Chapter 9: Comrades

Irat…just outside Mousul…15 Years ago…

The desert was an inhospitable place: hot, dry and seemingly incapable to supporting life. Yet in this seemingly desolate place, mammals lived. The occasional water veins that dotted the desert invited people to live nearby and create small villages. It was such a stark contrast from the places that Kaiden was familiar with, to have the ability to seamlessly walk from villages of a few houses into the open desert. No separation, no division, one paw in the village, another in open desert. In fact, even making such a distinction was largely academic.

The fiends had been dispatched to just outside Mousul, a smaller city in Irat. The past few assignments had largely been what Jarod felt was a waste of time. The MIA dispatched them to observe and report on movements of troops through the area. They were essentially acting as spotters, which Jarod took personal issue with. His pride was hurt in the fact that his squad, which had become a very efficient and successful machine, had been relegated to what basically amounted to guard duty. They had been sent to the ass end of nowhere to rot in the desert, observing the entrance and exit of forces, hostile or otherwise. Sitting atop one of the smaller abandoned houses overlooking the city, Jarod was taking his shift spotting through his binoculars, the burst transmitter sitting next to him, hoping, praying for a transmission from the MIA telling them to do something.

Barrett on the other paw was perfectly fine with it. The last year in his home town made him crave for more downtime, almost as if he needed a vacation from his vacation as it were. Upending a plastic bottle of water to his lips, he gulped down the last few mouthfuls of water, trying to shake out the last drops before shrugging and tossing the now empty receptacle over his shoulder.

"So how long are we going to sit here," asked the bovine.

"God damn it, I'm getting so sick of answering that question," the lynx fired back over his shoulder.

Barrett chuckled audibly, knowing that until they received orders to the contrary they were going to sit there. His boredom was encouraging him to pester Jarod, to which the lynx was not responding with the same joviality that it was given.

"Ok…."

"Hey K, wanna play cards for like the hundredth time?" he asked.

The fox smirked and gave out an amused huff. Kaiden had been studying the dossiers on possible actionable targets on the computer they had been provided, a ruggedly built laptop. In truth, the odds of encountering any one of these individuals was low, but it was required reading for any intelligence operatives in the area on the off chance that fate would have them cross paths. Jarod frustratingly groaned at the banter.

"Well what the hell are we supposed to do Namir?" Barrett asked with equal frustration.

"We're supposed to be working," the lynx replied.

"You call this working? We're sitting up on this fucking hot roof, spying on a city and making notes of who decides to take a piss and when."

"I understand you desire to get out there and do something, I share it believe me. But our orders-"

"To observe and report." the bull interrupted.

"Yeah, like a fucking mall security guard. Is this what I got all those ass whoopins' from Kerberos for? " Barrett asked rhetorically.

"So what are you suggesting then?" inquired Kaiden.

Barrett shuffled over to the fox and tapped on the laptop screen.

"There are a bunch of these guys in this city, intel says they've been there a while. I think we should go get one of them." The bull grinned.

"You're talking about going rogue," interjected Jarod.

"I'm talking about taking the initiative, I'm talking about finding these bad guys we keep hearing so much about and kicking some ass," Barrett fired back.

The lynx sat there and thought about it for a while, his squad awaiting his decision. Jarod didn't like the idea of wasting the natural talent that had been pooled together, but he also knew the meaning of following orders, no matter how asinine he may think them. His gut reaction to the whole scenario was more in line with Barrett, but as a leader he had to consider the larger picture. He kept coming back to the same thought however. 'Why did the MIA give us such a mission, especially one that underutilized our abilities?'

Eventually, Jarod's own feline instinct to hunt won out. He smiled with joy at the idea of capturing someone on the list and bringing them to his superiors.

"Ok, why the hell not," replied Jarod.

