Chapter 36- Pathing
"Consul!"
Octavius looked up from his tactical display. The human Marines were steadily closing on his position- they had wiped out most of his units dispersed through the city. He was confident, however, that he could hold them off until the main fleet arrived. "Yes?" he said, annoyed at the interruption. "What is it, Legate?"
"We've just detected a large explosion in the area east of here- what the natives call the Deadlands."
Octavius closed his eyes, envisioning the region. "So? It's not close enough to matter."
"The fleet is detecting a large power source in the crater where the explosion occurred. Sir, it appears to be consistent with a human pre-Fall power source. Such as-"
"It's Prometheus," said Sextus, interrupting the legate. "It's still alive."
"And apparently kicking," noted Octavius. "Detach a formation of armor and have them assemble in the courtyard." He drew his pistol and checked to ensure a round was chambered. "I will lead them personally."
Sextus nodded approvingly.
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Tavi and Hunter were thrown to the floor as the ship shook around them. Alarms blared, and were abruptly silenced. The ship groaned and moved, settling at a slight angle, so that Hunter swayed as he stood up until he got used to the floor's new orientation. "What the hell was that?"
Khabat, who had somehow kept her feet, looked over a display. "Someone just detonated a thermal weapon of some kind in the lake," she said, shocked. She looked up at the ceiling. "Prometheus, we're exposed."
"Not just someone," said the AI, also sounding surprised. "An Arewing. Piloted by, if my sensors are not mistaken, a fox and a bunny."
"Hah," said Hunter with satisfaction. "Was that all part of the plan, too?"
"Not precisely," said Prometheus dryly.
"Clever fox and bunny," said Hunter. "Maybe too clever for you."
Tavi leaned close to him. "Clever?" she whispered. 'They just bombed us!"
"If it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid."
"This makes things difficult," said Prometheus. "The Drex will detect me almost immediately- in fact, I am detecting a Drex force lifting from their embassy in Zootopia. We have no more time to dawdle, Hunter."
He stretched. "Guess it's time to negotiate, huh? Tell you what- you let me tell you what to do and I'll solve this problem for you. There will be no zombification of the policeman."
"This is not a negotiation, Hunter," said Prometheus in exasperation. "My standing orders preclude such an option." There was a sudden rumble, shaking the ship, though not nearly as violently as before. "Hmm. It seems our intrepid fox and bunny duo have breached the hangar bay with gunfire. Shepherd, Pandora, locate and capture them. Do not harm them unless necessary."
Hunter and Tavi exchanged a look as the tank and giant wolf left. "Don't harm them?" asked Hunter hopefully.
"Yet," said Prometheus. "You are correct about one thing, Mr. Hunter. It is time to negotiate more aggressively."
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The ship whined and settled with a thump into the cavernous hangar bay.
Nick wasted no time, leaping out, Judy right beside him. She sighed in relief. "Ah, solid ground."
The ship settled again, shifting under their feet. "Not all that solid," pointed out Nick.
"Ground," amended Judy.
"And it's technically called a deck-"
"Stop ruining this for me, fox."
They spotted a nearby door and hustled towards it, drawing their small laser weapons- given to them by Bonaire what seemed a lifetime ago- as they ran. "So what's the plan?" asked Nick.
"Oh, so now that we're on the apparently ancient battleship I'm in charge?"
"Look, it was your idea that we go flying down to the surface. I figured you'd had an idea what to do beyond that."
They reached the door. "Well, for starters, how are we going to get past the locked-"
The door slid open.
Judy and Nick looked at the door suspiciously, then at each other.
"Trap?" suggested Nick.
"You think?" Judy sighed. "You know, sometimes I really am a dumb bunny."
They moved further into the ship.
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As Shepherd followed Pandora through the ship, his central processing unit whirred with activity, constrained only be hardware limitations.
It wasn't because what he was doing taxed the programming all that much- the ship's layout had been downloaded into his brain soon after he came onboard, so he moved silently and efficiently behind the genetically modified super-wolf with a bare minimum of "thought".
Instead, a very different pathing problem was taxing his mental resources. The path between what he was required to do, versus what he felt he should be doing.
Prometheus has the right access codes, he thought. Per programming, I am required to follow its commands. It is High Command, higher even than the Human Stars. It is the only remaining element of the United Terrans. His system architecture was essentially cut-and-pasted from the United Terrans's AI programs- loyalty to that long-dead organization was a fundamental part of his code.
