In the infirmary, the two doe bunnies lay on their beds, sleeping. The graying ram stood quietly between them, his eyes closed, one hoof gently resting on each bed. The buck bunny sat on the bench outside the infirmary, staring at the screen of the tablet in his paws.

Then the fox's voice blared over the ship's intercom. "This is the captain. We're passing another ship. It looks like a Howler raiding party. But they haven't made a move yet, so everyone stay calm."

The doe bunnies continued sleeping. The ram stood, shoulders tense, his somber eyes looking through the doorway at the buck bunny. The buck bunny looked back with confusion written on his face.

The fox's announcement continued, "If we try to run, then they will chase us. It's in their DNA. So we're holding course. We should be passing them soon, and then we'll see what they do."

Confused, the buck bunny said to the shepherd, "Wait, I... I don't understand."

The shepherd replied, "You've never heard of Howlers?"

"Well, sure... campfire stories... cheesy movies... mammals on the edge of space gone savage, killing, raping, looting-"

"They aren't just stories, son."

Jack's nose twitched. "But..." He swallowed hard. "Then... So what... what happens if... if..."

Shepherd Woolrich replied somberly, "Well, they won't kill us, not right away. They want us alive. But we'll welcome death long before it comes."

In the bridge, the fox, the cheetah, and the tigress stared at the passing vessel. A century ago, it might have been a luxurious passenger liner. But now, all that remained was a wreck that should have been dismantled for salvage years ago. Breaches in the hull exposed several sections to the vacuum of space. Huge weapons were crudely secured to the fuselage, which was also adorned with red paint and the remains of dozens of mammals.

Benjamin sat motionless, his paws hovering over the controls but not touching them. Sherani touched his shoulder. He moved one paw to cover hers, and pointed with the other. "That's a magnetic grappler. If they get us with that-"

"Benji, just tell us if they change course," Nick said.

Minutes passed in silence. M'bogo peeked through the door and said, "All mine are loaded. I'm starting on the armory." After a pause, he added, "May as well take some of them with us." And then he left.

After several more silent minutes, Benjamin whispered sharply, "They're holding course. I guess they weren't hungry. I really didn't expect to see them out here, Nick."

Nick and Sherani looked at each other and nodded.

Later, in the infirmary, Nick watched the two sleeping doe bunnies. Brooke lay motionless, except for the slow, steady rhythm of her breathing. Judy stirred and stared with drowsy eyes at Brooke, who continued sleeping.

"She looks so cute," Judy whispered.

Nick smiled. "Hey, Carrots. What's up with the C-word?"

She smiled back. "We're both bunnies. It's okay."

"If you say so. How you doing?"

"I'm okay," she replied. "How's she doing? Was she shot too?"

"No, Carrots, just you. Doc's sister, well, she has her own problems," he said, holding her paw. "But right now, you just need to rest and get better. Pretty soon, something on this ship's gonna break, and I'll need my cute little mechanic hopping around, fixing whatever it is."

Judy scowled slightly. "Dumb fox." She closed her eyes and whispered, "Jack took care of me. He wasn't going to let me die." She squeezed the fox's paw weakly.

Then her paw went limp and fell away from his.

The captain passed the port shuttle bay on his way to the bridge. As the doctor emerged, the captain turned to face him. He raised his eyebrows and said, "So, you and Gazelle, huh?"

"What? No... I..." He held up the bundle in his paws. "I was just checking for medical supplies. The infirmary, what's there is pretty rudimentary. I just-"

"Look, you need to understand something," interrupted Nick. "Everyone on this ship-everyone, even someone legitimate like Gazelle-we're all at risk because of that Fed. He's your problem. What are you going to do about him?"

The bunny slowly lowered his paws, but continued looking up at the fox. "I don't know."

"How many more of us are going to die because of you?"

Jack blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Judy's dead."

Jack's striped face froze. Then he sprinted towards the infirmary. A few seconds later, he stood in the infirmary, breathless, eyes wide, watching Judy smile at Shepherd Woolrich, who was holding her paw. As realization set in, he shook his head. "That fox is insane!"

In the bridge, Nick laughed heartily with Benjamin, Sherani, and M'bogo. Wiping tears from his eyes, the cheetah exclaimed, "Oh... Em... Goodness! You are insane!"

Nick held his paw to his chest in mock contrition. "I am a bad, bad fox. But you should have seen his face."

"But Judy's really okay, Sir?" Sherani asked.

"Yeah. Honestly, she's doing better than I ever expected. The doctor's good. Really good."

The console beeped, and the cheetah said, "Um, Nick, you've got a video call. It's Bellwether." The fox nodded and turned towards a display on the wall. The cheetah flipped a console switch.

The face of a ewe appeared on the display, and her voice crackled from the speaker. "Nick Wilde?"

"Dawn Bellwether?" the fox said, with a practiced smile.

"I... I was surprised to hear from you again."

"Look, Dawn, I know we haven't always been best buddies. But I think we can both come out ahead on this. This is good business."

"So what's the story with your cargo?" the ewe asked. "Your asking price seems too good to be true."

"It's imprinted. All of it. The Alliance seal is on every bar. We pass the savings on to you."

"Ah, government goods. I should have known."

"I understand if that's a deal-breaker. I just thought you could use-"

"The Alliance doesn't scare me," Bellwether said flatly. "It's just due diligence. You've got a deal. I'll transmit rendezvous coordinates." Then the connection ended.

Staring at the blank screen, Nick sighed. "I think that sheep is planning to shoot me again."

M'bogo shrugged. "She isn't planning to pay you. She didn't haggle at all."

Nick closed his eyes and lowered his head.

Sherani spoke. "Sir, we don't have to deal with Bellwether."

"Yes. Yes we do. We really do."

M'bogo spoke. "We could shoot her first."

Benjamin laughed. "It is her turn, right?"

Smirking, Nick shook his head. "That still doesn't get us what we need though." Now serious, he continued, "We need to get paid. Dawn needs what we have. She has the money. So we make sure we get paid. Somehow."

Author Notes:

One thing I have struggled with is keeping the characters' reactions true to the Zootopia characters' personalities. It's all too easy to turn them into Firefly characters in fursuits. Some of that occurs when they use Firefly jargon (e.g., "shiny"). Some of that occurs when I follow the original plot and dialogue closely.

The scenes that set up key plot points for later are the hardest to adapt. If such scenes change too much, then that tends to break the original plot, and I'm not ready to take the story in a completely different direction. Maybe I can do that with a later story, but for now, the basic storyline is close to the original episode.