Mirror Cycle

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 4

Two hours later, I was clean, mostly dry, and dressed in
some fresh clothing. My hair was loose, hanging in a wet
mess down my back, but I didn't mind. Right now there were
other things to focus my attention on.

Oria was right behind me, almost dressed and looking a bit
flummoxed. She had managed to get her hair drier than I had,
although hers is longer than mine; it fell down almost to
the base of her tail, where my hair is only half way down my
back.

"You need to call Moriya as soon as you can," I told her,
brushing a damp strand of hair from in front of my eyes. The
strangest thing about being in this form was not the change
in gender, being shorter, or even having the tail, it was
not having my glasses.

"What am I calling about?" she asked, pulling on a pair of
pants as she did so. They were not very tight, but were snug
enough to show off her curves, some of my favorite viewing.

"Ships," I answered, tying my hair back, so it would stay
out of the way. "I need to know how many _Red October_ ships
we have ready to fly. I'm going to need some of them."

She nodded, standing up from the bed, tucking in the front
of her shirt as she did so. "What are you going to be
doing?"

"For this plan to work, I'm going to need more clearance
than I currently have." I left it at that, not wanting to
take up any more time. I had very little of it left if I
wanted to catch Rachel in her office.

Oria didn't say anything in return, so I gave her a quick
kiss on the nose, then rushed out of the room. To my great
surprise, Ravindar wasn't waiting for me outside the door.
It was a shock, but I suspected he was busy with the Guild,
which was, for now, more important.

To my office I went, which was only a few doors down the
way. Leaving the door ajar, I dropped down into my chair and
pulled up the video phone. I punched in the number of
Rachel's 'red' phone. It wasn't actually red in color, it
was the same plain black as her other phones. This one was
just for emergencies.

Her face appeared on the screen in only a few seconds.
"What's wrong?" she asked, a very concerned look over her
muzzle.

"Has the Security Council been approved by the Consortium
yet?" I asked, as I leaned slightly forward, resting my arms
on the edge of the desk. I tried to look a lot calmer than I
felt right then.

She blinked in surprise, a look of shock replacing the worry
on her face. "Fox, you shouldn't call me on this line to ask
me a question like that," she scolded, keeping her tone
level, but still there was a touch of anger.

"I know," I told her, "but this is an emergency. You told me
I was wanted as a special agent for the CSC, and that I
would have dominion over anything pertaining to any Earth.
Well, I need that authority in," I paused, checking the
clock on my desk, "three or four hours."

She frowned, causing a nest of lines to show around the
corners of her eyes. Her ears twitched back and forth as she
thought. "What's going on?" she asked, back to being worried
again.

I gave her the short version of the events of the morning. I
left out the part about Elena, that was something she didn't
need to know about.

Rachel sighed, shaking her head slowly. "The bill to create
the CSC was passed three months ago, but there's been no
official budgeting for it. It's official, on paper, but we
haven't pushed through all the other parts."

I nodded. "Good, the thing is, according to my schedule over
here, there is a meeting of the Consortium Council of Member
Worlds in ten minutes. Think you can force something through
to get me appointed as a Special Agent, as you described it
to me?"

She pulled a PADD from someplace out of range of the phone's
camera, and read over it quickly. Her eyes flashed as she
read, and her ears perked up slightly. "Yes, I can run it
though, but you will be the sole member of the Consortium
Security Council."

"I'll worry about the ID, just get me the authority, and
make sure it's in the system within two hours," I said,
relaxing back in the chair slightly.

She twitched one ear, and nodded. "I'll call you when things
are done. That should be in an hour and a half. Good-bye
till then."

I replied in kind, and with a flash, the screen shut off as
she disconnected it from her side.

Letting out a long, pent-up, sigh, I relaxed back into my
chair. One part down, one more to go. This part of my plan
would work as long as we had a clue as to where Cain was.
The rest of the plan would rely on my thinking about the way
he thought.

Having to out-think yourself isn't as easy as it sounds. If
we both came up with the same ideas, we would both come up
with the same ways around them, and how to prevent them from
working.

I was banking on the further confusion about me being Oria.
If that went deep enough, I could get in right close to him
without anyone noticing.

Back onto my feet, I stepped out of the office. This time
Ravindar was waiting for me. He had gotten the wound on his
arm patched up, but was still favoring his other arm
slightly. That was understandable.

