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A New Scent

Many often found comfort at the bottom of a glass. The nectar of sin that could calm minds, ease pains, and liven the spirits was an anchor in the vast sea of the universe at large. One such creature that found its comfort was quietly holding the base of a short glass. A dark brown, slightly translucent liquid swirled around in the fat belly of the vessel, while the creature's nose hovered near the narrow opening, breathing in each unique musical note. Nostrils flaring with every breath, trying to read the story of the whiskey that had been so expertly crafted. Taking the glass to his muzzle he took a small sip, letting the nectar electrify his tongue with the depths of its knowledge.

Finally setting the glass back down on the cherrywood bar in front of him, the creature's eyes opened, and his ears perked. Large, thick, and well-pointed ears had been trying to dull the sound of blaring music, and the shrill cheers of women screaming for joy. Glancing in the direction of a bartender still staring at the out-of-place customer. The tender was a chameleon, dressed in attire of more pomp and circumstance expected of more high roller establishments, not of a bar that ran themed nights to draw in more customers. One eye was fixed on the patron, one was staring at a small pile of cash sitting on the bar top. While his scaly hands were busy giving a cocktail shaker the ride of its life. "Well? You only get one guess." He spoke.

The patron sat upright, glancing at the cash, then at the bartender. "Have to say you certainly are giving me a challenge for once. Was almost starting to feel bad getting so many free drinks." Flashing a toothy grin, the patron's nostrils flared one final time. "115-Year-Old Whiskey, Rattle wood barrel, smoked by an unfortunate fire at the Mallary Distillery." The chameleon's eyes both looked at the patron before him, unable to keep a straight face for long. "Well heck. I don't know how you keep managing it, Mark. Go on then take your money. Honestly, I'm not a fan of that bottle, rattlewood smoke just makes it too bitter for my liking." As the bartender spoke, the patron picked up the small handful of bills and tucked it into his coat pocket. "What can I say, Verrick. I guess I appreciate the journey more than the end result. You should try it next time, listen to the story a nice bottle wants to tell."

The patron took another slow sip from the glass then sighed slightly. Eyes fixated on the chameleon who had cracked the seal on the shaker and was rather flamboyantly dispersing its contents between three martini glasses. "Still no interesting contracts then?" one of the chameleons' eyes once more glanced in the direction of his favorite customer. "Nothing. What're the borderlands even coming to these days?" As the bartender began to prepare the next order he glanced at the patron once more. "I know what you mean, such a dry spell I should start bottling it." The pair of them had a brief chuckle over the chameleon's attempt at humor.

"It's not like there are no options out there. Small fries and career criminals are as plentiful as ever." The patron sighed and sipped his drink once more. "Tired of tracking the same scents over and over." The customer paused for a moment and looked over the female-filled building who were rather enjoying ladies' night. "Maybe you should take something on, just to keep yourself in practice. Not that I don't mind your company, but it's starting to bum me out." The chameleon replied. Before the patron could respond, one of his ears perked up. "Mark, could we talk in private?" The voice was female and heard only by Mark. Though that didn't stop the voice from pointlessly speaking in a whisper.

"We are already in private. You know that. What's on your mind?" Mark spoke aloud, catching a glimpse of Verrick looking over. "I just feel it'd be better if I told you somewhere that your reaction won't draw attention." The bodiless voice sounded a little annoyed at Mark's reluctance to carry on the conversation elsewhere. "Give me a moment then." Mark took the last sip of whiskey and waved a paw at Verrik. "See you later, old friend." The chameleon gave a nod, hands still occupied in crafting cocktails for the ladies. Slowly Mark worked his way through the crowd, politely turning down several women who wanted a dance with him. He was rather in luck being the only man there that night, it left the men's bathroom a ghost town.

With a gentle shove, he pushed through the swinging door and walked over to the row of sinks. Glancing at his figure in the mirror. The creature staring back at him was a rather large and well-muscled wolf. Snow white fur from head to foot paw, while the fur along the back of his neck and up between his large ears was thick, looking almost like a luxurious mane. Piercing ice blue eyes were looking up and down, taking in his current state.

"Well Mia, what's got you acting so covert?" As the wolf spoke he turned on one of the sinks, washing his paws slowly. "A contract of course. But none that I've ever seen before." As she spoke, Mark's nostrils flared. "The contracee is Atlantis Corp. They are seeking information from Mars. The details are slim, only specifying a coordinate grid, and well" she paused.

Mark took a wooden comb from his coat pocket, starting to run it through his mane. "Mars? What the hell can anyone want from a dead system Mia?" He inquired, though the female ignored the question. "The reward is $45 million" Mark's entire body froze at this. The thick fur of his neck puffed, giving the mane an even more impressive look. Before Mia could speak further the wolf pulled out a palm-sized silver puck from a different pocket. Hurriedly setting it down on the countertop.

Instantly the puck illuminated, and the holographic image of a female snow leopard was standing upon it. Her entire form was somewhat translucent, and a soft glowing blue. "I could buy a beachfront mansion on Seraclese with that kind of money" Mark knew that was true, even though he didn't have any interest in a stagnant retirement. "I told you it was better said in private. But that's all they've provided. However, Atlantis Corp does not exist. At least not one that could offer such a reward. Whoever the real contractor is, I gather they don't want to draw direct attention."

The wolf's heart was racing at the details of the bounty. He couldn't care less about the reward. What truly interested him was the mystery of it, a journey to the abandoned Sol system, a fake company, and a rapidly growing curiosity as to what Atlantis Corp hoped to find on Mars. "Finally, something worth breathing in. Always wanted to see that system. Get the ship warned up, I'll be there soon." The female feline gave a nod and the silver puck went dark, swiftly pocketed by the wolf.

As Mark left the bathroom he glanced over in the direction of the bar, motioning with his fingers to tip a hat that he wasn't actually wearing, to which the chameleon gave a nod and a smile. With a pace that quickened the moment he exited the bar, the wolf made for the transit station. Already he had thoughts running through his mind as to what he might find on Mars, assuming there was anything to find. The least interesting option that came to mind was just history nerds with overly deep pockets wanting a new archeological site to dig into. The thought that wet his nose the most was the potential of some grand lost secret.

As he sat in the carriage of a magrail subway, the possibilities ran rampant through his mind. It'd been a good while since he'd taken on any contract, and a year at least since that last contract which had no specific criminal attached to it. The thoughts were so blinding that he nearly missed his stop, just barely managing to squeeze through the closing doors, bounding across the busy platform to hop into one of the elevators down to a docking bay.

Mark watched through the glass, the endless sea of buildings that seemed to drop off behind a sunless horizon. He always had an appreciation for Centauri Station, outside of Galactic Defense Force controlled space it was the largest space station, and could be considered a continent in its own right. Soon the sprawling cityscape disappeared as the elevator slid downwards into an enclosed shaft, which moments later opened back up to reveal one of Centauri's many docking bays. A hundred ships at least were scattered about it, and heavy ship traffic passed in and out of the barrier to open space. Most of the vessels were personal crafts, with only a scant few spaces being designated for multi-passenger ships.

Once he was off the elevator he bounded through the array of ships, hurrying to his home among the stars eager to get underway once again. Rounding a corner he came upon his ship after a few minutes. It was a small, combat-oriented vessel, fitted out for long patrol missions. At one time the pride of any GDF mission, but long since improved upon and forgotten. Mark however was quite fond of it, its streamlined shape was great for on-planet encounters, and the personal quarters on board were what he felt most comfortable in. A red pinstripe ran the length of the green ship, something Mark had added on not long after purchasing the vessel. It was a bit of flair that would have angered any commanding officer back in the day.

As he approached the rear of his ship a ramp began to lower, settling with a soft thud against the metal platform the ship was parked on. Mark stepped on and walked through the living area of the ship. The quarters were more akin to a military dormitory, a small bed that folded up into the wall, a cubicle for a bathroom that allowed the sink and toilet to tuck away turning the space into a shower. For decoration, he'd used magnets to run some strings here and there, clipping to them his many service medals, and pictures from his time during service. Nearest to the cockpit a drinks station already had a mug sitting in it, filled with a fresh cup of ginseng tea.

Grabbing the mug, Mark slipped into the cockpit and finally the pilot's seat. The cockpit was a snug fit for him, but he'd grown to like it during service. Knowing every inch of it inside and out, with a few modifications to make his life just a little bit easier. Mia, the snow leopard, his personal AI assistant, appeared out of the centermost console, standing above its array of switches, dials, and displays. "The journey there shouldn't be too bad. The gates will get us most of the way there, and with some careful short-range jumps, we should be at Mars before the end of the night. The entire Sol system is a mess though, riddled with debris." Mia answered Mark's question about the short jumps before he could ask it. To which the wolf smiled "Right then, let's get underway. I've got a good feeling about this one."

Mark flipped a few switches and nestled a small earpiece over his left ear. The multiple displays flickered to life, as did most of the cockpit lighting. The wolf smacked a console to his right, and a grid of square buttons finally illuminated. "This is Mark Warrens, Romeo Echo Delta Romeo Zero Charlie Kilo Echo Tango. Requesting clearance to disembark" He spoke to the control tower, flipping a few more switches to prime the ship for take off. The ramp at the rear of the ship closed, and he could feel the slight rumbling hum in his seat of the engines gearing up for work. "Roger Mark, you are cleared for disembarking, track seven." A voice from the tower responding. It brought a toothy smile to the wolf's face. With the press of a button, he disabled the magnetic field that kept the ship locked to the platform, and eased it up a few feet. The glass of the ship displayed an augmented view of the docking bay. A series of simulated floating lights guided him through the taxi process until he was on his track, one ship was ahead of him. "Here we go Mia, time to get to work." Mark flashed his teeth again as he said this, the ship in front departed with a flash, and Mark followed suit. Exiting through the large forcefield that was the difference between the vacuum of space and the comfort of Centauri. With one final switch flipped, the ship entered a short-range warp. The blinding speed sent stars streaking by and adrenaline-filled the wolf at the thought of finally getting back in the game.

After an hour in warp, the wolf had to bring the ship out of it. Immediately greeted by the view of a massive circular structure ahead of him, shimmering with lights, glinting with steel, and an almost endless array of ships approaching it, disappearing through it, and appearing from it. It was a stark contrast to the otherwise complete lack of life in the inky void that surrounded the structure. Mark joined one of the ques and it didn't take long for his turn to head through. A chime rang out through the cabin as a toll was deducted from his account, and no longer could he see through the circular structure. Instead, the ring was filled with a swirling silver vortex, previously invisible until his ship had synchronized with the gate. As soon as Mark pulled his ship through the vortex, everything was bathed in darkness, going at so blinding of a speed he couldn't even process the long stretches of space his ship was now zipping past. They'd be in the gate system for a little while, giving Mark a chance to read up on the details.

Before standing to his feet, the wolf reached up and touched a chain necklace, containing several dog tags, dangling from one of the upper control panels. Letting a claw trace along the coarse metal, ears twitching as they reacted to the tinkling sound of metal against metal."Don't like to get hopes up. But I've got a good feeling about this one guys."

Slipping into the back Mark took a seat on his bed, and looked at the wall, which soon had a holographic screen projected across it. "So not Atlantis, something bigger. What did they give us about Mars?" Mia brought up scans of the surface and topographic images. "These are recent surveys of the planet. The images themselves are tied to two different contracts. I believe they were just small jobs trying to confirm a hunch." As Mia walked through one of the more detailed scans, the wolf's eyes stared intently. "Hard to believe anything has survived there. How long has it been now since Phobos crashed?" The wolf had a small knowledge of a few of the more key events that had occurred in the Sol System. If only to understand why you had to have special privileges to even access the system. Thankfully his former military career was still good for something "About 3,500 years ago now. The tethering didn't exactly go to plan." The leopard spoke of a later attempt to utilize Phobos's motion as a means of energy production. "So, whatever it is, survived the cataclysm and has... something worthy of bottomless budgets," Mark commented, before flicking a wrist to start scrolling through some of the documentation and readouts.

"When we arrive at Mars I will send out a probe. The contract provides a coordinate grid to survey, this time however they want something far more concrete." Mia responded in turn. "Right then, guess I should get a little shut-eye. Wake me when we reach the edge, Mia." The wolf flicked a finger and the screen disappeared, drawing a thin blanket over himself setting off to sleep. It was an odd sensation, usually, he had no trouble falling asleep with such excitement running through him, but it really did feel different this time. Taking a good hour to finally drift off, and push aside the countless theories he'd been coming up with.

Forgotten Paradise

The wolf was able to get a solid eight hours of sleep, as Mia effortlessly navigated the ship from gate to gate. Each completion of yet another jump was one step closer to a plethora of possibilities. Just before the ship left the last gate, Mark had stirred and was brewing himself a cup of coffee to shake off the sleep before the short warps he'd need to take control of. "Still no luck finding out who the actual contractor is?" Marked inquired, as he glanced off towards the cockpit as he stirred a packet of sugar into the mug. "Not yet. I'm getting closer though. They really don't want to be directly associated with this. I'd say maybe they don't want to attract the GDF as they don't have the permits. But that feels too simple for the level of misdirection going on.

Mark screwed the lid onto his cup, and took a seat in the pilot's chair once more, taking a slow sip of the hot drink. Eliciting a slight grumble as he set the cup down. "One of these days I need to put better coffee in that thing." The wolf's large ears perked at the sound of a chime, the final toll being deducted from his account as they exited the final gate. The gate itself was a stark contrast to where he had started the journey at Centauri, nearly devoid of any other traffic. "Thanks for keeping it steady Mia." With another sip of his cup, Mark flipped a few switches to take back manual control of the ship. Piloting it a short distance from the gate before entering a short-range jump.

The gate had spit them out within a relatively short distance of Pluto and had only allowed it after confirming Mark had permissions to be in that area. Mark watched the displays of his ship, more than what was actually in front of him. Using them to carefully navigate his way jump by jump, planet by planet as he went further into the abandoned Sol system. Catching a brief view of an absolute behemoth of a prototype gate orbiting Saturn. "Nasty way to go about it." Mia spoke up, catching what Mark had seen. "Well they didn't exactly have a lot of options Mia. Get out or die at that point." the wolf added, almost sounding a little defensive.

Once he'd hopped past Jupiter, the wolf left warp, and began to manually navigate through the asteroid belt. Piloting his way past tethered groups of asteroids, and old mining stations. "Get the probe ready, and set Jack up for his explorative functions. Don't think I'll be needing any combat assistance for this." Mia's projected form gave a nod, and set about her tasks. Back in the early days of space exploration it could have taken days to get through the asteroid belt, but for Mark's ship it took only an hour of careful navigation. Finally leaving the belt to see the copper red planet ahead. The space around it was as much a mess of debris as Earth had been by the time both planets had been abandoned. A chaotic storm of satellites, rockets, and boosters crashing into each other creating further debris, some of which stayed in orbit. While others left orbit and became a fiery rain that endlessly lit up the skies of Mars. The entire ecosystem of the planet, both physical and mechanical, was devastated by the moon that had crashed into Mars.

Had it not been for the debris, the planet would have looked much the same as the first time it was observed by Man. A barren lifeless orb, that created for a desire of knowledge, yet seemed ever out of reach. The only evidence of the terraforming attempts was the fact Mars at least had a thicker atmosphere still, comparable to the one on Earth. "What could anyone honestly expect to find from this hellhole? Send out the probe when you've got a good opening." Mark instructed Mia, watching a glint of light as a metal probe was shot from the ship towards the coordinates given by the contract a few moments later.

While waiting for the results to come back, the wolf slipped into the rear of his ship. Starting to gear up for an explorative mission. Loading a pistol with a full magazine, holstering it at his hip, and sliding another magazine in its own holster just behind the gun. Strapping a field knife to his leg next. He grabbed a thin wire with a piece of glass attached and rested it on his head, the glass perfectly nestled in front of his left eye. "Alright Mia, how's the feed?" Mark looked at himself in a mirror, allowing the device to send back his image. "All good on my end Mark. Early results are coming in from the probe if you'd like to join me upfront." The leopard AI assistant responded.

The hunter returned to the cockpit and took a seat. The view to space was mostly gone, replaced with a display of the probe's readouts coming in. Rather surprising to them both were not only heat signatures, but the overall mass of the signatures. "Topography?" Mark asked, watching the image flip to a three dimensional mapping of the coordinate area. The details were still building as the holographic form rotated in front of his eyes. "Wait, what's that?" Mark placed two fingers near the hologram and spread them, zooming in on a structure near the base of a large mountain. "That's man made, and it does not appear to be in any real state of ruin." Mia responded

Mark watched as the zoomed section became more detailed, the probe now centralized on that area. It appeared metal in construction and impressively thick, and sonar pulses were revealing a shaft extending deep beneath the exterior structure. "It's an entry point, will it still work Mia?" The wolf kept watching as the visuals updated. "I suspect it should, or at least be relatively easy to repair with Jack. There is more though, look." Mia zoomed out the image to reveal the mountain once more. What the wolf saw made his eyes go wide. The entire mountain seemed to be filled out with a man made structure, the detailing was scarce due to the limited range of sonar pulses. But it looked as large as any well populated city.

"Well, whatever is in there hopefully there will be something off record. That could help narrow down the search for the contract. How has a place like this been left alone for so long? Looks like a historian's dream" Mark said as he flipped a switch to cut off the images, and started taking control of his ship again. Guiding it into an entry angle for the planet, on approach he fired off two rapid fire guns to clear out a thick cluster of space debris in the way. The Martian atmosphere was thick with turbulence and chaos. A never ending maelstrom of lightning, galing winds, and the occasional fireball of trash losing its orbit, burning up on the way down.

The conditions weren't the worst Mark had ever experienced, but he sure wasn't keen about them. Eyes fixated on a readout that would give him a quick heads up about an imminent lightning strike. Swerving his ship just fast enough each time to avoid damage. "Guess this explains why no one comes down here." The wolf quipped, finally the flames lapping at the ship came to an end, the winds weaker, and the lightning strikes were rare. The maelstrom of a failed manmade intervention swirled above his ship."Is it still breathable Mia?" Mark brought the ship within view of the structure that the probe had located.

"Yes, though I still recommend using your rebreather. There is no telling what might linger in the atmosphere, here on the surface, and inside that mountain." She replied, to which Mark gave a soft nod.

The wolf's eyes scanned the structure, glimpsing the blinking light of the scout "That looks like more than an entry point, it's a freight elevator. I'd guess maybe even for access to a subterranean hangar. Gonna set it down." The wolf slowly piloted his ship into the structure, letting it rest on the metal flooring beneath him with an unsettling thud. "It appears to still be perfectly functional. Hold on." Mia announced, and there was a short pause as she communicated with the scout to trigger the elevator's electronics.

There was a sharp jerk of the platform as it broke free of a rather hefty amount of red soil. With the flip of a switch Mark cut on the exterior lights of his ship, which illuminated the concrete shaft they were now descending into. "Not exactly comforting that a place like this is still in some manner of working condition after all these years. Did you see any signs of life during the scans?" to which Mia soon replied "None so far, though the scans could have been hindered by the subsurface nature of this place. Are you thinking maybe someone has turned it into a base?"

The wolf nodded his head once more, after several minutes the elevator finally came to a stop. Both Mia and Mark were rather stunned by what they'd stopped inside of. It was a rather large ship hanger, riddled with derelict crafts. "Send out Jack, and start recording. The more we gather the more this contractor should be satisfied enough to pay out." Mark said, as he walked into the rear of his ship. With the press of a button on the left arm of his suit a neon blue bubble wrapped over his head before becoming invisible to the naked eye. A helmet that gave him all the protections of an old fashioned enclosed one with none of the bothersome sight restrictions.

Mark headed down the ramp out of his ship, and glanced over at a spherical droid that joined him at his side. The metallic white orb was hovering there, going through diagnostic checks to ensure its camera and other tools were ready for action. The droid turned on a flashlight, and the flashlight followed whatever Mark had eyes on.

Mark started his trek through the hanger bay, glancing to and fro at the decaying ships of various sizes that littered the hanger. "Doesn't seem military, though they clearly knew what they were doing." Commenting to Mia who was watching through Jack's camera. Thankfully the lights of his ship went far enough that Mark could see a large blast door towards the far end of the hanger. The wolf quickened his pace, by the time he was at the door he took note of a small security booth alongside it. "Not gonna be cutting through that anytime soon." Mark said, deciding to slip into the security booth to look for controls.

The interior of the booth had what remained of an old chair, rusted metal lacking all of its fabric and padding. The chair sat in front of a small control panel that was covered in dust, but there was a faint glow of lights coming from under the dust. With one paw Mark wiped some of the dust from the console, then noticed a small black box sitting on top of the panel.

