In My Fathers Eyes:
“In league with the devil I tell you, in league with evil incarnate,” Jedediah said or ranted to his son Aaron as they turned inland heading for the pickup point where the Liberty City colonists had left the weapon supplies.

“In more ways than one father, but we are free of the serpent in our midst. When I confronted Edwards with the truth of his perfidy he laughed then turned his back and rode off in the direction of the Rogon camp. Aram, Ephraim, and Joseph went with him. The rest obeyed my commands. I think now I might have ordered those with me them to give chase but at the time I was not so sure where everyone’s loyalties lay.”

“Take not the council of your fears, the Lord will provide; and the provision of weapons was certainly unexpected. I see you are not carrying a rifle yourself my son. Why is that?”

“The Lord is my strength and my shield. I need naught else. Sister Martha has taken to riding with me since Edwards left and in any case; she is armed enough for the both of us. Have you spoken yet again with those we left behind?”

“I have not. Joseph Fortson, who is speaking for them, said that communications would be limited unless and until we come under attack. The landing party that left us the guns also he says left behind two robots. He did not tell me where they are; only that they are somewhere up ahead of us. They are to act as forward observers but are not under our direction. We shall trust in the Lord and all will be as he desires.”

* * *
Standing outside of the milling herd, no it was a crowd, herd was used for animals, Sister Martha watched as the two large Tulari, Enoch, and Belsethar, as they began passing out the rifles to the waiting Tulari. Each Llama next went to either Hosham or Micah and in seconds received all the training they would get in one mental transfer. After all the guns were passed out and over the next few days Marty would visit the rapidly dispersing groups and make sure that each one of them fired enough rounds to zero-in the rifles. It had been a very pleasant surprise when she saw that the Agorans, Marty could not bring herself to think of them as Aarons, with their four footed stance and stability were amazingly good shots.

The combined tribes, Agorah, Tulari, Richirty and now Piridem, the first of whose members had just arrived, were going to keep marching towards the Rogon camp all the while and She would travel with Aaron and Jedediah; acting as their voice when required. They were sill at least three weeks from reaching the landed party but contact could happen at any time. With Edwards gone, and that was all to the good, the ‘Generalship’, from the human side at least, had fallen on her shoulders. How very, very, strange. ‘Martha the Warrior Princess’, no that wasn’t right, ‘Martha the servant of the Lord’.

* * *
Cotton Edwards was traveling as rapidly as he could manage, so much so that his wife was suffering visibly. She said nothing but the hour upon hour of walk then ride with scant rest had dulled her perception. Even the three Soessossins traveling with them were showing the strain. Helen had given up asking any questions or even talking to her husband, it was too much effort. Cotton had said they would reach the Rogon camp in a week, and from time to time he would say they were still on track. He made no effort to conceal his contact with the Rogon/UN force any longer. He had been assured the humans back in Liberty city were no longer a threat. He was sorely puzzled by the fact that he had to make the march at all and that a shuttle was not just sent transport his party to the camp in minutes rather than the days it was taking.

RoDan and R. JP, sheltered in the tall grass of a hillside watched the party of five pass. They followed for a day until it was certain that the destination was the Rogon camp. While Edwards was still approaching them the bots had picked up the fringes of the directed com signals. Now, with the party beyond them that was no longer possible. But it wasn’t very important either. Most of the communication was one way; Edwards telling all he knew about the Levitican and Soessossin plan with no information going in the other direction.

In the Cave and in the Stuart Compound the infrequent signals, relayed whenever the moon Carter was in a favorable position, were monitored around the clock.

“I almost wish I were there,” JJ Parker said.
“Sure ya do,” Joe Fortson replied. “You got ‘Hero’ written all over you.”

JJ’s face reddened and he answered, “You’re right Joe, I’m not all that much younger than you. The both of us are too old for that kind of thing. The waiting is what is getting to me and I’m not the only one. The Rogons must know all about these caves by now, what with Buchanan telling all. Is there anyway we can move from here to a new location that is secret?

“Not much chance of that JJ. Whatever is going to happen it will play out one way or another long before we could find and rebuild in another place. If I were you I‘d be getting with the prisoners and trying to learn a little Rogon. No matter how this turns out it could be of use.”

“What are you going to tell the Jeep and RoDan to do?”
“I just sent word for them to fall back towards the Levitican main party and to stay about a day ahead of their travel but make sure and stay out of sight. When we see what the Rogons and UN decide to do we can figure what comes next.”

* * *
Ten days since the march began and the tribes were almost all in place. Aaron no longer spent all of his time reinforcing the faith of the recent converts. He spoke mostly to his inner circle and they spread the word. His mother and sister were being raised to near deity level as the Soessossins interpreted and reinterpreted all that Aaron or his father Jedediah said and mixed it into their understanding of the biblical text. According to his father heresies abounded and Jedediah was free in condemnation and correction. Aaron’s approach was much milder and in tune with the gentle creatures nature. Or it had been; but the continual search for dietary protein that fueled the march was turning the once pacifistic creatures into something much closer to an angry mob.

The colonists at Liberty City, from time to time, contacted Jedediah and advised that they give up the march to the Rogon camp and scatter into the wilderness. When his father spoke to Aaron concerning the matter, Aaron had mildly rebuked him saying, “We are of the Lord and he is of us. Our faith is both our armor and sword and whomsoever shall stand in our way shall perish thereby.” Jedediah accepted the words, though reluctantly. For the Soessossins they became a prophesy and battle cry.

Communications with Liberty, however infrequent, would give some warning should the Rogons chose to do anything but wait for their arrival.

As everyone else in the group was drawing deeper and deeper into the religious fervor, Sister Martha was beginning to have doubts. She had traveled with Aaron whenever he went away from the main group and saw how much the Llamas were changing. That was something that was easier to do when contrasting the new converts with the Agoran who had been with them from the start. It seemed to her that the Soessossins were no longer out for salvation but out for blood. There was nobody to talk to about this, Sister Ruth was too young and Jedediah’s wife Miriam was a captive to her faith or perhaps in thrall to both her husband and son. Doubts and all, she had no out, so would make the best of it.

“The Yelsig may be useless but they will accompany you Shintok; petok-S,” said Jaric; tilmer-N. “Our Overmaster has so demanded. I have spent much time reading and researching the military histories of these Humans and there is a term they refer to which covers this situation. Such soldiers are called ‘Cannon Fodder’; a wave of ineffective troops that both distracts and attempts to overrun an opposing force. They are not expected to survive nor are they trained in military virtue and tactics. They also need no motivation beyond the fact that should they fail to advance, or when engaged flee to the rear, they will be shot by the forces behind driving them forward. Ineffective they may be but the cost of using them is nonexistent.”

“You will take no time investigating for mineral deposits until all of the clients of the Chewpess are subjugated. Upon expeditious completion of your mission your reward will be commensurate with its success.”

“Submaster-tilmer, I claim no special knowledge concerning the strength of these slaves to be, but would not it be advisable to use the Dragon’s Head to end this thing at once?”

“Obey Must! Policy is not for such as you! You will take the Edwards creature with you but no other Humans, your masters find reason to question their subservience. You will take also your underlings and in particular elron-A and his broodmates argo and teth and the damaged huk, I find they annoy me. You will remember that a live slave is more valuable than a dead slave and conduct yourself accordingly and as directed!” Jaric; tilmer-N gave not a second glance to Shintok; petok-S as he walked away from the lesser Rogon. Appearances must be maintained.

