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 (-) 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, and entered the building. After about 20 minutes, he left the building and headed for a starting-up 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.