Lania groaned in pain as she gained consciousness. The blaster hit and the burns from her restraints were loudly proclaiming their existence. She lay there for several minutes before she became aware that she was laying in sand and the air was very dry. Slowly lifting her head she opened her eyes, blinking several times to focus them. The sight that met her eyes made her half- sob, half-groan in anger and fear. The landscape was red sand. She had landed in one of Mars' deserts.

Lania lay there wondering what she was going to do. Then she heard the sounds of someone approaching. She stiffened. There was no way she could hide in time. However, her instinct to survive tried to anyway. As she tried to push herself up she fell back to the ground, just barely managing to bite back the scream from the pain that raced from her shoulder down her left arm and back. The shock of it sent her most of the way back to unconsciousness. When she had fully regained consciousness she was aware of two presences and voices.

"I told you there was a transport here."

"A stinkin' Plutarkian."

Lania opened her eyes and saw the two that were talking about her. One was an older mouse with light grey fur and slightly greying short brown hair. The other looked like a human, but his skin had a slight bluish tint to it. The mouse was glaring at her with very open contempt and the humanoid was looking at her with a curious expression on his face. The mouse saw that she was awake and the next thing she knew a blaster was pointed at her face.

"Look, if you're going to kill me, do it quickly and put me out of my misery, okay?" she croaked before her strength gave out and she lost consciousness.

"Well, stinkin' Plutarkian or not, she's seriously hurt, I don't think she'll do you any harm, so put the blaster away."

With grumbling reluctance the mouse put his blaster away. Then he turned to his companion.

"Well, what now?"

"Well, let's see if she has any identification. She may be useful to the Freedom Fighters."

With a nod from the mouse the humanoid walked over to the unconscious Plutarkian and searched her pockets. He found a small leather type wallet. A few gold gills, and other miscellaneous currency, including Martian, were inside, but there was no identification card. Digging deeper into the wallet he found a picture of a very well known mouse and the Plutarkian. The mouse was a slim white mouse with long red hair. On the back was a note:

"Do you recognize the mouse and the handwriting?"

"Yes, but I still find it hard to believe. This Plutarkian is a friend of Saphire? But the handwriting is authentic, not forged. I find it hard to believe that Saphire Meadows would actually associate with a stinkin' Plutarkian.

"Well," the humanoid said as the wind began to pick up, "we can't exactly leave her here to die in a desert sand storm and she's most definately too hurt to be a problem."

"You want me to bring a Plutarkian into my lab???? The martian government, army and Freedom Fighters don't even know about it! I refuse to bring the enemy there."

"For once will you put aside your bitterness for just a second! Yes, she's Plutarkian, but she knows and appears to be good friends with Saphire Meadows, has obviously been shot in the back, which, I might add, Martians generally don't do, and arrived here via transporter. Last I knew the only working transporters were owned and operated by Plutarkians and thier allies. It is just possible that she was shot trying to escape the enemy. That she seems to be good friends of a mouse means she just might be against the Plutarkian occupation of Mars. Give her a chance!"

The old mouse thought for a second as the increasing wind began to drive sand into his fur. Finally he nodded assent to his friend. Wordlessly they picked the unconscious Plutarkian up, placed her into the converted sand rover they had driven out, and returned to the old mouse's lab.

Several hours later Lania woke up to find herself in some sort of underground lab. Her back and neck felt much better and had obviously been cleaned while she was unconscious. She sat up to find herself facing the mouse and humanoid. The humanoid looked at her with a neutral gaze, but the mouse had barely hidden contempt for her written on his face.

"Thanks," Lania said to the two looking at her. "I would have died out there."

"You seem to be an odd sort of Plutarkian," the mouse said to her.

"And why would you say that?"

"You keep friends that Plutarkians wouldn't, or couldn't, keep. Mice not usually associated with Plutarkians of any kind.

"You're talking about the picture of Saphire and myself.

"Yes."

"Look, you may not believe this, but Saph and I are very good friends. We've known each other a long time. We also believe in the same cause."

The mouse shook his head. "You have to admit, a Plutarkian that is actually helping Martians is, well, unheard of."

