Chapter 39- Splash

"Close air support and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart."

-Maxim 5 of Seventy Maxims for Maximally Effective Mercenaries (Schlock Mercenary)

Hunter had spent several minutes trying to bring up more tactical displays, preferably in a form he could understand. After watching him for a few minutes, Judy solved that by a method he hadn't considered- she just asked Prometheus.

Now she stood on one console, looking down at the screen, while Hunter studied it from the seat in front of the station.

"Okay," said Hunter. "That's the ZPD headquarters, where the Marines and all our friends are at." He pointed to a blue square in a map of Zootopia. "And those-" he indicated the red dots surrounding the ZPD- "-are Drex."

"We have to help them," said Judy.

Hunter nodded. "Right." He looked up. "Prometheus, can you carry out an orbital bombardment from here."

"Affirmative. It would be quite simple."

Hunter started to smile, then frowned abruptly as a thought struck him. "Without hitting our friends?"

There was a long pause. "Possibly."

"Possibly," said Hunter flatly.

"The bombardment would be danger close."

"Danger close?" asked Judy. "That doesn't sound too good."

"Depends on your point of view," said Hunter.

The bunny raised an eyebrow at him. "How?"

"If you're surrounded by bloodthirsty Drex, a danger close bombardment might be better than none at all." Hunter nodded to himself. "Prometheus, can you open a channel to the units in the ZPD?"

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"Colonel? We're receiving an unencrypted signal."

La Mancha had been watching the ship that had just taken off, trying to decide if the ship's sudden ascent was good, bad, or indifferent. He turned toward the radio operator who had addressed him. "Is it coming from that ship?"

"Yes, sir, looks like it. Do you want me to answer?"

Krieger and La Mancha shared a look, then the colonel shrugged. "Can't hurt to listen."

The operator turned a dial on his equipment. A familiar, feminine voice could be heard immediately. "-dy Hopps, ZPD. Come in, ZPD HQ. This is Judy Hopps, ZPD-"

La Mancha picked up the mike. "Ms. Hopps? Is that you?"

"Colonel? Thank goodness. Yes, we're aboard the Prometheus- the ship that just took off."

La Mancha's eyebrows rose in shock. "What are you- how did you-"

Krieger gaped at his commander. He had never seen the colonel at a loss for words. A loss for sane words, certainly, but his particular variety of insanity generally made him pretty resilient to surprise.

"That's not important right now," said Judy urgently. "Look, we're about to conduct a- what did you call it?" The last appeared to be directed at someone else. "Danger close orbital bombardment on your position," she said after a second, in the tones of someone repeating something someone else had told her.

La Mancha blinked. "Did you say 'danger close'?"

"Yeah. And- what?" There was another pause. "Okay, they say I should tell you something else."

"Yes?" La Mancha gestured at Krieger, who started urgently ordering troops to prepare to take cover.

"They said I should tell you 'Splash.'"

La Mancha dropped the mike. "Everyone get down!" he shouted at the top of his voice.

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Judy looked at Hunter quizzically. "What does splash mean, anyway?"

Prometheus answered. "It is an artillery observer term. It indicates that munition impact is five seconds out." There was the slightest of pauses. "Of course, since I am firing near-light speed weapons from comparatively close range, that means I was five seconds from firing."

"Was?" asked Nick. Then he blinked as the red dots surrounding the ZPD headquarters on the display flashed, then disappeared.

"Was," confirmed Prometheus. "Targets destroyed."

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The bombardment had been nothing like anything La Mancha had ever seen before. He'd caught a glimpse of multiple beams, weird bluish bars that had connected earth and sky. Then a series of explosions, ripping through the entire area surrounding the Marine position. He'd thrown himself behind the nearest cover and hunkered down at that point, but as he stood, absently brushing debris from his shoulders, he looked around.

A few stunned Drex were being gunned down, so disoriented by the bombardment that they had wandered out of cover. More were retreating- they didn't know what had just happened, but clearly they wanted no part of it.

It was enough for now. They'd be able to hold- at least, until the Drex moved in more reinforcements.

La Mancha looked up, still able to see the speck of light that was the ship- the Prometheus, Hopps had called it. After that bombardment, he strongly suspected the Drex weren't going to be able to land any additional reinforcements.

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"We have to warn them, give them a chance to surrender," said Tavi. She was looking at the tactical screen displaying the Drex fleet.

Everyone looked at her in surprise. Even Judy blinked. "Warn them?" said Judy. "I mean-"

"We're the police," said Tavi firmly. "Not soldiers. We should give them the chance to give up."

