"Damn!" The Marine communications man turned around from the comm station. "Sir, we've lost Alpha patrol." The Marine captain took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "Christ. That's... Six men already, in less than four hours." It was a bad idea coming here, he thought. "Keep on watching out for them. If any of the patrols even hint at trouble, let me know." The captain stepped out of the makeshift camotent. The Marine base was a large camotent erected above the ship they had come down in. The tent was positioned above a hill, and looked almost like an extension of that hill. Underneath the outermost covering were several little huts. One was communications, another was stores, another was for the thinking. That hut held all the data, and was used to figure out what was going on. The captain went up to the large camotent. At close ranges, and only from one way, you could see through it. The captain looked out at the lush forests and wide grasslands spreading out from the hill. Far off in the distance, a mountain range was visible, and in the other direction lay a body of water. A low whine in the sky alerted the captain. "Incoming aircraft!" he shouted, running to the communications station. Marines bustled about, going to their stations, aiming their rifles out, ready for any attack. The shuttle circled about a mile away from the camp, and settled down slowly, dropping out of view. It rose up again a minute later, and rocketed towards the sky. Nothing else was heard or seen, and the Marines slowly started to relax. The shuttle hadn't seen them. * * * * The President rode down the elevator, this time by himself. He was simply raging at those damn animals. They refused to listen, and could argue tenaciously about anything. They even said that the Mile High Building in Los Angles county wasn't the tallest building on Earth, even though it was. And the damned thing was, they seemed to be right that it wasn't the tallest. In the end, the President finally gave his cold leaving, promising that the AFF would be sorry for their actions. Five of his guards had already gone down, and the other five were probably sitting in some staring match with the AFF leaders. Oh, how he wished he could just take one of the guard's weapons and open fire on the AFF. But there were too many, and probably not even all of the guns and ammo the guards carried would be sufficent to take down all of the AFF. Damn them. The elevator opened up, and the President stepped out. The five guards were in a semi-circle around the elevator opening, pushing back two small, furry creatures. "But I want to talk to the President," one of the furry things was saying. "Well, you can't," said one of the guards with obviously frayed patience. "He's not even--Sir!" The guard straightened up at attention. "At rest. What does this. . .thing want?" sneered the President. "Mr. President," said the furry thing, "I know that they upset you there, but not all of us feel like that. Us two want to talk to you, briefly. Please." "Oh really?" said the President sarcastically. "And you think that I belive that?" He motioned his guards forward, towards his ship. The furred thing kept up with the guards. "Sir, not all of us are here voluntarily. We're small, and the bigger ones forced us here. We don't all think that humans should be eradicated." The President sighed. The little thing had a kind of earnestness that persuaded the President. "All right. Why don't we talk on my ship, while they get the thing ready." In a few minutes, the group had assembled inside the Space One's lounge, waiting for the other guards to come in. The President noted that the guard's rifles had been neatly piled into a stack by one wall. The President asked the guards to inspect their weapons and make sure that they were not tampered with. None of the weapons had been bothered, reported back the guards. Once the President had settled himself in a large chair comfortably, he nodded to the two furred animals. "Go ahead. Say your bit." One of them cleared its throat. Now that the President could see it without the guards in the way, it was obviously a she. The other one was a male. She said, "My name is Vix, and this is Fox. We are both part of a group that believes that the humans should be spared. We realize that you humans have culture dating back thousands of years. I personally like the classical music that you humans have made, made by masters like Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, and Tchaikovski." Fox spoke up. "I like the styles of cooked food you humans make, and I like the buildings and designs you incorporate into your tools and machines. We know of lions and hawks who love you humans' artwork, from the old oil paintings to the newest computer generated designs." The President leaned back in his chair. "Hmm." He had just been insulted by these AFF animals, and now they want to go to a concert with him? An idea sprouted suddenly in his mind, a way to get even with these things. An evil grin spread over his face. He sat up in the chair. "Alright. I'm going to see a classical music concert at the Sirus Symphonic Hall in a few weeks. I can make it an offical gathering for you, and then afterwards, we can go to an art museum, and get some food. Sirus is famous for their artistic and cultural aspects." Vix nodded. "We'd like to bring a few more of us, you know." "How many?" asked the President. "Uhm... One hawk, one tiger, one wolf, one coyote, one jaguar, one panther, and us two," replied Fox. "Eight, eh?" The President calculated for a few moments. "Alright then. I'll get my people on it right away." "When you want to contact us, to let us know the date and time and everything, send a message pod here, and label it `Human Info' in plain English. It'll get to us," said Vix. "Very well then. Expect it in about five days," replied the President. "Thank you, Mr. President," said Fox. "We'll take our leave now." The two foxes bowed their way out of the ship, left. In a few moments, the Space One rocketed out of the AFF space platform's landing hangar, and disappeared into hyperspace. * * * * Vix slowly wandered around the hangar of the immense space platform. She felt empty and bored and lonely, ever since Foxy had gotten captured. There just wasn't anything to do. The Leaders had suspected that the humans might find The Planet, and had arranged everything. Vix and the other fox would come out after the Leaders had met with the human leader, and soothe him. The two foxes had been chosen since they were more like the cute little furry creatures that the humans liked. Vix had an ulterior motive for volunteering for this mission, though. Hopefully, she might hear something that would lead to where ever Foxy was. Although she might not admit it, she did feel a great attraction to him. And she was sure that he returned that affection. With the hawk's help, they might even be able to capture another human ship and rescue Foxy. Hey! It could happen, said