The Wolf Revolution (Science Fiction)

[NoIdeaWhatI'mDoing]

Well, here's my first sacrifice to the critics. It isn't my only story, but it is one that I would like to share.

It strongly shows the influence that I have gotten from Star Trek, as well as other Sci-Fi sources. It is completely my creation, except for the title, which was taken from a thread on a forum that went by the same name. It got me thinking though.

It takes place mostly on a small planet orbitting Centauri Proxima on a planet known to earth only as Centauri Prime. Other than this, other details will be discussed in the story, so I feel that it is needless to mention them.

This is a story that strongly adheres the the action/adventure genre, with new updates coming. If the pace is a little slow, just stick with me, it gets much faster.

Edit: One more thing. Please post feedback. Don't be afraid to totally rip this thing apart for criticism, as long as it's honest criticism, I love it. I have been taught that criticism helps make you better, and I appreciate those who take time to comment on my works. Post criticism here: http://entmoot.tolkientrail.com/showthread.php?t=14482

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The Wolf Revolution
Enter Humanity
by NIWID

Chapter 1
The Centauri Prime Incident

It's been 200 years since humans first discovered planet Centauri Prime. Back then it was just another frontier in the world of scientific discovery, but now it is the main staging ground for one of humanity's bloodiest conflicts.

I'd better explain myself. When scientists first discovered Centauri Prime, or Hysteinia (named for scientist Henri Hystein), it was exciting to them that they had found the first planet that actually was inhabited by some form of life. Not just some form of life, satellites confirmed 50 years later, but rather large, seemingly intelligent creatures. How scientists utilizing 22nd century technology figured out that the creatures were intelligent is beyond my ability to comprehend. All I know is that is what the history books say.

It was another 120 years or so until another development arose. It was in the fateful year of 2341 that cold fusion was finally made practical. Years of fuel crisis faded away as the new fusion reactors went online. Soon, all of earth found that all of their energy worries were gone, and forged forward into new areas of science. Humanity began to advance more rapidly then ever before, pushing the imagination of men to the limit. Light speed travel was made practical in the year 2349. Laser and plasma weaponry was released in prototype form thirteen years later, but has so far proven as dangerous to the user as it is to the victim. Then, two years ago, it happened.

No one actually knows who should be credited with the discovery. Over twenty names have been suggested, but, as time passed, it became clear that no one actually cared. All they cared about was that they had it. The ability to cross light-years of space in what equated to less than a second. The exact process involved is still a mystery to the general public, except for the fact that the process made use of something known only as a 'warp field' to create a distortion in space-time to allow a person to, in effect, walk through the space between point A and point B in one step, no matter the distance covered. The distortion did make it so that a protective suit was needed, but it took very little time to develop the material. It was almost as if it had already existed.

At first, the inventors were quiet about it. They wanted to be careful. What if it was made available to the general public? Enemies could simply appear in front of you, and you wouldn't be able to react before you were routed resoundingly. Nuclear warheads could be dropped anywhere with very little effort. The potential for evil was endless.

It wasn't until this year, 2372, that people finally saw the potential for good. Now that they could cross almost indefinite amounts of space in the time it took to blink, they found themselves longing for the answer to the questions that have haunted man through his thousands of years of existence. What was up there? Or who? How advanced are they? What do they look like? Are they friendly?

Finally, the inventors gave in. Seeing as life had been discovered on the largest planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the star nearest our solar system, it made sense to start investigating there. A group was formed to explore the planet. Leading the expedition was a former American general. Robert Shaw was his name, and he believed he was ready for anything. On January 26, 2372, he took the first step through the warp field that scientists had readied for his transportation. He sent a message back through the warp field. "All's clear. Send in the expedition." The rest of the group had soon followed their leader through the portal.

For more than two days, the scientists waited anxiously for word from the expedition. Then, out of the blue, Shaw made his return. The strangest thing, though, was that, although only two days had passed on Earth, Shaw and his team claimed to have been on the planet for nearly a month. They brought back samples of plant life, as well as some animal life, from the planet. Intrigued by the discoveries made, the scientists organized another party to try to make contact with a group of aliens that had been seen on the planet's largest continent.

Shaw again led the expedition, and was gone ten days this time before he returned. Again, the time he had apparently been gone and the time he claimed to have been gone did not coincide, but the scientists waved it off. All they cared about was the very successful and peaceful contact with the alien people. As it turned out, they bore many similarities in appearance of communication to many of Earth's own canines.

Photos taken by the expedition showed that they were extremely tall, averaging over 7 feet in height, and wore clothes over their heavy fur coats. A video showed Shaw talking to one of them, oddly enough in their own language, which consisted of what seemed to be nothing more than a dog's barks, yips and howls. According to Shaw, upon their arrival, the aliens showed that, remarkably, they could speak English without a trace of an accent. At least to him. When he heard one of them address him for the first time, however, the rest of the group claimed that it was Shaw who was using the aliens language, not the other way around. It was revealed to the members of the group later that they had been somehow implanted with some sort of translator when they arrived. The aliens said that it was used much like the humans' weapons (which had been brought for self defense), yet they refused any more information, saying that, if in the wrong paws, the technology could be used against them. Shaw could not understand why, but, in order to stay on the aliens' good side, he left it at that.

In later tests, Shaw and other team members showed the remarkable ability to speak in any language that another person used, and without a trace of an accent.

The third trip was frequently postponed until it finally got underway on May 2nd. Shaw was again the leader, and the team's simple mission was to try to acquire a small parcel of land for humans to colonize. "Easier said than done," said Shaw, but he went for it anyway. He returned less than a day later. When his expedition ended up so short, the scientists worried that he had failed. "No," Shaw said, "After three months of bargaining, we acquired an area of land large enough to recreate New York State, and for nothing but a promise to move should we ever be told to."

And so the first colonization mission to Centauri Prime got underway. 3000 brave men and women became Earth's first interstellar colonists. After so many years of lacking a place to colonize, the dictionaries once again sported the word 'colony.'

If you have not already guessed, I was one of the 3000. I was only 18, and I hadn't even been to college, but the pay, in my estimation, outweighed the risk, so I took a shot. The first thing that became clear as I stepped out of the disorienting warp field was that I felt a little lightheaded. It took me a minute to realize that I was also light-bodied, if that is the correct term. The gravity here was a bit lower than on Earth, that was for sure.

The first few months of our new lives were spent building. Working with wood was strange for me. It had been ages since I'd seen wood on anything but a tree, but we needed temporary shelters, so we built little houses to live in until the prefabricated metal structures were sent through the warp field. After we received and set up the so-called prefabs, we spent three months adjusting. Every now and then, something weird would appear on the radar screens in the small military outpost, but everything was quiet. I began to enjoy my work, studying the different new things that we found on the planet. I was no scientist, but I got paid to send in my observations to our distant homeworld, and it was an entertaining hobby.

June 3rd, 2372 marked my first birthday on my new planet. Sadly, I noticed, no one back on Earth had sent me congratulations (or condolences) for getting one year older. I wouldn't learn why until later. Luckily, someone did remember my birthday here. I found a card on my desk from Sarah Raines. She was a lifelong friend of mine that had joined me on this strange journey. It read, "Happy Birthday. I guess I can't truly say, 'Happy nineteenth time around the sun,' but have a good one anyway." Good old Sarah...

The city wasn't exactly the most modern thing you ever saw. We were still waiting for the cold fusion power core to arrive. In the meantime, we were making due with an antiquated fission reactor. Also, the computers were probably all reused from somewhere, as they all seemed about six months behind the times, but I dealt. Connecting to Earth's Internet was also impossible, so I couldn't check my e-mail. I probably had piles of birthday e-cards in my inbox just waiting for me...

One month later, I was sent to help out in the military outpost. In my estimation, it was easier that what I had been doing. much more boring, but easier. All I had to do was stare at a screen all day and see if I could find any red dots to get excited about. Unfortunately, the dots were routinely green, and all thought of action was slipping through my mind.

Fun began to seem like something from a bygone age. More and more I caught myself asking, "I wonder who's in the World Series," or "I wonder what's on ESPN this afternoon."

I began to wonder where the aliens who had supposedly given us this land were. I wondered if it had been some sort of huge hoax to get Shaw and his boys some fame. To me, this seemed more and more likely. Little did I know how close I was about to get to them.