Lania gave a crooked smile. "The Plutarkian government thought so too. They also considered it treason. You may not want to believe it, but I have been acting against the Plutarkian government for several years. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay free for ever. You've seen the evidence of my treatment as a prisoner as of late."

Lania woke up feeling mildly uncomfortable. And she ached. All over. Bringing her hand to her face and rubbing her eyes open she stopped suddenly at an unfamiliar feeling. Fur?! Lania sat up in an instant, her eyes open wide as she examined her hand. She knew it was her own hand, but she couldn't help staring at it anyway. Instead of the expected four digits on her hand she found five, and they were slender. But most amazing of all, and most difficult to believe, was that the five fingers, hand, and attached arm were all covered in fur. Short, reddish-brown fur. Another sensation began to filter in through her amazement and Lania quickly put her hands up to the side of her head and found what, as difficult as it was to believe, she had expected. Rather than the small indentations that had passed for her ears yesterday, she had large, well, mouse ears. She reached to the top of her head and, as expected, instead of her head fin she found a pair of antennae.

"I'm a mouse," she whispered in awe.

"Yes you are," a voice said from off to the side. The blue humanoid walked into her field of vision, a smile on his face. "The look on your face...let me assure you, it's real, and it's permanent."

Lania's face contorted into a confused frown, "But, Plutarkians can't be transformed into Martian. It's impossible. All attempts at trying it have ended in death. And there have been many, many attempts. Martian and Plutarkian physiology is just too different. It's impossible to find a compromise of any kind between the internal chemistries."

"Well, yeah. That is all true, if you're talking strictly about the methods used by scientists."

Lania's brow puckered in confusion, "Come again?"

The humanoid held out his hand, palm up, and after a few seconds a blue glow appeared. It lasted for only a second. When it disappeared there was a small necklace in his hand.

Her eyes widened, "I've heard about one or two species such as you, but the existence of such as you as a species has never been proven."

He smiled, "Well, let me assure you, I am not a leftover of a long dead species, and I am not a curiosity among my people. Not where it concerns my abilities, anyway. With a bit of help and tinkering on my part my friend was able to successfully complete the process of transforming you. You are now a Martian mouse and will remain so for the rest of your life. No Plutarkian, or Martian for that matter, can ever change you back."

Lania bowed her head to him in respect, "Thank you. You have my deepest gratitude."

"You can repay me, and assure my friend that he did not make a grievous mistake, by continuing the work you have always done on behalf of the Martian people. Except now you are doing it for your people, and you can, for a change, work with the Martians."

A grin of joy lit up Lania's face, "You have no idea how wonderful that idea is. To finally be able to work with the Freedom Fighters instead of separate from them."

The humanoid walked to Lania, "Before you leave, I must give something to you." Upon saying this he took the necklace that he had made appear in his hands only minutes before and clasped it around Lania's neck. The design of the chain and charm were such that they seemed to disappear into her fur. The charm was a simple, flat, irregularly shaped blue translucent stone.

"What is this for?" she asked in confusion.

"While my help did allow my friend to perform the transformation on you it was not without side effects. We are neither of us quite sure of the specifics, but you will not be affected by some chemicals or agents that would otherwise harm Martian mice but not Plutarkians, but I fear you may still be susceptible to some chemicals that won't harm Martian mice but will harm Plutarkians. Unfortunately only time and experience will allow you to discover what these chemicals are. Also, though it isn't apparent or obvious, you came out of all this still able to breathe underwater. Now, as for the necklace, the last side effect of my help was another...well, aspect of you. There is not other way to describe it. Here," he reached out and held the stone in his fist, "allow me to show you." He concentrated and the stone glowed a muted blue. The glow surrounded Lania for a moment, then disappeared. When it did the humanoid handed Lania a mirror with the instruction, "Look."

Lania looked in the mirror and gasped. Her ears had shrunk considerably, she no longer had antennae, her facial features had, well, flattened, and she had no fur. "I'm human!?" She looked at him in sheer surprise.

"Well, kind of. You are most definitely Martian now, but a byproduct of your transformation was the ability to transform into the equivalent human form. Had you been transformed instead into a human, that would have been your form."

