3

"The Inescapable Past"


Tigress gently walked inside the grand podium, a bit tired in general.

She was always hesitant to walk into the supervisor's office. Decades of interacting with humans and APs had given her the experience to know - that whoever was in the supervisor's office, even if it was Han - usually was not happy to see more people join them. Moreover, the supervisor's office was about a ten minute walk from the Central Mines of XS-211's capital city, which was already forty minutes away from Tigress' sleepy suburb. The walking cane made it more bearable, but Tigress still felt that she was being summoned for nothing.

Naja always overreacts to these things, Tigress thought. Although it was indeed concerning that an animal AP was coming and threatening to shut a few mines down - these kinds of threats happened frequently, and in Tigress' vast body of mining experience, there were many reasons why APs tried to bully around the duty workers in a mine - mostly, none of it would materialize. Mines were too important to the Alliance to shut down, even one of them - and as bigoted and discriminatory that the APs could be, they understood the vast importance of the duty workers' mining productivity.

Tigress felt the metallic doors seal behind her, as she took the time to see the supervisor's office.

Most of it was the same as the many times she had visited here. When she had relinquished the position approximately twenty years ago - when her body was no longer capable of strenuous mining anymore - Tigress' former office had undergone a number of changes. It was still a small, cramped space - just a bit larger than Tigress' home - but the metallic walls were given a fresh, green chrome-themed paint. Additionally, the flooring had been torn out and replaced with a more natural carbon fiber mesh, which Tigress appreciated - it fit more smoothly with her bad knee and cane. The overall amenities inside were still the same - the identical brown desk sitting at the back end of the room, and a small water and food storage freezer sitting behind it. Han was currently standing near the desk, black coat trembling due to the other visitor inside the office.

An AP.

Tigress observed the AP's features quickly and carefully. He had broad shoulders and a massive frame - like most APs - but also his visor was carefully deployed and covered his face. Tigress wasn't sure whether this was the animal AP that Naja was talking about.

A small, light hand grabbed Tigress' shoulder.

"That's the guy I messaged you about," a shorter, lean female human in grey fatigues squeaked out. "Please do something Tigress - you're like the oldest duty worker on XS-211, maybe you can…"

"I'll see what I can," Tigress promptly cut off. "Go back to the mines Naja - if an AP catches you here…"

Naja quickly bowed, trouncing out of the office as the metal doors sealed shut after her once again - isolating Tigress in the supervisor's office with the petrified Han, and the confident AP who kept his gaze on the young, blonde human.

"You babbling infant…" the AP growled, watching Han's blonde hair quiver in fear. "To think that you are somehow in charge of this operation…"

"May I help you?" Tigress called out, slowly walking to the pair to clear her throat again. "Ahem - I'm Tigress, retired mine supervisor - if this is about our request list…"

"T - Tigress?" the AP let out at once, whipping about in confusion - although his golden armor covered his facial features and body. "No - it can't be."

The AP walked quickly to Tigress, making her uneasy. Even in her youth, taking an AP's punishment was sheer hell - Tigress' greatest fear was that with her current age, even a single use of force could lead to something catastrophic occurring - disabling her and potentially voiding her usefulness as a message transcriber. And - as everyone knew - once a duty worker could serve no more purpose for the Alliance, they were disposed of.

Yet to her surprise, the AP merely receded his visor, exposing a distinctly animal face - confirming Tigress' suspicions.

The face was furry and hard-edged, clearly a well-experienced soldier. Blonde fur meshed with a brown and black mane - it was a lion, with sharp scars running from the edges of the top of his eyes to his chin. Deep-set blue eyes completed his bold look.

"Tigress…" the AP repeated. "No - it can't really be you…"

Tigress raised an eyebrow in confusion. She tried her best to recognize the lion - to match her to anyone she had seen - but aside from a single person she had known long ago - far too long ago, in fact… the face reminded her of nothing.

"Sorry," Tigress croaked out, voice a bit hoarse. "Do I know you?"

"I barely even recognize you," the lion proclaimed in wonder. "You - you've gotten so old - and - and - I can't even believe you're still alive - after all this time…"

Tigress shook her head, trying to get to the point. "A worker told me you're trying to shut down a few mines?"

The lion took another moment to look at Tigress' face - clearly shocked that Tigress didn't recognize him. But after that moment had passed, he sadly turned his gaze downward in a downcast fashion.

"There's a terrorist cell, or organization, we're not really sure…" the lion mentioned. "... that's seeking to undermine the status of the Alliance."

