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Captain Young sat at his desk and stared at the screen in disbelief. He could not make sense of what he'd just watched on the vidfile and replayed it from the beginning.

Once again the events unfolded in a way he had not expected and he paused the vidfile at a point which showed the three dead guards rushing towards a cat, Huxley, who had grabbed one of the fuel canisters and ignored their orders to stop. The cat's ears were laid-back and its mouth was twisted open in a snarl of hatred as it looked at the gaurds. He resumed watching.

"FUCK THE EMPEROR! I DIE FREE!" came a cry from the cat as it effortlessly pulled the canister free of the pile. Within seconds fuel canisters were falling to the ground, the first one to hit burst and in the next moment the fire began. He listened to the guards' screams as the cat simply stood there and made no attempt to escape, instead it watched as more canisters ruptured as they hit the ground and added to the flames. Huxley's face changed from being filled with hate to a peaceful expression as the flames rose and consumed the animal.

He had never heard of a slave breaking the conditioning of the remapper, yet here was one that had. He wondered if it was a result of Pierce's last joke, inviting the thing to play cards while knowing it couldn't. That didn't seem right, the cat had issued the proper response. It was almost like it had been playing the part of a good slave right up until it first tried to topple the stack of fuel canisters. Why had Huxley done it? Was he the only one? Were there others like him? Captain Young couldn't be sure, he needed to be sure. Free-thinking animals were dangerous, they had to be kept under control.

He pressed a button on the desk and spoke calmly, betraying none of his confusion, "Master Howard."

"Yes Sir?" A disembodied voice asked.

"One of your animals has broken conditioning."

"That's impossible, sir."

"It is not, Master Howard, I just watched one of your beasts, the dead one, Huxley, start the fire in the starboard hanger."

"What!? How can that be?"

Captain Young ignored the slight and continued, not answering the questions, "I want you to go through this ship from top to bottom and remap every slave. Do it one at a time so that you do not alert anyone the potential problem. Keep detailed records."

"Sir, it could take a week. I will need to rotate assignments around and-"

"That's fine, do what you must but make sure no one, human or animal, finds out what you are doing. If you are discovered I will throw you out an airlock myself. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes sir."

"Get to work."

"I serve the Emperor's Will."

Captain Young sat back in his chair and returned his attention to the screen. He started the vidfile again from the beginning. How in the hell had an animal managed to nearly destroy his ship?

====================================

Stoney pushed the cart down the hall behind the human guard. This had been Rex's job until the duty assignments had been changed this morning, now the dog was assigned to cleaning on the upper decks and the fox was down here. Normally he would have been happy for the change in duties, if only to break the monotonous routine of his life, but the fox was deeply saddened. He still couldn't face the others after learning about Huxley's death, it had been the fox's plan that had killed one of their number and he wished it had been him, not the cat who had only just begun to experience life again.

He showed none of the emotions that filled him when the guard stopped by a door and looked at the fox. "Go in and give one ration cube to each of the prisoners."

"Yes sir!" He replied in a happy voice that would have been a stuggle to fake had he not become so proficient at it.

The guard opened the door and Stoney pushed the cart inside.

"Be a good fox," the guard said but did not follow him in.

"Work is good," Stoney replied.

"Report to Master Ross in the starboard hanger once you are finished."

"Serving the Emperor is good."

The door closed, leaving him alone in the cellblock with the free ones.

"Where is Rex?" A squirrel in a nearby cell asked him. He did not reply and went about his task, it was bad enough he was being forced to face them. If he spoke to any he was sure he wouldn't be able to hold back his grief.

"Are you not the fox we saw four nights ago?" Asked another, a horse. Stoney continued to ignore them.

Many more asked similar questions as he made his way down the cellblock.

"Stoney, do not blame yourself for your friend's death," a soft voice said to him.

He looked up into the face of a deer, recognizing her as the free one's leader. "It's my fault, it should have been me," he said bitterly.

"It should have been none of you," she replied.

