Not all jobs on the Pioneer are for the faint hearted; some jobs require a team of special trained marines, the Black Ops, under the leadership of lieutenant Kjeld Hingsterud. Fortunately, the Pioneer got these two well-trained marines, Lyrona Gósh-Rovit and Menuo Prá-Viro. The two of them work together for years, and their co-operation brought them so close together, that their feelings for each other even turned into a loving marriage. Even though the two Locheri - not to be confused with the Terran Megalocheri, who share a similar body plan - are not from Earth, they are still welcome to serve on the Pioneer.

Lyrona specialises in stealth and extraction missions. She may be armed, but prefers to use force as little as possible, and keep collateral damage to an absolute minimum. She puts here large lower hand to good use, even climbing to or hanging from locations others find hard to reach. She is praised by her superiors for her surgical precision in executing her missions. However, her secret is her partner Menuo, who provides her with all the information she needs. He monitors the situation from further back, giving her instructions how to get in or out of enemy territory and be an extra pair of eyes and ears, having a broader overview of the area via his computer screens. Their tight co-operation is what leads to their missions being a success every time.

Menuo is also a talented hacker. He has broken in many enemy systems, and regularly tests the ship's own systems for any security flaws or exploits. His findings have been instrumental in improving the Terran Fleet's cybersecurity. He's also the deputy chief Communication & Operations, assisting Chintaka in her daily job. Lyrona is part of the regular security team if she's not on a mission, and she's quite a yoga enthusiast since her Terran colleagues introduced it to her.
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The Locheri are a bit different from the Terran handtaurs, the Mechalocheri. Despite having a similar name, they have very different origins. Both have been created as an experiment by the nebulous Precursors of the Federation many centuries ago. However, the Locheri are an uplifted species from another planet, a feline-like predator that has turned into an omnivore (with a surprising amount of variety, as Lyrona and Menuo's very strikingly different visual appearance shows). Another thing that sets them apart from the Megalocheri is that they lack tails altogether. Their lower hand can either be a left hand or a right hand, each hand having various meanings in the variety of Locheri cultures. It's a common belief that every Locheri should look for a partner of the other hand, as the two hands fit together very well during ... naughty stuff. The Locheri do mix in well with the Terrans, even though most of their people don't seem to have discovered Terra as a (tourist) destination yet.
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I had these two designed for a while, so I'm very happy to finally present these two you. This world could use some more hand-taurs!

UFIS story universe is by  sabrina-taur

SFW naked alt

Drawn in InkScape, finished in Affinity Designer.