GANG of HOPPERS
My brothers and I in the ZooKzin War
by Dori Hopps
Written by Dan Rush
(c) Zootopia 2016 Walt Disney Cooperation
Chapter 10
WAR!...why?
There is a well tendered and beautiful park on Peak Street on the great hill which most of downtown Zootopia sits upon. The grass is always thick but well groomed. Growing cherry trees and old Ginko trees stand in orderly columns to the left and right of the granite walk way that leads to the palisaded white marble dias at the very end. Atop a stone pedestal is the chiseled stature of a rabbit atop a dead lion who is grasping his rifle. The bunny lays on the lion's chest in agony, his tears forever flowing with water that flows over the statue to collect on a reflecting pool...
At the base of all of this is a black granite block with the words... "Never again." Once every year...all of Zootopia stops at noon to wail and mourn for the dead of a great catastrophe, a bloody hundred year war where our great fathers believed every predator and pray mammal was on the verge of extinction. The war against the "traditionalists" and the "Preservationalists" was called the great predatorial civil war. To us Zootopians today, it is more often called "The great dying".
Zootopians hate war, we detest such slaughter to the marrow of our bones. There are great swathes of the country in the northern lands above Tundra Town we can't use because they are so poisoned with the sciences of mammalian destruction that it would be worthless to try and make them livable. These patches of dead land full of unexploded ordinance and the still unburied remains of countless mammals stand as silent reminders to us of the utter waste of war. It took nearly two hundred years for our country to reach her current state where Predators and Pray mammals live together long shorn of our ancient bestial ways with things in place to prevent the return of those horrors of the past. We thought we had given the whole world a wonderful example of peace and harmony to follow...
Yet...tried as hard as we could...war had come upon us with its' brutality, its' murdering violence, its' uncaring lust to exact blood.
And if you think a simple country doctor and farm bunny could explain the "why" of it all. I'm afraid I'm a poor historian but I'll try my best not to make a mess of the cause.
The Kzinti some say, and I wouldn't disagree with the proposed dissertations of many of our historians, are the oldest organized society of mammals in our world. They probably pre-date the Wolves of Rome ,who were the existing power before the Great War in what became Zootopia, by hundreds of years at the least.
The Wolves of Rome, known as the Great Lupinian Roman Empire, were some serious butt kicking canines...till they tried to invade Kzin twice. The first time they tried? They ran into a great sea storm that wiped out their invasion boats. The Kzinti called that storm their divine wind or "Kamikaze", the great paw of the Kzinti war gawd who sent the wolves to hell. The second time the wolves tried to invade Kzin...well let's just say I don't want to know what canine taste like with tangy teriyaki sauce. The ancient Kzinti were some serious bad asses with swords and arrows, their hero who fought against the second invasion was a double sword swinger named "Mushi-Kin"...talk about a ten foot tall walking food processor. The statue I seen of him on the beach where the invasion was attempted still makes me cringe when I visit on medical group trips.
What started all this mess between Zootopia and Kzin that led us to the first assault on October 18, 2040? Different societies for one thing and fish for another. The short explanation is..."We were different, the Kzinti elites viewed Zootopia as full of scum and vermin and when you have scum and vermin in your house? You need to wipe them out."
Told you I suck at explaining history. Kzin was a stranger to us and its' behavior to us was foreign and bizarre. They were a homogenous mammalian nation, that is they were all tigers across the three great islands that made up their nation with one language, one culture, one history and all of a single mind. They were predators of course and the prey mammals that inhabited the Kzin home islands were "stupids" or "Dum dums" bred and raised as meat stock or if they were "smarties" they were kept "dim witted" to be used as slaves or as sports gaming stock and "soup stock" when their time ran out...which was always brutally short as they were worked to death or killed for sport and whim.
Kzin has always been a "martial nation", their national discipline in everything from family life to education to industry to military is amazing! Their ability to adapt and overcome situations as a family of mammals is just astounding The resulting war devastated the country but in five years they brought it back as if there had never been a war. A Kzinti doctor friend of mine calls it "Gagoko-sai" or "One claw, One spirit, One soul." I certainly got enough "Gagoko-sai" in places like Roya and the Out backs. I think it says a lot when, even though you trashed the whole country, the trains still managed to run on time, every day. Some of them looked like patch work quilts but they still ran even in the midst of fighting in the towns and villages. And the "peasant stock" of Kzin who's lives seemed to matter so very little to the "upper crusts" of the society went about their lives in the midst of the fighting around them with little complaint and a hell of a lot of spirit. To a bunny Marine trying not to end up on a meat stick, their behavior was bewildering one minute and wonderous even admired in the next.
