The City II
#2 of The City
"First barrier's always the hardest, Perp!"
The fox chuckled, hearing the call of Astra in his ear as his drop pod accelerated to the ground faster. He tapped a button on his control stick, pulling up the pod status screen on his display. All four pods were going right on track, keeping an even distance with each other as the second sound barrier was hit. "You know, Astra, you may just be right. That didn't feel nearly as bad."
"Speak for yourself, feels like my stomach's falling to Hell..."
The fox smirked, clicking his radio on to respond to Scripta before his pod started rolling. Something had gone wrong.
The fox desperately started hitting his stabilizers, his pod preventing him from finding a level. Either I'm going to level out well or the last thing I'll see is the inside of this damn pod. He suddenly shivered, hearing the telltale sound of metal hitting metal, hearing a loud scream of rushing air as he fell down, down, down. The pods were not designed to be shot at. They were meant to be used for completely clandestine insertions. Drop, open, freefall, low open, land and move, all without setting off the radar. Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
They knew we were coming.
His dark world, lit only by the dull glow of the monitor, suddenly split apart as a bullet hit his pod dead on the nose, cracking open the mechanism and dumping him into an uncontrolled fall 30 kilometers above the surface.
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He woke suddenly, feeling as though he had just slammed right into the sofa. He was surrounded by maps and photographs of the area, the file he was given the previous day opened to a crudely made diagram. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, sitting up and peering down at the map. I know this place, but I can't... place... it. He smirked in embarrassment, glad he was alone so that nobody could hear his awful puns. He closed his eyes for a moment to think before springing them open, his question resolved. He slid a map of the local area into the file, closing it and getting ready to dart out the door before he saw the darkness still outside. He checked a clock and sighed, noting the blinking 4:38 before he slipped into the kitchen, getting himself some coffee and toast and writing down some notes for the day.
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"...So when we take all that into account, well, Hell, we don't have that much longer left before we get, what's their phrase for it? Diluted."
Khopesh Aeterno was standing in the center of the circular building. A former library, it had the right amount of tech equipment in place when the invasion had occurred to serve as a base of coordination and operation. The fox flicked his eyes from person to person: Jak Rhod, the golden jackal who had been fighting with him for years; Vir Socra, the red-furred dragon and an old friend of his that never had much heart for killing but had more than enough love to heal; Copp Pardo, the white marbled cat who designed most of the technology that this group utilized; Sill Unci, the pink snow leopard that wrote most of the code for Copp's technology to run properly; Tek Arlo, the green fennec fox that operated the supply line keeping the base operating at a comfortable level; Haka Kele, the metallic orange shark that drilled each and every one of the recruits until they exceeded her standards; Lyle Woodford, an old, pale gray horse who had seen his share of conflict and acted now as an adviser to the group. Khopesh's eyes lingered for a moment on the empty seat once belonging to Amber Gracci, the silver saber-tooth cat that had commanded the high-prestige, extremely skilled Lapillus team until a few days ago.
Lyle snorted in annoyance, his typical trademark for when he felt a meeting was going on too long. "So, stop telling us what we already know and give us a damn clue what we're gonna do about it."
Khopesh pulled out a marker and cleared off the table, drawing a quick figure of the map that had been slipped into the last drop Lapillus had made. He marked an area with troop positions and where quick lines to the street were to be hung. "Here's the deal. We know they're gonna come up Shaw towards us. We also know that nobody can see the approach under the right circumstances. What they don't know is at Shaw and East Drive, there's this sheer cliff face-"
Lyle slammed his arm on the table. "Only a pure idiot would plan an attack and not know of a cliff!"
Khopesh smirked and glanced at Jak. "Jak, what did the third document say?"
Jak chuckled and stood up, scratching her chin and saying from memory, "...they have no idea that the cliff's top can be accessed through a neighborhood, nor that accessing it is easy, and furthermore, though they know it is a good ambush spot, they will not be used to quick strikes, as they have been fighting a war of attrition with some unseen entity."
Khopesh nodded. "So, here's the deal. Jak, Vir, and Haka, I need you three to get the people who are ready to fight geared up, loaded, and in position. Copp and Sill, get ready for a lot of tech to be needed, a lot of software to be running. Get the virtual HUDs loaded on the goggles. We have some bright minds in the Sagan Program, high school aged kids ready to fight through typing. I don't like pulling on them but we lack the power otherwise. Tek and Lyle, get an exfiltration force ready for the people here, just in case this blows up in our faces. You need to go North into the wilderness, if that's the case. Any of us who survive will find you. In position at 2300 hours tonight."
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The cross fox started to walk towards his house, noting he had nearly 7 hours before the start of the operation. Least I can get some shut-eye...
"Hey! Khopesh!" Palla, Jak's mate, was running up to him. "Jak just told me what's happening. It's a bit... overwhelming."
Khopesh frowned and looked around. He always had trouble talking about his decisions with others. "Well, it has to be done. We need to stop this..."
Palla shifted slightly on her feet, nodding a bit. "I know. It's just that... Well, everyone's heading off to spend their next few hours with family or friends, make sure their flaws are all ironed out before this. Just in case."
Khopesh closed his eyes and twitched a bit, noting the implication of Palla's words. "So, you should get home to Jak and Tanz..."
Palla grabbed Khopesh's arm and pulled him with her gently. "Wouldn't be a family dinner for Tanz if his Uncle Khop wasn't there. Please?"
Khopesh playfully resisted. "No, please no, don't do the puppy eyes..."
Palla stared in his eyes, begging him to join their family for dinner that night. "Puh-weeeeeeze?"
Khopesh chuckled deeply. "Alright! Gah, you know I have no resistance to that..."
Palla hooked her arm in Khopesh's, guiding him away from the base towards the Rhod residence.
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He set down his fork, bowing his head slightly as Tanz cleared his place. "Thank you all very much for your hospitality. It's very humbling."
Jak leaned over and punched Khopesh in the arm. "Stop trying to be so damn modest. Always been like that, it's bullshit."
Khopesh smirked and rolled his eyes. "Fine, you did a damn good duty serving the guy organizing all this shit. Better?"
Jak laughed, smiling wide and leaning back. "Much better!" She stared up at the ceiling fan, laughter slowly dying before turning her head to Khopesh. "About Amber."
Khopesh let a frown hit his face before he shook his face. "Nothing to talk about. I made a bad call, she's now likely KIA. I have to live with that. End of discussion."
Jak looked down and shook her head. "I know you liked her. You can't just wish that away."
Khopesh sighed deeply. "That's not relevant here."
Jak stared at him, a look of distress on her face. "Why can't you just say it?"
Khopesh breathed heavily a few times before slamming his fist on the table. " Dammit! Fine, I liked her! I wish I could have done more than admired, but I'm too scared of hurting to do that!"
Jak nodded a bit. "Not perfect, but it's a start. We should work more on this."
Khopesh let out an acidic chuckle. "Been reading Vir's books?"
Jak smirked. "You know I have. Had to figure out how foxy psychology works."
Khopesh laughed softly, checking the time and standing. "Should get a few hours of shut-eye. See you at 22:30?"
Jak nodded, letting Palla hug Khopesh before squezing him in close. "Let your feelings flow, okay? It'll save you."