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SAFES Liaison's Log, Science Vessel Searcher, September 16th, 2555:

The information that the infiltration team brought back from the laboratory is incredible. Not so much in terms of its sophistication, for these Viis seem to lack even the most basic concept of scientific protocols, but in terms of how much they were able to learn with their primitive and brutal methods. The first and most important thing is that this is obviously no bioweapon development effort because their work on the subject goes back several dozen planetary revolutions. We mistook their panicked urgency for a rush job on a pathogen to use against us; it appears that their frantic pace is a matter of realizing that they still do not understand their enemy but something has happened to make clear to them that time is short. I am certain that it is merely a coincidence that the work pace increased around the time we arrived although their data gives no indication of the precise cause, merely that it was an order passed down through the laboratory director from either the Kaa or the Grand Admiral.

In short, the entirety of their efforts center around understanding what is clearly some manner of pathogen that causes a total pandemic they have dubbed the "Dancing Death." From its characteristics, I would tentatively classify it as a bacteria although its virulence is so extreme as to closely resemble historical pathogens such as smallpox, hemorrhagic fever, and influenza. The infection spreads extremely rapidly and seems to migrate immediately to the central nervous system where it generates an extremely powerful neurotoxin that induces severe muscle spasms and by severe, I mean a grand mal seizure times ten. It seems possible that death comes as much from the injuries caused by the spasms as much as it is caused by the neurotoxin which seems able to breach the blood-brain barrier and attack the brain stem. I can offer no more conclusive findings until I consult with Trinity and the Pasteur Institute but I can tell that the Viis have a paralyzing terror of the disease, so extreme that they will instantly kill anyone who may have possibly been exposed to it... and, in turn, be killed instantly on the paranoid assumption that the illness can jump rapidly from Viis to Viis without any transmission mode. The only thing that I find curious about this illness that disrupts my assumptions of a bacteria is some indication that it is capable of causing profound multi-generational genetic defects which seem to have spread through the entirety of the Viis population.

Other than the matter of the pathogen, however, there are many fascinating dissection and study notes that Socrates was able to glean from peripheral comments by Viis researchers. All of their slave species are warm-blooded and were acquired through several centuries of steady war from all corners of their naval reach. Curiously, there are enough traits in common between the Viis and the aaroun that it is possible to produce viably offspring from a mating. I don't have anywhere near the understanding of genetics to speculate on how it's possible for a reptilian and mammalian species to be so genetically similar but for my purposes, it is not important. There are evidently five distinct slave species although, with their collaborationist tendencies, the Viis do not seem to regard the toth as slaves so much as strong backs. These are the myal, kelth, aaroun, and zhrelli. Of those, the Viis seemed most interested in experimenting on kelth and aaroun while making limited to no use of the other species. A very curious exclusion but I cannot discern why from the information available to me. Perhaps, at a later time, I can acquire some background information for Socrates to sort though which may give me the necessary context.

Dr. Melinda Campbell, SAFES

In a way, the journey back to the Marauder was a bit of a let-down, not the least of which because protocol dictated leaving the area too fast to have gotten a glimpse of the multiple-megaton blast when the containment shield of the volatile generator failed. Silver emerged after they'd cleared orbit to happily inform whoever was in earshot that the wiry slave (which the ever-helpful zhrelli engineer called a kelth) that had been cut open for live dissection only twenty minutes hence was now stable and likely to make a full recovery. He seemed mildly disappointed that no one was quite as overjoyed as himself but settling in for a round of friendly banter with Boom seemed to make up for it. The inside of the transport had been otherwise very quiet, a contrast from the friendly chattering that had characterized their trip down, a silence that Sera attributed to the fact that their snatch-and-grab mission to get information had turned into a rescue of live experimentation subjects. Shadow had met them as they touched down in the transport hanger and, after taking one look at the lot of them, decided to delay the debriefing for a day so that the slaves and prisoners could be settled and Dr. Campbell could get a look at the data from the laboratory computers. Sera suspected that her friend had also wanted to let them rest and get their nerve back after the disquieting experience, an impression reinforced by the fact that Shadow's greeting consisted of a hug and a murmured "We'll talk after you're rested."

Thus, Sera found herself in her quarters with a whistling kettle of tea, a comfortable bathrobe, and a book while wishing Shadow was there to share. She was delighted to find that her friend had included a pot of green tea, a rarer concoction from Japan that they both loved. She had just gotten up to take the kettle off the heating element when there was a knock at her door

Smiling, thinking that Shadow had come to join her after all as a surprise, Sera walked over and opened the door. By the mere fact that she found herself having to look up a little to see the visitor's face. Sera instantly knew it wasn't her friend. She was surprised, however, to find her muzzle barely an inch from that of a golden-furred face with vivid and beautiful sapphire eyes. Both she and the visitor took a surprised step back and Sera suddenly realized that her visitor was none other than Ampris.