Tigress nodded, rubbing at her tired eyes. "Yeah I heard the broadcast on my holo-display at home - you sure it's not some kid playing around on the local frequency?"

The lion shook his head. "No - this one's real. We have no idea how he's working, or what he's targeting - so every AP in the fifty-seven galaxies is on high alert."

Tigress nodded. "That means…"

"It means we'll be doing a lot of investigations on every planet in those fifty-seven galaxies," the lion noted. "Expect some shutdowns in your mines soon."

"They're not actually her mines…" Han chirped up, confidence gained now. "...they're actually mine now… see, she gave me authority…"

The lion scoffed at Han, turning back to Tigress. "This is the guy you gave control to? That's not the Tigress I knew."

Tigress was beginning to get frustrated. "I dunno what the hell you're talking about."

She walked gently over to Han, urging him to keep quiet as she stared back at the huge AP.

"If the shutdowns are inevitable, then fine," Tigress acquiesced. "Just gimme - I mean, give Han some time to relocate the workers somewhere else…"

"Granted," the AP noted, smiling before turning to walk out of the metallic doors leading out of the office. "It's - it's good to see you - Tigress. If circumstances were different, I'd talk more but…"

The lion turned his head down sadly. "... I'm not who I used to be anymore, either."

The AP walked out of the retracted metal doors, which shut firmly behind him.

"Who the hell was that?" Han asked to Tigress. "You recognize him?"

Tigress mulled over the question. "I thought I did. But - no - not really."

. . .

AP headquarters - unlike the central communication hub, MN-1 - gave off the guise of public access. In theory, anyone (human or else) could contact any given AP and submit a request for communication with HQ - but in practicality, none of this was enforced.

It didn't help that the AP headquarters was located on Earth, the most heavily guarded Alliance planet of them all - and for good reason. Earth, or A-1, had been the longest-lasting, de facto "capital" of the intergalactic Alliance - and thus, it was a titan of commerce, finance, trade, business, scientific development, commercialization - basically everything else that the Alliance loved boasting about. The actual AP headquarters - the one building responsible for supreme supervision over one quadrillion AP soldiers located in the fifty-seven galaxies - was located on isolated, thick sheets of ice that had not been touched by industrialization or Alliance "reformation" initiatives - this sheet of ice was in fact, a historical remnant of "pre-Reformation" Earth - the last living piece of Earth that had remained since the very early days, back when there were no space flight, teleportation, magnetic train systems, or any advanced commodities - just primitive cars, countries, and ancient Earth history.

The place formerly known as Antarctica.

And in this massive ice sheet, penetrating past the blue, cloudy skies and frigid temperatures - surrounded by a ginormous wall of snow and ice that offered natural shielding against unwanted intruders - a sole tower stuck out oddly against the barren, ice-filled wasteland around it. Go a bit further, and somehow get past the myriad of circulating drones, motion detectors, automatic energy arsenal, and laser defenses - and one might see a system of rooms inside the tall Citadel - each with a door with no label.

One of the rooms was currently occupied.

The room - informally referred to as the "Emergency Preparedness Chamber" - was quite simple, with a long table of chrome-plated carbon tabling, with hovering nano-chairs propping up the top hundred APs in the Alliance - Commanders Sigma, Delta, Omega, Gamma, and Beta always attended meetings, but there were also lesser known generals, a variety of top-ranking soldiers, and some diplomats meant to ease the process through. The ceiling was broad and was several stories tall, illuminating the grand but focused atmosphere of the room.

"Emergency Meeting 381," the man seated at the top of the table noted, making a click on his holographic panel. "Priority Level: Ultimate. Commander Omega?"

A powerful man - dressed in thickly golden armor like his contemporaries seated around him - rose from his nano chair and began speaking in methodical, organized tones. There was only one thing to differentiate himself (and his fellow Commanders) from the rest of the APs in the room - a single, circular symbol burned in black on his chest piece. The same symbol was shared by the four Commanders seated to either side of him.

Only the best APs could bear the symbol of the Alliance.

"Commander Omega speaking," Omega redundantly announced to the seated crowd of officials. "Our threat is an intergalactic terrorist who managed to seize and take control of MN-1 - then broadcast dangerous propaganda to every holo-panel working under the Alliance."

"We heard this story before, Commander Omega," a general noted, seated across the carbon fiber table from Omega's place. "What have you done since then?"

"Commanders Delta, Sigma, Gamma, and Beta have assisted me in organizing an intergalactic search for any preliminary leads," Omega noted. "Based on our psychological assessment - the terrorist would be a disgruntled duty worker, male, and larger than average."

