Her nickname is "Tanj", and she's certainly living up to it. For her, it seems, "There Ain't No Justice." As a young engineer on a tramp space freighter, this Cheetah-morph found herself the victim of a scam, sold into slavery, and trained as a sex-slave. Sold to pirates, she finds herself as a pawn in a much larger struggle. This story contains bondage, non-consensual sex, and hopefully some humor, adventure and intrigue. Adults only, please!

Tanj's Tale: Turnabout
By Kittiara
Stardate 2399.40

He stood in the line at the check point, head and shoulders above most of the other furrs... but his posture was definitely non-threatening, his shoulders slumped, his head down. Combined with the cheap, wrinkled business suit, he looked like just another middle level type having a hard day. Periodically the line would shuffle forward, and eventually it was his turn. He handed over his papers, with a soft smile, trying not to meet anyone's gaze...

Clinton looked at the disheveled Lion and smiled to himself. Not too old. Big enough. Seemed to be in good health. Papers say he's not married, and he's from out of town. Looking over to Winston, he nodded slowly. "Pardon me, Sir, we'd like you to come over here and look into the retinal scanner..."

The Lion blinked and then nodded; "Of course, Officer." As he shuffled over to the device, his brain whirled; "There's no way they can know who I am... And its not likely that they have my retinal pattern on file... I've paid out a small fortune to expunge those records. And even if they DID, they'd never make the connection to the Brethren... Calm down, you can bluff this out..."

Clinton barely gave the computer screen a glance, before looking up at the Lion; "Yup, just what I though; boys, we got ourselves an escaped slave here!" The Lion didn't resist as two uniformed officers grabbed his arms from either side. Had he wanted, he probably could have sent them both flying... but that would have been out of character. And probably futile; there were too many of them, and all of them were armed... "Officer, Please; I'm sure there's some mistake... I have all the correct documentation! My papers are all in order. I can PROVE who I am!" Clinton padded over to look into the face of the Lion. As he slowly tore the Lion's documents in half, and then into quarters, he growled; "And I say you're an escaped slave! What you say doesn't matter! Put him in the truck with the others!"

As they hauled him off, the lion looked at the Ocelot on his left; "I'm sure if I could just see a magistrate, I could settle all this! Honest!" The Ocelot chuckled; "Oh, we know how clever you escaped slaves can be; next thing you know you'd be slipping a corrupt judge a bribe and then He'd be yelling at US for arresting an innocent fur... No, in matters like this, we don't have to let you see a magistrate. All it takes is our word. Now pipe down and behave, or I'll give you a taste of my shock stick!"

The Lion's gaze swept around the check point, as if in a panic. There was an officer with a nerve scrambler there, and another one over there. And at every conceivable exit there were at least three armed cops. There were just too many to try and make a break for it here... No matter, he could wait, and plan his escape later. He knew how to do it; hell, he'd TAUGHT the course on escape and evasion that the Brethren required. He knew all the secret safe houses, all the places where cash and resources were stashed... All the emergency phone numbers. All he had to do was be patient...

The back of the hovertruck was a mesh cage, and it was half full with an assortment of furrs. Most of them were male, but there were some females too. Most of them looked like "street people", the poor that'd never be missed, but there were some notable exceptions. The Minotaur looked like he worked out, and the Bear looked fairly strong too... Just exactly the type crooked cops might pick up to sell as slaves... He watched, trying to stay calm, as a rather pretty lady Otter pleaded with one of the guards through the mesh. The guard just smirked back.

Tanj stormed into Ops, shoved someone out of her way and pushed her muzzle right up into Ben's face to snarl "How in the HELL could you let him DO THIS!" The Wolf backpedaled for a moment and then stopped, to growl back; "In case you hadn't noticed HE'S the BOSS! How in the HELL was I SUPPOSED to stop him? Besides, he said this meeting with Cromwell was sensitive, that it required his personal attention. He insisted that he could slip in and out without being noticed!" Tanj growled and shoved a message flimsy at the Wolf; "Oh YEAH? I've got news for you, Ben! Cromwell's been sending us messages asking why he didn't show up at the rendezvous! The first I've heard that he was even off the Station and the leader of the Blues is telling ME he's missing!" Ben grabbed at the slip of paper to scan it. Looking up at Tanj all he could say was "Ohshit..."

The Lion looked around the cell block. The concrete walls were at least a foot thick, with a sharp metal grating covering them, and the bars in the door that made up one whole wall were too closely spaced to fit his paw through. They'd backed the truck up to the entrance of this place, and had herded the occupants into the building one at a time. They'd been stripped, and shoved into a tank of some sort of foul smelling liquid, undoubtedly to get rid of lice and fleas and such. And then, dripping wet, they'd each had that visible signal of slavery, a nose-ring installed. From there, they'd been shoved into cells. This cell was about one meter by one meter square, by about two and a half meters tall, and it was obvious that not even the smallest fur could lay down in it. For his part, the Lion found that if he stood straight, his head bumped the ceiling. And there just wasn't enough room to sit. "First step's got to be sleep deprivation" he thought. "Keep 'em awake until they can't see straight. And then the conditioning will start..." Groaning to himself, he tried to find a comfortable stance, thinking it was going to be a long night. His nose throbbed painfully...

"I'm telling you, Henley, it ain't right. I don't care WHAT he says, its GOT to be lies." Vandrosky looked at the Beaver and nodded; "Yeah, I know, I couldn't make anything out of that Brou device either, but somehow the Boss swallowed every word that Mouse fed him. He's got to be fudging it, somehow." Henley looked back at the Marmoset and nodded; "Got to be Smoke and Mirrors. NO ONE else in Engineering was able to do a thing with the Boss's alien toy. It just isn't right. That Mouse waltzes in here one day, and the next thing you know, he's making us all look bad, and taking over!" Vandrosky shrugged; "I agree; so what do we do about it? The Mouse is JUST good enough to complete all his tasks on time, and under budget. We can't get rid of him on sheer incompetence. So what DO we do with him?" Henley sighed and shrugged; "I don't know. But we got to do something. You should be next in line for the Chief Engineer's slot, and I should be next in line for the Flight Line Maintenance Chief, but if we don't do something, that dang Mouse is likely to screw one or BOTH of us over. We simply have GOT to think of something!"

Tanj looked at Cromwell's face on the monitor. A direct video link was risky, but the signal was heavily scrambled, and routed through a half dozen communications nodes and satellites. "No, I'm afraid he didn't tell me his plans. He probably KNEW I wouldn't let him go if I'd known what he was up to. He's really supposed to know better than this." The implication in Tanj's tone of voice was that Cromwell should have known better too. Cromwell just shrugged; "Well, if you don't know what his route was, then its going to be hard to try and find out what happened to him. You know, as the rebellion gains momentum, certain places have become more lawless... Its possible he simply got mugged. We'll quietly check the hospitals and the medical services... and the morgue. We've also got sympathizers with the police and government. If he was picked up, because of who he is, well, we'll find out soon enough. And in the meantime, we're taking all necessary precautions. I would recommend that you do likewise. IF they have him and IF he talks, you could be in greater trouble than us..." Tanj sighed and nodded; "Please let me know if you find anything out, no matter WHAT it is." Cromwell nodded and broke the connection. Tanj stared at the blank screen for a while and then shook herself. She had work to do. Her own network of agents on Elysium needed to be alerted, both to try and find out what'd happened to the head of the Brethren, and to take precautions to safeguard themselves, if he actually had been captured... There was no question that he'd talk; modern interrogation techniques were that good. The only question would be how long it would take them to break down his defenses...

The Lion moved carefully as he stepped up onto the platform. He was dead tired, after a sleepless night on his feet, and was yawning almost constantly. Today had been a day of examinations; first a thorough physical, and then a series of exercise tests. Now he was being photographed from all angles. Any slight mis-step had earned him a jolt from a cattle prod, and the prod had been liberally applied during the exercise tests to make sure he'd given his utmost. It was obvious that they were gathering data to use in an auction, and that only reinforced the Lion's notion that the cops hadn't been collecting certified runaway slaves. A true runaway would have been returned to its owner. No, they were merely using their position of authority to make some cash on the side. "At least" he thought to himself, "they don't know who I am... That's got to help."

Ben chaired the meeting, and it was as somber as a wake. "All right folks, we've got some damage control to do. Until we know otherwise, we have to assume the boss has been captured and that even as we speak they're pumping him for information. Every operation that he was knowledgeable on has to be rethought immediately. All the codes have to be changed. And we're going to have to evacuate this station. This'd be the FIRST place they'd come. Open your handouts to page Three. The contingency plans for this were formulated ages ago, and we need to review them, to bring them up to speed, and in a way the Boss wouldn't expect. First off, Logistics..."

Henley grinned, and motioned Vandrosky over towards one corner of the Maintenance Shop; "I did some checking on our little Mouse friend. It looks like somebody wanted to run an extra background check on him, didn't find anything unsusal for a couple of weeks, and then just forgot about it. The file's still open. What say we think of some interesting little tidbits to insert there; things that might be brought to light as we go through the security review that's mandated by our current little "emergency"?" The Marmoset grinned and nodded; "Oooooh, Character assassination. I LIKE it. And I've got a good friend down in Security; he owes me more than one favor... I'm sure we can get him to help. Got any ideas?" The Beaver just grinned back, showing his buck teeth, and nodded.

The Lion shivered as he stood hunched over in his cell. Several hours ago, the cage's walls had become electrically charged, and he found that he could no longer lean against them. A while before that, one of the guards had come along and stuck a squeeze bottle through the bars, to give him a drink. He'd been thirsty and had gulped greedily, until he'd discovered the fluid was salty. As he spluttered, the guard had just laughed, and tried to squeeze more into his mouth; the resulting mess as the Lion had tried to expel the salty liquid might just have resulted in the electrified walls, he mused. He could understand the guard's vindictiveness, if the salty liquid was what he suspected it was. He'd kinda sprayed it all over the guard... And now he was thirsty, the salty liquid actually pulling water from his body by osmosis. Muscles trembling, he struggled to stand without letting any portion of his anatomy touch metal.

Tanj listened to them drone on about rally points, suspended operations, and the cost of fuel, and groaned. She didn't want to be here, she wanted to be "out there" looking for her Master. She was sure they hadn't captured him, at least not as the leader of the Brethren. There would have been SOME sign, she was sure of it. And yet, they wanted her in the meeting; she had intelligence assets he knew about, folks that had to be "brought in" to keep them safe, just in case he talked...

The Lion hummed to himself, trying to drown out the words coming from the speaker. With the latest batch of "recruits" tired, and hungry, and dying of thirst, the indoctrination had started. Lectures on what kind of behavior was expected of them, repeated over and over... And occasionally ice-cold water would deluge down from a vent in the ceiling, shocking everyone awake again. The water was too salty to drink, and that fact meant that the water carried the electricity from the charged walls and bars quite nicely... While the techniques were crude, and as old as the hills, they DID work, if given enough time, all those incarcerated here would be brainwashed to one extent or another. And so the Lion hummed to himself, seeking to drown out the words, to endure. He was sure the ones that had grabbed him would want to reap their profits as soon as possible, and thus would sell this lot before the brainwashing had lasted long enough to be completely effective...

Tanj rubbed her red eyes and tried to focus on the field report. For the last three days, she'd been living on coffee, spending every free moment going over field reports or browbeating the cryptology folks, looking for ANY clue as to where her master was. So far, all her agents, all the Blue's sympathizers, had all turned up zilch. If the Lion was a captive of the Elysium government, they had it so tightly compartmentalized that even the assistant secretary of planetary security didn't know about it. It was beginning to look like something else had happened... but what?

Henley sat down next to Amanda Gabard, from Electronics. As the Beaver started to eat his lunch, he looked over at her conspiratorially and then whispered "You'll never guess what I found out about Mark. You know, that white Mouse..." Amanda, always one for gossip, put down her fork and leaned closer...

The lectures droned on, but now something was happening. In his limited field of view, the Lion watched two guards open one of the cell doors. One of them, a rather ugly warthog, was ordering the prisoner out... it turned out to be the lady Otter who'd been in the hovertruck with him. She moved tentatively, as if unsure of herself, and it was with obvious reluctance that she kneeled in front of the guard. The Lion couldn't hear what was said, over the indoctrination coming from the speakers, but it was obvious that the warthog had just instructed her to do something of a sexual nature. She'd made a face, and turned her head away, and that had earned her a backhanded slap... and then the two guards were tossing her back into her cell, the door slamming closed, almost catching her tail. And then their was an ear piercing shriek, overpowering even the words coming from the loudspeaker, as the guards re-electrified the walls of her cell.

"Come on, Tanj, its time to go." Tanj looked up into the face of her boss and sighed, shaking her head from side to side. "I know, I know," the old fox muttered; "but you can search for him from the backup base as well as you can from here. And I KNOW your ship has all the communications equipment you need to keep in touch with your agent network. Come on, you won't do anyone any good getting captured if they raid this place." Tanj sighed and nodded in agreement and turning, logged off of her terminal, and rose to follow her boss out of the intelligence offices...

Lucy Bishoff slid her desk chair over to the next file cabinet and opened the appropriate drawer. All the records were computerized, but as with most bureaucracies, a filed hardcopy was also required. Although it was almost guaranteed no one would ever look at them. As a file clerk for the S'barro Province's Prefecture of Police Lucy was in a good position to aid the Resistance, feeding them information on police operations, something she'd been doing since her Uncle was thrown in jail. They'd said he'd been helping the Resistance, but she knew better. Anyone who'd known him would have told you he was as apolitical as they came. He'd just been tending his vehicular parts dealership. How was HE to know that those customers were with the resistance? But now most of her family WAS with the resistance, driven into their arms by a progressively more brutal and vindictive state. As she filed the police reports, she kept her eye out for that one furr that was missing. For an idle moment she wondered who he was, to have generated such an urgent message from her cell leader... but then she thought better of it. She didn't need to know, and it probably wasn't safe to know. Looking at the police report before she filed it, she scanned for anyone matching his description.

Amanda looked up from the circuit board she was modifying and grinned at Josie; "Dear, you wouldn't believe what I heard at Lunch today! You know that white Mouse, Mark? The one the Boss had working on that Alien device? Well it seems his background check has turned up some VERY unusual things!... Frightening things!"

The Lion straightened as his left shoulder brushed against the metal mesh lining the inside of his cell. He was so tired that the jolt of electricity threw him into the opposite wall, and it was several excruciating seconds before he could stabilize himself in a position where no portion of his anatomy was touching the metal. He no longer had a clue as to how long he'd been standing there, how long the indoctrination tapes had been droning in the background. All he knew was that he was deathly tired... As he wobbled, he heard a noise, and then his cell door slid open. He almost fell forward out of the cell, and as he staggered a guard, a rather mangy looking wolverine wrapped one paw in his mane, to drag him forward. Being made to kneel in the middle of the cell block was a blessed relief. He missed the guard's words the first time, a jolt with a cattle prod bringing him back to his senses. "You heard me, Slave. Show me how willing you are to Obey your Masters. Open that mouth of yours and suck my cock!" The Lion blinked, his mind suddenly whirling. Not exactly something he WANTED to do, and for certain, the Wolverine surely needed a bath... but if he refused, the indoctrination would continue, not only for him, but for all the others as well. And besides, the sooner they got out of there, the sooner he could work on his escape. Trembling from exhaustion, he leaned forward a bit, to nuzzle tentatively at the Guard's crotch.

Tanj blinked at Hinoki; "What do you mean, Mark's not here? Where the Hell IS he? He's supposed to be assigned to THIS ship!" The male Cheetah just spread his paws; "Hey, it wasn't MY doing! I got a message from Engineering that they needed him on the R3 communications relay station. It had the Head of Engineering's chop on it, so I didn't argue!" Tanj frowned; "R3? That's nothing but an asteroid with a small pressure dome on it. And I hadn't heard that they were having trouble there... Urrrr, shitty place to be sent... I wonder what's going on?" Looking up Tanj sighed; "I'm sorry I snapped at you; I know its not your fault, its just that, well, I'm worried about our Master, and the lack of information's driving me crazy." Hinoki smiled and stepped forward to give Tanj a quick hug; "I understand. Believe me I do. Now we'd better get this ship out of here before they start yelling at us again." Tanj sighed and nodded, turning towards the flight deck.

As the Cheetah Fem padded off, Zassa looked at Hinoki; "I see you didn't tell her they'd sent Mala along with Mark as "security"." "No" the male Cheetah sighed; "I figured it would just distract her from her hunt for the Boss. Whatever's going on there, well, Mark and Mala can pretty much take care of themselves, don't you think? And if not, we can always sort it out later, after we rescue the boss. Besides, " the Cheetah grinned; "She'll be distracted enough when she finds out we've got Wanda and Kath on board." Zassa just chuckled.

The Lion managed to hold his expression neutral until the guards had shoved him back into his cell. With his face turned towards the wall, he finally made a face and licked at the back of his paw, trying to get rid of the taste in his mouth. The Wolverine, he was sure, wasn't healthy; his spunk had tasted disagreeably strange. And it hadn't done much to ease his thirst, or hunger either. Turning carefully, he watched through the small gap in the bars as the guards selected another prisoner, a female this time, to test their compliance...

Lucy nodded; it was the third from the last piece of paper she'd had to file. A random check point had collared a number of "runaway slaves," all of who's identity had been curiously nebulous. The time was about right, and amongst those listed, was a male Lion of about the right age and coloration. She made a mental note, filed the paper and wrapping up her work, headed back to her desk. She wouldn't be able to report in to her cell leader until later that night, and in the meantime she had to keep up a good front...

Tanj sighed and shook her head. She was starting to get responses from her agents, and from the Blue's informers. She even had some responses from other resistance groups. The problem was, she now had several dozen "possibles," but still no confirmed report. Turning to her communications console she started to prepare messages, marshalling her resources to start checking out the various leads. This was not going to be easy...

Trotskie frowned as he looked at the message flimsey; "The Brethren are asking us to look for a large male Lion, middle aged, with a light brown mane, who disappeared four days ago while on a routine operation?" Looking up at his adjutant, the leader of the resistance group known as the "Reds" shook his head; "That sounds awfully stra... wait a minute... Isn't the HEAD of the Brethren a Lion?" Slowly the Bear's face broke into a wide grin; "Oh, isn't Xylex just going to LOVE this!"

It happened without preamble. They didn't even turn off the indoctrination tapes. Cell by cell, the guards came by, to extract the prisoners. Of all the furrs present, four coffles, or groups of chained slaves were formed. It was obvious that the shortest one was comprised of slaves that had been sold individually. The other three, it was clear, were of blocks of slaves that had been sold; sold as a unit. The Lion found himself standing behind a rather lean lady Antilope who had the look of a drug user about her. Behind him was the Minotaur he'd seen earlier, and about three behind him was the Bear. Mostly those in his coffle seemed to be the "heavy labor" type, with a few less choice specimens thrown in to round out the package. Chuckling to himself, the Lion thought "My God, I've been wholesaled!"

As the last of the cells were emptied, the coffles were moved out of the facility. The Lion's curiosity was aroused when his coffle was loaded into what appeared to be a standard shipping container. They were secured, still chained together, to benches running down either side. Locked straps at neck, waist and ankles. Then the heavy doors were closed and he felt the container start to move. It had to be fastened to the back of a truck, or some other source of transportation... "I wonder why they didn't just put us in the back of a truck?" he wondered to himself...

Clinton finished his beer as the Barman called time, and thumping the glass down on the bar, threw a few coins down, and turned, to head for the door. It was late, and the streets were deserted. And while it was a rough neighborhood, Clinton felt confident that none of the locals would mess with him. He was an armed officer of the law, and anyone who gave him grief would feel the full weight of the Police come down on them, with both feet. As a result, he never saw the shadow that detached itself from the alleyway, to fall in behind him. The first indication he had that his assumptions were wrong was when the shock device was shoved into his side.

Smith smiled as the electrical discharge knocked the cop sprawling on the pavement. Reaching down he pressed the device to the back of his neck, just to make sure he was unconscious. And then, reaching down, he grabbed the back of the cop's collar, and unceremoniously dragged him back into the alleyway. If anyone saw, and in a place like that, there were always eyes watching, no one did anything to help the stricken cop...

The Lion's head jerked up as the Container made a *bump* and then a shudder. It was almost as if they were being moved from, say, a flatbed truck to something else. They'd been in there for several hours, he'd guessed, although most of the "passengers" had used the time to catch some sleep. The sitting position was a whole lot more restful than standing...

Smith broke the ammonia inhaler under the cop's nose and then grinned as his head jerked back... square into the brick wall behind him. The cop was gagged, and bound, in a sitting position. Looking around he realized that he was in an alley, although he couldn't be sure WHICH alley he was in. Looking up at the nondescript furr in front of him, his eyes fastened on the jet-black ceramic knife the furr was slowly twirling between two fingers... Smith smiled again, fangs gleaming whitely in the dark; "Now, officer, I have a missing persons problem.. and I think you might just know something about it. As an "Officer of the Law" I'm sure you're going to be more than willing to help a citizen..."

