OUTCASTS

Shomron never walked down the armory hallway without a pang of regret. He believed in non violence as much as Maruda had. His Skiltaire mentor had given him that. Resistance raids never targeted innocents, not even the Internal Security, when they could help it. The resistance raids targeted equipment and weapons, and freed prisoners that computer aided justice could not. Shomron forced himself to remember that without the violence of the raids, the Internal Security would have taken over long ago.

He strode past another set of guards, nodding to them to make certain he was recognized. The pair carried a brace of sonic blades that no flesh and very little armor could stay. The wolves that held them had one simple general order: When in doubt, kill.

The elder cheetah mechanically strapped on his body armor, pausing only to help the others do the same. Six was the largest raiding party they had mounted in almost a year. Most of them were used to operating in teams half as big, yet their objective this evening was larger than most. There was no formal briefing, as all the raiders shared the Gift, and being telepathic with range, Shomron would disclose their target en route. This served two purposes. Security was tantamount to life for them, and it also meant that because the party was joined at the mind, there was no worrying about missed timing, or bungled communications.

Shomron lead the stick out of the armory, and down a branch passageway that led into a network of tunnels abandoned for several years,with the advent of the new shuttle system. Once stripped of sensors, and enlarged by many willing paws in the resistance, they now reached beyond the newer tunnels. They were wiped off of the State's datalinks, so resistance members could become moles, who could appear and vanish in seconds, much to the consternation of Internal Security, and much to the comfort of the raiders!

Tonite's target is Internal Security's main storage warehouse. Shomron sent to the group as they reached the tunnel intersection. I want the second team to set off the detonators stored with the explosives in the east wing. Team one will draw fire and secure entry and evasion routes. He sent to the other five armored figures as they moved silently down the secured passageway.

This tunnel comes to the surface behind our objective. But we cannot risk revealing the location by using it for evasion. For evasion after the action, use location twenty. If you become separated, use meeting place two. Shomron briefed his team mind to mind, so that no words would betray the party as they marched double time toward the center of the city, and then sharply to the east. The ground above teamed with the thick populace of the Nexis. The raiders moved with silent precision, with none of the citizens or security ever knowing who had passed secretly beneath their feet.

Farther down the passageway, Shomron held up his paw, stopping his team. Using silent movements and gestures that could be understood by all, Shomron indicated they had passed beneath the warehouse, and were now behind the building, over the tunnel exit.

Shomron's old style helmet had been chosen with good reason. The elder cat mistrusted the amplification gear that was standard on newer helmets. He put an aged and experienced ear to the still air of the tunnel, listening thru the covered opening for the odd pawfall or the out of place step. The experienced ears met a welcome and expected silence. Shomron reached up and entered a digital code into the cover that supposed to seal the tunnel. Instantly the device recognized its creator, and the tunnel entrance was open. They moved in coordinated pairs, just as Shomron had taught them. In as half as many seconds, the six of them stood inside the parameter fence, their presence shielded by the bulk of the building that was their target!

The team had little time to be amazed. This building was well known to each of the raiders, as was the task each was to perform over the next pair of minutes if this raid was to earn them success. The rear of the heavy, squat building was notable for its lack of guards and fencing. The first trio of raiders made a quick dash to the east corner of the structure. A heavy but unguarded door quickly opened before expert lock picking skill to admit three of the raiders to the explosives storeroom. The second three never looked back. With Shomron in the lead they sprinted to the north and west, circling around the opposite side of the edifice.

Without braking stride, Shomron willed a pair of grenades from his belt, and the cheetah's telepathic mind sent them spinning ahead of him. They sailed smoothly and soundlessly around the front corner of the building before their time delay fuses set them both off at once! The building's front dissolved into a sheen of phosphors fueled white light. A split second later, alarms erupted all around the building!!

The confusion and the din of the alarms was only the beginning. The trio dashed around the corner of the building just as the flash from the first pair of grenades died. In their wake came a fusillade of gas charges, filling the tightly fenced building front with clouds of multi-colored smoke. The smoke was cover, and also bore a choking vapor of ammonia, to incapacitate any guard or animals not stunned to insensibility by the flash and stun grenades. Behind the smoke cloud the second trio took over the guard posts on both sides of the warehouse's armored door. Within a minute, the heavily armored warehouse was protecting the members of the resistance who had taken control of the compound!