"General." The albiru smiled warmly, giving Sera a slight bow of her head. "I had hoped that my directions were good."

With the tranquilizers fully counteracted, her fur washed, and clad in a ruffled blouse and gown (attire Sera was certain she'd never see again after her high school prom) and evidently fed a good meal, Ampris cut a very attractive figure, tall and lithe with the kind of shape most females would envy. Sera could also see that her long hair had been bound into a ponytail, a look that was very natural with her deep-jawed yet slim face.

"Ampris." Sera couldn't keep the surprised from her voice. "I hardly expected to see you walking around so soon after arriving, much less paying a visit to me."

"It is readily apparent that you were not expecting a stranger, General." Ampris' eyes twinkled mirthfully, eliciting a blush from Sera as she suddenly realized how she must look with just a bathrobe onâ€"and visibly little else.

"I... was expecting a friend." She admitted, unconsciously pulling the garment more tightly around her.

"An exceedingly close friend, I would imagine." Ampris continued to smile, politely keeping her eyes on Sera's face. "May I come in?"

"If you'll give me a moment, I'll put something more on." Sera replied, a little shyly. "I'm not dressed to make a good impression."

"Now that would all depend upon what sort of things make a good impression and upon whom you wish to make that impression, would it not?" Ampris stepped back, however, and Sera closed the door as quickly as would be polite and grabbed a couple pieces of clothing. Feeling at least a little less naked, she opened the door again to find the smiling female standing there patiently.

"An improvement." She commented a little teasingly. "May I come in?"

"Please." Sera matched the smile, closing the door behind her. "I just finished brewing a kettle of tea if you'd like any."

"Tea?" The albiru tilted her head a little. "Is that the pleasant scent that was coming from your room when you first opened it, General?"

"It was." Sera gave her a nod. "Would you care to sit down?"

"I appreciate the kindness, General." Ampris walked over to the chair with a faint hobble and sat down, sweeping her long fluffy feline tail into her lap. "Your doctors have repaired the damage to my leg but I have some days before it will be completely healed."

"Unfortunately, speeding the healing along is generally reserved for extreme cases." Sera shrugged a little apologetically. "Such as the vivisected kelth.

"It is not a complaint, General." She smiled. "You have returned my full health to me again and I am grateful. You have brought I and others from the bowels of certain slow death. Your Major saved my children. I have no complaint."

"I'm a little surprised you sought me out then." Sera admitted, pouring a cup of tea for her guest before pouring one for herself. "I simply acted under the command of another."

"You were available to be sought out." Ampris told her, picking the cup up and blowing softly across the rim. "The others were in the midst of celebration of some sort and I was told that it would be dangerous to my health to interrupt your Major while she is meditating with her rifle."

"Meditating with her...? No, wait, I probably don't want to know." Sera chuckled, imitating Ampris' gesture before sipping the tea. "Ah, I have not enjoyed this for far too long."

Ampris took her own experimental sip and smiled. "It is a pleasant drink, General." She commented. "Especially as it is hot."

"You may call me Serafine." Sera told her after another sip of tea. "You are not even nominally under my command, after all."

"If it is not too rude, General, may I inquire how it is that you were not commanding the Major instead of the other way around?" Ampris inquired. "As I understand ranks, a general significantly outranks a major."

Sera gave her a mildly surprised look, hardly expecting that a slave would have much familiarity with military ranks. Then she felt silly; of course if any of her previous owners had been military officers, she have become familiar with ranking. "It's a complicated situation." She told the aaroun. "I'm technically only a general for the duration of this expedition. Also, Major Obsydien is a very experienced soldier whose expertise is the sort of infiltration mission we were on."

"You must have good blood or great wealth if you received a general rank, even for a short time." Ampris observed. "At least, that is how it is done among the Viis."

"I have a close friend." Sera smiled. "She trusts me and I her. She wanted me to have command of the garrison on board the frigate and so, to comply with the rules, had me temporarily awarded the appropriate rank."

"Your friend must be powerful indeed to have such a thing by mere request." Ampris statement had the edge of a question behind it.

"She is our equivalent of the Grand Admiral." Sera explained. "At least in terms of the influence she can wield."

"I doubt she is, meaning no offense, Serafine." Ampris took a long draw from her cup. "The Grand Admiral is a veteran of a dozen campaigns and second only to the Kaa in power. Some have whispered that he is the Kaa in all but position but no Kaa could wade to his throne through the blood of the ambitious without knowing a friend from a foe, much less being possible to manipulate with ease."

"The Kaa defers to him." Sera noted.

