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-1- This story begins approximately six months before A Stone Drag. -
*~Largo-Pianissimo~ It was a nice day. Beautiful. Gorgeous and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky. These were the kind of days Aurelia Javensen loved. Of course, she also loved rainy days, cloudy days, humid days, and generally every other kind of day in the book. Partially awakened by the rude beeping noise of her alarm clock, the stoat rolled dreamily out of bed and landed dreamily on the carpet, still half-asleep. Then she staggered to her feet and wrapped herself in a blue robe, her mind blurry. "Time to go to work," she murmured happily to herself, wandering down the hall and starting some coffee. "In a little while, I meant," she added, in case she hadn't understood the first comment she had said to herself. Her mind cleared slowly as she stepped lightly back to her bedroom. Rooting through the closet, she located a fresh Cornerian Army uniform, complete with gold buttons signifying her rank as a major. Laying it on the bed, she searched for her clean white boots which, as usual, were hiding desperately in their futile hope to avoid capture. Finally locating them shoved in a corner, she tossed them onto the bed as well and went to go drink her coffee. It was almost finished brewing. She took advantage of the time she had left and poured herself a bowl of cereal. As she fetched the coffeepot and poured herself a big cup, she inhaled the fragrance deeply. The fact remained that she'd always been a sucker for the scent of coffee; she used to ask her mother for cups of coffee sometimes back when she had been little, but just to smell them. After all, at that age she had absolutely despised its flavour. A glance at the wall clock told her she still had at least an hour before she had to leave. She took her time finishing her cereal and another cup of coffee before rinsing her mug out and padding back to her bedroom yet again. As she splashed water on her face, any trace of sleep that still remained was dashed into wakefulness. Next she brushed her small, pointed teeth and made sure her sleek fur didn't look too rumpled. Sighing softly to herself, Aurelia stepped out of her robe and her nightgown, shrugging into the blue uniform and fastening the buttons. She had to struggle some with her boots, but they eventually popped snugly onto her lower leg and stayed there. Next on were her forest green bomber jacket and her stylish wrist-length gloves. Lastly, she fastened on a beautiful silver locket that her fiancée had given her. Of course her impressive diamond engagement ring was already on; Aurelia never took it off. Alexander Carrington-- it brought a smile to Aurelia's face just to think about him. The ferret had asked her to marry him two weeks ago, and she had readily accepted. She had a feeling that theirs was a love that was going to last. At least, she had a hope. She turned her mind back to thoughts of the day and picked up her blue flannel bag from the nightstand, making sure it had all her things in it. Then she set out for her hovercar in a graceful lope, checking her appearance in a small mirror hanging in the hallway. Aurelia stepped out of her flat and locked the door securely. She pressed the button the lift and waited patiently for it to arrive; eventually it did and took her down to the lobby. "Morning, David," she cheerfully greeted the doorman. He tipped his hat. Aurelia went out into the day. The air was clear that day; as clear as she'd ever seen it in Corneria City, and fresh too. She danced over to her blinding red hovercar-- she was thinking of having it redone in metallic green or purple-- and hopped inside, then nipped off to the Army Headquarters at eleven km/h over the speed limit, not because she was late, but because she liked driving fast and could use her status in the Army to get out of any speeding tickets. "Hey, Aurelia," a collie called out as she marched efficiently down the corridor to her office. "You've got something to do, not today, but tomorrow! Today you're just sitting around!" "Sounds like every day to me, Robbie!" she called back, and the door to her office closed with a firm click. There was a clean white sheet of paper on her desk outlining her assignment for the following day on her desk. From the General himself--top orders, she realised, raising her eyebrows. Big rebellion on Macbeth, it read. Rumoured new weapon, but all we've seen is Invaders. A whole base--take your squadron, plus Eddie and his. You'll be in charge. Extra pay for this! Depart tomorrow 7:00 a.m., expected to arrive at Macbeth by 9:00 p.m. considering a stop on Katina for lunch. Coordinates on Macbeth: 24n 68e. Up to you from there. Aurelia folded the paper neatly and put it in her purse. Then she sat down at