an optimistic voice in Vix's head. And if worms had machine guns, birds wouldn't mess with them, replied another voice. Vix sighed, and wandered off to another spot in the huge space platform's hangar. She ended up at a very high vantage point, and she looked down at the rows of Hawks, Falcons, and Eagles spread out in rows. Their silvery outer hull gleamed in the light of the hangar, mesmerizing Vix. They were so beautiful, yet deadly. Lethal works of art. As Vix sat, musing over the fighter craft, let her mind wander, looking back at that night in the human base. If only they hadn't fiddled with the electrified lock, they would have easily had enough time to escape. If a human had dropped one of the laser cutting tools, or tripped just once, they could have escaped with Foxy. If Inferno hadn't insisted on dismantling the droid, they would have had time to escape. If... She shook her head. Such ways of thinking about the past were not beneficial. You can't change the past. Nothing can be done, but to just go on. And that's what life does while you're sitting there, thinking about what could have gone wrong at a lucky time, or what could have gone right at a worse time. What if that one human, so long ago, never discovered that fire could be tamed? None of this would have happened, and Earth may still be wild and free. So many different possibilites and options in the past. Vix growled softly at herself. Stop thinking that way! she told herself, And put it out of your mind. Let everything go in the path it's supposed to! With that, she jumped up to her feet, and vanished into the shadows of the hangar. She was going to get ready for any chances the future might give her. * * * * As the captain walked back to his sleeping area from the comm tent, he felt a growl in his stomach. Looking at the watch on his wrist, he realized that he hadn't eaten since they made planetfall. Before that even. It was time for some food. The captain made a detour towards the stores shelter. It was made out of a tough plastic material, shaped into a rough hut, and waterproofed to keep rain from ruining the food and ammo and batteries kept inside. The thing was actually quite sturdy, and was easily able to stop a bullet. He opened the door, and peered inside. There were stacked packs of materials all over the place inside of it, and it was quite dim. Just as the captain was about to step in, he heard a faint crackling sound, the sound of a food pouch being opened. The captain reached for his sidearm, and slowly stepped into the hut. He carefully searched all of the dark corners with his eyes, making no noise. The noise was coming from the very back of the hut, but the captain was not going to make any mistakes. As the captain drew nearer to the sounds, they abruptly stopped. The captain froze, but in a few moments, a loud crackling rip sound came to his ears. Apparently, something had finished the first one, and was starting on a second. Captain went nearer and nearer. Finally, there was one last corridor, one last corner of boxes seperating him from whatever was eating his food. The captain jumped across that corner, his pistol aiming directly in front of him, yelling, "Hold it right there!" A frightened yelp answered him, and a quick, scrambling scrabble on the floor. The captain saw a small, furry thing on the ground in front of him, cornered against a pile of boxes of food. The animal looked very frightened, pressed up against the boxes, on all four feet, eyes wide, tail curled up in front of its body, ears laid back, but no teeth or claws showing. The thing was only about three feet long, not including the tail. The captain reached down with one hand, still keeping the pistol aimed at the little furry thing. The animal shrunk away from his hand, but the captain made a quick grab, and picked up the thing by the scruff of its neck. He brought it up close to his face, and scrutinized it carefully. The thing must have known what a firearm was, for it kept its eyes on the captain's pistol. It also kept its head down, and avoided eye contact with the Marine. The captain marched out of the hut, holding the animal at arm's length. Once out, he yelled, "Who the hell is on sentry duty?" "I am, sir!" came several voices. "Well, get over here!" the captain roared back. Several Marines appeared, each carrying a large gun, at double time. "Yes, sir?" they all asked. "What is a sentry?" asked the captain. "A soldier posted to guard against danger," replied one Marine. "Are you men sentries?" "Yessir." "Then why the fuck is this thing in our storehouse, eating our food?" the captain yelled, shaking the furry little creature. None of the sentries responded. "Get back to your posts, and if anything else gets through, I'm gonna douse you in steak sauce and send your butts out there to feed the carnivores!" The captain turned and stormed away from the embarressed sentries, who scuttled back to their posts. The captain went to the intelligence room, and slung the little animal into the intelligence hut, where a few Marines were poring over all of the data they had gathered through the scouts and their own sensors. "Keep an eye on this thing, and see if it knows anything," ordered the captain, before he slammed the door shut and left to go get a snack. * * * * The cell block was quiet. Even Jade and the panther had stopped talking, each now morosely contemplating the boredom that boxed them. Foxy was laying on his bed. He had taken out one of the picks, and was using it to scratch patterns in the wall. He had spent quite a while doing this, and had made a rather facinating pattern. Suddenly, the quiet of the cell was broken by the door clanging open. Several human guards and a few guard dogs came in, each one carrying a remote control for the collars. Foxy quickly slipped the pick back into its place in his hand. The guards opened the panther's cell. The panther watched the guards carefully, who told her to stand up. "Why?" she asked in a low, smooth voice. "Look, do you want to go outside, or would you rather stay in here?" said the guard. The guard waited a second, then shut the door, and locked it again. The panther, realizing what was happening, screamed, and launched herself for the door. She thudded up against the clear material, and fell to the ground. She was stunned for a moment, but was up on her feet and screaming curses at the humans, and clawing at the plastic, in a heartbeat. The guards just laughed at her, and turned to Jade next. "Now, do you want to go out?" he said with a wicked leer on his face. Jade quickly, but grudgingly, got up, and went to the door. Two guards grabbed her arms, and carried her outside. Foxy was already up on his feet, scratching at the door. The guards laughed, and opened the door. "Here," said the human that opened the door, "Why don't you two take 'im?" He shoved Foxy right at two of the biggest guard dogs that Foxy had ever seen. They lifted Foxy up, and carried him outside, sneering at the