FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

All stories start somewhere. Whether the starting be as simple as a birth, or as complicated as a tiny piece of gravel overwheighing a boulder and starting a landslide, we always need to know what started it. This story, ironically enough, started on August 13th, 3756. Exactly ten years after the end of the Mutenagenix wars, the wars between the Humans of earth and the furred Undergrounders of the Moon Crater complex called the Hoven. Always in search of its next conflict, the Earth alliance confederation have been at war with their latest foe for three years.

But you'll learn that in due time, now we must begin. A small ship made its way through an asteroid belt, past a Yellow Giant and on towards a small planet named Betras. This was a simple planet, few colonies maintaining the vast farmlands and forests that rolled in almost every direction. The ship entered orbit almost reluctantly, as if the crew were struggling to avoid getting any closer. A pod was jettesoned, heading towards the planet; and just as the pod entered friction depth the ship exploded, the mighty fireball sending debris raining down across the planet. The little pod hurtled down through the atmosphere, crashing through a dense forest and hitting the ground, sending dust and soil in all directions, finally coming to rest after hitting the side of a hill. The glowing heat from the overheated pod illuminated the night and singed the grass and weeds. The nearby town's lights flickered on and people stared out their windows at the half mile long crash. Several townsfolk ran out to the mud covered area, but were forced away until morning by the heat. The sun rose, the metal cooled and fires eventually extinguished themselves, and the people of the villiage ventured back to the crash site. They walked up to the pod, a large cylindar caked in mud and covered with scratches. It stood slightly taller than them, about eight feet tall. Blood appeared to be smeared across the front, although they couldn't be sure what it was with all the mud and scorching surrounding it. One man walked up to the front and put his hand against it before pulling back as if electrocuted. "I think I felt something move inside!" He yelled to the other townsfolk. He leaned in close and knocked on the still warm metal. He waited a minute before knocking again, to which there was a prompt knock back. A female voice cried out from inside.

"Hello?!"

"We're here, lass! Can you get out of there?" The townsman replied. There was a short pause.

"I think so! But you're going to have to stand back!" The girl yelled out. Her voice sounded exhausted, like she had been awake the whole night long, not to mention through the crash. Dutifully the townsfolk stood back from the pod. A burst of light blasted through the side of the pod, knocking a large panel off and sending it across the clearing.

A yellow furred hand reached out and grabbed the edge of the metal. The girl lifted her head up, making it visible through the smoke. She smiled weakly and her red eyes twinkled slightly and a light tap was heard as she put her foot onto the bottom edge before slipping forward. The townsman rushed forward, grabbing her before she faceplanted into the thick mud. He had to be mindful of catching her head on his shoulder, because her curved horns posed a serious risk to the unwary. After the smoke cleared the man faltered, and the rest of the townspeople gapsed. The townsman, an average-height canine humanoid, seemed to pause for forever before bending down to lift her up fully. She wore but rags to cover the barest of necessities, and he was careful to keep them covering her. He carried her past the astonished gaggle of people, through rather quiet streets to his nearby house and lay her on the couch in the living room. Her right leg made light clinks as the metal prothstetic limb sank into the soft cushions. Her left arm, cut short at the elbow, had a weapon replacing its lower half. A small wire ran across her right shoulder and a green crystal was embedded into her chest. The townsman sighed sadly and walked out into the street, summoning a passing peacekeeper. He mumbled to her for a short moment before the woman drew her gun and walked into the building, standing guard at the couch. He had brought into his house something worse than a stranger; a monster whose race existed for one thing alone...

...War.

Hours passed and the visitor tossed and turned on the couch as if in a nightmare. The Peacekeeper had summoned a whole group of her coworkers to keep watch on her, all of whom had their weapons ready and waiting. She turned to the man who had recently put the girl into his couch.

"You brought this monstrocity into your home, into our city, Markas; have you lost your mind?!" She angrily barked at him.

Markas looked apologetically towards the Peacekeeper before turning back towards his guest, his concentration focused on the gem on her chest.

"I've seen these things before." He said, sternly pointing to the gem. "See the green crystal on her chest? It's the cover to a neural link to the centre processor of the Hive, making them like drones. But they don't glow when they're activated, and her gem never seems to even grow dimmer."

"What of it?" The peacekeeper snapped.

"That means this girl is probably not connected to the rest of them, she's either dead or the unit is faulty. If it's faulty, she's her own person with no computer to control her. Not to mention, if you have not noticed, she's one of the Archethal, our allies. She's also injured, cold, and severely undernourished. How would you like it if you were left out in the cold wilderness with no idea of where you were, abandoned by the very people you once called friends to die slowly and painfully? I may have brought an enemy into our fold, Minerva, but this time I think it was probrably the right thing to do."

"The gamble is yours, and if you are wrong, you'll have more to worry about than a Polaris in your home, let me tell you that!" The peacekeeper snapped back.

The girl lay still for a short pause, as if listening, catching the gathered peacekeeper's attention. The glowing crystal on her chest cracked and burst, and a small speaker made itself known from underneath playing a message:

"My daughter... I love you with every fibre of my being. I want only what is best for you and your future. I know you will grow up strong and brave, everything a father could hope for..."

The girl stirred and reached up with her hand, tears flowing from her face as she mutters:

"Father..?" She mumbled as her hand groped desperately, reaching for a presence that couldn't possibly be there. "...Father?!"

Markas stood up and caught her hand in his own, almost tenderly. "Please, sleep for a while longer, you need your strength."

She nodded lightly and fell back into her deep sleep. Markas knelt down and inspected the cavity in her chest, before sliding the speaker out using some tweezers with a sucking sound. Some sort of black box was attatched to it. His eyes widened and he seemed almost pleased.

"This is not a reciever unit!" He said, triumphantly. "And she reacted to the voice, too! She cannot connect with the rest of the hive mind and she has vague memories of her past... Officers I believe she is of no threat, please only have two guarding for now." He said, calmly.

"It's not a wise idea." One of them piped up. "But we'll stand around the premesis just in case."

Markas thought for a few moments before nodding. "The Humans will already know about her being here, they've no doubt sent an armed convoy to pick her up."

The female peacekeeper glared at Markas, before sending her rather angry look at the huddle on the couch.

"Whatever they do to this thing, it deserves every bit of pain it recieves."she growled.

Markas sighed heavily. "She is asleep and not even part of the main hive. She is alone and probrably injured due to the crash in the forest. Hell, you've not even seen what action she'd take if she were awake, so talk like that seems a bit pre-emptive. Anyway, I'm going to my workshop down in the basement to try to figure out what this thing I got out of her chest is. Make yourselves comfortable, it's likely you'll be here for a long time." He turned to walk down the house's hallway. "And while your at it, get rid of our audience outside, this is my private residence, not a concert hall." And with those words, he promptly left.

The peacekeepers all chatted amongst themselves and several went outside to patrol the building after dispersing the croud. Time passed and the peacekeepers who were guarding the girl were elsewhere when she awoke. She slowly sat up and looked around before looking herself over. She gasped in horror and tried to scratch the metallic limbs off with her only hand, wincing as she broke a claw in her panic. Markas, who had been in the kitchen, heard her wince walked in to check on her and was surprised to see she was awake.

"Ah, you're awake now?" he said, making her jerk around. "Well, maybe you could tell me your name before you collapse this time, hmm Ms. Polarii?"

She blushed slightly before opening her mouth again. "M-my name i-is Cibbie. Cibbie Heritance. W-well, I mean I was; when I was... Me..."

"Well, Miss Heritance, my name is Markas Blizzard. I guess I'll be your host until the Humans arrive to take you away to wherever it is they plan to take you to. I'd say make yourself at home, but you're under arrest and are not allowed to leave this room, except to go to the toilet of course." He miled to her slyly before leaning against the wall.

Markas watched her walk over to the window and simply stare, silently, out into the street. Cars passed and the traffic lights out changed as always. Through her panic at her own problems, she seemed worried about something else. A scream suddenly rang out on the street and she rushed to the door and swung it open violently, rushing out into the daylight. Markas rushed to the window, half expecting to hear the sound of rifles. The dozens of people, Peacekeepers included, watched as she rushed at an unnatural speed and pushed a baby carriage, which the mother had lost control of, off the road and into the arms of a passer by. A car which would have hit the baby rammed her with wheels screeching and threw her down the road. Tumbling, Cibbie slid along the bitumen, loud metallic clanks echoing out as her prothstetic limbs smacked and scraped the road. Most of the onlookers rush to the baby to see if it's alright, but not a single one stopped to help Cibbie when she stopped. She struggled to get to her feet, blood now running down her legs, arms and tail from the gashes and grazes she recieved from sliding and roling on the poorly maintained bitumen road. She gasped and grabbed her ribs, falling back to all fours, her blood now making small pools on the road surface. Markas ran out of his home and went to pick her up when someone yelled at him.

"What're you helping that monster for?!"

It took him a moment to realise that these words had come from the mother of the recently saved baby. He stood up slowly and Cibbie used him as a prop to stand. He opened his mouth to retort before she shushed him into silence. Cibbie limped over to the driver of the car and apologised for any damage done to his vehicle before staggering up to the woman, all the while leaving a trail of blood behind her. Cibbie glared right into her eyes, fully aware that she had at least ten guns pointed at her head and almost nothing but terrified or astonished looks.

