Cortez

by Kajex Firedrake

Joaqun Cortez, a black jaguar, is about to get out of an elite training acdemy for Corneria. But in order to do so, he may well have to put everything into the act...

Cortez



Chapter 1; Past References.



All was silent.

Foliage filled the scene with a green glow. Stars overhead gave ample light. There was no wind, leaving the leaves still and making all around seem as if they were in suspended animation. Nothing moved, stirred, nor made a noise. Such a silence was both chilling, eerie and freakish.

Nothing... except a small kitten.

A jaguar with black colored fur, standing no more than 3 feet, stood clasping two items in his tiny paws. One was a dogtag, a chain wrapped around his wrist and the name and information hidden in his paw. The other was a small diskette, label smudged out and unreadable. These items were kept close to the kitten's chest, as the timid feline looked around in tension. On his back, there was, hanging on a wire wrapped around his shoulders, a narrow box of some sort. He looked at the disk closely, wondering what it could really be. He placed it in his chest pocket.

From his side, a sound emerged, it started low, barely inaudible. It rose, revealing itself to be a growl. The kitten looked to the side, startled enough to move back. His movement provoked another figure's movement. It stood upright, much taller than the jaguar. The figure moved towards him, a pair of eyes searching in the dim light for him. The jaguar's own eyes widened, but he didn't move his feet. He couldn't, knowing full well that he could not escape. Even with dark gray fur, he could be seen, as his pelt glistened slightly in the starlight.

The figure moved into the light. The lynx's fur bristled as, finally, some wind began to blow. There was a glare in his green eyes. Teeth bared, this feline's voice came out low, yet clear, a menacing growl of rage. "You brat..."

The jaguar finally moved backwards, holding up his paws. "Please..." he whimpered. "Don't hurt me, please." His eyes were stricken in horror, seeing a possible, near future, one that would most likely end in blood.

The lynx lunged forward, paw outstretched. His claws extracted from their sheaths, digging into the jaguar's flesh at the front and back of his neck. Blood ran from the cuts they made, and trickled down the jaguar's shoulders. He yelped in pain, as suddenly he was lifted up from his feet and against a tree. The young feline's paws went to the lynx's wrist, but they could do nothing. He gasped, searching for air.

"Where's the disk!?" the lynx snarled.

"I don't know!" answered the jaguar, in a shrill voice.

The lynx's paw pressed against the kitten's windpipe. The jaguar gasped deeper. Again, the lynx shouted at the younger cat. "Where's the disk, curse you!? I know you have it, so tell me where it is!"

At this, mortally afraid for his life and confused, the jaguar sobbed out near hysterically. "It's in my pocket!" he screamed. "Please, don't kill me!" He grasped the lynx's wrists, trying to get out of his grasp, but to no avail.

The lynx dropped the jaguar to the ground, then gave him a painful kick in the ribs. The other feline whimpered from the blow, rolling around and trying hard to get his breath back. Quickly, the lynx dropped beside him and extracted a disk from his back pocket. He stood and checked it, nodding as it was confirmed that it was the disk he was looking for. He then reached back down and picked up the kitten again, by the collar. The kitten put his paws up, trying to keep himself from looking at the lynx. The lynx smacked his paws down.

He stood with the glare in his eyes for a moment. Then, suddenly, his expression turned to an evil smile. "I never make promises concerning other people's lives, kid. The last lesson you'll learn is that you never expect living on for more than five seconds in the future; because something bad might happen." He lifted his paw, still grinning maliciously. "Like this." His claws still extracted, his swiped downward at the jaguar's chest.

The kitten screamed in excrutiating pain, as the feeling of cold knives entered his body.

With a snap, Joaquin Cortez opened his eyes and lunged upwards, holding his chest, continuing the same scream that he had made ten years before. It ended the next second, as the pain disappeared instantly and the sight of the older lynx vanished from his sight. No longer was he in the forest on Keitraz. Rather, he was in his apartment on Macbeth; not much more than four walls, a roof, windows and a door leading to a hallway. A few posters hung on the walls, a computer to his left, a phone to his right. A pantry and kitchen was located at the foot of the bed. But no one was there. He was alone.

His eyes were still widened from the scare, and his breathing was loud, hard. His eyes were watered both from perspiration and fear. He still sat up, not wanting at this time to lie back down and relax, and instead put a paw to his head, his opposable thumb brushing against the edges of his coffee-brown hair. Beads of sweat glistened in the darkness of the room, trickling on the edges of his fur and whiskers. He brushed them off and turned in bed, feet contacting with the ground. Putting his head down and looking at the floor, his breathing slowed down, till it returned to normal pace.

He stroked the fur on his chest slowly. Underneath, irregular scars could have been seen, if only the light could allow for it. This comforted him, knowing that looking at them would have made things worse.

Without warning, the phone next to him. He froze, still a little spooked. Slowly, the jaguar reached for the headset. Placing it on his head, he flicked it on, pausing before answering; it was still late at night, and it would be best if everybody he knew thought he was groggy and slow to answering.

"Joaquin Cortez speaking. Who's calling at two o'clock in the morning, may I ask?"

A female voice returned. "Joaquin? It's me, Rosetta."

Joaquin blinked. Rosetta, if he remembered correctly, was a member on the team he was currently assigned to. A female feline, of a sable color, he remembered. He had heard she was a partial telepath. He had never really talked to her at all, since Joaquin was really never one to form friendships with anybody. "Rosetta... what's up?"

"I had a notion that something was happening to you. I happened to carry around your number, so I wanted to check up on you. You seem as if you've been scared badly, or so I could pick up from what I felt."

"What I'm feeling right now doesn't really have much to concern about you, does it?" he blurted out in irritation. The next instant he slapped a paw over his mouth, much too late to take back what he said. His regret set in for having snapped back, since he was not one to do that right off.

There was hesitation. "... I'm sorry, Joaquin," she said quietly, sounding as if she felt a little startled, even embarrassed. "I was just a little curious."

The jaguar sighed. "Ahh... it's alright. Sorry about that snappish comment. It's just that... well hang it, you've actually never called here before, since you've never had a reason. I don't know you at all; that's what's making me a little confused and frustrated, I guess."

"No, you're right," she answered quickly. "What's in your mind is entirely your business, Joaquin. I'm sorry I called."

"Naw, like I said, it's alright. I'm just tired, is all," he said, yawning. "In fact, I'm a little glad you did. It at least got my mind off it." He paused for a moment, glanced outside; it was raining, and the soothing smell of moist earth filled his nostrils. "Well, nothing's wrong here, least not now. But thanks anyway for your concern. I'll see you later today."

"Alright. Good night, Joaquin." She hung up.

Joaquin took the headset off, stared at it for a moment. If he also remembered correctly, Rosetta was also good-looking. He shook it off. "War- time is no time for thinking about potential mates", his commander had told him once. He laid back in bed, but only for a few minutes, realizing that he wasn't tired anymore. The call had fully awaken him and any feelings of fatigue that he had felt before he had rested were now gone. At this point, further rest, no matter how deeply desired, was impossbile; a depressing thought.

Sighing, he went for his closet. In a matter of minutes, he emerged clothed in blue jeans, a cotton white shirt and a black vest. He went back to his bed, reached underneath, and took out a long, narrow box. Flipping off the top, he took out a long blade. The handle of the blade was wrapped firmly with a strange white leather, leaving contours that fit his paw perfectly. The hilt was properly fitted to cover the whole width of the paw, and the blade reached a length of about a meter. He slipped it into a sheath of the same length, with four bands with buckles on them. These he slid onto his back. He checked the length, making sure he could reach it easily if the need ever arose.

It was no surprise for one to carry around such a weapon. Many planets allowed the carrying of such weapons for ages as young as sixteen. Joaquin himself was seventeen and more than trusted, even with this sword on him. Liscenses were with him to ensure that he would not be in trouble for it. Not that he was expecting any trouble during the night, but he had always made it a point to expect anything during these times.

The jaguar reached for a water-proof jacket and slipped it on. He picked up his keys and exited the room.

Rain fell upon the dimly lit streets of Osiris city, located next to the ocean. It was neither a hard nor light rain, falling glumly into gutters and ditches located throughout the urban area. Joaquin saw some people sitting in the rain, trashbags over their heads, or jackets covering their bodies. One such person, a thin looking female fox, was nearby. She looked up at him, a look that indicated that she wanted badly to beg for some amount of money, but didn't have the heart to ask.

There had always been such people, even before Venom had declared war on Lylat, but many people had become casualties before, during, and after Venom's fall, as a result of their attacks. Casualties registered into Joaquin's mind as people that not only suffered physically but emotionally. Thus, the increase of strays in many cities grew with the growing amount of depression.

Joaquin sighed, and reached into his pocket, extracting a few credits and handing it to her. She nodded, murmured her thanks and started examining the wafers. Joaquin could only shake his head. He continued walking down the wet sidewalks of the city, noting to himself that there were people that fought to keep other off the streets and into safe havens.

He himself was both; one who fought against poverty... and one who had been in poverty.

I see people next to walls

wishing for a future ensured

but that, it seems, is nothing that

is certain, or can be assured.

Alleyways and gutters house

the hungry and impovershed crowd;

but my mind and heart can hear them

screams of inward pain, aloud.

Some are used to these such times,

and silent they may sometimes cry,

they say two prayers, and one's to me,

the other's to the shrouded sky.

So he recited to himself. Joaquin had a mind for poetry, and though most were enlightening, some of his poems were depressing. This one had only come to mind, at the spur of a moment. He shook his head, then looked around the streets.

The words Lighthouse Books came into his eyes in the form of neon green lights, twisted into the letters. It was towards this sign that the feline made for. A couple of female parrots in slim outfits, locating themselves next to the doorway, motioned for him to come into a nearby alleyway. One of them blew a kiss, a colorful bird with heavy makeup. Joaquin shook his head, waved them off, and entered into the store.

The warmth, in comparison to the rainy exterior, was a weclome feeling, and one that soon dried off the droplets of water that had somehow managed to remain on the jaguar's jacket. He ran a paw through his hair, fingers squeezing out the moist parts of the clumped strands. It was opened at all hours, but not many people were around. Yet a familiar face walked up to him; a tan falcon slightly under his age, but not by more than a month or so.

"Couldn't sleep tonight?" Joaquin asked

Aeolus Squall grinned sheeplishly, brushing his wild haircut back. "To tell you the truth, I had a little trouble with my new next door neighbors and the manner in which they were moving in. Dang truck was too loud for anybody to sleep, to be honest, and I got mad enough to lay a fist in someone's face."

Joaquin shook his head, but smiled. "It ain't like you to be angry, mi amigo. Might as well get a drink here. We've still got about 5 hours before we're even supposed to be on the base grounds." He made for the coffee section, Aeolus following closely. The avian was probably the only real friend Joaquin had, and of much comfort to the feline, who usually kept to himself.

Joaquin took a seat at a table near the window, while the falcon went for the drinks. As Aeolos moved for the counter, the jaguar noticed that, on the falcon's side, there was a long, blood-red colored dagger in a sheath. Joaquin blinked; Aeolus was only sixteen, and even though it was a legal age for such weapons, he was more of the type who didn't like weapons much. Unless, of course, you counted his love for starfighters, but Joaquin kept it in mind to couple that with flying.

Aeolus soon came back, handing him a french vanilla blend. The feline accepted it, drinking it immediately, despite its heat. He indicated to the dagger. "Where'd you get the weapon? Never saw it before."

"A pawn shop. Had a little vendetta to settle, so I, ah, procured it, in a sense. The guy had it coming."

"You stole it?"