fox all the way, occasinally saying something degrading or insulting or threatening to Foxy. Foxy just remained limp. He wasn't about to provoke these big grrhirrs. No telling what they might do. When they were out in the sunlight and fresh air, Foxy's arms were going numb. But still the dogs did not put him down. They brought him to a large enclosure past the hospital. It was quite large. From what Foxy could see of it, it was about three fourths of a mile wide, and no telling how long it was. It sloped down all the way to the shoreline, but a fence prevented anything from going into the water. Buildings made up part of the barrier from the outside, large buildings. There were several guard towers as well, scattered around the perimeter. Inside were rocks and trees, and some little toy things that were supposed to give something for the prisioners to do. The guard dogs opened up the complex-looking doors, and tossed Foxy into the enclosure, in such a way that the first thing to hit the ground was Foxy's head. Foxy almost bristled and snarled at the insolent guard dogs, but decided at the last second that it would not be benificial to his health. He shook the dirt from his fur, and vowed to get revenge. Once Foxy had unruffled his fur, he took a closer look at his new surroundings, and went off exploring. The enclosure was unimpressive, really. Not much cover, not much to do. A few other AFF were out there, all of them keeping their distance from one another, and it was pretty quiet, too. As Foxy continued searching the borders of the place, the stupendous roaring of two very large tigers fighting each other reached his ears, but aside from that, and the yelling of the humans racing to break up the fight, there really was not much going on. Eventually, he came across an interesting building that made up part of the border. It had a slanted roof, about fifteen feet up, made of some metal. A few nearby rocks and one of the strange toys neatly stacked up to create a ladder. Foxy quicky climbed up and jumped onto the roof. He was dissapointed that the fence had gone up and over, onto the roof, going along the sides of the roof, then up along the uppermost crest of the roof, where the two slanted sides met. Slightly upset at the fact that he couldn't get anywhere from here, Foxy sat down on the roof, near the crest, by the foot of the fence. The metal of the roof was pleasantly warm. The gentle sun and the caressing, cool breeze made Foxy drowsy. The truth be told, he didn't like being indoors, and hadn't slept very well. Up here, it was very nice. He wanted to yawn, a jaw-splitting yawn that appeared almost painful to humans. But that muzzle prevented him. He was starting to seriosly dislike the muzzle, even more than ususal. Sleep seemed like such a wonderful option. Running around aimlessly in that sorry excuse for an excersize area seemed like a futile waste of energy. Foxy tried to yawn again, and dropped off to sleep. * * * * Vix nervously fiddled with the seat harness. It had been seven days since they had recieved the message pod from the human president, and the concert was scheduled to be on a planet deep in human territory, in two days. The president had said in the message to come at this time, to "get situated." Vix didn't know what that was, but she was suspicious and nervous. But they had to go, or rise human suspicion. Vix knew how delicate this situation was. Three of the four Leaders had not been overly happy about this mission, but had grudgingly agreed that the prizes may be worth the delay. They were impatient to attack Earth, and if this mission failed, AFF blood would flow. The others had already situated themselves. The hawk was flying, since he was the only one who actually knew how to fly. Vix might be able to figure it out with a little while of practice. She squirmed around in the tight straps, and looked at the others. That big tiger unnerved her. He seemed to be a little strange to Vix. She decided that the genes that controlled fur color wasn't the only one that was left out in the growing process. What was his name? Vix thought it was something like "Dagger," but she wasn't sure. Why did he, out of all of the tigers in all of the AFF, have to come? Why not a sane one? Then again, not too many cats were sane. They acted like they were high and mighty, be so many of them had little strange quirks. At least the females were better than the males. At least the others were better. Although Vix had not met them before, they couldn't be as bad as this neurotic tiger. They had remained relatively quiet, and hadn't bothered Vix at all. The hawk was up in the cockpit of this cargo craft, waiting for the launching equipment to be powered up. Eventually, there was enough power, and all the safties had been cleared, and the cargo ship was ejected from the capital ship. The hawk competently maneuvered the craft into a jump orbit, and in a minute, warned the others to hold on as he hit the engaging button. They were off, and hopefully they would live through this "peaceful meeting." * * * * The Leaders were trying to relax in their quarters, awaiting for the news of the little envoy ship to be off. As soon as they recieved word of that, they all breathed a sigh of relief. The logistics of attacking Earth was a plain nightmare. As the scout reports came trickling in, it was obvious that more than the Earth sector ships would be needed to attack the target. It was decided to use the entire AFF fleet. Of course, not all the commanders were happy with that decision, and a few had still not arrived at The Planet for repairs, re-arming, upgrades, modifications, and information. Undoubtedly, some had gotten tangled up in battles or had experienced similar troubles, but most worrisome of all was that the GalaxyTiger, one of the most famed of the AFF ships, was not responding, and niether was its escort. This single battle group represtented a significant portion of AFF firepower. What was going on, no one could tell. This did not do much to relieve the tension in the Leader's quarters. Fights were frequently flaring up, but only a few AFF had been injured. The strain of not attacking any humans for so long was starting to take its toll on the AFF. Human blood had to spill soon, or more serious problems would soon develop. * * * * Vix woke with a start as her chair started vibrating. She looked around, wondering what was going on. The low whine of the ship's hidden guns powering up was barely audiable to Vix as the engines started to rumble like an angry wolf. She heard a chatter of English from the cockpit, and realized that some human ships must be nearby. Quickly unstrapping the seat restraints, Vix hurried to the cockpit. The hawk knew English, but hawks were in general so haughty that having him do all the talking would probably result in their untimely demise. "We need identification," said an annoyed human voice as Vix entered the cockpit. "If you do not transmit, we will start firing." "I