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Biker Mice from Mars

In

Shattered Freedom

Chapter 20

By: Whipblade

Authors note : Previously in Shattered Freedom 18, Throttle was renamed Roark by Keifire.

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"The weak are eaten alive." Tailgate joked as he started to bench presses so much weight that Throttle, er Roark thought that the bar was going to give. "It's a common misconception, most of the personnel that runs both ours and the girl prison stations are Wrangler Five'ers, gentle decent folks."

Throttle continued with the cardio exercises, while listening to his cell mates chatter.

"They're like Mars prisons, tend to keep us all in separate cages, I can understand their reluctance to put you alone tho." Tailgate gave a grunt hoisting the bar back to its resting spot.

Throttle didn't stop, just glowered at the bronze mouse.

The exercise room doors opened and in marched another 20 prisoners. This confused Throttle, they only been there for thirty minutes.

"Ahh, this would be the cell block above us." Tailgate smirked. "Some friendly chaps, most of them are from Ruby and Brimstone City."

Throttle nodded as Keifire walked over to the two. "Roark, how about sparing?"

Throttle paused thinking on that, but declined with a shake of his head.

"Your loss." Keifire smirked bounding away to convince someone else to spar.

Tailgate started on the heavy punching bag, right near Throttle. "Of all the lousy luck." The bronze mouse cursed as two others strolled over.

"Hey, Tailgate, who's your new pal?" a tall dark brown mouse asked, he carried Karbunkle's' scars like a badge of honor.

"Blockade, this is Roark." Tailgate introduced.

Throttle looked over the chocolate brown mouse. Blockade's right side of his head was completely metal, probily one of the last creations of the twisted doctor before the Plutarkians pulled off Mars. His left arm and leg too were bionic, along with his chest and abs and tail. Throttle didn't realize he was staring.

"Yeah, I know I look funny." Blockade growled dangerously low, eyeing the new mouse with interest. "But you look like you haven't slept for a week."

Responding with a nod and a shrug, Throttle almost recognized the mouse, even with the robotic type voice. "I've been away from the war for too long." he thought.

"He's a Freedom Fighter!" Keifire called up from the sparring ring, where Road Rage seemed to have been Keifire's victim.

Blockade smiled. "Freedom Fighter! You should have said something bro." The brown mouse went to pat Throttle on the shoulder only to have the tawny jump back. The motion was fluid, but unexpected.

The large gray mouse shook his head. "Name's Road Block. Army General." he extended his hand out to the tawny mouse.

Throttle took it with a wary smile. "Fif.." was all Throttle could manage to say before rubbing his throat.

Road Block smirked. "Fifth batallion, yup. We fell at Brimestone, had a good foot hold too, until the government ordered a retreat." he scrowled. "Scabbard didn't even wait for the rest of us before ducking out like a yellow belly coward."

Throttle smiled his pink eyes again gazed at Blockade.

"What?" The brown mouse was getting annoyed at the tawny one.

Throttle's ears lowered and his head, he knew the mouse, he just couldn't figure how.

"Look, you want the truth, I'm one of the last experiments Karbunkle carried out" he sighed. "Another damn year and that twisted creep would have completed exactly what he wanted to do."

"Cyborgs" Throttle managed the word with struggle. His eyes widened. The doctor COULD do that then that could only leave the WHY hasn't he.......unless... Sweet Mars!

"Yup, a whole army under his control." Blockade confirmed.

Road Block frowned. "Am I mising something?"

Tailgate smirked. "Hey, your first word."

Roark gave a meek smile to Tailgate; he stood listening to the three other mice.

"Yeah, like ussual." Blockade snarled. "Karbunkle perfected his mouse/machine techniques just before the Plutarkians left Mars."

"So?"

"So! The next planet the Plutarkians invade, it'll take a lot less time for Karbunkle to create an army for the stink-fish." Blockade grunted.

"Riff....." Whispering the name softly Throttle suddenly realized the whole picture. 'Rat-Stein wanted the cross breeds to have an army of gentecially engineered Martians,...' The tawny leaned against the gray wall_. 'With an age accelerator, an army could be manufactured! Include Karbunkle's technology and ability, that'd leave Earth open to battle in masses of the likes of Modo, and this Blockade mouse/thing..._

Road Block crossed his arms. "I think you broke his head." He grumbled to Blockade.