Liberty City:
“They’ve sent out a force,” Subbu Akai said to Fortson and Reye who were waiting to see the latest download from Rocco from his tent up on the moon Carter. All Rogon, no UN people in view. Can’t tell exactly how long ago but when I get the speed of the march calculated I’ll let you know. Must have been a few hours ago anyway.”

“Any vehicles?” Fortson asked.

“Only a couple of skimmers that I can locate and they are off to the sides. Think they are herding in the Yelsig and trying to get them out front. Yes that’s it. Sabbu said that after fast forwarding ahead in the data stream. I see a few Yelsig bodies down and on the ground. Looks like it took a bit of convincing to get them moving.”

Les Reye spoke up, “If the Guardians are ever going to interfere now is the time. I am at a loss to explain why they are waiting.”

“Not our problem,” Fortson said. “Les could you put out a call for some of our military brain trust and we can try and work out their intentions and figure what to tell Dobswell and where to send the bot’s”

Reye sent a query… “Andy is with Bart and Connor at the castle. Let’s send them the download and then we’ll see.”

“Give it another day,” Andy said. “Until we know the rate of advance we don’t know where they meet. But we should give Dobswell a heads up and show him the best spot we can find for him to make a stand. He sure as hell can‘t go up against them in a set piece battle. Hell he can‘t go up against them in any fashion and expect to win against competent leadership. But the Rogons thus far haven‘t shown much of that now have they?”

Progress reports made after Carter completed two more orbits showed the two groups would meet on a vast open plain in six more days. That was the kind of terrain Dobswell needed to avoid if he were to have any kind of a chance. Fortson sent a brief message advising of the fact and suggesting they halt their advance while still in the foothills the plain abutted.

Looking at the downloaded views they saw a likely spot just before the Levitican led Soessossins would breakout into the flatlands. It was nicely hilled and partially forested with a small river running through from east to west. The river came from deeper inside the continent and was fed by mountain snow runoff. Just as it broke out of the hilly land it fed what looked to be a large impact crater forming a lake just beyond the point where they advised Dobswell to stop. It took some convincing but finally Dobswell agreed that he would halt just before he reached the plain and lake and prepare for battle there instead of rushing madly onwards.

Joe directed RoDan and the Jeep take up positions on either side of and in front of Dobswell. They would have a somewhat distant, but with their advanced optics, still ringside seat for the coming engagement.

Alchibah Space Day 887

Andrew Stuart

Tim was hesitant. “Are you sure you want to do this without talking to the Council?”

“Yes Tim, this is a pure Military Decision. Getting Politicians in the middle of this is the one thing that might Frack it up. Fire it up and let’s talk. Kara be ready on that database, it was accurate as of the Day we stole it off of that Cruiser.” I calmly waited as he flipped the switches and waved at me.

“Good Morning, whatever you Goonies are calling yourselves these days. We are in the clear I have nothing to hide.

“If I am talking to Political Directorate, I strongly suggest you get Naval Intelligence on the line. If I am talking to Naval Intelligence, I am the local Commander and I am declaring a Case Zulu. I suggest you get your Boss on the line.”

“OK Kara who answers will be our first hint of what’s going on.”

After almost a minute a woman’s voice came from the speakers.

“Ensign Taylor here, the Commodore is in route; please hold one.”

“Bingo Kara, NavInt. Now I am willing to bet the Commander is on that three name short list.”

“My pleasure Miss Taylor!”

Tim looked stunned, “You were right.”

“Tim, there is a real life pro up there. I am gambling that I can connect to him or her!”

“Commodore Hunter St James, Task Force Alchibah, Commanding. To whom am I speaking?”

“Kara, I have heard that name, dump the file to my screen ASAP! I’ll tap dance him. At least we will have a couple of minutes to think”

“Colonel Andrew Stuart, Strike Force Alchibah, Commanding and might I add the only Commander authorized by the legitimate Government of Alchibah to use that title. Yours Sir, is the title of a would be Conqueror.”

“Good job Kara. That’s who I thought it was. Hang on boys and girls I gonna jab and weave and see how he is thinking. If he doesn’t tell me to go straight to hell, we have a chance.”

Commodore St. James

“Colonel Stuart, I’m not going to debate legalities with you, I know your record, and I respect you. But you of all people know what will happen if we go at it. No matter how well equipped and trained your people are…you’re going to take casualties.

“The difference between us is that the families of me and my people are safely 49 light years away, and yours are with you in the combat zone”

St James closed his eyes and squeezed the glass globe in his hand “I have to pretend that’s true”, he thought, “or I’ll never get home.”

Hunter continued, “Colonel I didn’t come all this way to make war on civilians, but I’ll do what I must to complete my mission.

“Now I’m prepared to offer you and your uniformed personal full military recognition, complete amnesty for any and all previous crimes under UN Law. Those who wish will be offered full recognition of service and incorporation in the UNWG Alchibah garrison.

“I can offer you a 72 hour truce to take counsel of your officers, and for further negotiations…

“Sir, I know your honor as a warrior will compel you to reject this offer, I hope you sense of loyalty to your troops and duty to the community you’ve built here will let us find a peaceful solution here.”

Colonel Stuart

“Sir, I also know the butcher of Ceres by reputation and expect you to take this calmly.

“First, I have your young LT Anselmo in our Hospital. His physical injuries are mostly bruises from the original incident and not being in an acceleration seat on the way down. He is under observation for the mental affects of being found when He was down to four minutes of air.

“Second, the people I have promised to defend intend to never be slaves to any system whether, it be human or alien. The UNWG exists by enslaving people and we will not stand for that.

“Sir, if you think you will get close enough for one of your patented Nuke Strikes; I am afraid you are wrong.

“There is one difference between us Commodore, I will die in the doing if necessary; but you will not make slaves of my children.”

Commodore St. James

Onboard Deathfang St James had to think fast, “Guy alive?” he thought, “well prisoner release will take care of itself in another couple weeks, best not to think about it now” He keyed the mike:

“Colonel, you know as well as I do that the conscience of a soldier is often sacrificed to the needs of the state. In all the years since that terrible day there is not a single time I could look at my own daughters and fail to think of those children, but to save the lives of many, a warrior must sometimes foul his soul with the blood of a few.

“In the last Century governments on Earth Killed 100’s of millions of innocents in war and peace; I’ll admit to you that the leaders of the UN are corrupt and immoral, But the United Nations World Government has provided peace and safety to all humanity since its inception. I have spent my life serving the ideal of a peaceful world, that is what I am trying to offer to you and yours.

“Just say the word and I will send food and medical supplies to the colonials hiding in caves, we will help rebuild your town, you can live the life of a gentleman farmer and spend the summer on your sailboat”

Wendy Taylor looked at her Commodore with wide eyes “Sailboat sir?”

St James answer came from far away “verifying Intel Ensign, just a test”

Colonel Stuart

“Should we ever get the chance we can exchange stories about our respective Ghosts. You can tell your efficient sounding young Ensign to look for Second Tehran, Khandar Palace; I will be listed as an SFC, my Officer record is all Black Ops you won’t find anything there.

“Sir, tell me without lying though your teeth that your job here is not to make that piece of Human Excrement Richard Redmond the Political Governor of Colony Alchibah. You speak of honor but you take orders from that scum. At least do me the favor of putting that asshole in the jump seat of the next sacrificial Skull Ship you send this way. At least that way when the main fleets meet, I can at least die happy.

“What would you do if I were standing between you and your children? Dear God, I would fight my way through all of Earths slave soldiers to save yours.