suggest that you be more courteous," screeched the hawk into the mike, carefully charging up the shields and arming the guns at the same time. The hawk had been very enthusiastic about this ship when they first got into it. It was a standard cargo ship, heavily modified. It certainly looked strange. It consisted of a smallish cockpit, with a flat bottom, and a sloping front. The clear panels, allowing for a view of the outside, was covering most of the front of the cockpit. A pair of low-powered lasers were mounted under the chin of the spacecraft, but these had been modified, to give more power, without using more energy. Extending from the top rear of the cockpit was a long, flat beam of sorts, about 2 meters wide and maybe a foot thick. This ran back for about 100 feet, where it met up with the engine assembly. This was a big block containing four engines. These were very powerful, but consumed massive amounts of energy. At the midpoint of the long beam were two retangular wings, extending out 75 feet in either direction. On the ends were large maneuvering engines, for drastic turns. Lined up along the trailing edge of the wings were smaller jets, used for fine movements. Just aft of the wings was a computer controlled quad laser bank. This was simply four lasers arranged like the corners of a square, controlled by the computer. Very powerful and deadly. Under the spine of the spacecraft were locking mechanisms. Large, long boxes were snapped into these mechanisms. These were normally full of cargo, but for this mission, they were special boxes. The forward one was a passenger box, and carried the AFF. The rear box contained a compact, but vigorous, generator, which powered the ship. Built into the side panels of the boxes were small lasers that popped out at the touch of the button. This cargo ship had really been turned into a gunship that was capable of moving numbers of AFF at one time. Armor plating and extra shields had also been installed. This was a very potent ship with many tricks up its sleeve. The multiple laser guns were the same ones that the hawk was now powering up, and locking on. "Unidentified ship, power down your weapons and lower you shields, or risk being destroyed." Vix grabbed the microphone from the hawk, eliciting a cry of anger. Vix glared at the hawk, and moved as far away as possible from him. "Uh, this is the unidentified ship here. We've got a date with the President." "What?" The human on the other side was obviously incredulous. "It's true, and... let's see... Ah. We're supposed to give you this computer code. Hold on a minute." Vix was tapping at the computer keyboard. The hawk was unhappy, but he didn't say anything. "Uh..." The human on the other side was now confused. "Yeah, ok, it checks out, you're cleared." The human closed the communication sharply. Four human fighters swooped out of nowhere, and joined formation with the AFF ship in the center. "AFF ship, this is the 58th squadron flying formation with you. We're going to escort you to your destination. Please lower shields, and power down your weapons, and everything will be a-ok." The human pilot had a relaxed, smooth voice. Vix nudged the hawk, and he reluctantly powered down the systems as the human requested. "I know how you feel," murmured Vix, "but this is important. I don't want to be killed." The five ship group silently roared towards a large space platform orbiting the planet. Vix was not quite sure what planet it was, but it was certainly a pretty one; vaguely Earth-like, but with totally different land masses. As the cargo ship came closer to the platform, Vix made out more and more features of it. It was on the other side of the day/night terminator line, and thus was a little hard to see. But it moved out of the darkness as they got closer, and Vix saw that it was some sort of a modified Shieldor. As they drew into the final holding pattern, the pilot of the human ship hailed the AFF. "Welcome to Tango Whiskey 1308, and the Shieldor Niner Five One." "What? What's `Tango Whiskey'?" asked Vix. "It's their phonetic language," said the hawk airily. "Alpha stands for `a' and Bravo stands for `b' and so on. Tango is `t' and whiskey is `w'." The human pilot was continuing. "After you dock with the Shieldor, you will be shown to your deluxe hotel suites, and meet with one of the Presidential delegates. I'm sure that everything will work out fine, and it has been an honor escorting you." The connection shut off again, and the four fighters peeled out of formation, out of sight. The AFF ship was grabbed by the landing beam, and slowly floated down to the hangar on autopilot. Vix went back into the box with the rest of the AFF. "Ok," she said, "We're going in. They are just starting the final landing part. They said we'd be taken to some rooms, and that some human was going to meet us. So be ready." That tiger growled something unintelligible, and Vix decided to ignore him. She could see how his room was going to look after a few minutes. The cargo ship sailed into the hangar. Small pairs of lasers were visible, bristling all over the surface of the Shieldor. The hawk noted them, carefully eying every emplacement, hoping that when they made their escape, those lasers wouldn't be on a high alert. That would make it very hard to escape. A few seconds later, the ship groaned and creaked as it settled down, and started feeling the effects of gravity again. The hawk unstrapped himself from the seat, got up, and joined the other AFF in the passenger box. Everyone unsnapped restraints and stood up, stretching, working kinks out of their joints that developed during the flight. That little vixen that had come up into the cockpit took command. The hawk thought that was kind of strange, but the Leaders had ordained it. Something to do with looking less threatening. "Okay, stay put here. I'll go ahead, and I'll let you know when it's safe to come out. Just stay here." Vix hit the button for the exit door, and it hissed open. It was a airlock, with two doors surrounding a small enclosure. The inner door opened, and after Vix stepped through, it shut, and the outer one opened. Since the pressures all around were the same, nothing had to be done. The lights were very bright outside the airlock. Vix blinked, trying to adjust, as legions of humans appeared, arranging themselves around the ship. The human president came up, cheerfully greeting Vix. The two were surrounded by hordes of Secret Service agents. Vix was confused by the bright lights, and the numbers of humans, and the President's incessant chatting. Vix responded automatically with some pleasantry, trying to orient herself. It did not help that something strange was with the Secret Service humans. She figured it out just as the President noticed. It was their eyes. They had eyes that were somehow wrong. They seemed mechanical. In fact, they even had a scent of artificiality. "Ah, you seem to note these agents." "Yes," Vix murmured. "There's something