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Their mission had failed, and cost far more lives than what Jun could believe. From the air now he could see the entrance of the cavern that they climbed from. After finding the Klienestov, which still resided in that natural cavern, Jun was lucky to smell the fresh air after giving his mask to his mother.

Half of them now called that cavern their grave. He knew that it wouldn't be their permanent grave once the infection took control of their bodies. Laying outside the cavern were the bodies of other infected creatures; wild animals that once called this planet their home. They ambushed Jun's group once they emerged from the cavern, but Commander Cassander had patrols searching for them. The fighting lasted only a minute before this ship unloaded its weapons on the Creeper packs.

Flying above the trees now, the site of the cavern soon disappeared and Jun turned his attention back to those who made it out of the tunnels alive. The ascent through the sky made the ride rough but several medics did their best to attend to the wounded, and the survivors of Jun's parents' group. Nine of them total made it out of the caverns. Seeing so few and the condition they were all in felt like a crushing wave coming down on the marten.

He turned back toward the small window in the vessel and watched the forest go by. He was amazed by how far they travelled while they were underground; he was only able to gather his bearings when he saw the razed city that once was the capital of their civilization. The ground was different that the black charred earth he saw on the way out to this mission; the ground was shattered now, massive chunks of the earth had looking like shards of glass lying on the ground.

"I apologize Lord Fa," the pilot said after they had flown over the razed city. "Commander Cassander is calling for an emergency meeting. Once we arrive at base, she requests your presence immediately."

How many months has he been fighting, thought Jun, glancing at his father. He's exhausted. How many days has it been since he last slept?

"Commander Cassander?" repeated his father. "A Commander is leading our entire military force?" Obviously exhausted, Lord Fa rested his head back at the revelation that the military he might have been hoping for was severely weaker than he originally thought. He stared up at the ceiling of the vessel, while he rested in the little time they he had been granted.

Jun sat opposite of his parents, saying nothing other than answering the questions the medics asked him. No one spoke to converse since they all were in shock from what they just survived. Even Captain Dewitt remained silent for the ride.

The ride passed in silence, even after they arrived at the base. After an hour's ride, the ship descended and landed near the cabin where Commander Cassander was waiting for them. The sunlight was harsh when Jun stepped off the ship and it took his eyes a few minutes to adjust.

Outside the cabin stood Commander Cassander. Surrounding her were several of the leaders from bases around the planet, other officers and even Tang.

"Lord Fa," she greeted them but not a shimmer of relief was expressed through her eyes. Not even Tang looked relieved. "I am glad you are safe but we have a serious problem."

"That's only half our problems then," mentioned Jun's father. He struggled to walk but was supported by one of the medics.

"We'll talk inside," the meerkat declared, raising her voice so everyone could hear her. "Briefing room, now!"

Everyone who had gathered outside turned back toward the cabin, except for Tang who waited for her family to catch up to her. Together the Fa family followed the rest in but no words were exchanged.

Inside the main room of the cabin, all the electronic equipment was pushed to the side and was empty except for all those piling in from outside. A large screen on the far wall was where Commander Cassander went to stand while she waited for everyone to gather in and settle down.

"Lord Fa," she shouted over the sounds of everyone shuffling. "Please bring your family up here to stand." They obliged and she continued once they were standing with her. Together they looked over the others who were staring in their direction. "Within the past hour, we received a message from one of our special operations soldiers, Nishant Gerbo. It was difficult to interpret but we've recovered enough audio to hear what he had to say."

She stopped and activated the screen behind her, where static-filled images appeared. It was fuzzy to see but there was a planet behind the static and a chaotic pattern of objects surrounding it that could have only been a Creeper fleet.

"This is Velmaria," continued Commander Cassander. "According to Pilot Gerbo, the entire planet has become infected. The alien has enough ships to launch another assault on Canidera, and there is no way we would be able to stop them this time. Velmaria, once a barren world, now has forests growing across its surface. We've never seen an infection this wide-spread but it is our conclusion that they are breeding an army there, and using the planet as a rendezvous for further reinforcements."

"We've lost communication with Pilot Gerbo," she continued. "Even though his distress call claims he found the flagship Drach'n Fury, we don't believe that he made it to the ship. He is now missing in action. Lord Fa?"

"The threat is closer to home than you realize," said the older marten stepping forward. "I've been down in the tunnels for the past few months, and we've discovered another one of those massive creatures that our fleets were fighting at the Black Line. It's growing beneath our paws now. I don't know when it'll reach maturity but whatever the case, it must be destroyed."

Commander Cassander's eyes widened at the news but she kept her composure. Murmuring spread through room, clearly showing how uncomfortable the news made them all.

We know so little about the Klienestov because Yukiomaru killed them both before they could do any more damage, thought Jun, watching everyone's reactions.

