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That's right, after a very long delay Into the Horizon is back. This chapter has no yiff, but is adult for blood and gore. Feel free to let me know what you think. I would like to give a special thanks to Dasher Cheetah. He helped me bring this chapter to life and find a way to continue the series.

Into the Horizon: Power Challenged Part 1

Admiral Black stood on the bridge of his command ship, the Excalibur. He and his fleet were heading to the resistance home base to confront the enemy at the center of their power. Intelligence had shown that their Commander Bane, was suffering from some health problems. Exactly what those problems were was not something that was known. However, the resistance had shown signs of weakening in their efforts due to whatever was wrong with him. Lord Whitepaw, the new emperor of the Wolf Empire, decided that the time was right for a direct attack. With their leader down, the resistance would be much less organized than they normally were. Their strength thus far had been Bane's leadership; he had been responsible for the conversion of Admiral Williams and the death of Admiral Ulra. Thus far, the empire had lost two fleets, one had defected to Bane's side, and the other was destroyed. Finally, the data core had been recovered and the base destroyed. Because of Bane's leadership, the resistance had beaten the empire at every turn, and had even managed to capture some of the outlying territory for themselves.

This concerned the Admiral. As much as he wanted a victory, and knew the empire needed a victory, at what cost would it come? He didn't mind fleet losses, in fact he had made his name on them. However, he didn't like to lose them without a purpose. Like a game of chess, losses were acceptable, so long as the ultimate goal of winning was achieved. He knew Lord Whitepaw was underestimating the enemy's capability to defend themselves, however the responsibility for the planning of the attack had been placed on his shoulders, furthermore he would not receive assistance from the empire, and there would be no backup. This was mainly because there was none available. The other fleet was engaging the human and fox empires. There were two more fleets being constructed but there would be some time before they were ready for battle.

With a heavy sigh, he turned away and gave command of the bridge to Captain Devin Lopez. The good captain was a brave wolf, from a family with a long tradition of military service. He saluted the admiral and began walking around the bridge assessing their current condition. Black smiled as he stepped into his office. He was fond of the young wolf, although he would never tell Devin that. Admiral Black had earned a dark reputation among the wolf empire. He was the one who was sent when nobody else could or would do the job. He was ruthless in the pursuit of his goals, and losses did not matter to him. Should it suit his purpose, he would permit entire ships to be destroyed so that the goal would be accomplished. The soldiers who survived serving under him were the best of the best; they had to be in order to survive. Black sat at his desk and looked through his plan.

There would be a two pronged assault on the base, one on ground and one from space. He had heard rumors it was equipped with a massive space gun, but these were as yet, just rumors. Nonetheless he had spy's in place to provide information and arrange sabotage to deal with the situation should one exist. The plans for the base had long been lost so all he had was second hand information on it. He did not like this, but did not have a choice. He would be flying in blind. The second front would be a ground assault. He would occupy the base's defenses with the space assault, and then invade from land. He knew it was a sound plan; however, there were still a number of unknowns. There was not anything known about the inside defenses, the idea of a space cannon scared him, and he didn't know how many ships would be in the area. He also did not know how many, if any, ships would come to their defense from the human and fox empires. It was known that there were several factions that were interested in joining the resistance. They had become popular whereas the wolf empire was their common enemy. In fact, the entire galaxy was slowly forming against the wolves. He had sat in on a meeting with the emperor, where he had been warned of this threat. The emperor's only response was that all enemies of the wolf empire would be shown no mercy. The emperor was over confidant in the wolf empire's military power and everybody, including the enemy, now knew it. He stood up and walked to the window of his office and watched as the ship flew through open space toward the coming battle. So much had happened since the war had started. He had earned a very bad reputation and for the most part it was justified. He had done and ordered some terrible things be carried out. He had the blood of many on his paws.

He examined his reflection in the glass. His jet-black fur and green eyes made him look very intimidating. He had a scar running across his left eyes; the memory of that scar still haunted him. He looked down at his paws. There was so much blood on them, so many regrets. He did not even know where to start with them, but none of it mattered. He was a loyal subject of the empire. He would see the empire victorious regardless of the personal cost to him or the soldiers in his command. They would be victorious over the scum who had dared to revolt against the power of the wolf empire. He would capture Bane to be brought before the emperor, if he could. If not, he would make sure the leader of the alliance died, and the threat to the wolf's victory died with him.