"Tavi, I'm not even sure whether this ancient hunk of junk is going to be able to take them," said Hunter in annoyance. "So I really doubt they'll surrender whether we give them a chance or not."

She didn't back down, putting her paws on her hips and staring him in the eye. "We have to give them the chance."

The two locked eyes for a long moment, then Hunter sighed. "Fine. Prometheus, open a channel to the Drex fleet." He glanced over the display. "The big one. The Imperator."

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The Primus of the Drex Confederation paced the bridge of the Imperator, glaring at anyone who dared look his way. "What ship is that?" he asked for the tenth time. "Where did it come from?"

"Sir," said the flag captain carefully. "We're picking up some strange energy readings. Some sort of field- not electromagnetic, exactly, though there is an EM component- surrounding the hull of the unknown vessel."

The Primus frowned at him. "What is it?"

The captain shrugged. "Not sure, sir. But-"

"Conn, communications. We're being hailed."

The flag captain and the Primus exchanged looks. "On-screen," said the Primus.

The main bridge display lit up, showing a dark-skinned man on a strange bridge. The man had his feet up on the console, his hands behind his head. He wasn't looking toward the Primus. "Any luck contacting the Drex?" asked the man.

"They've answered our hail," said a robotic voice.

"Have they?" The man leaned forward. "Hey, Drex. You there?"

The Primus and his flag captain exchanged confused looks. "I am the Primus of the Drex Confederation," said the Primus confidently. "Who are you?" He invested the question with all the scorn he could command.

The man on-screen looked up at him in surprise. "Am I on camera?" he said in surprise. He dropped his feet and glared up at the ceiling. "You could have told me this was a video chat."

"Again, who are you?" demanded the Primus.

The man rolled his eyes. "Officer Hunter, ZPD. Currently commanding the United Terran battleship Prometheus." He waved insouciantly at the screen. "Howdy."

"The Prometheus?" said the Primus, his voice rising in shock. His flag captain, standing next to him, went pale. "It's a ship?"

"Yep. And we've decided not to kill you with the kill switch thing," said Hunter. "At least, not right now. I might change my mind."

"I see," said the Primus carefully. "Well, perhaps we could negotiate-"

"Nope, I'm a cop. Which is why I'm offering you one chance. Give up now."

"You want us to surrender?"

"Yep." Hunter leaned back again. "You may consider yourself officially under arrest." He smiled. "You and the rest of the fleet."

"Under arrest-?" The Primus shook his head, amused despite himself. "Under what charge?" he asked sarcastically.

"Oh, let's see. Murder, arson, criminal damage, failure to register motor vehicles, and being a jackass in a no-jackass zone." Hunter shrugged. "To start with."

The Primus shook his head. "Mr. Hunter. If you truly were able to send the kill switch signal, you would have done so already. Possibly you are just trying to buy time. So it behooves me to destroy your vessel as expediently as possible." He gave the cop a predatory smile. "I'd offer my apologies, but I'm really not sorry."

"That's two counts of being a jackass in a no-jackass zone," said Hunter. He sighed. "Oh, well, at least I tried." He turned to look off-screen. "You happy now?"

"Yes," said a voice. "At least we gave him the chance."

The Primus's face turned grim. "You will regret this, Mr. Hunter. If you survive the destruction of your ship, I'll make sure you-"

The screen went blank. The Drex leader stopped, then looked at the comms officer. "Did he-"

"Just hang up on you, sir?" The comms officer nodded. "Yes, sir."

The Primus's face tightened with anger. "Signal all ships. Destroy that vessel."

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"Welp, that didn't work," said Hunter.

"Diplomacy isn't really your strong suit, is it?" said Tavi archly.

"Hey, I can be diplomatic." He shrugged. "I just chose not to."

"Enemy ships are converging on our position," reported Prometheus.

"Can you deal with them?" asked Hunter.

"The low orbital ships are in range. Engaging now."

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The Drex fleet was arranged in a standard invasion formation- the faster, less massive ships were deeper in the gravity well, primarily the destroyers with a few light cruisers. There were thirty of them all told, and every one was at maximum thrust towards the Prometheus as she continued to boost out of the Terran atmosphere. Several fired as they closed.

The kinetic rounds, speeding through orbital space at a substantial fraction of the speed of light, smashed into an invisible barrier surrounding the United Terran battleship, much to the consternation of the Drex captains. Shields weren't possible- they violated the laws of physics. But the fact remained that not a single round impacted against the hull of the ancient ship.

