The corridors were awash in red light and the constant blare from the klaxons, sounding alarm. Everyone was rushing somewhere, including Pearl and Yaann. The two were trailing behind Cohen and a member of security, heading back to the holding bay.

“The Kragorians are known for being thoughtless, slaughter-happy murderers but recently there’ve been reports of behavior that doesn’t go so well with that image,” Cohen said. They seemed to be doing four things at once - reading, directing, walking, talking…

“The mousetrap,” Pearl said, remembering her conversation in the canteen.

Yaann lagged noticeably behind her and Cohen, wringing her hands and frowning into space. She seemed disoriented by the alarm and the panic; people shouting orders, asking what was wrong, running to their stations, and Pearl remembered the woman telling her earlier about her dislike of yelling. 

“Exactly,” Cohen nodded. “To put it simply, they've started planning, laying traps. The labs just told us the vortex that trapped Luuu and her merry band here was almost definitely manmade and with the Kragorians showing up so soon after our tow job? It’s not looking good.”

“The ship being abandoned was a lure…” Pearl murmured, thinking. There were some fish you could only catch by using another, smaller fish. If the Kragorians had used the ship as a lure, it was fortunate that the ones who’d taken the bait were as incompetent as they were. Theoretically, the Kragorian’s little fish might have led them straight to an entire colony.

“We’ve been working on a way to change the ship’s signature so the Kragorians can’t track it but we thought we’d have days to do the job.”

“How much time do we have?”

“Hours. If those bastards lock onto our ship we’re done for. We need to change the signature of the Terewalligan’s ship and then get the hell out of dodge before we’re spotted. That’s where you come in.”

It was a risky plan. Pearl was to enter and work on a method to erase the ship’s signature as fast as possible. Cohen and their team had already gotten through a large part of the process but there were roadblocks which they believed Pearl might have more success in maneuvering around. Apparently Olaan had determined that Kragorian technology was similar to its Novianac counterpart. 

Pearl supposed this made sense. They were both people with whom the wider universe had very little contact with by design. Though where Novians preferred silence, the Kragorians employed fear. The divergence meant that where trying to break a Novian block risked a permanent lockout, doing the same for its Kragorian equivalent was risking one’s life.

Still, Pearl thought, steeling herself. If Cohen thought she could be of use then she would try to prove them right. Besides, there was a potentially gruesome death waiting for her either way. 

Once she’d erased the ship’s signature she’d leave as quickly as she could, signaling the Teretiwelligans to do the same, and everyone would hope the Kragorians hadn’t gotten close enough to trace either of them.

“We’ve fixed their engine, made a few improvements if I say so myself, so If the Kragorians get close enough we might just pull you out of there and have the Wellys make a break for it. The captain wants to minimize loss of life and he doesn’t think we’d stand a chance against the Kragorians in this tugboat. No one does, except Sawyer.” Cohen said, rolling their eyes.

“You propose we toss the bait back,” Pearl summarized.

“If it comes to that, yeah.”

“We’re….”

Pearl and Cohen turned towards Yaann who’d been conspicuously quiet throughout the impromptu debrief. She had stopped a few feet behind them, eyes wide, her hands trembling as she seemed to struggle to take a breath. It was difficult to hear her over the klaxons.

 “We’re gonna die….” The woman muttered, her tail curled around her shaking body. “No way, no way, no way, we’re gonna die…?”

“No.”

Yaann blinked and Cohen looked startled as Pearl stepped forward, placing her hand atop the woman’s head. 

“We are friends. Please have faith in me.”

For a few seconds there was silence between them and even amidst the chaos of the ship it seemed to calm Yaan. She reached up and took the Human’s hand, squeezing it tightly.

“...Yeah,” she said, her shoulders relaxing. With Pearl’s hand wrapped around it, her own stopped shaking. “I’ll leave it to you.”