The first team of three was inside the building before the second team had rounded the corner of the building. Intelligence from spies had told them that the new shipments of armored vehicles and heavy weapons would be within, awaiting official delivery the following morning in a highly visible ceremony. The resistance had decided to alter the State's carefully scripted program by introducing large quantities of explosives to a small but necessary quantity of detonation devices, somewhat ahead of the State sponsored pageantry.

The warehouse itself was vast. Huge areas of floor space were filled with ranks and files of armored vehicles and other heavy equipment. The team ignored them, as they did the racks and pallets stacked to the roof, filled with enough equipment to re-fit an entire army! On any nite but this one, the armory and just a few of its weapons would have been as fine a prize as the Resistance could ever want. But tonite, all of it was left behind as the trio made a long dash toward a single vault like door in the thick wall. It was bright yellow against the drab cast-form walls, and stripped with markings so plain that anyone with eyesight could recognize the danger that lay beyond it. The imposing door opened so easily that it might have been disconcerting to anyone, save the three Shomron had chosen for this mission. The first of the trio took up a watch position at the open door, while the other two darted inside.

It took less than a second for the brace of cats to recognize what they needed. In moments, huge bricks of a putty like gray mass fell into their paws. It took less time than that to press a small disc of metal into each block. Wires lead from each block, laced around the room to other clay like blocks. These were slapped at any angle against walls and other boxes containing more of the same. It had been done quickly and almost effortlessly in the many weeks of practice. This time, it happened so quickly that the task seemed an anti-climax. Before another half minute had passed, the largest single store of explosives on the Homeworld had been wired for remote detonation!

Outside, the lights and alarms died, switched off by the new occupants of the guardhouses. Quickly they borrowed helmets from the unconscious Simian guards. They looked the part of the regular shift as they reported another malfunction in the buildings security system. Shomron was relieved as the local army commandant signed off with no sign of suspicion. Then he felt one of the team touch his mind gently.

Shomron. If you are secure, come to post number three. We may have a non-military problem.

It was Rashid. Shomron had known the big lion since his cubhood. This was trouble.

Shomron changed the pass code and set his guardhouse station to automatic. Quickly he darted the pair of guards and stripped the rest of a uniform from one of them. He walked around the edge of the building to the corner where the third guardhouse block was located. The stun field around the guard emplacement opened to admit him. As he stepped inside, and the shack was sealed from prying eyes and ears, Rashid took him aside gently. The lion pointed to a crumpled form on the floor of the small structure. The only difference between this solitary guard, and the pair Shomron had seen at his station was a wicked looking blackish-brown slash of blast damage across the shoulders and helmet visor. A neat hole had been melted into the composite of the visor on one side. A hole edged with burnt fur that now oozed a dark and heavy flow of blood.

"One of my two grenades must have gone off right in front of his face." Shomron surmised.

"You mean her face." Rashid observed dryly.

"She's not Simian. She's a fur-bearer." Shomron went on, pretending not to have heard.

"Simian or no, If she doesn't get help, she's going to die." Rashid told his commander and friend. "What do you wanna do?" Rashid asked quickly.

Shomron looked down at the helpless form before him. One claw swipe or a single shot were the standard solutions for this problem. Shomron glanced at his sidearm, but his mind repelled at the thought. Instantly, he touched minds with those inside the warehouse, now on their way out with the detonators set. The Team had just over three minutes to reach minimum safe distance.

"Bring her--" he snapped without thinking.

Rashid stood there for a moment, transfixed.

"Now, Rashid." Shomron ordered.

The lion swept the armored figure into his arms with weightless ease. He might have just as easily crumpled her up and tossed her away. But he knew Shomron, too.

Shomron let his friend go ahead of him, while he lingered just long enough to set the access code for the fence to an eight digit random number, effective in twenty seconds. Then he raced for the parameter as only a cheetah could.