The Kzinti were self-isolationists from the rest of the mammal world for centuries, considering themselves to be both "Purity as predators and purity as a societal whole" they resisted foreign influences and cultures...especially any that were "mixed" such as Zootopia. They had a very vibrant trade with other mammal nations, even whole pray or predator nations like "Bore-neo" and "Fox mundy Island", but to prevent potential contamination of their society, the Kzinti conducted all trade on the a mammal made Island off the capital city of Tokaydo in Tokusai Bay. But if you were a mixed Predator and Pray nation that lived in harmony like Zootopia or The Outbacks or Madagascar? You were scum to be avoided.
All our troubles with Kzin began around 80 years before the war started and it started with a simple collision between a Zootopian and Kzinti fishing boat out in the Great Eastern Sea. The story goes that they hit each other in the fog and the Kzinti set upon our fishing boat and slaughtered the whole crew...slaughtered as in ate most of them. They sent the boat to a grounding on Sahara Beach with the captain's (a pig)head on a pike and an otter roasted and half eaten on a spit. The warning they left us was simple..."don't bother us and don't encroach on our waters or else."
It was decided by the City Counsel that a peace party be sent to the Kzinti to "patch up mis-givings" well...the peace party got ate. The leader of the delegation, a female gazelle, was roasted alive on radio and the sounds of her devouring filled all of Zootopia with fear.
That's when Alfred Thayer Mayhoof (a goat) called for the creation of the Naval and Fleet Marine arm to defend Zootopia from what he called "A clear and grave threat". Sooner or later the Kzinti would "come a calling" and turn us into a giant meat storage locker and we should not make the "check out" process easy for them. So we built a Navy and stood up a Fleet Marine force and I guess the Kzinti did the same after our first clash with them happened around fifty years before the war when one of our destroyers came face to face with one of theirs. One of the five inch gun mounts from the "ZND Flying Fox" sits in memorial park. The battle was called a draw but looking at how bad the "Fox" got her tail mauled you wondered what a naval "draw" actually looked like.
So about fourty years before the war...the Kzinti took a hard turn towards the nationalist / superior species way of thinking. Where once they might have "tolerated" countries like Zootopia with disgust? now they were fired up with zealot hate for us. We were Tengoku ni "tsubawohaku" (spit upon heaven) "Kami ni taisuru itsudatsu-sha" (Deviants against gawd) and "Shizen no fuketsuna henshitsu-sha. (Filthy perverters against the ordained order of universal harmony)
Communion. compromise and tolerance were no longer possible. Kzin set about on a huge arming program. Their goal was to restore the rightful thinking of predator domination and pray submission. "One world under a Kzinti roof or Chitsujo no kujin hito no yane no shita ni aru 1tsu no sekai.From that point to the start of the war...every Zootopian was marked for death, disembowelment, dismemberment and devourment...every child, adult and elderly of every species was to be put to the sword.
Incident upon incident piled up over the remaining years with the Kzinti getting more aggressive against our fishing fleets and "showing their teeth" near the shores of our friends. We prepared for the obvious though we continued to try peace overtures, we didn't want a damn war! Hell the whole population practically turned out for anti-war demonstrations which we sent to the Kzinti by radio and television signals, everyone pleaded for peace! We would have done everything short of losing our rights to fish in the Great Eastern Sea or surrender to the Kzinti, we harbored nothing aggressive towards them but their war lords smelled blood and liked the scent a lot I guess.
The war masters of Kzin, feeling their time had come, had decided on the time and date to unleash hell upon the mammal world and they presented their cryptic script to the Great Kzin for his blessing. Now according to the ancient Kzinti Constitution, His majesty the Great Kzin was secluded from the affairs of courts and politics because he was a spirit figure...father and living gawd of all Kzinti...thus normal and every day politics were too dirty to soil his great paws with so the weights of life were handled by the Imperial Privy Counsel (Six females and six males, three military and three civilians per side) The only way his majesty could have any powers of decision was if the Privy counsel was dead locked six to six and the emperor was the tie breaker.
The day they chose to attack us...there was only unanimous agreement. Zootopia should be wiped from the earth. The Great Kzin could only make his feelings known in a complex poem called a Reikosei (Ray-Koe-Say) the simple translation being..."I am uneasy that we venture into the unknown wearing a blind fold but let us be successful"...or something like that. It's hard for me to decipher Kzinti.
