Now, aside from taking forever to upload, another thing I wanted to apologize about was forgetting our Audrey scenes back home. Kind helped tether the plot back to Huniepop. You guys also have Mitt to mainly thank for the update, dangling an art piece of Feroza in front of me and Cypher. XP

Lunalove25: Yes! I have returned!

Mitt: Dangit, Mitt! Anonymous profile! Well, my email is evansmalik99 gmail, if you wanna send it directly.


Audrey kicked the last of the takeout bags into the kitchen.

Stamping her bare foot with a little pout, the mega-bitch turned her attention towards the stairs. "Cat! Get the fuck down here and take out this damn trash!" No response. "After feeding the both of us for a whole fucking month, you pick now to crap out on me?!"

Audrey came stomping up the stairs and down the hallway towards Momo's room. "I swear to god, if-" Audrey stopped herself short when she passed the bathroom and caught the deadweight brown tail out of the corner of her eye.

There Momo was, keeled over the toilet, letting her insides become outsides. Her normally well-groomed hair was a complete mess, her golden eyes were teary and bloodshot, and her kimono, always kept clean under Tala's affection and care, was now filthy, and had spots of dried vomit caked around the collar and sleeves. When she wasn't wretching her empty stomach over the toilet bowl, she was sobbing her eyes out.

As soon as Momo heard the silent socks of Audrey behind her though, the cat girl's head whipped around, her eyes locking with her caretaker, and that locked Audrey in place just long enough for the neko girl to catch her in a crushing hug.

"Misses Audrey? Momo had an oopsie…"

'Eugh...' Now she had dried vomit on her. Audrey risked a look in the toilet and the surrounding floor. "Aw shit. You call that just 'one' oopsie? Ugh, look you're cleaning that crap up but … let's get you something to eat, okay? I'll grab us some fast food and -"

Momo shook her head no into the nape of Audrey's neck. "Momo doesn't want junkfood no more! Momo wants food that doesn't make her tummy sick! Momo's insides feel like they're burning… it huuurts!"

"Shit…" 'Think Audrey, think…' Fuck home cooking, and fuck restaurants. One was bound to make them both sick, and the other was too damn expensive to eat at every day, even for her. But who the hell else nearby could cook? Tala's out. Tiffany's out. Nikki's out. Maybe Miss Jessie? Nah. It's still an enigma how she takes care of herself, let alone a brat and a cat. Her aunt was a no. Not just a no, but a fuck no. Maybe Nora? Bitch could take care of herself. But then again, she didn't feel like owing favors to a street cunt like her. Her cousin? No, she'd probably talk shit about her hair. Then she'd have to fuck a bitch up. And Beli still wasn't answering her fucking calls, even after the klutz spent the first half of the month screaming at her over the phone… "Shit!"

There had to be someone!

That was pretty much all the people worth a shit she knew in Glenberry. Unless…

"Ah, fuck my life!"

XXXXX

'The fools.' Rogan shook his bulbous head as he took in the security feed carnage from his office. Barely half an hour had passed since his guards had dragged Tala Stone's unconscious body back to the gladiator quarters and his slaves had risen up in arms. Barely half an hour since he'd dispatched sentry drones to eliminate that uninvited Tendricidian ship in the guest hangers and now he was receiving reports of "heavy resistance" from the docking station. In less time than it took to cook a properly seasoned batch of klai-klai, his operation had turned into a war zone!

Rogan's lips twisted in a sneer. "You move quickly, Terran."

Well, no matter. Gladiators and sentry drones could be replaced, structural damage could be repaired. 'Let them wear themselves thin and ragged trying to make their little point.' If the unthinkable came to pass, he still had the slave collars. Rogan patted the hand-held remote sitting atop his desk with its tempting red button.

'I still hold all the cards.'

XXXXX

"Iz de jammer working?!"

"Affirmative!" Celeste called over the gunfire. "So long as the signal remains active, we can be certain we shall not all die!"

'It's going well so far,' Tala grimaced. 'Too well.' She and her team had rallied the defecting gladiators, they'd, for the moment, neutralized the shock function on the collars; hell, they'd even managed to raid the armory for weapons without losing a single comrade. Rogan's forces, on the other hand, had beat a hasty retreat, leaving the space station's drones and bots to hold the front lines.

Tala raised a stolen communicator. "Cicinia, how's your team doing?'

"Nyaa, no issues here, Tal-Tal! Ci-ci's fighters will have complete control over the habitat ring soon enough."

"Roger that." Tala surveyed her own forces. "Big guy, how's the jammer look?"

Ralcor was behind the group, clutching the device and the dish it was attached to like a potted plant. "Not a scratch!"

"Good to hear!" Right after she said that, Tala peaked from behind cover, and seeing that the coast was clear, made her way back to the corridor she came from.

