AN: Thank you for your patience, and for the feedback as always.
Cozy Evening
1545 Hours, Early Fall 5th, 1994 (Local Time) Corneria City, CDSS
The bell rang across the intercom system of the Corneria District Secondary School. Teenagers rushed out of classrooms, chatting loudly with one another as their backpacks swung. Hoverboards and lightcycles raced out of the parking lot, parents pulled up to the curb to pick up their kids, busses slowed to a crawl and let the freshmen board. It was a sunny day with clear blue skies, and Logan was clutching his bruised jaw.
"I'm not sparring with you anymore," the human muttered darkly to the much too pleased lynx beside him, "That spin kick of yours is a nightmare."
She elbowed him playfully, "Cry some more, dude."
Jones worked his jaw with a sigh, the tightness wearing off as the pair of them started the walk home. He idly thought about just how clean the main streets in downtown Corneria City were, the grey and white architecture sweeping across the skylines as multicolored crowds filtered along the roadways. Back home the concrete and steel utilitarian design most human inner cities featured was a much more drab comparison.
He lost his train of thought as a skunk girl with glasses passed him carrying some books on obsolete computers. He was still having a hard time resisting the urge to double take when a humanoid silhouette turns out to be an exotic alien. Still, he was the alien here, after all.
"Fay's gonna meet us back home, we can do this week's homework so the weekend's free."
"Cool, I guess the others are doing their own thing?"
Miyu rolled her eyes.
"Fox and the birdbrain are probably racing again, Fara and Katt might come by after."
"Sounds like I'm outnumbered."
"I promise we won't eat you, dude."
Jones couldn't help but crack a smile, even with his bruised jaw. The pair had settled into an amicable ease with one another, if he closed his eyes he'd even forget the girl was an alien.
Soon enough the familiar suburbia of the Lynx family's neighborhood was passing them by, and the two teens walked up the familiar driveway amidst the bustle of other kids returning home along the street.
"Mom! We're home!" The feline called out as she kicked off her boots haphazardly.
Catherine poked her head out of the kitchen and waved at the pair, "Welcome home hun, how was the first day of school?"
Miyu shrugged and collapsed on the couch with a yawn, stretching her whole body from her arms above her head to her curled toes.
Cathy huffed and turned to her human charge.
"What about you dear, getting used to Corneria?"
Logan smiled politely, "It's a nice place, still getting over my space lag, but thanks for asking."
The calico cat grinned brightly at him and waved him off.
"I'm glad you're fitting in so well, dinner's going to be around 1800 so grab a snack if you two are hungry."
Logan hung up his jacket and sank into one of the plushy easy chairs in the living room, looking at Miyu's prone form with a raised brow.
"You look comfy."
The lynx hummed agreement with her arms folded behind her head. "We got some time before Fay shows up, you wanna watch anything?"
"Sure, you pick."
Miyu languidly reached over for the remote control, thumbing the power as the flatscreen on the wall lit up. She flicked through the channels; a cooking program, some beach scene, a sitcom, pausing on a news program that featured a good looking wolfess with glasses speaking seriously next to a superimposed image of a damaged spaceship.
"What's this?" Logan cut in, frowning as he examined the laser scouring on the hull.
Miyu turned up the volume, and the pair watched silently at the bulletin.
"…reports are still inconclusive at this time," the canine on the screen said while shuffling hardcopy papers, "although the findings presented to the press have been limited as per operational security of the CDF's investigation. Public Security Section 9 has been called in as a result of suspected cyber sabotage, although at the present time no terrorist groups have taken responsibility for the attack. General Pepper has scrambled elements of the 6th fleet in response to the unprovoked attack in Sector Z, although declined to comment on what the nature of the CCS Vigilant's cargo."
Miyu hissed under her breath as her tail twitched in agitation, "It's Andross, it just has to be."
Logan tore his eyes away from the report, "Andross?"
The lynx sat up, crossing her arms uncomfortably as she explained, "Andross Oikonny, he used to be a pretty famous scientist here on Corneria. He was into all kinds of really heavy duty research, biotechnology and warp theory and some more illegal stuff. Eventually he screwed up and set off an explosion that leveled a quarter of the city a couple years ago, he was exiled to the planet Venom ever since."
The human teen looked over at the screen detailing the attack, and then back at Miyu.
"You said he was exiled, for causing an explosion? Even if he did, isn't that a bit much for an accident?"
The feline scowled, "He was already on probation for his genetic experiments, but the explosion was caused by some bioweapon he was trying to perfect, if it had gone off properly it could have killed the whole planet."
Logan stared off into space at that statement, "…the whole planet, huh?"
"Hmph."
Miyu flipped her legs back up on the couch, "He's trouble waiting to happen, some megalomaniac nutcase just begging for a bolt between the eyes. Bad guys like him are why I'm gonna be an interceptor pilot, first in line keeping the fleet safe."
Jones raised his eyebrows, "An interceptor pilot…so you must be pretty good in the cockpit."
The feline giggled, "You better believe it. Guys like Fox and Falco might have fancy moves for air superiority but I'm all about that speed. Come flying in outta' nowhere and shove a couple nova bombs up the enemy's tailpipe before they even see my carrier."
Logan sighed reaching inside his backpack to pull out his tablet, "You really think there's going to be a war?"
"Probably. Andross always was good at getting people to follow him, and ever since he got exiled there's been talk he's trying to build some kinda empire on Venom."
The human teen scowled, "We used to have Insurrectionists like that in my galaxy, still do in some parts."
"I've been meaning to ask you about that dude."
He looked up at the suddenly serious lynx, who had scooted closer on the couch to stare him in the eye.
"I get that you're the new to the Lylat System, but you seem really out of it sometimes, like today at the firing range. Did you, like, you know…" The feline trailed off awkwardly, trying to broach the delicate subject, "…did something happen to you?"
