Just wanted to explain a few things to any readers that haven't been in the military really quick as well as a few others that might get noticed by those that have served in a branch other than the army. First, I didn't give Fin a last name because he doesn't play a major role in my story and he won't be mentioned much. In the military, the different departments in a unit aren't called things like admin or logistics but rather given a sort of nomenclature. Hence the S1-S6, S1 personnel, S2 intel, S3 operations, S4 logistics, S5 civil affairs and S6 is communications. This is all stuff you can google and find out. For those that have served and especially any that were in the marines you'll notice that Nick got promoted to Lieutenant Colonel but others referred to him as colonel. Most unit's and personnel I've worked with while in the army weren't very stringent when it came to addressing someone by the full rank name. For example, when I got out I was a Staff Sergeant but everyone just called me sergeant. That pattern continues up the ranks until someone makes 1stSergeant and sergeant major. Even command sergeant majors were just addressed as sergeant major. Lieutenants don't get called 1stor 2ndlieutenants just lieutenant same for lieutenant colonel and colonel both get called colonel. It's not a sign of disrespect or anything like that it's just simpler to address someone in a casual or non-work-related way. For official ceremonies or other events, the full rank name would be used. Skye's last name is pronounced Li-sa. Google said that's how you pronounce fox in Russian. For Judy fans, be patient she's fixing to play a lot bigger role in coming up chapters.

T – 3 Months 2 weeks

Nick was sitting at the desk in his office, elbows propped on the top supporting his head in the palm of his paws. It had been a month since he first learned about the operation behind enemy lines. The next day he learned that a new type of unit was being put together. A couple days later he and Van submitted their suggestions for this new brigade. A week later, he found out that their suggestions had largely been accepted, with only a few changes, and that he, Van and Fin were now a part of the 32nd Airborne Battalion, 1st Fox Expeditionary Force(FEF) under the 5th Special Operations Group's(SOG) command.

Things were just starting to come together. Van had been appointed as the battalion commander and was able to bring he and Fin along for the ride. Fin obviously as the Battalion Command Sergeant Major and Nick as the Executive officer(XO). That was until someone noticed how well things were coming together in their battalion. Within a couple of weeks command had nearly filled the ranks of the entire battalion. Since they weren't technically special forces there was no need for everyone in the unit to be qualified special forces. The fact that they were under special forces command was one part logical and one part rouse. The rouse was to make the enemy thing they were just a type of support unit for the rest of the special forces groups. The logic behind the idea was that special forces were used to working behind enemy lines.

Things were looking great. Until Van called Nick into his office to give him the news.

"You wanted to see me sir?" Nick asked as he walked in the office.

"Yeah have a seat." Van gestured towards a chair in the office and sat the paper he was just reading down on his desk. "I've got an update I want to share with you about the brigade."

Nick tilted his head to the side slightly and gave his commanding officer a confused look. He moved to the seat and leaned back still looking puzzled at the previous statement.

"What kind of update?" he finally asked.

"Personnel transfers. Namely they've chosen a new brigade commander."

"Oh? Well who's the poor fool that's being thrown under the bus to get this circus organized?" Nick slouched down in the chair, crossing his legs and arms. An amused grin at the expense of some unsuspecting soul.

"Me." Van stated dead panned.

Nick expression quickly dropped. They had worked closely together for all of Nick's career. His frown was just as quickly replaced by a genuine smile.

"Congratulations. I know you'll do great."

"Thank you but I'm not the only one who deserves congratulations."

"Oh?" Nick questioned.

"Indeed, now I have to find a commander for the battalion."

Nick raised an eyebrow in anticipation. This time it was Van's turn to wear the genuine smile. "Congratulations Wilde, you're being given command of the battalion effective tomorrow. Along with a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel."

Nick now sat up straight in his chair, he had other commands before, a platoon and then a company. With this promotion, however, would come even greater responsibility. He placed a half smile across his muzzle and relaxed his eye lids. Leaned back in his chair again and spoke to his friend, "Well in that case. I expect you to vacate my new office ASAP Colonel." The two friends shared a laugh of genuine happiness for each other.

"So," Nick continued with a now pleading face, "you are leaving me Fin right?"

