Chapter 1

General Rathcoat stared out at the vista before him.
The stars of the night sky beat their light down upon a bustling city, their beauty cheated from them by the bright lights and neon signs which dotted the landscape for miles. Above him, the engine glow from hundreds of ships and speeders swept through the sky, like so many fireflies and shooting stars.
The war was not going well for Katina. Rathcoat's own orders had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of military personnel, and the loss of many ships.
That didn't bother him. In the grander scheme of things, the planets of Katina and Corneria would all be a passing dream anyway. As long as he got something out of his existence, like some enjoyment, he'd be happy.
This attitude was not shared by many of his fellow generals and admirals, since it was not one that was appropriate for a high-ranking officer. But they were blinded by their principles. They might have been offered the chance to grant themselves wealth and power, if they were not so stubbornly loyal to Katina.
Rathcoat sighed. Ah well. It means more power for me, once this is all done.

He turned away from the sights of the city and sat down at a desk, opting to return to his work and continued planning how to bring about the downfall of Katina.

Just outside his door was a trooper of the Reunification, disguised as a feline. The rest of the detachment was lurking in the shadows of his mansion, watching, protecting.

He smiled at himself. The plan he had laid out was the ultimate in "bungle-ups". It would, at best, have the entire Katinian fleet crashing through the atmosphere when the enemy arrived.

The perfect plan. That bungling fool Pontac may have been great at espionage, but he wasn't very good at engineering battles to his whim. In fact I wouldn't even be doing this if Pontac hadn't messed up.

Rathcoat paused. Perhaps he did have something to be grateful to Pontac about.

He resumed his work.

A lone weasel at the front of the estate sat, his hands on his knees, chewing some straw. To any passer by he appeared to be some country bumpkin, enjoying the view before the dawn came.

Of course, to the young female squirrel approaching the estate, this weasel's response to a simple challenge would dictate whether he lived or died.

"Evening, sir!" Said the squirrel casually. "What brings you out to my property?"

The weasel looked surprised. "I didn't realize it was yours, ma'am."

There was the sound of a brief crackle, then the squirrel quickly drew a pistol and fired two silenced, muzzled shots into the weasel's face. She turned and fire thrice into a patch of wild grass to his right, being rewarded by the sight of another person slumping, dead.

The crackle had been the sound of an earset comm unit receiving a transmission which had said 'The vibrations in his voice are all wrong! It's one of them insects in disguise!'

Following her stealthy action, the squirrel frisked the dead weasel's body. She pressed a recessed button on the weasel's back, and the weasel disguise retracted and closed up, revealing the insectile body of a Reunification trooper.

The squirrel dragged the body into the wild grass, concealing it beside the body of the other trooper she had shot. She took two pistols off each of them, kept one for herself then hid the others.

She pulled off her trousers and jacket, revealing a skin-tight black stealthsuit, onto which was strapped an additional two pistols and extra charge packs for them.

"Central, this is Striker, Front yard secure." She whispered.

For four seconds she waited in utter silence, before another voice answered over the comm. "Central this is Slasher, back yard secure."

Then, "Central, this is Sneaker, roof secure."

"Central to all Slash units, proceed with phase two." Replied a low, rough voice.

The young squirrel, Striker, dashed quickly to the nearest wall, feeling each window, knowing exactly how each one was locked. She came to one that was locked up tight, but consisted of a single large pane of glass, unobstructed by any support beams or struts.

Striker withdrew a small item from her belt. It was a pair of night-vision goggles, more compact and more useful than their standard military issue counterparts. She wrapped them over her eyes and switched over to x-ray mode, scanning the room just inside the window. There wasn't a soul in there. She went back to regular night-vision and glanced around quickly, to make sure that there was nobody looking, then she set about cutting the glass.

She heard Slasher's voice again. "Central, this is Slasher. Estate penetrated, no contact. Holding in kitchen, awaiting go signal."

Damn, I'm falling behind. She picked up her pace and with one graceful movement she leapt through the new hole in the window and landed soundlessly inside the estate.

"Central, this is Striker, Estate penetrated, no contact yet. Holding in main rumpus room, awaiting go signal."

She kept a pistol in each hand, prepared as ever to take out whoever might arrive to challenge her.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Sneaker came through the comm. "Central, this is sneaker. Estate penetrated, two contacts in attic, both neutralized quietly. Holding in attic, awaiting go signal."

