Fiernas Holm always loved the outdoors.  He spent much of his young life exploring the wilderness of his native land.  The sprawling, mist-shrouded forests of the Eastern European Union called to him, and he reveled in them.  When the time came for him to leave home and make his own way, he was delighted to be named caretaker of Braeburn Undeveloped Campus S9133, known to locals as the Inner Sarande Wilderness.

His record of service caring for the wild parkland was excellent, but even that could not help him when Braeburn decided to develop their "undeveloped campus."  Wildlife protections were stricken from corporate charter with the UN's blessing, and Fiernas found himself out of a job as his beloved forestland was bulldozed in favor of crisp, white business buildings and their supporting neighborhoods.

Another opportunity arose in a SAGE research facility; the company was doing experiments on working animals to enhance both their physical abilities and their emotional response to humans, in the hopes that self-breeding superior workbeasts could help fledgeling colonies get off their feet faster.  Fiernas was happy to be a part of it, and he took the job as the facility's animal wrangler.  He got to work closely with a variety of animals from mice all the way up to monitor lizards, which gave him no end of satisfaction.

Gradually, though, he began to notice that something was dreadfully wrong in the facility.  Some of the animals under his care began showing signs of depression and crippling anxiety, huddling in their cages for days at a time.  Occasionally they would disappear into the laboratory full of white-coated scientists and never come out again.  The hair on Fiernas's neck would stand up as he passed by those doors, struck by a sense of disquiet.

Things came to a head when he met Leo and Phillip.  The dogs were absolutely massive, some mix of wolfhound and actual wolf, by the look of them.  They had been part of the same litter, inseparable, and they bonded quickly to Fiernas.  For his part, he loved them immediately, and began doting on them as much as the strictures as his job would allow.

One day, though, he was tending to some empty enclosures when he heard the dogs screaming.  Howling, in absolute agony.  Security would not let him into the lab when he tried to rush to the dogs' aid, and he could only lurk in the corridors in silent rage and listen to his friends' suffering.

It took weeks for Fiernas to plan their escape.  Long weeks, while Leo and Phillip and who knew how many others huddled within that lab in pain and fear.  But he would only have one shot at his plan, and he took his time with the patience he had learned in the wilds of his youth.

No humans died when the lab went up in flames.  Nor any animals.  The cage doors stood empty as explosions and fire rocked the research facility, their occupants escaping into the wilderness around the isolated lab.  All except Leo and Phillip.  They boarded Fiernas's hovercraft with him and headed to their new home.

The official ruling was an accidental fire, but Fiernas did not care to wait around for the investigators to wise up.  He pocketed his severance payment, drove to the nearest spaceport, and headed to the stars, his two best friends in tow.  How they would make their way, Fiernas could not say.  But they would do it free of chains, and they would do it together.



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Fiernas is a tall, lean man with a dark olive complexion.  He moves and speaks with deliberate caution, as though remembering his way through a field of land mines that he placed himself long ago.  When in conversation one-on-one his direct, unwavering stare can be unnerving.  When on the move or in larger groups, though, his mannerisms seem almost nervous, his eyes flickering around his surroundings, rarely looking at anyone directly.