With a bright flash, the StarLion came back into
normspace around the planet Earth.  The beautiful white cloud
swirls danced over the oceans.  The land masses were a
uniform grey color.  The massive ring of debris from past
space flights and orbiting ships swooped past the curve of
Earth.
     But no human on Earth noticed the arrival of the AFF
(Animal Freedom Fighter) ship.  The moment it entered
normspace, the stealth shields were put up.
     On the bridge  of the long, sleek warship, Commander,
the commander of the AFF starfleet in this sector, paced back
and forth by a viewport.  Unfortunately, the stealth shield
blotted out the view of anything outside.  He knew how risky
being this close to a human planet was, even with the best
hiding technology there was, and he preferred to see if
anything was coming.  The shield blocked out their own
sensors too.
     "Commander, we are at the farthest point from any
Shieldor." reported S.C. (Second in Command), Commander's
best friend and personal aide.
     "Good," Commander rumbled.  He turned to a cluster of
consoles and operators.  "Drop shields, and commence a
Class-1 bioscan for humans and another for animals."
     He turned back towards the viewports.  They cleared for
a moment, then dimmed.  "Done," announced one of the
operators.
     Commander stalked over to where S.C. was standing next
to a small hologram generator.  "Well?" he said after a
moment and nothing had happened, "What's wrong with it?"
     "Probably broken," snorted S.C.  He disliked machines
and technology.
     "It's just transferring the data," said the scanner
operator.  "Takes a couple of seconds."
     The hologram generator hummed, and a holo of the planet
Earth appeared.  Floating next to it was a couple of control
buttons.  Commander put his finger on the `human population
density' tag, and suddenly Earth changed colors, from green
and blue to red, except for a small portion of Australia,
most of Antarctica, and small freckles of green scattered
around.  There was a small graph showing the color equivalent
of population.  Red was the most dense.  There was also a
long number floating by the graph.  It said, "Human Pop.:
14,000,000,000."
     "Hmm."  Commander touched the `animal population'
button.  The hologram of Earth changed to a sentence in large
letters: "Too scattered to display.  Centered mostly in
Australia.  Total Pop: Approx.  10,000."
     S.C. growled.  "Those humans are gonna pay."

               *         *         *         *


     Ray Shoman leaned back and stretched in his comfortable
chair.  He was a sensor technician on Shieldor-1, one of the
four platforms that orbited Earth.  The main purpose of the
Shieldors was to shoot down any large meteors that was coming
towards Earth and could possibly land.  With the cities that
covered most of the continents, a meteor smashing into the
ground could pose a problem.
     But the Shieldors were also battle stations, complete
with 22 squadrons of fighters.  The Shieldors were tough, and
very useful in a space battle.
     Suddenly, his sensor scope pinged.  Ray glanced at the
screen in front of him.  "An unidentified (possibly hostile)
ship appeared, then disappeared in a few seconds in quadrant
C4.  While appearing, beamed an unknown sensor type at
surface of Earth.  No jumping tracks," Ray mumbled to himself
as he read the screen.  "Computer, what type of ship?"  The
super computer hummed for a second, then flashed, "Unknown."
     "Hmm."  Ray touched the intercom button on the monitor.
"Sir, you'd better come down and take a look at this.  I got
an unknown ship on my screen a second ago."  His supervisor
acknowledged, and in a couple of minutes, he came up behind
Ray.
     "What happened?" he asked gruffly.
     "Sir, my screen caught an unknown ship appearing, making
a scan of Earth, then disappearing, without any jump tracks."
     "Replay it, and have the computer display the scan's
characteristics."  Ray did so, and his supervisor examined
the two things.  "That scan is different from any I know of.
And I don't recognize the ship." He scratched his chin.  "I'm
bringing it to the CEDF.  Call me if anything else shows up."
He stuck a data card in the slot, transferred the
information, then took it and marched away.
     Ray reset his screen, and leaned back in his chair
again.

               *         *         *         *

     Ray's supervisor was named Frank Delon, and was a
captain in the Fleet, with 10 years of experience behind him.
As he marched to the captain's quarters, he fingered the data
card, and racked his mind as to what the ship was.  He still
hadn't figured it out by the time he reached the door to the
CEDF's room.  He pushed the intercom button beside the door.
     "Sir, I have something odd that we picked up.  I think
you ought to-"  He cut himself off as the door hissed open.
     "Come in," said the smooth and calm voice of the
Commander of the Earth's Defense Forces (CEDF).  Captain
Delon stepped into the room.  "What do you have?" CEDF asked,
turning his chair around from a large bank of technical
read outs of various parts of the ship.
     "A sensor tech picked up a ship in quadrant C4.  the
computer couldn't identify the ship, or the sensor scan it
did."  Delon took out the data card.  "I have the readings
here."
     CEDF pointed at a console next to him.  "Put it in
there, first slot on top."  Captain Delon stepped over, and
popped in the card.   The room automatically dimmed, and the
wall in front of them suddenly lit up.  It was actually a
large monitor.  Pretty fancy stuff, in the captain's opinion.
     "Interesting."  CEDF stroked his chin.  "I have never
seen that type of sensor beam, but that ship..."  He
scrutinized the ship closely.  "It reminds me sort of..."  He
drew in his breath sharply, and turned to Captain Delon.  "I
want you to launch some scout ships out in that quadrant."
     Captain Delon looked at his superior.  "Can I ask why,
sir?"
     "Orders first.  See me in the main bridge after the
scouts go, and I'll explain."
     "Yes, sir!"  Captain Delon saluted, then turned to carry
out his orders, wondering what was going on.

