After sneaking through some patrols now heading toward the war zone where ULTRA's armada was holding them back, Jeremiah's group had made their way to what used to be the Petropolis supermarket. Hey, working on missions works up quite an appetite. Dudley's group had made their way to the factory district near the south end of the Petropolis area. It was worth a look at least. Now that they had their positions placed, let's see how the fighting is going, shall we? Dark Wolf certainly had his hands full. The wall was quite the obstacle, now Zero had forces at the ready right behind it and ready to fight the moment the wall fell. It was tough, but ULTRA never gave up before.
"Sir", one of the deckhands reported, "we are receiving a transmission from inside the city area."
"On screen!", Dark Wolf ordered.
After a couple of beeps, the transmission screen appeared and Jeremiah's face was on it.
"This is Jackal, we are heading into western areas for inspection."
"And the other team?", Dark Wolf asked.
"Heading to southern area.", Jeremiah reported, "We think Zero has factories here somewhere but not sure where. We'll find them and put them out of commission. We'll then meet up back at TUFF's old headquarters."
"Just stay alive and keep up the work Jackal.", Dark Wolf informed, "You were not chosen for this mission because you were my first option. We'll hold out as long as we can, but our shields are fading and not restoring fast enough. If you're going to find factories, better hurry! Understood?"
"Copy that." Jeremiah stated.
Just then, another transmission came in and a second screen showing Jack's face came on.
"This is Jack Rabbit reporting. Over?"
"Hey Jack.", Jeremiah said, "How's things down in your area?"
Before Jack could answer, there came a crash from Jack's screen.
"Do I want to know what that was?", Dark Wolf asked.
"It was Kitty.", Dudley's voice came from behind Jack.
"It was not!", Kitty's voice sounded.
Jack groaned.
"I'll call back later. Over and out."
Then Jack's screen went blank and Dark Wolf and Jeremiah continued.
"Dorian's analyzing the area for any signs of high paced activity. We'll concentrate there. Jackal out."
Jeremiah's screen went out and Dark Wolf went back to manning the battlefield. So far the plasma weapons of the armada was keeping things in their favor, but the enemy wasn't going down easily. They had weapons and aerial forces that were certainly formidable. Then an alarm sounded and a red light filled the deck.
"Report!", Dark Wolf ordered.
"Shield's reported in red zone sir!", a deckhand stated, "Our shields will blow in two hours unless power is drawn to empower them!"
"Activate the solar panel transfer mechanism!", Dark Wolf ordered and the deckhands went into a frenzy of getting the mechanism up.
"Solar transference begun!", a deckhand yelled.
The sounds of explosions and gunfire were still heard, but now the shield was getting stabilized, for now. Dark Wolf looked toward the other ships and saw they had the same ideal he did. Now Jeremiah and Dudley had to get those forces drawn back, or they were going down with a bang.
Now with that going on, Peg was in the hospital bay tending the injured. She had never worked this hard. Sure she worked part time at the Petropolis hospital for a couple months, but this took the cake. When a few injured soldiers recovered, five more came in from the battles outside and the constant alarms bangs and shaking wasn't helping very much. She was in the middle of patching up a soldier who had his hand burned after handling a burning opponent.
"Just keep your hand still til the ointment takes effect.", she instructed him.
The soldier( a husky) understood, but the itching was kind of hard to ignore. Luckily for him, it was over in a few minutes when Peg removed the bindings to show his hand had cleared up.
"Thanks Mrs. Puppy.", he told her over his shoulder as he headed back out.
Peg didn't have time for statements. She had other patients that needed her care and with several other doctors and nurses rolling out medical supplies, she had to get a move on. As she was working with a doctor( an American badger), he took notice on her skill as they worked to straighten out the patient's twisted joints.
"Hey, you're pretty good with treating patients Mrs. Puppy."
"Thanks.", she answered, "It pays when your ex-husband was a scientist and doctor. You're not bad yourself Doctor..."
"Lars. Doctor Daniel Lars. It's on the tag."
He pointed to his name tag which showed the name he said. Then the place gave a jerk and after getting things back in place, everyone resumed treating while Daniel took some time to talk to Peg.
