It didn't take long for their actions to cause effects.

Erebus was gone before he woke up. The mouse was met with a letter on his nightstand where his lover explained that he was going to take a shower and have a heart breakfast before the took him in for questioning, followed by a heartfelt farewell that he hadn't assumed the squirrel was capable of expressing. He resented Erebus a bit for leaving without saying goodbye for what might be the last time, but he knew it would be too hard for both of them.

He'd barely gotten dressed before an alarm was called colony wide, demanding everyone go to their stations and remain there. Eleos carefully grabbed the city section he had and hid it inside a vent shaft in his room, whispering an apology to Spes before heading off.

When he arrived to his station he was met with his fellow field researchers, they didn't seem to know anything, His CO, the capybara, was there as well, seemingly on edge. After a few hours standing there and listening to his co-workers ponder what the reason was, they were allowed to return to their rooms. Everyone except for him. Perhaps he hadn't been as secretive as he thought he'd been.

The capybara grabbed him by his shoulder, he considered resisting but since the large built rodent was easily twice his size he opted to save his strength. He was lead through the colony halls, earning stares from his fellow colonists, hearing them whisper about him.

He was lead deeper and deeper into the colony complex, to the lower floors past the generators and into the storage rooms. They stopped at an empty storage room.

"Get in." The capybara ordered.

Eleos didn't object. He walked inside, not stopping till he got to the wall as the door was closed and shut behind him, leaving him in the darkness. The mouse sat down on the stone floor and rested his back against the wall.

Hopefully Erebus was alright.

---

A metallic bang sounded as the door opened again, light flooded inside the room and blinded the mouse as he snapped awake from his sleep. How long had it been? He'd lost track of time pretty early on, and fallen asleep twice.

A figure stood in the door, shielding him from the stinging light. "Hold him to the wall."

Before Eleos could get to his feet, a pair of larger, burlier figures burst through the door. He was seized by the arms and wrestled to his feet before being slammed against the wall hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Eleos tried to fight but his attempts were quickly quashed by a fist being driven into his stomach, forcing a dry, empty lunged wheeze out of him that would have sent him to his knees, only to be shoved against the wall again.

As his vision adjusted to the light he could see his captors, a tall, broad rat wearing a security outfit and a shorter, but no less burly gopher, each on either side of him and keeping him firmly against the wall.

Standing in front of him was a tall figure, wearing a sleek, dark blue suit with a white shirt. A chipmunk, his expression was intense, focused entirely on Eleos. He recognized him immediately as the colony administrator. Themis.

"Eleos Iscarios." Administrator Themis said clearly. "Age Twenty six. Height: Five feet, three inches. Got your degree in the Mús University in biology with a minor in electrical engineering." The chipmunk stepped closer, leaning in towards the still wheezing mouse. "Tell me, how did you falsify this information?"

"I-" Eleos gasped. "I-i didnt-"

"Don't lie." Themis narrowed his eyes. "How long have you been spying for the insurrectionists?"

He tried his best to get a full, deep breath but that only made his lungs hurt. "I-I'm not a spy."

A smirk spread across the chipmunks face. "Oh? So i suppose you just happened to send sensitive information to the federation on accident?"

Eleos tensed up. "I-i didn't send anyth-"

"So tell me, how did you convince that squirrel to help you?" Themis continued. "I hear you two were quite close. Was he in on this from the start or did you pay him off somehow?"

He clenched his jaw. "I had nothing to do with this."

"Another lie." Themis sighed. "It's like you think we picked you out at random. We've of course investigated your crimes. Let me set the scene-" He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of glasses, placing them on his nose before also grabbing a pair of glasses. "Twelve hours ago a message was sent from our long range comms, written by you. This message contained blatant exaggerations about the life forms on this planet and claims that our colonization of it is unlawful, also untrue. You sent this to the federations ethic committee in hopes of putting a stop to the colonization proce-"

"I had nothing to do-" Before he could finish his lie the rat drove his fist into his stomach again, prompted by a nod from Themis.

"Please don't interrupt." The chipmunk sighed. He adjusted his glasses and continued. "Your goal was to stop the colonization. And yes, i know it was you." Themis shot him an angry glare. "The message contained a picture, your proof as you called it."

Themis turned his device towards the still gasping Eleos. He glanced up to see the picture of the city section he'd included in the message.

"Now, as you likely know already, that is a NS-0410S sample container." Themis turned the device back to himself as he began pacing back and forth. "We have exactly fifteen hundred and seven on site. 1422 are not in use, 17 are broken, 67 are in use and one is unaccounted for. How am i doing so far?"

Eleos tried to breathe, feeling his lungs protest the attempt and yet begging for a full breathe of air. Despite the pain, he didn't take his eyes off the administrator.

