---    Thawed.

Shannon awoke, which was an unexpected, though pleasant surprise.  The sound of beeping electronics were all around her, and the non-smell of an overly sterile room told her that she was either in a medical bay, or that her olfactory system was not working properly yet.  Slowly opening her eyes she saw that her original assumption had been correct.  It was indeed a medical bay, and judging by the height of the ceilings and the enormous bed she was on, it was on board a draconian vessel.

Her right arm was restrained in a sling and the shoulder heavily bandaged.  'Same body.' she realized, then noticed that her hands were bandaged to the point of being mittens.  There was no pain when she used them to swivel herself to the edge of the bed, so nothing appeared broken.  She then gently shook her head from side to side, to verify that it did not make her dizzy or nauseous.  Once she was sure that her inner ears were working properly, she slid off the bed and onto the floor, disconnecting sensors and pulling out the IV drips in the process.

The medical equipment wailed as she made her way to the bathroom.  A quick glance in the mirror showed that most of the fur on her ears and around her muzzle was missing, the now visible skin swollen and inflamed.  Looking at her mittens again, she realized it must be frostbite.  'I wonder how bad', she thought.  A quick check found all of her fingers sore and tingly, but at least there were the correct number of them.  Now that she was vertical and moving about, other parts of her body were reminding her of their existence. 'At least that part of me has thawed out', she thought to herself.

The dragon arrived in her room as she was attempting to climb back into the bed one handed.  The brief excursion had been more exhausting than she thought possible, and the bed was exceptionally high for someone her size.

"You should take it easy.  You've been mostly dead all day", said the dragon, as he helped her onto the bed and began reattaching sensors, to silence the cacophony of alarms.

Shannon reinserted the IV drips herself before slumping back onto the pillow and looking up at the dragon.  They stared at each other for a few moments, wondering which would start nagging the other first.

"We have to stop meeting like this?", she asked jokingly.

"The messes you leave behind are getting damn expensive", he said, shaking his head.

"Not to worry", she replied. "Next time I will make sure there is nothing left to recover."

"I'm not worried.  I have enough saved up in my personal account to keep you in replacement bodies for the rest of MY natural life", said the dragon.  "Bodies are cheap, its the mess you made with that ship that is expensive."

Shannon bit her lip nervously.  "Oops."

"The shipping lanes around Maramus are going to be a navigational nightmare for a couple years at least", he added, doing a poor job of trying to sound angry.  "Impressive that only sixteen people died in all of that.   The primary reactor should have caught twice that many on its own."  He walked to the end of the bed, and perched himself on a tall stool.  "You've been fired, by the way," he concluded.

Shannon nodded. "Not surprised.  All accesses revoked?"

"Yes, and your remote networking has been disabled," said Dro.

Shannon looked uneasy.

"Don't worry, I performed the deactivation myself.  There was no way I was going to let anyone else tinker around inside your head without your permission," he said

She relaxed again, letting out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"You are a lowly civilian again", Dro sighed.  "I wont lie, you came out lucky.  There were some on the review board that suggested having you archived."

"Also not surprising", she sighed, "I'm sure I made a few people very, very angry."

"It wont last", comforted the dragon, "Anyone inside Security with ties to the Oroyo are going to be too busy covering their own tracks to worry about you now."

"So how is 'the family' taking it?", asked Shannon.

"Badly", said the dragon, curling his lips in what Shannon had learned to interpret as a smirk.  "The trading guild has all but collapsed.  Federation controlled space is now split into a couple dozen fiefdoms.  Regional admins  are trying to assert power over the trading rights and contracts in their jurisdiction.  There are also at least six obscure bloodlines trying to lay claim to the Oroyo legacy.  It's chaos."

"Good", she sighed.  She knew she should feel good about that, but could not bring herself to smile.  Her thoughts kept returning to her actions in the med-bay, and what she had attempted to do to her grandmother.  The part that disturbed her the most, was not the image of the old woman's frozen face, but how good it had felt to watch her die.  That frightened her.

"I suspect that you will need at least a couple more days here in medical, before they release you.  Then we can start hunting down your sister-in-law," said Dro.

Shannon's face drooped. "How am I supposed to do that?  I no longer have clearance, and I'm not your partner anymore."

Dro tilted his head slightly.  "Just because you aren't working for Internal Security, doesn't mean you can't work for me," he said.

"You mean, freelancing?" asked Shannon.

"More like, sub-contracting," replied Dro.  "Essentially the same job, but for less pay.  Besides, you never liked the uniform anyway."

Shannon gave a weak smile at that.

"Oh, speaking of family, I have something for you", he said, opening the satchel at his side.  "I don't pretend to understand the custom, but I know you Mephs consider it important.  I had it cleaned, if that makes a difference."

Reaching into the bag, he removed a long brush of luxurious silver gray fur with a bright double stripe of white down the center.

Shannon's eyes grew wide and began to tear up, then she curled up and began rocking in the fetal position as the memories redoubled upon her.  Falling to one side, she began sobbing uncontrollably, as she remembered what she had learned about her father's death, and what she had intended to do with that tail.  The medical monitors wavered wildly.

The dragon stuffed the tail back into the satchel and stepped back just as a Rakshasan doctor and orderly rushed into the room.  The doctor immediately attended Shannon, while the orderly made futile attempts to convince the dragon he needed to leave the room.  He might as well have been a fly buzzing around the dragon's face, for all the good it did.  To his credit, Dro resisted the urge to swat him.  Eventually Shannon calmed down, and was able to converse with the doctor about her current condition.  After repeated reassurances that she was feeling better, just very tired and emotional, the two felines left the room.

The dragon approached the bed again.  "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have...", he began.

Shannon locked eyes with Dro, drew her feet up under herself and stood on the bed.  Walking to the edge, trailing wires and tubes, she planted one foot on the dragons belt, then leaned forward and stepped up.  Wrapping her arms around his neck, and pressing her face against the side of his jaw.  She began sniffling again as she fought off tears.

Unsure how to react to this awkward situation, Dro decided the best course of action would be to wrap his arms about her.  'For support so she doesn't fall', he justified to himself, in case anyone saw them.

The doctor chose that moment to return to the room, but upon seeing their embrace, immediately remembered several less important things she could be checking on instead, and left.

"Shannon?", the dragon started again.

"Just shut up, and let me hug you", she sniffled.