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Just before five, Cindy woke up and yawned, stretching as she climbed out of bed and smiling a bit as Zerrex rolled over to look at her lovingly, watching the way her body moved as he said idly: "You snore a lot and you walk like a male. I miss the way you used to wear those high-cut miniskirts and all that stuff Mahihko wears now."

Cindy snorted and threw a pillow at him, grinning before she strutted forwards, swaying her hips teasingly as she responded: "Well, I just happened to grow up..." A pause as her eyes strayed over Zerrex, adding in an amused voice: "It's not like you walk around glaring at everything anymore... now you're a PTA-attending supermom."

"I hate you so much right now." Zerrex said dryly, as Cindy walked around the bed and headed for the shower. "You know, I can still be plenty rough and dominating. And I'd show you right now if it wasn't morning and we didn't only have a half hour before we have to leave."

Cindy stopped in the bathroom doorway, then made a face and nodded. "Right, right. Alright, I'll be out in a moment... if only this was a porno, huh?" she added, leaning out and winking, and the Drakkaren rolled his eyes as she ducked back inside the bathroom and closed the door.

The male stretched as he got up, yawning loudly before limping over to snag his ugly tripod cane from near the doorway. He made his way to the double doors opening onto the small balcony, then looked outside before frowning, his eyes narrowing a bit as he saw a military cruiser on the beach and two soldiers walking slowly by.

Before panicking, he paused and reviewed the situation: first, the cruiser was in plain sight, which meant they might be questioning the motel owner or just have stopped for something to eat... and second, the patrols were walking by instead or running or hiding. In fact, even from here, they almost looked bored as one of them stretched and windmilled his arms slowly... and then he paused thoughtfully. What if one of the cruisers is refueling nearby? Or maybe one of them is docked... either way, we go out the back door today after we pay for our rooms.

He shook his head, then turned and headed for the bathroom as Cindy came out, rubbing at her eyes, and he said mildly as he passed: "Don't freak out, but there's some military action outside... I don't think they're looking for us, though."

"Oh great. I better go tell that to the others... Mahihko might be hiding under the bed and Cherry might be getting ready to shoot them." she muttered, then began to pull on her clothes as the bathroom door shut, adding in a grumble: "Glad you listen so good, thank you, Daddy."

"I can still hear you, these walls are like paper." Zerrex complained from the other side of the bathroom door, and Cindy rolled her eyes, quickly putting on her bra before heading towards the door as she slid her top on, picking up one of the loaded handguns for safety and tucking it into the back of her pants. She stepped outside, then made her way down the hall and walked to the next room, knocking on the door and then making a face at the fact it was locked. That means our daughter was probably in this room... I mean, little sister...

"Hello?" she called through the door, and a few moments later the door opened, a disgruntled-looking Marina, who was covering herself with a towel and looked flushed... but not from a shower. Cindy stared, then asked slowly: "Are you uh... alone?"

"No, I've got fifty guys in here fucking me until their dicks fall off. Yes, I'm alone, and yes, I noticed the military stuff outside, but it's just a routine patrol." Marina snapped, then she glared at Cindy. "Now go away, I'll be out in five minutes."

The door slammed, and Cindy slowly walked over to the other room, making a face as she tried to put the images of what Marina was likely doing in there out of her mind. Yeah, and I wonder just who she's thinking about if she is... "Cherry, you and Mahihko better be decent..."

She tried the doorhandle, then stepped inside with a wince: only too often had she come in on Cherry doing something she didn't want to see, but fortunately, that wasn't today. Despite the many images that came to mind of what exactly Cherry could be doing with the poor little wolf now that she could shift her shape, today the Drakkaren was fully-dressed and in the middle of a set of stretches, the female already shifted to the usual form she preferred to take on. On the bed closest, Mahihko was tiredly drinking a cup of coffee, thankfully looking unravaged. "Yeah I am, I can be professional, ‘sall good. Zerrex and I only bang the night before a suicide mission when it's work... and I guess... some other times, but even then it's only a quickie." A pause, then Cherry halted and jerked a thumb at the wall, adding in a mutter: "It's from that room where all the banging is coming from. I went to bed to the sound of clunking, I woke up to the sound of clunking. I wanna tell you, that disturbs even me. Sure, it's nice to masturbate and it gets your mind off things, but only on occasion when there's not plenty of cock laying around.

"And sure, I like to see just what I can insert up there, but that's like a game, you know?" At her thoughtful words, Mahihko picked up a pillow and covered his head with it, looking pained... something Cindy could certainly understand right now. "I mean, once I put a garden hose in there and turned it on, and like... yeah, not a bright idea. Another time I used a baseball bat... and once I think I got a sword in there, but that hurt like shit and I was pissing blood for weeks afterwards... oh, once I tried a road cone! And another time-"

"Look, you can list off the things you've shoved in yourself another time, I just wanted to check if you were awake." Cindy said in a strangled voice, gesturing with her hands and then spinning around to quickly leave, and Cherry looked nonplussed before making a face at Mahihko, who was rolling around on the bed with the pillow over his face and ears.

Cindy stepped back into the room she shared with Zerrex a moment later, and he gave her an odd look as he finished putting on his belt, asking mildly: "What's wrong with you?"

"Better question: what's wrong with our family?" Cindy replied flatly, and then she winced at the sound of something hitting the wall behind her. "Oh sweet lord. I think Marina has to take up a sport that includes a lot of physical contact or you have to buy her some art supplies the next time we have a long wait. And I swear, if she starts... doing things, certain things while we're stowed away, I'm going to hate you forever for the fact she has the sexual urges you used to have when you were younger."

Zerrex stared at Cindy, not looking up as Cherry let herself in, then he asked slowly: "Are you telling me that she's... you know..."

"And she was all night, Boss." Cherry replied mildly, and then there was an unidentifiable sound from next door and the demoness crossed her arms, adding: "If she ever becomes a demon... do me a favor. Keep her on an even tighter leash than you do now, okay?"

"In serious news," Zerrex said clearly, holding up his hands and moving back to the real subject that should be plaguing them all, instead of any of Marina's habits... amazing as they are. I think I've done that... twice? "The military stuff has moved away from the hotel and we need a lot of money for our hotel fees, and two hundred for the cargo ship. Do we have enough, Cherry?"

The demoness made a face, then she pulled several large rolls of bills out of her pockets, mumbling as she slipped a thumb through them before nodding hesitantly. "Depending on how much we get charged for the food, we'll probably just have enough. If worst comes to worst, I'll throw in one of the rifles or handguns to cover the rest... most people still like to trade, anyway, and I can imagine that even a little place like this needs some protection."

"Alright, good... what about equipment?" Zerrex tilted his head a bit, glancing over the line assembled in front of him before looking up as Marina came in a moment later, fully dressed and still looking a bit flushed as she pushed Mahihko and Cindy aside to leap up and grab her father firmly around the neck, pressing her body tight to his as Zerrex coughed, his arms automatically embracing her. "Er... good morning, Marina..."

"Good morning Daddy!" Marina said cheerfully, and then she half-lidded her eyes, whispering up to him: "Don't worry, I'll still be fine today... but I just... couldn't get you out of my head..." She dragged her finger slowly down his chest, then added quietly: "Although, if you really want to know, I'm glad to-"

"It's teaching time, not sharing time. Wait your turn, Marina." Cherry grumbled, then she reached out and grabbed Marina, jerking her backwards and firmly placing her between the demoness and Cindy, the youngest daughter pouting and crossing her arms as she looked grouchily back and forth. "Go ahead, Boss, continue."

"Thanks, Cherry." Zerrex said, looking relieved, and then he sat back on the bed and spoke mildly: "The main problem is our gear. We have a lot of equipment, and we'll be carrying a good portion... I want a maximum of three weapons on everyone except Cherry, who'll be carrying her rifle as well as my .52s and her whip. Cindy, I want you equipped for medium range combat, and I want Mahihko and Marina equipped with range, whether short or long I don't care. I'll have my sword, my revolver, and a combat knife, and as usual I'll deal with most of the close-range fighting with Cherry, if it comes to that.

