Sorry 'bout that, guys, but I haven't been able to get on in like, three days. And Kaz, what's that got to do with the story?





Chapter Thirteen -The Shipmines of Firen



"Phoebe?" The guard laughed. "Who the heck is tha'?" Phoebe narrowed her eyes in fury and fairly bristled. "Who do you think, bowl-brain?" She spat the last word out as though it was something foul. The indignant, then furious, Shellion turned on her and brought his stick -no, it wasn't just a stick, it was a whippy willow branch, with all the twigs trimmed off and a dull but gleaming metal spike driven through the end- down across her back, leaving a streak of blood on her shining blue fur. Instinctively, she flicked her tail up, deflecting the branch away. The guard growled something unintelligible, and, jerking viciously at the ropes that bound her already throbbing paws, dragged her over to the cage. Thrusting her through the small opening, the door swung shut with a final clang. Phoebe's back felt like she was lying on spikes.

Slowly she sat up and looked around. Her companion was a grim looking cat, with jet-black fur and surprisingly light blue eyes with brilliant green slitted pupils. He was huge compared to her, and her first impression of him was razor-sharp retractable claws and teeth.

He looked up, and she saw the spark of fury that blazed in his eyes. When he saw her tightly bound paws, he moved over and extended the claws on one paw.

"Hold still for minute, Phoebe," he said, or, more accurately, growled, and she tried not to flinch. She felt a slight jerk, and then the rope dropped off, neatly severed in half. Feeling exploded into her paws, sending needles of agony jabbing at her. She gasped, and tears sprang to her eyes. The pain ebbed away, and she blinked the tears away. Her benefactor was still watching her, with a bit of concern.

"How- how did you know my name?" she managed, and the cat smiled faintly.

"I hear you say to guard, before you got shoved in," he told her, and she looked surprised. But she had another question.

"Who are you?" The black cat glanced away, towards another row of cages. She almost began to think that he had forgotten her question, until finally he answered with a hissed word in an unknown language, and then in his broken Basic, the language she was using.

"My name is- Zanzibar," he sighed. "Zanzibar Sia."



Copper manevuered the Assassin deftly between the guards, heading unerringly towards the huge Star Destroyer. Claw, being her preferred gunner, kept a sharp eye out for trouble. Ducky manned the navigator.

"Ducky, how long until we reach where you say this Alpha is?" Ducky glanced up. "Um, Copper, we have a bit of a problem. Alpha's ship. . . it's inside the Conquerer!"



Alpha paced the tiny cockpit agitatedly. Five steps either way, she had a notion that if she looked down she would see a trail worn into the floor. Five steps across. . . five steps back. . . Wearily, she watched the scanners.

Finally she slumped down dispiritedly into the seat, and fell asleep.

Twelve hours later, she was woken by the bleep of a warning, far off in the Star Destroyer. Straining her ears, she listened intently.

"All pilots in your fighters, we are coming up on Firen!" the comm blared, and Alpha jerked upright in her seat.



"Copper, there's a planet ahead," Blacksheep called, and Copper accordingly veered. Blacksheep had changed positions with Ducky a few hours ago at the nav console, and was diligently doing her job.

"What's it called, Blackie?" Copper inquired, and Blacksheep dutifully read off the name.

"Firen. We'll have to check in at the Firenzev Customs if you wanna land in Flarex." Copper looked stumped.

"Flarex?"

"That's the name of the capital, and only, city on Firen," Blacksheep explained, and Copper nodded. Then she looked over at her gunner.

"Claw? Claw!" The mercenary started.

"What?" Copper looked concerned.

"Where were you? You looked like you were in a coma or something," she said, but all Claw did was shrug. Blacksheep interrupted her. "Copper, we're comin' in at the Ryjev Desert."



"Where are we headed?" Zanzibar Sia asked Phoebe. (If you haven't figured it out, yes, Zanzibar Sia is the dark cat Alpha saw at the tavern.) Phoebe racked her mind for a while. In the short time she'd known Zanzibar, she'd found out an awful lot of things about him. His brother was a grey cat with "bronze eyes" named Rroyvan, his love, who Devan had had killed for attacking several of his commanders, was named Vorsyelvo, who had striking orange-striped white fur and glorious golden eyes and who had captured Zanzibar's heart. He had earned his scar on his side, which was a swath of white fur, the color of his whiskers, from a furious battle with a "Firen-mountain Fader", a rarely seen being from the Smoljer Mountains in, of course, Firen. In fact, the thought reminded her.

"We are going to Firen, I think," she said, and was startled by a half-hiss, half-yowl from the cat. When she asked what was wrong, he replied with "I am Firenzev."



Enter a new warrior! I hope I don't have to kill Zanzibar off. . .



_________________

Read my story in War Tavern! I renamed it: Conquerer!



Whatever.



I can do all things through Christ whom strengthens me. -Phillipians 4:13



"So what?" -Coppertop



"When Life hands you lemons, make lemonade."