FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Darkness in the Sun

I. Only Caught Once

     Blood dripped down the side of his face as Ghallagher stood, staring down to the other end of the field. He was sleepy, but then he was always sleepy, and he couldn't afford to keep lounging around the arena: his opponent was hyped on some stimulant or the grazing blow wouldn't have landed. There was cheering from the stands. No one cared if a...thing...got hurt. All they wanted was drama, guts, and gore, whoever lost, be it the champ or the poor sap they'd probably captured a few days ago. "I'll just knock him out and leave...I'll give them the gore when the handlers come for me."

     Stretching his charcoal wings he checked the weapons in their various sheaths on his body and adjusted the green cargo shorts he wore and wiped the blood from his face. There were no shadows for the black dragonoid to blend into, but he wouldn't need them. Sheathing the pair of tonfas he had held into an X pattern on his back, he crouched, and pushed off from the wall he stood by, sprinting in a serpentine pattern towards the tall, growling...lion hybrid?...he couldn't tell. It was furry, it was angry, and it was very, very dangerous. Coming almost within easy reaching distance of his opponent he dropped to his hands and feet, moving swiftly along the ground to close the distance, before pushing up into a cartwheel to kick the unfortunate feline in the jaw, following it up with a quick, openhanded palm heel strike to the sternum and a spinning backfist strike to the temple. Ghallagher heard the snick of teeth being hit together and felt the humanoid feline's ribcage compress as he made contact, then sat down in the sand, with his head resting on his right knee which he hugged to his chest. "Thanks Mike," he thought, "I never thought I'd get so good at that weird kicking style you have. You were such a shitty training partner, but you made me work."

     The feline was dazed and winded, torn between the impending unconsciousness and the desire to hurt its relatively skinny opponent. Ghallagher didn't like hurting them, they didn't have any choice in what they were doing, just like he didn't. They were all stuck. Finally, the cat gave up and faded to unconsciousness as the drugs it had been given, to make the fight interesting, wore off. This seemed to be the cue for a group of well armed handlers to run in from one of the entrances to the arena.

     Ghallagher stood and brushed himself off, reaching back and laying his hand on his swords, then his tonfas, with a frown, deciding which to use. He finally just dropped his hand and stood grinning at the group walking over with guns raised. This was his favorite part, no holding back, no pity, no mercy. "Ah shit," he muttered, eyeing the handlers' weapons, "they brought their guns."

     Ducking down and running in a crawl across the quickly closing distance, he shot his feet out at the last second in a slide, landing his right foot right on the first handler's knee. Without waiting to see the man scream and fall, he turned to the next, quickly breaking his nose and sweeping his feet from under him. Reaching out next to him, he grabbed a handler from behind in a headlock, levering him over his hips and carefully folded wings to throw him into a knot of his comrades. Glancing over at his incapacitated opponent, he ripped open a man's abdomen, then turned to seize another's throat with his teeth, tearing it out, glaring at the pair. There were definitely individuals he hated.

     Strange swishing noises erupted as the men with guns opened fire, apparently using stun darts. Flinching slightly as the first few impacted and began dulling his mind and body, he continued in his spinning motions, he kicked a gun from some unseen person's hand with his heel and jumped, shooting his fist one direction and his foot the other, catching two of the men...before smashing painfully into the ground as a handler broke a metal stunrod over his back.

     "What's the point," he muttered, lying on his belly in the dust. It always ended the same and he'd vented his frustration for the moment. They were getting serious anyhow, even though he'd only killed two he had specifically chosen as mean ones who were probably hated as much by the captors as captives. Lightly punching the offending captor in the stomach, Ghallagher sat down again, moodily brushing away the line of blood trickling down his face again. After being shot a few more times, even though he wasn't moving from his spot, Ghallagher was feeling lethargic and drowsy, and chose to stretch out and go to sleep in the sand to avoid being shot anymore.

     As was usual, he woke up staring at an uninspiring gray ceiling in the exceptionally dim holding room, where he was supposed to "cool off," and hopefully not wreak more havoc. The artificial stone of the floor was cold, but lacking anywhere else to sit, he lay there, idly scratching at the floor with a claw. Bored, so bored, nothing to do but sit there, shifting every so often to make his wings more comfortable, waiting to be moved back to the communal cells where he slept. Dozing for several hours, Ghallagher pricked up his pointed ears at the sound of the steel door opening. A single shaking guard walked in, watched from outside the door by his laughing peers. This guy had to be new, any veteran knew that Ghallagher only moved when he had to, or was in the arena. Using a pole, the nervous guard slipped a looping collar around his muzzle, the over his head and down his neck, moving as though handling a MotiBomb. Once secure, he tugged it tight, and pulled slightly in an attempt to make Ghallagher move. "C-come with me, or I'll have to use the shock function." stuttered the guard, with an attempt to motivate his charge. However, the dragonoid only responded when the guard's finger twitched towards the activation switch. Grumbling and muttering, he allowed the guard to prod him from the room and guide him to the sleeping area.

     All of the creatures packed into the cells, partitioned by transparent repulsion shields, were slaves, largely of the humanoid type, and also largely of the semi-animal type. They came from all over, caught, found, bought, or otherwise acquired from all over the galaxy and taken far from their homes. Whatever planet they were on, wherever they happened to be, none probably knew, but they didn't care. "Where" made little difference. Reaching his cell, complete with small sleeping pad, he ambled in, crouching down into his odd sitting posture again, with his back to the door, and the guard slipping the collar off Ghallagher's head and leaving, to face the ridicule of his still snickering peers.

     "How many didja kill today?" asked the large canine-hybrid in the next cell over.

     "Two."

     "Got a little angry didja? Looks like ya made a mess." said the canine, glancing at the blood still splattered on Ghallagher's chest and arms.

     "I killed those two giving Meinyr trouble yesterday." Ghallagher began rubbing the blood off his skin with a rag pulled from under the sleeping mat.

     "Ahhh, the soft side of our local champ."

     It's just my job, thought Ghallagher. I might not be a contract killer right now, but I will still go back to my long delayed jobs when I get out of here.

     He was lucky, he knew. Not all of those they enslaved as fighters had a background in it. Among the warriors, mercenaries, and military types, there were always the clerks, scholars, and young people just venturing out into the world. Most of the youngest weren't much younger than him, but he was different. Killing people was his job.

     "Anything interesting happen while I was gone?" Ghallagher asked.

     "No, but there's a few newbies coming in." answered a small creature in the cell opposite. He didn't know what he...it was, but Ilthis was a nice enough person.

     "Mmph." grunted Ghallagher, already on his face on the floor.

     "Ya never stop sleeping do ya. Where does all that energy come from when ya fight?" laughed the dog.

     "Nngghhh," responded Ghallagher, "don't wake the sleeping dragon Ayrn, he'll bite you."

     Ayrn snickered into his paws in response. "I'd hafta work hard to get ya THAT upset."

     Ghallagher didn't answer except to flick his tail slightly, smacking the barrier between his "room" and Ayrn's.

     "Oh just hush," growled a sleepy female tiger from another nearby cell. "He may not have the drive to bite you, but I do."

     "Hmph, well if he keeps this up, he'll sleep through anythin' fun!" said Ayrn, sounding hurt.

     "Wake up Ghall," the tiger said, turning to the dark, prostrate form. "The newbs are here."

     As the dragonoid curled into a sitting position, grumbling about horrible friends and sleep deprivation, the same guards, wearing the typical blue uniform, walked in, stumbling as they dragged their burdens, all of which wore matching black uniforms with a yellow sun symbol on the front and back.

     "Not it on getting a cell mate," barked Ayrn quickly.

     "Oh grow up Ayrn. It's not like we have much of a choice. "growled the tigress.

     "But Mandaaaaaaa, I don't want t' share!" whined Ghall, his head on his knees, tail curled around his feet.

     The tigress sat down, her tail swishing, "Well Ghall, it's sharing with them, or one of us, and I call dibs on Ilthis."

     Ilthis merely blinked his large watery eyes, quietly watching with an amused smile.

     Without ceremony, the guards dragged a plain human, and three dogs, no, 2 wolves, thought Ghallagher, noting the differences in build, into various cells, the third dog into Ayrn's cell, the human in Ilthis's, and a wolf each into Ghallagher's room and the cell behind Manda. The third "dog" was different, smaller, and a brilliant orange red color.

     "A fox?" Ayrn said, already smelling at the reddish dog in his cell, scoping out the new arrival.

     "New meat." growled another wolf in the cell behind Manda, as he began sniffing the intruder into his quarters. Ghallagher hadn't even noticed he was back.

     "Hiya Meinyr," yawned Ghallagher, still seemingly on the verge of sleep, though glancing at the strange red thing in Ayrn's cell, and glancing at the wolf lying on the floor near his sleeping mat. None of them had a brand yet, saying their wins and losses, so none had fought 100 matches...yet. Scratching unconsciously at the brands on the ribs of his right side, he began nudging the newcomer with his foot, waiting for the mild sedatives they had probably been given to wear off. A loud frightened yipping from Ayrn's cell announced the fox's return to the conscious world, while Meinyr and his new roommate began the canine sniffing ritual.

     Ghallagher continued prodding the wolf, but eventually gave up to watch the large Ayrn terrify his tiny cell mate simply by sniffing him interestedly. Suppressing another yawn, he lay down, staring backwards at his newb as a slight growling noise emerged behind him.

     "Hey! Look who rejoined the living." Smiling, he reached up and poked the standing wolf in the nose with his toe, pushing himself up to stand on his shoulders. The bipedal wolf was not pleased by this, grabbing Ghallagher's foot and picking him up.

     "A bit of an alpha doggy aren't we?" sang Ghall, hanging by his foot. "Lemme just tell you something." In a blur, he pulled his foot free, and flipped over, catching the wolf's throat with one hand and pinning him to the wall. "Dominance isn't one of the games I play." His well toothed muzzle inches from the wolf's, all traces of sleep and laughter suddenly gone.

     "Ghallagher, didn't I tell you once that you should play nice with the other kids?" called out Manda, who continued to watch the more amusing spectacle of Ayrn and the fox.

     "Just giving my guest a warm hello! I think we've reached an understanding right? What's your name by the way?" Ghallagher's ears moved from their flattened position against his head, and lost his aggression, despite his relatively thin arm holding the struggling wolf against the repulsion field outlining the cell, bulging slightly. The wolf was glaring, furious that his huge bulk was useless against the comparatively skinny dragon. Ghallagher was used to this, he was about 2 meters tall and fairly stocky, but fighters were on a different level of build.

     "Answer, or I'll just have to call you doggy-boy, or maybe we can make a better nickname, like Fluffy." Ghall cocked his head to one side, eyes looking curiously at the wolf. "Hmmm, maybe if I'm not holding your neck you'll talk more. Does Manda gots your tongue?" Glancing at Manda, now busied watching the two wolves behind her, he let go and waited for a bit. "Nope, don't think she's got your tongue. And I don't have your throat anymore. Maybe you is a mute?"

     There was a long pause. "Orhlir."

     "Funny name, I'm Ghallagher! Wanna hang out later? We can be friends! I love new friends."

     Orhlir blinked at the burst of speech. "I thought dragons were bigger."

     "Well, just 'cause you're huge doesn't mean I'm not big! You do realize that your neck is about as big around as some people's whole bodies right?"

     Manda looked over for the first time "He's right you know, they seem to grow them big where you come from. Watch out for that dragon, as a heads up. He's a bit of a spazz when he's not sleeping" she winked at Orhlir. "Stop terrorizing him and say hi Ayrn."

