Ft. Stuart, Alchibah

Andrew Stuart

My head felt like it had just hit the pillow when the comm alert started screaming. Tim was screaming in my ears, “You have to hear this Boss, you best case just came true!”

I listened to Commodore St. James’s declaration of open revolt. Damn this was everything I had ever wished for. “Ash are you on the link?”

“Yep Cuz, before you ask; that’s the Hunter St. James I know. I’ll fly the first contact bird if you want.”

“Screw that Ash, my gut is screaming at me. Are we ready to execute OPLAN Romeo?”

“Damn Andy, I can not say yes till we talk to the Mayflower. But if you want me to bet on Monroe, Hibbs and Chandler; I’ll go All In!”

“Tim, cut me into the All Hands circuit; I want everyone to hear this. I mean to include the South and the Damn Guardians.”

Tim’s voice quavered a bit but was firm, no silly questions to calm his nerves this time. “All Hands Up, you are on.”

“Commodore St. James, General Stuart. FYI, I go by Andy and welcome to Alchibah. Let’s keep this Military to Military for the moment. Hunter, can you send me info on where your family’s are being housed, read that held, on Earth? I told you once in passing that I would fight through all of the UNWG to save your children. That was not a throw off line, I meant it. I will need to borrow some of your pilots to make it work but Sir; given your co-operation…. I can raid a single point on Earth in six hours from Mission Start. What say you Sir?”

“Connor, you in the loop yet?”

“Yeah Andy, not quite up to speed but I am here.”

“Good deal, get your politician hat on Connor. Get the Council together, offer them the conference room up at FT. Stuart as that will be the easiest way to stay informed. If St. James cooperates we can plan this thing but, the decision to launch has to come from the Civil government.

“We are out of the Defensive phase now so the Civilian side has to be in control. The military always has to plan for everything but, the decision to launch an Offensive operation has to be a Civilian decision. Just try to make sure that Les gets the two votes from Mayflower involved. They have maybe more to loose than Liberty.”

“Tim, relay to Mayflower. Capt Monroe, it appears that there is no longer any reason to attempt to hide the Mayflower. In my considered opinion the Military threat is over and you may move at your discretion.

“Tim, end the relay. I am going to bring up the back-up tight beam from the Fort, it will be coming at you on fiber 3. Can you cut into the grid, as soon as the Mayflower talks it will lock and track on her? Damn Son, I think we just lived through this.”

Tim screamed in my ear, “Reply coming in.”

Hunter St. James

“You don’t play for the small pot do you Andy? At any rate we have not had time to sweep this vessel for Rogon listening and transmission devices. I would feel less than happy to talk Tactics over any of our circuits until that can be done. Any ideas? Because I do think that we need to talk.”

Andrew Stuart

“Hunter, you have to have a small vessel capable of a planetary landing. Load you and a couple of your trusted Staff and come on down to Ft Stuart for Dinner. Just before the orbit of the Inner Moon which we call Carter, contact Liberty Control on old 121.5 MHZ and we will shoot you an IFF code that will clear you the rest of the way in. I have a place we can talk that I guarantee can not be heard from.

“Be advised that I plan on putting the ultimate lie detector on you, my one year old Twins!”

A young voice split the air, “Are you the guy Dada been waiting for?”

Hunter St. James

Hunter laughed and replied, “Yes Young Man, I hope I am. Andy, what’s for Dinner?”

Late Day 888, Alchibah, Main Lab

Ari al-Yaram

‘‘At your service’, indeed. Ari, mijn lad, the verdict has returned: you are a schmuck. What did Abba say about volunteering, hmm?’ I leaned against one of the now-empty lab beds. Wounded came in, the easily-healed went out; the seriously wounded went to a different room, usually with my assistance as newly-in-residence junior assistant Gopher. Not that I minded overmuch; it certainly looked a lot better than getting herded wherever the overt prisoners went to. The conspicuous lack of gunfire told me that no matter how many guns were going to get shoved up my nose during this, surrender was an honorable choice among honorable warriors.

All the activity and running around I was put through did nothing to prevent me from taking notes. ‘Let the ears record while the body works,’ Ari recalled his university adviser. ‘Poor old klojo; how was he to know the UNWG wouldn’t like old-school social academics like him if they didn’t have the right fiscal outlook. There wasn’t enough time alone to get a peek at any computer records, nor figure out exactly what the structure was like outside of the areas I’d already been, but the pattern was the same. The hustle of people with Jobs To Do is unmistakable.

I closed my eyes. Tuning out the actual words, and English instead of the polyglot of Hebrew, Arabic, and the smidgen of Dutch in Abba’s tents, this all had a familiar feel to it. A discussion of a battle, a raid, so similar to the one on the slavers across the Red Sea. The Goonie leadership were taking a personal hand in helping ‘relocate’ people no one would miss, presumably for their own puerile benefit.

I realized I’d slipped too deeply into nostalgia when a hand grabbed me, and someone’s barrel found its way into my nostril. Trying to calm myself, I opened my eyes and resolved to let the command here know my vervloekte nose was not a convenient muzzle break.

Kurt Kellerman

The figure of Connor Benjamin looked beat to hell as he walked through the door. Of course after what he had been through, who the hell would blame him.

“Damn Connor, why so glum. Master Kyoshi is working on Jai and River’s Gold Pins for the save. Your future Son-in-Law looks like he will turn your hair gray before anybody gets him and the twins are healthy as all get out. What do you have to look glum about?”

He gave me a patented sick grin and said, “Backlash I guess, do you know how close we came to losing this. I thought Andy was just being his normal paranoid self when he set up Strike Force Rear. Damn we were just barely enough and I thought at one time we had lost it. Right up until my future Son-in-Law as you describe him, started knocking them over like tenpins. I still don’t believe he is that good!”

It was my turn to pontificate at last, “Connor, you nor anyone else and that includes Mariana got to see his medical records. You have no idea how often he was in here after a late night clandestine training session with Andy. That Boy went through hell to get where he is. There was a reason Andy did not ask you to be in on his Q course, nor Jai for that matter. Don’t worry about your Grandkids, nobody wants to frack with Scythe, much less Firebird.”

Connor actually gave me a dumb-ass grin, “I guess you are right but, I just got handed a problem.’

“You mean Cpl. Ari don’t you? He’s a weird one, helpful as all hell but; neither Andy nor Mariana will fully vet him. They say he knows passwords they know but, not the right one’s.”