“Would you want your daughters to live in a city ruled by Richard Redmond? I sir would fight to the death before I’d let my daughters live on the same planet as that bastard. Shit St James, I don’t want to fight you.

“But, fight we must unless you have a way of getting the damn Guardians to talk to either of us; the only thing they ever told us was ‘Stay the Hell away from the South Continent!’ St. James, I have had three of the greatest Physicists and Mathematicians Earth ever produced working their ass off for two earth years getting ready for this.

“You have no idea what I am capable of. I hope to the Gods we never have to find out.

“Just what kind of Man are you Sir?”

I winked at Tim and went for the downs. “You missed one thing though. I don’t farm, I run an Industrial Complex and I make Booze. My sailboat is a Bluenose Class Open Water Schooner named Cuchulainn. Come on down I’ll give you a ride in the spring.”

I chopped the mic and stared at the room. “Now we wait and see!

“This may just be the longest few minutes of my life.”

Command Deck Rogon Ship Deathfang:

“Captains on the bridge!”

Hunter St James strode to the watch command station in Deathfang’s human modified control room. “What do we have Wendy?” he asked the young officer who had assumed the duties of his chief of staff…

Although Ensign Wendy Taylor was young she was smart and efficient in all things, “Long range scans of the planet are picking up some ship movements.” She activated the main 3-D projection, “At 161 light seconds, we loose a little detail, There’s definitely a hot pursuit going on.”

The big screen above showed time stamps in human base 10 and Rogon base 8 numerals, Hunter ignored that and concentrated on the active symbols. A red triangle was leading a green skull and crossbones symbol at a high rate of speed across the face of the planet “Very cute, now zoom out.”

The scene abruptly changed so that the planet became a 2 foot ball suspended in the vast field of view. “Now project the vectors,” Hunter directed. Suddenly two lines appeared almost superimposed on each other, extending from the ship icons to a small white ball about 4 feet from the planet. “Ok show me the current plot,” again the view change with the ship symbols moving half way up the two colored vectors towards the small moon. “Order the Dragonhead to break off pursuit, they won’t, but send it anyway.”

The message was promptly sent to Dragonhead 2, 161 seconds away, “Your analysis Miss Taylor?”

Wendy Taylor was becoming used to such questions from the Commodore, He expected his officers to think about problems and have quick answers.

“Sir we expected the Colonials to make their supply run to the southern landmass two days from now, apparently they have jumped the gun and were detected by the Dragonhead which is now chasing them into space.”

Wendy was sure she was correct but also thought she should have had more to say. Hunter was reasonably pleased but felt some more instructive questioning was in order. “OK 2 questions, one, if they advanced their plans what doe’s that tell us? and two, why the close pass of that small moon?”

A piece of the puzzle became suddenly obvious, “They must have caught the spy…and decoded his message…but… I’m sorry sir I don’t know why they are going past that moon.”

Hunter was satisfied with that, ” So far so good…passing that close to the moon is no coincidence, obviously they have some kind of trap set, that’s why I sent the recall order. It probably won’t arrive in time, and even if it does the Rogons will ignore it but it is a chance.”

They watched silently as the chase played out above when the two icons reached the moon suddenly a confusing group of red triangles and arrow symbols appeared, in seconds the green skull began blinking and then disappeared.

“Isn’t there anything we can do sir?” she asked in a diminished voice.

Hunter had already discarded the one option but he felt it only fair to explain, “We could order Dragonhead 3 to cut anchors and assume a blocking orbit… she might catch a couple of those ships but probably not.”

Wendy didn’t quite understand. “But Sir” she stammered, “Aren’t two ships better than none?”

Hunter gave the young officer a sad smile, “Sure two ships are better than none, but a smart commander would split his ships up and risk a couple for the chance to slam the planetary base, I’m not prepared to take that bet.”

They watched as the red ships maneuvered on the screen “place two recon drones in very high orbits on opposite sides of the planet…Oh and keep a continuous watch on the spy channel, they will either begin filing false reports or try to contact us direct, either way I want to know.”

After a few minutes the red ship symbols began their return to the planet, the display zoomed in till they filled the screen. As they made the final approach their formation subtly shifted.

“What was that Sir?” Asked Ensign Taylor in a slightly confused tone.

Commodore Hunter St. James stared at the 3-D for a long moment. “It’s called the Missing Man Formation. It’s the way Combat Pilot’s have honored one of their own who died for generations. Those with any sense of honor that is. Somehow I doubt that honor is missing down there.”

Alchibah L2 Lagrange Point Day 886

From Various Log Files

Andrew Stuart

As the current position of the moon Carter masked the L2 point we decided to loiter there and were waiting for the show to begin when Ash chimed up.

“You know,” he mused, “if Bart can stick to the plan He’s gonna come through Point Luck at about 150 K/sec and still digging. Angel and Wildcat are going to have about a 9 second shot at that snake. I agree they have enough missiles down there it should work, my question is why are we stooging around up here?”

“Because I promised Bart that I would protect Janie. That Ash is why we are ignoring the 100’s and the damn useless missiles. We go with the Rail Guns, if the missile barrage fails; we show our hand and go get the Bastard!

“I would like however to not show our hand right now. If the missile storm works, it is a conventional attack and won’t raise any short-hairs. If you and I go tearing out of here at 300 G’s and smack that snake with 5 CM Railers, someone is going to have to notice.

“I don’t want that Pro up there in a position to guess my hole cards.”

“OK, Kat got the sequence?” Asked Mariana.

“Keyed in, what do we use as a clock start?”

“Here you go Kat, that’s a point on Bart’s projected route that I am designating Point Wolf. We hit the key at Wolf and you guys launch at Luck. That should give you the full nine second window.

“Andy’s not going to use those missiles for anything else so no reason to save any.”

“Heads up guys,” I said, “here comes Bart with a Snake on his ass. 4 min 50 to show time.”

William Bartlett

The augmented shuttle/lander Dora streaked up and eastward, away from the Rogon skullship that was following closely on its tail. As she got higher, above 100,000 feet. and started leaving the atmosphere and it’s heating effects behind, she sped up further until the Rogons were no longer gaining; they might even be losing some. Once the Rogon ship cleared atmosphere that was likely to change.

“Hold her straight for a bit Bart,” Janie said. “Our shields aren’t being stressed and the Rogon fire is slowing down. They must have determined that at this range they can’t hurt us. We sure can’t get into a dogfight with that thing but if I can get the timing right I just might be able to cut the shields long enough to kick out a couple of anti-ship missiles.”

“What good will that do Babe?” Bart asked while he continued plotting the path that was taking them over the horizon from the Rogon base. “Were going far to fast for those missiles to turn around and lock on to the Rogons.”

Before she had a chance to reply the fire from the Rogon energy weapons cut completely out and Janie immediately killed the shields for an instant then started them back up and repeated the process three more times in rapid succession. Between the second and third shutdown she ejected two of the four small homing devices. All the while she was kicking out chaff and flares and driving the EM scrambler at max variability. “That ought to make it look like we are having problems with shield stability. I set the missiles guidance computers to just let them coast until the Rogons fly by. If they don’t twig to what’s happening we could get a couple of shots in.”

It was not to be. Scant seconds after the missiles separated from the Dora, Rogon plasma weapons locked on and vaporized them. It happened so fast there wasn’t even time for an explosion of the warhead. Phett, phett, and they were gone.

“Good try Babe; we picked up a few more seconds. Do it again when ever you’re ready; we need every bit of lead we can manage. Carter should be coming into sight about now! Yes there it is. Keep them damn snakes guessing.”

