Max triggered the holoprojector and after checking to make sure it was clear, stepped out of the service tunnel and made his way, with a confident swagger, to the living quarters. No one challenged him; everyone was too busy seeing how much loot they could grab. So when he turned down the side hall leading to the living quarters, he wasn't surprised when he was greeted by a petulant challenge.

"What are you doing here? Identify yourself," one guard said lifting a rifle while the other shuffled some old playing cards.

Max took a breath and made his voice as gruff as he could and said, "Well, if that's how you're going to treat your relief, then I'll just go back to looting and you can sit here playing cards." Then he turned as if to walk away.

"WAIT!" one of them exclaimed.

Max stopped and turned looking at them, "Yes?"

"You're our replacement? Where is your partner? You know we are all supposed to be in teams," the one with the rifle said.

Max thought quickly and said, "The idiot tried to take someone else's claim and ended up with a face full of rifle. Moron's in the infirmary getting his nose sewn back on," Max said wryly.

The guard with the rifle lowered it laughing, "That'll teach him to touch someone else's stuff. Alright, trade off with us and give us a few to get some loot before it's all gone eh?"

"That's why I'm here. If ya don't mind, leave the cards will ya? It'll get boring here by my lonesome," Max drawled.

"Sure, no probs," said the guard with the cards. "We'll be back in a bit to relieve ya."

Max made shooing motions to the two guards who quickly hurried off.

'Very well done, Commander,' Zyndil sent admiringly.

Max shrugged, 'They're pirates, pirate's loot. I figured they would jump at the chance to loot something. Of course, I think I want to puke again but I'm trying very hard not to,' Max sent sounding a touch green. 'Next is the hard part.'

He once against prepped the hypos and picking up the cards. He palmed the doors open to the living area. The two guards both turned to look at him and he just held up the cards. One nodded and motioned him to come on over to the table they were at and they both turned back around to watch the morphs who were all sitting in a group in front of them. Max noticed one of the morphs looking at him curiously as it sniffed the air. Max reached one hand behind him and grabbed one hypo and when he was close enough tossed the deck of cards scattering them on the table.

While the cards were still in motion, he reached around with his other hand, grabbed the second hypo, and pressed them both to the pirates who were still watching the cards slide across the table as he triggered the delivery systems. Both pirates slumped to the table. Max's hands were shaking violently as he reached to his chest and instead of turning off the holoprojector changed it to his original human form. He held a finger up to his lips in a shushing gesture and all of the morphs quickly got up and nodded. Looking around he spotted the military morphs and signaled to them. He pointed to the pirate's weapons and then to the door. The leader of the military morphs pointed at two of his subordinates and made several hand gestures and they broke off taking the weapons and posted guard by the door. He then motioned the military leader over and murmured, "These two will be out for several hours, sit them outside the door at the sentry table. Make it look like they are just bored if you can. Keep an ear out just in case someone comes down the hallway. I have more weapons for your guys and I'm going to need your help. We will discuss it shortly. Where is Tilly?"

The German Shepherd morph who was leading the military morphs nodded towards the left and muttered back, "Tilly is over there." He pointed out the old goat who was watching them intently, "I'll get my guys positioned, but without weapons, we are sitting ducks." The morph sniffed the air slightly, "You smell different. Still you, just different..."

"I'll explain everything shortly. Get the guard display set up and I'll be back with the other weapons." And with that Max changed the holoprojector back to the pirate disguise and slipped back down the hallway to where the weapons were stashed.

With Zyndil playing scout, Max managed to get the weapons and get back to the ex-slaves without any issues and once he got back, the fake guard display looked fairly convincing to anyone not really paying close attention. He got back inside and met a rifle barrel in his face. "It's me, please don't shoot or you'll ruin my heroic moment and my mate will hunt you down," he half teased. The barrel was removed and Max handed the bag of weapons to the lead military morph. "I'm sorry I never got your name last time?"

