ACT XVI: UPRISING

Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.

Oscar Wilde

SD 195-12-01, EDF Main Headquarters, Central City, Planet Arras Chanka, unknown hour

The news of the terrible tragedy that occurred in the distant space mining colony of Chishata had reached, several days late, the capital of the Confederation of Planets (ConFed), Central City, and the high commands of the Extraplanetary Defense Force (EDF), who were holding a meeting at the headquarters of the organization to discuss the crisis they had in their hands.

It was obvious that, although it was not the first time that something like this had happened in the past, especially during the First War, it was the first time that an event of that nature and magnitude had occurred in peacetime, considering the number of fatalities reported, the number of civilian and military victims injured, the perpetrators of that atrocity, and the reasons why they decided to undertake such a massacre in that space colony.

The atmosphere inside that place was quite tense, since all the officers present were discussing the matter among themselves and none reached a decision that everyone could agree on; and all this was due to several points that were listed below:

-"Gentlemen, I have read the report on what happened at Chishata, and needless to say I am deeply in shock of what I have just learned about the extent of the events that occurred at that colony."- One of the officer, a Feline (lion), was the first in address the issue on the meeting. -"Not only does everything suggest that the ILR was responsible for the massacre, but we still do not fully understand the reasons why they decided to attack the civilian population of the colony only to plunder it completely, when it would have been enough to simply subdue its inhabitants and take everything they wanted without any problems."-

-"Considering what happened in Derzon, nothing would surprise me about those rabbits anymore, General."- Another man, a Mustelid (otter), replied with certain bigoted disgust. -"The damage they left on that planet is beyond measure, and it will take years for its inhabitants to return to normal. And yet the ILR's intentions were apparently not to take over that planet to begin with."-

-"That was precisely what I was thinking about when I compared the invasion on Derzon to the Chishata massacre, and I think I could venture a conclusion, even if it's too early to make an exact guess."-

-"What would be your guess, General?"-

The Feline drank a glass of water to quench his thirst first...

-"Ah, that's better..."- Then, he gave his opinion about those events. - "I will assume that the ILR is trying to create discord among our allies and their inhabitants by carrying out various violent actions in order to make the civilian population perceive us as completely incompetent and incapable on preventing collateral damage, just as it was the case in Derzon. Still to this day we are getting criticism from the inhabitants of that planet and their government has filed a complaint against us for all the damage we caused there."-

-"And after all the lives of our soldiers who were lost in the conflict,"- Another officer, an Avian (robin), gave his opinion as well. -"they should at least thank us that things didn't get any worse and that the ILR didn't try to take things further, otherwise we'd already be talking about millions of dead and possibly another new war against those rabbits, one that nobody wants to wage again."-

-"General, returning to the issue of the ILR's intentions to invade a planet and plunder and massacre a civil colony,"- The Mustelid officer asked the general. -"I must assume that what the Republic intends would be, in short, a kind of socio-political conflict, so that we would be busy fighting among ourselves, while they would gradually undermine us, right?"-

-"That is what I strongly suspect, in theory, but unfortunately I have no evidence to support it, nor does the EDF have it to make a solid allegation against the Republic."- The Feline general responded somewhat frustrated at the fact there's not much they can do to counter the ILR. -"If we sought to blame them, the ILR would easily deny any involvement in both events, since they were careful to erase any clues that might lead to their participation in those incidents. In Derzon's case, they were careful to use vehicles without official identification, and the soldiers who participated in the invasion wore uniforms without badges or any form that could identify them as soldiers of the Republic. They could argue that the attackers may have been space pirates or terrorists, even if these "pirates" or "terrorists" were all Lepines and used ILR weapons and vehicles."-

-"Yeah, sure, since when do terrorists or pirates use heavy weapons, air fortresses or even fighter jets."-

-"Chishata's case is even worse: The invaders destroyed all the video cameras in the colony, destroyed one of the stations with an atomic bomb and the few survivors of the massacre were basically lobotomized using that neurotoxic gas, and those who did not end up brain dead will be left with permanent brain damage for the rest of their lives."-

SLAM!

One of the officers, moved by the events on Chishata, slammed his fist into the table with all his might...

-"DAMN THOSE BUNNIES!"- Another officer, a Canine (maned wolf), cursed loudly at his enemies. -"Are we going to let the ILR get away with murdering and robbing our citizens while we stand here DOING NOTHING?"-

-"And what do you want us to do, Colonel?"- The Avian officer tried to make the colonel understand that the EDF and the ConFed could not simply retaliate against the ILR. -"Declare war on them without proof?"-

-"Those stinking rabbits killed hundreds of people in Derzon, and now we're letting them slaughter an entire colony!"- The Canine colonel angrily yelled at all the members of the council. -"What do you guys think will happen if the general public finds out what happened in Chishata? They'll probably going to eat us alive if they know we're going to leave the things like that! And which damn excuse are we going to use to justify our failure to act for the families of all those victims, huh?"-

-"Colonel, I ask you to please keep your voice down right now!"- The Feline general said at that enraged Canine, through in a conciliatory manner in order to deflate the heated discussion. -"With respect to the general public, they do not have to know anything about this until we have sufficient evidence to determine the Republic's culpability in both events, so our hands are tied pursuant to any action we may take in this regard. With regard to the families of the victims in the Chishata colony, we will have to tell them that those responsible behind the deaths and maiming of their loved ones were terrorists, since there is no other way to justify those events, whether we like the way we have to hide our incompetence or not."-

The colonel remained silent, but he still did not agree with the general's decision to do nothing about it and make the ILR pay dearly for their misdeeds.

-"I just hope you know what you're doing, General. If I were you, I'd drop the biggest bomb I could find and make all those rabbits disappear from the face of the universe."-

-"I understand your frustration, Colonel, but for the moment we must keep our heads cold enough and not do anything rash that we may regret later."- The Feline general said in order to finish the whole meeting -"For now, nothing discussed here should leave this room, is that clear, gentlemen?"-

-"Yes, sir."-

-"Well, if there's nothing else to say, we are adjourned."-

SD 195-12-03, Felna Family Residence, Annahport, Planet Dornthant II, 1325 hours

Far from all those events that took place on another planet, the Felna family residence was located on the outskirts of Annahport, the federal capital of the planet Dornthant II, better known as "Annah" by the local inhabitants. The residence was a quite large house, considering the number of current residents who lived in it, which was approximately three, which made it very easily distinguishable from other houses that were in the vicinity, not to mention that the residence itself was relatively luxurious compared to other houses that were in the same area and even within the same city.

The residence even had a botanical garden and a farming field, where the Felnas grew their own vegetables, something that was unusual for many people on that planet, where vegetables were usually bought at the market or brought home by robots.

And at that time, there were two women talking inside the kitchen of that residence: The hostess of the house, and the current matriarch of the Felna family, Eda Kammati Felna, the mother of Erma Felna, and the other woman was an Equine (horse), named Denorah Arrat, who was the mother of Itzak Arrat, the captain of DH270, who was still on duty in those days. Eda was physically very similar to her daughter Erma, even in her height and physical build, except that, unlike Erma, she had a much longer hair than her daughter, and while Erma's hair was reddish-brown, Eda's was deep black, not to mention that her coat was somewhat darker than her daughter's. On the other hand, Denorah's coat was a deep white color, and although she had no head hair, her mane was a deep golden color, compared to her son Itzak, whose coat was silver and his mane was white.

Eda gave Denorah a cup of green tea before starting to talk about very personal issues that afflicted both women and their respective families.

-"Thank you so much for inviting me to your home, Eda, I really needed to get away from the daily chores at home, especially since Itzak left for his tour of duty a few months ago."-

-"The pleasure is mine, Denorah, I also needed to talk to someone, since my children are away from home right now, and my husband is... you know... not always available to talk to."-

The Equine woman knew very well exactly what her friend was referring to with that, but she decided not to ask for more specifics on the subject, out of respect for her Feline friend.

-"I think I get your point quite well, Eda."-

-"Kanoc aside, I'd like to know how Itzak is faring."- Eda asked to Denorah, -"I saw in the news that something had happened according to some reports, but they did not give more explanation of what had gone on."-

-"I received a report from the EDF a few days ago, and all it says is that Itzak is fine."- The Equine woman took a sip of her green tea on her hooves with the help of her VFD nervously -"Apart from that, it doesn't mention anything about what went on in Chishata, where he was sent to in an emergency with his ship due to a distress call, however, we have no more information about that afterwards."-

Eda remained silent for a few moments, and then she sadly sighed, for she knew what it meant that her friend had said about her son Itzak's condition.

-"You know very well what it means when they say a person is fine, don't you?"-

Hearing that, Denorah bitterly remembered what her friend meant and it was obvious that she was referring to what happened to both women's husbands during the last war and how it had turned them both into mentally destroyed people who were still suffering from the after-effects that the war had left on their bodies and minds.

In the case of Kanoc Felna, Eda's husband, the war had caused him great psychological and physical damage, after he was captured by the ILR and suffered all kinds of torture in their hands, and he only managed to get out of that conflict alive thanks to a prisoner exchange afterwards, but when he returned home, nothing was the same for him since then, and he suffered from anxiety attacks and hysteria as a result, much for the chagrin of Eda and his children. As a result, his daughter Erma decided to join the EDF in order to find a way to make the ILR pay for what they did against her father, as did his son Tasak, who had also only recently joined.

Denorah's husband, Joseph, had also suffered several traumas from the war, although these were not as severe as those of his friend Kanoc, but were still enough for Joseph to leave the army and live a more or less comfortable home life.

Remembering all those traumas that their husbands suffered made both women, especially the mother of Itzak Arrat, think that her son may have suffered some severe trauma because of his mission in Chishata and that the phrase that he was just fine was just a euphemism to hide a more serious issue that Itzak may be suffering at the time.

And upon that phrase, and echoing Eda's words, Denorah could only let out a resigned and sad sigh...

-"I just hope... Itzak is all right... that's all I ask."- The Equine woman said, drinking the last of her tea. -"I wouldn't want him to have suffered any harm in that faraway place, as if I didn't have enough with Joseph and his own sufferings, for Khai's sake..."-

-"I fully agree with you, my dear Denorah..."-

Eda poured another cup of green tea for her guest, which she quickly drank without thinking twice.

-"And what about your daughter Erma?"- Denorah asked to her host about her daughter's whereabouts. -"Have you received any messages from her recently?"-

-"I have received several text messages from her saying that she is in good health, especially since what happened in Derzon, where she was shot."- The Feline woman drank some bits of her tea as well before continuing her chat. -"Although I wish she would be a little more informal when writing, as all her messages seem more like military reports than family emails; not even Kanoc in his worst days wrote like that."-

-"Well, I think your daughter takes her job in the army just as seriously as her father did in his day, from what I'm getting at."-

-"Tell me about it."-

-"And now that she was transferred to Ekosiak, has she told you anything about what she's doing there?"-

Erma's mother nodded her head in denial at the question.

-"Unfortunately she hasn't told me anything. I must assume that this information must be classified and therefore Erma cannot tell me a thing why she is in that very distant system."-

-"I see."-

-"But still, I wish she had returned home instead of having to keep risking her life down that way..."- The Feline woman said with some sadness in her voice, while drinking the last of her tea. -"I don't want her to end up like her father Kanoc... or worse."-

SD 195-12-05, ConFed Government House (Dining hall), Hicho, Planet Ekosiak I, 0030 hours

Erma Felna had been invited to a very important party inside the local government house of Ekosiak, in the capital city of Hicho, by Colonel Onni Hitzok, who wanted to use the occasion to introduce her to the other members of the EDF, the ConFed and the government and high society of Ekosiak, who would attend the party that night. Although it was not the first time that she attended such a party, this was the first time that she could be the center of attention of everyone present at the party, and that was something that made her a little nervous at first.