               *         *         *         *

     Commander was gazing out the large viewport, thinking
about the beginning of the AFF.  Humans had been making some
large leaps in biotechnology, and one scientist was curious
as to whether or not you could combine human and animal DNA,
and create a sort of were wolf type of creature.  Apparently,
you could.
     His first success was a wolf/human, but he made quite a
few other species.  The creatures he made looked like the
animal standing, but their height was an average between a
human's height, and the animal's length.  They didn't have
paws, but hands, although they retained the claws.  They did
have tails, a coat of fur, those long muzzles and teeth, and
many of the instincts and sharper senses of the animal they
were.  About the only things they got from the human side of
them was the upright posture, the ability to speak human
languages, and a better-than-human brain.  Indeed, they were
smarter than their human creators.
     Delighted with his work, the scientist started making
more.  The animal/humans were made for mostly the
entertainment of humans.  In fact, they were treated like
animals.  Humans used them as `workers' in dangerous jobs,
conducted tests on them, showed them on entertainment shows,
and basically, showed no sign of care towards them.  In fact,
there was even a colosseum type of thing, where the
animal/humans were forced to fight each other.  Occasionally,
they might take one of the foxes, turn it loose in the city,
and have hunters see who could be the first to shoot the
animal.  It was no real surprise then, that they were real
sick of humans.
     So far, most of them had been kept on Earth.  There
might have been one or two on other planets, but not many.
The largest concentration was probably in the colosseum
place, and they were the first to rebel.  They were all the
types of animals that humans liked to hunt and get killed:
wolves, lions, tigers, a few foxes, and others like that.
     One night, they all broke out from their cages, and
killed most of the security guards there, as well as anyone
else who got in their way.
     Once out, there was no people on the street, and the
animal/humans were not noticed, even though there were around
2,000 carnivorous animals, at least.
     For some reason, the colosseum was very close to a
spaceport, where they hijacked a couple of ships, and blasted
out to space.  Then the stolen ships all made a jump out as
far as they could together.  Since they had all captured a
passenger ship designed for travel within the Solar System,
they had a limited supply of food onboard.  So when they saw
a freighter cruising by as it prepared for its own jump, the
escapees pretended that they were actually a regular flight
of passenger ships, and very low on food.  The freighter
agreed to dock with them and give each of them a load of food
(it was a food freighter).  When it did, the transfer crew
were the first ones dead, before the animal/humans invaded
and killed every human on the freighter.
     Although the freighter had mostly food like ice cream
and other foods that humans relish and animals dislike, there
was still a plentiful supply of meat on board for all the
ships.  After that, they started looking for a planet to live
on to gather their strength, and get their revenge on the
human race.  They found one.
     The planet was one that was very far out, and very
similar to Earth.  Of course, humans had settled there, but
only in a single colony a long time ago.  They had decided to
forget about it, as it was too far away from any other human
settlement.  The settlers were struggling for their survival,
as they had nothing except what they had on their original
landing ship.  The newborn AFF quickly extinguished their
lives, and settled in, getting rid of the human settlement.
They hunted the native animals for food with no weapons but
their own claws and teeth.  They increased their numbers as
well.
     Back on Earth, the other animal/humans got ideas from
the colosseum escape, and within a year, almost all of the
animals had escaped, or at least tried to.  Maybe 200 got
captured in the escape attempts, and they were taken to a
jail or something, although no animal knew where.  The AFF on
the new planet expected the escape attempts, so they took one
of the ships they had stolen, and jumped around, broadcasting
where the escaping animals should go.  They didn't use
English, of course.  They spoke in a language that was a
mixture of all the animal species languages, which the humans
never had and never would understand.  This language was
called Traditional.  However, some words didn't get passed
around, so lions occasinally will use words that a wolf would
have no idea of what it meant, and vice versa.
     Aside from the short chases and warnings to tell the
authorities if an AFF was sighted, the humans gave up trying
to catch them.  The AFF did cause some upcries when they
stole warships from colonies that had some.  They had even
taken an entire warship building facility, and the half made
ships around it.  With this facility, they had made a very
impressive Star Fleet.
     But all that had happened five years after the escape.
The humans had started to forget about them.
     Now, fifteen years later, the humans would remember.
     Commander was the main leader of the AFF ships in this
sector responsible for eradicating humans.  His group was
called a pride, since he was a lion, but if, say, a wolf was
commanding, his group would be called a pack.
     His pride consisted of at least ten capital ships, and a
few squadrons of starfighters in each one, and quite a few
landing groups.  The largest ship was a Galaxy-class warship.
You see, the AFF were never much for names.  They just
classified ships by their sizes, and what was the main
species on board.  Thus, the StarLion was a Star class, with
mostly lions on board.  The different sizes were, from
largest to smallest: Galaxy, Nova, Star, Planet, and Moon.
     No matter what the main species on board, you would
almost always find hawks, eagles, and falcons flying the
fighters, which were the best in the galaxy.  These birds of
prey had retained their wings, which had quite a wingspan,
maybe ten feet on the younger ones, and twenty on the adults.
They couldn't really fly, but they could glide, like humans
used to with their hang gliders.  They had kept their superb
flying ability, and they showed it in the few space battles
they had been in so far, easily moping up the human fighters.
     The fighter ships themselves were quick, agile craft
that had only minimal armor, and no shields.  The only form
of protection they had was the pilots' skill, and a special,
extremely shiny coat that could reflect a few laser bolts.
Even though the laser would still show a burn mark on the
armor, it still prevented a single blast from destroying the
craft.  However, the more skilled pilots tended to scorn the
protection, believing that if you got shot, you were not good
enough to fly.  So far, no fighters had even been touched
yet.
     The landing groups were invariably made up of
carnivorous animals.  These fierce groups could easily
overpower and destroy a human group that was larger than them
in hand to hand combat.  Unfortunately, humans carried guns
and avoided the close combat that the animals preferred.
That's why the AFF always snuck up on their targets, and took
them out before the humans even knew they were there.  Very
few AFF liked guns, even though they had them.
     So far, Commander's pride had hit only a few small space
stations on the rim of this sector, jamming their calls for
help while the fighter squadrons took out the station's own
defenses and shields.  Then the capital ships would fire a
barrage of electron gun bursts.  The electron guns were
almost like lightning bolts, frying the station's electronics
and stunning the humans inside.  Then the landing groups went
onto the stations and took all of the human's guns and other
weapons.
     Then the real fun began as the humans recovered from the
stun affects.  Each landing group would have a certain amount
of time to hunt down as many humans as they could, while the
ships would make sure no one tried to cheat by running away.
So far, group 24 of the StarLion and group 6 of the NovaWolf
were tied for first, with 174 humans each.  Commander and
S.C. were in group 24.
     Commander grinned, baring his long fangs, as he recalled
how fun it was chasing down the humans.  But he was broken
out of his reverie as S.C. nudged him.  "When we launching
the scouts?"
     Commander shook his head.  "Uh, in a couple of minutes.
Can you have someone go get them?"
     S.C. nodded.  "I'll go.  Where are they?"
     "They're in..." Commander consulted a computer, and
fiddled with the touchscreen. "..the Deck," he finally said.
The Deck was a large room with trees, some grassy areas, and
a lake where off-duty animals could go and hunt each other,
or catch some food.  It was the largest single area in the
ship.
     "All of them?" asked S.C.  Commander nodded.  "Oh, joy.
I'll get them up here right away."