"The Kaa may not be the most intelligent to sit on the throne but he knows his betters and allows them to serve him to their limits. Yet still, however, he is the Kaa and they are but the servants of the Kaa." Ampris commented mildly. "I don't suppose that I may beg another cup of this tea from you?"

"You seem to be very familiar with the Kaa." Sera observed as she refilled the other female's cup. "I can understand knowing of the Grand Admiral and being familiar with military ranks but knowing the supreme leader of the Viis Empire?"

Ampris chuckled. "It is unusual, I know." She acknowledged. "I was once the personal slave and... well... pet of the Kaa's daughter, Israi."

Sera blinked, setting the kettle down just before she started pouring herself another cup. "Then was our team medic incorrect that you had also been a gladiator before ending up at that lab?"

"He was correct." Ampris grinned a little at Sera's confusion. "He also has a very gentle touch, incidentally."

"No surprise to me." Sera half-smiled as she refilled her cup. "First person I've ever met who greets a female by kissing the back of her hand like something out of the 18th century."

"18th century of what?" Ampris asked, her ears swiveling in a very wolven gesture of interest.

"18th century since the birth of a widely worshipped religious figure named Joshua Ben David although he was widely known as Jesus Christ amongst his followers." Sera swirled the tea in her cup. "Our system of counting years is based upon that event although most of who uses the system are not followers. For reference, we count the current century as the 26th century anno domini, ‘the year of our Lord' usually abbreviated as AD."

"And the years before him?"

"BC, Before Christ." Sera chuckled. "It's more or less a tradition these days rather than a genuine expression of belief. There was a movement some time ago to use Common Era and Before Common Era to remove the centrality of a religious figure from our system of reckoning but people much preferred the traditional way since it was accurate and familiar."

"Traditions are powerful." Ampris acknowledged. "Some more than others and some more honorable than others. The Viis have a tradition of slavery and conquest, the zhreli have a tradition of martyrdom, the myal a tradition of poetry and knowledge, the toth a tradition of bullying servitude and disloyalty."

"And your people?"

"A tradition of strength, I suppose." Ampris shrugged. "I was never permitted to learn too deeply of the history of the Aaroun although a kind myal did what she could to help, once upon a time. What of your people, Serafine? What is the tradition of...?"

"Wolvens." Sera supplied. "I suppose you could call our tradition companionship. We have the companions and friends of humanity ever since our creation."

"That seems a long time to live in harmony with another people." Ampris noted. "And you have never had wars or conflicts with them?"

"Well, in the five centuries..."

"Centuries are... one hundred years?" Ampris interrupted.

"They are." Sera confirmed.

"Your people have only existed for five hundred years?" Ampris blinked. "They created you?"

"They did." Sera smiled. "Humans are more curious than is healthy for them and have a tradition of doing the most foolish things in pursuit of answers. Why, there was a time that they built the strangest and most counterintuitive contraptions in an attempt to fly, mostly thinking that it'd be possible to imitate birds and flap their arms to do it."

"What happened?" Ampris looked curious.

"They flew." Sera grinned. "Granted, they eliminated many of the flapping-their-arms ideas by way of the people who tested the ideas eliminating themselves but when the formula of fixed wings and a rotary propulsion was discovered, off they went. From what I understand of the history, it was the same with us: once they realized that it was possible, nothing could stop them."

"Humans are the hairless creatures with no muzzles or tails, correct?" Ampris looked thoughtful.

"Yup." Sera confirmed. "You wouldn't think them all that dangerous just by looking but if a human has a tool, that human is powerful."

"So the gigantic dark-colored one isn't human?" Ampris grinned toothily.

Sera laughed. "Sergeant Morris is an unusual man. Most humans are not as tall as he and few humans have the discipline to become so physically intimidating."

"I've noticed that few of the... reptiles are as small in stature as your Major." Ampris mentioned. "I'm sorry that I keep switching the path of our conversation but I am curious about the people that rescued the others and I."

"Oh, think nothing of it." Sera dismissed the apology with a wave of her hand. "Major Obsydien is a prodigy from what I understand, exceptionally intelligent with an unusual affinity for combat. She is still technically a child although her species, draccians, reach full physical maturity at a much younger age than do wolvens and humans. Draccians, like wolvens, are a creation of the humans albeit at a significantly more advanced stage of genetic engineering. I am told that it is vastly more difficult to mix mammalian and reptilian traits than it is to intermix traits among mammals."

"A younger species then, technically." Ampris smiled. "Your people are truly fascinating, Serafine. Two races created by humans but neither of you enslaved by them. I had always believed it to be a feature of an advanced power to enslave those they conquered or who were different."

"Humans got over that impulse several hundred years ago." Sera explained. "It used to be that there was a considerable among of interracial slavery, enslavement of one skin color of people by another. The practice was eventually agreed to be morally revolting and dismantled; one of the major nations from our world even fought an extremely bloody war between the anti-slavery and pro-slavery factions."

