The camera is centered on Jetanda's fur covered face, with a pair of younger males cleaning behind her. The older female has a wide smile on her gray furred face and her eyes shine with an inner light. All three have a similar tilt to their ears, so I assume they are her descendants. They certainly treat her with an almost reverent deference.

The housing unit that Donna and the other Tserri are meeting in is nicely furnished. Deftly woven tapestries hang from the walls and thick carpets cover the floor. Long low tables line the room, each with their own collection of grinning cubs, eyes shining up from holographic projectors.

They exchange polite greetings before the males serve the two visitors beverages. The two males then withdraw, leaving the three alone with their drinks. Donan drinks somewhat awkwardly, the only one to touch his drink.

The silence stretches out, with polite smiles fastened to each face. Donan finishes his beverage and sets down the empty cup. The clinking sound when Donan sets his drink down seems to act as some kind of signal, prompting the elder to speak.

"I suppose you two are here to demand payment for all your gifts, now that you see how little control I have over my own people," the elder states suddenly. "They'll listen to me for a while, but they have to hear their children beg for more food more often than they hear me tell them where to get it." She scowls and opens her mouth to continue berating them, but Donna interrupts her.

"Not at all, Priestess," she says smoothly. "In fact, our purpose is to prove how much the station values you."

"That's right," her brother adds. "Yosip was quite impressed with how well you've been able to manage with so few resources at your disposal."

Donna opens a compartment on her armor, and pulls out a flat card. "This isn't any good, yet. But when the Kalibern Casino opens, it will let you open every door and give you administrator level access to its local computer network."

Jetanda squints at the card distrustfully. "And what will this cost me in the future?"

Donna and Donan both make gestures of negation, but Donna is the first one to answer.

"Very little. Run the casino how you want, within reasons. Hire your own staff." She stops to take a slow sip. "Yosip wants the benefits of a casino without the hassle of running one."

"Happy people," Donan interjects. "Though a bit of the money would go a long way to improve the rest of the place."

"And what about the community center? Let one of you uniformed thugs have it in exchange?"

"Of course not," Donna quickly answers. "It's still yours. Choose someone else to run the place, let them pay you for the privilege. That's your business. And Yosip wants it to expand."

Donan jumps in to lend his sister support. "He's got plans for more gathering halls; one for each residential area."

"If you're interested, we can take a list of names to the Supply-Master. Let us know who you can work with, and we'll go speak to them next."

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She's taking some initiative here. Yosip probably doesn't care who runs the new community centers, but he does like to feel that he's the one making all the decisions. He might take it better if he thinks this is Dunc's idea, so I alert the young officer.

"This better be important, you stupid rock," complains Dunc, muttering to the concealed speaker in the water filter. "We're kinda busy."

He and Spen are leading a female tourist on a private tour, and they don't much like my interrupting their impromptu expedition to the aqua farms. The things youths do to impress one another, silly as they are, are a rite of some significance. Knowing this, I keep the volume quite low, so as to not disturb their guest.

"This won't take long," I quietly reassure him. "Just passing some information along to help you look like a hard-working officer. If you don't want the opportunity, then I can let you be."

"What you lookin' at so hard?"

"Nothing important, Spen, just looking over the filter. I helped install a bunch of these, you know." He looks over at the camera and frowns but nods fractionally before looking back at his partner, a smile on his face. "This one needs a couple adjustments. You two go on ahead, yeah?"

"Ooh, my mom would love some of those for her party tomorrow night," exclaims the young lady, grabbing Spen's arm. "Where can we get some?" She points excitedly at the small sleak creatures darting around the tank. "They look so tasty!"

"Yeah," the officer answers. "There's a stand not too far away. Up by the garage, you know the place, Dunc?"

"Sure, the russet furred cook. See you there." He bends over the filtration unit, ostensibly to loosen a cover plate.

Spen leads his friend off down the tunnel. Once they pass beyond hearing I relay the list of names and locations to him. I make sure he knows that it was Donna's doing. He regains his cocky smile after and heads off with a brief thanks.

It really isn't fair to Donna. She's doing the work, but won't receive any credit. How can we make it up to her? Station files have a number of minor infractions, many of them still unpaid. She had originally come to Yosip's attention after being caught selling stolen goods.

If she's having financial troubles, that's something I can fix. By listing myself as a station employee, I'm entitled to an income. I also have very little use for credits, so enough to cover her debt should be within my power.

I wait until she and her brother are alone in a tunnel before letting her know about her bonus. She jumps when she hears my voice, but quickly calms down.

"You did what, now?" Her voice is calm, almost icy, though her glare is hot enough to melt glass. Her brother stands off to one side, keeping a vigilant watch for passing criminals.

"I transferred a large sum of credits to your account," I reply. "More than enough to pay off your legal obligations to the station, or whatever you choose to do with it."

"That part I understand," she states slowly, clearly enunciating her words. "I've also handed Jetanda enough bribes lately that I can recognize when I'm being offered one."

Her midnight fur stands almost on end, though her body is relaxed, leaning forward slightly. Her upper claws twitch slightly, in her clear eagerness to know how she can repay my kindness.

"I don't want you to do anything."

She and her brother share a glance in silence. Donan nudges his sister with the back of his claws, urging her to thank me, undoubtedly. He mumbles something to her, but the only word I can understand is Skint.

"Wait. No, I know what this is. You want a favor back. Later." Pacing back and forth, she's getting quite worked up. "Fine. But my price isn't so small. Pay off Skint's debt, too."

It takes only a moment to access Skint's files, and they are in an even worse state that hers had been. Fines for property damage, personal assault, and all of that compounded by failure to pay. Somehow he had gotten so deeply in debt that he'll never be able to pay it off. It drains my personal account to the bottom and still isn't enough.

Dunc's voice interrupts us, over his underling's suit comms. "You two've been doing good work," he says. "And I think you deserve a reward. Take the rest of the shift off, we'll discuss this tomorrow first thing."

The siblings are quiet for some time as they digest the latest from their boss. It seems Dunc has had time to report back to Yosip, and wants to thank them properly for his good fortune.