Meredith joined the others in the back of the plane glancing back at the hare talking with the bear. Once inside she took a seat next to her skunk. Their gear was stowed in the back under cargo netting and the others were busying themselves buckling into the seats along the walls of the plane. Picking up the straps they were a fairly simple Y harness with the shoulder straps connected to either side of the waste belt where they buckled together.
"Just make sure the straps are fairly tight." Butch said from directly across from her as he double checked his own straps.
Once she was buckled in she took a look around the airplane, or what she could see of it. The inside was painted a mat grey and there were conduits running along the ceiling and into a multitude of boxes. Some boxes had gauges, some switches, and there was a small box between every other seat with headsets attached to those boxes. Everything in the plane was older technology, where a newer plane would have touch screen displays there were analog switches and steam gauges. Even what she could see of the cockpit was all switches, dials, and levers. When Meredith looked into the cockpit she noticed there was another mammal, another smaller bear, sitting in the co-pilots seat.
That bear after a few moments hoped out of his eat and walked to each of them, checking that they were belted. Meredith estimated he was probably seventeen or sixteen. Working down the seats going from butch, to Zoe, then Evie with a smile as they chatted about something quietly. When he made it to Meredith, she caught him giving her a once over before catching himself.
"I haven't met you before, I'm Kit." The bear said.
"Meredith, its good to meet you Kit." She couldn't help but smile as he gave another look before reaching towards her seatbelts, making obvious moves to avoid touching any personal areas, which made her chuckle.
"Sorry, I just have to be sure everyone is secure. Just in case." He smiled nervously, the smile faltering when he noticed that he Skunk next to her was eyeing him closely. He even avoided more then a quick check of Leon's belt before leaning out of the side door. "Baloo, preflight is complete!"
They couldn't hear the response, but Kit stayed in the door, leaning against the hull inside the doorway affording him the ability to glance over at Meredith every so often. Something that wasn't missed by any of the mammals sitting in their seats. Zoe smirked and found the temptation to stir the pot to much to resist. "Looks like someone has an admirer, not that I blame him. It's not every day you see a flame colored bunny is it. A fox with sculpted legs like Meredith's is hard to resist a look or two."
Zoe's comment had three of the mammal's chuckling, Meredith blushing, and Leon scowling and nearly growling. The sound of the growl just starting as Meredith managed to elbow him to stop him. "Calm down Leon." Smiling, "He's just a boy and Zoe's just Zoe."
Leon grumbled something of an apology and rubbed his side with his paw as he did so, though that didn't stop him from eyeing the small bear, even as Baloo and Jack entered the plane.
"All right Kit, get on up there." Baloo noting the look from Kit as he passed by the hybrid and shook his head before pulling the door closed. "You all should put your headsets on, once we are up and running, they will save your ears and the intercom will be on as well." Baloo said before walking up to the front where Jack had already climbed into a third seat behind the captain's seat.
When the mammals in the back put their headsets on the noise around them was immediately muted. Meredith watched with fascination as the two bears moved their paws around pushing levers on the ceiling and flipping switches. After a few moments the electric motor sound on the left side of the plane could be heard as the propeller started to rotate, until with a couple of coughs and sputters the engine came alive. Shortly after the same occurred on the right side of the plane and then there was a gentle popping sound in the headsets.
"All right everyone," the slightly changed voice of Baloo over the intercom could be heard, "We'll be taking off shortly. For now please no chitchat." The sound of the engines increased as the plane slowly moved away from the dock and into the lake.
"Winds from the west." Kit said as they sped up over the water, the light chop on the water due to the wind making the plane bounce slightly and causing the hollow slapping noise on the under hull that served as a boat.
The plane moved to the eastern most area before turning and coming to a stop. "Zootopia air control, Grumman Goose Zulu Two Six Zero Sierra Tango, requesting departure Lake Pristoria at three three zero degrees." Kits voice over the intercom and radio could be heard with obvious pride in his voice.
"Grumman Sierra Tango, Zootopia Control, Winds one zero knots at three five zero degrees, clear for departure. Follow course three three zero until outside of controlled airspace." Came the response.
Kit repeated back the instructions given to them as Baloo pushed the throttle controls forward. The engine noise increased as the plane started forward the trees on the banks as well as small rowboat disappearing past the windows quickly. "Baloo that's takeoff speed." They continued to speed along the water as Meredith noted the quickly approaching beach on the western side of the lake. "Baloo pull up or abort." The now worried voice of Kit, having lost his cool.
