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That's it Doctor, you have to terminate the project.

"What? It's just coming into fruition."

"We have two rouge Task Force operatives. These are things we can't afford right now."

"Look, let me bring them and I can work with them. We'll get everything cleared up and then have them back to you. This all happened because your splitting them up. Unlike most of your special forces, these soldiers have always trained group operations. That was the point of them, not to be one of your mavericks."

"I can't risk this happening again. You get them in here, but once you do, the project is over. Your experiment has failed Doctor."

"If it has failed, it is because of you. I have not yet seen evidence of this failure. They simply analyzed the situation and refigured the plan as they were trained to do in hard battle situations. I do not call following government training programs a failure."

"This matter is not up for debate. I want them decommissioned within three days. This was the deal we made and you know it. Remember, it wasn't me who sold them out, it was you. I just bought the contract. So before you go all teary eyed remember who is ultimately responsible."

"You know, you really are a son of a bitch."

"No doctor I'm worse, I'm a politician. If you care for the lives of your little... pets, I'd make sure they are taken care of in the manner we agreed."

"General!"

"I will not discuss this any longer. My decision is final. Either do it yourself, or I'll be up there to do it my way. That is all."

***

Jessica and I made our way to the nearest friendly military outpost. The guards at the gate, an iguana and a lynx, were startled by our appearance and even more so when we presented our identification.

"Go right ahead Sir, Ma'am. The commander will be expecting you."

I guess it wasn't every day that two top security clearance special forces officers showed up at the front gate on foot with a strange assortment of equipment and weaponry. I slung my skis and walked onto the fort with Jessica behind me. It had been two days on the trail since executing The Phoenix. We would have contacted Dr. Hall immediately, but we had left our earpieces at the bunker to avoid being tracked. Now I had to get a hold of her.

As we walked through the fort, we got many curious looks from uniform clad soldiers. Despite our clearly visible rank, many were too busy staring at us to remember to salute. Soon we were at the command building. I walked inside and was stopped by two MPs, both bucks.

"Sir, you are required to leave your firearms and any other weaponry with us before entering."

"No problem."

I unsung my rifle and handed it to them along with my sidearm. Jessica handed them the assault rifle and then her SMGs here eyes saying that she would kill them if any harm came to her weapons. This formality complete, we were escorted into the building where we waited on a young ground squirrel desk attendant to clear our presence. He lead us to a second waiting room where we sat for half an hour.

"Are you sure about this Jess? We have enough training that we could just disappear from this."

"Look, I know we could, but what would be the point. We'd have to spend our whole lives running. The second we settled down, someone would find us and we'd be on the move again. This way they can't charge us for anything more than insubordination. We don't have a world court and he was already a war criminal. We had been given tactical command over the situation, so our actions were within the bounds of our position. Trust me on this one Kirian."

"Alright."

The commander, a tall caribou, opened a large oak door and stepped out to great us. I snapped to attention and saluted.

"Sir."

"At ease, come in so we can talk."

We followed him into his office and he locked the door behind us. He walked over to his large desk and pulled out a small device which I recognized to be a signal disruptor. He noticed me looking at it.

"Sorry for the precautions. A man in my position can never be to careful. You never know when unwanted ears are around. Now, what are you doing here."

"We need to report in to our command. I'm sure they're well into searching for us by now."

"I'd say. We've had every helicopter on base commandeered to look for you two."

Jessica spoke "Wait, you know who we are?"

"Not by name, but I know you are two members of an elite task force who went missing six days ago. I also can speculate that our albino friend here was the one who shot The Phoenix."

"Quite true commander, I did."

"Amazing shot. I would like to ask a question if I may. What are the two of you doing here. If you know people are looking for you, why would you go to a government controlled facility? I won't turn you in, but are you mad?"

"No sir, my mission was to kill The Phoenix and then return. Not to run."

"You say My mission not my mission, as if you gave it to yourself."

"I did."

"I see. In that case, I don't know what will happen to you. You've made quite a few high end officials rather angry. I do not envy the position you're in."

"We are prepared to accept the consequences of our actions."

"You two have more balls than I ever could, no offence ma'am."

"None taken. I have more balls, as you put it, than most of the men on this base combined."

"Well, if you won't let me talk you out of it, please, feel free to use my com and if there's anything else I can do for you, let me know."

"Thank you commander."

He left the room, ducking so his antlers would clear the door frame. I turned to the com and powered it on. We were committed now, there was no going back. I entered the receiver code and the clearance. The lights warmed and Dr. Hall's face appeared.

"Thank the Gods I found you guys. There's a full blown manhunt out right now covering that entire tundra."

"It's good to see you ma'am."

"So, what now Kirian."

"With your permit ion, we'd like to come home."

"I understand. Look, the general is using some of his connection at the capitol and pulling some strings. I think he'll be able to get you guys cleared, or at least be able to keep you active. You may lose your commission though."

