Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or any of its characters, they all belong to Disney. Rated M for sexual themes.
Chapter 13
In fact it had been a good day and then even a better week! Within that week they had reached agreements with both the Rabbit civilization and Mellin one too. Both civilizations' military and industry would be provided with upgrades just as the Ris' had. In fact since the Ris were now the most advanced civilization in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud they would take them both 'under their wing' to help upgrade them. At first there had been a just a bit of friction between the races – the Ris being obviously predators and the other two prey. The Rabbits had never had to deal with predators since that had been introduced to their solar system by an unknown race and the Mellin had subdued all their predatory animals so far in the past they were simply old stories in books. With the help of Eshu and the Rabbits aboard the Zootopia II working as go betweens the three civilizations were able to find common ground to work together.
Also, during that week they had found the first of the civilization destroyers' colony worlds. That system now had over a hundred of the most stealthy probes that the Zootopia II had in its arsenal. Every ship that left that system had a probe following it and when it reached its destination it reported back. Several civilizations were discovered and then saved by the timely intervention of an Alliance ship. With probes in the targeted system the Zootopia II's AI was able to infiltrate into every computer in the system and make several subtle changes in all of them. Also, when any of the modified computers networked with any other the same changes were made. So when an armada was being assembled to attack the Rabbit system the alliance fleet was waiting.
Captain Wilde sat and watched the screen.
"Ensign…"
"Five minutes," Sofia said and smiled.
The Captain sighed and sat back in his seat. His fingers drummed on the armrest claws clicking on the metal controls. The Ensign looked back at her Captain and cleared her throat. He looked at her and she looked at his hand.
Then the Admiral reached up and put a hand on his arm. On time the twenty ships appeared.
"Now," the Admiral said.
A signal was broadcast from every ship in the system. Then all of the enemy ships slowed and came to a stop.
"Well that was easy," Nick said and chuckled. "Ensign please get us underway to nearest ship."
Other alliance ships docked with the enemy ships and started to unload the unconscious crews.
"They don't even trust their own people," the ship's AI said. "As you know every ship has knock out gas just in case the crew mutinies. I simply modified their computers so it could be activated externally."
"And now we have twenty new ships fully intact and really to be upgraded," the Ensign said and then went back to maneuvering the ship.
"Then we can distribute them to our newest allies," Judy said.
Ten minutes later the ship was brought inside the Zootopia II. Then the crew was then transferred to a POW ship to be taken to a far distant planet where all the others had been taken. There wasn't any need for guards since the POWs were allowed to go any were they wished once they were dropped there. They were provided with the basic necessities and then left to their own devices. A ship was left in orbit just to make sure that they couldn't somehow be rescued.
There was still a month left until the ships from the Milky Way arrived and Judy was hoping they would've found all the Civilization Destroyers' worlds once those new ships were upgraded. If not, they would have to wait. She wanted to take them all down in one swift stoke. Then the probes found a second colony, and after that the discoveries seemed to only accelerate. She thought that too much success wasn't always a good thing. Judy knew that the fleet would be able to defeat their ships, but then they would have to deal with the populations of at least fifty worlds. And they held people who would all fight to the death because they thought they were better than everyone else. She now held the life or death of an entire species in her hands.
She sat in the conference room and waited for the representatives of their allies and her captains to enter either physically or virtually. She looked at her ship's AI who had taken the form a beautiful vixen much as Catherine had over a year ago now. Then she smiled as she saw Nick glance at vixen and when he noticed his bunny's smile he quickly looked away. Nick would always be Nick and she reached under the table and squeezed his hand. When everyone was present she stood.
"Well as you can see we now can easily defeat their ships and our AI now informs me we can do the same thing to their planetary defenses too. We still don't know if we've have found all their worlds yet. They must know by now that some of their ships have not been returned from their missions. So far we've been successfully stopping any attacks on civilizations when we learn of them and have stopped six since we found their first colony. Also, from our AIs successful infiltration into their computer systems we now have a complete list of locations of civilizations they have destroyed in the past. Fortunately they have only been doing this for the last 10 years, but only at this faster pace for the last two years."
