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SPECIAL ACCESS

Chapter 11: I came to cast fire on the earth - Luke 12:49

Kain Algorath arrived back at FOX Headquarters just in time to see a long car painted metallic green with blood red trim pull up in front and toss something on to the lawn before screeching off in a cloud of rubber.

Having once had an almost fatal run in with an exploding Pontiac Firebird Kain hid behind one of the ornamental stone lamp posts until the Commissionaires on duty inside came running out to examine the object. When they picked it up Kain recognized the long ringed tail of a lemur and realized that Joel must be back from his assignment. He hoped the Academy forger was okay.

He followed the guards back into the building where they laid Joel out on a couch in the reception area. The little lemur was beaten and bruised and babbling something about "not the scales, no, not the scales". One of the guards called the hospital to send a doctor over.

"Who was in that car?" Kain asked in case the guards knew, but the answer came from behind him.

"That was Henk Cobra, one of our contacts." Silver said as he stepped around Kain and went down on one knee to examine Joel.

"Eh, I've seen him look worse after Williams and Miss CC ganged up on him." Silver said before leaning over the lemur. "Did Henk give you any information for us Joel?"

Joel held up a shaky paw and Silver pried a USB stick from it. "Is there a password to unlock it?"

"Marcel is a bastard."

"Yes, I know. Part of being an executive around here I'm afraid."

"N- ... no. That is ... the pass- ... password. 'Marcel is a bastard'. Capital 'M" and a space between each word. Henk let me pick it myself."

"You know while you were off enjoying yourself Marcel has been in the hospital in a coma. He almost died."

Joel sat up wide eyed, all signs of distress gone. "What! Oh my God, what happened to him? Is he going to be okay?"

"He'll live, but he won't be going back to the field any time soon."

"Jesus, how are Geno and the kits taking it?"

"Geno had a similar experience," Silver said as he helped Joel to his feet, "but she's in better shape than Marcel."

"Damn. Do they need any help taking care of the kits?"

Silver turned to Kain with an expression that encompassed the absurdity and inappropriateness of the thought of FOX's resident pervert in charge of minors. "It's under control Joel, besides, were going to need some good quality forged visas and fake IDs for a mission. As soon as the Doc is done putting Band-Aids on your boo-boos we're going to need you back in your lab."

"I think I might have sprained ankle too."

"I'll make a note that was inflicted in the line of duty in case it develops into something worse. Ah, there's the Doc."

An Elk that had recently been hired to assist the aging Doctor Jones appeared at the door and Silver indicated that the Guards should let him in.

"You can cancel the lock down too." The big fox told them as he grabbed Kain by the upper arm and propelled him toward the security doors. "We need you to analyze the new data that has come in. After that we'll meet to decide what to do about it. Have you eaten yet?"

"No, I was on my way to grab a bite when Joel got, uhm, dropped off."

"No time for that now. I'll have Miss CC order up some sandwiches for the Ops Cen staff. "It's going to be a late night."

Silver left him in the Operations Centre, giving Kain the USB stick Joel had turned over. Kain inserted it in a stand-alone PC, and older model that could be sacrificed if malicious code was discovered on any outside media they needed to access. The data files checked out but he did find two very subtle trojans in the attachments.

"Nice try Mister Cobra." He muttered as he neutralized them. Then, just to be on the safe side, he printed everything out and scanned them into a second stand-alone PC before transferring the files to a DVD and then into the FOX Network.

Vikki Beausoleil came up as he was reading the information on the files Henk had provided.

"How's it going?" she asked, a slight frown wrinkling her brow.

"Good." Kain replied, wondering what had made her upset. I've got the Cobra's stuff and now I just need to cross reference it with the data from our allies and the stuff I got from the Space Weather folk."

"It took you a while to get back." Vikki noted.

Kain, who had had similar conversations with managers when he was in the private sector now recognized the look on her face as 'nervous new boss' look. It was a look that a lot of people promoted out of their comfort zone wore for the first few months in a leadership position. New managers were a pain in the ass to deal with, but he was sure that Vikki would grow out of it soon, provided she didn't have to face any real challenges.

"Sorry, it took me a while to get a ride back." Kain lied. "Hard to get anyone to go that far out this time of day. The driver was in no rush either. Had to ride their ass to get them moving."

"Next time take a car from the garage, okay?"

"Sure boss. Won't happen again."

"Let me know when you're done the analysis."

Vikki wandered off to peer over someone else's shoulder.

It was late by the time that Kain and the other analysts finished processing all the data. He and Bill Hanlan called the Chief of Staff and brought the results to the conference room.

Vikki looked tired, but Silver was looking haggard. Kain had always assumed that the Director just sat back and waited for people to bring him their reports but he had seen the communications lines between FOX and any number of Canadian and allied agency heads lighting up from his workstation. Silver must have had his paws full dealing with the Minister and the Cabinet too, Kain supposed, seeing as the world was likely coming to an end and all.

"Let's go over the latest." Silver said wearily. "What did we get from Henk Cobra.?"