Her quickest incredulous look came from Amelie. "Tala, where are you going?!"

Take gestured with her head towards the huge blast doors on the far side of the lobby. "You guys go on ahead. There's a few we missed. Celeste, with me!"

Celeste as by her side in an instant. "I am with you, M'yorah!"

"Didn't think I'd leave them, did you, Celly?"

"I would have been surprised if you did."

The team's optimistic mood came crashing down, however, as the group made a mad dash in retreat. "Not zhis way!" shouted the half-wraith, waving at Ralcor and the others to retreat.

Any lingering confusion was put to rest when the blast doors up ahead were torn off their hinges, and a new, gigantic drone model clomped into the hallway. Tala gulped, recognizing the tiger-like titans she and her team had first faced in the arena. Only bigger, with bigger guns.

'Guess Rogan decided we were due for a rematch…'

Just then, the transponder, carried by Amelie, came to life. "Tala! Status!" came the voice of Rika.

"We got through the sentries in the habitat ring, but Rogan just sent us his kill-squad!" Tala called from across the lobby from behind one of the shot-up pillars.

"Stand by!"

One of the stalker drones, as it was taking fire from every gladiator with a blaster, ignored them as it crouched to pounce, but right before it could launch itself at Ralcor, an explosion reduced the titan to a glorious cloud of smoke, fire and robot parts. Everyone had to shield themselves behind cover as the shockwave carried across the battlefield, and the the titan's companions, who were point blank in proximity, found themselves blown off their feet with dented armor, sparking innards, and at least one missing limb.

All that remained of the original droid was a smoldering hole in the floor.

Captain Rika Boor pulled herself out of said hole, reaching down to help up her demolitions expert. Mac, for his part, grinned as he surveyed his handiwork, then they both drew hand grenades and chucked them at the other two drones as soon as their incapacitated forms so much as twitched. They weren't wiped from existence like the first, but they wouldn't be getting up.

The GRPD reinforcements sprinted back towards the dug-in gladiators just in time for company to pour in from the entrance that was opened by their former big brothers.

"Too much boom?!" Mac shouted as they re-convened next to Tala.

Tala grinned. "Never too much from you, big guy!"

XXXXX

Back at the station's hangar entryway, Kate and Al found themselves in a double-pronged fight.

"Take the left corridor! I can smell Big-T all over it," the werewolf howled as he smoked another drone guard.

"Didja nevah play any RPGs?" Kate hollered between bullet shots. "When the dungeon path forks, y'always go right!"

Another wave of drones poured through the blast doors; the sniper and the hacker found themselves at an impasse. Al's grin lit up. "First to ten kills decides?"

"Watch and be amazed, doggy boy!"

Al howled and ducked behind his scope but at the end of the firefight, his head would be hanging and jogging to the right.

The alien signage they passed, once translated, read Salvage Workshop.

XXXXX

Celeste and Amelie found themselves enveloped in the arm of Ralcor as he threw himself between the oncoming explosion and his much smaller, lesser armored colleagues. Fire flew and shrapnel clanged off his thick backplates, but he was left unharmed, for the most part. When the explosion settled, all three of them rushed for cover. "Gratitude!" Celeste shouted over the gunfire pinging at the wall corner they hid behind.

"Your armor does you much more justice than invisibility evah could!" Amelie piped up from the other side of the brute. Ralcor gave his best toothy grin.

"Against suicide drones, definitely!" However, when he looked down next to him, the jammer was in shambles. "Uhhhhh…"

Amelie almost swallowed her heart. "No! Nonononononononono!" Celeste was right next to her, frozen on the spot, and their allies all gaped, clutching at the metal collars around their throats as the devices' neutral green lights reverted to yellow. Primed to explode.

"Relax! We're not dead yet! But we will be if you stop shooting!" It was Tala who piped up, as her allies' ceasing fire allowed another kamikaze drone through, despite the efforts of herself, Rika, and Mac. Tala leapt into action, bull-rushing the nasty bugger as the red light on its stomach began blinking. Getting a good hold behind the drone's back legs, the amazon heaved with all the strength of her own two legs, pushing the drone away from her allies.

"Tala!" Celeste was the first to cry out, followed quickly by everyone else.

Tala ignored them and kept pushing the exploder away, the red light blinking faster and faster. When the time was right, she pushed the cumbersome drone upwards on its hind legs before jumping up to dropkick the nasty bugger in the chest. The exploder staggered back while Tala used her spring-loaded attack to put more distance between them. Once she landed, she rolled back to her feet, and all she had time to do was see the sudden flash of blue tackle her to the ground between herself and the explosion.