“Yeah Kurt, I know stuff they don’t. There was a class of people out there who were not resistance that fought the UNWG tooth, hook and nail. He might be one of those, he’s middle Eastern so one for sure will ID him. Just try not to intervene, OK?”

“LTC, last time I checked you outrank this lowly CPT.”

Connor reached down and unsnapped the speed rig on his hip and rolled into treatment like the Warrior he was. His left hand snaked out and grabbed Ari like the head of a striking snake. The right hand shoved the muzzle of a issue .45 up his nose. “Tell me fast boy, what can never happen?”

Ari did not even blink and replied faster than he had to Andy, “Masada shall not Fall Again.”

Connor sat him down gently, holstered his sidearm and said; “Talk to me Brother.”

Ari al-Yaram

I regarded the Colonel silently. Raising my left hand, palm forward, to show no malicious intent, I fished a slim packet out of my cargo pocket. The colonel had no idea what I was doing, and remained perplexed when I tore the package open to reveal laffa. “Sit, please, Luitenant-Kolonel, anywhere.” Seeing no real suitable place, especially where we could remain uninterrupted, I went to the far side of the observation bed, faced the still-confused colonel, and sat on the floor. Reluctantly, he followed suit. “Theoretically,” I told him, “Our positions should be reversed.”

“Oh?” He still had not figured out what I was doing.

“Yes. This is more your house than mine. Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha’olam ha-motzi le-chem min ha-Aretz. Amayn.” I tore the bread in two, handing him one of the chunks. “May you, through me, be welcome in the tents of my father, Avram ibn Mordachai, emir of al-Yaram al-Bedu. We are brothers-in-arms; we fight the same enemy, for the same reasons. Israel, Massada, has never fallen, besieged as we are.” I looked at the uneaten laffa in his hands, and pointedly took a bite of the piece remaining in my hand.

Benjamin looked thoughtful, then muttered to himself, “Well I will be a sheep-dipped asshole. If there were more that 10 or 15 of the old Desert Warriors left running around, it was 20 more than I knew about.” I didn’t think he meant for me to hear, so I waited passively for him explicitly respond to me. He appeared to catch on to what I was waiting for, deliberately eating a bite. “Just how long have you been in hiding,” he asked me.

I looked at him with a ghost of a smile, “Hiding? When did you choose to hide here, rather than back home?”

“Well, it was before I got my ass taken down by a Female and a Medic. That’s for sure.”

“Touché. Granted, you’re Runners – but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have security leaks. And yea, even some of us lowly grunt types know that. What I know or can guess at, in the wrong hands, might lead to heap big trouble. Then again, I’m an asshole and what I know – if I don’t shade it this way or that – is at least three years wrong. Abba always was fond of quoting Magnus: “trust, but verify.” And be ready to kick ass. I’m not in position to do the latter, but the former would give this camel a warm fuzzy feeling.”

He nodded, then shot something out of the blue at me. “Know anything about carpentry?”

“Carpentry? It’s a family secret that we’re closely related to one carpenter…” I chuckled, not thinking he meant anything theologically, “but I’ve done some as barracks-punishment in a place called Coronado.”

“OK, drag your carcass up to Ft. Stuart in the morning. Look up a guy by the name of John Pierce, I’ll let him know you are coming. He is the General Contractor around here and soon to be my Son-in-Law, also with him around nobody will worry much about you. You’ve seen him before, the Big Major who was in the chameleon suit. Pay’s better also.”

I stood, offering my hand to him as he rose. “One thing on orientation: I didn’t do too much sightseeing before this interview. Where’s Fort Stuart from here?” What it was, I figured, will be shown once I got there, whatever it was.

“When you exit here, head around to the north-northwest.”

“Thank you.” I took a couple of steps towards the door, and then stopped. This was going to take some getting used to, after all. I turned back to face him. “Sir.” Rather than wait for the responding salute, I head back into the cold. The landscape looked just as I remembered – white, with more white coming. Beurt, just what I need for a walk.

I struck out of the hospital area in the direction Benjamin told me to head once I got my bearings. After trudging through the thick snow, seeing nothing of any other life, I made out a wall in the haze ahead of me. “Finally. I’d be pissed if this was some joke.” However, when I reached the ‘wall’ instead of finding human construction, I found a cliff face. “Ha Ha. I hope he’s laughing.” I checked my wrist comp for an area map. If the vervloekte thing was to be believed, this ridge leveled off to the west. Only one way to be sure. Fortunately, the snow had thinned considerably by the time I got to the end of the ridge-wall. I could see a structure off to the north, more or less where I would have reached had I not had to detour around the geography. After another few minutes of slogging, I came across a proverbial beaten path. There had been enough traffic along this path that, being charitable, I could imagine Benjamin believing I already knew about it. If I were being charitable. Either way, I made it to the palisade in short order.

“Stop and identify yourself!”

“I am Ari; Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin told me to come here and ask for a John Pierce.”

“Hold one.”

I waited, and then an equally bundled figure approached. “You said you were sent to find me.”

“That’s right. I was told you were in need of a carpenter. Well, now you have one.”

ON Deathfang:

Hunter St James woke from a deep sleep to the sound of the intercom alarm; 30 years of reflex brought his hand to the receive button, “What is it?” his gravelly voice croaked.

“Something happening on the Planet sir,” came the voice of Wendy Taylor, “You need to see this.” St. James rolled out of his bunk and pulled on his coveralls, “Doesn’t that girl ever go off duty?” he thought.

The Bridge of Deathfang was only a few feet from his Day cabin, when he reached the command station Wendy wasted no time, “The Dragonhead Swiftstrike has taken off and is heading this way at max acceleration,” she said.

“Try to contact her,” said St James. LT. Taylor went to the comm. station, “Something coming in now…it’s from the planet… on speaker.”

The voice of Major Putnam was one of desperation, “Calling Deathfang! We need immediate evacuation… Ambassador Redmond left us here… the Rogon weapons have all stopped working… send air support… please hurry… the ponies are going crazy killing everything… we need help now.”

“Shut it off,” Hunter said, “Send this: ‘Message received, help is on the way.’ ”

“Do you want me to launch the alert fighters?” Wendy asked.

“No just send the message…oh and since I’m up at this late hour…let’s run another being overboard drill.”

Wendy Taylor couldn’t hide her surprise, “But sir,” she began to protest…

Hunter cut her off, “You have your orders Lieutenant.”

