— Chapter 1 —
- Prologue -
"High Value Suspect"
[V]
"You'll need to put on a coat, Secretary. It's quite cold out."
She let out an inconvenienced sigh. "Very well."
The aged arctic wolf flipped through a few jackets hanging in her closet before pulling out a heavy woolen trench coat. The white matched with the grid-like black and blue lines paired well with her pelt of fur and eyes. As she buried herself into the coat and fastened the buttons, another armed soldier appeared in the doorway.
"Secretary Dixie; the Terran shuttle has arrived."
"I wish not to keep them waiting," Dixie replied, scooping up a bag of her belongings before exiting her office. The two canine soldiers escorted her through intersecting hallways until they reached the spacious lobby area. Two more guards met the group there. Each one had a protective ballistic vest that matched the color of their navy blue pixelated uniforms, a heavy carbine blaster, and a helmet with their ears poking out of the top. Dixie waited at the door to the outside so that she could slip her ears through a ushanka hat that matched her coat. Once she was geared up, she nodded, prompting her escorts to lead her outside.
Light snow flurries cascaded from the overcast sky and glazed over the sidewalks and streets. Overhead, dissimilar skyscrapers pierced the clouds and created a metaphorical wall. The horizon could not be spotted at all from where they were. Their surroundings were just as bleak and gray as the sky, which only increased the cold feeling Dixie had as soon as she stepped outside of artificial heat.
Her guards led her away from the Cornerian Embassy Building and towards a black armored SUV sitting idle at the curb. On either end sat a similar police cruiser, lights rapidly flashing red and blue. Without any time to admire the cute, light snowfall, Dixie hastily slid into the back seat of the SUV, shutting the door behind her.
As she settled herself down, she was met with a warm smile by a clean-shaven elderly gentleman with nearly white hair wearing a very tidy suit. He waited for his lupine guest to get comfortable before speaking to her.
"Cold day today, eh?"
"It is indeed," she replied, her dignified and distinguished voice calm and welcoming. "I had to break out my heavy coat just to walk out of the building."
"Winter will do that to anyone here," he chuckled as the SUV and surrounding squadron cars merged onto downtown city streets. "Regardless, I'm very grateful that you could meet with myself and the rest of the board today. Since we have time, I'd like to run down a few things the board wish to ask during this meeting, if you don't mind."
"Of course," Dixie answered. "Please continue."
The gentleman pulled out a laptop from his briefcase and opened it up. There, he entered his password under his login name "Trent Oreskovich." As he waited for his computer to load, he said, "Most everyone associated with Lylatian relations believe our policies are outdated, and I have to agree. We enacted these policies and regulations four years ago, and since then, our relations have changed for the better."
Dixie smiled. "I agree. I'm very glad that you and the board have brought this to my attention."
"Indeed," Trent nodded his head. "We wish to renegotiate many of our interstellar trade agreements to be less restricting. Our initial agreements were tentative in nature, and—at the time—it was for good reason. Now that our government officials have become more accepting of these developments, they wish to see our relationships expand."
"This is wonderful," Dixie remarked. "This will surely strengthen our market, and yours as well. Is this all your board has proposed?"
"Not in the slightest," Trent promptly answered, glancing down at the notes on his computer screen. "We wish to expand our embassy reach to different parts of the system, at your discretion of course. We are willing to let your government expand here as well, and we will attempt to contact our allied countries to see if your reach can be expanded more."
"I believe I can work with this," the arctic wolf mulled. "Please continue."
He nodded. "We wish to expand some educational programs, meaning that we want to exchange more students to prove that relations between our races can exist outside of government. We want to provide more expansive tours, programs, and residences to Lylatians eager to explore our world, but we can only do this if you do the same to your programs on Corneria. We really want these new deals to be as even as possible."
"I understand completely," Dixie replied. "So far, I'm in favor of all of these ideas. I'd be willing to sign these all into action, but the decision of Corneria isn't up to me. I must speak with the Cornerian Parliament and propose these ideas myself."
"We will explain more once we get to the meeting," Trent reminded. "We don't want to scam you, obviously, so our board will explain these propositions in full."
"I'd appreciate that very much," Dixie said calmly, taking a glance out of her window.