"There was a faction of a nation that fought a war so they could have slaves?" Ampris blinked.

"There were actually many issues at work." Sera admitted. "So many so that most people throw up their hands and just simplify it into the most visible reason for the war. There was a certain bitter irony to it as well since the finest generals in the nation lived in the southern lands that favored slavery so that while we celebrate the northern victory, most of the generals that remain the most admired came from the south."

"There is a certain irony there." Ampris agreed. "You seem to come from a place of very rich history, heritage, and tradition, Serafine. I don't suppose you could tell me somewhat about it?"

"Well, I may have to interrupt in the middle to make a new kettle of tea." Sera smiled. "But I see no reason to refuse the prospect of a relaxing time lounging around and telling stories."

"Even with a perfect stranger?"

"Even with a stranger." Sera agreed. "I'll think about calling you perfect."

Ampris laughed, a rich and golden thing as bright as her lovely fur and settled back to listen.

"We come from a planetary system we call the Solar System." Sera related as they relaxed with the tea. "The only naturally inhabitable planet is the third one away from the star and we call it Earth. It is the center of our government and indeed the source of our civilization, our culture, our traditions, and our history. Pretty much from the dawn of sentient life until the 22nd century, there were only two forms of sentient life: humans and a little-known species that we eventually came to call werewolves; they prefer the term lupus garou, mostly because it sounds more sophisticated. Humans always believed that they had developed entirely alone, the only sentient creature on Earth because the werewolves used a form of camouflage that is still beyond our understanding to make themselves appear either as human or wolf depending upon their need."

"So they can change their shape at will?" Ampris looked wide-eyed. "It sounds like some manner of magic."

"We believe that it is." Sera responded. "A magic that they soon began using to control humans. Regarding themselves as superior in every way they felt that they had a right to bend humanity to their whims. The only serious disagreement between the two family lines was the form of the control. The more moderate Deconcroix argued for more subtle and manipulative guidance; the more radical Andronov argued for direct enslavement and dominion. The meticulous records taken by the werewolves, which we later discovered, proved that virtually all of the historical figures that caused human misery were werewolves sating their lust for power and control without the awareness of humanity. Numerous wars were fought at their whim and endless suffering was imposed to elevate their own status. In a way, it was just like slavery but humanity was utterly unaware of the way in which they were being wronged."

"You hate them." Ampris observed quietly.

"We do." Sera replied, just as quietly. "More to the point, they hate and fear my species. Humans cannot detect them because they don't have finely-turned noses. Wolvens do."

"You can expose them." Ampris stated. "You can show humanity its enemy so humanity can fight back. You can take their defense away and I'm guessing that they are relatively small in number if they take so much trouble to conceal themselves."

"Yes." Sera confirmed. "Ultimately, their downfall has proven to be a combination of ill-fortune and a single-minded hatred of wolvens. See, at some point, tensions between several of the nations of the world grew intolerable and incited the mass construction of a type of terrible weapon called an atomic bomb. It is an incredibly powerful weapon with the capacity to destroy entire cities with a single bomb, extinguishing hundreds of thousands of lives in a single instant. Nations built up large stockpiles of the weapons and even after tensions eased, kept the stockpiles maintained and ready. Then another conflict hit, this one not influenced by werewolvesâ€"in fact, they were caught totally by surprise. A major nation called China attempted to reclaim a breakaway independent province and faced with defeat, the province attacked with an atomic weapon out of desperation. China reduced the province to boiling rock with its own arsenal and a cascade effect caused mass weapon launches all over the world."

"The hazard of such powerful weapons among peoples that do not trust one another." Ampris commented.

"You'd think so." Sera agreed. "But atomic weapons are strategically defensive: a nation with nuclear weapons is relatively safe from assault except in the most unusual circumstances. Before what is called the Taiwan Incident, no nation dared back an atomic-armed nation into a corner. No one wanted to push such a nation into lashing out from desperation; the Incident confirmed how wise that caution was."

"This... Incident... it was the ill-fortune you referred to?"

"Yes." Sera nodded. "One of the major centers of the Devoncroix family was a city called Paris which, as a national capital, was a prime atomic target. Most of Devoncroix was killed which swung the balance towards their more brutal counterparts. After the war that came after the mass launches, the humans rebuilt themselves into a world government which remained free of werewolf infiltration for an amazingly long period of time. Part of what distracted the werewolves was that alongside the world government, massive corporate powers were rising as well."

"Corporate?" Ampris looked confused.