"I want to stick to this equipment distribution through boarding the Ophelia and into Lunis: at all costs we need to keep the Hollow Stone safe." the Drakkaren said clearly, his eyes slowly roving over the group. "I also want to avoid combat as much as possible once we reach the Ophelia, which means we'll likely be splitting up. I want everyone to keep silent and safe first off â€" our first task is going to be getting past the scanning teams, but once we're out, Cherry will take point as leader."

Cherry blinked at this, making a face, and Zerrex said softly: "Co-leader, then... I need your tactical expertise and your precognitive ability... you know that sneaking around has never been my thing. But you could walk down a crowded hallway of soldiers and never be seen by any of them... Cherry, I've seen you negotiate a minefield like you were dancing and run across a hallway filled with invisible, spinning infrared sensors because you could tell what movements would activate the siren on the roof. You'll have to direct me and the others to a safe place before we decide what move to make next, based on where we are in the Ophelia."

She rubbed the back of her head slowly at this, then glanced down and finally mumbled: "Alright, Boss... but just this one time. I'm your second, I always will be." She made a bit of a face, rolling her shoulders and adding: "And I cause too many fights to be a good leader, anyway. It ain't in my nature to think."

"Well, it works for you." Zerrex responded mildly, and Cherry grinned a bit before the Drakkaren glanced over the others, adding quietly: "You'd all better get ready. I'm going to go down and pay... pack up the last of the equipment and then I'll meet you downstairs at the tables, alright?"

The group nodded, then Cherry grabbed his shoulder and pulled him aside, her other hand touching his chest quietly as she murmured hesitantly: "I don't know if I can do this, Zerrex... my abilities have gotten better, but a warship is a lot different than a military base or me showing off in some death-trap-laden facility... and I've never led a group of people around before, either. I just-"

Zerrex kissed her cheek quietly, and she winced and shoved at him lightly as he grinned before saying softly: "You'll do fine, Cherry. Besides... I know at worst you don't mind fighting your way through whatever Ire has to throw at us, crew of hundreds or not."

With that, the reptile turned, picking up the money off the dresser and heading for the door, and Cherry touched her cheek quietly, looking after him for a few moments as the door slowly swung closed. Zerrex... this is why I'm not your equal, and only yours...

The Drakkaren grunted as he made his way down the stairs, wincing at the pain in his knee: it was acting up a bit, but at least not enough to interfere too much with him â€" he figured he could even walk around without the cane or the rush of battle fueling him and still be fine for a little while, but it was better not to check. That, and going down stairs is infinitely easier than going up them... I just hope the smuggling goes smoothly...

Zerrex made a bit of a face as he reached the bottom of the steps, then he walked into the breakfast area and almost bumped into Angela, who looked surprised to see him before she smiled and said meekly: "I... hello. I was just cleaning off the tables for the early morning shift... can I get you anything, anything at all?"

The Drakkaren shook his head a bit, then he smiled faintly. "Nah... I'm just here to pay off my tab and the hotel fees. I'm about to leave." A pause at the sad look on her face, and he reached up to quietly touch her cheek, the vixen gazing up at him softly. "You know, fifty years ago, people looked at me with terror on their faces and happiness when I left... and that never really changed much. This is one of the few times I get to leave a place without leaving bodies behind or the people I've connected with dying, and I'm glad to see it."

Angela nodded a bit, swallowing, and then Zerrex embraced her gently and she hugged him fiercely back, the reptile lowering his head and saying softly: "I'll come back and see you one day, Angela. This town might be a trap to you right now, but believe me. One day you'll look around and only see how wonderful it really is out here."

"Maybe." Angela drew back and smiled at him, then shook her head and quietly touched his chest as he reached down for the money in his pocket. "If you're reaching to pay, your money's no good here... I already owe you for listening to me blathering on about this dinky little town and for opening up and telling me everything you did."

They traded a smile, and then she laughed quietly, patting his abdominals gently and saying softly: "You're like a great warrior heading off into battle... and you are going into some kind of danger, aren't you?" Angela tilted her head quietly, and when Zerrex nodded a bit, she smiled faintly, shaking her head a bit as the others strode down the stairs and Cherry's head immediately swiveled around to lock onto Angela, the demoness grinning widely and leering at her as the female blushed a bit. "But... I have to go. Take care of yourself, Zerrex."

With that, she turned and quickly retreated, and Cherry licked her muzzle slowly, muttering: "How I'd love a piece of that ass..." A pause, and then she added a question with a quizzical look to Zerrex. "Am I too obsessed with that piece of angel cake that just ran through the door there?"

"I'd say no, but she did just run away. Perhaps it's the mix of fear of you and the fact she's not a whore that has you so intrigued." Zerrex muttered, then turned and headed towards the counter, pulling the three keycards out of his pocket and laying them down on the desk as the old rat wandered out from the back room, yawning and smiling tiredly. "Good morning."

"Mornin' sir. Leaving, are you?" A glance over their gear, and he added plainly: "You'd best go out the door to the street... there's military patrols running along the beaches to make sure no one's trying to launch any vessels to smuggle people or possessions, and they'll seize upon you and beat you senseless if they catch you with that arsenal you're carrying." A pause, and then he smiled crookedly. "Then again, perhaps you'd teach them a thing or two, but it would be an awful mess."

"Thanks... I think I'll have to do that." Zerrex glanced at the price on the old register's screen as it dinged open, and he paid out the one hundred and thirty dollars for the room. "Only ten dollars tax?"

"No, just a service charge for the extra towels you ordered." The rat grunted, making a face. "I don't charge the taxes the government wants... I was fine until the leap went from twenty percent to fifty percent. Sixty dollar rooms would put me out of business when most of the money I make here is from the restaurant business. I don't see how those bastards are still in power after all these years with how much they abuse their power."

"Fear and money, sir. Fear and money." Cherry supplied, then she smiled a bit and tapped the end of her muzzle. "It's been the method for years... the only difference is that now they've got less people to oppress, so now they can start leaning harder on the people."

"Bastards." The old rat grumbled again, and he nodded as he took the money from Zerrex before smiling a bit. "But you have yourselves a good journey and take care."

"You too." Zerrex nodded, then led the group down the hall past the counter and towards a pair of glass doors leading out onto a long porch that went around the front of the old hotel. They made their way to the blue truck that Marina had stolen from Gods-knew-where, Cherry and Mahihko jumping in the cab, and the Drakkaren made a face as the car revved into life and then sped off down the dirt road with a squeal, an old rabbit running out of his house and waving a shotgun wildly as he shouted and danced around on the spot. Well then. Looks like we found out who this belongs to.

Cherry cackled and leaned out the window to flip off the receding shape in the background off, then almost hit her head off a lamppost as she quickly ducked back inside, making a face as she turned down a side road and headed towards the large shape of the port in the distance. "This is why I shouldn't drive a pickup truck. It makes me feel like a redneck and I do stupid things like that."

"You already do stupid things, Cherry." Mahihko mumbled from beside her, looking sour, and then he rubbed at one of his paws slowly. "I'm never going to forgive you for this morning."

"I had to practice saying what kind of things I can stuff in my cunt. Just think of it as the vagina monologues." Cherry grinned widely at this, tapping her hands against the wheel before slowing to a sane speed as they began to approach the port, turning onto a concrete road now as she glanced idly at the signs above each gated dock. "Tell me if you see a sign that reads ‘cargo bay six.'"

"Since we just passed one and two, I'm guessing it's the sixth one down." Mahihko said sulkily, and Cherry made a face at him, but failed to come up with a good reply. So instead, she settled on glaring at him as she drove to the last dock... then paused as the wolf said dumbly: "There's five docks."

"Yeah, but that's marked Cargo Bay 6." Zerrex said mildly, standing up and leaning over the top of the truck to point at the large warehouse at the end of the road, the shutter currently open. A pause, and then he rose a hand as he saw... Peg Leg Steve... no, that's not his name. Uh... crap. "See, there's the captain."

The canid glanced up towards them as one of the crew pointed them out... then he grinned and rose a hand, beckoning them forwards. Cherry drove slowly up and pulled off to the side, and the short wolf strode slowly out, looking up at them as he said mildly: "I'm impressed to see you have the courage enough to go on with this journey... or maybe it's just stupidity. In any case, I want you to know that my price has doubled due to an increase in... certain activities." He made a disgusted face at this. "I can't afford to endanger my vessel without substantial payment in return."