               *         *         *         *

     The two best fighter pilots in the EDF Fleet were in the
hangar bay of Shieldor-1, examining their ships and trading
war stories.  They were friends since elementary school, and
remained close ever since.  Both of them grew up in Southern
California, in San Diego, and even in adulthood, they
retained that distinct California accent.  They were both
Star War fans, and had all eleven trilogies on tape.
     Scott Bruce, the younger, was known as JediMaster.  He
liked the Rebellion side of Star Wars better.  He was about
5'7" and had sandy brown hair and an average build.  Scott
was handsome in a vague sort of way.  He liked wearing black,
and was the second best pilot in the EDF.
     The one person above him was Jared Smith.  He called
himself Vader, after his favorite Star Wars character, and
the lord of the Imperials.  He was a few inches taller than
his friend, muscular, and had blond hair and blue eyes.  His
precise aim, uncanny knack to avoid being shot (and his urge
to kill everything that he could target in his fighter), made
him the best fighter pilot anywhere.
     "Man, you shoulda been at Timon V with me, when those
bogeys showed up," said Scott as he painted another kill onto
his craft.  He had just come back from another tour, this
time helping to stop the Trivions from invading the Timon
sector.  His bud had been at Hathor, helping to stop cold the
Trivions there.  They had just both gotten back to their main
post.  The Trivions were a fanatical group of religious
humans who had declared a holy war on everyone else.
     "Why, what happened?"  Jared asked.  He was considering
where to put another kill on his ship, as it was getting
filled up.
     "We were running escort duty for a damaged WarStar while
they were fixing her up.  Some Trivs popped up just as we
were changing the guards.  All of us went after 'em, and just
as we had finished with 'em, some more appeared right on top
of us.  I mean, on top of us, 'cuz I almost got rammed.
After we wiped them out, I started away 'cuz I didn't wanna
be rammed again, and just as I thought I was safe, a big
momma Triv showed up.  Man, I swear I was gonna run outta air
before they stopped coming.  Only had 'bout ten minutes worth
left when I managed to dock finally."
     Jared laughed.  "Y'know, they did exactly the same thing
with us.  Only, they came outta hyper just a mile away from
my space platform.  About twenty waves of them before the big
ones came.  We were orbiting a planet you see, and one of
the big ones jumped in so close, they got pulled into the
atmosphere, and burned up.  Pretty funny, but I just wonder
where they got all of the freakin' ships."
     "Yeah, maybe-"  Scott was interrupted by the blaring of
the hanger intercom.
     "Smith, Bruce, please respond to briefing room 12-V,
Smith, Bruce, please respond to briefing room 12-V.  Thank
you."
     "Now what?" groaned Jared.

               *         *         *         *

     "Yes sir?"  Jared wearily asked, after saluting Captain
Delon.
     "I know you boys just got back from your tours.  But we
just got something weird that CEDF wants checked out.  You
two were chosen to do it," explained Delon.
     "Joy," muttered Scott.
     "It's in quadrant C4, so get going.  You can take any
ship you want.  Just don't blow it away if it's friendly."
     "Yes, sir," Scott and Jared said at the same time, and
then they were excused.
     "Boy, don't we get the fun jobs.  Can't even shoot
until we get shot at," grumped Jared.

               *         *         *         *

     Jared was firmly strapped into the cockpit of his own
Striker as it was lowered into the launching tube.  He
watched the claw lower his friend's Striker into the other
tube.  "JediMaster, are you there?" he said into the
interlink.
     "Yeah, I read you loud and clear and all that other
junk, Vader," Scott said back.  "Good luck, and may the Force
be with us."  It was their own little superstition thing to
do that.
     The computer on his ship rapidly went through the pre-
flight checks, and the count down was started.  In a moment,
they were launched.
     "Alrightie then, where's C4?" JediMaster muttered to
himself as he keyed it into his navcom.  A small blip
appeared on his nav scope, and he centered it, and started up
the scanners, and powered up his lasers.
     "Let's get this over with," Vader's voice said in his
ear.  He hated recon duty unless he got to shoot what he was
checking out.
     "Right."  Their twin ships rocketed off into space.