Throughout the giant Rogon Battleship Deathfang alarms blared a message first in English and then in Rogon .

“BEING OVERBOARD… BEING OVERBOARD… THIS IS A DRILL…. ALL UN PERSONAL REPORT TO THE LOWER BOAT BAY …ALL ROGONS MUSTER ON THE UPPER BOAT DECK… THIS IS BY ORDER OF OSSOG; SESPES-AP.”

On the bridge of Deathfang the few Rogons and unnecessary humans left to report to there assigned mustering stations. As Doorway opened the Rogon scientist Shintok; krett-N entered.

“Another drill Commodore?” He asked.

“Surprise is best for this sort of thing, last time we had to go looking for 35 Rogons lets hope we can do better this time” Hunter said “ I will now go down to the lower boat deck to supervise the search party…Carry on Lieutenant.”

* * *
The lower boat deck was a cavernous chamber crowded with shuttles, fighters and all types of land vehicles belonging to the 21st, crates full of supplies and equipment were everywhere. One end was cleared and the UN personal were lined up in neat rows.

Major Lew DeWalt snapped a crisp salute, “The bridge and engine room have reported, including them all hands are accounted for.”

“Excellent Major lets see how many snakes we have to find.” Hunter spoke into his comm unit, “Where are the Rogons Lieutenant Taylor?”

The reply was prompt, “57 on the boat deck sir, and master krett is here, that leaves 27 who didn’t feel like showing up.”

“Very well stand by.” Hunter put the comm. unit in his pocket, “Everyone form a circle.”

He waved his arms as if to draw everyone in. “For 30 years I’ve served the UN World Government,” he began, “I’ve obeyed orders without question and done my duty, whether I liked it or not. I took an oath and a man of honor doesn’t go back on his word…But I didn’t make an oath to serve a bunch of damned reptiles!”

“The people we’ve been fighting came a long way to live in freedom; I won’t be the one to put them in chains, and I won’t wear them myself.”

The faces around wore expressions of shocked amazement and something more…the yearning for freedom.

Hunter continued, “Major DeWalt arm the search teams with MAC-15’s and 5 magazines of explosive rounds each, then take as many men as will go with you to the upper boat deck and clean out that nest of snakes. Search parties…Good hunting!” With that he saluted the men and to the sound of cheers began the long walk back to the bridge.

On Dragonhead ship SwiftStrike:

Richard Redmond was mad…mad and confused “How could this be happening,” he thought, “everything was going so well and then the Rogons managed to walk into a trap set by a band of bible thumping animals armed with spears and clubs.”

Well he’d teach them, “Once I get back to Deathfang, I’ll order that coward St. James to turn that rebel town into a sea of lava, I’ll have my colony with the slaves coming in on the New Palmtree.” Visions of a palace filled with obedient slave women filled his imagination, and a wicked smile came to his lips.

At the control console, Ossog; sespes-AP conferred with Shintok; maylock-A, they were obviously in communication with a Rogon on the Deathfang, when the voice abruptly was silenced.

“Slave! Explain!” came the imperious voice of sespes-AP.
Redmond snapped out of his reverie,“Yes master how can I serve you?”

Slave soldier on Deathfang rebel… kill Rogon masters! What know you?”

“No Master… It can’t be! They wouldn’t dare! They must obey!”

But Redmond knew it was true. “That bastard St. James did this, Oh I’ll make him pay!”

“Enough” said the Rogon Commander “other space is” and with that he operated a strange device set behind a protective shield and the SwiftStrike went somewhere outside this Universe.”

On the bridge of Deathfang:

Wendy Taylor was relieved to see her Commodore walk in through the doorway “sir we detected a transmission from within the ship to SwiftStrike and now SwiftStrike has vanished from our screens.”

But St James attention was not on her. He stood square in front of Shintok; krett-N, “You never should have gone to see my family you lousy snake,” he said, and then the roar of the big .50 caliber auto was all anyone would hear for some time.

15 minutes later:

“Sir the last search party has reported in, all Rogons are accounted for.”

“Very well Lieutenant, open that channel to General Stuart now, in fact broadcast over all the colonial channels.” He waited until the light on the mike turned red, “General Stuart, we have just exterminated the aliens infesting this ship and I am speaking to you as a free man for the first time. The war is over… your people can return to their homes…it’s time to put down our weapons and rebuild what we’ve destroyed.”

“My offer to help stands…this time without conditions… we’d like to join your colony if you’ll have us, I for one am looking forward to that sailing trip.”

Fortson and Reye watched the tight-beam laser feed showing the beginning of the Rogon attack on the southern continent while seated in the communications room at the cave complex. The rest of the citizens watched, either on their own com units, or seated with others in the common areas.

The Rogon troops snaked between the hills staying on average about 2000 yards from the rivers course. The rapidly moving force got occasional glimpses of Soessossins between themselves and the water. They moved unopposed and with growing confidence in what looked to be, from all they knew, a lopsided conquest. The plan itself showed they were in a hurry to get the one-sided war over and move on to better things as rapidly as possible. At least that’s what Fortson thought considering the fact they were making no effort to investigate what might be on their exposed flank.

“Send what you got Joe,” Les Reye authorized. “I doubt they can intercept us but even if they do what with the relays they won’t know where we are sending from.”

Fortson merely nodded then said, “I would bet better than even money the caves are no longer a secret Les, the Stuart compound sure isn’t, and that’s the first relay point.”

In the common dining hall Bill and Janie Bartlett along with the Parkers and a dozen other colonists at first made idle chitchat as the drama played out on a large screen set against one wall of the cavern. Later the mood became much more somber and Fortson’s voiceover comments came more often as the circle closed. All attention became riveted on the screen. On a hill another 500 yard further from the river, some of the Leviticans and their allies had a much closer view.

Jedediah and Aaron said little or nothing; all of the direct commands and statements of advice, were given by Sister Martha. Ruth and Miriam Dobswell held themselves off to the side on a blanket, holding hands and silently praying for the best through all that was to follow.

“We wait,” Martha said in response to Hosham who was eager to begin moving the mass of the Soessossins closer to the half-deployed Rogon troops. “Another few minutes and we make sure that those with rifles are spread out equally. Those behind at least.”

The Llama’s had two different sexes, but except for birthing and a few months of early child raising there was little to separate one from another. Their reproductive organs were hidden from sight, at least as far as humans were concerened, and even after more than an Earth year of contact none of the humans could tell one sex from the other except at birthing time. And that was something that happened rarely.

