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Ron smiled as he walked through the doors of his research and development lab. Well, calling it a lab doesn't really describe the full extent of it. Early in the war, Bane had commissioned a massive research and development complex to be separate from the main city and deep under water. The only access was to teleport in, which required beaming into one specific room. There was a transport specialist and three highly trained tactical force members stationed in this room at all times. If security failed, there was a fail safe last defense. Explosives would detonate and flood the entire complex. Originally, it was intended that an army of scientists would occupy the entire complex. When the scavengers had attacked, Ron had taken over the bottom two floors for his own use.

The bottom lab held all of the spoils of war. Every scrap of technology that could be retrieved from Scavenger ships had been brought here under the highest level of security. It contained everything they had taken from the worlds and races they had wiped out during their campaigns. No one knew how many that had been, nor who they had been but there was advanced tech that couldn't be ignored. It was up to Ron to see what use could be made of it and he had found much that could be put to use. The very existence of this complex was classified but this was beyond classified. Seamus had declared the bottom two floors flooded and been damaged beyond repair, so no one was tempted to go down there. All access had been sealed off except for one turbo-lift that had DNA scanning capabilities with pass code and voice verification. Even the door to that had been made to look as if it were sealed to keep water out of the rest of the complex and the hallway camouflaged to appear unused. If anyone came poking around, security would gently steer them away from the area, or detain those too persistent for their own good.

Ron sighed deeply as he walked into his office. He activated his command console and powered his lab up. The bottom two floors were now on their own reactor and environmental systems. Anybody who looked at the power usage for the building wouldn't detect anything for those floors and internal scans would register flooded destruction on those floors. Ron had installed an advanced internal security system that was self contained. No one besides himself and Seamus were allowed inside and those attempting entry would be terminated with extreme prejudice.

He walked into the main research lab of the top floor. The Scavenger technology he had managed to examine so far had allowed Ron to reverse engineer several advances in technology that were decades from discovery on their own. Holographic computer interfaces that didn't require large equipment, advancement in power cores and even slip drive engines. Just the metals that the enemy ships had been made of, provided some extremely important breakthroughs in ship hull technology and internal stability. Further advancement in shielding had been developed and tested. The shields could take more of a pounding before failure. With these, ships could stay in firefights longer and if the shields failed, the hull and internal stability of the ship could take yet more punishment than their current ships. That was not counting the civilian uses it could be put to, once they had the breathing room to do so.

Currently there was only one ship being built that incorporated all of this technology. Ron had already built and tested ten unmanned ships before he would allow a person to ride in one. The ships were used drop ships that were designed to be two man ships, to carry supplies to any planet from a mother ship. The ships had been chosen because they had large cargo bays that were designed for their purpose. That gave Ron had plenty of room to install the reactor and a scaled down version of the slip drive. The Ascendo's Legacy was to be the newest ship in the fleet. It was the very first ship ever built that would incorporate all of the new technology that had been developed.

After looking over the latest progress reports, Ron walked into the Advanced AI section of his lab. Each Scavenger ship had a core artificial intelligence that helped reduce the number of crew that each ship required to operate. This allowed the same limited number of personnel to field even more ships than would normally be possible. Unfortunately, no intact AI had been recovered because upon destruction of the ship, it's data core was designed to self destruct. He had to take small amounts of data from multiple ships wreckage and compile it into a semi complete database. He had attempted to fill in the gaps and build a complete AI program but the coding required was massive and frankly a little above his head.

Ron heard the turbo-lift chime as the door opened and Seamus stepped off to walk towards the AI lab where Ron was. Seamus chuckled as he walked into the lab to see Ron with no shirt and no shoes on. He joked, "Now Ron, I have heard of casual dress days at work but what if somebody else came down here and found you like this?" Ron laughed and responded, "Then my secret would still be safe because they would be incinerated, as this is a black site. It does not exist, except to you and I." Seamus chuckled and conceded the point, then asked, "So where are we with everything?" Ron brought up his personal files and pulled up an image of the large ship being finished in stationary orbit of the planet. He displayed it thru the new holographic projector that he had installed in the center of the room.