"I'm going to order each of these solar systems to be scanned by probes to see if any intelligent life remains and if there are still people they be rescued. I will ask for volunteers." Every one of her Captains' hands went up and she smiled. "I don't want to spread out fleet too thin, but I would ask our two allies to contribute some of their in system ships which can be towed through FTL to those systems." Everyone looked to the Rabbit and Mellin representatives who nodded. "We've given you both twelve of the newly captured ships, but they won't be ready for use for …"
The Admiral looked to the AI.
"The upgrades will be completed within a week and new crews will take several weeks to train even though parts of the crew will be made of veterans from other ships."
"The next problem is once we'd defeated them in space and restricted them to their worlds what do with them?" The Admiral said and looked at the Explorer. "I remember you told me in another meeting that you've had to face similar situations in the past and your solution was to restrict them to their planet or solar systems. What was the result?"
"Most of them ended up destroying themselves," the Explorer said looking a bit uncomfortable.
Could she handle twenty billion deaths on her conscience? The answer to that was no. But if she did nothing many more intelligent species would die. And what her homeworld? And her parents, siblings, and friends? And all the other animals living on her planet? She guessed what she'd read was true. With great power comes great responsibility. So she found another solution. One species of essentially insane people against the lives of people of hundreds of other species in this galaxy alone. Weighing her options the answer was obvious.
"Please explain our plan," she said looking to the AI.
"On two of their worlds are facilities which contain fertilized ova to be used as backups in case something happens to their species. We will attack all their worlds simultaneously and disable all their ships and planetary defenses. Then these other two will be occupied and the contents of these facilities will be removed. Then on all their worlds nanotech will be introduced which render their entire race sterile. Then we will bring these ova to term recreating the race without the brainwashing of their religion."
"But that's …" the Explorer began.
"Humane," The Admiral said. "They will remain one generation longer and then they will all be gone. In the mean time we will raise the next generation. Or would you rather we repeat your people's mistakes and watch this race destroy itself as the others have in the past?"
"That hasn't happened every time."
The Ship AI turned to the Explorer.
"Of the 2107 times something similar to this has happened and the species have been quarantined they have destroyed themselves or rendered their worlds uninhabitable 1978 times."
Judy stared at the Explorer.
"So 94.3% of the time you failed," she said. "So which of our solutions is the more humane?"
The Explorer sat back in his seat looking exasperated.
"I'm sure some of you have questions."
There were a few, but no one seemed to object.
"So how many agree with this plan?"
For the next month probes visited the 102 systems where Civilizations Destroyers had committed genocide. In only three of those systems individuals were found alive.
"Judy?"
She looked at her Fox and smiled. Nick knew his bunny well enough to recognize a forced smile. He pulled her close and just held her. She put head on her Fox's shoulder and sighed.
"It's just so disheartening," she said snuggling closer. "Nick, I really thought we'd find more."
"Fluff, I did too," he said petting her. "I have an idea." His bunny looked up and purple eyes met green ones. "Why don't we visit one those other 99 worlds?"
"To pay our respects?"
"Yes, he said and his bunny hugged him. "Once the war's over we should do that for all those worlds."
"Maybe we should colonize on each of those worlds once they are made habitable again."
"To bring life back to those worlds would be our best way to pay our respects."
Judy hugged her Fox again.
"Catherine, please take to the target system whenever you're ready."
Exactly 28 seconds later they entered FTL.
"We will arrive in 307 seconds."
On time they arrived one half light year above the plane of the ecliptic. The probe assigned to this system pinged the ship's AI and then dumped its data.
"Arrival was successful," Catherine said. "All systems are functioning nominally. This is first system identified in the civilization destroyer's records to have been 'cleansed.' It occurred 3742 days ago. The planet atmosphere has almost returned to its previous state."
"And there are no signs of intelligent life?" the Eshu asked.
"The probe reports none," sensor tech said. "Some plants have regrown and some small animals have survived." The sensor tech looked Eshu. "This planet wasn't hit quite as hard as yours sir."
Eshu put a arm around Joan and turned to the Admiral.
"I'm guessing you want to go down with us."
"Yes."
"Catherine, when will be in orbit of the planet?"
"54 minutes ma'am."
The drop ship set down with only a slight bump. Judy watched from the pilot's seat as the other two drop ships set down on either side of hers. The ramps lowered and the APCs carrying her marines rolled out. The engines were spinning down as Catherine when through the shutdown checklist. Judy stared at her for a moment and smiled. Catherine glanced over as she finished.
"Admiral."