     "Terrorizin' him?" Ayrn stopped sniffing curiously and looked up. Noticing for the first time that the fox was on the verge of a stroke, he sat down and instead stared.

     Manda sighed. "What's your name kiddo?"

     "I-I-I..." stammered the fox, still staring at the hulking Ayrn, "A-a-annel."

     Orhlir was staring warily at Ghallagher, who had resumed his sitting position in the corner, watching the fox. "He's not usually this terrified, possibly something to do with monster-man over there."

     "Mmmmmm." replied Ghallagher, already falling asleep again. "Ayrn's a pretty gentle person, just is a bit tall and bulky. That's the kind you'll see a lot of, physique-wise. The scrawny ones tend to not last long in combat situations, unless they're scary people, or have something else special going for them. Like Ilthis there. Small guys who aren't good for the arena also tend to become servants or 'pets' if they last long enough for the managers to realize they're more worthwhile outside of the battlefield."

     "We've got etiquette though." rumbled Meinyr. Whatever communication he had made with his new companion, who Ghallagher realized was female, had asserted Meinyr's dominance. "If we have the ability, we generally won't kill or even seriously injure. You go in knowing that whoever you fight has as little choice in the matter as you do, and might not be able to help whatever they're doing, and that they might come back a week later and beat your ass."

     Orhlir stared with a puzzled look on his face, a look mirrored by the Annel. The human remained unconscious, though Ilthis began prodding him with a concerned look on his face. "You do know that you've been caught or bought as, for lack of a better term, gladiators, right? That's what the tattoos we all have are for. He pointed out one of three patches of skin through the thinner fur of his belly, inked a dark black. It was a circle about the size of a palm, with a small "87" on the left, and a "13" on the right, and a year vertically dividing the circle into two halves. Manda rolled over to show a similar spot, and Ayrn pointed to his. Ghallagher lifted up his arm to show not one, but two circles, bleached lighter than the rest of his skin, barely a year apart, on his ribs. Orhlir's eyes lingered on the "100" on the left, and "0" on the right. "Wins-year-losses right? I've heard of this, but never thought I'd be somewhere where I'd see...one every 100 matches?"

     "Yup. You're a merc company right? Military background? Something along those lines?"

     Orhlir was now looking at Ilthis, Manda, and Ayrn's tattoos. Ayrn had 58 wins in his first 100 matches, Manda 79, and Ilthis 93 "What? Oh, part of a mercenary contracting company. We're with Sunburst."

     Ayrn looked surprised. "Pretty prestigious name you've got there. I knew I'd seen that symbol before. Won't they be missing-?"

     "Ssh." Ghallagher said suddenly, the sleepiness falling away again, and ears again laid back against his head, eyes narrowed. He glanced at Orhlir and gave Manda a significant look. "It looks like we might get a vacation soon."

     "Looks like it." said Manda, and the two of them turned to look at Meinyr. "Are you leaving us?"

     "Don't be ridiculous, you guys have been great. Hopefully this will turn out well for everyone." Meinyr, despite his lighthearted tone, looked concerned.

     "Don't worry about us so much. Me 'n Manda at least can handle ourselves." Ghallagher smiled at the older wolf.

     "Anyone wanna fill me in?" Ayrn grumbled.

     Ghallagher had opened his mouth to explain, but Manda cut him off. "Think Ayrn, vacation."

     "Ohhhhhh, so it's Meinyr's old-"

     "Hush you." Manda said curtly.

     Ayrn turned sadly to Annel. "Why do I feel like I'm not even within visual range of the top of this pack?"

     Annel had calmed significantly once he realized the 2 and a half meter tall canine wasn't going to do anything horrible. "I know the f-feeling."

     Ilthis spoke, even Ghallagher looking over at the moderately rare occurrence. "This one won't wake still, though I can find no injury and I sense that the sedative has already been metabolized. He also seems to be conscious, though he does not make movement."

     Orhlir laughed slightly, eliciting curious stares. "He's probably terrified. Sphino's not so great at intuitive, well, submissive gestures, especially not comfortable with some universal ones. So, while Gildien and myself work on teaching him," he glanced at the quiet she-wolf, sitting next Meinyr panting and smiling, "we told him to just stay still if unsure. Sphino! I don't think he's about to harm you, and," he glanced at Manda and Ghallagher for confirmation, "I think we've established our order here, though Gildien's been surprisingly quiet."

     Gildien shrugged. "I had no need to speak. Meinyr and I knew each other, so we didn't need to establish territorial dominance, and the rest of you were getting along so well, there was no need to speak up." Her voice was noticeably higher pitched, and she was soft spoken, somewhat like Ilthis, but with more normal expression, unlike the odd blue-green creature's fluting speech.

     "Well, not much else we can do tonight, they'll let us out for mealtime in a bit, and then the cells will pretty much be open, since we're surrounded by more layers of concrete than any of us care to break through. The general area is closed off from the surface, but they open the main doors to the cells after they finish moving everyone in and around, and get their people out from where they'll get hurt." Ghallagher yawned again.

     "Oh ya aren't going back to sleep, with all these new people are you? I'd almost think ya were really tired. Did they drug yer opponent again?" Ayrn didn't look entirely interested in the conversation, staring at Sphino, Orhlir, and especially Gildien, now that his initial curiosity in Annel had lessened.

     "Mhmmmmm, some big kitty I didn't recognize, yellow, big fluffy mane, scars on his cheek, chest, and left forearm. You know him Manda?"

     "No, but they probably got a fresh one for you, in the same bunch as these guys." She glanced at Orhlir, expecting a response, standing up and stretching, arms above her head and her short shirt showing more of her white belly, where the black stripes stopping their journey through her white fur.

     Gildien answered. "Yes, I remember that one. I didn't know him, but he was on the same ship in."

     "What day is it?" Ghallagher asked, picking up his mat and handing it to Orhlir. "Here, you can use this until we get some more for you. It's not great, but it's not as cold as the floor." He stretched out in the space his mat used to be, pushing his bloody rag to the side, nose wrinkling at the smell. "I'd better wash that sometime."

     Manda was counting on her fingered paw, but Annel proffered "It's Ysil's day."

     "Hmmm, maybe they're setting up fights for the weekend. Did any of you get to play today?"

     "Not me," said Manda, lying down on her side. "Ayrn did though."

     "Nothing exciting. One of those huge lizard things. He looked bad, but ya know how that works. Had to break a few of his ribs, and Ilthis had to fix me up a bit, but it wasn't bad."

     "He fractured both his arms." said Ilthis.

     Ayrn was embarrassed. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

     "Meh, we all get beat up sometimes."

     Orhlir was thinking again. "Are all the fights as easy as you make them sound?"

     "I guess we're all majority winners clustered over here, they don't really organize it, but people will exchange cells and no one cares. It's not like anyone has possession over a cell. Everyone knows though, that certain cells have a blood price on taking them." Manda snickered as Ghallagher stopped speaking. "Scary Ghallagher, always bringing up the worst parts of living here. Despite the fact you don't own yourself, the living conditions are passable. You get food, you get somewhere to sleep. The only problems come about with the guards. Don't worry though, hanging around us tends to lend them a bit more caution. Especially the winged wonder over there, he practices for his old job on handlers who piss him off."

     "Old job?" Orhlir and the rest from Sunburst were interested, but Meinyr looked down suddenly."

     "Erm, yes." Manda started, glancing at her sleeping friend's back, seeing the dark black against charcoal of the curling patterns of tattoos he'd personally inked on, unlike the win/loss marker. "Ghall's old job...I'm sure you've heard of the Nadakil assassinations? You probably have a bounty on this guy here."

     Orhlir glared at the quietly snoring dragonoid. "He's THAT Ghallagher? No wonder he's such a good arena fighter." Turning his stare to Meinyr he growled, "when were you going to tell us that our target was part of the extraction?"

     Meiynr's eyes were still downcast. "There's information you're missing, and it's not like you can take him anyway. His bounty is definitely high for a reason."

     Orhlir snorted. "Well, we'll continue ignoring that."

     Ghallagher shifted, then reached up to his chest and began unbuckling the straps holding the various weapon sheaths to his body, shifting only enough to pull them off his torso and limbs, depositing them gently in the corner near his head. "All my contracts are probably terminated since I haven't been a free dragon for about 2 years now. If your company's signing on new people I'd be happy to join you as a specialist."

     "Smart to try and sign on with people who just said they were trying to turn in your head for a profit." snarled Orhlir.

     "No jobs then?"

     Sphino spoke up for the first time, watched curiously by Ilthis. "There's a spot for almost anyone who wants one, especially if you have useful experience. I think Orhlir's just angry that he didn't know something you guys did."

     "Mmmmk." Cracking noises interrupted the conversation as Ayrn stretched and yawned, doing a front and back bridge to stretch his neck out.

     "Oooh, good idea." said Ghallagher, copying the motions, producing louder cracking noises.

     "I still don't understand how you bend like that." Manda shuddered. "You're practically a circle."

     "Nu uh, we is half circles!"

     "Your grammar is as impeccable as ever." Manda smiled smugly.

     Ayrn burped. "Green!" he shouted.

     "Black."

     "Yellow."

     "Orange."

     Manda paused, then whispered, "Oh right, when someone burps you say a color, the last person makes a sex noise, but it has to be funny."

     Annel caught on quickly "Red!"

     Gildien paused in her whispering with Meinyr. "Silver."

     Manda turned to Sphino and Orhlir. "Quickly, before Ilthis notices." Ilthis was still staring at Sphino, fascinated by the human.

     "Blue." Sphino continued staring, perturbed by the alien gaze, the wholly black, but friendly and warm, orbs and small waving tentacles, sticking straight up from his head like a comb, and the webbed digits with small claws.

     "Brown." With Orhlir bringing up the end of the color game, they all turned to stare at Ilthis, who started and said, "Oh, did I lose again?" Seeing the nods, he began to make strange wailing noises, causing those around him to shudder, then burst out laughing.

     A distant bell, raucous and headache-inducing, rang out. Instantly, the cell doors flickered out, leaving the partitions glowing a pale, transparent blue. "Hell yea, I gotta pee." Ayrn picked himself up and lumbered out. Manda stood, stretched again, and walked over to prod Ghallagher until he got up, which he did with much grumbling and whining. "Come, newbies." Ilthis was already following Ayrn, and Manda ushered the newcomers along with one hand, pulling a disgruntled Ghallagher along by one wing with the other. Meinyr and Gildien slowly followed, still conversing quietly, every so often making a slight gesture with their forepaws.

     A giant bear-like creature ambled into the corridor in front of Manda as Ayrn's tail flicked around a corner. "Hey! There's a few newbs, lets welcome them guys..." Ghallagher flicked his wing free as Manda darted forward. Jumping up, he grabbed the bear around the throat in a reinforced choke, curling one arm around the bear's neck and trapping it there by grabbing his other arm which he placed behind the bear's head, and scissored his middle. Manda grabbed his ears and pressed her nose into the bear's face, baring her teeth and growling. After a few seconds, both Manda and Ghallagher let go, directing the Sunburst team around the corner. Gildien glanced up, but Meinyr didn't seem to notice. The bear quietly watched them pass, then followed, eyeing the dragon and tigress.