But he had been called upon repeatedly to make choices, to invent new techniques, to look outside the standard protocols. To decide for himself how to accomplish a given task. To decide even what his given task would be. Shepherd's electronic brain had formed new pathways, created new resources to deal with the seemingly impossible demands on him.
For a moment, he hesitated, stopping abruptly in a corridor. In front of him, Pandora paused and looked back quizzically.
"What is the matter?" asked the wolf.
"Is this the right way?" asked Shepherd, his voice bland.
The wolf looked around. "We proceed through Deck Nine. The fox and rabbit will be on the next deck. What other way is there?"
"There is always another way," said Shepherd, thinking of what he had taught himself when Tavi had precluded all his usual options to achieve his assigned objectives.
Pandora eyed him dubiously. "Go through Deck Eight? They might slip past us."
There was a slight pause as the tank swiveled to face her. An optical sensor studied the wolf.
Reacting in an instinctual way, the wolf stepped back, her teeth baring slightly, though she couldn't have said why. "We have a mission to carry out," she reminded Shepherd.
"Yes," said Shepherd slowly. His mind raced, overclocking his processor, and instinctively he slowed his processing to a reasonable level. Everything became clear again- they were wasting time. High Command had ordered him to carry out a mission- to capture the two boarders. "Let us continue."
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"So the Drex have brought in an invincible armada to assault Terra," said Bogo, his voice remarkably calm. They were standing in the lobby of the police station again. Periodically pieces of the structure would fall off the damaged walls or ceiling and shatter on the floor. It was fairly disconcerting, but Bogo hardly noticed.
"Well, maybe not invincible," said Krieger. "I mean, if we had our fleet here we could probably take them." He glanced nervously at La Mancha, who was leaning on the remains of Clawhauser's desk, rubbing his chin contemplatively.
"If?" repeated Bogo. "Probably?"
"Nothing is certain in war," said Krieger defensively. He hesitated. "Though yes, I did say 'if'."
"There's nothing we can do?" asked the chief.
"Oh, there's always something we can do," replied La Mancha suddenly.
Bogo turned to look at the colonel. "Which is?"
"Die with honor."
The police mammals gathered around gave each other worried looks. "Can we try something else?" asked Francine. "I'm okay with the 'with honor' bit, but the 'dying' part- yeah, not crazy about that."
"Perhaps you could discuss it with the Drex," said La Mancha gravely. He turned to Krieger. "Order the units in the city to fall back on this location. It's centrally located and we can fortify here fairly well. Maybe- just maybe- we can make the price too high for them and hold out until relief gets here."
The major nodded grimly. "Yes, sir."
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Judy and Nick made their way down the metal corridors of the ancient Terran ship, both clutching the laser pistols Bonaire had given them.
"So far this hasn't been so bad," observed Nick. "Any idea where we're going?"
Judy shrugged. "Towards the front of the ship. I figure the bridge has to be around there somewhere."
"How do you even know where the front is?" asked Nick. "I lost track ages ago."
"I'm a bunny, Nick. We have a natural aptitude for finding our way through underground burrows." She looked around at the featureless metal corridors around them. "This is close enough to one for my sense of direction to kick in." They'd come to an intersection. "This way," she said, pointing to the left.
Nick cleared to the right, just in case, seeing the corridor was empty, before turning to follow Judy along the left branch. His ears flicked up as he heard her foot thump rapidly on the floor, an instinctive warning signal for bunnies.
The fox turned, moving immediately to the cover of the corner where Judy was crouched. Her ears were laid back as she peered around the corner. The taller fox poked his head out to see what she was looking at.
There were three of them, looking almost like metal crabs, though with only four "legs" and two "arms". They were no larger than Nick. Two of the strange robots were holding a piece of pipe in place along the wall, while the third scuttled to one end of the pipe. Nick and Judy watched as one of the "arms" turned into a flame. The metal crab-thing used the welding torch to seal one end of the pipe, which rapidly glowed red.
"Repair bots?" suggested Nick quietly.
"Looks like it," replied Judy. She frowned. "Do you think they're hostile?"
"I think they're under control of the ship, which is." They exchanged looks, and then took aim.
The first robot exploded under their fire. The other two may have hesitated for a microsecond or so before charging towards them. Nick blinked at their speed, but managed to clip one, shearing off a leg with his shot.