"Naw looks like he's putting together a massive puzzle in his head." Blockade replied.

'Rat-stein is dead. But Karbunkle was back and forth to Plutark and Mars. That could mean Vincent and I were the targets to help create the hybreds. Once Vinnie escaped than only I was left.

'Both labs would have been severally thrashed during the rescue attempt. Nothing would have survived. But Karbunkle wasn't on Earth during that battle, according to Charley, so... if he wasn't there...... maybe he already collected the samples and started to alter them someplace else.

So why hadn't they surfaced before hand?'

"Bah! Enough of this, who's up for some arm wrestling?" A brown and gray patchy mouse hollered from somewhere near the middle of the exercise yard, an arm wrestling table near by.

"Looks like Strife's' bored again." Road Block smiled turning away. "YO! Strife" With a wave the gray Army mouse wandered away.

"I'm putting my bet down before they're too much of a crowd." Tailgate chuckled. "Always bet on Road Block, he hasn't lost anything yet."

Throttle nodded watching his cellmate enter the crowd of betting mice. Yawning, the tawny mouse turned his head to see Blockade still there.

"You haven't slept much have you?" the metallic voice mocked.

Narrowing his eyes, Throttle turned away and ventured closer to the two sparring mice in a small roped ring. He could feel the red lenses following him.

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The large starship known as Blood Claw docked between the two stations. Extended tunnels hooked the cargo bays to the right and left airlocks.

"Admiral Dark Wolfe, It would save time if I and another crew member meet with the left prison officials while you're dealing with the right prison officials." Lance said as he hurried behind the large wolfs strides.

The Admiral didn't stop as he mulled over the smaller canines words. "Very well, take that rat over there."

Tweak looked up stunned. "Uh, yes sir." He saluted the Admiral as he passed. Falling in step with Lance the Chief Medical Surgeon and psychiatrist cleared his throat. "What am I doing now?"

"Coming with me to help get the Martian Mice back to Mars." Lance whispered.

"You know I can't speak anything close to Wrangler language, right?" Tweak reminded as they entered the left air locked tunnel.

"I know." Lance muttered.

Dark Wolfe and Domino entered the right air locked tunnel.

Once on the other side of the air lock, Lance and Tweak stood in front of two Roos and one Emu.

"Pleasure to meet you both, I'm Ezra, this is Carruth and Coatl." The Emu chirped.

"I'm Lance, Commander of the Duo Scythe. This is Tweak, Psychiatrist and surgeon. Are you aware of the Plutarkian Occupation on Mars?"

"We are aware of the Plutarkian war on Mars." Ezra chirped.

"Mars is no longer under Plutarkian occupation, the planet has joined under an Ikkywara trade agreement." Lance stated in the Wrangler's language.

"Have they joined the 'Wara?"Carruth asked in his native tongue.

"Not yet, they've only just became aware of the Ikkywara about a year ago."Lance said.

Tweak sighed, he couldn't understand what the Wrangler's or Lance was saying. He just stood quietly with a smile on his face. 'I should have paid attention to Ma'ze's Wrangler language lessons.' he scolded himself.

"Our doors are always open to the Ikkywara."Ezra smiled. "I believe there are 750 mice in total on this station."

"Seven hundred and fifty two."Coatl corrected in his native tongue. Like Tweak, he had yet to master anything more than two languages, although he was able to understand minimal English words.

Ezra tilted his long neck to better see the red roo. "Two?"

"A new arrival last night and one transfer from the female prison. A youth turned fifteen." Coatl elaborated to Ezra.

"Leaving six hundred and ninety seven on the other station."Carruth stated.

Speaking in English, the Doberman gasped. "Fourteen hundred and forty nine Mice?" Lance couldn't believe the number; he was hoping it to be much higher

"Martians. There are canines, rats and mice."Ezra stated in his unique chirps. "Our latest arrival is a cause for concern however. He's in poor physical health."

"How poor?" Lance asked worried.

Coatl understood some English, like a few words the mice often used. "X-stream-ly" he managed.

Lance turned to Tweak. "Throttle's in bad shape."

Burrows furrowed deeply, Tweak sighed. "We should get to him first."