     The 'mess hall' turned out to be a giant cafeteria of sorts, like any other. Ghallagher pointed out the menu. "You get this near tasteless synthesized nutritious mush, or THIS near tasteless synthesized nutritious mush." He indicated several identical sceptically filled with an off-white, substance, which looked like cooked grain. "There's water over here." He indicated several large tanks with cups nearby. "And some stronger stuff." He indicated several barrels, which turned out to contain a watered down, foul tasting liquor, which Meinyr downed a glass of. Manda winked again at the newbies. "That's for a hard day, where you don't want to remember anything for about a week or want to try and kill yourself. The hangover will certainly blot everything out for a few days."

     "Personally, I prefer my uppers." Ghallagher indicated some tanks in a different area containing stimulant drinks.

     "So there's food and drink for you. There's a bunch of guards wherever there's a big gathering of us outside the cell blocks, so there's guards posted all around here, best avoid them." Ghallagher glanced around at the guards. Good, he thought, none of them seem about to play dominant with their captives.

     "Announcement." shouted one of the guards in basic, a captain by the insignia on his dark blue shirt. "Management's bringing in new fighter's from another company, bring in the crowds and such, so you'll be fighting in small groups, 2s and 3s. We don't care who you fight with, but group up or get stuck with someone. Pair fighting is mandatory this time. Starting tomorrow."

     "Great." growled Meinyr. "We can get the newbies used to this without them killing themselves first time out. After that, if one of you feels you need a friend on the field, you can pair up with one of the seasoned fighters for good."

     "What'd I miss?" Ayrn sat down with his tray.

     "You're paired with Annel" continued Meinyr. "I'll fight with Gildien, Manda can go with Ilthis and Sphino, and Ghallagher can go with Orhlir."

     "Manda can go with Sphino, and Ilthis can take Orhlir. Ilthis can probably run this solo anyhow." interjected Ghallagher.

     "Orhlir, Gildien tells me, is the distance expert in their squad. Since your area of expertise is hand-hand, you two can work with and learn from each other."

     "Manddaaaaaa."

     "I think it's a good idea Ghallagher, especially since Sphino isn't likely to learn much from Ilthis's...interesting abilities."

     "Fine fine fine. You have weapons?" Ghallagher turned to look Orhlir up and down, searching out the slight bulges indicating weapons in pouches, body sheaths, or pockets.

     Orhlir responded by deftly reaching into several pockets, pulling out a variety of throwable weapons, including some short knives, star shapes, darts, needles, and a pair of nasty looking knives obviously designed as a backup in case the wolf ran out of ammo. Ghallagher eyed these with interest. They consisted of a pair of crescent shapes crossing, forming an "eye" shape, with one outer edge of the metal crescent sharpened, and the other forming a handle.

     "Pretty nice. Let's have some fun."

     The rest of the evening consisted of a bunch of the prisoners gathering in a large cleared square, between the blocks of 8 cells each, and various playful competitions, ranging from acrobatics contests to minor fights, and games with a ball woven from very thin wooden slats, which seemed to have been pulled from a box of some kind. Ghallagher stayed back watching as his friends and the newbies joined in, only moving from his spot in the corner for the fights, and briefly for acrobatics, though numerous felines, including Manda, outperformed him impressively. Folding a napkin into a bird, he sat there fiddling with it until he got bored, and placed it on someone's head, amusing himself watching it sit among the ignorant, larger bird's feathers. Bored of whatever game his friends were involved in, he wandered off to clean off and use the bathroom before going to sleep. While there were privacy barriers for the toilets, the showers were simply a large, lit, synthecrete room, shared by the sexes and species to save space and profits for the managers. The light was a yellowish white, showing a floor with drains every few meters, shower heads spaced about the same on all the walls, and ceiling more than twice Ghallagher's height. Stripping off his shorts, depositing them in a corner, he walked over to a shower and turned it on, scrubbing the remains of blood and sand from his skin. Finishing, he closed his eyes and stuck his face in the stream, standing there with water splashing off his face. After a few more seconds, he turned the shower off, and shook off the water, fanning himself with his wings, and pulling his shorts back on. He then pulled the bloody rag from his pocket and went to a sink, washing it as clean as he could, the now brown stains coloring the sink a muddy red. Sighing, he squeezed it out and started leaving. "Where are you going dragon boy?" growled the bear from before, stepping into the doorway and blocking his exit. "Everyone says you think you're hot stuff, but I'm not so sure you can handle this," he puffed out his chest, "without your tiger friend." Ghallagher continued, slowly walking out, but the bear moved to block his way. Retaining his hunched walking posture, he jumped onto the bear's shoulder, using his wings to gain height. Landing, he crouched, chest almost touching his feet to avoid hitting the ceiling. Perching unsteadily for a few seconds, he hopped down to land on the other side of the bear, and continued walking away, only pausing to bend backwards and wave, upside down at the bear, standing on his wings.

     Growling, the bear turned around and lunged, stopping short as he met the sole of Ghallagher's outstretched foot. Withdrawing his foot from the bear's round stomach, Ghallagher moved on, swinging the damp rag back and forth by his leg. Newbs, he thought. I have to help take care of Manda's pet newbs. Ohrlir seemed able enough though, and providing he didn't get in the way the following day, Ghallagher might actually take a liking to him. A grin played across his lips, drawing back to show sharp, white teeth, and the bear groaned on the floor as Ghallagher flicked the bear's nose with the tip of his tail.

     Annel was shaking. He was wearing some ill fitting guards dug out of the armory by Ayrn, a quiet rattling betraying his fear. On his chest, arms, and legs, he wore padded ForeSteel plates, worn at the edges. The vambraces on his forearms extended to cover the back of his forepaw with metal, and a dark, well-padded cloth glove was sown onto it, allowing his fingertips to poke through. The greaves on his shins had a separate metal plate for the top of his paw, his toes poking from the half "sock" covering his foot. Annel had refused a headgear. Ayrn briefly laid a comforting paw on Annel's shoulder as he strapped protective metal plates to his own limbs and chest. He jammed a single piece helmet over his head, his ears poking out, and adjusted the part covering his nose. Ayrn then nudged Annel over to a rack of weapons, pulling a pair of brass knuckles from his belt and fitting them on his paws.

     "I don't know what ya like to fight with, but there's a number of weapons here. Have ya had some merc training in Sunburst?"

     "Yes, but I'm not very good with any of these..." Annel spotted the gunrack. "I do have some experience as a marksman though." He selected a pair of pistols and the accompanying shoulder holsters for them. Each plasma gun was approximately as long as the fox's forearm, and about as thick in the barrel. Expertly spinning them, he checked their charge and set their power output to low with a flick of his thumb. He sighted down the barrel before holstering them and adjusting the fit of the straps across his chest.

     "If yer gun-handling's any indication of yer aim, ye'll have a handful of wins for yerself in no time."

     Ayrn shook himself, swinging his limbs and stretching. Annel stared apprehensively at the metal gate which opened to the bright sand of the arena, shifting nervously. They were the first match of the day, in front of the usual crowd and broadcasted live on interplanetary entertainment networks. Somehow the thought of dying in front of billions of people was worse than that of dying more privately.

     The others were held elsewhere, as they waited for their turns, though Annel thought he could hear Manda chattering to Ilthis and Sphino. Above the noises of the holding cells for fighters, he heard the crowd, and an announcers voice. "That's us" said Ayrn, also turning to the grate.

     "Huh?" said Annel, jolting.

     Ayrn indicated the announcer with a wave towards the gate. "Leiylin and Carhsa: combined 134 wins, versus Ayrn: 63 wins to date, and newcomer Annel!"

     As the thick mesh of metal bars snapped apart, Ayrn charged out, followed by a hyperventilating Annel, into the light, sound, and sand.

     Across from them in the arena were two dark black panthers, obviously female beneath their dark purple garments. The two were identical, down to the matching pairs of straight-bladed swords they carried.

     "How do you only have 63 wins? I thought you'd fought over 100 matches." the leftmost one shouted.

     "You must play nicer here than we do." the other finished.

     Ayrn growled and hefted his fists, fingers twitching as he moved his weapons farther onto his hands. Annel was fidgeting behind him, hands twisting together.

     One of the twins darted to the left, the other to the right, circling Ayrn and Annel quickly. Ayrn spun, and dug his toes deeply into the sand, pushing off at a run towards one of the advancing pair. Annel stood fidgeting for a few seconds more, than reached back and drew both his guns, firing three shots, rapidly at the other darting figure, jumping backwards as he did so. A high pitched yowl announced his success in at least one of the shots, though Annel took pride in knowing all three had hit where he meant them to hit: one in the chest and in each leg. Since he had the power setting on low, the power meter didn't even register the shots, though the pantheress merely fell, slightly singed. Backing up nearer to Ayrn, who was busy struggling to close the distance between himself and his opponent without getting cut. Annel flicked the power setting up and took careful aim, then fired both guns simultaneously, catching his target in the arm with a bright white bolt of charged gases, causing her to drop one of her swords. His other shot went wide. Annel didn't want to kill anyone. He was far too young in his opinion to get mixed up in this sort of thing, and had only recently signed on with Sunburst as an electronics and systems specialist. Flicking up the power setting again, he aimed and squeezed off several more shots, wincing and turning away.

     Ayrn still couldn't manage to hit the feline. Whenever his fist got close, she would spin and hook a sword in, stabbing towards his chest. Stealing a glance at Annel, he saw the fox adeptly holding back the other opponent. Finally, Ayrn got tired of toying with the kitty. With a snarl he lunged at the cat-girl, one of her swords skittering along the back of his armored arm, and punched her in the ribs. He was rewarded by a cracking noise as they broke, even under the armor she seemed to be wearing beneath her shirt, then drew back with a whine as her sword stabbed him under the armor covering his chest. As he staggered back, her sword became stuck, half of the blade still embedded between Ayrn's ribs, causing him to cough a slight spray of blood. He tugged lightly at it and winced, deciding to leave it. There was no groove to let the blood out once it pierced a victim, so it would prevent most of the bleeding until it was removed. Unfazed by the loss of one of her weapons, the feline clutched her ribs, even as she lunged to cut the side of Ayrn's neck. He caught the blow on the guard covering his forearm, and, instead of punching, smacked his palm into her temple, knocking her out. He turned around to help Annel. "We don't always play nice here." He turned to look at the dazed pantheress.

     Annel looked in dismay at the slightly sizzling hole crater he had made in his enemy's leg, and the apparent lack of effect. He glanced down at his plasma pistols, wondering if he should turn them on to full power and go for a killshot. Annel was still staring at his guns when Ayrn erupted from behind him, copying the sternum palm-heel strike Ghallagher favored so much, though his caused the fairly well built feline to become airborne, flying backwards several meters before skidding along the ground, her tail flicking angrily. Annel saw that Ayrn's tail wasn't as perky as normal, then saw the protruding sword as Ayrn turned. "Watcha think yer doin'? Quit starin' at 'em and use 'em!" Ayrn turned again as the panther came charging back, slashing sideways. He spun away, then came through with a punch to the stomach, causing her to become briefly airborne again. Looking again at his guns, he began turning the dial, before noticing a switch next to the power control. It had a small symbol he recognized; he just hoped it meant the same thing. Pressing the button, he aimed as he fired, a blue bolt arcing from a single barrel towards the feline, striking her in the chest, splashing with the usual effect, but spreading slightly like a wave, causing the fur near it to stand on end in a wave with a slight crackling noise. The smell of singed fur quickly spread strongly, and the remaining twin fell over, twitching slightly.

     "Whaddidya do?" asked Ayrn, tugging on the blade again after it became apparent that the fight had ended.

