THE IRON WAR
PROLOGUE
The
sun was a red ball setting in the distance.
In Minerva’s red atmosphere, it was almost barely distinguishable. The ever-lowering light caught the rocks in
the desert and cast long shadows amidst the desert floor.
The
streets of Sulfon were empty as the setting sunlight
then caught the buildings and the shadows grew longer. A gentle breeze swept some litter and dust
down the street. The sidewalks were empty, save for a lone rabbit walking down
one side. He wore a pair of dirty jeans
and a t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. An oxygen mask covered his face,
like many residents of Minerva who work outside in the oxygen-poor air.
But
this was no ordinary resident of Minerva, for the main difference was the
shotgun slung over his shoulder. He
glanced around tensely before approaching a door on the side of a building, and
glanced around a final time before knocking on the door.
There
was a pause. The rabbit expected this as the occupants inside would check the
security system to see who it was from the camera peering down above his head.
The door swung open to reveal a small room, with another door at the end. The rabbit walked in, and the outside door
closed with a hiss as it sealed airtight.
A
humming sound emitted as pumps enriched the air with oxygen. The rabbit counted to thirty, than removed
his mask and turned the tank off. He
coughed slightly as his lungs adjusted to the amount of oxygen in the room,
after another 30 seconds, the inner door swung open.
The
rabbit walked into a rather well worn bar.
There is a group of 5 rabbits at a table; the rest of the bar empty. The
rabbit expected this, as it was after hours for the bar. The curfew imposed by the Minerva government
caused business hours for all stores to be shortened to just before sunset. The
rabbit walked over to the group and grabbed a seat, starting with “You could
have saved a glass for me, you know.”
One
of the rabbits stared at him “I’m sure the barkeep would do that if he was
here,
One
of the rabbits pulled a piece of paper out of an envelope, and pushed it
towards
“So
how do we do that, Don? An attack on the base would be suicide, and that paper
you gave me just has a bunch of military installations on it.”
“Ah
yes.” Said Don, as the last rabbit read the paper and handed it back to
him. “You might notice the locations are
listed by what we attack first.” He put his finger on the first line. “The first target would be the Resupply base North of Sulfon.
Knock that out, and the next target would be the naval laser at Kamera’s Pit Stop, and so on.”
The
group was silent for a moment. Then
Another
rabbit answered “We can start moving at
Mike,
who was a little dusty and travel worn, said “Aside from the basic defenses,
there are about 5 archer tanks, a couple of attack choppers and about 50
troops.”
“Hey,
wait a minute
“The
whole base is surrounded by concrete walls, Mike. I’ve studied the scout photos, you’ve seen it
personally. How else are we gonna get in?”
”We could dig a tunnel.” Don suggested. “Only problem is it would take a while
to dig.”
“It’s
not getting in, so much as how we get in.” Mike said “What we should do is
knock the defenses off with rockets, and take out any troops outside. Then they have to open the gate to let more
troops and tanks out. And when they are
doing that, have a team knock a tank out as it passes through the gate, and
there’s our “Doorjamb” Otherwise, if they don’t open the gate, we’ll open it
for them.”
“Heh! Sounds like a
good plan right there!” Said
“So
all we need to do is assemble our troops.”
They
all nodded in succession, and
“They
will see the hammer fall, and we shall hit them like a ton of Iron”