Logan stared at the lynx for a long silent moment, almost as if he was looking through her, before he opened his mouth to respond just as Catherine stuck her head in from the kitchen.
"I made you kits some sandwiches to tide you over, Miyu would you be a dear and bring them over?"
"I'll get them Miss Lynx," The human said as he got up.
Miyu frowned softly at the evasion, convinced there was something eating away at the guy. When Logan came back she wiped the look off her face and pretended nothing had happened.
"You ever had persimmon jam before?"
"No, can't say I have." The pair bit into their sandwiches, a pleasant surprise for Logan who had never had much variety in his jam before, outside artificial spreads on starships.
The front door rang, and swung open with a cheerful "Hey guys!" called out by the white collie stumbling as she removed her shoes.
"Heya Fay." "Hey."
The white canine almost bounced over to the pair, snatching a persimmon jam sandwich and curling up on half the couch Miyu hadn't taken up.
"How was cheer practice?" The feline asked her paler friend.
Fay made a sound with her mouth full before holding up a paw as she chewed and swallowed.
"Mmmph. First day you know, so nothing really important, but we did do some drills with the new girls. Bill came by, said he was going to watch Fox and Falco's run over in Hogan's Alley."
Miyu cracked a cheshire smile, "Oh that pup's got it bad for you, girl."
Fay giggled and waved her off, scarfing her sandwich down.
"Oh stop, he's just comes to watch us practice."
"Us being little miss collie here."
Laughter aside, the three of them sat down to finish their homework early. Assignments for the first week had already been handed out, and Logan found the mathematics to be the same. He did struggle with the history and language class papers, although Fay was helpful enough coaching him through it. All in all, from what he'd seen of Cornerian society so far it was a peaceful kind of place that reminded him of some of the older movies from the 20th century on Earth.
"Hey Lo, Fox is having the gang over tomorrow, you wanna come?"
Jones looked up from his answer sheet on the Macbeth Civil War.
"I don't know, you guys don't have to drag me along if you'd rather not."
"Sheesh dude, it's no problem. You're nowhere near as annoying as Falco is anyway."
Logan shrugged, "Alright then, sounds cool."
He felt a tug on his shirt, and turned around to see Abby staring up at him from the side of the easy chair.
"Hey mister alien."
"Hey kiddo."
The human teen put down his tablet and picked up the little ball of fur, smiling as she mewled waving her hands while aloft.
"Did you have school today too?"
"Yup! Daddy took me to the preschool today, but we were late cuz Mommy drives faster."
"Is that right? Must run in the girl's side of the family then."
Catherine called Abby from the kitchen, and the little fluff ball scampered off Logan's knee and out the living room. He turned back to the girls, Fay watching the exchange with a smile on her muzzle.
"You sure are good with kits."
"Yeah?"
"Bill's always afraid of accidentally stepping on one or something."
Miyu snorted, "Grey's big enough he might do that by mistake for sure."
"Grey? Bill Grey?" Logan asked aloud.
"Yeah, you know him already?"
He shook his head, "I met his dad on the shuttle down. Nice guy."
Fay smiled brightly, "Maybe I'll introduce you guys sometime."
"Yeah, if you get tired of hogging your love puppy all to yourself…"
"Miyu!"
The three of them laughed together, passing the evening in good humor as they finished their assignments. Fay stayed behind for dinner, and Miyu's father Kyle grilled Logan a bit more on human society, particularly interested in the sports leagues that spanned the inner colonies.
At last Cathy took Abby up in her arms, going off to put her to bed as Kyle cleaned up the table with the three teens. Fay said her goodbyes and left for her house down the street, while Miyu and Logan went up the stairs to their own rooms. A quiet exchange of 'goodnight's and Logan was alone, lying on his covers as he stripped to his skivvies.
Checking his PDA function on the Tacpad, he saw a message saved from his brother stationed on the Orbital Station Hub. Frowning, he opened the email, taking note of the tag that was attached.
United Nations Space Command Priority Transmission 09872H-97
Encryption Code: Red
Public Key: file /excised access Omega/
From: LCpl Jones, Line Det 1, CDF Orbital Gate Station P3X 594
To: Jones, Logan (Civilian Identification Number: 10141-026-SRB4694)
Subject: Warning Order
Classification: RESTRICTED (BGX Directive)
/start file/
Logan,
Situation's getting complicated, possible threat in-system that the UNSC's going to commit to. I can't say much without breaking opsec, keep your ear to the ground and make sure you don't talk about our hardware star-side. We're a new player in a different game here, and lots of people are going to be interested in how we break the rules.
Your school has an armory as part of our exchange, there's a storage locker for the UNSC issue kit, rifles and M52B marine body armor, basic issue. If things ever get dicey, the unlock code is: victor zero five - whateverittakes. Use it only if there's no other option.
I'm not gonna lie little bro, this isn't our fight, but we're picking it anyway. We're in no shape to start committing forces back and forth, so it's going to be secret squirrel work until ONI drops the ball like they always do. Keep your head down and remember the drills we did for Innies.
-AJ
Logan shut off the Tacpad and stared at the far wall of his room in the silent dark. He held up his hand, shaking slightly before willing it with a scowl to lie still. A car revved outside, and teenagers laughing could be distantly heard.
They didn't know. Not what a glassing was like, or invasion.
He breathed deeply, listening to Catherine and Kyle talk just out of earshot in the living room downstairs, and the sound of music coming from Miyu's room.
This wasn't their fight, but humanity cut their eyeteeth in three decades of war, and they'd be damned if they stood idly by while innocent people were killed by some insurrectionist monkey and his army.
Logan patted the comforting profile of the M6C Magnum between the mattress and the wall.