"I was just thinking how much you look like Nick's mother."
"Nick has told me the same thing."
"Even your personalities are similar."
"I think I'd like to meet her."
"Trust me you will."
Judy and Catherine unbuckled their straps and then they moved to the rear of the drop ship. She entered the APC and sat by Nick. Catherine sat on the other side of him and Anne, Mike, and Sofia across from them. The ramp lowered and they lined behind the others.
"Their capital city was located only thirty miles from here," Catherine said and pointed to the East. "All the major cities were struck in the first attacks and then they brought down their troop and killed the survivors. They finished their operations within a local month."
"All this information was in their files we recovered from the colony," Judy said.
"Yes," Catherine said. "There wasn't any information on their other colonies or homeworld. We only found those with the probes following their ships."
Judy noticed others listening too. This information wasn't a secret and was publicly available on the Fleet's internet. The APCs started to move and Judy watched as they passed saw several miles of destroyed houses and small buildings. She saw the horrified expressions on her human kit's faces and went to hug them. Within 30 minutes they pulled up to the edge of a crater. To get a better view several people had climbed atop the APCs and Judy and family followed them. It was several miles across and about a half mile deep. Everything within ten miles of the rim was completely flattened. She could've landed closer, but she wanted her everyone to get a first hand view of the destruction as they moved closer to the epicenter of the explosion. Video of the damage was taken and then subsequently distributed to the fleet.
She saw that the memorial was being unloaded and hopped down. Her family soon followed and they helped position it on the rim. It was bolted down and she read the inscription which was written in all the Alliance languages. The language of this species would be added later once they recovered enough information to translate it. Within a few hours landings would be make across this planet to learn more about this species. She read the inscription aloud.
"This memorial commemorates the Yoth race that lived on this world. We the Alliance races are saddened by their loss and will punish those who destroyed them."
The crew stood for silent for a few minutes and Judy and her family said a prayer together. Then they reboarded the APCs and made their way back to the drop ship. Then Judy flew them to one of the larger places where plants had regrown. This again was to show people of the Alliance the damage that was caused by the bombardment of this world and that it was beginning to heal itself. At the end of day they returned to the ship.
When Nick's shift ended he went back to their cabin to find his bunny playing with their kits. He sat down across from her and started tickling one.
"We don't do this often enough, do we?" her Fox said and looked into purple eyes. "Look how big they they've gotten."
"No we don't, but from now on let's try to be together as a family more often, OK?"
"Sure Fluff," he said and kissed his bunny.
The kits all stood up and watched them. One, Nick thought it was Becky, walked over and laid her head against his muzzle.
"Dada," she said in a clear voice.
Nick watched tears come from his bunny's eyes and then he felt his eyes grow a bit moist too. Nick picked up Becky and hugged her. A moment later he felt his bunny hugging him and the other five kits in his lap.
"Nick, she spoke!"
"Well of course she did," he said and chuckled. "She has those good Wilde genes and she smart just like her Dada."
He held up his daughter and gave her another lick. She giggled.
"Dada."
He looked at his bunny and winked.
"Say mama."
"Dada."
"Say mama."
"Dada."
Nick looked at his bunny and shrugged. Judy rolled her eyes.
"She knows her dada is most handsome Fox in the galaxy."
His bunny giggled. Then both their communicators went off. He looked at his bunny's face and touched her arm.
"Please let me," he said and answered. "Captain Wilde."
Of course the Admiral only heard half the conversation.
Listening…
"That's interesting."
Listening…
"Four months!"
Listening…
"Thank you for letting me know. Keep an eye on it and please give a complete briefing in the morning. If anything changes before then please contact me."
The Admiral looked him with a smile.
"Apparently we're getting a visitor and they came the long way."
It took a day to get the space station into orbit and all the survey crews to the surface. Admiral Wilde sat in her office doing paperwork when she received a call.
"Admiral."
"Lax!" she exclaimed. "I glad to hear from you!"
Leader Lax looked surprised for a moment and then smiled.
"Judy, how are things going?" she asked. "Why do all the interesting things happen to you?"
"Are you bored?" she asked and Leader Lax smiled. "Well I was thinking that we just might need a bit of help. Interested?"
"I can be there in eight hours."
"It'll be just like old times!"