Bill Hanlan cleared his throat. "His illicit supply contacts indicate that a lot of goods have been moving down to Tulum on the east coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula lately. Five thousand bio bags, hundreds of oxygenators, blood pumps, and portable dialysis machines. There was also an order for ten thousand gallons of Ringer's Lactate solution shipped, along with an older but functional Cray Supercomputer."

"We know what she the computer for," Vikki said, "but what about the rest?"

"Artificial wombs." Kain answered. "When you google those items together you find websites discussing the practicality and ethics of using artificial wombs to raise babies that, for whatever reason, cannot be brought to term in their mother's womb. Most countries ban even experimenting with them, but some universities have gotten around the restrictions by using the fetuses of non-sentient animals raised for agriculture. Fourteen weeks is the longest one was ever used, as far as we know, but the fetus inside it was still viable and developing normally so the scientists thought it could have gone to term. Looks like Rasielle intends to use them on an industrial scale."

"To shoot into space?"

"No." Bill Hanlan replied. "There is not enough room in the capsule for that much equipment. Besides, with the rocket passing so close to the sun the solar radiation would destroy the DNA of any embryos, heat shields or not. No, with eight hundred kilometers of caves at her disposal she has plenty of room to start her colony underground."

Bill Hanlan continued. "Data from the Americans indicates that the gravity bomb could loosen a chunk of the sun big enough to blow most of the atmosphere off the face of the planet. Trajectory info from India shows that Rasielle plans to set it off right in the middle of that oval Kain saw on the sun monitor. According to NASA calculations the only survivors would be those in very low laying areas like secluded valleys and mines."

"Or caves." Vikki injected.

"Yes, or caves. Fallout shelters, especially those designed to generate and recycle their own oxygen, will be viable too."

"That's where our government leaders are preparing to go." Silver informed them. "Along with the leadership of our closest allies."

"They'll never be able to hide the sudden disappearance of a dozen western governments." Kain pointed out.

"No, they won't. They are preparing a cover story claiming that it is all part of a NATO exercise, but other countries, particularly those that don't get along with us so well lately, will be suspicious. The theft of all this space tech has already got their guard up. Some may take the announcement that we are going to the bunkers as a prelude to a nuclear strike on them, so digits will be on the launch buttons even before Rasielle's rocket reaches the sun."

"And when those with the capability to monitor the sun see a large chunk of it heading our way ..." Bill began.

Silver lifted his fists and then spread his paws, saying "Kerpow! They won't wait around for the leading edge of the solar storm to knock out their command-and-control systems. They'll launch their nukes while they still can and sort out who was to blame when we all crawl out from under the rubble."

Kain shook his head. "So along with no air we get a nuclear holocaust. How fun. Those that don't choke to death will die of radiation poisoning."

"Won't that effect Rasielle's hideout too?" Vikki wondered.

"No, she's chosen well." Bill, the former geography teacher told her. "There are no strategic targets in the area and the prevailing winds will keep most of the radiation away from there. The type of rock the asteroid impact left behind provides good shielding also."

"But they won't be able to emerge from their caves for thousands of years!"

"Actually," Bill continued, "radiation would be the least of her worries. The levels of radioactive fallout drop by ninety percent for every seven-fold increase in time so if the level at one hour post-holocaust is one thousand rads per hour after seven hours it will be about a hundred rads per hour, and after two days 10 rads per hour and so on and so forth. Thirteen and a half years post-detonation the levels would be down to one millirad an hour, which is about half what you get during a typical airplane flight. After a hundred years the fallout is essentially harmless, just about forty percent higher than your average background radiation today. The effects of losing most of our atmosphere, however, will, as you said, likely last for thousands of years."

"How will they survive down there in the dark?"

"There has also been a large shipment of hydroponic equipment to the region," Kain informed them, "as well as the chemicals and equipment needed to farm small organisms that can survive with little or no oxygen. Bacteria, plankton, algae and the like. Starter kits for bioluminescent forms of these organisms were included in the order."

"Dinner by pond scum light." Silver muttered. "How romantic."

"So, it seems obvious that Rasielle plans to carry out her breeding program underground while the rest of us die on the surface or starve in the bunkers."

"That's about the gist of it." Bill said, shaking his head. "I've been doing some research. The last time this happened to the earth it took almost a hundred million years to rebuild the atmosphere to something that could support life as we know it. But her plan seems to be not to eliminate it but to reduce it to the point where complicated life on the surface would expire but simple orgasms, such as the ones that produce oxygen in a cardon-dioxide rich environment, would flourish. It could take significantly less time. Meanwhile, they would be safe in that huge cave system, living off algae farms and using bioluminescent plants to light their way.

"That will give her time to breed her 'superior creatures' without interference." Silver noted. "Then they can emerge after the planet stabilizes itself."

"So," Kain asked, "when are the special forces guys going in?"

Silver leaned back and sighed. "Unfortunately, they are not. Not yet at least. All we have to go on is a lot of guess work and uncorroborated information from a couple of FOX contacts that we haven't shared with anyone else before. Our defence sector as well as our allies are a little leery of trusting a snake that runs a casino that is a known front for smuggling and money laundering and a Chinese dragon that deals in illicit gems. They all want some independent confirmation."