Gamma rose up, checking his own holo panel for more information. "Based on interviewing the scientist on MN-1, it seems that the terrorist had a strong desire to overthrow the Empire."

"He would be targeting Earth then," another soldier spoke, this time from the other end of the table. "I'm Chief of Communications on A-1. I need to know if I start mobilizing more defenses for Earth!"

Some agreement continued from the rest of Earth's generals, who applauded and sounded off their concurring voices.

Omega nodded. "Indeed - but - well, Commander Sigma - care to add more details?"

Sigma seemed tired - yet he stood up. "It is unlikely that the terrorist holds enough firepower to launch anything close to a full-scale assault on Earth."

"It's far likelier that the man got the message out in hopes of recruiting," Gamma added on. "Hoping to perhaps rely on general anti-Alliance sentiment prevalent among many duty workers…"

"Our searches haven't uncovered any evidence of a network of terrorists," Sigma emphasized, checking his holo-panel. "We are also 89% done with checking the fifty-seven galaxies of interest."

This number seemed to comfort the rest of the table - 89% was a big number, and it also meant that it was unlikely that the terrorist had enough resources or manpower to utilize an assault. AP searches were notoriously thorough and pervasive.

"Due to the disconnected nature of Alliance Protector weaponry and spaceflight vehicles…" Omega continued. "The terrorist would not have easy access to acquiring energy rifles, warships, mass teleporters, or other advanced technology - save for what he's doing with the black market."

More nodding from around the table.

A rather aged AP - sitting at the far left corner of the rectangular table - sounded off immediately.

"What about the Emancipation Or Nothing Party?" the aged AP asked, voice hoarse and armor slightly chipped.

Delta now stood up, smiling. "There isn't a shred of evidence that the underground resistance movement - or E.O.N - as they stupidly call themselves - exist. All just rumors."

"I heard they've got at least a couple hundred thousand human soldiers," the senior AP countered. "Former APs who got disillusioned with the cause… and their animal base is growing, apparently."

"Such APs don't deserve to even sniff the armor we wear," Delta aggressively fought back.

Omega placed a hand on Delta's shoulder, calming him down while turning to face the older man. "What my colleague is trying to say is that - this particular terrorist seems to be acting alone."

"If we get any hard proof that he is collaborating with E.O.N - if it even exists…" Beta forced. "... then we shall tell you, and prosecute and erase both parties from history. For now though - let's stick to what is confirmed, and real."

Sigma felt sick just hearing this.

All this talk about how despicable this terrorist was.

How malevolent this underground network was.

Could no one see the injustice of it all?

Sigma had always struggled with this. He came from a military family - his father was a high-ranking AP, his grandmother was a galaxy general, and all his brothers and sisters (even cousins!) had all become designated to become Alliance Protectors. Yet Sigma had never felt the same drive - the same desire to punish and execute animals for rebelling in a society that had practically forced them into an oppressed class - and then legitimized it by saying it was their evolutionary purpose?

Then why did Sigma agree with none of this - despite the fact that his designation was to become an AP like the rest of his family?

All his life - he had been told that the Designators were never wrong.

That they decided what was best for humanity and animals.

Why were they wrong with him then?

"I said - can you please mention reports on galactic protection measures?" Omega sounded off, interrupting Sigma's thoughts.

The man grew anxious. All this thinking about morality and the Alliance had made him drift off - Omega had clearly said something, which he had missed - and now the entire chamber had witnessed the fabled Commander Sigma doze off in a meeting.

"Apologies," Sigma robotically returned. "AP presence in danger areas - around MN-1 - have been multiplied tenfold, and general AP presence has been doubled, with powers to execute greatly increased."

Sigma merely read these things off his holo-panel - he had felt no desire for it, even when he was the one ordering these changes to be done - all for a "terrorist" who was clearly trying to alert people to the inhumane conditions duty workers lived under.

"Very well," Omega forced with a sigh. "Meeting dismissed."

The head scribe at the top of the table made a final note on his panel, and waved off the entire group. One by one, the generals, APs, officers, and the rest of the crowd began to stand up and disperse from the room - all heading in unison for the double metallic doors leading out of the chamber.

Omega watched the crowd slowly part and exit, nudging Delta. "Keep an eye on Sigma. He doesn't seem right in his head as of late."

Delta watched Commander Sigma walk quickly with the crowd, clearly hating being in the room so much that the second the meeting was dismissed - he rushed to the exiting doors.