The six of them plus one met at the far front corner of the now non-existent force fence. Hidden by the massive insulators, the team dashed beyond the fence and safely out of the compound. Shomron was the last in the weaving line of running figures. He stopped for a moment, counting down to zero under his breath. He beamed as the computer restored the normal looking fence around the armory, a blue-pinkish blanket of energy. He looked back once more, for pursuit. There was none, and as the Cheetah became a blur in the black nite, he resumed a second countdown that rolled thru his mind. As the Team scrambled quickly into a disused breezeway between abandoned buildings, that count passed one hundred and twenty, and slipped lower still.

The leader of the group paused, looking keenly at the plan block wall around what appeared to be a former door into the ramshacked building. Shomron ran a paw along the bricks around the door frame. He selected one, seemingly at random and pushed hard. There was a slight click as the heavily sealed door canted open, the whole door swinging on a pivot in the middle of the frame! The team dashed inside this odd revolving style door, and was instantly gone from sight as the door sealed behind them!

They need no one to tell them what to do next. In the middle of the floor, there was a patch of wooden boards, neatly done, and to any other set of eyes, the beginnings of a new floor for the old building, Two of the party took a corner of this neat deception and lifted it with ease. Beneath the flooring section, there was a familiar cap and lock!

Shomron stepped forward and sent a code number to the lock. It opened swiftly, with a rush of fresh air from below. Four of the six tucked in their arms, legs and tails, and simply dropped down and into the hole. Rashid took a moment longer, needing the staircase for his unique burden. Shomron remained above and darted below after one final look back. He paused on the steps to reset the lock, and to press a pair of buttons. Above him, beyond hearing in the abandoned building, the section of floor closed itself, wiping away any evidence of an entranceway, or the passage of anyone thru what seemed to be thickly layered dust!

Shomron dashed down the stairs, counting down out loud this time. As he lead the raiders into a reinforced section of the passageway, he sent ahead to the tunnel guards to brace for an above ground explosion!!

Shari glanced around nervously, even though Shantal was the only other passenger in the car. Shantal smiled broadly and took her Lifemate's paw with a gentle squeeze.

He'll be all right. Rene is with him. Shantal said gently.

Shari nodded and smiled. Overprotective Mother. Sorry Love.

It's all right. But we have to eat, don't we? Shantal asked. You know you can't manage all the shopping alone anymore.

Shari nodded. Adoptive motherhood was as much a strain as natural birth, she thought to herself. I'm lucky to have such attractive help. The younger vixen said sweetly.

There's also safety in numbers. Shantal remarked.

Shari grimaced, knowing that Shantal was right as usual.

The trade ban is illegal, besides being stupid. But so are the Simians. Shantal observed, uncaring if she was being monitored.

Shari smiled in agreement, happy to hear a little rebellion for once, in a world gone mad. Madness was the apt term for the patchwork of regulations the Simians had enacted to stifle the economic growth of a Fur-Bearing community that had quickly outstripped the backwardness of the old caravan system. The reaction of the new Simian State was typical of the Simians themselves. Jealousy, followed by greed, followed by regulation and taxation.

Simian surcharges on what fur bearers made and sold had priced every Fur-Bearing merchant in the city out of the district, and into the area beyond it, defined as a free trade zone. Free trade meant that only eighty percent of the profits went to Simian tax collectors.

Their own needs were simple, but absolutely necessary. The baby was growing so fast now that his appetite seemed to grow as fast as he did, so supply runs became more frequent, as well as farther away.

The shuttle tracks went to the northernmost edge of the city. The walk into the zone was the worst part of the trip. The trade center had been placed in the center of a very run down and typically Simian section. Shantal led, she was the more imposing of the pair, and her resent retirement from the military had left its marks on her bearing and posture. She seemed to ignore the lines of leering Simians that made the vixens feel as if they were the merchandise.

They were reached for and groped at, dodging here and there to sidestep unwanted Simian advances. Shari could never ignore the dirty and base suggestions that came along with the attempted touch of the grimy Simian hands.