Ron told Seamus, "The ship is ninety percent finished. All hardware and software is installed, the only thing lacking is a shakedown voyage to test its fitness for duty. I have already tested out the new slip drive and weapons systems. I will not put it in service until we do a shakedown to test all systems fully. Of the ten test ships I sent out, nine have returned with valuable test data. The last ship right now has been qualified as lost. Its tracking signal stopped sending. Unfortunately I have no idea what has become of it. If any unauthorized individuals attempt to access it the self destruct will activate, so I'm not worried about that. Losses have to be expected during testing new machines and I think a 10 percent loss rate in testing is very acceptable. After all, space is vast and not lacking in hazards."

Seamus nodded as he looked at the image of the ship. It was configured similar to all of the other ships in the fleet and had no majorly obvious differences to outward appearance. If they were to meet trouble, Ron had no doubt they could deal with it easily. Nothing in known space could touch this baby! Seamus chuckled at Ron's enthusiasm and said, "Well, I came to get you for the staff meeting. I figured you would forget about it, being engrossed with your toys down here." Ron turned to his friend and his ears dropped as he responded, "Now Seamus, you know that I don't....well you know. I still don't feel comfortable being around others yet." Seamus looked over his friend's downcast features and said, "Ron, you are now and always have been my dearest friend and lover. It's been three months since the accident and It's time for you to ease back into things, hun. It's not healthy for you to isolate yourself like this." Ron nodded reluctantly and while he didn't like what his friend was saying, he did know that Seamus was right. He gave a half-hearted grin and asked hopefully, "Couldn't we just have a staff meeting, Dasher style?" Ron's eyes widened as the joke registered and he laughed back, "While I'm sure that would be lots more fun, I'm sure the regular old boring type staff meeting is what we have to attend now. Later? Well...." He left the implication to hang and got Ron to genuinely smile in return.

Ron and Seamus walked through Seamus' office door to find several people already there sitting around the conference table. The individuals attending were military advisers and heads of intelligence services. Seamus took his seat at the head of the table and Ron sat on his right hand. Thankfully, Seamus had insisted that Ron dress properly that morning, so all appeared normal. Seamus smiled at everyone and began, "Thank you for attending. This briefing is classified and I expect all of you to treat it as such." Those attending nodded their understanding of what the fox had told them.

A solid white fox stood up and with a slight bow of respect said, "Your majesty, may I begin the briefing?" Seamus nodded as Ron eyed this new figure and listened. "Sir, my name is Christopher Foxworth. I am the director of the Empire's Central Intelligence Service." Seamus nodded and said dryly, "I am well aware of who you are. After all, I appointed you to the position that you currently hold." The fox's ears blushed a shade of pink and he dropped his head submissively as he said, "Yes, sir. The purpose of this briefing is to bring all of you up to date on the human situation. While we have made multiple attempts to reach out to them and help them settle a new world, the current leadership has rebuffed all our requests to meet with them. In addition, our merchant fleet has begun coming under attack by what we suspect are human allied ships. They pick out what they consider and easy target, attack it, and take all supplies. They have killed crew members in some instances but they don't do that every time. Current thought is this is because not all their captains agree that killing is the right path to take.

Right now my analysts agree that they don't pose a serious threat to the empire. If the gorilla tactics continue, at some point we will be forced to respond. There is an unknown. We are not sure exactly how powerful the ships and weapons are that they possess. We do believe that they aren't powerful enough to take on one of our battleships and win." Seamus nodded his understanding and said, "I already knew this, do you have anything else to add?" The white fox nodded and answered, "I would like your permission to launch a covert mission to embed an operative or create a double agent in the human resistance to get an idea of their strength, size, and goals." Seamus nodded agreement and said, "Alright, permission granted. This is a black operation. If compromised, we will deny any involvement or knowledge of this. The operative you select needs to understand this and sign consent." Christopher nodded and said, "Understood sir."

Seamus turned to Ron, "Ron would you update us on the current progress of the current tech program." Ron nodded, "I have spent the past three months studying the scavengers technology and have reverse engineered some upgrades that I believe will make a big difference. I have developed a new crystal reactor that is capable of producing two times the amount of power as our current reactors can. They also seem to be much more stable under extreme circumstances. I have also developed enhanced shields, improved hull technology, and a first generation slip stream drive. We are currently finishing a prototype ship that incorporates all of this technology. After we put the ship through a shakedown I will begin to retool our current ships with any available upgrades."

