by Tom Jones
Arcades sat up as he scooted himself closer to the wolf, “The Lord didn’t drop you dead on the spot. God is obviously still willing to forgive you for that. What matters isn’t what you did. What matters is that God is willing to give His grace and mercy for you.” Jason finally uncovered his face, and he realized that Arcades was all but embracing him, “How can I be as good as you are, Kurt?” Arcades shook his head, “No, I am far from good. There is none good but Jesus Christ. We are all wretched sinners without the healing and gifts from the Holy Spirit. It is through His power that we are given new life. Not a physical new life, at least not really… But we are given new life internally: a new spiritual life. When we are born again, we go from living in sin to living in righteousness. You go from being a sinner to being a saint. You can thank God for even allowing sapient beings like us to receive salvation in the first place. None of us deserved it. Nobody deserves to live in eternal paradise.”
Jason then spoke in response, “What bad have you done, Kurt?” Arcades gave a soft smile as he placed his right hand on the wolf’s back, and he helped Jason sit up. The fox then said, “I promise you, I’m guilty as charged with all sorts of things. I definitely do not deserve to be saved.” The fox stopped talking, and he took a moment of time as he considered his own past. The fox spoke again, “You know, in a way, I used to be just like you.” Jason was curious, “What do you mean by that, mate?” Arcades sighed as he remembered past events, “Jason, a very long time ago, I used to hold different feelings towards what I do with the stuff in that bag. Thankfully, the Lord healed me of that. However, that’s not all I am guilty of. I’ve probably broken the Ten Commandments more than I’d like to have before the Lord cleansed me.” Jason remembered one of the Ten Commandments, “You’ve killed somebody before?” Arcades smiled as he looked at the wolf, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
Jason frowned as he looked downwards, “Aw, Kurt… How can I know God like you do?” Arcades brought the wolf in closer, and he began to embrace him, “All you need to do is ask God yourself. He’ll tell you everything you need to know, and I can promise you that. You put your trust in the power of the Holy Spirit, and you won’t ever be left in the dark. You will be led to the light by the power of God’s righteousness.” Jason buried his face in Arcades shoulder, but the fox continued to speak, “The devil is out there to condemn you, but you must remember this very important quote: ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.’” Jason began to sob quietly in Arcades’ chest. The fox continued again, “You need not hold onto past sins since Jesus has already paid the price for all sins. When you repent and trust in Christ, you shouldn’t hold on to your sins. Imagine if I always did that. I would still be a lying, thieving fox. Amongst other things, of course. I’d be fitting multiple fox-related stereotypes. I’m sure you know many of them already.”
Jason was still holding onto the fox, and he still continued to weep in Arcades’ arms. Arcades was hoping that the wolf was still listening, “Ask God to remove these condemning feelings. The Holy Spirit will convict you of wrongdoing, but the devil is the one that convinces you that you cannot be forgiven by God. The only unpardonable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, but you have not committed this. To my knowledge, I don’t believe it is possible to commit that sin given the current circumstances we are in. You’d have to read about that for yourself, so don’t take my word for that. Don’t take my word for anything, really. If you want the truth, you’re supposed to ask Jesus to reveal it to you and listen to God’s Word.” The wolf was finally beginning to calm down, but Arcades was not going to let go until Jason was ready. Arcades then finally said to the wolf, “I still love you Jason. I’m not going to give up on you, and God surely isn’t going to give up on you if you follow in His ways.” The wolf did not return any response to the fox that wasn’t entirely composed of more weeping. Arcades then said, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
Chapter 4
Uninvolved in Peace
“Are we all ready for this?” Arcades asked the group. All seven of his allies gave some form of affirmative response to indicate they were indeed ready for operations. Spectre checked her R93 rifle, and she made sure that a round was already loaded in the chamber before she inserted a full magazine into the rifle to give her one extra round she would otherwise not have if she chambered a round after inserting a full magazine. The female cat also felt the pouches of her South African Defence Force Pattern 90 Webbing to make sure that she was still carrying all of her necessary equipment for the mission. Bocchino toggled the sight on the XMP-1, and he pulled the weapon’s main charging handle to chamber a 5.56x45mm round into the rifle from the KE magazine. Bocchino lacked ammunition for the integrated airburst launcher, but he felt that he wouldn’t need to use the feature anyways. The sight which the XMP-1 currently had installed already came bundled with a ballistics tracker operating with both of the weapon’s modes of fire.
The fox stepped inside of the helicopter, and he could see that Jim was already starting the Pave Hawk’s engines. The fox asked the human, “Are we ready to get going?” Jim turned to face Arcades, and he raised the visor on his helmet, “Yeah, I’ll drop you down close, but not too close. Omega will automatically attack anything that is within 500 meters of a facility. Some facilities even have AA defenses that would be definitely able to take down your helicopter. I’ll make sure to drop you guys off out of sight, though. AA turrets shouldn’t be a problem if we’re out of sight.” Spectre then came up to the helicopter to speak with Arcades, “Kurt, where are you guys going to drop?” Arcades replied, “I’m going to try and sneak in through the back with Jason and Bobby.” Spectre looked at the rest of the members in her fireteam, “Does that mean we’re going to have to deal with those Omega guys?” Arcades stepped out of the Pave Hawk, “Unless you have a better idea. Given their numbers compared to ours, we would be quickly overrun.”