Shantal caught the eye of a familiar shopkeeper, and the big canine strode out of his shop, parting the lines of street trash and ushering them safely inside. He closed and bolted the door behind them, then smiled at his customers.

That's the only way to keep sales up. The canine kidded.

Shantal smiled, knowing the black humor for the commentary it was.

Thank you, Kasim. The vixen said, hugging him gently.

You're welcome. Now what can I get for you two, and the baby?

Shari reached into her belt pouch and produced the thick scroll that was their usual list. Kasim took it, and began to fill the order.

Shari stood in the middle of the shop, her temper flashing as red as her coat.

Miserable Simian swine. Sometimes I wish them all dead.

Aurora beamed. "Grandfather chose his friends well, Khai Shalimar."

The white lion smiled modestly. "I haven't heard that title since they suspended the Chambre." He answered. "And I've done precious little to earn it lately." he lamented.

"As I thought when I came in, Father, times change. hearts too. Can you forgive me?" Shamir asked quietly.

Shalimar nodded his head gently. "I was about to ask that of you."

Their tender and long overdue rapprochement was interrupted by a low rumble. It rolled like distant thunder, yet the shock wave that followed by a fraction of a second was enough to give a telling shudder to even the solid observatory. Aurora wavered on her paws as the entire building and the mountain peak beneath it seemed to become fluid. By reflex, Shamir was the first to make a leap for the outside balcony, his father less than a tail length behind. Elder and younger eyes were drawn instantly downward, toward the bright web of the Nexis. The normally soft blue of the lights on the center city had been blotted out by an eruption of heat and light. It seemed to crawl around the Nexis, a seething mass of orange engulfing all around it, as if feeding itself. It writhed again, forming into a bluish-yellow fireball that rose over the center of the populated city, dwarfing and subduing the Nexis' light, as if to crown itself a new sun source for the capital.

The last of the shock waves rolled thru the tunnel, pitching the room and everyone inside it on their sides again. As what used to be the wall became the ceiling, the room crumbled and collapsed. Chunks of a floor turned into a wall hailed thru the collapsing space, to ricochet harmlessly off of Shomron's armor. He had a split second to consider sight of the armored hatch he had dogged behind them a second before. It flew and spun like a windswept leaf, almost entirely intact as it was pushed by a finger of blue flame directly thru the space where their heads had been! Then he felt the dull thuds of heavy chunks of dirt against his body, and a landslide of soil closed over him and the hatch.

Shan Li's gravely drone of speech was obliterated by the roar of the blast. It crashed thru the ornate chambre a moment before the blast wave and the fireball swallowed the entire building. The pieces of the ancient stone that went unpulverized became deadly missiles as big and bigger than those inside the room. The First Council watched the scene with an odd sensation as he was blown thru the air, still seated it his chair. Before the stone caved in a part of his skull, he saw the guards and the other council members simply vaporize, becoming odd shapes of light for a moment, and then flying apart at the speed of that light. His stunned brain thought it felt impact as the entire world seemed to turn to light, and then darkness snuffed out the flame.

Kasim was nearly thrown from the short step ladder as the ground beneath the shop undulated like a coiling snake. The air was split with a deep roll of thunder, and a new and eerie light was reflected in the widows of the shop.

Down! Kasim shouted.

Reflex and self preservation turned the two vixens into tightly curled balls of fox in the middle of the floor. Stock flew from the shelves, and then the shelves themselves seemed to shake themselves to bits.

Shamir instinctively looked to his Father, in a moment of primal fear. He saw the horror reflected in Shalimar's eyes, filled as they were with the light from the blast.

Aurora leaped up onto the balcony railing beside Shalimar. Her downward gaze met the full, stark moment of terror that was the massive fireball. She uttered not a sound. Instead, she buried her muzzle in Shalimar's soft mane, and she sobbed.

"Shamir." Shalimar said, summoning all his will to strip away the horrified catatonia, "Monitor the Datalinks. NOW!"