Kain was shocked. "By then it could be too late."

"Right. That's why I'm using what little authority I have left to mount a mission to locate Rasielle's lair and take it out."

"She must have the state authorities and even the local criminal gangs on her payroll." Bill pointed out. "They are sure to notice an influx of agents into the region."

"We have to go small anyway, given the number of available field agents." Silver said. "A raid, if you will, like Dieppe." He crossed his arms and leaned forward. "All we need to do is get in, find some evidence that the rest of the world will believe and transmit it back here. If they can take out the Asset or Rasielle, or stop her plot somehow, all the better."

"I didn't teach History," Bill said quietly, "but as I recall, not many of the Canadians on the Dieppe raid made it back."

Vikki turned emerald-green eyes suddenly gone cold on the older fox. "Recovery of the entire team would be optimal, but not necessary for mission success."

Kain shuddered. He had never seen that look from anyone but Silver before, and then someone usually died shortly after. He would have been one of them if it wasn't for the valiant efforts of Doctor Jones.

"Who are the lucky agents?" He asked.

* * * * * * * *

As Chief of Staff it was Vikki's job to pass out assignments to the FOX agents, in consultation with the Senior Agent, Marcel. Marcel was still in the hospital, however, and FOX was running out of qualified field agents. She and Silver would have volunteered for the mission, but Silver was no longer cleared for field work and as Chief of Staff Vikki's job was here at the Headquarters. Kain was needed on his computers in the effort to pinpoint Rasielle's location and Geno was still trapped in India, while Delores and Dongo were involved in curial work keeping World War III from breaking out in the Baltic. Other good agents, like Hu Lianmeng, were too far away to be brought in and given the refresher training required for such a mission.

That left Vikki very little to work with.

When it had become obvious that some sort of armed response may be necessary, she had ordered the only two qualified agents on call in Ottawa into intensive, generalized training. Zac Ember, fully recovered from his last mission, would serve as the senior agent. Zyroo Echos, who was less experienced, would be on the team, but two agents were not enough for a hard target like this was likely to be. Vikki needed at least two more on the team.

She had briefly considered approaching retired agents like Missus Brown and Mister Black, but while Brown was likely as fit as she ever was the elderly vixen had made it clear that she had no desire for field work, preferring to work off the weight of her accumulated sins by caring for the children of FOX employees in the on-campus day care centre. Missus Brown, it was said, loved children, but she hated adults and wanted nothing to do with their world anymore. Mister Black, on the other paw, was eager to re-enter the fray, but physically he had never been the same since that time Geno, not yet an agent of FOX, had tortured him into divulging information on the Academy. Vikki crossed them both off the list.

That left the agents in training. Fortunately, having recalled her own first assignment, the one that had cost her an arm, Vikki had also ordered all the current students to join Zac and Kyroo in intensive training. Now she just had to pick the two best to join them on the mission.

Having read the performance reviews for the training as well as the comments from their regular instructors Vikki had to sit back and sigh. The best candidates were obvious from a strictly performance-based point of view, but Vikki had a few qualms about sending those two students.

The first was the snow leopard who had been attending the course part-time while serving as FOX's first massage therapist, Natasha Winters. Vikki was aware of her unorthodox entry into the Academy, but as Silver had recently reminded her, some of their best agents had similar introductions to FOX. What concerned her the most was the relationship between Natasha and Zac. Sexual liaisons between agents were nothing new, but she wondered if their relationship might not have crossed over into romance. That could complicate things in the field.

Established couples, like Marcel and Geno, were never assigned together in the field if they could help it. But there had been exceptions, including some involving her and Silver, and they had worked out okay.

Vikki approved Natasha's participation on the mission and turned to the next file.

The next best candidate was also in a relationship with a member of the team. Violet Russel, Miss CC's fill in, was fucking Kyroo Echos on the regular, and while Vikki did not think that it was anything more than physical, she still had her doubts about the poodle's ability to follow orders.

She picked up Violet's evaluation form again. The poodle with the purple mohawk had by far the best scores on fieldcraft and innovation. The others, including Zac, all scored lower than the punk poodle in that last category. The regular agents had, perhaps, overtrained on common scenarios and lost their innovative edge.

Vikki sighed again. When it came to innovation on a mission Silver was fond of paraphrasing General George S. Patton Junior, saying "A good plan executed today with speed and violence is better than a perfect plan executed next week".

Well, Vikki told herself, God knows that a mission like this, put together on the fly and launched into unknown territory on short notice, is going to need some first-class innovation. She approved Violet for the mission also, hoping that she would not live to regret it. Or more likely, she thought, die in a fiery Armageddon while regretting it.

The tall red-haired fox reached across the desk with her real paw and pressed the button that opened an intercom channel to Bill Hanlan in the Operations Centre.

"I've picked the team." She informed him when he acknowledged. "Let's get them in here and briefed up. They'll be leaving as soon as we can arrange transport to Mexico."