"Sergeant Maurice Sheppard. I'm just lucky enough to be the highest ranking of the grunts here, Sir," he said with a wry smile.

"OK Sergeant, get the weapons distributed to the most trained individuals, set a couple of guards in here, and then come with me please," Max said trying to not make anything an order if he could help it. Apparently, it didn't matter because the Sergeant popped to attention snapping off a salute and started barking out orders to the other military morphs present. Max watched for a minute, sighed, and then headed over to Tilly.

Tilly eyed him curiously and bowed slightly when he got over to him. "Mr. Pilumnus, it is good to see you again," he said respectfully.

Max took the old goats hand shaking it in a friendly manner. "Tilly, as you can see, we seem to have a bit of a pirate problem. Have they said anything since they took over?" he asked.

"They told us to get ready to go home. Said that there was an auction waiting and we were all going to have new Masters to serve soon," he said worriedly. "Some of the freed slaves were actually a bit happy at the idea of having a new Master to serve. Conditioning is hard to break unfortunately." And as if to emphasize his words, the Siamese twins showed up with coffee for Max smiling happily.

Max smiled fondly at the twins and took the offered coffee. "Thank you, but you do know I am not your Master right? You're free now, at least if I can help it."

They both smiled and him and bowed to which he could only sigh and sip his coffee. "Tilly can you get everyone together, I need to address them and explain a few things, please."

Tilly gave a short bow and started gathering the ex-slaves around as Max sipped his coffee. 'Zyn, keep an eye out please, let me know if we are about to have company,' he sent and saw Zyn nod in acknowledgment and head back out into the hallway.

Once the freed slaves were gathered together, oddly enough the military ones were standing behind him in a state of parade rest, Max put aside the coffee cup. One of the twins quickly removed it with a smile. Max sighed looking at everyone. "I am guessing you all remember me from my last visit?" he asked.

Most everyone nodded, not everyone had been there but apparently, they had heard of his visit. Max looked at them all and said, "As you know, the station has been boarded by LNAW pirates. They are looking to not only take you and your freed brothers and sisters back with them, but they also plan to take any other morph species they can get their hands on back with them as well to sell as slaves. There may even be some of you that would welcome the chance to go back to your old life," he said. "I would ask you to reconsider that thought please. I would ask you to give us a chance to help you and to show you what freedom can be like. I know many of you are bored and feel like there is nothing to do and no real future for you and I want you to know that I have been trying very hard to correct that issue. I ask you to trust me and to give me the chance to help you while the Federation helps you."

Someone in the crowd spoke up, "Why should we trust a human? Why should we trust you? All you have to do is give any of us a command and we have to obey it!"

Max nodded and looked at the crowd. "Some of you have noticed I smell different," he said. "I believe I was told I still smell like me, but off or different. Let me show you why."

Max took a deep breath and reached up and shut off the holoprojector. There was a stunned silence for a minute and then a shushed murmuring ran through the crowd. Max looked over his shoulder at the Sergeant who was looking curiously at him. Max raised a questioning eyebrow wondering what the military morph would do now. The Sergeant eyed him for a minute more and then nodded going back to parade rest. Well...That was one less thing to worry about at least.

"As you can see, I am no longer human. The same people who were responsible for your creation, were also responsible for my change. I was used and tricked into accepting a special gene therapy to change my appearance so that I could be used as a living weapon to take the lives of morphs. I was never supposed to live this long and the side effects of the treatment are what you see now. I am no longer a human. I'm a morph just like you are and they would happily take me prisoner and auction me off to whomever wanted to buy me for their pleasure. But I have never been conditioned such as you have, so they would probably end up killing me to make me a slave." Max's tail twitched in agitation and he tried to keep it down and out of the way of the military morphs behind him. "I'm still learning what it's like to control a tail," he half joked lightly. A few in the crowd chuckled at that. "So, as you can see, you no longer have to follow my orders, or call me Master as your conditioning dictates. I'm just a free morph and I plan on staying that way." Max rubbed his eyes tiredly and when he removed his hand the twins were there with a fresh cup of coffee, their eyes expectant. Max looked at them and murmured, "I'm not a human, and I'm not your Master, you don't have to keep serving me coffee, you know?"