"Why don't we just go ahead and pull up." The plane lifted off of the water quickly, creating the feeling of tummies falling into the legs of every mammal aboard. "Now stop acting smug for the little lass in the back." Baloo chuckled, "Positive rate bring up the floats."
"Yah yah whatever Baloo." The response from Kit had a number of the team chuckling even Leon, which with a quick motion from Kit isolated the intercom systems in the back from the front of the aircraft.
"Awww, poor boy crushing on our own Meredith." Butch chuckled.
"Poor kid doesn't know what he's up against, old stripes won't let her go without a fight to the death." Evie piped up.
"You're damn right I won't." Leon smirked; he was starting to get that rush he remembered from the beginning of missions. A few good mammals and a mission.
Meredith felt a warmth in her when Leon said he would fight for her, even if it were a hypothetical situation. "Ok you guys calm it down. He's just a kit."
"A horny kit." Zoe chuckled. "Poor kit, spends most of his time on this plane. Though that last time when he got the engines running again. Saved our tails."
Butch chuckled, "That he did." At the questioning look from Meredith and Leon, Butch told the story. Over the next hour of flight, the story about how they had ended up on a glacier with a shot up engine which the kit had reconstructed enough of to have running, and then he was only twelve. That story led into other stories that had them all laughing at memories both in mission and out of mission.
As Evie was finishing talking about how Zoe and her had become an item, to Zoe's embarrassment, the intercom was reconnected to the front. "Allright everyone we just crossed the border. We will be flying tight to the trees so … crap." The plane veered to the right hard before coming back wings level. The sun had pretty much set making it hard to see and they had just avoided an outcropping of rocks as they flew through a valley. "Sorry about that," Baloo laughed, "anyways we will be floats down in twenty minutes. Kit and I would like to thank you for flying air Baloo, and once he's done pouting he might say something again."
"Shut it Baloo." Kit responded.
"There he is." Baloo chuckled and teased at the same time.
"All right, listen up." The voice of Jack came over the intercom. "We will be landing in a small lake and meeting a contact. That contact will bring us to an agent known as grandmother. We do not expect to encounter any hostiles. The pilot has informed me that the temperature is colder than we expected so we will have to acquire appropriate clothing ahead of schedule. Zoe, you and Evie will be on that. Leon, you and I will be going to see this Grandmother. She will hopefully supply us with information, and transportation. That is all for now."
After about ten minuets of flight Jack spoke up again. "Baloo, we are being painted."
"I'll drop us lower. Kit, keep a sharp eye on your side and under us." The plane dropped in altitude.
"How the hell do you know we are being painted in this bucket of bolts." Leon questioned.
"Jack had me upgraded, and don't talk about the old girl like that. Alright going to have to make this a hot offloading, if you make it fast enough, they might think I was just buzzing the border." The plane abruptly banked left and then there was a flash of light as the plane shook. "Lake in site. This might get bumpy." Another hard bank had the wing tip graze a tall tree just before the valley fell away down towards what was a glacially formed lake. As they descended another burst high above them detonated but was far out of range.
"They are shooting in the dark now." Kit said, "Lowering floats."
"Prepare for landing, carb heat and mixture full." Baloo spoke calmly, even almost with a little bit of excited joy in his voice.
"One thousand feet above ground." Kit stated flatly, another flash above them.
"Flaps ten," As they descended to about five hundred feet, "Flaps 40, remember mammals this is a hot offload. I'm not shutting down. I need to get back in the air fast to try and keep them off your tails." The plane touched down on the water and Baloo, keeping the speed up, drove the plane towards a dock where a mammal was flashing a red lensed flashlight at them. He came in fast, but Kit had hoped out of his seat and once the engines were idled and they were adrift, he tossed a rope to the mammal on the dock. "Everyone out!"
Baloo looked over gages, as Jack joined the others in the back, unloading their gear and quickly exiting the plane. Meredith found all of the activity chaotic, and three weeks ago probably would have found the entire situation overwhelming. However, she knew what to do, get her gear and get off the plane. Leave the rest to the others and stay out of the way. Once she was out on the dock she found herself standing next to another skunk, he was taller than Leon, and much older. Some of his black fur was starting to grey on his muzzle, and as she looked she also noticed that the mammal was malnourished. He had slightly sunken cheeks and eyes, and while he obviously tried to keep himself up, his clothing was patched in multiple spots.
Once gear and mammals were off the airplane, the skunk released the rope and Kit sealed the door with a quick wave of good luck. The plane quickly leaving the dock, casting everyone in a spray of water as she sped off and back into the air. Baloo obviously making it a point to be sighted again as he pulled up hard over the mountains. The artillery shots being fired at the airplane echoed through the valley as the plane flew out of sight.