It was another routine day at the outpost. I was busy counting the pixels on the radar screen, and had just reached 5,000,000 when someone yelled out, "I've got a red dot in Area 51!" This exclamation was, of course, followed by an insane whoop of triumph and the obligatory victory dance.

All jest aside, today was destined to change our lives. The outpost was suddenly abuzz. I even found my own voice mixed in with a dozen others as we suddenly had more than enough red dots to keep us all busy. After a while, I tried to count and see how many dots there were. "HQ, I'm seeing over 50 dots here, and none of them are blue. Something tells me that this might not be a good thing," I shouted into my headset. On a regular day, I would have been proud to be the first to send in a count of the dots, but today was no ordinary day. "Unidentified bogeys entering radar screen in areas 45, 46, 47, 48..." My eyes darted around the screen. "They're everywhere!" I yelled. "Radar signature unknown. We have multiple UFOs closing from all sides!" I stared a the screen. Slowly, I reached up and removed my headset. I held it to my mouth. "Bogeys have passed the border! HQ, do you read?" I didn't hear if there was an answer. Suddenly, the entire building shook at its foundation. I left HQ with one more message. "Run for your lives!"

I was quick to follow my own advice. I took off, only to run headlong into another frantic man. The building shook again. Getting to my feet, I looked around. The place was a madhouse. All exits were completely full, and everyone was pushing for position. Suddenly, the roof came in. I dove for cover, raising my arms over my head to offer as much protection as possible. In a moment, the place where I had just been standing was covered in rubble. Worse, I hadn't escaped it completely, and my legs were both trapped under a heavy metal beam. Even worse still, hardly anyone else had escaped the falling ceiling at all.

I reached down, pushing desperately at the beam to try to get it off. The pain was excruciating, but even the adrenaline rush wasn't enough to help me get free. After trying for a few minutes, I dropped back, exhausted, onto a pile of rubble behind me. I looked up into what should have been open sky, but instead saw a huge fleet of airships, each one styled after a bird, but not one the same as the next. They continued through the city. I watched as they fired strange projectiles at the city. Many building were flattened instantly by great explosions, others took as many as three hits, but after less than five minutes, not a building stood against the darkening skyline.

I closed my eyes and forced myself to think of other things. Home. Earth. Would I ever see it again? My family...

These thoughts caused me to actually prefer to look at the devastated city than to think elsewhere. I felt the tears rolling down my face, whether for the pain I felt, or for the pity I felt for the others, or for the thought of Earth, or for everything at once, I couldn't tell. All I know is that from that moment on, I wanted to get revenge. Everything I had ever learned struggled against it, but the anger I felt destroyed any repentance I would have felt. 'They had killed innocent people, they deserved death, didn't they?' I thought in an attempt to justify myself. In my current state, that was all the reason I needed.

I must have faded out of reality from pain, because light had returned to the sky when I opened my eyes. I had almost convinced myself that I should pass out again when I heard voices. My eyes sprang open, and I swiveled my neck around, looking for the person who was talking. No, not talking, yelling. It was coming from the city. I could see someone searching through a building off to my left and not 200 yards away. He was hunched over and calling into a pile of rubble, apparently having found someone in need of help. Somehow, either from renewed hope or sheer desperation, I managed to announce my presence with a rough, hoarse, "Help, over here!" The man apparently heard, as he turned to look in my direction. He turned away from me and called something out behind him. Another man appeared on the rubble. He was a giant, and was easily a head taller than the other man. As the first man motioned in my direction the second ran towards me.

As he got closer, I could make out specifics. He wasn't human, but seemingly of a human-canine hybrid instead. As he reached me and saw my leg he shook his head and grabbed the beam with both paws. He first hefted it off of my legs, which resulted in the pain being redoubled, then tossed it away from my body. Then he pulled a small odd-looking gun from his belt. I winced and closed my eyes as he pointed it at me. I felt nothing, but heard him say, "It's all right mow, it's over."

I somehow mustered the courage to look at his face. It bore what I supposed to be his version of a kind smile. "You're lucky," he said. "We haven't found many others."

"What are you?" I asked.

"Most people call me Ranger," he said.

"Not who are you, what are you," I said.

"Ah, I see, you've never seen one of my kind before. I am a native of this world. Many of your kind call us 'canines,' others, 'wolves.' I. would tell you our name for ourselves, but your kind don't seem to be able to pronounce it well," Ranger explained. "Enough talk, though. You're injured. I'll take you to the camp." With that, the man lifted me as though I weighed nothing and walked over the hills of rubble until we reached a group of huddled figures. I found that most of these were survivors from the disaster. I searched the faces, but couldn't find Sarah.

As we approached, another one of Ranger's kind approached us. His head hung low and his shoulders slumped. "We've only found two hundred, sir," he said.

"But there were over three thousand of us," I protested.

"I'm sorry. The attack was quick and merciless. Not many have survived." He turned back to Ranger. "One more thing to report, captain."

"Yes?" Ranger said.

"The Revolution has begun."

[NoIdeaWhatI'mDoing]

Chapter 2
The Truth Revealed

"What revolution? Ranger, what's going on?" I asked, confused.

"For centuries, two races have contended for control of this planet. After the last all-out war, my people were pushed back and defeated by the other race, who declared themselves the supreme rulers of this planet. It's been several decades since then. Relations between the two sides have been rather good lately, or so it would seem, but my people were just waiting for an opportunity to begin a new revolution, a new effort to take back this planet for the Wolves." Ranger stopped, in deep thought. "The arrival of your people was just the leverage that was needed. By giving your people land that did not rightfully belong to them, my people incited the wrath of the Rulers. They came and destroyed your settlement because they saw it as a potential threat."

"Wait, so you're a captain in this revolution?" I asked.

"No!" Ranger snarled. Then in a much more controlled tone, he continued. "I am on neither of the two main sides. For several years now, I have been part of an organization that seeks to restore peaceful relations between the two peoples on this planet. The main factions call us the Rogues. Allying one's self with any member of the other species will automatically bring to you that name among any of the peoples on this planet."

"If you wanted to keep the two factions at peace, why didn't you keep them from attacking this settlement in the first place?"

"We tried. Your leaders turned away our warnings. We don't have enough pilots in our force to turn back the Rulers' attack force, so we waited until it had happened to come and look for survivors."

"So you let over two thousand people lose their lives without so much as attempting to do something? Seems to me that you're no less at fault than the other two factions."

"We did what we could! We had no idea that the attack would be so devastating. It would seem that the Rulers have covered their technological advances well. We didn't know that they could do such damage in so little time." Ranger fell silent. Then looking at me, he asked, "Did you have family in this city?"

"No, I was alone. I came here because it would give me a few extra dollars, and now the whole settlement has gone up in flames..."

"I'm sorry for the loss of your people," said Ranger. "If I could have done anything to prevent this, please believe that I would have done anything it took to stop it. I never meant for this to happen." He carried me silently for a few minutes more. I was surprised when he took me past the group of survivors and into a temporary structure that had been set up on the outskirts of the city. He walked through the door, ducking to keep from striking his head against the top of the door, and laid me on a table in the middle of the room. "His legs were pinned under a large structural beam. I think they might both be broken."

Grunting, I mumbled, "That's a brilliant observation, Einstein."

The person to which Ranger had spoken chuckled. "I'll see what I can do.
it doesn't look too bad." This was my introduction to the Doctor. He was covered from head to tail in brilliant silver fur, excepting only when he'd been at work, at which point it took on a red tint.

Unfortunately for me, nothing ever looked too bad for him. My legs were actually complete wrecks. Luckily, however, he decided that it looked bad enough to put me out before he started.


* * * *

Location: Deep Space 5 Space Station, Orbiting Mars
Time: 0500
Date: July 10, 2372, Sol Reckoning


Journal of Albert Raines

Entry for: July 9, 2372

I guess it's a bit late for yesterday's entry, but it certainly merits recognition, so here's what happened.

0800 hours: I got up to my regular routine. Went to the lab to check up on the new bacterial samples from Mars' surface. Nothing new. We still can't get a sample that actually survives on the surface. Not surprising.

0900 hours: Checked on the latest transmission from Centauri Prime. All things going OK over there, except the calendar. This time it says it's July 21. We're resetting the system to try to correct this problem.

0930-1300 hours: Nothing much to report. Worked on the warp field for an hour, then executed the hard reset to correct the system's errors. Everything looks good. Went to lunch. Same old same old there too. I still can't figure out where they get the chicken...

