by Tom Jones
The vixen stopped speaking, and her face was a clear signal to Arcades that she did not want to continue saying anything. Arcades did not pressure her to reveal any more information, but he did wait to see if Jackie would indeed speak. Before Jackie could say anything else, Bocchino was already coming back from the restroom, “Damn, that feels better. Come on, we still have a bit of a way to go don’t we?” Jim could hear the cat’s raised voice, and he turned around to see Arcades, Jackie, and Bocchino all standing in the middle of the parking lot. Jim walked back over to meet Bocchino, “Yeah, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover.” Bocchino nodded in response, “Yeah? Well let’s not waste anymore time. Who is going to decide on where we’re supposed to sleep tonight?” Arcades spoke up, “Uh… I guess we’ll figure that out when the sun starts going down.” Bocchino snickered and referenced where Arcades and Jason had been sleeping for the past few days, “Hah, I hope you’ve got a better suggestion than jail.” Arcades did not say anything else to Bocchino. Jim climbed back in the passenger seat of the 4Runner while Bocchino looked back over to the SUV, “I’m glad you maintained this thing, Kurt. If you hadn’t then we’d probably be looking at a few more days out on the road trying to fix this piece of shit up.” Arcades nodded to the cat, and Bocchino began to move back to the driver’s seat once he realized that neither of the foxes had anything more to say to him.
Bocchino started the 4Runner, and he did not bother waiting for Arcades or Jackie to get back in the vehicle before he shifted the transmission into reverse. Both of the foxes climbed inside of the vehicle, and Arcades took his seat next to Jason. To the fox’s surprise, Jason had not yet awakened from his nap. Jackie sat to Arcades’ right again, and she put on her seatbelt and closed the door as Bocchino reversed out of the parking spot. Arcades put on his seatbelt after Jackie did, and he couldn’t stop thinking about what Jackie had told him. From everything that the fox saw, he could not understand why one would ever volunteer to go to the Omega Foundation. Arcades also remembered first meeting Jackie, and he could tell that she was genuinely frightened to be in the situation. After such an experience, the fox couldn’t fathom why somebody would want to do it again. Bocchino stopped the SUV after he finished reversing, and he finally buckled his seatbelt last before he shifted into drive and began the process of getting back on the interstate. As the SUV began to pick up speed, Arcades sat in his seat, held his tail in his hands, and he reflected on what he had seen and went through. He remembered Facility Eleven, Facility Five, and Facility Twenty-Four. He could not wrap his head around why anthros would want to volunteer.
Chapter 13
Defensive
Several CDI aircraft flew towards the last Omega facility which was still secured by human ISG personnel. It did not take long before the Polish parent company of Castle Defense Industries authorized the assault on the Omega complex. Already, the company had mobilized four Mil Mi-24 Hinds, eight Mil Mi-17 Hips, and two Sukhoi Su-35s. Each Hip was carrying twenty infantry units, and they would deploy first before being joined by a second wave of CDI personnel entering the area of operations from the ground. The second wave would deploy from a mechanized infantry unit of BTR-90s, Kurganets-25s, and T-90MS armored vehicles. As the Su-35s were closing in on the Omega facility, their flight paths were already diverted by incoming anti-aircraft fire. The pilots both broke off from their formation and took evasive action to not get shot down by the AA turrets, but also in order to make sure that they would not collide with each other. As one of the pilots commenced a roll to change the direction of the Flanker-E, he spoke over the radio, “Their AA defence batteries are active. Do not commence with the heliborne assault yet.” The pilot of the first Hip heard the sitrep, “Copy. We’ll remain outside of the AO. Standby.”
A human ISG unit was manning the anti-aircraft turret, “Engaging two Fulcrums… No, wait. They’re Flankers!” The human tried to lead his target, but the aircraft he was firing at was drawing his attention away from the other attacker. The second Su-35 pilot armed the explosives on the hardpoints, and he prepared to deploy one of the three KAB-1500L bombs which were carried by the aircraft. Since the bombs were laser-guided, the pilot would have to lase the target while deploying the bomb. The pilot realized that he was approaching the turret too quickly, so he broke off his approach and now was planning to circle back around to attack the turret. The gunner on the AA turret saw and heard the engine noise of the Flanker-E as it passed directly over him. The gunner spoke over the radio, “I need someone on another turret! That Flanker’s gonna try to destroy the AA defenses!” The pilot of the passing Su-35 turned the stick to the left to roll the aircraft, and he pushed down on the left rudder pedal before he was ready to take his turn. Lessening the throttle, the pilot did not want to take too much of a wide turn; he knew that his wingman would only be able to buy him a limited amount of time before more AA defense systems were activated.