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Bane sat in his office, he was preparing for a meeting with his Chief of Defense, Admiral Bill Williams and his Moral Officer, Dasher Cheetah. Bane chuckled for a moment at the kitty's last name. It amused him slightly, but Dasher did not mind being poked fun at. Granted, that was as long as other poking needs were taken care of as well. He had grown very close to the gentle feline, in fact the entire base had. He would walk though the base and talk with the crew. He always had time for them no matter what he was involved in and that care had earned him much respect. Granted there were a few exceptions to this rule. Bill was also very fond of him, but their relationship had become strained as of late and Bill had grown distant from everybody except Bane.

Bane knew the reason; there was a lot on Bill's mind. Though his injuries suffered at the hands of Ulra had healed, the scars she had left on his spirit had not. Dasher had rescued him from that and even sat with Bill thru his physical recovery; the emotional wounds were not something the cheetah had not been able to help with. Bill was concerned about the wolf empire; rather he was worried about Lord Whitepaw. Bane was very curious about this character, and that was one of the topics of the meeting. As Bane became increasingly lost in this thoughts, Bill and Dasher walked into the room. Bane laughed to himself as an all too familiar scent flowed into the room with them. Bane gave them a knowing smile as the cheetah blushed through his fur. Bane began the meeting by saying, "Gentlemen, thank you for coming. Before we get to the messy details, I first have something I've wanted to do for a while now." Dasher smiled and replied, "if you wanted to fuck me all you had to do was ask." This brought laughter from the room as Bane shook his head. "No my kitty, this is something much more formal." Bane stood and pulled out a badge from his desk. Stepping around it to stand in front of the grinning cheetah, Bane said in his best command voice, "Dasher Cheetah, for performing duties above and beyond what you are assigned, I hereby promote you to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, with all the rights and privileges thereof." Bane clamped his hand on the shoulder of the smiling cat and smiled back," Dasher, you have become an invaluable member of this crew, thank you." Dasher stepped forward, wrapped his arms around Banes neck, and embraced him in a deep, passionate kiss. After they broke for air Bane grinned widely and commented, "Somebody wants' a promotion." This provided more laughter, as did Dasher's groping of the commanding wolf and his subsequent tented pants. Dasher whispered to Bane, "We can have a 'staff ' meeting later but for now, you should take care of this assembled staff, first." Bane chuckled and nodded, returning his attention to the meeting he had called.

After everybody was seated and a serious atmosphere was reestablished in the room, the meeting progressed. Bill began his explanation of Lord Whitepaw. The wolf was the son of Leo and Roxanne Whitepaw. They were members of the ruling family of the wolf empire and had been for generations. Leo Whitepaw had been a peaceful emperor, however shortly before the war started he had become ill. It was a result of age. Therefore, his son, Lord Whitepaw, had stepped up and begun ruling the empire in his place. Lord Whitepaw had quickly made a name for himself as a harsh ruler. Leo had then died and Lord Whitepaw was officially crowned as emperor. After that they began an aggressive campaign against the two empires. Until the trio had appeared, the wolf empire was within a month of victory.

Bane sat and absorbed this information, he knew he had affected the course of the war, but not to the extent that was now evident. Because of this, now Lord Whitepaw would have his sights set on destroying the resistance. They had cost the empire much, and stood in the way of the empires victory.

As the meeting progressed, various things were discussed including base security. Scott had successfully gotten the cannon online and the security fields were up and running. Neither were battle tested, but in theory they would work. As the three were talking, an aide ran into the room with a panicked expression on his face. "Commander Bane! A fleet of 15 wolf battleships just entered the system and they are headed for us." This caught Bane off guard, he hadn't expected them so soon. Grimly he took charge and ordered, "Send out an alert to our fleet, get them back here as soon as possible. Go to red alert, bring the valley cannon online and charge the security fields. Prepare to seal the base off." The aide ran from the room and began carrying out Bane's orders. There was only three ships at the base and they were no match for an entire fleet. Bill stood up and said, "Bane, I'm going to lead the fight from on the ships. If we stand a snowballs chance in hell of surviving this, its going to be with an experienced and battle tested commander in charge of those forces." Bane opened his mouth to argue, but soon realized that first, it was pointless to argue with Bill and second he was right. If they were to win this, somebody with experience needed to be leading the fight. Bill ran off leaving Dasher and Bane alone. Bane sighed and laid his head onto his desk. Dasher walked around and wrapped his arms around Bane. He looked up at the kitty, his eyes displayed the worry running in him. Dasher smiled and hugged Bane tightly. "You'll bring us through this, Bane. I know you won't let us down." With that Dasher left to make his preparations. He wanted the metal claws Ron had made, just in case they were needed.