"The news of another Klienestov is startling, my lord," Commander Cassander said, glancing at him briefly. "We have six ships repaired and ready for combat to assault Velmaria before they get a chance to assault us but we cannot leave the creature under our doormat while we go to war. This certainly complicates things."

"Immediate action is required, Commander," Lord Fa responded, stepping back. "We may have to reserve a couple of those ships so we can penetrate deep enough into the planet's crust to destroy this creature. If the alien race is preparing another attack on us though, we need to make that a priority so we're given time to deal with the current infestation."

"Agreed, my lord," said Commander Cassander. "This is a briefing on the assault on Velmaria, so I will continue to do so. We will talk later about the Klienestov here."

"I'm going to go rest for a couple hours," said Jun's father, taking the liberty of leaving the debriefing early with his mother as well. Jun followed, with his sister and they left the Commander to continue her briefing.

Drach'n Fury was found, thought Jun, following his parents into their old bedroom within the cabin. Most of their personal furniture had been removed from the room to fit in more military equipment but a table in the corner was still relatively clear and that's where the family sat.

"I have some food being sent up for you all," Tang said, looking at her family finally with some relief in her eyes. "What happened down there?"

Their parents recapped what happened to them again, up to the point where they escaped the tunnel with Jun and the other soldiers. Then Jun told how his sister about their mission and how quickly disaster struck that compromised their objectives. Food arrived while he was telling his story and the parents were more than willing to start eating, for what must have been the first time in days.

"Why are you here, Tang?" Jun asked after telling his story. Even though it's been a while since the young marten ate, his appetite wasn't with him. "You weren't supposed to be back on the surface for another few months."

"Developing a poison to use against the Creeper race is having more difficulties than I expected," she answered. "Trying to isolate the Creepers from other botanical life isn't working out because they're too similar. Even though the poisons don't isolate only the Creepers, the Creeper strands adapt and become immune. On a large scale, I don't think using such a weapon is even practical so my project has been on hold. Commander Cassander wants to use what I developed so far to weaken the Creepers on Velmaria for now and I'll get back to working on it after the battle."

"Have either of you considered the possibility of retreat?" Lord Fa suggested after eating a large portion of the food offered. His pups looked at him with a confused expression. "Canidera may be lost even if we do fight to the last pup. From what I understand of our alien allies, commonly referred to as 'Guardians', they've abandoned their home to survive. We may have to as well."

"We're not ready to give up on our home," said Commander Cassander, as she entered the room. "You were missing Lord Fa, but Jun and Tang are needed for our mission. Jun was the closer to Yukiomaru Alexander than all of us, and we need him to negotiate with the copy of his mind, Fury. Tang will be delivering the poison she developed. I apologize for including your pups in this battle but with causalities still rising, we're running low on sets of paws."

"I haven't seen my pups since the invasion, and I thought them to be dead," Sunee said, almost glaring at the meerkat. "Now you're telling me you want to take them away again?"

"Tomorrow morning, yes," answered the Commander, her expression saddened. "If we do not win this battle, then we may have to abandon this system. While Captain Dewitt was missing, we collapsed tunnels all around this mountain and it's destroyed the landscapes above. You may have seen the effects when flying over the ruins of the capital city. But even this isn't enough. Now we're resorting to burning down the forests."

Our home. We've spent thousands of years trying to preserve it.

"This planet will become barren at this rate," Commander Cassander continued. She dragged a chair from across the room to sit with the martens. "Lord Fa, Tang has been commanding in you leave, and Jun when Tang's been off planet. Are you well enough to go back to commanding?"

"I do not have a choice," Lord Fa answered.

"We need a battle plan before the night's end to kill the Klienestov," stated the meerkat frankly. "We've collapsed the tunnels and it's killed most of the creatures inside but every so often we see some vines trying to escape. If we simply collapse the tunnel on the creature, I do not think it will be enough. We'll have to destroy it before we collapse those tunnels. Now, where did you find it?"

The responsibility that was once Jun's, was no given back to his father and he was relieved. He never did want to take his father's place; that was always Tang's path.

"Come on pups," his mother said, directing him and his sister out of the room. "Jun, can you take us to wherever we're sleeping now?"

Jun obliged and led them back into the tunnels of the mountain. He noticed his mother hesitate somewhat when she saw the tunnel that had been dug into the side of the cabin but she didn't fall too far back. Once they were back in the earthen room, where more cots have been prepared, his mother pulled them together so they could sleep closer.

Jun lied down and prepared to fall asleep, burdened by the fact that he was already assigned another mission that'd start tomorrow morning. They'd be going to fight over the planet Velmaria in hopes of buying time.

Through all this, there was one hope. Drach'n Fury had been found, and it was now Jun's responsibility to reclaim the ship. He was eager to hear Yukiomaru's voice one more time.

Has the remnant of Yukiomaru been fighting to protect the planet all this time? Or is it out for revenge like me?