"Well, the guy had jacked a hundred-some-odd credits from me and used it to buy some drugs, as I later found out. I visited his shop and told him to pay it back up, but he decided that the deal would be better settled under the barrel of a gun. Fortunately, I'm pretty good at knife throwing and he didn't see that I had the pretty blade in my hand."

Joaquin furrowed his eyebrows. "You didn't..."

"Kill him? Not at all, Jake!" Aeolus said, laughing out loud. "Naw, I just caught his collar against the wall with the tip and gave him a few belts in the stomach. Then I decided that the daggers didn't look too bad at all and I decided to carry them both around in repayment for my money." He reached for his ankle and removed another dagger from a sheath tied around his calf. He handed this blade to the jaguar.

Joaquin lifted his eyebrows in interest. A silver hilt with markings similar to his own sword, it shone brilliantly in the light of the cafe. The handle was fitted with red leather, almost fire like. The feline nodded. "Looks good. Somehow it reminds me of..."

"Your sword, right?" finished Aeolus. He took a large swig of his drink, then smacked the tips of his beak. "Yep, which was one of the reason I got it. I don't envy your weapon or anything, but I figured it might be some good insurance. Plus," he said, looking at it curiously and with a confusing seriousness, "... I don't know why, but I almost felt as if I were supposed to have this or something." He shrugged. "Oh well. They're pretty easy to use, or at least, easy for me to use."

Joaquin nodded. "So, are you ready for today's test later?"

"Not quite," said Aeolus, eyes dropping. "I study, but I don't know if I'm quite there yet. I mean, it's where I want to be, when I fly, but when I'm on the ground, I feel like I can't do it right, you know? It's like knowing how to pull a gun's trigger, but not how to aim." He sighed to himself.

"Ah, I wouldn't worry about it," said Joaquin. "You'll do well. I'm saying it with a cavalier voice because I know it's something I won't have to worry about. Sometimes I think you doubt yourself a little too much."

"I suppose." The falcon looked outside at the rain. He sighed. "It makes me think..." He paused, vewing the wet exterior, then shook his head. "...Lenore isn't coming back, you know," he said suddenly, and rather sullenly.

Joaquin paused. Lenore had been a parrot that Aeolus had long admired, and had been part of the team they were assigned to. Though they were only in the academy, they were in the special part of the school, were they took on life-like missions, which weren't supposed to be fatal or harmful. However, during one mission, the falcon and parrot had taken to one side of the facility they were supposed to infiltrate, but it hadn't been expected that there would be automatic guns posted next to them. Lenore had been injured in the attempt, and blamed it fully on Aeolus, simply because it had been his idea to move to the side they were on with the autoguns and he had used his pistol. She had been in his line of fire, and had it coming to her, truthfully, but even Aeolus felt it was his fault. She had transferred to another team, despising Aeolus for the incident. But the thing that made it worse was that Lenore had a tendency to make Aeolus feel more confident in what he did; and also, he had always thought she was cute. The fact that she had given him confidence was, perhaps, why he mentioned her name.

Joaquin smiled comfortingly. "Don't worry, man. I know that maybe I can't compare to her when it comes to making you feel better. But I'm saying this as maybe your best friend when I say that you'll do great, when you do your best. Just give it all you've got."

Aeolus nodded. "Thanks, Jake."

"Ah, don't mention it. It's no fun to be around a sullen falcon." He sipped the last contents of his drink. "How'd your piloting final go?"

"Excellent. I was only two seconds from the top speed record for taking out a capital ship, and they say that I've got quick thinking skills and strategy. They also say that, if it ever crosses my mind, I could become a good commander for my team. But I waved that off, since it's something I think you're better at."

"Are you kidding? I have absolutely no speaking skills when it comes to adressing more than one person, and you know that. I get stage fright easily, remember? Remember that one time when I had to give an essay to the class based on what qualities makes a good pilot, whether it's a mercenary or a full on-duty officer? Remember how I fell backwards for a minute and knocked over that set of pencils, and then I couldn't speak for near a minute? The only reason I got a grade on that, I think, was because the drill sergeant was feeling sorry for me, pitying me, almost. You know what he's like, right?"

"Yeah. He's not exactly a bad guy, but he unexpectedly and unwittingly makes you feel kinda stupid. Well, at least he's only for today, and then that's it. And you, how'd you do on the final?"

"I got the most kills in the class. I have the interceptor capabilities of a natural hawk, and I've got the style and moves to go with it. I think I could've gotten past the record, if only you hadn't taken out that one fighter before I had. But anyway," he finished, changing the subject," about the mission. You gonna be flanking in it?"

The falcon nodded. "Yeah. I feel better with the knowledge that I've got the back to cover. And you'll be taking point, am I right?"

"Yeah, but I'm worried about you being at the back. Makes me feel like maybe you won't take care for things. I don't want a marker to tag my tail, and you know how that feels."

Aeolus chuckled. "Fine, say what you want. But trust me on this one, you'll want me back there. And that feline, Rosetta, too. She's good with a rifle."

"Yeah, I know. Speaking of which, she called me tonight."

Aeolus leaned forward, interest painted on his face. "Really? What'd you guys do, mate over the phone or something?" The jaguar gave him a playful kick in the shin as he laughed.

"No, she sensed me having another dream and wanted to know if I was feeling okay. Nice kid to be concerned about others, but not my type at all. I just had that one dream I've told you about before."

At this Aeolus stopped laughing. This matter, he knew, was not something to be taken lightly. "The one with the lynx?" he asked.

Joaquin nodded, dropping his head slightly. "Same one. It's been getting worse, what's more. I can actually recount the whole thing over and over again, Aelous. I feel like I know what happened; just not what had really happened. Like some sort of knowledge I only have for a little while, which goes away whenever I wake up. And I can see it clearer every time I dream about it. Somehow, it even goes longer, adding a second or so to the beginning every time."

Aeolus frowned. "If it's getting worse, maybe you ought to go see a psychologist for a little while. Not to poke fun or anything, because I know how serious it seems to you. And I know you're telling the truth. You've shown those scars on your chest before, and I know what to believe from them." He sat silent in reflection, for a moment or two, then shrugged. "Well, the only thing I can tell you is that you should tell someone about it, besides me. Who, I don't know, but you'll think of something, I'll bet."

Joaquin nodded, then glanced at his watch. "It's only three now. I don't suppose you're tired enough for a trip to the shooting range? I need a little practice before today."

Aeolus nodded. "Sounds okay. Let's get to it." He got off, left a credit on the table and moved to the door, the jaguar following.

"The Cornerian Mercenary force was founded to create freer, more versatile groups of fighters. Though under the commnd of the Cornerian Defense Council, the Mercenary force has created its own set of regulations and limitations. Though they are less restrictive and flexible, that does not mean that you can slack off whenever you can. True, it can provide better living conditions and the chance to resign whenever you want, which is why it is sought after by most young adults like yourselves. But it does not mean that you can do a less amount of work because of those benefits."

A whole line of junior officers, fifty in all stood in a line, hearing the boar's slow, yet serious lecture. Joaquin had heard this many times before and agreed; just because being in a mercenary unit was less restraining than a normal officer's job, it didn't make that particular soldier's job any less important or difficult. Still, as serious as it was, it was nothing that had to be as slow as it was now. He glanced to his side, catching Aeolus trying to keep from yawning, which he was especially good at. A further glance revealed Rosetta listening with the same amount of attention he was displaying. For a moment, she kept staring back at the boar, but then her left eye twitched, and she moved her yellow eyes towards Joaquin. At that, the jaguar moved his eyes quickly back onto the boar, trying not to think of anything that she would pick up as offensive, if she could read minds.

All flight mercenary groups had to go through this, because, in addition to being trained in the air, they were also trained to the ground. The thing was, many of the battles nowadays took place in space, which was why piloting was now more practiced than before. But the Defense Council had decided that both land and air missions were crucial, and thus they sought to spend more time with ground missions nowadays. They had already finished up their piloting finals, which had turned out well, as mentioned before.

"Many of the best groups in history have been known to be mercenary groups. Nearly 60% of all the groups in the history of Lylat's time that have been famous and respected have been located in the Mercenary force. You are to be trained as the best in your generation, and though you may not be the best of all time, it is hoped that you may grow and strengthen yourselves to that level in these dark times."

There was a pause, almost two minutes long, but they all knew that the boar liked to do this, to emphasize the importance of their mission. In this case, it was necessary, since today would be their last test, one that would be involving another team.

"These are your objectives. There will be two groups, fighting one another. The group you'll be fighting against is Commanderette Laura's class." There was a hopeful look. "I hope this class turns out better than last year's, because my class, which consisted of slackers and hackers, got whipped by her class. They did not pass, any one of them. If you fail this mission, I will evaluate you based on how many of the other class you pinned down, since last year's class couldn't take down a single soldier. You'll be given two weapons, a rifle and a pistol, each with two clips filled with area tranquilizers, so you'll want to conserve your ammo." The area tranquilizer was really just a pulse signal that numbed out the area that was being aimed at, and any part of the body that was essential (and fatal if the weapon was actually shooting real rounds), was strong enough to render the victim unconscious; a useful training technology.

"The battle arena will be in an ice cave on Fortuna. The objective is a 'capture-the-flag' like scenario. Each team has a disk with valuable informaion on it. Come up with the disk and download the information on your computer back at your base. The disk will be located deep within the other team's base. You lose if the team defeats every member of your battalion or if the other team downloads your information first, and you win under the opposite conditions. I expect nothing less than the best you can do. Any questions?"

There was no stirring within the line of officers.

"Good. The ship for Fortuna will leave in two hours. Get yourselves ready; two hours gives you enough time to pack whatever equipment you'd like to and also allows you pick out any rifle and/or pistol you wish to take. I'd suggest you'd choose weapons that you feel comfortable with and that has a large clip. If you have time afterwards, and I expect you will, then get yourselves something to eat. Dismissed."

The boar walked around the room, inspecting the officers' feelings on the matter and their movements, but otherwise leaving them to organize and mobilize themselves. Joaquin looked around at the frantic crowd, shook his head; unlike these pilots, both he and Aeolus had come in early in anticipation for what needed to be done. As he looked around, he noticed that Rosetta was not among that crowd of people, and he wondered brefily to himself. He had seen a sable figure that looked like her; perhaps she had come in and organized her own stuff sooner, as they had.

Aelous got into his line of sight. "Hey, since we're early, and since it seems that the feline over there doesn't seem busy, why don't you go over there and introduce yourself?"

Joaquin blinked, then held up his paws. "Ah, no, I'd rather not really-"

"C'mon, I've already checked her out and she doesn't have any guys on her tail. Just say 'hi' and make friends, okay? I'll be behind you, just to see that everything goes smoothly."

"That makes me feel ever so comfortable," said Joaquin sarcastically. But even as he dug his heels into the ground, he knew it was to no avail. He put both paws behind his back, and hoped desperately he didn't look like a fool. "Er... hi, Rosetta."

The cat's eye moved to him, a bit surprised that he was conversing with her. "Huh? Oh, hey Joaquin. All ready for the test, I see."

"We are. Didn't want to spend a whole lot of time packing up for the test. It's better if you're prepared beforehand, I guess."

"My feelings exactly. I thought it was you I had seen on campus earlier this morning. Speaking of which, about that call..."

"Hey, it's look, it's like I said, it's totally alright," Joaquin said, anticipating what she was going to say. He looked at her, noticing that she had a somewhat embarrassed smile on her face, mixed with some sort of sadness he couldn't place. "You feel self-doubt for yourself when you talk, don't you?"

"Is it really that obvious?" she asked. "Yeah, a little. But thanks for trying to make me feel better." She paused for a moment. "Ah... it wouldn't be a problem if I hung out with you two for lunch, would it? I-I really don't sit with anyone during the meal, and it gets kinda quiet sometimes."