“Here we go Janie,” Bart said as the Dora shuddered in reaction to a hit on the shield. The Rogons had made up all of the distance the had lost earlier and the shields were being driven almost to failure.. “We’re almost in an overload condition so this had better work!”

Rocco Williams

“There she is,” Rocco Williams thought to himself as he picked up the Dora on visuals. Ever since the chase started he had been monitoring the com channels, no point in Bart and Janie trying to maintain a black-out. He was a little surprised they had made it this far. Maybe the plan works after all.

Rocco had been on the inner moon for over half a day, more than one full orbit. It had taken that long to get everything set and in place. But here his experience onboard the Mayflowers in it’s previous life as a mining asteroid, and the help of the mining bots to do the heavy lifting, paid off. He made it with time to spare. In fact he had finished up the last of his part working on the side of the rock facing away from the planets surface even before he was passing over the Rogon camp on South Alchibah.

Two of the bots were finishing up the final wiring and signal circuits when he returned to the inflatable tent on the side of the moon that faced the planet. The com gear and other electronics were the easy part. Keeping this kludge of a Radar running was harder. Then in his ear came Mariana Stuart.

Rocco listened to Mariana and watched as Bart took the Dora as close to the moon’s surface he dared. He passed directly over side of the moon facing away from the planet and changed course at once, now driving towards the darkness of the planet below and getting the moon between him and line of sight of the Rogon skullship.

* * *
“Distance must close,” the Rogon commander of the skullship Dragonshead 2 ordered as the Rogon pilot started to drift wide from the moon for more clearance. “Follow in line. They will be back in sight soon, we will give away no distance. For human ship the end is at hand. No chance do we take that they make atmosphere before we complete mission and finish with weakones our dealings. This effrontery is not tolerable and end must.

“Aye, aye, Master Sir,” the pilot replied in a weak mimic of what a human might have said and readjusting the ship’s trajectory so that it would fly over the moon’s rocky surface almost as closely as the ship fleeing in front of him. This chase was about to end.

Strike Force Forward; COl Andrew Stuart, Commanding

“He appears to right on track and that Snake don’t look like he is going to quit any time soon. Watch the screens and get ready.” Andy called out.

At about 30 seconds out everyone heard Mariana in that low evil voice she could get, “Here, Kitty Kitty Kitty.”

The screens flashed Wolf and the sound of keys going home was rapidly replaced by Luck. All six multi-Barrel missile launchers flared in a clear show of overkill. I have no idea how many of that Barrage actually got the frontal collision impact we were looking for. That’s what slow speed playbacks are for. But the cloud of gas and debris moving on the ballistic track where a Skull Ship had been said that it had been enough.

“OK, let’s wait for Bart to get back and it should be just about time for Firebird and River. Let’s go pick up Angel, Wildcat and Rocco while we are waiting.”

Bart’s voice came over the comms, “We will be back in a few. We have Firebird on sensors. We will lock up with her.”

We loitered till Bart and Jai joined up, than went into a 4 ship V. Once we were in unison I slid out into the spacing for a 5 ship V with one empty hole and we started the spiral down at one G. We made one pass over Liberty and settled onto the landing field still in that formation.

Shintok: elron-A had never been one to question life and the circumstances that he found himself in, until now. He had been unable to sleep and so he had left the shelter and his Broodmates; left the Rogon camp entirely and gone for a walk, across the plain that had until recently been the home of the Yelsig.

But the Yelsig (or ponies as the humans called them) were staying away from the Rogon camp. That suited elron fine, the humans were disturbing enough. Humans…he couldn’t call them slaves anymore. Elron had been taught the human speech, but he had seldom actually spoke to humans, or thought much about them…until three days ago when he had confronted the human prisoner, and now he was awake thinking about him and his words “We’re not slaves… we’re not slaves, damn you! This is our home”

elron didn’t understand this at all, “how could humans not be slaves” he asked himself, it went against what he had always known, but somehow he felt it was true. Jaric; tilmer-N had tried to explain, but it made no sense, the Rogon scientist had arranged for elron and his 3 brothers to serve as guards for the prisoners, at least until huk’s injuries were fully healed. elron had begun to approach the human soldiers and question them but this had simply added to his confusion, and amused the soldiers.

A warm wind was blowing through the grass; elron could smell the sea in the breeze, not the sea smell of the Shintok islands of Rogoss, but the sea nevertheless. Suddenly lights and noise erupted from the distant Rogon camp, elron turned around to see the green luminescence of the energy dome of the shield collapse and then Dagonhead 2 rise up and begin to fly toward the distant mountains, moving faster and faster until it disappeared beyond the moonlit peaks. The green dome reappeared above the remaining Dragonhead ship but elron paid no attention as he ran back through the tall grass as fast as his four legs could take him.

With Help From the Various Logfiles

Early Morning Alchibah - Day 886:
“They sure didn’t waste any time getting this plan in motion did they Bart?” Janie said while bringing the preflight checklist up on her screen. For this little jaunt she would be the one operating the weapons station.

“Not a bit,” Bart responded while the automatic sequencer went through its motions and he double checked as all systems came up on line. “The little ad hoc add on and tacked to the end of the mission seems a bit risky though.”

“Yes, I was thinking the same thing myself. Everyone says these new shields are near perfect. I hope we don’t get the chance to find out.”

“Right. I couldn’t agree more. Especially after we got the goods on Buchanan. Those Rogons and UNWG people got to know we’re on our way. But maybe it is better this way. They would have detected us anyhow and now they think the flight is going off tomorrow and not today and if the shields do work as advertised we still will have surprise on our side. How about checking with the cargo bus and see how close to being ready they are?”

Janie switched open the low powered ship to ship comm link. “Cargo One, status report.”

“Five minutes till takeoff,” came the reply. Laura Seaworth was taking care of the communications but Jan Christopher was going to be doing the piloting. Jan had had all the training and flight time on the new ships system and Laura, much as she wanted to be the pilot in charge knew that time spent running simulations wasn’t the same as time in air and space. “Looks like we are going to start out at 12%– no make that 14% overweight,” she said as the last crate came onboard. “Until we drop the load we’re gonna’ have all the maneuverability of a bee in a bottle.”

“Good line, save it for the after-action report. Get ready for the final flight detail.” Janie sent the data away with a gloved finger touching an icon on a small screen set into her armrest.

“My that is low isn’t it,” Jan’s voice came through clearly.

“One hundred feet all the way,” Bart answered. “It’s not that I don’t trust the shields but keeping below the radar horizon is another layer of protection. As soon as we go feet dry we will separate some and your job will get tougher. Fifty feet over rolling terrain, even with the comps to help out is nothing to laugh about.”

“Bart, If you hear any laughter look somewhere else cause it won’t be me. I am going to have Laura fly the last four hundred miles till we make shore so I’m rested when we hit land.”

“Sounds good. We are lifting now. When you pass we’ll take station behind and to your right. No communications at all from this point on. If this thing works out we will be having a drink together in about eight hours or so. Until then, good luck to all.”
Jan Christopher lifted the overweight Cargo Bus from the Stuart Compound and said to Laura, “Damn this thing flies like a… Like a…”
“A Bus?” Laura said slyly.”

“Thank you very much my dear, after that comment you certainly will be the one that writes our after action report, what with your way with words and all.”

