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Torque's family was just sitting down to dinner, and Torque was laughing happily, the six year old excitedly trying to catch his mother's long, dancing white tail.

Torque had just caught his mother's tail when a sudden resounding boom echoed from the front of the house. Torque's mother, Sora, a tall, lithe white-furred cat, looked up, her ears flattening against her head. Torque's father, Torin, a German Shepherd like his son, looked up as well, a tense expression appearing on his face. The tall German Shepherd stood, and Sora held up her hand. "I'll see." She said calmly. Torin nodded and sat again.

The German Shepherd had a coloration nearly identical to that of his son- a black nose, with white fur around it, and dark brown fur on the upper portion of his muzzle. White fur ran from underneath his chin all the way down to his tail, and he had tan-brown furred arms. The back of his head and neck were a deep brown, almost black, and his shoulders had a light tan brown coloration, and his back down to the tip of his tail was dark brown. He had chocolate-brown furred paws that he rested on his son's shoulders, his tail nervously sweeping from side to side.

Torque looked up and asked, "What's going on, Daddy?"

Torin shook his head. "I don't know, son. It's nothing."

The young 6-year old nodded. "Okay." Sora came back into the room and walked up to her husband, and whispered, "It's them. We don't have long."

The adult German Shepherd nodded. "All right. Loran's coming, right?"

Sora replied, "He should be. I hope nothing happens to him."

Another resounding boom swept through the house, and Torque jumped. "What's happening, Dad?" He sounded scared, and Torin crouched by him and hugged him tightly. "Are you listening to me, Torque?"

The younger dog nodded. "Yes, Daddy."

Torin's heart broke as he looked at his son. "I... Son, I love you. When Loran gets here, listen to what he says, okay?"

The German Shepherd nodded. "You guys are coming, right?"

The house was silent for a moment, and Torin sighed. "Son... I don't know how to explain this. I-"

The door slammed inwards with a massive crash, and black-clad soldiers streamed in, holding G3A3's, and a tall, black armored figure strode in between them. He looked at Torin and his lip curled up in disgust. "We've got you now. You and your family will pay the price for what you did."

Torin stared defiantly at the black armored men. "I was doing what was right. I stand by my decision."

The black-armored figure nodded. "Killing an Inquisitor and not just aiding, but leading the rebellion wasn't the best of choices. You furs really are defiant, aren't you?"

Torin looked down at his son, and Sora pressed herself against him. The German Shepherd said, "Torque, I love yo-" His words were cut off as the figure pulled out a metallic grey pistol and squeezed the trigger.

The adult German Shepherd's body collapsed to the ground, and Sora opened her mouth to scream-and was silenced as the Inquisitor shot her. In between the two, Torque started crying, tugging on his father's arm.

The Inquisitor watched a moment longer and then spun on his heel and left the house. As he walked out, he saw a white car-a very well-made aerodynamic sports car-pull up. A dark reddish brown fox about 5' 11" hopped out, and then swore as he saw the Inquisitor climb back into his APC.

The fox ran into the house as the soldiers exited. Inside, Torque was crying and tugging on Torin's arm, saying over and over, "Daddy, get up! Daddy, please get up!"

A human soldier was standing over Torque, holding his pistol and aiming at the crying 6-year old. His squadmate was telling him not to shoot, and the human growled. "He's a fur, who's gonna care? There are enough of the damn things anyway!"

His squadmate-a good guy-said, "He's only six, man! No way in hell you'd shoot him! Would you shoot your own kid?!"

The soldier shook his head. "But my kid isn't a fur. This thing is."

He aimed at Torque's head, and his squadmate grabbed him and yanked him towards the door. The gun went off, narrowly missing Torque, but the crying dog didn't notice. Both soldiers headed out the door as Loran moved out of their way and ran to Torque.