It came as a surprise to Jedediah when some of those he assumed to be male turned out to be female instead. Because of the Soessossins actual gender equality in most respects, more than 80% of them were ready for and became active combatants.

The bulk of the ‘Native’ force, some 3500 soldiers, 300 of them armed with projectile weapons supplied by Liberty City, were strung out parallel to the Rogons route of march. but concealed in the hilly ground behind them. The Llamas visible to the Rogon, about 200 in total, those between the Rogon and the river, were stationed as a lure and showing themselves only enough so as to insure the much larger force behind the encircling soldiers remained undetected. The inept Rogon leadership was turning this simple ruse into a masterful strategy.

RoDan and the Jeep remained motionless dug into their holes at either end of the western flank where Shintok; petok-S waited for all his soldiers to get into position. When petok-S moved inwards the bots would follow. For now the risk of exposure was too great to justify the risk involved. At present the moon Carter was above the battleground but she would be below the horizon in another hour. From that point on the information relayed to Liberty City would become very scarce. The hope was the Dobswells and Marty could send information to the bots who would do all of the transmitting back to the north. Rodan and the Jeep would rely on movement and burst mode to keep from becoming targets.

* * *
Shintok; elron-A, with argo as his second, were on one of the skimmers and huk with teth on the other. They waited along with the western force and would do whatever petok-S ordered. The Rogon commander, true to his reputation as an original thinker, had hinted that if the fight went well he might even use the skimmers to retrieve wounded troops and bring them back for timely medical care. Elron could scarce believe one might dilute the rewards of victory in this fashion and was not happy his role might be minimized, but still as leader of the transport team, his reward would be greater than that of any common soldier.

Shintok; huk-T was more than pleased he was out of harms way. As soon as an opportunity presented itself he was going back to the crater lake and start staking out a claim. What foolish ness, hauling around wounded soldiers, after the fight was through petok-S would find his career was too. Even teth his second conceded the very thought of assisting failure and cutting the spoils went against everything the Rogon stood for. How could a Shintok fall so low?

* * *
The viewscreen flickered, showed random bursts of static, and then went dark, all within a few seconds as Carter went below the horizon. Fortson announced, “From here on in no more pretty pictures. We will keep the voice feed on but I think we can tell what happens next.”

“The Rogons will make a mass charge along their front and drive the Llamas against or into the river and use their vastly superior fire power to kill enough of them so that surrender and slavery become the only option. As soon as the Rogons are committed to that plan the rest of the Soessossins behind them will be on their heels and attempt to do the same, but with the Rogons as victim. Against good leadership the Llamas don’t stand a chance.”

“All the Rogons need to do is wait until the attack from the rear starts, then halt and hold their ground. Weapons range and the relatively open terrain and the Llamas can’t get close enough to hurt them. The Rogons uncommitted and in the west start rolling up the flank and the battles over but for the body count. I don’t think it’ll turn out that way due to how we’ve seen the Rogons perform in the past but once the fighting starts all bets are off.”

“There is a third option Joe,” came Andy’s drawl from Ft. Stuart. “If the Rogons turn and run too soon and with what we have seen of their normal control; this could turn into another Concord Bridge. Those MK I’s are a bit better than smoothbores dontcha’ know!

“Depending on the first round of targets the Llamas pick, this could get ugly for the Rogons and fast.”

* * *

“And all of the people of war who were with him went up.
and they proceeded to camp in the north…
with the valley between them…
And it came to pass as soon as the King saw it…
The men of the city rose up and went to meet Israel in battle,
he and all his people at the appointed time.”

Joshua 8:11-14.

“Father, Sister Martha, all of you who are the Lords people,” Aaron Dobswell said, “Let us pray.”

“Thus was it recorded,” said Jedediah Dobswell, “And the King is the Rongon, and Joshua and the Israelites are as us, and with the help of the Lord of hosts, Joshua defeated his enemies, as so shall we…”

“It is starting,” Hosham said to Marty as they watched the Rogon begin to move with a lumbering gate towards the river.

“Go tell the ones with Jedediah and Aaron, They will want to be here when we start moving ourselves.”

“Things are going well,” Shintok; petok-S said to his staff watching the displays from the front. One in nine of his soldiers had equipment for visual communications and the view was both impressive and gratifying though tending to flicker in and out as the repeated plasma bolts caused the optics to automatically dim in order to keep from burning out.”

“Send a message to all leaders that I only want intermittent fire unless they can see the enemy in front of them. There is no purpose in expending energy on dangerous rocks and plant life.” It was the right command but petok-S would be happy if even a scant majority of the Rogons complied. Obedience and discipline in the heat of the moment was an uncommon virtue and not one he expected.”

As the Rogons neared the crest of the various hummocks and ridges the Llamas were hiding behind, flights of arrows began to fall amongst them. Few hit anything and the lack of success and fewer than expected numbers caused a general speed up in the rate of advance. Only two Rogon were hit and down by the time those first positions were overrun and from the heights the flight of the retreating Soessossins was clear to all.

Marty gave the order to move just as the Rogons hit the ridge and the Dobswells arrived. The Rogon by now had vanished and were out of sight and below the first set of hills by the time the Soessossins could start to get underway. In war—especially in war— time waits for no one.

“It is time, we advance now and close the trap,” Shintok; petok-S said with more certitude then he felt. Something was wrong here. He wasn’t seeing as many of the ponies as he expected and he hadn’t heard any reports of the ancient projectile weapons that Edwards had talked about being used yet. Still it was time. He told elron to circle behind and start picking up the wounded then took his position in the rear as the western portion of the line went into motion.

Shintok; elron-A was moving almost at once, driving his skimmer in the start of an arc so that he would come into the battlefield from behind. Anything else and confusion would be the result. He looked behind to see how close huk was and couldn’t locate him anywhere; nor was there any reply when he tried to signal him. Communications equipment failure was his guess…well… it was more like a hope.

“Off we go to make our fortunes,” huk-T said to his broodmate teth as he turned around and sped back to the crater lake. His descendants would praise him for this and he might even become an ‘-S’ himself.

The Jeep and Rodan followed behind the flanking petok-S careful to remain hidden but sending occasional updates to Liberty City; still pictures only keeping the bandwidth down. They had seen the skimmer and kept out of sight when it passed between them going the other way. If nothing else it was one less enemy to worry about.

