FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Reunion: Chapter 5

Allen's apartment was still dark. It was another hour before the sun would rise over above the horizon and even then, no light would get to his bed. The blinds had been drawn down as far as they would go to make sure no light came in. Another night out with friends and lots of drinking made even the smallest amount of luminesce seem like staring right into the blazing gas ball. Hangovers were just a small price to pay for some fun and Allen would gladly take some fun since he and thousands of others would be stuffed back into ships for several more months in another week.

He had been doing this nearly every night possible because there was always enough people from his ship going out to gang up with. Months away from home meant that he had a bank full of money. It was one of the plusses of a military life that Allen hadn't neglected. When he came home the previous night, he was on the verge of passing out form the intoxication and couldn't even remember the long ride back on the public transportation.

He had planned to stay home after a week of partying to cool down and get his blood alcohol level back down to a manageable level since the small amount of logic that bubbled up the night before told him that people still died of intoxication. Though his plans were based off of the idea that others would let him be for the entire day.

The small fist sized data pad that sat, propped up against a glass of water that hadn't been touched began to vibrate as it received a message. It would have gone unnoticed since the buzzing it made was no louder than a whisper, but the glass that it was up against made a ringing noise.

Allen was sprawled out across his queen sized bed. The blankets had been tossed aside some time during the night and he laid there drooling in a pair of loose shorts and a white tee. The ringing of the now vibrating water glass reached his ears and he slowly woke up with a pounding headache that which was his only reminder of how much he had drunk.

"Who the hell..." Allen grumbled as he lifted his head up from his pillow that had a rather large wet mark on it from six hours of near continuous drooling. He slowly reached over to grab the data pad and ended up knocking the cup over which spilt its contents onto the ground. It's just water. He thought and went for a second time and managed to get a hold of the device and bring it up to his face.

At his touch, the data pad flickered on. The low light casted a soft glow onto Allen's face which made his wince in shock as his bloodshot eyes tried to adjust to the light that replaced the comfortable darkness.

Wishing that he had just left it alone until morning, he went ahead and blinked his eyes a few times before reading the message that was marked "Priority." It was another message from the Defense Department and a small seal at the end told him that it was from General Corrin's office which didn't sit well with him. It was short and without much detail other than to tell him that there was an emergency officer's meeting in the afternoon at the Naval headquarters.

It was things like this that made Allen wish that he had just joined the Army instead since they were posted to terrestrial posts such as Luna or one of Mar's moons. It was rare for the Army to move much. The last time they had been fully deployed was to take care of a pirate situation that involved a few people who stole a ship and hid out on Earth. In the end, the Army wasn't even needed. The pirates had made the mistake of landing in one of the zones that was still toxic. By the time a division landed, there were only bodies to be collected. In order to even get there, they had to ride on Naval ships. Allen was there, he was on one of the ships that carried soldiers. He had been pulled away from home for three weeks to sit on a ship. He would enjoy some time to be able to stay home for any extended period of time.

Allen tossed aside the data pad now that he was done with it. It bounced once on his mattress before settling between the two white pillows that sat side by side at the head of his bed. HE ran his fingers through the mess that was his hair and they came away slightly greasy. He needed to take a shower which sounded good to him in his head. It would be soothing to stand under the pouring of hot water to help his splitting head ache that pounded away at him with every heartbeat.

He took a step away from his bed only to step in the water that was now soaking into his carpet. He could already smell the mildew in his mind. He looked around the room to see if he could clean it up with anything but there was nothing but a closet that contained his clothes. Shrugging, he took off his shirt and placed it on the spill where he hoped it would soak up most of the water.

Not sticking around to see if his solution was actually working, he headed off to the shower to wake up some.

The doors automatically slid aside silently as he stepped up the entrance to the Naval headquarters. Unlike many of the gleaming metal buildings of New London, many government buildings were built the old fashion way, with stone and marble. It added a nice feel to the city, giving it a sense of old Earth architecture. The white marble pillars held up a massive triangular roof that had marble paneling on it. The front had a statue of surprisingly, a Canis, thought the engraving had been removed long ago.

