Foxy was exploring his cell for the third time when the
humans came back, their boots clanking on the floor.
     The cell was very solid.  As best as he could tell,
there was no way out besides the front door.  The sink and
toilet in the back were flush with the wall, and were covered
in cement or some other hard stuff that made it impossible to
break away and try to escape that way.  The ceiling was
unreachable as well, and wouldn't lead anywhere, except for
the air vent that was up there, but it was very well attached
and there was no way anyone without a cutting laser was going
to escape that way.  The bed consisted of a metal slab about
three inches thick sticking out of the wall, with a mattress
molded onto it.  After tearing open the back, Foxy had
determined that the stuff inside was: a) very compressible,
b) fluffy, and c) didn't do much.  However, Foxy might be
able to hide something small inside of the mattress, provided
the humans didn't look at it from the back.  The pillow and
blankets were similarily useless.
     The front of the cell was a two inch thick plastic wall
with dime sized holes driled in for air and ventilation.  The
door was a sliding one.  It slid down to open and up to
close.  When shut, you could only see where it was by the
guide grooves that were inside the walls.  There was also a
little, narrow doggie door that Foxy couldn't open from the
inside.  He had no idea what it was for.
     After exploring the cell for the first time, Foxy had
started to try to slip the muzzle off.  It seemed to be one
piece, so he couldn't try to open it.  And the humans must
have measured his head, for it fit very snugly, and the only
way to get it off was to either cut it off (but it seemed
very resistant to cutting), or to cut off vital parts of your
head.  The collar Foxy left alone.  He didn't know if the
human was lying when he had described what would happen if
you tampered with it, but he didn't want to find out.
     Foxy had been pacing the cell (he was beginning to think
of it as a cage), grumbling to himself and attacking the door
and bed and sink.
     As the humans approached, he was in the process of
trying to pull off the knobs for controlling the sink in the
hopes that it would do something.  He turned as the humans
opened the door.  When they stepped in, Foxy growled, and
backed up against the wall.  The humans came a pace closer,
and Foxy backed into the corner, looking genuinely scared.
     "Come on," one of the humans said.  He was wearing a
nondescript dark blue uniform with a little insignia on the
shoulder, and he wasn't carrying a weapon in his hands.  It
was in its holster, despite the fact the prision guards
standing near the door had their guns out.
     Foxy had flattened himself up in the corner so much that
if he kept it up, maybe he would be able to ooze through and
collect in a puddle on the other side of the wall.
     "We're not going to hurt you," said the human in a
softer tone of voice, "So come on.  We just want to ask you a
few questions.  We know that you do speak English, or at
least you can speak to the other-" The guard was going to say
prisioners, but thought better of it "-animals here.  So it
won't do you any good to keep quiet."
     Foxy knew that the humans maybe wouldn't hurt him,
although the human race had been killing animals for millions
of years.  Was there any reason to stop doing it now?  Well,
yes, but only because the humans had killed nearly every
single other living thing on Earth, and had also trashed Mars
throughly, and many other planets had unerasable scars from
humans on them.
     In a second, Foxy had decided that he wasn't going to
follow these human's orders.  He bared his teeth, even though
they were impotent, trapped inside the muzzle.  They still
had an effect on the humans.  The close one jumped back a
step, and the guards marched a little closer, swinging the
guns into firing position.
     This didn't deter Foxy.  If trapped, an animal (or even
a 3/4 animal) will turn and fight his or her way out.  Even
though most of the time, they die in the attempt.
     Foxy sprung for the man's jugular, tackling him to the
ground.  Foxy was a seasoned fighter, often taking part in
challenge fights back on the StarLion with other foxes
because he was bored had had nothing better to do.  So he
would `accidentally' stumble into another fox's room or in
some other way provoke an attack.  He had sharp reflexes, a
good knowledge of how to hurt someone very bad, and lots of
experience.  He had a few scars from fights with bigger
animals, and for that matter, some fair wounds from that
fight with the dog in the human building.
     Foxy couldn't bite, thanks to the muzzle, which took
away his main weapon, but he had claws.  Not the kind that
Inferno or Commander had, but they were still there, and
could do some damage.  He raked his claws across the man's
face, while the man cried out, and swung a wild punch at
Foxy.  He connected, knocking Foxy off for a moment before he
savagely attacked again.  The man had got to his feet again,
and was taken down hard this time.
     The guards started wading into the fight as Foxy
attempted to rip open the man's throat.  A guard clubbed Foxy
right on the base of his skull with the butt of the gun.
Foxy sprawled onto the ground stunned.
     "Goddamn," muttered a guard.  "Someone go get a doctor
or something, he's bleedin'."  The guard stood over the man
Foxy had attacked.  Another guard quickly left the cell.  The
first guard strode over to where Foxy was trying to pick
himself up, and gave him a kick in the ribs, not too hard,
but hard enough.  Foxy gave a sort of half whine half grunt,
