They're rescuing felines and cleaners from a defunct station that was being decommissioned due to its age and how much damage it suffered. Unfortunately, sadly, some of the animals were very skittish, so they had to use live-traps to make sure they were all gently caught and brought to safety. -- Anon Guest
The good news was that Cleaners would follow any old trail of garbage, so they were quickly lured into safe containment. The other good news was that Skitties were genetically programmed to seek out lifepods and shelter there in urgent situations.
Most of them were safe.
The bad news was that some of the Skitties were, in Human terms, "extra spicy". The instant the doors started to close, some fled back into the station. They didn't trust cogniscent life and fled any approaching footfalls.
They always trusted food.
It was a progression. Lay out food in a specific area at specific times. Ignore the eyeshine of the watching felids, lurking in the tangled wreckage where none could grab them. Leave and let the cameras do the watching.
The next step, once a maximum number of eyes were seen in the wreckage, was to place those servings in a trap they could easily escape.
Once they were used to that, they armed the traps. Set to capture, not kill. Once captured, the cages were shipped to the replacement station, and the new colony space for these "spicy" Skitties.
They would have everything they needed. As well as some things they just had to get used to. Like an attendant Human whose job it was to sit and be chill and not be a source of tension. They would often have their own Skitty nestling on their lap.
When a station is decommissioned, all life forms are saved. Even the "expendable" gengineered life forms made for basic maintenance duties. Even the pests.
All living things have their place. It's never a good idea to disrupt a station's biota with too many introductions or eliminations. Such things have lead to disasters before, and many see it as a duty to make sure they never lead to disasters again.
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