     "I shot a girl!" moaned Annel. "I'm so horrible, how could I do such a thing!"

     "Calm down, she was going to kill ya, and I'm actually surprised she didn't. More specifically, what did ya shoot her with? She's definitely not dead."

     "High potential shot, it's meant to be fairly low on blasting power, but high on energy so to speak. It's supposed to basically release a burst of energy into their system and knock them out, but it doesn't always work. Conditions, distance, type of gun, target...well, a lot of things, can make it not work. I think that it's something to do with the..."

     Ayrn shook his head. "All I needed was "it knocks 'em out." Saying ya had a stun setting woulda worked too."

     Annel smiled sheepishly, "Well, that sort of thing falls into my area of expertise. I learned about most of the major devices for ships and weaponry since I joined Sunburst."

     "Well, come on, before the handlers pop up. Ghallagher might like beating on them, but there's too many of them for me."

     "Ok. Is there somewhere I can recharge my guns?"

     Ayrn laughed. "Heheh, not a fighter my ass! I think he likes it!"

     Ghallagher was bored, still. Orhlir was at the grate watching a match. "Did you see what the guy just did? This huge hairy guy with horns just got knocked out by some human! I've never seen Sphino even try something like that!"

     "Mhmmmm." Ghallagher continued staring at the ceiling. A dull stamping from the crowd in the stands above shook some dust free. He sneezed. "That's probably Kerwin you're watching then. I don't know who the other one would be, probably one of those fighters they brought in. I hope they're bunking somewhere else. They seem kind of nasty."

     "Maybe." Some of Orhlir's maturity was returning.

     "You've never watched people fight like this? I thought you were a seasoned mercenary."

     "Well, hell yeah, I've been in plenty of fights." Orhlir looked sheepish. "Most of them were firefights though, hide behind something and shoot where you think they're shooting from."

     "That's no fun, but where'd you get your knife throwing experience from then?"

     Orhlir grinned, ears pricked and tail slightly wagging. "That was something I learned from Meinyr. He did my combat training when I signed on with the company."

     "Sounds like him. Did you pick up any other skills from him? Some of his speed movements and tactics, especially some of his concealment methods...he's managed to outmatch me in at least a few of those, though I can match him in plain speed. I've been watching every fight of his I can to pick some of his techniques up, figuring they'd be useful for my job...." Ghallagher trailed off noting how Orhlir's lips curled back slightly and his ears were slightly back.

     "Well, since I think that we're up soon, do you need any extra equipment? There's a fairly well equipped armory over there, and there's some weapons if you need any."

     "Hmmm, might not be a bad idea." Orhlir walked over to a bin filled with various protective equipment, selecting a pair of forearm and shin guards, rifling through the armor for a chest guard. Pulling one out, he slipped his arms and head through the holes, squirming to get its shape to fit to his body as well as he could manage. Dissatisfied with the fit, he pulled it back off with difficulty and smoothed his gray fur, pulling the white hairs on his belly out from under the straps holding the pouches which contained his weapons. Where Ghallagher had sheaths all along his body, Orhlir had a pouch on each thigh, a few on his back above is tail, one on each chest, and hip sheaths for his strange, crescent shaped handheld knives. He had abandoned his uniform for a pair of black pants, whose cuffs were tied closed just beyond the knee, making a baggy, but flexible fit, another particular of Meinyr's. Ghallagher wondered whether he was just borrowing clothing or if there was some sort of hero worship involved. Orhlir pulled at the back of his shorts where his tail poked through a hole made for it.

     "Well, if that's all, we might as well get warmed up. Don't want to die because of some lame reason." Ghallagher began stretching, pulling his joints into strange contortions, laughing inwardly at the somewhat disgusted look on Orhlir's face. He began shaking out his limbs and flipped backwards, over-rotating from a somersault and rolling back onto his shoulders, before pushing off and flipping forward onto his feet.

     Orhlir was also stretching, and loosening the catches on his weapon pouches, reaching in and counting them before laying the flap back over the top, leaving the snap fasteners undone. The announcer's voice boomed out and the crowd cheered, and Ghallagher started bouncing from foot to foot like a boxer. "Oh boy, the only fun we get for the rest of the day. Too bad this isn't a bracket tournament." As the gate clicked open, splitting down the middle evenly and sliding out of sight into the walls, Ghallagher practically skipped out, following Orhlir who went out at a run.

     "Wheeeeeee!" Ghallagher fell from his feet straight back to lie in the sand. "Sand clerics!" He waved his arms and legs up and down, approximating the shape of a robed figure, strikingly similar to the robes of the priesthood.

     "Well hello." A moderately tall reptilian male was standing nonchalantly, leaning on a spear, the blade of which was as long as a sword blade, though the whole construction was barely taller than he was.

     "One of you has no losses? The imposing canine there I'm guessing."

     "Nope, that's him you're looking for." Orhlir was concerned by the strange lizard's interest.

     Ghallagher raised a hand, still lying on his back, staring upside down at their opponent. "What's your interest? You want a fun fight? Start with my furry friend here, he's a little newer at this and the experience should be good for him. You too probably. Don't you have a buddy?" Ghallagher rolled onto his stomach and peered around the lizard's legs and tail.

     "Yes." A stocky wolf stepped from behind the lizard. "Neurn and," he indicated the lizard, "Hasstih. Are you going to get up? I want to beat you without killing you, but Hass here likes a little blood."

     Ghallagher blinked and flicked an ear, "Okey then, which do you want? Me or him. Orhlir needs at least one opponent, and I want to play, so we'll be fighting one on one."

     Neurn pulled a chain into view, each end weighted with a sharp blade. "How about we'll pair up by species. Reptile and wolf, one to one."

     Ghallagher slipped a leg under himself, and curled into his normal sitting position. "Sounds good. Lets play over....here." Saying this, he launched himself at Neurn, curling aside and darting across the sand to a space about 50 meters away, towards the middle of the arena.

     "Sure you can handle him?" Hasstih looked jealously at the dragon again curled on the sand. "He moves fast."

     "Can you handle him?" Neurn glanced at Orhlir, sizing him up. "He looks like he has a few tricks of his own."

     Hasstih merely grunted in response. Neurn nodded to Orhlir and said "Remember, he likes blood." and ran off, carrying his weapon coiled up and draped over his shoulder.

     Orhlir cautiously reached back and pulled a handful of throwing knives from a pouch on his back.

     With a slight hiss, Hasstih lunged with the spear, slashing with the long blade at the tip, then following through when Orhlir dodged, turning it into a sweeping motion. Twirling the spear like a staff, he drove the wolf towards the wall with rapid slashing and stabbing motions. Deterred by the swift attacks, the wolf retreated, pressing his ears against his head. Noticing the wall close behind, the wolf aimed, and threw a knife towards Hasstih's face. The lizard ducked easily, and lunged, extending the spear out as far as it would go in an a stab. Orhlir dodged to the side, throwing three more knives with a sweeping gesture. Hasstih quickly brought in his spear, blocking one away and dodging another barely, but couldn't manage to avoid the third. The short knife embedded itself up to the "hilt" in his shoulder. Orhlir, getting the knack of arena fighting, pulled another knife out, holding the tip at his fingertips, pressing it against the pad of his forepaw with his thumb. He threw it, letting it slip from his hand so it would fly without spinning, taking chance out of the throw. Still surprised by the first hit, Hasstih barely stuck his hand out, the knife piercing it and emerging from the other side. "You do have some spirit don't you." laughed Hasstih, pulling the knife from his hand. Orhlir glared at him in response, baring his teeth and growling. Hasstih flipped his spear quickly, smashing downwards with the end, sending up a spray of sand. Orhlir was already out of the way, pulling another knife from his belt and flipping it so the point was down. He jumped another sweep of the spear and stabbed sideways, pressing on the end of the knife, driving it deep into the lizard's chest, nicking the ribs on the way in. Hasstih snarled and lashed out with his foot, followed up with a stab from his spear. Orhlir rolled sideways and pulled his crescent shaped deer-horn knives from their sheaths and slipping his hands through them. With a punching motion, he cut into Hasstih's back, then slashed sideways to leave a long diagonal wound. Jumping back and standing fully upright again, he took a moment out of range to pant and briefly rest.

     Hasstih took no such time, and whipped his spear around in large, arcing motions, catching the wolf on the shoulder on the downward part of a curve. Orhlir yipped and quickly caught the next blow on his knife, panting from more than exertion.

     Neurn swung the chain from his shoulder in a figure eight pattern, one end wrapped around his hand, which also held the knife at the end by its bare tang. He and Ghallagher circled each other. Ghallagher reached up and pulled his katanas from their sheaths, the ForeSteel glinting in the mixed natural and artificial lighting filtering down from the lights and the windows which ringed the top edge of the huge stadium. Partway through a swing, he caught the chain slightly on his elbow, changing the weight's direction and sending the knife slashing down at Ghallagher, who smacked it away with the flat of one blade. "Hee hee! So you are good with that. I've never gotten the knack of that kind of weapon."

     Neurn smiled and continued spinning the chain and weight, left, right, left, right, circle on one side, then the other. The motion was hypnotic, and Ghallagher yawned again, dodging another attack. The chain spun faster, and Neurn caught it with his tail, sending the point stabbing towards Ghallagher's face.

     "None of that now." Ghallagher dropped, one leg stretched behind him as he lunged, swords crossed, blades facing inwards, towards Neurn's torso, stopped short by the blade in Neurn's other hand. Changing his tactics, Neurn began spinning the chain overhead, whipping it sideways towards Ghallagher, who stepped in, and let the chain wrap around him, keeping his arms free. Right before the tip stopped, he reached out and grabbed it, preventing it from stabbing him. "How sweet, you're giving me a hug." Neurn grinned, and pulled on the chain, tightening it. Before Neurn could trap him further, Ghallagher dropped to the ground and barrel rolled out of the chain's embrace. Once free, he turned and charged at Neurn, switching directions nearly instantaneously, spiraling closer to the wolf. He lashed out at Neurn's arm and leg, meeting resistance as Neurn blocked them with various parts of his chain weapon, links meeting blade. Ghallagher quickly pulled away, and, turning his back, began running from Neurn, turning on his heel and slamming his palm into the wolf's sternum. Neurn looked surprised, flying backwards several meters and sliding along the ground, winded. Almost immediately, he flipped back onto his feet and pulled his weapon to him, noticing the dragon had disappeared. "Here." said a voice by Neurn's ear, and silvery blades reached over his shoulders, the sharp edges angled towards his throat, crossing a few centimeters from his skin. "How about we fight hand to hand? Don't want to beat each other up TOO badly."

     Neurn smiled again, tongue dangling from his mouth. "Sure."

     Ghallagher sheathed his sword, and Neurn coiled the chain and attached it to his belt, sheathing the knife weights. Both crouched, hands in front, then shot forward, striking and trapping each other, back and forth.

     Spear spinning, Hasstih resumed a barrage of attacks on Orhlir, who kept pace with difficulty. This close-range fighting was not what he was good at, though his opponent was more than proficient. As the reptile swung downwards, the spear's tip catching the skin on Orhlir's chest, opening a long gash. Orhlir stumbled backward, reaching into a pouch and curling his hand around a sharpened star. As Hasstih continued stabbing wildly, Orhlir watched carefully, then dashed forward as the spear swung low towards his leg. He stepped down on the flat of the blade, flexing it, and trapped the weapon beneath his foot, quickly throwing the star. It spun as it flew and dug into the flesh of Hasstih's forearm.

