The sound of scraping metal filled the air of the tent as I carefully sharpened my blade.
Great care had to be taken, it was an old thing having been in use for over fifty years. The knife wasn't really good for combat purposes anymore, having been sharpened down to little more than a long shank over the decades. Barely better then the short savage little numbers found in prisons. I even had to remove its good handle for something smaller to make it look less silly.
We have so much in common, this knife and I, that we might as well be brothers.
The wind blows and carries with it the smell of burning wood and weeks of unwashed skin and fur. Used to the smell I may be but it still ruined the mood. It was the beginning of some prime old man musings!
Bah probably best I got interrupted anyway.
Carefully sheathing the old blade into a hidden sheath I stood up, half expecting popping noises and spikes of pain. I was always surprised by their absence but after decades of working past my prime I had been used to pain. Some people might hesitate at replacing worn out joints with alloyed prosthesis, trading in old failing organs with rejuvenated cloned innards. But some people ain't a man in his seventies who used every favor he had to get his veteran benefits despite being 'dishonorably' discharged.
"Snot nosed little bastard!" Anger spiked, still hot despite years left to cool but I wouldn't let it.
If I had my way I'd still be out here but disavowed instead of discharged, if I had my way we'd be doing so much more with GUN's ascension to global power. I'll give the heterochromic little albino bastard this much, he was a lot more willing to be sleazy then I thought he'd be. Were I ten years younger I'd have tried to get back at the little shit. Getting into that kinda fight was for fat politicians, stupid shits who thought they were powerful just because they had a title and some money to throw around.
Maybe if they wore all that wealth to bed not so many of them would have been introduced to this ole shank of mine?
Hesitating at the flap of my tent I basked in the deluge of memories that washed over me. Faces of man and woman who thought a fancy seat behind a fancier desk gave them any kind of real protection, their fear and panic as their blood drained away. Sadly they weren't targets that terribly often, just like in ye olden days the 'nobility' got the dignity of live captures and ransoms most of the time. The majority of my targets had been people of lower status but had been deemed a threat in one way or another. I hadn't known why at the time, I wasn't high enough rank and even when I had obtained the rank I had no interest to find out. Course my fellow humans weren't the only targets. There had been plenty of missions for culling the herds…
Which made the sight outside my tent all the more infuriating for what it represented.
Hidden beneath the pine canopy of an evergreen forest in the morning light was our encampment. Further hiding us was the layer of pine branches covering each tent and the smokeless cooking fires I had painstakingly taught how to make. So long as we kept the fires to an absolute minimum and our scouts kept an eye to the sky we'd avoid detection by thermals. Anything else? Well there was a reason why we kept the camp stone age, couldn't detect radio signals and the like they simply weren't there in the first place. All of this had taken so much to set up, even more to ensure it was maintained safely. It should have been something to take pride in, a cancerous blight to poison baby Julian's holdings. A sign that no amount of metal was going to keep a good man down. And it would have been if it weren't for the fucking animals.
Almost completely ruining the sight of the camp were the damn mobians in our midst. There were plenty of right and proper humans, good and proud men and women who wanted to free their homes. Each one wearing a full set of fatigues in forest camo patterns. But at an infuriatingly equal number were the little furry fuckers. Mother and her Saints save my soul from this constant humiliation! I had spent a full year trying to get just minimal numbers to get some decent operations off the ground. Julian must have lobotomized the pride out of my fellow humans because I just flat out failed to get the numbers at the rate I needed. Even worse was the fact that the idea of taking in these fuzzy little ingrates was the idea of my appointed officers. They could have offered solutions to the loss of pride and spirit in our fellow man but instead kept badgering me with recruiting these walking carpets. It was the first time I had been ashamed to be a good soldier, that I had to take into account our situation for what it was and agree.
So now we had mobian troops… Thank the Holy Mother that I've yet to step on a hairball I swear if I do I'll lose my fucking shit!
"Commander Jeon!" A voice called and I nearly cracked a smile at hearing my rank. Course that was ruined when I saw who was calling me.
"Commander, the messages are fully decrypted!" Said some kind of vermin, maybe an opossum.
"Good! Call the officers to the conference tent." I ordered, if there was exactly one thing I liked about having these animals under my command was how easy it was to look down my nose at them.
"Yes sir!" The rodent said and saluted in a manner I was sure was sloppy, I was already turning away and making for the central tent.
The conference tent was several tarps lashed together and anchored to a large pine tree, which in itself was already a luxurious use of resources. But we did genuinely need a somewhat secure space for leadership to talk of important things. Having meetings out in the open where every rank and file can hear has its purpose but those were mostly for show, get the grunts all ramped up and their blood boiling for action. All the details in those meetings would have been worked out beforehand.