The Rogons could already see the river and the fewer than two hundred Soessossins crowded on its bank when they became fully aware of the problem behind them. “Damn you stupid assholes,” petok-S heard Cotton Edwards exclaim as he saw the same picture stream the Rogon leader was looking at.

“What mean you by this?” came the imperious challenge. “Speak must! What have you been shielding from your betters Slave?!”

“If you frackin’ morons had the brains god gave a duck you wouldn’t need to ask!”

That was all he could take, Shintok; petok-S triggered the plasma rifle slung beneath his belly and Edwards literally vanished in a cloud of steam and a puff of smoke. A waste of meat but such insolence must not be tolerated.

Turning to his second in command he said, “Yes the major part of their strength is behind us. Send instructions to stop the advance and destroy them before any more damage is done!”

All too predictably the orders went unheeded. Those in the rear continued to drop and those in front kept firing and rushing towards the river and the helpless prey upon its banks. Before more than a tenth of the Soessossins were killed the others had plunged into the water and were swimming towards the opposite shore, which at most points was less than a hundred yards away. Most of the Rogon were by now down on the rivers narrow flood plain with the Llamas holding the high ground behind them.

A few Rogons turned around and started to fire at the protected positions on the hills above the river. The rest just followed the Soessossins into the water, weapons and all, ready to finish off the easy ones first. —And got a surprise—They learned why in the future the river would be called the ‘Cold River’. It was ice even at this time of year. The channel was deep and filled with melt water from high up on the mountains from inside of the continent. The water never got closer than ten degrees above the freezing point until it had a chance to fill up the crater lake, settle, and warm in that larger body before finishing its journey to the sea.

It only took one or two to start firing the plasma rifles, now submerged, to get the others, those not so numb they had lost control of their musculature, to fire also. Steam rose, seals leaked, and explosions rocked the water. As many as a dozen made it to the other shore where they lay, still numb, exhausted, and helpless, as the once pacifistic Soessossins finished them off with spears or arrows or sometimes with knifes and bare hands. Those who stood their ground on the other side, outnumbered forty to one fared no better.

Shintok; petok-S ordered retreat. He called for elron-A to arrange a pickup and only afterwards did he find out what had happened to the missing Liberty City rifles… None on the Rogon side survived. Twenty Soessossins would join them in hell, or wherever the dead in battle landed.

By the time Shintok; elron-A circled back the massacre was complete. Four hundred fifty Rogons against a weak and backwards foe. Hardly worthy of being a slave race and yet, until he found huk and teth at the crater lake, elron was convinced that he and argo were the only survivors. This whole mission was one disaster after another. There was nothing to do but return to the grounded Dagon’s head and await whatever was in store. Those on board had seen the record. Except for acknowledging his call they weren’t saying anything else.

With his skimmer in the lead, elron-A was only five miles away from the grounded ship and base-camp when the darkening sky ahead lit up with the glare of a hundred suns. The SwiftStrike was leaving the planet, and leaving without him.

Ft. Stuart, Alchibah Evening Day 889

Ash Andrews

I walked into Andy’s place to see him with his feet up and a drink that had not been touched. It was fairly obvious that he had just sat down. I knew he was working hard but at this moment I had little or no sympathy. “OK, Cuz. All of the birds are converted, the Dora is completely up-rated and I even have two of the old 2 CM’s in each of the Cargo Buses. They are not offensive capable but, at least they are not defenseless anymore.

“The only thing keeping me from my twins is that Kara said you wanted data on Capt. Hunter St. James?”

Andy looked at me like a stranger, “It’s Commodore St. James these days and do you know him?”

“I know of him duty wise and showed him the best places to find bootleg steaks a couple of times when he was down at HQ for Commanders Conferences. I was the Deputy Plans and Training Officer remember. Besides after the UN fully took over he was the only other guy in the room with an IQ higher than a fracking rock.”

Andy leaned back, “Well pour yourself a drink and tell me about him.”

I fixed the drink at the bar and sunk into a chair. “Well, he’s an Academy grad from before the UN abolished the Honor Code. Knows his shit for sure, had he been a die hard believer he would have been on the short list for Admiral. Ruthless Bastard for sure but, no worse than you in that department. If killing a hundred will save a thousand, he will pull the trigger.

“Married, got a wife he loves enough he will not cheat on her. Couple of kids, girls I think, that the universe revolves around. Scotch drinker, prefers Single-Malt when he can get it. Holds it pretty well also.

“Come to think of it the person he reminds me the most of is you General Cuz.”

Andy leaned back in his chair and just stared into space for a few minutes. “OK, Ash I know you have a touch of Mariana’s shit thanks to your Dad, just as you have a load of mine thanks to your Mom. You have looked this guy right in the eye. Million Dollar question, can I trust him?”

“Andy, if I had to go back to fighters I had fully intended to wrangle my ass under that man. He was the only person in that room I even vaguely trusted and for one reason. The mans word is his bond. If he says he is going to do something, he means it.”

Andy took a long pull on his drink, “I can live with a gut feeling. Go hug your kids Ash, you deserve it.”

Ft. Stuart, Morning Day 889

“Hey Kara? I’m having trouble with the intel database.”

Kara ran over to Robert, taking over his keyboard. “Ooh, yes, of course you are. I’m still working on it, but let me link you to the new starting page for the intel area.”

The page came up and Kara slowly nudged him aside. “OK, there are so many different databases currently housing intel data, and I’m in the process of consolidating them. For now, though, I’ve cross-referenced most of them and you can just use this page to search what you need. Let’s use St James as an example.”

Kara punched in his name and many lines came up. “So now when you go into one entry, you’ll see the areas that are cross referenced. Use this key and it’ll automatically open any of the hyperlinked words into tabs behind the entry. Hit the key again and they all close.”

Moore stared at Kara as she worked, thinking that he hadn’t seen someone get this excited about databases since Harry Kim at University.

Kara continued, pausing just long enough for some air. “You’ll see with this St James search that it is pulling information from the colony’s public journals also. It isn’t finished, of course, but it is getting there.”

Kara realized she had taken over his workspace and had been rambling. She moved aside. “Sorry, Robert, I guess I got carried away.”

“I take it this is what you’ve been working on these past few days?” Robert asked.

“Yeah. It has been fun working with databases like this again. If you can’t tell, I kind of like them,” Kara said sheepishly.