"A single container, issued to a clearing mission completed three days ago, conducted by two people. One of them being you." Themis said dryly. "And before you try to deny it and shift blame to your loyal countrymen-"

The chipmunk snapped his fingers. An aide of his shuffled in from outside and handed a small, flat object to the administrator. Eleos felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the chipmunk hold the contained city section in his hands.

"We of course searched your room and found this." Themis continued, staring down at the container, and the streets contained within. "So. Why did you do it?" The chipmunk said through his teeth. "Are the insurrectionists paying you? Are you one of them? Have you been in contact with the-"

The administrator tilted his hand as he spoke. Eleos could see the rubble gathered in the corner of the container from their cleanup effort the day before roll to the side, colliding with the buildings. "Stop!"

Themis froze. "Why? Am i getting clos-" His eyes narrowed, spotting how the mouse's attention was focused solely on the container in his hand. For a moment he feared it might be a bomb, they had been in such a rush they hadn't even though about that, though what would be the sense in drawing attention to yourself with an explosion especially after going through the effort of hiding your tracks? That stare caught his attention. Either this spy was a masterful actor, or it was genuine. And the contents of the message he'd sent. "This?" He held the container up. "You did all this for these things?"

"They're not things!" Eleos growled. "They're sentient beings!"

"They're insects." Themis said coldly. "You chose to betray your species for bugs."

He struggled against the security guards grips. "They're living people and they dont deserve-" Eleos got punched again, not as hard this time but enough to shut him up.

"You idealistic fool." The chipmunk seethed. "Our empire stands on the brink of annihilation and you're just endangered it further for these specks!"

Eleos watched in horror as the administrator popped the cover off the container. "No-"He rasped, only to get punched once more.

Themis reached into the container and singled out the tallest building, using two fingers he grabbed it and plucked it out of the container. He held it to his face. "Species die out all the time and you picked something as pathetic as this one over your own."

Before Eleos could manage a breath to protest, the chipmunk squeezed his fingers and the skyscraper crumbled apart, the two chucks it formed falling to the ground below. He raised his shoe and slammed it down on the rubble, twisting it with a bone chilling grind.

He tried again to wrestle himself free as he saw Themis raise his hand above the container again. Eleos could only watch as the chipmunk pressed a finger on one of the city section and slowly ran it through the middle, like one would draw a line in the sand, demolishing everything in its path. Once he reached the end he pulled his finger out and wiped it on his jacket.

Eleos felt his heart race and he swore he could taste blood. It was as if he was seeing red. Themis bent down and placed the container on the floor, lifting his shoe above it. Summoning up the last of his strength, Eleos made a last ditch effort to escape his hold and save the tiny felines, but a shoulder was driven into his back in he was forced to the ground.

"No!" The mouse cried out as he saw the city section in front of his eyes, cast under the shadow of the administrators dress shoe. He tried to struggle as heel slowly pressed down on the edge of the city, flattening it in an instant. Slowly the rest of the sole began to lower, touching against the top of the tallest remaining building and-

"Sir!" A security guard, a red furred squirrel, appeared at the door. "Your presence is demanded in the docking bay!"

Themis stopped. "I'm bus-Who the fuck thinks they can demand my presence?"

The guard was visibly shaking. "Admiral Anhur, sir."

The room froze and went silent. Themis quickly stepped away from the container and towards the guard. He looked over at Eleos and then back to the guard. "You two. Come with me."

Eleos felt the rats elbow leave his back as the guards left to follow the administrator. As soon as he could move he crawled toward the container and dragged it to him, closing it shut and scooting back to the wall just as the door closed again. He sat there, his heart pounding in his chest and clutching the container close to his body, wrapping his arms around it.

His head throbbed and each breath felt painful, there was a constant sensation of something in his lungs that had him coughing, which brought more pain. Eleos felt the taste of blood in his mouth each time he tried to cough. He wanted nothing more than to help them, but he couldn't even see the container in front of his eyes in the dark and even if he could, his radio was back in his room...he didn't even know if Spes was alive.. All he could do was hope they survived.

"When the fuck did he arrive?" Themis growled as he and his guards hurried down the hallway.

"About ten minutes ago." The red squirrel guard explained. "H-he claimed to be here on official federation business."

Themis stopped. It suddenly felt like he'd just aged ten years. He took a deep breath, putting his hands on his knees and trying his best to stop feeling sick. This was supposed to be a simple quick colonization job. How the hell had it become this stressful? "Okay." He took a deep breath. "Okayokayokay-"

They continued onwards, entering into the docking bay. A massive, intricate ship, with a sleek, refined design that could have been described as elegant were it not for the class 5 cannons mounted on it. The ship bore the federations sigil.

Just as he started searching for it's commander, the ships cargo hold opened slowly.

A series of footsteps sounded as a regiment of federation personnel flooded out of the ship, taking up positions along the side of the ramp. Once in place, heavy, slow footsteps sounded from inside, getting closer and closer.

A towering silhouette, tall enough to almost reach the top of the massive hangar door of the federation ship walked out.

