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Dian

“This mission will not be like any of the past missions I or anyone else in the military have given you, regardless of which side you were on,” I say to the seven capable ex-soldiers before me. Rey and Halle are among them. The room is divided. “I know that there may be hard feelings amongst you all, which is why, for as long as you are with me, you are not to talk about the war. Most of you have been trained to survive by any means necessary. Do not let that training go to waste. But understand this,” I say, searching their eyes, “your teammates, the people in this room, are no threat to your survival. The threat now belongs to the person, or persons, who are vandalizing this ship as we speak.”

I pad to the back of the room and dim the lights. The screen in front of the room lights up with the touch of a button on my wristband. Pictures of the cafeteria explosion aftermath are joined with schematics of the automatic sprinkler system as they fade in on screen. Underneath them are other pictures showing broken pipes, cut wires, and specific wall panels that have been welded back to the wall. “At first, we thought these vandalisms were random and harmless. No important parts of the ship were harmed, and everything that was broken can and will be fixed. But the Pets are serious about protecting us. They sent out security teams over the past month to the locations you see before you and have concluded that these vandals are attempting to sabotage Petri’s journey to Galorum.”

“Sabotage how? Like…boom?” Garth, a jittery mongoose, gestures an explosion with his paws.

“I highly doubt it will come to that,” I say.

“Well, what is our worst-case scenario?” Akua speaks this time. She is a close friend of mine. Fought beside me in the war. Her fierce hyena glare attacks the screen.

“Complete takeover of Petri.” Now the whole room turns to me in silence. “As it appears, they do not have intel on where the life support systems are located. Yet. But the fact that they were able to successfully plant and detonate a bomb in the cafeteria of Floor 35 makes them dangerous. And there is something else.” I tap my wristband. The pictures on the screen are replaced with a cursory schematic of Petri, with circles around certain parts of the ship. “Over the past month, these vandals have been working their way up the ship. The pictures of the vandalisms you just saw happened in the areas circled here, with each incident happening every two levels above the one prior, traveling around the center shaft of Petri.”

“Up until Floor 50. After that it’s just the explosion on Floor 35.” I find concern even in the soft flow of Wren’s voice. They look at me, their striped tail coiled around them. I do not know many lemurs, but the ones I do know, including Wren, all hug their legs when they sit in chairs.

“Which leads us to a few possibilities.” I walk back to the front of the room and watch them try to figure it out.

Akua is the first to speak, her muscular arms folded, “They’ve decided to speed up the process. Climb to the top as fast as they can. They’re using the cafeteria explosion as a diversion.”

“Sure, if their plan really is complete takeover,” Frax chimes in. The horse spent most of their time serving in the military as a spy, and a great one at that. Everything I have heard from their commanding officer is more than enough to award them a spot with us. “But maybe they just wanna spark revolt. One bomb is easy enough to handle, but if they keep at it civilians are gonna get riled up. If that happens, they won’t have to do jack shit.”

“But why would they go out of order like that?” This tenor voice belongs to Garth, a slow-talking, calculated mongoose. “Taking over the ship may very well be the end goal, but it seems like something in their plans changed. Besides, this is all assuming that they meant for that explosion to happen. Do we even have proof that the explosion was caused by the same group? I mean, what if it is just civilians getting rowdy?”

“You really think civilians are gonna have the kind of supplies it takes to make a bomb?” Halle jabs. “It took me a whole month just to get the supplies I need to fix my leg.”

“It’s a fucking bomb. I don’t think they’re getting the supplies legally at all,” Buthl scoffs. He’s a badger.

“Legal or not, the Pets would keep track of their materials. You know how strict they are.” Halle swings her head towards me, “Have they mentioned anything about that?”

“No,” I say, “but I will ask. In the meantime, let us assume that the vandals, whoever they are, are capable of acquiring such materials without the Pets knowing. They are dangerous, and we have reason to believe that they will do anything to not be found.” I tap my wristband again. Another slide shows up on the screen depicting pairs of names and schematics of guns. “That being said, we want to capture them alive. You all will be using non-lethal weapons. By now, you all should have access to the weapons shed on Floor 21. A special friend of mine will give you the supplies you need to make this a successful mission. You will also be going in teams of two.”

Most of them do not know each other, so I address each person with a nod as I read off their names. “Garth and Buthl, you two will be investigating the places the vandals have already tampered with. It may seem redundant, but you two have experience in the field of tools and repairing machinery. I want you to inspect them. Report back to me about any commonalities between the scenes, or any guesses as to what kinds of tools the vandals used.

“Wren, Frax. We have a few leads from civilians on the lower floors about where these vandals may be hiding, and what they might look like. I want the two of you to go on reconnaissance. Figure out anything you can, and report back to me.

“Rey and Halle. The two of you will be promoted to security guards on the higher floors. It may not sound like a promotion, but you are the last ones standing between order and chaos. I will frequently be in touch with you about when and where you are needed. I do not know if I believe in life after death, but if Petri turns into a battlefield, I want you to send these vandals to hell.”

The faces I am looking at now are already different than those I saw five minutes ago. Everyone is thinking, absorbing this information and processing it throughout their bodies and minds. That is one of the things I love about my job: giving capable people the words they need to hear to become their best selves.

“What about me?” Akua speaks up.

I did not want to think about giving an assignment to Akua until I absolutely had to. It sickens me to my core to think that such an assignment is necessary. “I have a special assignment for you. I will talk to you about it in private. As for the rest of you,” I say, focusing my attention back on the crowd, “do not worry about your previous jobs. This mission is your job now, and though I know ship regulations require that you only work six hours a day, I hope that you will spend every moment you can on stopping these vandals.” I say the next part slowly, “Do not make me regret choosing you.”

With that, I turn on the lights again and take down the slides on the screen. Small-talk pours into the room as my ex-soldiers start to mingle with each other. Paws shaking paws, slaps on the back, guarded postures. I paw out physical chips that can be inserted into their wristbands and tell each pair that only one of them can access the files on the chips at any one time. The files themselves contain most of the information they need to succeed at their missions.

Akua is the last to come up to me. Her scarred ear flicks as everyone leaves. “So, what do you need me for?”