Bane got up and did a walk-through of the base; this would be the ultimate test. This would be the biggest assault ever on the base and he needed to see that everything was in order for it.

Scott stood in the weapon vault. The space gun had been used one time and tested a few more, however it had never been used in as big of a battle as was coming. Scott walked to the main control room of the weapon vault. Sitting at the computer console, he began to run diagnostics on the system. The battle fleet was two hours from the base, and it was time to get the weapon ready.

The shield had already been brought online, now it was time for the gun. Scott's hands danced across the keys. The roof began to retract and the gun slowly rose from its vault. The power systems began to come online, and it was then that Scott noticed a problem.

The gun worked off of a massive capacitor that stored up power from the gun's main power supply. This allowed for more rapid firing. While insulating the base power grid from massive energy fluctuations when the gun was fired. The problem was, that it was storing power but the device that should have stopped the incoming power, once the capacitor was fully charged, was not working! If it continued, the gun's power system would overload and explode. Scott was reaching for the abort button when a sharp pain in the back of his head made the room go black. Scott awoke to find himself tied to a chair. A cold voice came from somewhere in the room, but where he didn't know yet. It said, "I never expected to get the gun, AND you. How fortunate you delivered yourself into my hands. Now I get the gun and the man." " W-who are you," asked Scott nervously. The sinister voice replied, "My identity is of little importance. In a few minutes the gun will reach overload and resulting explosion will take you and the rest of this pathetic rebellion with it." Scott tugged at his restraints only to find they wouldn't budge. He found his arms were tied to the chair he was in. The owner of the voice walked into the light. Not surprisingly he found it to be a wolf. The wolf walked over to Scott and looked him in the face. He said gloatingly, "You and your pathetic rebellion are dead." It was at this point that Scott realized a mistake the wolf had made. He hadn't tied Scott's feet to the chair.

With one powerful swift kick, he sent the wolf flying into the wall. A broken piece of pipe, that had been left from a hasty repair, pierced the wolf through the chest. A look of shock turned to defeat filled his face as blood dripped from the wound. As he looked down in disbelief, his life quickly drained away.

Scott then began assessing his situation. He was tied with simple rope, which after he shifted and got his pocket knife out wasn't that much of a problem. Scott looked over the control panel and realized there was little he could do to stop the overload from happening. The power system of the gun was building to an overload and he couldn't stop it, BUT he could save the base. He quickly re-routed all control systems to the gun control room and locked out external control. Setting the shield up around the section, he then sealed the vault and took a seat in his chair. The intercom lit up and Bane's voice came through, "Scott what's going on? Why have you taken control of the base?" Working frantically, Scott yelled back, "Bane, the gun's gonna blow! I am doing what I can to save you and the base. Listen because I don't have much time, and it will blow any minute. A wolf double agent sabotaged the weapon. I love you Bane but you are going to have to go on without me. I give my life gladly, so that you will live. Bane! I lo-"... With that, the system went critical and the gun exploded. The shield contained the explosion and protected the rest of the base, however Scott was vaporized, and the shield emitters were burned out. The blast shook the entire base.

Bane stood in the control room in disbelief about what had just happened. The alliance had just lost a good man but most importantly, Bane had just lost his mate! As he stood there in stunned disbelief, alarms went off signaling intruders in the base. "Sir!", Reported one of the officers at the security control station, "Fifteen wolf battleships just entered orbit of the planet and three troop landing ships have uncloaked to begin atmospheric entry. It appears they are heading for a landing to begin off loading soldiers in the crater of the gun." That reminded Bane of what he had lost there. He sternly clamped a lid on the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. He knew if he let his grief take hold, it would drown him and the base, as well as all they had worked for, would be lost. He couldn't let Scott's sacrifice be made in vain. He just could not dishonor his mate's gift and memory that way. "Shit," yelled Bane, "Sound red alert! They'll take this base over my dead body." A snarl appeared on his lip and a fire kindled in his eye. Once again, the wolves had struck a blow against him and he was not going to let it go unanswered. He would not only defend this base, he was going to make them PAY! Bane began shouting orders to his officers, directing defenses be set up, shields raised and weapons issued. No one had expected an attack to come so soon. There was too much to do but they would defend the base with everything they had.