The Lion listened to the thrumming that pervaded the container. It was obvious that they'd been loaded onto some sort of aircraft. His breathing was a little rapid, which suggested the thin air of high altitude, and the container was getting just a little chilly. At first, some of the prisoners had tried to talk to each other, but after a bit, the conversations had died down. In silence, they waited to see what their fate would be.

Smith thought about wiping the knife off on the cop's uniform, but decided that there just wasn't a dry enough patch left. It didn't matter; the ceramic knife was inexpensive, and not uncommon. He'd just leave it. It hadn't taken much time, or much work, to get the information he was after out of the cop; but it HAD taken time, and some effort to make sure the cop wasn't lying. "Well" smith thought to himself, "the cop won't be doing any more lying, or anymore kidnapping either." Rising, he moved off into the dark of the deserted industrial area, leaving the body behind him.

The Lion jerked awake as the container thumped heavily. It was obvious the aircraft had just landed, and it hadn't been a very smooth landing... or the landing pad wasn't very good... Wherever their destination might be, he had the feeling they were there.

Smith was no longer Smith. But then he'd never really been Smith. Or the Jones that his I.D. and business card now proclaimed him to be. He'd used so many names over the course of his career, he almost couldn't remember the one he'd been born with. No matter. Pushing open the door to the office, he stepped inside and padded up to the receptionist. "Good Morning, Ma'am. I'm in the market for a few slaves... and I've been told that you might be able to help. Quietly, of course."

The Lion panted, as did everyone else in the container. It was getting HOT. There had been a few more bumps and jolts, but nothing that you wouldn't expect as the container was shifted around some. And now they sat, in the growing heat. And waited.

Jones (or Smith, if you prefer) smiled. It was really all too easy. The computer terminal they'd shown him to listed all their wares. The results of their physical, and of their coordination and endurance testing, all "certified" by an "independent rating service". And there, stamped across a number of pages, were bright red "SOLD" banners. A tag line at the bottom stated that if you saw something that you liked, if it was no longer available, well, they MIGHT be able to come up with an equivalent. Something specifically selected to fill your special requirements. In other words they'd go kidnap someone just for you. "In any event," Jones thought to himself; "it certainly makes my job easier." There in the corner of lot 54 was the data on the Lion. At least it certainly LOOKED like the Lion he was after. It was no problem at all to download the data to a memory crystal. Rising, he spent a few moments talking to the sales rep, going over specifics, and generalities... And then with a "I'm still shopping around. I'll get back to you" he padded from their offices, and walked calmly to the nearest public transport station.

"EUREKA!" Tanj's cry raised heads all through the crammed room. Desks, terminals, and other office type equipment were jammed together in an almost impenetrable maze in what passed for the intellegence (and communications and logistics) office of the Brethren's backup facility. Rising to her feet, the Cheetah looked around, momentarily lost as to how to get out of the office and into the right corridor that would take her to Ops.

"Dammit, Ben, the medical records match EXACTLY! LOOK at the dental charts! Look at the scan of how his left tibia had a greenstick fracture ages ago! Its HIM!" The Wolf growled low and then shrugged; "It certainly APPEARS to be him, but it IS possible the records were faked. If he WAS picked up by the Elysium authorities, this is exactly the kind of a trap they'd set for a rescue party! Next thing you know, they'll show him transferred to some easily accessible place, and when we go down to get him, its curtains! I will NOT rush on this. Security for the Brethren comes first. And you KNOW that's the way he'd want it. Now, I'll talk to Cromwell about having some of the Blues check this place out. When they've cased the place good and proper, then you can try and find out where he was sold to, if that happened at all. If this IS what you think it is, a few more days won't endanger him. If it ISN'T, we need the time to make sure we don't make the situation worse." Tanj stared at the Wolf for a long moment, and then with a growl, turned and stalked from ops.

The Lion blinked as he moved into the bright sunlight, still chained in the coffle. They'd been released from the oven that was the shipping container by a few naked slaves, not the guards he'd expected. As they stood in a line, in the scorching sun, he blinked and tried to focus. There in front of them was a rather large and muscular Bear, dressed in shorts and a safari shirt, and carrying a bullwhip. The Bear just stood there, glaring at them, as the local slaves formed the coffle up into a line, turning them so that they all faced the Bear. When the shuffling had stopped, the Bear grunted; "My name is Brewster, but you will call me SIR. I'm the overseer here, and have the power of life or death over you. And no one will so much as blink if I decide to kill a slave that displeases me. I know you've all been "indoctrinated," but I don't trust that hogwash, so in a moment you'll each be fitted with a new collar. A SPECIAL collar. This collar has a thin-film battery built into it, between the inner and outer layers of leather... and its got a little radio receiver. I carry a remote, and when I thumb the button you get a shock, to remind you of who's boss. Now, just in case that isn't enough, the collar also has a layer of a very special electrostrictive polymer. This polymer changes length, depending on the current applied..." As the Bear talked, he walked up and down the line of chained slaves, staring at each of them in turn. As he came to the Minotaur, he stopped, and speaking as if to him alone, continued; "Now normally the battery will keep this polymer nice and loose. As long as the battery holds its charge. Or as long as I keep my finger off the button on the remote. Now if I so choose, I can turn down the power in your collar, and that polymer, well, it'll contract. It can contract to as little as one quarter of its original length. Do You Know What This Means?" The Bear looked into the Minotaur's eyes for a moment and then turned suddenly, taking a half a pace to shove his face into that of the Lion; "Well, DO YOU?" The Lion considered for a moment and then answered in as reasonable a tone as he could; "It means, sir, that you can choke us, or kill us, with the push of a button. Probably from a considerable distance away. And if we try and run, It would be my guess, that after a day or so, the battery would loose its charge and we'd be strangled, probably well before we could get to anyplace where the collar might be removed." The Bear stared at him for a long moment and then nodded; "A smart one. See that you stay that way, hairball." Resuming his pacing, the Bear growled; "Each of your beds has a recharger, and as long as you lay just right, the contacts at the back of your collars will mate with the recharger, and all will be well. Sneak around after hours and... Well, you'll find out. NOW, as your new collars are installed, Benny will issue you today's work assignments. You'll meet the Mistress at Dinner." The Bear looked at them for a moment and then chuckled; "I'm sure you'll hear all about THAT from your new "associates"." Turning to nod at an Otter Morph, the Bear turned and stalked off.

The Lion waited patiently in the hot sun. One by one, the slaves in the coffle were fitted with the new collars, and then were unchained from the coffle, to be sent off in different directions. When it came his turn, the Lion watched the local slaves curiously. One was the Otter named Benny. He limped rather badly; it was obvious that somewhere in his past, he'd broken his leg, and it had never been properly tended to. The other was a rather thin coyote. "Boss this isn't going to work" the Coyote mumbled; "he's just got too much HAIR." The Otter nodded; "OK, run down to the tool shed and get the shears. We'll leave him for last." Turning, the Otter moved to the Minotaur, locking the thick collar around his neck, before unchaining him... As he waited the Lion stared out at the horizon. Aside from the few buildings that were near, it was cropland as far as he could see. And the land was flat. He could see all the way to the horizon. As he looked about, he got the sinking feeling that he was in the middle of nowhere, and that escape was going to be harder than he'd thought...

Grant peered through his binoculars, sizing up the building. It certainly was nondescript from the outside. And quiet. But that was to be expected at three in the morning. Waving to his commando, the Badger moved out of the shadows, to cross the street in a rush. His group was good, one of the best that the Blues had. And for them, taking a place like this should be child's play. The fact that they were getting to take down an illegal slavery operation made it all the sweeter. Grant watched as Benson moved the ultrasound device along the wall, and then stopped. Marking the place, he stepped back, and let Hedges step up to place the ribbon charge. And then they were pressing themselves flat against the wall as the explosive charge blew in the wall, giving them an impromptu and unexpected entrance into the facility.

The Lion was the last one standing amongst the now-empty chains of the coffle when the coyote returned with a male fox, each of them carrying what looked like metal-cutting shears. "Sorry Boss" the Coyote yipped; "we had to sharpen these things so they'd cut hair" The Otter scowled and nodded; "Get on with it then, I don't have all day." The Fox indicated that the Lion should kneel, and then he and the Coyote went to work, hacking at his mane, until they'd trimmed it close enough to his neck that they could get the collar on. As it closed around his neck with a "snick" the Lion raised one paw to examine it. It was about three inches wide and a good half inch thick, and not very supple. And it was heavier than it looked. In the front was the obligatory D ring, and in the back were two metal studs that had to be the contact points for recharging the battery. The Otter unlocked him from the coffle chains and then growled; "Qume, you take him down to field three. You can still get in about two hours of hoeing before dark. Then you can go take a look at the No.4 irrigation pump. I hear the suction's clogged again." Qume nodded at the Otter; "Yes, Boss," and then looked up at the Lion; "Come one, we'd better get going."

Grant set one of the office chairs upright and sat down in it, propping his feet on the remnants of a desk. It hadn't taken long to subdue guards armed with shock sticks and whips. Not when you wore body armor and carried lasers and flechette weapons. Now his computer experts were ripping their way through the slaver's computer system, downloading all the data for later analysis. And his troops were freeing the slaves, moving them to the transports for evacuation to one of the Blue's camps. "No better recruits to the cause" he thought. As he watched his people work, he looked at his watch. The silent alarm the place had should bring the local police running... in perhaps another five minutes or so. With a sigh he heaved himself out of the chair and picked up his weapon, thinking it wouldn't hurt to make sure the troops in ambush were ready...

"Yeah, I hate to say it, but this is the end of the line for all of us." The Fox was gradually filling in the Lion as they walked, hoes over their shoulders, towards the field that needed tending. "Mistress, she's double-dipping. You'll see when we get there. The Corporation may or may not know about it, and if they know, they sure don't care. As long as we grow the quota of crops, they don't much care what else goes on out here." The Lion blinked; "double- dipping?" The Fox just grinned; "Oh, you'll see. Its why they have so many slaves here. Some crops can't be tended by machines; some things have to be done by hand... And of course, when you consider how illegal the whole thing is, even by Elysium standards, you can understand how slaves past their usefulness just are never seen again. We all KNOW too much..."

As they walked, the Lion looked around; "So there aren't any guards? Just this "Mistress" and the Overseer?" Qume nodded; "Believe me, with the way they've got the collars rigged, a slave revolt isn't practical. They can kill us all with the push of a button... No one's found a way to escape yet..."

It was ingenious, the Lion had to admit. In amongst the chinaberry crop, between the larger leafier plants, were dreamweed plants. There'd be no way to get farm equipment in here without destroying the second, hidden crop, and thus, both the chinaberry plants and the dreamweed had to be tended by hand. And that meant slaves, with hoes and shovels, and when it came to the insects, the weevils and the beetles, the bugs had to be picked off by hand. The Lion watched as Qume showed him how to use the hoe to extract weeds, and to loosen the soil. It was hot, tiring work.

Tanj looked at the sales records from the slavery operation. The Blues had been their usual, efficient selves in obtaining the data. And she'd heard that almost all of the liberated furrs had elected to sign up with the rebels too. It had been no trouble at all finding the records for the lot of slaves that contained her Master... but the corporation they'd been sold to... didn't seem to exist. It was a dummy, a shell, with no assets that she could find. And while it wasn't exactly a dead end, it certainly DID make her life more difficult...

The Lion was panting and wet with sweat when Qume called a halt. It was getting so dark they were risking damaging the valuable dreamweed plants with their hoes. "Come on, lets take a look at that irrigation pump, before it gets too late. We do NOT want to miss dinner." The Lion just nodded. As they walked down the dusty dirt road, the Fox asked; "You got any experience with machinery?" The Lion shrugged; "Once upon a time, I was an engineer." After a few moments the Fox asked "What kind?" The Lion chuckled, his head tilting back to look up at the night sky; "Starship." The Fox just chuckled in return; "Fat lot of good that'll do you here."

Lord Xylex opened the envelope after the messenger had left. He was still playing both parts, pretending to be a member of Elysium's ruling elite while secretly working behind the scenes to take over the Reds, and assume a position of importance with the Rebels. Although it was fast becoming clear that the point of no return was approaching. That fool Trotskie needed to be replaced bad, before he ruined the Reds... and it was obvious that the Elysium government was going to loose in any event. As he looked down at the message, a quick note scrawled in Trotskie's abysmal penmanship, the Wolverine smiled; "But not quite yet. No, there are still some uses left for the Elysium Government. And finding this one is exactly the kind of thing they do well." Putting down the note, he reached for his comm...

The Lion sighed and jumped down into the dirty water. There wasn't anything wrong with the pump, its suction was just plugged with trash that had floated down the unlined irrigation canal. Water Hyacinths were growing there, and that could be a real danger. When they rotted, they released sulfur dioxide, filling the air with the smell of rotting eggs... and the concentrations of the gas could approach lethal limits too. The Lion worked quickly, throwing handful after handful of the rotting vegetation up onto the bank. Finally he stepped back, and nodded up to Qume; "Try it now." The fox, illuminated by the single bulb by the motor starter panel, threw the breaker and hit the button. The motor whirred to life and as the dark water surged around the Lion's waist, the pump started pushing the water over the dike and into the next field. The Lion watched for a moment and then struggled up the mud bank; "Next time YOU go down there." Qume looked at him for a moment and then shrugged; "Yeah, sure. Now turn around and let me check you for leaches..."

By the time they'd gotten back, and showered off, "Dinner" had started. Qume led the Lion to a low structure, more of a shed than a building, as the walls were open. There, all the slaves were gathered, kneeling before low tables. And on a dias, resting on a crimson cushion, was a female Kangaroo Rat, obviously the "mistress" he'd heard about. She wore a red leather bikini bottom, and matching bikini top, and in her right hand was a riding crop. The Bear overseer was seated at his own table, to her right. As he knelt at a vacant space at one of the Tables, the Lion watched her from the corner of his eye. The Tables held platters of food, with flies buzzing about, but no one was making a move to help themselves to it. Obviously they were waiting for her permission... They waited there for perhaps another dozen minutes or so, until finally two more slaves arrived. These two, the Minotaur from the Lion's coffle, and a female rabbit, were both still dirty; it was obvious that they hadn't showered. After they knelt at the table, the Kangaroo Rat rose and sauntered towards them, to stop and stare down at them; "A bit late, are we?" The Rabbit nodded her head; "Pardon, Mistress, but it took a long time to bale the crop. I felt that we should take the time to do it properly, rather than do a slipshod job..." The Kangaroo Rat nodded; "Of course... But you should still have been done on time. You've kept us all waiting. And you KNOW what the punishment for THAT is!" The Rabbit nodded, head down. Looking up at Benny, the Kangaroo Rat smiled wickedly; "Put them in the stocks, kneeling. I want her in a chastity belt, but put a ring gag in her mouth. His too. Leave them there all night." Benny nodded and rose to his feet; limping towards the door, he motioned to the Rabbit, and the Minotaur, who reluctantly rose to follow.

Qume leaned over and whispered, when he thought the Mistress wasn't looking; "Anyone in the stocks is fair game. If you've got the energy, you can go out there and use them however you want. We think she watches..."

The Kangaroo Rat paced around the Tables, looking at the gathered slaves as she waited for Benny's return. The room was silent, and the Lion adopted the same kneeling pose as all the others. Finally the Otter limped back into the room; "Done, Mistress." The Kangaroo Rat nodded; "Has anyone else been bad today?" The Otter thought for a minute. "Harley dropped a bag of fertilizer in the warehouse; it broke open and it took time to clean up. The No.4 combine broke a drive chain again, but I'm not sure if that's Eddie's fault or not... That's all I can think of, Mistress." The Kangaroo Rat thought for a moment and then nodded; "Harley and Eddie will both draw from the punishment jar. The No.4 combine has just broken its drive chain a little too often for it to be ALL happenstance. I suspect Incompetence on the part of the mechanic. Brewster, do you have anything to report?" The Overseer just waved a paw laconically; "No, Ms. Davies; you KNOW they all behave themselves around me." The Kangaroo Rat just smiled and thwacked her thigh with the riding crop; "Oh, yes, I do know. All right. Harley, Eddie, draw your punishment, and then we can get down to dinner." Harley rose and padded up to a glass jar full of tokens by the Mistress' dias. He reached into it, pawed around for a moment and then extracted one, to hand it to her, head bowed. The Kangaroo Rat took the token and looked at it. A smile spread over her face; "Ah, Harley, you've earned yourself your first piercing! Lucky you! Go and sit down, and we'll attend to it later." As Harley sat down, the Kangaroo Rat watched as Eddie, a gray squirrel, padded up to the jar, shoved his paw deep into the tokens and pulled one out. Handing it to the Kangaroo Rat, he stood there meekly, head bowed.

The Kangaroo rat glanced at the token and then, in the classic "double-take" took another look at it. "Oh, Eddie, this really isn't your lucky day. Of all the tokens in the jar, there's only two of these, and only one worse than that, and you had to pick one of them." Looking up at the squirrel, the Kangaroo Rat grinned; "It's the Bullwhip, Eddie."

The Lion watched, stunned. Would they really do that to a productive slave on a whim? Because a combine broke its drive chain? For someone as ... Frail as a squirrel, it could be a death sentence! Trying hard not to move a muscle, the Lion tried to watch Eddie, the Kangaroo Rat, Benny and the Overseer all at the same time...

The Squirrel looked at the Kangaroo Rat for a moment, frozen, and then he turned and bolted for the door. The Kangaroo Rat sighed and lifted her riding crop, to study the handle for a moment; then she pushed on it with three fingers, in different places. As a blood curdling scream was heard from the direction Eddie had run, the Lion thought to himself "So that's where her remote control is..." The Kangaroo Rat grinned and turned to the Bear; "Brewster, if you would be so kind, I think we need to do something... special for Eddie. It was most rude of him to run out on us like that, don't you think?"

The bowls of food were now mostly covered with flies. Brewster had brought in the squirrel, slung over one shoulder like a sack of grain. The Kangaroo rat had retrieved a length of rope, which she'd tossed over a rafter. One end was tied off to a convenient beam, the other end formed into a simple noose. And then she'd gone and fetched a length of shiny hair-thin wire. One end she tied securely to a ring bolt in the floor, and the other end she also formed into a noose. It took a while, but eventually Eddie recovered from the shock his collar had delivered, only to find himself back at his mistress' feet, his paws bound to the back of his collar. Without a word, the Kangaroo Rat bent, to slip the wire noose around his testicles; and then the Bear was hauling him up to his feet, the rope noose going around his neck. The Kangaroo Rat adjusted the tension of the rope, leaving the squirrel in a not-quite standing position. His plight was obvious. If he rose to a full standing position, the wire would garrote his balls, and it was probably thin enough to entirely emasculate him. At which point he'd bleed to death. If he stayed in his crouch however, eventually his muscles would give out and he'd collapse, the rope noose strangling him. As the Squirrel struggled to stay between the two extremes, the Kangaroo Rat smiled and patted him on the head; "Now that that's done, lets eat! We'll attend to the rest after dinner. After you've had a chance to appreciate how futile running is."

The Lion went through the motions, but he certainly didn't have any appetite. The food was bland, mostly boiled potatoes, but with some carrots and an occasional piece of mystery meat. The motions of the squirrel, shifting, seeking an acceptable position between the two nooses, kept drawing his attention. The tables the slaves sat at were in a U shape, with the Mistress' dias in the open end, and the dangling squirrel square in front of her. As he struggled, she reclined on her cushion, occasionally fetching a morsel of food from her plate. It was obvious she wasn't eating the same fare as the slaves... Brewster ate his meal with gusto, and he glanced occasionally at the struggling Squirrel, to chuckle darkly. As he watched the Squirrel struggle, the Lion wondered if Eddie would be tomorrow's mystery meat...

Tanj shook her head; she'd been unable to trace the company that had purchased the slaves to anything useable. However, the slaves had been moved; there had to be a record of how they'd left the slaver's facility. Pouring herself another cup of coffee, she turned back to the records the Blues had sent her...

Eddie was still struggling for his life when the meal ended. The Kangaroo Rat rose and stretched, and then looked over the slaves; "I'm feeling generous tonight. No restrictions past the normal ones. Dismissed." The air was full of the soft susurration of many bodies rising... Most were heading out the doors, but a few were clearing the tables. The Lion was just turning to head towards the nearest exit when the Kangaroo Rat called out; "You. Lion. Come Here." He stopped and turned, and then with head bowed, padded back to the Kangaroo Rat. Not knowing if it was required, or desired, or even prudent, he knelt at her feet, to await her pleasure. When the Kangaroo Rat literally purrred, he guessed he'd read her correctly. One paw reached out to fondle his left ear; "I've never owned a Lion before, but I've heard stories... is it true what they say about their... "endurance"?" Keeping his voice low, and watching the overseer lay out his bullwhip from the corner of his eye, the Lion murmured; "Its generally true with respect to Lionesses in estrus, Mistress, but I believe I can... hold my own in other situations." The Kangaroo Rat smirked; "Well, we'll see. You can show me what you know, tonight. In fact, you can show me right here. Lets see just what you can do with that tongue of yours..." Turning her head the Kangaroo Rat smirked at the Bear; "You may begin now, Brewster." "How many strokes, Ma'am?" the Bear replied with a grin. "Oh, I'll let you know when I think he's had enough" the Rat replied.

