When they walked into the room it was the same color as the room they were pushed into. A dark gray. But this room was huge. There was a chair at the very back of the room. It wasn't at all like a throne though. It was made out of the cave's rock because it was the same dark gray as everything else. There was a streak of purple going down the arm rests and a gold line running across the top. On the walls were banners with unique symbols on them. They looked like giant scrolls. The scroll part was gold and the banner was white with a purple colored symbol. There were seven of these giant banners on each side wall. In the middle of the room was a raised circle. It too was mad of the cave's rock for it was the same color. But around the bottom was a purple line and the tope edge was gold in color. It was a big object. No doubt it was the planning table. Where people gather around a map of the battlefield and plan. There were also rugs. Three of them. A red one around the battle table. A gold one near the Generals chair and a purple one near the door.
They were standing on the purple rug and across the room standing on the gold colored one was the General. It was obviously a female. She had the stature of a female. She was holding a spear. Around the part where the spear head is tied to the wooded pole there was a purple ribbon and a golden ribbon. And around the wooden pole was a red, purple, and gold design. She had a sward on her back and a bow and quiver around her back as well.
"Skipper." She said. Her voice was strong, very strong, yet, it had a sweet tone to it. It wasn't a deep voice. It was deeper than average though. Although deep it had a lightness to it. Like a feather's lightness. You could tell from her voice that she was an over all nice person. And she seemed a little happy too. Her voice did anyway. Not the smiling happy either. She sounded like she was happy that Skipper was there, but had too much on her hands to be happy about it. "It's been a while since I've seen you. I started to miss you." She walked forward.
"It has been a while Sara. I never thought I'd see you again." Skipper replied calmly.
"Well that was to be expected. You weren't exactly happy when you left." Sara replied. "I can say the same. I never did expect to see you again. But that is not what you want to hear is it?" She asked expectantly. "You want to know why."
"It would be nice." Skipper said calmly.
"Well then." She took a deep breath. "We have a problem."
"When don't you have a problem?" Skipper asked. It wasn't a question. More along the lines of the fact that they always had a problem and Skipper knew that.
"Yes we always have problems." She replied casually. "But this one is different." She said more seriously. "We have Intel that there is a dark minded man who is going to strike." She explained.
"So…" Shipper didn't really understand the problem.
"That's a problem. We're about to go into war with Scythro and his men." (sigh-throw) she explained. "We can't afford a third party."
"What do you want me to do about that?" Skipper asked. There was nothing he could do. Scythro was one of the neutral units. He and his men didn't belong to a unit. But they did solve some problems. The only thing is, with neutral units, they tend to want things. and they're allowed to because they are un controlled. But they do not kill to get these things. They attack. Take prisoner, get what they want and release the prisoners back to their homes. No death. But then sometimes they problems that are created by taking things forces neutral units into war with controlled ones.
For instance, Scythro and unit nine.
"Nothing. We need someone with more skill. We need someone who can help organize the right training. Right now." She sighed, "These guys are armatures against Scythro and his men."
"Why the weapons?" Skipper asked calmly.
"Excuse me?" Sara asked confused. She didn't understand what he was asking.
"Why are they using guns?" He asked again impatiently. He didn't like guns. Not like those ones. And he knew that they would be used for the battle. But using guns in a battle wasn't a battle. It was a blood bath.
"That is none of your concern Major." The General said with authority. She knew he hated guns. George didn't like them either. And personally she didn't like them a lot either. But she had gotten word that Scythro was going to use guns so she had to match his artillery.
Skipper narrowed his eyes and stared at her. He wasn't going to use weapons like that. he wasn't going to use that kind of force. It wasn't how he did things. He liked hand to hand combat. He liked being up close to his enemy. He liked being able to catch projectiles. Being able to catch arrows and knives and swards. You couldn't catch a bullet. You couldn't stop a bullet. You couldn't dodge a bullet. Guns took the fun out of fighting. Guns took the excitement out of fighting. Guns shouldn't be qualified as a form of fighting. The old weapons were more fun to fight with. The older weapons were more adventurous. They were stealthier. They were lighter. They were fighting weapons. Guns were for sissy. Scardy cats. Guns were for those who want to kill and hide. Skipper was more of a close up and personal fighter. He liked swards fights and knife fights. He liked spears and arrows. That was his style of war. That was the only style of war in his books.