* * * * * * * *

The plane that carried Zac Ember and his small team south from Ottawa was old and slow. It was a military flight ostensibly carrying Special Access equipment back to a lab near White Sands New Mexico for disposal. It was due to have a little engine trouble near Albuquerque however, which would force them to make an emergency landing on a dirt airstrip inside a nearby Indian Reservation. The eight armed guards escorting the Special Access Couriers would deploy around the plane to protect the package until the Flight Engineer managed to fix the problem, but only four would get back on board when they departed.

As the engines droned Zac looked at his team and wondered how they would hold up.

Kyroo Echos, who had stumbled across FOX while looking for student employment, was a known quantity. They had trained together and been on several missions together, including the first time that Zac had been Team Leader. Zac knew that he could depend on the Arctic fox.

He also felt that he could trust Natasha Winters, the therapeutic masseuse that had helped Zac survive a cold war bunker turned into a death trap. She had all the qualities of a field agent and was one of the few creatures that could beat Zac on the pistol range. Her agent training was not yet complete, but Kyroo, who he had partnered her with, could manage the fine detail work while she watched his back.

Violet Russel, the fourth member, was a wild card, literally if what the Chief Instructor at the Academy had whispered to Zac was true. She had been instrumental in helping him and Kyroo when they were in a tight space in Yellowknife, but he wondered where the former criminal's loyalties really lay.

She was not the one that Zac would have chosen to round out the team, but when he raised the subject with the new Chief of Staff the conversation had been short and not so sweet.

"I choose her because I believe that she has skills that would be of value to your team." Vikki Beausoleil had said in a voice almost as cold as Silver used when he was pissed. "I'd suggest that you concentrate on figuring out what those are."

Zac had accepted her rebuke even though it stung a bit. He was not officially a senior agent yet and this was only his second time acting as team leader. Junior agents under consideration for promotion usually only got a couple of shots as a team leader to prove themselves. The first experience had not been a sparkling example of efficiency, and this one was no show pony either. No time to rehearse, no definite destination, no hard intelligence on the target, no backup, and all while babysitting a possible loose cannon. As a career builder this mission sucked.

Everything would be done on the fly, the Chief of Staff had told him. "Trust your team," she had said, remembering Silver's recent advice, "trust their instincts and try to bring as many home alive as possible."

One of the plane's engines began to sputter on schedule and they began their descent. Zac leaned over to the Special Forces sergeant in charge of the real armed escort. "We'll take the outer perimeter. You know what to do when the plane departs?"

"Get my guys on board, close the doors and then all of us forget how to count." The sergeant confirmed.

"Exactly."

They each signaled to their teams to get ready.

As soon as the plane came to a halt Zac's team exited from the rear and ran away from the plane in all directions, spreading out as they went. They dropped to the ground, facing out, when they were a hundred meters out. The sergeant's team stayed close to the plane, standing silhouetted by the running lights with their weapons up, a warning to any that might approach.

Five minutes later the engines roared back to life. The other group turned and got back on, securing the doors behind them. A minute later the plane taxied in a slow circle to face back down the runway before gaining speed to takeoff.

As soon as the plane was out of sight Zac gathered his team at the end of the runway, near the fence that separated it from a dirt road. They did not have to wait long as the headlights came on, illuminating a gap in the fence.

Zac went through alone. He was uncomfortably aware that he was a sitting duck in the headlights that blinded him, but no shots rang out, and no challenges were issued.

Once past the headlights he paused to let his eyes adjust. The vehicle was an old, beat-up cargo van, as they had been told to expect, but there was no one in the driver's seat. Zac was about to approach and try one of the doors when he felt cold steel on his neck and a voice whispered in his ear, "Is New Mexico Iced Tea really from New Mexico?"

Zac breathed a sigh of relief. The phrase was the first part of the coded exchange. "No," he replied, "it's from Massachusetts". There was, of course, so such brand as New Mexico Iced Tea and there were no beverage companies in the baked bean state.

"Probably tastes like shit then." The speaker said, removing whatever bladed weapon it had been holding against Zac's throat.

Zac turned, and from the light that leaked around the nose of the van he could see that the creature was a rabbit, an older brown and grey female rabbit. She was dressed in dark clothing and had a rather large butcher's cleaver in her right paw.

"Get your crew over here," the hare said as she strode past Zac to the driver's door of the van, "before the reserve police decide to check out who was using their airstrip."

Zac whistled for the rest and went around to the passenger side of the van and got in.

"That everyone?" the rabbit said when the other three agents were aboard. Zac confirmed the count and she put the van into gear, turned off the headlights and speed off down the dirt road.

"The name is Runs with Stick, by the way." She informed them as she drove by the moonlight. "But you can call me Ruth, Ruth Pawstone. That's my colonial name."

Kyroo had recognized Ruth the instant he had gotten into the van. Fortunately, the Chief of Staff had warned him that they would encounter the former Cunni warrior that had kidnapped her son and tried to kill her mate, Silver.

Ruth turned in her seat. "Hi Kyroo. No hard feelings?"

"Uh, no." It was not exactly true. Even years later Kyroo was still deeply embarrassed for being seduced and used by the old doe when he was still an agent in training.

"You two know each other?" Violet, who had not been privy to the rabbit's past, injected.

