A Galaxy Divided
#1 of AGD
A Galaxy Divided
In 4045, a meeting upon the most neutral planet in the known galaxy, two groups meet under terms of neutrality. One is the United Interplanetary Defense, the other an extremist group called Reptiles United. The peace talks had lasted four whole days, and neither side was closer to an agreement. Reptiles United Had been causing a bit of trouble amongst the galaxy, their most recent event finally caught the attention of UID. One thing is for sure though there will be no peace anywhere.
Outside
"This is Katie Wolfe and cameraman Bob and we are here in the city of Vorengrad to cover the peace negotiations going on inside the building behind me. They have made it very clear to us though that no reporters are allowed inside. So we have to sit out here and wait till they agree upon something. So we're going to try and interview a few of the soldiers on patrol. Sir, Excuse me may we get a quick word," she asked a fossa patrolling with four others.
"Sorry ma'am, I'm not at liberty to discuss with the press," he responded.
"That's not what I heard," she responded.
"Madam, either take me at my word or we seize that camera and you'll be the last reporter with the story," he responded firmly.
"Well you heard it here first not even the militants patrolling are allowed to talk to us.
Meanwhile at the garage in sector 4 of the city ...
They sure are taking their sweet ass time in there. The sooner they finish this up the sooner we can get the hell out of here and back to base. This is why I hate politics most of the time they just drag their feet and flap their jaws needlessly for hours. That's why I'm an infantryman. They tell you to jump you ask how high? They tell you to shoot you ask what target? It makes no damn sense that these guys are wasting time.
"Hey Jax, Get the hell out of your day dreams, we need to get this show on the move," yelled Sarge.
"Sorry sir," I replied.
"Keep your eyes on the prize Jax," Tiny said in that high pitched voice of his
"Yeah," signed Voicebox.
"Come on trooper. This is going to be the easiest mission ever," said Foxy in that sultry voice of hers.
"I dunno about that man," said Shifty, looking around rapidly.
This is why I'm glad to in the 415th infantry battalion. All of the simplicity, it just feels so right. Though if you were to ask my father a very outspoken politician, would say I was full of shit. I know how it works, who's buttons to push, the movers and shakers, and I could get everything done within a few days if I wanted to. Too bad he's dead along with my mother and older brother, and most of my living relatives.
"So Jax, how's it feel to be in the army? You must not have received many freedoms as a child right," Foxy asked.
"Yeah that's right, I lived with foster parents for most of it. My family was killed as a kid," I said.
"Why were they killed," she asked.
"Very outspoken people they always spoke their minds, Plus my dad was one of the leaders of a non violent rebellion," I said.
"Wow, must've been tough," she said.
I remembered the day he died really well. It was one of those things that was burned into my mind. I was five, he was in his early forties, his muzzle and other parts of his fur were turning grey. Mom was in her late thirties but looked like she could have been a twenty year old. My brother was in his last year of high school. I wasn't a planned child, but they spared no expense in raising me. It was Christmas Eve, I was woken up by dad who was shaking me violently.
He told me to get up. I was half asleep I couldn't understand what he was saying so he picked me up and ran me into their room there he hid me under the bed. I could hear gunshots going off downstairs. Then mom ran into the room with my brother. They all started arguing about what they should do.
That was cut short, five furs in black suits and black ski masks, whit pistols and shotguns like Uncle Jeff's in the gun cabinet, though these weren't in a state of disrepair like his were. There was yelling from both sides. Mom telling dad to do something, my dad yelling at them to take him instead, all the yelling ceased with a loud burst from a shotgun. I looked on in horror as my dad fell slowly to the ground.
His body falling like a sack of potatoes, his fur and skin was ripped to shreds where the shotgun blast hit him. He was dying quickly. I then heard my brother lunge forward and hit one of the assailants. A response from another shotgun came quickly. He too fell to the floor. His body landed next to the bed his head looking in my direction. The glassy look in his eyes horrifies me even today. Mother screamed but it was cut short by a third fourth and fifth shot. They left shortly after killing her.
I climbed out from underneath the bed. I didn't look at any of them, I was too scared too. I walked to my aunt and uncles room. They were both face down in their beds, feathers were scatted everywhere. Same in my cousin's room, they were all dead I was the only one left. I broke down and started crying, I was emotionally drained. Three and a half hours later the police finally showed up. They didn't do anything that they would if this were one of the more "accepted" but since our feral brothers are considered "vermin" so are we. The killers weren't found for years, it wasn't until they changed the laws that anything was done about it. So my dad ended up dying for some small section in text books as well as a blurb in the obituary.