Then to Max's surprise one of the twins spoke. "If we are truly free," then the other spoke in a more soprano voice, "Then we prefer to choose whom we serve." The first one spoke again and Max noticed the voice was more baritone, "And we choose a friend."

Max really wasn't sure what to say to that. He might have dug his own grave in this particular battle. He turned to set the coffee cup down and the Sergeant stood forward and took it from him. Max just raised an eyebrow as the shepherd stood there. Then he turned to the two expectant Siamese. Though not really sure why, he opened his arms inviting a hug from them only to be swarmed by them both purring quite loudly. "Oi, Dream is SO going to kill me," he murmured. "Alright you silly cats, go sit down before you ruin my awe-inspiring speech," he teased.

The baritone cat murmured in his ear. "Just ask them," and they both stepped back and sat on the ground to watch. Max looked out over the group assembled and his mouth went dry again. He felt a gentle tap on his shoulder and looked to see a coffee mug there. He took it with a grateful nod to the Sergeant who nodded back before taking his place back in line behind him.

Max took a swallow of nirvana and held the silence for a moment. "I ask you all to follow me, to help take back this station from pirates who would make us slaves. I do not order you as a human, I ask you as one of you. I ask as a friend and as an ally. Will you help me save this station? Will you help me save our brothers and sisters?" he asked in a ringing voice and then held his breath waiting.

He heard two measured steps behind him and turning, saw that the military morphs had stepped forward and popped to attention, eyes straight ahead. Then the sergeant, in a parade ground voice said, "Preeesent ARMS!"

Max blinked and then turned around going to what he hoped was an acceptable attention stance and tried VERY hard to salute back without screwing it up too much. The he lowered his hand and so did the others.

"At ease gentlemen. Sergeant, I have a question,"Max queried.

"Yes Sir?" the shepherd inquired.

"Sergeant, what's to keep you and your people from obeying the first order given to you from a human?" he asked.

"Simple, we swear allegiance to you of course. It wouldn't do to have a military that would just stop fighting if the enemy ordered you to. So, we swear allegiance to you as our commanding officer," he explained simply.

Max whispered, "You do know I'm not even military. Well, semi-official I guess," he said fingering the PIPS on his collar.

The shepherd grinned, "I could tell that from the salute, Sir. It just means you really need us to keep you alive then, Sir."

Max grinned back wryly. "You do know that after this, if any of us survive, I'll just be back to plain old Max again. What will you do then?"

"Just find us work to do Sir. We just want to be useful again," he said earnestly.

Max nodded, "You have my word on that Sergeant, even if I have to hire you myself." Max looked at the mix of military furs before him, all 8 of them. "Does he speak for all of you?"

As one voice, they responded, "Sir, Yes Sir!"

Max was slightly stunned but nodded. "I, Maximilian Pilumnus, Lieutenant Commander of Starfleet, do so swear to uphold the promises given by me to you, in return for your service to me and this mission. I hereby swear to do, by the best of my abilities, to keep you from unnecessary harm. I ask you to so swear to me your loyalty and allegiance for this mission and for as long as it takes to free our brothers and sisters from the menace that threatens them. Do you so swear?" One by one each morph stepped forward and swore his or her oath to Max and the weight on his shoulders grew heavier.

When Max turned around a sizable portion of the freed slaves were standing before him expectantly. He raised an eyebrow at the old goat standing in the front curiously. Tilly spoke, "We, who stand before you, wish to help however we can. Those not present do not have the temperament for such things but are willing to act as caregivers and whatever else may be needed. Not a single one of us has decided to withhold our help. Good speech!" he grinned at Max.

Max felts his ears redden at the praise but nodded. He noticed the twins standing in the front row and looked at them curiously. "You planning on keeping us caffeinated?" he asked half-jokingly.