The Lion lifted his chin, tilting his head to one side, to worry at the knot that held her bikini bottoms on with is teeth. His paws remained on his thighs, and as he nibbled and worried at the knot. Taking much longer than was necessary, he interspersed his efforts with an occasional lick, the odd nuzzle, the low purrrrr. By the time the knot came undone, the Kangaroo Rat was panting lightly, both paws gripping his ears tightly. Letting his tongue slither between her thighs, he again glimpsed the Overseer, leaning back to deliver the first stroke. The initial crack of the whip, and Eddie's Scream made them all jump... it wasn't until the Bear's second measured stroke, that the Lion realized that Eddie was behind him. Directly before the Kangaroo Rat. As he licked, he wondered if she was getting off on his tongue, or on the suffering of the poor Squirrel behind him...

Not knowing how this lady liked it, the Lion paced himself, licking slowly at first, bringing her to the edge and then backing off, to nibble lightly, to lick gently, letting her cool down a little, and then his tongue would assault her clitty again, until she was moaning. Finally she grabbed both ears hard and growled "Enough; finish it!" The Lion fastened his lips around her clitty and sucked hard, drawing her pearl into his mouth, his tongue stroking it furiously, and in seconds the Kangaroo Rat's shrieks were filling the air, competing with Eddie's. The Lion lapped softly at her drenched sex, until her breathing had returned to near normal... Finally she patted him on the head and stepped back; "That was very good. You stay there. RIGHT there. I want to go get some toys, and then I'll be back for some more. Brewster, why don't you take a break until I get back." As she padded out, the Lion heard the Bear amble over; "Its dangerous to draw too much of her attention, Slave" he chuckled. And then he turned and headed for his chair, pausing to swat the struggling Squirrel on the ass. Eddie gurgled in distress as his body rocked forwards, tension being applied to both his balls and his neck from the force of the blow. It was obvious that every time the whip had landed on him, he'd come close to both strangling and emasculating himself. The Lion watched him struggle for equilibrium, wondering how long it would be until the Squirrel's legs gave out. Already his balls seemed to be swelling from the sharp bite of the thin wire noose...

Tanj stood with her tray in the overcrowded caffeteria, and looked for a place to sit. After a moment she saw Heloise, a Serval who worked in base Engineering waving to her and she moved through the crowd to squeeze in next to her. "Hey Tanj! Haven't seen you in a while!" Tanj sighed; "I've been pretty immersed in trying to find the Boss. It's a bit of an obsession for me." "Yeah, I can understand that" one of the other girls a the table tittered, only to be shushed by a couple of her friends. Tanj just chuckled and shrugged and sipped her coffee, wincing at the acid taste. "Having any luck?" one of them, a Marten, asked. Tanj shook her head; "Ran into another dead end. The company that transported the slaves, from the facility loaded them into a shipping container. It was trans-shipped at the local airport. I'm still trying to track the container." Heads all around the table nodded quietly. "Hey Tanj," Heloise said after a moment, "You know Mark, in Engineering, Don't you?" Tanj nodded; "He was part of my crew on the Lost Cause, remember?. I THOUGHT he was assigned to my ship, until we pulled this evacuation. Seems they needed him at some communications relay station..." Heloise nodded; "We've been hearing the strangest rumors about him. It seems someone's been working on completing his background check... and they've been turning up the strangest things." Tanj sipped her coffee, her eyes narrowing; "You know he's saved my life on more than one occasion. I trust him completely. Whatever you're hearing, I suspect its false..."

A jingling sound presaged the return of the now nude Kangaroo Rat. She still carried her riding crop, but a few other things filled her other hand. And she had straps around her feet that held pieces of metal sticking out beind them... Following the Lion's gaze, she grinned; "Those are called spurs. They're for use with riding beasts. You'll see how they're used in a minute..." The Lion stared curiously at them; each was Y shaped, with the top of the Y more U shaped than V shaped... And the point at the bottom held a spiked wheel. The U portion fit against the back of her foot, and was held in place with a series of straps... and as she walked the spiked wheels at the back jangled musically. The Kangaroo rat padded around behind the Lion, one paw on the back of his neck, pushing him over, until his face was almost touching the floor. She held him there for a moment, leaning over to whisper in his ear; "I like my mounts spirited; and this should help..." And then he felt the tip of something presented to his asshole, pressing hard against it. He tried not to fight it, but it was unlubricated, and he was unused to taking things there; the Kangaroo Rat wound up grunting as she forced it in, until a reduction in width at the base caught his anal ring, holding it in place. The Lion remained still, as if frozen in place as he got used to the sensation of something stuffed up his ass, as the Kangaroo Rat paced around him. After a moment, though, she chuckled and strode back to the cushion on the Dias. It took a few moments, but slowly the invader in his ass started to burn, and as the intensity of the pain rose, the Lion found it increasingly hard to hold still. "Ah, I can see the ginger plug has started to work. Good. You just keep that there and I'm sure you'll be plenty active for me. Now, crawl over here and fuck me. Fuck me HARD. Show me what you can do with that meat between your legs."

The Lion leaned forward a bit more, and with all the grace he could muster, crawled across the floor, towards the Dias. As he approached her, she spread her legs wantonly, giving him a good view of her sex. Pausing, the Lion ran his tongue over her snatch once, twice, just enough to make sure she was wet enough for him, and then he surged forward to cover her body with his...

Just as he was shifting his hips, making sure he was centered, twin jabs against his ass shocked him, and his hips drove forwards instinctively, forcing his cock deep into her pussy. The Kangaroo Rat Gasped and wrapped her arms around his neck; "THAT is what spurs are for! Now GIDDIYAP!" And again the spiked wheels came down on his ass precipitating another hard thrust. The Lion grunted and complied, fucking her without fineness, driving his hips hard against her in response to the jabs against his ass. As he moved, he heard the first of Eddie's hoarse screams as the Bear resumed his whipping. By the time she was screaming through her first climax, the Lion could feel trickles of blood running down his ass, but still, she wasn't satisfied. It seemed that no matter how he moved, no matter how hard he fucked her she still wanted more, the spurs driving down against his rear. Finally she arched her back against him and commanded him to cum, something he was more than ready to do, if for no other reason to escape her clutches.

Tanj stared open-mouthed at the girls at the table; "Mark some sort of fundamentalist religious leader? Oh, PLEASE, tell me you're kidding." After a moment, Tanj started to chuckle, and then unable to hold it back, the laughter escaped from her. She laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks. Finally she was able to gain control of herself, only to find all the ladies at the table just staring at her, with serious expressions on their faces. "Oh, Please, tell me you don't really BELIEVE that!"

In response to a push against his chest, from the Kangaroo Rat, the Lion rocked back to a kneeling position. Something told him that rolling over onto his back would NOT be a good idea at this point... The Kangaroo rat lifted herself a little, to look past him at the Squirrel, and nodded. "He's close. He won't last long. OK, Brewster, you can stop now." The Bear nodded and gave a half bow to the Kangaroo Rat, and coiling his whip, he sauntered out the door. The Rat turned to sprinkle a white powder on the floor next to her cushion, and then turned to grin at the Lion: "You, flat on your back, right there, head towards the wall!" The Lion groaned as he settled onto the floor next to the cushion. As he settled his ass into the sprinkling of white powder he shuddered at the stinging; "Salt. The Bitch is literally rubbing salt in my wounds!". The Kangaroo Rat chuckled and moved to straddle his hips, facing his feet, facing the struggling Squirrel. In a few moments her paws had him hard again and she moved to impale herself on his shaft. She rode him at her own speed, both paws reaching down to toy with his balls as she moved. "Tell you what, Lion; when I'm done with you, when I'm satisfied, you can go cut down the Squirrel. If he's still alive. How's that for an incentive to please your Mistress?" As she expected, the burning from the Ginger in his anus, and the salt under his bleeding rump kept the Lion's hips moving and she seemed to delight in that. The Lion watched her back, watched her watch Eddie as the exhausted Squirrel struggled to keep from falling. To keep from strangling himself. It was as Eddie was struggling to rise, to loosen the ever-tightening noose obviously at the end of his endurance, that the Lion felt her encircle his sack with thumb and forefinger, to tug painfully downward. And then the Kangaroo Rat shrieked through what had to have been her most powerful climax of the night.

Tanj smiled at them over the rim of her coffee cup; "Now tell me, don't you think Mark's just a little... young to be some sort of cult leader? And when have you EVER seen him act like... Whatever you'd expect a cult leader to act like?" The girls at the table exchanged nervous glances, and then Pam spoke in a low voice; "Well, to tell you the truth, that's not quite what I'd heard... the story I heard was... Well..." Tanj nodded in what she hoped was a reassuring manner; "Go on... Please." Pam bit her lip and then the words tumbled out in a rush; "I heard that he was the result of some successful experiment by a shady government agency, or some biocorporation... Something to enhance his brain, to bring out the psi powers... I heard it involved icky stuff like brain tissue grafts taken from living "donors"... I heard that he's still working for this agency, or corporation, or whatever..." Before Tanj could speak, Marie shook her head; "That's not quite what I heard. I heard he was on the run from them and that they were hunting him... " Lisa blinked; "Um, I'd heard that he was some sort of an alien spy in a cloned, or a (shudder) "Borrowed" body..." Pam scowled and shook her head; "Oh, that couldn't be; he's had physicals... He has to have had physicals... hasn't he?" Lisa just crossed her arms across her chest and looked at the Coyote; "And how deep did those Medical types REALLY go? Were they looking for something like that? Maybe he's got a way to fool the scanners!"

Tanj blinked and shook her head as the conversation spiraled further and further into the twilight zone. Could they REALLY be thinking these things about MARK? Urrrrrrrrr! But before she could say anything, her pager went off, and sighing she rose to head back to work...

The Lion was panting hard when she rose off his shaft, and without another word, or backwards look padded out the door. After a moment he rose, to padd over to the Squirrel, his ass on fire from the Ginger buttplug. His claws shredded the rope, and the Squirrel hit the floor with a choked sound. It took a moment to get the rope from around his neck, and then the wire from around his bleeding balls. Tossing the limp but still breathing Squirrel over his shoulder, he turned and headed for what he thought was the Slaves' quarters, wondering if there was someone there who could help the Squirrel. Wondering if there was someone there who could tell him if he was permitted to remove the buttplug.

Tanj shoved her dishes into the recycler and turned and stalked down the rough-hewn corridor towards her ship. It was obvious to her that the girls hadn't believed her protestations. Everyone knew of Mark's telepathic link with her, and it had been suggested politely that she was under his power. As was that curious creature, Mala. And telepathy suggested mind control... As she walked down the corridor, she scowled; "I need to get to the bottom of this... but I need to find my Master too. And there just isn't time for both. I think I'd best find a moment to talk to Mark..."

There were still a few slaves up when the Lion entered the bunkhouse. The building was crude, with a dirt floor, and walls up to about waist height, with screen the rest of the way to the roof. But there were no doors, so the insects circulated freely. Down each wall was a line of beds, with simple straw-filled mattresses. The Lion looked around and spotted Qume, the Fox, who had risen from his mattress to look concernedly towards the Lion. "Put him over there" a voice whispered, and the Lion turned to see Benny the Otter pointing towards a bunk. The Lion moved over to it, and as carefully as he could, he set the Squirrel down on his stomach. His back was a bruised, bleeding mess from his shoulders to his rump. "You got any antiseptic? Anything to dress the wounds with?" Benny just chuckled; "Are you kidding? We don't got squat. He'll either live, or die on his own. Better turn him over though." The Lion blinked; "You want him to lie on his back?" The Otter just shrugged; "Gotta recharge his collar or he WILL die. Nuthin' I can do about that." Qume sighed; "Come on, I'll help."

After they'd gotten Eddie settled as comfortably as they could, the Lion padded over to Benny; "I take it you're in charge here?" The Otter nodded; "Yeah, I'm the Head Slave; what's it to you?" The Lion just shrugged; "I was wondering if I could get into the showers; seems my ass got turned to hamburger by our Mistress and then she rubbed salt in it. I'd like to wash it out." The Otter chuckled and shook his head; "You know where the showers are; there might still be some water in the pipes, but the pump was turned off at dinner." The Lion just nodded slowly; "She also put some sort of butt-plug up my rear, and its burning pretty bad. Will she get mad if I take it out?" Benny just chuckled; "Did she TELL you you could take it out? No? Then you damn well better leave it in, or you'll wind up like Eddie over there, or worse." The Lion just sighed and padded towards the showers. There must have been about a pint and a half of water in the pipes, and all it did was get his ass stinging even worse. "At least the salt stopped the bleeding" he mused as he settled himself on an empty bed, squirming around until he felt the contacts at the back of his collar connect with the recharger. The damn thing hummed loudly, not that he thought he was going to get much sleep anyways...

Tanj looked at Mark's image on the monitor and frowned; "Yeah, sounds like they've got you doing REAL important work there. Listen, I think I know what's behind your assignment there. There seems to be some sort of whisper campaign going on, directed against you. I've NO idea WHY, 'cept possibly that you're just a little different than everyone else (like we've got a bunch of NORMAL folks here anyways!)." Mark shrugged with a hint of a smile; "I can think of worse things to happen to me than what's basically a paid vacation... As long as somebody makes sure I DO still get paid, of course. If nothing else, I have more time to meditate on finding the Boss... though so far I've only puzzled out that he's alive, if uncomfortable, and still on Elysium. Which at least fits with your theory, if that's any help." Tanj nodded; "Well, if you get any flashes, Please let me know. And I'll see you when you get here." As she reached up to break the connection, Mark held up a paw. "Wait, aren't you going to tell me just WHAT they've been swhispering behind my back? We're a bit short on entertainment here, you know..." Tanj frowned, but after a moment launched into a blow-by-blow description of the various theories floating around. As she finished, Mark chuckled softly. "Dear me. And those are people we actually recruited to free Elysium? No, don't answer that; its TOO embarrassing. Its good to hear that they're all way off target and my REAL secret is still safe, though." Tanj blinked; "And just what would THAT be?" mark put on that innocent look she'd seen him use all too often. "Allow me to introduce...", and with that he reached out of the camera's angle to retrieve a pair of dark sunglasses he'd gotten from who-knows-where, and placed them on his muzzle; "...Agent M, Imperial ESP Command, department Six. And SHAME on you for not figuring it out sooner, too!" He grinned as Tanj's groan came over the comlink; "You just get your ass in here, you... You..."

The Lion groaned as Benny poked him; "Come on, you Lazy Slave! It'll be sunup soon! There's work to be done!" Then the Otter was off, limping down the row of bunks, rousing the slaves. They had to carry Eddie to the table, but the Squirrel was in no shape to eat... And that worried the Lion. Breakfast was stale bread and some sort of cold porridge, and scarcely enough to fill his belly, the Lion thought. As he licked his bowl clean, imitating the others, he watched as Benny conferred with the Overseer. And then Benny was moving among the tables, passing out work assignments. Most of the slaves were split into three groups, to work in the fields. One group would be under the Overseer, one under Benny, and apparently the third would be watched by the Mistress. The Lion knelt quietly, wondering which group he'd be assigned... and then the Otter limped over. "Qume tells me you've got some mechanical skills. That's good, as Eddie was the last slave that knew a damn thing about machines. The No.4 combine still needs work, and you're elected. Take Eddie down there to give you advice; its obvious he isn't going to make it in the fields today. When you're done there, check all the irrigation pumps for pluggages. If there's any daylight left, come find me. If you're still working at Dinner time, I'll find you. Take off." The Lion nodded and turned to look at Eddie; "You know the way; you strong enough to hang on to my back, or should I use the fireman's carry?"

It turned out one of the buildings, a structure known as a "pole barn", a roof supported by vertical uprights, with no walls or floor, was the maintenance facility. In one "corner" was a little shack, and there the Lion discovered a short, slight male Tiger bent over a circuit board, his soldering iron smoking. The Lion placed Eddie as carefully as he could in one corner, the motion drawing the Tiger's attention; "Hi, I'm CT. 'preciate what you did for Eddie last night. Too many of the folks here wouldn't have gone out of their way to bring him back." The Lion blinked; "Why? Is he disliked for some reason?" CT shook his head no; "No, he's an OK guy; its just this place drains most of the humanity from folks. They do only what they have to, and only look out for No.1. Benny's the classic example." The Lion nodded; "Somehow I got the feeling a lame slave wouldn't last long here; he sucks up to the overseer?" CT nodded and turned back to his work; "Yeah, a real brown- noser. Watch out for him, he'll sell you out in an instant for a crust of bread." The Lion nodded; "I'll remember that. Right now, though, I'd better go get a look at the No.4 combine..." CT waved and nodded; "Good luck; that thing's a piece of junk; should have been retired ages ago."

The combine was an old Belisarius, and had actually survived the company that had manufactured it. This was amazing as that firm had been famous for producing the cheapest units... and you got what you paid for. The electronics that guided the thing had been reworked so many times as to no longer be anything close to standard, and the drive... the Fuel Cell had so many warped plates the Lion couldn't figure out how it functioned. The final drive was from an electric motor to a sprocket on the front axle, connected by a chain. And it didn't take but a second to understand why the chain kept breaking. Somewhere in its past something had impacted the combine and bent the frame just enough to throw things out of alignment. And as the motor was behind and under the grain bin, a rather hefty structure welded to the frame, there was no room to realign the motor. The only choice was to realign the front axle... but then the combine would be crabbing forward, the tines not moving straight down the row of crops. Sighing, the Lion sat down to study the problem.

The scream of the air impact wrench faded away, to be replaced with Benny's howl of outrage; "...fucking SHIT! You've got it in PIECES! Dammit, Mistress wanted this thing running TOMORROW!" The Lion slid out from under the frame and looked at the Otter; "Yeah, and if I just put on a new drive chain I'd be in Eddie's condition in a few days. I can patch the thing together, or I can FIX it. Now if she needs it tomorrow, find a way to let me work all night... I might get it done." Benny shook his head; "But its in pieces all over the place! WHAT are you trying to DO?" The Lion put down the air impact wrench and picked up a sledge hammer; "The frame's bent; the only way to solve the problem is to straighten the frame. The ONLY way." "But," spluttered Benny; "We don't HAVE a way to straighten the frame! We don't have any heavy equipment here!" The Lion shrugged; "Just have to build something then. You want this done, go away and let me work." The Otter scowled as the Lion turned away from him, and he was just about to growl that he was boss here and that no slave told HIM what to do... but then he decided there were other ways to teach this newcomer a lesson...

"Hey," CT called; "its getting close to dinner time; you coming?" The Lion shook his head; "No, not if I'm going to get this thing running by morning. You and Eddie go on without me. Tell that gimpy Otter I'm still working. Oh, hey, you got a way to recharge my collar while I work?" CT grinned; "Only if you promise not to get caught with it." The Tiger vanished into his shack and returned in a moment with a breadboarded rig; after a moment he'd clamped it to the back of the Lion's collar, its weight noticeable; "Give it about two hours. And don't lay down on it; you might get a nasty shock. Oh, by the way, your collar also has a transponder; tells the combines and other farm equpment where you are, so you don't get harvested, if you're working in the fields. It also tells Mistress and the Overseer where you are too." The Lion nodded; "I know about Mistress' riding crop, but where does the overseer keep HIS little transponder; wouldn't want him run over either, now would we?" CT just chuckled; "You'd be surprised. He's got a wristlet that is his remote control device, and also the transponder for the farm equipment." The Lion just nodded and turned back to his work.

The jig for straightening the frame was simple enough. Cables anchored the front and rear of the combine to "dead men" buried to one side. And a hand-crank come-along anchored to the center of the frame stretched to another "Dead-man" to the other side. Grunting, the Lion tugged on the lever, the cables bowstring taut...

Benny nodded to the Kangaroo Rat; "Yes Mistress; we're one short. That new Lion is still working on the No.4 Combine. I think he's making a real mess of it, Ma'am... I TOLD him it was time for dinner, but he wouldn't come." The Kangaroo Rat's eyes narrowed; "Oh he wouldn't, would he? Well, I think maybe I'll take a little ride down there after dinner and see..."

The approaching jingling was sufficient warning for the Lion to unclip the recharger from his collar and stash it in the guts of the combine. He'd just remounted the cutter head and was torquing the bolts down when the strangest apparition came into view... A two wheeled cart, built of tubing held the Kangaroo Rat, and between the traces was a female equine... A Clydesdale, or a Morgan, or one of the larger breeds of that species. Wiping off his paws, he knelt, head down. The Kangaroo Rat tugged on her reins, directing the slave pulling the cart to pull up alongside the open side of the maintenance shed. She sat there for a moment, her eyes moving from the kneeling Lion to the combine to all the parts and tools scattered about. Finally she said, in a conversational voice; "You understand you will have to be punished for not showing up for dinner, don't you?" The Lion shrugged; "That, or be punished for not having fixed the combine by dinner. Mistress, if I'm going to be punished, I'd rather have the satisfaction of having done good work. And Benny insisted you needed the combine by morning..." The Kangaroo Rat nodded slowly; "I suspect Benny was piqued at your... Selection of which orders to obey. He does like to think that he's the head slave. I do think that I'm going to have to have a talk with him about that. But in the future you will NOT miss dinner, no matter what. Now, if you DO have the combine fixed by morning, your punishment will merely be to draw from the jar; but if after all this it still doesn't work, well, then, I think I'll have to come up with something special... so you'd better get back to work, Slave." Turning to look at the slave between the traces of her cart, she snapped the reins, and then the Clydedale was stepping high, drawing the cart into the night. The Lion watched for a moment and then rose to turn back to the cutting head.