October 18th 2040 was of course...only the start of things but it was a brutal start. The majority of the rockets fell on downtown zootopia, the final death toll from that day was over two thousand Mammals killed and over 3,000 wounded or maimed for life. The destroyer Gnu York lost with her whole crew, The destroyer Growler heavily damaged, The assault carrier Sayoni damaged and out for a month under repairs. Rockets fell everywhere but the tri-burroughs. No one needed emphasis to rush to the recruiting stations or run to the great factory and shipyard complex in Tundra Town. "Peacenik" or "patriot", every mammal felt their worth had dropped to "frozen food" level and every tooth and tail was fricken full of angry piss about it.
Surely more rockets were going to hit and right after that? The Kzinti would land on our shores and every Zootopian would have to fight or die. Predator and Pray shared a common feeling..."They won't eat you before they kill me." You saw it in every snoot and eye that you passed.
Lucky for us however...our great fathers in their wisdom saw where the future lay and they put all their trust and security not in a great surface navy but in a fiendish and silent fleet of murderous drone subs called "Threshers" and "Thesians"
They sat quietly in our ports around Zootpia, under the waters in our shallow rivers or on cradles in the waters around our various friendly neighbors waiting to hopefully never receive their signals by communications satellites to go out and hunt their prey. On october 18th, 2040...the signals were sent and these un-mammal'd steel sharks of death went prowling.
The "Thesians" were twenty rocket boats armed with ten Regullas Mark Six boat to shore missiles, each packing a 2,000 high explosive percussion charge that when they arrived above their intended target? They would detonate an airborne charge that would flatten to a pancake anything below it. Unlike their un-guided rocket bombs, ours were pin point accurate. They targeted vital military based things like factories, power-plants, bridges, ports, fuel depots, army bases. Between three big islands, there was "plenty of hell" to spread all over the place.
The "Threshers" were pure ship killers armed with these absolutely diabolical torpedoes called "MARK 48's" 1000 pound ship killers armed with computer brains. The first Kzinti ships to face their wrath was in fact an invasion fleet of transport ships guarded by a task force of destroyers and huge "Mammal's of War" sporting enormous guns that made our destroyers look like chew toys...
Except submarines don't make good chew toys...they make flaming wrecks and that's what happened to that Kzinti task force. They wisely chose not to send another our way. But they sent plenty of their rockets. They had an ungawdly amount of rockets.
Two days after their first barrage, they sent another 300 rockets against Tundra Town for obvious reasons...the big shipyard and the factories. The "gun bunnies" were stationed up there with their long barrel 105 millimeter "Long Tom" cannons and they put up one hell of an early morning rain of steel as the rockets came in. About a hundred got through to slam down on Tundra Town proper, the shipyard and a smelter plant killing over a hundred mammals.
On October 24th, 2020 they launched a huge swath strike at night on Tundra Town, Downtown, Savanna Central, Rain Forest and the Canal District. Living like moles and foxes became our "new normal" because for the moment there was nothing we could do to strike back...at least not until whatever comprised the Kzinti Navy was neutralized or frightened to stay put in its own home waters. We realized the rockets were being fired from two locations...Roya Island in the Northern part of the Great Eastern Sea and Maloelop Atoll in the South. That's where we now put all the emphasis with our attack drone subs...to cut the supply lines to those two islands and choke them to death. The only problem for us being? The Kzinti were fantastic at anti-submarine warfare. We lost all twenty Threshers by mid-November and replacements couldn't come fast enough...
That is until the Kzinti unleashed their more powerful V-2 rocket with a 3,000 pound warhead. Now they could reach the Tri-Burroughs and they hit Bunny Burrough on November 20th, 2040. They hit our family farm! Thank Frith our family had moved up to the hills of Aden and were not there but the sight of our childhood warren house turned into a pile of shattered wood put all of us in a tiger hating rage.
If we rabbits weren't super upset enough before all this madness? We were super upset now. Now the Kzinti had made it "fursonal as all fluck" and every rabbit wanted revenge. You have millions of bunnies from elderly cane walkers to baby faced teens showing up asking.."Give me a rivet gun or just give me a gun and get the hell out of my way."
You want to know how Zootopia could build up a fleet of ships and submarines? Produce thousands of guns, belts, socks, bullets, backpacks, drones, shells, cannons and anti-tank rounds so fast that your head will spin into orbit? Pissed off, work till you drop rabbits! Want to see what an ant colony looks like "super sized"? Well watch 300,000 rabbits work twenty four hours a day, seven days a week to put an eight inch gunned heavy cruiser in the water in two weeks.