In the moments following the uncovered detonation, Tala's ears felt like drills were forced through them, and her head felt like the drills were meeting in the middle. But she'd had worse hangovers.

Looking down, she saw Celeste a lot worse for wear: the Norai's eyes were open, but it looked like no one was home. She breathed raggedly like she had gotten the wind knocked out of her, and her eyes were half-lidded and unresponsive, but she did blink when Tala tapped her eyelid. Satisfied, the amazon forced herself upright to get a better hold of her m'yorah, but once her ears stopped ringing, everything else around her hit her all at once.

Ralcor hefted a sizable slab of metal from the ground, the size of a simple rock in his massive, three-digit hand. When the gunfire stopped, and the red searchlights were seen, he tossed the metal piece astray. Their gunfire was drawn again as they fired in the general direction of the loud noise, and that left the two sentry drones open as Amelie and Ralcor's own teammates sniped at their weapons with their guard-issued firearms.

The first drone exploded, its wreckage careening to the ground, but the second one juked smartly, and returned fire with something deadlier than laser fire. "Missile!" The warhead was rocketing right for the still-groggy Tala and Celeste, who were just now getting to their feet. They barely had time to brace.

A metal hand lunged for the duo. The bounty hunter and amazon both cautiously opened their eyes, stunned to see a worn and rusted T-Comm unit shielding them, an actively-burning missile gripped tightly in its palm. Teeko's voice box roared as the android assumed a pitching stance and catapulted the missile back at the sentry drone. A second explosion sent the final defense unit to the ground.

Celeste just stared as the hand that had held a live missile was extended towards her. "I thought T-Comm units were designed for service and labor," she gaped.

The droid mechanic shrugged. "Designs are a fickle thing. Shall we?"

The Norai found the strength to raise a grin, and when Tala helped her to her feet, Celeste slapped a blaster into its palm. "Yes, let us."

"But wait," Tala piped up, supporting a still-winded Celeste with an arm around her waist. "What about Feroza, Zathra, and Luna?"

The present Norai opened her mouth to speak, but Teeko shook his head. "I do not recommend that course of action."

"Why?"

"My internal jamming signal has a limited range. And Rogan can track you via the collars. Leave far enough, and Rogan will detonate your collar. As far as Celeste tells me, you in particular, Tala Stone. Let Rogan focus on you, and not the Nekorians. You all must stay close to me until the collars are deactivated."

Tala cast one more longing glance at the corridor they came from, but ultimately nodded. "Okay."

Seeing her lover's distress, Celeste raised a comforting hand to Tala's chest. "We will come back for them, M'Yorah. I promise."

"Don't worry Lieutenant," Rika came up, resting a reassuring hand on her subordinate's shoulder. "As soon as we pop Rogan, we can get everyone out. Just get yourself to safety, okay?"

"Yes ma'am." Facing the broken doors their enemies came from, Tala hoisted Celeste up into her arms bridal style, relishing in the Norai's startled yelp and blush before facing all the gladiators. "Alright, ladies and gents! One step closer to freedom! Let's go!"

'We're making good progress,' Amelie thought. The first security barrier had been breached with minimal casualties on their side. 'Leave it to these alien fools to underestimate a prison full of hardened soldiers,' she smirked.

XXXXX

"Um, excuse me, um... Terran? Are you lost?"

Rummaging around the workshop not far from where the habitat ring spat out their security drones, Kate looked over her shoulder to see a small, blue-skinned boy with horns - preteen by the looks of him - poke his head out from the charred carcass of a sentry drone, wrench in hand.

But seeing such a spectacle, Kate tilted her head in confusion. "Are you, lit'le guy?"

To clarify his situation, Kooz stepped out from behind the dead machine, revealing his grease-stained apron and overalls. "I... work here. I fix things."

The goggle-wearing cyberpunk brightened up with interest that only the presence of a fellow tech expert could. "Ohhh, so a techie, eh? I take it yer in on the big plan?" That metal disc around his neck with the glowing yellow light was certainly enough to convince her of that. "Ah jus' so hap'n ta be part of the rescue team," she offered, leaning against one of the worktables.

The boy nodded with a hopeful smile on his face, off-handedly twirling his wrench between his small digits. "I was told to stay here and wait. Away from danger."

Kate rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, it's pretty rough out there, from what we been hearin'. But wait," Kate's train of thought derailed for a second, eying the boy's collar again. "If you're away from the fanfare, you got a second jammah in here?"

"Third, actually." The boy pointed over to the standing signal dish off in the corner. "Teeko said that the gladiators' jamming array might be destroyed, so he left to keep them safe with the extra one he built into his chassis."

Kate felt a huge grin coming on. "Good man! I like 'em already!"

That got a smile out of the Norai boy. "Do you need help with anything?"