Entering I was met with the sight of a small circle of chairs around two holes in the dirt floor. To my utter lack of surprise I saw that someone was already at her typical seat.
"Topaz." I greeted the young woman.
"Dan." Topaz nodded in greeting.
"The early bird as always." I commented, turning a sneer into a thoughtful frown with long practice.
I so very much wanted to instill order and discipline in my recruits. Make them a fighting force worth taking seriously with steely eyes and spines to match. But that was just old experiences tainting new ones. GUN back in the day had been more of an elite special force rather than the general standing army it had transformed into over the decades. I was just too used to people knowing their shit and not needing to be taught the pecking order and that they should respect it at all costs. These were recruits, practically conscripts. They weren't the experienced and tested commando elite I had served with throughout my whole career. And without months of training and the right facilities they were never going to be, at best I could hope they'd turn into their own ramshackle but well oiled machine from experience.
Which was honestly a massive disappointment if only because that meant that Judith Topaz was never going to get the training she deserved. She was not amazing or a stand out soldier in any one talent but she was great at soldiering in general. Topaz saw struggle as a whetstone to sharpen herself endlessly against and never quavered at it. She would be an amazing soldier for GUN and whether I succeeded or failed here I had hopes of sending her south over the border.
'Live or die I'll see this woman become the soldier she deserves to be.'
Personal vow made, I settled myself into a seat.
Soon the two other members of our little junta arrived.
I smiled at the sight of Hunter entering first. The man was always in his hunting camos and even preferred to sleep out under his homemade ghillie suit. Something that had surprised me at how well made it was despite the work being done by a civilian. The man's name was impossibly appropriate, I've met few others in my career who could match Hunter in his tracking and scouting work and none with such reliable consistency. Placing him in charge of our scouting operation was an obvious choice and one I hadn't regretted.
However there was one interesting thing about the man I've since discovered.
In the region of his home there had been rather high reports of disappearances by the animals, something rightfully pushed aside and left to the little furries to figure out themselves. It was their land after all, wouldn't be right to intrude. Along with that when I had formed our resistance and Hunter had melted out of the woodland to join us he had refused for quite a while to bring anyone to his home. He had given an excuse that it was too dangerous, that badnik patrols would spot even him if he were to go back with numbers. Something I suspected to be untrue and had proven it to myself when I had undertaken my own scouting of the area. It was even more suspicious when Hunter finally led people back and his home turned out to be a self-sufficient and fully shielded underground bunker hidden in the heart of a forest. No one had seen anything Hunter didn't want them to see and they returned with as many guns and bullets as they could carry.
Personally I had no intention of pushing the matter any further. It was obvious to me that in Hunter's home was a trophy room rivaling those of rich freaks and the offices of cartel bosses. There would be some issues if he was discovered considering the growing acceptance of the animals in our resistance but that was a matter to be handled when and if it happened.
Entering the tent just behind was a dark skinned man of quite plainly morerikan descent. Randall wasn't much of a fighter, especially compared to the likes of Topaz and Hunter. A decent enough soldier at the end of the day but the man's talents leaned towards a more supportive role. Previously a successful procurement officer for some research facility before Julian grabbed them all up, the man almost effortlessly shifted into a logistics and morale role and proved himself capable of handling both. So long as supplies kept coming in Randall would make sure they went where they needed to go and which groups sorely needed an extra ration of beer.
Randall had also agreed with Topaz on the topic of bringing mobians into our resistance, something that to my quiet shock, Hunter had also agreed. Considering what the man had almost certainly gotten up to before joining us it was plainly confusing as all hell why he was fine with it. Didn't he hate the stupid furry little fuckers?! Why the hell would he bother with hunting them if he didn't?!
Infuriating but that was neither here nor there.
"Take a seat gentlemen!" I commanded, gesturing to the empty chairs.
It was good that our junta was still entirely human but at this rate I'd be forced to take an animal seriously, I just knew it.
"How goes the scouting, Hunter?" I asked as the man settled into his seat.
"Oh quite well! Quite well indeed!" The man said in something approaching a refined tone. "Our people are still stomping through the woods like they want to wake every animal and mobini within miles but it's getting there!"
"Good. Supplies and mood, Randall?" I said before turning from Hunter to the other man.
"We're still flush off the last shipment sent out." Randall smiled. "The boys and girls are feeling good, feeling like they're doing something. If we want or if we even need to we could afford to throw a little party. Shore up the mood for any big things we might get up too."
"Fantastic news!" I congratulated before huffing. "Might as well complete the set… Topaz! How are the soldiers?"