The four gathered around the laptop and went through the list. Even though they were anxious, they weren't stupid. They needed to find an easy target, one that was relatively not expecting any kind of raid. Each mammal on the list of targets was assigned a suit and number from a deck of cards. The squad dismissed the Ace of Spades immediately. According to the file, that particular mammal would require a significant military campaign to find let alone retrieve, not something that they should be tackling.

After careful consideration, they eventually settled on the Jack of Clubs: a jackal scientist with a specialization in genetics and biology. The file was replete with information on the mammal, including his history, physical description, and the reason for his capture. He was even a suspected bio weapons creator. His name was conveniently absent from the data, listed only as code name "Jameson Blackjack." According to the document, the jackal had been crisscrossing the globe, presumably helping to arm whatever faction he had been allying himself with.

The file seemed to paint a pretty bleak picture, and the squad mates each smiled and nodded towards one another. The world would be a better place without this mammal in it. Resolving themselves to their target, they started packing up their equipment.

"So where does intel say he is?" Jarod asked.

"South end of the city, inside a small compound," replied Kaiden.

"That's a fair ways inside the enemy-controlled section of the city," said Rosanov.

"Of course it is. Where else would a bio weapons expert be, if not deep in the stronghold?" Barrett interjected.

"I'm just saying, if we really are going to do this, how do we expect to get to the compound without being seen?" she asked.

"Nala, how many times have we snuck into 'enemy strongholds'? More times than we can count. We got this," Kaiden replied reassuringly.

"I'm just worried about what could go wrong," she fired back.

"Enough," Jarod raised a paw.

"We will do what we always do: trust in our training and watch each other's backs. We achieve our objective and we don't let anyone stand in the way."

"Plot us a route Kaiden." Jarod said.

Kaiden pulled out a GPS device from one of his vest pockets, the Velcro making a sharp, snapping sound. He input the coordinates where their target was expected to be, and the four commenced with their journey.

Later…

Mousul was a lot more metropolitan than most mammals wanted to admit, the streets covered in a thin layer of sand, the buildings, square, edges sharp, made of sandstone or adobe to beat back the desert heat, the color of light tan dominating the landscape, the familiar darker browns and greens of Zootopia being completely alien in this place. The desert animals populating this place were just as varied as in Zootopia. Wolves, foxes, bats, mice, camels, even a species of hare lived here, and all of them adapted to the desert environment. The stark and bright colors of the more familiar versions of the species being replaced with the same lighter tan, brown and black earth tones of the desert itself. Every mammal dressed accordingly with clothes that breathed yet reflected the harsh UV light.

The four members of the squad entered the city, getting lost in the hustle and bustle and half-expecting some kind of reaction to their presence, like antibodies repelling invading bacteria. But nothing seemed to happen; no one took notice, and if they did, they didn't seem to care. The group had made their entrance in the friendlier part of the city, one that was still controlled by the legitimate government that placed Zootopian forces there to aid and help retake the city. The insurgent-controlled areas lay towards the south, and from stories they were told by the Army regulars coming in and out of the area, the difference was like night and day. The busy flow and activity would suddenly come to an edge and stop, as if some great barrier cut across the boroughs of the city, and all life seemed to be at a standstill, in perpetual pause. There were indeed residents in this area, but due to it being under the control of the insurgents, mammals only came out of their homes when absolutely necessary, for fear of either being killed for not being 'faithful' enough or kidnapped and ransomed back to raise funds for the local cells.

Kidnapping, extortion and racketeering, the tried and true method of the strong mammals prying on the weak. Much like the mafias of Zootopia, but with a religious flavor. In the end, they were very much criminal organizations, attempting to control all that they survey. And like any group trying to make their mark, they always keep an eye out for bigger and better instruments.

"Jameson Blackjack," or whatever his real name is, was taking up residence with these people, and whatever his motivations were, he had taken it upon himself to ally with a force that was a grave threat to Zootopia and everything it stands for.