We wouldn't be capable of mounting a successful operation to stop the Kzinti rocket barrages for at least six months so for six months we all lived like moles in our basements, in the subway tunnels, in the hills and in shelters all over Zootopia. Many mammals fled into the wild North Country thinking it was better to risk being attacked by "dum dum" predators then be blown to bits by flying bombs.
School continued in bunkers and "in the field" as each attack was sure to give us "live teaching tools" to hone our medical skills. Linzi and her family went to live with Judy and Nick at their retirement cottage in Aden, I'll always be thankful to them two for taking Linzi and the others in when they didn't have too.
Toshiro and myself found a covered trench hootch to exist in for the rest of school with two other "room mates", an otter named "Therowok" and a female rabbit named "Joslin" who was thankfully not bashful when it came to our living conditions. We used a 55 gallon plastic drum for a bath tub. Shared the latrine cleaning duties, really fun...I'm lying my tail off and took rotations staying awake at night so all the others could be warned that rockets were on their way. And as it became routine? We tried to dig ourselves to the other side of the world every time the rockets came raining down. We spent our spare time when possible to "house" up our dirt ditch with "Go-me stuff" and any debris we could use to make the hole a house and by the end of November 2040, we had quite a cozy pad to snuggle in...as cozy as you can make a dirty, often muddy, hole in the ground.
The first week of December, the night of the 6th and 7th to be exact. It wasn't rockets that rained down on Zootopia but naval shells! The Kzinti fleet got "huge tiger balls" and parked a line of monster ships twenty five miles off our coast and they shelled the snit out of us for three hours!
Hearing whistling artillery shells is one thing...hearing massive eighteen and fourteen inch naval shells coming at you and over you is a nightmare. You hear them punching through the air with these loud thumping shock waves...
"Woom...woom...woom...woom..."
And then at the last few seconds before impact? They shreek! They growl and then they explode and anything at least seventy yards or less from the impacts ends up shredded wheat.
The damage from the impact explosions was huge! The surprise naval assault wrecked Sahara Square, damaged the Tundra Town shipyard, obliterated the Medical Center and set all of downtown Zooopia on fire, adding to the heaps of ruin already suffered by everyone!
They didn't catch the assault ship Sayoni in port thankfully, she was off the coast of South Savanna and her drones did the best they could against what were described as monster warships with huge gun turrets!
The Destroyer Savanna was caught trying to get out of Sandy Point Naval Station. She blew up at the mouth of the channel and only twenty two of her seven hundred plus crew survived. She rolled over, sank and blocked the channel for months.
Guess that was a clear indication that we needed more submarines. We all faired the best we could in those early and desperate months of the war. We would hear of little victories on the radio and watch the reports on television when it was available on our smart phones. Our submarines made the difference between a constant rain of hell and having small periods of peace where we could unwind and stretch out to get the jitters out of us. I don't mind saying that the bond between me and Toshiro got more tighter than with my brothers, I never had such a close affection for a fox...don't twist it up "sickos" it wasn't like that. When we could, we went tearing over the athletic field at night in feral form playing "Predator and Pray", nothing got the fear and stress out better than running your tail off and getting body slammed and tackled over the grass to a false kill and a comfort snuggle. We would lay in the snappy chill of the night together with me curled up inside Toshiro's curled body looking up at the stars or talking about deeply personal things we promised not to tell others about. My brothers ribbed me constantly about "Nasty fox tail sex" for which I gave out quite a few busted lips and black eyes for. There were times we had to be there for the other when things got overwhelming. Toshiro cried for his parents and I cried for my Dad's ever worsening condition or for family members I too lost. Not one I knew closely, it's hard to keep track of some 1000 plus rabbits in your family but I cried none the less.
End of medical training
March 12, 2041
Medical school ended without fanfare, without a graduation, with no ceremony at all. Just a fancy certificate, a set of orders and a quick "Now get out there you bums and do your job." Sort of hurry. There were no guarantees that me and my brothers would be posted to the same unit, even Owens voice when I called to tell him I graduated sounded full of doubt. I called Linzi to tell her I was going to School of Infantry at Quanaco and I wanted her to come down and see me but I dreaded for her safety. "Shut up and just say yes." She said. I knew she would come regardless.
