Dreamspirit dragged hirself to a removable panel and pushed it open revealing the access tunnel to the science lab. Doggedly, shi moved out of the tunnel and into the room looking for the medical supplies needed to help heal hir broken rear leg. Limping to one of the lab tables, shi looked it over and found a medical kit. Removing the regenerator, shi started to run it over hir hind leg. Once the regenerator notified hir that hir leg had been healed, shi slumped exhaustedly to the floor breathing hard from hir exertions.

>>>

"Sir, this area is clear. Hallway patrols have been neutralized," Sergeant Sheppard reported.

Max nodded and then sat there, eyes closed concentrating on the surrounding area pulling up his little mental radar. Slowly, he pushed it out little by little until he got a ping back.

There was someone in the lab two doors up and to the right.

"Sergeant, we have someone in the lab there," he pointed.

Sergeant Sheppard nodded and motioned his crew to the door and silently counted down with hand motions. 3... 2... 1... With a click and a whir, the milfurs entered the room with military precision securing the area, weapons leveled at the chakat. Dream lay on the ground quite unresponsive as shi breathed deeply in sleep.

"Clear Sir!" the Sergeant barked.

Max nodded and walked in and stopped dead. "DREAM!" Max exclaimed as he raced over falling to his knees sliding the last few centimeters almost bumping into the chakat. He gently took Dream's hand and rubbed it vigorously. "Dream, can you hear me? Wake up hon, please??"

Dream grunted and mumbled something undecipherable in hir sleep. Other than that, shi lay still; hir only movement the rise and fall of hir chests.

Max got up and headed over to the computers pulling up a listing for mild stimulants that wouldn't harm Dream and then had the computer replicate the serum. He eased the hypo against Dream's neck and triggers the delivery system.

For a moment the chakat did not stir and then suddenly shi twitched violently awake. "Wha.?.?" shi tried to say but hir sawdust dry mouth made words difficult. Slowly shi started to lift hir body as shi tried to work enough saliva into hir mouth to speak. "What are you doing here? Who are you?" shi asked confused and still more than a little groggy.

Max took Dream's cheeks in his hands leveling hir head a bit and looked hir in the eyes. "Dream, its me... It's Max," he said as he rubbed hir cheek fur trying to rouse hir a bit more. "You need to wake up, hon, I know you're tired, but we can't stay here."

Dream stopped to really look at Max. "What?" Shi looked again and opened hir mind to feel his emotions and to see if it was actually him.

"Who let you out of your bath?" shi said jokingly with huff. "How did you get past the mercs?" shi asked not really giving him any real chance to answer hir questions. "Where did you get that uniform? Why are you in that uniform?"

Max let out a low chuckle as he put a finger to hir muzzle trying to silence hir. "Dream... Shhhhh... It's OK..." he replied as he started ticking off items on his fingers. "One, I woke up and almost drowned in that mad scientist's experiment. Two, I have a Blackpaw playing astral scout for me since I'm an anchor and I have these guys," he said as he hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the armed and armored milfurs behind him. "Three, Shylin already had all of this made and ready to go for some flipping reason and now I get to play spook for Federation Intel. Is there anything else, you four footed grape soda?"

For the first time shi looked behind Max at the other morphs "Why are you in that gear? Where are your uniforms?" Dream asked sharply

"Dream, honey, they aren't Federation. They are... recruits," he said a touch uncomfortably. "They volunteered to help."

Dream slowly turned from the soldiers to Max. "Recruits? And where did you get these recruits?" shi asked in a very dangerous tone.

"Well, I got them from deck 12 section Alpha 3. You probably shouldn't keep military ex-slaves in with civilian ex-slaves," he said slightly embarrassed.

Dream stared at him. "They are not authorized to use weapons in federation space, they are... are... Damn it Max, they are warbeasts for the LNAW! What makes you think they won't turn on you when one of the damn pirates or mercs or whoever orders them to?" Shi gestured to the morphs, "No offense to you guys. They are a potential risk and not cleared by the Federation to be wandering armed around the station! Hell, when we got them in the first place, they were defending the humans aboard the cargo ship they and the other morphs were on. They wouldn't stop shooting till they were all stunned and then the humans they were defending ran and hid," shi explained looking at Max. "What were you thinking, Max!"

"Well, the pirates aren't allowed weapons in Federation space either," he said blandly. "Also..." he looked over his shoulder at the milfurs wincing internally at what was about to happen. "Sergeant Sheppard, to whom do you give your loyalty, your allegiance and your life?" he asked.

All eight milfurs snapped quickly to attention and in one voice stated. "SIR! We pledge or loyalty, allegiance and lives to you, SIR!"

Max turned back to Dream with a resigned look on his face. A few seconds later, the feline twins entered the room silent in their black garb. "Mr. Pilumnus, all the hallways are clear on this deck now," and they silently took their place at his back watching the room.

Max winced and looked back at Dream again with a pleading look on his face. "Tada?"

Dream looked less than pleased. "Well Mr Pilumnus, how in the hell did you managed to secure their loyalty? You're not even human anymore! And how... WHY are they following you?" Shi looked at the morphs. "Do you think he is still human??" shi asked them. "Why are you doing this?" shi asked more confused than mad at this point.

"Dream, hon, they met me when I was human, I still smell like me so they knew it was me just different looking. I don't know if they still see me as a human or if they just want to help," Max looked over his shoulder at the milfurs questioningly.

