Halfkinds: Survival and Superiority (Volume 1 - Contact)

  Chapter 22 - Fenrir Snow - Conflicted

  November 17, 3040 2:34 AM

  Almost an hour and half has passed and we still haven't gotten the call from Commander Trevor. I'm tired of waiting, I want to make our move now, I want to storm this teleportation station and end this mission.

  We've already done plenty of recon. I've run circles around this building and didn't find anything suspicious. Erawan and Colbo remain at their posts on the opposite sides and have reported nothing. If there was someone here, they weren't outside, and they certainly didn't get past us. The only thing we have left to investigate is the station itself.

  But no, the Commander has made it very clear that we are not to engage until he's done checking out the casino. I think this strategy is wasting my time. What information could he find in his meeting that would help us? He says he can get us numbers after he's done, scout who we're dealing with if he talks to them face to face, that we will be more prepared for what's coming if we take our time. That's fine if our targets were taking theirs, but they're not. Time is something they cannot afford and every moment we wait gives them more and more minutes on the clock.

  I remember when we killed that bird halfkind, Lombardi. I could smell the desperation in the air and I didn't need my powers of scent to sense that.

  Colbo treated the kill as if it was a trophy, another achievement on his list of accomplishments. He probably didn't sense what I was feeling. It wasn't pride, I don't feel that when I finish these missions. I never felt one ounce of happiness through all the things I've done for the Brotherhood of Wolves. I do it because they ask me to. It's what I owe my kind.

  Yet, all those times, I didn't feel any remorse either. Every mission I've done, every task I've been assigned, I was okay with. Even when I killed creatures I didn't know, even when I saw the fear in their eyes, I never felt the burning sensation of guilt. I think.

  And I've done a lot in the name of my brothers. I've tracked human supremacist groups who wish to take back the world that was never theirs in the first place. I've hunted lions who captured wolves and used them as slaves. I've ransacked shanty towns of dogs and cats who cooked up drugs. I've killed these beings without hesitation, without moral conscience. They deserved to die.

  But this time, things are different. These halfkinds are on the run, scared and alone. They pose no real threat to society, they're a small group of misfits trying to live, yet we hunt them down like they're criminals. It's not right.

  And why? Because we don't want another Ark Project to happen? We don't want another Event to occur? Because the humans can't create more of their precious toys? We want to make sure no more genetic mistakes are made. Yet my superiors fail to realize these mistakes turned us wolves into what we are now. The irony isn't lost on me.

  When we killed Lombardi Lawton, Colbo approached me to get a gauge on how I was feeling. I didn't say anything or bat an eye his way. Instead, I walked away from the kill and said I was fine. But inside, I wasn't. When I blasted that shot through his head and saw his charred body lay limp, a part of me mourned for my victim. It seemed wrong killing him. I'm not under orders from the Brotherhood of Wolves, I'm under orders from the United Species Alliance. To me, this is a human directive. I agreed to this mission because the Brotherhood asked me to, but they're being played like puppets. I vowed I would never take an order from a human unless it was completely necessary. This mission isn't necessary, yet here I am, a grunt under their command.

  Why did I even take this task? I wondered that as I watched Lombardi Lawton's dead body, the end result of my success. Is my sense of loyalty so high that I'll do anything?

  But I can't think this way. Now is not the time to crack. One second of weakness could get me killed. The bird man threw a bomb at us and if I didn't have my instincts, I could have been killed. As much as I sympathize with their plight, I'd rather be the one who comes out alive.

  The more I think about that kill, the more I'm surprised they want to meet us at all. It seems like poor strategy to invite your enemies into your lair to negotiate when you don't have anything to bargain with. My peers didn't seem to think twice about it, though. They're foolish because they completely underestimate what these halfkinds are capable of. Am I the only one to see the obvious? That it could be a trap? Am I the only one who gives the halfkinds any sort of credit?

  We haven't heard from our leader since he embarked on his operation. I wonder how things went. I wouldn't be surprised if Commander Trevor and his crew of heroes got captured and it was up to me to save his sorry ass. Though, to be honest, I would find satisfaction in that.

  Then, as if fate is listening to me, I hear a beep on my communicator. The others react to the beep as well. I receive the signal and a graphical holo display appears before me. I see boxes with Colbo, Erawan, and Commander Trevor on my screen. We're all linked up.

  "Where's Apollo?" I ask Commander Trevor.

  "He's recovering from an injury," he says.

  "What happened?" Colbo asks.

  Trevor pauses a bit, hesitant to tell us the answer. I see his eyes looking away from the screen nervously. "Borton's dead."

  "What?" Colbo says, shocked by the news. "What happened?"

  "When we got to the casino, we ambushed a small camp of halfkinds there. It was Maddie, Oscar, Iris, and Isaac Lawton. We were able to subdue them, but Borton fired without permission and killed Oscar. This led to an argument between the three of us and, while we were distracted, Maddie impaled Borton with a piece of debris."

  "Good job," I say sarcastically.

  "Shut up!" Trever yells.

  "I thought you were there to negotiate," Colbo says to ease the tension. "Why did it all of a sudden become a stand down?"

  "Because they didn't know we were there to negotiate," he says. "Someone had set them up. They had no idea we were coming. Then Borton, against my orders, went in firing a barrage of shots and things got messy."

  "Why would someone set them up?" Colbo asks. "And who?"

  "We think it's one of their own, but we can't confirm," Trevor responds. "We just know they weren't expecting us like we thought they were."

  "When did all this happen?" I ask Commander Trevor.

  "About thirty minutes ago," he says.

  "Why didn't you tell us sooner?" I demand.

  "Because I was looking for Apollo."

  "And where was he?"