The group moved through the local bazaar, having to shoo off the more pushy salesmammals of their wares, one in particular attempting to impress Nala with compliments of her beauty and surmising of her further beauty had she simply bought the silken material he was selling. It earned a smirk from her but nothing else. The truth of it was motivations; they were there on a mission, this was an operation, but to the residents of this place it was home. This was the local market, and these mammals were business owners and clerks, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. The squad kept that in mind as they made their way to their intended destination.

Clearing the bazaar they found their way to a main street, finally turning southward. At least this way they could make up time before splitting off to the side streets to make their final approach. Mousul was a big city, bigger than the fiends gave it credit, as they had to travel a ways before they'd finally reach this 'barrier'. They knew they were getting close as the number of residents on the street had dwindled, the few people who were on the street were travelling northward but eventually those residents disappeared as they approached a large cross street. The normal sounds of the city gave way to an eerie quiet, the soft desert breeze gliding through the air.

They stopped at the crosswalk and looked down one way then the other, but not a mammal was in sight.

"Ok, look alive now. Hostile territory from here on out," ordered Jarod.

The group checked and charged their weapons. Hopefully they would be inside or at least near the compound when things would become hot. Following the lynx's lead they moved into the southern area of the city. The compound was not that far from there, another few blocks and they could see it. Taking this opportunity, they split off the main street just as they heard the squealing tires of a pickup truck. They hid in a nearby alley, hearing the engine noise getting louder as the car approached them, whizzing past and tapering as it drove away. They managed to catch a glimpse of the occupants, desert mammals of several species carrying AK-47s and one of them with a RPG-7 rocket launcher.

The squad waited for a few moments before moving in case the pickup truck would swing back or somehow come up from behind them. After several minutes hearing no sound, they continued on. Eventually, they found their way to the outside of the compound, stopping in a nearby abandoned home that contained a small window overlooking the enclosure.

Kaiden unpacked the laptop, knowing what Jarod was going to ask for, satellite data. Now that they had arrived at their destination, it came time for them to actually plan the 'how' of their hunt.

"I've got the sat data," said Kaiden, as he perched the laptop on a nearby table.

"Let's see what we have here," replied Jarod.

Nala counted the number of moving heat blooms on the infrared filter that detected heat.

"Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen," she whispered to herself counting.

"Twenty-two, not counting our target, twenty-one possible guards." she announced in her regular voice.

"Any way to be sure who is who?" asked Jarod.

"We could use the micro drone?" suggested Nala.

They all looked at each other, and after a moment of deliberation shrugged in agreement. Kaiden dug through one of the packs they had brought with them, revealing a hard case. Upon opening it was a custom foam insert for protecting its cargo, and within that insert lay the micro drone. It was essentially a small quadcopter with various cameras and sensor equipment. Right beside it was its controller: a smart device that was housed in a hard rubber and rugged case, a smartphone but without the phone. Kaiden removed both of them from their respective holes and handed them to Nala.

Nala and Kaiden stepped out the backdoor and into the alley behind them, Nala booting up the controller and linking it with the quadcopter. Kaiden held it steady as he had been shown in training. The copter spurred to life, its rotors whizzing in the air. Relaxing the grip on his paw, Kaiden released it, the drone flew upwards to a holding height of about 30 feet. The pair went back inside with the others. After linking the video to the laptop, Nala ascended the copter another few dozen feet and flew it towards the compound.

"I'm still not sure how this 'toy' will fair," muttered Jarod.

"You shouldn't fear technology, my dear Jarod," Nala smirked at the lynx.

"It isn't fear, Miss Rosanov, simply lack of trust," he smiled back at her coyly.

"Well trust me then…that and my paws," she smiled back as she gently guided the drone over the compound.

"Should Kaiden and I leave the two of you alone for a while?" joked Barrett.

Kaiden snickered at the question, as he and the bull received glares from both Jarod and Nala.

"Was it something I said?" Barrett said in a sarcastic tone as he shrugged.

No response was given, simply a few eye rolls as Nala went back to her piloting, zooming in on the faces she was seeing with the camera. She typed a few commands into the laptop, which started running facial recognition on the images trying to match the facial record of "Blackjack". Some of the heat blooms they saw were now identified as generators, which could prove to be useful in the coming assault.