wrong with their eyes. And they smell funny." The President laughed, and took Vix's arm, and led her off towards the exit of the hangar. "Some of them are cyborgs. And the ones that are real living people have special covers for their eyes, called contacts. These help them see better, for one thing." He paused, and looked carefully at Vix. "What?" she asked. "Didn't you say that there were going to be eight of you?" "Yes," said Vix. "They're in the ship. I'm going to inspect our rooms, and see if they are satisfactory, and then they will come out and meet you." The President was a bit taken aback by this fuzzy thing, but he just smiled and nodded, and led the way, talking continuously. He was starting to get on Vix's nerves. The envelope of Secret Service men around them weren't much more comforting either. It was but a short journey to the rooms. They were next to each other, and there was a room for each of the AFF to be all by themselves. But the President didn't show Vix the rooms. He was called away by a little device on his belt. Whatever the news was, he looked happy about it. He turned things over to a lower-ranking offical, and said a few closing words before he left. Most of the Secret Service followed the President, but a good number of them stayed behind with Vix, watching her carefully. The official handed eight of the keys to Vix, and used the last one to open the door they were standing in front of. "Here's your room," he said grandly, and stepped in. "As you can see it's quite spacious." Vix gazed around the room. Spacious was a little understatement, in fact. The main room, which the door opened into, was lavishly furbished with all sorts of furniture and ornaments, along with many things like a TDTV, a computer station, and such things. There was a bathroom with a bathtub like a swimming pool, and gold trim everywhere. The bedroom had a giant bed, and even a small refreshment station, where one could just select a snack or drink and it would pop out. Vix was dazzled by it, but she managed to keep her head and inspect it carefully. The human just blabbered on about the features of the suites, and about how this Shieldor was a specially modified one for special guests of other governments and nonsense like that. "I suppose it's okay," she finally said to the human, who was anxiously watching her as if he had designed the room and was taking all the responsibility for the entire place. "I'll go down and get the rest of us. You can go now." "I'm sorry," said the human. "We have to escort you at all times. You're very honored guests, you know." Vix started to argue, but she shut her mouth, and turned, and stalked away, back towards the hangar. Those humans will deserve whatever happens to them, she thought. The humans tagged along, all the way back to the ship. Vix entered, and sealed the door shut behind her so that the humans couldn't follow. Ignoring the sharp knocks, she passed through the airlock, and into the main hold. "Well," she said. "It looks ok, but the humans said they have to escort us everywhere." A chorus of disgust issued forth from the AFF. "Don't worry; I don't think they will bother us too much in our rooms," Vix added. "The rooms are pretty nice, but overly fancy. It shouldn't be too bad. And there's food in there. Come on, let's go. Oh, they probably have our rooms wired pretty well, so please, only speak Traditional, no English, at least to us. Say whatever you want to the humans, but please be careful." She once again exited the ship, this time followed by the rest of the AFF. The hawk, as he left, hit a combination on a keypad on the inner side of the outer wall of the airlock. "Security measures," he said in Traditional. The human official looked miffed, and the Secret Service agents looked even more stern. "Don't do that, please," he said stiffly. "We have to follow orders, and we are supposed to keep an eye on all of you. There are some people here who may want to hurt you, because of what you AFF have done, and we don't want any injury to come to you." "We can take care of ourselves," growled the tiger. "We don't need you pathetic scrawny hu-" He was cut off by Vix, who was much more tactful. "WHY don't you show us to our rooms?" she asked of the human, throwing a meaningful glare at the huge tiger. The human nodded, and led off, keeping up a running monologue about the Shieldor and the planet they were orbiting and about the orchestra the AFF were to attend tomorrow, and other inane topics. "You shouldn't really be so bold," mumbled Fox to Vix, under his breath so that the tiger wouldn't hear them. "He is a really great fighter, but he is prone to just lashing out for no reason, and you just making him shut up like that can't help your life expectancy. Us foxes only live a few years, you know. You should try to prolong that." Vix sighed as she followed along. "I know. But this is tough," she replied, switching from Traditional to Fox. "This plan is crazy. We'll be lucky to escape with our tails." "I know," replied Fox, "But imagine if it does pull off! We could take Earth from the humans easily. It's risky, but sometimes you have to gamble big to win big." "Yeah, I guess you're right. But I don't gamble. I always lose," replied Vix. "In fact, I am- Well, I was in debt. Two meals." She looked more morose than before. Fox sensed her falling spirits, and tried to cheer her up. "Don't worry. These humans will fall, and everything will be okay. They couldn't possibly defeat us." * * * * The President looked carefully at the displays. "Are these for real?" he asked. "Yes, sir, they are. They just came in a few minutes ago from a secure source. We paged you just as we got it," replied the general standing by the displays. The President smiled as he looked at the data. "This is great. Get them moving, and tell them they are authorized to fire at will. This'll teach those AFF bastards not to mess with me." * * * * The GalaxyTiger's Commander was having a very, very bad day. The Gathering of the AFF was in just a few days, and the GalaxyTiger was supposed to be there, since it was a major chunk of AFF firepower. With all of the weapons and fighters it supported, the ship would be vital in the attack of Earth. And they couldn't make it. The GalaxyTiger was the biggest ship of the armada that it was in. Besides it, there were several Moon-class escorts, and a few Star-class ships also along. The battle group had just finished a raid on a relatively minor colony, a small human outpost that was located convieniently close to the path that the battle group would take back to The Planet. So they destroyed it. Someone had reported a strange human ship briefly appearing near the human outpost, but it had quickly dissappeared, and no one payed any heed to it. During the battle, one of the Star-class ships, the StarEagle, was severly damaged by the human's defences, which were surprisingly strong for such a remote outpost. It had packed many projectile weapon launchers