The sharpness in the elder cat's voice was enough to force his son to move. As Shamir sprang back to the observation platform, Shalimar sat back, reaching up with his forepaws to sweep Aurora from the railing and into his thick crest of chest fur. She clutched at him, her muzzle still pressed deeply into his thick white coat while she was wracked with soundless crying. He wrapped her in his gentle grasp, and held her close.

"Damnable mad fools." He cursed out loud, "What have they done? What have they done?" he asked the deep starlit sky, only to avert his eyes from the sight below.

Father. Come. Shamir's send was edged with both terror and sorrow so profound the thoughts could barely escape his mind.

Shalimar shifted Aurora to his back, between his shoulders, and sprang towards the inside of the Rotunda, where Shamir stood. The younger cat was watching a visual feed from the Datalinks on a screen as big as the curved wall of the observatory.

The Datalink was unstable as it continued to spew images of destruction. It flickered, danced and wavered, adding another note to the mind numbing surrealism of the devastation. Shalimar saw places he had known since cubhood, recognizable now only by a twisted gate, a half crumbled wall, or a partly melted statue or monument. The montage of devastation was crossed over by a new image, filled with the helmeted head of an Internal Security agent.

"Please suspend use of the Net, unless it is for emergencies." He told them. "A State of Martial Law now exists until further notice." he recited dryly.

Shalimar waved a paw over a globe, activating his own interface. "This is Doctor Shalimar." He responded, "Can I be of any assistance?"

In the background, Shamir noticed several figures gathered. There was a moment of silent indecision and gentle whispers in the background. When the helmet answered, his official tone was anything but sure.

"Doctor Shalimar?" He asked "We believe he was at the Council meeting. Internal Security has Doctor Shalimar listed as missing at this time."

"Blast it! Shalimar roared. "I'm Shalimar and I'm at the State observatory."

"Stay where you are. Sir. You will be contacted." The helmet answered shortly, and then broke the link.

"Morons!" Shalimar spat as he turned to his younger son. "Go into my study." He directed. "Behind the picture of your mother, there is an armored safe. Open it and bring me the bottle inside." As Shalimar gestured, he took Aurora gently into his forepaws once more, caressing her gently as she broke into unremitting and profound sobs. Shamir stood watching for a moment, his young muzzle a mask of frightened concern.

"Now, Son. She'll be all right. Shalimar spoke sharply and then his voice softened as he tucked the Skiltaire into his mane and let her cry. Shalimar rocked her gently from side to side, both speaking and sending calming thoughts to her. "There, There, my little one. It will be all right. Let it all out." he whispered to her soothingly as her crying finally softened. Shamir returned, with the odd shaped bottle floating easily beside his head. Shalimar plucked it from the air, and using his own telekinetic gift, pulled the stopper from the old bottle. "Here." he told her, "Take a swallow of this."

Shamir said nothing, but he recognized the deep burgundy fluid that bubbled gently from the upturned bottle. Shalimar suspended a few drops in the air, and guided the floating drops of brandy into Aurora's muzzle as she would take them.

Shalimar righted the bottle, corked it, and set it on the floor without his paws leaving Aurora's heaving back.

"Isn't that?" Shamir began to ask.

"Yes." Replied Shalimar casually."It's the brandy from your Mother's wedding toast."

Shamir looked at his father with newfound admiration.

Shalimar set Aurora down, holding her by the shoulders to be certain she could stand again. When she looked at Father and Son, it was with eyes that bore a soul deep pain.

"Aurora." Shalimar said, his rich voice slow and deliberately steady, "I need your help, if you're up to it. Lots of us will." He told her evenly. Slowly, Aurora wiped the tears from her eyes, then she nodded softly.

"Good girl." Shalimar answered, "Maruda would be proud of you. Now, we've got to start send-searching. Many of our people could be trapped, hurt or missing. Internal Security and military rescue can't find them as fast as we can." Shalimar reminded her.

Aurora steeled herself. She was the one who had worked out this section of the disaster plan. Her powerful telepathic mind could penetrate tons of rubble, and reach tens of feet underground. She could locate survivors among the gifted populace while others rescued other non-gifted victims. But before she could bring herself to focus her gift for her fellow Citizens, her heart would force her to focus it just once for herself. She inhaled deeply, and with all the power in her mind, and hope in her heart, she tried sending to Vladimir.