     Ghallagher paused as he heard a loud snarl, his leg trapped by Neurn, and Neurn's arm pinned against Ghallagher's ribs, keeping the two temporarily stuck in a stalemate. Glancing at Orhlir's fight, he hummed thoughtfully. "Hmmmm, maybe we should do a trade off, I hope you don't mind. Fight someone new for a bit?"

     He quickly released the arm and freed his leg, snagging the wolf's chain weapon. Throwing one end to embed it in the sand, he lightly swung the other in a circle, wrapping it once around the wolf's body and arms, throwing the free end deep into the sand, trapping the wolf.

     Ghallagher turned and bowed to the surprised Neurn, then ran towards Orhlir.

     "We seem to each be fighting outside our element. Tag in!" Ghallagher grabbed Orhlir's scruff, pulling him out of range of another spear thrust. Reaching back, he grabbed the handles of his tonfas fondly, pulling them from the loops holding them so their length ran along the outside of his forearms, and turned to the wolf behind him. "I didn't tie him," he flicked his tail at Neurn, "very tight, so you might want to hurry over there before he gets loose. It's not very polite to leave a visitor unoccupied for long."

     Orhlir nodded thankfully, then jogged off.

     Ghallagher watched to be sure the wolf made it the shorter distance, about 10 meters after both pairs had begun moving around, interrupted by a sudden motion. The spear thrust close to his face as he bent slightly to the side, returning Ghallagher's attention to the lizard.

     "Not very friendly!" Ghallagher's voice was hurt. Smacking aside the spear with one tonfa, he flipped the other, so the flat, circular tip stabbed the lizard in the chest.

     Orhlir pulled a handful of his knives from the sand, counting them to see how many remained scattered around. Returning several to the pouch on his back, he held several in each hand as he approached the other wolf, who had almost extricated his weapon from the sand.

     "Hello there." Neurn said, grunting slightly as he pulled at the remaining stuck end. As it came free, he swung it so it wrapped around his hand, catching the blade at the end, and began to swing the remaining free end.

     "Hi." Orhlir was still panting slightly, but tensed, lowering his center of gravity and moving his knives into a more advantageous position. Neurn began again by circling, twirling the chain. Orhlir cautiously circled Neurn as well, moving closer and farther as he gauged the distance the chain could cover. He backed up as Neurn advanced, moving closer to Ghallagher.

     "Hey, newbie, we can fight back to back if you like, just shout it out. You seem a bit beat up." Ghallagher was concerned at Orhlir's passive approach.

     Orhlir raged, the stupid dragon was concerned for him, trying to shelter him. Shifting sideways so as to not intercept Ghallagher and his flailing opponent, while keeping an eye on his own troubles, he danced back and forth, then quickly threw a knife with a practiced, almost unnoticeable flick. Neurn deflected it with the knife in his hand, showing reflexes that worried Orhlir. Summoning his strength, he sprinted in a circle around Neurn, making the wolf follow him. Neurn suddenly grinned and spun the chain around, whipping in a circle to intersect Orhlir's path, letting out more of the chain as he went. When Orhlir dropped from a bipedal run to all fours and continued running, pinching his knives awkwardly in his forepaws while running, Neurn curled his arm, catching the chain and sending it scything down to hit Orhlir. Orhlir returned to a standing position, throwing two knives while springing up and back. One hit Neurn in the leg, the other bouncing off his handheld knife, causing him to bark softly.

     "Eh-scuse." said Ghallagher, flipping backwards over Neurn, his wings giving him unnaturally high and long jumps, as Hasstih swung at him. "Move!" Hasstih snarled, whacking Neurn aside before slashing him and taking a stab at Orhlir, barely missing. Ghallagher's eyes narrowed, and Orhlir growled, as Neurn yipped in surprise and pain. Angrily, Orhlir threw two more knives, one hitting Hasstih in the chest, the other in the neck. Before Orhlir could draw more knives, Ghallagher pulled his wings to his body, and, kicking up a cloud of dust, closed the distance between him and the lizard instantaneously, playful manner gone. He slammed a tonfa into Hasstih's ribs in an elbowing motion, a loud crack resounding across the field. Quickly, he followed this with a crushing blow to Hasstih's head, and spun, sheathing his tonfa and drawing a knife and stabbing it expertly through the lizard's hide and ribs, straight into his heart, twisting slightly so he could draw it out and slice the lizard's throat. Jumping back to avoid the blood and falling body, he wiped his knife on the skin of his belly to clean it, and resheathed it, along with his other tonfa. Cracking his neck, he went to sit against the wall, watching Orhlir and Neurn. "Are you going to finish the fight or do you want to be done for the day? Ilthis' match isn't for a long time, so he can patch you both up."

     Neurn seemed taken aback. "Why?"

     "If you don't even have decency and honor enough to be loyal to your comrades, your life belongs to me."

     "You weren't fighting him seriously."

     "I don't usually fight to kill. Most who have the ability to win without a kill do so, an empathy thing. You're both beat up. If we leave then we won't have to even deal with handlers. I'm not exactly in the mood." Even as he said this, a handful of the armed men emerged from the entrance. Ghallagher stood and glanced at them, then back at the two wolves, gesturing with his head. "Lets go! You both move slow!"

     Neurn and Orhlir exchanged a glance, each with ears slightly back. They then approached and sniffed each other over. Satisfied, they both replaced their weapons and headed towards their exit. Ghallagher was darting around the arena, rummaging in the sand every once in awhile. He ran over to the pair. "I picked up your knives, I figured you'd need them. These, " he gestured to a handful of them which had red smears on the shining surface, "you may want to clean. We can pull the ones stuck in Neurn out when Ilthis is around."

     Manda was grumpy. "You brought home ANOTHER one? You can't even keep one intact!"

     "He needed experience. I don't fight in a pack. Besides he's from another company, they'll be leaving eventually."

     "Actually," interjected Neurn, "we weren't so much brought in as bought."

     "Scratch that." Ghallagher watched as Ilthis examined Orhlir's wounds from every angle, cleaning them with a secretion from his hands and patching them with another. Carefully smoothing it over to match the contours of the rest of the skin, he prodded it gently and watched as it quickly dried to a darker green color, forming a gel which stopped the bleeding, as well as providing an antiseptic and regenerative effect. "Do not worry, your injuries were not life threatening. This should stop the bleeding and provide for normal function until it heals."

     "Thanks." Orhlir sniffed at the gel, halfway between disgust and interest. Neurn had similar patches on his body, as did Ayrn and Annel, who were sitting nearby. Ghallagher had a bleeding cut along the side of his muzzle from the edge of his nostril to his ear, but he didn't noticed. "Maybe we can get Meinyr to train him up a bit more, specifically in one on one match fighting." Ghallagher sat down, leaning against the wall, standing up grumpily to remove his weapons before sitting down again. Meinyr and Gildien walked in, both covered in minor cuts.

     "What!" Manda looked confused. "When was your match? You didn't tell us?"

     "Just now." said Meinyr. "It wasn't special, some losers who dropped at the first head shot. Whole match was about 20 seconds. We got one each, and then I let Gildien take the last, since she wanted to get used to the arena more. More importantly, things are moving faster than expected, and we have until tomorrow then-"

     "Then you're leaving? I assume you want to make a big boom and make as clean an exit as you can, leaving all the doors open? You'll need the power down, backup power down, guards distracted or exterminated, probably a combination of both, and most importantly, some way to get out of the building." Ghallagher counted on his fingers. "The power is easy, it's up on the next level past the guard stations and quarters. Taking care of the guards probably needs some large disturbance requiring large numbers of guards to subdue it, so that'll need some working on, and then for getting out-" he paused as he noticed the stares. "It won't be that hard, you just need some major fight or something."

     "'Major fight' has your name all over it, probably mine too." muttered Manda. "Also, it's not that easy to destroy those generators since the last time we broke them."

     "I'm sure Ayrn and Annel combined have enough, uh, firepower in their 'guns' to break them."

     "Then there's the whole thing that the 'disturbance,' as you so delicately put it, won't make it out as well as the rest of them."

     "I wasn't sure the escape part included me. I'm fairly sure I can get out on my own if I'm not bringing others with me anyhow. It shouldn't be a problem."

     "Ghallagher! That's just your ego. Your attempts all failed." Meinyr broke in.

     "True, but I'm sure that the 'disturbance' won't be killed or too badly damaged, especially if Manda's coming with me."

     Manda suppressed a feral grin. "You know I wouldn't miss a fight like that."

     "I'll go too." Orhlir offered.

     "Are you sure you're up to it? You're busted up and broke-ed, and you aren't as good in close range combat." Ghallagher had his forehead on his knees, voice muffled.

     "I do have the tactical experience."

     "Probably. Be sure to pick up a few guns."

     Meinyr watched the exchange then glanced at Ghallagher's downcast eyes and continued. "So, Ayrn will have to back up the extraction team." He briefly nodded to the cluster of newbs, but directing his words at Ayrn. "We'll need to stick together. Gildien will take point, I'll take rear. Ghallagher, Manda, and Orhlir can draw off the guards so we have a clear shot at the power generators and the exit. The distraction team will begin, and then we'll make our move once most of the guards have moved out. Reinforcements should reach the surface quickly once we make it out and can use comlinks, we can go over the specifics of everything after the fights are over, but basically we usher the other captives out, pile ourselves into a ship, and leave. There's enough civilization nearby, and unsettled forests, for them to find a way to live or get offworld."

     "What's the price you're getting for this job?" Ghallagher poked his nose out, resting his head on his knees again. "I used to get paid a few hundred thousand jcreds for an average level kill. Upwards of a mill for the really prestigious or difficult ones."

     "We're getting paid to get a handful of specific inmates out, nobodies really, but someone wanted their family members home. Sunburst goes for honor and morality along with getting paid, so we're only taking two thousand work credits total, especially since we needed to get back one of our own here. It's really thanks to you he could get so many messages out though."

     "Meh. Me, Manda, and Ilthis were trying to break ourselves out. Meinyr just happened to be around, and then Ayrn came and we brought him along."

     The announcer's voice rumbled out, and the cheering, stamping crowd shook more dust from the ceiling. "That's us." Manda was grim, tail twitching agitatedly. Tugging on Ilthis's arm, who was staring into space, she tapped Sphino on his armored shoulder. Sphino hefted the broadsword and shield he carried, outfitted with mismatched spiky plate armor. Ilthis picked up a three sectioned staff, holding the middle section and twirling the end segments by the chains connecting them before folding it and walking out of the open gate. Sphino followed him with a nervous glance at Manda, who walked over to the wall and picked up the giant, straight bladed sword leaning against it.

     "I still don't get how you use that thing." Ghallagher looked at it with disgust. "It almost defeats the purpose of it being bladed. Just use a giant club."

     "You never did understand, but it works." Standing on her hind legs, the sword blade alone came up to Manda's shoulder and was about half her width at the shoulder, the long hilt extending well above her head.

     Hefting it, she winked at Ghallagher who grumbled and moved to sit by the gate where he could watch, just inside the holding area, toes digging into the threshold where the sand began. "Don't get hurt." he called. Manda waved over her shoulder in response, the sword over her other shoulder.

     "How does she lift that thing?" Orhlir seemed to share Ghallagher's opinion of the sword.

     "A better question is WHY does she lift that thing. She's very strong actually, but why she uses giant swords...it's beyond me."