1400 hours: Strange transmission from Centauri Prime settlement. Heavy interference, 0 visibility on the view screen, horrible audio glitches. Transmission sent to filter out interference.

1419 hours: Clear transmission from planet surface. A distress signal. Marines sent to planet surface.

1500 hours: Second clear transmission. Marine report. They say that the distress signal was sent on July 22nd. Their transmission says it was sent on July 23. Settlement in ruins, no survivors found. Order sent to Marines to hold for further orders.

1630 hours: Transmission received. Date sent: July 24. A communication from two weeks in the future, or a computer issue? Marines insist on the former. They want orders.

1700 hours: Clear transmission #4: Marines announce that they are searching for survivors with or without orders. Date says July 25. Emergency meeting announced for 1900 hours.

1900 hours: Meeting concerning the happenings on Centauri Prime.

Transcript of Meeting:

Dr. Stuart: I find this change of events disturbing. I don't know what this could mean. If our computers are to be believed, we have been contacted from as far as 16 days in the future.

Dr. Gregor: Impossible! Things like that don't happen. You can't receive messages from the future.

Dr. Raines: Sir, if I may. We're dealing with a warp field here. Many possibilities exist that we have yet to explore. I believe that it is possible that it could have created a disturbance so great that it could tamper with time itself.

Dr. Gregor: Mr. Raines, do you have any idea what you are suggesting?

Dr. Raines: That the age old fantasy of time travel may actually be possible? That it might actually be possible to stop this from happening? That all those lives may hang in the balance as we speak? Yes, I know exactly what I'm suggesting.

Dr. Matthias: It's a disturbing concept.

Dr. Gregor: Mr. Raines, it's common knowledge that you have a daughter on the planet. I know that you are hoping that this is true so that there might be a possibility of her still being alive. I'm a father, I know how it is...

Dr. Raines: Yes, I have a daughter on the planet, but there remains the rest of the evidence. The fact is that, if what you say is true, the entire settlement was decimated in the hour we spent fixing the warp field. This seems even less possible than my theory.

Dr. Matthias: I believe that I stand with Dr. Raines on this issue.

Dr. Stuart: I need more time to think about it...

Dr. Matthias: Though Dr. Stuart is correct, we should think a bit more before reaching a conclusion.

Dr. Raines: What we need to do now is not deliberate on whether this is from the future or not, it is what to do now, in the situation at hand.

Dr. Gregor: Now in that I agree. I believe that the Marines should be evacuated and the warp field closed.

Dr. Raines: What about the settlement?

Dr. Gregor: You saw the same thing I did, Raines, you know that there is nothing left. We need to close the field before whatever did that over there comes over here.

Dr. Matthias: Gregor has a point you know.

Dr. Stuart: But what incredible technology! What if we could get our hands on it.

Dr. Matthias: That might be helpful...

Dr. Raines: We need to get people out of there!

Dr. Gregor: Such an action would put more people in danger. We must close the field.

Dr. Raines: What about the survivors?

Dr. Matthias: It does seem wrong to leave them to die...

Dr. Gregor: Matthias, why don't you get your own opinions instead of borrowing them off of us?

Dr. Matthias: Dr. Gregor's right, you know.

Dr. Gregor: Of course I'm right! We have to close that field now!

Dr. Raines: All right. We close the field in 3 days if no survivors are found.

Dr. Gregor: Very well. But if anything strange happens on the other side, we close it immediately.

Dr. Raines: Fine.

End Transcript

2000 hours: After some more deliberating that led next to nowhere, I retired to my room for some extra rest.

July 10

0300 hours: 7 hours of tossing and turning later, I decide to go out on the starwalk to think. I can't believe that my daughter could be dead, but that's what seems to be true for now.

Well, that's about it. There's not much else to tell I guess. I pray, however, that my daughter is alive.


* * * *
It must have been a few hours later when I came to. The light outside had started to dim. I groaned and tried to sit up, only to have someone push me back down.

"You're not ready for that yet, I'm afraid," a voice came. I looked over to see the Doctor.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

"As well as could have been hoped, I suppose. You'll be in bed for a few days before you can get up, but your legs will be just fine."

"A few days after breaking both of my legs? I thought it took a few months at the very least to recover from broken legs," I said, a bit surprised.

"That's what a lot of your people keep saying," the Doctor mused. "I guess that your medical science isn't to par with ours yet." He continued moving about the room, keeping up with several people at once.

"Do you do this all by yourself?" I asked.

"It depends on who is willing to help me out at any given time. Sometimes I work alone, other times, I have quite a good number of people working for me." He looked over at me. "Currently there aren't too many to look after, so they have me working by myself."

I shook my head. "This sort of thing never happens on Earth," I commented.

"Well, we're not on your planet, now are we?" the Doctor responded. He gave a hearty laugh. "It's quite normal for a doctor to work alone here. You'll get used to it soon enough."

"If I stay here long enough, I guess I would," I said, settling down on the table where I was stretched out.

"Well, it looks like you'll be staying here for a while, regardless," the Doctor said, going about his business.

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking over at him.

"The portal to your planet closed just a few minutes before the attack. We had been tracking the disturbance it created for a few days. It disappeared about 20 minutes before the attack, and has yet to return. Personally, I doubt it ever will."

I closed my eyes. "I hope it does. I want to see home again, if only for a moment."

"Well, if things continue as they've been going, you're stuck. Might as well find a new home."

I shook my head. "I'm not ready for that."

After that I left the Doctor to his business, and soon fell asleep.

[NoIdeaWhatI'mDoing]

Chapter 3
Arrival at Rogue Central

It was five days later when I got back to my feet, and it wasn't a moment too soon. Ever since the war had been formally declared by both sides, enemy activity had risen. We had already relocated once only two days after the attack, from our little medical base just outside of the remains of our settlement to a hidden location in the shadow of the mountains that had bordered the settlement along its western side. Either way, I was completely lost in an alien world. Now I was on my feet, and Ranger, who I had long since recognized as a high ranking officer among the so-called Rogues, was always talking about the growing threat and the place that we were to go next, a place I knew only as Rogue Central.

I now stood surveying the alien landscape. Sarah was still missing. A few of our rescuers still made return trips to the ruins, searching for survivors. I heard rumor of some uncooperative humans who, upon meeting the Wolves, had engaged them in gunfights among the ruins. No significant casualties had been reported except a few angry Wolves who paid visits to the Doctor, or Silver, as he liked to be called. These usually just had bullet wounds to their arms or legs.

I ran my fingers along my chin. Nearly a week without shaving had resulted in a short brown beard and matching mustache, but the Rogues, which were covered in fur anyway, didn't seem to notice. I was just another human to them. That view of people that the Rogues had was interesting. They took little or no time to socialize, and kept a strict discipline at all times, while the humans just wandered aimlessly through the temporary camp. Everything about our hosts seemed professional. Only Silver seemed to have time to talk, but he only talked if you were in need of his services.

The mountain's shadow lengthened in front of me as the sun ducked below its peak. The party that had left five hours since had yet to report in, and the patrols around the perimeter seemed restless. I couldn't say I blamed them. I was anxious to see if maybe Sarah had been found. She was the closest thing to family I had on this planet. We'd been raised together. Both of our fathers were head research scientist. Hers was now one of the most influential scientists in the warp field project. Mine had died in an accident four years ago. We had remained close, although the connection that we had once shared had been lost. To lose her would be to lose my last link to my home planet.

Suddenly, there was a siren in the camp. I looked around, trying to locate the source, but before I could find it, I was grabbed by the shoulder and moved forward forcefully. I looked back and saw Ranger with one of his huge paws on my shoulder, directing me deeper into the camp. Another survivor was being directed by Ranger's other hand.

"What's going on?" I asked over the strange, wailing signal.

"We're evacuating. The patrols have made contact with a force of Wolves from the south." Ranger quickly maneuvered his way through the bustling force. "We have to get out of here quickly. Should they find out that there is a third force in this war, we could be crushed before we have a chance to make a difference."

He led me down a path that I had previously not seen. Several more turns later, I found myself looking at a caravan of huge armored vehicles. Before I could say anything, I was pushed into the back of one of these, at nearly the same time that three other humans were. A few more people entered, then the entire caravan took off, bumping their way back along a rocky path. I soon found myself having to look almost straight up to see the mountains, then my view was cut off by the inside of a rocky cavern.

