Five years had passed since the last roundup, but the Rangers were
well prepared. They drove their jeeps into Yellowstone National
Park, and unloaded the tracking dogs. Each Ranger shouldered a
tranquilizer gun, and carried a radio. The Park Rangers conferred
over a map of the park, and split into several teams to cover the
most area. Each team had a set of dogs that were trained to track
without making sounds. There was no baying among the hounds, or
barking to alert the intended prey.

The park was only so large, and its ecosystem was fragile. The
buffalo and bison usually had to be culled; otherwise the entire
herd would starve during the winter. Sometimes the same went for
other large prey animals such as the elk or the moose. Rarely did it
become necessary to cull any of the predator animals, it was all
they could do to bring up the numbers.

There was one predator animal that did extremely well. Too well.
Every five years the rangers were authorized to go in to various
parks, and capture a certain number of cubs based on the yearly
count. These cubs were then sold by auction, the proceeds going to
the upkeep up the parks.

The dogs caught scent immediately, and the rangers hurried to keep
pace with the hounds. It wasn't long before they had a saber at bay.

The hounds were a product of breeding wolfhounds with bull mastiffs.
Huge dogs with giant jaws who in a small pack could tree a full
grown saber lion.

The dogs had only treed a saber leopard, and a male at that. The
rangers called the dogs off, and the saber lion offered no
retaliation. Instead it stayed in the tree untilthe rangers and the
dogs were far away. The dogs caught scent of another saber near
Mammoth Springs, and chased the saber until they treed her in a
lodge pole pine. A saber jaguar, she hissed at the dogs that snarled
at her from the base of the tree. The rangers used binoculars to get
a good look at her, and noticed that she was nursing. While one of
the dogs kept her treed with two rangers watching her, the other
ranger and the other dog followed her trail to a den.

Inside the den the ranger found two twin male cubs, black furred,
their eyes open. The cubs squalled at being taken from the den and
placed in a pet carrier. The sound of her cubs enraged the female,
but she did not risk a confrontation with the dogs and the rangers.
The cubs were taken back to the jeeps along with other cubs taken
from the park. They ranged from small saber ocelots to saber lions
who would grow to weigh anywhere from five to six hundred pounds.

The saber cubs were taken to in auction where they were sold at high
prices to wealthy families. The families usually had sabers in their
household already. Rarely did anyone buy a cub from auction that did
not already have household sabers since it was such a risk. There
was a chance that when the saber reached the age of eighteen that
they would decide to leave the household rather than stay for the
remainder of their lives. It was their right to do so, just as it
was the right of the families to sell, trade or give away cubs
within their household until the cubs were eighteen.

The two black saber jaguar cubs were sold separately. One cub was
sold to a man who was beginning his household sabers, and was taking
a chance, while the other was sold to a man who kept saber lions,
but wanted the cub as a playmate for his saber's only cub.

William Ellison carried the pet carrier that held the little saber
cub out to his vehicle and placed it in the back. The little cub had
started crying as soon as he had been separated from his brother,
and showed no signs of stopping.

"Hush now," he said to the cub not unkindly. "You are perfectly
safe." William did not know that the cub had a twin brother that had
been sold earlier. William then got into his car and drove back to
Cascade, Wa.


George Hunter had bought the other saber cub, and took him home to
Washington D.C. George Hunter lived in a large mansion with
extensive grounds. He was married with two children of his own. His
household saber was a saber lion by the name of Eric. Eric had only
one mate, and she had birthed only one cub and would bear no others.
The lioness was only seventeen, a common age for females to be
during their first pregnancy. Before they were eighteen, female
sabers were sold for breeding to other households. Though they had
the same choice at eighteen that all sabers had, very few females
would ever choose to leave their cubs or their mates.

It took a few days before the cub that George called Vincent to stop
mourning the loss of his mother and his brother, and to become
accustomed to living in the house. He played with the lion cub,
Blake, and roamed the house and grounds with the lioness, Angela,
and learned to hunt the deer that were kept stocked on the grounds.
When the cubs were old enough, the lion taught them to shift their
shape to that of a human form. The only difference was the presence
of the six inch saber fangs that curved down from their upper jaw.
At three years of age they learned the shapeshifting, and learned to
walk and speak. They eventually were sent to school like regular
children. There they made friends with other sabers and even human
children. They were taught like all human children to read, write
and do math. They would graduate and receive a diploma like any
human child. The only difference was that at any time they could be
sold or given as a gift to another person and could even be
sterilized.

