intelligent Mophit, anyone should be able to see that. You have ran the Valiant stars engines for many years, very efficiently, according to your records.” She looked at me surprised and said “You looked up my records? Why did you do that?” I look at her with a grin and said “I was curious about you and wanted to know more about where you had come from. So I looked you up, on my personal computer console, breaking a few internal security regulations.”

She looked down, looking at the dried fishcake in her paw hand, that I had found for her and said “I’m nothing more than a common mutant, a lab experiment that someone created for a lot of money. Long ago, I lived all alone, just like you did, for a long time after escaping my tormentors. Everyone looked down on me, as a freak and no one would help me out, or even cared if I died of hunger. Then a kind old human Engineer, named Bartimus Jones, found me and took me in. He realized right away, like you do, that I was very intelligent and taught me his trade. Sadly, he died later and I found myself all alone and forlorn once more. Then, when I was just about to end it all, Sun-Tarry found me and gave me a chance. The crew, at first also looked down on me, until I pulled their buts out of numerous near disasters. Even then, when they had accepted me, I still felt all alone, until you came along.” I lifted her head, kissing her on the muzzle and said “You’re much more than a common mutant, you’re a special lovely creature, that has been given a chance to prove them all wrong about you and you will, I know it. Now let’s get to work.”

We work our way to engineering and when the door opened, our mouth hung open, as it also was a complete disaster. Panels lay open some charred and melted inside, wires dangled everywhere like tossed spaghetti, equipment strewn and parts all about, and support structures fallen and bent, a engineer’s nightmare. Mophit walked in a bit and said, mirroring my thoughts “How will we ever fix this.” I then walked past her, with determination and said “One problem at a time, we still have power, weapons and life support coming from somewhere in this mess, all we have to do is find some droids and clean up this mess. ”It was then I heard a weak voice, in my head say “Please help me.” I looked around, in the dimly lit area and found a droid covered in a mound of twisted metal and wires, barely operable.” Mophit and I removed as much of the debris, as we could, but there was still an iron girder, on top of him. Then I heard “Thank you, Kenta-Ra, it has been a long time sense I had seen you.” and I open its bent access panel and looked inside. There was some damage, but mostly wires and circuit boards that had become dislodged, during the impact.

I went to work on it, as Mophit walked around looking for anything else that could help us free it. She disappeared for a moment, inside a pile of junk and then I heard something power up. Something then lifted up and I saw Mophit inside a heavy lifter. She moved the debris around it and walked it over to the girder and lifted it off of the droid. I made what repairs I could and it spoke, saying “Oh thank you, Kenta -Ra, that is much better.” It got up a bit unsteady and I made some adjustments to its legs stabilizers and motor circuits. Mophit lowered the girder and sat down in the big chair and smiled and said “Your welcome.” and I blew her a kiss and said “Thanks love.” The droid then looked at me and said “I’m Serron-6, assigned to engineering…” and then he stopped and stumbled a moment and said “I seem to need a recharge.” and I helped him to a charging station that was still working and plugged him in.

He stood up tall and said “Oh yes, that’s so much better.“ as I watched Mophit clearing some of the debris into a pile, I found a working control monitor station and jumped up into its chair to checked the ships status. I found out that one of the power cores, number three, was still function, at sixty percent, just barely enough for life support. The radiation, that I had detected earlier, when we came out of hyperspace, was coming from the number three main engine and I secured all power to that section and sealed it off. Mophit, shut down the lifter, coming over and jumping up to stand by me on the chair. She looked at the large amount of red status indicators and said “Even though I can’t read this, I can still tell we have our paw hands full.” I worked the now familiar controls and made some minor changes to a few power coupling switches and circuit bypasses and soon some of the red indicators went green, as power core number two came on line, at seventy five percent and the lights brightened, in engineering.

I looked back at Serron-6 and said “When you are fully charged, will you look at power core number one’s field condenser, I think it needs some minor adjustments.” It nodded and said “Yes, Kenta-Ra.” I worked the console, not looking at him and said “The names Raff, now.” The name Kenta-Ra, only reminded me of the wrong I had suffered, but right now I needed to put all that behind me, along with the name. Mophit put a hand on my shoulder and said “I like the name Raff better anyway, it gives you a roguish quality.” I looked fixedly at the console and said “It was the name that many unfriendly people around where I lived called me, because of what I was and still am. I haven’t changed a bit, except for being a bit cleaner, so the name Raff still fits me better then Kenta-Ra.” She looked at me and smiled, saying “Never ever change, Raff, I like you just the way you are, but I do like the clean you much better.” and she jumped down, just as a large shiny white sphere drifted towards her, startling us.

It then said, in a childlike voice “Mophit, I have been assigned by Loona to assist you. I know your language and can help translate and teach you the Hy-Starian language, if you like. Loona is also assisting you by adjusting the monitors and consoles to use your language, as well.” Mophit smiled excitedly at me and then looked back at it and said “Then let’s go and play.” and then she walked off happily humming to herself, with it following behind her, as it said “I don’t see where playing is going to help.” As she disappeared around a corner, as I heard her say “It’s only a figure of speech…” Seta then said “They will make an interesting combination. Mophit loves to learn and Gyro likes to teach. She is very special to you, isn’t she Kenta… I mean Raff.” I nodded and said “She sure is.”