"What's going on?" asked a man beside me.

"We're being evacuated. The patrols have encountered resistance in the settlement," I responded.

"Or that's what they want us to think. I bet they're going to kill us as soon as we're deep enough in," another man put in.

"Why would they save us just so they could kill us?" I asked. "You're not making any sense." At this the man calmed down a little bit, and huddled in a corner, staring blankly into the growing darkness.

Here the path smoothed out and then turned slightly uphill. It wasn't long before this changed, and it proceeded to climb for a few minutes, then drop again, and we continued on. I couldn't help feeling that we were quickening our pace.

Finally, I relaxed a little an leaned back to rest. It was only a few moments later when I was interrupted by the first of the men.

"You know what I find interesting," he said out of the blue. Being half asleep, I opened one eye and looked at him questioningly.

"What?" I asked.

"Haven't you noticed that their technology is much like our own?" he questioned. I looked at the transport that we were in. Come to think of it, he was right.

"Well, as I see it," I started after some thought, "That it very well should be."

"Why?" he asked. "We live on different planets, for crying out loud. We should, by all rights, be very different."

"Well, if you take it at face value, we are in many ways. They have fur, we have hair, they speak a different language, they don't wear shoes... I could go on, but it would become boring."

"Yes, but they have come up with much the same stuff as we have," he insisted. "Don't you find it strange."

"When you take into account that they are bipedal creatures with many of the same needs as us, like food, water, sleep, oxygen..." I stopped for a moment. "Well, oxygen is an assumption, but when you put them on a planet that is much like ours in the gas levels of the atmosphere, the water to land ratio, the elements, and the temperature, I'd guess that you'd probably come up with much the same technology. After all, you need transportation, so some time along the line, you invent the wheel. As you go along, you adapt the wheel to different types of transportation, and then to things like pulleys, and you have a pretty wide area in which our technology could be much the same."

"How about the weapons?" he asked. "Rifles, hand guns, knives, we have all of those in common."

"Much like my wheel argument. When their species found things to argue about that could turn into fighting, they would probably want something more than just their claws to fight with. Granted, the claws are substantial, but they'd sooner or later find themselves wanting another way to defeat the enemy. Here, they just adapt what they saw in the claw, and create a sharp edge from some sort of material. Probably starting with rock or wood, then, as they found out that different metals become workable at high temperatures, they adapt the edge into metal. There you have a knife. As for the guns, they would probably find out pretty early that there's less danger to one's self when you fight from a range. From throwing projectiles, they probably went to slings, or maybe makeshift catapults, then probably to some sort of spear. They'd probably come up with ways to launch these spears, shortening the 'spear' as needed to fit a launcher. Thus, the simple bow and arrow, then a crossbow and bolt. They'd continue on like this, adapting new technology as they found it until, most likely, the advent of some sort of gunpowder. It would probably follow much the same path of technology as it did on Earth."

"What about the aircraft?"

"I'd have to imagine that any sentient creature that lived anywhere that had any sort of flying thing would want to fly as well. Curiosity is a powerful aid to invention."

The man shook his head. "I don't know. It just seems like a bit much of a coincidence to me. Oh, by the way, my name is Bryan Quince."

"Stephen Easton," I replied. "Pleased to meet you." Most of the rest of the trip was in silence. The vehicle seemed rather empty, but I took it as an indicator of just how few of us were found.

I must have dozed off, because I was brought around by Brian shaking me by the arm. I was still groggy for a moment, but, looking forward, I found myself suddenly fully awake, hardly aware that Brian was trying to talk to me.

In front of us was another mountain, but in it were obvious marks of artificial additions. Towers grew out of the side of the mountain, some built so that their sides were dug into the cliff behind them. Others were connected by simple bridges made only of wood and rope. Windows looked out on us from the mountainside, but somehow we were unable to see the inside. As we neared, we became more and more aware of just how huge the place was. It was almost an equal to the mountains we had been shaded by in our previous station.

Yet, even as the place loomed ahead, I could see a great attention to safety as well. The mountain face that we were approaching was the only side of the mountain, as far as I could see, to have any sort of technology visible to the naked eye. It was also rather shadowed by other mountains and hills in the immediate area, making it very hard to see unless you were looking at it from a specific angle. The buildings on the side were all camouflaged to the rock on which they were constructed. If you looked at it from an angle, I believe fully that you would not see the difference between it and the other mountains.

Upon closer inspection, I could see that it was actually a continuation of the mountain range that we had seen before. Around us were mountains as far as the eye could see. They formed a ring around us, shadowing us from sight for the most part. The caravan had slowed now, and for good reason. Apparently, no attempt had been made to implement any type of road that led to the hideaway. The vehicles bumped roughly along the way, shaking violently as we approached the stronghold. Finally, we stopped. Looking ahead, I could see the people in the other vehicles being led out. Soon, a Wolf walked around our vehicle. As he reached the back, he rapped on the side with a stick.

"Wake up, we've arrived, everyone out!" he yelled. "We've got to hurry this up, come on!" I needed no more encouragement. I was on the ground in a flash, looking around me in awe. Everyone else followed me, and Brian walked up beside me.

"This place is huge," he said quietly.

I paid no attention and wandered aimlessly around, trying to get a better view of the fortress. It was at this point when I ran into someone. I heard a grunt and a crash, then, before I was able to even turn around, I saw a flash like metal, and found myself laid flat out on my back underneath the person I had hit. I stared blankly at him as my eyes finally focused. Behind the four long, curved knives that were held a few inches from my face was a strange creature. The head itself was of a rather comparable size to mine and was covered with a thin layer of fur, but the ears were large triangular things positioned atop the creature's head. These were, for the moment, positioned low to the head. The creature's short snout was pulled back in a snarl that convinced me that it had every intention of ripping me to shreds.

"Why you scum, I ought to..." it growled.

"Hold on there, Scar, let him go," interrupted another voice. The Wolf that had previously been supervising the unloading of my transport grabbed the other creature and hauled him off of me. "He's with us, and as such he's under our protection. I won't have you doing anything to him our anyone of his species."

The other creature scowled and, grabbing the taller Wolf's hand, he removed it from where it held him. Finally, in a quiet voice he said, "Aye, sir," and began picking up the guns that I had caused him to drop through my carelessness. As he did, the four knives pulled back under the long sleeve of his shirt.

"Don't mind him," the Wolf said, interrupting my thoughts. "You get used to it after a while."

I found myself again being pushed as he directed me to the entrance of the mountain stronghold. "Is he always like that?" I asked.

"Most of his species are," the Wolf responded. "It's what the males are taught in their culture. Almost any small insult or mistake that causes one of them to feel that his honor has been violated will result in a showdown with those evil-looking claws that he threatened you with. Luckily for you, the fights are usually arranged and formal, and so they usually hesitate before they plunge their claws into anyone."

"Those were claws?" I asked in disbelief. "They were huge!"

"His are actually quite small. He hasn't even reached manhood yet," my walking companion said.

"At what age does that species reach adulthood?" I asked.

"It isn't age, it's the length of their claws that makes the difference. I believe that adulthood starts when the claws reach fifteen inches."

"Fifteen inches? My goodness, what do they need knives for?" I asked.

"Most of them refuse to use their claws in war with other species. We have only just recently been able to convince some to use them in combat exercises, and I doubt that we'll convince them to use it in the field anytime soon."

"Why'd he use them on me? I'm not of his species."

"He didn't know what you were, he had his back turned to you," explained the Wolf. We had just passed through some sort of security checkpoint at the entrance. "He was also using them to avenge his honor in his eyes, not as an act of war."

"I can't say that I see much difference," I commented.

"You don't have to, he's the only one that has to explain it to himself to justify the action in his eyes, and once it is justified in his eyes, he will have no problem with killing you outright."

"Quite a violent species," I said, shaking my head.

"Once again, he has yet to reach adulthood. The older ones can control themselves much better," the Wolf said. We now turned down a long, curving hallway that bore absolutely no decoration or indicator as to where any of the doors that lined the hall led. The Wolf walked on quietly, though, with absolutely no sign of worrying about whether he was going the right way. Then again, it does make sense that he should know his way around, if this really was Rogue Central.

It wasn't long before we entered a pair of large double doors that opened as we approached. I found myself in a large circular room filled almost entirely with humans. Only a few Wolves and some of the other species milled about, but they kept their military order as they did so. The whole place had an order of its own about it. Although many seemed wandering aimlessly through the room, the Rogues managed to keep track of them somehow, and moved about asking each person several questions, but never seeming to accidentally ask the same person twice. The Wolf that had led me here left without a word, so I was left to mingle with the others in the room.