It was dark and overcast as the bus swept past Liberty City and the Dora matched course behind and to the right. The Dora at least was light and maneuverable. Aside from the weapons load the only cargo aboard were the two robots, Jeep and RoDan, and they were more like crew. Timing was the key to making the whole thing come out as planned, and a complicated plan it was. Especially for one thrown together on such short notice.

* * *
Joe Fortson watched as Burt Buchanan was frog marched into the small room in the Biolab that he was using as a temporary holding cell.

“He sent the message, no doubt about it. We watched him and have it on tape.”

“Any read on just what he said and who he sent it to?” Joe inquired.

“Nothing on that score. Ash has the intercept but he says that he can’t break it without a key or the sending device. We sent him the sending device; it was a little gadget that plugged into a standard personal com unit. But we blew it with Buchanan, or that device was a heck of a lot more sophisticated than anything I ever heard about. It was nothing but melted plastic and charred cinder by the time we pulled it from the com unit. You’ll have to see if you can make him talk. He hasn’t said a word since we collared him.”

“Thanks. In some kind of perverse way I am actually looking forwards to this.” And with that statement Joe followed the prisoner into the lab.

“Stretch him out,” Fortson said to Gene Washburn who was assisting.

“You can’t do this!” Burt Buchanan wailed, “It’s against all of the rules of civilized warfare!” His terror at the sight of the two inclined planks with straps attached had broken through his former silence.

“Sure it is Burt,” Joe said, with a back hand on the side of Buchanan’s face for additional emphasis. Buchanan groaned then glared and Joe spoke again. “All you got to do is tell us what we want to know and we will stop. The choice is yours Burt, all Yours!”

“Strap him down Gene.”

Gene with the help of Frank Turner wrestled the struggling Buchanan onto the planks and tied him in place. “Last chance asshole,” Fortson sneered. After a few seconds of no reply Joe said, “Ok, Let’s get on with it.”

A rag was stuck into Buchanan’s mouth, not tight enough to stop him from breathing but enough so that his mouth would stay open. Gene stretched a sheet of thin, clear, flexible plastic film over the face and nose and poked a hole into it and through to the rag so that Buchanan could breath, at least for now. Joe picked up a bucket of water and was starting to pour it in through the small hole when Kurt Kellerman ran into the room.

“What the hell is this!” he screamed, “You can’t do this, I order you to stop!”

Joe continued pouring and looking over towards Kellerman said, “Kurt, I think you ought to get out of here for now. Maybe we need you later and maybe we don’t. But this bastard is going to talk and Gene is gonna take you out if you try and interfere.”

Kellerman turned and saw Washburn had a hand gun pointed right at his center of mass.

“Don’t worry Doc, it’s set to stun,” Gene said in a more pleasurable tone than the situation seemed to merit.

“Kellerman froze fore just a second then said, “You’ll pay for this later Fortson, mark my words, you’ll pay!”

“I’m sure I will Kurt…I’m sure I will.”

And then Kurt calmed right down reassessing the situation. “Ok, call of your dog, no offense Gene, or at least not much. I can see this has to be done but! I am going to stay and make sure it’s done right. We both may have to answer for this later if we live so long.”

* * *
“How are you doing Bart?” Janie asked three and a half hours later and a couple of hundred miles from the South Alchibah shoreline, “Want me to spell you for a few?”

“Sure thing, thanks Babe.” Carter the innermost moon was just sinking below the horizon and with Oliver long out of sight the only light was from the sky glow. At least down here the weather was clear with no cloud cover to interfere with visual navigation. They could make out the bus still ahead of them Keeping the EM signature down was important and getting more so by the minute. “I hate to be dealing with Jedediah on this but it beats dealing with Edwards. If Joe hadn’t gotten Buchanan to talk this thing had no way of working at all.”

“How do you think he did it Bart?”

“I’m not sure we want to know Babe, I’m just thankful he did.”

Fifteen minutes later came the signal sent by light beam. Feet Dry! No need really, they were only a few hundred yards apart but would soon be splitting up. Jan was going to take the weapons and drop them of at a prearranged spot. There would be no direct contact with either the Leviticans or the Llamas, too risky was the determination. The Dora would sneak in, and if it looked like they were undetected, and it seemed safe, drop off the two bots who would remain behind and act as eyes and ears both for the Leviticans and the colonist.

The Dora would stay low and fly a racetrack pattern between where the Rogon/UN forces were camped and the weapon drop point. If all of that went off without a hitch, a pretty big if, then the second and more dangerous part of the plan would begin.

Laura Seaworth saw the Dora for only an instant and then it was lost behind a small range of hills. She concentrated on her display, only passive detection, and felt her stomach lurch as Jan jogged the still overloaded bus up and down, avoiding only by feet the terrain and treetops they passed over. She would have liked to say something, compliment Jan on her piloting, but now was not the time for distractions.

“This’ll do it Bart,” Janie said as they came into sight of a small landing spot nestled in the hill covered grassland about fifty miles from the Rogon Camp.

Bart set the ship down light as a feather and Janie popped the hatch. The Jeep and RoDan were outside in a flash and the hatch closing as Janie whispered, “Good luck boys.” Of course there was no answer.

Jan set the bus down, “Light as a brick,” she said in disgust.
“Hey we made it this far and I don’t think even Ash could have done any better. I’m going to unstrap and see if I can help with the unloading. The sooner were out of here the more I’m gonna like it.”

Ten minutes later Laura was back in her seat and Jan, after sending out a short burst of static, was streaking back towards Liberty City in a much more maneuverable vessel. But what the heck, it was still a bus and wasn’t going to add anything to the rest of the mission.

“They’re on the way back,” Janie commented.

“Great,” Bart said without taking his eyes from the windscreen and the heads up display shining in its surface. “We’ll draw back a bit and give them some time to clear the area before we show ourselves. This has gone entirely too smoothly so far. The easier things seem the more I worry.”

“You just make sure that you run for all your worth when we get spotted and trust the rest of the team to handle their part.” And then, “Uh-oh, I think they got us.” Janie finished, as red alarm lights started flashing on the ECM and threat displays.

“Off to the races,” Bart said engaging full power and screaming skyward, away from the chasing Skullship and enemy camp, going up and eastward as rapidly as the Dora could manage. “Now we see just how good these really shields are.”

It seemed like only seconds later when Janie said, “Skins getting hot and they’re gaining.”

“I’m watching it Babe, Good thing they know where we are and we don’t need to worry about the heat signature.”

“Bart! I can’t believe you said that!”

“Hmm,” he said, “Didn’t mean for it to come out just that way,” and then, “Hold on!” as the new defensive screen took the first hit and the Dora shuddered under the impact and Janie started ejecting counter measures as a defense against what looked to be incoming missiles that had tripped another alarm.

Alchibah Late Day 885 Ft Stuart

Andrew Stuart

I had just finished the joint mission planning session with Bartlett, Christopher and Seaworth when the line to the Comm Center chimed. Oh Great, what now. “Stuart here!”

“Master Chief Benjamin, Sir I need the Commander Strike Force and the Chief Communications Engineer at this site, HYPE!”

I was boiling out the door screaming on the short comm to Marina before he blanked the screen. Frack the snowshoes it was downhill any way, I grabbed the Nordic skis and poles and flew. I would not have thought that Gabe Benjamin would have used the highest alert code we had for anything short of a Nova.

Three minutes later I walked into the Comm Center and what looked like a staging area for a raid. Angel, Scythe and Grinder were geared up and ready to go. Gabe began in the most formal of manners.

“Sir, we have all indications of a active spy in the process of communications. Request that the Communications Engineer confirm and the Commander authorize a surface Covert Action.”