"What the fuck!" Cherry threw the door open and leapt out with a snarl, landing on the ground and stomping over to the wolf before hefting him up by the throat and throwing her other hand out to shove over a massive bull who tried to come to his captain's aid, the half-naked giant staring in horror as he was easily knocked flat into the dirt. "Listen to me, Louvre! Here's a new deal... you help us, or I break you into two pieces!"

"Listen to me and we'll talk about it!" Louvre gasped, and then he fell to the ground as Zerrex made a face, jumping out of the pickup with his girls as Louvre panted hard on the dirt, the other bulky sailors starting forwards before the wolf waved them away with a wince as the bull continued to stare dumbly from the dirt. "The... the Ophelia is playing host to some big-shot who headed in from Ire yesterday on a private helicopter... and I'm not going to put my ship in the way of a CFAV-17 unless I absolutely have to. If they find out I'm smuggling you, they'll blow my entire crew to pieces."

"So you aren't confident you can get us aboard?" Zerrex asked mildly, and the timberwolf looked insulted as he straightened to his full height â€" but it was still remarkably unintimidating.

Cherry grinned a bit, crossing her arms as she added teasingly: "Yeah, I guess he's short in confidence." A pause as she opened her arms, looking back and forth with a waiting expression as the others simply stared at her, and then the bull chuckled stupidly from the ground, and Cherry made a face. "Well, wonderful, everyone loves the laughter of a child."

Before the bull could figure it out, Cherry hauled him easily to his feet, and he stared dumbly down at her from his massive fifteen feet, brushing him off and grumbling: "Look, you. Take better care of yourself or next time I'll sock you in the balls. Big dudes like you might not need brains to get what they need in life, but you don't seem to be the lucky type, so I suggest at least investing in some common sense."

"You're strong. And pretty." The bull said dumbly, and Cherry looked up at him as he blushed a bit, rubbing one hoof against the ground with his hands behind his back, his puffy pants and sash swaying a bit in the wind as Louvre slapped a hand against his face with a mutter.

"Norman, go and prepare the ship to leave, and make sure everything's loaded and in place." Louvre said flatly, then he turned back to Zerrex as the bull began to leave, before grinning like an idiot as Cherry offered her hand, the giant taking it and prancing off with Cherry into the warehouse. "Now, do we have a deal or not? Four hundred and you get on the Ophelia."

"You didn't answer my question, Captain." Zerrex responded evenly, crossing his arms and smiling coldly. "If you aren't confident enough to get me on that ship, I want my money refunded and I'll take whatever I want out of your cargo as a bonus for wasting my time... and believe me, whether your crew is ten or a hundred, you won't be able to stop me from wrecking your ship if my mind so goes to it. Otherwise, you've been paid a thousand and I won't renege on our original deal of giving you two hundred more if you're confident enough to get us on board the Ophelia."

The wolf made a face, then he sighed and finally held out his hand, nodding and muttering: "Deal. You strike a hard bargain though, sir... just ensure that no one in your family screws up until we're a good hour away from the flagship."

"If things go well, the problems in Lunis will be gone within a few days and Ire will lift its quarantine of the city." Zerrex replied evenly, then he reached into his pocket, producing a cluster of twenties and holding it up for a moment, adding mildly: "And by the way. Try to deep six us or hand us over to Ire, and I'll rip your body apart piece-by-piece and leave your head on a stick to stare at the sea for the rest of eternity."

The timberwolf nodded, his trembling smile giving away the fact that he'd likely thought of both... and then Zerrex slapped the money into his hand and he turned away towards the warehouse, leading them inside and leaving Zerrex amazed to stare at the massive size of it. Even more impressive, however, was the small dock and the ship sitting in a watery trench in the cement, that led out towards a humongous pair of opened double doors, a crane lowering an enormous metal box down into the ship's hold as other sailors passed crates up a line towards the ship from a huge stock of boxes at the other end of the warehouse, to where Cherry and Norman cheerfully ran crates up and down the docks and over the small wooden bridge onto the ship, where more sailors carefully lowered them down into the hold.

"It's a simple but complex operation, if you understand what I'm saying." Louvre said, his composure apparently recovered as they strode towards the ship, pointing out the boxes in the far corner. "Every day, the Irenic Military drops off supplies and orders on which ship needs what: today, however, is mail day, and every ship will be receiving crates filled with packages from home, as it's the easiest way for us to transport them. Lovely, isn't it, the way they care for their soldiers?

"Some ships are also going to be supplied with food and medical equipment, and some of the crates in there are just for show. The Ophelia, however, receives a shipment of technical equipment today as well as the care packages for the soldiers... and so we've left just enough space inside that metal container for several extra large crates, which are marked as gifts for the ship's captain. We'll stack these up and put these in with the other crates once we're on approach to the Ophelia... but the problem is the technical and scanning crews. They're unlikely to pass over the crates, and they'll be checking for any sort of life-form inside."

The wolf paused, turning around and looking over them all seriously. "Smuggling living people is a very dangerous and very arduous task, if you care about the life of your passengers, which I unfortunately seem to be stuck doing with you lot. Therefore, I've also made sure to install deflectors on the inside of the crates, which will block heat signatures from passing through... but you'll have to keep quiet and not move around too much once you hear the scanning process begin, since they'll also be using sound sensors. If they find anything suspicious, they will open the crate up, and in that case you'll be in trouble. Scanning crews are always accompanied by military guard, and they don't exactly take kindly to stowaways... but once they finish scanning, you'll probably have an hour or more in the hold before they start actually opening the boxes up."

"Sounds like fun." Zerrex said mildly, and then he sighed as he glanced over at Cherry, watching as she threw a crate across the bridge despite the protests of the crew to Norman, who caught it with a laugh. If we could all be so carefree...

The Drakkaren sighed, and then he shook his head slowly as Louvre motioned at one of the sailors to close the warehouse doors, and as the sailor ran across the open doorway to do so, he paused as he noted a cute vixen walking idly along the docks, before making a face and hitting the switch for the shutter, muttering about thieves. Ten minutes later, and the vixen sat on top of the truck, watching as the Celeste-Delacour left port on route for the fleet of warships that barricaded the open sea.

Angela rubbed her hands together, before making a face as she looked down at her hand and wiggled her fingers: this body still felt strange, but thankfully it had served its purpose now, and she could cast it off. She grunted as she slid off the truck, then tore at her clothing a bit and reached under her shirt to snap off her bra and toss it aside, before flicking her head as a jolt of black lightning ran over her body, causing small cuts and bruises here and there. It was too bad that she hadn't lured Zerrex into bed... perhaps if he'd been more forthcoming, or if he'd been more into abusing the powers his youngest daughter had, then it would be easier to discard this body... still, it had been a thrill to be near him, all the same.

Angela strode along the back of the warehouse... or rather, Angela's body did. Her mind would be a jumble of confusion, and she wouldn't know if she'd been mugged or raped until the hospital checked for her. She sat down in the tall grasses, avoiding the broken beer bottles as a courtesy, and then her eyes turned black as she glanced up at the blue sky, feeling the faintest of longing in her... but then she smiled a bit and looked down, closing her glowing black eyes and murmuring softly: "My job here is done. I've gathered the intelligence on Lord Zerrex and his family, and assessed their power." And I'm sure in maybe, oh, I don't know, a hundred thousand years I'll be seeing Lord Zerrex down in Hell... what a pleasure and honor it would be... I just hope that Az'Iriel doesn't get his claws into him or there'll be no soul left to grind... but I have a report to make.

A pause, and silence... before Angela's head snapped back, the female screaming as a terrible dark essence tore its way out of her body, flowing out of her mouth, her nose, her eyes and ears, and then she collapsed onto the ground as the essence crackled with energy before simply vanishing with a rumble like thunder as the vixen's body slumped to the ground and twitched silently.

Zerrex thought that being on a boat sucked worse than any other form of transportation: failure of the boat to reach its destination, for instance, almost always meant suffering a slow death drowning with land somewhere in sight but completely unreachable, taunting you until you died... or beginning to drown and then feeling something seize you and begin chewing on you ruthlessly.