It wasn't long before one of the Rogues found me, it was one of the new, strange species, but, as the Wolf had suggested, this one seemed a bit more controlled and less inclined to destroy me utterly.

"Name please," he said. There was an interesting quality to his voice, something that I had never heard before, a slight rumble that created a constant vibrato in his speech.

"Stephen Ryan Easton," I replied. He jotted it down on a small hand held device that he held.

"Age."

"Nineteen years."

"Previous military experience."

Previous? "None." He nodded and jotted some more things down, then looked at me and gave me what I supposed to be his version of an amiable smile.

"Well, then, welcome to Rogue Central, I hope that you will find the accommodations comfortable. Someone will come in a few moments to show you where you will be staying." He then moved on to another person in the group.

All told, it didn't take long to get this short list of information from the rest of the people. After all, with so few of us left, there wasn't much that needed to be done. Soon I began to notice that the room was emptying out. Soon enough, I caught glimpses of Rogues quietly taking humans with them out through various doors. A Wolf eventually came to me and let me back through the halls, I found it almost impossible to mark the room where I was to stay, but I was certainly going to try. As we arrived, I took a note. Two curves to the right, one to the left, one more to the right, third door on the left. To get from here to the circular room, however was simple. Just continue straight until you run into a set of double doors.

The Wolf opened the door to the room with a slim card of some metallic material, then handed it to me and silently walked away. Interesting, he hadn't said a thing to me.

As it turned out, my interviewer's hopes were well placed, as I found the accommodations quite satisfactory. I found it hard to believe that I was actually on an alien planet and not on Earth. It seemed that their rooms were quite similar to ours, the bed remarkably like the one I was used to back home, if not a bit bigger. Up until now, I had only had the ground to sleep on, now I had a bed. A comfortable one at that.

I woke with a start. Man, maybe it was a bit too comfortable. I sat up sleepily, then looked around to try to find what had woken me. In a moment I found out. A voice was coming over the intercom that was installed beside the door.

"Would all humans please come to the round room? All humans to the round room, please." I got up and stretched, then moved to the door.

As I had figured, the way from my room to the round room was quite easy to follow. I was soon there, and found myself among several hundred others of my kind. Curiously, I did not see one of our hosts among the ones gathered in the room. There was an interesting buzz of conversation in the room, so I sat and engaged in some conversations for a few moments until we were interrupted by a voice from the center of the room. It was at first inaudible, then it became increasingly clear as the conversations hushed.

"Thank you for your attention," the man said when he had gotten our attention. He couldn't have been any farther along in years than his mid-twenties, with dark brown hair that had obviously not seen a comb in several days, and gray-blue eyes that took in the scene around him with a quiet interest. "I've taken the liberty of calling this meeting to discuss our future on this planet. I thought it important to do this, since it would seem that our stay may be extended more than we had once hoped." This brought on some hushed murmurings, but they were quickly quieted.

"After we were all assigned rooms, I was able to get an audience with the leader of the Rogues. When I asked as to the future plans for our life here, I was given some possibilities. Our hosts are graciously allowing us to choose what we will do in this war. First, he says that, for any able-bodied man who wishes it, the Rogues will provide training in arms and allow them to serve in the main corps of the Rogue forces." More murmuring.

"For the others, they will be given shelter in an underground fortress hidden in these same mountains. Now, I have chosen to throw my lot in with the Rogues, but I hold nothing against those that would rather seek shelter. Those of you who are married, how ever many of you there are, I'd suggest the latter option. The human race has survival to think about, too." He stopped for a moment here, letting a ripple of hushed conversation pass before he continued.

"Now, the Rogue leader will hold a meeting tomorrow in which you wil formally make your decision. I told you about it here so that you will have time to think it over. Sleeping on it would be a good course of action.

"Now, for other things. I have heard that the final count of human survivors was just upwards of three hundred survivors. Our hosts were quite open in telling me that we were quite lucky. Not often have there been so many survivors in an attack such as this one."

"There was another of this type?" someone asked.

"Yes. The Wolves, however, have a defense mechanism against this sort of thing, and the Rogues have implemented it into their facilities."

"I know that we had defenses strong enough to nullify that attack!" another voice chimed in. "Why didn't we use them?" The speaker shook his head.

"That is the third matter that I have to discuss. It would seem that we were not adequately supplied or defended in the settlement. I had wondered about the lack of experienced workers on different projects, and so had taken the matter several times to Dr. Gregor, the head of the warp field project. He seemed less than concerned as to the lack of security in the settlement. He refused requests several times to send skilled workers in the security sectors of the city, and never even allowed for an attack from the air, let alone from the ground. If my sources are correct, we had only fifty or so out of three thousand who had any experience whatsoever in military matters."

"Are you insinuating that we were set up for the fall by the scientists at the head of the entire project?" another person asked.

"Whether directly or indirectly, yes, we were set up for what happened. It seems that we had an extreme scarcity of any people with work experience other than manning the drive-thru window at a fast food joint. The people in the settlement, though I am sorry to have to say it, were extremely ill-prepared for such an incident. I believe that most any other catastrophe would have had similar effects, had this not come first. Too few of us had any experience in dealing with any sort of disaster, be it natural or not."

"Why didn't they send help?" another person asked.

"The warp field was down for repairs during the attack. I doubt that they even got the distress signal that went out."

"You seem to know quite a lot about the dealings of the high-ranking people in the settlement," a voice remarked. "You've talked about you telling Dr. Gregor about the problems in the settlement, and now you talk about a distress signal that was sent from the warp field. Tell me, what was your position in the settlement?"

"I was the warp field operator on this side of the field," the man responded. "I handled the messages sent and received from Earth. This is how I know about Dr. Gregor and the distress signal. I personally sent the signal, but the field dropped soon after, probably due to the loss of power all over the city. The computer did not detect a signal from the other side, though, so I doubt that they even know that something went wrong." He paused a moment, then said, "I suppose that if anyone else wants to say something about our prospects as far as life on this planet, this would be a good time." With this, the man started making his way through the crowd to one of the doors. With a little pushing and shoving, I managed to reach him a few moments after he had left the room, just as some conspiracy theorist got up and started saying something about why he thought Earth hadn't sent support.

"Hey!" I called, getting his attention as the doors closed behind us.

"Yes?" he said, turning to watch me as I approached.

"You said you contacted Dr. Gregor with your concerns, correct?" I verified.

"Yes, several times," he responded, turning full around to face me. "He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about finding remedies for the problems I mentioned, though. Usually, it was a simple, 'Now Mr. Ross, I think you're overplaying this a little bit.' It became frustrating rather quickly."

"How about the other head scientists in the project? How about Dr. Raines?" I questioned.

"Of all the scientists, I would have to say that Albert Raines was the most helpful, or rather, he tried to be. I think that Dr. Gregor probably squashed most of his attempts at remedying the problems, though. I also tried Dr. Matthias, but he's too much of a sycophant to try to do something for us. He'd have to have almost all of the other scientists going the right way to convince him that he should help us. Not to say that he doesn't deserve to be in the project, he is, after all, a great mind, but I believe that he should be on a lower level."

"How about the others?" I inquired further.

"Dr. Stuart deliberates on things a little too much. It was joked that he could take a week to choose what wattage light bulb to use, then another week to figure out how to put it in right. Dr. Lewis? I don't know what happened to him. I didn't see any sign of him after the first few days." The man sighed. "In short, no one but Gregor could get things done, either just because of who they were, or because Gregor stopped them from doing it."

"I wonder why Dr. Gregor was so against giving us help? You'd think that he'd see the reason for us wanting to change some things."

"I couldn't say that anything is for certain, but I heard that Washington was holding the reins to the project from the beginning. It was well documented that Gregor made reports every evening as to the days happenings, even before the colonists left Deep Space Five. I saw him myself several times during my two weeks of training with the warp field. Would you look at that?" he added suddenly, looking up into my face. "Another fine example of just how ready we were to colonize an alien planet. I received all of two weeks of training with the warp field." He shook his head violently. "It makes me sick thinking of how badly this project was planned."

"Well, I think you're doing the right thing in trying to get us prepared for the future," I said. "By the way, what's your name?"