Though it had some dust on it, and wires came out one end of it, running down the back of the panel. "Geez, that's a really old cracker. So we aren't the first ones here. Probably was enough to get through any trouble in an old place like this." Mark commented, reaching a paw out, tracing a finger over the small black box until he found a single button on it, giving it a firm press. Wondering if the device would even work still.

Seconds after he pressed the box there was a loud and jarring screeching noise, which transitioned into a vague attempt at an alerting blare. He could make out just two words in the noise "Stand Clear." A yellow light began to flash above the blast door, which was rather loudly retracting its bolts. The wolf stepped just outside of the booth and watched the door three times his height and same in width continued its slow opening. Dim light radiated outward from the ever expanding opening.

Once the door had come to a stop, Mark glanced over at Jack, "Tag." Immediately the droid shot a projectile that careened down the long exposed hallway, when it finally reached a solid surface it expanded into a multi globule mound of bright white luminescent goo.

Mark could hardly make out much of the light from the gelatinous beacon, its light mostly concealed by an endless array of some form of plantlife draping from the ceiling of the tunnel in front of him. Even the floor was covered with a layer of moss and mushrooms. What surface hadn't been covered was clearly concrete, meaning the once man made tunnel had reverted into its former cavernous ecosystem. "Any life signs yet Mia?" Mark inquired, starting to progress down the tunnel, brushing aside any plant life that got in his way. "None so far. I'm having difficulty scanning deeper into the structure. We'll have to rely on your eyes and Jack to sort out the details of this place."

As Mark approached the end of the tunnel he was bathed in the light of the goo, the tunnel went off to his left up a steep flight of stairs.He was just about to walk up them when he noticed a chunk of the wall had been stripped bare of it's plant life, and painted with a symbol, a large golden bear paw surrounded by a flaming thorn covered ring. He traced a paw across the graffiti. "Guess we know who was here before then. Mia, what's the oldest open contract on the Brutal Bruins?" Mark started to make his way up the stairs. "There are no contracts for the Bruins." She responded, which caused Mark to stop halfway up.

"Well then how long ago was the most recent closed contract?" The wolf followed up, slowly making his way further up the stairs. "My answer was all inclusive Mark. There is no record of any contract in regards to the Bruins." Mias response made the wolf's ears twitch. It left him feeling rather unsettled. The bruins had been a rather prolific pirate troupe who'd wrecked havoc for many years, until one day they just seemed to disappear. Their disappearance was one year before Mark was forced into retirement, so he'd never worked on any of their contracts personally. But, surely there had to be something, or so Mark thought.

With one final flight of stairs, Mark found himself bathed in the rays of artificial sunlight, trickling through a large opening that was draped with ivy. Brushing aside the ivy, Mark walked through, with Jack sticking close to the wolf's side. Mark's eyes went wide at what he walked into, out from a mossy tunnel, into what looked like a forest, thick with a wide variety of plant life. He could even hear the chirping of birds in the trees, and a slow trickling sound of a stream somewhere nearby. Mark couldn't even see the roof of the cave he should be in, the dense brush seemed to overtake everything.

"Not everyday you see a forest inside of a mountain." Mark quipped, pushing ahead in his exploration. There seemed to be a defined path for him to follow, and as he went along it he noticed unnatural parts of the forest. Waist high cement walls which had once been the boundaries of planter boxes, frameworks of long rotted benches, and a few sign posts slowly being grown over by trees. About one hundred feet from where he had entered the forest, the plant life began to look more controlled in how it was growing, a meadow-like clearing. Towards the far end of it from him was a towering and thick oak tree.

Mark could just make out a large service counter that appeared to wrap around the entirety of it. A fountain near the middle was still functional, though its base cracked, creating the steady stream that now winded its way through the forest.

Then his eyes caught sight of the most unique thing yet, on each side of the fountain was a single glass panel, standing alone, mounted in a metal base. Only one was still completely intact, and the panel looked like something out of a museum. A blanket of tulips circled the base, while a carefully manicured orange honeysuckle plant climbed along the glass, leaving just enough of the surface exposed for its purpose. The sight of it drew Mark's attention and he padded over cautiously, stopping in his tracks when the glass went from transparent, to opaque, and transparent once more, but with an addition.

A human female was inside the thin glass panel, braided auburn hair, dressed in a perfectly tailored suit and work dress. Mark was not one for humans, or females for that matter, but the woman seemed radiant. The honeysuckles framed out the female with awe inspiring perfection. There was a sudden jarring crackling noise, and Mark took a step back. "H-H-H" The woman twitched in place, until suddenly correcting herself.

"Hello, and welcome to Leonardo,.the first successful Mars Colony." She paused, appearing to look Mark up and down, taking him in. "I do not appear to have your credentials on file" She continued. Mark took a moment and slowly walked around the panel, the female's eyes followed him until Mark was behind the glass. "I'm over here sir." She raised a hand, and gave a wave which Mark saw the back off, prompting him to walk back around staring her in the face once more.

"Don't feel bad. Many of our new employees are surprised by me when they first arrive." The female spoke, seeming not to grasp the full details of who she was speaking to. "Artificial?" Mark finally speaks up, addressing the woman in the glass. "A great observation. I see why you were recruited. My name is Maggie. Core Systems Assistant here at Leonardo Interplanetary Advanced Research Systems. May I see your new hire credentials so I can direct you to the correct receptionist?"

Both Mark and Mia found the AI assistant fascinating. Neither of them had thought an AI had come even close to this level of interactivity for quite a long time. Even Mias model had only become readily affordable in the past fifty years or so. Mark cocked a brow at the women's question, "I'm more of a tourist actually. Just thought I might poke around." Mark pocked the glass with a snicker, never one to miss a chance at bad humor.

This caused the image of the woman to freeze for a minute. "Please present your new hire credentials. If you fail to comply I shall inform security." Maggie seemed incapable of comprehending the response Mark had given. "Um, sure, here." Testing a theory, Mark fumbled around in a pocket of his suit, pulling out a piece of paper, a random note scribbled on it. Mark held it out for the woman to get a quick glimpse.

"Goodness!" She responded with embarrassed shock. "Doctor Matthias, my apologies. My systems have been acting odd recently. Forgive me for not recognizing you." Maggie gave a humble bow as she said this.

Mark tilted his head, certainly not the response he was expecting, hopefully it was one that would work in his favor however. The wolf puffed out his chest, trying to sound like an actual professional. "Of course, think nothing of it, Miss Maggie. I'll just be getting on with business now, alright? All sorts of business, it's my favorite after all." Mark grinned, though he could hear Mia sigh in his ear.

"Yes, of course doctor. Please feel free to reach out to me should you require my assistance." The woman disappeared and the glass went fully transparent once more. "Guess she really isn't performing at peak efficiency then. It's surprising she's still in operation at all." Mia chimed in as Mark continued his trek, walking past the large reception desk.

"It's surprising she exists at all Mia. AIs from this time weren't exactly well known for lifelike presence." Mark commented, the plant life was thinnest here, the wolf now standing near a bank of fifteen elevators. Stopping just before he reached them, there was a map kiosk still standing, at its base were remnants of a burned out flare.

A thin layer of dust on the map, rather than the thick layer most surfaces were caked in, proved once more that it hadn't been too long since the last visitors to this place had come through. He wiped away the dust from the kiosk, a screen flickering into operation upon his touch. "This place really is massive, up and down. Electrical, Mechanical Engineering, Quantum, Biomedical." Mark was impressed by the scale of it. "The list goes on and on, they had a real potpourri on their hands." Mark continued, scrolling through the map with a swipe of his finger. "Fifty below, thirty above, seems like the residences are above, and the labs below. Down it is then."

Mark would have loved to truly explore this place, but the sheer scale of it would be too much for just him. No, an entire team and then some would be needed to find everything the hidden base had to show. It wasn't hard to guess whatever the contract was after, likely existed on an unlisted floor.

"Mark if I might make a suggestion. We should proceed to their IT department before anything else. If Jack can get me access to the systems, I can start a search for the bruins presence here, and any others that might have been here in recent years." Mia spoke up, which caused Mark's ears to perk. He scrolled through the map again figuring out his path to the server banks.

"Good idea, if Maggie is still operational. I'm sure you could dig up some information." The wolf walked over to the wall of elevators, most of them were non operational, two had their doors forced open, missing their carriages. At least one seemed to be in operation however, with a press of a button, the door opened, lights flickering inside. Before stepping in, his eyes scanned around, looking up at the ceiling. "Good." he thought to himself, noticing the access panel was within reach.

Bracing himself against the exterior wall he leaned in and popped open the ceiling panel. "Give it a look Jack, might as well cable it while you're up there." The droid hovered past and up through the opening of the elevator. A bluish light was visible to the wolf as the droid scanned all the structural and mechanical components, the light soon followed by a pinging noise against the elevator. When Jack returned, it flashed a green light, and took its place beside Mark once more.

The hunter had a sudden sick feeling in his gut. It was only just now that his presence in this ancient, yet functional facility felt discomforting, even borderline disrespectful. As if he was an unwelcome guest, trotting through hallowed grounds.

Mark turned, and looked back in the direction of the crystalline panel where he'd spoken with Maggie. How long had Maggie been alone? How aware was she of the situation? Did being alone even matter to her? The mere thought that she might know what alone was, gave the wolf a feeling of pain in his heart.

"Well, here we go then." Mark took a cautious step into the elevator, it creaked just a little under the weight, but didn't seem to budge. Once he was finally inside he stayed close to the door. There were no buttons to push, just a monitor on the wall. Maggie appeared, though this time quite a lot of her image was missing. "Where would you like to go Dr. Matthias?" With a nervous breath, Mark responded "Networking please, thank you Miss Maggie."

Mark closed his eyes, half expecting the elevator to suddenly start plummeting. But, instead it just set into motion at a normal speed, a chime going off with each floor they passed. "This feels strange, Mark. All the systems you've encountered so far are in near perfect condition. Almost as if it became the sole focus of the automated maintenance systems." Mark was still tensed up, listening to Mia. "It was probably part of their disaster protocol. Keep enough going so the crew returning after the disaster could get access where they needed to for full systems restoration.

Fifteen floors down, the elevator came to a stop, doors slowly opening, Mark hurriedly stepped off. Exhaling a deep sigh of relief. The floor he had come to was more what he'd expected to find right from the start, cold, well thought out architecture. Conduit piping ran everywhere, faded paint on the walls and floor seemed to act as a guide to various departments on the floor.

"Jack, tag" pointing to the wall ahead which is where the path forked. The glob hit the wall just below some signage, which Mark reached up to clear off. An arrow pointing towards the left was labeled "Development." and an arrow to the right was marked "Server Bank Alpha." Mark followed along the path to the servers, his breath quickened.

Much like the elevator, and the hanger, it was devoid of life, yet kept in working condition. Passing through a complex of fabricless cubicles he finally approached the doors to the server bank. As he stepped through he immediately noticed the scale of the room was grand, though only half the servers seemed illuminated with signs of activity.

"Do we even have anything to let us access these servers?" Mark asked Mia. Mia took a moment to consider the options. "Yes, the systems still running appear to be on a wireless network. Given a little time I can work out a program to interface with it. Leave Jack here so I can maintain a strong connection." The wolf gave a nod at Mias words, letting Jack stay hovering near the servers.

Making his way back to the elevator, he hopped on, glancing over at Maggie as she reappeared. "Where would you like to go Doctor?" Mark had a swift idea, clearly the assistant saw Mark as the key figure of the facility. "Take me to the classified section." The elevator began to proceed downwards. There was a chime as it reached the lowest, and unlisted floor of the base. "Warning, any unauthorized persons on this floor will be terminated." An automated message. The doors opened and Mark walked into a small room, there was a gun mounted to the ceiling, its laser targeted on him. But it soon lowered, allowing the wolf to proceed.

There was a sanitizing tunnel ahead, the doors were cut open, further evidence of someone's recent presence in the facility. Only half the ultraviolet lights were operational, the misters devoid of liquid, and the fans completely dead. As he exited the tunnel, he walked into a larger room. It had paths branching off in three directions. The path straight ahead had signs hanging from the ceiling, indicating it leads to Doctor Mathias's office, as well as various research rooms. He hurried along the path, still believing whatever the contract was after would be secreted away.

He walked past multiple rooms, each one seemed to have a specific area of focus "Combat Augmentation. Genetic Modification, Bioweapons." Were just a few of the signs next to doors he passed. At the end of the path was a metal door, the plaque by it indicated it was the doctor's office

Pushing it open, Mark was surprised to see the office was rather modest in size. It was sparsely decorated, and seemed to be the office of someone who rarely used it. To his right was an old oak desk, approaching it a panel began to rise up from the middle of the desk, illuminating as the wolf stepped in front of it.

Surprisingly it was a working computer, though Maggie didn't appear, he heard her speak. "Hello Doctor. Shall we begin today by reviewing the last test, L82" Mark was hesitant to respond, though he was well experienced with battle. He knew nothing good could come of a secret facility. The wolf took a seat in the desk chair.

Mark felt his breath oddly quicken as he attempted to work up the nerve to review the last test. He couldn't even really understand why just the thought of seeing it had unsettled him enough that he sat more upright in the chair. He wondered to himself whether or not Maggie had even been accurate about what had been the last agenda item. Maggie was already corrupt enough to mistake a clear lupine creature for that of a rather important human. So it was entirely possible there were countless more tests completed after this one.

The wolf leaned forward in the chair, bringing his face closer to the screen as the media player popped open. Mia popped a notebook into her form of existence, a really unnecessary way to store information for her, but she liked the way it gave more physicality to her digital life. In truth even Mark often appreciated the gesture, it seemed to be just one small thing of many that helped him see Mia as a friend, rather than an assistant.

When the video came to life Mark found himself staring in the face of an older, well grayed, male human. Once piercing blue eyes seemed tired, while wrinkles and the silver laced hair showcased a lifetime of stress. It seemed like the human's rigid upright stature was the only bit of energy his body had left to give. "Dr. Leonard Mathias, August fifth, 2042 10:00 AM. Test L82, post conversion, fourteen doses of serum 49 since test L81. Today's test shall be another lung capacity and endurance of patient zero. We believe that the code has been cracked to bring patient zero to a 40% gain in endurance over test L81. Should our hypothesis prove correct we can redirect our attention to combat focused efforts."

The video went black for a moment before resuming. Dr. Mathias was now seen in full form, standing in the center of an observational room. Sterile white tiles lined the floor, while white paneling lined the walls below three rows of stadium seating in a half circle around the room. The seating was full up, even more observers perched on staircases, notepads in hand, most in lab coats. Though a select few were front and center, dressed in three piece suits of men who practically competed with each other to have the most expensive attire of the lot. They seemed glaringly out of place in the theater room, and sat with a slight look of unease.

There was quiet murmuring among the scientists, chatting not only about the test they were about to see. But also of their own projects, a never ending collaboration of bright minds who'd found a life of science that was free of political bondage. Dr. Mathias cleared his throat to gather the attention of the crowd, giving a few moments for everyone to collect themselves.

"Good morning everyone. I'd like to thank you for attending today's test. As you know this is normally a procedure we do not bother offering observation. However the biochemical team and I have good reason to believe today's test will meet, and even exceed the 40% gain we have been hoping for. In personally observing today's endurance test, I believe you each will gain unique, and necessary insight into patient zeros, bodily, and mental reactions after all of our hard work so far." As Dr. Mathias spoke he seemed to fill with more life and presence with every word. As much of a showman as he was a scientist, and the moments where he could be both were as if he could sip directly from a fountain of youth. Letting the cool, refreshing elixir bring back the spirit, enthusiasm, and motivation he felt necessary to inspire these most elite of scientists.

"I feel I must stress that what you will see soon shall not be easy to watch. You each know what you agreed to however when you joined this branch. Patient zero is the key breakthrough in so many fields now, I can assure you he will come to no permanent harm. Anyone who speaks out, or objects during the test will find themselves relocated to janitorial duties for the remaining duration of their contract. Now, with the formalities out of the way, orderlies please bring in the patient."

Two rather large looking men, dressed as nurses, though their faces didn't seem to show the compassion or pride most decent nurses would carry with them through a long shift, stood upright. Leaving the room through a rear exit, off screen from the camera feed, passing under the once more murmuring crowd. Only a few moments later could the sound of the doors opening were barely heard. Murmuring among colleagues dropped silent, they could hear the screaming, pleading protests of patient 0 as he was dragged into the room.

When patient 0 came onto screen, Mark could hardly comprehend what he was seeing. It was no human that was pleading for mercy being dragged into the room. Rather it was of furkind, yet not like any Mark had seen before. The creature was short, maybe five feet at best, his limbs were lithe, while the rest of his body was stocky. Prominent curves, and webbed feet which were short, toes like rounded nubs barely extending much farther from the webbing between them. The creature's head was the most distinctive aspect. His neck was broad, tapering slightly the nearer it got to his skull. Rounded half moon ears on either side, the one on the left seeming to have some glinting metal, almost fixture-like presence, surrounded by a small peppering of cream spots. His muzzle was short, though of a decent width, and curved like the rest of him, heavily whiskered. Emerald eyes filled with deep, absorbing, and sickening pools of fear. Head to toe he looked soft gold in color, like the glimmer of a sunset on the rippling water of a lake, though his undermaw and down his belly was a warm cream color matching the spots around his left ear.

Mark only knew the gender as the creature was naked from head to toe. The only attire he wore seemed to be a metal collar of custom craft fixed tightly around his neck. The camera feed switched, and he got a better glimpse of the collar, a small rectangular matte steel box affixed to the back of it. It was the moment Mark spotted yet more of the glinting metal behind the creature's ear, several more were on his neck, and even more along his spine. What finally gave away the creature's species? It had a long well ovaled tail, thick at the base, and a long slow taper that reached a narrow curved end just barely dragging along on the floor.

"An otter?" Mark spoke aloud to himself. "I've never seen any otter look like that in my life. He's almost feral." Commenting further on what he was seeing. It was then that Mark took notice of what seemed to be the main focus of the room.

A large metal tank, with a floor to top of the vessel acrylic viewing window. The otter was screaming aloud in perfect english "Please not this one! Anything but this one!" He struggled in useless protest as the orderlies forced him along. Winding him up a metal staircase that spiraled around the tank until they were at the top, which was at the same height as the stadium seating packed full around it. A sturdy hatch was wrenched open with ease, and the creature was forced to stand on a platform nestled just a few inches under it. Yet again he begged for mercy, which never ceased to fall on deaf ears for all the times he tried.

With the press of a button the platform began to lower into the tank, the hydraulic shaft sending him ever deeper into an inescapable chamber. The hatch above slammed shut with an ear stunning thud. The camera switched feeds yet again and it was now a close up of the tank, just enough to have a perfect full body view of patient zero.

Marks ever observant eyes could see now that the inside surface of the viewing window was heavily scratched, marked, and scuffed. The immediate pawing and clawing of patient zero upon it showing he'd been the cause of it countless times. He clawed and banged on the glass till his fingers went bloody. To the side of the feed the otters vitals were now superimposed, a live feed of every crucial detail, from body temperature, to pulse, blood oxygen, and even brain waves to fully cover all aspects of the test's impact.

"Please fill the tank, negative 16 celsius. Report vitals every minute starting at the ten minute mark. Note that patient zero's previous time was twelve minutes, and forty-two seconds." Dr. Mathias speaking to his assistants for the test. The otter inside the tank seemed to have the timing of the procedure memorized, backing away from the glass and standing nearer the center of the tank once more. Clearly he was shaking, one would have expected his vital signs to reflect the distressed state, but they were surprisingly more symptomatic of a creature at rest.

Water began to bubble and gush up from the floor of the tank, seeming to fill the tank at a faster and faster pace with each passing second. Already to his waist within thirty seconds. Mark spoke aloud once more "But, why? Why would an otter be so afraid of water?" In his gut he felt like he already knew the answer. His heart however was trying to reject the suspicions.

Mia was ever silent as she watched the video. The water was now almost at the top of the tank, and the otter was floating at its peak. Head tilted upright, muzzle just barely sticking out as it desperately attempted to stay free of the icy depths wanting to consume it.

When the final inch of water completely submerged every bit of the stressed creature, the otter seemed to go into an entirely different state. Rather than a panicked creature looking for escape from the corner he was backed into. He appeared, almost zen like, letting himself float in the water, near enough embracing the coffin-like place he was trapped in. Eyes shut, not a single bubble of air leaving his nose or maw. "Start the clock." A clock joined the video feed above the vitals, ticking away every millisecond.