"Skipper, you have no say in the weapons we use." She said more forcefully. Skipper was a valued man. And he was becoming a friend of hers. But friend or not, there was still a set of rues and regulations to follow. And he was good at breaking them.
Skipper thought for a minute. "Fine. But I'm going to warn you. We are not going to use one of those things. we have our own way of getting the job done. A less deadly way. And we're going to do it our way." Skipper warned.
"That's fine. For now. Guns are only used during a small portion of the training. And knowing you. You'll find a way to do the part of the training with something else. But know this Major. When the time of battle comes. You will have to take one. And there will be nothing you could do to prevent that." Sara explained.
Skipper hated that. He growled. Mostly to himself though he was sure everyone else heard it.
"From here on out, Skipper, you are hereby reinstated as a Major in unit nine, and will serve under Colonel George. And your friends are instated as second lieutenants, also serving under Colonel George. Dismissed." She turned and started to walk back to the battle table.
They all left. Skipper was trying to prevent himself from blowing up. The thought of holding a gun like that angered him. He didn't like the use of guns on such a large scale. One or two is fine. But a whole army? No. it didn't sit well with him.
He was walking towards their quarters. He wanted to find out if the vent was locked or had an alarm on it. He was walking faster than the others.
"Major." George said calmly. The major had to learn something. He had to learn respect. Something that he had always struggled with.
Skipper kept walking. The Colonel picked a bad time to pull the stupid superior respect junk.
"Major." The Colonel warned.
Skipper kept walking.
"Major!" George shouted.
Skipper turned around. "Not now Colonel. Yes I know I need to listen to you and don't worry I probably will. But right now I would seriously suggest backing off. Because I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now." Skipper warned. He turned and kept walking. The Colonel stopped. He didn't call the Major again and probably wouldn't talk to him until tomorrow. But he also felt a small bit of understanding. He wasn't a fan of guns. He was also the up close and personal type of fighter. He also thought that guns were for cowards and felt like his hands were burning every time he held one. And he too felt that a war with guns is not a war but a blood bath. That was where they saw eye to eye.
Skipper walked into the room. Twelve, twelve. It was easy to remember.
And it was a good thing too. Because Private, Rico , and Kowalski didn't pay attention to that.
"Rico crowbar." Skipper said when they closed the door.
Rico gave him a crowbar.
Skipper threw it into the corner of the vent. It stuck there. And a very loud alarm went off.
Skipper sighed. "Of course." He had a feeling the Colonel hadn't forgotten. He didn't. Skipper liked his enemies, because they never learned. But the Colonel learned. And Skipper hated that.
He was also the one who kicked the door open. He didn't have a gun. He just had himself. His very mad, very strong, very pissed looking self.
Skipper smiled at him. He was prepared to get screamed at. He didn't need much preparation. Yelling didn't intimidate him. Big people didn't usually intimidate him either. George could. But right now Skipper wasn't intimidated at all.
"What did I tell you boy!" The Colonel shouted. He knew that he was going to yell today. He knew he would want to hurt the Major today. He knew it he hoped he wouldn't have to but deep down he knew that the major would have to get screamed at, at least once a day.
"Nothing special." Skipper replied. "I wasn't trying to get out. It was a test." He explained calmly.
"A test!" The Colonel screamed. "That alarm could e heard throughout the whole sector!"
"I'm sorry I'll try to make it louder next time." Skipper replied.
"You're lucky Major. You get three warnings then I can have my way with you." The Colonel growled.
"Sure Colonel." Skipper said bored.
"Watch it Major. You've been warned." Then he left.
Skipper looked over at them. They all looked confused.
"They have guns. What are they so worried about?" Private asked. He wasn't a fan of guns either.
None of them were.
"I don't know. But we have some planning of our own to do. A war with guns isn't a war." Skipper said.
"No Skipper." Kowalski replied. "It's a blood bath." They all thought that way. They might not be the best yet, but they were also the up close and personal kind of fighters. Not as strong as Skipper was. But they didn't like the use of guns.
Rico didn't either. He was more ok with it than all of them. But although his favorite weapon was the chain saw. He knew when and when not to use it. And if he couldn't use it his second favorite was nun chucks.
Private liked the use of poles. Something he could protect himself with.
Skipper and Kowalski were perfectly fine with using their bare flippers to fight. But they favored weapons like swards, poles, sticks. Something that you had to get close to the enemy to use.
Although, Kowalski liked being the one to do other things. Like playing with wires.
"So what are we going to plan?" Private asked. He was curious.