"Cut the chatter," Sarge said.
We had received a radio message about a disturbance on a highway a few blocks from our position. We headed there on foot, it took us ten minutes. I had this odd felling like something bad was gonna happen, I had a bad feeling as a kid too. When we got there, there was nothing. No cars, furs, or anything else you could possibly think of besides buildings but this section looked abandoned. Then all of us heard a sharp loud whistling. It persisted for a few minutes then a loud explosion; rubble fell from the far side of the street. Sarge told us to run to the nearest alley. About twenty five feet from the intersection where we were just at, was a huge alley. Everyone else started running into the dark alley. Sarge and I made sure they all made it there. The whole time though mortar rounds were falling left and right, following us up the road. I was the nest to last person who should enter being a corporal. I tripped on the side walk and fell flat on my face.
"On your feet soldier," yelled Sarge while pulling me up and pushing me forward.
We both made it to the opening to the alley. I had made it about fifteen feet ahead of Sarge and then a loud explosion made me unable to hear and I was knocked on my ass. I felt blood, lots of it. I looked down and saw blood all over my uniform, it was my own blood. There were holes where the blood was. I started to lose feeling in my arms and legs. I felt myself being picked up then I blacked out.
Half an hour later on the dropship...
"His blood pressure is dropping," yelled a medic.
"Apply pressure here damn it. I need to get these wounds sewed up and bandaged," yelled another.
"He's bleeding out," yelled a third.
"He's going into cardiac arrest," yelled the first.
"Clear," the third one said.
What was left of the squad was sitting on the far left of the dropship. It was totally silent, their heads hung solemnly. The smell of disinfectant was thick in the air. The only other sound besides the high whine of the defibrillator was the sound around the ship was the flack from the anti-aircraft batteries, exploding about the hull of the ship. The doctor's yells were silent to them, because in truth they knew in their hearts he was dead.
They saw the blood all over after the explosion. The piece of shrapnel that was lodged in his eye, the smell of his burnt fur and ruined uniform, the look of death and terror in his eyes, the scene its self horrible. The fur on the table was a great friend and his future looked bleak.
Ten minutes later on the UIDX "Falcone" in the medbay...
"He's dead, approximate TOD 11:34," said M.D. House.
"Well is he fit for the Phoenix program," the Capitan Kohoku asked.
"Very much so, I checked his gene sequencing. He's damn near a perfect match. Closer than any of the other test subjects," House said.
"So, this should make him stronger," the Capitan asked.
"In a sense, first off were going to do a over haul, use a few experimental chemicals, improving muscle mass, bone density, increase reaction time, improve eye sight, and sense of smell. Once all of those have been injected, we place microchips improving the nervous system, and control of his overall movements, and also a device that improves the immune system and its reaction time, which decreases the time it takes to heal up wounds. Then we put him in a replicator tank which heals all of his wounds and helps his body get used to the enhancements," House said.
"How long will this take," asked the Capitan.
"About two and a half weeks, give or take a day or two," House said.
"Do it," the Capitan said.
One Week later...
My eyes flew open, I thought I was a goner. What the hell are all these tubes doing in my body. I tried to move my paws to remove them but my paws were firmly strapped in place. I couldn't move if I wanted to. There were furs in white suits, all over the place looking around talking behind their surgical masks.
"Dr. House, he's reacting to outside stimuli," the one standing over me said.
"What," yelled the one who I assumed was Dr. House.
"Heart rate is increasing, BP rising to unstable levels, he's going to crash," said another in alarm.
"Put him out, before he dies," yelled Dr. House.
"Injecting five doses of knockout agent," said a third voice. My eye sight immediately blurred and I slipped into unconsciousness.
A week and one half later in the medbay...
What the hell, it feels like I had an entire thing of vodka and then fell on top of my damn head. I slowly opened my eyes, the light above was really bright. After a few seconds my eyes adjusted and I sat up. I then noticed that this wasn't my room and got up. I felt unstable on my legs, as if they hadn't been used in a while. The smell was that sterilized smell that all medbay's and hospitals smelled of. I stumbled over to the door and tried to open it.
"Access denied," came the voice of the A.I.
It took me a minute to get my mouth to work but I finally got out, "What do you mean this is a damn medical facility everyone is allowed access."
