"Sir, there have been no reports that any Rebel ships, let alone the Mockingbird, are even in this sector." The Captain of the CNF Glory was middle-aged, slightly balding, and on the whole, rather looking forward to retirement. He had managed to stay out of the larger-scale Coalition conflicts and when the Rebellion started, he had opted for an assignment in the empty, rather dull Sector 2814.

The Captain of the CNF Glory had never cared for his ship's name.

"In fact, we've been receiving reports that this so-called "Cat" and his ship have been sighted near Danube Prime in Sector 3215. Is all of this truly necessary?" The Captain gestured around at his now seemingly-derelict ship, then turned to face the one person on his bridge that was not dressed in the standard Coalition Military uniform.

"Did you know, Captain, felines on all known planets we've encountered them, leave pheromone trails, so that other felines can track them to common meeting places" Oh yes, it's quite true. Even the more intelligent species, we've found, reproduce this behavior." The figure, urbane and polite, turned a gaze that had little in common with the tone of his voice towards the Captain, teeth barred in a fierce grin. "The Mockingbird will be here, Captain, do not doubt. After all, to doubt me is to doubt the Coalition itself, and I'm sure you do not require a visit to the Redeemers, do you?"

The Captain turned pale and looked away from the figure whose appearance on his ship meant an end to all of his hopes of avoiding serious trouble. "Sir. No, that will not be necessary. It is as you say " I am a loyal soldier of the Coalition."

And so the CNF Glory floated, all power shut off save for only the most basic life-support, and even that steady current was masked by creative use of the engine core exhaust. And back onboard the bridge, the Coalition Agent flashed his teeth once more in a satisfied smirk, "Good then, Captain. Now. Let us wait."

~ ~ ~

The Cat stood on the bridge of the Mockingbird, one hand on a bulkhead as he bent over a sensor monitor that revealed a cross-scan of the interior of the Coalition ship floating before the "Bird. He lifted his golden gaze free of the monitor to stare at the ship itself, floating a ship's length away, visible in the forward viewport.

"That's a Coalition Sentry ship, what is she doing out here?" E's expression was equal parts thoughtful and suspicious. Golden eyes, almost glowing in the low light of the bridge, moved away from the viewport to the crewman seated at the sensor console. "No indications what left her like this?"

"No damage, Cap"n, no. All of the internal systems seem to be down, and we're getting some strange readings off of her core, but there's no external damage. Might"a been that her engine ruptured before the crew had any idea and they all died, but there's no signs they were in any kind of a fight. Hard to say what might"a done it. Sensors are all screwy because of the engine core interference."

"Alright, keep an eye on it and see if we can't get any-" The Cat realized he hadn't heard one particular voice since they'd come up to the bridge and spotted the ship, and quickly turned around only to find X gone. "Star's Ashes! Where'd she go?"

"Cat! Shuttle One has lifted free of the docking clamps and has begun moving towards the Coalition vessel!"

The Cat lifted a hand to rub at his forehead, then exhaled a slow sigh. "Okay, I don't trust this. Keep all weapons trained on that ship's bridge and have Burns and Jansen meet me at Shuttle Two." A fist slammed angrily against the bulkhead now. "Damn that woman!"

After nods of assent from his bridge crew, The Cat turned and began moving through the hatchway that lead to the Mockingbird's interior, loping off through the ship towards the remaining shuttle.

The Cat was careful not to match the reckless pace set by his more easily provoked comrade despite the frustration she so adeptly caused him. Senses honed by years of sparring with Coalition forces, both in space and planetside, gave him the unerring sense that this was a trap and rushing in would end up with both hers and his matching heads on a platter. He maneuvered the shuttle in an intercept course that would pass by the seemingly inoperative engines of the Glory and, thanks to all of the sensor interference caused by the malfunctioning engine core, The Cat was able to discharge his two companions without anyone aboard the Glory catching wind of it.

At least, that had been the initial plan after seeing X go screeching out of the shuttle dock, hell for poly-synthetic faux animal hide.

However, the interference was a double-edged sword, and The Cat meant now to turn it against the Coalition. As it protected the Glory from the sweeps of the Mockingbird and allowed the trap to wait, unsprung, so too would it would it keep The Cat and his crew hidden from prying eyes " and The Cat was nothing if not the most dangerous when coming from the shadows. After Jansen and Burns were discharged with their tasks, E had altered his previous plan simply following X in and absconding back with her towards the "Bird in the chaos that would soon be ensuing " instead he had programmed in a simple "mimic" command. His shuttle would follow the first and dock as near to it as it was able, all the while " thanks to the core interference " giving the impression that The Cat was still aboard it.