Then a message came in that Bill had engaged the space fleet and was somehow holding his own. "Thank god for that at least.",Bane thought. His anger was growing by the second and he ached to be out there, committing mayhem and killing the invaders! Dasher ran into the control room, tears streaming from his eyes. "Bane," he sobbed out, "is Scott...?" The gentle kitty couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence however Bane knew the question and nodded sadly that he was indeed gone. The look of sorrow turned into one of cold hatred and fury. "Dash, I want revenge too but right now we have to concentrate on the task at hand," Bane told him. Dasher displayed his metal claws that Ron had made him and said coldly, "lead the way." Bane turned control over to his second in command, picked up two blasters and ran to the breach. The two friends walked side by side into battle. It was the first time that both of them had fought side by side and certainly the first time that they had fought with such stakes on the line. Bane walked into the battle and surveyed the scene. Troops were pouring in through the gap left by the blast, it must be sealed or they would lose the base. He grabbed his communicator and took cover as blaster's sang out into the spot where he had previously been. "Ron, come in Ron." Ron answered, "Whats up Bane?" "We need shields soon or we'll lose the base." "I'm on it," replied the obviously distraught fox, "Give me a few minutes, and I'll have main shields up again." Bane then looked at the kitty, "How do you want to do this Dasher?" "Well, I figured we would use your running in guns blasting method.", Dasher answered with a grim smile. Bane thought for a moment then nodded and readied his blasters as he said, "Works for me." The two ran into the battle side by side. The sight of an angry wolf was nothing the attacking wolves were not used to seeing but the thing at his side was like nothing any had ever seen before. Bane's blasters sang out as he ducked behind cover, making quick work of the invading wolves. Bodies began piling up, smoke rising from charred burns and blood spreading outwards.

Dasher's black spotted, yellow form streaked through attacking soldiers. His bladed paws slashing out repeatedly, slicing them down as he went. Sun light shone from the metal blades, arcs of crimson blood spraying everywhere in his wake. Bodies and body parts fell and flew everywhere, splattering the attackers with gore from their falling comrades. This was not war like any of them had ever seen before. This was slaughter and horror of a degree none could have imagined. The scent of burned fur and flesh, blood and entrails filled the air. It turned one's stomach and whether or not they turned to be sick or kept on fighting, made no difference to Bane or Dasher. For what they had done, no quarter or surrender was allowed. The ground forces were to be wiped out, to the very last wolf. Bane and Dasher were going to make sure of that. The alliance troops watched the scene with a renewed appreciation for the skills of the two friends turned warriors. Never before had anyone seen such ferocity or carnage! Soon after it began, the base's main shield went up preventing any more troops from reinforcing the doomed landing party.

It didn't take long for Bane and Dasher to finish off the survivors. When the noise and smoke cleared, Bane and Dasher stood back to back. Bane's blasters were glowing from the heat of firing them and Dasher was covered head to toe in the blood of his slain enemies. The look of satisfaction on both their faces was the most frightening. The survivors on the other side of the shield looked upon the pair, silently thanking their gods that they were on the other side of the barrier. From these few left alive would come stories of Bane the invincible and his pet demon. Dasher stood with his metal claws dripping the blood of the enemy. The base then shook as the space fleet opened fire on the shield. Ron had bought them some time, but how much they didn't know. Bane made his way out of the blood filled crater and looked at one of the awed staff members who had watched the fight. "Get a team down here and set up a security field, then seal this corridor off. It's only a matter of time until the shield falls.", Bane said, then headed back to the control room to assess the situation. It was then that Dasher noticed Bane limping slightly. "Bane, are you hurt?" asked the concerned cheetah. Bane looked down at his leg and noticed his left pants leg was covered in blood that was his own. Upon further inspection, Bane noticed he had been hit in the leg with a blaster. "It's not bad," replied Bane, "I've had worse." They reached the control room to find Ron waiting on them with a concerned look on his face. The fox put his paw on Bane's arm, looking into his face with tears in his eyes. Where he had expected to see pain and grief, only a deep burning anger shone. Knowing it was the anger that held the grief at bay, Ron decided to not say anything of his own pain to the wolf who had lost so much. They needed Bane's advice and while he could think and act with his anger, a grief stricken Bane would be no good to any of them. Ron swallowed his own sorrow and instead he said, "Bane, let's talk in your office."