"Afraid not. He's going with me to brigade, but I did ask him to get you some recommendations for his replacement. I also inquired about a new XO for you, tried to get command to let you promote one from the ranks but they have someone already in mind for the job. Wouldn't tell me who but hopefully someone that'll be able to keep you straight."

"Hm!" Nick huffed. "Like anyone could ever manage that." This caused Van to give a light chuckle.

That was three days ago. Since then Nick quickly went through the candidates for his new battalion sergeant major and was very satisfied with a bat-eared fox named Jones. Not a very talkative or social mammal in the way Nick is, however, Fin had noted that he was a good listener, gave solid advice and he had served with Fin in combat. Nick knew in the days to come that he would need the expertise.

Today, however, the freshly appointed SGM was not in the office but was meeting with the company first sergeants and letting everyone know who was boss. Nick was no alone and waiting for the arrival of his new XO. He had asked Van if he knew who command was going to assign to him but Van simply stated they hadn't told him anything. Not sure if his friend secretly knew or was being genuinely honest.

A knock on the door drew him out of his concentration. A beautiful arctic vixen, with strangely familiar blue eyes, was standing in the open doorway. Nick glanced over her quickly, making note of the multiple service ribbons adorning her uniform and how well she khaki dress uniform skirt and jacket seemed to accentuate her figure.

Nick raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "Can I help you?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Wilde?"

"Yes?" He sat back in his office chair. "Where have I seen those eyes?" He wandered to himself.

"May I come in?" Nick motioned towards one of the two fox sized chairs in his office.

"Please, have a seat." Nick studied her as she walked into his office, a large envelope under her left arm. "What can I do for you?"

Nick was surprised when she didn't take a seat. Instead she stepped right up to his desk and went to attention snapping a crisp salute and looking straight ahead.

"Major Lisa reporting for duty sir. I've been assigned as your new XO."

Nick sat back in his chair for a moment. Tilting his head to one side and raising an eye brow. His trained eyes studying her uniform for any imperfections. Until he got to her hips, where he spent a lingering second before pulling himself together. He looked up at her face and returned a quick and sloppy salute. "Lisa? I know that name from somewhere. And those eyes, I swear I've seen them before."

"Sit down major."

Skye dropped her salute and took one of the seats offered. She then held out the large envelope she was carrying and offered it to LTC Wilde. "My orders sir."

She had spent the last month seeing a therapist for the nightmares she started having after her last mission. The sessions had helped but the nightmares were still there. After that she had requested transfer from active service in the special forces. How she got assigned to a support brigade in the special forces was beyond her.

He accepted the envelop and removed the papers held within. As he was reading over the paper work to make sure everything was in order she took a moment to size him up. His red fur was well groomed around his face. He'd taken off his dress coat and wrapped it around the back of his chair. His service ribbons were perfectly placed and in order. His shirt though was another matter. He'd left the top button of his dress shirt unbuttoned and his tie hung loosely around his neck. While his sleeves were rolled half way up his forearms. Completely against regulations. His desk was a scramble of papers and notes spread out across the top. The only clean spot seemed to be where the laptop computer presided.

Despite his personal grooming he gave the impression of a slob. "If this is how he disregards uniform regulations, I'm not looking forward to the rest of the unit."

"Well everything appears to be in order major." Nick said while placing the documents back into the folder. "Let's get you settled in and then you can go to work." He stood up and started walking around his desk and towards the door. Placing his hands in his pockets as he walked.

Skye's eyes popped wide open. "Just what kind of example does he think he's setting for the troops?" She asked herself. "I hope he runs things better than he takes care of himself."

As they walked down the hall they stopped at every door and Nick introduced her to everyone in the command staff. After dropping off her papers at the S1 office he took her to the supply room to start getting gear requested. They walked into the indoor assembly area, a large open room with a polished concrete floor. Boxes and equipment on pallets were littered the whole area. Skye was not that surprised; this brigade was new after all. They had to be fully equipped from scratch. One thing that did stand out, especially to her, were the number of ATMs (anti-tank missiles). This battalion was supposed to be an airborne battalion. As they continued to walk they came to a set of double doors.