Another ISG member reached the roof of the facility, and he ran to man another AA battery. Not long after the first member reached the roof, several other ISG operatives moved on the roof while carrying FIM-92J Stingers. Adjacent to the two AA turrets on the roof, some panels opened up on the roof to reveal RIM-156A SAM launchers. The launcher began to turn around and target one of the two Flanker-Es. The second launcher was targeting the second Flanker-E which was now adjusting an approach to attack the AA defenses. Since the RIM-156As used semi-active radar homing, they would use radar signals emitting from the facility’s radar tower reflecting off of the Su-35 in order to track the target. After signals from the radar tower were able to lock on the location of the Flanker-E, the missiles were now ready to fire. The ISG member controlling the launch of the missiles was waiting for the aircraft to fly at an angle which would make them vulnerable to being struck by the missiles.
The Flanker-E came out of a roll, and was still avoiding the fire from the AA batteries as it was now closing in on the roof again. The CDI airborne early warning and control aircraft notified the pilot of the missile’s lock, “Dart 2, you’re being spiked by enemy radar.” The pilot looked down at the ground, and he was able to see the RIM-156A fire a missile at his aircraft. Dart 2 pulled back on the stick and considered deploying chaff in order to provide something for the missile to collide with instead of the aircraft. The pilot knew that his Su-35 only carried a limited number of such countermeasures, so he did not want to use them yet. The pilot heard his cockpit’s missile alert sound as he pulled the stick up and pulled a few Gs as well. The CDI AEW&C craft spoke, “Dart 2, enemy missile is still on your tail.” The pilot dropped the throttle, and he applied the air brakes before quickly pulling the stick aft. Since the Flanker-E was not generating sufficient lift or thrust, it quickly stalled. The AEW&C craft spoke again to warn the pilot of the missile yet again, “Dart 2, brace for missile impact.” The stalling aircraft’s nose began to dip downwards, and within a couple seconds, the nose was now facing downwards. The pilot retracted the air brakes, and he also pushed the throttle stick forwards as well as engaging afterburners. The aircraft picked up speed as it rapidly descended, but the missile was not quick enough to make contact with the craft. The missile flew directly by the tail of the Su-35, and the pilot heard his missile alarm stop sounding. The AEW&C craft replied, “Dart 2, enemy missile has lost you.”
The pilot looked forwards again, and he now noticed that he had not given himself enough altitude to work with for his evasive actions. The pilot realized that he would crash directly into the roof of the building, and that the aircraft would not be able to recover by creating enough drag to slow its descent. One of the ISG members wielding a Stinger missile launcher on the roof looked up and saw the incoming aircraft, “Woah! It’s gonna crash!” One of the AA turrets was already looking in the direction of the Flanker-E, and the ISG member operating the turret began shooting at the aircraft. The aircraft was successfully struck by the barrage from the AA battery, but the gunfire was hardly enough to stop the massive aircraft from crashing i
nto the building. Many of the ISG members on the roof scurried away in order to prevent being killed by the doomed aircraft, but the rest fired their weapons directly at the Flanker-E. Dart 2 armed all of his explosives, and he released them all right before he collided with the roof. Upon doing so, he immediately went to pull his ejection handle, but it was already too late for him to eject.