Joaquin looked back at Aeolus, who was giving a thumbs-up sign. It was Aeolus who answered, though. "Hey, we're always into some extra company. Besides that, we've learned a lot about many of the members around here, but you're still a bit of a mystery to us. Maybe you could tell us something about yourself, eh?" He waved over to the boar. "Hey, drill sergeant? We're already done packing our stuff. We're gonna go for lunch, alright?"

"You don't need my permission, Aeolus. You have both my permission for anything and my respect." He grinned with humor. "Especially with those grades you earned yourself in the flight test yesterday. Go on."

"So tell me; where are you from, originally?" Aelous asked, munching on a peice of raw meat.

"Well, my real planet of birth was on Titania, to be honest."

Joaquin raised an eyebrow, slurping on a loose noodle. "How does that happen?" Titania had its townships, true, but only townships, and not very many hospitals.

"During an expedition. My mom was pregnate with me, and well, it happened at a pretty awkward time. But I've lived here most of my life. It's a nice planet, better than Corneria in some respects. I grew up in these streets and I learned how to fly here, too. I enlisted when I was about 15, got in a two-year training period. What about you two?"

"I'm from Fortuna, actually," answered Aeolus. "I've always enjoyed flying as a pastime and job. I don't like fighting as much as flying, but if doing both can help people, I'm into it, then."

Joaquin didn't say anything while Aeolus rambled on, noting that he really didn't have much to say. As the falcon continued, Rosetta noticed that Joaquin wasn't into the conversation and frowned. She switched the subject onto him.

"What about you, Joaquin? I haven't heard much about you."

Joaquin flinched slightly, then sighed. "I don't know much. I was orphaned at a young age. I don't even remember much about it. I've... pretty much been alone most of my life. There's not much to speak about."

She prodded. "C'mon, there's gotta be something you like to do."

"Readin and writing," started Joaquin.

"And poetry," blurted out Aelous.

At that, the jaguar pounced on the falcon playfully, yet with embarrassment on his face. "Aelous! She's gonna think I'm a sissy or something!"

But the black feline only shrugged. "I don't mind. I like literature as much as anybody else. But how are you at training in the academy?"

"The best," responded Aeolus.

"Stop talking for me," grumbled Joaquin. He lightened up. "Well, I've gotten high scores in piltoing simulations, and I fight well with any weapon that's given to me. They said that I'm good at utilizing my environments to my advantage. I guess that's true; any time I'm in a fix, ideas just spring to mind and they work out pretty well."

"Well, then let's hope that your ideas spring up fast during the mission, cause Commanderette Laura's team is highly trained. My brother, who happened to be in this same instructor's class two years before, got smoked by her class in the flight simulators, even though he did better in the ground battle." She glanced around. "Do you think any of these other soldiers are ready, though?"

Aeolus looked around also, sizing up each of the other trainees. "Them? Some of them. But more of them think that this'll be easy, since it's their last test. I wouldn't put my faith into their skill. We'd probably be better off sticking with each other, don't you think, Jake?"

"I agree," answered Joaquin, nodding. "I think the only way they'll help us is with supplying us with extra clips after they go down. Not to seem superior or anything, but that's how I feel."

"I didn't say otherwise," answered Rosetta. "I'll agree with that, too."

Aeolus stood, having finished his lunch. "Well, it was nice talking to you. I'll see you later, when they collect us up for the ship flight. See you." He left, leaving the two felines to say farewell.

Rosetta watched him saunter off. "He's kind of self-confident, isn't he?" she said, a little glumly.

"I wouldn't worry about him. He knows what to do." He looked at her, noticing that the same embarrassed, self-doubt expression he had seen before set in. "You okay? You seem a little nervous."

"Hell yeah," she said, laughing humorlessly. "I'm scared beyond reasoning. I mean, what if I should screw up or something? What if any mistake I make becomes bad enough to let everyone down?" She sighed, sat back down, put his chin on her paws.

Joaquin sat back down, tried to catch her eye. When he succeeded, he smiled. "Don't worry. I barely know you, but I have a gut feeling you'll do great out there. If it makes you feel any better, you can stick around Aeolus and me; like he said. I won't mind the extra company."

She smiled nervously, but it seemed as if she were at least a little relieved. "Thanks, Joaquin."

"If you need to shorten the name, feel free to call me Jake," he said, as he got up. "I'll see you later, Rosetta."

She gave a friendly smile. "If you need to shorten my name, then call me Rose. My parents call me it, anyway."

"Well then, Rose. It was good talking to you. I gotta go, but I'll catch you later on the ship. Adios." He walked off, following Aeolus' trail.



Chapter 2; War-game

A fog appeared as Joaquin took his first breath of air on Fortuna. He had never before seen the planet, but he had always thought of it was too cold and too white. Yet even now, his thoughts were changing. The landscape was covered in several feet of white powder, and yet their landing point was solid enough to support most feet that traveled upon it. He stepped forward.

Before him stood several armed guards, obviously bored of the monotonous view. They were posted next to a door embedded entirely in ice. This door opened to reveal a female kangaroo dressed in warm clothing. The only things that every pilot there had to wear were jackets, jeans, T-shirts, gloves and backpacks. But other than that, there was nothing to protect them from the cool air. Still, Joaquin's fur provided excellent protection. Some of the others shifted around and shivered a bit, particularly the reptiles and thin-feathered avians.

Aeolus stepped out, stretching his arms and legs as soon as he had the room to do so. "Well, it's pretty nice around here. A little cold, but it's not bothering me. How are you doing?"

"I don't need the jacket, actually," answered the jaguar. "It's surprisingly not that cool for me. I can bear it."

The boar stepped out, sneered at the kangaroo. "Laura."

"Sid. I'm glad you've finally arrived. Me and my team were getting bored out here." She looked at the exiting trainees, almost burst out laughing, but instead held it in. "Are these your fighters? I've seen better from you, and you know it. I was hoping you'd give me a challenge. Perhaps it will be like last year," she said in a snobbish air, turning her back on the boar.

Sid glared. "Streaks are entitled to only run for so long, Laura. They do have an end. These soldiers will teach you that lesson."

"Fine, whatever you think your soldiers can do, I'll be looking for it. I'll see you in the watchtower, Sid. In the meantime, now would most likely be the time to tell your troops that all your training was in vain." She walked into the base, chin held up high.

When she disappeared, Sid took Joaquin to one side, a look of fear in his eyes. "Please, Joaquin please! You have to win this battle for me, you just have to!"

The jaguar stepped back, startled. He had never seen the drill sergeant acting this way. "Whoa up! You aren't counting fully on me, now are you?"

"Are you kidding? You're the best guy I have on the team, Jake! Never have I seen a pilot and soldier with your skill, and I don't think I ever will for the rest of my life! Didn't you know that you're at the top of your class?"

Joaquin shook his head, surprised. "I never though I was. I thought a 90% shooting accuracy was normal for most people..."

"What!? You mean you haven't actually been trying!?"

"No, I have. But I thought everybody was, too. I don't look much into other people's scores, and I'm not the kind who likes to ask other people about it, either. But you're saying that kind of accuracy isn't possible?"

"No, it's entirely possible, but I've never seen it done before. You have to pull through this thing for me, Jake. I'm counting a lot on you and your friend Aeolus. Let me make you a deal; if you win this for me, I will bust my rank to get you anything you want; anything! If you want to be a commander of a team when you graduate - and trust me, you don't need to take this test anyways, cause you're going to pass- I will get that rank for you, as well as any other pilot you want on your team! Kid, if you want me to, I will even give you the money necessary to by your own ship! Hell, if you want me to, I'll even join you!"

The jaguar raised his eyebrows. "Really?" Jake had always thought that Sid was the best fighter he had seen so far, but to give his services to one of his students was both a compliment and an offer.

"Really! Just win it for me!"

Joaquin scratched his ear in thought, then shrugged and nodded. "Okay, I'll see if I can't get the win for you. But don't expect anything miraculous from me."

"Don't worry, I won't," the boar answered, fingers crossed behind him. "Now get in there and get ready. The other trainees will come; just follow one of the officers inside. I've got authorization that we can be let inside. We'll be beginning almost immediately." He walked off to talk to some of the higher-ranking officers.

Joaquin shook his head, went back to Aeolus. "I think the drill sergeant wants us to be at the head of this mission, Aeolus."

"What was your first hint?" asked Aeolus sarcastically. "He's always counting on his best, and he'll be looking more towards you." His eyes drifted onto Rose. "Hey, check it out."

Joaquin caught Rose's slim figure, which contrasted to the white snow. She had both arms around her, shivering a bit. The jaguar frowned slightly, walked up to her. "Cold?"

She nodded. "I've never been here. I'm freezing."

He took off his jacket. "Take some extra insulation. I'm not even cold around here. The upsides of a thick fur." He draped it over her shoulders, then walked off into the door.

She blinked, watched him as he went into the base, not even seeming to shiver in what she thought was a frigid air. He seemed almost comfortable in the snow. She looked at the jacket, then smiled, as she walked into the base behind him.

The door led into a hallway that seemed to go downwards, and in a spiral of sorts. The temperature began to change, turning slightly warmer, yet in a manner that comforted the trainees and yet didn't cause the icy walls to melt around them. It was well lit inside, and large enough to move around in. There were several doors to each side in the hallway, but the corridor ended finally, revealing an immense underground base.

The ceiling, nearly 200 feet above their heads, was domed and circular, with only three exits at its tops, for the ships. The hangarbay was a series of platforms suspended within the air, located at each side of the base. Dozens of mechanics and pilots were on each one, working on ships, lifting off or landing on the platforms. Several small transports were located near the platforms, lifting people onto each the airborne floors. The base itself was a series of small buildings that didn't even reach halfway up the length of the dome. Further way, small explosions could be seen in an untouched section of the underground base. Joaquin made his guess that this must be the battleground.

Some of the pilots paused to look around in interest at the base. Such installations were rare and expensive to construct, and it wasn't often that a junior officer would be able to visit such an area, unless one's relatives were stationed there. But for the most part, everybody kept their mouths shut, trying to look as if they were used to seeing such places; trying to act professional.

Rose walked up next to the male jaguar. "How soon is the test going to begin?"

"Almost immediately after we get there," answered Joaquin. "That's what the drill sergeant claims anyway. He says he's actually counting on me to pull off a win for him, but I don't know if that's a wise idea."

"Why not? You're the best on this team, and everybody knows it."

"Nobody's actually said it, so I'm still not sure."

The waiting room was pretty much just a small room with seats for each pilot in the room. Some of them shivered due to the cool interior of this shelter. Joaquin took the chill pretty well, and noted that Aeolus and Rose, with her extra jacket on, were just as comfortable. Other than that, the only other person in the room that wasn't shaking like there was a fissure was a slim female husky. He peered closer at her nametag, labeled "Tix".

He looked away. They hadn't been waiting very long, only long enough for them to review the mission priorities. They seemed simple enough- just go into the enemy base and apprehend the disk they had, then get back and download it, while defending their own disk at the same time. But somehow they all had a feeling that it'd be a lot harder than it sounded; for one, the drill sergeant's warning had left them shaken, and they realized just in how much trouble they were going to go through now.

They were all assigned a number, and each team had a color. In this case, the boar's team was the black team, while the white team would be rivaling them. but all of them were dressed out in white, with the patch only to designate them well. Jake had seen the colors worn by the other team, which was a tad darker, more grayish. Mistakes weren't going to be made, he knew.

"Are you all ready?" a voice said suddenly. "Let's go!"

A door at one side of the room opened up wide. Joaquin blinked. They really were going to start right off.