"How are things going?" I asked him, walking towards the
living room. I figured Oria was using the phone in the
kitchen, if not, I could wait for her there.

He snorted, tail thrashing back and forth behind him. "The
Guild has doubled its watch around the house, and apologized
for the lapse that allowed this attack to occur."

"Nothing for them to apologize about," I said with a wave of
my paw. "Right now, though, we have other things to worry
about. First I need to talk to Oria, see what she found out
from Moriya, after that, we're waiting for Elena and Rachel.
I have a plan, my friend, but it depends on what we learn."

He nodded, but said nothing. This was his first time dealing
with some of my insane plans, and I didn't know what he
would think of it. I guessed I would find out as soon as he
told me.

Oria was already waiting for me in the living room, she and
Kalie were talking quietly. Both were seated on the couch,
with Beca in between them. Kalie had Adric on her knee, and
Oria was in the process of feeding Romana.

Ravindar, like a true gentleman, glanced away at the sight
of her bare chest. I didn't, I just walked over, grabbed one
of the chairs, and pulled it to the couch.

"Would you like some help with that?" I asked Oria,
conscious of one of the side effects of my female form. When
one female Lidr'ra was lactating, all the other females the
house did too. It was a shared responsibility, and it
affected me in this form. But to be honest, I didn't really
mind it that much.

"Adric didn't want to eat," she answered, adjusting her grip
on Romana, "so I'm going to wait an hour and try again with
him."

I nodded, "All right then. Now, what did you find out about
the ships?

She smiled just a bit. "There are three on the ground at the
yards, all in full working order. I already ordered Moriya
to put a hold on them for us. They'll be held back a few
days pending minor maintenance on the electrical systems."

"Good, good, that's perfect. That will keep them officially
grounded for as long as I need them."

Kalie looked up at me, "What are you planing to do, Fox?"

"An assault on Cain's base," I answered. "Either my attacker
will know where it is, or he will put us in a position to
start looking. Either way I'm going to need the ships--
four, counting _The Falcon_."

She looked a bit worried, a frown creasing over her face,
but she didn't say anything, and for now I didn't ask.

"Which reminds me," I said, standing up, "I need to make a
call."

I walked across the hallway to the kitchen, grabbing the
phone there and dialing up someone I hadn't spoken to in
quite a while.

There were a few rings before it was picked up, no video.
"Hello?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

"Hi," I answered, leaning forward slightly, the camera on my
side on. "I'm calling for Milgrove."

There was a short pause, and a rustling sound over the
phone. Then with a snap the screen turned on. Milgrove's
face was outlined on the screen, hir small horns glittering
slightly in the light. "Sorry about that," sie apologized,
"My throat's been bothering me a bit," sie looked sheepish
as sie said that. "Who are you?"

I grinned, giving hir a short rundown on the whys and hows
of my current form. Sie smiled as I did so, understanding
right off the bat. Page had told hir about me when they were
dating, so sie wasn't surprised at the forms.

"So, what do you need me to do?" sie asked, stepping back a
bit from the phone, and stretching out hir arms. Mil was a
flying squirrel, and had these long flaps of skin between
hir arms and legs. Sie even had special clothing sie wear.
Sie could fly though, which is why sie is my pilot.

"I need you to go to the hanger, grab _The Falcon_ and fly
it to the shipyards," I paused for a second of thought, "Do
you know where they are?"

Sie nodded, "I've been there before I won't have any trouble
getting the ship there. Then what do I do?"

"Wait for me," I told hir, "I'll be there as soon as I can.
We have some business to take care of. While you're there, I
need you to call in the best three pilot and gunner pairs we
have. I'm going to need them as well."

"I see, there's something big going on," sie answered, a
smile creeping over hir face. "I'll get right on it."

"Good!" I said, smiling widely. We traded parting
pleasantries before ending the conversation. That was one
more thing taken care of.

That left one more problem. If we did have to track down the
base, I wouldn't be able to run gunner with Milgrove, and
run the fleet, as small as it was. Who else to ask, though?

The answer was in front of my face, almost literally. Kalie!
She was military, and special forces. I suspected she had
retired again, since she had been on Prid for so long, but
damn, who else could I ask! She was perfect for the job.

I walked back into the living room. Oria had finished with
Romana, and was now holding her in her arms. The cub was
wide eyed, watching the world, and looked like she was
purring ever so slightly.