"Do you think they'll make it?" Meredith asked no one in particular.
"That crazy old bear will make it. He's got the devils own luck." Jack stated before turning to the skunk who had till now stood silently.
"That was foolish." The skunk said to Jack, "If the military doesn't fall for that then they will descend on this town." Behind the skunk was what was a small and obviously older town. The long wood pier led to lamp lit coble stone roads with mostly two-story brick buildings. Some of the inhabitants had come outside to see what was going on but quickly retreated into their homes, all of which were in some need of repair, from sagging roofs to broken and boarded windows. On the far edge of town, just in view due to the main road leading directly form the pier through the center of town and to the larger three story hotel.
"My good mammal I do apologize for the scene, but it couldn't be helped. It appears the detection systems have been upgraded since my last intelligence." Jack responded politely to the skunk's dry and pointed words.
"You should cover your hybrid, it would not be proper to be seen with her exposed in such a way." The Skunk grumbled before walking down the pier. "A hat should help at least for now." He glanced over his shoulder to speak directly to Leon. "You should know better." His hate for the fellow skunk plain in his voice.
As the others started to follow, Leon walked over to Meredith and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze before going into her pack to pull out a black hat where he had seen her put it. "For what it's worth, I am sorry for how you will be treated her."
Meredith shook her head as she took the hat from him and fitted it over her head, tucking her ears underneath and bearing with the discomfort. "We knew it would be an issue." Breathing in deep before slowly releasing her breath. "I will be fine," she said before moving to follow the others.
As the group moved into the town, the smell of wood fires filled their noses as the evening's chill settled into the air. The occupied homes stood out as smoke trailed lazily up from the chimneys, and the gentle flicker of fire light and lamp light could be seen from the windows. Leon leaned stayed close to Meredith's side as he spoke. "I'm told before the boarder was closed this was a popular town for mammals to vacation and ski in the winter. Now the outer towns like this one are some of the poorest with no industry and little to offer the current regime."
Meredith looked around as Leon spoke before asking, "But why the lap lights, there is obviously electricity." Indicating the lamplights. "But it looks like all of the homes are using oil lamps, at least the ones we can see into."
The skunk leading ahead chimed in, having been listening intently to any conversations behind him. Unfortunately, the only one talking was the other skunk, "The street lamps are kept lit by order of the military, the citizens however are only allowed two hours per day of electrical use and it is strictly monitored."
"Power rationing?" Leon asked.
"Yes" The skunk led them into the center of the town where there was a circular square surrounded by little shops with fading paint on the windows and shadows of merchandise inside from food to hand made wooden items in the hopes that a customer might bring some small amount of money to the town and its people. "They say that the power is needed for the protection of the country." The skunks usual crisp but emotionless tone is edged with anger before he could stop it. "What do you care Leon? You disappeared off the grid for what was it now two months?"
"Just about." Leon responded as they made aright turn down an alley.
"Not even going to defend your disappearance. A lot of good mammals lost their lives that day you know."
"I am well aware of that, but it had to be done." Leon countered calmly.
The skunk leading them stopped at a solid wooden door in one of the many brick buildings. This one looked to be in better condition than the others surrounding it, but only in that the paint on the windows wasn't pealing off, and the door looked to have been recently been replaced. He knocked on the door in a sequence of taps and then waited in silence.
After only a minute or two the sound of three deadbolt locks could be heard being turned before the door opened just enough for a bright blue eye against a black furred backdrop peered out from just below a golden chain that presumably still linked the door to the wall. "Oh, its you." The young female voice paused, "And your brought them as well." The voice was almost devoid of any emotion if it weren't for the fact that it sounded entirely unimpressed by anything. The door shut once again and the dull sound of the door chain being removed could be heard before the door opened wide. The female behind the door was a skunk as well, probably no more than fifteen years old and wearing a simple brown dress with a similarly colored wide belt around her waist. "Please, grandmother said not to keep her waiting."
The female held the door open wide, but her voice never changed, maintaining a flat disinterest even as her eyes sharply followed and reviewed each of them. The skunk that was leading them lead them down the hallway into a large rustic living room. It was furnished with a thick wool rug covering the hard wood floor, a couch that was well used judging by the faded green fabric and areas where the threads of the material were showing or were patched. The windows were covered with heavy dark shades which both kept prying eyes from seeing in but served to also insulate the room and hold the heat from the large fire now crackling in the fireplace. In one of four arm chairs, all in similar state as the couch, sat an elderly panda.
