Medical Leave

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

09/13/98:

A knock on the door roused me from my reading. Setting the
PADD down with the others on the bed I looked up to see who
had come to visit.

Rachel was standing just inside the door, she seemed
relaxed, but there was an air of tension about her. It only
seemed to show in the way her ears keep flicking around,
almost as if searching for a stalking hunter.

I smiled to see her, waving a paw in her direction. "Come
in, please. Take a seat, I'm sure there is one that's
empty."

She returned the smile, walking into the room and closing
the door after her. Clearing a stack of PADDs that was
covering a chair, she sat down.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I've been better," I said as I reached down to touch my
side, causing me to winch. "I should be out in a day or two
more."

"Why so long?" She asked.

Resting my paw on the small curve of my belly I smiled,
purring softly. "A few of the healing drugs can some times
cause a miscarriage. This is a strange enough pregnancy
already the doctors felt it would be better for everyone if
I was allowed to heal naturally."

She nodded, grinning wide. "I understand perfectly."

"What brings you here anyway?" I asked, pulling myself up in
the bed and crossing my legs under the sheets.

Rachel sighed, her smile fading. "We are having some
problems."

I frowned. "Is something wrong with Fox?"

She shook her head. "No, I stopped by to see her yesterday.
Rhea's doing fine in the zoo, and seemed very happy to know
that you were all right."

"That good then, then what exactly are your problems?"

Taking in a short breath she leaned forward. "Do you know
what happened with Fox in the Council chambers?"

I shook my head. "Only what's been on the news."

"Which is just a few seconds of Fox yelling," she said.

I nodded in agreement.

"Did you know that Dwight had left orders to keep Fox from
seeing the Council?" Rachel continued.

I shook my head slowly. That was a strange order to give
considering they were talking about the Theriamorphs in the
Council session. It made sense to have Fox there so he could
tell them what happened.

She smiled. "I suppose you wouldn't have, they never show
any of the interesting parts. Actually, Dwight has been
giving a good reason to have keep Fox out of the session.
What has most of the Council members talking though is Fox's
comment that if he had followed Dwight's orders all the
Theriamorphs would be dead."

A grin slowly spread accost my muzzle. "Your asking if I
know anything about it. Sorry no, Fox didn't mention
anything about his trip. Though he did give me something to
go and hide."

Her ears perked up. "What was in it?"

"I didn't open it," I answered, "I just gave it to--"

Rachel shoot her paw in the air, making assorted noises to
silence me. "Please don't tell me, or anyone else. It's best
if no one but you knows where it is."

I frowned, my ears lowering slightly. "What exactly is going
on?"

She sighed slowly, rising to her feet. "Dwight originally
rubbed both Fox and I the wrong way when we first meet him.
That's why appointed Fox to the position that I did. It's
turned out that many in the Council have felt the same way."

Placing on of her paws on my leg she continued. "After the
show Fox put in, many people have started to question his
actions. Why he was so focused on the Plague mostly. He's
always seem to have been driven by it."

"What have you found out?" I asked, knowing there was more
to this then just what she was saying.

Without moving her head she scanned the room with both her
eyes and ears. "Dwight is also after Ren, all the Council
and Hall guards have orders to arrest him on sight, as do
the police all on Prid. The official reason is disobeying a
direct order, but we know there's more." As she talked her
voice was slowly getting softer, just barely above a
whisper.

"How much more?" I asked back in the same hushed tone.

"Dwight gave Fox orders to set off a biological bomb if he
found out that the Plague was intentionally released. It
would have killed every Theriamorph in their world, complete
genocide. Once Fox found out he refused, which is why he
made the deal he did. Ren knew about it as well, and once
they came back, he went to Jadith who sent him to me. He's
now hiding somewhere."

I was speechless, the idea of the Council Head ordering such
a mass slaughter seemed some how inconceivable. Here I was
though, being told just that. It sent me reeling, the
implications of this were tremendous, if this got out it
would be the end of the Council.

Rachel apparently could see the thoughts and emotions
playing out over my muzzles and in my eyes. She nodded
slowly. "You might not be surprised to know that it gets
worse." As she spoke her voice slowly returned to it's
normal volume.

No, that didn't surprise me at all.

"We've been tracing the origins of the bomb," she said after
a short pause to lick her lips. "Starting with everyone who
could make such a weapon and working back. In the past two
weeks we've managed to get it traced down to a front
company. Page is working on tracing it back to who owns and
runs it."

"Why?" I asked in a stunned voice.

"Because people will argue that someone was playing Dwight
for a fool. We have to prove he knew what he was ordering
Fox to do."