"Just fine, Commander Jeon." Topaz answered respectfully and formally like the soldier she deserved to be. Still as much as I liked the difference she ought to be aware that officers could be relaxed amongst one another. "They've taken to the training regimen with a will! Keeping them from running into the first fight they see is going to be a problem in fact."
"I like the enthusiasm I really do but they need to learn to sit on their asses when told to do so." I thought aloud with a grimace, imagining trying to set up a proper ambush only for someone to jump the gun. "Something for you and I to work on, Topaz."
"Yes, sir." Topaz nodded seriously.
For their parts Hunter just stared on with an amused smile and Randall just sat patiently with arms crossed, a respectful demeanor about him but not nearly anything approaching Topaz's level of formality. Topaz really was like the familiar feeling of home with her soldier-like demeanor despite her lack of proper training. It was a struggle to not coddle the girl simply because I felt like I was among soldiers again and that feeling was something to be cherished.
'Afterall, it's not like I can ever go back now.'
"Returning to an important matter." I said with a shake of my head before turning to our scout master. "Hunter, the decrypted message?"
Clearing his throat and retrieving a note from his pocket the man spoke.
"Message start.
Robotnik irregular activity update.
Potential source spotted.
Tax convoy mobian leader.
Leader Reginald Rabbit.
New cash crop confiscated.
Leader current Metropolis.
End message."
I leaned forward, hands on my knees and could feel my face crease into a hundred craggy lines. There was a lot to unpack here.
"Since when does Eggman have flesh and blood Commanders?" Randall said in audible confusion.
"Since when do mobians seriously consider working with the man?" Hunter added with a thoughtful hum.
"New cash crop?" Topaz blinked a moment before her eyes widened. "The new field of smokeleaf! He took it?"
"Like I said, we're still flush but those new fields would have helped us expand." Randall commented. "Whoever this guy is, he took one look at those fields and immediately figured out they were suspicious."
"It's not such a great indicator of talent." Hunter waved off. "The local agents were too heavy handed in getting the smokeleaf planted. A proper mobian settlement like that should have had multiple kinds of crops to diversify their diet. The fact they both didn't and had whole fields of crops they couldn't eat was a dead giveaway."
"Point, this also looks like we finally have our answer for the weird activity at certain bases and outposts." Topaz said. "Remember that scare we had when our scouts nearly ran into badnik patrols? We had gotten complacent and had expected the bots to keep to the script and nearly paid for it when they didn't. I bet if we dug through our scouting reports we could pick out the times when the patrols started changing."
"It would show that it wasn't happening all at once, instead happening one at a time." Hunter nodded thoughtfully. "The Doctor assigned his new enforcer to new locations… hmm, testing him perhaps?"
"Whatever the tests were he clearly passed them." Randall remarked. "Here he is out in the open leading and commanding badniks instead of the typical horde boss bots we usually see."
"We have to kill him." I said loudly, immediately ceasing all discussion.
"...That goes without saying, sir." Topaz said as all eyes suddenly shifted to me. "But the way you said it…"
"Ah, I see now." Hunter leaned back with crossed arms and a thoughtful nod. "Reginald is an anomaly and represents a dangerous precedent that we have to snuff out as soon as possible."
"What's so important about him?" Topaz asked. "Aside from maybe being insightful all I see is an enemy we have to fight, flesh and blood instead of steel and oil but an enemy all the same."
"No, I'm seeing it now too." Randall said and leaned forward. "This isn't the first time some guy had the bright idea of working for Eggman, people who wanna make their own burdens lighter, people who think they see which way the wind is blowing and guys who see someone who'll pay them for being mercenaries. So far Eggman refused pretty much everyone except for a handful of times he needed criminals of talent."
"And those contracts were always short lived." Hunter added. "Weeks, sometimes only days. Not really a surprise, the Doctor seems to hate the idea that he needs to rely on anyone but himself. With his genius and his machines it's rather hard to refute him. However this was something of an advantage."
"Yeah, real damn easy to dehumanize an enemy that's just a robot." Randall nodded. "No messy ethics to dance around, the enemy doesn't cry and scream and beg for mercy. Shoot 'em enough and they spark and fall over. Nice and clean, no fuss, no muss. But that would all change if Eggman decided to start recruiting regular people along with his badniks. We'd have to deal with both bots and people, probably twice the numbers in any possible fight. Not to mention the risk that some of those people might just end up related to any one of our fighters…"
"And that would get messy really fast." Topaz gritted her teeth.
Yeah no kidding, the kind of bitching and whining about family I heard on the daily in training and even during my time as a commando had been irritating as all hell. It made me glad my old folks had been planning on kicking me out, made leaving in the night all the more easy. Even now just thinking about how I timed it just right so that I had just turned eighteen by the time I applied myself to an army recruiter… It was all very pleasant memories. Not at the time of course, at the time I was pissed as all fuck and my first month in boot was barely any better. But then the best kind of adventures were only fun afterwards.
