"What we know isn't for the furless," a woman said as she strode forward. I had rarely seen a Catchin female, and this one looked as though she ruled this corner of the station.
"Then we'll go," I said. I didn't like standing here, and it couldn't be safe. I took a step back. So did Krisin, who looked -- well, not afraid, but more worried than usual.
"Be still," the woman ordered.
I wasn't sure if I should breathe at that point. Lisel, though, looked annoyed. The fur on his neck began to rise, and I wasn't the only one who noticed. The woman's eyes narrowed, and her lips pulled back in the start of a snarl.
"I am Lisel," he said.
That won a strange reaction. Every Catchin in the area went still and then turned Lisel's way. What the hell?
The woman took a step back and bowed her head. "Welcome to you and your fellow crew."
Lisel glanced my way and gave a quick grin. "I have a reputation, and I am going to use it for the good of my people."
"Lisel --" I started.
He stared at me. I thought about what I was about to say and decided not to do it. I bowed my head instead.
"The station is in danger," he said, looking around at the others. "But if you all try to run to the nearest ships, you will start a panic, and few will get away. If I had known you were here, I might have made a plan already and brought you onto Belgium. How many?
"Thirty-Six," the woman said. "Ten are young. If we can get them away, then it would be to our honor."
"We can do this," I said. "If we can get word to Captain Dundas, she can make it look as if you are the reason we came here. We went straight to this spot. Krisin --"
"I need to get back and stop her from leaving port," he said. He frowned. "There are other children. We need to consider how to get them on other ships at the first sign of trouble."
"Go, go," I said, slapping him on the arm.
Krisin looked at Lisel. He nodded.
Krisin left quickly. I looked at Lisel and spread my hands. "Start getting this prepared. We won't have much time."
Lisel went with the woman to help the others. I stayed where I was, not because I felt uneasy about them -- but rather that I worried about what was going on in the rest of the station. I felt as though everything was coming apart in places that I couldn't see it.
But the Catchin were quick. They were primarily women and children, and only two older men and one young man walking with a cane. He looked as though he moved slowly, but he had a small child in his arm and a pack on his back.
"Belgium is in Bay 4. We'll do our best to get you there, but if there is trouble, let us handle the humans," I said. Catchin nodded all around me. "We have no time to waste. Lisel, do you want to take the lead or the rear?"
"Lead," he said as he came up to me. "They won't have trouble finding me in a crowd."
"Good point," I said. I did not pull my laser pistol, but I knew right where it was. "Listen for Krisin and any orders he has. My thought, though, is to go straight into the bay."
"Let us go."
I stood aside as they filed past me. A couple of the women looked nearly panicked, a sort of look I was not used to seeing in Catchin. The children behaved. I thought about them all but hiding here on the station, no doubt worried about anyone who might come in after them.
The older woman came last with me. She still looked distrusting, but I knew enough about Catchin history that I didn't blame her. I only bowed and let her go ahead of me. I saw the hair on her neck start to stand up. She didn't like having humans at her back, so I moved very carefully.
This was not what we went to the station to do. Dundas might be angry with us, but I was glad we had a chance to save this group. We'd seen what some people had done to other Catchins, including skinning some and selling the pelts. That made me so angry still that I had trouble even looking at any human who scowled toward a Catchin.
We came out into the market with sounds of protest starting to grow. It didn't matter. We were moving at a reasonable speed, even the young man with the cane, though I kept an eye on him. I thought the woman in front of me watched him too. When he almost misstepped, she moved closer.
Good. Just keep moving. We were not that far from the bay.
My pocketcomp buzzed, and Krisin was on the screen with a scowl.
"She says to move. If they're there in the next fifteen and have the agreed contract payment, then they're in. Our Catchin crew will take them in. It's a damned good thing the Oblisk has a credit with us still, but she'll have words with them taking this contract and not fulfilling it."
Oh, nicely done. The older woman even backed up to walk by me, her eyes a little wide with surprise.
"We're at the bay. In the bay doors for the ship?"
Krisin paused for a moment, looking off-screen. Then he turned back and nodded. "Yeah, that works. I'll be right out to help."
The line went dead. I glanced at the woman beside me. "Just get everyone in the bay. Once there, you'll be as safe as we can make you. The Captain is going to want to leave as soon as possible, though. Move quickly."
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