Mark felt his gut relax, his breathing slowed, seeing the change in the otters personality had cured him of what he once considered the outcome would be. Patient Zero looked almost meditative, no attempt to swim, the perfectly balanced mixture of salt and water kept him centered in the tank. Every now and then the only sign of any life in him was the occasional twitch of his whiskers. All of the scientists in the room, as well as the executives had their gaze firmly fixed on the tank. Not a word spoken until the ten minute mark and the vitals were reported aloud.

As the scientists had their eyes glued, so did Mark and Mia. As silent as a cliff face, even their thoughts seemed to be silent. Every fiber of their being absorbed with interest in the video before them. Every minute vitals were reported yet again, and the creature's presence in the water remained stoic. The twitching of whiskers like a soft breeze had run across his face. "Patient has exceeded the previous test. No current signs of distress or spike in vitals." a female voice speaking up. Dr. Mathias moved closer to the tank, gazing intently at the otter floating there silently.

At eighteen minutes there seemed to be a change in the otters presence. The zen like state was slowly disappearing, as the first few bubbles of exhausted air escaped from his nostrils. They flared under the pressure of ever crucial oxygen slipping away, bubble by bubble. His vitals were starting to elevate, pulse quickening, blood oxygen declining rapidly. At the twenty minute mark things were even worse.

The creature's eyes were open, filled not with life, but once more the deep pools of fear. The look of an animal facing its inescapable death. "Keep going. You're so close now. I know you can do this" Dr. Mathias spoke, placing a hand on the viewing window. He spoke not with words of concern for the creature forced into the tank, but concern for the results, for the science of it. The twenty-first minute was when everything changed. The creature was kicking his feet, pawing desperately at his throat, in an attempt to show his distress and a plea for it to end. Bubbles of air rapidly fleeting his nose like fall leaves submitting to the gales of winter. Twenty-three minutes, twenty-eight seconds, his mouth shot open. Not out of choice, but his body forcing it open, hoping to take in air. But it took in no air, gallons of water forced its way rapidly into the creature's body, the vacuous internals devoid of air, sucked in the salty liquid until it filled him. Within just a few seconds he'd gone from floating upright, to floating in an almost fetal position. Completely devoid of life, a will to live extinguished in an instant.

Without a word, applause erupted in the room. Every scientist beaming with excitement, amazement at what they'd all witnessed. None showing one bit of interest in the fate of the lifeless creature. The water was drained, and the platform raised, carrying up the heavy corpse. With a thud on every step he was dragged down to the floor, and over to a medical station. Scientists were spilling down stairs from the stadium seating, each congratulating Dr. Mathias. None even looking at the corpse being flipped onto its stomach.

The camera feed barely even showed what was happening to the lifeless otter. It appeared that a long metal probe was being inserted into one of the sockets on the creature's back. All at once his body convulsed, tightening up to an agonizing and twisted shape. Water gushed from his maw, and there was a deep wheezing noise as the creature took in air. Alive once more, water still spilled out of his muzzle as he took in rapid breaths. Carried from the room and out of sight, the video came to an end.

Mark had a look of absolute anger on his face. His gut had been right in the first place, and his heart had only desired to protect him from that gut feeling. In all his years of service, and hunting, he'd never seen anything as sickening as this.

An unwilling creature tested, no, tortured before dozens upon dozens of prying eyes. Killed without mercy, and brought back to life with no reason beyond protecting an asset. He felt as if he were on the battlefield once more, casualties on both sides charging his adrenaline. Yet, he couldn't understand why he felt this way, the video was millennia old, all the scientists and even the otter were well expired. Dust returned to the cosmos.

Mia was almost as shaken as Mark, though she was quicker to come out of the shock. She spoke up, imitating Mark's voice. "Maggie, where is patient 0 now?" A panel on the wall opposite the desk began to retract, drawing up into the ceiling revealing a frost covered window. "Patient 0 is currently in stasis. Elapsed time since last awakening, two thousand, three hundred, and five years." This response was enough to jolt Mark back into a more clear headed state. He hopped from the chair and bolted over to the window, pressing his face to it, he could just barely make out a shape on the other side. "Are you serious? He's here?! Give me vitals." The window was slowly starting to clear, a defrosting system kicking in. "I apologize Doctor Mathias, I seem to read no vitals for patient 0." Maggie replied, it made Mark's ears perk.

"You mean he is dead?" Mark asked, followed by a sigh, he could make out a large cylinder in the middle of the room now, various tubes piped into it. "No doctor, I can report no vitals, my sensors appear to have failed. I am unable to view whether patient 0 is alive or dead." As she said this the glass was finally clear enough to see a door to the cylinder was popped open, the chamber inside of it, empty.

Maggie seemed unaware of this change, perhaps her monitoring systems truly had failed at one point. Mark slammed a paw against the glass. Why was he so angry, so furious over such ancient history? He walked back over to the desk and plopped down in the chair, staring at the computer screen.

An idea came to mind, that made his fur puff up a little. "Maggie, please play security footage from the last time the chamber was accessed." He leaned forward, elbows on the desk watching a video player return. The date in the corner was a mere ten years ago. The feed was focused on the cryostasis chamber, which was still sealed. A faint blue light projecting from the frost covered viewing window.

Then he heard faint voices, two very distinct ones. Flash lights were cutting into the room, illuminating the cold vapors that rolled around the floor. "Bruno, Garth, continue to sweep 23. We've located something here at the bottom." The voice was female, and she came into view, a large female polar bear, blind in one eye with a nasty scar. Another bear was with her, though this creature was fully geared up in obstructive combat attire. One of the cohorts not on the floor responded, and it made the female laugh. "Yes Garth, I know you've been looking for something juicy. No promises though."

The ursine approached the cylinder, walking a circle around it, before padding up the few steps to the door of it. She scraped away the frost with a claw. The view made Mark gasp, and he leaned ever closer to the screen.

There inside the cylinder was patient 0 himself, the otter hardly looking any different than he did from the security footage. It felt like something out of a dream, staring at that soft, innocent, yet tortured face. "What is it boss?" the combat geared bear asked. "Looks like we found a replacement cabin boy down here. Don't kill it this time Garth." She cracked a heartless smile. "Bruno, go back to the ship, bring the gurney down here."

The video jumped ahead an hour, there was a third bear in the room now with the gurney. Just in time too as the door to the stasis tube began to unseal, loud hissing noises as systems released. "Pause." Mark spoke, having Maggie freeze the video just as patient 0 came into full view. He really did look almost the same, a little atrophied, but no real sign that he'd been in a tube for twenty-three hundred years.

The wolf stared at the still image, transfixed by the slumbering mustelide. There was a wild, and haunting beauty to the creature's feral appearance. Finally he allowed the video to resume, watching as one of the bears hoisted the otter onto the hovering gurney.

"I know that one." Mark spoke up, speaking of Bruno. "Yea, he's with the Brutal Bruins. Nasty lot of pirates, but they haven't been seen in at least ten years now. Maggie, please show me footage of the hangar bay with this same timestamp." He watched as the recording changed, a security camera slowly panning the bay near the freight elevator. There it was, a large cargo hauler that looked like it had barely enough clearance to get down here. An ursine paw print in blood red surrounded by golden flames painted on the airlock.

Mia faked a cough to get the wolf's attention back on her. "This should be enough for the contract. I've managed to recover many files from the systems here, by the time we return I'll know even more." Mark looked over, that was a sudden look of fire in his eyes, it was rare he ever felt angry at Mia.

"You must be joking Mia. The real company behind this contract decided to hide their interest behind a fake name. I'm not giving anything away until we look further into this." He looked back at the bruins ship. "Knowing the Bruins are involved is a decent start, we'll head back to Centauri. Maybe Verrick can dig something up."

The wolf hopped to his feet, looking through the window to the empty cryogenics chamber one final time. Making his way back to the elevator, he couldn't have cared less about anything else on that floor. Mia would have everything about patient 0 by now, it would just be a matter of restoring the files and decrypting them. Mark felt a surge of energy inside him, one he hadn't known for years. He wasn't chasing just another two-bit criminal, no he was chasing a real mystery, a burning desire to know everything.

With quick steps he began to make his way through the overgrown plaza. But stopped in his tracks just as he passed the panel where he'd first spoken to Maggie. "They're all gone, aren't they?" The human female had appeared unprompted on the florally decorated panel. The words caused Mark to turn heel and approach her. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

Maggie had a solemn look on her face. "I haven't been myself for a long time it seems. Might I ask, who are you really?" She looked up into Mark's eyes. "My name is Mark, I'm a bounty hunter." He pulled out the silver puck and let Mia project herself. "And this is Mia, my AI companion." The snow leopard bowed humbly. "I must say your systems are quite impressive for their day."

Both Mark and Mia gathered that messing around with Maggie's systems had restored her functions to some extent. "Do you know what happened here? Where did everyone go?" Mark looked around the overgrown plaza as he spoke.

"There was an attack. One hundred years after the establishment of this facility, a rival company wanted to take over the market. Officially at the time, Mars was still just a very small colony so there was no real governance here." She looked down again, feeling responsible for what she was about to confess. "They created a virus to take away my control of the station, long enough to do what they needed to. All methods of leaving this facility were sealed, and they deactivated containment for our Biological Warfare research. After seven days, there were no survivors."

Mark swallowed a lump in his throat, glancing back over to Maggie. "Do you believe patient 0 is still alive? Could he even adapt after all this time?" The female assistant paused for a moment to think about her answer. "I do not know the full extent of what patient 0 was put through here. However, he was designed to survive, adapt and overcome. If anyone had a chance to adapt to the difference it would be him." She looked off to her left. "Please, I must ask a favor of you. I know you will leave this place, but it will comfort me in my return to isolation." She looked back at Mark. The wolf touched a gloved paw to the glass, Maggie pressed her hand against the same spot. "What can I do for you? You've been very helpful, I must return the favor somehow."

With a gentle sigh Maggie responded "Please find patient 0. I tried to be a voice of sanity and hope for him in this horrible place. If I could have freed him from the pain I would have done so without hesitation. Tell him that I'm sorry my best wasn't good enough. Show him the kindness he deserves" A few tears began to roll down her cheeks. "You have my word Maggie, if he is still out there. I will find him. Whether he wants that kindness or not, I shall at least pass on the message that you still care for him." Maggie smiled at Mark's words, keeping her hand against the glass. "Thank you Mark, and Mia. Safe travels." She bowed and disappeared.

Mark made the journey back to his ship slowly, thoughts racing through his head. As he left the place he still felt unsettled, sick to his stomach. On Centauri he never could've predicted they'd be on to something like this. In some small way, he almost wished he hadn't known about the contract. That tiny bit of doubt in his mind telling him to walk away.

Once he was aboard his ship, he strapped in to the pilots seat and stared out the cockpit window to the hanger. Neither of the duo could wrap their heads around it yet. Already trying to come up with ideas for what the motivation was behind the hidden company who'd issued the contract. Wondered how much they already knew. Once they were back outside of Mars orbit, Mark finally broke the silence. "Let me know as you restore videos. We have a while after all." He flipped a switch and started the journey back towards Centauri Station.

Outlaw Otter

A large cargo ship floated quietly amidst hundreds of other space ships, all of them different makes, sizes, and needs. They all, save for the cargo ship, had one thing in common, derelict wrecks, sold for scrap, waiting to be harvested. Standing on the exterior of the ship was a rather unassuming creature, just a long thick tail was the only thing significant about him. He was scanning across the graveyard before him, looking at various flashes of light where scrappers were cutting away, tearing down ship after ship.

The otter grabbed a metal bar from the belt of his suit, unclipped it, and held it in front of his eyes. Focusing his eyes on the bar,a screen projected, it gave him a detailed overlay of the ships he chose to fix the scanner's gaze on. "Come on now, give me what I need." One ship in particular had caught the creature's attention. "You're a damn Vilerian Raider, be a good girl and give me what I need." Slowly he scanned over the large ship, information on the display telling him what components were still there, and which ones were absent or beyond repair. After a few moments, a smile crept across his face, as he located the target he was searching for.

He clipped the device back to his belt, and pressed a button on a keypad attached to one arm of his suit, the magnets in his boot cutting off, letting him float away from the ship. With another press, his suit propulsion sent him jetting in the direction of the scarlet red ship. The otter's motions were incredibly fluid. As if he was navigating through the open void of space, no differently than he would the endless void of an ocean. Dodging floating pieces of scrap, carelessly ripped away panels from other derelict ships with swift reactions, a display of incredible skill that seemed absolutely effortless.

Once he was in range of the ship, he did a backwards flip, letting the thrusters cut off. Allowing him to maintain the forward momentum, a press of a button and his boots attached to the hull of the raider ship. "Don't worry old girl, I'll be gentle." The river otter bent over and patted a paw against the metal hull of the ship.

Walking his way along the underside of the ship, the mustelid had his sights locked on the location he scanned earlier. "Ah, here we go." He remarked, coming to a stop almost at the dead center underbelly of the ship. Unclipping a plasma torch from his belt, he knelt down and began to cut through a large panel. "You better be functional. Tired of floating here." Commenting to himself once more.

Once the panel had been fully cut, he grabbed a knife from his belt, using it to give the gentlest of prying motions to the panel, which began to float away. Immediately the otter's eyes lit up "You are an absolute beauty! Sorry I ever doubted you." he remarked with excitement, eyes wandering over a large mechanical pump. Using the knife he severed nonessential wires and tubing heading into the pump.

An adjustable wrench was next, quick to dispense with the bolts securing the pump in place. With a final heavy jerk, the component came loose from its home. It was as long as the otter's torso, and as big around as an oil drum. He wrapped a strap around it several times, clipping one end of the strap to a hook on his belt. "Come on bud, let's get you settled in your new home." The otter patted the pump, like one would pat a child on the head.

With pump in tow the river dog walked back up towards the top of the ship, lining himself up with his own hauler. Setting off from the scarlet vessel, rather happy with his find. Taking the short journey back to his hauler, settling down on it with a gentle thud.

Heading in the direction of the engines, there was an access panel already loosened just one last bolt securing it, prepped to receive the replacement pump. "You're gonna be a nice addition to my ship bud. Can finally get going in warp again without having to stop every ten damn minutes." His tone got a little angered towards the end of his remark. Regardless of how annoyed he had been by the situation, the new pump was tied into his ship in short order. He had to improvise a few of the connections so they'd cooperate nicely.

With the pump installed and the panel back in place, Tobias walked towards the front of his ship. Standing just above the cockpit, looking off into the distance, switching his radio on. "Hey Sam, it's Kilo-Whiskey-Foxtrot 7-3-4 can you send me a ride? Wouldn't mind a good breakfast right about now." he paused, waiting for a response. "You got it pardner. I'll send the steer over right quickly." Sam responded, a heavy twang to his words.

The otter watched the horizon. To a stranger, there would be nothing to see but more derelict ships, and a complete lack of any actual living people. Then, he caught sight of it, a glint of metal in the distance coming closer and closer. A simple rectangular device with nothing more than a grab bar and an engine had flown right to the otters side. He grabbed a hold, and the shuttle began to carry him away from the haul, heading towards what seemed like nothingness.

Once he was one thousand yards from his ship, everything changed. Like passing through a curtain, where once there was nothing, now there was Tau 16. It was a fairly large asteroid, hollowed out and turned into a functioning space station, glinting with metal, lights and a plethora of smaller ships parked around it.

Tau 16 was the sort of place the GDF and bounty hunters were desperate to locate, a history-making target that seemed to perfectly evade their gaze. The whole station was home to outlaws, rogues, scoundrels, and trouble makers. It was a place to relax, have a little fun, and wait for the heat of a contract to die down. The means to access it is strictly a trade secret to criminals lucky enough for the invitation. Even if you knew the exact coordinates, you wouldn't be able to find it, there were other protections beyond the cloaking satellites keeping it as a safe haven.

The shuttle carried the outlaw closer to the asteroid, hovering him above one of the smaller airlocks. He let go of the handle and floated down into the chamber, the door sealing shut as he climbed down a ladder. Grabbing a hold of a rope in the main room as it began to pressurize. Once he was free too he took off his suit, tucking into a locker nearby. He unclipped a collapsed pole from it, and pressed a paw to a panel on the locker, securing the lock to his biosignature. The creature was completely naked outside the suit, save for a knee length leather loincloth, snuggly secured around his waist, with the strap braided over the base of his long rudder tail. He clipped the pole to the cloth, and headed off into the station.

The outlaw had a rather unique reputation in the base. He was known to be spotted there quite frequently, that he was not one to be messed with, but only the station owner and Sam really knew anything concrete about the otter.

All the regulars on the station didn't even have a clue what exactly was criminal about him, and the outlaw preferred it that way. The area around the airlock was a small seating area, people waiting their turn to get a lift back to their ships. One jaguar gave a wave to the otter, and he returned the wave. He proceeded through a long nondescript hallway, and hopped onto an elevator that would carry him down into the center of the asteroid.

Once the door opened, he was bathed in the chatter and noise of a busy marketplace, a full loop of a marketplace wrapped around the elevator and many more elevators in different directions. It was a rather fantastic market to wander through, you could find just about anything you wanted, so long as you didn't ask too many questions. At any given time you could spot at least two hundred big targets wandering around, and some even vending in the black market.

The outlaw rarely had a need to purchase anything in the market, though it never stopped him from slowing his walk to take a gander at something that caught his eyes. Now and then he stopped to give a paw shake, chest bump, or a friendly snarl to people he recognized, who returned the action in kind. He was heading for one of the restaurants in the facility, until one stall caught his eye. The stall had been vacant for quite a while, but now it stuck out from all the other vendors. It was awash with vibrant plant life, colors of all sorts, and green leaves for days.

Ignoring the rumble in his stomach he made his way over to the stall. Sitting behind the counter was a young rabbit, she was quietly pruning a small bonsai. The smells were incredible, the unique fragrance of each plant borderline intoxicating. "You have some quite impressive plants here, Miss..?" the outlaw speaking first, leaning in to smell a hanging plant that was full of deep blue flowers. "Victoria." She said with a giggle. "Thanks for stopping in, my mother and I just set up here. Can I help you find anything special?" She set down the small snips and hopped to her feet walking out from behind the counter.

"You wouldn't happen to have any dirigibles would you?." He was carefully thumbing through the thick leaves of a climbing plant. The teen rabbit's eyes lit up at the question. "We have some younglings."

She grabbed the otter's paw and led him towards the back of the shop, a shelf on the wall was home to three small terracotta pots, each one held a rather curious looking plant. The heart of the plant was a fledgling tree, it had several green vines trailing from it off the side of the pot, though they seemed to be floating a little, small round growths dotted the vines. The middle most pot was the only to have a vine floating up from the young tree, swaying gently. One of the growths on it was the size of a grape, and ruby red. "This one just started lifting recently. She'll be quite the looker in just a few months." The rabbit was watching the otter, rather than the plants.

The outlaw's eyes were transfixed on the plants, leaning in close to inspect them, his nose twitched as he took in the sniff. The ruby color of the fruit struck an emotional chord with him, one he hadn't thought about in a while. "I didn't even know they could grow in that color. What about its flowers?" He was watching the one that had the floating vine, glancing at two others vines hanging down off the side.

"They should come out a nice turquoise." They discussed the plants for a few minutes. It was clear both the rabbit and the otter had a true passion for plants of all sorts. "That settles it, I'll take her. Can you keep it safe until I'm done with my breakfast?" The rabbit gave a nod to the otter's request, and he paid for the plant as well as a few gardening supplies.

Finally he left the stall, a skip to his step happy about finding a plant type he'd wanted for ages now. Making his way into the nearest restaurant he headed straight for the back of it. The noise of the bazaar transitioned into the quieter talk in the restaurant.

It was well crowded, but still easy enough for the outlaw to grab a seat. An acid washed steel counter ran the length of the back wall of the bar, which was a massive window looking out in the direction of the gas giant the station orbited. Once he took a seat, the holographic head of an armadillo wearing a cowboy hat projected from the countertop. "Hey there dirtbag. What can I getcha?" The armadillo smiled at the otter. "Just the usual Sam, with less of the stink if you can." The outlaw knew it was a pointless request, but it never stopped him from trying. "The regular with extra stink, you got it Tobias." The creature winked, and the image disappeared.

Tobias sat quietly, enjoying the view of the colorful planet, and the conversations he was listening in on. "Gonna be nice to get back out there. See what lays ahead." He remarked to himself. Looking over his shoulder, catching sight of a vixen approaching him, dressed in equally southern getup. She set down the outlaws order, a large cut open insect grub, stuffed with reconstituted scrambled eggs, and a freshly poured coffee stout. "Thanks Tracy. How are you holding up?" He inquired.