Walking over to Kalie, I placed my paw on her shoulder. She
looked up to me, wide eyed, and looking very worried. I
didn't have time to ask her anything, because Ravindar let
out a sharp yell.

I spun around to find him, gun out, aiming it down the
hallway. I started for my gun, but stopped when he lowered
his.

"Our guest is here," he commented dryly, holstering the gun.

Stepping away from Kalie, I glanced down the hall. Just as I
suspected, Elena was here. Sie was still limping slightly,
but looked a lot better.

As she walked in to the room, I saw that hir side was healed
completely, but hir leg was still a bit banged up. Hir
missing eye was now covered by an eye-patch, so I couldn't
gauge how it had healed, but hir throat and muzzle were
healed totally.

"Welcome to my home," I said, waving my paw out. "That's
Oriana and Kalie, but I'm sure you know that already."

Sie gave me an annoyed glare. "Yes, I already do know that,
but there's no need to advertise it to anyone who might be
listening." Sie turned her attention to the ladies, "I am
Elena Khatika, Fox has asked me to retrieve some
information, and I am here to pass it onto you."

"Good," I answered, taking a chair and sitting down in it,
wincing a bit as I pinched my tail. I was still not used to
having one for any length of time. "Sit down and tell us all
about it."

Sie nodded, folding hir legs under hir, and lowering hirself
to the floor. Sie grunted as sie changed the weight on hir
damaged leg, but looked generally relaxed.

None of us said a word, we were all waiting for Elena to
speak first. Sie had to know this, and judging from the
twitch of hir ears, sie was playing it up appropriately.

"Let me start," sie said, breaking the silence with a smile,
"by saying that Cain has gotten sloppy." Sie said 'sloppy'
with a thick measure of contempt.

"Sloppy how?" I asked.

Sie snorted. "Trying to kidnap you with a sniper, instead of
a drive-up snatch operation. It would have been smoother to
do, and would haven't needed so many teams."

This perked my ears up. "Teams? How many teams?"

Sie smiled, showing a bit of hir teeth, "I'll get to that,
in my own time. For now, just listen." Sie paused again,
locking hir good eye on me. "To start, my meal thought of
Cain as a terrorist, not a kidnapper. And his plan seems to
show that. He also seems to be worried about Ravindar.
Cain's aware of his connection to the Guild, and is leery
about dealing with him."

"But he tried to kill me, none the less," Ravindar commented
from behind hir, his arms crossed and a bitter look on his
face.

Elena chuckled. "Yes, my meal didn't know why he decided to
kill you, but just that you were supposed to be killed. Now,
as for the target, it is Oriana, no question as to that.
They knew about Rhea as well, but not in any detail. Any
lioness morph with Ravindar was to be considered Oriana, and
if you were to be a problem Fox, you were to be
tranquilized, and left on the street."

"Oh, hell," I swore, shaking my head slightly. Oria sat
stone faced, no emotion showing at all, even her ears we're
held half up and half down. This was as bad a shock to her
as it was to me.

Sie nodded, "It is unpleasant to think about it." Sie
paused, twitching hir left ear, causing the dangling parts
of hir ear clip that held hir name to jingle against each
other. "That is not all. You have been lucky, there was no
coordination at all between groups. They were put in the
city to capture you, but they don't talk to each other."

"Badly run operation," Kalie muttered, the look of worry on
her face seeming to have deepened into dark lines of her
fur.

"I said he was sloppy," sie answered, slapping hir tail on
the floor. "All teams are suppose to check in when Prid's
first sun sets, at no time before then. It will be hours
before Cain knows what has happened to his men. There are
ten teams, these are their general locations," sie held out
a map. When no one moved to take it, sie set it on the table
just next to hir.

I nodded, crossing my paws in my lap. "What were they to do
once they had Oria?"

"Take her through the fold to their meeting place; the
number is on there as well." sie said, a slight frown
crossing over hir face. "She was to be taken from there to
Cain's base. My meal did not know where it was located, but
had been there. It's built inside of an asteroid, location
and layout, unknown." Sie said the last part with a touch of
frustration. Not knowing was foreign to hir, since sie was
in the business of knowing things.

Ravindar took a step forward, frowning deeply. "So how do we
find Cain's base? Go to this meeting point, and hope to pry
it out of the people there?"