"He'd only come out of the fog a year ago, and was still getting used to having woken up into a life of slavery." Tears welled up in the fox's eyes as his grief pushed itself out, he collapsed beside the door to the cell and began weeping.

"No one should have to get used to such a thing."

Several of the other Rukot in the cells stood silently and watched the fox with sadden expressions.

"It- It's not a good life, but at least we have our minds, Huxley had only just gotten his back." He remembered the day he had first noticed the cat acting different from the other slaves. Stoney had found him sitting in the dark of the servants' barracks confused. The fox showed him how to act around the humans and introduced the others to him. Huxley was always angry, and it took all five of them to keep him from acting out against their captors. It had been for nothing though, they had failed him, Stoney most of all.

A hand reached through the slot under the door and gripped his gently. He looked down at it, noticing that the Captain's four fingers were each tipped in small rounded hooves.

"He was a hero, and we must not let his sacrifice be in vain, Stoney. Are you still with us?"

The fox sighed heavily and fought back his tears before looking back at her and replying, "I was a coward to let him die alone. I will not let you suffer our fate, if only for him."

"You will help, then?"

"Fox Huxley," He stood up and made himself presentable. "I must finish and go, it would not honour Huxley's memory for me to get caught."

"Wait a moment, we have something for the five of you." The deer removed her hand from his and stood up in her cell before calling across the hall. "Roger, are the devices ready?"

"Yes Captain, we only need to pick a time and have our friends place them where they'll do the most damage," came the human's response.

"When will you be able to place them, Stoney?" She asked the fox.

He stood up and wiped the moisture from his face, "Tonight, after our duties are finished and most of the humans have returned to their quarters. When do you plan on escaping? It would be best to do so when the fogged ones are still in the servants' barracks so we don't have to find them all."

"When is that?"

"Midday, it's when those on night duties are asleep and the rest of us are fed."

"Roger, set the timers for midday, give the devices to Stoney and tell him where they need to be placed," she said before calling out to the cellblock, <<Prepare yourselves, tomorrow we make our escape and rescue our brothers and sisters or die trying!>>

====================================

Riley and Baker marched along the halls of the ship on their way to the holding cells. It had been about a week since they'd thrown the Earth human in with the captured animals and it was time to see if he had come around. Captain Young had called them from the bridge and asked that he be brought there.

"I wonder if the wolves ate him," Riley smirked at his companion.

"The Captain would be upset if that happened," Baker replied while smiling, "I wouldn't be though."

"I don't know why we're letting him out, the engineers aren't even halfway finished with repairs and we're still stuck out here."

"The Captain's orders are the Emperor's Will," Baked reminded the other man.

"My life for the Emperor."

Baker shrugged, "Maybe the Captain wants to question him and see if he had something to do with the fire."

"I heard Huxley went insane and started it, there's whispers that the Captain ordered Master Howard to remap them all."

"That's not what I heard. Mason told me Pierce shoved the beast into the fuel canisters."

"I doubt we'll ever know the truth," Riley said and stopped at the door leading to the cellblock. "We're here."

The two men entered with their stunners drawn and the door closed behind them.

"Fuck, it stinks like a zoo in here," Baker cursed while looking around at the silent eyes of the Rukot staring at the two.

"Let's be quick then," Riley said in a nasally tone as his nose wrinkled. Neither noticed the twin hollow sounds of something hitting the end of a pipe, or the soft click that followed them.

They walked over to the cell containing the Earth human and looked in. The Rukot inside the cell stared at them and they saw Roger lying on one of the benches, leg and chest bound tightly with rags.

"So much for them eating him," Baked said.

Roger lifted his head to look at the two men, recognition lighting his eyes as he said one word in an accusing manner, "You!"

"Captain Young wants to see you, Earth man, get up," Riley ordered.

"You'll have to come get me, or did you forget that you broke my leg?"

"Hold my gun, Riley, I'll get him." Baker handed his stunner to the other man and pressed something by the door which slid open. "Stay back, you beasts," he ordered the four Rukot in the cell. They looked at him but made no other move. He entered and walked over to Roger. The Rukot in the cell covered their ears with their paws, but he paid them no mind.