The three walked in and the door sealed behind them. Bane sat at his desk, ripped his pant leg open and began to clean his wound. Dasher removed the bloodstained claws and looked himself over. He had a few small cuts and bruises but nothing that needed attention. He grimaced at the blood drying in his normally fastidiously clean fur. He would take a shower and wash off the signs of what he had done, as soon as he could. He doubted he would ever be able to wash away the memory of what he had done though. Today had left its mark on the gentle cheetah's soul and would never be cleansed, no matter how hard he scrubbed himself. Dasher hated what he had done but as he had told Bane when the wolf was feeling the effects of killing Admiral Ulra, it was something he was going to have to learn to live with. He didn't have the luxury of time to break down now. It would have to wait for another time. "I see you used the claws. . . how did they perform?" asked Ron. Dasher just smiled and replied that they worked very well indeed. If Ron wanted to see how well, all he needed to do was look at the bodies littering the ground at the site of the battle. The fox was not a battle hardened warrior and he gulped, looking ill as he said, "I saw it on the monitor." Ron looked anew at both Bane and Dasher. Both of them had come out of this, changed in ways the fox could not understand and he was sure he didn't want to. The look he gave Dasher, hurt the cheetah deeply but he didn't let it show. He wanted to grab Ron and cry in the gentle fox's arms but he couldn't allow himself to do so. He locked this pain away with the others he had gathered this day. He knew he was going to have to pay for this too but not now. . . please, not now. Whether he would survive the accounting for this day when the bill came due, Dasher didn't know. He looked to Bane, who was calmly dressing his wound and knew that the seemingly stoic wolf also was accumulating an emotional debt that would weigh heavily on him, once he had the luxury of time to deal with it. Bane had lost Scott and if HE could hold himself together with that burden, then Dasher thought he could only try to do the same. Then the conversation was shifted by Bane onto the current situation. "Well," said Ron, "I can keep the shield up for a very limited amount of time. They are pounding it with fire and the emitters are barley functioning as it is. Not to mention that the blast from the gun fried half of the power systems on the base." Bane let out a heavy sigh and then walked out into the control room.

"Whats the status of our ships?", he asked. One of the staff reported that they were holding their own but taking damage. They wouldn't last much longer without reinforcements. It was then that Bill contacted the control room. "Bane, I'm going to try and sneak on board the main ship. If I can get into engineering, I can set the self destruct circuit and destroy it. The blast should take out the remaining ships and the shield should protect the base." Bane opened his muzzle to argue, but this time was cut off by Dasher who said, "Bane, we both know that if things continue as is we are going to lose this base. If this base falls then you will be captured or die and if that happens, the alliance falls." Bane just shook his head, then looked up at the view screen containing Bill's image. "Bill, I can't order you to do this because its a suicide mission." Bill gave a half grin and replied, "You don't have to order me. I volunteered for this and we both know it has to be done. Wish me luck and make sure you win this damned war. You have to win, Bane or all that we have done is for nothing. If the Emperor wins, worlds will die! What is one life against that?"

With that the communication was ended and Dasher walked back into the office and re appeared wearing his blades. "Bane, I'm going to help him so don't try and talk me out of it." Bane simply smiled and nodded that he was free to go if he so chose. Bane knew that Dasher had gone to save Bill before and had to this time as well. Dasher went to the teleporters. After a brief visit by the armory where he picked up two blasters, he teleported up to Bill's ship. Bane walked into his office, sat down in his chair and laid his head down on his desk. He began sobbing into his hands. His beloved mate Scott was dead . . . Dasher and Bill were on a one way mission from which there would be no return . . . The loss was just too much to bear. The sound of the door opening caused him to look up to see who dared disturb him. Thru his tears, Bane saw Ron rushing up to put his arms around him. Bane reached out and clung desperately to the only remaining friend he had on this planet. Together, they howled their grief to the soundproof walls.