elevator returned, Balto stepped inside and saw three buttons: Labs, Arms, and Offices. He sighed as he stared at them, trying to decide on which one to press. Just then, he got a call on his radio. He turned it on and listened in.

“Wolf, do you copy?”

“Yeah, I here ya…” Balto replied, “What do you need Colonel?”

“We’ve just received information that one of the US’s top military scientists is being held in the base. He’s probably being forced to work on the weapon. If you could rescue him, or at least destroy all research he made, it would be much obliged by the government.”

“Alright Colonel, will do. What’s the dog’s name?”

“His name is Doctor Kalgan. He’s one of the world’s most brilliant nuclear physicists. Please try to keep him alive, but if he is KIA, then it doesn’t matter… All that matters are the primary objectives. Good luck Wolf.”

“Understood sir. Wolf, over and out,” Balto finished and shut off his radio, pressing the Lab button.

The elevator doors closed and it began its slow descent downward into the labs. As soon as the doors opened, Balto went to step out, but heard footfalls approaching the elevator. He quickly kicked off the back wall and supported himself up on the roof of the elevator, waiting until a solo guard entered. As the dog went to press a button, Balto dropped down and brought his boot down onto the soldier’s head, dropping him like a ton of bricks.

“Sleep tight, buddy…” Balto said mockingly.

Balto then grabbed the unconscious guard and pulled him out of the elevator and into a long, beige-tiled hallway. Grabbing the handle to a door marked “Utility Closet” and tossed the guard in with the brooms. Shutting the door silently, Balto withdrew his handgun and warily carried on down the hall. He passed several offices until he reached a double-set of metal doors labeled “Private Lab.”

“This has to be the place…” Balto murmured to himself and pressed the button on the side of the doors.

The metal doors slid open with a whoosh and Balto slowly stepped inside, gun held at the ready. As he walked in, he passed down a small hallway, the right wall made entirely of glass. Through the panes of glass, Balto could see a large laboratory with a single dog working at a computer, his back to Balto. Silently, Balto walked into the lab through a glass door set in the windows and saw the scientist, a Border Collie, turn around and gasp as he saw Balto.

“W-who are you?” the dog asked nervously, rising to his feet, “What are you doing here?”

“Calm down, I’m here to help you…” Balto replied, holstering his handgun, “My name’s Wolf. I’m here to get you outta here…”

The dog looked suspiciously at Balto, and then sighed with relief. He dropped his arms and gave Balto a relieved smile.

“Oh, thank God you’re here! I’m Doctor Kalgan…” Kalgan introduced, “The government sent you, right? It’s about time… They’re almost ready to launch an attack on the States.”

“Whoa, slow down… They’re ready?” Balto asked urgently, “They can attack at any time?”

“No, not yet…” Kalgan explained, shaking his head, “They have the weapon all set up and they have enough ammo to turn America into a crater, but they still need the activation code before they can fire… The code that I have…”

“So they’re making you finish work on the weapon, then they’ll try and take your code?” asked Balto, getting a nod from the scientist.

“Yep. They’ll probably torture me until I crack, then they’ll probably kill me…” Kalgan said, chuckling slightly, “But I’m not gonna give it to them! I’d sooner die than be the cause for my country to suffer!”

“Is there any other way for them to fire it if they don’t have the code?” Balto asked.

“Well, if they had an expert hacker, then they could probably crack the code, but what’s the chances of that?” asked Kalgan, assured that they’d be unable to succeed.

“You never know…” Balto said uncertainly, staring at the floor before looking back up at Kalgan, “Say, what is this super-weapon that could destroy the entire country?”

Just as Kalgan was about to answer Balto’s question, the familiar sound of the metal doors opening was heard and Balto spun around. Not wasting any time, he ran to the far corner of the room and leaped onto the walls, placing one had on either wall, then shimmying himself up the corner. Balto saw Kalgan go back to work and then saw the glass door open. Kaltag and two soldiers stepped in and walked up to Kalgan.

“Nice job, Doc…” Kaltag said, picking up the report Kalgan had finished and looking over the figures, “These readings are the most accurate, the most precise, the most perfect-”

Kaltag was stopped when one of the soldiers slapped him. Kaltag sighed sadly as he was cut off, nodding to the soldier who had assaulted him. With Star gone, he’d had the soldiers slap him to compensate for the loss of Star’s constant cutting in. He then gave the report to the other guard and turned on Kalgan.