The Ellison household was a fairly new household. Ellison had made
his millions rather than inherit them. To make himself feel a part
of the elite, he joined the country club, and was on several boards
to various charities and organizations. He also bought the black
saber jaguar cub who grew up beside Ellison's own son, Stephen.
Knowing there was a chance the jaguar would decide to leave at the
age of eighteen, William kept an eye out for sabers being sold from
households, especially females with cubs. After they turned
eighteen, if the saber chose to remain, he or she signed a contract
and agreed to remain with the household. They fell under the same
restrictions as cubs, in danger of being sold, traded or given away.
Most agreed because a saber that left at the age of eighteen would
never be accepted in any other household. The other two choices they
had was to join either a military branch, a law enforcement agency,
Search and Rescue, or a Fire Department, or accept sterilization and
return to the wild. Few sabers wanted to give up the luxury of
living in a wealthy household.

William Ellison named the saber cub, Jim and raised the cub
alongside his own son. He was neither overly kind nor cruel. He did
what was necessary, hiring a live in caretaker after his wife died
of ovarian cancer. He threw himself into his work, and even
neglected his own son. When Jim Ellison reached the age of eighteen,
he left the Ellison household and joined the US Army.

For sabers, the army like other groups that accepted sabers, had a
special training regiment. They were partnered with a soldier who
had just finished basic training, and who had shown good qualities
to be a saber's partner.

Jim's partner was Ben Sarris. Together they trained for eight weeks.
Both Sarris and the drill sergeants hounded Jim until he completed
top of his class. The other sabers were also hounded by their own
partners, and did especially well. Saber normally did. They learned
to move and fight in both forms, as well as what normal humans were
taught in the army. Jim and Sarris were chosen for Ranger School,
and OCS training. They would be partnered throughout their career,
and excelled in all areas. Eventually, Sarris was made Captain. As a
saber partner, Jim was also given the rank of captain, and paid the
same salary, but Sarris was the leader of the human members, as Jim
was the leader of the saber members of their squad. Sarris being the
human partner was also in charge overall. They worked many tough
assignments earning them commendations. The squad also did covert
work many times, and liasoned with the CIA.

Then they were placed under the command of Colonel Norman Oliver who
was also running drugs at the time he sent them on a covert mission
into the Peruvian jungle into the path of a S.A.M.. Only Jim
survived the crash, and was taken in by the local tribe the Chopec.
It took eighteen months before he was rescued.

When Vincent was sixteen, George Hunter bought three female saber lions as mates for Eric. Because he did not want Eric to see Vincent as a rival, he had Vincent neutered. Unlike humans, Sabers did not lose muscle mass, or any physical characteristics of adult males when neutered. Their pituitary gland produced enough testosterone to allow them to keep their muscle mass, and other male characteristics. His only loss was that Vincent could not sire cubs, and could not maintain an erection for very long.

At the age of eighteen, Vincent left the household and joined the Marines. Much to his disgust, Vincent was partnered with a man named Kevin Debreno. Debreno was an arrogant, tough kid who had a lot of baggage from his past that he had never dealt with. Despite his arrogance, Debreno was a good Marine, and a fair partner. Eventually, though grudgingly, Vincent learned to like the guy. They spent five years in the Marines, and then moved back to Washington DC where they joined the police force. Debreno did have a mouth, and more than once Vincent found himself standing side by side with his partner against the other cops. This attitude got Debreno invited to join IA when he made detective. Debreno took the job with Vincent at his side, and they did some good work.

Eventually they made captain of IA, and not long after, Jack Mannion was made Chief of Police.

Jim sat in a windowless room behind a table as he waited for the man assigned to debrief him return. They had gotten as far as the helicopter crash when a knock on the door interrupted them. The debriefer answered the door. A young Lt. handed him an envelope. The man stepped out of the room for a minute. The white noise generators in the room kept Jim from listening, not that he wanted to. He was at the moment trying his best not to fall asleep. He was tired, physically and mentally exhausted.

The debriefer entered the room, and Jim's eyes snapped open. The man seated himself in the empty chair across from Jim, and pushed record on the tape player. "Captain Ellison, please continue. What happened after the crash?"

Jim didn't want to relay the information. He didn't want to tell the cold and emotionless man about how he had dragged his former colleagues out of the burned helicopter, how he had found Saris with his intestines strung out over the jungle. He didn't want to tell the man about the two men who were still alive.

But he spoke; he obeyed orders, and told the man and the tape player about how he tried to save the two survivors, about how he licked their wounds clean to prevent infection. He told him that the men died, not of infection but internal injuries. Then Jim went on to explain how he had lived in the jungle, mostly in his saber jag form, how he had hunted and taken down the guerrillas who had fired on the helicopter.