The Drakkaren made a face as he clung to whatever he could in the hold, where they'd been stuffed by Louvre â€" perhaps a bit of revenge on him and his family, he was starting to realize, since there was always the danger of a loose crate tumbling down or sliding over and squishing one of them. Cherry and Cindy were over in the far corner, and Mahihko was somewhere near them, whining loudly but blocked from view by a support bar... and Marina was over beside him, looking at him curiously. A few moments later, however, the Drakkaren realized why the other girls were so far away, remembering what he'd said last night... and he sighed a bit before sitting quietly back in his little nook between a crate and the wall, Marina slipping in beside him as he murmured softly: "You wanted to know... so... I'll tell you."

"Thank you, Daddy." Marina said softly, yet she still looked almost impatient, and Zerrex smiled faintly at her, shaking his head slowly. She always was so impetuous when it came to her curiosity... ready to do anything to sate it, anything to get what she wanted, or even what she thought she wanted.

He took another breath, looking at her for a few more moments before glancing up and speaking in a soft voice: "When I was young... very young... I had nothing to do and nothing to live for. After I joined the Legion and had met Cherry, my urges grew worse... until the day that I met a girl named Allie.

"It was on a movie set... I was working a job there, and I'd been told to protect the cast and crew. I walked in on her finishing putting on her costume, and I remember... that she wasn't the slightest bit afraid of me." A faint smile cracked over his muzzle, and he shook his head slowly. "It was cute in a way that only I'd find it cute. But she wasn't scared at all... in fact, I clearly remember her telling me to either take a picture or get the hell out...

"I told her she'd break the camera... I remember stepping forwards... and she, half-dressed in a pair of combat pants and a stuffed bra, stepped towards me, and... it went back and forth like that until she grabbed me and I kissed her and we ended up having sex, right there in the meeting room, and..." Zerrex paused for a few moments as the memories came back, closing his eyes and hating himself on how everything seemed... faded now, not as vibrant as it had been back then... but how he could still recall that fire in his heart she'd lit...

"It was a strange courtship. At first it was for sex... later it was for... something more..." He remembered sitting with her in a hotel bed, sharing a bottle of champagne with her, their glasses tinking together as they smiled at each other. He remembered kissing her gently, chastely, even if hours earlier he'd been butchering a room full of security guards around a lab facility. He remembered going out grocery shopping with her and picking up someone who'd run his cart into her, then dropping him at her embarrassed yell... only for her to step forwards and punch the asshole out, saying mildly that she could take care of her own problems and making him laugh.

He remembered the sex... and he remembered making love to her, holding her to his body... and he remembered going back to the Legion base and Cherry half-snarling at him and looking furious, and not even Vampire daring to make a joke at her expense on those nights. "Allie didn't have the beauty and intelligence of your mother or the fierceness and strength of Cherry... but she was strong, and she was smart, and she was..." He paused, then said quietly: "She was my soulmate, I guess you could say.

"And the day after I asked her to marry me, she went home to see her parents, to show off her engagement ring." He stopped for a moment, then said matter-of-factly: "And the train crashed on the way home, and she and everyone aboard had been killed. I loved her enough I had been willing to take on the Legion and all of Ire to escape the way my life had been heading... and it looks like that never can happen now."

He lowered his head, and Marina quietly hugged her father from the side, closing her eyes and bowing her own, and for a long time there was only silence before she got to her feet and quietly walked over to where the others sat, looking as miserable as Zerrex. She sat down, then glanced over the others and asked faintly: "Why didn't anyone tell me? He's still pining for her... and now I've torn that wound open again..."

"Because you wanted to know, and he's the only one who could tell you and make it clear that sometimes, you just don't poke an old wound." Cherry responded quietly, then she smiled a bit. "He'll be fine, we've just been pushing him too fuckin' much lately. The Boss is getting older now, after all, and even if he has all us girls â€" you too, Mahihko â€" he doesn't have anyone who stands as equal with him, get it?" A pause and an ironic smile. "Everyone wants to be on top of the world until they get there. Then they find out it sucks."

Cindy made a face, shaking her head slowly as the ship rocked in an especially-large wave. "Well, we all know you couldn't've liked Allie much."

"Oh, absolutely hated her..." Cherry said cheerfully, but her smile didn't reach her sad eyes as she added, leaning over to Marina: "And have I ever been kicking myself in the ass for that ever since. I mean, I hated Cindy there too for a while, but I got over that after living with her a bit... hell, I gave up being the Boss's wife to go back to being his bitch, and I've never been happier."

"I'm sitting right here, you whore." Cindy grumbled, glowering at her. "And you never should've married him in the first place, you... you fatty. You probably screwed him up even worse with all the extra shit he went through."

Cherry looked injured at this, then she rubbed her head and coughed a bit. "In every life, we must go through a little bit of rain." she finally said wisely, and then grunted and stared at Mahihko after he elbowed her in the kidney. "What?"

"I don't think any of us deserve to be here, sitting in the hold of a ship, waiting to make an attack on what's been declared as the most powerful warship in the entire world." Mahihko mumbled, looking sulkily around at them all. "And I wish you would all stop bringing up sad old matters. You're turning this into a soap opera when we should be worrying about who's carrying the bags of gear in with them in one of those stupid crates."

"You are, dipshit." Cherry said mildly, poking his nose firmly, and the wolf blinked a few times, his eyes widening a bit in horror as all eyes settled on him. "You're the smallest and most expendable."

"Cherry, stop being a bitch." Zerrex kicked her in the back with the side of his foot as he walked over to the group, still looking morbid but also more focused on what was laying ahead, the female grunting and wincing before glaring up at him. "But unfortunately, Mahihko, you will have to carry everything in with you... you're tiny enough that you should still be relatively comfortable in one of those crates, at least, but you'll have to be careful to not move around too much. And speaking of which, we're going to have to hide Blackheart in the back of that metal crate with Cherry's rifle, since there's no way in hell it's going to fit in the crate with me."

Cherry made a face at this, then Cindy frowned a bit, tilting her head slightly: "Won't they notice the gigantic sword and the rifle after they unload the crates from the shell? I mean, it's pretty hard to miss."

Before Zerrex could speak, Cherry looked up seriously, adding: "Yeah, I really wish your sword wasn't so long and hard all the time. You should just make it go flaccid." A grin as she looked around at the others, her eyes wide... and then she slouched and looked disgusted. "You know, like his penis?"

"We all like his penis, but that's not the point." Cindy responded drolly, and Mahihko giggled as Marina and her father both smiled slightly, and Cherry looked utterly horrified by this.

"Her comic timing is better than yours." Zerrex said mildly before Cherry could say anything, and the demoness huffed, glaring around at them all before the Drakkaren added mildly: "No, they won't notice it... the scanning crews don't bother opening the shell to scan all the boxes unless there's something inside they want to inspect... it saves a lot of time for them and for the workers who come in afterwards to move everything around, or at least that's what Louvre told me. I don't think he's lying, either... his main concern seems to be giving him long enough to get away that he'll be able to safely cover the ground necessary to hide from the military chopper. Or water, I guess, in this case."

"Yeah, can't say I blame him... isn't that the newest model of Irenic piss-yourself-in-terror-inducing war machine that's ninety percent guns and ten percent actual helicopter?" Cherry paused at Zerrex's grimace, then she grinned stupidly. "Dude, let's shoot the Ophelia down with it."

"The Ophelia has something like two-foot-thick ballistic armor covering the hulls and five-foot thick alloy plating over the actual body of the ship... not to mention the fact it has a portable shield generator that completely protects the main body of the ship from attack by creating a death shield." Zerrex said dryly, and Cindy frowned a bit at this before the male intercepted her question. "Unfortunately, no, they're not illegal."

Mahihko looked curious, however, so Cherry cheerfully explained: "See, it works by vibrating molecules at a distance using some sort of particle manipulation shit... the shield is almost invisible, except for a strange haze that gets clearer the closer you get to it... but anything solid that moves into this shield gets literally liquefied by the force of the vibrations." Cherry paused, then added reflectively: "It's kinda weird that Narrius didn't come up with the same sorta technology."

"He did." Zerrex said absently, walking over to the massive metal container as he took his sword off his back, then making a face as he opened the door with one hand and it crashed loudly into the wooden floor. "Before Albatross could get all the facilities locked down, Ire stole a bunch of computers and notes from many of the labs and refuses any knowledge of the operation, despite the giant boat they crashed labeled ‘Irenic Military' and all the soldiers begging to go home and not be executed after watching at least one of their former comrades get torn in half by a Dragokkaren's bare hands. Between the stuff Ire stole and everything that went up in flames, that's why it's taking so long to decode all the old archives."

