"So," Donovan said as they walked across the docking bay floor, "where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"When I was growing up, some of my friends were learning martial arts for competitions, and I wanted to learn just because I thought it was interesting. Never had any desire to do it competitively, though." Kolya shrugged. "I only managed to get some of the basics down. After I started hitchhiking on starships, I gradually picked things up here and there. I ended up learning more street fighting than anything else -- no fancy moves, just whatever it takes to put your opponent down."

"Ah. Get into a lot of bar fights and whatnot?" He flicked his eyes around but kept his head pointed forward as if trying to keep an eye on his surroundings without being obvious about it. He returned his attention to her and grinned.

Huh. What's that about? Kolya shrugged it off and said, "A few, yeah. Usually because of my habit of finding trouble and poking it with a stick." She pointed at a one hundred-twenty meter long spacecraft parked near the middle of the wall to their left. "That's where I'm headed -- the SS Mae Jemison."

Donovan gave the ship a quick looking-over as they approached. "Sweet ride. Looks brand-new."

"From what I was told, it's actually a really old ship, but an extensive refit was finished about a week ago. It was pretty much rebuilt from the inside out." Kolya smiled and let her gaze sweep slowly from one end of the ship to the other. Its general shape looked a bit like a horseshoe with the central part filled in, with the command deck on the larger, curved end. The hull had a brushed-copper paint job and the usual markings -- serial numbers, warning signs on the parts that weren't safe to stand near, and the name in an old sci-fi font along the side. It had other colors added here and there and nose art of the astronaut for whom the ship was named. The paint job was custom since the ship was privately owned.

"Hmm. Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing ships like this one somewhere. Same general shape, but smaller." Donovan glanced at her. "In high school, I think. Science or history or something like that."

Kolya nodded. "It was on the news recently, too. It was one of the original Tyson-class research and exploration ships and was eventually decommissioned. It was left in the boneyard of the Io starship construction facility until a synth came along and bought it. She had the ship upgraded and spent the better part of a decade hustling her ass off doing odd jobs to pay back the loan. The ship vanished a century ago, then reappeared a few months back. The owner and her passengers made a small fortune doing interviews and there'll probably be multiple books and vids made which'll bring 'em even more money. They used a lot of it to pay for the refit."

"Oh, yeah, I remember hearing some friends talking about that. Wasn't paying much attention to the news around that time. Had a lot of other things on my mind." He glanced over his shoulder before quickly turning back to the ship. "I do remember bits and pieces I picked up here and there. Something about multiple ship disappearances over the last century or so."

"Yep. The Jemison was the first one to actually reappear, as far as I know." Kolya grinned and rubbed her hands together. "Until now. Another long-lost ship has turned up, and the Jemison's ferrying a science team to its location. I got hired on as a general helper -- sort of a Jill-of-all-trades. Pilot, driver, mechanic, scout, that sort of thing. Whatever might come up that the team or the crew aren't prepared to deal with."

"Ah. You must've spent a lot of time in training, then." He turned and glanced around quickly before focusing on her again.

"Nope. I pick it up as I go." She grinned as they reached the ship. "That's part of the fun."

A mildly bewildered look crossed his face, but Kolya walked on over to the group standing at the top of the cargo ramp before he could ask any more questions. She glanced around and took them all in. Two shonari and a mekharan stood closer to the ramp, with a robot and another alien who kind of resembled the shonari a few feet to the left. Two humans, a zorai, a minotaur, and a giant reptilian alien were deeper inside the cargo hold, securing their equipment. One of the shonari walked over to help the others put away their gear.

All of them except the mekharan wore casual T-shirts and cargo pants or shorts. Being a giant snake with four arms, his shirt had an extra pair of sleeves and he wore what might be called a cargo skirt due to the absence of legs on his species. Adult mekharans averaged from thirty to forty feet in length, but at first glance, this one looked under twenty feet. Kolya guessed he was in his mid-teens and was probably a lab assistant or maybe one of those genius kids who started college before puberty kicked in.

The other shonari glanced up as Kolya and Donovan reached them. She smiled, clopped over, and held out her right hand.

"Hello. You must be Kolya Mason. I'm Ralissa Thorana. I'm in charge of the science team."

