Yeb took a step back.

"I said run, and DIE!" The small, Fuzzy creature said, its ear twitching spastically over its brightly colored fur.

She froze in place, she didn't know what this creature was, she had never seen it through all of her spying on the ship. It was small though, so there was more than a distinct possibility that she just hadn't seen it. Either way that didn't change the fact that she didn't know anything about it. It could be poisonous, or venomous, or have some other strange ability that she didn't know about.

"Who are you!" it demanded.

She held up her hands, "Yeb.... my name is Yeb, please don't hurt me I'm sorry I snuck aboard your ship.... I... I panicked."

"A stowaway then, from the ice planet."

She nodded quickly, "Please, I mean you no harm, I just.... I just made a dumb mistake is all."

"I feel that the Admiral will be very interested to learn about this."

She felt her fur stand on end thinking of the genial alien captain and how he would react to the sudden appearance of her on his ship, a stowaway. What might he think about her betraying his trust like that, what would he seem like when driven to anger?

"Come with me." The little fuzzball ordered, turned and began waddling away, "Try to escape and I break your kneecaps."

Yeb followed behind silently. She didn't see how the small creature would even reach her kneecaps, but she certainly didn't want to challenge it. If it was THAT confident it could hurt her, then she had no desire to figure out why.

They stepped into the hallway, her following, keeping mostly to the maintenance tunnels, gone unused by most of the crew. At a certain point she started to hear low murmured voices rising up in some agitation over the thrumming sound of the ship's distant engines. They came out of the maintenance corridor, and the sound around them rose higher.

It was still agitated, but hushed, and as she walked into the room she was greeted with a very odd.... And an almost disturbing scene.

There was a ring in the center of the floor, surrounded by seats. Inside the ring, little drops of red made a smattering over the floor. The humans sat around in agitated silence looking between each other and the occasional Drev.

Sitting just outside the circle was the human leader.... looking .... More the worse for wear.

He had a small crowd gathered around him,and that strange red liquid was leaking down the side of his face and onto his shirt. Just to the side, the small Blue Drev was standing looking concerned.

As Yeb got closer, she noticed to her horror that the human's leg was missing! She froze in place and the entire group of whispering humans looked up as she stopped. Concern turned to confusion turned to shock.

The human leader lifted his head, which was discolored and leaking fluid but paused as well, "You!"

"She shrunk back."

"I found this stowaway hiding in the maintenance tunnels." The fluff ball announced to the whole room.

The human opened his mouth, closed it, tilted his head and then sighed.

"Will you give us just a moment." His voice was calm and restrained, almost, tired.

He turned to look over at The blue Drev and a smaller group of humans clustered around just to the side.

"Any joy?"

"It doesn't look too bad sir, most of the main components are intact as expected, it is just a faulty joining pin."

"Can you fix it?"

"Unfortunately....not with what we have here. But it should be easy enough to order At Europa."

He sighed, "Sit, well, it'll have to do." He turned to look at one of the other humans, she knew to be named Ramirez, "Head to my room, look in the closet, and in the back corner, you will find those crutches that go around your wrists."

The man nodded, "Yeah, for sue." He jogged off and the human leader, Adam, turned to face her.

Slow red was still oozing from the side of his face still as the little spidery alien creature attempted to stop it.

"Yeb, I can't say I expected to see you here."

"I...I am so sorry... I have no idea what I was thinking. I saw the box, and it was open, and i just sort of... jumped in, I have no idea why I did that, and then I was worried that you were going to be mad, so I.... So I hid and.... and ."

It was getting very hot all of a sudden, and she was beginning to pant.

"Wow, slow your roll there for a moment." He held up his hands.

She stared at him, teetering on the edge of concern and fear.

"That..... Sounds like exactly something I would have done." He smiled at her with his pearly white teeth, "Welcome aboard the Omen. I wish you would have told me sooner as this is hardly a hospitable environment for you. Where have you been hiding."

She looked down at her shuffling feet, "The.... walk-in freezer?"

He barked a laugh, "Ingenious."

He held a pad of white to the side of his head and went to stand but stopped suddenly apparently seeming surprised that he was missing a leg. He huffed, "Will someone help me up." He turned to look at the small doctor frowning and arms crossed over its bug-like chest, "Yes, we will discuss my idiocy later, but right now, we need to figure out how to keep our friend comfortable."

The little doctor gave her a good once-over, "Does your fur grow back?"

She paused, frowned and then nodded slowly, "Yes it does."

"Even the under layer?"

"yes , it would."

The humans glanced between each other, and Adam held up a hand, "Now, this is not out of offence to you, so Don't take it that way, but..... It might be cooler and more bearable if.... Perhaps you had less fur.... As in shaving it."

She paused in thought, "I....I have never thought about it....I suppose.... It can't hurt, if it would make the heat more bearable."