All at once, the soldiers snapped into place, picking up their rifles and getting into formation. A few of the better students got into a ring. One of them, an albino lion male who Joaquin identified as Dennis Leer, motioned for him to come over. A bit confused, the jaguar complied. They huddled.

"Alright," the lion said. "The way I see it, Jake here has the skills to lead the scouting and attacking parties around here." He turned to him. "Think you can do it?"

Joaquin shrugged. "I guess I could. I'll give it my best."

That was all Dennis needed to hear. "You go ahead and take Aeolus and Rose, then. Take along Kiya, too. She's suited well enough for the cold, anyway."

"Kiya?" asked Joaquin.

"The female husky. She knows her way around this environment, and believe me, she can hack it. You four should do all right. I'll take a flanking team with you, but I don't know about this cold climate, so I may not stick with you the whole trip. Do you feel cool or is it just me?"

"It's cold, but I'm suited, somehow, to this kind of climate. No time to complain about frozen feet and fingers. We'll need to move fast. Who's working on the computer and surveillance? And what about a technician?"

"Well, that's what Kiya's there for, too. And as for a lookout, we've got a jackal on that job, ready to pin them when they're seen. We better get going now." He motioned for a group of others to follow him, and Joaquin waved over Rose and Aeolus.

"Kiya Tix, you're with us," he called out. The husky ran up to them, obviously enthusiastic about the mission. He fur color was that of light gray, and silver hair seemed to shimmer as she moved. Against the backdrop of the snow, she would be hard to see at a far distance. "Good to meet you. Never had a chance to say hi, but the introductions can wait, I guess." He shook her paw. "I'm Joaquin, just call me Jake. We need to get moving." He ran down the corridor, following the lion.

They exited the base, rifles ready. The battlefield was littered with ice pillars and caves leading every which way. Joaquin looked at the field only for a second to get a good idea of his terrain, then began to move forward. "Keep your eyes open for any enemies. We'll want to hit them before they hit us." They ran in a single file line, taking the moment to pause and look around in anticipation for their rivals.

For a distance, no more than about two miles in length, there was nothing besides ample cover from fire, if it was needed. But as they moved onwards, a few of them started to slow down a bit. Joaquin paused several times as a few of them requested a small scouting mission (which he noticed was more of an excuse to take a break). He paused a final time, then looked back and shook his head. Most of the officers behind him seemed cold, and were coughing from taking in the cold air. He couldn't blame them; they had been trained to work in temperate regions, devoid of this kind of harsh weather, and even he wasn't used to such conditions, though he seemed to bear it well enough. But he was only one person, and he'd need an operable team to pull off this win.

The lion looked around. "We can't keep going on like this for long, Jake. This air is freezing up our lungs." The majority of them took in deep breaths, but winced while doing so. Rose seemed to take it well enough, but she looked cold still. Aeolus was part penguin (the only ironic thing about him flying, which didn't seem funny now), and was holding up well. Jake seemed well off himself, and he would be one to know that, what was more. Dennis was stronger most of the people around him, and he used this inward pull to move on. And Kiya, of course, seemed to enjoy the weather more than anything.

Jake motioned to Kiya. "Come with me, Kiya, we'll take a little scouting trip." He moved forward, then reached for his communicator. "Base 1, do you copy?"

"I copy, Shadow 3. What's up?"

"Have you had any encounters yet?"

"None so far. This team seems better suited for the cold, though. The attacking force is mostly polar region species; some huskies, an arctic fox and a polar bear, even a couple of penguins. They don't seem to be moving fast enough, though. They might be heading towards your position, trying to take you out first before they come for us."

"Well it's just the ten of us out here, and we're not very well defended. Where's our second attack team located? Are they nearby?"

"They hit the northern side of the arena and they're- wait, hold on, they're being attacked!"

"How far away are they from us?" Joaquin asked calmly. One thing he learned from personal experience; no matter what the situation is or what you're doing and how, never, under any circumstances, panic when you're needed.

"Not far from you at all, only a couple hundred meters west your position. They're using silenced weapons, like us. Get to it!"

"I copy. Over and out!" He motioned for Kiya. "C'mon, our second attack team is getting hit at the northern side of the arena, not far from here. Let's see if we can't help them out. We'll need a strong offense to get us through the base."

"That's not possible," answered Kiya, following the jaguar. "The northern banks are littered mostly with pillars and obstructions. They couldn't be hitting them unless... there were a lot of them." She froze. "Whoa up, I'm not going anywhere that's possible a hazard zone and us outnumbered!"

Jake shook his head. "We're gonna have to. Our attack team can handle themselves, Kiya. I won't worry about them. Let's get going, now. How good are you with a rifle."

"You kidding? I've got the best accuracy in the academy! The only reason you surpass me is because you know how to use a pistol, too. I'm not really good with hand-helds."

"Then can you snipe any soldiers from afar?"

"If I'm going with you, I'd serve much better up-close and personal." She checked her weapon. "I've got enough ammo here, as far as I'm concerned. I'll follow you, but you be careful."

"Right." He started running, and Kiya followed him. "I think you'll do good, Kiya."

"Thanks. Bill thinks I've been doing great so far."

"Who's he?"

"Bill Grey, my half-brother."

Jake stared back in surprise, still running. "The Bill Grey? I didn't know he had a half-sister!"

"Not many people do, but he keeps telling everyone he knows about it. It's not something that's public, if you understand. But enough about me, now, we've got a job to do."

"Well, if you are Bill Grey's kin, then I know I picked a good person to follow me."

A flurry of laserfire swept across the arena, smacking into ice pillars, into the snow, but not hitting anybody. One of the soldiers had fallen, not dead, but only stunned. He would not wake up until given the proper medication to do so, and he would have felt like a million bucks afterward. Such stuns only took place when a hit that would normally be fatal was placed. Anywhere else, like the arms or legs, would just numb-out, becoming unusable.

A lizard, who seemed to be warmed up from the action, was shouting orders and yelling into his communicator. "Base 1, we're gonna retreat back to our rendezvous point and try to hold them back as long as possible! Over and out!" The group moved back quickly, soon disappearing over a hill.

The other team moved forward, and one of them, a ring-tailed cat, kneeled next to the sedated soldier, who happened to be of the same species. He grinned. "Aww, the poor guy's sleeping. What say we give him something to remember us by?"

One of the female soldiers rolled her eyes. "Cut it out."

"Naw, I'm gonna have some fun." He inhaled, hacked up mucus from his throat and commenced to spit at the soldier, but before he could do so, a laser smacked into his back, and several more zipped across their heads. The soldier remained still, never to wake until the battle's end.

Jake slid down a slope, firing belligerently at the crowd. Kiya followed suit, boots sliding through the snow. The group scattered and returned fire, but already two of their men were down. They took cover behind a few of the pillars and rocks, protected from most fire.

Jake jumped forward and rolled past the fire, shooting as he did so and taking down another guy in the process. Kiya ran behind a pillar and kept up her volley, hitting one of the few females.

This surprise attack didn't last, however. By this time, the group formerly made up of fourteen was now reduced to half (some of them having run away), and this was enough to enrage the remaining troops. They fired back at them, but the two kept moving around in a circle, causing the group to fire in a radius. But since they were staying in their same position, it wasn't long before two more soldiers fell. Not as a result of Kiya's or Jake's firepower, but as a result of the two accidentally being hit by their own comrades.

Another soldier fell from Kiya's firepower, but the remaining two were smart. One of them disappeared behind a pillar, while the other returned fire to Kiya with better accuracy. Jake, seeing Kiya's dilemma, fired at this particular soldier, but before he could gain a hit, his weapon flew out of his hands from a well-placed kick.

Jake turned and met his opponent, a rather large polar bear. The bear swung a claw at him, but he ducked it and leapt up at the soldier's head, and kicked. His blow was strong enough to cause the arctic creature to stagger, and the feline took advantage of this, landing several fists into the bear's face, before he fell finally. There were several stun mechanisms on each pilot's pair of gloves, and Jake felt glad for this bit of technology.

Meanwhile, Kiya hid behind a rock, taking cover from her attacker's firepower. She reached in her pocket and extracted a grenade, then laid down her weapon. She bit off the pin and tossed it beside the soldier. A blinding flash filled the air, stunning the solider for a moment. Kiya leapt from behind her rock and came forward, crashing a fist on the soldier's muzzle. The soldier slid a few feet before he halted. The husky breathed hard for a minute before turning back to the jaguar, smiling at their work.

Jake came forward, grinning ear to ear. "You did great, Kiya."

"Thanks. You didn't do bad at all, either." She looked around. "This should account for seven of the forty soldiers on each team, right?"

"That's right. Let's head back to the group, we might be needed."

At this point, the original attack group had been waiting no more than fifteen minutes, and was now feeling well enough to start moving. Aeolus shuffled through his pack and extracted a pair of binoculars. He jumped onto a high slope, looked around for any enemy presence, then lifted the tool to his eyes.

"See anything?" asked Rose.

Aeolus looked around. "Well, Jake and Kiya are coming back. There's a group of troops lying around, opposite the direction they're coming in. It looks like they kicked some tail down there." He brought the binoculars down, rushed to meet the two soldiers.

Joaquin saw him first. "We lost one guy down there, but it looks as if the rest made a good escape. We've accounted seven from their forty, for certain, but now they know we're coming."

Dennis moved forward. "What's the plan?"

"With our second group going back, we don't have anything to cover the northern side of the base. We have to get the group back on its track, but in the meantime, we need a few others to get down there for temporary cover. Any three that can take this cold will do, but I'm voting Kiya off this assignment; she shoots far too well to be on protection duty."

Dennis nodded. "I'll take it. I'm more camouflaged around these environs." He pointed to a lizard and a fox. "You two will follow me. How long will we need to cover the northern area for?"

"Hopefully no longer than ten minutes, but you'll have ample cover there." He tapped his communicator. "Base 1, do you copy?"

"I copy, Shadow 3."

"Give us the stats on the second attack and flanking groups."

"They're all tucked in and safe here. We haven't heard a peep outside since. They're reloading as we speak. There are five groups out there, in standard 2x2 formation, but they look a little nervous. You must be giving them a tough time, Jake. Keep it up, we'll be waiting for the diskette."

Jake thought for a second; five 2x2 formations would account for twenty soldiers, leaving only 13 to cover the base now. 14 to take on the base would be normal, with the remaining 6 keeping an eye on the base. "I copy. Get the second attack team prepped and ready, we'll need them to get back in position and continue. Over and out." He looked around the snowy terrain. "Is there any way we can get to the enemy's base quicker?" he asked.

Rose got up onto the rock Aeolus had just dropped off from, took out her own binoculars and peered through them. Surveying the land before them, she noticed a small river, with a bridge spanning across it. It wasn't entirely large, only a matter of 50 meters in length. "There's a way across the river, but it's also well-defended. We'll be sitting ducks if we're spotted and cooked fowl if we're shot at, Jake."

"Hey, that's not funny!" declared Aeolus indignantly.

Jake ignored the falcon's words. He joined Rose on the hill, nodded as he sighted this with unaided eyes. "I'll follow that. It's about a mile west from their base, and about half a mile east from here. I think we could make that, but we'll ditch the bridge idea and come up with something else."

"I don't like the idea of swimming," Rose said, fearing that it might actually come to it.

"Nor do I," answered Jake. But as he peered closer at the bridge, an idea came to mind. "Hold up. I think I've got a plan. We'll keep the bridge in it, though."

About fifteen minutes later, Dennis was already holding position at the northern section and a group of the white team was at the bridge, following a similar example. Two of them were located at the bridge. One of the soldiers, a brown furred husky, looked around at the river. The other was an otter, seeming to enjoy the peacefulness of the surroundings.

"Think they'll try to swim the river?" The husky asked. "It's only 50 meters, the could make it submerged, if they needed to."