"Well, me bud Al an' I are lookin' for a way ta get rid o' the collars. If the cap'n can't get ta Rogan, we'll hafta come up with anothah way ta get 'em off. There some kinda comms room for this place?"

The Norai boy nodded. "I can show you. But it's heavily guarded, and hacking it will be difficult…"

Seeing the boy's nervousness, Kate knelt down, resting a hand on his small shoulder. The high-tech gears in Kate's head suddenly turned into a super computer as she began the makings of possibly the best plan in a thousand lightyears. "What's yah name? I'm Kate."

The boy smiled. "Kooz. I'm happy to meet someone that likes machines too."

"Tell me, Kooz. Ya evah heard the phrase two heads are bettah than one?"

XXXXX

"Feroza, we must leave now!" Luna's pleas fell on deaf ears.

"My alpha, this is our last chance!"

Zathra's warning garnered only a snort. "No. We stay here."

The Norai glanced at each other.

"But why, Feroza?"

"Why, after how much Rogan made us suffer?"

"Made you suffer?"

Feroza turned to face the smaller Norai, arms crossed with an expectant scowl. "No."

"Why?!" Came Zathra's frustrated howl. "You hate Rogan more than any of us! Why stay here under his heel?!"

"There is a universe beyond this wretched place!" Luna continued, "Worlds where you could demonstrate your Stygian pride! Who cares about Rogan and your debts if this place is no more?" Feroza remained silent. "It's that Terran, isn't it?"

"Still your tongue, Luna. Lest I strangle you with it."

"That'd be a shame," a new voice declared, brash and confident. "Luna looks like one helluva kisser."

"Tala Stone? Show yourself!" Feroza whipped around, energized once more. Her nostrils sniffed after the intruding Terran. Instead, she found Zathra's communicator at her hip. 'She's found the rebels' frequency!' "Zathra, away with that communicator! That is an order!"

The larger Norai almost obeyed; only a great force of will kept her rooted in place as she raised the device to her mouth. "Tala Stone, this is Zathra. Are your forces near the stabilizer quarters? Luna and I wish to parley."

Feroza's scream split the air. "Traitors!"

"A parley?" Tala Stone's was as casual as if she were arranging a date. "Sure, but we can't get there until we deal with the collars. You'll be okay until then?"

The Norai answered in unison: "Yes, my alpha."

'Alpha? Alpha?!' Feroza had been set to pounce on the traitors, beat them to their senses; break their limbs to instill discipline. But with one word, her heart stopped, her limbs froze. 'That title - MY title - Tala Stone, will you take even that from me?'

Communication relayed, Zathra drew her zanbato; Luna her scythe. Feroza snarled like a beast ready to rend flesh but held the standoff. But even so, she could smell the stench of fear off of the both of them.

So she relented.

Shutting her lips, The Silver Blade maintained her glare as she reclined back against the bed. She appeared silent and calm, but her swishing tail betrayed a patient predator. Zathra and Luna, weapons pointed, stayed as still as statues. Feroza soundlessly blinked, and they flinched.

XXXXX

For Kate, the communications center was like a dream come true - all sleek and silvery with columns of computer towers rising from the metal floors. "Wizard," she gasped.

Alistair's silenced sniper shots broke the reverie. "Move it or lose it, Katie-Kat. I can't hold them off forever!" They'd broken past quite a number of sentry drones to reach this station, but more were floating up the hallway, taking defensive positions behind their comrades' junked bodies. Alistair would shoot once, then duck behind the door frame as a laser barrage responded.

"Don't rush me, Dogsbane! All right, Kooz, was it? Ahm lookin' fer the computer that controls the security collar network."

The little Tendricidian boy nodded, his bright eyes scanning the towers. "That one, I think," he said, pointing to a chunkier, black console at the back of the room. He guided Kate forward and the hacker set up shop, plugging the equipment from Celeste's ship into the interface slots. The data readout made her curse.

"It's a randomizer algorithm! This Rogan bloke didn't just change the frequency once - it's changing every bloody second!" She relayed her findings to Rika. "Commander, this program's locked down tighter than a fresh can o' vegemite! Ah might put togethah a deactivation code, but once the collars sync and reset in an unauthorized area, i.e. outside the habitat ring, before I can give a new ordah, boom!"

"That is a problem…" There was a lengthy moment of silence before Rika spoke again. "But so long as the group is with Teeko, they're safe. But, chances are we can't get a signal to the collars with the jamming array active. Is it possible to authorize the outer ring itself for the collars?"

"Only for a second! Who knows how many algorithms there are ta reset the collars! I can't change 'em all! And tamperin' with it might broadast to a kill ordah!"

"And if it does..." the boy tugged solemnly at his blinking collar, "Well, it was nice meeting you, Miss Kate..."