The aircraft pancaked directly into the roof of the facility, and all of the bombs collided with the building as well. The resulting explosion was massive, and it successfully disabled all of the anti-aircraft installations on the building. The combined explosion caused by jet fuel and three 1500 kilogram explosives all but leveled the building. As the facility went up in flames, the AEW&C aircraft reported on the Flanker-E’s crash, “Dart 2 has crashed. He’s off the radar.” Though the aircraft’s demise was visible to the early warning and control craft, the radar equipment on the AEW&C plane could not see the complex going up in flames. Not only were the bombs high-explosive, they were also penetrating. The bombs were able to deeply cripple the building at its structural core. Dart 1 spoke over the radio as he circled the remains of the facility, “This is Dart 1, the building has been destroyed. Over.” The AEW&C craft asked a question, “Dart 1, how did that happen? Over.” The pilot of the first Flanker-E lowered his airspeed and tried to get a better view of the burning complex, “My wingman ran directly into the roof. All of his bombs must’ve detonated. A single attacker wouldn’t cause that big of an explosion. Over.” The AEW&C craft could not see the flames, “How badly has the building been damaged? Over.” Dart 1 gained altitude and flew away from the accumulating cloud of burning jet fuel and flammable materials inside of the facility. The pilot was silent as he observed the destruction. A few moments passed, and the AEW&C craft spoke, “Dart 1, do you copy? Over.”
The pilot reminded himself of what the AEW&C craft had asked him, “The complex has been destroyed. It cannot be captured. Over.” The recipient of the transmission replied within seconds, “Roger, Dart 1. Patrol the airspace until the heliborne assault arrives. There may still be survivors. Over.” The pilot sighed before he answered the radio, “Roger, wilco. Out.” The pilot adjusted his frequency to speak to the heliborne assault, “All anti-air defenses have been destroyed, along with the building itself. Commence search and rescue for survivors. Over.” The pilot of the lead Hip replied, “Dart 1, this is Bagger 1, say again all after commence. Over.” Dart 1 sighed again before replying, “Bagger 1, this is Dart 1. Commence search and rescue for survivors. The mission has been updated. Over.” The radio channel went silent for an extended moment, but the Mi-17 pilot finally replied, “Copy on the mission update. Commencing search and rescue. Out.” The pilot of the Su-35 flew over the destroyed facility again, and he could already tell that there would be no survivors. He knew that the personnel from the heliborne assault would only be wasting their time by searching through the charred remains of the complex. None of the members of the assault team had any equipment to extinguish the fire, so they would be forced to wait for the fire to burn through whatever was left of the facility. Dart 1 could only sit in his aircraft and watch as the remains of the facility burned to the ground until he was told he could return to CDI’s base.
Bocchino, Jason, Arcades, Jim, and Jackie all walked into the check-in room at a motel. The group was driving for hours on end, and they were finally ready to stop somewhere for the night. The cat spoke to the employee at the check-in desk, “Yeah, we’d like to get -- Uh… Do you guys have two rooms with two beds available?” The employee counted five people in total, but she did not bother to ask any questions. The human employee looked at Arcades, and she raised an eyebrow when she saw that the fox was wearing a Zimbabwean Brushstroke combat shirt with matching short-shorts. The employee slowly nodded, “Alright. Yeah. We have two of those available. How long do you guys plan on staying?” The cat was quick to reply, “Only for the night.” The employee inputted a few things on her computer before reaching below the desk to grab something. The employee returned with four keycards, “Here you guys go. You have rooms thirty-eight and thirty-nine. Are you paying with a credit card?” The fox replied, “Yeah, I’ll pay for this.” Arcades grabbed his wallet from the back pocket of his shorts, and he removed his credit card. After he inserted the card into the chip reader, Arcades had successfully paid for the rooms for the whole group. The human employee looked to the only other human in the room, and she could see that Jim was wearing a navy blue flight suit. The human employee dismissed the group; though she did not understand why two of the five people standing in front of her were wearing military-esque clothing, she did not care enough to ask the group of their intentions, “Alright. Enjoy your stay.” Arcades gave a nod and gave a solid, “Thanks.”
Within the next ten minutes, the four anthros and one human found their rooms and prepared to enter their rooms after parking the Toyota 4Runner right outside of the two rooms. Bocchino spoke to the fox as he passed him in the open doorway, “Well, Kurt. Jim and I are gonna stay in the next one over. You’ve only got two beds, and you have three people. I’m sure you’ll figure out what to do with that fucking faggot.” The fox knew that Bocchino was talking about Jason, but Arcades was not going to argue with the cat. The fox remained silent as the cat passed him from behind and entered his own room with Jim. After a quick shake of the head confirming the fox’s disapproval of Bocchino’s words, Arcades held the door open to let Jason and Jackie enter the room. Both of them were carrying bottled water that they had picked up a couple hours earlier from a store they stopped by while they were on the road. When the vixen and the wolf entered the room, they moved over to the fridge to load the bottles into the empty fridge. Arcades looked down at what he was wearing, and he figured that he should bring in a change of clothes that he would be more comfortable wearing in a civilian setting.
