AN: Alright, I'm back finally! Sorry for the long update time, but I was on the last few chapters of my other story and I just wanted to get that %&#$ out of the way so I could focus on this. *Cracks knuckles* let's get this show on the road.

Katt followed the glistening trail of blood through the mountainous forest. With each passing step the putrid stench grew stronger. Finally she came to a point where the trail hooked a left.

CLICK-CLACK! - Her ears twitched to the noise. What could it have been? Katt pondered this for a few seconds before the realization hit…

… It was a charging handle being pulled back.

"SHIT!" Katt yelled and dove behind a tree just as a burst of machine gun fire rattled the air around her. In mid-flight she felt a searing pain in her shoulder and she screamed. She flopped to the ground behind the tree and clutched her wounded shoulder. Blood poured freely from the wound. She tore a strip from her flight suit and tied it nice and tight around the hole in her shoulder. When she regained her composure, she ever so slightly poked her head out from cover…

BLAM, BLAM, BLAM! another burst from the machine gun was fired at her. She ducked her head back in just in time as the .45 caliber bullets slammed into the timber, tearing off the bark. While she had not been able to return fire, she now knew where he was. The bad thing was, he had the higher ground advantage. But the good thing was, Katt had back up. She reached for her communicator.

"Fox, Slippy, is anyone there?" She asked into the little wrist comm. For a few seconds, no one responded, but then Fox's voice came back over the radio.

"Katt, what's wrong? Did you find that thing?" Fox asked. Katt let out a sigh of relief.

"Yes. He's got me pinned down! I've been hit in the shoulder. I need back up, now!" She whispered, hoping the human wouldn't hear her.

"Stay put Katt, we'll be arriving shortly." Fox responded, then the link went dead. Now, all she could do was wait for the cavalry to arrive while trying not to get her head blown off.

(Meanwhile…)

"Here kitty kitty kitty." Blake muttered and took aim on the tree where the feline had taken cover. So far he had managed to score a hit on her shoulder. By now the morphine was starting to wear off and the burning pain from his broken leg was resurfacing. The pain in his arm was dulling slowly by the minute, on a brighter note. Suddenly, a loud wail resonated through the air, and it was getting louder by the minute. Blake looked up and saw three Cornerian drop ships on approach. "Fuck."

The drop ships touched down at the base of the hill and about forty men piled out. They rushed over and escorted the cat to safety before slowly advancing on the hill. Blake assumed they hadn't saw him yet, so he stayed perfectly still until their heads were at eye level. He sprang up into a sitting position and unleashed a wall of bullets into the mass. Three men dropped, two fell clutching a wound, and the rest dove for cover. A tiger stuck his head out and Blake took his opportunity, scoring a headshot. He had to lay back down to avoid a blaster shot from going straight through his own torso. He got back up and put another three rounds into the chest of another advancing soldier. Blake pressed the mag release button and let the empty clip fall. He reached over and grabbed another, slamming it into place. He sat back up and fired at everyone he saw with short controlled burst, earning three more kills. Suddenly, a laser shot came out of nowhere and seared the flesh in his forearm. Blake screamed in pain, but kept firing. A tomcat tried to run from one tree to another, but he was shot down before he could make it halfway. Out of the corner of his eye, Blake saw a flash. He rolled out of the way as a blaster shot rammed into the rock wall behind him, right where his head should've been. Blake re shouldered the submachine gun and picked of the chameleon with a quick burst of machine gun fire.

"Damn, go too close." He muttered. He would now have to watch his left flank as well. More blaster fire. Blake took aim and fired, but the squirrel ducked back behind the tree just in time. He felt more burning as another energy projectile washed across his torso. Once again, he gritted his teeth and fought on.