and rolled over.  He staggered to his feet then, and leaned
against the walls, shaking his head.
     "Take the fox to where he's supposed to go," ordered the
head guard, "I'll stay here and watch after Horlin."  The
remaining guards took Foxy and marched him out of the cell
building.
     It was still bright outside, maybe late afternoon.  The
sunlight hurt Foxy's head until his eyes got used to the
light.  While the guards walked alongside him, Foxy was
looking about, learning as much as he could about his new
home.  He saw a large, fenced in, grassy area where there
seemed to be a lot of other AFF walking about or talking or
arguing.  Then Foxy heard a gruff voice, one that would have
sounded very un-natural coming from a human.  Even before
Foxy had turned his head or smelled the distinctive scent,
he knew what was here.  Guard dogs.  Like the one that Foxy
had fought back on Earth.  Only bigger.
     There was a pack of them standing around, wearing the
same uniforms as the guards, talking in English, and
immediately Foxy felt disgust and comtempt at them.  They
were not fit for wild living, and would probably live as
short as humans did on The Planet.  They were scorned and
jeered at by practically all wild animals, the dogs.  Except
for the animals being hunted by humans with the assistance of
the dogs.  Since dogs had been domesticated, other animals
had always, even before the AFF, laughed at them and called
them names.  Traitors!  Slaves!  The wild animals knew that
the dogs would have gladly attacked them, and killed them,
but they didn't care.  But the slaves had eventually won out,
because of their alliance with the humans.  Although soon, if
the AFF were victorious, and there was no reason why they
shouldn't be, that would change.
     Dogs naturally didn't like being laughed at, and some
species of them developed a hatred for wild animals, although
a breed like pugs were way too stupid to know that they were
being teased.  Indeed, even some bigger, rougher breeds of
dogs taunted the little `ankle-biter' dogs.  Foxy had seen
those things before, and he could hardly believe how ugly
they were.  Or for that matter, why people even kept them.
He knew he would have at the very least gave it to some other
animal for dinner, although the little dogs looked like a
rat, and had just about as much meat on them.
     But the bigger dogs, now, those were dangerous.  Foxy
had certainly met enough of them, back at the arena.  The dog
humans, they were used in hunts.  Once, the humans had taken
several foxes to another planet, for it had lots of trees and
had just a few signs of human intrudement.  In fact, that
planet and this one might be the same one.  They both had a
distinctive scent in the air.  It was impossible to describe,
but it was familiar in some way...  But back then, they had
released the foxes.  Foxy had thought for a while that they
were free, although he didn't know why.  As it turned out, a
day later, he ran into a very big wall.  He couldn't climb it
since it was perfectly smooth.  He tried digging under it,
but after digging four or five feet down, he stopped.  Then
he started following it, but it didn't end.  Soon Foxy
realized that they were just being put in a hunting area or
something, or maybe a zoo.
     A few days later, Foxy was looking for a new den to stay
in.  The forest was very nice to live in, and had a lot of
small prey that he caught and ate.  He had not met the other
foxes that came with him, but still, there was faint, old
scents of them or others who had been here before lingering.
Later he found a very pleasant spot, near a river, cool and
inviting.  There was even a den, which made Foxy suspicious,
even though he was young.  He nosed his way in, but the
owners, if there were any, were gone.  Well, there was no
scents either that would tell if any animal had been in here,
and the den was clean.
     A few minutes later, Foxy heard a loud chorus of baying
and humans shouting.  Coming to the entrance of his den, he
sniffed the air, and determined that it wasn't him that he
was after.  He was about to go back into the hole when the
noises abruptly got louder.
     The humans were coming closer.
     Foxy almost knew what had happened.  If he had to bet,
pursued fox had managed to cross Foxy's path, and the hunters
had either split up, or maybe they had all started following
Foxy's path.  Which ever, Foxy had to make himself scarce.
He didn't know what the hunters would do if they caught him,
and he didn't want to find out.  He took off, and waded into
the river.
     It was freezing cold, and by the time Foxy had crossed,
his legs were numb.  He shook himself off, then took off.
     Foxy led them on a long, twisting trail, and by some
miracle, he had ran back across the other fox's trail.  He
followed it for a bit, then when it went back to the river,
he left it.  There was a low hanging tree over the river, and
Foxy used to to climb up.  The trees in this forest had a
very thick branch system, and they all nearly linked
together.  Foxy managed to cross some ways off the ground by
balancing on the sturdy branches, and walking on them.
     That had saved him this time, but a week later, a HHV
had came over the forest, and located him, and a number of
humans had come and taken him back to Earth.  He was the last
one they captured, he had learned.  As if that was any
consolation.
     Now here he was, back in an enclosed place with dogs
running free.
     The humans took him inside a building, and took him up a
floor via an elevator, then parked him in front of a door,
and knocked.  "Well, you little furball, you get to talk to
the Warden," said one of the guards.  Then the door opened.