"It's not just Sigma," Delta emphasized. "I've got my eye on some APs too who have been - lacking - in devotion to the Alliance."

"Really?" Omega mentioned. "Who?"

"None you would know," Delta countered, then looking at his holo panel for confirmation. "Well - maybe one guy - Senior Scout Andrew Henderson?"

Omega scoured his memories, trying to remember the name before tying name to face. "Ah - that guy. Yeah… I remember him. Kicked him off my primary team years ago."

"Was he trustworthy?"

Omega guffawed. "Not really. I did a standard reformation mission with him fifty-something years ago - on some shithole planet - XN-44… or something like that. Idiot sabotaged one of my APs, then tried to communicate with the planet's lifeforms to warn them."

"Heh," Delta smirked. "You saying that moron thought he could speak with those primitives?"

Omega shook his head. "I - I remember XN-44 having something special about it that made the Designators want to explore it further - something like finding a human amongst the primitives."

"Hmm," Delta noted. "Interesting…"

"I can't remember the details," Omega finished. "It was a long time ago."

Delta narrowed his eyes. "Well still - I'll go through these suspect names and see what we can find."

Omega nodded.

. . .

The Alliance planet A-9 was remarkable for many reasons.

Firstly, it's history was incredible. A-9 - or pre-Reformation name - Pluto - was one of the nine ancient planets that were part of the original solar system in the original Milky Way Galaxy - part of the original group of planets before the Alliance had been formed. As such, much of the solar system was deeply rooted in space tourism and business transactions - Earth had its own, drastically superior level of extreme commercialization, but the surrounding original planets had their own level of large tourism and commercialization. Six of the nine original planets had been lost in intergalactic wars, leaving just Earth, Pluto, and A-6 - pre-Reformation name Jupiter - as historical remnants of a pre-Alliance galaxy. Pluto still drew immense crowds of human beings from all over the fifty-seven galaxies - gigantic touring spaceships charging heavy fees for visitation to one of the "ancient" planets. As such, the activity around Pluto was always busy and upbeat - notably, the atmosphere was continuously surrounded with freshly-warping spaceships and heavy AP patrol vessels, dwarfing the already tiny blue planet in a practically extra layer of flashy metal.

Secondly, Pluto was at the end of the day - an Alliance planet. Comparing Alliance planets to either resident or production planets was like trying to compare skyscrapers to decrepit shanty towns - there simply was no comparison. If a duty worker were to somehow, miraculously break away from their supervisors and see what on an Alliance planet like Pluto looked like - they might be first shocked to see how pleasant and peaceful it looked, eons of atmosphere maintenance and rebuilding by drones had given Pluto an aqua blue tan. The pleasing color was reflected by light from the rebuilt original Sun - the star associated with birthing Earth, and consequently - the human race. Penetrate past Pluto's atmosphere, and the duty worker would be truly shocked at the amount and quality of life on the ground… Pluto's surface was covered in a perfectly aesthetic, calculated mixtures of advanced technology yet synthetic greenery. Although humanity had caused the extinction of all plant species millions of years ago, that didn't stop them from creating machinistic analogues that imitated their ancient plant predecessors - and thus, Pluto's surface was based upon by a seemingly infinite false grass prairie and flickering holograms of thousands of differing foliage - which were undercut by shining chrome hyperspeed trains, all of which lead to the small planet's only city. The city itself boasted the enormous technological advances that the Alliance loved taking credit for - citadels and skyscrapers that flashed and stretched into the upper troposphere, a network of perfectly managed drones which surveyed and continuously replenished the atmosphere with breathable elements, a small AP presence, and facilities and buildings that duty workers could only dream of: cyber-courts, holographic schools, vacation resorts, 100 star hotels, and such a display of multi-colored lights, almost perpetually - it was as close to a techno-paradise as the Alliance could create, and this atmosphere applied for every Alliance planet. The only thing missing was its lack of residential homes, which were found on all other Alliance planets - but this made sense, given that Pluto was a "party planet" - a popular destination for drunk university graduates who had just bought spaceships with their parents' energy currency, intending to blow all of their crystal currency on one day/night of sheer hedonism. The only thing better was Earth itself, which was on a completely different level of luxury.

Thirdly, Pluto's only city was currently undergoing a festival of sorts - which added even more to the decor of the planet.