Coming out of the valley of skyscrapers, the SUV slowly crawled along the street overlooked by a neon plaza. Advertisements bombarded the eyes with relentless, shameless intention, while thousands of civilians and tourists swarmed the sidewalks lining the offset intersecting streets. The vibrantly colored high life and bustling activity brought a smile to Secretary Dixie's face.
Everything looked as it should. Families with their kids were enjoying a city day in the light snow. Couples—young and old—stuck together to keep warm. Tourists with cameras snuck in pictures wherever they could, making sure to incorporate the snowflakes dusting the ground. It all looked so peaceful. So comforting. These people seemed to love city life.
It took a few minutes, but their escort finally eased through the gridlock of cabs, busses, and cars vying to slip through the endless array of stoplights just as they were. Soon after, the neon explosion disappeared around the reentrance of the skyscraper valley. Still, the bustling crowds of people leaked out of that main plaza and fed off in all directions, and their road was no exception. Hundreds found the shops and attractions down the street interesting enough to venture down to, creating bidirectional human traffic like the vehicular traffic right beside them.
Some stopped to gawk at the flashing lights, pointing and talking above the roar of tires against asphalt. Some tried to sneak a peek through the window to see who the squadron cars were guarding, but the tinted windows prevented those from seeing the Cornerian in the back seat. Dixie wanted to roll the window down just to wave and say hi to the curious bystanders, but decided against in when she acknowledged her situation and circumstances. Still, making a few human kids' day would break the monotony of weekly meetings and perpetual protection. Maybe next week…
"The kids love hearing about your kind," Trent broke the silence. Dixie turned to face him.
"I can see," she replied, sneaking another glance out the window. "They are curious."
"Most everyone is," he added. "It's not often one race comes into contact with something completely different, let alone establishing relations with them. It's eye opening. We've put years and years of research into setting out radio waves, researching other systems and galaxies, and just trying to find something. We didn't think we'd ever be successful… How we were wrong…"
"We believed the same," Dixie replied. "It's fascinating, the similarities between us. This could be worth studying. The minds…"
"This could be arranged," Trent grinned.
Dixie giggled. "Maybe later. These things don't have to be rushed. We will be around for many more years. The journey is what matters more."
"You have a point," Trent nodded.
"The children are very adorable to watch," Dixie giggled again, turning to look out her window again. She barely had time to process what she was looking at before she felt her center of gravity shift violently.
As their SUV slowly continued down the downtown streets, a snowplow clearing a mess of frozen snow out of an adjacent street barreled through the intersection, spearing the truck with enough force to split a normal car in half. The sharp blade of the plow pierced the truck, forcing it onto its side as the plow lost next to no momentum. The police car pursuing the SUV had no time to react and slammed into the side of the plow as it passed by.
Sparks flew as the plow rammed the impaled SUV into the corner building, smashing through windows and concrete walls. The plow finally came to a stop when its tires became stuck in the debris that ensured. As soon as it did, the driver and passenger climbed out and stood in the dust and blowing snow. Both wore heavy insulating jackets and face-obscuring ski-masks, and were armed with assault-class rifles. They wasted no time in opening fire on passing civilians and officers alike; it didn't matter who it was so long as they could see them.
A car that had been following the snowplow stopped in the middle of the intersection and unloaded four more armed men. As those people started firing just as the drivers of the snowplow did, the passenger in the snowplow stopped and turned towards the overturned SUV. He walked around so that he was facing the cracked windshield, then took aim and unloaded. He raked the windshield and engine compartment of the SUV with an entire clip of bullets until he saw sprays of crimson escape the shattered windows.
Content, he tossed his empty magazine into the dyed snow, reloaded, and then joined his team in strafing the busy downtown streets. Windows of surrounding businesses and buildings were shattered as the barrage of bullets wreaked havoc on the busy intersection. Cars were destroyed, bystanders were gunned down in cold blood, and the screams of petrified civilians running to escape the onslaught of death merged with the rapid explosions of gunfire coursing through the gridlocked streets. One assailant tossed a canister into the broken window of a corner store that immediately burst into a wave of flames as soon as it hit the floor.
The officers in the car in front of the SUV were targeted by two of the gunmen, completely destroying their cruiser in the process. Another incendiary was thrown at the car, causing it to erupt in a fireball. The gunmen broke off and extended the radius of their carnage by a few extra feet, shattering windows and pummeling cars in their wake.
After a few extra moments of countless spent bullets, the team swiftly crammed into the car and sped off without another shot fired.
Just like that, they disappeared.