"Maybe," she said out loud, "next time I'll not save the baby at all."

The mother slapped her, nearly knocking her over. Cibbie rebalanced herself carefully, blood once more pooling below her.

"You're a monster!" The mother yelled.

"I'm a monster?" Cibbie yelled back, a new growl present in her voice. "I've just saved this child from a horrible death and recieved grevious injury in the process and his mother calls me a monster?" Cibbie steadied herself and collected her nerves. "How far society has fallen... If that's your attitude then, fine. I know when I'm not wanted. I'll go my way and trouble you and your ilk no more." She turned to leave but several peacekeepers stood in her way, blocking her.

"We cannot allow you to leave." One told her.

Cibbie's eyes narrowed and started to glow. "If I wanted to leave, I doubt there's much you could do to stop me." The peacekeepers pulled their rifles at her, each one clacking loudly. One stepped forward and grabbed her gashed, bloodied shoulder, making her wince.

"You're not going anywhere!" He told her.

Cibbie's eyes shone like lightbulbs as hidden blades unsheathed from her gun, which suddenly started to hum. She stood perfectly upright, her metal leg making sparks as she scraped it into position. It jerked up, catching the peacekeeper in a soft spot and quickly slammed the ground, throwing her high into the air as bullets plowed into the brickwork. She landed on the roof of a three storey building elegantly throwing up a small cloud of dust and glared down at the crowd.

"I'll go my way, and trouble you no more!" She yelled down at them, and promptly limped out of view.

The crowd chattered for a minute before Markas piped up.

"I hope you're all pleased with yourselves!" He yelled, staring angrily at the people in the street.

"We are, actually." The mother replied, smugly.

Markas shook, going red in the face. "You people... You people aught to be ashamed of yourselves!"

The peacekeeper behind him chuckles. "And why should that be?"

Markas swung around and pinned him to a nearby signpost. A life as a metalworker and engineer making him far stronger than people took him for, and now it showed as he held the peacekeeper up off the ground by his neck. "How would you like it to be completley alone amongst the allies of our people, alienated because of something you cannot hide or have possibly resisted?! How would any of you like to know how it feels to be beaten, abused and hated for crimes you didn't commit?! I thought that we had learned our lessons from the Mutenagenix wars, but boy was I wrong! Human beings and Undergrounders are just as xenophobic and pathetic as ever! She's just saved a baby from a horrible fate and the mother says that she'd rather the baby have been crushed by a car than saved by her! I never thought it, but I guess the old saying is true, no good deed goes unpunished." With that he let the peacekeeper down, walked back into his house and slammed the door, making the glass panels in the door shatter. He made it all the way into the kitchen before realising that there was another person in the house. "Ah, the Humans have sent an Archon?" He said to the presence in the shadows. "A pleasure to meet you."

A woman, about the same height as Markas wearing full battlegear with several scars stepped out of the shadows, her short orange hair framing her face. The Human woman clicked her heels together and saluted nervously as she tucked a card into her pocket.

"High Archon Maxine Reynolds, spe-"

"Special Agent Maxine, special project Maxine Rynolds. Feared by the Polaris and revered by the Guild." He finished for her. "To what do I owe the honour of your presence?"

She seemed taken aback for a moment before replying. "I was ordered to take a Polarii off your hands. Where is it?"

"Before you are given any information on the whereabouts on your objective, I'd like you to see something. Come with me please." He turned and led her down the hall, through a room and into his basement. He motioned up to a desk. "Come sit, and tell me if you've ever seen something like this." Markas showed her the speaker. "I got it out of the Polaris' chest, where the communications crystal should be. The crystal panel on its chest burst into fragments and this played a message, and it took me forever to get it to play the whole thing."

"Make it play." Maxine ordered.

Markas looked sheepish for a moment. "It's rather long and almost repetetive..."

Maxine shook her head. "If you want to show me something, then show me proof of your claim. You cannot simply say something happens without proof."

Markas sighed and plugged a large, and rather dangerous looking contraption into the box and flicked a switch. The lights dimmed and the speaker spat static before power flow went back to normal and the small speaker on the front spoke in a male voice:

" My daughter... The last of your kind; that's what you were. The final ray of hope for an entire civilisation of people lost in the tidal sands of time and war... But your fate went so horribly wrong... I've watched for years our enemy commit horrors that would make sane men crazed... Terror enough to make the bravest of men cry.

My daughter, the hourglass of our race has emptied, there is no more sand to pour. But behind one, another has emerged, bent and twisted, nature has had no say in the future that is to befall you. I have sacrificed the last of my free will to give you yours back and make you whole again; the final pawn in this game of chess queened at the sacrifice of every other piece. Now it is time to take the fight back into our favour. I send my own youthful kin to fight demons at the final gate of hell and I know you shall not dissapoint.

My daughter, when you wake, you shall be among close friends, though they won't all act like them. Our race entered the shadows of time and was almost but a horrible memory. It is time we stepped out of the shadows and showed our enemies what we're capable of; to show them our hidden strength. Although I shall not be there with you, destroyed by the very enemy we failed to defeat, you shall not be alone.

My daughter... I love you with every fibre of my being. I want only what is best for you and your future. I know you will grow up strong and brave, everything a father could hope for. You shall be shunned by civilisation, and hated by those we once called friends. Take the step and prove you are not a monster. Take the step out of the darkness and embrace the light only to use our enemy as the stepping stone to your salvation!

Give a reason to be loved by civillians. Give a reason to be revered by allies. Give a reason to be feared by all who would stand in your way. For we are the Archethal; and we have not been silenced!" Then the speaker went dead as Markas unplugged it. Maxine stood in a stunned silence, letting the message go over and over again in her head.

"'I have sacrificed the last of my free will to give you yours and make you whole again'..." she parroted to herself. "This is important news, but to verify this is real I shall need to see this 'daughter', where is she now?"

Markas looked apologetic. "She ran off after saving a baby from a car, the townsfolk drove her off. The most likely place is the pod she arrived in, just outside of town. I'll walk you there." He placed the recorded message on the table and shepherded her out the door, locking it behind him. They continued up the stairs and out the front door. Markas made a rather large show of locking the door before continuing on.

"At least one person was watching that, so I know that my house should be safe from these vindictive people." He mumbled to Maxine.

"Should?" Maxine asked.

"Well, they could always burn it down, but I've explosive materials inside which would make the fire everyone's problem, not just mine." Markas said.

They continued walking for roughly ten minutes before finally arriving at the wreckage of the pod. Drips of blood made a small trail on the ground beneath their feet.

"Blood?" Maxine mumbled. "You said the townsfolk drove her off, not attacked her."

Markas glanced from the wreckage. "When she saved the child she was hit by the car which promptly threw her down the road. She's suffered some rather extensive injuries." He wandered closer to the destroyed pod. "Cibbie? Cibbie are you there?"

"'Cibbie'?"

"Her full name is Cibbie Heritance. Cibbie, it's me, Markas! Are you in there?" There was no reply to his call, so he wandered up to the opening. Nothing. A small pool of blood lay in the pod, but Cibbie was nowhere to be seen. "She's moved on... Come back to my place and I'll see if I can deduce where she's gone."

They made their way back to Markas' home and walked up the drive. He opened the side gate and they wandered into his backyard. Markas opened the back door and let Maxine in before walking in himself and locking it tight.

"Remember how I said I'd think over where she is, Miss?" He asked.

"Yeah, I remember." Maxine replied.

"Well, I locked the front door so that she'd also see I had locked it. Look down. There are drips of blood that have been smeared to hide them. She's here. In this house."

Maxine drew her pistol and flicked on the torch, scanning around the room. "You locked us in with it?! Are you out of your goddamned mind?!"

Markas shrugged. "If I am, I won't be for long, will I? As dangerous as she is, if she wanted to kill us, she'd have done it by now, no?"

Maxine looked at him panicked. "Stay behind me, I don't want you getting shot!"

There was a soft tap as Cibbie turned out of cover from behind a wall, still bleeding profusely. She seemed to buckle, but kept her balance; all the while heavily panting.

"I- I'd never hurt Markas!" She puffed, out of breath. "He's done nothing but try to.. Help me since... I woke up!"

With her final words she fell to her knees with a clang and flumped on the floor. Markas rushed over and knelt beside her. His face turned up to Maxine.

"Either learn surgery real fast or get a doctor in here before she bleeds to death!" He snapped at her.

"You care enough about one of these to risk a doctors life as well as our own?" Maxine questioned.

"I don't know what you mean by 'one of these,' but I'll assume you mean an Archethal girl who simply got put on the losing side of a war and who everyone wishes was dead! Frankly I couldn't give a rat's ass about what she is, innocence is going to be lost if we just let her die here on my laundry floor!" He barked.

Maxine sighed and put her gun away, tapping a button on her left wrist.

"We need a surgeon medic and crew down here immediately, prep them for a code Blue, subjet is an Archethalian female infused with Polarii augmentations. We require a stretcher. Subject is currently passed out and losing mass amounts of blood, use transporter code Omega 4 to bring blood. This is not a joke or drill. Don't make me repeat myself." She said in a huff.