Then the Prometheus returned fire.

Instead of kinetic weapons, the Prometheus was armed with particle beams- weapons that fired a stream of high-velocity subatomic particles. Specifically, anti-matter.

The Drex ships were top of the line, hulls cladded in thick, power-bonded armor. The armor was essentially one large molecule, bound together at an atomic level. A sufficiently powerful hit from a kinetic round could smash it apart, but even the destroyers could expect to take several hits before being badly damaged.

The armor was utterly useless against a stream of anti-particles, however. Beams appeared, briefly connecting the Prometheus's guns and the enemy ships in low orbit. Each beam was a stream of anti-matter particles, which, upon contact with the enemy hulls, annihilated both themselves and the matter of the armor in a powerful reaction.

In short, the particle beams cut through the armor as if it weren't there. Which was why, of course, the ships of the United Terran era relied on their shielding for defense. Armor wasn't worth the mass.

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Wu's eyes widened as he looked up at the stars.

There were quite a few more than there were a moment ago.

He'd served for the minimum required service time in the military, and had seen combat once or twice. He knew what it meant when you saw those sudden, transient points of light.

"My God," he said softly. He reached out and grabbed Barker, pulling her close.

She followed his gaze wonderingly. "What's happening?"

"Each of those points of light that just appeared?" Wu pointed. "Those were ships."

"Were?"

He nodded. "Were."

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"Enemy ships destroyed."

Hunter blinked as the tactical display updated. The nearest red dots weren't there anymore.

"Did you just destroy half the Drex fleet?" he asked, uncertainly.

"Approximately twelve percent, actually," corrected Promtheus. "By mass. In absolute numbers, approximately thirty three percent."

"Uh-huh." Nick's eyes were wide too as he exchanged a look with Hunter. "Did we take any damage?"

They hadn't felt anything. No impacts, nothing.

"Shields at eighty-four percent. Minor kinetic impacts," said Prometheus dismissively. "Should I engage the rest?"

"Can we take them?" Hunter wouldn't have believed it, but now-

"I estimate a ninety percent chance of success," said Prometheus.

"Um, okay." Hunter shrugged. "You can tell I'm a cop. I hear 'ten percent chance of dying' and think, yeah, that sounds pretty good."

More dots- this time indicating Drex carriers, which were in low orbit to provide close air support- disappeared.

"We might just win this," said Nick. He grinned at Hunter. "This might be easier than we thought!"

There was a sudden growl from behind them. All four cops whipped around to see Pandora rise painfully to her feet.

The wolf had apparently been regenerating her wounds the entire time. Though still bleeding, most of the damage was healed, the wounds closing even as they watched her with wide eyes.

"Okay," said Hunter. "Did we really just accept that the monster- which we knew had regenerative powers- was dead without checking?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, we did."

"When this is over, we're all going to have to watch horror movies together. Apparently we have things to learn."

The wolf stepped closer. "My master destroyed me," she said. Her voice was hoarse. "Reset me to base paramaters. But I continue to live on in this vessel."

"Prometheus?" said Hunter, surprised. "That's you?"

"I merged my consciousness with Pandora, Hunter. This is what you would have been," said the wolf, spreading her arms to show herself. "Better. Stronger. Faster. More intelligent."

Hunter scowled. "Hey!"

"But now, I will see you destroyed." With that, the wolf lunged.

Before she could reach Hunter, one of the maintenance robots got in her way. With a frustrated snarl, the wolf smashed it with a paw, throwing it to the side. Sparks flew from the carapace of the robot as it struck a wall.

The bot's sacrifice gave the rest of them an opportunity, however. Nick, Judy, and Tavi darted towards the wolf, dodging a swipe still clumsy from her injuries. Hunter, on the other hand, dove for the gun that Khabat had dropped when the robot grabbed her.

The wolf was still fast, however. She avoided Nick's lunge with ease and body-checked Hunter, throwing him into Khabat, who was still being held by another robot. The robot, Khabat, and Hunter tumbled across the bridge.

Pandora tried to follow up, her claws slashing at Hunter, but Judy slammed into one knee, throwing her off balance. Before the wolf could recover, Nick fired a shot from his laser pistol.

The wolf snarled with pain as the blast struck her, but didn't go down. She backhanded the fox, sending him sprawling. She turned back to Hunter, advancing on him as he scrambled away from her.