The Sergeant nodded to them both and spoke. "For milfurs, it's not about human or not human, it is about who we serve. We have officers who are morphs as well. We would have to serve them and we must give them allegiance as well. Lt. Commander Pilumnus came to us when he was human. He was kind and nice to us and talked to us. He was a good human. We wished to have a purpose again and he gave it to us. No one will turn us against him or his. We will die before that happens," he said with a final nod.

Then the twins spoke up, "We were just bored and he liked our coffee." They shrugged in unison with an impish grin.

"I guess one of these days I'll have to ask the Admiral how to better integrate you guys," shi sighed deeply. "What are you two coffee twins doing here? Shouldn't you be with the others someplace safe?" shi asked.

The baritone spoke first. "We were not just baristas in our jobs..." Then the soprano spoke, "We were highly trained body guards. We were trained in hand to hand skills, observation, and arms practice." Then the baritone spoke again, "We were also trained in knives, swords and various other bladed and blunt instruments. Whatever it took to keep our Master safe." They finished their resume and cocked their heads eerily to one side to look at Dream again as if asking for more questions.

"Oh, for fuck sakes..." Dream said flatly. "My Commander is going to kill me... my hide..."

Max interrupted. "Actually, Commander Shylin approved everything..." he said.

Dream looked at him. "Commander Shylin isn't my Commander..." Shi paused. "Right... Well, nothing we can do now but finish the nightmare we are in," shi said in a resigned voice.

"If you think this is a nightmare, I found out that their pledge of loyalty doesn't end until either they or I are dead... I'm stuck with these jar heads," he said fondly looking back over at the grinning milfurs.

"You're going to be the reason why I get white fur before my 50th birthday, Max!" shi said sharply. "How much of the station have you taken back?" shi asked.

Max just laughed in relief and then planted a full-on kiss on Dream's muzzle. "I don't care how white you get, you four footed grape soda, I'm just happy you're alive. Although, I MAY be slightly delirious and on the verge of a mental break down. You forget I woke up fully formed like this and then was thrown against pirates and now have my own mini army. I'm fairly positive that if I survive, I'm going to need a straitjacket!" he said with a slightly demented sounding chuckle. "We've cleared the habitat section and half of this science section," he babbled.

Sighing, Dream looked at him. "I'm still pretty tired. I am not in any kind of fighting condition yet. I'm going to need some sleep before too long, but if you have a spare rifle or something that would be nice," shi said in a tired voice. "Not sure what happened exactly, but I can tell you, these guys had this planned. I don't know how much of my crew is captured or dead. Between the flash bangs and gas, I'm shocked I even woke up this week. Anyway, I think most, or all of the crew, are in that ship. We are going to need more than your boy scouts to clear that ship out," shi explained.

Max nodded. "We, or actually I, need to get to the C&C area of the docking ring; and if I can, I can cut their connection to the station's computer core and then main OPS should be able to disable all of their weapons and emergency beam out the hostages. Once they are disarmed, it will be a simple matter of playing clean up. I took a look at their gear and by Federation standards it isn't very up to date. A security scan would disable everything and then we could just flood the area with anesthizine gas. Once everyone is night night, we go in and take care of business," Max grinned a slightly mad grin.

Dream shook hir head. "No, whatever they were using inside the ship shielded them from our scans or we would have picked them up before they docked. That would include transporters even our Mark 8s, but it was a good plan though. Anesthizine gas is a good idea though," shi grudgingly agreed.

Shi put hir hand out waiting for a weapon. "A rifle would be preferable but I'll take what I can get."

Max looked at Dream, "Actually, I think we should get you back to the freed slave's section. They could use some organization and leadership. Right now, they are securing themselves from any extra pirate incursion," he said kindly.

"YOU WHAT?!?!" Dream yelled. "You left them alone without any trained security?"

Max scowled his tail raising slightly behind him unconsciously, "What do you think I should have done, Dream? We cleaned out the pirates and barricaded all of the ways in and out. I couldn't afford to leave anyone behind that I have with me now, or we probably wouldn't be here having this argument," he said a bit defensively. "Plus... These pips are really just for show... I don't have any experience with command," he half whispered.

Dream ran hir hands over hir face. "OK, give me a rifle, I'll go and play guard," shi growled. "Under the circumstances, you've done a good job," shi allowed more quietly.

Max grinned. "Now you're just being nice, plus you think I'm cute now," he said smirking slightly. "Sergeant, let's get Lt. Commander Dreamspirit here to the barricades and then get back to work. We will use the access tunnels in that area to finish our mission." The milfurs quickly went out the door and Max handed hir a spare rifle. "I know you're aggravated with me, just don't shoot me because of it," he drawled.

"I don't know... Your butt is a rather tempting target," shi said. "Lead the way, Lieutenant Commander."

The rag tag group made their way slowly back to the freed slave living area. The group didn't encounter any further merc action as they passed quiet hallways. They arrived at the barricade to the living quarters and slipped inside. All around them, serious looking morphs were going about the business of securing the captives and keeping them unconscious as well as making food and managing rotational watch shifts. Max looked around with a slight smile on his face as something sparked inside him and nodded. "Here we are, Dream..." Max led Dream to Tilly, and introduced them.

Not long after, Max headed back out with his band of grim faced warbeasts to complete their mission and to hopefully win freedom for the residents of the station once again.