'Focus.' Chiding myself I returned to the task at hand.
"You all understand what is at stake." I said to my three officers. "For whatever reason Ivo decided that this one mobian is worth making a direct subordinate. Whether or not this mobian has skills that even he can't ignore doesn't matter. What matters is what this mobian represents, a potential escalation of the already overwhelming force we are fighting against. If this mobian continues to prove himself it might be that Ivo will consider more people entering his forces. That cannot be allowed to come to pass…"
"Reginald the Rabbit must die." I stated this firmly.
"What's the plan sir?" Topaz asked as she and the others nodded their agreement.
"The report stated he was currently in Metropolis, combined with the fact he is the leader of the tax convoy it's obvious what he is there for." Taking out my shank I rapidly shape a map in the ashes of the firepit.
"The ego tributes and the statue pieces." Randall stated.
"Isn't that thing about done?" Hunter asked.
"It just needs the head left to put on." I nodded as I finished the rough map of Julian's holdings. "Randall, it looks like we finally have an excuse to use one of your plans for the statue."
The man grinned eagerly. Randall wans't that much of a strategist, as far as he was concerned any chance to hit Julian should be taken. Even if ultimately all that hit would accomplish is the bruising of the bristly brat's ego. As amusing as burning grinning banners, slashing portraits and smashing statues were we had to prioritize our resources. That wasn't to say we didn't do that, it was easy work and easy wins for morale, the best equipped army in the world could get annihilated by poorly equipped enemies if they didn't feel like they could win. Randall had been pitching destroying the statue since its legs had been built but until now there was no actual reason to do so.
"We need to get ahold of agents on site, get people into place." Pointing at Metropolis on the map I motioned along the road towards the coast. "We should assume that the target only stayed the night and that he is leaving sometime today, maybe even as we speak. We'll send a number of conditional orders back to Metropolis depending on whether or not the convoy has left or if there is still an opportunity to prepare some surprises. Whether this part is successful or not we'll move forward with the assumption that it wasn't, we have little time to keep everyone actively informed."
"I'm not sure if we have enough manpower at such short notice." Topaz's eyes narrowed and her lips tightened to a thin line. "Or if we can get them to the coast before the convoy."
"I can get them there in time." Hunter nodded confidently. "Whether or not they'll be in top fighting shape… well as Miss Topaz has said, the question of whether or not we have the manpower to do anything meaningful is questionable. With the timetable we're running on there simply isn't enough time to bring in our most distant fighters. The kind of forces that escort the taxes for the Empire…"
"You all know what that road looks like, there is a way!" Randall assured but hesitated.
"That kind of ambush will be deadly." Topaz remarked and then her eyes hardened with a grim stare. "Not only for Reginald but anyone else with him."
"You know what is at stake here." I said quickly, best not to let anyone dwell too much on collateral. "Already our people have sacrificed a lot just fighting the regular badnik forces. If we don't act decisively we might end up fighting people too, potential friends and families of our own fighters taking arms against their liberation. We have to do all we can to keep that from happening."
Topaz was still grim but accepting, Randall was gritting his teeth, clearly upset but I've seen his sort before so he won't be a problem any time soon. Hunter was a bit of a surprise in that he was frowning in disappointment and distaste. Didn't think he would have issues with this but it was very likely the man simply took pride in his precision, what was essentially going to be a messy bombing run wasn't what he'd have done.
"It's… for the greater good." Topaz said in the ensuing silence and after a moment my other two officers nodded.
Holding back a sigh of satisfaction I lean back in my seat and stare at the ceiling, imagining the sky beyond. Almost absently I remember that tonight would be about the time that old rock would float by in this part of the night sky. Almost smiling I can't help but fondly reminisce of the place where my career really took off.
'Maybe if I'm lucky I'll spot it glimmering as it goes by for luck?'
-TBC-
Author Note: And I'm back! To quickly explain and put it behind me I'm currently in a rented home but am working on replacing the most important valuables from the fire. I'll have an actual owned house roughly by fall. Everything is fine.
Now then!
Here are our local freedom fighters, quite the difference from a certain other forest dwelling group of rabble rousers. Led by self appointed Commander Dan Jeon. A man who is very much not a fan of Commander Tower. I've had a certain amount of fun looking up human characters for this group and ultimately decided it was better to have them all come from different sources so to speak.
I'm still working on my skills with writing first person but I feel that I'm starting to get the hang of it. Still plenty of room for improvement though! Though maybe I'll write in limited third person for certain kinds of interludes in the future.
Until next time!