"Oh, fuck furs!" shouted the old man.  His voice was vicious and his insanity had morphed from harmless amusement to uncontrollable fury.  "You're talking like humans are the world's shit-pots!  Like we're good for absolutely nothing!  Almost like you think we<span style="font-style: italic">deserve </span>to be slaves!"  There was a noise of thrashing chains and clanking manacles, then a frustrated silence.  After a moment, a gob of spit flew from the darkness to land somewhere on Karogen's shirt.  "You can fuck off, fella!  Got the shit beat outta you as a kid, huh?  You probably fuckin' deserved it!  Then you been pampered and raised by a rich fur with a human fetish.  Wouldn't be surprised if he took you out back into the tool shed once or twice himself!  What else didja do?  Oh yeah, you're hooked on Berserker Juice!  Like you can't stand being human.  Just wanna grow fur and a tail and have me for fuckin' dinner!  Fuck furs!  Fuck the Bitch, fuck the world!<span style="font-style: italic">And fuck you!</span>"  No more was said.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>The First Sergeant laughed at Jenten's indignation.  "Standing orders are to leave civilians alone," he said, smiling.  "You're not really in the Resistance yet, so I can't even touch you."  He made a motion of his hand reaching out to Jenten, then withdrew it at the last minute.  "And I'm sure the Commander wouldn't mind having you on board.  The more allies we've got against the Bitch, the better.  He always said we should trust our friends."  He looked at Emiko.  "You're right about the route we're taking.  Last thing I need is to run into a battle with a load of dead weight.  No offense to your friends, of course."<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Lentan nodded at Chiro and watched him withdraw to comfort a nearby soldier.  For the briefest of moments, he hoped he wasn't asking too much of his newfound friends.<br/><br/>Then, for a very long moment, he stood silently in the gazebo, thinking.  What value did Karogen have that warranted these people's sacrifice?  He shook his head and ran his hands over it, trying not to doubt himself now, at the very edge of conflict.  The mission was to rescue Karogen and the Slayer agent.  That would prevent the Bitch from getting information about the Resistance or the Slayers.  It would slap her in the face with the knowledge that her enemies were powerful - not the rabble she thought they were.  It would prompt her to take more forceful actions...<br/><br/>...and it would put her right where Lentan wanted her.<br/><br/>The Commander of the Resistance in Kazmer straightened up and scanned the area, awaiting everyone's final statement of readiness.<br/><br/>Janus, sitting alone at a forgotten table, looked up at Chiro and nodded.  After a moment he spoke.  "Good luck."<br/><br/>O'Toole's green eyes soaked up the stare of Arget's own, and her ears took in his words.  Then her hands reached out to his shoulders and rested there.  Blood rushed to her face and she looked sheepishly down at the ground, her long red hair falling forwards to shield her expression.<br/><br/>In a moment, her head rose up and she looked him straight in the eyes again.  "I wanna see you again, too," she whispered.  She saw past his smile and looked down again, suddenly feeling awkward.  Her hands slid off his shoulders and she stood there for a moment in silence.  Her eyes and hand found her new rank badge and she tugged at it, giggling.  "And that's 'First Sergeant' to you, fella," she smiled broadly, hiding her own fear.  It faded quickly and her hand dropped from her badge.  "Take care of yourself, Bane," she said quietly.  Then she turned to leave.