The vixen smiled at Tobias. "It's going pretty well. Miss Daisy has begun to give me more responsibilities across the station. Guess she really does see something in me." She looked back, ignoring the raised finger of another customer. Tobias gave a gentle nod "Daisy's judgment has never been wrong before. You're going to do great things here." The remark caused the fox to smile, and she made her way back to work. Leaving Tobias to grimace at his foul smelling breakfast, which tasted better than it smelled and looked at the least.

Halfway into his meal, and on his second glass of stout, the otter had already figured out his next course of action. It was time to go by the books for a while, keep his ear to the ground and wait for the opportunity to come knocking on his door.

As he neared the end of his meal, the holographic head of Sam appeared. "What's up Sam?" Tobias asked, taking a sip of his third stout. "You've got trouble headed your way. Newbies to Tau. Miss Daisy trusts you to take care of it appropriately." The outlaw otter gave a nod to the warning, slowly reaching a paw down, unclipping the rod from his loincloth. He placed it on the counter, but kept his grip on it.

The warning had been spot on, as two large drunks approached the nearly naked otter. One, a seven foot albino rhino slapped a paw against the otters bare ass, cupping the cheek tightly. "Lookie here Bruce. This little river rat must have known we were here. Wanted to give himself to us." Tobias hadn't flinched an inch from the smack, or the invasive groping. The second drunk was a six foot cheetah who sounded like he was missing quite a few IQ points. "Heh heh, yea Ryan. I bets he's a screamer, I love making em scream." The cheetah had thrust his paw under the otters loin cloth, squeezing whatever it found. Tobias still didn't react, just allowing the assailants to grow a small sense of comfort in their successful capture.

Ryan gripped one whole hand around the otters throat, with one squeeze he could likely crush the otters throat. The rhino used it as leverage to sit the otter upright. "Do you girls mind? Trying to finish off my breakfast." Tobias felt the cheetahs claws digging into the flesh of his groin as he said this. The rhino snorted so hard it ruffled the otter's fur.

"The fuck you just call us faggot?! Only girl around here is gonna be you once we rip your cunt in half." Ryan shouted, and threw Tobias towards the floor. It was the momentum the otter had been hoping for, redirecting the throw into a backflip. He landed on his feet, with the rod now fully deployed into a fierce looking staff, ready to go on the offensive. A small crowd of bar patrons were starting to gather around and watch, some of them already placing bets. "Last chance girls, just walk away."

The drunks never had an intention of walking away, doubly so now that they'd been insulted by the very prey they wanted to hurt. "You really think you can take us fag? We know you can't, in more ways than one. Come along quietly and we might even grab some lube." The rhino spoke, followed by his feline friend laughing stupidly. "Whatchoo talkin about? Dem river rats don't deserve lube." The cheetah cackled, slapping his friend playfully on the back. "Suit yourself." Tobias grinned, eyes watching both creatures.

The cheetah was the first to charge, bum rushing in the direction of the otter, leaning into it with his shoulder hoping to tackle the male. Tobias ducked out of the way, twirling the staff around striking the cheetah square in the back, causing the cat to stumble forward and crash into a table, spilling its contents everywhere. The sight elicited cheers from the crowd watching the fight. "Oh you little shit!" The rhino shouted in response to the otter getting that hit in. Ryan reached for his gun, only to suddenly cry out in pain as the staff struck violently against his hand, he could feel bones fracturing in his fingers.

The pair were enraged, blinded by anger, booze, and humiliation. They both came at Tobias in tandem. Throwing punches at the otter, who dropped to his knees, snickering as the cheetah and rhino slugged each other right in the face. The rhino had far more strength behind his blow, which threw the cheetah off the floor, sending him into the crowd. The cheetahs punch in turn had done very little to Ryan.

It didn't deter him in the slightest, adrenaline from the fight started to dissipate the drunk haze, he finally managed to land a blow on the otter that left quite a welt on that small muzzle. Tobias could taste blood on his tongue, and wiped a trace of it from his muzzle. "Oh good, I was starting to think this would be easy." The otter quipped, causing the rhino's eyes to fill with rage. The cheetah finally rejoined the encounter after the daze had worn off.

The one blow to the otters muzzle was the only one the rhino had ever managed. The outlaws' offensive and defensive movements are so fluid and fast, using the full extent of his flexibility and small form to get the advantage. The staff was a blur as it struck the cheetah and rhino repeatedly, each time drawing welts or cuts on the assailants. The gathered crowd was as loud as ever with cheers and jeers, chanting in favor of the otter. With a swipe of his rudder, and a blow of the staff to the cheetahs head, the feline was finally down for the count, leaving just Ryan remaining in the fight.

Tobias seemed to have no end to his energy, compared to the rhino who was clearly starting to show exhaustion. The fingers on one hand had swollen around the broken bones, and he was trying his best to keep up. With one final slug off the staff, the rhino fell to his back, groaning in pain.

The spectators cheered so loud it was almost painful to the ears. The outlaw collapsed the staff and clipped it to his loincloth once more. "Come on guys, let me help ya." Tobias grabbed the whimpering and sore cheetah by the scruff, dragging him over to the knocked out rhino. "Probably what you've been wanting all along." Tobias laid the cheetah on top of the rhino, lugging each one of the rhinos arms up to hug the cat. Pressing their faces together to pose them in the look of two lovers embraced in a deep kiss.

The pose set the crowd into bouts of raucous laughter. "Go on guys, get some pictures. Show them why it's best to obey the rules of Tau." He smiled, grabbing his mug from the table to take the final drink of now warm stout, before heading off. He was well aware that it was not the only humiliation those two would be put through. Some people preferred to learn the rules of Tau the hard way, and Tobias was always happy to oblige that need.

Back in the marketplace, he took a moment to compose himself, correcting his loincloth and patting down ruffled fur. Feeling that it was best to get underway again, he walked over to the nursery he'd visited earlier. The teen rabbit had wrapped everything up, the plant itself isolated in a thick and air sealed bag for safe transit in open space. She gave a wave as Tobias carried off his purchase, making his way to the elevator. Leaning against the wall with a soft sigh.

The waiting area was empty now, save for one striking figure. There was a lanky lioness with a mane. Her golden eyes were piercing through the darkness of the room, the glowing embers of a long cigarette reflected in them. She took a long drag from it, exhaled and lowered the cigarette walking over to the otter, the sight of which made her smile.

"Hey Daisy. Did you enjoy the show?" his eyes fixed on her for a moment. The lioness was the ruthless owner of the station, strong enough to keep even the roughest of criminals in line under her watch. "Of course darling. You never cease to impress. But, couldn't you put on some more clothes for a change?" Her voice was like silk, music to the ears, and her eyes wandered southward on the otter. "I don't see a need to cover up what we are born with. Should be proud of it." Tobias stepped closer as he said this. Daisy reached out a paw and scritched through the short chin fur on the otter.

"Believe me darling. In my youth, I'd be right there with you. You think I don't miss the eyes of girls wandering over me? I could always smell their heat in the air, nothing quite like it. But," She paused to take a drag on her cigarette.

"I find I can garner more respect if they focus on the blood dripping from my claws, rather than the loins they want to serve." She leaned over and gave a gentle lick over the welt on Tobias's muzzle. "Maybe one day I'll share that same view. But I've got my reasons for dressing like this." As Tobias said this, Daisy cupped his muzzle, angling it upwards to look him straight in the eyes. A smile crept across her face, suddenly embracing the otter in a short but deep kiss.

As Tobias broke away from it, she spoke up "Just because you're a sourpuss, doesn't mean you have to go around making every other puss sour. You got your ship all fixed up then?" The otter nodded in response. "Yea, gonna keep my nose clean for now, try to at least. Don't worry though, you know I'll be back soon enough." Daisy pulled Tobias into a hug at these words. "You're always welcome here under my watch Tobias, more than anyone else." She headed off into the elevator. Tobias headed back to the airlock and secured his suit and cargo, soon taking the single engine shuttle ride back to his ship.

The otter watched as the red speck in the distance swiftly became the vision of his large scarlet hauler. It was rather devoid of windows, save for those of the cockpit, and a few lining the walls of an upper level to the craft which housed a small ship hanger. It was an older well worn vessel, the red paint faded, burn marks exposed raw metal of the craft in a few places. The shuttle brought Tobias to an airlock along the right side of the ship, letting go of the shuttle he grasped a hold of a bar outside the airlock. Punching in a code on a keypad, turning to watch as the doors began to open.

He always felt a sense of bliss returning to his ship, no matter how long he'd been away from it. Once the chamber had pressurized, the inner doors opened to a locker room. There were eight ceiling to floor length lockers on either side of the room. A wooden bench down the middle of the room.

He set down the secured plant he had bought and began to strip out of his suit, carefully storing it back in a locker, slipping off his loincloth. He grabbed the plant and left the locker room, exiting into a large commons area, there was an array of comfortable seating areas, far more than one person alone would ever need. Its most distinctive aspect were the walls lined with shelves, each one below illuminated grow lights, that bathed a wide array of plants in its life giving rays.

"Got another one for you." He spoke aloud all be it softly. The variety of plant life was breathtaking, trailing vines draping down, some climbed up the wall, wrapping around chains suspending the lights, others seemed to sway as if in the path of a gentle breeze. While many were blooming with a litany of colorful flowers.

He headed over to the center most seating area, a circular couch that surrounded a coffee table bolted to the floor. It had two metal panels running the length of it, a stark contrast to the cherry wood. Carefully he took the plant out and set it down on the table, hurrying off to a supply closet towards the left of the room to gather up his potting materials. It only took him a few minutes to carefully transfer the plant into a small ceramic purple planter, the one fruit still filled, lifting it's spindly vine into the air.

"She would've loved to see you." The otter leaned in close to take in the finer details of the plant, dripping water near its base, before setting the planter on one of the metal strips, a magnet in the base of it gripping tight. "Will have to think of a good name for you little one." He set about tending to some of the other plants, making sure they were well taken care of, before finally heading off to the cockpit.

Walking up a ramp he turned into a hall that was lined with six hatches in the floor, three to either side of him. Padding past them all, through an opening to the cockpit, which consisted of four control stations, and a central command chair. He felt electric as he stood next to the captain's chair. Knowing he could finally get underway again after having been stuck for a month, waiting for a ship with the right part to be dragged in. "Right, keep my nose clean. I can do that." He sat down in the chair, pressing his back into it, and closing his eyes.

With the press of a button on the arm rest, he grunted, metal probes extended from the chair and pushed into the sockets that ran along his spine. It was a sensation he'd yet to grow accustomed to, but it was worth the discomfort. The connection made him one with the ship, could feel its needs, its aches, and its surges of power. Tobias could control the entire ship this way, with an ease as if it was nothing more than another limb on his body. "Much better girl. I knew you'd like that new pump." he gently patted one of the arm rests, speaking to the ship as if it was an old friend. "Centauri then, get some cargo."

The otter began to navigate his ship out of the derelict graveyard, into the open space around it, setting off into warp towards Centauri Station. Once he joined the queue at the nearest gate entrance, he inquired of himself "What can I dig up for work then?" As he waited for his turn, he took time to access a free agent shipping resource he frequented, slowly going through the many listings. "Not bad at all." He paused on one, it was a fairly large shipment, and would take up the entire capacity of his craft. He signed on to the commission and passed through the silvery vortex, entering the gate system, relaxing into the flight towards Centauri.

It didn't take terribly long for him to navigate the gate systems, just three hours in total to reach the large space station. When he had left the gate he could see the station not far off, it was the largest one in border space.

"Centauri station, this is hauler Kilo-Whiskey-Foxtrot 7-3-4, requesting docking for commercial bay, district 16. Transmitting docket now." The otter spoke out on the coms, flicking a finger to transfer his docket to station flight control. "Roger 7-3-4 your docket is good. Please proceed to District 16, commercial bay four, pad twelve." An officer responded. Once Tobias had brought the ship close enough to the correct bay, a flight path appeared on the glass of the cockpit, the directions guiding his large ship into the port, and set his ship down on the landing pad.

The Interview

Mark was already well underway on his return trip to where he'd started the hunt. Though the further he got from Mars, the more he felt like a soldier again. Just another grunt, completely lost in the dark under the orders of superiors who told him just enough to complete the mission. It left that same foul taste on his tongue when something didn't sit right about the orders. Leaving him feeling dirty, weak even, and not entirely certain of what would be the appropriate response to the contract.

The wolf rested his head against the cold metal hull of his ship, letting the warm water of a shower become white noise as it cascaded over him. The sound of it letting him empty the foul feelings from his mind. He soon stepped out, and toweled off, speaking aloud to invite Mia to a conversation.

"I can't pass up this kind of money, no one can. However, I'm not going to turn in what we found without learning why they even want it. I'm not going to let this be another intelligence mission that leaves me in the dark yet again." Mia responded in kind soon after "I was thinking along the same lines. I have restored some of the files we collected, early information before security clearance requirements increased."

Mark threw the towel over his head, and ruffled it around to finish drying the fur, swiftly throwing it into a bin. "Let's see it then. I'm ready to know something more." He slipped on a dark blue shirt, and black denim jeans. Taking a seat on the bed he leaned back against the wall that separated it from the bathroom area. "This is one of the earliest videos tagged to patient 0." As Mia said this, Mar's eyes fixated on the far wall, as the screen cut on, the image black until a video began to play.

The wolf found himself bathed in filtered sunlight, warm rays of sunshine piercing past the vibrant colorful Fall leaves of a maple tree. They fluttered in the breeze, and seemed to linger until the camera finally panned down. It was now fixed on the view of a white male human, looking to be in his early twenties, dark brown hair, dressed in cargo shorts and a button down shirt. The male was looking off at the distant towering city. "So Mr. Hawkins, what is it like knowing you'll be one of the first humans on Mars? One of the first to colonize another planet." A soft female voice speaking from off screen.

The human glanced over at the camera for a moment, before looking back at the shining city in the distance. "It's weird still. I didn't think it was possible to feel so many emotions at once. I'm excited, scared, even a little bit mournful. Guess that last one sounds pretty silly though." He picked up a fallen red leaf from the ground, holding it up and twirling it between two fingers.

"I know that I'm helping mankind push forward, and even one day I might be back on earth. Yet, it's still sad in its own way. To leave all this behind, nature, the blue sky, the lovely crisp smell of a Fall morning. I'm not even on Mars yet, and I can already tell you what I'm looking forward to most when I return." Both Mark and Mia were transfixed not only on the human himself, but the other views in the video, Earth, as it had once been before the system was left to rot.

The human paused, and twirled the leaf again. "And what would that be Mr. Hawkins? What's the first thing a brave pioneer like you wishes to do first when you come back?" The female speaking once more. "I'm going to go for a swim in Lake George, up in New York. I'll truly feel back home when those cold blue waters surround me." He looked back in the direction of the camera, his eyes seemed to sparkle in the light. "That sounds rather lovely. I think the community there would be happy to know you chose such a pleasant return experience. How did this all start though? No military career to speak of. What sent you on the path to setting foot on martian soil?"

The human male set the leaf down on the ground, turning more where he sat to rather directly face the camera. "I was at a career fair, Cornus Mane, my former college always held one a month before graduation. I was doing horribly, getting turned away over and over. I mean look at this." He fished a picture from a pocket and unfolded it, holding it out for the camera to see.

The man looked quite uncomfortable in a poorly fitting three piece gray suit, shaking hands with an older man. "I was facing rejection city at this fair. Until I approached Leonardo's table. That table was turning everyone away. Even the valedictorian was turned away. But they chose me, right there on the spot. I still feel like it's a prank, like someone is going to jump out from behind this tree and make a fool of me on national TV." he tried to force a smile, but it just came out in a nervous looking manner. His eyes actually glanced at the tree, truly believing his worries might be true.

"But, here I am, thirteen months later. I've gone through more tests, examinations, and hours of training than I can even count. Tomorrow is launch day, I'll be with my team, hurtling away from Earth." He commented, looking up at the colorful leaves wafting above them. "I must say that all sounds impressive Mr. Hawkins. You should give yourself more credit for how you got here. Spent your life in an orphanage, working harder than most to get into a nice college. Someone with that much strength, and perseverance is well fit for this journey." The female added to the conversation.

"I guess you're right. Thanks." The camera turned to look at the female, her auburn hair sticking out. "That's all for today's recap fellow skywatchers. Join us tomorrow for live coverage of the launch." The video cut to the logo of the Leonardo company, before going black.

Mark felt enraptured by the video, beyond just the glimpses they'd seen of Earth alive with life. But also by the incredibly humble human who was starring in the interview. "What do you think this has to do with that otter though?" Mark asked Mia. "I am unsure. Though there are more videos, they appear to be dated shortly after the humans arrived on Mars." Mia didn't even need the instruction, queuing up the video.

In a cold, barren concrete room, very similar to that of an interrogation room, sat Mr. Hawkins in a metal chair. He looked angered beyond belief, a far cry from the kindness they'd both seen just moments ago. The male stood up from chair, glancing right at the security camera, shouting at it. "What the fuck is this?! Are you just gonna leave me in here? Give me some fucking answers!"

It was hard to believe the humble man from the video could act in such an aggressive manner, what could possibly be the reason for it? There was the sound of a heavy lock being done, and Dr. Mathias walked into the room. The scientist was dressed in a three piece pinstripe suit, carrying a folder and clipboard. "Please, Mr.." the man paused looking into the file.

"Mr. Hawkins, there is no need for such aggression and hostility. I will explain everything, if you would be so kind." Dr Mathias gestured towards the chair, and Mr. Hawkins reluctantly took a seat. The scientist took a seat across from the human, thumbing through the documentation. "I understand that you are upset over our deception. Most new hires are. As I'm sure you've noticed by now, you are not one of the first on Mars. To be quite honest you are not even close to one of the first."

The younger human slammed his fist on the table as the scientist revealed this. "So why the deception then? What right did you have to lie to everyone?" The male not even mentioning the impact on him personally from the deception. "True, it was a lie. Though, to be fair it is the first time we actually publicized an... attempt at colonization. My company needs the PR boost, but we still need to maintain discretion about what goes on here." Dr Mathias' words seemed to be doing nothing to calm the deceived males anger.

"You didn't answer my question." Mr. Hawkins said point blank, and it actually made the scientist smile. "Because discretion is key for my company Mr. Hawkins. The work we do here is for the good of all mankind. I recognized very early on in my career that humanity is on a path to self destruction. This facility studies many fields, with only two goals in mind. We work to ensure the survival of our heritage, and further our expansion into these new frontiers. To achieve these goals, I realized we must do so ungoverned by the red tape that serves only to line the pockets of politicians."

He flipped to a different page in the file. "I've read over your interviews, watched the PR videos taken of you. I believe you, unlike many, can now understand our reason for the deception. You seem to share much of the views both my company, and I have held for years. What was it you said Mr. Hawkins, during your first TV interview once we revealed the team?"

At this question, the anger of the human turned to humility. He remembered that interview very well, nervous the whole damn time, tripping over his words, but his final sentence had stuck with him. It'd pretty much become the tagline they attached to him for all subsequent interviews. "I want to make humanity proud," he responded.

"A very noble desire Mr. Hawkins, and the way you spoke of it during that interview confirmed our reasons for hiring you. You did not care about fame, money, or status. Your desire from the beginning has been solely about helping your fellow man." Dr. Mathias flipped one more page. "You can still fulfill that desire here. The terms of your contract remain the same, after two years you can decide if you want to renew, or return to Earth and be compensated greatly. What do you say we get you settled? Stacy outside will show you around, and get you situated with your department. We will do great things together Mr. Hawkins."

The video cut out, and jumped to the new one, the date in the corner marking it was a mere two weeks later. There on screen was the young human once more, situated inside a white sterile room, a prison style bed on the wall. The man was completely naked, and noticeably twitchy, completely bald head to toe, and his skin almost as pale as a ghost.

The door of the room opened, and in walked Dr. Mathias along with an orderly. "Good Morning Mr. Hawkins, it looks like those injections are doing something after all. Orderly, let's get him prepped for surgery. I want the system-link in him before any further tests are conducted." The human immediately protested as the orderly made a move towards him.

"No! I don't consent, not one step further!" the naked male throwing a pillow at the orderly as he said this, scrambling back into a corner. "You know that doesn't matter here. Remember what you said? You want to make humanity proud, is this how you should act to achieve that goal?" The young males words twisted, no longer an honorable goal, but words used to assault him.

The orderly grabbed Mr. Hawkins and dragged him out of the room. The camera feed changed to an operating room, the young male was strapped to the table. Chest heaving in and out with rapid breaths, wires taped to different parts of him. A surgeon was standing at the head of the table, a medical saw in hand. Mia swiftly cut the video off, recognizing that the human was clearly about to be operated on while fully conscious. "I-I'm sorry Mark. I refuse to let you watch that."