The room behind Markas flashed and several men rushed in, all carrying large boxes of surgical equipment. Another two ran in with a floating stretcher and lowered it down, lifted Cibbie onto it and raised it again. Markas and Maxine were rushed out of the room as the surgeons opened the boxes and began to clean, stitch and bandage Cibbie's injuries. One of the men holding the stretcher eventually turned around.

"She's suffered deep lacerations and severe grazing to a good portion of her limbs, she has also lost roughly 45% of her total blood and is in a state of severe exhaustion. Frankly it's a miracle she's lived long enough to make it in the door, let alone here. We're replacing most of her lost blood, but we don't have much Archethanian blood in ship's storage, it's a good thing that she's AB+ or we'd have to spend the next few minutes trying to find a match. Before you ask, sir, the bed can detect important facts about patients, saving us the trouble of testing when time is of the essence." He glanced back to one of the surgeons, who finished stitching and stepped toward Markas.

"I wanna know what 'appened t' cause this damage." The surgeon demanded.

"She ran out into the street and was struck by a car at about 60 Kph. She ran off and we tried to find her, but we've only just found her here." Markas informed him.

"What could possibly've posessed her t' run out ontae the road?"

Markas suddenly realised he has the full attention of everyone in the room except Maxine's.

"There was a baby in the path of the oncoming car and she pushed it out of the way at expense of her own well being." The room seemed shocked at this news. "What? what's so amazing about that?"

"Most o' these things'd rather gut the babe than rescue it." The surgeon mumbled.

"This one is missing its communication gem!" Another one said, rather loudly. "She's in her own mind and not being controlled by the rest of the hive!"

"I've been pointing that out all day but no one will listen! Wait... How did you know that's what the gem is for?" Markas said

"I used to work on the Battleship Washington, we got loads of the corpses through every day. I was one of the morticians assigned to study the ways their internal implants were distributed through autopsy. This girl's race was officially wiped out the other night at roughly 12:34 PM Earth Time. There are no Archethal left outside of Polaris control in existance."

The surgeons returned to their orbiting ship after about an hour or so. They'd found a broken rib and wanted to be thorough. Cibbie had been left on the stretcher in Markas' loungeroom, the surgeons figuring it was the most comfortable location to leave her. Maxine had sat on the couch watching her closely and Markas had returned to his basement. Maxine payed little attention to him, he'd said something about the chest module and scurried off before she could ask any questions. Honestly she was worried, the behavior Cibbie had shown, not to mention her earlier heroic act, were completley out of character for a Polarii... Especially one with a type 7 plasma cannon attactched to its being. She needed answers, but the only one with them was heavily sedated and sporting enough guaze to make a whole shirt. She busied herself cleaning her gun. This weapon she knew like the back of her hand. The hours seemed to simply fly past as she dismantled and reconstructed the perfect piece of equipment. It was soon growing dark. Maxine grumbled under her breath; the higher-ups would get in contact soon and demand to know what was taking her so long. She had finished cleaning her pistol for roughly ten minutes when she heard a loud grunt from Cibbie and looked up. Markas walked into the room and sat next to Maxine and crossed his arms.

"What were your orders again?" He almost demanded.

Maxine was momentarily taken aback. "I was sent here by the high command to either capture or termiate Cibbie, whichever came first." She muttered. "It's highly doubtful that I'll escape punshment for ordering her medication, but I guess I've done what I was told to do."

"This may sound silly;" Markas ventured "but I don't think she's a threat to anyone."

"You may be right, but it's unlikely we'll be able to convince anyone about that without the message, and we can't take that contraption downstairs with us."

"It'll function perfectly well inside her, but it could be dangerous to her to plug it back into her chest. I did manage to get a glasscutter to make a cover for the hole though."

"It isn't that horrible green colour the normal gems are, is it? It'd panic people to see something like that with no backlight." Maxine asked.

"No, I couldn't reproduce the colour, nor the glowing capability. I chose a cheery red colour. I believe the glasscutter called it 'Felrose Red', though I can't see much resemblance between the two."

Markas stood up and slid a small glass circle out of his breast pocket and showed it to her. It seemed almost black from an angle, but it was indeed red. She handed it back and he sidled up to Cibbie, leaning in close to her. The cover clicked into position loudly and Markas jumped back, pulling his hands away as if burned.

"What is it?" Maxine asked, standing up.

"The implant had a ring of lights in it just above where the speaker was, and they lit up as I clicked the glass into place!" Markas said, the shock wearing off.

"Well, at least we don't need to worry about people seeing what colour it is, hm?" Maxine asked with a light chuckle at his misforutne.

Markas shook his head. "No, but that glasscutter did something I didnt expect."

"Oh?"

Markas pointed at the glass and Maxine leaned in close. Right in the centre of the glass, perfectly engraved, was a picture of a Felrose, a flower genetically created by fusing a rose with a long thorned cactus.

Maxine giggled under her breath. "Cute."

Markas sighed. "Well it explains why he charged me 50% more, I guess."

The button on Maxine's wrist started flashing and she cursed under her breath. She pressed the button, walking into the next room.

"Hello? Yes, it's me. Who's on the other line? Stop joking!" She started getting a little flustered. "No, don't put him- He-hello, sir! No, the target is not dead... What do you mean why have I not left the planet? I'm busy! My mission is complete, why am I not allowed any R&R? What did you just say?! No I'm NOT with a man!"

Markas chuckled. "A nice superior you have there."

Maxine shot daggers at him and put the communicator on speaker. A male voice called down the line.

"Maxine, I don't really care what you're doing, you're to report back to the Guild immediately!" It growled.

"Why, that couldnt be who I think it is, could it?" Markas called out.

The voice gabbered for a few seconds. "Who the hell is that?!"

"Why it is! Hello Michael Starfury! How's Rose?" Markas chuckled. "I've not heard from you since you brought her in for that scale replacement!"

"Markas Blizzard, is that you?! Jesus, I've not seen you in, what, two years! How're you doing you coot?" The voice called back.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I've got a favour to ask of you."

"Anything, mate."

"I need you to let the Polarii you sent Maxine after live, and give her a place to stay. I'll come with her and explain everything when I get there, is that possible?"

There was a pause of a few seconds.

"If I say no, are you going to ask for something else, or say that there couldnt possibly be that much red-tape paperwork in the galaxy?"

"I'm more inclined to the latter at this time."

There was another pause.

"You just love to make me do loads of writing, don't you? Alright, I'll see what I can do. It shouldn't be too difficult to get it done, but the paperwork is going to mound my desk for days."

"You mean worse than it already has?" Maxine chimed in, grinning.

"Hey! Shutup, I'm not the deskjob type!" Michael protested.

A little voice on the other side called something out.

"... My secretary just told me she said she had offered to do it about a week ago..."

The little voice shouted some rather profane words and more inconherent gibberish.

"According to her it was while I was drunk and I said I'd do it. Honestly, I'll say anything while I'm drunk! Anyway, git yer arses onto that ship and I'll see you, and the Polarii, in five hours."

The message cut out as Michael Starfury starts slinging profanity that'd make any regular trooper sound like a nun. Maxine sighed.

"Thanks for getting me out of trouble over this... I guess, but we can't let her onto the ship unless she's in the brig or heavily guarded."

Cibbie suddenly moaned loudly and slowly opened her eyes, looking around. She noticed Markas and tried to sit up.

"Woah, kid." He said, holding her down. "You've got some doozies of injuries there, you've gotta stay still or you'll rip the stitches out."

"Where am I..?" She asked, still sleepy.

"You're in my loungeroom on a medical stretcher." He replied.

"Who did this to me..?" Cibbie asked, looking at the bloodied bandages covering whole sections of her body.

Markas glanced to one side. "The Humans are in orbit. We're waiting for your stitches to seal properly before we go."

"Seal?"

"If you lie here long enough, your stitches will make your injuries srong enough to withstand you standing and walking without making them worse. Just lie still and try to get some more sleep. You'll need your strength for our journey. I'll come and get you in an hour, okay?" She nodded and closed her eyes, sighing. Markas signed Maxine down the hall and they crept to the basement steps.

"I didn't think you had any medical knowledge." She mumbled to him.

"I don't, but I've done enough work on metals and mechanics to know what causes stitching to rip open." He lifted his right arm up and showed her some large scars. "I don't have fur to cover up future scars, though."

"Well, you said you knew my boss, how...?"

"Heh, Michael Starfury, current leader of the Militaristic half of the Hunter's Guild. He came here once with his daughter Rose to have me and a doctor work on reconstructing a scale on her right leg after it was shattered during ops. If anyone is going to be sympathetic to Cibbie's story it'll be his family."

"Why's that then?"

"His adopted daughter is one of the Draconis Stupendus, what people normally call Abominations. He adopted her on his run of the Mars Argos facility after finding her. He treats her like his own flesh and blood and he has the uncanny ability to overlook outer appearences. You'll know after we meet with his daughter in a few hours."

Maxine paused.

"Meet with her? What? When'd we arrange that?"

"He'll have informed her of your latest cargo and will have your captain pick her up en-route for extra security. By the way, I'd suggest you advise your crew to be nice to her, she's infamous for breaking things; usually limbs."