"First. How to get out. We need to get out and talk to Marlene. But we have to come back or they'll send someone for us. And we don't want that to happen so we can't stay at the zoo long. The second thing is how to get to Scythro before the blood bath. We can stop this from happing." Skipper explained. There was a way to stop this conflict from becoming a blood bath. But first they had to cover the main front. Or their main front. In other words they had to make Marlene the peace keeper until they could get back.
"Ok so first we have to disable the alarm." Private stated. The only way out was through the vent. They would be stopped if they just tried to walk out.
"Kowalski."
"Depending on the type of alarm system I should be able to disarm it. It could take a while though." Kowalski said. Disarming things was his specialty. All the electronic things were his profession. Except locks. Skipper was surprising good with those.
"Tomorrow. When we are dismissed for the night. You'll only have a window of seven hours, Kowalski. Can you get it done?" There was no room for interruptions. No one could get in their way r the zoo would become a place of total havoc.
"Psh. That's like asking if I disarm a thousand bolt blimp and it's high tech security system. Which I can." Kowalski replied.
"Good. Then as long as we don't have any surprise interruptions we'll be out and back before they can do anything." Skipper stated. He never doubted Kowalski. He just had to make sure they could be out and back before they had to go to the training area in the morning.
"But Skippah. Won't they notice we're gone?" Private asked. He had over heard someone talking about a new security system. Something with cameras in every room.
"Hopefully not." Skipper replied. He didn't think any one would. And hopefully no one would need them when they were gone.
"But what if they put a camera in the room?" Private asked. He was hoping Skipper would understand what he was trying to say. He really didn't know how to say it.
"Then we'll have Rico pull the accidental explosion card. Don't worry Private. We're getting out tomorrow." Skipper said confidently.
Then someone burst through the doors.
"Don't you people know how to knock!" Kowalski asked loudly. It made him a little nervous about tomorrow night. If people just barged in then he would have to warning. They would catch him and then it would be over.
"We have the right to enter." He said. "Come in guys."
"A knock would have been nice though." Private said.
"Well the world isn't full of roses and lollypops." The guy said sarcastically.
"What do you want?" Skipper asked annoyed.
"We need to install a security camera. That's not a problem is it soldier?"
Skipper growled.
"Well deal with it!"
They had to let them install the camera. They didn't need people getting suspicious.
That should do it." One of them said when they were done. There was three of them.
"Good." Skipper sadi annoyed. "Then don't let the door hit you on the way out."
The first one, the one who barged in, walked up to skipper and pointed a screw driver in his face. "Watch id soldier." He warned.
Skipper swatted the screw driver away and made a fist under the guys beak. "You watch it handy man. Or you'll be sorry." He hissed.
The guy didn't flinch. He stayed still.
They both glared at each other for a minute before they left. The camera men were gone.
"Looks like we're pulling off the accidental explosion routine boys." Skipper said.
"Mwahahaha." Rico laughed evilly, rubbing his two flippers together.
Private shivered.
"You're really getting too good with that Rico." Kowalski stated a little creeped out.
"Aw." Rico replied hanging his head.
"That's fine Rico. We need a touch of that when we take our short trip." Skipper said, giving them his smug grin.
"So when Kowalski disarms the alarm what do we do after that?" Private asked.
"We'll work our way through the vent to the outside world. And the rest will have to be figured out when we get there." Skipper replied.
"So now we just wait?" Kowalski asked.
"Yes. Now we wait." Skipper replied.
And they did. Until night, when they slept. They would have to live through tomorrow before they did anything.
An alarm went off at five am. The next morning. Even with the alarm, Skipper still had to rip them out of their bunks and onto the floor. He had to basically slap the awake.
Then they left and followed the crowed to the training area.
"This is a very big group of people." Kowalski stated surprised, and concerned. No wonder Skipper wanted to stop the blood before it started.
"Yes this is a big group. And that's why we need to stop them from fighting before the fight begins." Skipper replied seriously. Life was no joke. If they didn't stop the battle before it started…half of these men would die. And Skipper believed that no one should die if their death could be avoided.
Skipper knew where to go, so he led the way. They had to line up when they met the Colonel. And he had to scream a few times before Kowalski, Rico, and Private got their salutes right.
Skipper had a hard time fight his instinct to give Colonel George a black eye. They would all be in trouble if he did that. But it didn't make fighting the instinct any easier.
And so the day began.