"James Ross," he responded. "Yours?"

"Stephen Easton," I responded. "Keep up the good work, James." I turned to go.

"Thanks for the talk," he called after me. I nodded and waved, then walked back into the round room.

Several hours later, I left and headed for my room. I had realized a moment ago that I had forgotten to make a note of which set of doors I was to follow. :Luckily, I found a person that I had seen going down the same hallway and followed him out, and after a few minutes of walking, I reached my room. It didn't take me five minutes to fall asleep, and I found myself dreaming of home almost as soon as I was out. Needless to say, I didn't want to wake up.

[NoIdeaWhatI'mDoing]

Chapter 4
Meeting with Rogue Command

The next day, I was woken up by a shrill beep from my door. It was followed by a few more beeps, faster and more impatient. Finally, I got the idea and rolled out of bed. I looked at myself for a moment. Man, I needed to change clothes and bad! Too bad what I was wearing was the only set of clothes I had. Finally, after getting too annoyed by the beeping to ignore it any longer. I went to the door and opened it, looking quizzically at the Wolf that stared at me on the other side.

"It is time for the meeting," he said, standing straighter than seemed possible, given the structure of his legs.

"All right, give me a moment," I mumbled.` Stepping back inside and shutting the door, I got myself a bit more presentable, if that was possible since I didn't have the tools I really needed.

Finally, I stepped out into the hall where my escort waited. As we marched quickly down the hall, I again ran my fingers through my beard. I really needed a shave. It was way overdue.

We were soon at a strange, curved set of doors. After pressing a few buttons, the Wolf stepped into the circular room that was revealed beyond the doors. As I stepped in, he called out, "Conference room one." After a beep of acknowledgment, the doors slid closed behind the two of us, and the lift started upwards. After a few moments, the lift stopped and the doors opened quickly, revealing that we had come straight into the conference room.

The room was gigantic. We were on the first level back from the podium at the front. Five more balconies were visible behind us, each one starting at about the halfway point of the last, causing it to be both incredibly high and long at the same time. The podium had an upraised platform in the center, a small semicircle hardly big enough for two men to stand back to back on. The lighting was such that the central platform stood out against the main podium, which had about six chairs arranged in an orderly fashion facing the central platform.

The balcony that I had stepped out onto was packed full of people. I was sure that all of the surviving humans were here already, as well as several hundred of our hosts. They were all standing in military fashion, overseeing the chaos that was created by the crowd of humans. Obviously, the recent catastrophe had not affected our desire for interaction. The crowd was busily moving, conversations constantly moving and joining with others, only to split and meld with others. The volume was astronomical, and I was nearly tempted to cover my aching ears.

Suddenly, I became aware of someone calling me. Looking around, I noticed James standing in a relatively empty area of the balcony, with only about six people seated or standing in the immediate vicinity. He waved me over, smiling from ear to ear. It frankly made me less than comfortable.

"Hi, James," I said as I arrived.

"Hey, how are you doing today?" he returned.

"Pretty well, considering what all's been going on around here lately."

"Good to hear," he responded. "By the way, I have someone I want you to meet." He waved to a tall black man who stood over on his left.

"This is Jamal. Jamal, this is Stephen... What was the last name?"

"Easton."

"Right. Sorry, I'm horrible with names," he apologized.

"No problem," I assured him. "Good to meet you Jamal." He echoed my statement, then James cut in.

"Jamal, this is the guy who had the run-in with that Artoelan yesterday," he said, the smile getting progressively wider.

As Jamal started cracking up beside me, I raised an eyebrow at James. "Been doing a bit of research into my past, have you?"

"The two of us saw you the other day when you got jumped. I knew I had seen your face somewhere before. After you left, it took me about five seconds to figure out why." James burst out into uproarious laughter again.

"Personally, I didn't find it that funny," I commented.

"I have nothing against you," Jamal said in a break between laughs, "But that face you made when he pressed you down into the dirt was priceless!" He continued laughing, leaving me feeling pretty embarrassed.

"You try looking cool when someone is pressing several sharp blades across your throat," I challenged him.

"I probably wouldn't, but I luckily won't have to find out, as long as I look where I'm going," Jamal jabbed back.

"All right, break it up boys. Save the skirmishing for the battlefield," James broke in. "I guess we'll have to stop laughing about that particular incident if we are to keep the peace with Mr. Easton. I apologize for bringing it up."

"That's all right. I need a reason to loosen up anyway. I'm a bit tense after the last few days. By the way, what did you call that species?" I asked.

"Artoelan, also known as the Rulers, if you ask a Wolf," came James' response. "They're the species that's been in control of this planet for the most part in the last half century. The Wolves have been called an independent nation, but only by sympathizers and among themselves. The Artoelans basically control every part of Wolf society, but the age-old vendetta makes it so very few of the Wolves actually cooperate with their overlords. You already know about the new formally declared war. As for the Rogues, they're the combination of outcasts from both sides, fighting to try to find the elusive middle ground for the two warring sides. Officially, they'll do anything necessary to make sure that both survive. Unofficially, that includes going into an all-out war against the side that seems to have an advantage."

"So we're deciding whether or not to join with that cause?" I inquired further.

"Think of it like this: We have two sides, one with a massive central government, the other that has been ruled by warlords since they first began to establish an organized society. The Artoelans' government gave them a much more stable society, while the warlord system gave the wolves a stronger armed forces. At first, the war went to the Wolves because of their military superiority. Then, the Artoelans' more organized system paid off, as they were able to quickly expand military technology. Then, the wolves took to espionage, and took the advantage back. It's been going like this for as long as any of the Rogues remember," James explained. "The rogues are trying t do something previously unheard of, actually trying to establish peace by the use of their combined resources. Due to the good mix of Artoelans and Wolves, the mix of strongly organized government with the stronger military government system used by the Wolves is definitely superior to either one of the main factions' governments. The main worry is the numbers. Rogues are numerous, but ones who would join the official resistance operation of which this is the center are rather scarce. They'd rather keep to themselves more than anything."

"So, you think this a worthwhile cause?" I asked.

"More worthwhile than sitting back and waiting for this war to end," James remarked. "I admire the Rogues for their determination in spite of the seeming impossibility of their situation. They hope to keep out of sight of the main factions while performing their operations, but one thing is for sure for them. They will be found out sometime. When that happens, the massive military powerhouses of the Wolves and the Artoelans would be turned on them. The Rogues are hated by their own species, and would be a tempting target should they be caught."

"Covert operations is the main focus, then?"

"If not the only focus," verified James.

"Sounds like these Rogues have their work cut out for them," I commented.

"You don't know the half of it. These men would risk their lives to reconcile the very peoples that cast them from their homes. They don't car about themselves." James shook his head at this. "They're crazy, but it's a good kind of crazy."

"Better than..." Suddenly I was interrupted in the middle of a thought. A sudden hush fell on the people around me, and I wanted to know what was up. A glance at the platform answered my unasked question. A group of men had come through a set of doors, probably from a lift. Three Wolves and three Artoelans, who spread out across the platform and sat each in one of the provided seats. The silence continued as people began whispering to each other about the strange alien figures.

The doors, which had closed behind the six of the, opened again, revealing a Wolf who stepped out onto the podium. He nodded to each of the others in turn, who returned it as they were each greeted in this manner. He then stepped onto the central platform. The lights that focused on this podium gave me my first good look at him. He was covered in a coat of white fur, with black markings running up either side of his snout and joining at his head in an enthralling pattern. He wore simple clothes, basically what seemed standard within this base. He didn't seem elderly, yet, as I looked into his eyes, I felt that he had a good deal of experience hidden behind them.

As the last whispers died away, he began to speak. "Welcome, friends, to Rogue Central." His voice was remarkably different from what I would have expected. It was deep, with a tone that seemed to indicate that he was used to speaking in front of people.

Suddenly, I was pulled down into a chair by James. I looked over at him with a slightly annoyed expression. "What?" he said innocently. I would have responded, but the speaker had continued.

"We are sorry for the circumstances in which you have arrived here. Such a loss of life is always tragic, whether the life belongs to a human, an Artoelan, or one of my own kind. This is why we fight in this war. We hope that we may somehow bring peace to the two factions. We are, as of yet, quite short on personnel, so I will now ask what we might not otherwise. Rogue Command," here he motioned to the other creatures on the platform, "Requests that anyone with any ability in combat and a willing heart and mind to join us in this endeavor." Although we had already known for the most part, the statement still brought a wave of murmuring from the people on the balcony with me.