Cherry nodded a bit, watching as Zerrex wedged Blackheart into the space above the crates, then turned it, wedging it between the walls. "I really hope they don't scan the roof of that thing."

"Crap." Zerrex made a face, then he shook his head a bit and added dryly, as he ducked and then hefted the heavy lid: "They're looking for chemicals and heat signatures, I think, not weird metal things... after all, most people can't make a block of useless metal blow up by itself."

He slammed the metal box closed, then rolled his shoulders and sat down against it with a mumble as the ship rocked heavily again, and Louvre shouted some order above, his crew responding with grunts and yells. The Drakkaren guessed that they had neared the first warship... and a moment later he was proved right as the enormous doors that blocked the hold off opened and the heavy gate below those slid back. A few of the larger sailors came down and began picking up crates, forming a line up the stairs leading out to unload the ship the old-fashioned way.

Ten boxes later, and the line retreated, Norman the giant bull blushing and waving at Cherry as she smiled and waved back, then she sighed dreamily and said cheerfully: "I just love children, don't you?"

"Yeah, but last time you did anything with one, you were arrested." Zerrex said mildly, and the others laughed as Cherry blushed deeply, crossing her arms and huffing.

"Look, it was an honest mistake!" she tilted her muzzle upwards with a defiant snort, looking embarrassed all the same. "Dude was huge, okay? How the hell was I supposed to know he was only thirteen, the bear could've passed for thirty, easily!"

She mumbled, then sulked for a while as the ship continued onwards, but the rest of the unloading points were the same. Only two hours later, however, Louvre came down and looked grimly around at them all, saying calmly: "We part ways ahead... but I thought your family would like a quick look at just what you're going up against."

Zerrex nodded, and the group ascended the stairs to stand on the deck... and out ahead, still a few hundred feet away, was the most massive battleship any of them had ever seen: the only thing Zerrex had ever laid his eyes upon that was larger was the floating Paradise, but that had been an engine of destruction so formidable that words like ‘war' and ‘death' paled before it â€" it had been designed to bring the apocalypse, and there was no way it could have been used for such a thing as ‘peace.'

The Ophelia, however, looked like the ultimate expression of a warship built for the sea and not the air, and one that was currently serving the grim but at least not destructive purpose of heading the fleet blockading Lunis, which towered in the distance behind it. The ship itself had to be at least half a mile high at the largest towers that stood off of it, near the center-back of the ship, and looked immense â€" Zerrex knew the total length was something like three and a half miles, every inch of it protected. Near the front was a set of immense triple cannons that leaned off the sides of the ship, and standing alone like a terrible, bleak statue on the nose of the ship was a gargantuan railgun... and Zerrex didn't even want to guess at the level of destructive power it likely carried.

All along the body of the ship were cannons, and Zerrex could see turrets built into the miniature city the Ophelia carried on its back, all of it drab, military grey, the Hez'Ranna symbol badly painted over by the golden sigil of Ire... and then Louvre said softly: "She requires a crew of five hundred, and has at least a small army of ten thousand soldiers aboard her to add meat to her bones... one hundred and seventy-two long-range artillery cannons, three hundred and ten ‘defensive' cannons, fifty-one full-size missile batteries, and one railgun. She's steadied and kept afloat even in the fiercest storms by magnetic propulsion discs buried in her belly, and she can generate a death shield or electromagnetic pulse as necessary to defend herself, and it is said that once Patriarch Narrius walked her decks and directed her into battle himself in a ‘test war' outside of Ire, and she sank all one-and-forty ships guided against her by Ire's long-range war fleet.

"She is almost completely invulnerable to modern day weaponry, and even her softer underbelly is guarded by the death shield when its active and she the ‘nest' of submarines attached to her underbelly that crews can engage in case of attack and be used to either flee the ship or destroy any underwater attackers. Her weaponry can automatically track targets and her supplies are nearly limitless, and she can hold an additional twelve attack helicopters on her front, there, for aerial support." Louvre glanced over to the Drakkaren, adding mildly: "If you want to turn back now, I won't blame you: hell, I'll refund you half your money. I'm scared shitless of her too, after all."

"We have the advantage here, not that hunk of metal." Zerrex said softly, shaking his head a bit and smiling slightly as he looked out at the ship, before his eyes fixed on the towering cliffs of Lunis beyond. "But thank you, Captain Louvre, for your services on this voyage."

He extended his hand, and the wolf grunted and shook it before motioning to his crew. "We'll see how pleasant it is for you once you switch ships. Remember, stay still and wait ten minutes after the scanners leave, you'll hear them even through the metal shell. Then you get the hell out of there and find yourselves a nice little hidey-hole so I don't have to deal with the chopper and getting blown to shit."

Zerrex nodded a bit with a slight smile, then he and his family retreated down the stairs. Norman looked at them sadly as two other crew members pried boxes open, and then Cherry swept him into her arms and kissed him firmly, and the bull looked stupefied before she placed him lightly back on his feet and slapped his ass firmly, making him blush deeply as she grinned up at him and winked. "You take care, big boy, and I'll come back and see you someday real soon, I promise."

"Okay." Norman nodded quickly, and then he smiled as she climbed into her box, waving goodbye as the lid was put on. He dropped his head a bit, and Zerrex gently patted him on the wrist before climbing into his own box, and the bull added firmly: "Take care of her!"

"I will." Zerrex promised, then he softened at the bull's childish smile as he squished himself down into the crate... before he wincing as the metal lining of the crate jabbed into him as a sailor put the lid on, leaving him in a shroud of darkness. He fidgeted a bit as the sailor hammered the lid down, and then he winced as the crate was lifted into the air and shoved rudely into what he guessed was the metal shell. "Gods this sucks."

"Bite me, shorty!" Cherry snapped from somewhere below him, and she let out a sigh of relief. "Oh wait, I can do that..." A pause and a loud clank, and Cherry immediately shouted: "The hell is that?"

"The hell do you think it is!" shot back another female, and Cherry winced at the sound of Marina's angry voice before it added: "And you know what, fuck you for you and your stupid powers! If you were any good to us, you'd just turn into a fucking soldier and walk us on board the ship!"

A short silence... and then Cherry asked hesitantly: "Zerrex, can we still do that? I'm getting kinda claustrophobic here." Another pause with no reply, and then she coughed: "Zerrex? You aren't dead, are you? Um... oh, wait, you don't like small spaces or ships, right? Gee, you must really be in hell right now. Not my kinda Hell but the hell that's all bad, I mean."

"Cherry, shut up." Zerrex mumbled in a strangled voice, and then there were two more clunks as Cindy shouted some vulgarity and Mahihko whined loudly before he scratched at the edge of the crates. Oh crap. Getting paranoid. This is never going to work... oh crap, oh crap, oh crap... small spaces, tight spaces, darkness, gonna end up dropping this shell in the water and we'll all drown... I don't know if I can break out of this crate with all the other wood around, and even if I did it'd just be in to water... oh crap...

Daddy, stop it. Marina said irritably in his mind, and Zerrex blinked before he found himself sitting in a field with the others, Cherry in her usual form â€" which Zerrex guessed from her chortling earlier was not the form she was in inside the box... that inspires me to write a physics joke... is Cherry in the box or is Cherry in her own box or something... I'm too dumb to think of one... â€" and Cindy and Mahihko in theirs. The last was sobbing uncontrollably before he opened his eyes and stared around at them all, and Marina's eye twitched as she glared around at them all.

"You all suck." she declared, then she crossed her arms and grumbled: "This is an illusion by the way, yes. You're all panicking, so it wasn't hard to exploit that and toss you all into this fantasy world here, since it left your minds open to invasion.

"So let's get down the rules. If you try to move, don't actually try to move... just think about moving, and that should be enough to do it. It'll take a while to get down, but now's as good at time as ever to start, so everyone, stand up."

Marina jumped to her feet, and Zerrex shrugged before cracking his head off the top of the wooden crate he was in and almost knocking himself out, blinking stupidly before returning to the fantasy world and finding only Cindy had managed her feet out of the group. Marina looked at them all distastefully, and then Mahihko hesitantly managed to stand up... and Zerrex and Cherry looked at each other distrustfully before both there was a double crack as they whacked their heads again off the crates.