The otter, peering over the spanning bridge and brushing his hair back, shook his head. "Nope. We got here first, and we're indubitably at a strategic location." He ticked off the points. "First of all, it's a good ten feet of cleared forest from their side to the bridge, and they'll be moving in a group, so we'll see at least one of them, if they're stupid enough to try crossing the bridge. Second of all, I hear that a lot of them aren't even used to this kind of weather, so no way they'll try to swim it over here. In fact, only one of them, some female husky, is actually suited to Polar Regions. And lastly, they're most likely preoccupied with defending their own base. Face it, they can't move anywhere near the river without being caught; and besides, our best sniper is coming over for insurance."

"She's here," said a slim rabbit from behind. Her short, white hair fell only so far, next to her shoulders. A pair of brown eyes searched the area, as well as finished her description. In her paws, a rifle similar to their own was held, the only difference being a high-focused scope.

The husky whistled, grinned. "Well hey, they didn't tell me that the best sniper in the class was a babe." He flashed sharp teeth to the rabbit. "Mind if I asked you to meet me in my room after this is all over?"

Instead, the rabbit lifted a boot and landed it between the husky's legs, then left him to groan about it. The otter shook his head, followed the cat. "You've got a way with guys, Satch. I see how you keep them off your back."

She smiled back sweetly. "Hey, it's worked before, Slick, and it'll keep working until I find a better guy than these jerk-weeds. Where do I set up?"

"Anywhere you find suitable. Keep a close eye out, we lost track of them around five minutes ago. A team is covering the north area, but there are still seven more unaccounted for. Also, the base says to watch out for a black jaguar and a gray-tone husky; seems they wiped out seven of our own soldiers at the northern area."

"Then why didn't they stay there?" she asked, starting a climb up a tree.

"We don't know yet, but in any case, the jaguar seems to be the ringleader, and the husky was said to have some excellent aim for her age. Let's hope she's not your match, Satchel."

"There's hardly anybody who is." She sat in a comfortable position on her belly, then peered through the scope. She frowned, noticing some irregularities on the snow banks on the other side of the bridge. "How long would it have taken them to get over here, from where they originally were?"

The otter paused in reflection. "About 8, maybe 9 minutes tops."

"No kidding?" She frowned, looked through the scope closer, zooming in for a closer look. The irreularities seemed too close, in sequence. She blinked.

They were footprints.

Immediately an idea came to her. She slapped off the scope and aimed for the bridge. There was nobody on it, but if she was right...

She fired into the bridge. The otter blinked, then shouted. "Satchel, what are you doing!?"

He could have saved his breath. A shout of surprise rang out, and a figure fell into the river. Immediately, the white team began to fire into the water, but the figure swam deep into the river. Before anybody could wade into the shallow parts, gunfire came out from the underside of the bridge.

Six members of the black team had stumbled onto the ground, firing as soon as they hit they contacted with the snow. Their attack took the white team off guard, and the surprised members shrank into the trees. Satchel leapt off from her branch and pulled a flip, then drawing her pistol and firing at the crowd. Her shots missed, but they drove back the enemy. Slick grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away.

"Time to go, Satchel, they'll want us at the base." He switched on his communicator. "Base 1, this is Halo 5, we're being attacked on the western side of the bridge, tighten up our defense."

"I copy."

"We'll need to get cover, kid."

"I can take them," she said confidently. She fired in the troops direction, though they were out of sight, hidden within the forest. "Just leave this little battle to me and I'll see you in the base."

"I think not, Satch," said Slick sternly. "We'll need you inside, sooner or later, and you can't hold off seven soldiers all at once, no matter how keen you are with your surroundings. Now let's get going!" He tightened his grasp and started running with her following.

The gunfire seemed to die down slightly, but pops could be heard every five seconds or so. Satchel had left her rifle in the tree, too intent on her escape to backtrack for it. Every now and again, Slick turned in place to check if anybody was following. After a minute of vigorous running, he turned a final time. "We've got to call to the other teams before the enemy gets any closer," he said, reaching for his communicator.

"Too late," said a voice in front of them. Jake was standing, rifle ready to fire. To their left, Aeolus stood, still dripping wet from his fall into the water. On their right, Kiya was aiming her pistol at them. Her accuracy, she knew, was greatly improved at close range.

Satchel grinned sheepishly. "Hey, guys, how's it going?"

"Pretty good," said Jake. "We've got a lead on you guys so far and you haven't gotten near to our defenses yet, so we have reason to be happy. It's pretty cold here, though, you've got to admit it." He motioned for them to move in front of them.

"Yeah, well some of us are suited to it," said Satchel, as she held up her paws and moved in front of them. "Polar region rabbits can take this weather easily. Amazing for you that you aren't shivering," she said, indicating Aeolus. "I'd think that fall in the water would leave you stiff."

The falcon grinned. "Other kids used to make fun of me 'cause I was part penguin. Who's laughing now?"

"I wonder," Slick sighed, holding his paws up in the air. "Well, you got us fair and square. Gonna shoot us or something? Better do it quick, before reinforcements come in and take that oppotunity away."

Jake shook his head. "Nope, we're gonna imprison you. Idenfity yourselves."

"Training officer Satchel Mackenzie," the rabbit answered.

"Training officer Slick," the otter said calmly.

But it was Satchel that Jake was more interested in. He blinked, looked at the rabbit even closer. "Satch!?" He stepped forward.

The rabbit frowned, then blinked also. She grinned as her recognition of the jaguar set in. "Joaquin Cortez! I thought I'd never see you again! How have you been doing, big guy?" She didn't move, knowing that the test was still on, and that Joaquin would shoot if he felt compelled to.

Jake stood in place, rifle still held up, but talked casually and still smiling. "Not so bad. I knew you'd get this far with your sniper skills, but I didn't expect to meet you on the field against me. It's been a few years, Satch. I missed you."

"I missed you, too," she answered in response.

Aeolus broke in. "Ah, look, I know it must be great to remeet old friends and whatnot, Jake, but they're in our grasp. Don't you think we should take advantage of that?"

Jake nodded. "I guess so. We'll go ahead and cuff you guys, and afterwards we'll head over to our base. Don't expect the best living quarters over there."

"Pretty good, Joaquin," said Satchel, nodding in approval. "You'll need to interrogate somebody in a battle, so you've got the people to interrogate. But your base is too far away. How are you going to imprison us?" Many teams did this to each other, giving them quizzes. The war-game wasn't personal, it was just a test to take.

Jake shrugged. "Well, we might as well go ahead and keep you guys here; we don't need to go into the base, we already have other people to go in for us." He motioned to Aeolus. "Get them bound."

Aeolus nodded and reached for the rabbit, but before he could grab her, her paw shot out and snatched up his wrist. With one pull, Aeolus was jerked off his feet and was disarmed, rifle clattering to the ground. Slick lunged for it, taking out his pistol and tossing it into the air. Satchel caught it and turned it on the falcon. Slick's paw contacted with the rifle and he picked it out of the snow, rolling behind a tree. Kiya shot at him, but missed.

Meanwhile, Satchel had gotten Aeolus between herself and the rifle that Jake was holding. She grinned from behind the falcon, extra pistol held so the barrel was next to Aeolus' temple. "Pretty good scenario we've got here, don't you think, Jake?"

"I don't doubt it," the jaguar said, grinning as he saw she hadn't lost her edge in battle. "You haven't lost your touch at all, and I'm impressed. Not many fall for that trick," he said, glancing at the falcon. "You'll want us to let you go, I'm sure."

"Not necessarily," she answered, grin fading. "I'm going to make an offer that you might think of as beneficial. Can you hear me out, Jake?"

Jake cocked an eyebrow. "I'm listening." Slick had his rifle aimed at Kiya and Kiya had her aim on him. They were indubitably at a standstill, and if anybody so much as twitched, Jake was liable to lose both Kiya and Aeolus, if Kiya's aim failed. And even if his shot hit the rabbit, he'd still have the otter to deal with; a full 180 degree turn before he was even seen, giving the otter a possible clean shot.

"You'll need somebody to get you into the base cleanly, right? They know full well you're coming and all, right? I'm willing to bet that you're no hotshot bullet-dodger, even after all this time."

"Keep going," the feline said, raising his weapon and aiming for her head.

She saw this move and moved her head behind the falcon's. "Hey, c'mon," she said indignantly, "keep that thing down, will ya'? I'm trying to negotiate, it's what I do better than anything, and you know that. I can get you inside. We can help you out."

Jake smiled. "And why would you do that?"

She smiled sweetly. "I'd say it's because I think you look great and all, and because you're still my friend, if you want that to still go on after this; but that's not the real reason we're being so generous at this time. We've got a vendetta to settle. Tell why we're willing to defect, Slick."

"Because drill sergeant Laura is a bloody devil, that's why!" answered Slick at the top of his lungs. "I'd do anything to get back at the old bat. She once had me run an extra three laps simply because I had shifted a rock during training, out of place. She's on everybody's hit list, trust me."

Satchel nodded. "That's right. She's always been a pain in our tails, and we've been actually expecting to have this happen to us. The only reason we didn't start right off is because it was just the two of us against 38 others. Or 31, I should say. And besides, we want to win, and you're our only chance at that."

Jake seemed to take this into consideration. "Alright. Let's say I trust you. What will you do for us?"

"We'll get you to the doors and inside. One of our guys was smart enough to put a lock on the dooor before he left, but we know the password."

"How?"

"Slick here was that smart guy," Satchel said, grinning. "So what say, Joaquin, do we have a deal?"

Jake considered. They were two against three, and a possible chance that they would be lying. But if drill sergeant Laura was as bad as their own drill sergeant had disclosed to them, then there'd be absolutely no reason not to trust them. He nodded. "Alright, you've turn coated onto the black team. Lemmee change you badge."

Satchel nodded, let go of Aeolus and twirled the gun into her holster. Jake tapped the badge on her shoulder, a white star. For a moment, it remained unchanged, but in the next second, it change it's hue into a jet black. Slick put the barrel of his own weapon down and Kiya tapped his badge, changing it's color also.

Satchel smiled up at Jake. "Thanks. I really did miss you after all this time." With that, she gave him a small hug, which he returned. Her smile disappeared. "I've got some news to tell you, later on."

Before anybody else could say anything, Rose and four other soldiers appeared from the trees. She ran up to them. "What's going on?"

"We've got a few turncoats here that want to help out. They're interested in getting back at commander Laura, or so they say." He pointed to the soldiers behind her. "You guys have duty on watching these two. Keep a close eye on them, got it?" The soldiers nodded, pointed their weapons at the two. Jake frowned. "Hey, I said watch them, not hold them at gunpoint." The soldiers complied.

Rose walked up to him, looked at them both cautiously. "Can they both be trusted, do you think?"

"This is only a game, Rose, I'm not holding it against anybody besides Laura. Besides that, Satchel here used to be a friend of mine, and I'd trust her with my life."

"Wrong, this is a test of wits and skill. They'll do anything to win, you know." She didn't sound discriminate, only cautious, which Jake understood perfectly.

"I know that," answered Jake. "But you've heard the drill sergeant's stories of Laura. If she's even half as bad as he says she is, then why shouldn't we trust them?" As Jake said this, both Satchel and Slick couldn't help but snicker softly.

Rose blinked, then found herself nodding. "Okay, I'm going with you on this one." She looked around them. "How far is it to the base?" she questioned aloud.

"Only about half mile from here. You gave us a good chase and got yourselves a reward for it. When should we move?" Satchel checked her pistol's chamber and clip, then slapped a fresh one into the weapon. "We don't want anybody to know that we've switched sides just now."