"But how can you be sure that I am really Martian and not human?"

"Because you were transformed into a Martian. Through the transformation I...collected the excess...energy from you and my efforts. It had to be kept separate from you, but did not have to be removed permanently. It is hard to explain. I can't really say that I contained it in the stone on your necklace, or that it is the stone on your necklace, but that stone is in existence because of the...excess energy. That stone allows you to access the result of my returning the excess to you after your transformation. While in human form you don't need the stone to maintain your human shape. However, without the stone you cannot go from human form to Martian form and back. I am not sure if the stone can be damaged or destroyed, but if it ever is, you will lose your ability to access your human form. It is a side effect and may have something to do with the closeness of human and Martian physiology. I am sure that you may some day find it a useful ability." He then turned and left the room. When he returned Lania was once again Martian. In his arms he held clothes. He handed them to her.

"Here, these are far more appropriate than what you were wearing when we found you, and certainly more appropriate than what you are wearing now."

Several minutes later Lania was racing across the Martian desert dressed in boots, pants, and a short sleeve shirt. The earring that Tirade gave her was in her left ear. She was racing on a spare AI bike that the Martian and his friend had found and rebuilt. The bike was a dark green with a slightly metallic sheen and a flat black motor. The bike had a half shield and strait handlebars. Kind of a not as sporty Kawasaki Ninja style without the fearrings. Most importantly, the AI bike had accepted her as its new rider.

As Lania headed for the nearest populated area she hoped to find who she was looking for.

Once she reached the town she parked her bike and walked around. She followed the sounds to an Inn and entered the dim front area to find a mouse in her path, his back turned to the entrance. Lania tapped the shoulder of the mouse in front of her. The mouse spun around with the instant alertness of a soldier or fighter.

"Who's there?!"

"Just me..." Lania stepped out of the shadows to show herself to the mouse, the knot of fear still in her stomach. She didn't know how long it was going to be before she could show herself to mice and NOT be scared.

"Geeze mouse, you scared me. Can I help you?"

"Yeah, do you know of a mouse named Saphire?"

"Sure do, why?"

"I have a message for her. Could you tell me where to find her?"

"No need to, hear the singing?"

Lania listened and she could just make out the strains of a song being finished to loud applause.

"Yeah..."

"That's her. She's right inside.."

Lania cut the mouse off, "Would you please ask her to come out here. Tell her Lania's here. She'll know me."

The mouse found that an odd request, but nodded. He disappeared from the dim front area into the main area of the bar/entertainment room. He walked up to a short white mouse with red hair that was just sitting down to a mug of root beer.

"Hey, Saph?"

"Hey Rimfire, what is it?"

"There's someone out there that wants to talk to you. She said to tell you that Lania's here."

Saphire's eyes grew round in surprise and disbelief. "You're sure she said Lania?"

"Yup."

"Excuse me..." Saphire quickly got up from the table and dashed out to the dim area at the entrance. She could just make out a dim shape next to the coats.

"Lania?"

"Hey Saph," the shape said in a familiar voice. Then it moved out of the shadows towards Saph, revealing a completely unexpected sight. Instead of a disguise or a Plutarkian Saph found herself facing a mouse a few inches taller than herself with medium reddish brown fur and long, dark blonde hair. She stared at the mouse in disbelief, but there was no mistaking, the voice of a friend came from that mouse.

"L-lania? Is it really you?"

"In the fur," Lania said, smiling. Saphire hugged her, relieved to see her friend, but her eyes brimming with questions.

"But, how...when...what..where..."

"Let's go outside and talk in private."

The two mice walked a ways away from the bar and sat.

"You're a mouse," Saph said.

"Yes, I had....help."

"It's not a disguise?"

"Nope, it's for real. I can help the Martian Mice openly and join the Freedom Fighters now! I don't have to be afraid of what the mice will think or of the Plutarkians finding me," she said happily.

"I'm so happy for you! This is great! When are you going to the Freedom Fighters? Soon?"

Lania's face fell, "No, not soon. I have something to take care of first. In fact, I came to you first because I have a very important message to give you."