"Are we able to collect the sicker ones first?" Lance asked.

"Where is the sick mouse?" Ezra asked Coatl.

"195, Cell block D, Row 19, 5th one in."Coatl replied. "Cell block D and G are in the recreation room."

Lance nodded."As soon as we can get to them the better."

*******************

A female Roo and Emu greeted Domino and Dark Wolfe. "I'm Atzi, this is Centehua." The Emu chirped.

"Dark Wolfe,"he bowed. "This is Domino."

Domino bowed her head.

"Most of the prisoners are ones we've taken off the Plutarkians fins. All the ones here are healthy and in excellent physical shape. However, there are several prisoners who lack the desired social skills, but none of them have proven to be more than Prisoners of War." Atzi stated in her soft chirps.

Dark Wolfe nodded. "I see. There is a reason why you are keeping them here?"

"We Wranglers play both sides of the war. Mars had no 'Wara standings, we naturally took these creatures off the Plutarkians and various slavers."

"Any reason why the Plutarkians wanted just these ones?" Domino inquired.

"The ones transported here by accrual Plutarkians were schedule for extraction and cyber-genetics manipulation, the rest, brought here by a known pirate named Deep Pocket." Centehua supplied.

"Deep Pocket?"Dark Wolfe hummed.

"Also known as Mace." Atzi smiled.

"Mace...."Growling the name Damian was starting to see the point of Lance's self-made mission.

Centehua nodded unsure of Deep Pockets words now. "They were to be held until further notice." She ruffled her feathers.

"What about now?"Domino chirped sounding more like a dying cat than anything.

"The Martians are yours for the taking, if the Ikkywara holds ground in the Milky-Way; we shall refuse to aid the Plutarkians in that system."Atzi smiled.

"We'll round up the prisoners and lead them here for you."Centehua stated. "It may take a few hours to ensure all Martian's exit of our facility."

"We'll prepare everything aboard the ship for them."Dark Wolfe said.

"Should I stay here?"Domino inquired.

"Not necessary."Atzi smiled. "Ensure your presence in thirty minutes. We'll have the first Cell block down here."

"Thank you so much, Centehua, Atzi."Dark Wolfe bowed to each before leaving.

***************************

Watching Keifire go through yet another Army official, Throttle started to ponder if he should try a little hand to hand with one of the fallen. He didn't feel up to taking Keifire on while still battered from Mace's crew.

A bell rang. Pulling Throttle out of his thoughts and pondering the answers to all his questions.

"Back to our cells?" Keifire watched the guards seemingly to hurry them. "odd." He jumped down from the ring, his wild orange and red hair tussled and soaked in sweat.

"I'ara" Throttle gurgled.

"Ira?" Keifire wiped the sweat off his brow. "Your name?"

Shaking his head no Throttle sighed tryin' to make a proper sound. "I ck ara"

"Ikywara?" Keifire asked gathered by the door with Throttle and the others.

"What's that?" Bolt asked Keifire, standing nearby.

"Some sort of vigilante group who fights Plutarkians and other species who invade galaxies for profit."

"Where'd you hear that from?" Tailgate asked as the guards lined them up, roos and koalas alike.

"Over heard some guards talking during a shower." Keifire answered with a shrug.

"Think their here now?" Blockade asked coming up from behind Tailgate.

"I'm guessing that's what Roark thinks." Tailgate replied.

Throttle nodded his head in agreement.

An announcement boomed overhead. Throttle stared hard at the speaker box above the door, trying to understand.

"Anything you've managed to acquire during your stay, please pack it into one of the two clear bags provided." Tailgate translated for Roark. "Each cell block will be evacuated one at a time. This is not an emergency or a drill." The old gray mouse with white whiskers on his snout continued to translate as they followed the guards. "Remain calm, and follow all instructions provided by the guards."

"Geez, with a message like that it's hard not to think it's an emergency." Gin said as he carefully trotted up the stairs with the others.

"The guards aren't in any rush, or panicked. If it was an emergency we wouldn't be going back to our cells to collect what meager belongings we've obtained." Road Block pointed out.

"Kinda sounds.... Like..." Bolt swallowed hard. "Like we're being released."

"Fat chance." Blockade huffed.

Throttle smiled as he followed Tailgate.