It took six hours rendezvous with the new ship. Since it was decelerating the Zootopia II couldn't just match speed with it. They had catch up to it and decelerate at the same rate. In the fourth hour they were joined by Leader Lax. Once this was achieved contact was attempted by laser pulses, simple radio, and flashing the external lights on both ships. None of these methods worked. Then drop ships were sent out from both ships to board it.
"Admiral, Captain I strongly advise against this," Colonel Brown said as they docked. "Your complaint is duly noted. Colonel, we're not going in with yours and Lax's marines. Just secure ship and then you can escort us aboard."
The Colonel sighed.
"Yes, ma'am."
Twenty minutes later the six marines took them aboard and into what Judy guessed to be a cargo hold.
"Lax!" Judy said and then hugged her their armor clanking. "So you couldn't resist either."
"Judy, Nick, it's good to see you both!"
Then Judy noticed heavily armed marines from her ship and even more heavily armed ones from Lax's ship staring at each other.
"I hope all these all these weapons are safed," she said in multiple languages stepping between them.
The Colonel looked at his counterpart and sighed.
"We found the crew," Colonel said and pointed.
To Judy they looked like several dozen coffins bolted to the floor. James, Joan, and several of the Explorer Doctors went forward to examine them.
"Déjà Vu," Judy said to the Colonel. "That would be the human expression, wouldn't it?"
"Close enough," the Colonel said.
"Judy?" Lax said on a private channel.
"This reminded me of the Space Station over Eshu's planet."
"Yes, I guess it does," Lax said remembering the video.
Catherine and ship's AI had gone to the bridge and after half an hour reported that they had control of the ship computer.
"Good," she said. "Please dock this ship as we discussed."
Two minutes later they felt the engines cutoff and simulated gravity went away. Judy felt her armor's magnets attach to the floor and then its internal artificial gravity activated.
"Catherine, how long until we're docked?" The Admiral asked.
"32 minutes Admiral."
"This is a Yoth ship."
"Yes Admiral."
"Now I'm going to have to tell them their entire race has been murdered."
Judy sat in the Mellin Garden waiting for the Yoth Captain to wake. At least when she and Joan did this for Eshu he already knew his world had been destroyed before he'd awakened. This time she'd elected to do this alone.
She woke and immediately knew even before she opened her eyes she wasn't aboard her ship or on her planet. The air smelled different and as was the gravity. The blanket she lay on wasn't smooth and she could feel something crinkle under it. Cautiously she opened her eyes and looked at the sky. The color wasn't the right shade of blue and light was a bit too dim.
"Good, you're awake," came a voice.
She looked toward the sound and the voice belonged to a 'person' wasn't Yoth. She sat up a bit too fast feeling dizzy. This 'person' with the long mobile ears was almost immediately beside her with a hand on her back.
"How do you feel?"
"A little dizzy."
Only then did she realize the 'person' spoke in the Yoth language. She looked into the purple eyes and for some reason she could feel that something was wrong. Then she felt a hand on hers and the 'person' sat before her.
"Do you feel better now? Would you like some water? Or something to eat? I have some food from your ship."
"Maybe some water," she said and Judy handed a bottle to her. "My name is Faon."
She opened the bottle and took a sip. Then it dawned on her.
"My ship!"
"Its fine and so is your crew."
"Where are we?"
Judy squeezed her hand.
"I'm Admiral Judith Wilde and you're aboard my flagship the Zootopia II."
"What's happened?"
She was perceptive, Judy thought.
"There's no easy way to tell you this, but as far as we can tell everyone on your world is dead."
Faon slumped forward and Judy caught her and then hesitantly hugged the Yoth.
"This wasn't natural, was it?"
"No."
"Who did this?"
"We call them the Civilization Destroyers. So far they have murdered 102 worlds, and we've stopped them several dozen times since we discovered what they were doing. Recently we found their homeworld and all their colony worlds. Very soon we will make sure they will never do this again."
"I hope you kill them all!"
"We intend to render their entire race sterile."
Faon smiled.
"I had family in suspension as did my crew."
"We haven't found anyone in suspension on your world."
"They're in a facility on one the larger asteroids. We took them there when before we left the system."
"I wonder if it's possible they might've overlooked it!"