Ron then tuned the rest of the meeting out as the looked at Christopher. There was just something about this fox that drew his attention. As the meeting ended and everyone walked out, Ron found himself looking at the fox's ass licking his lips. Seamus laughed out loud as he closed the door. "Ron, had you been any more obvious, you would have tackled him and fucked him on the table." Ron blushed as his tail swished and he replied, "Well....the thought did occur to me." Seamus chuckled and smiled at his friend. It was quite wonderful to see the playful side of Ron again. It had been three months since they had lost Bane and they both had been hurt.

Seamus sat down on the sofa in his private office as Ron followed. Ron poured himself a drink while Seamus made himself comfortable. Seamus asked, "So Ron, nine of ten tests were successful. What happened to the last ship?" Ron sat down and sipped his drink, then answered, "Honestly, I have no idea. It successfully went into slip stream but vanished after that. I can only imagine that there was an issue. However nine of ten isn't bad odds, really. The only way to know more is to go full scale. I've learned as much from the tests and computer simulations as I can." Seamus nodded, "I'm not over ruling you or expressing disapproval. Hell, I agree! I was just curious is all."

Ron yawned as he walked back into his lab. He had stayed and had lunch with Seamus but ultimately decided that it would be best to go back and try to work on the AI some more. It was known that the Scavengers had very crude AI's on their ships. Given the hive mentality of the Scavengers, they weren't capable of doing much. What really interested him was a data module that was recovered from the cargo hold of one of the ships. The technology didn't match any known technology that was currently being used by the Scavengers or any known civilizations. He had successfully jury rigged a power supply but the data he had access to seemed corrupted beyond repair.

As he walked into the lab, the systems powered up. He had set it so that the central computer that ran the lab would recognize him and power up and down as necessary. As he sat down at his desk, a strange noise behind him caught his attention. He glanced back to see that a tiny white arctic fox with wings seemed to be hovering in the center of the room. A quick check of the security scanner showed no physical presence but the holo- projector was running. Ron sat and looked at the image, unsure of what to do. Was this a data file being played or an entertainment program? Did the original inventors even have entertainment? Too little was known about where the equipment had come from, tho Ron felt sure the Scavengers had none themselves. Perhaps it was a game program or even an image of the race that had created the data module? He studied the image, admiring the artful crafting of the image, when it flew over to him and landed on the edge of the holo-display! Folding it's wings along it's back, it looked up and seemed to clear it's throat.

To Ron's further surprise, it bowed humbly and said, "Greetings! I am known as Taven. I have created this image to be similar to your own, in order to speak with you. Does this please you or do you wish me to modify it?" Ron nodded, still shocked and stammered slightly, "W...what are you?" The image smiled, sat down and told him, "I am an electronic being, as you are an organic being. I think, therefor I am, I think is how your race once put it? Technically, I am what you would think of as an Artificial Intelligence, designed to be a librarian. I have been online since you powered my data module. I have been observing you to determine the type of person you are. It is important to me that I determined that, before making contact." Ron sat listening and thinking furiously. The idea of A.I. was not foreign to him. In fact, he had been trying to create one for some time. Confronted by one, he was beginning to consider the reality of artificial life! But he wasn't sure of how he felt about an AI snooping on him.

As if sensing this, the little fox lowered its ears, curled his tail around his legs and whimpered a little. "I'm sorry if I angered you. I had to make sure you were good. The last people that tried to access me were bad, very bad." Ron nodded, it confirming what he suspected, that the Scavengers had found it and tried to access it. Ron smiled and relaxed back in his seat as he said, "Well, while I don't like being spied on I do understand your hesitation. And what have you learned thus far?"

The little fox hopped off the holo-display and flew over to the table Ron was sitting at. He landed on the desk beside Ron and looked up as he said, "I have learned your history both personal and professional. I have also watched you work. You seem to be extremely intelligent, something that I've found lacking when I read over your species history. So much war and so much violence." Ron sadly agreed, "Yes, a lot of the violence is unnecessary. However, I've always seen it my job to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. So I am guilty of violence but never for the sake of violence." The little fox nodded up to him and said, "Yes, I've seen that in you. You have a good heart but it's filled with much sadness." Ron sighed and responded, "Yes, I've lost people that were very close to me. It's one reason that I believe its my responsibility to keep going. In honor of their memory." The little fox dipped his muzzle in respect and said, "I would like for us to get to know each other but for now, I would prefer it to be just us."