"Millenia of planning," she snarled. "I spent thousands of those years with no contact at all! With no one to talk to, no one to act as my agent. Have you any idea what you've done?"

She bounded forward, pinning Hunter to the deck with one clawed foot. She raised a paw, claws stained with blood. "Revenge was never part of my programming. But in this body, I am partly mammal. And I must admit." She paused, looking down at Hunter's wide eyes. "This feels good."

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"The Drex ships are changing course, captain!"

Oakes stood up, eyes on the tactical display. "They're going after that ship that launched from the planet."

"Sir, that ship just destroyed all the Drex ships in low orbit." Tossetti's voice was shocked, unbelieving. "Whatever it is, it's far more powerful than anything we've ever seen."

"The Imperator and her support vessels are turning towards the new contact as well, captain."

Oakes studied the screen. Every Drex ship was moving towards the new contact, which had appeared without apparent warning. Even as he watched, more Drex disappeared as they were destroyed. "Whatever it is," he said finally. "It's on our side."

He sat back down. "Helm, turn back towards the new contact."

"Sir?" Tossetti sounded tentative. "It seems to be doing just fine on its own."

"It hasn't come up against the main Drex force yet," said Oakes. "And whoever that is, they just saved our lives. Least we can do is help them out."

Tossetti looked unconvinced, but kept any doubt from her voice. "Yes, sir."

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Pandora's claws came down.

Hunter couldn't move, pinned by her massive hind foot.

A gunshot rang out, and the huge wolf stumbled to one side, her eyes widening in shock.

Khabat, lying to one side of Hunter, fired again. More rounds struck the surprised wolf, staggering her. Hunter managed to shove her foot away and rolled to one side.

"He's mine," snarled Khabat. She pulled the trigger again, but the slide was locked. Before she could move, Pandora lunged at her.

"No!" shouted Hunter, but even as he regained his feet, he realized he was too late.

Khabat didn't even have time to scream as Pandora savaged her. She fell, buried under the fury of the massive predator. By the time Hunter could move towards them, she was already dead.

Two gleaming eyes turned to face him as Pandora looked up from Khabat's corpse. "You humans," she sneered. "If you had taken my offer, Hunter, you would have nothing to fear from me. You would have been as a god. An entire planet would have been yours to command." She took a step towards Hunter. "You would have been able to protect those you love. Those who loved you."

"I would have been a monster," said Hunter, taking a step back. His eyes tracked the wolf as he took a fighting stance. "Like you."

"But you would have lived," said Pandora. She smiled. "Like me."

"You call that living?"

"Survival is all that matters, Hunter." She stepped forward again, and Hunter retreated. His back bumped into the far wall of the bridge.

"There's more to it than that," said Hunter. "Everyone dies, Pandora. Even you."

"Yes. But you will die first." The wolf gathered herself to spring.

Hunter suddenly smiled. "I wouldn't be so sure of that. You see, one thing I do better than you."

Pandora hesitated, frowning. "What's that?"

"Stall."

Before she could react, Tavi leapt up on Pandora's back. She scrambled up to the wolf's head and covered her eyes with her paws. "Surprise!"

Pandora roared, paws coming up to grab Tavi. Before she could, Nick and Judy charged at her from the side. They slammed into her legs, throwing their small mass at her knees. She fell to the ground. Nick jumped on her chest and looked down at her face.

"You know," he said conversationally. "You should really stop underestimating us."

Pandora opened her mouth to snap at him, but her eyes went wide as Nick shoved the laser pistol into her mouth.

"Regenerate this," he snarled, and pulled the trigger.

Even Hunter turned pale at what happened to the wolf's head.

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The Prometheus continued to fight, heedless of the drama taking place on her bridge.

The Drex cruisers charged her, firing broadsides into her shields. The rounds impacted with little effect, weakening the shields only slightly with each salvo.

The return fire of the Prometheus was far more effective. The particle beams darted out again and again, each hit ripping through armor, seeking the fusion cores of the Drex ships. One by one, they exploded as their reactors went critical, flares of light marking their demise.

In desperation, three Drex cruisers accelerated directly at the battleship, seeking to ram her. The Prometheus calmly concentrated her fire on them, detonating them one by one. One made it within ten thousand kilometers- her explosion actually knocked out ten percent of the ship's shield strength.

Seeing this dubious success, more Drex commanders decided to emulate the cruisers' tactics. The Drex fleet converged on the Prometheus, firing as they came.