"We need reinforcements!" Someone shouted. Almost instantly, more drop ships sailed in with more troops. The blaster fire became even more intense. Suddenly, a bull charged over the top of the hill with his gun raised. Blake fired the rest of the clip into its torso while the bull fired wildly. The bull dropped with a sigh at his feet. But once again, they manage to score a hit on him. Now there was a wound on his leg, the same leg that was broken! Blake's vision began to blur from the pain, but he kept fighting. Blood spilled from his fresh wounds. The gun clicked once more and he changed magazines. He couldn't stay like this. He had to run.

"Push forward!" A fox commanded. The men began to move up rapidly. Blake blind fired over the edge of the hill and heard a scream of pain. He hurriedly grabbed his side arm and began to limp away as fast as his good leg would take him while clutching his heavily bleeding middle.

ZAP! A blaster shot nailed him in the back. He fell to the ground, the pain now blinding him. He rolled over on his back and raised his side arm with one hand. He saw a silhouette moving in front of him through the fog.

BLAM! BLAM!Whoever it was dropped. But they just kept coming.

BLAM! A clean headshot took out another.

BLAM! This shot missed however, and bought the puma enough time to kick the gun out of his hands and kick him in the head. Blake was knocked out cold, just barely alive from his wounds…

Blake's unconscious body has been carted onto one of the drop ships and flown to Cornerian high command. There, he was put on life support and treated for his broken leg. He had gone into a near comatose state for the first day or so. Then, on the third day, his vital signs stabled. On the morning of the fifth day, he had awoken. As soon as he was cleared out of the medical ward, he was immediately chucked into a prison cell.

So here he sat now, tied to a chair, in a windowless, grey room, on an alien planet, with no knowledge of whether or not his squad had made it out alive. He glanced up at the lone observation window up above. There stood that same fox. With him was another blue fox, a toad, a falcon (Who looked strangely like a parrot), and that same pink cat. He locked eyes with the cat, only for a few seconds, and glared at her. She glared back through her sea green eyes. Their staring contest was cut short when the door creaked open. Blake returned his gaze down and was met with that same hound from the hologram. There was no telling what they wanted from him, but he wouldn't tell them a thing.

"Good afternoon, Captain." The dog greeted, spitting out the last word with disgust.

"Good afternoon, Fido." Blake growled back, resulting in a smack across the face. Turns out, the strange blue fox was a telepath, and easily found out about the animals that were common on human inhabited planets. To put it simply, they didn't take too kindly to being called by their little pet names.

"Now, now, there's no need for name calling." Pepper sneered.

"There's also no need to call out all of your forces because of a simple pilot's error."

"What can I say? You were threatening my bread and butter right there."

"YOU, like all smart leaders, should've called them off." Blake shot back angrily, resulting in another blow.

"YOU, like all smart leaders, shouldn't have retaliated."

"He was going to continue his attack. I was only doing what was necessary to protect my men, and once they reach human occupied space, you can all kiss your arses goodbye." Blake snarled. The animals store at him for a moment before bursting out in laughter.

"You-you actually think your men made it out?" Pepper laughed.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked, a sense of fear welling up inside of him.

"This is our turf, boy, not yours. I think we'd know just about every intercept route and hiding spot in the system. When your team entered the asteroid belt, they got a nasty little surprise indeed." Pepper growled with a smirk. Blake didn't say anything as the dog left. He was overcome by a sense of numbness. The very people that were like his second family… gone.

He made sure that they weren't there to see him when the grieving finally caught up with him. He drooped in the chair and silently cried to himself. He was now truly alone, and his squad would just be marked down one of the many patrols marked MIA. No one was coming to rescue him, and he was at the mercy of these aliens.

While he thought he was alone, he wasn't. High above, in the observation room, Katt watched curiously. So far, they had chalked humans up as heartless, blood thirsty creatures. But from what she saw, they could feel, that they had hearts. She shook the thought away and turned to walk out of the room.

'Serves you right…' She thought with finality as the doors hissed closed.

AN: Next chapter will be up MUCH sooner, I promise. R&R, and until next time!