that had taken its toll on the AFF fighters. The StarEagle was one of the few Star-class ships modified to be a carrier. Since it held even more fighters than the GalaxyTiger, they had to wait while the crew made hasty, battlefield repairs. As soon as that was accomplished, the armada hurried for The Planet. However, the StarEagle was unable to sustain the energy needed to stay in hyperspace. It kept on crashing back into normal space, and thus held up the entire battle group while it recharged. And now they were stuck back in normal space again, this time near an asteroid drift. Although the huge chunks of rock and ice were too far off to pose any danger of collision, they were still fairly close. Close enough for an ambush. * * * * "The target group is where they should be," reported a crewmember of the Inviolable. The Inviolable was the brand-new sister ship of the ill- fated Invincible. It had been officially been added to the fleet just a few days ago, and this was her first cruise. She was the biggest ship in this EDF armada. Scattered all around were almost three dozen other ships, varying in size. They were hidden in the asteroid field, laying in ambush for the AFF battle group. An Interruptor ship had dragged the AFF ships out of hyperspace, and now the AFF would have to stay there for at least fifteen minutes, the time needed for their disabled ship to recharge. More than enough time to wipe them out. The Inviolable transmitted on a line-of-sight comm laser pulse to thirty seven other ships precisely at the same time, counting down the time to attack. Engines were primed; weapons were unlocked and warmed up. The time came. Thirty eight ships of the EDF charged out of the asteroid field's cover at the same time, bearing down on the AFF armada of eight capital ships. Targeting systems locked onto targets, and missles were launched. The various types of missiles would take from twenty seconds for the extremely small and quick missles to a good two minutes and forty seconds for the huge lumbering heavy bombs to close the distance and hit their targets. The two fleets would come into range of each other's energy weapons in three minutes and ten seconds, and they would be at a ramming range in three minutes and a half. But the most important time was one minute, fifty seconds, and then thirteen minutes. The human fleet had just introduced a new warhead. It was a prototype still, but all the technical people had said it would work. It would be a single missile powerful enough to disable an entire cap ship. * * * * Aboard the AFF ships, startled surprise and fear was prevailing. The smaller AFF ships had calculated it out. Most of them had enough explosives aimed at them to destroy them. They started putting up a thick hail of firepower to knock out the incoming fire, and wheeled around to return fire. The larger ones followed suit. AFF fighters started spewing out of launching tubes again, many bearing cratered armor plates. A few seconds later, human fighters appeared, and the two sides poured energy into their engines, and flashed towards the enemy. Small pinpricks of light started flashing momentairily as warheads were destroyed or impacted. A human ship detonated under a heavy barage of missiles. A few AFF ships were hit, but none suffered anything more than some minor hull breaches. The two waves of fighters ripped into each other. The human's neat formations were destroyed, the fighters splitering off into one-for-themselves battles. The humans had a numerical superiority, and could afford to stay in wing-leader/wing-man formations, though. The AFF fighters were forced to fight against two to one odds. They carved the vaccum, their razor sharp flying skills and their supreme ships dancing with the human fighters in a deadly mix of jinking fighters, blazing weapons, screaming missiles, ejected pilots, and divine abilities. The human capital ships followed behind their fighters, like hulking mountains. The AFF capital ships drifted back. They were outnumbered by a hopeless amount, and chose to hang back and use their missle weapons, expending the last of their reserves. Meanwhile, the fighters were still engaged in fierce dogfights. Fighters pushed their noses down, their weapons spitting fire, to avoid a collision, just to jerk back on the stick again to barely miss a ramming. The AFF were slowly being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the human fighters and missiles arcing though space, but their flying instincts assured that it would be a long time before they were finished. Bombers lumbered towards the enemy capital ships, staying out of the dogfighting of the quicker fighters. But the squadrons of bombers ended up fighting each other, each side choosing to fly the same route towards each other. The AFF Eagles were quicker, but they refrained from using their payloads of warheads against the human bombers, wanting to save them for the capital ships. The human fighters were not so disposed. A one-sided missle battle ensued, until the Eagles managed to close to dogfighting ranges. The human bombers turned tail and ran, but they were not able to outrun the swift Eagles. Realizing this, some turned to dump their payloads at the AFF capital ships, and to engage in combat that would end up with their deaths. The AFF bombers broke through the screens of fighters and human bombers, and charged the human capital ships. Each of the Eagles unloaded their warheads simulanteously, and peeled off to join the AFF fighters. The warheads screamed in, slamming into thick hull armor and shield energy. Some of the smaller capital ships twisted out of control, some of their engines flicking. Others stopped, but most kept on moving. The Inviolable moved out ahead of the rest of the pack of EDF ships, towards the AFF. Small pulses of energy lanced out, striking the glittering AFF fighters. The titianic sister ship of the Invincible stormed towards the GalaxyTiger, roaring for revenge. The GalaxyTiger shifted to face the Inviolable, accepting the challenge with relish, the smaller AFF ship defying all. Its shields flicked as it intercepted the Inviolable's laserfire, and the GalaxyTiger's own weapons answered back. The fearsome claws and fangs of the AFF capital ship were bared and aching for blood. The two massive ships started pouring laserfire into each other, moving for a broadside. Bombers that had survived came to the assistance of their capital ships, but by this point in time, they had depleted their stores of ammo too much to make a difference. The two fighting styles of the two sides soon became obvious. The Inviolable was like a gargantuan hammer, smashing all that came into its path. The GalaxyTiger flashed its claws with deadly precision, and its fangs rending the armor of the opposing side's hull. The GalaxyTiger was suffering serious damage in many places, but the damage was spread all over. The Inviolable was relatively free of damage, but what damage there was was crippling. Deep