     "Power over speed Ghallagher." Meinyr looked surprised. "All this time you've known her and you've never figured that out? She's fast, but strength is what she's good at. She's never been able to match you for speed, or really any of the higher tier of fighters. So she combines her strength and power with her lesser agility to make a formidable force."

     "Mmmmmm." Ghallagher was already busy watching the match, drawing abstract curling designs similar to those on his back with his toe in the yellow-white sand.

     Manda stared in surprise at the brilliantly green dragonoid facing her from the other end of the field. Dragons were a fairly rare breed, and she had never seen one aside from Ghallagher, or heard of anyone seeing one. Unlike her friend, this one was built along Ayrn's lines: huge, muscular, and, she felt slightly guilty for the thought, none too bright. Along with the dragon, but standing a fair distance away was what looked like a humanoid shark, a clear collar sealed to his neck in which fluid flowed, covering his gills. The shark carried a long compression rifle, a longer ranged, higher powered version of Annel's pistols, lying casually across his shoulders. The dragonoid had a simple sword and shield, though both were larger to match his build. Both wore no helmet, but the shark had headgear covering his hears and right eye, like a sight. Each, however had plates protecting their limbs. Ilthis had tucked his sectioned staff under his arm and was secreting more of the strange gel, rubbing it onto several barbs which he pulled from a pouch on his belt and onto his staff.

     Sphino was fascinated. "What's? What IS that stuff you make? Is that something particular to your species?"

     "Yes, we have a special control over various secretions which I personally use for healing and poisoning."

     "Wow. What's this kind do?"

     "This? It will only incapacitate, not kill." He waved the tentacles on his head. "Unless they have resistance to it, it should enter through the skin and cause them to lose conciousness."

     "Focus." muttered Manda. She didn't like the look of the other pair, especially the distance the shark was giving the dragonoid, or the distance the dragon was giving the shark.

     "'Sup?" The shark pulled the rifle off his shoulders, flicking on the power and leveling the laser sight at the trio, a small red dot moving to a spot above each of their hearts, lingering an Manda's chest above her breast. Manda moved to a crouch, sword point resting on the sand. That's boring. Ghallagher watched thoughtfully. Guns take all the fun out of fighting. Plasma blasts move slow however, since they are dense, energized, "bullets" of gas. There should be plenty of time for her to dodge.

     While Manda and the shark faced off, Neurn walked up behind Ghallagher. "You're Ghallagher right? The murderer?"

     "I prefer 'assassin,' it has a better ring to it."

     "How'd you get caught?"

     "First time for everything. Went for a high profile job, slipped up, got caught on the way out. Thought it'd be funnier to sell me, I almost got sold as a pet actually, and then they just sold me to the highest bidder. Turns out dragons are collectible, didja know that? I didn't. When that didn't turn out well for him, he turned me over to the arena. You're the hacker, yes? You broke into my system a few times. I'm just ok with that stuff, not good at all really. But what are you doing as an arena fighter?"

     Neurn's tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth as he grinned. "Same story I suppose. Broke in somewhere I shouldn't have, got caught, and they decided to sell the computer nerd as arena meat. You're not too shabby with your computers though, that was a hard code to crack there."

     "Mhmmm, 'cause it's wired to switch the 1s and 0s, and I made this pretty little encryption algorithm, it uses a 14 dimensional matrix to encode the stuff. Took me about two years to write, but it works for most things. Oh look, they're doing things."

     The green dragon had grown impatient. Approaching the vulnerable looking Ilthis and Sphino with a lumbering charge, he roared and swung his sword in a wide sweep. Sphino caught it on his shield, the impact denting it slightly and breaking his arm. Ilthis swung his staff, holding one end segment. It struck the dragons shield and rebounded, and he redirected it, sending it in for heavy blow to the dragon's sword arm. Ilthis took the opportunity to stick a barb in the dragon's leg, attacking again without missing a beat. He then stuck several more in the dragon while he continued a barrage of fluid, constant attacks with his staff, waving the tentacles on his head. Encouraged by the unimposing Ilthis' strength and speed, Sphino charged the dragon, slashing with his sword, attempting to stab between the his ribs or slash his side, foiled by the shield. Sphino started as the dragon suddenly stiffened, then collapsed, paralyzed. Ilthis merely folded his staff and tucked it under his arm. He pulled the barbs from the dragon's skin and replaced them in his pouch.

     "Come, Manda may need help." Ilthis strode off, Sphino following.

     Manda dodged another sizzling bolt, more narrowly than the last one. The shark's rate of fire wasn't great, but his aim was. He seemed to be shooting mainly to keep her at a distance so her sword was useless. Impatiently, Manda growled and fidgeted, then zigzagged closer. As she expected, the shark began firing, numerous bullets splashing against the sand around her, melting it to molten pools of glass. Coming closer, Manda carefully estimated, then threw her sword, growling slightly, feline arm coiling. Immediately, she dropped to all fours and burst into a sprint, mauling the shark as soon as he moved to avoid the giant sword. A brief tussle over the rifle ensued, ending when Manda was thrown off over the shark's head. Grabbing her sword, she spun, slashing at the shark, who leaped backwards, trying to aim and fire while the shining blade slashed at him. Snarling, Manda jumped into the air, cutting downward with her weight and the weight of her sword. The shark made it out of the way, but his gun barrel did not. Easily, the sword cut through the barrel, shortening it to nearly half its length. As the sword embedded itself in the ground, kicking up a cloud of sand, Manda kicked the shark hard in the chest with her clawed back feet, pushing off the sword hilt. Using her weight as she landed, she yanked the sword blade out and cut diagonally with it, nicking the shark and opening a shallow gash. Leaving her sword in the ground this time, she leaped forward, cuffing the shark hard in the head with one huge paw, knocking him out. Yanking her sword from the ground, she laid it across her shoulders and walked over to the approaching Ilthis, flicking her tail back and forth playfully.

     "That was short." Ghallagher yawned, then got up and left as Manda, Sphino, and Ilthis started towards the exit. "Come wake me up when we're doing something interesting or important."

     Manda walked into the dim waiting area. "Ghallagher went back?"

     Meinyr nodded. Manda sighed, but Ilthis was busy looking over Sphino's arm. "Why don't the rest of you head back too, and I'll take care of this and we will meet you there. I think handling this sooner would be ideal, before it moves around too much."

     "Thanks Ilthis, we'll see you there." Manda hefted her sword and walked off, talking with Meinyr and Gildien, Orhlir and Neurn tagging along behind with Ayrn and Annel. Ilthis was gently prodding the broken limb, repositioning it so the bones lined up. He carefully created a cuff type structure from his gel, wrapping it carefully around the affected area. Watching it harden, he moved the arm slightly, repositioning it. Sphino winced slightly, but watched silently. "That is an expert setting job."

     "Thank you." Ilthis was still intently watching the arm, absorbed in his work. "Are you a medical officer? I think Gildien mentioned..."

     "Yes, I'm the medic for the team, but with you around I feel useless."

     "Ah. Do not. The arm is supported, but tell me if there's any pain, loss of circulation or feeling, or restrictions of motion."

     "Very nice, like a splint but much, much better."

     The two headed back to the cells in silence.

     Within their rectangular block of eight cells, there were only a few occupied cells. Meinyr and Gildien were together in their cell, Ayrn and Annel in theirs. However, Ghallagher was passed out on the floor of his cell, with Orhlir sitting awkwardly in the corner, and Manda sitting next to Ghallagher stroking his head between his ears around the crest which ran from the top of his head down the length of his back and tail. "Oh, he's so sweet when he's asleep."

She traced the tattooed lines on his back, starting from behind his ears and ending near his tail. "Do you feel left out Orhlir?" She patted the wolf on the head, ruffling his ears. He started, then wagged his bushy tail hesitantly.

     Meinyr looked annoyed. "Now that we're all here, can we wake him up? Ghallagher!"

     "Mmmmmmwhhaa?" Ghallagher sleepily poked his nose in Meinyr's direction, blinking. "Wha'sgoingon? Who's touching mah head? Hey stop dat!" He glared irritably at Manda who hadn't stopped patting him.

     Manda looked affronted. "He's so cute, then he wakes up."

     She sat next to Orhlir, paw still on his head, rubbing it occasionally. Orhlir looked very uncomfortable with the situation.

     For about an hour, none of them moved from their places, only shifting slightly, as Meinyr explained the plan, with frequent interjections from the participants. The explanation, and further detailing continued over dinner, then for a short time longer before the group went to sleep, ceasing communication but not really falling asleep, until much later, the worries of the next day weighing heavily on them.

     "This is so fucked up." Ghallagher was grumbling. As usual, he had his full array of weapons for breakfast, but unusually, had been awoken extra early. "We're doing this BEFORE noon. It isn't even a fight day! They're taking a break to clear out the arena, and we're still doing it at some unhealthily early hour. I doubt the sun's even risen for this freaking planet."

     "Oh hush you. Just because you hate mornings doesn't mean the rest of us want to waste a perfectly good day." Cheery in opposition to Ghallagher's gloomy mood, the white tiger was perky.

     "Strange that you two haven't killed each other yet." Orhlir muttered. Despite Manda's energy of the group seemed sleepy.

     "Call it a professional courtesy." Ghallagher yawned. "One killer to another."

     "Nu uh! I am not a killer!" Manda corrected, "I am a hunter! An investigator!"

     "It just so happens that most of the time you find them to terminate their existence."

     Manda paused. "Not always..."

     "But usually."

     Another pause. "Maybe."

     "Win!"

     Orhlir glared at Meinyr again. "How many killers are we bringing?"

     Meinyr scowled at the younger wolf. "It's not as if they ever kill innocents. Check their actual record, though its hard to find. The only murders they commit are hits on criminals anyway. They found their niche in assassinating crime lords, entire organizations, corrupt politicians...the ones the regular agencies can't get their hands on. Private, under-the-table contracts are all over right now. You know this at least."

     "I don't like not being told relevant information to my missions."

     "It wasn't relevant. Make a problem of this later, right now we need to haul ass and GET our asses out of here."

     "Playtime?" Ghallagher looked at Meinyr.

     "Go."

     "Wheeeeee!" He stood up, jumping onto the table they had their trays on, and cupped his hands to his mouth, shouting "Hey! All of youuuuuu. We're going to make a mess here, so you might want to move out of the way. The exit is up the stairs and through the guards rooms. I recommend waiting until there are no more guards."

     Turning to the guards quarters he held out a hand to Annel, who took it and allowed Ghallagher to haul him onto the table. "Can ya hit that door a few times?"

     Annel grinned slyly. "Knock knock."

     Cocking his pistols he fired rapidly, blowing through the door in a matter of seconds, leaving nothing but dripping metal behind. Immediately, red lights flashed and sirens sounded, guards flooding the area and captives shrinking against the wall.

     "Go do your job, this is our game." Ghallagher nodded to Meinyr, who got up and left quietly, followed by the 'extraction team,' Neurn and Ayrn, leaving Orhlir, Ghallagher, and Manda behind. From under the table, Manda pulled out her huge sword. Orhlir pulled several knives in a stack from a pouch, fanning them out like a hand of cards. Without waiting, Ghallagher drew his swords and plunged into the sea of blue uniformed guards, shredding the brightly colored material and sending up sprays of red, weapons flashing and spinning. Manda growled and plunged into the crowd in another direction. Staying on the table, Orhlir, threw his knives, grabbing another handful and throwing them, not taking careful aim. After a few minutes, he was out of projectiles, even the hard to use needles he had for special purposes. Pulling his curved deer-horn knives out, he dove into the thinning sea of guards, retrieving knives as he went.