               *         *         *         *
     "WHAT?" the President almost yelled, standing up.
     The aide that had brought in the report bowed his head.
"It's true sir."
     The President whirled and looked out of one of the
bullet proof windows behind his desk, and looked up at the
morning sky.
     "You won't see them sir, they have already left."
     "Destroying five of our fighters, for NONE of theirs!"
The President fumed and sat back down.
     "Mr. President, we did manage to get a relatively good
lock on their trajectory on their way out.  If we follow it,
we might be able to trace them back to where ever they went."
     "Do it!  Do you know how bad this is going to look to
the public?"  The president groaned and rubbed his face with
his hands.
     "Get some snoopers out, and trace those other ships.  We
are getting raided almost every day on some out post worlds,
and we need to find out where the strikes are originating
from."
     "Yes, Mr. President."  The aide left.
     The President leaned back in his chair, wondering
whether to start a war, or just have a covert military
strike.  He made his decision, and called in his key staff.

               *         *         *         *

     Commander, S.C. and a few other leaders were inspecting
the data that Vix had brought back.  The information had been
transferred to the computer onboard the StarLion, and
everything was shown on a large screen.  At the moment,
Commander was going over the space defense system of Earth.
     It was fairly formidible.  In addition to the Shieldors,
there were quite a few Surface to Space Missile (SSM)
launchers, and also a close in defense for any missiles that
attackers might fire downward.  These would all have to be
taken out.
     He still had no firm plans for attacking Earth, besides
to wipe out the Shieldors and the SSM launchers with the
missile defenses.  Maybe...
     Commander switched to land defenses.  The computer
instantly brought up the quantities of Earth bound defenses.
There were small garrisons of infantry, and also ten of the
Battle Armors accompanying each garrison.  One garrison for
each square 500 mile block.  Heavy defenses.
     The Navy was pretty weak.  Just a few submarine type
ships, which were useless against the AFF who would not
bother with the seas, yet.
     The Air Forces of Earth were also weak.  Airfields
scattered all around Earth, but there were just about 25
small, agile fightercraft, the ATF-35 mostly, for each field.
Those could be dangerous for the Falcons and Hawks, since
those were designed for fighting in space, and the weightless
conditions.  They could perhaps take on the ATF-35's, but
maybe it would be safer to either bomb the airfields from
space, or design a new class of fighters primarily for air
combat.
     So that left the Fleet.  If Earth was attacked, the
humans would most likely throw everything they had to defend
their homeplanet of their species.  Even though there were
more important planets out there.  It wasn't going to be
easy defeating the mighty Fleet.  Commander toyed with the
notion of asking for another portion of the AFF fleet join
him in the attack.  Maybe ALL of the AFF fleet.  That should
be sufficent to rip the throats out of the human's hold on
Earth.  Yes.  It would.
     A plan formed in Commander's head.  If the AFF fleet
jumped in from all points around Earth, they could swiftly
crush the Shieldors.  Then they would start firing salvoes at
the protection on Earth.  When those were disabled, they
could launch the atmosphere fighters, to cover the AFF
hunting parties, and to destroy any human fighters that had
managed to take off, and avoid destruction in the bombing.
Then they would start launching the transports full of the
Hunting Packs, or whatever they were called, then cloak.
     The Hunting Packs consist of about one hundred of the
more powerful AFF hunters (i.e. wolves, tigers, lions) and a
few of the weaker AFF, like the foxes and coyotes for
anything that might require opening doors or sneaking into
somewhere.  If the bombardments where well aimed, there
should be very limited resistance, just whatever the
civilians had stashed away in their closets, like...  What
kind of guns did human civilians have?  Maybe pistols, maybe
the shot-pistols.  The Hunting Packs would destroy any
resistance, and kill as many humans as possible.
     Sometime during this attack, the EDF Fleet would come.
Thanks to the cloaking, they would not be able to locate the
AFF.  Every minute, each ship would turn off the Stealth, and
check for humans.  If so, they would attack, launching all
fighters and bombers.  They would expend every single warhead
onboard.  There would be no human survivors.  It would be a
victory long remembered.

               *         *         *         *

     Foxy sat down uncomfortably and warily in the human's
office as the two guards stood nearby.  The seats were made
of black leather, and Foxy didn't relish the idea of sitting
on a dead creature's skin, even if it was a foolish
domesticated creature.  The human sitting across the desk
from him was a harsh looking human with a thick mop of black
hair that had a sharp part on the left side.  He was wearing
a uniform similar to that of the guards.  The human was
reading a folder on his desk.
     It was the report submitted by the doctor.  It said, in
essence, that this particular specimen was a healthy male
except for a few deep wounds that already appeared to be
healing, and a light case of fleas.  And there was something
not right with the hands of the fox.  It seemed that they
were artifical.  The doctor recommended inspecting them.  The
human looked up as Foxy sat down in the leather seat.
     "Hello," said the human.  He had a strong voice, one
that showed complete confidence in himself.  Also a bit of a
British accent.  "I am Warden.  I am the warden of this
facility, and that is also my name.  You can call me Mr.
Warden, or sir.  And what's your name?"  Warden already knew
the answer, which was probably going to be close to Fox or
Foxy.  That's what 99.9% of the foxes in the prision called
themselves.
     The fox made a low sort of grunting bark.  Warden
sighed.  Also typical.  The other prisioners didn't co-
operate in the beginning either.
     "Look," Warden said.  "I'm sure the others have told you
this, but if you just admit that you can speak English, you
will avoid a LOT of pain.  Trust me, I don't enjoy hurting
things, but if I have to, I will."
     Foxy stared at the human in the eyes for a moment.  He
wished that he had someone to tell him what to do.  His mind
raced through options, then came to rest on a single
decision.  He lowered his eyes, looking into his chest, and
muttered in rough English, "No hurrt me," catching a bit on
the `R's.
     Warden looked at the fox's head for a moment longer,
then glanced at the guards.  This was unexpected.  From the
past, usually it took a little longer than this.  Warden
blinked, and then said, "Of course.  If you don't do anything
stupid, why should we hurt you?"
     A twisted grin almost forced it's way onto Foxy's face,
a very rare smile.  As if all those other animals that the
humans had hunted to near or total extinction had done
anything `stupid'.
     Warden continued.  "Also, we will be running tests on
you, and asking for information, ah..."  Warden looked
expectantly at Foxy, then when Foxy continued examining his
chest for whatever reasons, Warden interjected, "What was
your name?"
     Foxy brought his head up, and opened his mouth a tad,
his mind drawing a complete blank.  He stuttered, "Eff, fff."
     "Fox?" prompted Warden, rolling his eyes.  The poor
thing couldn't even remember it's name.  Or perhaps just
couldn't pronounce it?  Or, more likely, it was just being an
ass.
     Foxy shook his head in a spastic movement.
     "Foxy?"
     Foxy shook his head again.
     "Then what is it?" asked Warden, a little impatiently.
     Foxy made a short gruffling noise.  Warden sighed, then
said, "You can't pronounce it?  You can't speak it?"
     "Yes," Foxy said in a quiet voice.
     "All right then," said Warden reluctantly.  "Can you
tell me what you were doing on Earth?  We know that you and
three others were on federal land without permission, and
caused the deaths of at least 38 men."
     Foxy got a little gleam in his eye.  "Take off," he
said, touching the muzzle, "and I tell."
     "What?" asked Warden.  "You'll tell us if we take that
off of you?"
     Foxy cocked his head a bit to the left.  "Yes."
     Warden nodded.  "Fair enough.  But if you don't tell, we
will be forced to confirm all of your words from now on."  A
guard stepped up, and popped something on the back of the
muzzle, and Foxy yanked it off, and tried to rip out his own
stomach.  The swift movement startled the humans, and it took
them a moment to get a hold of Foxy and force his head away
from his stomach.  He snapped at the restraining hands, and
tried again desperatly to take his life.
     A guard lifted Foxy up out of the melee with his arm
around Foxy's neck in a secure chokehold, and was squeezing
enough to let Foxy know not to do anything else stupid.
     "Lord," said Warden.  "What are you trying to do?"  He
fixed Foxy with a stern glare.  "We'll talk later.  Take him
back to his cell, and make sure he doesn't have anything to
kill himself with.  And get a new muzzle."
     "Yes sir!"  The guards hauled Foxy out of the room.  One
was shaking his head, the other was restraining his anger.
Why he was angry, he had no idea, but...  It was there.  He
felt like he wanted to strangle the little creep, but that
would only make the fox happy.