The job was completed a couple hours before dawn. All the diagnostics ran correctly, and with the front axle jacked up, the drive ran at top speed for a half hour without the least sign of a problem. Setting the machine up for the next day's tasks, according to the schedule he found on CT's computer, the Lion paused to look around the ad-hoc electronic's shop. After pawing through several drawers he finally smiled. The mica film was commonly used when hand- wiring coils. But cut and trimmed just so, it fit inside his collar, covering the two electrodes there quite nicely... He just made it to Breakfast, and as he knelt at the table he winked at Eddie, and nodded.

Benny caught the wink and the nod and scowled... Could that mangy cat have actually fixed that rambling wreck? If he had... no, there was no way he could claim any part of that success, not after what he'd said to the Mistress. Settling back, the Otter wondered how he could take this Lion down a notch...

The Lion was yawning widely when Benny limped by; "Field team Three for you; nothing needs fixing today." The Lion nodded and rose, thinking "No rest for me" as he turned to join that group. Behind him, he heard Benny assign Eddie to the same team, and the Lion turned to watch the Squirrel struggle to his feet. Retracing his steps he felt the squirrel's nose; it was hot and dry. Sighing the Lion turned and hoisted Eddie onto his back and being careful to duck low through the doorway, he hurried to catch up with the others.

As they walked towards their assigned field, Qume looked up at the Lion; "How in the HELL can you be so cheerful? Especially so early in the morning?" The Lion chuckled and shrugged a little, hoisting Eddie into a more comfortable position; "Heck, I've been up all night, so "morning" doesn't have a whole lot of meaning for me at the moment. And its not hard, if you try... Besides, its pissing the HELL out of our friend Benny." Qume stole a look back at the Otter limping after them and chuckled; "You're right; he's scowling like a volcano getting ready to blow." The Lion nodded and tilted his head back to sing in a truly abysmal voice "Over hilllll, over dale, we will hit the dusty traillllllll..."

It was hard to keep going. He was falling asleep on his feet, but if he didn't keep the hoe going, the wake up call from the overseer's whip would bring him back to wakefullness... And the recharge from CT's device obviously hadn't been quite enough; his collar was unusually tight... As he tried to keep moving, the Lion watched the overseer from the corner of his eye. He'd been pestering the Minotaur for no apparent reason that the Lion could see, other than that the Bull hated it. It was obvious to the lion that the Minotaur was reaching the breaking point, and that the Overseer was determined to push him past it, probably just for the pleasure of punishing him for it. Looking back down at what he was doing, the Lion moved slightly, trying to keep himself between the Bear and Eddie. The Squirrel wasn't moving very well... And his back looked infected.

Tanj shook her head; "AgriCorp Facility 223? What the heck kind of destination is THAT for a bill of lading?" With a sigh she turned back to her database. At least now she had a clue as to who'd bought her Master. All she had to do was to figure out where their "Facility 223" was...

The Break came when the Lion least expected it. The Minotaur Bull turned and swung his hoe in a vicious ark. At first the Lion thought he'd missed; the Bear saw it, and leaned back, the business end of the hoe missing his head by inches... but then it bit into his left forearm, and the Lion knew the Bull had planned well. The Bear jumped back, more stunned than hurt, and his paws came up as if he were about to punch a button on the now-ruined mass of plastic and electronics dangling from his left wrist. The Minotaur wound up for another swing, as the Bear reached for the coiled bullwhip on his hip...

The Lion glanced over the other slaves, and then just leaned on the handle of his hoe. There really was little he could do... Even with the overseer dead, they couldn't escape; their collars saw to that. It was just too far to the nearest outpost of civilization. And the Minotaur had forfeited his life with the first swing; there was no way the owners would let him survive now... And thus the Lion watched, idly rooting for the Minotaur, but not willing to come to his assistance. It just wasn't time yet... He had a lot more planning, a lot more preparation to do before he'd be willing to take on the "establishment"...

The Bear's first two strikes with the whip drew blood, but the Minotaur didn't seem to notice; the third strike was caught, and the Bear jerked forward. The two grappled for a moment, and then the Minotaur had the whip twisted around the Bear's neck, and was pulling... The Bear struggled for a while, his motions becoming increasingly frantic, his eyes bugging out, until finally he slumped. The Bull held the whip tight for a good half dozen minutes before releasing it. There was no chance the Bear wasn't dead. And then, as he let the body slump to the ground, he looked around helplessly as if to say "Now what do I do?"

The Lion watched carefully. Somehow, he was certain that the Bear's wristlet had reported its own demise, if not the Bear's, and that whatever passed for the Cavalry was on its way... And then sure enough, everyone around him suddenly jerked hard, convulsing with electric shock. The Lion only felt a slight tingle, and was pleased to see that his little strip of insulation was working; his own faked convulsions were only a split second behind the others and he wondered if anyone had noticed... And then as furrs all around him went limp, he noticed from the corner of his eye, the cart pulled by the Clydesdale approaching...

The Kangaroo Rat tugged on the reins awkwardly, a laser pistol in one paw and her "control" in her other. From the way the twitching bodies were arranged, it was obvious that the Minotaur was the one responsible. Punching in his access code, she programmed her remote to give him periodic shocks, insuring that he'd be unable to assault her as well. She then turned off the current to the other slaves. As they roused themselves she glared at them; "You should have prevented your friend from doing this. Now I'm going to have to find a new overseer, and I promise you, I will find the meanest, nastiest one on the Planet! IN THE SECTOR! Now you, you and you, pick up Brewster and carry him back to the compound. You, you and you, tie up the Minotaur and carry him back as well. MOVE IT!" Under the watchful eye of the Kangaroo Rat the slaves obeyed, and soon a strange procession was heading back along the dusty road...

Dinner that night was quite strange. The Kangaroo Rat wore almost normal clothes, slacks and a crop top. And she carried a shotgun in addition to her whip. It was almost as if she were suddenly nervous, afraid in the absence of the Bear, that the slaves might turn on her as well. Twice during the dinner she reminded the assembled group that if she wasn't there every day to code in the proper sequence into the compound's computer, their collars would all automatically constrict. The Lion filed that little bit of information away as well, thinking that it changed his plans somewhat... But just somewhat. After the meal was finished, the Kangaroo Mouse rose; "You are all confined to quarters until a new Overseer is brought in, and the Slave that killed the old one can be properly executed. And I don't want to hear a Peep out of any of you! DISMISSED!" Again, as the Lion rose, the Kangaroo Rat called out; "Lion! I haven't forgotten about your punishment. When all this is resolved, you WILL draw from the jar!" The Lion gave a polite half-bow in her direction, and turned to follow the others.

"Its kind of a ritual" CT explained. "If things get too bad, we draw straws. The one with the short straw has to kill the overseer. Then, while they bring in a new one, we're all confined to quarters. It's a guaranteed minimum of at least a day's rest." The Lion blinked; "You mean that in order to get a days rest around here, it costs two lives?" Qume shrugged; "Hey, we're all going to die here anyways. No one ever leaves this place; they're too afraid someone will learn about the dreamweed crop." The Lion looked around and then shrugged; "Just between you and me, I do NOT plan on dying here." Qume looked across the room at Benny and then leaned closer; "You got a plan?" The Lion grinned; "Maybe. Tell me again what you know about the sensors that keep the farm equipment from running over folks, CT."

After they'd talked for a while, Qume stretched and grinned; "Its rare that we get left alone like this. Usually Mistress has something or other to bedevil us... but tonight... tonight I think I'm going to see if Sasha's got enough energy left to be interested in a little loving..." The Lion chuckled and nodded; "Good Luck, Qume." CT yawned and stretched; "Well, I for one am going to use the opportunity to catch up on my sleep." The Lion chuckled and nodded. He'd been flat on his back on his bed for a bit, just staring at the ceiling, thinking, when someone moved close. Looking up, he saw the Clydesdale Mare looking down at him; "Hi, just thought I'd wander over and welcome you to Hell. My name's Dahlia."

Tanj now had a pretty good picture of what AgriCorp was. They were a major conglomerate that produced food, from the farm, to the grocery store. They were thoroughly vertically integrated. And they had almost a thousand farms, plants, factories and stores. She'd obtained a copy of their prospectus, and their previous year's tax return, and had even hacked into their mainframe, although for a simple food supplier, it was curiously well "defended"... And nowhere did they list a "Facility 223." "Something HAS to be going on here" the Cheetah mused to herself. "This should NOT be that difficult... They HAVE to be hiding something..." Reaching for a message pad, she started to summarize her findings and her thoughts as she prepared to request another "special operation"...

"No, its not a permanent job; generally the Mistress rotates the job among the slaves. I think she prefers me though, as I do a better job at it than most of the others; they're just too small." The Lion nodded, as he lay on his bunk, arms crossed behind his head, looking up at her. "I've never seen anything like it before. She really is into "Control," isn't she?" Dahlia cast a quick look at Benny and then turned back to the Lion; "Yeah... but she seldom has an interest in the meek ones. She likes the ones that resist, that fight back, so she can punish them." The Lion chuckled and nodded; "I kinda figured that out... But it also looks like it doesn't take much to earn a punishment, either." Dahlia nodded; "True. Benny's real good at complaining about your work, even when you've done a good job. I think it makes him feel powerful, and of course the Mistress loves the excuse to punish someone anyways." The Lion nodded; "Seems I've got a punishment coming up; going to have to draw from the jar. What can I expect?" As she sat on the edge of the Lion's bed, the Clydesdale moved a paw over his chest, running his fingers through his mane; "Oh, there are a LOT of different things that can happen to you; some of them are sexual services for the Mistress, and hence not too bad. I think you've had a taste of that... Some are sexual services for the Overseer and those are generally less pleasant. Some are straight punishments, some are pure torture, and there's even one token in there labeled "Death." Personally, I think she has some way of controlling what token you choose; after all; why should I wind up drawing "ponygirl" so very often?"

The Lion smiled as she ran her fingers through his mane; it made him think of Tanj, and he wondered how she was doing at the moment. The Brethren had rules about how to handle situations such as his disappearance, and he honestly wondered if she was following them... As the Clydedale's hand slid down over his stomach, he glanced up at her to find her smiling down at him; "You know, we generally don't get folks of our size in here... and its difficult to get satisfaction from some of the smaller species, no matter how ... Enthusiastic they might be..." The Lion just chuckled and reached up to pull her down into a kiss.

The Lion kissed her softly, his tongue pushing past her parted lips, to dance with hers, as his paws found her ample breasts, to cup them, the middle finger of each paw finding its way through her nipple rings. As he squeezed softly, his tongue continued the dance of passion with hers. Dahlia for her part shifted her position, moving to kneel astride the lion as he reclined on his bunk. Softly her hips rocked back and forth, her sex rubbing against his sheath...

Tanj poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at one of the tables in the mess. For a moment all fell silent, the few furrs there looking at her curiously. Tanj nibbled at her Danish and sipped her coffee, and grinned back at them; "So tell me, what wild rumors are out there now about Mark? What's the latest scuttlebutt?"

There had been three or four couples performing intimate acts in the bunkhouse, but somehow, everyone turned to watch as the Lion and Dahlia made love. Perhaps it was her high- pitched whinneys every time she climaxed that drew their attention, or the way they changed position from time to time, moving from her sitting astride his hips, to him on top of her, to a somewhat complex standing position, with her hands braced on the wall and her legs locked around his waist, to her on hands and knees beside the bed with him taking her from behind... It was in this latter position that the Lion finally leaned forward, to take the back of her neck in his jaws as his hips bucked wildly, his own orgasm finally claiming him. After a moment, Dahlia sagged forward, to lie on the floor on her tummy, the Lion still crouched over her. It took another moment or two, before the Lion could withdraw, to sit next to her, his chest heaving. Dahlia rolled onto one side, propping her head up with one arm; "That was probably the best I've had in a long time; you're really quite good... but that teeth thing at the end, that didn't cut it." The Lion raised one eyebrow and smirked; "Really? Most ladies I know love that... but then... I guess it's a Feline thing." The Clydesdale chuckled and reached out one paw to stroke the Lion's crotch; "Ah, but I'm NOT Feline..."

The Kangaroo Rat watched. Of course there were monitors in the Slave's bunkroom, both visual and audio. But they were hidden, and only she knew they were there. As such, the pickup wasn't as good as she'd liked. She couldn't pick up every conversation, but she HAD watched the Lion's performance with the Mare. And it had made her feel... Envious? Of a Slave? Sitting back, she watched the Mare reach out to stroke him again, either teasing, or trying to arouse him for a second go... "Well, Missy" she growled to herself, "you go ahead and have your fun while you can, 'cause its going to stop REAL soon..." Picking up a stylus she started to make notes as to who had been having sex that night...

"They say that he's some sort of religious leader in a cult that worships some ancient alien race. That this cult trains its members in telepathy, and that they use that talent to drain it from non-cult members around them. Literally sucking a portion of your soul from you!" Tanj sat back in her chair and stared at the Chipmunk. "And you think, that because I've got some sort of telepathic link with Mark that he's training me as one of his acolytes? That I'm going to reach into your mind and take something from you?" The Squirrel shifted uncomfortably; "Um, well, yes, that IS one theory out there... But its also possible that every time he makes contact with you that he's feeding off YOUR mind... That might explain why a person of your ... Talents still hasn't been able to find the Boss..." Tanj's jaw dropped as she stared back at the Chipmunk, and then at the others around the table... After a couple of false starts, Tanj finally managed to choke out; "Oh, I'll find the Boss all right. Mark's not done anything to my mind, I'm sure of that, and when I DO find him, I guarantee you he'll put a stop to all this nonsense!"

As they watched Tanj stalk off, one of the girls sighed; "Poor thing, she just doesn't SEE what he's doing to her!" Heads nodded around the table and then conversation picked up as they discussed if Tanj could be rescued before the Mutant Mouse consumed her completely.

As she walked back to her ship, Tanj frowned. "It shouldn't BE this difficult to find one slave on that planet. All that stuff is well documented. Bureaucracies are LIKE that; they keep records of EVERYTHING... COULD it be me?"

The next day was remarkably quiet. The few slaves that normally handled meal preparation made quick trips to the kitchen, to bring back cold snacks. Most everyone just laid around, dozing, or just doing nothing. Some folks talked in quiet little groups. The Lion made the rounds of those groups, getting to know the other slaves, listening to what they had to say, trying to get a feel for their personalities. And their backgrounds. For his escape plan to work, he was going to need help. Unfortunately, few of them had any kind of technical background...

It was after dinner when the aircar landed in the courtyard. As most of the slaves watched curiously a single passenger disembarked. He was a male Tiger, tall and heavily muscled. He carried a riot gun, and a backpack, and little else. The Kangaroo Rat came out to meet him, and as the Aircar lifted off, she walked him towards the Overseer's quarters, the pair talking animatedly. "Well, that tells us something right there" the Lion muttered. Redflame, a squirrel, looked over at the Lion; "Oh? What's that?" The Lion chuckled; "That model of Aircar has an unrefueld range of only about 200 kilometers. We can't be further than that from civlization." Behind him, Benny gave the Lion a scowl; what was he thinking things like THAT for... was he up to something?

Tanj looked at Mark's image on the monitor; "A robot supply ship? You mean to tell me they've gotten so worked up over you that they won't even let you come in for a DAY?" Mark just shrugged; "Seems that way. Hey, don't sweat it. We're comfortable here, and when things get back to normal, and the Boss is finally back, I'm sure we'll be able to straighten it all out." Tanj sighed and shook her head; "I don't know, its getting awful strange here. A messenger bringing me some signal intercepts actually showed up wearing a tin-foil skullcap. When I asked him about it he said it was to foil telepathic attempts to control him. I thought he was making a pun, just teasing me, but it turned out he was dead serious. The guy was actually afraid of ME because I know YOU!" Mark just shook his head; " Next time you meet him, tell him telepathy's not based on electromagnetism and so his silly cap wouldn't do him a bit of good anyways. I'm starting to honestly wonder what's wrong with those people. Think you could arrange for the next supply run to fetch a large collection of supermarket tabloids to distract them?" Tanj just sighed. Mark tilted his head for a moment, and then nodded; "In any case, the news isn't all bad; I do believe I'm starting to home in on the Boss. Should have a good fix on his location in another couple of days at the most, if your investigations don't turn up a lead before then. Of course, just how many people would believe me at the moment is another question..." Tanj nodded and straightened a bit; "Just see what you can do."

Things were more subdued in the bunk house that night. It was as if the prompt arrival of the new overseer had filled them all with dread... But still, a few slaves found whatever it took, to share the pleasures of the flesh with each other... And again, the Mare came to the Lion... and once again, the Kangaroo Rat watched with growing annoyance...

The next morning the slaves lined up outside the bunk room, prior to breakfast. The Minotaur had been placed on a stool, underneath the gibbet, a simple noose around his neck. The new Overseer looked up and down the line of slaves and then stalked over to kick the stool out from under the Minotaur's feet. Then, as the noose tightened, strangling the Bull, the Tiger growled as he stalked up and down the line of slaves; "My name's Bart, but YOU will call me Sir. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD? Good. Now, I've got little patience for lazy slaves, and even less for disobedient ones. Anyone who displeases me WILL be punished, and punished HARD!" To emphasize this point, the Tiger turned and jabbed a shock stick between Nate's legs. The Rabbit howled and jumped a good four feet straight up into the air, to fall back with a thud. The Tiger watched him twitch for a while, and then chuckled evilly; "Get my Point? Now get off to breakfast, you lazy slobs, there's work to be done!" As they all started to move, they all stole a glance at the Bull slowly strangling to death...

The Lion helped Qume drag Nate into the dining hall; the Tiger's shock stick had caught him square in the balls and it looked like he had a nasty burn. That and considerable swelling... Breakfast was a hurried affair, with Benny handing out assignments before everyone had finished eating. The Lion once again was assigned to field work, and soon they were all trudging out along the dusty paths, to tend the Dreamweed crop...

Brown (or Smith, or Jones) smiled and though this one was going to be remarkably easy. His target liked to eat out, and would frequently call for a cab to take him back to his penthouse. The Cab was stolen, the driver peacefully sleeping off the knockout drug in the trunk. And he'd followed the Raccoon to a rather fashionable restaurant. It was no trick at all to be there when he emerged... The Raccoon's eyes went wide when Brown turned the Cab into the deserted loading dock area of a warehouse, closed for the night. It was just as the Raccoon was starting to spout a "What IS this?" that Brown turned, to show him the needler he carried; "Good evening Mr. Lefkowitz. Just a small stop on your way home. You see, a friend asked me to ask you about the company you work for, this AgriCorp... Specifically about Facility 223..." The Raccoon's eyes went even wider and he gasped "Where did you hear about THAT?"

"I tell you, this one's worse than the last." Redflame was panting hard, struggling to keep up as the group of slaves trudged back towards the compound, under the watchful eye and ever-ready shock stick of the Overseer. The Tiger had been playing with the remote control the Kangaroo Rat had given him and seemed to delight in giving random furrs shocks. The Lion had slipped the strip of mica from under his collar and not having a pocket to hide it in, was forced to hold it in his mouth. This made conversation difficult. In the course of the long day, the Tiger'd given him two rather nasty shocks, but at least his secret was still safe... As soon as he could find some more adhesive tape, he swore he'd stick the Mica strip inside the collar, not quite over the contacts... maybe he could diminish the effect of the shock...

The body of the Minotaur was still hanging in the compound, slowly twisting in the wind, when they got back.

Seven furrs were late for dinner, the tasks they'd been assigned perhaps specifically underestimated by Benny. As a result, when dinner was done, there were a LOT of furrs waiting to draw their punishments from the jar... but before they got to that, the Kangaroo Rat had words to say. "It is my understanding that during the two nights when we were without an overseer, that a number of you engaged in sex acts without my permission. You KNOW that's against the rules, and all those who were thus engaged will be punished. Bart, do you have any suggestions as to what an appropriate punishment might be?" The Tiger just chuckled darkly; "Oh, I've got a very good way to see to it they don't to anything like that again... Without permission that is. Lets handle the OTHER punishments first, though; what I've got in mind might take a while... And I'm sure you're going to love it!"