Saph watched her friend curiously.

"You haven't seen Tirade in a while, have you?"

"No, not for quite some time. Why?"

"I saw him a few weeks before I escaped from the Plutarkians. He wanted me to give you a message. He wanted me to tell you that he's doing okay, he loves you, and as soon as he can, he'll come back to you."

Saph sat still for a few minutes, silent tears streaking across her face.

"Thank you Lania. I had begun to worry that something terrible had happened. I haven't seen him in 6 months. You have no idea what this means."

Lania hugged her friend and then stood up.

"I hate to leave so quickly, but I have to get going. As soon as I'm finished I'll be back and I'll join the Freedom Fighters. I'll see you later."

"Take care, and be safe."

"I always do, don't I?"

The two friends smiled then hugged. Saph walked back to the bar as Lania mounted a bike and drove towards another city.

The bartender listened to the lackey as he whispered in his ear. He looked once, then nodded. He walked to the figure at one end of the table and whispered something to her, his face blank of any emotions or thoughts. She nodded once, left some money on the table, and left, nodding to several others in the room as she did. They met at the exit and left together, a most unusual and unlikely group.

The group stopped a ways in the desert in front of a bike, the owner standing in the deep shadow cast by a large stone.

"Okay," the leader, a half Sand Raider-half Rat, said," what do you want. Your message said you had a proposition for us that we might be interested in."

"Yes, I did. But first off I have to warn you that you aren't going to like what you see."

"Lania?," the leader narrowed her eyes, "why are you hiding in the shadows from US?"

Lania stepped from the shadows and the group stepped back, a few of them drawing blasters and other weapons with professional grace and speed.

"You're not Lania! Who are you! Why'd you call us here? Tell us, we don't like you're kind," another said: a half Sand Raider, half Mouse.

"Oh, I am. I can prove it to you."

"Prove it," the leader challenged.

"Okay. You, you're actually the second in command, but you're leader isn't with you a lot of the time. So usually you are the leader. You're a half-breed. Sand Raider and Rat. You're Dune." Lania turned to the other one who had talked, "You're half Sand Raider and half Mouse. You're usually second in command. You're Alse. And you two," she turned to the other two in the group, "You're a half Rat, half Mouse, and you're name is Keel. And you, you're a little bit of each, and you're name's Dust."

"Okay, so you know our names. Big deal," Dune said.

Lania walked to Dust and whispered in her ear, the other three keeping their weapons trained on her. Dust smiled and looked at her companions.

"She's Lania all right. Only Lania would know that."

Dune still didn't seem happy.

"The last time you saw me we were rescuing high security prisoners on Clathri 3. Dune fell and I helped her get up. I pushed her into the transport beam, but I was shot in the leg. As soon as she was clear I slagged the transport module that I had swiped from a 'relative' so that they couldn't trace you guys. You haven't seen me since until tonight."

Dune gave a very small smile. "Well, I guess you really are Lania. You certainly have changed. A LOT."

"Yeah, well...what can I say. I'm different now."

"Okay. What is it you wanted to propose?"

"A prison-camp break. Fairly high security and the Freedom Fighters will never be able to break them out, assuming they are ever able to find out about it. But I'll tell you now. There's a special reason I want to do this one. Tirade's being held in there."

The four others remained silent.

"He was a respectable mouse. Treated us as equals. We accept," Dune said. "But remember, when we're done, you're no longer our leader. You're a mouse now, and once-Plutarkian or not, we would prefer not to have a Mouse as a leader. Mice have always been cruel to us and almost every one of them has turned their back on us whenever we really needed help."

"Agreed," Lania said, "come with me and I'll give you specifics."

The five creatures rode off into the night.

Two days later Lania and the rest were outside of a small mining prison camp in a remote area of Plutarkian controlled space.

"Are you sure there aren't more guards?" Dune asked Lania quietly. "Some of these prisoners are rather high profile."

"I'm positive. I do have rather excellent sources," Lania replied with a smile. "Besides, it's practically impossible for any outside of Plutarkian society to gain knowledge of this place, let alone be able to reach it without being caught. That's one small plus on our side, the defenses are difficult enough. Just remember, we've got to move quickly in order to get out of this area of space without being caught."