               *         *         *         *

     Foxy's first night in the prison was not a good one.  He
wasn't really used to the concept of a bed with blankets, so
he stored them under the bed for the moment, then just curled
up in a furry ball, and tried to sleep.  But sleep, which
usually came in a matter of a minute, didn't come.
     Foxy found himself edging closer to the corner of the
bed farthest from the door.  Once he was there, Foxy tried to
fall asleep again, but he just couldn't.  Normally, if he was
on the StarLion, or Earth, it would be night, and he would be
active, although it didn't really matter to him when he was
up.  But here, with all the strange, and somewhat threatining
scents and sounds, it was different.
     To keep from falling asleep, which he wanted to, but
didn't dare to, he bit down on his tounge.  In this way, he
passed the night, in a silent vigil.  He thought of Vix,
wondering if they made it, and when they were going to attack
Earth.  Then his thoughts wandered onward to how and if he
was going to escape this dismal place.
     When morning finally came-you could only tell by when
the lights came on; there was no hint of real light,
generated by a sun-Foxy rolled out of bed, and worked some of
the kinks out of his muscles in an elaborate stretching
display.
     Foxy looked into the other cell across from him, and
noticed that there was another fox inside it, wearing a
collar and a muzzle.  Foxy wondered when they had brought
him/her (Foxy couldn't tell because of the walls and the
holes in them that messed up his view and he couldn't smell
him/her) in without Foxy knowing, but his thoughts were
interupted when the fox said, "Are you the new one?" in
Traditional, but in a quiet whisper.
     "Yes, I am," said Foxy suspiciously.  "And who are you?"
     "I'm called Jade."  A vixen.  "Who are you?" she asked.
     "I'm Foxy," replied the owner of the name.
"How did you get here?" she asked, switching into Fox.
     "We were on Earth-me and Vix, and two tigers-and I got
captured," Foxy said in the same language, albeit in a
resigned tone of voice.
     "So what were you doing down there?" Jade asked.
     "Why do you want to know?" was Foxy's rejoinder, in a
sharp voice.  "Prying me for information for the humans?"
     She suddenly turned very sour and dangerous.  "If you
ever slander me again by thinking that I would help them,
I'll be lapping up your blood as it pours from your throat."
She wasn't lying.
     Foxy looked cooly back at her eyes, which were
smoldering with anger.  "Alright then," he said pleasantly.
"Just remember, I used to live in the Coloseum, and I have
killed a human/dog mix by myself recently, as well as helped
in the deaths in over 30 humans."
     "Pah!  Humans.  If they didn't have guns, or fire, they
never would have gotten this far.  Those guard dogs are more
dangerous than the humans here, and that's not saying much."
     At least she's redirected some of her anger away from
me, thought Foxy.  "Ok, I'll trust you.  But, if I get
questioned by the humans about something I tell you, I swear
I will do something nasty to you.  As soon as I can think of
something."  Jade nodded.  "Ok," said Foxy.  "How much do you
know about us?"
     Jade wrinkled her nose.  "You mean the AFF?"
     "Yeah."
     "Not much, just that you are going to kill off every
single human on every single planet, and take them back for
the regular animals."
     "That about sums it up.  We have a limited fleet,
although it is big.  We can't just waste ships.  So, my team
was sent down to Earth, and we had to get some information
about the human's strength and weapons and defenses.  We were
almost trapped by the humans, but they managed to escape.  I
was shot by one of them with a tranquilizer or something like
that, and they took me here."
     "Uh-huh," said Jade, obviously not truly believing Foxy,
even though he was telling the truth.  "And were did you get
all those cuts?" she asked, pointing at Foxy's stomach and
face.
     "A dogfight," Foxy replied.  "I won though.  How long
have you been here?"
     "Too long," Jade said ruefully.  "I want to break out of
here or die in the attempt.  It's starting to make me go mad,
being trapped in here."
     "How many others are here?" asked Foxy, scratching a
little itch on his head, and then giving himself a quick
shake to wake himself up again.
     Jade sighed deeply.  "About fifty of us foxes, and about
fourty coyotes, and a lot of wolves.  Some tigers and two
lions.  A few hawks and falcons.  A couple weasels.  Mostly
us cainines, though."
     "Weasels?  I haven't seen one of those for such a long
time..."  Foxy drew off, remembering something from the past,
then shuddered back to attention to the present.
     "What about those guard dogs?" he asked.
     "Which ones, the mixed ones or the real ones?"
     "The mixed ones."  They had regular dogs here as well?
thought Foxy.  Not good.
     "There's a lot of them.  About one of them for every two
of us wild animals, I heard.  And they carry guns, and are
generally grrhirrs.  Try to ignore them if you can," Jade
advised.
     "Guns?  But why wo-"  Foxy was cut off as a door clanged
open at the end of the hall and a lot of humans came in.
     Not good at all.

