The Assault. This is a work of fiction, any resemblance to persons, places, or situations is purely coincidental. Characters protrayed in this story are copyright Drakis Kier (drakiskier@hotmail.com). CoC Captian Savannah Bloodtear - Female Hyena, Mistress of the Bloodlance - Male Panther, Lord of the Bastet - Male Hare, Commander of the Prey's Revenge --------------------------- Prologue "Listen up you worthless pack of dogs... If we are to pull this off, we need to work together!" A snarl capped the sentance, showing that while she might be a female, she was not to be trifled with. Her short hair and strong arms made her look like a male, but that was common with hyena females. At five feet, nine inches, she was not the most intimidating commander out there, but her crew was loyal to the teeth, hand picked and trained to know the ship like the backs of their hands. Her stance was confidant and her gaze steely, her emotions held tightly in check as she listened to the com channel. With a scrape of claws on metal, the large female paced around the bridge, waiting for the other captians to stop bickering. Her patience was wearing thin, and the fur on the back of her neck bristled as she she bit her tongue, keeping her voice calm and even as she spoke. "If you two cannot work together, then I will take my proposal to the other pirate lords." The two captians on the screen begrudgingly ceased their bickering. One was a male panther of medium build, in command of a destroyer-class ship named after an ancient cat god, Bastet. His black fur was sleek and his piercing glare made most cringe when it fell upon them. "This sounds more and more like a suicide mission to me... nobody has ever managed to..." The panther was cut off by the opposing captian on the screen. "What's the matter kitten, scared of a couple of overgrown reptiles?" The taunting captian was a an unlikely canidate for a pirate lord; a rather large lapine male, his body coated in scars from cuts and burns, and his left eye covered by an eye patch. He commanded a heavilly modified frigate that he had renamed 'Preys Revenge.' The panther snarled in response to the provocation from the prey species, "With that mouth of yours, it's a wonder you've survived this long, bunny boy... let alone been promoted to captian..." "Enough dammit! Shut your goddamn mouths and listen to me!" The hyena bared her teeth as the unique sound of a hyena growl interupted the bickering captians, her claws digging into the padded rest of her captians chair. We have only one chance at this. The target is in an uninhabited system stripping down some asteroids. We do not have much time to Intercept." "Then transmit the goddamn coordinates!" the lapine snarled to the hyena, the sneer on his face showing that he meant business. The hyena was not goaded by the agressive lapine, and turned her attention to the panther, "Are you in?" A moment of silence followed before the feline nodded slowly, "I'm in. We will take escort position until we arrive." The hyena smiled darkly, "Gentlemen, let's bag us a dragon." ---------------------------- The two pirate ships took up escort positions on the ship commanded by the hyena, the destroyer in position on the right and the destroyer on the left. they were mostly in a line, the battle hardened captians knowing from experince better than to fully expose their rear flanks to other pirates. Once in position, the three ships synced their navigational computers and initiated the warp jump. The three ships accellerated sharply as a warp in the fabric of space opened, a quantum tunnel welcoming the ships into the folded space. Navigating the folded space took split second timing and a natural intuition for which path to take. The hyena sat in her captians chair, holding onto the arms as she watched her pilot in the central console. The hawk had been a warp scout for the military before a messy court martial due to improper liasons with his superior officer. One ship in the fold can be tricky for most pilots, but his natural talent let him guide all three ships without incident. "Easy, Fredrick, we don't want to lose a ship on the way, do we." The hyena smiled to her subordinate, the menace gone from her voice now that she was talking to her crew alone. "Yes, Mistress." The hawk replied without taking his attention away from the path ahead. "It might not be the smoothest ride, but we will be there in time." "Excelent. If our mission is successful, you will get an extra... reward." The heyna grinned as she drew tbe pause between the words, her hands relaxing on the chair as the ride smoothed out a little more. She gazed at the forward display, watching the network of web-like veins that their ship danced through, the various eddies and currents showing up on the screen as patterns and colors that could easilly dazzle and distract those who were not used to them. It always intregued her the way the bird brain of her pilot never once faltered in its interpretation of the onslaught of information that piloting the folds gave. ************