"Let's all just sit down then." Marina said moodily, and the others sat as the demoness and Drakkaren both blushed in embarrassment. "In any case, if you do try to move... don't move your body. Move with your mind."

The others nodded, then Cindy asked curiously: "Do I need to speak, or do I just think..." A pause, and a slight smile. "I think I just answered my own question."

"I could really use a cock right now to take my mind off things." Cherry mumbled, and then everyone stared at her before she blushed deeper, and there was a fidgeting sound from another crate before she laughed and looked embarrassedly around. "What, did everyone hear that? Because it wasn't a bad thought at all. You know, just Cherry being Cherry. Good ol' Cherry. Hey, Marina, I think I need to leave this fantasy land and uh... don't say masturbate, Marina has plenty of know- oh shit, am I still talking? I didn't mean to-"

A moment later, Cherry vanished, and Marina gave a disgruntled look around before her gaze settled on Zerrex, who was mumbling over and over to himself: "Don't say anything, don't say anything, keep your thoughts quiet..."

"What is it, Daddy? Something you want to say to me?" Marina leaned in almost eagerly, licking her muzzle slowly and then adding with half-lidded eyes as Cindy and Mahihko exchanged a horrified look: "I can broadcast those thoughts from this morning if you wan-"

There was another crack, and then Zerrex groaned stupidly in pain before slumping inside his crate, the world spinning and his mind distorted, finally ejected from the illusionary world by the mix of pain and disorientation. He could feel Marina already reaching into his mind again to try and snag him, but the Drakkaren deftly slid his mind away before creating a wall of fuzzy, indistinct thoughts in his head, which Marina quickly backed away from; over all his years studying and battling paranormal phenomenon, the ‘fuzz barrier' was the only one that seemed to work a hundred percent of the time. Psychics tended not to like being assaulted by a tidal wave of random thoughts that included: ‘where is the pen cap for that pen on my desk?' and ‘I like food, I like food, yum, yum, yum, I like food.'

The reptile forced his body to relax, so Marina couldn't catch him unawares at all... and then Marina said to him softly in his head: You just had to tell me you didn't want to be there, Daddy... you didn't have to go and hurt yourself.

No, no. It was an accident... but no, Marina, please. You're being a bit... aggressive again with me and Cherry, I think. Zerrex replied gently, and Marina tilted her head curiously as her image projected into his mind. We don't like to share our thoughts all the time because it's... we're ugly people on the inside, sometimes. Like what just came out there with Cherry, and the things I sometimes think that... only you see.

Marina seemed to inflate at that thought, brightening and smiling lovingly to him, and then she murmured softly: Then because I know it'll make you happy, Daddy, I'll keep the others company... but I don't want you to be ashamed of those thoughts... The sensation of hot breath, of being touched. I like them plenty.

Fortunately, before Marina could begin mentally molesting him, a voice shouted: "Hoist! Hoist goddamn you!" followed by a massive rumbling, distracting both of them for the moment before the metal shell began to rise, presumably gripped by the crane. There was more shouting, slow movements, and Zerrex forced himself to relax... but knowing that he was actually in danger now from enemy soldiers instead of just stuffed in a box in the dark somehow helped him stay calm. "Move ‘er over and attach the cable to bring it up! Shipment number 11237578, on its way, technical equipment and care packages, including gifts for the Cap'n of your fine ship on behalf of the so-and-so!"

"Admiral Vonnegut will be pleased, then." A voice replied coldly over a loudspeaker, as there was another heavy vibration before the sensation of being moved and lifted at a much-faster rate. "Move your ship ten meters back and await further instruction while we scan the cargo, Captain Armstrong Louvre."

The sound of waves and movement... and then the feeling of being lowered onto something that was whirring loudly, and a moment later vibrations ran through the crate before something above cracked and something else clanked. A long pause, and then the sound of heavy footsteps and a loud buzzing, someone outside mumbling and then a loud curse as one of the soldiers said irritably, muffled by the layers of wood and metal: "For the love of shit, Jonas, stay the fuck out of the way... but I'm only finding metals and minor tremors here and there, probably the result of the box being shaken around so much and stuff shifting inside." A loud clanking drowned out his next words, but then the Drakkaren felt vibrations running through the shell again, and he relaxed a bit, his eyes still closed as he judged their movement forwards, and then downwards at an angle.

After at least five minutes, he felt vibrations running through the shell again... and then another loud clanking before several loud beeps sounded, and finally they seemed to be at their destination... wherever the hell that was supposed to be. Outside, soldiers were conversing in muffled voices, and then someone said: "We can open it later... we're all late for assembly. Let's just leave it there for now and we can get to it later."

The sound of footsteps and voices moved away outside, and Zerrex began to count to five hundred in his head before a better idea struck him, and he asked in murmur instead: "Marina? Can you sense any life forms in the vicinity?"

He could almost feel the tremors run through him as Marina reached out with her powers, and then there was a squirming in the crate next to him as she said quietly: "No one inside this room, at least, but there are likely cameras..."

A loud crunching, and Zerrex winced as his crate shifting, Cherry mumbling: "I'll deal with that..." A pause, and then there was another crunch before Zerrex's crate half-fell backwards, the demoness adding lamely: "Whoops. Sorry there, Boss."

"Just go." Zerrex muttered, punching at the wall of his own crate as he heard Cherry carefully lowering the door... and light shone into their little box as Zerrex began wiggling himself out through the hole he'd knocked in the crate, making a face and continuing to grumble as the demoness rolled her shoulders before turning back towards the shell and snatching up her rifle, looking curiously around the inside of the cargo room.

"It's pretty standard, Boss... there's a camera up in two corners of the room, but neither of them can see us, they're more focused on the doorway." Cherry said distastefully, as Zerrex half-fell out of his crate to land on his front, the demoness not noticing as she peered around the room. "The door itself looks like it uses a card reader, but I should be able to hotwire that shit no problem... and there isn't a lot of cargo in this hold, but- oh, shit, you okay, Boss?"

"Keep talking." Zerrex said mildly, as he managed to finally climb to his feet from the ruins of the box he'd all but obliterated, before turning to grab his sword and pulling it free from the inside of the shell, slipping it securely onto his back before turning around to tear off the front of both Marina and Mahihko's boxes. A pause, and then he helped Marina out before shifting her box aside and tearing off the front of the one behind it, Cindy looking relieved as her eyes settled on her father.

As the group organized itself, Cherry cleared her throat and continued speaking, rubbing at her clothing a bit. "Uh... so... this is obviously one of the smaller holds, with the lack of much else in here but us... and I'm willing to bet it's fortified and shit, too, so the only way in and out is through that door. But thankfully, we got Bebop to move those cameras for us."

"No problem." Marina said softly, then she pointed at one camera and it sparked, twitching a bit before some part fell out of it and it lowered slowly to face the ground, before she pointed at the next and something else cracked along its base, the camera slowly turning away to face the wall before she paused and glanced at the door, making a short waving motion.

The red light above the control panel next to the door flicked green as the door slid open and locked in that position, and Marina looked over her shoulder at Cherry, who looked dumbfounded before glancing down at her mildly: "You know, you could've just mentioned you stole the code for the control panel from the dude."

Marina shrugged a bit, and then Zerrex glanced around the group as Cindy picked up one of the duffel bags from Mahihko, everyone facing him before he smiled and looked to Cherry, who blushed a bit. "You're team leader. I'm going to make my own way towards the bridge and draw their attention if... once... they find me." Zerrex said softly, then he glanced over at Marina as she frowned. "It's the same plan as in Paradise, Marina, just quieter... but Cherry will lead you well and true. Just make sure you find a way down to either the magnetic discs or the main power generator... this place is too heavy to float by itself for too long."

"This is stupid, Boss." Cherry said mildly, making a face and shaking her head quickly as she absentmindedly dragged Marina out of sight, a soldier walking by a few moments later and glancing curiously at the open door. "Besides, we need to have a plan of escape, too, and when the fusion reactor in this thing goes up, it'll take out half the goddamn ship... not to mention this whole fucking thing is miles long."