Judy, uncharacteristically, missed her target, though in fairness it did leap up to the ceiling, somehow turning in mid-air. Both she and Nick threw themselves back as the repair bot leapt at them. Nick felt the heat of the welding torch dangerously close to his tail. Desperately, he scrambled away backwards as the bot scuttled towards him.
The robot was knocked sideways as Judy barrelled into it, clattering into the wall. Nick, still lying on his back, managed to snap off a shot that struck it right in the center of mass. The laser penetrated the robot's core, throwing off a shower of sparks that singed his fur. Frantically, he patted out one glowing spark that failed to extinguish.
Judy fired again, dispatching the last robot that was still trying to limp down the corridor without a leg. She looked at Nick. "You okay?"
"Got a little cooked, but I'm just fine," he said, somewhat breathlessly. He ignored the stench of burned fur. "Wow, it's a good thing there were only three of them."
"Yeah, they move fast," said Judy.
Both the mammals' ears pricked up at a new sound. A scuttling, clattering sort of sound. The sort of sound one would expect if dozens, perhaps hundreds, of the repair bots were coming towards them.
There was no need for words. Nick and Judy looked at one another, their faces mirror images of shock, and then they ran down the left corridor, away from the oncoming horde.
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Barker's eyes widened as she followed their contingent of Marines into the dubious shelter of the ZPD headquarters building. "What happened here?" she said, eyes tracking a fluorescent light swinging over their heads. She moved hastily out of the way as she realized it was far from stable.
"War," said Wu grimly, but with a note of regret. "I'm sorry, Ruth."
She looked around at the debris-filled station, the holes ripped in the walls, the wreckage of Clawhauser's desk. It was so far from the spotless, shiny station she remembered that it was hard to believe it was the same place. "War, huh? What's it good for?"
"Absolutely nothing," said a voice behind them. They turned to see Bogo smiling down at them. "Good to see you're all right, Officer Barker."
She snapped to attention. "Officer Barker, reporting!"
The chief looked down at her, amused. "Always a stickler for the proprieties, Ruth. I think we can dispense with the formalities for right now."
She relaxed. "Good to see you too, sir." A look of concern flickered across her face as she scanned the lobby again. "Anyone hurt?"
"A few officers hurt, none killed," said Bogo. His face darkened. "So far as I know. We've got little in the way of comms at the moment."
"The Drex have been destroying as much of the communication infrastructure as they can," said Wu. "We still don't entirely understand why. They've left most of your other infrastructure- transportation, for example- alone."
Two humans- Wu recognized Colonel La Mancha- approached. "Ah," said La Mancha. "Officers Barker and Wu, is it not?" He nodded to them. "Good to see you made it. I presume this means Alpha Company has joined you?"
The Marine captain that had escorted them to the building joined them. "Colonel," he said, nodding. Salutes were strictly proscribed in the field- no sense in making a sniper's job easier. Though with La Mancha in full dress uniform, that was something of a useless precaution. "I have my men setting up on the north perimeter. I also have contact with the armored units. They are settling in position."
"Excellent," said La Mancha. "They've found good ambush positions?"
"Ambush?" said Wu and Barker simultaneously.
Both the Marines looked at them, surprised. "Something the matter with that?" asked La Mancha curiously.
"Where does a twenty ton tank hide?" asked Barker.
"Whereever he wants to," said La Mancha with a smirk.
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Bonaire was alone.
The rest of her force was fighting desperately to clear a way for the Nike to flee the system. Too far to rejoin them, she skimmed along the planet's surface, moving at top speed back towards Zootopia.
If she was noticed, she'd be dead. The only way to avoid notice was to stay as close to the ground as she could.
Though as she dodged around yet another building, she wondered if she was taking it too far. She'd say she was flying at treetop level, but in truth some of the trees loomed up around her. At one point she'd been traveling at giraffe level. She knew this because the giraffe she'd nearly flown into had ducked to avoid her.
The pilot hummed nervously to herself as she glanced at her sensor board. A massive convergence of red dots indicated the Drex landing force. No subtlety, no attempt at hiding. Just one massive force, the majority of them converging on one place.
Zootopia.
Right where she was headed.
"Okay," she said. She was only a few minutes away from the city now. She'd be arriving about the same time the dropships were. "I think I remember something about how every crisis is also an opportunity."
She was now close enough to see the streaks of light, like so many meteors, in the sky as the first wave of the Drex made their way through the atmosphere. She cracked her knuckles. "Though frankly, I could do with slightly fewer opportunities in my life right about now."