Although it was not the first time that she attended such kind of events, this was the first time that she could be the center of attention of everyone present at the party, due to her deeds in Derzon, and that was something that made her a little nervous at first. This was particularly remarkable, as the colonel had sent a special vehicle to bring Erma from her apartment where she was temporarily living in downtown Hicho to the building where the party was to be held, and she was not used to such benefits, even though she herself was a member of her native Dornthant's socialite.

After a few minutes of driving, the vehicle arrived at the building where the party was taking place, and Erma got out of it as fast as she could. Many of the people who were waiting at the entrance of the place were surprised by the natural beauty of that foreign Feline woman, and the clothes she was wearing; for someone who was characterized by being a modest person and did not like to draw attention to herself, Erma knew how to dress appropriately to appeal to the people around her: She was wearing an evening dress with military motifs indicating her rank, slippers, and a cape. The fact that the dress showed Erma's legs made her very attractive to the men around her, who could not help but make snide comments behind her back.

-"Have you seen that foreign girl who came here a few months ago? Boy, she sure knows how to dress up, no doubt about it."

-"Yeah, and I thought all Dornthantiis were a bunch of boring prudes who don't know how to have fun without freaking out first, HAH, HAH, HAH, HAH!"

What those people didn't know was that, inside, Erma did feel a bit embarrassed about dressing that way, even if she wasn't exactly a very conservative person, but neither did she like to attract the attention of others by wearing clothes that were too flashy just so that men would be indulging in her body. The only reason she wore those clothes was because the protocols required her to wear clothes that indicated her military rank, and she couldn't do anything about it. Furthermore, she was not the only woman who wore such clothing, but that was not a comfort to her in the least.

In spite of everything, Erma decided to simply ignore the others around her, pretend that everything was normal for her, and concentrate exclusively on the party, as well as enjoying it.

And on this last point, Colonel Hitzok, who also wore a more formal military uniform than he normally used when he was on duty, was at the entrance of the building, waiting for his guest to arrive.

-"It's a pleasure to see you here, Squadron Commander Felna."-

It was the first time since she had come to Ekosiak that Hitzok addressed her with the new rank she had obtained after her actions in Derzon, since, up to that point, both the colonel and all the people she had known up to that point had addressed Erma as "lieutenant", her previous rank. But at the end of the day, being promoted to commander didn't mean much in the end, since her job, in theory, was to train pilots, and that rank was more than just a legal formality that served to justify her new job on that faraway world...

-"Oh, thank you, colonel!"-

But, on the other hand, knowing that she was going to be treated as someone corresponding to her rank, and not as a simple soldier, was more than enough for her, but in the same way, she was going to try to continue being the same modest person as always and not try to attract unnecessary attention, considering that there were people who saw Erma as a girl from a planet whose people were reputed to be incredibly formal and without much sense of humour, something that made her uncomfortable every time she heard those kind of xenophobic jokes like the ones Erma heard minutes ago behind her back.

Once Erma and Hitzok entered the dining room where the party was being held at that time, she realized that there were all kinds of important people, of both sexes and all species she knew, attending the party, both from the EDF and ConFed, as well as members of the Ekosiak's socialite and their respective government. Knowing beforehand that she was basically a complete stranger in that exclusive group of people, Erma realized that she had to make a good impression on those people, and she decided to ask the colonel some questions about the people she had to take into consideration.

-"Can I ask you a question, Colonel?"-

-"What would it be?"-

-"Considering that there are many VIPs (Very Important People) at this party, should I be concerned about any particular person or group of people?"-

-"In theory, you should pay attention on the members of our government,"- The Canine man said at Erma while looking at some of the people who were attending the party. -"because usually they do not have a good opinion about the members of the EDF or the ConFed, who are considered as people who only come to meddle in the internal affairs of our system."-

-"I've noticed that in the time I've been living here, Colonel."-

-"Oh, I see."- Hitzok kindly tried to ignore that dig from his guest, considering that she was visibly nervous about being in that place full of people she didn't know and that she was basically an unknown outsider to them. -"I just hope you enjoy the party, without losing sight on the people around you, of course."-

-"I keep that in mind, Colonel."-

But before both characters could enjoy the event, another person, an Ursine (polar bear), of average height, middle-aged and white fur, quickly approached Erma, and addressed her aloud in order to get her attention.

-"HEY YOU, THE FELINE GIRL!"-

-"Who, me?"-

-"YEAH, YOU!"- The man said at Erma really aloud. -"I need to talk with you!"-

Erma soon realized that man was not a guest at that party, for he was dressed in civilian clothes, and his manners and the way how he addressed her was not what one would expect from a soldier or someone from the high society of that planet. In fact, it was more than evident that this person was someone from a very low social status, but that was the least of Erma's worries about that person back then.

-"You must be Erma Felna, that girl from Dornthant who participated in the battle of Derzon!"- The Ursine man said at the aforementioned Feline girl who was in front of him. -"Could you tell us something about what happened there, if you would?"-

Obviously, the man's intrusive and confrontational attitude when it came to asking her questions was not to her liking, but she could not act in a way that could be considered vulgar to her guests, so she tried, albeit somewhat nervously, to find a way out of the situation in which she was involved with the man.

-"And who are you, if I may ask?"-

-"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself first, young lady!"- The very intrusive man presented himself at Erma. -"I'm Lazlow Kosak, journalist and host of the program "Lazlow & Friends", which is broadcast on the Ekosiak News Net."-

Erma's fame during the battle of Derzon as the first woman to participate in combat operations had reached the ears of the civilian population of Ekosiak, and it was natural that there were people from the press who wanted to ask her questions about the events that took place on that planet, and considering that she, as an important member of the EDF, would attend this important party full of several very important people from the same organization, it was obvious that the press would also be present, and they were not going to waste such an important opportunity to have an interview with a war heroine of the caliber of Erma.

But the last thing Erma wanted at that time was to answer questions from the press, because she wanted to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention, considering the then political situation in Ekosiak, where the government of that planet did not want to recognize that there were foreign members of the EDF working inside the planet, And she didn't want to interfere in the internal affairs of her people or her government, so she wanted to try to keep as low a profile as possible, but that troublesome journalist seemed willing to throw away all those plans just to gain some notoriety for himself.

-"Khai, just what I needed, a nosy reporter."- Erma thought to herself in an attempt to shake Lazlow Kosak off as politely as possible for her.

-"You must feel very proud that a girl like you has been given the opportunity to fight alongside men and prove your worth on the battlefield, right?"- The journalist continued to ask Erma questions, some of which were already entering the realm of the private for her, which began to make that Feline woman visibly annoyed. -"But also tell me, Erma, how is it that a girl as pretty as you is at this important party full of such important people, and where the great majority of attendees here are men?"-

Obviously, that man wanted to imply that the only reason she was at that party was to find a partner, and not for merely personal reasons like anyone else. Erma already had enough with her breaking up with Tavas months ago just for that man had the insolence to suggest that the reason for her attendance at that party was sexually motivated.

That question was the last straw for her, and she wasn't going to be quiet, and she was planning to say a few things to that man named Lazlow...

-"Excuse me, Mr. Kosak..."- Erma addressed that man without using the "Honorable" honorific as a way to express her annoyance to him in the harshest way possible, without her losing face.

But before the discussion got any more heated between these two characters, Onni Hitzok, who had been talking to other people up to that point, suddenly appeared behind Lazlow's back and took him by the shoulders as a sign that he should stop talking.

-"If you're so interested in knowing about the private lives of others, why don't you start by talking with the men first, Lazlow?"-

Lazlow realized that Colonel Hitzok was behind him, and judging by his attitude, it was more than clear that he and the colonel had known each other for a long time, perhaps too well for his own good.

-"Co-COLONEL!"-

-"Long time no see, eh, Lazlow?"-

-"Oh... crap."-

Erma, who was more than happy to see that the colonel had gotten her out of the predicament she was in, couldn't understand why Hitzok seemed to know Lazlow Kosak so well, something she wanted to know just out of curiosity.

-"Excuse me, Colonel, but I think you two already know each other, right?"-

-That's right, commander."- Hitzok explained to Erma about Lazlow's background. -"I don't think you know very well who Lazlow Kosak really is. He was arrested a few months ago on charges of invasion of privacy, misuse of communications and defamation, and he's supposed to be on parole right now.

-"Umm, I think that would explain a lot of things about him."-

Lazlow, seeing that his background was revealed to Erma, could not help but complain he felt harassed by the colonel and made his discomfort known straight away.

-"Oh, come on, colonel!"- The Ursine muckracker complained at the Canine officer. -"Don't I have the right to ask a heroine like Miss Felna about her actions in Derzon? Or are you forgetting that there's such a thing called freedom of press, huh?"-

-"I already know that, you moron"- Hitzok talked at the journalist in a notable but polite way in order to avoid disturbing the party for the rests of the guests. -"But that doesn't entitle you to enter a private party, much less annoy guests with intimate questions. Or didn't they teach you that at home, Lazlow? Or maybe I should also remind you that one of the conditions of your parole was that you cannot enter private places without prior authorization, or am I wrong, Mr. Sneaky People's Journalist?"-

Lazlow didn't know what else to say in the face of Hitzok's criticism of him, and since he also didn't want to escalate the argument any further unnecessarily and also to avoid being arrested again, he only managed to say the following.

-"sigh... I think you've won, Colonel."-

-"In that case, let me walk you to the door personally."- Hitzok took Lazlow on his arm, and then he addressed Erma. -"You'll have to excuse me, commander, but I'm going to accompany this guy to make sure he doesn't cause any more trouble."-

-"Understood, colonel."-

Without further ado, Hitzok took Lazlow by force, taking him by the arm to the door of the government building where the party was being held. Once at the door, the colonel made his displeasure at the reporter explicit, and issued a threat.

-"All right, Lazlow, you're lucky I don't arrest you for breaking into a private party without permission, and for breaking the terms of your parole, because I don't want to cause a damn fuss here."- Hitzok warned the Ursine journalist in very clear terms. -"If I ever see your furry ass in this place again or anywhere else I'm present, you'll be lucky if you end up in a cell with a few less teeth. You got that?"-

-"OK, OK, I get it! I'm leaving now, but don't take it out on me, Colonel!"- Lazlow proceeded to leave the building by his own means, but not before giving the colonel a piece of advice. -"But least you should learn to respect the free press, for Khai's sake!"-

-"Respecting the free press is one thing, but tolerating sneaky journalists like you who butt into the private lives of others is another, so if you have a complaint about me, you can talk to the proper authorities any day you want, but I don't want to see your face again!"-

Seeing that Hitzok was really furious, Lazlow Kosak ran away from the place as fast as he could, while Onni Hitzok just watched, with a satisfied face he hadn't had for a long time, as that intrusive pressman left with his tail between his legs in a more or less literal way.

-"I hope that'll teach that idiot Lazlow about not messing with me for a while."-

Due to that incident with Lazlow, the rest of the VIPs attending the party set their eyes on her, especially the various members of Ekosiaki government, and they started talking to her. Many of the questions were more formal and more related to Erma's work as a combat instructor on that planet, and not as intrusive as the ones Lazlow wanted to ask Erma, and she had no problem answering them.