"I'm fine with that, we never needed rank anyway."

"Alright, I need you two here. I can't do anything with you out there. My records show the landing strip there is just long enough for The Spirit of Silence. Captain Tala will be there to pick you up in a few hours. Keep your heads down and don't do anything stupid."

"Will do ma'am."

"One more thing Kirian, good shooting. Jessica, thanks for watching his back."

"No problem ma'am. All in a day's work. His back isn't an easy one to watch though. He likes to do too many crazy things."

"I know, that's why he wins."

"Ahem!"

"Sorry Kirian. I look forward to seeing you soon."

The com clicked off. Well, now we wait. Soon we were back aboard the supersonic transport back to Center Seventeen. I hoped the others were there.

"What do you think Kirian?"

"I think Dr. Hall and the general will be able to handle this just fine. My message got across by the sound of things."

We arrived back at the mountain to applause from the staff. I stepped off the plane and was immediately greeted by Hogan.

"Hell of a shot Kirian. Hell of a shot! I knew you'd pull of something amazing like that. Two thousand nine hundred meters, wow. That is something else. I can't believe I was part of that one. You got to let me see the scope's recording of that one. I can't even imagine waiting over six seconds to see if the bullet I fired hit anything other than the ground."

He continued to ramble on about bullets and rifles and shooting. It seemed like everyone who worked at center seventeen was in the hangar to greet us, unlike the first time we had arrived and only a few technicians were walking around. Dr. Hall met us at the doors which lead into the main facility.

"Welcome home."

"Good to be back."

My muscles were stiff from the flight. We had trained hard, but six straight days of straining my body had finally taken it's toll.

"Are the others here?"

"No, they're still out. Captain Tala will be bringing them back first thing tomorrow when they complete their current operation. Why don't the two of you take it easy for the day, you won't have much time I'm afraid once we get you guys back together."

Good, more work. I liked being on missions with the team. A day off would be very nice though.

"Thank you ma'am."

I walked to my quarters and took a shower. I had been wearing the same sweaty cloths for six days and the hot water did wonders on my matted fur and sore muscles. I stood there for easily half an hour, letting the water just run over my body. I finally stepped out and slid into my fatigues. When I exited from my room, I saw Jessica sitting in the lounge.

"Damn Harper, were you in there long enough?"

"Whatever you say, 'Curry'."

She laughed and tried to trip me as I walked by.

"Sorry Kirian, it's good to be home."

"I know."

She stood up and kissed me quickly on the cheek.

"Come on, I don't want to sit around here."

We walked through the underground hallways to the largest training field. It was a 120 acre expanse that housed a series of structures for running exercises in. We found our way to the roof of a five story tower in the center. Many times during training we had been spotted and shot from this tower, no matter how well we moved through the cover and trees of the surrounding buildings. Now Jess and I just sat on the roof and enjoyed the view of the familiar field.

We didn't talk very much, I just sat there holding her. It was nice just being able to sit with her alone, in silence, and think. A lot had happened in the past week. A lot had happened in the past years. I thought over the seemingly random series of events which brought me to the point of my life I was at. By now I knew there were no accidents. Sure I had control over my destiny, but fate didn't like to be left out either.

The next day brought the return of Tank, Teague, and Trestan. It had only been a week since they left, but it was still great to see them again. Apparently they had heard about my little side mission.

"Great going Harper. Way to get things back under control cause let me tell you, they were going to hell in a hand basket."

"Do you know what they had us doing up there? Absolutely nothing. It was all shit missions."

"Yeah, we had the same wrap. That's why we decided to end this bull shit once and for all."

"Well, whatever you two did, it worked."

We laughed and joked together for a while. I had said it before, but we truly were a family. Five individuals from different walks of life thrown together on some list put together by some random secretary at the military academy. Dr. Hall walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt your homecoming, but the general has a mission for you now that you're all together again and the situation is back in our hands."

We followed her to the briefing room and took our custom seats. I shared a joke with Trestan as we waited. Dr. Hall came back in, she had a strange, almost sad look on her face. The projectors whirred on and the general's face appeared.

"Good day Task Force. I hope I find you well."

"Very good sir."

"That's good to hear. Something has come up recently. I think I speak for both myself and Doctor Hall in saying, I'm sorry."

His face faded. The lights on the screen changed. The last thing I remember was seeing and image of Jessica before the universe went black.

***

"Alright doctor, it's done. Now can we be free of this matter?"

"Yes. Just make sure they all are taken care of. I don't want this program to hurt them any more."

"You know I will."

"One more thing general."

"What's that."

"Here is my code. I injected myself with the YT79114R as well. I don't want to remember any of this. I don't want to remember what I've done to these young lives"

"I understand, the burden of decision weighs on us all. Good bye."