"This is for my leg!" Roger cried as he pulled out from beside him what looked like a crude twin-barreled rifle that was just over 3' long.

The sound it made was defeaning and echoed within the cellblock. Riley was disoriented by the ringing in his ears and it took several seconds before he could finally hear Baker's cries of, "Ahhhhh! My leg! He shot me!" He looked in and saw his companion on the floor, clutching at his right leg and crying out in pain. Blood poured from the shredded material around Baker's knee.

Without thinking, Riley rushed in with both of the stunners and fired both blindly. A second defeaning blast followed and at first he noticed nothing until white hot pain tore through his own right knee and he collapsed to the ground with a cry.

The two men looked at Roger, shocked that man had obtained a weapon. "H-how?" Riley croaked out before something solid hit him in the back of the head and consciousness fled him.

Roger groaned in pain and laid the shotgun back down on the bench before pressing a hand against the side of his chest. He coughed and said, "That fucking hurt. Get going, the bombs will be going off soon if our friends were successful in placing them."

Kouhm went over to the two men and bound their wounds tightly as Gahn, Nak, and Gyth exited the cell and began opening the others. Soon the hall filled with the Teshar's crew, all eager to get out of their cells.

Captain Rels' walked into Roger's cell and grabbed the two stun rifles before handing them to Marrin. <<Give these to the crew,>> she ordered.

The old wolf did so and returned with Gahn.

Roger looked up at the deer and pushed the shotgun towards her. "You're going to have to leave me, I'll only slow you down," he said flatly.

"That is not acceptable, you are my crewman and we will not leave you behind." Marrin and Gahn both looked at Captain Rels. Marrin opened his mouth as if to speak and then closed it, nodding.

"I thank you for the offer, Captain, but I can't walk and it would be too painful be carried on one of your backs. I don't heal as fast as you or modern humans do and my bones are only just beginning to mend. You must leave me."

"We will figure something out."

"There's no time."

Gahn turned his head sharply for a moment, as if something had caught his attention and he quickly exited the cell. He returned a minute later with Gyth and the large empty crate. "Captain, I have an idea," the young wolf said enthusiastically as he tore several boards off the crate.

"What do you mean, Gahn?" Captain Rels asked of him.

"A splint and crutch, Captain," Gyth answered.

====================================

Pinky walked with purpose towards the hall that lead to the bridge's lift, clutching the small device close to her body. Her ears turned in every direction as she listened for the sound of footsteps on the metal floor. The rabbit was later than she had hoped, it had taken an unusual amount of time to slip away from her cleaning duties and get the device from where she'd hid it in the servants' barracks after Stoney had passed them out the night before to her, Jack, and the cat, Shadow. The fox had kept two of them because Rex had not shown up.

She turned the corner into the hallway and stopped in surprise. Rex was there, cleaning. She rushed over to him and grabbed him hissing "Rex, what are you doing here? Where were you last night?"

Then she noticed the blank look on his face, and her heart sunk as he replied happily, "Serving the Emperor!" his tail wagged.

"No, no, no..." she whispered, tears formed in her eyes.

"Are you here to help me?" He asked, a smile appeared on the black lab's face.

She began to cry, Rex was gone, his mind wiped by the remapper. They were supposed to escape together and join the others in the hanger once the explosive devices had done their job. Instead here was the dog that had been her friend and lover, or rather, his body, wiped of the small joys they had found in one another. Their shared dream of escaping to one of the congolmeration colonies and a small family was shattered right when it seemed like it was going to become more than a sundream and actually going to happen. She felt numb.

"Why are you crying? The masters will not be pleased."

"Oh Rex, how were you found out?" She asked, knowing the answer would never come.

"I do not understand. I must get back to my duties," the blank look returned to Rex's face and he turned away from Pinky.

