"FOOOMP" The helicopter landed in the hangar bay of the café. The doors closed with a bang.
"You're back!" Hudson shouted joyfully. Boomer, Poncho and Poo Poo exchanged a glance.
"Is Major Jim here?" asked Boomer. As Hudson was too excited at his friend's safe return, Gus just nodded in Boomer's direction, before turning back to a cargo manifest. Boomer nodded back. "Where is he?" Gus pointed to the command center. "Thanks." As they five dogs went up the stairs, Boomer turned to an officer and said "Go tell the squad they've earned a little R&R, and then make sure that the sergeant from the base is moved to the Infirmary." The officer nodded, and hurried to carry out his task.
The command center was complete chaos. Human and canine agents alike swarmed Boomer the moment he entered the room, demanding his attention and opinion on how to deal with each new threat. Poncho spotted one officer, the young lieutenant who had previously been so helpful. He flagged him down.
"Satus update. Now." he said.
"Well, shortly after you left, Major Jim from Canine Security arrived." the officer began. "He went into the conference room with Commanders Hudson and Gus. Roughly ten minutes into their conversation, we received a report from an outpost detailing how a platoon of mailmen attacked them, and were barley repelled." He took a breath. "When Major Jim read this report, he seemed very shaken, and authorized deployment of three aircraft squadrons from the Dyer Bay Base. Then, squadrons of mailmen attacked all over the city."
Poncho brushed past the young officer to look at the war map. It seemed that most of their forces were arrayed in a defensive perimeter around the center of town, with an arm branched out to defend an area.
"What's in that area?" Boomer asked a human technician.
"Oh, just a chemical company and some shoe stores." he replied. " Nothing really. We're preparing to withdraw, with your approval of course." The officer added. If Poncho had a brow, he would have furrowed it. A chemical company, a chemical company. Where had he...
"DON'T PULL OUT!" Poncho shouted, surprising everyone in the command center, including him.
"Poncho, are you okay?" Boomer asked.
"Yes!" Poncho replied, shoving his friends out of the way in his haste to get to the holographic display table. "This morning" he continued hurriedly, searching for the relevant data, "I read a story in the news about a chemical company." God, was it really this morning? It all seemed so long ago..."There were some new discoveries being made there. Ah, found it." He pulled up the story on a news website.
"ChemCal..." Boomer read off the screen. "Just last Thursday, scientists working for the small chemical company called 'ChemCal' discovered an acidic compound that can...EAT THROUGH CERTAIN TYPES OF METAL!" Their was a stunned silence as everyone in the command center processed what they had just heard. "That must be what they're after." Boomer breathed, barley daring to speak. He recovered from his shock. "Redirect one of the aircraft squadrons to keep that supply line open." he shouted as everyone else recovered from their shock. "I want that compound!" A murmur of assent rippled through the room, and everyone hurried to get the job done.
Location: Beaver Falls Convention Center, GROUND ZERO in the Second Great Mailman War.
Mailmen swarmed over the complex. The upper levels had been turned into a command center.