**************************

Lance and Tweak looked about the cargo hold that now housed Duo Scythe's crew. "Ma'ze?" Lance called sniffing the air for his friends scent.

"Over here Lance!" Ma'ze called waving from a far corner.

Tweak and Lance hurried over to Ma'ze who stood up, a crate and map behind him.

"Who's over seeing the injured?" Tweak asked suddenly as he spotted Hummer with a bandaged arm walking about the cargo bay.

"Ratchet is with Blood Claws medical crew- he's taking count of the injured. Jade volunteered along with a couple of Blood Claws crew to gather the deceased from Duo." Ma'ze stated.

In a low voice Tweak asked softly "Any word on how many we lost?"

"So far, seven engineering crew, eight others are still unaccounted for and two bodies have been brought off Duo."

"Who?" Lance frowned.

"Lee and Taco. Bruno is over there, but Brutus is among the missing."

"How is Paige?" Tweak swallowed unsure if he wanted to know.

"She got pounded by some furniture, broken bones, a concussion, she should be alright." Ma'ze stated. "Ivy and the human are fine along with Riff. Modo and Vinnie are tending to them."

Relief filled both Tweak and Lance.

"Thanks Magazine. I knew leaving you to sort this out was a good idea."

"That's what a sub-commander is for." Ma'ze winked. "Now, why are you here?" he asked turning back to the crate.

"We're about to have company, we need these cargo holds, is there enough room on this ship for us?" Lance asked the brindle rat in ripped clothing.

Ma'ze stood over the crate, a map spread before him with the layout of Blood Claw. "For us to have cabins? Yeah, but it'll be a tight squeeze."

"How tight?" Tweak asked looking over the color-coded map.

"The red is available space, enough for a small to medium starship crew to fit. With Duo being a Class 8 Vindicator, and too big to fit in the docking bays, space is limited and spread out. Just how much company are we expecting?" Ma'ze inquired.

"1,459 Martians." Tweak sighed heavily.

"Alright, I can push Vinnie in with Throttle and Riff. Lance if we double you up with me, then the medics can pair up or let Paige have her own and triple up..."

"When Paige is well enough, she could be paired up with Jade. They get along alright." Tweak suggested.

"I'm writing this down." Twitch stated as he sat perched a top another crate close by.

"Hey kid, how's the cuts?" Tweak asked eying the couple bandages.

"Just wide shallow scrapes." Twitch shrugged writing down who's to go where. "Can I be with Clip and Chip?" he asked looking down at Lance.

"Sure, Chip can tell you all the boring stories I've already heard a thousand times." Clip chuckled as he passed by having heard the youngest crewmember.

"Thanks Clip!" he called out as the rat walked past with a handful of supplies from Duo.

"We can turn these three cargo bays into some resemblance of a hangout. The seven or so meeting rooms can also be used for sleeping arrangements." Lance pointed out to the rooms across and down the hall.

"Is there enough beds on this ship?" Twitch inquired seeing the strange metal and fur canine enter the cargo bay.

"Almost every room has a pull out couch, those who have less than three occupants can sacrifice the couch down here." Admiral Wolfe stated.

"Admiral." The group saluted.

Damian rolled his blue eye. "Commander Lance, Officers." He nodded. "Salutes are unnecessary, as is calling me Admiral, I'd prefer Dark Wolfe."

"Yes sir." The group echoed.

Dark Wolfe smirked. "Anything you need, please see Domino or RJ, he's the raccoon over there." He pointed.

"Thank you Mister Dark Wolfe." Twitch smiled as the Admiral met up with a large scaled winged creature that looked like a dragon of sorts.

"Well, we better get Duo's crew out of here before they're lost among the prisoners." RJ said his sly demeanor and silky smooth voice had yet to win him many friends.

"Prisoners?" Vicky hummed. "I don't think anyone will be pleased with calling them that." The soft red vixen hummed. "Mice?"

"There's more than just mice, and Martians seem to be an over rated word, for some odd reason." Dark Wolfe grumbled.

"I believe it has more to do with Earth influencing the Martians culture." RJ injected.

"Perhaps." Dark Wolfe eyed the small raccoon.

"Rescue's?" Vicky pondered.

"Reds?" RJ piped up.