The panda was covered with a knit blanket, that had areas where the knitting had failed and the edges were frayed, along with a shawl over her shoulders. When they entered the room the panda looked up from the fireplace where she had been staring, one brown eye sharp and aware, the other milky and blind. When she smiled, revealing few teeth remaining in her aging muzzle she first zeroed in on Leon.
"Ahh Leon, come. Let me see you better son." Her accent was thick, and she was obviously speaking in English for the benefit of the others. Her old paws reached out to him made it hard to tell if she was just at an advanced age or also suffering from mal-nourishment. While the skunk that had greeted them at the door and the one that brought them from the pier were thin, Grandmother was also frail even if it was obvious that she hadn't always been.
Leon smiled and quickly made his way over to her, kneeling beside her chair as the spoke. The panda patted his cheek softly. "It is good to see you again Grandmother."
"And it is good to see you as well Leon. I feared you may not have made it out alive." She spoke softly. "But it is well to see that was not so." The older woman sniffed at the air and a wry smirk graced her muzzle. "My my, the little kit has found himself a young woman has he." Raising an eyebrow and turning her head so that her good eye can take a look at the other mammals that were with Leon. She starts to chuckle and then laugh before her body is wracked with a coughing fit. The younger female skunk darting out of the room. "A hybrid as well, my my how my little Leon has fallen." Her smile never leaving her muzzle.
"Grandmother." Rolling his eyes Leon stood and moved slightly so he could introduce the others. "This is Jack, he is in charge." Jack nodded as the Panda's gaze graced him, her expression having changed from laughter to serious though she still coughed into her paw. "This is Butch."
Butch nodded his head politely, "Mam" His accent causing the female to tilt her head.
"A southern mammal," Smiles, "Polite and proper no doubt."
"My mother would have it no other way Mam." Butch smirked as Grandmother nodded.
Leon waited a moment and continued. "These two are Zoe," Indicating the Kangaroo, "and Evie" Indicating the red squirrel that now relaxed on the armrest of the chair that Zoe had decided to claim.
Grandmother laughed and coughed, "You bring a hybrid and lesbians with you Leon." Making a clicking noise in her muzzle before she noticed how the other two females before she could explain she started coughing heavier and the female Skunk returned with a large cup of steaming fluid.
"Grandmother, it is not polite to state it so plainly." The female stated in what Leon now suspected was the way she spoke. Flat, and nearly monitored in such a way that made her sound completely disinterested. Her statement however received a dangerous look from the Panda which did not seem to cause the female Skunk any.
Grandmother sipped from her cup a few times and her cough slowly subsided. "I meant no offense. There are so many things that this country no longer allows, and it is wonderful to see such young love again." She turned her attention to Meredith. "Now, who is this lovely lady that I believe I smell on you Leon." She chuckled with she noticed the shy reaction from the hybrid.
"This is Meredith Grandmother." Leon waved for Meredith to come closer.
Meredith stepped closer to the older woman nervously, all while trying to maintain a polite smile. She gasped however with the older woman betrayed her age and frailty with a quick grab of Meredith's wrist, with a surprisingly soft grip as well. "Emm, I see. She is very beautiful Leon." Sniffing the air, "And she smells of you as well." Her smile growing as she heard a chuckle from others in the room. "Does she know what she may have to do here though?"
"She has been told." Leon said.
The old woman looked up at Meredith with what Meredith thought was a sad smile. "My dear, I know why you came, but being here will not be easy for you. I offer you a chance to stay here with me. We do not have much but I can see to it that you are not harmed here."
Meredith quickly went from embarrassed by being the topic of conversation to standing straighter and staring down the elderly female. "I will not stop now. I came here to be a part of this and nothing you say, or any of them do will stop me from following them." Her stair had shifted to Leon as she spoke.
"Good, you have resolve." She released Meredith's paw which drew the attention back. "Where you are going to need it." Turning to look over her shoulder. "Gwendolyn, damn it Gwendolyn where the hell did you get off to."
"I'm right here grandmother." The skunk stepped into her field of view.
"Ahh there you are, go and get the maps, and coffee. We have a long night ahead of us I'm afraid." She leaned back in her chair as the young female turned and left the room. "Get comfortable, all of you, we have intelligence to share and a suggested route for you to take. Then, we will have to do something about Meredith's outfit. I'm sorry my dear but with Leon's rank, this … well it just will not do for his hybrid to be dressed as … " She looked up at Leon as she searched for the English word. "Utilitaristisch?"
Leon nodded. "Utilitarian."
A/N: I decided I owe you all an apology again. Bit of a block on the writing but I do intend to continue this story to the end. I will try a little harder to maintain that every other week schedule I was on for a bit there. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the enxt one.