An hour later they were on the SS. Liberty. The captain, as Markas had expected, told them they were picking up another passenger in an hour and Markas had asked for a doctor to check Cibbie's stitches to make sure of no tears or misses. As he and Cibbie were shown the ship by Maxine it was all he could do to stop other people from bumping into Cibbie or hitting her until Maxine got fed up and shouted over the intetcom that if no one wanted a free visit to the medical bay with severe head trauma then they'd stop trying to injure her guests. After that it was like people couldn't get out of their way fast enough, diving to the walls when they saw Maxine come strolling down the corridor. They eventually made their way to the Medical bay, A large white room filled with white-sheeted beds and other medical equipment. At the end of the room a group of people, all wearing white gowns, stood around a bed and waved them over. They walked through the rows of beds up to the personell standing around at the end and they asked that Cibbie lay down.

"Hello young lady." One of the female humans said. "Im Doctor Marion Imako. I guess you must be who we were told to expect, yes?"

"Y-yes." Cibbie stammered shyly, her hand holding down her loincloth defensively.

"We're just going to check your stitching to make sure you've not torn anything and change your bandaging ok?"

Cibbie nodded shyly and lay back on the pillow and the doctor moved to close the curtain.

"This bit's private." She said.

Maxine looked a little agitated. "I'm staying inside the curtain." She said.

"We can't let you do that." The doctor replied.

"You can't refuse me!"

"I think you'll find I can."

"I think that you'll find that she can refuse you, but she won't refuse me." a voice behind them rang out. Markas and Maxine spun around.

"Felrose Starfury!" Markas announced, hugging the six foot tall creature. "Look at you, all geared up!"

Rose blushed and her wings moved. She wagged her long tail a little. She was a rather interesting being. Six foot tall with an innocent face, Orange skin and pink hair. She featured large wings and her left arm had scales on it, which gently got denser and denser to the wrist, and completley covered her hand, giving her wicked sharp claws. Her legs also sporting the same scaling, ending in paws and a long semi-prehensile tail that protruded from the base of her spine. Large horns poked through her hair, giving her a slightly aggressive appearance, but her sweet face made her calming. Maxine stood to attention and saluted.

"Miss Starfury, Sir!"

Rose blushed again. "At ease. Anyway, you can deny them entrance, but I don't think you want to deny me or else I'll get my own medic to check her over, and you won't like why you will be unavailable, Dr. Marion." Rose cracked her knuckles.

"Y-yes sir!" The medical personell all said in unison, fully aware of what happened to people who got on the bad side of Rose. It usually involved waking up with memories of huge amounts of pain several hours after the incident. Rose stepped forward and stood next to Cibbie.

"Hey, kid. I'm Rose." she said.

"He-hello Rose. My name is Cibbie..." She shyly replied as the curtain was pulled closed.

"Cute. Here's a hint for you now. If you're pretending to be innocent then now's the perfect time to stop, cause otherwise you'll meet a stickier fate than normal when confronted with me."

Cibbie gasped as the personell pulled the guaze off her injuries.

"I-I'm not pretending anything!" Cibbie cried.

"Hey!" Markas yelled through the curtain. "That's not nice!"

"Sorry, sorry. I had to say it to see whether or not you were really part of the Hive. I apologise." Rose said. "I'm only doing what I'm told to do. If you have Markas on your side, then you're alright by me."

"You better be sorry!" Markas yelled. "I'll show you the proof when we get to your father!"

Rose slapped a hand against her face. "You're really going to the old codger?" Me moaned.

"Hey, if it wins Cibbie her freedom and human rights back, all the more reason to go!"

"Y'know, I always thought that the Canids were stubborn, but you take the cake."

Markas blushed slightly.

"Just because my ancestors were bald chihuahuas doesnt mean you can make fun of me, Miss Dragon!"

"Hey, just cause I can break every bone in your body doesnt give you the right to-"

One of the medical personell stood upright. "Could you two kill eachother elsewhere, we're trying to concentrate!"

"Oops, sorry doc." Rose shot. "I forgot you guys were there."

"It's a good thing we didn't, or we could have stabbed her like this!" His arm flung out with a scalpel, but Rose caught him inches from Cibbie's gut.

Cibbie threw up her gun and it hummed violently, inches from the man's face, but yelped and put her arm back down as the gauze on her shoulder quickly turned red. Dr. Marion rushed over and cut the guaze off her shoulder.

"Get him out of here, dammit! Don't move like that, girl, that pain you just felt was you tearing the stitching! Nurse, give me a needle and more thread. Someone inject a local."

Rose lifted the man up by his top and squeezed his arm, making him yell in pain. she quickly slammed him onto the ground and slid him under the curtain. He stopped sliding by Maxine's feet. She promptly picked him up.

"Thankyou for helping me up." He said, before he was clobbered heavily across the head with the butt of her gun.

"Idiot." She mumbled as he fell with a thump.

The medial personell continued for roughly two hours, restitching her shoulder and replacing guaze before opening the curtains again.

"She'll live." One said.

"What were Omega team doing though, those stitches are really oldschool..." another one muttered.

"Well, the one that looks like a cat is interesting." Marion joked. "Very interesting pattern of injuries."

"It's a first for me." The first doctor piqued. "Road-rash and deep cuts all at once, that must've been a really old road."

Rose joined in.

"And whoever designed this glass cover was ingenious, such a nice pattern." She said, leaning over Cibbie.

The doctors all stopped in their tracks and turned around.

"Is that a flower?"

Markas spoke out. "It's a Felrose, the guy who made the glass panel engraved it in without my knowledge, the bastard even charged me more for it."

"Oh that's cute." Rose giggled. "Now, doctors, I believe you have a companion to work on. Markas, Maxine and Cibbie, you're coming with me, let's go!"

Cibbie slid off the bed and limped over to Markas before Rose picked her up.

"It's a nice lineal dance you do, but it's a bit slow. We've gotta be down three floors on time to meet my dad, so I'll carry you, ok?"

Cibbie blushed brightly and nodded. "T-thanks." She said. Rose grunted as she lifted Cibbie into her arms.

"Honestly, these metal bits are heavy, how do you cope?" She asked.

"I've not noticed.." Cibbie replied. "They don't seem that heavy to me."

"Oi, girls!" Dr. Marion called out. The group spun around and she walked up. "These are for you." She handed Cibbie two lollypops.

"Two?" Maxine probed.

"One for her, one for Rose." She said. "One for the patient and one for Rose for stopping us from getting more work, that and she'd demand one as always."

Rose grinned as Cibbie unwrapped one and put it to Rose's mouth, who opened up and closed her teeth around the stick. "Thanks, doc!" she said through her gritted teeth.

They turned back around and walked out, heading towards the elevator.

"She's a nice woman, but she can be a bit funny at times." Rose said, still with the candy in her mouth.

"Who?" Maxine asked as they stepped in and pressed the deck they wanted.

"Marion. She's always willing to help, but she gets a bit narky around fur." Rose explained.

"I think she has an allergy." Markas said. "She seemed particularly scared of me, so she's probrably allergic to dogs."

Rose shrugged, making Cibbie rise and sink slightly. "Frankly I don't care, as long as she does her work and gives me a lollypop afterwards."

"Hahah, always the child!" Markas laughed.

"Hey! Shutup! It's not my fault I love sugar!"

"But it is your fault that I spent four hundred credits on candy that year you visited." Markas said, slyly. Rose simply huffed and stayed quiet. The elevator arrived and they got off, a few scientists getting on. One pushed Rose out of his way, she quickly responded by tripping him up with her tail.

"Ass!" She yelled at him. "I've got a passenger!" The doors slid closed as the man stood back up. "Bastard." Rose added angrily.

They kept walking until they came to the teleporter room and opened the door, meandering in and standing on the pad. Rose, however, seemed only too eager to cause mischief and put Cibbie down. She took the plastic stick out of her mouth and flicked it at the transporter operator, bouncing it off his nose as they vanished. The man chuckled and put it in the bin next to him, which just happened to be full of little plastic sticks.

As they flashed into the room outside Michael Starfury's office, Rose laughed loudly.

"Honestly, Rose." The secretary on the desk infront of them said. "You hit that guy every time, he probrably thinks you're flirting with him."

Cibbie looked around. There was only four of them in the room. "Where'd that voice come from?"

Rose pointed to the desk. "Look there. That little girl there is Saharah Noodle. She's my dad's secretary."

Just as she said, a small, purple critter was standing -literally- on the desk. Roughly 12 inches tall, covered in fur and with a long tail, she stood in a dress and stockings holding a pencil roughly the same size as her.

"Hello!" Saharah chirped.

"Whoa! She's so cute!" Cibbie said.

Saharah giggled. "Thanks."

"We're going in to see dad, is he in?"

"Oh, yeah. You're scheduled for the whole day."

"Great!" Rose said loudly and threw the door open.

There was a scream from inside as a pile of paperwork fell over. They carefully walked in and closed the door behind them as a man stood up out of a heap of paper. He stood six foot two inches tall, his brown hair brushed neatly away from his face. His green uniform bore many medals and other shiny gewgaws but seemed to only weigh him down. His face showed the telltale signs of stress and lack of sleep, but he had an air of intelligence about him that unbalanced his otherwise teenaged look.

"Ah!" He stammered."Markas! Long time no see!"

"Cibbie, may I introduce you to Michael Starfury. Leader of the Hunter's Guild." Markas said.

"Hello." She said cautiously as Maxine saluted.