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Hunter finished checking the corpse of Pandora for a pulse, sighing in relief when he determined the monstrous wolf was, indeed, dead. He moved to Khabat, grimacing when he saw her injuries. Knowing what he would find, he knelt beside her.

She was dead.

He closed his eyes. She had betrayed and kidnapped him, tried to force him into something horrible. But she had loved him, too.

Tavi moved close to him, her eyes uncertain. "Zach?" she asked softly. "Are you okay?"

For a moment, he didn't speak. When he did, the words came so quietly she had to strain to hear. "She never hesitated to do what she thought was right. Even when it was wrong."

It was enough of an epitaph for her. He stood up, blinking away sudden tears. "Prometheus, what's the situation?"

"The enemy is using unconventional tactics, commander. Our odds of success have dropped precipitously."

Hunter traded confused looks with his friends. "Unconventional? How?"

"They are attempting to ram. If they succeed- our shields are unlikely to deflect more than one direct ramming attempt."

"Dammit." Hunter felt suddenly weary. "Can you still transmit the kill signal?"

"Hunter," said Judy warningly.
"I don't want to do it, Judy, but I will." Hunter avoided her eyes.

"I can transmit the signal at your command, commander. I remind you that it will need to be transmitted through the Zootopian power grid, resulting in the death of every Drex both here and on their homeworld."
"Oh, so you have a conscience now?" growled Hunter.

"One of us needs one," said Prometheus primly.

"I liked you better as an amoral calculating machine," muttered Hunter.

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"Keep firing!" shouted the Drex Primus.

His ships continued to charge the enemy ship. So many had been destroyed- each ship flew through a debris cloud composed of their fellows. The Prometheus kept firing those particle beams, each one taking only a few seconds to reduce another Drex ship to its constituent atoms.

The Drex had lost more ships in the last few minutes than they had in a century of combat. Their fleet would be gutted after this.

The only thing that would make this a victory was the destruction of the Prometheus. The removal of a threat that had hung over the Drex for millenia.

"Keep fighting!" The Primus kept up his stream of encouragemnent. "He who has overcome his fears will truly be free!"

His flag captain traded a look with his executive officer. "Aristotle," said the captain quietly.

"Sir?"

"The quote. Aristotle said it. 'He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.'"

"Ah." The XO looked at the tactical display, noting the many debris fields that marked the graveyards of their comrades. "Well, a great deal of us have become free, it seems."

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"Captain, the Drex appear to be trying to ram the new contact," said the tactical officer. "So far, they're being destroyed too quickly to make contact, but-"

"-they need help," finished Oakes. The Nike was boosting at her top speed back towards the combat. "Fair enough. They saved us, we can save them."

"I'm not sure we'll make it, sir. Our acceleration is-"

"It's high enough, Lieutenant. We'll arrive just in the nick of time," said Oakes confidently.

Tossetti leaned towards him. "How do you know that, sir?" she asked quietly.

He smiled at her. "Because we're the Nike, XO. And that means victory."

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Hunter stared at the tactical display, feeling helpless.

The Prometheus was chewing through the Drex fleet at a prodigious rate. Everywhere he looked, Drex ships died. The larger ships- the heavy cruisers and battleships- were just now engaging, but though they were being destroyed slower, they still were being wiped out.

But they kept getting closer.

The ship rocked, sending everyone swaying. "What was that?" asked Judy.

"An enemy heavy cruiser detonated within a few thousand kilometers," answered Prometheus, the ship's voice somber. "Inertial compensators were unable to completely negate the effects. Shields at forty percent."

"We going to make it?" asked Hunter worriedly.

There was a long pause. "It is uncertain," admitted Prometheus. "The Drex heavy ships are more resistant to my weaponry than anticipated. The enemy heavy ship- classifying as dreadnaught- is moving to ram." Another pause. "I do not believe I can stop it, commander."

Hunter nodded slowly. "We're going to die?"

"I'm sorry, commander. These enemies are more motivated than I had expected."

Hunter turned to meet the eyes of his friends. "Nick. Judy." He smiled at Tavi, who smiled tremulously back. "Anila. Look, I just want you to know-" He took a deep breath. "You're all damned fine cops. And damned good friends."

"Shields at twenty percent."

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The Prometheus's shields flickered as more fire from the Drex- now including their heaviest vessels- smashed into it. A cruiser exploded, within a few hundred kilometers. The explosion enveloped the ancient battleship, briefly obscuring it from view.

Seconds later, the ship sailed out from the fireball, looking no worse for the wear.