The fox's heart felt like it was going to split in two as he scooped up the German Shepherd and paused to grab a few photos of the family, and then ran out the door, sprinting desperately as one of the soldiers-the same one who had wanted to shoot Torque-raised an olive drab tube to his shoulder. He squeezed the trigger of the pistol grip, and the tube jumped, the rocket roaring out in a cloud of fire.

Loran gave Torque to the female wolf sitting in the passenger seat and then ran around to the driver's side, getting in as the still-crying German Shepherd pressed his face against the window and watched his house erupt in a massive fireball.

The fox put his foot down onto the accelerator and they pulled away, Torque's tear-streaked face pressing against the window as he watched his house and his street for the last time in his life.

After a few minutes, the female wolf said, "We have two following us, Lor."

The fox nodded, his green eyes narrowing as he looked for the entrance to the Transit Highways-massive, long highways that rose above the fields in between the Central District and every other District. Loran spotted the entrance for West District Transit Highway and pulled off onto it, pushing down the accelerator. The car leaped forward as the RPM's increased and the speed began to near 100 mph.

Loran said, "We should reach the West District in about an hour or two at this speed."

The Transit Highways were arrow-straight for about 150 miles, and each one ended at the appropriate district's gates. The massive city, from above, looked like a plus mark, the center of the plus being the Central District, and each arm of the plus being the Transit Highways. At the end of each arm, there was another District, and they were named after their direction from the Central District-hence the North, South, East, and West Districts.

The female wolf gently held Torque against herself, and asked, "Those cars behind us still?"

Loran looked in the rearview mirror and nodded. "No way we can lose them. The Highway is straight from here. We'll just have to outrun them. At least we've got the car to do it, right?"

The wolf nodded, and after a half hour of driving passed by, looked up and said, "He's asleep." She smiled. "He's cute when he sleeps."

Loran grinned. "Did you suddenly decide you liked kids, Hope?"

Hope shook her head. "Not babies, no. But kids his age," She hugged Torque, the German Shepherd snuggling into her fur, "are very sweet. And then they turn into teenagers and become all rebellious." She smiled at Loran.

The fox nodded, and then looked into his rearview mirror. "I'm going to slow down now; those two appear to have given up on chasing us." He reduced the car's speed to the just above the 75 mph speed limit.

Hope laid back in the seat, wrapping her arms around Torque, and asked, "So what's going to happen now? If Torin was executed..."

Loran was silent for several minutes, and then replied with a question, "You know we've been planning how to take the West District's airbases and military equipment, right?" She nodded, and he continued, "With Torin's execution... A lot of furs are going to be outraged. I am, and I don't know about you, but if someone was planning to rebel against CORE, I'd be more than happy to go along with them. You know they shot Torin right in front of his son?"

Her shocked expression was nothing short of what he had expected, and he continued, "And then two soldiers argued over whether or not to finish the job with his son." The fox shook his head. "Sick bastards didn't care that he was 6 years old, either."

Hope was silent for a minute or two, and then asked, "So what do you think is going to happen?"

Loran answered, "I know that we're going to finally do it. Tonight. Tonight, with the support of every fur in the West District, we're going to rebel. Full-scale war, until CORE is driven out."

Hope asked, "And what will you do if you succeed? What about the human citizens here? What about the countries that CORE renamed? What about the rest of CORE's military might?"

Loran shook his head. "One thing at a time. The humans on-planet? Give them the option of staying or leaving peacefully. Most will leave-the majority of the human population still hasn't given up on their xenophobia and general hatred of furs. The rest we'll figure out in time. The renamed countries and languages, I don't think anyone will want to change-we were all fine with it then, or at least our parents were, and most of us are. I don't mind."

Hope nodded. "Why not lead the rebellion yourself? With Torin gone, we need a leader, don't we? We don't even have a name."

Loran shrugged. "I'll leave that decision up to the furs in the West District. How is Torque?"