Alse sighed wistfully, "It's a shame we can't take the transport with us..."

"I know," Lania replied, "but there's no way we can be sure to make it out of this area of space before someone realizes there's a problem with the mining camp. At least the transporter is good, we'll be able to transport well out of harm. Still, it's unfortunate that we must sacrifice good equipment, but there's no other way."

They all quit talking as a bell rang out.

"That's the signal. Everyone get ready, as soon as the prisoners are out of the compound we attack."

The four watched as a string of prisoners all bound together by chains trudged out of the prison. Two guards were in front, and there would be six guards taking up the rear. Lania watched with baited breath, hoping that today the guards would be doing everything as usual. She had found information that indicated that sometimes the guards kept prisoners behind if they had caused problems. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Tirade walk out, near the end of the line of prisoners.

As the last prisoner walked through the front gates the four attacked. Lania ran towards the guards, shooting at the front guards and providing a distraction as the others took out the rear and tower guards before they could get their bearings and fire on the prisoners and attackers. As soon as the tower guards and rear guards were taken care of the other three ran towards the prisoners, firing into the compound to take care of the guards coming out to investigate the commotion.

When Lania was close enough to be heard she yelled to the prisoners, "Anyone else in there? Were any prisoners left behind?"

A mouse in the front yelled, "No, they sent us all out today!"

"Do it!" Lania yelled to Dune.

Dune pressed a small transmitter and the sound of engines soon filled the air. Soon the transport had landed, Dust at the controls. Lania, Dune, Alse, and Keel hurried the prisoners on board. As soon as they were all on the transport Dust lifted off as Lania raced for the weapons controls. She fired several bombs into the compound, creating a rather unimpressive explosion that never the less resulted in the destruction of the prison.

As the transport streaked through the atmosphere and toward open space Lania and Dune worked on freeing the prisoners from each other. It took several minutes to cut through the Plutarkian glass-steel, but luckily they were prepared. They had brought two special torches that Lania had 'borrowed' from the station they had stolen the transport from.

"We're in the clear!" Keel yelled from the communication controls.

Alse fired up the transporter. When it was ready Dune and Lania ushered the prisoners into the transporter. In a matter of minutes all the prisoners except Tirade had been sent on their way. Lania winked at him as he grinned at what his friends had accomplished. Before he could ask her who she was, she ran towards the bridge, yelling as she went.

"Dust! Get to the transporter and get it ready! I'll set in the course and prepare the engines!"

As Dust raced out of the bridge Keel yelled out. "Hurry it up! Someone noticed an unusual level of energy from the prison and the absence of any kind of response! They'll be here in twenty minutes to check it out."

"We'll be out of here well before that," Lania responded as she raced to the engine room, the course entered into the navigation unit of the transport computer.

When she was done she ran for the transporter. She punched in a few controls and activated the unit. As they transporter began to glow Tirade looked at the mouse he had never seen before, but whose voice he recognized easily.

"Lania?" he asked.

Just before they disappeared in the glow she turned to him and smiled.

Five minutes later the transporter erupted in a shower of sparks that melted the electrical components just before the ship exploded in a ball of light, leaving little more than space dust.

Somewhere in the Martian desert six Martians appeared in the glow of a transporter beam. As the glow dissipated the six looked around them.

"Home! Ah, to once again be on Mars," Tirade said. He turned to the others. "Thank you."

"Honestly Tirade, you act as though we actually had to debate whether or not to save you."

The group grinned in general. Then Tirade turned to the other mouse.

"So, I did hear correctly. You are Lania?"

Lania smiled at her friend, "Most definately."

"Then this is real? It isn't a disguise?"

"No disguise. I had the good fortune to run into a pair of rather remarkable beings."

"Thank the guardians!" Tirade said, then embraced Lania in a hug. Releasing Lania Tirade held her at arms lenght, "I still can't get over it. You as a Mouse! So, what next?"

"Next?" Lania grinned, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes, "Next I find Freedom Fighter headquarters and join them at last. As a Martian Mouse."