"Sir, this is the Polarii you ordered me to capture. She's calling herself Cibbie, Cibbie -"

"Sybil Heritance." Michael finished for her. "Heir to the Archethal seat of rule. Known in common circles as 'Little Cibbie' or 'Inheritance'."

The rest of the room looked shocked.

"S-sir?!" Maxine stammeded. "She's WHO?!"

The General chuckled. "She's royalty."He looked right into Cibbies face. "Something about the face I recognise... I met her when we were going over the peace treaty between our peoples. But you were just a little girl then... More interested in the simple side of life than your overconfident, almost pompous father and your obnoxious and selfish mother. No, no, your brother and I were good friends until the very end; I hope he's resting peacefully now." He walked over and put his hand oh her shoulder, making her wince.

"Sorry, but I need to look into your eyes." He said, staring directly into her. She stared back until she couldnt see anthing but his eyes before he pulled away. "She's safe." He said.

Markas exhaled heavily. "You wanted me to give you evidence to the fact, no?"

"Ah, yes. If you could." Michael responded, sitting back down and looking at Maxine. "Could you go help Saharah get us some coffee and sandwiches please Archon?"

Maxine opened her mouth to object and Michael raised his eyebrows. She saluted and walked out.

"I coulda done it dad!" Rose objected.

"Yeah, like last time when you ate all my sugar? No, I think not." He replied with a silly smile on his face.

Rose blushed. "I thought we werent going to talk about that with people in the room..." She protested, wriggling shyly.

Markas sighed heavily and stepped infront of Cibbie. "This may feel funny for a moment, bear with me, ok?"

She nodded as he took the glass pate off her chest and slid the black speaker in the slot. It clicked loudly and she buckled.

"Cibbie?" He asked, worried.

"I'm fine, I just felt a litle weak for a second." She replied, as the message started playing out of her chest.

They stood in silence as it spoke. Michael had the most shocked face in the room as he sat in sheer disbelief, even Cibbie didn't seem to be as stunned as him. Maxine walked in with Saharah on a tray with coffee mugs and some uncut sandwiches as the message ended. Saharah tilted her head.

"Sir, I don't mean to be presumptuous, but wasn't that..." She began.

Michael stood up. "That message!" He said. "It's definately true..."

"How do you know dad?" Rose asked, taking her coffee.

He sat down again. "The voice that spoke through that entire thing was indeed her father, the late King Judas Heritance of the Archethal throne. But... When did he record this? The last time he was seen alive was just after the treaty was signed. The castle was attacked and only the young princess and her brother escaped with their lives. You were, regrettably, captured in the final raid on your people about a month ago. If your father did do what the message says he did, he had control over a large portion of the Polaris' technology, especially if he managed to keep you from losing your individuality. You've lost some of your memories, but at least you kept your sense of self, which is a far more valuable commodity."

Cibbie looked apologetic and Michael laughed. "There's no need to look like that, you've done nothing wrong. If anything, you're exactly what we need at a time like this."

It was Cibbie's turn to tilt her head. "What do you mean?"

Michael jumped out of his seat and over the desk, rushing up to her. He held out his hand with a smile on his face. "Miss Cibbie Heritance; I, General Michael Starfury officially propose to you a position in the Hunter's Guild." He said, heartily.

She was taken aback for a few moments, which gave Saharah an opportunity to intervene.

"Sir, might I suggest she be given a night to think about it? We can give her and Mr. Blizzard a place to stay for the night." She proposed. "It will give us time to fill in the paperwork."

Michael looked downtrodden and lowered his hand. "Right, right. For now, I guess we should have some lunch and coffee." He sat back at his desk as Saharah lifted her pencil and hit it hard on the tray, a concealed blade flicking out making it an easily weilded scythe. As she went to cut the sandwiches on the tray Markas grinned.

"Now, now." he said, taking the little scythe from her resisting grip. "Is that any way to use the weapon I made for you?" He pulled out a small knife. "This is much better; it's probrably cleaner, too."

Saharah took the knife and started cutting sandwiches and Markas took a rag from his pocket and began cleaning the scythe blade.

"Um- Mr. Starfury?" Cibbie started.

"Yes, young lady?"

"I-I want to know... What am I?"

The room stopped and looked at her.

"Which part of you?" Michael asked slowly.

"The part of me that everyone is scared of." She said hesitantly.

He sat silently for a minute before leaning forward.

"You are part of a collection of species all technologically linked to one another into a hive, millions of individuals but one voice. Somewhat like the Borg from a certain popular science fiction series. In every way the collection, or 'Hive' exists only to conquer and-or assimilate all other beings into the Hive. They have proven to be ruthless and relentless in their endeavour to erradicate all individual life. The entire collection of millions of beings is built only for war, like yourself. Most bear a weapon which is integrated into the superstructire of the subject, in your example your arm, and all have a crystal on their chest which glows a really terrible green colour when the subject has either died or disconnected from the Hive, usually the previous. The majority of them have a technological armour that makes them almost impervious to energy damage and highly resistant to projectile weapons; you however do not have such protection. We can remedy that, but it'll take a while. Usually we resort to projectile weaponary, as armour piercing rounds penetrate their defences, but we also outfit all of our soliders with blades, such as swords, axes and the like. Few of us use blunt force weapons as they do little damage, but they have shown effective on occasion, but usually only with a direct blow to the intended's head."

Cibbie lifted the gun on her arm and looked down at it, the two concealed blades flicked out the end with a loud smack. Michael gave her a curious look.

"That's a new feature to me, they've never had blades before. You must be of a new upgrade to make them more formidable in close combat than the common 'I'm a zombie and I'll eat your brains' type."

Rose laughed through her sandwich. "Yes, they do act like zombies in close combat, don't they?"

"Let's test your reflexes!" Michael yelled, throwing an apple at Cibbie rather hard. She squealed loudly as she swung her arm, the blades sliced it in two with a wet shunk. "Impressive." Michael said. "They've made real killing machines now. You've got reflexes that are above average, a wild swing like that from any normal girl would have missed terribly. Rather than the same ole zombies we've had to deal with for the last two years, we may have to actually start fighting true weapons of war. We might actually have a need for our class 9 particle cannons soon."

Markas stood upright in a hurry. "You actually BUILT one?!"

Michael nodded. "They're equipped on the flagship."

"Are you crazy?! Those things are powerful enough to make a whole planet nothing but a barren wasteland!"

"Well, only at absolutley maximum power. Our ships arent capable of that yet. The best we could do is make a four mile plot of land completley devoid of anything taller than a blade of grass."

Rose chuckled.

"You men and your toys." She laughed.

"And what about Rose? She's... Not exactly like everyone else." Cibbie asked.

"Ah, that can only be explained with a full history explanation." Michael said. "Roughly fifty years ago, a group of scientists working in a secret facility on the Moon created the first true man-made intelligence. By combining resequenced DNA from one of Earth's extinct species with that of humans they created a creature now known as an Undergrounder. This creature's strength, speed and intelligence was unmatched on earth, and it grew up into a bright young lad. With the initial success of this subject, they created more, eventually there were thousands of them, from Wolves to Sheep, Rabbits to Alligators. The scientists intended to use them for fighting another war, and their experiments soon discovered this fact; none of the adult scientists survived. Now, about twenty nine years ago, the militaries of the Earth discovered the facility on the Moon and sent a team to investigate. When news of the thriving underground 'monsters' reached the command back on Earth, the order was given to kill all of them. In the ten minutes that followed, even new younglings were not spared the brutal massacre. The current head of the Underground, Mr. Wrathgaze, killed the small platoon almost unaided, and this is where the Mutenagenix war began. For ten long years the Undergrounders practically steamrolled Earth's defences.

"It was at this point, three months before the Endgame, that Androids were created. They proved ruthless and unbeatable, forcing the Underground forces back to their home. When the final attack on the Moon facility ended, there were very few Undergrounders left. For the next few months they picked up the pieces, ever cautious of a 'cleansweep' attack that never came. Living in almost complete poverty and a facility that was close to collapse, they asked Earth's governments for their help. Their home, called the Hoven, was repaired and upgraded to be able to cope with a hopefully booming society. It was shortly after this that they founded the Hunter's Guild, and through us they discovered that two of the Earth's factions had left a compound behind that stopped them from being able to procreate so long as they breathed it, and yet another evacuation of the facility took place.

"Six years ago, after the cleaning process, we discovered another facility being run on Mars. I was sent in alone as recon, back then I was but a major and I was expendable. The facility locked behind me and I found myself trapped in halls filled with blood and death. The security drone that was supposed to be keeping the facility's most top secret research in weapons had gone crazy, and one of the scientists, a Dr. Ulysses Farce had become crazed. It was in this facility that I discovered Felrose; I walked into what was akin to a gestation chamber, a giant room filled with bio-cells of living specimens, and she was there, right up the back. She was the only one that was awake, and she looked so terrified from being surrounded in water. I released her, clothed her with what I could find off the deceased scientists and we continued from there. After that she's become my adopted daughter, and I'd not love her any less in any other way." He finished, smiling to his daughter.

Cibbie stood up and shook Michael's hand. "Thanks for the lunch." She said meekly.

"Think nothing of it, just doing a favour for a friend is all." He opened the top drawer in his desk and took out a few cards. He put his signature on the back of them and handed them to Cibbie. "Here. Archon!"