I did not answer just moved to the analysis console, “What you got, Tim?”

“I have this solid and located, I just don’t know what it is.”

I studied the waterfall display and glanced at the Spectrum Display. “That’s because you have a UNWG 37B/A-4 Secure, oh so loved by the Political Directorate. Master Chief do we have an ID on the suspect?”

“Yes Colonel, Sensor systems indicate only one person could be in that spot: Buchanan!”

“Master Chief, Strike Authorized. You will assume the lead due to experience. ROE 2 approved. No way you will save the cypher key but get me that radio and Buchanan alive. HYPE!

“Tim, get me Joe Fortson and Les Reye on secure fiber. No copper and no radio!”

“Working.”

“Got them Line 4.”

“Councilor Reye, Sheriff Fortson; Colonel Stuart, are you secure?”

“Come Mr. Stuart do we have to be…”

“Shut the Frack up Les, Sheriff Fortson are you secure?”

“One moment,” came Joe’s voice. “OK we are now secure and a gun I trust has the door. Your floor Colonel.”

“Thanks Sheriff, this is your formal notification that Strike Force Alchibah has a Covert Surface Action in progress. We have a known Traitor in direct communications with an Enemy Force. As such he constitutes a Direct Military Threat. Upon recovery of his transmitter system and apprehension he becomes a Civil Problem. Sheriff are you prepared to assume custody and jurisdiction at that point?”

“Yes Colonel, I am. Who is the suspect in question?”

“Merry Christmas Joe—-, it’s Buchanan! Les, this is how Military and Civilian authorities are supposed to work. The next time you poor mouth me you Officious Bastard, Andy Stuart is going to punch Lester Reye right square in the mouth and Official Titles ain’t gonna have Frack to do with it. Joe, I’ll call you as soon as I can. Stuart Clear!”

Gabriel Benjamin

We were moving in on the location down in the shipyard. Pity poor Buchanan that two of Ash’s surviving cameras still covered this area. What was amazing me were Scythe and Grinder, they were as good as any I had ever worked with. They were not Wildcat or Magic and God’s forbid not the Reaper but, they were Pro’s. I once told an old Air Force puke that given time Andy could train a rock. These two were not rocks.

Coming to the door I decided to try the old SOCOM sign language, I gave the signs for Scythe to kick the door and clear out and Grinder to back cover. To no great surprise on my part I got immediate “Understood” from both of them.

Scythe flashed across the door with one big right foot reducing it to splinters, I went to overdrive and drove in. Nothing could have stopped Buchanan’s thumb from coming off of the deadman’s switch for the cipher key. But, there was no way his thumb was going to get to the destruct for the Radio.

As Buchanan’s unconscious body bounced off the far wall I heard the comments from outside.

“Scythe, did you happen to see that train go by?”

“Nope, I blinked. BREAK, Reaper Target Secured!”

Evening Day 885 Ft Stuart

Andy

I watched as Kara entered the room with great trepidation. I could tell she was thinking “What’s he going to drop on me now?”

“Don’t worry Kara, I am not going to drop the world on you. But, I do have a little pop quiz for you.

“Imagine you are a Science Officer on a Rogon ship approaching a planet you have never seen before. You are approaching what appears to be a very low technology planet except, for one structure. It has high energy signatures everywhere, a large void underneath it that you cannot scan and structures at each corner that appear to be perfect for some kind of weapon placement.

“What do you tell your Capitan?”

“Uh, that I can’t tell her what that structure is, but it doesn’t look good so get the frak out of there…?” Kara said in an “isn’t it obvious so why are you asking” kind of way.

“Pretty well sums up why we never got a shot at those ships. Add that to the way you chased down that RNA strand for Doc Kellerman, plus your database work at the Lab sorta reads like a job description. One that I had planned for Robby McMaster until he decided to get too close to Hanna’s.

“He was supposed to be an Analyst, not running around playing line Infantry.

“Kara, I want you to take his job. And if you come out of that office, you don’t even want to think about where I am going to put that boot!”

Kara

“What was that all about?” BJ asked.

“You’re looking at Andy’s new Intelligence Analyst,” Kara said with a triumphant grin.

BJ had a worried look on his face. “While I am sick of being holed up with you, Kara, I still like you and don’t want anything to happen to you. How much do I have to worry?”

“No worries, Beej. It’s an inside, holed away in a safe place, type of job. Apparently he’s going to give me some military person to help me out, so I won’t be all alone either, which is nice. I basically get to analyze the data they send from the field and connect the dots.” Then Kara’s face slipped a little. “No pressure or anything. What the frak did I just get myself into?” She then sat next to BJ on the couch.

“No pressure. If anyone can connect the dots it’s you. Don’t sell yourself short, Kara.”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t like I was his first choice,” Kara replied, still with a worry in her voice. “Mmmmmph.”

BJ laughed. “And Andy wouldn’t give it to you if he didn’t think you could do it. Now quit your whining!” he said while going for the tickle.

“Hey! BJ!” Kara giggled, which quickly turned to terror as she heard one of the kids heading their way.

“Don’t worry,” BJ said with a smile and a giggle, “Hannah and Jules are here, and I have a feeling they won’t let them near you for a while.”

To which Kara relaxed. But only a little.

“Just think of this new job of yours. Puzzle solving. Computers. Far from everyone else.” BJ coaxed.

To which Kara relaxed, melting into his arms.

On board Deathfang
Alchibah system A+4

There were no friendly faces, smiles, or polite greetings as Richard Redmond entered the mess hall, which had been appropriated for the UN Alchibah joint command staff conference. Perhaps the chilly reception was caused by the Rogon scientist who accompanied him…or perhaps not.

Hunter St. James had taken his place at one end of the table, so the Rogon settled himself at the opposite end. Like antagonists in an old Army/Navy game the officers of each separate service faced each other from opposite sides. Because there were several empty spaces on the army side Richard Redmond sat on that side next to the big Rogon.

Orderlies distributed water glasses and coffee about the room and then withdrew as in by some secret signal

Hunter looked about the table ”Everyone seems to be here except for Lieutenant Commander Antonovich is he tied up somewhere?”

Ensign Wendy Taylor of the UN Navy spoke up ”The Commander is…indisposed sir” Hunter accepted this fact without question “Very well we can proceed without him“ He tapped a spoon on his water glass to gain attention.

“I’ll begin with an overview of the historical background and move on to an appraisal of the loss of taskforce Alchibah, If anyone has critical information feel free to interrupt… otherwise hold your questions for later” Hunter looked around the table, and with the exception of the alien everyone seemed to accept the rules.

“When Taskforce Alchibah was organized four years ago the primary mission was to enter this solar system, locate the StelCo asteroid ship and bring the crew and colonists under the authority of the United Nations. A secondary mission was to deliver additional colonists, and establish a permanent peacekeeping presence in the system.”

“Obviously the Rogons arrival in our Home system forced us to modify those plans. The decision was made to continue the mission under Rogon supervision.”

