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Chapter 3

I sat there in the tent. Honestly, I was scared. Years of service hadn't turned me into some fearless man who could kill on a whim. I had killed. Yes. But that had been out of pure necessity. For survival. So, I was shaking. My knee would bouncing up and down and I was toying incessantly with the hem of my shirt, wrapping it as much as I could around my fingers tightly over and over again, creating ugly wrinkles.

The tent was barren except for three chairs and a table. One chair I sat in and two on the other side of the table. There was nothing else.

The soldier had closed the flap behind him, leaving me with only the sound of the mess that was the mustering field.

Thoughts of escape had crossed my mind, but I knew that was futile. There was defined guards around the tent and even if I gave them the slip, it was the middle of the day and the muster field was surrounded by a high, razor wire tipped fence. No, I had to sit hear and await whatever fate they had in store for me.

Thankfully it wasn't long as someone I knew only by reputation stepped in from a side flap that wasn't in view of the center of the field where everyone was crowded.

"General Thurmon," I said and to attention, my training and years in the military automatically kicking.

He was one of the largest Cainus I had ever seen. Must have been almost eight feet with well groomed grey fur and in his perfectly pressed uniform with more ribbons and medals than I knew existed. It was an intimidating sight.

The general walked around to the side of the table opposite of me, expelling an air of authority that made the other Cainus that came in with him avoid any eye contact and tuck their tails. His silvery eyes looked down at me and I could tell gears were moving in that head of his, but I had no idea what.

Even I couldn't maintain eye contact for that long and eventually looked down at my hands.

Thurmon snorted and then laughed.

"Longer than any of these fools could bare to look at me," he said and then turned to the few soldiers and aides that had come in with him and growled at them. They, as professionally as they could, fled from the tent. He then turned back to me.

"Sit. There is a lot to discuss and little time to spare."

I did as I was told, sitting back down quickly. Even if I had somehow impressed Thurmon, I was wasn't so dumb as to not instantly obey his orders. That was how Cainus were. They respected courage and strength, but also respected authority as well.

"You're service record is impressive," he said and then added, "for a Lutrian." However, the tone didn't feel demeaning. More of a simple statement of fact. "Six years of service when the average for a Lutrian is three. Been in numerous combat engagements on all the borders and achieved a rank of first Sergeant at a pace that is faster than most career focused Cainus. Impressive all around."

"Uhh, thank you, sir," I managed to say, not sure where any of this was going.

Thurmon continued to list things off from just memory from the files he surely read on me. Obviously no need to bring any of those files with him.

"Repeated remarks for bravery and praise from numerous commanding officers. You had the loyalty of those under your direct command and were on track for another promotion as well."

He spoke in a flat voice, betraying no emotion, probably engrained into his very being from decades of climbing the ranks where he couldn't show any weakness or otherwise let others take coveted positions instead. I knew how much of a cutthroat environment it became along the officer career track for a Cainus. I had heard numerous officers complain about a rival getting a better posting or being outmaneuvered. Being a human, those officers didn't feel that they had to hide their true feelings. Humans were no threat. Though, the general was smarter. Im sure he spoke the same way to everyone.

Finally, the Cainus pulled out one of the chairs and sat down, ignoring the groans that chair gave off as the massive bulk settled into it. He leaned back and folded his paws into his lap. "With all that, I've concluded that you are a Lutrian that can be trusted to do his duty."

I sat up straighter than I already was and risked a question. "What duty do you have in mind?"

The general smiled. A terrifying thing that showed his teeth more like a snarl. "Ahh, the true meaning behind all of this." He raised a paw up and snapped.

Almost instantly, through the same entrance that the general used, walked through not a Cainus, but a Pelitan. Where Cainus resembled their more feral and wild cousins such as wolves, coyotes and even foxes on occasion, Pelitans resembled their extinct, but still known, domestic cousins such as sheperds, huskys and other, dare I say, dog breeds.

This Pelitan looked very much like a husky with his fluffy white fur with grey here and there along with a curled tail.

The general then stood up. "I'll leave you two alone. Plenty to brief." He then smoothed out the front of his uniform and walked out without any sort of ceremony.

Maybe it was the general or just Cainus overall, but I had expected some serious conversation about something with paperwork and files that I would have to go over. Something like that. Cainus like their formalities, but that's not what I got.

"Hey there," the Pelitan placed both paws on my shoulders hard enough to keep me from jumping out of my chair.

It scared me half to death and I could feel my heart beat in my ears.

The Pelitan took his paws off of me. "Oh, sorry about that." He sounded genuine in the apology, but I was too busy keeping my heart under control to really notice. He went and took up the chair general had just occupied and smiled at me. "I've never been so close to a Lutrian before."

I looked at him and said nothing, wondering where this was going. It could be anything and the fact that there was a Pelitan made this whole ordeal even more bizarre.