Robert thought to himself, “You don’t say,” but instead said aloud, “It looks like you’re making great progress. Did you write all this yourself? Using C+9?”

Kara sat back at her workstation. “I brought some of my tools with me from Earth. I’m using an IBM MDM overlay, but their engine is a bit weak, so I replaced it with OTS Goohoo enterprise engine. I used this setup back on Earth with good results, and so far its working pretty well. Just some more manual referencing left to do, and the first stage should be done in the next day or so.”

“Is that the Goohoo 2.0 engine? That’s very outdated now. I’ll see if I can dig up the latest in my files. If not, I know some of the fixes they made, and I might be able to tweak the 2.0 code to fix some of the security holes and add some features. Let me know when you’re done and I’ll take a look.”

“Be still my beating heart. Someone else on this rock who knows they’re way around the back alley of computers. There aren’t many of us, and few have time for this stuff. Glad to have you on board, even more than I was yesterday.” Then Kara got back to work.

Robert smiled. “Making new friends here might be easier than I thought,” he said to himself.

The Rogon had been marching for two of the Unruth days now. Order was being enforced and close to being maintained. Shintok; petok-S has stopped worrying about the big things and was concentrating on the small. With that in mind he summoned elron-A, who was directing his broodmates and a squad of twenty others, to report to him in person and immediately. This was an order to which the lesser Rogon wasted no time in responding.

“You are handling your duties well and have your squad is performing in a fine military manner. But I must ask you elron-A, why did Jaric: tilmer-N insist that you and your broodmates must accompany me and say that he found you annoying?”

“The Submaster said this? I had no Idea. This is not good,” elron wailed in an almost plaintive tone. “I only went to the academician for advice and was very surprised when he sent me away. But annoyed? I never ever even suspected.”

Shintok; petok-S felt an urge to lash out at elron for failing to answer the question directly and fully, but instead, and this was why he was an up and coming leader ready to close with the top of his profession, merely roared, rather than rage about and take to throwing things, “Answer the question! What was it that you asked of him?”

“It had to do with nicknames Master.”
“Nicknames?”

“Yes, the humans give all their warriors ferocious sounding military names like Firebird and Angel and Wildcat. These names must somehow increase their stature and make them fight as if they were two people instead of one. And I was thinking we could do the same thing. Like for instance, and I tried it out on my broodmates, we could take names that would make the humans fear us. Names that would, once they heard of them, cause consternation and fear. Names that would weaken their resolve and cause them tremble and consider the fate of all slaves of the Rogon.”

“An imaginative idea. You should have approached me with this first, but tell me, what were the names and what did tilmer-N say?”

“Knowing how the humans abhor the notion of becoming food, I can’t explain why this is so but I have seen it over and over, I suggested argo become ‘Pork Chop’, teth become ‘Banana’ and huk, due to his injury be called ‘Drumstick’. For myself, and since the main enemy military commander is known as ‘Reaper’, surely relating to gathering grain for later eating, I would call myself ‘Harvester’! My first choice was Butterball but I think I got the spirit right with that one.”

“I told all of this to Jaric; tilmer-N, seeking his guidance and assurance of proper word choice and pronunciation as I am still learning the humans tongue. When I did this the Submaster closed his eyes and said nothing for a time. Finally he stared at me and then motioned me out of the room. Next thing I knew I was ordered under your command for the march against the Soessossins. I thought it was a mark of favor. Perhaps I was wrong?”

“Dismissed Shintok; elron-A. I do understand now and no nicknames until I so order.”

Shintok; petok-S went on to the next small matter he needed to deal with. He was in charge of almost 450 Rogons who would rather be staking claims on the continents mineral resources than fighting a battle with Humans and Soessossins so there were plenty of small matters to handle.

Somehow or other his supply master had failed to bring along enough food for an expedition expected to last several weeks. Half of the skimmers that should have held food instead were loaded with claim stakes and metal locating equipment. He had enough claim stakes to mark half the continent but food for only one more day. The Yelsig were food on the hoof but petok-S was certain once any were put to that purpose the rest would make every effort to distance themselves and he still intended using them as shock troops.

Several Rogons had already damaged themselves, either by mistake or out of boredom, playing with and firing the heavy energy rifles they carried slung under their bellies. They had in each case discharged without being sure the barrel was extended and their front legs were spread and clear of the beam. The muzzle of the weapon was supposed to be thrust several feet forwards before firing but some young idiots thought it fashionable to emulate what they saw on dream tapes and never learn except the hard way.

Petok-S would have gladly made an example of those soldiers but Rogons did not eat their own except on planetary holidays. He would dump the assay gear and claim markers and send the cripples back to the skullship and have food enough loaded and brought back on the return trip.

Even Shintok; petok-S was not immune to temptation and was having a hard time keeping his mind off of the riches he would posses in a few short days. Such prospects of wealth were impossible back home on the Rogoss except to those born to great family and power. The single-minded drive that put him in charge of this force was being tested to near the breaking point. It should never have been disclosed that the scan upon their arrival of the water filled meteor crater, towards which he was heading, had taken the detectors off scale. Unfortunately that kind of secret was impossible to maintain.

He needed to hold the troops together until he encountered the opposing group of Soessossins and break them by superior force of arms. Based on what petok-S observed concerning the essential pacifism of the Yelsig nature, this task would go smoothly. What would be more difficult was once victory was assured keeping them from scattering and running off into the interior. Shintok; petok-S spent what little time he could spare from the little details thinking about how he might accomplish that.

Shintok; huk-T was driving one of the skimmers. He was mostly recovered from the injuries he suffered in the fight up north but would have been hard pressed if he were forced to march like most of the force. All in all huk was happy to be here. If he could just get out of elron’s sight for long enough to plant his own markers his future was assured; elron was playing the military game rather than looking out for his own future and that of his broodmates.

Stick together broodmates must, so huk would make sure that after his claim was secure and afterwards he would help elron in securing one for himself. And to that end when the two skimmers sent back for supplies were unloaded, huk had grabbed a portable locater and several armfuls of the claim markers and dumping the tools from his skimmers storage chest loaded the newly acquired items inside and away from casual detection.

Shintok; petok-S called his subleaders together for a final briefing in a secluded location away from the main encampment. Only thirty of the Rogons had deserted when they passed around the side of the impact crater lake. Of those there were ten he would bring up on charges of desertion and some might even suffer for the act. The others had too much family power at home to be held accountable but petok-S was going to punish them none the less by making sure if he had any say so the first levies paying for the occupation came from the richest sections of their holdings.

