CHAPTER SEVEN
Puffie flipped up his visor
and wiped his sweaty forehead. The
temperature was supposedly 45 degrees Celsius, but it could be translated into the
old saying of “Too Damn Hot.”
He was watching the cleanup
of the battle, a process that has taken the fine total of two days. 10 legionnaires were killed, 15 were wounded
while the rebels took heavier hits, with 40 dead and 15 captured. Peter was off for those two days because of
the laser shot he took in the mine.
Puffie scanned the horizon
and went back to watching the technicians take parts off of an irreparable
Archer tank. His mind went back to the “officer” that appeared after the
battle.
Puffie and John, another
legionnaire, were escorting the prisoners from the communications building when
they saw him approaching them the entrance.
He wore all-black general-style uniform, dark glasses, and a general’s
hat. His oxygen mask obstructed any facial
features.
He asked Puffie “Is the
Comm. building intact?”
Puffie replied “Should be,
Sir. The building went down without a fight”
“No wiping of the computer
equipment?”
“Negative, Sir. Why do you
ask?”
“That’s not for you to know,
Soldier.” He said gruffly. He entered the building and almost as fast as he
entered, had exited the building and left for a hummingbird helicopter. John came up to Puffie and asked “Who was
that guy?”
“I don’t know, John.” Puffie
said “There was no ID tag on his uniform. Very strange”
John shrugged “Ah, well,
Puffie, let’s get back to securing P.O.W.’s. We got more important things right
now.”
Puffie thought why an
officer would be interested in if the computer equipment would have been wiped,
but nothing made any sense. Then Puffie’s eye caught the movement of an APC
coming over the hills, slightly darkened by the setting sun. “Probably the
patrol change.” He thought, and walked to the approaching vehicle to address
it.
*MEANWHILE*
Jack looked out at the
sunset and the dimming light on the abandoned quarry. The last few rays of light were caught cast a
long shadow from a rusting, worn out dragline excavator from the pit that Jack
was overlooking. The rebels set up a
small base of operations here, and as far as anyone knew, there was nothing
here but a few bits of scrap metal and some abandoned buildings, all owned by a
close-to-bankruptcy mining company. I was a good 100 clicks from any city,
which kept any vandals away.
Jack turned back and looked at
his makeshift office. In the corner, a desk lamp lit a rabbit at a laptop,
typing up a storm. Another rebel stood
five feet from Jack, and he looked visibly nervous. He had reason to, as he just told the rebel
leader bad news, and Jack was not happy with it.
“So tell me again why we
lost that supply post?” he asked; a glint of fire in his eyes. The rebel stuttered as he was answering.
“We…uh…we… had a team sneak in and take the radar station. Before we, uh… knew what was happening, we
had choppers and tanks…err…overrunning us.”
“Thanks. I am disappointed, and those guys should have
been tighter in security. I’m starting
to doubt the intelligence of those idiots in Sulfon.
Get out of here before I lose my temper”
The rebel breathed a sigh of
relief and shakily walked his way out the door. Jack gave a long sigh and
continued watching the sunset. He knew
he was the leader of the rebellion, and he accepted that responsibility. He anticipated this bit of stress that there
was a big chance the rebellion would fail, and if the government caught him, he
would be drawn and quartered.
The start of the rebellion
was necessary, though. The Rabbit Colonial Government was powered by
greed. Working conditions were declining
horribly, and workers were being killed every day as a result. The RCG didn’t care, though; as long as the
mines filled the overly huge quotas every day, it would give you your daily
ration, then send you straight to the next mine. Everyone was tired and mining companies
feeling the pressure would force workers to work long hours, and cut corners
with safety.
Protests and mining strikes
only brought the fury of the Minerva Police, a basic militia formed by the RCG’s Rabbit Legion for law enforcement. Some of these
protests broke out in riots, which quickly ended in blood.
Jack
was an energy manager at the local power plant before the insurgency started.
When he was fired for stopping security from beating an employee that was late
3 minutes, and was promptly kicked out of his company-supplied apartment, he
decided that he had nothing to lose. A quick trip to the bar on the seedy side
of town got the supporters he needed.
Word spread very quickly, and by sundown was leading a large group of
rabbits determined to get rid of the colonial government.
His gaze turned to the
silhouette of a city in the distance.
That city was Detamon. The rebels
have that city turned into a war zone.
Barring Rabbit Legion reinforcements, the rebels should overwhelm the
police forces in close to another 24 hours.
The rebels hold a large amount of the city, and the police are now
reduced to guerilla fighting.
The Rabbit Legion was a big
worry for Jack. They have remained
uninvolved in this fight, and now the government is calling for military
support. If the legion kicks in, the
fight would have the tables turned quite quickly. He needed something to distract the military
until the rebels can gain a major foothold to at least form a separate country. He was looking at the sky 4 days ago when the
idea hit him, and now it has evolved into an actual war plan-
His train of thought was
interrupted by a “Sir?” coming from behind him. Jack slowly turned around to
find the rabbit at the laptop staring at him “Yes?” Jack said finally.
“I think I got in” the rabbit
said. Jack walked over to the rabbit,
which had looked like he had spent many a sleepless night at a computer
screen. He was referred to by black
market merchants for his expertise in hacking into computer systems and exiting
without a trace. Jack had used his
services for securing cash before, but this job was a lot more serious. Even the hacker himself said it could be
disastrous to the rebellion, and wanted three-quarters of the cash up front.
Jack got to the desk and
asked “So you think you broke past the security?” “Pretty sure boss.”
Replied the hacker, and motioned for Jack to come around, which Jack did and
looked at the hacker’s laptop screen.
The hacker pressed a few more keys, and the screen turned a dark blue.
Finally, after a long pause,
options filled the screen “Welcome, to the WestStar Space Station’s control
system setup page” The laptop speakers said.
The hacker rubbed his hands together in joy.
Jack
grinned. This should be a great plan.