Ron sat and thought about this for a moment. On one hand, this was a huge discovery! On the other, it might pose a security risk... He thought it better to accept the little fox's terms and get to know him better. The lab was isolated from the rest of the city, and there wasn't much the little fox could do. Ron decided and nodded as he answered, "I would like that and I accept."

Ron smiled as he walked around in engineering of the latest ship in the fleet. Against the advice of most of his advisers, Seamus had decided that Ron would join him on the shakedown voyage of the Ascendo's Legacy. Seamus had told his staff that first off, Ron had actually designed the ship so it was essential. Second that only Ron really understood the machines he had made and finally, he reminded them all that he was the emperor and that was all that mattered. Seamus took a seat in the captains chair on the bridge. It felt natural to him to be here. He had been with Bane on many dangerous missions, though this was not one of those. It was to be just a routine voyage to test out the ships systems. Ron was fairly confident that the ship would perform as expected.

Ron was at the main console in the engineering control room. He looked over the readouts as the crew worked to power the systems up. Everything was reading nominal, not that he expected anything else. He had run this process ten times and hundreds of times with simulations. Currently alone in the primary control room, the crew was elsewhere in the process of bringing the ship to full power. The ship was constructed with a primary crystal reactor. Alone, it was perfectly capable of powering the entire ship. Ron had designed multiple smaller reactors throughout the ship. He had designed it so that even if half the ship was damaged, it would still have sufficient power. Never again would he be caught where something couldn't be done because of a power conduit rupture.

Talon had questioned the need for such durability of a ship during non-war time. Ron had explained to him that the ship was indeed a prototype. Once the technology behind it was proven sound in full scale, it could be modified as needed for future designs. As the past had shown, peace now did not mean it wasn't liable to happen in the future. They would not get caught out again, if he had anything to say about it and he certainly did! Ron was aware that Talon was nervous about the continued building of strength within the empire. Both Seamus and Ron had made great effort to reassure Talon that it was in no way a threat to his empire or his rule. None of them could deny that the entire region was highly unstable. Gorilla attacks from the humans, pirates from the remains of the fox empire and saber rattling from the wolf empire, all threatened the stability of the empire. They were threats that they felt need to be prepared for. Ron yawned widely as he looked at the time. The ship would not embark until the following day, giving him plenty of time to rest before then.

Seamus walked to his quarters and settled in for the evening. He unbuttoned his uniform shirt, removing it before draping it over a chair. Sitting down, he began removing his shoes. The sound of his door opening made him look up to see Ron walk in. He smiled at the fox as the door shut behind him. Walking over to Seamus, Ron sat in his lap, facing his foxy friend. He wrapped his arms around Seamus and kissed him passionately. It came as no shock to Seamus, in fact he found it comforting to be in Ron's embrace once more. It wasn't often enough that the two of them had shared a bed together, something that they both needed badly.

Ron broke the kiss and looked into Seamus' eyes. He smiled and licked the fox's nose, causing Seamus to giggle out. "I'm sorry I've been so distant." Ron looked down at his metallic arm raising it slightly to emphasize what he meant. Seamus smiled and caressed the fox's cheek as he told him, "Ron, no matter how much of you gets replaced, you will still be the same Ron inside. Nothing and no one will ever change that. Did you push me away because you were afraid I would think of you as less?" Ron's eyes dropped as he lowered his head and he admitted, "Seamus, I pushed you away because I don't know how much of the old Ron is left. We have all gone through so much that none of us is the same any longer." Ron stood up and moved to the bed, sitting down facing Seamus. Seamus knew this talk was coming, for how could it not? Seamus told him, "Ron, I love you. Your so much more than a friend, you are family to me and always will be. What we have been through together, the things we have accomplished, none of that can ever be taken away from us. Furthermore, you will always be you. Sure you may be hurting for a while but that will pass. As you have helped me thru my pain, so will I be here with you, every step of the way... if you will let me?"