“The plan is very, very, simple,” the Rogon leader began, “and as such all of you should be capable of understanding it.” In petok’s experience a vote of confidence was always the best way to keep the command structure together. “We, along with the enemy are on the south side of the river and its narrow floodplain. The Ponies and a small number of Humans are in the hills overlooking the natural battle field.”

The Rogon had a simplified map of the area that he pointed to as he described the salient points. “We will split into two forces. The first, larger force will lead the Yelsig behind the hills, and when all is ready send them into the enemy camp disrupting them.

The easternmost portion of this force will drive to the river and seal off escape in that direction while our heavily armed forces follow behind the Yelsig and push all in front of them off of the hills and onto the river plain. Our second force under my direct command will come in from the west completing the encirclement. They will be trapped and helpless between us and the river and forced to surrender.”

Shintok elron-A was not really thinking about the plan; he was thrilled to be here and that was enough. He was by far the most junior of those present and if not for his luck in commanding the small skimmer force would never have seen the masterful performance. It was with the same sense of shock and outrage shared by all of the gathered Rogon that caused him to blanche in response to the ceremonial request for questions and comments, the Edwards creature, almost forgotten in the back, spoke up. He must have been following the map directions for surely he could not follow the spoken language.

“Are you sure,” Edwards started–before cries of silence!–and respect must!–and menacing glares–brought him abruptly to a halt.

On a hill not far away, with only a head and optics above ground and while sensors picked up all the conversation, R. JP watched and recorded the entire meeting.

For four years Commodore Hunter St James had been working under the watchful eyes and ears of the Rogons, he hoped his two subordinate officers could act with enough restraint to satisfy those that listen.

“We are awaiting a full accounting of our loses from the Colonials, at least they were decent enough to give us the names of POWs’ I’m honestly beginning to regret that we are at war with these guys” Hunter place a small glass globe on the table in front of him, he considered it for a moment and began making decisions.

“OK, of the four Dragonheads lost to date 3 were operated by Rogons all under questionable circumstances, from this point on all Dragonhead flights will be manned by UN navy personal. Secondly from now on dragonheads will operate in pairs at a minimum. Now, tell me how long it will take to implement this order.”

Ensign Taylor consulted her clipboard, “Well sir, we currently have 3 heads docked, 2 inbound and two approaching the planet, with one permanently grounded. Of the two approaching Alchibah one has a Rogon crew.”

Hunter was pleased by this “Fine, send orders to the Navy detachment ashore to take over operation of that vessel and that both ships will return together, we will send detail flight instructions later. I’m certain the Rogon crew will want to go off fortune hunting with the rest of the Rogons, so there should be no problem. And send orders to the army as well, all personal are to be embarked on those ships for return to Deathfang. Only those who volunteer to remain with Major Putnam may do so, no one will be forced to stay.”

Hunter went on to the next item on the list “Speaking of fortune hunting do we know how many Rogons have assembled on the planet?”

Wendy Taylor hesitated briefly, “Well sir, obviously the Rogons come and go as they please. I don’t think the Rogon command even knows how many have left…That said I would estimate that including those on route, close to 400 Rogons are at the base camp.”

Lew DeWalt, silent to this point spoke up, “Excuse me, Sir, Miss Taylor, but I have taken the liberty of ordering my men to keep a running tally I can get that information for you, but if anything Miss Taylor is guessing lowl”

Hunter St. James thought this over for a minute “So on the other hand, do we know how many Rogons remain onboard?”

“No sir,” replied the young Ensign, “Our best guess would be a little over 100l”

“Well that won’t do, In the event of an emergency, we need to know who’s onboard” Hunter was obviously speaking as though unseen ears might be listening “I want to encourage some inter-service co-operation.”

“In the event I hold a surprise, being overboard drill, it will be necessary to rapidly account for all personal human or Rogon. Miss Taylor you will develop methods to rapidly locate and count all Rogons on board. Captain DeWalt, you will designate certain NCOs’ to train with the Navy in conducting search parties to locate missing or injured Rogons.”

“Next on the list; Miss Taylor, did I not see some UN fighters on the lower boat deck when I conducted my last walk through?”

Wendy Taylor answered enthusiastically, “Yes sir you did, we have 16 F-91 Stiletto fighters completely upgraded with Rogon-tech, most officers and Non-coms are qualified on them and let me tell you sir they are sweet.”

“I should think so, I checked out in the Stiletto when they came out about 10 years back and they were super hot birds then; I can imagine what a couple hundred extra gees would do…Make up a pilot list of 15 qualified persons and we will start doing work ups for eventual combat air patrols…and no, Miss Taylor you are not to include yourself on that list.”

Hunter ignored Wendy’s obvious disappointmen,t “Oh yeah, going back to the would be gold miners ” I will inform our Rogon Masters that I will send one more pair of Dragonheads to the planet for the purpose delivering Rogon prospectors, after that we will go to a full war footing.”

“Captain I want you to begin planning for a full regimental ground assault on the cave location. It may be necessary to drop in some distance away so do a feasibility study on a hovercraft assault over the sea ice…Lord knows we have the equipment for it; when you make contact you’ll have 7 Dragons 16 fighters and the Deathfang overhead, if that ain’t enough we can all forget going home… I expect an outline in two days.”

Wendy spoke up, “16 fighters, sir?”

“That’s right Miss Taylor… It’s traditional that the first bird in an air wing is reserved for the carriers Captain.” Hunter knew how bad the young officer wanted to prove herself; he couldn’t just shoot her down without building her back up.

Hunter rolled the glass globe between his fingers, “I know I’m asking a lot of both of you; sometimes duty requires everything that you can give and then steals what’s left,” He paused again looking at the globe, “Once the Troops return from the planet we will hold a full command formation on the upper boat deck, Captain DeWalt, I am appointing you Regimental Commander of the 21st, and promoting you to Major” St. James smiled at the expression on the Young Captains face “Oh and you, Miss Taylor, had better have your best uniform laid out, It’s not every day an Ensign gets bumped two grades to 1st Lieutenant.”

Ft. Stuart, Evening Day 888

Andrew Stuart

I settled into the chair groaning, the shower had helped but from before Sunrise to after Sunset building towers hurt. It was something that had to be done and done fast but, it still hurt. Note to self, Teach someone younger Tower work. My desk unit chimed and it was Tim at Communications Central.