     "Hey, that's mine!" The shout rang out as one of the guards grabbed one of Ghallagher's swords. As the guard stabbed at him, he put out his hand, the sword sliding between the finger bones through the center of his hand. Torquing the sword and hand, he pulled it from the guard and removed it from his palm, resuming his slaughter of the guards who had held him there.

     Manda didn't yell at the guards, but roared, spinning in a circle, her heavy sword cleaving a wide path.

     Orhlir ducked and dodged, using punching and scything motions to carve through the guards, who, he realized now, were only mainly human. Reptiles, avians, felines, canines, and species completely unknown to him all attacked wearing the bright blue uniform. Didn't they know what they were participating in? Putting aside the guilt of all the lives he was taking, the slaughter HE was taking part in, he sliced a guard on the inside of the thigh, then punched another with the blade of his knife, cutting sideways and hooking another guard. Soon, he had no clue what was happening, the confusing, enclosing mass of bodies consuming him.

     A loud explosion cut through the chaos, and the lights flickered. Ghallagher jumped on a guard's shoulders, standing precariously as the man tried to push him off. "Everyone who wants to leave up those stairs and through the guards rooms, past the generator and on."

     In response, all of the captives ran up the stairs, jostling each other as they all moved to leave. Another loud explosion echoed from the direction of the generators, and the lights went out. Ghallagher leapt into the air, flapping his wings with loud thumping noises, making for the flickering light of the ruined generators that could be seen through the single door along the walkway around the edge of the eating area. A growling, crashing noise indicated that at least Manda was following, though he could here Orhlir panting behind her as he worked to keep pace. Nudging several fellow prisoners through the door, he stood waiting for Manda and Orhlir, their shining eyes revealing their presence, before dashing through, passing hallways marked with signs and numbers, only following the flickering light and the bodies in front of them. Passing the sparking generators, they continued through more hallways, navigating through the maze until they burst into bright light. They weren't outside, but this room had many windows, and an open door, through which could be clearly seen a barren stretch of land extending to a patch of trees, roads and paths as well as a landing field covering the area. The former slaves were running around enjoying their freedom, some heading for the trees, others running along the roads towards the distant gleaming cities that could be seen in most directions. Behind them, the giant complex of the arena, its guard houses, and commercial areas loomed, its own city unto itself. Off to the side in the shadow of the entrance they had just emerged from, Meinyr was typing rapidly into a small pad and talking into a mic, a vid extension in front of his eye and face. As more gladiators streamed from the building, Ghallagher flopped on his back in a patch of grass between paved areas, Manda rolling in the grass near him.

     Another siren echoed out. Guards in black body armor began flooding from different buildings and parts of the complex, dragging heavier artillery. "Get to the trees!" Ghallagher bellowed, pulling out his swords again and flitting towards the new threats. Trailing her giant sword behind her, Manda pounded after Ghallagher. Orhlir started after the pair, but Meinyr laid a hand on his shoulder. "They'll be perfectly fine kid. It may be hard to admit, but most of what we could do would be to get in their way. Besides, we'll have our hands full here soon."

     Heading for one of the stationary cannons, Ghallagher dodged as the guards began to fire. He paused for a moment and estimated. As far as he could see, there were only about 200 guards, though they had plenty of the large bolt cannons, blasting half meter wide holes, and repeaters, firing dozens of rounds each per second. Manda caught up, and Ghallagher made a leftward gesture, indicating he was heading that way. She nodded, and dashed off to take out the guns to the right. Turning, Ghallagher caught a guard and spun behind him, twisting his neck until it broke, and pulling the guard's grenades and extra charges from his belt. Picking up the guard's plasma pistol, he checked its charge, heading towards the nearest cannon, drawing a sword as he went. Cutting a path through the guards, he opened fire at the cannon's control mechanisms, destroying it. He then jumped onto a guard's shoulders and ran across them before missing and falling. Immediately, he sprung up again, continuing to dodge fire and blows on his way to the next cannon straight ahead. By now, guards were manning the heavier artillery, and he could see lines of bolts shot from the repeaters spreading across the field towards groups of former prisoners. Some fled but others turned and attacked their former captors. Satisfied by the sight, he yelped as the guard in front of him fired the cannon, blowing a smoking hole in his right wing. Tucking them securely against his body, he quickly shot the offending guard, warding off closer ones with his sword. Repeating the destruction of the controls, he activated a handful of grenades, tossing them in various directions. He ducked behind the sparking, ruined cannon, and covered his ears as they exploded, sending a flash of light and heat out radially. The wonders of explosives, Ghallagher thought. They, like guns were not an area interesting to him, but he had to admit, it was more fun to make something go boom than to shoot it. Admiring the significantly emptied space, he headed towards the next cannon and the guards already heading over to fill the space.

     Manda held her sword straight out and spun in a circle, moving towards the next cannon in a dizzying, wavering line, carving through the guards as she went. Contacting the cannon's panels with her sword, she stopped with a jolt, then wrenched her weapon free and shook herself. Teetering slightly, she hewed through the pressing group of guards towards the next cannon. She growled softly as some of the guards behind her shot, several of them digging small, deep craters, or grazing her, leaving singed fur around a thin cut. Holding her tail up, she pressed on.

     Ayrn yipped and ducked back behind the cover of the synthcrete building as a repeater managed to catch him with its spray of bullets. Annel was firing almost as rapidly, nearly matching the repeater's speed, killing several offending gunmen. Ilthis, Meinyr and Gildien, having finished their communications tasks, had headed towards the guards near the complex, leaving the others hiding behind the building. Annel quickly dodged around the corner as the guns clicked instead of firing and dropped the chargepacks from his guns, slamming two fresh ones into place and placing the old ones on his bandolier. Taking a deep breath, he plunged around the corner and fired a handful of shots, causing several dark figures to fall, before catching a bolt in the side, falling on his back from the force. Ayrn growled and protectively pulled the small fox back around the corner. Annel was breathing hard, but seemed relatively unhurt, despite the smoking hole in his side. "Nothing major got hit...I think. Not sure I'm up to too much fighting for now though."

     "Can I borrow a gun then? I feel sorta useless here since they're all far away."

     In defiance of his words, several black armored figures darted around the corner, meeting Orhlir's flashing knives.

     "Excellent." Ayrn snarled, and slipped his brass knuckles over his fingers, punching a guard in the head with a loud crunching sound.

     Weakly propping himself against the wall and standing, Annel began firing again, this time at point-blank targets, carefully avoiding his friends.

     A barrage of knives, followed by a dark wolfen form throwing them announced Meinyr's return. Seeming to flicker, the wolf moved quickly, throwing blades as he went. Ilthis followed, staff flailing. Gildien emerged as well, wielding a pair of handheld sickles, chained together by the ends of the handles. Soon no guards were left standing. "Over there, a ship should be landing within the next few seconds." Meinyr pointed to a huge empty space between the buildings and the beginning of the forest. Ayrn ducked down, and supported Annel as they moved along at a limping run across the field. Meinyr and Gildien were running ahead, ducking as plasma bolts flew around them, impacting the ground. Orhlir ran behind them, turning around and throwing more knives at any pursuers who came within range. A loud rumbling announced the arrival of the promised transport. Casting a dark shadow over the group, a sleek dark blue ship flew overhead, it's sun logo declaring its origin. It was medium sized, not a tiny passenger vehicle, but definitely not one of the huge troop transports or carrier ships. Mercenaries, five against the formidable number of surviving guards, burst out, wearing blue uniforms with the same sun logo on it, and mismatched pieces of body armor. Without waiting, they took up kneeling positions and fired past the running escapees. Following them, a large lion, followed by a human and a tall, humanoid hawk emerged, also wearing the same uniform and carrying large guns. These ushered the bedraggled group inside. "Any more Meinyr?" the lion rumbled.

     Meinyr nodded. "Two, a black dragon and a white tiger. They're coming now, right there."

     Manda was sprinting across the field, her sword flashing in the sun. Despite the numerous wounds she carried, she wore a broad feral grin. Overhead a Ghallagher kept pace with her until a bolt tore through his wing, sending him crashing to the ground before he jumped back to his feet and began running alongside Manda, folding his wings. The lion shouted an order and the mercs retreated towards the ship, continuing to fire. Ghallagher and Manda jumped into the ship, which shot into the air, its hatch still open. "Any others we need to pick up?"

     "No sir." Meinyr was on edge, watching the continuing conflict below them.

     Ghallagher was watching too, standing near the door, holding onto a handle, his back to the group. The hawk was watching him. "Interesting tattoos. And he's a black dragon. You wouldn't happen to be Ghallagher Tamesis would you?"

     The dragon ignored him, but Meinyr and Manda flinched. "My apologies," the eagle continued, "but we will need to take you into custody. Please don't struggle, it will be much easier-"

     Ghallagher turned and glared, walking backwards towards the edge slowly as guards with metal snake restraints approached. Feeling the edge with his heel, he jumped straight backwards, over the forest below, waving as he began to fall. Twisting in the air, he angled himself to point headfirst towards the ground, and pressed his arms against his sides, wings flapping to increase his speed as he fell faster and faster towards the ground. As the trees rushed up, he spread his wings, the large hole causing him to twist and spin as he caught the air and slowed his descent, turning his downward motion into a fast glide. He slammed into the treetops, falling clumsily until he hit the ground. "Ooooohhhhhh," he moaned, then lay still, staring through the canopy above. "I'm sad now."

     Picking himself up, he listened for the ship and ran towards the sound. They would be searching for their bounty, so he would try and throw them off by moving in a less likely direction.

     Several hours later, even though he could no longer hear the ship, he felt no more confident about his security. He couldn't throw the feeling he was being followed, or at least tracked. A loud rustling in the brush announced the truth of his fears, and Orhlir burst out. The young wolf looked upset and worried. "We came after you in pairs. I'd really rather not have to stun or drug you, especially since I don't hurt my friends. I'm under orders though, I can't..."

     "Yea, yea, yea." Ghallagher drew a sword. "Where's Meinyr? You said you came in pairs."

     "How did they know?" Orhlir ignored the question.

     "Even someone as well traveled as your boss has probably only seen a handful of dragons, and dragons are usually green or red, sometimes blue, so probably most of the ones he saw were in one of those categories. Along with my tattoos...not necessarily a smart move on my part I guess, I need to wear a shirt or something. Where's Meinyr? Unless you've lost your partner, or you lied about coming in pairs, the only one I know of who could be hiding like this is..."

     "Me." Meinyr was behind Ghallagher, a metal snake-cuff already wrapped around one of Ghallagher's hands, the other holding a knife to his throat. "I'm under orders too, but there's nothing saying we have to hand you over if we have you. I'm sure I can convince the Captain to sign you on with us, or at least let you go. Don't make me hurt you, I know you don't want to kill me."

     Ghallagher glared straight ahead at nothing in particular as Meinyr relieved him of his weapons and finished cuffing his hands together, the segmented metal bands tightening until they held his hands inescapably together. "I told you he could outdo me in assault tactics."

     Back on the ship, more cuffs were attached to Ghallagher's wings, his ankles, and several more to his arms, pinning them together uncomfortably behind his back from wrist to well above his elbow. Arms and wings sticking out awkwardly behind him, he fidgeted, lying on his side on the floor. A blue armored wolf, strikingly similar to Orhlir in appearance, fastened a final band around Ghallagher's muzzle, receiving an angry stare. Unable to do much other than squirm fruitlessly, he lay still, watched by several mercs who kept their guns trained on him.