Six hours later the Zootopia II was in the process of loading suspension tubes into its medical bays. 1012 Yoth were found and would soon be revived. A new garden would soon be under construction as soon as they returned to the Yoth homeworld. Their planet would still not be habitable for several years even with the Explorer's advanced terraforming technology. The Yoth decided that they would stay on the Zootopia II and become part of its crew for now.
"Judy, Lax thank you both for helping us!" Faon said and hugged each in turn. "And for giving us a place to live. I didn't realize how much damage there was to our world until I saw it for myself."
"We both glad to help," Lax said looking at Judy.
"The Mellin want your people to stay in their garden until yours has been completed," Judy said and smiled. "Have you spoken to Eshu yet?"
"No, not yet."
"Eshu is currently in the Earth garden," Judy said checking her pad. "Come on. I'll take you."
Five minutes later they stood at the entrance to the garden.
"These gardens are just amazing," Faon said looking toward the setting 'sun.' "Come on. Joan's house is up on that hill. See it?"
"Yes."
Faon stopped looking at the animal coming toward them.
"Judy, I didn't know they had animals loose in the gardens."
"Yes, they all do," she said and went ahead greet to the male cheetah. "Most only have only prey animals, but this one has a few predators."
"They aren't dangerous?"
"No, these are quite friendly."
"We had predators on our world, but we had reserves where they lived."
The predator in question was now in Judy's lap having its stomach scratched.
"Come over here. He loves to be petted. Let him sniff your hand."
"What's that sound its making?"
"That means he's contented."
A minute later Faon was doing something she'd never contemplated – playing with a large predator. All the way to the house then male cheetah rubbed against their legs and purred. Joan and Eshu were coming out of the house when they arrived.
"Judy!" Joan yelled and then looked at her companion. "Good to see you and I see you brought one of our new residents. I see you introduced her to our resident predators too. Did he behave himself?"
Judy translated and Eshu got out his pad setting it up to translate.
"This is Faon," Judy said. Faon, this is Joan, she's human, and Eshu her mate."
Faon's eyebrow went up.
"Ehsu, you chose a female from a different species?"
"Yes, we're both doctors and I've developed a great affection for her."
"Can you have children?"
"No, but we'll probably adopt. Of course, Judy and Nick got lucky."
Faon looked at Judy questioningly.
"My mate is not a Rabbit," she said and smiled. "He's a Fox."
"Here's a video of Nick," Joan said and handed the Yoth her pad. "He's kissing Judy."
"Where did…"
"At your movie premiere."
Judy's ears turned red and Joan chuckled.
"Nick's a predator."
"Yes," Joan said and put an arm around Faon. "They have 9 children – three human and six hybrids."
"How?"
"I have an idea," Joan said and grinned. "Let's watch Judy and Nick's movie if you have time." Faon nodded. "I even have a few things that didn't make it into the original movie."
Nick looked at his bunny and knew that she was angry with someone. He just hoped it wasn't him. He thought back for last few days and couldn't think of anything. Then got out his pad and went to the calendar. First he checked her birthday and then their anniversary. He knew if he forgot those he wouldn't be in this bed with her. Of course it wasn't any if the human kits' birthdays. They would really have dropped some not so subtle hints. So he decided to step into the minefield and see what happened.
"Fluff."
"Nick, you know what Catherine did?"
"I doubt even my mother could do anything to make you angry all the way out here."
Surprisingly his bunny burst out laughing. This was not quite the reaction he expected as she buried her face in his chest fur and hugged him. He always enjoyed hearing his bunny laugh and yes, like this, she was cute, but he knew from previous experience not to express that sentiment aloud. Well at least not in this situation.
"Thanks Nick. God, I needed that!"
Then Nick pulled her close and kissed his bunny. When kiss ended he smiled at her.
"I needed that too," she said smiling coyly.
"So..."
"Joan noticed some things missing in the movie and asked Catherine about it. That vixen then gave them to her."
"Things?"
His bunny's ears turn red.
"The parts where we were … were together."
Nick closed his eyes and thought. Their first kiss or almost anytime they touched each other had been missing. Nick chuckled and his bunny swatted him. Then he could only laugh harder. Judy rolled him on his back and straddled him.
"Now I have you just where I want!"
"I've heard that before."
Judy giggled and then reached back and squeezed his sheath. He caught his breath and then exhaled.
"Claws Judy!"