"Just a second," Jake said, holding his paw into the air and reaching for his communicator. "Base 1, this is Shadow three. We have two turncoats with us and we're a half-mile away from the enemy base. What's the situation?"

"We've got nine troops firing at the front entrance, and it's keeping us on our toes. Shadow 5 left his post after the allotted time you gave him, so he's coming your way, with one of the two guys you sent to him. We'll need a little help on this one, Shadow 3."

Jake sighed, knowing that he'd have to send away the other four soldiers, leaving the four original soldiers to pose as babysitter for the two new turncoats. "Alright, I'm sending in Shadows 7, 9, 11 and 3 to deal with the problem. They won't expect a surprise attack from behind." He pointed to these four, then thumbed them in the base's direction. The group acknowledged, making their runs back to the base. "Keep in touch, we're going in for the disk." He turned in communicator speaker offline, but kept the channel open. He motioned for the rest to follow him.

"Well this is it. If anybody wants to turn back and run back home, by all means, go ahead and do it." They all shook their heads. Jake grinned. "Then let's darken the hallways inside."

They began to move.

Chapter 3; Graduation

Sid watched the team's movements from high above the arena. The control tower had viewing range all the way around the arena. He had seen everything; the stunt that Jake and Kiya had pulled off, the fighting that the jaguar had done, the surprising idea of sneaking underneath the bridge that had almost worked, had it not been for one soldier's intuition; but now that very same soldier was a turncoat. This was not considered normal, but it was a legal rule of the game; whoever wanted to switch sides could do so whenever the opportunity presented itself. And such a move was not considered cowardice. If one had been forced into the army work, like Venom had been doing, then any ways of showing honorable intentions and honesty were accepted.

Besides, all members of the winning team graduated without question, which made it a smart move.

Throughout all this, Sid had been pleased, gloating over his good fortune; he had taught his team well in the ways of fighting and strategy. Laura had only shrugged, saying that they had no chance at winning anyway. It would only be a matter of time before they would all fail in their mission. Which made Sid a little concerned; surely even she would have to acknowledge that her team was at their worst and not expected to regain their lead from before (whichever lead that was, anyway, since Sid hadn't seen very good techniques from her team).

He frowned even now, noticing she wasn't fazed even when two of her soldiers had defected to the black team. An idea came to him at once, and he turned to an aide. "Bring up an image of the inner hallways of the white base."

The aide nodded and moved to a console not far away. Several taps of the keyboard commenced, and a large screen appeared before Sid. The boar's eyes widened greatly.

"Oh my word..."

Satchel tapped Jake on the shoulder, pointed to a doorway just ahead. The entrance was virtually unguarded, but Jake noticed the security cameras located to each side of the door. Satchel noticed this also and waved Kiya over. She whispered a few words to her, then both of them disappeared over a hill.

For a few minutes there was no activity. Jake took this time to get his weapons ready, should he need to use them later on. Rose surveyed the area around them, making calls to the base and checking on their status.

Without warning, the security cameras located near the entrance explode in sequence, from left to right. A chilling silence followed, and both the rabbit and husky returned, looking pleased. Jake took a last glance at the cameras, then turned to the two snipers. "Report."

Kiya answered. "We took out the security cameras that survey anything within fifty feet from where we should enter. They'll probably know we're coming and they might be getting ready, but if you please, sir, I have an idea. Just give me time when we get to the entrance."

Jake eyed her carefully, then nodded. "Let's get moving. I don't know what you have planned, but I won't ask, either," he added.

They moved quickly to the entrance, and, as anticipated, the lock was still active and not forced into. They were the first to have gotten there, it seemed. At this, Kiya looked around, and pointed upwards. "I need to get to the roof. You'll see what I'm up to when I'm inside." Aeolus blinked, looked at Jake. The jaguar nodded, indicated that all would be fine. At this, they both hefted her up to the lowest part of the roof. As soon as she was up, she peeked down at the other soldiers. "I'll be gone for a matter of minutes, but watch out for me. I'll keep a channel open and report in anytime I need help."

Jake nodded. "You be careful, alright? Hate to lose a good pilot like you in the battle."

She grinned casually. "Hey, you don't have to worry at all. I'll see you inside." She disappeared over the edge of the roof.

Slick checked the lock. "Let's see. If I remember the number correctly. 2...3...1." The lock opened. "Well, I guess they were right; 23 is number 1."

Satchel furrowed her eyebrows in irritation. "Is that supposed to be some sort of pun? Sounds like a bunch of bull, if you ask me."

At this, Slick snickered silently. "It was, and so was that."

"What?"

"Nothing." He pawed the controls to the door and opened the entrance. Jake was first to check the interior, which seemed all clear. He motioned for the group to follow. It was incredibly dim inside, and thus the team turned on their lights. They'd be easily spotted, but that wasn't too much of a problem at the moment. They moved carefully and stealthily, each with their own special skill of remaining unheard. Aeolus took a glance back at the entrance, frowned.

"Hey, Jake," he whispered.

"What?"

"Should we close the door? Never know when anybody could just waltz right in and fired at our backs. I don't want to get my tail feathers turned into crisp."

"Good idea," nodded Jake. Slick went back and closed the door, the hissing and shutting of the entrance seeming a bit too loud for all of them. The jaguar shivered wondering if maybe that a white member could have possibly heard noise. Instead of reflecting on it, he moved forward.

They followed, weapons held at ready, in case they needed to be used at moment's notice. Aeolus looked around in anticipation, then tried to release the tension carefully. "Hey, at the very least, it's warm around here. Their heating system works better than ours."

Jake nodded, took this into consideration. "That's true; unless there were some sort of activity going on around here. Body heat could easily have warmed up this hallway." He sniffed the air, sensing a peculiar odor. It seemed feline. He looked around. "Keep your eyes open, there may be a guy around here on watch."

Rose had caught scent of it as well. "I hear that. Only about a minute since they left, Jake."

"That's right. And this base is exceptionally small, so whoever passed through here before will pass through again." He snapped backwards, hearing a clatter behind him. The others did so as well.

There was nothing.

Jake blew out air. "Jeez, this is tense enough without surprise noises." Before he could say anything else, a tinny voice entered the room. They all jumped once more, looking for the source of the noise.

"Shadow 3, this is Base 1, do you copy?! We're getting hit hard on our eastern entrance and we need back-up fast! Get your tails down here on the double!"

Jake winced, remembering that his communicator was still on. He reached for it, about to turn it off, but before he could do so, a cold steel connected against his head softly. The coolness of the rifle's barrel could be clearly felt on Jake's fur. He dropped his weapon, lifted his paws into the air.

Immediately, several soldiers appeared from around the group, weapons aimed at them all. Aeolus raised his weapon to shoot, but Rose stopped him before he could do so. She shook her head, indicating that any attempt to fight back would be useless at this point. They'd all fall in the battle, the way they were now.

"Drop your weapons, guys." They all complied with the feline's orders. Jake looked at the rabbit and otter, shook his head and smiled. "This was all your idea, wasn't it?"

Satchel looked at Slick, confused, then shook her head. "This was none of our idea, Jake, you have to believe me."

"Hard to do that with a gun next to my head, don't you think?"

Satchel's expression grew soft. "Jake... I didn't..." She seemed almost sorry, he noticed, and he found himself believing her. He was not one to be swayed by a pretty face, and the way she was saying it was with an uncomplicated honesty that was hard not to believe. No... she and Slick had been doing as they had told them. None of this was their fault.

Satchel sighed. "Still don't believe me?" She tossed her rifle on the ground, raised her own paws in the air and behind her head. Slick followed suit. "I'm with you on this one, Jake. I'm on your team, this time. And I'm still your friend, no matter what."

Jake blinked, then smiled. She seemed determined to gain his trust, and she had done all she could have done to do it... and succeeded. He nodded. "I trust you on this, Satchel."

The guy holding the rifle to his head, a Siberian tiger, prodded him gently. "Time to go, officer Cortez. You'll be needed in our headquarters for interrogation. Better get moving."

Jake nodded, began walking, paws still up in the air. His comrades, including his newly met ones, followed.

The inside of the headquarters was the same size as the room where Jake had started out. There were only ten people in the room at the moment, so space was large enough to move around well enough. At a desk, a red fox sat, speaking to the soldiers and asking about the situation over at the black team's base. Aeolus came up behind him, whispered to the jaguar.

"Where's Kiya, do you suppose?"

Jake shook his head. He hadn't a clue was to where the husky had gotten herself. He looked around; there were only the ten members of the white team in the room, and none of them seemed to be leaving anytime soon. Next to Satchel was the tiger that had taken the jaguar off guard. This particular individual seemed to be in a hostile mood, ready to hit anybody who seemed out of line. Satchel moved around a bit, trying to loosen up her shoulders, but the tiger shoved her slightly. Jake frowned, then returned his attention to the other occupants in the room. Another soldier next to her was a female crocodile. In front of him, a cougar, who seemed to be in charge, was moving around and shifting his eyes to him every now and again. Next to Slick was a pair of hyenas, looking alert. To the right of Aeolus, a bear stood, and to his left, another falcon. Behind Rose was a toad and a rather large ape.

Well... this would be an interesting scenario.

"A fine time for me to find out my sensitivity to dust!" Kiya Tix complained to herself softly. She sneezed out loud, then sniffled. Perfect for her to have allergies in such a place. She wondered briefly if there was any base that kept its ventilation systems clean, because if there wasn't, she would automatically resign from her position.

"'Join the Lylat mercenary service,' they said. 'Fight diligently against corruption and evil,' they said! 'We'll give you all benefits and high pay when you're done,' they said!! Well, that was all a buncha crap. I'm never gonna believe any piece of propaganda ever again, and that's a promise I'm willing to keep. Nobody should have to crawl through musty dusty air ducts just to fetch a stupid disk that needs to be processed or whatever! They'd better pull through with full medical benefits for each person, or there'll be more than one war on them!" She sneezed again. Cupping a paw over her muzzle, she peered through a grate located next to her. Well, there was the room she needed to be in.

A second longer was all she needed to identify the problem, seeing that Jake, Aeolus and the rest of the team were surrounded by troops at every side, their weapons gone. She widened her eye, bit her lip. Pretty much everything was up to her, now. And to make things worse, another huge sneeze was welling up inside her.

What could she do?

Jake approached the head of the white team, a cougar about his age and height. He saluted him. "Well, I've got to hand it to you, you caught us fair and square; and with skill, I might add." He extended a paw, which the cougar shook.

"Thanks. You didn't do badly yourself, Cortez. But your efforts were in vain, all along. We've been monitoring your moves the whole way before you hit the bridge. Maybe not your moves in particular, but your team's moves, nevertheless. You move well, and with strategy. I was especially impressed with you little maneuver at the northern area. Taking out seven of our troops is no easy feat." The cougar turned to the fox. "How is our team doing?"

"Well enough," answered the fox. "They've got the black team at a standstill, and we set up an ammo cache nearby. They'll break sooner or later."

"It was my communicator that gave us away," said Jake. "I left it on in case of an emergency. Bad timing, I guess."

"I agree. The idea of taking out our cameras was well-meant, but we knew what was going on, so doing so was a bad idea in this situation. Well, we've already gotten this far, and we won't need any hostages." He picked up a pistol, aimed it at the jaguar's head. "No hard feelings, I mean. This is only a test, after all. A test that showed the extent of your remarkable skills."

Jake grinned. "A test I'm still willing to win." He saw that the disk they needed to get to was next to the computer the vixen was currently at. He glanced at it for a second, then returned his sight to the cougar.

"And that's a goal that seems a bit out of reach, wouldn't you agree?" He turned the safety off and commenced to fire.