"We have little time until we will have to begin involving ourselves in the affairs of this war. For now we plan, but soon it will be necessary for us to go on the offensive. For this reason, all who volunteer will be given training as rapidly as possible. For those of you who don't have experience but would like to join the effort, this means that sleep will regularly be limited or missed altogether." More murmuring.

"We will gladly accept any help in any way you would like to offer it. Those who would rather stay out of the line of fire can help in other ways. We always need doctors, communications officers, research and development teams..." He stopped. "Whatever talent you have, if you would like to use it to help us, we will in no way turn you away. We need men capable of taking orders, first and foremost. If you can do that, we can find something for you to do.

"However, should you wish to be given sanctuary from the coming storm, we can provide it. This fortress has a great space behind it which we use to protect our families. We will happily provide you with what safety we can in that refuge for as long as this war lasts." He stopped, watching for a reaction from the assembled people. None seemed forthcoming. "As you leave, you will be asked which of the options you would prefer. Once you have chosen, you will be escorted to your new quarters in accordance to which one you choose. I beg you to choose wisely, or you will be the ones who will pay for it." Whispers were audible all around the balcony, but they were short lived.

"That is all for now. I will now answer any questions you might have." For the next ten minutes, he answered various question concerning the role of the Rogues in the coming war, what humans would do to assist, and what qualifications were necessary to be able to help with certain jobs. The last ones answer was a solemn, emotionless, "None." They would train anyone who needed it in whatever area they were willing to help in.

"I will take one more question," the Rogue commander said quietly, looking about the low balcony in which we sat. A middle-aged woman in the front was called upon for the final question.

Slowly, as if reluctant, she asked her question. "Sir, could we observe a moment of silence in memory of those who were killed?" There came a few reactions from around the room, all positive. Looking at the Wolf in front of us, I wasn't quite sure that he knew what a moment of silence was intended to do, yet he seemed to get a small smile for a moment, but it vanished as soon as it had come, replaced with his usual emotionless expression.

"Very well." He raised his voice and announced, "We will now have a moment of silence in honor of the ones who were killed in the attack." He stepped back off the lighted platform, and all was completely silent for what seemed like an eternity. I couldn't help but thinking of Sarah. Was I ever to see her again? I had been reluctant to do so before, but I now convinced myself that she was to be counted among the victims of the vicious attack. I was hard pressed to keep back the tears that threatened to fall. She had been the one true friend I had had out there, and now she was gone. The realization was sinking in, I was finally letting myself admit it. she was gone.

Finally, after about a minute of silence, the Rogue commander climbed atop the platform again. "You are now free to go. This meeting is closed." He stepped back off of the podium, and entered the lift again, and he was gone, just like that. He was yet another one of the strange things I was determined to find out about. For now, though, I had to volunteer so I could start training. Slowly, I made my way towards a set of doors through which the balcony was emptying. This was the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

[NoIdeaWhatI'mDoing]

Chapter 5
Preparations

It was several days later when those of us who decided to fight were actually given any information about what they would be doing in the days ahead. I waited somewhat impatiently for the training to start. There was little else to do about this strange facility, especially for those of us who were new here. I wasn't the only one who was tired of waiting. Jamal, who I had begun to get acquainted with, was also impatient. He had run out of things to do over the last few days, so we talked together a lot. The conversations were so meaningless that it would only mean more boredom to write them down.

The one strange thing I did notice was that James was constantly missing. I asked Jamal about it, but he had no idea where he had gotten to either. He had seen him a few times, but he kept on falling asleep before Jamal could pry anything out of him. He obviously was doing something. The rest of us found it hard to find enough activities to do to get tired during the day.
One day, we finally got the word that we were to meet back in the conference room. When we arrived, I noticed that several of the balconies that had once occupied the room were gone, leaving only two levels for us to occupy. We needed only that much, which I guess was the intention, seeing as there were no Rogues to share the space with. This time there was little to talk about, and, as an apparent side-effect, there was much less noise about. Sitting in a seat on the first balcony, I leaned back, closing my eyes for a moment of rest.

It wasn't very much later that the group that they called Rogue Command gathered on the stage, each taking their respective seats. The man who I supposed was the executive of the group was once more the last to arrive. They repeated the greetings as they had in our first meeting with them, and once more the Wolf stepped up to speak.

"Once more, welcome. I see that a good part of your people have decided to join. On behalf of Rogue Command, I wish to thank you for deeming our cause a worthy one. We are a small group, but we have unlimited potential when we band together and fight as one. We will all fight together to protect the rights of all of our peoples.

"Our stated goal as Rogues is to end hostilities between the Wolves and the Rulers. We will hold back nothing to defeat our enemies. Before you can start training, I feel you must know the exact situation of the players in this war. To do this, I present Redclaw, the Rogues' official intelligence expert. He's the guy you go to if you need your enemy's inside information fast. He will tell you now what the current positions are of the main enemy facilities and troop concentrations." With this, the Wolf stepped off of the podium, making way for a large Artoelan. The great creature settled on the small platform before he began.

"Good day to you. It is my sincerest pleasure to be able to work with you. In a moment, the lights will be turned off. Do not worry. I have been told that this is unusual for humans, so I believe it necessary to warn you. After a few moments of blackness, you will begin to see a three-dimensional projection of this base. After a minute, I will begin taking you to points of interest along the front lines of the two other factions." I must admit, I was getting interested in this. It sounded quite enthralling. I sat back, focusing on the creature as he signaled to someone behind us. As he had explained, the lights were turned off. Though they had been warned, several murmurs were heard throughout the onlookers.

It was about fifteen seconds later that I perceived a light green model that looked vaguely like the structure we now occupied. After a few seconds longer, the model improved greatly, showing greater detail, until the details became so real that it became almost freaky. I could see each shrub that lined the rugged rock faces on which this facility was built. The only thing that set it off as a model was that it was only in green, without its usual colors. After a few more seconds, though, this also changed. New colors of light began to find their ways to my eyes. First tints of red, then blue, then, after some focusing, the picture jumped out clearly as the very place within whose walls we were harbored.

Finally, the Artoelan could be heard clearing his throat. "We're sorry for the delay, we were having some difficulties with the projection system. We should be all right now, though." I almost laughed. There had been no noticeable delay, and the quality definitely made up for anything that may have been otherwise wrong with it. The image rotated slowly, showing the facilities from every angle. I found myself marveling at the difficulty I was having distinguishing buildings from the rock face that they were built on.

"Very well, let us begin. Before you know anything about your enemy, you will find it very necessary to know something more about the place where you are now. As you can see, the construction itself makes this facility hard to find. The fact that it is built in a small gap in a mountain range gives us excellent protection from detection." At this point, the image zoomed out, showing the range of mountains in which the facility was located. A red star indicated our location in the middle of the range. It was impressive. No one would have thought to look in the center of such a range. Then again, that was most likely the intention.

"As you can see, we are quite well hidden here. However, the location isn't enough, especially considering the satellites which both sides will employ to collect information on the other's activities. So, we have installed a complex cloaking system, which not only adds to the natural camouflage, but also makes this area look no different than the surrounding rocks to advanced sensors. In short, our facility looks like this to enemy satellites." At this point, the view changed again, showing a top-down view of our location. His analysis was exactly correct. I couldn't distinguish between the rocks and the facility, even though I knew it was there. I couldn't imagine that someone could find this spot without extreme scrutiny.

"To silence any doubt you might have, we know that this is how it looks from enemy satellites because we managed to intercept a few of these images. The satellite passed this location over as part of the range, nothing more. The view from enemy surveillance aircraft is similar, once more showing here photos we have captured from our enemies." The view was now from much lower and wasn't quite top-down, and instead a slight angle was apparent. Once more, the buildings weren't there. They simply blended in perfectly with the surrounding scenery.

"Once more we were passed over. It was unnecessary to even heighten security level. The craft passed over without noticing that anything was wrong. We hope to take maximum advantage of our very well-established position. Of course, this will necessitate a great deal of caution during troop deployment, but it is not our current intention to wage total war. All deployments will be tailored to the specific missions which we seek to accomplish.