Maxine snapped to attention, almost poking her eye out trying to salute.

"Sir!"

"Take them to the locations on the cards and talk only to the owners of these shops. They owe me some favours and I think it's time I took advantage of them."

Cibbie looked through the cards slowly, reading them out loud.

"Snippit's all Occasion Tailor, Cut 'n Run Barber and Salon, what's this- Mac Niel's Auto Repair?!"

Michael shrugged. "While we're getting you clothed and neatened up, we may as well try to buff the scratches out of your leg and arm, no?"

Cibbie looked down at her leg, the scratches making the metal look dull.

"The Hair salon place doesn't owe me any favours." He pointed out. "But the owner's a funny ole' Avian and he can never resist a challenge, he'd love to be the first man to have ever done a Polarii's hair."

Markas grimaced. "Very cute, Michael, but how're we supposed to get to the mall without the police grabbing us and filling Cibbie full of enough bullets to make another leg?"

"I'll call ahead and get them to close up for a short while, you can use the teleporter in Saharah's office, she'll not mind I'm sure."

"Gee, I guess I have to go and work the damned thing now, do I?" Saharah grumbled.

"Well, it'd be nice, I don't think that Miss Reynolds has been taught how to use them." Michael said, sarcastically.

Saharah wandered back into her office and jumped back onto her desk. Michael, however, picked up a phone and waved them out.

"I'd reccommend going to the Salon first, your hair'd get in the way of Mrs. Snippit. Ah! Is this the Cut 'n Run in the Lincoln station? Ah, good, good. I'd like to speak to the manager please-"

The door shut behind them, shutting his voice out. Sahara motioned to a booth on one side of the room.

"Give them a minute to close up and I'll send you into the shop. You've gotta be in the booth or you'll not be going anywhere." She said.

Markas, Maxine and Cibbie stepped into the small booth and closed the door. The enclosed space hummed for a minute before something went clunk and they all vanished.

Shave and a Haircut

The Hair salon stood empty except for one Avian, a medium height, feather covered blue Undergrounder with a black uniform on and an apron with various hair care implements sticking out of a pocket. He sat at the desk awaiting his customers, grumbling under his breath. The room lit up and the trio stood just inside the entrance, as if they'd been there all along. The Avian stood up and walked over to them, taking Cibbie by the hand.

"Good day. I am Mr. Palware and you must be the person who has been sent to me by General Starfury. Please, come and sit in a chair, there is much work to do and so little time before I must open again."

Cibbie went and sat in a chair and soon had shampoo all through her rather long hair. Markas and Maxine busied themselves with other matters while the blue Avian worked.

"Honestly, child. Your hair is all full of gravel and dirt! It's as if you slid down a road!" He protested.

"Well, actually..."

"And what's this caked in?" He put it close to his eyes and looked carefully. "Is this blood? Blood does not do hair good. SIT STILL! This'll only hurt if you keep moving!" He commanded, poking her as she fidgeted, the chemicals stinging her cuts a little.

"It hurts!" she protested, moving her hand to her shoulder.

"Sorry." Palware replied. "But I can't help that. Just cope with it for a short while and you'll be all better, okay?"

He rinsed the conditioner out of her hair, taking care to splash a little water over her bandages to keep it from settling in them and moved the chair into a sitting position, bundling her hair up into a towel before wheeling a dryer over and turning it on.

"It'll take about ten minutes to dry, so just sit back and relax and I'll be back with an idea on what to do with your hair."

He walked out, mumbling about a book as the dryer heated up. Cibbie sat back and closed her eyes. It was strangely soothing, the warm air drying her wet hair and fur. She started to drift off to sleep when a woman came walking in the back entrance.

"I'm here for my shift, Mr. Palware!" The female Avian chimed, before noticing Cibbie. Even through the feathers her face went bone white and she screamed before Markas could grab her and clap his hand over her mouth.

"SHH, girl! Calm down, I'll explain everything, just calm the hell down!" He snarled.

She nodded and he took his hand off her mouth.

"W-What the hell is going on here?!" She snapped. "Where's Mr. Palware?!"

"He's in the back room!" Mr. Palware called out, stepping out the passage with a book. "Oh, Maria, you're here early!"

The girl stared at him. "What's going on Uncle?! Why's there an almost naked Polaris sitting in our salon with a dryer on its hair?!" Cibbie blushed at being refrenced, moving her hand over her crotch again.

"Now, now, calm down. A client of ours, General Michael Starfury sent these three here. I was asked to do the Polaris girl's hair and that's what I'm doing. I've closed the store and sent all the other girls out for an hour so I can do it in secret as not to panic anyone. Now that you're here, you can help me with my work."

"I don't want to touch a Polaris' hair!" She yelled back, disgusted.

"Well then you can go home and not come back!" Her uncle said back. "My shop exists to try new ideas and new styles, and if you're unprepared to do so, you can find another job!"

The girl looked taken aback. "Fine, uncle. I'll just go get ready." She said, hanging her head in defeat.

"Good girl. Now, Miss Polarii, I've got a book full of styles for you to choose from-"

"I don't really care, just pick one that is nice." She sighed.

"A-are you sure? We have a wide range..."

Cibbie nodded. "Anything is better than 'witch'." Palware sighed heavily and turned the dryer off. He wheeled it away and pulled out some scissors.

"Maria! Gitcher ass in here!" He yelled.

"I'm coming uncle!" She yelled, stepping back into the room in her white uniform. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to plait her hair, pull it from just behind her ears here," He tapped Cibbie on the head, showing Maria where to start from, "and continue there while I cut the fringe."

Maria sighed. "Yes uncle." She said, taking hold of Cibbie's hair. "Woah! This is really long, how'd you get the colour so bright?!"

Palware shook his head. "It's natural, girl." He said, holding a comb in his beak. "Hurry up, we've got twenty minutes to get this done and get her out of here before the other girls come back!"

Maxine looked back down at the cards Cibbie had given to her.

"Excuse me, but where's Snippit's from here? Is there a back way we can go to avoid the people outside?"

"Out the back door and to the right, thrid door on the left. Be careful, security patrols the corridors." Palware replied, robotically.

"I'm finished back here, uncle!" Maria said after ten minutes. "Is there anything else you'd like me to do with her?"

"Yeah, grab her tail and wash the tip in a basin, use the same shampoo and conditioner on the top here. There's likely to be an arseload of gravel and dirt in the hair, so give it a good scrub."

"Yes uncle." She replied, still sounding defeated.

"And when you blow-dry it, use 'Irish'."

"But the last time it was used it set the woman's hair on fire!" She protested.

"Last time it was used the woman's hair was almost dry to begin with, we only need her tail to be mostly dry from sopping, but we need it dry quickly."

A few minutes pass with no sounds other than the soft snipping of scissors and sloshing of the basin that Maria brought out. Maria stood up and took the bowl away and came back with a large hairdryer that looked as if it had been put together by a person who wanted to make a leafblower in a much more compact size. She plugged it in and held it at arms length, as if terrified to be handling it. Her uncle glanced up at her and shook his head bitterly.

"Honestly, girl; it's not going to eat you!" he snapped. "Look, hold it in both hands and keep a firm grasp or it'll fly right out of your hands and into your face! Miss, we need you to hold your tail as still as possible, the dryer is likely to knock it to one side, so compensate, ok?"

Cibbie nodded slowly as Palware styled her hair with mousse. The blowdryer roared into power when Maria flicked the switch on. The near deafaning sound was all anyone could hear for a few minutes before she switched it back off.

"All done, uncle!" she chimed.

He nodded to her and put his scissors away. "Yes, I've just finished here myself." He reached down and spun the seat around. "Tell me, what do you think?"

"The parting down the middle of her head is cleverly hidden by her bangs, uncle. It suits her, actually."

"I thought so." He replied, pulling the towel off Cibbie. "Now, the cost of all this is being charged to..?"

Maxine grinned slyly. "Charge it to the Hunter's Guild. Think of her as Special Ops."

"Okay, Ms. Now, go out this door and go to the right like I said. Third door on the left."

Markas helped Cibbie out of the chair.

"Thank you!" She said.

"Think nothing of it, kid, just remember to come back to me when you want a new style." Palware replied.

Cibbie smiled and nodded and followed Markas out the door, Maxine snapped it shut behind them. "Let's go quick, before security comes!" She mumbled to them and they rushed down the corridor. Markas opened the door they had been told to go to and they hurried in. As the door clicked shut behind them, a female Felis walked up to them.

"Ah, you must be the customers I was told to expect, please, come in!"

Cibbie felt worried, looking around panicked.

"Y-you're being really friendly to us, even though I'm a..?"

The woman cackled, toothily. "You're nothing special, lass. I've dressed up creatures that'd sooner rip my store apart than say hello. At least you don't have wings and four legs! Now, now, come in and step up onto this pedastal, I've got to take your measurements."

Cibbie shyly did as she was told as Maxine's mobile phone rang out show-tunes. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out.

"Hello..? Mr. Starfury? I mean Sir! What? Yes sir! We're in the tailors.." She trailed off, almost ignorant to the men who had walked in with large metal boxes on wheels. Cibbie stood as upright as she could as her measurements were taken before the woman went to walk off.