Everyone present was very surprised by the eloquence of that foreign woman on such complicated issues as politics, military strategy and other topics related to Erma's work in the army. It should be noted that Erma never had a formal education in foreign diplomacy because she began her military career as a combat pilot, but the fact that she was an extremely intelligent person, not to mention that she possessed a natural charisma that impressed anyone Erma spoke to, really made everyone present doubt that this girl was really simply a soldier who was smarter than average.

What many didn't know was that Erma came from a very prestigious aristocratic family in her native Dornthant, and acting in society was a skill she learned since she was only a kitten child, even if she wasn't very fond about boasting that to others, since she preferred her actions, and not words, to speak for themselves.

One of those people Erma had impressed with her charisma was a military officer who shyly walked up to the Feline woman in order to talk to her...

-"Ex-Excuse me, Commander Felna, may I speak with you?"-

The man Erma was talking to was a Mustelid (otter) about the same age as her, besides being relatively chubby, and judging by the expression on his face, that man was more than happy to see Erma in person, even though she did not know him. Likewise, he was also a little nervous to talk to her face to face, something she noticed right away.

-"Have we met, if I may ask?"-

-"No, but I am a person who has heard of your exploits in Derzon and I would like to dance with you, if you will allow me, of course."- The Mustelid man then presented himself. -"My name is Dael Valderzha, it's a great pleasure to meet you in person, Commander."-

And judging by that man's body language, maybe that Mustelid was too happy to meet her; she knew what it meant when someone wagged their tail in a very excited way, which only meant two things: Either he was just happy or maybe that man wanted to look for an opportunity to bed her. When faced with that last possibility, Erma tried to find a way to reject that man's proposal, and better dance with Colonel Hitzok, or better be alone, if possible.

Fortunately for that Feline woman, the colonel had already returned to the party after kicking Lazlow Kosak away, and she took the opportunity to ask to dance with him, but not before asking Valderzha to excuse her first.

-"Can I talk to someone first?"-

-"Yeah, sure, go ahead, commander."-

She then went to find Hitzok, who was five steps away from Erma, and thus shake off that unrequited admirer who wanted to dance with her.

-"You didn't have any trouble kicking that reporter out, Colonel?"-

-"Of course not, that was a piece of cake."- The Canine man replied at the woman -"But something seems to be worrying you, doesn't it?"-

-"Yes."- Erma replied what was bothering her, and she pointed her finger to Dael Valderzha, who was waiting for her in the dance floor. -"Do you know who is this guy named Dael Valderzha? He wants to dance with me, but he also gives me the creeps."-

-"Oh, you mean him?"- Hitzok looked at Valderzha, and he quickly knew which person she was referring to. -"Don't worry about him, Commander. He is not going to cause you any problems, although I must admit that the only reason why someone like him is in the EDF is because of the links that Lt. Valderzha's family has with the organization, to our own chagrin."-

Erma could not help but feel a sense of letdown knowing that, despite all the efforts that exist for people wishing to join the EDF should do so on their own merits, and not by the connections or money they may have, so that the system could be as fair as possible, there are people like that Mustelid young man like Dael Valderzha, who managed to get into the EDF despite possibly not having enough merit to do so.

The Net was supposed to be the main body in charge of saying who is worthy of entering the armed forces and disqualifying any candidate who tried to enter the organization through improper methods, which led Erma to ask herself about the following: Was the Net wrong to allow someone like Valderzha to enter the EDF or maybe simply Ekosiak's culture was more permissive than in other ConFed planets concerning recruitment standards?

To that girl's misfortune, asking herself all those questions was a complete waste of time, much less in the middle of a party she was supposed to enjoy. Besides, as a consolation for Erma, she could at least deduce that Dael Valderzha was not another misogynist prick like her now ex-boyfriend, Tavas Ikalik.

Still, she somehow tried to find a way to avoid dancing with him, so Erma tried to use her last trick up her sleeve to do so, and that trick was Colonel Hitzok.

-"I think I fully understand your frustration with him, Colonel, if I can deduce what you mean by it."- Erma then changed the talking point about Valderzha and she made the corresponding request. -"Wouldn't you like to dance with me for a while, then?"-

-"I'd love to dance with you, Commander Felna, but..."-

Erma quickly noticed that the colonel's gaze was not with her, but on another person, or more precisely, on another woman, who was just entering the dining hall, and that person was someone that both Erma and Colonel Hitzok knew personally.

That woman turned out to be Dea Htuhok-Kho, Secretary Shato's personal assistant, who was dressed in a somewhat more elaborate and sensual dress than the one Erma was wearing, one that showed her almost naked back to the base of her tail, which drew the attention of several men who were present at the party, and especially the attention of the Colonel.

-"I think I already have another dance partner, if I may say so."-

-"Oh, I see."- Erma replied, trying to hide very well her frustration at seeing that the colonel had set his eyes on Dea than on her. -"I guess you're going to dance with her, right?"-

-"Yeah."- The Canine colonel replied at his peer. -"Why don't you dance with the lieutenant instead? Like I said, he's not a bad person, but you should be careful with his tongue, because he can be a little... annoying, to put it mildly."-

Erma took a deep breath, trying to make a supreme effort to avoid making evident her discomfort of having to dance with someone like that man instead of the Colonel, but neither could she afford to act like a pampered girl and refuse to dance with someone who had connections within the EDF, and who had the possibility of ruining her career if she had decided not to.

-"I'll try, Colonel."- The Feline girl said with some somber tone in her voice. -"Guess I don't have any other choice at the moment."-

-"Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to dance."- Hitzok then went straight to Dea to ask her to be his dance partner. -"And try to enjoy the party as best you can, Commander."-

-"I'll give it a try, Colonel."-

Incredibly resigned, Erma had no choice but to have Dael Valderzha as her dance partner, even though she would have liked Onni Hitzok to dance with her instead of him dancing with Dea. Although she did not hold any resentment against the Colonel or Dea, as she valued them both equally, and Hitzok had his personal reasons for looking at Dea and not at Erma, having to dance with someone whose only reason for being a member of the EDF was because of his family ties and not because of his own merits was something that she felt was the worst thing that could possibly happen to her.

After all, she was now a commander and at least she should have expected to receive the same respect from someone of her rank, not a mere foot soldier who had to resign himself to dancing with someone who, more than a soldier, was rather a glorified fan in uniform.

-"Shall we dance, Commander?"-

With those words, Dael Valderzha asked Erma Felna to dance with him. Perhaps that Mustelid was not someone worthy of her, but at least she should appreciate that man was at least polite with her.

-"Yes."-

It should be noted that, although in the culture where Erma and her peers lived the concept of dancing existed, on the other hand the notion of dancing along with the music did not exist at that time, since the whole concept of music was relatively new and very few people had ever heard of music in their lives, much less dance music, and even less classical music, so everyone present danced in complete silence, being the sound of their footsteps or their voices the only thing that could be heard on the dance floor.

As for their dance, that dance that those anthropomorphic beings performed could not be considered as something either too complicated, or even artistic, but simply something very basic and with movements that were devoid of any kind of finesse, but that simply fulfilled its purpose of being a dance and nothing more. But for all of them, that was more than enough to at least hang out and they didn't ask for anything else.

On the other hand, Erma, in spite of everything she had thought and said about Dael Valderzha, was not having a bad time at all, and at least she had to recognize that man knew how to dance very well, and besides, he also knew how to treat a woman, since at no time did he try to have his way with her, or try to make any kind of talk that could have been upsetting or lewd to her.

But there was one thing Erma Felna realized about Dael Valderzha, and it was something that Col. Hitzok was right about: That Mustelid didn't know when to keep his mouth shut for his own good.

-"This is a dream come true for me! To be able to dance with Erma Felna in person! When my buddies find out about this, they won't believe it! And I've barely been in the EDF for a year thanks to my parents. What do you think of the food, Commander? Isn't it delicious? I think I forgot to tell you what my job is at the EDF. I've been an Aerodyne pilot since I joined here, and everyone thinks I'm a good pilot even though I've only been in the army a short time. Even those who doubted me think so too, don't you agree, Commander Felna?"-

That stupid and meaningless talk, which sounded like the ramblings of a fan who had his idol in front of him rather than a talk that a smarter man should do, was beginning to make Erma physically dizzy and whose ears were also beginning to resent hearing all the incessant chatter coming out of that man's mouth, and she was beginning to wish that the man would start shutting up for good.

The annoying and painful talk continued for a few minutes more and it pushed Erma's patience to its very limits; to such a degree, leaving aside her politeness, but without losing her temper or raising her voice, the Feline young woman decided to deal with that annoying Mustelid man once and for all.

-"Lt. Dael Valderzha,"- Erma finally retorted to that young man with a firm but stern voice. -"Would you please shut your mouth and concentrate only on dancing, please? My ears are killing me after hearing all that talk from you!"-

Valderhza, in a polite way, understood immediately that he had already started to annoy his dance partner with all that pointless talk, and decided to obey her without any excuse.

-"Oops! Sorry, commander!"-

And without further ado, both characters resumed their dancing, and continued in this way for several more hours, like the rest of the party attendees, and so the party proceeded without any incident to comment.

SD 195-12-05, Downtown Hicho, Planet Ekosiak I, 0400 hours

-"Good evening, Commander, did you have a good night?"-

The words of the Net resounded within Erma's apartment, while she was only just arriving home after several hours of partying, and she began to undress as soon as she set foot inside the place.

But the AI quickly noticed something unusual about that Feline woman: Erma could barely walk without stumbling, as if she had done some kind of extreme physical exercise at that party she attended, not to mention that she seemed visibly cranky after that night...

-"I must assume you've had quite a night, haven't you, Commander?"-

-"Ugggh... Tell me about it."- Erma replied to the Net, as she threw herself on her bed, tired and completely naked. -"It's been years since I've had a wild night like this."-

-"If you will excuse my indiscretion, could you at least tell me how the party went for you, Commander?"-

-"I will be brief: I think I made a good impression on the VIPs who attended the party, although I also had to deal with a nosy reporter who snuck into the party without permission and started asking me indiscreet questions, but fortunately Colonel Hitzok took care of him before I could beat the crap out of that journalist. Afterwards, I ended up dancing with an undeserving guy named Dael Valderzha, who all he did during the whole dance was talk nonsense, but out of that unpleasant detail, he was very well behaved and he was also a good dancer, nevertheless."-

-"Certainly must have been a very rough night for you, as you said."-

-"I don't feel like talking anymore right now, so we can talk about whatever you want in the morning, so let me sleep, will you?"-

The computer knew that her interlocutor no longer wanted to talk after that rough party she had, and judging by her physical condition, which indicated that she had danced for more than four hours, and by her attitude, which indicated that she had to endure the same amount of time talking to several people and to Lieutenant Valderzha as well, the best thing was to let her rest that night, something that the Net did right away.

-"Understood, have a good sleep, commander."-

-"Good night."-

SD 195-12-05, Ekosiak News Net Building, Hicho, Planet Ekosiak I, 0900 hours

Although he was kicked out of the party the night before by Colonel Onni Hitzok and didn't get a chance to talk to Erma Felna, the person he wanted to talk to about what happened in Derzon months ago, Lazlow Kosak used what little he had gained from talking to her at the party to organize his morning show, "Lazlow & Friends". The news program also showed images of the events that occurred in Derzon, some interviews with the survivors of the invasion and finally, Lazlow Kosak himself gave his own conclusions on the subject.