The female wolf looked down at the sleeping German Shepherd, who had gotten as physically close as possible, his head tucked against her chest. She smiled. "He seems fine to me. But he's going to have trouble for a lot of years, especially with the loss of his parents. Do you know anyone who'll be willing to take care of him?"

Loran thought about it for a while, as the miles passed and the lights of the West District appeared on the horizon. "I have some ideas, but I don't know just yet. Unless you want to bring him up in our household?"

Hope replied, "That would take some thinking about. But we can't very well care for him if you're leading the war against CORE, can we?"

Loran shook his head. "I'm worried about the kids if war breaks out. What are the parents going to do if CORE starts executing every fur they see, like they've threatened?"

Hope was silent for a while, and then said, "I don't know, Lor. Why not ask the Council?"

The Council was an unofficial group of about six furs who had, through long work and responsibility, become trustworthy leaders and advisors for Torin. Without Torin, the rebellion might falter-Torin hadn't started it all, but he had become very influential. He had pushed hardest to secede from CORE, and he had a major base of support. With him gone, the Council would have to make decisions without a leader to guide them.

Loran nodded. "We'll leave it to them, then. I am a member, though, remember?"

"And you'll soon be leader." The female wolf smiled, and then said, "Things look serious up there." Without disturbing Torque, she pointed forward.

Up ahead, at the West District gates, multiple burning vehicles-tanks, from the look-blocked most of the road, and as Loran slowed and then stopped by the gate, a female tiger stepped out of one of the reinforced bunkers to the left of the road and asked, "Where's Torin?"

Loran shook his head, and the tiger swore. "Go in now. The other members of the Council will want to see you. We're holding the road here. Did you happen to see any reinforcements?"

The fox shook his head, his dark red fur reflecting the light of the fire. "If we did, do you think CORE soldiers would have let us pass?"

The tiger nodded. "True. Now go. If everything goes the way I hope it does, I'll be glad to see you in command, since Torin's gone. And just so you can tell the other Council members, you have my vote."

Loran nodded. "Thank you. And good work out here."

She laughed. "Those poor bastards didn't stand a chance."

The fox grinned and drove through the gates, entering the city. The West District had the largest fur population outside the Central District, and since CORE had been pulling its men out of the airbases in the District to deal with rebels from Germany and Great Britain, it fell easily into fur paws.

CORE was a powerful government that had arisen in about 2045, when humanity had started colonizing planets. When the space program was brought back after its cancellation in 2012, humanity immediately spread out amongst the stars. In 2045, politics forced the split of the then-existing UN, and the split created CORE and the UWN. The United World Nations had control of the original Solar System, and several star systems around it. CORE controlled the outer ranges of human expansion, the so-called 'frontier'.

Furs had been discovered by CORE in 2090. The strange thing about the fur planet was that it was nearly an exact copy of Earth. The land-masses were the same, the climates, everything except for two things.

Furs-anthropomorphic animals, or animals with human-like features and feelings. A dog standing on two legs and talking, with his own plans for life just like a human, his own feelings, his own desires. Furs were like humans in every way except for the fact that they had the bodies of animals in an anthro shape-and some furs preferred what was known as 'feral form', or the look of a typical animal-the regular dog, for example.

The planet was renamed by CORE in 2090 to be identical to Earth; the landmass that had been the USA on Earth was renamed the USA on the planet of Faren, and so on for the rest of the world. There was one little anomaly, though; the island in the center of the Atlantic. That island had one massive city, and was named after the planet: Faren.

Furs had the technology level akin to humanity in 2020, and in fact, their technology was very much the same-other than a few name differences, they had the same stuff humanity did in 2020. But CORE, with the technology they had-70 years ahead of fur tech-won the brief battle and took over the planet.

In the ensuing 60 years, furs and humans had generally not taken to each other all that well, and CORE set up the Inquisition on Faren.