Spectre wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about the fox’s plan, but she knew that the odds of a successful mission were going to be even lower if the entire unit was bunched together. Arcades reassuringly spoke to the female cat, “Just keep your ears open so you can hear Jim tell you guys to move in. Until then, we’re going to need you guys to keep the heat off of us as we make our entry.” The cat held her sniper rifle upwards, “Then you’re going to need me out there with this.” Arcades nodded, “Make sure that your own team stays safe. Don’t worry too much about us down there.” Spectre watched as the Pave Hawk’s rotors started spinning at a higher rate, “You sure about this?” Arcades smiled, “Yeah, I sure am. We’ll make it out of this in one piece.” Jim turned around once more, “Okay, we’re about to get going. Kurt, tell everyone it’s time to hop in the helicopter.” Arcades acknowledged the pilot, “Alright.” The fox moved over to where Jason loaded a magazine into his HK433, “It’s time for us to get moving. Get aboard the helicopter. We’re going as soon as everyone gets on.” The wolf nodded and began making his way to take a seat in the helicopter.
Arcades then noticed that Spectre already gathered the rest of her fireteam with her, and Arcades watched as the three black cats placed their somewhat bulky ESS goggles over their eyes to disguise themselves from being identified as anthros. Arcades figured that a passive disguise would be the best course of action since Arcades believed Omega did not have any business capturing humans rather than anthros. At a first glance at the three tailless cats, Arcades couldn’t even tell that they were anthros since they had even covered up the lower part of their faces with khaki balaclavas. As the cats wearing Soldier 2000 boarded the helicopter with Jason, Arcades noticed that Bocchino also got the message that they were leaving. Bocchino h
eld his XMP-1 in one hand as he stepped aboard the helicopter. Arcades now realized that he was the only one who was not seated in the helicopter. The fox made sure that his GRY was set to safe before he proceeded to enter the helicopter. Arcades began to jog in order to reach the Pave Hawk a bit quicker since the fox did not want to keep the anthros held inside of the compound waiting for freedom longer than they needed to wait. After hopping aboard the helicopter, Bocchino closed the helicopter’s side door and tapped on Jim’s shoulder to signal for takeoff.
Jim gave the helicopter’s main rotor more power, and Arcades could feel that he was about to take flight yet again. The fox looked around the cabin, and he could see that Jason and Bocchino were sitting down while Spectre’s fireteam was standing up. The fox took his seat next to Jason, and he gave a nod to the wolf in order to lighten the mood. The wolf perked up a small smile in response, but he was visibly anxious. Jim flipped down the visor of his pilot helmet, and he began to push the stick forwards in order to make the helicopter move in the corresponding direction of the stick. As the helicopter began to move at an angle, the South African cats all held onto the frame of the helicopter so that they would not lose their balance. Spectre had already told Jim where the Omega facility was ahead of time, so Jim was following the cat’s instructions as a mental flight plan. The Pave Hawk’s avionics did not include the locations of Omega facilities. Jim figured that it would take no more than ten minutes to fly to the landing zone.
Bocchino spent most of his time getting used to the ergonomics of the XMP-1, for it was a weapon that he was not too familiar with using. He also practiced shouldering the rifle while pointing it down at the helicopter’s floor in order to figure out the best way to hold the weapon that would be both most comfortable and most stable. He also spent a moment looking down the scope to judge how close his eye needed to be in order for the scope to properly magnify and display the crosshair clearly. Though Bocchino would not be able to test the focus of the scope inside of the helicopter, he did want to make sure that he was accustomed to the eye relief of the scope.
Arcades watched Bocchino as he tried out the XMP-1, and the fox was reminded of the optic which he had on his own rifle. The fox looked down at the L3Harris EOTech EXPS3 tightly mounted on the top rail of his Salient GRY’s upper receiver, and he visually inspected the sight and magnifier combination on his weapon. Arcades pressed the up button on the left side of the holographic sight in order to toggle the reticle; the fox then looked down the sight in order to assure that the proper reticle was being displayed. After seeing the reticle, Arcades knew that his expensive holographic sight was indeed functioning properly. The fox then looked at the G33 STS magnifier situated directly behind the EXPS3. Arcades figured that he would not be too bothered with longer ranges, so he decided that he would not lock his 3x magnifier upwards to meet his holographic sight. Since the fox was sufficiently satisfied with his primary weapon system, he then checked that all of his magazines were properly secured on his chest rig. On the left and right sides of his OD Green Condor Battle Belt, Arcades carried a double-magazine pouch that was similar to HSGI TACO magazine pouches. The fox favored such pouches because they utilized a bungee cord retention system so that larger magazines could be accommodated.