"There is a great deal of public controversy regarding the role that the EDF played during the aforementioned events that took place in Derzon eight months ago, due to the large amount of collateral damage that it caused in its attempt to drive the aggressors off the planet. Accusations have been made by the local government that the EDF used excessive force to deal with the situation in such a way that the damage caused by the liberation forces was proportional to the damage caused by the invaders, never mind the number of civilian casualties caused by both sides."

"In a separate statement by an EDF press representative, it was mentioned that, while the organization will start investigating its procedures to prevent similar events from happening again, they claim that the senior officers in charge of the military operations on the planet acted in accordance with the current regulations, and that there is no evidence that any of them could have acted with malice or by mistake. This is especially worth noting, since most of the commanders who participated in the operation to liberate the planet seem to have been sent to other planets or assigned to other functions, which causes considerable concern to the general public."

"One of these reassigned officers is Lieutenant, now Commander, Erma Felna, originally from the planet Dornthant and who participated in the ground operations against the invaders, becoming the first woman to be involved in direct military operations. She was seen at a formal party organized by the EDF in which several important members of society participated, along with several members of the local armed forces, but she refused an interview to explain her reasons for her presence in Ekosiak, or any specifics regarding her involvement in Derzon..."

But before Lazlow could continue talking, all the screens on the monitors in both the building and the broadcast studio suddenly turned off, only for the image to return as static, causing a riot inside the studio as it did not know what was happening at the time.

-"WHAT THE BLAZES HAPPENED HERE?"- Lazlow shouted when he saw that the transmission had been suddenly cut off, in an attempt to get an explanation from the rest of the studio staff. -"Why the feed was cut off?"-

-"We don't know that, sir. The transmission just stopped."- One of the members of the show's broadcast team responded to the Ursine journalist, who was really upset that his show had been interrupted in that way.

-"Hey, Lazlow, I'm sorry to have to say this, but we don't have a feed here either, and we can't use backup transmission methods in situations like this."-

The chief of the technical staff in charge of the computers in charge of transmitting Lazlow's program on the Net also confirmed the inability to continue transmitting by the latter, which, under normal circumstances, meant only one thing...

-"Are we being censored by the government or what?"- Lazlow asked the chief, thinking about that possibility that might be going on at that time.

-"Maybe, but if the government was behind this, we would have already received some kind of notice about it, but we haven't received any message about whether we are being censored or not. Also, I cannot reach the authorities right now to ask for an explanation."

-"WHAT?!"- The Ursine man responded incredulous at such event. -"They're usually good at warning when there's something they don't like, but why aren't they saying anything?"-

-"That's what we would also like to know, Lazlow."-

But before all those answers could be answered in a concise manner, a mysterious male voice began to be heard during all the static that was heard in the transmission. Due to the tone and volume of his voice, the message that the man gave through the Net could be heard very clearly, even with the static noise behind his speech.

"Listen, people of Hicho, we have placed an atomic bomb in the middle of your city, which will explode in two hours. If you want to save your city, you'd better start looking for it immediately, unless you want Hicho to end up becoming a radioactive wasteland."

Everyone present in that place, upon hearing that threat launched by that mysterious voice from the Net, was obviously horrified to hear that someone had placed an atomic bomb inside the city, and was willing to have it detonate in just two hours.

The one who was most visibly upset by this turn of events was Lazlow Kosak, who wanted to know who had interrupted his program to make that threat, and he also wanted to know where the message was being broadcast from.

-"I want to know who the blazes is broadcasting that message and interrupting my show! I also want to know where that broadcast is coming from, and I want to know RIGHT NOW!"-

-"That's what we're trying to find out right now, but all indications are that the transmission is coming from outside, since it's not coming from here!"- The chief responded to Lazlow while he tried to coordinate with his staff to find out the origin of that transmission.

-"So where did that message come from?"-

-"Wait a sec..."-

The staff members of Lazlow's show were desperately trying to find the source of that threatening message through every known means at their disposal, but all attempts led to the same end:

-"The origin of the message was encoded with military grade encryption, and we cannot know where it comes from. What we do know is that the message was transmitted to the entire city, and that the authorities are trying to call us to find out what is going on."-

Lazlow looked with resignation that they had no other way out of the trouble they were in, and now everything depended on what the authorities could do to prevent the city from being destroyed by that bomb.

-"DAMN!"- The Ursine man raged loudly at himself. -"I never imagined that my life would end in such a sudden and ludicrous way: With a literal bang!"-

SD 195-12-05, EDF Home Guard Base (Underground Training Facility), Hicho, Planet Ekosiak I, 0930 hours

While all this was happening out there, Erma Felna, who was just recovering from that intense party she had the last night, decided to go to work as she did every day, and one of the first things she started to do was to train in the flight simulators inside the base to keep her flying skills sharp.

That training consisted of simulating flying over an enemy area, detecting any enemy ground units that could be a potential threat to friendly forces on the ground, and eliminating them if necessary. For someone like Erma, who had experience in flying aerodynes, in addition to the experience she had in flying that prototype fighter jet in Derzon, this was relatively simple, and at certain times, it was getting boring as hell for her, since the difficulty of the simulator was in the normal settings.

But, considering that in half an hour she was going to be leading a training session with a flight squadron made up of recent graduates of the Hicho flight academy, the last thing she could risk was making a mistake that could be fatal, in a virtual way, of course, for her or her students in training.

But when all things seemed to be in order for her at that instant, something suddenly changed that status quo: All the lights, including those on the aerodyne's control panel, suddenly went out, leaving Erma completely in the dark inside the aircraft's cockpit.

Normally, under normal circumstances, the fact that all the lights suddenly turned off without notice meant one thing: That her aerodyne was shot down by simulated anti-aircraft fire and that her vehicle had simply fallen to the ground, and in practical terms, the pilot, in this case Erma, had "died".

But, judging by the lack of any warning from the staff in charge of the simulators, the fact that the simulator was suddenly shut down also meant that either there was a power outage, or that there was some kind of emergency that required Erma's attention and therefore the simulator was shut down. But she, not knowing the exact reason why the simulator was turned off without her consent, left the simulator cockpit, took off her helmet and started demanding explanations from the technicians in charge of the equipment.

-"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? Why the blazes did you guys turn off the simulator like that?"-

The chief in charge of the simulators explained to the Feline girl the reason why the machines had to be shut down like that.

-"I'm very sorry we have to pull you out of the simulator like this, Commander, but we received an emergency call from Colonel Hitzok for you."-

-"For me?"- Erma asked, still upset. -"What's going on to make him need my help?"-

-"According to the colonel, someone planted an atomic bomb in downtown, and we have two hours to find the bomb and defuse it before it explodes."-

-"An atomic WHAT?"-

Erma couldn't believe what she was hearing at the time: Someone, most likely under the noses of many people, had placed an atomic bomb in the middle of Ekosiak's capital, Hicho, with the intention of exploding it and taking millions of people with it as collateral damage. In all her life, she had heard of different kinds of terrorist attacks, but this one was of different level, and was intended to cause as much panic as possible, not to mention the damage that the bomb itself could cause if it blew up.

And without wasting any more time, or words, Erma immediately rushed to meet with the Colonel, knowing that time was not on their side.

SD 195-12-05, EDF Home Guard Base (Courtyard), Hicho, Planet Ekosiak I, 0945 hours

-"All right, I want to know how we ended up in this mess, and how it's possible that someone could have put an atomic bomb in the middle of the city without a single person noticing it."-

Erma, visibly upset for more than obvious reasons, demanded explanations from one of Colonel Hitzok's aides, a Feline like her, who was waiting for the woman at the exit of the underground training facility.

-"Here's what we know so far: A terrorist or a group of these hacked the Net in some way and announced their intentions to destroy the city with a nuke in two hours. Other than that, we don't know anything else about them, not even where the transmission came from. They apparently used a military-grade encryption protocol to hide their tracks, and all attempts to locate their whereabouts have been in vain."-

-"Have you been able to trace the bomb?"-

-"As far as we know, we have a reasonably good estimate of where the bomb might be, but the colonel probably has that information on hand, so you'd better ask him when you talk to him."-

-"And where is the Colonel right now?"-

-"He's leading the operation to find and eliminate that bomb, since he wanted to be on site in person. You'll have to talk to him from the command center at the base in order to coordinate with the colonel regarding this mission."-

-"I see,"- Erma, while still not hiding her displeasure over the whole crisis, continued to ask more questions of the Colonel's aide. -"but you still haven't answered the most important question: How the blazes did those terrorists ever managed to put a bomb in the middle of this city? Don't you have security cameras on the streets to see who could have done this?"-

That last point seemed to offend the Ekosiaki aide quite considerably, considering the tone of voice with which he replied to the foreign Feline girl.

-"Security cameras? Are you crazy or what? We don't have that kind of crap on our streets! Do you think we're so damn paranoid to put security cameras everywhere? I don't know how the blazes things are run on your planet, but we're not as authoritarian as you think!"-

Erma was surprised by the tone of voice of that person who, despite being the colonel's assistant, and therefore a lower-ranking officer than herself or Hitzok, did not hesitate to make his discomfort known due to that question done for Erma, who came from a planet with a strong security network in all the streets where there were cameras everywhere that helped the authorities to deal with any emergency or incident that arose, was the most normal thing for her, but for the people of that distant and independent world as Ekosiak was, that sounded like a gratuitous insult to their dignity.

When the officer saw that he had insulted Erma, who was his superior, the man bowed his head in shame, and did not hesitate to offer an apology, seeing that he could have wronged that woman.

-"I'm-I'm very sorry, sir! I guess I overstepped my bounds with my comments."-

-"Don't worry, I was wrong in judging you guys like that, too."- The woman responded to the man, just as she was sorry for that insensitive remark she had made about the Ekosaki people. -"I really didn't know you guys were so sensitive about matters pertaining to security, to be honest, so I think I deserve some criticism if I said something wrong too."-

The soldier was surprised by the humility of that woman, and that she, despite being a superior officer, was willing to accept that she erred in criticizing the inhabitants of Ekosiak for not having the same security apparatus as she had in her home planet; thanks to this, he accepted Erma's apology without any qualms, considering that there were more important matters to worry about than thinking about the cultural differences between Dornthant and Ekosiak.

-"Apology accepted, but I think it would be better to talk about it later, we have a job to do, and our lives and this town's citizens depend on it."-

-"Understood."-

SD 195-12-05, EDF Home Guard Base (Command Center), Hicho, Planet Ekosiak I, 0955 hours

Once at the base's command center, where there was a large concentration of technical personnel in charge of communications between the base and the members of the search team led by Colonel Onni Hitzok who were in the streets of Hicho looking for the atomic bomb that the terrorists had placed in downtown, the first thing Erma Felna did upon arrival was to contact the colonel as soon as possible.