“We now know that the planning was inadequate due to the suppression of information in two areas” he continued “The first of these was knowledge of a previous mission to this system, in which one vessel was destroyed and a second was badly damaged by an advanced alien race known as the Chewpess or Guardians”

Richard Redmond sprung up out of his chair “The man was insane, a murderer, we couldn’t believe his story”

“Mr. Redmond please sit back down” Hunter said stopping the rant “You also had the Stingray, any close examination would have revealed the extensive damage was the result of hostile action” Redmond slumped back into his seat “Of course we now are monitoring the Guardian ship stalking us as we move about this system”

“The second and more serious area of faulty intelligence was regarding the flying asteroid, we now know as the Mayflower” Redmond was clearly squirming in his chair but he did not interrupt again. Hunter went on. “It has become painfully obvious that Hamilton had loaded the Mayflower with weapons and personal familiar with their use. It would have been a big help had we been told that these people actually fought there way out of the Home system beating off two attacks by troops from the political directorate…despite the fact that PD had infiltrated Hamilton’s organization.”

Hunter took a sip from his water glass and continued speaking “Had we been able to anticipate the Colonials would attempt to meet us in space, we would have plotted a course to avoid the electromagnetic interference that virtually disabled our sensors in the belt.”

One of the ubiquitous 3-D projections appeared above the table. The destruction of taskforce Alchibah was replayed “As you can see the enemy ships appeared without warning”

The Rogon, krett made a motion with one clawed hand that immediately got everyone’s attention “The sudden appearance of these rogue slaves, was not the fault of your sensors, the Chewpess use a 12th dimensional transposition drive that allows them to bypass normal space, these human ships obviously were equipped with that drive. Shintok; maylock-A wrongly assumed they were Chewpess vessels. We regret that maylock disabled your weapons systems and caused the destruction of your ships.”

Hunter was a bit taken back by the Rogons apology “Be that as it may; the destruction of Taskforce Alchibah was caused by a third failure of tactical intelligence which occurred at this point” Hunter took another drink of water “This ship and the firepower it represents had caught up with The UN taskforce two weeks ago and were following at 5 million kilometers unbeknownst to us. This represents a serious violation of the strategic principle of Unity of Command. When the Colonials attacked the main Rogon force was conducting independent and unrelated operations that failed as a result, Captain DeWalt, will now make his report about the failure of these other ops.”

DeWalt came out of his chair and went to the head of the table, opting to give his presentation standing beside the Commodore “16 days ago we began launching high speed recon drones past the planet.” He began “signals analysis indicated a major concentration of human activity on the northern landmass and some minor activity on the southern one.”

“No evidence of human habitation was found on the Southern continent, but we obtained very good images of several occupancies on the Northern mass concentrated in one area about 20 kilometers across, only one structure evidence any military value” the image projected above the table didn’t have the 3-D quality of most Rogon displays, but the clarity was excellent, “From the air it looks like a classic stockade from the American west, although obviously upgraded with anti aircraft mounts on these platforms, also the communications tower and radar dishes are out of place, when I throw up a side view penetrating radar scan, it gets interesting…although nothing is visible you can see the uniform compression lines, obviously something very large is buried here, something very carefully hidden”

“The major decided the best way to deal with this location was to drive 2 penetrating 10 megaton warheads into the reverse slope of the adjacent ridge. That would have dumped a couple hundred meters of lava on top of this place while minimizing fallout. Unfortunately the Rogons overruled that plan.”

Shintok; krett-N spoke again “It was thought that your Mr. Hamilton might likely be at this fortress a request was made that he be captured alive”

St James was suddenly alert “And who made that request?” He asked

“Why that was from Mr. Redmond of course”

“Just a minute” St James was half out of his chair “Are you saying that Redmond was in contact with this ship two weeks ago?”

Redmond stood up “Hamilton was a criminal, terrorist and enemy of the state, it was a priority of this mission that he be brought to justice

Hunter suddenly realized how the Rogon scientist had set up Redmond, he visibly calmed himself “let’s play this out he thought”

“OK table that for now, please continue Mr. DeWalt”

Yes sir” DeWalt continued “After that Major Watson refused to allow UN troops to attack the fort. The fort is in a valley that has a dog-leg just south; the all Rogon force was supposed to land just beyond the dog-leg
and attack on foot.

“The attack on the town was more straight forward, two ships would approach from the south, landing right alongside the shuttle pad on the southern edge of the town. The town would be swept house to house from one end to the other”

Both operations were to commence while the Mayflower was on the opposite side of the planet. The Asteroid was to be hit with a low yield nuke to disable her engines and two larger nukes to burn off all her antenna and surface airlocks.” DeWalt was obviously trying to hide his amusement.

Hunter was grinning as well “Sounds like that battle of Ceres all over”

“Yes Sir, Commander Antonovich had studied all your battles. At any rate the Rogons overruled that one as well, no doubt for the same reason”
DeWalt continued “The actual execution of the plan left much to be desired, the attack began approximately 43 minutes early, a reconstruction of sensor data indicates several small explosions on the surface at that time. Dragonhead 2 the unexpectedly left formation and began her approach several minutes before the others.”

Wendy Taylor raised her hand “Do we know what the explosions on the planet were?“ she asked

“From navy reports filed by survivors of Dragon head 4, it seems Major Putnam had been in contact with a UNPD agent on the ground, and instigated the sabotage of certain communications equipment.”

“Wonderful” said St James “Putnam jumps the gun to cut comm. links when waiting for the Mayflower to pass around the planet would have accomplished the same thing”

“Yes sir, at any rate Dragonhead two landed on the wrong side of the ridge to the west of the target, and failed in its mission because of insurmountable terrain, snow and some unexpected local resistance”

The holo projector began showing two dragon heads in landing mode when suddenly a fast shuttle moved into the display and began firing missiles. Lew DeWalt began to explain

“The Reb…colonials had enough warning to get their small craft into the air, as you can see this one was far more dangerous than we had anticipated” One of the Dragonhead ship was destroyed in the display and the other received minor damaged “At this point Maj. Putnam instructed the pilot of Dragonhead 4 to land in the center of the colonial town”

Hunter asked the obvious question “What were his reasons for that change of plan?

“Major Putnam has not seen fit to answer our request for an after action report” Richard Redmond had to speak up in justification of his minion

“Political Directive Officers are not required to answer to line personal”
He stated, again Hunter was quick to slap him down “They are when they take it upon themselves to make tactical decisions, we will deal with the major in due time, please finish your report Captain”

“Because the attack was in the center of the town the Rogons and the Troops supporting them split up and lost all semblance of military organization. When the explosion occurred serious damage resulted to Dragonhead 4, and the ground force was totally demoralized”

“The attack on the Mayflower started with an unfortunate acident, that being the loss of Dragonhead 6 and Major Watson when Mayflower fired her main engines. The attack was apparently going well, but failed after Dragonheads 7 and 8 withdrew to rescue the ground force”

Again Hunter had a question “Was that Putnams doing again?”

“No sir, that was a Rogon decision, although obviously the ground forces could have retreated to the safety of their ships, and effected the evacuation using Dragonhead 2 alone… That concludes my report”

Hunter stood up to stretch “Very well in the absence of Commander Antonovich, Ensign Taylor can report on our current situation”

Young Wendy Taylor was obviously nervous as she stood up to speak but her voice was strong when she began ”We are currently traveling accoss the system well above the plane of the ecliptic towing the capture liner New Palmtree, we are now inside the orbit of Alchibah Prime about 25 degrees behind her orbit, we have transferred the munitions to this ship and are in the process of moving the rest of the cold sleep capsules form the Orion into her hold…although I don’t understand why”

Hunter had resumed his seat “ I will explain that, we can’t tractor the Palmtree at anywhere near the accelleration of this ship without destroying her so we are going to put all the cold sleepers on board and turn her loose under a prize crew”

He went on “After this meeting Captain DeWalt will see to it that there is no trace of wine or liquor on board that ship, and then place Lieutenant Antonovich on board to command the prize crew, She will eventually arrive at the planet and if the Colonials wish to waste effort trying to take her back so be it, Ensign do you have anything else to report?”