The Pelitan's ears flicked and he kicked his chops. "How rude of me. Introductions are in order." He placed a paw on his chest. "I am Special Agent Tenzen. Alex Tenzen. Though that's my field name. I'd have to kill you if I told you my real name." He then burst out laughing, hitting the table with an open paw as if he had just told the funniest joke.

I kept quiet. I felt more calm now, but still confused at what exactly was going on.

It was a solid minute before Alex settled down enough to be able to talk again. He wiped a stray tear from his eye. "Never gets old." He glanced over at me and raised his eyebrows. "And who might you be?"

He already knew of course. They had plucked me right out of line the moment I had my name, but I suppose that it was a formality. "James Caldwell," I answered flatly, hiding my unease from my voice even if Alex could smell it. The scent probably pouring off of me enough that those outside could no doubt smell it as well.

Alex sat there, watching me intently and slowly drags a claw in circles around the table. "Well, nice to meet you, James," he said, going right for my first name, which spoke greatly about the informality of this conversation.

"Should I just call you Agent Tenzen or?" I asked and the Pelitan's ears perked, going right along with the smile.

"You noticed," he chuckled. "While it's just you and me, you can call me Rob. Never much liked Robert. If I had a choice in my fake name, I would have gone with something like..." he paused and looked up in thought as if he had never thought about this before. "Meh, Rob is fine."

At that point, I had relaxed much more. I could control my breathing and I didn't feel like my hands were shaking now that it seemed that Rob here wasn't going to bark at me or put me down excessively.

"So, Rob," I said, the name feeling odd and new in my mouth. "Why am I here?"

"You're going to work for me from here on out," he said and placed both paws on the table, pushing himself up to sit straight. "As an aide of sorts. Aide. Partner. Whatever." He waved a paw in the air dismissively. "The exact title is something much more official sounding, but I'm sure you can tell that I'm a lot more relaxed than those tight puckered asses out there." He looked at the tent flap that led to the muster field with a devilish grin.

There was a very slight growl that came from outside. So low that if I wasn't already well trained to recognize the growl of an annoyed Cainus, I wouldn't have heard it.

Rob then turned back to me and winked. "For the record, only I can do that. They'd tear you to shreds for that. But they can't touch me." He then cleared his throat. "Back to business then. As I was saying, you'll be working with me on a very important assignment." He held up a finger to stop me from asking a redundant question even though I was smarter than that. "You see, I'm a spy. A double agent. Pelitan sent me here to spy on the Cainus because they think I'm acting as a spy for the Cainus to spy on Pelitans where I'm really a spy for the Cainus pretending to be a spy for the Pelitans sort of not really, but actually a spy for the Cainus..." He paused. "I think that actually makes me a triple agent."

"Does it matter?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I guess the technicalities don't matter," he admitted. "Long story short, I'm due back to Pelitan for several months for debriefing and stuff along with some time off before my next assignment. Thing is, I'm bringing you along as a disgruntled Lutrian who wants to work against the Cainus government. Better life and all that jazz."

"Sounds far fetched," I said, not really believing it due to how ridiculous it all sounded.

"It does," Rob gave a shrug. "Except for the fact that ice already got a go from the Pelitan government. There are people who want to meet you there. There's enough on your file to build this case and that an actual introduction between us wasn't necessary until now."

"Why now?" I asked and then added, "why the draft outside?"

"You are clever," Rob wagged a finger at me, though his ears dropped ever so slightlighg.

He leaned over the table towards me and beckoned me to come close and when I did, he whispered."

"Rumor is, the Pelitans have been mobilizing. When I say that, I mean nearly a quarter of their population is arming itself. But that's what the draft us for. To bulk up the border defenses. What we're going to do concerns something else. The Pelitans are building a navy. Biggest the world has ever seen. Our job is to learn more and hopefully, do something about it."

I then whispered back to him, even if I felt ridiculous. "Wouldn't I be better as a soldier then? What I say no to this." As if no was going to ever be an option for me, but I felt the need to test the waters.

He frowned and spoke with the slightest of an annoyed growl. "First thing, this kind of job will require more than just me and there are no other Pelitans spying for the Cainus and the general wasn't kidding when he said you are probably the most reliable Lutrian there is. Second, Lutrians, your people, live in an area that takes up maybe ten percent of all coast line. More importantly, fifty percent of beaches since most of the coast is cliffs. If a navy comes around with an invasion force, there's a good chance your people will get hit first."

He then leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, looking serious for the first time and spoke normally. "Trust me, I'm certain there are enough Cainus who love to have you on the line with a gun in your hand. Possibly enough to make it happen if you insisted, but I need your help and I hate to play the card, but your people will need you too."

I felt a hollowness in my chest. We Lutrians had always lived so far away from the fighting. Few ever saw the fighting and those that made it home, never spoke of it. Everything that happened outside our communities was always so far away, but hearing that it could come right to us... it felt like another war of extermination, except there would be nowhere to run and people I knew and cared about were in danger. Was this what the Lutrians back then felt when the war with the Taal happened? I couldn't let that happen.

I looked at Rob. "How soon do we leave."