"And then what?" I asked, leaning forward slightly. "Tell
the world that the Council Head wishes to take vengeance on
an whole race for the murder of millions? That may destroy
the Council, or even make him stronger. People will support
his choice to do this, there will always be people like
that."

She shook her head slowly. "We're working on a plan, I've
already arrange to have a closed session of the Council the
day after Fox get's out. The session will not be broadcast
either. People won't know what's going on until it's already
happened."

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"You do understand that seance the Hammerheads the Council
has been rebuilt from the ground up." She answered, "it's
held together by only the most tenuous of threads. What we
know, and even think we might know... it will sever almost
every single one of those threads."

She paused, closing her eyes and taking in a gulp of air.
"The Council will not last out the month. Dwight has
destroyed it."

I slumped down in the bed, shaking my head slowly. "Great
empires rise and fall on the whim of a single man," I said,
quoting from the Book of Thryn.

"There will be a power void," She explained. "Right now I'm
working with a few others on how to fill it; we need
something to replace the Council immediately. It may not
stand for more then a few years, but it will lead the way
for a new infrastructure."

I sighed, shaking my head. "So in one swift move you plan to
destroy the Council and replace it. With only a month of
planning on your part."

She nodded. "A few of the Council members are already
involved. Theo and Laina of course, but there are others as
well. A few worlds are already quietly backing us, Dwight
having unnerved there governments in the past months. There
really is no other choice that anyone can see. We can not
just simply replace Dwight, he has caused to much damage,
and it goes to deep to stop now."

"What about my world?" I asked, "or any of the other limited
contact verses, what do you plan to do for them once the
government they've started to depend on goes away?"

"I don't know," She answered after a short pause for
thought. "There are still so many details left to work out."

"I'll try to help in anyway I can." I said.

She nodded slowly, returning to her chair and sitting back
down.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes before I returned
to the PADD I was working on when Rachel had knocked on the
door.

"So, what's with all the PADDs, brushing up on your world's
history?" she asked with a soft chuckle.

I smiled. "Job applications for the shipyard. There's a lot
that needs to be done and that neither Fox and I can do or
have the time to do. So I'm hiring people."

"I always wanted to start my own business," Rachel said with
a wistful smile.

I grinned. "Then don't, this is nothing like taking charge
of an existing company. There's so much to be done, we may
officially be a ship yard, but we still need a business
license, find a construction yard other then our current
bay, deal with all the laws, and taxes, and still show a
profit after our third year."

"Sounds like you need a business partner."

"I know, I've already considered calling in my father, this
is the kind of thing he loves." I sighed a bit, "but he is
my father and still doesn't approve of me or what I've done
with my life."

She nodded, "So, are you planning to get some help?"

"That's what I'm looking through right now." I said, holding
up the PADD. "These are applications for running the head
office. To handle all the day to day stuff, including hiring
everyone I can't think of."

She nodded again. "Find anyone yet?" She asked with a sly
smile.

I smiled slowly, reading past some of the data in the PADD.
It was reports from the current applicants former employers.
I called them up a few days ago and they had come in that
morning. It all confirmed what the application said. "I
think so," I said, setting the PADD down. "There is one lady
who seems to be head and shoulders above everyone else."

Rachel smiled, her ears twitching slightly. "Is that so,
what's her name?"

"Moriya," I responded, "that's her full name. She seems to
be kind of a startup god from what her past employers have
to say. The fact that she applied here at all is a sign that
she thinks we'll be successful."

"Oh," Rachel said, sounding startled, "I was expecting
someone else."

I let half a smile play over my muzzle. "I know, Dun, he's
not as near qualified as Moriya."

She smiled, standing up. "I though he could help you, but I
didn't want to recommend him directly to you. How did you
know?"

"Because there where only two applications."

She burst out laughing, walking over and giving me a quick
hug. "All right, sense you've made your choice I guess I'll
take off then. There's still a lot for me to do before I can
rest."

I nodded. "Good luck."

She smiled. "If you want you can check out early and go
visit Fox, I'm sure she would love to see you in person
instead of just being reassured."

I shook my head. "They won't let me go just yet."

"I bet if you walked out that door and told the duty nurse
that you wanted to check out. Telling them they could call
you back for anything else, they would let you go."

"And why would they do that?" I asked, as I started to get
the felling that I already knew.

She smiled, opening the door. "Lets just say a little vixen
told them shall we." She said with a laugh as she left the
room.

I chuckled to myself and started to collect my things.

-----

This story is (c) 1998 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.
The Theriamorphs are (c) 1998 by Chris Bradford.