               *         *         *         *

     S.C. stepped off of the elevator.  He looked around the
huge room.  About 1/2 of the place was wooded, and the rest
was a flat grassland.  To his right, he heard a muffed squawk
as something got his or her dinner.  Although he might feel
like it later, he couldn't go hunting now.  He started
striding down to the small cafeteria-like place near the end
of the room.
     As he went, he sensed something shadowing him in the
trees beside him.  He stopped several times, but he never saw
whatever it was.
     Soon he came to the grassy area, and even as he
continued going, he thought he could hear something rustling
in the grass.  Someone's hunting me, S.C. thought, amused at
the thought.  He ran through the list of animals on the ship.
Tigers might be a nice challenge, but he would definitely
have known if something that big was there.  He started down
the room again, still considering.  Wolf?  Nah, I'm at least
a foot taller than them, and they're not supposed to be
crazy, he thought.  Soon, he came up with the fact that
nothing could be there that would challenge him.
     Lost in his ponderings, he stumbled into the cafeteria
before he knew it.  He looked around for the P.A. system
microphone, and pulled it off the wall.  "Will all scouts
come to the cafeteria now," he said into the mike.  His voice
echoed throughout the enormous room, startling him.  Outside,
in the grass, a few AFF started trickling his way.  In a
couple of minutes, about twenty of them were standing around
S.C.  He noted that most of them were not lions.  In fact,
just one of them was, a female.  There was also two white
tigers, three orange ones, a few coyotes, several wolves, and
seven foxes.
     "Is this all?" he asked with a frown.
     "Yeah," said one of the scouts.  "Except for Foxy.  I
don't know where he is, but we're all of them."
     "Alright then.  Head up to the main bridge, and tell
Commander I'll be up in a minute.  I'm going to go find this
Foxy of yours."
     The scouts headed off for the elevators.  S.C. looked
out into the Deck.  Whatever was shadowing him before was
still there.  He thought he could see the shadow too.  Right
in front of him, crouching in the grass.  But even as S.C.
looked at him, the AFF animal melted away.
     S.C. looked at the spot were it was, then decided to
hunt it down, but not kill him.
     S.C crept quietly into the grass, keeping low.  The high
grass was a dull golden color, coming close to his own fur
color.  He snuck forward, looking around, and listening.
     After about a hundred yards, he became aware of someone
behind him.  He went forward a few more yards as if he didn't
notice anyone...
     Then he quickly lashed around with his heavy paw hands.
No one was there.
     Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and S.C. whirled
around with a snarl, fully intending to knock the life out of
whatever was there.  He hated being mocked, but there was no
one to take out his wrath on behind him.  He stared out at
the grassy area, fuming and becoming more angry by the
second.
     Behind him he heard someone running.  Turning once
again, he saw a small figure, a fox, running towards the
elevator bank.  It looked back once, and S.C. got the
distinct impression that the fox was laughing at him.  S.C.
realized that that one was the one tormenting him, and that
he was going to rip that little bag of fuzz apart.
     He ran towards the elevators, but the fox had already
jumped in one, and started it.  S.C. had a feeling he knew
where that fleabag was going, and he keyed the elevator for
the main bridge.  It shot up, and stopped at the bridge.
     As the doors slid apart, he saw that the scouts he had
sent up were departing in one of the larger elevators.
"Wait!" he called, and ran across the bridge, and squeezed in
just as the doors clamped shut.
     There was plenty of space left over in the elevator for
him.  Commander was standing near the door, however, and S.C.
almost bumped into him, but caught himself in time.
     Commander turned towards him.  "Glad you could make it,"
he said.  "What kept you?"
     "Can I tell you later?" he said, bowing his head
slightly.  "I need to talk with you."
     Commander's face darkened for a second, then cleared up.
"Alright, then."
     The elevator halted a moment later, opening it's doors
to a long hall.  Commander ushered the scouts to a room a
couple doors down.  S.C. was trying to count how many foxes
there were, and finally came up with at least eight, one more
than he had sent up.  Now which one had harassed him earlier?
He followed them into the room as he tried to remember how
the fox looked like, but it was a futile attempt.  Most other
creatures all looked the same to him.
     Once they were all in the room, Commander turned on a
hologram generator.  It displayed a picture of Earth and a
lot of technical stuff.  When Commander was sure it wasn't
going to explode or something, he faced the group of scouts.
     "You are all probably wondering why you are here."  Most
of the scouts nodded.  "As you probably know, we do not have
a lot of information we need, such as the defenses of certain
human planets.  How many of you would like to go on this
mission?"  All of the scouts raised their hands.  "Good.
Right now we are in orbit of the planet Earth, and scans have
showed that practically all of Earth's surface is covered
with humans.  It will be a very dangerous mission.  To go
into specifics, you will be launched in a new ship we have
that has an excellent ability to evade detection by sensors.
The target area to land in is near the Washington D.C.
county.  Once you have landed, you have to make your way to
one of their Intelligence buildings and try to get as much
data about the ships the humans have and their defenses."
     One of the scouts, a wolf, spoke up.  "Do ya mean we
have to fly those ships down?"
     Commander nodded.
     "Then, uh, I don't think I can go on it, 'cuz, you see,
I do not fly ships myself.  I'm not even entirely comfortable
on this ship.  So, can I-"  He stopped short, not willing to
say quit.  Commander just motioned towards the door, and the
wolf scrambled out.
     "Anyone else want to not go?" Commander asked.  One
other scout, one of the foxes, got up.
     "I'm sorry, but I would die if I had to fly," was all he
said before he left.
     "If that's all, I still need to cut down the number of
you going.  I need maybe four at the most."  He thought for a
moment.  "How many of you have ever gone on this kinda
mission?"  Nine of the remaining animals raised their hands.
"Okay," said Commander in a slightly surprised tone.  "I'll
choose from you animals.  The rest of you; maybe next time."
The unselected animals acknowledged in their own way, then
left.
     Commander looked at each of the remaining scouts.  There
was the lioness, three foxes, a wolf, two coyotes, and the
two white tigers.  White?  Commander had never seen them
before, but he didn't ask them about themselves.
     "I figure that we'll need one team member who can break
in places if you need to, one that's good with computers-"
Commander spat out that word as if it tasted like dirt "-and
the two remaining slots someone who can help protect the
other two, and preferably, have the same skills as the other
two."
     "I can fill that first spot!" cried one of the foxes.
     "Hey!  I can too," snarled one of the coyotes at the
fox.
     "Oh yeah?" growled the fox, first making sure that a
table was between him and the coyote, "Try and take my spot,
I'll rip your throat out and eat it on the trip."
     "Break it up," interrupted S.C., pushing between them.
Being a lion, one of the biggest animals on the ship, he
towered over the two much smaller animals  "Stop fighting, or
neither of you will live long enough to go on the mission."
He was looking closely at the fox, then released both of
them, and stepped back.
     "You two," snapped Commander, "come here."  The coyote
came first, followed closely by the fox.  Commander held out
a box.  "This box has one each of most kinds of locks.  Who
ever opens it the quickest, goes."  He handed it to the fox.
"You go first."
     The fox accepted it, gloating.  He placed it on the
hologram generator.  "Stand back, and don't peek," he said to
the coyote.
     "Ready?" asked Commander.
     "Yeah."
     "Go."  A pick suddenly appeared in the fox's hand,
visible for only a moment before he attacked the box.  In a
few seconds, the first lock opened, revealing another lock.
There was a faint clicking noise, and the fox had another
type of pick.  He went to work on the lock, opened it, made a
new pick appear out of nowhere, worked on the next lock, and
so on.  In a few minutes, the box ran out of locks, and
opened up.  There was a watch inside.
     "Three minutes, twenty four seconds?"  The fox picked up
the watch.  "What the hell is this?"
     "That is your time," replied Commander, and took the
watch.  He pressed a button on it, then replaced it in the
box, and locked all of the locks again.
     "Ready?" he asked the coyote.
     The coyote shook his head.  "No.  I want to know how he
did that with the picks, just makin' them appear out of thin
air."
     The fox rolled his eyes.  "When I lived in the
Colosseum, once they took me out for a hunting session.  One
of the hunters blew my hands off with his shotgun.  Since I
was so good at not being caught, they didn't kill me, and
they gave me these robotic hands.  After we had all escaped
from that place, I discovered these little panel thingies
that opened up."  He popped open a panel in his wrist, and
revealed about seven picks.  "I had a set of picks that I
stole somewhere on a human planet, and they fit right in
here.  Same thing with my other hand."  He snapped the lid
shut.  "Happy?"
     The coyote made a sort of groaning noise.  "I'm not even
going to try and beat him.  He can go, I'll stay here."  And
with that, he walked out.
     "Ha!  I'm going, I'm going!"  The fox did a little dance
around everyone, showing that he had no shame.
     "Did I say you were going?" asked Commander sternly.
     The fox froze in mid-step.
     "You are," Commander said.  Then he ignored the fox,
who was now scratching his head and looking confused.
     "How many of you can, um, you know..."  His voice
trailed off, fumbling for words.
     "Slice a computer?" asked another fox, a female.
     "Whatever.  As long as you can get into a system, and
get anything you need."  said Commander.
     "Well, then.  I can do that for you."
     Commander looked at her, and compared her to the other
fox.  "This isn't going to be very good if you get caught and
need to fight your way out.  You two are to small for any
real fighting.  But since I don't have any other computer
junkies, you're going.  You two are going to need some
protection, though..." He examined the others.  "Well, just
fight it out, whoever wins, can go." Commander went out the
door.  S.C.  followed him.
     As soon as the door slid shut, the AFF inside the room
started their royal rumble.  The one remaining fox and the
coyote were at an immediate disadvantage.  The fox was a good
foot and a half shorter than the wolf, and almost three feet
shorter than the tigers and lioness.  The coyote was a foot
taller than the fox.  Seeing how the odds were stacked
against them, the fox and the coyote immediately evacuated
the room.
     The big cats were going at it with gusto, particularly
the male white tiger.  Even though he was being double-teamed
against by the lioness and the female white tiger, he seemed
to be enjoying it.  It looked like he ignored the other
tiger, and just attacked the lioness.  Foxy, removing himself
from the immediate vicinity of the fight, saw why the big
tiger was ignoring the tigress.  As she swung a paw that was
the size of Foxy's head at the tiger, her extended claws hid
themselves for a moment, and snapped back out after she had
smacked the tiger.
     The wolf slunk about the perimeter of the fight scene.
She did want to go, but she wasn't foolish enough to just
wade into the fray.  She'd just hang back and finish off the
winner, who was sure to be too ripped to do much.
     The male tiger now had five long gashes on his ribs, and
a bloody muzzle, but that didn't seem to bother him too much.
He started unleashing a furious assault on the lioness,
unnerving her, and causing her to quit after she had
collected a fine mess of cuts.  The tigers then both turned
to the lone wolf, who promptly backed off, and slunk away
with her tail between her legs.  The tigers made as if they
were going to spring on the wolf as she exited, and she
yelped and scrambled away.  The tiger watched with fangs
bared, growling as his breathing slowed.
     "Guess I'm going," he said, and joined the two foxes,
who were sitting on the holo generator.
     "If you're going, then I'd better go too, keep you out
of trouble," put in the female tiger.
     The door hissed open, and Commander walked in, looking
amused.  S.C. didn't enter.  As soon as Commander was out of
the way, the losers of the fight slunk off.  "Well, you guys
won, eh?" said Commander.  "Let's get you down to the
launching bays."  He gestured towards the door.  "Let's get
going."

