The monitor room lie in a somber waste. Everyone sitting around the large table kept to themselves. Tablets, vid screens, even paper, were scattered about the vid-table, laying out successes and failures throughout the city. From what I could tell, things were bad, not that it was a bit of an understatement. Things were fucked.

Azura and Dutch were at the head of the table, both looked worse for wear. We all did. Bags under out eyes, bandages, casts, cuts, burns, gunshots, everything was present at the table. Noodle sat in her chair spinning side to side anxiously. Something was getting to her, but I couldn’t tell what. I hadn’t talked with her since before the power plant raid.

From the Yiffin II crew, Uwu and I sat side by side, Echo next to us. Each of us touted our own sets of bandages and creams and light Huff addiction. Sucker was typing away at the main terminal attached to the table, furiously swatting at the holo-keys.

Besides us, everyone else was helping settle in refugees and running logistics to and fro. It was quiet, eerie, and lonely. My tinnitus was picking up.

A voice shouted out behind us, “The mother-fucking heroes return victorious again!” I didn’t have to look to know who it was. Yeti came stomping in like the ever pompous ass he was. “Great work there. We lost a lot of great people for that place, but hell, it put us in one of the greatest positions in this war than we ever been in. We control the power. We have surface to air projectiles, and a large enough base to house those looking for refuge. Great fucking job! I could just hug you!” Yeti reached out for me.

I stared him down, raising one eyebrow. My voice was monotone with hints of anger, “Try it.”

Yeti shrugged, “At least I offered.”

Uwu leaned forward, “Where does that leave us now?”

“Waist high in shit, instead of shoulder high.” Yeti shrugged again, “An improvement.” He slammed down in his chair, leaning his elbows on the vid-table. “Sucker here says she has some great info on what to do next.”

Uwu raised an eyebrow, “And that is?”

Azura spoke up, her arms crossed, “Giving de Gellys what dey wan’.”

My eyebrows shot up. I wanted to blurt out, but being an accomplice of Gabriel here surrounded by Anthro rebels probably wasn’t a good idea.

 Uwu glanced over at me before speaking, “You mean Gabriel? He’s here on the moon? You certain?”

“More certain than a fly eating shit.” Yeti pointed over to Sucker, “Show him the plan, short stuff. I worked this out myself.”

Dutch grunted from across the table.

“Well, mostly myself.”

Sucker stepped onto the table, looking about the mess, “Barbarians.” She kicked and swept the debris off the table before plopping back into her chair. “Here we go.”

The vid-table danced to life. Lights zipping about until and image formed before us. It was the picture of a man, one that I knew from my past life. A little older now, gruffer, but there was no mistaking that it was, “Gabriel.” I blurted out without hesitation.

I got some looks from Echo and Uwu; the Meowtlaws had scowls covering their faces. I made sure to try and keep my enthusiasm for the subject low from here on out.

Sucker nodded, “Exactly, he’s been here on Meowlith Prime for about seven years now. Hiding amongst the people here, doing what looks to be charity work.”

Yeti scoffed, “Pfft, I don’t care what the murdering son of a bitch is doing here on my moon. He was probably setting up the invasion plans.” He shot up, throwing his hands in the air pacing. “I leave for a decade and the corpo shits move in, Gelly mass murderers take up charity gigs, and the movement is a bunch of little babies playing revolutionaries.” He looked over at Noodle, “No offence, but it is what it is.”

Uwu spoke up, grabbing my hand with a light squeeze, “What kind of work was he doing exactly?”

“And where is he now?” Echo chimed in, “The picture looks like a mug shot.”

I examined the vid-screen closely and sure as shit, there were bars behind him and a tagline at the bottom with a date and time, closed by a stamp by the Meowlith Prime Police authority. So, he must be in Police custody, or buried under a pile of rocks the way the moon was going.

“As for now, we know his exact location.” Sucker smacked away on a few more controls, and the vid-screen zipped away to a large building, or fortress more like it, in the middle of an empty snow field. “The police got him on feeding the homeless. After his third strike, they threw the law at him. He is held in Meowlith Prison, sponsored by Sty Fuel, the owners of Praxis Power, unfortunately.”

Noodle’s eyes went wide, I heard her whisper, “That’s where my parents are held.”

Yeti slammed his hand on the table, “All this shit keeps going back to Amillion, that piece of shit Corpo ass hat. His fat little fingers are in everything!”

“Wait,” I interrupted, “You mean Ford Amillion, the quadrillionaire Corpo suit?” I couldn’t believe the man would be so interested in this space rock, but the fucker had hands in everything. Pretty much any corporate fiasco that occurred in the galaxy had his dirty little hands in it. My face turned sour just thinking of the man.