"Excuse me-" Cibbie said to her back, "But who are you, anyway?"

The Feline turned around and bowed. "My name is Mrs. Samantha Snippit. I'm the owner of Snippit's Tailor, and I've been asked to make you some suitable clothing, which shall be made of Ironwool weave, as ordered."

"Ironwool?" Cibbie inquired, curiously.

"It's a cloth weave made from the wool of special bred sheep, highly durable and almost completley resistant to energy blasts because of what it is treated in. It breathes well and won't catch your fur, and is stretchy enough to copensate for any height or size you may gain in the next twelve months. These gentlemen are from a different store and have been sent here to save time, or at least so I was told. I'll be back in about 20 minutes with your clothes, make yourselves at home!" She finished, winking to Cibbie over her shoulder, walking away. Maxine snapped her phone shut and turned around.

"The boys from Mac. Niel's were sent here to get those scratches out, the General told them to come. Apparently he's got something to show us, and we need to be there as soon as possible. Cibbie, could you sit in a chair and let these boys buff your limbs?"

One of the men chuckled at her rather exploitable comment as he took out a small buffer and plugged it into a wall socket. "If it makes any difference to yeh gal, I'm Steve Mac. Niel, the son of the man who owns the autoshop. This here is Stan, and we don't care what you are. If you've got metal on you, near you or with you we know how to make it shiny, and will do anything to keep it that way. Sit back, relax and we'll be done in no time." He finished, the buffer in his hands humming to life. Cibbie nodded and sat back as the men knelt down and got to work.

"Oi, Steve! Check this out!" Stan called.

"What?"

"These scratches are practically vanishing, we'll be done in minutes!" Stan replied.

"Yup, now shuddup and get back to it, we've not much time ourselves!" Steve finished, looking back to Cibbie's arm.

Minutes passed as the boys buffed the scratches from Cibbie's arm and leg; the one working on her gun finished sooner, and began to work on the few small scratches on her horns.. They stood up and unplugged their power-tools and put them away as Mrs. Snippit walked back into the room with a pair of pants and a top on coathangers. The boys left and Cibbie stood up.

"Now, the right leg and left arm are both short to keep your metallic limbs out, else you'd just ruin the fabric. Shoulderpads and a kneepad have been added, the kneepad to help you when you need to kneel, obviously, and the shoulderpads to cover up that loose cable on your right shoulder. You can wear your loincloth bra underneath, but it probably won't last much longer for how tattered it is. The new clothes should fit like gloves, but only if you try them on will you find out, so please step into a change-room and try them on for me!"

Cibbie took the clothes from her and walked into a change-room, snapping the door shut. They waited a few minuted before the door opened again and she stepped out.

"Well, well!" Mrs. Snippit said, smugly. "A perfect fit! And the colours suit you well, too!"

Cibbie blushed as she turned around, the black and purple fabric reflecting the lights slightly.

"It's a good thing I went ahead and made you a casual set as well, isn't it?" Mrs. Snippit said, stepping forward, pulling ribbon out of her pocket. "Stand still, girl." She picked up Cibbie's hair and tied the purple ribbon into a bow. "On the house! Incidentally, the formal set includes a long skirt that'll cover up your leg, so be gentle with it, hm?" She walked back into the back room and returned with a suit bag, handing it to Markas.

"Thankyou!" Cibbie said, happily.

"No problems!" Mrs. Snippit said back, before leaning into Markas' ear. "Take care of this one for me Markas, she's a cutie." She whispered as Maxine examined Cibbie's new clothing.

"O-of course! You know my brother'd kill me if you told him to!" He quietly stammered.

"Well, if you do what I ask, I have no need to tell my husband, do I? Eh, brother in-law?" She mumbled. She raised her voice to a mutually audible level "The size was a bit familiar, so I checked our records and discovered that the young lass here is the exact same size as Lulubelle Heritance of the archethal throne."

"She's her mother!" Markas said. "This is Cibbie Heritance, daughter of Lulubelle and Judas Heritance, the late rulers of the Archethal kingdom."

"Really? Anyway!" Samantha called, "You wanted to go back to the General's office? I have a transporter in the next room, please follow me!"

They all walked through a small door and into another part of the shop, where she motioned them into another transporter and they went inside, closing the door. She sat behind a desk and fiddled with the controls before it made a clunk and they vanished.

With another bright flash, Saharah's office had more inhabitants. She put down her book and looked up into Maxine's face.

"Ah! You're here right on time! Mike'll be out in a moment to escourt you all down to sector E-17. Please wait for him out here. Also, Cibbie, I have something for you from Master." She padded across the desk and pulled a drawer open. Cibbie walked up to the desk and lifted the drawer's contents out. She unwrapped the square wrapped gift and read the name of the first box aloud.

"P.R.A. Kit. Personal Robotic Assistant model 2.53, 'A small companion that you can customise to keep you company!'"

Michael Starfury walked out of his office and locked the door. "That set of boxes you hold there is everything you'll need to create your own robotic companion. It cost me five hundred credits for the latest model and all the extras. I took a moment to check through it all and found that you've gotten a rare Purecore GAT-Battery, so essentially you're holding hardware that cost me about a quater of it's total worth. I'll help you put it together once you've gotten a fair idea on what you want it to look like." The door he had just locked shuddered as someone pounded on it.

"DAAAD! UNLOCK THE GODDAMNED DOOR!" Rose yelled angrily from within his office.

Michael cringed. "Oh, right, I forgot she was in there!"

Saharah smiled at Cibbie, who tilted her head.

"Mr. Starfury-"

"Call me Michael, please." he quickly shot, unlocking the door.

"M-Michael, would I be correct in guessing that Saharah here is..?"

Rose came bounding into the room and stood by the outside door. Michael relocked the door and finished her sentence. "A P.R.A. unit? Yes, only she's a slightly older model."

Saharah beamed. "I'm only a model 1.94."

"She's been invaluable to me, this little one has." Michael said, petting her lightly. "I took her with me to the Argos facility on Mars during my mission there, and she was essentially my journal; keeping records and video coverage of the whole mission."

"He called me Saharah because he likes sandboxes," Saharah said, much to Michael's embarrassment, "Rose added Noodle because she thought I would function better with a sirname, despite the fact that we technically adopt our owner's."

"Anyway, we've to be off, I've got a meeting with Hazard and President Washington, and I wanted them to meet you. If their bodyguards start a fight, please let Rose handle them, we don't want you getting hurt now do we?" Michael said, hurriedly.

Cibbie nodded and Rose opened the outside door. Cibbie put the boxes on the desk and wandered out, the others following behind her. The next thing she knew, she was pinned against a wall, the stitching on her left shoulder torn open and bleeding again, the furry person holding her there growling through gritted teeth. The world seemed to blur as Rose pulled the man off her and held him aloft, forcing him to let Cibbie go slumping to the carpet. Michael knelt down and wrenched Cibbie's top off her, pushing his hand against the freshly reopened wound. Her eyesight grew black as the hall flashed and two men in white surgical clothing appeared in the room, right as she fell unconscious.

She awoke in a wheelchair, fresh stitching holding her shoulder closed and a strange bandage stuck over the top of it. She was being walked through a corridor she'd never seen before, Rose walking just next to her. Cibbie raised her head up groggily and glanced around.

"W-where am I..?" She mumbled, the talking behind her stopping as she spoke.

"Ah! you're awake now!" Michael's voice called out. "Good to see you're still with us. You're in the access corridor to sector E-17, please wait until we have entered the room to ask any more questions, all shall be revealed." His hand put her shirt onto her lap. "Don't put that back on, you tore your stitching again and pulling your top on will risk tearing them again." he informed her as his hand moved to her shoulder and rearranged her tattered cloth bra.

Saharah landed on Cibbie's lap and sat on her thigh, her face turned up to cibbie with a concerned look.

"Are you okay Miss Heritance?" She asked.

Cibbie nodded as they entered a large, dimly lit room. A blue glow came from the far wall, which could not be seen. The glow, which on closer inspection proved to be two glows, was seperated by what seemed to be a beam right down the middle except the top, which connected the two. A light came on above her and two people stepped infront of her. One was the furred man who had attacked her, the other a woman whom she had never met. The man bowed.

"Miss Sybil Heritance, My name is Hazard Wrathgaze. I am the current head of the Underground faction. I wish to apologise for my attack earlier, I had no way of knowing you were an ally, please forgive me."

"It's okay, you didn't know any better." Cibbie said calmly. "Don't call me Sybil, either, I'm Cibbie." She shook his paw and turned to the woman.

"Uh- Miss Cibbie Heritance, I am Rachael Washington, the current president of the Earth. I am pleased to make your acquaintance." She said, sternly shaking Cibbie's hand. "I-uh- I dont think there's anything I have to apologise for... Is there?" She said, looking around. The group chuckled.

Michael leaned down. "I've invited you along, not only to meet these two, but to meet another pair of indiviuals. There has been an attack on an Earth Alliance colony by the Polaris and I've been ordered to end it quickly." A light at the end of the room flicked on, illuminating a humanoid shell, roughly five foot tall, hanging from a rock that was embedded in the wall in the distance. The rock gave off a disturbingly unnatural blue glow, even in the bright light. The shell hung from glowing blue placeholders that seemed to be attatched to the head. Cibbie stared silently for a moment before the shell cracked, more blue light spilling from the fresh opening. More cracks spread across the shell's surface before it simply shattered, covering the floor in debris.