"Barely acquaintances." Kyroo mumbled, but Ruth drowned him out with a laugh.

"Oh, yeah. Some bastard feed me a line of bull naming your boss Silver as my father's killer, so I went up there to settle the score. I ran into Echos here and decided to pump him for info on the set up at your academy. If you know what I mean."

"Oh, yeah? Did he give much up?"

"If you mean intelligence on FOX, naw, not a lot. But he put out pretty good between the sheets."

"Could we not talk about this?" Kyroo pleaded.

"Yes." Zac interrupted. He only knew the bare outline of the story, but Kyroo was clearly embarrassed. "We should focus on the mission."

Violet leaned forward and whispered loudly into Ruth's big ear, "You have got to give me all the gory details once were done."

Ruth winked at the poodle and clicked her cheek before turning back to concentrate on the road.

"So," she said, glancing at Zac before checking her rear-view mirror for signs of the native police, "you must be Zac, the serious one."

"Yes, I'm in charge. The Chief of Staff said that you would arrange our passage to Mexico, among other things."

"That's right. I sort of owed her for grabbing her kit back when I thought Silver was a bad guy and now she's called in the favour."

"So, you'll be able to equip us and get us in?" This had been a grey area in the plan. Since they were operating without American government sanction they had to find someone from outside that sphere of influence. Zac had been told that Pawstone and her deceased husband had once been the bane of every federal agency on and off the reserve but whether she still had the contacts and the guts to pull this off was in question.

"The equipment was no problem." She said, jerking her head to the back of the van where several large canvass bags and wooden boxes were stacked. "I was into a few, ah, not strictly lawful activities before Silver showed me the error of my ways. But I didn't dispose of anything interesting when I hung up the cleaver, instead I buried it all in the dessert, just in case. Relations with the colonizers has been pretty quiet lately, but you never know."

"You know it sister."

Zac gave Violet a glare whose intent was visible even in the van's dark interior. Ruth snickered.

"Anyway, some of my old friends are still in the business of ignoring US borders and import laws. My late husband and I sort of kept the competition from moving in on them back in the day, so they owe me. They're putting one of their planes and their best pilot at my disposal for as long as you need them."

"Won't a small plane crossing the border into Mexico without a flight plan be suspicious?"

"Not nearly so much as one coming back would be. Look, Zac, these people know their business. I trust them, so you should too. After all, what choice do you have?"

"Zac doesn't like dealing with criminal types." Violet offered from the back.

"Like you, I suppose?" Ruth guessed, ignoring Zac's paw motion to cut the conversation short.

"Yeah, I might have been in a similar line of work to your friends at one time. Zac doesn't trust me because of my past. He doesn't even like that Kyroo is still sleeping with me."

"Oh girl, we have got to get together to compare notes."

In the back Kyroo was silent, afraid that his flushed face would glow red though his fur. Natasha however was giggling though her paws, unable to stop even though she knew it would make Zac mad.

"Later." Zac snapped, then he added "Please" in a softer tone. "I'm sure we're all done things in the past that we'd rather keep private."

"Not me." Violet shrugged. "I'm a fucking open book."

Zac managed to prise the conversation back to the plans for infiltrating Mexican territory.

"The airfield is near the border." Ruth informed them as the dirt road ended on a paved service road beside an interstate. "We've got a four-hour drive ahead of us so get some sleep if you can."

Zac and Natasha dozed. Kyroo tied to but Violet leaned forward to engage in whispered conversation with Ruth that was occasionally interrupted by bursts of stifled laughter and glances his way. He wondered if it was not to late to live a life of celibacy.

They arrived at an airfield in the southern new Mexico dessert as the sun was rising. The surrounding land was so flat and barren that they could see for miles around unimpeded. The airfield itself consisted of a dirt strip, a dilapidated shack that might have once been an office and a quonset hut-style hanger that looked like it was left over from the last world war.

Ruth parked in front of the hanger doors and asked Zac to come out to help her open them. They slid apart surprising easily considering how rusty the structure looked. The interior was also remarkably clean and orderly, with tools and parts in one corner, fuel and oil in another, and storage lockers along the back wall.

"They don't keep anything illegal here in case the cops raid the place." Ruth told them as she drove the van into the hanger and parked it near the rear. "But they know we're here." She continued, jerking her head towards a panel with a flashing red light. "There are cameras on every corner in here and more on the outside. They will have picked us up as soon as wee turned off the highway five miles back."

The heavy-set rabbit got out and walked to the panel where she entered a code on the keypad. The light changed to steady green.

Ruth directed Kyroo and Violet to unload the van while Zac and Natasha closed the hanger doors. When they were done the four gathered round the workbench to examine the goods Ruth had brought for them.

Most of it was standard special forces or SWAT team kit, explosive charges in various shapes and sizes, body armour, grenades, a couple of pressurized gas cannisters, assault rifles and ammunition ... but one item stood out.

"This looks like a tommy gun." Kyroo declared, hefting the black steel weapon with its wooden butt and grips and the familiar drum magazine. The only unfamiliar part was a powerful scope mounted above the receiver.