Kate gave the boy a hearty pat on the back. "Ah, don't gimme that! Take it from a frien' o' the Terran champion, I don't know how ta give up."

"I think I might have something to add." Rika spoke up, still in the channel. "As far as we know, Rogan's somewhere watching, from what Tala told us. She said he plans to detonate all the collars at the last possible moment, as soon as the prisoners think they're free. If your theory is true, and no active command rotates in the system, he must have the master control with him."

Kate slapped her knee in exuberance. "That's right! Tal mentioned he had somethin' like that in his office! Your call. If ya wanna look fer that bloke, we can hack othah systems in the station. Like, say, the doors leadin' up to his oval office."

"Rogan's not going to give us time for everything, so clear the way to him and link back up with me and Mac." Rika then clicked a button her communicator. "Nikki, Tiffany? We're going after Rogan. Status."

"We need help!"

"Dammit. Kate! See if you can help out Nicole and Tiffany!"

"On it, cap'n!"

XXXXX

Tiffany saw the comm switch off, leaving the two girls alone in the cockpit. All she could do was clutch her seat like her life depended on it, and watch Nikki keep them alive.

The ship lurched back and forth, blasterfire illuminating the metal interior as shots streaked past the windows. Tiffany felt at any moment she could puke her guts out, and her mind drifted to the D-day boats full of terrified men as imminent death creeped closer and closer. All she could do was stay in her seat as Nikki's evasive maneuvers jostled her insides back and forth, not knowing whether the next maneuver would be their last.

Nikki, on the other hand, had her unblinking eyes glued to the monitor. Her hands were gripped onto the stick so hard her knuckles had turned white. She hadn't spoken a word since they came under attack, and it was her hyperfocus that kept them alive. A jerk of the stick sent the ship on a new vector where the drones chasing her missed, and then another where the station's defenses missed. Not half a second went by without a course correction or another shot that threatened to send her to the game over screen permanently.

'I have to do something!' Tiffany couldn't keep this up forever, and her stomach couldn't take anymore of this. "Nikki-"

"Shhh!" There was no getting through to the fledgling pilot. Nikki was focused to the extreme.

'Wait… what's that?' One of the drones… did it just burst into flames? Curiosity getting the better of her, Tiffany unstrapped from her seat and immediately regretted it as a left-banking maneuver threw her out of her chair and sent her skidding along the floor to the wall with a startled yelp.

"Shhh!" Nikki repeated.

Steadying her back against the wall, Tiffany pushed herself up, then looked over her shoulder through the window.

The station's defenses! They were shooting at the drones! "Tiffany! Do you read?! Tiffany!" The cheerleader was so relieved to hear Rika's voice again.

Being conveniently thrown back towards her with a right-banking maneuver, Tiffany caught herself on the back of her chair and reached out to press the call button. "M-miss Boor?"

"Oh, am I glad to hear your voice! Kate managed to turn the station's defenses against the drones."

"Y-yeah I noticed. Nikki's still hyper-focused on avoiding the drones, though."

"They should peel away, once they register the station's defenses as a bigger threat." Tiffany looked back to the window, and sure enough, there weren't anymore shots coming their way.

Tiffany could feel the relief wash over her in droves. And with it came a great idea.

She looked over to Nikki, who seemed to just now be coming down from her tunnel vision. The nerd girl was panting, sweat dripping off of her forehead like an umbrella, and the pits under her arms leaking sweat through her sweater.

Tiffany rushed over and put her hands on Nikki's shoulders, setting on the firm game face she used before her cheer squad ran out to perform. "You can do this, Nik. You! Can! Do! This! You've got all the high scores at the arcade, you've got the best twitch reflexes of us all! You can do this! Just... picture it like a video game!"

"Like a game, huh?" Tiffany gulped at the evil gleam in her friend's eye. She backed away, and Nikki lunged forward in her seat, controller at the ready. "Let's do this! No-damage high score!"

Tiffany squeaked as the ship rocketed forward. Nikki's thumbs clacked over the controller buttons and Rogan's preoccupied air forces erupted into a skyful of rosy explosions.

Over the comms, an Australian whoop joined Tiffany's cheers. "Nik, you're doin' good! Clear the skies an' we'll be one step closah ta home! Ah'm sure Tal'll make it werth yer while when this is all ovah!" Kate's sentiment made the bluenette blush furiously as she rolled to avoid a lock, timing her turn just right to lose them.