"A... well, think of them as very large merchants." Sera explained. "A corporation is a mercantile arrangement with an organization of executives to control the entire thing and appointed officers to manage different parts of the whole. Anyway, these corporate powers distracted the werewolves because they began to amass major political and scientific influence, especially one called Swastika Electronics. Currently, Swastika is the most powerful corporation in the Solar System but even back then, it was very powerful and threatened the werewolves' ability to control humanity effectively. Fortunately for us, their efforts to infiltrate the very insular Swasika was unsuccessful and they eventually gave up. By the time human science had advanced far enough to create my species, the werewolves had wormed their way into every part of the United Senatorial Congress and were able to engineer a decree exiling the wolvens from the stable nations."

"They... exiled you? After making you?" Ampris looked taken aback. "I thought you'd described the humans as being friendly to you."

"They were." Sera retorted, a little more sharply than she'd intended. "The government was just very cleverly manipulated. The werewolves, however, didn't count on the willingness of the army to disobey the government and further didn't imagine that Swastika would conspire to help them. Our exile was fairly temporary and with significant assistance from the army and Swastika, painless. Eventually, the USC realized the injustice they had done and invited us home. It constituted the first and last time wolvens have ever been subjected to official mistreatment and it became very easy to forgive them after we became aware of the werewolves."

Ampris smiled. "A good friend is one that can hurt you without meaning to but tries to heal the wound as soon as it is made."

"How true." Sera agreed. "Humanity's method of trying to heal the wound was total integration as quickly as they could. To a species that has rather poor senses that it compensates for with an amazing gift for tool-making, wolvens were an incredible thing. The professions most eager to have us were law enforcement and the military. This was another bit of ill-luck for the werewolves because it meant that those who acted as guards in various capacities would inevitably encounter them and notice something strange. Devoncroix, as near as we can tell, went to work on an elaborate plan to make sure that such encounters would be rare or non-existent; Andronov, however, was neither patient nor above brutality." Sera's lips compressed with anger at the thought of the murderous family line. "At some point, the werewolves gave up infiltrating existing corporations and made their own, something called Devoncroix-Andronov Incorporated. Prior to inducing the government to exile us, they had also wormed their way into the corporate alliance Swastika had formed with the rest of the powerful corporations which caused no small amount of anger among the Swastika executive board. Perhaps more than anything else, making Swastika angry destroyed them."

"Just angering a powerful confederation of merchants brought them down?" Ampris looked curiously at her. "How?"

Sera grinned a little. "The comparison to merchants barely does Swastika justice." She replied. "They are massive, large enough to have openly defied the government on a couple of occasions. When DAI came out for the exile, Swastika was enraged for they regarded wolvens as partly theirs, having contributed a significant part of the engineering and scientific expertise to our creation. Certain that their highly gifted lawyers and a sterling reputation with law enforcement for honesty would shield them, they began a wholly illegal campaign to spy upon DAI. Break into their computers, monitor their files, listen to every conversation that took place in their offices. They expected to find a very corrupt organization; they discovered exactly what DAI was although they had no way of knowing that the malevolent creatures they had discovered were not human. They were deeply disturbed but, to coin a human aphorism, the executive board has ice water in their veins. From the moment they started their campaign to the time when Andronov initiated their solution to wolvens, they kept meticulous records, looking forward to the moment that they could give the government the information and watch their rival be destroyed."

Ampris grinned. "Sounds like everyday court politics in the Kaa's palace."

"Backstabbing, spying, lying, ambushing enemies with the truth, making alliances... that sort of thing?" Sera guessed.

"To a degree that you would not believe." Ampris averred. "It is like watching a bloodless warâ€"although there is occasionally blood but it is not considered polite."

"Unfortunately, in the case of Andronov, there was blood." Sera sighed. "Their solution was to seek out a very skilled pair of murderers for hire, our term for them is hit men, and instruct them to begin systematically disposing of wolvens."

"They attempted to exterminate your race?" Ampris' eyes widened.

"They did." Sera confirmed grimly. "But they didn't get very far before law enforcement began putting things together, helped immensely by the fact that the local department had worked hard to integrate wolvens who could offer a type of forensic evidence that humans could not perceive: scent. It wasn't enough to actually find the hit men but when they were found, the wolven investigators could confirm who they were. Their investigation led to the corporate alliance that both DAI and Swastika were a part of and the investigators arranged a meeting with the leader of Swastika since they pretty much ruled the alliance. I can only imagine how widely the man grinned at realizing that the chance Swastika had been waiting for had arrived. After the meeting, and Swastika handing over their information, things moved very fast. Backed by the military, law enforcement simultaneously raided every building, every business, and every archive DAI possessed and then arrested the corporate officers, all Andronov. The military got the government to put them into the military justice system and within a few days, lined them up against a wall and executed them."