gashes were in several places. Numerous laser mounts were slagged, and many of the warhead launchers were no longer operational. The bridge was still intact, but the viewports had several blemishes and charred marks on it. In quick succession, several laser shots further melted the viewport. The human captain ordered the protective armor plating to be closed over the viewport. As the thick metal plates smoothly closed, the Inviolable started a roll to move the bridge away from the GalaxyTiger's scarring lasers, and to expose the less-damaged belly of the ship to the AFF. The fighter launching tubes were lined up along the belly of the Inviolable as well, and the few remaining human pilots still on board were running to their fighters, preparing for launch. The GalaxyTiger's Commander noticed, and reached for the opportunity. He whirled around in a blur of orange and black, and was over to a weapons station in a flash. "Load every missle launcher we have! But don't fire any of them! Keep the lasers going!" He was nearly going insane. The damage reports kept on pouring in. The GalaxyTiger wouldn't be able to take much more of this pounding. He had placed his big paw on the AFF crew member's shoulder, who was a tigress. In his excitement, his claws were unsheathed, and dug into her shoulder. She didn't like it. "They're loaded, Commander," snarled the AFF, "And now get your paw off of me," swiping at the Commander. The Commander did, but that was because he was already on his way to another station. "Get some cameras aimed at the human ship's fighter launchers! Hurry!" The crewmember did so. "Patch it through to the holo generators over there!" The Commander bounded off towards the holo generators, pausing at the weapons station, telling them to fire the missiles at the launching tubes when he said so. The holo generators hummed to life. Twenty seperate views of the Inviolable's twenty fighter launching tubes flicked into focus. "Zoom in!" the Commander roared. Immediately, all twenty views grew in detail, zooming in closer to the launching bays. Suddenly, all of the heavy doors covering the launching tubes opened. "FIRE!!!" thundered the Commander. * * * * "Open the launching tubes," ordered the commander of the Inviolable. A moment passed. "They are opened, sir." "Launch all--" All hell broke loose. The lighting turned from the normal white light to a blood red color, and alarm klaxons started wailing. The entire Inviolable shuddered. Men were yelling, and computers were beeping and lights were flashing. "What the fuck was that?" yelled the captain of the Inviolable. "Sir!" called an enlisted crewmember. "We've just taken multiple missle hits! The launching tubes are scrapped, the missiles must have flown up them!" The captain of the Inviolable swore, and was at the Damage Control section in a second. "What's the story? Will she hold, or do we have to abandon ship?" he demanded. The officer there had his hands scrambling all over the computer panel in front of him. "Sir, I think she'll hold, at least for now. If we were still in the old Invincible, we'd be dead, but the engineers fixed the problem of the explosives being right next to the launching tubes. But we can't take much more. The sensors down there are all gone, but I can tell you, we can't launch or take in any fighters." "Alright." The captain swore, and called, "Move us away from the enemy ship, and call for some help. How much longer until the test is complete?" "Should be any minute now, sir," called someone, as the red lights went off, and normal lighting resumed. "Sir, it looks like we've hit something critical on the enemy ship!" said a crew person. "It's pulling away from us now." "Excellent," said the captain. "They may have hurt us, but not without a heavy price of their own." A small alarm went off, a light, dinging sound. "What's that?" asked the captain. "Did we lose something else?" "No, sir," replied the payload specialist. He was in charge of the prototype missile. "The special missile has just completed its mission, and it seems to be working perfectly. The target ship is dead in space. No engines, no lights, nothing." "Perfect." The captain went to the navigation area. "Move us towards the disabled enemy ship. Call all forces to move into formation with us. Disengage if possible." The human ships slowly and ponderously moved away from the battles, and their fighters started flying back to their mother ships. The AFF armada, hard pressed and heavily damaged, took the respite well, and also started to retreat. In a minute, they all suddenly jumped out of the system, leaving the human fleet far behind - along with one AFF ship. * * * * Foxy woke up feeling distinctly uncomfortable. He opened his eyes to almost total darkness. Foxy could only see a few feet in the darkness, but as his eyes adjusted, he could make out vertical bars. He was inside a small cage, about four feet by four feet. The floor was made of smooth concrete, and the roof was about ten feet up. Foxy peered out of the cage, and noticed that the floor was raised up about three feet from the ground, like the foot of a column. His nose was hit a few seconds later with a very enticing scent. * * * * "Now, what exactly are you going to do to him?" asked Warden. The person in charge of the interrogation sighed. This must be the fifth time Warden had asked that question. "Alright. Right now sir, we are lacing the air in there with certain chemicals. As you know, certain behaviors of these animals are triggered by scents and chemicals that they make. Right now, we are releasing a mixture that is, quite simply, what makes them horny. There's a lot of them in there, and I don't remember them all, but one is methyl p- hydroxybenzoate. This is what triggers the male canid to mount the female. This should make him go quite crazy in there." Warden peered through the viewing plate. That was true. The fox seemed to be already tensed up, looking around nervously. "Then what?" "Well sir, the next thing that happens is that these eight new pedastal things get illuminated. On top of each of them will be one very attractive vixen, in this case. They aren't real, of course. We have been doing extensive studies on the courtship rituals of these AFF for some time now, as you know. These vixens-they're holograms, actually, but the subject won't be able to tell the difference-will put to the test the information that we've gathered." "So that's why we've been allowing the animals to hump each other," muttered Warden, still transfixed on the spectacle of Foxy slowly losing his mind in the potent atmosphere in the chamber. "Yes sir." The "interrogator" fingered a key on the baord in front of him, debating when to let the vixens out. * * * * Vix awoke with a start, clenched in fear, already bristling and ready for action. A small alarm clock was going off on the bedstand next to her bed. Vix sighed tiredly, feeling the fear wash out of her body. "Stupid humans," she grumbled to