"How about just who they are?" Twitch snapped from his vantage point over hearing the conversation. "Like our names" He growled darkly not caring whom he was talking to, these were his people.

"Take it easy Twitch." Ma'ze patted the boys leg. "They're trying to help."

"Yeah, by labels." Twitch huffed. "Everything has to have a label."

"Now now, sarcasm isn't necessary." Ma'ze's mismatched eyes pleaded with the boy. "Calm down, Vinnie's overly high strung temper is enough."

Twitch crossed his arms, his silver eyes glaring at Dark Wolfe and his posse.

Dark Wolfe sighed turning to Commander Lance. "Are all Martians this temperamental?"

"Afraid so, Throttle is the worst with his mood swings, but Vinnie is more unpredictable in behavior."

Eyeing the reddish rat with silver eyes in an Ikkywara uniform, Dark Wolfe pondered a moment before looking back down at the Doberman beside him. "Is Throttle the mouse you have among the prisoners?"

"yes."

"I'd like him and RJ to be the runners between us and them."

"Like an ambassador?" Lance's ears shot up.

"Exactly." Dark Wolfe nodded turning his back to the smaller canine and walked away.

"Throttle's got to be debriefed and then re-briefed." Tweak stated walking up to Lance's side.

"Before or after his panic over Riff and Duo's battle damage?" Lance muttered.

"After ......" Tweak sighed heavily. "Let's not tell him Mace has been taken captive."

"I haven't told any of the mice yet, but Modo already met Mercedes." Lance said.

"Who?"

"The female mouse that came over with Mace."

"oh....."

"After Duo was rolled."

"oh...."

"She seemed talkative."

"Crap." Tweak groaned spotting Blood Claw's crew starting to gather everyone up. "Well, Ma'ze seems to have made an impact with them about the rooms."

"Yeah.... Okay." Shaking his head trying to clear it Lance focused. "Let's get my crew moved out of here and into proper rooms."

*****************

Throttle swallowed hard as Coatl lead him and Tailgate along with a few others down the halls towards the registration booth.

The rest of the Mice were waiting for further instructions. No one knew why the five mice were separated from the others. Hearing cheering and cell doors unlatching and opening behind them, the few mice knew the others were being released.

"wh... whe....we?" Throttle rasped his throat not feeling much better.

Coatl dug what appeared to be a candy package out of his pocket. Popping one out of it's' foil wrapper, he sucked on the candy before offering one to the sick tawny mouse.

Throttle dug himself out a piece. Coatl offered one to each of the mice who in turned thanked him. The cool mint candy soothed Throttle's throat enough. "Thanks."

Coatl chirped nodding his head.

Alone, Coatl stopped at a large airlock, he looked at Throttle, resting his paw on the tawny's slightly boney shoulder, he pressed a button.

The door whoosh opened only to reveal.... A really big scary looking canine with dark fur, white streaks in his hair, metal eyes and an Ikkywara uniform.

Throttle backed up only to have Coatl hold him against him, making soft chirping noises.

"Shit, you're huge." Tailgate grunted.

"Admiral Dark Wolfe of the Ikkywara Space Fleet, commander of Blood Claw." He nodded slightly to the lower class group of mice.

Swallowing the candy, Throttle didn't move, frozen to the spot. This beast of metal and fur and huge size was Ikkywarian, but....

"Throttle?" Lance called walking around Dark Wolfe.

"Lan..sh" Throttle ran straight for the smaller canine wrapping his arms around the Ikkywarian and hugging the dog like he was his life line.

Lance hugged Throttle. "I'm sorry, so sorry you had to go through that." Stroking the tawny's' hair Lance just held the mouse he was sure would pass out.

Leaning away from the big scary metal-wolf, Throttle kept his arms around Lance, as the Doberman lead him through the cargo hold. "It'll be filled with the occupants from the two prisons soon enough. I'll take you to see the medics before Riff."

Throttle mutely nodded. Looking back over his shoulder he saw the orange-eyed guard, Coatl. "Thank you." He whispered softly.

Turning, Lance smiled at the guard. "Thank you Coatl!" he chirped in the Wranglers language.

Coatl smiled and waved bye as the dog took the ill mouse.

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To Be Continued......

Whipblade 2007

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