The planetary mayor was getting inaugurated today, which - although in practice useless, since all decisions were made by Designators - was an old "Earth" tradition worthy of celebration. As such, the city was covered in glowing holographic banners and small aerial bots performed nice light shows in mid-air, hovering above the crowded population of perhaps four thousand humans dwelling in the City Center, taking the time to admire the enormous carbon skyscrapers and holographic panels to all sides of them. Drones constantly walked into the crowds, offering an endless replenishing of fancy drinks and cocktail glasses to the sandals and shorts crowd. The City Center had been modified a bit today - a large podium had been erected in the center, gentle sunlight bouncing off the sharp metal and onto the crowd in front of the podium - illuminating the lazy, drunk, yet peaceful faces of human beings who were clearly so deep into privileged luxury that they could care less what was happening - they were having the time of their lives. Adding to the freedom was the enormous subwoofers and speakers positioned to the podium's sides - blasting irreverent techno-pop synth to the entire crowd.

The mayor of course, had no intention of changing the mood. He stepped onto the podium, flanked by minimal APs - golden armor bouncing light off itself and onto the mayor's sharp dark robes.

"I would say I've gotta - a - a speech to make," the mayor declared, laughing at his holographic teleprompter situated in his palms - clearly drunk. "But I'll just say - WHAT HAPPENS IN PLUTO - ?!"

"STAYS IN PLUTO!" the crowd screamed back, dancing uselessly again before cheering and whooping with casualness.

The mayor paid no further attention to the din of the crowd, turning back to see a small red panda - incredibly aged and frail, balancing himself on a small wooden staff - cough out wheezes.

"I thought I told you to get me another drink, RP-18," the mayor growled, slapping the aged red panda with anger. "Don't think that just because you're my pet that I won't hesitate to discipline you."

"Yes Master," the red panda squeaked out, aging bones and limbs too tired - but fear too great - so that he began scouring the crowd for a drone serving drinks.

"MAYOR STAHKO!"

The crowd stopped dancing.

An AP quickly shut off the speakers playing music.

The drones were quickly disabled.

Stahko approached the podium again, quickly encircled by his ten or so AP guards - not expecting the unusual voice.

Or the unusual figure.

The aged red panda watched the levitating figure - clearly using a jetpack - float in the air above the crowd and above the mayor. The APs pointed their rifles at the new arrival instinctively. The jetpack-ed man wore a distinctively golden black armor, with painted arrows on the sides - he wasn't an AP, but he clearly had enough arsenal to purchase his jetpack, a strange armor, and the confidence to face ten APs with zero fear.

"This is for the Revolution."

And the man threw something.

Before the APs could even fire their rifles, ten balls of pure energy - sparkling yet fiery like a black hole - zoomed from the man's throw, catching the APs in the neck to sear straight through the nanocrystallite armor.

The guards fell instantly, terrifying Mayor Stahko.

The crowd started screaming, delusion of partying lost and began running away from each other - heading for the hyperspeed trains outside the City Center.

The man got to Stahko in the blink of the red panda's eyes.

His visor was still down. Stahko begged and cried.

"Please please please…" Stahko urged, crying while falling off the podium. "I have money, I have crystals, I know people who can get you anything…"

"I always hated bureaucrats," the man coldly responded, throwing another energy ball…

...at the mayor's head.

It cleanly went inside, almost via absorbance - then the red panda was horrified to see his master's forehead expand and grow redder and redder, finally bursting in an explosion of flesh and carnage.

The red panda fell down in fear, aged body terrified.

The man floated closer to the small red panda, visor still down and unrelenting.

"There'll be more AP reinforcements soon," the man spoke clearly. "Shifu - it's important that you do this for me."

The red panda was horrified that the man knew his name. He shuddered inside.

"When they come, tell them that this is me declaring war on the Alliance," the man forced. "Tell them to fix duty worker conditions and pay reparations in one month - or I hit another planet."

Shifu nodded quickly and hastily, scared into submission. "Who - who are you?"

The man turned away, blasting off into the sky in a burst of glittering blue light.


A/N

Hehe… the plot thickens I see…

So basically some more callbacks are revealed now. Wang is the AP Tigress was talking to - although she didn't realize it. And Shifu was there! Albeit a little scared by our mysterious freedom fighter, lol.

Here we also see that there are humans who oppose the Alliance - Sigma is an example of an AP uneasy with his position and the stuff that the Alliance does every day, while Omega and Delta keep him on watch - and Henderson! (you might remember him from the ending of KFP 3)

Again, I want to promise that none of the Five or Po have died - it's just that because of the huge time-skip, I need to build up their new lives and introductions slowly… this'll happen with every new chapter… hehe.

So the fic continues.

Support is beastly.

~TW