               *         *         *         *

     On the way down, Commander was talking to the male fox.
"Were you the one who was screwing around with S.C. in the
Deck?" was the first thing he said.  The fox only looked back
at him innocently.  "Ah, come on.  He knows it was you.
Anyways, I would be careful in the future around him.  He
doesn't like to be messed with, and he's going to get you.  I
should know, I've known him since I was about four years
old."
     "Well, okay, but I don't know what you are talking
about," said the fox.  Of course he was the one who did it,
but why should he confess?  You weren't in trouble until you
got caught, so don't get caught, was his view.
     After the conversation, the fox drifted back to the rest
of the scout group.  They were introducing themselves to each
other, although the tigers were less than thrilled about the
foxes custom of sniffing each other for the scent ("But at
least we aren't smelling your crotch," stated the female
fox).
     The two white tigers were Siberian tigers that the
humans had made white.  They were the only two white ones, as
far as they knew, which they seemed to be proud of.  They
were also mates, and lived in the same area on the StarLion.
The male was called Inferno, for a reason that neither of the
foxes could figure, and the female Tigress, for obvious
reasons.  Both of them could speak English well enough to
hold a conversation.
     The two foxes were acquainted, but they were not mates.
At least, not yet.  She was interested in him, although he
acted aloof (which was opposite the usual way foxes met),
even though he was interested in her.  The male was an expert
thief, he bragged, and a pickpocket.  "I'm called Foxy," he
had said.  He knew some English, a necessity when he was in
the Colosseum.
     "Okay, I know you're a fox, but what's your name?" asked
Inferno.  It took a minute of explaining for him to get it.
     The female fox was adept at using and slicing computers,
as that's what her `job' was when she was on Earth.  She was
fluent in English.  Her name was Vix, short for Vixen.
     In a few minutes they were in the hangar bays.  Lined up
in five neat rows, one for each squadron and launching tube,
were the sleek, deadly fighters.  The hawks, falcons, and
eagles who flew them were down here, bustling around with
their ships.  Quite a few threw surprised glances at
Commander and the others, but didn't say anything.
     In one corner of the cavernous room was an area that
held only four small, angular craft, that were being prepped
by a crew of hawks and others.  Commander led them here.
     The craft were not the bright silver of the fighters,
but instead a oily color that swirled and darkened randomly.
But they were mostly a dark shade of grey, close to black.
The craft were not very large, maybe twenty five feet long.
It had two long trailing wings, and no visible weapons.
     "We're going in those?" asked Tigress uncertainly.
     "Of course," scoffed one of the hawks who had just come
up to them, his talons clacking on the deck.  "I designed
them myself, and we built them.  Trust me, as long as you
don't do anything stupid, you'll be okay.  They're called
Spectres, and they can't be picked up on a sensor.  They even
have a shading device that helps to match them with their
surroundings."
     "Sorry, but I don't trust anybody with my life," said
Tigress, then sighed.  "But it looks like I'm gonna have to.
Alright, show us how these things work."
     They were given a quick go-through of the ship.  At
least most of the time should be on auto-pilot, and there was
an automatic landing cycle.  But they all knew how to fly the
craft, for they had some flight sims in one of the rooms for
the birds to use.  The other animals were allowed in, and
these four had been in before.
     "And you'll find some stuff in this cargo door, that you
might need, so don't smash it in when you land," finished the
hawk.  The scouts nodded, then were helped into the cockpits,
and helped with the intercom pickup between the ships, before
the canopy slid shut.  Inferno was in the first craft, then
Tigress, then Foxy and Vix.  Underneath Inferno's ship, a
launching tube door opened, and the Spectre was lowered in.
     "I think I'm gonna regret this later on," breathed
Inferno, before the tube doors locked shut.

               *         *         *         *

     "I didn't pick up nuthin'," grumbled Vader into his
commlink.  "What a waste of time."
     Vader and JediMaster were in quadrant C4, and had just
finished their search.  They were in the night side of Earth
now, and JediMaster rolled his ship to take a view of the
lights below him.  "But at least there's a nice view from up
here," he commented.
     "Yeah," conceded Vader, "But I would have rather played
in one of the holo-sims."
     "Ahh, you're just upset that we didn't get to shoot
anything," teased JediMaster, still upside-down.  He gazed at
the lights for a couple of moments more before he saw the
black splotch of darkness below him.  "Hey, check it out!
Looks like someone has a blackout down there."
     "I dunno.  That sure is a big one."
     Suddenly, in front of their eyes, a huge ship appeared
out of nowhere, blocking out the blackened part of Earth.
     "What the hell?" shouted JediMaster.
     "It's an enemy ship," said Vader, the excitement in his
voice rising.  "Call for reinforcements, I'm going in."
     JediMaster watched helplessly, as his friend punched the
engines and lasers started blazing from his ship.  He swore,
and followed him without making the transmission.

               *         *         *         *

     "Two human fighters at 3.53 miles!" blared the P.A.
system aboard the StarLion.
     "No," groaned Commander.  "Come on, we have to give them
time to land!"  He ran for the elevator, and was whisked up
to the bridge.
     "Energize all electron cannons, and try to disable the
little human scum," shouted Commander as soon as he stepped
off the elevator, "Launch four Hawks, tell the pilots to try
to cripple the ships.  I want the pilots alive, but if you
kill them, I'll understand." Two Right Aways floated down to
him.  "Activate the jamming equipment, too."
     He hurried up to his consoles.  "Update me," he snapped,
and a screenful of information poured out.
     He noted that the Spectres had already disappeared.  If
everything he was told would happen, they stood a very good
chance of completing their mission.

               *         *         *         *

     "Hawks one through four, launch now.  Hawks one through
four, launch now."  The voice echoed in the hangars.  No
sooner had the announcement ended than the Hawks were already
in the launching tubes, and flying out.
     The ace in this group was staring at his briefing
display.  "Just cripple if possible, kill if you have too."
Then he saw the human fighters already unleashing a barrage
of useless lasers.  He turned towards the first one,
instructing his wingmen to cover him, and take on the second.
As he got a little closer, he could see the markings on the
fighter with his razor sharp eyes, and saw that the pilot was
none other than the best pilot the humans had.  "But he's
never fought me," he said softly.  Hawk, as he was called was
the best on the StarLion.  It would be a pleasure to kill
this human.
     He fired a single shot, and watched it smack into the
human's shields.  The fighter jerked away to avoid another
shot, then went into a complex maneuver, closing the distance
between him and Hawk.  Hawk thought the maneuver was called
the Spaghetti Weave, but it was unimportant.  Hawk waited
until the human fired a barrage of lasers, then flinched back
his fighter just a few feet outside of the lasers path, then
opened up his own batteries.  He had added three new lasers
to the regular three, and he fired twice, connecting with
eight shots.  No more shields for him.  Apparently, the human
fighter also got some hull damage, for the ship suddenly spun
out when the lasers destroyed his shields.  Hawk moved in for
the kill.