“Exactly, fuck him. This is our moon now.” Yeti stood tall, taking in a deep breath through his nose.

Uwu smirked, “Not exactly. Right now, the Gellys control the moon. It’s only a matter of time they decide to glass the place. The Corpos aren’t going anywhere. They’re hold up in their castle, waiting for Prince Charming to save them. It’s the Gellys we have to worry about. What’s our next step.”

Yeti clapped his hands together and smiled, “Great fucking question. Azura, would you be kind enough to lay out our plans?”

Azura scoffed and stood, nodding at Sucker. The Anthro-Gecko pulled up an overview of the moon. I could see the large Gellical Collective Ascension ship floating in orbit, looming over us all with a blanket of dread.

“De Gellys want de missing Gabriel. Sucker dipped high an’ low te find a picture of de man dat matched de Gelly records she ripped from de orbital strike. At least all those lives didn’t go in vain. De Gellys still don’t know where he is, or dey would assault the prison like dey assault drunk date.”

Echo’s raspy voice picked up, “Lucky for us, we know where he is first. We’ve got the upper hand for once.”

“Yes, de only problem is breaking him out of de prison, alive and well, with a small army of Corpo sluts in de way.”

Yeti chimed in, “The upside, we also have a small army there. They’re just locked away behind some bars. We break them free, give them some weapons, and boom. We’re back at full force enough to take the fight to the Gellys. There’s a lot of men and woman I trained locked up in there.”

Uwu nodded along, “Just like the Power Plant.”

“Yeah, only this time, we will be ready. I’vbe got a lot of trained guys locked up there who would be happy to take the fight to the Corpos and Gellys alike.” Yeti rubbed his hands together with a devious smile on his face.

My emotions were all over the place now. Of course, it would be up to us mercenaries to lead the assault. If it was anything like the Power Plant, this would be a hellish assault full of death and disaster. I was tired of all the fighting. I just wanted it to finally stop.

Noodle was shifting about uncomfortably. She wanted to say something but was holding back. My promise to her shot into my brain. I told her I would save her parents. They were trapped in the prison with Gabriel. We had to get them out too. I was tired, but I still had to hold to my promise. I couldn’t quit yet.

I leaned forward, “So, we need to assault the prison, any clue on how to do that? You know, something that doesn’t end up with us being liquified into a pulp by battery guns, or security measures?”

The vid screen danced to another metro tunnel leading directly to the prison. Sucker spoke up, “The Corpos are receiving supplies from scavengers raiding what’s left of the city. They must be paying a mint for them to go out into that city crawling with Gellys. Food, water, entertainment, even people, mostly young girls are snatched up and sent over the rail. We take over that operation and we send in some supplies along with a contingent of our own, and we can take the place by surprise. I’ve been intercepting messages back and forth. We have one chance to take, tomorrow, or else it’s a full-frontal assault.”

Yeti’s voice became low, “With a small force, we could overtake the prison, free the prisoners, and capture Gabriel, giving us an upper hand with the Gellys. Maybe some bargaining power to get them to leave. This is a pretty big chip after all. We gotta be careful with our gamble here. Who knows what will happen.”

Azura stood, joining Yeti’s side, “Otherwise it’s a long-protracted war, until Corpo or Earth forces show up to fight the Gellys, and at that point, they have no reason to keep us alive.”

Uwu was about to speak when I cut him off, “I’m in, and you know, being the hero and all, I have one more thing to add. Noodle’s parents are there too. We need to make sure they get out alive.”

Noodle’s eyes shot over to me. They were filling with water, “Thank you!” She blurted out. I smiled back at her.

Uwu smiled, “Sounds like a plan. Let’s get to organizing the raid. Sucker, fill me in on all the details. Echo, go get prepped with Walter. Get you hands on all the firepower we can get.” Uwu began talking over with Yeti and Azura, discussing the details down to a T.

My smiled faded as my eyes lingered on the Ascension ship floating over the moon. The Gellys wouldn’t let us live with the knowledge of Gabriel. They would kill us all. I knew from experience. My mind raced about the possibility of the Gellys leaving in peace, a very slim chance, and then what? What would the moon do? Give itself over to a Corpo fleet urging that the moon must pay back damages, forcing them into some shitty contract, or the Corpos just killing everyone else and taking the rock back for themselves after paying off Earth government.

It didn’t matter if we saved everyone now. Longevity was needed for Meowlith Prime. My eyes focused on that massive ship, capable of decimating fleets, launching fighters, and holding its own slice of the galaxy with ease.

“Yeti,” I snapped out of my daze.

“Yes, lovely Lolita?” The whole room was looking at me now.

“I’ve got a different plan to use Gabriel for. How about a wager so risky, no one would think of it?” I smiled as deviously as Yeti.

He returned the look, “I’m listening.”