"Good to meet you. I'm … well, whatever you need me to be on the mission." Kolya shook the alien woman's hand and grinned. Aside from the zorai, she hadn't run into any aliens before starting her long journey, and their hands, in particular, had always struck her as rather curious. All the sentient alien species she knew of had hands with three digits, while only humans and some of their synths and anthros had five. Aside from being the new kids on the block, Terrans seemed to have a few other traits that set them apart from everyone else, though admittedly those traits appeared to be superficial.

"Glad to have you on the team. Our specialties are kind of narrow, so I thought it would be good to have someone with a more well-rounded skillset on hand." The mekharan slithered over and Ralissa motioned at him. "This is our tech specialist, Lorkis Azanar."

"Very pleased to make your acquaintance." He gave her a brilliant smile as she shook his upper-right hand.

"Same here." Kolya smiled back. Lorkis kept his hold on her hand for a few more seconds, and she waited it out.

Ralissa chuckled, gave his upper shoulder a nudge, and muttered, "Put it back in your pants."

Lorkis's scaly face turned a darker shade of brown as he slithered away.

"And this is Donovan McCallister," Kolya said with a nod to her right.

"Nice to meet you," Donovan said.

"A pleasure." Ralissa glanced at Kolya. "Brought someone to help out?"

"Actually, we just met a couple minutes ago and he tagged along."

"Are you leaving soon?" Donovan flicked his eyes toward the floor outside the ramp and turned back to Kolya. "I was hoping we'd have time for lunch."

"We'll be taking off soon after the last of our gear is loaded up." Ralissa motioned at the stack of crates and cases behind her. "I have no objection to any additional help, but that has to be up to the ship's captain."

"Donovan probably has his own stuff going on here on the station." Kolya shrugged. "Maybe another time, if we run into each other again."

"Actually, all this sounds really interesting. I'd like to hang around if it's okay with the captain." Donovan grinned again. "Is this a long-duration job?"

"The transit time will be a few days. Once we're there, we're expecting it to take anywhere from a week to a month, depending on how things go." Ralissa shrugged. "Then a few more days to return."

"Well, my stuff will still be here when I get back, then." Donovan glanced outside again before beaming at Kolya. "If it's okay with the crew, we can still have that lunch date."

Kolya arched an eyebrow and shrugged. "If the Jemison's captain has no problem with it, I have no problem with it."

"It's okay with me." The robot woman smiled. "We've got plenty of room and supplies. Real food, too, not just MREs." She extended her hand and shook Kolya's first, then Donovan's. "Welcome aboard. I'm Cora Engstrom, the ship's owner, captain, and pilot."

Lorkis slid over to Captain Engstrom and gave her the same smile he'd used on Kolya as he greeted her. She shook his hand, disengaged it smoothly, and turned back to Kolya and Donovan.

"Thanks for taking me onboard, Captain," Donovan said with a brilliant grin.

"You're welcome. Never know when we might need an extra hand. And just call me Cora." She motioned at the hooved alien girl beside her. "This is Syala."

"Nice to meet you." Kolya greeted her with a smile and a nod. She finally remembered the name of Syala's species -- mulathi -- and wondered if they were an offshoot of the shonari. Or vice-versa. There were many similarities, but Syala wasn't quite as tall, her eyes glowed white instead of yellow, her horns were shaped differently, and she was kind of plus-sized. Kolya had never met one before, but she'd learned in school that they were one of the galaxy's most technologically-advanced species, and had been a spacefaring civilization for thousands of years.

Donovan turned to grin at Kolya. "So I guess we're on for lunch, then?"

She chuckled. "Okay, you've twisted my arm into it." She gave him a playful whap on the shoulder just to see how he'd react. Still smiling, he gave her shoulder an equally playful shove. She swayed, regained her balance, and laughed.

Huh. Maybe he actually likes me. Probably not, but … maybe.

Lorkis slithered over to Syala and beamed. "Very nice to meet you."

"And you." Even though she looked close to his age, she seemed to figure out his intentions instantly. "I'm Syala Engstrom."

"Ah." Lorkis blushed again, cleared his throat, and managed to keep his smile on.

Kolya had to suppress a snicker.

"Okay." Donovan flicked another quick glance around. "So, where are we headed? Or is that classified?"

"We'll brief everyone once we're underway," Ralissa said.

"We'll introduce you to the rest of the crew and the science team after we launch." Cora motioned at a hatch on the inner wall. "If you'd like, you can join us on the flight deck."