Nala flew closer, trying to get an angle on some of the guards who were deeper in the compound, standing or pacing beneath small overhangs. Eventually she spied two mammals speaking to each other as if in a heated discussion. One was a tall camel, taller than most, the other a black furred canine. The facial recognition identified the latter as "Jameson Blackjack", to which Nala immediately marked on the laptop.

"Got him, he's in there. And now I have his bloom marked on the satellite data."

"Ok, so I'm assuming we're already thinking of a plan?" asked Kaiden.

"Of course, I'm thinking these two generators," Jarod pointed towards the screen.

"We wait until nightfall when they switch over to generators for light. We come in from two directions, blow the generators which will surprise them and put them on the defense, and we sweep and clear until we nab our bio-terrorist."

"Sounds good to me," replied Kaiden.

"Hell yeah, now that's what I'm talking about," smiled Barrett.

"Better bring it in Nala, we don't want to tip our paw before it's time," suggested Jarod.

"Agreed, plus the wind is starting to pick up anyway," she replied.

Hours later...

Night had finally fallen and the moon was a thin crescent in the sky, not providing enough light to illuminate their approach. The mammals in the compound had done exactly what the squad expected, switch over their lights to the generators. It was around dusk that they had heard the tell-tale sounds of generators being turned over and the loud rattle as they sprung to life, the compound's lights flickering on as a result. The lights themselves were electric flood lamps with soft white translucent hoods upon them. When turned on, they created a diffuse but bright light level for use as night illumination. The advantage of this was that no one could conceivably jump the wall into the compound without being seen. The drawback, however, was that the brightness made it difficult to see much past the walls, so anyone coming towards them would be largely undetected short of someone looking directly at them. The other drawback was that this condition was completely dependent on the generators, and knocking them both out would cut the power and plunge the compound into darkness.

This would give the fiends the opportunity to storm the walls and strike several guards, perhaps even all of them before they could regroup or muster their forces. Add that to the fact that they would likely be night blind for several minutes would hopefully grant them enough time to rid them all and be well on their way to capturing their target. The element of surprise was seemingly on their side, and they would use this one shot to pull off one hell of an extraction.

Confidently, they crept in teams of two to the adjacent walls closest to the generators, ready to vault over the walls. Jarod and Nala on team one and Barrett and Kaiden on the other.

"Attaching hooks now," crackled the comms.

"Copy that, attaching ours," replied Kaiden as he tapped Barrett to attach the grapple to the top of the wall.

The bull pulled down on his weight to cause the hook to dig into the hard sandstone. They would only have a couple of seconds to get over the wall and start securing the courtyard. They all had night vision equipped to their helmets. Even though Kaiden's natural night vision would have sufficed there was one thing that his vision wouldn't account for: flashes. Muzzle flashes, and possibly grenade flashes. This was definitely going to be a firefight, and suffering flash blindness would certainly mean death. It was decided best not to chance it, and regardless of one's natural capability, to rely on the technology this time around.

"Ready when you are," crackled the comms.

"Count us down Jarod," replied Kaiden.

"5…4…3…2…throw, throw," he ordered.

Kaiden popped the spoon on the grenade and tossed it over, hearing a slight clank as it hit something metal, then a distant clank from Jarod and Nala's position. The silence was then filled with a loud explosion. The guards screamed as the generators blew up and the lights went out, plunging the compound into total darkness.

Kaiden scrambled over the wall, weapon at the ready, running on pure muscle memory and instinct. He slapped down the night vision on his helmet. Weapon at the ready he moved forward, a pop from his rifle, turning then another pop, then another. Moving more like a machine than mammal, any mammal that weren't his teammates got a round to the head or chest. He heard Barrett drop to the ground behind him. The distant pops of other rifles much like his own sounded out from Jarod and Nala's position.

