I glared through the open doorway at the ktari.

Minna and her guards had pulled back down the hallway to discuss things. Our two Ilrivian escorts had taken up a position near the third Ilrivian's room. And that Ilrivian had calmly gone to another part of his room, pulled out a container of food, and begun feeding the ktari.

Feeding it shia fruit.

I was almost certain the pest didn't even like the fruits. Each time the alien tried to offer a slice to the lizard it growled and pulled on the leash to try and get further away. It was only after a lot of coaxing that the ktari would be persuaded to eat the treat, and even then only after the fruit was dropped out of the alien's hand.

The ktari would sneak forward to grab the piece of fruit before scampering back to the safety of its far corner, but it didn't seem to care about the shia fruit any more than I imagined it would care about any other food. It just nibbled on it occasionally in between growls and frantic glances around.

It was painfully obvious that the ktari did not want to be there. If it hadn't been eating shia fruit right in front of me, I probably would have felt sorry for it.

I continued glaring at it from Minna's shoulder and focused back on the general mindlink. "Something weird is going on. I just found a ktari."

"That's not that weird. A ship this big is bound to have them crawling around." The scarlet whose name I still couldn't remember paused, then continued thoughtfully. "Though I'm a little surprised you found one before us. You'd think they would want to avoid the parts of the ship with people in them."

"Yeah... you'd think that..." I shifted on Minna's shoulder to get a better view of the thin collar looped around its neck and the leash securing it to the table, then sent that image across the mindlink.

The link went quiet for a moment as the other dragonets thought through what I was seeing.

"...they're keeping one as a pet? On a ship?" Ivy's voice sounded incredulous. "Why would anyone do that?"

"Beats me. But wait, there's more." I dredged up the memory of the ktari snatching up the shia fruit and sent that through the mindlink, then sent the memory of it half-heartedly nibbling on the delicious fruit after it.

A wave of immediate disgust came back from each of the other dragonets. None of them were happy at the idea of shia fruits being wasted on a pest, much less one that didn't even appreciate the delectable treats.

Tom recovered first. "This seems suspicious."

I hissed in frustrated disbelief as the ktari dropped the rest of the shia fruit to the table. "The word I was thinking of was 'insulting'."

"That's my point. Maybe, maybe somebody is keeping a ktari as a pet. Like people who kept mice or other rodents. It's not that hard to believe that eventually it would happen, even if it's strange that it'd be allowed on a ship like this one was." Tom paused, and I thought through his point.

"...but why would somebody just happen to be feeding it our favorite food? Especially when it doesn't seem to care that much for it." I narrowed my eyes and looked from the ktari to the alien still hovering over it.

"Exactly." A sense of alertness and suspicion trickled into the general mindlink as the rest of the dragonets thought through it.

"That's an awfully big assumption to make from just one ktari. It could be a case of somebody just being quirky?" I got an impression of uncertainty from Ivy, along with the faint sour note of dishonesty. She didn't really believe what she was saying. Still, it was good not to leap to conclusions too quickly.

I focused back on what Minna was saying to her guards.

"...not like there's a law against it or anything. It's just... very peculiar. I can't imagine what I would do if somebody tried to bring one on a shuttle I was flying; the risk of it getting loose and infesting a ship is simply too great. I'm honestly surprised this one hasn't escaped already."

Minna's father nodded. "I've served on a number of ships that had to be taken out of service due to ktari infestations. They are too shy to be direct threats to a crew, but they can cause a lot of damage to the ship itself. The last thing you want to discover in combat is that pests have made nests out of essential components to the weapon systems."

"A freighter should have the same concerns." Kilpin quietly voiced his agreement. The Kymari were all whispering quietly to keep from being overheard by the aliens, and I had to lean a little closer to Minna to hear him. "If this gets free it could make a mess of any cargo they're transporting. Tear up refrigeration systems, muck up life support. Not to mention if it disabled something important at the wrong moment. If the gravity controls failed while something this big was moving..."

All of the Kymari took on grim expressions. I wasn't entirely sure just what that would do, but I got the impression from their reactions that it would not be pretty.

I glared back at the ktari and watched it gnaw on a new slice of shia fruit it had just been handed, only to drop it with another nervous growl.

Minna looked back at me and watched me for a moment. "I don't think I can clear this section while it's there. Nate is too worked up by it. I won't be able to tell if he's reacting to a crawler that we need to find, or if he's just following the scent of this ktari."

I thought back to the faded scent of crawler lurking subtly beneath the other scents. Hrm...

"We can go over that room with scanners, but we know they've been able to mask things from us in the past. I'd feel better if we could trust Nate's nose on something like this." Morton hesitated and looked back at the ktari. "I don't suppose we could have it moved to one of the escort ships, then come back to this section later on in the schedule?"

The horrified expression on the face of Minna's father made it obvious how any request to intentionally put a ktari onto a Kymari vessel would be met.

Minna grimaced and shook her head. "I don't think we'll find any ship willing to volunteer to hold a ktari. I doubt we'll be able to talk him into taking his pet away from him either, even temporarily, and there's no way he would be allowed onto one of the escorts with it." She looked back at the ktari again and frowned thoughtfully. "Still... we might be able to move it to a section we've already cleared, then come back later today. At the very least it will make it a little easier to tell if Nate is following after it, or sniffing after something else." Minna thought for another second or two, then seemed to reach a decision.