The wolf felt violently sick, shaken by what he'd seen. Mark had seen many horrible things during his service, but nothing as off putting as what was on the video. It was ancient history, yet impacted him just the same as some of the sights he'd seen during active duty. "Mia...How long was he there before they started testing on him?" As he asked, he stood and headed for the cockpit

"It was immediate, according to the documentation. As far as I can gather for now, that man never knew the life that he went up there to live." Mark let out an angered grunt as Mia revealed this information, strapping into his chair so they could prepare for gate exit and entry to Centauri.

"Now I'm sure of it. We may have something the contract wants. But I refuse to provide with blind obedience this time. We will find out the truth, as much of it as we can. The fate of that otter after those pirates found him, and perhaps most importantly, why this hidden company even cares for the information." Once he had docked in one of the civilian bays, the wolf had the plan in mind, just not thrilled it was a very short plan of action. "Keep working on those files Mia. Hopefully Verrick can give me a lead on those pirates." Mark slipped on a jacket over his clothing, pistol holstered out of sight, and swiftly headed off for the station transit system.

Home

Tobias didn't take long getting himself dressed, slipping on a light blue shirt, and a leather jacket. Holstering a pistol on his right leg, the collapsed stave on his left. Padding out of the airlock down a metal ramp he was greeted by the noise, and commotion of the busy space port.

An older human male was standing at the bottom waiting for the otter. "Credentials please." The worker held out a clipboard with a digital screen, and Tobias waved his left wrist over it. The worker pulled the clipboard back "Owen Brooks." The employee spoke aloud as he looked over the otters' falsified credentials. "Your docket seems to be in order. I'll get the men to work loading the cargo. As always we at Centauri appreciate your faith in our contracts." The human smiled as he finished with the formalities, whistling shrilly to get the attention of his crew.

The otter knew he would have a couple hours to linger, and headed to exit the port, taking an elevator up to the transit station. He had a hop in his step, excited for where he was heading. It'd been a couple months after all since his last stop at this station. He stepped on to the monorail, pushing his way into the heavily packed carriage, grabbing a hold of a metal bar above as it set underway. Watching out the windows as the monorail sped past several districts, a rather wide variety of buildings and lifestyles passing them by. His rounded ears perked, listening to each station as it was called. "Next stop, Farley Row"

Tobias was quick to get off at this stop, padding along the metal waiting area, and down several flights of stairs. He was greeted with the district he was most familiar with, heavily clouded with smog of a large factory in the district, the extraction fans never seemed to work quite right for that area. People rushing by in either direction along a sidewalk. The area directly closest to him was a small shopping district, a variety of merchants, leading the way towards the heart of the district. Most of the buildings were only two stories tall, while a half constructed ten story monstrosity towered above them all.

He walked across the street, and slipped into a small florists shop. It was packed tight with fragrant bouquets, so much so there was little actual room for customers to walk. Making his way to the counter he ordered a small bouquet of flowers. As he exited the store he took the plastic wrapped flowers to his nose, taking a deep sniff of the bright yellow flowers, it made his long tail twitch back and forth. "Hope she doesn't mind, I didn't call ahead. Heh, who am I kidding, she never minds." Tobias spoke to himself, smiling at what was soon to come.

Ten more blocks from the transit station, the otter stopped at iron gates fencing off a small courtyard. The courtyard sat in front of a wide, two story tall building, it could do with a fresh coat of paint, but otherwise seemed well kept. He glanced up at the sign above the gate, "Miss Caroline's Home for the Wayward" smiling, as it brought a comfort only known to those that had lived like him. Tobias pushed through the gate, and entered the home without even a knock. Not more than a minute had he been standing in the entryway, flanked by stairs on his left and right, a hall ahead of him, was there suddenly an uproar in the building.

"UNCLE TOBY!" Came the sudden squeal of a young child's voice from the second floor landing, a female fox darted down the stairs as fast as she could, clinging against the otter's waist. She hugged as tight as she could possibly manage and then some, chittering happily.

"Uncle Toby is here! Everyone, it's uncle Toby!" Assorted voices ringing the new throughout the building. There was an audible stampeding sound of children rushing from all parts of the building, each and everyone one vying for a chance to hug the otter. Tobias was laughing heartily from all the attention, taking time to pat each child on the head for a moment.

A warm voice finally cut through the energetic madness. "Alright you lot, you have to let Tobias breathe, or he'll never have time for you all." Tobias glanced in the direction of the voice, smiling at the sight of an elderly badger.

There was a collective whine from most of the children "Awww, yes Miss Caroline." The children finally gave Tobias some space, wandering back to what they had been doing before the good news. Save for one child, Tobias finally caught sight of the kid, an eight year old male husky, his bicolored eyes staring at the otter. The canine had been watching from the shadows, trying to hide behind a banister. As soon as the kid caught eyes with Tobias, he bolted from the room, disappearing out of sight.

The otter made his way over to the badger, and offered up the flowers. She smiled and took them in close for a sniff. "I see you're as overrun as ever Miss Caroline." Tobias commented. "Ain't that the truth of it. But I love each and everyone one o' the kits just same.. Feels like we haven't seen you in ages. Course, the kits never gave up 'ope. Where have you been all this time?" Caroline was walking the conversation towards the kitchen.

"Just got caught up in a longer run than I would have liked. Left me banged up by the Tau Asteroids." As Tobias said this, the badger glanced at the small welt on the otter's muzzle, spotting it like a hawk to a fish. "T'wasn't the only thing banged up I see." She let out a soft sigh, filling a vase with water placing the flowers in it. "Just a few drunkards, nothing I couldn't handle."

"That husky, when did he come in?" He sat down at a small table, grabbing a peeler that sat next to a bowl of half peeled potatoes. "Just a couple days now, poor thing. Hasn't said a peep since he was brought here." She grabbed a set of cups, and a jug of lemonade from the fridge, pouring a glass for each of them, watching as Tobias peeled the potatoes.

"Security brought him here, just awful really. Says they can't say much, just some domestic violence issue. No ones called on about him." Tobias took a sip from the drink as she spoke, then went back to peeling the potatoes.

"You'll find him in the library, loves books, that much I know." She smiled, "Go on then, I'll set to preparing a nice feast for everyone." Tobias always wanted to object. But he knew there was no stopping that badger from cooking up a nice spread when she wanted to.

Tobias headed out of the kitchen with his drink, and a fresh new glass of lemonade, across the hall and into the badgers office. Locking his gun and holster up in a safe above a bookcase.

As he walked through the orphanage, he occasionally caught sight of some of the children, smiling at them. Once he reached the library on the second floor, he entered softly, there in one corner sitting on a leather ottoman was the young husky. The boy seemed lost in a book, not realizing he wasn't alone anymore.

Tobias set the drinks down on the table, and sat down on the floor a few feet from the husky. "That's one of my favorites." the huskies tail tucked close to his side at the otters words. "Captain Scarlet is so cool, don't you think so?" Tobias smiled, the husky lowering the book for a moment to glance at the otter, before raising it back up.

Taking note of how far along the husky seemed to be in the book, he didn't mind talking about earlier chapters "Like that time she was facing down all those crocodiles. I was so scared that she wouldn't make it. 'Avast you tanned swine, you shall not best me this day, for I have justice on my side.'" Tobias chuckled as he quoted the book.

The husky lowered the book again, this time fully revealing the gray fur of his face, the one green eye, and the one icy blue eye. "Y-yea." He spoke for the first time since arriving at the orphanage. Tobias tried not to make a big deal of it. Scooting a little bit closer.

"Whenever I'm scared sometimes I think about Captain Scarlet, how brave she always is." Tobias commented, the husky glanced back at the book. "I-I like her first mate, Kevin. He makes me laugh." The boy seemed to open up naturally to Tobias. "Oh I love him! His jokes are always the best. Which joke is your favorite?" Tobias was now sitting right next to the ottoman, glancing at the book with genuine enthusiasm.

The husky set the book down, and suddenly jumped to his feet "Arrr why do I love being a pirate so much?" doing his best to sound like a scurvy sea dog. Tobias stood as well, doing his own impression of Captain Scarlet. "You salty dog, don't say it, or I'll make ye walk the plank" Tobias grinned "I lost me first hand and now I'm hooked!" the husky responded, breaking out into laughter, the otter joining in with the laugh. "That ones my favorite too!"

Tobias sat back down, and offered the glass of lemonade to the husky. "My name is Tobias." He took a sip from the glass, the dog went back to being a little nervous. "I'm...I'm Isaac" The boy replied, taking the glass and drinking from it.

"It's pretty scary being here huh?" Tobias looked over, and the cub nodded softly. "I was pretty scared the first time too. It's not so bad though, once you find something to like." This made the husky smile a little "I like the books I guess. I hope I have time to read all the ones here." Tobias smiled, and patted the husky gently on the shoulder. He looked behind him, noticing a few children peeking into the room.

"If you want to come downstairs with me, everyone will be waiting for me to tell another story. It's a really good one I think." He stood up and set the glass down on the table, offering a paw out for the husky to hold. "Th..the other kids won't make fun of me right?" Isaac hesitated "Of course not, we're all family here Isaac." The words seemed to comfort the husky for the moment, taking the otter's paw.

Tobias led Isaac through the orphanage, down the stairs, and through a hall towards the back of the home. A large glass door led straight into a greenhouse, raised planter boxes all around were growing a variety of vegetables, there was a small koi pond, where most of the children had gathered and found their favorite spot to sit. The otter took a seat on the edge of the pond, and patted the ground next to him, encouraging the husky to take a seat. The young canine nervously sat, and leaned against the otter for comfort.

"I guess y'all want to hear another story hmm?" Tobias asked of the children, there were twenty-two in total, all furred, and a wide range of ages. The fox that had first greeted him responded with unbridled enthusiasm. "Yes yes, please Uncle Toby!" The otter had to chuckle at the eager reply. "Oh I don't know, I'm so terribly tired." Tobias playfully rested his head on top of Isaacs, pretending to snore loud enough to rival a lumberjacks chainsaw. The act finally brought laughter out of the husky. "Nuh uh! You're fibbing!" Isaac exclaimed.

"Alright, alright, you got me. I had to try." Tobias smiled as he said this. The otter spent the next thirty minutes telling a half true tale about the time he had to outrun pirates while transporting medical supplies. Acting out some of the scenes with an expert level of ham, and quite a few dad jokes that elicited laughter from the younglings, and groans from the few older children.

The lot of the kids were enraptured by the tale, as they always were, cheering, gasping, and laughing along the journey being told to them. Even Isaac was having a blast, and had moved to sit with the other children just so he could enjoy the view of Tobias's acting even better.

Once he had finished telling the story, the children cheered with delight. Soon they were shepherding the otter all over the orphanage, to show him all their individual accomplishments with schooling. Some offered up crayon drawings they'd made to represent stories Tobias had told them in the past. "I'm so proud of all of you, getting such grades. Samantha you've really been doing quite well helping Miss Caroline in the greenhouse." Speaking to the oldest child, a thirteen year old snow leopard, she turned away bashfully. At one point the husky had separated from the group, invited to a board game with two other dogs the same age as him.

Tobias was quite the friend to the children, praising each one by name for something they'd accomplished. After an hour a bell rang throughout the home, letting everyone know to head for the dining room.

True to her nature Miss Caroline had cooked up quite the spread of very comforting food. Cornbread, puddings, a vegetable stew to die for, and a large loaf of bread for everyone to share. Once everyone had tucked into a seat, they all bowed their heads, holding each other's paw in a circle. Isaac had taken a seat next to Tobias and held the otters paw again. "Tobias, would you like to lead us?" Miss Caroline asked, even though she knew the answer already. "Thank you mother for blessing us with this meal. May we share in it's comforts and bounty, so that we continue to know the kindness you bless us with. So that we may share that blessing with others in turn. Together with your love, we can help each other overcome anything. Amen." The collected saying amen in unison.

Food started to get passed around, and everyone tucked into the hearty meal. Miss Caroline was a great cook, but she always went the extra mile when Tobias was around. The otter was all too grateful to have such a nice meal, not often was it an experience he got to enjoy in his life. After everyone had their fill, the children dispersed into the orphanage, save for Isaac who stayed behind to help Tobias clean up the table. "Thank you Isaac, why don't you go to the library, right about now Benjamin and Andy will be going through the comic books up there." The otter gestured a paw towards the door, Isaac seemed thrilled at the idea, hurrying off, leaving Tobias alone in the kitchen with Miss Caroline.

He stood over the sink, washing up plates and glasses, glancing over at the badger who was wrapping up some leftovers for Tobias to take with him later. "I've already sent over some credits. I know it's not much. But I've got a nice cargo run set up, I'll have more soon." Miss Caroline looked over at Tobias as he spoke. "Child, you know ya don't have to do that. We manage well enough." Both Tobias and Caroline knew that wasn't true.

The orphanage just barely managed to scrape by each month, it was only through the river dogs generosity that the place was still around. "I'll put a kettle on, leave the rest of those dishes to me." Tobias obliged to the badger's instructions. Drying off his paws, before heading upstairs to the library, plopping down in his favorite chair, eyeing Isaac, Benjamin and Andy in the far corner sharing a comic.

Tobias sighed softly as he relaxed into the chair, ears twitching at the sound of a whistling kettle in the distance. It wasn't long before Miss Caroline came into the library, carrying a small serving tray with cups and a teapot. "It really is nice to see you again, kit. The cubs never stop asking about ya." She set down the tray and poured a cup of tea, giving it a dash of cream and two sugars, passing it over to Tobias. He took it and drew a careful sip. "I still think about them all the time. I'm never gonna forget that first night, Charlie never let go of my tail. Dragged him all over the orphanage." The pair both laughed about the fond memory.

Tobias took another sip of the tea, looking over at the badger who'd picked up her knitting needles to work on a sweater. "I have thought about it, you know." Tobias not giving Caroline a chance to bring up an old subject. "Just, going straight. It's come to my mind more and more lately. Be here for you, and the kids." Caroline glanced over at the otter, and smiled warmly. "The young ones would be happy to have you here all the time. Can't say as I wouldn't be opposed to the thought either." She turned her attention back to her knitting. "Do you truly feel it's time for that, have you kept your promise yet?" She already knew the answer, but it still made the otters head lower. Tobias wasn't frustrated by the question, but rather filled with disappointment in himself.

He picked himself back up with a sip of tea before responding. "No Miss Caroline, but I'm still working on it." A chiming noise interrupted the conversation. The otter fished around in his coat and pulled out a small pad. "Looks like my ship is ready. I'll keep my ears clean this time, you have my word on that."

Tobias stood and set his empty cup on the tray, refreshing the badgers cup with another pour. "Be safe, kit." Miss Caroline set the needles down for a moment, as Tobias bent over and gave her a warm hug. The otter stopped inside her office to retrieve his gun, and the kitchen to retrieve the leftovers bundled up for him. Once Tobias was outside of the orphanage, he took a moment to wipe a tear from his eyes, before making his way back to the transit station.

Scenting

Mark's head was still spinning as he sat in the carriage of a monorail train, the videos replaying in his head over and over, until they became a sickening blur. There was an unpleasant tingling sensation on the nape of his neck, one he always felt when he was called to action with unfavorable odds. Could that otter still be alive after the pirates found him? Could that creature even adapt to the hazards of life, millennia after his time? Maggie's words ran through his head as the train came to a stop "Show him kindness." Mark grunted, feeling like he'd made an unkeepable promise.

He left the train with a swiftness to his steps. The thought of gaining a lead on the contract energizes him to push forward faster, to get clear of the mind clouding thoughts. Thankfully most of the factories in the district were still on main shift, so Verricks bar wouldn't be too crowded. Just a short walk from the station, there was the neon sign above him "Verricks Viquors" Mark never got tired of the terrible name. Just as he thought there were only a few regulars dotting the bar, most slumped over clutching bottles and pint glasses. The chameleon owner didn't tend to the bar until the evening.

Mark made his way up a flight of stairs towards the back where Verricks office was. A large polar bear was standing beside the door, dressed in black, and with an intimidatingly large revolver strapped to his leg. "Hey Kyle, can I go in?" The wolf asked the guard, the bear only grunting in response, nodding his head towards the door. The wolf slipped in, and eyed the chameleon sitting behind a large oak desk, going over financial records. It was a rather well decorated office, with a variety of collectible items Verrik had gathered from patrons who couldn't pay, or won in card games.

The wolf took a seat in a leather armchair across from the desk. Verrik cocked one eye in the direction of the wolf "Didn't think you'd be back so soon, hope your record isn't broken." The chameleon commented, looking back at the records, scribbling on parts with a rather fancy ink pen. "Of course not, old friend. Never lost before, and I don't plan to start anytime soon. I just need your help again" This caused Verrik to sit up straight, looking square at the wolf.

"I've told you. I'm not in that game anymore Mark. Too many times has it brought trouble to my bar. It's been a year since I last did anything, yet I still keep Kyle on." Verrik exclaimed with annoyance in his voice. The creature looked back at the documents, and began to organize them into a folder.

"Yes, I know that. But I don't think you'll be able to resist what I'm looking into. Don't forget, you still owe me one." Mark's tone was getting a little more serious. "I owe you? What is this, twelve times you've said I owed you for the one time you saved my life?" Verrik was clearly irritated by the suggestion of yet another favor being blackmailed out of him.

"Go on then, tell me what's so damn interesting. But know this, it will be the last time I help. I consider you a friend, and you need to start respecting the choices I've made." Verrik let out a sigh as he said this, tucking the folder into his desk, sitting upright once more.

"It's about the Brutal Bruins; I suspect they have some information that can help me out with the contract I'm on. I need to know where they are, or at the very least where they have last caused trouble." Verrik was shocked by the information Mark wanted to know. "The bruins, you must be joking. There hasn't been any activity or sight of them in almost ten years now. It wasn't even a contract that took them down, or so I've heard. Just suddenly vanished, stopped causing trouble all together." The chameleon pulled out a tablet and began to look into information.

"What about their ship then? Any sight of it? Pretty sure if someone had taken it out, they'd be bragging about it." Mark inquired. "True, that is a possibility. I'll look into it, check with a friend, he keeps more tabs on notorious ships than I ever have. If I find something I'll contact Mia." Verrik paused, "This is the very last time. I do mean that Mark. I'm not interested in having to watch my back anymore." The chameleon gestured with one hand, motioning the wolf to head out.

As Mark left, and reached the bottom of the stairs he took a seat at the bar. Ordering a single beer to ease his mind. Unaware from a shadowy corner someone was watching him. A feathered creature with golden eyes was fixated on the wolf. "Knew it." The mysterious bird muttered to himself with cocky pride. "Just need to figure out what he's signed on to." When Mark stood to leave, the bird turned to be more concealed, thankfully unnoticed by the hunter.

The beer hadn't done much to quell Mark's concern, a grumbling in his stomach made him realize he hadn't eaten in quite a while. Sticking his nose to the air, curious to see what good smells would satisfy his stomach. Following along a rather spicey one, finding himself at a ramen cart. Sitting down he let the chef decide the dish, eyes closing while he waited. It was difficult to keep them closed, his mind going back to the video of the tortured otter.

What could even be the point of seeing how long an otter could hold his breath? Digging into the spicy pork ramen bowl, Mark kept thinking about the contract. For ten years the bruins hadn't been spotted, maybe they'd given up that lifestyle. Perhaps they found a big score they could actually retire on. All Mark could do was hope that there was some breadcrumb he could follow to the next step of discovery.

Mark had finished his meal and was heading back towards the district monorail. Though his belly was full of the nice spiced ramen meal, his mind still hungered to know more. "Guess I should resupply a bit." The wolf speaks to himself, riding the train to the next district over. Stocking up on some ammunition and a few creature comforts to enjoy while on his ship.

"Mark, I have managed to track down the true source of the contract. Giovanni Corp is the true source, they masked it well." Marks ears twitched as Mia said this, a slight sneer creeping across his muzzle. "Giovanni corp? Should have figured those pro-humanist titans always have the cash for something like this. This complicates things a bit more."

Giovanni Corp had been no stranger to controversy within Galactic Defense Force controlled systems. Though deep pockets bought them more than enough political connections to stay out of having to deal with any consequences. In Border space they were well known, or suspected to quite often be a problem for furkind. "How long do you think it'll be before more hunters make the journey?" The wolf asked his assistant.

"Probably not long. Though I've left enough blocks in Maggie's system to protect what we've gathered." The wolf smiled as she said this. "Good thinking as always Mia. I'm gonna head back to the ship, hopefully Verrik checks in with us soon. My foot is itching for the next step." Once the hunter was back in his ship, he laid down on the bed.