Before he could do so, a loud, explosive sneeze rang out, followed by a muffled yelp. The sound of a clattering object also followed. The cougar turned in place, saw a small, egg-shaped object roll next to his boot. Jake got it in time. "Cover your eyes!" he yelled out.

The members of the black team complied, but the white team had no idea as to what was going on as of yet. They stood, still staring at the rolling sphere.

Immediately, the timer inside of it went off. An immensely blinding light filled the room, making those who hadn't covered their eyes cry out in surprise and dismay. This lasted for only two seconds, than instantly disappeared. The cougar was bent over, still blinded from the flash grenade. Jake took advantage of this and tackled the feline to the floor. The pistol the cougar had been holding clattered away.

At this, everyone began moving. Kiya burst out from the air duct, firing the last few rounds from her pistol and hitting one of the soldiers in the process. She joined in the fist fight, bringing her clenched paw into the nearest soldier. Aeolus kicked the bear, instantly knocking him out, then backhanded the other falcon hard to send him sprawling. In the next second, he had grappled the computer technician and was holding her against the wall. He took out the fox's pistol and fired at the falcon, then held it to the vixen's head. Satchel had gotten a few good hits in on one of the men, but as she turned to face another she was kicked in the stomach by the tiger and was now reeling for air.

Slick turned in place and brought his arm down on one rifle, disarming its holder, then whirled around and kicked the guard next to him. Having disarmed two of the guards and was using both pistols to hold them at bay while the rest finished up their fight, he motioned them to the wall. Rose, on the other hand, was using fast fighting techniques that Jake had never seen before. Her paws moved quicker than Jake had seen them move before, and it never occurred to him that she was a martial arts expert, though it was common knowledge elsewhere on the team.

The cougar was finally sedated, but Jake noticed that the guy that Satchel had been fighting, the same Siberian tiger that had gotten a hold of Jake, had taken off his gloves and was administering his hits on her without them. That meant that she wouldn't become sedated, and instead would receive the bruises from the guys fists. Satchel was holding her own, but then the tiger roared out loud and extracted his claws, then brought one down over her head. She caught it, but had to use both her paws to fend it off. This left her midsection open, and the tiger used his other claw to swipe her across the side.

Immediately her jacket was torn through and the tiger's nails ripped through the rabbit's flesh, causing her to yelp out shortly and stumble back. The tiger gave her an uppercut, the rabbit landing in a couch nearby. Jake glared at the tiger, then stood up and ran towards him. The tiger pounced onto her stomach, making her cry out. He grabbed her jacket and lifted her upper torso up, aiming for another slash. Satchel was whimpering softly, clasping her stomach as the feline sat on it.

Before he could bring his paw around, Jake shouldered the tiger off Satchel. The tiger went rolling, but got back onto his feet, and rushed the jaguar. But Jake was all ready on his feet and prepared for the tiger. He brought his fist around, still wrapped in the stun-gloves, and administered a hard blow across the tiger's cheek. The feline stood dumbfounded, and Jake brought down a hammer fist on the tiger's spine. The striped cat went limp.

Jake sighed, then went for Satchel. She was bleeding at a flowing rate, and she winced. Kiya came forward, frowning. "What'd that guy do, go primal or something? What's with the bad cut?"

The room was silent, and several soldiers lay passed out on the floor, compliments of Rose and Kiya's handiwork. Aeolus was keeping the fox pinned against the wall still, and Slick still had both the soldiers before him at gunpoint, ready to fire if one of them even dared to try moving.

Satchel answered. "The tiger over there decided to get a little pissed at me and extracted his claws. Why he did, I'll never know."

Jake shook his head. "The guy was probably angry that you were able to kick his tail, maybe. Dirty cheapskate, taking off his gloves. He'll most likely get expelled for that move." He inspected Satchel's wound, then shook his head. "He left a good tear, but it's fixable. I don't think you should keep going with this on you, though."

She shook her head. "No, I have to. If this were a real battle then I'd have to carry on with this kind of injury, and that's what this test is supposed to teach me. Don't make me fail just because I'm hurt like this."

Jake stood, a little surprised at her answer, but then smiled, understanding completely. "Alright. But let's at least get some gauze on your wound, or you'll lose too much blood." He looked around at the group. "Anybody got a band-aid?"

Aeolus reached inside his pocket, and tossed a roll of gauze to the jaguar, not taking his eyes off the vixen, still in his hold. "I thought it might come it handy, in case anyone of us got injured accidentally and unexpectedly."

Jake nodded in approval. "Good thinking, Aeolus." He got Satchel to sit up. She unzipped her jacket and lifted her shirt up halfway, allowing Jake to wrap the strip around her stomach. Before he did so, he applied a small amount of alcohol to her side, causing her to blink out small tears as they stung. Other than that, she didn't complain. He began to wrap the gauze around her stomach. She didn't move and allowed him to wrap the band around her. He talked as he did this. "Kiya, grab the disk and keep it in your pocket. I'll assume it's a reinforced disk, so it won't crack?"

"That's right," Kiya answered, slipping the disk into her pocket. "The only thing that could take it down now would be a gunshot, and we don't have any real rounds, anyway." She looked at the computer, then grinned. "Hold on a second, let me try something out on the computer, you guys." She plopped onto the seat and tapped the keyboard a few times.

Jake looked up at Satchel while he worked. "Had me worried for a second, Satch. A regular person would keel from this kind of slash. Granted, I know you're not a normal person, but..." he smiled at her. "You're sure as heck the strongest girl I've seen so far, aside from female bodybuilders."

She smiled back. "Thanks. Ow, watch your work, Jake." She winced as he tightened the band a bit too much.

"Sorry. Aeolus, tie up our enemy technician, okay? We don't want them to have a chance at breaking into our disk if they manage to get a hold of it." He reached for his communicator. "Base 1, this is Shadow 3, do you copy."

For a moment, there was no answer. "This is Base 1, Shadow 3. Where the heck were you?! I called several times without an answer and I was about to send Shadow 5 down to your position. Are you okay?"

"We're fine, we just had some trouble getting the disk out of here, is all. We've got it in custody. How's the base holding up?"

"We're at a standstill, but the enemy is slowly moving towards our position. We've lost about half our team, Shadow 3. You better be packing up soon, because we're not going to last if this keeps up for more than another 30 minutes. I'm saying by then we'll be hobbling badly and ready to call it quits."

"Don't give up just yet, we'll be there in a few minutes. Give us some time and we'll have the disk in reach." He turned to Kiya. "Can you check up on what's going on at our base?"

She shook her head. "The computer scanner only goes so far, sir. But they won't be able to download any information from our disk." She stood up, raised her paws up in the air. "Victory!" she howled out loud.

Aeolus finished restraining the fox, and left her to sit on a couch. He came forward. "What did you do?"

"I made a homemade virus that locked all but one of the computer programs they can use. Now, if they want to open up the disk reader and encryption breaker, they'll have to sit through a full seven hours of Terran T.V. programs first!" She clapped her paws together, then rubbed them with an evil smile. "Ooo, I feel so bad, I could slap myself. So now what, cap'n?" she asked, meaning Jake.

"We're going to have to push it to the base." He looked back at Satchel. "Do you think you can run?"

She sighed, nodded. "Guess I'm going to have to. Yeah, I can keep up, don't worry about me." She stood up, wiped off her sweat and picked up her weapon.

"Then we'll get moving quickly. If anybody needs some clips, now would be a good time to take your pick." He went to the cougar's sleeping body and retrieved his pistol, then rummaged through the man's belt until he came up with a fresh clip. He holstered his new weapon. As soon as everyone was finished filching the soldiers, he motioned them to follow him out of the base.

Before they left, Aeolus winked at the fox and smiled. "Hey, I don't suppose you could leave me your name and dorm room, could you?" he asked.

"Eat dirt and die!" the vixen snarled.

Aeolus shrugged. "Just a question." He left the room.

As soon as Aeolus joined them, they began running. They hit the entrance fast enough, and were soon sprinting in the snow, all of them separate. They made hardly a noise, despite this speed. Every now and again, one of them would stop to get a good idea of where they were. After only a few minutes, they were at the bridge.

It was there that gunfire suddenly appeared. Spots on the snow banks pooped up from the ground nearby them. Jake swore, and hid behind a tree, the rest following his example. He looked around; making sure everybody was in order. "Anybody hit?" he shouted out.

"Man hit over here!" yelled back Aeolus.

Jake made a bee-line for the falcon, looking around to make sure the coast was clear. "Where'd it hit you?"

"In the right leg. Jeez, this numbing is annoying!" He strained to move his right foot, then grunted as he discovered that doing so was not possible. He sighed. "You're going to have to move on, Jake. I'll cover you from here, just get going."

Jake nodded, then turned to Rose. "Rose, Aeolus is hit and he's decided not to follow us. Can you stay with him while the rest of us move onward?"

She nodded. "I will if I have to. Get moving, I'll draw fire away from them." She got up, back against the tree, then moved from her hiding place and fired, taking down a hidden soldier on the opposite side of the river. She dove headfirst into the snow next to Aeolus, then grinned, white powder still on her face.

"Where are we going to now, Jake?" asked Slick, from behind a tree.

"Well, it's no use trying to get under the bridge again, now that it's been tried once already. Better to move downstream or upstream and find some other way." He commed in. "Base 1, this is Shadow 3. We're stuck at the bridge with a firepower coming from the other side, and we can't travel under the bridge anymore. I need to know if there's another way across the stream anywhere."

"There should be a shallow part of the water further downstream, about a quarter of a mile. You'll have to wade it, but it's secluded and it'll provided good cover in case somebody gets smart and finds you lurking around there. Hurry up, we need you here."

"Copy, Shadow 3 out." Jake motioned to Slick, Satchel and Kiya, then ran down left, the direction the river itself was flowing. "There's a shallow area of the river about .25 miles downstream that we can wade through. Let's make for that and then move our tails faster afterwards."

They all acknowledged, following the jaguar closely, all hoping that the base's information was correct and that they wouldn't have to take a swim as Aeolus had, rather than a wade.

Meanwhile, a cease-fire had commenced on Rose and Aeolus position. An eerie silence overtook the forest now, and not even a single footstep could be heard. Rose checked the bridge, finding that no one was there, then moved her eyes to the opposite side of the river. For a minute, she was nothing, but then her eyes caught that of a male fox's, somewhere on the other side. A sniper scope was on his weapon, which showed that he had the maximum viewing of them all, if he used it.

She grew startled at him having seen her, but the fox only shook his head, waving it off, indicating that there was no reason to shoot them, since they were detained on the other side of the river. She relaxed, blowing out a breath; if she were in such danger, the vulpine most likely would have fired at her head the first chance he had gotten, but he hadn't.

She sat against a tree, looked at Aeolus. "Well, guess we're stuck here until this whole thing is over, or until the group over there decides to come after us."

Aeolus raised his eyebrows. "They're still over there?" He looked himself, then nodded. "Yep, they are, about 5 of them, one with a sniper scope. Moving out of here wouldn't be hard if they didn't have it, but..."

She nodded, then tried stirking up a conversation. "So who's this Satchel that's now on our team? A friend of Jake's or something?"

Aeolus nodded, then started rubbing his leg, to get blood flow back into it. He explained. "Before, Joaquin was living on Keitraz. Natural environment for his type, I guess, which was why he liked it there. He had been orphaned at a young age, around 6, but then a family of tigers adopted him and he finally had a home to live in. Anyway, since now he was able to start attending school, he met up with a younger arctic rabbit. This, of course, was Satchel. He told me a lot about her; she took gymnastics, liked action flicks, and she's somewhat of a tomboy. Heck, once he claimed she decked a boy a year older than herself, and watching her fight today, I'm afraid that she could even kick my tail feathers, under the right conditions.