Jim wasn't surprised when the man asked him, "Do you eat them?" Jim answered truthfully with a negative. He had not eaten them, but he had tasted their blood, and that was the second question the man asked. Yes, he had used his sabers to kill the men, had ripped out their throats to take them down because he had had no other weapons at his disposal. His M-16 had been destroyed in the crash, as had the others'.

The debriefing continued. Jim drank from the cup of water to wet his throat so that he could continue, careful to put the glass rim between the two six inch sabers that curved down from the top of his mouth. Jim told the story up until the moment that he had heard the rescue helicopter while he had been hunting, and how he had followed the sound to find the other soldiers digging up the men that Jim had buried using his claws to dig the graves. Jim had then shifted back to human form, and walked nearly naked into their midst, weapons trained on him. Fortunately he had still been wearing his dog tags on his collar. The rescue team had unearthed Jim's comrades and had taken all of them back to Lima.

When the last words were said, the debriefer nodded, and turned off the tape recorder. He waited as Jim took a drink of water then said, "Now, Captain Ellison, you have a decision to make. About your future."

Jim was confused. Saris had a wife, and a kid. By law, when Jim lost his partner he automatically became the responsibility and property of his partner's family. "I don't understand." Jim said.

"We received a message from Captain Saris's wife. She has refused to abide by the contract. She is paying the penalty fees and is losing a good portion of the benefits she would have received."

She blames me, Jim thought.

"So it comes down to a choice. You can either stay with the Army and we will find you another partner, or you can resign your commission and try a position in a civilian field."

Jim nodded. If he stayed with the army the chances were that his new partner would be a private or at most a Lieutenant, which would mean Jim would be demoted in rank, but not in pay. Jim shook his head, his days in the Army where over, and he told the debriefer that. The man nodded and said that the paperwork would be started.

Jim was escorted from the room to assigned quarters. He was grateful to be able to crawl into a real bed and sleep.

Three years later...

"Pendergrast! Ellison! My office!" Simon bellowed his voice echoing around the bullpen making grown men wince and duck their heads. The two men summoned to Simon's office stood from their desk and walked toward the towering Captain of Major Crimes.

When they entered his office, Simon had already moved to a position behind his desk and was glaring at the two officers. Neither was intimidated by the glowering looks.

"Made any headway on the Conway case?" Simon asked after gesturing the two men to sit.

"No sir." Jack Pendergrast answered. "So far we only have what forensics gave us and it’s not much to go on."

Simon nodded. "Tonight’s the night you are supposed to make the drop on the Brackley case."

"Yes, sir. Brackley has the three million ready for me to deliver. Back-up know what to do, and hopefully everything will go smoothly." Pendergrast said.

"Good. This case always gave me a bad feeling." Simon said. "Alright, dismissed."

The two of them stood and left the office wondering why they had been called in but neither asked the captain. They went back to their desks and got their jackets. They were to meet Brackley and his lawyers at the Brackley home, and then wait for a phone call to tell them the location. No one but the officers knew that a discreet back would tail Pendergrast and Jim up. Jack had suspicions on who the suspects where and he didn't wasn’t to tip them off.

After they got the money and the phone call, they drove in Jack's car to the meet. It was lonely spot in the forest on a road off the main highway. It was dark and the only light came from the moon.

"Hold up here, Jack. I will get out and circle around through the woods." Jim said. Jack nodded stopping the car to let Jim get out. Jim stripped down until he wore only his collar that had his badge on it. Like all sabers he was uncaring of his nudity and shifted quickly to his large saber jag form. He disappeared into the surrounding woods. Jack continued on down to the meeting place at a slow drive giving Jim time enough to get into place. They expected that it would be a quick exchange, and then backup could move in and arrest the suspects.

They did not expect the ambush. Jim saw the man with the shotgun sneak up behind Jack's parked car. He increased his speed and roared out to try and warn Jack. Jack got the warning in time to turn and take the shotgun directly in the face. Jim roared with grief as he leaped at the man with the shotgun, who brought it up to protect his own face from Jim's saber fangs.

The shotgun ended up between Jim's teeth, pushed back far into his mouth. Jim could taste the metal and the gunpowder. Before he could wrench it free, he felt a sting in his flank.

Jim looked up and saw a second person that had an air rifle pointed at him. The tranquilizer took effect and the last thing Jim heard before he lost consciousness was the sound of sirens.