Within seconds they had managed to secure the immediate area, the look of shock and surprise on the various mammals lying dead at their feet a testament to that. They would likely only have a few seconds before reinforcements would arrive to investigate the disruption. They moved quickly into the dwelling, Barrett opening the door and Kaiden quickly darting inside to sweep the immediate area, followed by Jarod, Nala then Barrett. They proceeded through what looked like a kitchen into a nearby hallway. Jarod signaled with his paw, and with a rapid set of motions indicated that he wanted Kaiden and Barrett to continue down one direction while he and Nala took the other. The hope was that one team would snag their target while the other would clean up anyone else they saw.

The quiet was filled with the muttering and shouting of indigenous language, but the tone was unmistakably angry. Barrett and Kaiden proceeded down their hallway, moving quickly, taking out guards that made their way to the sounds of gunfire. The pair could hear the washed out gun fire over their comms from Jarod and Nala.

There was a quality to the hallway that stuck in Barrett's mind, eventually bothering him to the point where he raised a hoof.

"Wait a second," he said as he stopped on his hooves.

"What?" asked Kaiden.

"This hallway, does it seem longer than you would think?"

Kaiden looked down the remaining hallway and then back. It did seem pretty long, especially for the building it was supposed to be in. Barrett tilted his head and looked down the length of hallway.

"It's got a tilt to it, very slight," he muttered.

Looking at each other they came to the same conclusion. The surface structures were part of something larger, and a larger base meant more troops than they could handle.

"Shit!" said Kaiden.

"Jarod, Nala, this is Kaiden, we have to abort, repeat, we have to abort. This place has way more troops then we realized," he said into the comms.

After waiting a few moments the comms chirped to life, Jarod's voice spilling out with the occasional clamor of gun fire.

"I'm starting to come to that same conclusion, Nala and I have already put down more than twenty guards. But we can handle this, finish the mission!"

Kaiden went wide-eyed, turning back to Barrett.

"Is he fucking serious?"

"We're committed fox, we should finish it if we can," replied Barrett.

Against his better judgment, Kaiden shouldered his weapon at the ready and continued with Barrett. Kicking in another door in the hallway, they entered a room with laboratory setup. They felt that they were getting closer.

Moving through the lab they came to a glass door. Peering inside, they saw a desert wolf in a lab coat. Kaiden and Barrett looked at each other in confusion before opening the door and stepping into the room.

"Stop what you're doing, paws on your head!"

The wolf spun around, shocked. It was a female.

"Ok, this isn't right," said Barrett out loud.

The small pop of an air gun, Barrett grabbed at his back.

"Ah shit!" he called out, trying to spin around.

Barrett's legs were giving out under him, going numb.

"Bethany, run!" called out a voice.

Kaiden knelt down to his fallen comrade, watching as the wolf darted out a nearby concealed door.

"Fuck, don't, I'm alright, just get him," muttered Barrett disjointedly.

Kaiden dove out the door, seeing a blur of white lab coat running out the door they came in and back into the hallway. Kaiden followed, stepping into the hallway and looking right, then left.

It was a flash, the pop of an air powered gun, staring him right in the face. He hadn't run, just made the fox think he did.

Kaiden tumbled to the floor, his legs giving out, body going numb. Some kind of paralyzing dart, yet he was still conscious. The lab coat wearing mammal stood above him, a jackal, black as the night itself. Regal-looking, smooth, features of almost perfect proportion. As if he stepped out of an ancient hieroglyphic tablet from the pages of history.

He dragged Kaiden by the collar back into the lab, propping him up on a nearby table. He paced a moment and then knelt down and looked at the fox. Instead of a glower or contemptuous gaze, he looked at him with compassion and pity.

"I don't know what they told you about me. But I'm not a terrorist," he said, speaking with proper enunciation.

Kaiden couldn't respond or even nod, his expression obviously of some concern because the jackal broke his train of thought long enough to reassure him.