Running over the few pieces of puzzle he had in his head. Mark didn't even know if the otter was what Giovanni had wanted info about. There was decades worth of research on all manner of subjects in that base, it could have been something unrelated to the otter for certain. But if Giovanni wanted it, there was little doubt in his mind they wanted it to have more control over something, increasing the balance of power even more in their favor. "Rrr, come on old pal. Find me a lead, I'm not ready to let this go."

Mark was going stir crazy in his ship, eyes constantly darting in the direction of the clock he swore it was making fun of him. Sure he had his own connections to call on for most situations, but none could dig up ancient history quite like Verik could.

Three times over he had disassembled his two guns, and reassembled them with a blindfold on. Finally there was a ping, the wolf darting into the cockpit, answering the call before he could even sit down. All too thrilled to see the face of the chameleon looking at him. "Did you find anything?" Mark asked, one foot paw tapping nervously at the floor.

"You're in luck, hell you're so in luck I need you to go to a casino with me." Verrik said with a coarse laugh. "It's true, no one has seen those bears for a good ten years now. They just vanished overnight, all the bounties on their heads gone in a flash. Even their criminal record was almost completely wiped. I've had to call around a bit, and well,"

The chameleon pressed a button on his side of the screen, transmitting an image of the ship Mark had seen in the martian cargo bay. "That ship is the only thing left of them. It's been spotted now and then." AS he continued he sent another image of the ship with a deep blue paint job, and no pirate logo. "I'm sure it's seen a dozen more paint jobs, and most people wouldn't give that ship a second glance unless you knew what was special about it. Do you recognize it yet, Mark?" Verrik finally paused, allowing Mark time to inspect the two images.

"It can't be, is that?" The wolf zoomed one of the images in on the engines of the ship, eyes going wide at a distinct looking component that was piped into the engines. Verrik spoke up "That ship is one of the few that can go into hyper outside the gate systems. It shouldn't even exist, the GDF outlawed it before it could go to full production. In large part because of the control style required to run the tech, one that wasn't worth the risk. If you know it's there, and what it is, you can identify that ship out of a line up with ease."

Mark felt impressed by this notion, maybe there was hope yet in finding that ship. "No wonder hunters had such a hard time getting their hands on those bruins." Assuming the ship wasn't completely lost. "That sure is lucky. But not casino worthy, is it Verrik?" The wolf returned to his calm, collected demeanor glancing at the reptile.

"Heh, right again old friend. I won't beat around the bush any longer. That ship is here on Centauri. Got a different paint job of course, bright scarlet, but it's over in District 16, cargo bay 4." Mark felt his heart quicken at this, choking in sheer alarm of that information. "Dock workers just finished loading it's haul about a half hour ago. I suggest you hurry, friend. Next time you come to my bar, don't be looking for any more favors." The reptile cut off the call.

Mark and Mia were both in a bit of shock at their luck. "Damn, I gotta get over there fast. Keep the ship warm Mia, we might need to leave in a hurry." The wolf slipped back into the living quarters, changing into some rougher clothing, dirtied in the hamper. He mussed up the mane like fur on his neck to try and make him look like less of a threat. "Be careful Mark, and don't get your hopes up," Mia commented."

Mark bolted out of his ship, sprinting in the direction of the transit station. It felt amazing, the impact of his paws against the flooring sending ripples of excitement through him. That ever so distinct smell of action filling his lungs. By the time he got to the station for the docking bay where the old pirate should be dock, he hoped that his luck wasn't running out.

The ride down the elevator seemed painfully slow, looking out the glass over the wide menagerie of ships docked in the busy port. A flick of his tail, and his ears perked straight up, there towards the far end was the ship of legend. It left a knot in his throat, he had to hurry. "Gotta get there, come on, get to the front line Mark." The wolf tried to pep himself. He burst out of the elevator the moment the doors opened, sprinting through the crowded port. The platform too busy with other business to even care about the sprinting canine.

His heart sank as he reached the halfway point of getting to the ship, the large cargo ramp was closing up. But then, what he saw he couldn't believe. There in the ship watching the ramp slowly close, was a ghost that shouldn't exist. The unique feral looking otter stood, very much alive. Mark felt frozen in place, the river otter hardly looked a day older from the videos, though he looked a bit more hardened.

The ramp finally closed, sealing with a loud hiss, the noise extinguishing all hope Mark had of getting any more answers. Still standing there watching it, as it began to lift off the platform and make an exit from the port. "I-I, was I seeing things?" He tried to talk himself out of the shock. "No, there was no mistaking him. But how, where are the pirates?" Mia coughed trying to get Mark's attention. "If you don't hurry back we're going to lose his ship." The wolf knew this was true, and in reality there was no way he would make it back in time. But knowing the otter was still alive, and truly looked so unique, there had to be some other traces of the creature. He hoped that was true.

A short journey later he was back in his ship, staring at the illuminated controls. "I might not have made it in time. But knowing he is still alive, and connected to that ship, this is a strong lead. "I think it's time to get in touch with Scabs. I need a chance to go poking through the GDF archives." Having seen the otter in person, it triggered some faint memories from his time as an active duty soldier. He swore there was a big case that the GDF had never solved, just one day it ended up closed without explanation.

The Eclipsed Planet

It didn't take long for Tobias to get settled on his ship once more, stashing the food in a kitchen that was set up like a buffet in a mess hall. Hurrying off to the bridge, and setting his ship underway towards the gate system. As he passed through that silver vortex, he confirmed the flight path, and detached from the captain's chair. Back down in the common area he fished around in his coat, pulling out the folded crayon drawings, starting to tape them up on the wall that was to either side of the locker room entrance. Adding them to the hundreds more pasted up there with pride.

With a soft sigh, he walked over to the circular couch, and laid down on his side, staring at the unique floating plant on the table. "I wish you could see them, see their smiles, hear their laughs. I spent so much time trying to avoid that life when I was just a kid. Maybe things would've gone differently had I just tried to make friends." Tobias talked to the fledgling plant. "Never thought I'd feel like part of a family." Tobias regaled the plant with talk of the new cub Isaac, and how well the children were doing in his absence. Soon after he settled into a nap on the couch, nuzzling his face into a plump pillow.

Several hours later, the ship was finally reaching the end of its gate travel, an alarm sounding in the ship to alert Tobias to that fact. He sat up, stretching his arms above his head, and headed off to the cockpit. Rubbing sleep from his eyes after he connected to the ship, he watched the distant gate grow ever closer. Passing through it, he immediately set the ship into a short range warp, hurtling off towards his destination.

After a good half hour, he was able to exit the warp, and a massive planet came into view. Half of the planet was covered in shadow, millions of lights were the only thing illuminating it. The planet was almost in an orbit locked with its two moons, it rotated so slowly that night was a months long period of time.

The condition made the planet constantly frigid, but provided unique conditions that led to a thriving mining industry that fed an equally thriving production industry. There were no countries, states, or townships, just a densely packed megacity. It had also ended up as a hotspot for vacationers, unique party life styles, and therapeutic packages were plentiful.

Tobias brought the ship into the megacity, following coordinates for the drop off location. The shipping port towered above the city, and was directly connected to a commercial port dedicated to the transport of human and furkind passengers. Once he had set the ship down, he slipped on his coat, and zipped it up tight. Padding down the ramp he was immediately greeted by a vixen, and the arctic temperatures of the planet

"Welcome to Luxonir, may I see your docket please?" Tobias exchanged the information "We're a little understaffed today. I must apologize as this will cause a delay in unloading the delivery. As a courtesy please take this coupon, good for a free spa treatment at Century Oasis Spa. I hear their salt therapy is a wonderful experience." The fox said with a smile, and motioned with a paw in the direction of the port's terminal building.

The otter took the coupon and tucked it into a pocket, not really having any intent of claiming it. He walked along the platform with quick steps, the ports for haulers were always the coldest platforms, not offering the great number of heating towers that passenger ports saw. Pushing his way through crowds into the warm terminal he sighed with relief, any minute longer and he swore his whiskers would have frozen off. The area around the dock access doors was filled with a variety of pilots, standing there, offering up cheap flights to anyone who couldn't afford the luxury of a commercially run travel line.

He made his way through the large port, eventually climbing into a crowded vertical train, grasping one of the bars as it began to rapidly descend. Tobias had no interest in a spa day, rather just preferred to go shopping again, to sate his never ending need for more plant life on his ship. He spent a good couple of hours walking around a large colorful bizarre, bathed in the warmth of massive braziers hung over bazaar. Soon after he took to lounging in a plaza, watching a fountain, until a glimmer of something past it caught his eye.

Across the plaza he could make out a deer, who looked very out of place in this frigid metropolis. Dressed head to hoof in intricately embroidered clothing, the embroidered threads dyed in faint blues and greens. The deer seemed to be struggling to get attention, reaching a paw out here and there, pleading for someone to talk to her. Tobias found himself strangely entranced by the misplaced deer. Though he tried to remind himself he wasn't going to get involved in anything this trip.

Yet he found his eyes kept going back to the deer, who seemed to look more and more defeated by the second. The creature's expression, and weakened stature were eating away at the otter's convictions. "It's none of your concern" Tobias muttered to himself.

He glanced back over and his eyes went wide, a large grizzly bear had violently shoved the deer to the ground, laughing loudly with his pack of friends as they kept walking. Tobias hopped to his feet, and moved swiftly across the plaza, getting down on one knee near the deer who had tears rolling down her face. She was struggling to scoop up polished stone beads from a now broken necklace. "Hey, it's ok. Let me help." The otter spoke softly, scooping up each bead carefully, as well as the broken cord.

The cervine was clearly distressed, having a hard time keeping her composure after the fall. Hurriedly grabbing the remaining beads from the otters paws when they were offered up. "You're not used to big cities I take it?" Tobias spoke again, extending a paw to help her stand. "No sire" She bowed her head, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"No need for formalities. Names Tobias. If you don't mind me asking, what brought you here?" The cervine, who'd been so eager before to ask strangers for help, now found herself confused, when a complete stranger asked her what was the matter instead. "It's my clan sire. They sent me here to find help. Our home is dying." Tobias frowned at her words, looking around out of habit to make sure no eyes were on them.

"What do you mean it's dying?" Cautiously he ushered her off to one side of the plaza. She seemed eager to follow. "These men came, strangers to us. They ordered us to leave, to give up our homes, our connection. The elder defied the request, and the men left. That was when our convictions were tested. They brought metal monstrosities, it's poisoning our crops, our springs are running dry." The deer seemed on the cusp of crying again.

Tobias reached out and held her paw to comfort her. Though the otter felt a sickening knot in his stomach at what she had revealed. "You're a tribe kin aren't you?" He'd heard of tribes before, though had yet to come across one. Groups that cast aside modern comforts for simpler lives.

She nodded her head "My name is Cleo of the Vent Runners. My tribe does not harm, but we can not give up our home. It is sacred to us, to abandon her would be to abandon ourselves. The elder agreed to send one of our tribe out to find help, they chose me. But no one wants to help." She started crying again, and rushed to cover her eyes.

Tobias knew enough about tribe kin that there was a general understanding about them in both border space, and GDF controlled space, they were not to be messed with. Even in the border reaches, to mess with a tribe would be to risk facing a death sentence when caught. So, whoever was behind this tribe's hardship, were trying to do it in a way not to draw the attention of the GDF. After all, the GDF were always eager to drag another planet under their control, and what better way to do it than 'heroic" invasion.

Tobias found himself in another one of those situations he knew he should turn away from. Every bit of logic in his head screamed for him to just walk, let the deer find someone else for help. Yet he never could turn away from it, and never find the strength to ignore his heart in favor of his brain.

"I'll help your tribe. I'll try at least." The otter smiled. For the first time the deer actually smiled, so relieved that perhaps she really had found someone to help. "Will your tribe allow you to ride in my ship?" The deer hurriedly replied "The same as this journey, they have granted an exception to our customs, yes sire."

Cleo followed Tobias back to his ship at the port, she was hesitant for a moment as she stepped into the airlock. Even having been submerged in the wonders of the megacity for several days now, it was still a shock to stand on an actual space craft. Tobias seemed to recognize the hesitation. "It's alright. I promise." He offered a paw to hers, which Cleo grasped. The otter led her into the common area of the ship, and Cleo was immediately at ease. The vast array of well cared for plant life surrounding her reminded her of home. Her concerns about being able to trust this stranger were washed away by a newfound understanding of Tobias.

The otter stopped by the table in the center, looking down at the fledgling dirigible plant. "I brought a friend, be nice to her please." He glanced back at Cleo "This here is Martha, she's a little shy." He spoke so genuinely about the plant, as he would all of his plants. They were as much family to him as the children under Miss Caroline, quite a high honor. Cleo was so enamored by the variety she hardly cared that for the first time in her life she now stood on a spacecraft, something none of her tribe had done in centuries. The deer was walking the room, greeting all the plants with polite curiosity.

"Do you know your tribe's coordinates? Perhaps a land mass?" He watched her with a smile, rather happy to have someone interested in the various flora. "Yes sire." She pulled out a pouch from under her cloak, taking out a folded paper with the planetary coordinates. Tobias took the paper, it wouldn't be a long flight at all. Though the actual distance of it surprised him, it was no doubt an arduous journey for someone to travel entirely on foot.

Cleo had stopped in front of a miniature apple tree, glossy red apples hanging from its branches, its leaves a striking variety of colors. "May I sire?" She glanced at Tobias. "Of course, her name is Katy." Cleo bowed her head, and cupped her paws together. "Thank you Katy for blessing me with your fruit" She carefully plucked just one apple from the miniature tree, and happily sank her teeth into it. Her face lit up, the sweet flavor was perhaps the best thing she'd tasted in a while.

"Feel free to make yourself at home. I'll get us underway to your tribe." Tobias spoke, before heading off to the bridge, and connected with his ship. Pushing out thoughts of doubt from his mind as he took off, and began the journey to her tribe.

The Archives

Mark stared silently at the controls of his spacecraft, fixated on the gauges that read out a variety of information about the flight path he was currently undertaking. The sight of that ghostly figure still loomed in his mind. "How could he survive?" His shock at seeing the elusive creature dampened his usual intelligence. Mia spoke up "For now we can only speculate what was performed on him during his time on Mars. But I believe it's safe to say at the very least, it has allowed his body to adapt to the vastly different nature of life now, compared to what he knew in his time." Mark only nodded in half acknowledgement.

Finally he worked up the ability to focus on the plan moving forward with the hunt. "See if Scabs answers. The archives might give me a chance to dig into that ship more, and those pirates." Mark tried to stiffen up his appearance as the call was made, brushing down his ruffled mane.

Soon he was greeted with the appearance of a tabby cat, golden eyes, dressed in a deep blue uniform. "Colthraxi Archives, how may I direct your call?" The feline was looking off screen. "Specialist Thomas Scabs, please." The feline's ears immediately perked to the request, and the familiar voice.

"Hello Mark, it's nice to see you." The feline smiled brightly, though he was now in his early thirties, he hardly looked much older than the day he graduated from the academy. "Nice to see you as well, Scabs. They got you working at the call center today?" Mark flipped a switch on the panel, letting the call window expand to fill the entirety of the glass.

"Just some trouble with the satellites again. Stuff keeps getting routed through my station." The wolf nodded softly "One would think command would actually give more of a damn about that place." Mark sighed after his words. "Yea, well you know how GDF is." Scabs clearly wanted to expand on that sentiment, but knew better of it while on official channels.

"Anyway, what can I do for you?" The feline looked off screen again, going back to some of his paperwork. "Can you get me some time in the archives? Cold cases, ranging from now to ten years back. Bounty flagged" The wolf knew it was a rather big ask, but Scabs had more control over the archives than he preferred to admit.

"Yea, sure. Though I'm afraid to ask why, you don't normally dig into the old stuff." Scabs glanced at the screen for a brief moment, then back to his stack of paperwork. "Appreciate that Scabs. I'll be arriving within the hour." The call ended and Mark felt hope again, hope for progress in this mysterious contract.

Mark exited the gate system into GDF controlled space, though this particular system was devoid of life save for the archives on Colthraxia. It was a gaseous planet, populated with floating land masses. It was a desirable place for the archives to be, the gate only let people through who had the clearance, and the stable environment allowed the archives to properly protect a plethora of evidence, documentation, and literal troves of historical documents.

Descending into the planet, the archives were easy to spot, consisting of four large structures, with each having smaller buildings run off from it, enclosed walkways connecting everything together. He navigated the ship into a small docking bay attached to the central building, slipped on his coat and gun, then headed down the ramp, immediately greeted by the tabby cat.

"All I can give you is two hours, any longer and I'd have to clear it with central." Scabs as always, was nothing but business. "Nice to see you too." Mark flashed a toothy smile. The wolf suddenly pulled the cat into a brief hug, before letting him go.

The flustered feline hurriedly patted out wrinkles in his uniform, glancing around in embarrassment. "S-sorry." Scabs never did have strong social skills, part of why this assignment was a perfect match for him. "Nothing to be sorry for. Two hours will be more than enough. I could hang in orbit after, we could grab a couple beers after your shift. My treat."

Mark reached a paw out and adjusted the feline's hat for him, squaring it up. "Yea, I'd like that Mark. Come on, we're eating into your time." Scabs was quick to usher Mark through the small docking bay, padding into the main building. It was a rather impressive building, looking like the library one might attribute to royalty, rather than the common man. Several open floors towered above him, with shelf after shelf of books, filing boxes lining walls, and a bank of computers on each floor wrapped around the opening.

"Service life still treating you well?" Mark inquired, as Scabs led him to one of the halls that would connect with another building. "Y-yea actually." The feline was flustered again, looking down in embarrassment. "Well, no, but yes." Scabs was struggling to make a coherent sentence.

Finally he did what he had to do, since he couldn't get the words out. He held out his left paw, showing off a simple silver band on his wedding finger. "I'm engaged." The reveal was a timid voice, though Mark would've hugged Scabs in congratulations had they still been in a private area. "That's excellent!" Mark exclaimed. They talked briefly about how he'd fallen for a guard that was posted to the archives a year ago, love at first sight.

Finally after fifteen minutes of brisk walking Scabs had escorted Mark to the area where the files he wanted to go through could be found. "We're going for beers for sure now. We have to celebrate your engagement." The wolf patted the tabby firmly on the back. "Ok Mark, I'd like that. I'm off in a few hours." Scabs headed off back to his duties.

When Mark was left alone, he stared at the row of filing cabinets in front of him, some were hardly three drawers high, while others went almost up to the ceiling. A track run ladder leaned against them. He knew very little about the inner workings of the archives, just the fact that the GDF was a bit eccentric when it came to backups of backups of information. Only the command from the right group of people could truly get something completely wiped from the records in all forms. It was an almost overwhelming sight now that he stood in the presence of it all.

"Pirates then." Commenting to himself, he started to walk the rows, for the most part they were organized neatly into classes of criminals. Soon enough he had found the right cabinet, climbed almost the ceiling on a ladder and was thumbing through the files, pausing as he ran across a small folder labeled "Brutal Bruins" It was pitiful in size less than what it should be considering the legacy he knew the pirates held. He opened the folder on top of the open drawer and began to scan through the scant few pages.

There were several dockets on known members of the gang. Though, what caught his eye first was an autopsy report. "Valerie LongMont. Known Alias Captain Iron Claw" There was a mugshot clipped to the document, and he recognized the bear's face immediately, she was the leading figure in the security footage. "Cause of Death Exsanguination Asphyxia. Homicide" There are multiple photos of the ursine on the coroner's table. There was a deep gash across her neck, the fur around it stained a deep red.

Several more autopsy resorts laid beyond hers, each one a similar cause of death. Save for one "Garth Everson" the pictures of the bear's corpse on the table were borderline sickening, where the others had seen a swift death, Garth did not have the luxury. The ursine had clearly been the victim of a slow, excruciating and tortured death, countless stab wounds, broken or severed fingers, fur and flesh flayed from his face. It was clear that the perpetrator was more offended by that bear, which made it more personal.

Mark set the reports down and went to the last few pages. "Final Report Case Status Closed" He let his eyes skim the page "Valerie LongMont, and known associates were found free floating in Centauri space, by a commercial liner. Lacking evidence and witnesses as to the perpetrator of their homicides, all current contracts for the Brutal Bruins shall be closed, and stricken from the records. It must be noted that while the criminals have been located, the location of the ship, Project ----, is unknown at this time."

The information Mark had uncovered was far less than he had hoped for, but now he knew. The bruins hadn't disappeared, someone with a heavy grudge had taken them out. Though now he was even more sure of the fact the ship he'd seen was special, a ship the GDF very much wanted to disavow any knowledge of. He tucked the folder back into the drawer and climbed down the ladder.

"Mia, can you recall any large contracts that were closed with no resolution?" The wolf was trying to rack his brain, but then it came to him before Mia could even respond "Wait, Nubron. It has to be." He began to rush through the rows of cabinets, stopping as he came to one focused on formerly high dollar contracts. "What about Nubron, Mark?" Mia inquired.