They both stepped forward and bowed slightly but nowhere as deeply as when he had been human. "We do more than make coffee," said the baritone voice. "We were also bodyguards for our former Master," said the soprano voice.

"And apparently you were also magicians and ninjas as well," Max joked. "How else did you manage to get coffee into my quarters every morning when you were supposed to be stuck in here? Also, which one of you is Teeshan and which one is Neeshan?" he asked.

"Well, that depends," said the baritone voice. "Sometimes we went through the ventilation, sometimes we took the service access shafts under the floor. Also, I am Neeshan and that is Teeshan, my brother," said the soprano voice.

Max put his muzzled face in both hands and grumbled, "This really IS a bad video game... OK I have a scout out now, what do you say we take out the rats invading our station starting with this level?"

There was an angry, yet excited growl from everyone around him. "Sergeant, get your people geared up as best they can with what we have. If you can manage it, I want low visibility clothing. We don't have the numbers for a full assault, but we do for a little hit and run warfare." The military morphs took off to get ready and Max looked at Tilly. "Tilly, do we have anyone with medical training here?" he asked.

Tilly nodded and signaled for several morphs to step forward which caused Max to blink. "Many morphs are trained in medicine to better take care of their Master's and their families," the old goat explained.

Max had to admit that made sense. He took out one of the hyposprays and held it out. "Does everyone know how to use these?" he asked. When everyone nodded Max said, "I'm going to have the replicators make several of these as well as a certain drug. I want you all to administer doses to each pirate we take out. That will keep them unconscious for several hours. You'll need to keep an eye on them and if it starts to wear off you'll have to give them another dose." When they all nodded, Max went to the replicator and unlocking its functions, started it making the medical supplies. By the time he was done with that, the military morphs had returned. They were all wearing some variation of military fatigues and all of subdued colors. Each set had rank sewn onto their sleeves. Of the eight that were here, there were 3 privates, 2 private 1st classes, 1 lance corporal, 1 corporal and the Sergeant. Well, at least there was a rank structure and they all seemed to work well together. They each had a pirate primary weapon in their hands and backup weapons on their belts. All eight were at parade rest waiting.

"Our first priority is to take out all of the rat scum we can on this deck. Then we can get the weapons back to the people here for protection so we can range further out. Our primary goal is to get to the C&C at the docking hub and cut the computer connection with the Haversack. Once that is cut, primary OPS can disable all of their weapons from primary control. Then it's just a matter of sweeping them up once they are disarmed. We will be able to beam the hostages out from under their control and then push them into space. Any questions?" he asked. He felt a presence slightly behind him and looking saw the twins flanking him from behind. They no longer wore the formal serving robes they normally did. Instead they wore their own version of loose fatigues in shades of black and grey. They almost looked like military patterned gi's worn in martial arts training. "And what are you two doing?" he asked.

"We are here to watch your back," said Teeshan. "And guard your body," said Neeshan.

"And I don't suppose I have any say in this?" he said ominously.

The twins gazed at him with unblinking eyes and in unison said, "No."

Max realized a losing battle when he saw it. He was mated after all. "Very well. Thank you," he said solemnly.

The twins just nodded and the Sergeant made 'gimme' motions to two of his people and they handed over their side arms. These he gave to the twins, who checked them thoroughly before placing them inside their gi's and out of sight.

'Zyndil, how's the outside look?' he sent.

'There are pirates everywhere but they are all busy looting what they can get their hands on. No one has even looked down this hallway,' hy sent back.

'Good, we have a plan now.' And with that he relayed everything to Zyndil.

'Not a bad plan Sir, what do you want me to do?' hy asked.

'We are going to play ambush. We are going to find a nice quiet dark hole someplace and then take pirates down as fast as they come by. Hopefully, we can get enough people armed that we can mobilize enough to get their attention while I sneak in to get to the computers and disconnect the ship. Once we can do that, OPS can take care of the rest,' Max sent. "Let's get to work people," he said aloud.