"Central to all Slash units, move in, commence phase three."

The squirrel switched back to x-ray vision. She saw one guard moving through the hallway just outside the rumpus room. However the range of her x-ray vision was too limited to show if there were any guards beyond him.

She picked up a small paperweight left lying around on the rumpus room's table and dropped it again. Then she pressed a small button on her suit.

The noise startled the guard outside, who was disguised as a young canine. He entered the rumpus room cautiously. But he couldn't see anything in there; it was too dark. He flicked on the light switch, and saw that the room was empty.

Or so it appeared.

A blur of motion caused him to turn right. The squirrel's movement had deactivated her stealthsuit's cloaking mechanism, but it had lasted long enough for her to catch her quarry unawares.

He wasn't just some average Reunification trooper, though. As one of the Guard, he'd had some extra training to compliment his biological engineering. He ducked quickly and charged forwards, knocking the muzzled pistol out of the squirrel's hands. He followed with a punch aimed at her head, but it missed, leaving him exposed.

The squirrel moved in for the kill. She jabbed quickly at his ribs, but it did little against the creature's exoskeleton, hidden underneath the disguise. She evaded another heavy blow and delivered a savage kick to his head. He stumbled back, reaching for his pistol, but she was too fast for him. She jumped and caught his head inside her right knee, tightened her right leg muscles then twisted with her whole body, instantly snapping his neck. She landed on the ground softly on her arms and her left leg, whilst keeping her right leg around the dead trooper's neck to prevent him falling heavily to the ground, which would have caused unnecessary and dangerous noise.

After gently lowering the body to the ground, she dragged it under the table and covered it with a large tablecloth, then scooped up her pistol and moved on.

Striker left the rumpus room, coming out into a short corridor. To her right was her mission objective, General Rathcoat's room; to the left was a quick escape route. She turned right and stalked down the corridor, not seeing any traps, extra troops or security cameras.

Just as she was nearing the General's door, an alarm began sounding.

"Central to all Slash units, hold and wait for regroup!"

"This is Striker, there's no time! He might have some sort of escape route or trick! I'm going in!"

"Negative, Striker! It's too dangerous!"

She swore and ran the rest of the distance to the door, pistol at the ready. A quick X-ray scan revealed one man sitting in a chair, just inside the room. She tested the old-fashioned doorknob, but it was locked.

Striker took a few steps back, built momentum and smashed through the door.

"General!" She shouted at the figure in the chair. "You're under arrest!"

The bear looked up at her, a smile on his face. "No, I don't think so."

With that a guard dropped from the roof down towards her, but she managed to see it and avoid it in time. She spun and fired into the creature, then turned to face Rathcoat again.

"General, you're coming with me." She primed a stun dart and fired it, causing the general to slump in his chair.

But one minor mistake almost cost her dearly. She had focused all her attention there for the barest of instants, and as a consequence she was disarmed from behind.

She reflexively kicked backwards, but her opponent sidestepped and delivered a solid punch into her face. She went sprawling onto the floor, but before she could recover, she felt a pistol pressed up against her neck.

"This is what you get for messing with me, little girl." Growled the huge figure leaning over her.

Suddenly there was a crash and the sound of compressed air being discharged and her assailant slumped to the ground beside her.

Sneaker had punched a hole in the room's roof and dropped down towards them, firing a stun dart at the figure who had been leering over Striker. Slasher then promptly entered the room from a door at the far end, using the body of a dead guard as a shield. The lithe jaguar looked at everyone gathered in the room, then cast the body aside like it was so much rubbish.

"It's a pity they want this bastard alive." Said Sneaker, leaning over the prostrate form of the one he'd just shot. Striker got her first good look at him and gaped in surprise. It was General Rathcoat.

"What the hell were you doing, rushing in like that without our backup?" Slasher said angrily, though his face showed more relief than it did anger. "We had to rush in too after you went gung-ho. Central is not happy."

"Hang on, why are there two Rathcoats?" Sneaker said, glancing from one unconscious Rathcoat to the other.

"I was wondering the same thing." Said Striker groggily. She hadn't yet recovered from her blow to the head.

Slasher thought for a moment. "Not for us to figure out. Let's just take both of them and get back to Central."