Wendy was ready now “Only this sir, all of our Dragonheads have been dispersed by the Rogons and we don’t know why”

“Thank you Ensign, I would like to add a question of my own for our invited guest Master krett, What is the Rogon force on the planet trying to accomplish with this operation on the southern landmass”

If he was offended by being questioned by human slaves in this fashion Shintok; krett-N gave no indication he rose a little and answered in perfect English ”both questions are related, our earlier probes had detected large amounts of what you would call heavy metals and transurananics on the southern landmass, we surmise they are the result of a long ago asteroid strike. Many of our crew have departed to be involved in the recovery efforts”

Hunter was momentarily speechless “Are you saying the Rogons are interrupting offensive operations to go looking for gold?

“Yes Commodore, essentially that is correct” replied the humanologist

“Master krett, with all due respect I must protest, this system is occupied by Humans who are far better equipped and organized than we expected. If we wish to bring them under Rogon/UN control we can not afford to waste time with side issues, so far we have had one disaster after another, we must begin effective operations against the colonials as soon as possible”

krett was not disturbed by this criticism “I agree with you wholeheartedly, I admit that it was Rogon incompetence that cause most of problems so far, and I wish to inform you that the leaders of this expedition place their full trust in your command…unfortunately we can not easily stop our volunteer crew from visiting the planet if they want to, however in the interest of assisting with your plans I believe Mr. Redmond has something to offer”

Redmond was unprepared for this move by his new master “That’s not.. I mean…what I mean is that… yes, I have information from my spies on the planet, The rebels have been driven from there home and are hiding in caves north of the city, they plan on sending weapons to the religious fanatics in the south thereby weakening there own position”

“And just how do you know this?” asked St. James

“I have an encrypted commlink to my agents that’s how” said Redmond

“Exellent” replied St James “You will make that link available to miss Taylor so that our naval Intel can monitor It.”
“ Never! You can’t give me orders! That is a UNPD link and…“ but Redmond couldn’t speak due to the sudden constriction of claws around his throat.

“Everything will be as you wish” said Shintok; krett-N, master of humans.

Ft. Stuart, Alchibah Late Evening A+3 (Day 884)

Andrew Stuart

I had just gotten Bob Moore settled into one of the single bedroom bungalows and was walking towards Stuart House. Gods, what would I have done if he said his Dad had called him Robbie; that wound was still too fresh. Still finding Bob here was a load off of my mind, keeping him alive could pay back several old debts. I walked in the front door to find Hanna Parker setting in the main room.

“Damn Hanna, I expected to find Kara in here screaming her head off from what I had heard.”

Hanna Parker

“And well you might expect that. Those twins of yours could try a Saint, much less a fragile soul like Kara. Especially when neither she nor BJ could figure out the pictographs for the diaper closet. Not to mention the washer and dryer room.”

I watched some gleam of humor come back into those eyes as he asked, “They totally missed those?”

I was blinking back tears, “Went right over their overeducated heads. When I pointed them out I thought Kara was going to have a breakdown. Until I pointed out that the kids were all alive and healthy. I managed to convince her that that was all a bunch of rough and tumble Soldiers were going to care about.”

I thought Andy was going to convulse, “Alive, reasonably clean and not too many boot prints on their arse’s sounds about right for those two.” He laughed.

I had to laugh with him then ask, “Did you get that young man settled in? During the hour you had your Wrist Comp turned off, Mariana relayed your declaration. The Council Comm voted to let you handle him but lots of people are wondering what brought that on?”

“Hanna, I either owe his Father or hate him beyond belief; I have never been sure which. But I will not pass the hate to the Son. Wait, Hanna; let me finish. Tommy Moore saved my Ass at least three times on the road to Tehran and if He had not The Reaper would never have been Born. He got me to the point where I got to see my third spotter die, as useless as his ass was, and my Brother-in-Law go down to a Missile that had to have been sold to the Hadj’s by a Traitor. Something inside me broke that Day and for it my Soul is going to burn in Hell.

“Yes, I am an Agnostic and I have no quote Religion unquote. But, no version of God is going to forgive what I did that Day. Hanna, there were 275 Human Souls in the Khandar Palace that day; and in 48 minutes I killed every Damn One of Them. No God wants to see me at His or Her door. For as the Rogons up on the Mayflower said, I am El Diablo. And I don’t deserve those Kids.”

Jules Parker

“That has to be the biggest load of self depreciation I have ever heard Colonel. I just came from talking to Gabriel Benjamin about what you did up on the Mayflower and it sounds about the same.

“Andy, you know Hanna and I are Religious. What I want you to do is look me right in the eyes and tell me you have ever killed when it was not absolutely necessary. Tell me that you have not Killed but, that you have Murdered.”

Andy’s face was tortured, “Jules, I can’t. But, what God wants to see a Soul like mine?”

It was my turn to grin, “The Bartender at Fiddlers Green, I understand Karl Nash has the First Round.”

Neither Hanna nor I were prepared for the melt down. Andy slumped on the desk and the tears rolled again. None of us noticed the two forms that appeared by his side. “DaDa not cry”, from two barely one year old children who should not have been able to walk much less talk. Those shoulders rolled and two arms snaked out and tenderly lifted those children.

The face which came up was the same but, not. The voice was soft beyond belief, “You two need to be back in bed, Daddy’s OK. Believe me. Jules, Hanna ; I will be right back.” He walked around the corner with a small head on either shoulder.

I looked at Hanna, “As I believe God loves us, let there be a man like that in that crowd up there. We just might have a chance.”

The chime on Andy’s desk unit sounded and I reached out to answer, “Ft. Stuart, Jules Parker here.”

Tim’s voice was clear, “Andy around? I have some stuff from Mayflower he needs to see.”

“He’ll be right back Tim. Daddy’s a little busy right now.”

Tim actually laughed for a change, “About damn time, make sure he looks at these three files when he gets back. FYI, Mariana is headed your way.”

Andy walked back into the room and Hanna stood and motioned to me. With her best dimpled smile she told Andy, “You’ve got mail!”

Andrew Stuart

I had listened to Monroe’s file and watched the two Sensor files when Mariana came in.

“Where are my children?” She asked.

I had to give her that snarky grin. “In bed but, if they are asleep yet they are deifying the Laws of Nature.”

Her high octane smile could have melted steel, “I’ll be back!”

“Master Chief, Col Stuart; sorry to bother you but, could you come to my place for a moment?”

When Gabe came in it was with a question, “Why so damn formal Andy?”

I spun the monitor towards him, “Watch these and give me that exalted NCO Opinion!”

Gabe watched intently and then spoke slowly. “They have not drilled lately but, those are Pro’s. I would guess that the vessel they were boarding was Hamilton’s last Ace in the Hole.

“They have had the boot put to them real recently. There is a PRO up there who just maybe is as good as you. What are you going to do, are you going to stop the arms deal Bart is talking about?”

“Hell No Gabe, first I believe in what he wants to do. Second, who gives a shit about 2 or 3 hundred MK I’s in 30-06 when everyone has .338’s to take their place. Crap, you can’t break those things anyway. It just might give the Llama’s a chance.”

“Gabe, I want that damn mobile Dragon Head and I want it where the Snake’s can see it. But, more importantly I agree with you. There is a PRO up there. Get with Ash, Tim and Subbu; find me a way to talk to Him.”