Our last night together in our "Hooch" was spent wasting the remaining bottle of my Dad's mash and things got emotional between Toshiro and myself. If parting from my brothers even for a brief stint in school was small painful toleration...being separated from Toshiro was utter agony. We both feared for the other as we got ready to step out into the unknown apart, he was going to the 1st Marine Division, myself to the newly commissioned 2nd Division nicknamed "The Iron Brigade" under General Bugs himself. I heard he stood out in the open during the Kzinti naval bombardment testing the wind with his finger as if he could judge where the shells were going to land and said to his aide de camps...
"You know? This means war...and a lot of Tiger wall rugs. And boys? Business is going to be very profitable."
There were always thoughts that General Bugs was a bit loose in his screws. The 2nd Division was posted in the Southeast corner of Quanaco Marine Base in Savanna Central. I was assigned to 3rd Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd ID or 3/1/3/3/2ID now please say that snit ten times fast while standing on your head. Of course when not involved in exercises or maneuvers, I would be posted at the base medical center doing things like pharmacy work or lancing foot boils on Marines who'd marched their butts off or...excuse me...working the "BDS Six" special, meaning...swabbing mammals for STD (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) when they didn't take good advice and went screwing "Wool" out in the "Haunch", the "red light" district party zone where Marines went to go nuts. You ever handled a "drippy dick" horse? Trust me, not a fun thing for a medical bunny at all!
I reported to the 2nd Division on March 18th 2041 and got picked up from the administration hut by a Lace Corporal who took me to the fenced compound of the 3rd Company. It was the standard of the time, all the quarters were in bunkers no different from our school hooch. It was a mixed mammal company of course yet most seemed to cluster in hooches just for their species save a few.
The Lance Corporal took me to the "Skipper's" office and led me into the bunker where a rabbit stood looking out of the only window in the place...
"Hey Sarge? Our "Doc" is here? Is the Captain around the compound?" The Hyena asked.
"He's out but I'll take him." The burley bunny said with a wave of a paw. The Hyena backed out and I pulled my orders packet from my duffle bag...
"Medical Corps-mammal Hopps reporting for assignment Sargent." I said as I extended my paw with the orders.
"What makes you think you're even good enough to be here you little dick face?" The Sargent snorted at me. "You look like a prissy momma's boy."
Oh...I got hot believe me..."I wish to speak to my superior officer with all due respect Sargent!"
"I am your superior...you little snit." The bunny turned around and there was Owen! "Come here you wayward bastard!"
The others came running through the entry flaps and bowled me over! "You did it!" I screamed with joy! "Why the hell didn't you tell me Owen you big prick!"
"Thought the surprise would be better enhanced. Welcome back to the brood brother." Owen said as I got snuggled to death. I wasn't completely unprepared as I pulled a pack of vanilla wafers for Nori...
"You are a saint." Nori said as he kissed me on the cheek. "Now let us look at you "Door Door" Nori said as he stood rubbing my shoulders. "You just don't know how I feel...how we feel about having you back. Especially as a Doctor."
"Well I'm not a doctor "Bear Bear" I replied. "Just a technical specialist if you want to get all "science" about it."
Powen rubbed my shoulder..."And Linzi? Is she all right?"
"Yeah." I replied. "Spent all day yesterday with her. I have to re-submit my request though...I think it got lost."
"The request for her or the one for the fox?" Ori giggled.
"Are you giving him enough Caster Oil Owen?" I asked. "So? My orders say Captain Oakley? What's he like?"
"Awesome." Nori snorted. "Totally awesome. Though he's still a "bootie" out of the academy you'll like him. Good stock rabbit, expects the world out of us but treats us fair and square."
"We're nicknamed "Rattle back" company, all orphans from all over the base thrown together on the fly in all the confusion when the snit went down last October. But we gel'd together and got assigned to the same unit.
A burley Gray March Hare came through the entry flaps and Owen belted out..."SKIPPER ON DECK!"
"At ease." Captain Oakley said with a paw wave. He was young, a rabbit of twenty three with gray fur, white tufts and a khaki brown head tuft. He still had a babyish kitten face with soft green eyes. He was imposingly big, as all March Hares, are yet he spoke with a care and confidence fitting to his responsibilities.
Authors note: Captain Nimmo Oakley is a character in honor of the late River "Oakley" Ninno of Camden, Arkansas, a 5 year old with cancer who dreamed of becoming a United States Marine. He passed away June 25, 2019 with the honorary rank of Marine Colonel.
"So this is the complete set? Dori our new "Doc" I assume?" Captain Oakley asked.
"Yes Sir!" I replied as I pass him my orders packet. I stood before his desk as the Captain reviewed the brief sheet...
