Small Universe, Smaller Mustelidae

Posted on Sat Jul 11th, 2026 @ 3:56am by Ensign Auren & Lieutenant Brendan Dernah

1,029 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Crisis at Zeta-294
Location: Deck 5 Officers Quarters
Timeline: MD 3

"Oh no... Luc! Qu'est-ce que tu fais?" Auren nearly tripped as he ran through the open doors of his quarters, passing by his roommate he had yet to introduce himself to. Great, he figured this would make a wonderful first impression. “Désolé—he’s mine! Luc!”

Several meters ahead, an excited brown ferret with a white-furred face and socks, was bounding happily down the corridor. His curious chirps drew the attention of some more people. One Andorian woman pressed herself up against a bulkhead and let out a little scream as he slinked up to her and sniffed a boot. A pair of humans chuckled and parted ways on either side to let the running creature by as he continued on and vanished around a corner.

"Please, wait!" Auren called out, bounced off a bulkhead, regained his balance, and leaned in his run, and chased after his pet.

Brendan heard someone calling after something and turned just in time to see a furry something crawl up his leg and up his back. Once, the critter reached his shoulder he was able to discern what it was. "Well, hello there to you too," Brendan spoke to the ferret like it was a person which was probably why his two bonded to him so well and quickly.

The ferret chittered to him in return and began to sniff all over his face. "Oh, you must be wondering why I smell so much like you. That's easy. I have two of my own. Perhaps you'd like to meet them sometime?" Brendan responded to the tiny creature's cold wet nost all over his face.

Just a couple of seconds behind, Auren came running up. Saw with a sinking sensation that his pet was accosting a full lieutenant. "I am so sorry," he said, not sounding exactly stressed about it, but still perhaps a bit contrite. "He won't bite, sir. Luc, come here." The ferret just lifted his head to stare at Auren a moment, squeaked, then ignored him and went back to his sniffing.

"He's curious, Ensign...?" Brendan said by way of a question. He was obviously enjoying the wet nose on his face.

"Oh," relief was visible when he saw that the man wasn't offended. Just like that, all the worry vanished and was replaced with a grin, and touch of a French accent, "Auren, sir. And that's Luc. Nice to meet you. I promise I won't sniff you or climb all over you too."

"I have a pair of albino Denebian ferrets of my own so I know how they get when they catch a scent," Brendan simply laughed. "Brendan Dernah, Operations Chief, pleasure to meet you, Auren."

"You do? Ah, no wonder..." Auren closed the last meter or so, gave Brendan an apologetic shrug, and held out his arm near the man's shoulder. Luc gave another squeak and decided he'd had enough for now, hopped back to his owner who lowered his arm. In a second he'd settled around Auren's neck, nibbling at an ear lobe. He gave the long, furry pet a couple of idle strokes under the chin. "Nice to meet you too. Small universe, isn't it? Ferret owners, lightyears from home, either our own or where these funny little guys come from. Are the Denebians very different from the Terrans?"

"Yes I do. They're more like children to me, not simply pets. I think it was they who adopted me and not the other way around. I was on Deneb during a relief mission when I heard a fluttering in my thoughts so I followed the impression to an overturned wall. After about 10 minutes of digging, I uncovered a pair of albino ferrets. They had been there for what I discovered was 3 days and needed to see a veterinarian who worked extensively with Denebian animals.

"Eventually, I was able to adopt them officially and we're been together ever since. Though it hasn't been all goodness and light, there have been pitfalls but we've all come through them better for the experience, in my opinion. I'm sure Dino and Mino would love to meet you and your furry critter sometime. In a way, they're more social then I am," Brendan said with a laugh.

"Oh, sure, we can probably manage that sometime, Lieutenant," Auren confirmed with a nod. "I'm literally just getting settled in, and I guess Luc wanted to explore his new home a little too freely. Any advice you can share about the Wolff?"

"It's an open and inviting ship, though I'll admit it's taken me a while to get used to the crew and them to me," Brendan replied. "Your superior, Lieutenant Rowe should be able to assist you more."

"There's some stories there, I'm sure," the pilot said with a grin, wondering just what people had to 'get used to' about the lieutenant. "Maybe you can share some if we bump into each other in the mess. Or if Luc comes over to play. Feel free to send an invite when it's a good time." The ferret on his shoulders chittered away in his ears. "It's dinner time, so I had better take care of that before he runs off again and tries to snack on an Andorian or something."

"Remember, they are predators so keep Luc fed or you may run into a problem with the first Andorian he runs into," Brendan said with a smirk on his face that could be seen from the Arachnid Nebula.

"Nice to meet you, Lieutenant," Auren replied with an nod. He had a replicator recipe that would meet Luc's requirements and seemed to be pretty tasty too. He took Luc in his hands to make sure the squirmy little fellow wouldn't run off again on him on the way back to his quarters. "And say hi to Dino and Mino from us."

"You as well, Ensign and they'll be looking forward to meeting you as well," Brendan said as Auren took his ferret and left for his quarters. This should make for an interesting voyage now.

---

OFF

Lieutenant Brendan Dernah
Chief Operations Officer
USS Wolff

Ensign Auren
Flight Control Officer
USS Wolff

 

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