Silence descended on the equipment bay as the sub powered on through the depths. Michelle sat fiddling with one of Flink's tools, watching its steel clamp extend and retract as she ruminated. Shock still coursed through her – roughly a quarter of it stemmed from what she had done to Lina.

The other three quarters were made up of what Lina had tried to do to her.

Ames and Flink seemed to be lost in their own heads; both of them stared at the deck or the ceiling interchangeably, and neither had offered a word since their brief exchange.

Michelle sighed.

It was Ames who finally broke the quiet. "You had the only good idea, Pow," she woofed. "Get outta there."

Michelle set the tool down on a nearby crate and snorted a weak laugh. "I want to hit her," she said, her thoughts going back to Lina. "I want to hurt her again."

Ames shook her head. "Wouldn't bruise my paw."

Michelle brought her legs in and wrapped her arms around them. "I don't feel safe around her now. I mean, what if she does it again? What if we're doing a job and something goes wrong? She'd leave me behind." Her eyes flicked up at the others. "She might do it to you. Well, maybe not. You're specialists. But me?"

Ames and Flink exchanged worried glances.

Michelle sniffled. "Oh, you know what, forget it. I'm probably gonna get canned anyhoo. Kissed Rafferty, then hit him. Tried to strangle Lina. Tried to strangle the Team Leader." She sighed again. "My prospects aren't looking great."

Ames cleared her throat. "Pow, I'm gonna level with you," the Fox said hesitantly. "I wasn't entirely onboard with you after Rafferty. But I'm with you now."

Michelle nodded. "Okay."

"And I have no confidence in our employers if they think hiring that stupid Badger is a good idea," Ames went on, a little anger seeping into her voice.

"It started with Hendricks, to be frank," Flink said, finally speaking up. "I mean, he was a bit of a twat, and we hoped Lina would be a bit better. But she's just taken it to the next level."

"And we can't just wait around for someone to fill the void, hoping they'll be competent," Ames put in.

"So, you two are thinking of quitting?" Michelle surmised.

"It'd just be us," Ames said, her muzzle twitching.

"Yeah," Flink said. "I mean, there's no way Daggett would even consider it. He's too much of a bootlicker. He wouldn't dream of speaking out against Lina. Keeps going on about what happened to her."

"What did happen to her, if I may ask?" Michelle wanted to know.

"Only Daggett knows for some reason," Flink replied.

Ames growled, showing her teeth. "Yeah. Weasels United." She hissed angrily. "Same with Hendricks."

"Why, what was he?" Michelle asked.

"Stoat," Ames said.

Michelle growled herself. "Looks like a lot of people around here prefer their own species. Like Rafferty."

"Why him?" Flink asked her.

"He said we wouldn't look right together," Michelle snuffled. "He called me a big slobbery Dog." She felt a hitch in her throat at that. "He said I smell."

"Well, you do have a somewhat slobbery bouquet," Flink said tentatively, his nose twitching.

Michelle fixed him with a look, growling deep In her throat.

"But no, no," the Beaver said airily. "I can see where you're coming from."

Ames chortled. "Seriously, Flink. Just 'coz your arse smells like vanilla."

Flink rolled his eyes.

Michelle smiled. "Well, whatever happens, I'm off Scrap Alphas and Fetcher's Fee for a while." She licked her muzzle. "So I guess Rafferty would be out too. Even if he did empathize with you two, he'd be too narked at me to side with us."

Ames' ears rotated. She was obviously sizing it all up.

Michelle looked at the others expectantly. "So what do we do?"

***

"You what?" Lina squawked. The Badger sat in the crew commons on the Lougheed, her eyes wide open and her mouth agape.

"We resign," Ames told her. The Fox produced three sheets of folded paper and slid them onto the table. "Here are our letters. In accordance with company policy, you have to comply with our request."

Lina stared at the letters for what felt to Michelle like an eternity. She stood near the door with Flink, watching.

"Team Leader?" Ames said pointedly.

"But why?" Lina asked, her voice tiny. She fixed Ames with watery eyes. "Why you?"

"What you said on the sub," Ames said simply. "Oh, and your drunkenness. And your lack of professionalism kinda speaks for itself."

Lina's muzzle set in an indignant snarl. She looked past Ames. "Flink?"

"Per her," the Beaver said simply, indicating his vulpine compatriot.

"B-but we need you, Flink," Lina pleaded with him. "We need you for repairs on the sub."

Flink shrugged. "Find someone else."

"And you, Pow," Lina hissed, her tears now gone and her eyes on Michelle. "You're going back to base to face charges for attacking not just me, but our pilot as well."

"Yeah, no," Ames said. "We've got recordings from the sub's security system. Of your intent to abandon Pow to obtain more formium. That breaks a dozen regulations and crew safety bylaws. More than what Pow did."

Lina barked a laugh. "Ridiculous."