The figure was widely recognized around the galaxy. Stories of his numerous conquests and victories on the field of battle were circulated regularly in media, as were tales of his sheer brutality on the battlefield. There were some within even the federation that saw him as nothing more than a warmongering butcher. It was often wondered how the hell someone like him could rise to be the head of the federations Ethic committee.

Hailing from a large insectoid species on the edges of the galaxy often found to be hard to distinguish between aside from their height and manners, the Admiral was instantly recognizable, the yellow and black stripes on the fuzzy collar that adorned his neck stood out starkly from the standardized blue federation jacket, modified to accommodate the bees four arms with a single sleeve having been folded together due to the lack of an arm to fill it. The chest of the federation coat was loaded with medals, both from federation battles and his previous battles, that jingled with each of the towering insectoids heavy steps.

The bee-like admiral stood easily three times the height of even the tallest rodent in the hangar, his compound eyes glistened in the fluorescent lighting as he stepped forward, standing at the edge of the ship and stopping, his head locked directly onto Themis.

"Administrator Themis, I presume?" The Admirals voice vibrated through the air, monotone and without emotion.

"Ye-" Themis croaked. He cleared his throat and tried his best to regain his composure. "Yes. Welcome to our Colony Admiral. Though i must admit, i-I'm not sure as to why you're here."

The towering bee stared down at Themis, as if staring right through him. "The federation received a communicae from your colony approximately twelve hours ago."

Themis put on his most confident smile. "Yes. I should have assumed so. I'm sorry to say that you've made the trip for nothing, Admiral. That message was an elaborate lie sent by a spy. As you've likely heard We are at war with a group of insurrectionist. We sent a following communication explaining the who-"

"I am aware." Anhur interjected. "The federation has been watching the conflict of your species closely."

He bit back a comment about how the federation should be helping them, but opted not to anger the former warlord turned ethics director. "Y-yes, sir. I am truly sorry this little incident has wasted your time."

"And where is this spy now?" Anhur asked.

The chipmunk bit down on his jaw. "In custody. I was in the middle of questioning him before you arrived."

The bee stared, unmoving, unnervingly still. "I presume you are following the Federations guidelines on interrogation?"

"Of course." Themis lied. "Again, my sincerest apologies for wasting your very important tim-"

"I will require two field researchers to accompany my science officer." Anhur interjected. "I will provide the security detail."

Themis blinked. "W-what? What for?"

"For our investigation of the surface." Anhur clarified.

"I-I assure you-" The chipmunk placed his hands up, his demeanor faltering. "There is no nee-"

"Since i am already here-" The bee buzzed assertively. "It would be negligent of me to leave without investigating the claims. Regardless of need, it is protocol." Moving for the first time during their conversation, the towering bee leaned forward, once more the medals adorning his chest jingled. "Unless you have any objections?"

Themis tensed up, he could feel his hands sweating and was unable to look away from the intense, yet expressionless composite eyes. "W-with all due respect, Admiral. You are outside your right to demand to investigate us. The colony is not yet a recognized part of our empire and therefore not within federation jurisdiction." He said as firmly as he could muster. "Due to the ongoing war against the separatists, we cannot allow any unauthorized activity to take place on colony grounds. I'm sure you understand."

There was an intense silence between the two. After a few seconds Anhur rose back to his full, imposing height. "I understand. We will leave as soon as you hand over the prisoner to our custody."

Themis narrowed his eyes. "Why would i do that?"

"Federation protocol regarding terrorism against federation citizens." Anhur said. "Article 17 states that acts of war, such as espionage, against citizen species of the federation count as terrorism. As you are a rodent colony, this spy has committed a terrorist act against a federation species and it is within my authority to prosecute him through federation law."

"B-but-" Themis tensed up, visibly sweating. "Y-you cant do tha-"

"I can." The bees head quickly snapped towards some of the federation personnel behind him. "My head security officer will accompany you in case the spy tries anything."

Themis nervously adjusted his glasses. "T-that is not necce-"

"It isn't." Anhur interjected. "It's protocol."

Eleos snapped back awake. He'd passed out somehow. Despite his stomach hurting and every breath being agony, he couldn't keep his eyes open. It had been a few minutes since he'd stopped being able to feel his legs. The mouse tried his best on keeping his grip on the container as strong as he could.

They would likely try to take the container away from him whenever they came back. How he wished he could see the status of the people in the container. Was there even anyone left inside? Was he clutching a container of dust? It wasn't like he could escape and free the tiny felines, if there was anyone left inside they would likely get destroyed. Or worse is Themis was the one to get his hands on them.

Light flooded the room and Eleos hid the container under him the best he could. A massive shadow stood in the doorway and the mouse tried to get to his feet, only to feel a sharp sting run up his stomach, painful enough to send him back to the floor.

"Take him to the ship." Was the last thing he heard before he passed out.