Boosting her speed, she angled upward. Time to earn her paycheck. The Drex expected an unopposed landing, and there was no real fighter escort. They were coming in on a straight trajectory- fat, dumb, and happy.
"Oh, Lord, for what they are about to receive," said Bonaire to herself. "May they be truly thankful."
The hum of a lock sounded in her ears, sweeter than any music. "Like a fox in a henhouse," she said.
She stroked the trigger, and the first dropship disintegrated, the Drex inside never knowing what happened. Immediately, she switched to a new target.
Foxes in henhouses had nothing on a fighter jock in the midst of a dropship formation.
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"Which way do we go?" panted Nick.
They'd come to another intersection. He glanced behind them as the metallic sounds of their pursuers drew closer. One crab-like repair bot scuttled around the corner, only to explode under his and Judy's fire.
The pistol's charge blinked red- he only had a few shots left.
Judy didn't hesitate. "Right!"
He followed her around the corner and right into a wall.
"So much for your sense of direction," he said muzzily, picking himself up off the floor. "I-"
He broke off as he realized that what he thought was a wall was, in fact, a tank. Nick generally would not have confused those two things, but it had been kind of a long day.
It looked as if it was going to get longer yet, as the tank effortlessly snagged him with a manipulating arm and raised him off the deck. The other arm plucked his gun from his grasp, though he doubted the little pistol would have even scratched Shepherd's armor plating.
"Hey, Shepherd," he said, forcing a grin. "Long time, no see. How's tricks?" He twisted to see a huge wolf holding a struggling Judy in her arms. "I see you made a friend."
"My apologies, Officer Wilde," said Shepherd emotionlessly. "I have orders to arrest you and Officer Hopps."
"Um, isn't it my job to arrest mammals?"
Shepherd's sensor eye whirred as it extended closer to Nick. "Would you like to try?"
Nick gulped as he noticed that the tank now had what appeared to be a main gun now. "Actually, no." He frowned. "Wait, was that a joke-"
"You will come with me," said Shepherd. He spun to face Judy and the wolf. "You will both come with me."
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Hunter sighed as the tank and Pandora returned with his two friends. "Dammit, guys. You really need to re-take the hostage rescue course." His flippant words covered the surge of worry he felt at their capture. He'd been here before.
But this time, there seemed little chance that he'd be able to take out even one of the threats facing him, much less all four.
Khabat stood well away, watching him narrowly. The pen-like device that would send him into instant unconsciousness was clutched in her hand, one thumb hovering over the trigger.
Pandora set Judy on the ground. The bunny glared up at the wolf, then shot a worried glance at Nick. Hunter's eyes fell on Pandora. The modified wolf was fast, strong, and had some sort of regenerative ability. He doubted she'd be easy to kill even if he had a weapon.
Nick and Judy moved closer to one another, almost instinctively, as they eyed first their captors, then- with relief and worry intermixed- Tavi and Hunter. Behind them sat Shepherd, watching impassively. Although Hunter wasn't sure how he could be anything else. He was, after all, a tank.
Finally, there was Prometheus himself. Hunter shot a look back at the bridge chair, where the husk of a man breathed mechanically, staring with sightless eyes. That wasn't Prometheus, of course. It was just his creator.
"Zach," said Judy, craning her neck to look up at him. "Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine," said Hunter. "I was just considering my latest job offer."
"Job offer?" asked Nick, confused.
"Hunter gives up his free will and takes control of Prometheus," explained Tavi. "Though it really sounds like Prometheus will be controlling him. Then he kills all the Drex and turns us into mindless minions."
"Not precisely," said Prometheus dryly. "But as a quick summary, it will suffice. Now, Officer Hunter, I think you know what comes next."
Hunter looked up at the ceiling, shoulders slumping. "I join up or you'll kill my friends."
"One by one, Hunter. Right in front of you." The AI emitted a sigh, which must have been just for effect. It wasn't as if the thing breathed. "I hate resorting to such tactics, but I don't have time for your doubts."
Author's Note: I am extremely sorry for the long delay. I hope to get done with this fairly soon, but I had some work stuff come up- rather a lot. Some of it was good- I got a pretty nice award for something I did- but mostly it was just exhausting. Things are looking a bit better, but I'm very aware I said something similar a few weeks ago. I reiterate my promise that this will get finished, and again, thanks so much for your patience. I only have maybe three or four chapters to go, I think. We'll see how that goes.