               *         *         *         *

     Major Brimson of the US Special Ops team suited up in
his own room, adjacent to the regular guards' barraks.
     First one went the legs of the hard, heavy duty but
light weight, robotic, armor.  He snapped and sealed all the
required items, and checked that everything was functional.
Then came the upper torso and arms, which slid on nicely.
Brimsion adjusted it, and slipped on the final piece, the
helmet, after plugging in the neuro-link.  The smooth,
graceful looking helmet covered his whole head, and the air
filter and the radio in the mouthpiece forced the front to be
long and sloping down, also providing cover for the neck.
With everything connected and shut, he was nearly
invulnerable.
     The armor (serial number A925-CE1345-236D) was designed
to stop a small missile from piercing the chest area, and
even the thinnest armor would deflect a rifle bullet.  The
armor was robotically enhanced, with motorized joints that
increased the strength and was automatic, controlled via the
neuro-link.  In the helmet's faceplate, which was a clear
piece of plastic that would stop a 7.62 caliber bullet at
point blank range, was a HUD that could switch views from
infrared, to normal, to ultra violet, and various others.
The armor also incorporated the gun so that the suit would
automatically lock onto the most threatening object, if
Brimson desired.  In short, he was the ultimate warrior in
his suit.
     He was lucky that he was good enough for this; there
were only about a few thousand made for all of the planets
humans had settled on.  The material that it was made out of
was astronomically expensive, somewhere around a billion for
one pound of the stuff after it was processed into a suitable
form for the suit.  The total suit cost somewhere around one
hundred billion dollars.  But it was worth it.  One of these
suits could take out a lot of the enemy's men real quick, and
without a scratch to the person inside.
     Richard completed the quick tests on the suit, and hit
the button for his barrack's door.  It slid open with a
slight grind.  Apparently fixing soldier's doors were not on
the prison'a priority list.
     Richard strode over to the jail cell, calling up the
time on the HUD.  It flashed 0726.  Satisfied, he marched
inside, and went to the guard on duty at the main computer
console.
     "I need to get in to the new fox that we just brought
in," said Richard.
     The guard looked up, and said, "Yes sir, let me get some
guards for you.  Policy, y'know?"  He tapped a few buttons on
the armrest-mounted keys, and a few guards walked in, and two
guard dogs, the half dog and half human kind.
     "Thanks a lot," said Richard, and nodded to the new
guards in way of greeting.
     "Going to see the new prisioner, sir?"  Rich nodded
again.  "Alright, if you'll just follow me then, sir."  He
opened a door leading off to the right, and lead the way,
opening and shutting various doors, leading Richard down
different halls, passing many animals in their cells.  He
noted that all of them in this building were cainines, like
wolves and coyotes, and the foxes.
     After a while of walking, they opened a last door.
Inside, two low, animal voices abruptly cut off, and Richard
stepped in, his boots making a low clanking noise.
     "The one on the right, sir," said one of the guard dogs
helpfully.
     Richard strode up to the fox, who was sliding back away
from the front of the cell.  "You guys can leave.  I want to
talk to him alone."
     "Sure thing..." said one of the human guards
uncertainly.  There was supposed to always be at least one
guard with anyone inside the prision block, but this was one
of the elite of the elite soldiers.  He decided to let it go,
and marched everyone else out of the cell block.
     As soon as the heavy door had shut, Richard unsealed his
helmet and took it off.  Foxy looked at the tusseled hair,
the light brown skin, and the little freckles on the human's
face, and wondered what was going on.  He noted on the
armored shoulders, there was a gold leaf or something.  Foxy
wondered what it was.  The human's head looked way too small
for the size of the body it was on, but that was because of
the armor.  Richard had a very muscular body under the armor.
     Richard looked at the fox, studying the rich reddish
fur, the white belly, the alert ears, and the wary, cunning
eyes that watched back.
     Richard cleared his throat, and said, "Hello there.  You
know my name right?  We were together on the transport."
     But Foxy's wonderfully versatile way of forgetting
whatever he deemed unimportant had gone through and wiped
that out.  He shook his head.
     Richard sighed, and looked at Jade.  He slightly shook
his head, and then turned back towards Foxy.  "Well, I am
Major Richard Brimson, but you can call me Rich or Richard.
And what is your name?"
     Foxy cocked his head, and regarded Richard with a
probing eye.  "If I tell... Rrricharrd...  You let escape?"
Foxy asked.
     In the other cell, Jade snapped something in the Fox
language, and Foxy looked confused and a little angry.  He
grumbled back, and then looked surprised at Jade's answer.
When he spoke again to Richard, it was with a new attitude.
More humble, but more confusion, belligerence, and anger.
     "You want help us?"

               *         *         *         *

     On Ecarva of the Shralton system, a small black ship
rocketed away from the planet.  Inside were three sweating
men, and a few billion credits worth of stolen information
and goods in the cargo.  Close behind were four small, black
and white craft, medium sized, and very fast.
     "Goddamnit, move this thing!" yelled one of the men
inside the black ship.
     "Insteada whinin'" growled the other, "You could get
your butt down there and shoot at the bastards behind us."
     The first man fumbled for words, then turned angrily and
stormed down into a gun well.  He looked up as he plugged in
his VRT (Virtual Reality Targeting) visor, and saw the third
man whoop as he nailed one of the pursuing ships.  "Got 'im!"
     The man powered up his guns, and took aim, and let loose
a barrage of the plasma guns.  One of the craft behind him
rocked, but returned fire, along with a missle.  The thieves'
ship shuddered violently as the missle impacted.  "Shit!  We
got hull damage!  Breach in the engine compartment."
     "Fix it!" yelled back the second man.
     "I did.  Hold them off, just a few more seconds until we
can jump."
     The two men in manning the guns discharged most of the
remaining energy in the guns.  Another one of the craft
behind them turned back under heavy damage, but the two
remaining pummeled them with a renewed assault.
     Although the three criminals didn't know it, the missle
had not only ripped their hull, it had also attached a small
tachyon beacon.  It was only useful for ships that were in
hyperspace, but the device let other ships track a target
even if they had made a jump.  The only problem was figuring
out where the quarry jumped back into normal space.
     There was a loud noise.  "What the hell was that?"
     "We just lost engine number 3.  Hold on guys, we just
have 5 more seconds till we jump.  4...3...2...1.  Hold on!"
     With that, the banged up ship made its jump.

               *         *         *         *
     Inside one of the black and white craft,
Officer Travoli launched his last missle just as the target
jumped.  He hit his jump initiator, and immediately, his ship
was swallowed by hyperspace.
     A small blip glowed on a panel in his cockpit.  Travoli
grinned, and sat back after making an adjustment to his
computers.  After a short while, a soft, almost feminine
voice came into the cockpit.  "Warning," it said.  "Tachyon
transmitter showing flux signs.  Preparing to jump back to
normal space."
     Travoli sat up stiffly.  He was about to capture the
biggest data jackers in this decade.  He wasn't about to
botch it.