"The dart contains a paralytic, you'll be down for a good half hour. Don't worry though, you'll get back up. I made sure the formulation doesn't inhibit breathing or bowel control. I'm not cruel, despite what they say."

"Just sit there and listen."

"I know your training and what they did to you. I know they must have picked you up when you were young, possibly a child. Another one of their special projects."

"Let me guess, orphan? Emotionally scarred or damaged? Seeking approval from an authority figure?"

Kaiden's eyes went wide, wondering how this mammal figured him out so quickly.

"Yeah, I figured. You seem the type. I'm sorry about that."

"I designed several projects for the MIA, well, what I thought was the MIA as well as a number of other agencies. It wasn't until much later that I realized who I actually had been working for."

"I don't expect this to make sense to you, but who knows, maybe you'll be the one that digs."

"The truth is they want me dead for what I know. Not because it will make someone rich and powerful, or help to take over the world."

"But because what I know, if it came to light, would change the world, and I'm not sure if it would be for the better."

"Is it better to know a comfortable lie or the harsh truth? Is it better to face it together or let people come to it one by one?"

"I don't know, and perhaps I'm not qualified to answer that question. I don't know of anyone who really is."

"I do know this however: I'm not an evil mammal but I worked for them, giving me in trade that which I require, and giving them that which they covet in return."

"I don't expect you to believe any of this, or even remember in time. But know that when the truth comes to light, as it always does, things will change, and in dramatic fashion. And life on this little planet will never be the same."

Kaiden managed to fight through the paralytic to speak. It was soft, and scraped against the throat.

"Who…are…you?"

"Impressive. Most people are completely paralyzed, yet there's something special about you. Who knows? Maybe in time we can find out." he replied.

The jackal stood to leave, then turned back.

"But if it will appease your sense of curiosity, my name is Dekkar," he said with a soft smile.

The jackal turned and left, choosing to follow his compatriot down the concealed escape route. Kaiden couldn't maintain his consciousness any longer. He could still hear the firefight raging in the other part of the complex, and Barrett was still down and hadn't moved from where he fell. Kaiden could hear footsteps approaching. In his dreamy state, the implications of it hadn't reached him. In that moment, his thoughts drifted. 'Lily, I'm sorry.' Then everything went black.

Sometime later…

Kaiden breached the surface of consciousness like a swimmer coming up for air, his first instinct to take a deep breath. He heard speaking, in Zootopian, the familiar words, the smell of alcohol and bandages, the cool breeze occasionally whipping at his fur. Opening his eyes, unfocused and blurry, the feeling of a canvas flap tapping on the top of his head. Vision focusing, an aid tent, medics in fatigues, a nearby I.V. connected to his paw.

Kaiden turned his head looking upward and sideways. There was a tall wolf, blonde, speaking with a tiger doctor. He could make out what they were saying except for the occasional glance over at him. The blurry blonde wolf took notice and approached him, kneeling down.

"You're ok. My company was in the area, we got your distress signal. You're alright,"said the wolf.

"My team?" Kaiden managed to squeak out.

"They're ok, they're here with the doctors," replied the wolf, gesturing towards the tiger doctor with his snout.

"Who? Who?" Kaiden asked drifted away again.

"Me? My name is Corporal Ballanger, you can just call me Kit. Look, you guys got pretty banged up. Just take it easy, ok?"

Kaiden drifted off back into the black of unconsciousness and was there for awhile. When he next awoke more alert this time, he had been moved to a proper cot instead of an aid stretcher. The IV was gone, and it was evening. The view of the sky from the small plastic panel on the door showed it had become a soft blue-grey, the light dimming to practically dark by the time it got to the bed.

Kaiden sat up, taking a couple breaths, the pain in his head, a headache, like he had done one too many shots of tequila on leave.

'Must have been whatever was in that dart,' he rationalized.

"But at least I'm alive," finishing his own thought.