herself as she smashed the clock over the top with her paw. It shut off after a few more blows. Vix sat in her rumpled bed for a moment, trying to clear her mind from the sleepiness. Finally, she yawned, stretched out in that fox way, and shook herself awake. Then she hopped out of the bed, and wandered into the bathroom. After she took care of herself there, she went back into the main room. It was a mess, although Vix didn't care. Foxes were not the tidiest of creatures, and Vix fit into that sterotype just fine. She had experimented with the food ordering device, and was delighted to find that when she pushed the proper buttons on the panel, a meal would arrive in her room via a small door in the wall. She had ordered enough to satisfy a very hungry tiger, and had only touched a little of it. Vix ordered a new hot meal and ate some of it absentmindedly. She wondered how all of this diplomatic stuff was supposed to work out. She also wondered what what going to happen at the music thing they were going to. Obviously, some music was going to be played, and the human President had said that they would be playing "classical" music, but no specifics. As she was eating and daydreaming, a knock sounded on her door. Vix put the half-eaten slab of ham back on the plate, and went to answer the door. Cracking it open a bit reavealed a human. Vix sighed, and opened the door all the way. "Yes?" she said impatiently. "Good morning," said the human cheerfully. "I'm from the President, and I'm here to take your delegation to talk to him." Vix looked at the human as if he was out of his mind. "Now? I just woke up." "The President has a tight schedule. We must be at his office in ten minutes." Vix looked angry, but only said, "All right then. I'll be out in five." She ducked back into the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Stupid humans! She was counting on at least a few minutes conversation with the other AFF. But that plan was all shot to hell now. Vix went back and gulped down the rest of the ham, and once again entered the hall. The human had already roused the rest of the AFF. Vix was surprised. She didn't think that Dagger would go so willingly. Well, tigers were inscrutable creatures. Once all of the AFF were assembled, they proceeded down the hall, accompanied by the human who had knocked on Vix's door. Other humans, and those creepy cyborg things, lined the halls, one stationed every few feet. Their eyes were hidden by shades now. They made Vix very jumpy and nervous. As she walked down the hall, eyes darting to the humans, she grew aware of some little gnawing thought in the back of her furry head. As she tried to focus on the intangible nebulous idea, she grew more and more internally agitated. Was the voice right? Was this a trap? Some of it made sense: Why would the President so willingly agree to bring some AFF over? She recalled the evil grin on the human president's face when she told him of her intentions. What did that mean? Foxes had been foxing their ways out of traps for millenia-ever since humans got the idea that it would be fun to wear their furs. Vix had the feeling that something might cause her fur to be worn by some human, somehow, very soon. * * * * Foxy was insanely confused and acrimonious. The heavy scent of the vixens seemed to have saturated every fiber of his being. Even the smooth metal bars of his cage seemed to be absolutely dripping with the scent. Eight vixens had been revealed around him in a square, no more than ten feet away, ten impossibly long feet. They were contained in pillars of light, apparently up on platforms like Foxy and with bars, but the light was focused on only the vixens. Foxy could see nothing but them. The beauteous vixens called for him, beckoning, their supple bodies making voluptuous, unescapable summons to Foxy. He knew what the business was about. He was not some juvenile young fox, fresh from his mother's earth. He was experienced in many things, and he knew what had to happen for more pups to come into existence. But Foxy was also a monogamous creature. He was devoted to Vix. Although they still were not living together, that had been a virtual given. Foxy considered her his mate. But these vixens were giving Foxy some serious reconsiderations. They were simply marvelous females, and they were making Foxy lose his mind. He raged at the bars of his cage. He was not a lustful creature, like so many humans, but he felt like he was being forcefully dragged to the vixens. The bars were spaced perfectly apart: One more inch wider, and Foxy might have been able to squeeze through, after cracking his ribs. So close! Just when Foxy's mind was about to rend itself from the sheer stress, the bars vanished, retracting into the floor with a heavy clang. The females' bars similarily removed themselves. Foxy charged forward-- And thudded into another fox. They rebounded from one another, and shook themselves out. The lighting seemed to grow in brightness, as suddenly Foxy was able to make out more than just the females. The other fox was a male. He growed a challenge, fur bristling and fangs baring. Foxy wasn't the only one seeking a female. They circled warily. Foxy was more of a passive attacker than an agressive one. He let the other fox dictate how the fox was going to be fought. When the other fox remained on two feet, Foxy decided that it would be better for him to stay up as well. The rival lunged in, jaws snapping. Foxy jumped up, and lashed out downward with his feet. The next thing that Foxy knew, he was rolling in a veritable furball on the rough ground. Apparently, the other fox had caught him in the jump somehow, and threw him to the ground, but Foxy had taken him with him. Foxy was supple and flexible, and he didn't mind a wrestling match with another fox. Dogs were a different matter, but foxes were much smaller. Foxy was borne to the ground, his shoulders and back planted on the floor. His opponent was astride him, claws raking Foxy's face. Foxy shoved upward with his own hands, and managed to get a nice handful of neck fur. Foxy squeezed, driving his claws inward, probing for a jugular vein. The other fox's eyes bulged, and he redoubled his efforts to smack Foxy senseless. Foxy pushed down with his shoulders and up with his hips, trying to flip the other fox off of him. The other fox fell, and got up shakily. Foxy recovered himself quickly, and with a snarl, struck in again, once again causing a flashing rumble of lithe bodies, snapping teeth, and tearing claws. The females circled the two males, crying out encouragement. The overpowering scent of females had clouded Foxy's normal thinking. He was so frustrated by the restraining bars, he lost his normal reluctance to do serious damage to a fellow fox. But he unleashed his fury on the other fox. In a violent thirty seconds, he had the other fox near death. Foxy's jaws were questing for the jugular, almost heedless of the cries of the females, when the world suddenly went black.