The Lion winced when Eddie drew the Bastinado. The soles of his feet were to be beaten. It was a very painful punishment. That poor squirrel was certainly not getting the breaks. The rest of the punishments were more mundane; a day without food, having to stand all night instead of sleeping. There were some minor whippings and paddlings awarded. And when it came his turn, the Lion drew a token that read simply; "pony." Whatever it meant, it seemed to please Mistress... and curiously enough, Dahlia.

The eight furrs that had committed the "carnal sins" waited in the dining hall. One by one they were being called into a store room, for whatever their fate was... Occasionally the Lion heard a sharp yelp, or a whimper, but it certainly didn't seem like anyone was being castrated... Qume shook his head as Dahlia was called forth... "This is complete bullshit. There never was such a rule! There's never been a problem with us making love before!" The Lion shrugged; "They're the ones in charge. Do they really need a reason to punish us?" The Fox just growled... "I bet it was that damn Benny that ratted on us! You'll notice that no one went to share HIS bed!" Before the Lion could respond, Benny showed up to call him, and he rose to move down the corridor, following the Otter. Dahlia was just emerging from the store room, walking a little bowlegged, both hands over her crotch. She looked a little wide-eyed, as if she couldn't believe what'd been done to her, but otherwise seemed all right. As they passed she muttered cryptically; "I'm glad I don't have to pull Mistress tomorrow..."

Benny shoved the Lion back against a pillar, and the Tiger rapidly tied his paws behind the post. As he moved back around the bound Lion the Tiger chuckled; "Tell me, have you ever had any body piercings?" The Lion's eyes narrowed, and he muttered; "Aside from the nose ring? Woke up with a nipple ring, once, a LONG time ago..." The Tiger just chuckled; "Then you shouldn't be a stranger to this." So saying he held up a piercing needle, and a captive bead ring... "The idea is to pierce the opening of your sheath" the Tiger rumbled, "and then we give you a Prince Albert, a piercing through the eye of your cock, with the ring emerging out the bottom of the shaft just behind the head. Then, we can put one of these small locks through both rings. You get an erection, it gets VERY painful; so painful you loose the erection. Or something rips. No sex for you, buddy boy." The Lion looked over at the Kangaroo Rat helplessly, but she just smirked, and twirled a small keyring... "Should be very effective. Oh, and your friend, the Mare... we pierced both her labia; she's now got a small lock holding her labia together..."

As they untied him, he couldn't help but move a paw to cover his crotch. The weight of the rings was negligible, but the weight of the lock was quite noticeable, and he had to so something to take the pressure off of his newly pierced flesh. As he headed for the door, the Kangaroo Rat chuckled; "You know, I bet that would be a dandy place to attach a leash..."

When he got back to the bunk house, he glanced at Dahlia, and raised an eyebrow; she just sighed and shrugged and laid back on her bunk. It was a time where words, seemed out of place, but he padded over to her anyways, and bent down to whisper; "For this, they'll die." He then gave her left ear a soft lick, and rising, walked carefully back to his bunk.

Eight pairs of eyes looked daggers at Benny when he returned to the bunk house that night. And in the dark there were muttered comments...

Tanj smiled as she read Brown's report. The Raccoon who'd been the Comptroller for AgriCorp had not been the type to resist physical pain. Oh, he'd tried, until Brown had shot him in the knee, and then, as his blood had seeped out between his fingers clutching at his shattered kneecap, he'd become QUITE cooperative. Facility 223 was a farm, in the Aramac province.. and it seems that they had a little project going on the side... Dreamweed. That explained the great lengths they'd gone to, to keep everything quiet. It also explained the need for a greater than usual number of slaves. As she put down the report, the Cheetah wondered what Brown had wound up doing with the Raccoon... She was certain he hadn't let him go...

The next morning, the Lion made his way to the dining area, moving carefully. The somber attitude of the slaves was a mirror for the gleeful attitude of Bart and the Kangaroo Rat. They obviously had enjoyed themselves a great deal the previous night. When Benny came around, the Lion was somewhat surprised that he wasn't assigned to one of the field crews. Instead, Benny told Dahlia to go get him ready... And the Lion started to get a glimmer of what the "pony" token in the punishment jar had meant.

"Its really not that bad a job" Dahlia insisted as she tightened the leather harness around the Lion. "Sometimes she wants you to go fast, and that's a pain, in the heat and all, but most of the time you just stand there as she watches the slaves work." The Lion grunted and shifted some of the straps; it seems that bands of leather were crisscrossing him almost everywhere... "Yeah, well, it might not be so bad for you, but you have to remember, Lions are sprinters, not long distance runners. Still, if you say some of the smaller species can handle it, I suppose I can too..." Dahlia chuckled; "That's the spirit. Now, open up for the bit." The Lion's eyes went wide as the Clydesdale pushed a metal contraption into his mouth. A U shaped piece of metal pressed against the roof of his mouth, and it was obvious that when the leather reins were tugged, that the bottom of the U would press painfully into tender flesh. Then the blinders went on and he found his peripheral vision limited to straight ahead... He was standing there, wrists chained to his waist, as Dahlia fastened the tongues of the two-wheeled cart to his harness, when the Kangaroo Rat came in. "Very Good, Dahlia" she purred, "But don't you think he needs a bearing rein to keep his head up?" The Clydesdale winced and muttered "Yes Ma'am," and turned back to the rack where the tack was kept... The Lion sighed as he watched her lube up a rather long, thick dildo, with a ring at the back end. As he feared, this was shortly nestling within his ass, straps from the ring passing on either side of his tail, to fasten to the back of the harness encasing his head. He found himself looking almost straight up; if he tried to lower his head, the tension on the straps drove the invader in his ass painfully deeper... In this position, he'd have a hell of a time just seeing where he was going... Then he felt the tongues of the cart shift as the Kangaroo rat climbed onto the seat, and an instant later her whip found his ass, and without preamble he broke into a trot, hauling the cart from the shed.

Dahlia watched him go for a moment, and then turned and with a sigh, trudged off to join the field crew she was supposed to be working with today.

The Lion learned very quickly to obey the tugs on his reins. As he ran, the bouncing lock made him incredibly aware of his new piercings, and the dong wobbling in his ass proved to be its own special nightmare. Before long he was panting hard, covered in sweat, and still the Kangaroo Rat's whip kissed his ass. Finally when she hauled back on both reins, when he'd brought the cart to a halt, he found it almost impossible not to collapse to his knees with exhaustion. The Rat took the reins, and tossed them over his head, to walk around and tie them to a nearby chinaberry tree. Then, whistling jauntily, she walked off, leaving him.

Tanj looked at Ben and sighed; "And just how in the HELL am I supposed to get PROOF that he's there? The place is too remote! I can't very well send in some sort of spy; they'd stand out like a sore thumb!" Ben shook his head; "I will NOT sanction an operation until I know for sure that he's there, and that its NOT a trap! Now if you think he's at this farm, then I suggest you find a way to PROVE it! And prove that there are no defenses, no Elysium forces waiting in ambush!" Grumbling, Tanj turned and stalked from Ops.

Sam watched the angry Cheetah go, and then turned to the Wolf; "You know, Ben, She's building up to doing something stupid..." Ben chuckled and nodded; "Know? I'm depending on it. We've got our rules, and our procedures, and in my position, I'm supposed to defend them, not break them. I agree, in all likelihood that's what happened to the Boss, and that's where he is. But I can't risk the whole organization on that. It COULD be a trap. If the opposition has any sense at all, it WILL be a trap. But knowing that, we might just turn the tables. And that all depends on our irascible friend being as impetuous as I think she is." Sam chuckled; "I take it then, that you have a plan?" The Wolf just grinned and nodded...

The Lion heard them coming; not that he could turn and look, though. The bearing rein held his head back, but the reins tied to the tree tugged his head down; it was Hobson's choice between the pain of the bit in his mouth or the pain of the dong in his ass. Crouching hadn't helped either; the reins were tied too high in the tree for him to get any relief that way. As they approached, the Tiger, Bart, was saying; "Yes, I agree, he DOES look good... its just that I think you can do better. For instance, if his nipples were pierced, you could hang little jinglebells there; he'd make music as he ran. Oh, and I'd hang a jinglebell from the piercings in his sheath too." As he talked, the Tiger had moved around in front of the Lion, one paw stroking over his sheath as if to emphasize where the bell should go. "You might also want to put a weighted strap around his balls; as he runs, it would be most... noticeable" Again the Tiger's paw moved, thumb and forefinger encircling that space between the Lion's testicles and his body; and when the Tiger jerked downwards, stretching the Lion's balls, the Lion's roar turned the heads of the distant field workers.

The Kangaroo Rat, however, just chuckled; "Quiet, You," Turning to the overseer she nodded; "I'll have to see what I can do; he IS a pleasant change from my usual steed." Untying the reins, taking her seat in the cart, she snapped her whip, and as the Lion broke into a trot, she waved gaily back at the Overseer.

The Overseer chuckled as he watched the Mistress depart, and then turned to look over the slaves working the field. Raising his remote, he gave the Fox another jolt through his collar. They were SUCH lazy slaves...

The Lion hauled the Rat from field to field, as she checked on the progress of the work, and on the state of the crops. Apparently she'd given him the major workout right at the start, as these trips were comparatively short. Finally, as the sun was growing low on the horizon, she turned him towards the compound, her whip cracking at his ass. She urged him from a trot to a run, driving him faster and faster, until, as they reached the compound, she hauled cruelly back on the reins, bringing them to a screeching halt in a cloud of dust. Dismounting, she took the reins and led him into the shed where the cart was kept. Chuckling she tied off the reins to a rafter and then stood back to regard her slave. "You know, I think those piercing might be useful for something else" she grinned. With a "Wait here, Now," she turned and headed for her quarters. On her return, the Lion felt her fumble with the lock at the tip of his sheath, listening to the 'snick' as it was opened, feeling the reduction in weight as it was removed... and then her paws were moving over him, stroking him, caressing him, until, almost against his will, his shaft stood rampant and proud. The Kangaroo rat purrred and clipped something to the ring in the eye of his cock, and again he felt weight. There were tugs at the ring at the opening of his sheath, and then she was fumbling with the head of his cock again... "There; that looks about right. I know, you can't see, but I've strung a strand of my favorite pearls from the ring in the head of your cock to the ring in your sheath. I suspect they'll feel simply marvelous..." The Lion then heard the sound of a zipper being pulled down, of fabric rustling softly, and then the Kangaroo Rat was climbing up his body, as he stood, harnessed between the traces of the cart. She balanced herself, one foot on either tongue of the cart, her arms around his neck, and with a soft moan, sank down to impale herself on his hard cock. The feel of the pearls pressing against the underside of his shaft was almost painful, and as the Rat rose and fell on his shaft, uttering little cries of joy, he found the tugging of the strand of pearls against his piercings to be most distracting. The Kangaroo Rat rode him hard, the motions of her body becoming progressively wilder and wilder, until at last she threw back her head and howled. After a moment, shaking like a leaf, she rose off of him and climbed down. "Yes, that was a good idea I had there" she smirked. Wrapping a paw around the Lion's still hard cock, she cooed; "Awww, didn't enjoy it enough to cum for me? I'm so disappointed." Squeezing the pearls into the underside of his shaft, she started to pump her fist up and down... "Cum for me, Slave, Cum for me now!" It took all the Lion's concentration, her attentions more painful than erotic, but somehow he managed, his cock spurting his jism over her paw, splattering the ground in front of her. Smiling the Kangaroo Rat undid the pearls, picked up her pants and padded back towards her quarters; "Dahlia will be along to unharness you in a bit. Make sure she locks you back up, too."

It was almost dinner time when the Clydesdale entered the shed; "Well, it looks like YOU'VE had a day, now doesn't it. Look at you, standing there, all helpless... I can see the Mistress took advantage of you... Left you "unlocked" too... Hmmmmm." Looking around, the Clydesdale grinned, and then kneeling before him, she ran her tongue over his sheath. As his cock rose once more to the occasion, the Lion couldn't help but think "We're going to get in Trouble!"

They were the last two to arrive, sneaking into the dining hall under the glaring eye of Benny, instants before they would have gotten in trouble for being late. The Lion was still damp from a very hurried shower, and the Clydesdale was trying hard not to smile. They ate their meal in silence, and then watched as the day's punishments were handed out. It seemed like there were more today, than there were the day before...

Redflame shook his head; "I tell you, we can't take this much longer. That bastard shocked me four times today, for no reason at all!" Qume nodded slowly; "Yeah, poor Eddie's not getting any better. If they'd just leave him alone, he'd have a chance..." CT nodded; "I think we're going to have to draw straws again. This one's GOT to go... or he'll kill us all."

The discussion seemed to spread like a chain reaction; small knots of furrs would form, talk for a moment and then break apart, only to reform with other members in other places. In the bunkhouse, in the showers, on the way to the dining hall... The Lion watched, almost as a detached observer, studying the effect... And he watched Benny watch as well. It was obvious that he knew something was up... but would he tell his Mistress?

The end result was almost anticlimactic. Just before lights out, Benny wandered amongst the slaves as if talking with each of them. In his fist was a bunch of straws, and at each stop, a furr surrepticiously selected one. The Lion didn't have to be told what was going on, and when Benny came by, to where he and Qume and Dahlia were standing. the Otter just stood there, staring at them. First Dahlia took a straw, and then the Fox. And then the Lion reached out and tugged at one of the straws... The Otter looked down and nodded; "Its you. You got the short straw. Start thinking about how you're going to kill the Son of a Bitch..." As the Otter limped off, the Lion scowled, wondering if there'd been some way Benny had set him up...

Benny chuckled and tossed the handfull of straws where they'd be scattered by the wind. He'd palmed the real bundle as everyone had looked to see what the Fox had drawn, and he'd offered the Lion only short ones. It worked every time.

The Lion caught up with the limping Otter as they headed towards the Dining Hall for Breakfast. "See to it that I'm assigned to a field crew, somewhere near where one of the automated pieces of farm equipment is working. Make sure CT's there. I'll take care of our little problem when that's arranged."

"I'm sorry, Mistress, but I need that Lion to look at one of the irrigation pumps today." Benny was being his most contrite, and the Kangaroo Rat was obviously displeased, but she nodded her head; "Send the Mare to me then; we'll let her carry me about." The Lion finished his breakfast and nodded when Benny told him to go with a small group. The pump was adjacent to where they'd be working...

CT caught up with the Lion as they trudged on down the dusty path; "I take it you have a plan. No one's ever given Benny requirements for this task before, and I think he's looking forward to your demise." The Lion just chuckled; "I'm not planning on being executed for this. How much do you know about the remote control the overseer carries?" CT shrugged; "Not much; they don't let me handle those things." The Lion chuckled; "And if you got your paws on one, do you think you could figure it out?" The Tiger smiled; "Oh yeah!" The Lion nodded; "See if you can scare up some circuit boards; something that LOOKS good. And a dead battery of the type the remote uses. A very dead battery." CT nodded; "I have things like that in my shack, but how am I supposed to get there from the field?" The Lion chuckled; "Got fuses there for the pumps too, don't you? I'll just tell the Overseer that one of the fuses is blown and ask if I can go get a replacement. He's contrary enough not to let me go, and will probably send you instead." CT smiled and nodded.

There wasn't anything wrong with the irrigation pump beyond a plugged suction grating and the Lion spent as much time as he could working on that, letting the field slaves slowly work their way away from him. Finally he climbed out of the pit and dripping, started fiddling with the motor starter. The Overseer heard the pump start, stop, start and stop again, and came over to investigate. "Blown fuse on one of the three legs, Sir" the Lion muttered, head bowed. "I need to get a new fuse from the electronics shack." The Overseer frowned; "No, I don't think I'm going to let you take a nice, leisurely stroll. YOU go pick up a hoe, and do some REAL work." Striding over to the workers, the Overseer looked around and then grabbed CT, who let out a surprised yelp. "You, run back to that shack of yours and get a fuse like this. Get back here within half an hour, or I'll whip the meat from your bones!" CT nodded and dropped his hoe, to sprint off in the direction of the compound. The Lion watched, hoping, but the Overseer didn't step on the upturned hoe. It would have been just too good... The Lion picked up the hoe and took up CT's place in the line of workers slowly making their way across the field. As he worked, he kept an eye on the robot tractor pulling the cultivator in the next field. Timing would be everything with this one...

Things were getting tight, and the Lion was getting worried that the tractor would finish with the adjacent field and move on, when CT came loping back up, the fuse in his hand like a relay runner's baton. The Overseer turned to take it from the Tiger, never seeing the Lion move up behind him. Just about the time the Overseer's paw took the fuse, the handle of the lion's hoe smacked him just below his left ear. The Overseer dropped like a sack of potatoes. The Lion nodded, and reached down to lift the Overseer, to drag him into the adjacent field. "The trick" he explained to a wide-eyed CT "is to not kill him. His remote would report that immediately to the Mistress... but I don't think it'll mention the fact that I just gave him a concussion." Now, quick, give me that dead battery; I've got to get it changed quickly... By now the Overseer was starting to groan, as the Lion fumbled with his wristlet. And then the Lion was stepping back, out of the path of the robot tractor, to hold the hoe like a golf club, ready to whack the Overseer again, if need be. The Robot tractor was coming closer and closer... the Overseer shook his head and opened his eyes, obviously warned by the fact that something was very wrong... but before he could do more than turn his head and stare, the tractor was upon him. The Lion winced as the three row disc harrow bounced up and down, shredding the Tiger's body. As the Tractor continued on its path, the Lion stepped into the soft, turned soil, to look... Again, he bent, to remove the blood spattered wristlet. Opening the cover, he yanked the circuit board out, and handed it to CT. The board CT had brought wasn't a perfect fit, but the Lion placed it between the halves of the case, strapped it back on what was left of the Overseer's arm, and taking a step back, brought his hoe down hard on it. The gouge in the wristlet was deep, the circuit board obviously broken... but the dead battery was intact... and it looked like something the disk harrow might have done... Stepping back carefully, the Lion sighed; "OK folks, here's the story. The Overseer here had shocked so many of us during the day, that the battery went dead in his remote, and then he had the bad sense to step in front of the tractor. He didn't know his battery was dead, and as such, the tractor didn't know he was there. Horrible tragedy. Any questions? No? Good, everyone back to work, I'm sure the Mistress will be along shortly."

CT chuckled; "Pretty good. Now, how am I to hide this circuit board until we get back?" The Lion chuckled; "Why, in your mouth, of course." The Tiger just sighed, and nodded.

It couldn't have been another five minutes before the Mistress showed up, a frown on her face, and her "riding crop" remote prominently held. Today, she'd fastened a saddle-like device to Dahlia's back, and was making the mare carry her directly. Dahlia, bent over, with her paws tied behind the saddle, didn't look like she was enjoying the day's travels much. And it looked like the Kangaroo Rat had been using her spurs liberally too... The Kangaroo Rat dismounted, and looked around... Not immediately discerning what had happened. The first furr she saw was the Lion working on the motor starter. "YOU! Lion! Where's Bart? Where's the Overseer." The Lion looked up at the Rat and shrugged; "Ma'am, the last I saw him, he was over towards the edge of the next field." The Kangaroo Rat stared at the Lion for a moment and then with a scowl, turned and headed for the edge of the planted area. The Lion watched as she disappeared amongst the plantings and then turned and nodded to Dahlia. A moment later her scream was heard.

The Lion pushed the fuse into the holder, and then closed the cover. Throwing the disconnect lever, he energized the circuit, and then started the pump. He was bending over, watching the pump suction when the panting Kangaroo Rat came storming back. Her first action was to push the buttons on her remote, activating the Lion's shock collar. With a howl he convulsed and pitched forward into the water of the irrigation canal. The Kangaroo Rat muttered a curse, thumbed the remote off, and strode to the edge of the canal, arriving just as the Lion floundered to the surface. "What in the HELL did you DO to him?" She demanded. The lion looked up at her and blinked; "Did to who? The Overseer? Nothing! Why?" The Kangaroo Rat growled; "Get out of there and come with me." Turning to Dahlia, she untied the reins from the bush and growled; "Go find the field slaves. Bring them to the next field. HURRY!"

The Lion smiled to himself as Qume made a point of throwing up when he saw the remains of the Overseer. Even CT looked a little green around the gills. The Kangaroo Rat glared at them all, her fingers on her remote; "Anyone want to tell me what happened here? Can anyone explain how this happened?" CT bent over to poke at the remains of the Overseer's wristlet... and then he too was turning, to throw up. The Lion thought to himself that they were hamming it up perhaps just a bit more than they should have... but then he'd been living with the pirates so long, maybe he'd become... desensitized. CT finally straightened, wiping his mouth with the back of a paw... "Um, Ma'am... He was using the shock function of his remote rather a lot today... Rather a lot since he got here... The only thing I can think of, is that the battery went dead. He knew the remote was supposed to let the robot farm equipment know where he was... he probably just didn't bother to get out of the way of the tractor, figuring it'd go around him... And if the battery was dead, it wouldn't know he was there." All around CT, heads nodded in agreement. The Kangaroo Rat scowled, and turned to look at the mess in the dirt, now having attracted quite a number of flies. "Get that remote off his wrist, and give it to me. And get some canvas from the compound and ... Pick him up. We can't leave him here like this... I'm going to have that remote checked out, and if what you've said isn't the case, I'll make the lot of you wish you'd never been born!" With that, she turned and stalked off towards the compound, gathering Dahlia's reins as she swept past.