It was a statue of Admiral Anderson who was the first Prime Minister after the AI were defeated. When the Sol Dominion took over, they had originally planned to have the statue removed, but didn't when a large mob protested. The mob claimed that Anderson was a Canis from a better time and his memory shouldn't be tarnished because of actions that were not his own. Now it sat in disrepair, years of rain and wind had eroded the face into a featureless blob. The rest of the statue was doing no better. What was once something to honor a hero was now slowly turning to dust. The leaders of the Sol Dominion were willing to let nature do what they could not.

Allen had walked by the statue many time before and the first time he had seen the state of it, it made him sad. Now, hundreds of times later, he didn't give it a second glance. It was the story of most who came by.

When he entered a building, an automatic security scanner identified Allen and sent all necessary information about the meeting straight to his data pad which he pulled out and consulted. The meeting was taking place in the usual area for those under the command of General Corrin. There was a conference room right outside the general's office and that was where the meeting was.

With the directions already memorized, Allen briskly walked across the limestone floors of the main reception room and headed to the nearest lift. The building was always in a constant state of alert. Ships were always moving, reports constantly streaming in, there were always enough going on to keep people moving at a quickened pace.

Everyone naturally moved in their own little groups. Office workers moved around in little gaggles on pressed white shirts with blue ties and made sure to get out of the way of the men in uniform who themselves paraded around in tight formation. It was all done in such a fashion that the controlled chaos looked orchestrated. Then there was Allen and the few who had no time for it and simply walked straight and true to where he was going.

The lift had several others in it who Allen recognized. They were heading to the same place as him and a few looked weary from being called away from leave.

"You know what this is about?" Allen asked a man who he knew from the pub the previous night. The man had passed out only an hour after arriving and had to be carried home by two others. He looked better now.

The man with the bars of a lieutenant on his shoulder shrugged at him without speaking. No one in the lift knew. They had all received the same message as Allen.

When they arrived and the doors opened, they all filed out and headed to the conference room. It had been set up to accommodate as many people as possible since many of the officers were messaged to come. It was unusual to have so many expected to come. Most meetings involved the command staff who would then brief those under them.

He had come at the last minute and the group he was with was the last of the people to come. The doors were shut behind them and General Corrin walked out of his room. Two hundred and eighty seven people immediately stood at attention.

"Take a seat." General Corrin told them and the room settled down. "There have been some major developments recently that affects everyone here." He stopped walking once he was in the front-middle of the room. "Yesterday, a reconnaissance ship came back from the system that we are due to investigate at the end of the weak." There was a collective groan that rose from the crowd at the reminder of another several month tour.

General Corrin ignored them and continued. "They brought came back with information that changes everything." He paused not only for effect, but to ready himself to see the faces of all of the people who loathed him for dragging them across the galaxy with him. He wanted to see their reaction.

"It is confirmed that the system we will be investigated is occupied by AI." He said it as casually as he could so he could enjoy the shocked silence that overtook the room.

Allen's heart would have stopped if shock could do that. He had heard of the stories of the AI, everyone had. It was the reason why they were on Mars and not Earth.

"This is no longer an expedition to another star system. In a few hours, the entire Internal Fleet will be preparing for war." Now that General Corrin had his small, but satisfying reaction, he got to business. "One of the first steps is to bolster out forces. You may have noticed, but everyone here is of the Marines."

Allen didn't notice it, but now that it was mentioned he did see that all of the uniforms were the jungle green of the Marines.

"This is because invasion will require ground combat, but history showed that conventional combat doesn't always give us the results we want. In order to fix this..." He nodded to some people who were guarding the door. "We need to turn to more unconventional methods." The people who were armed to the teeth opened the door and four more guards came in. They were all surrounding a Canis who was shackled and wore a blinking collar that had a radio antennae sticking out of it.

"Ground forces will be bolstered with Canis psionics. Now this is officially a forced conscription and it is likely that there will be resistance. The Marine will be assisting the Dog Catchers in the detainment of psionic Canis' for future use in the invasion."