               *         *         *         *

     Vader struggled with his craft.  The enemy fighters
appeared out of nowhere, and he hadn't noticed them until a
shot had hit his shields.  Then a lot of shots hit him at
once, overloading his shield generator, and striking his
hull.  He glanced at the diagnostics screen.  His engines
were at 50%, and his shields were off-line.  His hull could
take only a few more shots.  He instructed the computer to
try and fix the shields.
     Firing up the engines to the max they would go, he swung
around to face his attacker, and fired again.  "JediMaster,
are you there?" he called, wishing he had some warheads in
the launcher.
     "Yeah, there's three of them on me, and my shields are
damaged, but I'm okay.  How about you?"  JediMaster's voice
was faint and there was more static than words.  The enemy
must be jamming them.
     "Worse than you."  The enemy ship fired a couple of
shots, and he swerved towards the capital ship.  "I don't
know how much longer I can last."
     The capital ship fired an electron cannon.  Those didn't
go straight, but instead, swerved around, and went for the
nearest ship.  They didn't have such a good range, but
evidently, he was in the range.  All his systems went dead,
except for the maneuvering jets and one laser.  He was stuck.

               *         *         *         *

     Hawk was disappointed in the human.  He had heard that
the pilot was better than that.  Hawk nudged his fighter
closer to the human's for a better look at the ship.
     The pilot was moving around, so the electron cannon must
not've hit him too hard.   He stopped moving when he saw the
Hawk fighter moving closer to him.
     Hawk kept his lasers pointed right at the damaged
fighter's cockpit.  He shook his head, then flipped on his
commlink to a frequency he knew the humans used.  "Human, can
you hear me?"  No reply.  The electron cannon must've fried
that.  At least that human wouldn't be making any distress
calls.  The fighter started turning slowly, facing the Hawk.

Hawk sat back, waiting for a tug to bring in the human.

               *         *         *         *

     Vader lined up his last remaining laser with the enemy
fighter's cockpit.  At this close range, he could see that
the pilot was one of those creatures that the crazy scientist
had created a while back.  What were those monsters doing
here?
     There was a soft thump as something hit him.  Looking
up, he saw a tug hooking up with him.  They were taking him
prisoner!  He turned back to his controls, and made an
adjustment that lined up the lasers with the other ship, and
pulled the trigger.

               *         *         *         *

     Hawk saw the human fighter turn slightly.  The tug must
be having a little difficulty with the human, he thought.
Then, a red laser bolt flashed out from one of the laser
cannons.  Hawk jerked back on the controls, but the laser
smashed right into the cockpit panels.  The laser must not
have been fully powered up, for all it did was melt a portion
of the strong plastic, and scare the hell out of him.
     Hawk felt the anger rise in him, and he nudged closer to
the human's ship.  He flipped the commlink to full power.
"I'm gonna rip out your heart and eat it raw!" he screamed
into the pickup.  The human flinched, and stared at Hawk,
fear on his face.  Then, the human gathered his courage, and
flipped Hawk off.
     That did it.  "But for now, I'm going to kill your
friend in the other ship.  Then I'll handle you."  He put
more power to the engines, and took off towards the other
ships, thirsting for a kill.

               *         *         *         *

     JediMaster was having his own problems.  For all his
skill, holding off three other ships was no easy task.  And,
he noted, the fourth was coming.
     His shields were struggling to stay up.  Most of the
enemy fighters had seven or eight lasers firing at once, and
all those could knock his shields out.
     Also, he discovered that the ships could take an
enormous amount of punishment.  So far, he had tagged one
fighter about twenty times, and there wasn't even a burn mark
on it.
     JediMaster flipped his ship over, lined up right behind
a fighter, and pulled the trigger.  Suddenly, his droid
squealed as a barrage of lasers hit his rear shields.  A
gauge blew out from the stress, and his droid informed him
that the shields were currently down, and would be for a long
time.  Glancing back, he saw the other two fighters peel off,
and the one that shot down Vader come roaring up, lasers
blazing.  One laser beam hit his ship's hull, and JediMaster
decided that this was not a good situation.
     He dumped all power to his engines, and instructed his
droid to start finding a safe jump point.  The droid
acknowledged, and made a prediction of one minute, 42 seconds
before a jump point was found.  JediMaster looked back,
expecting that the enemies would be left in the dust.  He
gasped when he saw that they were easily keeping up with him,
and even gaining.  "Oh, crap."  JediMaster threw his fighter
into a fierce twist, and hoped that the jump would be soon.
     A light lit up on his panel.  JediMaster breathed a sigh
of relief, and pressed the jump button.  There was a bright
flash, and he was safe.

               *         *         *         *

     Ray Shoman stared at his screen.  "What the hell is
that?"  The ship was back, and four smaller blips had
appeared.  All of the ships were classified as bad guys.  He
watched as the two green blips out there were engaged.  When
he saw one get drawn into the big red blip, he called for
Delon.
     He came striding down to Ray's station in a minute.
"What's going on?" he demanded.
     "Look!," exclaimed Ray, pointing at his screen.  "I just
got this.  They already got one of ours."
     "No," breathed Delon.  He turned to another group of
consoles.  "Launch all ships, for quadrant C4!  Someone's
there, and they got one of ours!  Go!"  After that, Delon ran
to CEDF's office.
     The door hissed open as he stepped up.  "Come in,"
called CEDF.  Delon walked in.
     "Sir, there seems to be an enemy capital ship in
quadrant C4.  It already got one of our scouts, and the other
just disappeared.  We are already sending reinforcements."
     CEDF frowned, and spun around in his chair.  He hit a
few buttons on the control panels in front of him, and a full
tactical read out appeared.  He pressed for a visual of the
ship.  The picture he got wasn't very good, but after he
squinted at it for a moment, he swore.
     "Call for a Starship," he barked into a commlink.
"Where's the nearest one?"
     "There is a Glory class cruiser, the Saratoga, at
fifteen minutes, and a pair of Furys, the Tyderium and the
Sparkling Star, at twenty," came the voice of either a
computer or a tech.
     CEDF's mind raced.  "Call all of them.  I don't want
this capital ship to escape."  He looked at the display.  "Is
there any Interruptors around?"  Interruptors were used in
keeping a ship from jumping out.
     "There is one at one hour, and twenty seven minutes,"
replied the calm voice.  Delon decided that it had to be a
computer.
     "Don't call.  It'd take to long.  Are the others
coming?"
     "Yes, ETA for the Glory, fourteen minutes, forty five
seconds, ETA for the Furys, nineteen minutes, thirty
seconds."
     "Thank you."  CEDF terminated the link, and turned in
his chair, and studied Delon.
     "I never got a chance to tell you what I was afraid of
the first time we caught that ship on sensor, did I?"
     Delon fidgeted.  "No, sir, you didn't."
     "Have you heard about the AFF?" asked CEDF, motioning
Delon to sit in one of the chairs by the consoles.
     "Uh, no sir, I don't think so," said Delon, as he sat
down.
     "Actually, no one knows much about them.  As far as we
know, they just want to destroy the human race."  CEDF
smiled.  "Just said they wanted revenge, but they never said
for what.  I had heard rumors that they had some capital
ships, and I even saw some pictures, but I never truly
believed it.  That ship you picked up was one of theirs."  He
took a deep breath.  "I am afraid that they will strike at
Earth soon."  He shook his head.  The next time he spoke, it
was with that tone of voice he used when giving orders.
     "Get me a MC.  I am going to send a message to High
Command."  MC was short for message canister.
     Delon jumped up, and saluted.  "At once, sir!"