CT watched her until she was out of earshot and then growled at the Lion; "Think they'll figure out the circuit board wasn't the right one?" The Lion chuckled; "No, they'll find the dead battery and stop there. And even if they do want to check further, the board's cracked; it'd be a real pain to fix that just to try and diagnose what happened. No, I think they may be suspicious, but without proof... They'll let it slide." CT nodded slowly; "They'd better; you're betting all our lives on it."

Dinner that night was a cold meal, in the bunk house. The Mistress seemed to be feeling more than a little threatened, and was locked in her quarters. And Benny was in a foul mood. Apparently no one had ever even considered killing the overseer in a way that looked accidental. The Lion just smiled.

Tanj grinned; she'd had to call in a bunch of markers in order to get this, but finally she had it, running and in place. The spy satellite was the size of a basketball, and was very stealthy. It was in a low, fast orbit around Elysium, pretending to be just another piece of space junk. And it passed over Facility 223 six times a day. The optics in the little gizmo should be good enough to give her a GOOD picture of her Master, good enough to convince Ben and the rest of the Brethren that he was there... And also good enough to detect all but the most cleverly concealed of traps. But it only downloaded its pictures once a day, in a single compressed, directional bleep. Well, at least it was a start...

The Lion sat down on the Edge of CT's bunk; "You still have it?" CT smiled and nodded; "It's in a safe place." The Lion nodded slowly; "Now all we have to do is to contrive to get you some time in that shack of yours, to work it over. If we can find a way to disrupt the signal that causes all our collars to constrict, we're on our way." CT sighed; "I don't know... Even if we get past the new Overseer, and the Mistress, even if we get to civilization, what's to keep us from just being rounded up again?" The Lion smiled; "You leave that to me. I have... Resources. I just need to GET to them." The Tiger nodded, but continued to look dubious.

Xylex sighed and put down the phone. His few resources in the Blues continued to tell him that they had no idea where the leader of the Brethren was. And the Elysium Government didn't have him; he was sure of that. So where was the bastard? Rising, he paced his office, being careful to stay away from the window. The glass was armored, but there was a nasty spiderweb pattern of fine cracks where a sniper's bullet had hit it. There was no point in taking chances. Finally he nodded to himself and returned to his computer. Perhaps he wouldn't have to find the Lion. After all, his loyal slave, that meddlesome Tanj, would be searching just as hard. All he had to do was to watch for her eventual rescue mission, and then follow her... Smiling he started issuing orders...

The Lion watched Dahlia for a while and then padded over to her; "You know, I've been thinking... Mistress got real mad at what we did the last time an Overseer was killed... and took steps to prevent us from doing it again. Now I admit, the situation I'm in, I don't much see the possibility of getting much relief, but I'm not sure that's completely true for you..." The Clydesdale Mare grinned; "Oh? And what do you have in mind?" The Lion just grinned and slowly dropped to his knees, to let his tongue stroke over her crotch, making the little lock holding her labia together sway back and forth; "I think I might just be able to get my tongue in places you'd find interesting... Shall we find out?" Dahlia just chuckled and nodded, one hand going to the back of the Lion's head, pressing his muzzle to her crotch.

The Kangaroo Rat growled as she watched on her monitor; the image wasn't good and the sound quality was terrible, but it was all to obvious what that damn cat was doing. And the Mare seemed to be enjoying it so. Grumbling to herself she vowed she'd find something suitable to do to him... Just as soon as the new Overseer arrived.

The next day was a quiet one, with the slaves "confined" to the Bunk House. Most slept, some talked, and some just kept to themselves. The Lion spent a lot of time lying on his bunk, staring at the ceiling, thinking his plans through, looking for flaws, looking for problems, trying to plan for contingencies. By the end of the day, no new overseer had arrived and they spent their second night peacefully.

Tanj blinked at the first set of pictures from her spy satellite... the pictures showed the compound clearly, along with the nearby fields... And yet nothing seemed to be moving except the robot equipment. Frowning, she rechecked the coordinates...

The Kangaroo Rat scowled at the e-mail on her terminal. The lab she'd sent the wristlet to had confirmed that the battery was dead. They'd also said the unit was irrepairable, and would be sending out a new unit with the new Overseer. The new unit would have an audible low battery alarm. And they were billing her corporate account for the replacement device. Grumbling she sat back and wondered if it could really be so? Had the Tiger really been THAT stupid? He'd seemed like a fairly bright, imaginative guy... but he'd also had an ego. Maybe he HAD been supremely confident the tractor would go around him. She'd have to make a point of warning his replacement.

It was just after noon the next day when the aircar touched down in the compound. The creature that emerged drew gasps from the slaves watching from the Bunkhouse. If the Bear, and the Tiger had been big, this one was huge. He was a "dragon," a bipedal lizard-like creature, with a long thick tail, and he looked like he could rip the average slave in half without breaking into a sweat. Muttering to Qume, the Lion growled; "This... is going to complicate factors some..." Behind him, Benny turned his head and stared at the Lion, wondering what that furball was up to. He was sure though, that whatever it was, he wasn't going to like it... And then they were all being called from the Bunkhouse, to "meet" the new Overseer, and to get a belated start on the day's work.

The Lion found himself once again harnessed, bound between the traces of the Rat's two-wheeled wagon, jogging down dusty paths carrying her to this field and that... She'd added a few "improvements" to his harness however. Two nipple clamps supported rather large jingle-bells that danced and jingled and bounced most painfully as he ran. The day'd at least had a late start, and he was only mildly exhausted by dinner time. This time when the Rat left him by the shed, for Dahlia to unharness, she stalked off without so much as a backwards glance. The Lion smiled to himself and wondered if this was better than the way she'd handled him last time, or not... Dahlia for her part seemed genuinely disappointed to find the little lock still in place through the rings at the tip of the Lion's sheath...

The Lion watched as Eddie and Qume helped a male Wolf, who's name was Todd, or something like that, to the table in the Dining Hall. The Wolf looked to be in bad shape, but no one was saying anything. None of the usual surreptitious whispers by the gathered slaves. As usual after dinner, a number of designated slaves had to pull tokens from the punishment jar, for various infractions during the day. The Mistress pouted when a female Jackal got the token labeled "Pony"... and the Lion tried hard not to smile. Now, freed of that duty, he could pursue his plans... His head came up however, when the Mistress chortled with glee. Daisy, a comparatively young female rabbit, had drawn a token that had her looking aghast. The Kangaroo Rat merely turned and beamed at the Dragon; "Take her outside, if you would please, Wilbur, and fasten her in a kneeling position in the stocks. I'll get the keys." As The Overseer padded off one way, the Rabbit in tow, and the Mistress headed out another door, the Lion leaned over to ask CT; "What happened?" CT sighed; "Her token read "Gang Bang." She's got to stay in the stocks out there until she's satisfied every male here." The Lion's head rose and he looked around the dining hall... "twelve, thirteen... Fifteen total. Yeah, she's going to have a busy night... But I doubt it'll be ... Fatal." CT just shrugged; "I don't know; I don't like the look of that Dragon; do you think she can handle HIM?" The Lion just shrugged.

They stood and watched, as the Dragon selected from the male slaves, one to make use of Daisy's mouth, while another was directed behind her, either to her ass or her pussy. The Mistress sat on a chair brought out from her quarters, one leg hooked over the chair's arm, and just watched, a smirk on her face. Some of the males were tender and considerate with her; Qume, for instance, held fairly still, one paw caressing Daisy's head as the Rabbit sucked his cock. Benny, however, was a little more aggressive, one paw holding tight to her fluffy little tail, driving his hips against her as hard and as fast as he could. CT was particularly tentative with her, and drew the Overseer's lash on his rear as an impetus to fuck her harder. The Tiger complied, but certainly didn't look like he was enjoying himself, something that seemed to delight the Mistress no end. She called the Dragon over and whispered to him; nodding he straightened and returned to the stocks, where his lash started to lick out, driving the Tiger to an increased tempo, making him fuck her harder until Daisy was crying out with each thrust, her cries muffled by the cock in her mouth...

The Lion found himself to be the last one in line, and when his turn came, the Dragon pointed at the Rabbit's ass, and obediently, the Lion moved around behind her, to kneel between her spread legs. It didn't take but a few moments of rubbing his now-unlocked crotch against the bunny's sore behind before his cock had grown from its sheath, to wag before him with his motions, nestled in the crevice of her ass. As he moved, rocking his hips back in preparation for entering her, the Kangaroo Rat chuckled; "Oh, no, not there." When the Lion looked up in confusion, the Rat purrrred; "Take her in the ass. Take her hard. Make her cry out for us..." The Lion did his best to keep a neutral expression on his face, and then he drove his cock hard into her pussy. Both the Mistress and the Overseer stiffened, but before they could respond, he pulled his tool from her sex and positioned its head at her anus. With a sigh, he pressed forward, firmly, until the head of his cock blipped past her tight ring of muscle. As he sank his shaft into her back passage, Daisy groaned around the cock currently in her mouth...

The Dragon grinned and brought his whip down on the Lion's ass, getting his attention; "Move slowly until she's sucked the Squirrel off; I want her mouth empty when you fuck her; I want to hear what she has to say about it..." The Lion just nodded and moved his hips slowly, doing what he could to let her get used to him, to get used to the way her back passage was so stretched... After a while, the Squirrel shuddered, pulling his cock from her mouth to splatter her with his cum, proving to the Mistress that she had indeed brought him off. As the Squirrel turned and padded towards the watching furrs, the Overseer's whip came down again on the Lion's ass; "All right, You; lets see you give her a rogering she'll never forget. And don't you dare cum until you're given permission..." The Lion started to move his hips a little faster, working his shaft in and out of her ass with increasing speed. But as he moved, he slipped both paws from their position on her hips, around, over her tummy. His left paw grasped at her dangling right breast, squeezing softly, while his right paw slithered down over her belly to stroke at her clitty. As he thrust at her harder and harder, his fingers played with her, toyed with her, until the Rabbit screamed in passion.

The Kangaroo Rat watched, a frown forming on her face; this wasn't quite what she'd wanted. She wanted to hear the cunt screaming in horror at her situation, to be yelping in pain at the way her ass was so stretched... And here she was writhing through what had to be a massive climax... And from the Look on her face, the Lion was driving her headlong towards a second one... Frustrated she growled; "All Right, you, I want to see you cum. Now!" The Lion nodded, and took three more strokes, to pull his shaft out of the Rabbit's ass. His right paw wrapped around his cock, and pumped furiously for a second and then his jism was raining down on the Rabbit's ass, splattering from where the stocks held her neck to the base of her tail. Rising, the Lion turned and padded towards the crowd of slaves...

"Hey YOU! Where do you think YOU'RE going?" The Lion turned and looked at the Kangaroo Rat, one eyebrow raised in a silent question. She lifted the little lock with one finger and beckoned. Sighing, he padded over to her, to crouch while she fitted the lock through the rings in the end of his cock, and the end of his sheath, snapping it shut with a most annoying "click." Smirking the Rat waved him away, and again he turned towards the crowd of slaves...

The Dragon had padded around Daisy, looking at her; she was a mess, her head and back covered in cum, her fur spiky with sweat. The Dragon chuckled evilly, and looked up at the Kangaroo Rat; "I don't think she's had enough yet. You mind if I have a go at her?" The Rat looked the Dragon up and down and nodded; "Oh, I insist!" Turning she glared at the slaves; "Form a semi-circle and kneel. Watch and pray you never do anything that might result in you drawing that token!" Turning back, the Rat watched as the Dragon removed his vest, and then undid his pants, setting them aside. He had to spread his knees far apart, to bring his crotch down to the level of the Rabbit's pussy. Hissing softly, he rocked his hips forward and brought his erection up against her belly; "Feel that, Bitch? Feel how big I am? In a second that's going to be inside you... And I'm going to fuck you until you bleed!"

From off to one side, the Lion frowned; the Dragon was well hung, his cock more impressive for its length than its girth... Still, he wasn't THAT big... Could he be long enough to seriously hurt Daisy? Sitting back on his heels, he watched, trying hard to stay calm.

The Dragon's first thrust was obviously as hard as he could make it, and Daisy's shoulders thumped hard against the stocks. For a second she was quiet and then she Screamed. The Dragon just chuckled, and pulled back to slam into her once again. There was no style, no finesse, the Dragon just slammed it into her as hard as he could, until all Daisy could do was whimper, each time the Dragon thrust forward. After a couple dozen thrusts, marked by the Rabbit's cries, and the sound of her body being pushed hard against the Stocks, the Kangaroo Rat lifted her chin. She'd been surreptitiously rubbing herself, and her voice was husky as she spoke; "That's enough there. Why don't you finish in her ass." The Dragon never acknowledged that he heard her, his body arching forward two or three times more, before he pulled back, and positioned himself... His next thrust caused Daisy's head to snap up and her face to contort, but obviously the pain was too great for her to even scream.

On the other side of the circle, a male Rabbit known as Donatello rose from his kneeling position, to charge towards the Dragon. He made it about three steps before the Mistress found the right button on her remote and he dropped to the dirt, convulsing as his collar shocked him. The Dragon just looked over his shoulder, and twisting his body to one side, an action that caused Daisy to finally find her voice in a penetrating scream, he swung his tail, whapping the twitching Rabbit almost all the way back to the line of slaves. No one else attempted to stop the Dragon, and few even watched. Most eyes were averted, looks of sympathetic pain on the faces of the slaves... It seemed to the Lion like it'd taken half the night, but finally the Dragon roared, pulling his cock from her ass to spray his seed over her. Sitting back on his haunches for a moment, balanced on feet and tail, the Dragon looked around, and then with a chuckle, rose to collect his clothes. He nodded to the Mistress and then turned and sauntered towards his quarters without a backwards look. After a moment the Kangaroo Rat rose and smirked "Dismissed," and flicking her riding crop back and forth, made her way towards her own quarters.

The Lion watched as several furrs rose, to rush to the stocks, to release Daisy. As gently as they could, they carried her towards the showers... Sighing, the Lion turned and headed for the bunkhouse, angling to come up next to CT. "We've got to find a way to get you into the electronics shack soon. I need you to find out if there's a way to jam the "strangulation" function. If we wind up in the fields tomorrow, can I get you to cover for me while I try something?" CT looked up at the Lion and then looked back at the now-empty stocks. After a moment he turned back and nodded; "Yeah, sure. Anything."

Tanj fidgeted as the burst transmission from the satellite decompressed itself. As the pictures formed on her monitor, she blinked in amazement and then selected one, expanding it, running it through the software that sharpened it, that cleaned it up. There, on a dirt road, was a two wheeled cart being pulled by a running figure that looked for all the world like her Master... and riding in the cart was some sort of rat, wielding a whip. She stared in amazement at the picture and then shook her head; "Ain't no way I can show THAT to anyone else..."

The Lion lifted his head as they carried Daisy into the bunkhouse. Catching Redflame's eye, he raised an eyebrow. The Red Squirrel frowned and shook his head negatively. After they'd gotten Daisy settled, as a number of well- wishers crowded around, the Squirrel ambled over; "It ain't good. She's bleeding rectally. And there isn't a damn thing we can do to help her. No medicines, no doctor." The Lion nodded. "OK, we don't wait for consensus on this one. We're going to take him out, and then we're going to make our break for it." Redflame nodded; "I'm in; definitely in. You should have seen what that bastard was doing in the field today. He's got this move where he whips around and slaps you with that big tail of his. I thought he'd broken Todd's back with that last strike... And all because we weren't moving fast enough to suit him!" The Lion nodded; "I'd wondered what'd happened... Now this is what I need from you... " Nodding, the squirrel bent closer as the Lion whispered.

Benny watched Eddie and that Damn Lion whisper. They were definitely up to something. And he was going to have to do something to stop it. Things had run smoothly here for years, until that Damn Lion'd shown up; now in the stretch of a few weeks, they'd had no less than two overseers killed, and Mistress was getting meaner than ever. Grumbling to himself, the Otter wondered how he could contrive to get the damn Lion killed, and out of the way?

Tanj looked at the second batch of pictures and frowned. There was her Lion, kneeling in a semicircle of slaves... and bound in the center of the circle was a rabbit...she could tell that by the long ears... but not much else; she was in the shadow of a rather huge Dragon who seemed to be fucking her ass... She remembered back to the Dragon she'd once met at the Academy, and knew how large they could get... But this one didn't look like he was being anywhere near as gentle as that one had been... Shaking her head, she sat back to think. It LOOKED like her master in the pictures but there was no way to be sure it was him at this range. Someone was just going to have to go in and look. And of course it was a task she just wouldn't trust to anyone else... And Ben wasn't likely to approve. So Ben wouldn't know. Sitting forward in her seat, she started to plan how to go about it. In the morning or the evening would be the best time, when all the slaves were gathered in one place. The area between the buildings was large enough for her to get her ship into, and would help separate the guards from the slaves... She'd need some troops, and while Ben'd never authorize that either, she knew enough folks that owed her favors... Smiling she sat back again; "Yeah, I can do this..."

After breakfast the next morning, as the Lion rose from the table to join the field crew he'd been assigned to, the Kangaroo Rat called out; "Hey, YOU! Lion! Come over here! You too, Dahlia!" Turning, padding over, he stood before her, head bowed; "Yes, Mistress?" The Kangaroo Rat turned to the Clydesdale Mare; "You wait over there, I'll deal with you in a minute" Turning back to the Lion she growled; "I've been getting the feeling you've been getting rather... "uppity" of late, and I believe you need a little reminder of just who and what you are. Accordingly, I've got a little present for you. Hands on the back of your head and spread your legs!" The Lion shuffled, complying, and then watched with as neutral an expression as he could manage as the Kangaroo Rat knelt before him. Her paws went around his sack, tugging lightly at his balls, stretching them downwards... and then she was fastening something around them. As she stepped back, the Lion looked down, examining himself; it looked like a miniature version of the collar he wore around his neck; a thick wide leather band locked around the base of his sack, stretching his balls away from his body, drawing the skin around them tight, making them seem to bulge. The Kangaroo Rat's smirk brought his head up; "Yes, that's right. This little collar is weighted, so you'll always know its there. And yes, its got the same electrostrictive ability, and the same shock ability as your bigger collar. I suspect your sleeping position is going to be a bit strained as you struggle to keep the second set of recharge contacts on that one as well as the original set on the one around your neck... but that's your problem. Now, lets see how well it works..." the Lion's eyes went wide as the Rat pushed a few buttons on the remote built into the handle of her riding crop, and an invisible hand tightened on his balls. He'd barely got a grunt out, before she relaxed it... And then a bolt of pure pain shot through his testicles, making his legs collapse, leaving him sprawled on the dirt floor. "Oh that does work nice" the Rat smirked. Panting, trying hard to collect himself, to get back to his feet, the Lion saw the Dragon walk over from the corner of his eye; "You know, Mistress, it might be interesting if you hit both shock buttons at the same time. Do you think you could get a current from his balls to his neck?" The Rat giggled; "I don't know... Lets find out, shall we?" And then the Lion's world exploded...

The truly marvelous thing about an electric shock is that as soon as the current stops flowing, the pain goes away. Still, it took the Lion several dozen rather rapid, pounding heartbeats for him to manage to focus his eyes. Again he was flat on his back, in the dust, every muscle aching from what must have been severe convulsions. As things started to swim into focus, he heard, off in the distance, the Dragon say; "Enough laying about, you lazy slave; get off to the fields!" As he tried to get to his feet, as he stumbled for the door, the laughter of the Dragon and the Rat followed him...

Redflame blinked at the Lion; "Geez, you look like Hell; what happened?" The lion just shook his head; "Oh, Mistress has a new toy. Just pray she doesn't bestow one on you." The Squirrel looked at the Lion's crotch and nodded slowly; "Uh, yeah. Well, if its any consolation, I used the time to good advantage. While the Overseer and the Mistress were busy with you, I did a little work on the No.7 pump station. I think it'll screw up just like you wanted by the end of the day." The Lion just nodded and patted Redflame on the back; "Thanks, that helps. Now, where's the nearest piece of robot farm equipment?"

The nearest piece of farm equipment turned out to be the No.3 harvester. The Lion spent a moment chasing it, and then climbing up the back, getting showered with chaff from the back end of the machine. As he expected, it too was a worn out piece of junk, and it didn't take any time at all to set up what he wanted... and then he was dashing back to where he was supposed to be.

The Dragon was still chuckling when he caught up with the field crew... The idea that Rat'd had for the Mare was truly evil, and he loved it. Looking around, checking the slaves he frowned; "Hey, where's that Lion?" Redflame looked at Eddie and then back at the Overseer; "Um, Sir, he, ah, was having stomach cramps. He went to take a dump..." The Overseer frowned, but then remembered the shocks the Lion had gotten; the thought that he might still be suffering residual effects just made him grin wider. And then, sure enough, the Lion returned a few moments, later, panting, a strained look on his face. The Overseer just growled and gestured to the weeds that needed hoeing...