Massaging his temples with his fingers, stimulating blood flow, he stood up, stretched, popping his back and shoulders. He paced to the flap on the tent and opened it, the warm but comfortable desert air whipping softly against him. Stepping out and redoing the flap, he looked around the immediate area. The desert tint was unmistakable, Army. Whatever distress call was sent out must have been picked up by a nearby Army unit.

Kaiden thought about that for a moment. 'What distress call?'

'Did Jarod or Nala send out some kind of call? Were they even allowed to do that? MIA protocols plainly state that any actions taken by operatives is clearly classified and that if captured they won't acknowledge your existence.'

'So what call? Who could have made it? Who else knew we were there?'

'Dekkar?'

'No that makes no sense. The Army has the same list that we do, they would be just as likely to pick him off as we were. Still though.'

Kaiden had not noticed that someone had approached him while he was standing there in the middle of the sand patch.

"So, up and about eh?" said the wolf.

Kaiden practically jumped out of his fur, startled as he was.

"Ah jeez, sorry about that."

He recognized the wolf as the one from before.

"You're Kit something or other."

"Ballanger, Kit Ballanger," he offered his paw.

Kaiden shook the offered paw.

"Kaiden Ellison," he replied.

"So what were you guys doing taking on a compound full of insurgents?" Kit asked with a smile.

"We were trying to collect a target," he replied.

"That a fact? Which one?"

"I uh, don't think I can say," Kaiden replied.

"Classified?"

"Yeah, at least until we debrief, I'm not sure."

"I can understand that. Your squad leader is a uh….real interesting to say the least," Kit replied euphemistically.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first thing he did when he regained consciousness was yell at the medics, claiming they were 'going through classified material' when they were just trying to assess injuries."

"Then he demanded we give him a phone to call your handlers."

"Yeah, you'll have to forgive him. He's protective of us," said Kaiden.

"I can see that. But still, he could be a bit more grateful about it. I mean we did come into a firefight to pull you guys out. Not saying we wouldn't have done it, just he could be a bit more appreciative."

"Well I appreciate it. And you have no idea how much someone else does too," Kaiden replied, touching a pocket on his vest instinctively.

"Wife?"

"Huh?"

Kit pointed to where Kaiden's paw had drifted to. Kaiden, realizing what he did, blinked a few times.

"Oh, well no, I mean, not yet, or rather we hadn't made plans or anything. To be honest I don't really know."

"So….undecided? I can roll with that."

"She is something special though," Kaiden smiled, thinking back.

"What about you?"

Kit fished out a photograph from his vest lapel and handed it to Kaiden. It was a picture of a female grey wolf and three small kits, two grey and one blonde.

"Zoe my wife, the two grey kits are Riley and Tyler, and the blonde one is Sarah," Kit smiled.

"Takes after her dad?" Kaiden asked.

"Oh hell yeah, in the worst way," Kit chuckled.

"Not girly at all…but ya' know what, sometimes I think I would still enjoy it if she wanted me to take her to ballet classes," he smiled again.

"I know, being a family wolf. Cheesy, huh?" Kit said to try and deflect.

Kaiden could see that Kit truly enjoyed the idea of his family, his pack. Kaiden could understand that desire, to be part of something like that. He offered the picture back.

"Not at all, in fact I would say family is the most important thing there is."

"You hold onto that."

Kit took the photo back and carefully put it back in its place.

"Thanks, fox."

Kit cleared his throat.

"Well, we better go see what your boss is on about now."

Kit gestured towards the command tent and Kaiden followed.

Inside the command tent…

Jarod and the commanding officer, a grizzly bear, were going back and forth about what happened with an MIA handler who was being projected on a screen in front of them, a nearby web camera sending their image to them.

The truth of it was that Jarod and team had gone off the book, getting themselves involved in something, and more egregious than that, fucked up and lived. At least if they caught the target they would be getting yelled at first, then kudos to heal the verbal burns. Or if they had been killed then at least no one could yell at them.