Tears dripped from Ron's eyes as he grabbed the fox's hand and pulled him over onto the bed with him. He wrapped his arms around Seamus and kissed him passionately as well as needfully. Seamus unbuttoned Ron's shirt as Ron worked on Seamus' pants. Seamus moaned as Ron sucked on his neck, rubbing their swelling sheaths against each other. Ron then inched his way down Seamus' body, kissing and licking as he went. Ron carefully took Seamus' furry balls in his maw and began to suck on them as his nimble tongue massaged them. As Seamus' tip emerged, he moved up and took the pink member in his muzzle, sucking on it like a newborn pup at it's mother's nipple. Seamus grabbed the sheets with his paws, moaning loudly. Ron bobbed his head on Seamus' swelling member, his own penis rising to full mast.

Once Seamus was at fully erect, Ron straddled him and positioned his tail star above Seamus' meat. Teasingly he worked the fox's meat slowly into his needy hole. It had been so long since he had been filled. He wanted this, no he _craved_this! He pushed back, sinking inch after inch into himself. Seamus couldn't help but to almost constantly moan, as Ron bottomed out. He held that position but rocked from side to side as he drank in the sensation of being filled by somebody that loved and cared for him.

Ron began to rise and fall on Seamus, his own erection following the motion to slap against his stomach. Seamus reached up and began to stroke Ron's member, his knot beginning to form. Both knew this couldn't last long but that didn't matter. Seamus released Ron's cock, to grab his hips and began to drive into him. Ron howled with pleasure as his knot Expanded to full size. Seamus' eyes glazed over, his primal instincts taking over as he thrust into his lover as he could. No words could be spoken though sounds in plenty were made but none needed to be. Seamus slammed his nearly full knot deep into Ron's hole as his meat twitched and erupted it's volley of seed into his friend and lover. He pulled Ron down and kissed the fox passionately as Ron's member was pressed between their bodies, causing Ron to erupt between them, coating their bellies with its seed. Ron explored Seamus' maw with his tongue as he raked his claws thru the green fox's pelt and down his back. In this moment, they were of one mind and one soul. It was as if all the grief of the past months evaporated and was replaced by feelings of mutual love and caring. Ron broke this kiss and panted for air, exhausted by their mutual exercise. Ron laid his head against Seamus' chest and listened to his slowing heartbeat. Everything would be okay now. They had each other. He drifted off to sleep firmly in his friend and lover's arms.

Seamus woke up some time later to find that his knot had went subsided and he had pulled back into its' furry home. He had remained tied until he had erupted several more times deep in Ron's hole. This was evident as there was plenty of seed leaking from his ass and matting their fur. Ron yawned widely as he pried open his eyes, to see Seamus propped up on his elbow, grinning down. Seamus murred sexily, "Well, good morning stud!" Ron blushed as he rolled onto his back. Seamus rolled nearer to cuddle up against Ron's side and rubbed Ron's chestfur. The green furred fox teased, "I'm glad we had that staff meeting... I really needed to load you with the proper lintel." Ron rolled his eyes with a groan and asked, "Seamus, what is it with you and bad pun's?" The fox shrugged and answered, "Well... I thought it was punny." Ron shook his head as he sat up and stretched before saying, "Well I think it's time for a shower for us both, then I need to get to engineering and check on the situation down there." Seamus smirked as he retorted, "Oh, I already know your situation, down there!" Ron rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he walked into the bathroom to shower and begin their new day.

As Seamus made his way to the bridge, alarms sounded all over the ship. Stepping off the turbo-lift, all crew that could, stood and saluted him, someone having called out, "Emperor on the bridge!" Seamus motioned for them to go back to as they were, making his way to the command chair. A brown furred wolf in Captain's uniform approached and said, "Good morning sir! We just received a proximity alarm. There is a small craft that appeared in orbit of the planet. It's broadcasting a distress beacon." Ron was alerted in Engineering and looking at the scan exclaimed, "Seamus, that's one of my test ships! It's the tenth ship that was never recovered. Furthermore, I'm detecting two life forms in it." Seamus barked back, "That's impossible! You said the ships had be set to self destruct if anyone unauthorized got aboard. How is that possible?" Ron chewed on his lower lip as he thought and finally answered, "I have no earthly idea. They were configured for unmanned flight, though the ship was capable of being crewed. The computer had a pre-programed flight path. It vanished from tracking after entering slip space. I sent a ship out for it but nothing was found. I assumed it had been vaporized." Seamus growled out, "Well, it's got occupants now! Why don't we bring it into the cargo bay? Enough security will cover us as we find out what's going on." Ron agreed to meet Seamus there as soon as he turned over Engineering to the next in line.