"Government must be a very different thing where you come from, Serafine." Ampris took a long swallow of tea. "The Kaa would never permit the soldiers to decide such matters on their own. He even sometimes holds the Grand Admiral back although he trusts him without thought or hesitation."

"Well, in our form of government, popularity with the masses gives you a great deal of power." Sera explained. "The military is regarded with immense affection in the eyes of the masses and so, they have far too much political power to be ruled too closely. This is especially true of the corps we refer to as the Steel Corp, our strongest military unit and the one most-loved by the masses. Except for me and Major Obsydien, the infiltration team you saw was taken entirely from the Steel Corp."

"They had the aura that the Grand Admiral and a few of the greater soldiers possess." Ampris took a stir stick and lightly stirred her tea as she refilled her cup. "Not quite what your Major is but very close indeed. The one with silver fur was... kind. It was a wonderful pleasure to feel the touch of kindness when I have never known it before."

"Captain Prower." Sera smiled. "I regret that I do not know him better than I do but Major Obsydien, who seems to know him, spoke warmly of him to me."

"I envy his mate." Ampris smiled.

"He has none." Sera told her. "Although he wishes he did and he seems deserving of the love of another.

"Interesting." Ampris' eyes gained a slightly mischievous glint. "At any rate, please continue telling me of your history."

"Not a great deal to tell of for a long while after the execution of the DAI leaders." Sera settled back in her chair after filling her cup yet again. "Science and engineering gave us first orbital living spaces and then terraformed the two nearest planets to support colonies. New mining methods were utilized to increase resources and this caused a resurgence of piracy and in return, the creation of a space navy for the Sol Armed Forces. There was actually precious little action..." Sera hesitated, sighing before finishing her sentence. "...until the event we came to know as the Poplar Village Massacre."

"Another attempt to exterminate wolvens?" Ampris inquires quietly.

"A symbolic one." Sera sort of slumped in her chair. "It happened only ten years ago, when both wolvens and draccians were far too numerous to exterminate."

"Then it was during your service...?" Ampris seemed to realize the import and leaned over the table to touch Sera's hand sympathetically. "What happened?"

"The werewolves managed to deceive the guards at a military laboratory in Poplar Village long enough to steal the prototype of an extremely powerful cannon weapon." Sera related. "I... was the garrison commander. We managed to capture one of the thieves and he was only too happy to throw his people's plans in our faces, cackling with glee and anticipation. When he tried to harm an interrogator, he was gunned down in the interrogation room by nearby guards. His arrogance was a gift, in a way, for we knew what they hoped to do. They wished to fit their stolen weapon on top of vehicles and dash into the city to begin destroying... destroying..." Sera swallowed the lump in her throat, smiling gratefully at Ampris as the aaroun gently took her hand in hers. "...in hopes of destroying buildings but especially the Kingdom Hospital Complex. Thousands of the sick, the injured, the helpless... children... their plan was to murder until the military reached them. They expected to overrun the garrison with ease but the arrogance of that thief allowed us to lay in wait for them."

"They broke through anyway?" Ampris guessed.

"No." Sera hung her head. "Our task force's commanding admiral, Admiral Williams, was the admiral commanding the patrol fleet above Poplar Village and acted quickly to get us the equipment needed to prepared fortified positions and more importantly, set up large cannons and artillery. Those that mindlessly drove into our killzone, seeming to believe that they could terrify us into surrender by their mere existence, died to the last man. One, however, got lost. He left the line of advance and blundered through a hole in our patrols. He... ended up directly in front of the hospital."

"...how many?" Ampris inquired softly.

"...over one thousand..." Sera virtually whispered. "Mostly children... mostly... sick... helpless... children. I didn't bother to ask what the soldiers who caught up to the actual murderers did to them but I sometimes wish I could have helped."

"I'm sorry, Serafine." Ampris said gently. "I cannot imagine the pain of being there, knowing what has happened, being able to do nothing to undo it."

"Thank you." Sera smiled slightly. "There is some cold comfort to it, however. The Massacre enraged the masses beyond comprehension and far beyond the ability of the government to resist. Admiral Williams was given complete discretion as to how to respond; she chose atomic retaliation. We killed well over a thousand of them with a single weapon but the true retaliation was much more severe. The government, with the masses cheering, issued a formal extermination order which we call the Edict of Extermination. Any werewolf that is discovered is subject to summary execution with the goal of completely exterminating every last werewolf."

"That is terrible." Ampris said quietly. "A terrible retaliation for a terrible act. But are not there the more moderate...?"

"They are monsters." Sera interrupted her, raising her head, her tone harsh and icy. "All of them. Devoncroix may have shed no blood themselves but Andronov could not have infiltrated a heavily-guarded lab, could not have known what was there, could not have known how to use it, without their high-and-mighty little helpers."