But whereas Nikki dove into her element and enjoyed the praise heaped on her, Tiffany felt her own high nosediving, replaced with envy. That, and hanging on for dear life. Sure, she'd managed to get the ball rolling with that transponder and even make first contact with Tala again, but now, Nikki was doing something freaking amazing! And this was her favorite thing to do! A squadron of fighter drones shot out from the station's emergency hangers like missiles headed straight for them, but Nikki wiped them out like a blue-haired Han Solo. Dropships carrying drones to intercept the escape effort stood even less of a chance, being picked off with the stunning hilarity of 'This Little Piggy'. She began to wonder why she was even-

"Tiff!" shouted the focused Nerd girl over her shoulder as she dismantled an important looking tower and flew through the ensuing fireball.

"Yeah?"

"Can you find out what's going on down on the ground? I can't focus on that with all these guys chasing us." The tongue hooked on the outside of Nikki's mouth was a tell-tale indicator that her focus was once again at a hundred percent. But in a good way.

The blonde's loathing frown curled up into a bright-eyes grin almost instantly. "Can do!"

XXXXX

Kate barely had time to yank a panicked Kooz behind cover before a torrent of blasterfire flew by, cementing their place behind one of the terminals. Al was further up, but he was quickly getting pushed back once the droids accumulated enough dead bodies to just push the pile itself. 'Crafty buggahs.'

"Glad to see I wasn't forgotten!" Al yelled over the gunfire as he fell back next to Kate and her little blue companion.

"They been givin' ya plenty attention! Whaddya need me for?"

"Would you believe me if I said I needed you to survive?"

More blaster fire forced Kate to pull her head back behind cover. "Yeah, ah would!"

Rika's crisp voice crackled over the comm system. "Connor, Wolfsbane, we have our opening and are converging on Rogan's position. Fall back and regroup with us."

Kate gave a quick acknowledgement and scanned the room for alternate exits. Kooz tugged on her sleeve and pointed up. "Ventilation duct - brilliant idea, lit'le guy. Al, let's move it!"

"What? No way, I've got these bastards right where I want them!" The sharpshooter had knocked over a data tower to serve as his own cover, and continued to dart and snipe at the robot hordes. "Katie, tell the boss I've got 'em pinned and we can make it! These friggin' machines ain't no match for my pure-blooded wolf sense-"

Only Kate's firm yank on his collar pulled him out of the incoming missile's blast. The explosion blanketed the room with smoke and char, forcing the drones to halt their advance while the fumes settled. While Alistair coughed up his lungs, Kate grabbed him by the lapels and shouted into his hairy face.

"Will you cut that werewolf crap already? Yer gonna get us killed! Yeah, yer great-grandpappy got bitten by a wolf. Maybe it gave him superpowers, maybe it just gave him rabies and a bad scar. But yer just a bloke, Al! A regular ol' bloke that bleeds and dies just as easy as the rest of us! Even if you had lycan blood in yer genes, it's been diluted into nothing! Y'got nothing!"

Her bark hit the man like a shot in the gut. He attempted a half-hearted snarl. "I'm a Wolfsbane, Kate, and that means -"

"And will y'can it with those stupid names? Oh, don't give me that dumb look, Alistair. I hacked yer personnel file, I saw yer legalized name change, Roy Kowalski! Needed t'call yerself something tough and wild t'go with that cocked up wolf story, eh?"

Alistair's eyes were frozen, looking not at Kate, but at her earpiece. The comm channel had been live throughout her entire rant. "Kate?" chirped Tiffany's voice over the line. "Kate, you guys okay?"

O'Connor swallowed. "Al, I didn't mean -"

Alistair just holstered his rifle and pushed past the hacker, a dull shimmer in his deflated eyes. "You heard the commander. We gotta move. This here's too much for just one man..."

XXXXX

"To think your brood younglings would be such capable starship pilots!" Celeste exclaimed, taking cover to avoid raining shrapnel and robot parts as she saw her ship swoop down and destroy the line of sentry bots that's been pinning them down for minutes now.

Tala beamed with pride. "That's allllll Nikki!"

"The blue-haired one? The smallest?"

"That's the one! Big things come in little packages!" Tala grinned to herself, forgetting that three telepathic feline aliens stood within broadcasting range of her thoughts.

"Nyaa! Misa-Misa was perfectly happy to assume Tal-Tal was referring to Time Lord technology!"

"Hsss! Cicinia did not need to see Tal-Tal unwrapping those packages."

"Mrrow… Can Tal-Tal really bend like that? GogMagog doesn't think so."

Ralcor grinned. "I might head to E-arth, when this is over!" Whereas Amelie just rolled her eyes at the butchering of their home planet's name, Tala groaned like a submarine at crush depth.

"To think we jus' might be free!" Amelie piped up, sliding her bulky blaster over to Cicinia who had just joined them behind cover nearby, who took the weapon with gusto.