In truth, he had left the craft not long after Jansen and Burns and was now creeping along the hull in his EVA Plasuit towards an entry hatch.

On board the Glory, the Coalition Agent was waiting near the docking station X had maneuvered towards with his compliment of Coalition soldiers. Simple Navy-men who had not other purpose than to serve the Coalition in whatever capacity was needed. The Agent smiled a serene smile and waited two corridor lengths away while the soldiers all had the blaster rifles pointed towards the dock hatch.

Pressurization seals hissed signaling that the shuttle had docked successfully and the occupant was preparing to board, and not moments later the dock hatch irised open to reveal. . .nothing. No lithe figures stepped from the docking bridge. No red-headed Angels of Vengence and Retribution. Just, empty halls and silence and the slow hiss of pressure seals. The soldiers were well-trained, however and simply kept their rifles in place until the Lieutenant in front turned to glance back at the Agent for the order to board.

That was when the blaster charge took him in the head and ended the question on his lips. The first Coalition troop to look at the falling body met with the same fate, then another one and another one, and another one. Five bodies lined the corridor floor before training took over and the Coalition squadron moved to more protected positions, and meanwhile the Agent smiled.

X may have been reckless, but she wasn't stupid. She had been preparing for the trap from the moment her shuttle had left the Mockingbird, and that was why as the soldiers shifted position, two steel balls, a few inches across, rolled into the corridor after them. They exploded in a bright flash that turned all available oxygen within the corridor into helium and sent the remainder of the Coalition troops into frenzied fits of choking as the air was forcibly removed from their lungs.

And that was when X made her appearance. The Bird of Prey emerged from her nest with an oxygen mask on, connected to the purification unit in her belt, and sprinted through the gasping soldiers. A blaster pistol in each hand meted out death to those who were quicker on the uptake than their companions, or to those who seemed better able to resist the effects of the grenades " perhaps through genetic engineering. Soon there was no one left in the Corridor alive aside from The Canary. That is, The Canary and the Agent. He appeared from nowhere, moving almost faster than she could track with the barrel of her blaster for all the little that it seemed to concern him. His nonchalance angered her, as did the fact that he didn't seem at all put out by the lack of oxygen.

She drew a bead and fired, first with one pistol then the other in rapid succession. But the Agent moved like smoke, like light, and she couldn't quite catch him before he was soon face to face with her. With a cry of defiance she flicked her hands into a series of blows that would have crushed his skull in with the pistols, but again he was simply too fast to be caught and that damned smile simply would. Not. Leave. His. Face. Finally, he grew tired of the game and raised his right hand, an electric charge forming about his fist as he brought it to X's jaw faster than she could block. The force of it ripped the mask from her face, and soon the hallway was nothing more than a slowly fading blackness as X hit the deck and lost consciousness.

At which point the second shuttle arrived and docked. The altercation had lasted only a brief span of minutes, and now the Agent waited with his hands clasped behind his back for the second of his two targets. However, when the pressure seals sounded, and the second dock hatch opened, the Agent knew immediately that The Cat was not aboard the ship. If anything the Agent's smile grew even more pronounced. He raised his hand to signal the bridge.

"Captain. We have a stray in our midst. Please be so kind as to capture him for me?"

The Agent was met with garbled static, soon to be followed an irregular thrumming of the bulkheads that suggested the previous engine problem ploy was now a reality. The lights within the Glory began flickering, dimming in some sectors and even going out entirely within others as the power to the ship's functions surged and cut-out in a chaotic dance.

The Agent picked X up and slung her over a shoulder, walking sedately down the corridor.

The Game was afoot, and no one played Cat and Mouse like the golden-eyed E.

The Cat perched on the ladder, facing the entry hatch into the Glory while one hand pressed to the side of his EVA helmet as he listened in on the chatter that passed over the Glory's Comm-system - proof positive that the ship was truly no sitting-duck, though little enough proof had been needed in the first place. In fact, it was the sudden crackle of static and loss of intelligible communication that told E his crew members had completed their first objective and would soon be moving on to their next. His feline smile was reflected off of his visor as he keyed in the hatch's entry sequence into his wrist-interface and overrode the Glory's locks before entering the now-vulnerable Glory to begin wrecking havoc and perhaps even rescuing his erstwhile companion in the process.