"Fifth out of top ten in the class...excellent." The Captain said. "Sargent Hopps?"
Owen snapped to attention. "Sir?"
"One problem Sargent?" The Captain said. "Why is he still dry?"
My brothers quickly snatched me up! "WHAT THE HECK?!" I squealed as Owen ran to the entry flaps and pulled them open!
"FRESH MEAT! SERVICE!" Owen snapped and I was struggling and really pissed where my brothers tossed me into the arms and paws of two Marine wolves!
"GNAH! SON OF A BITCH IN HELL!" I screamed. "OWEN?! YOU GUYS! I'M GONNA KICK ALL YOUR BUTTS!"
I was carried to the center of the encampment, stripped of my clothes...save my underwear...and dipped into a 55 gallon drum...
of barbecue sauce.
Then I was promptly returned to Captain Oakly's bunker and set on my feet dripping...stickly...uncomfortable...and very pissed off.
"Welcome to Rattleback Company "Doc". Everybody has to go through our little initiation. Have to give the Kzinti something to take their minds off more important things...like fighting and staying alive. We thought BBQ sauce smell would be a good diversion tactic."
I looked at my smiling brothers and growled..."You fluckers."
"Gonna be hell getting that stuff off you." Nori snickered. "But it's great to have you with us again "Door Door".
I spent three hours scrubbing the snit out of myself to get clean. I'll be honest...if this sauce was a home made company brand? It certainly tasted good with rabbit. Yeah I licked it too, how else was I going to get it out of all the stupid places it got into!
By the time I came out of the shower and found where my brothers were shacked up they had already put away my things and arranged everything for me...including a thought from home, twin little stuffed bunnies sewn together to look like Mom and Dad.
Owen was the only one who'd get messages or letters from our Mom concerning Dad, my mom felt it best since Owen was the first and the strongest of constitution in our brood to handle the ups and downs related to Dad's worsening condition.
"How's Dad Owen?" I asked as I felt the stuffed dolls in my paws.
"All this crap isn't helping that's for sure." Owen replied. "Paw's gotten worse...lucid some times...full on feral and mean the next. Momma has to leash him up at night to keep him from bolting when things get crazy...flucken feline bastards."
Owen looked at me..."I know, I know...it's not all felines ok? But the most important thing for all of us is the here and now. Keep ma and Pa in your heart and keep your mind set to your work. Frith knows I have to keep an eye on the other three, I shouldn't worry about you. So how's your girl?"
"She's alright. Judy and Nick took her and her parents in along with all of uncle Fennick's family. Crapes in hell what a damn way to enjoy retirement. At least they didn't loose Jackson and his wife. Are they still planning a formal ceremony?"
"One of the bright spots for our family." Owen replied. "They want to do it for Paw's sake as soon as possible. Jackie's asked us to be sword crossers on the arch way but that's only an officer tradition."
"I think tradition can be tossed when we're talking about a Mammal of Honor recipient." I replied. I wrapped an arm around Owen and pulled him close..."So? How's "Top Sargent" fitting you?"
"I'm not the "top, top" Just the fire team Sargent...me, Powen, Ori, Nori and three other gun bunnies. We "gel"." Owen grabbed my paw. "We're all happy as hell that you're with us again brother, especially Nori...Prince Rabbit he's been one unbearable prick."
I laughed..."I'm sure he still growls over you being bossy too. Am I allowed to turn in early?"
"Can't see why not. This isn't boot camp." Owen said as he rubbed my head tuft. "We're still training hard core so it's up at four am and out the door for field chow and nuck cracking. But the Captain likes to finish early in the afternoon so we can spend time cleaning gear and shooting snit..."
"BEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOO...BEEEEEEOOOOOOOO..."
The "Big Mouth" sounded loud over out heads...
"ALERT! ALERT! ROCKET BARRAGE INCOMING! ROCKET BARRAGE INCOMING! TAKE SHELTER! TAKE SHELTER!"
Owen grabbed my paw and pulled me along! "Come on! There's a first aid "ruck" pack in the main shelter!"
We ran through the encampment to a berm of earth and rock where the company had a bomb shelter built with a thick granite dome buried under feet of earth and boulders!
We came through the ballistic flaps where Marines were sitting on the floor and on benches away from the walls in combat helmets and flack jackets...
"Door, Door!" Nori yelped as he ran up and threw a helmet on my head..."Here you go. Here's your medical "ruck". Get this on too..."
"You've really missed me." I said smirking at Nori. "I'm so touched."