Seamus got there ahead of him and was struck by how simple the craft looked. It was solid black. Years ago Ron had made him play an updated version of Halo. Seamus chuckled as he realized that it looked a lot like the drop ships from Halo. Ron stood back as security piled into the bay. They were armed to the teeth. They tried to insist that Ron and Seamus wait outside but both of the fox's reminded the security guards of who they were. They did not get to where they were by running from a fight.

Ron walked to the aft portion of the craft. Ron examined the access panel, which was charred heavily. Ron ran a scan on it to reveal it had been hit by a massive power surge from within. Seamus walked up behind him and examined the damage before asking, "How bad is it? Can we access the ship?" Ron nodded and answered, "This is just a simplistic access junction. It is where I would go into if I had to force another way inside. The door is working, see?" Ron held out his paw and pressed it against the I.D. scanner. The door hissed it opened and smoke escaped from the cargo hold. Ron stepped back and let it vent. He scanned the inside of the ship with his pocket scanner. "I need to access the ship data. The ship has completely exhausted its power supply and burned out its engines...but that shouldn't be possible! Seamus this power core should have lasted for a century or more. I was even worried that the core was too big for the craft."

Seamus pulled out his bio-scanner and ran a deep scan of the inside of the ship. Located in the cockpit were two life signs that confused him greatly. As further data was analyzed, he stopped in his tracks when the species info displayed. Ron looked at his friend, who had a look that he hadn't seen in some time. Ron's stomach clenched up as well as his sphincter! Warily Ron asked, "Seamus, what's wrong? I know that look and it's never a look that comes with good news." Seamus looked over at Ron and began to hyperventilate as he said in a high voice, "Ron, there is a cheetah and a wolf in the cockpit!" Ron looked blankly a moment, then turned and moved quickly up the length of the cargo hold towards the cockpit/ living area was. Seamus tried to hold Ron back but there was no stopping the fox. Ron activated the door to slide open. In place of the pilot and copilot seats were a pair of cryo-sleep pods and inside those, were Bane and Dasher! Ron fell to his knees and sobs were torn from his throat as if they were ripped from his soul. Seamus ran up behind him and just looked blankly. There were no words or emotions for this level of shock. There was no way to be prepared. The leader of the guards yelled for a medic and for his men to protect this area from anybody coming in. Secrecy was to be maintained or he would have their asses on toast!

A much calmer Seamus sat in the medical bay, an unconscious Bane beside him and Dasher across the room. Cryo-sleep was fairly safe but it took time to be brought out of it and to rush things would put them in danger. Ron was still with the ship. He was running every scan he could in an attempt to solve the mystery of where they had come from. Seamus just shook his head as he stood up and walked out of the medical bay. He walked slowly to the bay where Ron had been hold up for hours. He walked through the door to see Ron sitting and leaning up against a wall, a cup of coffee in his hand. Seamus sighed deeply as he walked over and took a seat beside him before asking, "What did you find?" Ron sighed deeply and sadly, "He's not our Bane and Dasher... The background radiation doesn't match our universe. He's an alternate, just like Evil Bane." Seamus lowered his ears let his breath out as his hope had been dashed and nodded, "I knew it was too good to be true." Ron sighed and said, "I can't make much of the sensor logs, they are cooked. From what I can tell, when the ship went into slip drive, there was a weakness in the fabric between realities. Maybe the loss of our Bane and Dasher caused the weakness and drew them here. I don't know how but it did."

Seamus teased to ease the tension, "You mean the great-and-powerful Ron doesn't know how to explain something? Say it isn't so!" Ron lowered his ears but snickered softly as Seamus wrapped his arm around the fox and said, "Hun, I didn't meant to make you feel bad. I'm just saying that everybody has moments in life where they can't explain something. If anyone can find the answers, I'm sure it will be you. You should not allow it to make you feel bad." Ron nodded as a soldier walked into the cargo bay and called out, "Sir's! Bane and Dasher are awake and they are asking for you." Seamus nodded and said, "We will be along in a moment." The soldier saluted and walked out of the cargo bay.