But the result was pretty much the worst version of things. The team was alive yet still fucked. Jarod was accepting his responsibility in all of this as leader and was trying to keep the team from being pulled off the line without resorting to actual begging. The CO was incensed that his company was now involved in a MIA operation that wasn't exactly official, or approved or anything more than what it appeared to be. The MIA handler knew this, but in keeping with the mysterious cloak the MIA cast on themselves, they weren't admitting to that and were instead going to bat for the fiends, despite the fact that the CO's accusations were completely true.

Nala and Barrett were standing just outside the open tent flap, not wanting to get involved in the conversation but of course not wanting to leave their team leader to fight this battle alone. The truth was like a bunch of kids caught drinking underage. They had been caught doing something they knew they weren't supposed to be doing, and now they were just trying to keep from being read the complete riot act. Kit and Kaiden walked up, coming in the middle of the conversation.

"I don't care what 'intelligence' dictates, I do not appreciate nor plan on contending with what looks to me as rogue operatives in my combat zone," said the CO.

"I assure you, Major, such a breach of jurisdiction was not intended and in truth you were not supposed to get involved," replied the handler.

"Well we are involved now, we got involved when we heard the distress signal —" the major spoke before being cut short.

"A signal, I repeat, that our agents did not send," the handler interrupted.

"Of which I have only your word, which I don't exactly consider golden in my book."

"My point is, if you simply remand them back to us, we can have them out of your fur post haste."

"Well you are more than welcome to come and get them. Until then I am exercising my operational authority under regulation 565-15."

The room went quiet for a moment and the handler was taken aback.

"I don't think you want to do that, Major."

"Well too god damn bad, I'm doing it," snapped back the Major.

Kaiden tilted towards Kit.

"I'm not too sure what just happened," Kaiden whispered.

"Regulation 565-15 basically states that during an active operation, a commander may basically take command of any units in his area barring any explicit orders to do so or in light of that unit's commander of equal or superior rank."

"Meaning?" Kaiden still not getting it.

"Uh…Welcome to the 204th…"

"Oh." Kaiden's face drooped.

"Hey it's not so bad, three hots and a cot, what's not to love," Kit joked.

Turning their attention back to the conversation, Jarod had apparently stepped in to try and talk to the handler.

"But sir, you can't let the military dictate what is by definition an MIA matter," pleaded Jarod.

"My paws are tied, Mr. Namir. The moment you and your team went off the book, you involved yourself in military matter. I'm afraid the major's quote of regulation is correct, unfortunately," the handler informed.

"But you can countermand it, or at least get us out of here, right?" asked Jarod.

"We can, but it will take some time. For now, you will have to follow the Major's orders. I'm sorry," the handler said.

"Take care of them, Major." The handler looked at the grizzly bear.

"They will be given the same consideration as any of my mammals," the CO replied.

The transmission then cut and the Major turned to look at Kit.

"Corporal Ballanger, if you would please get these fine mammals squared away."

"Yes sir." Kit saluted. The Major saluted back.

"Dismissed," he muttered, and then went back to his more important work.

Kit lead the four over to his squad's tent and set them up with four spare bunk spaces. Jarod seemed very dejected, like as if being here was an insult to him. Nala and Barrett both looked guilty, acknowledging their part in all of this. They encouraged and goaded Jarod into breaking rules, but he, like the good leader that he was, took full responsibility for those under his command. Kaiden's thoughts were different entirely. The truth of the matter was that they had all contributed, and it was unfair that Jarod was having to shoulder the total blame, burden of command or not.

"I was just about to head over and grab some chow," offered Kit.

"I'm not hungry," scowled Jarod.

Nala and Barrett looked with interest but didn't say anything, just staring down at the floor. Kit turned to Kaiden.

"I'll be honest, I'm fucking starving," said Kaiden.

He turned to the rest of his squad.

"And the fact of the matter is, we are where we are, nothing for right now is going to change that. We need to keep our strength up."

It took a few moments, but Jarod finally turned to Kaiden out of his funk.

"True. Fine, let's eat."

The four stood up and followed Kit to the chow hall.