The Inquisition was a secret police, of a sorts, within CORE. They put down most talk of rebellion by simply assassinating the leaders of the rebellion. Inquisitors had the power to do everything from search every aspect of a person's life and house, to calling in military units and technology to use for their own ends. They were greatly feared by humans and furs alike, and they had a reputation for being ruthless-a reputation proved true again and again.

They had been incredibly efficient at stopping all rebellion-until Torin came along. He had, unlike other rebellion leaders, encouraged compliance with CORE while secretly working to bring it down. He had pushed for striking out against CORE as soon as the opportunity became available, and the furs of Faren were more than willing to follow him-CORE was akin to the old Soviet Union from Earth.

As Loran drove through the city, he was surprised to see how little combat had actually taken place. Most of CORE's soldiers had been away, and the airbases fell easily, all of the military vehicles and technology now in fur paws.

Hope looked up as Loran slowed the car, and asked, "Do you want me to come in?"

Loran shook his head. "Take a nap if you like. If you really want to, you can come in-but it might be a long discussion."

Hope unbuckled her seatbelt, and opened her door, gently waking up the six year old. "Wake up, Torque. We're here."

Torque blinked and yawned, and then asked, "Where's Daddy?"

Hope and Loran looked at each other, and then Hope gently answered, "Honey, your dad is... away."

Torque tilted his head. "Where did he go?"

Hope motioned with her head for Loran to go in as she knelt down by Torque and hugged him, and then pointed up. "He went up there. Up in the sky. He's watching us right now."

Torque nodded, and Hope stood up, looking down and smiling when the German Shepherd grabbed her paw and held it tightly. The female wolf walked into the building after Loran, and followed the fox down a long, white corridor.

Loran opened a door to the left and went in, and Hope quickly followed him, Torque right behind her.

The room was sparse-six chairs were arranged in a loose semi-circle, with a podium at the center. Four of the chairs were filled, and Loran slipped into one of the empty ones.

One of the other council members, a tall, muscular dark blue dragon asked, "Where's Jade?"

Loran answered, "Jade's out by the gates, overseeing the defense. Unless you'd like CORE to take back what we've worked so hard for, I'd leave her alone. And she said to tell you that I have her vote. Vote for what, I don't know."

The other council members looked at each other, and then the dragon spoke up. "We've been trying to decide who to elect as a leader. All of us have decided to vote for you, and with Jade choosing you as well, it appears that by unanimous decision, you're the new leader of the Council, and the rebellion, as well."

Loran was silent for a moment, and then asked, "How did you know Torin wasn't going to make it?"

A dark green and black wolf answered him. "It was fairly obvious when the Inquisitors started showing up at certain doors, wanting to know who knew Torin, and when they last saw him. All of us were labeled as execution targets, after Torin. Apparently, we have a spy here-and we haven't found him yet-who was slipping information to the Inquisition. We're all wanted now for murdering an Inquisitor. Despite the fact that I'm the only one who killed one; it was life or death for me. The rest of them simply evaded capture."

Loran nodded. "So once the Inquisitors came after you, you decided to elevate it further and take over the District?"

Every council member nodded. "We knew that if Torin had been here, he would have done the same. That, and we've been ready to take the West District for almost a month now. We've just been waiting for the right opportunity. And that opportunity was today."

Loran stood up. "All right." He moved to the podium. "We hold the entire West District now, correct?"

The dragon nodded. "It's ours. Jade is overseeing the defenses, as you said yourself. Every segment of the West District is ours, and we managed to capture the airbases-intact! We have all the military equipment CORE left behind-tanks, some jets, multiple bombers, and massive amounts of guns and ammunition."

Loran thought about this. "Have you decided on what to do after we seized the West District?"

The dragon frowned. "We hadn't thought that far. We were trying to just handle the take-over of the city."

Loran nodded. "And there's the problem. What will we do if CORE decides to counter-attack, or even better, they choose to wipe out the city with a large-blast cruise missile?"

The dragon looked down. "I suppose that could happen."