-"Felna here."- The woman first started communications with the colonel from the base. -"Do you have any trace of the bomb's location so far?"-

-"This is Hitzok. Fortunately, we have been able to find that bomb, which is located in an apartment complex that was abandoned just a week ago due to legal problems, so there is no clues as to who might have planted the bomb; unfortunately I have both good and bad news about it."-

-"What is the good news?"-

-"The good news is that the terrorists seem to have forgotten to install devices on the bomb that could avoid being detected by the bomb squad's sensors, so we were able to find the explosive faster than we thought."-

-And... what is the bad news?"-

-"The bad news is that the terrorists installed various anti-tampering devices and mechanisms on the bomb, and any attempt to defuse it risks activating the explosive device and thus the bomb itself."-

Hearing this, Erma knew that the options for defusing the atomic bomb were reduced to a minimum, and that now both she and the colonel had to find a way to defuse it, something they both needed to start thinking about, knowing that they only had one hour before the bomb exploded and blew up the whole Hicho city and its residents with it.

-"Colonel, do you have any plans of your own about defusing the bomb?"-

-"To be honest, the truth is all the options I have in mind have been exhausted. The only thing we can do right now is rely on the anti-bomb robots to guide us safely in how to defuse that thing."-

-"Damn!"-

That was the last thing Erma wanted to hear: To know that the colonel didn't have any useful ideas on how to deactivate the bomb either, and even more when time was starting to run out for them, and therefore for the city of Hicho.

Whoever put that bomb in the city seems to really wanted to be sure that nobody would try to defuse it in order to destroy the whole city fast and quickly, and everything indicated that they were succeeding in that task, to the misfortune of the military authorities who were in charge of the operation to defuse the bomb, and especially for both Erma Felna and Onni Hitzok, who had the responsibility to save the capital city of the planet Ekosiak from a nuclear holocaust on their own shoulders.

SD 195-12-05, Abandoned Apartment Complex, Downtown Hicho, Planet Ekosiak I, 1035 hours

-"Colonel, where exactly is the bomb inside that building?"-

-"The bomb is on the ground floor, inside what appears to be what was originally intended to be the building's administrative offices. "-

There was only less than half an hour left for the bomb to explode, and no one from the local military authorities had found a way to safely defuse the nuclear bomb. Despair was beginning to plague some of the Homeguard members, and even Erma and Colonel Hitzok, who were both trying to keep their heads as cool as possible, were beginning to feel that everything they were trying to do to save the city was in vain.

And that's without mention about the city's inhabitants, the vast majority of whom were desperately trying to get out of it before it turned into a nuclear morgue.

-"Can you tell me how the city's evacuation efforts are going?"-

-"Unfortunately things are going very slowly in that regard. We can't get more than 5 million people out in less than two hours, and if we don't do something to defuse that damn bomb, nothing we do now will be worthwhile. And if we don't have enough problems to deal with, the city government wants me dead for not being able to do anything about this shit. If that bomb goes off, the last thing they should be worried on would be about my hide."-

Indeed, Erma could hear from the background noise from the audio transmission sent by the colonel that people were making a desperate effort to leave the city at any cost. Unfortunately, there were only 20 minutes left before the bomb could explode, and all the known methods that both Erma and Hitzok had come up with up to that point were not useful to defuse that bomb, which had several anti-tampering measures to avoid being deactivated by common means.

-"Damn it! Whoever armed that bomb did know in advance all the methods we know to prevent us from trying to tamper with it!"-

Meanwhile, at the base, even the staff members inside the command center were beginning to feel that they were all going to die at any moment, and a hopeless mood permeated the faces of every single person within that place.

Even Erma, who was doing her best to stay calm and keep her head as cool as possible, while thinking of a solution to that tragic situation in which she and everyone else in Hicho were involved, couldn't avoid showing an evident uneasiness in her body language; her ears were moving backwards and her eyes were wide open, while she was thinking of a solution for herself, no matter how bizarre, in order to defuse that bomb.

And when everything seemed hopeless and they could only wait for the bomb to explore and all that hell to end at once, Erma thought of a method that, for some reason that even she could never fully understand, could work to put an end to that bomb at once. She knew that there was no other normal methods that would work, and if that method she had in mind didn't do it either, nothing else would.

-"Colonel, I may have a method for getting rid of that nuke."-

-"What kind of method?"- Hitzok asked Erma about her method on disabling the bomb. -"I hope it works, because we only have fifteen minutes before the bomb goes off and takes the whole city and us with it."-

-"This is what comes to my mind to deal with the bomb:"- Then, the Feline girl explained her idea to her Canine counterpart. -"We need someone, using a rocket launcher, to fire a projectile at the bomb, and at the moment the missile hits it, a firefighting team will pump fireproof liquid to cool down the bomb before it enters a critical state and explodes."-

All the staff members inside the command center, as well as the people who followed Hitzok in his attempt to defuse the bomb in downtown, could not help but cry out in outrage at the reckless idea of that foreign woman to end the crisis once and for all. Even if it was the last idea she had at the time, for many people there was not much difference between waiting for the bomb to explode to execute that girl's idea and dying in the attempt, something they made known to their respective superiors at the time.

-"Commander, with all due respect, the idea you suggest to destroy the bomb is basically a suicide."- One of the officers in the command center contested Erma's idea in her face. -"If we destroy the bomb with a rocket launcher, we won't have enough time to cool it down first before the bomb reaches critical mass and explodes."-

-"In that case, if anyone has a better freaking idea for stopping that bomb, start suggesting ideas right now, because we only have 10 minutes to do something about this, gentlemen."-

A silence that lasted for a few seconds was present in that place, because it was obvious that no one had a better idea than the one Erma had in her head, so no one dared to question her further about how to end up with the nuke.

-"I thought so."- Back at the scene, Erma contacts Hitzok for his opinion on her idea. -"Colonel, what do you think about it?"-

-"Considering that we have no other options at hand and the available time, I believe we have no choice but to carry out your plan."- The Canine colonel responded at Erma via his communication system. -"Let's just hope it works, and that we live to tell the tale."-

-"Very good."- Erma responded as well. -"I guess you guys have the firemen along with you, right?"-

-"That's right, and we also have a rocket launcher on hand with kinetic projectiles. They don't have an explosive warhead, but they can pierce heavy armor, so they can be used in this case."-

-"Perfect."- Afterwards, Erma asked the colonel one last question. -"Since you haven't asked me any more questions about my plan, I guess you know exactly what it's about, right?"-

-"I think I understand how your plan is going, commander."- Hitzok understood Erma's plan without a cinch. -"If all goes well, I hope this nightmare ends quickly and we can talk about this thing in a more relaxed way. Over and out."-

Having finished talking to her, Hitzok was ready to execute Erma's plan just as she had thought, although the most important details now lay with the colonel and his men to carry them out.

-"All right, I'm going to cut to the chase with Commander Felna's plan: Someone will fire a missile at the bomb from a safe distance, and the moment the projectile hits it, the firefighters will have to spray the place where the bomb was with both foam and water at the same time to cool it down and prevent it from reaching critical mass. Any questions?"-

-"No, sir,"- One of the firefighters then asked Hitzok -"but, do you think her plan might work?"-

The colonel hesitated for a few seconds, and he replied in the most dramatic way possible...

-"If this plan doesn't work, then this city will have no future."-

With only five minutes left for the bomb to explode, all the members of Erma and Hitzok's plan to destroy it were already in their assigned places: The soldier who would fire the missile was aiming at the bomb from a truck high enough to allow him to aim the rocket launcher without any obstacles, while the firefighters, from a more or less prudent distance, were also aiming at the bomb to spray it with anti-fire liquids that would cool down the bomb before it reached its critical mass and exploded.

There were two teams of firemen placed on opposite sides of the building, one on the left side that would shoot foam and another team, that was on the right of the same place, that would shoot cold water at the same time. For safety reasons, and with the sole exception of the person who would fire the missile, all of them wore anti-radiation suits, should the need arise.

-"Before we start, I want to stress one thing to the firefighters:"- The Canine soldier gave his final order to the firemen. -"No matter what happens, keep firing liquids into the bomb until it is safe to stop. Understood?"-

-"Yes, sir!"-

-"Very good."- Then, Hitzok talked to the man with the rocket launcher via his communicator. -"Sergeant, do you have the nuke in your sights yet?"-

-"Ready when you are, Colonel."-

-"All right, you will fire that projectile on the count of three."-

-"Understood."-

-"Let's begin... ONE"-

-"TWO"-

-"THREE! FIRE!"-

The sergeant fired the armor-piercing rocket at the bomb, which, in a matter of seconds, penetrated the interior of the office building where the explosive was located and made an immediate impact against it, destroying it almost completely, but, being a kinetic missile without a warhead, it did not cause an explosion that could damage the rest of the building or the people around it.

Without wasting any time, once the missile hit the bomb, they started to spray it with liquids that would cool it down and prevent the nuclear reaction from being completed and the bomb from exploding. After several seconds of intense calm and after spraying the office with enough liquid to flood it, it was more than evident that the bomb had definitely not exploded.

But before everyone could claim victory, a soldier in a radiation suit approached the building with a radiation counter, and after a few seconds, the man could confirm that the danger was over.

-"According to the meter, there's some radiation inside, but it's nothing that can't be dealt with. Mission accomplished."-

On hearing those magical words, all the people who had participated in the operation cheered with joy on seeing that they had been able to save the city of Hicho from a nuclear catastrophe. The first to celebrate were the people who were in the base command center, where Erma was in charge of coordinating the mission from there.

-"YAHOO!"-

-"WE DID IT! WE REALLY DID IT!"-

-"WELL DONE, COMMANDER! YOU SAVED THE CITY!"-

-"I never imagined that such a plan would work! And we owe it all to Commander Felna, who saved our city!"-

All those words of encouragement and congratulations made Erma Felna very happy, who felt that she had contributed a lot to solve that crisis, which had ended with the destruction of the bomb and the city being completely safe, and the fact that she, who at first she did not enjoy the trust of many of her local colleagues simply because she was an outsider from another planet, was now considered a heroine admired by all.

But unfortunately for her, Erma could not enjoy that fame, however deserved it might be, due to a political situation that she herself was quick to spell out to her colleagues.

-"Wait a second!"- The Feline girl yelled loudly at her men. -"Before you guys continue celebrating on my behalf, I want to clarify first of all that I only gave the colonel a few ideas. In fact, he's the one who should get all the credit, not me!"-

On hearing the complaints of their superior officer, the cheers of happiness turned into an almost total silence in that room, only interrupted by the sound of the computers. Obviously, nobody knew why that woman did not want to be honored for her role in solving the nuclear crisis in Hicho, and they wanted to know why she declined to receive any praise for her work.

-"And why not?"- One of the men asked Erma, somehow puzzled by the attitude of that woman. -"You also took part in the solution of this whole issue, so the most obvious thing is that we congratulate you for it, right?"-

-"In theory yes, but, as most of you know, there is a planetary resentment against the EDF, and any insinuation that it could have intervened, even if it was through one single person, in the solution of an internal problem could only attract unnecessary criticism against the local authorities, and that is something I want to avoid at all costs."-

Obviously, everyone quickly understood the reason why that foreigner wanted to avoid receiving any congratulations for his work, considering that most of the inhabitants of Ekosiak did not want any kind of interventionism by the EDF in their internal affairs, and Erma's presence in that situation could put the whole local government in a difficult position if all this became known to the general population, and even more so considering what happened that day with the nuclear bomb crisis and the panic it generated among the citizens, causing them to have to flee the city.

-"In fact, I want all recordings of this incident to be classified as top secret information, and I want any mention about me in the files being released to the local government to be removed. Likewise, I don't want anything that happened here to leave this place, even among your own colleagues inside the base. The only people you can discuss this matter with will be the Colonel and myself. Understood?"-

Everyone present at the command center were willing to obey Erma's request to remain silent about her participation in solving the bomb crisis.