They were taking their noon break when the Kangaroo Rat arrived, riding in her cart, being pulled by Dahlia. The Lion's eyes widened as he looked at the Mare; it seemed there was now a small chain running down her middle from the ring on her collar to her crotch, and he wondered what that was all about. For her part, Dahlia just stood there, panting hard, looking more exhausted than he would have expected her to be. After talking for a moment, the pair strode across the field, to approach CT. "Something's wrong with the No.3 harvester. Its running in circles in field 47. Go catch it, shut it down, and fix it." CT nodded, and rose to his feet, to trot off towards the adjacent field. The Kangaroo rat talked with the Overseer for a moment more and then climbed back into her two-wheeled cart. Snapping her whip at the Mare's rump, she was off, heading back towards the compound in a cloud of dust.

The sun was hot, and his mouth was as dry as the dirt he was hoeing around the bases of the Dreamweed plants. And his balls ached. The collar around them was too tight, the weight of the device too heavy. He couldn't wait to sit down and take the strain off... He was trying to keep moving, trying to keep from drawing the Overseer's attention, for that Devil had been taking great delight in zapping him whenever he slowed down. Some of the slaves got the whip, some got thwacked with the Dragon's tail, sending them sprawling, and some, like him, got shocked... As he moved, he heard the approaching hoofbeats, and the jingling of the harness, as the Mistress, drawn by the Clydesdale Mare, returned. He could hear the Overseer and the Mistress talking, in the middle distance, but was too tired to concentrate on their words... the sting of the Overseer's lash brought him out of his reverie however; "You, Lion; the No.7 pump station seems to have had an electrical fire. Get down there and see what the problem is. MOVE!" The Lion dropped his hoe, and turned to trot in that direction, the weighted collar around his balls bouncing painfully with each step.

As soon as he was out of sight, the Lion slowed, first to a jog, and then to a walk. It looked like Redflame had done good work. Now, all he had to do was to set things up like he wanted...

CT stepped up next to the Lion in the showers; "Had an interesting day today. Seems a cable bundle on the harvester had come loose and fallen down to rub on a drive chain. Shorted the thing out like nothing I've ever seen. Got a lot of electronics to rebuild there. Figure it'll take three, maybe four days." The Lion sighed; "We don't have three or four days. The slaves are going to demand the removal of that damn Dragon before that, and I want to use that as the start of the escape." CT smiled and nodded; "That's why I spend the whole day working on that one circuit board. I think I've got a way... the "relax" code is universal for all collars. I can build a transmitter to broadcast that, at a power level that will override any "constrict" signal." The Lion nodded; "How sure are you that it will work?" CT chuckled; "Oh, it works; already tried it on myself. The collar will twitch and get tight for a moment, and then loosen, and then twitch again. It'll keep us from getting strangled, but we'll still have to move fast. I have NO idea how long my transmitter will last." The Lion nodded; "Can you monitor the transmission from the Overseer's remote, the one that shows him alive?" CT nodded slowly; "Um, yeah, I can do that." The Lion nodded; "Well, keep an eye on it; as soon as it fails, turn on your transmitter..." CT just gulped and nodded.

Kneeling at the dinner table was a blessed relief, and the Lion savored the simple pleasure of just not moving. The meal was the usual dreck, and he shoveled it in while trying not to think too much about what it was, or might have been. When the meal was over, and they were dismissed, he padded over to find Benny; "I hate to say it, but the No.7 pump station's a real mess. One of the phases in the pump motor's burned out; I'm going to have to replace that. And it looks like the lower bearing's gone on the pump too; that also will have to be changed. And there's a short in the motor starter. I've got it locked out for the moment." The Otter made a face; "That pump feeds the irrigation canals for a quarter of the plantation. Its got to be put back on line." The Lion shrugged; "Hey, I need to recharge these damn collars; if I get strangled I can't fix the stuff. How about getting me some help? Replacing that lower bearing's going to be a bitch; its literally working underwater, right in the suction of the pump." The Otter sighed; "I'll think about it. But soon as breakfast is over, you get down there and get going on it." The Lion nodded.

Zassa purrred and kissed the Mink again; "Aw come on, Sammy, you can let us borrow it for a few days. Who's going to miss it?" Sammy looked at the Vixen and sighed; the jumpsuit she was wearing looked like a second skin, and was unzipped down the front to below her navel. The fabric was so tight, he had no trouble at all seeing her nipples... and they looked hard too... And there was something about her scent that was making it hard to think straight... "Oh, All right, Zassa, but if anyone finds out... " Zassa purrred and softly pushed the Mink down, between the stacks of boxes; "Oh, don't worry, no one's going to find out..."

The Lion padded over to where Dahlia lay, and looked down at her; the look she returned him was a curious blend of horror, rage and frustration. Reaching down, the Lion traced the thin chain... There was an oversized ring at one end, snug up against the smaller ring in the front of her collar. The chain went through the collar's ring, and then traveled down along her centerline, between her breasts, across her stomach, to her crotch. There, the Lion found, the Kangaroo Rat had pierced the Mare's clitty, with a thick, small ring. The chain terminated there. Dahlia sighed; "She said that since I seemed to like having my clitty stroked so much, that she'd see to it that it got all the attention I could stand." The Lion nodded and touched her for a moment, more examining than sensual and then sighed, shaking his head wordlessly. Dahlia nodded; "Do you have ANY idea what its like to have a leash clipped to the ring on the end of that chain? And running, pulling that damn cart of hers, the chain swings back and forth, even with Nothing clipped to the ring. It both hurts like hell and drives me wild. I must have had half a dozen climaxes while running today!" The Lion just sighed and bend to kiss her, and then, rising, he stalked back to his own bunk, to try and figure out the now rather complex recharging connections he had to lay across...

The Kangaroo Rat watched her monitor and smirked.

As expected, Benny had assigned him to the No.7 pump station problem after breakfast. And also as expected, he'd not come up with any other help... Which suited the Lion just fine. The first thing he tackled was the motor starter. It had actually been fine, but that was no longer the case. The trick was to make it LOOK right... Smiling the Lion slapped the lock-out lock on it, with its big red "DO NOT OPERATE" tag, and turned to see what he could do about the burned out pump motor. The lower pump bearing he'd save for later...

Hinoki looked up from the instruction manual at the freshly uncrated "suit" of Imperial powered armor. He'd heard of these things, and seen holos, but now Tanj wanted him to RUN one? Sighing he put down the manual and stripped off his shorts, to worm his way into the guts of the machine. He adjusted the fit of the straps and sensors around his legs and then his torso, and finally he slid his arms into the "sleeves"... With a sigh, he hit the chin switch that would close the back of the suit, sealing him inside seven tons of steel and machinery.

Tanj nodded to the image on her monitor; "Just a quick supply run out to the No.3 Com Relay Station. Seems they need some parts out there, along with their rations." The Ermine just nodded; "Don't forget the security protocols; we still don't know if we've been compromised." Tanj just nodded and released the mooring clamps, carefully maneuvering her ship away from the Brethren's backup base. Reggie watched her from the copilot's seat and nodded approvingly; "Tanj, Luv, you've been practicing, haven't you?"

"Well, have you got it fixed yet?" The Otter was on the bank, paws on hips, staring out at the Lion. The Lion,for his part was perched on the motor on top of the irrigation pump, trying to adjust the shaft seal. He'd carried the motor over his head, wading out to the pump, but setting it in place had been a real bitch. Getting it aligned was proving to be worse... "No, Benny, I do NOT have it fixed yet. NO thanks to you, I've gotten the burned out motor off, and I should have the replacement motor installed and aligned by dinner. Tomorrow I'll get to the lower bearing and THEN I'll start on the motor starter. This is NOT a simple job, and its also not a job for a single furr!" The Otter just growled; "Mind your lip, or I'll see you drawing from the punishment jar." With that, the Otter turned and limped off. The Lion watched him go, and smiled; he'd have to find a way to bug the Otter tonight; he wanted him good and mad by the next day...

Zassa stuck her head through the flight deck door; "What's that pounding? Is something coming apart back in engineering?" Slasher looked up from his magazine, and calmly shook his head no. Tanj chuckled; "No, Hinoki's practicing with that suit you got for him. You think his just walking around is bad, wait until he trips and falls!" Zassa blinked and then giggled; "Move over, I've GOT to get the cargo bay monitor on the screen; this I've got to see!"

The Lion smiled as he knelt at the table for dinner. He'd managed to get most of the grease out of his fur... And the motor was aligned correctly, with the shaft seal in place. Of course if everything went the way he wanted it to, it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference... but still, there was a certain pride in doing a job right. As he knelt, he watched Benny from the corner of his eye. He and the Overseer were talking animatedly, glancing in his direction from time to time...

Tanj blinked as she opened the airlock door. They'd docked with the communications relay station scant minutes before, arriving unannounced, and yet there was Mark and Mala, with Luggage, with a capital "L", all ready to go. She shook her head; "Just what do you think you need all THAT stuff for?" mark shrugged as best he could; "Tools, medkit, high priest's regalia, three or four forged Ids, a few tricks for emergencies... It all adds up. And Mala's carrying her guns and provisions, of course. Now, are we going somewhere, or do we just stand here and talk all day?" Tanj just blinked and nodded, turning to stab at the airlock controls. As the Mouse marched off down the corridor, Tanj muttered; "Thanks Mark, glad you could join us..." Mala just grinned, shouldered her pack, and followed.

Ben chuckled and shook his head; "You see? Eminently predictable." Sam nodded and turned to Hans; "That's just what I'm afraid of. If we have her pegged, might not others also be anticipating her actions?" Hans just smiled and shrugged; "Well, if the Overlord can't convince them to leave her alone, we've got the Intimidator and the Gladius with us as well. Three Cruisers should be able to put a dent in almost any trap the Elysium forces might be laying. Hell, they'd put a dent in most Imperial plans! Of course, we'll stay cloaked and well out of the way, should she manage to pull this off without incident. But if they DO react, we'll be there." Ben just chuckled.

The Lion yawned and shook his head. The tension as the "point of no return" approached had kept him largely sleepless. That and the hunched position he'd been forced to adopt to keep the recharging contacts on both his collars aligned with the studs on his bed... Again he watched Benny and the Overseer converse, watched them glance his way. When he'd finished his gruel, the Otter waved at him, signaling to leave, to get a start on the day's work, and obediently, the Lion rose, to trot out towards the No.7 pump station.

"Elysium control, this is Megacorporation flight 571, requesting permission to descend on vector 263 mark 317, for Weipa." Tanj chewed on a clawtip until the voice floated back over her headphones; "571, Karumba control, clear to descend. Stick to your flight plan, the Militia's real jumpy these days." Tanj acknowledged and slowly eased the freighter down, muttering "Gee, I wonder why" Reggie in the copilot's seat just chuckled.

Xylex looked over the shoulder of the Northern Hemisphere Aerospace Defense coordinator and nodded; "That one could be her too." The Fennec Fox turned and looked at the Wolverine; "Sir, we do not have the resources to track the roughly two dozen craft you've said "might be her." Unless you can give me something more definite to go on, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do." Xylex growled but finally nodded; "I don't think you understand the importance of this; we have the chance to decapitate the Brethren at one stroke. FIND a way to track them all, to cover them all."

The water wasn't cold, but it was slimy and full of leaches and the stench of decomposing water hyacinth... And he had to wait there, trying to look busy as he waited. It must have been almost mid morning, with the air starting to get hot, when Benny limped into view. He sat on the bank to one side, offering no help, and making no conversation. The Lion for his part, wrestled with the lower bearing, obviously having difficulty in removing the race from within the housing while it remained underwater, there being no way to remove the pump from the water.

Benny watched the struggling Lion and tried not to smile. He'd taken a look at the wiring last night, after lights out, sneaking out of the bunkhouse with the Mistress' permission. The starter was a mess, and it looked like if the switch were thrown, it would throw at least one leg of the 480 volts into the ground wire to the pump. And there was that annoying Lion, clinging to the metal, more than half his body submerged in water. Such a tragic accident it was going to be... Catching a glimpse of movement from the corner of his eye, he turned fractionally and saw the Overseer slip into the little three sided shed that held the switchgear. The Dragon lifted a pair of bolt cutters, and a moment later the Lion's lock was dangling. The Dragon contemptuously removed the lock and looking over his shoulder, with a grin, he threw the lever.

The Lion had heard the snick of the bolt cutters and for a moment had almost instinctively moved back from the pump. But then he steadied himself; either his handiwork was correct, or it wasn't.

Reggie nodded; "We're below their radar horizon; you're clear to maneuver. But we're running late. Local time is mid-day." Tanj chuckled and nodded, her fingers tapping across her control console. "We're just going to have to deal with it, Reggie, no way to reschedule the raid now." The Freighter turned, barely 200 meters above the ground, and accelerated smoothly. Moments later a sonic boom cracked across the farmland.

In the Northern Hemisphere Aerospace Defense center, a technician noted 571 had dropped off the scope to the Southeast of Weipia. Frowning he ran a quick diagnostic of his sensors. The transponder of that ship should have been showing its position even on the ground...

Benny rose to his feet in horror; the Overseer had thrown the lever on the disconnect, but before he could hit the start button, there'd been a loud bang and a bright flash, and the Dragon had been thrown clear out of the shed. As he hurried over to look down at the Dragon, he groaned; the corpse was horribly burned, and obviously not alive...

The Lion chuckled and moved up behind the Otter; "Yup. Looks like you've lost another one. You know, that thing WAS locked out for a reason." Chuckling, the Lion turned and started jogging towards the compound, leaving a very confused Benny in his wake.

CT saw the light wink out on his test panel and sighed. Thinking "Well, this is it," he reached out and flipped the switch for his breadboarded transmitter.

The Kangaroo Rat hurried over to her console. The sensors were telling her that the Dragon's remote was no longer responding. She'd cautioned him about dead batteries... and there weren't any pieces of automatic machinery in that area... just that Lion. Growling, she grabbed her riding crop and her pistol and headed for the door.

Reggie nodded; "Yeah, that looks like it." The Satellite photos had made the place look better than it was. Up close, what little paint was left was peeling, and the buildings looked old. And then Tanj was too busy trying to land the ship in what she thought was a good imitation of an assault transport, to look at the scenery.

The Kangaroo Rat heard a noise and frowned; it wasn't the right day for their weekly supply drop; what ELSE could be going wrong. Jerking open her door, she stepped outside, pistol at the ready.

Slasher growled; "I've got MOVEMENT" from the weapons console, and bent over his controls.

The Kangaroo Rat stared in wide-eyed wonder as the starship seemed to materialize in ftont of her, arriving several seconds before the sonic boom. And then the starboard turret was turning, twisting, until one of the twin laser emitters seemed to be looking straight at her... Taking a step back she dropped her laser pistol... but as she did so, she brought her riding crop up behind her back, and gripped the handle in a certain way.

The Lion had been running, head down, and had missed the flash of black that was Tanj's ship dropping into the compound. But the sonic boom was unmistakable. And the sudden constriction/release/constriction/release of his collar confirmed that this was not the rat's friends come to visit. Not sure if the Elysium authorities had finally figured out where he was, or if the Brethren had come to rescue him, he ran towards his fate as fast as he could.

Hinoki clomped down the cargo ramp in the powered armor, his weapons charged. He'd never felt so alive, never felt so scared. After a second he looked around, and wondered; "Gee, where are all the guards?"

Mala gripped her assault weapon in both paws and danced from side to side. Hinoki, in his massive powered armor was blocking the damn hatch. Growling, she shouted; "MOVE IT, MISTER!"

The Kangaroo Rat saw the furr in powered armor come around the aft end of the starship and she groaned; "Oh, Crap, Imperials. They must know about the Dreamweed..."

Qume looked up as the sonic boom washed over them; he hadn't seen the Overseer, or Benny for quite some time, something for which he was quite thankful. Looking up at the sky, as if checking for clouds that might suggest thunder, he wondered if the two events were related. Had the Lion's plan actually worked? As his collar suddenly constricted, eliciting a chorus of gasps from all the slaves, and then as it just as quickly relaxed, he grinned. Flashing a thumbs up at Eddie and Redflame he growled; "Come on, Everyone, I think our ride outta here's just arrived."

Mala did a quick sweep of the buildings, leaving the one local furr to Hinoki. Aside from a few frightened "kitchen staff" type furrs, the place was deserted. Shaking her head, she strode back towards the ship. This operation was going WAY too easily to be real. "Either they're trying to smuggle something aboard with a slave like they did last time, or there'll be a surprise on the way back home..." She grumbled under her breath.

Tanj knew it was stupid to leave the helm, but she just had to attend to this herself. Aside from a few slaves that Mala had rounded up, the only one in the compound was the Kangaroo Rat, currently being watched by Hinoki. Drawing her dagger, thinking it was silly to threaten her with something less than the awesome firepower Hinoki had at his command, she stalked towards her, growling; "The Lion; WHERE IS HE?"

He was panting hard, the run from the pumping station having been a long one. Coming up behind Tanj, jogging around Hinoki, and past a mildly amused Mala the Lion growled; "Right here." Pausing to brush his lips across the top of her head, the Lion surprised everyone by turning and slamming his fist into the Kangaroo Rat in a massive roundhouse. As she fell to the floor, he bent to retrieve the riding crop. "Dammit, she must have locked in a code on this thing; I don't know how to shut it off!" he growled.

Not knowing quite what was going on, Hinoki growled over his suit's external speaker; "You want that off, I can "turn it off" for you; toss it out behind the ship!" The Lion blinked and looked at the suit of powered armor as if he'd never seen one before and then nodded, throwing the riding crop overhand. It hadn't even hit the ground when pulses of cyan energy flew from the suit's right "hand," gouging a furrow a hundred meters long in the field beyond. And instantly all the slaves relaxed as their collars stopped twitching.

CT watched his instrument and smiled. Picking up his breadboarded rig, leaving the "relax" transmitter on, just in case, he rose and trotted towards where the starship rested.

It took MUCH longer than she was happy with for all the slaves in the outlying fields to filter in, but there was no question of leaving them behind. One of the last to arrive was a limping Otter, and Tanj's jaw dropped as she caught sight of him; "BENNY?" The Lion turned to look up from where Wanda was attending to Daisy and growled; "You KNOW him?" Tanj's head snapped back and forth between the Otter and her Master; "Um, yeah, we were shipmates once... Before I was enslaved." The Lion just scowled; "Well, your ex-shipmate did his level best to have me murdered earlier today. And I suspect that wasn't the first time he'd attempted that, either. THAT one STAYS!" Turning, the Lion reached down to help Redflame and Donatello carry Daisy into the ship.

Tanj just stared at Benny for a moment. As she looked at him, she saw... only anger. No regret, no contrition... shaking her head, she took one last look around, and padded up the cargo bay ramp, the ramp starting to rise even as she moved across it.

As the ship rose in a howl of repulsors, Benny looked from the Kangaroo Rat, to the compound, to the departing ship. Finally with a sigh, he just sat down, to await whatever came next.

Tanj tried to keep her voice steady; "Camooweal control, this is AgriCorp transport 3321; request vector to departure orbit."

Xylex smiled; the database had said that no ship had landed recently at that location; the fact that one was now lifting off from there was VERY suspect. Grinning he turned to grab the duty officer.

Tanj frowned as the local traffic controller asked her to hold position, until traffic moved out of her area... There was something about his voice, a tremolo that bothered her. He sounded nervous... After a moment she looked over at Reggie; "I think they're on to us; plot me a vector that avoids as many known targets as you can; we're outta here!" Behind her, the Lion just nodded in approval from the offensive weapons console.

In the hold of the ship, Hinoki struggled to get out of his powered armor. All the various sensor contact points on the inside of the suit meant that you had to "wear" it naked, and for a brief moment he was inexplicably shy about climbing out of it, amongst a hold full of rescued slaves... but then he dismissed that as stupid. He was used to going nude, wasn't he? And besides, they were just as nude as he was... The response he got, as he opened the clamshell back of the suit and started to extricate himself was not quite what he expected. A fox rose from where he was sitting on the floor to look at him in confusion; "Hey, buddy, how come you're wearing a collar too? What's going on here? Just exactly WHO'S running this outfit?"

Tanj had the ship pointed almost straight up, and had it moving a good bit faster than any normal freighter should be moving. It obviously wasn't enough though; Slasher, covering for Hinoki, who still hadn't made it up from the Cargo Bay yet, called out from the sensor console; "Company's coming. I've got a Wellington class Destroyer moving to intercept, from 023 mark 18, another one at 339 mark 358, and a Blucher class Destroyer Leader coming in from 030 mark 351." Tanj nodded; "We have to get out of the atmosphere before the cloaking device is effective. Lets pick the one at 339 mark 358 and try and blow by them. If we can get past them, we should be able to lose the others." Behind her, the Lion called up the torpedo display, and started arming the birds, giving them their first look at their target.

Commander Beru shook his head; he had NO idea what was so important about this freighter. It wasn't even a very big freighter, but the way it moved made him think "smugglers." So what was there about this ship that made them pull his Destroyer squadron in from their patrol? And why was he ordered to try and take prisoners, if at all possible? Shrugging, figuring he'd NEVER figure out his superiors, he turned to his weapons officer...