her desk and tapped her pen for five minutes. Then she glanced at her watch. Then she booted up her computer and played computer Solitaire for twenty minutes. Mindbogglingly bored, Aurelia got up and paced around her office. Finally she drew the curtains at the window, locked the door, and danced around to imaginary music for another twenty minutes. Then she sat down at her desk and tapped her pen for five minutes. Reluctant to begin the whole cycle over again, Aurelia left her office, went out, and bought herself a cookie at a nearby bakery. Then she returned and found an interesting game she hadn't previously known was on her computer and played that for an hour. Finally, she decided to set off for Eddie's office to discuss the Macbeth trip. Eddie kicked the door to his office open a few seconds before she arrived there, scaring her. "Aurelia! C'mon in," he implored amiably. "Hiya, Eddie," she said, having gotten over her shock. "Sooo, you've heard about the Macbeth thing, I take it?" "Sure have, and it sounds like fun," the enthusiastic loris confirmed. Eddie was almost a genetic anomaly; loris were supposed to be slow-moving and lazy, but he had always been the absolute opposite, even to the point of scientific disturbance. "Our teams are both going! And you're in charge! Won't that be fun? Hey, since your squadron are Starlight and mine are Vulpine, maybe for this mission we could call ourselves Star Fox! Heeheeheehee! Get it?" Aurelia smiled. "Sure, sounds fine....but I came to discuss strategy, really. Since we'll be arriving around nine p.m., I thought of three plans we could use. The first would be to attack as soon as we arrived on Macbeth, so they wouldn't have time to track us and would be surprised; plus we'd be under cover of darkness. Of course, we'd be as blind as they would in that scenario. In the second, we could camp a few miles away from the base and ambush them at dawn; of course, they might track us during the night. In the third, we could camp a few miles away, get a few hours of sleep, and then attack in the middle of the night. Then, even if we were tracked, they wouldn't be expecting an attack until dawn, and the base wouldn't send out a squadron to take care of us at that hour." Eddie rubbed his nose. "Well, you're the boss, but I think the midnight or whatever plan is best. I mean, that way, we kinda have a double ambush, I mean if that makes any sense. And we could camp a long way from the base so their sensors wouldn't track us, and enter the atmosphere a long way too so they would suspect nothing and get the attack while they were all asleep." "Okay. Well...." Aurelia looked at her watch. "I've gotta get going....." "Hee hee! Lunch already!" Eddie giggled. "It's only 11:45!" "I've got a date," the stoat said with a wink as she slipped out of his office. * * * Aurelia met Alexander in front of the building. They drove to a nice restaurant across town and sat placidly down in the gracefully curving wooden chairs. "So, is anything new?" Alexander inquired, looking at her over the top of his menu. "Well, I'm heading out to Macbeth tomorrow to take care of some business," she smiled. "I should be back either the day after that or the next." "Take care of yourself," he said, with, it seemed, a touch of worry in his voice. "Don't get shot or anything like that. I don't want to marry a dead person." "Don't worry about me, Alexander," Aurelia told him, still smiling. "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." "All right, I believe you. Shall we have the soup of the day?" "I was thinking a Caesar Salad..." Lunch was over far too soon and Aurelia found herself standing in front of the Cornerian Army Headquarters, feeling empty but strangely full. * * * She did not go immediately back into the building. Instead, she went for a short walk around the block, humming softly and thinking. Just before the Cornerian Army Headquarters came into view from the other side, Aurelia's ears picked up the sound of quiet singing coming from what should have been a deserted alleyway. Intrigued, the stoat nipped lightly across the street and ducked into the alley. It was dim, and her eyes barely managed to pick up the outlines of five robed figures swaying gently and singing a dark, heavy tune. The eyes on the nearest one flashed yellow, and then they began to chant.
Love that's forever he promised to
you: Then, as dust swirled upwards from the dirty ground, the figures faded away. Sun shone into the alley and illuminated only a trash can and an empty soda bottle. Aurelia started and backed out of the damp opening, then shook her head firmly and walked briskly back to the Cornerian Army Headquarters, slipping inside and letting the door swing shut as her silhouette disappeared into the entry hall.
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