Jessica Downs dived behind the reception counter to avoid a barrage of incoming gunfire. The heavy spray of bullets slammed into the reinforced bit of office furniture with great ferocity while he huddled behind it. As the sole remaining security officer of training center 112 she was charged with protecting the visitors and staff. Raids occurred on occasion, but the raiders became more brazen recently in their attempts to completely ransack the outpost.

They were only five miles off of the main highway, but the center was at least thirty miles from the next ASDF outpost. This caused the location to be a favorite target of the local Demi-Human bandits.

The bandits called themselves Team Nightfall. A rough crew of misfit Demi-Humans and their human subordinates, they were a known concern for the southern region.

Nearly a decade of eradication attempts still did not remove the nefarious influence from the area entirely. Unfortunately, the bandits were too well versed at hiding their tracks. They were able to live in the wilderness in small pocket groups due to their physical prowess, and they constantly renewed their membership by capturing feral Demi-Humans. Afterward they would have their pet humans tame them into normality.

Many people throughout America saw groups such as Team Nightfall as the primary reason for the continued subjugation of Demi-Humans. The mere existence of Demi-Human bandit groups who killed and captured humans for livestock and breeding purposes caused many people to reaffirm their beliefs in the need to keep a wary eye on Demi-Humans in general. Even the free citizen Demi-Humans were heavily policed and needed to show proof of taming paperwork to remain free.

A few more shotgun blasts rang out as the Officer tried to move away from her hiding place. Despite her skill and experience dealing with these modern day inland pirates there was little chance of getting out of the situation alive.

The attack was too well planned this time. The other security personnel were taken out with lightning fast efficiency. The bandits falsified records and sent in an infiltrator to pose as a security team member. Their transfer orders appeared legitimate. The infiltrator even managed to maintain their discipline and act like a typical field operative for over a month before the attack happened. Once the assault began, she quickly turned on the rest of the team. She took the entire team down with silent, deadly, accuracy using their internal defense grid. The only reason Jessica survived was one in which she could take little pride.

Jessica noticed the panic button that Samantha, the receptionist, would normally press had she still been alive. She slammed her balled up fist down on the hard metal button sending the alarm signal out to the local tamer populace and the ASDF.

She doubted she would survive long enough for help to arrive, but maybe the first responders could still protect the tamers and their Demi-Humans who were locked in their rooms. The bandits who were not currently engaged in suppressive fire were going door to door to collect sleeping Demi-Humans and valuable commodities such as pretty humans.

Every training center was equipped with riot control systems designed to render the occupants unconscious in a singular or global manner. Had the control system operator not been the girl who infiltrated the center the security team might have held off long enough for help to arrive without endangering the visiting tamers and their groups. The systems needed to be reloaded and calibrated after every usage, otherwise Officer Downs would already be dealt with in the same manner as her co-workers.

The gun play stopped after another brief barrage. She immediately raised her weapon and fired off a few rounds to remind them she was alive. All she could do was play for time now, keep them busy.

Her weapons fire drew the ire of the invaders. While their leadership was obviously intelligent enough to provide tactical plans of reasonable cunning, the grunts of the operation did not seem to know or care that they were wasting ammunition. Their only duty was to kill the security officers or to suppress their actions. Wasted ammunition or not, as long as the bitch stayed put behind the desk they were doing their job.

While the rag-tag band of invading Demi-Humans suppressed the lone defender of Training Center Outpost 112, another individual yawned softly within the meagerly comfortable confines of his truck. John continued to drive peacefully down the highway with little care or concern for the world.

Currently, there was nothing for John to do but listen to vaguely tolerable metal bands from the early 90s. Something about that generation generally seemed to be lacking compared to the decade before. In the 80s, rock and metal were about something. At any rate John's reverie was broken as the radio screeched out a warning tone followed by an imperious voice announcing a tamer all call in progress.

He glanced down at his scanning equipment and saw the green system light flashing quickly. His eyes narrowed briefly, and then he frowned. "A first responder call..."

"Well, fuck. Wonder what's going on?" muttered the man as he pulled the truck over to the side of the road. He reviewed the incoming emergency broadcast before he hopped out the door.

"What is the matter master?" asked Kara quickly without taking her eyes from their sweep of the surrounding area.

Tera and Mindi stopped shivering long enough to notice the conversation and turned to find out what was happening. At least they'd received a slight reprieve from the biting cold wind.

"We've got an all-call in progress. So, far it seems to be trouble at training center outpost 112," replied the man thoughtfully. He was near enough to the trouble zone that he'd been called in to investigate. There were no further instructions beyond the call to action at present.

"What happened?" asked Tera as she shuddered lightly, but less than before. Her heat aura slowly began to warm her back up now that the wind had died down. Mindi was especially glad of that fact as she was far more subject to hypothermia than her harem sister. Cuddling close to Tera did wonders for her own desire for warmth.

"I don't know. They haven't reported that yet. It's possible they don't even know," said John.

"You gonna call it in master?" inquired Kara after glancing down at him.

He shook his head slowly. "I don't know what kind of trouble it is. For all we know someone out there might be listening in on the police band. I would prefer they not know we are on the way."

"What, you're gonna respond?" asked Tera incredulously. He didn't strike her as the kind of guy who really have two shits about anything or anyone but himself. He certainly showed little concern for her or Mindi.

"It's my job. Beside that point, the location of the all-call is the travel center we were heading to anyway. We're around four miles from there now. Either we respond, or we don't," he said simply.

"Still, I'm surprised..." admitted Tera.

"If I ignore the all-call I'll lose my license, and you three will be taken to a re-education center. I plan to check it out and send in a situation report," he said.

John looked Tera squarely in the eyes. She looked away immediately, and then cast her gaze downward.

"I'd prefer to ignore it, but we need to at least act like we did something useful if we don't plan to lose what little we have," said John without a hint of shame.

Tera nodded quietly. That sounded more like it. He wasn't rushing off, guns-a-blazing, to save the day. He wasn't playing hero at all. He was simply choosing to cover his ass.