               *         *         *         *

     Back in the fleeing ship, the first man swore.  "Guys!
We're gonna have to cut this jump short.  The damage is worse
than I thought."
     "Wonderful," came the voices of the other two jackers
echoing down the hall.
     "Brace yourselves, this might be rough."  The data
jacker and experienced pilot flipped on a few switches, and
pushed the button.
     He flashed into normal space around a planet.  A strange
planet.  He could see a large space station orbiting it, and
numerous huge battleships cruising around.  He checked the
co-ordinate map.  It was still calculating where he was.
     Then he noticed two ships jump in behind him.  His jaw
dropped.  The police!  "Get to the guns!  They followed us!"
he yelled, then prepared to go evasive.
     He didn't notice the huge warship that jumped into the
system in his panic.  When he did notice, it was when his
computer alerted him that one of the police ships had been
destroyed, and the other had ran away.  Then he looked up out
of the cockpit, and saw the behemoth.
     It floated gracefully over his small, ragged ship.  He
could see small areas of black, warhead strikes, on the
battle ship's armor, and he noted the amazingly graceful
lines of the ship.  It was awesome.  Then a flurry of lasers,
plasma, missiles, and electrons blotted his ship from
existence.

               *         *         *         *

     Officer Travoli sat back in his seat.  He was sweating,
and gulping for air.  Those huge ships!  Why had they just
opened fire on him and his partner, without even a hailing
call?  At least they had to have gotten those jackers.  But
that was no consolation.  He knew the military had no ships
like that, and, in fact, had lost a few capital ships lately,
and they were stumped where the attackers where coming from.
Was this it?  He would have to make a report about it.

               *         *         *         *

     Commander watched the remains of the two human ships
tumble about apprehensively.  One of them had escaped, and
that one might be able to help the humans trace where exactly
this planet was, where the AFF had their main forces.
     He prowled around the main bridge restlessly as the
handling crews took in the StarLion to the massive tender
stations.  The bridge crew that had learned of the attack
looked around nervously, and some preformed their functions
in a numbed manner.  If the humans discovered this planet,
they would definitely have to move.  The AFF had a mighty
fleet, but the humans had so much more territory to guard,
and thus they had a vast number of warships to protect the
colonies and outposts.  If they massed their fleet, and all
of them attacked The Planet at once, it would be over very
soon.  It was like one lion holding off four attacking lions,
or a pack of twenty hyenas.  It couldn't be done.
     If the AFF couldn't hold The Planet from a brutal
assault, then the AFF would just have to prevent that assault
from happening.  They would have to attack Earth before the
humans could attack The Planet.
               *         *         *         *

     Inferno and Tigress were slowly drifting apart after
Tigress' heat period was over.  They would stay close, but
they wouldn't share a room any longer.  But tonight, or
whatever time it was on the star ship, they were sleeping,
curled up next to each other so that they were touching.
Inferno was more stretched out, and he was twitching
slightly, especially his tail, the tip of which was flipping
back and forth, back and forth.  Tigress was sleeping more
quietly, just resting peacefully.
     Then the door hissed open, letting a bright slice of
light into the room, and right across the sleeping pad, and
the two tigers.  A small form was standing in the doorway.
Tigress woke up first, and instantly tensed, claws unsheathed
and a warning rumble from her chest.  Inferno awakened after
Tigress, and he too got ready to fight.
     "Wait!  Hold on!"  It was Vix's voice, and she sounded
worried.  "It's me, Vix."
     Inferno slowly retracted his claws.  "What?" he asked
imperiously.  "We were trying to get some SLEEP, you know."
     Tigress agreed, and added, "This had better be
important."
     "It is.  Some humans just jumped into the area around
The Planet.  We got two of them, but one escaped.  Commander
thinks that that one human will report where we are, so he is
going to attack Earth much sooner now."  The words came out
very quickly, and the two tigers could tell the little vixen
was nervous.
     "So what are you worried about?" asked Inferno
     "What if the humans come and attack The Planet?"
     "They won't.  Even if they did, we could crush them,"
said Tigress.
     Vix obviously wasn't pleased, but she didn't say
anything as she walked out the door.
     Tigress and Inferno lay back again, and tried to fall
asleep.  But they couldn't.  They were worried about what
would happen.