Nori snatched me by the flak jacket. "Same, same. You stay on my ass. You stay and don't wander off."
"Sheesh "Bear, Bear" at least provide cheese and wine on this date." I huffed.
"I told you once before." Nori said seriously. "You're our Doctor and you're my responsibility so don't crack lips on me."
Nori sat me down on the floor by Captain Oakley and another medic, a Honey Badger named Matty Broadrick from Savanna.
"Welcome to the Hotel Tail fluck." Matty said as he held out his paw.
"Charmed." I snickered back. "So when does cocktail hour start?"
Matty laughed. "We're going to get along great. So are you as wild as your brothers?"
"Nah." I said waving a paw. "I'm the sheltered one they try to hide from the debauchery."
The "thumps" and "whumps" started around us...far off detonations so far, nothing to hit the roof over. And who's his usual self? Powen, sitting in the middle of the room reading a poetry book of all things with his usual droppy eye lids and placid looks as he and another Marine shared ideas. I had to chuckle at him...
"Nerd." I snickered.
"What's there to "wig out" over?" Powen said. "Just so long as it ends quickly if it comes, there's not much else we can do and complaining about it wastes mental energy."
"Good for you to think that way." Matty said. "It's hard for us honey badgers to sit still for five seconds let alone how long this barrage is gonna last. Please don't mind me if I start having hissy fits and growls there Dori. It's only natural right?"
"I thought honey badgers were always pissed off?" Nori snorted.
"Better "off" than "on". The reputation about us being always pissed off is a myth. I can get along with any mammal..."
KABOOM!"
The whole bunker shook so hard that pieces of granite flew from the dome roof!
"Fluck!" Matty huffed. "That one hit our compound?! Oh if it hit my hooch I'll be fricken pissed!"
"Myth re-enforced?" I said with a raised paw finger.
"Is everyone alright?!" Captain Oakley asked. "No doubt that was a close slam Marines. Everyone all right? Paws up Marines!"
Everyone in the bunker answered back as the Captain walked around, patted helmets, said words of encouragement...he wasn't even afraid to hug when it was needed...
"No need to say sorry." He said to a lioness. "Everyone lets it go at the worst time..."
"No kidding." A young lion said as he waved his paw before his nose. "Damn it...Now I'm gonna be hard as hell for the rest of the night. You must be in heat?"
"You come near me and I'll stick my claws in your throat." The female Marine lioness growled.
"Ok...calm it and zip it." Oakley said. We were in the bunker for an hour before the all clear sirens went off. And as we thought...a nice V-1 2000 pounder did slam our compound...
"Frick." Owen huffed. "Every hooch is a fricken mess..."
I picked up the remains of the stuffy that looked like Dad. The drop was close enough to destroy our hooch. I lost it, I just fricken lost it...stomped off all upset and beat the snot out of an offending water barrel with a steel pipe! After five minutes worth of swinging and swearing my tail off...I flopped to the ground and just sat there all droopy ears and blubbering lips holding my torn up "Daddy doll." I wanted to fight back! Do something to feel like we were at least putting up a stiffer resistance to them. Just wasn't the time yet.
Some tough "Jar head" bunny I was...sitting in the dirt sobbing my tail off...
But you know my better half doesn't wait long. Nori sat behind me and gently place his head on my shoulder...
"You ok?" He asked. A warm and gentle snuggy from your favorite brother makes everything vanish...if but for a little while...
"Yeah..." I replied, taking a long slow breath, "That needed to come forth. I just wanted to take my frustrtions out on something instead of some mammal."
"I'm always your favorite punching bag you know?" Nori said, smiling at me. "Beating empty fuel drums is not as much fun as beating up a big burley rabbit who can easily take your punches. Storage drums don't talk too, lousy conversationalists."
I giggled..."Sometimes when you talk? It sounds worse than nails on a school blackboard." I said as I gently rubbed Nori's cheek.
"I know...I'm a douche bunny." Nori replied as he stood up. "Come on...let's get our hooch cleaned up so you can get your beauty sleep dreaming of fox tails!...your true love. We still have to be up by four so we might as well grab sleeping bags and stay in the open."
We cleaned up the encampment as best we could for the night and spent our time sleeping around a bivoac fire in feral form just in case we all needed to haul tails and ass again.
And in the distance...the artillery rabbits were slamming away on the coast against another incoming rocket volley. Just how many of those things did the Kzinti have?! But you know? I actually slept well with all that troubling noise...then again when you're huddled in warm fur and loving "pets" and embraces...it's hard not to sleep safe and sound.