     "Take him to the holding cell." The hawk cradled a gun awkwardly in his wings, standing on one foot and holding the trigger with the other. One of the blue mercs stepped forward and dragged Ghallagher a short distance by his bound arms, legs and tail trailing behind. Unceremoniously, the merc pulled Ghallagher into a small room and punched a few buttons on the wall outside it, closing a solid metal door. Peering through the small window, the merc slammed a hatch shut and walked off, the loud clang of boots on the deck loud even through the walls. In the completed darkness, Ghallagher lay quietly for a moment, then bent, arcing his body to kick at the door and surrounding wall. The room clanged, but was solidly built from metal. Banging his head on the ground in frustration he moved as far from the door as possible and went to sleep.

     Ghallagher woke with a headache. "Done with this game." He couldn't see anything, and almost wished he were still unconscious so he wouldn't be so bored. A quiet rumbling reverberating through the floor indicated the engines were still engaged, and they were still flying. Pain shot through his wings as he shifted, accidentally crushing them. A metal band pinioned them to his body. "I wonder when we'll get to their base ship."

     His injured wing felt better, it had probably healed most of the way. Most of his cuts and bullet wounds felt better too. Somewhere along their evolution, dragons had apparently developed, or had been given rapid healing and regeneration, an involuntary version of Ilthis' abilities.

     Light streamed in and Ghallagher whined, blinded, as the hatch opened and the silhouette of a face peered in the window. The door opened and Meinyr stepped in, the harsh lights flickering on. "If I undo your feet are you going to be good?"

     "Mmmmph." Ghallagher glared and made angry muffled noises, jaws still held shut by the metal restraint. Taking this as an affirmative, Meinyr pulled a "key" from his belt, touching it to the cuffs around Ghallagher's feet, causing them to loosen and fall away. Meinyr pulled Ghallagher to his feet, and directed him out of the door. Once in the hall, Ghallagher reached his tail behind him, attempting to hook the restraint key. Noticing, Meinyr smacked the tail away. "Please, just be a little cooperative for once. I can't convince the Captain that the client is part of the Anichyses crime family. You made some influential enemies on that job my friend." Ghallagher simply turned and glared. Stopping, he ducked and kicked Meinyr under the jaw, then snagged the key and freed himself. Stretching, he glanced at the unconscious wolf and headed towards where he thought the escape pod would be.

     "Damn, why does my sense of direction suck." He crouched down, looking for somewhere to hide. Ghallagher had found the bridge. Hearing a clanging noise of feet or boots on the metal deck, he darted into a dark doorway, pulling his wings around himself like a cloak. A brown furred equine merc walked in, followed by Meinyr who was rubbing his jaw.

     "Captain Jaron, the prisoner's escaped." the male equine was agitated, shifting from hoof to hoof, hands twitching.

     While the mercs were talking, Ghallagher shifted slightly, peering around the edge of the alcove he hid in, trying to see when it would be safe to escape. His stiff joints cracked, a loud popping noise echoing out, every eye turning to look at his alcove. Cursing quietly as he heard footsteps approach, he took a deep breath and pushed off the wall, dashing on all fours down the hall at a gallop, hoping that he would find the escape pods. Struck by a sudden idea as he skittered around a corner, the pounding of his pursuit behind him, he swung up and pressed his feet and hands against the walls, flattening his back against the ceiling in a cliched hiding position. At the last second, he whipped his tail up among the pipes and wiring running along the ceiling, a line of mercs racing beneath him. When the last tail had disappeared around the next corner, he carefully checked the area and dropped down.

     Back in the now empty bridge, he accessed a computer terminal, checking a schematic of the ship, finding the escape pods, and shut down the power, locking it with a password. In the almost full darkness of the ship, he made out two eyes from the hallway he was planning on taking. "How're you Manda?" Ghallagher watched her.

     "They don't have a bounty on me, or on Ilthis or Ayrn, so we're all officially mercs once we get back to their base. Supposed to be about a day, but we're supposed to drop you off first." More softly she said "Hurry, they'll catch you."

     Shifting to let Ghallagher by, they gripped each other's shoulders, and Ghallagher flitted into the dark hallway towards his escape. As he spun around the last corner, he stopped suddenly, the barrel of a gun pointing between his eyes. The lion's hand was steady and Ghallagher immediately started backing up, only to have the lion bring him up short as he cocked the gun, which emitted a rising whine as it charged. "The bounty is dead or alive you know, you're a killer, they don't care as long as there's proof you're taken care of." Ghallagher froze. The lion clicked his comlink, saying "I got him, 2D-A523."

     More mercs appeared, and they secured his muzzle and wings again. Coming to a single cell, the lion glanced at the door with a critical eye. "Tie him up and sedate him this time, we don't want him getting out."

     Followed by Ghallagher's glare, a merc with dark banding in his gray fur, especially noticeable by the dark circles around his eyes, secured Ghallagher spread-eagled to the wall, cuffing each of his limbs his neck and tail. They finished by blindfolding and muzzling him. The lion pulled out a handful of the sedative injectors, jabbing them all against Ghallagher's neck and depressing the buttons. Blacking out, he thought "I must be losing my touch." He felt like he should have been able to escape the situation. There had only been the one, and it was only a gun to the head, or the knife to the throat before. "I'm a failure."

     Ghallagher woke slowly, still tied up. "Must have gone through after all. This may be a little harder to get out of than I thought."

    &nbspGhallagher woke with a start as the door banged open, revealing an unfamiliar brown avian. Clicking his curved beak, he shook his feathers and held up a pistol, pointing it at Ghallagher's head. He then approached slowly, claws clicking against the metal floor, and pressed a key to the restraints on Ghallagher's hands and feet, refastening his arms together, but using the leg restraints to pinion Ghallagher's wings to his body after he roughly folded them. "Walk." The brown hawk unfastened Ghallagher's neck and body, steering him by his tied arms while keeping his gun pressed to the dragon's back.

     "Nnnnghhh mmmmph?" Ghallagher stopped and turned, showing the hawk his snout.

     His captor laughed. "Think I'm stupid? Those mercs put that on you for a reason. Go where I point you and we won't have a problem here."

     Receiving another jab in the back, Ghallagher allowed the hawk to push him from the room and down the hall.

    &nbspThe hawk pushed Ghallagher to move faster as pounding footsteps and gunfire sounded behind them. A human sprinted around the corner, turning around to fire a few shots down the hallway before jumping towards the hawk. "They're coming, we can't outrun them."

     The hawk clicked his beak and shuffled his feathers nervously, then gave a startled screech as the lion burst around the corner, along with several other mercs including the eagle and Meinyr. The eagle pushed Ghallagher in front of him, spinning around and shrinking down while the human crouched behind him. "Shoot if you want, but if you want a bounty on him from someone, you'll need him alive, 'cause we sure as hell aren't paying. He's even relatively innocent, want his blood on your hands?" The hawk and human were slowly backing away, and Ghallagher snorted at his words. The mercs didn't lower their weapons, and he cringed slightly in anticipation of being shot. "Errrr uuhhf nnnna fffooht mrrr."

     The hawk jabbed his gun a little harder into Ghallagher's back. "What was that? Just be quiet."

     Still crouching, the human continued to inch back. "He said that they're just going to shoot him I think." Ghallagher turned his head and nodded.

     "Then we need to get out of here fast." muttered the hawk. "What direction is the ship? Did the others make it out already?"

     "Thale's down, and Porig. The others made it out. The ship is straight back where we're going, down, left, left, right, up. Some backup should be coming to help cover our exit...there." The human stopped and looked back, though his gun stayed pointed towards the mercs as footsteps came from behind. The hawk twitched, trying to look back without turning from the mercs, and shifted his wing to hold Ghallagher around the neck instead of his arms, keeping the gun between the dragon's wings. While the pair was distracted, Ghallagher caught Meinyr's eye and cocked his head to the side questioningly. Meinyr shrugged and whispered to the lion, who frowned. After more whispering from Meinyr, the lion nodded hesitantly and pulled an extra gun from his hip. Meinyr took it and aimed it at the human's leg which had shifted from behind the eagle and dragon, and glanced at Ghallagher before firing. With only a slight delay from Meinyr firing, Ghallagher used his tied arms to push the hawk back, catching him on the side of the head with his restraints, continuing the spinning motion, throwing his heel up to catch the hawk under the beak, hooking his other foot behind the unfortunate bird's knee. Screeching in distress, the hawk fell backwards, firing a shot as he did so, into his human companion, who was already writhing in pain from the burning wound in his thigh. Unable to stop his fall, Ghallagher fell next to the hawk, his legs wrapping around the bird's torso and hooking together. Once on the ground, he squeezed his legs together, crushing the bird's ribcage, glaring at the squawking hawk while he lay there. The mercs rushed over and separated the bodies, using more of the metal snake restraints to tie up the hawk and human. Several other mercs rushed in from the hallway from which the human expected "backup." "We got their ship sir, they're separated into holding cells. No casualties to report, sir!" The feline merc saluted and helped the others carry off the captees, leaving Ghallagher behind to pick himself up. He stood carefully, unsure about his balance with his arms and wings trapped.

     Noticing the movement, the lion turned to him. "Now, now. Don't go running off. Bring him back to his cell, we need to sort this out."

     Meinyr hurried over, muttering to Ghallagher. "Don't argue, I think I can get you out."

     Ghallagher narrowed his eyes, but cooperated when Meinyr brought him back to his cell and re-chained him to the wall. The wolf laid a hand on Ghallagher's shoulder apologetically before leaving, shutting him again in darkness.

     Bright light suddenly flooded the cell, blinding him. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed the tall lion approaching with Meinyr and Manda. "Full apologies are due I believe. Meinyr here argued very avidly for you, so we had to do some investigation of our client when they came for the pickup. Turns out they were part of a major crime ring, a few were even ones we have contracts on by interplanetary authorities. We'll untie you if you promise not to take "horrible, well deserved vengeance," as I believe Meinyr phrased it." Ghallagher stared at the lion, waiting. Manda leaned over "You do realize he can't move much or speak right now right?"

     The lion started. "Oops, we'll have to take care of that won't we." He unfastened Ghallagher's muzzle and neck. "Well? How about it?"

     "Hmmmmm, I don't know, I'll promise not to take horrible vengeance, satisfied? Regular vengeance is a different story..."

     The lion frowned, but seemed satisfied and unfastened Ghallagher's limbs. Ghallagher stretched and shook himself, and the lion extended his hand to shake.

     Ghallagher stood staring at the lion's hand curiously. Looking a little concerned, the lion slowly lowered the outstretched paw, while Manda snickered. "While it seems poor repayment for catching you like that, which you really seem to not like, we'd like to offer you a place with us, along with some monetary compensation, your friends have already taken the offer. You seem to have some talent in this field already, and a rapport with at least a few of our crewmembers." The lion looked pointedly at Meinyr, who stared

     Ghallagher yawned and licked his lips. "I'll call it even if you feed me. Work on your manners though, catching random people isn't very nice."

     Orhlir ran up. "Prisoners secure, Captain. Hey Ghallagher! Did you accept?" The wolf stopped and grinned. "I'm guessing this destroys your record of being 'only caught once,' huh? We got you three times on our own."

     "It all counts as one!" Ghallagher looked hurt, flicking his tail like a cat. "You cheated anyways. You caught me when you already had me trapped. Catch me again when I'm out and free and we'll see about it."

     Manda couldn't stop giggling, and Ghallagher was affronted.