"It is, in a sense." Ruth confirmed. "Back in the day the Feds wanted a portable, accurate weapon with a high rate of fire and a large magazine capacity. They came up with this .22 calibre variant of the standard Thompson sub-machine gun. It has a fifteen hundred round a minute rate of fire and a two-hundred and fifty round spring drum magazine. The Teflon coated hypervelocity copper bullets can penetrate most body armour. You can put it on full auto and send a lot of bullets downrange fast or select single fire or short bursts for accurate kills out to two hundred yards with the scope. I even have a sound suppressor for it."

"Damn." Violet exclaimed. "how many of these you got?"

"Just the one, but I have two spare drums already loaded and ready to go."

"I call it!" Violet almost screamed, reaching for the gun.

Zac snatched it away. "Natasha is the best shot in the group, and this weapon is perfect for her role watching of our backs and providing covering fire, so she gets the tommy gun."

"Jesus Christ! You never let me have any fun."

Zac ignored her. "How did you get your paws on this?" He asked Ruth.

"Let's just say a couple of FBI agents left it behind on the reservation after an unexpected retirement."

Included with the equipment were cargo vests, belts and backpacks. Zac set the team to checking out the weapons and dividing up the gear according to each one's task on the team. While they did that he moved to the other side of the room and set up the communications gear to contact FOX Headquarters.

It took about an hour to make sure everything was operational and to familiarize themselves with the new gear. By then Zac had rejoined them.

"Bill Hanlan and the Ops team have a location for us." He announced, turning his tablet around to display a map of the Yucatan Peninsula.

"Using old geological surveys and geotracking equipment that we think Rasielle rented they have narrowed it down to one of the deepest and most extensive cave systems is under the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve just south of Tulum." The map zoomed in to show the town and the large green and blue area south of it. "It has a deep undersea tunnel large enough for Rasielle's sub to enter and is reported to have dry chambers as big as a football stadium that connect to it. The real selling point for Rasielle though is that no commercial development has been allowed in the reserve since nineteen eighty-six, so there is no one to see them or any monitoring equipment to detect them coming or going from the Cayman Trough, no one to feel the vibrations from any blasting or digging they do down there, and no locals to deal with after she brings Armageddon down on us."

While he talked the tablet flashed maps and diagrams of the known cave system. There were large blank spaces unaccounted for.

"The caves are too deep for most sensors to penetrate," Zac continued, "But our friends at NRCan have gone over their and our allies' geological and seismic records and by triangulation narrowed the most likely location for her base of operations."

Zac pointed to a series of large caverns close to where the undersea tunnel ended at a large underground lake.

"Makes sense to me." Kyroo said. "Did they manage to find a way in for us?"

"That they did." Zac confirmed. "Here is the plan they came up with."

Using diagrams and animations sent by FOX, Zac explained how the team would have to rappel down a shaft into the farthest chamber and work their way forward. It and several other shafts that connected the surface to the caverns had been covered for the safety of any day tourists that might get separated from their tours but the locks were simple and could be breached by acid or small charges if they were too rusty to pick.

"Our entry point is the section with the lest seismic activity that could have been caused by construction and is likely empty, an area set aside for future expansion of her colony, perhaps. We do have to be prepared to find the area occupied and active though. If it looks like too much to manage we can ascend and try one of the other shafts. Either way, we work our way towards the underground lake where we expect to find the actual working base for the rocket preparation."

"And once we're there?" Natasha asked.

"The main mission is to gather evidence to prove what Rasielle is up to, enough to convince the allies to deploy anti-sub and anti-missile assets to the region at least. That's why we brought sensors, recorders and low-light cameras with us." Zac told them. "I also have six almost indestructible balloons and transmitters that we can inflate with the helium Ruth has supplied and float them up to the surface though any one of the shafts. Once they come up against the wooden barrier at the top they will begin transmitting to a satellite link."

"I was wondering why you asked for the gas." Ruth said. "I thought you might be celebrating a birthday or taking in some squeaky voice karaoke while you were down here."

"Anyyy-way ..." Zac continued. "We have enough to send up several, in case ..."

"In case we get killed." Violet said dryly

"Exactly." Zac conceded. "The chances of being detected grow exponentially the closer we get to the lake. The most likely scenario sees two of us staying behind to cover the others while they prep a last transmission balloon and set off any demolitions we laid along the way. After that we have two choices, try a fighting withdrawal to whatever shaft will take us to the surface or attack and try to do as much damage as we can before they get us."

"What are the odds of getting out?" Kyroo asked.

"About fifty-fifty ... for half the team."

"Which option would you pick." Natasha asked quietly.

Zac thought back to his days as a student at the Academy. He remembered the mountain lioness Huston, who had seduced him on behalf of FOX, and her mutilated body after Rasielle's brothers had finished raping her. He remembered his fellow students, killed one by one by Rasielle and her clan as she sought out suitable mates for her private breeding program. He remembered Anabel Balfor, the English toy terrier he had been sweet on and the horrible way she had died.