Passing through they walked down a hallway with chain link cages on either side. The right-side cage had a gate to enter and had chemical mask hanging from the wall and makeshift hangers along the inner cage wall. To the left was another passage way that led to a vault. The vault door was open and inside were two soldiers, one a Bengal fox the other a young fennec, both wearing fatigues calling out weapon serial numbers and checking them off one by one down a list. As they passed through the cages they came to the back wall where a set of cubicles were occupied by another Bengal fox and a Corsac fox, also in fatigues.

"Marty, Joey. I want you to meet our new XO Major Lisa. Major this is Staff Sergeant (SSG) Marty Longtail and Sergeant (SGT) Joey Sanders."

"Since when are officers and NCOs on a first name basis?" She thought to herself.

The two noncommissioned officers (NCO) stood from their cubical and stepped over to offer a paw to the new officer.

"Pleasure to meet you ma'am."

"Like wise." At least they don't seem to be so undisciplined.

"I assume you've already dropped your papers off at the S1 shop?"

"That's correct Sergeant."

"In that case, we should have your uniform records by lunch tomorrow. If you'd like to swing by some time after that we'll review everything and make sure the sizes are correct before we place orders for your equipment. How's 1300 sound?"

"As long as the Colonel doesn't have anything planned for me?" She turned to Nick with a look that was all question. He simply shook his head no.

"In that case we'll see tomorrow ma'am. Colonel if you have a moment, we have some papers that need to be signed for the equipment we've received today."

"Think you can find your way back Major?" Nick looked at the arctic vixen, waiting for her response with a side glance and a half grin. He had noticed how she was looking him over. His laid-back attitude towards the regulations pertaining to his own uniform. It didn't bother him, he was used to other officers looking at him that way. Nick was a believer that you didn't have constantly be parade ready to fight a war and his attitude reflected it. As well as his service record. Multiple reprimands, from Van himself, on his lackluster uniform as well as double that number in citations for merit in training exercises and classified missions from his time spent in the SF (Special Forces).

"I think I can manage Colonel." Returning the grin and walking out the way she came in. All three of the males paying attention as she made her exit.

Once she was gone and the door was safely closed for a moment…." Well, Well! How did you manage to get her here Nick?" Asked Marty with a mischievous grin.

Nick never dropped his trademark smirk. "I didn't. Command graced us with her presence."

"Well," Joey exclaimed with a sigh joining into the conversation, "looks like the games are off for a while."

"Just when things were getting good." Marty's grin never leaving his face.

Bzzz! Bzzz!

Nick pulled his phone out of his pocket. A text from Col Van. "You boys get the word out that the games or postponed. I'll find us a way to get around our little dilemma." Nick placed his phone back in his pocket and walked out.

Skye walked out of the supply room and into the mail hall. The smell of the military equipment still lingering in her nose. A mixture of gun oil, grease and diesel fuel an aroma acquainted with all military equipment. A pleased grin adorning her face. She had purposefully put on a show of walking out to distract the males inside. She knew from previous experience that males would often underestimate her abilities. So, she used a technique of playing into the stereotype of the female who worked her way up the chain through means other than personal merit. Now it was time to start her true mission. So she headed back to her office and powered on the computer.

Earlier that morning.

In the burrowland capital city of Edinburrow there sits a building just down from the presidential palace. A modest sized building compared to the rest. Square in shape and mundane enough not to be noticed by the casual passerby. Inside one of the conference room sized big enough for rabbits and able to accommodate slightly larger species sits a silver colored hair with black stripes. Casually listening to a conversation concerning a recent mission he had completed with a certain artic vixen. After he picked up Skye at the cabin they made their way to the border crossing unnoticed. He later learned that the borders entering and exiting Canisia had been closed a little over an hour after they crossed the border. Since then, the military intelligence agency of Vulpisia has shared the information that had been gathered from the GPS trackers. The trackers showed that at some point the group of vehicles that Skye had reported seeing split into different groups. While taking the same route and traversing the same distance the time difference to cover that stretch was significantly different. The medium tank covered the distance in a day and a half while the heavy tank took three days to cover the same distance. While the information that a medium tank can out run a heavy was nothing new to anyone in the room, it did show a shift in the possibilities at the heart of this meeting. The generals and bureaucrats seated at the table were talking amongst themselves. The cacophony of mammals gathered at the table today was indeed an interesting one to Jack. On one side of the table sat generals, advisers and politicians on the other sat a group of three foxes. A red fox in a suit and tie along with another red fox wearing a military uniform and general's stars. The last was a gray fox wearing a military uniform and the rank of colonel. Occasionally he would catch a whisper here and there pertaining the guest across the table. Mostly the kind of talk you would hear about foxes at a bar with mean spirits. Untrustworthy, deceiving, manipulative, all stereotypes of foxes that as far as Jack had seen were falsehoods. Rooted in an ancestral fear of a natural enemy. But the foxes appear to either not hear or ignore everything being said. He knew they caught a couple of words here and there by the way their ears would twitch from time to time.