"Most of us might be out of jobs if we make it out of this! Hahahaha!" Unlike those who thought of Terrans as inferior but delicious, Ralcor took a simpler perspective. Terrans were keeping him alive, he liked Terrans. And if they could pilot a ship with such skill then he might never get hired in that field of expertise. Part of him was grateful Earth was classified as a backwater planet. If they were part of the Galactic community...

When the flaming metal stopped flying, Amelie's invisible head looked over the barricade to see that the coast was clear. "We move!" She exclaimed, hopping over and dashing to the next checkpoint, quickly followed by the assorted rainbow of fellow prisoners.

"There! The workshop!" Celeste exclaimed, pointing as the group climbed over piles and piles of wreckage.

XXXXX

Kate and Kooz made it to the rendezvous with Al lagging behind.

She tried to apologize on their way here, but the downcast man wouldn't hear any of it. And she couldn't blame him. Severe damn move on her part. But she couldn't worry about that now...

"Good, you two made it." Rika acknowledged as she and Mac were propped up against either side of the door. She saw Al's expression, but decided to worry about it later when he proceeded to back up Mac. She herself was backed by Kate. This had her written all over it. But now... "Be ready for anything."

"Get ready..." Kate and Al reloaded their guns.

"Get set..." All four got ready to make a mad dash.

"Breach!" Guns raised, Rika's squad fell into formation, scanning the long, empty hall on their way to Rogan's office.

But Wolfsbane, who took up the rear, didn't realize until now, how magnificently bright all three of those moons were.

"Mr. Wolfsbane, did you hear me?" Commander Boor's sharp rebuke snapped Al from his reverie.

"Ma'am?"

"O'Connor has nearly cracked the lock on the door. Are you ready to provide cover fire?"

"Y-yeah." His vision was swimming as though he'd just downed a six-pack. The cold sweat running down his brow made him want to close his eyes and collapse, but his pack leader - his unit commander, he corrected; he was just another shitty human, after all - had just given him an order. "Yeah, I'm ready, ma'am."

Kate gave a cheery whistle - "Then here we go," - and punched the 'confirm' code on her laptop. The door buzzed open and the squad rushed in, assuming defensive positions.

Rogan awaited them behind his desk, head resting on his fist and a droll smile on his alien face.

There was something else in the room - something shimmering in the air, something reeking so fouly of ozone and engine oil that Alistair wondered why the rest of the squad didn't stop and gag like he did. But then an electric shock punctured the back of his neck and he, Mack, Kate and Rika simultaneously collapsed in writhing heaps.

Rika had tasted the bite of a taser before, but none so powerful as to make her face-plant, stiff as a statue. While her limbs convulsed in place, she tried to focus her eyes on Rogan, laughing and clapping his hands at his little parlor trick.

"I suppose when you burst in and saw only myself, you grew complacent enough to lower your guard, hmm?" Rogan gestured to the four airborne drones materializing above her squad's fallen bodies. "That does bring a smile to my face, all things considered." Then his smile vanished. "Your kin have made a mess of things."

Rika glanced at her squadmates. Mack was curled up in a fetal position, Kate was spasming randomly, but Alistair seemed to have taken the worst blow, judging by his heavy panting and the perspiration running down his tomato-red skin. Had the drone injected him with some sort of alien pathogen? She turned back to Rogan, now observing a display of mobile security feeds from the habitat ring.

"I suppose you came for this?" the alien inquired, tossing a remote control in his hand. "I would have shown you the collars' destructive capabilities for helping me test the F-SEA's stun capabilities, but as life is often keen on teaching us; we don't all get what we want.

"You know, over her time here, Tala Stone has become... more than comfortable with my former champion Feroza. And as luck would have it, my remote detonator still has unimpeded access to her and her underlings! I can only imagine what Tala would do, if she were to discover they're dead!"

The new security feed Rogan highlighted left Rika pale. 'Tala!' Still racing through the living quarters alongside a horned, blue alien and some sort of friendly droid. Worry and determination had set into the Amazon's face; every drone in her path was dispatched quickly and carelessly. Whatever goal she was racing towards consumed her mind.

"Rushing to collect one last comrade, Terran?" Rogan chuckled as he operated a new device like an RC-helicopter controller. In response to his button taps, one of the F-SEA drones launched itself out a window into the battlefield below, shifting invisible as it plunged down. Rika and Rogan could follow the drone's camera output on the monitors, watch as it stealthed closer and closer to the human fighter and her companions.

"Ergh… No!" the dog-like snarl came from Alistair, bloodshot eyes transfixed on the ground. "Not… on my… watch!"

"As if a little Terran man like you could do anything to stop me," Rogan scoffed. The drone now displayed an over the shoulder view of Tala's waving red mane, her head and her heart lit up with bloody red targeting reticles. Rogan savored the view like a masterpiece painting.