"I know what she's capable of. I've seen the bloody trail she leaves behind her. If it was just me I'd stay until I saw that bitch of a cat-bat burn down to ashes and then piss on those ashes." Zac said with passion. "But it's not just me, and I have a duty to bring you all home safe if I can. Kyroo carries the balloons. Natasha, you're his last line of defence to see that he gets the last balloon off. Violet, you're with me on rear guard until Kyroo reports the balloon is away. After that you each will have to decide whether you want to stay or go." He paused for a long moment. "I intend to stay. I'll cover you if you want to join the other two in the shaft, Violet."

"Hang on there hero." The poodle laughed. "Fifty-to-none odds are the kind of fucking challenge I like. Besides, I can't let you go out in a blaze of glory without me to ride your ass along the way."

Natasha, who had patiently listened as Zac poured out the horrors of the murders at the Academy and being hunted on the grasslands of Saskatchewan reached out and took his paw.

"I'll come back to join you after we get the message out." She told him, looking steadily into his eyes to assure him that she was dead serious. "Three have a better chance than two to do some real damage."

Kyroo looked at the three others with wide eyes. "Fuck, I can't go back alone. Count me in. Maybe with the four of us we might even survive."

Ruth looked back and forth at the four agents, who were now hugging, laughing and crying simultaneously.

"Damn. You almost tempt me to join you ..." She said in voice too low for them to hear over their commiserations.

"Almost."

* * * * * * * *

In the cavern where Zac intended to make his last stand things were moving along quickly, thanks in no small part to the terror Saira Rasielle struck in the hearts of the North Koreans.

Unlike the larger former-predatory species that made up the Hermit Kingdom's armed forces the scientists and technicians were mostly hares, hedgehogs and mice. They were used to being intimidated by the military and government leaders that were constantly demanding greater lift capacity and greater range from their missile program, but this was something new.

They had been warned that the creature they were on loan to was ... different. A kind of hybrid, the bear from the ministry said. They were not expecting something that resembled one of the demons from the seven gates of hell.

"She looks like a Dokkaebi that got into a fight with an Imugi." One of the hedgehogs gushed to a mouse that had not run across their host yet, comparing the cat-bat to mythical Korean demons and dragons. "Her fur is mostly gone, and she is covered with scar tissue of many hues. Her wings are tattered, just scraps of hanging leather. When she chides us for working too slow or sloppy in her high-pitched scratchy voice I would rather be back home having my loyalty questioned by state security."

"How do you know that it is a female, or even alive?" the mouse whispered. It was a known fact that the demons of hell were sexless and soulless immortal creatures.

"Third Propulsion Technician Choi, the big hare? He swears to it."

"Choi? The hare as big as a bear? How would he know?"

The hedgehog leaned in closer and lowered his voice even further. "When she saw how big he was for his species she had him brought to her chambers. When Choi got back to the barracks his brown fur and his black eyes had both turned pure white! He was blind and trembling all over and all he could say was that the skinny charcoal demon with the limp dick was really a girl ... a girl that had clouded his mind until he was as stiff as on his wedding night before taking his seed."

"Aiieee-ieee. Did she ... did she take it with her mouth or her ..."

"You two are doing what there? Sealing the capsule you should be!"

The hedgehog jumped up, spun around and almost turned white at the sight of their angry host bearing down on them, followed by the one rumored to be a shapeshifter.

"Here tomorrow the submarine will be. Ready to be loaded the instant it surfaces that capsule must be. The instant!" Rasielle screamed into the rodents' faces.

The hedgehog rushed to comply. The mouse had backed into a corner beside the capsule that their team had recently covered with British heat shielding and was trembling uncontrollably. A snarl from what resembled a large silver fox with a scar through its left brow brought it back to life and he rushed to assist the hedgehog.

Saira Rasielle looked at the two rodents carefully. Neither were outstanding examples of their species, and she already had plenty of rodent semen stored in the freezers. They were not worth her time, she decided.

She turned on her heel, making the loose robe she was wearing swirl and open momentarily, exposing her scarred and naked body.

The mouse caught a glimpse of a tiny penis, apparently unharmed by the fire that had burnt so much else. The limp organ and flaccid sac below it flapped as she moved, almost revealing something that the mouse did not want to see. He quickly looked away, afraid that the mere sight of its female parts might entrance him the way it had Third Propulsion Technician Choi. He was not married yet and he did not want to be blinded of have his seed stollen before he got the chance.

Rasielle motioned for the Asset, who was laughing at the mouse's panicked expression, to follow her.

"Pitiful examples." She spat. "Only one worthy of sampling in the whole lot there was. That we could have used South Koreans I wish. Feed their people properly they do. Reinforce good genes for strength and brilliance it does."

"Do you have to talk like Yoda, Mother?" The asset looming behind her shook its head and said. "Better than that you are." He concluded with a bark of laughter.

If anyone else had said the same to her Rasielle would have gutted them personally, but the Assets use of 'Mother' quashed her bad mood. She reached back and took his considerably larger paw.

"A good son you are but making fun of your mother you should not do. Other things on her mind mother has."