  Once again Trevor pauses. "He was chasing after two halfkinds that got away, Iris and Isaac Lawton. He followed them all the way down to the sewer and they attacked him, knocked him out cold. When he didn't return, I went looking for him and found the open manhole cover he entered from. It didn't take me long to discover where he was. He was unconscious and I had to attend to his wound. He's okay now, though, but he lost their scent and doesn't know where they went."

  "And now those two are gone?" Colbo says. Trevor nods his head. "Well, isn't that fantastic."

  "Why did Borton disobey your orders?" I ask Trevor.

  "Because he was only thinking about himself," he says. "I gave the call to capture them, but he refused to obey. Borton took it upon himself to do it. He was more concerned about what the Alliance wanted than what I directly told him to do."

  Colbo has a confused expression on his face. "Excuse me for my rudeness, Commander, but wasn't Borton right? Shouldn't we be concerned with Alliance orders? I mean, the goal of the mission is to eliminate the halfkinds and it seemed you were in the position to do so."

  Trevor narrows his brow.

  "I know what we're sent here for, what our goal is," he says in a raised voice. "But we do things my way. Unless these things are threatening your life, I don't want any merciless killings, you understand? When we encountered Oscar's group, they came peacefully for the most part. I already had this discussion with Borton, I'm not going to have it again with you."

  "Borton is dead and Apollo
is injured," Colbo says. "Seems they didn't come as peacefully as you thought."

  The Commander looks even angrier than before. "This is the end of this discussion. I'm not going to talk about it anymore."

  Colbo has a skeptical look on his face. "As you wish, Commander."

  "So, now what's the plan?" I ask the group.

  "I assume you all have been staking out the Gonzalez station?" he asks us.

  "That is correct," I respond.

  "See anything suspicious?" he asks.

  "No," I say. "We arrived at 1 AM and set up a perimeter as you commanded. Nothing has gone in or out. The lights are off inside, there doesn't seem to be any activity there, but I can only guess since we haven't been able to investigate inside."

  "Okay, that's good that you stayed your ground," he says. "I want you to finish up your search, head inside, and inspect from there."

  "But it doesn't seem that there's anyone inside," Colbo says. "Shouldn't our focus be on the other station?"

  "We'll get to that one soon enough. Just do a quick sweep and nothing more. If you have reason to think there's something suspicious then continue, but if you don't we'll meet at the Li Station. Shouldn't take more than ten minutes. Apollo needs some time to recover from his wound, so I'm going to give him a breather while you guys fulfill your order."

  "Fair enough," Colbo says.

  "Keep your communicators on, at least in sound mode," Trevor says. "I want to hear what's going on, understood?"

  "Understood," Colbo says. "And what about the twins?"

  "We'll have to worry about them later. Right now the priority is the teleporters. This is Trevor signing off."

  His display shuts off, but the others are still signed on.

  "Meet me at my location so we can go over our tactics," I tell the others. I see them leaving their posts and they come walking my way. I then turn my communicator off and they do as well.

  "So, how should we do this?" Colbo asks.

  "We've already swept the boundary," I say. "And there doesn't seem to be any activity inside. There are three entrances on the north, west, and east side. Let's split up and enter from the three sides and then start our search there. Agreed?"

  They all nod their heads. Colbo starts to walk to the station, but stops and turns around. "Man, that Borton had some guts to defy the Commander's orders."

  I scoff at his comment. "Yeah, and now he's dead because of it."

  Erawan doesn't say anything, but Colbo looks a bit unpleased by my comment.

  "Hey, he was one of us, have some respect," Colbo says.

  "I don't respect hot-headed soldiers who defy orders and kill innocent, unarmed individuals."

  Colbo looks shocked by my statement. "When did you have a change of heart? Is this world going crazy? Am I the only one who realizes that this is what we were sent to do? If the Commander wants to puss out, that's fine and dandy, but I'm not going to balk at fulfilling my duty, especially when it's an Alliance order."

  "So, you would murder harmless bystanders if your boss told you to?"

  "Um, excuse me, last time I checked, they attacked and killed Borton," Colbo says like he's offended.

  "And last time I checked, Borton provoked them. I doubt he would've died if he had listened to the Commander."

  "It's his fault for not being careful," Colbo says. He lifts his gun from the ground into his arms. "Don't expect me to be the same way."

  "Confident as ever," I say sarcastically.

  "What's wrong with you?" he asks in an irritated manner. "Before this evening started, you seemed to be willing to do what it takes to get the job done. Now all of a sudden, you're going soft. What gives?"

  I look at the ground and then I look back up to the others. "After our skirmish at the supply depot, I started to think about things. We've been sent to kill these things, yet they haven't done anything to us. They only thing they want is to live. And how do we, our leaders, as a society, react to their discovery? We come in with guns in the air. They weren't even given a chance, we sent them out for execution the minute we knew of them."

  "Well," Colbo says, "you know why we're doing this. I mean, we've talked about it so many times now."

  "Just because I know why doesn't make it any more right."

  "That's too bad for you then, but when it comes down to it, if our lives are on the line, I want to know that I, the rest of the team, can count on you. You're not going to get cold feet because you've got a case of guilt all of a sudden?"

  I look at Colbo. His face is humorless, his lower lip protrudes, and his brow tightens. He's dead serious.

  "Don't worry about it," I say callously.

  "Good." He turns his back to me and starts to stride away. I look at Erawan who hasn't said a word the whole time.

  "You don't talk much do you?" I ask him.

  He lowers his head so that we are eye level and looks directly at me.

  "No, I don't," he says sternly. He then turns around and marches in Colbo's direction.

  At least one of us understands what the hell is going on.