March 20, 2041
Kzinti Brief Sheet
Surrender vs. Capture
The Kzinti respect warriors, that is, if they capture a mammal in the midst of combat who fought them to the last moment and survived, the Kzinti generally look upon such mammals with favor. Even in the case of a pray mammal, if taken prisoner after a valiant fight...such mammals will not be eaten or killed but may expect some measure of good treatment by their captors.
Surrender and cowardice however are looked upon by Kzinti with scorn. Prisoners taken by surrender will surely be killed and devoured. Cowards are treated like excrement. A mammal taken in the act of cowardice in the face of the Kzinti will face torture before death, often such mammals are considered too filthy to be eaten and unworthy of a decent burial.
"So? It's better to go down like a bastard." I said as I sat during the company briefing.
"We only get these trickles of information about the Kzinti but this is about the size of it." Captain Oakley said. "Sorry to be so blunt to you all. Obviously surrender is not an option and cowardice before the enemy is a death sentence. General Bugs says it would serve a coward better if they were put out of their misery before the Kzinti snatched them up."
The Captain passed around some papers to us..."Here's the lowdown of what we know so far about them from their invasions of the Outbacks and Madagascar. Looks like infantry wise...we have the "one up" on them when it comes to our hand weapons. Most of their rifles are bolt action, ours are gas operated cyclic re-loaders. Their machine guns take four tigers to service, ours take two mammals. Their mortar tubes are not equal to ours. Basically? we're pretty evenly matched if you take into account the Kzinti themselves. Brute Tiger force will more than cover their material deficiencies. And expecttheir weapons to match their size...for some of us...you should understand what getting hit by one of their rounds will do.
The Captain waved another sheet in his paw. "If you are captured by the Kzinti? Keep resisting, put up a brave front, Do whatever you can to convince the Kzinti you're not worth killing and eating. We don't know of course how they'll treat prisoners." Captain Oakley looked around at every one..."I imagine that if they found you to be of some use to them? Those of you who have a useful skill set? They would fit you into it.
"I want to talk of course of them...if we take them as prisoners. Now? I'm not sure how Kzinti society views capture of their kind, I am sure for them it will be an intolerable thing to bear which means if we take prisoners? We must be very careful because to save their honor, they might prefer to commit suicide and take a bunch of us with them. I will not...absolutely will not condone nor allow any of you in this company to abuse, disrespect or kill without sanction any prisoner that comes into our paws. Illegal killing of prisoners of war is a court martial offense and I don't give a damn for your personal feelings or moores would be. Kzinti prisoners will be treated with kindness...is that understood?"
We all looked at each other then sounded begrudged back at the Captain. He took a big long sigh back...
"I understand how you all feel right now, we're all in the same snit storm. Some of you have lost family...some lots of family. Your homes have been bombed, you're tired, you're angry and you want to chew tiger ass but we can't lower ourselves to primal feral bastards, Zootopia is not like that and we don't want it like that. When we go on the offensive, the whole purpose is to unleash a huge can of whoop ass on these tigers and get them to stop as soon as we can with as much force as we can throw but we're not out to wipe them off the planet. A little hate is well and good but not when it's out of control...that's going to get a lot of you uselessly killed. Do you all understand me?"
We all took a moment to think...the Captain was making good sense...
"Now as far as I am able to tell you...depending on how bad these rocket assaults continue...the time table still says six months from October of last year to our first offensive and trust me the factories and the shipyard in Tundra Town are humming like mad to meet the time table but we may have to endure more punishment. The brass believe that the Kizinti won't try a full on invasion of Zootopia by continued attacks by the "Tiger Express" out at sea may continue. High command is going to do their best to blunt every attack but there's no promises."
The Captain walked around the Company rubbing heads and patting shoulders. "Marines? We're all we have right now as a family unit. All of you precious and it's going to take each of us to get the others home. We'll get through this snit if you keep that in mind "Rattle Backs" we are a family, we're Zootopians, we're a herd and those Tigers are ass holes looking to pick off the little sick ones. What do we do as a herd? We rally up, circle and kick some snit...do we reach or what?"
"SIR YES SIR!" We screamed back!
"Rack Backs! Ooh Rah?!"
"RAH, RAH! TOOTH EN CLAW SIR!" We screamed back!
Captain Oakley nodded his head. "Very well then Rattlebacks. Dismissed. Let's keep coiled and wait for the spring and then? Let's give those tigers a piece of our mind. Dismissed."
end of chapter 10