Arcades announced his intentions to the other two occupants of the room, “Alright, I’m gonna go out and grab something from the SUV.” Jason replied once he placed the bottles he was holding into the fridge, “Sure thing, mate. You’ve got one of the keycards?” The fox held the card in front of himself, “Yeah, I’ve got one. It should only take a minute.” The wolf nodded to the fox as Arcades exited the room and proceeded back to the 4Runner mere meters from the room. The fox attempted to open the trunk of the SUV, but he found that it was locked. Arcades patted his pockets, but he could not find the keys to the 4Runner. Suddenly, the fox remembered that Bocchino was the anthro who took the keys. Arcades looked over to the room right next to his, and he figured that he should just ask Bocchino to open the trunk for him. The fox walked over to the door, and he knocked on it. Moments later, Bocchino opened the door. The cat said, “What do you need, Kurt?” Arcades replied with his request, “Can you unlock the trunk for me? I need to get a change of clothes out.” Bocchino slowly shook his head, “Kurt, I’m not gonna do that for you. You don’t deserve to wear anything else. Not when you kept that fucking piece of shit faggot with us. You’re just as much of a faggot bastard as he is.” Arcades shook his head as well, “Bobby, this has nothing to do with Jason. I’d rather wear something that’s not camouflage. We’re in a civilian setting. I don’t want any complications on our way back.” The cat looked at the fox’s remarkably short shorts and gestured towards them, “Who the fuck wears that shit anyway? It’s almost like you’re trying to get that son of a bitch to shove one up your ass!”
Arcades tried to explain, “Similar shorts were worn by the Rhodesian Light Infantry when they--” Bocchino cut the fox off in the middle of his speech, “Yeah, go fuck yourself, bitch. You and Jason can go get fucked as well. You bitches deserve to be in the Foundation. You should’ve never escaped!” Arcades knew that this argument was not going anywhere, “Alright Bobby. Good night to you as well.” The fox turned around and walked away from Bocchino. As the fox turned around, his bushy tail swiped against the cat’s legs unintentionally. Bocchino was instantly angered by this unintentional act
and spoke under his breath, “Oh, your sorry bitchass is gonna get the motherfucking hammer now, bitch.” The fox returned to his own room not far from where he was just standing seconds ago, and he inserted his keycard into the reader before he was able to open the door. When Arcades entered his own room, he could hear the sound of footsteps approaching from behind, but he was not sure who was following him. Arcades could see that Jason was sitting on one of the beds, and it was clear that the wolf was indeed looking at somebody that Arcades did not notice. Arcades vocalized his confusion to Jason, “Hm?” Jason pointed at Bocchino, “Kurt, look out!”
Arcades sidestepped as Bocchino threw a punch in the fox’s direction. The fox spun around, his tail swiped the cat yet again, and this unintentional action only angered Bocchino further, “Dammit! Fucking bitch!” Arcades spoke in a neutral tone, “Bobby, what are you doing?” The cat only replied by commencing another attack. Bocchino threw a punch with his left hand, but Arcades dodged it yet again. As soon as Arcades dodged the cat’s attack, Bocchino threw another punch with his right hand. The fox backed up and sidestepped yet again to successfully avoid the incoming attack. Arcades tried to diffuse the situation, “Enough!” The cat tried to shove Arcades, but the fox backed up again out of Bocchino’s range. As the cat was off-balance from his failed shove, Arcades stood aside the cat and did not launch any counterattack. Jason sat on the bed in silence as he watched the one-sided fight unfold. As Arcades was waiting for Bocchino to recover, he could hear the sound of the shower running from the nearest bathroom. The fox briefly looked around the room, but he could only see Jason. He assumed that Jackie was currently using the shower.
