My luck has always been wearing thin but the stakes have never been this high. I was alone in the galaxy. A lone raccoon. Before I was a mercenary, I was just a simple above average raccoon in a hospital. The early days were a blur but I do remember becoming the rocket welding raccoon.
"I need you to kill somebody." the client said.
"I take my money up front." I replied. The client pulled out a bag full of cash. He slid the bag over to me.
"The picture is in there." he added.
I opened the bag and taped to the bundles of cash was a picture of a figure. The picture was of a man slouched down in a throne-like chair. He held a pistol loosely in one hand and a drink in the other.
"King of the Loonies." I muttered. Five long years of this crap. Five long years of tracking this bastard down and I finally had him. After the war I was thrown back home into yet another war. Halfworld was now in a state of disrepair. A few of the Loonies rebelled against the rest of us and an all out Civil War broke out. These rebels already took control of the robots and were threatening our entire society. The thing is Halfworld never had any conflicts or wars but outside had one thing they didn't: me.
I remember the days I used to be a general leading the Siege on the third moon on Dater-Prime. It was in the biggest baddest part of the galaxy. I was flashing back to those glorious days. I was back on that dusty planet where we were surround on all sides. We were left alone on a foreign planet to watch our assault from the planet below. I had made up my mind I wasn't going to deal with this me being the general I took things in my own hands.
"The general is dead are dead." a soldier exclaimed.
"We have to get out of here." another soldier shouted. I tried to pull free from my seat belt. I was slowly biting my way through it.
"We need to call for evac!"
"Does this count as being AWOL, I don't wanna die."
The fabric was rough to chew but sure enough I was halfway through.
"If we die here my wife is going to raise me from the dead and kill me again."
With one final chomp, the belt broke and I climbed out.
"Listen up."
Everyone continued to panic.
"I said Listen up." I shouted loud so everyone was forced to be silent.
"We can't get out of this alive soldiers unless we get up, brush ourselves off, and keep moving."
"This coming from the trigger happy , cry baby Private Raccoon." a soldier chuckled.
"If you weren't a friendly I'd gouge out your eyes," I shot back."It's General Raccoon to you now soldier."
"Who put you in charge?" another soldier argued.
"Yeah!" everyone else shouted.
"I'm going to be the one to end this conflict and get everyone of you home safely." I promised. "Load up."
"I don't take orders from you." a soldier said.
"We crashed here approximately seven minutes ago if someone is on their way then their ETA is three minutes don't argue with me soldier." I replied taking out my pistols- one in each hand, loaded and ready to kill.
"I see a small squadron coming from the north." a soldier said, only a few seconds later.
"What the D'ast," another soldier said, banging on what was left of our communication system. "The comms are down."
"We run for the hills to the south and regroup there." I ordered.
"I've spotted snipers on the cliffs." a soldier told me.
"How many of us do we have?"
"Twelve men sir." he said.
"Krutack!" I muttered under my breath. I began to pace the corridor for half a minute before I turned to my team.
"We ambush them," I concluded. "Wait for my signal."
Quickly I went to one of the still hot computers and held my fur until it was only slightly singed. I climbed out of the ship on all fours and climbed forty paces away from the ship. I placed one of my blasters close to arms reach on the ground and pretended to be dead, then I waited for the time to pass. My heart was beating so quickly and time passed so slowly... until finally they spotted me. I kept one eye slightly opened and the other one closed. From this distance I could hear them speaking in their barbaric space tongue. Only two of them approached me each of them had their guns ready but not aimed at me. They exchanged some words in their language before one of them kneel down to check my vital signs. Instinct kicked in and I made my move.
I climbed on the creature's outstretched hand and clawed at its face, as for the second creature I shot him twice with my laser pistol before doing the same to the first creature I was on. The rest of the convoy was now aware but my team was now firing back. I grabbed my other pistol and shouted for us all to charge. Within minutes they were all eliminated. Nobody congratulated me but they stood ready to fight.
"Any casualties?" I asked.
"Only one sir," a soldier informed. "Shot in the arm. He's being treated right now."
I nodded and looked up at the sky. "It is getting dark we need to move. Salvage anything you can and we leave in fifteen."
Everyone began to pack valuable items. A soldier approached me. "Permission to speak sir."
"Permission granted." I replied.
"I was wrong sir," he confessed. "About you."
"Note taken soldier," I said. "You were correct I have much to learn about being a general but I am no warrior. Only a strategist."
"A warrior is only a strategist that makes paper become reality sir." he responded.
"Correct which is why I'm making you my first lieutenant," I said. "I need a warrior. I need all of you to be warriors right now."
A couple of minutes later we were moving out. We were creeping in the tall grass as quiet as we could be I couldn't help but have the fur on my back stand on edge. Then we heard the first shot fired. It echoed throughout the valley.
"Everyone down!" I ordered, getting on my belly.
"Is everyone okay?" asked my first lieutenant, whose name I learned was Rison.
Everyone nodded. I grabbed the binoculars and sprinted on all fours until I could get a good view of the snipers. The rest of our team slowly followed me, now in a slow prone stance.
"Lieutenant Rison, I see four snipers." I whispered.
"We need to grab their attention somehow." he muttered, only to me.
"Hand me a flare." I said to the team. Someone handed me an unlit flare.
"General Raccoon is going to light it and run but in that time we need to make it to the hill and neutralize the threat," Rison explained. "Got it?"
The remainder of the team nodded.
I put the flare in my mouth and Rison lit the flare. As soon as red sparks began to fly outward I ran away from the entire group in an entirely different directions.
The first two shots were unnerving. I could feel the wind of the third shot on my back. The entire time I though about the well being of my team. Please be safe. Please be safe.
The last shot rang in my ears and I tripped, dropping the flare. I heard the gunfire above as my team took out the snipers. I stood up and limped toward the cliffs. I collapsed on the ground and continued on until I gave up an just laid there. I was breathing carefully because my ribs were hurting. One of my soldier spotted me and I closed my eyes until they came and lifted me away.