She wanted to run from him, to find somewhere and cry for his loss, but she had to plant the device in the bridge lift, the others depended on it. Instead of running she said, "Come with me, Master Young wants us to clean the bridge."

"Oh, why didn't you say so?" He immediately went to the lift, tail wagging as he waited for her by it.

She joined him and steeled herself, wiping the tears from her eyes as she smiled at him. "Work is good," she said.

"Serving the Emperor is good," Rex replied as the door opened and they entered.

Pinky typed something into the control panel and pressed a button, the door closed and the lift began to move. Rex stood to one side, staring blankly forward.

"I'm so sorry, Rex," she whispered. He made no move, like he had not heard her.

The rabbit looked at the device in her paw and studied it for a moment before pulling a wire from the timer, her mind made up. She looked back at Rex and tears began to flow anew from her eyes. There was no way she could hold them back anymore, she wept for both of them.

The door to the lift opened, revealing the bridge and about two dozen humans at various control consoles, with Captain Young standing in the middle of it.

The man turned to the lift and his eyes narrowed as he ordered, "Come here."

Rex immediately moved to obey when Pinky grabbed him and stopped the black lab from moving.

"I said come here!" Captain Young ordered again as anger started to fill his voice. The other humans turned to face the scene in the lift.

The rabbit looked into the blank eyes of her mate and said, "I love you, I'm sorry." She kissed him as she pressed the wire against a terminal on the device's energy pack.

====================================

The the sound of an explosion echoed through the ship, and the lights flickered for a moment. Immediately after, the klaxon alarm went off and once again the calm female voice spoke, this time however, the phrase between each sounding of the alarm was "Depressurization on Bridge and Deck 17."

Stoney rushed down the corridor leading to the armoury then stopped when he spotted some of the crew running his way. He quickly slipped the remaining device in his pocket and stood there, looking back and forth with a blank expression on his face as the men approached.

"Get out of the way, you stupid animal!" One ordered and he stepped to the side with a happy, "Okay!" He breathed a sigh of relief after they passed, they hadn't noticed him before he took back on the role of mindless slave.

He turned his head around and looked back at them as they rushed around a corner, their footsteps becoming softer until he could no longer hear them over the alarm.

He looked up at one of the red flashing lights that lined the top of the walls and wondered what had happened. Pinky's device had gone off early. He pulled the one he had back out of his pocket and looked at the display which read 2:39, 2:38, 2:37. There wasn't much time left, he needed to get to the armoury.

He slowed down as he approached the large double door that stood between him and his destination. He looked back down at the device, 1:53, 1:52. He'd placed the other in the gravity wave generator room hours ago, Rex was supposed to place this one but when the dog didn't appear last night he knew something had happened but didn't tell Pinky. He'd overheard some guards talking about "remapping them all," this morning and made his decision after he'd placed the first device. For the past 4 hours he'd sat in an empty room and just watched the timer slowly count down on this one, waiting for it to be too close to the time for him to escape.

"For Huxley," he whispered, tears wetting the fur under his eyes.

1:15, 1:14, 1:13. It'd be soon now. He took several slow deep breaths and held the device to his breast with his left paw while shakily entering the door code into the control panel. He took another look at the timer, 0:40, 0:39, 0:38. Damn, why does time never seem to keep a steady pace? It felt like an eternity passed between each second. He entered the last digit of the code and the doors slid open, revealing a well-stocked armoury and a few guards.

"What are you doing here? How did you open the door?" One demanded.

Stoney ran in as the guards raised their stunners, he dodged behind a cabinet as a shot flew by. 0:22, 0:21, 0:20.

The fox cried out in pain as a blast from one of the stunners hit him and sent him skidding across the floor. The device flew out of his paw and landed on the floor nearby.

"Stupid animal," he heard the voice of one of the guards.

He lay there, unable to move as he stared at the display. 0:09, 0:08, 0:07.

"What did he drop?" came another, he saw the feet of the voice's owner approach the device.

0:04, 0:03, 0:02. He closed his eyes and thought "For Huxley."