"The Captain has made it clear to me that he is to be contacted as soon as you wake, and not allowed to go anywhere," she said.
"This is just fucking great," I thought to myself. I can't remember what happened after the mortar round came down near Sarge and me. I remember blood, pain, smell of burnt fur and clothes, and then blacking out. I knocked something over while pacing around. It looked as if though there was lower gravity on the ship because it fell slowly.
"What's the current gravity," I asked the onboard A.I.
"Normal," she responded.
"Are you sure," I asked.
"I'm positive, I have run ten thousand checks in the last minute," she said.
Just as she said that the Capitan walked in. I saluted him and he saluted back. He was a fur of high respect within the UID. Served in the UID during the Rebellions, He was a soldier just like me at the time; He found a traitor amongst the ship and saved the whole crew from being killed from a radiation leak. I know he's earned every single medal he has pinned to his chest.
"So, you're up and about eh," he asked.
"Yes sir, ready to resume my duties as a Corporal, sir," I said.
"No you're not, at least not as a Corporal," he said.
"Am I being demoted sir" I asked my heart sinking.
"Why would such a thing like that come to your mind? If you feel any guilt it isn't your fault, no one saw that surprise attack coming. You've been promoted, Congrats, Sergeant Hendricks. Now on to why I held you up here. You've been reconstructed, because you were dead, these modifications are only going to be noticeable by your movements and such, other furs will notice, hell you standing here right now I can tell there's a difference to you. You won't notice till someone tells you. Along with these modifications of some bones or complete removal of them, there is also now an onboard AI. This all making sense," he asked finally.
"So I died, I'm not the way I was when I was originally born, I've been modified, and my mind isn't my own. Permission to speak freely sir," I said.
"Its your own mind it just helps from time to time. Granted, what do you have to say," he asked.
"Sir, I feel violated. This was all done without my consent, on the other hand though I'm happy to be up and walking again. Can I go and see my crew," I asked.
"Go, they'll be happy to see you. They're in the cafeteria," he said.
I walked my way down the hall, my arm kind of twitching. It must be something to do with the medical procedure. As I continued to walk towards the cafeteria my leg started acting up both of them on my right side, I didn't like that at all.
"Don't worry; the limbs are just adjusting to you. Sorry I haven't introduced myself yet have I? You can call me Alice," she said.
Great... it has a freaking personality. The halls were all poorly lit but at least it didn't hurt you eyes when you were walking around after waking up. Before I knew it I was standing at the door to the cafeteria. I took a deep breath and opened the door. The cafeteria was really quiet only a few people were in there. I found my squad quickly and sat down.
"Hey guys," I said.
"Oh my god you didn't die," said Foxy in a shocked tone.
"Actually I did, but enough about that, where the hell are we," I asked.
"Were back to Dreald, we're getting a month's leave to see our loved ones," Foxy answered.
We talked for a few hours. I kept noticing they were looking at me kinda funny. I loathed it but it made sense they are all worried about me. I guess they thought I was dead for two weeks. I was kind of pissed off about it but hey what can you do? We talked about what we were going to do, I didn't really say much.
"Well, I'm going to get ready. We're going to be going planet side tomorrow," I said.
"Sarge, mind if I tag along," Foxy asked.
"It's a free ship," I said.
"Cool," she said.
We were silent till we got out of the cafeteria, Foxy broke the silence, "So Jax, where are you going to be staying?"
"Probably a motel somewhere," I said.
"Well I have an apartment and I do have a spare room," she said.
"How close is it to Liberty Hospital," I asked.
"About a mile or two, why," she asked.
"I want to visit a friend of mine," I replied.
"Oh, really, what happened to him," she asked.
"Nothing, he's been in there a while," I said.
"So what do you say? Want to stay with me," she asked.
"Sure just as long as you know it isn't going anywhere," I said.
"Alright," she said.
With that we continued walking to my dorm, there we parted ways. I couldn't help but notice the look she gave me. While Foxy wasn't a fox she was part of the Canidae family. She was about four eleven and was very aware about her figure, with the way she swayed that sensuous body of her. I had to admit she seemed rather sure of herself.
I opened the door to my room, not much it was all really clean. I walked over to the dresser, it had five drawers, four of which were military outfits, and the last drawer had just one set of non-regulation military clothes. So hating my position I packed mostly military clothes in one bag, then I packed my essentials and I was done, loathing the coming day I went to bed early.