Tanj shook her head; they were almost out of the atmosphere and closing on the Destroyer fast. But the other two were moving in just as quickly. One destroyer, she was confident she could handle, but three? For a moment she considered diving back towards the planet's surface, to try and climb to orbit somewhere where these three were not... but it would be easy to track a maneuver like that, now that they were alerted. "No, better to just make a run for it now" she decided. As the distance shrank, she reached over to bring the shields up to full strength.

On the bridge of the Destroyer Squadron's flagship, a sensor tech turned to call for his section officer, drawing the Commander's attention. Wandering over, he looked over the tech's shoulder and frowned. The strength of the freighter's shields had just increased by two orders of magnitude. If anything, they were now stronger than the shields of is own ship! Turning, he growled; "Weapons officer! Target two torpedoes on that ship, and as soon as they're in range, hit them with everything you have! The Hell with taking prisoners!"

Tanj's thumb flipped over a button on the joystick, launching a trio of decoys. They'd be in weapons range in a few seconds and she wanted to make it as difficult as possible for the enemy...

"Now that's something you don't see as standard equipment on most freighters," Beru commented laconically to his Exec. "Maybe there IS something to this ship. Relay our findings to Aerospace Defense Command, and tell them we're engaging." Turning, the Stoat growled; "Weapons Officer, you may fire when ready."

Kath went from slave to slave with the jug of lemonade. They'd only had a dozen or so cups in the galley, and she was filling them, going back to make another pitcher, and then going and redistributing the cups to the next dozen slaves. It wasn't very sanitary, but none of them looked like they were about to complain. In fact they seemed to be treating it as if it were the very nectar of the gods. They ALL looked like they were in pretty grim shape, malnourished, and abused, covered in bruises, sores, and whip marks. As she moved among them, she found herself wondering how ANYONE could treat their property like this. After all, slaves were an investment; properly cared for they would repay that investment many times over, even given the expenses... but if there were those that treated them like THIS... maybe it wasn't such a ... "logical" system after all...

Hinoki still hadn't made it out of the Cargo Bay; first he had to answer questions as to how they came to be there, and then he had to answer questions about the Brethren... and the state of the revolution on Elysium... It seemed the more questions he answered the more they asked, all crowding around him, blocking off any exit route from the Cargo Bay. And this last question, what in the heck were they talking about? A system to recharge there collars? Why would a collar need recharging?

The Lion growled; "Tanj, ventral and dorsal turrets are locked forward, focal point of 50,000 kilometers, slaved to your command. The Ion Cannon's charged and ready, also at your command. Point defense system is on line and responding correctly to computer control. We are ten seconds from torpedo launch. Five. Four. Three. Two. One... MARK!"

Mark felt the ship shudder as all four torpedo tubes ripple fired. To think that SOME people had done their best to dissuade Tanj from flying her own ship into battle... He smiled and turned back to the Engineering console to do his own part. The phasing of the shields could be tuned a little better, and he'd better have a little chat with the main matter/antimatter reactor about putting out, say, some 3% more power... You never knew when it might come in handy.

"Wha...? INCOMING FIRE! Torpedoes at 001 mark 359. I count three... four! Four incoming torpedoes!" Beru blinked and jerked his head around to look at the tactical display. The Edmons and the Sakko were still out of weapons range, but closing fast. Twisting back, he growled; "All weapons, defensive fire! NOW!"

The Lion grinned humorlessly, his fangs bared as he fired the freighter's last four torpedoes. With luck, he'd catch the enemy with all their defensive weapons targeted on the first salvo...

Xylex watched the monitors, reviewing the data transmitted from the Destroyers. "That HAS to be them. Who else would arm a Freighter like that? Order the Cruiser Im'Hatep to respond as well!" The Duty officer turned, his face incredulous; "Sir, do you really think three destroyers can't handle a freighter, no matter how well armed?" Xylex just growled; "Do it! This group is as slippery as eels! I will NOT loose them again!"

Tanj yelped in surprise as the Freighter jumped; those shots had come from behind! Her freighter was fast, but it wasn't as fast as a destroyer, and now it looked like the other two were closing the distance to weapons range. And she couldn't drop the shields to cloak if they were under fire...

The Lion was hammering at the destroyers aft of them with the port and starboard turrets, as well as their aft "stinger", a rather hefty mass driver firing antimatter pellets. The first wave of torpedoes had lost two of their members getting past the Destroyer's outer defenses, the remaining two had both died in blazes of glory as the close in weapons systems had chewed at them. Of the second quartet, one was already down... but there was a delay in the Destroyer's guns shifting from one set of targets to the next... there WAS hope that one would get through... and one would be all they needed.

Tanj pulled back on the stick, bringing the Freighter's bow through an intersecting line with the Destroyer before them. The dorsal and ventral turrets were on automatic, pounding away at the warship, but as things lined up, she pulled the trigger, the Ion cannon firing with a wheeeeeeee- BANG sound that made the ship ring like a bell. At the moment, her best hope was that one of the torpedoes would get through; then she could pull around the hulk of the destroyer before them, and in its shadow, drop the shields and cloak. She should THEN be able to slip off undetected... But if SHE were the commanders of either of the other two ships she'd just bathe the wreck in fire and hope for a random hit as the cloaked freighter departed...

Mark looked up from his console and smiled; this was going to get good in a few more moments, and there wasn't much the Elysium forces could really do anymore in that time... Although they didn't know that, of course. Glancing over his panel, and finding everything as it should be, he quietly went back to his three dimensional crossword puzzle. That wasn't much of a challenge either, even if it was in a language that had been "dead" for four thousand years.

Tanj could feel Slasher stiffen behind her on the bridge; somehow she just KNEW, before he called out; "Complications. Incoming cruiser at 041 mark 017." Tanj just groaned; there went any hope of her plan working. Desperately she struggled to come up with some OTHER way to save their collective asses.

The Lion grinned as first one, and then a second torpedo slipped past the destroyer's defenses, the first battering down the remains of its shields, and the second one striking amidships, all but blowing the ship in two. Shifting his attention, he started locking dogfighting missiles on the approaching cruiser. They weren't much, but they still had a pretty good number of them. If nothing else it would confuse the Cruiser's targeting computers... Some.

Xylex's eyes widened as the tactical displays showed distortions in the wake of the Im'Hatep. First one, then a second, and then a THIRD Cruiser decloaked behind the Elysium Cruiser as it dealt with a swarm of smaller missiles from the freighter. The new ships showed the design influences of the Corrillian Sector, almost on the far side of the Empire.. but although the designs showed some similarities, they weren't Imperial Cruisers...

Tanj gasped as suddenly, there before her, the Elysium Cruiser staggered, and then disintegrated in a massive blossom of flame and debris! She'd barely gotten a "Wha?" out of her mouth when the Lion started laughing. Reaching across the Freighter's flight deck, he flipped a few switches on the communications console. "BEN! Its about time you showed up! Welcome to the party!" The image of the smiling Wolf formed on the display; "Couldn't let you have all the fun. We're at the backup site. No, not that one, the other one. You're probably out of missiles; go ahead and cloak and we'll meet you there after we 'tidy up' some out here." The Lion just chuckled and nodded, and broke the connection.

As they dropped shields and cloaked, Tanj watched her sensor display. The three Brethren Cruisers were shifting targets to the two remaining Elysium destroyers. Those ships were obviously trying to turn, to flee, but physics were against them... and they weren't going to make it.

The head of Elysium Planetary Defenses glowered at Lord Xylex; "Your demands, sir, have cost us, and cost us dearly! We can ill afford the loss of a Cruiser and three Destroyers at a time like this! Sir, I will ask you kindly never to trouble us again, no matter WHO you think is trying to leave the planet! Its OBVIOUS to me that this was all a subtle trap, designed to sucker our forces into the kill sack, and you, Sir, played RIGHT into their hands! Now begone, and let me salvage what I can from this debacle!"

Xylex growled as he was "escorted" from Planetary Defense Headquarters. Standing by his aircar, looking back at the entrance to the underground building he growled; "It's plain to me, that these Clowns are incapable of winning the war against the Rebels. I DO believe its time to change... tactics." Growling he thumbed the lock open and climbed in, to head home. There were things to do.

Mark put down the scanner and shook his head; "Interesting problem. Whoever built these things designed them to be one-use devices. When the collar was snapped closed, it fused. There IS no way to "unfasten" it. And the way its wired, well... if we just try and cut it off, the current to the electrostrictive polymer will be broken before we finish cutting. And you know what THAT means." He paused for a moment, watching his "patient's" expression, before he continued. "I've thought of trying a molecular monofiliment to cut the collar, but that stuff is always at best tricky to handle, and one slip would be disasterous.". The Lion just nodded; "But there are places in the collar where you can create an opening to the polymer without cutting any of the circuitry?" The Mouse hmmm'ed thoughtfully for a moment and thennodded. "I see what you're getting at. OK, you stay here and try to relax while I get what I'll need."

Tanj watched with no small trepidation. She hadn't gone to all this effort to rescue her master only to have him killed as they tried to get the collar off. The Lion was stretched out horizontally, his head hanging over the end of the workbench in Engineering, as a good number of furrs watched. Mark, working from below, carefully ran a small drill into the collar by his throat, making a number of small holes in the leather covering. As he moved, the Mouse paid more attention to the hand-held scanner than actually LOOKING at what he was doing, and that made Tanj uneasy. But when the mouse filled the syringe with a powerful acid, her nervousness increased even further. Carefully, the Mouse injected the acid through the holes and into the polymer. And then they all sat back to wait.

Mark sat cross-legged on the floor, back a bit from the Lion, should any of the acid drip from his collar. He looked at the scanner, from time to time, but mostly he just listened to the Lion as he related the story of his adventure to Tanj.

Tanj shook her head; "I can't believe Benny would DO something like that. He used to be the sweetest guy..." The Lion just chuckled; "Our experiences in life change us all. You're not the person you were back then, either. No question he had a rough time, and it soured him. And that's a shame. But I still don't regret leaving him there. He made his bed; now he's going to have to lie in it." As the Lion finished talking, Mark picked up a pair of shears and slid one of the blades under the collar near where the acid had been injected. Without waiting for comment, his muscles tensed, the shears cutting through the collar slowly. The Lion's eyes went wide as the electrical circuit was broken and the polymer started to constrict... and then disintegrated. He sighed in relief as the collar finally came off. And then, grinning, he looked down at the Mouse; "OK, it works, we can start on the others... Oh, and I've got that "other" collar to get off, too..." Tanj chuckled; "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that..."

The trip back to the Brethren's backup base was quiet, Mark and Hinoki and the Lion working at getting the collars off the slaves, Wanda attending to their medical needs, and Kath busy trying to come up with a way to feed everyone. They were about two hours out, when Kath slipped through the door to the flight deck, and plopped down in the Copilot's seat. Tanj glanced over at her, a little surprised, and a bit miffed. As Kath was an ex-Imperial agent, not exactly there by choice, and in theory a dangerous individual, they'd been doing their best to keep her out of any sensitive area, like engineering, or the flight deck. And she "knew" it was off limits... The Cheetah was just about to say something when the Mink growled; "They tell me the whole reason for the slaves at that farm was that they were growing Dreamweed in amongst the regular crops. I hate that stuff; I've seen it destroy too many lives. We've got to find a way to make sure the Empire knows about what was going on there." Tanj's mouth opened and then closed, as, surprised, she tried to wrap her mind around what the Mink had said... And then she smiled; "You know, a message from an Imperial Agent should get the wheels turning. Even from one who may have been... "compromised."... If you'd like, I think I could find a way to forward a message from you, in a nice anonymous fashion..." Kath nodded, and heaved herself out of the copilot's seat; "Yeah, I'll get you a data crystal with the message, and a few addresses. God, I hate that stuff!" And then she was gone, the door hissing closed behind her. Tanj turned and stared at the forward viewscreen, not really seeing it; if she did it right, just exactly what had happened to Kath would be muddied further. They might even think that SHE was among the slaves at that farm... "Yes," Tanj thought to herself, "That might work out quite nicely, in all regards."

Docking at the base was routine, although there were quite a few on-lookers as they opened the personnel lock. Tanj was somewhat surprised to see four armed guards among the crowd though, and more than a little incensed when they announced they'd come for the Boss. Tanj growled, but the Lion put a paw on her shoulder; "It's OK; its all part of the procedure. They have to make sure that no one interrogated me, and that I'm not an imposter. A few hours under hypnosis should convince them that we're safe." Tanj blinked, turning to look at him; "But you were conditioned against interrogation! They can't ... Interrogate you without ripping your mind to shreds!" The Lion just laughed; "Oh, I think the ones that put the blocks together can take them apart for a bit. Besides, if I know THAT group, they left themselves a "back door," just in case... But before I go, I Do want to thank you for rescuing me, for rescuing us all..." Sweeping the cheetah up in his arms, the Lion gave her a long, and passionate kiss.

When he released her, Tanj grinned a little lopsidedly; "Mmmmmmm, yesssss, missed that... but there is one thing that we need to get absolutely clear before you go; YOUR ASS IS MINE!"

The lion blinked and then nodded; "Ah, you're upset with me for sneaking off in the first place. Well there were reasons for tha..."

Tanj shook her head; "No, no, no, not that... well, yes, I AM mad about that, but that isn't what I'm talking about! Its in the manual; if you're captured, and the Brethren manage to rescue you, you have to pay for the cost of the operation. However, if immediate rescue isn't possible (as you have to admit, was the case here), then you're written off. Your shares in the Brethren return to the corporation as do all your personal possessions on the base. The odds are too great you're either dead, or the rescue would prove to be too dangerous (as this one almost was!). According to the manual, if you turn up later, you're considered booty like anyone else taken in the raid. And as I led the "raid," YOU'RE MINE!"

The Lion looked at her blankly for a moment and then started to chuckle. Like a steadily increasing downpour his laughter increased until tears were running from his eyes. Behind her, Mark stepped up to tap her on the shoulder. Softly the Mouse chided; "You never REALLY did read the manual all the way through, did you?" Tanj blinked; "Of course I read the manual!... why?" Her head snapped from looking at the Lion to the amused faces in the crowd, to the embarrassed looks on Zassa and Hinoki's faces... and back to Mark; "Uh... what'd I miss?..." Mark sighed; "There's a footnote. For command staff, and stockholders over a certain level, there is no time limit. Remember all the efforts that went into finding YOU when you were missing?" Tanj just shook her head in disbelief, and groaned.

The Lion, still panting, still with a smile on his face, chuckled and shook his head; "Tell you what; since that seems to be your heart's desire, and since you DID go to so much trouble on my behalf, I'll not only overlook your ..."behavior" on this subject, you uppity slave, but as a reward, I'll agree to play your slave for a day..." Tanj's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped, a shocked expression on her face; "A day? A DAY? All that trouble, all that scheming and plotting, and SEARCHING, and WORRYING, for a DAY? Hell, if it wasn't for me, Mister, you'd STILL be in that Hell-Hole!" The Lion blinked; "Still be there? We were on our way out when you showed up; the escape plan was in motion! Hey, I appreciate the ride, but we would have made it out on our own... In a while..." Tanj just harrumphed; "Yeah. Right. You want to do that for me, mister, it'll be a MONTH and nothing less!" The Lion brought his face down, almost nose to nose with the Cheetah's; "Three days, and not a second more!" Tanj growled back; "A Week is the LEAST I'll accept!" The Lion pulled his head back, eyes narrowing; he was obviously thinking it over. After a moment he nodded; "I guess if they've gotten along without me this long, another week won't matter. Give me three days to get through the interrogation, and make sure things are functioning correctly, get everyone moved back to the prime base of operations, and it's a deal!" Tanj grinned and grabbed him by both ears, to kiss him hard; "Good; now go and get all that out of the way. I'm eager to get started!" The lion just chuckled as he padded off with the guards.

Xylex looked around his house and sighed. He'd miss this place. There were so many memories, good and bad, associated with it. But now it was time to leave. Perhaps, after the Revolution, he'd be able to return, to get it back. In the meantime, the Government was sure to seize it, for they'd undoubtedly realize that he was shifting his alliances to the Reds... Or at least OPENLY shifting his alliances. Things there had gone almost exactly as he'd planned. The tip he'd fed the security forces had resulted in Trotskie and a select number of his senior officers being ambushed. It'd been quite a shoot-out, one that had kept the news services going for almost two days. The Bear and his top henchmen were dead, "Martyrs to the Cause," and the Reds, leaderless, were floundering. Time for him to step in. The remaining senior member of the Reds, Quistling, knew of Xylex's work with the Reds, and was eminently malleable. Moreso, even, than Trotskie had been. Soon, he'd have the Reds under his complete control. As he locked the door, more by rote than by logical thought, Xylex chuckled; "First Secretary to the Chairman... Yes, that sounds like a suitable title..." Whistling, he walked off down the dark street, and into a whole new life... Sort of.

Benny shook his head, still dazed. Things had happened soooo fast. First the farm had been raided by... Someone. And instead of taking the bales of dreamweed, they'd made off with the Slaves. And what had Tanj been doing there? Then the Mistress had gone 'round the bend, ordering the automated farm equipment to plow under the crop. Maybe she'd been trying to conceal her illicit activities, thinking she might still salvage something... but within a day, Imperial forces were landing, trailed closely by their Elysium counterparts... And only a fraction of the crop had been destroyed. Now Mistress was under arrest, and he himself was in a cell. Of course, you couldn't charge a slave for his Mistress' offenses... but that didn't mean they had to ignore him, either... The Otter sighed and stared at the walls, and wondered what would become of him...

Tanj grinned at the crowd of slaves; "Normally, in a "raid," anybody swept up in it winds up as "booty." But after what I've seen of what you've been through, I just couldn't bear to do that to you. I've got some friends down in Forgery, and we'll set you up with some fairly good documents. I can also give each of you a small grubstake, to get you going, but I want it clearly understood that when you get on your feet, that I expect you to pay me back. WITH INTEREST! Oh, and if you feel like striking a blow against the system that allowed you to be treated so poorly, we have a representative of the Blues Rebel coalition you can talk to. Now if you'll form a line, our talented folks will get started putting together new identities for you..." Most of the slaves moved towards the table where Zassa sat, ready to funnel them towards the folks in Forgery, but a couple walked over from the crowd. The first, a rather scrawny male tiger looked at her shyly for a second and then managed to stammer out; "Um, ah, I was wondering if there might be any, ah, openings with the Brethren that I might fill..." Tanj looked at him for a moment, torn between laughing and frowning... "Uh, ah, perhaps I phrased that poorly; I meant to inquire after any positions you might... Ah, oh hell... are the Brethren hiring?" Tanj closed her eyes and shook her head; "If they are, they ask you, not the other way around. Security considerations. We have to be very careful who we accept into the organization. BELIEVE me, we do." The Tiger nodded and turned to walk away, only to look over his shoulder and nod as Tanj growled; "But I'll pass along your... "interest"."

The next was a rather large Clydesdale mare; "So you're his girlfriend, eh?" she nickered. "Just wanted to thank you for saving him, and us. And I thought I'd ask if there'd be any way I might see him before we left?" For a moment, Tanj had an insane flash of jealousy, picturing the Clydesdale in her Lion's arms... But then she shook it off; besides, he'd be all hers for a whole week, and she had NO doubt she'd be able to make him forget any horsie... "I don't know how busy he's going to be when they manage to satisfy themselves that he didn't reveal any secrets; I suspect it'll take a while to put everything back together... But on the other hand, I don't know how long it'll take to get all you folks to somewhere safe, either. I suppose it could happen. I'll be sure to tell him you were asking after him when I see him though." The Mare just smiled and nodded and turned to head for the line.

Hinoki came over to hug Tanj from behind; "I'm glad that's over. But do you think anything changed?" Tanj shrugged, settling back into him; "A few things. The Imperials got rid of a major drug dealer. Elysium suffered a not-insignificant defeat I think the Boss learned not to go off on his own... I learned its harder to fool Ben than I thought. And I think I've learned that no matter how pervasive it is in Imperial society, I just can't go along with Slavery anymore. The thought of what those poor furrs were going through, what my Master was going through, just tears me apart. I may not be able to change anyone else's mind, but there are things I CAN do. I'm going to free you and Zassa." Hinoki was silent for a moment and then squeezed Tanj gently; "I appreciate that, but I don't expect it'll change anything. I'm not going anywhere, and I doubt Zassa is either. But I suppose it's a start." Tanj just purrred, and turned to give the Cheetah a long, loving kiss. "You're right. It's a start."

This story is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any characters, living, dead or imaginary is purely a coincidence. Tanj and these stories are copyright Kittiara's player, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000. Kittiara can be found on Furrymuck; telnet 209.100.167.128 8888. Hinoki, Zassa, and Jenka copyright their players, also to be found on FurryMuck. Mark is copyright Ann'katar, also of FurryMuck. Comments, suggestions, or flames can be directed to ha_seng@hotmail.com.