She approached our Ilrivian escort and the rest of the Kymari shadowed her. The ktari dropped the food it was eating and growled at us when it saw us getting closer, and I hissed back at it. The two of us filled the corridor with angry noises for a few seconds before it let out a pathetic sounding whimper and began tugging at its leash.

I drooped my ear tufts a little and grew silent. I didn't like that it was there, and I definitely didn't like that it was eating shia fruit that I could have been eating instead, but... it was hard not to feel a little bad for the thing. It was clearly terrified and wanted nothing more than to get away.

Minna continued like nothing had happened and stopped at the doorway. "We're going to need you to move your pet to an area we have already cleared. Once we finish today's route we will come back and check this room again." She glanced back at the gray-furred Ilrivian still inside his room. "We will need you to be here at that time to give us access."

One of our escorts stepped in between Minna and the room and nodded. I got a strange sense of smugness from him, as if he had just won a game of chess in some clever way his opponent hadn't seen coming. "Of course. We would be happy to do that." The other Ilrivian started to protest, but our escort continued before he could. "However, if this creature is presenting some sort of trouble for your beast, you should know that there are in fact a number of them on board."

Every one of the Kymari stared at him incredulously. Even I couldn't help but stare at him. There were more ktari on this ship? And he knew about it?

Minna was silent for a second before blurting out a reply. "And you didn't immediately fumigate your ship to deal with them?!"

"Of course not." Even with as unfamiliar as I was with their expressions, I could tell the Ilrivian was appalled at the suggestion. Or at least, he was doing a good enough job of pretending to be appalled to fool me. "These creatures have become quite popular of late. A number of the crew have taken to trying to tame them. You'll be able to find them in several of the rooms now."

"But... why? Why are you risking letting these onto your ship?"

The Ilrivian smiled. It held a distinctively predatory feel to it, and I was almost certain he was about to lie when he spoke. "Why, for the reward, of course." He lifted a hand and pointed at me. "It's common knowledge that the Kymari claim to have found a creature that can track and even kill sicora. It's also common knowledge that the Kymari are refusing to share the security that creature offers with the rest of the galaxy, and have instead decided to secret it away on a backwater world with extremely limited access to other races."

The Ilrivian turned back to the room and pointed at the ktari, where it continued to tug on its leash. "So naturally, we are curious to learn if other creatures can also be trained to find sicora. Significant rewards have been offered to anyone who can produce a creature with similar capabilities, along with programs designed to aid anyone making attempts and to deal with any damages incurred in the process. Any creature even remotely related to sicora are being investigated to see if they might have the same abilities that your beast has, and the ktari have already proven they adapt well to the environment on board a ship."

He turned back to Minna with that same smug grin. "So you will find that many of the crew have these creatures with them. I am afraid if you need to move them each time you come across one, it will likely create significant delays. We would be happy to do so this time if it will help... but I am unsure if we will be able to accommodate you in similar situations."

Minna seemed taken aback and just stared at the Ilrivian in disbelief. I narrowed my eyes and inhaled again. The scent of a crawler was faint... but it was there. I turned my attention back to the general mindlink. "This is deliberate. They are doing this on purpose. I need help."

A sense of instant attention filled the mindlink as Ivy responded. "What happened?"

"It's not just one ktari. There are several of them on board; a lot of the crew are keeping them as pets. They claim to be trying to find another creature that can track sicora."

The mindlink went silent for a moment as the other dragonets absorbed that news. When Tom spoke he sounded uncertain. "But... can ktari actually do that? The Kymari didn't seem to know of anything that could find sicora before us."

"I don't think they care." I sent the faint scent of the crawler to them. "This is just an act. They've got crawlers somewhere, they know it, and they're using the ktari to try and keep us from finding them."

The mindlink grew quiet again.

I waited, beginning to wonder if I was just frustrated with the ktari and the shia fruit to be thinking clearly, until Ivy spoke again. "I think you're right. There's too much weird going on. And they've done this before. Tasha caught one of their smaller ships smuggling crawlers once."

I hissed in a mixture of satisfaction at being right and in frustration at knowing there were crawlers nearby.

Minna looked back at me at the sound. She watched me for a long moment before turning back to the Ilrivian. "Never mind. We'll search the room now. Please bring the ktari out into the corridor so we can work."

The Ilrivian seemed surprised by that and looked at her suspiciously, but eventually nodded. "Very well." He stepped back into the room and motioned the other alien to start moving the table.

The ktari growled and fled to the center of the table. It waffled between the two aliens, clearly trying to find some way to get away from both of them before eventually giving up and tugging on its leash again.

Minna stepped back and out of the way. Her father moved over to her and whispered, quiet enough that the Ilrivians couldn't hear. The other Kymari all seemed to find something else to focus on. "You should call Trenil; he can tell you what to do."

Minna shook her head. "I'll let him know what we've found once we're done searching the room, but I don't need his help just yet. He already told me what to do."

Her father seemed surprised at her confidence and tilted his head slightly. "And what was that?" He didn't sound challenging, just... curious. Confused.

Minna began unwinding the leash from around her wrist and smiled. "Trust Nate." She watched for another moment while the two Ilrivians moved the ktari down the corridor, then turned her head to look at me. "Okay. Go seek."

I fanned out my wings and beat them eagerly downwards to launch from her shoulder. I gave a hiss in the ktari's direction, then banked into the room, full of determination to find whatever they were hiding.