Ames smiled widely. "Oh, and we also have the security tape from the Tail Shaker. Y'know, the one that shows you getting all friendly with the staff? Yeah. Be a shame if that were accidentally sent to Marcy, now wouldn't it?"

Lina's maw plopped open.

"I mean, it's not like we don't have her comm address, is it?" Ames chortled. "Oh, no, wait. We do."

Lina spluttered. "But... I didn't... y-you can't... How... How dare you! How dare you... I..." She stammered to a stop and looked up, once more turning indignant, her bared teeth glowing in the overhead lights. A cornered Badger was formidable, but she had nowhere else to go. "Your requests have been heard and will be fulfilled," Lina growled. "And now, since you are no longer employees of this company, you are trespassing on its property. Get out."

"Thank you, madam," Ames said primly.

"GET OUT!" Lina shrieked.

Ames picked her orange shirt off the deck, stripped off her Rocket and Kaboodle shirt, and slipped it on. "You two might want to lose the livery," she told Michelle and Flink.

Michelle pulled off her own shirt with feeling and walked into the dormitory, retrieving her Barking Bonzos shirt and putting it on, and picking up her holdall. A bizarre cocktail of satisfaction, anger and terror was roiling around inside her.

And it felt electric.

***

29th NOVEMBER 7082, TOLLY'S MOORING, SYMBA PRIME

From a grassy green near the harbour, Michelle watched as the Lougheed disappeared into the noonday sky, becoming a tiny pinprick of orange light before vanishing into the clouds. She felt as if a weight had been lifted with it. She smiled and picked up a cake from the picnic blanket on which she sat. "Ames, could you pass the fresh cream?" she asked.

Across from her, Ames chortled as she went to pass the can. "Relax, luv. We're not on duty any more. We can call each other by our first names." The Fox turned her head slightly, her beautiful red fur catching the sun. "I'm Helen."

"And I'm Chester," Flink said through a mouthful of jam sandwich. The two of them cocked their heads and shot Michelle a couple of cheesy grins.

Michelle laughed. "Okay. Helen and Chester."

"Who were you, again?" Chester asked, looking a little embarrassed.

Michelle guffawed. "I'm Michelle. Michelle Tallulah Pow."

"Aw, nice," Helen squeaked. "Well, Michelle, here's your cream." She passed the can over.

Michelle squirted some of it on her cake and shoved the whole thing into her maw. She found herself thinking of home – and how she never wanted go back. One thing she would do, though, was drop Coco a line. Maybe let her parents know where she was.

Maybe.

She wasn't even sure they'd care.

She stifled a whimper and snapped back to the present moment. Helen was sipping at a beaker of lemonade and reclining on the blanket, her bare toes wiggling in the sun. Beside her lay her boots and socks – as well as her explosives kit. Michelle had felt a little uneasy about sharing her immediate space with a bunch of bombs, but it was like Ames had said: Mocon only went off if told to do so.

Plus, there was a little something else in there. Michelle unlatched the lid on the steel case, and a glint of reddish light flared from within as the sun caught on the formium crystals Helen had stashed. Michelle couldn't help but smile as she thought of what the crafty Fox had done. She'd used a microscopic amount of Mocon on one of the formium barrels when Lina, Daggett and Rafferty had left the sub, and retrieved a fair amount of what was inside. Then she'd turned the barrel around to conceal the hole.

So clever, Michelle thought.

"Enjoying our spoils?" Chester chortled.

Helen licked her muzzle and laughed, looking over. "By the time that stripy bint sees what's happened, they'll be a quadrant away."

"It went up another three points on the Resources Index yesterday," Chester giggled. "It's unbelievable, what we're sitting next to."

"It is unbelievable," Michelle breathed.

"What should we buy next?" Helen chirped. She waggled her feet. "Those boots nearly killed me. I'm gonna get me a pair of really nice flip-flops. What was that clothes shop, back up the road? Wear You A New One?"

"That's it," Chester said.

Helen giggled and flexed her toes. "Then I'm gonna paint my nails." She glanced at Michelle. "What about you, Michelle? You're still wearing those horrible boots. Looks like you could use a pair of flip-flops as well!"

"Maybe I could," Michelle acknowledged her, running a paw over her booted foot. "I'll think about it, though."

"Go on, girl," Helen hooted. "Then we can paint our toes together!" She grinned. "Think we've earned a few luxuries."

A brief quiet followed. "So, what now?" Chester asked the others.

Helen sniffed. "Could go home. We're a stone's throw from Summerkin."

Chester twitched his whiskers. "Yeah, well, Meheline Minor's not. Not even in the same quadrant."

"Nor Omaril," Michelle put in.

"We could go work for the Outworld Scientific Authority," Helen said brightly. "We have the experience."

"I don't," Michelle said.

"We have formium," Helen beamed. "We could bribe the recruiters!"

Michelle laughed. She looked up into the sky.

"So," she said, looking at Helen and Chester, "where do you wanna go?"

THE END