"You believe that." Ampris stated gently. "But you hate what you are required to do as much as you hate those that you are required to do it to."

Sera looked hard at her. "Why do you say that?" She asked, too taken-aback to be angered.

"Extermination is what the Viis love." Ampris replied, her voice still gentle. "It is their terror weapon, their method, their best tool to enslave. They have little personal compassion and virtually no concept of honor so they can murder with glee and abandon. You and your fellows have what the Viis do not. Serafine, I heard of what passed between your Major and the towering human, how he assured her that he lacked the ability to murder even monsters. I do not believe you are any less good than he."

Sera sighed and smiled very slightly. "That is true." She admitted. "That's why we have Major Obsydien and those like her."

"People who can be what you need but do not want to be yourself." Ampris nodded. "I would have never guessed. Her personality seems to be childlike but mature, understanding the adult world but not being entirely part of it."

"Turning the beast off and on is a critical survival mechanism." Sera leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "I've seen her turn it on and then turn it back off without any real effort. Only the very best are fed into the SpecOps program and I imagine that they've ensured that they only get the most stable personalities lest they end up teaching a raging animal how to stalk its prey."

Ampris chuckled. "Ah... I admit that when I came to enjoy some kind company, I did not expect to help you wallow in despair, General. I am sorry that my request led to such a dark place for you."

"It's not your fault that I have some demons haunting me, Ampris." Sera replied firmly. "Your company is a pleasure and frankly, a comfort. The only other person I know who would gently hold my hand and act as a listening ear would be my dear friend, Shadow."

"I'm certain you miss her at times like this." Ampris smiled. "I'm pleased that I could be here to stand in for her."

"Well, I don't see her as much as I wish but I could just go and visit her on the command ship." Sera chuckled. "Shadow is her personal nickname; her full name is Myna Williams."

"Your dear personal friend is the admiral in command of your task force?" Ampris laughed. "If you had not already spoken of it, this would explain why you were so rapidly promoted."

"As much as I wish to deny it... that is true." Sera admitted. "She's more like a sister to me than a friend, really, someone I can always depend on."

"I have a friend like that... somewhere." Ampris commented wistfully. "Kelth, all their charming mannerisms but reliable, the kind of person you go to when there is trouble. I wish I knew where he was right now... when I was forcibly recruited for The Blue, I lost track of him."

"Yes, you'd mentioned that Captain Prower and the laboratory director were right." Sera nodded.

"It is how my leg became so damaged." Ampris said wryly. "It simply hastened the inevitable because gladiatorial contests were becoming increasingly less popular and sensational but I would have preferred a different manner of exit."

"I don't suppose this would be a good point for you to start telling me about your history?" Sera gave her guest a deliberately hopeful look and was rewarded with a chuckle.

"I regret that my story will be much shorter than your own, Serafine." She replied. "There is, after all, very little variety in the life of a slave and the Viis Empire has been free of external enemies since long before my birth. What I know of my history began when I was officially given to Princess Israi as a gift and companion."

"The director of the laboratory called her an insufferable brat." Sera noted.

"He would know." Ampris smirked. "But his description of her is accurate. It was, however, the fault of her father who refused to discipline her immense natural intellect and direct it to better things."

"Spoiled princess." Sera snorted. "Nobles, it appears, are nobles no matter where they live."

"Spoiled, General?" Ampris looked at her.

"It's the term we use when a parent gives offspring unlimited privileges and refuses to discipline them." Sera explained. "They quite literally spoil a potentially great child."

"Then it is a good description of what the Kaa did with his daughter." Ampris nodded. "Without discipline, her cleverness was turned to tricks, pranks, and generally defying the rules although she was never punished because she obeyed the rules that mattered. My life was generally idyllic in that time, free of serious pain or worry, sheltered even. Then Israi decided to play a cruel prank on one of her father's most beloved concubines, a shy beauty with the nearest thing to a gentle nature the Viis are capable of. She replaced the girl's perfume with a liquid that irritates the skin of a normal Viisâ€"but the concubine was dangerously allergic to it. The girl nearly died but her forming eggs had to be sacrificed to save her life which is one of the most grave matters in Viis society. The Kaa punished his daughter by selling me to a noble far away from the capital. Eventually, a gladiator company purchased me and I began my training."

"Why is miscarriage such a grave matter?" Sera asked curiously. "Sickness robbing a couple of their unborn offspring is a tragedy but isn't considered to be evil."

"Viis hatchlings without genetic defects are extremely rare for some reason." Ampris replied. "I do not understand it very well myself but I recognize that it is a reality. At any rate, I proved to be a naturally talented fighter. I rose high in the circuits, became briefly famous in fact, called the Crimson Claw. At the height of it all, however, my leg was shredded by a zhrelli who was in the throes of fever madness and my owners realized that I would never walk properly again much less fight. From there, I disappeared into the laboratories until one evening, my guards are gunned down and there is suddenly these two creatures that look like aaroun but are not looking down at me, one of them kneeling, brimming with compassion, to heal my wounds. But I hardly need to tell that story to you, Serafine."