-"YES, SIR!"-

-"All right, now you can all leave now, if you want."-

SD 195-12-05, Downtown Hicho (Erma's apartment) Planet Ekosiak I, 1730 hours

After an extremely tense day for her, Erma returned to her apartment which was located downtown. For more than obvious reasons, she was completely exhausted and did not want to talk to anyone on the way, although, since most of the inhabitants who had fled the city due to the nuclear crisis a few hours earlier were just returning to the city, there was no one she could talk to anyway, except for some soldiers she saw on the road.

Once in the apartment, the Net greeted her as was customary, although the AI quickly noticed that there was something not right with her.

-"Good morning, commander. I guess you had a pretty rough day, didn't you?"-

Without further ado, the first thing the Feline girl did was to jump into her bed in order to rest, not wanting to talk to anyone else, much less the Net.

-"Considering your stance, l'm going to take that as a yes."- The AI replied at her organic master. -"Also, I'm going to assume that I will have to reject any calls addressed to you while you're resting, right?"-

Silence on Erma's part, something that even the Net, an artificial intelligence, began to consider annoying on her part.

-"From your vital signs, I can tell there's something bothering you."-

Erma begins to grumble in annoyance at that question, as she just wanted to rest and nothing else.

-"You know exactly what happened a few hours ago, right?"-

-"Indeed."-

-"Then, if you already know that, I don't have to say another word, so just let me get some rest for a few hours, OK?"-

-"Normally I would,"- The AI responded at the Dornthantii girl. -"but there's something not normal about you right now, and I know very well that you're hiding something. Could you tell me what's bothering you?"-

Seeing that the Net wouldn't leave her alone until she talked about what was bothering her, Erma, from her bed, decided to tell the computer what was upsetting her in those moments after what happened in the city.

-"I am quite concerned that I am receiving too much unnecessary attention after what I did in helping to overcome this whole bomb crisis, considering the polarized political situation on this planet. I doubt very much that the locals will be thrilled to know that an outsider, let alone a member of the EDF, stepped in to solve this whole mess."-

-"I think I understand your dilemma very well, commander, and that is why you do not want to take credit for solving this crisis."-

-"That's right, and besides that, I don't really like being the center of anyone's attention. I've had a lot of problems in the past because of that kind of thing and I don't want it to happen again, especially when it comes to political issues of this nature. These people who live on this planet simply don't appreciate pretentious foreigners, period."-

-"That's very strange of you, commander, considering you were someone like that in your childhood."-

Such questioning from the Net started to irritate Erma, as it was starting to creep into her intimate life by commenting on things from her own past and using them against her.

-"Why are you using my childhood flaws against me, and even more at this time?"-

-"I am very sorry, commander, but it was not my intention to use your past against you, but simply to point out that the attitude you have towards the people of Ekosiak is very different from the attitude you had towards everyone else in your own childhood, where you always wanted to be the center of everyone's attention."-

-"Are you calling me a hypocrite?"-

-"No, it was just an observation of mine based on your own personal background."-

-"Well, leaving aside my past, there's another thing that irritates me even more:"- Erma loudly made known her displeasure with the way the Ekosiaki people handled the crisis. "I just can't believe that the people of this planet don't have security cameras that allow us to know who was responsible for placing that nuclear bomb in the city. And none of this would had happened in Dornthant under normal circumstances."-

-"Well, I think you should be more sympathetic to that, commander. The people of this planet appreciate their freedoms and would not appreciate your attitude towards security, as they see it as something out of a dictatorial regime. In fact, they have some bad experiences with that kind of government."-

-"I already know that; I just want to make that remark."-

-"But one thing could be certain, commander: It is very likely that the civilian population will begin to seriously question the merits of a society with personal freedoms over one where national and personal security are more important, given what has happened today and not to mention the recent terrorist attacks that have occurred in the last few months."-

-"That's one of the things I fear more than anything else, computer."-

Erma left her bed, and without warning, she began to undress...

-"I expect you'll be taking a bath, I suppose."-

-"Yeah, that's right. I need a bath urgently, and this suit is killing me."-

Once naked, Erma went into the shower and tried her best to enjoy the bath, but even in such an intimate moment she couldn't help but keep working, as there were several things she had to do, and she asked the Net to do them for her while she bathed.

-"Net, I'm going to dictate a report on today's nuclear incident in Hicho. The report will be sent to the following people and organizations: Secretary Shato, the Ekosiak Defense Council, Colonel Onni Hitzok and consequently the Hicho Homeguard, and finally, the EDF Central Command in Arras Chanka. All of them will receive a copy of this report, which will be catalogued as classified."-

-"Understood, ma'am."-

Erma started dictating the above-mentioned report to the AI while she was bathing. Because of this, it took her about an hour to finish it, the same as her bath in the shower. Once she finished dictating her report (and her bath at the same time) she started carefully combing her long hair and coat.

Because her body was still wet while she was drying, both her hair and fur were bristly, which gave her a somewhat unique look, and at the same time, greatly enhanced her natural beauty.

Once she finished drying and combing her body, Erma knew that some things had to be done before she could even rest, but before that, she asked some questions to the Net.

-"By the way, do I have any issues needing my attention?"-

-"No, ma'am. The alert was reduced to only increased monitoring, so there is no issues that require your intervention."-

-"That's good to know."- The girl asked the AI one more time, while she dressed in her uniform, which she wore at the same time, since it was starting to get cold. -"Other than that, do I have any appointments, parties I need to attend, etc.?"-

-"As far as my database is concerned about your personal affairs, no."-

Once she finished dressing, the Feline girl went to the door of her apartment, intending to go out somewhere.

-"Are you going out somewhere, commander?"-

-"Yeah, I need to go for a walk to calm down a bit."- Erma replied to the Net. -"If anyone needs me, I'll take my communicator with me. I'll see you later."-

-"See you soon, commander."-

SD 195-12-05, Downtown Hicho (Streets) Planet Ekosiak I, 1900 hours

Erma Felna decided to go outside to try to relax a little after several stressful hours of trying to solve that crisis that had arisen since the morning of that day. As mentioned before, she was wearing a cape with her, apart from her uniform, because the state of alert remained in preventive mode and the best thing for the civil and military authorities was to remain ready in case any other problem should arise right then.

Fortunately for her, things seemed to return to normal gradually, as the citizens of Hicho returned to their city after trying to escape from it, and as daily life returned to its course, although there were still many businesses closed due to that attempted terrorist attack, and many people still preferred to be in their homes for safety, which caused that there were many streets that were completely alone and without any traffic.

But for that Feline girl, it was better that way, at least for the time being, considering that there was a city-wide search to find those responsible for placing that bomb and trying to destroy Hicho with it, and the fewer people on the streets hindering the work of the security forces, the better.

And as she walked down the streets of that city trying to get back to normal, she noticed that there was a person who looked very familiar to her when she walked near a public park, who was sitting in the middle of that place, looking carefully at the moon.

-"Is that Colonel Hitzok?"-

Erma saw an opportunity to talk to him alone, taking advantage of the fact that there was no one in the park, which allowed both of them to talk about personal or classified matters without having to worry that someone might hear them; and considering that there were no security cameras, neither should she worry that someone might be watching them, in case their movements could be followed by the same terrorists who planted the bomb.

-"Good evening, Colonel."-

-"Same to you, Commander."- Replied Hitzok, while still watching the moon.

Erma looked at the moon as he did, and could not agree more with that statement that the moon seemed quite stunning that night.

-"The moon looks so beautiful tonight, doesn't it?"-

-"That's right."-

After looking at the moon next to her comrade in arms, Hitzok decided to change the subject and resumed the conversation about the nuclear incident, taking advantage of the fact that she was there.

-"By the way, I just read a few minutes ago your report that you sent me concerning the incident. I must say I'm surprised that you're so knowledgeable about the current political situation on our planet."-

-"Thank you, colonel."- The foreign girl replied. -"It's just part of my job to know what I'm dealing with here in Ekosiak."-

-"With respect to ongoing investigation into who was or was not behind all of this, the only thing I have been able to find are anonymous rumors posted on public forums on the Net that the ConFed might be behind all of this."-

Hearing that the ConFed, the planetary confederation of various governments that made up all of known space that was not under the control of either the ILR or Enchawah Corp, the largest mega-corporation in existence, and which both she and Hitzok, being members of its armed branch, the EDF, was something that depressed Erma quite a bit, and she couldn't help but sigh with disquiet knowing that the local population was beginning to suspect against the ConFed, and therefore the EDF.

-"Khai,"- Erma cursed. -"I was afraid something like this might happen after all this mess."-

-"According to the report you sent, you have your own thoughts about who might be behind all this, and their reasons for doing something as dangerous as using an atomic bomb."-

-"Right."- The Feline woman said at the colonel. -"From my point of view, one of the probable suspects behind this crisis could be the Freedom Party: According to my understanding of them, their main ideological line and what they are looking for first of all is the independence of Ekosiak from the ConFed and the expulsion of the EDF as a consequence."-

-"And why would a legally established political party stoop to commit terrorist acts of that level, especially when it comes to destroying the capital of Ekosiak?"- Hitzok responded somewhat disturbed to such a possibility raised by his foreign colleague. -"I don't really see the point of such a thing, if you ask me."-

-"Look at it this way, Colonel:"- Erma explained her point to her Canine host. -"They could blame the ConFed for being behind the bomb, and that was placed by some agent working for them, in order to scare the civilian population of Ekosiak, and so the local government could be convinced to accept any measure that prevents a repeat of an incident of this nature, and one of those measures would be to accept the implementation of more aggressive security monitoring systems, under the excuse of giving more security to the general population."-

Onni Hitzok reflected for a few moments on the words of his companion, trying to analyze everything that Erma said about the likely perpetrators of that attempt to destroy the city, and any intention to use that event for nefarious political purposes by any of the opposing political forces in Ekosiak.

-"I feel like I'm starting to realize what you mean by all this."-

-"That is not all; there is also the possibility that the Security Party could also be behind all this, in order to use the public distrust against the ConFed for their own political interest."- Erma also added another conclusion, one that was not added in her report, for very obvious reasons. -"and perhaps, in more personal terms, there may be a possibility that the ConFed itself actually planted that bomb in order to justify its own existence."-

Hitzok was really surprised to hear that conclusion about who could be behind the attack, and the fact that the two predominant political forces on the planet, the Freedom Party, which is liberal and seeks Ekosiak's independence from the ConFed, and the Security Party, which is more conservative and seeks to maintain the current status quo, as well as the ConFed itself were on Erma's list of probable suspects.

Seeing the surprised face of her counterpart and also seeing that she had possibly spoken out in giving her opinions, Erma's ears went flat as a sign that something was not right with her, at least emotionally.

-"I'm so sorry, I think I started digressing unnecessarily on the issue, I don't think I should-"-

-"That's OK, don't worry about that, your comments are very perceptive about the current events, and I'm glad to hear your opinion about who might be behind all this."-

Erma breathed a sigh of relief to know that Hitzok did not seem to be bothered by the allegations she had made, especially when they directly involved the ConFed, and by extension, the EDF.

-"Thank you, I'm delighted to hear that."-

-"Now, based on your observations, what should I do about this?"-

That question made Erma visibly nervous, as she had several restrictions on what she could or could not say about the matter, a fact she made known to the Canine colonel.