"What was it, Lollo dear?" Krista's spoken words betrayed her surprise.

"My guess is an explosion. But I can't tell for sure. This cell wasn't built for its view, Darling."

"Judging by the way this place shook, and how fast the guards left, it must have been a big one." Krista ventured.

"Yes, but something else has me worried." Lollo replied.

"What's that, Love?"

"There's a small vent opening at the top of the cell, see it?"

Krista looked. she could just discern that the top two or three bricks in the cell wall were missing. It was an opening near the top of the middle of the outside wall. "Yes, Darling, I see."

"Now watch." Lollo told his Mate. After a few moments the dark shadow of the opening was softly illuminated by a flickering, dancing sort of light. It made the tiny opening easier to see, yet there was indeed something oddly familiar about the light from beyond the opening.

Krista had cooked at her grandmother's hearth when she was young. That dancing, wavering light was instantly familiar to her. "Fire." she said simply.

Lollo Nodded. "Fire that you can see thru an opening at the top of a high wall."

Krista caught on. "So they left to fight the fire?"

"Or so they wouldn't have to." Lollo answered." And judging by the light and the slight smell of smoke, anyone trying to put it out hasn't succeeded yet." Lollo added. "Darling." Lollo continued, "I think we ought to leave."

Lollo steeped toward the cell bars. He could not squeeze thru, but he could set a leg and half of his body between the bars. As he stood sideways, he inhaled deeply and set himself, forcing his back against one bar, while he tried to bend the one in front. Krista looked on hopefully. She heard Lollo growl deeply, and saw his massive body tense. After a moment, the front bar bent ever so slightly. She saw the other bar begin to distend as Lollo poured his tremendous strength into the bending bars! He held his position forcing more and more of his thick chest and torso thru the bars. He drew in his breath again, and slid slowly between the re-shaped bars!

Lollo took Krista's paw and helped her thru the slightly abused cell door. She bowed to him, and both dashed down the corridor as fast as they could!

Father, I think you will want to hear this. Shamir sent gently.

Shalimar turned away from Aurora for a moment, and toward a new image in the dataflow. This time, it was no sentinel, but a Simian, wearing a uniform. Shamir's paw swept over the sensor, and the rotunda was filled with a coarse, but restrained voice.

"--explosion at the Central Internal Security Warehouse is still under investigation. First Council Shan Li has been found, but our leader has suffered grave injury. Now, therefore as Supreme commandant of the K'al'i'tai Military, I assume leadership of the State in this emergency. A state of martial law has been ordered. Military forces are now moving into the Nexis, and the area of the blast, to help rescue survivors and begin an investigation into this incident. All citizens are to remain in their homes, or places of work until further notice. Anyone seen outside without a Military pass or identification will be arrested at once. The Charter is suspended until further notice. Infractions of regulations will be tried before a tribunal of military officers and--

Shalimar waved a paw over the sensor in disgust, and the image and voice died instantly.

"They've waited three years for this chance." Shamir sighed.

"Now they have it, the warmongers." Shalimar spat.

"Father?" His second son asked "What about Rokar? Will he be coming into the Nexis?"

Shalimar shook his head. "No way of knowing. But knowing Tribune Korar, the entire city will be thick with Simian troops before sunrise."

"Aurora." Shalimar said, turning back to the Skiltaire "I know you're worried about Vladimir, But I need to speak to Shomron as soon as possible."

Shamir's eyes narrowed. "You know who he is? How?"

"Remember son. Your father is no Simian. It doesn't require half as much information as I have to make an educated guess or two about some of the leaders of the resistance. Besides, I went to school with he and Maruda, remember?"

"And you never told--" Shamir asked, suspiciously

"No!" Shalimar cut him off sharply "Besides, you know the Simians. Even if they had all the same data, which they don't, they're not exactly the deepest of thinkers." His father said shortly.

"Do you think they might have done this?" Shamir asked pointedly.

"I have no idea. But whatever the intent, something went very wrong, very wrong indeed." Shalimar said sadly.