The fox nodded once more and then said, "We can't undo the seizure of the West District. But we can prepare the resistance for the next battle that's sure to come."

The dragon and a few other council members nodded, and another council member, a reddish-gold fox about Loran's height, spoke up. "Do we even have a name for this resistance? Not that it's necessary, I mean, but it would lend some power to the movement if we had a name."

Loran thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. "The Fur Unified Resistance."

The council members nodded, and Hope walked up behind Loran and whispered, "Torque is half-asleep. Do you want me to take him home?"

Loran shook his head, and addressing the council members, asked, "Does anyone here want to take care of Torin's son, Torque?"

All of the present council members were silent for several minutes, thinking, and then, one by one, each one shook their heads. Loran looked down at Torque and picked up the German Shepherd, smiling at the dog's exhausted yawn.

He looked up when a female voice said, "I'll take him, if you're okay with it."

The female tiger, Jade, stood in the doorway, her tail dancing as she watched Loran, waiting for his reply.

The fox looked down again at Torque, and then teased the dog's nose with the tip of his fluffy fox tail. He looked up at the tiger, and said, "Take good care of him."

She nodded, and gently took Torque from his arms, smiling as the German Shepherd sleepily half-barked and then closed his eyes again.

"He'll be taken care of. And I think he's going to make a wonderful addition to the family. My partner is going to love him. She adores pups."

Loran nodded. "Are you going to take him home now?"

The tiger shrugged. "If you want me to stay, I'll stay. But this one," she hugged Torque and kissed the dog's nose, "needs to sleep eventually. He's had a hard night."

Loran was about to tell her she could leave when a wolf appeared in the doorway, panting and looking worried.

"Sorry to interrupt. But you all need to get out of the building. Now. CORE has decided to send their retaliation. A Valkyrie was seen launching off-shore. It'll be here in two minutes!"

The wolf ran out the door, and the rest of the council members followed him.

The tiger quickly took the lead, sprinting with Torque cradled in her arms. She rounded the corner and ran out the door, sprinting down the street as council members ran to their cars and hopped in, starting their engines and driving off as fast as possible.

Loran growled as his car refused to start. The engine didn't even turn over, and he opened the door, and said, "Hope, we need to run. Fast."

The wolf nodded, and she set off after the tiger, Loran following her at top speed. They made it to the end of the street and turned, following the tiger as she ran to her house.

Behind them, the brilliant arc of the Valkyrie slammed into the council building, driving through the roof and detonating inside the building, sending out a lethal cloud of shrapnel as the building simply disappeared.

All three slowed down and turned back to watch the brilliant column of fire and debris from a safe distance.

They could hear someone crying softly, and the tiger looked down when she realized it was Torque.

She looked at Loran and said, "I hope this rebellion is worth what it's costing." She motioned to Torque. "Torin might still be alive if they hadn't started all of this. Remember what it costs the common people when CORE goes to war. Especially the people in the districts still under their control."

Jade turned and went down another street, towards a large, single story house. A female Border Collie was standing in the doorway, and when she saw Torque, she asked, "Torin's son?"

Jade nodded, and the Border Collie smiled. "Well, I missed you, Jade." She padded up to the tiger and kissed her, and then took Torque from her. "I'll settle this one into bed for you."

The tiger nodded, and walked inside after the dog, and then asked, "Hey, Carly?"

The Border Collie perked her ears up, and said, "Yes, Jade?"

Jade stretched, yawning, and then said, "I'm going to shower before I head to bed. Do you want to join me?"

Carly shook her head and smiled. "I already showered. But I'll share the bed-you're very warm after you shower!" She wagged her tail once and then carried Torque into the guest bedroom, setting the pup down on the bed.

"We'll see you in the morning, okay?" She smiled, and Torque smiled back, snuggling into the pillow and closing his eyes.

The Border Collie waited quietly until she was sure the dog was asleep, and then turned out the light, closing the door partway.