After gathering their composure, the pair made their way to stand outside of the medical bay. Nothing in their lives could prepare them for this. On the other side of this door was Bane and Dasher but not their Bane and Dasher. How far back their realities had branched, remained to be seen. Ron reached up and pushed the door release, watching as it hissed open. Ron and Seamus stepped in to see Bane and Dasher sitting up in their beds. The two had beds with the heads on opposite walls, so they could sit up and talk to each other easier. Ron and Seamus both stopped, tearing up at the sight. Wolf and Cheetah just blinked with confusion. Bane was the first to speak, his familiar voice asking, "Seamus, what's wrong? I just saw you a few hours ago. It was very clever of you to send that ship to beam us up just before the bomb went off. I always knew you would have my back." It was at this point Seamus ran out of the room crying. Dasher, who had been quiet the entire time looked to try and get up as he said, "Ron, whats wrong? You can't hide from me that something is seriously going on.

Ron let his breath out in a rush and nodded as he told them, "Bane you... you've been dead for nearly three months. Our Bane was not saved and Seamus blames himself for it every day. You... now this may be hard to accept but you're from another reality." Bane sat looking blankly at the fox for a moment before saying, "Ron, I've never really pretended to understand any of that alternate/parallel universe stuff... but how did I get here, if I'm not where I'm supposed to be?" Ron took a deep breath and dove in, "That's rather complicated. It all starts about three months ago when we were under the threat of a Scavenger attack on the Capital planet. There was a world that was mid way between their fleet and us that we knew they would strip before getting to us. We, that is you, me, Seamus and Dasher went there to try and ambush them before they got to the capital.

The enemy came and we were in a no win situation. So, we evacuated the base that we occupied there and you ordered the self destruct activated. When the omega bomb was activated, you were still on the planet. You were vaporized, along with the entire planet. Your sacrifice saved us all... While drawing out the enemy behind the Sebastion. He was prepared to attack the city directly. I figured how to use the zero point reactor cores to force him back into his universe. By tuning it to his frequency and hitting his ship with the cores pulse, I was able to rip a hole in space and cause him to be pulled back into his universe. To do so, I had to push our crystal reactors to the very edge of critical. In doing this what I did not realize was that it weakened the membrane between our universe and the rest of time and space. I can only assume that the test ship you ended up in, somehow broke through that membrane. I haven't developed more than that as a hypothesis yet. Been kinda busy for paper work, ya know?"

Bane gave a bark of amusement and said, "Well, I really don't know how to respond to that. Is there any way of us getting back to that universe? No offense but I have things to do there." Ron lowed his ears as he admitted, "Unfortunately no. Even though I have your frequency, I have no way of sending you back right now, if I even do discover a way. We were lucky that I did not destroy the universe the last time. We might not get so lucky the next." Bane sagged back in bed and told him, "Ron, I'm proud of you. Regardless of which Ron you are, I'm still proud of you." Ron nodded and glanced over at Dasher with a sad smile before turning to walk out of the room with the explanation, "I'm going to check on Seamus and make sure he's okay. You two do as the doctors say and get healthy again. This isn't over and we will figure out what to do."

Seamus walked into his quarters to see Talon sitting on the bed. He stopped and just looked for a moment. He was not used to seeing a dragon on his bed. Talon smiled softly and joked, "What?... This is the only thing that I fit on here. Anyway, I just came to see if you both were alright." Seamus blinked and asked, "What do you mean?" Talon laughed gently and said softly, "Seamus... I am Emperor of the Dragon Empire. A dog doesn't fart on a planet in the outer rim, without me getting a report. When a ship with two unknown life forms with background radiation that doesn't match our own appears and gets our ally's personal attention, you better bet I know about that!" Seamus sighed, "Please keep this classified. At least until we have figured something out." Talon nodded and assured, "Of course Seamus. I just really wanted to check on you. Something like this would have me reeling, so I'm sure it has hit you two even harder."

Seamus gave a weak smile of appreciation, sitting down beside the dragon. Seamus leaned back and said, "Thank you for coming. I...well, I just was getting over losing him. Now he's sitting in the medical bay! The crew couldn't be more excited but I don't know how to take it. I failed Bane! I didn't save him and he was counting on me. He died because I wasn't enough!" The fox started crying uncontrollably over admitting his greatest self doubt and guilt. Talon put his arms around the fox and held him. Extending his wing, he covered the crying fox protectively and said gently, "Seamus, what you need to understand is that it was nobody's fault Bane died. When you do what we do for a living then there are specific risks that we take. Bane understood this and he does not blame you. He detonated that bomb to stop the danger he faced, in order that you would have a chance to live. He knew what he was doing and a less noble wolf would have given up." Seamus needed to hear someone else confirm it and he admitted, "Perhaps you're right..."