"No, you do not." Sera agreed. "I don't suppose you ever got some idea of what they were trying to do in that laboratory? We had first believed that it was research on an illness but the director seemed so perplexed that we cared about their research that I got the feeling that it wasn't what we believed it to be."

"It is an illness they were trying to cure but they do not see it as merely an illness." Ampris replied. "Its mere name frightens them, the thought of the great plague terrifies them, the prospect of infection makes them mad with terror."

"So they were researching their equivalent of the Black Death." Sera concluded.

"Did this Black Plague destroy almost the entire population of your planet?" Ampris asked.

Sera was brought up short, her eyes widening. "So... their equivalent of smallpox and the 1918 influenza combined and writ large."

"I do not know those..."

"Smallpox was a disease that existed as long as humans." Sera explained before Ampris could finish the question. "For 12 thousand years it killed and spread until humans developed a way to immunize against it and eventually eradicated it save for research samples. The 1918 influenza was a horrific pandemic that killed 18 million in a mere two years, a mutation of a common disease that already spreads rapidly and kills even with all of our medical expertise. But what you describe is a pandemic with the reach of smallpox and the swiftness and deadliness of influenza. No wonder the director forbade us to open that door... they must have kept the samples of their plague behind it."

"The Dancing Death." Ampris supplied. "They call it the Dancing Death. I suppose they believed that since the albiru are all immune to the disease, there was a way to take that immunity for themselves through research."

"So the disease, for all of its virulence, never jumped the species barrier." Sera noted thoughtfully. "Well, returning to yourself, I don't suppose you know any details about your kind considering that you were born a slave."

"A few." Ampris grinned. "While I was Israi's pet, a kind Myal from the palace archives began to secretly educate me. I learned that the aaroun came from a planet called Sargas III. Apparently, we were a warrior people more than equal to the Viis Empire because to defeat and enslave us, they resorted to trickery and using disease as a weapon. Our defiance angered them because they scoured the surface of Sargas III until nothing lived and poisoned it so nothing could ever live again."

"There must have been a point that they had enough of a fleet to actually do that to a planet or at least powerful enough weapons." Sera's brow furrowed. "If they have such impressive technology, why does their capital planet seem completely defenseless and their medical research so primitive?"

"The Dancing Death." Ampris replied simply. "So many died that their technology rotted and they lost much of what they knew. I was told, although I do not know for certain, that they now can barely operate their own technology and lack the ability to make use of the Royal Archives that have records of all things."

"...which is why they use slave engineers." Sera blinked. "But surely they still have some sort of fleet. The Grand Admiral did not strike me as someone who made bold threats without any way of carrying them out."

"I do not know." Ampris shrugged. "They are not at war with another power, I am certain. But I do not know why Viisymel is naked to you."

"That's alright. You've been very helpful." Sera smiled at her warmly. "For someone who just escaped a virtual death sentence by medical experiment, you are surprisingly composed and a delightful guest."

"I wish that I could remain longer but you have just reminded me... my cubs probably need me right now." Ampris rose, looking apologetic. "I am grateful for the tea and your kind company. Even more, I am forever indebted to you for saving me."

"It was a pleasure to have you, Ampris." Sera rose as well, extending a hand.

Ampris looked down at it curiously. "Is this your custom for... parting?"

"And for greeting as well." Sera confirmed. "What is your custom?"

"I shall show you." Before Sera could react, she was being embraced by the aaroun, pressed tightly against the larger female's softly-furred body. Unsure of what else to do, she returned the embrace a little hesitantly.

"We... generally save this for close friends or family." She offered as Ampris kept her in the embrace.

"Well, for close fiends, I was told that we also add a touch of muzzles." Ampris replied, letting Sera go.

"In... what way...?" Sera asked, hoping that it was more innocent than it sounded.

Her hopes were dashed when she suddenly found her lips pressed to those of the aaroun although it was, mercifully, not the deep tender thing she might share with Shadow in a private moment. Feeling herself blushing heavily under her fur, she shyly returned the kiss.

"That... is something we tend to share for mates or lovers..." She said after the kiss had ended.

"Your culture seems very... isolated then." Ampris observed, looking vaguely surprised. "I apologize for any offense."

"I'm not offended, just surprised." Sera smiled. "Thank you for the listening ear."

"It was a delight." Ampris smiled warmly, turning to slip back through the door. "Be well, General."

"What a sweet person." Sera smiled, taking a seat again. "Interesting, information she had, though... Shadow will want to hear about this."