               *         *         *         *

     The next morning, Foxy was awakened from a restless doze
by a loud alarm.  Foxy was just as glad that he was awake,
for he had not had a good time yesterday.  That human,
Richard, had actually wanted to help all of the AFF
prisioners escape?  After that human left, then more of them
had come and taken him away to interrogate him.  Foxy had
held out, and frustrated the humans before he was returned to
his cell.  So far from his capture, he had not had anything
to eat, and Foxy was starving.  With all of that, it was no
surprise that he had been sleeping bad.
     As Foxy sat up and yawned as much as the muzzle would
let him, then stretched, he heard humans coming down the
hall.  "Now what?" he muttered.
     Jade heard him, and said, "Breakfast."
     "Breakfast?  You mean, food?"  Foxy looked happier.
     "It is...  not very good, to put it mildly," said Jade.
     "What is it, then?" asked Foxy.
     "Kibbles and bits and bits and bits and bits and bits
and bits and bits and bits and-"
     "Okay, okay!  I get the idea.  What exactly is that
stuff?" asked Foxy.
     "Dog food."  Jade watched Foxy closely.  He looked sick
now, instead of perky at the idea of food.
     "Um.  Dog food?  Like little-"
     "Yeah."  Jade grinned.  "Doesn't sound good does it?"
     The door opened, and a few humans came in, leading a
droid cart.  It moved along, stopping at each cell for a
moment to let its sensors see if there was anything in the
cell to give food to, then moved on if there wasn't an AFF in
there.  If there was, it would open a slot, and out would pop
a plastic tray thing with compartments holding food in them.
It would insert the tray into the doggie door.  The plastic
opened for the door, and the food dropped onto the floor.  At
the same time, the end of Foxy's muzzle opened up.  Foxy
looked at the food tray, wondering what was inside, and why
the muzzle opened.
     The droid cart shoved a tray into Jade's cell, then the
humans and the cart moved on.  As the door shut behind them,
Foxy cautiously peeled back the cover.  Steam billowed up,
carrying a nice meaty scent with it.  Foxy found his mouth
watering despite the fact that the food didn't really look
all that appetizing.
     "How do I eat this?" Foxy asked of Jade.
     "With the shiny things on the side of the tray.  They're
called fork, which is the pointy one; spoon, the one with a
curved thing on the end; and a knife, that sharp one.  Don't
bother about trying anything.  They aren't sharp enough to do
much of anything.  Oh yeah, you have to blow on the food so
that it cools off."
     Foxy looked at his tray, and considered whether it was
worth it to do all that just to eat some food.  "Is this
really dog food?"
     "No," said Jade.  "I was just trying to trick you."  She
looked up at Foxy.  "Did it work?"
     Foxy growled softly.
     Jade nodded. "Thought so."  She shook her head, then
added, "You had better eat quick.  We have to go get our
morning showers right after this."
     By this time, Foxy's food had cooled off sufficently
enough to let him eat it without scalding his mouth.  Foxy
grabbed the tray, and snarfed it down as fast as he could.
It was some kind of meat, beef maybe, in sauce, and with a
few veggies.  It seemed similar to what humans called TV
dinners.
     As Foxy was licking off the last of the sauce, more
humans came marching into the room.  At some signal, the
doors all opened simultaneously.  Foxy glanced at Jade for
some kind of clue, but she wasn't looking at him.
     "All right, come on," said one of the guards.  He and
his three partners kept their weapons and the little collar
controls conspicuously displayed.  Foxy grudgingly stepped
out, if only because he would have a chance to go outside.
     Jade was following behind Foxy, the two of them
seperated by a guard.  Going into the next cell block, Foxy
noticed that the other AFF, which were coyotes and wolves,
had already been cleaned.  Their fur was still slightly wet,
as if they had been in a humid room a while.  The cleaned
animals watched Foxy with some mild interest, but for the
most part just sat there.
     Once outside, he saw that one crazy human that wanted to
help the AFF standing guard in one of the towers.  He also
noticed that there were a lot of guard dogs wandering around
in packs of three.
     Foxy wondered why he had to take those pointless showers
that only made him miserable and wet.  Well, that drying room
wasn't so bad, he reflected.  At least it was warm in there.
He knew after that shower, he would have to go back to his
cell, and mope around in there.  But for how long?  Foxy
hoped that the humans would let him out once in a while.
     He was ushered into the showers, past a group of wolves
and coyotes that looked like they had just gotten their
showers.  They looked at each other with some mild interest,
but no words were exchanged between them.  Once in the large
shower room, the guards shoved him into a shower stall,
collar, pants, and all.
     The water came on, once again causing Foxy to try and
spring aside to avoid the water and once again slam into the
wall.  He slipped on the floor, and fell down.  He staggered
to his feet, coughing up some water, and holding onto the
door handle.  The controls of the shower head decided he was
wet enough, then switched into the shampoo mode, or whatever
it was that shot out of the showerhead.  Foxy remembered this
time to close his eyes, and soon he was covered in bubbles.
Then the computer switched back to water, and in a minute,
Foxy was let out of the shower.
     The guards led Foxy and the soggy Jade into the drying
room.  Once the two foxes were shut in, the heating fans
started up.
     "Ah, this is the good part," sighed Jade as she stepped
in front of a fan.  The fans kicked on with a loud whir, and
warm, dry air gushed through the room.  Foxy cringed, then
stood up as he got used to the heat.  Jade was right, it was
really nice and warm.  He glanced at Jade.  She was enjoying
it, her fur whipping back from the wind.  In a few minutes,
they were dry, and the fans shut down.  "That is one of the
good parts of the day," Jade said.  "Next good part is when
they let you out."
     Before Foxy could answer, the guards opened the door,
and led the two foxes out.  More were already in the showers,
and some were coming out to the drying room.  The guards
hustled Foxy and Jade out, back to their cells for another
few hours of boredom.

               *         *         *         *

     Commander was waiting in a large room, with quite a few
other commanders of other ships.  They were waiting for the
Leaders.  A door hissed open, and the four leaders came out;
two tigers, a lion, and a wolf.  They sat down, and all of
the Commanders circled them.
     "We have had the plans brought by Commander of the
StarLion analyzed.  There is apparently a major weakness that
we could exploit in attacking Earth.  But in return, there is
also a major setback if we land hunting parties," said one of
the tigers.
     "What is the setback?" called one of the commanders.
     "Almost every single human on Earth has at least three
firearms in their homes.  Evidently, they collect them, even
though there is around a seven percent crime rate.  If we
land hunting parties, either they will have to wear armor,
carry those despicable guns, or risk having most of the
hunters killed."  A soft growl of anger rose from the large
group.
     The wolf spoke up.  "We could just do a planetary
bombardment from orbit, after we wipe out the human fleet,
but there would be no hunting after that.  Even if there
were, it would not be very exciting.  Just a few survivors,
mostly injured fools."  The Commanders looked at each other.
     "What was their major weakness?" asked one Commander.
     "Well, it is a structural design inherent in almost
every single capital ship they have built," commented the
lion.  "They have their launch tubes for their fighters lined
up in a nine by nine square.  If you can fire a heavy bomb up
one of them..."  The lion shrugged.  "It goes boom.  And not
only does it disable that section of the launching tubes,
they arrange their projectile weapons in magazines
surrounding the tubes, for ease of reloading.  That sets off
more explosions.  In a few moments, the entire ship is
disabled, or dead."   The Leaders waited for the quiet
murmurs to stop, then they continued.  "Now, we are going to
strike at Earth in seven days.  That is long enough to fully
refit all of our ships, and repair them.  Now, here is the
plan..."