"Now we will see exactly how our enemies have moved over the past few days. we will start with the Artoelan positions. First, we will overview the exact territories in question. The Artoelans claim control of the entire continent, minus a few spots inhabited by species under the protection of the Rageclaw Pact, which was signed ninety years ago at the end of the last formally declared war between the Wolves and the Artoelans. No, this does not mean that there has been peace for ninety years, only that neither side has been brave enough to wage open war during that time. But I digress. These creatures are, for all purposes, our only possible allies. We will treat their affairs with concern, but we will not meddle unless their survival is threatened or if we have very well-defined interests in their case. We will now show the map of all occupied territory." The view changed again, showing a rather plain map, considering what had just been shown. It still showed three-dimensional topographical details. "The areas shaded in green are Artoelan territories," the Ruler explained. "The Wolves' territories are in red, with all other unclaimed areas unshaded." At that moment, the map changed from showing the natural colors, to showing a rather standard topographical map with political boundaries drawn. A good deal of land was shaded green, about seventy percent by my first estimate.

"As you can see, the Artoelans have what could be termed a considerable foothold as it stands now." There were a few mirthless laughs from somewhere in the unseen audience, followed by silence. I chucked slightly to myself, but it was for a completely different reason. I realized that I had almost forgotten that I wasn't alone in this room.

"Also, the Wolves' territories are in two separate and distinct areas." I looked as the red areas blinked for a moment, highlighting the tactical disadvantage that this created. "According to what we know of Wolf operations, they are willing to give up the northern area if they should be attacked with enough force on that front. It is the weaker of the two positions as tactical advantage goes. Also, the southern holding is much better established. At this point, we will examine the Wolves' positions as they have progressed over the past few days." The view changed, zooming in on the southern territory. It gave great detail to the landscape as it now stood. There were a good many buildings scattered throughout the area, with several cities in the southernmost part of the territory. Farther north, the cities changed to strongholds, massive works built to stand against attacks that would soon strike them.

"The cities in this area hold on average of half a million individuals, small by our standards. The military facilities each have a compliment of about a quarter million. There are about fifteen of them." The map now zoomed out, showing the territory isolated from the rest of the map. "This is how the positions looked ten days ago, at the time of the formal declaration of war. All red areas are now occupied areas on the map." The coverage was very spotty, showing the forces of the Wolves all over the map, with many gaps in between. "We will now show you the movements since that time. Each minute is one day." At this point, the red splotches started growing and moving towards each other, then moving to secure the northern areas of the territory. More troops were also filtering in from the north, joining the rest of the troops as they secured the northern border of the territory. A few broke off and went south before moving around in regular patrols. A few others went north, soon to be replaced by more coming south.

“We realize that this does not go to show you much of the specifics of the numbers we’re talking about. Approximately eight million Wolf troops are currently serving actively in the war, compared to about five times as much for the Artoelans. It’s going to be hard to do much to help them, but we’re dead set on keeping both sides alive in this struggle. I am not clear on exactly how this will be accomplished, as it is not my area of expertise.

“Now, let’s look at the Artoelan troop movements.” The visual changed again, now showing the vast area controlled by the other side. The land was emptier of settlements, but had more troops in it. “It was in this region that the first skirmishes of the war took place. Neither side took much damage, but both attacked the other as they started laying claim to their territories. The Artoelan troops are in the green shaded areas, and red is still the Wolves.”

The map started moving, showing the Artoelan troops as the slowly coalesced and formed a barrier along the southern side of the territory first. Then from amid the settlements to the north, a new group of Artoelans marched and secured the northern border, then held. From scattered areas across the map, several groups of green moved quickly towards the borders. The two sides met first as a group of Wolves pushed their way through the southern boundary, and then pressed farther into their own territory, at which point all pursuing Artoelans fell back and rejoined the line. Several more groups of Wolves hit the borders in their attempts to get across, and each time they were pursued less and less, until several seemed to get through unchallenged, if the graphic could be believed.

“After the first few groups of Wolves made their way through the lines on their way to their holdings, they were put on a low priority, and the forces guarding the Artoelan border were told to pursue and engage only if the opposing forces were coming into Artoelan territory. So far, no Wolves have made such a move, though several have put themselves just within sensor range to see how the Artoelans reacted. When they were fired on, though, they quickly retreated. For the moment, the Wolves are fighting a rather defensive war. The next view we will see will be of the former position on which you and your friends built your settlement. It has been declared a sort of unofficial neutral zone, and is so far the only truly contested territory on the map. Both sides have been observed to move into the territory, only to retreat soon after. It was, at first, a mystery as to why this was happening, until we started having our surveillance satellites search for humans. What we found was… Well, it was strange to be sure.

“You are about to see an overview of the same time period you have observed twice already, but this time you may see quite a bit more action. There is a third group involved. It is a group of unidentified humans who have been seen several times by our rescue crews, but would not respond when we attempted to get them to cease firing on us.” There now went up a great uproar from the crowd, but I just sat there in stunned silence. Somewhere out there was a group of humans who had had the courage to actually take on these strange aliens. Humans with guns, no less. That couldn’t be just anyone. Few of us could even use a gun. We had come for adventure. These people were rare if not unheard of in the colony. I couldn’t help but wonder who they could be.

“The humans will be represented by blue, Artoelans green, Wolves red, and Rogues yellow.” The map zoomed in much farther than ever before, focusing in on the territory we had occupied beforehand. To start out, there was hardly any blue, which surprised me. There were only a few yellow areas on the map, and no red or green was noticeable. The yellow moved throughout the area, going through looking for survivors and often leaving with some of the scattered humans with them. Then the green became obvious. After a few seconds more on the presentation, most of the Rogues had left quickly, leaving only a few. I realized that this was probably the point at which we had been extracted from the base we had been sheltered in after the disaster.

The red had soon joined, and the green and the red met once before moving in opposite directions quickly, then slowing down after getting a decent distance apart. Then, out of nowhere, a group of blues appeared on the map. For the next few days, the humans stayed at the same location, only once in a while a small group would split off before returning after their patrol. A few of the remaining Rogue patrols made short contact, then fell back towards the edge of the map, probably on their way to Rogue Central. Finally, only two days ago, the blues started to move, going slowly and combing the ruins. They contacted one of the groups of Wolves, then fell back slowly through the ruins, with the Wolves in close pursuit. Finally, the humans fell back quickly to their original position, where they stopped to continue the fight with the Wolves.

There was now only one group of Rogues remaining, and they moved to a point just before the humans’ positions, where they contacted the Wolves. After a few seconds more, the Wolves retreated, just as the motion stopped, freezing the Wolves in mid-flight.

“This is how it looks at the moment. The actual contact between the two main factions was slight, but the Wolves and the humans have already seen substantial fighting, though few casualties were actually reported. It seems that both sides were content to try to fight a defensive battle to start out, then the humans fell back for tactical advantage. At that point, an all-Artoelan force was sent to prevent all further contact between the two parties. It worked well, and the party is now falling back to a position in the ruins. They will try to make contact with the humans as soon as possible. We have even gotten a few of your companions to volunteer to contact the mysterious humans. They will attempt the contact tomorrow, barring further hostilities. We are concerned about the Artoelans who have moved up in this area of the ruins, however,” the Artoelan added. To punctuate this, the group in question flashed briefly, leaving no doubt as to where they were.

“If they continue at the current direction and pace, they will contact the humans before our target time for the meeting. At that point, we will do what we can to assist the humans, but we would not be able to use our Artoelan group, or we could compromise our position. We have a small group of Wolves waiting on the border, but we don’t know if they will be enough to turn odds in the humans’ favor. We certainly hope so.

“Very well, then,” he said after a few seconds’ pause. “That is what information we have at present. We will give you all proper notification if any further intelligence of importance is found about this group of humans. We hope to hear good news soon. Lights, please.”

At this point, the projection faded, and the lights were raised. After a few moments of adjusting to the light, we could see that the wolf had once more taken the central podium, and was preparing to address us again.

“You will begin formal training tomorrow. We need you all to get a good amount of rest tonight so you can be sharp for your first lessons. We need all the help we can get for our cause, so we thank you heartily for your willingness to enter into this cause. May you all be instrumental in our cause to reunite our lands after so long. You will be called for your lessons tomorrow. Be warned, it will be early, so get as much sleep as possible.” With this, the Wolf stepped off of the podium, and the lights dimmed around the stage so that the figures on it were hardly visible.

Seeing that we were dismissed, we all filed out into the halls and found our separate rooms to wait for what was to follow the next day. No amount of rest, though, could prepare us for what was to happen the next day.