“Andy, those lists you asked for are ready and are in common database files ready to transmit. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Tim, I kinda have to. It’s all part of feeling out that crew up there not to mention that one file. Those Guys and Gals went down like Soldiers not thugs and deserve better than an unmarked grave. Shit that LT at the Lab made a dumb as hell move but it was a gutsy one and one you would expect of a leader. Good or Bad, you can’t ask much more out of a young 2LT.

“So, cue up the files for my signal and put me through to Task Force Alchibah.

“Task Force Alchibah, General Stuart Strike Force Alchibah on the line. I have data and a request for you!”

The obviously tired voice of Ensign Taylor came on the line. “Congratulations General and what can we do for you?”

I heard the suppressed giggle in that young voice and just had to ask, “Have my troops been telling tales out of school?”

You did not need video to see that smile across all the miles, “You have to admit Sir that that story is going to make the rounds of the lower ranks in any service.”

“Yeah Right, at any rate I have three database files for you. The First is those Soldiers we have captured or wounded who have been able to give us their Rank and Name. Anyone who made it to our Hospital is on that list. The Second is a list of wrist comp serial numbers; if you can tie those to the baby raping, back shooting and looting bastards who were wearing those, I have burial locations for them. The Third is pictures, where I would want anyone to see them, and fingerprint files for a bunch of Kids who went down hard as Soldiers.

“I would like very much to get Names, Ranks and Birth Dates for that file. I will later amend that file with appropriate plot locations for those. Those kids deserve better than an unmarked grave. At any rate here come the files.” My hands flicked the key signal to Tim and I waited out the delay.

Command Deck, Deathfang

Wendy Taylor turned towards the Commodore in what she thought was starting to be a habit, “Sir, what do I do?”

Hunter St. James stared at the overhead for a moment. “Send him the data Ensign. I think our new General down there is going to give those people Military Honors. Like I said, if anything is lacking down there I don’t think it is Honor.”

Communications Central, Liberty

Tim’s voice rang in triumph, “Got a correlation running message. How did you know?”

I picked up the drink that had been waiting, “Tim, I can not tell you that I will like that man if I ever get the chance to meet him. But, I can tell you right now I will not hate him. The man is a Professional Naval Officer, which of course means there will be some friction. Look up the traditions of the old Army-Navy Game. Remember four months after that game those Kids went to War together. Cripes that would mean a four boat race, shit!”

Tim killed the Microphone and pointed his head at the roof and let the tears and laughter roll. Just days ago Alchibah had been reeling slightly as the rock they had counted on to carry them though this War almost seemed to be crumbling. Suddenly out of the ashes had come this new rebirth. Joe, Bart and Rocco were dealing with the South. Andy was snapping Commands in all directions. Ash, Hibbs and Chandler were burning bandwidth in cryptic mathematics and Hanna was smiling.

Tim was just a Comm’s and Data guy but, this sure seemed to be a bad time to be a Snake.

Ft. Stuart, Late Evening Day 887

Gabriel Benjamin

I had rounded up the whole crew that Andy had asked for and everyone had just finished attacking the Bar when Andy walked in. I was stunned for a moment then yelled at the top of my lungs “Detachment, Attention!”

I snapped off the first well meant salute since the day I had left this man’s Command at old Coronado to the sight of that Star replacing the Eagle on the collar of Andy’s jacket. I could not help but gloat, “Mine was the first General; you owe me. I might even forgo my Silver Dollar for the story of how the Council hung that Fracking Star on you, for I know that you took that about as willingly as I would a Commission.”

Andy returned the salutes of the room with Professional Cold Precision, “Carry On, Master Chief; One of these days!

“Anyway when the Council broke it to me they had a member of the Council and an invited Observer with their sidearms already out with the safety’s off.”

I had to laugh, “And who were those brave souls? Two on one has never stopped you before that I know of.”

Andy’s head dipped like someone who had a straight flush turned on him. “Gabe, it was Mariana and Jai!”

I could not help it, for the first time since this had started; I totally cracked up. The only two people in the Universe old enough to hold a weapon that Andy would absolutely positively not take out, drawing down on him…. priceless!

Andrew Stuart

“All Right you group of reprobates settle down and we will brief the situation.”

Then from the back corner came the voice of Connor Benjamin, “But first a toast for Histy. The only man on this planet who has ever been able to snake trap the Boss!”

I heard the room explode in laughter and high fives and just slumped in my chair. Mariana came by from her trip to the Bar, “Let them celebrate love, this is what you have built. They will follow you into Hell itself computing the loot they are going to bring back. They just might deserve a laugh on the Boss every so often!”

I waited till the commotion started to die down then stood with the tears of laughter still visible on my face. “If you turkeys are ready to quit laughing at the Boss, we do have some business here. Gabe, Connor; rest assured I owe you one.

“OK, here is our status. Ash, Walt, Tim and Subbu are working their tails off on the cockpit upgrades to the MK V. The MK V-A is going to be a single Pilot bird. Every Wizzo who is qualified to be a Pilot is now on the duty rotation for the Cockpit.

“Jai, your bird will be ready by dawn. Move it up to the Dam Complex so we have our assets split. You and River are 10 and 10 on that bird.

“Ash’s and my birds will stay here. We will have two bird’s on ready 5 at all times. I am going to spend tomorrow putting up the two Radar Towers we had ready but just did not get the time to put up. We are going to surveil and defend this globe.” I threw it on the projection screen.

“This is the area that Commodore Hunter St. James would have to enter to launch a Nuke Strike against Liberty. It is my intention to send this projection to Him tonight and inform him that we will likewise not attack outside that perimeter. Remember, every hour we buy is one more that the Mayflower crew has to complete their upgrades and finish the Hamilton. I do not want to go up against that damn Rogon mothership without the Hamilton. Any questions?” The room was amazingly quiet.

“Then finish your drinks and get some sleep. Major Pierce a moment please?”

John Pierce came over, “John as of tomorrow morning you go back to being a General Contractor. Of course Hanna’s is the first major project in the pipe. But, I have one personal request. The Council approved Strike Force’s claim for the 440 acres around where we buried Steve Fallon and Robbie McMaster. I would like this Arch in wood placed over the center of the Southern edge please.”

I showed him the rough drawing of a simple, non-pretentious arch with the simple engraving.

ARLINGTON