"Alright, than that is something we can do. Your other options to wear a cooling vest,but those are heavy and would require battery changes and charging. Granted the other way would not be permanent either, but it might last longer."

She paused to think about it, then, "Will you let me stay here."

"I was going to let you stay here no matter what you chose to do, so it's your call."

Just then Ramirez came jogging into the room holding a pair of metal sticks with strange loops at the end, which he handed over to Adam.

The human threaded his wrists through the loops, and levered himself up onto his one remaining leg with his weight supported on the metal sticks. Yeb tried to keep from staring, but fascination outweighed her propriety.

"Krill, take Yeb to the infirmary, and see if you can't figure out how to safely remove some of her fur. I mean sheep shears would probably be best, but it's not like I have any of those lying around the ship."

"And you?"

"I will be right along."

The little spidery alien moved to the side of her and guided her away from the room. She glanced back over her shoulder just in time to see the Blue Drev and the human duck their heads in fervent conversation, her keen hearing managed to pick up some of what was being said, "Adam, I am so sorry I..."

"I asked r it, its ok."

"No its-"

"Yes it is, now please don't worry about it, and if you really are, just fix my leg when we get back to Europa."

She saw the human touch the Drev's Arm for just a moment before he limped away on his crutches, following after them up the hall.

Again she tried not to stare.

He was fast on those things, and surprisingly mobile, but her eyes kept being drawn to his missing leg, amputated at center thigh. She had seen wounds like that before, mostly after someone got to close to an ice beast or a crevice lurker. They had never lasted long dying from cold and shock a few hours after the incident.

What kind of.... Ungodly power would keep someone alive after trauma like that....

Her thoughts were cut off as she was pulled into the bright hite room next to the freezer. She was sat down and examined by the small studious doctor, who still seemed too grouchy to be particularly talkative. After a while two of the marines came trotting into the room each holding a box.

"This is all we could find, a couple of razors from the crew quarters."

The one named Maverick eyed her, "I doubt they will be very usable after this."

Ramirez nodded, "I'd tend to agree."

Adam limped up behind them, "Might as well try." he looked down at Yeb with a smile, "Want to do it yourself, or have some help."

"Er.... help?"

Ramirez clicked on the Razor, "Hey, do you want a mohawk?"

She blinked, "A what."

"We could do it all the way down your back, have the hair longer there, it would look badass."

Yeb thought he was joking for a moment but seeing the look on Adam's face she had a feeling he wasn't. She wondered, they seemed excited and almost hopeful she'd say yes.... She didn't see the harm in it,and she didn't know what badass meant but it sounded fun. So she hesitantly nodded.

"Fuck yeah."

She wasn't entirely sure she trusted "These two humans, but what else was she to do?

The going was very, very slow, and the strange machines were very, very loud, she watched as her hair fell to the floor in great chunks, and was surprised when a cool breeze rushed over her neck.

It took them over an hour, and by the time they were done the floor was covered in hair, and she was marginally more comfortable. It felt so weird, and when they turned a mirror towards her she was shocked.

She was so...

Small.

She turned her head looking down at the scruff of hair left on her back which she was delighted to find made her look more vicious, the effect would be even more prominent when her fur stood up on end.

"See, badass."

The little doctor crossed his arms again, "Don't you think, Admiral that this might cause some diplomatic issues with the Tricar if they were to know she is here?"

"Than I guess we better not let anyone know she is here, and look at her, a horrible accident caused her to lose her fur and now she wouldn't last a day back home, we are simply being generous hosts." he patted her back then paused, "I have another potentially inappropriate question, so please don't be offended."

She looked up at him her head tilted and her ears pulled back.

"What?"

"Can I please.... Touch your fur, you look very fluffy, and humans love to pet things. Its sort of a thing about us?"

She shrugged and didn't see the harm in it.

He grinned at her rather happy and adjusted himself to balance on one crutch, hooking his hand out of the other as he reached over and ran a hand from the top of her head and w nto her shoulders.

"So fluffy!"

She laid her ears back, That was actually kind of nice, and when he stopped she was only mildly disappointed. She'd have to convince someone else to touch her fur, which she doubted would be hard.

"Anyway, I have to take care of a head wound, but Ramirez and Maverick, why don't you take Yeb around the ship, and give her the full tour, you know without the sneaking around and being forced to hide in the walk in freezer."

They nodded and laughed somewhat.

"Try to keep her out of trouble will you. Oh.... and if you see Sunny.... Can you send her up here?"

His voice had grown somewhat hesitant, a minute change in pitch which she detected with her large ears.

She wondered what was going on, but let it go as the humans took her by the shoulder and led her away.

They seemed excited to have heron the ship, and their excitement made her excited. She was more than ready to learn and spend time with this strange alien species. And to try more of their food, which was about ten times better than the bland over-salted fish on her planet.

Hopefully she would be able to repay them somehow.