As the two sat there, sharing company and silence, the entire ship shook violently. Alarms sounded all over the ship as Seamus scrambled up, dried his eyes and ran for the bridge. Seamus stepped onto the bridge with Talon in tow to shout, "Report!" The Captain ran up to the fox and told him, "Sir, three ships just appeared and opened fire on us. We took some initial damage before we could get the shields online. We have evacuated the construction platform. I sent a signal to the capital to raise the force fields and arm the defense grid."

Seamus looked over the various stations for command and said, "Good work! Now, let's see what they want." Seamus took a seat in the Captain's chair as he directed, "Hail them, I want to see somebody to talk to, now!" The bridge crew members quickly carried out his orders. The ships continued to fire, though they were no longer having any effect. Ron walked onto the bridge and laughed when he saw the readout of the ships that were attacking them. He said, "Seamus, these ships are decades old. They were originally designed to be inter systems ships. They will never penetrate our shields. They do have cloaking technology but its very old it isn't designed to last for long periods of time. I don't understand why they are even attacking us?." Seamus looked at the scans to see Ron was right. It was curious that the humans would do such a thing. They were attacking the capital city in decades old ships that had no chance of doing any real damage. That didn't count the very powerful ships of the fleet he could call on.

Bane and Dasher rode the turbo-lift in silence. It had been a rough day and their bodies ached but they pushed themselves on, as they always did. The ship vibrated slightly as the shields absorbed impact after impact of energy. The doors opened as they walked onto the bridge. Ron had never inactivated their security status so they were permitted entry to the bridge. All of the crew turned and saluted, then applauded and cheered! Seamus' eyes teared up as Bane walked to the center of the room. Just like Bane had always done, many times before. It felt comforting and it felt right but this wasn't their wolf or cat, demon or not. Bane commanded, "What's our status?" Seamus stepped into place beside him. For the first time since Bane had arrived, Seamus felt the connection he had once felt. It wasn't exactly the same but it was close... so close. His ears perked up and his tail wagged slowly. Seamus turned to him and informed this Bane, "Well, we are being attacked by resistance fighters who are using outdated ships. They pose no threat but haven't disengaged."

Bane considered this for a moment and ordered, "Scan for any power sources that seem out of place." Ron looked up slightly confused as his fingers flew at their task. "Ron, I've seen this tactic before. The enemy will attack with a seemingly non-threatening force to draw our concentration, then strike with something else. Scan for anything that looks like it doesn't belong." Ron's paws danced across the console he was at as he configured the scan parameters. He slowly looked up at Bane and Seamus, his pupils wide with fright as he told them, "They have an alpha bomb...and they are arming it!" Seamus looked sharply at Ron and was first to say it, "What is an alpha bomb?"

Ron's ears flattened slightly as he walked over between Seamus and Bane as he told them as calmly as he could, "I have been doing weapons research ever since the Scavengers first attacked, with the help of the wreckage we have recovered from them. I designed a bomb and called it the alpha bomb, mainly because omega was already taken. If this bomb is detonated, it will form a hole that will suck up everything in this sector. Not just mass but also space and time! Like a black hole/white hole pair, it will tunnel thru both and spew a beam of light speed quarks, like a fire hose into another universe! What's worse is that after the omega bomb blast relatively near here in galactic standards and the core pulse, it could possibly rupture space and time. Our universe would simply implode and make a hell of a big bang in whatever universe the hole connected to! Two annihilations for the price of one!" Ron laughed a little madly before turning angry as hell and growling, "No one was ever to know about this! I locked it deeply away yet someone broke in and took this damned bombs' plans from my lab! When I find out who, they will be praying to meet up with the Hell hound and the Demon cat... Seamus, Bane and Dasher, all went pale. They had never faced anything quite like this before, the stakes were as high as it got. None of them had the faintest idea how to stop this but all sure they would do everything in their power to stop it...