"That was going on right as we were transitioning out of military service to free contracts. Don't you recall?" He pulled open a drawer, and started thumbing through files once more. "Of course. The kidnapping of a prince, I believe it was resolved however. The prince himself was the one to close the contract."

Mark was nearing the end of the files in that drawer until he found it, pulling out a thick folder. "Right. But that otter, I'm positive I've seen him before." Mark was flipping through papers, and photos, letting his eyes rapidly dart over the pages. He flipped and flipped, then stopped and went back a page.

There pinned to the paper was a single freeze frame of security footage. The details were hard to make out, three creatures in all. One was recognizable, a young, teenage gray fox, pointing a finger accusingly at another much older fox. But there in the shadows, disguised in combat gear was the shape Mark now found familiar. It had to be the otter, no other creature was shaped that uniquely, he had a gun drawn, aimed in the direction of the older fox. Mark could hardly make out much of the otter save for his shape, and the gun.

The wolf took the picture from the file and tucked it into his jacket, then flipped to the final page. "Final Report Case Status Contract Rescinded. Prince Erik rescinded the contract after unmasking his Uncle as the mastermind in an assaination plot. The believed culprit of the false kidnapping is unknown, save for the one still frame."

The wolf went back and began to skim the file for more details. The original contract was towards the front of the documentation "Contract, Recovery of Prince Erik, and Arrest of Kidnapper. Perpetrator unknown, last known location of Prince Erik, Valiant Station ''

As he read through the file there was clear evidence that the kidnapping had been staged, orchestrated by Prince Erik himself as a means to keep his life, and retake control of his birth given right to the throne. When interviewed by the GDF after the arrest of his uncle, Erik would not give up information on who had aided him during this elaborate plot. Rather he would deny that anyone had helped him at all.

"He really is a ghost then, but why? What did he gain from this?" The wolf sighed, every step forward in the hunt, felt like another step deeper into fog, no clarity, just more questions. "Maybe a reason to live?" Mia chimed in. "What do you mean?" Mark replied. "This otter still has that ship, a means to get around and survive. But I feel he does not want to repeat the hate and violence he suffered on Mars. I can not fathom if he did this for money, though I believe it's safe to say he took part in this plot for more than personal benefit." Mark half chuckled

"That would be nice. Someone taking on risks like that just because it's the right thing to do. Not really something you see anymore though." Mark glanced towards the wall, staring at the GDF shield. It turned his stomach to knots as the shimmering gold leaf reflected the light cast at it.

When his time was up, Mark had little more to go on than he did coming in. Just now he knew the otter had in the past gotten himself involved in something major and didn't want anyone to know about it. Scabs was there in the hall to escort the wolf back to the docking bay.

"See you around eight at the bar, yea?" The feline offered up. Mark gave an affirming nod, forcing another hug on the cat, before disappearing into his ship. Heading off the planet to hang in orbit for a while. "Made any progress on data collected from Mars?" Mark glanced at his AI companion. "Nothing substantial so far Mark." The wolf sighed, "Play the stuff we have again." He leaned back against a wall and watched the videos on repeat, hoping somehow it might tell him more the second time around.

Poisoned Tribe

Cleo spent her time in the common area, enraptured by the plants. Eager to examine each one up close, while Tobias kept the ship underway. As she finished circling the room, she finally took notice of the plethora of children's drawings taped to the walls near the locker room.

From simple crayon drawings, to finger paints, and even a few rather refined looking charcoal sketches, the otter was on display with his extended family. It made the cervine smile as she took it all in.

Soon her time alone to sate her curiosity about the mysterious otter had come to an end. Tobias was walking down the ramp, adjusting his coat, and running a brush through the soft fur on his head.

"I set the ship down a short way from the coordinates. Don't want to disturb your tribe more than I have to." Cleo bowed her head at the otter's words. "Thank you, the elders will appreciate that kindness." She bundled back up in her clothing and followed the otter out of the ship.

The pair were knee deep in frigid snow, the white powder reflected pure starlight, illuminating the environment around them. Immediately Tobias could smell it in the air, a foul, rotting stench that pained the nose, and only seemed to worsen with every breath.

Cleo took a moment to look around where they had landed, enough to get her bearings. "This way, quickly." She motioned for Tobias to follow. The walk was painful, the otter wished he'd bundled up better, though Cleo appeared to have no difficulty with the deep snow or the frigid temperature.

Fifteen minutes into the hike everything began to change, the snow was thinning out, eventually to soft ground covered in amber grass. The air felt warm, damp, a relief after feeling close to death with the cold. The village finally came into view, multiple stone huts radiated out from a central court, fields of struggling crops ringed the entire village, and the whole area was dotted with geothermal spas. Torches burned brightly on the pathways through the town, and candlelight illuminated the windows of the humble homes. While a central bonfire burned brightly in the center of it all.

The village would have looked like a paradise to some, if it were still in its prime. Though it was clear to Tobias immediately how the poisoned air was harming the crops, how cold spots through town were forming as hot springs slowly went dormant.

As Cleo led him towards the center of the village, he took notice of as much as he could. Destroyed fencing, trampled ground, the path of brutes trying to bully their way into claiming something they had no right to. Soon he could hear the chatter of idle conversation, ears twitching as he picked up what fragments of conversation he could. "The corn won't last much longer." came a male voice from one of the homes, a female from another "We lost another goat today."

"Cleo, is that you?" A proud male voice suddenly cut through the idle chatter. A large stag was walking out from the central plaza towards the approaching duo. The male was a powerful intimidating looking creature, 8 points on each antler, while colored strings with beading weave intricate patterns between the branching bones. "Oh my sweet Cleo." He hurried and swooped the comparably smaller cervine into a firm hug. She buried her face into his chest, whimpering happily. "I missed you father." Another small female hurried out from a hut, and pulled herself into the hug. "Cleo my heart, you've come back to us."

The small commotion left Tobias standing awkwardly in the background, and he seemed to sink even more into the shadows as more tribe folk were drawn to the sudden activity. It all came to an end however as a silver furred stag left the largest hut in the plaza. His eyes were glazed over by the fog of age, his antlers heavy upon his head giving him a slouch to his stance. Each branch of his antlers glittered with elaborate, meticulous , and connecting strings, polished stones, and bones. Everyone grew silent in his presence and bowed their heads, Tobias followed in turn, bowing his head in respect for the elder deer.

The elder used his cane to tap his way along the stone work lining the plaza, villagers parting from his path as he made for Cleo and her kin. Oval ears flicking a little as he took in the resonate sound from each tap of the cane.

"Cleo of the Vent Runners. I'm pleased to see you return safely. Have you found help for our plight?" She kept her head bowed at the question "Yes elder. Where many turned away from my plea, one did not." She glanced in the direction of Tobias, motioning for him to walk over.

The otter walked the few steps to close the gap that had formed between Cleo and himself, standing now by her side. "Tobias helped me to my hooves, and wishes to do the same for our clan." She spoke again, the elder deer turned to face the otter.

The silver deer extended a paw, cupping Tobias's face by his chin. Elder felt along it, scented fingers traced over the thick whiskers on the otter's face, along the rounded curves of his head, the small crescent ears. Pausing for a moment as they felt the metal lump behind one ear. Tobias did not react with any sort of hesitation as the elder chose to see by touch alone. To the shock of the deer folk, a few tears were rolling down the elders face.

"Such pain, such anguish. You can hardly walk, yet desire to help us continue our journey forward. What gives you this strength Tobias?" Tobias was unnerved by the words, he felt that he was a good judge of character. Yet he needed more than just touch to make out details of a situation. Clearly he was trying to think of the appropriate way to respond. "I..." he paused for a moment. "I walk with the strength of those who continue their journey, the journey that others seek to deter or end. To steady faltering steps is to steady my own. As I help them continue their path, so to I can continue along my own."

The elder took a step back, and ruminated on the reply. "A humble strength. Not far different from that of our tribe. Kinship is what bonds us, drives us. We do not seek to compete, but seek only to aid our fellow brethren." The deer turned to face the bonfire, everyone turned to face it as well.

"This fire, this heart, has illuminated our tribe from its beginnings. We support it, nurture it, remind us all the connections we share with each other, and the land we live on." The silver deer turned to face Tobias once more.

"Our path has been darkened, humans seek to douse this flame, extinguish our hope. Yet we are not a violent folk, nor are we skilled to defend our home from unnatural sources." The elder tried to stand a little taller. "We ask for your strength, but we must ask that you do so in respect of our way of life."

Tobias understood immediately, though it was a big ask, to resolve the situation without spilling blood. "Can you promise us that?" The otter understood how big of an ask it was, yet didn't hesitate in his response. "I will honor your tribe's peace."

The elder stag smiled, "Cleo, please take Tobias to the Path Makers. They will be able to relay all that we know so far." The deer made his leave back to the hut without another word. "It's this way." Cleo gave her mother a quick hug, before leading Tobias out of central plaza, a few rings out to a medium sized hut.

She rasped gently on the wooden door, which was opened by a teenage stag. "Hello Matthias. Elder has asked me to bring Tobias to your father, he has come to solve our plague." The stag gave a nod, and led Tobias inside, while Cleo returned to be with her family. The room was filled with shelves full of rolled parchment, one was laid open on a table in the middle of the room, a rather well detailed map of the area.

The teen went into a side room, and returned with his father. With a bow, he introduced himself. "Greetings, I am Tirrel, head of the Path Makers." Tobias bowed in kind, "Tobias, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Tirrel motioned to a seat by the table, before moving off to one of the shelves to grab another scroll. Rolling it out on top of the already open one. "How long has it been since they arrived?" Tobias asked, looking at the map.

"Several months now, it was not until vents started to go cold that Cleo was sent on her journey." Tirrel responded, and soon started to go over the map. The encampment set up to disturb the tribe was a good half day's walk. Several structures had been sketched out, crude, but enough for the otter to get a grasp on what lay ahead.

"We do not understand how, but they have found ways to interfere with our vents, and the foulness in the air has slowly gotten worse." Tobias nodded, "May I take this map with me?" the deer rolled it up in a flash and offered it to the otter.

"Thank you Tirrel. I believe it's best if I start now, your tribe does not deserve any further second of this hardship." Tobias left the home and made his way back to the bonfire. Cleo was seated by it, feasting on a small vegetable stew.

The elder was sitting on a chair, staring blindly into the fire, letting it's heat comfort him. Tobias approached the elder, who glanced in his direction. "I will gladly help end your plague. Yet I must ask for only one favor in return." The deer stared, "You may ask." He responded.

"When this is done, the truth of it can not be told to anyone outside your tribe. I know you live in isolation, so it is likely an unnecessary request, but I still must ask it." The silver deer thought on it for a moment, "As you wish, should any stranger come ask, no knowledge of you shall be provided." Tobias bowed "Thank you elder. I shall take my leave, and return when it is done." With a wave to Cleo, Tobias made the slow cold journey back to his ship.

Back in the quiet warmth of his vessel he sighed heavily, realizing once more that his attempt to stay out of things always failed in the end. Taking the map to a small room, at one time setup for conferences, though only the table remained, and rolled it open. "Cliffs from the rear, those must be guard booths there. That will be the heart of the operation." He went over the map over and over again for a good half an hour, memorizing every detail of it.

"Time to go then." Tobias made for the locker room, and opened a separate locker from one that contained his space suit. A deep black array of combat gear was stored in it, well marked with past encounters, yet still a perfect choice for him. It had been uniquely crafted to match the way he moved, the techniques he preferred to employ, and most of all, complete anonymity. The dark blue visor was the only bit of color the suit carried. Tobias grabbed his stave, as well as a few other gadgets, all intended for non-lethal means of disabling.

He reached into the helmet and pulled a small wire from it, plugging the silver connector at the end to the metal socket behind his ear, and slipped the helmet on. The visor illuminated internally with a heads up display. All he had to do was think, and it would obey his commands. Geared up, hidden, and ready to engage, he left his ship, starting the journey to the human encampment.

The otter's mind was blank as he trudged through the snow, through forests, across a frigid glacial stream, and down rocky slopes. Until finally after several hours he crested a hill, there in the distance he could see it. The guard booths, the central structure with its smoke stacks pumping out vile air, drills dotted the perimeter slowly working their way into mapped out underground hot water rivers.

Tobias perched himself in the shadows of towering rock spires, looking down at the temporary installment in the distance. His eyes fixated on three smokestacks that were pumping out a noxious, endless cloud of poison. The plumes were so thick it clouded out the star-filled sky. Only perimeter lights gave any real idea of where things in the base were located. It was surrounded by ten-foot security fencing, it was more a general deterrent than an actual security measure. A lone guard booth on its south face, which no doubt controlled the only vehicular entry to the facility.

His eyes took note of a scouting rover craft, not far from two docked small crew shuttles, it was parked and dark. The central building was rather small, a quick easy to set up structure made to get in, and get running as fast as possible. As the otter's eyes continued to take in details slowly a three-dimensional map was generating on the display of his helmet.

"Can't bother with the fence, need to take them out, clear the facility entirely." Speaking to himself, before finally standing up to make towards the assault. "I am not a weapon, I am a person. I am not a dog of war, I am mercy. Though the reaper walks with me, my targets are not his." The mantra he spoke to himself had become a second nature ritual, a way to focus, a desperate attempt to ward off decades of training.

Tobias stuck to the shadows as he weaved his way down the hillside, through the cover of rocky outcroppings, occasionally pausing to fixate his eyes on the guard booth once more. The otter made for the southwest corner of the encampment, pausing only for a moment a mere thought activated a device in his suit that would easily scramble security cameras. Though the device didn't have the best range, it didn't need to, it combined perfectly with his way of navigating through an encounter to keep his presence unrecorded.

The armored otter stayed low, creeping along the fence, it was a nice blind spot for him, just inside the fence was an assortment of cargo containers, and the guard booth had no opening viewing the direction he was approaching from. The snow-covered ground was dense along the fencing, carrying his weight well without a sound. He swiftly closed the gap and pressed his back to the wall of the guard booth, head tilted to better hear the man inside.

"Hah, what an idiot. Should've jumped." The man spoke, and Tobias could just make out that man was distracted by a holo-vision show. "Oh come on!" The guard exclaimed, pounding a fist on his desk. The otter inched along the booth, staying low against it's base, listening for just the right moment until he began to hear the guard getting worked up once more. "Go, go, go, run faster dumbass." The noise the guard and the show were making was enough of a cover. Tobias reached up and grabbed the lever of the door, applying enough pressure to slowly ease it open.

The otter slipped into the structure, the door open just long enough for the guard to feel a sudden frigid draft. The man looked in the direction of the door and saw nothing. "Damn rush grrch!" His sentence cut off abruptly as Tobias leapt from behind, wrapping one arm strongly around the human's neck, applying incredibly intense pressure to it. The guard was struggling violently, grasping at the arm to try and pry it loose. The other reached for a baton, grasping it and started to thrash it violently behind him. It beat pointlessly against the otters armor, though Tobias struggled to keep his grip, treading a fine line between choking out the human and crushing his throat.

The otter was devoid of thought, only filled with action, focus on disabling the human. The baton continued to thrash about, in one misguided swing it shattered the fluorescent light above, sending the booth into darkness. Glass and sparks rained down on the pair, with each passing second the human was losing the fight to stay conscious. Tobias had his head turned to one side, trying not to look at the expression of terror on the human's face.

After a solid minute, the guard's feet finally stopped kicking at the floor, his hand relaxed and the baton clattered to the floor. The man became heavy in the otter's grip, Tobias slowly lowering the male to the floor. Tobias stared for a moment at the human now limp on the ground, making sure that the man was still breathing. The otter grabbed the guard's handcuffs and used them to restrain the human's hands behind his back. He looked up at the destroyed light, not liking the sight of it, sooner or later he knew it would draw attention.

Tobias left the guard booth and headed northwest from it, taking cover in the field of cargo containers, walking along the largest one, stopping just at its end. His eyes fixated on the entrance of the main building, one guard was patrolling the south wall, while another was patrolling the east. "They really weren't expecting trouble. Idiots." Tobias shook his head. He headed west in between two more containers, stopping at the last one to check on the southern guard's patrol. The suited man was walking away from the otter, back towards the entrance of the facility.

Tobias broke into a run, quickly covering the gap between the containers and the facility, taking cover on the western wall. He let his eyes close as he stood there, counting out the guard's steps. "10, 8, 6" He could hear the crunching of snow, the guard was getting closer. "Two." Just as the guard stopped, Tobias rapped a fist on the wall of the building, the metallic sound alerting the human, who turned the corner. The guard came face to helmet with the otter, the man almost laughed at the height difference between him and the intruder. But was swiftly tackled to the ground before he had the chance.

Tobias slammed his gloved fist into the guard's face, which sent the human's sense of space reeling. This guard however was larger than the first, and rolled with Tobias in the snow, trying to break the grip on him. Just as the man began to stand, he found himself on his ass again, Tobias having swung his hips, to drive his thick weighty tail against the guard's legs, knocking them out from under him.

The guard lay on his gut, and Tobias laid all his weight on the man, once more getting his arm around a neck. The man struggled, grasping at the snow, he managed to find a rock, and land a brutal blow of it against the otter's helmet. The crude instrument impacted the helmet hard and glitched out the display, but ultimately did nothing to stop the intruder.

While the struggle was going on, the third remaining guard had taken note of the dark guard booth and paused in his path to radio the first guard. "Hey Tim, what's going on, your light is out." The question was met with only silence "Tim, come in. Why is your booth dark?" Still, no reply came, "Control, I think something is wrong with Tims's booth. Going to check it out." The guard broke patrol and slowly made his way towards the darkened booth.

Finally, after a few more seconds of struggle, the second guard went limp. Tobias repeated his act of making sure the man still breathed and restrained the guard with his own cuffs. There wouldn't be much time left now before the booth was noticed, if there was even any time left at all. Tobias knocked a paw against his helmet, knocking the glitch out, and gave himself no time to catch his breath.

The otter ran quickly along the now unpatrolled southern wall, hurrying towards the last remaining exterior guard. His eyes caught sight of the third guard who was halfway to the booth. The otter redirected himself, and his speed in the direction of the final perimeter guard.

The human's head straightened up, Tobias had gotten loud, the violent crunching of snow as he rushed towards the guard. The man turned a moment sooner than the otter hoped for. "Alarm!" The guard shouted into his radio, he tried to get his gun up, but Tobias finished closing the distance.

With all his might, Tobias grappled the human by an arm and sent the male flying off in the direction of the cargo containers. There was a loud thud as the guard collided with one, and a groan of pain escaped him, the result of a now dislocated arm. The guard couldn't find a chance to get any further word out, though an alarm was now blaring through the facility.

Tobias looked down at the guard who was trying to stand, and failing. "Stay down." The voice coming from the suit was robotic, heavily altered. Tobias grabbed the gun, and quickly dismantled it, chucking the pieces in random directions.

"This way, quickly." Inside the building, civilian employees were being ushered by two guards through the planned evacuation path. "Let's go already!" One guard, a female, was annoyed by the slow pace of the panicked civilians. "Two guards take up a post at the entry hall, three to facility control. Double time." The ground-based commander ordered his men around, as they all took up planned posts. In the distance, Tobias could see a parade of humans being led towards the evac shuttle, ushered up the ramp towards safety. "Shit." He grumbled to himself.

"I am mercy, I am mercy." speaking a partial bit of his mantra to himself, though the words seemed to falter. They were spoken with less belief in their meaning. Tobias grabbed his staff and extended it, walking towards the main entrance. When he was close enough he took a strong stance and broke into a final run.

With his left shoulder into it, he bashed through the thick security doors, both crashing open and slamming against internal walls with deafening clangs. "Open fire!" A command was shouted by the two guards in the entry hall, their rifles firing off shot after shot, which seemed to ping pointlessly off the black combat suit. Tobias leapt, using his stave to guide momentum, knocking one guard to the floor with just his feet. A kick of a paw sent the gun skittering away across the floor.

The other guard had ceased firing for fear of hitting his cohort and instead extended a baton. Where once Tobias had acted with some discretion, now was not the time for it. The baton beat against his suit, while the other guard was scrambling to his feet. Tobias grabbed the still standing guard's arm and twisted it to the left with a sickening snapping sound, the crack of bone was audible. Baton falling to the floor, the man staggered backward, his left arm now hung heavy at his side. "Oh you fuck!" The other guard now on his feet managed to get his gun again. "Armor-piercing rounds rear guard." Issuing a warning, knowing full well he likely wouldn't stop the otter.