               *         *         *         *

     Foxy paced back and forth in his cage nervously.  "How
long until we get out?" he asked Jade.  She sighed.  "Not for
a while," she said, then tried to doze off for a few more
minutes until that male would ask his question.
     Foxy moaned, then inspected the front wall again,
scratching it.  He would try to pick the lock, but it was too
far away, and the holes in the wall were way too small to
even try to pick the lock.  His scratching ceased for a
moment, then he resumed pacing.  One of the hall doors
opened, and that crazy human, Richard, came in, and stopped
in front of the two fox's cages.
     "Hey, what's up?" he asked, a grin on his face.  Foxy
quietly growled, then Richard remembered.  "Oh yeah, I'm not
supposed to show my teeth too much when I smile, huh?"  He
smiled in a more acceptable manner.  "Well, most of the
others here are used to our way..."
     "What do you want?" asked Jade.
     "Nothing.  I just got off duty, wanted to see how the
new guy was doing."
     "He's annoying!  A fool!" yelled Jade.  "Every few
minutes he gets up and asks me when we are going out next.
Then he paces back and forth, and then tries the door, then
asks me a question!"
     Richard laughed.  "Ah, you were all like that when you
first got here."
     Jade huffed a bit, but didn't say anything.
     "Oh well," said Richard, "I gotta get going.  See ya
later."  He turned and left.  Foxy watched the door shut
behind him, then turned to Jade.
     "How much longer now?"
"Look," snapped Jade, "Stop being an idiot, and stop asking
me those stupid questions!"  She was very upset.
     Foxy looked injured.  "Alright," he said.  "I'm sorry
for bothering you like that, but I found out that if you act
like a fool, humans underestimate you.  It just makes it
easier to slip past them later on, or trick them if they
don't know your capabilities.  So just forgive me for acting
like that.  I am pretty smart, in fact.  Just play along with
me.  And don't tell them about me."
     Jade looked at him icily.  "I suppose that you'll want
me to act like my brain has drained out of my skull as well?"
     Foxy shook his head.  "How long have you been here?"
     "Ten years."
     "If you change behavior now, they won't be tricked.
Just continue acting like yourself.  But don't worry.  I
think I can get out of here."
     "How long do you think it will take to get us out of
here?" said Jade in a serious tone.
     "I don't know.  If we are on an island, then it might be
tough to get off of it.  Maybe if we can hijack a
transport..."
     "Can you fly those things?" asked Jade.
     "No," Foxy admitted. "Then we'll have to find a hawk to
fly us out of here."
     Jade shook her head.  "They are kept seperate from us.
It'll  be too complex to go and rescue one.  The humans would
have caught us long before we even got close.  Besides, the
transport is guarded, and doesn't stay on the ground very
long.  And they keep the birds even more tightly guarded than
us.  How would you open their cells?"
     "You talk too much," admonished Foxy.  "Do they have
security cameras in here?"
     "Yeah.  Why?"
     "Then I can't show you.  These hands are fake.  I got
both of them after my hands got blown off by a hunter.  But
they gave me robotic ones.  I found these panels, and I have
a very nice set of picks in them."
     "What about the guards?" asked Jade.  "How do you plan
to get past them, even in the dark?  They have IR goggles.
Some of us found out the hard way in the beginning."
     "How?"
     "We tried an escape, when we first got here at night.
It was pitch black, but they just shot us, even though we had
trouble seeing that night, and we have better night vision
than they do."
     Foxy shook his head.  "They've had those things for
years and years now.  You should've known better."
     "Shut up," snapped Jade.  She turned her back on Foxy,
and curled up into a ball of fur, and dropped off to sleep.
Foxy had nothing better to do than the same.

               *         *         *         *

     "The situation's pretty bleak," commented the Vice
President.
     "You're telling me."  The President turned his chair
around from where he was looking out of the bullet-proof
windows of the White House.  "So far, out of all of the armed
forces that we have on duty, we have lost a third, compared
to less than ten percent of the other side's attacking
forces."   The President rifled through some other holo disks
on his table.  "We have lost a total of at least two hundred
and thirty seven colonies, with a total of just under two
billion casualties in all of the planets settled so far.  And
that's just civilian deaths.  Add more for all the men and
women on the battle ships we lost."
     The Veep nodded.  "Yes, but look at this.  A small
police ship has located, at the very least, a major outpost
of the other side."  He held out a holo disk, and the
President took it, and slid it into the holo projector
mounted in the presidential table.
     An image of the galaxy appeared, with a small green box
highlighting a certain arm, very far out from the center of
the Milky Way.  It zoomed in, closer and closer, until a
single star system was displayed.  The camera view started
rotating around it, displaying the co-ordinates.  Then a
smooth feminine voice started reiterating the information
being shown.  Eventually, the holo faded out, and was
replaced by another.  This was the camera views of the ship
that had jumped into the planet's vicinity and then managed
to escape.
     It showed a nice green planet that looked like Earth,
except that the continents and oceans and lakes were very
different.  There were not so many clouds, which gave them a
very good look at the planet's surface.  There was absolutely
nothing.
     The camera jerked upward, looking out into space.  It
focused on a large space station that looked like whoever had
designed it was blind.  It was a random clumping of shapes,
all molded together into a single form.  Then it panned to
the left.  A large flock of capital ships were off in the
distance, and were starting to move towards the camera.  Then
the camera moved upward, at a large capital ship directly
overhead the ship taking the camera views.  There were a lot
of energy beams being fired at the new ships.  The two other
human ships flew into the camera's field of view.  The one
bearing police markings was the first to vanish.  Then the
camera was violently smashed downward, and cut off as the
ship made a last-ditch jump out of there.
     As the holo wound down, the President leaned back in his
chair.  "I think I know what we need to do here," he said,
thinking hard.

               *         *         *         *