The entity within was like nothing she had ever imagined before. Semi-transparent and glowing blue, large rounded parts inside which were red, along with red veins running down the inside of its arms and legs. Its eyes flicked open, they were coloured a vibrant green and gave it a look of strength. The creature stepped down to the ground, tendrils pulling out of the rock from behind its head, showing the the rock didn't hold it in place, but rather that it had been holding itself up. Red veins ran down the tendrils, as well as down the lengthy tail, which had also slid out of the rock. The creature turned around and grabbed the rock surface and pulled what turned out to be a lid off before reaching inside. It pulled out a small green glowing object, which proptly came to life. The green entity floated softly over the blue one's hand. It appeared to be a head with tendrils like the blue ones', but no body. The two creatures moved towards the group and stopped just short of Cibbie's chair.

"Cibbie Heritance," Michael said aloud. "May I introduce you to Pride and his daughter Priss." Michael said. "The Guild refers to them as special units 17 and 18."

The blue one nodded to her. "Miss Heritance, it is a pleasure to know you." It said in a distinctly male voice.

"Hello!" The little green one said. "I'm Priss, nice to meet you!"

Cibbie seemed taken aback for a moment before saying anything. "H-hello. It's very nice to meet you."

"Pride was discovered by the Hellen'aht expedition about twelve years ago far out in space. The material the rock is made of is called Phazon and, according to Pride, has somehow managed to corrupt its way through a dimensional barrier, coming to rest in our reality." Michael informed her. "These two are of a species of creatures known as Metroids in that reality, and were supposedly almost wiped out."

"So why do they glow like that?" Cibbie asked.

"We glow because we are energy based entities." Pride informed her. "We feed off of the extremely high energy that Phazon gives off. Please don't touch it, as it it extremely radioactive, almost any life-form that comes in contact with it that is not immune to the toxicity dies in moments."

Cibbie shrunk back into the chair. "Y-you're not radioactive, are you?"

"Hahah, no." Pride chuckled. "It takes a lot of energy for us to evolve into a humanoid form like I am, I've just been helping Priss get to my evolution faster. We are not any more radioactive than yourself."

"Well it's nice to know you." Cibbie said. "I'm sure I'll meet you again sometime."

"Count on it." Pride said calmly.

Michael stepped next to Cibbie's chair and looked Pride in the face. "We've got work for you, Pride. Anathasia Colony has been attacked by the Polaris and our own military force is having difficulty holding them back, we wanted you to go down there and, uh, resolve the situation."

"The council?" Pride snapped.

"We're all in agreement." The president said. "We want to have as few human or underground casualties as possible, so we've decided to utilise our trump card; you."

"I shall do as I am asked." Pride said. "Who is going to take care of Priss while I'm out, though I shan't be long?"

"I will." Rose said, stepping forward.

"The wild child again?" Pride asked, lifting an eyebrow. "Very well, but I want no antics like last time!"

Rose clicked her fingers and sighed. "Aww, I guess I'll have to call off that trip to the Power plant."

"Rose!" Michael shouted angrily.

"Now, now, Michael; I know when I'm being played with." Pride said, trying to calm him down. "She knows perfectly well that if we disrupted the power this whole station would explode. With that, I must be off. I shall see you all again soon."

Pride walked over to the glowing section in the wall and pressed his hand against it. The rock seemed to turn into water and he stepped into it.

"Pride has a great many abilities, most of which revolve around his manipulation of Phazon. But he's also near indestructible, being vulnerable only to a projected beam of completley pure Phazon energy. Priss doesn't share that invincibility yet, so she stays here with us. So far, the most frightening of all his abilities is his power to drain pure life energy out of absolutley anything, turning the intended target into dust. It's probably as painful to watch him do it as it would be to have it used on you. The trick you just saw then was mere manipulation of the element, creating a rift between here and another point. As long as this core here exists, we can send him wherever we want to within four hundred light years." Michael explained.

"How does he get back?" Cibbie asked, looking up at him.

"He takes a small piece of Phazon with him which he uses as his weapon usually. When he's finished he simply utilises that to create another rift, however that rift will only last a short amount of time, usually long enough for him to use it, before the energy is completley voided and the element becomes useless, turning back to stone. If he gets stranded, he says he can create more Phazon, but the problem has never arisen. Here, watch this:"

Michael walked over to the left side of the room and turned on a screen, then fiddled with it until he got the live feed from a camera down in the field. They watched as grey humanoids limply walked towards the camera, firing rounds blindly. A few fell as large bullet wounds opened up on random fatal positions, but more simply took the place of the ones who had fallen.

"The Polaris, as you can see, are relentless. They can turn both corpses and living captives into more of their own." Michael told her.

Suddenly a blue blur flashed across the screen and one of the Polarii exploded, showering the wall in blood. The camera whizzed around to show Pride, who ran headlong into the oncoming mass, grabbing one and pushing several others into one another.

"Watch this, try not to be scared." Michael said.

There was a scream as the red vein in Pride's arm shone brighter than the rest of him, his fingers buried in the Polaris he held captive. He smiled, as if he were actually taking pleasure in doing this, which made Cibbie wretch horribly. There was a moment of nothing other than this before the Polaris he held crumbled into dust, the metallic components falling to the ground with a crunch. Pride, now with a look of satisfaction on his face, picked up a rock and clenched his fist around it. It slowly but surely changed into the same material in the wall. After he had finished changing it, he crushed it and threw it into the air, producing a blue mist which froze infront of him. The cloud suddenly dispersed, its glowing contents flying through the Polaris forces. A timeless moment passed before every Polaris simply crumbled, falling to the ground dead. A radio spat static.

"All Polaris forces dead. Reports are of a light blue glow that seemed to rip right through them. All units are to exercise extreme caution and look for survivors. Polaris forces are to be confirmed dead by headshot. All forces in the immediate vicinity of Special unit 17 are to stay put. Repeat-"

Michael turned the screen off as his phone started ringing. He idled and then picked up.

"What?" He demanded down the line, grinning sarcastially.

"We'll just leave him to his underlings for now and return to other matters." Hazard chuckled, turning to Cibbie. "I was wondering what the General saw in you when he said he'd offered someone a position, now that I've seen for myself I can say that he made an interesting choice."

Cibbie looked puzzled. "What position did he say he offered? All he said to me was that I'm welcome in the Hunter's Guild's ranks."

"I offered you a position in the guild, yes." Michael suddenly piped up, closing his mobile. "But failed to tell you what position. Sorry, that was rude of me. I'm proposing a nice easy job deep within the H.Q. where you'll get a fair amount of legwork. Pay will be high and the hours are kinda long, but you pretty much get to bum around all day with friends and coworkers. You are required to go through training, which will take about two to three weeks."

Rose rolled her eyes and shrugged as most of the others chuckled.

"That's nice and all, dad, but the position is what she wants to know, not the details!"

Michael thought for a moment and chuckled. "Right, the position." he said "I'll get to the point. Your position, after training, will be my personal bodyguard."

"But if you sit in your office all day, how will I be getting plenty of legwork?"

"That's an easy one, but I can see how you are unsure. I call for reports from the far corners of the guild really often, basically just formalities and inventory checks."

Cibbie's face drooped. "You're making me your messenger..."

"Not exactly, I send Saharah for the reports, but she's small and can't go by teleporter, so she takes a little while longer than a normal person would. You'd be escourting her there for me, keeping her safe."

Saharah piped up "At least we get to chat along the way, huh? And when your P.R.A. is customised and ready we could probrably go to the arenas!"

"Now, now, Saharah, you'll go easy on her assistant at first, you remember how you were the first time you entered the arena zone." Rose chimed. "And that pencil of yours is hardly regulation equipment."

Michael knelt down infront of Cibbie and held out his hand.

"Will you join us?" He asked earnestly.

She contemplated for a minute. "Who'll train me?"

"You're a special case, and Human trainers would be unable to teach you properly, so you would be put into a class with Commander Jay. He trains Android personnell for special ops. You'd be unable to accidentally kill anyone in his class, well, so long as he's there anyway." Michael replies, still holding his hand out.

She thought for another breathles minute, watching as Pride stepped back out of the wall.

"Alright." She said, shaking Michael's hand. Markas and Maxine walked out of the room, Markas pushing the wheelchair Cibbie was sitting in.

Rose walked up next to her father, looking him dead in the face. "That's a wicked grin you have on, dad. I trust that Jay will find the joke as funny as you?"

Michael put a hand to his chin and tried not to laugh. "Oh, I'm sure he's going to love it."

"Why, Starfury?" Pride asked, loudly. "Why make her one of the Hunters?"

"Yes, General," Washington pressed, breaking her silence "I'm sure we'd all like to know your reasoning."

Michael's face turned somber. "I made a promise to her father, and I'm not going back on it, not even for what it could mean for us all. All I want for your silence on this matter is your word that if something goes wrong, it will be me who puts an end to it. Deal?"

The room looked at one another hoplessly and nodded their agreement.

Rose sighed, flipping a playing card through her fingers. "We're all the girl has in her world," She sadly said, "we could at least make it a nice place to be for her while the Facade of Innocence lasts."