"Going back to her, well, the two got along excellently. With his kind of life, though, I'm almost certain that she had been his only friend. When his 14th year came up, he had to move to MacBeth to attend the academy there. Satchel had put in her application there as well, but her's was rejected, and I believe she had been reassigned to train on Corneria instead. They both had parted ways and that was how I found Jake. It was a hard blow for him, losing his best and only friend."

"What was he like when you first met him?" she asked, interested. "I mean, having lost a good friend of his must have made him feel pretty lonely."

"I'm certain it did," Aeolus answered in turn. "When I met him and tried to be his buddy, he was a little hostile at first. I asked a wrong question that he took as offensive- actually, it was about Satchel, since he was holding a picture and I asked who it was of. But after a while, I got him to smile about one or two things, tried to get him interested in stuff. I guess I succeeded in doing so, too. Since then, he's been doing much better." He paused. "Truth to tell... I was kind of hoping that maybe you'd introduce yourself as... a possible love in his life, to be honest," he finished, grinning sheepishly.

Rose immediately went on the offensive. "Aeolus!"

The falcon raised his arms. "Hey look, I didn't mean it that way, but he could have used another friend, too. And I thought maybe he'd find you attractive, at least, seeing as you're both felines."

She shook her head, slightly angered. "Just because we're both felines doesn't mean I'm going to fall head over heels for him just like that." She sighed. "Besides, how would you have known if he would find me attractive?"

Aeolus shrugged. "Well... I do, for one."

Rose blinked, then found herself somewhat shocked. After a moment, she dropped her eyes, looking away from him. She said nothing for a minute, then looked back at him, from the corner of her eye. "You... really think so, Aeolus?"

Aeolus nodded, smiled. "Absolutely."

She dropped her eyes again, but this time found herself pleased, smiling at his compliment. "Thanks, Aeolus." She straightened a bit. "It's just that I've been a lot of my life alone, like Jake, and I've never had anyone say that to me besides my parents. I appreciate it for you becoming my friend."

Aeolus shrugged. "Well, it was more for Joaquin, like I said." He saw a flash of sadness run through his eyes, and he quickly continued. "But I'm glad to have helped you out at the simultaneously, too." At this, the sadness disappeared and was replaced with a warm feeling. He looked about, trying to change the subject. "Where's Jake? He went downstream, but he hasn't reported in. I think I dropped my communicator back at the white base."

She reached for her own, tapped it a little. "Shadow 3, this is Shadow 10, do you copy?"

"I'm here," said Jake, stumbling a little in the water. They had found the shallow area of the stream, out of sight from the bridge, but the iciness of the water was making all of them shiver slightly. Only Kiya seemed comfortable in the freezing temperature of the water. Slick seemed to be having the worst of it, both arms wrapped around him and teeth chattering like a gag pair of the same.

"Did you find the way across?"

"We're crossing it now, but it's pretty darn cold in here. How are you guys doing?"

"They've started a cease-fire, but I don't know if it'll last much longer. They have a sniper who seems reluctant to fire at us, since we're not posing any threat, but that may not keep other soldiers from coming across. And it's getting a bit colder, too, without us moving."

"Then get close to Aeolus; both your body heat should keep you warm enough to last long enough for us to get to the base." Before he said another word, his foot caught a stone and he fell into the water. A shock ran through him, followed by the feeling of a thousand icy swords cutting into his face. Immediately, he was pulled back up, Satchel having grabbed his collar and hauled his head out of the water.

Satchel seemed a little startled from his fall. "You okay, Jake?" she asked, concern.

Jake nodded. "I'll be fine."

She touched his face. "You've got a cut on you cheek," she said.

Jake felt his face, and one of his fingers brushed a deep gash on his cheek. Immediately it began to burn in pain. He shook it off. "No matter, I'll be fine." He indicated the shore, not far from where they were. "Only a few more paces and we're out." He took these few last steps and stepped onto the shore on slightly trembling legs.

"Jake? Are you there?" The communicator was still on.

"We're finished with the lake, give us about thirty minutes to cross the snow plains, and we'll be at our base. Shadow 3 out."

They spent a minute shaking the water from their fur and drying off using their jackets. Afterwards, Jake took up his rifle and pointed the barrel in front of them. "Let's keep moving, we won't have much time before the base might fall to firepower. He began running, the rest following a second later.

Their run was long, hard, and cold. Though they were able to reach the forest and pass it within a few minutes, the plains were indefinitely longer, covered with snow and giving little protection. Jake took point, with Slick behind him, still shivering slightly having not gotten over the icy river incident. Satchel was behind him, taking the opportunity to take out her binoculars and looking around for any more enemies. Still, Jake noticed she was breathing hard, and wondered briefly if maybe the slash in her midsection was a little more than she could handle. Kiya followed last, used to the environment and having heavy endurance to such long runs.

Without warning, a shot rang out, and Kiya yelped out in turn, falling into the snow. Without waiting to see where the shot came from, Jake wheeled around and fired off a shot on impulse. Another yelp sounded, and a frog standing on a slightly higher hill fell, rolling through the snow. Jake stood in wonder as he saw that his shot had hit the frog square on the head; an instant kill, had the gun had a real round in it.

Satchel stared at him in awe for a few seconds, then moved to Kiya, helping her up. "Where'd it get you?"

"Ah, got me in the arm." She clutched it tightly, then started rubbing it. "I hate when the numbing sets in. I can still run well enough."

"Let's keep moving," Jake said, still a little surprised with his stunt. He shook it off and continued running.

Within a few minutes, the base came into clear sight. From a far away sight, flashes of gunfire could be seen. Several figures moved near the entrance of the base. Jake sighed in relief; the other team was still stuck at the entrance. He phoned in. "Base 1, how are you doing?"

"We've got you on scope, Joaquin. Never thought I'd be glad to see your face! We've got the white team on the entrance and about seven more trying to pry through the side of the base, but nobody's got that detail covered. Dennis got stunned a bit on both legs near the southern area, after some fighting took place there, but they're holding their own. Where's Aeolus and Rosetta?"

"Aeolus got hit and Rose is keeping him company down by the bridge. They'll be holding off anybody that comes by with a disk in their paws. Kiya managed to freeze up their computer and Aeolus tied up their technician, so there's no chance they'll be getting our information anytime soon. Hold on, we're coming in. Over and out."

He looked closer into the battle. Slowly, but surely, the white team was starting to move closer inside the base. He turned to Kiya and Satchel. "Which one of you can snipe better?" he asked.

Satchel took that indignantly. "Hey, you've known me already for 6 years, Jake, and you know I'm the best!"

Kiya challenged that. "You didn't see my maneuver down over in the northern forest, didja? I took out five of those seven soldiers over there, so I know I can do it!"

"You're stunned on your shooting arm," Satchel responded.

"I shoot just as well with the other arm, Satch. You, on the other hand, have a real injury on you, which could distract you," Kiya returned.

Jake cut the argument short. "Satchel is going to come with me, since I'll need her close range firing skills. In the meantime, Kiya, you can do us a favor by sniping some of those soldiers over there so there'll be few of them for us to face."

"Gladly," Kiya responded, diving into the ground and snapping a scope into place, then setting up a tripod for extra stability. "You go on down into there, and have fun, alrighty? Good luck, Jake. And take this with you." She took out the disk and offered it to him.

He took it, then shook her paw. "It's been good working with you, Kiya. I'll see you after we win." He began running towards the base.

Meanwhile, inside the base, firepower was streaking over three soldiers heads. Seven other soldiers lay stunned and unconscious. The head of them, a low-ranking male gray fox, yelled into the communicator.

"This is Shadow 2 speaking, do you copy? This is Reinard speaking! We've got several soldiers at the entrance of the base, shooting like there's roaches on the walls and moving in closer! We need backup quickly!' There was no response, and Rei began to whine sarcastically, though with the seriousness of the situation in his mind. "Didja hear me? We need backup! I don't wanna be stunned like these guys here, and we'll need all the help we can get! Do you copy!?"

He grunted, realizing that nobody was going to answer soon anyway. He had been stuck with base duty after he had led a team to the northern part of the area, and had been losing men since the base had been attacked. He wondered wildly where the jaguar, the one they called Jake, was at the moment. Well, only a few more minutes of this action and he'd be resting peacefully next to his comrades, something he didn't want. He enjoyed the thrill of battle more than anything, and was willing to get a peice of action whenever it was available. Being stunned took that option away from him.

Then, a cry rang out in front of him. Rei frowned. The sound seemed to be coming from the white team. He grinned as he saw several figures behind the white team, moving and firing at them. He lifted his weapon and took advantage of the surprise, knowing that a two front mini-battle would be unwinnable. Soon the team went down, every last member. Reinard stood up, rushed to the door.

In stepped the jaguar, with Kiya, the husky, plus two other soldiers he had never seen. He saluted. "You're Joaquin Cortez, right?"

Jake saluted back. "That's right. Your name?"

"Reinard Returner. I was assigned base duty after leading the attack group into the forest. Lucky for me." He sighed, looking at the unconscious soldiers. "I've really been screwing up today." He ran a paw through his hair.

Jake shrugged. "Hey, anybody can make a mistake. You defended this base pretty well. but that doesn't matter anymore, since we've got the disk in our paws. Let's get it to the tech, quick." He made tracks for the headquarters.

They rounded a corner, but Jake noticed there was something odd about the wall opposite them all. There was a yellow-lined circle on it. Jake's eyes widened. "One side!" he yelled out, throwing himself to the side.

The circle exploded and in stepped a number of seven soldiers. They fired as soon as they were in and saw the team in front of them. Slick went down, taking a bolt to his shoulder, and Satchel's leg became numbed. Rei, on the other hand, fired back quickly, then dropped his rifle, taking out a pair of pistols, obviously having taken them by a fallen soldier. He fired quickly, unloading his clips in what had to be a record time, but only succeeded in taking down three. Those three were replaced by another seven soldiers, stepping in and firing much as their comrades had.

Jake growled. "Argh, we're pinned here if we can't get into the technician's room! Is there any other way?" he asked Rei.

He shook his head, firing at the same time. "No, this hallway is the only way down there, and the room is at the middle of the hallway." He retreated to the wall, slapped in a pair of fresh clips into his pistols.

"Need help?!" a young female voice howled out at the top of her lungs.

Without warning, three grenades flew from behind them and landed in the middle of the white team invaders. The team scrambled, but the explosives went off before any of them could move. Firepower from them stopped at once, and Reinard and Jake ran forward, with another pair of footsteps following. They all kneeled to the ground, ready to fire at moment's notice. Smoke emanated from the grenades, though they weren't real, and Jake waited until the smoke cleared.

However, the owner of the extra pair of footsteps fired 11 times into the smoke at once, and yelps and shouts were called out as the soldiers fell. Jake blinked, as the smoke finally lifted and showed that every one of the soldiers were unconscious. Jake looked back, eyes landing on the figure of the slim gray husky, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Satchel got up, having stayed to the wall the whole time, checking on Slick, who was out. She gaped. "Kiya... how'd you do that?"

Kiya shrugged. "Impulse. I think about where they might be in front of me, and then I fire. It works pretty well, to tell you the truth." She looked back at Satchel. "Don't tell me you've never tried it, Satch."

"Well, once, but I thought it would just be pure luck." She got up, limping on her leg. "We'd better get that disk to the technician, quick, before-"

She had no time to continue. More fire began to pour from the hole in the wall. She yelped, duck back to the side and fired at once. Jake backed into the wall opposite to her, returning fire also.

Satchel waved him off. "Get going, Jake, I'll hold them off!"

Jake looked at her. "But-"

"No buts, just get going with the disk!" she yelled.

Jake had no time to argue. Within a moment he was pushed by them and running down the corridor.