Once The Cat prowled his way in through his impromptu "kitty door", he waited until it closed behind him and his wrist interface gave him the all-clear before popping the seals on his helmet and dropping it to the maintenance hallway floor. Gold-bright eyes, shining in the uneven glow offered by the Glory's sporadically working lighting system, scanned a slow glance at the mapped-out section of the Glory he'd called up on his Interface. Four blinking dots slowly pulsed up at him. Two of them seemed to be moving in his direction from the rear of the ship, another was motionless and solitary in what the Interface told him was an airlock, and then himself, in the EVA Corridor, the Cat nodded and moved off into the bowels of the ship, occasionally checking his position with glances at both his Interface and the markings on the Glory's bulkheads. He needed little guidance for where he was heading, however, having been there once before and it wasn't long before he was rounding a final corner while the interior of the ship shifted from the industrial appearance of the maintenance area into the sharper, cleaner lines of Crew hallways. Guards would have ordinarily been posted to the doorway he was heading for, but between the chaos of X's arrival and the sabotaging of the engine, they had been pulled elsewhere. The Cat moved through the door and quickly secured it before sliding to a console. His fingers danced along keys and touch-points while his eyes scanned the images and filenames that appeared.

He continued to pull file after encrypted file " the Coalition security no match for his skill even in the best of circumstances, before an insistent chiming at his wrist told him Jansen and Burns were in place and ready for Phase Two. After his findings were transferred to his Interface, he killed the Glory's console and left the room. As he stalked through the hallways again, his hand fell to his side and he shook free his stunstaff, extending it out to its full length now that the possibility of encountering any errant crew members was much greater. In fact, he only encountered a handful as he made his way towards the airlock, and the fourth motionless blip on his wrist. Each hapless crew member was given little warning and made little sound as the Cat's weapon cracked into them with blinding speed. In fact, aside from the crackle of energy that arced up and down the staff, and the thud of both the blow and the subsequent unconscious crew member hitting the floor, there was little evidence the Cat had even passed through " aside from the bodies. The Cat rounded the final corner of his trek, creeping silently into the foyer that housed waiting areas and decontamination and sterilization chambers on either side of the Cat. Directly ahead of him was the interior Airlock hatch with a faintly visible X a few feet away from the viewing window that covered much of the hatch.

And between he and X stood the Agent who had so readily taken down one of the finest marksmen in the Coalition Navy.

The Cat did not wait for the Agent to speak, nor was he willing to give the Agent enough breathing room for any sudden movements, quickly shrinking his staff down to only a foot in length before hurling it spinning directly at the Agent's head. While it no longer carried a charge since it wasn't in contact with E's glove, it still carried considerable mass. Unimpressed and unconcerned, the Agent simply brushed it aside with a disdainful flick of his wrist, sending the shortened staff careening off to the side. But in that time, E had closed the distance in a quick sprint, following closely on the staff's proverbial heels. He called it back into his palm with a flick of his wrist and immediately extended it back out to full length and swept it at the Agent's head once again, this time with a full charge running up and down the weapon.

Unwilling to face the impact of the weapon, this time the Agent avoided contact and simply avoided the blow with a shift to his side, allowing the weapon to sail harmlessly past. However, the staff twirled and continued to strike out as E spun and refused to let up his assault. Even so, he was unable to catch the Agent, though where X had become a pulsing mass of frustration and Anger, E simply grew calmer and more focused for all the good it was doing him as the Agent darted and danced away from his blows. Eventually, the Agent finally struck out with a backhanded blow at the Cat's wrist, sending the staff sliding into a dusty corner of the airlock foyer.

"Now then, Mr. St Clare. There's no need to be uncivilized about this! If you would just simply be willing to discuss your grievances with me calmly, I won't have to eject your companion out of the ship."

Forced down onto his knees and cradling his wrist, the Cat shot a look of annoyance at the Agent's condescending tone and came back up to his feet, letting fly with a series of punches that interrupted the Agent and forced him to quickly defend himself against the flurry of blows. E finally saw his chance and seized it when a momentary opening in the Agent's defense let E's right hand through, glove crackling with power not unlike the Agent's own as his fist landed firmly on the Agent's jaw. A look of pure and utter arrogant fury washed over the Agent's face before he unleashed another backhand faster than E could track, catching the Cat in his stomach and sending him onto his back and sliding a few feet away. The look of fury that the Cat had earned was now replaced with the Agent's usual expression of cruel amusement as he stood over the downed infiltrator.