Jason sat in his seat holding the HK433 as he was waiting for the helicopter to reach the first destination. Jim was preparing to drop Spectre and her fireteam in front of the compound first before dropping the remaining three anthros off behind the compound. While Spectre’s fireteam would draw out the ISG personnel, Arcades would be able to enter the compound through the back with Jason and Bocchino with less resistance from on-site ISG personnel. Spectre’s fireteam would move inside of the building once Arcades made his entrance first. Jim would then return to pick up any anthros that were rescued from the compound after the area was completely secured by the infiltrating anthros. The wolf went over the plan again in his mind, and he knew that he just had to follow Arcades’ lead and be mindful of any ISG personnel within the compound.
“Approaching the first LZ. Be advised,” Jim spoke to Spectre’s fireteam. Spectre acknowledged the human, “Right. We’ll be ready.” The human made sure that he did not fly too close to the facility, for he knew that Omega would not hesitate to fire upon their helicopter even if they lacked dedicated AA defenses. Jim was doing his best to make sure that Omega did not know they were soon to be under attack. The human began lowering the helicopter’s altitude, and Jim prepared to deploy the first fireteam due south of the compound. Spectre opened the helicopter’s main door, and she prepared to disembark from the HH-60. Once the helicopter was close enough to the ground to safely exit, the four South African cats leaped from the helicopter and landed safely on the ground. Bocchino watched the fireteam to make sure that they had all safely exited the helicopter. Once he visually confirmed their deployment, he tapped Jim on his shoulder again to let him know that the first team had successfully exited the helicopter’s cabin. Once Jim knew that Spectre’s team was on the ground, he gave the main rotor more throttle in order to distance the helicopter from the ground. The human did not want to fly too high because he did not want to risk being seen by Omega patrols which might be near the facility.
Spectre grabbed the Blaser R93 she carried on her back, and she made sure that a round was already chambered by pulling the bolt halfway back. The chamber would be exposed just enough to look inside while the extractor would be unable to remove the chambered round from the rifle. Spectre drove the bolt forwards to close the chamber again. The other three cats already began moving forwards; their weapons were more or less oriented for close range combat. Spectre gave the other three cats the go-ahead, “See what’s going on over there. I’ll try to find a good sniping spot.” While the three cats began moving forwards, Spectre turned around to see if there was an elevated area that she would be able to utilize in order to maintain the best possible support vantage point of the area. The cat held her sniper rifle in her arms as she began to ascend a small hill. While she knew that suppressed weapons were still audibly heard within a certain distance, she was aiming to find an area that was far enough away to mitigate this effect. She did not want to alert hostiles as to where she was firing on them from.
Kitchi, Koh-Koh, and Kohei all moved together as they continued moving in on the Omega facility. From where they were currently positioned, they were able to partially see the roof of a building, but they could not see anything else. From what they were able to see, the roof building appeared to be a light gray color. The cats recognized the building since they previously assumed it to be a United Nations outpost. However, due to the insight Arcades gave regarding the complex, they now realized it was not really the United Nations who operated from within the compound. The cats continued to proceed, and they made sure that their fur was entirely covered; they did not want to be recognized as anthros. As the small fireteam proceeded, they heard Spectre’s voice over the radio, “I’m in position. I have a clear view of the facility. You’re going to need a way to get past their outer wall. Perhaps use some plastic explosives to clear a path.”
Jim was now approaching the second landing zone from which the three remaining anthros would deploy from. As the human began leveling out the helicopter for the second descent, the three anthros inside of the cabin readied themselves for deployment. Arcades stood up, and he helped Jason stand up as well while Bocchino moved to the door in order to open it. When Bocchino opened the door, Arcades and Jason could now see that the helicopter was close enough to the ground to let the small fireteam exit. Bocchino leaped out of the helicopter first, and Jason was quick to follow. Arcades was the final anthro to disembark, and the fox made sure to close the helicopter door once he exited the Pave Hawk since the helicopter was close enough to the ground for the fox to reach the door handle. The fox then walked to the pilot side door of the helicopter, and he gave a thumbs up to Jim in order to indicate that the entire crew was now safely on the ground. Jim returned
a nod in affirmation, and he proceeded to egress from the landing zone to allow for the mission to officially commence.
Jason watched as Jim exited the landing zone, but Arcades caught the wolf’s attention by speaking, “We just need to head south, and we’ll find the facility. I heard that Spectre already has a confirmed visual of the compound. She said that there is an outer wall that we need to get past. If there is a door with a lock, I’ll probably be able to get that open if you give me some time. If it requires a keycard, I can use the one I got from Utah.” After the brief mission briefing, the fireteam of three began making their way to the Omega facility. Within a few minutes of walking, Arcades heard Jim over the radio, “Successfully exited the AO. Currently on standby. Over.” The fox replied to the pilot, “Solid copy. We’ll let you know when we need you. Out.” Bocchino looked at the fox as they continued to move forwards, “If Spectre and her team gets overrun, you do realize that we don’t stand a damn chance on our own, right?” Arcades knew that Bocchino was correct, but he didn’t want to currently consider such an outcome, “We should cross that bridge if we ever have to get there. I’m sure they’ll be alright.”