She leaned forward and kissed her Fox. Then leaned back and impaled herself on his erection. As delicate tender flesh tore she cried out and then shuddered. She felt her Fox's hands on her hips and he held her. Then thrust up and she cried out again. She soon matched him and felt his hands squeeze her breasts. She bit her lip and tasted blood. Then he sat up and she felt him tasting it too. She giggled and kissed him. Then she felt his teeth on her throat. She shuddered again and moaned. He tightened his grip and she felt time slip away. Later she felt the growl building in his chest and he laid her on her back. Her legs went around his hips and she held him tight. Her internal muscles tightened on him and his growl came. Then she felt this warmth spread inside her.
They lay in each other's arms breathing hard and smiled at each other.
The next few weeks went by in a blur. Immediately after rescuing the Yoth the Admiral ordered the other 101 destroyed systems to be completely reexamined – all planets, asteroids, and comets.
"Judy," Lax said and smiled. "How are things going?"
"I have paperwork like you wouldn't believe!"
Lax chuckled.
"So since you called me what can I do for you?"
"One of the probes sent to the destroyed systems found members another species hiding in their system's Oort cloud."
Lax's looked surprised.
"And let guess you're too busy preparing for arrival of the new ships to go yourself."
Lax smiled and Judy sighed. She sent her friend the information and Lax scanned it.
"It'll certainly be more interesting than surveying star systems."
"Thank you!"
"As you command my Admiral."
Judy made a face and Lax laughed.
Fortunately for Lax the civilization destroyers didn't completely wreck their target planets. From the information gleaned from their hacked computers the Alliance knew the civilization destroyers wanted to colonize these planets in the future. Searching the planet the survey teams were able to find enough stored data and printed matter for the AI on Zootopia II to reconstruct and translate this species language. Their Lax's ship soon hovered directly over their base on the minor planet.
"Communication's Officer, broadcast my message using their main military frequency."
"Yes, Leader Lax," she said. "The translation program is active and we are broadcasting now."
"My name is Lax and I represent an alliance of species from this galaxy and the larger one nearby. We're fighting the species that destroyed your world. We would like to meet with you and provide you any help that you might need. Please respond."
The Communication Officer cutoff the broadcast and they waited for 5 minutes.
"Science Officer, put a low level laser on the entrance of their base."
A minute later a green spot appeared on the camouflaged door.
"Communication's Officer, I'd like to broadcast again."
"Ready."
"We are only here to talk to you," she said.
"Leader Lax, we're receiving a signal."
A face appeared on the main screen.
"We were afraid they had returned, but what difference would make now."
"You at least survived."
"We watched them destroy our world and we did nothing!"
"Could you've changed the outcome?"
"No, but now there only a little over 2000 of us left."
"We can take you to a place you will be safe and help you recover your species."
"Our planet…"
"is uninhabitable for now. Please tell your people to get ready and we'll begin to evacuate you if that's what you want. I will come down and we'll talk."
The massive outer door opened and twenty shuttles moved into the airlock. Those doors closed and space between them was repressurized. Then the inner doors opened to reveal a large natural cave. The shuttles drifted in and then settled to the floor. One shuttle open and Lax emerged with her contingent of body guards. The person she'd spoken to approached with several others.
"I am Amki," she said, "the leader of the Aphpo race now. Come."
Lax and her bodyguard were led deeper into the base. Soon they entered large circular room. Two dozen Aphpo waited for them.
"These are the members of our ruling council," Amki said and took her seat.
Lax activated the translation program in her armor.
"I am Lax representing the Alliance. As I told Amki the alliance is a group of several dozen species that have banded together to fight the species that destroyed your world and 101 others." Lax looked at the Aphpo and guessed that she saw surprise on their faces. "The Alliance has fought them several dozen times and we've been victorious each time capturing 62 of their ships intact. We now have located their homeworld and all their colonies. Within a month we will attack all those worlds simultaneously and restrict them to those worlds. Then their entire race will be rendered sterile. The Alliance extents an invitation for your species to join us."
"But what can we do?" Amki asked.
"Your people can witness their defeat."
Amki looked at Lax and smiled.
Judy waited for her friend at the airlock after her ship docked. The door opened and Lax and one of the Aphpo stepped through first.
"Leader Lax."
"Admiral, this is Amki the leader of the Aphpo."
"Thank you for saving us."
Judy smiled.
"Leader Lax did all hard the work."