Tobias swung around, his stave cracking against the human's head, sending the male back to the floor. The otter stood on the guard's right leg, and pressed down with unsettling weight, again there was a sickening crack, as another bone was broken. The otter looked at the two disabled guards.

"I know you're just doing your job. I'm sorry for the pain I've caused." Tobias spoke, the robotic voice still covering up identifying aspects, as well as removing the true apologetic tone in his voice." Tobias left the entry hall, stopping just past the next doors to plant a small explosive charge on the wall.

He knew that the next encounter was going to be the worst, his suit could take regular fire without much issue. Armor-piercing however was another story, if they were concentrated, they could easily break down the material, and the polymer was not at all quick in restoring itself.

It wasn't hard to navigate the now mostly empty building, thankful for the fact there would be little remaining resistance. With each further step though, each second longer into the encounter, it was becoming harder to think calming thoughts, to stay clear-headed. Rather everything was going black, there was a growing, gnawing sensation in the depths of his mind, and it took everything he had to try and fight it.

At the final door before the control room, Tobias stood to one side of the hall, very little gap between the door and the edge of the wall. He whacked the door with his stave "Open fire!" Loud gunfire rang through the air, and bullets began to pierce the door, careening down the hall.

One misguided bullet pierced the wall and impacted the otter's lower left leg with intense pressure. Tobias let out a grunt of pain, the impact was excruciating in its force, though thankfully hadn't pierced the armor yet. He stayed in place however, until the gunfire went silent, he could hear the sound of reloading. Yet another sign of the poor training the guards had was the lack of staggered reloading.

The otter burst into the room, he knew what he had to do, get close enough to one, to make all cease firearms use. To his disadvantage, the room was a lot larger than he expected. The guards had taken up cover behind various control panels. The first to reload steadied himself on the metal, firing off one round, then another. Each expertly pinged against the armor, each one brutal in the force punching against Tobias. They had all reloaded in a matter of seconds, and Tobias was under a hailstorm of bullets. The pain was all-encompassing, until finally, along his right arm, three bullets had hit the same general area, the third one piercing through, tearing through muscle and bone, blasting out the other side with a spray of blood.

Before he finally crossed the distance, another bullet managed to get through, tearing into his left shoulder with agonizing, almost body-dropping force. There was no stopping Tobias, the more he was injured, the more his body and training would fight for survival.

"Who the hell is this guy?!" A female shouted in shock at the assailant they couldn't seem to drop or kill. "Hold!" The gunfire stopped, and they began melee combat. Tobias didn't have great use of his right arm, unable to make a fist, he still swung it like a club.

Every blow to his body was a chance to redirect his form, deflecting away, using the force to impact another guard. Two were brought down with a brutal swing of that tail, the armor had stiffened up there, and hit like a wrecking ball, breaking multiple bones.

Three remained, and blood was still running out of the two gaping wounds. Tobias managed to bash the commanding officer backward, who fell and slammed his head against one of the control panels knocking him out cold. That act was what finally ended it, the final two guards knew they were no match. "Wait!" Both threw down their guns at the same time, and Tobias came to a stop.

The otter stared silently at the two surrendering guards. There was an uncomfortably long amount of time where Tobias said nothing. He looked ready to continue the fight as the two surrendering humans looked on in horror. There was a sound that was chewing away at him, becoming more present, a faint whisper digging in as he stared at the two surrendering soldiers.

The whisper felt hissed right in his ear, he recognized the faint voice, but couldn't make out the words. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Tobias spoke up. "You've got fifteen minutes, limp yourselves and your cohorts to those evac shuttles" He unclipped and held up one of the explosive charges, before placing it on one of the panels.

"You'll regret this." One quipped, but one look from the assailant was all it took to knock the wind from the woman's sails. They both did as instructed and began to drag the two disabled men, leaving the room to finish clearing everyone out.

Tobias stopped at what appeared to be the main panel and started typing in commands. Stopping drilling operations, they would eventually retract and cap off the breaches, allowing the geothermal flows to resume.

Suddenly a video was projected in front of the otter, an elderly man with green eyes, and a blue pinstripe suit was looking at Tobias. "Just who the hell are you, freak?" The man took notice of the armored tail, the only indication that it was a fur who was responsible for all this damage. Tobias didn't respond and instead continued to disable the facility. "You think I can't stop that from here you freak?" Tobias glanced up, and held up a metal box, wires dangling off it, he'd disabled remote access to the facility.

"Can't talk? What are you a coward? We'll just resume when you leave." This finally drew the otter's attention. "All your men will live, wounded egos and battered bodies. But they'll live. What do you think will happen if this facility is reactivated?" He punched in a few more commands, then stuck an explosive charge to the panel.

"This land is protected now, should you return, your men won't be treated with such restraint, and the GDF will be treated to a rather robust case against you." The human sneered, silent as the robotic voice taunted him. "The GDF has no authority here." Tobias was walking away. "Keep telling yourself that, tribe kin are different. Be it border space, or controlled space, they garner more protective attention than you might expect."

With that Tobias attached a few more charges around the room, then left, making his way back to the exterior. He watched as the two shuttles began to take off, fleeing to the safety of space. His last stop was the smokestacks, attaching charges to each, and fuel containers. With a sigh he started the trip back to his ship, once he was a safe distance away, he detonated the charges. Massive explosions ripping through the facility, reducing it to nothing but rubble.

As he made the long return trek to his ship, it wouldn't be long now. Cleo and the entire tribe would be waking up to see the air slowly clearing, and their hot springs steaming once more. This erupted the village into celebration, quite a few were hoping to see Tobias return. Yet as the celebration died down, the otter did not return.

Cleo and her father made their way through the snow to where Tobias had landed his ship, yet it was gone. They both bowed their heads and Cleo spoke a short blessing "Thank you Tobias the Flame Kindler. We shall honor you in song, and carry forward with the journey you've restored to us." The pair lingered for a moment longer in the empty space where Tobias had docked, before making their way back home.

Tobias sat alone on his ship, seated on a metal examination table in the medical quarters for his craft. The upper half of his armor was off, carelessly tossed onto the floor, and an assortment of medical supplies lay at his side. His body ached head to toe, the concussive force of armor piercing rounds were not easily shaken off.

The otter took a pair of tweezers from the pile, and looked into a mirror he had pulled down from the ceiling, starting to fish out shrapnel from his shoulder. Grimacing as he dug through muscle to rip free the jagged metal. He tended to the wound on his arm next, once more fishing it clean of lingering metal.

With the wounds clean, the otter took a needle and slowly started to sew the flesh closed, stitch by stitch giving his body a headstart on recovery. By the time he was done he had some control of his right hand again, trying to flex the fingers, whimpering as muscles contracted around the still broken, yet healing bone. The otter managed to slip off the rest of his armor and made for the showers.

As the hot water cascaded over him, washing away blood, and the scent of battle, the otter kept his head lowered. Eyes fixated on the swirling vortex running down the drain, the whole event playing through his mind again. He was haunted by it, walking the battlefield once more, not with mercy, but killshots, one after the other.

Though he hopefully would never act on them, they still weighed heavily on his shoulders. "Stop it." The otter muttered, yet gunfire filled his head. "Stop it!" Tobias spoke louder, trying to convince his brain to leave him alone. There was one experience on the battlefield that Tobias knew he could never avoid, panic, frightened creatures gasping for mercy. "Stop!!!" He hollered as loud as he could, violently punching the metal wall of the shower, the blinding pain finally making his tormented thoughts leave him alone.

Tobias collapsed on the floor of the shower, sobbing softly into his paws as the water continued to wash over him. Heaving in anguish, wailing to the emptiness over what he had done. "I'm not a weapon, I am a person." The mantra was hard to speak, quivering in the words. "I am not a dog of war, I am mercy." Tears cascaded down his face as he continued. "Though the reaper walks with me, my targets are not his." The otter repeated the saying a few more times, until he had collected his senses enough to stop crying. The otter turned off the shower, and toweled himself off.

Back in the common area he laid down on the couch staring at the small plant, which now had two vines floating in the air, lifted by their unique fruits. "They'll be ok now." He spoke to the plant briefly, before dragging a blanket over himself and heading off to an uneasy sleep.

Bonds of Friendship

As Mark spent downtime in his ship, he'd watched the recovered videos several times over. They never became easier to watch, and equally never gave him anything new to go on, yet he was enraptured by them. Those glimpses of Earth in its prime, the humble human who'd take an unwanted starring role in whatever had gone on. "Mark, I believe you should see this." Mias voice cut through the silence. The display switched to a live news feed.

"For those just now joining us, I repeat. There has been some sort of industrial explosion on Vercanine. Local authorities were made aware of the explosion just an hour ago, when it was recorded by satellite imagery." An image flashed on screen, showing an aerial view of the devastated facility.

"At this time local authorities can only tell us that this facility was unauthorized, the quadrant, and surrounding areas are designated as protected land." The last bit of information made Mark's large ears twitch. "Protected land?" Mark asked of himself, he knew that in border space there really was no such thing as protected land, it caused an itch in the back of his mind however. "Let me know if a bounty gets tied to it."

An hour later, Mark had dressed himself up a little, preparing for a nice night out with his old friend. Staring at his reflection in the mirror, as he ran a brush through his fur, the brief news blip still lingered in the back of his thoughts. The wolf didn't care much for straying too far from the hunt while it was on, but his mind needed this break. "See you in a couple hours Mia. Feel free to chime in if you manage to restore something important." His ship had docked on a small space station orbiting the planet below.

The station wasn't exactly the most exciting place to be, just home for the active duty GDF grunts, and a small assortment of civilians making a living in the area, be it through supporting the grunts, or the few small mining operations still running. The bar wasn't far from the docking area, and his eyes caught sight of a shuttle that had just landed, Scabs was among the creatures walking out.

The feline was walking closely with a human female, her long hair braided neatly. The wolf watched curiously, noticing the way the two tried to hide their smiles "Is she?" He mused to himself, now that he thought about it, Scabs never did mention what species his fiancee was.

The wolf smiled, chuckled softly, and headed off towards the only bar. Grabbing himself a table towards the back, ordering up a pitcher of beer knowing that the feline would be along soon. Quietly he drummed his fingers on the table, sharp claws clicking against the wood. His mind began to slowly wander.

"Private Scabs." Mark chuckled again, impressed how far his friend had come. They'd seen a few battles together, Scabs signed on after having been inspired by Mark during a military operation involving the feline's home city. The cat had a good heart, clearly liked to serve, but he was never thrilled about engaging in combat.

His reminiscing was soon disrupted by Scabs patting Mark on the shoulder. "Cheap stuff again?" The cat flashed a smile, taking a seat opposite the wolf. "Hey now, nothing wrong with the cheap stuff. Put a fire in your gut." Mark sat up as he spoke, pouring the beer into two pint glasses. "Yea, and a fire in the engine of a Scarmax Sigma" Mark smirked at the cat's response.

"Well, it got us out of there. So give it the respect it's due." The wolf picked up the glass and took a sip, the beer hardly tasted like anything more than licking battery acid. The acrid nectar made his fur perk up a bit.

Scabs cupped his paws around the glass, yet didn't take a drink. "It's nice to see you again Commander." The younger feline always seemed to have a hard time relaxing around the wolf. Though the cat was now a ranking officer, he never truly felt like he'd reached Mark's level of earned respect. "So, that woman on the docks, was she?" Mark watched his friend, smiling as the cat's ears flicked.

"Yea, Samantha. We try to keep it professional while on duty. It's hard though, never has anyone made me this happy before." Scabs took a sip of the beer, and his whiskers twitched erratically. "What about you commander? Still just drifting, dragging Mia along?" Mark looked away at the question. "Don't really have the time to linger. Just the way we hunters live." Though the wolf knew being a hunter had nothing to do with it.

Scabs and Mark spent over an hour, mostly Scabs talking about his fiancee, and life still under the pay of the GDF. Though Mark managed to slip in a story about a contract that had ended rather comically. By the time they'd both taken down three full pitchers of beer, Mark felt completely relaxed, and with a relatively clear head.

"I am going to throw you the absolute best bachelor party." Mark flashed a toothy smile. Just as things were settling down Mia broke her long silence. "Mark, I have discovered at least part of the connection between Mr. Hawkins, and Patient 0." The wolf nearly choked on his final sip of swill.

Scabs glanced at his friend "Don't tell me you can't keep it down anymore commander." The cat quipped. This furthered the wolf's choking shock, quickly dabbing his maw dry with a napkin. "Hush Scabs, at least I didn't puke the first time I drank this stuff." He laughed as best he could, still coughing to it as he recovered his breath.

"I've got to get back on this trail. Next time I want to meet her, alright?" Scabs gave a quick nod to the wolf's request. "Thank you sir, I'm sure she'll be thrilled to meet you." Mark paid for the drinks, and scooped Scabs into the tightest hug yet, the feline's tail lazily swooshed back and forth.

With the farewells said, the wolf headed back to his ship. Hardly a waiver to his hurried steps, knowing full well Mia had to have found something good. Stumbling onto his ship he could hardly contain his excitement to learn something new from that facility. "Relax, it's not going anywhere." Mia commented. The wolf grabbed a bottle of pills from his bedside, and plopped down to stare at the screen. He popped open the bottle and hastily shoveled a pill into his maw, crunching it between teeth, as the screen came to life.

As the video began, the camera was situated on ten humans, seated around a half moon table. Mr. Hawkins was seated to one side, quietly looking at paperwork in front of him. The remaining nine were all young, healthy, and looked to come from very unique backgrounds. "Why won't anyone tell us what is going on?" A blonde female spoke up, she was flipping through the papers trying to make sense of it. Another male said, "I just want to go back home." He talked as if flying back to Earth was as trivial as running down to the grocery store.

A minute of silence later Dr. Mathias came into the room, followed closely by an assistant in a lab coat, and rather concerningly a clearly armed guard. "Good morning everyone. What a treat it is to have you together now that everythings been cleared up." The human longing for home responded quickly to the Doctor's words. "Nothing's been cleared up! Your secretary just took us all here, except for him!" The male pointed at Mr. Hawkins. Others chimed in with their anger about the lingering darkness of the situation.

Dr. Matthias looked on, with a rather emotionless face "There is no need to get worked up. As was explained to each of you, your job at this facility will be different from that you signed up for on Earth. You have all been assigned to our genetics research program, and will aid my fellow scientists in their studies."

None of the tricked humans seemed at all convinced by this. "I want out. I don't care if the pay is less, make me a janitor, but I want out." a different voice spoke, a red-haired man stood up. Dr. Mathias looked as if was about to sigh, but thought better of it "As you wish." The man was led out of the room, and soon everyone heard what came next, a loud gunshot, followed by a heavy thump. "Does anyone else wish to take a janitorial job?" The video went dark, just as panic began to set in, and Mia began a new one.

The wolf wasn't sure how much deeper down this hole he wanted to go, what he'd seen already was bad enough. But to execute unwilling subjects within earshot of everyone else, it was heartless, and manipulative. The video now was clearly from the perspective of another person's eyes. The filmer was looking across a room decked out for a variety of combat training scenarios, eyes scanning left then right. A loud bell rang, and the room sprang to life, an assortment of dummies, and targets started running on their tracks. The filmed creature raised a gun, two black gloved arms wielding an automatic rifle.

The soldier began to go through the course, firing shot after shot at each target in turn, never once hitting anywhere but a bullseye, a fatal mark. A quarter of the way through the extensive room, the air grew heavy with a chilled fog, lasers could be seen sweeping back and forth, triggers for multiple turrets ahead of the oncoming assailant. He lowered the gun to his side, and pulled up a sniper rifle.

"Cut the lasers." A seperate audio feed came in, a voice from whoever was running the test. The lasers went dark, and the assailant could see nothing ahead of him save for the frigid vapors. "Open fire." The voice spoke, there was a whirring sound of turrets taking aim, yet the gun wielders stance stayed the same. A distinct sound of chambers beginning to spin up was easily heard, and the creature took aim. There were four loud bangs, the eye level filming had gone from left to right so fast it was almost hard to fathom, Mark even had Mia roll back the footage to be sure of it. The sound of chambers spinning up had gone silent, and there was actual joy from the controlling figure in a booth. "Did you see that?!" The man coughed "Proceed."

The assailant made his way forward, past four destroyed turrets, which each seemed to have been disabled by a bullet going straight down their barrels. "Send Patient 3 in." The assailant was making his way towards the end of the room, but stopped stiff as he came into view of the blonde haired woman from the video prior.

She looked sickly, patches of her once golden hair now missing, Something in her eyes seemed wrong, they looked a glossy black, rapidly darting around. She took notice of the only other thing in the space with her. "Hawkins?" She spoke, her voice frail. "It...it is you...those eyes, I'll never forget them. W-what are you doing with that gun?" Hawkins had raised the assault rifle again. "Melee only Patient 0." The man threw down the gun, and charged wordlessly at the female.

She screeched with shock, and staggered backwards. "What are you doing?!" She screamed, but it was too late, Hawkins had pinned her against a wall, a combat knife in hand. "No, don't. It's me! Katy, remember?" She sobbed pathetically, and Hawkins hesitated, the knife steady against her throat.

"K...T..." Hawkins' voice sounded wrong, as if he hardly knew how to talk at all. "Complete your objective 0. Eliminate all hostiles." The girl was crying as she remained pinned, the knife still pressed to her throat. "Yea..Katy. Remember, after orientation we got lunch together?" She was trying her best to keep it together.

"K...aty" The struggled voice of Mr. Hawkins spoke again. "Do it." The controlling voice spoke, "Y-yea that's right. Katy, it was that cafe, they had those really fluffy beignets with the spiced apples." She slowly stopped crying, believing she was actually getting through. "K..." there was a brief glitch in the camera feed.

"Kaaaaaaaaa." Without another second of hesitation, Hawkins slit the woman's throat, her face showing shock, as blood began squirting from the severed arteries. Hawkins let her drop to the floor, and took a step back, the blood drenched knife clattering to the ground.

"Kaaaty..." Hawkins looked at her lifeless body, the pool of blood growing around it. Hawkins knelt down by her side, staring at the shimmering blood, the reflection staring back was not of Mr. Hawkins, but that of Patient 0, the uniquely feral looking otter Mark now hunted.

"Stand down 0." Came the controlling voice, but 0 didn't stand down, he lifted Katy's head gently. Staring at what he'd just done. "Stand down, now." The voice spoke again, yet 0 began to stand, walking towards his rifle, lifting it from the floor. "Do it." There was a loud howling of pain, the camera feed glitching erratically. "It's not working sir." A new voice came. "Send the guards in."

Doors opened not far from patient 0, multiple guards rushed into the room, weapons raised. "Stand down 0, that's a direct order.." The video was still glitching, as more interference of some form was pumped through the camera. Patient 0 raised the gun and opened fire, killing two of the guards immediately with a headshot. They opened fire in turn, and a hellfire of bullets pummeled the rogue combatant. "Wait, turn it off. Disable his gun." The video feed stabilized, and there was a noticeable clicking noise of a gun trying to fire empty. "Keep firing!" One of the guards shouted.

Patient 0 threw his gun to the ground and started running forward, charging in the direction of the remaining guards. He'd pulled out his remaining knife and was running headlong into the fire. The door the guards had come in through sealed shut behind them, trapping them in there with patient 0.

"What are you doing?" Shouted the commanding figure who'd taken notice. But 0 kept coming, until he was upon the guards. He slashed the knife with reckless abandon, even as bullets broke through armor and riddled his body. Cut throats, stabs through thick skulls, a merciless slaughter, dropping each guard one after the other. They seemed helpless to stop their oncoming death. When they had all perished 0 was covered head to toe in blood and vicesara, he could hardly stand from multiple injuries of his own, yet he stayed on his feet.

0 began his way back towards the now long dead Katy, limping slowly towards her cold body. "Do it, all the way. Dr. Mathias will be pleased." The video feed glitched entirely, and a whine of pain could be heard, until 0 collapsed to the ground. He looked on in the direction of his former friend, arm reaching out towards her, until the video finally ended.

Both Mark and Mia could hardly believe what they'd seen, could hardly begin to process it. "It..it can't be right?" Mark tried to speak, though found it difficult. "How did she...why did she call 0, Hawkins?" The wolf felt on the verge of throwing up, his brain struggling to comprehend the severity of what it meant.

"They....they turned him...into an otter?" Mark felt like the whole of reality was crashing down on him. "They took everything from him!" The wolf shouted, enraged by what he'd learned. Mark started shouting and cursing randomly, just trying to get the anger out of him. After a solid half hour of it, he collapsed into the captain's chair, paws still shaking as he looked at the controls. "Where are we going Mark?" Mia spoke finally, knowing it'd been best to just let Mark yell it out. "Vercanine, think I need to throw some credits around."