"Then we meet at Hangar 1 or Hangar A, whichever one's the first in line, where they're keeping those submarines." Zerrex said mildly, and now Cherry grinned a bit. "But like it or not, we do have to do something about this ship's defensive capabilities, or we're not going to get very far even underwater... either way, I'm still heading up to the bridge, and you're still finding a way to disable the magnetic discs."

"Fine..." Cherry said sourly, but then Marina frowned at her and even Zerrex could tell she was thinking of something else before she grinned a bit, nudging the Drakkaren gently. "But you better watch your stupid ass, Boss. You wouldn't want to get caught too early and fuck things up for the rest of us."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Zerrex said mildly, then he nodded to her and patted her arm quietly. "Get yourselves moving. Marina can contact me if anything goes awry."

The others nodded, and then Cherry led them quickly around the shell and towards the door as Zerrex closed his eyes and counted to two-hundred. When no alarms went off, he turned around and quickly made his way towards the doors, watching as a few soldiers ran before slipping in the opposite direction down the hallway.

Somewhere else in the ship now, Cherry was muttering to herself as Marina growled: "Look, if you're planning to meet up with Daddy, that's fine, but-"

Cherry shot her a venomous look, saying darkly: "Just shut the hell up, kid, and be professional for once in your fucking life." A shocked look from Marina, and then the demoness added in a mutter, as she peered out from the small niche they had all clustered in: "We did so good with that attack on Paradise, too... everyone duck and push back against a wall."

The others did as instructed, and a moment later several people dressed in grey uniforms walked by, oblivious of everything around them as they laughed and chatted. Cherry quickly led them out of the little alcove and then across to a valve door, spinning the handle and opening it rapidly to lead them inside a storage room of some kind. Here, she let out a sigh of relief before scrounging through the lockers and muttering: "We're going to split up... I need a detailed analysis of the ship and a map to the magnetic discs, so Mahihko and I are going to infiltrate the area. Cindy and Marina, I want you two to sneak down to the bottom level of the submarine and- ugh. Fine, I'll do it the old fashioned way."

With that, Cherry turned to sit in front of the open doorway, motioning for the others to step to the side of the dark storage room as she concentrated, watching ghost shapes walk by before their real versions followed, even as Cindy babbled: "Marina and I might be able to find our way through a military base, but there's no chance in hell we could do what you do, Cherry, and make it through a warship like this... it has to be nearly overloaded with crew and... and..."

Cherry jumped to her feet and stuck her head out the door as the others watched, whistling loudly at a pair of soldiers and then licking her muzzle slowly as she called: "Oh boys? I was wondering if you could help little old me with a little problem I'm having with my uniform..."

She ducked back inside the room, then glared at the others, hissing: "Get the hell back!" before she spun around and winked as the two soldiers almost barreled into the room, then stared stupidly at Cherry as she flexed before saying mildly: "I think I got it."

With that, she reached out and grabbed them both, jerking them forwards against her kicking the door half-closed as her strong arms wrapped around their necks, murmuring to them gently as they slowly suffocated. A few moments later, Cherry dropped one of them, then absently cracked the neck of the other as she said over her shoulder: "There won't be much sneaking involved... we'll go over the technical details in a few minutes, just let me find two machine crew members who about match the size of you two..."

The others stared, even as Cherry picked up the other soldier, then snapped his neck as well, and Mahihko looked ill even as Cindy rubbed gently along his back and Marina made a face of disgust as Cherry opened the door and once more sat down to watch contentedly, silent and deadly, like a spider waiting for the right prey to pounce upon.

Zerrex was mildly proud of himself for making it all the way to the second floor before he had to actually kill someone, but on the other hand it gave him an outfit to wear as he hid the body in what seemed like some sort of machine room, replacing his knife in the holster on his belt before stripping down the body and slipping on the crew uniform from the thankfully-tall horse. Then again, he'd just slaughtered the rest of the crew that had been repairing this room, too... and out of six or seven people, you think there'd be at least someone my size or who I can shift down to.

The reptile paused, then he inspected the controls closer as he did up the grey coveralls and idly shoved his hair up to hide for the most part under the mechanic's hat, looking thoughtfully over it as he glanced down at himself. "I need a helmet... and there are still at least a dozen soldiers wandering around on patrols outside." He murmured, then he shrugged and glanced down at his sword, picking it up and spinning around almost gracefully with it to chop through a set of pipes behind him before slamming it down into the control panel, and then he quickly let out as loud a yell as he could manage before running out of the room and dancing around like an idiot, pointing at the room as he manufactured a look of terror, and at least ten soldiers came down either side of the hall at his cries of: "Ohmygodohmygodhelp!"

They all ran into the room, and Zerrex glanced back and forth before following the group inside and slamming the door behind himself, grinning coldly as soldiers shouted and barged all over each other, asking each other stupidly who was supposed to report, where their comlink was, what the hell they thought had happened... and then Zerrex drew his combat knife from his belt and leapt on the first, stabbing down into his throat with the knife before rising with a hard palm to the chin of the next and knocking him cold.

In the small room, filled with sparking wires and bleating machinery, the soldiers tripped over each other and managed to get in one another's way, the lucky ones who could somewhat raise their weapons unable to fire for fear of hitting one of their own. One of them staggered into the wires, and immediately began screaming as the current ran through him, setting him on fire and causing an even greater uproar even as Zerrex continued to move forwards, slicing through the throat of another with a wide punch before kicking out the legs of a bear with a low sweep of his foot and bringing his leg around in a high hook immediately after, knocking another staggering into his compatriots, before his foot fell and he stomped down onto the unlucky bear's throat, crushing in his larynx.

In less than a minute, Zerrex stood in a bloody uniform, sliding his knife back into his holster and making a face as he looked over the mess of bodies, broken armor, and blood beneath him... but then he grumbled and tore off the uniform he'd been wearing, noting that everything had gone from pristine to covered in blood, burns, or cracks. I need to find a soldier on his own... then I can probably take him out quietly enough to avoid damaging his gear or anything. For now, though...

The Drakkaren pulled Blackheart out of the control panel on the wall, and it sparked a few times as the reptile replaced the sword on his back, slipping back out into the hallway and then shrugging a bit as he saw it was empty and silent now. A few steps forwards and a glance around where it turned the other way, and he saw nothing but what looked like a ladder leading up to a hatch of some kind... and immediately this earned the Drakkaren's attention, the reptile heading over to it, glancing up at the ceiling to check for cameras at the same time.

Climbing the ladder, he spun the valve that opened the latch... then lowered his hand and used his head to slowly push the hatch upwards just enough that his eyes could see into the room beyond. Soldiers were busy hammering at something, however, many of them cursing as they worked control panels, and Zerrex grinned a bit as he silently pushed the hatch up and climbed quietly out, before slipping around it and kicking it closed, the valve automatically spinning back into a locked position as the five soldiers in the room all whirled around to stare in shock, the Drakkaren cracking his fists and saying mildly: "Resist and I'll kill you. Stay quiet-like and I'll knock you out." A pause, and then he made a face as he felt the cold barrel of a handgun press into the back of his skull. "I hate heroes."

The Drakkaren spun around, one hand snagging the barrel of the gun as his elbow slammed into the wolverine's face, and then he grunted and put his full strength into a hard kick as the male staggered backwards with a groan of pain before howling for his short trip across the room, crashing into a computer terminal and sending up a blast of sparks before he fell to the ground, and the reptile's eyes flashed as he dropped the gun and grabbed his sword with both hands, spinning around and dragging Blackheart out in a wide, turning cut that tore through three of the soldiers, splattering blood and gore over the computer as the tip of his blade sank into another terminal, the reptile glaring at the two who'd had the sense to stay back and then slowly straightening as he replaced Blackheart on his back, saying coldly: "You better tell me what you know about the Ophelia, and I recommend beginning to talk right now."

One of them stared at the reptile... then the rodent pulled his handgun out of his holster, and before Zerrex could reach forwards, the mouse shoved it under his chin and blew his own brains out, leaving the Drakkaren staring in shock as the last soldier, a short horse, shrieked and leapt away, whacking his head off a monitor before he fell over and turned into a trembling heap on the ground. The reptile made a disgusted face, then he leaned forwards over the horse, speaking dryly: "Seriously. I won't kill you if you tell me what I want. Now talk, and please don't take the messy road like your friend there did."