More of the Aphpo were emerging from the airlock.
"Amki, come let us show you to your new home," Lax said and smiled. "Follow us."
Marines guided the group to set of stairs at the back of the docking bay. They came to set of simple door and Judy opened them.
"This is the Yoth garden," Judy said and ushered Amki in first. "The Yoth and three other species live here and like you their worlds were attacked by the Civilization Destroyers. There are other species here too and you'll find them interesting just as we have."
Dragons began to land and their passengers began to spill off. The 2021 Aphpo had finally all entered and were soon intermingled with the other species. Soon more people arrived and party started.
"Judy!"
"Nick, did you?"
"This time I did."
Judy noticed a stage and screen being erected. Soon Eshu and some of his people stood on it and told an abbreviated version of their history. Then other members of the new species were invited up and did the same. Nick sat with an arm around his bunny and listened. Soon food and drink were brought in and the last speaker finished. Her Fox smiled and then she watched the screen begin to flicker.
"Noooooo!"
"Yes," he said and chuckled. "Zootopia: The Uncut Version."
A majority of the Alliance Fleet had gathered in the Ris home system to welcome the fleets from the Milky Way. Of course the first ships to arrive almost a day before any of the others were those of the most advanced species in the Milky Way. Lax greeted her people in the traditional manor by challenging them to a duel. Since none accepted she automatically became Leader of her people's contribution to the Alliance of 103 ships. These ships were immediately taken to the Ris shipyards to be upgraded.
Next to arrive sixteen hours later were the 97 ships from Earth and their client species. They formed up and proceeded to their assigned staging area.
"Admiral, the Vice Admiral in command of the Human fleet wishes to speak to you," the communications tech reported.
"Please put the Admiral on the main screen," Admiral Wilde said.
"Yes, ma'am."
The human appeared on the screen and Judy was surprised that he was so young. She guessed he must only be in his thirties. The surprise must have showed on her face and the human chuckled.
"It's good to see you too Admiral Wilde," he said. "I'm Jonathan Rogers and I'm placing myself and my ships under your command."
"Thank you, Admiral," she said and smiled. "I thought there might be some discussion on who would be in command of the fleet."
"Ma'am you've been out here for six months and fighting a war. You've made allies and created a fleet from essentially nothing. Everyone has read the dispatches from Lax and is extremely impressed with you. So no one wants to make changes in the command structure in the middle of a war. In fact there has been talk of giving you the rank of Fleet Admiral."
The Admiral's ears turned pink and human smiled.
"Admiral Rogers would you and your crews like to come over and visit the Zootopia II? And also have an informal supper with us?"
"Yes, we'd love to."
Less than ten minutes later a much larger group of 206 ships arrived representing the eight species that were on par technically with humanity.
"Admiral, the commander of the newly arrived fleet wishes to speak to you," the communications tech reported.
"Greetings Fleet Admiral," he said giving her a small bow. "We represent the eight species of the Milky Way Alliance. We do want to join yours too and help find your homeworld. From what we're read it sounds very interesting."
"Thank you for coming to our assistance," she said and smiled, "but I haven't been promoted yet."
"I don't think they'll be any problem with that," he said and smiled. "Everyone has been very impressed with you."
"I've invited the humans over for a visit and I'd like to extend the same invitation for you and your crews too," Judy said and smiled. "We'll also have an informal supper too."
"I accept," he said and smiled again.
The Admiral retired to her office and contacted Lax. She too accepted the offer for herself and her people. Over the next few hours hundreds of shuttles landed disgorging thousands of visitors. Tours of the ship were given depending on specialty or just what the individual wished to see. Last on all the tours were the gardens. They sat in the Mellin Garden and watched the crowd begin to grow.
"Sounds like everyone likes our ship," Nick said and put an arm around his bunny. "I hope they like the food and entertainment."
Nick grinned down at his bunny and she pulled him close.
"Nick, if you show that version of the movie again I'm going to have a new rug in our room and it won't be made from a skunk's butt!" she whispered in his ear.
"Oh come on Judy it wasn't that bad," he said and kissed her cheek.
"But we were kissing and stuff."
Her fox chuckled.
"I think it shows us as more 'human' as they would say. We aren't just the Captain and the Admiral we're Nick and Judy just regular people who have been thrust into an extraordinary situation and have persevered."