               *         *         *         *

     Commander looked at the computer displays.  The fighters
were docking, and the StarLion would be jumping out as soon
as they were docked.  He noted that they only got one
fighter, but severely damaged the other.  Commander was
slightly miffed about one getting away, but they did get the
human known as Vader.  Commander heard about this one's
reputation, and had decided to test how tough he was.  But he
doubted that Vader would be able to stand up to even just a
few hours of torture.
     But, if Vader was tough enough, they just might let him
heal himself.  So that they could take him to their Planet,
and hunt him, along with the maybe hundred other human
captives.
     "By the way, Commander," announced S.C., "There is a
reseach station by the planet called Pluto.  We have heard
that it will be sent close to the Planet.  I say we stop, and
destroy them before they cause any trouble."
     "Really?"  Commander bristled involuntarily at the
thought of humans touching the Planet.  "Set the course for
Pluto, and get the fighters ready for launch as soon as we
stop."
     The computer beeped; the fighters had been recovered.
"Engage the jump engines."  The massive StarLion turned
around from Earth, and jumped out, leaving the human
reinforcements behind.

               *         *         *         *

     Foxy clung to the thinly padded armrests of his seat for
dear life.
     His Spectre, or whatever it was called, seemed to be
intent on turning him into a big stain on the ground.
     He had no idea of how the ship worked-that is, if it
really worked at all.  Then his ship informed him that it was
cutting in the landing cycle.
     He wondered how the rest of the group was doing.  He had
worked with Vix before, and he knew that she would be
flipping out with fear by now.  She hated flying, or even
being in a small moving vehicle.
     It was nightime outside, and he couldn't tell where he
was landing, although his altitude meter said 3127 feet.  In
a few more seconds, the Spectre broke through a bunch of
tree limbs, then thumped onto the ground.
     Foxy breathed a sigh of relief.  As he opened the canopy
he saw the other ships settle next to his.  He jumped out,
noticing that the hull wasn't even hot from re-entry.  He
shrugged it off.  Hi tech things were not for him.
     The others popped open the canopies on thier ships.
They gathered in a circle on the ground.
     "I am glad that is over with," said Vix softly.
     "Me too," said Tigress.  "Now what?"
     "I say we find some humans to kill," growled Inferno.  A
blood thirsty teammate, thought Foxy unhappily.  Great.
     "Didn't that hawk say something about cargo holds or
something in the ships?  Maybe we oughta open those.  We
didn't bring any food or equipment," muttered Foxy.
     "I don't need equipment," scoffed Inferno, "and we can
hunt for food."
     "What food?" countered Foxy.  "Listen."  He cocked his
head in a listening movement.  "There's nothing out there
other than humans, and if we go around killing people,
they'll notice.  I don't want that to happen."
     Inferno growled.  He was used to doing what he felt
like, and he didn't like being contradicted.  But before he
could say anything, Tigress laid a hand on his shoulder, and
whispered, "Leave him.  We'll get our fun later."
     Foxy had gone over to his Spectre, and and poking around
the belly of it.  Soon, he had opened several panels, all
maintenance acess panels.  Finally he opened the proper one,
and he took out a small pack.  Setting it down, he stuck his
head in the hold, but didn't take anything else out.  He came
back after shutting the panel, carring the pack, already
rummaging through it.  "Why don't you three go check and see
if you got anything?" he said, and he dropped the pack on the
ground.
     The others nodded, then went off to their Spectres.
When they came back, each carrying a pack, Foxy was sitting
against a tree, holding a piece of paper.  The AFF had never
wanted an alphabet, so if they ever wrote, it was in Human.
And most AFF couldn't read, or wanted to.
     "What's going on?" asked Vix, sitting down next to Foxy,
and opening her pack.
     "I found this in my bag," he said, giving her the note.
     "I am sorry I could not give you these orders on the
StarLion," she said in Traditional, "But I did not have the
time.  Your group must gather all the data about the human's
defense systems on Earth as you can, from any sources.  You
have been dropped off near the former capital of the U.S.  We
think there may be a way to get into a database there, and
take all we need.  There is an old building (it is high-
lighted on the enclosed map in the computer).  It used to be
a building that many of us used to live in before the Escape.
We planted a line going into the ICIA databanks.  All you
have to do is drain all the data in it, and bring it back.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get in, as the
entrance to the building is near a human military camp, and
it is patrolled.  In one of the packs there is a computer for
the storage of the information.  It also shows how to get to
our databank.  After you retrieve the information, get out,
and we will pick you up.  Remember, don't let yourselves get
captured, and that the info you get will be needed to destroy
all humans on Earth."  Vix's voice trailed off.
     "We're going to destroy all humans on Earth," said
Inferno, licking his chops.
     "Lots of hunting when we're done here," said Foxy.
     Inferno and Tigress grinned.  "It should be fun."

               *         *         *         *

     Oscar Lopez was out in this National Park with his two
best friends, Deon Venages and Mike Caron, on a school
camping trip.  On one of the death marches the teachers
called hikes, they had `accidentally' gotten lost.  Now they
really were lost.  It was nighttime, and they were cold and
hungry.  But none of them had bothered to bring anything to
make a fire.  So they stumbled on, hoping to run across a
road or something, and get back to civilization.
     "Man, outdoors suck," grumbled Oscar for at least the
hundredth time that day.
     "You said it- again," snorted Mike.
     "My feet hurt," whined Deon.  "Let's rest a minute."
The others agreed, and they sat down on a log.
     Oscar looked out into the woods.  Their teachers had
said that there were no animals that could hurt you out here,
but they had said that in the daytime, where it was safe in
the cabins.  Out here at night, Oscar wasn't so sure.  He
kept on imagining that he had heard a twig snap.  The cold
October wind bit into his back, and he shivered.
     As he looked around he thought he saw something in front
of them.
     "Hey, guys," he whispered.  "Look over there.  Do you
see anything?"
     Mike peered into the darkness quickly.  "No," he
snapped.
     "Wait, yeah, I do see something.  Looks like a plane or
a space ship or something," gasped Deon.
     "Let's check it out.  Maybe they have something to eat,"
said Oscar hopefully.
     "What would a few ships be doing in the middle of this
damn place?  I think they're some criminals," retorted Mike.
     "Then let's go see," whispered Deon.  "Just go real
quiet.  Besides, I don't see any lights; they must be
asleep."
     "Alright then.  Real quiet."  They crept towards the
strange ships slowly and silently.