-"Unfortunately, there's not much I can say about the matter, Colonel."- The Dornthantii girl replied at the man with a nervous grin. -"You know very well that I cannot intervene in internal political affairs because of my position as a foreigner."-

-"And why not?"- Hitzok rebuked Erma after the latter was forced to stop engaging in matters beyond her concern. -"You already took part in an internal affair, in case you don't remember, in this case it would be to give us the solution you provided to destroy the nuke, wouldn't it?"-

-"Technically speaking, I only gave a small solution to solve a tactical issue, and nothing else."- The Feline girl explained her reasons for denying any personal credit about the solution of the nuclear bomb crisis in Hicho. -"In fact, the truth is that I didn't expect my idea to work, because it was a desperate measure, considering the little time we all had left to get rid of the bomb. And to make sure that no one can use the issue of the attack against me or yours, all information regarding my participation in the issue was classified as confidential, and I requested to edit any reference about me, either textual, audio and video."-

-"Then, that means-"-

-"That's right, you're the hero, because you saved this city from being destroyed by that nuclear bomb."-

Normally, anyone would be happy to know that he was receiving praise for saving a city from certain destruction and other circumstances, Hitzok should be happy to know that Erma considered him a hero.

But for someone like him, to take credit for someone else's work, and even more so when it came to a woman's actions, was something that he could not stomach, even if it was for a good reason and even less with the permission of that lady as Erma was, especially if he did not understand well the reason why she did not want to take credit in the solution of the crisis.

-"To be honest, I don't like the idea of receiving all the praise for saving the city, and even more when other people also helped. It doesn't sound ... right... in my opinion."- The Canine man responded with some apprehension to Erma's idea that he should take the credit and not her. -"But there's something I'd like to know: Why do you think I should be the person everyone should consider a hero, and not you?"-

-"Considering what I mentioned about the current political situation, things could go from bad to worse, and it is best that the local people have a national hero to admire and follow, rather than a meddling foreign girl like me. And to be honest, I'm not a fan of being the center of anyone's attention."-

-"And what about you, commander?"- Hitzok uneasily asked Erma. -"What do you plan to do about this?"-

-"My job, for one thing:"- Then, the girl replied at the colonel about her main priorities. -"Starting with keeping a low profile, continue training pilots, and above all, in case my help is required, be as accessible as possible, that's all."-

Hitzok began to grumble a little at the idea of Erma keeping a low profile regarding her involvement in solving the nuclear crisis, rather than sharing the credit for solving the issue mutually. The fact that someone, let alone a woman, wanted to be invisible, even if it was for political reasons, was something he found very unpleasant, and he wanted to know why someone as talented and intelligent as that woman wished not to be noticed by anyone else.

-"Commander, with all due respect, I'd like to know why you want to be ignored so badly."- The colonel asked Erma again, this time doing more specific questions about her reasons. -"From what I see, it seems there's something you don't want to tell me about, right?"-

Seeing that Hitzok was being increasingly inquisitive about her and her reasons for Erma's decision for not being identified in the resolution of the crisis, she responded as straightforwardly as possible to the colonel.

-"I will be honest with you, Colonel Hitzok: Despite what you may imagine about me, I have no intention of taking credit for things that should not be my concern, and that includes assuming duties that are your privilege."-

-"But why not?"- Hitzok was somewhat surprised at Erma's response. -"I have never felt, to be honest, that you have tried at any time ursurp my functions since you are here in Ekosiak, and now you refuse to receive any kind of recognition for your work in destroying the bomb. Any other person, regardless of their rank or position, would be more than happy to have helped, even a little, in solving a situation of this nature. What's more, if it weren't for your help, we wouldn't be here talking to begin with, damn it!"-

Erma kept quiet for a few seconds, without answering Hitzok's questions

-"Why are you so interested in not being recognized, commander? Perhaps are you too modest, do you want to keep your privacy, or are you afraid of something that you don't even want to tell me, and you're just giving me the runaround?"-

-"Since you are not going to give me a break, I will tell you the truth:"- The Feline commander finally responded at the colonel. -"I am not here in Ekosiak by choice, my assignment to this planet is mostly punitive, after my actions in Derzon."-

-"Punitive, you say?"- Hitzok responded with dismay that the woman was in Ekosiak as a punishment and not simply because she had been assigned by chance. -"And why would they send someone who helped considerably in that battle here to Ekosiak? Did you do something that was not to the liking of your officers, commander?"-

-"Yes."- Erma turned away and responded with extreme bitterness to Hitzok. -"Being a woman."-

Considering that the Ekosiaki society was more liberal than in other planets, knowing that Erma had been sent to her planet for misogynist reasons was something that started to turn Onni Hitzok's stomach, knowing that the EDF decided to send that brave and intelligent woman to a very distant world just to prevent her from becoming an example for other women and to decide to follow her steps, and sending her to Ekosiak, hoping that Erma would rot there in a simple combat pilot training position, was something that for someone like Hitzok, who just a short time ago did not trust that foreign woman, could not even envisage.

-"This is... so... horrible..."- The colonel managed to say something, making an effort to avoid raising his voice more than necessary and calling the attention from the other people who were in the park. -"I never imagined that the EDF would get to that point of sending war heroes to other planets just to keep them from becoming a political liability, and more so for gender reasons."-

-"That's right."- Erma replied at the man. -"And regarding my reasons for not being recognized, you should know that my orders as a foreign EDF officer prevent me from legally participating in matters that concern local authorities, and considering the current political climate, any political party or authority that learns about my participation in the destruction of the bomb could use this against me and also against you, colonel."-

The colonel knew that Erma had some reason to keep her participation a secret, and any mention that a foreigner helped destroy the atomic bomb would cause protests among the population and also in the already sensitive political situation in Ekosiak. Unfortunately, because of what she said about her orders and her own political status that caused her to be sent there in the first place, there was not much either of them could do.

-"Damn, this whole thing really sucks..."-

-"I agree with you, Colonel, but look on the bright side: the very last thing I want is to be surrounded by journalists and have to give interviews almost every day, which would bring lots of issues to my work."-

-"I understand that, so forgive me if I can't be more helpful in resolving your dilemma, commander; like you, my hands are also politically tied to help you in any way I can."-

Erma smiled a bit after hearing that from the Colonel's own mouth, considering that the colonel didn't like her a few months ago.

-"Thank you for wanting to help me anyway, Colonel. I really appreciate that."-

-"It's the least I can do for a lady, Commander."-

Erma noticed that enough time had already passed, and that it was time for her to return to her apartment, so she began to say goodbye to the colonel.

-"Well, if you'll excuse me, Colonel, I have to get back to my apartment and get some sleep, I'll see you tomorrow."-

-"OK, see you later."-

But before leaving the park, Erma decided to say one last thing to Onni Hitzok before returning home.

-"I forgot to tell you this, but thank you so much in the party last night in getting that Lazlow guy off my back."-

-"Heh, heh,"- The Canine man said at his Feline guest, while laughing a bit. -"Like I said before, it's the least I can do for a lady."-

SD 195-12-06, Downtown Hicho (Erma's apartment) Planet Ekosiak I, 0800 hours

BEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEP!

That deafening sound came from the Net's acoustic system, which indicated that an urgent audio message needed to be heard, and that sound was heard all over the apartment where Erma lived. And about the already mentioned character, she was asleep at that moment, trying to deservedly rest after the events of the previous day, but that intense sound caused Erma to abruptly wake up, trying to know what was happening that would cause her to interrupt her sleep.

-"WHAT...THE... BLAZES... IS... GOING... ON... HERE?!"-

All that noise in her apartment caused Erma's fur and hair to bristle owing to the suddenness of the event, for she knew very well what that sound, under those circumstances, meant: Something very serious was happening that required her immediate attention.

-"NET!"- Erma yelled at the AI. -"From whom is that urgent message?"-

-"It's an emergency call from Colonel Onni Hitzok."-

-"The Colonel?"- The Feline girl surprisingly asked after hearing his name. -"Patch me through right away, please!"-

-"Understood, commander."-

Once Erma gave the order, the computer transmitted the voice of Colonel Hitzok, who sounded somewhat upset, but at the same time worried. And at the same time, there were voices in the background audio, which were more than evident that they did not come from the close-knit circle of that Ekosiaki man, but from other people, who were heard to be yelling furiously.

-"I'm sorry to have to wake you up like this, Commander, but we have a very serious situation over here: There's a big mob outside the gates of the Home Guard base, and they don't look friendly at all."-

-"A mob?"- The girl asked the Canine man. -"Just what is going on, and why are all that people protesting in front of the base?"-

-"I guess because you were asleep, you did not see the morning news: All these people are protesting against the presence of the EDF in Ekosiak, and considering what happened yesterday, they have more than enough reasons to be angry, because they consider that the presence and intervention of the EDF here was what caused all that incident."-

-"Oh, khai!"- Erma cursed loudly at Hitzok, since she didn't believe what she was hearing in that moment, and for a very good reason. -"How did the press find out about my involvement in solving the crisis?"-

-"I don't know, it is likely that there was some kind of media leak, and the local press is capitalizing on this as much as they can, causing the local population to turn against the EDF and the ConFed."-

As Erma listened to all this, she rose from her bed and started to get dressed as fast as she could. Meanwhile, she kept asking the colonel for details about the situation taking place outside the base.

-"Can you at least give me the current SITREP? (Situation Report)"-

-"Here it goes: According to my calculations, there must be over 2,000 people gathered at the base entrance. As a precaution, all access to the base is closed; as for the participants of the protest, they are quiet for the moment, but we have reports that some of them are armed, some with guns."-

-"Let's just hope things don't get any uglier than they already are. I'm getting ready to head to the base right now, and I trust you can control the situation before it gets out of hand."-

-"Don't worry, commander, at the moment, it doesn't seem that things are going to change any time soon, but we are going to need your presence as soon as possible. Over and out."-

Once Erma finished dressing in her uniform, and at the same time, bringing her service revolver with her, just in case, she prepared to leave her apartment as fast as her legs would allow her, so that she could go to the base and help Hitzok to hold that protest that was at the gates of that military site.

SD 195-12-06, EDF Home Guard Base (Gates), Hicho, Planet Ekosiak I, 0830 hours

NO MORE EDF! NO MORE CONFED! NO MORE EDF! NO MORE CONFED! NO MORE EDF! NO MORE CONFED!

The cries of the demonstrators asking for the exit of the EDF, and therefore of the ConFed, from Ekosiak were heard outside the base with increasing intensity. The only thing that prevented things from getting worse were the soldiers who were stationed at the entrance. As Hitzok had mentioned in his SITREP to Erma, several of the demonstrators were armed, which increased the tension between the soldiers, including Colonel Hitzok himself, who was among them to coordinate the current situation.

While all this was happening, Erma Felna arrived at the base from an aerodyne provided by the EDF that she took from a place down town and that Hitzok had sent in advance to pick up the woman and take her to the base, since the accesses to the place were sealed off, so the only way to get there was by air.

Once at the base, and seeing all that angry crowd, Erma sought further explanations from the colonel about what was happening at that time.

-"Has there been any change in the current situation?"-

-"So far, no, except that the protesters are getting more aggressive and they want to enter the base at will."- The coronel responded at the Feline woman. -"If things keep going like this, we'll have no choice but to use lethal force to stop them."-

Hearing that last part caused some unease in the woman: It was one thing to stop an aggressive crowd, and another thing was to shoot them, even if the reason they were protesting was legitimate; but unfortunately for Erma, she had no authority to contradict the colonel in those matters, except that she preferred not to take part in any case that involved shooting civilians, no matter what the reason.