"No," Oria said, standing up. Romana had be shifted to
Kalie's lap for the moment. Oria walked over to me, placing
a paw on my shoulder. "We simply let them catch me."

"What?" Ravindar asked in shock. I had never seen the tiger
look so stunned, his mouth was almost hanging open.

I chuckled, reaching up and placing my own paw over my
wife's. "Or rather, we let them think they've caught her."

He suddenly burst into laughter, "Of course! That makes
perfect sense! Let them capture you! That's a perfect idea,
damn, and I didn't think to get the tranquilizer gun."

"It's standard ephito-cylo-ematilizen," Elena told him with
a long smile. "I've brought an antidote with me. The dose
they had planned for Oriana is suppose to last fifteen
hours." Sie reached into the pockets of hir shirt, pulling
out a small vial of clear liquid. "This will prevent you
from being anything more than groggy."

I smiled. "Good thinking, Elena. Now, we have to plan. Oria,
show your wrists, please." She gave me a slightly puzzled
look, but pushed up her sleeves. "Ravindar, you see those
bands?" I was referring to the bands she had around each
wrist.

He nodded. "Yes, there's a note about them in her file. She
is supposed to never take them off."

"I don't," she commented, setting her paws back down on my
shoulders.

"Correct, she doesn't," I said with a smile, "and I need a
pair. One with a chip control built in, and the other with
one of your portal controls."

Oria chipped in as well. "It also needs something to hold a
few pills."

I gave her a questioning look, and she just smiled back in
return.

Ravindar gave me his own look, glancing down at his own
wrist. Wrapping around it was a portal control, almost the
same size as Oria's bands. It was one of the most compact I
had ever seen; it was also illegal, opening a fold so it was
totally cold, and preventing any fold it opened from being
traced.

"I assume it has some way to shoot a short message back
through a fold, like a full fold number, something you could
trace back to me?" I asked, leaning forward.

Looking down at it again, he tapped the cover slightly. "Not
this version, but there might be something like that in the
Guild, I will have to check. Regardless, I will provide you
with an identical set to Oriana's in two hours."

"Good, you do that," I said as I stood back up, and turning
towards Kalie.

Elena slipped between us; sie was quite agile for having
four feet. "Fox may I have a word with you before I go, in
private?"

I shrugged. "I can't see why not," I told hir. We stepped
out of the room and into the hallway. Ravindar was already
off to talk to the Guild, so it was just hir and me for now.

Sie had a strange look on hir face, reaching out to take my
left paw into hir own. "Your blood..." sie said in a lower
tone of voice.

I nodded, remembering the last time sie had drawn some. It
had made hir quite sick. I was hoping sie was not asking to
try again.

Sie licked hir lips, but not in hunger, in nervousness. "I
think I know why it tastes dead," sie said, dropping my paw.
"I felt it in another just before I lost to my previous
meal," sie stopped, looking deeply into my eyes with hir one
good one.

"Go on," I prompted.

Sie shook hir head. "The one I encountered had no shape,"
sie spoke the words quietly, as if they were dangerous to
say. That was all sie said as well, turning around in the
hallway, and starting to walk away from me.

"That makes no sense!" I protested to hir retreating rump.

No answer was forthcoming, instead sie just turned into the
fold room, and left.

"Hell," I muttered, walking back into the living room. Oria
was back on the couch, the twins in her lap, with Beca
sleeping next to her. Rhea had shown up as well, relaxing in
front of the empty fireplace.

Well, if I was going to be captured, I was definitely going
to need someone to command the fleet. "Kalie," I said,
taking a step forward.

She looked up at me, the worry on her face was gone for a
second, but was starting to return. "Yes?" she asked,
sounding timid.

"I'm going to need your help," I told her.

Her face seemed to fall as she stood up. "Fox," she said,
"I, I just..." she was stuttering, a look of pain crossing
her muzzle. "I... ah..." she tried once more.

Then, in a move that shocked me to the core, she burst into
tears and ran right past me and down the hall!

   To Be Continued...

-----

This story is copyright 2000 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy
reprints limited to one per person, all other rights
reserved. This story may not be distributed for a fee except
by permission of the author, and this copyright notice may
not be removed. Elena is copyright 2000 by Chris Bradford,
and used with permission. Milgrove is copyright 2000 by J.
'Packrat' McCoy, and is used with permission.