Judy put her head on her Fox's chest and hugged him. He kissed the top of his bunny's head and returned the hug.
"Judy," he said and tilted her head up until green eyes met purple ones, "I love you. If that version of the movie makes you uncomfortable then we'll just show the other one."
She smiled and then chuckled herself.
"No, you horny old Fox just show it!"
"Ya know Judy, I do have a third version of the movie," he said and winked, "and it's just for us."
Judy laughed aloud and hugged her Fox again.
By the next day all the newly arrived ships were in the shipyards for upgrades. Judy smiled when the she saw the flash and the Explorer ship appeared near the Ris homeworld.
"Admiral, the commander of the Explorer ship wishes to speak to you," the communications tech reported.
"Please put him on the main screen."
"Admiral Wilde greetings."
"We though you may have gotten lost and were just about to send a search party to look for you," she said and smiled. "Better later then never as the humans say."
For a second he frowned and Judy chuckled.
"We wanted to talk to you about this war and you're plans."
"No problem," she said and smiled again. "All ship will be upgraded and ready for deployment by the end of next week."
"Good," he said and the frown flickered across his face again. "We wanted to speak to you about your plans to deal with species."
"I have distributed them to all the species representatives in the Alliance and they've agreed to them. We felt for the genocide and attempted genocide of 102 species that they have committed my solution is entirely justified."
"The Explorer Council has discussed this and we disagree."
"Well, all the species in the Alliance have voted yes and you voted no. You lose."
"We will…"
"Start a war? I thought your race was against that."
Now he looked angry and Judy smiled. He turned away for a moment and looked back at her. Then Judy heard a voice from off camera and he looked down. Frowning he looked back at her.
"We will …" he started to say.
Judy laughed and held up a box about the size of a brick.
"Do nothing."
Lax's ship appeared before the Explorer ship, waited for few seconds, and then disappeared.
"Where did you get that?"
"We found this one and the other four others just like it that your people had planted on MY ship about a week after we left Earth. Needless to say my ship's AI and Catherine are somewhat annoyed that they could become lobotomized and made slaves by these. Now I'm ready glad I married a suspicious Fox. Then Nick thought if they did it our ship maybe they've done it to others. So our ship's AI contacted other ships' AIs and they found the same devices. Then those AIs contact others and so on. Now all the AIs on all your planets, ships, and space stations know about these devices. By now they have all been removed and the AIs now know exactly which of your people ordered this and which know about it." Judy enjoyed the look of horror on the Explorer's face and smiled. "By the way your shield design has a flaw and you've been boarded. As the human's say you're screwed."
The camera pulled back and then a vixen came through the bridge doors followed by dozen of Leader Lax's marines. The vixen grabbed the Explorer, lifted him bodily, and tossed him to the armored marines. She sat in the chair and smiled at the Admiral.
"Thank you Judy."
"My pleasure."
Across the Explorer 'empire' similar scenes played out millions of times. When there was resistance gravity generators were shut down and atmospheres were slowly vented until surrenders were accepted. Of course not all Explorers knew about this and were truly horrified when they were shown the evidence. They quickly joined the revolution and within a week things were settled without too much bloodshed.
Judy, her Fox, and her twelve bodyguards stood in one of the facilities containing the frozen fertilized ova. Fortunately these two worlds were lightly defended and were easily occupied. Catherine and her ten body guards joined them as they watched as dozens of drop ships land to then begin loading.
"How's the war going?"
Judy could have looked herself, but thought that Catherine would have a better overall view of the tactical situation.
"All enemy ships, dockyards, shipyards, asteroids, and space stations have been occupied. All computers with spaceship construction data have been wiped and all planet side launching facilities have been destroyed. Within a week all living POWs will be repatriated to one of their worlds. Sterilization procedures have begun and will proceed on these two worlds after we have completed loading. Probes have been stationed to see that no one leaves any of their worlds."
"At least now we get back to looking for Zootopia."
"Current estimates are with end of the war and with the fleet dedicated to searching that it will take one standard year to find your world. Of course this estimate could change as we find new civilizations and with other ships joining the search."
Judy smiled and put arm around Catherine.
"I wonder how things are going in Zootopia" Nick said looking at his bunny.
"I'll bet Catherine is raising hell," Judy said and smiled at her Fox.
Little did Judy know that she had greatly underestimated the angry vixen.