"Mm, yes. You're going to pay for that one, I think. You only need to be alive for my benefactor's purposes, you do not need to be in especially good health. Possibly I shall begin by launching Miss Xanaria out now?"

E pushed himself up until he was sitting up, though one arm was still being used to keep himself stable while he glared up at the Agent. "You're bluffing." The Cat rasped out. "You wouldn't dare kill either of us until you've learned everything we know. And oh, but there's quite a bit of that." E managed to punctuate that with a confident grin that had little basis in his current situation.

"Oh, it is true enough Mr. St. Clare that your continued presence is something of a necessity, it is my great joy to tell you that that of your colleague is not. My benefactor has deemed her expendable, and as such, her life is entirely within your hands." The Agent appeared momentarily thoughtful, as if considering something. "But you are correct, you do possess a great deal of information that you should not. Perhaps we can come to some sort of arrangement, hm?" The Agent stepped away from the fallen Cat now, moving over towards a panel near the airlock door while his fist raised as if to press it in. He paused to glance backward over his shoulder at the Cat.

The Cat pushed upward to his feet and stumbled a step forward, hand outstretched as if to stop the Agent from across the room. "Stop! Please, wait! Your benefactor! I know who he is and I have that information ready to be sent out across the 'verse if we both don't return from this alive!" The Cat was bluffing, of course, but right now it seemed he'd say and do anything to keep the Agent from hitting that button. And for a moment, it even appeared to be working. The Agent appeared lost in consideration again before finally speaking once more.

"Hm. A daring gambit, Mr. St. Clare. But perhaps your next partner will fare better than this one." The Agent's tone took on a malicious and hateful veneer. "She was never going to survive this, boy. And for striking me, I will leave little enough left of you that it may as well be said the same of you." Then the Agent's fist came slamming down onto the panel, lighting it up as the exterior Airlock doors immediately began to slide open, jettisoning everything in the chamber into space, including the shocked looking X, who had been watching the entire altercation from the viewing window. E fell forward with an anguished cry, dropping onto his hands and knees while the Agent dropped his hand from the panel, allowing the exterior doors to shut once the room had been emptied. The Agent began to walk over towards the Cat, his footsteps loud in the room " the only noise save for the pressurization seals that restored pressure in the airlock.

"Truly, Mr. St. Clare, I am an Agent of the Coalition. What did you possibly think you possibly accomplish against me?"

The voice of the Cat as he replied was amused, laced with just the slightest hint of triumph as the airlock doors slowly began to open behind the Agent.

"A distraction."

~~~

X watched the scene before with a mixture of hope, anger, and frustration. Hope that the Cat might possibly succeed in defeating the Agent, Anger at the Agent himself for managing to imprison her (and more than a little at the Cat for succeeding against him longer than she had in a direct confrontation), and frustration that she was bound and unable to do anything for herself. She couldn't even scream the ignominy of it all! Instead she was struck helpless to do anything but watch, and when the Agent moved nearer the door it was with a resigned feeling that she acc"to hell with that! She struggled as hard as she could against her bonds, even as the opening airlock doors began to draw her away from the other room, and was still struggling even as her surroundings became a spinning mass of grey steel and bright points of light in every direction. Huh. It wasn't as cold as she'd thought it would be, but the inability to breath or even hold her breath was quickly becoming an annoyance. It seemed somewhere between an infinity and an instant before unconsciousness began to overcome her and her last thought was anger at herself at how she'd never really told the Cat how she felt about him. . .

At least until the breathing mask clamped down over her face. Oxygen suddenly roared through her as Jansen and Burns caught her and guided her back into the airlock before the doors shut all three of them out of the ship. While naked exposure to the vacuum was less of a concern than it had been in times previous thanks to modern innovations in medicine and gene-work, it was still very deadly and X needed to quickly be returned to a pressurized environment.

Her first instinct was to rant and rave at the two crew members of the Mockingbird, followed by a desire to fight them off simply so she'd have something to hit, in the end however she let them guide her in and minister to her. Jansen gave a few gestures to indicate they needed to be silent, so as not to alert the Agent, and Burns was soon handing over a spare weapons belt along with a sidearm. And once X felt confident enough to stand on her own, she rose up to her feet and pulled the oxygen unit off before striding to the door with a raptor gleam in her eyes. She motioned Jansen and Burns with her with the sidearm and they stepped up to join her, their own weapons unholstered. Then, X reached down and pressed the interior airlock door control with all three weapons pointed outward as the door slowly began to slide open.