"Like what? The sub is on its way and the payload is nearly ready. After the capsule is loaded and the final trajectory is entered the fueling can take place on the sub while on the way to the launch platform. In three days it will be on its way and once its free of the earth's atmosphere there is nothing anyone can do to stop it."

The cavern they were walking through was huge and contained a lake large enough for the former ballistic missile submarine to surface. Despite its depth it was brightly lit, thanks to powerful LED lights powered by energy generated by tidal power in the smaller submerged tunnels. In addition to these Rasielle had set up osmosis filters where the fresh water flowing down from the mountains met the salt water from the sea. The voltage generated by the exchange of ions across the filter would provide enough power for the growing colony for a thousand years. By then she expected her descendants would be ready to emerge and start planting the crops that would thrive in a high carbon-dioxide atmosphere, but just in case she had added bioluminescent fungus to her inventory.

"Fine the rocket is, thanks to you." She said, squeezing his paw. "Worried about the future of the colony I am."

"Come Mother, you have hundreds of your eggs frozen, and thanks to the fertility drugs you will have hundreds more before you die. You also have more semen samples than all the porn stars in California could produce, and you know," he added with a waggle of his eyebrows as his visage changed to resemble an American coyote spy that had been famously licentious, "I can always produce more on demand."

Rasielle blushed on whatever bits of undamaged skin she had left and slapped his paw. "Shush you. Your mother you are talking to. If horny you are on the surrogates you can take it out."

She was referring to a group of females dressed in white that were moving about at the back of the cavern, well away from the North Korean males. Rasielle had recruited them from a religious cult that, like her, believed in the eventual re-emergence of the mythical furless human species. They had been more than willing to move underground and host Rasielle's fertilized eggs to make that prediction happen.

In order to act as surrogate mothers for the cause they had to agree to be sterilized by having their tubes tied and learn a speciality that would contribute to the breeding program. Among their numbers were midwives, biologists, and reproductive technicians to set up the artificial wombs that would succour the next generations. Meanwhile, they would be the servants and caregivers to Rasielle's offspring, while the Asset and future clones of him would be their protectors and enforce adherence to the creed.

They were compliant and talented, but they had not been chosen for their looks. The asset, whose genetic contributors were used to fucking only the most beautiful people, frowned as he surveyed the pickings.

"It seems a shame to waste my superior spooge, like firing live rounds into a proving barrel."

"Done the best she can for you Mother has, but too much the Russians wanted, too muddled is your DNA. Unpredictable the outcome of mating is." She sighed as they reached the back of the cavern, where the entrance to the living quarters was. "No, fresh seed Mother needs, direct from the source. A shame it is that we do mot have samples from Silver and his mate."

"But Mother, you know that the silver fox is sterile." The asset said as he altered his appearance back to that of Silver. "Unlike me ... but ... uh ... I can't seem to get it up when you're around." He added in embarrassment before his face lit up with a new idea. "I could go to Ottawa and seduce his mate, fool her into thinking I'm Silver, get her pregnant and bring her back here. You said that the rocket will take nine months to get to the sun, that gives us just enough time before we need to batten down the hatches."

Rasielle rubbed his silvery cheek fondly. "No. Disgust them I we do. Kill herself like the cheetah in India she will try to do. But," she said as her burnt lips cracked in a grin, "one there is who both their DNA has. Mate with that one I would and preserved their genes would be."

Rasielle dropped his paw and turned for her private quarters when they entered the second cavern.

"Go to Ottawa you will." She said over her shoulder. "Bring back that one you can. Leave today you should."

The Asset thought hard as it transitioned back and forth between a male silver fox and a red vixen.

"Yes Mother, It will be good to have a blood relative here to spend the end of days with."

Kain Algorath © Marcus X Light

Ophelia Cassidy Sommer and Anabel Balfor © Devil Kitty

Joel Grigori © Joel the Lemur

Geno © Coyotek

Dongo Fett © Dongo Fett

Zachary Ember © EmberWolf

Grey Muzzle © Grey Muzzle

Kyroo Echos © Kyroo Echos

Natasha Winters © EmberWolf

Violet © Gray Muzzle

Saira Rasielle © SilentRampancy

Carlos © Carlos the Penguin

Dante Draco © Dante Draco

Henk and Dunya © Henk Cobra

The FOX Academy series:

Book I - The New Breed

Book II - The Werewolf of Odessa

Book II.5 - The Love who Spied Me

Book III - The Curse of the Yellow Monkey

Book IV - Wait for No One

Book V - Dawn of Vengeance

Book VI - Unnatural Selection

Book VII - Rogue Sword

Book VIII - Firestorm

Book IX - Diamonds in the Rough

Book X - Agents Lounge

FOX Flashback Novels:

Scarlet Necklace

The Finland Express

Other FOX tales:

Accounts Payable

A gambler's Share

An Opus for a Penguin

Casino Naja

Daffodils

Deep Thunder

Fear

Hard at Work

It's a Wonderful Furry Life

La Vie en Rose

Life of the Party

Not a Bed of Roses

Rest Stop

The Dead of Night

The Mark of Cain

The Volunteer

When Worlds Collide (a FOX/MLP crossover)