-"In that case, I'd rather not get involved in this, Colonel. I'm not a fan on shooting civilians, even in cases like this, not to mention that I'm not authorized to use lethal force against foreign nationals without authorization."-

-"Don't worry, Commander, I will try to calm things down first, and hopefully we won't have to resort to violence to resolve this."-

And without saying anything else, Hitzok took a megaphone that was next to him, and accompanied by two armed soldiers at his side, went to the entrance of the base, and with the help of that device, began to speak directly to the demonstrators who were gathered outside the military compound.

-"This is a warning to all the protesters at the entrance to the base: I advise you to retire to your homes peacefully, and to put down your weapons. If you attempt to enter the site violently, we will be forced to use lethal force to defend ourselves. You have the right to demonstrate as you wish, but not in this way. Please, we don't want things to get any uglier than they already are."-

Unfortunately for the colonel, those words seemed to have the opposite effect, and the demonstrators began to insult Hitzok and all the members of the EDF, while the crowd began to act even more aggressively than it already was.

-"YOU AND THE WHOLE EDF ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT BOMB BEING IN THE CITY AND, WE'D BE BETTER OFF IF YOU IDIOTS GOT OUT OF HERE!"-

-"YEAH, AND YOU IDIOTS ARE A THREAT TO OUR PLANET, WE DON'T WANT YOU GUYS AROUND HERE ANYMORE!"-

-"NO MORE EDF! NO MORE CONFED! NO MORE EDF! NO MORE CONFED! NO MORE EDF! NO MORE CONFED!"-

The crowd began to throw stones and rubbish against the soldiers, who tried as much as possible to avoid them, although some projectiles hit the men. Hitzok, on the other hand, also received his share, but he skillfully avoided the stones that the people were throwing at him.

-"Colonel, what do we do?"- One of the soldiers asked him. -"They don't seem to want to listen to you."-

-"Stay calm, and do not lose sight of the crowd, we must see what is going on with all these people, but we must not allow them to enter the base for any reason."-

-"Yes, sir."-

But when things just couldn't get any worse at that point, the angry crowd outside the base began to move towards the interior of the site, no matter what might happen to them if they did. The fact that many of them were carrying firearms made many people emboldened to enter the base and try to attack the soldiers, whatever the consequences.

-"THIS BASE BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE OF EKOSIAK! LET'S GET ALL THESE INVADERS OUT OF OUR PLANET AT ONCE, AND TAKE BACK OUR WORLD!"-

-"YEAH!"-

Onni Hitzok, as he watched in horror as the protesters began to advance towards the base with the intention of violently entering the site, knew that he had to make two decisions: One bad and an ever worse one. The bad one was to either do nothing and let the protesters enter the base and cause destruction inside, not to mention the likely number of military casualties that could occur, or to flee the site to avoid attacking civilians. The worse one was to repel the aggression, even if it meant killing his own citizens, something the colonel was reluctant to do, considering that there were still many people who considered the man a hero for his participation in the solution of the nuclear crisis the day before.

But seeing that the situation had already worsened to a point at which it was no longer possible to settle it through words, Hitzok was forced, by the pressure of the moment, to make, to his own misfortune, the last decision that he had always feared having to resort to.

-"Damn it! All these people are going into the base, and if I don't do something to stop them, it's going to be the end for me."-

The colonel then signaled his men to be ready for the worst. He knew very well that they, as well as their superior, would not have wanted to resort to lethal force to settle the whole matter, but considering the suddenness of that incident, they had no other choice.

-"READY TO FIRE ON TRESPASSERS AT MY COMMAND!"-

-"Colonel! with all due respect, are you sure you want to do this?"- One of his men retorted the orders of the Canine man.

-"We have no other better choice!"- Hitzok yelled at that soldier. -"If we don't stop the protesters, they'll destroy the base and most likely try to kill us in the process!"-

-"Khai! I just can believe this!"-

Meanwhile, the rioters were only a few steps away from the checkpoint at the entrance to the homeguard base, while the colonel and his men, who were there, were pointing their guns at the crowd intending to shoot them if they came any closer to the place.

-"READY..."

-"Colonel, I hope you know what you're doing!"- Another soldier warned the colonel.

Hitzok ignored that warning, and continued with the order to shoot at the crowd, who were only a few feet away from him and his soldiers, who were armed and ready to act on the Colonel's orders.

-"AIM..."-

But before that whole volatile situation could have turned into a tragedy...

FWOOSH!

Suddenly, and without any warning, an aerodyne appeared out of nowhere, flying over the heads of the protesters from a safe distance for both the pilot and the crowd. Obviously, Hitzok wondered what was going on, for at no time was he aware of any flying vehicle flying over the vicinity of the base, nor had he authorized any takeoffs.

-"Where the blazes did that aerodyne come from?"-

Before the colonel could talk to the pilot of the aircraft, the aircraft used the thrusters of the vehicle in such a way as to create a cloud of dust on the ground and thus disperse the crowd, so that the latter would prefer to escape in the direction of the city before facing the aircraft directly.

And what until those moments everything seemed to end in a situation where it could have ended with several dead and wounded among the demonstrators, fortunately it ended in a more peaceful way, since the aggressors chose to flee before going on with their intentions of violently breaking into the base, which was a breath of relief for everyone, including the colonel and Erma, who was behind him in case the worst happened, which did not happen, for her fortune.

-"Hah, hah! As they say over there, I think they bite the dust, literally speaking."-

When Erma heard the voice of the pilot, who had used the loudspeaker of his vehicle to mock the protesters, Erma realized who was flying that aerodyne, and he was a very familiar person to her, perhaps too familiar for her own good.

-"DAEL VALDERZHA?"-

Indeed, it was that Mustelid that Erma had met at the party who had saved the day by preventing that protest from becoming a bloodbath for all concerned through the ingenious use of the aerodyne's thrusters, so that there would be no victims to lament if things had ended more violently.

But just when it looked like things were going to turn out quietly...

BANG!

It seems that one of the demonstrators, taking advantage of the chaos produced by the dust cloud, used his revolver to fire towards the base, and in a fortuitous and unexpected way, the bullet hit Colonel Onni Hitzok, who fell to the ground, knocked down by the impact of the projectile.

-"COLONEL!"-

Fortunately for that man, he was wearing a bulletproof vest that prevented the wound from being fatal, but this did not prevent that shot from causing serious injuries to his chest. Another thing that should be mentioned is that Hitzok did not lose consciousness, which allowed him to still give orders, even though he was wounded and bleeding from that shot.

-"I'M OK! I'M OK! I WAS JUST A SLIGHT INJURY, DAMN IT!"- The Canine man shouted to his men, while he was on the spot bleeding lightly, as if nothing had happened to him. -"I NEED TO TALK TO THE PILOT OF THAT AERODYNE, AND TRY TO KEEP THE CROWD DISPERSED, AND FOR WHATEVER ELSE YOU GUYS WANT, DON'T SHOOT UNLESS SOMEONE SHOOTS AT YOU, AND TRY TO FIND OUT WHO SHOT AT ME!"-

-"YES, SIR!"-

While this was happening, an emergency vehicle appeared, and without wasting any more time, took Colonel Hitzok to the military hospital for his immediate attention. Erma also accompanied the colonel to the hospital, while Hitzok's men were taking care of the situation by their own means; but by that time, everything seemed to be back to normal, as all the demonstrators had escaped, and considering what happened to the colonel, trying to find out who it was who shot him in a cowardly way during the confusion caused by Lt. Valderzha would have been an impossible task due to the chaos that still reigned in the surroundings so the soldiers of the base decided not to continue with the search for the person responsible for that gunshot.

SD 195-12-06, somewhere in Hicho, Planet Ekosiak I, unknown hour

-"Sir, I'm sorry to have to report that the attempted invasion of the base failed because of an unexpected problem we didn't consider in our plans."-

-"Yeah, I just read the news a few minutes ago."-

-"It's my responsibility that things didn't turn out the way you thought they would, and I'm willing to accept whatever punishment you want to impose on me for this failure."-

-"Nah, don't worry about it, things are going as planned, no more, no less."- A mysterious male voice replied. -"The invasion of the base was just a proper distraction that would have kept the EDF busy enough while we took care of the rest. The fact that they have not been able to enter the base in the end does not affect in the least the result we were looking for, and now things are going to get really interesting throughout Ekosiak. That is what really matters."-

-"I'm glad to hear that, sir."- The other mysterious voice responded. -"By the way, what about our friend?"-

-"You mean him?"- The second voice retorted. -"He's doing his part of the plan, just as we agreed, and he's going to get his reward in the same way. So far there has been no changes on his part worth mentioning, and he is very interested in what this might help his popularity."-

A brief pause was made in the conversation, as the topic about the third man in their plans was bothering the first voice.

-"To be honest, I never imagined that someone like him would be willing to do something like this for money, no matter how much chaos he might cause with his words."-

-"The same goes for me, but there are people who are even willing to kill in order to have even five minutes of fame, and this person doesn't seem to care who might be affected, while he gets all the recognition and credit for the situation."-

-"With all due respect, sir, do you think it's right for that man to keep all the fame, while we, who are behind all this, are left in the shadows?"-

-"Personally, I am not interested."- The second voice retorted. -"I have never been precisely a person who is interested in people admiring and loving me. We will get much more than fame and admiration if Ekosiak becomes independent from the ConFed, and so nobody is going to tell us what we can and cannot do with our planet."-

-"Indeed,"- The first voice responded. -"but there is one thing that I would also like to know, sir."-

-"What do you mean with the one thing stuff?"-

-"How much will the events from Chishata affect our plans?"-

Pause.

-"That is a good question."- The second voice responded to that question. -"Originally the plans were going to be somewhat more gradual, but due to what happened in Chishata it has forced me to have to hurry things up ahead of time."-

-"Don't you think that rushing things can be counterproductive if something goes wrong, sir?"- The first voice questioned the second, despite the latter seems to have a more authority over the former. -"You just have to see what happened to the base issue, and you have to take into account that there are several factors that it would not be wise to ignore, sir."-

-"You mean the colonel and that foreign commander from that backward place named Dornthant?"-

-"Yes, sir."-

-"With regard to Colonel Hitzok, I have the right person who can keep him busy while we work, and as for Commander Felna, apart from what she did in Derzon, I don't think she is a threat either, although It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on her to get to know a little more about that woman."-

-"But you know that she helped the colonel in destroying the bomb, sir, which not only means that she is not a stupid woman, but that she is a very capable woman and that we should not underestimate her."-

-"I know that, but I don't think she can do much either. Recall that, due to her condition as a foreigner, she cannot intervene much in internal affairs, and that whatever she needs to do here in Ekosiak, she would require the authorization from the local government in order to do anything else, and, considering the current political climate regarding our relationship with the ConFed, that would be very difficult for her to get. The fact that she is a woman also helps us a lot."-

-"Maybe you are right on that, sir."-

-"But in the meantime, we'll see how things develop, and depending on what happens, we may have to make some adjustments here and there. The important thing, first of all, is to avoid any kind of suspicion, and allow all this to continue naturally, and just add one or two things around so that things don't get out of hand."-

-"It will be done as you say, sir."-

END OF ACT XVI

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