Chapter 1

Major Marcus of the Ape Commonwealth couldn't help but finger the new oak leaves on his uniform tunic as he walked from his office in the War Department towards the presidential compound. The highest ranking chimpanzee in the armed forces in living memory, Marcus thought to himself. Not bad. His handling of the recent encounter with the new humans from Moonbase Alpha had been duly rewarded, he was happy to note. Maybe the coming of these humans is not such a bad thing, he mused to himself. The very thought brought an ironic smile to his face. A mere two months ago, had he expressed such glowing opinions about the presence of armed, intelligent humans, he might have been lucky only to lose his job. Now, the advanced humans seemed to be accepted at all levels of ape society, at least on the surface. This was all the more clear as he walked by Commonwealth Park, which was right off the main crossroads. As was the case every Saturday, trade was happening at a brisk pace. Chimpanzee farmers from the outer settlements mingled freely with artisans and hawkers of all stripes, each selling their wares and arguing over prices. Interspaced with the teeming mass of free-trade minded chimpanzees was the odd itinerant orangutan offering his services as a tutor, teacher, or scribe. Even a few gorillas offering to hire out as private hunters to a chimpanzee farmer troubled by a wolf or cougar preying on his livestock were present. Although the free market was considered a sacrosanct domain of the chimpanzees, all apes benefited from it. But now, in addition to the three classes of apes, he saw a party of humans with a table, selling various items. The human settlement of primitives, founded and led by Taylor, had a few hearty souls who would occasionally raid the Forbidden Zone for items from the past. Fine metal knives, tools, pots and pans, and other relics from the deep past were traded for cotton and wool cloth, leather, chickens, sheep, and even the occasional horse. He saw another human doing a brisk trade in coffee beans. Marcus had tried the human drink that was overtaking ape society like wildfire, and had not cared for it. He knew that the orangutans could not get enough of it. Looking at all this, it was getting harder for Marcus to imagine the uproar that the human Taylor had caused when he had appeared five years ago.

As he walked down the main thoroughfare, his bearing erect and his stride purposeful, he noticed the looks he was getting. Younger chimpanzee's looked in awe, and pride, at one of their own holding such high rank. The look from gorillas was more neutral. Yet, as he walked through the main gate of the presidential compound, he gravely returned the salutes of the two gorilla guards. Typically, their faces betrayed no emotion at the sight of a chimpanzee officer. Marcus cast all these thoughts aside as he entered the main office. President Honorius' chief of stuff, a short-plump orangutan named Petronius, greeted him. "Go right in, Major. The president is expecting you." he said.

President Honorius got up from his chair to greet Marcus. "Major, do sit down."

"Thank you, Mr. President." said Marcus, taking his seat on the plush couch across from Honorius' desk. He enjoyed the feel of the soft cushions, quite against his will. The furniture in the war department was all hard and unpretentious, according to gorilla tastes.

"Would you care for some coffee?" asked Honorius as he poured himself a cup.

"No thank you sir." said Marcus, inwardly smirking at the obvious pleasure his commander in chief was deriving from his human beverage.

"To business then," said Honorius. "Major, I need you for another very important mission. As you know, the Alphans have invited a delegation of apes on a goodwill tour of their base on the moon." Honorius had to pause. Despite his reputation as a hard-headed pragmatist, he still had trouble believing all the changes that had happened in recent weeks. " I would like you to be a part of that delegation. Among other things, I need someone to help assess the military capabilities of these Alphans, as well as their intentions."

"My understanding was that the government wishes to uphold peace with the human's now." said Marcus, with some surprise. He was naturally anxious to jump at an opportunity like this, but was puzzled at the president's attitude.

"We do, but prudence dictates caution my dear major. Thus far, the intentions and behavior of these Alphans, and Taylor's tribe, has been above board. But the future is always in doubt. I would be remiss in my duties as head of state if I did not plan for every contingency." said Honorius.

"Of course. But wouldn't a senior ranking gorilla be a better choice for such a mission, Mr. President? I may lack the expertise and experience to give you the type of assessment you need." said Marcus.

"We will have gorilla representation on the delegation of course, but at times the intelligence reports we get from the gorillas are..over processed, shall we say? For something like this, I need a diversity of viewpoints and an unprejudiced eye. That's where you come in, Major."

"I stand ready to serve in any capacity, Mr. President." said Marcus. "When does the delegation depart?"

"The day after tomorrow, one of their eagle ships is scheduled to arrive in the morning at Commonwealth Park" said Honorius. Before Marcus could respond, Honorius' chief of staff, Petronius, walked in. "Mr. President, your next appointment is here." he announced.

"Ah." said Honorius, and got up. Marcus, taking that for his dismissal, did likewise. As he walked out of the president's office, he passed Colonel Octavius, the acting head of the army , walking in. He automatically saluted, but was unsure of his ground. He had not yet had the chance to meet Octavius. After the salute, Octavius paused and essayed a smile. "I hear congratulations are in order, Major." he said, with a nod to Marcus' oak leaves. Marcus still thought of himself as a lieutenant.

"Thank you, sir!" said Marcus with a grin.

"Keep up the good work." said Octavius as he walked into the president's office.

For a chimpanzee, and a mere major at that, to get such praise and affirmation from the gorilla commander was enough to make Marcus feel like he was ten feet tall as he walked back to his office.

In the president's office, Honorius got right to business. "Colonel Octavius, I asked you here for several reasons. First, I want to make your appointment as acting Army chief permanent, with a concurrent promotion to the rank of Major-General, of course. General Urko has graciously agreed to early retirement. Also, I will be appointing a separate head for the civil guard. One thing that has become clear is that in the future, the armed forces may be taking on very different roles than in the past, and I want to free them from the responsibility of enforcing civil peace. Later this week, I will be appointing a head for the new Police Service of Ape City."

Octavius took this news in stride. Such proposals had been made in the past, but never advanced very far in the orangutan controlled upper house. With all the recent events though, and the president getting high marks for handling them so deftly and avoiding war, Honorius was finding it easier to get his initiatives approved.

"I am honored by the trust you have in me, sir." said Octavius. What else could he say? Urko had been his superior officer for years, but now he was being eased out under mysterious circumstances. Yet, he had to put his personal feelings aside and do his duty to the Ape Commonwealth. For him, as a gorilla, no other course was possible.

"As your first duty as Ape Commander, I want you to fully implement the plan you forwarded to me last week, with a few modifications as I have outlined on this map." Honorius took a map out of his desk and unfolded it. Octavius took a few minutes to review it.

"My only concern is, as I stated in my original proposal, is that some of these units are garrison and 'honor' units. They are gorillas with seniority and influence. They won't take kindly to having to live in the field again." cautioned Octavius after reviewing Honorius changes, which were actually improvements over the original plan.

"General, to be frank I don't give a damn! One thing that the arrival of these lunar humans has made abundantly clear is that Ape society was stagnating. The way we were caught off guard by these humans is a prime example. Yes, they turned out to be non-hostile, but what if they hadn't been?" said Honorius. "I think your plan is long overdue, and will give us a measure of security, while at the same time helping to shake up ape society out of its complacency. Do whatever you have to, and make it sooner rather than later. I'll back you up to the hilt." assured Honorius.

"Yes sir." said Octavius with relief. "I only hope we won't ever need to put this plan into action."

"So do I, general." said Honorius.