"Alright! Alright!" boomed a voice at the head of the table causing all the smaller conversations to come to an end. A black rabbit with brown spots was standing to get everyone's attention. "Let's get started. Now you've all been briefed on the purpose of this meeting. So, in the interest of time I'm turning the floor over to Ambassador McGregor of Vulpisia, Ambassador."

"Thank you congressmammal, as you're all aware about a month ago we had a cooperative mission to monitor suspicious activity at a military base not far from the border between Burrowland and Canisia. The results of which show what we believe to be a preparation for an attack on our capital of Foxton."

"How does that concern us?" a random voice called out from the rabbit side of the table.

"We believe they plan to cross the valley between the twin mountain ranges and attack us from behind."

"That's absurd!" A young rabbit in a suit called out. "We all know you've had quarrels with Canisia in the past but Burrowland has been at peace with Canisia for more than two centuries now."

"Please allow the delegates from Vulpisia to finish before interjecting." The black and brown spotted rabbit directed. "Please continue." He stated with a gesture of his paw.

"To answer your question, I'll turn the time over to General Ware. General."

"Thank you, ambassador. For the past month, we've been monitoring the movements from the before mentioned briefing. We've determined that with the distance being covered is not enough to mount an attack on any of our borders with Canisia and reach any specific objective. Not to mention that we've made ourselves a hard target on all our borders with them. However, the distance that the before mentioned patrols cover is the exact distance they would cover if they were to strike a spearhead from their northern base and travel west towards Burrowland going through the valley and then rounding the end of the mountains to arrive in Foxton. Believe me, we find it as outlandish and unlikely as you do, however, we also believe that it's better to be prepared."

"Prepared how general?" said the black bunny.

"We would like to propose an alliance of sorts. Ambassador."

"What we propose is an adaptation of the current treaty between our two nations. In the past when we've had to go to war Burrowland has closed its borders to us. Having only two borders limits our ability to transport goods severely. Especially when the only roads are cut off. You can imagine the impact that has on our economy. So, what we propose is a secret clause to be added that will guarantee the roads will stay open during times of war and in return we're willing to provide military assistance should Burrowland be attacked. It will also include cross training between our forces as well as allow sales of our state of the art military equipment."

"I have a question." And elderly dark chocolate brown bunny wearing a general's uniform stated while raising his paw. "You said you would provide military assistance yet we know you are outnumbered nearly 3 to 1 by the Canisian forces. If they attack you what guarantee do we have that you'll be able to send any forces at all?"

The gray fox sitting at the table hadn't said a word the entire meeting. But at this question he turned and looked at the aged general. This rabbit seemed to have the right questions. He started to smile and spoke. "I believe I can answer that question general."

"And you are?" The old rabbit asked.

"Colonel Van, Commander of the Fox Expeditionary Force."

After explaining the purpose of the FEF, they adjourned their meeting for an hour and mingled, socialized and discussed their options. After a couple of hours, the deal was finalized and an agreement was struck. Including the idea that Burrowland would increase the size of its military. Doing so as soon as possible through a short-term draft to immediately bolster their ranks. As they left the building, Van checked the service on his government issue phone, glad that he had international service added before leaving. With full bars, he sent a text to his wife. "Be home in a couple of hours." Knowing his wife knew what to do next he then sent a text to Nick. "Join us for dinner? Linda's making blueberry pie again." A couple minutes later his phone vibrates. Checking the message, he saw a reply from Nick "o7". He simply shook his head from side to side and replied "1730." With that he put his phone back in his pocket and started his journey home.