"I... we... computer..." the horse stuttered, then he fainted, and the Drakkaren sighed a bit before stepping forwards and rubbing at his face slowly. The military really does suck these days... that's the problem with giving them all the power that Ire has. They don't have to really be hardened soldiers anymore... they just have to be able to fire a gun, and the protection and license that the country gives them does the rest. It's not hard to police and kill unarmed and frightened civilians, after all...

Zerrex muttered something under his breath as he glanced around the elongated room, but all the computer screens were filled with static and the terminals were buzzing stupidly... likely due to the fact he had cut up all the wires and control panels below. But he did have a nice view from here of the world outside... and the Drakkaren made a bit of a face as he stared out the window at what had to be several thousand soldiers standing in a group on the main deck around a massive attack helicopter, someone standing with a group of different soldiers and giving an impromptu speech.

The reptile shook his head slowly, then he glanced behind him towards the door at the back of the cabin, carefully opening it to peer outside, and watching as a line of soldiers ran quickly down the side of the ship â€" not a patrol, but either some sort of exercises or punishment detail. Zerrex followed them, trying to ignore the massive artillery cannons he passed, before slipping into the nearest door that led back inside the ship and one of the massive front towers that rose to meet the sky.

He made a face as he heard voices muttering... and then one of them said darkly: "Listen to me, soldier, there can't be anyone on board the ship... the Ophelia is impregnable and invincible, I don't care what your crews have reported. You know what the problem is? The problem is this ship is loaded with incompetent military rejects, instead of navy marines... now report back to the Main Bridge and tell the Admiral that we've resolved the problem."

"Yeah, get the fuck out of here, we're busy." added a familiar, growling voice. "Private meetings can only go on when they're private, you see?"

"Sir." Zerrex peered around the corner to see a soldier salute, and then he headed quickly to an elevator in the center rear wall of the room around the corner, and then Zerrex's eyes settled on the angry-looking wildcat in a naval uniform who was standing at a raised control panel near the back and in the center of the room... and the one-armed wolverine behind him, the general tapping his cigar off to the side as his eyes met Zerrex's for a moment before he smiled coldly with the slightest of nods.

"Now what the hell did you want me here for, Lyson? You don't have any status in the military anymore... you're only here as an advisor for Lord Malthus while we figure out how to deal with the demons." the wildcat said irritably, gazing out through the large, clear-metal windows towards the ceremony outside. "You've been stalling for twenty minutes now, after I've gone through all this trouble for you... now either tell me what the hell you want or prepare to be thrown overboard."

"I was just waiting for everyone to get here, that's all." The general replied mildly, then he flicked some of the ashes from his cigar onto the starched white uniform of the feline, causing him to slowly turn towards the wolverine with a look of utter hatred, before it turned to shock as the general put his cigar back in his mouth and pulled his handgun out, shoving it under the cat's chin as he added mildly: "I hate young, arrogant punks like this shithead, don't you, Zerrex?"

The Drakkaren smiled slightly as he stepped out of hiding, the wildcat half turning before the ancient wolverine shoved him rudely down the stairs with the butt of his handgun, the cat yowling as he landed hard on his stomach and stared up in horror at the sight of the lizard. "Yeah, I do myself." he said softly, then he kicked the wildcat hard in the face, knocking him out before his eyes travelled back up the general, adding in a mild voice: "Now what the hell are you doing here? I thought you preferred watching games instead of playing them."

Griswold gave a wide grin at this, shrugging a bit as he holstered his handgun to begin inputting commands into the computer, responding cheerfully: "Yeah, well, I got bored and figured I might as well stir some shit in my life. Besides, this is more fun than I've had since I was just a kiddo stealing my first porno." He paused, then became serious as he hit a last button, and a holographic image of the Ophelia came up in the center of the room between the other two control panels that faced it, Zerrex turning towards this. "Now, this is the layout of the ship... my guess is that you got the rest of your team heading for the magnetic discs that support her, right?"

"Yeah, and we're all going to meet at the first submarine hangar in line... but knowing Cherry, they might end up splitting up again." Zerrex responded mildly, glancing over the holographic map. "How many soldiers do we have on this ship?"

"She's overloaded... there's around twenty thousand military, two thousand additional naval troops trained in using the non-computerized artillery, five hundred mechanical crew, three hundred standard crew, and about a thousand robots who can repair almost any damage done to the ship." The general made a disgusted face at this as Zerrex looked slightly impressed by these numbers. "Fucking robots, not to mention this fucking ship... the whole thing seems to be designed around being almost completely self-controlling... it recognizes friend from foe, clearance codes, signs of surrender and aggression, and can react based on all those things... it's like its fucking alive. And you know what you are, Zerrex?

"You're a virus." The wolverine grinned widely at this, then he took a look inhale of his cigar before breathing two long streamers of smoke out of his nose, looking like a grizzled, furred dragon. "And you and your family better take this bitch down... but alright, take a look at this."

The wolverine pressed a few buttons, and the hologram flickered before reshaping into a layout of the front tower they were currently in, and then adding the tower behind them, two red dots flickering into existence a moment later. One in each tower... that one is here, so the other one is... "Is that the bridge?"

"Excellent." The general murmured, then he nodded, pointing at its position in the second tower just beyond the connecting bridge between towers. "Yeah, that's the main bridge. This one here can control basic movement and other procedures... but the main bridge has an enormous screen connected to maybe twenty or thirty protected cameras outside the ship that create an image of everything in and around the front of the ship. It's even better than standard navigation, to be honest, because the control room is not only protected from attack, it also has a view of everything around it â€" not just what's straight ahead."

Zerrex nodded, frowning a bit, before he glanced at the general and said mildly: "So the idea is that if I destroy the main bridge... some override will kick in and you'll be able to control everything from here."

"That's the plan." The wolverine nodded and grinned a bit, taking his cigar out of his mouth and tossing it away as the wildcat below them gave a groan and began to get um, then he drew his handgun and fired three times into the feline's back, his body twitching before he fell still, a puddle of blood slowly spreading out from under his stomach. "Never liked the fucker much... anyway, I'm going to use the cameras to look from your family, and I'll set off an alarm telling all soldiers to scramble for the rear magnetic disc. In a ship that's three and a half miles long, it's the best diversion you could hope for."

"Thanks, general." Zerrex said, smiling slightly, then he paused and met Griswold's eyes, asking quietly: "So is this your last blaze of glory or something?"

The wolverine paused for a moment, then he slid another cigar out of his sidepack, coughing a few times before shoving it into his muzzle, chewing on the end of it reflectively. "I'm old. And someone has to launch the submarines from here, even during emergencies... it's a failsafe system to stop anyone from abusing the privilege, so to speak. The whole reason I came out here was to do what I could, anyway... not for you, not for Lunis, but for my country." Griswold straightened at this, adding coldly: "The old Ire, not this new Republic shithole that's too scared of fighting a war, of playing the game, because it presents a challenge, and much prefers to sit on its fat ass and turn out arrogant pricks instead of real military.

"You, Zerrex, are a piece of old Ire." The wolverine said mildly, as he pulled a match out of his pocket and flicked it alight against one of his war medals, then he lit up his cigar as Zerrex looked at him dryly. "You're well-trained, adept, experienced, and in a word, strong. Like I always said, you were one of my favorite recruits... and even though I feel you probably won't get much older than you are now, you've lived a life I envy. One of action instead of words and privilege.

"Now get the fuck out of here before I sound the alarm on you." The wolverine growled, leaning forwards and blowing a puff of acrid smoke over Zerrex's face, as the Drakkaren tried to repress a smile. "Go on, maggot, get!"

"Sir!" Zerrex snapped off a salute, and the general looked startled before the reptile strode off towards the elevator, hitting the button and then glancing over his shoulder as the wolverine struck his own salute in return, meeting Zerrex's eyes before the Drakkaren stepped into the elevator, and the doors slipped closed.

The Drakkaren hit "3" on the control panel, smiling to himself as he thought he could faintly hear the rusty laughter of the general, and then he pulled his sword off his back as the elevator quickly rose, then opened silently on the third floor, the reptile walked out and immediately swinging his massive sword to the side to behead a soldier even as an alarm began to go off, and several other soldiers yelled and ran as Zerrex thought calmly: And the slaughter begins.