"A perfect kill under three perfect moons. Goodbye and good riddance, Tala Stone!" His thumb circled over the kill button.

A cold, lupine howl made his thumb pause. Rika paused as well, forcing her neck to crane towards the source of the eerie war cry.

Alistair...

In the blink of an eye, a clawed hand swiped at Rogan's arm. The limb was sent askew, the bones within loudly snapped like dry sticks. But instead of unholy pain, Rogan looked mortified as the bloody limb hung limp across the room. "You didn't!" An upwards swipe across the face sent him flying out of the shattering window and out of sight.

It was only Rika who had the wherewithal to take in what happened. Alistair had just transformed. 'Three perfect moons,' the captain echoed in her mind as he finished growing, body covered from head to toe in thick, unruly, bristly fur and an elongated, drooling muzzle baring sharpened teeth adorned with four massive canines. Huge obsidian-like claws hooked into the desk as the beast struggled for balance. He was the size of a bear, except hulking with a broad chest, massive arms and wearing the remnants of his now-shredded clothes.

Before Rika could force herself to her feet to get her people to safety, she froze as the sound of monstrous sniffing ravaged her ears. She looked up, but immediately ducked again to cover her face from crashing debris.

The smoke cleared, and werewolf Alistair was gone.

XXXXX

Back inside Feroza's quarters, the Stygian hadn't moved an inch from her spot and neither had her former followers.

Zathra and Luna kept their weapons trained on their leader as the latter sat, arms and legs crossed, between them and the door. Her tail swished like a cat waiting for the time to strike. Not a word was spoken in the agonizing minutes since the traitors had shown their true colors.

When Feroza broke the ice, the Norai fighters jumped, too on-edge for words. "Tell me, what do either of you see in Tala Stone? A way to leave? A true leader? A mate?" Her eyes lidded over with curiosity, and she regarded the two accordingly. "Or because she defeated me?"

In Luna and Zathra's minds, they still tread on thin ice, and both knew never to oppose their Stygian, so hearing this line of questioning, if anything, only served to make them even more uneasy. So Feroza continued. "Why the silence? I won't lash out. Even if both of you have betrayed me."

The two Norai, for their parts, lowered their weapons, wondering what Feroza's motive was. But they were due for another sudden noise as there was an audible 'click' from around each of their necks.

"Well then." Standing up, Feroza tossed her collar over into the bathroom. "Whatever the reason, it doesn't matter. Go." She gestured with her head towards the door. But when the duo remained still, the Stygian gestured towards their collars, which were tossed in the far corner of the room. "I was not going to let either of you gain Rogan's attention by leaving with those collars active. Keep in mind that his signal to our collars remained unobstructed. Now go, before my sudden change of heart becomes short-lived."

Luna didn't need to be told a third time, as she gave her former leader a nod, and stepped past to leave. But it was Zathra who stopped and looked up to the curious Stygian. She offered her zanbato. Massive in her hands, it fit perfectly in Feroza's single claw. The Norai, in one final gesture, ran a hand down the hard muscle of Feroza's stomach. Hard and worthy of praise, though not invincible. "Fight on, Feroza."

"Fight on, Zathra and Luna. I have one more fight left." Using her tail, Feroza pushed Zathra along towards the door to her companion, and Feroza herself retreated to her bed, where she set Zathra's blade down and reclined back, staring at her assorted collection of weapons and trophies until her last guest arrived.

'I'm waiting, Tala.'

XXXXX

Across town, sprawled in a messy bed among many, many empty beer cans, Aiko sneezed.

"Shit…" Arching her back and stretching a groan out, Aiko fanned the empty aluminum debris off the bed and let them join the like company on the floor. 'Dammit, Tal. Takes a helluva lot of beer to fill your empty spot on the bed.'

Her head was pounding and … no, wait that was the door. "Coming," Aiko grumbled as she forced herself into a pair of shorts.

She was expecting a surprise visit from Beli, maybe a cute pair of Mormon missionary boys she could persuade inside. The last people she expected were a stressed-out Audrey and, "is she one of those online people? Furries?" She'd been meaning to try out pet play…

"She's hungry," Audrey snapped, barging in half-carrying the starving cat-girl. "Tal said something about you cooking dinner one time, so -"

"So you decided to invite yourself over for grub? Audrey, of all the half-assed, selfish and damn rude schemes you've pulled, this is-"

"Mrrow?" Two weary, golden eyes looked up at Aiko and forever burrowed into her heart.

"I'll scold you later. Hiii, honey? What's your name? Are you looking for some kitty nummies? Let's go see what auntie Aiko's got to cook up for you, okay?"

"Yay!"

Where Momo got sugar sweetness, Audrey got a sharp glare. "Belrose, can you use a knife? Cause I'm gonna need a sous-chef."