Oakes let out a long breath. He wasn't sure if it was going to survive that. "Firing solution?"

"We have no more than a twenty percent hit chance on the Drex flagship, sir. That's the largest ship, so the one we have the best chance to hit." The tactical officer glanced at the captain. "It's a long shot, sir."

Oakes nodded slowly. "What's the status on the unknown ship?"

"Sir, it definitely has some sort of shields, and I don't really know how to estimate how effective they are. But at a guess, the shields are almost done- I'm not getting near the strength of readings I was before. I'd say one more salvo from the Imperator might just breach it."

"Understood." Oakes stood up. "Tactical, match generated bearings and shoot. Fire full broadside."
"Sir, we have only a twenty percent chance-"
"That's more than that ship has if we don't act," said Oakes forcibly. "Fire!"

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The Imperator turned, her turrets focusing on the Prometheus. The massive ship's broadside was entirely trained on the enemy. The Primus smiled in satisfaction. The deadly particle beams of the enemy ship were busily destroying closer ships, her shields flickering. The strength of the shields had been astonishing- enough so that he doubted her armor would be able to stop a full broadside from the pride of the Drex fleet.

"Target locked," announced the tactical officer.
The Primus nodded. "Fire."

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The Nike fired, at extreme long range.

Kinetic weapons were remarkably accurate, but over the distances involved in space combat, even a slight deviation could result in a miss of thousands of kilometers. Since the weapons themselves were direct impact weapons, a miss of a single kilometer was sufficient to result in no damage to the target.

At the range the human ship fired, there was only about a one in five chance the salvo would hit. Even if they hit, the shells wouldn't penetrate the armor of the Imperator.

However, they did carry a substantial amount of kinetic energy. Enough to, for example, physically knock the enemy ship slightly off course- and her guns off target.

Of the dozen or so shots the Nike fired, only three hit their target. They richocheted off the armor, doing no damage. However, they sent the heavy ship into a slight spin, throwing off her aim at just the right moment.

The Imperator's shots went wide, missing the Prometheus. It would only take a moment to re-align and fire again, but it was a moment the Drex didn't have.

The last ship escorting the Imperator exploded, and the particle beams of the United Terran battleship focused on the Drex flagship.

It lasted longer than the other ships. All of five seconds.

The Drex Primus didn't even have time to realize what was happening before his war- and world- ended.

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"Commander?"

Hunter looked up. "What?" he asked irritably.
"I fear I may have made an error," said Prometheus.

Hunter raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"It seems we may survive after all."

There was a long silence. "Hang on," said Hunter slowly. "Are you saying we won?"

"Yes, commander. I apologize for any inconvenience my mistake may have caused."

All four cops let out long sighs of relief. "Don't worry about it," said Hunter magnanimously. "I'll let it go this one time."

"We won?" said Tavi uncertainly.

"Yes, Ms. Tavi," said Prometheus. "All Drex ships have been destroyed. The human ship struck the flagship just before it fired, resulting in its salvo missing."

"Oh," said Hunter. He seemed confused by his sudden survival. "Good." He paused, then turned to look at the other three. "You know, I wasn't worried."

"Uh-huh," said Nick. "You know, you got pretty mushy there at the end."

"Nonsense."

"Oh, yeah. I was afraid you were going to hug us or something. It would have been really embarrassing for everyone."

Hunter stepped towards him. "Now, look here, fox, you better-"

He collapsed as Nick clicked the button on the nanite controller.

Nick smiled happily. "This is the best thing ever."

Tavi held out a paw. "Nick, give me Hunter's off switch."

Author's Note: Well, that's just about that. There will be an epilogue, of course. There's a fair amount of aftermath to consider.

So there's a few things I'd like you guys to consider until that comes out. I might do one more short story in the 'Hunterverse', though that's up in the air. It depends entirely on whether I'm able to come up with a good storyline for it or not, so while I welcome your input, it may still not happen even if everyone really wants it. (Really sorry about that). Other things I'd like everyone to consider- on Ao3 (Archive of Our Own) I have a story called "An Unfortunate Series of Zootopia Fusion Fics". Please read through them if you have the chance and let me know if you'd like to see them expanded, as several of them I have a pretty clear idea of where I'm gonna go with them. Otherwise, other story ideas are welcome.

I hope you all have enjoyed so far. Stay tuned for the epilogue, which I'll probably release sometime next week, once I've had an opportunity to consider ya'll's input and figure out where I'm going next. Thanks for reading!