"Ever thought about working full time at a hospital?", he asked her, "I think you'd really hit it off."
"I often did.", Peg told him as they finished up their patient and moving on to the next, "But my son needed guidance and I was in a hard spot. Always eager to get something exciting in his life. I just got so worried that he'd get hurt, I got carried away. So I chose to be a stay at home mom while my son helped with the bills with his new job."
Daniel had listened carefully and being the understanding type of badger, he knew what she went through.
"Well I best get back to work. If you change your mind on working at the hospital, I'll be there."
"Thanks Daniel.", Peg told him giving him a smile, "I'll think about it."
Peg went back to treating patients when a loudspeaker overhead sounded off.
"Mrs. Peg Puppy, please report to the bridge. Mrs. Peg Puppy, please report to the bridge."
Peg could tell this was important so she left some supplies on a desk near a patient's bed and headed for the bridge. The closer she got, the more the bangs and violent screams of war she heard. Luckily she kept her cool( somewhat) and made it to the bridge where Dark Wolf was still barking orders.
"Maintain position! Keep the shield generators going! Let's move it people! Move it, move it, move it!"
As he noticed Peg, he brought his voice and attitude down to a common chat.
"Mrs. Puppy, I would like you to know that your package you told us to ship out will be set and ready for deployment shortly."
"That's nice.", Peg told him, "How's Dudley?"
"Unknown.", Dark Wolf stated, "But rest assured, he's in good hands and with the best agents we can send into this mayhem."
Peg felt a little better, but not much. Hey, she was a single parent and could you blame her for being worried? She could feel worried later for she had remembered that there were patients still waiting on her.
"I'll get back to helping.", she informed Dark Wolf as she turned to leave, "But thanks for informing me on my special request."
Dark Wolf didn't answer, but she saw that he understood and as she left he went back to his original mood.
Now that was all going on while back outside, Damien and the Gemini were up to no good. They had observed the fighting and knew that Zero's time was thinning and just for the record their time was too. They left the scene of conflict and flew this way and that obviously on lookout. Nowhere they didn't check. As they circled the back end of the western district, Damien heard a beeper coming from his special crystal.
"What's this?", he asked as he looked inside.
This black crystal shard was given to him by Zero for good measure and it was showing a vision of a familiar threesome. And as they looked on, the Gemini and Damien each noted that these three would be easy.
"Well, well. If it isn't our old friend-", Byron started.
"Dudley Puppy.", Glacia finished.
"Indeed.", Damien agreed, "I think we should pay a visit sometime. But for now we have orders and I believe we can arrange a substitute."
Damien tapped his shard a couple times and Birdbrain's face took it's place.
"Hey Birdbrain, I have new orders.", Damien instructed, "The generators are being targeted and I would like you to get over and keep the guarding up."
As much as Birdbrain wanted to object, he knew all too well that Damien had a direct line to Zero and if he refused to follow orders, Damien would tattle and Zero would really let him have it.
"On it, sir.", Birdbrain said with a sigh as his image faded.
Then something below caught his eye so Damien went to investigate with the Gemini following. The flew down into a dark alley and who should be there when they landed and dispersed their wings? Galaril injured, but still breathing.
"What are you doing here?", Damien asked with a scorn.
"Missionary work.", Galaril answered as though Damien wasn't there, "Got time off for good behavior."
"You mean you bribed your way out.", Damien countered.
Galaril could tell by the way the Gemini's stance, that he need a good reason or else this would get ugly.
"Damien, you always could see through me. And Zero only made you not long back."
Galaril gave a humble look, but Damien wasn't buying it.
"I may be an apparition of Dudley's dark side, but I know when you're up to something Galaril.", he sneered, "Unless you have something important we should know about, do us a favor, and get lost!"
Then Galaril smiled wickedly.
"You have no idea what Zero knows about this fight. You think he's just going to let ULTRA take this place back like this? He wants this to happen so he can spring the booby trap he laid here."
Damien raised an eyebrow.
"If you're lying, you better be praying."