               *         *         *         *

     Vix opened her pack, and took out a small computer
looking like one of those old laptop models.  She frowned,
and opened it up, and powered it up.  It went through the
memory check and the other things.  Vix looked amazed when
she saw the final amount of available memory.  It had four
more digits than most models she had worked with before.  No
wonder it was so big.  She located the map in it with some
difficulty, as it was one of those really old styles that
used a Tracball, instead of being voice activated or being
hooked up to your brain for instructions, and took note of
the location they were supposed to get to.  She noted that it
was also close to the human leader's White House, or whatever
they called it.
     Inferno and Tigress had both gotten bags of food, in
this case, meat.
     Foxy had gotten a lot of stuff which they couldn't
figure out, and the map.  He was playing with something that
looked like a radio, when he froze.  He looked back behind
him, sniffing and listening intently.
     "What's going on?" hissed Vix.
     "Humans," he breathed.  "Can't you smell them?"  He
turned his head just as a very faint rustle came to them.
"Can't you hear them?"
     He looked back at Inferno and Tigress.  "Be quiet!
Humans coming behind us!"  They jumped up silently, and
crawled over to the two foxes, who were looking into the
woods.
     "Where?" asked Tigress.
     "I'm not sure.  I just smelled one, and-there!"
Foxy pointed to a shadow.  "They must have seen our ships."
     Inferno looked where Foxy had pointed.  "Don't look very
old.  Maybe fourteen or fifteen.  Those skagrans are prey.
I'm hungry.  Let's hunt."  Skagran was a word that only the
cats used.  Each species had kept words that Traditional
didn't have.  Skagran was a thing that was viewed with
contempt, hatred and was lower than dung.  It was not a
compliment.
     "Wait.  Vix and I'll go distract them.  You two get
behind them, and take them, okay?  Get going."  Inferno was
upset at being ordered around by a fox who was a good three
feet shorter than him, but started off with Tigress.
     "Come on Vix.  You want to stay here, or come with me?"
Foxy had already moved off a couple of feet.
     "I'll stay and distract them from here.  You go off and
do your thing."  She smiled at him before he vanished.
     Foxy crept around to the side of the humans, and was
about fifteen feet away from the nearest one, and they hadn't
even noticed him yet.  He lay down in the dirt and plants.
He thought he saw Inferno or Tigress on the other side of the
humans.
     When the humans were about to pass him, he barked
something in pure fox, which no one but another fox might
understand.
     The humans jumped, and turned towards him, fear clearly
on their faces.  Foxy grinned, and showed part of his head
before ducking it back.  One of the humans grabbed a branch
from the ground.
     Vix growled back at Foxy from her place, and the humans
looked over back towards where they thought the sounds were
coming from.  Another one of the humans pulled out a pocket
knife.  It was so funny to Foxy, he let out a fox laugh,
further scaring the human pups.  He wondered what Inferno was
going to do, when he saw Inferno above him, in a tree.  Foxy
grinned, and listened as Vix barked back, asking what was so
funny.

               *         *         *         *

     Mike grabbed Oscar's arm as the noises came.  "What was
that?" he yelled.
     Oscar yanked his arm free.  "I don't know, some animal
or something.  Let's leave."
     Then came the reply to the first animal.  It seemed
somehow more menacing than the first one, and it scared them.
Deon grabbed a branch off the ground.  "I wish we had stayed
with the others," he whimpered.
     Oscar noticed the fox head peering at them from behind a
bush.  "It's just a fox," he said, breathing a sigh of
relief.
     The first fox barked back at the second.  Oscar felt
like the animal was laughing at him, and it made him mad.  He
pulled the knife from his pocket.  "Let's go get him."
     The other fox replied to the first, then both of them
went quiet.  As a matter of fact, everything went quiet.
Oscar wondered what was going on, and all his anger left him.
     Suddenly, a loud roar shattered the quiet from above
him.  Oscar flinched down, barely having enough time to see
the huge form drop on Mike, making a sickening crunch of
bones as the form crushed Mike.
     Deon screamed, and started to run, but another form
leaped from nowhere in front of Deon.  The form picked up
Deon with one hand.  With the other, it slashed Deon in the
neck, and across his belly.  Deon managed a sick gurgle
before the form dropped him.
     Oscar stood there, scared out of his mind.  The two big
forms came closer, and he could see that they were tigers in
the pale moonlight.  The one that had gotten Deon had blood
around its mouth.  Two other figures emerged from the
shadows, and Oscar could see that they were the foxes he had
heard.  The two tigers stood in front of him.  Oscar squeezed
the knife in his hand, then realized how puny and useless it
was.  The tiger's claws were longer than his blade.  He let
the knife drop.  The tigers took a step closer.  Oscar
dropped to his knees.  "Please don't kill me," he begged.
     The tiger stood over him.  "It is my duty," he growled,
and put his paw under the boy's chin.  "To kill all you
skagran."  He unsheathed his claws, and jerked up.  The sharp
claws ripped through Oscar's chin, and as the tiger continued
lifting, they dragged him to his feet.  Then the tiger raised
his other paw, and slashed across Oscar's throat, nearly
severing the head clean off the body.

               *         *         *         *

     Tony Reldman was one of the teachers searching for the
lost boys.  As far as he could tell, the boys had wandered
off from the main group of kids around 2:00.  Now it was
nearly midnight, and they were still searching.
     Tony was wearing infrared goggles, and the rest of the
group had similar tools.  There was even a HHV (High Hovering
Vehicle) searching, although it had to be grounded at
nighttime.  They had all the equipment, now where were the
boys?
     He paused to wipe a trickle of sweat from his brow.  As
he was wiping his hand on his pants, he heard a faint scream.
He flipped on his hologen.  It was a model that went over his
head, and had a little camera mounted in the earpiece so that
the person on the other side could see what you were doing.
"Hey, did anyone hear that?" he said into the little voice
pickup.
     "Hear what?" came the tired voice of the next person in
the group.  "Look, I say we turn in for the night.  We're
beat, and I'm sure the kids won't die overnight."
     "I thought I heard a scream or something," Tony said,
ignoring the complaints.
     "Yeah, I did too.  To our left some," cut in another one
of the searchers.
     "Okay, start moving left.  I'll catch up to you," he
called.
     "Sure thing, boss."  There was a click as the others
turned off their hologens.  Tony changed his direction a few
degrees to the left, and resumed walking, wondering what the
noise was.
               *         *         *         *