“Now, all we need is that code of yours…” he said coolly, “What is it?”

“I dunno…” Kalgan said, shaking his head as he kept typing on his laptop and glancing at the screen of his desktop. Kaltag growled softly and punched the doctor, knocking him out of his chair and onto the floor, his glasses landing beside him.

“Don’t play coy with me…” Kaltag said, slightly irritated, “Now tell me or you’ll regret it… You’ll be in for the worst, the most painful, the most unbearable-”

Once more, Kaltag was slapped, cutting him off. The tan husky rubbed his cheek, and walked over to the fallen Border Collie. He picked him up by the collar of his shirt and stared right into Kalgan’s eyes.

“Speak now or forever hold your peace…” Kaltag whispered bitterly, “Or end up like your brother… Steele put a round through his head, point-blank…” When the scientist refused to answer, Kaltag tossed the dog across the room and into a cabinet. Kalgan whimpered softly as he lay there, hoping Kaltag didn’t kill him.

Kaltag pulled out a handgun and slowly advanced on Kalgan. He pulled the hammer back and raised the barrel to level with the scientist’s head. He grinned maliciously; he wasn’t really going to kill Kalgan, but he wanted to scare him. Just then, Kaltag caught something in his peripheral vision. He spun and glanced up at the corner of the room- and saw nothing.

“We’ll be back later…” Kaltag said down to Kalgan, letting the hammer down and stowed his pistol, “Consider yourself lucky… Next time, nothing’s gonna stop me…”

Kaltag motioned to his soldiers and the two dogs saluted him. The trio then walked out of the lab and out of sight. After Balto heard the automated metal doors open and close, he came out of the cabinet he’d moved into while Kaltag had hit Kalgan. Growling softly, Balto walked over to Kalgan and helped him up.

“I just wanna get out of here…” Kalgan said softly, a few tears falling from his eyes. Walking back to his computer and picking up his glasses, he quickly replaced them on his face. “I hate it here… Please get me out…”

“I will, just calm down… I’m sorry about your brother… But tell me, where is the weapon being held?” Balto asked, staring intently at Kalgan.

“It’s in the Weapons Building… You can access it from a bridge in the Executive’s Office, also known as the Head of Design’s Office…” Kalgan said. Balto’s face grew dead serious.

“The Head of Design’s Office? The one Steele took over?” Balto asked urgently, growling as Kalgan nodded, “Damn… Not good… If Steele’s in there, then I have no hope of getting over… But if he’s not there, then it’s a straight shot across…”

“One can only hope…” said Kalgan, picking up his papers that were strewn across the floor, “I’m gonna have to stay behind… If I leave, then the guards will become suspicious… I’ll be able to communicate to you through your radio… Call me once you’ve reached the weapon and I’ll help you take it down…”

“Alright…” Balto said, nodding in agreement, “By the way, what is this super-weapon?”

“Have you ever heard of a rail gun?” Kalgan asked, “That chain-gun that fires missiles using electric and magnetic energy? Anyway, it uses a propulsion system that fires missiles without burning fuel, so it can’t be detected by any heat radars… In other words: it’s a stealth-missile launcher.”

“A stealth-missile launcher?!?!” Balto repeated urgently, “So they can attack anywhere in the US and the government wouldn’t know until it was too late?!?!”

“Precisely…” Kalgan said, “If they get it to work, then we’re in trouble… We have to take it out before then!”

“Got it…” replied Balto and pulled out his handgun, “Stay here then… I’ll handle the weapon…”

Kalgan nodded and sat down, going back to work. He rubbed his face where he’d been hit and Balto sighed softly. He motioned to the scientist’s face and gave him a concerned look.

“You alright? Need something for that?” Balto asked. Kalgan gave a slight smile and shook his head.

“Naw, I’ll be fine…” he answered and continued typing away, “You should hurry though… The guards may be here at anytime…”

Balto nodded and admired Kalgan’s courage for keeping an agent’s presence a secret. Turning, Balto walked out of the lab and silently snuck down the hallway back to the elevator. Just as he was about to turn the corner to the elevator, he heard two voices speaking to one another.

“So it’s true about the Sergeant, huh?”

“Yep. I guess he is as skilled as they all say he is…”

Balto pressed his back to the wall and peered around the corner. He saw two armed soldiers standing in front of the elevator, apparently waiting for it. One shook his head in amazement and chuckled